Comparative physiognomy; or, Resemblances between men and animals . overned, and their ina-bility to govern themselves— their love of change,their love of order, and ofturning things topsy-turvy— their disposition to go to extremes, their ability to becomemore cruel and more infernally wicked in every respect inthe degree that they are capable of being better, than thosewho are bona fide and unequivocally men. There is the fable of the frog that endeavored to swell him-self to the dimensions of an ox that stood cooling himself inthe water. The ox, for aught we know, may have been ahuge island,
Comparative physiognomy; or, Resemblances between men and animals . overned, and their ina-bility to govern themselves— their love of change,their love of order, and ofturning things topsy-turvy— their disposition to go to extremes, their ability to becomemore cruel and more infernally wicked in every respect inthe degree that they are capable of being better, than thosewho are bona fide and unequivocally men. There is the fable of the frog that endeavored to swell him-self to the dimensions of an ox that stood cooling himself inthe water. The ox, for aught we know, may have been ahuge island, and the frog may have considered that thewater was all his own, and that the ox had no business is certainly a great degree of similarity and contradic-tion between John Bull and his fashionable neighbor the Bull-Frog ! M. Thiers asserts that there can be no dispute as to thehigh position France holds, especially in her silk manufac-tures (at the Worlds Fair, in London). He was struckwith the fact that France is pre-eminent in all the articles of. THE FEOG. 235 luxury, which none but the wealthiest can buy; whereas, Eng-land excels in the productions usually consumed by the mid-dle and poorer classes. Thus democratic France works forthe rich, and aristocratic England works for the poor. TTe see, therefore, that in the case of the frog and the oxthere was no occasion for any jealousy on the part of the for-mer, nor for any contempt on the part of the latter, but thattbey were well suited to each other, and that it was fortunatethey were near neighbors. The ambition of the frog to swellto the dimensions of the ox was no vain ambition, for theworks of art that contribute to the gratification of taste and tospiritual elevation are equal to those more substantial produc-tions that contribute to the necessities of the body. It isbeautiful that aristocracy and democracy should be friends;that they should help each other; that the frog should notswell himself so much f
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookpubl, booksubjectphysiognomy
