The name of Bucentaur was that of the state-galley in which the former Doges of Venice used to sail out every year on Ascension Day, amid great festivities, in order, by sinking a ring into the sea, to wed it in token of perpetual sovereignty. The word signifies a monstrous figure of half bull half man, such as may originally have been depicted on the vessel. The ceremony was already in use in the thirteenth century; in 1798 the last Bucentaur, built in 1722-29, was burned by the French, but some portions, spared for their gold work, are still preserved in the arsenal.

The Griffin is a chimerical creature, and first mentioned by Aristeas about 500 b. c. The griffin is variously described and represented, but the shape in which it most frequently appears is that of a cross between a lion and an eagle, having the body and legs of the former, with the beak and wings of the latter, and the addition of pointed ears. Sometimes the four legs are all like those of an eagle, and the head is that of acock. The figure seems to have originated in the East, as it is found in ancient Persian sculptures. Amongst the Greeks it appears on antique coins, and as an ornament in classical architecture.

Nectar is the name given by Homer, Hesiod, Pindar and the Greek poets generally, and by the Romans, to the beverage of the gods, their food being called Ambrosia. But Sappho and Alcman make nectar the food of the gods and ambrosia their drink. Homer describes nectar as resembling red wine, and represents its continued use as causing immortality. By the later poets nectar and ambrosia are represented as of most delicious odor; and sprinkling with nectar or anointing with ambrosia is spoken of as conferring perpetual youth, and they are assumed as the symbols of everything most delightful to the taste.

Vishnu, "the Preserver," is the second god of the Hindu triad, now the most worshipped of all Hindu gods. Originally in the oldest Vedas a sun-god, he gradually increased in influence at the expense of other gods, and in the later Purana is the supreme god. Always a friendly god, he became specially the friend and benefactor of man in his avatars or incarnations. The Vishnuite doctrines were gathered into one body in the eleventh century as the Vishnu-Purana. Of twenty principal sects and a hundred minor brotherhoods some are merely local, others are wealthy bodies and wide-spread, and one has grown into a warlike nation, the Jains.

Damon and Pythias, two noble Pythagoreans of Syracuse, are remembered as the models of faithful friendship. Pythias having been condemned to death by the elder Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, begged to be allowed to go home, for the purpose of arranging his domestic affairs, Damon pledging his own life for the reappearance of his friend at the time appointed for his doom. Dionysius consented, and Pythias returned just in time to save Damon from death. Struck by so noble an example of mutual affection, the tyrant pardoned Pythias, and desired to be admitted into their sacred fellowship.

The Sacred Ibis was one of the birds worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, and was supposed, from the color of its feathers, to symbolize the light and shade of the moon. Its feathers were supposed to scare-and even kill the crocodile. It appeared in Egypt at the rise and disap-peared at the inundation of the Nile, and was said to deliver Egypt from the winged and other serpents which came from Arabia. As it did not make its nest in Egypt it was believed to be self-engendering, and to lay eggs for a lunar month. It was celebrated for its purity, and only drank from the purest water; besides which, it was fabled to entertain the most invincible love of Egypt, and to die of self-starvation if transported elsewhere.

A very engaging though mythical creature is the "brownie", which in Scottish rural districts is believed to assist in the housework at nights. The brownie is good tempered and industrious, but has a great objection to slovenliness and marks his sense of neglect by pinching slatternly maids. Good housewives leave out a bowl of milk for him. If the farm changed hands the brownie usually left, which may explain why there are none now. The resemblance of the Scotch brownie to the Robin Goodfellow, of English, and the Kobold of German folklore is obvious, but perhaps they may be traced further to the lares or hearth spirits of the ancients. The Russian domovoy, Mr. Ralston tells us, lives behind the stove, and in some families a portion of the supper is always set aside for him; for if he is neglected he waxes wroth and knocks the tables and benches about at night. Spirits with the same functions elsewhere are the Lithuanian kanka, the Finnish paara, and the French lutin.

Here and there in the highways and byways of the world many legends and superstitions still linger and continue to retain their ancient prestige. In Galicia, the province northeast of Hungary, the peasants believe that when a star falls to earth it is at once transformed into a rarely beautiful woman with long hair, blonde and glittering. This splendid creature, miraculously engendered, exercises on all who come in contact with her a magical influence. Every handsome youth unfortunate enough to attract her attention becomes her victim. Thus having allured them to her, she encircles them with her arms in an embrace that becomes gradually tighter and tighter until the poor dupes are strangled to death. If certain words are murmured the moment the star starts to fall, they cause her allurements to lose their power. From this superstition springs the custom of wishing, while a star is seen hurrying through the air, a wish said surely to come true if completely formulated before the light is extinguished. The Spaniards saw in the falling stars the souls of their dead friends, the thread of whose existence was cut short by destiny.

The Arabs thought these stars to be burning stones thrown by the angels onto the heads of devils who attempted to enter paradise.

Hecatomb, in the worship of the Greeks, and in other ancient religions, meant a sacrifice of a large number of victims, properly, although by no means necessarily, one hundred. As early as the time of Homer it was usual only to burn the legs wrapped up in the fat and certain parts of the intestines, the rest of the victim being eaten at the festive meal after the sacrifice. In Athens the hecatomb was a most popular form of sacrifice; while the thrifty Spartans, on the contrary, limited the number both of the victims and of the sacrifices. In the hecatomb, strictly so called, the sacrifice was supposed to consist of one hundred bulls, but other animals were frequently substituted.

Belief in witches has caused the death of thousands of innocent persons in almost all countries. In England alone it is computed that thirty thousand persons were burned at the stake for witchcraft. The witchcraft frenzy rose to its height in the reign of James I., who wrote a book on demonology. It revived under the Long Parliament, when Matthew Hopkins, the witch-finder, plied his trade (1645-7). Executions for witchcraft were prohibited by an edict of Louis XIV. in 1670. At Salem, New England, in 1692, nineteen persons were hanged by the Puritans for witchcraft. The last execution for witchcraft in England was that of Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, aged nine, who were hanged at Huntingdon in 1716. The last execution in Scotland was at Dornoch in 1722. The laws against witchcraft were repealed in 1736. The last witch was officially tried and executed in 1793 in Posen.