Another collection of philosophical conferences of the French virtuosi upon questions of all sorts for the improving of natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent. & J. Davies ..., Gent.

CONFERENCE CCXIII. Of the Cock, and whether the Lyon be frightned at his Crowing. (Book 213)

THe Germans being engag'd upon an expedition of War had some reason to carry a Cock along with them, to serve them for an incitement and example of Vigilance. Thence haply proceeded the custom, which some Mule-drivers and Wag∣goners still observe of having one fasten'd to the leading Mule or Horse; and sometimes for want of that, adorning them with a plume of his or some other feathers. 'Twas upon this account, that Phidias's Minerva had a Cock upon her head-piece, unless it be attributed to this, that the said Goddess had also the presi∣dency and direction of War, where there is no less need of Vigilance than Industry; though that Bird belongs to her suffi∣ciently upon the score of his other qualities, as being so gallant and courageous, as many times rather to lose his Life upon the spot, than quit the desire of victory; and when he is engag'd, fighting with such fury, that Caelius Aurelian relates that one who had been peck'd by a Cock in the heat of fighting, grew mad upon it. For the Passion of Anger being a short fury, 'tis possible it may extreamly heighten the degree of heat, in a temperament already so highly cholerick, that in time the body of the Cock becomes nitrous; and upon that consideration, is prescrib'd to sick persons for the loosening the belly, and that after he hath been well beaten with a wand, and the feathers pluck'd while he is alive before he is boyl'd. It may be further urg'd, that this Courage of the Cock was the motive which inclin'd Artaxerxes King of Persia to grant him, who kill'd Prince Cyrus, the privi∣ledge of carrying on his Javelin a little Cock of Gold, as a sin∣gular acknowledgement of his Valour. Whereupon the Soul∣diers of the Province of Caria, whereof he who had the afore∣said priviledge of the Cock was a Native, in imitation of him, in∣stead of Corslets wore Cocks upon their head-pieces; whence they had the name of Alectryons, or Cocks, in Latin Galli, which possibly is the reason that gave the French that name: And whereas the Cock commonly crows after he hath beaten ano∣ther, it came also to be the Hieroglyphick of Victory, and that

haply gave the Lacedaemonians occasion to sacrifice a Cock when they had overcome their Enemies.

This Creature was also dedicated to Mars, and the Poets feign, that he had sometime been a young Souldier, whom that God of War order'd to stand sentinel when he went in to Venus to give him notice of Vulcan's return; but he having slept till after the Sun was risen, and by that neglect of duty Mars being sur∣priz'd with her, he was so incens'd that he metamorphos'd him into a Cock; whence it comes, say they, that being ever since mindful of the occasion of his transformation, he ever crowes when the Sun approaches our Horizon. This fable, how ridicu∣lous soever it may be thought, is as supportable as that of the Alcaron, which attributes the crowing of our Cocks to one which it saies there is in Heaven; a Cock of such a vast bulk, that having his feet on the first of the Heavens, the head reaches to the se∣cond; and this Cock crowing above, awakens and incites all those upon Earth to do the like, as these last set one another a crowing, as if they all crow'd at the same instant all over the world.

The Cock was also dedicated to the Sun and Moon to the God∣dess Latona, Ceres, and Proserpina; whence it came that the Novices, and such as were initiated in their mysteries, abstain'd from the eating of it. It was also the same to Mercury, in regard that vigilance and early rising are requisite in Merchants. And thence it came that he was painted under the form of a Man sit∣ting, having a Crest or Comb on his Head, Eagle's claws instead of Feet, and holding a Cock upon his fist. But there was a par∣ticular consecration made of him to Aesculapius, which oblig'd Socrates at his death to entreat his Friends to sacrifice a Cock to him, since the Hemlock where-with he was poyson'd had wrought well. The Inhabitants of Calecuth sacrifice him to their divinity under the form of a he-goat: And Acosta, after Lucian, affirms, that anciently the Cock was ador'd as a God; which Christianity not enduring, hath order'd them to be plac'd upon Churches & on the tops of steeples, and other very high structures, that by their turning about they might tell the beholders which way the Wind blew; unless haply some would refer it to the re∣pentance of Saint Peter, at the second crowing of one of them. As concerning the crowing of this Creature, it is commonly attributed to his heat, and may be a certain discovery of his joy at the approach of the Star of the same temperament with him. And whereas he is more susceptible than any other of the impres∣sions of the Air, (whence it comes that being moisten'd by the vapors, he crows with a hoarser voice, which Labourers look on as a prediction of Rain) it may be thence consequent, that he is the first sensible of the coming of the Sun. Moreover, whereas there is a Solar Animal, such as is also the Lyon, but in a lower degree than he, the species of Birds being hotter and dryer, as being lighter than that of four-footed Beasts; it thence follows,

that the Cock hath an ascendent over the Lyon, which no sooner hears his crowing, but it awakens in his Imagination those species which cause terror to him: Unless we would rather affirm, that the spirits of the Cock are communicated to the Lyon, by that more than material voice; and as such more capable of acting, than the spirits issuing out of the Eyes of sick persons, which ne∣vertheless infect those who are well, and look on them; nay, if we may believe the Poet, bewitch even innocent Lambs.

The Second said, That this error of the Lyon's being terrifi'd at the crowing of the Cock, was to be added to the number of all those vulgar ones, which had occasion'd so much beating of the Air in the schools and pulpits about Maxims which are discover'd to be absolutely false in the Practick; it being a thing not im∣possible, that some Lyon which had been tam'd, and by change of nourishment become cowardly and degenerate, had been a little startled at that shrill crowing of the Cock, grating of a sudden upon his ears. And this conjecture will not be thought strange by those, who, about the beginning of March last, 1659. were present at an engagement which had been appointed between such a Lyon and a Bull in a Tennis-Court at Rochel: The Lyon was so frightned at the sight of the Bull, that he got up into the Lights precipitating the Spectators, who had planted themselves there in great numbers, as esteeming it the safest place of all; and thence he slunk away and hid himself, and could never afterwards be gotten into the lists. It may also be imagin'd, that the strangeness and novelty of that Crowing might surprize some Lyon that had never heard it before, by reason of his living at a great distance from Cities and Villages, where those Creatures are commonly bred, and that thence it came the Lyon was startled at that first motion. Moreover, 'tis possible, nay, it may be more than probably affirm'd, that some have taken that startling out of indignation, observable in the Lyon when any thing displeases him for an argument of his fear, whereas it was a discovery of his being incens'd. For to ima∣gine a real and general fear in that generous Creature, upon so sleight an account as the crowing of a Cock, I cannot see any probability for it, in regard that correspondence and conformity which is attributed to them, should rather occasion a Sympathy in them, than any thing of aversion, which being fully as great as that which the Sheep hath for the Wolf, should no more frighten the Lyon, than the bleating of the Sheep does the Wolf. Nor is it so much out of an aversion and Antipathy which the Wolf hath for the Sheep, that he devours and converts it in∣to his substance, as out of kindness and love to his own preser∣vation; and there are commonly seen about those houses, where Lyons are kept, several Cocks and Hens, and yet the Lyons never make any discovery of their being frighted at their crow∣ing or crakling. Nay, for a further confirmation hereof, it comes into my mind, that I have seen a young Lyon devour a

Cock, which, I must confess, crow'd no more than those of Ni∣bas, a Village of the Province of Thessalonica in Macedon, where the Cocks do not crow at all. But if there were such an Antipathy between them, as some would have imagin'd, the Lyon would have thought it enough to tear him to pieces, and not eat him as he did. And therefore it is to be conceiv'd, that what hath given occasion to this error, is the moral sense, which some would draw from it; to shew, that the strongest are not free from a certain fear, which they conceive of those things whence they should least expect it. So that, to put this Question, Why the Lyon is frightned at the crowing of the Cock, is, to en∣quire for the cause of what is not.

The Third said, That we are not to make so sleight an account of the authority of our Ancestors, as absolutely to deny what they have affirmed to us, and seems to be sufficiently prov'd by the silent acquiescence of so many Ages, under pretence that we are not able to resolve it: Which were to imitate Alexander, in cutting the Gordian knot, because he could not unty it. It were much better to endeavor to find out in the nature of the Cock and in his crowing, the cause of the Lyon's being frightned thereat. Let it then be imagin'd, that the Lyon being an Ani∣mal always in a Fever through an excessive choler, whereof his hair and violence are certain marks; the same thing happens to him as to sick and feverish persons, to whom noise is insupport∣able, especially to those, in whom a cholerick humor enflam'd causeth pains in the Head: Nay, there are some kinds of sounds which some persons are not able to endure, yet so as that they cannot assign any cause thereof, and so as that we are forc'd to explain it by Specifick Properties and Antipathies; such as we may imagine to be between the crowing of a Cock and the ear of a Lyon. And that is much more probable then the stopping of a Ship by the Remora, when she is under all the sail she can make, and a thousand other effects imperceptible to reason, and such as whereof only Experience can judge; and therfore that terror which the Lyon is put into at the crowing of the Cock, is not so irrational; that Sovereign of Animals having just cause to admire, how from so small a Body there comes a voice so shrill and strong, as to be heard at so great a distance, considering with himself what mischief he does with so little noise; and this ter∣ror of the Lyon is increas'd if the Cock be all white, inasmuch as that colour promotes the diffusion of his spirits already dispers'd by the first motion of his apprehension.