284 SHAKESPEARE'S [SHEEP. 



NOTE that if you boil a Serpent or a worm, and give 

 of the fat of that worm to any man to eat, he will under- 

 stand when they sing. [He does not explain who are 

 " they/' but from the previous article " they " may be 

 mice or Serpents.] This has been proved. 



Albertus Magnus^ " Of the Wonders of the World." 



IN a garden of the suburbs [of Aleppo] I did see a 

 Serpent of wonderful bigness, and they report that the male 

 Serpent and young ones being killed by certain boys, this 

 she-serpent, observing the water where the boys used to 

 drink, did poison the same, so as many of the boys died 

 thereof; and that the citizens thereupon came out to kill 

 her, but seeing her lie with her face upward, as complain- 

 ing to the heavens that her revenge was just, that they, 

 touched with a superstitious conceit, let her alone ; finally 

 that this Serpent had lived here many ages, and was of 

 incredible years. Fynes Moryson, "Itinerary," part i. p. 246. 



IF a snake did bite a Cappadocian, the man's blood was 

 poison to the snake, and killed him. 



Purcbai "Pilgrims," p. 320 (ed. 1616). 



SERPENTS are plentifully engendered of much rain, or 

 effusion of men's blood in war. Ibid., p. 560. 



THE cucurijuba is a fresh-water snake [in Brazil], toothed 

 like a dog ; it catcheth a man, cow, stag, or other prey, 

 winding it with the tail, and so swalloweth it whole ; after 

 which she lies and rots, the ravens and crows eating her all 

 but the bones, to which after groweth new flesh, by life 

 derived from the head, which is hidden all this while in the 

 mire. /#</., p . 843. 



Sheep. 



A SHEEP is a nesh [soft] beast, and beareth wool, and is 

 unarmed in body, and pleasing in heart. And if Sheep 

 conceive toward the Northern wind, they conceive males ; 

 and if they conceive toward the Southern wind, then they 

 conceive females. And such as the veins be under the 

 Sheep's tongue, of such colour is the lamb when he is 



