pose that a Carrier was made the engine of priestcraft, by having its flight made to coincide with the migrations of any wild species of Columba. The ancient oracles also enlisted Pigeons into their service. Lempriere informs us respecting the famous temple at Dodona, that "two black doves, as Strabo relates, took their flight from the city of Thebes in Egypt, one of which flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and the other to Dodona, where with a human voice they acquainted the inhabitants of the country that Jupiter had consecrated the ground, which in future would give oracles. The extensive grove which surrounded Jupiter's temple was endued with the gift of prophecy, and oracles were frequently delivered by the sacred oaks, and the Doves which inhabited the place." And it is in allusion to such sacred birds that Ælian writes, "A Locust implicated the Ephesians and the Magnetæ in war with each other, and a Pigeon the Chaonians and Illyrians.' There was a wood near Chaonia where Doves were said to deliver oracles; but Ovid+ records that the birds in question were not Wood Pigeons. 66 Quasque colat turres Chaonis ales habet." "And the bird of Chaonia has towers wherein to dwell." The killing of a Stork would still incite a riot in many countries, and the destruction of Robins is yet regarded with as much indignation in England, as the slaughter of Doves was in Chaonia. Xenophon, Ctesias, Lucian, and other cotemporary witnesses assert, that the Syrians and the Assyrians either worshipped Pigeons and Doves, or at least ab* Nat. Anim. xi. 27. †A. Am. ii. 150. CHAP. I.] MISREPRESENTATION. 23 stained from them as being of a sacred nature. How this superstition was introduced into Syria or Assyria, is not known; but it is curious that the Russians, as we are informed by Mr. Yarrell, should at this day regard them with similar forbearance and even veneration; and we can hardly avoid guessing that the feeling must be founded on some most ancient tradition current amongst the Sclavonic races. The great modern instance in which the Pigeon has been made the tool of religious imposture, is the tale, generally supposed to be forged, of the Dove which was said to be always seated on the shoulder of Mahomet, communicating past, present, and coming events to the false prophet. But an able writer in the "Edinburgh Review" considers the story to be a simple misinterpretation consequent upon putting a literal construction upon an imperfect pictorial representation:-"The great teachers of the Church had been held, not without reason, to have derived their wisdom from above. In order to call attention to this accredited doctrine, artists placed the holy emblem of the Dove upon the shoulder of each spiritually enlightened father. Sometimes the bird was drawn in the very act of whispering wisdom into the sage's ear. The people had learned. what was meant by the juxtaposition of one of the persons of the Trinity and the Dove; but they were confused and deceived by the same personification, in connexion with a well-known doctor, or a pope. They consequently soon put a literal construction upon it. The rumour ran, that these holy men had been attended each by his inspiring Dove; and the writer of legends, who must often have been driven hard for facts, gladly accepted a tale already sanctioned by popular belief. Thus were the legends enriched by the poverty of art. This tale is told of St. Thomas Aquinas, of St. Basil, of St. Gregory the Great, of St. Hilary of Arles, of eight other saints of less mark and note; and, finally, we may add, of Mahomet."* Warfare has, however, given the most frequent occasion for the employment of Carrier Pigeons. The clever contrivance of Brutus is thus mentioned by Pliny, and we quote it, although it is a well-known passage, and has even had the honour of being paraphrased in verse:-" But they have also been used as messengers in important matters: during the siege of Mutina, Decius Brutus sent letters tied to their feet into the camp of the Consuls. What service did Anthony derive from his trenches, and his vigilant blockade, and even from his nets stretched across the river, while the winged messenger was traversing the air?”† But the winged messenger, like every other human. instrument, sometimes fails to execute its office, as the worthy Fuller tells us in his "Historie of the Holy Warre." The Christians "began the siege of the citie of Jerusalem on the North (being scarce assaultable on any other side by reason of steep and broken rocks), and continued it with great valour. On the fourth day after, they had taken it, but for want of scaling-ladders. Nearer than seven miles off, there grew no stick of bignesse. I will not say, that since our Saviour was hanged on a tree, the land about that citie hath been cursed with a barrenness of wood. As for the Christians' want of ladders, that was quickly supplied: for the Genoans arriving with a fleet in Palestine, * Edinburgh Review, April, 1849, p. 385. † Lib. x. 53. CHAP. I.] USE DURING SIEGES. 25 brought most curious engineers, who framed a wooden towre, and all other artificiall instruments. For we must not think, that the world was at a losse for warretools before the brood of guns was hatched. And now for a preparative, that their courage might work the better, they began with a fast, and a solemn procession about mount Olivet. 66 Next day they gave a fierce assault; yea, women played the men, and fought most valiently in armour. But they within being fourty thousand strong, well victualled and appointed, made stout resistance, till the night (accounted but a foe for her friendship) umpired betwixt them, and abruptly put an end to their fight in the midst of their courage. 66 When the first light brought news of a morning, they on afresh; the rather, because they had intercepted a letter tied to the legs of a dove (it being the fashion of that country, both to write and send their letters with the wings of a fowl), wherein the Persian Emperour promised present succours to the besieged. The Turks cased the outside of their walls with bags of chaff, straw, and such-like pliable matter, which conquered the engines of the Christians by yeelding unto them. As for one sturdie engine whose force would not be tamed, they brought two old witches on the walls to inchant it: but the spirit thereof was too strong for their spells, so that both of them were miserably slain in the place.' Thus the intercepted Dove and the suborned old witches were each working an antagonistic counter-spell, till the Satanic influence was finally made to succumb. *Book i. chap. 24. Mr. Rogers has given us a companion picture to the foregoing, expressed in a different form, but equally interesting. His exquisite lines are founded on the anecdote, from Thuanus, lib. iv. c. 5, that during the siege of Harlem, when that city was reduced to the last extremity, and on the point of opening its gates to a base and barbarous enemy, a design was formed to relieve it; and the intelligence conveyed to the citizens by a letter which was tied under the wing of a Pigeon. The Poet naturally and feelingly asks, "Led by what chart, transports the timid dove "Sweet bird! thy truth shall Harlem's walls attest, When, with the silent energy of grief, With looks that asked, yet dared not hope relief, 'T was thine to animate her closing eye; Alas! 't was thine perchance the first to die, Crushed by her meagre hand, when welcomed from the sky." The Pleasures of Memory, Part I. But it is now time to retrace our steps, and return to the Pigeons of a remoter age. The accommodations provided for Pigeons in ancient times could not have widely differed from those of the present day. Many of those birds which are most tameable, and show the greatest inclination for human so |