UNICORN.] NATURAL HISTORY. 321 



[Trot IMS and Cressida, iii. 2, 185, and Winters Tale, ut 

 supra]. He cometh in springing time and warneth of 

 novelty of time with groaning voice. And in winter he 

 loseth his feathers, and then he hideth him in hollow stocks. 

 And against summer, in springing time, when his feathers 

 spring again, he cometh out of his hole in the which he 

 was hid, and seeketh convenable place and stead for to 

 breed in. The Turtle layeth eggs twice in springing time, 

 and not the third time, but if the first eggs be corrupt. 

 Also the blood of her right wing is medicinable, as the 

 blood of a swallow, and of a culvour or dove. 



Bartholomew (Bertkelef), bk. xii. 34. 



AMATIDES is a precious stone ; if a cloth be touched 

 therewith, the cloth withstandeth fire and burneth not, 

 though it be put therein ; but it receiveth brightness and 

 seemeth the more clear. And withstandeth all evil doing 

 of witches. ibid., bk. xvi. 19. 



IT is supposed that in the maw of the cock Turtle-dove 

 this stone is to be found, and hath virtue to increase 

 concord and love. 



Batman's addition to Bartholomew , ut supra. 



IF the heart of a Turtle-dove be worn in the skin of a 

 wolf, the wearer will never thenceforth be wanton. If its 

 heart be burnt, and put on the eggs of any bird, never will 

 it be possible that they should be hatched. And if its feet 

 be hung on a tree, from thenceforth it will not bear fruit. 

 And if a hairy place be anointed with its blood, and the 

 water in which a mole has been boiled, the black hairs will 

 fall off. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Virtues of Animals." 



Unicorn. 



A living drollery ! Now I will believe 

 That there are unicorns. 



TEMPEST, iii. 2, 22. 



JULIUS C^SAR, ii. i, 204. 



AN Unicorn is a right cruel beast, and hath that name 

 for he hath in the middle of the forehead an horn of four 



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