[138] Botanic Garden, v. 473.
[139] Apis was a black calf, with a square white spot on its forehead, the figure of an eagle on its back, a double tuft of hair on its tail, and the figure of the cantharus, the sacred beetle, under its tongue. When an animal bearing these marks was found, or manufactured, the birth of Apis was announced to the people, a temple was built on the spot, where he was fed for four months, and after various ceremonies he was finally conveyed to Memphis, where he spent the rest of his life in a splendid palace, receiving divine honours.
[140] iii. 31.
[141] Preface to Waller’s Poems, Lond. 1711.
[142] A Syrian city; its site is not clearly ascertained. Cambyses seems to have been at this time on his route home.
| K. Henry. | Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging where I first did swoon? |
| Warw. | ‘Tis called Jerusalem, my noble lord. |
| K. Henry. | Laud be to God!—even there my life must end. It hath been prophesied to me many years I should not die, but in Jerusalem, Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land:— But bear me to that chamber; there I’ll lie. In that Jerusalem shall Harry die. |
King Henry IV. Part 2, iv. 4.
The ground work of this passage is to be found in Holinshed; and the same tale is told in Fabyan’s Chronicles, and in Restell’s Pastime of Pleasure. The latter writers state it without any appearance of doubt. But Holinshed uses a degree of caution not very common in a chronicler of that time: “Whether this was true that so he spake, as one that gave too much credit to foolish prophecies and vain tales, or whether it was fained, as in such cases it commonly happeneth, we leave it to the advised reader to judge.” The advised reader will probably hesitate little in adopting the latter conclusion; especially as the same tale is told of other persons. See the notes to Shakspeare, in the edition of 1821. The actors and the scenes differ in the different cases; but the equivoque arises in all upon the name “Jerusalem.”
[144] Herod, iii. 65.