Fly, which made a solemn circuit round its inventor’s head, and then reposed from its fatigue on his arm.”—Probably the same automaton, since Regiomontanus and Montroyal are the same.
Such a Fly as the above is rather extraordinary, yet I have something better to tell—still about a Fly.
Gervais, Chancellor to the Emperor Otho III., in his book entitled “Otia Imperatoris,” informs us that “the sage Virgilius, Bishop of Naples, made a brass Fly, which he placed on one of the city gates, and that this mechanical Fly, trained like a shepherd’s dog, prevented any other fly entering Naples; so much so, that during eight years the meat exposed for sale in the market was never once tainted!”[1001]
“Varro affirmeth,” says Pliny, “that the heads of Flies applied fresh to the bald place, is a convenient medicine for the said infirmity and defect. Some use in this case the bloud of flies: others mingle their ashes with the ashes of paper used in old time, or els of nuts; with this proportion, that there be a third part only of the ashes of flies to the rest, and herewith for ten days together rubb the bare places where the hair is gone. Some there be againe, who temper and incorporat togither the said ashes of Flies with the juice of colewort and brest-milke: others take nothing thereto but honey.”[1002]
Mucianus, who was thrice consul, carried about him a living Fly, says Pliny, wrapped in a piece of white linen, and strongly asserted that to the use of this expedient he owed his preservation from ophthalmia.[1003]
Ferdinand Mendez Pinto says: “In our travels with the ambassador of the King of Bramaa to the Calaminham, we saw in a grot men of a sect of one of their Saints, named Angemacur: these lived in deep holes, made in the mider of the rock, according to the rule of their wretched order, eating nothing but Flies, Ants, Scorpions, and Spiders, with the juice of a certain herb, much like to sorrel.”[1004]
Says Moufet, in his Theater of Insects: “Plutarch, in his Artaxerxes, relates that it was a law amongst a certain
people, that whosoever should be so bold as to laugh at and deride their lawes and constitutions of state, was bound for twenty daies together in an open chest naked, all besmeared with honey and milk, and so became a prey to the Flies and Bees, afterward when the days were expired he was put into a woman’s habit and thrown headlong down a mountain.… Of which kinde of punishment also Suidas makes mention in his Epicurus. There was likewise for greater offenders, a punishment of Boats, so called. For that he that was convict of high treason, was clapt between two boats, with his head, hands, and feet hanging out: for his drink he had milk and honey powred down his throat, with which also his head and hands were sprinkled, then being set against the sun, he drew to him abundance of stinging Flies, and within being full of their worms, he putrefied by little and little, and so died. Which kinde of examples of severity as the ancients shewed to the guilty and criminous offenders; so on the other side the Spaniards in the Indies, used to drive numbers of the innocents out of their houses, as the custome is among them, naked, all bedawbed with honey, and expose them in open air to the biting of most cruel Flies.”[1005]
Mr. Henry Mayhew, in that part of his interesting work on London Labor and London Poor devoted to the London Street-folk, has given us the narratives of several “Catch-’em-Alive” sellers—a set of poor boys who sell prepared papers for the purpose of catching Flies. He discovered, as he relates, a colony of these “Catch-’em-alive” boys residing in Pheasant-court, Gray’s-inn-lane. They were playing at “pitch-and-toss” in the middle of the paved yard, and all were very willing to give him their statements; indeed, the only difficulty he had was in making his choice among the youths.
“Please, sir,” said one with teeth ribbed like celery, to him, “I’ve been at it longer than him.”