114 
VERTEBEATA. 
The following " Estimate of the Moral Character of Monkeys," by a clergyrnan, Rev. 
W. Jones, designed as a satire on men-monkeys rather than on the true simice, is not only very- 
lively and witty, but an excellent moral application of the subject we are discussing : 
"A gentleman whose premises were infested by a large breed of sparrows, said they Avere bird 
of noprindjjle. Of all monkeys it may be said, with much more propriety, that they are beasts o. 
no principle, for they have every evil quality, and not one good one. They are saucy and inso 
lent, always making an attempt to bully and terrify people, and biting those first wiio are raos 
afraid of them. An impertinent curiosity runs thi'ough all their actions ; they never can let things 
alone, but must know what is going forward. If a pot or a kettle is set on the fire, and the cook 
turns her back, the monkey whips off" tlic cover to see what she has put into it, even though h 
cannot get at it without setting his feet upon the hot bars of the grate. 
" Mimicry is another of the monkey's qualities. Whatever he sees men do, he must affect t 
do the like himself. He seems to have no rule of his own, and so is ruled by the actions of men. 
or beasts — as weak people follow^ the fashion of the world, whether it be good or bad. No mon- 
key has any sense of gratitude, but takes his victuals with a snatch, and then grins in the face o 
the person that gives it him, lest he should take it away again ; for he supposes that all men Avil . 
snatch away what they can lay hold of, as all monkeys do. Througli an invincible selfishness, n - 
monkey considers any individual but himself, as the poor cat found to her cost, when the monkey 
burned her paws with raking his chestnuts out of the fire. They can never eat together withou 
quarreling or plundering one another. 
" Every monkey delights in mischief, and cannot help doing it when it is in his power. If any 
thing he takes hold of can be broken or spoiled, he is sure to find the way of doing it ; and he 
chatters with pleasure when he hears the noise of a china vessel smashed to pieces upon the pave- 
ment. If he takes up a bottle of ink, he empties it upon the floor. He unfolds all your papers, 
and scatters them about the room, and what he cannot undo he tears to pieces ; and it is wonder- 
ful to see how much of this work he will do in a few minutes, Avhen he happens to get loose. 
Everybody has heard of the monkey whose curiosity led him to the mouth of a cannon to see 
how it went off, when he paid for his curiosity with the loss of his head. 
" In a ship where a relation of mine was an officer, while the men were busy in fetching powder 
from below, and making cartridges, a monkey on board took up a lighted candle, and ran down 
to the powder-room to see what they were about ; but happily was overtaken just as he got to 
the lantern, and thrown out at the nearest port-hole into the sea with the hghted candle in his 
hand. Another lost his life by the spirit of mimicry : he had seen his master shaving his own 
