168 BEAUTY IN THE ANIMAL CREATION. 



I intended to have added here a few remarks 

 on man, and to have glanced at the noble sym- 

 metry of his frame, and to have made an ob- 

 servation or two on the habits which he has 

 acquired by being in a state of high civilisation : 

 but as he is the prince of the Creation, and 

 endowed with reason to make a selection of 

 what is pleasing and profitable to him from 

 Nature's giant storehouse, I will reserve a 

 chapter for the purpose. Volumes have been 

 written, and will still be written, on his virtues 

 and his vices, his merits and defects, his cus- 

 toms and his follies. With this before my 

 eyes, I scarcely know what to pen down on a 

 small scrap of paper, that may be in the least 

 worthy of the reader's attention. If I fail in 

 my attempt either to amuse him or to instruct 

 him, I trust that he will show me mercy, for I 

 feel quite convinced that the subject is far too 

 abstruse, refined, and lofty for an humble pen 

 like mine. 



