" Happy indeed are the children who dream of butterflies, and
wise the parents who encourage theirs to intertwine objects of natural
history with their earliest associations! Not only has this charming study
a strong tendency to confirm the health, to embellish the mind, and to
improve the moral character of those who pursue it;

"Pour le bien savourer, c'est trop peu que des sens;
Il faut une ame pure et des gouts innocens;"

it is likewise a strong bond of union between man and man--where shall we
find such another? Hounds and horses may connect, indeed, a greater
_number_, but if one of the field breaks his neck, who cares? "he should
have been better mounted,"[1] or else, "he could not ride;"--but ours is a
gentler and a kindlier community. Where else exists that unanimity to
which this body may justly lay claim? Not in the professions, where law
detracts, medicine dislikes, and the church does not always hold the truth
in charity; nor yet amidst mankind in general, for philosophers misquote,
scholars revile, merchants monopolise, courtiers traduce, statesmen
deceive: but here no conflicting interests, nor uncharitable surmises, no
morbid sensibility, nor false and narrow views of life, arise to estrange
those whom Linnaeus and Cuvier have once united in fellowship. Constant,
cheerful, unaffected, and sincere, the happy members of our _coterie_,
every where, and in all ranks alike, show an instinctive tact in making
each other out, and once friends continue so for life. We speak from long
and intimate acquaintance with many naturalists: to some, courteous
reader, we purpose, with your consent, hereafter to introduce you. Our
object meanwhile is, to set before you now two humble foreigners of the
gentler sex, who have passed their whole lives in the study and practice
of taxidermy. Real and zealous enthusiasts are Annetta Cadet and her
mother, who, in order to surprise in their haunts, and study before they
embalm them, the various inhabitants of the _Campagna_ about Rome, think
nothing of braving any amount of heat, fatigue, and inconvenience; and
such adepts are they in this art, that when stuffed, their birds, beasts,
and reptiles seem to have received new life at their hands, and to be
about to spring from the ground or to leave their perches, and glide out
of sight. When, therefore, you shall have examined the out-doors[2]
antiquities, (and unless you would reconstruct the Forum for the
thousandth time on so