Sed reliquas vincit viribus omnes
Belua, quam Europæ temperat aër.
Taurus vt eſt fortis, bufalus vnà.
Ergo ſit Europæ taurus alumnus,
Africæ at inſigne ſitq́ue Chimæra.
Sint Aſiæ immites vrſus, aperq́ue.
The Bull is thus set forth as the alumnus, or nursling of Europe; of Africa the Chimæra is the ensign; and to Asia belong the untamed Bear and Boar; America and the broad Pacific, from Peru to China, have neither token nor locality assigned.
Shakespeare’s geography, however, though at times very defective, extended further than its “symbols” by Sambucus. In the humorous mapping out, by Dromio of Syracuse, of the features of the kitchen-wench, who was determined to be his wife (Comedy of Errors, act iii. sc. 2, l. 131, vol. i. p. 429), the question is asked,—
“Ant. S. Where America, the Indies?
Dro. S. Oh, sir, upon her nose, all o’er embellished with rubies, carbuncles, sapphires, declining their rich aspect to the hot breath of Spain.