AND ANGLING SONGS. 361 



occasion of my first meeting with this tenant of the rocks, he 

 showed every inclination to dispute my advance ; but the sight 

 of the fishing-rod, which was set up and ready for action, evi- 

 dently disconcerted him, and he hung back in his approaches to 

 the distance of nine or ten yards from my person. It was not, 

 however, until I had commenced fishing, that the spirit of im- 

 patience which he had shdwn at the outset appeared to become 

 exchanged for one of curiosity ; and although I have spoken of 

 our introduction as an unfriendly one, at least on his part, I am 

 apt to think, judging from his after conduct, that he regarded 

 my future visits to his domain in a better spirit. He certainly 

 appeared, at least, to take great interest in my operations, plant- 

 ing himself, on collected all-fours, on the most convenient pro- 

 minence within view, and continuing his survey so long as I 

 remained at the river's edge, within bounds of his assumed juris- 

 diction. 



I have introduced this old acquaintance into notice, because I 

 attribute to him the credit of thinning out the viperous population, 

 which, there was every reason to apprehend, would be even more 

 numerous on his particular beat than on the adjoining ground. 

 The notion I have alluded to, as current among shepherds, is 

 that the goat is an avowed enemy to serpents, 'and will lose no 

 opportunity of attacking and devouring them, notwithstanding 

 their venomous nature. This beKef is one of great ' antiquity. 

 It is represented by the figure of a goat holding a snake in his 

 mouth in the zodiacal sign Capricorn, and has been adopted, if I 

 mistake not, as an armorial crest in British heraldry.! The per- 

 tinacity with which it has been clung to, in our hill districts 

 especially, has no doubt instigated an investigation by naturalists 

 into the subject. Through means of this inquiry, the mortal 

 antipathy of the goat to serpents has' been established. Its mode 

 of attacking and depriving them of life has also been ascertained ; 

 but proof that it actually devours them is still wanting. In 



