connected with Natural History. 213 



salt, or meeting an old woman ? Poiet. These, as well as the 

 omens of death-watches, dreams, &c., are founded upon some 

 accidental coincidences; but spilling of salt, on an uncommon 

 occasion, may, as I have known it, arise from a disposition to 

 apoplexy, shown by an incipient numbness in the hand, and 

 may be a fatal symptom ; and persons dispirited by bad omens 

 sometimes prepare the way for evil fortune ; for confidence of 

 success is a great means of insuring it. The dream of 

 Brutus before the battle of Philippi probably produced a 

 species of irresolution and despondency which was the prin- 

 cipal cause of his losing the battle ; and I have heard that the 

 illustrious sportsman to whom you referred just now was 

 always observed to shoot ill, because he shot carelessly, after 

 one of his dispiriting omens. Hal. I have in life met with a 

 few things which I have found it impossible to explain, either 

 by chance coincidences or by natural connections; and I 

 have known minds of a very superior class affected by them * ; 

 persons in the habit of reasoning deeply and profoundly." 

 (p. 159.) I am, Sir, yours, &c. 



J. C. Farmer. 

 Coquet dale ^ Northumberland, May, 1831. 



P.S. In p. 244. oiSalmonia is an excellent exposure of the 

 tale of the mermaid having been seen in Scotland ; and in 

 Butler's Reminiscences^ vol. ii. p. 103., is given a scene between 

 Sir P. Francis and Burke, which shows the latter's devotion 

 to natural history. — J. C. F. 



* Shakspeare paints Cassius as a character exactly illustrative of this 

 remark, in his Julius CcBsaVy act v. Cassius, apprehending an unsuccessful 

 issue to the approaching battle of Philippi, thus remarks : — 



Messala, 



This is my birth-day ; as this very day 

 Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala ; 

 Be thou ray witness, that, against my will, 

 As Porapey was, am I compell'd to set 

 Upon one battle all our liberties. 

 You know, that I held Epicurus strong. 

 And his opinion : now I change my mind ; 

 And partly credit things that do presage. 

 Coming from Sardis, on our foremost ensign 

 Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch'd, 

 Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands ; 

 Who to Philippi here consorted us ; 

 This morning are they fled away, and gone ; 

 And in their steads do ravens, crows, and kites. 

 Fly o'er our heads, and downward look on us. 

 As we were sickly prey ; their shadows seem 

 A canopy most fatal, under which 



Our army lies, ready to give the ghost." J, D. 



p 3 



