Andrew's
cross, or the letter X, made thus crosswise, and a white line drawn
down his back to his tail; all which add much beauty to his whole body.
And it is to me observable, that at a fixed age this caterpillar gives over
to eat, and towards winter comes to be covered over with a strange shell
or crust, called an aurelia; and so lives a kind of dead life, without
eating all the winter. And as others of several kinds turn to be several
kinds of flies and vermin, the Spring following; so this caterpillar then
turns to be a painted butterfly.
Come, come, my scholar, you see the river stops our morning walk: and
I will also here stop my discourse: only as we sit down under this
honeysuckle hedge, whilst I look a line to fit the rod that our brother
Peter hath lent you, I shall, for a little confirmation of what I have said,
repeat the observation of Du Bartas:
God, not contented to each kind to give
And to infuse the virtue generative,
Made, by his wisdom, many creatures breed
Of lifeless bodies. without Venus' deed.
So, the cold humour breeds the Salamander,
Who, in effect, like to her birth's commander,
With child with hundred winters, with her touch
Quencheth the fire, tho'glowing ne'er so much.
So of the fire, in burning furnace, springs
The fly Pyrausta with the flaming wings:
Without the fire, it dies: within it joys,
Living in that which each shine else destroys.
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