"The Turks, a cruel people, nevertheless are kind to beasts, and give
alms to dogs and birds; insomuch, as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian
boy in Constantinople had like to have been stoned for gagging in a
waggishness a long-billed fowl."] A. G. Busbequius, _Legationis Turcicæ
Epistolæ quattuor_, in Epist. iii. p. 107. of his works, Lond. 1660,
tells a story of a Venetian goldsmith at Constantinople, who was fond
of fowling, and had caught a bird of the size of the cuckoo, and of the
same colour; with a beak not very large, but with jaws so wide that,
when opened, they would admit a man's fist. This bird he fastened over
his door, with extended wings, and a stick in his beak, so as to extend
the jaws to a great width, as a joke. The Turks, who were passing by,
took compassion on the bird; seized the goldsmith by the neck, and led
him before the criminal judge. He was with difficulty saved from an
infliction of the bastinado by the interference of the Venetian Bailo.
The man told the story to Busbequius, and showed him the bird; who
supposed it to be the _Caprimulgus_, or goat-sucker. A full account of
the _Caprimulgus Europæus_ (the bird here alluded to) may be seen in
the _Penny Cyclopædia_, art. NIGHTJARS. It will be observed that Bacon
quotes the story from memory, and does not represent the particulars of
it with accuracy. It is not a Christian _boy_, nor is he threatened with
_stoning_, nor is the bird a _long-billed_ fowl.
{143}
"Neither give thou Æsop's cock a gem," &c.] Compare _Apophthegms_, No.
203. p. 393.
"Such men in other men's calamities are, as it were, in season, _and are
ever on the loading part_."] By "the loading part," seems to be meant
the part which is most heavily laden; the part which supports the chief
burthen.
"Misanthropi, that make it their practice to bring men to the bough, and
yet have never a tree for the purpose in their gardens as Timon had."]
Query, What is the allusion in this passage? Nothing of the sort occurs
in Lucian's dialogue of Timon.
Essay XIV. Of Nobility.--See _Antitheta_, No. 1. vol. viii. p. 354.