l68 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



those proofs which none can counterfeit and 

 whose authority is not gainsaid; he dares not 

 lay aside the yoke which galls the neck of pa- 

 tience, or breathe the air unblest by some mys- 

 terious rite performed in fear. 



By such restraints his ears are closed against 

 those voices which appeal to him from without 

 the temple gates of his belief. In what respect 

 would man be less God-like if it be shown that 

 monkeys talk? To elevate the humbler ranks 

 could not degrade mankind. Whether man is the 

 work of Deity or was evolved by laws of change 

 from primal matter; whether he was made in one 

 specific act or is the last amendment to a million 

 prior types ; whether he is the creature of design 

 or accident — the authorship of his being and that 

 of all the forms which roam the broad empire of 

 life must be the same. We are all the effects of 

 one Great Cause, whatever that may be, and that 

 which gave to man the power of speech imparted 

 it to apes ; and I can see no reason why nature 

 should have drawn a line about this faculty and 

 made the rest a common heritage. 



