One large black spider--who was probably the oldest inhabitant, and held possession of the best place by the window, ready to offer perfidious welcome to every winged itinerant who might be tempted to turn aside from the high road for the sake of a little cool and repose--rushed from its innermost penetralia at the entrance of Kenelm, and remained motionless in the centre of its meshes, staring at him.

It did not seem quite sure whether the stranger was too big or not.
"It is a wonderful proof of the wisdom of Providence," said Kenelm, "that whenever any large number of its creatures forms a community or class, a secret element of disunion enters into the hearts of the individuals forming the congregation, and prevents their co-operating heartily and effectually for their common interest.

'The fleas would have dragged me out of bed if they had been unanimous,' said the great Mr.Curran; and there can be no doubt that if all the spiders in this commonwealth would unite to attack me in a body, I should fall a victim to their combined nippers.

But spiders, though inhabiting the same region, constituting the same race, animated by the same instincts, do not combine even against a butterfly: each seeks his own special advantage, and not that of the community at large.

And how completely the life of each thing resembles a circle in this respect, that it can never touch another circle at more than one point.