THE ADDER AND THE ASP. 183 



the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They 

 shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; for the earth 

 shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 

 sea,' Isaiah xi. 69. In the glowing descriptions of the Golden 

 Age, with which the Oriental writers, and the rapturous bards of 

 Greece and Rome, entertained their contemporaries, the wild beasts 

 grow tame, serpents resign their poison, and noxious herbs their 

 deleterious qualities ' all is peace and harmony, plenty and happi- 



The soaring genius of these elegant writers, however, could reach 

 no higher than a negative felicity : but the inspired bard, far sur- 

 passing them in the beauty and elegance, as well as in the variety 

 of imagery, with which he clothes the same ideas, exhibits a glow- 

 ing picture of positive and lasting happiness. The wolf and the 

 leopard not only forbear to destroy the lamb and kid, but even take 

 their abode with them, and lie down together. The calf, and the 

 young lion, and the falling, not only come together, but also repose 

 under the same covert, and are led quietly in the same band, and 

 that by a little child. The cow and the she-bear, not only feed to- 

 gether, but even lodge their young ones, for whom they used to be 

 most jealously fearful, in the same place. All the serpent kind is 

 so perfectly harmless, that the sucking infant, or the newly- weaned 

 child, puts his hand on the basilisk's den, and plays upon the hole 

 of the aspic. The lion, not only abstains from preying on the weak- 

 er animals, but also becomes tame and domestic, and feeds on straw 

 like the ox. These are all beautiful circumstances, not one of which 

 has been touched by the ancient poets. 



The wonderful effect which music produces on the serpent tribes, 

 is confirmed by the testimony of several respectable moderns. Ad- 

 ders swell at the sound of a flute, raising themselves up on the one 

 half of their body, turning themselves round, beating proper time, 

 and following the instrument. Their head, naturally round and 

 long like an eel, becomes broad and flat like a fan. The tame ser- 

 pents, many of which the Orientals keep in their houses, are known 

 to leave their holes in hot weather, at the sound of a musical instru- 

 ment, and to run upon the performer. Dr. Shaw had an opportur 

 nity of seeing a number of serpents keep exact time with the Der- 

 vishes in their circulatory dances, running over their heads and 

 arms, turning when they turned, and stopping when they stopped. 

 The rattle-snake acknowledges the power of music as much as any 

 of his family ; of which the following instance is a decisive proof. 

 When Chateaubriand was in Canada, a snake of this species enter- 

 ed their encampment; a young Canadian, one of the party, who 

 could play on the flute, to divert his associates, advanced against 

 the serpent with his new species of weapon. On the approach of 

 his enemy, the haughty reptile curled himself into a spiral line,flat^ 

 toned his head, inflated his cheeks, contracted his lips, displayed his 

 envenomed fangs, and his bloody throat ; his double tongue glowed 

 like two flames of fire ; his eyes were burning coals ; his body, swolu 



