62* A NATURAL HISTORY 



Some are of Opinion, that the ^f^ is David's deaf Adder^ 

 Pfal. Iviii. 45. They are like the deaf Adder thatjlops her Ear, which 

 will not hearken to the Voice of Charmers^ charming never fo wifely. 

 They are hke the deaf Ajp, fays the Hebrew and the Septuagint. 

 The word in the Original is * Pethen, q. d. Unperfiiadednej's ; hence, 

 wicked Men are called ATreifieif in the New Tejl. unperfaadable, 

 which the EngUJJo Tranflation Ttwdtr?, Difobedient, Tit. i. 16. 



The common Tradition is, that when Men by Inchantments 

 and Charms have attempted to take thefe Serpents, they flopt 

 one Ear with the Tail, and the other was either deaf, or made fo 

 by laying it clofe to the Ground. Some are of Opinion, that 

 there is a fort of Ajp that really is deaf, which of all others is the 

 moft dangerous, and is meant by the Royal Prophet here. 



That there was a Pradtice of charming Serpents by fome Art 

 or other, fo that they could neither bite nor fi?ig, feems evident 

 from the facred Writings, e.g. Eccl. x. it. Surely the Serpent 

 will bite without Inchantment. Jer. viii. 17. /'// fend Serpents, 

 Cockatrices, among you, that will ?2ot be charmed, and they fhall 

 bite you, fays the Lord. 



Among other Things the word Charmer, fome fay, figni- 

 fies one that conjoins and confociates ; that is, that by Sorcery 

 gather'd Serpents together, and made them tame and familiar ; 

 or the Perfon may be fo call'd, becaufe by Magick Art, he alTo- 

 ciated Wwh Demofts, the Lords of Serpents. 



W E are inform'd by Hiftory, of fome, who have fummoned 

 together a hundred Serpents at once 3 but by what method, I 

 leave the Reader to judge. Montanus, a. famous Phyfician, and 

 Profeffor at Padua m Italy, fays he faw this Coadu nation of 

 Serpents. 



The learned Dc6lor Cafaiibon tells us, he had feen a Man, 

 who from the Country around him, wou'd draw Serpents into 

 the Fire, which was inclos'd in a magical Circle : When one of 

 them, bigger thm the reft, would not be brought in, upon repeat- 

 ing the aforefaid Charms, it fubmitted to the Flames. 



W E read of a famous Charmer at Saltsburgb in the Circle of 

 Bavaria; that, when (in fight of the People) he had charm'd a 

 great Number of Serpents into a Ditch, where he kiU'd themj 



there 



