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The Age of Monsters.
"Mighty pre-Adamites that walked the earth
Of which ours is the wreck."—Byron.
![O](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/The_fairy_tales_of_science_%E2%80%93_Age_of_Monsters_p1.jpg/300px-The_fairy_tales_of_science_%E2%80%93_Age_of_Monsters_p1.jpg)
NCE upon a time—if we are to believe our Fairybooks—a terrible race of monsters devastated this fair earth. Dragons and Griffins roamed at large, and a passing visit from one of these rapacious creatures was held to be the greatest calamity that could befall a nation. All the King's horses and all the King's men were powerless in the presence of such a foe, and the bravest monarch stooped to purchase his