THE COUNTRY. 163

charm. The intense aversion which serpents
arouse in almost every one, must, of course; be
traditional and inherited, as it is felt for the
innocent and pretty garter-snake as deeply as
for the Crotalus horridus of South America,
which is most hideously ugly as well as venom-
ous. This terror is as old as history, and more
than one trader upon human credulity has used
it to win power or gold or fame.
 One thinks of that little sunshiny town of
Abonotichus on the south shore of the Black
Sea, and the beautiful youth Alexander, the
Cagliostro of the second century, who had eyes
like jewels, and a "sweet and limpid voice."
How well he understood this fear, which has
glided like a living serpent into all mythology!
One can fancy his secret mirth at the instant
subjugation of the simple villagers when he
proved himself the prophet of JEsculapius by
displaying about his neck and body the glit-
tering coils of the enormous python, on whose
head he had affixed a human mask. The force
of this traditional terror is seen when it is
recalled that even Lucian was for a moment