Class III. TOAD. 15 



ieems that Shake/pear alludes, when he makes his 

 Juliet remark, 



Some fay the lark and loathed .toad change eyes. 



As if they would have been better bellowed on fo 

 charming a fongfter than on this raucous reptile. 



But the hideous appearance of the toad is fuch 

 as to make this one advantageous feature over- 

 looked, and to have rendered it in all ages an object 

 of horor, and the origin of moft tremendous inven- 

 tions. JElian * makes its venom fo potent, that 

 Bafilijk-Wk^ it conveyed death by its very look and 

 breath ; but Juvenal is content with making the 

 Roman ladies, who were weary of their hufbands, 

 form a potion from its intrails -f, in order to get 

 rid of the good man. 



Occurrit Matrona potens, quae molle Calenum 

 Porrettura viro mifcet fitiente rubetara. Sat. I. 68. 



To quench the hufband's parching thirft, is brought 



By the great Dame, a moft deceitful draught ; 



In rich Calenian wine fhe does infufe, 



(To eafe his pains) the toad's envenom'd juice. 



This .opinion begat others of a more dreadful 

 nature ; for in after-times fuperftition gave it pre- 

 ternatural powers, and made it a principal ingre- 

 dient in the incantations of nocturnal hags : 



* Htji, an, lib. ix. c. II. 



-f Sat, v\. 658, Vide Milan Uifl % an, lib, xvii. c. 12. and 15. 



Toa4 



