Comparative physiognomy; or, Resemblances between men and animals . THE FROG. 245 sent to the galleys, banished, or imprisoned. Then there aretree-toads, who take the hue of the times in which they live,and who are more elevated in feelings and sentiments thanthe frogs who surround them, and who redeem the characterof the toad, and offer encouragement and example to the low-liest and the most degraded. Were it not for the Frenchmenwhose voices make such sweet melody as these, in contrastwith the chattering and croaking of the remainder, the mul-titude of frogs would sink in the depths of sensu
Comparative physiognomy; or, Resemblances between men and animals . THE FROG. 245 sent to the galleys, banished, or imprisoned. Then there aretree-toads, who take the hue of the times in which they live,and who are more elevated in feelings and sentiments thanthe frogs who surround them, and who redeem the characterof the toad, and offer encouragement and example to the low-liest and the most degraded. Were it not for the Frenchmenwhose voices make such sweet melody as these, in contrastwith the chattering and croaking of the remainder, the mul-titude of frogs would sink in the depths of sensualism, to riseno more. Then there are frogs that we skipped in theirproper places, such as put their heads together above the sur-face of the water, entangled with spawn and sea-weeds •—. bandits that disappear on the appearance of a, spectator themoment he can say Jack I The talent for caricature, for which the French are distin-guished, has its origin in the love of exaggeration before spo-ken of. As it is contagious, we plead guilty to the sameoffence. The French know how to take these things; andbesides, as a general rule, it is a sufficient compliment to rep-resent a man as he really is. A man is in general what hechooses to be; and hence the danger of offence is in descri-bing him as he is not. The French love to have their quali-ties exaggerated, and therefore it is that they deal in compli-ments as well as in caricature. They have little inclination 24:6 COMPARATIVE PHYSIOGNOMY. to be dissatisfied with what is said of them; for when theyare blown they are ready for blows, and a blow from astone does them no more harm than a blow of wind. For thesame reason, when a Frenchman is able to dress himself ashe chooses, he can pass for whatever he likes :— Through ta
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