Snakes in Natiire. 51 



crous the whole situation becomes, when as in King, trodden 

 gives place to spurned. 



" Fell as a spurned serpent as she shoots along 

 With lightning in her eyes, poison in her tongue." 



Moreover, oddly enough, in plant-lore, this particular flower 

 is one of those said to be distasteful to venomous reptiles. 



That serpents specially affected the rose as their lurking- 

 place, is, then, a poetical fancy, natural enough when the 

 desire for strong contrast is needed, but not supported by 

 any traditions. The beautiful, sweet-scented rose, the de- 

 light of the fair, is a striking contradiction to the " hideous, 

 foul-smelling " reptile, the terror of the sex ; and folk-lore 

 does not encourage the association. 



Snakes, so the people's traditions say, love lavender and 

 walnut-trees and fennel. " More pleased my sense," says 

 Satan to Eve, "than smell of sweetest fennel." It was 

 supposed to assist them in casting their skins, thus restoring 

 youth, and in brightening their eyes dimmed by old age. 

 They hate and flee from hemlock, southernwood, and rue. 

 Indeed, so violent and notorious is the reptile's aversion 

 to the last-named that its antagonists take advantage of it, 

 to fortify themselves against its assaults. Thus " when the 

 Weesil is to fight with the Serpent, she armeth herselfe by 

 eating Rue against the might of the Serpent ; " which is a 

 curious reproduction of the fiction of the mongoose's eating 

 of the "aristolochia," another of the snake's vegetable anti- 

 pathies. 



As to the southernwood, I have my doubts, in spite of 

 Lucan : 



" There the large branches of the long-lived hart, 

 With southernwood their odours strong impart ; 

 The monsters of the land, the serpents fell, 

 Fly far away, and shun the hostile smell." 



For during the Afghan campaign I rode through leagues 



