Class III. TOAD. 19 



lution to view it with attention, that its eyes are 

 fine : to this it seems that Shakespeare alludes, 

 when he makes his Juliet remark, 



Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes. 



As if they would have been better bestowed on 

 so charming a songster than on this raucous 

 reptile. 



But the hideous appearance of the toad is 

 such as to make this one advantageous feature 

 overlooked, and to have rendered it in all ages 

 an object of horror, and the origin of most tre- 

 mendous inventions. Milan* makes its venom 

 so potent, that basilisk-like, it conveyed death by 

 its very look and breath ; but Juvenal is con- 

 tent with making the Roman ladies, who were 

 weary of their husbands, form a potion from its 

 entrails, in order to get rid of the good man. 



At nunc res agitur tenui pulmone rubetae. Sat. VI. 558. 



And again, 



Occurrit Matrona potens, qua? molle Calenum 

 Porrectura viro miscet sitiente rubetam. Sat. I. 6q. 



To quench the husband's parching thirst, is brought 

 By the great Dame, a most deceitful draught ; 

 In rich Calenian wine she does infuse, 

 (To ease his pains) the toad's envenom'd juice. 



This opinion begat others of a more dreadful 

 nature, for in after- times superstition gave it pre* 



* Hut. an. lib. ix. c. 11. ib. lib. xvii. c. 12. and 15. 



c 2 





