That there was a Practice of charming Serpents by some Art or other, so that they could neither _bite_ nor _sting_, seems evident from the sacred Writings, _e. g._ Eccl. x. 11. _Surely the Serpent will bite without Inchantment._ Jer. viii. 17. _I’ll send Serpents, Cockatrices, among you, that will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the Lord._ Among other Things the word _Charmer_, some say, signifies _one_ that conjoins and consociates; that is, that by Sorcery gather’d Serpents together, and made them tame and familiar; or the _Person_ may be so call’d, because by _Magick Art_, he associated with _Demons_, the Lords of Serpents. We are inform’d by History, of some, who have summoned together a hundred Serpents at once; but by what method, I leave the Reader to judge. _Montanus_, a famous Physician, and Professor at _Padua_ in _Italy_, says he saw this Coadunation of Serpents. The learned Doctor _Casaubon_ tells us, he had seen a Man, who from the Country around him, wou’d draw Serpents into the Fire, which was inclos’d in a magical Circle: When one of them, bigger than the rest, would not be brought in, upon repeating the aforesaid Charms, it submitted to the Flames. We read of a famous Charmer at _Saltsburgh_ in the Circle of _Bavaria_; that, when (in sight of the People) he had charm’d a great Number of Serpents into a Ditch, where he kill’d them; there came a Serpent of great Bulk, supposed to be the Devil, that leapt upon the Charmer, and immediately slew him[125]. Footnote 125: Doctor _More_’s Antidote. Answer me, says _Paracelsus_, (the celebrated _Swiss_ Physician, who did wonderful Cures by Liquids extracted from Vegetables) from whence is it, that a Serpent of _Helvetia_, _Algovia_, or _Suevia_, does understand the _Greek_ Idiom, _Osy, Osya, Osy_; that they should, at the first Sound of these Words, _stop their Ears_, remain immoveable, and do us no hurt with their Poison? From whence he infers, there was a Power in Words to operate upon the Ear, without Superstition. The Antients seem to have entertain’d some favourable Thoughts of the _Power of Spells_ upon Serpents: Their Poets speak often of these Charms and Incantations. _Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis._ Virgil. _Vipereas rumpo verbis, & carmine fauces._ Ovid. _Ingue pruinoso coluber distenditur arvo Viperes coëunt abrupto corpore nodi Humanoque cadit serpens afflata veneno._ Lucan. _PHILOSTRATUS_ describes particularly how the _Indians_ charm Serpents—they take a Scarlet-Coat embroider’d with golden Letters, and spread it before the Serpent’s Hole; and these golden Letters have a fascinating Power over it, and therewith its Eyes are overcome and laid asleep[126]. Footnote 126: His Life of _Apollonius Tyanæus_, writ at the Desire of the Empress _Julia_, lib. 3. cap 2.