216 THEIR POISONOUS FLUID. 



and, if lam right in my conjecture, the passage fur- 

 nishes another proof that what Shakspeare describes 

 is true and correct, for it is that which " he has seen 

 with his own eyes." 



My single-hearted and talented friend, Sheridan 

 Knowles, has very happily noticed the spider, the 

 snail, and the nut- worm, in his popular drama of the 

 "Hunchback." Helen is rallying Julia on her de- 

 claration — " I'm constancy : " — 



" I'm glad I know thy name 1 



The spider comes of the same family. 



That in his meshy fortress spends his life, 



Unless you pull it down, and scare him from it. 



And so thou 'rt constancy ? Art proud of that? 



I'll warrant thee, I'll match thee with a snail, 



From year to year that never leaves his house ! 



Such constancy, forsooth ! — A constant grub, 



That houses ever in the self-same nut 



Where he was born ; till hunger drives him out. 



Or plunder breaketh thro' his castle wall ! 



And so, in very deed, thou 'rt constancy ! " — Act I. Sc. II. 



All spiders are furnished with a poisonous fluid, 

 conveyed in their fangs ; but its effects seem to have 

 been greatly over-rated. There is one species (Theri- 

 dium verecundum) mentioned by Professor Hentz, in 

 the paper already quoted, as being well known in the 

 Southern States of America, the people there con- 

 sidering its bite to be very poisonous. A glass of 

 brandy is stated, however, to produce instant relief, 

 and to arrest the violent symptoms arising from its 



