334 SHAKESPEARE’S [ VULTURE. 
when the Viper was come, and could not climb up to 
utter her malice upon the man, she emptied the same upon 
the tree, and by and by after, the man in the tree died, 
by the savour and secret operation of the same. If a man 
chance to tread upon the reins of a Viper unawares, it 
paineth him more than any venom, for it spreadeth itself 
over all the body incurably ; and the mushrooms or toad- 
stools which grow near the dens and lodgings of Vipers 
are also found to be venomous. The eating of Vipers is 
an admirable remedy against leprosy. [He narrates several 
instances, in one of which a leprous woman was not only 
cured of her leprosy, but ‘soon after conceived a man- 
child, having been barren before the space of 40 years.”’| 
The skin of the Viper beaten to powder and laid upon the 
places where the hair is fallen, it doth wonderfully restore 
hair again. Tipsell, “History of Serpents,” pp. 800-10. 
Ir would infect the genius of the air 
With mists contagious (as if compos’d 
Of Viper-steam ). 
Glapthorne, “The Hollander,” iii. 1. 
VY. Serpent. 
Vulture. 
Merry Wives or Winpsor, i. 3, 94. | 
Tue Vulture hath that name of slow flight, for of the 
plenteousness of much flesh, he lacketh swiftness of flight. 
And some men tell that she conceiveth and is conceived, 
and gendereth and is gendered without joining of treading ; 
and they tell that they live an hundred years. This bird 
is cruel about his own birds, as the kite is; and if she 
seeth her birds too fat, she beateth them with her feet and 
bill to make them lean. Also in this bird the wit of 
smelling is best; and therefore by smelling he savoureth 
carrions that be far from him, that is beyond the sea; and 
againward [i.e., vice versd]. And the Vulture fighteth with 
the gentle falcon, and fleéth about him, and when he hath 
overcome him he dieth. And he hunteth from mid-day to 
night ; and resteth still from the sun-rising to that time. 
And when he ageth, his over bill waxeth long and crooked 
over the nether, and dieth at the last for hunger. Also 
