He knew whats'ever's to be known, But much more than he knew, would own. Could make a man with, as he tells us : 300 v. 291, 292. Chase evil spir'ts away by dint-Of sickle, horse-shoe, &c.] Mr. Gayton observes, (see Notes upon Don Quixote, book 3. chap. 4. p. 104.) upon Sancho's tying both Rosinante's legs with his ass's halter, "That the Don presently smells out the business, an incantation upon the horse, for want of nailing his old shoes at the door of his house, when he came forth.” And Mr. Scot, (Discovery of Witchcraft, book 12. ch. 18. p. 266.) "That to prevent or cure all mischiefs wrought by charms or witchcrafts, according to the opinion of M. Mal. and others, one principal way is to nail a horse-shoe at the inside of the outmost threshold of your house, and so you shall be sure no witch shall have power to enter thereinto: And if you mark it, you shall find that rule observed in many a country house." The wild Irish, by way of preservative, practised something like it. Camden's Britannia, edit. 1695, 1044. v. 293, 294. Spit fire out of a walnut shell,-Which made the Roman slaves rebel;] Alluding to the servile war, headed by Spartacus, and occasioned by the following incident, which I shall give in the words author: of my Syrus quidam nomine Eunus (magnitudo cladium facit, ut meminerimus) fanatico furore simulato, dum Syriæ deœ comas jactat, ad libertatem, et arma servos, quasi numinum imperio, concitavit : idque ut divinitus fieri probaret, in ore abdita nuce, quam sulphure et igne stipaverat, leniter inspirans, flammam inter verba fundebat: Hoc miraculo primum duo millia ex obviis; mox jure belli refractis ergastulis, sexaginta amplius millium fecit exercitum; Regiisque ne quid malis deesset, decoratus insignibus; castella, oppida, vicos, miserabili direptione vastavit. (Vide Bell. Servil. Lucii Flori, lib. 3. cap. 19, p. 329. edit. Varior. 1660, Livii Histor. lib. 56, cap. 30, 31, &c. tom. vi. p. 354, edit. J. Clerici.) v. 299, 300. What med'cine 'twas that Paracelsus-Could make a man with, as he tells us:] Paracelsus's words are as follow: Non parva dubitatio et quæstio inter aliquos ex antiquis philosophis fuerit, an naturæ et arti possibile esset hominem gigni extra corpus muliebre, et matricem naturalem? Ad hoc respondeo, quod id arti Spagyricæ (i, e. Chemia) et naturæ nullo modo repugnat, imo bene possibile sit. Ut autem What figur'd slates are best to make, id fiat, hoc modo procedendum est: Sperma Viri per se in cucurbitá sigillatá putrefiat summa putrefactione ventris equini (i. e. stercoris equini) per quadraginta dies, aut tamdiu, donec incipiat vivere, moveri, ac agitare quod facile videri potest. Post hoc tempus aliquo modo homini simile erit, at tamen pellucidum et sine corpore. Si jam posthac quotidie arcano sanguinis humani cautè et prudenter nutriatur, et pascatur, et per quadraginta septimanas in perpetuo et æquabili calore ventris equini conservetur, fit inde verus et vivus infans, habens omnia membra infantis, qui ex muliere natus est, sed longe minor. Hunc nos homunculum vocamus, et is postea eo modo quo alius infans summa diligentid et studio educandus est, donec adolescat, et sapere et intelligere incipiat. Hoc jam est unum ex maximis secretis, quæ Deus mortali, et peccatis obnoxio homini, patefecit. Est enim miraculum et magnale Dei, et arconum super omnia arcana, et merito in secretis servari debet usque ad extrema tempora, quando nihil erit reconditi, sed omnia manifestabuntur, et quanquam hoc hactenus hominibus notum non fuerit, fuit tamen sylvestribus et nymphis (anglice sylphs) et gigantibus ante multa tempora cognitum, qui inde etiam orti sunt. Quoniam er talibus homunculis, cum ad ætatem virilem perveniunt, fiant gigantes, pygmæi, et alii homines magni miraculosi, qui instrumenta sunt magnarum rerum, qui magnas victorias contra suos hostes obtinent, et omnia secreta et abscondita noverunt quoniam arte acquirunt quam vitam, arte acquirunt corpus, carnem, ossa, et sanguinem, arte nascuntur; quare etiam ars ipsis incorporatur, et connascitur, et a nullo opus est ipsis discere, quoniam ab arte orti sunt, et existunt. Paracels. de Generat. Rerum Natural. lib. 1. (Dr. H.) See Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, chap. 24. p. 490. Parker de Deo, Londini, 1665. p. 73. Annotations on Browne's Religio Medici, 1672. p. 112. Vau Helmont, a brother chemist, pretended to make mice from wheat: (vide Op. par. 1. p. 71. edit. Lugduni, 1667.) Both which carry with them the same degree of credibility, with the story of Pantagruel's begetting three and fifty thousand little men, or dwarfs, with one fart; and with his fisgs, or fizzles, the same number of little women. Rabelais's Works, vol. 2. b. 2. chap. 27. p. 199. edit. 1735. Whether a pulse beat in the black If systole or diastole move Quickest when he's in wrath, or love; 305 Whether they gallop, trot, or pace; 310 Of his own length, from head to rump; v. 301, 302. What figur'd slates are best to make-On watry surface, duck or drake] "Neither cross, nor pile, nor ducks and drakes, are quite so ancient as handy-dandy, though Macrobius and St. Austin take notice of the first, and Minutius Felix describes the latter." Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, book 1. chap. 5. p. 32. v. 307,308. If systole or diastole move-Quickest when he's in wrath, or love]—See systole and diastole of a louse, Dr. Hook's Micrographia, observ. 54. Of a Louse, p. 212. Ibid.-Systole and diastole; the contraction and dilation of the heart. (ED.) v. 310. Whether they gallop, trot, or pace] Works, p. 99. Ray's English Proverbs, p. 280. See John Taylor's v. 311, 312. How many scores a flea will jump—Of his own length, from head to rump] Dr. Giles Fletcher informs us, (see Purchase's Pilgrims, part 3. book 3. p. 431.) that Bazilowitz, the Great Duke (or rather Tyrant) of Muscovy, sent to the City of Moscow, to provide "for him a measure full of live fleas, for a medicine. They answered, the thing was impossible; and if they could get them, they could not measure them, because of their leaping out. Upon which, he set a mulct upon them of seven thousand rubles." And yet as difficult as this was, something of this kind was undertaken by the friend of a jealous husband, (see L'Estrange's Fables, vol. 1. fab. 212.) to whose care he had committed his wife for some time; but he desired to be released. "If (says he) it were to turn a bag of fleas into a meadow every morning, and fetch them home again at night, I durst be answerable with my life for the doing of it to a flea; but the other is a commission I dare meddle no farther in." v. 313, 314. Which Socrates and Charephon-In vain essay'd so long agon] Aristophanes, in his Comedy of the Clouds, brings in 190 Which Socrates and Chærephon In vain essay'd so long agon: Whether his snout a perfect nose is, How many diff'rent specieses Of maggots breed in rotten cheese; 315 Socrates and Chærephon measuring the leap of a flea, from the one's beard to the other's." Upon which Moufet observes, (Insector. Theatr. lib. 2. cap. 28. p. 276.) Horum dum aucupes mensurare saltum curiosule dant operam (ut Aristophanes loquitur) Angor Angus. See T. Coryat's Preface upon Travel, prefixed to his Crudities. No less humourous than this, is the custom mentioned by Huetius, of their chusing at Hardenberg the chief magistrate by a louse: Venimus Hardenburgam- -Minime vero lectori injucundum fore puto cognoscere, quo ritu Consul illic creari solet, uti quidem ab oppidanis accepimus. Hinc Hardenburgam será sub nocte venimus, Quippe ubi deligitur revoluto tempore Consul, Barbam adiit, festo huic; gratantur murmure patres, Atque celebratur subjecta per oppida Consul. Huetii Comment. de rebus ad se pertinentibus, 1718, p. 76. Or the choice of a mayor somewhere in Essex, by a calf; the competitors having a wisp of hay stuck in their bums. Heraclitus Ridens, No. 66. v. 315, 316. Whether his snout a perfect nose is, - And not an elephant's proboscis ;] Proboscidis mucro paulo est rigidior, ut cutem facilius penetret. Moufeti Insector. Theatr. lib. 2. cap. 28. See a farther account of a flea's proboscis, Dr. Hook's Micrograph, observ. 53. p. 210. Some microscopical observations on the structure of the spleen and proboscis of fleas, by Mr. Anthony Van Leuenhoeck, F. R. S. Philosophical Transactions, vol. 25. numb. 307. p. 2311, 2312. And which are next of kin to those A paltry wretch he had, half-starv'd, v. 317, 318. How many diffrent specieses · 320 Of maggots breed in rotten cheese] Specieses in editions 1664, 1674, 1684, altered to species, 1689. -Others aver, that mites in cheese Live in a monarchy, like bees; Have civil laws, and magistrates, Their rise, their periods, and fates, Can hear them sneeze, discourse, and fart. A Pindarick Poem to the Society of Beaux Esprits, p. 15. v. 322. That live in vinegar-] See Dr. Hook's account of vinegar worms, Micrographia, observ. 57, p. 216. v. 324. in place of zany] A buffoon, or jack-pudding. In France he is called jean-pottages; in Italy, macaronies; in Holland, pickled herring. Spectator, numb. 47. Mr. Theobald, in a note upon Shakespear's play, intitled, All's well that ends well, act. 3. vol. 2. p. 401, observes, "That it was a foolery practised at city entertainments, whilst the jester or zany was in vogue, for him to jump into a large deep custard, set on purpose, to set on a quantity of barren spectators to laugh; as our Poet says in his Hamlet." I do not advance this without some authority; and a quotation from Ben Jonson will very well explain it: He ne'er will be admitted there, where Vennor comes; He may, perchance, in tail of a sheriff's dinner Skip with a rhyme o' th' table from New-nothing, And take his almain-leap into a custard; Shall make my lady may'ress and her sisters Laugh all their hoods over their shoulders. The Devil is an Ass, act 1. sc. 1. This might occasion as much mirth as the cook's serving up the Dwarf in a pye. (See Mr. Cleveland's Works, ed. 1677, p. 103.) |
