396 Origines Zoologicco^ 



sewn up in sheepskins and goatskins, and torn to pieces by- 

 dogs ; or in this state exposed to the heat of the sun or a slow 

 fire, which, by gradually shrinking and shriveling the skin of 

 the animal in which they were straitly enclosed, exposed them 

 to still more exquisite and lingering tortures. 



In the ruins of Persepolis were found the statues and 

 figures of rams, which formed one of the astronomical signs 

 at the commencement of the year, when ewes yean : and it 

 was the ensign of the tribe of Gad. The lamb is an emblem 

 of spotless innocence and patience, the symbol of the pass- 

 over, and the type of the Redeemer of man; and a vast 

 slaughter of these unresisting victims is annually made on 

 Good Friday, for the feast of Easter day : and a smooth "and 

 pleasant drink is called lamb's- wool. The Bachelors of Ox- 

 ford, who determine their degrees at Lent, wear lambskin 

 hoods, emblematical of the innocence of the calling they are 

 about to adopt ; for all learning, and all learned occupations, 

 were formerly confined to the clergy. This hood is at present 

 degraded into a strip of flannel. 



The age of the sheep is known by the teeth : and an old 

 ewe who has lost her teeth is called a crone ; a term applied, 

 in low language, to a disgusting old woman. A sheep two 

 years old is called a hog; the double acceptation of which 

 term occasioned the following ridiculous mistake. A com- 

 mercial gentleman, not much acquainted with husbandry, ap- 

 plied to an agricultural friend for the best means of bringing 

 upon his newly laid lawn a fine clothing of herbage, and was 

 advised to have it eaten down by a score of hogs. Unaware 

 of its less common meaning as applicable to sheep of a cer- 

 tain age, and taking it in its more usual sense, he purchased a 

 score of large pigs ; and, to his very great surprise and mor- 

 tification, soon discovered that his lawn was totally scarified 

 and rooted up. About the neck of the oldest wether of the 

 flock is often fastened a bell, to gather them together, or to 

 Conduct the herdsman to their place of pasture ; whence a 

 noisy and brawling woman is called a bell-wether or bel- 

 dame. * The Romans used battering rams in their sieges ; 

 and our terms ram and ramrod seem to have their origin 

 from this source. Of a person of indifferent character, and 



* [Rams fight most desperately. The noise produced by the concussion 

 of their heads may be heard at a great distance. They would seem to 

 proceed to fighting with great suddenness, as if the sentiment of aversion 

 were fixed, and prompted them to battle at sight. I infer this from Shak- 

 speare's remark in As You Like It: — " Never was there anything so sud- 

 den, except the battle of two rams."] 



