190 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



preliminary work, and after two or three years, 

 finding that so far as material went I had got 

 almost more than I could manage, I thought I 

 would begin to try my hand at writing a few 

 chapters, each dealing with some special aspect of 

 or question relating to the serpent, and about a 

 dozen were written, but left in the rough, unfinished, 

 as all would eventually have to go back into the 

 melting-pot once more. By and by I took up and 

 finished three or four of these tentative chapters 

 just to see how they would look in print ; these 

 appeared in three or four monthly reviews and are 

 all that is left of my ambitious book. 



It could not be done, because, as I tried to 

 make myself believe, it was too long a task for 

 one who had to make a living by writing, but a 

 still small voice told me that I was deceiving 

 myself, that if I had just gone on, slowly, slowly, 

 like the released fer-de-lance, until I had got out 

 into the open air and sunshine — until I had a full 

 mind and full command of my subject — I too 

 might have gone on to a triumphant end. No, it 

 was not because the task was too long ; the secret 

 and real reason was a discouraging thought which 

 need not be given here, since it is stated in the 

 paper to follow. There's nothing more to say 

 about it except that I now make a present of the 

 title — " The Book of the Serpent " — to any person 

 who would like to use it, and I only ask that it 

 be not given to a handbook on snakes, nor to a 

 monograph — God deliver us ! as Huxley said. Or 



