. In Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny's _Natural History_ (a
great authority at the time) this passage occurs in book ix. cap. 30.:--

"Lobsters, so long as they are secure of any fear and danger, go
directly straight, letting down their hornes at length along their
sides; ... but if they be in any fear, up go their hornes
straight--and then they creep byas and go sidelong."

And in the next chapter (31.):--

"Crabs" (which were often confounded with lobsters) "when they will
be afraid, will recule backward, as fast as they went forward."

2nd. In the celebrated work of Sebastian Brandt, entitled _Stultifera
Naxis_ (which went through many editions after its first appearance in
1494), is an engraving of a fool, wearing cap and bells, seated astride
on the back of a lobster, with a broken reed in his hand, and a pigeon
flying past him as he stares vacantly at it with open mouth. The
following lines are attached:--

DE PREDESTINATIONE

"Qui pretium poseit quod non meruisse videtur,
Atque super fragilem ponit sua brachia cannam
Illius in dorso Cancrorum semita stabit;
Devolet inque suum rictum satis assa Columba."

It appears, then, to me, that the design of the medallist was to hold up
to the exceration of the English people the machinations of Father
Petre, who (together with Sunderland) guided the councils of the king at
the juncture. The Jesuits, like the crustaceous fish above-mentioned,
were alleged to accomplish their dark and crooked designs by creeping
and sedulously working their way straight forward through the mud, until
some real danger presented itself, and then _reculing_ with equal
adroitness.

At this time, too, the bigoted and superstitious adherents of James had
been offering their vows at every shrine, and even making pilgrimages,
to induce Heaven to grant a male heir to the throne, and thus exclude
the Protestant daughters of the king. The premature and unexpected
event, therefore, of the birth of a son, was pronounced by James's
friends to have been predestined by the special grace of the Most High.
All this, I apprehend, was intended to be typified by the figure of the
_Jesuit Petre riding upon a Lobster_.

JOS. BROOKS YATES

_Straw Necklaces--Method of keeping Notes, &c._

Sir,--As I see this matter is not yet explained, I venture a suggestion.
Wheat straw was an emblem of peace among heathen nations; in it the
firs