‘A lady was here the other day, who has a curious taste for different creatures. She has had a slow-worm round her arm as a bracelet--has kept an oyster which seemed to know her--and taught frogs to come out of the water at the sound of their names. One day, when she was quite young, she showed an old gentleman one of her dear snakes, coiled up. He thought it an imitation-one, and said something about good imitations,--when the reptile began to hiss at him.