The Gad-fly. 
417 
With this dire creature erst her frightful wrath 
Did Juno wreak, when she designed a plague 
For the Inachian heifer.” 
(Book iii. 1. 202, Singleton’s trans.) 
Nestor says truly that in the ray and brightness of 
summer— 
“ The herd hath more annoyance by the breese 
Than by the tiger.” 
( Troilus and Cressida, i. 3, 48.) 
When Seams describes the sea-fight between Antony 
and Caesar, he compares the rash and precipitate flight 
of Cleopatra to the frenzied rush of some terror-stricken 
herd:— 
“ Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt,— 
Whom leprosy o’ertake !—i’ the midst o’ the fight. 
When vantage like a pair of twins appear’d. 
Both as the same, or rather ours the elder. 
The breese upon her, like a cow in June 
Hoists sail and flies.” 
( Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 10, 10.) 
Ben Jonson writes :■—• 
“ Gods, you do know it, I can hold no longer. 
This brize has pricked my patience.” 
(. Poetaster , iii. 1.) 
Bacon writes, “ The fly called the gad-fly breedeth of 
somewhat that swimmeth at the top of the water, and 
is most about ponds ” (Natural History, century vii.). 
Guillim informs us that— 
“ this fly maketh a great humming noise when he flieth, and of some 
is called the gad-bee, and of others the dun-fly, brimesey, or horse¬ 
fly, which in the summer times do grievously vex cattle, having, (as- 
iElianus saith) a sting both great and stiff.” ( Display of Heraldry ,, 
p. 236.) 
Topsell recommends, as a remedy for the stings of 
flies, the fat of a lion dissolved and clarified. This must 
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