_Freedom from Serpents_ (Vol. iii., p. 490.).--Ireland is not the only
country supposed to be inimical to reptiles. I may perhaps be allowed to
add to the "Note" of your correspondent as to Ireland, that the Maltese
declare that St. Paul after his shipwreck cursed all the venomous
reptiles of the island, and banished them for ever, just as St. Patrick
is said to have afterwards treated those of his favourite isle. Whatever
be the cause of it, the fact is alleged by travellers to be certain,
that there are _no venomous animals in Malta_. "They assured us" (says
Brydone in his _Tour through Sicily and Malta_, vol. ii. p. 35.) "that
vipers have been brought from Sicily, and died almost immediately on
their arrival."
Although perhaps more strictly coming under the head of folk lore, I may
here advert to the traditions found in several parts of England, that
venomous reptiles were banished by saints who came to live there. I have
read that Keynsham--the hermitage of Keynes, a Cambrian lady, A.D.
490--was infested with serpents, which were converted by her prayers
into the "Serpent-stones"--the _Cornua Ammonis_--that now cover the
land. A similar story is told at Whitby, where these fine fossils of the
Lias are called "St. Hilda's Serpent-stones;" and so, too, St. Godric,
the famous hermit of Finchale, near Durham, is said to have destroyed
the native race of serpents.