ON SNAKES. 



" NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET.'' 



Were I to offer a treatise in defence of Nero, 

 or of Herod, or of our own Harry the Eighth, per- 

 haps, I should not astonish my reader more than 

 I am about to do, in an attempt to advocate the 

 cause of Snakes. 



Possibly, the sad affair in Paradise, where the 

 wily serpent acted so conspicuous a part, may have 

 entailed upon its family, the execration of man- 

 kind. Certainly, notorious is the fact, that the 

 whole tribe of serpents, great and small, — noxious 

 or innoxious, in all parts of the known world, 

 can find no mercy at the hand of man. A Bengal 

 tiger, crouching in the jungle, is not more dreaded 

 by an eastern traveller, than our little English 

 adder, basking on a sunny bank, is feared by those 

 who go to gather primroses. 



In fact, all nations, civilized or rude, are unani- 

 mous in asserting the malignity of snakes; whilst 



