or Zoological 'Recollectio7is, S9I^ 



A white bull was the most acceptable sacrifice among the 

 Romans : but a black ox was considered as the emblem of 

 misfortune; as we say of one who has been unlucky in his. 

 pursuits, that the black ox has set his foot upon him. And 

 a man who has been bribed to silence is said to have an ox 

 in his tongue, hos in lingua ,• because the figure of an ox was 

 stamped upon the Roman coin : and for this reason the word 

 pecunia, or money, was derived from pecus, or cattle. Europa 

 was fabled to have been carried beyond sea by a bull, because 

 Taurus, or the Bull, was the name of the ship by which she 

 was conveyed. By the Roman law, the owner of a vicious 

 bull was obliged to distinguish him by a bundle of hay tied to 

 his horn ; whence the expression, " he has hay on his horn,'* 

 as spoken of a dangerous or litigious man : " foenum habet 

 in cornu ; longe fuge." Of a bold adventurer we say, that 

 he has taken the bull by the horns ; and of a petulant woman,, 

 that the curst cow has short horns. [In Exodus, xxi. 28 — 36.^ 

 there are various compensations appointed to be made for 

 injuries received from oxen by human beings or other oxen,. 

 as well as for injuries occasioned by man to oxen.] 



To plough with the heifer means, to make a friend' of the 

 female sex :: for when Samson lost his wager to the Philis^ 

 tines by the treachery of his wife, " If," said he, " ye had not 

 ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.'* 

 (Judges, xiv. 18.) To chew the cud and to ruminate, ex- 

 pressions figurative of deep and serious reflection, are taken 

 from the placid and quiescent habits of this tribe of qua- 

 drupeds. To bully and to cow, meaning to intimidate and 

 overbear, are probably words taken from the menacing at- 

 titudes of these animals when irritated : so coward, from them 

 when in an opposite condition. Some, however, have sup- 

 posed that the expression bully arose from the pope's bull, or 

 threat of excommunication. And he who is compelled to 

 retract unwarrantable pretensions is said to draw in his horns. 



Bull-feasts are probably remains of pagan sacrifice, or 

 augurial rites ;. at present a national and favourite amusement 

 in Spain... 



" So Spanish heroes with their lances 

 At once wound bulls and ladies' fancies ; 

 And he acquires the noblest spouse. 

 That widows greatest herds of cows." Hudibras, 



Bull-baiting was first introduced into England in the time 

 ©f King John, and is supposed to be commemorative of the 

 persecutions of Christians under the emperor Nero, who, 

 among other species of torture, commanded them to be sewed 

 up in the skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs, 



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