right to consider almost as the abomination of
desolation predicted by the Prophet Daniel;
namely, the admission of the laity to the
administration of temporal affairs. If this system
prevail, what security has the snipe that some
unlucky prefect may not take it into his head to
drain the Pontine Marshes, and so to drive it
from its last asylum, under the specious pretext
of destroying the focus of malaria, and increas-
ing the sources of public wealth? As the snipe
has already been caught in this way (having lost
England, being in the way of losing France,
while Spain and Hungary will drop off at the
first high wind), as she knows that there is
no safety for her out of the domains of the
Roman Church, she cannot in conscience enter
into any negotiations on this chapter. In her
place you would do the same, and valiantly
inscribe on your flag, " Malaria and Antonelli for
ever!"

It suffices to be thoroughly acquainted with
the manners and customs of the snipe, to
perceive that she has been deputed by Nature to
personify the spirit of contradiction and of
resistance to progress, in its most irritating and
strongly marked type— that of a domestic
tyranny, which is austere, peevish, and pickled in
devotion. Thus the snipe, who makes a great
deal of noise in the air as long as spring-time
lasts, becomes suddenly silent when the mists of
autumn rise, and soon turns its back on all it
held dear, to seek a refuge in solitary marshes,
where it may meditate and get fat in silence.
It is also customary for noble sinneresses to wait
till the age of folly is past before they return to
prudent conduct and seek their salvation in a
sombre retreat.

The snipe wears a pelisse of fine materials,
but not showy in point of colour, spotted with
green sparkling dots. This costume is in
imitation of the pious matrons who have ceased to
care about making a display in dress, but who
are not the less sensible to the comforts of
silken stuffs, and who are fond of decorating
their bosoms with amulets and holy medals.
Metallic spots on plumage are always mirrors of
illusion. Thus the mallard has his neck steeped
in illusion touching the virtues of his female.
The snipe's bright spots symbolise the foolish
hopes which agitate the imaginations of credulous
persons. Several species of snipes have adopted
the fashion of wearing strings of beads or
rosaries. The bird's long beak, which Nature has
endowed with remarkable tactile sensibility, is
the index of gourmandise. A vulgar prejudice,
supported by the authority of Boileau
Despréaux, attributes to devout stomachs avidities
analogous to those of the snipe. Her brain is
very compressed and her head is flattened at the
sides. Her eyes, fixed on the top of her head
and upturned towards the heavens, do not
contribute to give her an intellectual physiognomy,
although they attest her disregard for worldly
affairs. Only, this eccentric disposition of the
visual organs is the cause of the bird's being
short-sighted and scarcely able to find its way.
The snipe falls into every snare and allows
itself to be plucked by every bird of prey, who
are very fond of its flesh. One species has been
called sourde, the Deaf Snipe, because it is
dumb. Deaf, dumb, and blind is a sad position;
and one can easily conceive that a poor bird
afflicted with so many infirmities should be
tormented by perpetual terrors, and should take
every stock and stone for a devouring monster.
This latter hallucination is shared by superstitious
folk, who also are short-sighted and
small-brained, and are beset by anxieties which
expose them to be duped by crafty intriguers
who persuade them to leave their goods to
religious corporations, to the great detriment and
sorrow of their legitimate heirs. The French
Civil Code has sagely undertaken the defence
of the interests of these disinherited persons,
by forbidding feeble souls from making their
wills in favour of their doctors or their
confessors.

Lastly, the most striking trait in the snipe's
character, and which best brings out into high
relief its passional dominant (the spirit of
contradiction), is its habit of flying against the
wind— a habit contrary to that adopted by
ninety-nine out of every hundred birds. It
may be doubtful whether the snipe's dead body,
after drowning, do not float up the stream
instead of down it; but one would incline to
believe it, for the reason that Nature generally
creates her moulds all in one piece, and that this
incredible mania for going dead against the
wind attests a determination to walk opposite
to the indication of good sense, and to fly in
the face of reason at all hazards. Such used to
be the conduct— according to the account of
husbands and other enemies of the fair sex— of
a multitude of domestic tyrants, pious and
peevish, who professed a love of God, solely to
have the right of execrating their neighbour;
who always waited to hear your opinion, in
order that they might express a contrary one;
who took a little too much pains about their
own spiritual interests, and not enough about
the personal comforts of those around them;
who, in short, exerted their ingenuity in a
thousand and one ways to make you curse your
existence and long to be removed to a better
world. This is a very hard saying, considering
that it is a true one.

The snipe's sad lot teaches you what Providence
holds in store for all impracticable minds
lodged in narrow brain-boxes, for all deaf or
blind cripples who persist in walking against
the wind of progress. But how many people
are there in the world who will listen to the
voice of passional analogy?

Lament for the snipe, the innocent victim of
fatality; and to be just, let us not require any
poor animal to commit suicide, especially
when we see that, in the world of men, the
heroes of devotion to the public welfare are so
scarce that you may count them. We know
that superior and energetic natures alone are
capable of tasting the joys of sacrifice, and of
exclaiming with the snipe-shooter, in a burst of
sublime self-denial, "Perish the temporal,