As barnacles turn soland geese In th' islands of the Orcades. 9 As barnacles turn soland geese 655 p. 925, In th' islands of the Orcades.]. Our poet was too good a naturalist to suppose that a shell-fish would turn to a goose; but in this. place, as in many others, he means to banter some of the papers published by the first establishers of the Royal Society. In the twelfth volume of the Philosophical Transactions, No. 137, sir Robert Moray gives an account of barnacles hanging upon trees, and containing each of them a little bird, so completely formed, that nothing appeared wanting, as to the external parts, for making up a perfect sea-fowl: the little bill, like that of a goose; the eyes marked; the head, neck, breast, and wings, tail and feet formed; the feathers every way perfectly shaped, and blackish coloured; and the feet like those of other water fowls. See the Lepas anatifera, Lin. Syst. 668. My friend, Mr. Pennant, observes, (British Zoology, vol. iv. No. 9.) that the animal is furnished with a feathered beard, which, in a credulous age, was believed to be part of a young bird; it is a native of hot climates, and found adhering to the bottoms of ships. Heylin says, they are bred in the isle of Man from rotten wood thrown into the water. The same is mentioned by Camden, and by old Gerard in his Herbal, who gives a print of the goose itself in p. 1587, with a cluster of the shells called Lepas anatifera, or barnacle shells, which he calls Concha anatiferæ Britannicæ, and by the wise naturalists of the 16th century were thought to generate the birds, which hung for a while by the bill, then fell into the sea, and grew to maturity: they did not, like our poet, make the tree goose a soland goose, but the goose called the barnacle. British Zoology, ii. 269. Sir John Mandevile, in his Voyages, ch. 84, says, "In my country there are trees that do bear fruit that "become birds flying, and they are good to eat, and that which falls "in the water lives, and that which falls on the earth dies." ed. London, 1722. Hector Boetius, in his History of Scotland, tells us of a goose-bearing tree, as it is called in the Orcades: that is, one whose leaves falling into the water, are turned to those geese which are called soland geese, and found in prodigious numbers in those parts. Thus the poet Dubartas: So slow Bootes underneath him sees In th' icy islands, goslings hatch'd of trees, Their dispensation's but a ticket For their conforming to the wicked, Lies more in words and shew, than sense: 660 Of heaven, wears three crowns of state;' Proud Cerb'rus, wears three heads as well :* Again: Whose fruitful leaves falling into the water Are turn'd ('tis known) to living fowl soon after. So rotten planks of broken ships do change Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull. The poet seems to have taken something from each of these stories. In Moore's Travels into the inland parts of Africa, p. 54, we read: "This evening, December 18, 1730, I supped upon oys"ters which grew upon trees. Down the river (Gambia) where the "water is salt, and near the sea, the river is bounded with trees "called mangroves, whose leaves being long and heavy weigh the boughs into the water. To these leaves the young oysters fasten "in great quantities, where they grow till they are very large; and "then you cannot separate them from the tree, but are obliged to "cut off the boughs: The oysters hanging on them resemble a rope "of onions." Mr. Francis Moore, son of a writing-master at Worcester, was many years a factor in the service of the African company, and travelled five hundred miles up the river Gambia. These oysters are found in Jamaica, and many other places. 1 For as the Pope, that keeps the gate Of heaven, wears three crowns of state;] The pope, pretending to have the power of the keys, is called janitor ecclesiæ. The tiara or triple crown is a badge of papal dignity. 2 So he that keeps the gates of hell, Proud Cerb'rus, wears three heads as well:] Cerberus hæc ingens latratu regna trifauci Æneis vi. 417. And, if the world has any troth,3 Some have been canoniz'd in both. But that which does them greatest harm, 665 Their sp'ritual gizzards are too warm,* In fevers still, like other goats; 5 670 For tho' the whore bends hereticks Th' hotter they 're they grow the stiffer; That teaches saints to tear and rant, And, if the world has any troth, 675 Some have been canoniz'd in both.] Many bad as well as good men have been honoured with the title of saints. • Their sp'ritual gizzards are too warm,] Persons are said to have a broiling in their gizzards when they stomach any thing very much. Which puts the overheated sots In fevers still, like other goats;] Capras sanas sanus nemo promittet, nunquam enim sine febre sunt. Varro ii. 3. 5. Columella says they are extremely sickly. And Plutarch ii. p. 290, that they are subject to epilepsies. In the notes on Varro, it is observed that the learned Coteler was suckled by a she-goat; and in consequence was a valetudinary through life, subject to melancholy, and scarcely ever without a fever. • For tho' the whore bends hereticks With flames of fire, like crooked sticks,] The pope of Rome is, by some, thought to be the same with the whore of Babylon mentioned in the Revelations and the Romanists are said to have attempted the conversion of infidels by means of fire and faggots, as men made crooked sticks straight by fire and steam. And independents to profess Turns meek, and secret, sneaking ones," The brethren and the men of sin, To liberty of conscience, Or zealous suff'ring for the cause, To gain one groat's worth of applause; "Twill ne'er amount to persecution; 680 685 690 695 7 Turns meek, and secret, sneaking ones,] In some editions we have a better reading thus : Turns meek, and sneaking secret ones. • The Gibellines, for want of Guelfs,] These names of distinction were first made use of at Pistoia, where, when the magistrates expelled the Panzatichi, there chanced to be two brothers, Germans, one of whom named Guelph was for the pope, the other, Gibel, for emperor. The spirit of these parties raged with violence in Italy and Germany. the • Where neither side can lay pretence To liberty of conscience,] That is, not having granted liberty of conscience. Shall precious saints, and secret ones, 700 705 710 And saints, whose necks are pawn'd at stake," No notice of the danger take; 1 Shall precious saints, and secret ones, Break one another's outward bones,] A sneer upon the canting abuse of Scripture phrases, alluding to Psalm ii. v. 9, thus again 1. 328 of this canto: the same may be said of lines 326 and 700. 2 When fiends agree among themselves,] O shame to men! devil with devil damn'd Firm concord holds Paradise Lost, ii. 496. Shall they be found the greater elves?] They, that is the saints, see v. 689, 697. 4 When savage bears agree with bears,] sævis inter se convenit ursis. Juv. Sat. xv. 164. And not atone their fatal wrath,] Atone, that is, reconcile, see v. 717. And saints, whose necks are pawn'd at stake,] That is, and saints, whose all is at stake, as they are to be hanged if things do not take a friendly turn. See v. 716. |