"The Tourtre is ane foule, sueit and simple, and cheist, and hes ane sueit sang, and hes yat propirtie, yat quhen scho tynis hir fellow, scho haldis-hir solitarly, and ye folkis yat, (sic) hantis ye desertis, and sittis not on na grene thing, and seikis gardinis, secreit and merk places; and signifyis, yat he yat bure yame first in armes, wes ane simple man, and sucit of langage, and chaist; and quhen he tint his fallow, he become solitaire, and haitit ye warld, and all joyositie, and socht not bot desertis and solitaris, to mak his prayer and orisonis. The fictions of the middle ages, concerning the properties of birds and other animals, may be generally traced to the authors of classical antiquity, among whom the natural historians are almost as fabulous as the poets. The natural historians of Greece and Rome, adopted, in the literal sense, popular errors, and allegorical fictions; and the poets only gave consistency and method to their relations. The practice of augury, the Metamorphoses of Ovid and of Liberalis, with the original works from which these authors drew their relations, which have perished like the Ornithogonia of Bæus, quoted by Liberalis, all tended to render the properties of animals a subject of curious disquisition; while the Fables of Æsop, and Phædrus, contributed greatly to the same purpose. But it is to the Egyptians and Hindus, that we must look for the origin of these fictions. In the ancient Hindu Fables, imitated by the Grecian Æsop, and the Arabian Lokman, birds and animals are the chief interlocutors. From the allegorical nature of these fables, a strong suspicion arises, that they were connected with the belief in the transmigration of souls. These Hindu fa bles bles were probably well known to the ancient Egyptians, among whom the practice of hieroglyphical writing must likewise have tended to render the properties of animals an object of investigation. Thus, the explanations of Egyptian symbolical figures, by Horapollo, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Epiphanius, consist of a series of observations on the properties of animals, intermixed with remarks concerning vegetables and natural phænomena. The Greeks, who originally adopted the Oriental fictions, in process of time restored them, with numerous additions; and the properties of birds, and other animals, were carefully studied by the Syriac and Arabic proficients in occult science. The Syriac author of the history of animals, edited by Tychsen, has not only derived a considerable part of his materials from classical authors, but has added many Oriental fictions. * This may likewise be observed of the curious poem on the properties of animals by Manuel Phile, whose fictions are partly Oriental and partly classical, and whose phraseology is more elegant than his versification. The scene in the Complaynt, has not the merit of being an accurate description of nature. Domestic fowls are mingled with those of the moor, the wood, the river, and the sea; and, to complete the concert, the nightingale, a bird which was never a native of Scotland, is introduced as singing her sweet notes all the night long. "Traducit Philomela insomnem carmine noctem, Nos dormire facit, se vigilare docet." 3 Lindsay Physiologus Syrus, edit. Syriace ab Olao. G. Tychsen. Ros toch 1795 2 DIAH wipt Zwwv Idioтntos, a J. C. Pauw. 1730. 3 Antholog. Lat. Burmanni, vol. ii. p. 443 Lindsay often indulges his fancy in characterizing birds by their peculiar cries; and the same mode of composition has been employed by Holland in his Houlate, by Montgomery in his Cherry and Slae, and by Birrell in his Passage of the Pilgrimer. It is pleasantly ridiculed by Randolph in his Amyntas, in a passage, the primary intention of which is to expose divination by birds. The interlocutors are Thestylis, Jocastus, and Mopsus. Joc. In Fairyland they can: I have heard them chirp Very good Greek and Latin. 1 MOPS. And our birds Talk better far than they: a new laid egge THEST. But what languages Doe they speak, servant? MOPS. Several languages; As Cawation, Chirpation, Hootation, THEST. And Foolation? MOPS. No, that's our language; we ourselves speak that." Randolph's Amyntas, London, 1652, p. 7. In the sea scene which immediately succeeds, the minuteness of description employed by the author, is entirely averse to every principle of taste in composition, except in a work professedly scientific: But from this very circumstance, it derives an additional value, as it has preserved many sea cheers which have long fallen into desuetude; and many sea terms, P by by which the different parts of a ship, and the dif ferent operations and manoeuvres of navigation, were formerly denominated. These cheers and terms are chiefly of Norman and Flemish origin, and, with many others of a similar kind, were preserved to a late period, by that singular race of men, the fishers of the eastern coast of Scotland, many of whom have hardly, at this day, abandoned the peculiar habits and phraseology by which they were long distinguished from the pastoral and agricultural inhabitants of the interior parts of the country. As the progressive improvement of naval architecture, is a subject which still requires considerable elucidation, the preservation of these terms supplies us with some important facts in the history of that art; especially as Strutt has preserved a curious description of an English vessel of the same period, with an inventory of its furniture, copied from a мs. in the Cottonian Library. ' "Thys is the inventory of the great barke Vyenwyd, by youre humble servant Christopher Morres, the 6 day of October, the 23 year of our soverayne king Henry the 8th. Item, in primus, the shype with one overlop1; Item, the fore castell, and a cloos tymber deck from the mast forward, whyche was made of lait: Item, above the fore castell, a decke from the mayne mast afterward: Item, a nyew Mayne Mast of spruce, with a nyew staye, kounsyd 3, and skarvyd with the same wood; whyche 4 Strutt copied the following explanations of terms from a мs. in the Harleian Library— I overlopp, or orlop, the deck. 2 a sort of firr so called. 3 bounsyd, bound round. 4 skarvyd, or searf'd, one piece of timber let into another in a firm joint. whyche mast ys of length from the hounse to the step, 25 yards; the mayne mast, about the patnas, ys 23 hands about: Item, a nyew mayne yaerd of spruce, of oon piece. Item, the takyll pertaynyng to the said mayne maste, 6 takells on a syd. Item, 9 shrouds, and a backe staye on either syd. Item, in all the sayd takylles, 6 shyvers of brasse ; that is to saye, 4 shyvers in their pennants, and two in the bowser takylls. 7 Item, a payer of thyes, and a payer of haylyards: Item, a gyver with 2 brasing shyvers; item, the mayne parrel, with trussys, and 2 dryughs; item, 2lysts; item, two braesys; item, two tregets; item, a mayne kerse; item, a bonnet haulf worren, with shoutts, tacks, and bollyngs; item, a niew mayne top; item, a top mast, and a top sayle, with all theyr apparrell. Item, a mayne myssyn mast; and a mayn myssyn yaerd of spruce, of oon pece. Item, a payer of hayllaerds, and a tye for the sayd mayne myssen yaerd; item, 5 shrouds on eyche syd; item, a mayne myssen haulf a top; item, a mayne myssen sayle haulf worren. Item, a bonaventure mast; with a yaerd of spruce, of oon pece, with 3 shrouds on a syde.-Item, a payer of hayliards: item, a tye with haulf a top.-Item, a bonaventure sayle, sore worren. Item, a feer mast, with 3 takylls, pij 5 sbywers or sheevers, the pullies which run in the blocks, whether brass or wood. Thyes, or ties, the ropes by which the yards do hang. Gyver, a block in which the sheevers run. 8 Lysts, ropes which belong to the yard armes. 9 Bonnet, is belonging to another sail. |