120 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



the season of their creeping out, yet he saw great 

 numbers of their exuviae or sloughs, and an elm 

 growing hard by laden with them. The discovery 

 of this air Schlangenbad was said to have been 

 made by a leper going from Rome to some baths 

 near this place, who, fortunately, losing his way, 

 and being benighted, turned into this cave. Find- 

 ing it very warm, and being very weary, he pulled 

 off his clothes and fell into such a deep sleep that 

 he did not feel the serpents about him till they had 

 wrought his cure. 



Such instances of good-will towards man, com- 

 bined with the periodical renovation of youthful 

 appearance, by a change of the whole external 

 skin, and the character of the serpent for wisdom, 

 contributed, doubtless, to raise the form to a place 

 among the deities. 



Wee may not forget that Genii were sometimes 

 paynted by the Paynims in the forme and shape of 

 man, having a home, betokening plentie orabound- 

 ance in their hand ; as is yet to be seen in many 

 olde and auncient stampes or coynes ; and some- 

 times in the forme of serpents ; which may well 

 serve to understand that verse of Persius 



Pinge duos angues, pueri, sacer est locus, &c. 



And this did not Servius forget, speaking of that 

 serpent which ^Eneas (in his anniversaries or 

 yearly sacrifices, celebrated to the name of his 

 father Anchises) did see to creepe upon his tombe ; 

 touching the which (as Virgill saith) ^Eneas was 

 uncertaine whether it were the Genius of his 

 father or of the place. And this may also helpe to 

 the interpretation of another place in Theocritus, 

 in his booke of Characters, (which I have also cor- 

 rected from the vulgar and common reading,) 

 where he saith, that a superstitious person, seeing 

 by chaunce a serpent in his house, did consecrate 

 unto it a little chappell in the same place. But 

 my meaning is not here to speake of serpents, 

 which (as Plutarch saith) were consecrated unto 

 noble and heroicall persons, and which, after their 

 deaths, did appeare neere to their corpses ; for this 

 is not any part of our matter ; albeit a man may 

 very well fit, unto the Genii, that same which he 

 hath delivered touching this point.* 



Fond of milk and wine, these genii, like the 

 lubricus anguis of Virgil's fifth book, tasted the 

 libations and were regarded as sacred. 



Their aptitude for lameness was another quality 

 which aided their elevation. The little girl men- 

 tioned by Maria Edgeworth, of blessed memory, 

 took out her little porringer daily to share her 

 breakfast with a friendly snake that came from its 

 hiding-place to her call ; and when the guest 

 intruded beyond the due limits, she would give it 

 a tap on the head with her spoon, and the admoni- 

 tion, " Eat on your own side, I say." 



A lad whom I knew kept a common snake in 

 London, which he had rendered so tame that it 

 was quite at ease with him and very fond of its 

 master. When taken out of its box, it would 



* A Treatise of Specters or Straunge Sights, Visions, 

 and Apparitions appearing sensibly unto Men. At 

 London. Printed by Val. S. for Matthew Lownes. 

 1COS. 



creep up his sleeve, come out at the top, wind 

 itself caressingly about his neck and face, and 

 when tired retire to sleep in his bosom. 



Carver, in his travels, relates an instance of 

 docility, which, if true, surpasses any story of the 

 kind I ever heard. 



An Indian belonging to the Menomonie, having 

 taken a rattlesnake, found means to tame it ; and 

 when he had done this treated it as a deity, calling 

 it his great father, and carrying it with him in a 

 box wherever he went. This he had done for 

 several summers, when Mons. Pinnisance acci- 

 dentally met with him at this carrying place, just 

 as he was setting off for a winter's hunt. The 

 French gentleman was surprised one day to see the 

 Indian place the box which contained his god on 

 the ground, and opening the door give him his 

 liberty ; telling him, whilst he did it, to be sure 

 and return by the time he himself should come 

 back, which was to be in the month of May follow- 

 ing. As this was but October, monsieur told the 

 Indian, whose simplicity astonished him, that he 

 fancied he might wait long enough, when May 

 arrived, for the arrival of his great father. The 

 Indian was so confident of his creature's obedience, 

 that he offered to lay the Frenchman a wager of 

 two gallons of rum, that at the time appointed he 

 would come and crawl into his box. This was 

 agreed on, and the second week in May following 

 fixed for the determination of the wager. At that 

 period they both met there again, when the Indian 

 set down his box and called for his great father. 

 The snake heard him not ; and the time being now 

 expired, he acknowledged that he had lost. How- 

 ever, without seeming to be discouraged, he offered 

 to double the bet if his father came not within two 

 days more. This was further agreed on ; when, 

 behold, on the second day, about one o'clock, the 

 snake arrived, and of his own accord crawled into 

 the box, which was placed ready for him. The 

 French gentleman vouched for the truth of this 

 story, and, from the accounts I have often received 

 of the docility of those creatures, I see no reason to 

 doubt its veracity. 



Southey has taken advantage of this docility, 

 when he brings before us the diabolical arch- 

 priest, and his monstrous god , 



The general grave 



Was delved within a deep and shady dell, 

 Fronting a cavern in the rock, ... the scene 

 Of many a bloody rite, ere Madoc came. . . 

 A temple as they deemed by Nature made, 

 Where the snake-idol stood. 



Suddenly Neolin 



Sprung up aloft, and shrieked, as one who treads 

 Upon a viper in his heedless path, 

 The God ! the very God ! he cried, and howled 

 One long, shrill, piercing modulated cry, 

 Whereat from that dark temple issued forth 

 A serpent huge and hideous. On he came 

 Straight to the sound, and curled around the priest 

 His mighty folds innocuous, overtopping 

 His human height, and arching down his head, 

 Sought in the hands of Neolin for food ; 

 Then questing, reared and stretched and waved his 



neck, 



And glanced his forky tongue. Who then had seen 

 The man, with what triumphant fearlessness, 

 Arms, thighs, and neck, and body wreathed and 



ringed 



In those tremendous folds, he stood secure, 

 Played with the reptile's jaws, and called for food, 

 Food for the present God ! . . who then had seen 



