54 The Poets and Nature. 



killed. Soon after, in came a second snake, and it, on per- 

 ceiving its dead relative, hastily retreated, but, by-and-by, 

 returning with a sprig of herb in its mouth, restored the first 

 snake to life. Acting on the hint, the prisoner took the 

 precious vegetable, and rubbing Glaucus' corpse with it, 

 had shortly the satisfaction of walking out of the mausoleum 

 arm-in-arm with the revivified prince. 



That the "glossy vine" was a "serpent charm" is a 

 poetical tradition new to me, and may perhaps be an error 

 for that other plant of Bacchus the "glossy" ivy. Nor can 

 I trace Wyatt's superstition 



" That snakes have twice to cast away their stings." 



British snakes being harmless are not in harmony with the 

 poetical serpent "idea," and seldom occur in verse. In 

 Coleridge and Wordsworth, " hurrying along the drifted forest 

 leaves, the scared snake rustles ; " but twice only, as far as I 

 am aware, that pretty creature, our " grass-snake," receives 

 kindly mention. These notable exceptions are in the verse 

 of that delightful poet of nature, Hurdis, who speaks in the 

 Favourite Village of "the viper and the basking eft " 



"And spotted snakes, innocuous as they glide, 

 With whisper not unwelcome," 



and Marvell, who presents his beloved shepherdess with 

 "a harmless snake." 



