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use; and it is said, red shoes were among the insignia of the ancient kingdom of Bulgaria. Hence, Isaac Com nenus, the Roman emperor, deprived the patriarch of Constantinople of his dignity, because he presumed to put on shoes of a crimson colour, although these were formerly worn at Rome by persons of the senatorial order.P The Mole.

The mole is doomed by its maker to a life of darkness and solitude, and to subsist on the meanest fare, in the trench which it is compelled to dig with its own hands, or in the vault where it deposits its young. Possessed of great strength in proportion to the size of its body, a perpetual vigour, and considerable industry and skill, it undertakes and executes works of much labour and singular ingenuity. It is a beautiful and harmless little creature, warmly attached to its mate, tremblingly alive to the safety of its young; and constructing its dwelling only in cultivated countries.

The Bat.

The bat is a winged quadruped, the link which connects the four-footed animal and the bird. It is a most deformed and hideous creature, which uniformly endeavours to shun the light of day, as if conscious of its disgusting aspect, and fixes its abode in the horrid cavern or the ruined habitation. The great or Ternat bat, belongs to the east, and was not altogether unknown to the ancients. It is noted for its cruelty, voracity, and filthiness. It is more mischievous than any other species of bat; but

P See Essays on Sacred Zoology, Christ. Mag. vol. vi.

Buffon's Nat. Hist. vol. iv, p. 312.

Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii, p. 349.

Buffon's Nat. Hist. vol. iv, p. 318.

Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. x, cap. 81.

it carries on the work of destruction by open force, both during the night and day. It kills poultry and small birds; attacks men and often wounds them in the face. This unsightly animal, says Forbes, fixes its dwelling among owls and noxious reptiles in the desolate tower, or lonely unfrequented mausoleum, which it seldom or never leaves except in the dusk of evening. In the east, where they grow to an enormous size, their stench is so intolerable that it is impossible to remain many seconds to examine the place." Into the vault or trench of the mole, and those dismal abodes frequented by the Ternat bats, which man can scarcely endure to visit, the idolater, terrified by the destructive judgments of a just and righteous God, shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold which he made for himself to worship; regardless of their intrinsic value, ashamed of the trust he reposed in them, and distracted by the terrors of the Almighty, he shall cast them in desperation and scorn out of his sight, that freed from the useless encumbrance he may escape for his life. "In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats."t Instead of building magnificent temples for their reception where nothing to offend the senses is permitted to enter; instead of watching over them with scrupulous care, devoting their days, their riches and all they possess to their service, instead of adoring them with insensate prostrations and offerings, they shall cast them to creatures so vile or dangerous, into places so dismal and loathsome, as to preclude the possibility of returning to their idolatrous practices. Or to cast their idols to the moles and the bats may * Isa. ii, 20.

• Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii, p. 254.

t

signify the utter destruction of these objects of worship. When the Greeks said, Baλλ's xogaxas, cast him to the ravens, the meaning was, cast him to destruction: and this prophecy may refer to a proverbial expression among the Jews of similar import.

CHAP. X.

BIRDS OF PREY.

The Eagle. The Ostrich.-The Owl.-The Pelican.-The Stork.-The

Raven.-The Hawk.

The Eagle.

THE eagle is the strongest, the fiercest, and the most rapacious of the feathered race. He dwells alone in the desert, and on the summits of the highest mountains; and suffers no bird to come with impunity within the range of his flight. His eye is dark and piercing, his beak and talons are hooked and formidable, and his cry is the terror of every wing. His figure answers to his nature; independently of his arms, he has a robust and compact body, and very powerful limbs and wings; his bones are hard, his flesh is firm, his feathers are coarse, his attitude is fierce and erect, his motions are lively, and his flight is extremely rapid. Such is the golden eagle, as described by the most accurate observers of nature. To this noble bird the pro

a Bochart. Hieroz. vol. iii, lib. ii, p. 161, &c.

Ælian de Nat. Animal. lib. ii, cap. 26. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. x, cap. 3, sec. 3. Buffon's Nat. Hist. of Birds, vol. i, p. 49, 50, 52.

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phet Ezekiel evidently refers, in his parable to the house of Israel: "A great eagle, with great wings, long winged, full of feathers which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar." In this parable, a strict regard to physical truth is discovered, in another respect; for the eagle is known to have a predilection for cedars, which are the loftiest trees in the forest, and therefore more suited to his daring temper than any other. La Roque found a number of large eagle's feathers, scattered on the ground beneath the lofty cedars which still crown the summits of Lebanon, on the highest branches of which, that fierce destroyer occasionally perches.

The extraordinary length of his wings, and the manner, in which he stretches them as he flies, have been celebrated by many ancient writers. Hesiod calls him the bird with extended wings; Pindar asserts, that in the length and extension of his wings, he surpasses all the birds of heaven; and Homer, with his usual force and beauty, compares the wings of the eagle to the doors of a splendid apartment, closely shut and skilfully made.

Όσση δε ύψοροφοιο θυρα θαλαμοιο τετυκται. Il. lib. xxiv, 1. 317. On these great and expanded wings, the eagle darts with amazing swiftness and impetuosity through the voids of heaven, especially when in pursuit of his prey. He rushes, says Apuleius, upon the devoted victim, like a flash of lightning; and Cicero avers, that no bird flies with greater vehemence. The Greeks gave him the appropriate name of astos, from a verb which signifies to rush with great im

αετός,

Ezek. xvii, 3.

Hes. Theog. b. 523.

c Voy. de Syrie et du Mont-Liban, p. 88. Pindar. Pyth. 5.

e

cccix, 36, et clxxiii, 12.

petuosity. The very sound of his wings, according to Ælian, strikes some of the fiercest beasts of the desert with terror. This remarkable trait in his character, did not escape the keen observation of Homer: he compares the rapid and furious onset of Achilles, to the violent pursuit of that bird, which he characterizes the strongest and the swiftest of the winged tribes:

Δετε οίματ' έχων μέλανος, τε θηρητήρος

Ος θ' αμα καρτιςος τε και ωκιςος πετεηνων.

Il. lib. xxi, 1. 253.

He describes, in nearly the same terms, the career of the amiable and ill-fated Hector:

Οίμησεν δε ἀλεὶς ὡς τ ̓ αὐτὸς ὑψιπετήεις.

Il. lib. xxii, 1. 308.

"Turning, he rushed upon him like a high-soaring eagle, which descends into the plain through the obscure clouds, to seize the tender lamb or trembling hare." Equally striking and beautiful are the allusions in the sacred oracles: "The Lord shall bring a nation against thee," said Moses to his people, " from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth." In the affecting lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan, their impetuous and rapid career is celebrated in more forcible terms, than the great master of Grecian song presumed to use: "They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions." "Behold," cried Jeremiah, when he beheld in vision the march of Nebuchadnezzar," he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us, for we are spoiled." To the wide expanded wings of the eagle, and the rapidity of his flight, the same prophet beautifully alludes in a subsequent chapter, where he describes the subversion of Mcab,

f De Nat. Animal. lib. ii, cap. 26.
Deut. xxviii, 49.

h2 Sam. i, 23.

i Jer. iv, 13.

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