He says that the flea is their marriage-temple, and bids her forbear to kill it lest she thereby commit murder, suicide and sacrilege all in one.

The Commissioner is incorrect in that particular, unless he adopts the learned theory of Sir Joseph Banks, that fleas are a species of lobster!

When examined by a microscope, the flea is a pleasant object.

Where are the freedom and high feats that spring From fatherhood so fair as Deity? Fleas are no sons of men, although they be Flesh-born: brave thoughts and deeds this honour bring.

The story of a well-meaning citizen who called the attention of a bushi to a flea jumping on his back, and who was forthwith cut in two, for the simple and questionable reason that inasmuch as fleas are parasites which feed on animals, it was an unpardonable insult to identify a noble warrior with a beastI say, stories like these are too frivolous to believe.