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diff --git a/77830-0.txt b/77830-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d91ccc --- /dev/null +++ b/77830-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10081 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77830 *** + + + + +NATURAL HISTORY LORE AND LEGEND + + + + + NATURAL HISTORY + LORE AND LEGEND + + BEING SOME FEW EXAMPLES OF QUAINT AND BY-GONE BELIEFS + GATHERED IN FROM DIVERS AUTHORITIES, ANCIENT AND + MEDIÆVAL, OF VARYING DEGREES OF RELIABILITY + + BY + F. EDWARD HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A. + AUTHOR OF + “WAYSIDE SKETCHES,” “SUGGESTIONS IN FLORAL DESIGN,” “FAMILIAR + WILD FLOWERS,” AND DIVERS OTHER BOOKS THAT NEED NOT + HERE BE SET FORTH + + “As some delighte moste to beholde + Eche newe devyse and guyse, + So some in workes of fathers olde + Their studies exercise.” + + _“Historicall Expostulation” of John Halle, + Chyrurgeon_, A.D 1565 + + BERNARD QUARITCH + 15 PICCADILLY, LONDON + 1895 + + LONDON: + G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, FLORAL STREET, + COVENT GARDEN. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGES + + CHAPTER I. + + Mediæval naturalists honest searchers after truth—Sir + Emerson Tennant thereupon—Recent discoveries confirm many + statements once contested—“Travellers’ tales”—Mediæval natural + history largely based upon ancient—Difference of aim between + modern and ancient and mediæval nature-study—The moral + treatment—Illustrations from the “Speculum Mundi”—Falsification + of natural facts justified by the ecclesiastics—Ready credulity + a mediæval characteristic—Two examples thereof—The love of the + marvellous—Astrological influences—The mental equipment of a + mediæval surgeon—Quaint book titles—The unchanging East—Suttee, + Juggernaut, &c. in the pages of mediæval writers—The “Mirabilia + descripta” of Bishop Jordanus—The “Voiage and Travaile” of + Maundevile—The coca plant—Burton’s “Miracles of Art and + Nature,”—The “Historia Mundi” of Pliny—English editions + of it—Herodotus—The writings of Aristotle—The sources of + information in the Middle Ages—The praise of books—Books of + travel—Munster’s “Cosmography”—The interest and beauty of + old title-pages—Elephants in lieu of towns in the old maps—A + tale of a tub—Herbert’s “Some Yeares Travels into Africa and + Asia the Great”—The travels of Marco Polo—Geography of Peter + Heylyn—Raleigh’s, Hakluyt’s, Purchas’, Struys’, Acosta’s books + of travels—Medical books—Potter’s “Booke of Physicke”—Cogan’s + “Haven of Health”—Indifference to animal suffering—“Bestiare + Divin” of Guillaume—The “Bestiary” of Philip de Thaun—The + Armories of Guillim, Legh, and Bossewell 1-53 + + CHAPTER II. + + The pygmies—Ancient and modern writers thereon—Conflicts + with the cranes—Counterfeits—Modern travel, confirming + the statements of the ancient geographers—Pygmy races now + existing—The “Monstrorum Historia” of Aldrovandus—Crane-headed + men—Men with tails—The Gorilloi—The dog-headed people—The + canine king—The many-eyed men—The giants of Dondum—The + snake-eaters—The Ipotayne—Mermaids—Syren myth—Storm-raisers—The + mermaids of artists and poets—Shakespeare thereupon—As + heraldic device—The mermaids of voyagers—The seal and walrus + theory—Mermaids in captivity—Mermaids as food—Counterfeit + mermaids—Mermaid in Chancery—The “Pseudodoxia Epidemica” of + Browne—Oannes or Dagon—Mermaids and Matrimony—Lycanthropy—The + “Metamorphoses” of Ovid—The fate of Lykaon—Nine years of + wolfdom—Wehr-wolves—Mewing nuns—Olaus Magnus—The doctrine of + metempsychosis—Influence of enchantment—The dragon maiden—The + power of a kiss—Witchcraft—Scot and Glanvil, for and against + it—The good old times 54-114 + + CHAPTER III. + + The lion, king of beasts—Unbelievers in him—Aldrovandus on the + lion—The lion of the heralds—The “Blazon of Gentrie”—Guillim + as an authority—The lion’s medicine—The lion’s antipathies—Why + some lions are maneless—De Thaun’s symbolic lion—Lion’s cubs + born dead—The theory of Creation held during the Middle + Ages—Degenerate lions of Barbary—The Leontophonos—Hostility + between lion and unicorn—Literary references to the + unicorn—Martin’s “Philosophical Grammar”—How to capture + the unicorn—The value of the horn—The elephant—The capture + thereof—Feud between elephant and dragon—Use of elephant + in war—Performing elephants—Moon-worshippers—Knowledge + of the value of their tusks—The first elephant + seen in England—Sagacity of the elephant—Kindliness + to lost travellers—Ethiopian huntresses—Difference + between the creations of Fancy and of Nature—Elephants + cold-blooded—Hippopotamus prescribing himself blood-letting—The + river-horse of Munster—The panther—Powers of fascination—Beauty + of coat—Fragrance—Red panthers of Cathay—Aromatic spices + as diet—Antipathies between various animals—Antipathetic + medicines—Porta’s “Natural Magick”—The hyæna—Counterfeiting + human speech—The wolf—Producing speechlessness—The dragon’s + parentage—Enmity between wolf and sheep—Value of wolf-skin + garments—The stag-wolf—The bear—Licking cubs into shape—Bees + and honey—The hare—Cruelty of many mediæval remedies—The + hedgehog—The deer—Stories with morals—The boar—Swine-stone—The + ermine—The goat—The malevolent shrew-mouse—The horse—Why + oxen should drink before horses—The donkey—The sparrow’s + aversion—The dog—The cat—Rats and mice 115-199 + + CHAPTER IV. + + The phœnix—Various ancient and mediæval writers thereon—The + Bird of Paradise—The Museum of Tradescant—The roc—The + barnacle goose—The eagle—Its power of gazing upon the sun—Its + keenness of vision—The pelican—The swan and its death song—A + favourite idea with the poets—Hostility between the swan and + the eagle—The ostrich—Its digestive powers—How its eggs are + hatched—The cock—Antipathy between lion and cock—Cock-broth + and cock-ale for invalids—Incorporation in man of various + valued animal characteristics—The stone alectorius—Animals + haled before the judges for offence against man—The deadly + cockatrice—Cock-crow—The “Armonye of Byrdes”—The raven—How + it became black—The raven-stone—The owl—The swallow—Sight + to the blind—Oil of swallows as a remedy—The robin and the + wren—Their pious care of the dead—The nightingale—The + doctrine of signatures—Thorn-pierced breast—Philomela—The + cuckoo—His voice-restorer—The peacock—Its pride and its + shame—The kingfisher—As a weathercock—Sir Thomas Browne + thereon—Halcyone—Halcyone days—The filial stork—The cautious + cranes 200-263 + + CHAPTER V. + + Forms reptilian and piscine—The basilisk—Shakespeare and + Spenser thereupon—King of serpents—The dragon—Aldrovandus + thereon—The dragon-stone—The griffin—The scorpion—The + “Newe Jewell of Healthe”—Toads—Antipathy between toad + and spider—The toad-stone—How to procure it—The weeping + crocodile—Cockeram’s Dictionary—The treacherous seal—The + salamander—Its potent venom—Its home in fire—Prester John + and his kingdom—Pyragones—The chamæleon—Its changing + colour—Serpents from air—The gift of invisibility—The + serpent-stone—Theriaca—Viper-Broth—Antidotal herbs—The soil of + Malta—The deaf adder—The two-headed Amphisbæna—Aldrovandus on + serpents—Hairy serpents—The deadly asp—Monstrous snails—Snail + and spider remedies—Bees—Virgil on their production—Glowworm + ink—Marine forms the counterparts of those on land—The + sea-monk—The sea-bishop—The sus marinus—The brewers of + the storm—The hog-fish—The sea-elephant—The sea-horse—The + sea-unicorn—The remora—The dolphin, its special fondness for + man—Its love of music—Its changeful colouring—The acipenser—The + loving ray—The sargon—The friendship between the oyster and the + prawn—The voracious swam-fish—Leviathan—Cause of the crooked + mouth of the flounder—The healing tench—Fish medicaments—The + vain cuttle-fish—The fish that came to be eaten—Conclusion 264-339 + + INDEX 341-350 + + + + +NATURAL HISTORY + +_LORE AND LEGEND_ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Mediæval naturalists honest searchers after truth—Sir + Emerson Tennant thereupon—Recent discoveries confirm many + statements once contested—“Travellers’ tales”—Mediæval natural + history largely based upon ancient—Difference of aim between + modern and ancient and mediæval nature-study—The moral + treatment—Illustrations from the “Speculum Mundi”—Falsification + of natural facts justified by the ecclesiastics—Ready credulity + a mediæval characteristic—Two examples thereof—The love of the + marvellous—Astrological influences—The mental equipment of a + mediæval surgeon—Quaint book titles—The unchanging East—Suttee, + Juggernaut, &c. in the pages of mediæval writers—The “Mirabilia + descripta” of Bishop Jordanus—The “Voiage and Travaile” of + Maundevile—The coca plant—Burton’s “Miracles of Art and + Nature”—The “Historia Mundi” of Pliny—English editions + of it—Herodotus—The writings of Aristotle—The sources of + information in the Middle Ages—The praise of books—Books of + travel—Munster’s “Cosmography”—The interest and beauty of + old title-pages—Elephants in lieu of towns in the old maps—A + tale of a tub—Herbert’s “Some Yeares Travels into Africa and + Asia the Great”—The travels of Marco Polo—Geography of Peter + Heylyn—Raleigh’s, Hakluyt’s, Purchas’, Strays’, Acosta’s books + of travels—Medical books—Potter’s “Booke of Physicke”—Cogan’s + “Haven of Health”—Indifference to animal suffering—“Bestiare + Divin” of Guillaume—The “Bestiary” of Philip de Thaun—The + Armories of Guillim, Legh, and Bossewell. + + +In the following pages we propose to consider at some little length +the state of zoological knowledge in the Middle Ages, and in so +doing we shall, we doubt not, discover much of interest. While we +shall undoubtedly find from time to time strange errors that greater +opportunity of observation has in these latter days rectified, and +encounter many things that may provoke a smile, we must in the forefront +of our remarks very definitely assert that much of the literary work of +our ancestors in this branch of study is worthy of high commendation, +and that anything approaching scorn or sneer is entirely out of place. +Strange, indeed, would it be if the modern man of science, with all the +advantages of travel now so freely available, with the microscope, with +the great facilities for the interchange of ideas or of specimens with +kindred spirits, had not made a marked advance, but we can never look +upon the works of the greater writers of the mediæval period without the +utmost respect. The common people of that day were eagerly searching +after knowledge and the huge folios and encyclopædias that were freely +published are a monument of the diligence and painstaking zeal, of the +courage and enthusiasm of their teachers. That they made mistakes goes +without saying, but to the full extent of their light they were honest +seekers after truth. + +While the statements of these early writers have been too frequently +dismissed as fabulous and unreliable, it is only just to them to recall +the fact that some of the details that have come into reproach have after +all been found authentic. Sir Emerson Tennant in his work on Ceylon +very justly observes that “we ought not to be too hasty in casting +ridicule upon the narratives of ancient travellers. In a geographical +point of view they possess great value, and if sometimes they contain +statements which appear marvellous, the mystery is often explained away +by a more minute and careful enquiry.” The Troglodytes mentioned by +Pliny, Aristotle and Herodotus yet exist in the Bosjesmen of to-day and +still preserve many of the peculiarities and customs that those early +writers described. Du Chaillu rediscovered the gorillas that Hanno, the +ancient Carthaginian, endeavoured to capture, and Stanley encountered +the pigmy tribes that are mentioned by travellers of a thousand years +before. We accept in full faith the statements of such men as Captain +Cook and Dr. Livingstone, and we may reasonably conclude that there have +been many other and earlier travellers as scrupulously truthful. There +have, undoubtedly, been travellers who have too credulously accepted +mere hearsay in place of actual observation, and these, whether ancient, +mediæval, or modern, are responsible for the stigma that has at times +attached to “Travellers’ tales”: all that we are at present careful to +assert is that the great bulk of travellers and authors in the Middle +Ages—as in all other ages—were neither the fools nor the knaves that the +malicious or the hypercritical would sometimes fain represent them. + +We speedily find, on opening any of the books on natural history that +were issued in the Middle Ages, that such ancient writers as Pliny, +Aristotle, or Herodotus, and other venerable authorities are held in +great reverence, and that the prefatory “as Pliny saith” gives at once +dignity and authenticity to any statement advanced. Mediæval zoology is +no more independent of the gatherings of previous centuries than the +dogmas of nineteenth century Christianity are independent of the writings +of Isaiah. + +In comparing ancient or mediæval zoology with modern, we are conscious +of a difference of aim and treatment. The study of the present day +is largely devoted to the life-history of the creatures themselves, +their structure, and so forth; while in former times the writer strove +ordinarily after an entirely different aim, thinking much less of these +external facts, but dwelling upon the value of the animal to mankind in +one of two directions. While we occasionally in books of travels have the +more modern and descriptive treatment, the main bulk of the writings on +animals in mediæval days had ordinarily one of two objects: the healing +of the body, or the saving of the soul. Hence the medical writers sought +anxiously for “the vertues” that indicated their value to suffering +humanity, and the theologians sought with equal zeal to implant a moral, +and if the facts in this latter case did not lend themselves very happily +to this treatment so much the worse for the facts. + +As an illustration of this moral-pointing treatment we find in one of +these old writers that “polypus is a fish with many feet, and a rounde +head neare unto them: it is a great enemy to the lobster, and they can +often change their colour, and by that project devoure other fishes. +Their use and custom is to be lurking closely by the sides and roots of +rocks, changing themselves into the colour of the same thing unto which +they cleave: insomuch that they seem as a part of the rock; whither +when the foolish fish swim they fall into danger, for whilst they dread +nothing these polypodes suddenly prey upon them and devoure them. And +indeede this is the constancie and unfeared treacherie which is often +found in many men, who will be anything for their own ends. And nothing +without them: sparing none for their own purposes, nor loving any but +to effect them. Their heads, indeed, may well be neare their feet; for +they prize the trash we trample on farre above the joyes of heaven; else +they would never work their fond purposes by deceitfull meanes and damage +others to help themselves.” Another illustration of the same kind states +that “although the mole be blinde all her lifetime, yet she beginneth +to open her eyes in dying: whiche is a prettie embleme. This serveth +to decypher the state of a worldly man, who neither seeth heaven nor +thinketh of hell in his lifetime, untill he be dying: and then beginning +to feel that which before he either not believed or not regarded, he +looketh up and seeth. For even against his will he is then compelled to +open his eyes and acknowledge his sinnes, although before he could not +see them.” We have taken these two passages from the “Speculum Mundi, +or a Glasse representing the Face of the World, whereunto is added a +Discourse of the Creation, together with a Consideration of such things +as are pertinent to each dayes Worke.” It was written by one John Swan, +and the copy before us as we write bears date 1635.[1] It is a good +typical example of the theological treatment of natural history that was +long so much in vogue. Many parables and fables in like manner deal with +animals as so much raw material to be shaped to such moral end as the +narrator or writer pleases. + +The idea that it was permissible to sacrifice a lower truth to gain a +higher one, and to make whatever modification was needed to turn a good +moral into one still better was very frankly held, as the goodness of +the intention was considered ample justification for any aberration from +the actual facts. Thus Hippeau writes: “N’oublions pas que les pères +de l’Eglise se préoccupèrent toujours beaucoup plus de la pureté des +doctrines qu’ils avaient à développer, que de l’exactitude scientifique +des notions sur lesquelles ils les appuyaient. L’objet important pour +nous, dit Saint Augustin, àpropos de l’aigle, qui disait on brise contre +la pierre l’éxtrémité de son bec devenue trop long, est de considérer la +signification d’un fait et non d’en discuter l’authenticité.” This simple +principle runs through the whole series of “Bestiaries” published under +ecclesiastical influence, and, while it gives them a special interest of +their own, deprives them of any scientific value. + +The zoological lore of the mediæval writers was based, to some degree, +upon actual observation, but was still more often largely borrowed +from earlier writers, and was greatly influenced by various external +influences, such as astrology. It was, moreover, a very credulous age, +and men in all good faith wrote or read statements of wild improbability +or of absolute impossibility; statements, too, that could so readily +be brought to the test of experiment that one would have thought it +impossible to gain a week’s credence for them, and yet which are gravely +transferred from one book to another for centuries. Numerous examples +of such statements will necessarily crop up throughout our pages, but +we may by way of immediate illustration quote a couple. These are both +taken from a work entitled “Alberti Parvi Lucii Libellus de Mirabilibus +Naturæ Arcanis,” which was once very popular, was translated into French +and English, and held in high repute. We merely quote these instances +as we find them in the first book that comes to our hand; it would be +easy from a score of other books to give a hundred of like character. +The first of these would be invaluable to athletes if only it would bear +the test of experience. “Gather some of the herb called motherwort, when +the sun is entering the first degree of the sign of Capricorn: let it +dry a little in the shade, and make some garters of the skin of a young +hare; that is to say, having cut the skin of the hare into strips two +inches wide, double them, sew the before-mentioned herb between, and wear +them on your legs. No horse can long keep up with a man on foot who is +furnished with those garters.” There is evidently here an idea that the +speed of the hare can be somehow bestowed on the man who wears its skin, +and this notion of transfer crops up repeatedly in these old recipes. +Our next extract points to a time of some little peril, and gives +welcome means of avoiding the evils that might befall the traveller. +“Gather, on the morrow of All Saints, a strong branch of willow, of +which you will make a staff, fashioned to your liking. Hollow it out, +by removing the pith from within, after having furnished the lower end +with an iron ferrule. Put into the bottom of the staff the two eyes of a +young wolf, the tongue and heart of a dog, three green lizards, and the +hearts of two young swallows. These must all be dried in the sun between +two papers, having been first sprinkled with finely ground saltpetre. +Besides all these, put into the staff seven leaves of vervain, gathered +on the eve of St. John the Baptist, with a stone of divers colours, +which you will find in the nest of the lapwing, and stop the end of the +staff with a panel of box, or of any other material you please, and be +assured that this staff will preserve you from the perils which befall +the traveller, either from robbers, wild beasts, mad dogs, or venomous +animals. It will also procure you the goodwill of those with whom you +lodge.” The dread of mad dogs, of scorpions and other venomous creatures +seems to have been extreme in the Middle Ages, every medical book and +herbal abounding in preservatives from, and antidotes for, such perils +to the traveller. It will be noted in these and such like receipts that +no little amount of trouble was necessarily entailed in providing the +necessary ingredients, and in providing them at the special season that +increased their efficacy. The necessary items in the foregoing receipt, +a calendar to tell when the Saints’ days come round, a willow stick, a +wolf, two swallows, and a dog to be slain, lizards to be captured, paper, +saltpetre, iron ferrule and plug of box to be procured, vervain leaves +to be gathered, and lapwing’s nest to be found and ransacked, are really +few in number and easy of attainment compared to those required in many +preparations. In the famous vermifuge and antidote to all animal poisons +that was known as “Venice treacle,” there were seventy-three ingredients. +This was retained in the London Pharmacopeia up to little more than a +century ago. The fourteenth-century equivalent of the well-known legend +of the nineteenth-century chemist, “prescriptions carefully prepared,” +must have carried with it a tremendous responsibility in mediæval days. + +Another potent influence with the older writers was the delight in what +is abnormal and wonderful, and here again a ready credulity found ample +material. The love of the marvellous is deeply engraved in human nature. +We may see abundant proof of this in such classic myths as the Sirens, +in the monstrous forms carved or depicted in the temples of Egypt or +Mexico, in the popularity of such books as the Arabian Nights’ Tales, +or the adventures of Gulliver or Munchausen down to the fearful joy of +the youngsters in the nursery in the sanguinary giant whose food was the +blood of Englishmen. + + “Far away in the twilight time + Of every people, in every clime, + Dragons and griffins and monsters dire, + Born of water, or air, or fire, + Crawl and wriggle and foam with rage, + Through dark tradition and ballad age.” + +The fell harpies, the monstrous roc, the death-dealing basilisk, the +phœnix, the chimæra, the monstrous kraken, the deadly cockatrice, the +fire-drake, dragon, half-man half-fish, the vulture-headed Nisroch, the +treacherous Lorelei, sweet Queen Mab of Fairyland, fiery dragons, ghastly +wehr-wolves, mermaids, centaurs, together with the great sea-serpent, the +toad embedded for countless centuries in the rock, and other wonders that +still turn up from time to time during the dull season in the newspapers, +are but a few examples that at once occur to one’s thoughts. Ovid and +Pliny in their day went to very considerable lengths to satisfy this +love of the marvellous; in the Middle Ages writers not a few discoursed +of dog-headed men, of pigmies, of “the anthropophagi, and men whose heads +do grow beneath their shoulders,” while no country fair in this present +year of grace would be considered by its patrons at all up to date unless +it included a giant and a dwarf, together with a two-headed calf, or some +such monstrosity. + +The writings of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and other poets abound in allusions +to the folk-lore of the time. Thus in the lines— + + “When beggars die there are no comets seen, + The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes,” + +we have an interesting reference to the old belief that all things, +terrestrial or celestial, were created for the service of man and were +profitable in some way or other to him. Much of the early medical +treatment was a strange mixture of astrological, zoological and botanical +lore. Thus Chaucer tells us of his Doctour of Phisik that— + + “In al this world ne was ther non him lyk + To speke of phisik and of surgerye: + For he was grounded in astronomye.” + +Not only did he put his trust in “drugges and letuaries,” but— + + “He kepte his pacient wonderfully wel + In houres by his magik naturel. + Wel coude be fortunen the ascendent + Of his ymages for his pacient.” + +We have seen that it was a necessary condition in the preparation of +the receipt that we have given that the sun should be in a particular +position in the heavens prior to gathering one of the ingredients, +and the saturnine, jovial, martial, or mercurial qualities of various +substances employed in the healing art owed their potency to a due regard +to the starry influences. + +In a quaint old book “Imprinted in London at Flete Streate, nyghe unto +Saint Dunstones Churche,” by one Thomas Marshe, and published by him in +the year 1565, we have “goodlye Doctrine and Instruction necessarye to +be marked and folowed of all true chirurgeons, gathered and diligently +set forth by John Halle, Chyrurgeon,” under the title of “An Historicall +Expostulation against the Beastlye Abuses, both of Chyrurgerie +and Physicke in oure tyme.”[2] He sums up the requirements of the +“chyrurgeon” properly equipped for his work in the following lines— + + “Not onlye in chirurgery + Thou oughtest to be experte, + But also in astronomye + Bothe prevye and aperte. + + In naturall philosophye + Thy studye shoulde be bente: + To knowe eche herbe, shrubbe, root, and tree, + Muste be thy good intente. + + Eche beaste and foule, wyth worme and fishe, + And all that beareth lyfe: + Their vertues and their natures bothe + With thee oughte to be rife.” + +The acquisition of this varied fund of knowledge shall prove itself +enjoyable, helpful, and profitable, for— + + “Whereby of knowledge and greate skill + Thou shalt obteine the fruit: + And men to thee in generall, + For helpe shall make their sute.” + +One interesting result of searching in these old tomes is that amidst +much that the world has now outlived one often finds interesting +references that show how unchanging some customs are, and how some of the +things that we have regarded as recent discoveries were, after all, well +known centuries ago. It is somewhat startling, for instance, to see the +great African lakes—the Victoria and Albert Nyanza, and others that have +only comparatively lately been rediscovered—quite clearly marked in some +ancient maps; and the whole course of the Nile, from source to sea, as +definitely given as that of Thames or Tiber. + +We speak of the “unchanging East,” and adopt the phrase with more or +less of thoughtful acquiescence, but it is distinctly interesting in the +pages of Jordanus, for example, to find the Parsee funeral customs and +the Tower of Silence thus referred to:—“There be pagan folk in this +India who worship fire; they bury not their dead, neither do they burn +them, but cast them into the midst of a certain roofless tower, and there +expose them totally uncovered to the fowls of heaven.” He was present +also at Suttee, for he says:—“I have sometimes seen for one dead man who +was burnt, five living women take their places on the fire with their +dead, and for the love of their husbands and for eternal life burn along +with them, with as much joy as if they were going to be wedded.” + +This Jordanus was a missionary bishop in India. He was appointed to +the bishopric of Columbum by Pope John XXII., by a Bull bearing date +April 5th, 1330. There are indications that there was at that time a +considerable body of Christians at Columbum, but the locality is now +entirely unknown. Many conflicting theories have been held, and each +one demolished as hopeless by the holders of the others. His book, +entitled “Mirabilia descripta,” was written in Latin. “Like many other +old writers,” very justly observes Colonel Henry Yule, who published an +English translation of his book from which we quote, “whilst endeavouring +to speak only truth of what he had seen, Jordanus retails fables enough +from hearsay. What he did see in his travels was so marvellous to him +that he was quite ready to accept what was told him of regions more +remote from Christendom, when it seemed but in reasonable proportion more +marvellous.” Of the truth of this we shall doubtless find illustration +in subsequent references to his book. + +Maundevile in like manner in his “Voiage and Travaile” gives us another +insight into the unchangeable nature of the customs of the East. We +recognize at once the sacrifice made to Juggernaut when we read that “at +the thronynge of the Ydole all the Contree aboute meten there to gidere: +and thei setten this Ydole upon a Chare with gret reverence, wel arranged +with Clothes of gold, of riche Clothes of Tartarye and other precyous +Clothes: and thei leden him aboute the Cytee with gret solempnytee. And +before the Chare gon first in processioun alle the Maydennes of the +Contree two and two to gidere, fulle ordynately. Aftre the Maydennes gon +the Pilgrymes. And sume of hem falle down undre the Wheles of the Chare +and let the Chare gon over hem, so that thei ben dede anon. And sume hav +here Armes or here Lymes alle to broken and sume the sydes: and alle this +done thei for love of hire God, in gret Dovocioun. And he thinkethe that +the more peyne, and the more tribulacioun that thei suffren for love of +here God the more ioye thei schulle have in an other World.” We read +also of the snake charmers, of the small misshapen feet of the Chinese +ladies, the talon-like nails of their lords and masters. He tells us too +of the incubation by artificial means, “withouten Henne, Goos or Doke +or ony other Foul,” of eggs “at Cayre,” which our readers will readily +recognize as Cairo. It will no doubt be remembered by many who may scan +these pages, how large a use the French made of pigeons, when, during the +siege of Paris in the Franco-German war, they desired to communicate with +the outside world, and this is clearly no new thing under the sun, for +Maundevile tells us that “in Judæa and other Contrees beyonde thei hav a +Custom, whan thei schulle usen Werre, and whan men holden Sege abouten +Cytee or Castelle, and thei with innen dur not senden out Messagers with +Letters for to aske Sokour thei bynden here Lettres to the Nekke of a +Colver[3] and leten the Colver flee, and the Colveren ben so taughte that +thei fleen with the Lettres to the verry place that Men wolde sende hem +to.” + +As we shall from time to time have occasion to refer to Maundevile’s +book, we may, on this first mention of it, very advantageously introduce +some few details respecting it. The “Voiage and Travaile” of Sir John +Maundevile was professedly a book for the guidance of pilgrims and +travellers journeying to Jerusalem, but on the same principle that it +has been asserted that all roads lead to Rome so all seemed to have +centred in the capital of Judæa; hence his book is comprehensive enough +to include the “Marvayles of Inde,” and a very full description of China. +The book was one of the most popular works of the Middle Ages, and +passed through many editions both in England and on the continent,[4] +first in manuscript form and afterwards as a printed book. Of no book, +with the exception of the Scriptures, can more MSS. be found of the +end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century. Nineteen +manuscript copies of it, four being in Latin and nine in French, are in +the library of the British Museum, and others at Oxford, Cambridge, and +in various other libraries. In one of the copies in the British Museum, a +small vellum folio of the fourteenth century, its _raison d’être_ is thus +defined—“Here bygynneth the book of John Maundevile, Knyght of Inglelond, +that was y-bore in the toun of Seynt Albons, and travelide aboute in +the worlde in manye diverse countreis to se mervailes and customes of +countreis and diversiteis of folkys and diverse shap of men and of +beistis, and all the mervaill that he say he wrot and tellitte in this +book.” The book is made up from his personal experiences, supplemented by +gossip and hearsay, while at times he appropriated freely from the works +of other authors. Much of what he tells of China and India is markedly +similar, for instance, to the narrative of Friar Odoric, the narration +of whose travels in those lands was given to the world in the year 1331. +When Maundevile has an exceptionally improbable story to narrate he +evades personal responsibility by prefacing it with the formula, “thei +seyn.” He set out on his travels on Michaelmas day in 1322, and was +absent from England for thirty-four years, being “ravished with a mightie +desire to see the greater part of the world,” and in that lengthened +period of absence going far towards the attainment of his ideal. + +As regards the mention by various old authors of divers things that we +have a way of considering quite recent discoveries we may give as an +illustration the coca plant. This has been within the last few years +brought to the front and highly commended as a stimulant, from its +undoubted power of enabling one to sustain strength and endurance during +any exceptional bodily exertion, but on taking down Burton’s “Miracles +of Art and Nature” from our bookshelf, we find that over two hundred +years ago (our copy is dated 1678) all this was as thoroughly known as it +is to-day. After mentioning in his description of Peru, divers curious +animals, he goes on to say—“Some as deservedly account the coca for a +wonder, the leaves whereof being dried and formed into Lozenges, or +little pellets, are exceedingly useful in a Journey: for melting in the +mouth, they satisfie both hunger and thirst, and preserve a man in his +strength and his Spirits in vigour: and are generally esteemed of such +Soveraign use that it is thought no less than 100,000 Baskets full of the +leaves of this tree are sold yearly at the Mines of Potosi only, each of +which at some other places would yield 12_d_ or 18_d_ apiece.” + +Burton’s book, “Miracles of Art and Nature, or a Brief Description of +the several varieties of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Plants, and Fruits of +other Countreys, Together with Severall Remarkable Things in the World,” +contains much curious and interesting matter, and we shall find occasion +to quote from it from time to time in our subsequent pages. The scope +and aim of the book may be very well gathered from the following extract +from the preface—“Candid Reader, what thou findest herein are Collections +out of severall Antient Authors, which (with no small trouble) I have +carefully and diligently Collected and Comprised into this small Book +at some vacant hours, for the divertisement of such as thyself, who are +disposed to read it: For the several Climates of the World, have not only +influenced the Inhabitants, but the very Beasts, with Natures different +from one another: So hast thou here, not only a Description of the +several Shapes and Natures of Variety of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Plants, +and Fruits: but also of the Dispositions and Customs (though some of them +Barbarous and Inhuman) of severall People, who Inhabit many pleasing +and other parts of the World. I think there is not a Chapter wherein +thou wilt not find various and remarkable things worth thy observation: +and such (take the Book throughout) that thou canst not have in any one +Author, at least Modern, and of this Volume. ’Tis probable they are not +so Methodically dispos’d as some hands might have done: Yet for Variety +and Pleasure-sake, they are (I hope) pleasingly enough intermixed. And as +I find this accepted so I shall proceed. Farewel.” That the disposition +is not altogether methodical is speedily evident, as opening the book at +random we find chapters following each other on “Norwey, Assiria, Quivira +in California, Germany, Nova Zelina.” + +The influence of Pliny is of immense weight with the writers of mediæval +days, and even when the well-used formula “as Pliny saith,” is not given, +anyone who is familiar with his labours will have no difficulty in +recognizing the utilization of his material by his successors. Thus Pliny +tells us that many wonderful things which he specifies are to be found in +Ethiopia, hence Ethiopia has been discovered by many subsequent writers +to be a marvellous land, and the wondrous things they detail of it have +strange similarity with those of the older writer. This need not in all +cases imply plagiarism; if a writer five hundred years ago, in describing +the Bay of Naples, introduced a volcano into his description, we do not +resent all subsequent writers on the subject also seeing it, but when an +ancient writer introduces a rank impossibility, and subsequent writers +see that too, we may reasonably assume that they have been borrowing. +As an illustration we may mention that we read in the pages of Pliny of +single-footed men who possess this solitary feature of so gigantic a size +that its owner utilizes it as a sunshade. Hence these people appear from +time to time in the pages of divers travellers. Maundevile, for instance, +without acknowledgment of the source of his information, which he allows +us to think is the result of his personal observation, tells us that “in +Ethiope ben many dyverse folk,” and goes on to specify that “in that +Contree ben folk that have but on foot: and thei gon so fast that it is +marvayle, and the foot is so large that it schademethe all the Body agen +the Sonne whanne thei wole lye and reste hem.” + +That Pliny was at times imposed upon by his informants is sufficiently +obvious from the illustration that we have given, but when all deductions +have been made his work was a very wonderful and valuable one, and +a monument of painstaking industry, intellectual power and enormous +erudition. The great naturalist Cuvier, no mean authority, calls it “one +of the most precious monuments that have come down to us from ancient +times.” Buffon, no mean authority either, writes: “It is, so to say, a +compilation from all that had been written before his time: a record of +all that was excellent or useful: but his record has in it features so +grand, this compilation contains matter grouped in a manner so novel, +that it is preferable to most of the original works that treat upon +similar subjects.” + +Seeing that it is the _fons et origo_ of so much subsequent work, we +may well devote some little space to its consideration, for mediæval +natural history is largely Pliny, either frankly acknowledged, boldly +appropriated without acknowledgment, or at least the nucleus around +which other observations of more or less value are gathered. + +Pliny’s book is of the most comprehensive character, and even his table +of contents runs into many pages. This table would appear at the time of +its issue to have been almost a literary curiosity, as he prefaces it +by saying that “as you[5] should be spared as far as possible from all +trouble, I have subjoined the contents of the following books, and have +used my best endeavours to prevent your being obliged to read them all +through. And this, which was done for your benefit, will also serve the +same purpose for others, so that anyone may search for what he wishes, +and may know where to find it. This has been done before amongst us by +Valerius Soranus, in his book which he entitled ‘On Mysteries.’” + +The following shortened list gives a notion of the general character +of the various sections of this _magnum opus_. After the first book, +which is occupied entirely by the elaborate preface to the Emperor, the +author plunges at once into his subject, and devotes the second book to +a general treatise on the elements and on the world and the heavenly +bodies. The third and fourth books describe the great bays of Europe, +while the fifth and sixth deal with Africa and Asia respectively. The +seventh book is entirely devoted to man, and the eighth and ninth are on +land and aquatic animals. The tenth treats of birds, and the eleventh +of insects. The attention of the author and reader is then turned to +matters botanical, and the twelfth book dwells upon odoriferous plants. +The thirteenth is occupied with the consideration of the various exotic +trees then known, while the fourteenth is devoted entirely to the vine, +and the fifteenth to fruit trees generally. In the next book, the +sixteenth, the author passes to a consideration of the various kinds of +forest trees, and in the following, the seventeenth, to the plants raised +in nurseries and gardens. The eighteenth book deals with the cultivation +of corn and the general pursuits of the husbandman. The treatise then +turns to economic and medicinal considerations, section nineteen taking +up flax and other commercial plants, and twenty dealing with the herbs +cultivated for food or medicine. The twenty-first and twenty-second are +somewhat æsthetic, and dwell upon the flowers and plants proper for +garlands. The twenty-third and twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth are devoted +to the medicines made from cultivated trees, forest trees, and wild +plants respectively. The twenty-sixth deals with new diseases and their +appropriate treatment by herbs, and the twenty-seventh is a continuation +and amplification of the twentieth. The twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth +are devoted to the medicines derived from animals, and the thirtieth +chapter deals with magic and the proper medicines for various parts of +the body. The thirty-first and thirty-second sections are given up to +the economic uses of various aquatic animals, one being entirely devoted +to their medicinal value, and the next to their general commercial +adaptability. The remaining chapters deal with the mineral kingdom, the +thirty-third chapter being given up wholly to gold and silver, and the +thirty-fourth to lead and copper. The thirty-fifth division is given +up to pictures and colours and the painters and users thereof. The +thirty-sixth chapter is occupied with marbles and various kinds of stone, +while the concluding section deals with gems. + +It will thus be seen that the work is of the most comprehensive +character, and however far the world may since have travelled, and in its +revolutions disproved much that when this book was written was held to be +undoubted, the book nevertheless remains a noble monument of the zeal, +energy, and thirst after knowledge of its author. + +Caius Plinius Secundus, ordinarily called the Elder to distinguish +him from his nephew, who was also an eminent man of letters, was born +at Verona or Como, A.D. 23. As the son of a Roman of noble family, +he was early devoted to a military career, and spent a considerable +portion of his life in the army, where he gained distinction in various +campaigns; and on his retirement from actual service, was appointed +by the Emperor Procurator of Spain. Though much occupied in public +work he was an enthusiastic student, and devoted all his intervals of +relaxation to literature. During dinner he was either being read to or +was busily engaged in taking notes, and when travelling his secretary +was in constant attendance upon him. Even while enjoying his bath, he +was busy dictating or imbibing knowledge. He was a tremendous worker, +and besides the “Natural History,” wrote a voluminous treatise on the +German Campaign and various other books. He fell a victim to his love +of science, as while commanding the fleet he was witness of the great +eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, and while +making observations ashore he was overwhelmed in thick sulphurous vapour. + +Pliny had an intense love of nature, and to his own researches he +added those of a great body of other observers, sifting with infinite +patience from their labours whatever he deemed of value, and accumulating +vast stores of observation. That he at times drew false conclusions +is sufficiently evident, but it is clearly not just to apply a +nineteenth-century standard to his labours. He gave credence to many +stories that have since been proved erroneous, but he always honestly +strove after truth. When he tells us, for example, that the appearance +of an owl is a portent of misfortune, he adds, “but I myself know that +it hath perched upon many houses of private men and yet hath no evil +followed.” + +At the beginning of each book Pliny is careful to give the names of the +authors that he has consulted for it.[6] As the subjects that he treats +of are very varied the total list of authorities is very large. Some of +the names, such as Virgil, Archimedes, and others, are those of men still +held in reverence; while many are naturally now but little known, their +works having perished. As an illustration of the thoroughness of Pliny +in the matter we will give an illustrative list—that which precedes his +eighth book, dealing with land animals. He divides his lists always into +two sections, and commences with the authors of his own country. These +in this particular instance are Mutianus, Procilius, Verrius Flaccus, L. +Piso, Cornelius Valerianus, Cato the Censor, Fenestella, Trogus, Actius, +Columella, Virgil, Varro, Metellus Scipio, Cornelius Celsus, Nigidius, +Trebius Niger, Pomponius Mela, and Manlius Sura. His foreign authorities +are considerably more numerous, and are, naturally, most of them +Greek writers: Polybius, Onesicritus, Isidorus, Antipater, Aristotle, +Demetrius, Democritus, Theophrastus, Euanthes, Hiero, Duris, Ctesias, +Philistus, Architas, Philarchus, Amphilochus the Athenian, Anaxipolis the +Thasian, Apollodorus of Lemnos, Aristophanes the Milesian, Antigonus the +Cymæan, and twenty-three others, whom it is needless to add to the list, +as it is already quite long enough to illustrate the care with which +Pliny fortified his own knowledge with the best aid that he could procure. + +Though, doubtless, in some cases, the bearers of these names were +travellers and others who contributed but one or two items to the store +of knowledge, the greater portion of the names are those of men who, to +the best of their ability, were endeavouring to penetrate the secrets of +nature. It is a striking fact that at this early period there should be +such a body of scientific opinion to draw upon. Pliny tells us that he +has dealt with twenty thousand subjects and that this has necessitated +the perusal of over two thousand books. + +Though the quaintness of some of the ideas we encounter in Pliny raises +a smile, yet the real wonder is that he was able to produce a book so +excellent, and the more one reads of it the more this truth is impressed +upon one’s mind. In many of his ideas he appears to have been far in +advance of his age. Thus he distinctly declares that the world is round, +and gives lucid reasons for his statement, and in an age of abounding +polytheism, when temples innumerable each enshrined the image of some +deity, he had the courage to declare that “to seek after any shape of God +and to assign a form or image to him is a proof of man’s folly. For God, +wheresoever he be and in what part soever resident, all sense he is, all +sight, all hearing. He is the whole of the life and of the soul, and +to believe that there be gods innumerable, and those according to man’s +virtues, as chastity, concord, understanding, hope, honour, clemency, +faith, these conceits render men’s negligence the greater.” + +The unchanging nature of the East that we have, already seen illustrated +by extracts from mediæval writers is even visible in the work of this +author of nearly two thousand years ago, for Pliny mentions the people +called Seres, beyond Scythia, who fly the company of other people and +who are famous for the fine silk that their woods yield. There can be +no reasonable doubt but that these exclusive folk were the Chinese. He +tells us that they collect this silk from the leaves of the trees, and, +having steeped it in water, card it: it being a very pardonable error to +conclude that this silk was the product of the tree itself rather than of +the silkworm that spun its cocoon amongst its foliage. The men have feet +of natural size, while the women’s are so small that Pliny’s informant +described them as ostrich-footed. Here we can scarcely doubt that the +strange custom of the Chinese in binding up the feet of the women is +referred to, and granting this it is an interesting proof of the great +antiquity of this barbarous proceeding. + +In India, too, it was reported to Pliny that there were certain +philosophers who from sunrise to sunset persevere in gazing upon the +sun without once removing their eyes, and from morn to eve stand upon +one leg on the burning sand. It is remarkable to observe how exactly +these austerities and others of like severity and uselessness are still +practised by the Fakirs of India. He tells us too of others who had +strange influence over venomous serpents, doubtless the snake-charmers +whose descendants still exhibit their skill, and refers to the people +of India hunting and taming the elephants and using them as beasts of +burden, as valuable aids to locomotion and for purposes of war. + +Pliny’s book has gone through many editions and translations. Of these we +need but mention that of Dalecamp in 1599; De Laet in 1635, Gronovius, +1669; Pinet, 1566; and Poinsinet de Sivri, 1771. An English version of +delightful quaintness of language and expression is the translation +issued by Dr. Philemon Holland in the year 1601. He is the only writer +who has given a complete rendering of Pliny’s book in English.[7] Bostock +also, in 1828, began a translation and issued the first and thirty-third +books as a specimen of a proposed rendering of the whole work. His death +prevented the accomplishment of the task. The reader in subsequent +passages will readily detect for himself from which source any quotation +we give is derived, as the diction of Holland is far more quaint and +old-fashioned than that of the later translator. + +Several other writers of antiquity influenced the mediæval authors, but +it is scarcely necessary to detail their labours at any length, since +if they lived before Pliny he borrowed from them, and if they lived +afterwards they borrowed from him, so that we practically in Pliny get +the pith and cream of all. Herodotus, the “Historiarum parens,” as +Cicero terms him, was, we read, scarcely a historian, but one finds +divers passages from time to time in his descriptions of Egypt and other +lands that throw an interesting side-light on the natural history of the +country under consideration, and these have a certain value. A writer +of greater direct importance is Aristotle, one of the most illustrious +naturalists of antiquity. It will be remembered that his works supplanted +the love of gold, of sumptuous apparel, even the charms of music in the +breast of Chaucer’s philosopher, and formed an all-sufficient solace for +a light cash box, a sparse wardrobe, and the missing “fidel.” The passage +is interesting as it indicates the repute in which the works of the +ancient writer were held in the days of the poet:— + + “For him was lever han at his beddes hed + A twenty bokes, clothed in black and red, + Of Aristotle, and his philosophie, + Than robes rich, or fidel, or sautrie, + But all be that he was a philosopher + Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre.” + +Aristotle had very exceptional opportunities of acquiring knowledge, as +his royal patron and friend, the potent Alexander the Great, was able +and willing to afford him aid that was invaluable to him. Thousands +of men, huntsmen, fishermen, soldiers in distant garrisons of his +far-stretching realm, by royal command were instructed to keep a keen +outlook, and to forward to Aristotle anything that was curious or rare, +or to procure him, if possible, any specimen he desired to possess. His +book “De animalibus,” though naturally not free from a certain amount of +error, and the intrusion of second-hand hearsay, is a mine of industry +and research and not unworthy of the special opportunities that gave it +birth. + +In the study of our subject during the Middle Ages, several sources of +information are open to us. Of hooks on natural history, pure and simple, +there are none; their day was not yet. The love of nature for its own +sake was a later birth, but the books of travels often detail the zoology +and botany of the lands journeyed through. Then there are the medical +books, containing the most extraordinary remedies, or perhaps it would +be safer to say, prescriptions, for the ills of suffering humanity, and +which more or less fully describe the source and origin of the various +ingredients in their gruesome pharmacopœia, and with these we may class +the books on social economics, dealing with gastronomy, gardening, the +distillation of essences, and so forth, and which necessarily deal in +some degree with the life-history of the materials that are introduced. +In addition to these we have what are termed bestiaries, books that treat +the animals and plants as so many lay figures to be clothed upon with +any moral that, with often scant regard to facts, will serve to enforce +a dogma. To these must be added the armories or books on heraldry, +where the lions, elephants, bears, and other devices of blazonry, are +often very quaintly and graphically described for the benefit of those, +doubtless a considerable majority, to whom they were little more than a +name; or to whom, if they had seen them at the Tower of London in the +royal collection, further information on creatures so strange was of +great interest. In addition to these sources of instruction of more or +less value we may fitly refer to the writings of the poets, since in the +pages of Chaucer, Shakespeare and the lesser lights of poesy are abundant +allusions to the beliefs of the time, in this as in other directions, and +many of these are of great interest and value. + + “Oh for a booke and a shady nooke + Eyther in doore or out, + With the greene leaves whispering overhead, + Or the streete cryes all about; + Where I maie reade all at my ease, + Both of the newe and old, + For a jollie goode booke whereon to looke + Is better to me than golde.”[8] + +It must surely have been of some quaint book of travel that this old +English song-writer was thinking when he thus discoursed on the pleasant +debt we owe to books, when in the stirring days of Frobisher, Drake and +Raleigh, men’s minds were expanding to all sorts of possibilities, and +they read with avidity of the Eldorado of the west, and of the headless +men, or those whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders. Such as were +in all good faith held to be fairly represented by our illustration (fig. +1) from one of these old books. The writers of the day described too the +wondrous creatures that peopled the torrid plains of Africa or India, or +the lands of Prester John, or far Cathay; where so many things were new +and true and wonderful that it seemed as if all things were possible, and +a mermaid no more an unreasonable probability than a milkmaid. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.] + +Of Maundevile we have already made mention. It would be manifestly +undesirable to dwell at the length that the ample materials to hand would +permit. We will mention but one or two other books as samples of the bulk. + +Munster’s “Cosmography” is a book that all bibliophiles whose +tastes incline in this direction should see. Sebastian Munster, the +learned author, died of the plague at Basel in the year 1552, at the +comparatively early age of sixty-three, almost immediately after he had +completed his book. The copy before us we see was published at Basel in +the year of his death. Everyone consulting such a book should always +begin at the very beginning, as the old titles, as we have already +indicated, are often full of interest and beauty. In the instance before +us the centre of the page is filled up with the title, given with that +elaborate fulness that is so characteristic of early books. The upper +part of the page is devoted to the secular and spiritual princes of the +Roman Empire, the former crowned, the latter wearing their mitres, and +each having a shield of arms. Amongst the secular princes we find those +of Cyprus, Ungar, Sicilia, Bohem, Neapol and Polon. The sides of the page +are taken up with panels containing the rulers of Turkey, Tartary and +such-like outlandish places, and at the bottom is a very comprehensive +picture indeed. In the foreground, resting against a tree, is a man in +grievous extremity, naked and forlorn, and to him advances a warlike +savage with bow and arrow and, worse still, a manifest inclination to +use them to the detriment of the traveller. Behind the prostrate figure +is an elephant, while in rear of the savage are three trees, marked +respectively Piper, Muscata and Gariofili. In the background is a river, +or arm of the sea, from which dolphins emerge, and on the further shore +are two towns and a range of mountains. + +The book is very freely illustrated with maps, portraits, pictures of +towns, animals, plants, and so forth. Some of the figures are really +very good; there is one of the Moufflon, for instance, that is full +of character and truth, while others are hopelessly wrong. The same +pictures come over and over again at intervals in the text, thus a man +with a great sword going to chop off the head of a man kneeling before +him, stands for martyrdom or the doom of the traitor, and reappears +impartially on all occasions where the text suggests such ideas. The +same battle-scene often crops up to illustrate the various conflicts +described, and there is a standard figure of a bishop with mitre and +pastoral crook that serves as a portrait of divers ecclesiastics. The +same lantern tower that does duty for Lucerne reappears for Alexandria. +It argues a quaint simplicity all round when the author could gravely +furnish and his readers as gravely accept these few stock illustrations +for all the varying conditions. + +It is very interesting to see that in the map of Africa[9] the Nile takes +its rise from three large lakes far south of the equator, but the map +of the world is an extraordinary production, and shows, sources of the +Nile notwithstanding, a strange ignorance of elementary facts. The South +Atlantic is almost entirely filled up from Brazil to Africa by a great +sea monster. In the map of Africa a gigantic elephant is introduced, a +proceeding that was rather popular with these older writers, and which +is satirized in the well-known lines of Swift— + + “So geographers, in Afric maps, + With savage pictures fill their gaps, + And o’er inhabitable downs + Place elephants for want of towns.” + +Even in the days of Plutarch a kindred device was not unknown, as we +find him in the “Theseus” writing, “as geographers crowd into the edges +of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding +notes in the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but +sandy deserts full of wild beasts and unapproachable bogs.” Elsewhere in +this map of Africa we see trees with enormous parrots (miles long if we +judge them by the general scale of the map) perched in their branches, +and the reputed home of the monoculi, the one-eyed men, is indicated +by the introduction of one of them. In South America in the same way +the home of the Canibali is marked by a hut of tree trunks and branches +from which hang suspended, as in a larder, a human leg and a man’s head. +Many old beliefs obtain curious illustration, thus in one of the quaint +pictures we see a man using the divining rod to detect subterranean +water. That Swift knew the book seems probable from his happy allusion +to the elephants in lieu of towns, and this probability grows almost +into a certainty, when we read, in his “Tale of a Tub,” his assertion +that sea-men have a custom, when they meet a whale, of flinging him out +an empty tub by way of amusement, to divert him from doing damage to +the ship. In the “Cosmography” there is the picture of a ship to which a +whale is approaching somewhat too closely for the nerves of the crew, and +they are, therefore, represented as throwing a tub overboard for it to +play with. Neither the substitution of elephants for towns nor the notion +of the ship-preserving tub are, however, the exclusive copyright of the +Munster limners. The former are seen in various other old maps and the +tub incident is introduced into the “Ship of Fools” and other old books. + +The great value of these monsters, terrestrial or marine, in filling up +bare spaces, and in giving an additional interest and reality, may be +very well seen in the accompanying illustration (fig. 2)—a view of the +Azores, where the strange water-monster fills up very adequately indeed +a space where Nature failed to deposit an island. It is impossible to +decide its species; at first sight it suggests the notion of a sawfish or +water-unicorn. The old draughtsman was unwilling that any of it should +be lost to us, so instead of placing it in the water, it, with perhaps +the exception of the missing lower jaw, is entirely on the surface. The +mysterious something that crosses it suggests the idea that the creature +is going bathing, and has thrown its towel, schoolboy-fashion, over its +back; but on fuller reflection we take it that that is meant to indicate +the wave and turmoil that the creature makes in the otherwise placid sea +as it rushes through it, or rather over it. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.] + +The figure is a facsimile of a drawing of a portion of the Azores, St. +George and Flores being omitted by us. It is extracted from Sir Thomas +Herbert’s book, “Some Yeares Travels into Africa and Asia the Great, +especially the famous Empires of Persia and Industant.” The edition +we consult was printed in London in the year 1677. After the usual +dedicatory letter we find the following appeal to the reader:— + + “Here thou at greater ease than he + Mayst behold what he did see; + Thou participat’st his gains, + But he alone reserves the pains. + He travell’d not with lucre sotted, + He went for knowledge, and he got it. + Then thank the Author: thanks is light, + Who hath presented to thy sight + Seas, Lands, Men, Beasts, Fishes, and Birds, + The rarest that the world affords.” + +Personally we have much pleasure in paying the suggested tribute of +courteous thanks, and we think that any of our readers who may encounter +the book will in like manner confess their obligations to the old writer +for his labours. We would fain hope that the trip had many brighter spots +in it than he seems quite willing to allow. + +It has been the custom with many writers to depreciate the labours of +Marco Polo,[10] and to impute to him a lack of trustworthiness; but it +appears to us, after a careful perusal of his book, that such censure +is scarcely deserved. He made mistakes, but he is poles asunder from +such writers as Maundevile or Pinto.[11] His travels in the east are +narrated with much fidelity, and are almost entirely free from the gross +misstatements that are met with so freely in many books of travel, not +only at this early date but for centuries afterwards. The original was +probably written in the Venetian dialect, but the earliest manuscript now +known, that of 1320, is in Latin. A copy of this is in the magnificent +library of the British Museum, another is in the Royal Berlin Library, +another in the Paris Library, and some few others are in private +collections. Other MSS. of it exist, and it was also freely printed on +the advent of the printing press, as for instance, at Basle in 1522; in +Venice in 1496, 1508, 1597, and 1611; in Brescia in 1500; Paris, 1556; +Nuremberg, 1477; Strasburg, 1534; Leipzig, 1611; Lisbon, 1502; Seville, +1520; London, 1597, 1625; Amsterdam, 1664. As these various editions were +in the languages of the respective places of publication it indicates +a widespread interest, and it may be taken as a proof, too, that the +book was held to possess solid value: no book of the Munchausen type can +show such a record as this. An excellent English edition, very freely +illustrated by notes, is that of William Marsden, published in 1818: to +this the editor prefixes a very complete biography of the old author. + +Master Peter Heylyn, geographer, who flourished during the reigns of +Charles I., Cromwell, and Charles II., tells us of many marvellous +journeys in his volume, and introduces much that is curious in his notes +of the natural history of the countries visited. India was in those days +an inscrutable and little-known land, where the wildest imagination had +full play and was in but little danger of being dispossessed by cold +reality. Wonderful, however, as the tales were that came to Heylyn’s +ears he found some of them almost beyond credit, and after telling us +of “men with dogges heads: of men with one legge onely, of such as live +by sent; of men that had but one eye, and that in their foreheads; and +of others whose eares did reach unto the ground,” he is careful to +add—“But of these relations and the rest of this straine I doubt not +but the understanding reader knoweth how to judge and what to believe.” +He tells us, too, of an Indian people that by eating dragon’s heart and +liver attain to the understanding of the languages of beasts, who can +make themselves, when they will, invisible, and who have “two tubbes, +whereof the one opened yields winde, and the other raine,” but here, too, +he hesitates to take the responsibility of these tales and leaves their +credence or rejection to the faith or scepticism of his readers. In the +Moluccas, too, he hears of many wonders: a river, for instance, that is +plentifully stored with fish, yet the water so hot that it immediately +scalds the skin off any beast that is thrown into it; of men with +“tayles”; of fruit, that whosoever eateth shall for the space of twelve +hours be out of his wits; of “a tree which all the day-time hath not a +floure on it, but within half an hour after sunne-set is full of them.” +These, however, and several other wonders of the land, he concludes by +embracing in one simple category—“All huge and monstrous lies.” He tells +of a people of Libya, the Psylli, so venomous in themselves that they +could poison a snake! One can fancy the immense disgust of some poisonous +reptile of death dealing powers when he found that he had at length met +more than his match, and that his attempt on the life of one of these +very objectionable Libyans was recoiling with fatal effect upon himself. + +The America of those days was a very different place from the America of +to day. Primeval forest covered much of the land, the red man and the +buffalo were in full possession, and the pilgrim fathers had but lately +landed on its shores from the little “Mayflower.” As the remote is always +associated with the wonderful, and monstrosities and marvels flourish in +such congenial soil, Heylyn finds in America no less than in Asia and +Africa a rich crop of marvels. Into these we need not, however, go; those +who care to seek out this old author will find much of quaint interest, +tradition blending with solid history and fable with fact in his pages. + +Sir Walter Raleigh’s book on Guiana—“The discoverie of the large, +rich and bewtiful Empire of Gviana, with a relation of the great and +golden City of Manoa, which the Spaniards call El Dorado, performed +in the year 1595,” gives much curious information, and should not be +overlooked. We may read in it of the Amazons, the Cannibals, the headless +people, and other strange creatures of this wondrous land. Hakluyt’s +blackletter folio, “The Principal Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries +of the English Nation, made by Sea or over Land to the most remote and +farthest distant Quarters of the earth at any time within the compasse +of these fifteen hundred yeeres,” published in 1589, and “Purchas his +Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World, Asia, Africa, and America, and +the Hands adiacent,” published in London in the year 1614, are both +quaint and interesting old books. Struys’ “Perillous and most Unhappy +Voiages through Moscovia, Tartary, Italy, Greece, Persia, and Japan,” is +another delightful old volume. It was published in the year 1638, and is +illustrated by divers curious plates. To this list we need only add the +“Natvrall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies,” by Joseph +Acosta, published in 1604, and “Intreating of the Remarkable things of +Heaven, of the Elements, Mettalls, Plants, and Beasts which are proper +to that Country.” Where we have given a date it is simply that of the +copy that has come under our own cognisance; many of those works were of +sufficient popularity to run through several editions, sometimes several +years apart; still the dates we give will afford an approximate notion +of the age of the books in question. This slight sketch of mediæval books +of travel might very readily be extended; we do but introduce them as +illustrations and samples of the mass of material available. + +The medical treatises of our forefathers were very numerous. Such books +as Potter’s “Booke of Phisicke and Chirurgery,” or Cogan’s “Haven of +Health,” may advantageously be consulted. The copy of the first of these +that lies open before us as we write is dated “the yeare of our Lorde +God, 1610,” and like almost all these old books is more or less of a +compilation, full of divers interesting matters “necessary to be knowne +and collected out of sundry olde written bookes.” Cogan is very frank +on this point. He says, “Yet one thing I desire of all them that shall +reade this booke; if they finde whole sentences taken out of Master +Eliot his Castle of Heath, or out of Schola Salerni, or any other author +whatsoever, that they will not condemne me of vaine glorie, as if I meant +to set forth for mine owne workes that which other men have devised; for +I confess that I have taken verbatim out of other wher it served for my +purpose, but I have so interlaced it with mine owne, that (as I think) +it may be the better perceived, and therefore seeing all my travaile +tendeth to common commodity I trust every man will interpret all to the +best.” His statement that his ingenious interweaving of other men’s work +with his own makes the plagiarism and appropriation the more readily +detected, is somewhat difficult to follow. + +Cogan did, however, plagiarism notwithstanding, take up a somewhat +special ground that supplied the _raison d’être_ of his book, since he +tells us that “it was chiefly gathered for the comfort of students, and +consequently of all those that have a care for their health.” There +are repeated references to the Oxford scholars: thus, under the head +of quinces he gives a receipt for marmalade, “because the making of +marmalade is a pretty conceit, and may perhaps delight some painefull +student that will be his own Apothecarie.” Elsewhere we are told of +“Cinamon-water” that “it hath innumerable vertues, wherefore I reckon it +a great treasure for a student to have by him in his closet, to take now +and then a spoonfull.” One gets some interesting side-light thrown on the +University life of that day—Cogan’s book we may mention was published +in 1636,—as for instance when we are told that “when foure houres bee +past after breakefast a man may safely take his dinner, and the most +convenient time for dinner is aboute eleaven of the clocke before noone. +At Oxford in my time they used commonly at dinner boyled beefe[12] with +pottage, bread, and beere and no more. The quantitie of beefe was in +value one halfepenny for one man, and sometimes if hunger constrained +they would double their commons.” Judging by the “battels” we have had +the felicity of paying we may take it that this tariff has undergone +considerable alteration since 1636. + +The working and superintendence of the printing press has up to +comparatively recent years been considered such essentially masculine +labour that it is rather curious to find on the title-page of Cogan’s +book that it was “printed by Anna Griffin for Roger Ball, and are to be +sold at his shop without Temple-Barre at the Golden Anchor.” + +As the ingredients used as remedies by our ancestors came largely from +the animal and vegetable kingdoms, we get in these medical works a good +deal, indirectly, of natural history lore. Thus Cogan strongly commends +the eating of cabbage leaves as a “preservative of the stomache from +surfetting and the head from drunkennesse.” “Raw Cabage with Vinegar so +much as he list.” The philosophy of the thing is that “the Vine and the +Coleworts be so contrarie by Nature that if you plant Coleworts neare to +the rootes of the Vine of it selfe it will flee from them, therefore it +is no maruaile if Coleworts be of such force against drunkennesse.” Macer +tells of the virtue of fennel as a restorative of youth, and bases his +treatment on the assertion that “Serpentis whan thei are olde and willing +to wexe stronge, myghty, and yongly agean thei gon and eten ofte fenel +and thei become yongliche and myghty.” Coles, in his “Adam in Eden,” +commends the Eyebright as a remedy for weak eyes, on the all-sufficient +ground that goldfinches, linnets, and other birds eat of this plant to +strengthen their sight. + +Many of these prescriptions of our grandfathers’ great-grandfathers would +have supplied ample justification for action on the part of the Society +for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, had so invaluable a society +been extant in those good old times of bull-baiting, cock-throwing +brutality. Thus, in one remedy, the first step is to “take a red cock, +pluck him alive, and bruise him in a mortar,” in another we must take a +cat, cut off her ears and tail and mix the blood thereof with a little +new milk, while the victim to tight boots must find relief for his +blistered heel by skinning a mouse alive and laying the skin, while +still warm, upon the injured spot. Scores of such instances of selfish +indifference to suffering could readily be adduced. + +We need scarcely pause to dwell on books dealing with cookery, +distillation, gardening, and such like household economics, though it +will be readily seen how in these again the natural history knowledge—or +want of it—of our ancestors finds room for its display, but pass on to +the books that deal with animals and the works of nature generally, from +the theological point of view. + +The “Bestiare Divin” of Guillaume, a Norman priest, is a very good +example of the attempts that were made by the ecclesiastics to show that +all the works of Nature were symbols and teachers of great Divine truths. +The MS. of Guillaume dates from the thirteenth century, and is at present +preserved in the National Library in Paris. The work has been very well +reproduced in a French dress by Hippeau, a compatriot of the author +of it. The statements of the compiler of such a book as the one under +consideration are essentially unreliable, since it was very difficult for +him to ascertain the truth, and he had in addition no great desire to be +literally exact, and was at any moment prepared to sacrifice the actual +facts for what he would consider a higher stratum of truth. He could +not be accurate if he would, and would not if he could. Hence Hippeau, +in estimating the value of the book, very justly says: “N’oublions pas +que les pères de l’Eglise se préoccupèrent toujours beaucoup plus de la +pureté des doctrines qu’ils avaient à développer, que de l’exactitude +scientifique des notions sur lesquelles ils les appuyaient;” and we have +already seen that Augustine considered the significance that could be +wrung out of a statement of very much more importance than any adherence +to the facts of the case. “Dans la vaste étendue des Cieux, au sien des +mers profondes, sur tous les points du globe terrestre, il n’est par un +phénomène, pas une étoile, pas un quadrupède, pas un oiseau, pas une +plante, pas une pierre, qui n’éveille quelque souvenir biblique, qui +ne fournisse la matière d’un enseignement moral, qui ne donne lieu à +quelqu’effusion du cœur, qui n’ait à révéler quelque secret de Dieu.” +It is evident that whatever of value or interest may be evolved on the +strength of such sentiments, the result can hardly be called natural +history—a decision that we have already arrived at in our consideration +of the “Speculum Mundi.” + +The “Bestiary” of De Thaun is a book of like nature. Only one copy of the +MS. is known, that in the Cottonian collection. Of another of his books, +the “Livre des Creatures,” seven copies are extant. The author had as +his great patron Adelaide of Louvain, the second queen of Henry I. of +England, and to her he dedicated his books. The language in which they +are written is very archaic, but an excellent reproduction of the book +for English readers has been made by Thomas Wright, F.S.A. We give six +lines as an illustration of the original MS., and of its rendering into +the rugged English that best gives its character:— + + “En un livre divin, que apelum Genesim, + Iloc lisant truvum que Dés fist par raisun + Le soleil e la lune, e estoile chescune. + Pur cel me plaist à dire, d’ico est ma materie, + Que demusterai e à clers e à lai, + Chi grant busuin en unt, e pur mei perierunt.” + + “In a divine book, which is called Genesis, + There reading, we find that God made by reason + The sun and the moon, and every star. + On this account it pleases me to speak, of this is my matter, + Which I will show both to clerks and to laics, + Who have great need of it, and will perish without it.” + +As an example of moral-making we may instance “the ylio, a little beast +made like a lizard,” and which we imagine must be the salamander. De +Thaun says that “it is of such a nature that if it come by chance where +there shall be burning fire it will immediately extinguish it. The beast +is so cold and of such a quality that fire will not be able to burn where +it shall enter, nor will trouble happen in the place where it shall be. A +beast of such quality signifies such men as was Ananias, as was Azarias, +as was Misael: these three issued from the fire praising God. He who has +faith only will never have hurt from fire.” Of the Aspis he tells us +that “it is a serpent cunning, sly and aware of evil. When it perceives +people who make enchantment, who want to take and snare it, it will stop +very well the ears it has. It will press one against the earth: in the +other it will stuff its tail firmly, so that it hears nothing. In this +manner do the rich people of the world: one ear they have on earth to +obtain riches, the other Sin stops up: yet they will see a day, the day +of Judgment. This is the signification of the Aspis without doubt.” In +like manner a moral is tacked on to every creature, and all creation is +shown to be a text-book wherein man may read to some little degree of the +mercy, but much more fully of the penal judgments, of the God the writer +thus blindly professes to honour. + +The old Armories are a very happy hunting ground for the student +who would learn somewhat of the beliefs of our ancestors on matters +zoological and botanical, as the writers while introducing the various +creatures and plants as charges often take the opportunity to add a few +explanatory details for the benefit of those to whom they were unknown. +Guillim’s book, “A Display of Heraldrie, manifesting a more easie accesse +to the knowledge thereof than has beene hitherto published by any,” is a +mine of wealth on this score. The original edition appeared in the year +1611, but it was a very popular work for a long time, and other copies +bear the dates 1632, 1638, 1660, 1679, and 1724. Another interesting +book of the same class was the “Accedence of Armorie” of Legh, a +considerably earlier work, as it first appeared in 1562. This also was a +very favourite book and was very frequently reprinted, as for instance +in 1568, 1576, 1591, 1597, &c. It is nevertheless now a rare book. +Bossewell’s “Works of Armorie,” and many other quaint old volumes of +this character might readily be dwelt on, but our aim is but to mention +some few books in each section, and we care not to make our list either +exhaustive or exhausting. + +Having then dwelt at some little length upon various books from which +we shall have occasion later on to draw illustrations, we propose now +to deal with some few of the creatures more or less familiar to these +old writers, commencing with mankind and touching successively upon +beasts, birds, fishes, and, finally, reptiles. Guillim in his book +before mentioned greatly prides himself upon his “method.” For this he +claims credit over and over again. “Whosoever,” he says, for example, +“shall address himself to write of Matters of Instruction, or of any +other Argument of Importance, it behoveth him that he should resolutely +determine with himself in what Order he will handle the same, so shall he +best accomplish that he hath undertaken, and inform the Understanding and +help the Memory of the Reader.” In the spirit of this teaching we would +humbly desire to walk, and having quite resolutely determined the order +of our going we will endeavour so far as in us lies to make our labour a +profit to those who honour us with their perusal. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + The pygmies—Ancient and modern writers thereon—Conflicts + with the cranes—Counterfeits—Modern travel, confirming + the statements of the ancient geographers—Pygmy races now + existing—The “Monstrorum Historia” of Aldrovandus—Crane-headed + men—Men with tails—The Gorilloi—The dog-headed people—The + canine king—The many-eyed men—The giants of Dondum—The + snake-eaters—The Ipotayne—Mermaids—Syren myth—Storm-raisers—The + mermaids of artists and poets—Shakespeare thereupon—As + heraldic device—The mermaids of voyagers—The seal and walrus + theory—Mermaids in captivity—Mermaids as food—Counterfeit + mermaids—Mermaid in Chancery—The “Pseudodoxia Epidemica” of + Browne—Oannes or Dagon—Mermaids and Matrimony—Lycanthropy—The + “Metamorphoses” of Ovid—The fate of Lykaon—Nine years of + wolfdom—Wehr-wolves—Mewing nuns—Olaus Magnus—The doctrine of + metempsychosis—Influence of enchantment—The dragon maiden—The + power of a kiss—Witchcraft—Scot and Glanvil, for and against + it—The good old times. + + +Shakespeare, whose writings form a mine of wisdom from which one can dig +an appropriate wisdom-chip for every occasion, avers truly enough in the +“Merchant of Venice,” that “Nature hath fram’d strange fellows in her +time,” while the credulity of mankind has added to this goodly company +many others too impossible even for the wildest freaks of nature to be +held responsible for. + +Of some of these abnormal forms we propose now to treat, and commence +our chapter with some short reference to the pygmies. References to +these are to be found in the works of many of the ancient writers, such +as Homer, Pliny, Herodotus, Philostratus, Oppian, Juvenal and Aristotle. +Strabo mentions them in his geography, but regards the belief in them +as a mere fable, while some of the older authors suggest that very +possibly exceptionally large monkeys[13] might have been mistaken for +exceptionally small men. While most writers affirmed that such a race was +to be met with in Africa—Aristotle, for instance, locating them at the +head of the Nile—some authors placed them in the extreme north, where the +rigour of the climate was held a sufficient explanation of their stunted +growth. Philostratus assigned them a home on the banks of the Ganges, +and Pliny gave them local habitation in Scythia. Shakespeare, not only +the fount of countless stores of quotation, but also the storehouse of +ancient and mediæval lore, mentions the pygmies, though he gives us no +hint as to their home. “Will your Grace command me any service to the +world’s end? I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that +you can devise to send me on: I will fetch you a toothpicker now from +the furthest inch of Asia; bring you the length of Prester John’s foot; +fetch you a hair off the great Cham’s beard; do you any embassage to the +Pygmies!” + +Homer, in the third book of the Iliad, refers to the conflicts between +the pygmies and the cranes:— + + “When inclement winters vex the plain + With piercing frosts, or thick-descending rain, + To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly, + With noise and order,[14] through the midway sky: + To pygmy nations wounds and death they bring.” + +Our readers may possibly wonder, as we have done, why the cranes should +bear the pygmies such ill-will, but Pliny in his seventh book supplies +the justification for the feud, as it appears that in the spring-time the +pygmies sally forth in great troops, riding upon goats, searching for and +devouring the eggs of the cranes, a state of things that no creature of +proper parental instincts could be expected to submit quietly to. + +Sir Thomas Browne, in his excellent book on vulgar errors, says that +“Homer, using often similes as well to delight the ear as to illustrate +his matter, compareth the Trojanes unto Cranes when they descend against +the Pigmies;[15] which was more largely set out by Oppian, Juvenall and +many Poets since; and being only a pleasant figment in the fountain, +became a solemn story in the stream and current still among us.” He +declines to give credence to the pygmies and the tales that appertain +to them and says that “Julius Scaliger, a diligent enquirer, accounts +thereof but as a poeticall fiction. Ulysses Aldrovandus, a most careful +zoographer, in an expresse discourse thereon, concludes the story +fabulous. Albertus Magnus, a man ofttimes too credulous, was herein +more than dubious,” and though he quotes the statement of Pigafeta +that pygmies were found in the Moluccas, and that of Olaus Magnus as +to their being encountered in Greenland, he declares that “yet wanting +confirmation in a matter so confirmable, their affirmation carrieth but +slow perswation.” + +Maundevile, of course, is as fully prepared to believe in the existence +of pygmies as of most other things, provided they be sufficiently outside +ordinary experience. In his book he takes us “throghe the Lond of +Pigmaus, wher that the folk ben of lytylle Stature, that ben but three +span long; and thei ben right faire and gentylle. Thei maryen hem whan +thei ben half Yere of Age, and thei lyven not but six yeer or seven at +the moste, and he that lyvethe eight yeer men holden him there righte +passynge olde. Thei han often times Werre with the Briddes of the Contree +that thei taken and eten. This litylle folk nouther labouren in Londes +ne in Vynes, but thei han grete men amonges hem, of one Stature, that +tylen the Lond and labouren amonges the Vynes for hem. And of the men of +our Stature han thei as grete skorne and wondre as we wolde have among +us of Geauntes if thei weren among us. And alle be it that the Pygmeyes +ben lytylle yet thei ben full resonable aftre here Age: connen bothen +Wytt and gode and malice.” Another people of somewhat similar character +that Maundevile professed to have met with in his travels were still more +remarkable, for they “ne tyle not, ne labouren not the Erthe for thei +eten no manere thing, and thei ben of gode colour and of faire schap +aftre hire gretnesse, but the be smale as Dwerghes, but not so lytylle as +ben the Pigmeyes. These men lyven be the smelle of wylde Apples, and whan +thei gon ony far weve thei beren the Apples with hem. For if thei hadde +lost the savour of the Apples thei scholde dyen anon.” Unfortunately +he can only say of these interesting people that “thei ne ben not full +resonable, but thei ben symple and bestyalle.” + +Bishop Jordanus, in his “Mirabilia descripta,” tells of pygmies in “an +exceeding great island what is called Jaua,” which our readers who are +at all used to the substitution of the letter u for v, will at once +recognize as Java, “where are many world’s wonders. Among which, beside +the finest aromatic spices, this is one, to wit, that there be found +pygmy men of the size of a boy of three or four years old, all shaggy +like a goat.” He adds that they dwell in the woods, and we may not +unreasonably conclude that these hirsute arboreals were a species of ape. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.] + +In the conflict of testimony, some affirming and some denying the +existence of such a people, Marco Polo, writing it will be remembered +in the thirteenth century, warns us that we must beware of counterfeits +that are palmed off on the unwary as the real thing. “It should be +known,” says he, “that what is reported respecting the dried bodies of +diminutive human creatures or pigmies, brought from India, is an idle +tale, such pretended men being manufactured in the following manner. The +country produces a species of monkey of a tolerable size, and having a +countenance resembling that of a man. Those persons who make it their +business to catch them shave off the hair, leaving it only about the +chin and those other parts where it naturally grows on the human body. +They then dry and preserve them with camphor and other drugs, and having +prepared them in such a mode that they have exactly the appearance of +little men, they put them into wooden boxes and sell them to trading +people, who carry them to all parts of the world. But this is an +imposition, and neither in India nor in any other country, however wild +or little known, have pigmies been found of a form so diminutive as these +exhibited.” It will be noted that the very fact of a counterfeit implies +a something to be counterfeited, and Marco Polo is clearly quite prepared +to give in his adhesion to the affirmative side. + +The belief in a pygmy race, first declared centuries before the Christian +era, was held most fully in mediæval days; and modern travel and research +has amply proved that—various elements of the marvelous stripped away—the +belief was a sound one. Du Chaillu in Western Equatorial Africa met +with a diminutive race of which the average height of the individuals +who would submit to measurement was four feet five inches; and readers +of Stanley’s books will recall his experiences with a similar people. +On the authority of Dr. Parke, the Mikaba average four feet one inch, +the Batwas four feet three inches, and the Akkas four feet six inches. +Related to them in shortness of stature are the Bushmen of Southern +Africa, averaging about four feet seven inches in height; and elsewhere, +the Lapps, the Fuegians, the Ainos of Japan, and the Veddahs—all people +of notoriously short stature. + +Probably the Bushmen, or Bosjesmen, are the modern representatives of +the Pygmaioi, for in their cave-dwelling, reptile-eating, and other +peculiarities they agree entirely with the descriptions given by +Herodotus, Pliny, and other ancient writers. The Bosjesmen are found, +with all the peculiarities of their dwarfish race intact, as far north +as Guinea. Winwood Reade, in his “Savage Africa,” gives many interesting +details concerning them, and holds the view that they were the aboriginal +race in Africa. Dr. Stuhlmann, Emin Pacha’s companion in many of his +wanderings, succeeded for the first time in bringing pygmies alive +to Europe, some members of the Akka tribe being brought to Berlin, +where they were regarded with immense interest by the professors of +anthropology. + +The truthfulness of the ancient geographers being thus confirmed, it is +quite possible that the tales of the conflicts of the pygmies with great +birds may have a more solid foundation of fact than we are quite prepared +to admit. The Maori traditions tell of the contests with the moa and +other gigantic birds which formerly inhabited the islands of New Zealand; +while the Jesuit missionaries give accounts of enormous birds once found +in Abyssinia and Madagascar. All these are now extinct, but it may well +be that to a dwarf race, armed only with bows and arrows, such birds +would be foes by no means to be despised. One finds the trustworthiness +of the old writers often so curiously confirmed that one hesitates in the +case of many of them to assume too readily either gross credulity or a +willful misstatement. + +Amidst the millions of births in the animal creation there is scarcely +any conceivable malformation, excess, or defect of parts, that has +not at some time or other occurred; anyone turning to the medical and +surgical journals will find many strange illustrations of this, or our +readers may find much interesting information on this subject, and given +in a less technical form, in the “Histoire Générale des Anomalies” of +Geoffroi de St. Hilaire. But such malformations occur singly and at +comparatively remote intervals; the anomalous departure from the type, +the eccentricity of structure, is not hereditarily produced, does not +become the starting-point of a new species. No natural malformation, +allowance being made for the very restricted influence of hybridism, ever +passes outside the species in which it is found or combines with it the +character of any other creature, while even the limited possibilities of +hybridism have a tendency to die out, owing to the sterility that is so +marked a characteristic. Such monsters as Aldrovandus figures are utterly +impossible, such as the body of a man conjoined to the head of an ass, +and having one foot that of an eagle, and the other that of an elephant. + +Abundant illustrations of the most un-natural history may be found +in the works of Aldrovandus; his voluminous works on animals are very +curious and interesting, and are richly illustrated with engravings at +least as quaint in character as the text. His “Monstrorum Historia,” +published in folio at Bologna in 1642, is a perfect treasure-house +of rank impossibilities. Another book of very similar character is +Boiastuau’s “Histoires Prodigeuses,” published in Paris in the year 1561, +a strange assemblage of curious and monstrous figures. + +The wondrous creatures of Aldrovandus, and it must be borne in mind +that these are given in the most perfect good faith as contributions +towards a better knowledge of natural history, are divisible into three +classes:—creatures that are absolute impossibilities, such as fig. 3, a +man having the head and neck of a crane; secondly, various species of +malformation and abnormal growth, which do undoubtedly occur from time +to time; and thirdly, other forms suggested by this second class, but +carried to altogether impossible excess. + +It is of course easy, having realized that a lizard with a forked tail is +somewhat of a curiosity, to make a much greater wonder by representing, +as he does, a ten-tailed lizard; and while a boy born without arms is a +painful possibility, the wonder is undoubtedly greatly increased by also +cutting off his legs, as Aldrovandus does, and replacing them with the +tail of a fish. + +The creature he calls hippopos, having the head, arms, and body of a +man, but terminating below in the legs and hoofs of a horse, was (though +here only two-legged,) probably suggested by the centaur myth. Amongst +the other impossibilities which we must nevertheless again remind our +readers the old writer brings forward in the most perfect sincerity as +valuable aids to a better knowledge of the wonders of creation, is a man +of normal growth, except that he has the head of a wolf, the lady, fig. +4, who is distinctly of harpy type, a ram-headed individual, and a boy +with the head of an elephant. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.] + +This notion of the substitution of heads has a great charm for +Aldrovandus. He gives us, elsewhere, a bird-headed boy, and horses, +goats, pigs, and lions, all with human heads; while the “monstrum triceps +capite vulpis, draconis et aquilæ” is, we venture to think, a creature +that neither Aldrovandus, nor anyone else, ever did see or ever will +see. According to the picture it had a human body and legs, differing +however from those of ordinary humanity in being clothed with large +scales. One arm was like that of a man, the other was the wing of an +eagle, and a horse’s tail in rear was another distinctly abnormal growth, +while surmounting all were three heads, those of a wolf, a dragon, and +an eagle. There are many other such atrocities; while they are curious +as showing the depth of credulity our forefathers could reach, it will +readily be seen that they are the dullest things possible. Anyone with a +slight knowledge of zoology could create them by the score, placing, for +instance, on the neck of a giraffe the head of an elephant, giving it the +body of an alligator, and finishing off all neatly with the tail of a +peacock. + +The multiplication, or suppression, or distortion of various parts is +a very strong point with Aldrovandus. He illustrates for our benefit +four-legged ducks and pigeons, and two-headed pigs, sheep, cows, and +fishes; calves, dogs, hares, each walking erect on their hind legs and +having no front ones, and pigs, cats, dogs, chickens, double-bodied but +single-headed. He also tells us of headless men, and gives us a drawing +of one, neckless, having the ears rising from the shoulders, mouthless, +the nose a proboscis a foot or so in length; this and the eyes are +on the back of the figure. Fig. 5 we may fairly include as an example +of distortion, while fig. 6 is a monstrosity produced by suppression. +In another place he gives a drawing of a man having two eyes in their +natural position, and beyond each of these another, so that we have four +in a row. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.] + +One quaint picture shows us two men wearing large ruffs and habited in +quite the costume of “the upper ten” of the seventeenth century, but +their faces are covered with thickly matted hair, their eyes peeping out +like those of a skye-terrier. This idea was too grotesque not to utilize +to the uttermost, so the next picture in the book is that of a young lady +in the same plight. + +The notion of hairy men, tailed men, and the like has no doubt arisen +from the first introduction of the early writers and voyagers to +various species of monkeys. Duris, one of the ancients, professed to +know of the existence of an Indian tribe of shaggy, tailed men, while +Ctesias, not to fall short in this pursuit of the marvellous, tells us +of a certain Indian valley, or more probably a very uncertain one and +exceedingly difficult to locate, where the inhabitants lived two hundred +years, having in their youth white hair, which, with the ravages of +time, gradually became quite black. In the “Periplus” of Hanno, about +five hundred years before the Christian era, we have an unquestionable +reference to the apes. “For three days,” says the Carthaginian admiral, +“we passed along a burning coast, and at length reached a bay called +the Southern Horn. In the bottom of this bay we found an island which +was inhabited by wild men. The greater number of those we saw were +females; they were covered with hair, and our interpreters called them +Gorilloi.[16] We were unable to secure any of the men, as they fled to +the mountains, and defended themselves with stones. As to the women we +caught three of them, but they so bit and scratched us that we found it +impossible to bring them along: we therefore killed and flayed them, +and carried their hides to Carthage.” Rather a cool proceeding this, +granting either that they were really human or that the Carthaginians +regarded them as such. We should at all events so regard it nowadays if, +for instance, the crew of a whaler flayed some Eskimo ladies and brought +their hides to Dundee. + +Burton and other early English writers thoroughly believe in the +existence of tailed men, and it has long been an article of belief that +divers men even in this realm of England were born with tails. The +Devonshire men stoutly contended that their Cornish neighbors were thus +distinguished. According to Polydore Vergil, some at least of the men of +Kent shared this peculiarity, and he very definitely asserts that it was +a Divine judgment upon them for insulting one of His servants, Thomas +à Becket. He tells us that when that prelate fell into disgrace with +his sovereign, many people treated him with but little respect, and in +Rochester he met with such contempt that amongst other marks of contumely +the tail of the horse on which he was riding was cut off. By this profane +inhospitality they reaped deserved reproach, for all the offspring of +the men who did or connived at this thing were born with tails like +horses. This mark of infamy we are told only disappeared with the gradual +extinction of those whose forefathers had incurred this notorious and +shameful penalty. In the “Loyal Scot” of Andrew Marvel we find the line, +“For Becket’s sake, Kent always shall have tails.” As a line or two +before this he has written “Deliver us from a Bishop’s wrath,” it is +sufficiently evident that the passage alludes to the legend referred to. + +John Bale, the writer of the “Actes of English Votaries,” is righteously +indignant on the point. He writes as follows in his book, “John Capgrave +and Alexander of Esseby sayth that for castynge of fyshe tayles at thys +Augustyne, Dorsettshyre men had tayles ever after, but Polydorus applieth +it unto Kentish men at Strood by Rochester, for cuttynge of Thomas +Becket’s horse’s tail. Thus hath England in all other land a perpetual +infamy of tayles by these wrytten legendes of lyes. An Englyshman cannot +now travayle in another land by way of marchandyse or any other honest +occupynge, but it is most contumeliously thrown in his teethe that all +Englyshmen have tayles. That uncomely note and report hath the nation +gotten, without recover, by these laisy and idle lubbers, the monkes and +the priestes, which could find no matters to advance their gaines by, or +their saintes, as they call them, but manifest lies and knaveries.” John +Bale was a post-Reformation Bishop, holding the see of Ossory during the +reign of Edward VI, and was especially notable for his zeal in spreading +the principles of the Reformed Church. + +John Struys, a Dutchman, who visited Formosa in the year 1677, gives a +description of a tailed man that is strongly suggestive of the monkey +theory, except that he endows him with intelligible speech. He tells us +that before he visited this island he had often heard of men therein who +had long tails, but that he had never been able to credit it. Seeing, +however, is proverbially believing. “I should now have difficulty in +accepting it,” he writes, “if my own senses had not removed from me every +pretence for doubting the fact, by the following strange adventure. +The inhabitants of Formosa, being used to see us, were in the habit of +receiving us on terms which left nothing to apprehend on either side; +so that, although mere foreigners, we always believed ourselves to be +in safety, and had grown familiar enough to ramble at large without +an escort, when grave experience taught us that in so doing we were +hazarding too much. As some of our party were one day taking a stroll, +one of them had occasion to withdraw about a stone’s-throw from the rest, +who being at the moment engaged in an eager conversation, proceeded +without heeding the disappearance of their companion. After awhile, +however, his absence was observed, and the party paused, thinking he +would rejoin them. They waited some time, but at last, tired of the +delay, they returned in the direction of the spot where they remembered +to have seen him last. Arriving there, they were horrified to find his +mangled body lying on the ground. While some remained to watch the dead +body, others went off in search of the murderer, and these had not gone +far when they came upon a man of peculiar appearance, who, finding +himself enclosed by the exploring party, so as to make escape from them +impossible, began to foam with rage, and by cries and wild gesticulations +to intimate that he would make anyone repent the attempt who should +venture to meddle with him. The fierceness of his desperation, for a +time, kept our people at bay; but as his fury gradually subsided they +gathered more closely around him, and at length seized him. As the crime +was so atrocious, and if allowed to pass with impunity might entail even +more serious consequences, it was determined to burn the man. He was +tied up to a stake, where he was kept for some hours before the time of +execution arrived. It was then that I beheld what I had never thought to +see. He had a tail more than a foot long, covered with red hair, and very +much like that of a cow. When he saw the surprise that this discovery +created amongst the European spectators, he informed us that his tail was +the effect of climate, for that all the inhabitants of the southern side +of the island, where they then were, were provided with like appendages.” +The measure of burning the man to avoid any future unpleasantness, seems +a somewhat strong one, and attended with a very considerable element +of risk to themselves, besides the grave personal inconvenience to +the victim. The account is a very circumstantial one; how is it to be +explained? One cannot accept the tail—or the tale; and yet it is painful +to feel that the alternative is to brand John Struys as deliberately +errant from the truth; and brave men who take their lives in their hands +are above the meanness of vapouring or lying. In such a case one agrees +entirely with Dr. Johnson: “Of a standing fact, sir, there ought to be no +controversy. If there are men with tails, catch a homo caudatus.” + +Africa and India, the two great wonder-lands of our forefathers, were +the home of many strange specimens of humanity. Far away towards the +sources of the Nile were the Nigriæ, ruled by a king who had but one +eye, and that in the midst of his forehead. There, too, were found the +Agriophagi, a people who lived on the flesh of lions and panthers: the +Anthropophagi that fed on the flesh of men, and the Pomphagi that, like +the modern schoolboy, eat all things. In that mysterious land too dwelt +the Cynamolgi, whose heads were those of dogs. One old writer tells +us that there was a tribe of one hundred and twenty thousand of these +dog-headed men: they wore the skins of wild animals as their clothing, +and carried on conversation in true canine style by yelps and barks. Sir +John Maundevile, of course, knew all about these folk, since he found a +great and fair island somewhere, called Nacumera, that was more than a +thousand miles in circuit, and which had no other population. He tells us +that they were a very reasonable people and of good understanding, the +only fault that he finds with them being that they worship an ox as their +god. Jordanus, Burton and others locate these peculiar people in India. +Jordanus says that there are many different islands in which the men have +the heads of dogs, but the women are purely human, and, moreover, very +beautiful, whereat he very justly observes, “I cease not to marvel.” Ibn +Bakuta, describing the people of Barah-nakar, says “their men are of the +same form as ourselves, except that their mouths are like those of dogs, +but the women have mouths like other folks.” Aldrovandus naturally does +not miss such a chance as the dog-headed people afford him. Vicentius +places them in Tartary, and Marco Polo heard of them in the island of +Angaman. In Ethiopia we hear of a tribe of men that elected a dog as +their king, and judged as best they might by his actions and barking the +royal commands. + +Ethiopia was a land of marvels, the focus and centre of all the wonders +of Africa. It was held that the strange and monstrous forms there +produced arose from “the agility of the fiery heat to frame bodies and +to carve them into strange shapes.” It was reported by some that far +within the interior of the country were to be found whole nations of +noseless men, and that others were without the upper lip, while others +again were without speech, and only made communication by signs. It is +easy to see how the notion of a noseless people originated, since the +negro physiognomy often has the nose a very flattened feature, while +the people who could only make signs to the strangers that came amongst +them evidently did so from a full realization of the hopelessness of +speech. The negro lip is ordinarily a very conspicuous feature, so that +the lipless people were a legitimate object of wonder. In one district +all the four-footed beasts were without ears, even the elephants, the +old author is careful to add, being in the same plight. Our readers will +doubtless remember that the ears of the African elephant, outside this +district, are of enormous size, and form one marked difference between +him and his Asiatic brother. Elsewhere in this wondrous land we hear of +men having three and four eyes, but the old traveller carefully explains +that this tale merely arose—“not because they are thus furnished, but +because they are excellent archers.” The “because” is not very evident, +as the keenness and excellence of sight that would be of such value to +an archer is scarcely to be obtained by the multiplication of eyes: it +is quality rather than quantity that is needed here, and the old writer +is careful to add, “thus much must I advertise my readers, that I will +not pawn my credit for many things that I shall deliver.” What he saw for +himself he could vouch for, and these things were themselves so strange +that he could scarcely refuse to credit some of the wonders that were by +hearsay, but he very justly declines responsibility. + +Another old writer, Burton, in the same way cautiously evades fathering +all the wonderful tales he tells of the men who live by scent alone,[17] +of those who by eating the heart and liver of a dragon attain to the +understanding of the language of beasts, of those who have the power +of making themselves “invisible, and so forth,” “but of these I doubt +not but that the understanding reader knoweth how to judge and what to +believe.” + +On the isle called Dondum, an island that Maundevile seems to have +discovered, or developed from his inner consciousness, are “folk of gret +stature, as Geauntes: and thei ben hidouse for to loke upon: and thei +han but on eye, and that is in the myddylle of the Front, and thei eten +no thing but raw Flessche and raw Fyssche. And in another yle towards +the Southe duellen folk of foule Stature and of cursed kynde that han no +Hedes: and here Eyen ben in here Scholdres.” These are both mentioned +by Pliny, but this passage of Maundevile must not be considered as +confirmatory of Pliny’s wonders, as it is considerably less probable +that the mediæval writer had seen these monsters than that he had seen +the olden book, and transferred its wonders to his own pages. He, in +fact, distinctly tells us that his nerves would not stand an interview +with these giants, “sume of forty-five Fote or fifty Fote long. I saghe +none of tho, for I had no lust to go”! He tells us, however, of the +“Geauntes Scheep als gret as Oxen here, and thei beren gret Wolle and +roughe. Of these Scheep I have seyn many tymes.” These we may reasonably +conclude to have been Yak. As he tells us that men have often seen “the +Geauntes taken men in the Sea out of hire Schippes and broughte hem to +lond, two in one hond and two in another, etynge hem goynge alle rawe +and alle quyk,” we can readily understand his reluctance to visit them. +Elsewhere he professes to have found “wylde men hidouse to loken on for +thei ben horned, and thei speken nought, but thei gronten as Pygges.” +In yet “another Yle ben folk,”—so at least Maundevile tells us, though +it may be but a traveller’s tale,—that are “of such fasceon and Schapp, +that han the Lippe above the Mouthe so gret that whan thei slepen in +the Sonne thei kovoren alle the face with that Lippe.” This story again +is probably less a personal experience than a proof of scholarship, as +Strabo describes such a people in his writings. + +These great-lipped people have as neighbours “lytylle folk that han no +Mouthe, but in stede therof thei han a lytylle round hole: and whan thei +schalle eten or drynken thei taken throughe a Pipe or a Penne or suche a +thing and sowken it in. Thei han no Tonge and therefor thei speke not but +thei maken a manner of hyssynge, as a Neddre dothe.” + +Pliny, Isidore, Strabo and other ancient authorities on the subject, tell +of a tribe that have ears so long and pendulous that they reach to their +knees, and therefore Maundevile knew of them too, and as Pliny knew of +the Hippopodes so the mediæval writer tells us of “folk that han Hors +Feet.” These, thanks we may assume to this peculiarity, are a nation +of very swift runners, easily beating the record of any of our modern +athletes, hence they are able to capture “wylde Bestes with rennyng” and +add them to their bill of fare. + +Amongst other strange specimens of humanity that we encounter in the +pages of Maundevile, if not in the flesh, are the peculiarly strange +“folk that gon upon hire Hondes and hire Feet as Bestes,[18] and thei ben +all skynned and fedred, and thei lepen als lightly in to Trees and fro +Tree to Tree as it were Squyrelles.” In one district the people subsist +chiefly on adders, partly because there is “gret plentee” of them, but +more especially from appreciation. “Thei eten them at gret sollempnytees, +and he that makethe there a Feste, be it nevere so costifous, and he han +no Neddres, he hathe no thanke for his travaylle.” It would in fact be a +parallel atrocity to a gathering of the City Fathers at the Mansion House +and no turtle soup provided. + +The long-headed people that formed part of the strange African fraternity +we may reasonably conclude to have owed their peculiarity to the +habit of employing pressure to mould the head into the compressed and +elongated form, in just the same way that in recent times the heads +of some of the tribes of North American Indians were manipulated. We +may not unreasonably conclude, too, that some at least of the various +curious people referred to by the ancient and mediæval writers were but +accidental monstrosities, malformations of rare or casual occurrence. +Such an one appearing amongst strangers would be regarded with great +curiosity, and it would be but a short step farther to the lover of the +marvellous to assume that somewhere or other in the region from whence he +sprang, was a whole tribe or nation of such. The accidental resemblances, +too, that we sometimes see in the human physiognomy to animals would be +suggestive material to those in search of the wonderful. Porta’s book, +“De Humana Physiognomonica,” gives many illustrations of heads, animal +and human, showing resemblance of the men’s heads to those of the owl, +lion, ox, and other creatures. Some of these are very clever, while +others are absurdly forced and exaggerated. + +Munster, under the section De mirabilibus et monstrosis creaturis quæ +in interioribus Africæ inueniuntur, gives a picture in his book, where +our old friend the man with the single immense foot, the one-eyed man, +a two-headed fellow, the headless man with his eyes and other features +in his chest,[19] whose acquaintance we have made in fig. 1, and a +wolf-headed man, are all grouped together as a matter of course, leaving +the observer to conclude that anyone strolling through Central Africa +would any day expect to come across such a gathering. + +The classic myth of the centaur crops up again in the mediæval Ipotayne. +These “dwellen somtymes in the Watre and somtyme on the Lond, and thei +ben half Man and half Hors, and thei eten men[20] whan thei may take +hem.” Pliny writes of the Ægipanæ, half beasts, “shaped as you see +them commonly painted,” a terse description that may have been amply +sufficient for his original readers, but which leaves later generations +considerably in the dark. + +The belief in the mermaid was to our ancestors as real as the belief in +the mackerel; and though we have in these later days surrounded all with +an air of romance, the mermaid was to them no myth or poetic fancy, but +as genuine an article of credence as any other creature of earth, or air, +or sea. Phisiologus simply calls it “a beast of the sea,” which is a very +unpoetic definition indeed; while Boswell in like manner calls it “a sea +beast wonderfully shapen.” Nowadays one’s notion of a mermaid is of a +fair creature, half woman half fish, basking amongst the rocks or rocking +on the waves, and engaged in nothing more arduous than alternately +combing her flowing golden tresses in the sunlight, and gazing in her +constant travelling companion, her mirror, to study the effect of her +work. The mediæval mermaid was of sterner temper; one old writer says +that “they please shipmen greatly with their song that they draw them to +peril and shipwreck;” while another affirms that “this beast is glad and +merry in tempest, and heavy and sad in faire weather.” Bœwulf, the Saxon +poet, styles the mermaid— + + “The sea-wolf of the abyss, + The mighty sea-woman.” + +The syren myth of the ancients is clearly the origin of this belief in +the malevolence of the mermaid. These syrens, to quote Spencer’s “Fairie +Queen,” + + “Were faire ladies, till they fondly strived + With th’ Heliconian Maides for mastery: + Of whom they overcomen were depriv’d + Of their proud beautie, and th’ one moyity + Transform’d to fish, for their bold surquedry: + But th’ upper half their hew retayned still, + And their sweet skill in wonted melody + Which ever after they abused to ill,[21] + T’ allure weake travellers whom gotten they did kill.” + +The writer of the “Speculum Mundi” believed in mermaids as firmly as his +contemporaries did, but he departs somewhat from the traditional lines of +belief, and instead of making his mermaids brewers of the storms, sees +in them merely rather exceptionally weather-wise and gifted prophets of +the coming tempest. He says of them: “The mermaids and men-fish seem to +me the most strange fish in the waters. Some have supposed them to be +devils or spirits, in regard of their whooping noise that they make. +For (as if they had power to raise extraordinary storms and tempests) +the windes blow, seas rage, and clouds drop presently after they seem +to call.” This was the popular belief, but he explains matters as +follows:—“Questionlesse that Nature’s instinct makes in them a quicker +insight and more sudden feeling and foresight of those things than is +in man, which we see even in other creatures upon earth, as fowles, who +feeling the alteration of the aire in their feathers and quills, do +plainly prognosticate a change of weather before it appeareth to us.” +So that really the bellowing of these maidens is brought down to the +level of cock-crowing, the braying of the ass,[22] or the scream of the +peacock, as indications of weather-changes. + +The classic writers limited the number of their syrens to three +ordinarily, though they were not quite unanimous as to the exact number, +while the mediæval mermaids were simply as unnumbered and as un-named +denizens of the deep as the cod-fish. In mediæval times the mermaidens +were not ordinarily credited with any particular musical gifts, though +we remember seeing a Gothic carving of one playing on a violin. It will +be remembered that with their antique prototypes the musical part of the +entertainment was a very conspicuous feature:— + + “Withe pleasaunte tunes the syrenes did allure, + Vlisses wise, to listen to theire songe: + But nothinge could his manlie harte procure, + He sailde awaie, and scaped their charming stronge, + The face he likde; the nether parte did loathe, + For woman’s shape, and fishes, had they bothe. + + Which showes to us, when Bewtie seeks to snare + The carelesse man, who dothe no daunger dreede, + That he should flie, and should in time beware, + And not on lookes his fickle fancie feede: + Such Mairemaides liue, that promise onelie ioyes, + But he that yeldes at lengthe him selffe distroies.“[23] + +We will consider first the mermaid of the artist and the poet, and then +see how the poetic and artistic type tallies with, or differs from, the +mermaid as the ancient voyager vouches for her from ocular demonstration. +Naturally the poets were unwilling to surrender the sweet song of the +mermaid, and the bellowing and whooping of the matter-of-fact naturalists +becomes with the poets a “dulcet and harmonious breath.” All our readers +must be familiar with the beautiful passage in the “Midsummer Night’s +Dream”:— + + “I sat upon a promontory, + And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back + Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, + That the rude sea grew civil at her song; + And certain stars shot madly from their spheres + To hear the sea-maid’s music.”[24] + +Several other allusions to the mermaid will be found in the writings of +Shakespeare and many others of our poets, though it would be somewhat +foreign to our purpose to quote them at any length, fascinating as the +subject would be. Our present prosaic intent is but to introduce the +poets as witnesses to the widespread belief in such a creature as the +mermaid and to show their sympathy with it. + +In mediæval heraldry the mermaid frequently appears as a charge upon +the shield, as a supporter of the arms, and as the surmounting crest. +Any book upon heraldry will supply illustrations of this. We need only +now refer to the allusive use of the charge in the arms of the ancient +family of De La Mere, and to its occurrence as one of the badges adopted +by the Black Prince. By his will in 1376 the Prince left to his son some +hangings “de worstede embroidery avec mermyns de mier.” The mermaid is +found, too, sometimes on paving tiles, bells, and in Gothic stone and +wood-carving. It may be seen, for example, in a boss at Exeter Cathedral. +In Winchester Cathedral the mermaid holds the accustomed comb, while her +companion merman grasps a captured fish. In Lyons Cathedral a mermaid, or +we may perhaps more justly say a mer-matron, nurses a mer-baby. A mermaid +will be found carved on one of the misereres of Henry VII.’s chapel. +Another may be seen at Exeter Cathedral, and a very good one again on a +bench end at Sherringham church.[25] It is also well known as a tavern +sign, and the first literary club ever founded in England, including +amongst its members Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden +and Carew, was established in 1603 at the Mermaid in Bread Street, +Cheapside. + +Scoresby in his account of the arctic regions says that the head of the +young walrus is very human in appearance; the creature has a way too of +rearing itself well out of water to gaze at ships and other objects in +a way that proves very suggestive of the mermaid idea. “I have myself,” +he remarks, “seen one in such a position and under such circumstances, +that it required very little stretch of imagination to mistake it +for a human being. So like, indeed, was it, that the surgeon of the +ship actually reported to me his having seen a man with his head just +appearing above the water.” It is probable that the various species of +seals, too, are responsible for many of the mermaid and triton stories, +as at a little distance, and amidst the spray dashing over the rocks, +they are very human-looking—at all events, perhaps sufficiently so to +satisfy the credulity of those whose superstition made them susceptible +to such ideas. On the other hand, a whaler or other old salt who has seen +thousands of seals should scarcely be imposed upon in this way under any +possible circumstances. Let us turn, however, to some of the experiences +of those who profess to have seen the real thing in the way of mermaids, +and see what they can tell us. + +Hudson, the great navigator, whose narrative is strikingly free from any +touch of imagination, and may in fact almost without fear of libel be +called dry and tedious, tells us, in the following words, of a curious +incident that happened to them while forcing a passage through the ice +near Nova Zembla: “This morning one of our company, looking overboard, +saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the company to see her, one more +came up, and by that time she was come close to the ship’s side, looking +earnestly on the men. A little while after a sea came and overturned her. +From the navel upward her back and breast were like a woman’s, as they +say that saw her; her body as big as one of ours; her skin very white, +and long hair hanging down behind, of colour black. In her going down +they saw her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise, and speckled +like a mackerel. Their names that saw her were Thomas Hilles and Robert +Rayney.” “Whatever explanation,” says Gosse, in commenting on this story +of the old voyager in his “Romance of Natural History,” “may be attempted +of this apparition, the ordinary resource of seal and walrus will not +avail here. Seals and walruses must have been as familiar to these polar +mariners as cows to a milkmaid. Unless the whole story was a concocted +lie between the two men, reasonless and objectless, and the worthy old +navigator doubtless knew the character of his men, they must have seen +some form of being as yet unrecognized.” + +In the “Speculum Regale,” an Icelandic work of the twelfth century, we +read of a creature that was to be found off the shores of Greenland—“like +a woman as far down as her waist, long hands, and soft hair, the neck +and head in all respects like those of a human being. The hands seem to +be long, and the fingers not to be pointed, but united into a web like +that on the feet of water birds. From the waist downwards this monster +resembles a fish, with scales, tail, and fins. This shows itself, +especially before heavy storms. The habit of this creature is to dive +frequently and rise again to the surface with fishes in its hands. When +sailors see it playing with the fish, or throwing them towards the ship, +they fear that they are doomed to lose several of the crew; but when it +casts the fish from the vessel, then the sailors take it as a good omen +that they will not suffer loss in the impending storm. This monster has a +very horrible face, with broad brow and piercing eyes, a wide mouth and +double chin.” This is clearly a creature to be dreaded: we may, in fact, +lay down the broad principle that the attractive and fascinating mermaid +is the creation of the landsman and poet, while the sterner type is that +of the mariner. + +Pontoppidan, in his “Natural History of Norway,” has his mermaid story, +but it is too long to quote, and it is, moreover, needless to do so, as +all these narratives follow much the same general lines. Captain John +Smith, too, in his account of his expedition to America in 1614, has a +similar experience to relate, and many narratives of like tenour might +be found in various old writers, but we will now turn to one or two that +not merely describe a mermaid and merman seen, but the creature actually +captured. + +The following news item, from the _Scots Magazine_ for the year 1739, +refers to a creature less piscine than the typical form, but coming +sufficiently near it for inclusion. “They write from Vigo, in Spain, that +some fishermen lately took on that coast a sort of monster, or merman, +five feet and a half long from its foot to its head, which is like that +of a goat. It has a long beard and moustachios, and black skin somewhat +hairy, a very long neck, short arms, and hands longer than they ought +to be in proportion to the rest of the body: long fingers like those of +a man, with nails like claws; very long toes, joined like the feet of a +duck, and the heels furnished with fins resembling the winged feet with +which painters represent Mercury.” We get considerably nearer the ideal +in the seven mermaids that were said to be entrapped by some fishermen in +their nets off Ceylon in the year 1560. Of these, several Jesuits, and +the physician to the Viceroy of Goa, professed to be eye-witnesses, and +the latter having dissected them with great care asserts that both the +internal and external structure resembled that of human beings. Of the +piscine moiety he appears to make no mention. + +In the “Speculum Mundi” we have a very circumstantial account indeed of +a mermaid who drifted inland through a broken dyke on the Dutch coast +during a heavy storm, “and floating up and down and not finding a passage +out againe (by reason that the breach was stopped after the flood), was +espied by certain women and their servants as they went to milke their +kine in the neighbouring pastures, who at the first were afraide of +her, but seeing her often, they resolved to take her, which they did, +and bringing her home, she suffered herself to be clothed and fed with +bread and milk and other meats, and would often strive to steal again +into the sea, but being carefully watched, she could not: moreover, she +learned to spinne and perform other pettie offices of women, but at the +first they cleansed her of her sea-mosse, which did sticke about her. +She never spake, but lived dumbe, and continued alive fifteene yeares; +then she died. They tooke her in the yeare of our Lord, 1403.” One can +scarcely wonder at the poor sea-maid endeavouring to escape; the scraping +down to get off the seaweed and barnacles prior to the introduction to +the rough dress of a Dutch peasant and the homely lessons in spinning, +bread-making, and other domestic cares, were a sad contrast to the life +of wild freedom of yore amidst the rolling billows of the wild North Sea. +We read, too, that she was taught to kneel before a crucifix—a task in +itself, we should imagine, of considerable difficulty to a mermaid. When +we read in another old author that “in the island Mauritius they eat +of the mermaid, its taste is not unlike veal,” the last vestige of the +poetry of the belief vanishes, while the added detail that “when they are +first taken they cry and grieve with great sensibility” seems to bring +the indulgence in such diet almost to cannibalism. + +From veal to the “maiden clothed alone in loveliness,” of whom the poet +sings, is a contrast indeed, and even the scraped mermaid turned Dutch +vrouw is a very different creature to her whose— + + “Golden hair fell o’er her shoulders white + And curled in amorous ringlets round her breasts; + Her eyes were melting into love, her lips + Had made the very roses envious; + Withal a voice so full and yet so clear, + So tender, made for loving dialoges. + And then she sang—sang of undying love + That waited them within her coral groves + Beneath the deep blue sea, and all the bliss + That mortals made immortal could enjoy, + Who lived with her in sweet community.” + +In an advertisement in the London _Daily Post_, of January 23rd, 1738, +we read that there is “To be Seen, next door to the Crown Tavern in +Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange, at One Shilling each, +the Surprising Fish or Maremaid, taken by eight Fishermen on Friday the +9th of September last, at Topsham Bar, near Exeter, and has been shewn +to several Gentlemen, and those of the Faculty, in the Cities of Exeter, +Bath, and Bristol, who declare never to have seen the like, so remarkable +is this Curiosity amongst the Wonders of Creation. This uncommon Species +of Nature represents from the Collarbone down the Body what the Antients +called a Maremaid, has a Wing to each Shoulder like those of a Cherubim +mentioned in History, with regular Ribs, Breasts, Thighs, and Feet, the +Joints thereto having their proper Motions, and to each Thigh a Fin; the +Tail resembles a Dolphin’s, which turns up to the Shoulders, the forepart +of the Body very smooth, but the skin of the Back rough; the back part +of the Head like a Lyon, has a large Mouth, sharp Teeth, two Eyes, Spout +holes, Nostrils, and a thick Neck.” This we may not uncharitably assume +was less a mermaid than a swindle. While the advertisement tells us that +the creature in question has been seen by several of the faculty, it +does not tell us what the faculty said when they saw it! This is a very +serious omission. This “Maremaid” does not altogether conform to the +accepted type, feet, spout-holes, and cherubic wings being all abnormal +developments. + +There are, of course, at all times plenty of skilful knaves and +unprincipled adventurers ready in divers ways to take advantage of the +credulity of the public, and a belief in many absurdities has been +maintained by the apparent evidence which the conniving of such persons +has from time to time furnished. To say nothing of the impostures +constantly practised at fairs and by travelling show-people, it was +announced in the earlier days of the century that a party had arrived +from abroad with a mermaid, and that it was to be exhibited in one of +the leading streets in the West End of London. A good round fee was +demanded for admission, and the dupes were shown a strange-looking object +in a glass case, which was unblushingly declared to be a mermaid. But +the imposture was too gross to last long; it was ascertained to be the +dried skin of the head and shoulders of a monkey attached to the skin +of a fish of the salmon kind, with the head cut off, the whole being +stuffed and highly varnished. This grotesque object was taken by a Dutch +vessel from on board a native Malacca boat, and from the reverence shown +it by the sailors it was probably an idol or fetish, the incarnation of +some river-god of their mythology. Repulsive as the creature was, we +have an illustration of it before us in a newspaper of the year 1836. +It achieved a great popularity, and the profits that accrued from the +exhibition were, for some time, considerable, but the owners presently +quarrelled amongst themselves, and the unpoetic ending of this monkey +mermaiden was that she became the subject of a suit in Chancery. When +one remembers the success that Barnum achieved amongst the credulous in +very much more recent times with a stuffed mermaid, we can only feel +that Carlyle was right in his liberal percentage of fools, and though +in this case it was the cute Yankee and not the unsuspecting Britisher +that succumbed, the truth of Southey’s assertion that “man is a dupeable +animal” holds equally good, and is of far-reaching application. + +The “Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Enquiries into very many received Tenents +and commonly Presumed Truths, by Thomas Browne, Doctor of Physick,” is +a book far in advance of its time, and very interesting in showing what +extraordinary beliefs were held at the time it was written. The copy open +before us is the second edition, and is dated 1650. Some of the ideas +combatted are “that Crystall is nothing else but Ice strongly congealed; +the legend of the Wandering Jew; that a diamond is made soft by the blood +of a goat; that an elephant hath no joynts; that a salamander lives in +the fire; that storks will only live in republics.” To these fancies many +others might be added, and some few of them that deal with the animal +kingdom we shall have occasion to touch upon in the course of our book. + +We naturally turn to Browne’s remarks upon mermaids, but we scarcely +gather from them any definite idea as to his belief in the matter. Before +quoting his remarks we must premise that his style of composition is +somewhat stilted and pedantic. “Few eyes,” saith he, “have escaped the +Picture of Mermaids; that is, according to Horace, his monster, with +woman’s head above and fishing extremity below; and this is conceived +to answer the shape of the ancient Syrens that attempted upon Ulysses. +Which notwithstanding were of another description, containing no fishy +composure, but made up of Man and Bird; the human mediety being variously +placed not only above but also below. These pieces so common among us +doe rather derive their originall, and are indeed the very description +of Dagon; which was made with humane figure above and fishy shape below, +of the shape of Atergates or Derceto with the Phœnicians, in whose fishy +and feminine mixture as some conceive, were implied the Moon and the Sun, +or the Deity of the waters, from whence were probably occasioned the +pictures of Nereides and Tritons among the Grecians.”[26] + +Browne had the wisdom at a period when immense faith was attached to +tradition to investigate matters for himself whenever it was possible, +and the courage to declare the result whether it fell in with the +statements of previous authorities or not. Thus he tells us that “the +Antipathy between a Toad and a Spider—and that they poisonously destroy +each other—is very famous, and Solemne Stories have been written of their +combats, wherin most commonly the Victory is given unto the Spider.” This +definite statement of antipathy would appear to be an assertion very +capable of proof or disproof, but it never seems to have occurred to +the philosophers to bring the matter to test, it being so much simpler +to copy throughout the centuries from each other.[27] “But what we have +observed herein,” quoth Browne, “we cannot in reason conceale; who having +in a glasse included a Toad with severall Spiders, we beheld the Spiders +without resistance to sit upon his head and passe over all his body, +which at last upon advantage he swallowed down, and that in a few houres +unto the number of seven.” Thus in ten minutes of practical observation +collapsed a legend that had held its ground for over a thousand years. + +Such results gave him full right to speak out, and he analyses the works +of the ancients very freely, yet withal very justly and temperately. +Thus he terms Dioscorides “an Author of good Antiquity, preferred by +Galen before all that attempted the like before him: yet all he delivered +therin is not to be conceived oraculous.” Concerning Ælianus he tells us +that he was “an elegant Author, he hath left two books which are in the +hands of every one—his ‘History of Animals’ and his ‘Varia Historia,’ +wherein are contained many things suspicious, not a few false, some +impossible.” Of Pliny himself, the great holdfast and sheet-anchor of all +previous writers on natural history, he writes: “A man of great elegance +and industry indefatigable, as may appear by his writings, which are +never like to perish, not even with learning itself. Now what is very +strange, there is scarce a popular error passant in our daies which is +not either directly expressed or diductively contained in his ‘Natural +History,’ which being in the hands of most men, hath proved a powerful +occasion of their propagation.” The labours of Browne should ever be held +in great esteem, as he had the true scientific spirit, and, regardless of +all minor considerations, sought eagerly for the truth. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.] + +In fig. 7 we have a representation of the Oannes of the Chaldeans, the +Philistine Dagon,[28] the fish On, as shown on one of the slabs from +the Palace of Khorsabad. While one may readily admit that the mediæval +mermaid is a direct descendant from the tritons and sea-nymphs of classic +mythology and fancy, and that these in turn may have descended from the +yet older civilizations and creeds of Egypt and Assyria, we can hardly +ascribe any close association between the Chaldean Oannes and the +popular notion as to mermaids. The former is divine, and is necessarily +but one, while the latter claim no divinity and no individuality, but +are both numerous and nameless. The work of Oannes was moreover wholly +beneficent; he taught men the arts of life—to construct cities, to found +temples, to compile laws. He was a solar deity equivalent to Osiris and +Apollo, bringing light and life to all. He was fabled to visit earth each +morning, and at evening to plunge into the sea; a poetic description +of the rising and setting of the sun. Hence his semi-piscine form was +an expression of the belief that half his time was spent on earth and +half below the waves. Hence, too, the moon-goddess, Derceto, that Browne +refers to as at times manifesting herself to the eyes of men, at times +plunged beneath the waves, was represented as half-woman, half-fish, and +may be thus still seen on the coins of Ascalon. The kindly influence +of solar and lunar deities—in other words, the beneficent influence of +Nature and of the times and seasons—on the works of men is an altogether +nobler idea than belief in classic syren or mediæval Lorelei, who charm +but to destroy. + +Fig. 8 is a curious variant from the accepted notion of a mermaid. We +have extracted it from one of the maps in Munster’s Cosmography. It is +placed where in more modern charts Australia would be found, south of the +islands of “Iaua” and “Porne,” names which the discrimination of our +readers, who are at all accustomed to the transposition and substitution +of letters in these old records, will no doubt readily resolve into Java +and Borneo. One can easily imagine that the double tail, like the twin +screws of an ironclad or ocean liner, might be of great assistance in +steering, though some few millions of the lowlier inhabitants of the deep +have nevertheless for ages got along very fairly without this special +development.[29] + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.] + +We are told in mediæval story that a young man wandering along the rocky +beach suddenly encountered a mermaid and seized her before she was +able to reach the water. Her personal charms so worked upon his ardent +temperament that he then and there proposed matrimony, and his suit was +successful. Would that we could conclude in true story-book style, and +declare that they lived happy ever after! After years of wedded bliss, +a great longing came over her to see her own people once more, and, on +the distinct understanding that the parting was to be a very short one, +she embraced her husband and children and plunged into the sea and never +reappeared, it being charitably assumed by those responsible for the +story that the waters, like those of Lethe, washed away all remembrance +of the past, and buried in oblivion the years she had spent so happily on +earth. + +The power that this story and the next one we propose to tell +presupposes—the power of being able to change one’s nature—is responsible +for some of the most terrible beliefs, notably those where men and women +were changed into animals, such as dragons or the wehr-wolf. In the +following story, though the outcome was lamentable, the weird horror +of so many of these tales is absent. Like the previous story, it deals +with the tender passion, and the ardent lover and the charming damsel +reappear on our page. The lady, before acceding to the wishes of her +suitor, stipulated that she should have, without question, the whole of +every Saturday to herself, and the request was acceded to and honourably +observed for some years. At last one day, stung by the remarks of some +mischief-makers, he intruded upon his wife’s privacy, and found her +in mermaid form disporting herself in her bath. She gave one piercing +shriek, and then vanished for ever. In fig. 9 we see in the foreground +the astonished husband, and to the left of the picture the meddlesome +neighbour riding off, while, with the quaint _naïveté_ of Gothic art, +all that intervenes between us and the chamber of mystery is removed, +and there is unmistakable evidence that the fatal and final Saturday, +after years of wedded bliss, has dawned. The tempting peep-hole that +facilitated the tragedy will be seen by the side of the man’s head, and +it speaks well for the honourable feeling of the promise-giver that so +easy a means of clearing up the weekly mystery was for years unused. It +is difficult now to realize that such a story could ever be seriously +believed, and that the possibility of some such incident might befall +oneself, or occur, quite as a matter of course, in the circle of one’s +friends. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.] + +The terrible belief in lycanthropy, the transmutation of men into wolves, +was one of the most widely spread of the weird fancies of the Middle +Ages. The idea of the changing of men into various animals is a very +ancient one. Herodotus tells us that the Scythians affirm that the whole +nation of the Neuri change themselves once a year into wolves, and our +readers will readily recall the transformation of the companions of +Ulysses into swine, of Actæon into a stag, and divers other gruesome +stories of like nature. Ovid, for example, in the “Metamorphoses” tells +how Zeus visited Lykaon, the King of Arcadia, and how the king placed a +dish of roasted human flesh before his guest to test his omniscience. The +daring experiment was promptly detected, and the monarch as a punishment +was changed into a wolf by the offended deity in order that henceforth +he should himself feed on the flesh he had so impiously offered. + + “In vain he attempted to speak; from that very instant + His jaws were bespluttered with foam, and only he thirsted + For blood, as he ranged amongst flocks and panted for slaughter. + His vesture was changed into hair, his limbs became crooked, + A wolf—he retains yet large trace of his ancient expression, + Hoary he is as afore, his countenance rabid, + His eyes glitter savagely still, the picture of fury.”[30] + +Euanthes, an early Greek writer, tells a very circumstantial story indeed +of a certain tribe where one of its members must each year be chosen by +lot to become a wolf. Why this should be at all necessary he does not +stop to explain. The conditions are very precise. The day and the man +having been selected he is taken to the border of a large lake, and his +clothes removed, and hung upon an oak tree. He then swims across the lake +and disappears into the gloomy woods that come down on the further side +to the water’s edge, and then and there changes into a wolf. Should he +forbear for nine years to eat the flesh of man he may return to the lake +and recross it, changing back, as he lands, into his manhood again, and +only differing from his former self in the fact that he will look nine +years older. Should he, on the general principle of doing at Rome as the +Romans do, share with his vulpine companions in any feast of human flesh, +a wolf he must remain to the end of his days. As very probably, however, +he would find amongst his comrades some few who, like himself, were human +beings undergoing this temporary metamorphosis, he would be encouraged +to persevere in this restriction of his diet by their example and +encouragement, and also escape the painful singularity that his genuinely +wolf associates would very possibly resent. + +One Fabius, having an inquiring mind and fired with curiosity as to why +the man should carefully suspend his clothes in an oak tree, is able +to add as the result of his inquiries, that those are the clothes that +the man resumes when he emerges from the lake. Whether they had been +miraculously preserved or whether they had undergone such deterioration +as would otherwise arise from their suspension in a tree exposed to all +weathers for nine years he does not inform us. The point is a distinctly +interesting one, and especially to the man reclaiming his wardrobe. + +One great feature of terror in the belief in lycanthropy and such like +metamorphosis is that the man still retains his human reason, memory, and +knowledge of himself and his surroundings, and is, in addition, imbued +with the fierce animal instincts of the ravenous brute into which he has +been transformed. + +The wolf is the prominent animal in the history of this belief in +Europe, since in this part of the world it was the creature that caused +the greatest devastation, but in India the transformation is to the tiger +or the serpent, in South America to the jaguar, in Africa to the lion, +the leopard, or the hyæna. In some cases this change would appear to +be a terrible punishment for wrong done, in others a transformation at +pleasure by wicked men seeking in the new guise to inflict terror, loss, +and death. Amongst some peoples it was believed that brave and noble +men became lions and eagles, while mean and treacherous ones changed to +snakes, jackals, or hyænas. The belief in one form or another reappears +in endless fables in circulation amongst the natives of almost every +country the wide world over. + +Insanity, monomania, bodily disease, hydrophobia, are doubtless +responsible for much in this matter. In many cases, we can scarcely +doubt, the people charged with being wehr-wolves were entirely innocent +of offence, the charge, like that of witchcraft, being brought against +them by those who either in blind terror and superstition or some motive +of craft or greed were desirous to get them removed out of the way. In +some cases fierce lunatics, not as now confined in asylums, but roaming +the country at large, in homicidal mania destroyed human life and became +invested in the eyes of men with strange and terrible powers. Often, too, +the reputed wehr-wolves under pressure of torture would in their agony +confess to anything their tormentors suggested, simply as a means of +obtaining some temporary respite for their sufferings, or in the ravings +of delirium utter things that superstition could readily distort into +admission and confession. We must remember, too, that many of the most +horrible stories are narrated by writers whose veracity is by no means +on a par with their credulity, and while their statements, outrageous as +they are, were no doubt in most cases honestly intended, the reader must +by no means suspend the right of private judgment. + +It is historic fact that in the year 1600 multitudes of men were seized +with the hallucination that they were changed into wolves, and retreating +into caves and dark recesses of the forests, issued thence howling and +foaming in mad lust of blood.[31] Many helpless men, women, and children +were destroyed by them during this frightful epidemic, and many hundreds +of those possessed were executed on their own confession or on the +testimony of the panic-stricken. + + “In those that are possess’d with’t there o’erflows + Such melancholy humour they imagine + Themselves to be transform’d into woolves; + Steale forth to churchyards in the dead of night, + And dig dead bodies up; as, two nights since + One met the Duke ’bout midnight, in a lane + Behind St. Markes Church, with the leg of a man + Upon his shoulder; and he howl’d fearfully; + Said he was a woolfe; only the difference + Was, a woolfes skinne is hairy on the outside, + His on the inside, bade them take their swords, + Rip up his flesh and try. Straight I was sent for; + And, having ministered unto him, found his Grace + Very well recover’d.” + +Some commentators have held that Nebuchadnezzar, when driven from the +presence of man, was suffering from a like form of madness, and fancying +himself to be a beast. + +It was a common belief in ancient times that the wehr-wolf simply +effected the change from man to beast by turning his skin inside +out, hence he was sometimes called Versipellis, a term equivalent to +skin-turner. In mediæval days it was thought that the wolf’s skin was +beneath the human, and any unfortunate individual who was suspected of +lycanthropy was very likely to find himself being hacked at by seekers +after truth in search of this inner hairy covering. + +Olaus Magnus,[32] in the early part of the sixteenth century, tells us +a story of a nobleman and his retinue who lost their way in journeying +through a wild forest and presently found themselves hopelessly foodless +and shelterless. In the urgency of their need, one of his servants +disclosed to him in confidence that he had the power of turning himself +at will into a wolf, and doubted not but that, if his master would kindly +excuse him awhile, he would be able to find the party some provision. +Permission being given, the man disappeared into the forest under +semblance of a wolf, and very quickly returned with a lamb in his mouth, +and then, having fulfilled his mission, resumed his human shape. The +forest would provide unlimited fuel, while their knives would supply the +cutlery. Some member of the party, it is to be hoped, had a tinder-box, +or the repast after all would have to consist of cold raw lamb. As hunger +is proverbially said to be the best sauce, the absence of mint would be +of little moment at this vulpine banquet. + +The belief in man’s power thus to change his form and nature is obviously +derived from the widely-spread doctrine of metempsychosis, the passing +of the soul after the human life is ended into an animal, or a series +of animals. This change is ordinarily in harmony with the character +of the deceased, the timid nervous folk reappearing on earth as hares +and such-like creatures, the gluttonous as swine or vultures and other +foul-feeders. Thus the soul, the eternal principle, in the words of the +poet: + + “Fills with fresh energy another form, + And towers an elephant or glides a worm + Swims as an eagle in the eye of noon + Or wails a screech-owl to the deaf cold moon, + Or haunts the brakes where serpents hiss and glare, + Or hums, a glittering insect, in the air.” + +John of Nuremberg relates, in his book “De Miraculis,” how a man, lost at +night in a strange country, directed his steps towards a fire that he saw +before him. On reaching it he found a wolf sitting enjoying its warmth, +and was informed by him that he was really as human as himself, but that +he was compelled for a certain number of years, like all his countrymen, +to assume the shape of a wolf. A strange country, indeed, where wolves +when the evenings grow chilly light a fire, and in the comfort of its +ruddy glow are found quite ready to entertain the passing traveller with +their conversation. + +In the year 1573 one Garnier, a native of Lyons, who had led a very +secluded life, excited the suspicions of his neighbours, and was dragged +before the tribunals on the charge of being a _loup-garou_, the French +equivalent term for wehr-wolf. It was affirmed that he prowled about at +night and in vulpine form devoured infants. He was arrested, and put +to the torture, confessed everything that was charged against him, and +was burnt at the stake. It was no joke in mediæval days to be a little +retiring in disposition: the worst construction was put upon it, and +one’s neighbours, at short notice, were able to report having seen a +black cat about the place, or some equally convincing proof of evil +possession, and from thence it was a short passage to the river or the +fire. + +Within a few years afterwards a man named Roulet was tried at Angers +on the charge of having slain and partially devoured a boy. Evidence +was given that he was seen in wolf form tearing the body, and on +being pursued, he took refuge in a thicket. Here he was surrounded +and captured, but when caught he had resumed the human form. He was +condemned to death, but the sentence was afterwards changed to life-long +confinement. + +In Auvergne in 1588, a nobleman, in returning from the chase, was stopped +by a stranger, who told him that he had been furiously attacked by a +savage wolf, but had been fortunate enough to save himself by slashing +off one of its fore-paws. This he produced as a trophy, when, to the +astonishment of both, it was found to have become the delicate hand of +a lady. The noble felt so sure that he recognized a ring upon it, that +he hurried to the castle, and there found his wife sitting with her arm +tied up, and on removing the wrappers the hand was missing. She had to +stand her trial as a _loup-garou_, and being convicted, perished at the +stake. Stories of the type of those given might readily be multiplied +indefinitely. + +A belief in enchantment introduced a new complication. Things we are +taught are not always what they seem, and certainly in the writings +of the Middle Ages we find many illustrations of the truth of this +adage, since the pages of those authors abound with examples of the +transformation of men and women into various uncanny creatures by mystic +spells. The story of Beauty and the Beast is a survival of these. Sir +John Maundevile, to give but one illustration, tells us, in his very +wonderful travels, of a dragon that was to be seen in the island of Cos, +a creature which the people of the island called the Lady of the Land, +being in fact “the Doughtre of Ypocras in forme and lykenesse of a gret +Dragoun, that is an hundred Fadme of lengthe. Sche lyethe in an old +Castelle, in a Cave, and schewethe twyse or thryes in the yeer. Sche was +thus chaunged and transformed from a fayre Damysele in to lykenesse of +a Dragoun be a Goddesse that was clept Deane.” This Deane our readers +may perhaps scarcely recognize as Diana. How it was that Damysele and +Deane had between them brought about such a state of things the history +does not tell us. Centuries after Deane was an exploded myth we find +this evidence of a by-gone feud still in existence, testifying to the +virulence of the goddess’s temper and the power of enchantment. “Men seyn +that sche schalle so endure in that forme of a Dragoun unto the tyme that +a Knyghte come that is so hardy that dare come to hir and kisse hir on +the mouthe, and then schalle sche turne agen to hire owne Kynde and ben +a Woman agen. It is not long sith then that a Knyghte of Rodes that was +hardy and doughtie in Armes seyde that he wolde kyssen hire, and whan he +entred into the Cave the Dragoun lifte up hire Had agenst him, and whan +the Knyghte saw hire in that Forme so hidous and so horrible he fleyghe +awey.” The dragon-maiden naturally resented this slight upon her charms, +and pursued and killed him. Presently, a young man who knew nothing of +all this, for “he wente out of a Schippe” and was a stranger in those +parts, came to the cave, and there found a charming “Damysele that Kembed +hire Hede and lokede in a Myrour.” She asked him if he were a knight, +and when he answered her that he was but a poor mariner, she told him to +go and get knighted, and come again on the morrow, “and kysse hir on the +Mouthe and have no Drede, for I schalle do the no maner harm, alle beit +that thou see me in Lykenesse of a Dragoun.” She went on to assure him +that she was the victim of enchantment, and that if he would free her +from this he should be her lord, and have in addition much treasure. How +his “Felowes in the Schippe” were able to dub him knight does not appear; +but he, at all events, presented himself on the morrow “for to kysse this +Damysele.” But his nerve failed him at the critical moment, for “whan he +saughe hir comen out of the Cave so hidouse and so horrible, he hadde +so gret dred that he flyhte agen to the Schippe.” For anything we learn +to the contrary, the charm was never broken, for all that Maundevile +can tell us more is that “whan a Knyghte comethe that is so hardy as to +kysse hir he schalle not dye, but he schalle turne the Damysele in to +hir righte Forme and Kyndely Schapp, and he schal be Lord of alle the +Contreye and Isles.” In our illustration, fig. 10, we see the newly-made +knight making his way back again to his vessel with all convenient speed, +his courage having entirely failed him at the critical moment. + +[Illustration: FIG. 10.] + +A belief in witches, fairies, and divers other uncanny folk was a strong +article of faith with our ancestors, but to go at any just length into +these points would lead us further afield than our title would perhaps +justify. As we have already referred to the suspicion that attached +itself to anyone who led a life somewhat outside the ordinary groove, we +append an excellent illustrative passage from Spenser’s “Faerie Queene,” +as it admirably conveys the popular idea. There in a gloomy hollow glen +she found:— + + “A little cottage built of sticks and reedes + In homely wise, and walled with sod around, + In which a Witch did dwell, in loathly weedes + And wilful want, all careless of her needes; + So choosing solitarie to abide + Far from all neighbours, that her devilish deedes + And hellish arts from people she might hide, + And hurt far off unknowne whom ever she envide.” + +Those who care to look the subject up may turn to Reginald Scot’s +“Discoverie of Witchcraft,” “wherein the lewde dealing of Witches and +Witchmongers is notablie detected, the knauerie of coniurors, the +Curiositie of figure-casters, and many other things are opened which have +long lien hidden;”[33] or perhaps, better still, to the book entitled +“Saducismus Triumphatus, or full and plain Evidence concerning Witches +and Apparitions, proving partly by Holy Scripture, partly by a choice +Collection of modern Relations, the Real Existence of Apparitions, +Spirits and Witches, by Jos. Glanvil, late Chaplain to His Majesty, and +Fellow of the Royal Society.” The copy before us is dated 1658, and is +full of tales of familiar spirits in the forms of toads, rabbits, hares, +dogs, &c., diver incantations to provoke evil or to shield from it, +and the like, all gravely narrated. The author, in fact, holds it rank +atheism to doubt such tales, since witches are moved by evil spirits, +and if people do not believe in one they do not in the other, and +therefore not in spirits at all, and therefore not in God! + +In the days of our forefathers the ideas held were of a very primitive +and unscientific character, and what knowledge there was was largely +mixed up with mysticism, gross superstition, rank credulity, sheer +guesswork. The common people saw in everything outside their common +experience some grave portent, some prophecy of coming evil, and filled +the forest glades, the wild moorland, the dark recesses of the mine, +the air, the waters, with strange forms of life, sometimes in sympathy +with mankind, but more frequently hostile. We may, on the whole, be very +thankful that our lot was not cast in the “good old times.” + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + The lion, king of beasts—Unbelievers in him—Aldrovandus on the + lion—The lion of the heralds—The “Blazon of Gentrie”—Guillim + as an authority—The lion’s medicine—The lion’s antipathies—Why + some lions are maneless—De Thaun’s symbolic lion—Lion’s cubs + born dead—The theory of Creation held during the Middle + Ages—Degenerate lions of Barbary—The Leontophonos—Hostility + between lion and unicorn—Literary references to the + unicorn—Martin’s “Philosophical Grammar”—How to capture + the unicorn—The value of the horn—The elephant—The capture + thereof—Feud between elephant and dragon—Use of elephant + in war—Performing elephants—Moon-worshippers—Knowledge + of the value of their tusks—The first elephant seen + in England—Sagacity of the elephant—Kindliness to + lost travellers—Ethiopian huntresses—Difference + between the creations of Fancy and of Nature—Elephants + cold-blooded—Hippopotamus prescribing himself blood-letting—The + river-horse of Munster—The panther—Powers of fascination—Beauty + of coat—Fragrance—Red panthers of Cathay—Aromatic spices + as diet—Antipathies between various animals—Antipathetic + medicines—Porta’s “Natural Magick”—The hyæna—Counterfeiting + human speech—The wolf—Producing speechlessness—The dragon’s + parentage—Enmity between wolf and sheep—Value of wolf-skin + garments—The stag-wolf—The bear—Licking cubs into shape—Bees + and honey—The hare—Cruelty of many mediæval remedies—The + hedgehog—The deer—Stories with morals—The boar—Swine-stone—The + ermine—The goat—The malevolent shrew-mouse—The horse—Why + oxen should drink before horses—The donkey—The sparrow’s + aversion—The dog—The cat—Rats and mice. + + +Having in the preceding chapters dealt with some few of the abnormal +forms of humanity, we propose now to give some little consideration to +the ideas that have clustered round various animals, dealing first +with the beasts, the royal lion, the elephant, and various others; then +passing through the various stages of birds, fishes, and reptiles, to the +conclusion of our labours. + +The lion claims our first regard, since he has, by the naturalists, +poets, moralists, fable-writers, been unanimously crowned the King of +Beasts, and has been duly accredited with every royal virtue, such as +magnanimity, courage, generosity; while in art he has always taken +the same exalted position, crowning the gates of Mycenæ, flanking the +entrances of the palaces of Nineveh, enhancing the dignity of the +Pharaohs, guarding the steps of the throne of Solomon, typifying in the +lion of Lucerne undaunted bravery, and around the column of Nelson in +Trafalgar Square, or on the Royal Standard of England, symbolising all +that Britons associate with the grandeur and might of their country. + +The lion alone of all wild beasts, we are told, is gentle to those that +humble themselves to him, and even when his wrath is awakened, and the +pangs of hunger call for relief, his chivalrous nature is such that he +will not attack a woman without the greatest provocation or necessity. +Another interesting fact that the ancient writers ascertained is that +the blood of the lion is black. That he is not in any derogatory sense +black-hearted, is one of the most heartily accepted articles of belief +since the magnanimity of the lion is the trait in his character that is +most fully dwelt upon. + +There have, nevertheless, arisen unbelievers in these latter days who +have endeavoured to belittle the royal beast, and to make out that he +is, after all, not much better than a sneaking coward, that his courage +springs from a knowledge of his superior power, and that his forbearance +and generosity are but indications that the creature at the time he +displayed these estimable qualities had lately dined. Even in the +following passage from an early writer we get some little hint of this +feeling: “He despiseth the darts and defendeth himself by his terror +only, and, as if bearing witness that he is forced to his own defence, +he riseth up in fury, not as at last compelled by the peril, but is made +angry by their folly. But this more noble display of courage is shown in +that, however great may be the strength of hounds and hunters, while in +the open plains, and where he may be seen, he retireth only by degrees, +and with scorn; but when he hath got amongst the thickets and woods, then +he hurrieth away, as if the place concealed his shame.” Perhaps, however, +we should assign this strategic movement to the rear to the discretion +that we are proverbially told is such an excellent supplement to mere +valour, or a wise acquiescence in the dictum: “He that fights and runs +away will live to fight another day.”[34] The ideal lion, however, is a +very noble beast indeed, and very few of the early writers do aught but +sing his praises. + +Aldrovandus in his book on animals—not the “Monstrorum Historia,” but +the volume that treats of matter-of-fact creatures—deals very fully with +his subject. The Lion stands first, and our readers will gather some +notion of the fulness of the treatment when we state that the royal beast +takes up sixty-three folio pages. The book is written wholly in Latin, +and the various details are arranged in sections. Amongst these we find +“Descriptio, Anatomica, Differentiæ, Locvs, Natvra, Mores, Magnanimitas, +Vox, Sympathia et Antipathia, Historica, Mystica et allegorica, +Hieroglyphica, Moralia, Nvmismata, Insignia Gentilitia et Militaria, +Simvlacra statvæ, Fabvlosa, Proverbia, Vsvs in Medicina, Vsvs in Lvdis +et Trivmphis, Vsvs in Venatione et in Bello.” Even this does not exhaust +the exceedingly comprehensive treatment, though amply sufficient to +illustrate it. The leopard, lynx, dog, and other beasts are in proportion +as fully treated of, though the subjects of the sections of course vary; +thus in the dog we find much information under the heading Fidelitas and +Amor, sections that would be entirely out of place in the description of +the wolf. + +The Aldrovandus picture of the lion is rather a poor one, while the tiger +is very fairly good, and the wolf is capital. It is rather curious too +that the hippopotamus, the first living specimen of which, as far as we +know, came to Europe over two hundred years after the publication of the +book in question, is represented by very fair figures, by which it can +readily be identified. There are three of these altogether, and one of +them has seized a crocodile by the tail. Several of the beasts are also +given in skeleton form, thus we have the osteology of the wolf, squirrel, +mole, and many others carefully rendered. The effect is sometimes rather +quaint, thus, for instance, the skeleton of the hare is given, and the +creature in this osseous condition is represented as gnawing a plant. +The mole is figured with very conspicuous eyes. Any plant that can be +at all associated with an animal is always introduced, thus we have a +very good drawing of the rabbit nibbling clover, and the legend appended +“cuniculus cinereus cum trifolio pratensi, quo maxime delectatus,” a +statement that many a luckless farmer would very heartily endorse; then +we have the weasel standing by a plant of rue, and the legend “qua omnes +mustelæ adversus serpentes se defendunt,” in allusion to the old belief +that a weasel well fortified with rue was able to wage successful war +against venomous serpents. Many kinds of dogs are shown, the greyhound, +the water spaniel, the poodle with his collar, and so forth; one, to show +his fidelity to his master, carries two keys in his mouth, while another +is termed “canis bellicosus,” and certainly looks the character. + +“The Lyon,” says Ferne, in his “Blazon of Gentrie, 1586,” “is the most +worthiest of all beastes; yea, he standeth as the king, and is feared +above all the beastes of the fielde. So that by the Lyon is signified +principallitie, dominion, and rule. Fortitude and magnanimity is denoted +in the Lyon.” Coats, another heraldic authority of somewhat later date, +affirms that “the lion is the most magnanimous, the most generous, the +most bold and fierce of all the four-footed race, and therefore he +has been chosen to represent the greatest heroes. This noble creature +represents also Command and Monarchical Dominion, as likewise the +Magnanimity of Majesty, at once exercising Awe and Clemency, subduing +those that resist, and sparing those that humble themselves.” In the +“Indice Armorial” of Geliot, published in Paris in the year 1635, we +read: “Si ca est auec raison que les anciens ont donné a l’aigle la +qualité de Roy des oyseaux et au dauphin celuy des poissons, il y a plus +de sujet de qualifier du nom de Roy le lyon, non seulement pour estre +plus fort et le plus genereux des animaux terrestres, mais principalement +à cause des qualitez royales qui sont en luy. Le lyon ne dort iamais, ou +bien s’il dort c’est auec si peu de repos qu’il ne laisse pas d’auoir les +yeux ouverts. C’est ce que l’on remarque de genereux au lyon que iamais +il n’offence ceux qui s’humilient deuant luy, qu’il ne touche point aux +petits enfants et porta qu’entre les hommes et les femmes il s’addresse +plutost aux hommes, et entre ceux qui les prouoquent il choisira +tousiours celuy qui l’aura blessé, comme mespriant les autres.” Guillim, +in his “Display of Heraldry,” a most popular book, running through many +editions, scarcely gives so exalted an idea of the king of beasts, +since he tells us that “the lion, when he mindeth to assail his enemy, +stirreth up himself by often beating of his back and sides with his tail, +and thereby stirreth up his courage to the end to do nothing faintly +or cowardly. The lion, when he is hunted, carefully provideth for his +safety, labouring to frustrate the pursuit of the hunters by sweeping out +his footsteps with his tail as he goeth, that no appearance of his track +may be discovered. When he hunteth after his prey he roareth vehemently, +whereat the beasts, being astonished, do make a stand, while he with his +tail makes a circuit around them in the sand, which circle they dare +not transgress, which done, out of them he maketh choice of prey at his +leisure.” Thus the lion’s tail is at once a stimulus to valour, an aid +to concealment when the valour has oozed away, and a ring-fence for the +enclosure of his prey. + +Gerard Legh, author of the “Accedens of Armorie,” a book originally +published in 1562, and so popular that within half a century five +editions were called for, tells us that when lions are born “they sleepe +continually three long Egyptian daies. Whereat the Lyonesse, making such +terrible roring as the erth trembleth therewith, raiseth them by force +thereof out of that deadlie sleepe, ministering foode, which of sleepe +before they could not take. Aristotle writeth that in his marching he +setteth foorth his right pawe first, and beareth in himselfe a princelie +port. When he pursueth aunie beast he rampeth on them, for then he is +in most force. In nothing so much appeareth the princelie minde of the +haughtie Lyon as in this, that where other beastes do herd and rowte +together the Lyon will not do so, neither will hee haue any soueraigne, +such is the haughtie courage of his high stomache that he accomteth +himselfe without peere; when he is sicke he healeth himselfe with the +bloud of an Ape.[35] In age when his strength faileth him he becommeth +enemie to man, and not before, but neuer to children. There is little +marrow in his bones, for when they are smitten together fier flieth out +of them as from a flint stone. Therefore in the olde time they made +shields for horsemen of Lyon’s bones.” Another old writer tells us that +“the lion is never sick but of loathing.” This we may presume is a kind +of biliousness or sick headache, and a general disinclination for food. +Whatever it may be, the Faculty are equal to the occasion, as the simple +“way to cure him is to tie to him the apes, which with their wanton +mocking drive him to madness, and then when he hath tasted their blood +it acts as a remedy.” Legh’s remedy and this one do not quite agree, but +this latter is clearly intended for the lion in a state of captivity, +when his unnatural surroundings necessitate severer treatment. + +When a lion is wounded we are told that he has a remarkable quickness +of observation in detecting which amongst the hunters is to be held +responsible for the injury, and, no matter what the size of the hunting +party, he singles out this particular individual for his attack, but if a +man has merely thrown a dart at him without wounding him it is sufficient +punishment for his audacity to be struck down and well shaken. Lions, +Pliny tells us, are destitute of craft and suspicion; “they never look +aslant, and they love not to be looked at in that manner.” The lion was +believed by the ancients to be afraid at the turning of a wheel, and +more especially at the crowing of a cock. These ancient naturalists had +excellent opportunities of studying the lion. For one thing he was found +in Greece, Palestine, and many other districts where he is now never +seen, and then, too, the sports and combats of the amphitheatre and the +desire of the rulers to gain popularity by pleasing the multitude with +various shows led to their free introduction. Thus we read that Pompey +the Great caused six hundred lions to be exhibited together to the +Roman people, while Cæsar the Dictator exhibited four hundred, and many +others in authority had smaller collections gathered together for the +gratification of the populace. + +That there were maneless lions was a fact known to the ancient writers, +as they are mentioned by Pliny, Aristotle, and others, but the reason +they give for this peculiarity, that they had panthers as their sires, +is erroneous.[36] The lions found in Persia and Arabia are almost +maneless, and the lions of Gujerat have simply on the middle line of the +back of the neck some hairs that stand erect like the mane of a quagga. +It would probably be one or both of these varieties that had come under +the notice of the ancient authors. Amongst other mixed breeds that these +writers believed in was the camelopardilis, the reputed offspring of the +camel and the leopard or panther, and the hartebeest, springing from the +union of the antelope and the buffalo. + +In the “Livre des Creatures,” the quaint old MS. of Philip de Thaun, +the lion is treated symbolically, and as this tone of thought greatly +influenced the art and literature of the period we may very legitimately +quote the passage. “The lion,” writes our old author, “in many ways rules +over many beasts, therefore is the lion king. He has a frightful face, +the neck great and hairy; he has the breast before square, hardy and +pugnacious; his shape behind is slender, his tail of large fashion, and +he has flat legs, and haired down to the feet; he has the feet large and +cloven, the claws long and curved. When he is hungry or ill-disposed he +devours animals without discrimination, as he does the ass which resists +and brays. Now hear, without doubt, the significance of this. The lion +signifies the Son of Mary. He is King of all people without any gainsay. +He is powerful by nature over every creature, and fierce in appearance, +and with fierce look He will appear to the Jews, when He shall judge +them. The square breast shows strength of the Deity. The shape which he +has behind, of very slender make, shows humanity, which He had with the +Deity. By the foot, which is cloven, is demonstrance of God, who will +clasp the world and hold it in His fist.” It is needless to follow De +Thaun any further in his laboured mysticism; the passage quoted suffices +to show the method adopted. The idea that the lion’s cubs were brought to +life three days after their birth was a belief that very readily became +transformed into a symbolism of the Resurrection of Christ from the sleep +of death,[37] while the notion that the lion always slept with its eyes +open made it a symbol of watchfulness, and led to its introduction in +the sculptures of early Christian churches, and especially those under +Lombard influence, where it is not infrequently found as a sentinel at +the doors, as the base to pillars, or at the foot of the pulpits. + +[Illustration: FIG. 11.] + +According to Burton, in his “Miracles of Art and Nature,” in Barbary +“’tis said they have Lyons so tame that they will gather up Bones in the +Street like Dogs, without hurting any Body; and other Lyons that are of +so cowardly a Nature that they will run away at the Voice of the least +child.” Munster’s notion of the African lion, fig. 11, is impressive, +though it is perhaps less nearly allied to the lion of real life than +to the lion of the herald, of which fig. 12, from the effigy of Prince +John of Eltham, brother of Edward III, in Westminster Abbey, may be +taken as a characteristic example. Munster’s lion[38] would satisfy +even the country heraldic painter, who was so irate when shown a lion +in a travelling menagerie. “What!” cried he, “tell me that’s a lion! +Why I’ve painted lions rampant, lions passant, and all soils of lions +these five-and-twenty years, and for sure I ought to know what a lion is +like better than that!” This lion of Munster is a very different beast +to the degenerate lions of Barbary that find a precarious sustenance +in collecting discarded bones from the gutter, and slink away at the +chiding-of some Arab brat who is inclined to break in upon their sordid +repast. + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.] + +Nature, when not interfered with by man, ever keeps the balance true: +hence “the Leontophonos is only bred where lions are found,” and if the +old writers may be trusted (and there is much virtue in an “if”), we have +in this an excellent antidote to the bane that a plague of lions would +undoubtedly be. The king of beasts, we are told, regards the leontophonos +with deadly hatred and crushes the life out of it with its paw, as the +smallest portion of its flesh is immediate death to him. To checkmate +this decisive action of the lion, we learn from our ancient author that +in districts that have a plague of lions the people of the place burn the +leontophonos and sprinkle the ashes on other pieces of flesh, and these +they lay about as a bait with fatal effect. By this happy arrangement +they are free at once of Leo and Leontophonos. + +One of the greatest enemies of the lion would appear to be the unicorn; +for though the two appear to get on amicably enough as supporters of the +royal arms, appearances, it is well known, are often deceptive, and they +are really deadly foes. Gesner, in his “History of Animals,” gives the +whole story in a nutshell, for he tells us that “the Unicorn and the Lion +being enemies by nature, as soon as the lion sees the unicorn he betakes +himself to a tree.” This strikes one as being a rather feeble performance +on the part of the king of beasts—in fact, decidedly _infra dig._; but +the end is considered to justify the means, for “the unicorn in his fury, +and with all the swiftness of his course, running at him, sticks his +horn fast in the tree, and then the lion falls upon him and kills him.” +The indiscreet valour of the unicorn seems distinctly a nobler thing +than the calculating craft of the lion. Spenser, in the “Faerie Queene,” +introduces the story as evidently a well-known fact in natural history:— + + “Like as a Lyon whose imperial powre + A proud rebellious unicorn defyes, + T’avoid the rash assault and wrathful stowre + Of his fiers foe, him to a tree applyes, + And when him ronning in full course he spyes + He slips aside: the whiles that furious beast + His precious horne, sought of his enemyes[39] + Strikes in the stocke, ne thence can be releast, + But to the mighty victor yields a bounteous feast.”[40] + +In “Timon of Athens” Shakespeare writes: “Wert thou the Unicorn pride and +wrath would confound thee, and make thine own self the conquest of thy +fury;” and in “Julius Cæsar” we find the line: “Unicorns may be betray’d +with trees,” both passages evidently referring to this legend. + +Most furious of all beasts was the Monoceros; or, as Ælian calls it, the +Cartazonos, a creature still having literary and heraldic existence as +the unicorn; though in some few points the beast, as described by Pliny +and others, does not altogether resemble in form the creature of the +heralds that is so well known to us as joint supporter with the lion of +our national arms. The ancient monoceros had the body of a horse, the +head of a stag, the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a boar, and from +the middle of his forehead projected a single horn. + +The Monoceros, Unicornu, or Einhorn is described in Jonston’s “Historia +Naturalis,” published in 1657, and Munster, in his description of +Asia,[41] gives a picture of the unicorn, a beast in all respects like a +horse, save that it has one tremendous horn. Barrow, in his “Travels in +Southern Africa,” gives the figure of a head of a unicorn which he saw +drawn on the side of a cavern, and appears to entertain no doubt that +such an animal exists, while Burton tells us that in Æthiopia “some Kine +there are which have Horns like Stags, others but one Horn only, and that +in the Forehead, about a foot and a half long, but bending backwards,” a +departure this from the recognized type. + +Figures of the unicorn are found on the archaic cylinder seals of Assyria +and Babylonia, and throughout the whole course of ancient and mediæval +history we find belief in the creature as much a matter of course as +belief in horse or elephant, and it would not be difficult to bring +forward a score or more of authors who have written even in comparatively +recent times on the existence of the unicorn.[42] + +In a curious old book on our shelf, the “Philosophical Grammar” of +Benjamin Martin, published in 1753, the author raises the question as to +whether such creatures as the phœnix, syrens, dragons, mermaids, fairies, +and many others that he mentions really exist, and in the matter of the +unicorn he evidently suspends judgment. “Most naturalists,” he says, +“have affirmed that there have been such creatures and give descriptions +of them; but the sight of the creatures or credible relations of them +having been so rare, has occasioned many to believe there never were any +such animals in nature; at least it has made the history of them very +doubtful. In all such ambiguous pieces of history ’tis better not to be +positive, and sometimes to suspend our belief rather than credulously +embrace every current report.” In another book, however, published in +1786, and therefore not much more than a century ago, the unicorn is +described in all sober seriousness as having equine body, a voice like +the lowing of an ox, and his horn “as hard as iron and as rough as any +file” to the touch. + +Guillim declares that the unicorn cannot be taken alive, “the greatness +of his mind is such that he chuseth rather to die,” while De Thaun gives +full directions for its capture. It would appear that the animal is of a +particularly impressionable nature, and is always prepared to pay homage +to maiden beauty and innocence, hence fierce as it is the wily hunter +by taking advantage of this amiable trait in its character effects its +capture, for “when a man intends to hunt and ensnare it he goes to the +forest where is its repair, and there places a virgin. Then it comes to +the virgin, falls asleep on her lap, and so comes to its death. The man +arrives immediately and kills it in its sleep, or takes it alive, and +does as he will with it.” As this must be rather a trying experience +for the young lady, “the Indian and Ethiopians,” says a later writer, +“catch of these unicornes which be in their country after the following +manner. They take a goodly-strong and beautifull young man, whom they +clothe in the apparell of a woman, besetting him with divers flowers and +odoriferous spices, setting him where the Unicornes use to come, and when +they see this young man they come very lovingly and lay their heads down +in his lap (for above all creatures they do great reverence to young +maids), and then the hunters having notice given them, suddenly come, and +finding him asleep, they will deal so with him, as that before he goeth +he must leave his horn behind him” and fall a victim to his guileful +foes. Spenser speaks of “the maiden Unicorne,” and Dallaway, too, refers +to “their inviolable attachment to virginity,” and many other writers +speak in the same sense, or shall we rather say lack of it! + +The horn was in great demand as it was made into drinking vessels that +were held to possess the invaluable gift of detecting poison. Thus in the +“Speculum Mundi” we read of it that “it hath many soveraigne virtues, +insomuch that, being put upon a table furnished with many junkets and +banqueting dishes, it will quickly descrie whether there be any poyson or +venime among them, for if there be, the horne is presently covered with +a kinde of sweat or dew.” This belief in the efficacy of the horn of the +unicorn as a test for poisons is seen by the frequent appearance of it in +mediæval inventories. We gather from these no clue, no alternative name, +for instance, to guide us, as to what the material so valued really was. +In a book of travels by one Hentzner, a foreigner who visited England +in the year 1598, mention is made of a horn of the unicorn that he was +shown at Windsor Castle, and which he says was valued at over £1000, as +indeed it very well might be, if Decker’s line, “the unicorn whose horn +is worth a city,” written in 1609, gives anything like a fair estimate of +its worth. In the “Comptes Royaux” of France for 1391 we find the entry: +“Une manche d’or d’un essay de lincourne pour attoucher aux viandes de +Monseigneur le Dauphin,” and in the year 1536 in the inventory of the +treasures of Charles V., we have: “Une touche de licorne, garnie d’or, +pour faire essay.” Many other examples of a similar nature might readily +be brought forward. It seems strange that a belief in the efficacy of +the horn of the unicorn to detect the presence of poisons should have +endured for hundreds of years, when practical experiment would in half an +hour have convicted the thing, whatever it was, of being a mockery, a +delusion, and a snare. + +Many curious beliefs have clustered around the elephant, his sagacity, +great strength, and association with the wonderful countries of Africa +and India giving occasion for much that is marvellous. One old writer +tells that “the elephant is a beast of great strength, but greater wit, +and greatest ambition; insomuch that some have written of them that if +you praise them they will kill themselves with labour, and if you command +another before them they will break their hearts with emulation. The +beast is so proud of his strength that he never bows himself to any, +and when he is once down (as it usually is with proud great ones) he +cannot rise up again.” The female elephant was supposed to rear her young +one in deep water, for fear lest the dragon should find and devour it. +Physiologus says that when the bone of an elephant shall be burnt, or his +hair singed, the smell of it shall drive away serpents and all poison. +Isidore informs us that the elephant is beyond measure great, and that +it has the form of a goat, a statement that leads us to imagine that +he writes rather from hearsay than from personal knowledge. He further +tells us that the creature cannot lie down, a statement that is entirely +opposed to fact, as they may be seen rolling to and fro with the greatest +ease when bathing, and after their ablutions recovering their feet with +great readiness. This supposed inability to lie down necessitated the +elephant’s leaning against a wall or tree while sleeping, and the people +of the land, when they desired to capture one, had only to fell the tree +or undermine the wall, while the elephant was in happy unconsciousness of +the rude awakening that they were preparing for him. + + “The elephant so huge and strong to see + No perill fear’d but thought a sleepe to gaine; + But foes before had underminde the tree, + And down he falls, and so by them was slaine. + First trye, then truste; like goulde the copper showes; + And Nero oft in Numa’s clothinge goes.” + + WHITNEY’S _Emblems_. + +They are provoked to madness at the sight of blood or of the juice of the +mulberry tree. They eat both leaves and stones, but if by inadvertence +they swallow a chameleon the result is fatal, unless they can immediately +afterwards eat some olives. As no elephant, being a vegetarian, would eat +a chameleon knowingly, we are reduced to the alternative that he must +eat him unconsciously, and would therefore feel nothing of the need of a +prompt administration of antidote until the olives came too late. + +In the family feud which was held to exist between the elephant and the +dragon the reptile endeavoured to twist himself round the ponderous +beast’s feet and so bring him to the ground, but the sagacity of the +elephant here stood him in good stead, and when he saw that his fall was +inevitable, he also saw the great advantage of flattening the life out of +his foe by falling with all his huge bulk upon him. The blood produced +by these sanguinary combats soaked into the earth and thus yielded the +cinnabar of commerce. Possibly some early observer may have seen a deadly +struggle in the jungle between an elephant and some huge python or boa, +and being content to view from some little distance, may have filled +in the details from imagination and thus set the story afloat. When a +tale of this nature once gained credence, one old writer after another +inserted it in his work without further question. The elephant was said +to be afraid of a mouse, though the ancient authors unfortunately fail to +satisfy our very legitimate curiosity as to why this should be so; in an +old romance, dealing with the wars of the great Alexander, the elephants +of the enemy are put to rout by the squeaking of a herd of swine brought +for the nonce on to the tented field. + +The elephant was first used in war by Pyrrhus, who, B.C. 280, employed +these animals in the war with Tarentum against the Romans. We learn also +that the Carthaginians, in the time of Hannibal, B.C. 210, employed them +in their wars; and we have modern illustrations of the like service +amongst the various princes of India. When the Romans in Leucania first +saw the elephants in the battle array of Pyrrhus, they called them +Leucanian oxen. “Next the Poeni taught the horrible Leucanian oxen, with +lowered body and snake-like head, to endure the wounds of war, and to +throw into confusion the mighty ranks of Mars.” Later on the Romans +introduced them into their own service, and in one of the triumphal +entries of Cæsar into Rome his chariot was drawn by forty elephants. + +A little later on we read of their appearance in the arena, dancing and +wrestling with each other, walking on stretched ropes, four of them +carrying a fifth on their shoulders reposing on a litter or couch, and +generally going through those performances that from the earliest times +to the travelling show of to-day have been received by the vulgar with +such favour. Both Pliny and Plutarch tell us that if any one elephant +in such a gathering for any reason fails to do what is required of him +he will study by night, in what a workman would call “his own time,” to +achieve success, and go through the performance of his own accord when +the rest of the world is sleeping, until he has mastered it. + +Sir John Maundevile, in his “Voiage and Travaile,” give’s an interesting +mediæval reference to an Eastern potentate having “14,000 Olifauntz or +mo. In cas that he had ony Werre agenst ony other Kynge aboute him than +he makethe certyn men of Armes for to gon up in to the Castelles of +Tree, made for the Werre, that craftily ben set uppe on the Olifauntes +Bakkes, for to fryghten agen hire Enemyes.” How very craftily these are +set up may be seen in our illustration, fig. 13, from an early edition +of the book. As we may reasonably assume from the look of the Castelle +of tree that it is built in two storeys, we may judge the bulk of the +elephant from imagining the size that the men must be who are quartered +in the upper storey. It will be noticed that there is no suggestion of +any method of fastening the Castelle to the Olifaunte. Were we amongst +the men of arms who were expected to take up a position in this fortress, +we should regard this as a peculiarly weak point in the arrangements. In +marked contrast with this massive beast Munster has a funny picture of a +man ploughing with an elephant, the elephant being, in proportion to the +man, of about the size of a Shetland pony. + +The ancient writers believed, or taught, that the elephant indulged in +moon-worship. Ælian, amongst others, states that at the increase of the +moon these creatures gathered long branches of trees in the forest, and +held them up in adoration, with uplifted trunks, to the queen of night. +Pliny, too, writes that “they have withall religious reverence, with a +kind of devotion; not only the starres and planets but the sunne and +moone they also worship, and in very truth, writers there be who report +thus much of them—that when the new moone beginneth to appeare fresh and +bright,[43] they come doune by whole herds to a certaine river named +Amelus in the deserts and forests of Mauritania, where, after that they +are washed and solemnlie purified by sprinkling and dashing themselves +all over with the water, and have saluted and adored after their manner +their planet, they returne againe unto the woods and chases, carrying +before them their young calves that be wearied and tired”—a grand and +pious pilgrimage of pachyderms. + +Another strange idea of the ancients was that the elephant when pursued +by the hunters beats its tusks against the trees until they drop off, as +he has a shrewd suspicion that it is his ivory rather than himself that +they want. The elephant, sagacious beast, would appear to have as good +a notion of the value of his tusks to the hunter as his pursuer himself +has. We are told that “when they chance to be environed and compassed +round with hunters they set foremoste in the ranke to bee seene those +of the heard that have the least teeth, to the end that their price +might not be thought worth the hazard and venture in chace for them. But +afterwards, when they see the hunters eager and themselves over-matched +and wearie, they breake them with running against the hard trees, and, +leaving them behind, escape by this ransome as it were, out of their +hands.” Another curious fact is that “their skin is covered neither with +haire nor bristle, no, not so much as in their taile, which might serve +them in goode steade to driue away the busie and troublesome flie (for as +vast and huge a beast as he is, the flie haunteth and stingeth him), but +full their skinne is of crosse wrinckles lattiswise: and besides that, +the smell thereof is able to draw and allure such vermine to it, and +therefore when they are laid stretched along, and perceive the flies by +whole swarmes settled on their skin, sodainly they draw those cranies and +crevices together close, and so crush them all to death. This serues them +instead of taile, maine and long haire,”—one striking instance the more +of the wonderful compensatory powers of Nature! + +[Illustration: FIG. 13.] + +It is by no means an incurious subject to trace the sources of +information possessed by our ancestors of subjects of natural history +that have now become so familiar as to create a surprise that fables +respecting them should so long have been currently received. In regard to +the elephant, the earliest notions the people of the Middle Ages had of +it must have been from the narratives of pilgrims and other travellers +from the East. The first instance, after classic times, of an elephant +being brought to the West occurred in the year 807, when one was sent +as a present from the famous Caliph Haroum al Raschid to the Emperor +Charlemagne, and must have occasioned no small degree of astonishment. +Matthew Prior mentions that the Soldan of Babylon, Malek el Kamel, sent +an elephant as a choice present to the Emperor Frederic II. in the year +1229, but it was not till 1255 that the first specimen was seen in +England: this was a present from the King of France to our Henry III. +The chronicler, John of Oxenedes, gives full details of the arrival of +this animal in London, and tells us of the enormous crowds that flocked +together to behold it. The writ is still existing that was sent to the +Sheriff of Kent, dated February 3rd, 1255, directing him to go in person +to Dover, together with John Gouch, the king’s servant, to arrange in +what manner the king’s present might most conveniently be brought over, +and to find for the said John a ship and all things necessary; and if, +by the advice of mariners and others, it could be brought by water, +directing it to be so conveyed. It was, however, eventually landed at +Sandwich, and walked thence to London. Another writ, dated the 26th of +the same month, ordered the Sheriffs of London to cause to be built at +the Tower a house for it, forty feet in length and twenty in breadth. +The elephant itself was ten feet in height and ten years old. It only +lived two years. Of this elephant Matthew Prior made a very good +representation and his original drawing may still be seen amongst the +Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum; this he expressly tells us was +taken from the life _ipso elephante exemplariter assistente_. An equally +good, but smaller, drawing occurs at the close of the chronicle of John +de Walingeford, a monk in the Abbey of St. Albans. This also may be seen +amongst the Cottonian collection. The historians of the time regarded the +new arrival as a perfect prodigy, as they very well might do, when we +remember how the British public, comparatively satiated with wild beasts, +flocked in hundreds of thousands some few years ago to see the first +hippopotamus. They gave long and detailed accounts of the habits of the +elephant in a wild state, details which were eagerly read by the great +multitude seeking for some information on this strange monster in their +midst; these more or less trustworthy facts, though mingled with many +obvious absurdities, would seem to show that a fair amount of knowledge +of the creature had penetrated thus far. Some of the information was at +least curious, as, for instance, that elephants will not enter a ship to +cross the sea until an oath is taken before them by their conductor that +they shall return, and that if they meet a man in the desert who has lost +his bearings they will very courteously conduct him to the right path. +Either of these indicate a high degree of sagacity, and a good knowledge +of human speech. The latter proceeding was probably a delicate way of +conveying to the wandering botanist or prospecting engineer that he was +a trespasser on their domain, and a gentle hint to him that he would-be +on the right path when he took his leave and left them in undisturbed +possession.[44] + +There is no record in modern times of an African tribe endeavouring to +domesticate the wild elephant, or to utilize it in warfare, but Marco +Polo mentions that in the South-East of Africa the people are very +warlike, and fight—having no horses—upon elephants and camels. Upon +the backs of the former he tells us that they place castles capable +of containing from fifteen to twenty armed men, and that, previous to +the conflict, they give the elephants draughts of wine to make them +more spirited and furious in the assault.[45] “There is no creature,” +saith the writer of the “Speculum Mundi,” “amongst all the beasts of +the world which hath so great and ample demonstration of the power and +wisdom of Almighty God as the Elephant, both from proportion of body and +disposition of spirit; and it is admirable to behold the industrie of our +ancient forefathers, and noble desire to benefit us their posteritie, by +searching into the qualities of every beast, to discover what benefits +and harms may come by them to mankinde; having never been afraid of the +wildest, but they tamed them; and the greatest, but they also set upon +them: witness this beast of which we now speak, being like a living +mountaine in quantitie and outward appearance, yet by them so handled as +no little dog could be made more serviceable, tame, and tractable.” + +According to the belief of one mediæval writer, at least, the capture of +the elephant is not a matter of much difficulty, though, having caught +him, he seems to find no better use for him than to kill him as so much +raw material for the dyer’s vat, instead of utilizing his gigantic +strength and magnificent willingness for work[46] in the service of +man. Nowadays, the men do most of the elephant-catching, but “among +the Ethiopians,” says one ancient authority on the subject, Bartholomew +Anglicus, “in some countries elephants be hunted in this wise. There +go in the desert two maidens, and one of them beareth a vessel and the +other a sword. And these maidens begin to sing alone; and the beast +hath liking when he heareth their song, and cometh to them, and falleth +asleep anon for liking of the song,” an explanation of the drowsiness +that would scarcely nowaday be held satisfactory at any concert or social +function of the kind; “then the one maid sticketh him in the throat or +in the side with a sword, and the other taketh his blood in a vessel. +And with that blood the people of the country dye cloth, and done colour +it therewith.” The writer prefaces his story by the assertion that it is +“full wonderful;” and so it is, when regarded from our modern standpoint, +but to anyone who could believe that unicorns could be captured in a very +similar way, we should have thought that the narrative would have seemed +most matter-of-fact and prosaic. The ladies of Ethiopia must have been of +considerably stouter heart than some fair maidens of the present day, +who dare not enter where the presence of mouse or cockroach is suspected. + +Great good-natured beast as the elephant is, he has more than one most +merciless and vindictive foe. “There ben Bestes,” or Maundevile is in +error, “men clepen hem Loerancz, and thei han a blak Hed and thre longe +Hornes trenchant in the Front, scharpe as a Sword, and the body is +sclender. And he is a fulle felonous Best, and he chacethe and sleethe +the Olifaunt.” What can have ever prompted and suggested the idea of +such a very unpleasant tricorn it is impossible to say. In real life +the elephant and the rhinoceros are sometimes at feud, but clearly +the massive rhinoceros cannot be this very slender and objectionable +three-horned beast. We have seen, too, that the dragon cannot let the +elephant alone; he is to the full as “felonous” as the Loerancz. Pliny +held that this constant unpleasantness on the part of the reptile was +a “sport of nature.” In other words, that Nature,—personified, as the +Romans personified the winds, the mountain streams, and so forth,—felt +a real delight in seeing a downright fight between two such doughty +antagonists. As the dragon was always the aggressor, while the elephant +only wished to be let alone, and merely used his strength in self-defence +when so wantonly attacked, one’s sympathies must necessarily be with the +latter. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.] + +As this view degraded Nature to the level of an emperor feasting his +eyes on the sanguinary horrors of a gladiatorial show, or to that of +a bull-baiter or other member of “the fancy,” it was not altogether +acceptable to thinking men, as it must have been difficult to worship at +the shrine of the Creator and Sustainer of all, and yet feel that one was +in the grasp of a power so capricious, relentless, and unfair. Nor was +the narration even fair to the dragon, as there was no suggestion in it +that the attack was made for the legitimate purpose of obtaining food; +the story as it stood pointed to a depth of sheer vindictiveness that +even a dragon with any self-respect would resent the imputation of. The +theory therefore was started that while during the great heats of the +dry season the dragon’s blood was almost at boiling point the blood of +the elephant was singularly and exceptionally cold, and thus made the +creature a most welcome prey. The dragon, with parched throat and molten +veins, therefore went as naturally for an elephant as the members of a +picnic-party in July go for the iced lemonade or claret-cup. + +Our ancestors had immense faith in blood-letting, but there is nothing +new under the sun, and Pliny tells us that a hippopotamus, when good +living has told upon him and he is suffering from plethora, goes +ashore to where he has seen that the river reeds have been newly cut, +and presses one of the sharp edges of a stem into his leg, and thus +vigorously bleeds himself. When the process has given him the desired +relief, and there is no immediate fear of gout or apoplexy, he smears the +wound over with the Nile mud and quickly heals it. Munster’s idea of the +hippopotamus, as shown in his book, from which we have made the facsimile +fig. 14, is a much more genuine notion of a river-horse than the beast as +we see him in the Zoological Gardens. The way he is dashing up the stream +around him as he gallops through the water is a caution. + +The panther was believed to have an especial power of fascination, a gift +ascribed by some to the beauty of his coat and by others to his odour. +The savour of the larger species of felidæ, as we find it in zoological +collections, is malodorous rather than fascinating, though the creatures +could doubtless plead in their own defence that they were placed under +artificial circumstances. In one of Spenser’s sonnets we find the first +theory upheld in the lines:— + + “The panther knowing that his spotted hide + Doth please all beasts, but that his looks them fray, + Within a bush his dreadful head doth hide + To let them gaze, while he on them may prey.” + +In the eighth book of Pliny’s “Natural History,” the second theory is +maintained. “It is said that all four-footed beasts are wonderfully +delighted and enticed by the smell of panthers; but their hideous looke +and crabbed countenance, which they bewray so soone as they show their +heads, skareth them as much againe; and therefore their manner is to hide +their heads, and when they have trained other beasts within their reach +by their sweet savour, they flee upon them and worrie them.”[47] In a MS. +presented by Sir William Segar to King James I. and now No. 6085 in the +Harleian collection, we come across a combination of the theories, the +result being a fascination of the most killing description:—“The panther +is admired of all beasts for the beauty of his skyn, being spotted with +variable colours, and beloued and followed of them for the sweetnesse of +his breath, that streameth forth of his nostrils and ears like smoke, +which our paynters mistaking corruptlie, doe make fire.” This detail +is given in the manuscript in explanation of one of the badges of King +Henry VI.—a panther passant guardant argent, spotted of all colours, with +vapour issuant from his mouth and ears.[48] + +Sir John Maundevile professed to see in the capital of far Cathay a +palace with its halls “covered with red skins of animals called panthers, +fair beasts and well-smelling; so that for the sweet odour of the skins +no evil air may enter into the palace. The skins are as red as blood and +shine so bright against the sun that a man may scarce look at them. And +many people worship the beasts when they meet them first in a morning, +for their great virtue and for the good smell that they have; and the +skins they value more than if they were plates of fine gold.” This is +very clearly not a statement springing from personal observation. Some +old writers of imaginative turn of mind regarded the panther as the +emblem of providence and foresight, the number of eye-like spots on his +coat suggesting the idea that he was well able to look before, behind, +and around him; while others declared that he bore on his shoulder one +particular spot of the shape of the moon, and that this passed through +the various phases of form from crescent to full circle simultaneously +with the moon itself. + +The tastes of the panther would appear to be considerably more refined +than those of the other great carnivoræ—an idea that we base on the +statement of the author of the “Speculum Mundi.” “Now, the reason why +these beasts have such a sweet breath is in regard that they are so +much delighted with the kinde of spices and daintie aromaticall trees; +insomuch that (as some affirm) they will go many hundred miles in time of +the yeare when these things are in season, and all for the love they bear +to them. But above all, their chief delight is in the gumme of camphire, +watching that tree very carefully, to the end they may preserve it for +their owne use.” The notion of the panther prowling round and keeping his +eye on the camphor the while is distinctly quaint. + +Porta tells us that the hyæna and the panther are in continual enmity, +and that even the skin of a dead hyæna makes the panther run away, though +we should ourselves have thought that the live hyæna, skin and all, would +have been no match for the panther. Nay, this feeling is so intense, that +one old author tells us that even if one hangs up the two skins together +the antipathy outlives death itself, and the panther’s skin will lose all +the hair. + +This notion of antipathy between various animals is a very strong point +with old writers. “A lion’s skin wasteth and eating out the skins of +other beasts; and so doth the wolves skin eat up the lambs skin. +Likewise the feathers of other fowles, being put among eagles feathers +do rot and consume of themselves. The beast Florus and the bird Ægithus +are at such mortal enmity that when they are dead their blood cannot +be mingled together.” Porta is very learned on this matter, and tells +us that an elephant is afraid of a ram. This must clearly be from some +invincible feeling of antipathy, for there is little doubt but that in +fair fight the ram would be nowhere; yet we learn that, unmanageable as +an elephant may be, “as soon as ever he seeth a ram he waxeth meek, and +his fury ceaseth.” One can only wonder, over and over again, how it comes +that such ideas should gain credence for centuries, when the whole matter +could so readily be brought to the touchstone of experience. + +The doctrine of sympathy and antipathy, and more especially the latter +half of it, was of immense value in mediæval medicine. As an example of +sympathy we may instance the affection that was held to exist between the +goat and the partridge; hence for whatever one of them was a remedy the +other became equally available. The prescriptions were interchangeable, +and one used one or the other in full faith that either was equally +valuable, as indeed might very possibly be the case. As examples of the +antipathetic treatment, one may instance the following:—“The Ape of all +things cannot abide a Snail; now the Ape is a drunken beast, for they are +wont to take an Ape by making him drunk and a Snail well wash’d is a +remedy against drunkenesse. The Wolf is afraid of the Urchin; thence if +we wash our mouth and throat with Urchin’s blood it will make our voice +shrill, though before it were hoarse and dull like a Wolves voice. The +Hart and the Serpent are at continuall enemity; the Serpent as soon as he +seeth the Hart gets him into his hole, but the Hart draws him out again +with the breath of his nostrils and devours him; hence it is that the +fat and the blood of Harts, and the stones that grow in their eyes, are +ministered as fit remedies against the biting and stinging of Serpents. +Likewise the breath of Elephants draws Serpents out of their dens, and +therefore the members of Elephants burned, drive away Serpents. So also +the crowing of a Cock affrights the Basilisk, and he fights with Serpents +to defend his hens, hence the broth of a Cock is good remedy against the +poison of Serpents. The Stellion, which is a beast like a Lyzard, is an +enemy to the Scorpions, and therefore the Oyle of him being purified is +good to anoint the place which is stricken by the Scorpion. A Swine eats +up a Salamander without danger, and is good against the poison thereof.” +All these and many other hints of like value may be found in the pages of +Porta. + +The edition of “Natural Magick,” by John Baptist Porta, from which we +have made these extracts, is a somewhat late one,[49] as the preface +begins:—“Courteous Reader,—If this work made by me in my youth, when +I was hardly fifteen years old, was so generally received, and with so +great applause, that it was forthwith translated into many Languages, +as Italian, French, Spanish, Arabick; and passed through the hands of +incomparable men; I hope that now coming forth from me that am fifty +years old, it shall be more dearly entertained. For when I saw the first +fruits of my Labours received with so great Alacrity of mind, I was moved +by these good Omens, and therefore have adventured to send it once more +forth, but with an Equipage more Rich and Noble. From the first time it +appeared it is now thirty-five years, and (without any derogation of my +Modesty be it spoken) if ever any man laboured earnestly to disclose the +secrets of Nature it was I.”[50] After nearly forty years, therefore, of +reflection, observation, and criticism he feels that his medical hints on +this subject of antipathy have borne the test of time, and may well take +their place amongst the other secrets of Nature divulged for the benefit +of humanity. + +The hyæna was held to possess the power of counterfeiting man’s speech, +and of turning the gift to profitable account by going up at night to a +shepherd’s or woodman’s hut and calling out the man’s name.[51] Upon the +man’s going forth to see who wanted him, he was promptly torn to pieces. +The Manticora also, according to Juba, possessed this uncanny power of +imitating human speech, and turned its conversational powers to the +same treacherous use. It was also held that if a hyæna made a circuit +three times round any animal its victim lost all power of escape, and +could not stir a foot. According to some ancient writers the animal had +a stone called hyænia in its eye, and this being placed under a man’s +tongue imparted to him the gift of prophecy. Aristotle taught that the +eyes of this creature could change colour a thousand times a day, and +this is but a sample of many other curious and absurd stories concerning +the beast. Sir Gardner Wilkinson mentions a strange fancy believed in by +the Abyssinians that a race of people who inhabited their country had +the power of changing their form at pleasure, being sometimes men and at +others hyænas. + +In the Middle Ages the wolf seems to have been in decidedly bad odour; +he was probably too well-known to be respected, and in the long dreary +nights of winter proved himself a terribly bad neighbour, and a very +undesirable travelling companion for those who had to cross amidst the +snows the almost trackless wastes. Amongst the Scandinavians the wolf +held a conspicuous place in tradition and mythology. Eclipses of the sun +and moon were held to be caused by two great wolves that were always +pursuing them through the heavens.[52] The wolf, too, was the companion +of Odin, the god of war, and at his feet these creatures crouched while +he fed them with the flesh of his enemies. + +It was an accepted belief that if a man encountered a wolf, and the +creature caught sight of him before he saw it, he became dumb. Scott +refers to this old notion in his “Quentin Durward,” where, in the +eighteenth chapter, Lady Hameline exclaims, “Our young companion has +seen a wolf, and has lost his tongue in consequence.” “The ground or +occasionall originall thereof,” Browne in his “Exposure of Vulgar +Errors” would endeavour to persuade us, “was probably the amazement +and sudden silence the unexpected appearance of wolves doe often put +upon travellers, not by a supposed vapour or venomous emanation, but +a vehement fear which naturally produceth obmutescence, and sometimes +irrecoverable silence”; but it would appear to be a still simpler +procedure, and one with a good deal to recommend it, to deny that there +is an atom of truth in the story. In another old natural history before +us, we read that “the wolf when he falls upon a hog or a goat, or such +small beast, does not immediately kill them, but leads them by the ear, +with all the speed he can, to a crew of ravenous wolves, who instantly +tear them to pieces.” We should have thought that the reverse had been +more probable, and that the wolves that had nothing would have come with +all the speed they could upon their more successful comrade; but if +the old writer’s story be true, it opens out a fine trait of hitherto +unsuspected unselfishness in the character of the wolf. + +John Leo, in his “History of Africa,” declares that the dragon is the +progeny of the eagle and wolf. Perhaps this may be so, but probably the +conception that most of our readers have of the dragon is that he was a +considerably more formidable beast than such a parentage, fierce as it +is, quite suggests. + +An old heraldic author tells us “how that the wolfe procureth all other +beasts to fight and contention. He seeketh to deuour the sheepe, that +beaste which is of all others the most hurtlesse, simple, and void of +guile, thirsting continually after their blood. Yea, Nature hath planted +so inveterate an hatred atweene the wolfe and the sheepe, that being +dead, yet in the secrete operation of nature appeareth there a sufficient +trial of their discording natures, so that the enimity betweene them +seemeth not to dye with their bodies; for if there be put vpon a harp +or any such like instrument strings made of the intrailles of a sheepe, +and amongst them but onely one made of the intraills of a wolfe, be the +musician never so cuning in his skil, yet can he not reconcile them to an +vnity and concorde of sounds, so discording alwayes is that string of the +wolfe.” The inveterate enmity between the two creatures is scarcely in +accordance with the facts, for the wolf, from its appreciation of mutton +as an article of diet, is really partial to the sheep, and is always glad +to make its acquaintance. + +Another old herald tells us that “the wolfe loveth to plaie with a +child, and will not hurt it till it be extreme hungrie, what time he +will not spare to devour it.” He dwells also upon some of the animal’s +prejudices, as that “he watcheth much, and feareth fier and stones to be +wherled at him,” a feeling that one finds no difficulty in sympathizing +with, and adds that “there is nothing that he hateth so much as the +knocking togither of two flint stones, the which he feareth more than the +hunters.” He also mentions the curious physiological fact that “the wolf +may not bend his neck backward in no moneth of the yere but in May,” but +gives us no inkling as to the reason for this. + +The wearing of wolf-skin was held to be a valuable preservative against +epilepsy, but those who were unable to procure this, found an equally +serviceable remedy in wearing a small portion of an ass’s hoof in a +ring. The wolf-skin coat also was in request as a preservative against +hydrophobia, and there was nothing better in the good old times than +a wolfs head under the pillow to secure a good night’s rest. Albertus +Magnus, in his work “De Virtutibus Herbarum,” tells us that if we wrap +the tooth of a wolf in a bay leaf and carry it about with us no one will +have the power to vex or annoy us. + +According to Porta—and he, we have seen, professes to have gone into the +secrets of nature as deeply as most men who pose as authorities[53]—the +rook is killed by eating “the reliques of flesh the wolf hath fed on.” +This would appear to be a discovery of Porta’s own: we do not find any +suggestion of it, so far as we are aware, in any other author. + +A creature called the stag-wolf, if we may credit these ancient authors +(and there is much saving virtue in this if), had the curious peculiarity +that if, while he was devouring his prey, he chanced to look backward, +he straightway forgot that he was already provided with a dinner, and +would at once start off for one with all the zeal that his supposititious +famishing condition called for. + +The bear has not escaped the observation of the lover of the marvellous, +though we should have thought that our forefathers, with their +bear-baiting proclivities, would have had a sufficient knowledge of the +creature to protect them from falling into gross error. One of the most +firmly accepted beliefs in ancient and mediæval days was that the cubs +were born a merely shapeless mass, and owed what after-beauty of form +they possessed to the assiduous care of their mother. Hence, an ancient +scribe hath it, “At the firste they seeme to be a lumpe of white flesh +without any forme, little bigger than rattons, without eyes, and wanting +hair. This rude lumpe, with licking, they fashion by little and little +into some shape.” Shakespeare it will be remembered compares Gloucester, +in King Henry VI., to “an unlick’d bear-whelp,” while Dryden writes:— + + “The cubs of bears a living lump appear + When whelp’d, and no determined figure wear. + The mother licks them into shape, and gives + As much of form as she herself receives.” + +The device of the great Venetian painter, Titian, was a she-bear licking +her cubs into shape.[54] Our readers will probably recall the lines in +“Hudibras”:— + + “A bear’s a savage beast, of all + Most ugly and unnatural; + Whelp’d without form, until the dam + Has lick’d it into shape and frame.” + +“Which opinion notwithstanding,” quoth Browne in his assault on the +vulgar errors of his day, “is not only repugnant unto the sense of +everyone that shall enquire into it, but of exact and deliberate +experiment. It is, moreover, injurious unto reason, and much impugneth +the course and providence of nature to conceive a birth should be +ordained before there is a formation. Besides, what few take notice of, +men do hereby in a high measure vilifie the works of God, imputing that +unto the tongue of a Beast.” Browne’s ideas were, we have already seen, +far in advance of his time, and he took the trouble to do what many who +wrote on the subject before him failed to do, went to look at some young +bears. Though the belief in the idea has died away, the remembrance of +the superstition still survives in the notion of licking youngsters +into shape at school by such appeals to body or mind as may seem most +efficacious and persuasive. + +It was held that the bear found no little nutriment in sucking his own +paws, and in old books on natural history he may often be found thus +figured. Beaumont and Fletcher embody the old belief in their “Bonduca,” +where we read of those— + + “Just like a brace of bear-whelps, close and crafty, + Sucking their fingers for their food.” + +It has long been an accepted belief in rural England, that a child who +has had a ride upon a bear will escape whooping cough, a belief that +has had great pecuniary value to the Savoyards and others, who take a +dancing bear through the villages, as the rustics gladly fee them for +the privilege of a ride for their children, and the attendant immunity +from one of the most infectious and distressing of the minor ailments of +childhood. + +We have long been familiar with the idea that bears attacked bee-hives, +but we have accepted the notion that the bears did so from an +appreciation of the honey that they found therein. It appears, however, +that the bear does it really as a kind of stimulant, the stinging of the +angry bees giving him just a welcome titillation, and arousing him from +a certain torpidity that at times oppresses him, and which he rightly +feels should be fought against. Others tell us that the outraged bees, +justly angry at the overturning of their home and the pillage of their +store, supply, by the energy of their attack and the keenness of their +stings, just that pleasant piquant set-off to the epicurean bear that +the over-richness and cloying sweetness of the honey seems to call for. +Yet a third theory is that “they are many times subject to dimnesse of +sight, for which cause especially they seeke after honeycombes, that the +bees might settle upon them, and with their stings make them bleed about +the head, and by that meanes discharge them of that heavinesse which +troubleth their eyes.” Possibly three more equally reasonable theories +might be forthcoming on searching for them in the various old tomes in +which the wisdom of our forefathers is enshrined. + +A considerable amount of folk-lore has gathered round the hare. It was +held to be a favourable omen to meet certain beasts early in the morning, +but it was especially unfortunate to meet a hare. “Sume Bestes han gode +meetynge, that is to seye for to meete with him first at Morne; and +sume Bestes wykked meetynge: and that thei han proved ofte tyne tat the +Hare hathe fulle evylle meetynge, and Swyn, and many othere Bestes. The +Sparhauke and other Foules of Raveyne whan thei fleen aftre here preye +and take it before men of Armes, it is a gode Signe; and if he fayle of +takynge his preye it is an evylle sygne, and also to such folke it is +an eville meetynge of Ravennes.” Carew, in his “Survey of Cornwall,” +mentions that “to talk of hares or such uncouth things” was regarded as +omnious of coming ill by the fishermen; and at some places on the coast +until quite recently—or possibly even till to-day, for such notions die +out very slowly—if a fisherman going down to his boat were to see a hare +cross his path, he would not that day go to sea. + + “How superstitiously we mind our evils! + The throwing down of salt, or crossing of a hare, + Bleeding at nose, the stumbling of a horse, + Or singing of a cricket, are of power + To daunt whole man in us.” + +This superstition arose from the belief that witches sometimes +transformed themselves into hares. In Ellison’s “Trip to Benwell,” we +find the following congratulatory lines:— + + “Nor did we meet, with nimble feet, + One little fearful lepus;[55] + That certain sign, as some divine, + Of fortune bad to keep us.” + +In Aubrey’s “Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme,” written in the year +1586, it is stated, as “found by Experience, that when one keepes a Hare +alive and feedeth him till he have occasion to eat him, if he telles +before he killes him that he will doe so the hare will thereupon be found +dead, having killed himself.” One really scarcely sees what the creature +gains by this proceeding. + +Old writers tell us that when the hare is fainting with the heat, a +state of things that one may hope does not often occur, it recruits +its strength by munching up sowthistle. Topsell says that there is no +leporine ailment that this plant will not cure, and that directly the +hare feels a little unwell he seeks sowthistle and goes in for a course +of diet. Askham goes so far as to say that “yf a hare eate of this herbe +in somer when he is mad he shal be hole,” but as hares are proverbially +held to be specially _non compos mentis_ in March, the treatment seems +to come a little late. All boys who have kept rabbits will recall how +appreciatively they nibble up the succulent sowthistle leaves and stems, +and probably it is just as welcome to the hares, not as a medicinal herb +or a help to sanity, but as a toothsome item in the daily fare. + +It will be remembered that in 1 Henry IV. i. 2, Shakespeare uses the +expression “Melancholy as a hare,” and as it was believed in mediæval +days that those who partook of the flesh of any animal thereby partook +also of its nature, the flesh of the hare was supposed to generate +melancholia, and was therefore avoided. Why the hare should be considered +of a desponding temperament no one seemed to know. + +It seems curious in face of such an expression as “Mad as a March Hare” +and such an epithet as “hare-brained” applied to anything especially +wild and foolhardy, to find the great Bacon in his “Natural History” +recommending the brains of hares as invaluable for strengthening +the memory[56] and brightening up the faculties. Those who have +“frekels,”[57] and would like to get rid of them, should “take the bloude +of an hare, anoynte them with it, and it will doe them awaye.” Another +eccentric prescription is for the benefit of sufferers from rheumatism, +and if it were only efficacious, its simplicity would be a great point in +its favour, as it merely consists in the carrying in the pocket of the +right fore-foot of a hare, the only caution to be exercised being that in +the case of a man it must be the foot of a female hare, while a male hare +must supply the remedy if the patient be a woman. Cogan, in his “Haven +of Health,” declares “thus much will I say as to the commendation of the +hare, and of the defense of hunters’ toyle, that no beast, be it never +so great, is profitable to so many and so diverse uses in Physicke as +the hare,” and he then proceeds to give numerous prescriptions in which +it is the principal feature. “The knee-bone of an Hare taken out alive +and worne abute the necke is excellent against Convulsion fitts,”[58] we +are told, and perhaps it may be so, but the point that more especially +strikes us, and it impresses one over and over again in these mediæval +recipes, is the cold-blooded cruelty and indifference to animal suffering +that is shown in so many of them. Fried mice were considered a specific +in small-pox, but it was necessary that they should be fried alive; while +for cataract a fox should be captured, his tongue cut out, and the animal +released; the member thus barbarously procured was placed in a bag of +red cloth and hung round the man’s neck. For erysipelas a favourite old +remedy was to cut off one-half of the ear of a cat and let the blood +drop on the part affected, while for fits one popular recipe was to take +a mole alive, cut the tip of his nose off, and let nine drops of the +blood fall on to a lump of sugar: the swallowing of this was held to +be a certain cure. It would be easy to multiply these illustrations of +atrocious cruelty by the score, since one comes across such barbarities +in abundance. + +Edward Topsell, in his “Historic of Foure-footed Beastes,” published in +the year 1607, discusses thus quaintly and pleasantly of the Hedgehog: +“It is about the bignesse of a Cony, but more like to a Hogge, being +beset and compassed all ouer with sharpe thorney haires, as well on the +face as on the feete. When she is angred or gathereth her foode, she +striketh them vp by an admirable instinct of nature, as sharp as pinnes +or needles: these are haire at the beginning, but afterwards grow to be +prickles, which is the lesse to be maruelled at, because there be Mise in +Egypt which haue haire like Hedgehogs. His meate is Apples, Wormes, and +Grapes. When he findeth Apples or Grapes on the earth he rowleth himselfe +vppon them, vntill he haue filled all his prickles, and then carrieth +them home to his den. And if it fortun that one of them fall off by the +way, he likewise shaketh off all the residue and waloweth vpon them +afresh vntill they all be settled vpon his backe againe, so foorthe he +goeth, makyng a noyse like a cart wheele. And if there be any young ones +in his nest they pull off his load wherewithall he is loaded, eating +thereof what they please, and laying uppe the residue for the time to +come.” + +In the “Workes of Armorie” of Bossewell, published some thirty years +or so before Topsell’s book, we find an account so similar that we may +conclude that some one or other wrote a sketch of the hedgehog that +was considered so satisfactory that it became the nucleus for anybody +else who wanted to deal with the subject. “The little Hiricion, with +his sharpe pykes, is almost the least of all other Beastes. And of vs +Englishmen he is termed an Irchin or Urcheon, a beast so-called for the +roughness and sharpnesse of his pykes, which nature hath giuen him in +steade of haire. And such hys pykes couereth his skinne, as the haire +doth the other beastes, and be his weapon or armour wherewith he pricketh +and greeveth them that take or touch him. He is a beaste of witte and +good puruciance, for he clymeth vpon a Vine or an Apple tree, and biteth +of their branches and twiggs, and when they be fallen doune he waloweth +on them, and so they sticke to his prickles, and he beareth them into a +hollow tree, or some other hole, and keepeth them for meate for himselfe +and his young ones. If after he is so charged there happe any to fal from +his pricks, then for indignation he throweth from his backe all the other +and eftsoones returneth to the tree to charge him againe of newe.” + +These two old authors both refer, too, to the belief that the hedgehog +had distinct gifts as a wind and weather prophet. Bossewell asserts that +“the Urcheon is witty and wise in his knowledge of comming of Winds, +North and South, for he changeth his Denne or hole, when he is ware that +such windes come;” while Topsell has it that “when they hide themselves +in their den they haue a naturall vnderstanding of the turning of the +wind. They have two holes in their caue, the one North, the other South, +obseruing to stop the mouth against the winde, as the skilful mariner to +stiere and turn the rudder and sailes, for which some haue held opinion +that they do naturally foreknow the change of weather.” + + “The hedgehogge hath a sharp quicke thorned garment, + That on his backe doth serue him for defence; + He can presage the winds incontinent, + And hath good knowledge in the difference + Between the southerne and the northerne wind. + These virtues are allotted him by kind, + Whereon in Constantinople, that great city, + A merchant in his garden gaue one nourishment; + By which he knew that winds true certainty, + Because the hedgehog gaue him just presagement.” + +So at all events declares Chester in his “Love’s Martyr”; and Bodenham in +the “Belvedere, or Garden of the Muses,” A.D. 1600, testifies to the same +belief in the lines:— + + “As hedgehogs doe foresee ensuinge stormes, + So wise men are for fortune still prepared.” + +The author of “Poor Robin’s Almanack,” at the much more recent date of +1733, takes what one may consider quite a professional interest in the +hedgehog as a weather prophet, and exclaims:— + + “If by some secret art the hedgehog know, + So long before, which way the winds will blow, + She has an art which many a person lacks, + That thinks himself fit to make almanacks.” + +A remark that is certainly most true, though for the honour of the craft +we should hardly have expected a calendar-maker to admit as much. + +The medicinal virtues of the hedgehog were held to be very considerable +in the days of faith, and some of the preparations were abominably nasty. +“The flesh being stale,” says one of these old authorities, “giuen to a +madde man cureth him.” Putrid hedgehog fetched out of a ditch and given +as food or medicine to a man! The flesh salted, dried, beaten to a powder +and then drank in vinegar was held in high repute as a remedy for dropsy, +and for “Leprosie, the Crampe, and all sicknesse in the nerves,” and the +fat beaten up with honey was deemed an excellent strengthener for a weak +voice. + +Topsell states that “the left eie of a Hedgehog being fried with oyle, +yealdeth a liquor which causeth sleep, if it bee infused into the +eares with a quill. Warts of al sorts are likewise taken away by the +same. If the right eie be fryed with the oile of lineseed and put in a +vessell of red brasse, and afterward anoint his eies therewith, as with +an eie-salue, he shal see as well in the darke as in the light.” The +distinction is often a very important one in these old recipes between +left or right, hind leg or front, male or female, and the like, and an +error in any of these details completely upsets all hope of any benefit +being derived; thus we see in this last receipt that a man might fry the +left eye for ever, and never get any nearer the gift of nocturnal vision. +In the same way “tenne sprigs of Laurell, seauen graines of Pepper, and +the skin of the ribs of an hedgehog dryed and beaten, cast into three +cups of water and warmed, so being drunk of one that hath the Collicke, +and let rest, he shall be in perfect health; but with this exception, +that for a man it must bee the membrane of a male hedgehog, and for a +woman a female.” + +Porta declares that the ancients made their hair grow by using the +ashes of a land-hedgehog. As no one ever heard of a water-hedgehog this +stipulation seems almost needlessly precise. In another recipe we are +told to “take the body of a hedgehog burnt to powder,[59] and if you +adde thereto Beares-grease it will restore unto a bald man his heade of +haire againe, if the place be rubbed vntil it be ready to bleed.” Bear’s +grease pure and simple has long had a reputation amongst hair-dressers, +and if this be as potent as they would have us believe, the rest of the +prescription can scarcely claim much of the credit. The writer adds that +“some mingle red Snailes,” but this is clearly optional, and we should +certainly avail ourselves of the option. + +Epilepsy was to be cured by wearing a ring in which a portion of the +hoof of a deer was enclosed. It may interest anyone with a partiality +for venison to know that “Deer’s flesh that is catcht in Summer is +poyson; because then they feed on Adders and serpents: these are venemous +creatures, and by eating of them they grow thirsty; and this they know +naturally, for if they drink before they have digested them they are +killed by them; wherefore they will abstain from water, though they burn +with thirst. Wherefore Stag’s flesh eaten at that time is venemous and +very dangerous.” Shakespeare refers to the weeping of the deer, and tells +how + + “The big round tears + Cours’d one another down his innocent nose + In piteous chace.” + +It was an old belief that the deer wept every year for the loss of their +horns, “a likeness of those who grieve for the loss of their worldly +possessions. So, too, should a penitent and watchful sinner not cease +to weep when he is overtaken.” This straining after a moral, as we have +already seen, is a very marked feature amongst the old writers. Sometimes +the moral sentiment flows fairly naturally, but more often it is terribly +laboured. Thus, for example, we read that “the ferret is a bold and +audacious beast (though little), and an enemie to all other, and when +they take a prey their custome and manner is onely to suck the bloud as +they bite it, and not to eat the flesh; and if at any time their prey +shall be taken from them they fall a squeaking and crying. Such are the +rich men of this world, who yell and crie out when they part with their +riches, weeping and wailing for the losse of such things as they have +hunted after with as much greedinesse as want of pitie.” + +In like manner we learn that “when the Squirrell is hunted she cannot +be driven to the ground, unlesse extremitie of faintnesse cause her to +do so through an unwilling compulsion, for such is the stately mind of +this little beast that while her limbes and strength lasteth she tarrieth +and saveth herself in the tops of tall trees, disdaining to come down +for every harm or hurt which she feeleth; knowing, indeed, her greatest +danger to rest below amongst the dogs and busie hunters. From whence +may be gathered a perfect pattern for us, to be secured from all the +wiles and hungrie chasings of the treacherous devil: namely, that we +keep above in the loftie palaces of heavenlie meditations, for there is +small securitie in things on earth; and greatest ought to be our fear of +danger, when we leave to look and think of heaven.” + +The fabulists and moralists of ancient and mediæval days regarded +animals as so much raw material to be modelled into whatever form best +suited their ends. They were little, if at all, concerned in giving a +true picture of animal life, but used the various creatures in such +conventional and allegorical way as most readily adapted itself to the +moral or political end in view in their writings. Art has often pursued +much the same course, and instead of giving us the real animal nature has +introduced an entirely foreign element, and represented the creatures +as swayed by purely human considerations. Æsop and La Fontaine make +the animals speak as though they were influenced by human feelings and +motives, while Landseer, for example, in some of his noble pictures +employs his dogs and other animals to simulate humanity, as in “Laying +Down the Law,” “Alexander and Diogenes,” and other well-known works of +the master. The result is quaint, grotesque, delicious, humorous; but +these law-givers, philosophers, and so forth, are canine in form alone, +and are but puppets acting a part that is a good-natured satire on +humanity. + +It was a very old belief that when the wild boar was hunted its tusks +grew so hot in its rage and excitement as to actually burn the dogs if +they came within the terrible sweep of them. Xenophon tells us in his +description of the chase of the boar that hairs laid upon the tusks +shrivel up even after the brute is slain. This belief has been handed +down from generation to generation of writers on so-called natural +history, and even in a book in our possession, published in London in +1786, we find the statement only very slightly qualified by a preliminary +“it is said.” “It is said that when this creature is hunted down his +tusks are so inflamed that they will burn and singe the hair of the +dogs.” Shakespeare says that the “ireful boar” does not even fear the +lion, and Guillim says that “he is counted the most absolute Champion +amongst Beasts, for that he hath weapons to wound his foe, which are his +strong and sharp Tusks, and also his Target to defend himself: for which +he useth oft to rub his shoulders and sides against Trees, wherewith to +harden them against the stroke of his Adversary.” + +Herbert states in his book of travels that there are on the African +coast, opposite Madagascar, vast herds of wild swine that are greatly +esteemed by the natives of those parts, not only for their flesh, but +more especially for a stone that is found often within them, which is +“very soveraign against poison.” The Spaniards, he tells us, call it +Pietro del Porco. The virtue of this stone is supposed to arise from +their feeding upon certain medical herbs. + +The ermine was believed to prefer death to defilement, and if placed +within a wall or ring of mud, would kill itself rather than contaminate +its spotless fur. It is on this account that ermine is selected as the +robe of prince and judge—an emblem of unspotted purity. Beaumont and +Fletcher, in their “Knight of Malta,” refer to this in the line:— + + “Whose honour, ermine-like, can never suffer spot.” + +In a portrait of Queen Elizabeth at Hatfield, an ermine is represented as +running up her arm, as a delicate compliment to the Virgin Queen. + +It was reported that goats see as well by night as by day, hence those +people who are unable to see after dark can be cured of their infirmity +by eating the liver of a goat; while for those who suffered from +insomnia no remedy was held in better repute than the horn of a goat: +this placed beneath the head of the patient speedily brought refreshing +sleep. Porta affirms that “goats, when their eyes are blood-shotten, +let out the blood; the she-goat by the point of a bullrush, the he-goat +by the pricking of a thorn.” Such examples of animal sagacity have a +great attraction for this old author, and he gives many instances in +support of his contention, that “living creatures, though they have no +understanding, yet their senses are quicker than ours, and by their +actions they teach us Physick, Husbandry, the art of Building, the +disposing of Household Affairs, and almost all Arts and Sciences. The +beasts that have no reason, do by their nature strangely shun the eyes +of witches and hurtfull things; the Doves, for a preservative against +inchantment, first gather some little Bay-tree boughs, and then lay them +upon their nests to preserve their young; so do the Kites use brambles, +the Turtles swordgrasse, the Crows withy, the Lapwings Venus-hair, the +Ravens ivy, the Herns carrot, the Blackbirds myrtle, the Larkes grasse, +for the same purpose. In lyke manner they have shewed us preservatives +against poysons; the Elephant having by chance eaten a Chameleon, +against the poyson thereof eats of the wilde Olive; the Tortoise, having +eaten a Serpent, dispels the poyson by eating the herb Origan. There is +a kind of Spider which destroyeth the Harts, except permitting they eat +wilde Ivy; and whensoever they light upon any poysonous food they cure +themselves with the artichoke; and against Serpents they prepare and arm +themselves with wilde Parsneps.” We need not further pursue matters with +our author. Suffice it to say, that he brings forward an enormous number +of examples, and amply proves his case to his satisfaction, as indeed he +should have no difficulty in doing, when it is once understood that facts +are of secondary importance. + +One strange notion of antiquity was that the blood of the goat would +dissolve the diamond. The statement is found in Pliny, Solinus, +Albertus, Cyprian, Isidore, and many other writers, right away down +to comparatively recent days. Legh, for instance, states, without +hesitation, “The Diamonde, which neither iron nor fier wil daunt, the +bloud of the gote softneth to the breaking.” Maundevile, of course, +receives it as an undoubted truth; while even Browne writes: “We hear it +in every mouth, and in many good Authors reade it, that a Diamond, which +is the hardest of stones, not yeelding unto Steele, Emery or any other +thing, is yet made soft and broke by the bloud of a Goat.” + +That things are not always what they seem must have been a mere truism +in the Middle Ages. Thus Aubrey in his “Remains of Gentilisme and +Judaism,” introduces the goat in an entirely new character. “A conceit +there is that ye devil commonly appeareth with a cloven hoof, wherein +though it seem excessively ridiculous there may be something of truth, +and ye ground at first might be his frequent appearing in the shape of +a goat, which answers that description. This was the opinion of ancient +Xtians concerning ye apparition of Fauns and Satyrs. The devil most +often appears in the shape of a goat, nor did he only assume this shape +in olden times, but commonly in later times, especially in ye place of +his worship, if there be any truth in the confession of witches. And +therefore a goat is not improperly made an hieroglyphic of ye devil.” + +The shrew-mouse, one of the most inoffensive of creatures, was by +our ancestors held to be of terribly poisonous nature. Its bite was +thought to be most venomous, and even contact with it in any way was +accounted extremely dangerous. Cattle and horses seized with any malady +that appeared to cause any numbness of the legs were at once reputed +shrew-struck. “It is a ravening beast,” quoth Topsell, “feigning itself +gentle and tame, but being touched it biteth deep and poysoneth deadly. +It beareth a cruel minde, desiring to hunt anything, neither is there any +creature that it loveth.” On whatever limb it crept was “cruel anguish,” +often ending in paralysis. These calumnies have prevailed in many +countries and for many ages, the Romans being as firmly convinced of the +deadly nature of the shrew-mouse, as any British rustic of a century ago. +The shrew-mouse, according to the author of the “Speculum Mundi,” “hath +a long and sharp snout like a mole. In Latine it is called Mus araneus, +because it containeth in it poison or venime like a spider, and if at any +time it bite either man or beast the truth of this will be too apparent. +But commonly it is called a Shrew-mouse, and from the venimous biting of +this beast we have an English imprecation, I beshrew thee; in which words +we do, indeed, wish some such evil. And again, because a curst scold or +brawling wife is esteemed none of the least evils; we, therefore, call +such a one a Shrew.” Hence Shakespeare, dealing with such a character, +entitled one of his plays the Taming of the Shrew. + +Happily there was a certain antidote against the evil wrought by this +malevolent beast. A large ash-tree being chosen, a deep hole was made +in its trunk, and after certain incantations were made a shrew-mouse +was thrust alive into the opening, and the hole securely plugged. “A +shrew-ash,” says Gilbert White in his “Natural History of Selborne,” +“is an ash whose twigs or branches, when gently applied to the limbs of +cattle, will immediately relieve the pain which a beast suffers from the +running of a shrew-mouse over the part affected. Against this accident, +to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always +kept a shrew-ash at hand, which when once medicated would maintain its +virtue for ever.” One of these shrew-ashes, now but a fragment of what +was evidently once a massive stately tree, may still be seen near the +Sheen Gate in Richmond Park, and there are those still living who can +remember cattle and horses being brought to it for its healing virtues. + +The horse does not seem to have so much unnatural history associated with +him as we might have anticipated, such stories as that of the feeding +of the horses of Diomed with human flesh, or of the milk-white steed, +Al Borak, of Mohammed, each of whose strides was equal to the furthest +range of human vision, being altogether fabulous and mythical. Diomed, +the tyrant of Thrace, seems to have held out very little encouragement to +immigrants or wandering tourists, if the legend be true that he utilized +them as fodder. + + “Here such dire welcome is for thee prepared + As Diomed’s unhappy strangers shared; + His hapless guests at silent midnight bled, + On their torn limbs his snorting coursers fed.”[60] + +One meets with many famous steeds in classical and mediæval literature, +but these, of course, are individual examples of the race, and anything +told of them can scarcely be considered as testifying to the general +though erroneous notions entertained on the subject of horses generally. +The horse Bayard, for example, the property of the four Sons of Aymon, +had a most useful peculiarity in that he grew larger or smaller in fair +proportion to his rider, according as the big stalwart brother of six +feet high, or the little fellow not yet in his teens got astride him. One +of the horses of Achilles is said to have announced to his master his +impending death. It is sufficiently evident that expanding, contracting, +and talkative horses are altogether outside the ordinary pale. + +According to a small manuscript of the twelfth century, called “Mappæ +clavicula,” “if oxen drink first, then there will be enough water for +both oxen and horses: but if the horses drink first there will not be +sufficient either for horses or oxen.” Horses are afraid of elephants +until they get used to them, and there is also some little antipathy +between camels, bears and horses. Porta declares that “Horses will burst +if they tread upon the Wolf’s footing. If Drums be made of an Elephant, +Camel, or Wolves skin, and one beat them, the Horses will then run away +and dare not stand. By the same reason, if you will drive away Bears, a +Horse hath a capital hatred with a Bear: he will know his enemy that he +never saw before, and presentlie provide himself to fight with him, and +I have heard that Bears have been driven away in the Wildernesse by the +sound of a Drum, when it was made of Horse’s skin.” + +It has for centuries been a belief in many parts of the country that the +hairs from a horse’s tail, when dropped in the water, become endued with +life, and turn into small eels. A horsehair tied round a wart has been +held to be of potent efficacy for its removal; and horsehair spread on +bread and butter has been prescribed as a remedy, even in quite recent +times, for worms. For sciatica, according to one Dr. Floyer, once on a +time one of the shining lights of the medical profession, the finest +preparation is “the marrow of a horse (kill’d by chance, not dying of any +disease) mixed with some rose-water. Chafe it in with a warme hand for a +quarter of an houre, then putt on a Scarlett cloth, broad enough to cover +ye part affected, and go into a warme Bed.” As personal experience is so +valuable in all such cases, he adds: “It cured my Aunt Lakes, who went +yearly to the Bath for ye Sciatica, but never went after she knew and +used this medicine.” + +In Winstanley’s “Book of Knowledge,” a book that went through several +editions (our copy we see is dated 1685),[61] he deals with many strange +matters, and gives receipts for various extraordinary requirements: to +make men seem headless, to make it that men shall not find the door, and +so forth; but amongst rather more reasonable items we find, “to make one +dance.” The _modus operandi_ is sufficiently simple, though perhaps a +trifle disgusting; it is as follows:—“Cut the Hoof of a Horse in pieces, +seethe it with Oyl and anoint the Table or any other place, and lay his +head thereon, when you would have him to dance.” Such is a sample of the +best that this storehouse of knowledge could yield to those who sought +its help. + +Horse-shoes were at one time often nailed on doors as a protection +against witches and malignant spirits, and “The horse-shoe nailed, each +threshold’s guard”[62] may often still be seen on old country houses. +John Aubrey, writing some two hundred years ago, says: “Most houses at +the West End of London have a horse-shoe on the threshold.” Dwellers in +town, however, have not the same dread of the mysterious as the more +lonely dwellers in the country, though many a man who is brave enough on +the gas-lighted pavement would feel a little “creepy” when the shrill +scream of a trapped hare, or the wild cry of the peewit, broke upon the +stillness of the night and found him in some country lane or on the open +downland. It is a firm article of belief, however, with all who have +faith in the efficacy of the horse-shoe that it must be picked up, not +bought. Whatever virtue may reside in one that is found is wholly wanting +in one that is purchased. + +The humble donkey has its share of quaint associations. The conspicuous +cross upon its back is popularly supposed to date from the day that our +Saviour rode in Jerusalem upon an ass. It is, however, more probable that +the ass that brayed and browsed in Eden bore a similar mark. + +Amongst the ancient Egyptians the ass was dedicated to the evil spirit +Typho, and once a year, if we may believe Plutarch, the people sacrificed +an ass to this foul deity by hurling it over a precipice. The people of +Lycopolis carried their antipathy so far that they excluded the trumpet +from their festivals and military service from a fancy that its sound +was a little too suggestive of the asinine vocal performances. The asses +of the East are of a more tawny colour than those with which we are +familiar in England; as this red tint was associated in people’s minds +with a creature devoted to the Evil One, it was but a step further to +ascribe an evil association to the colour itself; hence anyone who was +so unfortunate as to have an especially ruddy countenance, or a more +than usually deep shade of red in the hair, was at once held to be in +an uncomfortably close relationship with Typho. The dun-colour of our +British specimens gave them their name. Chaucer, for instance, calls the +donkey the dun, as we may see in the “Canterbury Tales”—“Dun is in the +mire.” + +According to De Thaun, “The wild Ass, when March in its course has +completed twenty-five days, brays twelve times, and also in the night, +for this reason, that that season is the equinox—days and nights are of +equal length. By the twelve times that it makes its braying and crying +it shows that night and day have twelve hours in their circuit. The ass +is grieved when he makes his cry that the night and the day have equal +length, for he likes better the length of the night than of the day.” One +can only read such an extract as this with a feeling of utter wonder; +in the first place, how De Thaun could believe such a thing himself, +and in the second place, how he could expect anyone else to do so. The +exact accuracy of the wild ass as to the day of the month, and his +twelvefold bray of regret as each recurring year brings it round again, +are triumphs of the imaginative faculty. We may probably infer that when +the twenty-ninth day of September has come round again the balance is +redressed, hope springs again, and the twelve brays this time are of a +peculiarly jubilant and sonorous character. + +Asses’ hair was in the Middle Ages held to be a sterling remedy for +ague, though one must have been credulous indeed to try it. It is +interesting more especially perhaps as a foreshadowing of that doctrine +of homœopathy which deals with the cure of like by like. Great healing +powers are attributed to the hairs from the cross on the donkey’s back: +hairs cut from it and suspended in a bag round a child’s neck were a +potent influence in the prevention of fits and convulsions. Another +famous remedy was the cure of whooping cough by passing the sufferer +three times under the belly and three times over the back of a donkey. In +Sussex a standard remedy for the same distressing complaint was procured +by cutting some of the hair out of the cross, chopping it up finely, +and spreading it on bread and butter for the breakfast of the patient; +while in Dorsetshire prevention was rightly considered better than cure, +and though the rustics may have doubted the efficacy of vaccination as +a remedy against small-pox, they had no hesitation whatever in getting +their children astride on the donkey’s back as early as possible as a +preventative to their ever catching whooping cough. One meets with remedy +after remedy of the same general nature, and all owing their efficacy +to some mysterious connection between this particular complaint and +donkey-hair, but what this occult influence can be is wholly unknown to +us. + +The old herald, Legh, says of the ass—“As he is not the wisest so is +he the least sumptuous, especially in his diet, for his feeding is on +Thistles, Nettles, and Briers, and therefore small birdes hate him, +especially the Sparrowe is most enemie unto him,” as they see him +stolidly devouring the plants that they visit for their own sustenance. +The ancient author with ponderous humour finishes his account of the +ass by saying, “I could write much of this beast, but that it wolde be +thought it were to mine owne glorie.” + +The dog, the friend and companion of man, was said to see ghosts, and +their howling at untoward times portended death or conflagration or some +such grave event, and has, therefore, for many centuries been held of +evil omen, and no doubt in remote country districts the feeling still +remains. The cries were said to be often in terror of sights invisible +to man. Rabbi Menachem declares in his exposition of the Pentateuch +that “when the Angel of Death enters into a city the dogs do howl,”[63] +and he records an instance of a dog that fled in terror from before the +angel, and that someone kicked it back and it died, but whether from the +effects of a too vigorous kick, or from being thrust into the path of the +destroying angel, he does not venture to pronounce. + +If a child has whooping cough some of its hair must be placed between +slices of bread and given to a dog. Should the dog cough, as he most +probably will, it is an indication that the disease has passed from the +child to the dog. The same idea may be seen in the old custom of giving +some of the hair of anyone attacked with scarlet fever to a donkey. +Should the animal swallow it the disease was supposed then and there to +pass from the one ass to the other. + +Coles, in his “Art of Simpling,” says that “the herb called Hound’s +tongue will tye the Tongues of Houndes, so that they shall not bark at +you, if it be laid under the bottom of your foot.” A little hare’s fur +somewhere about the person was held to be equally valuable, and no doubt +it was. One authority hath it that a dog will not bark if another dog’s +tongue be carried under the great toe, and the carrying of a dog’s heart +in one’s pocket is another capital idea to the same end. “The tail of +a young Wheezel put under your foot is also recommended,” and if none +of these methods are available, the dog may be equally well silenced by +giving him a frog to eat, artfully secreted in a piece of meat. + +During the Middle Ages it was held that the head of a mad dog pounded +up and drank in wine was a specific for jaundice. If, on the other +hand, the head was burnt and the powdered ashes put to a cancer, it +was held a sure remedy, and, naturally, on the homœopathic principle +of like to like, these ashes, if given to a man who had been bitten by +a rabid dog, “casteth out all the venom and the foulness, and healeth +the maddening bites.” The liver of the dog was equally efficacious. A +gipsy preventative of hydrophobia was to take some hairs from the dog +that gave the bite, a very risky operation by the way, and fry them in +oil, applying them with a little green rosemary to the wound. To eat +churchyard grass[64] was esteemed also a good thing in the case of anyone +bitten by a rabid dog. So lately as the year 1866 it came out at the +inquest held on the body of a child that had died of hydrophobia, that +one of the relatives fished up out of the river the dead body of the dog +that had done the mischief, in order that its liver might be cooked and +eaten by the child. In spite of this the patient died. + +It was held that if a cat were in a cart, a state of things that need +rarely happen one would imagine, the horses would soon tire if the wind +blew from Pussy to them, and that in like manner the steed would soon +flag that was ridden by a man who had any cat’s fur in his dress, and +that anyone swallowing the hair of a cat would be subject to fainting +fits. On the other hand, it was believed that nothing was better as a +cure for whitlow than to put the ailing finger for a quarter of an hour +each day into the ear of a cat. Anything that touches a cat’s ear is +received with such marked disfavour that we imagine this remedy is simply +unworkable, as the cat would never be a consenting party. Three drops +of blood from a cat’s tail were held to be a cure for epilepsy, while a +sovereign remedy for those who would preserve their sight was to burn the +head of a black cat to ashes, and then blow a little of the dust three +times a day into the eyes. This, we imagine, should rather be classed +amongst the methods of injuring the sight. + +To cure a stye our forefathers had great faith in rubbing it with hairs +from a cat’s tail,[65] two essential points being that the cat should be +a black one, and that the operation should take place on the first night +of the new moon; but to cure warts the hairs must be taken from the tail +of a tortoiseshell cat, and even then the remedy is only efficacious +during the month of May. Another strange belief was that a cat having +three colours in its fur was a great protection against fire. It is an +old idea that the brains of cats are of destructive malignity, and that +anyone desiring to quietly get rid of an enemy has only to invite him to +a repast in which some of the delicacies have an imperceptible fragment +of this poison added. + +Cats see well by night, and were often, and especially black ones, +believed to be the witches’ familiars, and therefore regarded with fear +and aversion. It was held that they had power to raise a gale, and on +board ship the malevolent disposition with which they were credited has +made them in an especial degree unpopular shipmates. Pussy was thought +to particularly provoke a storm by playing with any article of wearing +apparel, by rubbing her face, or by licking her fur the wrong way; she +was sheltered from rough usage however by the belief that provoking her +would bring a gale, while drowning her would cause a regular tempest. +In Germany there is a belief that anyone who makes a cat his enemy will +be attended at his funeral by rats, and heavy rain. As cats see well +by night, and are given to wandering abroad at unholy hours, they were +connected with the baleful influences of the moon. Freye, the Norse +goddess, was attended by cats, and Friday, her especial day, was always +considered unlucky. The ruffling of the water by the rising wind is +called a cat’s paw, and cats are said to smell a coming gale, while all +must be familiar with that tempestuous state of affairs known as “raining +cats and dogs.” In Cornwall, and on some other parts of the coast, the +people say that a spectral dog, called Shony, is sometimes seen, and +that this always predicts a storm. + +Some persons have a marked antipathy to cats. Henry III. of France +fainted if he caught sight of one, and Napoleon I. had almost as strong +a feeling and failing. Shylock, in the Merchant of Venice it will be +remembered, says:— + + “Some men there are that love not a gaping pig, + Some that are mad if they behold a cat.” + +It is well known that cats have a wonderful knack of falling on their +feet, and they are so tenacious of life that they are ordinarily credited +with having nine lives, though it is proverbially held that care will +kill even a cat. Not only does Shakespeare refer to cat-lore in Macbeth +in “the poor cat i’ the adage,” but in Romeo and Juliet this old belief +in the strong hold that Pussy has on life is distinctly referred to in +the first scene of the third act:— + + “What would’st thou have with me? + Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives.” + +The cat again appears in the legend of the indomitable cats of Kilkenny +that fought till a little fluff was all the record of that sanguinary +struggle, and we have all of us heard of the special power of facial +expression of the cats of Cheshire. + +The Grimalkin of Shakespeare’s Macbeth was one of the witch’s familiar +spirits, and the cat, the reputed companion of these unlovely and unloved +personages, often therefore receives this name. Aubrey, writing in 1686, +tells a story that smacks strongly of witchcraft and the black cat. “Mrs. +Clarke, a Herefordshire woman, told me,” he says, “to bury the head of +a black Catt with a Jacobus or a piece of gold in it, and put into the +eies two black beanes (what was to be done with the beanes she hath +forgott), but it must be done on a Tuesday at twelve o’clock at night, +and that time nine nights after the piece of gold must be taken out, and +whatsoever you buy with it (always reserving some part of the money) you +will have money brought into your pockett, perhaps the same piece of gold +again.” Unfortunately, he does not seem to have tried it, so we never +learn what success might have attended the experiment. + +The description of pussy by Bartholomew Anglicus is most graphic, and is +an evident study from the life. “He is a full lecherous beast in youth,” +saith he, “swift, pliant, and merry, and leapeth and reseth on everything +that is afore him, and is led by a straw and played therewith, and is +a right heavy beast in age and full sleepy, and lieth slyly in wait +for mice, and is aware where they be more by smell than by sight, and +hunteth and reseth on them in privy places, and when he taketh a mouse he +playeth therewith, and eateth him after the play. In time of love is hard +fighting for wives, and one scratcheth and rendeth the other grievously +with biting and with claws; and he maketh a rueful noyse and ghastful +when one proffereth to fight with another, and hardly is he hurt when he +is thrown down off an high place.[66] And when he hath a fair skin he +is, as it were, proud thereof, and goeth fast about, and is oft for his +fair skin taken of the skinner and slain and flayed.”[67] This is clearly +the description of a close and accurate observer. + +The description in the “Speculum Mundi,” though much shorter, is almost +equally happy. “The common or vulgar Cat is a creature well known, and +being young it is very wanton and sportfull: but waxing older is very sad +and melancholy. It is called a Cat from the Latine word signifying wary, +for a Cat is a watchfull and warie beast, seldome overtaken, and most +attendant to her sport and prey.” John Bossewell says of the cat that “he +is slie and wittie and seeth so sharply that he overcommeth darknesse of +the nyghte by the shynynge lyghte of his eyne. He doth delighte that he +enjoyeth his libertie.” Men may come and men may go, but cat-nature is +evidently unchanging. + +Cats naturally suggest rats and mice. It was an ancient belief that +these sprang spontaneously from any mass of putrefaction. “Mice excell +all living creatures,” writes one of the ancient authorities, “in the +knowledge and experience of things to come: for when any old house, +habitation, tenement, or other dwelling place waxeth ruinous and ready to +fall, they perceive it first, and out of that their foresight they make +present avoidance from their holes, and betake themselves to flight even +as fast as their little legs will give them leave, and so they seek some +other place wherein they may dwell with more securitie.” Our readers will +naturally recall the proverbial belief that rats desert the sinking ship. +Swift, in his epistle to Mr. Nugent, writes of those that “fly like rats +from sinking ships,” and the desertion of the losing side has received +the opprobrious name of “ratting” on this account. + +Maundevile, amongst many other wonderful things that he saw or heard of +in his travels, came to a place where the rats were as large as dogs;[68] +requiring great mastiffs for their capture, as they were altogether +beyond the power of the cats of the place to deal with. “And ther ben +Myse als grete as Houndes, and yalowe Myse als grete as Ravennes.” If the +rats and mice kept the proportion between their respective sizes that we +are familiar with, and the mice were as big as hounds, we can readily +understand that the rats must have been very formidable creatures +indeed, and quite beyond the power of ordinary terrier or pussy to cope +with. + +Jordanus brought home a story of rats in India as large as foxes. The +creatures he saw were probably bandicoots,[69] very rat-like animals, +though not quite so big as foxes, even though the Indian foxes are +much smaller than the species we have in England. A bandicoot is about +twenty-one inches long, full measure, about five inches of this being +tail. According to Herodotus, it was not the rats that were equal in size +to foxes in India, but the ants. We can recall an absurd picture of these +in one of the mediæval natural history books, where a couple of Europeans +stand at a very respectful distance from a large mound that is covered +with ants as big as cats, the effect of the ant-form when thus magnified +being very quaint. + +It was a very ancient belief that oysters, mussels, cockles, and all +shell fishes grew or diminished according to the phases of the moon. +“Some have found it out by diligent search that the fibres in the livers +of rats and mice answer in number to the days of the month’s age.” This +was really a very curious discovery to make, or shall we rather say—a +very curious assertion to be responsible for? + +It is impossible to mention a tithe of the strange facts got together by +the industry of the men of science of the past; sometimes introducing +to our notice the most extraordinary creatures, at others presenting +the most ordinary creatures in an extraordinary way. What can we say, +for instance, of the Catoblepas, a beast bred in Lybia, “a fearful and +terrible beast to look upon”? His eyes “very fierie, as it were of a +bloudie colour, and he never useth to look directly forward, nor upward, +but always down to the earth.” He has a long mane and cloven feet, +and his body covered with scales. “As for his meat, it is deadly and +poysonfull herbes, and he sendeth forth a horrible breath which poysoneth +the aire over his head and about him, inasmuch that such creatures as +draw in the breath of that aire are grievously afflicted, and losing both +voice and sight, they fall into deadly convulsions.” What shall we say of +the Oryges, the only beast in creation that has his hair growing reversed +and turning towards the head? Or of the Lomie in the forests of Bohemia, +“which hath hanging under its neck a Bladder always full of scalding +water, with which, when she is hunted, she so tortureth the Dogs that +she thereby maketh her escape”? Or of the wonderful Eale of Ethiopia as +large as a hippopotamus, and having horns that he can incline backwards +or forwards at any angle to suit the exigencies of conflict? Or of the +Manticora, having the face of a man and the body of a lion, and voice +like the blending of flute and of trumpet? Or of fifty other creatures +equally extraordinary? It is painful to think that such stories were +deliberate inventions, and that knaves devised them and fools accepted +them; and we must, we believe, conclude that almost every story had a +grain of truth in it, but that the love of the marvellous, the tendency +to exaggeration, the change that took place as the story travelled, and +received almost unconsciously here an additional graphic touch and there +a little more fully developed detail, made the fully matured statement an +entirely different thing to the modest seed from which it sprang. + +We have already encountered many instances of how the most ordinary +creatures are described in a way that leads one to suppose that the two +great virtues in a naturalist, observation and experiment, were almost +entirely wanting at any period for the last two thousand years or more. +How else could such a belief as that the badger has his two legs on one +side shorter than the other two have ever gained credence? or that the +ram “when he slepeth, from spring-time till harvest he lyeth on the one +side, and from harvest till spring-time againe on the other side”? Or, to +travel a little further afield, that the whiskers of a tiger are mortal +poison, causing men to die mad if given to them in meat? Or that the +camel is so ashamed of its ugliness that before drinking in a stream it +always fouls the water so that it may not see the reflection of itself? +Or fifty other statements equally at variance with the facts? The respect +for those who by the vigour and uncompromising directness of their +assertions became regarded as great authorities was so tremendous and +all-embracing that no one seemed to dare to challenge statements made +by them, while the ease and comfort to subsequent writers of having all +responsibility taken off their own shoulders by merely copying instead of +testing had a fatal fascination, the result being that many assertions +have had a vigorous vitality for centuries that could have been readily +disproved in a week or even an hour of honest personal investigation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + The phœnix—Various ancient and mediæval writers thereon—The + Bird of Paradise—The Museum of Tradescant—The roc—The + barnacle goose—The eagle—Its power of gazing upon the sun—Its + keenness of vision—The pelican—The swan and its death song—A + favourite idea with the poets—Hostility between the swan and + the eagle—The ostrich—Its digestive powers—How its eggs are + hatched—The cock—Antipathy between lion and cock—Cock-broth + and cock-ale for invalids—Incorporation in man of various + valued animal characteristics—The stone alectorius—Animals + haled before the judges for offences against man—The deadly + cockatrice—Cock-crow—The “Armonye of Byrdes”—The raven—How + it became black—The raven-stone—The owl—The swallow—Sight + to the blind—Oil of swallows as a remedy—The robin and + the wren—Their pious care of the dead—The nightingale—The + doctrine of signatures—Thorn-pierced breast—Philomela—The + cuckoo—His voice-restorer—The peacock—Its pride and its + shame—The kingfisher—As a weathercock—Sir Thomas Browne + thereon—Halcyone—Halcyon days—The filial stork—The cautious + cranes. + + +Though a belief in the phœnix has long since died away it was for a +thousand years or more as much an article of credence as a swan or an +eagle. As far as we are aware, the first reference to it is found in the +pages of Herodotus, and the story, as he tells it in the seventy-third +chapter of the second book of his history, was the basis upon which for +centuries a vast superstructure of fabledom was reared. + +Even Tacitus, one of the most cautious and reliable of authors, seems to +have felt no difficulty in believing in the existence of the phœnix. +Erroneous as his account is, we feel at once on reading it that we have +the opinions of one honestly seeking the truth, a very different sort of +man to such a credulous old fellow, for example, as Maundevile. Tacitus +writes that “in the course of the year[70] the miraculous bird known to +the world by the name of the phœnix, after disappearing for a series +of ages, revisited Egypt. A phenomenon so very extraordinary could not +fail to produce abundance of speculation. The facts, about which there +seems to be a concurrence of opinions, with other circumstances in +their nature doubtful, yet worthy of notice, will not be unwelcome to +the reader. That the phœnix is sacred to the Sun, and differs from the +rest of the feathered species in the form of its head and the tincture +of its plumage, are points settled by the naturalist. Of its longevity +the accounts are various. The common persuasion is that it lives five +hundred years, though by some writers the date is extended to fourteen +hundred and sixty-one. It is the custom of the phœnix when its course of +years is finished, and the approach of death is felt, to build a nest in +its native clime, Arabia, and there deposit the principles of life, from +which a new progeny arises. The first care of the young bird, as soon as +fledged and able to trust to its wings, is to perform the obsequies of +its father. But this duty is not undertaken rashly. He collects a great +quantity of myrrh, and to try his strength, makes frequent excursions +with a load on his back. When he has made his experiment through a +great tract of air, and gains sufficient confidence in his own vigour, +he takes up the body of his father and flies with it to the Altar of the +Sun, where he leaves it to be consumed in flames of fragrance. Such is +the account of this wonderful bird. It has, no doubt, a mixture of fable; +but that the phœnix from time to time appears in Egypt seems to be a fact +satisfactorily ascertained.” + +Pliny feels no difficulty in describing the phœnix, declaring that it is +about the size of an eagle, the neck being of a golden sheen, the body +purple, and the tail of an azure blue, though he admits feeling a doubt +as to whether it can be true that only one is in existence at one time. +According to Maundevile, “he hathe a Crest of Fedres upon his Hed more +gret than the Poocok hathe, and his Nekke is yalowe aftre colour of an +Orielle, that is a Ston well schynynge, and his Bek is coloured Blew, and +his Wenges ben of purpre colour, and the Taylle is yelow and red. And he +is a fulle fair Brid to loken upon, for he schynethe full nobely.” One +wonders at first how this old writer is able to give such very precise +details, but as he tells us that “this Bryd men sene often tyme fleen in +the Countrees,” he would have no difficulty in getting a full description +of it from some of these countrymen to whom it was a familiar sight. + +Maundevile does not fail in his book of “Voiage and Travaile” to recite +the whole wonderful story. He tells us that “in Egypt is the Cytee +of Elyople,[71] that is to seyne, the Cytee of the Sonne. In that +Cytee there is a Temple made round, after the schappe of the Temple of +Jerusalem. The Prestes of that Temple have alle here Wrytynges, under +the Date of the Foul that is clept Fenix, and there is non but one in +alle the Worlde. And he comethe to brenne him selfe upon the Awtre of +the Temple at the end of five hundred Yeer: for so longe he lyvethe. And +at the five hundred Yeres ende the Prestes arrayen here Awtere honestly +and putten there upon Spices and Vif Sulphur and other thinges that wolm +brenne lightly. And then the Bryd Fenix comethe and brenneth him self to +Ashes. And the first Day aftre Men fynden in the Ashes a Worm; and the +seconde Day next aftre Men finden a Brid quyk and perfyt; and the thridde +Day next aftre he fleethe his wey. And so there is no more Briddes of +that Kynde in alle the World but it alone.” + +This belief in the phœnix is found not only through heathen and mediæval +literature, but in the Rabbinical writings, and those of the early +Fathers of the Christian Church. By these latter it was accepted as a +symbol of the resurrection of the dead, and it may not unfrequently be +found figured in the mosaics that adorn the basilicas of the primitive +Church. The Rabbins tell us that all the birds, save the phœnix, shared +in the sin of Eve, and eat of the forbidden fruit; hence the phœnix, as a +reward, obtained this modified form of immutability. Philippe de Thaun, +in his “Bestiary,” writes of the mystic bird: “Know this is its lot; it +comes to death of its own will, and from death it comes to life: hear +what it signifies. Phœnix signifies Jesus, Son of Mary, that he had power +to die of his own will, and from death came to life. Phœnix signifies +that to save his people he chose to suffer upon the cross.” “God knew +men’s unbelief,” writes St. Cyril, “and therefore provided this bird as +evidence of the Resurrection.” St. Ambrose says, too, that “the bird of +Arabia teaches us, by its example, to believe in the Resurrection.” Other +passages of like tenour could be quoted from Tertullian and others of +the writers of the early Christian Church, and all alike show the most +unquestionable belief in the existence of the bird.[72] + +It was suggested by Cuvier that at remote intervals a golden pheasant +from China might have strayed as far west as Arabia or Egypt, and given +rise to the legend; but gorgeous as the bird is, and fully capable of +making a considerable sensation on its appearance in a land where it was +previously unknown, one feels that such an appearance goes but a very +little way indeed towards clearing up the mass of myth that still remains +to be some way accounted for. + +Browne, in his excellent dissection of the vulgar errors of his day, +approaches the Phœnix story tenderly, but feels bound to declare against +it, though he rather takes refuge in the Scottish verdict of “not proven” +than slaughters it in cold blood. “That there is but one Phœnix in the +world,” saith he, “which after many hundred yeares burneth itself, and +from the ashes thereof ariseth up another, is a conceit not new or +altogether popular, but of great Antiquity: not only delivered by humane +Authors, but frequently expressed by holy Writers; by Cyril, Epiphanius, +and others. All which, notwithstanding, we cannot presume the existence +of this Animall, nor dare we affirm there is any Phœnix in Nature. For, +first, there wants herein the definite test of things uncertain—that is, +the sense of man. For though many writers have much enlarged hereon, +there is not any ocular describer, or such as presumeth to confirm it +upon aspection. Primitive Authors, from whom the stream of relations +is derivative, deliver themselves dubiously, and either by a doubtful +parenthesis, or a timorous conclusion, overthrow the whole relation. +As for its unity or conceit that there should be but one in Nature, it +seemeth not only repugnant unto Philosophy, but also Holy Scripture, +which plainly affirmes there went of every sort two at least into the +Ark of Noah. Every fowle after his kinde, every bird of every sort, they +went into the Ark, two and two of all flesh wherein there is the breath +of life. It infringeth the Benediction of God concerning multiplication. +God blessed them, saying Be fruitfull and multiply and let fowls multiply +in the earth, which terms are not applicable unto the Phœnix, whereof +there is but one in the world, and no more now living than at the first +benediction. As for longevity that it liveth a thousand years or more, +besides that from imperfect observations and rarity of appearance no +confirmation can be made, there may probably be a mistake in the compute. +For the tradition being very ancient the conceit might have its originall +in times of shorter compute. For if we suppose our present calculation, +the Phœnix now in nature will be the sixt from the Creation, and but in +the middle of its years, and, if the Rabbine’s prophecy succeed, it shall +conclude its daies not in its own, but in the last and generall flames.” + +Some medical enthusiasts held that a bird of such singular and noble +properties must be of sovereign virtue for the ills of mankind, and +did not hesitate to assign its several healing properties. On these +mistaken individuals Browne descends heavily. “Surely,” quoth he, “they +were not wel-wishers unto Physick or remedies easily acquired, who +derived Medicines from the Phœnix, as some have done. It is a folly to +finde out remedies that are not recoverable under a thousand years, or +propose the prolonging of life by that which the twentieth generation +may never behold. More veniable is a dependence upon the Philosopher’s +stone, potable gold, or any of those Arcanas whereby Paracelsus, that +died himself at fourty seven, gloried that he could make men immortall, +which, although exceedingly difficult, yet they are not impossible: +nor doe they (rightly understood) impose any violence on Nature. And, +therefore, if strictly taken for the Phœnix, very strange is that which +is delivered by Plutarch, that the brain thereof is a pleasant morsel, +but that it causeth the headach.” The amount of headache caused by too +free an indulgence in Phœnix must have been infinitesimal. + +The Phœnix may still be considered to have a literary existence, and +remains part of the stock-in-trade of the orator and poet as an emblem of +something especially choice and rare. Fletcher writes of + + “That lone bird in fruitful Arabie, + When now her strength and waning life decays, + Upon some airy rock or mountain high, + In spicy bed (fir’d by near Phœbus’ rays) + Herself and all her crooked age consumes: + Straight from her ashes, and those rich perfumes, + A newborn Phœnix flies, and widow’d place resumes.” + +Ariosto, in his “Orlando Furioso,” refers to the bird in the Voyage of +Astolfo in the following lines:— + + “Arabia, nam’d the happy, now he gains, + Incense and myrrh perfume her grateful plains: + The Virgin Phœnix there in search of rest + Selects from all the world her balmy nest.” + +In the two foregoing extracts the Phœnix has been represented as maiden +and as widow, and in the first line of Ariosto the pronoun is masculine, +and in the fourth line feminine. Ovid, and many other writers, in +describing him, her, or it, select the masculine as the most appropriate. +Thus Ovid, in the translation of Dryden, sings:— + + “All these receive their birth from other things, + But from himself the Phœnix only springs: + Self-born, begotten by the parent flame + In which he burn’d, another and the same.” + +It is needless to give the rest of the reference, as the ancient poet +naturally follows in the lines of the recognized tradition: the funeral +pyre, the infant Phœnix rising from the ashes, the dutiful removal of the +paternal remains to Heliopolis, all taking their proper and accustomed +place in the narrative. + +Shakespeare frequently refers to the mythical bird in his writings, and +seems to have thoroughly mastered all that could be said on the subject. +Some half-dozen passages naturally rise to one’s mind as illustrations of +this: thus Rosalind says in As You Like It:— + + “She calls me proud; and that she could not love me, + Were man as rare as Phœnix.” + +And the idea of its unique character is again brought out in Cymbeline, +in the passage “If she be furnished with a mind so rare, she is alone the +Arabian bird.” The destruction of the bird on its own funeral pyre, and +the resurrection of its successor therefrom, are several times referred +to. Thus in 1 Henry VI. we read: “But from their ashes shall be reared +a Phœnix that shall make all France afeared,” and in 3 Henry VI.: “My +ashes, as the Phœnix, may bring forth a bird that will revenge upon you +all.” Some little doubt of its existence at all is suggested by the +words of Sebastian in the Tempest. Now I will believe + + “That there are unicorns: that in Arabia + There is one tree, the Phœnix throne; one Phœnix + At this time reigning there.” + +Notwithstanding the doubts as to the reality of this creature that were +freely expressed in the seventeenth century, two feathers that were +said to be from the tail of a Phœnix were amongst the treasures of +Tradescant’s Museum.[73] + +It was held a firm article of belief during the Middle Ages that the Bird +of Paradise fed upon nothing more gross than the dew of Heaven and the +odours of flowers, and that it had no feet, nor ever rested on earth at +all. + + “Thou art still that Bird of Paradise + Which hath no feet, and ever nobly flies.” + +It is a sadly prosaic explanation of this to recall that its footless +condition simply arose from the fact that the natives of Molucca in +sending the skins to Europe removed the legs and feet as needless +additions, seeing that the beauty of the plumage was the reason for their +export. + +Tavernier relates that “the Birds of Paradise come in flocks during the +nutmeg season to the South of India. The strength of the nutmeg odour +intoxicates them, and while they lie in this state on the earth, the +ants eat off their legs.” Saving the last terrible detail and shocking +instance of what may befall those who stray from the paths of temperance, +Moore evidently adopts this account in Lalla Rookh in the lines:— + + “Those golden birds that in the spicetime drop + About the gardens, drunk with that sweet fruit + Whose scent hath lured them o’er the summer flood.” + +Literary allusions to the Bird of Paradise are not unfrequent, and +testify to the general acceptance of the myth that has grown up around +the prosaic facts of the case. Francis Thynne, in his “Emblemes and +Epigrames,” A.D. 1600, takes the somewhat exceptional view that the bird +is to be pitied:— + + “There is a birde which takes the name of Paradise the fair, + Which allwaies lives beatinge the winde and flienge in the Ayre, + For envious Nature him denies the helpe of resting feete + Wherby hee forced is in th’ayre incessantlie to fleete.” + +The Roc or Rukh, though associated nowadays in our minds with the +“Thousand and One Nights,” and regarded as simply an illustration of the +lengths that the Eastern love of the wonderful can be carried to, was +an article of faith with our ancestors. Marco Polo, in his wonderfully +interesting book on his travels in Eastern lands, refers to this +remarkable bird; but it will be noted that he merely gives the account +as hearsay, and protects himself more than once from any admission of +personal belief in the creature. He states respecting it as follows: “The +people of the island[74] report that at a certain season of the year an +extraordinary kind of bird, which they call a rukh, makes its appearance +from the southern region. In form it is said to resemble the eagle, but +it is incomparably greater in size; being so large and strong as to seize +an elephant with its talons, and to lift it into the air, from whence it +lets it fall to the ground, in order that when dead it may prey upon the +carcase. Persons who have seen this bird assert that when the wings are +spread they measure sixteen paces in extent from point to point, and that +the feathers are eight paces in length and thick in proportion. The Grand +Khan, having heard this extraordinary relation, sent messengers to the +island on the pretext of demanding the release of one of his servants who +had been detained there, but in reality to examine into the circumstances +of the country, and the truth of the wonderful things told of it. When +they returned to the presence of his Majesty they brought with them (as I +have heard) a feather of the Rukh, positively affirmed to have measured +ninety spans. This surprising exhibition afforded his Majesty extreme +pleasure, and upon those to whom it was presented he bestowed valuable +gifts.” + +The existence of such a bird seems to have been universally credited +in the East. While the tale passes all belief as it stands, or rather +as it lies, it may possibly be that it is grossly exaggerated rather +than entirely fabulous, as it may have originated from the occasional +sight of some bird of vast, though not miraculous, dimensions, such as +the albatross, birds of fierce aspect, measuring many feet from tip to +tip of their wings, though with strength and power of grip considerably +short of transporting elephants from their umbrageous retreats to +mid-air. The sixteen paces that are given by the informants of Marco Polo +as the measurement of the wings would be about forty feet, while the +wing-measurement of the albatross would not exceed fifteen or sixteen +feet, thus leaving a handsome balance to be put to the credit of the love +of the marvellous. + +Jordanus brought back from India the story of “certain birds which are +called Roc, that are so big that they easily carry an elephant into the +air.” He did not himself see one of these, the nearest he is able to +approach to this being, “I have seen a certain person who said that he +had seen one of these birds.” The Roc was said to lay an egg equal in +bulk to one hundred and forty-eight hen’s eggs. The precision of this +estimate should disarm criticism: one feels in face of it that to have +said one hundred and fifty would have been a fatal yielding to the charm +of round numbers and a palpable exaggeration. + +Mr. Lane refers to an Arab, one Ibou el Wardee, for authority for the +statement that Rocs are found in an island in the Chinese Sea that have +each wing ten thousand fathoms long.[75] These birds find no difficulty +in carrying an eagle in their beak, plus two others in their talons. +Wardee also knew of a Roc’s egg, or said he did—which is, perhaps, not +quite the same thing—on one of these islands that looked like an enormous +white dome over a hundred cubits high and as firm as a mountain. + +Many of the beliefs of our forefathers had a refreshing quaintness about +them, and one of the quaintest, perhaps, of these was the notion that a +particular kind of goose sprang from the barnacles that cluster in salt +water on submerged wood. Butler, in his “Hudibras,” tells of those + + “Who from the most refined of saints + As naturally turn miscreants + As barnacles turn Soland geese + In the islands of the Orcades.” + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.] + +Gerarde, in 1597, in his “Historie of Plants,” of which there are many +editions—our own copy, we see, being dated 1633,—gives in all good faith +a description and an illustration of the barnacle-goose tree. The former +Gerarde shall give in his own words, the latter we have reproduced in +fig. 15 in facsimile from his book. We see in it the branch bearing +barnacles, and by its side a bird, which stands for the resulting goose. +This “wonder of England, for the which God’s name be ever honoured and +praised,” he thus discourses upon—“Hauing trauelled from the grasses +growing in the bottom of the fenny waters, the woods and mountaines, euen +unto Libanus it selfe, and also the sea and bowels of the same, wee are +arriued at the end of our Historie; thinking it not impertinent to the +conclusion of the same, to end with one of the maruells of this land, +we may say of the world. The historie wherof to set forth according to +the worthinesse and ranke therof would not only require a large and +peculiar volume, but also a deeper search into the bowels of Nature than +mine intended purpose will suffer me to wade into, my sufficience also +considered, leauing the historie therof rough hewn unto some excellent +men learned in the secrets of Nature, to be both fined and refined; +in the meantime, take it as it falleth out, the naked and bare truth, +though vnpolished. There are found in the North parts of Scotland and +the islands adiacent, called Orchades, certaine trees whereon do grow +certaine shells of a white colour tending to russett, wherein are +contained little liuing things, which shells in time of maturitie do +open, and out of them do grow those little liuing creatures, which +falling in the water do become fowles, which we call Barnakles, and in +Lancashire tree-geese, but the others that do fall upon the land perish +and come to nothing. Thus much by the writings of others, and also from +the mouths of people of those parts, which may very well accord with +truth. + +“But what our eyes haue seene and hands haue touched, we shall declare. +There is a small island in Lancashire, called the pile of Foulders, +wherein we find the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some wherof +haue been cast thither by shipwracke, and also the trunks and bodies with +the branches of old and rotten trees cast up there likewise; whereon +is found a certaine spawne or froth that in time breedeth unto certain +shels, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper-pointed, wherein is +contained a thing in forme like a lace of silke finely wouen together as +it were. One end thereof is fastened into a rude masse or lumpe, which +in time commeth to the shape and form of a Birde. When it is perfectly +formed the shel gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the +foresaid lace or string: next come the legs of the bird hanging out, and +as it groweth greater it openeth the shel by degrees til at length it is +all come forth and hangeth onely by the bill: in short space after it +commeth to ful maturitie, and falleth into the sea, when it gathereth +feathers and groweth to a Fowle bigger than a Mallard and lesser than +a Goose, hauing blacke legs and bill and beake, and feathers blacke and +white, spotted in such manner as is our magpie, which the people of +Lancashire call by no other name than a tree-goose: which place therof +and all those parts adioining doe so much abound therewith that one of +the best is bought for threepence. For the truth wherof, if any doubt, +may it please them to repair unto me, and I shall satisfie them by the +testimony of good witnesses.” + +On reading the foregoing one can only wonder what the old fellow really +did see on this wild sea shore amidst the wreckage: that he wrote in the +most perfect good faith, and in the strongest belief in this “Maruell,” +is perfectly evident. That he has no desire to practise on our credulity +is patent, but it is equally patent that his own credulity got the +better of his judgment. He goes on to tell us that on another occasion, +near Dover, he found on the sea shore an old tree-trunk covered with +“thousands of long crimson bladders, in shape like unto puddings newly +filled, and at the nether end therof did grow a shelfish fashioned +somewhat like a small muskle.” Many of these shells he brought back with +him to London, and on opening them he tells us that he found “liuing +things that were very naked, shaped like a bird: in others the birds +couered with a soft doune, the shel halfe open, and the bird ready to +fall out; which no doubt were the fowles called Barnakles.” + +Soon after Gerarde’s death, Thomas Johnson, “Citizen and Apothecarie of +London,” brought out another edition of the “Historie of Plants,” in +which he adds the following note to Gerarde’s statement: “The Barnakles, +whose fabulous breed my Author here sets downe and diuers others have +also deliuered, were found by some Hollanders to haue another originall, +and that by egges, as other birds have: for they in their third voyage +to find out the North-East passage to China and Mollocos, found little +islands, in the one of which they found an abundance of these geese +sitting upon their egges, of which they got one goose and tooke away +sixty egges.” Here again one can only feel that the explanation needs +explaining, as it hardly seems necessary to sail for China to find the +home of the birds that were to be had retail in any quantity on the +Lancashire coast, for the by no means extravagant price of sixpence a +brace. + +In a description of West Connaught by Roderic O’Flaherty, published +in the year 1684, the barnacle is thus mentioned: “There is the bird +engendered by the sea, out of timber long lying in the sea. Some +call these birds Clakes and Solan’d geese, and some puffins, others +barnacles.” And in the “Divine Weekes and Workes” of Du Bartas we find +another reference:— + + “So Sly Bootes underneath him sees + In y’ cycles, those goslings hatcht of trees, + Whose fruitfull leaues falling into the water + Are turn’d, they say, to liuing fowles soon after. + So rotten sides of broken ships do change + To barnacles! O transformation strange! + ’Twas first a greene tree, then a gallant hull, + Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull.” + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.] + +Another version of the barnacle-tree is given in fig. 16. We have +extracted it from Parkinson’s “Theater of Plants,” a book that achieved +considerable popularity and ran through several editions. Our own copy, +from which we have reproduced the illustration, is dated 1640. Parkinson, +we see, classes the barnacle-tree with “Marsh, Water, and Sea Plants, +with Mosses and Mushrooms.” It seems curious that he should have inserted +it at all, as his remarks thereupon are not at all those of a believer. +“To finish this treatise of sea-plants,” he writes, “let me bring this +admirable tale of untruth to your consideration, that whatever hath +formerly been related concerning the breeding of these Barnakles to be +from shels growing on trees is utterly erroneous, their breeding and +hatching being found out by the Dutch and others, in their navigations to +the Northward.” This second reference to the Dutch shows that the matter +had caused some little stir outside England, and we may perhaps not too +uncharitably assume that the foreigner did not feel altogether displeased +when so great a British wonder was reduced to a very commonplace and +everyday affair indeed. + +The “Cosmography” of Munster supplies us with the graceful illustration +which we have reproduced in facsimile in fig. 17. It is a far more +charming representation than either of the others we have given. In the +drawing the whole process may be clearly traced, from the immature and +unopened fruit to that sufficiently ripe to give some indication of its +strange contents in the form of the protruding head of the coming bird, +and then on again to the geese actually fallen in the water, and more or +less freeing themselves from the encumbering husk, until finally we see +them in all respects fit and proper subjects for the ornithologist or +the salesman of Leadenhall Market. Munster states in his book that “in +Scotland we find trees, the fruit of which appears like a ball of leaves. +This fruit, falling at its proper time into the water below, becomes +animated, and turns to a bird which they call the tree-goose.” + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.] + +Æneas Sylvius, afterwards better known to the world as Pope Pius II., +visited Scotland in the year 1468, and while there made diligent inquiry +concerning this wonderful tree, but found that no one could point it out +to him. As the general impression that one gathers on reading his account +of his travels is that he appeared in Scotland rather as a seeker after +knowledge than as the recipient of a wonderful story till then unknown to +him, we must conclude that the myth had spread considerably beyond the +land of its origin. In fact, as we often find even unto the present day, +in divers matters the intelligent stranger is often able to enlighten the +natives on matters in which we might reasonably have expected to find +them well informed. Who, for instance, would ever dream of asking the +nearest resident to a cathedral anything of its history, or seeking from +“the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain” any light on the mysterious origin of +Stonehenge? + +William Turner, one of the earliest writers on ornithology, described the +barnacle-goose as being produced from “something like a fungus growing +from old wood lying in the sea,” and quotes Giraldus Cambrensis as his +authority. “Having uncomfortable misgivings I asked,” he writes, “a +certain clergyman named Octavianus, by birth an Irishman, whom I knew +to be worthy of credit, if he thought the account of Giraldus was to +be believed. He, swearing by the Gospel, declared that which Giraldus +had written about the bird was most true: that he had himself seen and +handled the young unformed birds, and that if I would remain in London +a month or two he would bring me some of the brood.” Whether Turner +was satisfied by the very unsatisfying proof of the production of some +dubious ducks in London, or by the solemn declaration and oaths taken on +the Gospels by his reverent informant, we have no means of knowing, but +as he inserts the wonder in his book, he was evidently relieved from his +previous doubt of the veracity of the story. + +In a land even beyond far distant Cathay, according to Maundevile, +“growethe a maner of Fruyt as thoughe it weren gowrdes, and whan thei ben +rype men kutten hem a to and fynden with inne a lytylle Best in Flessche, +in Bon and Blode, as though it were a lytylle Lamb with outen Wolle. And +Men eten bothe the Fruyt and the Best, and that is a gret Marveylle. +Of that Frut I have eten, alle thoughe it were wondirfulle, but that I +knowe wel that God is marveyllous in his Werkes. And nathles I tolde hem +that in oure Contree weren Trees that beren a Fruyt that becomen Briddes +fleeynge, and tho that fellen in the Water lyven, and thei that fellen on +the Erthe dyen anon, and thei ben righte gode to Mannes mete. And here of +had thei als gret marvaylle that sume of hem trowed it were an impossible +thing to be.” One would have thought that people who were quite familiar +with the sight of a lamb-tree would have found no great difficulty in +believing in a goose-tree. Anyone who can credit the one should feel no +hesitation in accepting the other. + +Saxo Grammaticus, Lobel, Valcetro, and many other writers, refer to the +barnacle-tree, some with full belief in it, others more dubiously, but it +is, of course, needless to quote a multiplicity of authors. Should any +of our readers themselves feel any doubt in the matter, they may very +advantageously pay a visit to a good museum, where probably, even if they +fail to find a goose-tree, they may see much else that will be almost +equally a wonder and a delight to them. + +The ancients thoroughly believed that the eagle proved her young by +forcing them to gaze upon the sun, discarding any that failed to face +the test, and the belief survived well into the Middle Ages. “Before that +her little ones bee feathered she will beat and strike them with her +wings, and thereby force them to looke full against the sunne beames. Now +if shee see any one of them to winke or their eies to water at the raies +of the sunne shee turnes it with the head foremost out of the nest as a +bastard and none of hers, but bringeth up and cherisheth that whose eie +will abide the light of the sunne as she looketh directly upon him.” It +will be remembered that Shakespeare, in King Henry VI., refers to this +old belief when the Duke of Gloucester addresses the young prince in the +words— + + “Nay, if thou be that princely eagle’s bird, + Show thy descent[76] by gazing ’gainst the sun.” + +In Ariosto, again, we have the same reference, where he styles the eagle + + “The bird + That dares with steadfast eyes Apollo’s light.” + +And Dryden exclaims in his “Britannia Rediviva,” + + “Truth, which is light itself, doth darkness shun, + And the true eaglet safely dares the sun.” + +The keenness of vision of the eaglet[77] has been noted in all ages, and +its powers sometimes made even more astonishing than facts can justify. +It has been asserted that when the eagle has soared into the air to a +height that has rendered it perfectly invisible to human eye, it can +discern the motions of the smaller animals upon the earth, and swoop down +upon them from the sky, and Homer, in the “Iliad,” it will be recalled, +describes Menelaus as + + “The field exploring, with an eye + Keen as the eagle’s, keenest eyed of all + That wing the air, whom, though he soar aloft, + The lev’ret ’scapes not hid in thickest shades. + But down he swoops, and at a stroke she dies.” + +The eastern writers, ever given to hyperbole, have assigned to the eagle +powers of vision of a far more astonishing character than this. One of +them, Damir, quoted by Burckhardt, declares that the eagle can discern +its prey at a distance of four hundred parasangs—more than a thousand +miles—and poets of all periods have drawn striking images from the +wonderful power of vision of the king of birds. Mediæval naturalists have +asserted that this magnificent eyesight was strengthened even beyond its +natural powers by a diet on the eagle’s part of wild lettuce, in the same +way that the linnet cleared its sight by means of the eyebright, the +swallow through use of the celandine, and divers other birds through use +of some special herb that they had proved to be of value to them. + +Our readers will doubtless remember the fine passage in the +“Areopagitica” of Milton: “Methinks I see in my mind a noble and +puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and +shaking her invincible locks: methinks I see her as an eagle renewing +her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday +beam.” It was one of the beliefs of our forefathers that the eagle had +this power of rejuvenescence. The description of the process has a +very prosaic sound about it, but the result is highly successful. When +the eagle “hathe darknesse and dimnesse in eien and hevinesse in wings +against this disadvantage she is taught by kinde to seeke a well of +springing water, and then she flyeth up into the aire as farre as she +may, till she bee full hot by heat of the aire and by travaile of flight, +and so then by heat the pores be opened, and the feathers chafed, and she +falleth sideinglye into the well, and there the feathers be chaunged and +the dimnesse of her eien is wiped away and purged, and she taketh againe +her might and strength.”[78] + +It was a strange belief of the writers of antiquity on these natural +history topics that the feathers of the eagle, when placed amongst those +of other birds, in a short space of time entirely consumed them. + +While the king of beasts has been credited with generosity and other +royal virtues, the eagle, king of birds, seems not to have developed, +either in nature or in fable, any such regal qualities. The most +favourable estimate we have encountered is that of the “Speculum Mundi,” +and even that leaves much to be desired. “The Eagle,” writes our +authority, “is commended for her faithfulnesse towards other birds in +some kinde, though sometimes she show herselfe cruell. They all stand in +awe of her; and when she hath gotten meat she useth to communicate it +unto such fowls as do accompany with her; onely this some affirme, that +when she hath no more to make distribution of, then she will attack some +of her guests, and for lack of food, dismember them.” + +The eagle is often depicted as bearing the thunderbolts of Jove, from an +ancient belief that “of all flying fowles the ægle only is not smitten +nor killed with lightening.” + + “Secure from thunder, and unharm’d by Jove.”[79] + +A man clothed in the skins of seals, or crowned with bay-leaves, enjoyed +like immunity. + +The pelican has been pressed into the service of religious symbolism, +from a belief that it nourished its young with its own blood, and hence +it was made the emblem of loving sacrifice.[80] “The pelicane, whose sons +are nursed with bloude, stabbeth deep her breast, self-murdresse through +fondnesse to hir broode,” and the Shakespearian student will recall the +lines in Hamlet:— + + “To his good friends thus wide I’ll ope my arms, + And, like the kind, life-rendering pelican, + Refresh them with my blood.” + +The whole myth is based upon a very slender basis indeed, as it is +conjectured that it arose from the habit of the bird pressing its breast +feathers with its bill, the bill itself having a crimson spot at its +extremity that suggested the idea of blood. When the bird is represented +in ecclesiastical work, or as a charge in heraldry, it is always shown +in this position, and is known technically as “a pelican in her piety.” +Many of the early writers accept the legend in the most perfect good +faith, and no more doubted that the young pelicans were reared on the +blood of the mother bird, than that hens would eat barley, or sparrows +come for bread-crumbs. Some ecclesiastical writers, whom we cannot quite +exonerate from acting on the principle that it is lawful to do ill if +good flows from it, added the detail that when the young of the pelican +were destroyed by serpents, the mother pelican shed her blood upon them, +and brought them to life again, and hence became a striking symbol of the +restoration to life of those dead in trespasses and sin by the vivifying +blood of the Redeemer of mankind. + +It was for many centuries a belief that the swan, mute through life, sang +melodiously at its death. + + “Sweet strains he chaunteth out with’s dying tongue, + And is the singer of his funerall song.” + +“Wherein,” writes the author of the “Speculum Mundi,” “he is a perfect +embleme and pattern to us, that our death ought to be cheerfull, and life +not so deare unto us as it is.” Martial writes of the swan’s “joyful +death, and sweet expiring song,” and Virgil, Lucretius, Horace, Ovid, +and other ancient authors all refer to the belief. Cicero compared the +excellent discourse which Crassus made in the senate a few days before +his death to the melodious singing of a dying swan, while Socrates +declared that good men ought to imitate swans, who, perceiving by a +secret instinct what gain there was in death, die singing with joy. + +Shakespeare refers frequently to the belief: thus in the Merchant of +Venice Portia says: “Then if he lose he makes a swan-like end, fading in +music.” After King John is poisoned his son, Prince Henry, is told that +in his dying frenzy he sang; whereupon the prince replies:— + + “’Tis strange that death should sing, + I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan, + Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death; + And from the organ-pipes of frailty sings + His soul and body to their lasting rest.” + +Many similar passages might be quoted from the poets; it will suffice to +give but one example:— + + “Place me on Sunium’s marbled steep, + Where nothing, save the waves and I, + May hear our mutual murmurs sweep. + There, swan-like, let me sing and die.”[81] + +Though the ordinary swan of our English lakes and rivers would appear +to be without a grain of music in its composition, the black swan of +Australia,[82] now naturalized in our midst, has a really very musical +note, and one, too, which it very readily utters, not by any means +reserving it as a pæan of approaching dissolution. + +It was a firm article of belief with the older writers, such as Pliny, +Aristotle, and Ælian, that the swan was especially exposed to attack +from the eagle, and that when thus assailed it fought with extreme +determination, and never failed to come off victor in the fray. + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.] + +To the ostrich was accredited the power of digesting iron. How such an +idea could have arisen, it is now impossible to explain. In allusion +to this myth the bird, when introduced in blazonry, as in fig. 18, +from a mediæval flagon, ordinarily has a horse-shoe in its mouth.[83] +The artist who thus represented the bird was evidently by no means +oblivious of the fact that the plumage of the ostrich was another very +characteristic feature. Shakespeare, in his Henry VI., makes Jack Cade +declare “I’ll make thee eat iron like an ostrich, and swallow my sword +like a great pin;” while Munster, in his “Cosmography,” gravely gives a +picture of an ostrich with an immense key in his mouth, and at his feet, +as second course, a horse-shoe. Cogan, the author of the very popular +“Haven of Health,” finds apt simile herein. “The fat of flesh,” he says, +“alone without leane is unwholesome and cloyeth the stomack and causeth +lothsomnes, yet have I knowne a country man that would feed onely of the +fat of Bacon or Pork, without leane, but that is not to bee marvelled at, +considering that many of them have stomackes like the bird that is called +an Ostridge, which can digest hard Iron.” + +It was held that the ostrich never hatches her eggs by sitting upon +them, but by the rays of warmth and light from her eyes. Southey alludes, +it will be remembered, to this old fancy in the lines:— + + “With such a look as fables say, + The mother ostrich fixes on her eggs, + Till that intense affection + Kindle its light of life.”[84] + +A considerable body of folk-lore is associated with the cock. One strange +notion that crops up in the books of the mediæval writers is that the +lion has a strong antipathy to this bird, and that the crowing of +chanticleer will effectually put to the rout the king of beasts. One can +readily imagine that the lion, prowling in the darkness round some human +habitation, would naturally resent the shrill clarion of the cock, and +that this idea might, with the delight in mysticism and symbolism of the +Middle Ages, be readily transferred to the roaring lion, seeking whom he +may devour, thwarted by the vigilance of which the cock is the emblem. +Even so early, however, as the pre-Christian days of Pliny we find this +belief in the antagonism between the two creatures in full operation, +for this ancient author prescribes the broth from a stewed cock as an +excellent outward application for those in peril from wild beasts, +declaring confidently that whosoever shall bathe himself in this shall +fear no harm from lion or panther. + +Gerard Legh, in his “Accedence of Armorie,” affirms that “the Cocke is +the royallest birde that is, and of himself a king, for Nature hath +crowned hime with a perpetuall Diademe, to him and to his posteritie for +ever. He is the valiantest in battle of all birdes, for he will rather +die than yeelde to his aduersarie.” And one old writer goes so far as +to declare that the lion, whom we have always been taught to regard as +generosity itself, feels his royal title somewhat impaired by the rivalry +of the barn-door fowl, and that the pretension to royalty suggested by +the scarlet crest is distasteful to the king of beasts, who can brook no +idea of a rival. + +There was throughout the Middle Ages an idea that one was able to +incorporate[85] any desirable quality by looking around for some +creature of which it was a characteristic, and then promptly making +some culinary preparation of which this creature’s flesh should be a +leading ingredient. “If,” says one of these sages, “you would have a +man talkative give him tongues, and seek out for him water-frogs, wilde +geese and ducks, and other such creatures, notorious for their continual +noise-making,” and thus the sturdy self-assertion and valour of the cock +naturally suggested the idea that the weakly and retiring would find in +him valuable nutriment. In an old cookery book we find “how to still a +cocke for a weak body that is in consumption, through long sicknesse.” +The cock selected must be a red one,[86] and not too old. Having cut him +into quarters, he must be put into an earthenware pot with “the rootes +of Fennell, Parcely and Succory, Corans, whole Mace, Annise seeds, and +liquorice scraped and slyced.” Half a pint of rose-water and a quart +of white wine are then to be added, together with “two or three cleane +Dates, a few prunes and raysons,” and then all must stew gently for the +space of twelve hours. Finally, “streine out the broth into some cleane +vessell, and give thereof unto the weak person morning and evening, +warmed and spiced as pleaseth the patient.” Our ancestors, even when in +rude health, quaffed a beverage known as cock-ale, in order that they +might preserve their vigour. This drink—strong ale mixed with the broth +of a boiled cock—is mentioned in the old plays, such as “Woman turned +Bully,” written in the year 1675; in Digby’s book of receipts—“The Closet +Open,”—published in 1648, and divers other medical and culinary works of +the Middle Ages. + +In these same “good old times,” the liver of a male goat, the tail of a +shrew-mouse, the brain and comb of a cock, the worm under the tongue of +a mad dog, pounded ants, cuckoo-broth, were all suggested as remedies for +hydrophobia, though, like the fish-brine of Pliny or the pounded crab of +Galen, they must have been but sorry reeds to rest upon in the dreadful +paroxysms of this terrible malady. + +The ancient Romans believed in the existence of a crystalline stone +which they called alectorius, as large as a bean, and to be found in the +gizzard of a cock, though not by any means, discoverable in every fowl +cut open. This stone was held to have the wonderful property of rendering +the human possessor of it invisible. It may indeed have had the same +effect on the original owner, as there could scarcely be an authentic +instance of a stone of such peculiar property being found, but if the +fowl itself could not be seen it is scarcely to be wondered at that the +stone within it should be equally invisible. The belief in some such +stone was one of the numerous articles of faith of the Middle Ages, but +instead of the property of invisibility being attached to its possessor +they sometimes substituted for it the much more prosaic idea that its +owner could never feel thirsty, while the way to discover the bird that +possessed it was simplicity itself, it being only necessary to discover +which fowl at feeding time never drank. The first belief is much the more +tenable, and is in fact impossible of refutation, as the world may be +full of the owners of alectorius, invisible to us, and therefore unknown. + +The cock was at one time supposed to possess the power of laying eggs +from which were reared the deadly cockatrice. “When the cock is past +seven years old an egg grows within him, whereat he greatly wonders. He +seeks privately a warm place, and scratches a hole for a nest, to which +he goes ten times daily. A toad privily watches him, and examines the +nest every day to see if the egg be yet laid. When the toad finds the +egg he rejoices much, and at length hatches it, bringing forth an animal +with the head, neck, and breast of a cock, and from thence downward the +body of a serpent.”[87] In the year 1474 a cock at Basle was publicly +accused of having laid one of these very objectionable eggs, and after +a short trial[88] was sentenced to death and burnt, together with the +egg, in the market place, amid a great concourse of the towns-folk, who +were right joyfully thankful to feel that a great peril had been averted +by the prompt action of their rulers, for a cockatrice was indeed no +laughing matter to those who thought it one of the possibilities of life. +In England the hens have entirely usurped the egg-laying department, and +we are therefore spared the mortification of finding that our hoped-for +chick has assumed the less welcome form of a cockatrice. + +The poison of a cockatrice was without cure, and the air was in such a +degree affected by it that no creature could live near it. It killed, +we are assured, not only by its touch, for even the sight of the +cockatrice, like that of the basilisk, was death. We read, for instance, +in Romeo and Juliet of “the death-darting eye of cockatrice,” and again +in King Richard III., “a cockatrice hast thou hatched into the world +whose unavoided eye is murtherous;” while in Twelfth Night we find the +passage, “this will so fright them both, that they will kill one another +by the look like cockatrices.” The good people of Basle might therefore, +believing all this, very heartily congratulate themselves on their escape +from a fearful peril. + +The baleful cockatrice is often referred to in literature. Thus in the +book entitled “Some Yeares Trauels into Africa and Asia the Great,” +written by Sir Thomas Herbert, and published in London in the year +1677, the writer says that Mohamed, on finishing his Koran, was “so +transported, that to Mecca he goes to have it credited; but therein his +predictions fail him, for so soon as the Arabs perceived his design +(being formerly acquainted with his birth and breeding) they banish +him, and (but for his Wives’ relations) there had crushed him and his +Cockatrice egg, which was but then hatching.” + +Legh, in his “Curiosities of Heraldry,” gives the usual details of the +death-dealing cockatrice, but adds, “Though he be venome withoute +remedye whilest he liueth, yet when he is dead and burnt to ashes he +loseth all his malice, and the ashes of him are good for alkumistes +in turnyng and chaungyng of metall.” Practically, therefore all that +stands, or shall we say lies, between ourselves and wealth beyond the +dreams of avarice is but a cockatrice moribund. Orthography was not a +strong point in these old writers, and the word which is now established +as cockatrice, may be met with as cocatrice, cokatrice, kokatrice, +kocatrice, cockatryse, cocatryse, cocautrice, cockautrice, coccatryse, +cocatris, kokatrix, chocatrix, and many other forms. + +It has long been a belief in many parts of the country that if a cock +crow at midnight the Angel of Death is passing over the house, and that +if he delays to strike it is but for a short season. It is evident +however that a score or more of different households may hear the same +cock-crow, and we can scarcely conclude that it is to be fatal to all, +since such wholesale slaughter would quickly depopulate whole hamlets, +and we might really almost as well have the dread cockatrice at once. + +Cock-crowing in mediæval days received mystical importance from a belief +that it was in the dawn of the morning that our Saviour was born; it was +regarded, too, as a warning voice telling of the coming of the day of +Judgment,[89] and from its association with St. Peter’s grievous denial +of his Master a warning against self-sufficiency and base cowardice. +It was thought that during the hours of darkness evil spirits and the +souls of the departed were abroad and that these fled at daybreak: hence +Shakespeare makes the ghost of Hamlet’s father vanish at this season—“It +faded on the crowing of the cock.” To the belief that on Christmas Eve +the night was entirely free from any such spiritual manifestation he +refers in the beautiful lines:— + + “Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes + Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, + The bird of dawning singeth all night long, + And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; + The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike. + No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, + So hallow’d and so gracious in the time.” + +In the quaint and delightful “Armonye of Byrdes” with its mingled Latin +and English:— + + “The Cock dyd say: + I use alway + To crow both first and last. + Lyke a Postle I am, + For I preache to man + And tell him the nyght is past.[90] + + “I bring new tydyngis + That the king of kynges + In tactu profundit chorus: + Then sang he, mellodious, + Te Gloriosus, + Apostolorum chorus.” + +This poem, of which only one ancient copy is in existence, has been +reproduced by the Percy Society. The author is unknown, but is +conjectured to be John Skelton. No date appears on it, but the name of +the printer, John Wyght, shows that it must have been published somewhere +about the year 1550. The poem begins:— + + “Whan Dame Flora + In die Aurora + Had covered the meadow with flowers, + And all the fylde + Was over dystylde + With lusty Aprell showers, + For my desporte + Me to comforte + Whan the day began to spring + Foorth I went + With a good intent + To hear the byrdes syng.” + +The poem then goes on to tell us of the birds all “praisyng Our Lorde +without discord, with goodly armony,” the popyngay, the mavys, partryge, +pecocke, thrusshe, nyghtyngale, larke, egle, dove, phenix, wren, the +tyrtle trew, the hawke, the pellycane, the swalowe, all singing in quaint +blending of Latin and English the praise of God. + +The raven, “the hoarse night-raven, trompe of doleful drere,”[91] has +been at almost all periods regarded with superstitious awe. Shakespeare, +for instance, writes of the raven “that croaks the fatal entrance of +Duncan,”[92] and again, in Othello, we find the illustrative passage— + + “It comes o’er my memory + As doth the raven o’er the infected house, + Boding to all.” + +Marlowe, in like spirit, in his “Rich Jew of Malta,” dwells on the sad +presaging raven + + “That tolls + The sick man’s passport in her hollow beak, + And in the shadow of the silent night + Doth shake contagion from her sable wings.” + +The whole field of literature teems with references of the same ominous +character. It will suffice to add but one more illustration, where Gay, +in “The Dirge,” notices the evil presage in the lines— + + “The boding raven on her cottage sat, + And with hoarse croakings warned us of our fate.” + +The raven is sometimes called the devil’s bird. It is believed that +it was originally white, but that it was changed to black for its +disobedience. What this disobedience was appears to be a very moot point. +The old Greeks believed that Apollo once sent it to a fountain to fetch +water, and the bird on arrival found a fig-tree with very nearly ripe +fruit, and determined to wait until they were quite so. As this was a +matter of some few days, it became necessary to invent some plausible +explanation of the delay, so he took a water-snake out of the fountain +and brought it in the pitcher to the god, and explained that this +creature had drunk the reservoir dry. Apollo, declining to accept this +explanation, turned the disobedient raven black, condemned it to be +always plagued with thirst, and changed its once melodious voice into the +monstrous croak[93] that it has ever since been uttering as token of its +punishment. Mediæval writers do not accept this story at all, but declare +that the real reason that the raven exchanged its snow-white plumage for +the sable garb was the consequence of its disobedience when, instead of +returning to the ark to Noah, it stayed to feed on the bodies of the +drowned.[94] It will be seen that in each case disobedience was the +offence, and appetite the occasion thereof. + +It is rather startling after this to read in the quaint pages of Legh +that “the Rauen delighteth so much in her owne bewty that when her birds +are hatched she will giue them no meate vntill she see whether they will +bee of her owne colour or no.” Guillim, another writer, like Legh, +on matters heraldic, entirely supports this statement, declaring that +“it hath bene an ancient received opinion, and the same also grounded +vpon the warrant of the Holy Scriptures that such is the property of +the Raven, that from the time his young ones are hatched or disclosed, +untill he seeth what colour they will be of, he never careth of them nor +ministereth any food unto them, therefore it is thought that they are +in the meane space nourished with the heavenly dew. And so muche also +doth the kingly prophet, David, affirme, ‘which giveth fodder unto the +catell and feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him.’ The Raven is of +colour blacke, and when he perceiveth his young ones to be pennefeathered +and black like himself, then doth he labour by all means to foster and +cherish them from thence forward.” + +Surprising as it is to find that the sable plumage that we regard as the +mark of disgrace is to the bird himself or herself (for Legh refers to +the maternal pride and Guillim to the paternal) a beauty that no bastard +brood can attain to, it is still more surprising to find that this +“devil’s bird” and messenger of woe is really not by any means so black +as he is painted, and is, indeed, possessed of deep religious feeling. +Maundevile in his pilgrimage to Mount Sinai saw and heard of many +wonderful things, and certainly what he heard in that sacred spot of the +ravens must have greatly astonished him. He tells us that at the shrine +of St. Catherine he found many lamps burning, and the monks rejoicing +in an abundance of “Oyle of Olyves both for to brenne in here Lampes and +to ete also, and that plentee have thei of the Myracle of God, for the +Ravennes and the Crowes and the Choughes and other Fowles of the Countree +assemble hem there ones every yeer, and fleen thider as in pilgrymage, +and everyche of hem bringethe a Braunche of the Olyve in here Bekes in +stade of offryng and leven hem there: of the whyche the monkes maken gret +plentee of Oyle, and this is a gret marvaylle.” The monkish moral to the +story is obvious—that if “Foules that han no kyndely wytt ne Resoun” thus +willingly offer to the maintenance of the church how much more should +the sons of men give of their substance to so excellent a cause. One can +indeed only feel that it is more probable that the story was made to fit +the moral than the moral to fit the story. + +Like most other things in mediæval days the raven found a place in +the pharmacopœia, for it would appear that there was scarely anything +better “for ye Gowte” than raven-broth, but to make it effectually one +or two points that appear in themselves of little importance had to be +scrupulously observed. For those who care to make trial of it we append +the recipe: “Take Rauynys bryddys all quyke owte of here neste and loke +yat yei towche not the erth nor yat yei comy in non hows, and brene hem +in a new potte all to powdir and gif it ye seke man to drynkeyn.” + +The talisman known as the raven-stone was held to confer on its holder +invisibility, and we may remark in passing on the curious attraction that +in the Middle Ages this gift of invisibility possessed, whether used as +a means of shielding one’s self from dangers, as a means of inflicting +without detection injuries on others, or the dishonourable desire of +secretly spying upon their proceedings. It appears to point to a somewhat +unwholesome state of things, too suggestive of cowardice and treachery +to be at all an object to be sought after. There were many such kinds of +talisman, all doubtless of equal efficacy, and all of them, naturally, +presenting considerable difficulties in acquisition. The raven-stone was +no exception. It was necessary first to discover a nest, then to climb +the tree and to take from the brood one of the nestlings and kill it. +The victim must be a male bird and not more than six weeks old. So far, +with reasonable powers of observation, a fair amount of agility, and +sufficient sense to visit the nest at a time when one might reasonably +expect to find young birds therein, there would appear to be no great +difficulty; but unless the parent birds were at least a hundred years +old, all this preliminary trouble was of no avail. Having descended the +tree in safety, the slaughtered nestling had to be placed at its foot, +and watch kept for the return of the parent raven. On its return it will +be observed to place a stone in the throat of its offspring, whereupon +nothing remains but to secure the treasure and proceed to exercise its +mystic power. How many persons actually put the matter to the test it +is of course impossible to say, but full belief in its efficacy was for +generations an article of faith to thousands. + +The owl, like the raven, was regarded by our forefathers with great awe +as an omen of misfortune and death; thus in Shakespeare we find several +allusions to this superstitious belief— + + “Out on ye owls! nothing but songs of death,” + +and the “boding scritch owl,” as he is called in Henry VI., reappears in +Macbeth in the passage:— + + “It was the owl that shriek’d; that fatal bellman + Which giv’st the stern’st good night.” + +The idea dates from time immemorial. Pliny says, in the tenth book of +his “Natural History,” that “the scritch-owle betokeneth alwaies some +heavie newes, and is most execrable and accursed. He keepeth ever in +the deserts, and loveth not only such unpeopled places, but also those +that are horrible hard of accesse. In summer, he is the verie monster +of the night, neither crying, nor singing out cleare, but uttering a +certaine heavie grone of dolefull moning. And, therefore, if he be seene +within citties or otherwise abroad in any place it is not for good, but +prognosticateth some fearfull misfortune.” + +Raven-like again, the owl is a specific for the gout, all that is +necessary being to “take an owl, pull off her feathers, salt her well +for a weak, then put her into a pot and stop it close, and put her into +an oven, that so she may be brought into a mummy.” This has then to be +beaten into a powder and mixed with boar’s grease, and “the grieved +place” well anointed with this preparation. Owl-broth has in many rural +districts of England been regarded as invaluable in whooping cough. + +The notion of stones of mystic virtue being found in divers animals is a +very common one in ancient and mediæval lore. We have already referred +to the raven-stone, and many others were sought after. The interior +of a fowl was said to yield a precious stone called alectorius; the +chelidonius came from a swallow, geranites from a crane, and draconites +from a dragon; while corvia was the name of the stone obtained from the +crow. Anyone who cares to penetrate farther into this mass of rubbish +will find plenty of it in the “Mirror of Stones” of Camillus. A stone +from the hoopoe, when laid upon the breast of a sleeping man, forced +him to reveal any rogueries he might have committed. The swallow was +believed by some people to have two of these precious stones stowed +away somewhere in its interior; one of these was a red one, and cured +insanity; while the other, a black one, brought good fortune. Others said +that the swallow found by some inspiration a particular kind of stone on +the seashore, and that this stone restored sight to the blind. It will be +remembered that Longfellow, in his “Evangeline,” refers to this fancy in +the lines:— + + “Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone which the swallow + Brings from the shore of the sea, to restore the sight of her + fledglings.”[95] + +Hence people assumed, not unreasonably, that what the bird found of +such value to its young ones could scarcely fail to be of equal value +for suffering humanity. Sometimes the association of the swallow with +blindness is much more recondite. Thus Marcellus, writing in the year of +our era, 480 A.D., advises one who fears that he is going blind to “look +out for the first swallow, then run silently to the nearest spring, wash +your eyes, and pray God that you may be free from it that year;” and +then, with the callousness that is so characteristic of so many of these +folk-lore remedies, very needlessly adds, “and that all the pain may pass +into the swallow.” + +On referring to our copy of Winstanley’s “Book of Knowledge,” edition of +1685, to find out how far he confirms these wondrous cures of insanity, +impecuniosity, and ophthalmia, we find that he does not even recognize +their existence, but supplies in their place other facts equally +striking. “Take a Swallow on the Wednesday,” he writes, “and bind him +with a silken thread by the foot, then cut him in the midst, and thou +shalt find three stones, a white, a red, and a green; take the white +and put it into thy mouth, and it shall make thee fair; put into thy +mouth the red, and thou shalt have favour from her thou lovest; put the +green into thy mouth, and thou shalt never be in peril.” If none of +these inducements prevail or appeal to the reader, the author can supply +another recipe of equal value. “Take a swallow in the moneth of August, +look in her breast, and you shall find there a stone of the bignesse of +a pease: take it and put it under your tongue, and you shall have such +eloquence that no man shall have power to deny thy request.” Such a gift +would often be invaluable, and it seems distinctly unfortunate for the +legal profession that it can only be utilised during the Long Vacation, +unless, indeed, this wondrous stone can be in some way preserved +without losing its efficacy; but of this the recipe gives no hint. In +an old receipt book before us oil of swallows is pronounced “exceeding +soveraign” for broken bones, or “any grief in the sinews.” It is procured +by pounding the swallows in a mortar, and adding thereto divers herbs. + +For one that is, or will be, drunken, it is well to have at hand some +preparation that may be deterrent, and here is the very thing! “Take +swallowes and burne them, and make a powder of them; and give the dronken +man thereof to drinke, and he shall never be dronken hereafter.” There is +a certain sense of incompleteness here, as one does not quite realize how +this powder becomes drinkable. + +The ill-luck that attended those who hurt the robin or the wren was an +article of faith with our forefathers, and probably still remains so in +rural districts. In the “Six Pastorals,” written in the year 1770, we +find the belief very clearly expressed in the lines:— + + “I found a robin’s nest within our shed, + And in the barn a wren has young ones bred: + I never take away their nest, nor try + To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die. + Dick took a wren’s nest from the cottage side, + And ere a twelvemonth pass’d his mother dy’d.” + +The belief that they, “with leaves and flowers, do cover the friendless +bodies of unburied men” has no doubt had much to do with the kindly +feeling extended to them. As Drayton hath it:— + + “Covering with moss the dead’s unclosed eye + The little red-breast teacheth charity.” + +Its fearless confidence, too, in visiting the habitations of men has +begotten a kindly feeling for it, while one ancient legend tells us that +when our Saviour hung forsaken on the cross the robin strove to draw out +the cruel nails, and thus imbrued its breast in the Sacred Blood, an +act of piety of which from thenceforth it bore the token in its ruddy +feathers. + +Though there are divers quaint beliefs associated with the wren which we +need not here particularize, we may perhaps assume that the main reason +for its association with the robin lies in the love of alliteration, +for though the actual spelling of the words is against this theory, the +sound to the ear favours it, and the two R’s of the Robin and the ’Ren +are certainly not more far-fetched than the three R’s that were once +held to cover the whole field of rustic scholarship, Reading, Riting and +Rithmetic. + +“The eyes and heart of a nightingale laid about men in bed,” according +to the “Magick of Kirani,” serve to “keep them awake, and to make one +die for sleep. If anyone dissolve them and give them secretly to anyone +in drink, he will never sleep, but will so die, and it admits of no +cure.” It was a belief in the Middle Ages, and termed the doctrine of +signatures, that every plant bore stamped upon itself, though men’s eyes +were in some cases too blind to detect it, an indication of its value to +humanity, thus the spots in the inside of a foxglove flower were a sign +that this plant was of value for ulcerated sore-throat; the buds of the +forget-me-not bent round in a spiral somewhat suggestive possibly of the +tail of a scorpion, gave the plant its mediæval name of scorpion-grass, +and were held a clear indication that anyone stung by a scorpion would +find in this herb his remedy. In a like spirit we see that the eyes and +heart of the nightingale, a bird awake when most other creatures are +sleeping, were held to be, on application, a cause of wakefulness to +anyone coming within their subtle influence. + +It was a very common and widespread belief that the nightingale when +singing pierced its breast with a thorn, but whether this was to keep it +awake, or to give its song the sad character that the poets will insist +most wrongfully in attributing to it, seems an open question. Sir Philip +Sidney in one of his sonnets appears to reflect the popular belief— + + “The nightingale, as soon as April bringeth + Unto her rested sense a perfect waking, + While late bare earth, proud of her clothing, springeth, + Sings out her woes, a thorn her song book making: + And mournfully bewailing + Her throat in times expresseth, + While grief her heart oppresseth.” + +The author of the “Speculum Mundi” also refers to “the nightingale +sitting all the night singing upon a bough, with the sharp end of a thorn +against her breast,” assigning, as the reason, “to keep her waking.” +The bird is a great favourite with the poets, but in most cases their +invocations are somewhat misplaced: it is not the “sweet songstress” +that so delights us, for though her notes are sweet, the real flood of +melody wells from the heart of her lord. ’Tis he, to quote the words of +Coleridge— + + “That crowds, and hurries, and precipitates + With thick fast warble his delicious notes, + As he were fearful that an April night + Would be too short for him to utter forth + His love-chant, and disburden his full soul + Of all its music.” + +The error as to sex, and the error as to the pensive character of the +song, have a common origin and date back from the ancient time when +Ovid declared that Philomela, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens, +mourning for her children, was turned into a nightingale: hence Virgil +uses the word “Philomela” when speaking of the bird, and the mediæval +and modern poets have continued the usage; and on this same account, +the song of the nightingale has by poetic fiction been deemed pensive +and melancholy. Thus Shelley refers to “the nightingale’s complaint,” +and Drayton writes of “our mournful Philomela,” while Milton calls the +bird “most musical, most melancholy.” Coleridge, Clare, and others refuse +however to follow this precedent. + +When the peasant of mediæval days heard the cuckoo for the first time in +each year, he rolled himself vigorously on the grass, and thus secured +himself for the rest of the year from pains in the back. Much of the +virtue of this remedy, we should imagine, would depend upon how damp +the grass might be. We could easily imagine a state of things when this +rolling process would be provocative rather than preventative. It was +generally believed that the cuckoo sucked the eggs of other birds. + + “The cuckoo, he sings in the spring of the year, + And he sucks little birds’ eggs to make his voice clear.” + +Hence so soon as the general nesting season is over, and this selfish +ovisuction fails him, the cuckoo to a great extent loses his song.[96] It +was a generally accepted belief, too, that the cuckoo repaid the care of +his foster parents, when he had no further occasion for it, by swallowing +them. This belief dates from very early times. Aristotle refers to it, +for instance, while in later days it crops up in the various books on +so-called Natural History. On turning again to Shakespeare, who rarely +fails us when any quaint folk-lore has to be illustrated, we find an +interesting reference to it in King Lear: “The hedge-sparrow fed the +cuckoo so long that it had its head bit off by its young”—and again in +the first part of King Henry IV., where Worcester, reminding the king of +his broken word, says:— + + “And being fed by us, you used us so, + As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo’s bird, + Useth the sparrow; did oppress our nest; + Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk, + That even our love durst not come near your sight + For fear of swallowing.” + +Those, it was believed, who turned their money over in their pockets when +they each year first heard the cuckoo, would have good fortune throughout +the rest of the year, and keep their pockets well supplied until the +recurring spring necessitated a re-turning of the contents. + +It was a curious fancy of many of the old writers on such matters, that +the peacock, though arrayed in such splendour, was ashamed of his feet, +the mortification at the latter being more than a set-off to his pride +in his plumage. “The peacock,” says, for instance, one of these ancient +authorities, “is a bird well-known and much admired for his daintie +coloured feathers, which, when he spreads them against the sunne, have +a curious lustre, and look like gemmes. Howbeit his black feet make him +ashamed of his fair tail: and therefore when he seeth them, (as angrie +with nature, or grieved for that deformitie) he hangeth down his starrie +plumes, and walketh slowly in a discontented fit of solitary sadnesse, +like one possest with dull melancholy.” The peacock was throughout the +Middle Ages the symbol of pride, and doubtless those who started and +those who accepted such a story as this saw in it a happy illustration of +the haughty spirit that goeth before a fall, and very gladly added it to +the great body of moral teaching that the works of creation were required +to furnish. + +A large mass of legend and folk-lore is associated with the halcyon or +kingfisher. One curious old superstition is that if a dead kingfisher is +suspended from the roof it will always turn its breast in the direction +from which the wind blows.[97] On looking over any old works on natural +history one is repeatedly struck by the way in which the writers all +copy each other, and reproduce the most outrageous statements, without +ever seeming to care to bring the matters they deal with to the easy +test of actual proof. It is, therefore, the more refreshing to find the +old writer, Sir Thomas Browne, the author of the “Enquiry into Vulgar +Errors,” very wisely declining to accept the statement without proof, +but actually getting a kingfisher for himself, and seeing what would +befall. His reflections and experience are so graphically and quaintly +given in his book that we make no apology for transferring them to our +own pages. He says “that a Kingfisher hanged by the bill, sheweth in what +quarter the winde is by an occult and secret property, converting the +breast to that point of the horizon from whence the winde doth blow, is +a received opinion and very strange, introducing naturall Weathercocks, +and extending magneticall positions as far as animall natures: a conceit +supported chiefly by present practice, yet not made out by reason or +experience. Unto reason it seemeth very repugnant that a carcasse or +body disanimated should be so affected by every winde as to carry a +conformable respect and constant habitude thereto. For although in +sundry animals we deny not a kinde of naturall Meteorology or innate +præsention bothe of winde and weather, yet that proceeding from sense +receiving impressions from the first mutations of the air, they cannot +in reason retain their apprehension after death: as being affections +which depend upon life and depart upon disanimation. And therefore with +more favourable reason may we draw the same effect or sympathie upon +the Hedgehog, whose præsention of windes is so exact that it stoppeth +the North or Southern hole of its nest, according to prenotion of +these windes ensuing; which some men observing, have been able to make +predictions whiche way the winde should turn, and been esteemed hereby +wise men in point of weather. Now this proceeding from sense in the +creature alive, it were not reasonable to hang up an Hedgehog dead and to +expect a conformable motion unto its living conversion. Thus Glowe-wormes +alive project a lustre in the dark, which fulgour notwithstanding ceaseth +after death; and thus the Torpedo, which being alive stupifies at a +distance, applied after death produceth no such result.” + +“As for experiment we cannot make it out by any we have attempted, for +if a single Kingfisher be hanged up with silk in an open room and where +the aire is free, it observes not a constant respect unto the winde, but +vainly converting doth seldome breast it right. If two be suspended in +the same room they will not regularly conform their breasts, but oftimes +respect the opposite points of heaven. And if we conceive that for exact +exploration they should be suspended where the air is quiet and unmoved, +that clear of impediment they may more freely convert upon this naturall +verticity, we have also made this way of inquisition, suspending them +in large and spacious glasses closely stopped; wherein, neverthelesse, +we observed a casuall station, and that they rested irregularly upon +conversion.” + +It was formerly held that if the dead bodies of these birds were put away +in chests they protected garments from the ravages of moths, and it was +believed that the feathers of a dead kingfisher were renewed in all their +splendour every year. It was an article of faith, too, that the plumage +of the kingfisher was injurious to the eyes of those who gazed too long +and too intently upon it, while the possession of even a feather was a +protection against lightning. + +According to the old Greek myth, Halcyone was the daughter of Æolus. Her +husband, Ceyx, king of Trachyn, was drowned in the Ægean Sea, and the +widowed Halcyone, wandering on the shore, saw afar the dead body of her +husband. The gods, in pity, turned her into a bird, which with eager +wings bore her spirit across the waste of waters, and that Ceyx might be +able to return the love she lavished upon him, he, too, was permitted the +same transformation. + +It was an old belief that during the space of fourteen days, while the +young kingfishers were being hatched, a great calm fell upon all things, +and this period of quietness and security is referred to by many of our +writers.[98] A very beautiful illustration may be found in Milton’s “Hymn +on the Nativity,” where he describes how:— + + “Peaceful was the night + Wherein the Prince of Light + His reign of peace upon the earth began; + The winds with wonder whist, + Smoothly the waters kiss’d, + Whispering new joys to the wild ocean, + Which now hath quite forgot to rave, + While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.” + +The word halcyon is Greek and signifies brooding on the sea, as it was +formerly believed that the kingfisher laid its eggs in a floating nest +upon the sea. Drayton writes, for example, of + + “The halcyon, whom the sea obeys + When she her nest upon the water lays.” + +While Dryden, to quote one more instance, says: + + “Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be + As halcyon brooding on a winter’s sea.” + +This exceptional favour fair Halcyone owes to her close relationship +with Æolus, since with him rested the power to lash the waves to fury or +to soothe them to rest. This beautiful Greek myth doubtless underlies +the superstition as to the dead body of the kingfisher indicating the +direction of the wind, though probably it never occurs to the rustic +meteorologist as he watches his revolving kingfisher that any idea of +the loving Halcyone turning to greet the coming Æolus enters into the +philosophy of his test. + +It was for centuries a belief that storks fed with filial care their +aged parents. Thus Heywood, writing in the year 1635, asserts in “The +Hierachie of the Blessed Angells” that + + “The indulgent storke, who builds her nest on hye + (Observ’d for her alternat pietie), + Doth cherish her unfeather’d young and feed them, + And looks from them the like, when she should need them. + (That’s when she grows decrepit, old, and weake) + Nor doth her pious Issue cov’nant breeke: + For unto her, being hungry, food she brings, + And being weake, supports her on her wings.” + +One meets with the same notion again in Beaumont, where he asserts that + + “The stork’s an emblem of true piety: + Because, when age has seized and made his dam + Unfit for flight, the grateful young one takes + His mother on his back, provides her food, + Repaying thus her tender care for him, + Ere he was fit to fly.” + +The extraordinary idea that storks were found only in countries having a +republican form of government held its ground for a considerable time, +though it would appear as though nothing could have been simpler than its +prompt disproof. + +Cranes, it was believed, bore stones with them when they were migrating, +in order that they might not be swept out of their course by the wind. +A somewhat parallel notion was that swallows in their annual migrations +carried in their bills, when about to cross the sea, a piece of stick, to +be laid upon the water from time to time as a convenient resting place. +The idea of the cranes steadying themselves in flight by a ballasting of +small rock was too quaintly happy a conception not to bear amplification, +so we find that the bees, the never-failing emblems of industry and +wisdom, were equally ready to avail themselves of the notion. “Bees +that are emploied in carrying of honie chuse alwaies to have the wind +with them if they can. If haply there do arise a tempest whiles they +bee abroad they catch up some little stonie greet to ballaise and poise +themselves against the wind. Some say that they take it and lay it +upon their shoulders.” How the little stony grit maintains this latter +position the old authors do not stop to explain. In the Georgics of +Virgil we find a reference to this, which evidently even then was an old +and unchallenged belief, in the lines:— + + “And oft with pebbles, like a balanced boat, + Poised through the air on even pinions float”— + +and the idea reappears from time to time as a fact in natural history. +There is so much that is legitimately wonderful in bee-arrangements that +it is scarcely strange that some of the details given by ancient and +mediæval naturalists in praise of their sagacity, and other estimable +qualities, should overreach the possibilities, and fail in the not +unimportant element of truth.[99] + +The sagacious cranes seem to have found several valuable uses for their +pieces of rock. We are told that while the main body are resting at +night, sentinels are posted to guard against surprise, so that the flock +or covey, or whatever else may be the proper technical term to use, rest +in full assurance of safety. To insure the necessary vigilance, these +sentinels stand upon one foot, and hold in the other a large stone.[100] +Should they inadvertently nod, the muscles relax and the stone drops, and +by the slight noise it makes awakens them to a proper sense of their duty +and their temporary lapse from it. + +A third valuable use that the cranes seem to have found for stones was to +put them in their mouths when migrating, so that thus gagged they might +not make a noise, and by their cries bring the eagles and other birds +of prey upon themselves.[101] In the “Euphues,” we find a passage that +admirably illustrates the belief in these two latter uses of the stone, +as the author would naturally not use similes that would be unfamiliar +to his readers. “What I haue done,” he writes, “was onely to keep myselfe +from sleepe, as the Crane doth the stone in hir foote; and I would also, +with the same Crane, that I had been silent, holding a stone in my mouth.” + +It will be sufficiently evident that the birds we have mentioned are but +few in number. It would be extremely difficult to make our treatment +exhaustive, extremely easy to make it exhausting; we would desire in pity +to our readers to avoid either of these alternatives. We would therefore +steer straight for the proverbial third course, and trust that it may +be held that we have found a happy medium in resting satisfied with the +comparatively few species of birds that are here brought under notice. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Forms reptilian and piscine—The basilisk—Shakespeare and + Spenser thereupon—King of serpents—The dragon—Aldrovandus + thereon—The dragon-stone—The griffin—The scorpion—The + “Newe Jewell of Healthe”—Toads—Antipathy between toad + and spider—The toad-stone—How to procure it—The weeping + crocodile—Cockeram’s Dictionary—The treacherous seal—The + salamander—Its potent venom—Its home in fire—Prester John + and his kingdom—Pyragones—The chamæleon—Its changing + colour—Serpents from air—The gift of invisibility—The + serpent-stone—Theriaca—Viper-broth—Antidotal herbs—The soil of + Malta—The deaf adder—The two-headed Amphisbæna—Aldrovandus on + serpents—Hairy serpents—The deadly asp—Monstrous snails—Snail + and spider remedies—Bees—Virgil on their production—Glowworm + ink—Marine forms the counterparts of those on land—The + sea-monk—The sea-bishop—The sus marinus—The brewers of + the storm—The hog-fish—The sea-elephant—The sea-horse—The + sea-unicorn—The remora—The dolphin, its special fondness for + man—Its love of music—Its changeful colouring—The acipenser—The + loving ray—The sargon—The friendship between the oyster and the + prawn—The voracious swam-fish—Leviathan—Cause of the crooked + mouth of the flounder—The healing tench—Fish medicaments—The + vain cuttle-fish—The fish that came to be eaten—Conclusion. + + +We turn in conclusion to forms reptilian and piscine, and to “such small +deer” as may call for a parting word or two in drawing our labours to a +close; and here we find no great amount of material to deal with, for +though our section includes such fabulous monsters as the basilisk and +the dragon, the general knowledge of reptiles and fish was naturally +by no means so extensive as that of the more readily visible beasts and +birds. + +The basilisk, a wingless dragon, according to some authorities—a serpent, +if we may credit others—was a peculiarly objectionable creation, not of +nature, but of man. Like all such creatures, it is extremely difficult +to get a very definite idea of it, since imagination has run rampant +in dealing with it. It was but twelve fingers’ breadth long, according +to some writers; this we may take to mean some eight or nine inches +long,[102] but, unfortunately, its powers of mischief were out of all +proportion to its size. It wore a diadem upon its head, as a sign of +its kingship over all other serpents, and its poison was death without +remedy. Pliny, however, shall be allowed to describe the venomous little +monster in his own way, as he does so with a vivid force that it is +impossible to surpass:—“With his hies he driveth away other serpents; he +moveth his body forward not by multiplied windings like other serpents, +but he goeth with half his body upright and aloft from the ground; he +killeth all shrubs not only that he toucheth, but that he breatheth upon; +he burns up herbs and breaketh the stones, so great is his power for +mischief. It is received of a truth that one of them being killed with +a lance by a man on horseback, the poison was so strong that it passed +along the staff and destroyed both horse and man.” Its touch caused the +flesh to fall from the bones of the animal with which it came in contact, +and even the glance of its eye was death upon whomsoever it fell. It will +be remembered that Shakespeare refers to this belief in the utterance of +the Lady Ann in response to Richard’s observation on her eyes— + + “Would that they were basilisk’s to strike thee dead.” + +In 2 Henry VI. (act iii. sc. 6) the king exclaims, + + “Come, basilisk, and kill the innocent gazer with thy sight,” + +—while in Henry V. (act iii. sc. 2) Queen Isabel says— + + “Your eyes, which hitherto have borne in them + Against the French, that met them in their bent + The fatal balls of murthering basilisks.” + +Suffolk in cursing his enemies invokes against them the deadly basilisk, +while Gloster boasts that he will “slay more gazers than the basilisk.” +Spenser in like manner mentions one who— + + “Secretly his enemies did slay + Like as the Basilisk, of serpent’s seede + From powerful eyes close venim did convey + Into the looker’s hart, and killed farre away.” + +The writer of the “Speculum Mundi” hath it that “the Basilisk is the King +of Serpents, not for his magnitude nor greatnesse, but for his stately +pace and magnanimous minde.” Of this magnanimity, however, he gives no +illustration or proof, but simply goes on to give the creature as black a +character as all other writers do. “His eyes are red in a kinde of cloudy +thicknesse, as if fire were mixt with smoke. His poyson is a very hot +and venimous poyson, drying up and scorching the grasse as if it were +burned, infecting the aire round about him, so as no other creature can +live near him. His hissing, likewise, is said to be as bad, in regard +that it blasteth trees, killeth birds, &c., by poysoning of the aire, and +if anything be slaine by it the same also proueth venimous to such as +touch it,”—an altogether unloving and unlovely brute. It must be borne +in mind that whilst we in this nineteenth century simply regard such a +creature as a weird fancy, countless generations of mankind have accepted +the basilisk as a very grim reality indeed, that might in all its fearful +power some day cross their paths. + +Even Sir Thomas Browne, who demolished in his book so many common +beliefs, is prepared to accept the Basilisk, for while he declares +that “many opinions are passant concerning the basilisk, or little +King of Serpents, some affirming, others denying, most doubting the +relations made thereof,” he, himself, adds “that such an animal there +is, if we evade not the testimony of Scripture and humane writers, we +cannot safely deny.” For his Scriptural proofs he quotes Psalm xci.: +“Super aspidem et Basilicum ambulabis,” and Jeremiah viii., ver. 17: +“For behold I will send serpents, cockatrices among you, which will not +be charmed, and they shall bite you.” Many of the old writers we may +mention in passing, consider the basilisk and the cockatrice the same +creature. That by death-dealing glance a basilisk may empoison is not +to Browne a thing impossible, “for eies receive offensive impressions +from their objects, and may have influences destructive to each other. +For the visible species of things strike not our senses immaterially, +but streaming in corporall raies doe carry with them the qualities of +the object from whence they flow. Thus it is not impossible what is +affirmed of this animall; the visible raies of their eies carrying forth +the subtilest portion of their poison, which, received by the eie of +man or beast, infecteth first the brain, and is thence communicated +to the heart.” Again he says, “that deleterious it may be at some +distance, and destructive without corporall contaction, there is no +high improbability,” and he proceeds, not by any means without thought +or shrewdness, to give reasons for his belief in the possibility of +such a thing. “For,” says he, “if plagues or pestilentiall Atomes have +been conveyed in the air from different Regions, if men at a distance +have infected each other, if the shaddowes of some trees be noxious, +if Torpedoes deliver their opinion at a distance and stupifie beyond +themselves, we cannot reasonably deny that (besides our grosse and +restrained poisons requiring contiguity unto their actions) there may +proceed from subtiller seeds more agile emanations, which contemn those +laws, and invade at distance unexpected.” + +The belief in the dragon was one of the articles of faith of our +ancestors. In another of our books, “Symbolism in Christian Art,” +we have dwelt at considerable length upon the various legends in +which the dragon figures, and the symbolic use made of the monster as +representative of the evil principle that all are called upon to combat, +but our forefathers had a very real belief in the veritable existence of +the dragon, not by any means regarding it as a symbol merely, a figure of +speech or apt allegory, but as one of the quite definite perils that the +adventurous traveller in distant lands might be called upon to face,[103] +while preparations of the dragon were a recognized feature in the +pharmacopœia. “Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,” and many other horrible +ingredients are found in the witches’ cauldron in Macbeth. + +In a mediæval work we are told that “the turning joint in the chine of +a dragon doth promise an easy and favourable access into the presence +of great lords.” One can only wonder why this should be, all clue and +thread of connection between the two things being now so hopelessly lost. +We must not, however, forget that, smile now as we may at this, there +was a time when our ancestors accepted the statement with the fullest +faith, and many a man who would fain have pleaded his cause before king +or noble, bewailed with hearty regret his want of draconic chine, the +“turning-point” of the dragon and of his own fortunes. Another valuable +recipe runs as follows: “Take the taile and head of a dragon, the haire +growing upon the forehead of a lion, with a little of his marrow also, +the froth, moreover, that a horse fomethe at the mouth who hath woon the +victorie in running a race, and the nailes besides of a dog’s feete; +bind all these together with a piece of leather made of red deer’s skin, +with the sinewes partly, of a stag, partly of a fallowe deere, one with +another; carry this about with you, and it will work wonders.”[104] It +seems almost a pity that the actual benefits to be derived from the +possession of this compound are not more clearly defined, as there is no +doubt that a considerable amount of trouble would be involved in getting +the various materials together, and the zeal and ardour of the seeker +after this wonder-working composition would be somewhat damped by doubt +as to its actual utility. Mediæval medicine-men surely must have been +somewhat chary of adopting the now familiar legend of “prescriptions +accurately dispensed” when the onus of making up such a mixture could be +laid upon them. + +In spite of the familiarity with the appearance of the creature that the +obtaining of its head and tail would suggest, the various authorities +differ very widely in describing it. Some writers say that dragons are +of “a yellow fierie colour, having sharp backs like saws,” and some tell +us that “their scales shine like silver.” Some dragons are said to have +wings and no feet, some again have both feet and wings, others have +neither one nor the other, and are only distinguished from the common +sort of serpents by the combs growing upon their heads. Father Pigafetta +in his book declares that “Mont Atlas hath plentie of dragons, grosse +of body, slow of motion, and in by ting or touching incurably venomous. +In Congo is a kind of dragons like in bygnesse unto rammes with wings, +having long tayles and divers jawes of teeth of blue and greene, painted +like scales, with two feete, and feede on rawe fleshe.” John Leo, in his +“History of Africa,” says that the dragon is the progeny of the eagle and +wolf. Others affirm that it is generated by the great heat of India, or +springs from the volcanoes of Ethiopia. + +After reading about almost every possible variation of structure that +is open to a dragon, winged, serpentine, two-legged, four-legged, and +the like, it is rather quaint to find that Pliny feels that there is a +point after all where one must draw the line. He says that “in Ethiopia +there are produced as great dragons as in India, being twenty cubits +long. But I chiefly wonder at one thing: why Juba should think they were +crested.” This suggestion of the crass ignorance of Juba was certainly +a little hard on him, as when so very much was believed a crest was a +very little extra item to credit, besides as a matter of fact dragons as +such, Ethiopian or otherwise, were often described by ancient authorities +as having this feature. It really seems like accepting the sheeted +spectre of the country churchyard, and then growing sceptical because its +hollowed turnip head was still crowned with a little of the foliage that +rustic haste or indifference to the verities had failed to cut away. + +Aldrovandus, in his “History of Serpents and Dragons,” published in 1640, +goes very thoroughly indeed into the subject.[105] The work is in folio +size, and the portion devoted to the dragon extends from pages 312 to +360. It must be duly noted that Aldrovandus entirely accepts the dragon +as a reality; that this is so is obvious from his dealing with it in +this volume instead of placing it in his “Historia Monstrorum.” The book +is written in Latin, and amongst the various sections concerning the +dragon we find Differentiæ, Forma et Descriptio, Mores, Locus, Antipathia +(unlike most other creatures treated by the old author, his vindictive +savagely forbids the usual chapter on Sympathia), and Usus in Medicina. +Fig. 19 is one of the draconic forms illustrated in the book; the +varieties given are very numerous, and of widely differing nature. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19.] + +Our ancestors used always to prescribe divers kinds of herb-teas to be +drunk in the Spring-time, and it is a curious example of instinct in +a reptile that the dragon likewise, whom he feels at this season of +the year a certain loathing of meat, physics himself into rude health +again with the juice of the wild lettuce. Many animals have, or at all +events had, if we may credit the wisdom of our forefathers, considerable +faith in the medicinal value of herbs. Thus pigeons and blackbirds when +suffering from loss of appetite eat bay leaves as a tonic. The bay leaf, +too, was a most valuable thing for internal application against the +poison of the chameleon, though the elephant when he had inadvertently +swallowed one of these creatures, a mistake that seems to have not +unfrequently happened, probably from the resemblance in colour of the +reptile to the foliage amongst which he was ensconced, pinned his faith +in the wild olive leaf. + +As the toad, ugly and venomous, bore yet in popular belief a precious +jewel in its head, so we find in the writings of various authorities a +belief that the still uglier and more venomous dragon bore in like manner +the lustrous carbuncle. Jordanus tells us, for example, that in India the +dragons that there abound are thus gifted, a fact that the natives turn +to their advantage. “These dragons,” he declares, “grow exceeding big, +and cast forth from the mouth a most infectious breath, like the thickest +smoke rising from fire. These animals come together at the destined time, +develop wings, and begin to raise themselves in the air, and then, by the +judgment of God, being too heavy, they drop into a certain river which +issues from Paradise, and perish there. But all the regions round about +watch for the time of the dragons, and when they see that one has fallen +they wait for seventy days, and then go down and find the bare bones of +the dragon, and take the carbuncle which is rooted in the top of his +head.” + +Even the dragon, however, may not be quite so black as he is painted, +for we read in one old author of a child in Arcadia that had a dragon +for its playmate. There was much affection between them, but presently a +considerable dread of the dragon’s powers gained possession of the boy, +and he compassed the brilliant idea of beguiling his companion well out +into the desert and then slipping away. In the very consummation of this +plan a new danger arose, as the stripling found himself in an ambush of +robbers, whereupon he was only too thankful to call out to his discarded +playmate, who immediately came to the rescue and very effectually +scattered his despoilers. At this point the history unfortunately stops, +but we may perhaps conclude that it follows on the lines of most stories +of the affections, and that “they lived happy ever after.” However this +may be, it is a charming narrative, and opens out quite a new trait of +dragon disposition. + +Amongst the many strange creatures that were held to inhabit Ethiopia, +the griffins were perhaps the most conspicuous amidst the weird fauna of +that marvellous land. “Some men seyn,” and Maundevile in his quaint book +of travels fully endorses the idea, “that Griffounes han the Body upward +as an Egle and benethe as a Lyoun and treuly thei ben of that schapp. +But a Griffoun hathe the body more gret and is more strong thanne eight +Lyouns and more gret and stronger than an hundred Egles such as we han +amonge us. For a Griffoun ther wil bere, fleynge to his Nest, a gret Hors +or two Oxen yoked togidere as thei gon at the Plowghe.” + +Chaucer, in the “Canterbury Tales,” says of one of his characters:— + + “Blake was his berd, and manly was his face, + The cercles of his eyen in his hed + They gloweden betwixten yelwe and red, + And like a griffon loked he about.” + +Ctesias describes the griffin in all sober earnestness as a bird with +four feet of the size of a wolf, and having the legs and claws of a lion, +their feathers being red upon the breast and black on the rest of the +body. Glanvil says of it: “the claws of a griffin are so large and ample +that he can seize an armed man as easily by the body as a hawk a little +bird.” The griffin is often met with in heraldry past and present, either +as a crest, charge, or supporter of the arms. A very familiar example of +its employment in the latter service may be seen in the arms of the City +of London, or exalted on lofty pedestal, where, in lieu of Temple Bar, it +marks the westward civic boundary. Shakespeare, Milton, and others of our +poets and writers, refer to the griffin. + +Anyone reading the herbals of Gerard, Parkinson, and others, or the +various medical books of the Middle Ages, will scarcely have failed to +notice how frequently reference is made to the scorpion. In these later +days a man might well journey from John o’ Groats to the Land’s End, and +run no peril of an encounter, but in the earlier times we have referred +to, the sting of the scorpion was a very present dread, and numerous +remedies for it were devised. The beautiful blue forget-me-not of our +streams is in all herbals and floras till the beginning of this century +called the scorpion-grass,[106] from its supposed virtue as a cure, a +remedy that was supposed to be sufficiently indicated from its head of +flowers and buds being rolled round into some more or less satisfactory +resemblance to a scorpion’s tail. Cogan, in his “Haven of Health,” tells +how “a certaine Italian, by often smelling the Basill, had a scorpion +bred in his braine, and after vehement and long paines he died therof.” + +In the “Newe Iewell of Health, gathered out of the best and most +approved Authors by that excellent Doctor Gesnerus,”[107] we find some +extraordinary preparations. Most of these are of a botanical nature, +but we also have “Oyle holy[108] prepared out of dead men’s bones, Oyle +or distilled lycour gotten out of the Gray, Oyle marveylous gotten out +of the Beuer, Oyle of frogges ryght profitable to such as are payned of +ye gout, Oyle of antes egges,” and many other strange remedies for the +ills that the flesh is heir to. Among them, a forerunner of the ideas +of Hahnemann, and the notion of like curing like, we find “Oyle of +Scorpion’s distilled against Poysons.” Apropos of the oil from dead men’s +bones, we may point out the special charm that our ancestors seemed to +find in anything associated with the charnel house—thus one favourite +remedy was the moss that grew on a dead man’s skull, another was a pill +compounded from the brains of a man that had been hanged; powder of mummy +in like manner was in high repute, and to those who found pill or powder +too nauseous a draught of spring water from the skull of a murdered man +was at once refreshing and health-giving. The following recipe[109] for +the cure of a wound seems to show that our forefathers had no great fear +of blood poisoning: “Take of the moss of the skull of a strangled man +two ounces, of the mumia of man’s blood one ounce and a halfe, of earth +wormes washed in water or wine and dryed, one ounce and a halfe, of the +fatte of a Boare two drams, of oyle of Turpintine two drams: pound them +and keepe them in a longe narrow pott, and dippe into the oyntment the +yron or wood, or some sallowe sticke made wet with blood in opening the +wound.” The medicine and surgery of the Middle Ages must have been a +powerful influence in checking redundance of population. + +Toads were in great repute in sickness. “In time of common contagion,” +writes Sir Kenelm Digby in 1660, “men use to carry about with them the +powder of a toad, and sometimes a living toad or spider[110] shut up in +a box, which draws the contagious air, which otherwise would infect the +party,” and many other illustrations of their employment as preventives +or remedies might be given. The spider and the toad seem to have been +each regarded as most venomous creatures, and in many of the old remedies +one or other of them at will are recommended, either alternative being +regarded as equally efficacious; thus for whooping cough, if one cannot +find a toad to thrust up the chimney, two spiders in a walnut shell will +serve equally well. + +There was held to be mortal antipathy between the toad and the spider, +and the result of a meeting between them was a conflict fatal to one or +both of the antagonists. The _Aster Tripolium_, a well-known English wild +plant, was originally called the toad-wort. “When a spider stings a toad, +and the toad is becoming vanquished, and the spider stings it thickly and +frequently, and the toad cannot avenge itself, it bursts assunder,” at +least, the author of the “Ortus Sanitatis” says it does, but whether this +arises from venom or from vexation he does not explain. “If such a burst +toad be near the toad-wort, it chews it and becomes sound again; but if +it happens that the wounded toad cannot get to the plant, another toad +fetches it and gives it to the wounded one.” Topsell, in his “Natural +History,” vouches for this having been actually witnessed. + +That the skin of the toad gives forth an acrid secretion which serves +the creature as a defence is established beyond doubt, but its hurtful +properties have been greatly exaggerated. Dryden refers to the lady “who +squeezed a toad into her husband’s wine,” the inference being she was in +heart murderous. Spenser makes Envy ride upon a wolf and chew “between +his cankred teeth a venomous tode,” while Diodorus declares that toads +were generated by the heat of the sun from the dead bodies of ducks +putrefying in mud.[111] + +Lily, in his “Euphues,” declares that “the foule toade hath a faire stone +in his head,” an idea that Shakespeare has immortalized in the beautiful +lines that remind us how:— + + “Sweet are the uses of adversity, + Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, + Yet wears a precious jewel in its head.” + +The crapaudine, or toad-stone, is of a dull brown colour. It was believed +to possess sovereign virtue against poison from its changing colour +when in the presence of any noxious thing: hence it was often worn as a +protection in finger rings. Figs. 20 and 21 are good examples of this +use. They are both from rings in the Londesborough collection. The belief +in the virtues of the toad-stone was not only popular in England, but +was one of the fallacies accepted throughout Europe. Though the stone is +well-known to geologists as a variety of trap-rock, the accepted belief +was that it was found only in the head of the toad. Fenton, writing in +1569, affirms that “there is found in the heads of old and great toads +a stone which they call borax or stelon,” and Lupton, some fifty years +afterwards, writes: “the crepaudia or toad-stone is very valuable, +touching any part envenomed by the bite of a rat, wasp, spider, or other +poisonous beast it ceases the pain and swelling thereof.” Ben Jonson +also refers to it in his play of “The Fox.” Albertus Magnus, writing +about 1275, adds the great wonder that this stone when taken out of the +creature’s head has the figure of a toad upon it, while others declare +that the stone itself is of the form of a toad. It is a treasure not +easily to be procured, for the toad “envieth much that man should haue +that stone,” declares Lupton, the author of “A Thousand Notable Things,” +hence it was very necessary to beware of useless counterfeits, and this +old writer gives us a ready means of detecting them. “To know,” says he, +“whether the toad-stone called crepaudia be the righte and perfect stone +or not, holde the stone before a toad so that he may see it, and if it +be a right and true stone the toad will leap towards it, and make as +though he would snatch it from you,” a proceeding that must have required +a considerable amount of nerve on the part of anyone duly impressed with +the fear of the deadly venom of the creature. + +[Illustration: FIG. 20.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 21.] + +The same ancient authority on the subject very obligingly gives “a rare +good way to get the stone out of the toad.” It suffices to “put a great +or overgrown toad, first bruised in divers places, into an earthen pot: +put the same into an ant’s hillocke, and cover the same with earth, which +toad at length the ants will eat, so that the bones of the toad and +stone will be left in the pot.” This certainly seems simplicity itself, +but, unfortunately, most authorities agree in saying that the stone, +to have any real virtue, should be obtained while the creature is yet +alive. Porta has his doubts on the whole matter, nevertheless he gives +some hints that might be of value to those of greater faith. “There is a +stone,” he says, “called Chelonites—the French name it Crapodina, which +they report to be found in the head of a great old Toad; and if it can be +gotten from him while he is alive, it is soveraign against poyson. They +say it is taken from living toads in a red cloth, in which colour they +are much delighted; for while they sport themselves upon the scarlet the +stone droppeth out of their head and falleth through a hole made in the +middle into a box set under for the purpose, else they will suck it up +again. But I never met with a faithfull person who said that he had found +it: nor could I ever find one, though I have cut up many. Nevertheless, +I will affirm this for truth that those stones which are pretended to +be taken out of Toads are minerals. But the value is certain: if any +swallow it down with poyson it will preserve him from the malignity of +it, for it runneth about with the poyson and asswageth the power of it +that it becometh vain and of no force.” Boethius tells us how he watched +throughout a whole night an old toad that he had placed on a piece +of scarlet cloth, but is obliged to confess that nothing occurred to +“gratify the great pangs of his whole night’s restlessness,” as the toad +entirely declined to be lured into any frivolities that might cause him +the loss of his precious jewel. + +Browne, in his exposure of the various popular errors current in his +time, presently arrives at this belief, but finds himself unable to +express any very definite opinion, and takes refuge in compromise. +“As for the stone,” quoth he, “commonly called a Toad-stone, which is +presumed to be found in the head of that animall, we first conceive it +not a thing impossible, nor is there any substantiall reason why in a +Toad there may not be found such hard and lapideous concretions; for +the like we daily observe in the heads of Fishes, as Codds, Carps, and +Pearches. Though it be not impossible, yet it is surely very rare, as +we are induced to believe from inquiry of our own; from the triall of +many who have been deceived and the frustrated search of Porta, who, +upon the explorement of many, could scarce finde one.[112] Nor is it +only of rarity, but may be doubted whether it be of existency, or really +any such stone in the head of a Toad at all. For though Lapidaries and +questonary enquires affirm it, yet the writers of Mineralls and natural +speculators are of another belief, conceiving the stones which bear this +name to be a Minerall concretion, not to be found in animalls but in +fields. What therefore best reconcileth these divided determinations may +be a middle opinion; that of these stones some are minerall and to be +found in the earth; some animall, to be met with in Toads, at least by +the induration of their cranies. The first are many and manifold, to be +found in Germany[113] and other parts, the last are fewer in number, and +in substance not unlike the stones in Carps’ heads. This is agreeable +unto the determination of Aldrovandus, and is also the judgment of the +learned Spigelius in his Epistle unto Pignorius.” If only a toad with an +indurated cranium could be discovered, everything would fall into its +right place! + +Through the Middle Ages men believed that the toad exercised the power +of fascination not only upon its insect prey, but upon all other +creatures, including man himself, and even so far back as the days of +the classical writers it was a fully accepted belief that whosoever had +the misfortune to be looked squarely in the eyes by a toad would find +that, basilisk-like, the gaze to him meant death. + +The belief that the crocodile shed tears over his prey is a very ancient +one; various motives have been assigned for this grief, but the generally +accepted belief is that the whole proceeding is a fraud, perpetrated +with the idea of attracting sympathetic passers-by within reach of his +formidable jaws; hence he has been accepted as a symbol of dissimulation. +We get an excellent illustration of this in Shakespeare’s King Henry +VIII., where Henry is said by Queen Margaret to be— + + “Too full of foolish pity; and Gloster’s show + Beguiles him, as the mournful crocodile + With sorrow snares relenting passengers.”[114] + +Spenser, in the Faerie Queene,[115] deals equally clearly and explicitly +with the same fancy in the lines— + + “As when a wearie traveiler, that strayes + By muddy shore of broad seven-mouthed Nile, + Unweeting of the perillous wandring wayes, + Doth meete a cruell craftie Crocodile, + Which in false grefe hyding his harmefull guile, + Doth weepe full sore, and sheddeth tender teares; + The foolish man, that pities all this while + His mournful plight, is swallowed up unawares, + Forgetfull of his owne that mindes an other’s cares.” + +“Thereupon,” ungallantly adds an old writer, “came this proverb that +is applied unto women when they weep. Lachrymæ Crocodili, the meaning +whereof is, that as the Crocodile when he crieth goeth about most to +deceive, so doth a woman most commonly when she weepeth.” Thus Othello +misanthropically exclaims— + + “If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears, + Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.” + +In the same spirit Barnfield, in his “Cassandra,” written in the year +1595, has the following passage:— + + “He, noble lord, fearlesse of hidden treason, + Sweetely salutes this weeping Crocodile; + Excusing every cause with instant reason + They kept him from her sight so long a while; + She faintly pardons him; smiling by art, + For life was in her lookes, death in her hart.” + +The author of the “Speculum Mundi,” who is ever seeking a moral[116] or +an opportunity of improving the occasion, declares that “the crocodile +when he hath devoured a man and eaten all up but the head, will sit and +weep over it[117] as if he expressed a great portion of sorrow for his +cruel feast, but it is nothing so, for when he weeps it is because his +hungrie paunch wants such another prey. And from hence the proverb took +beginning, viz. Crocodiles’ tears; which is then verified when one weeps +cunningly without sorrow, dissembling heaviness out of craftinesse; like +unto many rich men’s heirs who mourn in their gowns when they laugh in +their sleeves; or like to other dissemblers of the like nature who have +sorrow in their eyes, but joy and craftiness in their hearts.” However +this may be, the supposititious tears of the crocodile have been turned +to abundant literary and moral account. The tears of the crocodile were +supposed, according to some who were great authorities in their day and +generation, to crystallize into gems, but as supposititious tears could +only produce supposititious gems the actual value would be but small. + +In an early Bestiary it states that “if a crocodile comes across a man +it kills him, but it remains inconsolable the rest of its life;” but +why it suffers this life-long remorse we are not told. This old writer +also tells us of the hydra, “a very wise animal who understands well +how to injure the crocodile.” The _modus operandi_ is very simple, and +the injury inflicted seems beyond question:—“When the hydra sees the +crocodile go to sleep it covers itself over with slimy mud, and wriggles +itself into the crocodile’s mouth, penetrates into its stomach, and then +tears it assunder.” The dolphin appears to be another foe to be by no +means despised. Pliny tells us that when these desire to pass up the Nile +the crocodiles, who regard the river as their peculiar preserve, greatly +resent their presence, and endeavour to drive them back. As the dolphins +fully realize that they are no match for their foes in fair fight, they +take refuge in their superior activity and craft, and having a dorsal fin +as sharp edged as a knife, they swim swiftly beneath the crocodiles, and +as the under portion of these creatures is unprotected by the armour that +is so conspicuous on the upper parts of their bodies, with one sharp gash +they rip the crocodile completely open. + +It was a Greek superstition that beneath the visible exterior of the seal +was concealed a woman, and that when a swimmer ventured too far he ran +great risk of being seized by a seal and strangled. The creature then +carried the lifeless body to some desert shore and wept over it, from +which arose the popular saying that when a woman shed false tears she +cried like a seal. As the desert shore implies absence of spectators, it +seems difficult to tell what authority there is for the statement as to +what went on there, and even when this initial difficulty is overcome +it seems equally impossible to suggest any satisfactory reason for the +gruesome proceedings of this weird woman-seal or seal-woman, either in +the preliminary murderous attack or the subsequent lamentation. Whatever +strange idea may have originally started the story, it is a curious +parallel to that of the weeping crocodile. + +The salamander received its full mythical development in mediæval +days, though the older writers refer to it occasionally, and we note +in the writings of such men as Pliny the first steps taken towards the +erection of that fabric of fancy and superstition that later on became so +conspicuous. The ancients asserted that the salamander was never seen in +bright weather, but only made its appearance during heavy rain, and that +it was of so frigid a nature that if it did but touch fire it quenched it +as completely as if ice were piled thereon. It was, moreover, declared +to be so venomous that the mere climbing of a tree by the animal is +amply sufficient to poison all the fruit, so that those who afterwards +eat thereof perished without remedy, and that if it entered a river the +stream was so effectually poisoned that all who drank thereof must die. +Glanvil, an English writer in the thirteenth century, roundly declares as +historic fact that four thousand men and two thousand horses of the army +of Alexander the Great were killed by drinking from a stream that had +been thus infected. + +It was in the Middle Ages an article of faith that the salamander was +bred and nourished in fire,[118] hence when the creature is represented +it is always placed in the midst of flames. Our illustration, fig. +22, from Porta, is a fair typical example. How the creature should be +nourished in the flames, while its mere contact with them suffices to +extinguish them, seems a practical difficulty, but the contradiction +of ideas does not seem to have troubled our forefathers, and the two +mutually destructive statements rest side by side equally unquestioned +in the writings of all the authorities. Pliny, having his doubts, thrust +a salamander into the fire, and the unfortunate victim of science was +quickly shrivelled up and consumed.[119] One would have thought that this +crucial test of actual experiment would have settled the whole matter, +and reduced the fire-extinguishing theory to oblivion, but it takes much +more than that to kill an old and well-established belief, as we may see +even in our own day where many superstitions still flourish in spite of +common sense, education, and experience arrayed against them. + +[Illustration: FIG. 22.] + +De Thaun in his “Bestiary” declares that “the Salamander is of such a +nature that if it come by chance where there shall be burning fire it +shall at once extinguish it. The beast is so cold and of such a quality +that fire will not be able to burn where it shall enter, nor will +trouble happen where it shall be.” This latter statement is entirely +at variance with the general belief in its deadliness, but all these +statements are dwelt on, exaggerated, or suppressed, as occasion and the +moral to be deduced requires. As in this particular case the pious writer +desired to see in the creature an emblem of Azarias, Ananias and Misael +praising God without hurt in the fiery furnace, any reference to its +noxious properties was clearly out of place, and on the strength of this +association it even receives a somewhat negative form of commendation on +its virtues as a peace-producer. This we are bound to say is the only +good word we have ever seen ascribed by any of the writers of the past to +this unfortunate creature, and it beyond doubt only receives even this +solitary commendation because the exigencies of what the old writers +thought the greater truth appeared to call for it. + +Asbestos was, from its incombustible property, long held to be the +wool of the salamander. In the Middle Ages popular imagination was +greatly exercised over a mysterious Ruler in the East known as Prester +John. He was held to be a Christian, and to bear sway in Asia over a +widely-extended empire, but the stories of returning travellers showed +that the idea had no foundation in fact, and the scene of the monarchy +was then shifted to Abyssinia. The first reference to this sovereign +would appear to be in the Chronicle of one Otto of Freisingin, who wrote +about the middle of the twelfth century, and afterwards allusions to +this mysterious monarch frequently recur. In the Chronicle of Albericus, +about a hundred years later than that of Otto, we read that “Presbyter +Joannes sent his wonderful letter to various Christian princes, and +especially to Manuel of Constantinople, and Frederic, the Roman Emperor.” +In this letter, a very lengthy one, he claims to be Lord of Lords, and +to receive the tribute and homage of seventy-two kings. “In the three +Indies,” saith he, “our Magnificence rules, and our land extends beyond +India: it reaches toward the sunrise over the wastes, and it trends +towards deserted Babylon, near the Tower of Babel.” Whatever of credence, +much or little, we may give to this letter, it is at least interesting +to us as showing the set of opinion on, amongst other matters, things +zoological, and therefore comes within the scope of our book. He gives +many details as to the plants, the gold, and precious stones, and +so forth, and also states that “our land is the home of elephants, +dromedaries, camels, crocodiles, metacollinarum, cammetennus, tensevetes, +white and red lions, white bears, crickets, griffins, lamias, wild +horses, wild men, men with horns, one-eyed, men with eyes before and +behind, centaurs, fauns, satyrs, and pygmies; it is the home, too, of +the phœnix, and of nearly all living animals. In one of our lands, hight +Zone, are worms called in our tongue salamanders. These worms can only +live in fire, and they build cocoons like silkworms, which are unwound by +the ladies of our palace and spun into cloth and dresses, which are worn +by our Exaltedness. These dresses, when we would wash them and clean, +are cast into flames.” Browne, in his exposure of vulgar errors, gravely +denies the existence of wool on a salamander at all, truly pointing out +that “it is a kinde of Lizard, a quadruped corticated and depilous, that +is, without woolle, furre, or haire,” an altogether hopeless animal to +shear. + +Porta mentions that some peculiar creatures called “Pyragones be +generated in the fire: certain little flying beasts so called because +they live and are nourished in the fire, and yet they fly up and down in +the air. This is strange; but that is more strange, that as soon as ever +they come out of the fire into any cold air presently they die.” Porta +of course uses the word presently in the older sense of at this present +moment, so that it really is, as he says, a wonder that these creatures +are able to fly about in the air, when its effect upon them is immediate +death. We have ourselves been gravely told that if the fires at the great +iron-works in the Midland Counties were not occasionally extinguished +an uncertain but fearful something would be generated in them, and it +seems only natural that after the imagination has peopled earth and sea +with strange monsters, and placed in the upper regions of the air the +paradise-birds and other creatures that derived all needful sustenance +from that element alone, that the remaining element, fire, should also +have its peculiar inhabitants and monsters. + +The chamæleon was for centuries supposed to live only on air, while its +property of changing colour under the influence of its surroundings was +greatly exaggerated. + +Shakespeare, the great storehouse of mediæval folk-lore, makes Speed, in +the Two Gentlemen of Verona, exclaim:— + + “Tho’ the chamæleon Love can live on the air, + I’m one that am nourish’d by my victuals,” + +while Gloster, in King Henry VI., boasts that he could “add colours to +the chamæleon.” + +Gower, in like manner, asserts that vainglory is + + “Lich unto the Camelion + Whiche upon every sondry hewe + That he beholt he mote newe + His colour.” + +Hence, again, other moralists declare that men and women inconstant and +fickle are like unto chamæleons. + +It has been asserted by Avicenna that a decoction of chamæleon put into a +bath will make him green-coloured that stayeth long therein, but that by +degrees this verdant hue will pass away, and the man recover his natural +colour, while Porta declares that “with the Gall of a Chamæleon cut into +water Wheezles will be called together.” Why anyone should want to call a +wheezle together he does not explain, so that the receipt, simple as it +is, seems to be of no great practical value. + +It has been rather a disgusting belief that if a man will lick a lizard +all over he will not only be safe from the personal inconvenience of +having a lizard go down his throat some day when he might be sleeping in +the fields, but that he will have the power henceforward of healing any +sore to which he applies his tongue. + +Our ancestors held many strange beliefs respecting serpents and +snakes—one of these was they were created from hair, “women’s hairs +especially”—as one old writer is careful to emphasize—“because they are +naturally longer than men’s.” One old authority, our oft-quoted Porta, +hesitates not to say that “we have experienced also that the hairs of a +horse’s mane laid in the waters become serpents, and our friends have +tried the same,” and he goes on to mention as a truism to be almost +apologized for from its self-evident character, that “no man denies +but that serpents are easily gendred of man’s flesh, specially of his +marrow.” Ælianus in like manner declares that a dead man’s marrow, being +putrified, becomes a serpent. Florentinus affirms that basil chewed and +laid in the sun will engender serpents.[120] + +Another strange idea was that serpents conferred the power of +invisibility. Thus John Aubrey, an antiquary and author, and one of the +earliest Fellows of the Royal Society, gives in full faith the following +recipe: “Take on Midsummer night at xii, when all the planets are above +the earth, a serpent, and kill him, and skinne him, and dry him in the +shade, and bring it to a powder. Hold it in your hand, and you will be +invisible.” His book entitled “Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme” is a +perfect storehouse of old-world superstitions, an inexhaustible mine of +quaint imaginings. + +The “pretious stone” theory that we have already encountered in one or +two other cases, the toad being the most notable, is in full force again +amongst the various strange notions concerning serpents. The recipe +for its possession, given by Jacobus Hollerius, is simplicity itself, +as it is merely necessary that the “snake be tyed by the tayle with a +corde, and hanged up, and a vessell full of water set below; after a +certayne time he will avoyde out of his mouth a stone.” The stone is +of great medicinal value; for instance, “it fullye and wholelye helpes +the partye that hath the dropsye,” by merely being attached to the body +of the sufferer, and in divers other ways that we need not stay to +particularize, proves itself a stone of price. Jordanus, amongst his +other Indian experiences, came across serpents with horns, evidently the +cerastes or horned viper, and others with precious stones. Tennant tells +us that the Cingalese believe that the stomach of the cobra contains a +stone of inestimable value, and this belief, absurd as we deem it, is +really hardly more far-fetched than such a story as pearls being found in +oyster-shells would appear to a man who heard it for the first time. + +Snakes and serpents, like most other repulsive things, have found +their way into the pharmacopœia and the menu. Galen tells us that the +Egyptians used to eat vipers as other people did eels, and it is a +very old-world superstition that viper’s flesh is an antidote to the +viper’s poison. In classic and mediæval days a famous remedy, originally +known as mithridate or theriaca, and later on as Venice treacle, was +held to owe much of its virtue as a vermifuge and antidote to all kinds +of poison to the vipers that formed one of its ingredients. It was +retained in the London Pharmacopœia until about a hundred years ago. Its +constituent parts changed somewhat from time to time; at one period we +see it contained seventy-three ingredients. The vipers were added to the +horrible mess by Andromachus, the physician to the Emperor Nero,[121] +and became a leading element in the prescription. The name treacle was +at one time applied to any confection or syrup, and it is only in these +latter days that the name has become associated exclusively with the +syrup of molasses: it is derived from the Greek Therion, a name given +to the viper, so that the schoolboys’ lunch of bread and treacle is the +direct etymological outcome of the abominable adder’s broth of the Roman +emperor.[122] + +One often sees in these ancient remedies a foreshadowing of the +homœopathic notion of like to like; thus Porta prescribes “a present +remedy” for the poison of the viper, declaring that “the viper itself, +if you slay her, and strip off her skin, cut off her head and tail, cast +away all her entrails, boil her like an Eele, and give her to one that +she hath bitten, it will cure him,” but in another place he says “for +serpent’s bites I have found nothing more excellent than the earth which +is brought from the isle of Malta, for the least dust of it put into +their mouths kills them presently.” There is evidently here some sort of +connection endeavoured to be established between the escape of St. Paul +while in Malta from the evil effects of the poison of a viper and this +present prescription, and it no doubt arose from the old legend that, +like St. Patrick in Ireland, St. Paul, after his experience of them, +banished all snakes from the island. Once granted that a serpent cannot +live on the soil of Malta, it follows almost as a matter of course that a +little of this same soil administered to it anywhere the wide world over +will prove fatal to it. The recipe is, nevertheless, a little vague, as +it deals exclusively with the destruction of the serpent, which is not at +all the same thing as the restoration to health of the sufferer from its +poison fangs. + +Prevention being better than cure, the hint that Cogan gives in his +“Haven of Health” should prove of value. “The setting of Lauender within +the house in floure pots must needes be very wholesome, for it driueth +away venemous wormes, both by strawing and by the sauour of it,” and +he adds that “being drunke in wine it is a remedie against poyson.” +Tusser, in his book on Husbandry, gives a long list of “strowing herbes,” +their fragrance and remedial value being held in high esteem by our +forefathers:— + + “No daintie flowre or herbe that growes on grownd, + No arborett with painted blossoms drest, + And smelling sweete, but there it might be fownd + To bud out faire, and throwe her sweet smels al around.”[123] + +The bunches of flowers that are still presented to the Judges on the +opening of the Law Courts are the graceful and now happily needless +developments of the bunches of herbs that were once placed on their desks +to avert the dangers of the gaol fever, that with its noxious breath +slew not the hapless prisoners alone, but the judges on the bench, and +administered wild justice on all alike for the contempt of sanitary +laws, and for the brutality that was rampant and supreme.[124] + +Fennel was, according to our forefathers, held in esteem by the serpents +themselves, and one scarcely wonders that this should be so, if it be +true that “so soone as they taste of it they become young again, and +with the juice thereof repair their sight.” How this juice is applied +externally by the serpent is not explained, but it very naturally +suggested the idea to the medical men of the Middle Ages that what was +so good for serpents might prove equally valuable to suffering humanity, +hence “to repair a man’s sight that is dim” nothing better than fennel +could be found, though they hesitated to promise also to the human +subject rejuvenescence. + +The Syrians, according to one venerable authority, had a most singular +defence for their country, the land being full of snakes that would do +no harm to the natives even if they trod upon them, but which eagerly +assailed the people of any other nation and destroyed them. Naturally +therefore the Syrians cherished such a valuable protection, though such +a state of things would hardly accord with modern notions of free trade +and the intercourse of nations. The discovery of one wonder frequently +leads to knowledge of others, and Aristotle has a companion story in his +“History of Animals,” of scorpions that in Caria sting to death the +natives of the country, but do no harm to strangers. In like manner, +according to Maundevile, in the island called Silha, wherever that may +be, “the men of that yle seen comonely that the Serpentes and the wilde +Bestes of that Countree nee will not don non harm, ne touchen with +evylle, no strange man that entreth into that Contree, but only to men +that ben born of the same Countree.” This differential treatment seems +distinctly hard on the aborigines.[125] + +“It is observable,” quoth the author of the “Miracles of Art and Nature,” +that “in Crete there is bred no Serpents or Venomous Beasts or Worms, +Ravenous or hurtful Creatures, so their Sheep graze very securely without +any Shepheard; yet if a Woman happen to bite a Man anything hard he will +hardly be cured of it,” a statement which brings forth the very natural +conclusion that “if this be true, then the last part of the Priviledge +foregoing (of breeding no hurtful Creature) must needs be false.” + +Amongst various familiar country beliefs lasting even to the present day +is the one summed up in the well-known expression, “deaf as an adder.” +It has for centuries been an accepted belief that the adder lays one ear +upon the ground, and closes the other with its tail, and it doubtless has +its origin in that passage in the psalms of David where it states that +“the deaf adder stoppeth her ears, and will not heed the voice of the +charmer, charm he never so wisely,” and we meet with this idea over and +over again in our own literature. Thus Shakespeare writes in King Henry +VI.— + + “What! art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf? + Be poisonous too.” + +And, again, in his Troilus and Cressida we find the passage— + + “Pleasure and revenge have ears more deaf than adders.” + +In Orlando Furioso, too, we find an interesting reference to the old +fancy:— + + “He flies me now, nor more attends my pain + Than the deaf adder heeds the charmer’s strain.” + +Many varieties of serpents were known to the ancients, and some of them, +as the Cerastes, are quite recognizable from the descriptions given, but +of others we have no means of identification. The two-headed Amphisbæna, +for example, that was credited with such venomous malignity that nothing +but twice the normal power of offence sufficed for its deadly attack. +The Amphisbæna was an article of faith with Nicander, who was the first +to introduce it to the scientific world of his name, and it is referred +to by Galen, Pliny, Ælian, and many other ancient writers, who gravely +describe this especially objectionable reptile, “a small kind of serpent +which moveth backward and forward, and hath two heads, one at either +extreme.” The creature is now entirely lost to science. + +[Illustration: FIG. 23.] + +Aldrovandus, in his history of serpents, gives an illustration of the +basilisk, a serpentine form, but having eight legs, and on its head +a crown. Another of his figures shows us a serpentine form again, +this time with two legs, the moderation in this direction being fully +compensated by the gift of seven heads of human form, while another has +the serpent-like body, but to this are added two legs and feet like those +of a cock, and the creature has six cocks’ heads. All these creatures +are put forth and described in all seriousness, so it is evident that +the author must either himself have been excessively credulous, or that +he must have expected to find his readers so. It is manifest that such +inventions are of the lamest possible type. Nothing could be easier or +more fatuous than to fill a folio volume with serpents having three cats’ +heads, five lions’ heads, seven bisons’ heads, or twenty rats’ heads, and +distribute legs in the same liberal and senseless manner. His drawing, +fig. 23, of a two-headed lizard is the nearest approach we can give our +readers to the Amphisbæna. + +Burton tells us that in Samogitia, a small province in Poland, the +people nourish amongst them “a kind of four-footed serpents, above three +handfuls in length, which they worship as their household gods, and if +mischance do happen to any of their family, it is imputed presently +to some want of due observations of these ugly creatures.” Some old +writers tell us of hairy serpents, and depict a thing something like the +well-known larva of the tiger-moth, the caterpillar popularly known as +the “woolly bear,” and familiar enough to all dwellers in the country, +the only difference, though that a very serious one, being that the +woolly bear is barely three inches long, while the hairy serpents are +stretched to any number of feet that the credulity of the narrator will +permit. + +[Illustration: FIG. 24.] + +Fig. 24 is a facsimile from one of the illustrations in Munster’s “de +Africæ regionibus,” and represents the sort of thing that he would have +us believe was to be found in his days in Africa, that great home of the +weird and mysterious. The perspective effect of the coils of the upper +creature, as they recede in the distance towards the horizon, suggests +a terrific length, something far exceeding any of the possibilities of +the present day, but this may be only a slip of draughtmanship, or a +polite desire on the part of the two-headed reptile not to crowd up its +three-headed companion. + +The asp, from being freely found in Egypt and other parts of North +Africa, was well known to the naturalists of Greece and Rome, and its +deadly nature fully understood, though the facts are perhaps rather +against them when they assert that they are such affectionate creatures +that they are always found in pairs and cannot live without their mates. +We are told that should one of the pair be killed, this sweet connubial +bliss is exchanged for deadly ferocity and instant revenge. The unhappy +man is closely pursued and relentlessly tracked, and finds no safety +amongst his fellows, as the avenger knows him from all others, and +will not be turned aside. Distance is no object, and difficulties no +hindrance, and all that the luckless individual can do is to take to his +heels with all celerity, and at the earliest opportunity embark in a boat +or swim a river, and thus shake off his relentless pursuer. + +Democritus tells us that if we mingle the blood of certain birds together +a serpent will be engendered. Whoso eateth of this serpent shall know the +language of birds, and be able to join in the conversation of any or all +of the great feathered host, singing with the lark, cawing with the rook, +hooting with the owl, and being thoroughly conversant with all that +passes between them. + +Maundevile tells us, in his wonderful “Voiage and Travaile,” of an island +where one finds “a kynde of Snayles that ben so grete that many persones +may loggen hem in hur Schelles, as men woulde done in a litylle Hous”—a +sufficiently striking feature in the landscape of that now unknown land. + +Snails entered largely into the rustic Materia Medica, and not only +indeed into rural practice but into the most courtly and exclusive +circles, for we find Sir John Floyer, the physician to Charles II., +prescribing thus for dulness of hearing: “Take a grey snaile, pricke +him, and putt ye water which comes from him into ye eare and stop it +with black woole, and it will cure.” He left behind him a folio volume +of such-like valuable recipes, and the manuscript may yet be seen in the +Cathedral Library at Lichfield. He was a native of that city. + +Spiders were also deemed of great remedial value. When a child has +whooping cough, one of the parents should catch a spider and hold it over +the head of the patient, repeating three times, “Spider, as you waste +away, whooping cough no longer stay.” The spider must then be hung up in +a bag over the mantel-piece, and when it has dried up the cough will have +disappeared.[126] + +Burton, the author of the “Anatomy of Melancholy,” writes: “Being in +the country in the vacation time, not many years ago, at Lindley in +Leicestershire, my father’s house, I first observed this amulet of a +spider in a nutshell wrapped in silk, so applied for an ague by my +mother. This methought was most absurd and ridiculous. I could see no +warrant for it, till at length, rambling amongst authors, as I often +do, I found this very medicine in Dioscorides, approved by Matthiolus, +and I began to have a better opinion of it, and to give more credit to +amulets when I saw it in some parties answer to experience.” Gerarde, +in his “Historie of Plants,” found that such a remedy, however good +in theory, however supported by ancient authority, would not bear the +strain of actual use. He shall however speak for himself in his own +refreshingly quaint way. “It is needlesse,” he writes, “here to alledge +those things that are added touching the little wormes or magots, found +in the heades of the Teasell,[127] which are to be hanged about the +necke, for they are nothing else but most vaine and trifling toies, as +my selfe haue proved a little before, hauing a most grieuous ague, and +of long continuance: notwithstanding physicke charmes, these wormes +hanged about my necke, spiders put into a nutshell and divers such +foolish toies that I was constrained to take by phantasticke people’s +procurement: notwithstanding, I say, my helpe came from God himselfe, for +these medicines, and all other such things, did me no good at all.” It is +passing strange that such so-called remedies, so easily proved valueless, +should have held their ground for centuries, and are doubtless even now +in the byways of our land as firmly believed in as they were nigh two +thousand years ago. When one of our own family was ailing, a woman in the +little Wiltshire village where we were then staying strongly advised us +to drop some peas down the well as an infallible means of restoration to +health! + +Bees were held to be bred out of putrefying carcases, an idea that +doubtless arose in very early times, as we find it referred to by Virgil +and other ancient authors, and the Biblical story of the swarm of bees +found by Sampson in the carcase of the lion that he slew would be held as +confirmation, though anyone reading the story[128] carefully would see +that no such inference could be drawn from it. Many weeks had elapsed +between the slaying of the lion and the discovery of the honey, ample +time for the birds and beasts of prey to have cleared away the flesh, and +for the heat of the sun to have dried up all putrefaction and rendered +the skeleton a sufficiently cleanly and suitable place for the wild bees +to form their combs within. Herodotus tells us that when the Amathusians +revenged themselves on Onesilus, by whom they had been besieged, by +cutting off his head and hanging it over one of their city gates, the +skull presently alone remained, and in this hollow chamber a swarm of +bees settled and filled it with honeycomb. + +The fourth Georgic of Virgil, which is devoted to the subject of bees, +gives account of a simple method whereby the race of bees, if diminished +or lost, might be replenished. He speaks of it as an art practised in +Egypt, and it is easy to see that it originated in accounts of bees +swarming in the dead bodies of animals. The process was to kill a young +bullock by stopping up his nostrils, so that the skin should be unbroken +by any wound, and then leaving it for nine days in a position where it +would be undisturbed, when:— + + “Behold a prodigy, for from within + The broken bowels and the bloated skin, + A buzzing sound of bees the ear alarms: + Straight issuing through the sides assembling swarms. + Dark as a cloud they make a wheeling flight, + Then on a neighbouring tree descending, light. + Like a large cluster of black grapes they show, + And make a large dependence from the bough.”[129] + +In this account we see clearly enough that the belief in the generation +of the bees from the putrefying body is frankly accepted. The author of +the “Speculum Mundi,” hundreds of years after the Georgics were written, +declares that a dead horse breeds wasps, that from the body of an ass +proceed humble bees, while a mule produces hornets. Those who would +have bees must seek them in a dead calf, though he adds the curious +limitation, “if the west winde blow.” He goes on to say “whether the bees +in Samson’s dead lion were bred anywhere else no man knoweth.” As an +Englishman, more familiar with the possibilities of a dead calf than with +those of a dead lion, he declines to commit himself to an opinion as to +what is or is not possible in far distant lands over sea.[130] + +The strange association of ideas that we have seen in many other +instances may be well seen again in the notion that if one pounds up +those luminous creatures of the night, glowworms, the result will be an +ink that will render any writing performed by its aid visible in the +dark. Winstanley, in his “Pathway to Knowledge,” gives a simple receipt +for the manufacture of this useful ink, and other writers are content +to copy him, or each other, in the laudable desire to spread abroad the +knowledge of this luminous fluid. One can easily realize that such a +preparation might at times be really very useful. + +Turning, in conclusion, our attention to the creatures of sea and stream, +we at once encounter the favourite mediæval theory that all creatures +of the land had their marine counterparts. “There is nothing,” says the +comparatively modern writer, Camden, “bred in any part of Nature, but +the same is in the sea;” while Olaus Magnus affirms that “there be fishes +like to dogs, cows, calves, horses, eagles, dragons, and what not.” +These mysterious denizens of the deep were an unfailing resource in the +romances and poems of the Middle Ages, and an article of faith with the +writers on natural history. On the Assyrian slabs we see the monster +“upward man and downward fish,” while the mermaid we all recognize as a +most familiar instance of the presence of creatures at least semi-human +in the broad and mysterious expanse of ocean. Bœwulf, the Saxon poet, +writes of “the sea-wolf of the abyss, the mighty sea-woman.” The +quotation is not altogether complimentary in its sentiment: no lady of +one’s acquaintance would feel flattered on being addressed as a sea-wolf. +But while a certain halo of romance has in these later days gathered +round the idea of the mermaid, those who really believed in her gave her +credit for deeds considerably more heinous than combing her flowing hair +in the sunlight, since her beauty was a snare and destruction to all who +came within its fatal influence. + +Sir Thomas Browne, in his merciless dissection of the vulgar beliefs of +his day, writes, with his accustomed quaintness and equally accustomed +sound common sense, “that all Animals of the Land are in their kinde in +the Sea, although received as a Principle, is a tenet very questionable +and that will admit of restraint. For some in the Sea are not to be +matcht by any enquiry at Land and hold those shapes which terrestrious +formes approach not, as may be observed in the Moonfish and the severall +sorts of Raias, Torpedos, Oysters, and many more, and some there are +in the Land which were never mentioned to be in Sea, as Panthers, +Hyænas, Cammells, Molls, and others, which carry no name in Ichthology, +nor are to be found in the exact descriptions of Rondoletius, Gesner, +and Aldrovandus. Again, though many there be which make out their +nominations, as the Sea-serpents and others, yet there are also very +many that bear the names of Animalls at Land, which hold no resemblance +in corporall configuration, wherein while some are called the Fox, the +Dog, or Frog-fish, and are known by common names with those at Land, +as their describers attest, they receive not these appellations from a +totall similitude in figure, but any concurrence in common accidents, +in colour, condition, or single conformation. As for Sea-Horses, which +much confirm this assertion in their common descriptions, they are but +Grotesco delineations which fill up empty spaces in Maps, and meer +pictoriall inventions, not any Physicall shapes. That which the Ancients +named Hippocampus is a little animall about six inches long, and not +preferred beyond the classis of Insects. That they termed Hippopotamus, +an amphibious animall about the River Nile, so little resembleth an horse +that, except the feet, it better makes out a swine. Although it be not +denied that some in the water doe carry a justifiable resemblance to +some at Land, yet are the major part which bear their names unlike, nor +doe they otherwise resemble the creatures on earth than they on earth +the constellations which passe under Animall names in heaven: nor the +Dogfish at Sea much more make out the Dog of the Land than that his +cognominall or namesake in the heavens.” He then goes on to show that +this belief restrains Omnipotence and abridges the variety of creation, +making the creatures of one element but a counterpart of the other. + +[Illustration: FIG. 25.] + +This belief in sea-monsters of all kinds was naturally not a chance +that a man like Aldrovandus could miss. He gives his imagination full +scope, or perhaps we should rather say his credulity, as he introduces +these creatures to us as things as real as a rabbit; his sea-monk, for +instance, with tonsured human head, arms replaced by fins, and legs by +fishy tail, being as matter of fact as one’s vicar. Fig. 25 is given by +him in all good faith as the true presentment of a sea-bishop, though +not at all our notion of a bishop in his see. The right hand, it will +be seen, is giving the benediction. The dragon of the deep, shown in +fig. 26, aims at being terrible, but merely succeeds in being feeble. +We cannot but feel that the draughtsman here failed to reach our ideal; +for one has certainly seen, many representations of land-dragons far +more fear-inspiring than this bloated monster with ears like a King +Charles spaniel, and tail like a rat. This illustration is from another +source, the work of Ambrosinus on the same subject, published “permissu +superiorum” in the year 1642. While the book is as quaint and grotesque +as any of its rivals, the skill of the artist has in divers cases not +paralleled the gifts of description of the author. + +[Illustration: FIG. 26.] + +The “monstrosus sus marinus,” or terrible sow of the sea, or more +especially perhaps of Aldrovandus (fig. 27), will surely fully come up +to everyone’s expectation of what a marine pig should be like. Catching +a weasel asleep should be a comparatively easy task to circumventing sus +marinus; it seems such a peculiarly wide-awake animal. Possibly in the +struggle for existence in the watery depths its toothsome flesh may place +it in jeopardy, and Nature may have bestowed upon it these numerous eyes +to enable it to evade dragons and other foes having a penchant for pork; +a rather unexpected addition to the various better-known examples of that +comfortable doctrine for the well-to-do, the survival of the fittest. + +Purchas tells us of a fish called the Angulo or Hog-fish. “It hath,” he +says, “as it were two hands, and a tail like a target, which eateth like +pork, and whereof they make lard, and it hath not the savour or taste of +fish. It feedeth on the grasse that groweth on the banks of the river and +never goeth out; it hath a mouthe like the mozell of an ox, and there be +of them that weigh five hundred pound a piece.” This is found, he tells +us, in the River Congo. + +Another of the strange creatures of ocean is shown in fig. 28. It is +somewhat startling to reflect that our ancestors had at least the +expectation that such a monster might at any moment rise alongside their +vessel and address them in the peremptory tones that the figure suggests: +and it must be borne in mind that these illustrations are not a tithe of +the strange imaginings that even this one old book sets forth, though +it is needless to multiply examples from it. We have carefully drawn our +figures in facsimile from the originals, and have naught extenuated, nor +set down aught in malice. They are fairly typical examples of the sort of +thing that is encountered on page after page.[131] + +[Illustration: FIG. 27.] + +In the excellent book of Rondeletius (doctoris medici et medicinæ in +schola monspeliensi professoris regii), published in the year 1554, on +the subject of marine fishes, the illustrations are full of spirit and +life. Amongst these fish of the ocean we find the sea-bishop, sea-monk, +&c., all over again, and such creatures as the sea-lion, fig. 29; this +latter, except for his scaly hide, has nothing very suggestively aquatic +about him. The book, in addition to such impossibilities, contains +very good and life-like representations of the sun-fish, sturgeon, +hammer-headed shark, ray, and many others. + +The author of the “Speculum Mundi” confirms all these wonders, and adds +his quota to the general store. He affirms that, “In the year 1526 +there was taken in Norway, neare to a seaport called Elpoch, a certain +fish resembling a mitred bishop, who was kept alive six days after +his taking, and there was, as the author of Du Bartas his summarie +reporteth, one Ferdinand Alvares, Secretarie to the storehouse of the +Indians, who faithfully witnesseth that he had seene not farre off from +the Promontorie of the Moon, a young Sea-man coming out of the Waters, +who stole fishes from the fishermen and ate them raw. Neither is Olaus +Magnus silent on these things, for he also saith there be monsters in the +sea, as it were imitating the shape of a man, having a dolefull kinde of +sounde or singing. There be also sea-men of an absolute proportion in +their whole body; these are sometimes seene to climbe up the ships in +the night times, and suddenly to depresse that part upon which they sit; +and if they abide long the whole ship sinketh. Yea (saithe he), this I +adde from the faithfull assertions of the Norway fishers, that when such +are taken, if they be not presently let go again, there ariseth such +a fierce tempest, with an horrid noise of those kinde of creatures and +other sea-monsters there assembled, that a man would think the verie +heaven were falling, and the vaulted roofe of the world running to ruine, +insomuch that the fishermen have much ado to escape with their lives; +whereupon they confirmed it as a law amongst them that if any chanced +to hang such a fish upon his hook he should suddenly cut the line and +let him go on. But these sudden tempests are very strange, and how they +arise with such violent speed exceeds the bounds of ordinary admiration. +Whereupon it is again supposed that these monsters are verie devils, +and by their power such strange storms are raised. Howbeit for my part +I think otherwise, and do much rather affirm that these storms, in my +judgment, are thus raised, namely, by the thickening and breaking of +the aire; which the snortling, rushing, and howling of these beasts, +assembled in an innumerable companie, causeth. For it is certain that +sounds will break and alter the aire (as I have heard it of a citie freed +from the plague by the thundering noise of cannons), and also I suppose +that the violent rushing of these beasts causeth much water to flie up +and thicken the aire, and by their howling and snortling under the waters +they do blow up, and as it were attenuate the waves, and make them arise +in a thinner substance than at other times; so that Nature, having all +these helps, in an instant worketh to the amazement of the mariners, +and often to the danger of their lives. Besides, shall we think that +spirits use to feed, and will be so foolish as to go and hang themselves +on an hook for a bait? They may have occult properties (as the loadstone +hath) to work strange feats, and yet be neither spirits nor devils; for +experience likewise teacheth that they die sooner or later after their +taking, neither can a spirit have flesh and bones as they have.” + +[Illustration: FIG. 28.] + +The monsters of the deep are best seen at the times of the equinox, “for +then,” says Pliny, “by the whirlwinds, rains and tempests which rush with +violence from the rugged mountains, the seas are turned up from the very +bottom, and thus the billows roll and raise these beasts out of the deep +parts of the ocean.” It certainly seems a much more reasonable theory +that the storms produce the beasts than that the beasts produce the +storms. + +[Illustration: FIG. 29.] + +On an antique seal we remember to have seen a sea-elephant, a creature +having the forelegs, tusks, trunk, and great flapping ears of the African +elephant, yet terminating in the body of a fish, and duly furnished with +piscine tail and fins. This outrageous combination would seem to indicate +the limit possible to absurdity in this direction. When the ancient +writers would desire to people the vast unknown of air and sea, their +thoughts naturally turned to those creatures of the land with which +they were more familiar. Hence, the denizens of the air or ocean are not +really creations at all, but adaptations, wings or fins being added to +horses, lions and the like, according to the new element in which they +were to figure. Of these the sea-horses that drew the chariot of Neptune +through the waves, or the winged steed Pegasus, are examples that at once +occur to one’s mind. + +The sea-horse according to some authorities is found floating on the ice +between Britain and Norway, and is taken by the whalers for the oil he +contains. He is described as having a head like a horse, and as sometimes +neighing, but his hoofs are said to be cloven like those of a cow, while +his hinder parts are those of a fish. This creature would appear to be +now quite lost to science. The sea-horse naturally suggests the idea of +the sea-unicorn, depicted as of equine form, but having the hinder parts +piscine in character. The horn of the sea-unicorn occasionally brought +home by merchants and mariners was probably the “sword” of the swordfish +or the tusk of the narwhal, as it is often mentioned that it was able +to penetrate the ribs of ships, and later experience has proved that +an encounter between swordfish or narwhal and ships has occasionally +taken place. The tusk of the narwhal is a spiral tapering rod of ivory, +sometimes attaining to the length of eight or ten feet. Purchas mentions +a horn of a sea-unicorn that was presented by Frobisher to his sovereign, +and preserved at Windsor, and the name of this great arctic voyager +naturally suggests that this horn was the tusk of a narwhal, a creature +of the northern seas. One old writer speaks of the horn as a “wreathy +spire,” a description which admirably accords with the narwhal tusk. +The fact once established that there were creatures in the sea with +horns like unicorns, it was at once assumed that they had the horse-like +form assigned to the land-unicorn, and in some of the old authors the +sea-unicorn is represented as of purely equine form, plus the horn.[132] + +In a book published in 1639, entitled “A Helpe to Memorie and Discourse,” +we find this question asked, “Whether doth a dead body in a shippe +cause the shippe to sail slower, and if it doe, what is thought to be +the reason thereof?” The answer to the query is that “the shippe is as +insensible of the living as the dead, and as the living make it goe the +faster, so the dead make it not goe the slower; for the dead are no +Rhemoras to alter the course of her passage, though some there be that +thinke so, and that by a kind of mournful sympathy.”[133] The potent +influence of the remora or sucking-fish to arrest the progress of a ship +by merely adhering to its keel is a curious fancy that has been handed on +for centuries. Pliny and many other ancient writers had full belief in +this foe to the mariner, and references to it in much more recent authors +are by no means uncommon. Thus Ben Jonson alludes to it in the lines— + + “I say a remora, + For it will stay a ship that’s under sail.” + +While Spenser in his “Visions of the World’s Vanity,” writes— + + “Looking far forth into the ocean wide, + A goodly ship, with banners bravely dight, + And flag in her top-gallant I espied, + Through the main sea making her merry flight: + Fair blew the wind into her bosom right, + And th’ Heavens looked lovely all the while + That she did seem to dance, as in delight, + And at her own felicity did smile: + All suddenly there clove unto her keel + A little fish that we call remora, + Which stopt her course, and held her by the heel, + That wind nor tide could move her thence away.” + +We may indeed be thankful that this mysterious power, worse even than the +more prosaic barnacles and other sea impedimenta that plague the modern +shipowner by fouling the bottom of his good ship, and so retarding her +course, seems to be no longer exercised. The merchantman speeding home +with perishable cargo, the yachtsman burning to carry off the challenge +cup, the great record-breaking Atlantic liner, carrying under heavy +penalty for delay Her Majesty’s mails, would all be terribly hampered +in their several ambitions in presence of so potent yet so apparently +insignificant a foe. Well might Spenser add— + + “Strange thing meseemeth that so small a thing + Should able be so great an one to wring.” + +One old writer feeling the impossibility of giving a satisfactory +explanation of the marvel is content to say “of which there can be no +more reason given than of the loadstone drawing iron; neither is it +possible to shew the cause of all secrets in Nature,” a statement as true +to-day as the day it was written, though this particular secret of Nature +has in the interval been disestablished. + +That the dolphin was the swiftest of all living creatures, more rapid +than a bird, swifter than an arrow shot from a bow, will probably be +an entirely new idea to most of our readers, yet such was the ancient +belief. The dolphin occurs very freely in blazonry, on ancient coinage, +and in classic and renaissance decoration, and it is almost always +represented either as “embowed,” that is to say, bent round like a +bow, such being the significance of the heraldic term, or else it is +introduced with its lithe body coiled gracefully round an anchor or +trident. In either case the representation suggests an easy-going and +leisurely state of affairs that is very different to the picture conjured +up by the arrowy rush of the creature through the waves, as Pliny paints +it for us.[134] + +It is a very old belief that the dolphin has an especial fondness for +man. “Of a man he is nothing afraid, neither avoideth from him as a +stranger: but of himselfe meeteth their ships, plaieth and disporteth +himselfe, and fetcheth a thousand friskes, and gambols before them. He +will swimme along by the mariners, as it were for a wager, who should +make way most speedily, and alwaies outgoeth them, saile they with +never so good a forewind.” The representation of the dolphin with the +anchor is not simply a type of maritime supremacy, but is a distinct +illustration of this belief in the dolphin’s kindly regard for man. Thus +Camerarius asserts that “when tempests arise, and sea-men cast their +anchor, the dolphin, from its love to man, twines itself round it, and +directs it, so that it may more safely lay hold of the ground.” + +The works of the ancient writers abound with illustrations of the +friendly regard of the dolphin for mankind. Thus in one wonderful story +we have a schoolboy, the son of a poor man, who had to travel each day +from Baianum to Puteoli, who used at the water’s edge to call a dolphin +to his aid. The dolphin would at once respond to the call, and the boy +used to mount upon his back and be taken across the sea, and be brought +back again at night. This went on for some years, and at last, when the +boy fell sick and died, his constitution probably not being able to stand +the constant wetting and exposure, the dolphin was inconsolable, and +promptly died of a broken heart. In another story, equally veracious, +the rider was so unfortunate as to pierce himself with one of the sharp +spines of the dorsal fin, and an artery being severed, he bled to death. +The dolphin, seeing the water stained with blood, and finding that his +rider did not sit on his back in the light and active way that had +been his wont, concluded that some catastrophe had happened, and when +he realized the full truth, resolved not to outlive him whom he had +affectionately loved, and therefore ran himself with all his might upon +the shore, and so perished. Pliny, Mecænas, Fabianus, Flavius Alfius, +Ælian, Aulus Gellius, Apion, Egesidemus, Theophrastus, and many other old +writers, all give equally surprising illustrations of this wonderful love +of the dolphin for mankind. + +The dolphin is also a great lover of music, and equally wonderful stories +are told in illustration of this taste also. Another well-known belief in +connection with it is the imaginary brilliancy of its changeful colours +when dying. The idea has been a favourite one with poets in all ages: +an example from Byron’s “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” will suffice as an +illustration:— + + “Parting day + Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues + With a new colour as it gasps away; + The last still loveliest, till ’tis gone, and all is gray.” + +Another strange fish believed in by our forefathers was the Acipenser, +“a fish of an unnatural making and quality,” as an old writer terms him; +and indeed he may very well do so, as we are told that “his scales are +all turned towards his head.” We are not therefore much surprised to +learn that “he ever swimmeth against the stream,” though we might well be +more astonished if we ever found him swimming at all. + +The amiable dolphin stands not alone in its friendship with man. The ray +too, if we may believe a mediæval authority, is “a loving fish to man: +for swimming in the waters, and being greedily pursued by the devouring +Sea-dogs, the Ray defends him, and will not leave him untill he be out +of danger.” Sometimes the friendship is with some other creature; thus +Porta gives an unfailing recipe for catching a sargon, whatever that +may be, by taking advantage of this kindly trait in its character. “The +Sargi,” he declares, “love Goats unmeasurably: and they are so mad after +them that when so much as the shadow of a Goat that feeds neer the shore +shall appear neer unto them they presently leap for joy and swim to it +in haste, and they imitate the goats, though they are not fit to leap, +and thus they delight to come unto them. They are, therefore, catcht by +those things that they so much desire. Whereupon the Fisher, putting on +a Goat’s skin with the horns, lies in wait for them, having the Sunne +behind his back and paste made wet with the decoction of Goat’s flesh: +this he casts into the Sea where the Sargi are to come: and they, as +if they were charmed, run to it, and are much delighted with the sight +of the Goat’s skin and feed on the paste. Thus the Fishermen catcheth +abundance of them.” Porta gives no suggestion that this affection is +reciprocal. + +Another mediæval writer has a still more extraordinary story of the +kind, and in this case it is pleasant to know that the loving feeling +is mutual. “Amongst the severall sort of shell fishes,” saith he, “the +glistering Pearl-fish deserves remembrance, not only in respect of +herself but also in regard of the Prawn, another fish and her companion: +for between these two there is a most firm league of friendship, much +kindnesse, and such familiaritie as cannot but breed admiration in the +reader. They have a subtill kinde of hunting, which being ended, they +divide their prey in loving manner: for seeing they one help the other +in the getting of it, they likewise joyn in the equall sharing. And, in +few words, thus it is—when the Pearl-fish gapeth wide, she hath a curious +glistering within her shell, by which she allureth her small fry to come +swimming unto her: which when her companion the Prawn perceiveth, he +gives her a secret touch with one of his prickles, wherupon she shuts her +gaping shell, and so incloseth her wished prey: then (as I said) they +equally share them out and feed themselves. And thus, day by day, they +get their livings, like a combined knot of cheaters, who have no other +trade than the cunning deceit of quaint consenage: hooking in the simpler +sort with such subtill tricks, that be their purses stuft with either +more or less, they know a way to sound the bottome and send them lighter +home: lighter in purse, though heavier in heart.” The moral seems +perhaps needlessly severe, and we trust that henceforth our readers, +after reading this romance of the deep, will have a kindlier feeling for +these faithful friends, the artful oyster and the watchful prawn. The +only drawback to the sentiment of the thing seems to be that this loving +alliance has a somewhat low motive as its basis. One at least of the +partners is capable of a more tender passion, as we have the authority of +Sheridan for saying that an oyster may be crossed in love. + +Olaus Magnus gives an awful example of voracity in the swam-fish, one +of the most greedy cravens of the denizens of the sea, and cites many +stories of it that amply justify the bad character bestowed on it. +Another old writer affirms that when danger threatens “he will so winde +up himselfe and cover his head with the skinne and substance of his own +body that he is then bent like unto a piece of dead fish, and nothing +like himself.” The plan however appears to have its drawbacks, as the +venerable and veracious author goes on to say that this feat “he seldome +doth without hurt or damage, for still fearing that there be those about +him who will prey upon him and devoure him, he is compelled for lack of +meat to feed upon the substance of his own body, choosing rather to be +devoured in part than to be consumed by other more strong and powerful +fishes”—at best a most painful alternative. + +In the account of the Creation the forming of the whale is specially +dwelt upon: “And God created great whales and every living creature that +moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind.” +Luther, commenting on this, says that the creation of whales is specified +by name, lest affrighted with their greatness we should believe them to +be only visions or fancies. Though later commentators have decided that +the leviathan of the Bible is the crocodile, it was long held to be the +whale. Milton, in the first book of the “Paradise Lost,” writes of that +sea beast— + + “Leviathan, which God of all his works + Created hugest that swim the ocean stream,” + +and the Jews had a legend that the first whales were so immense in bulk, +so formidable in attack, so voracious, that there was considerable risk +of their overtoppling the rest of creation; so while as yet there were +but two of them in existence, one was destroyed in order that the race +might not be continued and the general balance of Nature upset. + +Our ancestors found apt moral against the scornful in the reason assigned +for the mouth of the flounder being on one side. It appears that at one +time the flounder’s mouth was as fair to see as any other, but that it +lost all its beauty through contemptuous flouting of the herring, and it +has borne this evil mark of its jealousy ever since, and will probably +so bear it to the end of time. At the vague date known as once upon a +time we are told that all the fishes of the sea assembled to choose a +king, and that the herring was elected to this dignified position. The +flounder, on account of his red spots and other features that were +evidently more appreciated by himself than by the main body of electors, +had strong hope that he should himself be chosen, and the unlovely +grimace with which he saluted his sovereign was, as a judgment upon him, +made a fixture for all time as a punishment to himself and a warning to +others. + +The tench was commonly called the physician, for it was believed by our +forefathers that when the other fish were in any way hurt and required +the aid of surgeon or physician, they healed themselves by rubbing +against the tench, finding the slime of his body to be a “soveraigne +salve” for their needs. For the sufferings of humanity the beasts, +birds, and plants appear to have supplied a sufficient materia medica, +and the less accessible creatures of the waters were but rarely pressed +into the mediæval pharmacopœia. The blood of the eel was rubbed upon +unwelcome warts, and a cruel remedy for bad eyes, the cruelty being, as +we have seen over and over again in those old remedies, by no means an +exceptional feature, was to capture a crab alive, cut out its eyes and +then let it go.[135] The eyes were then bound upon the neck of the man, +woman, or child, and a satisfactory result was speedily anticipated, +though very possibly not so speedily forthcoming. + +The Cuttle fish is scarcely one’s ideal of beauty, yet it is by its +vanity and belief in its personal attractions that it is most readily +captured. Porta tells us that pieces of looking glass are let down by +the fishermen into the waters, and that the Cuttle seeing his image +reflected, clasps the glass around, and while he is still enamoured +with the reflection of his charms is drawn to the surface by the wily +fishermen. In the “Pathway to Knowledge,” published in the year 1685, +we are told that if we take the juice of Nettles and Houseleek, and +anoint our hands therewith, the fish will gather round and “you may take +them out at your pleasure.” This seems almost as simple a method as the +catching of birds by placing a pinch of salt on their tails. + +If we may credit Maundevile, and the “if” is a most important point, in +one favoured land instead of the people going for the fish, the fish come +to the people. In a certain isle, or we may perhaps more truthfully say +an uncertain isle, called Calonak, many wonderful things were to be seen, +but one of these he especially, and very justly, calls “a gret Marvayle,” +and when he goes on to add that “it is more to speke of than in ony +partie of the World,” one is loath to gainsay his opinion. He tells us +that “alle manere of Fissches that ther ben in the See abouten hem, comen +ones in the Yeer, eche manere of dyverse Fissches, one maner of kynde +aftre another; and thei casten hem selfe to the See Banke of that Yle in +so gret plentee and multitude that no man may see but Fissche, and ther +thei abyden thre dayes, and euerie man of the Countree takethe of hem als +many as him lykethe, and that maner of Fissche aftre the thridde day +departeth and gothe in to the See. And aftre hem comen another multitude +of Fissches of anothre kynde and don in the same maner as the firste +diden othre three dayes. And aftre hem another, tille alle the dyverse +maner of Fissches have ben there, and that men have taken of hem that hem +lykethe. And no man knowethe the cause wherfore it may ben. But thei of +the Contree seyn that it is for to do reverence to here Kyng, that is the +most worthi Kyng that is in the World, as thei seyn.” The reason assigned +for the king’s special worthiness is a somewhat peculiar one, and though +it is duly set forth at full length by the old author, other times have +brought other manners and ideas, and one can scarcely insert in a book of +the present day many things, and this amongst them, that were set forth +in the greatest simplicity and directness of language in books of earlier +date. + +At all events this “most worthie Kyng” was so far under the special +care of Providence that “God sendethe him so the Fissches of dyverse +kyndes, of all that ben in the See, to be taken at his wille, for him +and alle his peple. And therfore all the Fissches of the See comen to +make him homage as the most noble and excellent Kyng of the World, and +that is best beloved of God as thei seyn.” Well may Maundevile say, as he +realized the idea of the various finny tribes of Ocean thus sacrificing +themselves in so orderly a sequence, that “this me semethe is the most +merveylle that evere I saughe. For this mervaylle is agenst kynde, that +the Fissches that have fredom to environe all the Costes of the See at +here owne list comen of hire owne wille to profren hem to the dethe with +outen constreynynge of man.” It must have been an immense convenience to +have known thus readily what was in season, and even if in this Hobson’s +choice of diet one did not happen to be very partial to plaice or conger, +there was always the happy knowledge that next Tuesday or possibly +Thursday week, soles or turbot would be “in.” We may conclude that a +fresh series of herrings, mackerel, or whatever they might be, would +come ashore on each one of the three days that they were due, or by the +termination of that period they would certainly all be smelt. + +After this great marvel the cruel pontarf that beguiled children away +to sport with them and finally to eat them, the silurus that at the +rising of the dog-star is struck insensible, the dead crabs that turn +to scorpions, the eels that rub themselves against stones, and, in so +doing, scrape off fragments that come to life, and are the only cause +and means of their increase, the fish that swim in the boiling water +of some tropical stream that is now unknown, all sink as wonders into +insignificance. + +The whole world has now been so ransacked that there is little room in +these times for the imagination to play; but in mediæval days travellers +brought back such wonderful stories, some of them true, and others, +perhaps, a little wanting in that respect, of the things that they had +seen, that almost anything seemed a possibility. Of this our present +pages may be considered some little indication, though it will be +abundantly evident that we have not used up one hundredth part of the +great store of folk-lore and ancient and mediæval science that is open to +investigation. + +[Illustration] + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] The title pages of these old books should by no means be overlooked, +as they are often full of interest and meaning. In the one before us +we have at the top the Hebrew name for Jehovah within an equilateral +triangle, and this again within a circle of rays. On one side is the sun +shining in full splendour, on the other the moon and stars. From the +triangle issues a narrow track that broadens as it goes, and finally +returns to the triangle, its point of emergence being marked Alpha and +the point of re-entry Omega. In the centre of this track is the world +being rolled along by the foot of Time. On one side is a sitting figure, +Theologia, book on knee, and having the tables of the law in one hand, +and in the other a lantern, and on the other we find “Philosophia” with +globe and compasses. + +[2] The titles of many of these old books are sufficiently quaint and +striking. Sometimes a spade is called a spade with the most startling +directness; while at others the title is a mystical conceit that needs +interpretation. The following are some few that we have come across:—“The +flaming sword of Justice unsheathed,” “Matches lighted at the Divine +Fire,” “The shop of the Spiritual Apothecary,” “The Scraper of Vanity, +a Spiritual Pillow necessary to exterpate Vice and to plant Virtue.” +There would appear to be here some little confusion of metaphor: anyone +desiring to plant anything would scarcely find a pillow a serviceable +tool for the purpose. + +[3] Culver is derived from the Anglo-Saxon culfre, a pigeon. The Culver +cliffs in the Isle of Wight are so called from the great numbers of wild +pigeons that nest there, while the Columbine, Lat. Columba, a pigeon, so +named from the resemblance of its flowers to a ring of birds, is also +known as the Culverwort. + +[4] Thus we find a Strasburg copy dated 1484; Bologna, 1488; Venice, +1491; Florence, 1492; Antwerp, 1494; Venice again, 1496; Milan, 1497; +another Bologna edition, 1497; and so on. + +[5] The Emperor Titus Vespasian, to whom the book was dedicated. + +[6] “I conceive it,” he says, “to be courteous, and to indicate an +ingenious modesty, to acknowledge the source whence we have derived +assistance, and not act as most of those have done whom I have +examined. For I must inform you that in consulting various authors I +have discovered that some of the most grave and of the latest writers, +have transcribed word for word, from former works without making any +acknowledgment.” + +[7] He only used one pen throughout, a circumstance which he deemed +sufficiently remarkable to be celebrated in these lines which are +prefixed to his book:— + + “With one sole pen I wrote this book, + Made of a grey goose quill. + A pen it was when I it took, + A pen I leave it still.” + +[8] “I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than +a king who did not love reading.”—_Macaulay._ Sir John Herschell in like +manner tells us—“Were I to pay for a taste that should stand me in stead +under every variety of circumstances, and be a source of happiness and +cheerfulness to me during life, and a shield against its ills, however +things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste +for reading. Give a man this taste and the means of gratifying it, and +you can hardly fail of making him a happy man; unless, indeed, you put +into his hands a most perverse selection of books. You place him in +contact with the best society in every period of history—with the wisest, +the wittiest, the tenderest, the bravest, and the purest characters +who have adorned humanity. You make him a denizen of all nations, a +contemporary of all ages. The world has been created for him.” But we +must bear in mind, while we subscribe to the dictum of Carlyle, “Of +all things which men do or make here below, by far the most momentous, +wonderful, and worthy are the things we call books,” the wise line of +Shakespeare: “Learning is but an adjunct to oneself,” lest haply we be +classed with “the bookful blockhead” of Pope—ignorantly read, “with loads +of learned lumber in his head.” + +[9] There are separate maps for the leading countries, giving towns, +rivers, forests, mountains, and other features. The towns are not only +named, but have actual buildings represented. We notice that in the map +of Germany “Holand” and “Flandria” are at the bottom right-hand corner, +but this arises from the reversal of the whole thing, the north being at +the bottom of the page instead of the top. It is as Germany would look +if we imagine the point of view in Southern Denmark. Italy in the same +way shows Venice at the bottom of the map and Sicily at the top. In the +description of Spain the so-called pillars of Hercules are treated as two +actual pillars and in the illustration look very like two pawns from a +set of chessmen. + +[10] His accounts were at the time considered so incredible, that the +Venetians gave him the _sobriquet_ of “Millioni,” from the frequent +recurrence of millions in his statements; and amongst other traducers +Herbert says that “Geographers have filled their maps and globes with +the names of Tenduc, Tangutt, Tamfur, Cando, Camul, and other hobgobling +words obtruded upon the World by those three arrant Monks, Haython, +Marc Parc the Venetian, and Vartoman, who fearing no imputations make +strange discoveries as well as descriptions of places.” This from the +sea-monsterist of the Azores! + +[11] Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was a celebrated Portuguese navigator, who +published a description of his travels of so marvellous a nature that +his name became a synonym for extravagant fiction. We meet with him, +for instance, in Congreve’s play of “Love for Love,” where the passage +occurs: “Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the +first magnitude.” + +[12] “Beefe is a good meate for an Englysshe man, so be it the beest be +yonge, and that it be not kowe-flesshe: for olde beefe and kowe-flesshe +doth ingender melancholye and leperouse humoures. Yf it be moderatly +powderyd, that the groose blode by salte may be exhaustyd it doth make an +Englysshe man stronge.”—_Andrew Boorde’s “Dyetary.”_ + +[13] There can be little question but that the ancient fictions of +satyrs, cynocephali and other supposed monstrous forms of humanity arose +in vague accounts of different species of apes. + +[14] + + “Marking the tracts of air, the clamorous cranes + Wheel their due flight in varied ranks descried; + And each with outstretched neck his rank maintains + In marshalled order through the ethereal void.” + +[15] The word is spelt sometimes as pigmy, and at others as pygmy; the +latter is the more correct, as the word is from the Greek name for them, +the pygmaioi. + +[16] These great anthropoid apes are found in the forests that extend +southward for a thousand miles or so from the gulf of Guinea. The gorilla +is not found beyond this limit. + +[17] Burton probably got this notion from Megasthenes, an old writer who, +not to be outdone in the introduction of the marvellous, tells us of a +nation in the extreme East of India that are wholly mouthless, and that +live only by the smells that they draw in at their nostrils, partaking +of no food whatever, but flourishing on the pleasant odours given off by +various roots, blossoms, and fruits that they are careful to carry about +with them when travelling. Unfortunately, if the scent be too strong +it deprives them of life and they die as effectually of a surfeit of +good things as the famous British sovereign who overdid his devotion to +lamprey stew. + +[18] These doubtless would be some of the larger apes, that, sufficiently +human in general form to suggest the notion of a man, drop upon their +fore-paws and travel across the open spaces of the forest as quadrupeds. + +[19] + + “Who would believe that there were mountaineers, + Dewlapped like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them + Wallets of flesh? Or that there were such men + Whose heads stood in their breasts?” + + GONZALE _in the “Tempest.”_ + +[20] Robertson, in his “History of America,” Vol. II., p. 525, says of +the Spaniards, “that they and their horses were objects of the greatest +astonishment to all the people of New Spain. At first they imagined +the horse and his rider, like the centaurs of the ancients, to be some +monstrous animal of a terrible form. Even after they had discovered the +mistake they believed the horses devoured men in battle, and when they +neighed, thought that they were demanding their prey.” + +[21] In the “Eastern Travels of John of Hesse,” amongst perils of voyage, +we read:—“We came to a stony mountain, where we heard syrens singing, +meermaids who draw ships into danger by their songs. We saw there many +horrible monsters and were in great fear.” + +[22] As the old adage hath it:— + + “When that the ass begins to bray, + Be sure we shall have rain that day.” + +[23] + + “A maiden strangely fair, but strangely formed, + Rises from out the pool, and by her songs + And heavenly beauty lures to shameful death + The luckless wight who hears her melodies.”—_Kirke._ + +[24] Allusive to Mary Queen of Scots and to the Duke of Norfolk, and the +Earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland, who fell from their allegiance +to Elizabeth by the witchery of Mary. She was celebrated for the melody +of her singing. The reference to the dolphin alludes to her marriage with +the Dauphin of France. + +[25] See some good figures, too, in the “Book of Emblems” of Alciatus, +1551. + +[26] A writer in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, in the year 1771, says of +Browne’s book on “Vulgar Errors,” “Of all the books recommended to our +youth after their academical studies, I do not know a better than this +of Sir Thomas’s to excite their curiosity, to put them upon thinking +and inquiring, and to guard them against taking anything upon trust +from opinion and authority. His language has, indeed, a little air of +affectation which is apt to disgust young persons, and it would be doing +a very great service to that class if some gentlemen of learning would +take the pains to smooth and adapt it a little more to modern ears,”—a +comment which we do not at all endorse, as the individual style of the +old writer has a quaint charm of its own. + +[27] “There is scarce any tradition or popular error but stands also +delivered by some good authors, who though excellent and usefull, +yet being merely transcriptive, or following common relations, their +accounts are not to be swallowed at large, or entertained without +a prudent circumspection. In whome the _ipse dixit_, though it be +no powerfull argument in any, is yet lesse authentick than in many +others, because they deliver not their own experiences, but others’ +affirmations.”—_Browne._ + +[28] “Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man, and downward, +fish.”—_Milton._ + +[29] A very similar figure may be seen amongst the designs of the mosaic +pavements at the Roman villa discovered at Brading. + +[30] Agriopas tells a gruesome story of a man who, at the sacrifice of +a human being to the gods, surreptitiously tasted a piece of the flesh +and was turned into a wolf. Whether as a punishment for his cannibalism, +or because by abstracting a portion of the victim he was sacrilegiously +robbing the altar, we are not informed. + +[31] Such hallucinations are often very contagious. A nun in a large +convent got the idea into her head that she was a cat, and began to +mew. Shortly afterwards other nuns also mewed, until at last the great +majority of them were mewing for hours at a time. The matter got to the +ears of the town authorities, and on the removal of the monomaniac and +the promise of a good whipping to anyone who mewed again, the concert at +once died out. + +[32] “There is a book, De Mirabilibus narrationibus, written by +Antigonus, another also of the same title by Trallianus, which make good +the promise of their titles, and may be read with caution, which if any +man shall likewise observe in the Lecture of Philostratus, or not only +in ancient Writers but shall carry a wary eye on Paulus Venetus, Olaus +Magnus, and many another, I think his circumspection laudable, and he may +hereby decline occasion of Error.”—_Browne._ + +[33] The first edition of Scot’s book was published in the year 1584. + +[34] “The Lion is not so fierce as painted.”—_Thos. Fuller._ + +“The Lion is not so fierce as they paint him.”—_Herbert._ + +[35] “A lion being sick of a quartane Ague eats and devours Apes, +and so is healed; hence we know that Apes’ blood is good against an +ague.”—_Porta._ + +[36] A much later writer, Porta, includes some strange animals in his +treatise: thus the leopard is the offspring, according to him, of the +panther and lioness: the crocuta of the hyæna and lioness; the thoes of +the panther and the wolf; the jumar of the bull and ass; the musinus +of the goat and ram; the cinirus of the he-goat and ewe. The figures +of-these are sufficiently curious. + +[37] “However erroneous it may now be considered, the theory of creation +held during the Middle Ages, was both beautiful and noble, and in a +fairly accurate manner may be summarized as follows: On the fall of the +tenth legion of the citizens of heaven, God resolved to create man to +take the place of the fallen angels. He evolved this world for the home +of the new creation, and all things that He then made. The celestial +bodies, the vegetable and animal kingdoms were formed solely and entirely +for man alone, as the centre round which the whole of creation revolved. +There was no idea then that the world in which man was placed formed +only one of many such inhabited homes, and that our sphere was simply an +insignificant fragment of a vast universe. The celestial bodies, it was +held, were created not only to give light and heat to generate metals and +precious stones, but to govern the affairs of men, and enable them to +foretell events. The vegetable kingdom was to furnish food and medicine +not only for man’s body but likewise for his mind. Lastly, the animal +creation provided him with servants, with food for his bodily wants, and +with moral lessons and examples for those of his soul. This I venture to +advance as a tolerably accurate summary of the theory of creation held +during the Middle Ages and until nearly the close of the seventeenth +century, and, if correct, it will appear from it that each part of +creation was viewed not only in an outward and material manner, but also +in an interior and spiritual one.”—_André._ + +[38] “De leonibus, quaram copia est in Africa.” The illustration is a +facsimile of the one given in this section of Munster’s book. + +[39] Bussy D’Amboise, 1607, writes— + + “An angry unicorne in his full career + Charged with too swift a foot a jeweller + That watch’d him for the treasure of his brow, + And ere he could get shelter of a tree + Nail’d him with his rich antler to the earth.” + +[40] Ctesias says that its flesh is so bitter that it cannot be eaten. + +[41] “Topsell nameth two kingdomes in India (the one called Niem, the +other Lamber), which he likewise stored with them.”—_Speculum Mundi._ + +[42] As for example: Bacci’s book “Discorso dell’ Alicorno,” published +at Florence in 1573, and the “De Unicornu Observationes novæ” of Thomas +Bartholinus, bearing date 1645. Caspar Bartholinus had already, in +1628, written “De Unicornu ejusque affinibus.” Then we have Bereus’ “De +Monoceroti,” 11667; Catelan’s “Histoire de la Licorne,” 1624; Frenzel, +“De Unicornu,” 1675; Stolbergk’s “Exercitatio de Unicornu,” 1652; Sachs’ +“Monocerologia,” 1676; and the “Notice en refutation de la non-existence +de la Licorne” of Laterrade, bearing the very recent date of 1826. + +[43] Mutianus tells us that when the moon is on the wane the monkeys are +sad, but that they adore the new moon with liveliest manifestations of +delight. + +[44] “When trauaylers are out of their way the Oliphaunt will do all +that hee can by familiar tokens to bring them in again. He is of much +vertue and verie seruiceable with loue towardes man.”—_Legh._ “Even +the wilde ones living in deserts will direct and defend strangers and +travellers. For if an Elephant shall finde a man wandering in his way, +first of all that he may not be affrighted, the Elephant goeth a little +wide out of the path and standeth still, then by little and little going +before him, he shews him the way; and if a Dragon chance to meet this +man thus travelling, the Elephant then opposeth himself to the Dragon +and powerfully defendeth the helplesse man who is not able to defend +himself.”—_Speculum Mundi._ + +[45] “And to the end they might provoke the elephants to fight they +shewed them the blood of grapes and mulberries.”—1 _Maccabees_ vi. 34. + +“And upon the beasts there were strong towers of wood, which covered +every one of them, and were girt fast unto them with devices; there were +also upon every one two and thirty strong men that fought upon them, +besides the Indian that ruled him.”—1 _Macc._ vi. 37. + +[46] Miss Cobbe, in discussing the moral difference between the +creatures of Fancy and those of Nature, remarks very truly that “the +instincts which man has lent to the offspring of his imagination are +infinitely worse and lower than those which are to be found in real +eagles and tigers, which slay and eat their natural prey to satisfy +their hunger, and there make an end. But the perfidious and cruel +Sphinxes, and Harpies, and Gorgons, and Gnomes, and Dragons, do mischief +for mischief’s sake, and are altogether merciless. The brutes of Fancy +are merely brutal, with a spice of human malignity superadded. Man has +created filthy Harpies, and relentless Hydras, and subtle and vindictive +Sphinxes, but he has never, even in thought, created such an animal as +the sagacious and friendly elephant, the kindly-natured horse, or the +affectionate dog.” + +[47] The panther was one of the beasts that was brought in great +numbers to Rome. Pompey, for instance, exhibited to the citizens over +four hundred of them on one occasion. The beast is figured in mosaic +pavements, in the fresco paintings of Pompeii, &c., and was evidently so +well under observation that it is remarkable how such erroneous ideas +concerning it could have become current or stood their ground as articles +of belief even for a day. + +[48] At a state banquet given by Gaston the Fifth we read that “there was +brought in (for an enter-course) the shape of a beast called a Tiger, +which by cunning art disgorged fire from his mouth and nostrils.” + +[49] It is dated 1658. The author was a Neapolitan. + +[50] The “Natural Magick” is divided into what is called twenty Books, +equivalent really to chapters, and they receive various headings +according to their contents, but the twentieth Porta calls “Chaos,” and +he explains it by saying: “I determined from the beginning of my Book +to unite Experiments that are contained in all Natural Sciences, but by +my business that called me off, my mind was hindered, so that I could +not accomplish what I attended. Since, therefore, I could not do what +I would, I must be willing to do what I can. Therefore, I shut up in +this Book those Experiments that could be included in no Classes, which +were so diverse and various that they could not make up a Science or a +Book; and, therefore, I have here them altogether confusedly as what I +had over-passed, and, if God please, I will another time give you a more +perfect Book. Now you must rest content with these.” + +[51] We see this notion so lately as in a book entitled “An English +Expositour,” issued in 1680 by John Hayes, Printer to the University of +Cambridge. + +[52] The northern peoples believed also in an enormous wolf, called +Fernris, who was the offspring of Loki, the evil principle. This creature +until the end of the world would be the cause of unnumbered ills to +humanity, but at the crack of doom would, after a fearful struggle, be +vanquished by the Gods, and a reign of universal peace would succeed his +overthrow. + +[53] “Wherefore, studious Readers, accept my long Labours, that cost me +much Study, Travel, Expense, and much Inconvenience, with the same Mind +that I publish them; and remove all Blindness and Malice, which are wont +to dazle the sight of the Minde, and hinder the Truth; weigh these Things +with a right Judgement when you try what I have Written, for finding both +Truth and Profit, you will (it may be) think better of my Pains.”—_End of +the Preface to Porta’s “Natural Magick.”_ + +[54] In Dryden’s poem, “The Hind and Panther,” we find the reference:— + + “The bloody bear, an independent beast, + Unlick’d to form, in groans her hate expressed.” + +[55] The scientific name of the hare is _Lepus timidus_. Dryden, in the +“Hind and Panther,” places “amongst the timerous kind the quaking hare.” + +[56] Magliabechi, the learned librarian, pinned his faith upon treacle to +make his memory retentive. Grataroli, a famous physician of the sixteenth +century, wrote a Latin treatise, “The Castle of Memory,” wherein, amongst +an enormous number of recipes, we find the internal application of bear’s +grease, a hazelnutful of mole’s fat, and calcined human hair, strongly +recommended by the learned author. + +[57] It was held by our ancestors that freckles came in the early part +of the year when the birds were laying their eggs, and that the same +mysterious influence of Nature that spotted the eggs of the chaffinch, +wren, robin, thrush, and other birds, freckled the human skin. + +[58] In another popular remedy for “fitts” one has to “take the furr of a +living Bear’s belly, boil it in Aqua Vitæ, take it out, squeeze it, and +wrap it upon ye soales of ye Feete.” + +[59] A mole skinned, dried in the oven, and then powdered, was held in +the fen districts to be a specific for ague. It may still be in vogue—it +certainly was in use twenty years ago. The mole must be a male. As much +of the powder as would lie on a shilling was to be taken every day, for +nine days, in gin. Nine days were then to be omitted, and then the remedy +was to be resumed for nine days, by which time a cure was supposed to be +effected. + +[60] The “Lusiad”; Camoens. + +[61] Published therefore in the reign of Charles II., “Our most undoubted +and lawful King.” We have most of us formed an opinion on the character +of this wearer of the spotless ermine; and the fulsome verse of +Winstanley, written, not when the reign was commencing and the national +hopes were high, but as it neared its end, is somewhat startling:— + + “Long may he live who now doth wear the Crown + To tread all Heresies and Schismes down. + Great God, let not his prayers e’er return empty, + But Crown his Head with Years and Years with plenty.” + +[62] Gay’s Fables. + +[63] “In the Rabbinical book it saith the dogs howl when with icy +breath Great Sammael, the Angel of Death, takes through the town his +flight.”—LONGFELLOW, _Golden Legend_. + +[64] The butter made from the milk of a cow fed in a churchyard was held +to be a potent remedy for consumption. + +[65] As this led to vigorous protests from the cat, and very possibly a +good scratching, a gold ring or coin was often substituted, and found to +be equally beneficial. + +[66] “It is also watchful, dextrous, swift, pliable, and has such good +nerves that if it falls from never so high it still lights upon its feet, +and therefore may denote those that have so much foresight that whatever +befalls them they are still upon their guard.”—_Coats_, A.D. 1747. + +[67] The skin of the cat is the only portion of the animal that can be +turned to any use. According to mediæval belief, Satan once thought he +could make a man, but only succeeded in turning out a skinless cat. St. +Peter, filled with compassion for the miserable object, bestowed on it a +fur coat, its only valuable possession, and a queer-tempered beast it has +turned out. + +[68] He does not specify what dogs— + + “Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel, grim, + Hound, or spaniel, black, or lym, + Or bob-tail tike, or trundle tail,” + +though this is clearly not an unimportant detail. + +[69] The name is said by Sir E. Tennent, in his “Natural History of +Ceylon,” to be from the Telegu words: Pandi-koku, the pig-rat. + +[70] A.U.C. 787, equivalent to A.D. 34. + +[71] Heliopolis. + +[72] Even so comparatively recently as the time of Maundevile we meet +with the same symbolic significance, as we find this author declaring +that “men may well lykne that Brid unto God: because that there hys no +God but on; and also that oure Lord aroos fro Dethe to Lyve the thridde +Day.” + +[73] “I know,” writes Izaak Walton, in his “Complete Angler,” “we +islanders are averse to the belief of wonders, but there be so many +strange creatures to be now seen, collected by John Tradescant, who keeps +them carefully and methodically at his house near to Lambeth. I will +tell you some of the wonders you may now see, and not till then believe, +unless you think fit. You may see there the hog-fish, the dogfish, the +dolphin, the coney fish, the parrot fish, the shark, the poison fish, +the swordfish; and not only other incredible fish, but you may there +see the salamander, several sorts of barnacles, of Solan geese, and the +bird of paradise; such sorts of snakes, and such birds’ nests, and of so +various forms, and so wonderfully made, as may beget wonder and amazement +in any beholder.” Walton, as an enthusiastic angler naturally, it will +be noted, dwells most upon the strange fish. Charles I. and his queen, +together with Archbishop Laud, and many others of rank and influence, +visited the museum and assisted by contributing to its stores, and we +find in Evelyn’s Diary, September 17th, 1657, that he, too, visited +it. The brothers Tradescant were the first well-known collectors of +natural curiosities in England, and portraits of them may be seen in the +Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The Tradescant collection was on December +15th transferred to Elias Ashmole. The botanical genus, _Tradescantia_, +is so called in honour of John Tradescant. + +[74] Madagascar. + +[75] The Eastern love of the wonderful may be readily seen in the +well-known “Arabian Nights,” in the Koran, and in Oriental literature +generally. Mohammed tells us, in his sacred book, that he saw in Heaven +infinite companies of angels, each a thousand times bigger than the +globe of the earth: each had ten thousand heads; every head threescore +and ten thousand tongues; and every one of those tongues praised God in +seven hundred thousand languages. The throne of Allah was supported by +seven angels, each so great that a falcon, if he were to fly a thousand +years, could not get so far as the distance from one of their eyes to the +other. Gabriel, the doorkeeper of Paradise, has seventy thousand keys +which pertain to his office, every key being seven thousand miles long. +This exaggerated balderdash is but childish stuff; it contains no element +of grandeur or sublimity; and, in reading it, one only wonders, when +astonishment and awe were to be excited by an artifice so commonplace, +that, while he was about it, all the numbers were not doubled, +quadrupled, multiplied ten or a hundred fold; so that we finally come to +the conclusion that, with all the arithmetical possibilities open to him, +he was but a poor bungler at his business after all. + +[76] “She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, +and the strong place. From thence she seeketh the prey and her eyes +behold afar off.”—_Job_ xxxix. 28, 29. + +[77] “The nature of the Eagle is to bend her eyes full into the sunne +beams. So strong is her sighte that she can even see into the great and +glaring sunne.”—FERNE, _The Blazon of Gentrie_. + +[78] + + “As eagle fresh out of the ocean wave + Where he hath left his plumes, all hoary grey, + And decks himself with feathers, youthful, gay.” + + SPENSER. + +[79] Dryden. + +[80] Hence Dante terms the Saviour of the World “Nostro pelicano;” and an +enthusiastic admirer of Charles I., and an evident believer in the idea +that he shed his blood for his people, wrote in the year 1649, a book on +that king, entitling him “the Princely Pelican.” + +[81] Byron. + +[82] It is curious that until this species was discovered at the +Antipodes a black swan was regarded both by ancient and mediæval writers +as the very emblem and type of extravagant impossibility, so that those +who found no difficulty in believing in centaurs, mermaids, and fifty +other extravagances, felt that they really must draw the line at this. + +[83] In “Camden” we read that the device of Anne, queen of Richard II., +was “an ostrich with a nayle in his beake.” + +[84] Thalaba. + +[85] While actual incorporation was doubtless regarded as the most +effectual, mere possession was not by any means to be despised. Thus +Porta tells us that “if you would have a man become bold and impudent, +let him carry about him the skin or eyes of a Lion or a Cock, and he will +be fearlesse of his enemies—nay, he will be very terrible unto them.” +Scores of equally valuable hints may be gathered from these old authors. + +[86] In another book we consulted, “Notes for Cookerie, gathered from +experienced Cookes,” published in 1593, it is equally emphatic that +“a Cock to be stewed to renew the weake” must be a red one. There is +naturally here a connection suggested between the colour of the bird and +the ruddy hue of health that is to be hoped for after such a dietary. + +[87] MS. No. 10,074 in the Royal Library, Brussels. + +[88] In the Middle Ages animals were frequently haled before the judges +for various offences. In 1266 a pig was burnt at Fontaney, near Paris, +for having killed a child, and in 1386, at Falaise, a sow was condemned +to death for a similar offence. Horses and cattle were solemnly tried +before the magistrates for manslaughter, and either expiated their +offence on the gallows or were burned. + +[89] Aubrey tells us that in his younger days people had “some pious +ejaculation when the cock did crow, which put them in mind of ye Trumpet +at ye Resurrection.” + +[90] + + “The peasants’ trusty clock, + True morning watch, Aurora’s trumpeter, + The lion’s terror, true astronomer, + Who leaves his bed when Sol begins to rise + And when Sunne sets then to his roost he flies.” + + _Speculum Mundi._ + + “O chanticleer, + Your clarion blow, the day is near.” + + LONGFELLOW, _Daybreak_. + +[91] Spenser. + +[92] Macbeth. + +[93] An old writer, one Fulgentius, declares that so far from this croak +being monotonous “the Raven hath sixty-four sundry chaunges of her +voice.” No other observer seems to have detected this. + +[94] A fourteenth-century MS., the “Cursor Mundi,” says of the raven’s +exit from the ark:— + + “Than opin Noe his windowe + Let ut a rauen and forth he flow + Dune and vp sought here and thare + A stede to sett upon somequar. + Vpon the water sone he fand + A drinkled best ther flotand. + Of that fless was he so fain + To schip came he neuer again.” + +[95] This notion of the sightlessness of the young swallow was a very +popular one. The chelidonium, or swallow wort, according to Aristotle and +Dioscorides was so called because the swallows use it to give sight to +their young. Goldfinches, linnets, and other birds, in like manner were +believed to use the eyebright; while the hawks strengthened their vision, +we are told, by means of the plant that was hence called the hawkweed, +and still retains that name. + +[96] “He was but as a cuckoo is in June,” says Shakespeare in reference +to Richard II., that is to say, he had lost the power to attract, his +utterances no longer commanded attention. + +[97] Thus Christopher Marlowe enshrines the old belief in the lines:— + + “But how now stands the wind? + Into what corner peers my halcyon’s bill?” + +While Shakespeare, in King Lear, refers to the time-servers who “turn +their halcyon beaks with every gale and vary of their masters.” + +[98] The idea is at least as old as Pliny, as he mentions it in his +“Natural History” as a recognized fact too well-known to need any apology +or explanation. Theocritus in his seventh idyll dwells on it, and it is +found in the writings of Pliny and many other ancient authors. + +[99] A quaint little octavo on this subject is that of Dr. Warder, +“The true Amazons or the Monarchy of Bees,” being a new discovery and +Improvement of those wonderful creatures. The book went through several +editions. The one that came under our notice is the third; it is dated +1716. + +[100] Ammianus Marcellinus has put it upon record that in imitation of +the ingenuity of the crane in assuring vigilance, Alexander the Great +was accustomed to rest with a silver ball in his hand, so that on the +slightest movement it might fall and wake him. This is certainly heroic +treatment, since even such an one as Alexander might fairly claim the +necessity that other mortals feel of uninterrupted rest. It reminds +one of the dictum of the great Duke of Wellington in defence of his +camp-bedstead, accommodation so confined that one could scarcely turn +round in it, that directly a man begins to think of turning round it is +time to turn out. + +[101] In “A Mirror for Mathematics, a Golden Gem for Geometricians, +a sure Safety for Saylers, and an auncient Antiquary for Astronomers +and Astrologians,” by Robert Tanner, Gent, Practitioner in Astrologie +and Physic, a book published in the year 1587, we find an “Epistle +dedicatourie” to Lord Howard of Effingham, commencing:—“The Cranes when +they fly out of Cilicia, over the mountain Taurus, carrie in their mouths +a pebble stone, lest by their chattering they should be ceased upon by +the eagles, which birds, Right Honourable, might teach me silence,” &c., +&c. + +[102] “This creature is in thicknesse as big as a man’s wrist, and of +length proportionable to that thicknesse.”—_Speculum Mundi._ + +[103] The “Annals of Winchester,” for the year 1177, inform us that “in +this yeare Dragons were sene of many in England.” In 1274 it is recorded +that there was an earthquake on the Eve of St. Nicholas’ Day, and that +there appeared “a fiery dragon which frightened the English.” + +[104] In the “Magick of Kirani,” a Persian book that appeared in an +English dress in 1685, we find the representation of a dragon employed +as a charm. “If therefore any man engrave a woodpecker on the stone +dentrites, and a sea-dragon under its feet, every gate will open unto +him; savage beasts will also obey him and come to tameness; he shall also +be loved and observed of all, and whatever he hath a mind to, he shall +perform.” + +[105] On its noble title-page we see on either side of the title of the +book a powerful dragon, beneath one is inscribed Dominium, and below the +other Vigilantia. At the base a third dragon supports two shields. On one +is represented the serpent twining round a staff, the well-known symbol +of Æsculapius, inscribed Salus, and on the other the equally familiar +symbol of eternity, the serpent with its tail in its mouth, inscribed +Immortalitatis. + +[106] Thus Lyte tells us that in his day, 1578, it had “none other knowen +name than this.” + +[107] “Wherein is contained the most excellent Secretes of Phisicke and +Philosophie deuided into fower Bookes. In the which are the best approued +remedies for the diseases as well inwarde as outwarde, of all the partes +of Man’s bodie: treating very amplie of all Dystillacions of Waters, of +Oyles, Balmes, Quintessences, with the vse and preparation of Antimonie +and Potable Gold.” + +[108] The “holy” has, of course, no reference to the sacred character +of the mess in question: it is merely the free and easy mediæval way of +spelling the word wholly. + +[109] Extracted from the “Arcana Fairfaxiana,” a facsimile reproduction +of a manuscript book of recipes some three hundred years old, found in an +old lumber room at the ancestral seat of the Fairfax family. + +[110] Our readers will remember the use that Longfellow makes of this +fancy in his “Evangeline:”— + + “Only beware of the fever, my friends! Beware of the fever! + For it is not like that of our cold Acadian climate, + Cured by wearing a spider hung round one’s neck in a nutshell.” + +In the diary of Elias Ashmole we find that on May 11th, 1651, he was +suffering from ague. He writes: “I took early in the morning a good dose +of elixir, and hung three spiders about my neck, ague away, Deo Gratias!” +Sometimes a pill made up of spider web is taken, and in some parts of the +south of England a favourite remedy for jaundice was the living spider +itself rolled up with butter into a pill. + +[111] Another of these ancient authorities affirmed that mud engendered +frogs that lack feet. In other words, he made acquaintance with tadpoles! + +[112] It will be noted on turning back to our quotation from Porta, that +this “scarce one” is altogether too favourable to the belief in the +jewelled cranium of the toad. Porta, it will be seen, says, “nor could I +finde one,” an entirely different state of things. + +[113] It will be seen from this that the state of things involved in the +too familiar legend, “Made in Germany,” is of ancient date. + +[114] Act iii., sc. 9. + +[115] Book I., Canto V. + +[116] A very good illustration of this treatment may be seen in the +statement that “the dogs in Egypt use to lap their water running when +they come to Nilus, for fear of the crocodiles there, which cannot but be +a fit pattern for us in the use of pleasures; for true it is, we may not +stand to take a heartie draught, for then delights be dangerous, howbeit +we may refresh ourselves with them as we go on our way, and may take +them, but may not be taken by them; for when they detain us, and cause us +to stand still, then their sweet waters have fierce Crocodiles; or if not +so, they have strange Tarantulas, whose sting causeth to die laughing.” + +[117] We meet a like precision of statement in Cockeram’s Dictionary, +a quaint old volume, wherein “all such as desire to know the plenty of +the English” will find some very strange illustrations of it. He says, +edition of 1623, that “the crocodile having eaten the body of a man, +will, in fine, weep over the head.” + +[118] Readers of Shakespeare will recall how Falstaff rails at Bardolph, +calling him the “Knight of the Burning Lamp,” and other sarcasms inspired +by the effects of strong liquor on his rubicund countenance. “Thou hast +saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in the +night. I have maintained that Salamander of yours with fire any time this +two-and-thirty years.” + +[119] Galen, in one of his prescriptions, includes the ashes of a +salamander, an ingredient impossible to obtain if fire had no power to +destroy the creature. + +[120] A parallel idea is that if the body of a crab be laid in the +sunshine while the sun is in Cancer it will generate scorpions. + +[121] “Andromachus a voulu changer le nom de Mithridate en celuy de +Theriaque, à cause des vipères, auxquelles il a attribué le nom, et +lesquelles il a ajouté pour la base principale de cette composition.” +(Chares, “l’histoire des Animaux etc. qui entrent dans la Theriaque,” +Paris, 1868.) See also Heberden’s “Antitheriaca.” + +[122] A viper drowned in a bowl of wine gave the draught great healing +virtues for leprosy. This happy discovery, like many others of still +greater value, was the result of accident. Some mowers found on going +to their provisions that a viper had got into the wine, so they, very +naturally, “contented themselves with water; but when they had finished +their day’s work, and were to go out of the field, as it were out of +pity they gave a leprous man the wine wherein the viper was drowned, +supposing it better for him to die than to live on in that misery, but +he, when he had drank it, was miraculously cured,” at least, so we read +in the “Miracles of Art and Nature,” Galen being referred to as the +original authority for the story. The first essential in many of these +ancient remedies appeared to be that they should be most improbable and +unreasonable, and, secondly, that they should be as repulsive as possible. + +[123] Spenser. + +[124] In “the Ceremonies to be observed at the Coronation of His most +Excellent Majesty King George IV.,” the order of the procession is given, +the first item of all being “the King’s Herbwoman with her six maids, +strewing the way with Herbs.” + +[125] In this mysterious isle also “there ben wylde gees that han two +Hedes, and ther ben Lyouns all white and als grete as oxen, and many +othere dyverse Bestes.” + +[126] There is a notion in Cheshire that this complaint can be cured by +holding a toad or frog for a few minutes within the child’s mouth, at the +imminent risk, one would imagine, of choking the patient. In Norfolk, +they had greater faith in giving the child milk to drink that a ferret +had previously lapped at. + +[127] “The knops or heads are holow within, and for the most part hauing +wormes in them, the which you shall find in cleaning the heads. The small +wormes that are founde within the knops of teasels do cure and heale the +quartaine ague, to be worne or tied about the necke or arme.”—_Lyte’s +translation of Dodœns_, A.D. 1586. + +[128] Judges, chap. xiv. + +[129] Dryden’s Translation. + +[130] This old writer, not being aware of the various stages of egg, +larva, pupa, and imago through which butterflies and moths pass, is much +perplexed over the silkworm, “whether I may name it a worme or a flie,” +he says, “I cannot tell. For sometimes it is a worm, sometimes a flie, +and sometimes neither worm nor flie, but a little seed which the dying +flies leave behinde them.” + +[131] Apart from these various monsters, and the hundreds of others that +bear them company, Aldrovandus seems to have been always accessible to +anyone who would bring him one wonder the more; hence he also figures +a bunch of grapes terminating in a long beard; representations of +cloud-warriors in conflict in the sky; comets like blazing swords, and +many other wonderful things that set our ancestors wondering in fear and +amazement as to what such portents should signify. + +[132] “To be shewn at the Royal Infirmary of this city, price sixpence, +the largest and most beautiful lion that was ever seen in this country. +Also an Egyptian mummy, lately sent as a present to the Infirmary by +Alexander Drummond, Esq., Consul of the Turkey Company at Aleppo. +Likewise a very large horn of a sea unicorn, which all connoisseurs +acknowledge to be a remarkable curiosity. + +“N.B.—As the money collected on this occasion is to be applied solely +for the relief of the Indigent Sick in the said Hospital, therefore +if persons of Substance and Distinction shall give more, it will be +thankfully accepted on behalf of the distressed Patients.”—_Edinburgh +Chronicle_, 1758. + +[133] In the travels of Boullaye le Gouz, published in 1657, we find a +reference to this notion. He says, “I had among my baggage the hand of a +Syren, or fisherwoman, which I threw, on the sly, into the sea, because +the captain, seeing that we could not make way, asked me if I had not got +some mummy or other in my bags which hindered our progress, in which case +we must return to Egypt to carry it back again. Most of the Provençals +have the opinion that the vessels which transport the mummies from Egypt +have great difficulty in arriving safe at port: so that I feared, lest +coming to search my goods, they might take the hand of this fish for a +mummy’s hand, and insult me on account of it.” + +[134] “That dolphins are crooked is not only affirmed by the hand of +the painter, but commonly conceived their naturall or proper figure, +which is not only the opinion of our times, but seems the belief of +older times before us: for besides the expressions of Ovid and Pliny, +their Portraicts in ancient Coynes are framed in this figure, as will +appear in some thereof in Gesner, others in Goltzius, and Lævinus Hulsius +in his description of Coynes. Notwithstanding, to speak strictly, in +their naturall Figure they are streight, nor have they their spine +convexed or more considerably embowed than Sharkes, Porposes, or +Whales, and therefore what is delivered of their incurvity must either +be taken Emphatically, that is, not really, but in appearance; which +happeneth when they leap above water or suddenly shoot down again: which +is a fallacy of vision, whereby streight bodies in a sudden motion +protruded obliquely downward appear to the eye crooked, and this is the +construction of Bellonius: or, if it be taken really, it must not be +universally and perpetually, that is, not when they swimme and remaine +in their proper figures, but only when they leape or impetuously whirle +their bodies anyway: and this is the opinion of Gesnerus. Or, lastly, it +must be taken neither really nor emphatically, but only emblematically; +for being the Hieroglyphic of Celerity, and swifter than other animalls, +men best expressed their velocity by incurvity, and under some figure of +a bowe, and in this sense probably do Heralds also receive it.”—_Browne._ + +[135] In Sussex no better remedy could be found for tooth-ache than the +application of a paw cut from a living mole. + + + + +INDEX. + + + “Accedence of Armorie,” 52, 121, 232 + + Acipenser, 330 + + Acosta, “travels in the Indies,” 44 + + Acrid secretion in skin of toad, 281 + + “Actes of English votaries,” 69 + + “Adam in Eden,” 48 + + Adder, 173 + + Adder eaters, 77 + + Ælianus, works of, 95 + + Agriophagi, 72 + + Ague, specifics for, 172, 186, 309 + + Ainos of Japan, 61 + + Albert Nyanza in old maps, 13 + + Albertus Magnus, 160, 282 + + Alciatus, Book of Emblems, 84 + + Aldrovandus, 63, 272, 305, 316 + + Alectorius, 235, 247 + + All creation a moral text book, 51, 125 + + Ambrosinus, 316 + + Amphisbæna, 304 + + “Anatomy of Melancholy,” 309 + + Anchor and Dolphin, 329 + + André on theory of Creation, 125 + + Andrew Marvel’s “Loyal Scot,” 69 + + Andromachus, physician to Nero, 299 + + Angulo or Hog-fish, 318 + + Animals in art and fable, 175 + + “Annals of Winchester,” 269 + + Anthropophagi, 11, 72 + + Antipathies, animal, 94, 153, 182, 187, 230, 232, 280, 289 + + Antipathy and sympathy, 153 + + Ant’s eggs, oil of, 278 + + Ants of India, 196 + + Ape, 122, 153 + + Apollo and Raven, 241 + + “Arcana Fairfaxiana,” 279 + + Arena, lions in the, 123 + + “Areopagitica,” 225 + + Ariosto, 207, 224 + + Aristotle, 30, 31, 55, 302 + + “Armonye of Byrdes,” 239 + + Armories, Natural History in, 32, 51, 119, 120, 121 + + Arms of the City of London, 277 + + Art, animals in, 175 + + “Art of simpling,” 188 + + Asbestos, its supposed nature, 293 + + Ashmole, diary of, 279 + + Askham on hare, 165 + + Asp, 51, 307 + + “As Pliny saith,” 4, 20 + + Assyrian seals, 131 + + Astrological influences, 11 + + “As you like it,” 208 + + Aubrey, extract from, 165, 179, 184, 238, 297 + + Augustine on higher and lower truths, 49 + + Authors consulted by Pliny, 26 + + Avicenna on chamæleon, 296 + + Azores in old map, 39 + + + Bacci on unicorn, 131 + + Bacon’s “Natural History,” 166 + + Badge, panther, of King Henry VI., 151 + + Badger, 198 + + Bale on scandalous reports, 69 + + Ballasting of cranes and bees, 260 + + Bandicoot, 196 + + Barbary, lions of, 127 + + Barnacle goose, 214 + + Barnfield, “Cassandra,” 287 + + Barrow, “Travels in Africa,” 131 + + Bartholinus on unicorn, 131 + + Basilisk, 265, 286, 305 + + Bay-leaf as medicine, 274 + + Bearded grapes, 319 + + Bear, 161, 167, 182 + + Beaumont and Fletcher, 162, 176 + + Beaver, oil from the, 278 + + Bee, 260, 310 + + Beef, the praise of, 46 + + Bee-hives attacked by bears, 163 + + “Belvedere” of Bodenham, 170 + + Bereus on unicorn, 131 + + “Bestiare Divin” of Guillaume, 48 + + Bestiaries of Middle Ages, 31, 50 + + Blackbird, Sagacity of, 177 + + Black Swan, 230 + + “Blazon of Gentrie,” 119, 224 + + Blood of lion black, 116 + + Boar, 175 + + Bœwulf on Mermaid, 80 + + Boiling river, 43 + + “Bonduca,” extract from, 162 + + “Book of Emblems,” 84 + + “Book of Knowledge,” Winstanley, 183, 248 + + Boorde’s “Dyetary,” 46 + + Bosjesmen, ancient Troglodytes, 3, 61 + + Bossewell’s “Armorie,” 52, 169, 194 + + Bostock on Pliny, 29 + + Browne on Vulgar Errors, 56, 92, 106, 157, 162, 178, 205, 255, 267, + 284, 313, 328 + + Buffon on Pliny, 21 + + Burton, “Miracles of Art and Nature,” 18, 19, 127, 131, 305 + + Bussy d’Amboise on Unicorn, 130 + + Butler, Hudibras, extract from, 214 + + Byron, extract from, 229, 330 + + + Cabbage, the praise of, 47 + + Camel, 182, 198, 294 + + Camelopardilis, 124 + + Camerarius on dolphin, 329 + + Camillus, “mirror of stones,” 247 + + Cammetennus, 294 + + Camoens, extract from, 181 + + Camphor-tree, 152 + + Cancer, specific for, 189 + + Canibali, home of the, 37 + + “Canterbury Tales,” 276 + + Capture of elephant, 145 + + Carbuncle borne by dragon, 274 + + Carew, extract from, 164 + + Carlyle on books, 33 + + Carrier pigeons, 16 + + Cartazonos, 130 + + “Cassandra,” extract from, 287 + + “Castle of Memory,” 166 + + Cat, 168, 189 + + Catelan on Unicorn, 131 + + Cathay, palace at, 151 + + Catoblepas, 197 + + Centaur, 79, 294 + + Cerastes or horned viper, 298, 304 + + Ceylon, mermaids of, 88 + + “Ceylon, Natural History of,” 196 + + Chameleon, 136, 178, 274, 296 + + Chanticleer, 239 + + Chares on Theriaca, 299 + + Chaucer, extract from, 11, 30 + + Chelidonius, 247 + + Chelonites of Porta, 283 + + Chester’s “Love’s Martyr,” 170 + + “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” 330 + + Chinese referred to by Pliny, 28 + + Churchyard grass, remedial virtues of, 189 + + Cinirus, 124 + + Cinnabar, how produced, 137 + + Coats, extract from, 120, 194 + + Cobbe on the creation of monsters, 145 + + Cobra stone, 298 + + Coca plant, properties of, 18 + + Cock, 154, 232, 238 + + Cock-ale, 234 + + Cockatrice, 236, 267 + + Cockeram’s Dictionary, 288 + + Cockle, 196 + + Cogan, “Haven of Health,” 45, 167, 231, 277, 301 + + Coleridge on Nightingale, 252 + + Cole’s “Adam in Eden,” 48 + “Art of simpling,” 188 + + Colours of dying dolphin, 330 + + Comets like blazing swords, 319 + + Composition of Venice Treacle, 229 + + Coney-fish, 209 + + Convulsions, remedy for, 167, 186 + + Coolness of blood of elephant, 149 + + Cornishmen tailed, 68 + + Corvia, 247 + + Cos, dragon of, 110 + + “Cosmography,” Munster’s, 34, 97, 127, 130, 139, 149, 220 + + Crabs’ eyes a remedy, 235, 335 + + Crabs generating scorpions, 297 + + Crane, 56, 260 + + Crapaudine, or toad stone, 281 + + Creatures of the fire, 295 + + Crippled feet of Chinese ladies, 15 + + Crocodile, 286, 294 + + Crocuta, 124 + + Cross on donkey’s back, 184, 186 + + Crow, sagacity of, 177 + + Cruelty in preparation of recipes, 48, 248, 335 + + Ctesias on griffin, 276; + on unicorn, 130 + + Cubs of bear a shapeless mass, 161 + + Cuckoo broth, 235 + + Culverwort, 16 + + “Curiosities of Heraldry,” 237 + + “Cursor Mundi,” extract from, 242 + + Cuttle-fish, 335 + + Cuvier on phœnix, 204; + on Pliny, 21 + + “Cymbeline,” extract from, 208 + + Cynamolgi, 72 + + + Dagon, the fish god, 93 + + _Daily Post_, advertisement from, 90 + + Dallaway on unicorn, 133 + + Dead animals generating other creatures, 311 + + Dead men’s bones, oil from, 278 + + Deaf as an adder, 303 + + “De Animalibus” of Aristotle, 31 + + Death song of the swan, 229 + + Death-dealing cocatrice, 237 + + Decker on unicorn’s horn, 134 + + Deer, 173, 270 + + “De Humana Physiognomonica,” 78 + + “De Miraculis,” story from, 108 + + Democritus on serpent generation, 307 + + Derceto, 97 + + De Thaun, “Bestiary” of, 50, 124, 132, 185, 204, 292 + + Devil’s-bird, 241 + + “De Virtutibus Herbarum,” 160 + + Diamond dissolving, 178 + + Differences in aim in zoological study, 4 + + Digby, “The Closet Open,” 234 + + “Dirge,” extract from Gay’s, 241 + + Dioscorides, writings of, 95 + + “Discoverie of witchcraft,” 113 + + “Display of Heraldrie,” Guillim, 52, 120 + + Divining rod in use, 37 + + Doctrine of Signatures, 251 + + Dodœns, extract from, 309 + + Dog, 8, 119, 187, 189, 270, 316 + + Dog-headed men, 11, 42, 72 + + Dog-king, 73 + + Dolphin, 83, 289, 327 + + Donkey, 184, 188 + + Double-bodied animals, 65 + + Dove, 177, 240 + + Draconites, 247 + + Dragon, 268, 274 + + Dragon-maiden, 110 + + Dragon and elephant, feud between, 136, 147 + + Drayton, extract from, 250, 253, 259 + + Dropsy, remedy for, 298 + + Drunkenness, to avert, 249 + + Dryden, extract from, 161, 165, 224, 227, 259, 281 + + Du Bartas on barnacle-goose, 218 + + Du Chaillu on gorilla, 3; + on pygmies, 60 + + Dulness of hearing, remedy for, 308 + + Dust of Malta a remedy, 300 + + “Dyetary” of Boorde, 46 + + + Eagle, 108, 223, 240, 276 + + Eale of Ethiopia, 197 + + Earless animals, 74 + + Earthworms in medicine, 279 + + Eastern love of the wonderful, 213 + + Eastern Travels of John of Hesse, 81 + + Eel’s blood for warts, 335 + + Eels from hairs, 182 + + Effects of climate on human tail growth, 71 + + Egyptians and the ass, 185 + + Einhorn, 130 + + El Dorado of Raleigh, 44 + + Elephant, 36, 107, 135, 177, 182, 213, 274, 294, 323 + + Elephant-headed boy, 64 + + Elizabeth, portrait of Queen, 176 + + Ellison, “Trip to Benwell,” 165 + + “Emblemes and Epigrames,” 210 + + “Emblems” of Whitney, 136 + + England, first elephant seen in, 142 + + Epilepsy, cure for, 173, 190 + + Ermine, the spotless, 176 + + Ethiopia, land of marvels, 73, 146, 276 + + “Euphues,” extract from, 262, 281 + + “Evangeline,” extract from, 247, 279 + + Evil spirit in donkey, 185 + + Eyebright for the sight, 48, 298 + + + Fable, animals in, 175 + + “Fairie Queen,” extract from, 80, 113, 129 + + Fakirs of India mentioned by Pliny, 28 + + Famous horses of antiquity, 181 + + Fascination, power of, 285 + + Fennel, value of, 47 + + Fenton on toad stone, 282 + + Ferne, “Blazon of Gentrie,” 119, 224 + + Ferret, 173, 309 + + Feuds, animal, 129, 136 + + Filial love of storks, 259 + + Fishes choosing a king, 334 + + Fletcher on phœnix, 207 + + Flounder the wry-mouthed, 334 + + Fondness of dolphin for man, 328 + + Forget-me-not, 251, 277 + + Formosa men with tails, 70, 71 + + Four-eyed men, 74 + + Four-footed ducks and pigeons, 65 + + Four-legged serpents, 306 + + Fox, 167 + + Foxglove, 251 + + Freckles, cure for, 166 + + Frenzel on Unicorn, 131 + + Frog, 189, 278, 281, 308 + + Fulgentius on note of Raven, 242 + + Fuller, extracts from, 117 + + + Galen, prescription of, 291 + + “Garden of the Muses,” extract from, 170 + + Garnier, the loup-garou, 108 + + Gay, extract from, 184, 241 + + Geliot’s “Indice Armorial,” 120 + + _Gentleman’s Magazine_, extract from, 93 + + Geranites, 247 + + Gerarde, extract from, 214, 309 + + Gesner’s “History of Animals,” 129 + + Giants, 75 + + Gift of eloquence, To acquire, 249 + + Gift of invisibility, 235 + + Gilbert White’s “Selborne,” 180 + + Glanvil, assertions of, 113, 276, 290 + + Glowworm, 257 + + Goat, 177, 234, 331 + + “Golden Gem for Geometricians,” 262 + + Gonzale on monstrous men, 79 + + Gorilla mentioned by Hanno, 3, 67 + + Gosse, “Romance of Natural History,” 86 + + Gout, remedy for, 244, 246, 278 + + Gray, oil from the, 278 + + Great-lipped men, 76 + + Green lizards in mediæval recipe, 8 + + Grimalkin, 192 + + Guiana of Sir W. Raleigh, 44 + + Guillaume, “Bestiare Divin” of, 48 + + Guillim’s “Display of Heraldrie,” 52, 120, 132, 176, 243 + + Gujerat, lions of, 124 + + + Hairy men, 67 + + Hairy serpents, 306 + + Hakluyt’s “Voyages,” 44 + + Halcyone, myth of, 258 + + Halle on knowledge for Chirurgeons, 12 + + “Hamlet,” extract from, 228 + + Hanno’s pursuit of gorilla, 3, 67, 68 + + Hare, 8, 164, 165, 184 + + Harpy, 64, 146 + + Hartebeest, 124 + + “Haven of Health,” Cogan’s, 45, 167, 231, 277, 301 + + Hawkweed, 248 + + Headless men, 34, 65, 75 + + Heberden’s “Antitheriaca,” 299 + + Hedgehog, 168, 256 + + Hentzner on horn of unicorn, 134 + + Heraldic animals, 83, 127, 276, 328 + + Herbert’s book of travels, 39, 176 + + Herb-tea in the Spring, 274 + + Herodotus, writings of, 30 + + Herring, the king of fishes, 334 + + Herschell on love of books, 32 + + Heylyn, travels of, 42 + + Heywood on stork, 259 + + “Hind and Panther,” extract from, 161, 165 + + Hippeau on theological treatment, 6, 49 + + Hippocampus, 314 + + Hippopotamus, 118, 143, 149, 314 + + “Histoire des Anomalies” of St. Hilaire, 62 + + “Historia Naturalis” of Jonston, 130 + + “Historie of Plants,” Gerarde, 214 + + “History of America,” Robertson, 79 + + “History of Animals,” Gesner, 129 + + “History of Serpents and Dragons,” Aldrovandus, 272 + + Hog-fish, 209, 318 + + Holland, English version of Pliny, 29 + + Hollerius on snake stone, 298 + + Homer on eagle, 225; + on pygmies, 55 + + Hoopoe, stone from, 247 + + Horned men, 76, 294 + + Horned viper, 298 + + Hornets from dead mule, 311 + + Horn of unicorn, 133, 324 + + Horse, 181, 189, 236, 270, 276, 294, 297 + + Horse-shoe, 184 + + Hound’s-tongue, value of, 188 + + Howling of dogs an evil omen, 188 + + How serpents are developed, 297 + + How tempests may arise, 321 + + How the raven became black, 241 + + How to procure toad-stone, 283 + + Hudibras, quotation from, 162, 214 + + Hudson on mermaids, 85 + + Humble bees from dead ass, 311 + + Hyæna, 152, 156; + Men turned into, 104 + + Hydrophobia, treatment of, 189, 234 + + “Hymn on the Nativity,” Milton, 258 + + + Iliad, extract from, 225 + + Incubators mentioned by Jordanus, 15 + + Indian customs mentioned by Pliny, 28 + + “Indice Armorial,” 120 + + Indifference to animal suffering, 48, 167, 248, 335 + + Inhabitants of the sea-depths, 313 + + Insomnia, specific for, 177 + + Instances of sagacity in birds, 177 + + Invisibility, gift of, 245, 297 + + Ipotayne, half-man, half-horse, 79 + + Izaak Walton, extract from, 209 + + + Jaguars, men turned to, 104 + + Jaundice, specific for, 189 + + Java, home of the pygmies, 58 + + Jewel-bearing toad, 281 + + Job on the eagle, 224 + + John of Hesse, travels of, 81 + + Jonston’s “Historia Naturalis,” 130 + + Jordanus, extract from, 13, 58, 73, 196, 213, 274 + + Juggernaut, 15 + + “Julius Cæsar,” extract from, 130 + + Jumar, 124 + + + Keen sight of eagle, 225 + + Kentish men tailed, 68, 69 + + Kingfisher, 255 + + “King Henry IV.,” extract from, 166, 254 + + “King Henry VI.,” extract from, 161, 208, 224, 246, 266, 296, 304 + + “King Henry VIII.,” extract from, 286 + + “King Lear,” extract from, 254 + + King of beasts, 116; + of birds, 232; + of fishes, 334; + of serpents, 266 + + Kite, sagacity of, 177 + + “Knight of Malta,” extract from, 176 + + + Lady loup-garou, 109 + + Lalla Rookh, extract from, 210 + + Lamia, 294 + + Lamb-tree, 223 + + Land of the pygmies, 57 + + Landseer’s animal painting, 175 + + Language of beasts, to learn, 42 + + Lapwing, 177 + + Lark, sagacity of, 177 + + Larva of tiger-moth, 306 + + Laterrade on the unicorn, 131 + + Lavender as a remedy, 301 + + Legend of the robin, 250 + + Legh, “Accedence of Armorie,” 52, 121, 144, 178, 187, 242 + + Leo, “History of Africa,” 158, 271 + + Leontophonos, 128 + + Leopards, men turned to, 104 + + Leviathan, 334 + + Licking little bears into shape, 161 + + Lightning, protection against, 258 + + Like to like, 300 + + Lily, “Euphues” of, 281 + + Lion, 116, 232, 270, 276, 294, 303, 310 + + Lipless men, 73 + + “Livre des Creatures” of De Thaun, 50, 124 + + Lizard, 8, 296 + + Lomie, 197 + + Long-eared men, 42, 77 + + Long-headed men, 78 + + Longfellow, extract from, 247, 279 + + Loup-garou, 108 + + Love of the marvellous, 10 + + “Love’s Martyr” of Chester, 170 + + “Loyal Scot” of Andrew Marvel, 69 + + Luminous ink, 312 + + Lupton, extract from, 282 + + “Lusiad” of Camoens, 181 + + Luther on whale, 334 + + Lycanthropy, 101 + + + “Macbeth,” extract from, 192 + + Macaulay on books, 32 + + “Maccabees,” extract from, 145 + + Macer on fennel, 47 + + Mad as a March hare, 165, 166 + + Mad dog, 9 + + “Magick of Kirani,” 251, 270 + + Maneless lions, 123 + + Manticora, 156, 197 + + Manufacture of mermaids, 91; + of pygmies, 58 + + Maori traditions, 61 + + “Mappæ Clavicula,” extract from, 182 + + Marcellus, cure of blindness, 248 + + Marco Polo, travels of, 40, 144, 211 + + Marlowe, extract from, 241, 255 + + Marmalade for students, 46 + + Martin’s “Philosophical Grammar,” 132 + + Marvellous Isle of Dondum, 75 + + Matthew Prior, drawing of elephant, 143 + + Maundevile, extract from, 15, 16, 110, 138, 147, 151, 195, 202, 244, + 276, 308, 336 + + Mauritius veal, 89 + + Medical zoology, 4, 45 + + Mediæval theory of creation, 125 + + Melancholia, its cause, 166 + + Men who lived on odours, 58, 75 + + Mendez Pinto the marvellous, 41 + + Mermaid, 79, 80, 313 + + Metacollinarum, 294 + + “Merchant of Venice,” extract from, 54, 192, 229 + + “Metamorphoses,” Ovid, 101 + + Metempsychosis, 107 + + Mewing nuns, 105 + + “Midsummer night’s dream,” extract from, 83 + + Milton, extract from, 226, 253, 258, 334 + + “Miracles of Art and Nature,” extract from, 18, 19 + + “Mirror for Mathematics,” 262 + + Mirror of stones, 247 + + Mithridate, 299 + + Mole, 168, 172, 335 + + Monoceros, 130 + + “Monstrorum Historia” of Aldrovandus, 63 + + Moon-worshipping elephants, 139 + + Moore, Extract of, 210 + + Moral-pointing treatment of zoology, 4, 6, 173, 244, 287, 293 + + Moss from dead man’s skull, 278 + + Moufflon in Munster’s book, 35 + + Mouse, 137, 167, 194 + + Mouthless men, 75, 76 + + Munster’s “Cosmography,” 34, 97, 127, 130, 139, 149, 220, 306 + + Music, dolphins love of, 330 + + Musinus, 129 + + Mussel, 196 + + Mutianus on monkeys, 139 + + + Narwhal tusk, 324 + + “Natural History,” Bacon’s, 166 + + “Natural History of Norway,” 87 + + “Natural History of Selborne,” 180 + + “Natural Magick,” 154 + + “New Jewell of Health,” 277 + + Nightingale, 251 + + Nile represented in old maps, 13, 36 + + Noah and the raven, 242 + + Noseless men, 73 + + + Oannes the fish-god, 96 + + Odin’s wolf, 157 + + Oil of swallows, 249 + + Oils of medicinal repute, 278 + + Olaus Magnus, writings of, 106, 320, 333 + + Omens from animals, 164 + + One-legged men, 42, 294 + + “Orlando Furioso,” extract from, 207, 304 + + “Ortus Sanitatis,” extract from, 280 + + Oryges, 197 + + Ostrich devouring iron, 231 + + “Othello,” Extract from, 241, 282 + + Ovid, the “Metamorphoses” of, 101 + + Owl, 246 + + Oxford life in the year 1636, 46 + + Oyster, the susceptible, 196 + + + Panther, 149, 232 + + “Paradise lost,” extract from, 334 + + Parkinson, on barnacle goose, 219 + + Parrot-fish, 209 + + Parsee funeral customs, 13 + + “Pathway to Knowledge,” extract from, 312, 336 + + Peacock, 240, 254 + + Pearl-fish, 332 + + Pegasus, 324 + + Pelican, 227, 240 + + Percy Society Publications, 240 + + Performing elephants, 138 + + “Periplus” of Hanno, 67 + + Philomela, 252 + + “Philosophical Grammar,” Martin, 132 + + Philostratus on pygmies, 55 + + Phisiologus on the mermaid, 80 + + Phœnix, 200, 240, 294 + + Physician-tench, 335 + + Pietro del Porco, 176 + + Pillars of Hercules, 36 + + Pinto, liar of first magnitude, 41 + + Plagiarism, 45 + + Playmate, dragon as a, 275 + + Pliny’s “Natural History,” 21, 95, 123, 150, 246 + + Plutarch, quotation from, 37 + + Poison fish, 209 + + Polypus and the significance thereof, 4, 5 + + Pomphagi, 72 + + Pontarf, 338 + + Pontoppidan, writings of, 87 + + “Poor Robin’s Almanack,” extract from, 170 + + Pope on learned blockheads, 33 + + Porta, extract from, 78, 122, 124, 152, 154, 160, 172, 182, 233, 283, + 295, 300 + + Potter’s “Booke of Phisicke,” 45 + + Powdered mummy, 278 + + Praise of method, 53 + + Prawn, 332 + + Prester John, kingdom of, 293 + + “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,” 92 + + “Purchas his Pilgrimage,” 44, 318 + + Pygmies, 54, 294 + + Pyragones, 295 + + + “Quentin Durward,” extract from, 157 + + + Rabbit, 119 + + Raleigh, Sir Walter, on Guiana, 44 + + Ram, 198 + + Ram-headed man, 64 + + Rat, 194, 196, 282 + + Raven, 177, 241 + + Raven-stone, 244 + + Ray, its love for man, 331 + + Reginald Scot, “Discoverie of Witchcraft,” 113 + + Rejuvenescence of the eagle, 226 + + Relentless asp, 307 + + “Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme,” 165, 298 + + Remedies for hydrophobia, 189 + + Remora, 326 + + Rheumatism, remedy for, 167 + + “Rich Jew of Malta,” extract from, 241 + + Rings bearing toad-stone, 281 + + Robbers checkmated, 9 + + Robertson, “History of America,” 79 + + Robin, 249 + + Rochester rudeness to A. Becket, 68, 69 + + Roc or Rukh, 211 + + “Romance of Natural History,” Gosse, 86 + + Roman mosaic at Brading, 98 + + “Romeo and Juliet,” extract from, 192 + + Rondoletius, book of, 319 + + Roulet, the loup-garou, 109 + + + Sachs on unicorn, 131 + + “Saducismus Triumphatus,” 113 + + Sagacity of the crane, 261 + + Salamander, 154, 209, 290 + + Sargon, 331 + + “Savage Africa,” Winwood Reade, 61 + + Sciatica, specific for, 182 + + Scoresby on mermaids, 84 + + Scorpion, 9, 277, 278, 302, 338 + + Scorpion-grass, 251, 277 + + _Scots Magazine_, extract from, 87 + + Screech-owl, 108 + + Sea elephant, 323 + + Sea horse, 314 + + Seal, Greek superstition respecting, 289 + + Serpent, 173, 178, 236, 267 + + Serpentine monstrosities, 305 + + Shakespeare, extract from, 11, 32, 54, 55, 130, 173, 180, 192, 208, + 228, 229, 241, 246, 253, 254, 255, 266, 277, 291, 296, 304 + + Shakespeare on learning, 33 + + Sheep as great as oxen, 76 + + Shelley on nightingale, 253 + + “Ship of Fools,” 39 + + Shony, the storm-dog, 191 + + Shrew-ash, 180 + + Shrew-mouse, 179, 234 + + Silkworm, 312 + + Silurus, 338 + + Single-footed men, 20 + + Sir Emerson Tennant on travellers’ tales, 2 + + “Six Pastorals,” extract from, 250 + + Skelton’s poem on birds, 240 + + Sleeplessness, to cause, 251 + + Snail-shells as houses, 308 + + Snake charmers mentioned by Pliny, 29 + + Song of the nightingale, 252 + + Southey, extract from, 232 + + “Speculum Mundi,” extract from, 5, 81, 88, 131, 133, 144, 180, 194, + 227, 229, 252, 265, 266, 287, 320 + + “Speculum Regale,” 86 + + Speechless men, 73 + + Spenser, quotation from, 80, 113, 129, 150, 226, 240, 281, 286, 301, + 326, 327 + + Sphinx, 146 + + Spider, 279, 282, 308 + + Squirrel, 174 + + Stag-wolf, 160 + + Stanley rediscovering pygmies, 3, 60 + + Stellion, 154 + + Stolbergk on unicorn, 131 + + Stone in lapwing’s nest, 8 + + Stones of magic virtue, 247 + + Stork, 259 + + Storm-raisers, 191 + + Strabo on the pygmies, 55 + + Strewing herbs, 302 + + Struys’ voyages and travels, 44, 70 + + Subjects dealt with by Pliny, 22 + + Sucking fish or remora, 326 + + “Survey of Cornwall,” extract from, 164 + + Sus Marinus, 317 + + Suttee an ancient usage, 14 + + Swallow, 8, 240, 247, 260 + + Swallow-wort, 248 + + Swam-fish, 333 + + Swan-song, 228 + + Swift, quotation from, 37 + + Symbol of resurrection, 203 + + Sympathy and antipathy, 153 + + Syrens, 82 + + + Tacitus on phœnix, 201 + + Tailed men, 43, 68, 69 + + “Tale of a Tub,” Swift, 37 + + “Taming of the Shrew,” extract from, 180 + + Tavernier on bird of paradise, 210 + + Tears of the crocodile, 286 + + Teasel-heads, 309 + + “Tempest,” extract from, 79, 209 + + Tench, the physician fish, 335 + + Tennant on works of ancient travellers, 2 + + Tensevetes, 294 + + Ten-tailed lizard, 63 + + “Theater of plants,” 219 + + Theocritus on halcyon calm, 258 + + Theologians, a study of zoology, 4 + + Theriaca, 299 + + Thoes, 124 + + “Thousand notable things,” 282 + + Three-eyed men, 74 + + Three-headed monster, 65 + + Thynne’s “Book of Emblems,” 210 + + Tiger, 118, 198 + + Tiger-men, 104 + + “Timon of Athens,” extract from, 130 + + Titian, device of, 161 + + Title-pages full of interest, old, 6, 34, 272 + + Titles of old books, 12 + + Toad, 236, 274, 279, 308 + + Toad-stone, 281 + + Toad-wort, 280, 298 + + To catch Sargi, 331 + + Tooth-ache, remedy for, 335 + + Topsell, extract from, 165, 168, 171, 179, 280 + + Torpedo, 257 + + Tortoise, sagacity of, 178 + + Tradescant’s museum, 209 + + Transfer of valuable animal properties to man, 8 + + Travellers’ tales, 3, 338 + + “Travels in Africa,” Barrow, 131 + + Travels of Le Gouz, 326 + + Treachery of the shrew mouse, 179 + + “Trip to Benwell,” extract from, 165 + + Troglodytes mentioned by Pliny and others, 3 + + “Troilus and Cressida,” extract from, 304 + + Tusser’s “Husbandry,” 301 + + “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” extract from, 296 + + Two-headed animals, 65 + + + Unchangeableness of old customs, 13, 28 + + Urcheon, urchin, or hedgehog, 169 + + Use of elephant in war, 137 + + + Value of personal observation, 199 + + “Varia Historia,” extract from, 95 + + Venice treacle, 9, 299 + + Venomous men, 43 + + Versipellis, the skin-turner, 106 + + Vervain in recipe, 8 + + Victoria Nyanza in old maps, 13 + + Viper in medicine, 298, 299 + + Virgil on bees, 261, 311 + + “Voiage and Travaile” of Maundevile, 15, 16, 110, 138, 202, 308 + + + Warder, Dr., on bees, 261 + + Wart, to cure, 182, 190 + + Wasps from dead horse, 311 + + Waters of Lethe, 99 + + Weasel, 119, 188, 296, 318 + + Weather prognostics, 82, 170 + + Weeping of deer, 173 + + Wehr-wolves, 99, 104 + + Whales pacified with tubs, 37, 39 + + When venison should be avoided, 173 + + Whitney’s “Emblems,” 136 + + Whooping cough, remedy for, 163, 186, 188, 308 + + Why bears attack bee-hives, 163 + + Winstanley’s “Book of Knowledge,” 183, 248, 312 + + Wolf, 8, 118, 154, 157, 182 + + Wolf-headed man, 79 + + Wondrous beasts of mediæval fancy, 197 + + Woolly bear, 306 + + Wren, 249 + + Wright’s translation of De Thaun, 50 + + + Xenophon on boar, 175 + + + Ylio of De Thaun, 51 + + Yule’s translation of Jordanus, 14 + +[Illustration] + +G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, FLORAL STREET, COVENT GARDEN. + + + + + _May, 1895._ + +_Valuable Books on Sale_ + +BY + +BERNARD QUARITCH, + +_15 Piccadilly, London, W._ + + +MR. WILLIAM MORRIS’S PRODUCTIONS of the KELMSCOTT PRESS. + + THE GOLDEN LEGEND. Translated by WILLIAM CAXTON. 3 vols. large 4to., + _printed with the type specially cut from Mr. Morris’s patterns, + with ornamental letters and borders designed by William Morris, + and 2 full-page woodcuts from designs by_ E. BURNE-JONES, _bds._, + £5. 5_s_ 1892 + + THE RECUYELL OF THE HISTORIES OF TROYE. Translated by WILLIAM + CAXTON. A new Edition of the First Book printed in English, black + letter, 2 vols. sm. folio, _in black and red, vellum_, £7. 7_s_ 1893 + + THE HISTORYE OF REYNARD THE FOXE. Translated from the Dutch by + WILLIAM CAXTON. Reprinted from the edition of 1481, sm. folio, + 4to., black letter, _vellum_, £4. 4_s_ 1893 + + —— the above three works, of which but few copies remain, if + bought in one transaction, £15. + + THE BOOK OF WISDOM AND LIES. Translated by Oliver Wardrop from + the original of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani. 8vo., 250 _printed in + black and red, vellum_, £2. 2_s_ 1894 + + A BOOK OF TRADITIONAL STORIES from GEORGIA, _in Asia_. + + THE SAGA LIBRARY. By William Morris, Author of “The Earthly + Paradise,” with the assistance of EIRIKR MAGNUSSON, crown 8vo. + _Roxburghe_ 1890-93 + + Each Volume, 7_s_ 6_d_; or LARGE PAPER, royal 8vo., + _hf. bd. morocco_, £1. 11_s_ 6_d_ + + Vol. I.: 1. STORY OF HOWARD THE HALT; 2. STORY OF THE BANDED + MEN; 3. THE STORY OF HEN THORIR, 7_s_ 6_d_ 1891 + + Vol. II: THE EYRBIGGIA SAGA, or, The Story of the Ere Dwellers, + with the Story of the Heath-Slayings, with notes and three + Indexes, 7_s_ 6_d_ 1892 + + Vol. III.: THE HEIMSKRINGLA, or, The Stories of the Kings + of Norway, called the Round World (Heimskringla), done into + English out of the Icelandic, Vol. I, _with a large map of + Norway_, 7_s_ 6_d_ 1893 + + Vol. IV.: THE HEIMSKRINGLA, Vol. II, 7_s_ 6_d_ 1894 + + The Purchaser of the Large Paper issue binds himself to + take the entire Series. + + The Large Paper issue consists of 125 numbered copies, + printed by hand-press, on Whatman Paper, at Whittingham’s + Chiswick Press. + + + BEWICK (Thomas) WORKS: The Memorial Edition of the Works of + THOMAS BEWICK, in five vols, royal 8vo., _cloth, uncut_, + £5. 5_s_ 1885-87 + + Vols. I, II. History of British Birds; Land Birds and Water + Birds, with the woodcuts of the Supplements incorporated, 2 + vols. + + Vol. III. History of Quadrupeds, 1 vol. + + Vol. IV. Æsop’s Fables, 1 vol. + + Vol. V. Memoir of Thomas Bewick, written by himself, with + numerous woodcuts prepared for a projected History of British + Fishes, 1 vol. + + + BLAKE (William) WORKS: Poetic, Symbolic, and Critical. Edited, with + Lithographs of the Illustrated “Prophetic Books” and a Memoir, by + EDWIN JOHN ELLIS, _Author of “Fate in Arcadia,” etc._, and WILLIAM + BUTLER YEATS, _Author of the “Wandering of Oisin,” “The Countess + Kathleen,” etc._, 3 vols. large 8vo., _with portraits and 290 + Facsimiles of Blake’s privately-printed and coloured works, + symbolical cloth binding_, £3. 3_s_ 1893 + + —— The same, Large Paper, 3 vols. 4to. _half bound morocco, gilt + top_, £4. 14_s_ 6_d_ 1893 + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77830 *** |