. ........ 



COCKATRICE. 



M 



. 



I***, wi, a 



wind 



. 



t* tad. Mkl art* or <MBb aoowwtut like cock ; but the baailUk 

 of U*r UIBM WM proper kind of Mrpmk not atwve three plm 

 k*. H * Mont; and dinVrvo-*) from other arpeoU by 

 4*M)etef b head. and MOM whit* miriu or coronary apota upon 



Ik* <*ww. M all aoik*BU* writer* bar* delivered." The following U 

 V.f viR. 21V After Mating that the 



baa* CatobWpaa, aby* with ttoaya,k*pnaa*at: 

 - TW C/tinaju yrori*x produce* him of the greatnea* of not more 

 Una t**ir nnr. and remarkable for . white (pot, like a diadem, 

 lu IM.L He drire* away all nrpenU br hi. busing, nor doe* he 

 tauel hw body Ilk* the rwl by * mulUplw.1 flexion, but advance* lofty 

 aw) upright (oal**M *t mctui in medioV. He kilU the shrub*, not 

 only 

 kerh. 



by suatact. bat by breathing on them, acorche* up the green 

 aad plite tk* rack* : nek power. of evil i* there in him. It 

 orowrly tiH.v.i that if killed by a apear from on honebaek, 

 tk* power of Ik* poiaon conducted through the weapon killed not 

 only tk* rid*r. bat tk* bon* aba." To thi* Lacan allude* in theee 



' 



Q>U arnlMt atlwrl tasflsms ra**4de Maori 

 Tnaxwta* t v Ira ntiril per Mia vaaeaam, 



flock a pnxligy wa* not likely to be panned over in the legends of 

 tk* aiata. Accordingly we find that a good man (vir qiiidam Justus) 

 goiag to a fountain in the deaert. suddenly beheld a Basilink. II- 

 {nxdbtaly raiaad hi* eye* to heaven, and with a piou* appeal t the 



chat limilar miracle 



A aomewh 



Dty. bid tk* nvxuter dead at hi* feet 



i* related of tk* abbot St. John, who, by prayer, (lew a 



tkat by hid in the bottom of a deep well, and reduced the i 



a Btoaaatery built by him to the greatest distress for want of water. 



Lao IV., by a similar piety, i* aaid to have delivered Rome from' a 



BamlUk 

 the monks of 



whoa* broth afflict*! the inhmbiUnU with a terrible paiti- 

 locv io hu poatificale. 



' u*o* enumerate! the attribute* of the Bxilik in dilence, till he 

 i to ita alleged power of annihilating with the eye, when he mgely 

 *A " Intuitu intcrimere rix erediderim, quid enim primug 

 -" I w,,ul<l aoaroely believe that it kill, with iU look, for 

 who Ant amid bar* aaan it " The worthy phyacian wai not aware 

 that UMW who went to hunt the Baciluk of thu aort, took with 

 tkaai a mirror which reflected back the deadly glare upon ita author, 

 and. by a kind of poetical jiutioe, alew the Baailuk with ita own 

 waapoB. 



It i* curiou. to oUerre that Browne, who treata mort of the fabled 

 about Ik* Baaliek with oontotnpt, i< till unable to reaut the itory of 

 IU killing with th* eye. We think we can trace a little of the nym- 

 ory maintaiaed by Sir Kenelm Dighy and others, in the 

 aaage : " Aooording to the doctrine of the ancient*, men 

 that it killeth at a dutance, that it poiaoneth by the eye, 

 by priority of Tiaioo. Now that deleteriou* it may be at tome 

 M*. and deatraetJTi, without corporal contact ion, what unoer- 

 Utaly aoner UMT* be in the eftVet, there ia no improbability in th.- 

 KaktiMu For if plague* or pestilential atom* hare been conveyed in 

 th. atr fmn dioWrat regi<< ; if men at a diatanoe hare infected each 

 other ; U Ik* ahadow* of *ome tree* be noxiou* ; if torpedoo* deliver 

 tkair ofivm at a dinUooe, and itupify beyond them** Ire* ; we cannot 

 reaainahly deny that (baaida* our groa* and retrained poinoni, 

 r.|uirig eontir their action.) there may proceed from 



Mbtillcr ***d* mor. agile *manatinn, which contemn tboae law*, and 

 tarade at a ilKindl nn*xp*eto>l. That thi* renenation ihootetb from 



[ aarpaota, that renomou* fond *o inqninate* their ovall conception*, or 

 egg* within their bodie*, that they *oniet: nli in ><-r|K'ntini< 



ahapo* ; and therefore they alwaie* brake their egg*, nor would '!.;, 

 endure the bird to nit upon them." (Browne.) Baptuta Porta i* of 

 opinion that if a hen'*-gg be placed in a ditch full of serpenta, cor- 

 n (tabe*), areenic, -ind other poi*oni, it will produce an animal 

 noxiou* to the light and touch : at the name time heputa the > 

 mentaliit on hi* guard, lint in trying to produce tlii* anini:ii |..- 

 might (like Knuikeiutein) give birth to a creature that would do liiiu 

 a minchief. 



But what wu to atUcV this terrible and unapproachable monster t 

 There i* an old laying that " everything hath ita enemy ;" ami ill.- 

 Cockatrice quailed before the weaael. (Pliny, Soliuiu, and others.) 

 The Baailiiik might look dagger*, the weaael cared not ; in he went 

 to the (cratch. When it came to biting, the affair became mora 

 eriou* ; but the weaael retired for a moment to eat some rue (which, 

 of coune, wa* the only plant which the Baailialu could not with. r. 

 and wa* always growing where they lay), returned to the charge, and 

 never left the enemy till he lay stretched dead before him. So that 

 when men found out the den of a Ifosilisk, they had only to turn in a 

 weaael, and the thing was done. The monster, too, as if conscious of 

 the irregular way in which be entered the world, was supposed to 

 have a great antipathy to a cock ; and well he might ; for as soon as 

 he heard the cock crow, he expired. This we learn from .-Klinn ; and 

 African travellers, consequently, carried with them the ' bird nf 

 dawning ' M a specific against Cockatrices. 



The Banili.sk was of some use after death. Thus we read that ita 

 CM-CAM wa* suspended in the Temple of Apollo, and in private houses 

 as a sovereign remedy against spiders'-webs, and that it was also hung 

 up in the Temple of Diana, for which reason no swallow ever dared 

 to enter the sacred place. 



The reader will, we apprehend, by this time have " supped full " of 

 absurdities, but still we can imagine hix anxiety to know what a 

 Cockatrice was like. We therefore subjoin from Aldrovandii-. in 

 whom work he will find two others made out of skates (Raia), a 

 couple of figures, one of which he seems to owe to Cardan, and the 

 other to Grevinus. In both it will be seen that 



till 

 ad 



th. ey*. aad that thu way a basilisk may empoison, although thus 

 Wfc b* oot agreed upon by autbo*a, some imputing it unto the 

 ***** k*r unto th. bit. < impoMible ; for oye* 



r***iv* oflMair* impraanon* from their object*, and may havo inHu- 

 i to each other ; fur tk* risible apecie* of things itrike 

 y, but treatning in corporal raies, do carry 

 from whence they flow, and the 

 Thus, through a green <>r r-d 

 of the aame colour* ; thus, sore 

 '_ thenuelrea also by refl>-xion, 



le what 

 ye* carrying 



o to an mnanwd eye that behold* itaelf long in a 

 rtliii oade out ; and thu* al*o it ia not impo*nble 



" *"'* " *- <* *- %~ 



flnt tk* 



- 



and U from thence comma 







tf tk* author of the loqnirie* into Vulgar and Common 

 kmskow. aooMthlng of th* lingering look with which mort 



W4 reoHwd pnjudio**, he mskr. amend* by declaring war 

 k* *t*ry of tk* mod* of tk* Cockatrice*, production. As 



'* P 



' 



a toad or atrprat, it i* a conceit 



thanitlon that the il.i, f,.,din K ,,,, 



Thf likn 



" What wrnied his hond 

 i of a kingly crown had on." 



AlW/unu in lalitmlinr Africa rirna. 



h HI, tirr llrii 



