{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45671/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45671","id":"gutenberg_45671","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45671","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Folklore","Animals, Mythical","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore"],"text":"Transcriber's Note\n\nIllustration captions in {braces} have been added by the transcriber\nfor the convenience of the reader.\n\n\n\n\n                  MYTH-LAND.\n\n\n                      BY\n        F. EDWARD HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A.\n                   AUTHOR OF\n      \"FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS,\" ETC. ETC.\n\n\n      \"Far away in the twilight time\n      Of every people, in every clime,\n      Dragons and griffins and monsters dire.\n      Born of water, or air, or fire,\n      Or nursed, like the Python, in the mud\n      And ooze of the old Deucalion flood,\n      Crawl, and wriggle, and foam with rage,\n      Through dark tradition and ballad age.\"\n                                  Whittier.\n\n\n                    LONDON\n  SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON,\n      CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET.\n                     1886.\n\n           [_All rights reserved._]\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThe nucleus of the following pages was originally written in the form\nof two short papers to be read at the meetings of a Public School\nNatural History Society. Since then, finding materials rapidly growing\non our hands, we have been gradually amplifying our notes on the\nsubject until they have grown to the present dimensions; for, to quote\nthe quaint words of Thomas Fuller, \"when there is no recreation or\nbusiness for thee abroad, thou may'st then have a company of honest\nold fellows in leathern jackets in thy study, which may find thee\nexcellent divertisement at home.\" Our researches in pursuit of the\nmarvellous, through the works of divers and sundry old writers, have\nbeen so far entertaining and interesting to us that we would fain hope\nthat they may not be altogether received without favour by others.\n\nOur subject naturally divides itself into two very obvious\nsections--the one dealing with wholly untrue and impossible creatures\nof the fancy, the other with the strange beliefs and fancies that have\nclustered round the real creatures we see around us. It will readily\nbe discovered that we have confined ourselves in the present volume\nalmost entirely to the first of these sections. Should our present\nlabours prove acceptable they may readily be followed by a companion\nvolume, at least as entertaining, dealing with the second section of\nour subject.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n    CHAPTER I.\n\n    Introduction--\"A Description of 300 Animals\"--Unicorn--The Bible\n    Unicorn--The Heraldic Unicorn--The Horn as a Poison Test--The\n    Unicorn of Medi\u00e6val Legend--Wolf Causing Dumbness--The Rompo or\n    Man-Eater--The Manticora--The Lamia--Stag Antipathies--Dragons--\n    Dragon-Slaying--Legends of the Saints--The \"Legenda Aurea\"--St.\n    George--Medi\u00e6val Recipes--The \"Historia Monstrorum\" of Aldrovandus--\n    The Dragon in Heraldry--The Dragon of Wantley--Dragons' Teeth--The\n    Dragonnades--The Dragons of Shakespeare--Guardians of Treasure--The\n    Feud between the Dragon and the Elephant--The \"Bestiare Divin\" of\n    Guillaume--The Cockatrice--The Basilisk--The Phoenix: Its Literary\n    Existence from Herodotus to Shakespeare--The Dun-Cow of Warwick--Sir\n    Guy, and Percie's \"Reliques of Antient Poetry\"--Old Ribs and other\n    Bones in Churches--The Salamander--Breydenbach's Travels--The\n    \"Bestiary\" of De Thaun--The Ylio--The Griffin--The Arimaspians--\n    Burton's \"Miracles of Art and Nature\"--The Lomie--The Tartarian\n    Vegetable Lamb--The Sea-Elephant--Pegasus--The Vampyre--The\n    Chameleon                                                     1-80\n\n\n    CHAPTER II.\n\n    The Sphinx--The Chim\u00e6ra--The Centaurs--The Origin of the Myth--The\n    Onocentaur--Sagittarius--Satyrs and Fauns--The Harpys, described by\n    Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare, Milton, and others--The Echidna--The\n    Gorgon--The Hydra--The Sirens--The Lurlei--Mermaids--The Manatee--\n    Dog-Headed Men of Brazil--The One-Eyed Cyclops and Briar\u00e6us of the\n    Hundred Arms--The Headless Men or Anthropophagi--Sir Walter Raleigh's\n    El Dorado--Claw-Footed Men--The Marvels of Hackluyt and Mandeville--\n    The Long-Eared Fanesii--The Fairies--The \"Discoverie of Witchcraft\"--\n    The Little Good People--Fairy-Rings--Elf-Music--Changelings--\n    Elf-Possession--Spirits of the Mine, or Knockers--Robin Goodfellow--\n    Queen Mab--The Phoca or Storm-Spirit--The Kelpie--Jack-o'-Lantern--\n    The Pigmies--Giants--Early Sculptures--Gigantic Men of Antiquity\n                                                                81-132\n\n\n    CHAPTER III.\n\n    Comparatively Small Number of Mythical Bird-Forms--The Martlet--The\n    Bird of Paradise--The Humma--The Huppe--The Ibis--The Roc--The\n    Hameh Bird--Reptiles, Fish, &c.--The Sea-Serpent--The Adissechen\n    of Hindu Mythology--The Iormungandur of Scandinavian Mythology--\n    The Egg Talisman--Fire-Drake--Aspis--Amphisbena--Kraken--Cetus--\n    Leviathan--Behemoth--Nautilus--Dolphin--The Acipenser--The Remora--\n    The Fish Nun--The Chilon--The Dies--Sea-Bishops and Sea-Monks--Davy\n    Jones and his Locker--Ojibiway Legend of the Great Serpent--Fabledom\n    in the Vegetable Kingdom--The Barnacle Tree--The Kalpa-Tarou--The\n    Lote Tree--The Tree of Life--Lotus-Eating--Amaranth--Lotus Wreaths\n    at Kew from the Egyptian Tombs--Asphodel--Medi\u00e6val Herbals--\n    Ambrosia--The Upas Tree--The Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand--The Kerzereh\n    Flower--The Mandrake--\"Miracles of Art and Nature\"--Travellers'\n    Tales--The Dead Sea Apple--Alimos--The Meto--The Herb Viva--Cockeram\n    on Herb-Lore--The Pseudodoxia of Dr. Browne--Herb Basil--The \"Eikon\n    Basilike\"--Fitzherbert's \"Boke of Husbandry\"               133-205\n\n    Appendix                                                       207\n\n    Index                                                          235\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n    The Unicorn (from a \"Description of 300 Animals,\"\n      A.D. 1786)                                                     5\n\n    The Manticora (from a \"Description of 300 Animals,\"\n      A.D. 1786)                                                    13\n\n    The Lamia (from a \"Description of 300 Animals,\" A.D.\n      1786)                                                         13\n\n    Dragons (from a \"Description of 300 Animals,\" A.D.\n      1786)                                                         17\n\n    The Sea-Elephant                                                72\n\n    Dragon, from a piece of Italian decoration                      79\n\n    The Sea-Lion                                                   160\n\n    The Harpy (from the \"Historia Monstrorum\" of Aldrovandus,\n      A.D. 1642)                                                   161\n\n    The Barnacle Tree, from Gerarde's \"Herbal,\" A.D. 1633          169\n\n    The Barnacle Tree (from the \"Theatrum Botanicum\" of\n      Parkinson, A.D. 1640)                                        173\n\n    The Barnacle Tree (from \"Munster's Cosmography,\" A.D.\n      1550)                                                        174\n\n    The Palm (from the \"Eikon Basilike,\" A.D. 1648)                203\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nMYTH-LAND.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nIntroduction--\"A Description of 300 Animals\"--Unicorn--The Bible\nUnicorn--The Heraldic Unicorn--The Horn as a Poison Test--The Unicorn\nof Medi\u00e6val Legend--Wolf Causing Dumbness--The Rompo or Man-eater--The\nManticora--The Lamia--Stag Antipathies--Dragons--Dragon-slaying--\nLegends of the Saints--The \"Legenda Aurea\"--St. George--Medi\u00e6val\nRecipes--The \"Historia Monstrorum\" of Aldrovandus--The Dragon in\nHeraldry--The Dragon of Wantley--Dragons' Teeth--The Dragonnades--The\nDragons of Shakespeare--Guardians of Treasure--The Feud between the\nDragon and the Elephant--The \"Bestiare Divin\" of Guillaume--The\nCockatrice--The Basilisk--The Phoenix--Its Literary Existence from\nHerodotus to Shakespeare--The Dun-Cow of Warwick--Sir Guy, and\nPercie's \"Reliques of Antient Poetry\"--Old Ribs and other Bones in\nChurches--The Salamander--Breydenbach's Travels--The \"Bestiary\" of\nDe Thaun--The Ylio--The Griffin--The Arimaspians--Burton's \"Miracles\nof Art and Nature\"--The Lomie--The Tartarian Vegetable Lamb--The\nSea-Elephant--Pegasus--The Vampyre--The Chameleon.\n\n\nAll science is a gradual growth. Travellers as they toil up a long\nascent turn round from time to time, and mark with satisfaction the\never-lengthening way that stretches between them and their distant\nstarting-place, and derive a further encouragement from the sight to\npress onward to the yet unknown. So may we in this our day compare\nourselves, in no offensive and vainglorious way, with the men of the\npast, and gain renewed courage in the future as we leave their ancient\nlandmarks far behind us. Shame, indeed, would it be to us had we not\nthus advanced, for our opportunities of gaining knowledge are\nimmeasurably greater than those of any preceding generation.\n\nThe old herbals and books of travels abound in curious examples of the\nquaint beliefs of our forefathers, while their treatises on natural\nhistory are a still richer storehouse. Many of the old tomes, again,\non the science of heraldry give other curious notions respecting the\ndifferent animals introduced. Some of these animals, as the dragon or\nthe griffin, are undoubtedly of the most mythical nature, yet we find\nthem described in the most perfect good faith, and without the\nslightest suspicion as to their real existence. We shall have occasion\nto refer to several of the works of these old writers, and we will,\nwithout further preface, take down from our book-shelf a little book\nentitled \"A Description of 300 Animals.\"[1]\n\n  [1] The name of Thomas Bewick is to all book-collectors \"familiar in\n  their mouths as household words,\" and we rarely read the account of\n  the dispersal of any large library or the choice collection of some\n  bibliophile without finding that it contained a choice edition of\n  Bewick's \"quadrupeds\" or \"birds\"--a \"lot\" that always calls for a\n  keen competition. It is interesting to know that the book we have\n  named above considerably influenced him, and in no slight degree led\n  to the production of the works that will always remain his monument,\n  for we find him writing to a friend of his--\"From my first reading,\n  when a boy at school, a sixpenny history of birds and beasts, and\n  then a wretched composition called the 'History of Three Hundred\n  Animals,' to the time I became acquainted with works of natural\n  history written for the perusal of men, I was never without the\n  design of attempting something of this kind myself.\"\n\nNo one person appears on the title-page as author, but it is stated\nthat it is extracted from the best authorities and adapted to the use\nof all capacities. It is also illustrated with copper-plates \"whereon\nis curiously engraven every beast, bird, fish, serpent, and insect,\ndescribed in the whole book.\" The word \"curiously\" is very happily\nchosen, and most happily describes the extraordinary nature of the\nillustrations. The preface shows us that the primary intention of the\nbook was the instruction and entertainment of the young, and after\nwading painfully through the cumbrous Roman figures, the long array of\nC's, X's, and the like, we find that the date of the treatise was\n1786, or just a hundred years ago. Let us, then, dip here and there\ninto it and see what \"the best authorities\" could teach our\ngrandfathers when their youthful minds would know something of the\nwonders of creation. The lion, as the king of beasts, heads the list.\n\"He is generally of a dun colour, but not without some exceptions, as\nblack, white, and red, in Ethiopia and some other parts of Africa.\"\nThe red lion, then, it would appear, is no mere creation of the\nlicensed victualler or Garter King-at-Arms, no mere fancy to deck a\nsignboard withal or emblazon on a shield of honour, but a living\nverity; and we may pause to remark that almost all the most wonderful\nthings in the book have their home in Africa, not as now the\nplayground of the Royal Geographical Society, but an unknown land full\nof wonder and mystery, of which nothing is too marvellous to be\nimpossible. We are told, too, that the lion sleeps with his eyes open,\nand many other curious details follow. On the next page the unicorn is\nin all sober seriousness described. \"His head resembles a hart's, his\nfeet an elephant's, his tail a boar's, and the rest of his body a\nhorse's. The horn is about a foot and a half in length, his voice is\nlike the lowing of an ox, his horn is as hard as iron and as rough as\nany file.\" Burton in his \"Miracles of Art and Nature,\" published in\n1678, says that in Ethiopia \"some Kine there are which have Horns like\nStags; other but one Horn only, and that in the Forehead, about a foot\nand a half long, but bending backward.\" It will be seen that Burton\ndoes not identify these with the so-called unicorn, but the passage is\nin some degree suggestive. Any one who has noticed the fine series of\nantelopes in the collection of the Zoological Society of London will\nscarcely have failed to observe the length and straightness of the\nhorns of some of the species, while they are often so close together\nand so nearly parallel in direction, that any one seeing the animals\nat a little distance away, and so standing that one of their horns\ncovers the other, might well be excused for starting the idea of\nsingle-horned animals. Great virtues are attributed to the horn of the\nunicorn, as the expelling of poison and the curing of many diseases.\nThe unicorn is very familiar to us as one of the supporters of the\nroyal arms, but the form we know so well does not altogether agree\nwith that described. The heraldic unicorn is in all respects a horse\nsave and except the horn, while our old author tells us of the head of\na stag and the feet of an elephant. The creature is sometimes referred\nto in our English version of the Bible, and has thus become one of the\nanimals introduced in symbolic and religious art. In some of the\npassages it would clearly seem to indicate that in the very early days\ndealt with in some of the books of the Bible there was a general\nbelief in some such creature, while in others probably the word is\nrather introduced in error by our translators--an error that may very\nwell be pardoned when we find the animal gravely described in the much\nmore recent book before us. In the book of Job, the earliest in point\nof time in the whole Bible, the belief in some such animal seems very\ndistinctly indicated in the words, \"Will the unicorn be willing to\nserve thee or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his\nband in the furrow, or will he harrow the valleys after thee?\" In the\n92d Psalm the peculiar feature that gives the creature its name is\nespecially referred to in the words, \"My horn shalt thou exalt like\nthe horn of a unicorn.\" The reference is always to some wild and\npowerful animal; thus in Exodus we read, \"His horns are like the horns\nof unicorns;\" and again in one of the psalms we find David crying,\n\"Save me from the lion's mouth, for Thou hast heard me from the horns\nof the unicorns.\" Other passages might be quoted, but these will amply\nsuffice to indicate the very early belief in some such creature. The\nform is frequently seen in the earliest Christian art, as in the\ncatacombs of Rome, the havens of refuge for the living and the\nresting-places of the dead followers of the new faith. Our\nillustration is a facsimile of that in the \"Description of 300\nAnimals.\"\n\n  [Illustration: {THE UNICORN}]\n\nFor some reason that we cannot now discover, the unicorn was an\nespecial favourite with the Scotch heralds, and it is from them that\nwe derive it in our royal arms. Before the union of the two monarchies\nthe supporters of the arms of the English monarchs had been very\nvarious, though in almost every case a lion had been one of the two\nemployed,[2] while in Scotland for several reigns before the\namalgamation of the two countries the supporters had been two\nunicorns. It was very naturally arranged, therefore, when the two\nkingdoms were fused together on the death of Elizabeth, that the joint\nshield should be supported by the lion of England and the unicorn of\nScotland. The creature freely occurs as a device on the Scottish\ncoinage; one piece especially is by collectors called the unicorn,\nfrom the conspicuous introduction of the national device.\n\n  [2] As for example:--Henry VI., Lion and Antelope; Edward IV., Lion\n  and Bull; Edward V., Two Lions; Richard III., Lion and Boar; Henry\n  VII., Lion and Dragon; Henry VIII., Lion and Dragon; Mary, Lion and\n  Greyhound; Elizabeth, Lion and Greyhound.\n\nWe have already indicated that potent virtues were believed to reside\nin the horn of the unicorn. In the Comptes Royaux of France in 1391 we\nfind a golden cup with a slice of this horn in it for testing the food\nof the Dauphin, and again in the inventory of Charles V.--\"Une touche\nde licorne, garnie d'or, pour faire essay.\" Decker, again, in 1609\nspeaks of \"the unicorn, whose horn is worth a city.\" In Mrs. Bury\nPalliser's most interesting work of \"Historic Badges and Devices\" we\nfind an illustration of the standard of Bartolomeo d'Alviano. He was a\ngreat champion of the Orsini family, and took a leading part in all\nthe feuds that devastated Central Europe during his lifetime. His\nstandard bears the unicorn, surrounded by snakes, toads, and other\nreptiles then rightly or wrongly held poisonous; these he is moving\naside with his horn, and above is the motto, \"I expel poisons\"--he,\nd'Alviano, of course, being the lordly and potent unicorn, his foes\nthe creeping things to be driven from his face.[3]\n\n  [3] The English Cyclop\u00e6dia of Natural History gives a description by\n  Ctesias of the Indian ass. He says that these animals are as large\n  as horses, and larger, having a horn on the forehead, one cubit\n  long, which for the extent of two palms from the forehead is\n  entirely white; above, it is pointed and red, being black in the\n  middle. Of this horn drinking-cups are formed, and those who use\n  them are said not to be subject to spasm or epilepsy, nor to the\n  effects of poison, provided, either before or after taking the\n  poison, they drink out of the cup wine, water, or any other liquid.\n\n  One of the Arabian annalists, El Kazwini, has much to say about the\n  magical and curative properties of these cups; and a yet fuller\n  notice of them appears in Lane's \"Arabian Nights,\" chap. xx. note\n  32. It is also stated that most of the Eastern potentates possessed\n  one of these cups. In Hyder Ali's treasury at Tanjore was found a\n  specimen.\n\n  In \"Uganda and the Egyptian Soudan,\" by the Rev. C. T. Wilson and\n  R. W. Felkin, vol. ii. p. 275, we read:--\n\n  \"Cups made of rhinoceros horn are supposed to have the peculiar\n  virtue of detecting poison in coffee and sherbet. Often, when\n  drinking for the first time in a strange house, one of these cups is\n  offered to assure the visitor that no foul play is contemplated.\n  These are considered most valuable presents and a mark of lasting\n  friendship and esteem.\"\n\nIn the \"Display of Heraldry\" published by John Guillim in the year\n1679 we read--\"It hath been much questioned amongst naturalists, which\nit is that is properly called the Unicorn; and some have made doubt\nwhether there be any such Beast as this or no. But the great esteem of\nhis horn (in many places to be seen) may take away that needless\nscruple.\" Having thus satisfactorily established the existence of such\na creature he naturally feels at full liberty to group around the\ncentral fact divers details, as, for instance, that \"the wild Beasts\nof the wilderness use not to drink of the Pools, for fear of venomous\nSerpents there breeding, before the Unicorn hath stirred it with its\nhorn.\"\n\nIt seems to have been a debateable point whether the unicorn had ever\nbeen taken alive, but Guillim decisively negatives the idea, and\nnaturally avails himself of it for the greater glorification of the\ncreature and of its service in his beloved science of heraldry. He\nlays down the broad fact that the unicorn is never taken alive, and\nhere surely we can thoroughly go with him; but \"the reason being\ndemanded, it is answered that the greatness of his mind is such that\nhe chuseth rather to die, wherein the unicorn and the valiant-minded\nsoldier are alike, which both contemn death, and rather than they will\nbe compelled to undergo any base servitude and bondage they will lose\ntheir lives.\"\n\nPhilip de Thaun, on the other hand, not only admits the idea that the\nunicorn may be captured alive, but gives the full receipt for doing\nso. It would appear that, like Una's lion, the animal is of a\nparticularly impressionable nature, and is always prepared to do\nhomage to maiden beauty and innocence, and this amiable trait in its\ncharacter is basely taken advantage of. \"When a man intends to hunt\nand take and ensnare it he goes to the forest where is its repair, and\nthere places a virgin. Then it comes to the virgin, falls asleep on\nher lap, and so comes to its death. The man arrives immediately and\nkills it in its sleep, or takes it alive and does as he will with it.\"\nThe young ladies of that very indefinite date must have possessed\nconsiderably more courage and nerve than some of their sisters of the\npresent day, who show symptoms of hysteria if they find themselves in\nthe same room with a spider--a considerably less severe test than an\ninterview in the dark shades of the forest with an amorous unicorn.\nOne cannot, however, help feeling that the victim of misplaced\nconfidence comes out of the transaction most creditably, and that both\nman and maiden must have felt what schoolboys call \"sneaks.\"\n\nThe unicorn, alive or dead, seems to have eluded observation in a\nwonderful way, and the men of science were left to extract their facts\nfrom the slightest hints, in the same way that distinguished\nanatomists and geologists of these later days are enabled to build up\nan entire animal from one or two isolated bones. The process, however,\ndoes not seem, in the case of the earlier men, to have been a very\nsuccessful one, and there is consequently a great clashing amongst the\nauthorities, and one of the medi\u00e6val writers, feeling the difficulty\nof drawing any very definite result from the chaos before him, adopts\nthe plan, in which we humbly follow him, of simply putting it all down\njust as it comes to hand, and leaving his readers to make the best\nthey can of it. He writes as follows:--\n\n\"Pliny affirmeth it is a fierce and terrible creature, Vartomannus a\ntame animal: those which Garcias ab Horto described about the Cape of\nGood Hope were beheld with heads like horses, those which Vartomannus\nbeheld he described with the head of a Deere: Pliny, \u00c6lian, Solinus,\nand Paulus Venetus affirm the feet of the Unicorn are undivided and\nlike the Elephant's, but those two which Vartomannus beheld at Mecha\nwere, as he described, footed like a Goate. As \u00c6lian describeth it, it\nis in the bignesse of an Horse, that which Thevet speaketh of was not\nso big as an Heifer, but Paulus Venetus affirmeth that they are but\nlittle lesse than Elephants.\"\n\nOn turning to the records of a distinguished French Society\nestablished in 1633 we come across many strange items. These records\nare entitled \"A general collection of the Discourses of the Virtuosi\nof France, upon questions of all sorts of philosophy and other natural\nknowledge, made in the Assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the\nmost ingenious persons of that nation.\" Their meetings were termed\nconferences, and there are notes of two hundred and forty of these.\nThe subjects discussed covered a very wide field, the following being\nsome few amongst them--Of the end of all things, of perpetual motion,\nof the echo, of how long a man may continue without eating, whether is\nto be preferred a great stature or a small, of the loadstone, of the\norigin of mountains, and who are the most happy in this world, wise\nmen or fools. Some of these subjects are now definitely settled, while\nothers are as open to discussion as ever, as, for example, the\nquestions whether it be expedient for women to be learned, and whether\nit be better to bury or to burn the bodies of the dead. In this great\naccumulation of the notions of the seventeenth century we find,\namongst other items that more especially concern our present purpose,\ndiscussions on genii, on the phoenix, and on the unicorn.\n\nIn the early days of a similar institution, our own Royal Society--a\nbody which is now so staid, and which focuses all the most important\nscientific results of the day to itself--many points were discussed in\nperfect good faith that are now consigned to oblivion--the trees that\ngrow diamonds, the rivers that run precious gems, and the seeds that\nfell from heaven being amongst these; while at another meeting we find\nthe Duke of Buckingham presenting the Society with a piece of the horn\nof the unicorn.\n\nThe old writers had no very definite system, and though the author of\nthe \"Book of the 300 Animals\" may seem to have exercised a certain\nfitness in discussing the unicorn directly after the lion, the\nconjunction is probably wholly accidental, as the creatures dwelt on\nsucceed each other in all such books in the most arbitrary way. The\nnext animal to which we would refer is the wolf. He is not absolutely\nthe next in the series, but we manifestly cannot deal with the whole\nthree hundred, so we pick out here and there divers quaint examples of\nwhat we may be allowed to term this unnatural history. We are told\nthat \"the wolf is a very ravenous creature, and as dangerous to meet\nwith, when hungry, as any beast whatever, but when his stomach is\nfull, he is to men and beasts as meek as a lamb. When he falls upon a\nhog or a goat, or such small beasts, he does not immediately kill\nthem, but leads them by the ear, with all the speed he can, to a crew\nof ravenous wolves, who instantly tear them to pieces.\" We should have\nthought that the reverse had been more probable, that the wolves that\nhad nothing would have come with all the speed they could upon their\nmore successful companion; but if the old writer's story be true, it\nopens out a fine trait of unselfishness in the character of this\nmaligned communard. It was an old belief, a fancy that we find in the\npages of Pliny, Theocritus, Virgil, and others, that a man becomes\ndumb if he meets a wolf and the wolf sees him first. A medi\u00e6val writer\nexplains this as follows:--\"The ground or occasionall originall hereof\nwas probably the amazement and sudden silence the unexpected\nappearance of Wolves doe often put upon travellers, not by a supposed\nvapour or venemous emanation, but a vehement fear which naturally\nproduceth obmutescence and sometimes irrecoverable silence. Thus birds\nare silent in presence of an Hawk, and Pliny saith that Dogges are\nmute in the shadow of an Hy\u00e6na, but thus could not the mouths of\nworthy Martyrs be stopped, who being exposed not only unto the eyes\nbut the mercilesse teeth of Wolves, gave loud expressions of their\nfaith, and their holy clamours were heard as high as heaven.\" Scott\nrefers to the old belief in his \"Quentin Durward.\" In the eighteenth\nchapter our readers will find as follows:--\"'Our young companion has\nseen a wolf,' said Lady Hameline, 'and has lost his tongue in\nconsequence.'\" The thirteenth animal is the \"Rompo\" or Man-eater; he\nis \"so called because he feeds upon dead men, to come at which he\ngreedily grubs up the earth off their graves, as if he had notice of\nsomebody there hid. He keeps in the woods; his body is long and\nslender, being about three feet in length, with a long tail. The\nnegroes say that he does not immediately fall on as soon as he has\nfound the body, but goes round and round it several times as if afraid\nto seize it. Its head and mouth are like a hare's, his ears like a\nman's, his fore feet like a badger's, and his hinder feet like a\nbear's. It has likewise a mane. This creature is bred in India and\nAfrica.\" Concerning the buffalo we read, \"It is reported of this\ncreature that when he is hunted or put into a fright he'll change his\ncolour to the colour of everything he sees; as amongst trees he is\ngreen, &c.\" The Manticora is one of the strange imaginings of our\nforefathers. In the illustration in the book (of which our figure is a\nreproduction) it has a human head and face and a body like that of a\nlion; a thick mane covers the neck; its tail is much longer in\nproportion than that of a lion, and has at its extremity a most\nformidable collection of spiky-looking objects; these in the\ndescription are said to be stinging and sharply-pointed quills. He is\nas big as a lion. \"His voice is like a small trumpet. He is so wild\nthat it is very difficult to catch him, and as swift as an hart. With\nhis tail he wounds the hunters, whether they come before him or behind\nhim. When the Indians take a whelp of this beast they bruise its tail\nto prevent it bearing the sharp quills; then it is tamed without\ndanger.\"\n\n  [Illustration: THE MANTICORA]\n\n  [Illustration: THE LAMIA]\n\nThe Lamia, too, is an extraordinary creature, and one that our not\nremote forefathers seem to have thoroughly believed in, for though the\nauthor says that there are many fictitious stories respecting it, he\ngoes on to describe it, and gives an illustration. It is thought to be\nthe swiftest of all four-footed creatures, so that its prey can seldom\nor never escape it. It is said to be bred in Libya, and to have a\nface like a beautiful woman, while its voice is the hiss of a serpent.\nThe body is covered with scales. The old author tells us that they\nsometimes devour their own young, and we may fairly hope that this\ncannibal propensity of theirs is the cause of their disappearance. In\nearlier times men believed in a monstrous spectre called an Empusa. It\ncould assume various forms, and it was believed to feed on human\nflesh. The Lami\u00e6, who took the forms of handsome and graceful women\nfor the purpose of beguiling poor humanity, and then sucked their\nblood like vampyres and devoured their flesh, were one form of Empusa.\nThe belief in some such creature seems to have been widespread; the\nmyth of the Sirens is, for example, very similar in conception. In\nMansfield Parkyns' \"Life in Abyssinia\" we read--\"There is an animal\nwhich I know not where to class, as no European has hitherto succeeded\nin obtaining a specimen of it. It is supposed by the natives to be far\nmore active, powerful, and dangerous than the lion, and consequently\nheld by them in the greatest possible dread. They look upon it more in\nthe light of an evil spirit, with an animal's form, than a wild beast;\nthey assert that its face is human.\" We learn, however, from the rest\nof the description, that this creature possesses itself of its prey by\nforce alone; the human face is one further feature of terror, but does\nnot, as in the previous case, serve to beguile mankind and lure them\nby its beauty to their fate.\n\nThe stag is said to be \"a great enemy to all kinds of serpents, which\nhe labours to destroy whenever he finds any, but he is afraid of\nalmost all other creatures.\" Many of these old beliefs were simply\nhanded down from generation to generation without question, or the\nopinions of the ancients accepted without experiment or inquiry. This\nbelief of the natural enmity of the stag to the serpent is at least as\nold as Pliny, and may be found duly set forth in the thirty-third\nchapter of his eighth book:--\"This kind of deere make fight with\nserpents, and are their natural and mortal enemies; they will follow\nthem to their verie holes, and then by the strength of drawing and\nsnuffing up their wind of their nostrils, force them out whether they\nwill or no. The serpent sometimes climbs upon its back and bites it\ncruelly, when the stag rushes to some river or fountain and throws\nitself into the water to rid itself of its enemy.\" This old belief\nmade the stag a favourite in the medi\u00e6val days of exaggerated\nsymbolism, its ruthless antipathy to the serpent rendering it not\ninaptly an emblem of the Christian fighting to the death against sin,\nand finding an antidote to its wounds in the fountain of living water.\nIt was also believed that stags \"passe the seas swimming by flockes\nand whole heards in a long row, each one resting his head upon his\nfellow next before him; and this they do in course, so as the foremost\nretireth behind to the hindmost by turnes, one after another.\" In this\nsupposed fact the seekers after symbol and hidden meaning found no\ndifficulty in recognising that comfort and support in all their trials\nthat all good men should at all times be ready to afford their\nfellows.\n\nThe tusks of the wild boar, we are told, cut like sharp knives when\nthe animal is alive, but lose their keenness at his death. It is said\nwhen this creature is hunted down his tusks are so inflamed that they\nwill burn and singe the hair of the dogs. The wild ox has a tongue so\nhard and rough that it can draw a man to him, \"whom by licking he can\nwound to death.\" The elephant, we are told on the same authority, has\ntwo tusks. \"One of them it keeps always sharp to revenge injuries,\nand with the other it roots up trees and plants for its meat. These\nthey lose once in ten years, which, falling off, they very carefully\nbury in the earth on purpose that men may not find them.\" The liver of\na mouse our forefathers believed to increase and decrease with the\nwaxing and waning of the moon. \"For every day of the moon's age there\nis a fibre increase in their liver.\" This rash and random assertion it\nwould be manifestly impossible either to prove or disprove, though one\nmay have one's own strong opinion on the matter. It would be necessary\nto kill the mouse to count the aforesaid fibres, and having killed it,\nthe morrow's extra age of the moon would bring no added fibres to the\nvictim of our credulity. Presently we come to the Potto, a creature\nthat is probably the same as we now call the sloth. The illustration\nshows us a most hopelessly helpless-looking animal, and in the\ndescription that accompanies it we are told that a whole day is little\nenough for it to advance ten steps forward. We are also informed that\nwhen he does climb a tree he does not leave it until he has eaten up\nnot only the fruit but all the foliage, when \"he descends fat and in\ngood case, but before he can get up another tree he loses all the\nadvantages of his previous good quarters and often perishes of\nhunger.\" Eighty-seven quadrupeds are dealt with, so it will be readily\nseen how little we have drawn upon the wealth of information the book\naffords.\n\n  [Illustration: {DRAGONS}]\n\nBook IV. of the treatise is devoted to the consideration of serpents\nand insects. Amongst serpents and insects the dragon naturally takes\nthe place of honour. The writer evidently has his doubts, and\ncarefully qualifies his description by a free use of the\nresponsibility evading formula \"it is said.\" He gives three\nillustrations. One of them represents a biped monster, crested and\nwinged; the second has lost his legs, though he retains crest and\nwings; while the third creature is of serpentine nature, has neither\nwings nor legs, and only differs from the serpent forms in the book by\nthe addition of his crest. The description runs as follows:--\"The\ndragon, as described in the numerous fables and stories of several\nwriters, may be justly questioned whether he really exists. I have\nread of serpents bred in Arabia, called Sirenas, which have wings,\nbeing very swift, running and flying at pleasure; and when they wound\na man he dieth instantly. These are supposed to be a kind of dragons.\nIt is said there are divers sorts of dragons or serpents that are so\ncalled, which are distinguished partly by their countries, partly by\ntheir magnitude, and partly by the different form of their external\nparts. They are said to be bred in India and Africa; those of India\nare much the largest, being of an incredible length; and of these\nthere are also said to be two kinds, one of them living in the\nmarshes, which are slow of pace and without combs on their heads; the\nother in the mountains, which are bigger and have combs, their backs\nbeing somewhat brown and their bodies less scaled. Some of them are of\na yellow fiery colour, having sharp backs like saws. These also have\nbeards. When they set up their scales they shine like silver. The\napples of their eyes are (it is said) precious stones, and as bright\nas fire, in which it is affirmed there is a great virtue against many\ndiseases. Their aspect is very fierce and terrible. Some dragons are\nsaid to have wings and no feet; some, again, have both feet and wings;\nand others neither feet nor wings, and are only distinguished from the\ncommon sort of serpents by the combs growing upon their heads and by\ntheir beards. Some do affirm that the dragon is of a black colour,\nsomewhat green beneath and very beautiful, that it has a triple row of\nteeth in each jaw, that it has also two dewlaps growing under the\nchin, which hang down like a beard of a red colour; and the body is\nset all over with sharp scales, and on the neck with thick hair, much\nlike the bristles of a wild boar.\" It will be seen by the foregoing\nthat the imagination of our ancestors was allowed free play, abundant\nvariety of form, magnitude, colour, and so forth being possible.\n\nThe dragon or winged serpent has formed a part in many creeds, and the\ndragon-slayer has been the hero of countless legends. The legend\nvaries with climate and country, and with the development of the race\nin which it is found; and yet the prophecies of the Bible of the\nultimate bruising of the serpent's head and the final victory over the\ndragon (\"That old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan\" Rev. xx. 2);\nthe legends of classic days, such as that of Perseus and Andromeda;\nthe still older struggles recorded in the slabs of Nineveh and\nPersepolis; the stories narrated to awed rings of listeners in the\nstillness of the Eastern night, or listened to by our children with\neager eyes and rapt attention in the homes of England; the mass of\nlegend that in medi\u00e6val times clustered around the names of God's\nfaithful ones; and the local traditions of every land, from the\nequator to the poles, all dwell on the mischievous presence of some\nevil principle and record the ultimate triumph of good. Beneath the\nmass of ever-varying fable stands the like foundation, the strife\nbetween the two antagonistic principles; and thus the wide world over,\nin every age and in every clime, the mind of man, in broken accents,\nit may be, and with faltering tongue, records with joy its upward\nstruggle, feels the need of help in the sore conflict, registers its\nbelief in final triumph. Though the dragon-conflict occurs in many\nliteratures, the same incidents occur over and over again, and we find\nin almost all the power and subtlety of the monster, the innocence and\nhelplessness of his victims, the suddenness of his attack on them, and\nthe completeness of his final overthrow, the dragon-slayers being the\nconquerors over tyranny and wrong, over paganism and every form of\ngodless evil.\n\nIn Egypt he was Typhon, in Greece, Python. In India he is Kalli Naga,\nthe thousand-headed, the foe and the vanquished of Vishnu. In\nAnglo-Saxon chronicles he is Lig-draca, the fire-drake or\ngodes-andsacan, the denier of God--always unsleeping, poison-fanged,\nrelentless, the terrible enemy of man, full of subtlety and full of\npower.\n\nOn the advent of Christianity these ancient legends were not wholly\ndiscarded, but suggested others of a like character, and a slight\nalteration transferred to saint or martyr those feats and victories\nwhich had formerly been ascribed to gods and demigods. It only\nremained for the new religion to point out the analogy, and to\nincorporate into itself the lessons they taught, the conflict won, the\nabnegation of self for the good of others.\n\nIt would take up far too much space if we were to endeavour to give\nmany of these legends in detail. In some cases they were doubtless\nintended as descriptions of an actual conflict, by force of arms, with\nsome real monster; but in others the conflict is allegorical; thus St.\nLoup, St. Martin of Tours, St. Hilary, and St. Donatus are all notable\ndragon-slayers, though the conflict was a mythical one, and their\nclaim to regard on this score is based really on their gallant fight\nwith either the heathenism of those amongst whom they laboured or the\nheresy of false brethren. The popular saint, too, receives often more\nthan his due at the hands of his admirers, and legends gather thickly\nround his name, and his so-called biography is often romance and\nhero-worship from beginning to end. St. Romanus at Rouen, St. Veran at\nArles, and St. Victor of Marseilles are all accredited with feats of\ndragon-slaying; but leaving them, St. Martial, St. Marcel, and many\nothers to other chroniclers, we content ourselves with referring to\ntwo illustrious saints alone--the first because she is a lady, and may\ntherefore well claim our courtesy, the second because he is our own\npatron saint.\n\nIt may not be generally known that the sister of Lazarus, the St.\nMartha of our legend, together with Mary Magdalene and two companions,\nMaxime and Marcellus, wandered so far away from Palestine as the\nshores of France. How much farther they may have intended to go the\nhistory does not tell us, but the untoward accident that stranded them\non the shores of Languedoc was a most fortunate circumstance for the\npeople of the district. The inhabitants of that region had been for\nsome time tormented by a monster who fed on human flesh and had a most\ndraconic appetite, and they at once appealed to these strangers to\nhelp them. This alone would seem to indicate the extremity in which\nthey found themselves, or they would scarcely have applied to four\nshipwrecked strangers, half of them women, for aid in the hour of\ntheir necessity. St. Martha, however, in pitying consideration for\ntheir sad plight, at once agreed to help them. She had hardly entered\nthe wood where the monster dwelt before the most frightful bellowings\nwere heard, at which all the people sorely trembled and naturally\nconcluded that this unarmed woman had fallen a victim to her temerity;\nbut this alarming bellowing shortly ceased, and soon after St. Martha\nreappeared, holding in one hand a little wooden cross, and in the\nother a ribbon, with which she led forth her interesting captive. She\nthen advanced into the middle of the town and presented the people\nwith the dragon, as embarrassing a present as the proverbial white\nelephant; but they seem to have risen to the occasion, for we find\nafterwards an annual festival held in honour of the Saint, while good\nKing R\u00e9n\u00e9 of Anjou instituted an Order of the Dragon for the more\neffectual keeping alive of the memory of the event. As St. Martha is\nmore especially set down in the \"Lives of the Saints\" as the patron\nsaint of good housewives, she might well have been excused had she\ndeclined a service in itself so dangerous and so far removed from the\ndaily round, the trivial task; but the overthrowing of the mighty by\nan instrument so weak gives additional point to the story, and\nvindicates triumphantly the power of faith over evil.\n\nThe \"Legenda Aurea,\" written by Jacobus de Voraigne, Archbishop of\nGenoa, in the year 1260, is what Warton termed \"an inexhaustible\nrepository of religious fable.\" For some centuries it was considered\nto have an almost sacred character, and its popularity was so great\nthat it passed through an immense number of editions in the Latin,\nDutch, German, and French languages. It should have the more interest\nto us, too, from the fact that it was one of the earliest of English\nprinted books, Caxton publishing the first English edition in 1493.\nThis was followed by other editions by Wynkyn de Worde in the years\n1498, 1512, and 1527. The following account of our patron saint is\ntaken from this source, a much less favourable history being found in\nGibbon's \"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.\"[4]\n\n  [4] Appendix A.\n\nOnce upon a time the neighbourhood of the city of Sylene was infested\nwith an enormous dragon, who, making a \"ponde, lyke a sea,\" which\nskirted the walls, his usual residence, was accustomed to envenom the\nmiserable citizens with his pestiferous breath, and therefore they\ngave him every day two sheep for his dinner, and when these were spent\nthey chose by lot a male and female, daily, whom they exposed to the\nmonster. At length, after many of the rich had been compelled to\nsacrifice their offspring, the lot fell upon the king's daughter, a\nlovely maiden, and the idol of a fond father, who, in the bitterness\nof his grief, entreated his subjects for the love of the gods to take\nhis gold and silver, and all that he had, and spare his child; but\nthey replied that he had himself made the law, and that they had\nsuffered in obeying it, and concluded by telling him that unless he\ncomplied with his own mandate, they would take off his head. This\nanswer only increased the king's affliction; but being anxious to\ndefer, if he could not avert, his daughter's death, he craved that a\nrespite of eight days might be given her; and his people, moved,\napparently, by the groans and tears of the sorrowful old man, granted\nhis request. When the stipulated time had elapsed, they came and said\nto him, \"Ye see how the city perisheth!\" So the monarch bade his child\narray herself in her richest apparel, and led her forth to \"the place\nwhere the dragon was, and left her there.\"\n\nIt chanced that St. George, who, like a true knight-errant, was\ntravelling in quest of dangerous adventures, arrived at the spot not\nlong after the king's departure, and was much astonished when he\nbeheld so fair a lady lingering there alone and weeping bitterly, and\nriding up he asked the cause of her sorrow. But she, unwilling to\ndetain him in a place so perilous, entreated him to leave her to her\nfate. \"Go on your way, young man,\" she said, \"lest ye perish also.\"\nBut St. George would know the truth, so the maiden told him. Then was\nthe knight's heart merry within him, and he rejoined, \"Fayre doughter,\ndoubte ye no thynge hereof, for I shall helpe thee in the name of\nJesu Christe.\" She said, \"For Goddes sake, good knyght, goo your waye,\nand abyde not wyth me, for ye may not deliver me.\" St. George,\nhowever, was of a different opinion, and indeed, had he resolved, upon\nsecond thoughts, to escape, he could not have done so, for the dragon,\nsmelling human flesh from afar, emerged from the lake while the lady\nwas speaking, and now came running towards his victim. Not a moment\nwas to be lost, so St. George crossed himself, drew his sword, and\nplacing his lance in the rest, rushed to meet the monster, who, little\nexpecting such a rough greeting, received the weapon \"in his bosom,\"\nand rolled over in the dust. Then said the victor to the rescued\nvirgin, \"Take thy girdle, and bind it round the dragon's neck;\" and\nwhen the lady had obeyed her champion, the monster followed her as if\nit had been \"a meek beeste and debonayre.\" And so she led him into the\ncity; and when the people saw her coming they fled with affright,\nexpecting to perish all of them; but St. George shouted, \"Doubt\nnothing, believe in God Jesus Christ, consent to be baptized, and I\nwill slay the dragon before your eyes.\" The citizens immediately\nconsented, so the Saint attacked the monster, and smote off his head,\nand commanded that he should be thrown into the green fields, and they\ntook four carts with oxen, and drew him out of the city. Then were\nfifteen thousand men baptized (without reckoning the women and\nchildren), and the king erected a church, and dedicated it to Our Lady\nand St. George, in which floweth \"a founteyne of lyuying water which\nheleth seeke people that drynke therof.\" After this the prince offered\nthe champion incalculable riches, but he refused them all, and\nenjoining the king to take care of the church, to honour the priests,\nand pity the poor, he kissed him and departed.\n\nSome time after this marvellous event the Emperor Diocletian so\ncruelly persecuted the Christians, that \"twenty-two thousand were\nmartyred in the course of one month,\" and many others forsook God and\nsacrificed to idols. When St. George heard this he laid aside his\narms, and sold his possessions, and took the habit of a \"crysten-man,\"\nand went into the midst of the \"paynims,\" and began to denounce their\ngods as devils. \"My God,\" cried he, \"made heaven and earth, He only is\nthe true God.\" Then said they to him, \"How dare ye defame our deities?\nWho art thou?--what is thy name?\"--\"My name is George; I am a\ngentleman and knight of Cappadocia, and I have left all to serve my\nLord,\" replied the Saint. Seeing that the stranger was no common man,\nthe ruler of that district endeavoured to gain him over with fair\nwords, but finding the knight inflexible, he tied him aloft on a\ngibbet, and caused him to be cruelly beaten; and then, having rubbed\nsalt into his wounds, he bound him with heavy chains and thrust him\ninto a dark dungeon. But our Lord appeared to him that same night and\ncomforted him, \"moche swetely,\" so that the warrior took good heart\nand feared no torment which he might have to suffer. The chief\nmagistrate, whose name was Dacien, finding he could not shake his\nprisoner's faith by the infliction of torture, consulted with an\nenchanter, who agreed to lose his head should his \"crafts\" fail; and\ntaking strong poison, the wizard mingled it with wine and invoked his\ngods and gave it to the Saint, who, making the sign of the cross,\nthanked him kindly, and drank it off without injury. Astonished at the\nfailure of his plan, the magician made a draught still more venomous,\nand finding that this also had no ill effect on the charmed warrior,\nhe himself acknowledged the might of Christ, embraced St. George's\nknees, and entreated to be made a Christian,--and his request was\nimmediately granted.\n\nThe provost's fury knew no bounds when he witnessed these marvels. He\nstretched the champion on the rack, but the engine broke in pieces; he\nplunged him into boiling lead, and lo! the Saint came out \"refreshed\nand strengthened.\" When Dacien saw this he began to moderate his\nanger, and again had recourse to flattery, praying the Saint to\nrenounce his faith and sacrifice to the idols, and, much to his\nsurprise, the knight questioned him with a smiling countenance why he\nhad not asked him before, and promised to do his bidding. Then the\nprovost was glad indeed, and assembled all the people to see the\nchampion sacrifice. So they thronged the temple where the Saint was\nkneeling before the shrine of Jupiter, but he earnestly prayed a while\nto the true God, entreating Him to destroy those accursed images and\nconvert the deluded Romans,--\"and anone the fyre descended from heuens\nand brente the temple and the ydolles and theyr prestes;\" and\nimmediately after the earth opened and swallowed up all the ashes.\nThis last marvel only hardened the ruler's heart and strengthened him\nin his infidelity; he caused the warrior to be brought before him, and\nsternly reproved him for his duplicity. \"Thenne sayd to him Saynt\nGeorge, 'Syr, beleue it not, but come wyth me and see how I shall\nsacrefise.' Thenne said Dacyan to him, 'I see wel thy frawde and thy\ntreachery; thou wylt make the erthe to swalowe me lyke as thou hast\nthe temple and my goddes.'\"\n\nThen said St. George, \"O catiff, tell me how thy gods help thee when\nthey cannot help themselves?\" Then was the provost so enraged that he\nran to his wife, and, telling her that he should die of anger if he\ncould not master his prisoner, requested her counsel. \"Cruel tyrant,\"\nreplied his loving spouse, \"instead of plotting against this\nheaven-protected knight, I too am resolved to become a Christian!\"\n\"Thou wilt!\" returned her husband furiously, and taking her by her\nflowing tresses, he dashed her against the pavement, when, feeling\nherself in the agonies of death, she craved of St. George to know her\nfuture lot, seeing she had not been christened. Then answered the\nblessed Saint, \"Doubt thee nothing, fair daughter, for thou shalt be\nbaptized in thine own blood.\" Then began she to worship our Lord Jesus\nChrist, and so died and went to heaven. Thither the martyr followed\nher very shortly, for Dacien caused St. George to be beheaded, and \"so\nhe perished.\" But the cruel persecutor did not long survive his\nvictim, for as he was returning to his palace, says the legend, from\nthe place of execution, \"fire came down from heaven and destroyed him\nand all his followers.\"[5]\n\n  [5] Appendix B.\n\nIn the Middle Ages the dragon gave a title in Hungary to an order of\nknighthood, that of \"the dragon overthrown.\" This was established in\nthe year 1418, to perpetuate the memory of the condemnation of John\nHuss and Jerome of Prague by the Council of Constance for heresy, and\nto denote the overthrow of the doctrines these men propagated in\nHungary, Bohemia, and elsewhere in Germany, and for which they were\nultimately burnt at the stake. The badge of the order was a dragon\nprostrate. In China the dragon is the symbol of the Imperial power,\nand all our readers who are familiar with the appearance of the\nCelestial pottery, bronzes, and so forth, will readily recall how\ncommonly the form is introduced. Some little time ago the Chinese\nGovernment permitted coal-mines to be opened at Kai-ping, but they\nwere speedily closed again, as it was supposed that their continued\nworking would release the earth-dragon, disturb the Manes of the\nEmpress, and generally bring trouble upon the Imperial house and upon\nthe nation. Uncharitable people, however, have been found to declare\nthat the fear of the earth-dragon is all an excuse, and that, as the\nGovernment set its face against the introduction of railways, so it\nwas equally prepared, in its rigid conservatism and hatred of\ninnovations, to forswear the mining operations. The dragon of the\nChinese designers is of the weirdest forms, and conceived with a\nfreedom and wildness of fancy that puts to shame our Western attempts,\npowerful as they often are.\n\nAs a symbol and attribute the dragon is constantly appearing in\nmedi\u00e6val work, as carvings, illuminations, and the like, and we may\nremind our readers that in the term gargoyle, used in speaking of the\nstrange and monstrous forms often found in our old cathedrals and\nabbeys doing duty as water-shoots, we get the dragon idea again, as\nthe word is derived from an old French word signifying some such\ndraconic monster. While, however, we find ourselves thus classing the\ndragon amongst the mythical and arbitrary forms of the stone-carver or\nthe herald, we must be careful to remember that its terror had not\nthus in earlier days lost its sting, for the workman who sculptured it\non a capital or thrust its hideous form into any other noticeable\nposition not only regarded it as a symbol, but believed very really\nand truly in its veritable existence. Albertus Magnus gives a long\naccount of the creature, an account altogether too elaborate for us to\nhere transcribe; but its capture, according to him, is an easy matter\nenough if one only goes the right way to work. It was fortunately\nascertained that dragons are \"greatly afraid of thunder, and the\nmagicians who require dragons for their enchantments get drums, on\nwhich they roll heavily, so that the noise is mistaken for thunder by\nthe dragons, and they are vanquished.\" The thing is simplicity itself,\nand rather detracts from the halo of heroism that has hitherto\nsurrounded dragon vanquishers. A man is scarcely justified in blowing\nhis trumpet when he has previously so cowed his antagonist by beating\nhis drum and deluding its dull brains with his fictitious thunder.\nPliny says that the eyes of a dragon, preserved dry, pulverised and\nthen made up with honey, cause those who are anointed therewith to\nsleep securely from all dread of spirits of the darkness. In a\nmedi\u00e6val work we are told that \"the turning joint in the chine of a\ndragon doth promise an easy and favourable access into the presence of\ngreat lords.\" One can only wonder why this should be, all clue and\nthread of connection between the two things being now so hopelessly\nlost. We must not however forget that, smile now as we may at this,\nthere was a time when our ancestors accepted the statement with the\nfullest faith, and many a man who would fain have pleaded his cause\nbefore king or noble bewailed with hearty regret his want of draconic\nchine, the \"turning-point\" of the dragon and of his own fortunes.\nAnother valuable receipt--\"Take the taile and head of a dragon, the\nhaire growing upon the forehead of a lion, with a little of his marrow\nalso, the froth moreover that a horse fomethe at the mouth who hath\nwoon the victorie and prize in running a race, and the nailes besides\nof a dogs-feete: bind all these together with a piece of leather made\nof a red deers skin, with the sinewes partly of a stag, partly of a\nfallow deere, one with another: carry this about with you and it will\nwork wonders.\" It seems almost a pity that the actual benefits to be\nderived from the possession of this compound are not more clearly\ndefined, as there is no doubt that a considerable amount of trouble\nwould be involved in getting the various materials together, and the\nzeal and ardour of the seeker after this wonder-working composition\nwould be somewhat damped by the troublesome and recurring question,\nWherefore? Medi\u00e6val medicine-men surely must have been somewhat chary\nof adopting the now familiar legend \"Prescriptions accurately\ndispensed,\" when the onus of making up such a mixture could be laid\nupon them. John Leo, in his \"History of Africa\" says that the dragon\nis the progeny of the eagle and wolf. After describing its appearance,\nhe says--\"This monster, albeit I myself have not seen it yet, the\ncommon report of all Africa affirmeth that there is such a one.\" Other\nwriters affirm that the dragon is generated by the great heat of India\nor springs from the volcanoes of Ethiopia; and one is tempted to take\nthe prosaic view that this dragon rearing and slaying is but a more\npoetic way of dwelling on some miasmatic exhalation reduced to\nharmlessness by judicious drainage; that the monster that had slain\nits thousands was at last subdued by no glittering spear wielded by\nknightly or saintly arm, but by the spade of the navvy and the\ndrain-pipes of the sanitary engineer. Father Pigafetta in his book\ndeclares that \"Mont Atlas hath plenty of dragons, grosse of body, slow\nof motion, and in byting or touching incurably venomous. In Congo is a\nkind of dragons like in biggnesse to rammes with wings, having long\ntayles and divers jawes of teeth of blue and greene, painted like\nscales, with two feete, and feede on rawe fleshe.\" We cannot ourselves\nhelp feeling that if we saw a dragon like in bigness to a ram we\nshould so far be disappointed in him. After having had our imagination\nfilled by legend after legend we should look for something decidedly\nbulkier than that, and should feel that he really was not living up to\nhis reputation. Abundant illustrations of the most unnatural history\nmay be found in the works of Aldrovandus: his voluminous works on\nanimals are very curious and interesting, and richly illustrated with\nengravings at least as quaint in character as the text. His\n\"Monstrorum Historia,\" published in folio at Bologna in 1642, is a\nperfect treasure-house; the various volumes range in date from 1602 to\n1668, and are, with one exception (Venice), published at either\nBologna or Frankfort. If any of our readers can get an opportunity of\nlooking through them they will find themselves well repaid.\n\nAmongst the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum will be found\nAubrey's \"Gentilisme and Judaisme.\" His remarks on St. George and the\ndragon are sufficiently quaint and interesting to justify insertion\nhere. \"Dr. Peter Heylin,\" he says, \"did write the Historie of St.\nGeorge of Cappadocia, which is a very blind business. When I was of\nTrin. Coll. there was a sale of Mr. William Cartright's (poet) books,\nmany whereof I had: amongst others (I know not how) was Dr. Daniel\nFeatley's Handmayd to Religion, which was printed shortly after Dr.\nHeylin's Hist. aforesaid. In the Holyday Devotions he speaks of St.\nGeorge, and asserts the story to be fabulous, and that there never was\nany such man. William Cartright writes in the margent--For this\nassertion was Dr. Featley brought upon his knees before William Laud,\nAbp. of Canterbury. See Sir Thomas Browne's 'Vulgar Errors' concerning\nSt. George, where are good Remarks. He is of opinion that ye picture\nof St. George was only emblematical. Methinks ye picture of St. George\nfighting with ye Dragon hath some resemblance of St. Michael fighting\nwith the Devil, who is pourtrayed like a Dragon. Ned Bagshaw of Chr.\nCh. 1652, shewed me somewhere in Nicophorus Gregoras that ye picture\nof St. George's horse on a wall neighed on some occasion.\"\n\nA vast amount of learning upon the subject of our patron saint may be\nfound in Selden's \"Titles of Honour,\" in which he treats of \"The\nchiefest testimonies concerning St. George in the Western Church, and\na consideration how he came to be taken for the patron saint of the\nEnglish nation.\" Selden originally inclined to the idea that the saint\nfirst stepped into this exalted position in the reign of Edward III.,\nbut in \"a most ancient Martyrologie\" that he afterwards came\nacross--one of Saxon date in the library of one of the Cambridge\nColleges--he found a sufficient testimony that the position of the\nsaint as patron of Britain dated from a much earlier time.\n\nPeter Suchenwirt, a German poet of the fourteenth century, gives in\none of his poems a very curious and striking illustration of the\nesteem in which at the battle of Poictiers the English soldiers held\ntheir patron saint:--\n\n    \"Di Frantzois schrienn 'Nater Dam!'\n    Das spricht Unser Fraw mit nam;\n    Der  chrey erhal;\n    'Sand Jors! Sand Jors!'\"\n\n    \"The French shout forth 'Notre Dame,'\n    Thus calling on our Lady's name;\n    To which the English host reply,\n    'St. George! St. George!' their battle cry.\"\n\nThe Celtic use of the word dragon for a chieftain is curious: in time\nof danger a sort of dictator was appointed under the title of\npen-dragon. Hence any of the English knights who slew a chieftain in\nbattle were dragon vanquishers, and it has been suggested that the\nmilitary title was at times confused with that of the fabulous\nmonster, and that a man thus got an added credit that did not belong\nto him. The theory is not, however, really tenable, as all the\nveritable dragon-slayers had the great advantage of living a long time\nago, and no such halo of romance could well have attached itself to\nmen of comparatively modern times. In any case, too, the use of the\nCeltic word is very local, and does not meet the case of a tithe of\nthe histories of such deeds of valour. The red dragon was the ensign\nof Cadwallader, the last of the British kings. The Tudors claimed\ndescent from this ancient monarch, and Henry VII. adopted this device\nfor his standard at the battle of Bosworth Field. There is a place in\nBerkshire called Dragon Hill, near Uffington, and the more famous\nWhite Horse Hill, that is in local legend the scene of the encounter\nbetween St. George and the dragon; and for full confirmation a bare\nplace is shown on the hillside where nothing will grow, because there\nthe poisonous blood of the creature was shed. We learn, however, in\nthe Saxon annals that Cedric, the West-Saxon monarch, overthrew and\nslew here the pen-dragon Naud, with five thousand of his men. The name\nof the hill, therefore, commemorates this ancient victory; but the\ncommon folk of the district, who know nothing of pen-dragons,\nerroneously ascribe the battle won there to the more familiar St.\nGeorge.\n\nThe dragon of Wantley deserves a passing word, since he supplies a\ngood illustration of how the mythical and the material are often mixed\nup. Wantley is merely a corruption of Wharncliffe, a delightful\nspot[6] near Sheffield, and here, of all places in the world, this\nvery objectionable dragon took up his abode. One ordinarily expects to\nhear of such creatures uncoiling their monstrous forms in some dense\nmorass or lurking in the dark recesses of some wide-stretching and\ngloomy forest; possibly he may have found the choice of such an\nattractive locality may have helped him to an occasional tourist. On\nthe opposite side of the Don to the crag that held the cave of the\ndragon stood the desirable residence of More Hall; and its owner,\ndoubtless feeling that the presence of such an objectionable neighbour\nwas a great depreciation of his property, determined one day to bring\nmatters to a crisis; so he walked up to the mouth of the cave clad in\na suit of armour thickly covered with spikes, and administered such a\nvigorous kick in the dragon's mouth, the only place where he was\nvulnerable, that the whole transaction was over almost at once, and he\nwas back again in ample time for lunch. Dr. Percy, the editor of\n\"Reliques of Antient English Poetry,\" holds that we must not accept\nthis story too seriously; that, in fact, the old ballad in which it is\nset forth is a burlesque, and that the real facts are as\nfollows:--that the dragon was an overbearing and rascally lawyer who\nhad long availed himself of his position and influence to oppress his\npoorer neighbours, but he capped a long series of dishonest and\ndisreputable actions by depriving three orphan children of an estate\nto which they were entitled. A Mr. More generously took up their\ncause, brought all the armoury of the law to bear upon the spoiler,\nand completely defeated him, and the thievish attorney shortly\nafterwards died of chagrin and vexation.\n\n  [6] Lady Mary Wortley Montagu lived here for some time. Writing\n  afterwards from Avignon, and dwelling on the exquisite landscape\n  there spread out before her when standing on the Castle height, she\n  exclaims that \"it is the most beautiful land prospect I ever saw,\n  except Wharncliffe.\"\n\n    \"Old stories tell how Hercules\n      A dragon slew at Lerna,\n    With seven heads and fourteen eyes,\n      To see and well discern-a;\n    But he had a club this dragon to drub,\n      Or he had ne'er done it, I warrant ye;\n    But More of More Hall, with nothing at all,\n      He slew the dragon of Wantley.\n\n    This dragon had two furious wings,\n      Each one upon each shoulder;\n    With a sting in his tayl, as long as a flayl,\n      Which made him bolder and bolder.\n    He had long claws, and in his jaws\n      Four-and-forty teeth of iron;\n    With a hide as tough as any buff,\n      Which did him round environ.\n\n    Have you not heard how the Trojan horse\n      Held seventy men in his belly?\n    This dragon was not quite as big,\n      But very near, I tell ye.\n    Devour\u00e9d he poor children three,\n      That could not with him grapple;\n    And at one sup, he eat them up,\n      As one would eat an apple.\n\n    All sorts of cattle this dragon did eat,\n      Some say he did eat up trees,\n    And that the forests sure he could\n      Devour up by degrees:\n    For houses and churches were to him geese and turkeys:\n      He eat all, and left none behind,\n    But some stones, dear Jack, that he could not crack,\n      Which on the hills you will find.\n\n    In Yorkshire, near fair Rotherham,\n      The place I know it well;\n    Some two or three miles, or thereabouts,\n      I vow I cannot tell;\n    But there is a hedge, just on the hill edge,\n      And Matthew's house hard by it;\n    O there and then was this dragon's den,\n      You could not chuse but spy it.\n\n    Hard by a furious knight there dwelt,\n      Of whom all towns did ring;\n    For he could wrestle, play quarterstaff, kick and cuff,\n      And any such kind of a thing;\n    By the tail and the main with his hands twain\n      He swung a horse till he was dead,\n    And that which is stranger, he in his anger\n      Eat him all up but his head.\n\n    These children, as I told, being eat;\n      Men, women, girls and boys,\n    Sighing and sobbing, came to his lodging,\n      And made a hideous noise:\n    'O save us all, More of More Hall,\n      Thou peerless knight of these woods;\n    Do but slay this dragon, who won't leave us a rag on,\n      We'll give thee all our goods.'\n\n    'Tut, tut,' quoth he, 'no goods I want;\n      But I want, I want, in sooth,\n    A fair maid of sixteen that's brisk and keen,\n      And smiles about the mouth:\n    Hair black as sloe, skin white as snow,\n      With blushes her cheeks adorning;\n    To anoynt me o'er night, ere I go out to fight,\n      And to gird me in the morning.'\n\n    This being done, he did engage\n      To hew the dragon down;\n    But first he went, new armour to\n      Bespeak at Sheffield town;\n    With spikes all about, not within but without,\n      Of steel so sharp and strong;\n    Both behind and before, arms, legs, and all o'er,\n      Some five or six inches long.\n\n    Had you but seen him in this dress,\n      How fierce he looked and how big,\n    You would have thought him for to be\n      Some Egyptian porcupig:\n    He frighted all, cats, dogs, and all,\n      Each cow, each horse, and each hog;\n    For fear they did flee, for they took him to be\n      Some strange outlandish hedge-hog.\n\n    It is not strength that always wins,\n      For wit doth strength excell;\n    Which made our cunning champion\n      Creep down into a well,\n    Where he did think this dragon would drink,\n      And so he did in truth;\n    And as he stooped low he rose up and cried 'boh!'\n      And hit him in the mouth.\n\n    Our politick knight, on the other side\n      Crept out upon the brink,\n    And gave the dragon such a crack,\n      He knew not what to think.\n    'Aha,' quoth he, 'say you so, do you see?'\n      And then at him he let fly\n    With hand and with foot, and so they both went to't,\n      And the word it was, hey, boys, hey!\n\n    'Oh,' quoth the dragon with a deep sigh,\n      And turned six times together,\n    Sobbing and tearing, cursing and swearing,\n      Out of his throat of leather;\n    'More of More Hall! O thou rasc\u00e0l!\n      Would I had seen thee never;\n    With that thing at thy foot thou hast pricked me sore,\n      And I'm quite undone for ever.'\n\n    'Murder, murder,' the dragon cried,\n      'Alack, alack, for grief;\n    Had you but missed that place, you could\n      Have done me no mischief.'\n    Then his head he shaked, he trembled and quaked,\n      And down he laid and cried;\n    First on one knee, then on back tumbled he,\n      And groaned, and kicked, and died.\"\n\nWe sometimes see allusions in poetry and the press to the sowing of\ndragons' teeth. The reference is always to some subject of civil\nstrife, to some burning question that rouses the people of a state to\ntake up arms against each other.\n\nThe incident is derived from the old classic legend of the founding of\nThebes by Kadmos. Arriving on the site of the future city, he proposed\nto make a sacrifice to the protecting goddess Athene, but on sending\nhis men to a not far distant fountain for water, they were attacked\nand slain by a terrible dragon. Kadmos thereupon went himself and slew\nthe monster, and at the command of Athene sowed its teeth in the\nground, from whence immediately sprang a host of armed giants. These\non the instant all turned their arms against each other, and that too\nwith such fury that all were presently slain save five. Kadmos invoked\nthe aid of these giants in the building of the new city, and from\nthese five the noblest families of Thebes hereafter traced their\nlineage. The myth has been the cause of much perplexity to scholars\nand antiquaries, but it has been fairly generally accepted that the\nslaying of the dragon after it had destroyed many of the followers of\nKadmos indicates the final reduction of some great natural obstacle,\nafter some few or more had been first vanquished by it. We may imagine\nsuch an obstacle to colonisation as a river hastily rising and\nsweeping all before it in its headlong flood, or an aguish and\nfever-breeding morass. The springing-up of the armed men from the soil\nhas been construed as signifying that the Thebans in after times\nregarded themselves as the original inhabitants of the country--no\nmere interlopers, but sons of the soil from time immemorial; while\ntheir conflicts amongst themselves, as their city rose to fame, have\nbeen too frequently reflected time after time elsewhere to need any\nvery special exposition.\n\nAnother literary allusion in which the dragon bears its part is seen\nin the dragonnades, those religious persecutions which drove so many\nthousands of Protestants out of France during the Middle Ages. Their\nobject was to root heresy out of the land. Those who were willing to\nrecant were left in peaceable possession of their goods, while the\nothers were handed over to the tender mercies of the soldiery let\nloose upon them. These were chiefly dragoons; hence the origin of the\nterm dragonnade; and these dragoons were so called because they were\narmed with a short musket or carbine called a dragon, while the gun in\nturn was so called because it spouted out fire like the dreadful\nmonsters of the legends were held to do. On many of the early muskets\nthis idea was emphasised by having the head of a dragon wrought on the\nmuzzle, the actual flash of the piece on its discharge issuing from\nits mouth.\n\nOne naturally turns to Shakespeare for an apt illustration of any\nconceivable point that may arise. The lover finds in him his tender\nsonnets, the lawyer his quillets of the law, the soldier the\nglorification of arms, and the philosopher rich mines of wisdom. The\nantiquary finds in him no less a golden wealth of allusion to all the\ncustoms and beliefs of his day. In \"Midsummer Night's Dream\" we find\nthe lines--\n\n    \"Night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,\n    And yonder comes Aurora's harbinger.\"\n\nWe get much the same idea again in the line in \"Cymbeline\"--\"Swift,\nswift you dragons of the night,\" and in \"Troilus and Cressida\"--\"The\ndragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth.\" \"Scale of dragon, tooth\nof wolf,\" and many other horrible ingredients are found in the\nwitches' caldron in \"Macbeth,\" while in \"King Lear\" we are advised not\nto come \"between the dragon and his wrath.\" King Richard III. rushes\nto his fate with the words, \"Our ancient word of courage, fair St.\nGeorge, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons.\" In \"Coriolanus\"\nwe find another admirable allusion--\n\n    \"Though I go alone, like to a lonely dragon that his fen\n    Makes feared and talked of more than seen.\"\n\nIn the play of \"Pericles\" we have the lines--\n\n    \"Golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched,\n    For death-like dragons here affright thee hard.\"\n\nAnd there are other references in \"Romeo and Juliet\" and other\nplays--references that it is needless here to give, as enough has been\nquoted to show our great poet's realisation of this scaly monster of\nthe marsh and forest. In the last extract we have given, that from\n\"Pericles,\" the golden fruit are the apples of the Hesperides, guarded\nby the dragon Ladon, foul offspring of Typhon and Echidna. Allusions\nto this golden fruit are very common amongst the poets, so we content\nourselves with quoting as an illustration one that is less well known\nthan many, from a poem by Robert Greene in the year 1598:--\n\n    \"Shew thee the tree, leafed with refin\u00e8d gold,\n    Whereon the fearful dragon held his seat,\n    That watched the garden called Hesperides.\"\n\nThe dragon, like the griffin, is oftentimes the fabled guardian of\ntreasure: we see this not only in the classic story of the garden of\nthe Hesperides, but more especially in the tales of Eastern origin.\nAny of our readers who have duly gone through much of the \"Arabian\nNights' Entertainments\" will scarcely have failed to notice the\nemployment of the dragon as a defender of gold and other hoarded\nwealth. Guillim, in his quaint book on heraldry, says that these\ntreasures are committed to their charge \"because of their admirable\nsharpness of sight, and for that they are supposed of all other living\nthings to be the most valiant.\" He goes on to add that \"they are\nnaturally so hot that they cannot be cooled by drinking of water, but\nstill gape for the air to refresh them, as appeareth in Jeremiah xiv.\n6, where it saith that the 'wild asses did stand in the high places,\nthey snuffed up the wind like dragons.'\" Any one who has been in any\nmountainous district in hot weather will no doubt have noticed the\ncattle fringing the ridges of the hills like a row of sentinels. When\nwe first observed this, and wondered at it, in North Wales, we were at\nonce told that it was a regular habit of the creatures, that they did\nit partly to avoid the plague of flies that haunted the lower levels\nand the woodlands, but more especially to get the benefit of any\nbreeze that might be stirring. While Guillim is willing to admit that\neven a dragon can render valuable service to those who are so\nfortunate as to be able to procure his kind offices, and induce him to\nplay the part of watchdog, he very properly regards him, and such like\nmonsters, as something decidedly uncanny. \"Another sort there is,\" he\nsays, \"of exorbitant Animals much more prodigious than all the former.\nSuch are those creatures formed, or rather deformed, with the confused\nshapes of creatures of different kinds and qualities. These monsters\n(saith St. Augustine) cannot be reckoned amongst those good Creatures\nthat God created before the transgression of Adam, for those did God,\nwhen He took the survey of them, pronounce to be _valde bona_, for\nthey had in them neither excess nor defect, but were the perfect\nworkmanship of God's creation. If man had not transgressed the Law of\nhis Maker this dreadful deformity (in likelihood) had not happened in\nthe creation of animals which some Philosophers do call _Peccata\nNatur\u00e6_.\"\n\nThe dragon, though, as we have seen, at times induced to mount guard\nover other people's property, is ordinarily a very Ishmaelite; his\nhand is against everybody, and everybody's hand against him; yet would\nhe appear, if we may credit Pliny, to bear an excess and maximum of\nill-will against the elephant. The elephant always strikes one as\nbeing such a great good-natured beast, as one who could do so much\nmischief if he would, yet spends his strength instead for the good of\nothers, that it is difficult to understand how he should in so\npre-eminent a degree have earned the ill-will of so potent an enemy.\nThe dragon would appear to be always the aggressor, and the elephant\nhas to defend himself as well as he can against the uncalled-for\nattack: it is satisfactory in this case to know that the scaly\nassailant sometimes fully meets his match. In Book VIII. of Pliny's\nhistory we read that \"India bringeth forth the biggest elephants, as\nalso the dragons, that are continually at variance with them, and\nevermore fighting, and those of such greatnesse that they can easily\nclasp and wind them round the elephants, and withall tie them fast\nwith a knot. In this conflict they die, both the one and the other;\nthe elephant hee falls downe dead as conquered, and with his great and\nheavie weight crusheth and squeaseth the dragon that is wound and\nwreathed about him. Also the dragon assaileth him from an high tree,\nand launceth himselfe upon him, but the elephant knowing well enough\nhe is not able to withstand his windings and knottings about him,\nseeketh to come close to some trees or hard rocks, and so for to crush\nand squeese the dragon between him and them. The dragons ware hereof,\nentangle and snare his feet and legs first with their taile; the\nelephants on the other side undoe those knots with their trunke as\nwith a hand, but to prevent that againe, the dragons put in their\nheads into their snout, and so stop their wind, and withall fret and\ngnaw the tenderest parts that they find there.\" One does not quite\nunderstand how this last counter-plan of the dragon is effected, but\nit is evidently to be understood as equivalent to \"checkmate.\"\n\nIn the \"Bestiare Divin\" of Guillaume this antagonism of the elephant\nand dragon is again referred to, and indeed we find it an accepted\nbelief throughout the Middle Ages. Pliny's work was held for centuries\nin the greatest admiration, and to add \"as Pliny saith\" to any\nstatement, no matter how wild, was considered amply sufficient.\nGuillaume's description of the dragon is as follows--\"C'est le plus\ngrand des animaux rampants. Il nait en \u00c9thiopie: il a la gueule petit,\nle corps long et reluisant comme or fin. C'est l'ennemie de\nl'\u00e9l\u00e9phant; c'est avec sa queue qu'il triomphe de lui: l\u00e0 est, en\neffet, le principe de sa force; sa gueule ne porte point venin de\nmort.\" The book of Guillaume is a fair type of several books of the\nsort written by ecclesiastics during the Middle Ages. Such books were\nan attempt to show that all the works of nature were symbols and\nteachers of great Scriptural truths; hence, while much that they give\nis interesting, their statements always require to be received with\ngreat caution. If the facts of the case got at all in the way of a\ngood moral, so much the worse for the facts; and if a little or a\ngreat modification of the true state of the case could turn a good\nmoral into one much better, the goodness of the intention was held to\namply justify the departure from the hampering influence of the real\nfacts. The MS. of Guillaume dates from the thirteenth century, and is\nat present preserved in the National Library in Paris. The writer was\na Norman priest. The work has been very well reproduced in a French\ndress by Hippeau, a compatriot of the writer.[7] As we simply wish in\nour extract to bring out the belief in the antagonism between the\nelephant and the dragon, we forbear to add any moral teachings that a\nmore or less morbid symbolism was able to deduct from the\nsupposititious fact; but we shall have occasion to quote again more\nthan once from the \"Bestiare,\" and doubtless the peculiar connection\nbetween scientific error and religious truth will have an opportunity\nof making itself felt in one or more of these extracts.\n\n  [7] Appendix C.\n\nReferring back to the \"300 Animals,\" the natural history that was\nconsidered good enough for the people living in the year of grace\n1786, we find, after the account of the Dart, \"so called from his\nflying like an arrow from the tops of trees and hedges upon men, by\nwhich means he stings and wounds them to death,\" the following\ndescription:--\"The Cockatrice is called the king of serpents, not from\nhis bigness--for he is much inferior in this respect to many\nserpents--but because of his majestic pace, for he does not creep upon\nthe ground, like other serpents, but goes half upright, for which\ncause all other serpents avoid him; and it seems nature designed him\nthat pre-eminence, by the crown or coronet upon his head. Writers\ndiffer concerning the production of this animal. Some are of opinion\nthat it is brought forth of a cock's egg sat upon by a snake or toad,\nand so becomes a cockatrice. It is said to be half a foot in length,\nthe hinder part like a serpent, the fore part like a cock. Others are\nof opinion that the cock that lays the egg sits upon and hatches it\nhimself. These monsters are bred in Africa and some parts of the\nworld.\" In England it would appear, so far as we have observed the\nmatter, that the hens have entirely usurped the egg-laying department,\nand we are therefore spared the mortification of finding that our\nhoped-for chick has assumed the less welcome form of a cockatrice, for\nwe shall see that the advent of a cockatrice is no laughing matter.\nThe book goes on to tell us that authors differ about the bigness of\nit, for some say it is a span in compass and half a foot long, while\nothers, with a truer sense of the marvellous, realise more fully that\nbulk is a potent element in all such matters, and at once make it four\nfeet long. Its poison is so strong that there is no cure for it, and\nthe air is in such a degree affected by its presence that no creature\ncan live near it. It kills, we are assured, not only by its touch, but\neven the sight of the cockatrice, like that of the basilisk, is death.\nWe read, for instance, in \"Romeo and Juliet\" of \"the death-darting eye\nof cockatrice;\" and again in \"King Richard III.\"--\"A cockatrice hast\nthou hatched to the world whose unavoided eye is murtherous;\" while in\n\"Twelfth Night\" we find the passage, \"This will so fright them both,\nthat they will kill one another by the look, like cockatrices.\" After\nthis we can scarcely wonder at a certain vagueness of description, as\nthose who never saw the animal have full licence of description, while\nthose, less fortunate, who have had an opportunity of studying from\nthe life have forfeited their own in doing so. The only hope of\ngetting an idea of it would be the discovery of a dead specimen, for\nwe read that \"as all other serpents are afraid of the sight and\nhissing of a cockatrice, so is the cockatrice itself very fearful of a\nweasel, which after it has eaten rue will set upon and destroy the\ncockatrice. Besides this little creature, it is said there is no\nother animal in the world able to contend with it.\" We can well\nimagine the indignant astonishment of the cockatrice, after being for\nyears the monarch of all it surveyed, when the gallant little weasel,\nstrong in the triple armour which makes a quarrel just, and duly\nfortified by the internal application of rue, charges boldly home and\ntakes him, _monstrorum rex_, by the throat. At the time that our\nauthorised version of the Old Testament was made there was a\nsufficient belief in the creature to make the translation of some\nHebrew word seem correctly rendered by the word cockatrice, for we\nread in the book of Isaiah that one sign of the millennial peace shall\nbe that the child shall put his hand, unharmed, upon the den of the\ncockatrice; and a little farther on we find the passage, \"For out of\nthe serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall\nbe a fiery flying serpent.\" In the fifty-ninth chapter the workers of\niniquity are described as hatching the cockatrice egg, and amongst the\njudgments pronounced upon the impenitent Jews by the prophet Jeremiah\nwe find the verse, \"Behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, amongst\nyou, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you.\" The heraldic\ncockatrice is represented as having the head and legs of a cock, a\nscaly and serpent-like body, and the wings of a dragon.\n\nGuillim[8] in his \"Heraldry\" says that \"the Cockatrice is called in\nLatin Regulus, for that he seemeth to be a little King among Serpents:\nnot in regard of his Quantity, but in respect of the Infection of his\npestiferous and poisonous Aspect wherewith he poisoneth the Air. Not\nunlike those devillish Witches that do work the Destruction of silly\nInfants, as also of the Cattel of such their Neighbours whose\nprosperous Estate is to them a most grievous Eye-sore. Of such Virgil\nin his Bucolicks makes mention, saying, I know not what wicked Eye\nhath bewitched my tender Lambs.\" The belief in the evil eye has been\nalmost universal, and may be found in tribes the most remote from each\nother either in distance or in time. If it were not that Guillim is so\nostentatiously loyal, and, like all heralds, a zealous upholder of\nrank and state, one might suspect him almost of a touch of bitter\nsarcasm in ascribing royal rank to the cockatrice, not from his\nmagnanimity, not from his noble bearing, not from his beauty, but from\nthe power of inflicting injuries that he so especially displays. When\nwe consider what sort of a sovereign politically, socially, and every\nway the second Charles was, Guillim's dedication of his book to him\nerrs somewhat, perhaps, on the side of fulsome and sickening\nadulation:--\"To the most August Charles the Second, King of Great\nBritain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. Dread\nSovereign, Here is a Firmament of Stars that shine not without your\nBenign Beam; you are the Sun of our Hemisphere that sets a splendour\non the Nobility: For as they are Jewels and Ornaments to your Crown,\nso they derive their lustre and value from thence. From your Breast,\nas from a Fountain, the young Plants of honour are cherisht and nurst\nup. Your vertuous Atcheivements are their Warrant and Example, and\nyour Bounty the Guerdon of their Merit. And as all the Roman Emperors\nafter Julius C\u00e6sar, were desirous to be called Imperatores and C\u00e6sares\nafter him, so shall all succeeding Princes in this our Albion (in\nemulation of your Vertues) be ambitious to bear your Name to\nPosterity.\"\n\n  [8] The reader must notice the near approach to similarity of name\n  in the Frenchman Guillaume, author of \"Le Bestiare Divin,\" and in\n  the Englishman Guillim, the writer on heraldry, and at the same time\n  make due discrimination. They are men of widely different periods,\n  and approach our subject from wholly different directions.\n\nThe Basilisk, to whom also was given the title of king of the\nserpents, was another of the stern, very stern realities of our\nforefathers, though, like the cockatrice, it has fallen a victim to\nthe march of intellect. Its royal rank was bestowed upon it not from\nits pestiferous qualities, but from the crest or coronet it wears, or\nrather wore, as the species may now be considered extinct. Like the\nmonstrous kraken of the Norway seas and the classic harpy or minotaur,\ndown to the sheeted spectre that clanked its chains last century in\nchurchyard or corridor, it has failed to make good its claims to our\ncredence; and even the great sea-serpent, that from time to time\nappears in the columns of the newspapers when Parliament is not\nsitting, will have to appear very visibly elsewhere as well, or the\nscepticism of the nineteenth century will disestablish it. The\nbasilisk was by some old writers described as a huge lizard, but in\nlater times it became a crested serpent. Exact accuracy on this point\nwas impossible, as, like the cockatrice, the glance of its eye was\ndeath. Pliny says, \"We come now to the basiliske, whom all other\nserpents do flie from and are afraid of; albeit he killith them with\nhis very breath and smell that passeth from him: yea, and by report,\nif he do but set his eye on a man it is enough to take away his life.\"\nReaders of Shakespeare will recall the passage in King Henry VI.,\n\"Come, basilisk, and kill the innocent gazer with thy sight;\" and\nagain where the Lady Anne exclaims to Richard III., with reference to\nher eyes, \"Would that they were basilisk's, to strike thee dead.\"\nBeaumont and Fletcher, too, in their \"Woman Hater,\" speaks of \"The\nbasilisk's death-doing eye.\" Dryden avails himself of the same old\nbelief, and makes Clytus say to Alexander, \"Nay, frown not so; you\ncannot look me dead;\" and in another old poem, King's \"Art of Love,\"\nwe find the lines, \"Like a boar plunging his tusk in mastiff's gore,\nor basilisk, when roused, whose breath, teeth, sting, and eyeballs all\nare death.\" The only way to kill the basilisk was held to be to cause\nit to gaze on its own image in a mirror, when its glance would be as\nfatal to itself as it had hitherto been to others. To effect this,\nhowever, evidently presents many practical difficulties, and he must\nhave been a bold man who ventured on so perilous an errand, where the\nleast nervousness or mismanagement of the mirror would be literally\nfatal in bringing the basilisk to a proper state of reflection.\n\nThe basilisk is mentioned by most of the old writers, by Dioscorides,\nby Galen, Pliny, Solinus, \u00c6lian, \u00c6tius, Avicen, Ardoynus, Grevinus,\nand many others. Aristotle makes no mention of it. Scaliger gravely\ndescribes one that was found in Rome in the days of Leo IV., while\nSigonius and others are so far from denying the possibility of such a\nbeast that they have duly set forth various kinds or sub-species.\nPliny, for instance, describes a thing he calls the Catoblepas, while\n\u00c6tius gives details of another called Dryinus, each being only\nmodifications of the basilisk idea. Where, of course, the whole thing\nwas purely a figment of the imagination, the multiplication of species\npresents no difficulty at all, and it really makes little difference\nwhether all the peculiarities and properties be focussed on one\ncreature, or whether they be divided by a three or a four, and due\ndistribution of them made to a like number of slightly varying\nmonsters. There is no doubt but that if Baron Munchausen had turned\nhis attention to this branch of natural history, we should have had\nmany more species to record, and some of them probably still more\nwonderful than any at present described. The very indefiniteness of\nthe descriptions gives them an added charm and affords full scope for\nromancing. Familiarity is undoubtedly likely to lead to contempt, and\nprobably if the Zoological Society of London are ever able to add a\nbasilisk to their fine collection of reptiles it will be a very\ndisappointing feature.\n\nThe Phoenix had what we may be allowed to call a literary existence\namongst the Greeks and Romans, but scarcely became a visible creation\nof the artist until the mythic fowl was accepted by the early\nChristians as a type of the resurrection of the body--an association\nof ideas that afterwards rendered its use very common, and Tertullian,\namongst other early writers, thus refers to its symbolic use.\nAccording to a tale narrated to Herodotus on his visit to Heliopolis,\nthe phoenix visited that place once every 500 years, bringing with it\nthe body of its predecessor, and burning it with myrrh in the\nsanctuary of the Sun-god; but the version on which the Christian moral\nand application is based is somewhat different. It is founded on the\nold belief that the phoenix, when it arrived at the age of 1461 years,\ncommitted itself to the flames that burst, at the fanning of its\nwings, from the funeral pyre that it had itself constructed of costly\nspices, and that from its ashes a new phoenix arose to life. This\nbelief, which appears to us so absurd, was for hundreds of years as\naccepted a fact as any other point in natural history. The home of the\nphoenix was said to be at that delightfully vague address, somewhere\nin Arabia.\n\nIn Hoole's translation of the \"Orlando Furioso\" of Ariosto we have\nboth the mystic bird and its very indefinite home thus referred to:--\n\n    \"Arabia, named the Happy, now he gains;\n    Incense and myrrh perfume her grateful plains;\n    The Virgin Phoenix there in seek of rest,\n    Selects from all the world her balmy nest.\"\n\nWe get the same idea again in Fletcher's poem of \"The Purple\nIsland\":--\n\n    \"So that love bird in fruitful Arabie,\n      When now her strength and waning life decays,\n    Upon some airy rock or mountain high,\n      In spicy bed (fix'd by near Phoebus' rays),\n    Herself and all her crooked age consumes.\n    Straight from her ashes and those rich perfumes,\n    A new-born phoenix flies, and widow'd place resumes.\"\n\nThese two extracts speak respectively of the virgin and widowed\nphoenix. The latter idea can scarcely be correct; widowhood implies\nthe loss of a mate, and the phoenix, we are told, is unique and alone\nin the world. Pliny and Ovid use the masculine pronoun. The former\nwriter's account of him, her, or it will be found in the second\nchapter of his tenth book, and runs as follows:--\"It is reported that\nnever man was knowne to see him feeding; that in Arabie hee is held a\nsacred bird, dedicated unto the Sunne; that he liveth six hundred\nyears, and when he groweth old and begins to decay, he builds himselfe\na nest with the twigs and branches of the cannell or cinnamon and\nfrankincense trees; and when he hath filled it with all sort of sweet\naromiticall spices, yieldeth up his life thereupon. He saith,\nmoreover, that of his bones and marrow there breedeth at first, as it\nwere, a little worme, which afterwards proveth to bee a pretie bird.\nAnd the first thing that this young phoenix doth is to performe the\nobsequies of the former phoenix late deceased; to translate and carie\naway his whole nest into the citie of the Sunne, near Panch\u00e6, and to\nbestow it there full devoutly upon the altar.\"\n\nIt was one of the venerable jokes of our fathers that a man hearing\nthat a goose would live one hundred years, determined to buy one and\nsee whether this really was so; but this simple plan does not seem to\nhave occurred to any of the ancients, for while Herodotus affirms that\nthe phoenix lives five hundred years, Pliny as plumply and roundly\nasserts as a matter beyond doubt or contradiction that it is six\nhundred. Another authority, more precise, though perhaps not more\naccurate, brings it, we see, to just one thousand four hundred and\nsixty one, the odd unit giving a delightful appearance of extreme\naccuracy and precision that seems to challenge one to gainsay it if he\ndare.\n\nIn Ovid the fable is given with the fullest detail. The following\nlines from Dryden's translation let us into the secret of how the\nwhole thing is managed. \"Our special correspondent\" could hardly be\nmore precise:--\n\n    \"All these receive their birth from other things,\n    But from himself the phoenix only springs;\n    Self-born, begotten by the parent flame\n    In which he burn'd, another and the same;\n    Who not by corn or herbs his life sustains,\n    But the sweet essence Amomum he drains;\n    And watches the rich gums Arabia bears,\n    While yet in tender dews they drop their tears.\n    He (his five centuries of life fulfill'd)\n    His nest of oaken boughs begins to build,\n    On trembling tops of palms:[9] and first he draws\n    The plan with his broad bill and crooked claws,\n    Nature's artificers: on this the pile\n    Is formed and rises round: then with the spoil\n    Of Cassia, Cynamon, and stems of Nard\n    (For softness strewed beneath) his funeral bed is reared.\n    Funeral and bridal both: and all around\n    The borders with corruptless myrrh are crowned.\n    On this incumbent, till ethereal flame;\n    First catches then consumes the costly frame;\n    Consumes him, too, as on the pile he lies:\n    He lived on odours, and on odours dies.\n      An infant phoenix from the former springs,\n    His father's heir, and from his tender wings\n    Shakes off his parent dust, his method he pursues,\n    And the same lease of life on the same terms renews.\n    When grown to manhood he begins his reign,\n    And with stiff pinions can his flight sustain;\n    He lightens of his load the tree that bore\n    His father's royal sepulchre before,\n    And his own cradle: this with pious care\n    Placed on his back, he cuts the buxom air,\n    Seeks the Sun's city, and his sacred church,\n    And decently lays down his burden in the porch.\"\n\n  [9] Appendix D.\n\nThe phoenix was a good deal employed during the Middle Ages, like the\ngriffin, salamander, and other mythical creatures, as a badge or\nheraldic device, one of the most interesting illustrations being its\nuse by Jane Seymour. Queen Elizabeth then adopted it, and thereby gave\nthe court poets a grand opportunity of yielding her that highly spiced\nflattery that was so much to her liking. Sylvester, in his \"Corona\nDedicatoria,\" a poem written at a slightly later period, thus\nintroduces the title:--\n\n    \"As when the Arabian (only) bird doth burne\n    Her aged body in sweet flames to death,\n    Out of her cinders a new bird hath breath,\n    In whom the beauties of the first return;\n    From spicy ashes of the sacred urne\n    Of our dead phoenix (deere Elizabeth)\n    A new true phoenix lively flourisheth.\"\n\nShakespeare frequently employs the ideas associated with the mythical\nbird in his writings, and seems to have thoroughly mastered all that\ncould be said on the subject. Some half-dozen passages may readily be\nquoted as illustrations of this. In \"As you Like It,\" for example, we\nfind the line, \"She could not love me, were man as rare as phoenix;\"\nand the idea of its unique character is again brought out in\n\"Cymbeline,\" in the passage, \"If she be furnished with a mind so rare,\nshe is alone the Arabian bird.\" The destruction of the bird on its own\nfuneral pile and the resurrection of its successor therefrom is\nseveral times referred to. In 1 Henry VI. we read, \"But from their\nashes shall be reared a phoenix that shall make all France afeared;\"\nand in 3 Henry VI., \"My ashes, as the phoenix, may bring forth a bird\nthat will revenge upon you all;\" while as a final example we may quote\nthe line in Henry VIII., \"But as, when the bird of wonder dies, the\nmaiden phoenix, her ashes new create another heir.\"\n\nRichardson ascribes an age of one thousand years to the phoenix, and\nadds a detail that many of the older writers seem to have missed;\naccording to him the bird has fifty orifices in his bill, and when he\nhas built his funeral pyre he treats the world to a melodious ditty\nthrough this novel wind instrument, flaps his wings with an energy\nthat soon sets fire to the pile, and so perishes. There seems a hint\nof this vocal and instrumental performance in \"Paradise and the Peri\"\nwhere the poet Moore refers to\n\n    \"The enchanted pile of that lonely bird,\n    Who sings at the last his own death lay,\n    And in music and perfume dies away.\"\n\nThe Alchemists employed the phoenix as a symbol of their hopes and\nvocation, and in Paracelsus and other writers many curious details of\nits association with alchemy may be found.\n\nIn the annals of Tacitus we find references to what is termed the\nphoenix period. According to him the phoenix appeared on five\noccasions in Egypt--in the reign of Sesostris, B.C. 866; in the reign\nof Am-Asis B.C. 566; in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphos, B.C. 266;\nin the reign of Tiberius, A.D. 34; and in the reign of Constantine,\nA.D. 334. It will seem from this that the phoenix cycle consisted of\nperiods of about 300 years (another variation from the estimates of\nPliny and other writers quoted). The old monastic writers draw\ningenious parallels between our Saviour and the phoenix, both\nsacrificing themselves when their career is over, and both rising\nagain in glory from their temporary resting-place. The fourth of the\ndates given above is at once the alleged date of one of these\nappearances of the phoenix and also that of the great sacrifice on\nCalvary.\n\nThough it seems a tremendous drop from the mythical phoenix of Arabia\nand its dissolution in fragrant spices to the old Dun Cow in\nWarwickshire, yet the latter proved herself, if legends may be\ncredited, a foe fully worthy of the prowess of a right knightly arm,\nand as deserving of our notice as the dragon-slaying of that valiant\nbrother star of chivalry St. George himself. Sir Guy of Warwick takes\na high place amongst the famous ancient champions, and Dugdale and\nother good authorities hold that the stories connected with his name\nare not wholly apocryphal, though doubtless the monks and other early\nchroniclers drew the long bow at a venture sometimes. Dugdale, in his\n\"Warwickshire,\" A.D. 1730, writes--\"Of his particular adventures, lest\nwhat I say should be suspected for fabulous, I will onely instance\nthat combat betwixt him and the Danish champion, Colebrand, whom some\n(to magnifie our noble Guy the more) report to have been a giant. The\nstorie whereof, however it may be thought fictitious by some,\nforasmuch as there be those that make a question whether there was\never really such a man, yet those that are more considerate will\nneither doubt the one nor the other, inasmuch as it hath been so usual\nwith our ancient Historians, for the encouragement of after ages unto\nbold attempts, to set forth the exploits of worthy men with the\nhighest encomiums possible; and therefore, should we be for that cause\nso conceited as to explode it, all history of those times might as\nwell be vilified.[10] And having said thus much to encounter with the\nprejudicate fancies of some and the wayward opinions of others, I come\nto the story.\" We do not ourselves propose to \"come to the story,\"\nthough it is all duly set down in Dugdale; though if the fact of Guy's\nDanish antagonist being a giant could be fully substantiated, he might\nperhaps claim a place in our pages. The date of the combat seems to\nhave been the year 929. The exploits of Guy were long held in high\nfavour not only in England but abroad; we find a French version dated\n1525, and the British hero is referred to in a Spanish romance which\nwas written almost a hundred years before this. Chaucer evidently knew\nthe story well, for he tells us that\n\n    \"Men speken of romances of price,\n    Of Horne Childe and Ippotis,\n    Of Bevis and Sir Guy;\"\n\nwhile Shakespeare, in \"King Henry VIII.,\" makes one of his characters\nsay, \"I am not Samson, nor Sir Guy, nor Colbrand, to mow them down\nbefore me.\"\n\n  [10] Appendix E.\n\nIn Percie's \"Reliques of Antient Poetry\" is a long black letter ballad\nupon the exploits of Guy. It seems unnecessary to quote it _in\nextenso_, so we pick out a verse here and there, sufficient at least\nto show how doughty a champion our hero must have been:--\n\n    \"I slew the gyant Amarant\n      In battle fiercelye hand to hand:\n    And doughty Barknard killed I,\n      A treacherous knight of Pavye land.\n\n    Then I to England came againe,\n      And here with Colbronde fell I fought:\n    An ugly gyant whom the Danes\n      Had for their champion hither brought.\n\n    I overcame him in the field,\n      And slewe him soone right valliantlye;\n    Wherebye this land I did redeeme\n      From Danish tribute utterlye.\n\n    And afterwards I offered upp\n      The use of weapons solemnlye\n    At Winchester, whereas I fought,\n      In sight of manye farr and nye.\n\n    But first, near Winsor, I did slaye\n      A bore of passing might and strength;\n    Whose like in England never was\n      For hugenesse both of bredth and length.\n\n    Some of his bones in Warwicke yet,\n      Within the castle there do lye,\n    One of his shield-bones to this day\n      Hangs in the citye of Coventrye.\n\n    On Dunsmore heath I alsoe slewe\n      A monstrous wyld and cruell beast,\n    Called the Dun-Cow of Dunsmore heath,\n      Which manye people had opprest.\n\n    Some of her bones in Warwicke yett\n      Still for a monument doe lye;\n    Which unto every lookers viewe\n      As wondrous strange, they may espye.\n\n    A dragon in Northumberland,\n      I alsoe did in fight destroye,\n    Which did both man and beast oppresse,\n      And all the countrye sore annoye.\n\n    My body that endured this toyle,\n      Though now it be consumed to mold;\n    My statue faire engraven in stone,\n      In Warwicke still you may behold.\"\n\nThe origin of the story of the mythical dun cow is lost in obscurity,\nbut in the north-west of Shropshire will be found an eminence known\nlocally as the Staple Hill, and on this a ring of stones of the rude\nDruidic type seen in various parts of England, and most notably at\nAvebury, in Wiltshire. This circle is some ninety feet or so in\ndiameter, and legend has it that this enclosure was used by a giant as\na cow-pen. This cow was no ordinary creature, but yielded her milk\nmiraculously, filling any vessel that was brought to her. She seems to\nhave deeply resented the act of an old crone in bringing her a sieve\nthus to fill, construed it into a direct insult to her powers (though\none scarcely sees on what ground), broke loose from her enclosure, and\nwandered into Warwickshire, doing enormous mischief, until her career\nwas cut short by the redoubtable Guy. Bones of the dun cow may be seen\nin many places, a circumstance that is explained by telling us that on\nthe victory of the knight over the cow he sent its bones far and wide\nover the district it had ravaged, as tokens of victory and a manifest\nproof that the monster was no longer to be dreaded. At Warwick a rib\nis exhibited: this is some seven feet long, and at Coventry there is a\ngigantic blade-bone some eleven feet round. In some cases these\nprobably are the bones of whales, and in others of the wild bonasus or\nurus; but it must be distinctly understood that they do not give\ncredibility to the legend, but only, in fact, derive an added glory\nfrom being associated with it. In the fine old church of Chesterfield\nis another gigantic rib some seven feet or more in length and a foot\nin circumference. This rests on the altar-tomb of a now unknown\nknight, whose marble effigy is represented clothed in a suit of\narmour, and local tradition has naturally bestowed on the once\nnameless warrior the proud title of Guy, Earl of Warwick. Another big\nrib may be seen in the grand church of St. Mary Redcliff at Bristol.\nNear it used to be suspended a grimy old picture representing a\nfierce-looking dun cow, and, though the inference was sufficiently\nobvious, the sexton, in showing people round, used to boldly affirm\nthat this undoubtedly was one of the ribs of the monster slain by Sir\nGuy. Both rib and picture may now possibly be removed in deference to\nmore modern ideas, but they certainly were there within a very recent\nperiod. A third rib may be seen at Caerleon, once a place of much\nimportance, but now an insignificant little town, and chiefly\ninteresting from its association with the history of the great King\nArthur. Caerleon boasts a museum containing a very valuable collection\nof Roman and old British relics, and here too is the rib in question.\nIt has only recently been removed from the church, and it is, by the\nway, curious to note the association of these bones with churches in\nalmost every case. In the church of Pennant Melangell, in\nMontgomeryshire, is another gigantic rib said by some of the natives\nto be that of a giant, while others affirm that it is one of the ribs\nof St. Monacella, to whom the church is dedicated. As the bone is over\nfour feet long, her stature must have been something considerable\naltogether. Another big bone is in the church at Mallwyd, in the same\ncounty. In Buckland's \"Curiosities of Natural History\" it is stated\nthat \"the ribs of the dun cow at Warwick and the gigantic rib at St.\nMary's, Bristol, are the bones of whales;\" and in his interesting\naccount of the whale he mentions that he found whale-bones in all\nparts of the country, one of them being a large blade-bone hanging\nfrom a ceiling in Seven Dials. Assuming, as we probably may, that most\nif not all of these big bones scattered over the country are those of\nwhales, one is still at a loss to know how or why they got so\nscattered, and more especially why they were placed in the churches.\nThe legend of the dun cow appears to afford a very convenient popular\nexplanation of them, but one feels that there is a mystery that this\naccount does not dissipate.\n\nThe Salamander received its full mythical development during medi\u00e6val\ntimes, though the older writers refer to it occasionally. We see in\nthe writings of such men as Pliny the first steps taken towards the\nerection of that fabric of fancy and superstition that in the Middle\nAges was reared on so slight a foundation. Pliny asserts that the\nSalamander is made in the fashion of a lizard and marked with spots\nlike stars; that it is never seen during fair weather, but only in\nheavy rain; and that it is of so cold a nature that if it do but touch\nfire it will as effectually quench it as if ice were placed thereon.\nHe, moreover, declares its poisonous nature--a nature that, according\nto later writers, is so noxious that the mere climbing of the tree by\nthe animal poisons all the fruit, so that all who afterwards eat\nthereof perish without remedy, and that if one enters a river the\nstream is effectually poisoned, and all who drink therefrom for an\nindefinite date thereafter must die. Glanvil, a learned English\nCordelier monk who lived in the thirteenth century, goes so far as to\ndeclare roundly, as though undoubted and historic fact, that 4000 men\nof the army of Alexander the Great and 2000 of the beasts of burden\nwere lost through drinking at a stream that had been thus infected. It\nwas in the Middle Ages an article of belief that the salamander was\nbred and nourished in fire, and we have ourselves been gravely told\nthat if the fires at the ironworks in the Midland Counties were not\noccasionally extinguished, an uncertain but fearful something would be\ncreated in them. When the salamander is represented it is always\nplaced in the midst of flames. We see that the book to which we have\nalready frequently referred as that to which our grandfathers went for\ninstruction puts the poisonous nature of the salamander in the\nfollowing graphic way:--\"A man bit by a salamander should have as many\nphysicians to cure him as the salamander has spots.\"\n\nThe salamander is the well-known device of Francis I. of France, A.D.\n1515-1547, the monarch who met our own King Henry VIII. at \"the field\nof the cloth of gold.\" On this occasion the French Guard had the\nsalamander embroidered on their uniform, and we also find the device\nfreely in the sculpture, wall paintings, and stained glass at\nFontainebleau, Chambord, Orleans, in fact in all the palaces of\nFrancis I. The motto adopted with it was _Nutrisco et extinguo_, \"I\nnourish and extinguish,\" a somewhat contradictory saying based on a\nsomewhat contradictory story, for while we are told on the one hand\nthat the salamander is reared and nourished in flame, we are also told\nthat \"he is of so cold a complexion that if he doe but touch the fire\nhe will quench it as presently as if yce were put into it.\" John, king\nof Aragon, had, almost a hundred years before, adopted the same\ndevice, adding to it the motto, _Durabo_, \"I will endure.\" Asbestos,\nthough really, of course, of a mineral nature, was, from its\nincombustible property, held in the Middle Ages to be the wool of the\nsalamander. We are told that the Roman emperors had napkins of this\nmaterial, and that if they became at all soiled they were thrown into\nthe fire, the fierce heat quickly destroying all foreign matter. As\nthe testing flames purified the good while they destroyed the bad, so\nwe presume King Francis intended to hold himself up as a terror to\nevil-doers and a rewarder of the loyal and faithful. The motto is none\nthe less faulty, however; for while we find the king claiming both\nfunctions, it will be noticed in the legend that it is the fire which\nnourishes and the creature which extinguishes.\n\nThe writings of Pliny abound in strange ideas; some of these he\nevidently set down without putting the statements to the test, but in\nmany cases he shattered the old beliefs by bringing them to the\ncrucial test of experiment. The story of the extreme frigidity of the\nsalamander's body at once putting out the fiercest fire was a matter\nthat he thus brought to the testing-point, the result being that the\nunfortunate victim of science was quickly shrivelled up and consumed.\nAnother old statement, equally capable of being brought to the trial,\nwas that if even the foot of a man came in contact with the liquid\nexuded from the skin of the salamander all his hair would fall off.\nPerhaps the reason why one statement was tested and not the other was\nthat in the first case any ill consequences that might arise would\naffect the reptile, while the second would come home more closely to\nthe experimenter himself.\n\nIn Breydenbach's travels we find a salamander included amongst the\nother animals, a position that it probably owed to its association\nwith legend, for we also find in the same old author that the unicorn\nis frankly accepted as a beast that may be met with by the traveller.\nThe book is interesting, too, as giving the first figure that had then\nbeen made of a giraffe, or, as he terms it, seraffa.[11] The existence\nof the giraffe was long afterwards denied by naturalists, and his\nseraffa was for a very lengthened period held to be but a myth.\nBreydenbach was a canon of the cathedral of Mentz, and seems to have\nbeen of a somewhat adventurous spirit, for despite all the\ndifficulties of the undertaking--difficulties that in these days of\nsteam-boats, railways, and through bookings we cannot at all\nrealise--we find him visiting Sinai and the Holy Land. His travels\nwere first printed as a folio volume at Mentz in 1486. This was a\nLatin edition; but two years later we find one in German, and in less\nthan ten years six different editions were called for in Germany,\nbesides others printed in Holland and elsewhere for the benefit of\nthose to whom both Latin and German were unknown tongues. The book is\nfull of quaint woodcuts, and is altogether a treasure-house of\nhistory, natural and unnatural.\n\n  [11] Representations of the giraffe are to be found in the ancient\n  monuments of Egypt, the animal being part of the annual tribute\n  brought by the vassal Ethiopians to the king of Egypt. These\n  representations were, we need scarcely say, unknown to the\n  naturalists of the Middle Ages.\n\nThe salamander is commonly to be met with in many parts of Europe, but\nthe real and the ideal creature are two very different things--as\ndifferent as the deer-eyed cows quietly ruminating in their verdant\npasturage are to the dun cow that taxed all the heroism of Sir Guy of\nWarwick, or as old grey Dobbin to Pegasus. The real creature is very\nsimilar in form to the newts that are so commonly to be found in\nponds, but the salamander of Francis I. is more like a wingless\ndragon, while some of the medi\u00e6val heralds made it a quadruped\nsomething like a dog. Such a creature, breathing forth flames, may be\nseen in the crest of Earl Douglas A.D. 1483.\n\nShakespearian students will recall how Falstaff rails at Bardolph,\ncalling him the \"Knight of the Burning Lamp,\" \"admiral, bearing\nlantern in the poop,\" \"ball of wildfire,\" and so forth, all\ncompliments called forth from the effects of strong liquor on the\nrubicund countenance of Bardolph. He winds up by saying, \"Thou hast\nsaved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in\nthe night betwixt tavern and tavern, but the sack that thou hast drunk\nme would have bought me lights as good cheap, at the dearest\nchandler's in Europe. I have maintained that salamander of yours with\nfire any time this two and thirty years.\"\n\nThe salamander, like the toad, the slow-worm, or the water newt, is\nstill held to be decidedly uncanny. In our younger days our seeking\nafter such small objects of natural history was always held by\nwondering rustics as a foolish tempting of Providence, and we have\nrepeatedly been told the most moving stories of the poisonous nature\nof all such creatures, and especially how newts developed the most\nalarming properties if interfered with, biting out pieces of the\ncaptor's flesh, and then spitting fire into the wound. Prompt\namputation or death was the dire alternative offered, though in our\nown case matters never reached so dread a climax. \"Them pisonous\neffets\" were many a time in those by-gone days held in the hand that\nnow guides our pen. The belief in such fatal powers must have a very\ndisquieting influence on the rustics who hold it. When farm animals,\nas calves or colts, die mysteriously, some one is sure to start the\ntheory that they have been bitten by an effet while drinking; and in\nview of such a belief even the fetching of a pail of water from the\npond that too often supplies the drinking water in country places must\nappear attended with no little risk. The following graphic and amusing\nletter from one of the correspondents of the _Field_ newspaper shows\nhow the salamander is still regarded in rural France:--\n\n\"Returning homeward a few evenings ago from a country walk in the\nenvirons of D----, I discovered in my path a strange-looking reptile,\nwhich, after regarding me steadfastly for a few moments, walked slowly\nto the side of the road, and commenced very deliberately clambering up\nthe wall. Never having seen a similar animal, I was rather doubtful as\nto its properties; but, reassured by its tranquil demeanour, I put my\npocket-handkerchief over it, and it suffered itself to be taken up\nwithout resistance, and was thus carried to my domicile. On arriving\n_chez moi_, I opened the basket to show my captive to the servants,\nwhen, to my surprise and consternation, they set up such a screaming\nand hullabaloo that I thought they would have gone into fits.\n\n\"'_Oh! la, la, la, la, la!--Oh! la, la, la, la, la!_' and then a\nsuccession of screams in altissimo, which woke up the children and\nbrought out the neighbours to see what could be the matter.\n\n\"'_Oh, monsieur a rapport\u00e9 un sourd!_'\n\n\"'_Un sourd!_' cried one.\n\n\"'UN SOURD!' echoed another.\n\n\"'UN S-O-U-R-D!!!' cried they all in chorus; and then followed a\nsuccession of shrieks.\n\n\"When they calmed down into a mild sample of hysterics, they began to\nexplain that I had brought home the most venomous animal in creation.\n\n\"'_Oh! le vila\u00edn b\u00eate!_' cried Phyllis.\n\n\"'_Oh! le m\u00e9chant!_' chimed in Abigail; 'he kills everybody that\ncomes near him; I have known fifty people die of his bite, and no\nremedy in the world can save them. As soon as they are bitten they\n_gonflent_, _gonflent_, and keep on swelling till they burst, and are\ndead in a quarter of an hour.'\n\n\"Here I transferred my curiosity from the basket to a glass jar, and\nput a saucer on the top to keep it safe.\n\n\"'_O Monsieur!_ don't leave him so; if he puts himself in a rage,\nnothing can hold him. He has got such force that he can jump up to the\nceiling; and wherever he fastens himself he sticks like death.'\n\n\"'Ah! it's all true,' cried my landlady, joining the circle of gapers;\n'_Oh! la la! \u00c7a me fait peur; \u00e7a me fait tr-r-r-r-embler!_'\n\n\"'Once I saw a man in a haycart try to kill one, and the _b\u00eate_ jumped\nright off the ground at a bound and fastened itself on the man's face,\nwhen he stood on the haycart, and nothing could detach it till the man\nfell dead.'\n\n\"'_Ah! c'est bien vrai_,' cried Abigail; 'they ought to have fetched a\nmirror and held it up to the _b\u00eate_, and then it would have left the\nman and jumped at its _image_.'\n\n\"The end of all this commotion was that, while I went to inquire of a\nscientific friend whether there was any truth in these tissue of\n_b\u00eatises_, the whole household was in an uproar, _tout en \u00e9moi_, and\nthey sent for a _commissionnaire_, and an ostler with a spade and\nmattock, and threw out my poor _b\u00eate_ into the road and foully\nmurdered it, chopping it into a dozen pieces by the light of a stable\nlantern; and then they declared that they could sleep in peace!--_les\nmiserables!_\n\n\"But there were sundry misgivings as to my fate, and, as with the\nApostle, 'they looked when I should have swollen or fallen down dead\nsuddenly;' and next morning the maids came stealthily and peeped into\nmy room to see whether I was alive or dead, and were not a little\nsurprised that I was not even _gonfl\u00e9_, or any the worse for my\n_rencontre_ with a _sourd_.\n\n\"And so it turned out that my poor little _b\u00eate_ that had caused such\na disturbance was nothing more nor less than a salamander--a poor,\ninoffensive, harmless reptile, declared on competent authority to be\nnoways venomous, but whose unfortunate appearance and somewhat Satanic\nlivery have exposed it to obloquy and persecution.\"\n\nAs the French word _sourd_ primarily means one who is deaf, we get a\ncurious parallelism of ideas between the salamander deaf to all sense\nof pity, and insensible to all but its own fell purpose, and the old\nidea of the deafness of the poisonous adder. \"Deaf as an adder\" is a\ncommon country saying, and the passage in the Psalms of David where we\nread that \"the deaf adder stoppeth her ears, and will not heed the\nvoice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely,\" naturally rises to\none's mind. The deafness, it will be noted, is no mere lack of the\nhearing faculty, but a wilful turning away from gentle influence. It\nwas an old belief that when the asp heard the voice of the\nserpent-charmer it stopped its ears by burying one of them in the sand\nand coiling its folds over the other.\n\nIn turning over the quaint pages of the \"Bestiary\" of De Thaun we find\nallusion made to a creature that is evidently the salamander again,\nthough we cannot quite make out the reference to King Solomon. Like\nall such books written in the Middle Ages, everything is introduced to\npoint some moral or religious truth, though it may at first seem\ndifficult for our readers to realise what possible connection there\ncan be between the dreaded \"sourd\" and any spiritual instruction. The\nreference is as follows:--\"Ylio is a little beast made like a lizard.\nOf it says Solomon that in a king's house it ought to be and to\nfrequent, to give an example. It is of such nature that if it come by\nchance where there shall be burning fire it will immediately\nextinguish it. The beast is so cold and of such a quality that fire\nwill not be able to burn where it shall enter, nor will trouble happen\nin the place where it shall be. A beast of such quality signifies such\nmen as was Ananias, as was Azarias, and as was Misael, who served God\nfairly: these three issued from the fire praising God. He who has\nfaith only will never have hurt from fire.\"[12]\n\n  [12] Appendix F.\n\nLike the salamander, the Griffin was to our forefathers no mere\ncreature of the imagination. Ctesias describes them in all sober\nearnestness as \"birds with four feet, of the size of a wolf, and\nhaving the legs and claws of a lion. Their feathers are red on the\nbreast and black on the rest of the body.\" Glanvil says of them, \"The\nclaws of a griffin are so large and ample that he can seize an armed\nman as easily by the body as a hawk a little bird. In like manner he\ncan carry off a horse or an ox, or any other beast in his flight.\" The\ncreature is, if anything, still more terrible when met with in the\ndescription given by Sir John Mandeville:--\"Thai have the body upward\nas an egle, and benethe as a lyoun, but a griffonne hath the body more\ngret, and is more strong than eight lyouns, and more grete and\nstrongere than an hundred egles such as we have among us. For he hath\nhis talouns so large and so longe and grete upon his fete as though\nthei weren homes of grete oxen, so that men maken cuppes of them to\ndrinken of.\" Oriental writers, who appear to have an especial delight\nin the marvellous, go even beyond this, and the creature becomes with\nthem the roc, the terrible creature we read of, for example, in the\nwonderful adventures of \"Sindbad the Sailor.\" Milton introduces the\ncreature very finely in his noble poem, as for instance:--\n\n    \"As when a gryphon through the wilderness\n    With wing\u00e8d course o'er hill and moory dale\n    Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth\n    Has from his watchful custody purloin'd\n    The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend\n    O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,\n    With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,\n    And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.\"\n\nThe Arimaspians were a one-eyed people of Scythia, who braided their\nhair with gold and drew their supplies of the precious metal as best\nthey could from the stores guarded by the griffins. The griffin has\nlong been employed as a symbol of watchfulness, courage, and\nperseverance, on account of this fabled treasure-guarding. But Browne,\nwho, as we have seen, took great delight in vivisecting the vulgar\nerrors of his day and generation, discourses as follows on the\nmatter--\"Aristeus affirmed that neer the Arimaspi, or one-eyed nation,\ngriffins defended the mines of gold, but this, as Herodotus\ndelivereth, he wrote from hearsay, and Michovius, who hath expressly\nwritten of those parts, plainly affirmeth that there is neither gold\nnor griffins in that country, nor any such Animall extant, for so doth\nhe conclude, 'Ego vero contra veteres authores, gryphes nec in illa\nseptentrionis nec in alius orbis partibus inveniri affirmarim.'\"\n\nLike the dragon, the griffin seems to have been a good sort of fellow\nto deal with if you only took him the right way, and though a terrible\nmonster to encounter if one had any burglarious intentions, he seems\nto have served his masters with a singleness of purpose and bull-dog\ntenacity that were very much to his credit. In Ariosto's \"Orlando\nFurioso\" we read of a griffin-steed that flew through the air with its\nmaster on its back, and landed him wheresoever he listed.\n\nThe griffin was fabled to be the offspring of the union of the lion\nand the eagle; it has the leonine body and stout claws of one parent,\nthe hooked beak, keen eye, and wings of the other. The form is very\noften met with in heraldry, past and present, either as a crest or as\na supporter to the arms. A very familiar example of their employment\nin this latter service will be seen in the arms of the city of London.\nIt is also a very common form in Roman and Renaissance painting and\nsculpture. Gryphius, a celebrated French printer, adopted the creature\nas his device, and on his decease the following epitaph was written:--\n\n    \"La grande griffe\n    Qui tout griffe\n    A griff\u00e9 le corps de Gryphe.\"\n\nThough ordinarily written as griffin or griffon, the alternative\nrendering gryphon is somewhat more correct, as the word is derived\nfrom the Greek _grypos_, or hook-nosed, in evident allusion to its\neagle-beak. Shakespeare frequently refers to the creature, but the\nonly instance we need here refer to is where a considerable difference\nin the spelling of the word might lead some of our readers astray. The\npassage to which we allude will be found in \"The Rape of Lucrece,\"\nwhere she\n\n    \"Like a white hind under the grype's sharp claws\n    Pleads in a wilderness, where are no laws.\"\n\nIn the forests of Bohemia, we are told by Burton in his \"Miracles of\nArt and Nature,\" there is a little beast called the Lomie, \"which hath\nhanging under its neck a bladder always full of scalding water, with\nwhich, when she is hunted, she so tortureth the dogs that she thereby\neasily makes her escape.\" Elsewhere he tells of four-footed serpents,\nstrange creatures that, unlike many of his wonders--only to be found\nin Peru or India, or such like distant lands--are to be seen as near\nhome as Poland. The people of Poland, we are told, are \"boysterous,\nrude, and barbarous; nourishing amongst them a kind of four-footed\nserpent, above three handfuls in length, which they worship as their\nhousehold gods, tending them with fear and reverence when they call\nthem out to their repasts; and if any mischance do happen to any of\ntheir family it is imputed presently to some want of due observations\nof these ugly creatures.\"\n\nVegetable Lambs were another of the wonders of our forefathers. The\ncredulous Sir John Mandeville says that in Cathay a gourd-like fruit\nis found that when ripe contains \"as though it were a lytylle lomb\nwithouten wolle.\" In the twenty-sixth chapter of his book the\nlamb-tree is duly figured, and its peculiar fruit development\ngraphically delineated. In many old books of natural history we find\nrepresentations of some such creature under the names of the Scythian\nor Tartarian lamb. According to some old writers it was said to be\npurely an animal, and although rooted to the ground, was held to have\nso deadly an effect on vegetation in its neighbourhood that it\neffectually prevented the growth of all herbage within the scope of\nits baleful influence. So singular a creature naturally provoked\nattention and curiosity, and in the earlier days of the Royal Society\nthe matter was considered quite worthy of their notice. Naturally,\nalso, the supply endeavoured to keep pace with the demand, and as the\nbelief in mermaids led to their fabrication and exhibition, so also\nthe myth of the Scythian lamb took visible shape. One of these\nimpositions was formerly preserved in the British Museum, not from any\nbelief in it, of course, but as an illustration of the old belief.[13]\n\n  [13] Appendix G.\n\n  [Illustration: {THE SEA-ELEPHANT}]\n\nThe reference to the mermaid reminds us that the sea no less than the\nland bore in ancient and medi\u00e6val days its full share of wonders. Of\nthe mermaids we shall have occasion to say more presently, as we\npropose to class together all those forms that are more or less human,\nand to deal with them separately; but the sculptures of classic\nantiquity or the fancies of the medi\u00e6val herald afford us\nillustrations of the sea-horse, the sea-lion, and many other quaint\nimaginings. On an antique seal we once even saw a sea-elephant, a\ncreature having the fore-legs, tusks, trunk, and great flapping ears\nof the African elephant, yet terminating in the body of a fish, and\nduly furnished with piscine tail and fins. The combination was of the\nmost outrageous character, and would seem to indicate the limit\npossible to absurdity in this direction. When the ancient writers\nwould desire to people the vast unknown of air or sea their thoughts\nnaturally turned to those creatures of the land with which they were\nmore familiar; hence the denizens of the air or ocean are not really\ncreations at all, but adaptations, wings or fins being added to\nhorses, lions, and the like according to the new element in which they\nwere to figure. Of these, the sea-horses that draw the chariot of\nNeptune through the waves and the winged-horse Pegasus are examples\nthat at once occur to one's mind.\n\nPegasus or Pegasos, the offspring of Medusa and Poseidon, was the\nsymbol of poetic inspiration. Its association with Perseus and\nBellerophon, with the fountain of Peirene and the heights of Olympus,\nmay all be found duly set forth in classic story and engraved or\nsculptured on the gems and marbles of antiquity. It is also introduced\nin medi\u00e6val heraldry, but there seems to be no reference in any book\nof this period to lead us to suppose that it was then regarded as a\nliving verity. Shakespeare refers to it from time to time, but in one\ncase it is only as an inn-sign, and in another the very terms employed\nindicate that the reference to it must be taken in a poetic rather\nthan a literal sense. The first of the two to which we allude will be\nfound in the \"Taming of the Shrew,\" and runs as follows:--\n\n    \"Signior Baptista may remember me,\n    Near twenty years ago, in Genoa,\n    Where we were lodgers at the Pegasus.\"\n\nThe second will be met with in the first part of \"King Henry IV.;\" it\nwill probably be very familiar to many of our readers:--\n\n    \"I saw young Harry, with his beaver on,\n    His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd,\n    Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury,\n    And vaulted with such ease into his seat\n    As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds,\n    To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,\n    And witch the world with noble horsemanship.\"\n\nThe arms of the Barrister Templars of the present day consist of the\nPegasus on an azure shield. The original devices of the Templars were\nthe Agnus Dei, a device that may still be seen carved on the Temple\nbuildings in London, and two knights riding one behind the other on\nthe same horse. This badge or device was originally chosen to denote\nthe poverty of the order in its earlier days, but at a later day, when\nthe symbol was misunderstood, these two rude figures of knights were\ntaken for wings, and hence we get the modern device of the winged\nsteed or Pegasus.\n\nThe Vampyre was another of the strange imaginings of our forefathers.\nIt was thought that men and women sometimes returned, body and soul,\nfrom the other world after their death, and wandered about the earth\ndoing all kinds of mischief to the living, one of their favourite\npursuits being to suck the blood of those who were asleep, and these\nbecame vampyres in turn. The superstition took deepest hold in Eastern\nEurope, and is still an article of firm faith in Hungary and Servia.\nOne reads ghastly stories of men unconsciously entertaining and\nsheltering vampyres and perishing miserably, of lonely travellers\npining suddenly away, of the bodies of the dead being disinterred and\nthe corpse found with the tell-tale stains of blood around its mouth,\nand the like; and we can easily see how such beliefs as this, or the\nwehr-wolf or loup-garou of the Germans and French, or the ghoul of the\nArabs and Persians, would have a terrible effect on the minds of the\nsuperstitious. The vampyre was a terror of the night, since the corpse\nthen, after lying in the stillness of the grave throughout the day,\nawoke to a fearful vitality. The forms it assumed were not always\nhuman, but were believed to be at times those of the dog, frog, toad,\ncat, flea, spider, and many other innocent creatures. Hence the\ncontemptuous expression one sometimes hears used to deride a needless\nanxiety, \"a mere flea-bite,\" could have had no counterpart in medi\u00e6val\ndays, for the anxiety such a misadventure might create would be of the\nmost alarming and harassing description. In old books one finds the\nmost circumstantial details as to how to detect when one has been\nbitten, or to prevent further mischief. To this end the grave of the\nsuspected vampyre was opened during daylight when his powers of evil\nwere quiescent, the corpse was decapitated and the head buried\nelsewhere, a stake was driven through the body, and many other\nelaborate and horrible precautions were taken to prevent a recurrence\nof the nightly resurrection. On the whole, we may well congratulate\nourselves that we do not live in \"the good old times.\" Even now in\ncountry districts and amongst the uneducated one comes across such\nstriking instances of superstitious belief and thraldom as suffice to\nenable us to faintly realise what it must have been when all alike\nwere enwrapped in a dreadful bondage to unseen powers of evil far more\nintense than is now possible even to the few.\n\nThe vampyre bat, a native of South America, is so called from its\nblood-sucking propensities. It is the legend of the vampyre that has\ngiven the name to the bat, not the habits of the bat that originated\nthe fable of the vampyre, for at the time that these legends of the\ndestroyer were articles of faith in Europe, the American animal was\nquite unknown. The natural tendency towards exaggeration surrounded\nthe vampyre bat with a mysterious horror, and having once gained its\nname of ill-omen, it became easy to rear upon it a superstructure of\nmorbid fancy. The researches on the spot of Waterton, Darwin, and\nother reliable authorities show that the name is not altogether ill\nbestowed, as both Europeans and natives suffer severely from its\nattacks during the night, and the horses and cattle that are out in\nthe pastures frequently return in the morning with their flanks\ncovered with blood.\n\nThough the Chameleon, unlike the phoenix, the griffin, or the\nbasilisk, is a living verity, so large a body of fable has grown up\naround it that the animal is almost as mythical as those creatures of\nthe imagination. The name is derived from two Greek words signifying\n\"ground-lion,\" a name singularly inappropriate in every way, as it has\nnothing leonine in look or nature, while its organisation fits it\nespecially for living on trees. When we consider the singularity of\nits appearance and the peculiarity of its habits, it is by no means\nsurprising that it should have attracted attention; and when we recall\nthe numerous erroneous beliefs current amongst our rustics in England\nin this nineteenth century in the matter of frogs, newts, slow-worms,\nand the like, we can hardly wonder at the superstitions that have\nsurrounded it. The eyes of the creature are quite expressionless, and\nare worked perfectly independently of each other, so that one may be\ndirected upwards and the other downwards at the same time, or turned\nsimultaneously to front and rear. Its exceeding slowness of movement\nis another curious feature, and though this exposes them to easy\ncapture when seen, for \"_un Cam\u00e9l\u00e9on aper\u00e7u est un Cam\u00e9l\u00e9on perdu_,\"\nit has its advantages in another direction, for a creature that takes\nsome hours to advance a yard or so will certainly not attract\nattention by any sudden movement; and the assimilation in colour of\nits skin with the surrounding foliage is another great protection. The\ncreature has a singular habit of puffing out its body until it is\nnearly as large again, and in this state it will sometimes remain for\nhours. The best known fact, however, is its capacity for changing\ncolour, passing from green to violet, blue, or yellow; but this power\nof varying the tint has been greatly exaggerated. We have been told\nthat if the creature be placed on any colour, as bright scarlet, it\nwill assume that colour; but this is one of those fragments of\nunnatural history that will not bear putting to the test. The\nfollowing lines of Prior convey aptly enough this popular but\nerroneous notion:--\n\n    \"As the chameleon, who is known\n    To have no colours of its own,\n    But borrows from his neighbour's hue\n    His white or black, his green or blue.\"\n\nAristotle was acquainted with the singular motions of the eyes of the\ncreature, and his description may well have been taken from nature. At\nthe same time, these old writers knew nothing of comparative anatomy\nor dissection and conducted no scientific _post-mortem_ examinations;\nhence in all matters of internal structure they are often ludicrously\nin error, while the weakness of their statements is only perhaps\nequalled by the strength with which they are asserted. We are,\ntherefore, not surprised to read in Aristotle that the chameleon has\nno blood except in its head. Pliny re-states all the errors made by\nAristotle, and further adds that it lives without either eating or\ndrinking, deriving its nourishment wholly from the air, and that,\nthough ordinarily harmless, it becomes terrible during the greatest\nsummer heats. Even Pliny, however, could not believe everything that\nwas told him, though his powers of imbibing outrageous notions were of\nthe keenest, and whenever any old writers deal with something more\nthan usually incredible they fortify their statement and evade\npersonal responsibility by adding \"as Plinie saith.\" Pliny, then,\nrejects the still older idea that its right leg artfully cooked with\ncertain herbs conveys the power of invisibility on the eater, and will\nnot believe that the thigh of its left leg boiled in sow's milk will\ninduce gout in any one so injudicious as to bathe their feet in this\npeculiar broth. Neither will he credit that a man may be made to incur\nthe hatred of all his fellow-citizens by having his gate-posts\nanointed with another nasty preparation of chameleon. As a set-off to\nall this very unusual incredulity he hastens to adopt the statement of\nanother wise man, Democritus, that it has the power of attracting to\nthe earth birds of prey, so that they in turn become the prey of other\nanimals--a most unselfish proceeding on the part of the creature, as\nits own food consists of flies and such like small matters. Democritus\nalso asserts, and Pliny confirms him in the assertion, that if the\nhead and neck of the chameleon be burned on oak charcoal it will cause\nthunder and heavy rain. One is lost in astonishment at the fertility\nof the imagination in these old naturalists; and though it is now easy\nwhen one has once been put on the track of discovery to surmise that\nthe tail of a chameleon burnt on walnut charcoal might produce snow or\npossibly fog, much of the credit of the discovery should go to the\nman who first gave the clue to these physiologico-meteorological\ninfluences. Aldrovandus, another man of science gifted with a strong\nimagination and the power of assimilating the fancies of others,\ninforms us that if a viper passes beneath a tree in the branches of\nwhich a chameleon is resting, the latter will eject from its mouth a\npoisonous secretion that effectually rids the world of the equally\nvenomous snake; and he further adds that elephants sometimes\nunknowingly eat a chameleon in the midst of the foliage on which they\nare browsing, a mishap that is rapidly fatal to them unless they can\nat once have recourse to the wild olive-tree as a remedy and antidote.\n\n  [Illustration: {DRAGON}]\n\nMany other strange beasts might engage our attention were it not that\nwe have much new ground yet to explore, for not only might we\ndiscourse of the strange beliefs that have clustered round these\nmonsters, but of the equally strange fancies that have been associated\nwith such familiar creatures as cats and dogs, hares and spiders,\ngoats and mice, while in another section we must dwell on the equally\nunnatural fancies that have been associated with various plants.\nBefore, however, passing to these we must refer to those strange\nimaginings, such as the troglodytes, centaurs, and pigmies, that owe\nmore or less to the combination of the human with other forms--a large\nclass that deserves a measure of attention that may well suggest the\nadvisability of opening a new chapter for its benefit.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nThe Sphinx--The Chim\u00e6ra--The Centaurs--The Origin of the Myth--The\nOnocentaur--Sagittarius--Satyrs and Fauns--The Harpys, described by\nHomer, Virgil, Shakespeare, Milton, and others--The Echidna--The\nGorgon--The Hydra--The Sirens--The Lurlei--Mermaids--The Manatee--\nDog-Headed Men of Brazil--The One-Eyed Cyclops and Briar\u00e6us of the\nHundred Arms--The Headless Men or Anthropophagi--Sir Walter Raleigh's\nEl Dorado--Claw-Footed Men--The Marvels of Hackluyt and Mandeville--\nThe Long-Eared Fanesii--The Fairies--The \"Discoverie of Witchcraft\"--\nThe Little Good People--Fairy-Rings--Elf-Music--Changelings--\nElf-Possession--Spirits of the Mine, or Knockers--Robin Goodfellow--\nQueen Mab--The Phoca or Storm-Spirit--The Kelpie--Jack-o'-Lantern--\nThe Pigmies--Giants--Early Sculptures--Gigantic Men of Antiquity.\n\n\nThe creatures we have hitherto been considering--the griffin, the\nphoenix, the manticora or the sea-horse--have either been unmitigated\nmonsters of the fancy, or else, like the salamander or the chameleon,\nso transformed by legend as to be scarcely less monstrous and unreal.\nHaving the fear of Pope's oft-quoted line upon us, \"The proper study\nof mankind is man,\" we leave for a while these fantastic imaginings,\nand turn to another class of forms scarcely less grotesque, but all\nagreeing in this, the presence in them of more or less of the human\nform and nature. This class of forms readily subdivides itself into\nthree sections, which we propose to deal with in the order in which\nwe enumerate them. The first of these are forms compounded of the\nhuman and the animal, as, for example, the sphinx or the centaur; the\nsecond may be considered as human, though distorted, as the one-eyed\ncyclops, or, \"the men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders;\"\nwhile the third class may be held to embrace the fairies, pigmies, and\ngiants, forms that are human, yet in bulk or minuteness bear no\nsemblance to ordinary humanity.\n\nThe Sphinx may be considered as more especially an artistic and\nsymbolic creation, though the old Greek myth of Oedipos would seem to\nshow that in very early times there was a real belief in a real\nmonster. The sphinx is composite in nature, being in Greek art and\nlegend ordinarily the combination of the head and bust of a woman with\nthe body of a lion and the wings of an eagle; while in Egyptian art\nthe creature is always wingless, and its recumbent leonine body is\nsurmounted by the head of a man, hawk, or other creature. Egyptian art\nis full of such composite monsters, and in cases where such attributes\nas the courage of the lion or the wisdom of the serpent were to be\nexpressed, it was held that the actual leonine body or the head of the\nserpent itself would best convey the required characteristics to the\neye and mind of the beholder. A reference to Wilkinson, Rosellini, or\nany other good standard work on Egypt, will reveal an immense variety\nof these curious composite figures, though, as they are evidently in\nmost cases symbolic merely, they scarcely fall within the limits of\nour present study. According to some authorities, the well-known type\nof Egyptian sphinx represented the royal power by its junction in one\ncreation of the highest physical and mental strength. Pliny, however,\nstates that it is to be taken as the representation of the beneficent\nNile, as the annual rising took place while the sun was in Leo and\nVirgo. As the head is masculine in type, and not that of maiden fair,\nthis theory will scarcely meet the case.\n\nThe sphinx of classic story, a monster half-woman, half-lion, was sent\nby Hera to devastate the land of Thebes in revenge for an insult that\nhad been offered to her. Sitting by the roadside, the sphinx put to\nevery passer-by the celebrated riddle, \"What creature walks on four\nlegs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three in the\nevening?\" As one after another of these luckless travellers was\nobliged to \"give it up\" he was cast from the rock on which the monster\nsat into a deep abyss at its foot. The understanding was, that if any\none could solve this conundrum the sphinx should herself perish, a\nconsummation devoutly to be wished. One Oedipos hit upon the happy\nidea that perhaps it was a man that was meant, his career being traced\nthrough crawling infancy to stalwart manhood, and thence to tottering\nold age. Probably the sphinx had presumed too thoroughly on the\nbadness of the riddle, and thought that its inane character would be\nher safeguard in this perilous game for forfeits. Lord Bacon[14]\nsupplies a curious theory in explanation of the Greek legend; he tells\nus that the creature represented science, her composite nature being\nthe various and different branches of which it is composed; that the\nfemale face denoted volubility of speech, while the wings showed the\nrapidity with which knowledge could be diffused. Her hooked talons are\nsupposed to remind us of the arguments of science laying hold of the\nmind. Her position on the crag is a hint that the road to knowledge is\nsteep and difficult, while the riddles of science \"perplex and harass\nthe mind.\" Probably our readers have already made up their minds as to\nthe value of this theory of Bacon's; it appears to us that fifty other\nequally good explanations might be devised, and all equally wide of\nthe mark. Of course after so sweeping a statement we can scarcely be\nexpected to supply one ourselves for the other forty-nine critics to\nmercilessly dissect.\n\n  [14] Appendix H.\n\nThe Chim\u00e6ra was, according to Hesiod, a fire-breathing monster\ncompounded of lion, goat, and serpent, having three heads, one of each\nof these creatures. It is in this form often represented in classic\nart; but Coats, a great authority in blazonry in the last century, in\ndescribing the monster departs somewhat from the ancient type, and in\nso doing brings the creature within the scope of our present chapter.\nHe speaks of it as \"an imaginary creature invented by the Poets, and\nrepresented by them as having the Face of a beautiful Maiden, the two\nFore-legs and the Main of a Lyon, the Body like a Goat, the\nhinder-legs like a Griffin, and the Tayl like a Serpent or Dragon\nturned in a Ring.\" He does not, however, give his authorities. Though\nMilton in his \"Paradise Lost\" gives us the line, \"Gorgons, and Hydras,\nand Chim\u00e6ras dire,\" the myth has been received amongst ourselves with\nso little faith that anything wildly improbable is branded as\nchimerical, and scouted accordingly.\n\nThe Centaurs are said by Virgil and Horace to have dwelt in Thessaly,\na land then greatly famed for its breed of horses. Instances, as in\nthe landing of the Spaniards in America, have not been unknown where\nthose to whom the horse was unknown have imagined that the horse and\nhis rider were but one creature. The belief in centaurs is not,\ntherefore, so difficult a myth to trace to its origin as many others.\nThe usual form of representation is the conjoining of the body and\nlegs of a horse and the head, arms, and body of a man so far as the\nwaist, though in some early works, as, for example, in archaic pottery\nin the British Museum, the legs of the man take the place of the\nfore-legs of the horse. The celebrated statue in the Louvre known as\nthe Borghese Centaur, a sculpture of the most refined period of Greek\nart, gives the best idea, perhaps, of the highest treatment the form\npermits. Other fine examples, fragments of the sculpture of the\nParthenon, may be seen in our own national collection in London.[15]\nIn the works of the earlier writers, as Homer, the centaurs have\nnothing unnatural in their composition; we read nothing of their being\nhalf-horse, half-man, but they are introduced to us as a tribe of men\nwhose home was in the mountains and whose nature was altogether\nbarbarous and ferocious. The contests with centaurs, so favourite a\nsubject in Greek art, have been generally conceived to be the struggle\nof Greek civilisation with the barbarism of the tribes with which it\ncame in contact in the early Pelasgian period, a struggle that\nstrangely enough finds its memorial not only in the grand sculptures\nof the matchless Parthenon, but in the delicate beauty of a little\nEnglish wild flower, the pink centaury.[16]\n\n  [15] Appendix I.\n\n  [16] Appendix J.\n\nIsidore refers to a creature called the Onocentaur, \"which has the\nshape of a man down to the waist, and behind has the make of an ass.\"\n\nAs the centaurs are frequently represented as bearing bows and arrows,\nthe Sagittarius of the heralds (such, for instance, as that assigned\nas the armorial bearing of King Stephen or the sign of the Zodiac of\nthe same name) is ordinarily represented in this half-human,\nhalf-equine form, though it is, of course, obvious on a moment's\nconsideration of the real meaning and derivation of the word, that\nthis is but a narrow and arbitrary limitation, and that Robin Hood,\nfor example, or William Tell, to say nothing of \"A, the archer that\nshot at a frog,\" might as readily, in fact, be called a Sagittarius as\nany Thessalian centaur.\n\nOther partly human, partly animal forms often found in classic art and\nliterature are those of the Satyrs and the Fauns. The satyrs are\nrepresented as having bristly hair, ears sharply pointed like those of\nanimals, low sensual faces, small horns growing out of the top of the\nforehead, and a tail like that of a horse or goat. These satyrs, Greek\nin their conception, are often confounded with the fauns of the\nRomans, creatures half-man and half-goat, the head, like that of the\nsatyrs, being horned. Our readers will doubtless recall the lines in\n\"Hamlet:\"--\n\n    \"So excellent a king, that was to this,\n    Hyperion to a satyr.\"\n\nThese woodland sprites, as attendants on Pan, Bacchus, and Silenus,\nare often represented in classic art, and were a firm article of\nbelief in those early ages. Thorwaldsen and other modern sculptors\nhave also introduced them in their work, and they were often a feature\nin the quaint processions of the Guilds of the Middle Ages.[17]\n\n  [17] Appendix K.\n\nThe Harpys, three in number, were creatures employed, according to the\nbelief of the Greeks and Romans, by the higher gods as the instruments\nfor the punishment of the crimes of men. Their bodies were those of\nvultures, their heads those of women, and it was their evil property\nto contaminate everything they touched. They are not infrequently\nrepresented in classic art; several examples of their introduction may\nbe seen on vases in the British Museum, and notably on some\nbas-reliefs from a monument brought from Xanthus, in Lycia, and\ncommonly, from the subjects of these sculptures, called the Harpy\nTomb--a monument dating probably from about the sixth century before\nthe Christian era. Homer mentions but one harpy, Hesiod gives two, but\nall later writers mention three. Milton refers to these creatures in\nhis \"Paradise Lost,\" Book II., in the lines:--\n\n    \"Thither by harpy-footed Furies hal'd\n    At certain revolutions all the damn'd are brought.\"\n\nShakespeare, too, in his \"Much Ado About Nothing,\" Act ii. scene 1,\nmentions the creature, though in a more indirect way, using the word,\nas we from time to time find it employed elsewhere, as typical of one\nwho wants to seize on everything and get people into his own power--\"a\nregular harpy.\" Another reference will be found in the third scene in\nthe third act of the \"Tempest,\" where Ariel in the midst of thunder\nand lightning enters as a harpy and addresses those before him as\nfollows:--\"I have made you mad.... I and my fellows are ministers of\nfate.\" In \"Pericles,\" again, Act iv. scene 4, we find Cleon\nexclaiming--\n\n            \"Thou art like the harpy,\n    Which, to betray, dost with thine angel's face\n    Seize with thine eagle's talons.\"\n\nIn the \"Monstrorum Historia\" of Aldrovandus[18] we find figured a\nmedi\u00e6val rendering of the creature, and Guillim in his \"Heraldry\"\nseems to frankly accept the harpy as a real thing, while the lines he\nquotes in support from Virgil are powerfully descriptive:--\n\n    \"Of Monsters all, most Monstrous this: no greater Wrath\n    God sends 'mongst Men: it comes from depth of pitchy Hell:\n    With Virgin's Face, but Womb like Gulf unsatiate hath,\n    Her Hands are Griping claws, her Colour pale and fell.\"\n\n  [18] Appendix L.\n\nVirgil, it will be noticed, makes the creature wholly fearful, while\nShakespeare makes the horror yet more weird by giving the implacable\nand destroying monster a face of angelic sweetness.\n\nUpton, another old writer on heraldry, says that in blazoning arms\n\"the Harpy should be given to such persons as have committed\nManslaughter, to the End that by the often view of their Ensigns they\nmight be moved to bewail the Foulness of their Offence.\" This we\nshould imagine, is more simple in theory than in practice, and Upton\nmust have been very simple himself to fancy that any one could thus be\ninduced to blazon their misdoings abroad like that. In the earlier\ndays of heraldry the monarch had two powerful means of rewarding or\npunishing his nobles in what were termed respectively marks of\naugmentation and of abatement in their armorial bearings, but in the\nlater times in which Upton lived no such compulsory stigma was\npossible. We fancy, too, that in the earlier days a good deal of what\na modern judge and jury would call manslaughter went on, and was not\nby any means considered a foul offence to be bewailed over.\n\nThe terrible Echidna, half-woman, half-serpent, the mother of the\ndread chim\u00e6ra, the fierce dragon of the Hesperides, the gorgons that\nturned to stone all who gazed on them, the hydra of the Lernean\nmarsh, the vulture that made itself so decidedly unpleasant to\nPrometheus, and several other children of an equally objectionable\ntype, was another of the monsters once believed in, while the better\nknown Sirens and Mermaids, half-woman, half-fish, will naturally occur\nto the minds of our readers.\n\nThe Sirens were originally nymphs, but Demeter transformed them into\nbeings half-women, half-birds, for reasons that may be found duly set\nforth in any work on mythology. Ultimately they were again transformed\ninto creatures of which the upper portion was that of a beautiful\nwoman, while the lower was fish-like. These sirens dwelt in the cliffs\non the Sicilian shore, and by the sweetness of their voices bewitched\npassing travellers, who, allured by the charms of their song, were\ndrawn to them, when they were lulled into insensibility and perished.\nSkeletons lay thickly round their dwelling, but the warning was\nuseless and hopeless, as the sirens were allowed by the gods to retain\nthis cruel power over the hearts of men until one arose who could defy\ntheir sweet allurements. Orpheus and Odysseus each fulfilled the\nconditions, and thus the evil power of the sirens came to an end.\nOrpheus, by the unsurpassable sweetness of his own music and his hymns\nof praise to the gods, carried himself and his crew safely past the\nspot so fatal to others; while Odysseus stopped the ears of his crew\nwith wax, that they might be deaf to the bewitching music, while he\nhimself was bound to the mast, and incapable, therefore, of yielding\nto the soft fascination. It has been surmised that the whole story can\nbe explained by the soft beating and melodious murmur of the waves\nover the hidden shoals and sands that would engulf those who would\nattempt to land. However this may be, the sirens were at one time a\nfirm article of belief, and are often represented in ancient art or\nreferred to in ancient poetry, while later moralists find the simile\nan apt one between the siren-song and its tragic effects and all\nearthly pleasures that carry within them the seeds of death.[19] A\nlater legend of the same type may be seen in the myth of the Lurlei, a\nwater-spirit whose home was in the steep cliff that overshadows the\nRhine near St. Goar, the fairness of whose person was as great as the\nunfairness of her conduct in luring to their destruction the passing\ntravellers. Here again, of course, matter-of-fact people have stepped\nin and explained all away, a striking echo and a rock on which to\nstrike being all that is left to us, the moral being, that if people\nwill be so foolish as to awaken by bugle or song the slumbering voices\nof the rocks when they ought to be giving their whole attention to\ntheir steering, what wonder if they come to grief? A very good\nreference to the siren's lulling song will be found in the second\nscene in the third act of the \"Comedy of Errors.\"\n\n  [19] Appendix M.\n\nMermaids and Tritons were once fully accepted facts, and illustrations\nof them, literary or artistic, abound, Ariel in the \"Tempest\" sings of\nthe sea-nymphs, and Oberon in the \"Midsummer Night's Dream\" speaks of\n\n    \"A mermaid on a dolphin's back,\n    Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,\n    That the rude sea grew civil at her song;\n    And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,\n    To hear the sea-maid's music.\"\n\nShakespeare seems to have made a very natural error in confounding the\nmermaids and the sirens together, for in the \"Comedy of Errors\" his\nallusion to the one is in language more adapted to the other:--\n\n                          \"Her fair sister,\n    Possessed with such a gentle sovereign grace,\n    Of such enchanting presence and discourse,\n    Hath almost made me traitor to myself.\n    But, lest myself be guilty to self-wrong,\n    I'll stop mine ears against the mermaid's song.\"\n\nAnother illustration of this will be found in the third part of King\nHenry VI., a passage peculiarly appropriate to our present purpose, as\nit embodies in a concentrated form no less than three of the items of\nunnatural history we have already dealt with--the siren's\ndeath-dealing charms, the death-giving glance of the basilisk, and the\nchanging tints of the chameleon, besides referring to the hypocritical\ntears of the crocodile. The passage will be found in the second scene\nof the third act, where Gloster exclaims--\n\n    \"I can smile, and murther while I smile,\n    And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart;\n    And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,\n    And frame my face to all occasions.\n    I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;\n    I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;\n    I'll play the orator as well as Nestor;\n    Deceive more slily than Ulysses could;\n    And like a Sinon take another Troy:\n    I can add colours to the cameleon.\"\n\nOther references will be found in \"Hamlet\" and in \"Antony and\nCleopatra.\"\n\nIt has been conjectured that the ancients derived their idea of the\nmermaid from the Manatees that may be found on the shores of Africa\nwashed by the Atlantic, or from the Dugongs of the littoral of the\nIndian Ocean. These singular animals have been placed by naturalists\nin a class by themselves and called Sirenia. They have a curious habit\nof swimming with their heads and necks above water. They thus bear\nsome grotesque and remote resemblance to the human form, and may have\ngiven rise to the poetical tales of mermaids and sirens found in\nancient literature. When the female Dugong is nursing her offspring\nthe position assumed is almost identical with that of a human mother.\nThe sea-lions and seals have the same habit of raising themselves in a\nsemi-erect position in the water, and the intelligent aspect of their\nfaces gives them at a little distance a close resemblance to human\nbeings--a resemblance often equally striking when they are seen\nrecumbent on the rocks. It is but little strange, that early\nnavigators with all the superstitions of their race, and having a very\nslight knowledge of natural history, should be deceived, when we find\nin Scoresby's Voyages the incident narrated of the surgeon of his ship\nso deceived by one of these creatures that he reported that \"he had\nseen a man with his head just above the surface of the water.\" At the\nsame time, it appears to us at least as probable that the mermaid,\nlike the sea-horses of Poseidon, was purely a creature of the\nimagination.\n\nFrom the graceful beauty of the mermaiden to the less pleasing\nphysiognomy of \"Mistress Tannakin Skimker, the hog-faced gentlewoman,\"\nis a great step indeed, yet both beliefs bear testimony alike to the\nuniversal desire after something wonderful and outside the ordinary\ncourse of nature, a feeling that in its lowest form finds satisfaction\nin paying a penny to see a six-legged lamb, while more cultured minds\nrevel in the wealth of fancy found in the myths of Hellas. The unhappy\nlady who has prompted our present remarks was bewitched at her birth\non the understanding that she should recover her true shape on being\nmarried. She was born, we are told, in 1618 in a town on \"the River\nRhyne.\" Our authority, a book dated the year 1640, gives various\nfacts, but does not say whether any one was so courageous as to remove\nthe spell by offering her marriage. The book is embellished (or\notherwise) with a portrait of the luckless Tannakin. While referring\nto the one old book our thoughts naturally turn to another of a\nsimilar type, the \"Humana Physiognomonia\" of Porta, a book published\nin the year 1601. It is full of curious woodcuts showing the great\nresemblance sometimes seen between the features of men and those of\nsome of the lower animals.\n\nOld Burton tells us, in his \"Miracles of Art and Nature\" (A.D. 1678),\nof a creature found in Brazil that had \"the face of an Ape, the foot\nof a Lyon, and all the rest of a Man,\" and he almost needlessly adds,\n\"a Beast of a most terrible aspect.\" This is not by any means the only\nwonder in that vast and distant land, and he winds up his description\nby asserting that \"it may be said of Brasill as once of Africk, every\nday some New Object of Admiration.\" In his account of India he tells\nus of dog-headed men, while in the Oriental Isles, besides a river\nplentifully stored with fish, yet so hot that it scalds the flesh of\nany man or beast thrown therein, there are men with tails.\n\nNumerous other instances might readily be given of strange\ncombinations of the human form with that of some animal, but enough\nhas been given as an illustration of the sort of thing to be freely\nmet with in ancient and medi\u00e6val history; so we pass to our second\ndivision of humanity--those who are wholly human, yet in some way of\nso marked a departure from the ordinary type of mankind as to come\nwithin the scope of our strange history. These modifications sometimes\narise from the suppression of some part, as in the case of the\nheadless people; in its exaggeration, as in the instance of the men of\nIndia whose ears sweep the ground as they walk; or in the\nmultiplication or subtraction of various members, as in the one-eyed\nCyclops or the hundred-armed Briar\u00e6us.\n\nOne of the most notable beliefs in medi\u00e6val times was that in the\nheadless people:--\n\n    \"The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads\n    Do grow beneath their shoulders.\"\n\nOf the Anthropophagi we may read in Eden's \"Historie of Travayle,\" a\nbook published in the year 1577. The word in its literal sense means\nman-eaters or cannibals.[20] Eden, in the passage to which we have\nreferred, speaks of these as \"the wilde and myschevous people called\nCanibales or Caribes, whiche were accustomed to eate man's fleshe, and\ncalled of the old writers Anthropophagi, molest them exceedingly,\ninvading their countrey, takyng them captive, kyllying and eatyng\nthem.\" Our old author, it will be seen, speaks of still older writers,\nbut these we have been unable to lay hands on.\n\n  [20] From the Greek words _anthropos_, a man; and _phago_, to eat.\n\nHalliwell, in his noble edition of Shakespeare's Plays, comments on\nthe opinion of Pope and other writers, that the lines we have quoted\nfrom \"Othello\" were perhaps originally the interpolation of the\nplayers, or at best a mere piece of trash admitted to humour the lower\nclass of the audience. He, as we imagine, very justly combats this\nidea, holding that the case was probably the very reverse of this, and\nthat the poet rather desired to commend his play to the more curious\nand refined amongst his auditors by alluding here to some of the most\nextraordinary passages in Sir Walter Raleigh's account of his\ncelebrated voyage to Guiana in 1595. Nothing excited more universal\nattention than the accounts which Raleigh brought from the New World\nof the cannibals, headless people, and Amazons. A short extract of the\nmore wonderful passages was published in several languages,\naccompanied by a map of Guiana, by Jodocus Hondius, a Dutch\ngeographer, and adorned with copper-plates representing these\nAnthropophagi, Amazons, and headless men in different points of view.\n\nRaleigh's book was published in London in 1596, the year after his\nreturn from these wondrous lands. Its title runs as follows:--\"The\ndiscoverie of the large, rich, and bewtiful Empire of Gviana, with a\nrelation of the great and golden City of Manoa, which the Spaniards\ncall El Dorado, performed in the year 1595, by Sir W. Ralegh, Knt.\"\nThe book is written throughout in a very fair, honest way, and with an\nevident desire to gain the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the\ntruth. Our hero shall, however, speak for himself. \"Next vnto Armi\nthere are two riuers Atoica and Coara, and on that braunch which is\ncalled Coara are a nation of people whose heades appeare not aboue\ntheir shoulders, which, though it may be thought a meere fable, yet\nfor mine owne parte I am resolued it is true, because euery child in\nthe prouinces of Arromaia and Canuri affirme the same: they are called\nEwaipanoma; they are reported to haue their eyes in their shoulders,\nand their mouths in the middle of their breasts, and that a long\ntraine of haire groweth backward betwen their shoulders. The sonne of\nTopiawari, which I brought with mee into England, told mee that they\nare the most mightie men of all the lande and vse bowes, arrowes, and\nclubs thrice as bigge as any of Guiana, or of the Orenoqueponi, and\nthat one of the Iwarawakeri took a prisoner of them the yeare before\nour arriual there, and brought him into the borders of Arromaia his\nfather's countrey. And further, when I seemed to doubt of it hee told\nme that it was no wonder among them, but that they were as great a\nnation, and as common, as any other in all the prouinces, and had of\nlate yeares slaine manie hundreds of his father's people and of other\nnations their neighbors, but it was not my chance to heare of them til\nI was come away, and if I had but spoken one word of it while I was\nthere, I might haue brought one of them with me to put the matter out\nof doubt.\" It appears to us that \"Sir W. Ralegh, Knt.,\" comes out of\nthe matter very much better than \"the sonne of Topiawari,\" who, to say\nthe least of it, and to take the most charitable view, seems to have\nbeen under a misapprehension of the facts.\n\nThe same year saw the publication of a second book, \"A relation of the\nSecond Voyage to Guiana, performed and written in the yeere 1596, by\nLaurence Keymis, Gent.\" This was dedicated to \"the approved, right\nvalorous and worthy knight Sir Walter Ralegh,\" and he too refers to\nthis mysterious people, though only on the same terms, information at\nsecond hand, not actual inspection. He says, \"Our interpreter\ncertified mee of the headlesse men, and that their mouthes in their\nbreastes are exceeding wide.\" He evidently feels that this is almost\nas far as he may reasonably expect to gain credence from the folks at\nhome, for he goes on to say, \"What I have heard of a sorte of people\nmore monstrous I omit to mention, because it is matter of no\ndifficultie to get one of them, and the report otherwise will appeare\nfabulous.\" He nevertheless does mention it, for in a note on the\nmargin he says of these people, \"They have eminent heades like dogs,\nand live all the day time in the sea: they speake the Charibes\nlanguage.\" Probably these were some kind of seal or sea-lion, though\none does not generally associate with such creatures the idea of\nlinguistic acquirements. He does not seem to have found it so easy to\nget hold of one of these people as he anticipated; his book at least\ngives no hint that he was so far successful. Guiana, like Africke, was\nin medi\u00e6val times a land of wonders, and even Hartsinck, in his work\non Guiana, published in 1770, or not very much more than a century\nago, gravely asserts the existence of a race of negroes in Surinam\nwhose hands and feet were forked like the claw of a lobster, the hands\nconsisting merely of a thumb and one broad finger, like the gloves of\none's tender infancy, while the foot was suggestive of the split hoof\nof the ox or sheep.\n\nHackluyt in his \"Voyages\" dwells on the land Gaora, a tract inhabited\nby a people without heads, having their eyes in their shoulders and\ntheir mouths in their breasts. His book is dated 1598. A similar race\nof men, called Blemmyes, were said to be found in Africa; and Sir John\nMaundeville, in his \"Voiage and Travaile, which treateth of the way to\nHierusalem and of Marvels of Inde, with other Ilands and Countries,\"\ngives an account of these men whose heads do grow beneath their\nshoulders. The book is altogether a most curious and interesting one,\nand the quaint illustrations add greatly to its value. The famous\n\"Nuremburg Chronicle\" of the year 1493 has a very curious figure of\none of these headless men, almost a hundred years before they are\nmentioned by Sir Walter Raleigh, and in 1534 we find another\nrepresentation in one of the books of Erasmus.[21] Raleigh's book, it\nwill be remembered, was published in 1596.\n\n  [21] Appendix N.\n\nAn extraordinary realisation of these famous and fabulous beings was\nafforded to the people of Stuttgard at the great Festival held in that\ncity by the Grand-Duke of Wurtemburg on the occasion of his marriage\nwith the Margravine of Brandenburg in the year 1609. The doings of the\nFestival were illustrated by Balthazar Kuchlein in a volume of 236\nplates. A grand procession was a marked feature in the rejoicings, and\nin this procession we see three of these headless men riding on gaily\ncaparisoned and prancing steeds, besides \"Tempus\" with his winged\nhourglass; \"Labor,\" dressed as a rustic, and bearing in one hand a\nbeehive, and in the other a spade; and \"Fama,\" a winged lady-fair on\nhorseback, and bearing scroll and trumpet. In this grand but\nheterogeneous cavalcade we also find, amongst many others, the\ncounterfeit presentments of Julius C\u00e6sar, Alexander of Macedon, Hector\nof Troy, Diana, Jupiter, Sol, Prudentia, Justicia, Fortitudo, and\nAbundancia--a strange medley, but doubtless a pageant well pleasing to\nthe burghers of Stuttgard, and to the countless throngs drawn within\ntheir city walls.\n\nPliny gravely writes of the Fanesii, a tribe in the far north of\nScandinavia, whose ears were so long that they could cover up their\nwhole body with them; while the author of \"Guerino Meschino\" speaks of\nIndians with feet so large that they carried them over their heads as\nsunshades. Their means of locomotion must have been, under these\ncircumstances, decidedly curious.\n\nAmongst one-eyed people we have the Arimaspians and the Cyclops. The\nformer were a race in Scythia, and were legendarily supposed to be in\nconstant war with the gryphons, as elsewhere we find recorded the\ncontinuous hostilities between the pigmies and the cranes. They are\nreferred to by Milton in his \"Paradise Lost.\" The Cyclops were\ngiants, whose business it was to forge for Vulcan; their single eye\nwas placed in the centre of their foreheads. Of these the most notable\nwas the great giant Polyphemus, the defeated and blinded foe of\nUlysses:--\n\n    \"Roused with the sound, the mighty family\n    Of one-eyed brothers hasten to the shore,\n    And gather round the bellowing Polypheme.\"[22]\n\n  [22] Addison's \"Milton Imitated.\"\n\nAll the departures from the ordinary human type that we have hitherto\nconsidered sink into insignificance when we come to the great\nBriar\u00e6us, the fifty-headed and hundred-handed giant, and his\ncompanions:--\n\n    \"He who brandished in his hundred hands\n    His fifty swords and fifty shields in fight.\"[23]\n\n  [23] The \"Jerusalem Delivered\" of Tasso.\n\nGiants of this overwhelming type may be also met with in the mythology\nof Scandinavia and India, but space forbids our dwelling at greater\nlength on their charms. Having, therefore, so far done homage to the\ndictum of Pope, \"The proper study of mankind is man,\" by considering\nin the first place the combination of the human nature with the\nanimal, and in the second division man himself, yet warped and\ndistorted from the image of God, we now, in the third place, deal with\nthose forms of human mould that owe their departure from the type form\nto an excess of bulk or the reverse--a class that includes the men of\nLilliput and of Brobdingnag, and all their fellows in towering height\nor microscopic proportion.\n\nThe Fairies were held by our ancestors to be a kind of intermediate\nbeings, partaking of the nature both of men and spirits. They had\nmaterial bodies, and yet possessed the power of rendering themselves\ninvisible at will. They had minds and hearts that could be touched by\nkindly feelings, and at the same time they delighted in practical\njokes of the most pronounced description, while some displayed a cruel\nand malignant ferocity. The general idea, however, of them seems to\nhave been of a diminutive race possessed with supernatural gifts,\nanimated with joyous spirits, of great beauty, and full of kindliness\nto the sons of men when not crossed or slighted. We are told, for\ninstance, of an honest farmer who had been reduced by the badness of\nthe seasons to poverty, and was about to return homewards one morning\nfrom the fields in despair, having sown what little seed he had, which\nwas not nearly so much as the ploughed land required. While pondering,\nnot knowing what to do, he imagined that he heard a voice behind him\nsaying--\n\n    \"Tak'--an' gie\n    As gude to me.\"\n\nHe turned round, and perceived a large sack standing at the end of the\nfield, and on opening it he found it to be full of the most excellent\nseed-oats. Without hesitation he sowed them; the sample was admirable,\nand the harvest no less luxuriant. The man carefully preserved the\nsack, and as soon as possible filled it full of the best grain that\nhis field produced, and set it down on the spot on which he had\nreceived the fairy oats. A voice called to him--\n\n    \"Turn roun' your back,\n    Whill I get my sack.\"\n\nThe farmer averted his face, and then immediately looked round, but\nall was gone. Things ever after prospered with him; for, according to\nthe popular belief--\n\n        \"Meddle and mell\n        Wi' the fien's o' hell,\n    An' a weirdless wicht ye'll be;\n        But tak' and len',\n        Wi' the fairy men,\n    Ye'll thrive ay whill ye dee.\"\n\nIn the same dearth, and in the same parish, an old woman who was\nnearly perishing of hunger, having tasted no food for two or three\ndays, was one morning astonished to find one of her pans full of\noatmeal. This seasonable supply she attributed to some of her\nbenevolent neighbours, who she imagined had been wishing to give her a\nlittle surprise. Notwithstanding the care, however, with which she\nhusbanded her meal, it by-and-by was expended, and she was again\nalmost reduced to starvation. After passing another day without food\nher pan was again replenished, which was regularly done whenever the\nsupply was exhausted, always allowing her to remain one day without\nfood. Her store was replenished so regularly that at last she became\ncareless, and presumed on the generosity of her invisible benefactors.\nOne day, on receiving her new supply, she baked the whole of it into\ncakes, and having by some means obtained a little meat, invited all\nher acquaintances to a treat. The guests were just going to fall to\nwhen, to their astonishment, they beheld the cakes turn into withered\nleaves. After this the store was never renewed.\n\nThe origin of the belief in fairies is lost in the mists of time. Some\nsupposed them to be the spirits of those who had inhabited the land\nbefore the birth of the Saviour, shut out until the final judgment\nfrom the joys of Paradise, yet undeserving of a place amongst the\nlost souls in Hades. Others tell us that they are the Druids thus\ntransformed because they would not give up their idolatrous rites, and\nthat they are continually growing smaller and smaller, until they\neventually turn into ants.[24] They may be divided into four classes.\n1. The white or good fairies who live above ground, the joyous\ndancers, the ethereal beings the poets delight to portray. 2. The dark\nor underground spirits, trolds and brownies, a more irritable race,\nworking in mines and smithies, and doing good or evil offices in a\nsomewhat arbitrary and uncertain fashion. 3. The fairy of the\nhomestead, of whom Puck and Robin Goodfellow are good examples, fond\nof cleanliness and order, rewarding and helping the industrious and\npunishing the idle and careless. 4. The water-fairies, the more sombre\nspirits of the woods and mountains, the Kelpies and Nixies, luring men\nto destruction. We nevertheless find that the fairies of the sylvan\nshades interest themselves at times in the affairs of men, and though\nit is easy to define four very distinct classes, we at the same time\nfind that these classes are blended together a good deal. The whole\nthing is so purely a creation of the imagination, not of one mind but\nof thousands, that it is impossible to reduce the subject to\nmathematical exactness.\n\n  [24] Appendix O.\n\nThe fairies of the poets are ordinarily those of the woodland, while\nthose of the legends of the countryside are at least equally often the\nfairies of the homestead in their association with the daily life, the\ntrivial round, the common task.\n\nThe earliest account of the fairies of England will be found in the\nwritings of Gervase, in the thirteenth century, and after that date\nallusion to them may frequently be found; grave chroniclers like\nReginald Scot, poets like Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton,\nall make mention of them. The first of these, Scot, in his \"Discoverie\nof Witchcraft,\" tells us that \"the faeries do principally inhabit the\nmountains and caverns of the earth, whose nature is to make strange\napparitions on the earth, in meadows or in mountains, being like men\nand women, soldiers, kings, and ladies, children, and horsemen clothed\nin green.\" Many unfortunate women were persecuted as witches during\nthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and their connection with the\nfairies was often one of the leading charges against them, as we may\nsee in the indictment of Alison Pearson; she was convicted of\nassociating with the fairies, the definite charge against her being\n\"for haunting and reparing with the Queene of Elfland.\" Another woman\nwas found guilty of \"taking employment from a woman to speak in her\nbehalf to the Queene of Faerie;\" and many other such cases might be\nbrought forward.\n\nFairies have ordinarily been invisible, and though they have at times\npermitted mortals to be present at their revels, more frequently they\nwould appear to have resented any intrusion. In Poole's \"English\nParnassus\" the most circumstantial details are given: the robes are of\nsnowy cobweb and silver gossamer; the lamps are the mystic lights of\nglowworms; the minstrelry is the music of the nightingale or the chirp\nof the cricket. Their emperor was Oberon, and his royal consort and\nempress was the sweet but mischievous Mab:--\n\n    \"There is Mab, the mistress fairy,\n    That doth nightly rob the dairy;\n    And can help or hurt the churning\n    As she please without discerning.\n    This is she that empties cradles,\n    Takes out children, puts in ladles.\"\n\nThe fairies--the good people as they were often called--were on the\nwhole kindly and beneficent. During the Middle Ages these little\nbeings had obtained so much credit that the clergy, who wished to\nreserve to themselves the power of blessing or banning, grew seriously\njealous, and endeavoured earnestly to disestablish them from the\nhearts of men. That this was by no means in accordance with the\nfeelings of the laity may be very well seen in the following extract\nfrom the \"Canterbury Tales\":--\n\n    \"I speke of many hundred yeres ago;\n    _But now can no man see non elves mo_;\n    For now the grete charitee and prayeres\n    Of limetoures and other holy freres\n    That searchen every land and every streme\n    As thikke as motes in the sonne beme,\n    Blessing halles, chambers, kichenes and bowres,\n    Cities, and burghes, castles highe and toures,\n    Thropes and bernes, shepines and dairies\n    _This maketh that there ben no fairies_;\n    For thir as wont to walken was an elf,\n    Their walketh now the limetour himself.\"\n\nThe fairy rings to be seen in the meadows and woodlands were accepted\nwith undoubted faith as the scenes of midnight revelry, and in most\ncases were regarded with some little dread from the belief that they\nwere enchanted ground. Hence when people went to look after their\ncattle in the morning they were always careful to avoid walking too\nnear these rings:--\n\n    \"Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,\n    Awakes the Fairies in yon ancient tower.\n    Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,\n    Nor let my sheep within that circle tread;\n    Where round and round all night in moonlight fair,\n    They dance to some strange music of the air.\"\n\nThe effect produced on those who incautiously entered these charmed\ncircles seems to have been sufficiently startling, if we may credit\nthe old popular beliefs, to justify the greatest precautions and the\nmost open-eyed watchfulness. In some cases the victim of carelessness\nor short-sightedness would imagine that he had been absent but a few\nminutes with the fairies, when he had really been away a century or\nmore; while in other cases a man would suppose that he had lived for a\nlong period in Elf-land when he had been but away an hour. Probably in\nsome cases the spirits were alcoholic. We read of a young man who went\nout one morning and probably trod in one of these rings; however that\nmay be, he was attracted by the especially sweet singing of some\nunknown bird. After waiting, as he thought, some few minutes, he\nresumed his journey, when he noticed to his surprise that the fresh\nand verdant tree in which the sweet songster had been embowered was\nscathed and leafless. The well-known house to which he was going had\ndisappeared with all its inhabitants, and in its place a new structure\nhad arisen. On going up to it an old man, who was evidently the owner,\ncame out and asked his business, and on learning his name, told him\nthat he had been away a hundred years or more. \"I remember when I was\na child hearing my grandfather speak of your disappearance one day\nmany years before I was born, and that, after searching for you far\nand wide, he learned from a wise woman that you had fallen amongst the\nfairies, and that you would only be released when the sap had ceased\nto flow in yonder aged tree!\" He had scarcely uttered the words when\nhe beheld his long-lost kinsman fall away to a heap of dry dust!!\n\nA popular Welsh legend tells us that two countrymen were one night\ncrossing the mountains, when one of them, thinking he heard some\nstrains of music, lingered a little behind, and could not afterwards\nbe found. After fruitless search, his friends learned from a Seer that\nhe had fallen amongst the fairies, and that the only way to recover\nhim was to go on the anniversary of his absence to the place where he\nhad disappeared, and that they must then pull him out of a fairy ring.\nSome few bold spirits were equal to the occasion, and on going to the\nplace at the stipulated time they discovered their lost relative in\nthe midst of an immense number of very small people, who were all\ndancing round in a circle. They pulled him out, but he died of\nexhaustion almost directly, as he had been dancing without\nintermission for the twelve months he had been missing. Another\ntradition current in Wales tells us of a young shepherd who peacefully\ntended his flock on the steeps of Brynnan Mawr. One day setting forth\nas usual at daybreak from his homestead near the hills, the lofty\nsummit was enveloped in mist, but, as he proceeded, it gradually\ncleared away towards the Pembrokeshire side, a sure sign of a fine\nday. Our shepherd felt all the elevation of spirit which youth and the\nearly dawn of a day in the \"leafy month of June\" might be expected to\nproduce. Whilst trudging on his way gaily up the steep, he discerned\nthe extraordinary spectacle of a party of persons, brilliantly\ndressed, and in active movement near the summit of the mountain. He\ngazed for some time before he could be convinced that what he saw was\nreal. He climbed farther and farther, forgetting his sheep and all\nelse in the world at the apparition of so many bright beings at that\ndesolate spot. At last he drew very near the party, whom he was now\nconvinced were either the Fairies, or some kindred sprites, concluding\ntheir nightly revels. Bursts of gentle music, like the melodious\nmurmuring of an \u00c6olian harp, ever and anon entranced him with\ndelight. They were comely little beings to behold, and seemed very\nmerry, while their habiliments of white, or green, or red, glistened\nwith more than earthly beauty. The male sex wore red bonnets, and\ntheir fair companions flaunted in head-dresses outrivalling the\ngossamer in their texture; and many either galloped about on tiny\nwhite steeds, or pursued each other with the swiftness of the breeze.\nThe greater portion of the party, however, were intently engaged in\ntheir favourite sport of dancing in the circle. Our shepherd did not\nknow how it was, but he felt an irresistible inclination to make one\nof this joyous group, and growing bolder as the actors in the scene\nbecame more familiar to him, he at last ventured forward, and being\nencouraged by the friendly signals from all around, he advanced one\nstep within the ring. The most exquisite melody now filled the air,\nand in an instant all was changed. Brynnan Mawr, with its well-known\nscenery, was seen no more. He was suddenly transported to a gorgeous\npalace radiant with gold and precious stones. Groves of odoriferous\nshrubs, intermingled with flowers unknown in this world, which might\nhave rivalled those of the Valley of Gardens in \"Lalla Rookh,\" shed\naround a fragrance excelling that of the \"spicy East.\" Here did our\nshepherd wander from day to day amidst porphyry halls, and pavilions\nof pearl. Time sped away, but years seemed insufficient to explore all\nthe wonders of that veritable Fairyland. He was attended in his\nwanderings by kind and gentle beings, who anticipated every want, and\neven invented sports and pastimes to amuse him. In the midst of the\ngardens there was a well of the clearest water, filled with many\nrainbow-tinted fish. There was but one limitation affixed to his\nmovements and his curiosity: he was forbidden to drink of this well,\non pain of having all his happiness blasted. It might be thought that,\nsurrounded as he was with all that he could desire, there would have\nbeen no danger of his violating this command, but the result proved\nthe error of this Utopian way of viewing the probabilities. One day he\ncautiously advanced toward the forbidden spot, and placing his hand\nwithin the well, drew forth some water in his palm and drank it. The\nshrieks of many voices instantly filled the air, all the fair scenes\nof enchanting loveliness vanished, and the luckless and too curious\nshepherd found himself on the summit of Brynnan Mawr with his sheep\nquietly grazing around him in the early morning just as when he had\nfirst entered the fairy-ring. Though years apparently had passed away\nwhile he was under the magic spell yet it was evident that in reality\nnot many minutes could have elapsed.\n\nOur readers will doubtless recall Shakespeare's reference to these\n\"fairy rings,\" in the first scene of the fifth act in the \"Tempest\":--\n\n    \"Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;\n    And ye, that on the sands with printless foot\n    Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him,\n    When he comes back; you, demi-puppets, that\n    By moon-shine do the green-sour ringlets make,\n    Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime\n    Is to make midnight mushrooms; that rejoice\n    To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid\n    (Weak masters though ye be,) I have be-dimm'd\n    The noon-tide sun, called forth the mutinous winds,\n    And 'twixt the green sea and the azure vault\n    Set roaring war.\"\n\nThe flint arrow-heads or celts so dear to antiquaries, and so commonly\nto be found in and near the tumuli that mark the resting-places of our\nremote ancestors, are popularly called fairy-darts or elf-bolts.\nThough the wound of an elf-bolt was supposed to cause instant death to\nman and beast when directed by an aggrieved or mischievous fairy, the\npossession of one of these celts secured its owner from all ill\nconsequences. When cattle or horses fell lame without the reason being\nforthcoming, it was concluded that they had been wounded by these\ninvisible archers, in which case it was only necessary to touch the\ntender place with another elf-bolt or to make the animal drink the\nwater in which one had been dipped.\n\nAny money found by the roadside was in the same way ascribed by our\nrustics to the fairies, some kindly spirit having dropped it by the\nway for the benefit of the battered wayfarer. As a boy one day in\nAnglesea was going out just before daybreak, he saw before him in the\ngrey and obscure light a party of little beings dancing, as usual, in\na circle. He hastened home in alarm and without making any further\ninvestigation, and on his return found a groat on a stone. He often\nsaw the fairies afterwards at the same place, and as regularly found\nthe money laid for him at the same spot. His possession of funds\nawakened the paternal curiosity, and he at last confessed the whole\nmatter. Ever after this, though he often passed by the scene of the\nrevels and scanned the wayside stone intently, he never saw either\nfairy frolic or fairy fee again.\n\nThough fairies had the power of making themselves invisible, and\ngenerally resented the intrusion of any human spectator, they were\nwilling to show themselves sometimes, it would appear, though\nfrequently the consequences were not altogether agreeable to the\nperson so favoured. One evening the curiosity of a countryman, in his\nprogress homewards, was powerfully excited by a wild though gentle\nmelody which apparently proceeded from amidst some rocks, resting in\npicturesque confusion on the slopes of the mountain. After listening\nfor some time he lost his track, and suddenly found himself close\nbeside a troop of elves, who were dancing round a mysterious circle of\n\"stocks and stones.\" Before he had much time for thought the\nelfin-troop surrounded him and quickly hurried him aloft, one of the\nparty first asking the question whether he would prefer to be conveyed\nwith a high, a moderate, or a low wind? Had he chosen the first, or\n\"above the wind,\" he would instantly have soared into the most\nelevated regions; but our poor bewildered farmer unwisely made choice\nof the low wind, thus rejecting (as is too often the case in life) the\nmiddle course, or \"with the wind,\" where he would have enjoyed an easy\nand pleasant aerial excursion. The mischievous little spirits then\nhurried him along the surface of the ground, over bog and briar, thorn\nand ditch, until at last they threw him in a most miserable plight\nhead foremost in the mire.\n\nIn Shakespeare's time it was a belief that no one could see the\nfairies and live, for he makes Falstaff exclaim, \"They are fairies, he\nwho looks on them shall die;\" but any one who desires to see them\nthrough the eye of a poet should read most carefully the altogether\ndelightful \"Midsummer Night's Dream.\" The temptation to quote\nliberally from it is extreme, but its beauty requires it to be read in\nits entirety.\n\nThe references in that play to changelings reminds us that we have not\nyet referred to this notable piece of family practice.\n\nBoth the good and the bad fairies used to recruit their numbers by\ncarrying off children, or young men and women. The malignant race\ndelighted in spiriting away the unbaptized offspring (for it was only\nover these that they had any power) of affectionate parents,\nparticularly when heirs, that they might produce as much mischief and\nvexation as possible; while the benignant fairies never took any\nrecruits but the orphans of pious parents, who had no protectors, or\nwere oppressed by cruel and unjust guardians. Such prot\u00e9g\u00e9s, or rather\nnaturalised fairies, were permitted twice to resume their original\nstate, and appear to their kindred and acquaintance. The first time\nwas at the end of seven years, when, if they had been children when\nthey were taken away, they appeared to their nearest relatives, and\ndeclared to them their state, whether they were pleased with their\ncondition as fairies, or wished to be restored to that of men. If they\nhad been boys or girls when they were removed from this upper earth,\nand had by this time grown to men or women, they always appeared to\npersons of a different sex to themselves, with whom they had fallen in\nlove, to whom they declared their state and passion, and, according to\ncircumstances, either wished their lover to accompany them to\nFairyland, or suggested to them a method whereby to recover them out\nof the hands of their elfish lords.\n\nThe second appearance, at the end of fourteen years, was for the same\npurpose, and on this occasion they were either rescued from the power\nof the fairies or confirmed under their dominion for ever.\n\nWhen the bad fairies carried off a child, they always left one of\ntheir own number in its place. This equivocal creature was always\ndistinguished by being insatiable for food, and if kept, seldom failed\nto draw its supposed mother into a consumption.\n\nWhenever a family suspected that a child had been changed for a\nfairy, they had recourse to the following strange, but, in the opinion\nof the country, infallible ordeal. A sufficient quantity of clay was\nproduced from the eastern side of a hill, with which all the windows,\ndoors, and every aperture through the house, excepting the chimney,\nwere built up. A large fire was then made of peats, and the supposed\nfairy, wrapped in the sheets or blankets of the woman's bed, was laid\non the fire when it was at the briskest, while one of the bystanders\nrepeated--\n\n    \"Come to me\n    Gin mine ye be;\n    But gin ye be a fairy wicht,\n    Fast and flee till endless nicht.\"\n\nIf the child actually was the woman's it instantly rolled off the fire\nupon the floor; but, if it was a fairy, it flew away up the chimney\nwith a tremendous shriek, and was never more seen, while the real\ninfant was found lying upon the threshold.\n\n    \"Oh, that it could be proved\n    That some night tripping fairy had exchanged,\n    In cradle-clothes, our children as they lay;\n    And called mine Percy, his Plantagenet!\n    Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.\"[25]\n\n  [25] Shakespeare, 1. Henry IV.\n\nSpenser also refers to this belief in the following lines:--\n\n    \"And her base elfin breed there for thee left,\n    Such men do changelings call, so changed by fairie's theft.\"\n\nIn some parts of the country, it is, or perhaps we should more\ncorrectly say was, customary to protect a child against fairy\ninfluences by tying a red thread round its throat or by letting its\nhead hang down for awhile in the early morning. One does not of\ncourse see why either of these remedies should be efficacious against\nfairies or against anything else; but any one who has had occasion to\ntalk matters over with rustics will have found that all their\nremedies, whether for ills spiritual or material, are of the most\ninconsequent character, and that the gift of faith in them is one of\nthe most necessary accompaniments. This belief in fairy changelings is\nof great antiquity, for we read in Holingshead's \"Chronicles\" that the\ncommon people, on the death of King Arthur, held that he was not\nreally dead at all, \"but carried away by fairies into some place,\nwhere he would remain for a time and then return again and reign in as\ngreat authority as ever.\" It was also an old belief that people who\nhad once lived with the fairies never again looked quite like other\npeople, an ingenious way of accounting for any peculiarity in any one.\nSir Walter Scott, in speaking of elf-possession, says that even\n\"full-grown persons, especially such as in an unlucky hour were doomed\nto the execration of parents or of masters, or those who were found\nasleep after sunset under a rock or on a green hill belonging to the\nfairies, or finally those who unwarily joined their orgies, were\nbelieved to be subject to their power. The accounts they gave of their\nsituation differ in some particulars. Sometimes they were represented\nas living a life of constant restlessness and wandering by moonlight.\nAccording to others, they inhabited a pleasant region, where, however,\ntheir situation was rendered horrible by the sacrifice of one or more\nindividuals to the devil every seventh year. This is the popular\nreason assigned for the desire of the fairies to abstract young\nchildren as substitutes for themselves in this dreadful tribute.\"\n\nPersons, as we have seen, could occasionally be recovered from the\nfairies, and if changelings were taken before dark to a place where\nthree rivers met, the stolen child would be brought back in the night\nand the fairy youngster would return whence it came. A poor woman who\nonce had twins had them adroitly carried away soon after birth, and\ntwo of these elf-changelings substituted. For some months the change\nwas not suspected, but as the mother began to perceive that the\nchildren never increased in size her suspicions were aroused, and she\nconsulted one of the wise men of the district. This friend in need\namply confirmed her suspicions, and in answer to her appeal for help\nand counsel, told her that she must get two eggshells, fill them with\nwort and hops, place them where these dubious infants could see them,\nand then secretly observe what came next. After a few minutes of\nwatching the children began to stir, and these sweet little innocents,\nwho were supposed to be unable to either walk or talk, crept up to the\ntable, and after studying the matter awhile, one said to the other,\n\"We were born before the acorn which produced the oak of which these\ncottage beams are made, but this is the first time we ever saw anybody\nbrewing in an egg-shell!\" The secret was now fairly out, and the woman\nwas so exasperated at the trick played on her, that she fell on the\nchangelings with the greatest fury, and only desisted when she got a\nsolemn promise that her own dear children should at once be returned\nto her. One egg-shell story leads to another, and in an old book we\ncame across the following:--\n\n\"My mother lived in the immediate neighbourhood of a farm-house that\nwas positively infested by fairies. It was one of those old-fashioned\nhouses among the hills of Cambria, constructed after the manner of\nancient days, when farmers considered the safety and comfort of their\ncattle as much us that of their children and domestics, and the\nkitchen and cow-house were on the same floor adjoining each other,\nwith a half-door over, so that the good man could see the animals from\nhis chimney-corner without moving. My mother and the farmer's wife\nwere intimate friends, and she used often to complain to her that the\nfairies annoyed her and her family to that degree that they had no\npeace;--that whenever the family dined, or supped, or ate any meal, or\nwere together, these mischievous little beings would assemble in the\nnext apartment. For instance, when they were sitting in the kitchen,\nthey were at high gambols in the dairy, or when they were yoking the\ncows, they would see the fairies in the kitchen, dancing and laughing,\nand provokingly merry. One day, as there was a great number of reapers\npartaking of a harvest-dinner, which was prepared with great care and\nnicety by the housewife, they heard music and dancing and laughing\nabove, and a great shower of dust fell down, and covered all the\nvictuals which were upon the table. The pudding in particular was\ncompletely spoiled, and the keen appetites of the party were most\ngrievously disappointed. Just at this moment of trouble and despair an\nold woman entered, who saw the confusion and heard the whole affair\nexplained. 'Well,' said she in a whisper to the farmer's wife, 'I'll\ntell you how to get rid of the fairies. To-morrow morning ask six of\nthe reapers to dinner, and be sure that you let the fairies hear you\nask them. Then make no more pudding than will go into an egg-shell,\nand put it down to boil. It may be a scanty meal for six hungry\nreapers, but it will be quite sufficient to banish the fairies; and if\nyou follow these directions you will not be troubled with them any\nmore.' She did accordingly, and when the fairies heard that a pudding\nfor six reapers was boiling in an egg-shell there was a great noise in\nthe next apartment and an angry voice called out, 'We have lived long\nin this world. We were born just after the earth was made, and before\nan acorn was planted, and yet we never saw a harvest dinner prepared\nin an egg-shell. Something must be wrong in this house, and we will no\nlonger stop under its roof.' From that time the disturbances ceased,\nand the fairies were never seen or heard there any more.\"\n\nSome authorities on the subject--and there are no greater authorities\non it than the most superstitious old crones one can lay hold of--have\naverred that if any persons find themselves unwillingly in the company\nof the fairies they can cause their instantaneous departure by drawing\nout their knives. This acts not as a threat, for these puny immortals\nhave no need to fear the weapons of carnal warfare, but from some\ninherent property in the cold bright steel.\n\nMany of the fairies are such kindly, genial little souls that one is\nrather grieved to find that they are entirely antagonistic to any\nreligious influence. Many stories illustrate this unfortunate\npeculiarity, but to give one only will suffice. As a village fiddler\nwas returning home one evening from some festivities that had\ndoubtless owed much of their success to his enlivening strains, he was\nmet in the darkness by a stranger. This stranger wished to make a\nsomewhat curious arrangement with him, to the effect that on the\nfollowing night at midnight he should bring his fiddle to a certain\nwild spot on the moorland, while he promised him ample reward for so\ndoing. Though the fiddler presently agreed to do so, the more he\nthought it over the less he liked the bargain, and he would have\ngladly thrown it up had he dared. In his strait he bethought him of\nthe minister of the parish, and determined to lay the whole matter\nbefore him and take his advice upon it. His clerical adviser liked the\nlook of the affair no better than he did, but he advised him to keep\nto his bargain, while he strongly cautioned him to play nothing but\npsalm tunes. The fiddler kept his appointment, but no sooner had the\nsacred strains arisen than a great shriek rent the air and he was\nthrown violently down, and after receiving no slight castigation from\ninvisible adversaries he returned home sore and stiff in the early\nmorning. Unbelievers will no doubt say that the germ of truth in the\nstory will be found in the fact, that if the jovial musician so far\nyielded to the charms of the revels as to be unable to steer a\nstraight course home within reasonable hours, the early morning would\nprobably find him stiff and sore with rheumatism.\n\nThe spirits of the mine were as firmly believed in amongst the miners\nas the woodland and meadow sprites were by the dwellers on the country\nside. They were generally called knockers, and any sound heard in the\nstillness of the earth, that was evidently not the work of a\nfellow-toiler, was at once attributed to supernatural agency. The\nminers assert that these fairies may be frequently heard assiduously\nat work in the remoter parts, and that by their knocking they draw the\nattention of the workmen to the richest veins of ore. In the\n\"Gentleman's Magazine\" for 1754 we found a curious letter from a\nmine-owner, and the extract we give shows that the belief in such\nbeings was not by any means confined to the rude and uncultivated\nminers, men a great part of whose lives were spent in the bowels of\nthe earth, far removed from the cheering light of day, and who were in\nan especial degree under the influence of superstition:--\n\n\"People who know very little of arts or sciences, or the powers of\nnature, will laugh at us Cardiganshire miners, who maintain the\nexistence of knockers in mines, a kind of good-natured impalpable\npeople, not to be seen but heard, and who seem to us to work in the\nmines; that is to say, they are types or forerunners of working in\nmines, as dreams are of some accidents which happen to us. Before the\ndiscovery of the _Esgair y Mwyn_ mine, these little people worked hard\nthrough day and night, and there are abundance of sober honest people\nwho have heard them. But after the discovery of the great mine they\nwere heard no more. When I began to work at Lwyn Lwyd, they worked so\nfresh there for a considerable time, that they frightened away some\nyoung workmen. This was when they were driving levels, and before we\nhad got any ore, but when we came to the ore they then gave over, and\nI heard no more of them. These are odd assertions, but they are\ncertainly facts, although we cannot and do not pretend to account for\nthem. We have now (October 1754) very good ore at Lwyn Lwyd, where the\nknockers were heard to work. But they have now yielded up the place,\nand are heard no more. Let who will laugh; we have the greatest reason\nto rejoice and thank the knockers, or rather God, who sends these\nnotices.\"\n\nIn the coal districts one meets with a similar belief in goblin\nminers. These spirits are ordinarily of a friendly disposition, and\nperform such kindly offices for their human fellow-workers as\nassisting to pump up superfluous water or loosening masses of coal. Of\ncourse one can readily see that when the men went to their work and\nfound their toil diminished, owing to a heavy fall of coal in the\nworking, superstition would at once have material to work on. Some of\nthese spirits would appear to have been of less amiable disposition,\nand the sounds heard were at times the warnings and forerunners of\ncoming disaster. As the fairies of the household or of the moonlighted\nforest glades were of uncertain and variable natures, though inclining\non the whole to beneficence, so the spirits of the earth were\ndivisible into those of gentle race and others of fierce and\nmalevolent disposition. In Milton's \"Comus\" we find these earth\nspirits referred to in the following passage:--\n\n    \"No goblin, or swart fairy of the mine,\n    Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity;\"\n\nand in Pope's prefatory letter to the \"Rape of the Lock\" we find a\nfurther allusion--\"The four elements are inhabitated by spirits called\nsylphs, gnomes, nymphs, and salamanders. The gnomes, or demons of the\nearth, delight in mischief; but the sylphs, whose habitation is in\nair, are the best-conditioned creatures imaginable.\"\n\nA belief in kindly spirits of the household was widely spread, for\nbesides our own Robin Goodfellow we find the Nis of Denmark and\nNorway, the Kobold of Germany, the Brownie of Scotland, and many\nothers. Brownie, we may remark, is a tawny, good-natured spirit, and\nderives his name from his colour as distinctive from fair-ie. Robin\nGoodfellow was a merry domestic sprite, full of practical jokes, a\nterror to the lazy, but a diligent rewarder of industry:--\n\n    \"When mortals are at rest,\n    And snoring in their nest,--\n    Un-heard or un-espied,\n    Through key-hole we do glide:\n    Over tables, stools, and shelves,\n    We trip it with our fairy elves.\n\n    And if the house be foule,\n    Of platter, dish or bowle,\n    Upstairs we nimbly creepe\n    And find the sluts asleepe:\n    Then we pinch their armes and thighes,\n    None escapes, nor none espies.\n\n    But if the house be swept,\n    And from uncleannesse kept,\n    We praise the house and maid,\n    And surely she is paid:\n    For we do use before we go\n    To drop a tester in her shoe.\"\n\nThe \"shrewd and knavish sprite\" and the good luck he brings to the\ndeserving are referred to very happily again in the \"Midsummer Night's\nDream.\"\n\nPrudent and considerate housewives who wished to gain the goodwill of\nthese spirits of the night were careful to leave a bowl of milk on the\ntable for their use. Milton, in his poem of \"L'Allegro\"--\n\n    \"Tells how the drudging goblin swet,\n    To earn his cream-bowl duly set;\"\n\nthe task he set himself in recompense for the attention shown him\nbeing the threshing during the night of as much corn as would have\nrequired the labour of ten men. What thrifty housewife would grudge a\nbowl of milk or cream for so great a reward!\n\nQueen Mab shares with Robin his functions as critic of household\nmanagement, for it will be remembered that in the \"English Parnassus\"\nwe find her described as--\n\n    \"She that pinches country wenches\n    If they rub not clean their benches;\n    And with sharper nail remembers,\n    When they rake not up their embers.\n    And if so they chance to feast her,\n    In their shoe she drops a tester.\"\n\nHousewives would see their account in keeping such a belief vividly\nbefore the eyes of their serving-maids, and may even themselves have\nsometimes dropped a tester where their diligent hand-maidens would\nfancy it a fairy-reward for their zeal in her service, while the vague\nthreats of fairy vengeance would come in most opportunely in support\nof their own chidings of the careless and indolent.\n\nWe turn, in conclusion, to the fourth class, the evil spirits of the\nwater and the storm. Of such is the Cornish Bucca, a weird goblin of\nthe winds, whose scream was heard amid the roar of the elements as\nsome gallant vessel was hurled to destruction on the rocks. In Ireland\nthe same creature was the dreaded Phoca or Pooka, in Wales the Pwcca,\nwhile in Scottish legends it is the Kelpie. The creature sometimes\nassumed the human form, and at others that of the eagle or the horse;\nthus in Graham's \"Sketches of Perthshire\" we read--\"Every lake has its\nkelpie or water-horse, often seen by the shepherd sitting upon the\nbrow of a rock, dashing along the surface of the deep, or browsing\nupon the pasture on its verge.\" The Nech is a similar creature in the\nfolk-lore of Scandinavia. In Wales we meet with the belief in a\ncreature called Cyoeraeth, so named, we are told, from its deadly\nchilling voice. We find it thus described in an old book:--\"The\nCyoeraeth is a being in the dress of a female, with tangled hair, a\nbloodless and ghastly countenance, long black teeth, and withered arms\nof great length;\" in short, it is invested with a description which\nconveys to the mind the idea of a blasted tree as compared to the\nflourishing monarch of the forest, rather than as possessing the\nsimilitude of anything human. This being (fortunately for the people)\nseldom made itself visible, but its scream or shriek at night had a\nterrible and overpowering effect on all who heard it. It generally\nforeboded death or fearful disaster, and always occurred when the\nspirit approached a cross road or drew near to a river or _llyn_, when\nit would commence to splash and agitate the water with its long\nbloodless hands, wailing all the time so as to 'make night hideous.'\nThose who heard its dreary moaning (or thought they did, the case\ndoubtless of the majority) fled in horror, fearing for their reason,\nwhile many were really affected in mind, and ever after had the shriek\nresounding in memory.\n\nIn Brecon a romantic gorge called the Cwm Pwcca bears record in its\nname of the old belief in the phoca. As a justification of its title\nwe read the following story:--A countryman was wandering in the\ndarkest of dreary winter nights in vain endeavour to find the path\nthat would have guided him to his home, when he saw a light before him\non the dreary waste, which he naturally took for the lantern of some\nwayfarer. He quickened his steps and made for it. As he rapidly neared\nit he was on the point of hailing its bearer when the roar of waters\nsmote his ear in the silence of the night, and, barely arresting his\nsteps in time, he found himself at the edge of a lofty chasm, the\nawful gulf at the base of which the torrent was sweeping with\nresistless fury. At this instant the bearer of the lantern took a\nflying leap to the opposite side of the gorge, burst into a scornful\nand unearthly peal of laughter, and vanished from the eyes of the\naffrighted rustic.\n\nThe _ignis fatuus_, will-of-the-wisp, or Jack o' lantern was doubtless\nat the bottom of such a story as this, and in Milton's \"Paradise Lost\"\nwe find the following powerful illustrative passage, referring both to\nthe natural phenomenon and the myth built upon it:--\n\n    \"'Lead, then,' said Eve. He, leading, swiftly rolled\n    In tangles, and made intricate seem straight,\n    To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and Joy\n    Brightens his crest; as when a wandering fire,\n    Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night\n    Condenses, and the cold environs round,\n    Kindled through agitation to a flame,\n    Which oft, they say, some evil spirit tends,\n    Hovering and blazing with delusive light,\n    Misleads the amazed night wanderer from his way,\n    To bogs and mires, and oft through ponds or pool;\n    There swallowed up and lost, from succour far,\n    So glistered the dire snake.\"\n\nIn the same author's poem of \"L'Allegro\" we find the will-of-the-wisp\nagain referred to, this time under the title of \"Friar's lantern;\"\nwhile Sir Walter Scott in his \"Marmion\" writes--\n\n    \"Better we had through mire and bush\n    Been lantern-led by Friar Rush.\"\n\nShakespeare in 1 \"Henry IV.\" calls it a \"ball of wildfire,\" and also\nused the Latin name, _ignis fatuus_.\n\nThis bewilderment of the rustics by false fires does not always seem\nto have been the result of diabolical malice on the part of the\nfairies, but sometimes assumed the form of a practical joke. Like most\npractical jokes, it was probably much more amusing to the joker than\nthe joked, and the benighted wanderer had little cause to thank him of\nwhom it could be said--\n\n    \"Whene'er such wanderers I meete\n    As from their night-sports they trudge home;\n    With counterfeiting voice I grete\n    And call them on, with me to roam\n        Thro' woods, thro' lakes,\n        Thro' bogs, thro' brakes;\n        Or else, unseene, with them I go\n                All in the nicke\n                To play some tricke,\n        And frolic it, with ho, ho, ho!\"\n\nAn old legend tells us how on the advent of Christianity great Pan and\nall the woodland deities deserted their old haunts and were never seen\nof men again; and in the same way the march of science and the spread\nof education must ere now have killed off all the fairies, except in\nthe most out-of-the-way districts. Once coaxed and propitiated, or\nshudderingly dreaded, they now but serve to make a pleasant fancy for\na Christmas-card, or aid in the grand spectacular effects of the\nChristmas pantomime. Those, then, who would see these denizens of\nelf-land and all the grace and beauty that even the very name of\nfairy-land suggests, will seek them no longer in the ferny glades of\nsome fair woodland or beneath the silvery beams of the moon, but\nreduce the matter to a prosaic visit to some great theatre, and\nendeavour to find in the great array of \"supers\" and the glowing of\ncoloured fires the realisation of their fair ideal. The fairies are,\nin fact, as dead, as hopelessly defunct, as the proverbial door-nail,\nwhich seems to have been accepted by the wisdom of our ancestors as\nthe most expressive symbol of mortality and the stern decrees of\nirreversible Fate.[26]\n\n  [26] Appendix P.\n\nThe Pigmies had not the same glamour of romance about them that was\nassociated with the dwellers in elf-land. The consideration of them\nnevertheless comes well within the same chapter, as, like the fairies,\nthey were a race of beings of human mould, but differing from the\nordinary standard of humanity by reason of the exceeding smallness of\ntheir stature.\n\nReferences to them will be found in the writings of Herodotus,\nPhilostratus, Pliny, and many other authors, the first allusion to\nthem being in the third book of the Iliad, where the Trojans are\ncompared to cranes fighting against pigmies:--\n\n    \"Thus by their leaders' care each martial band\n    Moves into ranks, and stretches o'er the land.\n    With shouts the Trojans, rushing from afar,\n    Proclaim their motions, and provoke the war:\n    So when inclement winters vex the plain\n    With piercing frosts, or thick-descending rain,\n    To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly,\n    With noise, and order, through the mid-way sky:\n    To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,\n    And all the war descends upon the wing.\"[27]\n\n  [27] \"Marking the tracts of air, the clamorous cranes\n       Wheel their due flight in varied ranks descried;\n       And each with outstretched neck his rank maintains,\n       In marshalled order through th' ethereal void.\"\n\nThese combats between the pigmies and the cranes were also dwelt on by\nOppian, Juvenal, and others; and what was, to quote an old writer,\n\"only a pleasant figment in the fountain, became a solemn story in the\nstream.\" Strabo in his Geography considered the belief as fabulous,\nand so also did another old writer, Julius Scaliger; and even\nAldrovandus, though ready to accept almost anything, found a\ndifficulty in crediting it. Albertus Magnus, another of the old and\nover-credulous writers, found as much difficulty as Aldrovandus, but\nsuggested that probably the belief arose from some big species of\nmonkey having been taken for a diminutive man. Even the home of the\npigmies was a point quite open to dispute. Some writers placed them in\nthe extreme north, where the growth of all nature was feeble and\nstunted, while Aristotle placed them at the head of the Nile;\nPhilostratus affirmed that they were to be found on the banks of the\nGanges, and Pliny placed them in Scythia. Even their size was open to\nquestion, for some would have us believe that the mounted men in their\narmies rode on partridges, while others placed them on the backs of\nrams. If the warrior and his steed bore any due proportion to each\nother, this seems to point to a considerable divergence of ideas as to\nthe size of a pigmy. They were said to have been found by Hercules in\nthe great desert, and to have assailed him with their bows and arrows\nas the Lilliputians did Gulliver. Their valour, however, in this case\nseems to have outrun discretion, as the smiling demi-god carried a\nnumber of them off in his lion's skin. Ctesias says that they were\nnegroes, and places a kingdom of them in the centre of India.\nShakespeare mentions them, but gives no local habitation. \"Will your\nGrace command me any service to the world's end? I will go on the\nslightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me\non: I will fetch you a tooth-picker now from the farthest inch of\nAsia; bring you the length of Prester John's foot; fetch you a hair\noff the great Cham's beard; do you any embassage to the Pigmies!\"\nOthers of our poets have adopted the myth, though of course without\ncommitting themselves to an expression of their belief in it. In\nDryden's \"Absalom and Achitophel,\" for example, we find the lines--\n\n    \"A fiery soul, which, working out its way,\n    Fretted the pygmy-body to decay,\n    And o'er informed the tenement of clay\"--\n\nand in Young's \"Night Thoughts\" we read--\n\n    \"Pygmies are pygmies still, though perched on Alps;\n    And pyramids are pyramids in vales.\"\n\nAnother English writer whose book is before us does commit himself to\nan expression of belief, for his title runs as follows:--\"Gerania, a\nNew Discoverie of a Little Sort of People called Pygmies, with a\nLively Description of their Stature, Habit, Manners and Customs.\" The\nauthor was one Joshua Barnes, and his book is dated 1675.\n\nThough spelt indifferently as pigmy and pygmy, the latter is the more\ncorrect, though perhaps a little pedantic-looking; the word is derived\nfrom the Greek name for them, the Pygmaioi.\n\nTennant in his work on \"Ceylon\" makes the following very just\nremark:--\"We ought not to be too hasty in casting ridicule upon the\nnarratives of ancient travellers. In a geographical point of view they\npossess great value, and if sometimes they contain statements which\nappear marvellous, the mystery is often explained away by a more\ncareful and minute inquiry.\" Against the statements of the geographers\nand historians of antiquity many modern critics have specially\ndelighted to break a lance, condemning them as more or less fabulous\nand untrustworthy, though in some cases, as that of De Chaillu, the\nnarratives of modern travellers have been almost as mercilessly\nanalysed.\n\nProbably the African race known at the present time as Bosjesmen or\nBushmen are the modern representatives of the pigmies, for in their\ncave-dwelling, reptile-eating, and other peculiarities they agree\nentirely with those given by Pliny, Aristotle, and Herodotus. The\ntales of the battles fought with the cranes may have been but a satire\non their diminutive size, or they may very possibly have been the\nrecords of actual facts. The Maori traditions tell of the contests\nwith the moa and other gigantic birds which formerly inhabited the\nislands of New Zealand, while the Jesuit missionaries give accounts of\nenormous birds that were once found in Abyssinia, but are now, like\nthe dodo, extinct. It is, therefore, quite possible that there is more\ntruth in the story of these mannikins and their struggles with their\nfeathered foes than we are at first prepared to admit, and that while\nmany of the details of these old fables are evidently imaginative,\nthere was in more cases than we at once realise a solid foundation of\ntruth at the bottom of them.\n\nOf giants, the opposite extreme in the scale, we need say but little.\nProbably in many cases the early peoples, who desired to honour their\ngreat champions, felt that the marvels they delighted to credit them\nwith must have been the work of men of more than human power and\nparts. We see much the same feeling in the sculptures of antiquity,\nthe monuments of Egypt and Assyria, where the monarch far outweighs\neven in mere physical bulk the subjects that surround him. Hence, like\nGoliath, the champions of old are generally giants; while at other\ntimes they themselves are of slender frame, striplings like David, and\nit is the foes they subdue that are gigantic in bulk. The struggles,\nfor instance, of the gallant few against the crying and mighty wrong\nof human slavery would have in earlier times been handed down to\nposterity as a contest with an evil giant; and in the allegories of\nthe Middle Ages we meet, in the same way, with Giant Pope, Giant\nPagan, and Giant Despair.\n\nThough in one's earlier years we read the exploits of Jack the\nGiant-Killer with great complacency, and give him full meed of praise\nfor his valour, on fuller reflection we cannot help seeing that the\ngiants he encountered had intellects that bore no proportion to their\nbodily bulk, and that it was the easiest thing possible to outwit\nthem; that according to the doctrine which by men of science is called\n\"the survival of the fittest,\" or in more popular parlance \"the\nweakest going to the wall,\" their destruction was strictly according\nto the inexorable laws of nature. While dwarfs have been accredited\nwith a spiteful vindictiveness that served them in some sort as a\ndefence, giants have ordinarily been considered as great good-natured\nfellows, fully bearing out Bacon's remark about tall houses being\noften unfurnished in their upper story. Perhaps it is a merciful\narrangement of nature that this should be so, for a combination of the\nmaliciousness of the dwarf with the physical strength of the giant\nwould be something altogether _de trop_.\n\nWe very early in the Bible narrative meet with references to giants,\nbut it is by no means agreed by commentators that the word nephilim\nthus translated means men remarkable for their stature. The context in\nthe case of the first reference to them, for instance, seems to render\nit more probable that these were men not of gigantic stature, but of\ngigantic wickedness--men who had departed from the true religion, and\nwere sustaining their apostasy by acts of violence and oppression, and\nendeavouring by these means to gain to themselves power on the earth.\nAt the same time in other passages the references to the size of the\ncouch or the spear clearly implies their ownership by a man of much\nmore than the ordinary stature. According to Jewish tradition Og lived\nthree thousand years, and walked beside the Ark during the deluge,\nwhile after his death one of his bones was used as a bridge for\ncrossing a river. According to Moses his bedstead was not quite\nsixteen feet long, so that it seems the brook that any single bone\nwould span could scarcely have required bridging at all; while the\ndepth at what we may be allowed to term \"high water\" during the\nNoachic deluge must have been very much less than all one's\npreconceived notions would suggest, if its volume was a thing of\nindifference to the owner of this sixteen-feet couch. The nearest\napproach to a giant in modern times was an Irishman named Murphy, who\nattained to a height of eight feet ten inches. Many of our readers\nwill remember seeing the Chinese Chang, or at least hearing of him, as\nhe was exhibited to the curious in London in 1866 and 1880. His height\nwas eight feet two inches. Patrick Cotter, an Irishman, who died in\n1802, exceeded this by six inches; and one fine youth named Magrath,\nan orphan adopted by Bishop Berkeley, died at the age of twenty, after\nreaching a height of seven feet eight inches. There is no absolutely\nauthenticated instance of any one in modern times reaching nine feet,\nthough, of course, when tradition and hearsay have taken the place of\nthe measuring-tape, there is no difficulty in going considerably\nbeyond that limit. Plutarch tells of a giant eighty-five feet high,\nand Pliny of another who only reached sixty-six. Many of the skeletons\nof giants that were then supposed to be found during the Middle Ages\nwere really the remains of extinct animals. In the imperfect state of\nsurgical and osteological knowledge, the leg or blade bone of some\ngigantic antediluvian monster was ascribed to some hero of the past,\nand a very pretty little giant story promptly built upon it.\n\nAny curious natural phenomena were generally ascribed by our ancestors\nto diabolical influence, or else recognised as the labour of giants.\nThe Giant's Causeway is a notable and very familiar illustration of\nthis, and there are few mountains in Wales that are not invested with\nsome fairy tradition or legend of the marvellous. Trichrug, in\nCardiganshire, which derives its name from three united hills, is\nbelieved to have been a favourite resort of the giants, and, like\nCader Idris, this lofty elevation was once the special seat or chair\nof a giant whose grave is still pointed out. In a match at quoits\nwhich took place here between the giants of Cambria, he of Trichrug is\nsaid to have thrown one across St. George's Channel to the opposite\ncoast of Ireland, thus winning the contest triumphantly. His grave was\nfabled to possess such extraordinary capabilities that it not only\nadapted itself to the size of any one that lay down in it, but also\ngifted the individual with greatly renewed strength. All defensive\nweapons placed in this grave were either destroyed or swallowed up.\nThe rocky fortification, or _carnedd_, on the summit of Cader Idris is\nin like manner invested by the surrounding peasantry with a mysterious\ntradition respecting the giant Idris.\n\nThe warring of the giants against the rule of Jehovah finds its\nparallel in the Greek myth of the sons of Tartaros and Ge attempting\nto storm the gate of heaven and the seat of Zeus, only to meet with\nsignal discomfiture. The common expression for adding difficulty to\ndifficulty and embarrassment to embarrassment, the piling of Pelion on\nOssa, refers to this struggle, as the giants piled two mountains of\nthese names on each other as a scaling ladder to reach the heights of\nhigh Olympus.\n\nIn \"Measure for Measure\" we find two well-known allusions to giants:--\n\n                          \"O! it is excellent\n    To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous\n    To use it like a giant.\"\n\nThe second of these is equally familiar:--\n\n    \"The sense of death is most in apprehension,\n    And the poor beetle that we tread upon,\n    In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great\n    As when a giant dies.\"\n\nIn Matthew Green's play of \"The Spleen,\" written at the beginning of\nthe eighteenth century, we find an evident allusion to the struggle\nbetween David and Goliath in the line--\n\n    \"Fling but a stone, the giant dies.\"\n\nColeridge, again, writes--\"A dwarf sees further than the giant, when\nhe has the giant's shoulder to rest on.\" This idea is not, however,\nhis own, for in Herbert's \"Jacula Prudentum\" we find the line, \"A\ndwarf on giant shoulders sees further of the two;\" and in Fuller's\n\"Holy State\" he says--\"Grant them but dwarfs, yet stand they on\ngiants' shoulders and may see the further.\" Many other illustrations\nmight, of course, readily be given of what may be termed the literary\nexistence of giants, but enough has been quoted to show how valuable\nthese personages have in poesy and general literature. In the West\n\"Gulliver's Travels\" and in the East the \"Arabian Nights'\nEntertainments\" are two examples that at once occur to one's mind.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nComparatively Small Number of Mythical Bird-Forms--The Martlet--The\nBird of Paradise--The Humma--The Huppe--The Ibis--The Roc--The Hameh\nBird--Reptiles, Fish, &c.--The Sea-Serpent--The Adissechen of Hindu\nMythology--The Iormungandur of Scandinavian Mythology--The Egg\nTalisman--Fire-Drake--Aspis--Amphisbena--Kraken--Cetus--Leviathan--\nBehemoth--Nautilus--Dolphin--The Acipenser--The Remora--The Fish Nun--\nThe Chilon--The Dies--Sea-Bishops and Sea-Monks--Davy Jones and his\nLocker--Ojibiway Legend of the Great Serpent--Fabledom in the Vegetable\nKingdom--The Barnacle Tree--The Kalpa-Tarou--The Lote Tree--The Tree of\nLife--Lotus-Eating--Amaranth--Lotus Wreaths at Kew from the Egyptian\nTombs--Asphodel--Medi\u00e6val Herbals--Ambrosia--The Upas Tree--The Umdhlebi\nTree of Zululand--The Kerzereh Flower--The Mandrake--\"Miracles of Art\nand Nature\"--Travellers' Tales--The Dead Sea Apple--Alimos--The Meto--\nThe Herb Viva--Cockeram on Herb-Lore--The Pseudodoxia of Dr. Browne--\nHerb Basil--The \"Eikon Basilike\"--Fitzherbert's \"Boke of Husbandry.\"\n\n\nWhile we find numerous extraordinary beliefs clustering round the\nso-called natural history of various birds, such as the legend of the\npelican nourishing its young with its own blood, or the eagle teaching\nits offspring to gaze on the brightness of the mid-day sun, it is\ncurious to note how little of absolute myth-creation has been\ndeveloped in the direction of strange forms of bird life. On the other\nhand, many of the weird creations of fancy, such as the dragon or the\nphoca, have their terrors greatly enhanced by the gift to them of the\nessential bird characteristic, the power of soaring in mid-air, and\nthus gaining a great additional power for evil over their victims. We\nhave already referred, in our first chapter, to the phoenix, and it\nnow only remains to mention some few other mythical bird-forms, less\nwidely known, before we pass to other creations of fancy. Even in\nheraldry, the home of much that is marvellous and unnatural, the bird\nforms depart but little from natural types, and the only instance to\nthe contrary that occurs to us is the well-known Martlet, used not\nonly as \"a charge\" in blazonry, but also as a mark of cadency to\ndistinguish the arms of contemporary brothers in the same family or to\nidentify different branches of the same family connection.[28]\n\n  [28] Appendix Q.\n\nThe martlet is very similar in form to a swallow, but is always\nrepresented as without feet, while the French heralds also deprive it\nof beak. A good early example of its use may be seen in the arms of\nWilliam de Valence, emblazoned on his shield at Westminster, and\ndating from the year 1296; later instances of its employment are so\ncommon that it is hardly worth while to particularise any special\nillustration. The martlet, according to Gwillim, in his elaborate\ntreatise on heraldry, \"hath leggs exceeding short, that they can by no\nmeans go: and therefore it seemeth the Grecians do call them _Apodes,\nquasi sine pedibus_; not because they do want feet, but because they\nhave not such use of their feet as other birds have. And if perchance\nthey fall upon the ground, they cannot raise themselves upon their\nfeet as others do, and so prepare themselves to flight. For this cause\nthey are accustomed to make their Nests upon Rocks or other high\nPlaces, from whence they may easily take their flight, by means of\nthe support of the Air. Hereupon it came that this Bird is painted in\nArms without feet: and for this cause it is also given as a difference\nof younger Brethren, to put them in mind to trust to their wings of\nvertue and merit to raise themselves, and not to their leggs, having\nlittle Land to set their foot on.\"\n\nIn medi\u00e6val days the Bird of Paradise was in like manner thought to be\nwithout feet. The error arose in a very natural but most prosaic way,\nand simply sprang from the fact that the natives who bartered the\nskins of the birds with the merchants cut off the legs before bringing\nthem, naturally thinking that they were of no value, and that it was\nfor the richness of the plumage alone that the skins were esteemed.\nThe lovers of the marvellous in the West built upon this weak\nfoundation a most poetic superstructure, and believed that the bird\nwas indeed the denizen of paradise, fed upon the dew of heaven,\nincapable of contact with earth, building no nest, but hatching its\neggs in a cavity upon its own back; ever soaring in the sunlight far\nabove earth, and independent of all mundane association.\n\nTavernier supplies another explanation, equally prosaic, of their\nfootless condition--one in fact, that entirely removes the poor birds\nfrom all poetic association, and reduces them to the \"drunk and\nincapable\" state that some other bipeds are prone to indulge in. He\ntells us in his book that the birds of paradise come in flocks during\nthe nutmeg season to the plantations, and that the odour so\nintoxicates them that they fall helplessly to the earth, and that the\nants eat off their feet while they are thus incapacitated. Moore, in\nhis \"Lalla Rookh,\" thus refers, it will be remembered, to this\nTavernier tale in writing of--\n\n    \"Those golden birds that in the spice-time drop\n    Upon the gardens drunk with that sweet food\n    Whose scent hath lured them o'er the summer flood.\"\n\n\"The sublime bird which flies always in the air, and never touches the\nearth,\" mentioned by the princess in the introduction to \"Paradise and\nthe Peri,\" was the Humma, an altogether fabulous creature. Like the\nbird of paradise, it was supposed to pass its whole time in the blue\nvault of heaven, and to have no contact with earth; it was regarded as\na bird of good omen, and that every head it overshadowed would in time\nbe encircled with a crown. The splendidly jewelled bird suspended over\nthe throne of Tippoo Sultan at Seringapatam was an artistic embodiment\nof this poetic fancy, and we can well imagine that all good courtiers\nwho had any regard for keeping their necks free from the scimitar\nwould take uncommonly good care to avoid that prophetic overshadowing,\nthat would make them the possible rivals and successors of so very\nresolute an autocrat.\n\nThe Huppe, one of the birds believed in by our forefathers in medi\u00e6val\ndays, seems morally to have been a somewhat peculiar and, on the\nwhole, objectionable compound, reminding one in some degree of those\nuncomfortable people who attach an immense importance to their own\nbelongings, but whose sympathies towards the members of the clan are\nscarcely more marked than their antipathy to all beyond this narrow\ncircle. Such, at least, is the idea we should gather from the\ndescription of it by De Thaun, for he tells us that \"when it sees its\nfather or mother fallen into old age that they cannot see nor fly, it\ntakes them under its wings and cherishes them. The huppe has such a\nnature that if any shall anoint a man with its blood while he is\nsleeping, devils will come and strangle him.\" The huppe was described\nas being like a peacock, but it seems impossible to even imagine how\nsuch a belief in its evil powers could ever have taken root. It would\nbe difficult to conceive such a notion growing up in connection with\nany creature whatever, but when the first cause is itself non-existent\nthe difficulty is greatly intensified; one has not even a foothold of\nfact as a starting-point. What a picture, again, of cold-blooded\nfiendishness does it not open out to us as we see with the mind's eye\nthe treacherous anointing of some perchance innocent sleeper with a\npreparation of _Sanguis hupp\u00e6_ and then the operator walking off and\nposing in the eyes of the world as an honourable burgess, while his\naccomplices from the bottomless pit finish the job off for him while\nhe has gone to Mass or is engaged on 'Change! It is worse even than\nthat little affair with the babes in the wood, bad as that was in many\nof its details.\n\nThe Ibis, beloved as it was by the Egyptians for its services to them\nas the destroyer of venomous snakes, and from its association with the\nSacred Nile and the great deity Thoth, was not altogether allowed to\nbring forth its progeny in peace, for it was believed that its\nfondness for a serpent diet might so develop in it evil properties,\nthat its eggs were diligently sought for and destroyed, lest from them\nshould issue some strange serpentine forms of horror that in their\nmysterious nature would be a still greater scourge than the\nsufficiently objectionable grey and brown and diversely spotted and\nchequered denizens of the desert that coil or glide unseen amidst the\nexpanses of burning sand, and whose fangs convey swift death to those\nunfortunates who come within reach of their fatal power.\n\nBy far the grandest creation of bird-fancy is the Roc. This fabulous\nbird was of enormous size, and of such strength of talon and digestion\nthat it was said to be able to carry away an elephant to its mountain\nhome, and there devour it at a meal; while one old traveller, not to\nbe outdone in particularity of detail, calculates that one roc's egg\nis equal in amount to one hundred and forty-eight hens' eggs. The\nbelief in the roc was altogether an Eastern weakness, and those who\nwould know more of it must turn to such romances as that of \"Sindbad\nthe Sailor\" and the narratives of such-like Asiatic Barons Munchausen.\nIn the Second Voyage of Sindbad he tells us how he saw in the distance\nsome mysterious object, which, on closer inspection, proved to be the\negg of a roc. \"Casting my eyes,\" he says, \"towards the sea, I could\ndiscern only the water and the sky; but perceiving on the land side\nsomething white, I descended from the tree, and taking with me the\nremainder of my provisions, I walked towards the object, which was so\ndistant that at first I could not distinguish what it was. As I\napproached I perceived it to be a white ball of a prodigious size. I\nwalked round it, to find whether there was an opening, but could find\nnone; and it appeared so even that it was impossible to get up it. The\ncircumference might be about fifty paces. The sun was then near\nsetting; the air grew suddenly dark, as if obscured by a thick cloud.\nI was surprised at this change, but much more so when I perceived it\nto be occasioned by a bird of a most extraordinary size which was\nflying towards me. I recollected having heard sailors speak of a bird\ncalled a roc, and I conceived that the great white ball which had\ndrawn my attention must be the egg of this bird. I was not mistaken,\nfor shortly afterwards it alighted upon it and placed itself to sit\nupon it.\" He tells us also in this same voyage of the furious strife\nwaged between the rhinoceros and the elephant, a struggle that often\ncontinues till the roc, hearing the disturbance, swoops down upon them\nand seizes them both in his claws and flies away with them, in much\nthe same manner apparently as the schoolmaster who, appearing suddenly\nin the midst of a fight between two truculent youngsters, chills their\nmartial ardour by his stony glance, and leads off each culprit by ear\nor collar to his den.\n\nIn another of Sindbad's sea-ventures, the fifth, we find an awful\nwarning against trifling with the parental feelings of the roc. In the\ncourse of their voyage the crew landed on a desert island, and very\nsoon found a gigantic egg. Sindbad at once recognised what it was, and\nearnestly advised them not to meddle with it, but his remonstrances\nwere unheeded; they boldly attacked the mass with hatchets, and on\nfinding a young roc within, cut it into divers pieces and roasted it.\nThese reckless tars had scarcely finished their meal, when two immense\nclouds appeared in the air at a considerable distance. The captain,\nknowing by experience what this portended, or haply making a lucky\nguess, cried out that it was the father and mother of the young roc,\nand warned all to re-embark as quickly as possible, and so avoid, if\npossible, the vengeance of the outraged owners of the egg. All\naccordingly scrambled on board, and sail was set immediately. The two\nrocs in the meantime rapidly approached, uttering the most frightful\nscreams, which they redoubled on finding the state of their egg, and\nthat their young one was defunct. They then flew away, and a faint\nhope began to dawn upon the mariners that they had not come so badly\nout of the business after all, when to their blood-chilling horror the\nbirds again rapidly approached, each with an enormous mass of rock in\nits talons. When they were immediately over the ship they stopped in\nmid-air, and one of them let fall the piece of rock he held. The\npilot, his wits sharpened by the imminent peril the vessel was in,\ndeftly turned the ship aside, and the great mass plunged into the\ndepths of the sea alongside; but the other bird, more fortunate in his\naim, let his piece fall so immediately on the ship that it smashed it\ninto a thousand pieces, and, with the exception of Sindbad, all the\npassengers and crew were either crushed beneath tons of stone or\ndrowned in the surging billows that such a monstrous mass created.\nLest a suspicion may cross the reader's mind that the gallant sailor\nand enterprising merchant was romancing somewhat when he narrated\nthese stirring adventures, we hasten to mention that the third\ncalender, in the same veracious history, met with other experiences of\nan equally surprising nature in which this gigantic bird played as\nleading a part, all of which may be found duly set forth in the\n\"Arabian Nights.\"\n\nAnother curious belief of the Arabs is in the existence of a bird\ncalled the Hameh. This uncomfortable creation of the Arab fancy is\nsaid to spring from the blood of a murdered man. Its weird cry is\ncontinuously \"Iskoonee,\" a word signifying \"give me to drink,\" and it\nrests not, day nor night, till its thirst is quenched in the\nmurderer's blood. When the death of the victim is avenged it flies\naway to some place left altogether indefinite in the Eastern legend,\nbut probably it wends its way to the spirit-land with the welcome news\nthat the victim's blood no longer cries in vain for vengeance. To an\nArab already suffering from an evil conscience the belief in the hameh\nmust be a terrible one, as he hears in fancy the troubled air filled\nwith the wailing cry and fierce demand for vengeance, and knows that,\nday or night, the haunting sound will never leave his ears until the\ndesert feud be avenged and his own life blood be poured out like\nwater upon the burning sand.\n\nThe depths of ocean, so impressive in their mystery and vastness, have\nbeen peopled by the lovers of the marvellous in all ages with a\nspecial fauna of their own, and have been made the home of divers\nstrange and wondrous creatures, some purely reptilian, others\nfish-like, or still more commonly a weird combination of the two. The\ndepths and recesses of the great tropical forests, as impressive\nalmost in their vastness as the ocean itself, or the far-reaching\nswamps and morasses in their mysterious shades, have in like manner\nbeen tenanted in the imagination of the savage tribes that thread\ntheir depths or probe their treacherous surface with forms more\nwonderful even than those of Nature herself, weird and bizarre as\nthese in tropical regions so frequently are. Hence amongst all savage\ntribes we find a belief in serpentine forms more terrible even than\nthe boa or python that they have such cause to dread. The widely\nspreading worship of the serpent, a form of religion that we find in\nso many lands and throughout centuries of time, is a most interesting\nsubject of study, though we can here only regret that exigencies of\nspace compel us to do no more than merely mention it.\n\nThe belief in sea-serpents does not appear in itself to be an\nunreasonable one, much as it is from time to time ridiculed. Many\nspecies of tropical snakes are aquatic in a greater or less degree,\nand though some naturalists will tell us that a serpent is not adapted\nby its structure and organs for a purely aquatic existence, one finds\nin nature so many wonderful adaptations of form to abnormal\ncircumstances, that it is perhaps wiser to feel that in the great and\nalmost boundless expanse of ocean there may be mysterious forms that\nscience has not yet tabulated and described, rather than to at once\nassert the contrary. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that while\nthe great mystery of the ocean depths has been tenanted by the\ncredulous with impossible creations of the fancy, we have numerous\ntestimonies from sea-captains and others of appearances that cannot\nalways be so lightly dismissed. A Captain Harrington, for instance,\ncommanding the \"Castilian,\" during a voyage from Bombay to Liverpool\nin the year 1857, sends the following account to the _Times_\nnewspaper:--\"While myself and officers were standing on the lee side\nof the poop, looking towards the island of St. Helena, then some ten\nmiles away, we were startled by the sight of a large marine animal,\nwhich reared its head out of the water within twenty yards of the\nship, when it suddenly disappeared for about half a minute, and then\nmade its appearance in the same manner again, showing us distinctly\nits neck and head about ten or twelve feet out of the water. Its head\nwas shaped like a long buoy, and I suppose the diameter to have been\nseven or eight feet in the largest part, with a kind of scroll or tuft\nof loose skin encircling it about two feet from the top. The second\nappearance assured us that it was a monster of extraordinary length,\nwhich appeared to be moving slowly towards the island. The ship was\ngoing too fast to enable us to reach the mast-head in time to form a\ncorrect estimate of its extreme length, but from what we saw from the\ndeck we conclude that it must have been over two hundred feet long.\nThe boatswain and several of the crew, who observed it from the\nforecastle, state that it was more than double the length of the ship,\nin which case it must have been five hundred feet. Be that as it may,\nI am convinced that it belonged to the serpent tribe; it was a dark\ncolour about the head, and was covered with several white spots.\nHaving a press of canvas on the ship at the time, I was unable to\nround to without risk, and therefore was precluded from getting\nanother sight of this leviathan of the deep.\" This precise description\nwas endorsed by the chief and second officers of the ship--men, like\nthe captain, of practised vision, and not at all likely to be deceived\nby floating sea-weed or any of the other matters brought forward to\ncast doubt on such stories.\n\nIt is curious that another apparently well-authenticated account of\nsome such creature should also hail from the neighbourhood of St.\nHelena. Her Majesty's ship \"D\u00e6dalus,\" in August 1848, when on the\npassage between that island and the Cape of Good Hope, came into close\nproximity with a strange-looking creature that was travelling through\nthe water at an estimated speed of ten miles an hour. Captain\nMcQuahee was unable, owing to the direction of the wind, to bring\nthe ship into pursuit, but, as the creature passed within two hundred\nyards of them, they were enabled to bring it well within observation,\nits form and colour being distinctly visible from the vessel.\n\nOlaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsal some three centuries ago, was a firm\nbeliever in the marvellous, and in his writings, amongst many other\nthings, he gives details of a sea-serpent two hundred feet long by\ntwenty feet thick, having a dense hairy mane and eyes of fire. This\nmonster, he further tells us, \"puts up its head on high like a pillar\nand devours men.\" He also tells of another kind, that is forty cubits\nlong and no thicker than a child's arm; this is blue and yellow in\ncolour. His writings also furnish a more detailed account of a vast\nmonster thrown ashore in 1532 on the English coast near \"Tinmouth.\"\nThis creature was ninety feet long and twenty-five feet thick, having\nthirty ribs on each side, a head twenty-one feet long, and two fins of\nfifteen feet each. This creature, from its proportions, fins, and so\nforth, was evidently not serpentine in character, though it may fairly\nbe classed amongst monsters of the deep.\n\nA Greenland missionary, Egede, tells in his journal of a frightful\nsea-monster that he saw on July 6, 1734. It raised itself so high out\nof the water, he says, that its head overtopped the mainsail. It had a\nlong and pointed snout, and spouted like a whale; its fins were like\ngreat wings. Another very circumstantial account is that given by\nCaptain Laurent de Ferry of Bergen in 1746. His creature had a\nhorse-like head, raised some two feet out of the water; in colour it\nwas grey, but it had a white mane and large black eyes. Seven or eight\ncoils of the creature were visible, a fathom or so of space between\neach. De Ferry says that he shot at and wounded the monster, and that\nthe water was reddened with its blood for some time after. He does not\nspecify whether the weapon used was the longbow or not, but it seems\nhighly probable that it was.\n\nWhere the account given is so exceedingly definite as it is, for\nexample, in these two last instances, we are placed in the awkward\npredicament of either having to believe in the monster so graphically\ndescribed, or to disbelieve the narrators of the stories; to conclude,\nin plain words, that Egede, despite his professions, was lying\ndeliberately--a very Munchausen--and that De Ferry was either a\ncredulous idiot himself, or wilfully concluded that the landsmen's\ncredulity might be safely played upon.\n\nIt has been suggested that a long line of tumbling porpoises, rolling\nafter each other in the quaint way that they do, may have deceived\npeople into a belief that what they saw were the coils of one of these\ngreat mythical monsters of the deep; but, however such an appearance\nmight deceive a landsman, it is evident that those who go down to the\nsea in ships and occupy themselves in the great waters are too\nfamiliar with the appearance of a shoal of porpoises to be thus\ndeceived.\n\nThe ribbon fish may in some cases have given rise to the idea of a\nserpent of the sea, as the appearance of their elongated, band-like\nbodies swimming through the water with a gentle serpentine or\nundulatory motion would be very suggestive. They have been known to\nattain a length of sixty feet; specimens of this size have actually\nbeen captured by trawlers, though even yet we are a long way from the\nsea serpents gravely mentioned by Pontoppidan in his \"Natural History\nof Norway\" as being over six hundred feet long.\n\nOn the occasion of the reported appearance of the sea serpent to\nCaptain McQuahee, Professor Owen in a letter published in the _Times_\nsuggested that the creature seen may have been one of the larger\nspecies of seals found in the Southern Seas. At the Falkland Islands\nand in the Kerguelen and Crozet groups the sea elephant attains a size\nof some twenty feet in length, and some such creature as this,\nswimming rapidly through a calm sea with its head raised, and with a\nlong wake behind it, caused by the action of its paddles, placed at\nthe posterior extremity of the body, like the screw of a steamer, may\nhave been the foundation of some of the stories told of these\nmysterious monsters of the deep.\n\nA good sea-serpent story is found in Captain Taylor's \"Reminiscences.\"\nOne day, when his ship was lying at anchor in Table Bay, \"an enormous\nmonster\" about one hundred feet in length was seen advancing with\nsnake-like motion round Green Point into the harbour. The head\nappeared to be crowned with long hair, and the keener-sighted amongst\nthe observers could see the eyes and distinguish the features of the\nmonster. The military were called out, and after peppering the object\nat a distance of five hundred yards, and making several palpable hits,\nit was observed to become quite still, and boats ventured off to\ncomplete the destruction. The \"sea serpent\" proved to be a mass of\ngigantic sea-weed, which had been undulated by the ground swell, and\nhad become quiescent when it reached the still waters of the bay.\nProbably if mariners would attack the \"monster\" in the same manner\nwhenever it is seen, we should hear little more of the sea serpent.\n\nStories of sea serpents are almost as old as the hills, and in many\ncases quite as difficult to digest.\n\nIn 1808 the body of a great sea monster was cast ashore at Stronsay,\none of the Orkneys. This was some fifty feet long, and every one, even\nthe fishermen themselves, declared that the sea serpent had turned up\nat last. A naturalist, however, decided that it was only an unusually\nfine specimen of the great basking shark; so we are as far off as\never, after all, from an authentic monster, and seem in every case to\nhave only offered for our acceptance either outrageous hoaxes and\nimpositions, the imaginations of the credulous, or, at the very best,\ncases of mistaken identity.\n\nAmongst other serpent myths we may certainly place that most\nuncomfortable creation of the fancy, the Adissechen, a serpent with a\nthousand heads that, according to the Indian mythology, bears up the\nuniverse; and the Iormungandur, the serpent that according to the\nScandinavian myth, encircles the whole earth, and binds it together in\nits flight through space.\n\nIt was a very old belief that the serpent's egg was hatched by the\njoint labour of several serpents, and was buoyed up into the air by\ntheir hissing. Any one so intrepid as to catch it while thus suspended\n'twixt earth and heaven bore away with him a talisman of mighty power,\ngiving him strength to prevail in every contest, and the favour of all\nwhose favour was worth the having. It could only be captured at the\ngallop, and even then the risk of being stung to death was a peril\nmost imminent. Pliny tells us that he had himself seen one of these\nnotable proofs of prowess, and that it was about as large as a\nmoderately large apple.\n\nThe Fire-Drake was, according to medi\u00e6val fancy, a fiery serpent or\ndragon, keeping guard over hidden treasure. The drake, of course, has\nno affinity with the familiar ducks and drakes on the farmer's pool,\nnor even with the ducks and drakes that people make of their money\nwhen they burn their fingers in too rash speculation, but is clearly\nsuggested by the Latin word, _draco_, for a dragon. We find an\ninteresting reference in Shakespeare to the word in his \"Henry VIII.,\"\nscene 3 of act v.--\"There is a fellow somewhat near the door; he\nshould be a brazier by his face, for, o' my conscience, twenty of the\ndog-days now reign in his nose: all that stand about him are under the\nline, they need no further penance. That fire-drake.\"\n\nDe Thaun in his \"Bestiary\" tells us of the Aspis, \"a serpent cunning,\nsly, and aware of evil. When it perceives people who make enchantment,\nwho want to enchant it, to take and snare it, it will stop very well\nthe ears it has. It will press one against the earth; in the other it\nwill stuff its tail firmly, so that it hears nothing. In this manner\ndo the rich people of the world: one ear they have on earth to obtain\nriches, the other Sin stops up; yet they will see a day, the day of\nJudgment. This is the signification of the Aspis without doubt.\" De\nThaun always endeavours to see a religious meaning in everything, and\nwhere the moral declines to fit quite accurately to the facts, by a\nsimple process of reversal the facts are made to fit to the moral. The\ncreature that he had in his mind, and which would naturally occur to\nhim from his familiarity with the Bible, is no doubt identical with\nthe deaf adder that we are told in one of the Psalms stoppeth her ear,\nand refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer. Though the old author\navowedly has no doubt as to the signification he assigns to the\ncreature's obstinate refusal to be charmed, one cannot but feel that\nhis explanation is rather halting. A man who would amass riches has at\nleast as much need of his eyes as of his ears, and his transition from\nthe ear stopped up by sin to the awakened eye at the great day of\naccount is also somewhat lame. The transition should have been not\narbitrarily from one faculty to another, but in the sharp contrast\nbetween the sense first deliberately blunted and lost through sin, to\nbe then at last terribly restored by the trumpet peal of the dread day\nof doom. Indeed, if it were not that we are all prepared instinctively\nto place the worst possible construction upon anything a creature so\nrepellent to us may do, it is evident that the allegory might have\nbeen equally developed from quite another point of view. Had the dove\nshown a similar alacrity to bury one ear in the earth while it stuffed\nits tail into the other, we should have heard nothing of this wilful\nblunting of the senses to good counsel, but much, _au contraire_, of\nits determined resistance to temptation and evil.\n\nThe ancients believed in a horrible little brute called the\nAmphisbena, \"a small kind of serpent which moveth backward or forward,\nand hath two heads, one at either extreme.\" Galen, Pliny, Nicander,\nand many other early writers gravely describe this especially\nobjectionable little reptile. \u00c6lian, who was so far in advance of his\nage as to call the Chim\u00e6ra and Hydra fables, believed fully in the\namphisbena. Some few serpents really have the power of taking a mean\nadvantage of those they assault by springing at them from directions\nnot always \"straight to your front,\" as the drill sergeants express\nit,[29] but none, of course, have an equal facility for moving either\nbackward or forward; and certainly still more of course, no serpent at\npresent known to science, or likely to be, has a head \"at either\nextreme.\"\n\n  [29] Appendix R.\n\nThe Kraken is another notable example of the studies in unnatural\nhistory of the ancients. Pliny gravely narrates that one of these\nmonsters--the \"mountain fish\" of the old Norsemen--haunted the ocean\noff the coasts of Spain and North Africa, but, owing to its bulk, was\nunable to penetrate through the Straits of Gibraltar into the\nMediterranean. According to some old writers the kraken, when floating\non the surface of the sea, stretched to a length of about a mile and a\nhalf, and appeared like an island. It is a difficult problem to say\nwhich would be the most embarrassing position--for a seaman to find\nhimself stranded on the creature's back on its sudden arrival at the\nsurface, or to be engulfed in the whirlpool that would arise from its\nsinking again into the depths of ocean. One old writer tells us of a\nparty of sailors that, from the tangled sea-weed on the creature's\nback, took the kraken for an island, and after fishing for some time\nwith some little success in the pools of water in the hollows of his\nback, proceeded to light a fire to cook their take, and suddenly found\nthemselves engulfed in the sea when the heat became sufficiently\ngreat to awaken their animated island from its nap. Alaus Magnus,\narchbishop of Upsala, describes this colossus of the deep as the\nkraken, but he stops short at the length of a mile; while Pontoppidan,\nbishop of Bergen, adds that a whole regiment of soldiers could\nmanoeuvre on its back; while yet a third ecclesiastic, another bishop,\ntells us that he did actually erect an altar on the creature's back\nand celebrate mass. We are told that the kraken submitted to the\nceremony without flinching, but no sooner was it over than it plunged\ninto the depths of the sea, to the great astonishment and peril of the\ndivine. It may at first seem curious that so many of these stories\nshould spring from ecclesiastics, but it must be remembered that they\nwere in these early days the great repositories of truth, the laity\nbeing steeped in ignorance and superstition.\n\nIt has been conjectured that the kraken myth has sprung from stories\nof gigantic cuttle-fish or octopus, the devil fish described so\nvividly by Victor Hugo in his \"Toilers of the Sea;\" but one can hardly\nfall in quite readily with this notion, since the leading idea, so to\nspeak, in the kraken belief is that of a monstrous and quiescent mass,\nsuggestive more than anything else of an island rising from the sea,\nwhile the dominant idea in our minds of the octopus is of a creature\narmed with far-stretching and numerous arms that enwrap their hapless\nvictim in their pitiless embrace. The kraken would scarcely have been\ndescribed without any reference to these fearful feelers, armed with\ndouble rows of suckers, if the myth had had the origin that has been\nin several directions claimed for it. The belief in the kraken chiefly\nsprings, probably, from that delight in something tremendously big\nthat has also given us the roc carrying away elephants in its talons,\nor the serpent that encompasses the world in its folds, so that we\nneed not then too anxiously strive to find any counterpart of it in\nnature.\n\n\"They that sail on the sea tell of the dangers thereof, and when we\nhear it with our ears we marvel thereat.\n\n\"For therein be strange and wondrous works, variety of all kinds of\nbeasts, and whales created.\"[30]\n\n  [30] Ecclesiasticus xliii. vers. 24, 25.\n\nDe Thaun describes something very kraken-like, but he bestows upon it\nthe title of Cetus. _Cetus_, we need scarcely remind our readers, is a\nLatin word applied in a general sense to all kinds of large sea-fish,\nand though the whale is strictly speaking a mammal and not a fish at\nall, we find the word reappearing in modern use in the term cetaceous,\nas applied to all creatures of the whale kind. The author of the\n\"Bestiary\" tells us that \"Cetus is a very great beast; it lives always\nin the sea. It takes the sand of the sea, spreads it on its back,\nraises itself up in the sea, and will be at tranquillity. The seafarer\nsees it, and thinks that it is an island, and goes to arrive there to\nprepare his meal. The Cetus feels the fire and the ship and the\npeople; then he will plunge if he can, and drown them. When he wants\nto eat he begins to gape, and the gaping of his mouth sends forth a\nsmell so sweet, that the little fish will enter into his mouth, and\nthen he will kill them, thus will he swallow them.\" In a Jewish work\nentitled \"Bara Bathra\" we read of a whale so large that a ship was\nthree days in sailing from its head to its tail. Of course this would\nnot be at Cunard liner pace; still it certainly does give one the idea\nof a very considerable fish. But this monster of the deep sinks into\ninsignificance in its length of but a hundred miles or so when we\ncompare it with the fish Pheg (mentioned in an ancient Chinese book,\nthe Tsi-hiai), that churns up five hundred miles of blue ocean into\nsilvery foam when it starts its stupendous paddles in motion for a\ncruise. This is indeed, to quote Polonius, \"very like a whale.\" When\nany one's credulity finds no difficulty in digesting such a tale as\nthat, their powers of absorption must be well nigh as striking as the\nnarration itself.\n\n    \"The imperious seas breed monsters; for the dish\n    Poor tributary rivers as sweet fish.\"[31]\n\n  [31] \"Cymbeline,\" Act iv. sc. 2.\n\nAccording to Jewish tradition the Leviathan was a great fish; so\ngreat, they taught, that one day it swallowed another fish nearly a\nthousand miles long. Many of the Jewish legends in the Talmud and\nelsewhere possess little or nothing of graceful fancy, but simply\nendeavour to excite wonder by gross exaggeration. There were\noriginally two of these leviathans, a male and a female; but if their\nnumbers had increased beyond this, the world would have been soon\ndestroyed; so the female was killed, and laid up in salt for the great\nfeast to be held at the coming of the Messiah. Such is the Jewish\ntradition. Leviathan is mentioned in the Bible in several places,\nnotably in the magnificent description that comprises the whole of the\nforty-first chapter of the book of Job. It is curious that a very\nsimilar legend to that we have just referred to was believed by the\nJews in connection with the Behemoth mentioned in the preceding\nchapter of Job. Any one reading the fine description of the creature\nthere given will have little difficulty in agreeing with most\ncommentators that the hippopotamus is intended; but the Jews held that\nbehemoth is a huge animal which has subsisted alone since the\ncreation, and that it is reserved to be fattened for the great\nrejoicings that are to be held in the days of the advent of the\npromised Messiah. Every day they believe that he eats up the grass of\na thousand hills, and that at each draught, when he is thirsty, he\nswallows up as much water as the Jordan yields in the course of six\nmonths.\n\nIt would probably be found that nine out of ten people would at once\ndeclare that their idea of the leviathan was that it was a large fish,\nand the tenth person would have very little doubt either. We do not\nmean that these typical folk would really believe in its existence as\na special monster, but they would be quite prepared to say in an\noffhand way that the whale was intended under this name. Burton in his\n\"Miracles of Art and of Nature\" (A.D. 1678) has a passage that clearly\nshows this interchange of words, and the evident idea that the two\nterms, whale and leviathan, are synonymous. He writes, under the\ndescription of Norway--\"The whales do so terrifie the shores, the Seas\nbeing there so deep, and therefore a fit habitation for those great\nleviathans.\" He, however, goes on to tell us that \"the People of the\nSea-coast have found a remedy, which is by casting some water\nintermixt with Oyle of Castor, the smell whereof forces them\nimmediately to retire, and without this help there were no Fishing on\nthe Coasts.\" The remedy for the boisterous presence of these great\nmonsters seems at first a feeble one, until we bear in mind how gladly\nwe too in our child-days would have immediately retired, if we could,\nat the awful odour of the coming castor-oil. \"One touch of nature\nmakes the whole world kin.\"\n\nThe beautiful description of the wonders of creation in the 104th\nPsalm, the stretching firmament and the chariots of cloud, the fowls\nof heaven, and the trees so full of sap and vigour, concludes with a\nreference to the leviathan that has no doubt done much to associate\nthe name with the whale,[32] and which, in fact, could only apply to\nsome such great creature of the waters; so that we can only conclude\nthat the term was used somewhat vaguely by the different Old Testament\nwriters, as it is now tolerably unanimously held that the leviathan of\nthe book of Job is the crocodile.\n\n  [32] \"This great and wide sea wherein are things creeping\n  innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there\n  is that leviathan, whom Thou hast made to play therein\" (Ps. civ.\n  25, 26).\n\nNo creature of the whale tribe inhabits the Mediterranean; neither is\nthe whale clothed in coat-of-mail, nor is it fierce in disposition;\nbut if any one will carefully read the description given of the\ncrocodile in the book of Job they will find point after point of\nappropriate detail, allowance being made partly for the wealth of\nOriental and poetic imagery, and partly for the wonderful difference\nbetween assailing the crocodile in these later days with a rifle-ball\nas against the old sling, spear, or arrow. What a modern sportsman\nmight lightly esteem would be a very different creature indeed to\nattack when the world was in its youth.\n\n    \"Who can strip off his outer garment?\n    Who can open the doors of his face?\n    Round about his teeth is terror.\n    His strong scales are his pride,\n    Shut up together as with a close seal.\n    They are joined one to another,\n    They stick together that they cannot be sundered.\n    In his neck abideth strength,\n    And terror danceth before him.\n    If one lay at him with the sword it cannot avail,\n    Nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.\n    He counteth iron as straw,\n    And brass as rotten wood.\n    The arrow cannot make him flee:\n    Sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.\n    He laugheth at the rushing of the javelin.\n    Upon earth there is not his like,\n    That is made without fear.\"\n\nThe poetical ideas that clustered during classic times and the Middle\nAges round the Nautilus were, after all, as mythical as they were\npoetic.\n\n    \"The tender nautilus who steers his prow,\n    The sea-borne sailor of his shell canoe,\n    The ocean Mab, the fairy of the sea\"[33]--\n\nhas, alas! no foundation in hard fact; and the lesson that Pope would\nteach when he bids us--\n\n    \"Learn of the little nautilus to sail,\n    Spread the thin oar and catch the rising gale\"--\n\nis equally impracticable. The sad fiction-dispelling truth is, that in\nno case does the little argonaut use its arms as sails or as oars. It\nrises, it is true, occasionally to the surface, as other cuttle-fish\nforms do, but when there its only means of propulsion are the _jets\nd'eau_ from its funnel, these jets consisting of the water which has\nbeen used in respiration. In Pliny's \"Natural History,\" as translated\nby Philemon Holland, and published in London in 1601, we find that\n\"among the greatest wonders of nature is that fish which of some is\ncalled nautilos, of others pompilos. This fish, for to come aloft upon\nthe water, turneth upon his backe, and raiseth or heaveth himselfe up\nby little and little; and to the end he might swim with more ease as\ndisburdened of a sinke, he dischargeth all the water within him at a\npipe. After this, turning up his two foremost clawes or armes, hee\ndisplaieth and stretcheth out betweene them a membrane or skin of a\nwonderful thinnesse: this serveth him instead of a saile in the aire\nabove water. With the rest of his armes or clawes he roweth and\nlaboureth under water, and with his tail in the midst he directeth his\ncourse, and steereth as it were with an helme. Thus holdeth he on and\nmaketh way in the sea, with a fair show of a galley under saile. Now\nif he be afraide of anything by the way, hee makes no more adoe, but\ndraweth in water to baillise his bodie, and so plungeth himselfe downe\nand sinketh to the bottome.\"\n\n  [33] Byron.\n\nWhile the Dolphin, like the nautilus, has a veritable existence, and\nmay be duly found amongst the works of nature, it has also, like the\nnautilus again, served as the foundation for a considerable amount of\nmythical lore. Thus Pliny, in his so-called Natural History, from\nwhich we have already drawn so many curious extracts, writes--\"The\nswiftest of all other living creatures whatsoever, and not of sea-fish\nonly, is the dolphin; quicker than the flying fowl, swifter than the\narrow shot out of a bow.\" The dolphin, so termed, of the medi\u00e6val\nheralds is a purely conventional form, having no counterpart whatever\nin Nature. \"They are much deceived,\" wrote an authority on natural\nhistory a little more than a hundred years ago, \"who imagine Dolphins\nto be of the Figure they are usually represented on Signs; that Error\nbeing more owing to the unbridled License of Statuaries or Painters\nthan to any such Thing found in Fact.\" A much earlier writer, Gillius,\ntells us that when he was \"in a Ship where many Dolphins were taken,\nhe observed them so to deplore with Groans, Lamentations, and a Flood\nof Tears their Condition, that he himself, out of Compassion, could\nnot forbear weeping, and so threw one that he observed to groan more\nthan ordinary (the Fisherman being asleep) into the Water again, as\nchoosing rather to damage the Fisherman than not to relieve the\nMiserable. But this gave him but little Rest, for all the Others\nincreased their Groans, as seeming, by not obscure Signs, to beg the\nsame Deliverance.\" Another well-known belief in connection with the\ndolphin is the imaginary brilliancy of its supposititiously changeful\ncolours when, having failed to find any one, like Gillius,\ncompassionate enough to throw it overboard, it presently succumbs to\nits hard fate. The idea has been a favourite one with poets in all\nages, but one example from Byron's \"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage\" will\nsuffice as an illustration:--\n\n                            \"Parting day\n    Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues\n    With a new colour as it gasps away;\n    The last still loveliest, till--'tis gone--and all is gray.\"\n\nAccording to some of the ancient writers, the eyes of the dolphin were\nin those most unlikely and unserviceable places, their blade-bones;\nthey were also said to dig graves for their dead on the sandy shores\nof the sea, and to follow them to their burial in mournful procession.\nThey were, too, an excellent means of travelling when other means of\nlocomotion were not available. Thus the fifty daughters of Nereus\ntravelled in safety on their backs, we are told in classic mythology\nin the dry-as-dust style of such fountains of knowledge as are\navailable for reference ordinarily; but these statements help us but\nlittle to realise the scene that struck the eyes or the imaginations\nof the ancients when this bevy of charming girls, a good fifty strong,\nrode hither and thither in happy _abandon_ in the brilliant summer\nsunlight of the azure Mediterranean Sea, their steeds the willing\ndolphins; a scene as unlike the frowsy omnibuses, the dreary chariots\nof moody men and women, that loom through the murk of a London fog, or\nthat fill to suffocation with resentful fellow passengers, when the\nprolonged drizzle becomes a heavy downpour, as one can possibly\nimagine.\n\nThe dolphin's love of music, again, was a firm article of faith to the\nancients, and most of our readers are no doubt acquainted with the\nstory of the sweet singer, Arion, who, forced to leap into the sea to\nescape the cruelty of the sailors, escaped to land on the back of a\ndolphin--one of many that had long followed the ship in rapturous\nappreciation of the sweet melodies of the singer; and how Arion--\n\n              \"With harmonious strains\n    Requites his hearer for his friendly pains.\"\n\nAnother strange fish believed in by our forefathers was the Acipenser,\n\"a fish of an unnatural making and quality,\" as an old writer terms\nhim; and indeed he may very well do so, as we are told that \"his\nscales are all turned towards the head.\" We are not, therefore, much\nsurprised to learn that \"he ever swimmeth against the stream,\" though\nwe might well be still more astonished if we ever found him swimming\nat all.\n\nThe Remora. This was held to affix itself so firmly to a ship that\nneither wind nor waves could dislodge it, while its presence (even\nworse than that of the more prosaic barnacles and other sea\nimpedimenta that plague the modern shipowner by fouling the bottom of\nhis good ship, and so retarding her course) brought the voyage to an\nabrupt conclusion. Pliny indeed only says that \"there is a little\nfish, keeping ordinarily about rockes, named Echeneis. It is thought\nthat if it settle and sticke to the keele of a ship under water, it\ngoeth the slower by that meanes,\" whereupon it is called the\nstay-ship. But all these marvels have a wonderful way of growing more\nand more marvellous, and subsequent writers, not content with merely\nimpeding the vessels in their increasingly wondrous stories, soon\naccredited the remora with the much more striking power of altogether\narresting their progress. We see a relic and survival of this old\nbelief in the following lines of Ben Jonson--\n\n                        \"I say a remora,\n    For it will stay a ship that's under sail.\"\n\nAnd again much more elaborately worked out in Spenser's \"Visions of\nthe World's Vanity\"--\n\n    \"Looking far forth into the ocean wide,\n      A goodly ship, with banners bravely dight,\n    And flag in her top-gallant, I espied,\n      Through the main sea making her merry flight;\n    Fair blew the wind into her bosom right,\n      And th' heavens looked lovely all the while,\n    That she did seem to dance as in delight,\n      And at her own felicity did smile;\n    All suddenly there clove unto her keel\n      A little fish that men call Remora,\n    Which stopt her course, and held her by the heel,\n      That wind nor tide could move her thence away.\n    Strange thing me seemeth that so small a thing\n      Should able be so great an one to wring.\"\n\nWe have already seen how Leviathan, according to the Talmud, is to\nform a feast for the Saints; and on turning to the Koran we find a\nvery similar belief, for the food of Mohammed's Paradise is to\nconsist, we are there told, of the flesh of the ox Balam and of the\nfish Nun. To allay any apprehension on the part of the faithful that\nthese viands will not \"go round,\" as a schoolboy would say, we are\nreassured on reading that the liver alone of the fish Nun will supply\nan adequate portion for seventy thousand hungry souls.\n\n  [Illustration: {THE SEA-LION}]\n\nThe vastness and mystery of the depths of the sea has naturally led to\ntheir being peopled at all ages and amidst almost all peoples with\nstrange and monstrous forms like the Chilon, fish-like in body, but\nhaving the head of a man; or the Dies, the creature of a day, whose\nlife's span ran its course in the hours between the rising and the\nsetting of the sun; or more rarely with forms of more poetic beauty,\nlike those sweet water-wagtails, the mermaidens we have already\nalluded to. Our illustration is a representation of the sea lion as\nbelieved in, or at least delineated, by the author of one of the\nmedi\u00e6val treatises on more or less natural history that has come under\nour notice. \u00c6lian describes fish having the heads of lions, rams, and\nso forth; and it is, of course, sufficiently evident that when a man\nhas once got upon that train of ideas there is nothing to hinder his\nturning the whole \"Zoological Gardens\" into the shadowy depths of\nocean, and evolving from his inner consciousness not only camel-fish\nor gazelle-fish, but fifty other equally striking creations. Rondelet,\nin a book published in the year 1554, gives sufficiently strange\nillustrations of sea-bishops and sea-monks; and another medi\u00e6val\nwriter, Francisci Boussetti, represents in all good faith other forms\nequally bizarre; but the greatest storehouse by far, so far as our own\nexperience of these old authors goes, is to be found in the \"Historia\nMonstrorum\" of Aldrovandus, a book most copiously illustrated, and\nfull of the most extraordinary conglomerations of diverse creatures,\nor of wild imaginings that find no counterpart in any way in Nature at\nall. Of these we need give but one example, the very peculiar biped\nhere represented.\n\n  [Illustration: {THE HARPY}]\n\nMost of us, even the veriest landsmen, must have heard of \"Davy\nJones's Locker,\" though few could give it a \"local habitation\" as well\nas \"a name.\" Almost all superstitious people--and certainly sailors as\na body may be classed as such--have a great objection to telling their\nbeliefs to those whom they think will not receive their communications\nin a sympathetic spirit; hence it is often exceedingly difficult in\nmost cases to arrive at all at a satisfactory conclusion, as, even\nafter an explanation has been given, we find that what we were told\nwas a mere putting off of the matter at issue, and their real belief\nhas all the time been concealed from us. The following explanation of\nthe seaman's phrase we give for what it is worth, which in our humble\nopinion is not much. We are told that Jones is a corruption of Jonah\nthe prophet, while _deva_ or _duffa_ amongst the natives of the West\nIndia islands is a spirit or ghost. The sailor's locker, we are all\naware, is the one place on board where his private possessions are\nmore or less safe, so that when we hear of an unfortunate having gone\nto Davy Jones's Locker, we may conclude that he is believed to have\ngone to some far-down place of safe-keeping in the Spirit-world, as\nJonah, by inference, did. It is, however, a decidedly weak point in\nthis explanation that Jonah, whatever may have been his experiences in\nthe depths of the sea, soon exchanged his temporary \"locker\" for dry\nland again, and was no doubt ultimately gathered to his fathers in the\nbosom of mother-earth. Smollett, in his \"Peregrine Pickle,\" ignores\nall reference to the faithless prophet, and, without seeking out the\nwhy or the wherefore of the name, goes, we think, very much more\ndirectly to the point when he writes--\"This same Davy Jones, according\nto the mythology of sailors, is the fiend that presides over all the\nevil spirits of the deep, and is seen in various shapes, warning the\ndevoted wretch of death and woe.\" Like the Irish Church and many other\nvenerable institutions, Davy is now probably disestablished, or\nshelved like some fine old admiral on the half-pay list, though it\nwould be interesting to hear the opinion of some navy chaplain on the\npoint, as these old superstitions die very hardly, and at times rather\nclash with more orthodox theology.\n\nThe widespread worship of the serpent is a subject of the greatest\ninterest, though it would take us far away from our present subject if\nwe dwelt at length upon it. The place held by the serpent in ancient\nmythologies has, however, caused the creature to pass far from the\nregion of commonplace zoological fact into the realm of myth.\n\nOne old belief more precise than nice was that the serpent first\nvomits forth its venom before drinking, in order that it may not\npoison itself by swallowing it; while another curious belief was, that\nsleeping children whose ears were licked by serpents thereby received\nthe gift of foretelling future events. Cassandra was said thus,\namongst other less famous personages more or less believed in by the\nancients, to have received the gift of prophecy.\n\nIn Squier's \"Serpent Worship in America\" many legends are given that\nadmirably illustrate the feelings of the North American aborigines,\nthe Peruvians, Mexicans, and other dwellers on that continent with\nregard to the great serpent that typifies to them, as to so many other\nraces, the great Evil Power.\n\nOne of these, an Ojibiway legend, we must venture on quoting, for,\nsomewhat lengthy as it is, it supplies an excellent illustration of\nthis belief in the malign power of the serpent, and incidentally gives\nan echo of the widespread belief in a deluge, a belief extending from\nthe legends of the Far West to those of distant China.\n\nThe Indian legend runs as follows:--\"One day, on returning to his\nlodge in the wilderness after a long journey, Manabazho, the great\nteacher, missed from it his young cousin: he called his name aloud,\nbut received no answer. He looked around on the sand for the tracks of\nhis feet, and he there for the first time discovered the trail of\nMeshekenabek, the Great Serpent. He then knew that his cousin had been\nseized by his great enemy. He armed himself and followed on his track:\nhe passed the great river and crossed mountains and valleys to the\nshores of the deep and gloomy lake, now called Manitou Lake, Spirit\nLake, or the Lake of Devils. The trail of Meshekenabek led to the edge\nof the water. At the bottom of this lake was the dwelling of the\nserpent, and it was filled with evil spirits, his attendants and\ncompanions. Their forms were monstrous and terrible, but most, like\ntheir master, bore the semblance of serpents. In the centre of this\nhorrible assemblage was Meshekenabek himself, coiling his voluminous\nfolds round the cousin of Manabazho. His head was red as with blood,\nand his eyes were fierce and glowed like fire: his body was all over\narmed with hard and glistening scales of every shade and colour.\nManabazho looked down upon the writhing spirits of evil, and he vowed\ndeep revenge. He directed the clouds to disappear from the heavens,\nthe winds to be still, and the air to become stagnant over the lake of\nthe Manitous, and bade the sun shine on it with all its fierceness;\nfor thus he sought to drive his enemy forth to seek the cool shadows\nof the trees that grew upon its banks, so that he might be able to\ntake vengeance upon him.\n\n\"Meanwhile Manabazho seized his bow and arrows, and placed himself\nnear the spot where he deemed the serpents would come to enjoy the\nshade; he then transformed himself into the stump of a withered tree,\nthat his enemies might not discover his presence. The winds became\nstill, the air stagnant, the sun shone hot upon the lake of the evil\nManitous. By-and-by the waters became troubled, and bubbles rose to\nthe surface, for the rays of the hot sun penetrated to the horrible\nbrood within its depths. The commotion increased, and a serpent lifted\nup its head high above the centre of the lake and gazed around the\nshores. Directly another came to the surface, and they listened for\nthe footsteps of Manabazho; but they heard him nowhere on the face of\nthe earth, and they said one to another, 'Manabazho sleeps,' and then\nthey plunged again beneath the waters, which seemed to hiss as they\nclosed over them. It was not long before the Lake of Manitous became\nmore troubled than before; it boiled from its very depths, and the hot\nwaves dashed wildly against the rocks on its shores. The commotion\nincreased, and soon Meshekenabek, the Great Serpent, emerged slowly to\nthe surface and moved toward the shore. His blood-red crest glowed\nwith a deeper hue, and the reflection from his glancing scales was\nlike the blinding glitter of a snow-covered forest beneath the morning\nsun of winter. He was followed by all the evil spirits, so great a\nnumber that they covered the shores of the lake with their foul and\ntrailing carcases. They saw the broken, blasted stump into which\nManabazho had transformed himself, and suspecting it might be one of\nhis disguises, one of them approached and wound his tail around it,\nand sought to drag it down, but Manabazho stood firm, though he could\nhardly refrain from crying aloud.\n\n\"The Great Serpent wound his vast folds among the trees of the forest,\nand the rest also sought the shade, while one was left to listen for\nthe steps of Manabazho. When they all slept Manabazho drew an arrow\nfrom his quiver; he placed it in his bow, and aimed it where he saw\nthe heart beat against the sides of the Great Serpent. He launched it,\nand with a howl that shook the mountains and startled the wild beasts\nin their caves, the monster awoke, and, followed by its frightened\ncompanions, uttering mingled sounds of rage and terror, plunged again\ninto the lake. When the Great Serpent knew that he was mortally\nwounded, both he and the evil spirits around him were rendered tenfold\nmore terrible by their great wrath, and they arose to overwhelm\nManabazho. The water of the lake swelled upwards from its dark depths,\nand with a sound like many thunders it rolled madly on his track,\nbearing the rocks and trees before it with resistless fury. High on\nthe crest of the foremost wave, black as the midnight, rode the\nwrithing form of the wounded Meshekenabek, and red eyes glared around\nhim, and the hot breaths of the monstrous brood hissed fiercely after\nthe retreating Manabazho. Then thought Manabazho of his Indian\nchildren, and he ran by their villages, and in a voice of alarm bade\nthem flee to the mountains, for the Great Serpent was deluging the\nearth in his expiring wrath, sparing no living thing. The Indians\ncaught up their children, and wildly sought safety where he bade them.\n\n\"Manabazho continued his flight along the base of the western hills,\nand finally took refuge on a high mountain beyond Lake Superior, far\nto the North. There he found many men and animals who had fled from\nthe flood that already covered the valleys and plains, and even the\nhighest hills. Still the waters continued to rise, and soon all the\nmountains were overwhelmed, save that on which stood Manabazho. Then\nhe gathered together timber and made a raft, upon which the men and\nwomen and the animals that were with him all placed themselves. No\nsooner had they done so than the rising floods closed over the\nmountain, and they floated alone on the surface of the waters. And\nthus they floated many days; and some died, and the rest became\nsorrowful, and reproached Manabazho that he did not disperse the\nwaters and renew the earth, that they might live. But though he knew\nthat his great enemy was by this time dead, yet could he not renew the\nworld unless he had some earth in his hands wherewith to commence the\nwork. This he explained to those who were with him, and he said that\nwere it ever so little, even a few grains, then could he disperse the\nwaters and renew the world.\n\n\"The beaver then volunteered to go to the bottom of the deep and get\nsome earth, and they all applauded her design. She plunged in, and\nthey waited long: when she returned she was dead; they opened her\nhands, but there was no earth in them. 'Then,' said the otter, 'will I\nseek the earth,' and the bold swimmer dived from the raft. The otter\nwas gone still longer than the beaver, but when he returned to the\nsurface he too was dead, and there was no earth in his claws.\n\n\"'Who shall find the earth?' exclaimed all those on the raft, 'now\nthat the beaver and the otter are dead?' 'That will I,' said the\nmusk-rat, and he quickly disappeared between the logs of the raft. The\nmusk-rat was gone very much longer than the otter, and it was thought\nthat he would never return, when he suddenly rose close by, but he was\ntoo weak to speak, and he swam slowly towards the raft. He had hardly\ngot upon it when he too died from his great exertion. They opened his\nlittle hands, and there, closely clasped between the fingers, they\nfound a few grains of fresh earth. These Manabazho carefully collected\nand dried in the sun, and then he rubbed them into fine powder in his\npalms, and rising up he blew them abroad upon the waters. No sooner\nwas this done than the flood began to subside, and soon the trees on\nthe mountains were seen, and then the mountains and hills emerged from\nthe deep, and the plains and the valleys came into view, and the\nwaters disappeared from the land. Then it was found that the Great\nSerpent, Meshekenabek, was dead, and that the evil Manitous, his\ncompanions, had returned to the depths of the Lake of Spirits, from\nwhich, for the fear of Manabazho, they never more dared to come\nforth. In gratitude to the beaver, the otter, and the musk-rat, these\nanimals were ever after held sacred by the Indians, and they became\ntheir brethren; and they were never killed nor molested until the\nmedicine-men of the stranger made them forget their relations and\nturned their hearts to ingratitude.\"\n\nAs we propose to deal, in conclusion, with some few examples of the\nfabledom that has grown around various plants, we may fitly usher in\nthis new section of our subject with some little account of the old\nbelief that the barnacle-shells of our shores, or, as some writers\nheld, a tree called the barnacle-tree, developed into Solan-geese,[34]\nas the transition from the mythical animal kingdom to the fabulous\nvegetable kingdom will thus be rendered less abrupt.\n\n  [34] \"From the most refined of saints\n       As naturally grow miscreants,\n       As barnacles turn Solan-geese\n       In the islands of the Orcades.\"\n           --_Hudibras._\n\n  [Illustration: {THE BARNACLE TREE}]\n\nThis barnacle-goose tree was a great article of faith with our\nancestors in the Middle Ages. Gerarde, for example, in his History of\nPlants gives an illustration of it in all good faith--a branch bearing\nbarnacles and by its side a barnacle goose. Following, however, the\nplan we have adopted throughout of going directly to the\nfountain-head, Gerarde shall give us his own description of this\nwonder of Nature. We may, however, point out before doing so that the\nerror arose from a near resemblance of two distinct words suggesting\nthat there must be an identity of nature in the things so named. A\ncommon kind of shell was in the Middle Ages called pernacula, while\nthe Solan-goose, in France called the barnache, was the bernacula.\nBoth words being popularly corrupted into barnacle, it was natural\nthat the two things should be considered as identical. Gerarde saves\nthis crowning wonder until the end of his book, and then discourses as\nfollows concerning it:--\"Hauing trauelled from the grasses growing in\nthe bottom of the fenny waters, the woods, and mountaines, euen vnto\nLibanus it selfe; and also the sea, and bowels of the same, wee are\narriued at the end of our Historie: thinking it not impertinent to the\nconclusion of the same, to end with one of the maruells of this land\n(we may say of the world). The historie whereof to set forth according\nto the worthinesse and raritie thereof would not only require a large\nand peculiar volume, but also a deeper search into the bowels of\nnature than mine intended purpose wil suffer me to wade into, my\nsufficience also considered; leauing the historie thereof rough hewen\nunto some excellent men, learned in the secrets of nature, to be both\nfined and refined: in the meantime take it as it falleth out, the\nnaked and bare truth, though vnpolished. There are found in the North\nparts of Scotland and the Island adiacient, called Orchades, certain\ntrees whereon do grow certaine shells of a white colour tending to\nrusset, wherein are contained little liuing creatures, which shells in\ntime of maturitie do open, and out of them do grow those little liuing\nthings, which falling in the water do become fowles, which we call\nBarnakles; in the North of England trant geese, and in Lancashire tree\ngeese; but the other that do fall vpon the land perish and come to\nnothing. Thus much by the writings of others, and also from the mouths\nof people of those parts, which may very well accord with truth.\n\n\"But what our eyes have seene and hands haue touched we shall declare.\nThere is a small Island in Lancashire called the pile of Foulders,\nwherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some\nwhereof have been cast thither by Shipwracke, and also the trunks and\nbodies with the branches of old and rotten trees cast up there\nlikewise; whereon is found a certain spume or froth that in time\nbreedeth vnto certain shels in shape like those of the Muskle, but\nsharper pointed and of a whitish colour, wherein is contained a thing\nin forme like a lace of silke finely wouen as it were together, one\nend thereof is fastened vnto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which\nin time commeth to the shape and forme of a Birde. When it is\nperfectly formed the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that\nappeareth is the foresaid lace or string; next come the legs of the\nbird hanging out, and as it groweth greater it openeth the shell by\ndegrees til at length it is all come forth and hangeth onely by the\nbill; in short space after it commeth to full maturitie and falleth\ninto the sea, where it gathereth feathers and groweth to a fowle\nbigger than a Mallard and lesser than a goose, hauing blacke legs, and\nbill and beake, and feathers blacke and white spotted in such manner\nas is our magpie, which the people of Lancashire call by no other name\nthan a tree goose: which place aforesaid and all those parts adjoining\ndo so much abound thereinth that one of the best is bought for three\npence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to\nrepaire unto me, and I shall satisfie them by the testimonie of good\nwitnesses.\n\n\"Moreover it would seeme that there is another sort hereof; the\nhistorie of which is true and of mine owne knowledge: for trauelling\nvpon the shore of our English coast betweene Douer and Rumney, I found\nthe trunke of an olde rotten tree, which (with some helpe that I\nprocured by fishermen's wives that were there attending their husbands\nreturne from the sea) we drew out of the water upon dry land: vpon\nthis rotten tree I found growing many thousands of long crimson\nbladders, in shape like vnto puddings newly filled, which were very\nclear and shining: at the nether end whereof did grow a shell fish\nfashioned somewhat like a small Muskle, but much whiter, resembling a\nshell fish that groweth vpon the rokes about Garnsey and Garsey,\ncalled a lympit. Many of these shells I brought with me to London,\nwhich after I had opened I found in them liuing things without form or\nshape: in others which were nearer come to ripeness I found liuing\nthings that were very naked, shaped like a bird: in others the birds\ncouered with soft downe, the shell halfe open and the bird ready to\nfall out, which no doubt were the fowles called Barnakles. I dare not\nabsolutely avouch euery circumstance of the first part of this history\nconcerning the tree that beareth those buds aforesaid, but will leave\nit to a further consideration, howbeit that which I have seen with\nmine eyes and handled with mine hands, I dare confidently avouch and\nboldly put down for veritie.\n\n\"They spawn as it were in March and Aprille: the geese are formed in\nMay and June and come to fulnesse of feathers in the moneth after.\n\n\"And thus hauing through God's assistance discoursed somewhat at large\nof Grasses, Herbes, Shrubs, Trees, and Mosses, and certain\nExcrescences of the earth, with other things more incident to the\nhistorie thereof, we conclude and end our present volume with this\nwonder of England. For the which God's name be ever honored and\npraised.\"\n\nWe extract the foregoing from the first edition of \"Gerarde's Historie\nof Plants,\" published in 1597. After his death Thomas Johnson,\n\"Citizen and Apothecarie of London,\" brought out another edition in\n1633, and he adds the following note to Gerarde's statement:--\"The\nBarnakle, whose fabulous breed my Author here sets downe, and diuers\nothers haue also delieured, were found by some Hollanders to haue\nanother originall, and that by egges, as other birds haue; for they in\ntheir third voyage to finde out the North-East passage to China and\nthe Moluccos about the eightieth degree and eleven minutes of\nNortherly latitude, found two little islands, in the one of which they\nfound abundance of these geese sitting upon their egges, of which they\ngot one goose and tooke away sixty egges.\"\n\nParkinson, in his \"Theater of Plants,\" published in 1640, gives a\npicture of a barnacle-tree growing by the sea-shore, and several geese\nswimming beneath it, at the end of the description of the 14th tribe\nof plants, \"Marsh Water, and Sea Plants, with Mosses and Mushromes.\"\n\nThough the insertion of the woodcut, as our readers will see, would\ngive one at a casual glance the impression that he was a believer, his\ncomments are sufficiently indicative of his state of mind:--\"To finish\nthis treatise of sea plants let me bring this admirable tale of\nuntruth to your consideration, that whatever hath formerly beene\nrelated concerning the breeding of these Barnakles to be from shels\ngrowing on trees, &c., is utterly erroneous, their breeding and\nhatching being found out by the Dutch and others in their navigations\nto the Northward, as that third of the Dutch in Anno 1536 doth\ndeclare.\" As Gerarde's book was published after the Dutch narrative,\nwe can only conclude that he either had not seen it or that he is one\nmore illustration of the old saying that \"A man convinced against his\nwill, remains the same opinion still.\"\n\n  [Illustration: {THE BARNACLE TREE}]\n\n  [Illustration: {THE BARNACLE TREE}]\n\nIn Munster's Cosmography, a book which was several times reprinted\nbetween 1550 and 1570, we find an illustration of the wonderful\ngoose-yielding tree, which we here reproduce in facsimile. Munster\ndiscourses as follows on the matter:--\"In Scotland are found trees,\nthe fruit of which appears like a ball of leaves. This fruit, falling\nat its proper time into the water below, becomes animated and turns to\na bird which they call the tree-goose. This tree also grows in the\nisland of Pomona, not far distant from Scotland towards the north.\"\nSaxo Grammaticus, another old cosmographer, also mentions this tree.\n\u00c6neas Sylvius notices it too; he says--\"We have heard that there was a\ntree formerly in Scotland, which growing by the margin of a stream\nproduced fruit of the shape of ducks; that such fruit, when nearly\nripe, fell, some into the water and some on land. Such as fell on land\ndecayed, but such as fell into the water quickly became animated,\nswimming below, and then flying into the air with feathers and wings.\nWhen in Scotland, having made diligent enquiry concerning this matter\nof King James, we found that the miracle always kept receding, as this\nwonderful tree is not found in Scotland but in the Orcadian isles.\"\n\u00c6neas Sylvius, afterwards better known to the world as Pope Pius II.,\nvisited Scotland in the year 1448. His book is in the Latin tongue.\nWilliam Turner, one of the earliest writers on Ornithology, describes\nthe Bernacle goose as being produced from \"something like a fungus\ngrowing from old wood lying in the sea.\" He quotes Giraldus Cambrensis\nas his authority for the statement, but says he, \"As it seemed not\nsafe to popular report, and as, on account of the singularity of the\nthing, I could not give entire credit to Giraldus, I, when thinking of\nthe subject of which I now write, asked a certain clergyman, named\nOctavianus, by birth an Irishman, whom I knew to be worthy of credit,\nif he thought the account of Giraldus was to be believed. He swearing\nby the gospel, declared that what Giraldus had written about the\ngeneration of this bird was most true; that he had himself seen and\nhandled the young unformed birds, and that if I should remain in\nLondon a month or two he would bring me some of the brood.\" In Lobel\nand Pena's \"Stirpium Adversaria Nova,\" published in London in 1570,\nthere is a figure of the \"Britannica Concha Anatifera\" growing on a\nstem from a rock, while beneath, in the water, ducks are swimming\nabout. In his description the writer refers to the accepted belief in\nsuch a bird, but declines expressing an opinion of his own until he\nshall have had an opportunity of visiting Scotland and judging for\nhimself. Ferrer de Valcebro, a Spanish writer who wrote a book on\nbirds in 1680, tells the story of the production from a tree of a bird\nhe calls the Barliata, and lectures his countrymen soundly at their\nwant of belief, and more than insinuates that it is not really so much\na want of faith as a contemptible jealousy because the wonder is not\nfound on Spanish soil.\n\nA still more wonderful tree must be the Kalpa-Tarou mentioned in the\nHindu mythology, since from this can be gathered not only Solan-geese,\nbut what else may be desired. Whether so multitudinous an array of\narticles as may be included in the idea of whatever any one and every\none, no matter how diverse their tastes may be, could desire, all hung\nexposed to the view, like the varied display on a Christmas-tree, or\nwhether they sprang into existence as called for, we are unable to\nsay. In either case the tree would be a most valuable possession; the\nhousewife would no longer have to wait for the plums or raspberries to\nripen for jam-making, but could at once, even in midwinter, replenish\nher waning stores with an abundant supply all ready-made; while the\nconnoisseur of choice old etchings, the collectors of rare coins, or\nthe schoolboy earnestly desiring a six-bladed knife could all equally\ngo away with their varied requirements met. The tree is also called\nthe tree of the imagination; and it might, we fear, be equally called\nthe imaginary tree, as all the resources of science are strained in\nvain to tell us anything more definite about it.\n\nMohammed tells us in the Koran that a Lote-tree stands in the seventh\nheaven on the right hand of the throne of Allah, an idea derived, no\ndoubt, from that Tree of Life that bloomed a while in earthly Eden,\nand that shall be found again in the celestial Paradise of God. The\nmystical tree that passes out of sight in the earliest chapters of the\nBible as the woe descends upon mankind, and reappears at its close, is\nthe welcome symbol that the weary ages of sin and sorrow are at an end\nfor ever, that all tears shall be wiped from off all faces, that there\nshall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying: for all the\nbitter past is over, and the former things are now for ever passed\naway.\n\nThe sacred tree of the Assyrians, so often seen in the sculptures from\nNineveh and Kyonjik, the idolatrous groves of the Israelites, the\nHindu tree worship, all point to a most interesting symbolism that\nwould be out of place in our present pages, but that will afford\nmatter of the deepest interest to those who care to work the subject\nout.\n\nOur readers will no doubt remember the reference in Homer's Odyssey to\nthe Lotophagi, the people who eat of the lotus-tree, and in so doing\nforgot their friends and homes in their far-off land, losing all\ndesire to return to their native shores, and caring for nought but to\nrest in ease in the benumbing pleasures of Lotus-land.\n\nThe immortal Amaranth, \"a flower which once in Paradise, fast by the\ntree of life, began to bloom, but soon for man's offence to Heaven\nremoved,\" must not be omitted from our pages. Clement of Alexandria\nrefers to it as the _Amarantus flos, symbolum immortalitatis_, and it\nwas thus received for centuries. The name is from the Greek word for\nimmortal, and was bestowed upon it from its never-withering flowers of\nruby red. Felicia Hemans, amongst others, refers to it in her fine\npoem on \"Elysium:\"--\n\n          \"Fair wert thou, in the dreams\n    Of elder time, thou land of glorious flowers,\n    And summer winds, and low-toned silvery streams\n    Dim with the shadows of thy laurel bowers!\n      Where, as they passed, bright hours\n    Left no faint sense of parting, such as clings\n    To earthly love, and joy in loveliest things.\"\n\nWe could not forbear quoting the opening lines, but the reference we\nseek occurs a few verses farther on, in allusion to those--\n\n    \"Who, called and severed from the countless dead,\n    Amidst the shadowy Amaranth-bowers might dwell\n          And listen to the swell\n    Of those majestic hymn notes, and inhale\n    The spirit wandering in th' immortal gale.\"\n\nThe passage in our New Testament translated \"A crown of glory that\nfadeth not away\" is in the original Greek \"The amaranthine crown of\nglory.\" Milton is frequently found to use the word; it occurs several\ntimes in the \"Paradise Lost.\" The following fine passage from the\nthird book of that poem will sufficiently well illustrate his\napplication of it--\n\n    \"The multitude of angels, with a shout\n    Loud as from numbers without number, sweet\n    As from blest voices, uttering joy. Heaven rang\n    With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled\n    The eternal regions. Lowly reverent\n    Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground\n    With solemn adoration, down they cast\n    Their crowns inwove with amaranth and gold--\n    Immortal amaranth.\"\n\nThis plant Milton represents as \"shading the fount of life,\" and with\nits blood-red flowers--\n\n    \"With these, that never fade, the spirits elect\n    Bind their resplendent locks.\"\n\nThe Egyptians wreathed their dead in chaplets of the sacred lotus to\nprepare their spirits for entrance into the presence of the great\nOsiris. Several other plants, however, were also employed, but whether\ntheir employment was symbolic or not we have no means of ascertaining.\n\nAmongst the various vegetable curiosities and treasures,--seeds,\ngums, wood-sections, and the like--preserved in the large Museum at\nKew, will be found--though thousands tramp by them unknowingly--what\nwe may almost venture to call some of the most wonderful things in the\nworld. They are but chaplets, wreaths, and garlands of dried leaves\nand flowers, until presently we realise that we are gazing on\nmemorials of the dead that were buried with them more than a thousand\nyears before the Christian era. The imagination is then awed as our\nthoughts attempt to bridge over the interval of two thousand years\nbetween these present days and that far-off morning in the childhood\nof the world when the beautiful fresh flowers of the blue lotus of the\nNile were placed in the coffin of Rameses II. Almost all the history\nof the world has been made since those fragile emblems of passing\nbeauty were laid in the tomb. Empires and monarchies have risen,\nflourished, and decayed in the interval, and yet this very day, within\na mile of where we write these lines, remain, with all their solemn\nteaching, these wreaths of flowers gathered in the sunshine of old\nEgypt twenty centuries ago.\n\n    \"The past is but a gorgeous dream,\n    And time glides by us like a stream,\n      While musing on thy story,\n    And sorrow prompts a deep alas!\n    That like a pageant thus should pass\n      To wreck all human glory.\"\n\nChangeless in the midst of mighty changes, these delicate petals are\nfar more wonderful even than the great monuments of Egypt, its\npyramids, temples, and obelisks, wonderful as these are, for on those\nTime has worked with its corroding tooth, while on these it has had\nbut little power. Changeless, again, in all their pristine and\nGod-given beauty, while all the fashions of earth have passed through\ntheir kaleidoscope changes, \"to one thing constant never,\" these\nbeautiful lilies of the Nile yet expand their petals every year at Kew\nwithin a short distance of these dried flowers of the same species\nthat sprang into existence in the far-off river of Egypt in the dim\ncenturies of the mighty past.[35]\n\n  [35] Appendix S.\n\nThe Asphodel, referred to by Homer and many later poets, was a plant\nhaving edible roots that were laid in the tombs of the dead to nourish\nthe departed spirit in its wanderings in the dim world of shadows.\nLucian has a very good illustrative passage that we may here quote.\nThe words are put into the mouth of Charon, and are as follows:--\"Down\nhere with us there is nothing to be had but asphodel, and libations\nand oblations, and that in the midst of mist and darkness; but up in\nheaven it is all bright and clear, and plenty of ambrosia there, and\nnectar without stint.\" The plant referred to by the classic poets was\nsupposed to be the narcissus, but in medi\u00e6val days the wild daffodil\nwas intended, at least by the poets, while the herbalists were all at\nsea in the matter, and applied the name to several different plants.\n\nGerarde, in his \"Historie of Plants,\" refers to Galen as an authority,\nquoting from his \"Faculties of Nourishments\" in defence of the plant\nhe selects, but does not seem to have heard of the old belief in its\nforming a food for the immortals, and can indeed give it no higher\neffect in staying the ravages of time and decay than that \"the ashes\nof this Bulbe mixed with oile and hens grease cureth the falling of\nthe haire.\" Parkinson, in his \"Theatrum Botanicum,\" brings the plant\ndown to a still lower level, and not only sees no poetry in it, but\nrather more than hints at a fraud, for he says--\"The countrey people\nknow no other name thereof or propertie appropriate unto it but\nknavery, which, whether they named it so in knavery, or knew any use\nof knavery in it, I neither can learn nor am much inquisitive\nthereafter.\"\n\nWe may here remark parenthetically that the old herbals are full of\nthe most delightfully quaint reading, and are often freely illustrated\nwith pictures at least as curious, the frontispieces especially being\nof the most elaborate and allegorical nature. The \"Rariorum Plantarum\nHistoria\" of Clusius is now before us as we write, and we learn from\nits title-page that it was published at Antwerp in the year 1601. We\nhave Adam on one side, in the simplicity of costume of Eden's earliest\ndays, and on the other Solomon, with crown and royal robes and\nsceptre, bearing in his hands a book. Adam is claimed by the medi\u00e6val\nherbalists as not only a tiller of the ground, but also as a student\nof botanical science, while Solomon, we all remember, wrote a treatise\nthat dealt with plants, from the lordly cedar to the lowly hyssop of\nthe wall. Above Adam, in a pot, is a Turk's-cap lily, and by his side\nis the fritillary, while Solomon has associated with him the cyclamen\nand the crown imperial. The illustrations in the body of the book are\nvery numerous and quaint, and, though the book, it will be remembered,\nis a history of rare plants, include such common things as the marsh\nmarigold, the bindweed, and the yellow loosestrife. Clusius, or\nCharles d'Ecluse, to give him his true name, was a Dutch botanist,\nborn 1526, died 1609. He was for some time the director of the\nBotanical Garden at Vienna, and afterwards the Professor of Botany at\nLeyden University, where he died.\n\nThe Herbal published by Matthiolus at Venice in the year 1633 is a\nparticularly fine book. The illustrations are very large, very\nnumerous, and very good. Another interesting book to see is that of\nDodoens, translated by Henry Lyte, \"Armigeri, Somersetensis, Angli.\"\nThe title-page of our copy of the work runs as follows:--\"A Nievve\nHerball, or Historie of Plantes: vvherein is contayned the vvhole\ndiscourse and perfect description of all sortes of Herbes and Plantes:\ntheir diuers and sundry kindes: their straunge Figures, Fashions, and\nShapes: their Names, Natures, Operations, and Vertues: and that not\nonely of those whiche are here growyng in this our Countrie of\nEnglande but of all others also of forrayne Realmes commonly vsed in\nPhysicke. First set foorth in the Doutche or Almaigne tongue, by that\nlearned D. Rembert Dodoens, Physition to the Emperour, and nowe first\ntranslated out of French into English, by Henry Lyte, Esquyer. At\nLondon by me Gerard Dewes, dwelling in Pawles Churchyarde at the signe\nof the Swanne, 1578.\"\n\nStill earlier in time is \"The Vertuose Boke of Distyllacyon of the\nwaters of all maner of Herbes, first compyled by Jherom Bruynswyke,\nand now newly translated out of Duyche, by Lawrence Andrew,\" the\nedition before us being published in London in the year 1527.\n\nIn 1551 we find the first appearance of Turner's Herbal, a book that\nwas for a long time a standard authority. It is divided into three\nsections--\n\n(1.) \"A New Herball, wherein are conteyned the names of Herbes in\nGreke, Latin, Englysh, Duch, Frenche, and in the Potecaries and\nHerbaries Latin, with the properties, degrees, and naturall places of\nthe same, gathered and made by Wylliam Turner, Physicion unto the Duke\nof Somersettes Grace, imprinted at London, by Steven Mierdman, Anno\n1551.\n\n(2.) A Book of the natures and properties as well as of the bathes of\nEngland as of other bathes in Germany and Italy, etc., by William\nTurner, Doctor of Physik, imprinted at Collen, by Arnold Birckman, in\nthe year of our Lorde, MDLXII.\n\n(3.) A most excellent and perfecte homish apothecarye, etc.,\ntranslated out of the Almaine Speche into English, by John Hollybush,\nimprinted at Collen by Arnold Birckman, MDLXI.\"\n\nThe latter part of this \"homely physick booke for all the grefes and\ndiseases of the bodye\" was really the work, so far at least as\ntranslation went, of Miles Coverdale, the notable divine and\ntranslator of the Bible, Hollybush being merely a pseudonym.\n\nThe only other quaint old tome that we need here refer to, though, of\ncourse, it must be clearly understood that we have named but a few of\nthe delightful old books on plant-lore that have come down to us, is\nthe somewhat specialised work of Newton. Its title is as follows:--\n\n\"An Herbal for the Bible, containing a plaine and familiar exposition\nof such Similitudes, Parables, and Metaphors, both in the Olde\nTestament and the Newe, as are borrowed and taken from Herbs, Plants,\nTrees, Fruits, and Simples, by observation of their vertues,\nqualities, natures, properties, operations and effects: and by the\nHolie Prophets, Sacred Writers, Christ Himselfe, and His blessed\nApostles usually alledged, and into their heauenly Oracles, for the\nbetter beautifieng and plainer opening of the same, profitably\ninserted. Drawen into English by Thomas Newton, imprinted at London by\nEdmund Bollifant, 1587.\"\n\nThe Ambrosia often referred to by the old writers and by more modern\npoets was originally the food of the gods, nectar being the drink. It\nis in this sense referred to by Homer and Ovid, though afterwards the\ntwo ingredients of the Olympian bill of fare became a good deal\nconfused together; thus in the beautiful fable of Cupid and Psyche, in\nthe \"Golden Ass\" of Apuleius, we find Jupiter conferred on Psyche the\ngift of immortality by giving her a cup of ambrosia to drink. The term\nwas also sometimes used as descriptive of anything delicious to the\ntaste, fragrant in perfume, or welcome to the eye, from the idea that\nwhatever was used by the immortals, associated with them as an\nattribute, or that would be grateful in any way to them must be\nsurpassingly excellent. Thus we read in the Iliad of the \"ambrosial\ncurls\" of Zeus, a somewhat extreme case of departure from the\nordinarily limited sense in which the word was most commonly used.[36]\nAs the word ambrosia means literally \"not mortal,\" it could evidently\nin this more extended sense be applied by Homer with perfect propriety\nto the curls or aught else that pertained to the ruler of Olympus.\n\n  [36] \"He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows,\n       Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod,\n       The stamp of fate and sanction of the god:\n       High heaven with trembling the dread signal took,\n       And all Olympus to the centre shook.\"\n           --_Iliad_, Book I. lines 683-87.\n\nIn the South Kensington Museum may be seen a picture by Francis Danby,\nbearing the title of \"The Upas-tree of the Island of Java.\" The whole\npicture is exceedingly dark, but one can just discern in the centre of\nit the form of a tree, and around this are human bodies and skeletons.\nThe myth of the upas has been created on the very smallest data, and\nfurnishes a striking example of how great a structure of error, not to\nsay gross and wilful exaggeration, can be reared on a basis of truth.\nThe neighbourhood of the tree is unhealthy, not on account of anything\nin the tree itself, but because it grows in the hot and humid valleys\nof Java, rank with malaria and fever. A Dutch physician, named\nFoersch, published in 1783 a narrative of his visit to the island, and\namongst his wild statements we find that where the upas grows \"not a\ntree or blade of grass is to be found in the valley or the surrounding\nmountains, not a bird, beast, reptile, or living thing lives in its\nneighbourhood.\" He adds that \"on one occasion 1600 refugees encamped\nwithin fourteen miles of it, and all but 300 died within two months:\"\nthis might easily arise from the malarial vapours, but his picture of\nthe tree standing in the midst of the desolation it had itself created\nis utterly at variance with the facts. So entirely do the actual facts\nbelie the legend that nothing prospers in its neighbourhood, it is\nfound in the midst of the rich vegetation of the tropics, while the\nbirds perch in its ample branches, and the wild beasts prowl beneath\nthem. So far is it from being the case, to quote one of our own poets,\nthat \"Fierce in dead silence on the blasted heath fell upas sits, the\nhydra tree of death,\"--the last relic of the marvellous is gone, when\nwe recall the fact that thousands of holiday-makers have passed\nharmlessly through the hothouses at Kew, where a specimen of the plant\nmay be seen, and that the refugees from London more or less\npermanently encamped within a mile or two of it have so far escaped\ndamage from its proximity. The Upas belongs to the same family as the\ninvaluable bread-fruit and cow-tree, but, instead of possessing their\nbeneficent properties, yields, when wounded, a thick milky fluid of a\nvery poisonous nature, and which is employed by the natives on their\narrows and spear-heads with deadly effect.\n\nThe first published account of the Upas-tree will be found in De Brys\n\"India Orientalis,\" but the scanty particulars of the earlier author\nbecome considerably amplified in Sir Thomas Herbert's book of\ntravels, published in London in the year 1634, and entitled\n\"Relations of some yeares Travaile.\" A little later on, in 1688, we\nfind the tree again referred to in the \"Description historique du\nRoyaume de Maca\u00e7ar\" of Father Gervaise. The author, who had really\nresided in Macassar for several years, affirms that the mere touch or\nsmell of some of the poisons produced by the natives is sufficient to\nproduce death, and one of the most deadly of these was said by him to\nbe produced from the sap of the Upas. He tells us that arrows dipped\nin this juice were as fatal in their effects twenty years afterwards\nas at their first preparation. In Koempfer's book, published in the\nyear 1712, we have the plant again described; a large mixture of fable\nis at once apparent, but much of this he gives on the authority of the\nnatives, and he takes occasion to express his strong doubts of their\nveracity. According to him, or them, the collection of the sap is\nattended with imminent peril, for not only must the seeker after the\ntree penetrate far into places infested with wild beasts, but he must,\nwhen he has found the object of his search, be careful to pierce it on\nthe side from whence the wind blows, or he would quickly be suffocated\nby the noxious effluvia given forth when the tree is wounded.\n\n    \"Lo! from one root, the envenomed soil below,\n    A thousand vegetative serpents grow;\n    In shining rays the scaly monster spreads\n    O'er ten square leagues his far-diverging heads;\n    Or in one trunk entwists his tangled form,\n    Looks o'er the clouds and hisses in the storm.\n    Steeped in fell poison, as his sharp teeth part,\n    A thousand tongues in quick vibration dart;\n    Snatch the proud eagle towering o'er the heath,\n    Or pounce the lion, as he stalks beneath;\n    Or strew, as marshall'd hosts contend in vain,\n    With human skeletons the whitened plain.\"\n\nApart from the evil influence exerted on Europeans by climatic and\nmiasmatic drawbacks, the mountain of mystery that has been reared\naround the dread name of Upas has but little foundation in fact. Its\njuice is very plentifully yielded, and is of a virulently poisonous\ncharacter, and even its smell is injurious. In clearing ground near\nthe Upas the natives dread to approach it on this account; but unless\nthe trunk is severely wounded or the tree felled the injurious effects\nare in the imagination only, and the tree may be approached or\nascended with impunity. The Upas is one of the largest of the forest\ntrees of Java, and it is surrounded as other trees are with the usual\nsturdy vegetation of the tropical wilderness.\n\nThe Rev. Dr. Parker, a well-known missionary in Madagascar, gives a\ndescription of two trees that recall in their detail much that has\nhitherto in an especial degree been ascribed to the Upas. In both\nthese species the leaf is spear-head shaped, dark green in colour,\nvery glossy in surface, and very hard and brittle to the touch, and\nboth exude a thick milky juice, while the fruit is like a long black\npod, the end being red. One species is a tree with large leaves and a\nsomewhat peculiar stem, as the bark hangs down in long flakes and\nshows a fresh growth of bark forming beneath and preparing to take the\nplace of the old bark as it falls. The other species is a shrub, with\nsmaller leaves, and the bark not peeling off the stem. Both species\nare said to possess the power of poisoning any living creatures that\napproach them, the symptoms of poisoning being severe headache,\nbloodshot eyes, and a delirium that is presently hushed in death.\nThese trees are natives of Zululand, and only a few persons are\nbelieved to have the power of collecting the fruits of the Umdhlebi,\nand these dare not approach the tree except from the windward side.\nThey also sacrifice a goat or sheep to the demon of the tree. The\nfruit is collected for the purpose of being used as an antidote to the\npoisonous effects of the tree from whence they fall, for only the\nfallen fruit may be collected. As regards habitat, these trees grow on\nall kinds of soil, but the tree-like species prefers barren and rocky\nground. In consequence of the fears of the natives the country around\none of these trees is always uninhabited, although in other respects\nfertile and desirable.\n\nIn Persia, we are told, there is a plant, the Kerzereh flower, that\nloads the air with deathly odour, and that if a man inhales the hot\nsouth wind that passes over these flowers during June and July it\nkills him. Moore, in his Poem of \"The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan,\"\nalludes to this belief in the lines--\n\n    \"With her hands clasp'd, her lips apart and pale,\n    The maid had stood, gazing upon the veil\n    From whence these words, like south winds through a fence\n    Of Kerzrah flowers, came filled with pestilence.\"\n\nThe Mandrake, a plant belonging to the same natural order as the\ndeadly nightshade, henbane, and thorn-apple, had in the Middle Ages\nmany mystic properties assigned to it. The roots are often forked, and\nwhen either by nature or art they could be supposed to roughly\nresemble a man it was looked upon as a talisman securing good fortune\nto its possessor. The belief in the narcotic and stupefying properties\nof the plant is referred to in Shakespeare's \"Antony and Cleopatra,\"\nin the lines--\n\n    \"Give me to drink mandragora\n    That I might sleep out this great gap of time\n    My Antony is away\"--\n\nand again in \"Othello\"--\n\n    \"Not poppy, not mandragora,\n    Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world\n    Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep.\"\n\nThe victories of the Maid of Orleans over the English were ascribed to\nher possession of a mandrake root. Gerarde, writing in the year 1633,\nsays that the root is long and thick, and divided into two or three\nparts; but as to its resemblance to a man, \"it is no otherwise than in\nthe roots of carrots, parsnips and such like forked or divided into\ntwo or more parts, which nature taketh no account of. There hath been\nmany ridiculous tales brought up of this plant, whether of old wiues\nor some runnagate Surgeons or physicke-mongers I know not, but sure\nsome one or more that sought to make themselves famous and skilful\naboue others were the first broachers of that error. They adde\nfurther, that it is never or very seldome to be found growing\nnaturally but under a gallows.[37] They fable further and affirme that\nhe who would take vp a plant thereof must tie a dog there unto to pull\nit up, which will giue a great shreeke at the digging vp, otherwise if\na man should do it he should surely die in short space after. All of\nwhich dreames and old wiues fables you shall from henceforth cast out\nfrom your books and memory, knowing this that they are all and euery\npart of them false and most untrue, for I my selfe and my seruants\nalso have digged up, planted and replanted very many and yet could\nneuer perceiue shape of man. But the idle drones that have little or\nnothing to do but to eat and drink have bestowed some of their time\nin carving the roots of Brionie, which falsifying practice had\nconfirmed the errour amongst the simple and unlearned people who haue\ntaken them upon their report to be the true Mandrakes.\"[38] Parkinson\nin like manner, in his \"Theater of Plants,\" published in 1640, writes,\nafter describing the plant:--\"Those idle forms of the mandrakes which\nhave beene exposed to view publikely both in ours and other lands and\ncountries are utterly deceitful, being the work of cuning knaves,\nonely to get money by their forgery: do not misdoubt of this relation\nno more than you would of any other plant set downe in this booke, for\nit is the plaine truth whereon everyone may relie.\" The cry of the\nmandrake is several times referred to by Shakespeare and others of our\npoets; thus in \"Romeo and Juliet\" we get the line--\n\n    \"Shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth\"--\n\nand in the second part of \"King Henry VI.\" Suffolk exclaims--\n\n    \"Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan.\"\n\n  [37] \"It is supposed to be a creature having life, engendered under\n  the earth of some dead person, put to death for murder.\"--Thomas\n  Newton, \"Herball to the Bible.\"\n\n  [38] \"Like a man made after supper of a cheese paring; when he was\n  naked he was for all the world like a forked radish, with a head\n  fantastically carved upon it with a knife.\"--Second part of \"King\n  Henry IV.,\" Act iii. scene 2.\n\nIt was believed that a small dose of the mandrake made persons proud\nof their beauty, but that a larger quantity deprived them of their\nsenses still more completely, and made them yet more effectually\nidiots.\n\nDr. Browne, in his gallant crusade against popular errors, says that\nthe resemblance of the mandrake to the human form \"is a conceit not to\nbe made out by ordinary inspection, or any other eyes than such as\nregarding the clouds behold them in shapes conformable to\npre-apprehension;\" and as to the danger of gathering the plant, he\njustly holds it \"a conceit not only injurious unto truth and\nconfutable by daily experience, but somewhat derogatory to the\nprovidence of God: That is, not only to impose so destructive a\nquality on any plant, but conceive a vegetable whose parts are useful\nunto many should in the only taking up prove mortall unto any. To\nthink he suffereth the poison of Nubia to be gathered, yet not this to\nbe moved! That he permitteth arsenick and minerall poisons to be\nforced from the bowells of the earth, yet not this from the surface\nthereof! This were to introduce a second forbidden fruit and inhance\nthe first malediction; making it not only mortal for Adam to taste the\none, but capitall unto his posterity to eradicate the other.\"\n\nThe orthodox way of plucking up the mandrake was to stand to the\nwindward of it and, after drawing three circles round it with a naked\nsword to dig it up with one's face looking to the west; the shrieks\nthat would follow were in any case a trial to weak nerves, and at an\nearlier period were held to be fatal to the hearer. Philip de Thaun\ngives the following stratagem as the only available way of becoming\nthe possessor of it:--\"The man who is to gather it must fly round\nabout it, must take great care that he does not touch it, then let him\ntake a dog and let it be tied to it, which has been close shut up, and\nhas fasted for three days, and let it be shewn bread and called from\nafar. The dog will draw it to him, the root will break, it will send\nforth a cry, and the dog will fall down dead at the cry which he will\nhear. Such vertue this herb has that no one can hear it but he must\nalways die, and if the man heard it he would directly die. Therefore\nhe must stop his ears, and take care that he hear not the cry lest he\ndie, as the dog will do which shall hear it. When one has this root it\nis of great value for medicine, for it cures of every infirmity except\nonly death, where there is no help.\" The office of the herbalist was\nno sinecure when such a task could be expected of him, as great care\nhad to be exercised not to touch the plant. The tying-up of the dog to\nit must have been particularly risky, and the consequences of the dog\nmaking a premature rush for the bread before the man had time to stop\nhis ears were especially alarming. The writings of De Thaun are full\nof interesting matter, but his great object was to see in nature\nfigures and symbols of religious truths, hence his narratives have\noften a somewhat forced character. Thus he tells us that \"in India\nthere is a tree of which the fruit is so sweet that the doves of the\nearth go seeking it above all things, they eat the fruit of it, seat\nthemselves in the tree, they are in repose as long as they are\nsheltered by it. There is a dragon in the earth which makes war on the\nbirds; the dragon fears so much the tree, that on no acconnt dare it\napproach it or touch the shadow, but it goes round at a distance, and,\nif it can, does them injury. If the shadow is to the right then it\ngoes to the left, if it is to the left the dragon goes to the right.\nThe doves have so much understanding which are above in the tree when\nthey see the dragon go all around, which goes watching them, but it\ndoes them no harm, nor will they ever have any harm as long as they\nare in the tree, but when they leave the tree and depart, and the\ndragon shall come then, it will kill them. This is a great meaning,\nhave it in remembrance.\" This Indian tree stands not obscurely for the\nSaviour of the world, while the doves are His faithful ones sheltered\nin Him from the wiles of the Evil One. When we read story after story\nall equally _apropos_, we cannot help feeling that a pious fraud has\nnow and then been indulged in, and the comely whole has been attained\nby a little judicious pruning in one direction, and a little forcing\nin another, and thus we lose faith in them, at least as examples of\nthe current beliefs of our forefathers.\n\nThe Arabs call the mandrake the devil's candle, from a belief that the\nleaves give out at night a phosphorescent light; and Moore, with his\nusual felicity, has introduced the idea in his poem of the\n\"Fire-Worshippers:\"--\n\n    \"How shall she dare to lift her head,\n    Or meet those eyes, whose scorching glare\n    Not Yeman's boldest sons can bear?\n    In whose red beam, the Moslem tells,\n    Such rank and deadly lustre dwells,\n    As in those hellish fires that light\n    The Mandrake's charnel leaves at night.\"\n\nAnother old name for the plant was the Enchanter's nightshade, though\nthat very suggestive and rather awe-inspiring title has in these later\ndays become somehow transferred to a very insignificant weed that is\ncommon enough in some old gardens and on waste ground, but which is\nall too small to bear so formidable a title.\n\nThe Hebrew word _Dudaim_ has, in Genesis and in the Song of Solomon,\nbeen translated in the Authorised English Version of the Bible as the\nmandrake, but this would appear to be nothing more than a guess,\nvarious commentators, Calmet, Hasselquist, and others who have written\non the subject, not being by any means unanimous. Some tell us that\nthe term is a general one for flowers, while others translate it as\nlilies, violets, or jessamine, or as figs, mushrooms, bananas,\ncitrons, or melons. Whence we may fairly conclude that no one really\nknows, and that the whole matter resolves itself into a guess,\nfortified more or less by dogmatic assertion as a make-weight for the\nmissing knowledge.\n\nOne of the most interesting of the old books on our shelves is the\n\"Miracles of Art and Nature, or a Brief Description of the several\nvarieties of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Plants and Fruits of other\nCountreys, together with several other Remarkable Things in the World,\nBy R. B. Gent.\" The author's name thus modestly veiled is Burton, and\nthe date of the book is 1678. In his preface he says--\"I think there\nis not a chapter wherein thou wilt not find various and remarkable\nthings worth thy observation,\" and this observation of his is strictly\nwithin the truth. He arranges his short chapters geographically, but\nin the most arbitrary way--not alphabetically, not according to the\nnatural grouping together of the countries of which he treats, nor\nindeed according to any settled method. In fact, he is sufficiently\nconscious of this, for, to quote his preface again, he says--\"'Tis\nprobable they are _not_ so Methodically disposed as some hands might\nhave done, yet for Variety and pleasure sake they are pleasingly\nenough intermixed.\" We open the book at random and find \"Chap. XX.,\nCastile in Spain; XXI., Norway; XXII., Zisca of Bohemia; XXIII.,\nAssiria; XXIV., Quivira in California.\" Adopting his own random and\nhaphazard way of going to work, we will pluck from his quaint pages\nsome few of his botanical facts and fancies. His opening chapter deals\nwith Egypt, and in his description of the palm-tree he refers to a\nvery old belief that we may allow him to set forth in his own\nwords:--\"It is the nature of this tree though never so ponderous a\nweight were put upon it not to yield to the burthen, but still to\nresist the heaviness, and endeavour to raise itself the more upward.\nFor this cause planted in Churchyards in the Eastern Countrys as an\nEmblem of the Resurrection.\" A little further on, in his description\nof Sumatra, we read of \"a tree whose Western part is said to be rank\npoyson and the Eastern part an excellent preservative against it,\" and\nof \"a sort of Fruit that whosoever eateth of it, is for the space of\ntwelve hours out of his Wits.\" Travellers' tales have sometimes\nproverbially been difficult of belief, and it must have been some such\nas these that procured them their evil report, for we read too that in\nthis same island \"there is a river plentifully stored with Fish, whose\nWater is so hot that it scalds the skin,\" and that \"the cocks have a\nhole in their backs, wherein the Hen lays her Eggs and hatches her\nyoung ones.\" A few pages further on we read of a tree in Peru, \"the\nNorth part whereof looking towards the Mountains, brings forth its\nFruits in the Summer only; the Southern part looking towards the Sea,\nfruitful only in Winter.\" Our old author evidently delights in sharp\ncontrasts. It is curious, however, that the Coca-leaf, which has\nwithin the last few years been highly commended for those who have\nexhausting exercise, is in this book of over 200 years old fully\nreferred to:--\"The leaves whereof being dried and formed into little\npellets are exceedingly useful in a Journey; for melting in the mouth\nthey satisfie both hunger and thirst and preserve a man in his\nstrength, and his Spirits in Vigour; and are generally esteemed of\nsuch sovereign use, that it is thought no less than 100,000 Baskets\nfull of the leaves of this tree are sold yearly at the Mines of\nPotosia only. Another plant they tell us of, though there is no name\nfound for it, which if put into the hands of a sick person will\ninstantly discover whether he be like to live or dye. For if on the\npressing it in his hand he look merry and cheerful it is an assured\nsign of his recovery, as on the other side of Death, if sad and\ntroubled.\" A few pages further on we find ourselves at Sodom and the\nDead Sea:--\"If but an Aple grow near it, it is by Nature such that it\nspeaks the Anger of God: for without 'tis beautiful and Red, but\nwithin nothing but dusty Smoak and Cinders.\" This belief is a very\nancient one. We find it, for instance, in the writings of Tacitus, and\nit has supplied moralists in all ages with an illustration. In \"The\nMerchant of Venice,\" for instance, we find the lines--\n\n    \"A goodly apple rotten at the heart.\n    O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!\"--\n\nand again in \"Childe Harold\"--\n\n    \"Like to the apples on the Dead Sea's shore, all ashes to the taste.\"\n\nThe apple has indeed entered largely into history and legend.\nAccording to some writers the forbidden fruit of Eden was a kind of\napple, and the _pomum Adami_ in one's throat may be accepted as a\nrecord of the old belief. \"The fruit of that forbidden tree, whose\nmortal taste brought death into the world, and all our woe.\" Our\nreaders, too, will recall the golden apple of discord that created\nstrife alike on high Olympus and amongst the sons of men, and that led\nto the fall of Troy. On the other hand, we read of the apple of\nperpetual youth in Scandinavian mythology, the food of the gods; and\nin the \"Arabian Nights\" of the apples of Samarkand that would cure all\ndiseases. The apples of Istkahar were all sweetness on one side, all\nbitterness on the other; while Sir John Mandeville tells us that the\npigmies were fed with the odour alone of the apples of Pyban. Amidst\nthis maze of fancy and legend it would perhaps be scarcely fair to\neven mention the more historic apple that fell at Woolsthorpe at the\nfeet of Newton, and set his mind thinking on the problem of\ngravitation.[39]\n\n  [39] We remember some time ago an interesting article by Dr. Adolf\n  Dux, entitled \"La tombe du Savant\" appearing in the \"Pester Lloyd.\"\n  The savant was Bolyai, professor of mathematics and physics at\n  Maros-V\u00e1s\u00e1rhely. No statue, no marble mausoleum with sides covered\n  with laudatory inscriptions, marks the place where he lies, but the\n  tomb, by its occupant's strict direction, is overshadowed by the\n  boughs of an apple-tree--\"En souvenir des trois pommes qui out jou\u00e9\n  un r\u00f4le si important dans l'histoire de l'humanit\u00e9, et il d\u00e9signait\n  ainsi la pomme d'\u00c8ve, et celle de P\u00e2ris qui r\u00e9duisirent la terre \u00e0\n  l'esclavage, et la pomme de Newton, qui la repla\u00e7a au rang des\n  astres.\" Strangely enough, when Dr. Dux visited the tomb there hung\n  on the tree just three apples--\"ni plus ni moins.\"\n\nAt Crete our old author, Burton, finds a plant called Alimos, which it\nis only necessary to chew to take away all sense of hunger for a whole\nday; but this wonder pales before those of the flora of Nova Hispania,\nthe country we now call Mexico. \"Amongst the Rarities of Nova\nHispania, though there be many Plants in it of Singuler Nature, is\nmentioned that which they call Eagney or Meto, said to be one of the\nprincipal: a Tree which they both Plant and Dress as we do our Vines;\nit hath on it 40 kinds of leaves, fit for several uses; for when they\nbe tender they make of them Conserves, Paper, Flax, Mantles, Mats,\nShoes, Girdles and Cordage, upon them they grow divers prickles so\nstrong and sharp that the people use them instead of Staws.\" What\nStaws may be we cannot say, so we must be content to know that Meto\nthorns make a very efficient substitute, and are for all practical\npurposes as good as having the real thing. \"From the top of the Tree\ncometh a Juice like Syrrup, which if you Seeth it will become Honey;\nif purified, Sugar; the Bark of it maketh a good plaister and from the\nhighest of the Boughs comes a kind of Gum, a Soveraigne Antidote\nagainst poysons.\" The tree furnishes at once costume and confection,\nantidote and rope, and we can hardly wonder at the people of New Spain\nsetting considerable store by it.\n\nIt would be curious to see the forms of the forty leaves; we can well\nimagine that a plant suggesting about equally by its foliage the rose,\npalm, bullrush, buttercup, cactus, horse-chestnut, and thirty-four\nother plants would give our botanists some little difficulty before it\ngot definitely assigned its just place.\n\nBrazil, like Mexico, is a very large place, and a very long way off,\nand two hundred years ago the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company was a\nthing of the far future; there was therefore abundant room for play of\nthe imagination; thus we read of a kind of corn \"which is continually\ngrowing and always ripe; nor never wholly ripe, because always\ngrowing;\" and of another plant that yields so sovereign a balm that\n\"the very beasts being bitten by venomous Serpents resort to it for\ntheir cure.\" It is interesting, amongst the other strange wonders,\nanimal and vegetable, that are duly set forth, to come across a plant\nthat must be very familiar to most persons, the sensitive plant, the\n_Mimosa sensitiva_ of Brazil, though in his description of it our\nauthor cannot resist an added touch of the marvellous, imputing to it\na power of observation that later writers would hesitate to confirm,\nfor he says--\"The herb Viva when roughly touched will close the\nleaves, and not open them again until the man that had offended it had\ngot out of sight.\" We must not, however, devote more attention to\n\"R. B. Gent,\" great as the temptation to do so may be, for his book is\na perfect mine of the marvellous. Another curious old book to ponder\nover awhile is the English Dictionary of Henry Cockeram, as he\ncertainly produces some extraordinary illustrations of unnatural\nhistory. The book was published in the year 1655, and did not profess\nto deal with scientific matters alone, but was, to use the author's\nown language, \"an interpreter of hard English words, enabling as well\nladies and gentlewomen, young scholars, clerks, merchants, as also\nstrangers of any nation, to the understanding of the more difficult\nauthors already printed in our language, and the more speedy attaining\nof an elegant perfection of the English tongue.\" Amongst these hard\nEnglish words sadly needing an interpretation we will select but five\nas a sample of the whole:--\"Achemedis, an herb which being cast into\nan army in time of battle causeth the soldiers to be in fear.\" This\nprobably would be some kind of runner. \"Anacramseros, an herb, the\ntouch thereof causeth love to grow betwixt man and man.\" \"Hippice, an\nherb borne in one's mouth, keeps one from hunger and thirst.\"\n\"Ophyasta, an herb dangerous to look on, and being drunke it doth\nterrifie the inside with a sight of dreadful serpents, that condemned\npersons for fear thereof do kill themselves.\" \"Gelotaphilois, an herb\ndrunk with wine and myrrh, causeth much laughter.\"\n\nAmidst the mist of error some few men declined to believe quite all\nthat they were told, but exercised for themselves the right of\nindividual judgment. The book we have just referred to was published,\nas we have seen, in the year 1655, and abounds in strange imaginings;\nyet five years before this we find a still better-known book, \"the\nPseudodoxia Epidemica, or Enquiries into very many Received Tenants\nand commonly Presumed Truths\" of Dr. Browne. The list of commonly\npresumed truths he ventures to dispute is a very long one, and\nincludes such items of faith as that a diamond is made soft if placed\nin the blood of a goat, that a pailful of ashes will contain as much\nwater as it would without them, that the two legs on one side of a\nbadger are shorter than the two on the other side, and so on. As he\napproaches the vegetable kingdom he prefaces his remarks as\nfollows:--\"We omit to recite the many vertues and endlesse faculties\nascribed unto plants which sometimes occurre in grave and serious\nauthors, and we shall make a bad transaction for Truth to concede a\nverity in half. Swarms of others there are, some whereof our future\nendeavours may discover; common reason I hope will save us a labour in\nmany whose absurdities stand naked in every eye, errors not able to\ndeceive the Emblem of Justice and need no Argus to descry them. Herein\nthere surely wants expurgatory animadversions whereby we might strike\nout great numbers of hidden qualities, and having once a serious and\nconceded list we might with more encouragement and safety attempt\ntheir Reasons.\" On turning to the list of \"vertues\" in any old Herbal,\nwe find, as Browne says, \"endlesse faculties ascribed, and many of\nthem of a character that woulde we should have imagined have been,\nduring even the darkest ages, difficult or impossible of credence.\"\nThus in Gerarde's herbal published in 1633, we find amongst our\nBritish plants one available \"against the biting of the Sea-dragon,\"\ntwo more \"a remedy against the poyson of the Sea-hare,\" one \"against\nvaine imaginations,\" another \"an especial remedy against the\nnightmare,\" and no less than thirty-eight preservatives \"against the\nbitings of serpents.\" We will, however, confine ourselves to three\nillustrative instances of the way in which the author of these\ninquiries into various received beliefs proceeds to demolish them. He\nsays, in the first place, that \"many things are delivered and believed\nof plants wherein at least we cannot but suspend. That there is a\nproperty in Basil to propagate scorpions and that by the smell thereof\nthey are bred in the brains of men is a belief much advanced by\nHollerius, who found this insect in the brains of a man that delighted\nmuch in this smell. Wherein besides that we finde no way to conjoin\nthe effect unto the cause assigned herein the moderns speak but\ntimorously, and some of the Ancients quite contrarily. For according\nunto Oribasius, physitian unto Julian, the Africans, men best\nexperienced in poisons, affirm whosoever hath eaten Basil although he\nbe stung with a Scorpion shall feel no pain thereby; which is a very\ndifferent effect, and rather antidotally destroying than promoting its\nproduction.\" Pliny and other ancient writers mention the old belief\nthat the bay-tree, the tree of Apollo, was a preservative against\nthunder, or rather against lightning; hence Tiberius and some other of\nthe Roman Emperors wore a wreath of bay as an amulet; and in an old\nEnglish play we find the lines--\n\n                    \"Reach the bays,\n    I'll tie a garland here about his head,\n    'Twill keep my boy from lightning.\"\n\nBrowne discourses on the point as follows:--\"That Bayes will protect\nfrom the mischief of lightning and thunder is a quality ascribed\nthereto, common with the fig tree, eagle and skin of a seale. Against\nso famous a quality Vicomercatus produceth experiments of a Bay-tree\nblasted in Italy, and therefore although Tiberius for this interest\ndid wear a Laurell about his temples yet did Augustus take a more\nprobable course, who fled under arches and hollow vaults for\nprotection.\" A most unimperial picture this, great C\u00e6sar deserting his\nthrone and shutting himself up in his wine-cellar when he heard the\ndistant rumbling of the coming storm. \"If we consider the three-fold\neffect of Jupiter's Trisulk, to burn, discusse, and terebrate, and if\nthat be true which is commonly delivered, that it will melt the blade\nyet passe the scabbard, dry up the wine yet leave the hog's head\nentire, though it favour the amulet it may not spare us; it will be\nunwise to rely on any preservative, 'tis no security to be dipped in\nStyx or clad in the armour of Ceneus.\"[40]\n\n  [40] Appendix T.\n\nThere are many curious legends associated with plants in classic\nmythology, such as the metamorphoses of various lucky or unlucky\npersons who gained the favour or incurred the wrath of the gods, and\nwere in consequence punished or rewarded by finding themselves\nlaurel-bushes and the like; but all this is duly set forth in any\nmythological dictionary, and may be there hunted up quite readily by\nthe curious.\n\nOther legends are associated with religious symbolism, such as the\nbelief that the palm-tree cannot be bowed down to earth, but stands\nerect, no matter how heavily weighted; but if we were once to enter\nupon this most interesting subject, the preceding pages of our book\nwould be but a small fragment indeed of all that it would be possible\nto introduce.\n\n  [Illustration: {THE PALM}]\n\nA very good illustration of the symbolic use of the palm-tree may be\nseen on the frontispiece of the \"Eikon Basilike,\" published in the\nyear 1648. The \"Royal Martyr\" kneels before a table on which is placed\na Bible. In his hand he has taken a crown of thorns, marked \"Gratia;\"\nat his feet is the royal crown of England, with the inscription\n\"Vanitas,\" while in the air above him is a starry crown marked\n\"Gloria.\" Outside the room we see a landscape. Conspicuous in the\nforeground is a palm-tree standing erect with two heavy weights tied\nto it, and the legend, \"Crescit sub pondere virtus;\" while beyond\nthis is a raging sea and a rock rising from its midst, with the\nlegend, \"Immota triumphans.\" The sky is black with rolling clouds, and\non either side of the rock we see dark faces in the clouds blowing\nvehemently against it. Beneath is the \"Explanation of the Embleme\" in\ntwo columns, the one Latin and the other in the vulgar tongue. The\nEnglish is as follows:--\n\n    \"Though clogged with weights of miseries\n    Palm-like depressed I higher rise.\n    And as th' immoved Rock outbraves\n    The boist'rous Windes and raging waves,\n    So triumph I. And shine more bright\n    In sad Affliction's Darksom night.\n    That Splendid, but yet toilsom Crown\n    Regardlessly I trample down.\n    With joie I take this Crown of Thorn,\n    Though sharp yet easie to be born.\n    That Heavenlie Crown, already mine,\n    I view with eies of Faith Divine.\n    I slight vain things and do embrace\n    Glorie, the just reward of Grace.\"\n\nThis belief in the impossibility of depriving the palm-tree of its\npower of upward growth made it a rather popular emblem with those who\nthought themselves rather \"put upon\" by fortune or the lack of\nappreciation from their fellows. Mary Stuart, for example, selected as\none of her badges the palm-tree, with the motto, \"Ponderibus virtus\ninnata resistit,\" and other illustrations of the old belief might\nreadily be brought forward.\n\nAs these plants, too, whether associated with mythology or religious\nor other symbolism, are not in themselves fabulous, but are actual\nlaurels, palms, or the like, they need scarcely be dwelt upon at any\nlength in these pages, as our purpose has been rather to deal with\nforms wholly mythical than to enter with any degree of fulness into\nthe mythical beliefs that have grown round forms in themselves\nnatural.\n\nWe cannot, in conclusion, do better, we are sure, than transfer bodily\nto our book the appeal to the reader that appears on the title-page of\na quaint little black-letter treatise published in the year 1548--the\n\"Boke of Husbandry\" by one Fitzherbert:--\n\n    \"Go thou lytell boke, with due reuerence\n    And with an humble hert, recommend me\n    To all those, that of theyr beneuolence\n    Thys lytell treatyse doth rede heare or se\n    Wherewith I praye them contented to be,\n    And to amende it in place behouable\n    Where as I haue fauted or be culpable--\n    For herde it is, a man to attayne\n    To make a thynge perfyte at the first sighte\n    But whan it is red and well ouer seene\n    Fautes may be founde that neuer came to lyght\n    Though the maker do his diligence and might\n    Praying them to take it as I haue intended\n    And to forgiue me yf I haue offended.\"\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\nA.\n\nThe life and death of St. George, as generally accepted, are so\ndifferent to the details given by Gibbon in his \"History of the\nDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire,\" that we give, as a foil, a\nsketch of the latter as well. From Gibbon it would appear that George,\nsurnamed the Cappadocian, was born in Cilicia in a fuller's shop, that\nhe raised himself from this obscure origin by his talents as a\nparasite, and that those whom he so shamelessly flattered and\nassiduously fawned on repaid their worthless dependent by procuring\nfor him lucrative contracts to supply the army with bacon and other\nstores. Herein he accumulated, as some other army contractors have\ndone since, a vast sum of money by the basest acts of fraud and\ncorruption, until matters became so bad and his shortcomings so\nnotorious that he absconded with his ill-gotten gains. After the\ndisgrace attached to this had in some measure subsided, we next find\nhim embracing, with real or affected zeal, the doctrines of Arianism,\nand on the death of the Archbishop Athanasius the prevailing faction\npromoted the ex-contractor to the vacant chair. He had scarcely been\nestablished in this high and responsible office ere he sullied the\ndignity of his position by acts of the greatest cruelty against those\nwho differed from him, and by the development anew of the keenest\navarice. He asserted for himself the right to various important\nmonopolies, and impoverished the State while he enriched himself by\nalone supplying salt, paper, and various other necessaries. The people\nat length rose in rebellion, and on the accession of Julian he lost\nthe high support that had hitherto, by aid of the civil and military\npower of the State, maintained him in his position. He was\nignominiously dragged in chains to the public prison, and the mob,\nimpatient of the delays of the law, or apprehensive that he might use\nhis wealth and influence to stifle inquiry, presently forced open the\ngates and tore him to pieces. The Church was at that time an arena of\nfierce dissension between the Arians and Athanasians, and his\nfollowers, conveniently ignoring the facts of his life, asserted that\nthe rival party in the Church had stirred up the strife against him.\nHe received the just reward of his tyranny, or possibly the saintly\ncrown of the martyr for his faith, in the year 361, and in 494 Pope\nGelasius formally and officially admitted his claim to a position\namongst the saints of the Church. We find him held in great reverence\nin the sixth century in Palestine, Armenia, and Rome. His fame was\nbrought home from the East by the Crusaders, and his popularity in\nEngland dates from that time. So much party feeling has clustered\naround the matter, and so many learned authorities have been drawn up\non one side or the other, that we can only feel that no real verdict\none way or the other is now possible.\n\n\nB.\n\nAs we have already in the body of the text given in full detail the\naccepted prose version of the conflict of St. George with the dragon,\nit seemed scarcely advisable to repeat these details in metrical form.\nAs we feel, at the same time, that such old ballads will probably\npossess interest for some, at least, of our readers, we, instead of\nbanishing the story from our book entirely, dismiss it to the Appendix\nmerely, where it can be equally readily read or ignored in accordance\nwith individual tastes. The ballad, as given in Dr. Percy's\n\"Reliques,\" is based on ancient black-letter copies in the Pepys\nCollection. In the original the poem is forty-four verses long, but we\ncontent ourselves with those that relate to the combat with the\ndragon, and leave out those that affect what may be termed the\npolitics of the court, the promise of the maiden to the hero, the\nsubsequent endeavours to evade the bargain, and the various\nconsequences to St. George and others that arose from this breach of\nfaith:--\n\n    \"Of Hector's deeds did Homer sing,\n      And of the sack of stately Troy,\n    What griefs fair H\u00e9lena did bring,\n      Which was Sir Paris' only joy:\n    And by my pen I will recite\n      St. George's deeds, an English knight.\n\n    Against the Sarazens so rude\n      Fought he full well and many a day;\n    Where many gyants he subdued,\n      In honour of the Christian way:\n    And after many adventures past\n      To Egypt land he came at last.\n\n    Now as the story plain doth tell,\n      Within that countrey there did rest\n    A dreadful dragon fierce and fell,\n      Whereby they were full sore opprest,\n    Who by his poisonous breath each day,\n      Did many of the city slay.\n\n    The grief whereof did grow so great\n      Throughout the limits of the land,\n    That they their wise men did entreat\n      To show their cunning out of hand;\n    Which way they might this fiend destroy,\n      That did the country thus annoy.\n\n    The wise men all before the king\n      This answer framed incontinent;\n    The dragon none to death might bring\n      By any means they could invent:\n    His skin more hard than brass was found,\n      That sword nor spear could pierce nor wound.\n\n    When this the people understood,\n      They cryed out most piteouslye,\n    The dragon's breath infects their blood,\n      That every day in heaps they dye:\n    Among them such a plague it bred,\n      The living scarce could bury the dead.\n\n    No means there were, as they could hear,\n      For to appease the dragon's rage,\n    But to present some virgin dear,\n      Whose blood his fury might assuage;\n    Each day he would a maiden eat,\n      For to allay his hunger great.\n\n    This thing by art the wise men found,\n      Which truly must observed be;\n    Wherefore throughout the city round\n      A virgin pure of good degree\n    Was by the king's commission still\n      Taken up to serve the dragon's will.\n\n    Thus did the dragon every day\n      Untimely crop some virgin flower,\n    Till all the maids were worn away,\n      And none were left him to devour:\n    Saving the king's fair daughter bright,\n      Her father's only heart's delight.\n\n    Then came the officers to the king\n      That heavy message to declare,\n    Which did his heart with sorrow sting;\n      She is, quoth he, my kingdom's heir:\n    O let us all be poisoned here,\n      Ere she should die, that is my dear.\n\n    Then rose the people presently,\n      And to the king in rage they went;\n    They said his daughter deare should dye,\n      The dragon's fury to prevent:\n    Our daughters all are dead, quoth they,\n      And have been made the dragon's prey:\n\n    And by their blood we rescued were,\n      And thou hast saved thy life thereby;\n    And now in sooth it is but faire,\n      For us thy daughter so should die.\n    O save my daughter, said the king;\n      And let ME feel the dragon's sting.\n\n    Then fell fair Sabra on her knee,\n      And to her father dear did say,\n    O father strive not thus for me,\n      But let me be the dragon's prey;\n    It may be for my sake alone\n      This plague upon the land was thrown.\n\n    'Tis better I should dye, she said,\n      Than all your subjects perish quite;\n    Perhaps the dragon here was laid,\n      For my offence to work his spite:\n    And after he hath sucked my gore\n      Your land shall feel the grief no more.\n\n    What hast thou done, my daughter dear,\n      For to deserve this heavy scourge?\n    It is my fault, as may appear,\n      Which makes the gods our state to purge:\n    Then ought I die, to stint the strife,\n      And to preserve thy happy life.\n\n    Like madmen, all the people cried,\n      Thy death to us can do no good;\n    Our safety only doth abide\n      In making her the dragon's food.\n    Lo, here I am, I come, quoth she,\n      Therefore do what you will with me.\n\n    Nay stay, dear daughter, quoth the queen,\n      And as thou art a virgin bright,\n    Thou hast for vertue famous been,\n      So let me cloath thee all in white;\n    And crown thy head with flowers sweet,\n      An ornament for virgins meet.\n\n    And when she was attired so,\n      According to her mother's mind,\n    Unto the stake she then did go;\n      To which her tender limbs they bind:\n    And being bound to stake and thrall\n      She bade farewell unto them all.\n\n    Farewell, my father dear, quoth she,\n      And my sweet mother meek and mild;\n    Take you no thought nor weep for me,\n      For you may have another child:\n    Since for my country's good I dye,\n      Death I receive most willinglye.\n\n    The king and queen and all their train\n      With weeping eyes went then their way,\n    And let their daughter there remain,\n      To be the hungry dragon's prey;\n    But as she did there weeping lye,\n      Behold St. George came riding by.\n\n    And seeing there a lady bright\n      So rudely tyed unto a stake,\n    As well became a valiant knight,\n      He straight to her his way did take:\n    Tell me, sweet maiden, then quoth he,\n      What caitiff thus abuseth thee?\n\n    And, lo, by Christ his cross I vow,\n      Which here is figured on my breast,\n    I will revenge it on his brow,\n      And break my lance upon his chest:\n    And speaking thus whereas he stood,\n      The dragon issued from the wood.\n\n    The lady that did first espy\n      The dreadful dragon coming so,\n    Unto St. George aloud did cry\n      And willed him away to go;\n    Here comes that cursed fiend, quoth she,\n      That soon will make an end of me.\n\n    St. George then looking round about,\n      The fiery dragon soon espied,\n    And like a knight of courage stout,\n      Against him did most fiercely ride;\n    And with such blows he did him greet,\n      He fell beneath his horse's feet.\n\n    For with his lance that was so strong,\n      As he came gaping in his face,\n    In at his mouth he thrust along,\n      For he could pierce no other place;\n    And thus within the lady's view\n      This mighty dragon straight he slew.\n\n    The favour of his poisoned breath\n      Could do this holy knight no harm;\n    Thus he the lady saved from death,\n      And home he led her by the arm:\n    Which when King Ptolemy did see,\n      There was great mirth and melody.\"\n\n\nC.\n\nIn Hippeau's comments on the non-reliability of much of the natural\nhistory of Guillaume he points out that not only was it difficult for\nthese early writers to ascertain the truth, but that the truth in its\nlower sense was not really much striven after or valued. He\nsays--\"N'oublions pas que les p\u00e8res de l'\u00c9glise se pr\u00e9occup\u00e8rent\ntoujours beaucoup plus de la puret\u00e9 des doctrines qu'ils avaient \u00e0\nd\u00e9velopper, que de l'exactitude scientifique des notions sur\nlesquelles ils les appuyaient. L'object important pour nous, dit Saint\nAugustin (Ps. cii., \u00e0propos de l'aigle, qui disait-on, brise contre la\npierre l'\u00e9xtr\u00e9mit\u00e9 de son bec devenue trop long) est de consid\u00e9rer la\nsignification d'un fait et non d'en discuter l'authenticit\u00e9.\n\n\"Dans la vaste \u00e9tendue des Cieux, au sien des mers profondes, sur tous\nles points du globe terrestre, il n'est pas un ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne, pas une\n\u00e9toile, pas un quadrup\u00e8de, pas un oiseau, pas une plante, pas une\npierre, qui n'\u00e9veille quelque souvenir biblique, qui ne fournisse la\nmati\u00e8re d'un enseignement moral, qui ne donne lieu \u00e0 quelqu' effusion\ndu coeur, qui n'ait \u00e0 r\u00e9v\u00e9ler quelque secret de Dieu.\"\n\n\nD.\n\nThe palm was by old writers called the phoenix-tree, and in Greek the\nsame word is used to express both the bird and the tree.\n\n    \"_Sebastian._ Now I will believe\n    That there are unicorns; that in Arabia\n    There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix\n    At this hour reigning there.\n\n    _Antonio._              I'll believe both;\n    And what does else want credit come to me,\n    And I'll be sworn 'tis true; travellers ne'er did lie,\n    Though fools at home condemn them.\"--_Tempest._\n\n\nE.\n\n\"The story of Guy is so obscured with fable that it is difficult to\nascertain its authenticity. He was the hero of succeeding Earls of\nWarwick. William Beauchamp called his eldest son after him. Thomas by\nhis last will bequeathed the sword and coat-of-mail of this worthy to\nhis son. Another christened a younger son after him, and dedicated to\nhim a noble tower, whose walls are ten feet thick, the circumference\n126, and the height 113 feet from the bottom of the ditch. Another\nleft as an heirloom to his family a suit of arras wrought with his\nstory. His sword and armour, now to be seen in Warwick Castle, were by\npatent, 1 Henry VIII., granted to William Hoggeson, yeoman of the\nbattery, with a fee of 2d. per day. In the porter's lodge at the\ncastle they still show his porridge-pot, flesh-fork, iron shield,\nbreastplate and sword, horse furniture, walking staff nine feet high,\nand even a rib of the dun cow which he pretended to have killed on\nDunsmore Heath. In short, his fame and spirit seem to have inspired\nhis successors, for from the Conquest to the death of Ambrose Dudley\nthere was scarce a scene of action in which the Earls of Warwick did\nnot make a considerable figure.\"--_Camden's Britannia_, vol. ii.,\n1806.\n\n\nF.\n\nOf the \"Bestiary\" of Philip de Thaun only one copy of the MS. is\nknown, that in the Cottonian Collection, though of another of his\nquaint treatises, the \"Livre des Cr\u00e9atures,\" there are seven copies\nextant. Three of these are in the Vatican Library, and in England one\nmay be seen in the Sloane Library, and another in the Cottonian. The\nauthor had as his great patron Adelaide of Louvain, the second queen\nof King Henry I. He dedicates his \"Bestiary\" to her in the following\nlines:--\n\n    \"Philippe de Thaun into the French language\n    Has translated the Bestiary, a book of science,\n    For the honour of a jewel who is a very handsome woman,\n    Aliz is she named, a queen is she crowned,\n    Queen is she of England, may her soul never have trouble.\"\n\nHis poems are the earliest examples extant of the Anglo-Norman\nlanguage; we give herewith an illustration of it, the translation\nbeing from the excellent reproduction of the book by Thomas Wright,\nF.S.A.:--\n\n    \"En un livre divin, que apelum Genesim,\n    Iloc lisant truvum qu\u00e6 D\u00e9s fist par raisum\n    Le soleil e la lune, e esteile chescune.\n    Pur cel me plaist \u00e0 dire d'ico est ma materie,\n    Que demusterai e \u00e0 clers e \u00e0 lai,\n    Chi grant busuin en unt, e pur mei perierunt.\n    Car unc ne fud lo\u00e9e escience cel\u00e9e;\n    Pur \u00e7o me plaist \u00e0 dire, ore i seit li veir Sire!\"\n\n    \"In a divine book, which is called Genesis\n    There reading, we find that God made by reason\n    The sun and the moon, and every star.\n    On this account it pleases me to speak, of this is my matter,\n    Which I will show both to clerks and to laics,\n    Who have great need of it, and will perish without it.\n    For science hidden was never praised;\n    Therefore it pleases me to speak, now may the true Lord be with it.\"\n\n\nG.\n\nAs the limited space at our disposal prevents anything like an\nexhaustive account of the wonders narrated by Mandeville and others,\nwe give the titles of some few old works, in case the reader may care\nto dive into them at greater length than is here at all possible. The\nfirst we would mention is Richard Hackluyt's black-letter folio,\npublished in 1589. Its full title runs as follows:--\"The Principal\nNavigations; Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation, made by\nSea or over Land to the most remote and farthest distant Quarters of\nthe earth at any time within the compasse of these 1500 yeeres.\"\nAnother is \"Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World, Asia,\nAfrica and America and the Ilands adiacent,\" published in London in\nthe year 1614; a very quaint and interesting old book. The \"Ortus\nSanitatis\" is another very curious old black-letter volume, dealing\nwith animals, plants, &c., and richly illustrated with very remarkable\nwoodcuts. To these we may add Marco Polo's travels in the thirteenth\ncentury, detailing the observations of this early traveller on many\nremarkable places and things seen or heard of by him, chiefly in the\nEast. Struy's \"Perillous and most Unhappy Voyages through Moscovia,\nTartary, Italy, Greece, Persia, Japan,\" &c., is another interesting\nold volume. It was published in the year 1638, and is illustrated by\ndivers curious plates. To this list we need only add the \"Natvrall and\nMorall Historie of the East and West Indies,\" by Joseph Acosta; 1604.\n\"Intreating of the Remarkable things of Heaven, of the Elements,\nMettalls, Plants, and Beasts which are proper to that Country.\" Where\nwe have given a date it is simply that of the copy that has come\nunder our own cognisance: many of these works were of sufficient\npopularity to run through several editions, sometimes several years\napart; nevertheless the dates we give will give an approximate notion\nthat is decidedly better than nothing. This list might readily be\nextended tenfold.\n\n\nH.\n\nThe sphinx is described in Bacon's book, \"The Wisdom of the Ancients,\nWritten in Latin by the Right Honourable Sir Francis Bacon Knt. Baron\nof Verulam and Lord Chancellor of England, and done into English by\nSir Arthur Gorges Knt.\" After narrating the story, he expounds it as\nfollows:--\"This Fable contains in it no less Wisdom than Elegancy, and\nit seems to point at Science, especially that which is joyn'd with\nPractice, for Science may not absurdly be call'd a Monster, as being\nby the ignorant and rude Multitude always held in Admiration. It is\ndiverse in Shape and Figure by reason of the infinite Variety of\nSubjects wherein it is conversant. A Maiden Face and Voice is\nattributed unto it for its gracious Countenance and Volubility of\nTongue. Wings are added, because Sciences and their Inventions do pass\nand fly from one to another, as it were in a Moment, seeing that the\nCommunication of Science is as the kindling of one Light at another.\nElegantly also it is feigned to have sharp and hooked Talons, because\nthe Axioms and Arguments of Science do fasten so upon the Mind, and so\nstrongly apprehend and hold it, as that it stir not nor evade, which\nis noted also by the Divine Philosopher--The Words of the Wise are as\nGoads and Nails driven far in.\n\nMoreover, all Science seems to be placed in steep and high Mountains,\nas being thought to be a lofty and high thing, looking down upon\nIgnorance with a scornful Eye. It may be observed and seen also a\ngreat Way, and far in compass, as things set on the Tops of Mountains.\n\nFurthermore, Science may well be feigned to beset the High-way,\nbecause which way soever we turn in this Progress and Pilgrimage of\nHuman Life we meet with some Matter or Occasion offered for\nContemplation. Sphynx is said to have received from the Muses divers\ndifficult Questions and Riddles, and to propound them unto Men, which\nremaining with the Muses are free (it may be) from savage Cruelty;\nfor, so long as there is no other end of Study and Meditation than to\nknow, the Understanding is not racked and imprisoned, but enjoys\nFreedom and Liberty, and even Doubts and Variety find a kind of\nPleasure and Delectation. But when once these Enigmas are delivered by\nthe Muses to Sphynx, that is, to Practice, so that it be sollicited\nand urged by Action and Election and Determination, then they begin to\nbe troublesome and raging, and unless they be resolved and expedited\nthey do wonderfully torment and vex the Minds of Men, distracting, and\nin a manner rending them into sundry Parts.\n\nMoreover, there is always a twofold Condition propounded with Sphynx\nher Enigmas. To him that doth not expound them, distraction of Mind,\nand to him that doth, a Kingdom, for he that knows that which he\nsought to know hath attain'd the end he aim'd at, and every Artificer\nalso commands over his Work.\n\nMoreover it is added in the Fable, that the Body of Sphynx, when she\nwas overcome, was laid upon an Ass, which indeed is an elegant\nFiction, seeing there is nothing so acute and abstruse but, being well\nunderstood and divulged, may be well apprehended by a slow Capacity.\nNeither is it to be omitted that Sphynx was overcome by a Man lame in\nhis Feet; for when Men are too swift of Foot and too speedy of Pace in\nhasting to Sphynx, her Enigmas, it comes to pass that, she getting the\nupper Hand, their Wits and Minds are rather distracted by Disputations\nthan that ever they come to command by Works and Effects.\"\n\n\nI.\n\nThe spaces in the frieze of the Parthenon, known architectively as the\nmetopes, were filled with sculptures illustrating the struggle between\nthe Lapith\u00e6 and the Centaurs. Thirty-nine of these slabs remain in\ntheir original position in the temple, while seventeen are in the\nBritish Museum and one in the Louvre. In their beauty and bold design\nthey are some of the grandest monuments of Greek art. Other very fine\nexamples may be seen in the fragments in our national collection from\nthe frieze of the temple of Apollo Epicurius, near Phigalia, and the\nTheseum at Athens. There are also two very fine single statues of\ncentaurs in the Capitoline Museum.\n\n\nJ.\n\nCentaury is so called from an old myth that Chiron, the centaur, cured\nhimself from a wound given by a poisoned arrow by using some plant\nthat Pliny, therefore, calls _Centaurium_; but whether it was this\nplant, or a knapweed, or any plant at all, or whether there even\never was a centaur named Chiron, or a centaur named anything else, are\npoints we must be content to leave. Linn\u00e6us called the plant the\n_Chironia_; its modern generic name merely signifies red, as most of\nthe flowers in the genus have blossoms of some tint of red; but in the\nspecific name _Centaurium_ we recognise that the old myth still finds\ncommemoration. In some parts of England the rustics corrupt centaury\ninto sanctuary, and the Germans call it the _tausend-gulden-kraut_.\nThis strange name is built upon another corruption, some of the old\nwriters having twisted _Centaurea_ into _Centum aurei_, and the\nGermans have lavishly multiplied by ten the hundred golden coins. The\ncentaury is said to be a good and cheap substitute for the medicinal\ngentian, and, as a hair-dye, was for a long time held in repute for\nthe production of a rich golden yellow tint.\n\n    \"My floure is sweet in smell, bitter my iuyce in taste,\n    Which purge choler, and helps liuer, that else would waste.\"\n\nThe centaury still figures largely in rustic medicine and in the\nprescriptions of the herbalists; we have seen the country agents of\nthese latter with armfuls of centaury as large as they could carry.\nInto all its accredited virtues in medi\u00e6val times we need not here go;\nin fact, if our readers will make out at random a list of some twenty\nof the ills of suffering mortality, and boldly assert that such ills\nneed not exist at all in a world that also produces centaury, they\nwill be sufficiently near the mark for practical purposes.\n\n\nK.\n\nA good illustration of this may be seen in Brathwait's book, published\nin 1621, and entitled \"Nature's Embassie, or the Wilde-Man's Measures\ndanced by twelve Satyres,\" the dance itself being very quaintly\nrepresented on the curious old woodcut title.\n\n\nL.\n\nAn old author whose voluminous works on natural history are very\ninteresting and curious, and richly illustrated with engravings at\nleast as quaint in character as the text. The \"Historia Monstrorum,\"\nwas published in folio at Bologna in 1642, and is full of the most\nextraordinary animal forms. His various works range in date from 1602\nto 1668, and are, with one exception--Venice--published either at\nBologna or Frankfort. All are very curious, and will well repay our\nreaders if they can get an opportunity of seeing them.\n\nAnother book of very similar character is Boiastuau's \"Histoires\nProdigeuses,\" published in Paris in 1561, a strange assemblage of\ncurious and monstrous figures.\n\n\nM.\n\nBacon, in his \"Wisdom of the Ancients,\" writes as follows:--\"The Fable\nof the Syrens seems rightly to have been apply'd to the pernicious\nAllurements of Pleasure, but in a very vulgar and gross manner. And\ntherefore to me it seems that the Wisdom of the Ancients have with a\nfarther reach or insight strained deeper Matter out of them, not\nunlike the Grapes ill press'd; from which though some Liquor were\ndrawn, yet the best was left behind. This Fable hath relation to Men's\nManners, and contains in it a manifest and most excellent Parable. For\nPleasures do for the most proceed out of the Abundance and Superfluity\nof all things, and also out of the Delights and jovial Contentments of\nthe Mind; the which are wont suddenly as it were with winged\nInticements to ravish and rap Mortal Men: But Learning and Education\nbrings it so to pass as that it restrains and bridles Man's Mind,\nmaking it so to consider the Ends and Events of Things as that it\nclips the Wings of Pleasure. These Syrens are said to dwell in remote\nIsles: for that Pleasures love Privacy and retired places, shunning\nalways too much Company of People. The Syren's Songs are so commonly\nunderstood, together with the Deceits and Danger of them, as that they\nneed no Exposition. But that of the Bones appearing like white Cliffs,\nand descry'd afar off, hath more Acuteness in it; for thereby it is\nsignify'd that, albeit the Examples of Afflictions be manifest and\neminent, yet do they not sufficiently deter us from the wicked\nEnticements of Pleasures.\n\nAs for the Remainder of this Parable, tho' it be not over mystical,\nyet it is very grave and excellent: For in it we set out three\nRemedies for this violent enticing Mischief: to wit, Two from\nPhilosophy, and One from Religion. The first Means to shun these\ninordinate Pleasures is to withstand and resist them in their\nBeginnings and seriously to Shun all Occasions to entice the Mind,\nwhich is signified in that stopping of the Ears; and that Remedy is\nproperly used by the meaner and baser sort of People, as it were\nUlysses Followers or Mariners; whereas more heroick and noble Spirits\nmay boldly converse even in the midst of these seducing Pleasures, if\nwith a resolved Constancy they stand upon their Guard and fortify\ntheir Minds; and so take greater Contentment in the Trial and\nExperience of this their approved Virtue, learning rather thoroughly\nto understand the Follies and Vanities of those Pleasures by\nContemplation, than by Submission. Which Solomon avouched of himself\nwhen he reckoned up the Multitude of those Solaces and Pleasures\nwherein he swam, doth conclude with this sentence--Wisdom also\ncontinued with me. Therefore these Heroes, and Spirits of this\nexcellent Temper, even in the midst of these enticing Pleasures, can\nshew themselves constant and invincible and are able to support their\nown virtuous Inclination against all heady and forcible Perswasions\nwhatsoever; as by the Example of Ulysses, that so peremptorily\ninterdicted all pestilent Counsel as the most dangerous and pernitious\nPoysons to captivate the Mind: But of all other Remedies in this Case\nthat of Orpheus is most predominant: For they that chaunt and resound\nthe Praise of the Gods confound and dissipate the Voices and\nIncantations of the Syrens, for Divine Meditations do not only in\nPower subdue all sensual Pleasures, but also far exceed them in\nSwiftness and Delight.\"\n\n\nN.\n\n\"A Scorneful Image or Monstrous Shape of a Marvellous Strange Fygure\ncalled Sileni Alcibiadis presentyng ye state and condio of this\npresent world, and inespeciale of the Spirituallte how farre they be\nfrom ye perfite trade and life of Criste, wryte in the later tonge by\nthat famous Clerke Erasmus and lately translated into Englyshe.\" A\nrare old black-letter book.\n\n\nO.\n\n    \"All those airy shapes you now behold\n    Were human bodies once, and clothed with earthly mould;\n    Our souls, not yet prepared for upper light,\n    Till doom's-day wander in the shades of night.\"\n        --Dryden, _The Flower and the Leaf_.\n\n\nP.\n\nBefore finally dismissing the Fairies we would just refer our readers\nto a very curious book amongst the Lansdowne MSS. (No. 231) in the\nBritish Museum. It was written by John Aubrey, in the year 1686, and\nis entitled \"Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme.\" The title, however,\nis no guide whatever to the character of the book, which seems to be\nmerely a note-book for the writing down, without any apparent system\nor order, of any curious matters that came before him. Scattered\nthroughout these notes are various references to the Fairies; and\nthough they naturally, to a certain extent, repeat what we have\nalready written, they are perhaps sufficiently interesting to quote,\nas they were the popular notions current at the time. We can only give\nthem in the disjointed way in which we find them, as they are mixed up\nwith all kinds of other matter.\n\n\"Not far from Sr Bennet Hoskyns there was a labouring man that rose up\nearly every day to goe to worke; who for a good while many dayes\ntogether found a ninepence in the way that he went. His wife\nwondering how he came by so much money was afraid he gott it not\nhonestlye; at last he told her, and afterwards he never found any\nmore.\"\n\n\"They were wont to please the Fairies, that they might doe them no\nshrewd turnes, by sweeping clean the Hearth and setting by it a dish\nof fair water half sad breade, whereon was sett a messe of milke sopt\nwith white bread. And on the morrow they would find a groat of which\nif they did speak of it they never had any again. Mrs H. of Hereford\nhad as many groates or 3ds this way as made a little silver cup or\nbowle of (I thinke) 3lbs value, wh her daughter preserves still.\"\n\n\"In the vestry at Frensham, on the N. side of the chancel, is an\nextraordinary great kettle or caldron, which the inhabitants say, by\ntradition, was brought hither by the fairies, time out of mind, from\nBorough hill, about a mile from hence. To this place, if any one went\nto borrow a yoke of oxen, money, &c., he might have it for a year or\nlonger, so he kept his word to return it. There is a cave, where some\nhave fancied to hear musick. On this Borough hill is a great stone\nlying along, of the length of about six feet: they went to this stone\nand knocked at it, and declared what they would borrow and when they\nwould pay, and a voice would answer when they should come, and that\nthey should find what they desired to borrow at that stone. This\ncaldron, with the trivet, was borrowed here after the manner\naforesaid, but not returned according to promise, and though the\ncaldron was afterwards carried to the stone it could not be received,\nand ever since that time no borrowing there. The people saw a great\nfire one night not long since, the next day they went to see if any\nheath was burnt there, but found nothing.\"\n\n\"Some were led away by the Fairies, as was a third riding upon\nHackpen with corn led a dance to ye Devises. So was a shepherd of Mr\nBrown of Winterburn-Basset, but never any afterwards enjoy themselves.\nHe sayd that ye ground opened, and he was brought into strange places\nunderground, where they used musicall Instruments, Viols and Lutes,\nsuch (he sayd) as Mr Thomas did play on.\"\n\n\"Virgil speakes somewhere (I think in ye Georgiques) of Voyces heard\nlouder than a Man's. Mr Lancelot Morehouse did averre to me that he\ndid once heare such a loud laugh on the other side of a hedge, and was\nsure that no Human voice could afford such a laugh.\"\n\n\"In Germany old women tell stories received from their Ancestors that\na Water-monster, called the Nickard, doth enter by night the chamber,\nand stealeth when they are all sleeping the new-born child, and\nsupposeth another in its place, which child growing up is like a\nmonster and commonly dumb. The remedy whereof that the Mother may get\nher own child again--the mother taketh the Suppositium and whipps it\nso long with the rod till the sayd Monster, the Nickard, bringes the\nMother's own child again, and takes to him the Suppositium, which they\ncall Wexel balg.\"\n\nIn another curious old book on our shelves, the \"Philosophical\nGrammar\" of Benjamin Martin, published in 1753, we find another\nallusion to the belief in Fairies. The book is written in the question\nand answer style once so popular, and after a long dissertation on the\nAnimal Kingdom, we come at last to the question, \"Pray before we leave\nthis survey of the Animal Creation let me ask your opinion of\nGriffins, the Phoenix, Dragons, Satyrs, Syrens, Unicorns, Mermaids\nand Fairies. Do you think there really are any such things in\nNature?\" The answer is so far to the point, and so interesting in\nitself as showing the state of mind on the whole subject, that we give\nit in all its fulness.\n\n\"The _Phoenix_ is mentioned by _Pliny_, and other Antients, more\ncredulous than skilful; but has long since been rejected as a vulgar\nError. The _Griffin_ and _Harpy_ have had a Place given them in Modern\nHistories of Nature, but not without great Reproach and Ridicule to\nthe Authors. _Satyrs_, _Syrens_, and _Fairies_, are all Poetical\nFictions. The _Scripture_ makes mention of the _Dragon_ and the\n_Unicorn_, and most _Naturalists_ have affirmed that there have been\nsuch Creatures, and given Descriptions of them; but the Sight of these\nCreatures or credible Relations of them, having been so very rare, has\noccasioned many to believe there never were any such Animals in\nNature; at least it has made the History of them very doubtful. As to\n_Mer-men_ and _Mer-maids_, there certainly are such Creatures in the\nSea as have some distant Resemblance of some Parts of the Human Shape,\nMien, and Members; but not so perfectly like them, 'tis very probable,\nas has been represented. In all such ambiguous Pieces of History 'tis\nbetter not to be positive, and sometimes to suspend our Belief, rather\nthan credulously embrace every current Report, or vulgar Assertion\nwhich may perhaps expose us to Ridicule.\n\nIt makes but little for the Credit of the Histories of _Dragons_,\n_Unicorns_, _Mer-maids_, &c., that their names are not to be found in\nthe Transactions of our celebrated Royal Society, who, 'tis well\nknown, derive their Intelligence at the best Hand from almost all\nParts of the World. At least, I can find no mention of any such\nCreatures in the seven Volumes of Abridgments by _Lowthorp, Eames, and\nJones_.\n\n2. The _Histoire Naturelle de l'Universe_ gives an Account of several\nPersons who have described the _Unicorn_; and particularly Father\n_Lobos_, in his Voyage to the _Abyssine Empire_, says, that this\nAnimal is of the Shape and Size of a fine-made and well-proportion'd\nHorse, of a bay Colour with a black Tail and Extremities; he adds,\nthat the Unicorns of _Tuacua_ have very short Tails; and those of\n_Ninina_ (a Canton in the same Province) have theirs very long, and\ntheir Manes hanging over their Heads. _Vol._ IV. _Page_ 3.\n\n3. _Du Mont_ says, he saw the Head of a Dragon which was set up over\nthe _Water-Gate_ in the City of _Rhodes_; this Dragon was 33 Feet\nlong, and wasted all the Country round, 'till it was slain by _Deodate\nde Gozon_, a Knight of _St. John_. He says, the _Head_ was like that\nof an Hog, but much larger; its _Ears_ were like a Mule's, but cut\noff; the _Teeth_ were extraordinary sharp and long; the _Throat_ wide;\nits _Eyes_ hollow, and burning like two Coals. It had two little Wings\non its Back; its _Legs_ and _Tail_ like those of a Lizard, but strong,\nand arm'd with sharp and venomous Talons. His Body was cover'd with\nScales which was Proof against Arms. See the Manner of his being\nkill'd in the _Atlas Geographicus_, Vol. III. Page 43, 44.\n\n4. _Ludolphus_, in his _Ethiophic_ History, tells us, that in the\n_Abyssine Empire_, there are voracious scaly Dragons of the largest\nSize, tho' not venomous or hurtful otherwise than by the Bite, and\nthey look like the Bark of an old Tree. _Atlas Geographicus_, Vol. IV.\nPage 614.\n\n5. The _Stories_ of _Mer-maids_, _Satyrs_, &c. had undoubtedly their\nOriginal from such Animals as have in some Respects a Likeness to the\n_human Shape_ and _Features_. Among these the _Monkey_ Kind, the\n_Orang-Outang_, and the _Quoja Morron_ are the chief on Land; and the\nFish call'd the _Mermaid_ (tho' it has nothing of the _Human Form_)\nand some other unusual Animals in the Sea.\"\n\n\nQ.\n\nWhere several sons are contemporaneous, and all have the right to bear\nthe paternal arms, they are thus distinguished--the eldest son adds to\nthem what is known as a label; the second, a crescent; the third, a\nfive-pointed star; the fourth, a martlet; the fifth, an annulet; the\nsixth, a fleur-de-lys; the seventh, a rose; and so on. A very good and\neasily accessible example of this \"differencing\" of the arms may be\nseen in those borne by the Prince of Wales, the silver label\nstretching across the top of the shield, blazoned in all other\nrespects like those of the Queen, marking the relationship.\n\n\nR.\n\nBruce tells us, for instance, that the horned viper, or Cerastes, the\n\"worm of Nile\" that was the cause of the death of Cleopatra, has a way\nof creeping until it is alongside its victim, and then making a sudden\nsidelong spring at the object of its attack. In his book he narrates a\ncurious instance that came under his notice at Cairo, where several of\nthese reptiles had been placed in a box. \"I saw one crawl up the side,\nand there lie still, as if hiding himself, till one of the people who\nbrought them to us came near him and though in a very disadvantageous\nposition, sticking as it were perpendicularly to the side of the box,\nhe leaped near the distance of three feet, and fastened between the\nman's forefinger and thumb.\"\n\n\nS.\n\nAmongst the things displayed in the case are portions of a wreath from\nthe coffin of Rameses II. (1100-1200 B.C.), composed of sepals and\npetals of _Nymph\u00e6a c\u00e6rulea_ on strips of leaves of the date-palm, and\nanother wreath made from the _N. Lotus_.\n\nAnother wreath is from the coffin of Aahmes I. (1700 B.C.), composed\nof leaves of willow and flowers of the _Acacia Nilotica_.\n\nThere are also two garlands from the tomb of the Princess Nzi Khonsou\n(1000 B.C.), composed in the one case of willow leaves and the flower\nheads of the _Centaur\u00e6a depressa_, and in the other of the _Papaver\nRh\u00e6as_, the common scarlet poppy so familiar to every one who has ever\nseen an English cornfield or railway embankment in summer.\n\nThere are, in addition, leaves of the wild celery and of the olive and\nvine, all quite clearly distinguishable.\n\nThe ancient Egyptians were exceedingly fond of flowers, and even made\nrare plants a portion of the tribute exacted from dependent or\nconquered territories. One old writer tells us that \"those flowers,\nwhich elsewhere were only sparingly produced, even in their proper\nseason, grew profusely in Egypt at all times, so that neither roses,\nnor any others, were wanting there, even in the middle of winter.\"\nTheir living rooms were always adorned with bouquets or growing\nplants, and the stands that served for holding them have been found in\nthe tombs. On the arrival of guests at a banquet servants came forward\nwith garlands of flowers and placed them round their necks, a custom\nwe may see graphically depicted in the mural painting in the tombs,\nwhile a single lotus flower was often placed in the hair.\n\n\nT.\n\nThe Bay enters very largely into the various extraordinary\ncompounds--astrological, medicinal, and the like--of the ancients.\nThus--to quote but one instance out of many that might be\ngiven--Albertus Magnus, in his treatise \"De Virtutibus Herbarum,\"\ntells us that if any one gathers some bay leaves and wraps them up\nwith the tooth of a wolf, no one can speak an angry word to the\nbearer; while, put under the pillow at night, it will bring in a\nvision before the eyes of a man who has been robbed, the thief and all\nhis belongings. He further goes on to tell us that if set up in a\nplace of worship, none who have broken any contract or agreement will\nbe able to quit the place till this most potent combination be\nremoved. \"This last is tried and most true.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nINDEX.\n\n    \"So essential did I consider an Index to be to every book, that I\n    proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament to deprive an author, who\n    publishes a book without an Index, of the privilege of copyright,\n    and, moreover, to subject him to a pecuniary penalty.\"\n        --Campbell's _Lives of the Chief-Justices of England_.\n\n\n    Aahmes I., chaplets from coffin of, 233\n\n    \"Absalom and Achitophel,\" Dryden, 126\n\n    \"Abyssinia, Life in,\" Parkyns, 14\n\n    Achemedis, herb, 199\n\n    Acipenser, 158\n\n    Acosta, \"Natvrall and Morall Historie,\" 219\n\n    Adam, earliest botanist, 181\n\n    Adder, wilfully deaf, 67, 148\n\n    Addison's \"Milton Imitated,\" 99\n\n    Adelaide of Louvain, 218\n\n    Adissechen, the thousand-headed, 146\n\n    Adolf Dux, article by, 197\n\n    \u00c6lian on aspis, 147; on basilisk, 49;\n      on lion and ram-headed fish, 160;\n      on unicorn, 9\n\n    \u00c6neas Sylvius on barnacle tree, 174\n\n    \u00c6tius on basilisk, 49;\n      on dryinus, 49\n\n    \"Africa, History of,\" Leo, 30\n\n    Agnus Dei, as a badge, 74\n\n    Alaus Magnus on kraken, 150\n\n    Albertus Magnus, \"De Virtutibus Herbarum,\" 234;\n      dragon, 28;\n      on pigmies, 125\n\n    Alchemists and phoenix, 54\n\n    Aldrovandus, \"Monstrorum Historia,\" 31, 79, 87, 161\n\n    Alimos plant, 197\n\n    Amaranth, 177\n\n    Amazons, 95\n\n    Ambrosia, 183\n\n    Amphisbena, 148\n\n    Anacramseros plant, 199\n\n    Andromeda and Perseus, 19\n\n    Annulet as mark of cadency, 232\n\n    Anthropophagi, 94\n\n    Antipathy between dragon and elephant, 42;\n      between serpent and stag, 15\n\n    Antony and Cleopatra, 91, 188\n\n    Apples of Hesperides, 40;\n      of Istkahar, 196;\n      of perpetual youth, 196\n\n    Apollo Epicurius, temple of, 222\n\n    Apuleius, \"The Golden Ass,\" 184\n\n    Arabia, home of the phoenix, 50\n\n    \"Arabian Nights,\" 7, 40, 69, 132, 140, 196\n\n    Archaic pottery, British Museum, 85\n\n    Ardoynus on basilisk, 49\n\n    Arian _v._ Athanasian, 209\n\n    Arimaspian gold, 69\n\n    Arimaspians, 98\n\n    Arion and the dolphins, 158\n\n    Ariosto's \"Orlando Furioso,\" 50, 70\n\n    Aristotle on chameleon, 77;\n      on pigmies, 125\n\n    Arms of City of London, 70;\n      of Prince of Wales, 234;\n      of William de Valence, 134\n\n    Arrowheads or Celts, 108\n\n    \"Art of Love,\" King's, 49\n\n    Asbestos, 61\n\n    Asphodel, 180\n\n    Aspis, 147\n\n    Assembly of Beaux Esprits, Paris, 10\n\n    Ass, Indian, of Ctesias, 7\n\n    \"As you Like it,\" 54\n\n    \"Atlas Geographicus,\" 231\n\n    Aubrey's \"Gentilisme and Judaisme,\" 31, 227\n\n    Augustine, St., on the manipulation of facts, 216;\n      on monsters, 41\n\n    Avebury stones, 58\n\n    Avicen on basilisk, 49\n\n\n    Bacon on the sphinx legend, 83;\n      \"Wisdom of the Ancients,\" 220, 224\n\n    Badge of Jane Seymour, 53\n\n    Balam, the ox, 159\n\n    Ballad of dragon of Wantley, 33;\n      of St. George and dragon, 211\n\n    \"Bara Bathra,\" 151\n\n    Basil, herb, 200\n\n    Basilisk, king of serpents, 48, 91\n\n    Barliata, 175\n\n    Barnacle goose-tree, 168\n\n    Bartolomeo, standard of, 6\n\n    Basking shark, 146\n\n    Bay tree, 234\n\n    Beaumont and Fletcher's \"Woman Hater,\" 48\n\n    Beaux Esprits, assembly of, 10\n\n    Behemoth legend, 152\n\n    Ben Jonson on remora, 159\n\n    \"Bestiare Divin\" of Guillaume, 43\n\n    Bestiary of De Thaun, 67, 147, 218\n\n    Bewick's books, 2\n\n    Bible Herbal of Newton, 183\n\n    Bible references to adder, 67;\n      amaranth, 178;\n      cockatrice, 46;\n      dragon, 19;\n      giants, 129;\n      leviathan, 152;\n      mandrake, 193;\n      unicorn, 4\n\n    Bird of paradise, 135\n\n    Blemmyes, headless men, 97\n\n    Boar, 15, 49\n\n    Boiastuau, \"Histoires Prodigeuses,\" 224\n\n    \"Boke of Husbandry,\" Fitzherbert, 204\n\n    Bolyai, tomb of, 197\n\n    Bones preserved in churches, 59\n\n    Borghese centaur, 85\n\n    Borrowing from the fairies, 228\n\n    Boussetti on monsters, 161\n\n    Brathwait's \"Nature's Embassie,\" 224\n\n    Breydenbach's Travels, 62\n\n    Briar\u00e6us, 94, 99\n\n    Bristol, great bone at, 59\n\n    \"Britannia,\" Camden, 217\n\n    \"Britannica Concha Anatifera,\" 175\n\n    British Museum, centaur, 85, 222;\n      Lansdowne MSS., 31;\n      Scythian lamb, 71\n\n    Brobdingnag, men of, 99\n\n    Browne's \"Pseudodoxia Epidemica,\" 199;\n      \"Vulgar Errors,\" 31, 69, 190\n\n    Brownie, 119\n\n    Bruce on the horned viper, 232\n\n    Bruynswyke's Herbal, 182\n\n    Bryony roots carved into human form, 190\n\n    Bucca, 121\n\n    Buckland's \"Curiosities of Natural History,\" 60\n\n    Buffalo, 12\n\n    Burton's \"Miracles of Art and Nature,\" 4, 71, 93, 153, 194\n\n    Bury Palliser's \"Historic Badges,\" 6\n\n    Bushmen, the modern pigmies, 127\n\n    Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,157, 196;\n      on nautilus, 155\n\n\n    Cadency in heraldry, 232\n\n    Cader Idris, the giant's seat, 131\n\n    Cadwallader, ensign of, 33\n\n    Caerleon, great bone at, 59\n\n    Camden's \"Britannia,\" 217\n\n    \"Canterbury Tales,\" 104\n\n    Capitoline Museum sculptures, 222\n\n    Cassandra's gift, 163\n\n    Catacombs of Rome, 5\n\n    Cathay and the vegetable lamb, 71\n\n    Catoblepas of Pliny, 49\n\n    Caxton and the \"Legenda Aurea,\" 22\n\n    Cedric the Victorious, 33\n\n    Celtic pen-dragon, 33\n\n    Celts or arrow-heads, 108\n\n    Centaur, 84\n\n    Centaury, 85, 222\n\n    Cerastes or horned viper, 232\n\n    Cetus of De Thaun, 151\n\n    \"Ceylon,\" Tennant, 127\n\n    Chameleon, 76, 91\n\n    Changeful colours of dolphin, 157\n\n    Changelings, 110\n\n    Chang, the Chinese giant, 130\n\n    Chaplets in Egyptian tombs, 178\n\n    Charles II., dedication to, 47\n\n    Chaucer on Sir Guy of Warwick, 56\n\n    Chesterfield, great bone at, 59\n\n    \"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,\" Byron, 157, 196\n\n    Chilon, 160\n\n    Chim\u00e6ra, 84, 149\n\n    China, the dragon symbol, 27\n\n    Chiron the Centaur, 222\n\n    \"Chronicles,\" Holingshead, 113\n\n    City of London, arms of, 70\n\n    Clawed men of Surinam, 97\n\n    Clement of Alexandria, 177\n\n    Clusius, \"Rariorum Plantarum Historia,\" 181\n\n    Coats, the heraldic chim\u00e6ra, 84\n\n    Coca leaf, 195\n\n    Cockatrice, 44\n\n    Cockeram's \"English Dictionary,\" 198\n\n    Coinage, the unicorn, 6\n\n    Colebrand the champion, 55\n\n    Coleridge on giants, 132\n\n    \"Comedy of Errors,\" 90, 91\n\n    Comptes Royaux of France, 6\n\n    \"Comus,\" Milton, 119\n\n    \"Coriolanus,\" 40\n\n    \"Corona Dedicatoria\" of Sylvester, 53\n\n    \"Cosmography\" of Munster, 173\n\n    Cotter, the Irish giant, 130\n\n    Cottonian MSS., 218\n\n    Coventry, great bone at, 58\n\n    Crane and pigmy combats, 125\n\n    Crescent as a mark of cadency, 232\n\n    Crest of Earl Douglas, 64\n\n    Crocodile, reference in Job, 154\n\n    Ctesias on griffin, 68;\n      Indian ass, 7;\n      on pigmies, 126\n\n    Cupid and Psyche, 184\n\n    \"Curiosities of Natural History,\" Buckland, 60\n\n    Cuttle fish, 150\n\n    Cwm Pwcca, Brecon, 122\n\n    Cyclops, 82, 94, 98\n\n    \"Cymbeline,\" 39, 54\n\n    Cyoeraeth, 121\n\n\n    Dacien and St. George, 25\n\n    Danby, picture by, 184\n\n    Dart, 44\n\n    Darwin on vampyre bat, 76\n\n    Davy Jones's locker, 161\n\n    Dead as a door nail, 124\n\n    Dead Sea apples, 196\n\n    Deaf adder, 67, 148\n\n    De Bry's \"India Orientalis,\" 185\n\n    Decker on the unicorn, 6\n\n    \"Decline and Fall of Roman Empire,\" 22, 209\n\n    De Ferry and sea-serpent, 144\n\n    Democritus on chameleon, 78\n\n    \"Description Historique de Maca\u00e7ar,\" 186\n\n    \"Description of 300 Animals,\" 2, 44\n\n    De Thaun, 8, 67, 136, 147, 151, 191, 218\n\n    Device of Francis I., 61;\n      of Henry VII., 33\n\n    Devil fish, 150\n\n    Devil's candle, 193\n\n    \"De Virtutibus Herbarum,\" 234\n\n    Diamond softening, 199\n\n    Dies, 160\n\n    Diocletian the persecutor, 25\n\n    Dioscorides on basilisk, 49\n\n    Discourses of Virtuosi of France, 10\n\n    \"Discoverie of Witchcraft,\" 103\n\n    \"Display of Heraldry,\" Guillim, 7\n\n    Dodoens, Herbal of, 182\n\n    Dog-headed men, 93, 96\n\n    Dolphin, 156\n\n    Donatus, St., dragon-slayer, 20\n\n    Dragon, 2, 16, 133, 192, 211, 229\n\n    Dragonhill, Berkshire, 33\n\n    Dragonnades, 39\n\n    Dragon overthrown, knighthood of, 27\n\n    Druids and fairies, 102\n\n    Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, 126;\n      on basilisk, 48;\n      \"Flower and the Leaf,\" 227;\n      translation from Ovid, 52\n\n    Dryinus of \u00c6tius, 49\n\n    Dudaim, 193\n\n    Dugdale on Guy of Warwick, 55\n\n    Dugong and Manatee, 91\n\n    Du Mont and the dragon of Rhodes, 231\n\n    Dun cow legend, 55\n\n\n    Eagle gazing on the sun, 133\n\n    Eagney or Meto, 197\n\n    Earl Douglas, crest of, 64\n\n    Eastern Soudan and Uganda, 7\n\n    Echeneis or Remora, 158\n\n    Echidna, 40, 88\n\n    Eden's \"Historie of Travayle,\" 94\n\n    Egede and the sea-serpent, 144\n\n    Egg-talisman, 147\n\n    Egyptian form of sphinx, 82;\n      love of flowers, 235\n\n    Egyptian representations of giraffe, 63\n\n    Eikon Basilike, 202\n\n    El Dorado and Sir W. Raleigh, 95\n\n    Elephant, 15, 79;\n      antipathy between dragon and, 42\n\n    Elf-bolts, 109\n\n    Elizabeth, Queen, badge of, 53\n\n    El Kazwini, Arab writer, 7\n\n    \"Elysium,\" Felicia Hemans', 177\n\n    Empusa, 14\n\n    Enchanter's nightshade, 193\n\n    \"English Cyclop\u00e6dia of Natural History,\" 7\n\n    \"English Dictionary\" of Cockeram, 198\n\n    \"English Parnassus\" of Poole, 103, 120\n\n    Enmity between stag and serpent, 15\n\n    Epitaph on Gryphius, 70\n\n    Erasmus on headless men, 97;\n      Sileni Alcibiadis, 228\n\n    Ethiopia, unicorns in, 4\n\n    Exodus, reference to unicorn in, 5\n\n\n    \"Faculties of Nourishment,\" Galen, 180\n\n    Fairies, 99, 227\n\n    Fairy rings, 104\n\n    Falstaff, on fairies, 110;\n      the salamander, 64\n\n    Fanesii of Scandinavia, 98\n\n    Father Pigafetta on dragons, 30\n\n    Fauns and satyrs, 86\n\n    Featley's recantation, 31\n\n    Felicia Hemans' \"Elysium,\" 177\n\n    Ferrer de Valcebro on the Barliata, 175\n\n    Ferry, Laurent de, on sea-serpent, 144\n\n    _Field_, extract from, 65\n\n    Field of the cloth of gold, 61\n\n    Fire-drake, 147\n\n    \"Fire-worshippers,\" Moore, 193\n\n    Fish nun, 159\n\n    Fitzherbert's \"Boke of Husbandry,\" 204\n\n    Fletcher's \"Purple Island,\" 51\n\n    Fleur-de-lys as mark of cadency, 232\n\n    \"Flower and the Leaf,\" Dryden, 227\n\n    Foersch on upas tree, 185\n\n    Forty-leaved plant, 197\n\n    Four-footed serpents, 71\n\n    Francisci Boussetti on sea-monsters, 161\n\n    Friar's lantern, 123\n\n    Fuller's \"Holy State,\" 132\n\n\n    Galen on aspis, 147;\n      on basilisk, 49;\n      \"Faculties of Nourishment,\" 180\n\n    Garcias ab Horto, on unicorn, 9\n\n    Gargoyles of draconic form, 28\n\n    Ge and Tartaros, rebellion of, 131\n\n    Gelasius, Pope, and St. George, 210\n\n    Gelotaphilois, herb, 199\n\n    Generation of the cockatrice, 44\n\n    \"Gentilisme and Judaisme\" of Aubrey, 31\n\n    \"Gentleman's Magazine,\" extract from, 117\n\n    Geography of Strabo, 125\n\n    George, St., and dragon, 23, 31, 209-211\n\n    \"Gerania\" of Joshua Barnes, 127\n\n    Gerarde, \"History of Plants,\" 168, 180;\n      asphodel, 180;\n      barnacle goose-tree, 168;\n      mandrake, 189\n\n    Gervaise, \"Description de Maca\u00e7ar,\" 186\n\n    Gervase, on fairies, 102\n\n    Ghoul, 75\n\n    Giant Colebrand, 55\n\n    Giants, 128\n\n    Giants' Causeway, 130\n\n    Gibbon's \"Decline and Fall of Roman Empire,\" 22, 209\n\n    Gillius the compassionate, 156\n\n    Giraffe or seraffa, 63\n\n    Giraldus Cambrensis on barnacle trees, 175\n\n    Glanvil, on griffin, 68;\n      on salamander, 60\n\n    Gnomes, 119\n\n    Godes-andsacan, 20\n\n    \"Golden Ass\" of Apuleius, 184\n\n    Golden fruit of the Hesperides, 40\n\n    Graham's \"Sketches of Perthshire,\" 121\n\n    Greek form of sphinx, 82\n\n    Greene on the apples of the Hesperides, 40\n\n    Green, Matthew, \"The Spleen,\" 132\n\n    Grevinus on basilisk, 49\n\n    Griffin, 2, 68, 229\n\n    Groats from Fairyland, 109, 120, 228\n\n    Gryphius, device of, 70\n\n    Guerino, Meschino, 98\n\n    Guild processions in Middle Ages, 86\n\n    Guiana, Hartsinck on, 97;\n      Sir W. Raleigh on, 95\n\n    Guillaume, \"Bestiare Divin,\" 43\n\n    Guillim, \"Display of Heraldry,\" 7, 41, 46, 88, 134\n\n    \"Gulliver's Travels,\" 132\n\n    Guy of Warwick and the Dun Cow, 55, 217\n\n\n    Hackluyt's \"Voyages,\" 97, 219\n\n    Halliwell on anthropophagi, 94\n\n    Hameh-bird, 140\n\n    \"Hamlet,\" satyr, 86\n\n    \"Handmayd to Religion,\" 31\n\n    Harpy, 48, 86, 230\n\n    Harrington and the sea-serpent, 142\n\n    Hartsinck on Guiana, 97\n\n    Headless men, 94\n\n    Hemans, Felicia, poem by, 177\n\n    Heraldic bird-forms, 134;\n      dolphin, 156\n\n    \"Herball to the Bible\" of Newton, 189\n\n    Herbert's \"Jacula Prudentum,\" 132;\n      \"Relations of some yeares Travaile,\" 186\n\n    Herb Viva, 198\n\n    Hercules and the pigmies, 126\n\n    \"Henry IV.,\" 74, 112, 123\n\n    \"Henry VI.,\" 54, 91\n\n    \"Henry VIII.,\" 54, 56, 147\n\n    Heraldic cockatrice, 46;\n      dolphin, 156;\n      griffin, 70;\n      Pegasus, 73;\n      phoenix, 53;\n      unicorn, 4\n\n    \"Heraldry, display of,\" by Guillim, 7, 41, 46\n\n    Herodotus, griffin, 69;\n      phoenix, 50, 52;\n      pigmies, 125\n\n    Hesiod, chim\u00e6ra, 84;\n      harpy, 87\n\n    Hesperides, garden of the, 40\n\n    Heylin on St. George, 31\n\n    Hilary, St., dragon-slayer, 20\n\n    Hindu sacred groves, 177\n\n    Hippeau on Guillaume, 44, 216\n\n    Hippice, 199\n\n    \"Histoire Naturelle,\" 231\n\n    \"Histoires Prodigeuses,\" Boiastuau, 224\n\n    \"Historia Monstrorum,\" 31, 79, 87, 161, 224\n\n    \"Historic Badges,\" Palliser, 6\n\n    \"Historie of Travayle\" of Eden, 94\n\n    \"History of Africa,\" John Leo, 30\n\n    \"History of Ethiopia,\" Ludolphus, 231\n\n    \"History of Plants,\" 168, 180\n\n    Hog-faced gentlewoman, 92\n\n    Holingshead's \"Chronicles,\" 113\n\n    Holland's edition of Pliny, 155\n\n    Hollerius, 201\n\n    Hollybush, Miles Coverdale, 183\n\n    \"Holy State,\" Fuller, 132\n\n    \"Holyday devotions,\" 31\n\n    Home of the pigmies, 126\n\n    Homer, ambrosia, 183;\n      asphodel, 180;\n      centaur, 85;\n      harpy, 87;\n      \"Iliad,\" 125, 184;\n      \"Odyssey,\" 177\n\n    Hondius and Sir W. Raleigh, 95\n\n    \"Honour, Titles of,\" Selden, 32\n\n    Hoole's \"Orlando Furioso,\" 50\n\n    Horned viper or cerastes, 232\n\n    Hudibras, quotation from, 168\n\n    \"Humana Physiognomonia,\" of Porta, 93\n\n    Humma-bird, 136\n\n    Huppe-bird, 136\n\n    Hydra, 149\n\n\n    Ibis, 137\n\n    Idolatrous groves, 177\n\n    Ignis fatuus, 122\n\n    Iliad, 125, 184\n\n    Indian ass, 7;\n      serpent legend, 163\n\n    \"India Orientals,\" of De Bry, 185\n\n    Invisibility of fairies, 103\n\n    Iormungandur the encircler, 146\n\n    Isaiah, reference to cockatrice, 46\n\n    Isidore on onocentaur, 85\n\n\n    Jack-o'-Lantern, 122\n\n    Jack the Giant-killer, 128\n\n    \"Jacula Prudentum,\" by Herbert, 132\n\n    Jane Seymour, badge of, 53\n\n    Java and its upas trees, 184\n\n    Jeremiah, cockatrice, 46;\n      dragon, 41\n\n    \"Jerusalem Delivered,\" Tasso, 99\n\n    Jewish tradition, 152, 159\n\n    Job, leviathan, 152;\n      unicorn, 5\n\n    Jodocus Hondius, 95\n\n    John Leo, \"History of Africa,\" 30\n\n    John of Arragon, salamander device of, 61\n\n    Johnson on Gerarde, 172\n\n    Joshua Barnes, the \"Gerania,\" 127\n\n    Juvenal, pigmy combats, 125\n\n\n    Kadmos, founding of Thebes, 38\n\n    Kalli Naga, 20\n\n    Kalpa Tarou tree, 176\n\n    Kelpies, 102, 121\n\n    Kerzereh flowers, 188\n\n    Kew, lotus chaplets at, 179, 233;\n      upas tree at, 185\n\n    Keymis on Guiana, 96\n\n    \"King Henry IV.,\" 74, 112, 123, 190\n\n    \"King Henry VI.,\" 54, 91, 190\n\n    \"King Henry VIII.,\" 54, 56\n\n    \"King Lear,\" 39\n\n    \"King Richard III.,\" 40, 45\n\n    \"King's Art of Love,\" 49\n\n    Knockers, 117\n\n    Kobold, 119\n\n    Koempfer on upas tree, 186\n\n    Koran, the fish nun, 159;\n      the lote tree, 176;\n      the ox Balam, 159\n\n    Kraken, 149\n\n    Kuchlein's illustrations, 98\n\n    Kyonjik sculptures, 177\n\n\n    Label as a mark of cadency, 232\n\n    Ladon and the Hesperides, 40\n\n    \"Lalla Rookh,\" 107, 135\n\n    \"L'Allegro\" of Milton, 120, 123\n\n    Lamia, 13\n\n    Lane's \"Arabian Nights,\" 7, 40, 69\n\n    Languedoc and its dragon, 21\n\n    Lansdowne MSS. in British Museum, 31, 227\n\n    Lapith\u00e6 and Centaurs, 222\n\n    Laurence Keymis on Guiana, 96\n\n    Laurent de Ferry and sea-serpent, 144\n\n    \"Legenda Aurea\" of Voraigne, 22\n\n    Legends of the Talmud, 152, 159\n\n    Leo, \"History of Africa,\" 30\n\n    Leviathan, 152, 159\n\n    \"Life in Abyssinia,\" Parkyns, 14\n\n    Lig-draca, 20\n\n    Lilliput, men of, 99, 126\n\n    Lion, 3\n\n    Lion-headed fish, 160\n\n    \"Lives of the Saints,\" 22\n\n    Livre des Cr\u00e9atures, De Thaun, 218\n\n    Lobel and Pena's book, 175\n\n    Lobos, Father, and the unicorn, 231\n\n    Lomie, 71\n\n    London, arms of City of, 70\n\n    Long-eared men or Fanesii, 98\n\n    Lote tree of Koran, 176\n\n    Lotophagia, 177\n\n    Loup-garou or wehr-wolf, 75\n\n    Loup, St., dragon-slayer, 20\n\n    Louvre, Borghese centaur, 85, 222\n\n    Lucian on asphodel, 180\n\n    Ludolphus, \"History of Ethiopia,\" 231\n\n    Lurlei of the Rhine, 90\n\n    Lyte and Dodoens, herbal of, 182\n\n\n    Mab, the fairy queen, 103, 120\n\n    \"Maca\u00e7ar; Description Historique du Royaume de,\" 186\n\n    \"Macbeth,\" 39\n\n    Magrath, the giant, 130\n\n    Maid of Orleans and the mandrake, 189\n\n    Mallwyd, great bone at, 59\n\n    Manatees and Dugongs, 91\n\n    Mandeville on griffin, 68;\n      headless men, 97;\n      pigmies, 196;\n      vegetable lamb, 71\n\n    Mandrake, 188\n\n    Man-eater and Rompo, 12\n\n    Mansfield Parkyns' \"Life in Abyssinia,\" 14\n\n    Manticora, 13\n\n    Maori traditions, 127\n\n    Marcel, St., dragon-slayer, 21\n\n    Marco Polo's travels, 219\n\n    Marks of abatement and augmentation, 88;\n      of cadency, 134\n\n    Martha, St., dragon-slayer, 21\n\n    Martial, St., dragon-slayer, 21\n\n    Martin, St., dragon-slayer, 20\n\n    Martin's \"Philosophical Grammar,\" 229\n\n    Martlet, 134, 232\n\n    Mary Stuart, badge of, 204\n\n    Matthew Green, \"The Spleen,\" 132\n\n    Matthiolus, herbal of, 181\n\n    McQuahee and the sea-serpent, 143, 145\n\n    \"Measure for Measure,\" 131\n\n    Medi\u00e6val dragon recipes, 29;\n      festivals, 98\n\n    \"Merchant of Venice,\" 196\n\n    Mermaid, 90, 160, 231\n\n    Metamorphoses, 202\n\n    Meto or Eagney, 197\n\n    Metopes of Parthenon, 222\n\n    Michovius on griffin-land, 69\n\n    \"Midsummer Night's Dream,\" 39, 90, 120\n\n    Miles Coverdale, Hollybush, 183\n\n    Milton, amaranth, 178;\n      Arimaspians, 98;\n      chim\u00e6ra, 84;\n      gorgon, 84;\n      griffin, 69;\n      harpy, 87;\n      hydra, 84;\n      \"L'Allegro,\" 120, 123;\n      \"Paradise Lost,\" 98, 123, 178;\n      Will o' the wisp, 123\n\n    \"Milton imitated,\" Addison, 99\n\n    Mimosa sensitiva, 198\n\n    Minotaur, 48\n\n    \"Miracles of Art and Nature,\" Burton, 4, 71, 93, 153, 194\n\n    Monacella, St., bone of, 59\n\n    Money, fairy, 109, 120, 227, 228\n\n    \"Monstrorum Historia\" of Aldrovandus, 31, 79, 87, 161, 224\n\n    Monuments of Egypt, 63\n\n    Moore, \"Fire worshippers,\" 193;\n      Kerzereh flower, 188;\n      \"Lalla Rookh,\" 107, 135;\n      \"Paradise and the Peri,\" 54, 136;\n      \"Veiled Prophet of Khorassan,\" 188\n\n    More Hall of Wantley, 34\n\n    Mountain fish, 149\n\n    Mouse, 16\n\n    \"Much Ado about Nothing,\" 87\n\n    Munster's \"Cosmography,\" 173\n\n    Murphy the Irish giant, 130\n\n    Musical tastes of the dolphin, 158\n\n\n    Narcissus, possibly the asphodel, 180\n\n    National Library, Paris, 44\n\n    \"Natural History of Norway,\" Pontoppidan, 145\n\n    \"Nature's Embassie,\" Brathwait, 223\n\n    \"Natvrall and Morall Historie\" of Acosta, 219\n\n    Naud the pen-dragon, 33\n\n    Nautilus, 155\n\n    Nech of Scandinavia, 121\n\n    Nectar of the gods, 183\n\n    Newton's \"Bible Herbal,\" 183, 189\n\n    Newts spitting fire, 64\n\n    Nicander on the aspis, 147\n\n    Nickard, 229\n\n    \"Night Thoughts,\" Young, 126\n\n    Nineveh and Persepolis, sculptures at, 19\n\n    Ninina, unicorns of, 231\n\n    Nis, 119\n\n    Nixies, 102\n\n    Nova Hispania, flora of, 197\n\n    Nun, the fish, 159\n\n    \"Nuremburg Chronicle,\" 97\n\n    Nymphs, 119\n\n    Nzi Khonsou, the princess, 233\n\n\n    Oats, fairy, 100\n\n    Oberon, 103\n\n    Octavianus the reliable, 175\n\n    Octopus, 150\n\n    Odysseus, the Lotophagi, 177;\n      the Sirens, 89\n\n    Og, the king of Bashan, 129\n\n    Ojibiway legend of the serpent, 163\n\n    Olaus Magnus and the sea-serpent, 143\n\n    Onocentaur, 85\n\n    Ophyasta, herb, 199\n\n    Oppian, pigmy combats, 125\n\n    Order of the dragon, 22;\n      of the dragon overthrown, 27\n\n    Oribasius on the basil, 201\n\n    Origin of fairies, 101\n\n    \"Orlando Furioso,\" of Ariosto, 50, 70\n\n    Orpheus and the Sirens, 89\n\n    \"Ortus sanitatis,\" 219\n\n    Osiris the judge, 178\n\n    \"Othello,\" 189\n\n    Ovid on ambrosia, 183;\n      phoenix, 52\n\n    Owen, Professor, on sea-serpents, 145\n\n    Ox Balam, the, 159\n\n    Ox, wild, 15\n\n    Oyle of castor, 153\n\n\n    Palliser's \"Historic Badges,\" 6\n\n    Palm-tree emblem, 194, 202\n\n    Pan, 124\n\n    Paracelsus on the phoenix, 54\n\n    \"Paradise Lost,\" Milton, 98, 123\n\n    \"Paradise and the Peri,\" Moore, 54, 136\n\n    Parker on poisonous trees, 187\n\n    Parkinson's \"Theater of Plants,\" 172, 180, 190\n\n    Parkyns' \"Life in Abyssinia,\" 14\n\n    Parthenon sculptures, 85, 222\n\n    Paulus Venetus on unicorn, 9\n\n    Peccata Natur\u00e6, 42\n\n    Pedal sunshades, 98\n\n    Pegasus, 73\n\n    Pelican legend, 133\n\n    Pelion on Ossa, 131\n\n    Pen-dragon, 33\n\n    Pennant Melangell, great bone at, 59\n\n    Percy's \"Reliques of Antient English Poetry,\" 34, 56, 211\n\n    \"Peregrine Pickle\" of Smollett, 162\n\n    \"Pericles,\" 40, 87\n\n    Persepolis, sculptures at, 19\n\n    Perseus and Andromeda legend, 19\n\n    \"Perthshire, Sketches of,\" 121\n\n    Pheg of the Tsi-hiai, 152\n\n    Philip de Thaun, 8, 67, 191\n\n    Philostratus on the pigmies, 125\n\n    \"Philosophical Grammar,\" Martin, 229\n\n    Phoca, Pooka, or Pwcca, 121, 133\n\n    Phoenix, 50, 134, 217, 229\n\n    Phoenix-tree, 217\n\n    Pigafetta on dragons, 30\n\n    Pigmies, 124\n\n    Pink centaury, 85\n\n    Pliny on basilisk, 48;\n      bay-tree, 201;\n      chameleon, 78;\n      dolphin, 156;\n      dragon, 29, 42;\n      Echeneis, 158;\n      Fanesii, 98;\n      giant, 130;\n      kraken, 149;\n      nautilus, 155;\n      phoenix, 51;\n      pigmies, 125;\n      salamander, 60;\n      serpent's eggs, 147;\n      sphinx, 82;\n      stag, 15;\n      unicorn, 9;\n      wolf, 11\n\n    Plutarch's giant, 130\n\n    Poison-detecting cups, 4, 6, 7\n\n    Poison of salamander, 62\n\n    Polonius and the whale, 152\n\n    Polyphemus, the foe of Ulysses, 99\n\n    Pomum Adami, 196\n\n    Pontoppidan, Kraken, 150;\n      \"Natural History of Norway,\" 145\n\n    Poole's \"English Parnassus,\" 103\n\n    Pope, nautilus, 155;\n      \"Rape of the Lock,\" 119\n\n    Pope Pius II. on barnacle trees, 175\n\n    Porpoises as sea-serpents, 144\n\n    Porta's \"Humana Physiognomonia,\" 93\n\n    Potto, 16\n\n    Prester John, 126\n\n    Prince of Wales, arms of, 232\n\n    Prior on the chameleon, 77\n\n    \"Proper study of mankind is man,\" 81\n\n    Psalms, reference to adder, 67;\n      leviathan, 154;\n      unicorn, 5\n\n    \"Pseudodoxia Epidemica,\" 199\n\n    Puck, 102\n\n    Purchas Pilgrimage, 219\n\n    \"Purple Island\" of Fletcher, 51\n\n    Python, 20\n\n\n    Queen Elizabeth, badge of, 53\n\n    Queen Mab, 103, 120\n\n    Quentin Durward, Scott, 12\n\n\n    Raleigh, Sir W., voyage to Guiana, 95\n\n    Rameses II., 179, 233\n\n    Ram-headed fish, 160\n\n    \"Rape of the Lock,\" 119;\n      of Lucrece, 70\n\n    \"Rariorum Plantarum Historia\" of Clusius, 181\n\n    Red-dragon ensign, 33\n\n    Red lion, 3\n\n    Reginald Scot on witchcraft, 103\n\n    Regulus, 46\n\n    \"Relations of some yeares Travaile,\" 186\n\n    \"Reliques of Antient English Poetry,\" 34, 56, 211\n\n    \"Reminiscences,\" Taylor, 145\n\n    Remora, 158\n\n    Resurrection, phoenix type of, 50\n\n    Rhinoceros horn cups, 7\n\n    Rhodes, dragon of, 231\n\n    Ribbon fish, 145\n\n    Richardson on phoenix, 54\n\n    Riddle of the sphinx, 83\n\n    Robin Goodfellow, 102, 119\n\n    Roc, 69, 137\n\n    Romanus, St., dragon-slayer, 20\n\n    \"Romeo and Juliet,\" 40, 45, 190\n\n    Rompo or man-eater, 12\n\n    Rondelet's sea-monsters, 161\n\n    Rose as mark of cadency, 232\n\n    Royal arms, supporters of, 6\n\n    Royal Society, Proceedings of, 10, 71, 230\n\n    Rustic beliefs as to newts, &c., 64\n\n\n    Sacred trees, 177\n\n    Sagittarius, 85\n\n    Saint George and the dragon, 23, 211\n\n    Saint Mary Redcliff, large bone at, 59\n\n    Saints as dragon-slayers, 20, 21\n\n    Salamander, 60\n\n    Sanguis hupp\u00e6, 137\n\n    Satyrs, 86, 229\n\n    Saxo Grammaticus on barnacle tree, 174\n\n    Saxon martyrology, 32\n\n    Scaliger on basilisk, 49\n\n    Scoresby's \"Voyages,\" 92\n\n    Scot, Reginald, on witchcraft, 103\n\n    Scotland and the unicorn, 6\n\n    Scott, elf-possession, 113;\n      friar's lantern, 123;\n      wolf, 12\n\n    Sketches of Nineveh and Persepolis, 19, 128\n\n    Scythian lamb, 71\n\n    Sea bishop, 161;\n      elephant, 72, 145;\n      hare, 200;\n      horse, 72;\n      lion, 160;\n      monk, 161;\n      serpent, 48, 141\n\n    Selden's \"Titles of Honour,\" 32\n\n    Sensitive plant, 198\n\n    Seraffa of Breydenbach, 63\n\n    Serpent worship, 141, 163\n\n    Shakespeare, basilisk, 48;\n      cockatrice, 45;\n      dragon, 39;\n      fire-drake, 147;\n      griffin, 70;\n      harpy, 87;\n      mandrake, 188;\n      Pegasus, 73;\n      phoenix, 53, 218;\n      pigmies, 126;\n      will-o'-the-wisp, 123;\n      unicorn, 217\n\n    Sigonius on basilisk, 49\n\n    Sileni Alcibiadis, 226\n\n    Sindbad the Sailor, 69, 138\n\n    Siren, 14, 89, 224, 229\n\n    Sirena, 18\n\n    Sirenia, 92\n\n    Sir Walter Raleigh and Guiana, 95\n\n    \"Sketches of Perthshire,\" 121\n\n    Skimker, Mistress, 92\n\n    Sloane Library, 218\n\n    Smollett's \"Peregrine Pickle,\" 162\n\n    Solinus on basilisk, 49\n\n    Sourd story from the _Field_, 65\n\n    South Kensington Museum, 184\n\n    Sowing of dragon's teeth, 38\n\n    Spenser's \"Visions of the World's Vanity,\" 159\n\n    Sphinx, 82, 220\n\n    Spirits of the mine, 117\n\n    \"Spleen,\" Matthew Green, 132\n\n    Squier's \"Serpent Worship,\" 163\n\n    Stag, 14\n\n    Standard of Bartolomeo d'Alviano, 6\n\n    Staple Hill stone ring, 58\n\n    Star as mark of cadency, 232\n\n    Stephen, arms of King, 85\n\n    \"Stirpium Adversaria Nova,\" 175\n\n    Strabo on pigmies, 125\n\n    Stronsay, sea monster at, 146\n\n    Struy's Voyages, 219\n\n    Stuttgard anthropophagi, 98\n\n    Suchenwirt on battle-cries, 32\n\n    Supporters of the Royal Arms, 4, 6\n\n    Surinam, clawed men of, 97\n\n    Sylene and its dragon, 22\n\n    Sylphs, 119\n\n    Sylvester's \"Corona Dedicatoria,\" 53\n\n    Symbol, dragon as a, 28;\n      stag as a, 15\n\n    Symbolism of phoenix, 50, 55\n\n\n    Tacitus, Dead Sea apples, 196;\n      phoenix, 55\n\n    Tailed men, 93\n\n    Talmud, legends of the, 152, 159\n\n    \"Taming of the Shrew,\" 73\n\n    Tartarian lamb, 71\n\n    Tartaros and Ge, rebellion of, 131\n\n    Tasso's \"Jerusalem Delivered,\" 99\n\n    Tausend-gulden-kraut, 224\n\n    Tavernier on birds of paradise, 135\n\n    Taylor's \"Reminiscences,\" 145\n\n    \"Tempest,\" fairy-rings, 108;\n      harpy, 87;\n      phoenix, 218;\n      unicorn, 218\n\n    Templars, device of the, 74\n\n    Tennant's \"Ceylon,\" 127\n\n    Tertullian on phoenix, 50\n\n    \"Theater of Plants,\" Parkinson, 172, 190\n\n    \"Theatrum Botanicum,\" 180\n\n    Thebes, founding of, by Kadmos, 38\n\n    Theocritus, on wolf, 11\n\n    Theseum at Athens, 224\n\n    Thevet on unicorn, 9\n\n    \"Three hundred animals,\" 2, 44\n\n    Throne of Tippoo Sultan, 136\n\n    \"Titles of Honour,\" Selden, 32\n\n    \"Toilers of the Sea,\" Victor Hugo, 150\n\n    Tomb of Bolyai, 197\n\n    Travellers' tales, 195, 216\n\n    \"Travels,\" Breydenbach, 62\n\n    Tree of Life, 176\n\n    Tree of the Imagination, 176\n\n    Trichrug, the giant's chair, 130\n\n    Tritons, 90\n\n    \"Troilus and Cressida,\" 39\n\n    Tsi-hiai and the pheg, 152\n\n    Tuacua, unicorns of, 231\n\n    Turner, barnacle geese, 175;\n      herbal, 182\n\n    \"Twelfth Night,\" 45\n\n    Typhon, 20\n\n\n    \"Uganda and the Eastern Soudan,\" 7\n\n    Ulysses and Polyphemus, 99\n\n    Umdhlebi tree, 187\n\n    Unicorn, 3, 62, 217, 229\n\n    Upas tree, 184\n\n    Upton on the harpy, 88\n\n\n    Vampyre, 14, 74\n\n    Vartomannus on unicorn, 9\n\n    Vatican Library, 218\n\n    Vegetable lamb, 71\n\n    \"Veiled Prophet of Khorassan,\" 188\n\n    Venetus, Paulus, on unicorn, 9\n\n    Veran, St., dragon-slayer, 20\n\n    \"Vertuose Boke of Distyllacyon,\" of Bruynswyke, 182\n\n    Victor Hugo, \"Toilers of the Sea,\" 150\n\n    Victor, St., dragon-slayer, 20\n\n    Virgil, centaur, 84;\n      evil eye, 47;\n      harpy, 88;\n      wolf, 11\n\n    Virtuosi, discoveries of, 10\n\n    Vishnu, 20\n\n    \"Visions of the World's Vanity,\" Spenser, 159\n\n    Viva, herb, 198\n\n    Voraigne's \"Legenda Aurea,\" 22\n\n    \"Voyages,\" Hackluyt, 97;\n      Raleigh, 95;\n      Scoresby, 92;\n      Struy, 219\n\n    Vulcan and the Cyclops, 99\n\n    \"Vulgar Errors,\" Sir Thomas Browne, 31, 69\n\n\n    Wantley, dragon of, 33\n\n    \"Warwickshire\" of Dugdale, 55\n\n    Water fairies, 102\n\n    Waterton on vampyre bat, 76\n\n    Weasel and cockatrice combat, 45\n\n    Wehr-wolf or loup-garou, 75\n\n    Wexel balg, 229\n\n    Whale bones in churches, 60\n\n    White Horse Hill, Berkshire, 33\n\n    Wild boar, 15;\n      ox, 15\n\n    William de Valence, arms of, 134\n\n    Will o' the wisp, 122\n\n    Winged serpent, 19\n\n    \"Wisdom of the Ancients,\" Bacon, 219, 224\n\n    Witches, 103\n\n    Wolf, 11, 30\n\n    \"Woman Hater,\" Beaumont and Fletcher, 48\n\n    Wright on De Thaun, 218\n\n    Wynkyn de Worde, 22\n\n\n    Xanthus, monument from, 87\n\n\n    Ylio of De Thaun, 68\n\n    Young's \"Night Thoughts,\" 126\n\n\n    Zeus, ambrosial locks of, 184;\n      rebellion against, 131\n\n    Zodiac, the Sagittarius, 85\n\n    Zululand, poisonous trees in, 187\n\n\n  PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.\n          EDINBURGH AND LONDON.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nArchaic and variant spelling is preserved as printed.\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been repaired.\n\nHyphenation has been made consistent in the main body of the text, but\nis preserved as printed in quoted matter.\n\nPage 132 includes the phrase \"... but enough has been quoted to show\nhow valuable these personages have in poesy and general literature.\"\nIt seems that there is a word missing following 'have,' but as there\nis no way to determine with certainty what that word should be, it is\npreserved as printed.\n\nThe following amendments have been made on the assumption that the\noriginals were typographic errors:\n\n    Page 9--Solimus amended to Solinus--... Pliny, \u00c6lian,\n    Solinus, and Paulus ...\n\n    Page 14--Laim\u00e6 amended to Lami\u00e6--The Lami\u00e6, who took the\n    forms ...\n\n    Page 42--aminals amended to animals--... had not happened in\n    the creation of animals ...\n\n    Page 62--frigidty amended to frigidity--The story of the\n    extreme frigidity ...\n\n    Page 98--Julias amended to Julius--... the counterfeit\n    presentments of Julius C\u00e6sar, ...\n\n    Page 103--mischeivous amended to mischievous--... was the\n    sweet but mischievous Mab ...\n\n    Page 110--changlings amended to changelings--The references\n    in that play to changelings ...\n\n    Page 122--powerfull amended to powerful--... we find the\n    following powerful illustrative passage, ...\n\n    Page 126--Liliputians amended to Lilliputians--... as the\n    Lilliputians did Gulliver.\n\n    Page 149--Chimera amended to Chim\u00e6ra--... as to call the\n    Chim\u00e6ra and Hydra fables, ...\n\n    Page 150--sufficienly amended to sufficiently--... when the\n    heat became sufficiently great to awaken ...\n\n    Page 171--adoining amended to adjoining--... and all those\n    parts adjoining do so ...\n\n    Page 182--my amended to me (confirmed against title page of\n    original publication)--At London by me Gerard Dewes, ...\n\nOn page 238, the index entries following Hercules and up to Herodotus\nare out of order. There are also two entries for Heraldic. This has\nall been preserved as printed.\n\nEntries in the Table of Contents, List of Illustrations and Index have\nbeen made consistent with the main body text as follows:\n\n    Page vii--Dragonades amended to Dragonnades--... The\n    Dragonnades ...\n\n    Page ix--Gerard's amended to Gerarde's--... from Gerarde's\n    \"Herbal,\" ...\n\n    Page 1--Dragonades amended to Dragonnades--... The\n    Dragonnades ...\n\n    Page 235--Achmedis amended to Achemedis--Achemedis, herb, 199\n\n    Page 235--Achipenser amended to Acipenser--Acipenser, 158\n\n    Page 236--Bousetti amended to Boussetti--Boussetti on\n    monsters, 161\n\n    Page 236--Brittannica amended to Britannica--\"Britannica\n    Concha Anatifera,\", 175\n\n    Page 237--Cocatrice amended to Cockatrice--Cockatrice, 44\n\n    Page 237--Royeaux amended to Royaux--Comptes Royaux of\n    France, 6\n\n    Page 238--index entries adjusted so that first mention of\n    Gervase becomes Gervaise.\n\n    Page 238--omitted page number added to entry for Heraldic\n    dolphin--Heraldic ... dolphin, 156; griffin, ...\n\n    Page 238--Prudentium amended to Prudentum--Herbert's \"Jacula\n    Prudentum,\" 132; ...\n\n    Page 239--Pallisir amended to Palliser--\"Historic Badges,\"\n    Palliser, 6\n\n    Page 239--Joducus amended to Jodocus--Jodocus Hondius, 95\n\n    Page 240--Nixes amended to Nixies--Nixies, 102\n\n    Page 240--Nuremberg amended to Nuremburg--\"Nuremburg\n    Chronicle,\" 97\n\n    Page 242--Rondolet's amended to Rondelet's--Rondelet's\n    sea-monsters, 161\n\n    Page 242--Sinbad amended to Sindbad--Sindbad the Sailor, 69,\n    138","title":"Myth-Land","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":73277}