THE COIIMON FOWL. 43 



dwelt, dividing the land, in his days,) and 

 between which country and Britain, there was 

 a perpetual intercourse. Be this as it may, 

 Csesar notices the fowl as established in our 

 island, and informs that, though it was kept 

 for pleasure, it was forbidden by the Druids 

 to be used as food. The goose,* the hare, 

 and the fish of rivers were also among the 

 forbidden meats. That the Romans, during 

 their long domination, introduced various 

 breeds of fowls, and perhaps other poultry 

 into our island, may be easily believed ; 

 nevertheless, the fowl and the goose were 

 domesticated here, on their arrival. The gems 

 and coins of ancient Greece prove the remote- 

 ness of time at which the domestic fowl was 

 a familiar denizen in that country. The cock 

 was dedicated to several of the Grecian gods, 

 as Apollo, Mars, Mercury, jEsculapius, etc., 

 and our readers may remember that, in his 

 dying hour, the great Socrates — perhaps in 

 irony, perhaps from some feelings connected 

 with early associations — reminded his friends 

 that he owed a cock to ^sculapius. The 

 watchfulness, spirit, and prowess of the bird 



* We have here a proof that the goose was kept domeiticated 

 in England from a very early epoch. 



