442 
both uncommon and much efteemed*. 
Thus the learned and judicious Ruddiman, 
in his notes on Pentameter verfe. Leonini. 
quoque, ut in hexametro, hic vitanti. Si 
tamen non nifi pofiremz utriufgue hemif- 
tichit fyllabe confonent, tantum abeft ut 
id pro vitiofo habeatur, ut non paulum 
quoque gratia verfui inde accedat. Idem- 
que de hexametris que ejufmodi cen- 
fendum. ; 
Net to occupy too great agbortion of 
your valuable Mifcellany, I thatl conclude 
by recommending to H. M. a fecond pe- 
rufal of Metronarifton, where I truft he 
will find all his doubts fatisfaétorily folv- 
—ed—pileafantly foived, T am fure he will 
find them—and by requefting him, in the 
mean time, to take in good part this hum- 
ble attempt of a Tyro in the {chool of 
Mekerchus. 
Of. 10th, 1797: NEES: 
SSC hee ara 7 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magaxine. 
SIR, 
YoOuR correfp6ndent Inquifitor has 
(page 15, vol. III.) quoted three 
infiances of the fafcinating power of fer- 
pents, from Le Vaillant’s Travels into 
Africa; and after‘fome ingenious obfer- 
vations, invites your readers to difcufs 
the reality of this fafcinating power, and 
its modus operandi. Although I feel 
myfelf in no fenfe equal to the tafk, I 
with to oppofe to the affertions of Le 
Vaillant, the opinion of avery intelligent 
Tranfatlantic naturalift, who has parti- 
cularly turned his shoughts and obferva- 
tions to this fubjeé&t. Dr. Barton (Pro- 
feffor of Natural Hiftory in the Univer- 
fity of Pennfylvania) in a memoir “ on 
the Fafcinating Faculty which has been 
alcribed to the Rattle-Snake, and other 
American Serpents,” fays (among a ya- 
Flety of other curious faéts): | 
** Tt is a well know faa, that among fone 
_fpecies of birds, the female, at a certain 
period, is accuftomed tu compel the young 
ones to leave the neft: that is, when the 
young have acquired fo much firength that 
they sre no longer entitled to all her care. 
But they ft)!1 claim fome of her care. Their 
flights are aukward, and foon broken by 
fatigue. They fail to the ground, where 
they are frequent'y expofed to the attacks of 
the ferpent, which attempts ta devour them. 
in this fituation of affairs the mother will 
place herfelf spon a bianch of a tree, or bufh, 
1a the yicinity of the ferpent. She will dart 
upon the ferpent, in order to prevent the de- 
friction of her young: but fear, the inftin® 
a CM 
* See Ovidii Heroid. Epift, 19. 1 I-40. 
and Virg. En. 5. 1, laf, 
Fafcination of Serpents. 
[ Dec, 
of felf-prefervation, will compel her to re- 
tire. She leaves the ferpent, however, but 
for a fhort time, and then returns again. 
Oftentimes the prevents the deftruction of her 
young, attacking the fnake with hey Wings, 
her beak, or ier claws. Should the reprile 
fucceed in capturing the young, the mother is 
expofed to lefs danger. For, whilft engeged 
in {wallowing them, he has neither inclina- 
tion nor power to feize upon the old one. 
But the appetite of the ferpent tribe is great ; 
the Capacity of their ftomachs is not lefs fo. 
The danger of the mother is at 
the young are devoured. The fnake feizes 
upon ker, and this is the cataftrophe which 
Crowns the tale of fafcination.’? : 
Two faéis of a fimilar tendency are 
alfo related by Mr. Rittenhoufe. After 
aving very ably oppofed the various 
facts and reafonings brought forward by 
the advocates “¢ for the fafcinating power,” 
he fums up his OWn opinion in thefe 
words : 
* The refult of not a little attention to the 
fubje& has taught me thar there is but one 
wonder in the bufinefs: the wonder that the 
ftory fhould ever have been believed by a 
man of underftanding and of obfervation, 
Fafcination is almoft entirely limited to birds 
that build low, and in almoft every inftance J 
found that the fuppofed fafcinating faculty of 
the ferpent was exerted upya the bircs at the 
particular feafon of tkeir laying their eggs, of 
their hatching, or of their rearing their young, 
ftill tender and defencelefs. I now began to 
fufpeét that the cries and fears of birds fup= 
pofed to be tafcinated, originated in an. en- 
deavour to protect their neft, or young. My 
enquiries have convinced me. that this is the 
cafe.”? 
This idea has (I believe) not only the © 
credit of novelty, but shai of being found- 
ed upon very fimple and natural princi- 
ples, infinitely more confonant to» our 
underftandings than that ferpents fafct- 
nate by emitting mephitic vapours, or by 
an eleci:i al power, or in any orher mare 
ner hitherto fuppofed. With a hope that 
the fubje&t will meet (as it defe:.ves) with 
a farther and more able difeuffion in 
your valuable Magazine, I remain, 
Sir, your obedient fervant, 
Worce/ter, VIGORNIENSIS. 
Nov. 95 1797. 
« 

To the Edtior of the Monthly Mazazine. . 
SIR, 
(7OUR  correfpondent, L. enquires, 
_ * What is the beft method of fiudy- 
ing Englith verfification; and what books 
are there to be had, at a ‘moderate ex- 
pence, which are ufeful in the ftudy >” 
: The bet method, I apprehend, is, to 
form an acquaintance with the general 
principles 
hand when - 
