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Myth-Land

Chapter 28: INDEX.
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About This Book

The author surveys mythical beasts and folkloric wonders found in historical natural histories, heraldry, travellers’ tales, and medieval bestiaries, tracing descriptions of unicorns, dragons, griffins, phoenixes, centaurs, mermaids, fairies, giants, sea‑serpents, vegetable lambs, and other marvels. He juxtaposes literary and popular accounts, considers symbolic uses in heraldry and saints’ legends, and examines how real animal observations, misread fossils, and herbal lore contributed to fanciful creatures. The book collects examples, sources, and anecdotes to illustrate how traditional belief and learned authority shaped enduring mythic images.

“So essential did I consider an Index to be to every book, that I proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament to deprive an author, who publishes a book without an Index, of the privilege of copyright, and, moreover, to subject him to a pecuniary penalty.”—Campbell’s Lives of the Chief-Justices of England.

Aahmes I., chaplets from coffin of, 233

“Absalom and Achitophel,” Dryden, 126

“Abyssinia, Life in,” Parkyns, 14

Achemedis, herb, 199

Acipenser, 158

Acosta, “Natvrall and Morall Historie,” 219

Adam, earliest botanist, 181

Adder, wilfully deaf, 67, 148

Addison’s “Milton Imitated,” 99

Adelaide of Louvain, 218

Adissechen, the thousand-headed, 146

Adolf Dux, article by, 197

Ælian on aspis, 147;
on basilisk, 49;
on lion and ram-headed fish, 160;
on unicorn, 9

Æneas Sylvius on barnacle tree, 174

Ætius on basilisk, 49;
on dryinus, 49

“Africa, History of,” Leo, 30

Agnus Dei, as a badge, 74

Alaus Magnus on kraken, 150

Albertus Magnus, “De Virtutibus Herbarum,” 234;
dragon, 28;
on pigmies, 125

Alchemists and phœnix, 54

Aldrovandus, “Monstrorum Historia,” 31, 79, 87, 161

Alimos plant, 197

Amaranth, 177

Amazons, 95

Ambrosia, 183

Amphisbena, 148

Anacramseros plant, 199

Andromeda and Perseus, 19

Annulet as mark of cadency, 232

Anthropophagi, 94

Antipathy between dragon and elephant, 42;
between serpent and stag, 15

Antony and Cleopatra, 91, 188

Apples of Hesperides, 40;
of Istkahar, 196;
of perpetual youth, 196

Apollo Epicurius, temple of, 222

Apuleius, “The Golden Ass,” 184

Arabia, home of the phœnix, 50

“Arabian Nights,” 7, 40, 69, 132, 140, 196

Archaic pottery, British Museum, 85

Ardoynus on basilisk, 49

Arian v. Athanasian, 209

Arimaspian gold, 69

Arimaspians, 98

Arion and the dolphins, 158

Ariosto’s “Orlando Furioso,” 50, 70

Aristotle on chameleon, 77;
on pigmies, 125

Arms of City of London, 70;
of Prince of Wales, 234;
of William de Valence, 134

Arrowheads or Celts, 108

“Art of Love,” King’s, 49

Asbestos, 61

Asphodel, 180

Aspis, 147

Assembly of Beaux Esprits, Paris, 10

Ass, Indian, of Ctesias, 7

“As you Like it,” 54

“Atlas Geographicus,” 231

Aubrey’s “Gentilisme and Judaisme,” 31, 227

Augustine, St., on the manipulation of facts, 216;
on monsters, 41

Avebury stones, 58

Avicen on basilisk, 49

Bacon on the sphinx legend, 83;
“Wisdom of the Ancients,” 220, 224

Badge of Jane Seymour, 53

Balam, the ox, 159

Ballad of dragon of Wantley, 33;
of St. George and dragon, 211

“Bara Bathra,” 151

Basil, herb, 200

Basilisk, king of serpents, 48, 91

Barliata, 175

Barnacle goose-tree, 168

Bartolomeo, standard of, 6

Basking shark, 146

Bay tree, 234

Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Woman Hater,” 48

Beaux Esprits, assembly of, 10

Behemoth legend, 152

Ben Jonson on remora, 159

“Bestiare Divin” of Guillaume, 43

Bestiary of De Thaun, 67, 147, 218

Bewick’s books, 2

Bible Herbal of Newton, 183

Bible references to adder, 67;
amaranth, 178;
cockatrice, 46;
dragon, 19;
giants, 129;
leviathan, 152;
mandrake, 193;
unicorn, 4

Bird of paradise, 135

Blemmyes, headless men, 97

Boar, 15, 49

Boiastuau, “Histoires Prodigeuses,” 224

“Boke of Husbandry,” Fitzherbert, 204

Bolyai, tomb of, 197

Bones preserved in churches, 59

Borghese centaur, 85

Borrowing from the fairies, 228

Boussetti on monsters, 161

Brathwait’s “Nature’s Embassie,” 224

Breydenbach’s Travels, 62

Briaræus, 94, 99

Bristol, great bone at, 59

“Britannia,” Camden, 217

“Britannica Concha Anatifera,” 175

British Museum, centaur, 85, 222;
Lansdowne MSS., 31;
Scythian lamb, 71

Brobdingnag, men of, 99

Browne’s “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,” 199;
“Vulgar Errors,” 31, 69, 190

Brownie, 119

Bruce on the horned viper, 232

Bruynswyke’s Herbal, 182

Bryony roots carved into human form, 190

Bucca, 121

Buckland’s “Curiosities of Natural History,” 60

Buffalo, 12

Burton’s “Miracles of Art and Nature,” 4, 71, 93, 153, 194

Bury Palliser’s “Historic Badges,” 6

Bushmen, the modern pigmies, 127

Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,157, 196;
on nautilus, 155

Cadency in heraldry, 232

Cader Idris, the giant’s seat, 131

Cadwallader, ensign of, 33

Caerleon, great bone at, 59

Camden’s “Britannia,” 217

“Canterbury Tales,” 104

Capitoline Museum sculptures, 222

Cassandra’s gift, 163

Catacombs of Rome, 5

Cathay and the vegetable lamb, 71

Catoblepas of Pliny, 49

Caxton and the “Legenda Aurea,” 22

Cedric the Victorious, 33

Celtic pen-dragon, 33

Celts or arrow-heads, 108

Centaur, 84

Centaury, 85, 222

Cerastes or horned viper, 232

Cetus of De Thaun, 151

“Ceylon,” Tennant, 127

Chameleon, 76, 91

Changeful colours of dolphin, 157

Changelings, 110

Chang, the Chinese giant, 130

Chaplets in Egyptian tombs, 178

Charles II., dedication to, 47

Chaucer on Sir Guy of Warwick, 56

Chesterfield, great bone at, 59

“Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” Byron, 157, 196

Chilon, 160

Chimæra, 84, 149

China, the dragon symbol, 27

Chiron the Centaur, 222

“Chronicles,” Holingshead, 113

City of London, arms of, 70

Clawed men of Surinam, 97

Clement of Alexandria, 177

Clusius, “Rariorum Plantarum Historia,” 181

Coats, the heraldic chimæra, 84

Coca leaf, 195

Cockatrice, 44

Cockeram’s “English Dictionary,” 198

Coinage, the unicorn, 6

Colebrand the champion, 55

Coleridge on giants, 132

“Comedy of Errors,” 90, 91

Comptes Royaux of France, 6

“Comus,” Milton, 119

“Coriolanus,” 40

“Corona Dedicatoria” of Sylvester, 53

“Cosmography” of Munster, 173

Cotter, the Irish giant, 130

Cottonian MSS., 218

Coventry, great bone at, 58

Crane and pigmy combats, 125

Crescent as a mark of cadency, 232

Crest of Earl Douglas, 64

Crocodile, reference in Job, 154

Ctesias on griffin, 68;
Indian ass, 7;
on pigmies, 126

Cupid and Psyche, 184

“Curiosities of Natural History,” Buckland, 60

Cuttle fish, 150

Cwm Pwcca, Brecon, 122

Cyclops, 82, 94, 98

“Cymbeline,” 39, 54

Cyoeraeth, 121

Dacien and St. George, 25

Danby, picture by, 184

Dart, 44

Darwin on vampyre bat, 76

Davy Jones’s locker, 161

Dead as a door nail, 124

Dead Sea apples, 196

Deaf adder, 67, 148

De Bry’s “India Orientalis,” 185

Decker on the unicorn, 6

“Decline and Fall of Roman Empire,” 22, 209

De Ferry and sea-serpent, 144

Democritus on chameleon, 78

“Description Historique de Macaçar,” 186

“Description of 300 Animals,” 2, 44

De Thaun, 8, 67, 136, 147, 151, 191, 218

Device of Francis I., 61;
of Henry VII., 33

Devil fish, 150

Devil’s candle, 193

“De Virtutibus Herbarum,” 234

Diamond softening, 199

Dies, 160

Diocletian the persecutor, 25

Dioscorides on basilisk, 49

Discourses of Virtuosi of France, 10

“Discoverie of Witchcraft,” 103

“Display of Heraldry,” Guillim, 7

Dodoens, Herbal of, 182

Dog-headed men, 93, 96

Dolphin, 156

Donatus, St., dragon-slayer, 20

Dragon, 2, 16, 133, 192, 211, 229

Dragonhill, Berkshire, 33

Dragonnades, 39

Dragon overthrown, knighthood of, 27

Druids and fairies, 102

Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, 126;
on basilisk, 48;
“Flower and the Leaf,” 227;
translation from Ovid, 52

Dryinus of Ætius, 49

Dudaim, 193

Dugdale on Guy of Warwick, 55

Dugong and Manatee, 91

Du Mont and the dragon of Rhodes, 231

Dun cow legend, 55

Eagle gazing on the sun, 133

Eagney or Meto, 197

Earl Douglas, crest of, 64

Eastern Soudan and Uganda, 7

Echeneis or Remora, 158

Echidna, 40, 88

Eden’s “Historie of Travayle,” 94

Egede and the sea-serpent, 144

Egg-talisman, 147

Egyptian form of sphinx, 82;
love of flowers, 235

Egyptian representations of giraffe, 63

Eikon Basilike, 202

El Dorado and Sir W. Raleigh, 95

Elephant, 15, 79;
antipathy between dragon and, 42

Elf-bolts, 109

Elizabeth, Queen, badge of, 53

El Kazwini, Arab writer, 7

“Elysium,” Felicia Hemans’, 177

Empusa, 14

Enchanter’s nightshade, 193

“English Cyclopædia of Natural History,” 7

“English Dictionary” of Cockeram, 198

“English Parnassus” of Poole, 103, 120

Enmity between stag and serpent, 15

Epitaph on Gryphius, 70

Erasmus on headless men, 97;
Sileni Alcibiadis, 228

Ethiopia, unicorns in, 4

Exodus, reference to unicorn in, 5

“Faculties of Nourishment,” Galen, 180

Fairies, 99, 227

Fairy rings, 104

Falstaff, on fairies, 110;
the salamander, 64

Fanesii of Scandinavia, 98

Father Pigafetta on dragons, 30

Fauns and satyrs, 86

Featley’s recantation, 31

Felicia Hemans’ “Elysium,” 177

Ferrer de Valcebro on the Barliata, 175

Ferry, Laurent de, on sea-serpent, 144

Field, extract from, 65

Field of the cloth of gold, 61

Fire-drake, 147

“Fire-worshippers,” Moore, 193

Fish nun, 159

Fitzherbert’s “Boke of Husbandry,” 204

Fletcher’s “Purple Island,” 51

Fleur-de-lys as mark of cadency, 232

“Flower and the Leaf,” Dryden, 227

Foersch on upas tree, 185

Forty-leaved plant, 197

Four-footed serpents, 71

Francisci Boussetti on sea-monsters, 161

Friar’s lantern, 123

Fuller’s “Holy State,” 132

Galen on aspis, 147;
on basilisk, 49;
“Faculties of Nourishment,” 180

Garcias ab Horto, on unicorn, 9

Gargoyles of draconic form, 28

Ge and Tartaros, rebellion of, 131

Gelasius, Pope, and St. George, 210

Gelotaphilois, herb, 199

Generation of the cockatrice, 44

“Gentilisme and Judaisme” of Aubrey, 31

“Gentleman’s Magazine,” extract from, 117

Geography of Strabo, 125

George, St., and dragon, 23, 31, 209-211

“Gerania” of Joshua Barnes, 127

Gerarde, “History of Plants,” 168, 180;
asphodel, 180;
barnacle goose-tree, 168;
mandrake, 189

Gervaise, “Description de Macaçar,” 186

Gervase, on fairies, 102

Ghoul, 75

Giant Colebrand, 55

Giants, 128

Giants’ Causeway, 130

Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of Roman Empire,” 22, 209

Gillius the compassionate, 156

Giraffe or seraffa, 63

Giraldus Cambrensis on barnacle trees, 175

Glanvil, on griffin, 68;
on salamander, 60

Gnomes, 119

Godes-andsacan, 20

“Golden Ass” of Apuleius, 184

Golden fruit of the Hesperides, 40

Graham’s “Sketches of Perthshire,” 121

Greek form of sphinx, 82

Greene on the apples of the Hesperides, 40

Green, Matthew, “The Spleen,” 132

Grevinus on basilisk, 49

Griffin, 2, 68, 229

Groats from Fairyland, 109, 120, 228

Gryphius, device of, 70

Guerino, Meschino, 98

Guild processions in Middle Ages, 86

Guiana, Hartsinck on, 97;
Sir W. Raleigh on, 95

Guillaume, “Bestiare Divin,” 43

Guillim, “Display of Heraldry,” 7, 41, 46, 88, 134

“Gulliver’s Travels,” 132

Guy of Warwick and the Dun Cow, 55, 217

Hackluyt’s “Voyages,” 97, 219

Halliwell on anthropophagi, 94

Hameh-bird, 140

“Hamlet,” satyr, 86

“Handmayd to Religion,” 31

Harpy, 48, 86, 230

Harrington and the sea-serpent, 142

Hartsinck on Guiana, 97

Headless men, 94

Hemans, Felicia, poem by, 177

Heraldic bird-forms, 134;
dolphin, 156

“Herball to the Bible” of Newton, 189

Herbert’s “Jacula Prudentum,” 132;
“Relations of some yeares Travaile,” 186

Herb Viva, 198

Hercules and the pigmies, 126

“Henry IV.,” 74, 112, 123

“Henry VI.,” 54, 91

“Henry VIII.,” 54, 56, 147

Heraldic cockatrice, 46;
dolphin; 156
griffin, 70;
Pegasus, 73;
phœnix, 53;
unicorn, 4