Halcyoneum, and had medical virtues ascribed to it: it was also a
floating one; and therefore it was necessary for the poets who have
described it to place it on a tranquil sea, and to supply the bird with
charms to allay the fury of a turbulent element during its incubation,
for it had at that season power over the seas and winds. During the days
of this bird's incubation, in the depth of winter, the mariner might
sail in full security; and therefore they were called "Halcyon Days."

_Lambeth._

WALTER E.C.

* * * * *

(_From another Correspondent._)

In the agreeable communications of your correspondents, they seem in
their quotations to have overlooked the following, from Dryden:--

"Secure as when the halcyon breeds, with these
He that was born to drown might cross the seas."
_Astraea Redux._


And again, in his stanzas on the death of Oliver Cromwell--

"And wars have that respect for his repose
As winds for halcyons when they breed at sea."