26 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 



Testament, except a doubtful allusion in the Vulgate transla- 

 tion of the book of Proverbs (xxx. 31), which is lost in the 

 authorized version; the Hebrew word translated "gallus" in 

 one place being rendered " greyhound" in the other : ' Gallus 

 succinctus lumbos ; et aries : nee est rex, qui resistat ei :" " a 

 greyhound ;" (some think the war-horse was meant), " an he- 

 goat also ; and a king, against whom there is no rising up." 

 It will be seen that the Latin and the English by no means run 

 parallel to each other. There is another equally disputable 

 passage in Ecclesiastes xii. 4 : " And the doors shall be shut 

 in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he 

 shall rise up at the voice of the bird (i. e. at Cock-crowing), 

 and all the daughters of music shall be brought low." Both 

 passages are quoted by the- Rev. Mr. Pegg in his curious paper 

 on Cock-fighting, in the Archssologia, vol. iii. A still less 

 certain reference occurs in the book of Job, xxxviii. 36 : " Who 

 hath put wisdom in the inward parts ? or, who hath given un- 

 derstanding to the heart?" running thus in the Latin: " Quis 

 posuit in visceribus sapientiam, vel quis dedit gallo intelligen- 

 tiam?" which is commented on by St. Gregory, and the word 

 " gallus" spiritually interpreted as having reference to those 

 earnest preachers who rouse men from the slumber of sin, and 

 cry aloud that the night is far spent, the day is at hand. 



In our English version, " fowls" as articles of provision are 

 mentioned at 1 Kings, iv. 23, and again at Nehemiah, v. 18. 

 Unfortunately, even Hebrew scholars often find a difficulty in 

 fixing upon the animals intended by certain Hebrew words. 

 On referring to the Septuagint translation of the Old Testa- 

 ment into Greek, I find that, in the passage in Kings, the 

 words*rendered in our version " fatted fowl" are literally "birds^ 

 select fatted ones from the select." But in Nehemiah, instead 

 of the "fowls" of our translation, the Septuagint reads, "a goat/' 

 So that, though we do not doubt that Cocks and Hens were 

 domesticated in those early ages, and before them, still the 



