HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSSIT. 



3 



a!i argument, but I care uot what a fool says ; I do 

 not repent. There are ill speakers enough when 

 there are few encomiasts ; men who blame, and 

 none who amend. I never invented or laboured at 

 it for fools ; know that it is villany, and I hold it 

 folly that a man should judge if he knows not how 

 to plead, or to blame what be cannot amend. So 

 the villain said in reproof to the drunkard : ' The 

 worst wheel cries in the cart.' ' Very hard is the 

 apple which never ripens.' " 



You will perceive that the autlior, like Sancho 

 Pauza, has a liking for proverbs, and he introduces 

 them at every opportunity. One or two short ex- 

 tracts will suffice to give you an idea of the scientific 

 value of this treatise : — " It is called a week which is 

 formed of seven days. Orighially God invented it by 

 six days that he worked; on the seventh he reposed. 

 This lie called a week. And so it is written in the 

 law which we read : six days we ouglit to work, and 

 rest the seventh, for the love of the Lord, who kept 

 this day. And now we will show why the days are 

 named. The Pagans invented the names which 

 they gave to the days. The first, which we call 

 Sunday, they gave to the sun, and gave his name 

 to it because he enlightened the world and drove 

 away night ; and it pleased God that it should be 

 so called, for it was his day, and he chose to have 

 it. The second day they gave and assigned to the 

 moon, for the world which she enlightened when 

 the sun is set. The other days they gave to the 

 gods whom they loved. They worshipped four. 

 One they called Mars ; he was a bold and valiant 

 knight ; to his honour they assigned the third day 

 (Marsdi) ; we call it Tuesday, according to their 

 practice." In similar style he treats of the months, 

 the signs of the zodiac, the festivals and fasts of 

 the Church. 



The third treatise is by the same author, and is 

 called " The Bestiary, or Book of Beasts," and is 

 probably founded on some Latin treatises. The 

 writings of Philip de Thaun belonged to a period 

 of our history when Anglo-Norman was the common 

 language among respectable classes of society. The 

 author commences with an allusion to the Queen 

 of England. "Philip de Thaun into the French 

 language has translated ' The Bestiary ' a book 

 of science for the honour of a jewel, who is a very 

 handsome woman: Alice she is named, a Queen 

 she is crowned. Queen she is of England ; may her 

 soul never have trouble! In Hebrew, iu truth, 

 Alice means praise of God. I will compose a 

 book ; may God be its commencement. What is in 

 Greek \ leiai, has iu French the name of klz/g. 

 The lion in many ways rules over many beasts; 

 therefore is the lion king. Now, you shall hear 

 how. 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 signitlcatiou of this." 



A naturalist of the present day would probably be 

 satisfied with giving a specific description of the 

 animal he was treating upon; or, if he aimed at 

 writing a popular book,would give some of its habits ; 

 but our author does not let his readers off quite so 

 easily. He was evidently no materialist, for he finds 

 a spiritual significance in all the animals he describes. 

 The lion, he says, signifies the Son of Mary. " He 

 is king of all people, without any gainsay. He is 

 powerful by nature over every creature, and fierce 

 iu appearance ; and with fierce look he will appear 

 to the Jews when he shall judge them, because 

 they made themselves guilty when they hanged 

 him on the cross, and therefore they have merited 

 to have no king over 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 tail is indi- 

 cated justice, whicli is placed over us. By the leg, 

 which is flat, he shows that God was constrained, 

 and it was convenable that he should give himself 

 up for us. By the foot, which is cloven, is demon- 

 strance of God, who will clasp the world, and will 

 hold it m his fist. By the claws is meant ven- 

 geance upon the Jews. By the ass we understand 

 the Jews very rightly ; the ass is foolish by nature, 

 as the Scriptures say ; he will turn from his way, if 

 one does not drag him entirely to it. Just such a 

 nature the Jews have, who are fools ; they will 

 never believe in God unless they do it by force ; 

 they will never be converted unless God have mercy 

 upon them." 



(I suspect the Society for the Propagation of 

 Christianity among the Jews have not understood 

 this important fact, and consequently they are not 

 so successful as our author would have been if such 

 a society had existed iu his day, and he had been a 

 member of it.) 



Our naturalist proceeds to describe an animal 

 which, by some unaccountable oversight, is not 

 mentioned by Buffou, Cuvier, or Owen. He says : 

 "Monoceros is a beast which has one horn on his 

 head ; therefore it is so named. It has the form of 

 a goat. It is caught by means of a virgin. When 

 a man intends to take and ensnare it, he goes to a 

 forest where is its repair. There he places a virgin 

 with her breasts uncovered, and by its smell the 

 Monoceros perceives it. Then it comes to the 

 virgin and kisses her breast, falls asleep on her lap, 

 and so comes to its death. The man arrives imme- 

 diately and kills it iu its sleep, or takes it aUve and 

 does as he likes with it. It signifies much. I will 

 not need to tell you Monoceros is Greek : it means 

 cue horn, A beast of such description signifies 



B 2 



