the Fancy of Painters pretends to the priviledge of a lawlesse Liberty. But, besides that it is uncivil to give the lye to a common Tradition, the former existence of such a creature (and surely no Species is wholly lost) is cleared from several places of Scrip∣ture, God hath as it were the strength of an Unicorn. Will the Unicorn be willing to serve thee? My Horn shalt thou exalt like the Horn of an Unicorn, &c. True it is, the Word in the Original importeth nothing of any Horn therein (as doth the Latin Unicornis, and the Greek Monoceros) Yet I am confident it is right rendred, because it is so rendred. Such was the Learning and Piety of the persons imployed in that Translation.
Proceed we now to the second Quaere about the kind thereof. Surely it is distinct from the Rhinoceros (carrying a Horn not on his Forehead but on his Nose) because the Exaltation of his Horn is not considerable, as not bunching forth much above a Foot in the prominency thereof. He is commonly pictured, bodyed like a Buck, with a Horn advanced out of his Forehead, some two Yards in proportion, and this his Picture confuteth his Picture, seeing generally he is held to be no Beast of Prey, but which feedeth on the grass, and if so, his Mouth cannot meet with the Ground; the Interposition of his Horn so fancifully fixed, making so great distance betwixt them.
The plain Truth is, I, who first questioned whether there were any Unicorns, am since convin•…•…ed that there are so many sorts of them, The Indian Oxe, the Indian Asse, the O•…•…yx, &c. famous for carrying one Horn, but which is the prize in this Lot∣tery I cannot decide, seeing none alive in our Land have seen a four footed Beast of that kind, and Julius Scaliger saith truly,
Ex libris colligere quae prodider unt Authores longe est periculo∣sissimum; Rerum ipsarum cognitio vera è rebus ipsis est.
OLAUS WORME, One no lesse a curious Inquirer into the Mysteries, then careful preserver of the Rarities of Nature, Physician at this day to the King of Denmark, in a Learned Work which he lately set forth endevoureth to prove all under a general mistake, who fancy a Unicorn a four footed Beast, proving the same to be a Fish in the Northern Seas, of 22. Foot in Length, a long horn in his Fore∣head (no more cumbersome in the portage, then Ears are to other Beasts) with which Horn he tilteth at his prey, and having pierced it through, doth afterward feed upon it.
If it be objected to the contrary, that in Scripture he is ranked amongst the Qua∣•…•…; And the Unicorns shall come down with them, and the Bullocks with the Bulls, and their Land shall be soaked with blood, and their Dust made Fat with Fatnesse; It will be answered, that Unicorns there are not real, but metaphorical (rendred appellatively Robusti in some Translations) importing that strong Enemies both by Water and Land, shall invade Idumaea to the utter destruction thereof.
Come we now to the fashion and colour of the Horn, conceiving it no considerable controversie concerning the length and bignesse thereof, quantity not varying the kind in such cases. Some are plain, as that in St. Marks in Venice; others wreathed about, as that at St. Dyonis neer Paris, with anfractuous spires, and cocleary turn∣ings about it, which probably is the effect of age, those Wreaths being but the wrinkles of most vivacious Unicorns. The same may be said of the colour, white, when newly taken from his Head; Yellow, like that lately in the Tower of some hundred years seniority, but whether or no it will ever turn black, as that of Aelians and Plinies Description, let others decide.
The last Quaere remains of the virtue of this Horn, which some exalt so high, that it is not only antidotal to several Venomes, and substances destructive by their qualities, which we can command our selves to believe; but also that it resisteth poysons which kill by second qualities, that is, by corrosion of parts; wherein I concur with my learned Author, and doubt such exceed the properties of its nature, and the promises of experiment will not secure the adventure; and I believe few Mountebanks will be so da∣ring as to poyson themselves on the Security of such an Alexipharmacon.