of Ireland," edited by T. Wright, 1862, p. 215.

Hogg, too, introduces it as a vehicle fit for the fairy bands, which he
describes as

"sailing 'mid the golden air
In skiffs of yielding gossamer."

_Toad._ Among the vulgar errors of Shakespeare's day was the belief that
the head of the toad contained a stone possessing great medicinal
virtues. In "As You Like It," (ii. 1), the Duke says:

"Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."

Lupton, in his "One Thousand Notable Things," says that "a toad-stone,
called _Crepaudina_, touching any part envenomed by the bite of a rat,
wasp, spider, or other venomous beast, ceases the pain and swelling
thereof." In the Londesborough Collection is a silver ring of the
fifteenth century, in which one of these stones is set.[583]

[583] See Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," vol. ii. pp. 50-55; Douce's
"Illustrations of Shakespeare," pp. 181-183.

It was also generally believed that the toad was highly venomous--a
notion to which there are constant allusions in Shakespeare's plays; as,
for example, in the above passage, where it is spoken of as "ugly and
venomous." In "Richard III." (i. 2), Lady Anne says to Gloster:

"Never hung poison on a fouler toad."

And, in another scene (i. 3), Queen Margaret speaks of "this pois'nous
bunch-back'd toad."

Once more, in "Titus Andronicus" (iv. 2), the Nurse describes Queen
Tamora's babe as being "as loathsome as a toad." There is doubtless some
truth in this belief, as the following quotation from Mr. Frank
Buckland's "Curiosities of Natural History" seems to show: "Toads are
generally reported to be poisonous; and this is perfectly true to a
certain extent. Like the lizards, they have glands in their skin which
secrete a white, highly acid fluid, and just behind the head are seen
two eminences like split beans; if these be pressed, this acid fluid
will come out--only let the operator mind that it does not get into his
eyes, for it generally comes out with a jet. There are also other glands
dispersed through the skin. A dog will never take a toad in his mouth,
and the reason is that this glandular secretion burns his tongue and
lips. It is also poisonous to the human subject. Mr. Blick, surgeon, of
Islip, Oxfordshire,[584] tells me that a man once made a wager, when
half drunk, in a village public-house, that he would bite a toa