FRAGILITY OF THE THREAD. 211 



a pitying spirit seems for a moment to supplant her 

 rage, she addresses her successor in the words — 



" Poor, painted Queen ! vain flourisb of my fortune ! 

 Why strewest thou sugar on that bottled spider, 

 Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about ?" 



Richard III., Act I. Sc. III. 



In another part of the same play, the epithet "bottled," 

 is again apphed in a similar manner : — 



"Tliat bottled spider, that foul hunchback'd toad." 



Act IV. Sc. IV. 



And in both instances we may suppose it is used on 

 account of the peculiar shape of the spider's body. 



The weakness of the web is almost proverbial : 

 hence it is employed by Job, in speaking of the hypo- 

 crite, — " Whose trust shall be a spider's web" (c. viii. 

 V. 14). 



In a similar signification it has been most appro- 

 priately employed by Young — 



" The spider's most attenuated thread 

 Is cord, is cable, to man's tender tie 

 On earthly bliss ; it breaks at every breeze." 



Niff/it Thoughts, Night I. 



In foreign countries, instances very much the re- 

 verse of this might be brought forward ; for the threads 

 spun by spiders form no inconsiderable obstacle to 

 the progress of a man through the woods where they 



p 2 



