148 



But Eggs, before they are eaten, usually undergo some 

 process of Cookery. It is true (says Stengel) there are 

 persons who, in imitation of the Weasel, contrive, by opening 

 both ends of the shell, to suck out the contents in a crude 

 state. This however is rare. Our author therefore in his 

 twenty-sixth Emblem instructs us in the various methods 

 of cooking them. One man is depicted as turning upon 

 them the concentered rays of a Lens or Mirror. Another 

 is pouring hot water upon them — ^while a third is placing 

 his Egg in a Sling, which is then whirled round with great 

 velocity until the Egg is sufficiently " done " ! Erom these 

 processes much religious and moral doctrine is of course 

 deduced. 



In the fifty-third Emblem we are presented with the 

 following notable anecdote of an Irish Saint. Great was 

 the sanctity of Saint Keivin or Kevin. He retired into 

 a Solitude, where having constructed a small cell, he gave 

 himself up to fasting, prayer, and contemplation. One morn- 

 ing in Lent the holy man stood at his window, pouring forth 

 his accustomed orisons, when a little blackbird flew towards 

 him, and settling within his uplifted hands, deposited an Egg, 

 The gentle and pious saint continued to keep his hands in the 

 same posture while the bird laid more eggs, and even until 

 the whole were hatched, and the young brood were fledged. 

 In commemoration of this (adds our author, quoting Giraldus 

 Cambrensis for his authority), the statues of St. Kevin 

 always carry in the hands the figure of a blackbird. 



END OP THE SECOND PART. 



Hunc tacitiim tristemque decel — fit clarior ille 

 Leetitia, et linguae garrulitate sus. 



Cuncta trahitsecum vertitque volubile terapu», 

 Nee patituT certa currere qiiemque via. 



