"Much is breeding, Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life, And not a serpent's poison." Act i. Scene ii. It may be worth mentioning in connection with Antony, that one of the pet appellations given by him to Cleopatra was drawn from the reptiles of which we here treat. Her words are -"He's speaking now, Or murmuring' where's my serpent of old Nile " : Snakes possess, as is well known, the power of changing their skins, a process which takes place at uncertain intervals of time before it is cast off, the colouring appears dull, and the animal blind. When the new skin is completely formed and hardened underneath, the old one bursts, or splits asunder about the neck, and is removed by the creature passing through any tangled copse or other place where there is a dense and luxuriant vegetation. As the skin is occasionally found in such situations, attached to the lower branches of brambles or shrubs, we can appreciate the propriety of the concluding lines of Oberon's description of the "bank whereon the wild thyme blows." "And where the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.” Act ii. Scene ii. The word "enamell'd" is highly descriptive both of the polished appearance which the skin presents and of the diversity observable in the colour; and as the adder is especially distinguished by the beauty of its markings, we feel that Shakspeare is employing a very striking simile when he speaks of "Gloster's show" in beguiling Henry. "As the snake roll'd on a flowering bank, With shining chequered slough, doth sting a child 2nd part K. Henry VI. Act iii. Scene iii. It is because of this acknowledged superiority in colouring that Petruchio asks "Is the adder better than the eel Because his painted coat contents the eye?" Act iv. Scene iii. We find among the reptiles enumerated by Timon of Athens, the "adder blue."* The passage appertains too closely to the present paper to be omitted. It occurs where Timon, digging for a single root to appease his hunger, thus addresses the earth. Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine." It would be out of place in the present paper to enter into the practice of serpent charming, as still prevalent in India, else would "the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken to the voice of the charmer's charming never so wisely," supply a subject of curious and interesting enquiry. That these animals, as well as some others, are attracted by musical sounds, is a well-known fact, and whenever such a result does not appear, it is commonly supposed that the reptile is refusing to listen, — that it is wilfully excluding those sounds which if heard would produce their customary effect. To this popular opinion, imbibed by the mind of Shakspeare, and there transmuted into poetry and wisdom, we owe the remark — "For pleasure and revenge Have ears more deaf than adders' to the voice Of any true decision." Troilus and Cressida, Act ii. Scene ii. And to the same source we may trace the language employed by Queen Margaret in her appeal to Henry. "What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf? Be poisonous too, and kill thy forlorn queen." 2nd part K. Henry VI. Act iii. Scene ii. To any naturalist who is willing to admit, "I love a ballad but even too well," and who delights to connect the objects of his researches with the poetry and legends of other times, an added charm will be thrown around the present subject by one of those spirit-stirring old ballads enshrined in Percy's 'Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.' King Arthur, being about to negotiate for an armistice, gave orders that his host should not unsheath a weapon "unless a sword * A variety of the British viper is described in the Linnean Transactions,' under the name of Coluber cæruleus or blue-bellied viper. drawne they should see." It chanced however that one of the knights, being stung by an adder on the knee, was unintentionally the cause of bringing on a bloody combat between the opposing armies The circumstance is thus narrated "When the knighte found him wounded sore, And saw the wild worme hanging there, "For when the two hostes saw the sworde 'Till of soe many noble knightes On one side there were left but three." Dr. Clarke, in speaking of the common snake, remarks "The movements of this species are highly elegant. Its course among grass or underwood is performed in a zigzag direction; the head and neck are thrust forward alternately to the right and left, whilst the rest of the body follows precisely the same course. In its progress the head pushes aside the blades of grass or other yielding bodies, and the remainder of the body follows without communicating any motion to them; and in this way a snake will often steal across a meadow, or through a thicket, unperceived by a person standing at a little distance."* In contrast with the clear and simple statement here given, of the movements of the common English snake, it is interesting to place the magnificent description so well known to every reader of Paradise Lost.' Like many other now exploded specifics, the flesh of serpents, or the liquid, especially wine, in which they were infused, was held of peculiar efficacy for the cure of disease, and as an antidote to poison. These ideas, preposterous as they may now appear, were not "quietly inurned" until the last century was far advanced. * Mag. Nat. Hist. 1838, p. 479. By Dr. Owen's work on serpents, published in London in 1762, we are informed that "their flesh, either roasted or boiled, the physicians unanimously prescribe as an excellent restorative, particularly in consumptions and leprosy." It is not my intention to enter into any disquisition on the fabulous animals mentioned by Shakspeare, but in treating of the Reptilia it is impossible not to advert to creatures mentioned by him, which were at one time included under that term, though now regarded solely as the offspring of imagination. Thus we find the dragon mentioned by Lear, in a burst of his inconsiderate rage against Cordelia, "Come not between the dragon and his wrath." Act i. Scene i. And again by Juliet, in the anguish of her feelings consequent upon the death of Tybalt and banishment of Romeo,— "O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave ?" Act iii. Scene ii. Thus also we find the basilisk frequently introduced, and always in a manner consonant to the powers with which it had been invested by tradition. As an example, may be quoted the words addressed by King Henry the Sixth to Suffolk. "Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding: Yet do not go away;-come, basilisk, And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight." Act iii. Scene ii. From the Reptilia let us now turn to the Amphibia, a class of animals comprising very few species in these countries, but highly interesting to the scientific naturalist, from the modifications of form, organization and habits, which they display. For information on these points I refer the reader to the luminous and excellent work of Professor Bell, and shall merely advert to them, so far as may be needful, for the illustration of those passages in Shakspeare in which some of these creatures are introduced. In the metamorphoses of the common frog we have changes more wonderful than a poet would imagine, yet brought to light by the sober and stedfast observations of the man of science; thus furnishing one of the countless examples that "Truth is always strange, stranger than fiction." Into these matters I am not required to enter. The "toe of frog" occurs in the witches' chaldron, and the young state of the animal is noticed by Demetrius in the line "I'll broach the tadpole on my rapier's point." Titus And. Act iv. Scene ii. Another passage, in which the creature is mentioned in both these states, will be given hereafter. The common toad (Bufo vulgaris) belongs, like the frog, to the order Anoura of Bell. It is perfectly innocuous, living on earth-worms, slugs, caterpillars, and insects, thus giving actual assistance to the husbandman, in keeping his most common assailants within due bounds. Did we not, in other instances, know how potent are the workings of imagination, and how tacitly men occasionally surrender to them their senses and their reason, it might well seem incredible that the toad was formerly regarded as "highly poisonous, and this not only from its bite; its breath, and even its glance, were fraught with mischief or death."* So perfectly were these malign influences accredited, that Pliny enumerates several plants as forming "a singular counter-poison against the venome of toads and serpents." At a time when such ideas were still current, it was natural that in the sorceries of the weird sisters such an animal should be placed in the very foremost rank; "Toad that under the cold stone Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!" In perfect accordance with the opinions and feelings of his day are the several passages in which the toad is mentioned by Shakspeare; and so entirely do they give utterance to the popular opinion, to the exclusion of any other particulars in the economy of the animal, that a mere quotation of a few of the most striking is all that is here necessary. Juliet's garrulous old nurse, in speaking of Paris, says her mistress "had as lieve see a toad, a very toad, as see him;" and Lady Anne, when showering her reproaches on Gloster, says "Never hung poison on a fouler toad. Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes." - Richard III. Act i. Scene ii, While we appreciate the poetic beauty of the language used by Othello, * Bell, p. 112. |