100 THE RAVEN, 



Cook ; and in the lowest Southern or Antarctic regions, 

 other travellers have found him pursuing his cautious 

 predatory life, just as in England.* 



From the earliest times the raven, with his deep and 

 solemn voice, has always commanded attention, and 

 superstitious people have become impressed with the idea 

 that there is something unearthly in his nature and 

 ominous in his voice.f By the Romans this bird was 

 consecrated to Apollo, and regarded as a foreteller of 

 good or evil. Through a long course of centuries this 

 character has clung to him ; and even to this day, there 

 are many who believe that the raven's croak predicts a 

 death. 



No wonder, then, that Shakespeare has taken advantage 

 of this wide-spread belief, and has introduced the raven 

 into many of the solemn passages of his Plays, to carry 

 conviction to the minds of the people, and render his 

 images the more impressive. He frequently alludes to 

 "the ill-boding raven : " 



" It conies o'er my memory, 

 As doth the raven o'er the infectious house, 



Boding to all." 



Othello, Act iv. Sc. i. 



Thersites, in Troilus and Cressida (Act v. Sc. 2), 

 says, 



* Stanley's " Familiar History of Birds," p. 179. 



f An excellent dissertation on the organ of voice in the raven will be found in 

 the second volume of Yarrell's " British Birds," 3rd ed. p. 72 



