NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 191 



5. Which heareth not the voj-ce of the inehanter, though he be 

 most expert in charming.* 



These incantations were too tempting to be neglected 

 by the poets. The shepherd in Virgil alludes to their 

 destructive powers: — 



Carminibus Circe socios mutavit Ulixi : 

 Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis.f 



Manilius and Ovid use nearly the same expressions. The 

 words of the former are, — 



Consultare fibras, et rumpere vocibus angues. 



And the Poet of Love, the Moore of his day, writes : — 



Carmine dissihunt abruptis faucibus angues 

 Inque suos fontes versa recurrit aqua.J 



The Psylli, and their neighbours the Marmaridae, were 

 among the most famous for their power over serpents. 

 These African charmers of snakes, and the Italian Marsi, 

 carried, if we are to believe one half of the accounts re- 

 corded of their feats, this magic art to the highest point 

 of infallibility. The magi played upon pipes made of the 

 legs and bones of cats to call the serpents together ; upon 

 the same principle, I suppose, that actuated the less am- 

 bitious enchanters, who, to rid themselves of mice, played 

 upon a pipe made of their vertebrae, the dulcet and at- 



* Barker's Bible. In the version now read in our churches the 

 words are : — 



4. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent ; they are Hke 

 the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear ; 



5. Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charmina: 

 never so wisely. 



And in the Book of Common Prayer the words are : — 



4. They are as venomous as the poison of a serpent : even like 

 the deaf adder that stoppeth her ears ; 



5. Which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer : charm he 

 never so wisely. 



t Pharmaceutria, Eclog. viii. 

 X Amor. lib. ii. El. 1. 



