THE LAMPREY. 441 



this casBj it matters not how large or how fierce the vic- 

 tim may be, no effort can extricate the luckless head ' in 

 Coventry" nnder that fatal disc ; arofM vepdev epwei : 

 quicker than any eating ulcer the tongue works its way 

 through the integuments ; the patient may plunge and 

 writhe, but the operation of trephine goes on, and soon, 

 with all the ease of a cheesemonger driving his scoop 

 into the rind of a Cheshire or Stilton, does the lamprey 

 push his tongue through the bony plates of the skull, and 

 draw it back, with a sample of brains adhering. This 

 tiny instrument of mischief furnishes a good emblem of 

 the tongue of the wicked, as described in Holy Writ ; ' a 

 little member,' yet ' a keen sword,' and ' boasting great 

 things.' Amongst the most remarkable of its boasts, is 

 that of beiug able, in conjunction with the lips, suddenly 

 to arrest vessels in their course, and render wind and tide 

 of no avail to stir them ! ^.St. James has compared the 

 helm of a vessel to the htiman tongue ; as that guides or 

 misguides the man, so this guides or misguides the ship, 

 which it 'turneth about at vrillj' but the lamprey's 

 tongue vitiates the metaphor by controlling this last the 

 moment it has seized the rudder ; that moment, it seems, 

 the control of the hebn ceases, and the course of the ves- 

 sel is suspended ! ' Who,' asks Oppian, ' would have be- 

 lieved such a thing as this, unless it had been a matter 

 of common notoriety and experience?' The truth of this 

 assertion being taken for granted, he next places himself, 

 like a real poet, on an imaginary quarter-deck, and be- 

 gins to relate, as an eye-witness, how the vessel, rolling 

 on impetuously before a strong current and a steady 

 breeze, stops suddenly in full canvas, to the consternation 

 of the crew ; how the wind now roars in vain from behind, 

 and the strong current runs by under the motionless keel ; 

 how the beams caU to the rafters, and the rafters to the 

 bowsprit, to go ahead — and all to no purpose j how sails, 

 ribs, and cordage, flutter, groan, and crack, in the pass- 



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