“The preface to this volume is dated from New York, and the contents bear marks of the free, racy style of transatlantic writers. The volume closes with a paper on the ‘Preservation of the Jews.’ The writer deals with his several subjects with marked ability, and his essays form a volume which will pay for reading, and therefore pay for purchasing.” Daily Review, June 11, 1875. “We need only mention the other subjects—Waterton as a Naturalist, Romanism, John Stuart Mill, Simson’s History of the Gipsies, Borrow on the Gipsies, the Scottish Churches and the Gipsies, Was John Bunyan a Gipsy? and, of course, the literary ubiquitous Duke of Argyll on the Preservation of the Jews. The only paper we have not ventured to look at is the last, in the dread that on this question the versatile Duke might be found, as in the matter of the Scottish Church, verifying the French proverb—_Il va chercher midi à quatorze heures_—a work in which the author of this volume is an adept in quiet, quaint, and clever ways, however, which make it interesting.” NEW YORK: JAMES MILLER. CONTENTS. PAGE VIPERS AND SNAKES GENERALLY 7 WHITE OF SELBORNE ON THE VIPER 10 WHITE OF SELBORNE ON SNAKES 17 SNAKES SWALLOWING THEIR YOUNG 23 SNAKES SWALLOWING THEIR YOUNG 25 SNAKES CHARMING BIRDS 30 MR. FRANK BUCKLAND ON ENGLISH SNAKES 31 MR. GOSSE ON THE JAMAICA BOA SWALLOWING HER YOUNG 33 AMERICAN SNAKES 36 AMERICAN SCIENCE CONVENTION ON SNAKES 36 CHARLES WATERTON AS A NATURALIST 39 ROMANISM 49 JOHN STUART MILL: A STUDY. HIS RELIGION 69 HIS EDUCATION 82 A CRISIS IN HIS HISTORY 90 HIS WIFE 97 MILL AND SON 105 SIMSON’S HISTORY OF THE GIPSIES 111 MR. BORROW ON THE GIPSIES 112 THE SCOTTISH CHURCHES AND THE SOCIAL EMANCIPATION 150 OF THE GIPSIES WAS JOHN BUNYAN A GIPSY? 157 THE DUKE OF ARGYLL ON THE PRESERVATION OF THE JEWS 161 INDEX 171 APPENDIX. I. JOHN BUNYAN AND THE GIPSIES 183 II. MR. FRANK BUCKLAND AND WHITE OF SELBORNE 187 III. MR. FRANK BUCKLAND ON THE VIPER 192 IV. THE ENDOWMENT OF RESEARCH 199 FOOTNOTES.