how he saw a viper licking hir yoong. I did see an adder once my selfe
that laie (as I thought) sléeping on a moulehill, out of whose mouth
came eleuen yoong adders of twelue or thirtéene inches in length a
péece, which plaied to and fro in the grasse one with another, till
some of them espied me. So soone therefore as they saw my face, they
[Sidenote: See _Aristotle Animalium lib. 5. cap. vltimo, &
Theophrast. lib. 7. cap. 13_.]
ran againe into the mouth of their dam, whome I killed, and then found
each of them shrowded in a distinct cell or pannicle in hir bellie,
much like vnto a soft white iellie, which maketh me to be of the
opinion that our adder is the viper indéed. The colour of their skin
is for the most part like rustie iron or iron graie: but such as be
verie old resemble a ruddie blew, & as once in the yeare, to wit, in
Aprill or about the beginning of Maie they cast their old skins
(whereby as it is thought their age reneweth) so their stinging
bringeth death without present remedie be at hand, the wounded neuer
ceasing to swell, neither the venem to worke till the skin of the one
breake, and the other ascend vpward to the hart, where it finisheth
the naturall effect, except the iuice of dragons (in Latine called
"Dracunculus minor") be spéedilie ministred and dronke in strong ale,
or else some other medicine taken of like force, that may counteruaile
and ouercome the venem of the same. The length of them is most
commonlie two foot and somwhat more, but seldome dooth it extend vnto
two foot six inches, except it be in some rare and monsterous one:
[Sidenote: Snakes.]
whereas our snakes are much longer, and séene sometimes to surmount a
yard, or thrée foot, although their poison be nothing so grieuous and
deadlie as the others. Our adders lie in winter vnder stones, as
Aristotle also saith of the viper Lib. 8. cap. 15. and in holes of the
earth, rotten stubs of trees, and amongst the dead leaues: but in the
heat of the summer they come abroad, and lie either round on heapes,
or at length vpon some hillocke, or elsewhere in the grasse. They are
found onelie in our woodland countries and highest grounds, where
sometimes (though seldome) a speckled stone called Echites, in Dutch
"Ein atter stein," is gotten out of their dried carcases, which diuers
[Sidenote: _Sol. cap. 40. Plin. lib. 37. cap. 11._]
report to be good against their poison. As for our snakes, which in
Latine are properlie named "Angues," they commonlie are seene in
moores, fens, lomie wals, and low bottoms.
[Sidenote: Todes.]
[Sidenote: Frogs.]
[Sidenote: Sloworme.]
And as we haue great store of todes where adders commonlie are found,
so doo frogs abound where snakes doo kéepe their residence. We haue
also the sloworme, which is blacke and graiesh of colour, and somewhat
shorter than an adder. I was at the killing once of one of them, and
thereby perceiued that she was not so called of anie want of nimble
motion, but rather of the contrarie. Neuerthelesse we haue a blind
worme to be found vnder logs in woods, and timber that hath lien long
in a place, which some also doo call (and vpon better ground) by the
name of slow worms, and they are knowen easilie by their more or lesse
varietie of striped colours, drawen long waies from their heads, their
whole bodies little excéeding a foot in length, & yet is there venem
deadlie. This also is not to be omitted, that now and then in our
fennie countries, other kinds of serpents are found of greater
quantitie than either our adder or our snake: but as these are not
ordinarie and oft to be séene, so I meane not to intreat of them among
our common annoiances. Neither haue we the scorpion, a plague of God
sent not long since into Italie, and whose poison (as Apollodorus
saith) is white, neither the tarantula or Neopolitane spider, whose
poison bringeth death, except musike be at hand. Wherfore I suppose
our countrie to be the more happie (I meane in part) for that it is
void of these two grieuous annoiances, wherewith other nations are
plagued.
[Sidenote: Efts.]
[Sidenote: Swifts.]
We haue also efts, both of the land and water, and likewise the
noisome swifts, whereof to saie anie more it should be but losse of
time, sith they are well knowne; and no region to my knowledge found
[Sidenote: Flies.]
to be void of manie of them. As for flies (sith it shall not be amisse
a little to touch them also) we haue none that can doo hurt or
[Sidenote: Cutwasted.]
[Sidenote: Whole bodied.]
[Sidenote: Hornets.]
[Sidenote: Waspes.]
hinderance naturallie vnto anie: for whether they be cut wasted, or
whole bodied, they are void of poison and all venemous inclination.
The cut or girt wasted (for so I English the word Insecta) are the
hornets, waspes, bées, and such like, whereof we haue great store, and
of which an opinion is conceived, that the first doo bréed of the
corruption of dead horsses, the second of peares and apples corrupted,
and the last of kine and oxen: which may be true, especiallie the
first and latter in some parts of the beast, and not their whole
substances, as also in the second, sith we haue neuer waspes, but when
our fruit beginneth to wax ripe. In déed Virgil and others speake of a
generation of bées, by killing or smoothering of a brused bullocke or
calfe, and laieng his bowels or his flesh wrapped vp in his hide in a
close house for a certeine season; but how true it is hitherto I haue
not tried. Yet sure I am of this, that no one liuing creature
corrupteth without the production of another; as we may see by our
selues, whose flesh dooth alter into lice; and also in shéepe for
excessiue numbers of flesh flies, if they be suffered to lie vnburied
or vneaten by the dogs and swine, who often and happilie preuent such
néedlesse generations.
As concerning bées, I thinke it good to remember, that wheras some
ancient writers affirme it to be a commoditie wanting in our Iland, it
is now found to be nothing so. In old time peraduenture we had none in
déed, but in my daies there is such plentie of them in maner euerie
where, that in some vplandish townes, there are one hundred, or two
hundred hiues of them, although the said hiues are not so huge as
those of the east countrie, but far lesse, as not able to conteine
aboue one bushell of corne, or fiue pecks at the most. Plinie (a man
that of set purpose deliteth to write of woonders) speaking of honie
noteth that in the north regions the hiues in his time were of such
quantitie, that some one combe conteined eight foot in length, & yet
(as it should séeme) he speketh not of the greatest. For in Podolia,
which is now subiect to the king of Poland, their hiues are so great,
and combes so abundant, that huge bores ouerturning and falling into
them, are drowned in the honie, before they can recouer & find the
meanes to come out.
[Sidenote: Honie.]
Our honie also is taken and reputed to be the best, bicause it is
harder, better wrought, and clenlier vesselled vp, than that which
commeth from beyond the sea, where they stampe and streine their
combs, bées, and yoong blowings altogither into the stuffe, as I haue
béene informed. In vse also of medicine our physicians and
apothecaries eschew the forren, especiallie that of Spaine and
Ponthus, by reason of a venemous qualitie naturallie planted in the
same, as some write, and choose the home made: not onelie by reason of
our soile, which hath no lesse plentie of wild thime growing therein
than in Sicilia, & about Athens, and makth the best stuffe; as also
for that it bréedeth (being gotten in haruest time) lesse choler, and
which is oftentimes (as I haue séene by experience) so white as sugar,
and corned as if it were salt. Our hiues are made commonlie of rie
straw, and wadled about with bramble quarters: but some make the same
of wicker, and cast them ouer with claie. Wée cherish none in trées,
but set our hiues somewhere on the warmest side of the house,
prouiding that they may stand drie and without danger both of the
mouse and moth. This furthermore is to be noted, that wheras in
vessels of oile, that which is néerest the top is counted the finest,
and of wine that in the middest; so of honie the best which is
heauiest and moistest is alwaies next the bottome, and euermore
casteth and driueth his dregs vpward toward the verie top, contrarie
to the nature of other liquid substances, whose groonds and léeze doo
generallie settle downewards. And thus much as by the waie of our bées
and English honie.
As for the whole bodied, as the cantharides, and such venemous
creatures of the same kind, to be abundantlie found in other
countries, we heare not of them: yet haue we béetles, horseflies,
turdbugs or borres (called in Latine _Scarabei_) the locust or the
grashopper (which to me doo séeme to be one thing, as I will anon
declare) and such like, whereof let other intreat that make an
exercise in catching of flies, but a far greater sport in offering
them to spiders. As did Domitian sometime, and an other prince yet
liuing, who delited so much to sée the iollie combats betwixt a stout
flie and an old spider, that diuerse men haue had great rewards giuen
them for their painfull prouision of flies made onelie for this
purpose. Some parasites also in the time of the aforesaid emperour,
(when they were disposed to laugh at his follie, and yet would seeme
in appearance to gratifie his fantasticall head with some shew of
dutifull demenour) could deuise to set their lord on worke, by letting
a flesh flie priuilie into his chamber, which he foorthwith would
egerlie haue hunted (all other businesse set apart) and neuer ceased
till he had caught hir into his fingers: wherevpon arose the prouerbe,
"Ne musca quidem," vttered first by Vibius Priscus, who being asked
whether anie bodie was with Domitian, answered, "Ne musca quidem,"
wherby he noted his follie. There are some cockescombs here and there
in England, learning it abroad as men transregionate, which make
account also of this pastime, as of a notable matter, telling what a
fight is séene betwene them, if either of them be lustie and
couragious in his kind. One also hath made a booke of the spider and
the flie, wherein he dealeth so profoundlie, and beyond all measure of
skill, that neither he himselfe that made it, neither anie one that
readeth it, can reach vnto the meaning therof. But if those iollie
fellows in stéed of the straw that they thrust into the flies tale (a
great iniurie no doubt to such a noble champion) would bestow the cost
to set a fooles cap vpon their owne heads: then might they with more
securitie and lesse reprehension behold these notable battels.
Now as concerning the locust, I am led by diuerse of my countrie, who
(as they say) were either in Germanie, Italie, or Pannonia, 1542, when
those nations were greatly annoied with that kind of flie, and affirme
verie constantlie, that they saw none other creature than the
grashopper, during the time of that annoiance, which was said to come
to them from the Meotides. In most of our translations also of the
bible, the word _Locusta_ is Englished a grashopper, and therevnto
Leuit. 11. it is reputed among the cleane food, otherwise Iohn the
Baptist would neuer haue liued with them in the wildernesse. In
[Sidenote: Sée _Diodorus Sicutus_.]
Barbarie, Numidia, and sundrie other places of Affrica, as they haue
beene, so are they eaten to this daie powdred in barels, and therefore
the people of those parts are called _Acedophagi:_ neuertheles they
shorten the life of the eaters by the production at the last of an
irkesome and filthie disease. In India they are thrée foot long, in
Ethiopia much shorter, but in England seldome aboue an inch. As for
the cricket called in Latin _Cicada_, he hath some likelihood, but not
verie great, with the grashopper, and therefore he is not to be
brought in as an vmpier in this case. Finallie Matthiolus, and so
manie as describe the locust, doo set downe none other forme than that
of our grashopper, which maketh me so much the more to rest vpon my
former imagination, which is, that the locust and grashopper are one.
OF OUR ENGLISH DOGS AND THEIR QUALITIES.
CHAP. VII.
There is no countrie that maie (as I take it) compare with ours, in
number, excellencie, and diuersite of dogs. And therefore if
Polycrates of Samia were now aliue, he would not send to Epyro for
such merchandize: but to his further cost prouide them out of
Britaine, as an ornament to his countrie, and péece of husbandrie for
his common wealth, which he furnished of set purpose with Molossian
and Lacaonian dogs, as he did the same also with shéepe out of Attica
and Miletum, gotes from Scyro and Naxus, swine out of Sicilia, and
artificers out of other places. Howbeit the learned doctor Caius in
his Latine treatise vnto Gesner "De canibus Anglicis," bringeth them
all into thrée sorts: that is, the gentle kind seruing for game: the
homelie kind apt for sundrie vses: and the currish kind méet for many
toies. For my part I can say no more of them than he hath doone
alredie. Wherefore I will here set downe onelie a summe of that which
he hath written of their names and natures, with the addition of an
example or two now latelie had in experience, whereby the courages of
our mastiffes shall yet more largelie appeare. As for those of other
countries I haue not to deale with them: neither care I to report out
of Plinie, that dogs were sometime killed in sacrifice, and sometime
their whelps eaten as a delicate dish, Lib. 29. cap. 4. Wherefore if
anie man be disposed to read of them, let him resort to Plinie lib. 8.
cap. 40. who (among other woonders) telleth of an armie of two hundred
dogs, which fetched a king of the Garamantes out of captiuitie, mawgre
the resistance of his aduersaries: also to Cardan, lib. 10. "De
animalibus," Aristotle, &c: who write maruels of them, but none
further from credit than Cardan, who is not afraid to compare some of
them for greatnesse with oxen, and some also for smalnesse vnto the
little field mouse. Neither doo I find anie far writer of great
antiquitie, that maketh mention of our dogs, Strabo excepted, who
saith that the Galles did somtime buy vp all our mastiffes, to serue
in the forewards of their battels, wherein they resembled the
Colophonians, Castabalenses of Calicute and Phenicia, of whom Plinie
also speaketh, but they had them not from vs.
The first sort therefore he diuideth either into such as rowse the
beast, and continue the chase, or springeth the bird, and bewraieth
hir flight by pursute. And as these are commonlie called spaniels, so
the other are named hounds, whereof he maketh eight sorts, of which
the formost excelleth in perfect smelling, the second in quicke
espieng, the third in swiftnesse and quickenesse, the fourth in
smelling and nimblenesse, &c: and the last in subtiltie and
deceitfulnesse. These (saith Strabo) are most apt for game, and called
_Sagaces_ by a generall name, not onelie bicause of their skill in
hunting, but also for that they know their owne and the names of their
fellowes most exactlie. For if the hunter see anie one to follow
skilfullie, and with likelihood of good successe, he biddeth the rest
to harke and follow such a dog, and they eftsoones obeie so soone as
they heare his name. The first kind of these are also commonlie called
hariers, whose game is the fox, the hare, the woolfe (if we had anie)
hart, bucke, badger, otter, polcat, lopstart, wesell, conie, &c: the
second hight a terrer, and it hunteth the badger and graie onelie: the
third a bloudhound, whose office is to follow the fierce, and now and
then to pursue a théefe or beast by his drie foot: the fourth hight a
gasehound, who hunteth by the eie: the fift a greihound, cherished for
his strength, swiftnes, and stature, commended by Bratius in his "De
venatione," and not vnremembred by Hercules Stroza in a like treatise,
but aboue all other those of Britaine, where he saith:
---- & magna spectandi mole Britanni,
also by Nemesianus, libro Cynegeticôn, where he saith:
Diuisa Britannia mittit
Veloces nostríq; orbis venatibus aptos,
of which sort also some be smooth, of sundrie colours, and some shake
haired: the sixt a liemer, that excelleth in smelling and swift
running: the seuenth a tumbler: and the eight a théefe, whose offices
(I meane of the latter two) incline onelie to deceit, wherein they are
oft so skilfull, that few men would thinke so mischiefous a wit to
remaine in such sillie creatures. Hauing made this enumeration of
dogs, which are apt for the chase and hunting, he commeth next to such
as serue the falcons in their times, whereof he maketh also two sorts.
One that findeth his game on the land, an other that putteth vp such
foule as keepeth in the water: and of these this is commonlie most
vsuall for the net or traine, the other for the hawke, as he dooth
shew at large. Of the first he saith, that they haue no peculiar names
assigned to them seuerallie, but each of them is called after the bird
which by naturall appointment he is allotted to hunt or serue, for
which consideration some be named dogs for the feasant, some for the
falcon, and some for the partrich. Howbeit the common name for all is
spaniell (saith he) and therevpon alludeth, as if these kinds of dogs
had bin brought hither out of Spaine. In like sort we haue of water
spaniels in their kind. The third sort of dogs of the gentle kind, is
the spaniell gentle, or comforter, or (as the common terme is) the
fistinghound, and those are called _Melitei_, of the Iland Malta, from
whence they were brought hither. These are little and prettie, proper
and fine, and sought out far and néere to satisfie the nice delicacie
of daintie dames, and wanton womens willes; instruments of follie to
plaie and dallie withall, in trifling away the treasure of time, to
withdraw their minds from more commendable exercises, and to content
their corrupt concupiscences with vaine disport, a sillie poore shift
to shun their irkesome idlenes. These Sybariticall puppies, the
smaller they be (and thereto if they haue an hole in the foreparts of
their heads) the better they are accepted, the more pleasure also they
prouoke, as méet plaiefellowes for minsing mistresses to beare in
their bosoms, to keepe companie withall in their chambers, to succour
with sléepe in bed, and nourish with meat at boord, to lie in their
laps, and licke their lips as they lie (like yoong Dianaes) in their
wagons and coches. And good reason it should be so, for coursenesse
with finenesse hath no fellowship, but featnesse with neatnesse hath
neighbourhead inough. That plausible prouerbe therefore verefied
sometime vpon a tyrant, namelie that he loued his sow better than his
sonne, may well be applied to some of this kind of people, who delight
more in their dogs, that are depriued of all possibilitie of reason,
than they doo in children that are capable of wisedome & iudgement.
Yea, they oft féed them of the best, where the poore mans child at
their doores can hardlie come by the woorst. But the former abuse
peraduenture reigneth where there hath béene long want of issue, else
where barrennesse is the best blossome of beautie: or finallie, where
poore mens children for want of their owne issue are not readie to be
had. It is thought of some that it is verie wholesome for a weake
stomach to beare such a dog in the bosome, as it is for him that hath
the palsie to féele the dailie smell and sauour of a fox. But how
truelie this is affirmed let the learned iudge: onelie it shall
suffice for Doctor Caius to haue said thus much of spaniels and dogs
of the gentle kind.