Show JI o t y f rr ri 1 r hi iV J. J f Creatures Creature Now that tho cold light of science aaa aas as thrown its ray upon tho the most remote remote remote re re- mote parts of our globo there thero is no longer room for legendary creatures creatures- save ave the tho sea serpent serpent and and wo we aro are told that the mermaid is nothing more than thana a dugong a unicorn either a rhinoceros or Dr n a Tibetan antelope while tho the cockatrice cook cook- atrice tho the phoenix and the roo roe appear to be bo pure imaginations But in the tho Elizabethan ago ago an an age when the dodo o had bad but recently been discovered these and many other mythical creatures v were ere if not living at all nIl events actual realities to the ordinary ordinary ordinary nary public and as such were ere referred to in the works of the great dramatist and other contemporary writers We Wo meet for instance in the tho Winters Winter's Tale the line Make me not sighted like the and in Tho The Tempest Tempest Tem Tem- pest Now I will that there aro unicorns But not only was moro more or less of credulity given to the existence existence existence exist exist- ence of these those and such like fabulous monsters but a web of mystic mystia lore encircled encircled encircled en en- circled the most common and best known of beasts birds and fishes Who for instance is forgetful of the popular superstitions connected with the salamander salamander sala tabs mander wander the newt and the blindworm and who fails tails to remember Whites White's account account ac ao ac- ac count of the at Selborne And if such superstitions still survive among uneducated peasants of the present pres ent day we may be he assured that two centuries ago ugo they were fully believed by the higher bighel classes N Nature a ture |