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In the mud of the Cambrian main

Did our earliest ancestor dive:

From a shapeless albuminous grain

We mortals our being derive.

He could split himself up into five,

Or roll himself round like a ball;

For the fittest will always survive,

While the weakliest go to the wall.

As an active ascidian again

Fresh forms he began to contrive,

Till he grew to a fish with a brain,

And brought forth a mammal alive.

With his rivals he next had to strive,

To woo him a mate and a thrall;

So the handsomest managed to wive,

While the ugliest went to the wall.

At length as an ape he was fain

The nuts of the forest to rive;

Till he took to the low-lying plain,

And proceeded his fellow to knive.

Thus did cannibal men first arrive,

One another to swallow and maul;

And the strongest continued to thrive,

While the weakliest went to the wall.

Envoy.

Prince, in our civilised hive,

Now money's the measure of all;

And the wealthy in coaches can drive,

While the needier go to the wall.

THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE.