Literature and Art.
in
99
middle ages. Our mediaeval forefathers appear to have had a decided
talie for monfirofities of every defcription, and efpecially for mixtures of
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dilterent kinds of animals, and of animals and men. There is no doubt,
to judge by the anecdotes recorded by fuch writers as Giraldus
Cambrenfis, that a belief in the exifcence of fuch N
unnatural creatures was widely entertained. In his
account of Ireland, this Writer tells us of animals
which were half ox and half man, half {tag and Z
half cow, and half dog and half monkey." It is
certain that there was a general belief in fuch Snail"
animals, and nobody could be more credulous than
Giraldus himfelf. ,4,
The defign to caricature, which is tolerably evident
in the fubjects juit given, is {till more apparent in
other grotefques that adorn the borders of the K
mediaeval manufcripts, as well as in fome of the "
mediaeval carvings and fculpture. Thus, in our cut N1 55-
No. 65, taken from one of the borders in the Romance of the Comte
d'Artois,
" See Girald. Cambr., Topog. I-Iibcrniw, dist. ii. cc. 21, 22; and the Itinerary
of Wales, lib. ii. c. II.