OF SERPENTS. 79 



Several dreadful things are attributed to his venemous Qu^alities, 

 fo fing the Poets *. 



According to Pliny and other antient Hiftorians, this Ser- 

 pent in its Motion, inclines to the Eredl; it goes half upright, 

 the middle and poilcrior parts of the Body only touching the 

 Ground. The Venom of the Bafiiifk is (aid to befo exalted, that 

 if it bites a Staff, 'twill kill the Perfon that makes ufe of it j but 

 this is Tradition without a Voucher \, 



The reafon why this Serpent is dubb'd King, is not becaufe 

 *tis larger in bulk than others of the Fraternity, or becaufe it wears 

 a Crown, or becaufe that Title feems to be recognized by a divine 

 Prophet, who fJDeaking of Ahaz and his Son Hezekiah, fays. 

 Out of the Serpert's Root Jloall come forth a Cockatrice, and his 

 Fruit f jail be a fiery flying Serpent. The Hebrew exprefles it by 

 a word, that fignifies a Prince or King, but not with a View to 

 Empire over the ferpentine Race. 



But 'tis moft probable, that the royal Stile is given to this 

 Serpent, becaufe of its majeflic Pace^ which feems to be attended 

 with an Air of Grandeur and Authority. It does not, like other 

 Serpents, creep on the Earth 5 which if it did, the fight of it 

 would not be frightful, but moving about, in a fort of an eredt 

 Pofture, it looks like a Creature of another Species, therefore they 

 conclude 'tis an Enemy. Serpents are for Uniformity, therefore 

 can't endure thofe that differ from them in the Mode of Motion. 



'T I s faid of this Creature, that its Poifon infedts the Air to 

 that Degree, that no other Animal can live near it, according to 

 the Tradition of the Elders famous for magnificent Tales. Thefe 

 little Furiofo's are bred in the Solitudes of Africa, and are alfo 

 found in fome other Places, and every where are terrible Neigh- 

 hours. 



The crown'd Bafilifk leads me to Ovid, who, fpeaklng of 

 Man's ered Poflure, fays 'tis a Mark of Diftindtion due to the 

 Excellencies of the human Mind : 



* Tarn teter vacuas odor hinc exhalat in auras, 



Atque propinquantes penetrant non fegniter artus. Nica?i. 

 Anteveneni nocensjlate fibi fubmovet omne 

 Vulf',u , & in vacua regnat Bafilifcus arena. Lucav, 270. 

 f ^Eliaff. G^ilii Acceljio^ cap. xviii. p. 247. Jonjloni Bi^oria NaturaKSerp. 



P- 34> 35- ' 



