166 
A WORD FOR THE RAVEN 
And Shakespeare : — 
" Oh, it comes o'er my memory 
As doth the raven o'er the infected house, 
Boding to all." 
It seems to have been a general belief that both public and private 
calamities, sickness and death, war and rebellion, were portended 
by this most ominous bird. Quaint Alexander Ross is of opinion 
that He who emploj'ed a raven to feed the prophet Elijah, may 
employ the same bird as a messenger of death to others, — wliich 
seems but indifferent reasoning. He adds that Cicero was fore- 
warned, by the noise and fluttering of ravens about him, that his 
end was near at hand. It is this eery character of the bird that 
lends so much gloomy force to Poe's poem of " The Raven." Had 
he chosen any other, the same impression would not have been 
produced on the reader's imagination. In Ainsworth's "Rook- 
wood " he is made to play an important part, and in many a 
legend he figures in association with death or disaster. It would 
be interesting to know why and when he attained to this melan- 
choly distinction. No doubt he is clad in suit of sable ; but his eye 
is bright, and his bearing bold, and we see nothing in his appear- 
ance to justify the evil words that have been liurled at him for 
centuries. 
In his marvellously fine picture of " The Haunted House," which 
it is diflicult to read without a shuddering sensation, Hood teUs 
us that 
" The startled bats flew out — bird after bird— 
The screech-owl overhead began to flutter, 
And seemed to mock the cry that she had heard 
Some dj'ing \'ictim utter." 
It is a question whether, with our forefathers, screech-owl or raven 
bore the worse character. As Bourne justly observes, an owl was 
reckoned a most abominable and unlucky bird ; and when it sent 
forth its hoarse and dismal voice, everybody regarded it as a presage 
of some dire calamity and terrible misfortune. Thus Chaucer 
speaks of — 
