280 



SHAKESPEARE'S 



[SERPENT. 



thereto, and ween to find there a ram, and find a venomous 

 Serpent when they have assayed. Also Boa is a Serpent 

 full great in quantity, and is in Italy, and followeth flocks 

 of neat and of bugles [buffaloes], and setteth himself guile- 

 fully to the udders of the beasts that be full of milk, and 

 sucketh and slayeth them. The head of a Serpent scapeth 

 and liveth, if it may scape with two fingers of the body, 

 and therefore they put forth all the body for defence of the 

 head. Also all Serpents have dim sight, and look away- 

 ward, and no wonder, for their eyes be not in the forehead 



but in the temples, so that they may rather hear than see. 

 Also no beast moveth the tongue so swiftly as the Serpent, 

 for it moveth the tongue so swiftly, that it seemeth that it 

 hath three tongues, yet it hath but one. Also the bodies 

 of serpents be moist, so that where they glide and go, they 

 infect the way, and mark it with a manner glymy [viscous] 

 humour. Also Serpents live long and without meat. And 

 they live so long time, that they put away their old skins, 

 and become young again. The manner of changing of 

 Serpents' skins seemeth wonderful enough ; for the adder 

 feeleth himself grieved with evil, or with age, and abstaineth 



