462 
The Animal-Lore of Shahspeare's Time. 
To the rough heast that knows no gentle right, 
Nor aught obeys but his foul appetite.” 
Chester writes (p. 119):— 
“ The griffon is a bird rich feathered, 
His head is like a lion, and his flight 
Is like the eagles, much for to be feared, 
For why, he kills men in the ugly night: 
Some say he keeps the smaragd and the jasper, 
And in pursute of man is monstrous eager.” 
The Sphinx is too well known to need 
description. It is only once referred to by 
Shakspeare :— 
Sphinx. 
“ For valour, is not love a Hercules, 
Still climbing trees in the Hesperides ? 
Subtle as sphinx; as sweet and musical 
As bright Apollo’s lute, strung with his hair.” 
(. Love’s Labour's Lost , iv. 3, 340.) 
“ Lord Bacon’s original resolution of this fable,” writes Dr. E. 0. 
Brewer, “ is a fair specimen of what some persons call 4 spiritualising 
the incidents and parables of Scripture.’ He says that the whole re¬ 
presents ‘ science,’ which is regarded by the ignorant as 4 a monster.’ 
As the figure of the sphinx is heterogeneous, so the subjects of science 
4 are very various.’ The female face 4 denotes volubility of speech ; ’ 
her wings show that 4 knowledge like light is rapidly diffused ; 5 her 
hooked talons remind us of 4 the arguments of science which enter the 
mind and lay hold of it.’ She is placed on a crag overlooking the city, 
for 4 all science is placed on an eminence which is hard to climb.’ If 
the riddles of the sphinx brought disaster, so the riddles of science 
4 perplex and harass the mind.’ ” ( Dictionary of Phrase and Fable , 
p. 844.) 
Unfortunately Ur. Brewer does not condescend to give 
any reference for bis quotation. 
The Harpies were imaginary beings of Grecian 
mythology. According to some writers they 
were three in number, Ocypete, Aello, and 
Celeno. They were the personifications of winds and 
storms. They were depicted with the head and body of 
