But the knave can seldom be brought
to believe in the existence of an honest man. The honest man _may_ be
deceived in particular persons, but the knave is _sure_ to be deceived
whenever he comes across an honest man who is not a mere fool." "Man is
TOO NEAR ALL KINDS OF BEASTS--
a fawning dog, a roaring lion, a thieving fox, a robbing wolf, a
dissembling crocodile, a treacherous decoy, and a rapacious vulture."
This was the poet Cowley's opinion. "Of all the animals" scolds Boileau,
"which fly in the air, walk on the ground, or swim in the sea, from
Paris to Peru, from Japan to Rome, the most foolish animal, in my
opinion, is man." People must be very bad, indeed, who get opinions as
low as the two last quoted. That rapacious vulture George Peabody! that
dissembling crocodile William Cowper! that robbing wolf Girard! that
thieving fox Charles Sumner! that fawning dog Napoleon Bonaparte! and
those most foolish animals Louis Agassiz and Isaac Newton! It does not
well become the weakest links in a chain to boast that they gauge that
chain's strength, for the chain can be greatly strengthened, upon this
easy discovery of those weak links, by simply dropping them out of
connection.
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