The Animal-lore of Shakespeare's Time (2024)

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

The Animal-lore of Shakespeare's Time (1883) is a book by Emma Phipson.

PREFACE.

THE object of the following compilation is to bringtogether in an accessible form waifs and strays of information, collected from various sources, relating tomedieval natural history, so far as animal life is concerned. Descriptions, more or less accurate, of the birdsand quadrupeds known in the Middle Ages are to befound in the writings of Gesner, Belon, Aldrovandus, andother naturalists. A knowledge of the state of naturalscience during the period in which our great dramatistlived may be gained, not only from the writings ofnaturalists and antiquaries, but from similes, allusions,and anecdotes introduced into the plays, poems, andgeneral literature of England during the latter half of thesixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries.The chief works already published on this branch ofShakspearian literature are The Insects mentioned in Shakspeare's Plays, by Robert Patterson, 1848, a series ofletters on entomology with a sprinkling of quotationsfrom Shakspeare to add to the interest; a Natural History of Shakespeare, by Bessie Mayou, 1877, in whichpassages relating to flowers, fruits and animals arequoted without comment; and The Ornithology of Shakespeare, by Edmund Harting, 1871, a very valuable work.I have endeavoured to keep the book as much on achronological level as possible, chiefly referring to ancientvi Preface.authors in order to trace the origin of some fable or myth,and to modern writers when they explain or correct anerroneous impression.

As Mrs. Cowden Clarke's Concordance renders reference to Shakspeare's pages so easy, I have thought itunnecessary to increase the size of the volume by numerouspassages from his works. The text of the " Globe "edition is that from which I have quoted.Relinquishing all claim to originality, I have given,in most cases, the actual words of the authors quoted, inpreference to incorporating their facts and ideas into thebody of the book. I trust that the advantage of beingable to refer to the original sources will compensate thereader for the tiresome interruptions that constant quotation entails. The quaint phrases employed by manyof the early writers seem also to harmonize with theantiquarian nature of the subject.In consequence of the charming indifference displayedby older writers on natural history to the necessity forany system of animate nature, I have followed the modernclassification of the animal kingdom, although I havepurposely avoided introducing scientific nomenclature.The plan of arrangement is that adopted by Dr. PercivalWright, in his recent work, Animal Life.I must express my thanks to Mr. F. J. Furnivall, Dr.Brinsley Nicholson, Dr. J. E. Shaw and other friends,who have kindly assisted me in various ways; and, inconclusion, I may add that I shall be much indebted toany reader who will point out mistakes or give mesuggestions for a future edition.5, Park Place,Upper Baker Street, N.W.

INTRODUCTION.

FEW subjects have more frequently occupied the attentionof man than that of his own relation to the animal lifearound him. The classic writers delighted to note thevarious points of contact and the joint ownership ofqualities which man and animals possessed. In the timeof Shakspeare this question of kinship seems to havebeen studied with renewed interest. Montaigne labourslong and earnestly to prove the " equality and correspondence betwixt us and the beasts." In Essay liv. herefuses to allow to man the sole possession of any faculty,or to debase the intelligence of animals with the name ofinstinct. He draws illustrations of the employment ofsuch mental attributes as prudence, ingenuity, foresight,memory, from many beasts and birds." Why," he writes, " does the spider make her web streighter inone place and slacker in another? why now make one sort of knot,and then another, if she has not deliberation, thought, and conclusion?We sufficiently discover in most of their works how much animalsexcel us, and how unable our art is to imitate them. We see, neverB2 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.theless, in our more gross performances, that we employ all our faculties ,and apply the utmost power of our souls; why do we not conclude thesame ofthem? Why should we attribute to I know not what naturaland servile inclination the works that excel all we can do by natureand art? Wherein, before we are aware, we give them a mightyadvantage over us, in making nature, with a maternal sweetness, toaccompany and lead them, as it were, by the hand to all the actionsand commodities of their life, whilst she leaves us to chance andfortune, and to seek out, by art, the things that are necessary to ourconservation, at the same time denying us the means of being able, byany instruction or contention of understanding, to arrive at the naturalsufficiency of beasts; so that their brutish stupidity surpasses, in allconveniences, all that our divine intelligence can do. Really, at thisrate, we might with great reason call her an unjust step-mother; butit is nothing so, our polity is not so irregular and deform'd. Naturehas been generally kind to all her creatures, and there is not one shehas not amply furnished with all means necessary for the conservationof his being."A little further on, he writesWe are "All this I have said to prove the resemblance there is in humanthings, and to bring us back and joyn us to the crowd.neither above nor below the rest. All that is under heaven (says thewise man) runs one law, and one fortune."The Rev. J. Kirkman has recently shown, in an essaywritten for the New Shakspere Society, how, in almostevery one of Shakspeare's plays, the tone of the drama isreflected by the animal life introduced. In MidsummerNight's Dream-"the season and atmosphere of exuberant life, joy, and fun, show almostall creatures but serpents under their genial light. There is a verydelight even in naming things, because of their song, their beauty,their innocent, or quaint, or industrious ways. It is exactly theopposite condition of things that rules in King Lear. Here the darkerpurpose of the play, which throws its shadow over human nature,shrouds in its gloom animal nature as well. A greater number ofanimals are mentioned in King Lear than in any other play, and withscarcely an exception the references are unfavourable. Their cruelty,treachery, and deceit are dwelt upon, and withal the terrible fact ofthesimilar villainy of man. We have to ask," Mr. Kirkman continues,"what beautiful or sad law was it that was like the igneous rock everIntroduction. 3beneath us, cropping up through all sedimentary strata here and there,often commanding attention by the height and sharpness of its peaks?Mr. Darwin would answer infallibly, without a moment's hesitation, Iwould venture to predict, ' Because of the common nature of man andhis lower progenitors in the scale of creation. ' I mean, without anyallusion to Shakspere being of ' Darwin's views, ' Darwin would state onbiological grounds precisely the same fact in nature as Shakspere hasworked out on moral or psychological principles. " (New ShakspereSociety's Transactions, 1879.)The question has been asked, -How is it that thenumber of animal metaphors and similes in Shakspeare'sworks so greatly exceeds that of any other of his brotherdramatists? The answer is to be found mainly in hislarger sympathy with nature; but it may be that hisdeeper study of the problems concerning man's originand destiny, led him thus closely to connect man with hisfellow-denizens of the earth.However great the interest in external nature felt byour forefathers may have been, the scientific knowledgethey possessed was still but slight. Natural history,according to Pliny, was the authorized version of thegospel of nature. The most absurd theories and statements concerning animal life put forth by this classicalauthority remained uncontradicted down to the time ofShakspeare. The method of interpreting natural phenomena which was founded by Lord Bacon, of substitutingpatient observation of facts for reliance on speculationand tradition, gave a fresh impulse to the study of naturalhistory.Another source from which writers of this time derivedtheir notions of animal life was the Bible, which, recentlytranslated, was eagerly read from one end of the countryto the other. Unfortunately, this rather retarded thanadvanced their knowledge of the subject. The crudenotions of the ancient Hebrews about beasts and birds,the very names of which were sometimes changed by thetranslators, were accepted as undoubted truths, and many4 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.errors were thus perpetuated. Guillim, the quaint oldherald, quotes texts to prove the correctness of hisdescriptions of various animals, in the same way thatmodern writers quote the investigations and experimentsof Darwin or Huxley.The myth-making tendency of the human mind hasalso had an effect on man's study of nature. What Mr.Tylor calls " myths of observation," arose from a laudableanxiety to account for certain known phenomena. Whenfossil ammonites were found in the solid rock, miles awayfrom the sea-shore, how was it possible to explain theirpresence better than by the statement that they weresnakes turned into stones by the prayers of some localsaint? Huge bones of fossil mammals, far exceeding insize those of living men, were obviously the limbs ofsome giant warrior slain in combat. These theories oncestarted, poetry and imagination were ready to clothe thebare statement with ornament, and legends of earlyheroes, Guy of Warwick, Bevis of Southampton, andtheir compeers in might, grew with rapidity, and wereuniversally believed.It does not follow that all the absurd notions connected with animals that are found in the works of thisperiod were generally credited at the time an authorwrote. These fanciful theories were often merely adoptedas metaphors and similes; but at the same time writerswould not care to be behind the age, and would notwillingly use expressions which could only provokeridicule on the part of their readers. For example, thenightingale is invariably spoken of in the time ofElizabeth as of the feminine gender, while in our own.day the knowledge that it is the male bird which singsis reflected in the poetry of our time.Opportunities for the study of the habits of animalswere by no means frequent. Although menageries haveexisted from the earliest times, they were chiefly usedIntroduction. 5as places of temporary confinement for such wild beastsas were likely soon to be required for sport or war.Instances where animals have been kept for the purposeof observation are rare. Aristotle gained the materialsfor his work on animals in great measure from the largecollection formed by Alexander the Great during hisexpedition made in search of conquest into distant countries. Pliny had an opportunity of drawing from lifein his descriptions of beasts and birds, as there wereseveral private collections made by wealthy Romans ofhis time; that he did not fully avail himself of thischance is evident from the strange mistakes and absurdities that crowd his pages.The first English menagerie, according to Mr.Bennett (Tower Menagerie, 1829, p. xii. ) , was at Woodstock, in the time of Henry I. This collection, whichconsisted of lions, leopards, and other wild animals, wastransferred to the Tower of London in the reign ofHenry III. There it remained till it was supersededby the establishment of the Zoological Gardens inthe Regent's Park. Paul Hentzner, in an account of ajourney into England in 1598, gives a list of the variousanimals which formed the Tower menagerie at thatdate:-"On coming out of the Tower we were led to a small house closeby, where are kept a variety of creatures, viz. three lionesses, one lion ofgreat size, called Edward VI. , from his having been born in that reign;a tiger, a lynx; a wolf excessively old-this is a very scarce animal inEngland, so that their sheep and cattle stray about in great numbers,free from any danger, though without anybody to keep them; thereis, besides, a porcupine, and an eagle. All these creatures are kept ina remote place, fitted up for the purpose with wooden lattices, at thequeen's expense." (Dodsley's Fugitive Pieces, vol. ii. p. 244 )Fynes Moryson, in the account of his tour throughEurope, 1591, describes a menagerie on a small scale atPrague in Bohemia.6 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time."The Emperour hath two inclosures walled about, which theycall gardaines, one of which is called Stella, because the trees areplanted in the figure of starres, and a little faire house therein is likewise built, with six corners in forme of a starre. And in this place bekept 12 cammels, and an Indian oxe, yellow, all over rugged, andhairy upon the throate, like a lyon; and an Indian calfe; and twoleopards, which were said to be tame, if such wild beasts may betamed. They were of a yellow colour, spotted with blacke, the headpartly like a lyon, partly like a cat, the tayle like a cat, the body likea greyhound, and when the huntsman went abroad, at call they leapedup behind him, sitting upon the horse like a dog on the hinder parts,being so swift in running, as they would easily kill a hart " ( Itinerary,p. 15).In Italy, again, Moryson meets with a similarcollection:-"The Duke of Florence kept fierce wilde beasts in a little roundhouse, namely, five lyons, five wolves, three eagles, three tygers (ofblacke and gray colour, not unlike cats, but much greater) , one wildecat (like a tyger) , beares, leopards spotted with white, black and red ,and used sometimes for hunting, an Indian mouse (with a head likeour mise, but a long hairie taile, so fierce and big, that it would easilykill one of our cats) , and wilde boares. " ( Page 151.)This last-named animal may have been an ichneumon,sometimes called Pharaoh's rat.Herrera, in his History of America (vol. ii. p. 348) ,gives an account of a menagerie in Mexico, far exceedingin magnitude any European collection. When theSpaniards visited Mexico, about the year 1500, theyfound a zoological garden sustained by Montezuma withright royal magnificence. This menagerie containedmany varieties of beasts, birds, and serpents. These lastwere fed sometimes on human diet; persons sacrificedwere afterwards given to the snakes and alligators.According to Herrera, five hundred co*cks were dailygiven to the eagles, and three hundred men wereappointed to attend in the house of birds. There werealso large ponds for salt and fresh water birds, the waterof which was frequently renewed. These birds wereIntroduction. 7kept chiefly for the sake of their feathers, which formedan article of commerce of considerable importance.The universal fondness for hunting, hawking, andother field sports, gave rise to a great number of technicalexpressions connected with the chase, which perpetuallyoccur in the writings of the Elizabethan dramatists. Guillim, in his Display ofHeraldry, 1610 (p. 15) , gives a list ofphrases, many of which are in use at the present day:—"The tayl of a hart is termed the tayl; of a buck, roe, or anyother deer, the single; of a boar, the wreath; of a fox, the brush, orholy water sprinkler; of a wolf, the stern; and of a hare or coney,the scut. You shall say that a hart harboureth; a buck lodgeth; aroe beddeth; a hare seateth or formeth; a coney sitteth; a fox is uncased. You shall say dislodge a buck; start a hare; unkennela fox; rowse a hart; bowlt a coney. A hart belloweth; a buckgroaneth; a roe belleth; a hare beateth; a coney tappeth; a foxbarketh; a wolf howleth. You shall say a herd of harts, and allmanner of deer; a bevy of roes; a sounder of swine; a rowt of wolves;a riches of marternes; a brace or lease of bucks, of foxes, or hares; acouple of rabbets or conies."Mr. Daniel, in his Rural Sports, 1812 ( vol. ii . p. 480),quotes from The Book of Saint Albans a long list of nounsof multitude:-"A sege of herons and of bitterns; an herd of swans, of cranes,and of curlews; a dopping of sheldrakes; a spring of teales; a covertof coots; a gaggle of geese: a padelynge of ducks; a bord or suteof mallards; a muster of peaco*cks; a nye of pheasants; a bevy ofquailes; a covey of partridges; a congregation of plovers; a flight ofdoves; a dule of turkies; a walk of snipes; a fall of woodco*cks; abrood of hens; a building of rooks; a murmuration of starlings; anexaltation of larks; a flight of swallows; a host of sparrows; a watchof nightingales; and a charm of goldfinches. A pride of lions; a lepeof leopards; an herd of harts, of buck, and of all sorts of deer; a bevyof roes; a sloth of bears; a singular of boars; a sounder of wild swine;a dryft of tame swine; a route of wolves; a harrass of horses; a rag of colts; a stud of mares; a pace of asses; a baren of mules; a teamof oxen; a drove of kine; a flock of sheep; a tribe of goats; a sculkoffoxes; a cete of badgers; a riches of martins; a fesynes of ferrets;a huske or a down of hares; a nest of rabbits; a clowder of cats, and akendel of young cats; a shrewdness of apes; and a labour of moles."8The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.CHAPTER I.THE Monkey order is generally spoken of in mediævaltimes under the three broad names of ape,Quadrupeds. baboon, and monkey or marmoset, thoughvarious kinds are described by the earlyexplorers of Africa and South America under the nativeMonkey.names.The chief sources from which we derive our information respecting the different species of animals found invarious parts of the globe are the collections of travelsmade by Hakluyt and Purchas. The Rev. SamuelPurchas published the first volume of his work in 1613,and the last four volumes in 1625. He gave to his compilation the long title of Purchas his Pilgrimage; orRelations of the World and the Religions observed in allAges and Places. He appears to have been more credulousthan Hakluyt, or perhaps he took a stronger interest innatural history, for to him we are chiefly indebted forstrange adventures and marvellous descriptions of animallife.One of the most intelligent of the pilgrims whoseperegrinations are recorded in this collection was AndrewBattell, an English sailor, who was taken prisoner by thePortuguese and sent to Angola, on the West Coast ofAfrica, where he lived nearly eighteen years. Thiswriter gives a tolerably correct account of the largestThe Gorilla.species of ape, known in modern times as the Gorilla.He says:-"The largest of these ape monsters is called Pongo, in their language,and the lesser is called Engeco. This pongo is in all proportion like aman, but that he is more like a giant in stature than a man; for heis very tall and hath a man's face, hollow-eyed, with long haire uponhis browes. His face and eares are without haire, and his hands also.His bodie is full of haire, but not very thicke, and of a dunnish colour.He differeth not from a man but in his legs, for they have no calfe.Hee goeth alwaies upon his legs , and carrieth his hands clasped on thenape of his necke, when he goeth upon the ground. They sleepe inthe trees, and build shelters for the raine. They feed upon the fruitthat they find in the woods, and upon nuts, for they eate no kind offlesh. They cannot speake, and have no more understanding than abeast. The people of the countrie, when they travaile in the woods,make fires where they sleepe in the night; and in the morning, whenthey are gone, the pongoes will come and sit about the fire till it goethout, for they have no understanding to lay the wood together. Theygoe many together, and kill many negroes that travaile in the woods.When they die among themselves, they cover the dead with greatheapes of boughs and wood, which is commonly found in the forrests."(Purchas, vol. ii. p. 982.)The engeco here mentioned is possibly the Chimpanzee.The gorilla was known to the Carthaginians. It is mentioned under this name in a Greek translation from thePeriplus, or circumnavigation of Hanno the Carthaginian.A Portuguese resident in Brazil, whose observationson that country are also recorded in Purchas's collection(vol. iv. p. 1302), gives a curious account of an ape king." The Aquiqui are very great apes, as bigge as a good sized dog,blacke, and very ougly, as well the male as the female. They have agreat beard onely in the lower chap. Of these come sometimes a maleone so yellow that it draweth toward red, which they say is their king.This hath a white face, and the beard from eare to eare as cut with thescissers; and it hath one thing much to be noted, namely, that hegoeth into a tree, and maketh so great a noise that it is heard veryfarre off, in the which he continueth a great while without ceasing,and for this, this kind hath a particular instrument; and the instru-10 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.ment is a certaine hollow thing, as it were made of parchment, verystrong, and so smooth that it serveth to burnish withall, as big as aduckes egge, and beginneth from the beginning of the gullet, till veryneere the palate of the mouth betweene both the cheekes, and it is solight that as soone as it is toucht it moveth as the key of a virginals. "This species has been identified by modern travellers asthe Mycetes, or Howling Monkey. According to somewriters, the peculiar cry from which it derives its namemay be heard at a distance of two miles.Antonio de Herrera, in his description of the WestIndies (Purchas, vol. i. p. 966) , tells us that-"throughout all the mountaines, either of these ilands of the firmeland, or of the Andes, there are infinite numbers of micos, or monkeys,which are a kinde of apes, but very different, in that they have a taile,yea a very long one. And amongst then there are some kindeswhich are thrice, yea foure times bigger than the ordinarie; some areall blacke, some bay, some grey, and some spotted. Their agilitie andmanner of doing is admirable, for that they seeme to have reasonand discourse to goe upon trees, wherein they seeme to imitate birds. "John Leo, in his account of travels in Africa, saysthat the native name for the small kinds of apes whichhave tails is Monne, which may be the origin of theEnglish name monkey; those without tails are calledBabuini (Purchas, vol. ii. p. 847) .Another traveller, Wilson, who returned from Guianain the year 1606, reports (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1261), that"there are many monkies, great and small, blacke andgreene, which sorts are called Marmosites."Small monkeys seem to have been rather fashionableas pets, as well as forming a necessary part of the outfitof the itinerant showman. Ben Jonson has severalallusions to them:-""Tis like your clog to your marmoset. "(The Poetaster, iv. 1.)(Cynthia's Revels, iii . 2.)"He past, appears some mincing marmoset,Made all of clothes and face."The Bat. 11Drayton writes-"What sports have we whereon our minds to set,Our dog, our parrot, or our marmoset? "(England's Heroical Epistles. )Tubal sticks a dagger into his friend Shylock by tellinghim of a ring that a sailor had obtained from Jessica inexchange for a monkey: —" Shylock. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was myturquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not havegiven it for a wilderness of monkeys. " (Merchant of Venice, iii . 1 , 125.)Amonkey was also a common appendage of the domesticfool, or jester, and an appropriate companion in hisgambols.Bat.The wing-handed animal, the Bat, known also as therere-mouse, or still more appropriately as theflitter-mouse, was a great puzzle to our forefathers. It was classed by them as avis, non avis, " birdand not bird." Nor was it until the close of the seventeenth century that it was placed with viviparous animals.It shared with the owl and the raven the reputation offoreboding misery and death to the inmates of the housewhere it entered, and was classed with these birds bySpenser:-"The ill-faste owle, death's dreadfull messengere;The hoars night-raven, trump of dolefull drere;The lether-winged bat, dayes enimy;The ruefull strich, still waiting on the bere."(Faerie Queene, ii. , xii. , 36. )Ben Jonson speaks of—"The giddy flitter-mice with leather wings! "(The Sad Shepherd, ii. 2.)And again-"Once a bat, and ever a bat! a rere-mouse,And bird of twilight."(The New Inn, iii . 1.)12 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.In 1626 Sir Thomas Herbert accompanied Sir DodmoreCotton in an embassage to the Shah of Persia, and wasso delighted with the strange scenes he witnessed in thatcountry that he extended his visit, and spent four yearsin exploring the southern portion of Asia and part ofAfrica. On his return he published his travels. He isan amusing writer, and gives some lively descriptions ofthe curious sights he witnessed, and the difficulties he metwith. In his account of certain strange creatures foundin the island of Mauritius, he writes:-" Bats are here in great numbers; but if my stomach deceive menot, worse meat cannot be tasted: a fierce ill-favour'd carrion, eversqueeking, and in offensive noise calling to one another, make badmelody. This is the onely four-footed beast that's volant, and therefore whether more properly to be raukt amongst birds or beasts, asyet undecided. . . . Bats, flying-fish and seals be participles of natureand species of a doubtful kind, participating both of bird and beast:these vespertilios, a large foot in length, hang in swarms upon theboughs of trees, by claws two inches long, fixed at the extream part oftheir wings, which are above twenty inches in length, their monkeyfaces in that posture ever turning downwards." (Travels, p. 385.)...The worthy knight was somewhat of an epicure, asappears from his constantly expressed opinion as to theflavour of the new dishes he was compelled by necessityto investigate, but he may be excused in this instancefor not relishing his repast.Sir Francis Drake, in his voyage into the South Seas,1577 (Hakluyt, vol . iv. p. 244) , finds, in an island southward of Celebes, a wonderful store of bats as big as largehens.Bats were given to hawks as a remedy for certainmaladies.Of insect-eating animals, which are placed by modernnaturalists next in order to the bats, only threerepresentatives appear to have been knownto our medieval ancestors, the hedgehog, mole, and shrew.Hedgehog.The Hedgehog.13The Hedgehog, echinus, or urchin, is often mentionedby Shakspeare and other poets. Lyly declares of thislittle animal that he " evermore lodgeth in the thornesbicause he himself is so full of prickells " (Euphues,p. 373); and Chester, whose singular poem, Love's Martyr,has recently been edited by Dr. Grosart for the NewShakspere Society, says of him:—"The hedgehogge hath a sharpe quicke thorned garment,That on his backe doth serve him for defence:He can presage the winds incontinent,And hath good knowledge in the differenceBetweene the southerne and the northern wind,These vertues are allotted him by kind.Whereon in Constantinople, that great city,A marchant in his garden gave one nourishment:By which he knew that winds true certainty,Because the hedgehogge gave him just presagement:Apples, or pears, or grapes, such is his meate,Which on his backe he carries for to eate."(Love's Martyr, p. 111.)Thomas Fuller, in his work, The Worthies of England,alludes to a superstition which has not yet died out inrural districts. Describing the county of Hertfordshire,he writes:-"Plenty of hedgehogs are found in this high-woodland county,where too often they suck the kine, though the dayry-maids connethem small thanks for sparing their pains in milking them. Acreature alwayes in his posture of defence, carrying a stand of pikeson his back, so that if as well victualled as armed, he may hold out asiege against any equal opposition . " ( Vol. ii . p. 426.)Amongst other miseries inflicted upon him by hisharsh taskmaster, Caliban complains of spirits-"Like hedgehogs whichLie tumbling in my barefoot way and mountTheir pricks at my footfall. "(Tempest, ii. 2, 10.)14 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The Mole, moldwarp, or mouldiwarpe, as it is frequently called, must have been as common Mole. in earlier times as at present. The Rev.Edward Topsell was chaplain in the Church of SaintBotolph, Aldersgate, and the author of one of the mostremarkable books of his age. He called his work AHistorie of Foure- Footed Beastes, and added, that it was"necessary for all divines and students, because the storyof every beast is amplified with narrations out of scriptures, fathers, phylosophers, physitians, and poets, collected out of all the volumes of Conradus Gesner andall other writers to this present day." This book waspublished in 1607. Though it abounds with marvellousstories, farfetched derivations of names, and absurdrecipes, yet it is no mere compilation from the writingsof others. Notwithstanding his amazing credulity onmany points, the author is independent enough todecline to accept statements which are contradicted byhis own observations. As regards the place of the molein nature, he writes:-"I do utterly dissent from all them that holde opinion that themole or want is of the kinde of myse, for that all of them in generall ,both one and other have two longe crooked fore-teeth which is not inmoles, and therefore wanting those as the inseparable propriety ofkind; we wil take it for graunted that it pertaineth not to that rankeor order of four-footed beasts." (Page 499.)With respect to the name, he informs us that-"the Italians retaine the latine word talpa, the Spaniards topo, bywhich word the Italians call a mouse. The French call it taulpe, theGermaines muiwerf, and in Saxon molwurffe, from whence is derivedthe English mole and molewarpe. ”Topsell gives it as his opinion that though moles wanttheir sight, yet they possess eyes, or rather, they havewhere the eyes should be, " a plaine and bald place of theskin." As a further proof of the perversity of this littleThe Mole. 15animal, he adds that, though they have no ears, yet theyhear perfectly in the earth.The idea of the mole's blindness, still lingering incountry districts, is often referred to by the Elizabethanpoets. Caliban warns his companions to be silent: -"Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot fall: we now are near his cell."(Tempest, iv. 1 , 195.)"Ye work and work like moles, blind in the pathsThat are bor'd thro' the crannies of the earth."(FORD, The Lover's Melancholy, ii . 2.)Sylvester, in his translation of Du Bartas' great work,Divine Weekes and Workes, published 1605, introducesthe following simile:-"Even as the soft, blinde, mine-inventing moule,In velvet robes under the earth doth roule,Refusing light, and little ayre receives,And hunting worms her moving hillocks heaves."(Ed. 1633, p. 186.)In Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, published 1621,we read:-"Comfort thyself with other men's misfortunes, as the mouldiwarpein Æsope told the fox for complaining of want of a tail, You complainof toies, but I am blind , be quiet." (Page 310, ed. 1837.)Owen Glendower probably employed these littleanimals in his incantations. Hotspur replies to hisuncle's lecture upon the impropriety of petulant impatience:-"I cannot choose: sometime he angers meWith telling me of the moldwarp and the ant,Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies. "(1 Henry IV. , iii . 1, 148.)Shrew.To Topsell we are indebted for an accountof the Shrew, or the erdshrew:-"The word hamaka of the Hebrewes remembred in the second16 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.chapter of Leviticus, is diversely interpreted by the translators, somecall it a reptile beast which alwaies cryeth: some a reptile-flyingbeast, some a horse-leach, or bloud- sucker, some a hedghog, and somea beaver, as we have shewed before in the hedghog. But the Septuagints translate it mygale, and S. Jerom mus araneus, that is, a shrew.The Hollanders call it moll musse, because it resembleth a mole. . . .And concerning the description of this beast, it may be taken from thewords of an auncient English phisition, called doctor William Turner.I have seene, saith he, in England, the shrew- mouse of colour blacke,having a taile very short, and her snout very long and sharp, and fromthe venomous biting of this beast, we have an English proverb orimprecation, I beshrow thee, when we curse or wish harm unto anyman, that is, that some such evil as the biting of this mouse maycome upon him. . . . It is a ravening beast, feynging it selfe to begentle and tame, but being touched it biteth deepe, and poisonethdeadly. It beareth a cruell minde, desiring to hurt any thing, neitheris there any creature that it loveth, or it loveth him, because it isfeared of all. The cats as we have saide do hunt it and kill it, butthey eat not them, for if they do they consume away in time. "(Historie of Foure- Footed Beasts, pp. 534–536.)The character here attributed to this harmless littleanimal is not unlike that bestowed by the old chroniclersupon Richard III. It is quite undeserved by the Britishshrew, which feeds only on insects and grain. SomeEuropean varieties are more destructive, and will even eatsmall birds if opportunities offer.The Lion, King of Beasts.17CHAPTER II.Lion.DEPOSED as he is by modern classification from the firstplace in the ranks, the Lion has from theearliest times reigned supreme and undisputed monarch of the animal kingdom. He has beenendowed by poets with many virtues, most of them quiteimaginary. Unlike some beasts of prey, he does notdestroy for the mere pleasure of killing, and this forbearance has perhaps gained for him a reputation for clemencyand magnanimity beyond his merits. Possibly one reasonwhy the lion was credited with this generosity by theearly intruders into his domain, was that his supply ofprovisions was still plentiful, and his larder in no dangerof becoming empty; he could therefore afford to begenerous, and he had not learned to fear man both onhis own account and as a rival in the chase.Chester, writing in the time of Elizabeth, rather goesbeyond the truth when he represents other animalsdeliberately giving up their prey to the animal monarch:"The princely lion, king of forrest-kings,And chiefe commaunder of the wildernesse,At whose faire feete all beasts lay down their offrings,Yielding allegiance to his worthinesse:His strength remaineth most within his head,His vertue in his heart is compassed."(Love's Martyr, p. 112. )Shakspeare seems to have completely adopted the18 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.popular view of the lion's noble qualities, and to hold himin high estimation. Richard's queen tries to rouse herhusband to more dignified conduct by reminding himthat-"The lion dying thrusteth forth his paw,And wounds the earth, if nothing else, with rageTo be o'erpower'd; and wilt thou , pupil-like,Take thy correction mildly, kiss the rod,And fawn on rage with base humility,Which art a lion and a king of beasts? "(Richard II. , v. 1, 29.)And Troilus taunts Hector by aid of a comparison whichis decidedly complimentary to the animal:-"Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,Which better fits a lion than a man."(Troilus and Cressida, v. 3, 37.)Ben Jonson introduces the lion occasionally: -" The Libyan lion hunts no butterflies,He makes the camel and dull ass his prize."(Epigram on Inigo Jones.)By painters and writers on religious subjects the lionwas employed as a symbol of strength, courage, nobility,and other lofty qualities, of which the companion and protector of Una is the personification.In heraldry the lion was more frequently utilized thanany other member of the animal kingdom, and it has fromthe earliest period been claimed as an appropriate emblemby English sovereigns. As denoting fortitude, it wasusually placed, in Christian art, at the feet of martyrs,and was sculptured on the tombs of crusaders.The frequent mention of the lion in English literaturemay arise from the fact that the somewhat mythicalcharacter attributed to him is exactly the same withwhich the English have always invested their heroes.This union of strength and courage with clemency andtenderness was the secret of Richard Coeur de Lion'sLions first born in England.19popularity; and Shakspeare's lines on Edward the BlackPrince-" In war was never lion raged more fierce,In peace was never gentle lamb more mild,Than was that young and princely gentleman,"may serve for a description of the men whom England inall times has delighted to honour.Lions were kept in the Tower for the purpose of affording entertainment to the court by their combats. As theywere expensive both to obtain and to keep, lion- baitingwas a sport chiefly reserved for royalty. John Stow, in hisrecord of the reign of James I., considers the birth of ayoung lion an event of sufficient importance to enter withgreat gravity in his Chronicle (p. 844): " Sunday, fiftof August [ 1604] , a lionesse named Elizabeth, in the Towerof London, brought forth a lyons whelpe, which lyonswhelpe lived not longer than the next day." The nextyear he tells of a similar arrival, and gives as a reason forchronicling it that this was the first time that younglions had been born in Great Britain.Topsell (p. 475) quotes from Crantzius a notable storyof a lion in England, who by evident tokens was able todistinguish betwixt the king, nobles, and vulgar sort ofpeople. Patrick Gordon of Ruthven, in a work, writtenabout the year 1647, and reprinted by the Spalding Clubin 1844, entitled, A Short Abridgement of Britane's Distemper, tells a story which, if it could only be believed,would confirm the theory that there was a close connexionbetween kings and lions:-"It is constantly related by all, nor could I ever find it contradicted by any, that some little time after the kinges death [ Charles I. ]there ware sevin or eight gentlemen that went to the Towre to sie thelyons.... They were brought by the keiper near to their caiges, thatthey might looke in throw the barrs and sie them; when upon asudden the Old Harie, a lyone called so after Henrie the Eight,because he had brought him their, began to blow, to snort, and tobrissell his haire, and then to roare with such a terible and furious20 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.countenance, tearing the grats with his paws, as if he would havedevored or torne them all in pieces; which made all to recoill bak,much affrighted, the keeper telling them seriously that he had neverdone the lyk befor, altho all sorts came daylie and saw him, andtherefore he was perswaded that some one of them had done him aneinjurie. They all swore they had not come near the grats of his cabinby more then a yeare: wherefor sieing him still to roare, to bray, andto become more furious, the keeper tells them that they must all goefurth, and he would call them in one by one, to sie if that way he could find furth the reasone. This was done; and behold, when theyware all gone, he groaned a little while and then was peaceable.Wherefor the keiper would neids try this conclusion; he bringes firstin one of them and leids him to the grats, whereat the lyon made nosturre till one gentleman came in, whom he no sooner espyes, when hebegines againe to raige, and become more furious than befor; wherefor the keiper, with an angrie countenance, beseeches him to tell whathe had done. The gentleman, avoueing his owne innocencie, was yetmuch confounded to sie that terrible beast angrie with non but him;and having ruminate within himselfe of his former lyfe, at last he tellsthe keiper that he knew himself guiltie of nothinge except that he wason the skafold when the kinge was execute, and had dipt ane handkirtcheff in his blood, which he had yet in his pocket; and drawing itfurth, gives it to the keiper, who threw it to the lyone; and he nosooner gets it, when, leaving his former roaring, he takes it betwixthis former feit, and fallinge growfflings to the ground, he laid his headon it, and never rose from that posture till hee died , which was thethird day after. This discourse, because it seemed so onprobable, Ikept up two years, before I would insert it in my Abridgment, yetcould never find anie that opposed the trueth of it, but everie manavoued it to be reallie true." (Page 221.)The sensitive nature of this centenarian lion must havebeen sorely tried by the frequent " deaths of kings " hehad bewailed. We are not told of any acts of kindnesson the part of English sovereigns which could accountfor this one-sided affection.The Tiger was generally considered the personificationTiger.of remorseless cruelty. Lear calls Regan andGoneril " tigers, not daughters; " and Yorkcalls his unrelenting foe, Queen Margaret, —"O tiger's heart wrapt in a woman's hide! "Tiger, or Jaguar.21and declares that she is-"More inhuman, more inexorable,O, ten times more, than tigers of Hyrcania. "(3 Henry VI., i. 4.)The distinction drawn between the natures of thelion and tiger has little foundation in fact. The habitsof both species are very similar. The tiger does occasionally destroy more than is sufficient to satisfy itshunger, but in general it is content with a single victim.The name Tiger was given by travellers and earlywriters on natural history to many species, some ofwhich, like the jaguar, are undoubtedly more bloodthirstythan others. The character of the natives of the countries which these animals inhabit may have something todo with their respective attributes.Oviedo, in an account of the West Indies, sent byhim to the Emperor Charles V., in 1525 (Purchas, vol .iii. p. 990) , describes the jaguar under the name of tiger.His misgivings as to the correctness of the name are wellfounded, as the range of the tiger is confined exclusivelyto Asia. He writes-"In the Firme Land [S. America] are found many terrible beasts,which some think to be tigres. Which thing nevertheless I dare notaffirme, considering what authors doe write of the lightnesse andagilitie of the tigre, whereas this beast, being otherwise in shape verylike a tigre, is notwithstanding very slow.”The stealthy motion it frequently adopts in order toapproach its victim, probably gave this writer the ideathat the jaguar was a slow animal. Oviedo proceeds topoint out that many creatures of undoubtedly the samespecies vary considerably in different parts of the world:-"The sheepe of Arabie draw their tailes long and bigge on theground, and the bulls of Egypt have their haire growing toward theirheads, yet are those sheepe, and these buls. . . . Men, likewise, whichin some countries are blacke, are in other places white: and yet are22 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.both these and they men. . . . My intent is onely to proove that thisbeast may be a tigre, or of the kinde of tigres, although it bee not ofsuch lightnesse and swiftnesse, as are they whereof Plinie and otherauthors speake, describing it to bee one of the swiftest beasts of the land,and that the river of Tygris , for the swift course thereof, was called by that name. The first Spaniards, which saw this tygre in the FirmeLand, did so name it. Of the kind of these was that which Don DiegoColumbo, the admiral, sent your majestie out of New Spaine toToledo. Their heads are like to the heads of lions, or lionesses, butgreater the rest of their bodies and their legs are full of black spots,one neere unto another, and divided with a circumference, or fringe ofred colour, shewing (as it were) a faire work and correspondent picture.About their croopes or hinder parts they have these spots biggest,and lesse and lesse toward their bellies, legs, and heads. I have seensome of three spans in height, and more than five in length . Theyare beasts of great force, with strong legs, and well armed with naylesand fanges which we call dog-teeth: they are so fierce that in myjudgment no reall lyon of the biggest sort is so strong or fierce."As this author is so precise in his description, it issomewhat strange that he should fail to notice the chiefdifference between this animal and the tiger. Even therudest and the most heraldic drawing of a tiger musthave had stripes and not spots.By early writers the Leopard, pard, or pardale, andthe Panther, were considered to be two dis- Leopard.tinct animals, though these authors made noattempt to show in what particulars the difference existed.Modern naturalists are of opinion that there is but onespecies. Leopards may no doubt vary in size and shapeaccording to the locality in which they are found. InChristian art the leopard was symbolized as the representative of perseverance in evil. This idea is prominentin the interpretations of the passage in Jeremiah, "Canthe Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?It may be that Shakspeare had this verse in mind whenhe wrote " Lions make leopards tame," " Yea, but notchange their spots. " (Richard II. , i. 1, 175.)The conventional lion of heraldic artists was supposedThe Panther's Breath. 23to exist in a chronic state of dignified rage. This condition could be best depicted by the attitude known inheraldry as rampant. In profile only could due prominence be given to teeth, claws, and tail. When for thesake of variety or economy of space the lion was represented as passant gardant, or walking, with his faceturned to the spectator, he was called a lion-leopardé, todenote that his ferocity was partially subdued. Whenrampant gardant he was a leopard- lionné. The charge ofthree lions leopardé, which now appears on the escutcheonof England, was first borne by Richard I. This nomenclature gave rise to some confusion, and for a time thenotion existed that leopards had a place in the English*t was not until the middle of the fifteenth century that the animals on the royal shield were blazonedas " lions. "arms.The leopard, or panther, of antiquity was chieflyremarkable for the sweetness of his breath, which wassupposed to have an attraction for other animals. BenJonson has several allusious to this fancy:--"You have a tongue steeped in honey, and a breath like a panther."(Cynthia's Revels, v. 2.)Other poets write:-"The panther so,Breathes odors pretious as the sarmaticke gumsOf Easterne groves, but the delicious sent,Not taken in at a distance, choakes the senseWith the too muskie savour."(GLAPTHORNE, The Hollander.)“ Your grace is boundTo hunt the spotted panther to his ruin,Whose breath is only sweet to poison virtue. "(SHIRLEY, The Royal Master. )Sir William Segar ( Harleian MS. 6085) tells us:-"The panther is admired of all other beasts for the beauty ofhis skyn, being spotted with variable colours, and beloved and followed24 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.of them for the sweetness of his breath, that streameth forth of hisnostrils and ears like smoke, which our paynters mistaking, corruptly doe make fire. "By painters this author probably meant heraldic artists.The correct blazonry of a panther has flames issuing fromthe mouth and ears. When thus depicted it is termed"incensed." The looks of this animal were supposed tohave a most baneful influence."The panther, knowing that his spotted hydeDoth please all beasts, but that his looks them fray,Within a bush his dreadful head doth hide,To let them gaze while he on them may prey."(SPENSER, Sonnet 53.)Mr. Elvin, in Anecdotes of Heraldry, 1864 ( p. 59) , tellsthe following story:-" In the early part of the reign of Henry VIII. a leopard, whichhad been presented to Sir John Giffard of Chillington, escaped fromher cage, and was pursued by the knight, bow in hand, accompaniedby his son. Having hurried to the top of a steep ascent, nearly a milefrom his house, Sir John overtook the beast as it was about to springupon a woman with an infant; and as, in his still breathless state, hewas preparing to shoot at it, his son , fearing his haste might weakenthe force of the shot, called out, ‘ Preigne haleine, tire fort.' Sir Johnpaused, took breath, drew his bow strongly with a sure aim, killed theleopard, and saved the woman. To this day the Giffards of Chillingtonbear as their crest a leopard's head and an archer with bended bow,whilst the words ' Preigne haleine, tire fort,' form the family motto. "Sir John Mandeville, in his Travels, written about theyear 1350, mentions the small hunting leopard, or cheetah,employed in Cyprus:-"In Cipre men hunten with papyonns, that ben lyche lepardes,and thei taken wylde bestes right welle, and thei ben somdelle morethen lyouns; and thei taken more scharpely the bestes and moredelyverly than don houndes." (Page 29.)The Puma was considered by the early colonists ofthe New World to be merely a degeneratevariety of the lion, and was spoken of byPuma.them under that name.The Ounce. 25The puma is especially to bemet with in the more tropical regions of America, thoughits range extends over the whole continent.The Ounce, a native of some parts of Asia, accordingto modern authorities, is mentioned as an Ounce.inhabitant of Brazil by a Portuguese whohad long lived there. With that confusion of pronounswhich characterizes writers of the Elizabethan period, hesays:--" There are many ounces, some blacke, some grey, some speckled.It is a very cruell beast, and fierce. They assault men exceedingly,that even on the trees they cannot escape them, especially if they bebigge. When they are flesht there is none that dare abide them,especially by night. They kill many beasts at once, they spoile awhole hen-house, or a heard of swine; and to open a man, or whatsoeverbeast, it sufficeth to hit him with one of his clawes. . . . The Indiansuse the heads for trumpets, and the Portugall women use the skinnesfor rugs or coverlets. " (Purchas, vol . i . p. 1301.)The early explorers seem to have been somewhat puzzledby the different varieties of the leopard tribe, and thismuch-dreaded animal may have been the jaguar or puma.Du Bartas, in his poem on the Creation, alludes to-"The cat-fac'd ounce, that doth me much dismay,With grumbling horror threatens my decay."(Divine Weekes and Workes, 6th day, p. 50.)Shakspeare has but one reference to this animal:-"Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,Pard, or boar with bristled hair."

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(Midsummer Night's Dream, ii . 2, 30.)Topsell says that he can follow no better author inthe description of this animal than Dr. Caius, whoevidently wrote from personal observation:-"The ounce is a most cruel beast, of the quantity of a village ormastiffe dog, having his face and ears like to a lyons, his body, taile,26 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.feet, and nails like a cat, of a very terrible aspect, his teeth so strongand sharpe that he can cut wood in sunder with them."After a long description of the appearance of theounce, and the exact place and number of most of hisspots, the doctor proceeds:"It liveth on flesh, and the female is more cruell then the male,though lesser, and one of either sex was brought out of Mauritania intoEngland in a ship, for they are bred in Libia. When they are angrythey utter a voice like an angry dog, but they double the arr twice,and also bigger then any dogs, proceeding out of a large breast and widearteries, much like to the howling of a great mastive, that is shut upin a close roome alone against his will. Some say that it is longer thena dog, but it did not so appeare in England, for we had many mastivedogs as long as it, but yet was it every way greater then any otherkind of dogs. " (Historie ofFour-Footed Beasts, 1607, p. 570.)The Wild Cat is the true English cat. It was commonin this country in the Middle Ages. Its fur Cat.was much used as a trimming for dressesand other articles of clothing. Like the marten it wasfrequently hunted for the sake of its skin, and so longago as the time of Richard II. an abbot of Peterboroughobtained a charter granting him permission to hunt cats.It has now become entirely extinct in England, thoughin the wilder parts of Scotland it is not uncommon.The domestic " harmless necessary cat " has no connexion with the above, and was introduced to us fromthe East in early times. Some varieties may have beenbrought over by the Crusaders, but the original home ofthe species seems to have been Persia. In Wales thecat was held in great estimation. It was enacted byHowel Dha, " the Good," that the price of a kitten beforeit could see was to be a penny; if it caught a mouse itsvalue was raised to twopence, and afterwards to fourpence.If any one stole or killed a cat that guarded the prince'sgranary, the offender was compelled either to forfeit aewe, or as much wheat as would cover the cat whensuspended by its tail.Dangerous Friends. 27Topsell (p. 106) writes of the cat with the interest ofintimate personal acquaintance:-"It is needlesse to spend any time about her loving nature to man,how she flattereth by rubbing her skinne against ones legges, how shewhurleth with her voyce, having as many tunes as turnes; for shehath one voice to beg and to complain, another to testifie her delightand pleasure, another among hir own kind by flattring, by hissing,by spitting, insomuch as some have thought that they have a peculiarintelligible language among themselves."Topsell also notices the various peculiarities of thecat, her dislike to water, her fondness for dwellingsrather than persons: —-"Although their maisters forsake their houses yet will not thesebeastes beare them company, and being carried forth in close basketsor sackes, they will yet returne againe or loose themselves. As thisbeaste has beene familiarly nourished of many, so have they payed dearefor their love, being requited with the losse of their health, and sometimes of their life for their friendship; and worthily, they who lovebeasts in a high measure, have so much the lesse charity unto man. "This last remark is not without truth; but the author issomewhat vague as to the injuries inflicted by the cat onits benefactor.It has been said that the cat owed the consecrationand divine honours it received among the Egyptians toa peculiar physical attribute, the power of contractingand dilating the pupil of the eye, exhibiting so mysterious a representation of the moon's changes, as to giverise to the notion that the animal was in some degreeunder the influence of that luminary, and therefore to bepropitiated.The absence of any mention of the cat in the Bible,except in the Apocrypha, is probably owing to the veneration of this animal by the Egyptians. The Jews wouldnaturally have unpleasant associations both with dogsand cats, as animals that they had seen idolized duringtheir captivity in the land of Pharaoh. But fondness foranimals of any kind seems to have been entirely wanting28 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.among the Jews. In every early history, except theBible, we meet with some allusion to a favourite horse,or dog, or tame gazelle. No wonder Jessica, freed fromthe trammels of her Jewish home, could give a turquoisering for a monkey!Another explanation as to the singular scarcity ofallusions to animal life in the Bible may be suggested.The Jews appear to have been quite indifferent to thebeauties of nature. The only traces of admiration ofthe external world are found in the writings of Job andSolomon. Job was not of Hebrew birth, and Solomonhad by his large knowledge gained a wider sympathywith nature than his compatriots. It is almost incrediblethat a nation should wander for forty years through landsrich enough to furnish pasture for vast flocks and herds,materials for clothing, ornament, and manufactures, andthat the chronicle of their Exodus should be absolutelydeficient in a single reference to the rich animal lifearound them. Many species of birds and animals areindeed mentioned, but only to be avoided as unclean.From the list of creatures that might not be used as food,we gather the only information from a Jewish sourcerespecting the fauna of Arabia or Palestine.A similar disregard of natural beauty exists in theMohammedan scriptures. The poetry of nature animatesevery other mythology. Love of beauty led the Greeksto personify the waterfall and the rainbow, to find dryadsin trees, nereids in running brooks, altars in stones, andgods in everything. The Grecian deities were surrounded in the imagination of their worshippers withall that was strong or lovely in nature. Zeus had hisprincely eagle; Phoebus, his dappled coursers; ox-eyedHera, her peaco*ck train; whilst Aphrodite was born ofthe ocean froth, and Pan sat hidden in the tangledthickets. Even in the religion of the frozen North wefind a loving sympathy with external nature. The sacredWhittington's Cat. 29ash-tree that spread its roots to encircle the world; thefrisking squirrel; the croaking raven, whispering tidingsinto Odin's ear; the ferocious wolf; even the littlemistletoe that was " too young to swear," —all were woveninto the Scandinavian mythology, and added a realityand beauty to the Norse belief.The pertinacity of the cat in contending fiercelyagainst all efforts to deprive it of liberty caused thisanimal to be chosen by the Dutch as their ensign. Itwas an appropriate emblem for a nation that so long andso valiantly struggled for independence.The cat plays a conspicuous part in the story ofDick Whittington . Modern folk-lore Dryasdusts wouldhave us believe that the ship which contained the merchandise of the young City apprentice was called TheCat, and that thence arose the legend. Something of thissceptical spirit is to be found in the writings of Shakspeare's time: " When the famous fable of Whittingtonand his Puss shall be forgotten. " (Eastward Hoe, v. 1.)Both Shakspeare and Lyly use the proverbial comparison, " As melancholy as a cat," though it does notseem a specially appropriate simile.In Jacob and Esau, an interlude, 1568, we find thenickname Puss. Mido exclaims-" But Esau beguil'd me, I shrew him for that,And left not so much as a lick for Puss our cat. "This name occurs again in Middleton::-" I shall be moused by puss- cats, but I had rather die a dog'sdeath they have nine lives apiece, like a woman, and they will makeit up ten lives, if they and I fall a scratching." (Blurt, MasterConstable, iv. 2.)Tib, from the French Thibert, and Gib from Gilbert, theNorthern name for a male cat, were as usual names forthe cat, as Tom is in our own time.Thoughthe strange cures and remedies attributed by30 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.mediæval physicians to various animals have no rightfulplace in natural history, yet the account of the medicinalvirtues of the cat, as recorded by Topsell, is too grotesqueto be omitted. He writes-"For the pain and blindness in the eye, by reason of any skins,webs, or nails, this is an approved medicine: take the head of a blackcat, which hath not a spot of another colour in it, and burn it topowder in an earthen pot, leaded or glazed within; then take thispowder and, through a quill, blow it thrice a day into thy eye; and ifin the night any heat do thereby annoy thee, take two leaves of anoke, wet in cold water, and bind them to the eye, and so shall all painflie away, and blindness depart, although it hath oppressed thee awhole year: and this medicine is approved by many physicians both elder and later." (Page 83.)The Lynx has a wide range. It is met with in Asia,Africa, and America. The European lynx is Lynx. an animal of Northern origin. It is mentionedunder the name of lyserne, by Doctor Giles Fletcher, inhis account of Russia in 1588 (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 417).In a description of the device of a pageant borne beforeWoolstone Dixi, Lord Mayor of London, 1585, a speechis given that is " spoken by him that rid on a luzarne,before the pageant, apparelled like a More." From where the sun dooth settle in his waynAnd yoakes his horses to his fiery carte,And in his way gives life to Ceres corne,Even from the parching zone, behold, I come,A straunger, straungely mounted, as you see,Seated upon a lusty luzern's back;And offer to your honour, good my lord,This emblem thus in showe significant.(Harleian Miscelluny, vol. x. p. 351.)The lynx is here called a tropical animal. The nameluzarne, or lozarde, is derived by Minsheu from theFrench " loup cervier." Olaus Magnus (History ofScandinavia, p. 182) has a short account of the lynx:-"In the northern woods the lynxes are not so commonly bred asA Lynx in the Tower. 31wolves, though they are as greedy as these. The nature of the lynxis never to look back, but he always runs and leaps forward . Themeat he commonly or chiefly eats is wild cats; and as he mostwillingly feeds on them, so he always lyes in wait about their holesto catch them. The skins of them, as they are framed with light down,and rare spots, are sold very dear, especially such as are taken in themost sharp winter, for then their colour and virtue is best, but insummer they are far worse."The fur of this animal was held in high estimation inEngland. In the inventory of the goods of the Duke ofRichmond, 1527, occurs mention of a gown of crimsondamask, furred with luzardes.The lynx was credited by ancient writers with suchwonderful acuteness of vision that it could see through astone wall. If, as Magnus asserts, its principal diet waswild cats, the powers of sight and agility possessed bythe lynx must have been fully exercised.Topsell (p. 490) quotes from Dr. Caius a descriptionof an individual of this species, which, at the time thelatter wrote ( 1550), was in the Tower collection."In the top of his eares there are placed some blacke haires, as itwere a foretop or tuft. The colour of this beast in the outmost partsis red, in the innermost white, but sprinkled here with blacke spotsand almost by rowes, and there with spots somewhat lighter then theother, all his haire being for the most part white all over all hisbody except the aforesaid spottes, as it is in certaine skinnes of youngconies. And on both the sides of his nose there are foure spots set inorder. . . . He doth climbe wonderfully, so that what he may be able todo in that thinge, either in his cave or den, nature her selfe doth teach:he is a quicke-mooving creature, and cannot stand still in a place, sothat except, by meer chance, the voice of a woodpecker in the basketof a certaine country man, who came then onely to see the lyone, hadmade him quiet and attentive, there had bene no hope of the portraitingout the picture of his body. He being present he was most quyet:but he going away, hee would never stande still: wherefore I wasconstrained to send my man after the countrey man to buy the birde,which beeing present, he stood very still until the busines was dispatched and the worke absolutely performed. . . . Our country mencall it luzarne, it is doubtfull whether we should call it leunce,32 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.or lynx, in the affinity of the words. His skinne is used by noblemen, and is sold for a great price. He is angry at none but themwhich offer him injury. His voice is like a cat's, when he would snatchaway the food from his fellow. He is loving and gentle unto hiskeeper, and not cruell unto any man."Civet.The Civet was found in Africa and India. By somewriters it was called the hyæna, by others themusk cat. The only resemblance betweenthe civet and a cat lies in the shape of the ears and somestrong whisker- like hairs. A Frenchman, who wrote aCommentary on Du Bartas ( p. 264) , tells us that—"Belon, in the second booke of his singularities, the twentiethchapter, holdeth that the hyena of the ancients is the civet, whichis somewhat greater then a badger, with a pointed muzzell, havingmustachies, her eyes shining and red, her eares round, with two blackspots, her body spotted with black and white, her feete and tayleblacke she liveth upon flesh, and is very nimble, but that whichPliny saith, seemeth to allude to some beast more strange and savage."The perfume obtained from the civet was formerlyvalued as a medicine, and realized a high price. It wasalso an indispensable article in the toilet of a fop. Amongthe other changes in Benedick's appearance, Don Pedronotices, " A' rubs himself with civet: can you smell himout by that? " to which Claudio adds, " That's as muchas to say, The sweet youth's in love." (Much Ado, iii. 2, 50.)The Ichneumon was sometimes called the Indianmouse, or Pharaoh's rat. Its life history isso closely connected with that of the crocodileIchneumon.Hyæna.that nothing further need be said of it in this place.The Hyæna was the scavenger of the East, and fromits fondness for carrion, which led it to riflegraveyards, it was always regarded with feelings of horror and disgust. There was a notion that itcould imitate the voice of a man. Lyly (Euphues, p. 110)writes, " Hiena, when she speaketh lyke a man devisethmost mischief. "The Hyæna's Device. 33Sir Kenelm Digby, who is somewhat of a Darwinianin his suggestions as to the mode in which various creatures may have acquired their different ways of escapingcapture and obtaining food, thus accounts for the hyæna'smode of proceeding: —"That the jaccatray, or hyæna, when he is hungry, should havehis fantasy call out from his memory the images of those beastswhich use to serve him in that occasion, is the ordinary course ofnature and that together with those images, there should like wisecome along the actions and soundes which used to accompany them,and are lodged together with them in the memory, is also naturall;then, as little strange it is , that by his owne voice he should imitatethose soundes, which at that time do so powerfully possesse his imagination: and having a great docility in those organes which formethe voice, like a parrat, he representeth them so lively, that thedeceived beasts flock to him, and so are caught by him: which at thefirst happeneth by chance, but afterwardes by memory. " (A Treatiseof Bodies, ed. 1644, p. 314.)Hence it would follow that the hyæna which had the bestmemory, and could imitate the largest number of beasts,would have the greatest chance of a dinner.Topsell (p. 434) has, as usual, something marvellousto add as to the structure of this animal::--"Their back bone stretcheth it selfe out to the head, so as thenecke cannot bend except the whole body be turned about, and therefore whensoever he hath occasion to wry his necke, he must supplythat qualitie by removing of his whole bodie."Wolf.Mr. Harting, in his Extinct British Animals, 1880, hascompletely refuted the popular notion thatWolves were exterminated in England andWales in consequence of the tribute imposed upon thelatter country by King Edgar in the year 965, and hastraced the history of the wolf in Great Britain. From hisaccount, which is derived both from historical evidenceand from tradition, we find that no wolf is reported to havebeen seen in England later than the reign of Henry VII.In Scotland wolves were plentiful till the beginning ofD34 The Animal-Lore ofShakspeare's Time.the seventeenth century, and stray specimens were killed inthat country at a still more recent date. In Ireland theseanimals were so numerous, that as late as Cromwell's timea law was passed prohibiting the exportation of wolf-dogs.Of all evils that from time to time have sprung frompurely imaginary sources, none was more terrible in itsresults than the strange hallucination known as lycanthropy (from lycos, a wolf, and anthropos, a man) , orwolf-madness. Men and women believed that by supernatural agency they could transform themselves for acertain period into wolves. Human beings, when underthis delusion, roamed through forests and desert placesactuated by the same passions as the wild beasts whosename they bore. They howled, walked on all fours, toreup graves in search of prey, attacked unarmed passengers,devoured children, and committed the wildest excesses.Mr. Baring-Gould, in his Book of Were- Wolves, 1865, hastraced this frightful superstition back to the very earliesttimes. The origin of the were- wolf myth may be foundin the dread of wolves experienced by the early pastoralinhabitants of various countries, and in the natural tendency of the human mind to attribute every physicalevil to superhuman power. The hurricane, the waterspout, the volcano, were universally supposed to beanimated by some demon; consequently, we find werewolf legends in countries as far asunder as Norway andIndia, and they may be discovered in almost everycountry whose forests were extensive enough to harbourwolves in formidable numbers. The myth varies, indeed,among different nations according to the particularanimal by which the flocks were molested. That it isseldom alluded to in English folk-lore is due to the earlydestruction of wolves, and the consequent cessation ofdread on their account. The more harmless cat and dogare substituted for the wolf in the various witchcraftstories.Were- Wolves. 35In the Middle Ages lycanthropy seems to have spreadlike an epidemic. In the year 1600 the inhabitants ofthe Jura were attacked by this disease, and numbersof men and women formed themselves into packs andhunted through the country, spreading terror and destruction. This superstition lingers to-day among theignorant peasantry in Southern France, where the " loupgarou " is still an object of intense alarm to the belatedtraveller. A modified form of this disease still exists ashydrophobia.A curious account is given of the midnight meetingsand orgies of were-wolves by the Norwegian chronicler,Olaus Magnus: —"In the feasts of Christ's nativity, in the night, at a certain placethat they are resolved upon amongst themselves, there is gatheredtogether such a huge multitude of wolves changed from men that dwellin divers places, which afterwards the same night doth so rage withwonderful fiercenesse, both against mankind and other creatures thatare not fierce by nature, that the inhabitants of that country suffermore hurt from them than ever they do from true natural wolves....They go into beer-cellars, and there they drink out some tuns of beeror mede, and they heap all the empty vessels one upon another in themidst of the cellar, and so leave them: wherein they differ from naturaland true wolves. And it is constantly affirmed that amongst thatmultitude there are the great men and chiefest nobility of the land .The reason of this metamorphosis, that is exceeding contrary to nature,is given by one skilled in this witchcraft, by drinking to one in a cupof ale, and by mumbling certain words at the same time, so that hewho is to be admitted into that unlawful society do accept it . Then,when he pleaseth, he may change his human form into the form of awolf entirely. Again, he can alter the form he had before at his pleasure. It is fresh in memory how the Duke of Prussia, giving smallcredit to such a witchcraft, compelled one who was cunning in thissorcery, whom he held in chains, to change himself into a wolf, andhe did so. Yet, that he might not go unpunished for his idolatry, heafterwards caused him to be burnt." (History of Scandinavia, p. 193.)The Norwegian word " berserker," meaning a manpossessed of superhuman powers and subject to accesses36 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.of diabolical fury, was originally applied to doughtychampions who went about wrapped in bear-skins, or whowore habits made of bear- skin over their armour. Thesewarriors, writes Mr. Baring-Gould (p. 45) , were oftendressed in wolf-skins, and it was an easy transition toimagine these unscrupulous destroyers of the publicpeace as possessing the strength as well as the ferocityof the animals whose skins they wore. Among theAnglo- Saxons an outlaw was said to have the head of awolf, and the legal form of sentence against the offenderwas that "he shall be driven away as a wolf and chased sofar as men chase wolves farthest.'""Reginald Scot, in his work on witchcraft, 1584,relates some stories as to the power of men to changethemselves into wolves and other animals, but treatsthem with great ridicule. He concludes his chapter onthese transformations with the remark-"But I have put twenty of these witchmongers to silence withthis one question, to wit, whether a witch that can turn a woman intoa cat, etc., can also turn a cat into a woman? " (Discovery of Witchcraft, ed. 1654, p. 70.)There are numerous stories of unfortunate men andwomen being hanged or burnt for ravages imagined to becommitted by them in their lupine shape. In Franceand Italy these executions occurred even so late as theyear 1684.Trials of animals for crimes and misdemeanorsprompted by simple natural depravity were also frequentin Europe in the Middle Ages. According to a writer inNotes and Queries (3rd series, vol. v. p. 218) , a sow, in1403, killed and devoured a child at Meulan. All theforms of law were carried out, and the bill of costs wasduly chronicled. A treatise was published so late as1668, by Gaspard Bailly, a lawyer at Chambery, on legalproceedings against animals, with forms of indictmentsand modes of pleading. Nothing corresponding to thisTrials of Animals. 37occurs in English tradition, but, in one sense; animalshere were proceeded against in cases of their killing,accidentally or otherwise, a human being. For instance,if a horse should strike his keeper, and so kill him, thehorse was to be a deodand. He was to be sold, and hisprice given to the poor in expiation of the calamity andfor the appeasing of the Divine wrath. It is curious tonote that these statutes have only been repealed in thepresent century.These trials probably had their origin in the Leviticallaw, as propounded in the twenty- first chapter of Exodus.Here we find that the punishment of the owner of an oxthat had gored a man or a woman varied according to therank of the individual, but in every case the ox was to beput to death by the cruel process of stoning, and its fleshwas prohibited as food.Topsell tells how some lions, which had grown so boldthat they would attack men, were turned into scarecrowsas a warning to their fellows:"Polybius affirmeth that he saw them besiege and compasse aboutmany citties of Affricke, and therefore the people tooke and hangedthem up upon crosses and gallowses by the high waies to the terror ofothers." (Page 464.)The following passage in The Merchant of Venice(iv. 1) suggests the inquiry whether Shakspeare wittinglyor by error of memory applied this punishment to maneating wolves:—"Gratiano. O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!And for thy life let justice be accus'd.Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith,To hold opinion with Pythagoras,That souls of animals infuse themselvesInto the trunks of men: thy currish spiritGovern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,Infus'd itself in thee; for thy desiresAre wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous. "38 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Shakspeare may have had the passage from his greatauthority, Holinshed, in his mind when he wrote thus: -"For, said they [ Plato and others] (of whom Pythagoras alsohad, and taught this errour) , if the soule apperteined at the firstto a king, and he in this estate did not leade his life worthie hiscalling, it should, after his decease, be shut up in the bodie of a slave,begger, co*cke, owle, dog, ape , horsse, asse, worme, or monster, there toremaine as in a place of purgation and punishment, for a certeine periodof time. Beside this , it should peradventure susteine often translationfrom one bodie to another, according to the quantitie and qualitie ofhis dooings here on earth, till it should finallie be purified and restoredagaine to an other humane bodie. " (Chronicles, vol. i . p. 35.)James Howell, in his Familiar Letters, 1624 ( p. 169,ed. 1754) , tells the following anecdote of a Scotch piperand wolves:-"A pleasant tale I heard Sir Thomas Fairfax relate of a soldier inIreland , who having got his passport to go for England, as he passedthrough the wood with his knapsack upon his back, being weary, hesat down under a tree, where he opened his knapsack, and fell to somevictuals he had; but on a sudden he was surprized with two orthree wolves, who coming towards him, he threw them scraps of breadand cheese, till all was gone; then the wolves making a nearer approachto him he knew not what shift to make, but by taking a pair of bagpipes which he had, and as soone as he began to play upon them, thewolves ran all away as if they had been scared out of their wits:whereupon the soldier said, A pox take you all, if I had known youhad loved music so well, you should have had it before dinner."The habit of the wolf of howling by moonlight isalluded to by Shakspeare, " "Tis like the howling of Irishwolves against the moon " (As You Like It, v. 2, 118) ,and by Lyly, " I am none of those wolves that barke mostwhen thou [ the moon ] shinest brightest " (Endimion).The Jackal is not often mentioned in old writings.Richard Jobson, in some observations touchingthe river Gambia (Purchas, vol. ii. p . 1575) ,describes this animal's mode of hunting:-Jackal."They have many lions, hardly seene by day, easily knowne bynight, by reason of his ushers or fore-runners the jackall, sometimesThe Lion's Provider. 39two or three, which is a little blacke shag-haired beast, of the bignesseof a small spaniell; which when evening comes hunts for his prey, andcomming on the foote, followes the scent with open crie: to which thelion as chiefe hunt, gives diligent eare, following for his advantage.If the jackall set up his chase before the lion comes in, he howles outmaynly, and then the lion seiseth on it, making a grumbling noyse,whiles his servant stands by barking (as we not onely heard of thecountrey people, but might heare our selves riding at anchor by nightin our passing up the river). When the lion hath done, this attendantfeeds on the relikes."40 The Animal-Lore ofShakspeare's Time.CHAPTER III.WHILE Shakspeare has admiration to bestow on the"awless lion " and the " princely eagle," he has in noone instance mentioned with appreciation the Dog.moral qualities of the dog. Sporting dogs hecertainly describes with spirit, if not affection; but "tosnarl, and bite, and play the dog," appears to him thenormal condition ofthe domestic animal. The poet musthave been singularly unfortunate in his experience of thecanine race, for his allusions are almost all of an unfavourable nature. Sir Henry Holland, in his Recollectionsof Past Life (p. 254) , tells us that Lord Nugent, thegreatest Shakspearian scholar of his day, declared thatno passage was to be found in Shakspeare, " commending, directly or indirectly, the moral qualities of the dog."A bet of a guinea was made, which Sir Henry, after ayear's search, paid. This was before the publication ofMrs. Cowden Clarke's concordance. The only passagewhich could have had a chance of winning the wager isthe speech of Timon:-"Tim. Who, without those means thou talk'st of, didst thou everknow beloved?Apem. Myself.Tim. I understand thee; thou hadst some means to keep a dog."(Timon of Athens, iv. 3, 113. )Are Dogs snobbish?Lear asks of Gloucester-"Lear. Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?Glou. Ay, sir.41Lear. And the creature run from the cur? There thou might'stbehold the great image of authority: a dog's obeyed in office."(King Lear, iv. 6, 158.)Professor Huxley, sad to say, in his recent work onHume, endorses Shakspeare's opinion as to the totaldepravity of dog nature. He writes:-"One of the most curious peculiarities of the dog mind is itsinherent snobbishness, shown by the regard paid to external respectability. The dog who barks furiously at a beggar will let a well-dressedman pass him without opposition. Has he not then a ' generic idea 'of rags and dirt associated with the idea of aversion, and that of sleekbroadcloth associated with the idea of liking? " ( Hume, 1879, p. 106.)May not this distinction of persons be due to snobbishness on the part of the owners of dogs, to education,rather than to any natural tendency? A lady, who wasin the habit of giving food to all who asked, saw her doggo to the open bread- pan, take out half a loaf, and give itto a beggar. What had become of this dog's " inherentsnobbishness "?The beautiful description of Argus in the Iliad, sopathetic in its simplicity, shows that appreciation of thegood qualities of the dog is not entirely of modern origin.Chester, a writer contemporary with Shakspeare, paysthe following tribute to the attachment of the animal toits master:-"The dogge, a naturall, kind, and loving thing,As witnesseth our histories of old:Their master dead , the poore foole with lamenting Doth kill himself before accounted bold:And would defend his maister if he might,When cruelly his foe begins to fight."(Love's Martyr, ed. New Shak. Soc. ,1878, p. 110.)Doubtless some of the evil report attaching to dogs42 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.has descended to them in consequence of certain passagesin the Bible. In the Old Testament this animal isgenerally spoken of as being, what he still is in Orientalcountries, a shy, greedy, mean-spirited creature, uncaredfor, and left to dwell among the refuse of the city. Hadhe been in any way the companion of man, the dog musthave been more favourably mentioned.Ben Jonson is not much more complimentary to thedog than Shakspeare. In one play he writes:-" O, ' tis an open-throated, black-mouthed cur,That bites at all , but eats on those that feed him;A slave, that to your face will, serpent-like,Creep on the ground, as he would eat the dust,And to your back will turn the tail , and stingMore deadly than a scorpion. ”(Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1.)But in another play he makes some amends by reportinghow, when Sabinus, by order of the tyrant, Sejanus, wasthrown into the river Tiber, -" His faithful dog, upbraiding all us Romans,Never forsook the corpse, but seeing it thrownInto the stream, leaped in, and drowned with it."(Sejanus, iv. 5.)The writer Churchyard thus classifies the dog:-"A Turk, a Jew, a Pagan, and a dog."Sir John Davies, in an epigram, ridicules the prevalent fancy for making unmeaning comparisons betweenunpopular individuals and dogs, and shows a truer appreciation ofthe " friend of man " than his contemporaries." Thou doggèd Cineas, hated like a dog,For still thou grumblest like a mastiff dog,Compar'st thyself to nothing but a dog:Thou say'st thou art as weary as a dog,As angry, sick, and hungry as a dog,As dull, and melancholy as a dog,Defence of Dogs.As lazy, sleepy, and as idle as a dog;But why dost thou compare thee to a dog,In that for which all men despise a dog?I will compare thee better to a dog:Thou art as fair and comely as a dog,Thou art as true and honest as a dog,Thou art as kind and liberal as a dog,Thou art as wise and valiant as a dog."(Marlowe's Works, ed. Cunningham, p. 265.)43In the play by Thomas Nash, Summer's Last Will andTestament, printed in the year 1600, Orion, the hunter,thus answers a tirade of Autumn against his hounds:-"A tedious discourse built on no ground,A silly fancy, Autumn, hast thou told,Which no philosophy doth warrantise,No old-received poetry confirms.I will not grace thee by refuting thee;Yet, in a jest, since thou rail'st so ' gainst dogs,I'll speak a word or two in their defence.That creature's best that comes most near to men;That dogs of all come nearest, thus I prove:First, they excel us in all outward sense,Which no one of experience will deny:They hear, they smell, they see better than we.To come to speech, they have it questionless,Although we understand them not so well,They bark as good old Saxon as may be,And that in more variety than we.For they have one voice when they are in chase:Another when they wrangle for their meat:Another when we beat them out of doors."(Dodsley's Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, vol. 8.)Dogs seem to have been sufficiently plentiful innumber and variety in England at this period. FynesMorrison, in his Itinerary, writing about 1591, tells us:—"England hath much more dogges, as well for the severall kinds asthe number of each kind, then any other territorie of like compasse inthe world, not onely little dogges for beauty, but hunting and waterdogges, whereof the bloudhounds and some other have admirablequalities." (Ed. 1617, p. 148.)44 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Amoretto, in the play The Return from Parnassus, enumerates some of the different varieties: -"He hath your greyhound, your mungrell, your mastiff, yourleurier, your spaniell, your kennets, terriers, butchers dogges, bloudhoundes, dunghill- dogges, trindle tailes, and prick- eard curres."Orion concludes his defence of dogs by the following listof their acquirements:-"Yea, there be of them, as there be of men,Of every occupation more or less:Some carriers, and they fetch; some watermen,And they will dive and swim when you do bid them;Some butchers, and they worry sheep by night;Some cooks, and they do nothing but turn spits.Cynics they are, for they will snarl and bite;Right courtiers to flatter and to fawn;Valiant to set upon their enemies;Most faithful and most constant to their friends. "Shakspeare was perhaps indebted to this passage."First Murderer. We are men, my liege.Macbeth. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men:As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi- wolves, are cleptAll by the name of dogs: the valued fileDistinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,The housekeeper, the hunter, every oneAccording to the gift which bounteous natureHath in him clos'd; whereby he does receiveParticular addition , from the billThat writes them all alike and so of men."(Macbeth, iii. 1 , 91.)Dr. John Kaye, or Caius, as he called himself, wasphysician to three sovereigns of England, Edward VI. ,Mary, and Elizabeth. Amongst other works, Dr. Caiuswrote, about the year 1550, a short treatise in Latin onEnglish dogs, which was translated into English byAbraham Fleming in 1576. This hitherto scarce workhas recently been reprinted, and published at a moderateThe Bloodhound. 45price. Mr. Jesse, in his History of the British Dog, hasdrawn largely upon the pages of this pamphlet, which isindeed the chief authority on the subject.The translator, in his preface, informs his readers thatthis little treatise was written by Dr. Caius at the requestof Conrad Gesner, a Swiss naturalist, one of the mostlearned men of his time.Bloodhound.The most formidable of our English dogs was theBloodhound. This dog was sometimes calledlimier, or limehound, from the leash, lyme,or line, by which he was held while tracking the deer.He was employed to find the stag, but did not as a rulerun with the pack. His superior sense of smell madehim the most valuable addition to a hunting establishment. Dr. Caius distinguishes between the bloodhoundand the limier. According to him the limier was ahound remarkable for quick running as well as for hisscent, in size between a harrier and a greyhound. Othernames for the bloodhound were slough, sleuth, slow, orslug hound; he was not unfrequently employed fortracing thieves and cattle-stealers through the mossesand bogs, impassable save to those intimately acquaintedwith them. Mr. Jesse quotes from Nicolson and Burn'sHistory ofthe Antiquities of Westmoreland and Cumberland,published 1777, a warrant, dated September, 1616, fromSir Wilfride Lawson and Sir William Hutton, two of hisMajesty's commissioners for the government of the middleshires of Great Britain, to the garrison of Carlisle,ordering that in consequence of the numerous robberiesslough dogs should be provided, and kept at the chargeof the inhabitants, at nine parishes in the neighbourhoodof the Marches. A more formidable ally could scarcelybe given to a pursuer.Shakspeare has only one allusion to this variety byname: " Ay, come, you starved blood-hound " (2 HenryIV. , v. 4, 31) . Ben Jonson writes, " A good bloodhound,46 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.66 a close- mouthed dog, he followeth the scent well "(Every Man out of his Humour, iv. 4) . And again, No,an I had, all the lime hounds o' the city should havedrawn after you by the scent rather " (BartholomewFair, i. 1).Mr. Low, in his work The Domesticated Animals ofGreat Britain, 1846 (p. 739) , is of opinion that thehounds described by Theseus, in Midsummer Night'sDream, were talbots. The talbot, he tells us, was abreed of bloodhound, differing in some slight peculiaritiesfrom the ordinary type. Unfortunately the author givesno authorities for his information."The hounds employed in England for the chase of the wild deerwere generally termed raches. They likewise received the name oftalbots a word of uncertain origin , perhaps merely the proper nameof some person, or of some place where a good breed was reared .They were a race of large dogs, nearly of the size of mastiffs, and withsomething of the same aspect . They had the muzzle broad, theupper lip hanging over the lower, the ears long and pendulous, thechest wide, with a kind of dewlap, and the limbs muscular andcrooked. Their voice was deep and sonorous, and they were endowedwith an exquisite sense of smell. They were far inferior in speed tothe modern hunting dogs , but excelled them in their adherence to thetrack of the game, and their pertinacity in pursuing it. At first onlya few of the more experienced hounds were let into the covert, inorder to find the game, when they manifested unrivalled sagacity andpowers of scent. Disregarding all inferior quarry, they could discriminate, by the smell alone, what was called the warrantable gamefrom the fawns which were not to be hunted, and the hinds whenout of season for the chase. The instant a dog caught the scenthe opened mouth, and was joined in chorus by his fellows. A fewlines, often quoted, of our great dramatic poet, describe to the life theancient stag-hounds of England: —" My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hungWith ears that sweep away the morning dew;Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,Each under each. A cry more tuneableBraches and Raches.Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly,Judge when you hear.999(Midsummer Night's Dream, iv. 1, 124. )-Topsell writes (p. 149): -47"There are in England and Scotland two kinds of hunting dogs,and no where else in the world. The first kind they call in Scotlandane rache, and this is a foot-smelling creature, both of wilde beasts,birds, and fishes also which lie hid among the rockes; the femalehereof in England is called a brache. The second kind is called inScotland a slu*th- hound, being a little greater than a hunting hound,and in colour for the most part browne or sandy- spotted."In the Mirror for Magistrates, vol. ii . p. 74, ed. Haslewood, 1815, we read:-"For as the dogges pursue the seely doe,The brache behinde, the houndes on every side,So traste they mee among the mountaynes wide."When told to keep silence and listen to LadyMortimer's Welsh song, Hotspur uncivilly replies, “ I hadrather hear Lady, my brach, howl in Irish ” (1 Henry IV. ,iii. 1, 240).Buckhounds and harriers were frequently called"running-hounds." The Harrier, a very Harrier.different animal from the small foxhoundknown by that name at the present day, is described byCaius as having " long, large, and bagging lippes, hangingeares, reachyng downe both sydes of their chappes."The word " heirers," or harriers, is as old as the timeof Henry V. Though used for hunting the hart as wellas the hare, harriers were distinct from " herte- hounds,"or " greyhoundes." The fondness of James I. for huntingmay be gathered from the many allusions in the StatePapers of his reign to the various requirements for thatsport.48 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Beagle.The Beagle was another kind of sporting dog.Markham speaks of the little beagle, whichmay be carried in a man's glove, and of—"the little small mitten-beagle, which may be companion fora ladies kirtle, and in the field will run as cunningly as any houndwhatever, only their musick is very small like reeds, and their facelike their body only for exercise and not for slaughter." (Jesse, vol. ii .p. 330.)Much attention was paid to the cry of the pack.Hounds were selected, not only for the more usefulqualities of scent and speed, but for the various tones oftheir voice, ranging from base to treble, so as to form acomplete choir. Hippolyta replies to her lover's proposalto hunt:-" I was with Hercules and Cadmus one,When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the boarWith hounds of Sparta: never did I hearSuch gallant chiding; for, besides the groves,The skies, the fountains, every region nearSeem'd all one mutual cry: I never heardSo musical a discord, such sweet thunder."(Midsummer Night's Dream, iv. 1 , 117.)Roderigo complains-"I do follow here in the chase, not like a hound that hunts,But one that fills up the cry."(Othello, ii. 3, 369.)On one occasion the cry of the pack would seem tohave constituted the chief part of the entertainment.Sir John Savile gives an account of festivities on theoccasion of the arrival of James I. at London. Afterthe customary addresses and congratulations had beengraciously received and acknowledged, his loyal subjectsproceeded to indulge their sovereign after a somewhatco*ckney, fashion, with his favourite recreation of hunting."From Stamford Hill to London was a train made with a tamedeer, with such turnings and doubles that the hounds could not take"Full of Vent."49it faster than his majesty proceeded; yet still by the industry of thehuntsman and the subtilty of him that made the train in a fullmouthed cry all the way, it was never further distant that one closefrom the highway whereby his highness rode, and for the most partdirectly against his majesty; who, together with the whole company,had the lee wind from the hounds; to the end they might the betterreceive and judge of the uniformity of the cry." (Arber's EnglishGarner, 1882, vol. v. p. 631.)Commentators have been sorely puzzled by an expression that occurs in Coriolanus, iv. 5. The servantsof Aufidius are discussing the news, just brought by oneof their fellows, of the intention of their master andCoriolanus to march against Rome: " 1st Servant. Letme have war, say I; it exceeds peace as far as day doesnight; it's spritely, waking, audible, and full of vent."The phrase " full of vent " is explained by the writerof an article on Shakespeare's Knowledge of Field Sports,contributed to the Edinburgh Review, October, 1872, to bea technical term in hunting, to express the scenting ofthe game by the hounds employed in the chase. Waris thus personified as a trained hound, " keenly excited,full of pluck and courage, of throbbing energy and impetuous desire, in a word, full of all the kindling stir andcommotion of anticipated conflict. "Terriers, which Dr. Caius rather curiously classeswith hounds, were employed in hunting "thefoxe, and the badger or greye only. " According to this author they were calledTerrier."Terrars, because they (after the manner and custome of ferrets insearching for connyes) creepe into the grounde and by that meanesmake afrayde, nyppe, and byte the foxe and the badger in such sort,that eyther they teare them in peeces with theyr teeth beying in thebosome of the earth, or else hayle and pull them perforce out of theirlurking angles, darke dongeons, and close caves, or at the least through conceaved feare, drive them out of their hollow harbours, in so muchthat they are compelled to prepare speedy flight, and being desirousof the next (albeit not the safest) refuge, are otherwise taken and E50 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.intrapped with snarre and nettes layde over holes to the same purpose. "(Reprint, p. 5.)Turbervile, in his Noble Art of Venerie, translated fromDu Fouiloux, mentions two kinds of terriers. One sorthe imagines to have come from Flanders, or the LowCountries: "They have crooked legges and are shorteheared most commonly. Another sorte there is whichare shagged and streight-legged. " The former varietywas probably the progenitor of the long- bodied dachshund,or badger- hound, so popular in modern times.Of the Gazehound, Camden writes, " That very dogwhich of the old name, agasæus, we call yet Gazehound.at this day a gazehound, those ancient Greeksboth knew and had in great price." Caius says (Reprint,p. 9) this variety is called a gazehound-"because the beames of his sight are so stedfastly and unmouveably fastened. These dogges are much and usually occupyed in thenorthern partes of England more then in the southern parts, and infealdy landes rather then in bushy and wooddy places. Horsem*n usethem more then footemen, to th' intent that they might provoke theirhorses to a swift galloppe (wherewith they are more delighted then withthe pray it selfe) ."Mr. Low (Domesticated Animals, p. 722) says:—-" This dog was employed in the pursuit of the stag or fallow-deer.The great Irish wolf-dog was of this class. He was one of the tallestdogs of Europe, measuring from three to four feet high at the shoulder.He approached to the general conformation of the ancient deerhound,but his muzzle was broader, his neck relatively thicker, his breastproportionably wider, and his limbs were more muscular. He followedthe game chiefly by the eye, grasping it in the manner of the greyhound with his long and powerful jaws. He was a dog of amazingcourage, and could destroy unaided the fiercest wolf. "Poor Gelert, of ballad celebrity, was probably a gazehound. Mr. Baring-Gould and other myth-students, whohave an unhappy knack of destroying some of our mostcherished and earliest beliefs, assure us that this nobleCoursing.51dog, whose tragic fate has been mourned for centuries,and whose monument is still to be seen, never existed .The Greyhound was also used in-"taking the bucke, the harte, the dowe, the foxe, and otherbeastes of semblable kindes ordained for the game ofhunting. But more or lesse, each one according to the Greyhound.measure and proportion of theyr desire, and as might andhabilitie of theyr bodyes will permit and suffer. For it is a spare andbare kinde of dogge (of fleshe but not of bone). Some are of a greatersorte, and some of a lesser, some are smooth skynned and some arecurled, the bigger therefore are appointed to hunt the bigger beasts,and the smaller serve to hunt the smaller accordingly. " (Reprint, p. 10.)The greyhound was an object of value and esteem,not only to the sportsman, but also to men of birth andmeans. According to Mr. Jesse, " the famous ShaneO'Neill wrote to Lord Robert Duddeley, in 1562, witha present of two horses, two hawks, and two greyhounds,requesting his interest with Queen Elizabeth " (vol. ii.p. 218) . The passion of James I. for sport of all kindsrendered a good hunting establishment essential to anynobleman or country gentleman who was desirous ofentertaining the " British Solomon. "At the time of which we write, horse-racing, as nowpractised, was unknown, and all coursing- matches weredog to dog, in manner thus described by Mr. Tomlins(Shakspere Society Papers, 1844, vol. i. ): —-"In the paddock were two harriers. At one end was kept a buckeducated for the purpose; he was let go from the other and to gohome as fast as he could; after a little law given him, the greyhoundswere slipped, and the dog first in won the prize. ' Hay! voux! ' is doglanguage to this day with harriers. In the Book of Sports, or Laws ofthe Paddock, published the end of King James I. , are these directions:' No keeper shall slip his greyhound till the warden throws down hiswardour and cries, Hay! voux! ' Is not this, " asks Mr. Tomlin, " themeaning of the passage in Julius Cæsar ( iii. 1 )? —' And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge,With Até by his side, come hot from hell,Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice,Cry Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war." "52 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.No material alterations have been made in the rulesand laws of coursing since they received the fiat of theDuke of Norfolk, in the reign of Elizabeth. The manwho slipped the greyhounds was called a fewterer, a termthat frequently occurs in the dramas of the time.The naturalist Buffon is of opinion that the moderngreyhound is derived from what he calls the " matin, " butin its descent the variety has become finer, more slender,and more delicate in shape and skin, from climate, care,and attention to breeding only with its own species. InWynkynde Worde's Treatise on Hawking, 1496, the properties of a good greyhound are thus given:-"A greyhounde should be headed lyke a snake, andneckyd like a drake,Fotyd lyke a cat: taylyd lyke a ratte:Syded like a teme: and chyned lyke a bream. "Thomas Fuller derives the word " greyhound " from thegray or badger, from a theory that this dog was employedin hunting grays, that is, brocks or badgers. This derivation is manifestly incorrect, as the badger is far toosagacious an animal to come above ground in order toprovide sport for such a swift-footed antagonist.Ben Jonson speaks of some one who—"Restrained, grows more impatient; and in kindLike to the eager, but the generous greyhound,Who ne'er so little from his game withheld,Turns head, and leaps up at his holder's throat. "(Every Man in his Humour, i . 1.)Lyly has a similar comparison: " You resemble the grayhounde, that seeing his game, leapeth upon him thatholdeth him, not running after that he is held for. "(Ephues, p. 420.)Dr. Nathan Drake (Shakspeare and His Times, 1817,vol. i . p. 252) informs us that-"a very popular diversion was celebrated, during the age of Shakspeare, and for more than twenty-five years after, on the CotswoldThe Tumbler's Guile. 53Hills in Gloucestershire. It has been said that the rural games whichconstituted this anniversary were founded by one Robert Dover, on theaccession of James I., but it appears to be ascertained that Dover wasonly the reviver, with additional splendour, of sports which had beenyearly exhibited, at an early period , on the same spot, and perhapsonly discontinued for a short time before this revival in 1603."In the Merry Wives of Windsor, Slender asks Page, " Howdoes your fallow greyhound, sir? I heard say he was outrun on Cotsall? " (i. 1).Joshua Sylvester interpolates into his translation ofDu Bartas a simile drawn apparently from his personalrecollection of these games:-"So have I seen on Lamborn's pleasant douns,When yelping begles or some deeper houndsHave start a hare, how milk-white Minks and Lun(Gray-bitches both, the best that ever run)Held in one leash, have leapt and strain'd, and whin'dThey might be slipt, to purpose; that (for sport)Watt might have law neither too-long nor short."(Page 182. )The Tumbler was principally used in taking rabbits.It acquired this name from the eccentricityof its movements. It ran in a circle, and Tumbler.then suddenly turned upon its prey, in the manner thusdescribed by William Browne in his pastorals:-"As I have seeneA nimble tumbler on a burrow'd greeneBend cleane awry his course yet give a checke,And throw himself upon a rabbet's necke."(Britannia's Pastorals, book ii. , song 4.)These dogs, according to Caius,—66 are somewhat lesser then the houndes, and they be lancker andleaner, beside that they be somwhat prick eared. A man that shallmarke the forme and fashion of their bodyes, may well call themmungrell grehoundes if they were somwhat bigger. But notwithstanding they countervaile not the grehound in greatnes, yet will hetake in one dayes space as many connyes as shall arise to as bigge a54 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.burthen, and as heavy a loade as a horse can carry, for deceipt andguile is the instrument wherby he make this spoyle, which perniciousproperties supply the place of more commendable qualities. " (Reprint,p. 12.)Caius mentions also a light dog of the lurcher type,used for poaching, which will not bark " least he shouldebee prejudiciall to his owne advantage. "Spaniels were employed in falconry to rouse theherons, ducks, etc. , from the reeds and marshyground frequented by them. Spenser writes:Spaniel," Like as a fearfull partridge that is fleddFrom the sharpe hawke which her attacked neare,And falls to ground to seeke for succor theare,Whereas the hungry spaniells she does spye,With greedy jawes her ready for to teare."(Faerie Queene, b. 3, c. 8, s. 33.)Shakspeare's allusions to the spaniel, if taken literally, seem to show that the affection which this dog sooften displays was scarcely appreciated by the poet.Cæsar, when he rejects the suit of Metellus Cimber, warnshim to avoid vain adulations:-66 I mean, sweet words,Low-crooked court'sies and base spaniel-fawning.Thy brother by decree is banished;If thou dost bend, and pray, and fawn for him,I spurn thee like a cur out of my way."(Julius Caesar, iii. 1, 42.)Launce, however, who was fond of dogs, says in praise ofhis mistress, " She hath more qualities than a waterspaniel, which is much in a bare Christian " (Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii. 1, 271 ).Caius declines to undertake the task of enumeratingthe many varieties of dogs used in fowling. He saysthey are called after the birds that they are trained totake. Some are called dogs for the falcon, dogs for thepheasant, and such like:-The Spaniel.55"The common sort of people call them by one general word,namely spaniells, as though these kinde of dogges came originallyand first of all out of Spaine. The most part of their skynnes arewhite, and if they be marcked with any spottes, they are commonlyred, and somewhat great therewithall, the haires not growing in suchthicknesse but that the mixture of them maye easely be perceaved.Other-some of them be reddishe and blackishe, but of that sorte therebe but a very few. There is also at this day among us a newe kinde ofdogge brought out of Fraunce (for we Englishe men are marvailousgreedy gaping gluttons after novelties, and covetous cormorauntes ofthings that be seldom , rare, straunge, and hard to get) . And they beespeckled all over with white and black, which mingled colours inclineto a marble blewe, which bewtifyeth their skinnes and affordeth aseemely show of comelynesse." (Reprint, p. 15.)Topsell writes:-"Unto all these smelling dogs, I may also adde the water spagnell,called in French barbati, and in Germany wasserhund: who is taughtby his maister to seeke for thinges that are lost by words and tokens.These also will take water-foule, and hunt otters and beavers, andwatch the stroke of the gun when the fouler shooteth. They useto sheare their hinder parts, that so they may be the lesse annoyedin swimming; whose figure is in the bottome of the former pagedescribed ." (Page 154.)The picture referred to represents a spaniel clippedafter the fashion of the French poodle of our own day.Setter.The Setting- dogge, or Setter, was a large land spaniel,probably similar in appearance to his modernnamesake. His mode of action is thus described by Caius:-"When he hath founde the byrde, he keepeth sure and fast silence,he stayeth his steppes and wil proceede no further, and with a close,covert, watching eye, layeth his belly to the grounde, and so creepethforward like a worme. When he approcheth neere to the place wherethe birde is, he layes him downe, and with a marcke of his pawes,betrayeth the place of the byrdes last abode, whereby it is supposedthat this kinde of dogge is called index, setter, being indeede a namemost consonant and agreable to his quality." (Reprint, p. 15.)The smallest variety of this class of dogs was the56 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Spaniel Gentle.Spaniel Gentle, Comforter, or Fisting Hound, of whichDr. Caius speaks with great contempt. According to this writer, an animal whose chief purpose in life was to enliven the solitude of his mistress, toamuse her, to give her pleasure, instead of assisting herto destroy some other creature, was a mere " instrumentof follie, to plaie and dally withall, to trifle away thetreasure of time." In the dedication of Euphues to theladies of England, Lyly speaks less harshly: —" It resteth ladies, that you take the paines to read it [his book] ,but at such times, as you spend in playing with your little dogges:and yet will I not pinch you of that pastime, for I am content thatyour dogges lye in your laps, so Euphues may be in your hands,that when you shall be wearie in reading of the one, you may beready to sport with the other." (Euphues and his England, Arber'sReprint, p. 220.)According to Ben Jonson, a fashion prevailed of scenting these small pets:-"From perfumed dogs, monkies, sparrows, lildoes, and paraquettoes,Good Mercury defend us."(Cynthia's Revels, v. 3. )Mary Queen of Scots had one of these little favourites,so despised by the worthy doctor. After her executionthe animal refused to leave the dead body of its mistress,and had to be forcibly removed. That dogs were the petsnot only of women but, on occasion, of men, is shown bythe following anecdote. Manningham writes in his dairy,1602:"Mr. Francis Curle told me howe one Dr. Bullein, the queeneskinsman, had a dog which be doted on, soe much that the queeneunderstanding of it requested he would graunt hir one desyre, and he should have what soever he would aske: shee demaunded hisdogge; he gave it, ' And now, madame,' quoth he, ' you promised togive me my desyre.' ' I will,' quothe she. Then, I pray you give memydog againe.'" (Diary of John Manningham. Reprinted by CamdenSociety, 1868.)Lear's Little Dogs.57Mr. Kirkman, in a very interesting paper on AnimalNature versus Human Nature in King Lear ( New ShakspereSociety's Transactions, 1877), comments on the infinite.pathos of the last touch of humiliation which the oldking endures when he fancies that the-"defection and disaffection of the palace has spread to the dogs.' The little dogs and all ,Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me.'(Lear, iii. 6, 65.)It has a deep touch of human distress and disgrace equal to the bitterness of Anthony's humiliation when the servant Thyreus derides hisorders, and he feels the vile sting which a contemptible nature can soeasily dart."Edgar, his voice broken with tears, keeps up the delusion:" Tom will throw his head at them.Avaunt, you curs!Be thy mouth or black or white,Tooth that poisons if it bite;Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,Hound or spaniel, brach or lym;Or bobtail tike, or trundle-tail ,Tom will make them weep and wail:For, with throwing thus my head,Dogs leap the hatch, and all are fled: 'as if Lear's uncontrollable mortification at the disaffection of the threepampered pets caught from their mistresses' laps, had touched one ofthose cerebral chains of association we all know we possess, and hemust needs run over the links. "Mastiff.Of domestic dogs the Mastiff, Ban-dog, orTie-dog, was the largest and most powerful.Mr. Jesse quotes the following passage from a translation, by Barnaby Googe, of Conrad Heresbach's WholeArt of Husbandry: —First the mastie that keepeth the house: for this purpose you mustprovide you such a one, as hath a large and a mightie body, a greatand a shrill voyce, that both with his barking he may discover, andwith his sight dismay the theefe, yea, being not seene, with the horror58 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.of his voice put him to flight; his stature must neither be long norshort, but well set, his head great, his eyes sharpe, and fiery , eitherbrowne or grey, his lippes blackish, neither turning up, nor hanging toomuch downe, his mouth black and wide, his neather jawe fat, andcomming out of it on either side a fang, appearing more outward thenhis otherteeth; his upper teeth even with his neather, not hanging toomuch over, sharpe, and hidden with his lippe. His countenance likea lion, his brest great and shaghayrd, his shoulders broad, his leggesbigge, his tayle short, his feet very great; his disposition must neitherbe too gentle, nor too curst, that he neither fawne upon a theefe, norflee upon his friends; very waking, no gadder abroad, not lavish of hismouth, barking without cause; neither maketh it any matter thoughhe be not swift: for he is but to fight at home, and to give warning of the enemie."Mr. Jesse remarks that although this description is takenfrom a foreign work, it probably gives a correct portraitof the mastiff, or rather of the bull-mastiff of the Englandof that period. Shakspeare makes the " repining enemy "commend the English breed of this variety. Ramburesadmits, "That island of England breeds very valiantcreatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage "(Henry V., iii . 7, 150) .Lyly also writes-"They excel for one thing there [ England] dogges of al sortes,spaniels, hounds, maistiffes, and divers such, the one they keepe forhunting and hawking, the other for necessarie uses about their houses,as to draw water, to watch theeves &c. , and thereof they derive theword mastiffe, of mase and thiefe." (Euphues, p. 438.)Dr. Caius give the mastiff a variety of names: thedog-keeper, or watch-dog, from his usefulness in guarding houses; the butcher's dog, from the help he affordsto the butcher, both in following and in driving the cattle;the carrier, because he was occasionally employed as amessenger with letters carefully sewn up inside hiscollar; the mooner, because he does nothing but watch,wasting the wearisome night season without sleeping,"bawing and wawing at the moone; " the water-drawer,because he was made to turn the wheel of the well in court-The Bulldog.59yards; and the tinker's cur, from his use in drawing trucksand barrows. Our word bulldog may come from the employment of the mastiff in driving cattle, as well as fromthe pertinacity with which the bulldog attacks his bovineenemy. The first line of the following quotation suggestsyet another etymology:--" Than came one with two bolddogges at his tayle,And that was a bocher, without fayle,All be gored in red blode. "(co*cke Lorelles Bote, about 1520, Percy Society,vol. v. p. 2.)After the various uses enumerated by Caius, the manyaccounts of the misuse of this noble dog in baiting lions,bears, horses, and asses fall harshly on the ear. Thesesports have been so fully described by authors that thereis no occasion to dwell on them.Thomas Fuller writes of mastiffs:-"They are not (like apes) the fooles and jesters, but the usefulservants in a family, viz. the porters thereof. Pliny observes, thatBrittan breeds cowardly lions and courageous mastiffes, which seemsto me no wonder; the former being whelped in prison, the latter atliberty. An English mastiff, anno 1602, did in effect worst a lion, onthe same token that Prince Henry allowed a kind of pension for hismaintenance, and gave strict orders, that he that had fought with theking of beasts should never after encounter any inferior creatures." "(Worthies of England, ed. Nichols, 1811, vol. 2 , p. 276.)The ban-dog, or tie-dog, was probably a small varietyofthe mastiff."Whose noise, as me-thinketh , I could best compareTo a cry of hounds, following after the hare,Or a rabblement of bandogs barking at a bear. "(New Custom, an Interlude, 1573.)"I know the villain is both rough and grim;But as a tie- dog I will muzzle him.I'll bring him up to fawn upon my friends,And worry dead my foes. "(H. CHETTLE, The Death of Robert Earlof Huntingdon. )60 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The Sheep Dog, or Ramhundt, was employed then asnow to guard the flock. According to Caiusit was a dog of medium size, and exceedinglySheep Dog.intelligent.Iceland Dogs were kept as pets by ladies, and areoften mentioned. The dramatist Shirley seemsto consider them as a necessary part of theIceland Dog.establishment of a woman of fashion:--"You have a waiting-woman,A monkey, squirrel, and a brace of Islands,Which may be thought superfluous in your familyWhen husbands come to rule."(Hyde Park, i. 2.)Pistol exclaims: " Pish for thee, Iceland dog! Thouprick-ear'd cur of Iceland!" (Henry V., ii. 1 , 43) . Draytondeclares, in one of his minor poems, that in consequenceof the prevalent fashion for light hair among ladies-"Our water-dogs and Islands here are shorn,White hair of women here so much is worn."(Mooncalf.)From the description of these little favourites by Dr.Caius, they would seem to have been long-haired, white,sharp-eared dogs, not unlike the Skye terriers of thepresent day, though of a less amiable disposition. Caius writes:-"Use and custome hath intertained other dogges of an outlandishekinde, but a few of the same beying of a pretty bygnesse; I meanIseland dogges, curled and rough all over, which by reason of thelength of their heare make showe neither of face, nor of body. Andyet these curres, forsoothe, because they are so straunge, are greatly setby, esteemed, taken up, and made of, many times in the roome of thespaniell gentle or comforter. "Then follows the usual sneer of the author at theeagerness of the English people for foreign novelties:-"A beggerly beast brought out of barbarous borders, from the uttermost countryes northward, &c. , we stare at, we gase at, we muse, wemarvaile at, like an asse of Cumanum, like Thales with the brasenshancks, like the man in the moone. " (Reprint, p. 37.)Performing Dogs.61Topsell mentions some varieties of performing dogs.One is the Mimicke or Getulian dog:-Performing Dogs." There is also in England two other sorts of dogs, the figure ofwhich is here expressed, being apt to imitate al thingsit seeth, in face sharpe and blacke like a hedgehog,having a short recurved body, very long legs, shaggyhaire and a short taile. These being brought up with apes in theiryouth learne very admirable and strange feats. " (Page 161. )In the next page he describes some miniature dogs,artificially dwarfed:-" Now a daies, they have found another breede of little dogs in allnations, beside the Melitean [ Maltese ] dogs, either made so by art, asinclosing their bodies in the earth , when they are whelpes, so as theycannot grow great by reason of the place, or els, lessening and impayringtheir growth, by some kind of meat or nourishment. . . . They are notabove a foot or half a foote long, and alway the lesser the mor delicateand precious. Their head like the head of a mouse, but greater, theirsnowt sharpe, their eares like the eares of a cony, short legs, little feete ,long, and white colour, and the haire about the shoulders longer thenordinary is most commended. They are of pleasant disposition , andwill leape and bite without pinching, and barke prettily, and some ofthem are taught to stand upright, holding up their fore legs like hands,other to fetch and cary in their mouths that which is cast unto them. "The little toy Maltese dog, here referred to, is nowalmost extinct. The useful little Whappet, or Turnspit,needs no description.To write a full description of the various dogs knownat this period would require, not a chapter, but a volume.Many interesting particulars, as well as numerous anecdotes of the different varieties, are to be found in Jesse'sHistory of the British Dog, already quoted. The concluding sentence of the description of the mastiff byDr. Caius, sums up the good qualities of the dog:-"Who by his barcking (as good as a burning beacon) foreshowethhassards at hand? what maner of beast stronger? what servant tohis master more loving? what companion more trustie? what watchman more vigilant? what revenger more constant? what messingermore speedie? what water-bearer more painefull? finally, what packhorse more patient? And thus much concerning English dogges."(Tract on Dogs, tr. Fleming, 1576; Reprint, 1880.)62 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Fox.CHAPTER IV.THE FOX is seldom mentioned as an animal of chase byearly writers. As rabbits were most abundantin all parts of England, foxes were probablyOlaus Magnus (p. 193) informs us that in numerous.Scandinavia-" There are in the Northerne woods foxes, white, black, red, crossebearers on the back, and others of a blew colour, spotted, but they allpartake of the same malice and fraud; the black skins are dearestbecause the Emperours of Moscovie use these often; next are thecrosse-bearing skins, that is, such as are marked on the back with ablack crosse by nature, because they are more adorned, and the skinsare greatest; for the foxes have not this crosse till they grow of a fullage."The fox has always been considered the personification of craft and cunning. Edgar declares that he hasbeen " a hog in sloth, a fox in stealth, a wolf in greediness " (Lear, iii. 4, 195) . Venus attempts to dissuadeAdonis from his intention to pursue the boar: -" But if thou needs wilt hunt, be ruled by me;Uncouple at the timorous flying hare,Or at the fox which lives by subtlety."(Venus and Adonis, 1. 673.)The skin of a fox, hare, or rabbit was called its case.The Duke thus reproaches Viola for her supposeddeception,-Furs from Russia.'O thou dissembling cub! what wilt thou beWhen Time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy case?Or will not else thy craft so quickly grow,That thine own trip shall be thine overthrow? "(Twelfth Night, v. 1, 167.)63At the period of which we write dress was regulatedby strict sumptuary laws, according to therank or profession of the wearer. LawyersFurs in Dress.were prohibited from wearing any fur except fox orlamb skin. Shakspeare has an allusion to this regulation, -""Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, the merriest wasput down, and the worser allowed by order of law a furred gown tokeep him warm; and furred with fox and lamb-skins too, to signify,that craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing. "(Measurefor Measure, iii. 2, 10.)Fur was largely used as an ornament in dress by allclasses, so much so that the importation of skins threatened to interfere with cloth and woollen manufacture inEngland. To encourage the sale of materials of home.growth, restrictions were placed upon the use of foreignfurs. According to a law passed in the reign of QueenMary, no one below the rank of an earl was allowed to wearsable; fur of black genet, or luserne, was prohibited toall under the degree of knight, and no one was permittedto wear any fur, "whereof the like groweth not within thequeenes dominions, except foynes, gray jenet, calaber,budge, outlandish hare, or fox, except he have 100 marksby the year. "Dr. Giles Fletcher was sent to Russia as ambassadorfrom Queen Elizabeth to the Czar Vasilievitch, and in1591 he published a full account of the manners andcustoms, commodities and government of the country.The internal arrangements of Russia were not sufficientlysatisfactory to be thus exposed to the common gaze, andthe Government despatched a remonstrance to the English64 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Court against the publication of the book. The work wasaccordingly suppressed. The report of Dr. Fletcher toQueen Elizabeth from Russia, is printed in Hakluyt'scollection of voyages (vol. i. p. 538, ed. Evans, 1810) . Hegives a list of the various fur-producing animals of thatpart of the country:-"The chiefe furres are these, blacke fox, sables, lusernes, dun fox,martrones, gurnestalles or armins, lasets or miniver, bever, wulverins,the skin of a great water rat that smelleth naturally like muske,calaber or gray squirrel, red squirrel, red and white fox. The blackefoxe and red come out of Siberia, white and dunne from Pechora, whencealso come the white wolfe and white beare skin . The best wulverinalso thence and from Perm. The best martrons are from Siberia , Cadam,Morum, Perm, and Cazan. Lyserns, minever, and armins, the best areout of Gallets, and Ouglits, many from Novogrod, and Perm. Thebeaver of the best sort breede in Murmonskey by Cola. ”The Ermine, though one of the smallest of the animalshunted for the sake of their skins, takes pre- Ermine.cedence of others from the fact that its furwas chiefly worn by royal personages. From the snowywhiteness of its coat, and perhaps from the dislike it hasto any substance that can soil it, this animal was considered as the emblem of purity and stainless honour.As such it has been, as accurate students of history wouldnaturally expect, appropriated by sovereigns to theirpeculiar use-"Whose honour, ermine like, can never sufferSpot, or black soil. "(BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, Knight ofMalta. )The ermine, or armin, is the Siberian stoat. The name isa corruption of Armenia, in the woods of which countrythe animal abounded.Olaus Magnus gives a strange account of the Norwegian ermines:-" These small beasts, for the most part, every three years, for themerchants exceeding great gain, grow to have their skins very long,The Ermine's Spots.65because they eat so much: which after the same manner happens notonely in Norway, but in the foresaid Helsingia, and provinces that arenear to it in the diocess of Upsal, namely, that small beasts with fourfeet, that they call lemmar, or lemmus [ Norwegian rat or lemming] , asbig as a rat, with a skin diverse coloured , fall out of the ayr in tempests,and sudden showres; but no man knows from whence they come,whether from the remoter islands, and are brought hither by the wind,or else they breed of seculent matter in the clouds: yet this is proved,that so soon as they fall down, there is found green grass in their belliesnot yet digested. These, like locusts, falling in great swarms, destroyall green things, and all dyes they bite on, by the venome of them.This swarm lives so long as they feed on no new grass: also they cometogether in troops like swallowes that are ready to fly away; but atthe set-time they either dye in heaps, with a contagion of the earth , orthey are devoured by beasts, called commonly lekat, or hermelin, andthese ermins grow fat thereby, and their skins grow longer. And theseskins also are sold by tens, especially fourty in a bundle, as sabel, ormartins, fox, beaver, squirrel, or hares skins are, and are carryed forthby shipping into far distant countries. " (Page 185.)The ermine, in its brown summer coat, was called therosetel. The English stoat is called in Norfolk thelobster. In his account of English dogs Dr. Caius tellsus that harriers were trained to hunt, besides the hareand the fox, the polecat, lobster, and weasel.Some poets of the time were wont to imagine that thespotted appearance of the ermine's fur was natural, butthis ignorance was possibly feigned for the sake of theillustration. Greene says:-"The manners and the fashions of this ageAre like the ermine's skin so full of spots."(James 1V.)And Randolph informs us that-"Nature adornsThe peaco*ck's tail with stars; ' tis she attiresThe bird of Paradise in all her plumes;She decks the fields with various flowers; ' tis sheSpangled the heavens with all those glorious lightsShe spotted the ermin's skin; and arm'd the fishIn silver mail. "(The Muse's Looking- Glass, iv. 1.)F66 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Lettice.The laws that regulated the costume of both ladiesand gentlemen at this period were so arbitrary,that even in matters so trifling as the spotson their fur no scope was allowed for the fancy of thewearer. It was ordered that none should appear in anermine, or lettice-bonnet, unless she were a gentlewomanborn, having the right to bear arms." Item, a gentleman's wife, she being a gentlewoman born, shallwear an ermine or lettice bonnet, having one powdering to the top.And if she be of honourable stock, to have two powderings, one beforeanother in the top. Item, an esquire's wife to have two powderings."(S. PEGGE, Curialia Miscellania, 1818, p. 313.)In other articles of dress the numbers of spots variedaccording to the wearer's rank. A knight's wife mightwear seven powderings or spots, a baron's wife thirteen, aviscount's wife eighteen, a countess twenty-four, and afterthat estate as many as convenient. On the occasion ofAnne Boleyn's coronation the queen was followed byladies-" being lordes wives, which had circotes of scarlet, with narrowsleeves, the breast all lettice, with barres of pouders, according to theirdegrees. " (NICHOLS, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. i. p. 12.)The word Lettice has been variously explained . Bysome authors it is considered to mean lattice, or network.Mr. Planché, in his Cyclopædia of British Costume, adoptsthe explanation of Cotgrave, that it was the fur of a smallanimal of a whitish grey colour. It evidently resembledermine, but it is impossible that ermines could be suppliedin sufficient quantities for ornamenting robes on stateoccasions. In the account given in Wriothesley's Chronicle ofthe procession of Henry VIII. to open Parliamentin 1536, we find that the bishops were attired in-"robes of scarlett furred with white lettis with hoodes of the same.Then my Lord Chauncelor of Englande, in his perliament robe of scar-Fir and Beech Martens. 67lett with a hood to the same furred with white lettis, with the kingesgreat seale borne before him; ... the king following in a robe of crimson velvet furred with poudre ermyns, with a hood of the same. Thenafter the king followed the Duke of Suffolke, and all erles, marques,and lordes, all in their perliament robes of scarlett furred with white,and their hoodes about their neckes, which were fortie in number;everie duke having fower barres of white furre alongest the right sideof their robes, and everie earle having three barres of white furrealongest the right side of their robes, and everie lord two barres inlikewise. " (Ed. Hakluyt Society, 1875, p. 45.)The Marten, martern, martron, or marten- cat, washunted for the sake of its skin, which in Marten.good specimens is little inferior to that ofthe sable. Topsell divides martens into two varieties-the "beech-martin " and the " fir-martin. " He writes(p. 496):-"Princes and great nobles are clothed therewith, every skinne beingwoorthe a French crowne, or foure shillings at the least. And they areso much the better when there are more whit haires aspersed amongthe yellowe. By inspection of the foines, that is, the martins of thebeech, for the Frenchmen called a beech fau, from whence cometh theword foines, you may see that their skins are more dusky, having atail both greater and blacker then the martins of the firres . Andtherefore you must understand that they of the firs, are by wayof excellency called martins and the other of the woods called foines.In France there are no martins of the wall; but these martins live inhollow beaches. There are also woods full of these beastes in Brussia,which the people there call gayns. There are also store of martinsnear Bragansa, and generally in all parts of Europe except in England."We learn from the account of a Lord Mayor's pageant(Percy Society, vol. ix. p. 14) that when Sir WilliamDraper served the office of Lord Mayor, in 1566-1567, theIronmongers exerted themselves to their utmost abilityin honouring the procession, as he was what is termed"free of the company." Forty-six persons, bachelors,were nominated, whose drapery was composed of satincassocks, gowns furred with foynes, and crimson satinhoods.68 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Olaus Magnus distinguishes between martens andsables:-"Martins and sables are creatures of cold countries. All knowthem by their names, but few by their virtues, unless by the qualityof their skins a man may know what creatures they are. . . .They will bite terribly for their bigness, for they have teeth naturallyas sharp as razours, and exceeding small and sharp nails. But astheir flesh is said to be nothing worth, so their skins are of huge prices,especially among forrainers, that use them more for their pleasure thancommodity. The difference between them is this, that the martinsare of a grosser fur from the crown of their head to their tail, but notif you rub them the contrary way: but the sabels are not so; for if youstroak them with your hand from their tail to their crowns, they areequally smooth, because they are furry, and their hair is thicker; andtherefore they are sooner eaten by the worms then other skins are,unless they are constantly used, or wormwood leaves put between themto preserve them. And if sable skins are laid in the sun to dry, theywill consume more in one day than if they were worn a whole year.When the beast is alive he always lyes in some shady grove, and getshis living by lying in wait for small birds. " (Page 184.)Topsell (p. 755) writes thusSable." Ofthe zebel, commonly called a sabell. -Among all the kindes ofweasels, squirrels, wood- mice, wilde- mice, or other littlebeasts of the world, there is none comparable to thiszebeth. It is bred in Muscovia and the northernepartes of the worlde, among the Lapones, but no where more plentifullthen in Tartaria, Scythia, and Sarmasia; and it is therefore called bysome Mus Scythicus, the Scythian mouse. In the furthest part ofLithuania they have little or no mony, and therefore the marchantswhich traffick thither do exchange their wares for zebel or sabel skins.Those are the best which have most white and yellow haires mingledin them, and the garments of princes are onely fringed and linedwith these sabel skinnes; and honorable matrons, auncient noble menand their wives, doe likewise use two or three of these to weare abouttheir neckes. For it is certaine that a garment of these skinnes ismuch deerer then cloth of gold; and I have heard, and also read, thatthere have beene two thousand duckets payed for so many as wereput in one cloake. "As a besant is supposed to have been equivalent to aducat, the following passage from Marco Polo's Travels,Furs out of Fashion. 69which were written about the year 1300, may possiblybe Topsell's authority for his assertion as to the value ofthe sable. Describing the tents of some grand khanof Tartary, Marco Polo says:-"Withinside they are lined with the skins of ermins and sables,which are the most costly of all furs; for the latter, if of a size to trima dress, is valued at two thousand besants of gold, provided it beperfect, but if otherwise, only one thousand. It is esteemed by theTartars the queen of furs. The animal, which in their language isnamed rondes, is about the size of a polecat. " ( Travels, ed. Marsden ,1817, p. 344.)The following letter from the Muscovite Company inLondon to their agents in Russia, in 1560, shows thatat that date foreign furs were already going out offashion. The ladies of the period had, no doubt, exertedtheir influence in support of the development of Britishwoollen manufactures: -"The sables which you sent this yeere be very base. Among themall we could not make one principall timber. We have alwayes writtenunto you to send them that bee good or else none. The wolveringswere indifferent, and some of the wolves; the rest verie base, thelusernes but meane, the lettes not so large skinnes as we have had:the best is, they were of a new death. As for the ermines, they costmore there with you then we can sell them for here. Therefore buyno more of them, nor of squirrels, for wee lost the one halfe in theother. The wares that we would have you provide against thecomming of the shippes are waxe, tallowe, trayne oyles, flaxe, cables andropes, and furres, such as we have written to you for in our last lettersbythe shippes and from hencefoorth not to make any great provisionof any rich furres except principal sables and lettes; for now there is aproclamation made that no furres shall be worne here but such as thelike is growing here within this our realm. The sables that you doemind to send to us let them be principall and fayre, and not past foure orfive timbars; for they will not be commonly worne here as they havebin with noble men: and likewise of luserns send fewe and principalgood. " (Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. i. p. 342, ed. Evans, 1810.)A timber, or timmer, of sables, martens, or ermines, wasa bundle of 40 skins; of other furs it included 120 skins.70 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The animal lette here mentioned probably supplied thelettice fur already referred to.The wearing of sable was prohibited by statute in thereign of Queen Mary, to any one below the rank of earl.Gowns furred with sable were deemed of sufficient valueto be bestowed as presents, and to be mentioned as richlegacies by the possessors unto their heirs. Sir JohnWallop, in 1551, bequeaths to different friends gownsfurred with sable, lucerns, and black coney. In the collection of wills, Testamenta Vetusta, by Sir H. Nicolas,1826, we find many such bequests.Hamlet's exclamation, " Let the devil wear black, forI'll have a suit of sables," has given rise to much controversy. The only passage in Shakspeare's plays wherethe word sable may be understood to mean the fur is inthe same play:--"For youth no less becomesThe light and careless livery that it wearsThan settled age his sables and his weeds,Importing health and graveness. "(Hamlet, iv. 7, 79.)But in these latter lines the meaning may well be thedark and sombre costume appropriate to advanced years,in contrast with the more lively colours and the palertints preferred by youth. If Hamlet, after speaking ofhis " inky cloak," professes his intention of going intomourning, the announcement is certainly unnecessary.At the same time, there is no reason why he shouldarray himself in a costume so expensive as a suit ofsables. Warburton, the commentator, suggested a plausible reading " Let the devil wear black, ' fore [before]I'll have a suit of sables." Mr. G. Wightwick, in TheCritic, declares that Hamlet meant to say, " I'll have asuit of sabell," i.e. of flame colour. A misspelling, thiswriter considers, has caused the confusion. There wouldcertainly be a novelty in Hamlet's making his appearance in a brilliant red costume.Ferret and Polecat. 71In The Seven Days ofthe Week, an interlude performedat Oxford in 1607, the word sable occurs in connexionwith mourning. But as the rhyme is evidently theauthor's first consideration, it is not easy to decidewhether a noun or an adjective is intended by the name.Night enters, and thus announces himself:-"Blacke Night, as black as any mourninge sable is,Comes for to prompt the actors if they stumble;For who can see what Night doth say, or able isTo heare how Night doth walke about and mumble. ”The Ferret, originally a native of Africa, was broughtinto Spain with the design of freeing thelatter country from the multitudes of rabbits Ferret.that infested it. Thence the whole of Europe was intime stocked.The solitary reference to this animal by Shakspeareis more expressive than polite. Brutus describes Ciceroas looking-"With such ferret and such fiery eyesAs we have seen him in the Capitol,Being cross'd in conference by some senators."(Julius Cæsar, i. 2, 186.)The Polecat was called also, on account of its strongscent, the foulmartin or foumart, and fitchetor fitchew.Polecat.The first name is derived by some authorities fromthe French words, poule and chat, and has been bestowedon this animal on account of the destruction it worksin hen-roosts. Shakspeare uses the word polecat only asa term of abuse. The foul-mouthed Thersites exclaims:-"To be a dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard, an owl, aputtock, or a herring without a roe, I would not care: but to beMenelaus! I would conspire against destiny." (Troilus and Cressida,v. 1 , 64.)The animals of the weasel tribe found in England are72 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.•known under a variety of names, and do not appear tohave been clearly distinguished one from another.Harrison, in his description of England (Holinshed'sChronicles, vol. i. p. 377, ed. 1577), says, " I might hereentreat largelie of other vermine, as the polcat, theminiver, the weasell, stote (fulmart), squirrell, fitchew,and such like."A correspondent in Notes and Queries, 1853, starteda somewhat unprofitable discussion by aninquiry as to the meaning of the word mousehunt in Romeo and Juliet (iv. 4, 11): —Mousehunt.“ Ay, you have been a mousehunt in your time;But I will watch you from such watching now."One suggestion was that the Mousehunt was a little.animal of the weasel species, about the length of a rat,with a long and hairy tail, bushy at the tip. Another,quoting Fennell's Natural History, asserted that thereference was to the beech-marten. A third consideredthat this was a mistake, and that the mousehunt, if anyactual animal of that name exists, is only the young ofthe common weasel. In The Storye of Reynard the Foxe,as it was printed by Caxton in 1481, an animal namedthe mousehunt appears in the list of Master Reynard'srelations:-"Rukenawe [the she-ape, Reynard's aunt] called hem [them] forthand sayde, Welcome, my dere chyldren; come forth and stande byReynard your der nevew. Thenne sayd she, Come forth, alle ye thatben of my kynne and Reynarts; and late us praye the kynge that hewille doo to Reynard ryght of the lande. Tho cam forth many a beestanon, as the squyrel, the musehont, the fychews, the martron, thebever wyth his wyf Ordegale, the genete [ wild cat] , the ostrole, theboussyng and the fyret." (Ed. Percy Society, 1844, vol . xii. p. 109.)In explanation of the appearance of the beaver in suchdisreputable company, it is stated that he only attendedin deference to the command of Dame Rukenawe. Rey-The Quarrelsome Weasel.73nard's aunt had the reputation of great wisdom, andwas much dreaded on account of her unlimited power ofmischief. That mousehunt was at a much later periodthe name of an animal is evident from a passage inMilton:-"Although I know that many pretend to be great rabies in thesestudies, have scarce saluted them from the strings to the title page;or to give them more, have been but the mousehunts and ferrets of anindex." (Of Reformation in England, etc.)The Weasel, like the polecat, was a great enemy topoultry. Shakspeare compares England'sinvading neighbour to this little intruder:-"For once the eagle England being in prey,To her unguarded nest the weasel ScotComes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs,Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,To tear and havoc more than she can eat."Weasel.(Henry V., i. 2, 169.)Pisanio warns Imogen that if she assumes male attireshe must adopt the manners " should attend it. " Shemust be-"Ready in gibes, quick-answer'd, saucy, andAs quarrelous as the weasel. "(Cymbeline, iii. 4, 161.)Miniver.Owing to the want of accurate knowledge of animalsgreat confusion exists as to the names givento the furs worn at this period. Accordingto some authors, Miniver was the lighter portion of theskin of squirrels and weasels. According to others itwas the skin of a small animal caught in Russia.Henry VII. wore at his coronation a surcote closed,furred with menyver pure, a hode of estate furred withmenyver pure and purfuld [ bordered] with ermyns, agret mantell of crymesyn saten furred also with menyverpure." From this record it would appear that the fur6674 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.was without spots. In other accounts spots are mentioned .They were probably smaller in size than those on the furcalled ermine. In Massinger's play, The City Madam,Luke describes the costume of a wealthy merchant'swife:-"He made a knight,And your sweet mistress-ship ladyfied, you woreSatin on solemn days, a chain of gold,A velvet hood, rich borders, and sometimesA dainty miniver cap " (iv. 4).Joseph Hall satirizes some candidates for ecclesiasticalhonours, who"Sit seven years pining in an anchores cheyre,To win some patched shreds of minivere. "(Satires, book iv. , satire 2.)Vair was a fur largely used in heraldry. It wasrepresented by a series of shield or bell- Furs. shaped pieces placed together alternately,commonly blue and white. Some say this form wastaken from the pattern which is made by the dark furon the back of the squirrel when entire skins of thisanimal are laid flat and sewn edge to edge. Mr. Planché,in his Cyclopædia of Costume, explains the names of otherfurs that were occasionally worn.Biche, according to him, was the skin of the femaledeer. By statute passed in the reign of Henry IV. ,furs of biche were prohibited to clergymen below thedignity of resident canon.Budge, bogy, bogys or burge, was lambskin with thewool dressed outwards. Garments were often edged andlined with this fur, and the hood of the bachelor of artsis still so ornamented. Powderings of bogy shanks, ortips cut from the legs of black lambs, were used inspotting ermine.Calabrere, or calabar, was the summer coat of theThe Glutton. 75gray squirrel of Russia. It was so called from Calabria,whence it was imported. Piers Ploughman describesa physician as clad in a furred hood and cloak ofcalabrere.Chisamus, cicimus, or sismusilis was a valuable speciesof fur mentioned by the historians and poets of theMiddle Ages. It was probably the skin of the Ponticmouse.Lituite, a fur only used in doublings, was so calledfrom the skin of the lituit, or white martyn cat. Jennet,or genet, was the fur of the wild cat.Dossus, from the French dos, was the fur from theback of the squirrel, the same as the fur called in Francepetit gris.Olaus Magnus describes the Wolverine, Glutton, orWood Dog (Gulo luscus) , one of the fur-producing animals mentioned by Dr. Fletcherin his list of Russian commodities:--Wolverine."Amongst all creatures that are thought to be insatiable in thenorthern parts of Sweden, the gulo hath its name to be the principall;and in the vulgar tongue they call him jerff, but in the Germanlanguage vielfras, in the Sclavonish speech rossamaka, from his mucheating; and the made Latin name is gulo; for he is so called from hisgluttony. He is as great as a great dog, and his ears and face are likea cats; his feet and nails are very sharp: his body is hairy with longbrown hair, his tail is like the foxes, but somewhat shorter, but hishair is thicker, and of this they make brave winter caps. The fleshof this creature is altogether uselesse for man's food: but his skin isvery commodious and pretious. For it is of a white brown blackcolour, like a damask cloth wrought with many figures; and it shewsthe more beautiful, as by the industry of the artists it is joyn'd withother garments in the likenesse or colour. Princes and great men usethis habit in winter made like coats; because it quickly makes heatand holds it long; and that not only in Swethland, and Gothland, butin Germany, where the rarity of these skins makes them to be moreesteemed, when it is prised in ships among other merchandise. And Ido not think fit to overpasse, that when men sleep under these skins,they have dreams that agree with the nature of that creature and havean insatiable stomach. " (Page 180.)76 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.There is a delightful vagueness in the description ofthis animal's colour. It is a pity that the worthy archbishop's accuracy was not on a par with his credulity.The description given by Grieve, in his History of Kamschatka, 1764 (p. 99) , of the wolverine deserves quotation, although of a more recent date, as showing the highvalue set by the natives upon the animal:—-"There is a creature of the weasel kind, called the glutton , whosefurr is so greatly esteemed above all others, that when they woulddescribe a man most richly attired, they say that he is cloathed withthe furr of the glutton . The women of Kamtschatka dress their heirewith the white claws of this animal, and reckon them a very greatornament. However, the Kamtschadales kill so few of them thatthey not only have not enough for exportation, but even import somefrom Jakutski at a very great price. They put the greater value uponthe furr of the glutton the whiter and yellower it is, although everywhere else this sort is despised; nay, they esteem it so much, that theysay the heavenly beings wear no other garments than of this furr. "The general colour of the wolverine is a rich brown,deepening in parts to black; the young ones are muchlighter, of a pale cream yellow. It is only the clawsthat are white, but they form a striking contrast with thejet black fur of the paws. Marvellous stories are told ofthe insatiate appetite of the glutton, but after makingdue allowance for exaggeration it must be admitted thatit* voracity entitles it to the name, "the vulture ofquadrupeds. "The Otter was in these times a denizen of most of therivers in the north and west of England.Otter.Fuller, in his Worthies of England (vol. 2,p. 573, ed. Nichols, 1811), writes:-" Plenty of these in Brecknock-meer; a creature that can dig anddive, resident in the two elements of earth and water. The badger,where he bites, maketh his teeth to meet; and the otter leaves littledistance between them. He is as destructive to fish as the wolf tosheep. See we here, more is required to make fine flesh than to havefine feeding; the flesh of the otter, from his innate rankness, beingnought, though his diet be dainty."Medieval Dishonesty.Shakspeare has but one mention of this animal: -"Hostess. Say, what beast, thou knave, thou?Falstaff. What beast! why, an otter.Prince. An otter, Sir John! why an otter?Fal. Why, she's neither fish nor flesh."(1 Henry IV. , iii. 3, 141. )77The doubt among learned men as to the nature of theotter, hinted at in the above passage, was not quitecleared up even in the time of Izaak Walton, whodeclines to commit himself by speaking positively on thesubject.Olaus Magnus writes of the otters of Norway: -"The otters have a square mouth, and bite as beavers, they are likethem in their skins but they are a third part longer. Their skins aregreatly used by the northern people, to enlarge the borders of theirgarments, because their skin will hold fast. They are sold by tens, asbeavers and foxes, and martins skins are: and they are falsified withsmoke of a stone- tree upon coles, that they may appear to be of ashining black; but if you rub them presently with a white cloth, thecolour is gone, and the sophistication is discovered . So wolves skinspowdred, with coal and chalk, rubbed with a linnen cloth , are provedto be faisified. So squirrels skins, called in Italian dossa, strewed overwith chalk, are discovered to be false by a black cloth. We mustsearch out which colour is natural, and which artificial, and so prizethem." (Page 183.)Those who talk sentimentally about the " good oldtimes," would fain have us believe that such deceptionsas are here described are inventions of a modern date.Sir Thomas Browne records that otters were plentifulin his time: " They are accounted no bad dish by many;they are to be made very tame; and in some houses haveserved for turnspits " (vol. iv. p. 336, ed. Wilkins). Theycould hardly have been trusted when fish formed part ofthe meal.The Badger was also known by the names bawson,brock, and gray. In Ben Jonson's Sad Shepherd, a country swain brings as a present tohis mistress a fineBadger.78 The Animal-Lore ofShakspeare's Time."Smooth bawson cub, the young grice of a gray,Twa tyny urshins and this ferret gay " (i . 1).The first line of this passage has given rise to somediscussion. Whalley reads " bawson's cub, and the youngones of a badger." Gifford, in his edition, explains bawson,which, used as a substantive, is a badger, to mean hereplump, sleek. This epithet cannot be applied to a fullgrown badger, but might very well be said of a cub.Grice, he says, is a suckling of any kind. That this isthe correct explanation is shown by the lines a littlelater on:-"Thou woo thy love! thy mistress! with twa hedgehogs?A stinkand brock, a polecat? Out, thou houlet! "The only mention of this animal that occurs inShakspeare is when Sir Toby Belch applies it as a termof reproach to Malvolio: " Marry, hang thee, brock! "(Twelfth Night, ii. 5 , 114) .The absurd idea that the badger's right legs were ofa different length from those on its left, to enable it torun with ease on the side of a hill, lasted long after thisperiod. William Browne, in his poems on country life,is evidently a firm believer in the notion:-"And as that beast hath legs, which shepherds feare,Yclep'd a badger, which our lambs doth teare,One long, the other short, that when he runsUpon the plaines he halts; but when he wonsOn craggy rocks, or steepy hills, we seeNone runs more swift, nor easier than he. "(Britannia's Pastorals, book i . , song 4.)Topsell writes of the badger, -"His back is broad, his legs as some say longer on the right sidethen on the left, and therefore he runneth best when he getteth to theside of a hill or a cart road way. " (Page 34.)To correspond with this statement, the badger in thewoodcut which accompanies it is represented as using thelegs on the same side together instead of alternately. SirThe Uneven-Legged Badger.79Thomas Browne, in his Enquiry concerning Vulgar Errors,ridicules this idea, and points out that as, like otheranimals, it uses its legs diagonally, the brevity had beenmore tolerable in the cross legs.Drayton, in his poetical account of the Flood, probablyrefers to the use made of the skin of this animal as theouter covering for the Jewish tabernacle:-"Th' uneven-legg'd badger, whose eye-pleasing skinThe case to many a curious thing hath been,Since that great flood , his fortresses forsakesWrought in the earth , and tho' but halting, makesUp to the Ark.”(Noah's Flood.)Canon Tristram , however, considers that though thebadger is found commonly in Palestine, it was notlikely to have been attainable in sufficient numbers inthe Sinaitic wilderness to have furnished skins to theamount required. He imagines that the animal referredto in the Bible was the seal, or dugong; both of whichanimals, together with the dolphin, are found in considerable abundance in the Red Sea. The badger is alsospoken of as furnishing the sandals of the Jewish women(Natural History ofthe Bible, 1873, p. 44) .66Topsell mentions two kinds of badgersone resembling a dog in his feet, which is cald canine, the othera hog in his cloven hoofe, and is cald swinish: also these differ in thefashion of their snowt, one resembling the snowt of a dog, the other ofa swine, and in their meat, the one eating flesh and carrion like adogge, the other roots and fruits like a hog; both kinds have benefound in Normandy and other parts of France and Sicillie. In Italyand Germany they eat grayes flesh and boile with it peares, whichmaketh the flesh tast like the flesh of a porcupine. The flesh is bestin September if it be fat, and of the two kindes, the swinish badger is better flesh then the other." (Page 34.)For this distinction Topsell is probably indebted toOlaus Magnus, who writes::-80 The Animal-Loreof Shakspeare'sTime." There are two sorts of them [badgers ] one that is tame; anotherwilde, that hath stiffer bristles. It is also called the dog-badger,because his foot is divided like to the dogs: another is called thehog-badger, because his hoof is divided into two. There are somealso greater than foxes, that have a hairy bristly skin, and the bristlesare stiff, and the skin rough; and with these they cover all theirquivers for war or hunting, to keep their arrows from the wet andsnow. Also mens cloaths are made of them." (Page 187.)In an early version of Reynard the Foxe, the badger iscalled " grymbart the dasse," from the German dachs,whence also comes the modern dachshund, or badgerhound.Skunk.Every variety of the weasel tribe possesses as a weaponof defence a disagreeable scent . The Skunkhas the power of emitting, at will, a secretionso fetid that the odour thereof can put to flight both man and beast. " All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten 'any substance that has been tainted by this " odoriferousstench. " The skunk is described , though under anothername, by a Portuguese resident in Brazil:-"The biarataca is of the bignesse of a cat, like a ferret; it hatha white stroake and a grey along the backe, like a crosse, very wellmade; it feeds upon birds and their egges, and upon other things,especially upon ambar, and loveth it so well that all the night he goethby the seaside to seeke it, and where there is any, hee is the first. Itis greatly feared, not because it hath any teeth, or any other defensivething, but it hath a certaine ventositie so strong, and so evill of sent,that it doth penetrate the wood , the stones, and all that it encountrethwithall, and it is such that some Indians have died with the stench.And the dog that commeth neere it escapeth not: and this smell lastethfifteene, twentie, or more days, and it is such that if it lighteth neeresome towne, it is presently disinhabited. " (Purchas, vol . iv. , p . 1304.)The last statement savours of exaggeration.The same writer describes the Coati, or Coati-mundi,an animal found in Central and SouthAmerica:-Coati."The coaty, is of the height of an hare, with short and spottedFighting Bears. 81haire, with little and sharpe eares, both of a little head, and also withan eminent snout from the eyes, more then a foote long, round likea walking-staffe, suddenly decreasing at the end, so that it is altogether of an equall thicknesse, with so narrow a mouth that it canscarce receive the little finger. None may be found more monstrous:afterward, when this wilde beast is taken, gathering her foure feettogether, shee bendeth her selfe to the one side or the other, or fallethflat downe: nor can shee ever bee raised, nor compelled to eate, unlesseants be given her, on which shee also feedeth in the woods." (Purchas,vol. iv. p. 1328.)Besides ants and other insects, the coati lives on eggs andsmall birds.Bear.The Bear might almost claim to be classed amongthe domestic animals, so familiar must it havebeen in Elizabeth's time to all who lived inLondon or any other large town. Its life, however, wasfar less enjoyable than that of its fellows who had beenmore completely domesticated by man. It was eitherpenned up in a shed, or led about the country by a chainin company with a monkey and one or two performingdogs. Shakspeare's references to the sport of bear-baitingare numerous. Slender says—" I love the sport well; but I shall as soon quarrel at it as anyman in England. You are afraid, if you see the bear loose, are you not?"Anne. Ay indeed, sir."Slen. That's meat and drink to me, now. I have seen Sackersonloose twenty times, and have taken him by the chain; but, I warrantyou, the women have so cried and shrieked at it, that it passed:but, women, indeed, cannot abide ' em; they are very ill -favouredrough things." (Merry Wives, i . 1.)This bear is mentioned also by Sir John Davies, whodescribes a law student-"Leaving old Ploydon, Dier, and Brooke alone,To see old Harry Hunks and Sacarson."(Epigrams. )G82 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Ben Jonson mentions two of the most famous fighters whowere named after their owners:-"When Ned Whiting or George Stone were at the stake. ”(The Silent Woman, iii. 1.)Bear-baiting was at this time considered not only a suitable exhibition to be presented before the queen and hernobles, but the amusem*nt was placed under the particularpatronage of her Majesty. An order of the Privy Councilin July, 1591 , prohibited the performance of plays onThursdays, because on Thursdays bear-baiting, and the likepastimes, had been usually practised; and an injunctionto the same effect was sent to the Lord Mayor, wherein itis stated, " That in divers places the players do use torecite their plays, to the great hurt and destruction ofbear-baiting, and the like' pastimes, which are maintainedfor her Majesty's pleasure " (Nichols, Progresses, p. 438,note). The bears for the queen's royal pleasure werekept at the Paris Garden, Bankside, Southwark, close tothe river; and as the land lay somewhat low, probablywhen the tide rose higher than usual the bears foundtheir quarters rather damp."It was the day what time the powerful moonMakes the poor Bankside creature wet its shoonIn its own hall."(BEN JONSON, Epigram 133.)Paris Garden was named after Robert de Paris, a nobleman of the time of Richard II. , who had a house andgarden on the same site. Crowley, a poet of the timeof Henry VIII. , describes these gardens as then existing.He says that exhibitions were held there on Sundays,and that the price of admission was one halfpenny. Thepopularity of the pastime in Elizabeth's time caused theentrance fee to be raised. Lambarde tells us (Perambulation of Kent, p. 248) that, in 1570, visitors to ParisGardens were charged " one pennic at the gate, anotherBear versus Bible. 83to the entrie of the scaffold, and a third for quiet standing." Sunday was the day usually selected for the sport,but towards the end of the century public opinion declaredagainst such desecration of the sabbath. An accident atParis Gardens, Sunday, January 13, 1583, when manypeople were injured by the falling of the stage during abear-baiting, was made the occasion of much moralizingin clerical pulpits.At this period every town of importance had its bear,bearward, and set of dogs. A story is told against thepeople of Congleton, in Cheshire, which, though it variesin different versions, is a good illustration of the fondness of this pastime which prevailed. One version of thestory is that the people of Congleton, about the year1620, being in want of a new Bible at the chapel, laid upa sum of money for the purpose of replacing the worn-outvolume. But the town bear happened to die at thattime, and the bearward being unable to purchase anotherapplied to the corporation for assistance. The corporationgave him the sum set apart for buying the new Bible, andleft the minister to put up with the old one as well as hecould . Others say that the authorities only gave thebearward the money arising from the sale of the old Bible,or gave him the old Bible to sell for that purpose. However it arose, the tale spread, and grew into a rhyme,which is still occasionally quoted, to the great indignationof the inhabitants of the town:-66 6' Congleton rare, Congleton rare,Sold the Bible to pay for a bear.""(Notes and Queries, 3rd series, vol. ii . p. 166.)Bears were brought to England from various countries.In a description of a voyage to Cherie Island by JonasPoole, 1609, the author says:-"The thirtieth day we slue 26 whales, and espied three whitebeares: we went aboord for shot and powder, and comming to the ice84 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.againe, we found a shee- beare and two young ones: Master ThomasWelden shot and killed her after shee was slayne, wee got the youngones, and brought them home into England, where they are alive inParis Garden." (Purchas, vol. iii. p. 563.)Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsal, the naturalist ofthe North, has a good deal of information, more or lesstrustworthy, to give about bears and their uses. Hewrites:-" The bears are huge, white, and strong, and they will break theice with their paws. These white bears skins are wont to be offeredby the hunters, for the high altars, or cathedrals, of parochial churches,that the priest celebrating Mass standing, may not take cold of hisfeet when the weather is extream cold. In the church at Nidrosum ,which is the metropolis of the kingdom of Norway, every year suchwhite skins are found, that are faithfully offered by the hunters devotion, whensoever they take them, and wolves-skins, to buy wax-light,and to burn them in honour of the saints." (Page 187.)According to this author the brown varieties, which wereoften taught to dance and beg, were made the medium ofinstruction as well as amusem*nt:-"The master of these bears, that cannot speak the language ofother countries, will get a good gain by his dumb beast. Nor doth thisseem to be done onely, because that these should live by this smallgain for the bearherds that lead these bears, are at least ten or twelvelusty men; and in their company, sometimes, there go noblemenssons, that they may learn the fashions, manners, and distances ofplaces, the military arts, and concord of princes, by these merry pastimes. But since they were found in Germany to spoil travellers andto cast them to their bears to eat, most strict laws are made againstthem, that they may never come there again. But that tame bearsmay not onely be kept unprofitably to feed and make sport, they areset to the wheels in the courts of great men, that with one or two, ormore company to help them, they may draw up water out of deepwells; and that in huge vessels made for this purpose, and they do nothelp alone this way, but they are set to draw great waggons, for theyare very strong in their legs, claws, and loins; nor is it unfit to makethem go upright, and carry burdens of wood, and such like, to theplace appointed, or they stand at great mens doors, to keep out otherhurtful creatures. When they are young, they will play wonderfullywith boys, and do them no hurt. " (History of the Goths, p. 191.)INDIANA UNIVERSITYBear's cubs shapeless.85It is to be feared that the worthy archbishop was somewhat credulous, and listened too readily to stories of theNorwegian bears' docility, as he does not mention that hewitnessed any of these feats.The notion handed down from antiquity, notwithstanding its manifest absurdity, and the numerous opportunities that must have occurred for its disproof, that thebear's cubs are shapeless and require to be moulded intoform by the mother's tongue, is referred to. by Shakspeare:-“ Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp,That carries no impression like the dam. "Chester tells us that the bear-(3 Henry VI., iii . 2, 161.)"Brings forth at first a thing that's indigest,A lump of flesh without all fashion,Which she by often licking brings to rest,Making a formal body good and sound,Which often in this iland we have found. "(Love's Martyr, p. 208.)Olaus Magnus makes the same mistake. Describing thebear, he writes:-"For the most part she useth to bring forth five whelps not muchgreater than mice, without any shape: their flesh is white but theyhave not eyes, nor hair: yet the nails appear: the dams by degrees,lick these whelpes into form." (Page 188.)Lyly, who delights in all the absurdities connectedwith ancient natural history, informs us that " where thebear cannot find origanum to heal her griefe, hee blastethall other leaves with his breath " (Epilogue to Campaspe).Mr. Furnivall notes that so early as this period bear'sgrease was recommended for promoting the growth of thehair. He quotes the following passage from W. Bulleyn'sBooke of Simples, fol. 76: —"The beare is a beaste whose flesh is good for mankynd his fatis good, with laudanum, to make an oyntment to heale balde headed86 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.men to receive the hayre agayne. The grease of the beare, the fatteof a lamb, and the oyntment of the fox, maketh a good oyntment toanoynt the feete against the payne of travell or labour of footemen."(Notes and Queries, 4th series, vol. ix. p. 484.)Bear's grease is also recommended in old works on husbandry as a preventive against mildew and blight. Alltools, such as rakes, spades, and shovels, were to besmeared with this substance preparatory to beginninggardening operations.Marine Animals. 87CHAPTER V.Marine Ani- mals.ALTHOUGH whales, seals, and other marine inhabitantswere always included among fish by writers ofthe Elizabethan period, yet there evidentlyexisted in the minds of some authors a misgiving as to whether this arrangement was correct. PiousCatholics were slow to be persuaded that these aquaticmammalia were blood relations of the bear, and resolvedas long as possible to take the benefit of the doubt.Harrison, in his description of England prefixed toHolinshed's Chronicle, decides that under the head ofsea-fish should be included " the seale, the dolphin, theporpoise, the thirlepoole, whale, and whatsoever is roundof bodie be it never so great and huge " ( Holinshed, vol. i .p. 377) . Pennant, writing so late as 1791, quite declinesto accept the modern classification . He admits that theyhave in many respects the structure of land animals, buthe holds that their want of hair and feet, their fish- likeform, and their constant residence in the water, are arguments for separating them from this class, and formingthem into another independent of the rest.Captain John Monck, in his account of a voyage toGreenland, taken about the year 1600, thusdescribes the Walrus:-Walrus."The sea horses are very strange creatures, approaching to the bigness of a moderate ox, having four legs, the two hindermost being very88 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.unshapable, and a very thick hide. Their heads are vastly large,having teeth each of about a foot long, as white as the best ivory.The English call them sea-horses, the Dutch wallnissets and the Muscovites morse. It was in the year 1593 that the English sent the firsttime their ships to catch the sea horses, and continued the trade withgreat advantage for several years after. " (Churchill's Voyages, vol. i.p. 441.)A Briefe Note of the Morsse and the use thereof, furtherexplains the value of the different parts of the walrus: —"In the voyage of Jaques Carthier, wherein he discovered theGulfe of S. Laurance and the said Isle of Ramea in the yeere 1534, he met with these beastes, as he witnesseth in these words: About thesaid island are very great beasts as great as oxen, which have twogreat teeth in their mouthes like unto elephants teeth, and live in the sea. Wee sawe one of them sleeping upon the banks of the water,and thinking to take it, we went to it with our boates, but so soone ashe heard us, he cast himselfe into the sea. Touching these beastswhich Jaques Carthier saith to be as big as oxen, and to have teeth intheir mouthes like elephants teeth: true it is that they are called inLatine boves marini, or caccæ marinæ, and in the Russian tonguemorsses, the hides whereof I have seene as big as any oxe hide, andbeing dressed I have yet a piece of one thicker then any two oxe or buls hides in England. The leather dressers take them to be excellentgood to make light targets against the arrowes of the savages: and Ihold them farre better then the light leather targets which the Mooresuse in Barbarie against arrowes and lances, whereof I have seene diversin her majesties stately armorie in the Towre of London. The teeth ofthe sayd fishes, whereof I have seene a dry flat full at once, are a footeand sometimes more in length: and have bene sold in England to the combe and knife maker at 8 groats and 3 shillings the pound weight,whereas the best ivory is sold for halfe the money: the graine of thebone is somewhat more yellow then the ivorie. One M. AlexanderWoodson of Bristoll , my old friend, an excellent mathematician andskilful phisition, shewed me one of these beasts teeth which werebrought from the Isle of Ramea in the first prize, which was half ayard long or very little lesse: and assured mee that he had made tryallof it in ministering medicine to his patients, and had found it as soveraigne against poyson as any unicornes horne."This note was appended to a letter sent to the " RightHonourable Sir William Cecill, Lord Burghley, fromFerocity ofthe Walrus. 89Thomas James, of Bristoll." The letter is dated the 14thof September, 1591, and announces the discovery of theIsle of Ramea by two small ships of Saint Malo, one ofwhich was taken as a prize by a ship of which James waspart owner (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 238).According to Olaus Magnus the walrus was a formidable antagonist of the whale, and occasionally of humanbeings:-" The Norway coast, toward the more northern parts, hath hugegreat fish as big as elephants, which are called morsi, or rosmari, maybe they are so called from their sharp biting; for if they see any manon the sea-shore, and can catch him, they come suddenly upon him,and reud him with their teeth, that they will kill him in a trice.Therefore, these fish called rosmari, or morsi, have heads fashionedlike to an oxes, and a hairy skin, and hair growing as thick as straw orcorn-reeds, that lye loose very largely. " (Page 231.)The Norwegian word, rosmar, signifies a sea-horse. Notwithstanding its size and formidable appearance thewalrus is not the ferocious animal here described . It willnot attack man unprovoked, and only uses its teeth whendriven to extremities. The walrus is probably the sameas the rosmarine mentioned by Spenser in his list ofmarine monsters.Jonas Poole, in an account of a voyage to CherieIsland, in the North Seas, chronicles the capture of ayoung walrus, and its safe conduct to London."The twelfth day [ July, 1608] we took into our ship two youngmorses, male and female, alive: the female died before we came intoEngland, the male lived above ten weekes. The twentieth of Augustwee arrived at London; and having dispatched some private businesse,we brought our living young morse to the court, where the king andmany honourable personages beheld it with admiration for the strangenesse of the same, the like whereof had never before beene seene alivein England. Not long after it fell sicke and died . As the beast inshape is very strange, so is it of strange docilitie, and apt to betaught, as by good experience we often proved." (Purchas, vol. iii .p. 560.)90 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Olaus Magnus has no mention of the Seal by thatname, but his description of the sea-calf canapply to no other animal. He writes (p. 226):Seal."Because in the Bothnick and Finland Sea, there is a vast company of sea-calves: wherefore I will set down briefly the nature ofthem, and the way to catch them, which I have seen. The sea-calf,which also in Latine is called helcus, hath its name from the likenessof a land - calf, and it hath a hard fleshy body; and therefore is hard tobe killed, but by breaking the temples of the head. They will low intheir sleep, thence are they called calves. They will learn, and withtheir voyce and countenance salute the company, with a confusedmurmuring; called by their names, they will answer: no creaturesleeps more profoundly; the fins that serve them for to swim in thesea, serve for legs on land , and they go hobling up and down as lamepeople do. Their skins, though taken from their bodies, have alwaysa sense of the seas, the right fin hath a soporiferous quality, to makeone sleep, if it be put under ones head. They that fear thunder, thinkthose tabernacles best to live in, that are made of sea-calves skins ,because onely this creature in the sea, as an eagle in the ayr, is safeand secure from the stroke of thunder."Camden also uses the word sea- calf, in his notes onSussex."Selsey befor said , is somewhat lower in the Saxon tongue, sealsey, that is to say, the Isle of Sea-calves, for these in our language wecall seale, which alwaies seek to islands, and to the shore, for to bringforth their yong, but now it is most famous for good co*ckles, and fulllobsters. " (Britain, p. 308, ed . Holland, 1610.)From Carew's Survey ofCornwall, published 1602, welearn that seals were no unfrequent visitors on the Cornishcoast. Carew writes:-"The seal, or soyl, is in making and growth not unlike a pig, uglyfaced, and footed like a moldwarp [mole]; he delighteth in music, orany loud noise, and thereby is trained to approach near the shore, andto shew himself almost wholly above water. They also come on landand lie sleeping in holes of the cliffs; but are now and then wakedwith the deadly greeting of a bullet in their sides." (Page 106, ed.1811.)Seal, Fish or Flesh? 91Spenser attributes combativeness to the seal, but unfortunately does not state his authority: —"As when a dolphin and a sele are metIn the wide champian of the ocean plaine,With cruell chaufe their courages they whet,The masterdome of each by force to gaine."(Faerie Queene, vol. 2, 15.)The amphibious nature of the seal caused great perplexity to Catholics, as to whether they might lawfullyindulge in it during Lent. After much discussion , ecclesiastics came to the conclusion that if the creature weresurprised on land, and took refuge in the woods, men mustforbear to eat of it in Lent, when flesh is forbidden; butif he should run to the waters, men may safely eat thereof.This nice distinction deserves credit for its ingenuity, andwe may easily imagine that hungry sailors would take carethat seals, when pursued, took the desired direction.We find many notices and descriptions of the Whaleby the early navigators. The most accurateaccount of the different varieties of whales is Whale.given by Thomas Edge, in a narrative of the first whalingexpedition sent out by the Russian company in Londonto the coast of Greenland in the year 1611:-"The whale is a fish or sea-beast of a large bignesse, about sixtiefive foot long, and thirtie five foot thicke, his head is a third part ofall his bodies quantitie, his spacious mouth contayning a very greattongue, and all his finnes, which we call whale finnes. These finnesare fastned or rooted in his upper chap, and spread over his tongue onboth sides his mouth, being in number about two hundred and fiftieon one side, and as many on the other side. The longest finnes areplaced in the midst of his mouth, and the rest doe shorten by theirproportionable degrees, backward and forwards, from ten or elevenfoot long to foure inches in length, his eyes are not much bigger then an oxes eyes. There are eight severall kinds of whales, anddiffering the one from the other in goodnesse, quantitie and qualitie."The first sort of whale is called the grand-bay, taking his namefrom Grand Bay in Newfoundland, as having there beene first killed:92 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.he is blacke of colour, with a smooth skinne, and white underneaththe chaps."The second sort of whale is called sarda, of the same colour as theformer, but somewhat lesser, and the finnes likewise lesser, and yeeldsin oyle according to his bignesse . This whale hath naturally growingupon his backe white things like unto barnacles."The third sort of whale is called trumpa, being as long as thefirst but thicker forwards, of colour more gray then the former, havingbut one spoute in his head, and the rest have all two; he hath inhis mouth teeth about a span long, and as thicke as a mans wrist, butno finnes. In the head of this whale is the permesitie, which lieththere in a hole like a well. This is the whale that is supposed to yeeldthe ambergreese." The fourth sort of whale is called otta sotta , and is of the samecolour of the trumpa, having finnes in his mouth all white, but notabove halfe a yard long, being thicker then the trumpa, but not solong." The fift sort of whale is called gibarta , of colour blacke like thetwo first, saving that it hath standing upon the top of his backe, afinne half a yard long. This whale is as bigge as the first, his finslittle or nothing worth, being not above halfe a yard long."The sixt sort is called sedena, being of a whitly colour, and biggerthen any of the former, the finnes not above one foot long, and heyeelds little or no oyle."The seventh is called sedena negro, of colour blacke, with a bumpeon his backe; this whale yeelds neither oyle, finnes, nor teeth, andyet he is of a great bignesse." The eight sort is called sewria, of colour as white as snow,of the bignesse of a wherrie, he yeelds not above one hogshead or twoof oyle, nor any finnes, and is good meate to be eaten." (Purchas, vol.iii. p. 476.)Olaus Magnus, who ought to be the chief authority onthe subject of whales, owing to the opportunities he hadfor personal observation, gives such scope to his imagination that his account is more amusing than instructive.He writes:-" There are many kinds of whales, some are hairy, and of fouracres in bigness: the acre is 240 foot long, and 120 broad: some aresmooth-skinned, and those are smaller, and are taken in the west andnorthern sea; some have their jaws long and full of teeth, and theteeth are 6 or 8 or 12 foot long, but their two dog- teeth, or tushes, areIntroduction of Whalebone.93longer than the rest, underneath like a horn, like the teeth of bores,or elephants. This kind of whale hath a fit mouth to eat: and hiseyes are so large, that 15 men may sit in the room of each of them.His horns are 6 or 7 foot long, and he hath 250 upon each eye, ashard as horn, that he can stir stiff or gentle, either before, or behind.These grow together, to defend his eyes in tempestuous weather, orwhen any other beast that is his enemy sets upon him; nor is ita wonder, that he hath so many horns though they be very troublesometo him; when as between his eyes, the space of his forehead is 15 or20 foot." (Page 226.)Du Bartas is scarcely less absurd: —" Our fear-less saylers, in far voyages(More led by gain's hope than their compasses)On th' Indian shore, have somtime noted somWhose bodies covered two broad acres room:And in the South-seas they have also seenSome like high-topped and huge armed treen;And other-som whose monstrous backs did bearTwo mighty wheels with whirling spokes, that were Much like the winged and wide spreading saylesOf any winde-mill turn'd with merry gales."(Divine Weekes, p. 40.)The whale fishery, so important a branch of maritimeindustry and adventure, had its rise in the time ofElizabeth. Hakluyt, 1575, reports the request of anhonest merchant, by letter to a friend of his, to be advisedand directed in the course of killing the whale. The oilwas the only produce for which the whale was at firstvalued. Anderson, in his Origin of Commerce, 1801 ,traces the introduction of whalebone into England to anaccident. Some English ships were sent, in 1593, to CapeBreton on a whaling expedition. At the entrance of theBay of Saint Lawrence the sailors found no whales, butcame to a store of 800 whale fins which had been left onan island by some Biscay ship, that was afterwardswrecked. Deeming the fins of some value, the sailorsbrought them home, and we have soon after this date the94 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.first mention of whale bones or fins being used in variousarticles of ladies' dress. These fins, as explained byEdge, are the horny laminæ adhering to the upper jawof the whale, and are a substitute for teeth. They areonly found in perfection in the Greenland whale and afew other varieties. The spermaceti and white whalespossess teeth and no fins. The expression so often used,"white as whale's bone," arose from the supposition on thepart of early English writers that ivory was a portion ofthe bones of the whale. The ivory of the Middle Ageswas supplied chiefly by the walrus, whose teeth werebrought over in considerable quantities by the Northernfishermen. Shakspeare only follows numerous exampleswhen he writes:-"This is the flower that smiles on every one,To show his teeth as white as whale his bone."(Love's Labour Lost, v. 2, 331.)Harrison, describing the extreme North of Scotlandand the Orkney Isles, writes:-" Such plentie of whales also are taken on this coast that the verietithe hath beene knowne in some one yeere to amount unto seavenand twentie whales of one greatnesse and other." (Holinshed, vol . i .p. 73, ed. 1807.)Shakspeare mentions the whale several times, and it isquite possible he may have seen a stranded specimen.Gesner tells of a whale that was cast on shore near Tynemouth Haven, in 1532, which measured ninety feet inlength.Marine Monsters.The Whirlpool is included by Harrison in his listof English fishes. The description of thiscreature by Olaus Magnus will, however,apply to no known species. The northern chroniclerinforms us that-"the whirlpool, or prister, is of the kind of whales, two hundredcubits long, and is very cruel. For, to the danger of sea- men, he willSpenser's Marine Monsters. 95sometimes raise himself beyond the sail-yards, and casts such floods ofwaters above his head, which he had sucked in , that with a cloud ofthem he will often sink the strongest ships, or expose the marinersto extream danger. This beast hath also a long and large round mouthlike a lamprey, whereby he sucks in his meat or water, and by hisweight cast upon the fore or hinder deck, sinks and drowns a ship. Hehath a thick black skin all his body over, long fins like to broad feet,and a forked tail, 15 or 20 feet broad, wherewith he forcibly bindsany parts of the ship, he twists it about. A trumpet of war isthe fit remedy against him, by reason of the sharp noise, which hecannot endure." (Page 226.)By other writers the sawfish is called the whirlpool, orphyseter. It would not, perhaps, be worth while tonotice these extravagancies but that Spenser must havesome authority or suggestion for his list of marinemonsters in the Faerie Queene (xii. 23, 24): —"Spring-headed hydres; and sea- shouldring whales,Great whirlpooles, which all fishes make to flee;Bright scolopendraes armd with silver scales;Mighty monoceros with immeasured tayles;"The dreadful fish, that hath deserved the nameOf Death, and like him lookes in dreadfull hew;The griesly wasserman, that makes his gameThe flying ships with swiftness to pursew;The horrible satyre, that doth shewHis fearefull face in time of greatest storme;Huge ziffius, whom mariners eschewNo less than rockes, as travellers informe;And greedy rosmarines with visages deforme. "In these lines scolopendra, the name of the centipede, isprobably applied to the sea-serpent; monoceros is thenarwhal or sea-unicorn; the dreadful fish is the morse orwalrus, so also is the rosmarine; the satyr is the merman,dreaded by sailors as foreboding tempest; ziffius is probably xiphias, the sword-fish.Harrison mentions both the Dolphin and the porpoise,and they seem to have been generally recognised as distinct species, notwithstanding Dolphin.96 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.their strong likeness. Sir Richard Hawkins, in hisaccount of a voyage to the South Sea, writes:-"Ordinarily such ships as navigate between the tropickes areaccompanied with three sorts of fish: the dolphin, which the Spaniardscall dozado: the bonito, or Spanish mackerill: and the sharke, aliastiberune. The dolphin I hold to be one of the swiftest fishes in thesea. He is like unto a breame, but that he is longer and thinner, andhis scales very small. Hee is of the colour of the rain-bow, and hishead different to other fishes; for, from his mouth halfe a span it goethstraite upright, as the head of a wherry, or the cut-water of a ship.He is very good meate if he be in season, but the best part of him ishis head, which is great. They are some bigger, some lesser; thegreatest that I have seene might be some foure foot long. " (Purchas,vol. iv. p. 1330.)In the city pageants a dolphin was a common device.It was sometimes crowned, and then represented the armsof the Fishmongers' Company. In allusion to the classicalmyth, Arion, the lyric poet of Lesbos, was often depictedseated on the dolphin's back. Ben Jonson refers twiceto this device:-"Another Orpheus, you slave , another Orpheus! An Arion ridingon the back of a dolphin." ( The Poetaster, iv. 1.)"Give him allowance,And that but a moderate, he will make a syrenSing in the kettle, send in an ArionIn a brave broth, and of a watery green,Just the sea-colour, mounted on the backOf a grown conger, but in such a postureAs all the world would take him for a dolphin. "(The Staple of News, iii. 2.)Shakspeare possibly refers to one of these city shows:-"My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememberestSince once I sat upon a promontory,And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's backUttering such dulcet and harmonious breathArion on a Dolphin.That the rude sea grew civil at her songAnd certain stars shot madly from their spheres,To hear the sea- maid's music. "(Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1, 148. )97Here, as elsewhere, Shakspeare confuses the mermaid ofmediæval times with the siren of classical authors. Thefish-like tail of the mermaid, which would have renderedher quite independent of any assistance from the dolphin,would also have caused her to have a somewhat insecureseat on so frolicsome a steed. In Twelfth Night (i. 2, 14)we find another allusion to this water Pegasus . Thecaptain of the shipwrecked vessel encourages Viola tohope for her brother's safety by telling how he sawSebastian bind himself-"To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,I saw him hold acquaintance with the wavesSo long as I could see. "Sir Thomas Browne treats as a vulgar error the notionthat the back of the dolphin was permanently bowed,alluded to by Ford: —"Straight comes a dolphin playing near your ship,Heaving his crooked back up. "(The Lover's Melancholy, i. 1.)In art the dolphin was employed as an emblem ofsocial feeling and affection.Narwhal.The Narwhal, or Sea- Unicorn, another semi-mythicalbeast of the sea, was the object of much speculation, and his horn was supposed to havethe same virtue as an antidote to poison as that of theland unicorn. It is described in a letter quoted fromMr. Wormen, a Danish gentleman, as having the headof a whale, with a long pointed horn, fixed to the upperpart of the left jawbone. The creature is called by theIcelanders narwhall, which implies a whale living uponH98 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.a dead carcase-wall signifying a whale and nar thecarcase (Churchill's Voyages, vol. i . ) .Baffin, the discoverer, writes to Sir John Wostenholme:-"As for the sea unicorne, it being a great fish, having a long hornor bone growing forth of his forehead or nostrill, such as Sir Martin Frobisher in his second voyage found one, in divers places we sawthem, which if the horne be of any good value, no doubt but many ofthem may be killed . " (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 843.)The specimen found by Frobisher is described by him inHakluyt's Travels. It is a pity that the experiment recorded was not tried also on some non-poisonousinsect." On this west shore," he writes, ".we found a dead fish floating,which had in his nose a horne streight and torquet, of length two yardslacking two ynches. Being broken in the top , here we might perceiveit hollow, into the which some of our sailors, putting spiders, theypresently died. I saw not the triall hereof, but it was reported untome of a truth: by the vertue whereof we supposed it to be the seaunicorne. " (Hakluyt, vol . iii . p. 59.)Porpoise.The appearance of the Porpoise was alwaysheld to foretell a storm: -Come, porpoise, where's Haterius?His gout keeps him most miserably constant!Your dancing shows a tempest."Webster writes:—(BEN JONSON, Sejanus, v. 10.)"He lifts his nose like a porpus before a storm."(duch*ess of Malfy. )Shakspeare's only reference to the porpoise is to thesame effect. The fishermen in Pericles discuss the recenttempest, and one of them sagely observes:-66'Nay, master, said not I as much when I saw the porpus how hebounced and tumbled? They say they're half fish , half flesh: a plagueon them! they ne'er come but I look to be washed ” (ii. 1, 24) .Stewed Porpoise.99The porpoise, though not now considered a palatabledish, was in earlier times frequently eaten. It was eventhought a dainty, and was dressed in a variety of ways.Sometimes it was prepared with a sauce made of finebread-crumbs, mixed with vinegar and sugar; at othertimes it was roasted or stewed with blanched almonds oronions. Andrew Boorde, in his Dietary, 1542, speakscontemptuously of its culinary properties: " A yongeporpesse, the which kynde of fysshe is nother praysed inthe Olde Testament nor in physycke " (Early EnglishText Society, ed. Furnivall, 1870, p. 268.)The Ork, or Orca, was apparently the same as thegrampus, thresher, or ardluk. It is notunlike the porpoise in shape, but largerOrk.and more powerful. It has been invested by poets withmythical powers. Du Bartas writes::--"When on the surges I perceive, from far,Th' ork, whirl- poole whale, or huffing physeter,Methinks I see the wandering ile again(Ortygian Delos) floating on the main. "(Divine Weekes, p. 40.)Olaus Magnus tells us that-"an orca is like a hull turned inside outward; a beast with fierceteeth, with which as with the stern of a ship he rends the whales guts,and tears his calves body, or he quickly runs and drives him up anddown with his prickly back, that he makes him run to fords and shores.But the whale that cannot turn its huge body, not knowing how toresist the wily orca , puts all its hopes in flight: yet that flight is weak,because this sluggish beast, burdened with its own weight, wants oneto guide her, to fly to the foords to escape the dangers." (Page 226.)Jonas Poole, one of the early whalers, gives a similar,but less exaggerated, description of this cetacean. Thegrampus is in truth the great terror of the inhabitantsof the northern seas. Not content with seals and porpoises, it will even attack large whales, and its appearanceis sufficient to put whole shoals of the latter to flight.100 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The grampus has a fin on its back, but not of the dimensions or sharpness sometimes ascribed to it. Insatiate inits appetite, this creature may well be accounted theemblem of voracity.66 "Twere to consider too curiously " to attempt to givean accurate scientific description of the marine monstrosity which Lear imagined to exceed in deformityfilial ingratitude:-" Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend,More hideous when thou show'st thee in a childThan the sea- monster."(Lear, i. 4, 281.)Blefkens, whose account of Iceland in 1563 is includedin Purchas's Collection, has evolved from his inner consciousness a creature of whom he might have written—"Which cannot look more hideously upon meThan I have drawn it in my fantasy: "-"The Iseland Sea hath a monster also, whose name is unknowne.They judge it a kinde of whale at the first sight, when hee shews hishead out of the sea, he so scarreth men that they fall downe almostdead. His square head hath flaming eyes, on both sides fenced withlong hornes; his body is blacke, and beset with black quills. If he beseen by night his eyes are fiery, which lighten his whole head, whichhe putteth out of the sea. Nothing can either bee painted or imaginedmore fearefull. Olaus Magnus makes mention of this monster in histwentieth booke, and saith that it is twelve cubits long." (Purchas,vol. iii . p. 650.)Manatee.It has been thought that the Manatee, or Dugong, amarine animal, with a round head, two finlikeflappers, a long body, and a short broad tail ,was the original of the strange stories that were broughthome by travellers of the mermaids of the far West.Anything less like the form of a beautiful woman thanthis dull, shapeless creature it would be difficult toimagine. The manatee exhibited a few years ago at theThe Manatee. 101Westminster Aquarium, when seen at close quarters, wasan inert, clumsy-looking animal, bearing far more resemblance to an overgrown conger than to a human being.But sailors are gifted with considerable powers of fancy,and it may be that the appearance of this creature at dusk,with rounded head lifted above the waves, and sometimesholding its young one to its breast, had a sufficientlyhuman aspect to afford material at least for yarns.There are some good descriptions of the manatee bysome of the more accurate observers who " sailed theSpanish Main. " Robert Harcourt, in his relation of avoyage to Guiana, 1608, thus describes this animal:-" There is also a sea-fish which usually commeth into the freshwaters, especially in the winter and wet season. It is of great esteemeamongst us, and we account it halfe flesh, for the bloud of it is warm.It commeth up into the shallow waters in the drowned lands, and feedethupon grasse and weedes: the Indians name it coiumero, and the Spaniardsmanati, but we call it the sea-cow. In taste it is like beefe, will takesalt, and serve to victuall ships. Of this fish may bee made an excellentoile for many purposes; the fat of it is good to frie either fish or flesh.The hide, as I have heard, being dried in the sunne and kept from wet,will serve for targets and armour against the Indian arrowes. In thewet season the store of them are infinite. Some of these were heretofore brought into England by Sir Walter Rawleigh. " (Purchus,vol. iv. p. 1275.)Joseph Acosta, a learned Jesuit, and a careful writer, tellsus in his observations on the West Indies, that-"at the Islands which they cal Barlovente, which are Cuba, SaintDominique, Portrique, and Jamaique, they finde a fish which they callmanati, a strange kind of fish, if we may call it fish, a creature whichingenders her young ones alive, and doth nourish them with milke,feeding of grasse in the fields, but in effect it lives continually in thewater, and therefore they eate it as fish; yet when I did eate of it atSaint Dominique on a Friday I had some scruple, not for that whichis spoken, but for that in colour and taste it was like unto morsels ofveale. . . . Manate therefore, is a fish of the sea, of the biggest sort,and much greater than the tiburon [ shark] in length and breadth, andis very brutish and vile, so that it appeareth in forme like unto one of102 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.those great vessels made of goats skins, wherein they use to carry newwine in Median de Campom. The head of this beast is like the headof an oxe, with also like eyes, and hath in the place of armes, two greatstumps wherewith he swimmeth: it is a very gentle and tame beast,and commeth oftentimes out of the water to the next shoare, where ifhe finde any herbes or grasse he feedeth thereof." (Purchas, vol. iii .pp. 931, 987.)This author is much perplexed by the mode by whichthe various species of animals, known and unknown, couldhave found their way to the Indies. As it was not likelythat people should have taken the fiercer kinds in ships,and as they could not have swum from the mainland, heconcludes that the old and new world were once united.A separate creation in a different part of the world woulddestroy the value of Noah's ark; moreover, the creationcould not be completed in six days if there were yet otherkinds to make. It follows then, according to Acosta—"that those beasts, of whose kindes wee finde not any but at theIndies, have passed thither from this continent, as wee have said ofother beasts that are knowne unto us. This supposed, I demand, howis it possible that none of their kinde should remayne here? and howthey are found there, being as it were travellers and strangers? Trulyit is a question that hath long held me in suspence. Wee must thensay, that though all beasts came out of the arke, yet by a naturallinstinct, and the providence of heaven, divers kindes dispersed themselves into divers regions, where they found themselves so well as theywould not part, or if they departed they did not preserve themselves,but in processe of time perished wholly, as we doe see it chance inmany things." (Page 964.)Robert Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy (vol. i .p. 497, ed. 1837) , alludes to the difficulty suggested bythe worthy Jesuit, but is equally at a loss to solve theproblem of the distribution of species. He writes:-66'Why doth Africa breed so many venemous beasts, Ireland none?Athens owles, Creet none? Why hath Daulis and Thebes no swallowes, so Pausanias informeth us, as well as the rest of Greece?—Ithacano hares, Pontus asses, Scythia swine? Whence come this variety ofcomplections, colours, plants, birds, beasts, metals, peculiar almost toMermaids. 103every place? Why so many thousand strange birds and beasts properto America alone, as Acosta demands? Were they created in six dayes,or ever in Noahs arke? If there, why are they not dispersed andfound in other countries? It is a thing, saith he, hath long held mein suspence. No Greek, Latine, Hebrew, ever heard of them before,and yet as differing from our European animals, as an egg and achesnut: and, which is more, kine, horses, sheep, etc. , till the Spaniardsbrought them were never heard of in those parts."The popular notion of the Mermaid owed its origin tothe classical fable of the siren, a sea maiden, who sat ona rock singing sweetly, and often luring mariners to theirdestruction. Shakspeare's mermaids are all of the sweetvoiced siren type. Drayton also confuses the two:-"To call for aid , and then to lie in wait,So the hyena murthers by deceit:By sweet enticement sudden death to bring,So from the rocks th' alluring mermaids sing."(England's Heroical Epistles.)The mediæval mermaid was supposed to be half fish , halfwoman, and there are many accounts of specimens thatwere exhibited at shows. In the time of Elizabeth themermaid was often adopted as a crest or charge, and washeraldically depicted as a beautiful woman, holding amirror in her right hand and combing her long goldenhair with her left. The arms of the Fishmongers' Company of London were supported most appropriately bya merman and a mermaid.The Mermaid tavern in Cornhill was the familiar resortof Shakspeare and other writers of the time, whose witcombats are commemorated by Beaumont in his epilogueto Ben Jonson:-"What things we have seenDone at the Mermaid! heard words that have beenSo nimble, and so full of subtile flame,As if that every one from whence they cameHad meant to put his whole life in a jest,And had resolved to live a fool the restOf his dull life."104 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Horse.CHAPTER VI.HOWEVER little Shakspeare cared for dogs he alwayswrites as if he loved horses. The enthusiasticpraises heaped upon his horse by the Dauphin,though spoken by a foreigner, are evidently genuine. Sois the grief of the poor groom of Richard's stable at thedegradation of " Roan Barbary. ">"Groom. O, how it yearn'd my heart when I beheldIn London streets, that coronation day,When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary,That horse that thou so often hast bestrid,That horse that I so carefully have dress'd!Rich. Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend ,How went he under him?Groom. So proudly as if he disdain'd the ground.Rich. So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back!That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand;This hand hath made him proud with clapping him.Would he not stumble? Would he not fall down,Since pride must have a fall , and break the neckOf that proud man that did usurp his back? "(Richard II., v. 5, 76.)The description of the courser of Adonis is almost toofamiliar to quote. The striking resemblance the linesbear to a passage in Du Bartas may, however, be worthnoting:-Horse tamed by Cain."Look, when a painter would surpass the life,In limning out a well-proportion'd steed,His art with nature's workmanship at strife,As if the dead the living should exceed;So did this horse excel a common oneIn shape, in courage, colour, pace, and bone."Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlock shag and long,Broad breast, full eye, small head and nostrils wide,High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong,Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide:Look, what a horse should have he did not lack,Save a proud rider on so proud a back."(Venus and Adonis, 11. 289–300.)105Du Bartas, in his sacred history of the world, tells howCain, when preparing to found a new habitation and acolony, turns for assistance to animals, as human beingsare scarce. The troops of wild horses bounding acrossthe plains attract his attention, and—66 Among a hundred brave, light, lusty horses(With curious eye marking their comly forces, )He chooseth one for his industrious proof,With round, high, hollow, smooth, brown, jetty hoof.With pasterns short, upright, but yet in mean;Dry sinewy shanks; strong, flesh- less knees, and lean;With hart-like legs , broad brest, and large behinde,With body large, smooth flanks, and double- chin'd;A crested neck bow'd like a half-bent bowe,Whereon a long, thin , curled mane doth flowe;A firm full tail, touching the lowly ground,With dock between two fair fat buttocks drownd;A pricked ear, that rests as little space,As his light foot; a lean, bare, bonny face,Thin joule, and head but of a middle size,Full, lively- flaming, quickly rowling eyes,Great foaming mouth, hot-fuming nostrill wide,Of chest-nut hair, his fore- head starrifi'd,Three milky feet, a feather on his brest,Whom seven-years-old at the next grass he ghest."(Divine Weekes and Workes, p. 106.)This description would better apply to a horse competing106 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.for a prize at a show than to the desert- born.Thereference to the " next grass " is whimsically out of place.Shakspeare was doubtless too well acquainted with thepoints of a good horse to seek instruction from a foreigner,but less likely still is it that the gallant Huguenot, Sieurdu Bartas, had ever seen the English poem. Both writersmay have derived their materials from some veterinarywork of the time. The date of Venus and Adonis is fixedby critics at about 1593. The complete translation ofthe Divine Weekes was published in 1606, but portions ofthe book had already appeared.Owing to the state of the roads, which were highlyunfavourable for wheeled traffic, horses were largelyemployed in England as a means of locomotion. NicanderNucius, in his Travels through England in the sixteenthcentury, observes that the English horses were for themost part white.Thomas Fuller is not particularly enthusiastic aboutthe English breed. Our English horses, he says-"have a mediocrity of all necessary good properties in them; asneither so slight as the Barb, nor so slovenly as the Flemish, nor sofiery as the Hungarian, nor so airy as the Spanish gennets, nor soearthly as those in the Low Countries, and generally all the Germanhorse. For stature and strength they are of a middle size, and arebothe seemly and serviceable in a good proportion. And, whilst theseller praiseth them too much, the buyer too little, the indifferentstander-by will give them this due commendation. Yorkshire dothbreed the best race of English horses, whose keeping commonly insteep and stony ground bringeth them to firmness of footing and hardness of hoof. Well may Philip be so common a name amongstthe gentry of this county, who are generally so delighted in horsemanship. " (Worthies of England, vol. ii . p. 491 , ed. 1811.)Hobby.Camden mentions an Irish variety ofhorse,with a special kind of pace:"They have likewise excellent good horses, wee terme the Hobies,which have not the same pace that other horses in their course have,but a soft and round amble, setting one legge before another veryfinely."Beauty of the Gennet. 107Fynes Moryson, describing the natural commodities ofthe Irish, says:-"Their horses, called hobbies, are much commended for theirambling pace and beuty: but Ireland yeelds few good horses forservice in war, and the said hobbies are much inferior to our geldingsin strength to endure long journies, and being bred in the fenny softground of Ireland, are soone lamed when they are brought intoEngland." (Itinerary, 1617, part iii . p. 160.)Gambald- Galloway.Galloway nags are said to have sprung from someSpanish stallions washed on shore at Galloway,during the wreck of the Armada.ing horses were managed horses of show and parade. Thegennet, which Froissart calls a light speedy pleasurehorse, Cotgrave makes a Spanish horse. Hackneys, aword derived from the French haquenée, and the Italianachinea, a little nag, and not, as Maitland (History ofLondon, p. 1365) supposes, from hired horses beingchiefly engaged for journeys to Hackney, were riddenin marches to ease the war-horses (Fosbroke, Enc. ofAntiquities, vol. ii . p. 1018, ed. 1843) .Gennet.The Gennet was kept principally for display, and wasa handsome showy animal. In Winwood'sState Papers (vol. ii . p. 149) we find a letterfrom Sir Charles Cornwallis, 1605, to the Earl ofSalisbury. He writes from Spain, of the Spaniards, “ Ifthey get but a day's rest they are not unlike yourpampered gennets, which are only estimable for theiroutward show, nothing for service of effect. " PhilipBliss, in his edition of Bishop Earle's Microcosmography,gives a passage from an early writer, name unknown, whoenthusiastically praises this kind of horse:-"When Nature first framed him she took a secret complacence inher worke. He is even her masterpeece in irracionall things, borrowingsomewhat of all things to set him forth . For example, his silke baycoat hee tooke from the chesnut; his necke from the rainbow, whichperhaps makes him rain so well. His maine belike he took from108 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Pegasus, making him a hobbie, to make this a compleat gennet,which main he wears so curld, much after the women's fashions nowadayes; this I am sure of, howsoever it becomes them, it sets forthour gennet well. His legges he borrowed from the hart, with hisswiftnesse, which make him a true courser indeed; the starres in hisforehead hee fetcht from heaven, which will not be much mist, therebeing so many."Montaigne, in his Essays, 1580, explains the originof the word Destrier, a name sometimes givento horses employed in tournaments:-Destrier.---" I am now become a grammarian; I who never learn'd anylanguage but by rote, and who do not yet know adjective, conjunction ,or ablative, I think I have read, that the Romans had a sort of horsesby them call'd funales, or dextrarios, which were either led-horses, or horses laid in at several stages to be taken fresh upon occasion; andthence it is, that we call our horses of service destriers: and ourromances commonly use the phrase of destrer for accompagner, to accompany. They also call'd such as were dress'd in such sort, thatrunning full speed side by side without bridle or saddle, the Romangentlemen arm'd at all pieces, would shift, and throw themselves from the one to the other, desultorios equos." (Essay 37.)In the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., thereare frequent mentions of the king's horses, and especiallyof a Barbary horse, called in one place the Barra horse,and in another the Barbarista horse. This horse mayhave been an Arabian sent as a present from some districtof Barbary. The high price of 7s. 2d. was paid at onetime for a bath for him.The drink prepared from mare's milk, now known askoumiss, is described by one of Purchas's Koumiss, pilgrims as early as the year 1253. Williamde Rubruquis, a French friar of the order of Minorites,went a missionary journey through Tartary and China,and sent a detailed account of his travels to King LouisIX. of France. He describes at some length the preparation of cosmos, or fermented mares' milk. As many as threethousand mares were kept on a single estate to furnish thesuperior article called caracosmos, or black cosmos, aRacing.109beverage reserved for the nobility. The milk, accordingto this traveller, was poured into a bladder, and shaken tillit formed a sediment as thick as butter; the clear portionof the liquid was strained off, and formed a pleasant,slightly intoxicating drink. The lees or dregs were givento servants (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 5) .Racing.The history of racing in England dates from the reignof James I. This monarch had a passionatefondness for field sports. Under his superintendence a code of regulations was drawn up, whichserved as a foundation for the laws of racing as theyexist to-day. Regular courses were established, in whichwhat were called running- horses competed. Manningham,in his Diary, takes notice of what was probably one ofthe earliest races in England:-" This day [April 6, 1602] there was a race at Sapley neereHuntingdon, invented by the gentlemen of that county at this Mr.Oliver Cromwell's horse won the sylver bell; and Mr. Cromwell hadthe glory of the day. Mr. Hynd came behinde." (Ed. CamdenSociety, 1868, p. 49.)In Baker's Chronicle, 1612, we read that privatematches between gentlemen who rode their own horseswere very common in that year. The most celebratedraces of the time were called bell courses. At theseraces the prize of a bell was given to the winner. It hasbeen contended that the phrase " to bear the bell " mayhave had its origin in this custom. It is probably toone of these matches that Imogen alludes:-" I have heard of riding wagers,Where horses have been nimbler than the sandsThat run i' the clock's behalf."(Cymbeline, iii. 2, 74. )Exhibitions of animals trained to perform tricks werenot unfrequent at this period. The plays of Marocco.the time contain many references to Marocco,a bay gelding, fourteen years old, belonging to a Scotch-110 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.man named Banks. This docile animal was taught toperform a variety of feats: among other exploits, he isreported to have climbed up to the top of St. Paul's,though whether he went up by the galleries within orover the dome is not recorded. " Could the little horsethat ambled on the top of St. Paul's carry all thepeople? " (Webster, Northward Hoe, iv. 1 ) . " He keepsmore ado with this monster than ever Banks did withhis horse " (Ben Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour,iv. 5) . " I'll teach thee to turn me into Banks his horseand to tell gentlemen I am a jugler and can shew tricks "(Decker, Satiromastix) .Shakspeare alludes to Marocco in Love's Labour Lost,i. 2: " How easy it is to put ' years ' to the word ' three,'and study three years in two words, the dancing horsewill tell you." As to the future fate of this intelligentquadruped we read in Mr. Payne Collier's PoeticalDecameron, 1820, that " poor Marocco and his masterwere many years afterwards both burnt in Portugal, or,as others say in Rome, for having dealings with thedevil. " Sir Walter Raleigh, in his History ofthe World,seems to have had a sort of presentiment of the fate ofpoor Banks, for speaking of " the divers kindes of unlawfulmagicke," he says,"And certainly if Bankes had lived in elder times he would haveshamed all the inchanters of the world, for whosoever was most famousamong them could never master or instruct any beast as he did his horse."Sir Kenelm Digby also mentions this animal, andobserves:-"He that should tell an Indian , what feates Banks his horse woulddo; how he would restore a glove to the due owner, after his masterhad whispered that mans name in his eare; how he would tell thejust number of pence in any piece of silver coyne barely shewed himby his master, would make him, I beleeve, admire more at this learnedbeast, then we do at their docile elephantes, upon the relations wehave of them. Whereas every one of us knoweth by what means hisMarocco. 111painefull tutor brought him to do all his trickes: and they are nowhitte more extraordinary, then a fawkeners manning of a hawke, andtrayning her to kill partridges, and to fly at the retrive. " (A Treatiseof Bodies, p. 321, ed. 1644.)Marocco's feats were apparently outdone in other countries. George Sandys, an Eastern traveller, during hisresidence in Cairo, seems to have been amused at thenumber and variety of performing animals in that city:dancing camels, talking ravens, learned dogs, and goatswere exhibited. "Asses they will teach to doe suchtricks, as if possessed with reason: to whom Bankes hishorse would have proved but a zany " (Purchas, vol. ii.p. 907).The earliest notice of Marocco's popularity occurs ina manuscript copy of one of Dr. Donne's satires, dated1593, preserved in the Harleian manuscript, No. 5110.The best account of Bankes and his horse, says Mr.Douce, is to be found in the notes to a French translation of Apuleius's Golden Ass, by Jean de Montlyard,1602.Ass.The Ass is a native of hot countries; and though ithas been in a measure acclimatized in England, the breed has degenerated in the transference. This animal does not appear to have beencommon in the time of Elizabeth. Nicander Nuciusnotes, in his travels in England in the reign of HenryVIII. , that this country is deficient in the breed of assesand mules.Batman derives the name ass from sedendo, sitting, asit were a beast to sit on; for men sat and rode uponasses before they used horses to ride upon. Or, hesuggests, this name asinus may come from a, nothaving, and synos, wit, as it were a beast without wit.Quoting Aristotle, Batman further states that as the assfeeds among thorns and briars he excites the enmityof the small birds that build in bushes. His habit of112 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.rubbing himself against the thorns causes the birds' eggsto fall out of their nests; and again, when he lifts hishead, " then by a strong blast the thorns moveth andshaketh, and of the great noyse the birdes be affeard fullsore and falleth out of the nest " (Batman upon Bartholome, p. 341 ) . The synonym donkey is never used in thetime of Shakspeare. It is impossible to write of thisanimal without recalling Dogberry's indignant exclamation, " O that I had been writ down an ass! " (MuchAdo About Nothing, iv. 2, 90).The Zebra, one of the most beautiful animals inhabiting the continent of Africa, is mentioned by Zebra. early travellers, though no specimen seems tohave been brought to England, at least up to the time ofShakspeare. Edward Lopes, a Portuguese, in his reportof the kingdom of Congo, states that-"there breedeth in this country, another creature, which they call azebra, commonly found also in certaine provinces of Barbary andAfrica. It hath a most singular skin, and peculiar from all othercreatures. For from the ridge of the chin downe towards the belly it is straked with rowes of three colours, blacke, white, and browne bay,about the breadth of three fingers a piece, and so meet againe togetherin a circle, every row, with his owne colour."After giving a full description of the various parts of theanimal the writer goes on to admire its speed, which, hesays, is admirable:--"insomuch as in Portugall and in Castile also, it is commonly used (asit were for a proverbe) as swift as a zebra, when they will signifie anexceeding quicknesse. " (Purchas, vol. ii . p. 1001.)Andrew Battell, an Englishman, writing a descriptionof the same part of Africa, also mentions the zevera, orzebra.Rhinoceros.John Huighen van Linschoten, in hisdescription of a voyage to Goa, informs usthat-The Armed Rhinoceros. 113" the Abada, or Rhinoceros, is not in India, but only in Benegala andPatane. They are lesse and lower then the elephant. It hath ashort horne upon the nose, in the hinder part somewhat bigge, andtoward the end sharper, of a browne, blew, and whitish colour; ithath a snout like a hog, and the skin upon the upper part of his bodyis all wrinckled, as it were armed with shields or targets. It is a greatenemie of the elephant. Some thinke it is the right unicorne, becausethat as yet there hath no other beene found, but onely by hear-say, andby the pictures of them. The Portugalls and those of Bengala affirme,that by the river Ganges in the kingdome of Bengala, are many ofthese rhinocerots, which when they will drinke, the other beasts standand waite upon them, till the rhinoceros hath drunke, and thrusttheir horne into the water, for hee cannot drinke but his horne mustbe under the water, because it standeth so close unto his nose, andmuzzle and then after him all the other beasts doe drinke. Theirhornes in India are much esteemed and used against all venome,poyson, and many other diseases. " (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1773.)Shakspeare has but one reference to this animal-"The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger " (Macbeth,iii. 4) . For the epithet armed he may have been indebtedto the foregoing description.The Indian rhinoceros is a one- horned species, and isprobably the original of the unicorn of the Greeks andRomans. It is , however, distinguished from that animalby Drayton:-"The unicorn leaves off his pride and closeThere sets him down by the rhinoceros. "(Noah's Flood.)In a pageant written by Thomas Heywood, on theoccasion of the mayoralty of Sir Maurice Abbot, printed1638, the following account is given of this curious animal:-"The second show by land is an Indian beast called a rhinoceros,which being presented to the life , is for the rarenesse thereof, more fitto beautifie a triumph. His head, necke, backe, sides, and thighes,armed by nature with impenetrable skales; his hide or skinne of thecolour of the boxe tree; in greatnesse equall with the elephant, buthis legges are somewhat shorter; and enemy to all beasts of rapineI114 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.and prey, as the lyon, leopard, beare, wolfe, tiger, and the like; but toothers, as the horse, asse, oxe, sheep, &c . which feede not upon the lifeand blood of the weaker, but of the grasse and hearbage of the field,harmlesse and gentle, ready to succour them, when they be any waydistressed. Hee hath short horne growing from his nose, being incontinual enmity with the elephant before hee encounter him, hesharpeneth it against a stone." (Lord Mayor's Pageants, ed. PercySociety, vol. 9, p. 71.)The enmity between these two animals, the elephant andrhinoceros, is a myth of ancient growth, which has survived to recent times. The amiability of the rhinocerostowards his weaker comrades is a trait of character forwhich this animal is indebted to the imagination ofHeywood.

Mr. Timbs, in his Eccentricities of the Animal Creation, 1869, tells us that a specimen of the one-horned variety was sent from India, to Emmanuel, King of Portugal, in the year 1513:- "The sovereign made a present of it to the pope; but the animal being seized during the passage with a fit of fury, occasioned the loss of the vessel in which it was transported." The first rhinoceros brought to England was in the year 1684. It is noticed by Evelyn in his Diary as the rhinoceros or unicorn. Another frequenter of the mudbanks of rivers in the Hippopota- East, the Hippopotamus, is thus described by mus. a Portuguese who travelled in Ethiopia and along the southern coast of Africa:— "In these rivers are many zouo or zoo, so they call the river-horses; greater then two of our horses together, with thick and short hinderlegs, having five clawes on each fore-foot, and foure on the hinder- foot; the footing large as it were of an elephant, the mouth wide and full of teeth, some of which are remarkable, each above two palmnes or spans long, the two lower straight up, and those above turned like a bores tusks, all foure being above a great spanne eminent from the mouth. The head is as big as of three oxen. Their hides are much thicker The Boar. 115 then an oxe-hide, all of one colour, ash-coloured gray, most of them with a white strake on the face all quite downe, and a starre in the fore-head, haire rough, mane little and short." (Purchas, vol. ii . , p. 1544.)

Edward Lopes, a Portuguese traveller, relates that oneof the islands at the mouth of the river Zaire, in Congo,is called the " Ile of horses, because there are bred andbrought up in it great store of these creatures that theGreekes call hippopotami, that is to say, water-horses. "This writer is a little in error in his etymology. Thename is derived from the words hippos, a horse, andpotamos, a river.There is no record of any living specimen of thehippopotamus being brought to England till the year1850, when the arrival of a young one at the ZoologicalGardens caused quite a flutter of interest.We come now to a more familiar animal. Boar."The great wild Bore of nature terrible,With two strong tushes for his armourie,Sometimes assailes the beare most horrible,And ' twixt them is a fight both fierce and deadly.He hunteth after marjoram and organie,Which as a whetstone doth his need supply."(CHESTER, Love's Martyr, p. 109.)The Boar, once the most abundant of British wildanimals, had been gradually driven by the cultivation ofthe forest lands into remote regions of England. According to Mr. Harting, the exact date of the extinction of thewild boar in England is uncertain. James I. was regaledwith " wild boar pie " on the occasion of a visit he paidto Lancashire, 1617, and his Majesty hunted this gamein Windsor Forest in the same year (Extinct BritishAnimals, p. 100) .Thomas Fuller writes of the oak woods of Hampshire:"Hantshire hogs are allowed by all for the best bacon, being ourEnglish Westphalian, and which well-ordered hath deceived the most116 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.judicious pallats. Here the swine feed in the forrest on plenty ofacorns (men's meat in the golden, hog's food in this iron age; ) which,going out lean, return home fat, without either care or cost to their owners. Nothing but fulness stinteth their feeding on the mastfalling from the trees, where also they lodge at liberty (not pent up, asin other places, to stacks of pease), which some assign the reason ofthe fineness of their flesh; which, though not all glorre (where nobancke of lean can be seen for the deluge of fat) , is no less delicious tothe taste, and more wholsome for the stomack. " (Worthies ofEngland,vol. i . p. 400, ed. 1811.)Glore is a word still used for fat in the north ofEngland.Venus, fearful for the safety of Adonis, reminds himof the dangerous nature of the beast he proposes toencounter: -" Thou hadst been gone,' quoth she, ' sweet boy, ere this,But that thou told'st me thou wouldst hunt the boar.O, be advised! thou know'st not what it isWith javelin's point a churlish swine to gore,Whose tushes never sheathed he whetteth still,Like to a mortal butcher bent to kill." On his bow-back he hath a battle setOf bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes;His eyes, like glow-worms, shine when he doth fret;His snout digs sepulchres where'er he goes;Being moved, he strikes whate'er is in his way,And whom he strikes his crooked tushes slay." His brawny sides, with hairy bristles arm'd,Are better proof than thy spear's point can enter;His short thick neck cannot be easily harm'd;Being ireful, on the lion he will venture;The thorny brambles and embracing bushes,As fearful of him, part, through whom he rushes.' "(Venus and Adonis, 11. 619-630. )The antiquary, John Stowe, gives an account of SaintAnthony's pigs, in his Survey of London, written in thereign of Elizabeth:--" Some distance from this, the Merchant-Tailors' Hall, is Finke'sLane, so called of Robert Finke, and Robert Finke his son, JamesSt. Anthony's Pigs.117Finke, and Rosamond Finke. On the north side of this street, fromover against the east corner of St. Martin's Oteswich Church, have yedivers fair and large houses till ye come to the hospital of St. Anthonie,sometime a cell to St. Anthonie's of Vienna. The proctors of thishouse were to collect the benevolence of charitable persons towards thebuilding and supporting thereof. And amongst other things observed inmy youth, I remember that the officers charged with oversight of themarkets in this city, did divers times take from the market people, pigsstarved, or otherwise unwholesome for man's sustenance; these theyslit in the ear. One of the proctors for St. Anthonie tied a bell aboutthe neck, and let it feed on the dunghills. No man would hurt or takethem up, but if any gave to them bread, or other feeding, such wouldthey know, watch for, and daily follow, whining till they had somewhat given them; whereupon was raised a proverb, ' Such an one willfollow such an one, and whine as it were an Anthonie pig; ' but if sucha pig grew to be fat and came to good liking, as oftimes they did,then the proctors would take him up to the use of the hospital. " ( Page69, ed. 1842.)It is said that pigs were placed under the protectionof Saint Anthony, but if such a precarious existence wasthe outcome of his favour, the poor animals might wellhave desired the patronage of some more kind- heartedsaint. An illustration of the custom recorded by Stoweis found in Bale's comedy of Thre Lawes, 1538, in whichplay Infedelity begins his address:-" Good Christen people, I'm come hyther verelyeAs a true proctor of the house of S. Antonye."He offers, among other charms-" Lo, here is a belle to hang upon hour hogge,And save your cattel from the bytynge of a dogge."John Leo, in his book of the history of Africa, givesa good description of another animal mostuseful to man, the Camel: —Camel."Camels are gentle and domesticall beasts, and are found in Africain great numbers, especially in the desarts of Libya, Numidia, andBarbaria. And these the Arabians esteeme to bee their principallpossessions and riches; so that speaking of the wealth of any of theirprinces, or governours, He hath, say they, so many thousand camels,118 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.and not so many thousand duckets. Of camels there are three kinds;whereof the first, being called hugiun, are grosse, and of a tall stature,and most fit to carrie burthens. The second kinde of camel is calledbecheti, and having a double bunch, are fit both to carrie burthens andto ride upon; and these are bred onely in Asia. The third kind, calledraguahill, are camels of a slender and low stature, which albeit theyare unfit to carry burthens, yet doe they so excell the two other kindsin swiftnesse, that in the space of one day they will travell one hundredmiles, and so continue over the desarts for eight or ten dayes togetherwith very little provender: and these doe the principall Arabians ofNumidia and the Moores of Libya usually ride upon. " (Purchas,vol. ii. p. 842.)The kind, here mentioned, with the double bunch, isthe Bakhtee, or Bactrian camel, found in Persia. By thethird variety Leo probably means the lighter breed ofcamel, usually called a dromedary.Mr. Palgrave, in his book on Central and Eastern Arabia,1865, demolishes the common belief that the camel andthe dromedary are distinct varieties. He says:-" It may be well to make my readers aware, once for all, of thefact that the popular home idea of a dromedary having two humpsand a camel one, or vice versa (for I have forgotten which of theanimals is supplied with a duplicate boss in coloured picture-books), isa simple mistake. The camel and the dromedary in Arabia are thesame identical genus and creature, excepting that the dromedary is ahigh-bred camel, and the camel a low- bred dromedary; exactly thesame distinction which exists between a race-horse and a hack; bothare horses, but the one of blood, the other not. The dromedary is therace-horse of his species, thin, elegant (or comparatively so), finehaired, light of step, easy of pace, and much more enduring of thirstthan the woolly, thick- built, heavy- footed, ungainly, and jolting camel.Both and each of them have only one hump, placed immediatelybehind their shoulders, where it serves as a fixing-point for the saddle or burden."This modern account confirms the accuracy of HenryTimberley, a traveller contemporary with Shakspeare,who writes:-"The dromedarie is like a camel, but that his head is lesse, hislegs longer, and a very small necke, the difference being as betweenea greyhound and a mastiff." (Purchas, vol. ii . p. 1642.)Voracity of the Camel. 119Shakspeare has several allusions to the camel, butnone to the dromedary. Chester, in his list of animals,1601 , distinguishes between them:-"The bunch-back'd , big-bon'd, swift- foote dromidary,Of dromas, the Greeke word, borrowing the name,For his quicke flying speedy property:Which easily these countrymen do tame.He'l go a hundred miles within one day,And never seeke in any place to stay."The camel is of nature flexible,For when a burden on his backe is bound,To ease the labourer, he is known most gentle,For why he kneeleth downe upon the ground:Suffering the man to put it off or on,As it seemes best in his discretion. "(Love's Martyr, p. 110.)The camel was credited with a prodigious appetite,but considering the long fasts to which it was occasionallysubjected this voracity was perhaps excusable."Anannestes. Why, lad, they be pure cameleons, they feed onlyupon air.“Mendacio. Cameleons? I'll be sworn some of your fiddlers berather camels, for, by their good wills, they will never leave eating."(Brewer, Lingua, iv. i.)Llama.The Llama is the representative of the camel in theNew World. There are several species, someof which are described by the early travellers.H. Brewer, in some notes on Chili and Peru, included inChurchill's collection, gives the llama the appropriatename of the camel- sheep, " whose neck is nearly four feetlong, and the wool very fine." Joseph Acosta, a learnedJesuit, in his Natural and Moral History of the East andWest Indies, writes:-"There is nothing in Peru of greater riches and profit than thecattell of the country, which our men call Indian sheepe, and the Indians120 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.in their generall language call them lama. For all things well considered, it is a beast of the greatest profit and least charge of any thatI know; from them they draw meate and clothing, as from the sheepeof Spaine. There are two kindes of these sheepe or lamas, the one theycall pacos, or sheepe bearing wool, and the other are bare, and havelittle wooll, so are they better for burthen; they are bigger thengreat sheepe, and lesse then calves, they have a very long necke, liketo a camel, whereof they have good need: for being high of stature , theyhave neede of a long necke, else should they be deformed. They areof divers colours, some all white, others all blacke, some grey, andsome spotted. " (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 968.)The same author also describes the Vicuna, a species ofllama:66 Amongst the most remarkable things at the Indies of Peru, bethe vicugnes, and sheepe of the countrie, as they call them, which aretractable beasts and of great profit. The vicugnes are wilde, and thesheepe are tame. Some thinke that the vicugnes are those which Aristotle, Plinie, and other authors call capreas, which are wilde goats,and in truth they have some resemblance, for the lightnesse they havein the woods and mountaines, but yet they are no goates, for thevicugnes have no hornes, as those have whereof Aristotle makes mention.These vicugnes are greater then goates and lesser than calves. Theirhaire is of the colour of dried roses, somewhat clearer. They have nohornes like stags and goates. They feed upon the highest tops of themountaines, which they call Pugnas. They are accustomed to sheerethese beasts, and of their fleece to make coverings and rugge of greatvalue, for that this wooll is like to white silke, which lasts long; andas the colour is naturall and not dyed, so is it perpetuall ." (Page 967.)The Guanaco, another species of llama, is describedby Pigafetta in an account of the voyage of Fernando deMagalhanes, as having the head and ears like those of amule, the body like a camel, legs like a stag, and a taillike that of a horse, which it resembled in the neighing.The natives of those parts of South America visited byMagellan wore a kind of shoe made of its skin, whichcaused their feet to appear like those of the animal. Onthis account Magellan, or as he is here called , Magalhanes,named the people Pata-gones: Pata signifying in theThe Elk.121Spanish language a hoof or paw (Burney's Travels, p. 34,ed. 1802). Xaco is a name given to the llama by anothertraveller.The first llama brought to Europe was landed atMiddleburgh, in 1558, and sent as a present to theGerman Emperor. A rude figure of this animal, engraved at Nuremberg, was copied by Gesner, the greatnaturalist of the time, in his work on quadrupeds(Bennett, Menagerie ofthe Zoological Society, 1830).Elk or Moose.Of the known varieties of deer the largest was theElk. This animal is a native of NorthernEurope and Asia. It also inhabits NorthAmerica, where it is usually called the Moose, from theIndian word musu. It is described in an account ofthe discovery and colonization of New England: -

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"There is also a certaine beast, that the natives call a mosse, heeis as big bodies as an oxe, headed like a fallow deere, with a broadpalme, which hee mues every yeare, as dothe the deere, and neck likea red deere, with a short mane running down along the ranes of hisback, his haire long like an elke, but esteemed to be better thenthat for saddlers use, he hath likewise a great bunch hanging downeunder his throat, and is of the colour of our blacker sort of fallowdeere, his legs are long, and his feet as big as the feet of our oxen, histaile is longer then the single of a deere. His fleshe is excellentfood, which the natives use to jerkin and keepe all the yeere to servetheir turne, and so proves very serviceable for their use." (Purchas,vol. iv. p. 1829.)Another traveller asserts that " the elk, that so muchdesired and salutiferous beast is frequently to be met within those parts, and which for the virtue of one of his feethas obtained the name of ncoco, signifying the excellentbeast " (Churchill's Voyages, vol. i . p. 537) . Drayton, inhis poem, Noah's Flood, represents this animal as takinghis place in the procession towards the ark:-"The great unwieldly elk, whose skin is of much proof,Throngs with the rest t' attain this wooden roof."122 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Shields and targets were made of the skin of the elk,which were thick enough to resist the point of thesharpest spear.In Kennet's History of England, 1706, we find mention of an animal whose name is not to be found in moderndictionaries. We are told that Sir Hierom Bowes, theEnglish ambassador to Russia, 1583, was--"the first ( if an historian may have leave to mention so trivial amatter) who brought into England the beast call'd a machlis, neverbefore seen here; it is like an elk, in Latin alce, having no joints inthe legs and yet wonderful swift. He brought also certain fallow deerof admirable swiftness, which being yoked together, would draw aman sitting in a sled with incredible speed." (Vol. ii. p. 493.)The machlis was in all probability the elk, and the fallowdeer were no doubt reindeer.Topsell (p. 592) gives us some information, etymological and otherwise, concerning that most Reindeer. valuable animal to the natives of the coldregions which it inhabits, the Reindeer." This beast is called by the Latines rangifer, by the Germainsrein, reiner, raineger, reinsthier, by the French raingier, and ranglier,and the later Latins call it reingus. It is a beast altogither unknowneto the auncient Græcians and Latins, except the machlis that Plinyspeaketh of be it. This beast was first of all discovered by OlausMagnus in this northerne part of the world, towardes the Poaleattique, as in Norway, Swetia, and Scandinavia, at the first sightwhereof he called it raingifer, because he beareth hornes on his head likethe boughes of a tree. This beast chaungeth his colour, according tothe time of the yeare, and also according to the quality of the placewherein he feedeth, which appeareth by this, because some of them arefound to be of the colour of asses, and shortly after to be like hartes.The King of Swetia had ten of them nourished at Lappa, which hecaused every day to be driven unto the mountains into the colde ayre,for they were not able to endure the heat. The mouth of this beastis like the mouth of a cow, they many times come out of Laponiainto Swetia, where they are wonderfully anoied with wolves, but theygather themselves togither in a ring, and so fight against their enimieswith their hornes. They are also in their owne naturall countreyThe Reindeer. 123annoyed with gulons [gluttons], and generally all beastes that liveupon the spoile of flesh, are enemies unto them, and desire to destroyand eate them. In their pace, both slow and speedie, the articles oftheir legs make a noise like the craking of nuts. There was oneof these beasts given unto the Duke of Saxony in the year of our Lord,1561."Olaus Magnus, the chronicler of Northern Europereferred to in the preceding passage, informs us that—"in the northern parts of both the Bothnians, ( for so are the utmostparts of the north countrey called, as if it were from the bottome of avessel) and Great Lapland, there is a beast with three horns, that is ofthe kind of stags, but is far taller, stronger, and swifter: and it iscalled rangifer, for two reasons; one is, because it carryeth high hornson the head, like the boughs of an oke- tree; the other is, because theinstruments that are put upon the horns and breast to draw theirwaggons withall in winter, are called in that language rancha andlochai, of these horns it hath two bigger than the rest, growing as thestags horns do; but they are with more branches, and farther out, forthey augment to fifteen branches. Another stands in the middle oftheir head, with little small branches shorter than the other, standinground about it. These arm the head on all sides against the beaststhat are enemies unto it, especially. wolves; and it shews comely, andto be admired amongst strange things. The meat this beast eatethis mountain moss, that is white, chiefly in winter, that lyes on thesuperficies of the ground covered with snow. And though these snowsbe thick, yet by an instinct of nature, will it ' dig in them like a wildehorse to seek for its neat. In summer it feeds on leaves and boughsof trees, better standing and going, than stooping down the head,(because the horns are too crooked forward) and that inclining thehead obliquely, and on one side. It hath a mane like a horse, and thehoofs are divided in two." If theybe carried into other countries, especially beyond seas, theywill not live long, either by reason of the climate changes, or unusualfood they feed on, unless their ordinary keeper feeds them; as Iremember that formerly the most illustrious Prince of Sweden, StenoSture, the younger, sent six of these rangifers to Frederick Duke ofHolsatia, and he sent two keepers with them, the man and wife thatwere Laplanders; these being carried out of their native countrey, andbeing under the government of others, because they wanted their rest,and manner of living, neither they nor the beasts, wanting a particularcare for them, did live long. Likewise in the year of our Lord, 1533,124 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Gustavus King of Sweden sent ten pair of these beasts to some noblemen in Prussia, both for sight, and for propagation, and they were allset free into the woods but there came nothing of it and changing theplace did not profit for their increase." (History of the Goths, Swedes,and Vandals, p. 176. )Olaus Magnus, whose work on the manners, customs,and wars of the northern nations of Europe is frequentlyquoted by writers of the Elizabethan era, was Archbishopof Upsal, and Metropolitan of Sweden. He died in 1568.His work was originally published in Latin. It containsmuch information not found elsewhere, but is uncriticallywritten, and the author's unbounded credulity leads himoccasionally to make the most absurd statements with theprofoundest gravity.Red Deer.The Red Deer, the most important of the wild animalsof our own country, must have been at thistime extremely plentiful in the foreststhroughout the land. Fynes Moryson, 1591, speaks ofthe number and extent of parks containing both red andfallow deer existing in his time:—"The kings forrests have innumerable heards of red deare, and allparts have such plenty of fallow deare, as every gentleman of fivehundred or a thousand pounds rent by the yeere hath a parke forthem inclosed with pales of wood for two or three miles compasse.Yet this prodigall age hath so forced gentlemen to improve theirrevenews, as many of these grounds are by them disparked, and converted to feed cattell. Lastly ( without offence be it spoken) I willboldly say, that England ( yea perhaps one county thereof) hath morefallow deare, then all Europe that I have seene." (Itinerary, partiii. b. 2, p. 148.)In Ireland, however, he finds a different state of things:-"The Earle of Ormond in Munster, and the Earle of Kildare inLemster, had each of them a small parke inclosed for fallow deare, andI have not seene any other parke in Ireland , nor have heard that theyhad any other at that time, yet in many woods they have many reddeare, loosely scattered, which seeme more plentifull, because the inhabitants used not to hunt them, but onely the governours and commanders had them sometimes killed with the piece. " (Page 160.)Sale of Venison.125Englishmen who travelled for pleasure were not verynumerous at this period. Fynes Moryson was a gentleman of good position and ample means. He travelled forthe space of twelve years through Germany, Bohemia,and several other countries of Europe. His Itinerary,which is an account of his wanderings, was first written inLatin, and then translated by himself into English. Itextends over the years 1591 to 1603. This work containsmany interesting details concerning early manners, bothEnglish and foreign. Moryson died about the year 1614.John Norden, in his Description of Essex, 1594, writes:-"About the hundredes of Waltham, Onger, Becontré, and mucheof the Libertie of Havering are for the most part woods and woodiegroundes, and foreste, as the most parte of Essex in time paste hathbene. This forest is well replenished with deere , red and fallow, whoseeme noe good neighbors to the foreste inhabitantes: but the kindneswhich they receyve of the forest, may worke their patience towardesthe game. Ther is also nere Hatfeylde Broadokes a chace called Hatfeyld Chace, a grounde well replenished with fallow deare. Thisshire seemeth not anie wher altogether destitute of wood, thowgh nowher well stored. It is full of parkes." (Page 9, ed. Camden Society. )Thomas Fuller bewails the necessity which forced landlords to economize, and the consequent decrease in numberof both deer and parks. He writes:-"Deer are daily diminished in England, since the gentry are necessitated into thrift, and are forced to turn their pleasure into profit:'jam seges est ubi parcus erat; ' and, since the sale of bucks hath become ordinary, I believe, in process of time, the best-stored park willbe found in a cook's shop in London." ( Worthies of England, vol. ii.p. 217.)James I., who like his predecessor, Elizabeth, tookgreat delight in hunting, has generally hadthe credit of introducing the dark varietyFallowDeer.of fallow deer into England. In the State Papers of histime there is more than one allusion to expenses for thetransfer of deer from Denmark to this country.126 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.So tenacious was James of any interference with hisfavourite sport, that a writer of the time declares that inhis reign one man might with greater safety kill anotherman than cause the death of a stag.In the Antiquarian Repertory, 1807 (vol. i . p. 2) , afeat of agility and skill in horsemanship is reported ofone John Selwyn, an under keeper of the park at Oatlands, in Surrey, in the reign of Elizabeth . A grandstag-hunt was given in Oatlands Park, on the occasion ofher Majesty's visit to its owner. Selwyn attended, aswas the duty of his office, and in the heat of the chasesuddenly leaped from his horse upon the back of thestag, both running at that time with their utmost speed,and kept his seat gracefully in spite of every effort of theaffrighted beast to dislodge him. Then drawing hissword, with it he guided the stag towards the Queen, andcoming near her presence, plunged it into its throat, sothat the animal fell dead at her feet. This was thoughtsufficiently wonderful to be chronicled on his monument,and he is accordingly there portrayed in the act of stabbing the beast. The brass which records this feat ofactivity was, at the beginning of the present century,preserved in the church of Walton-on- Thames, butwhether it has survived the epidemic of restoration fromwhich so many churches have suffered in late years isuncertain.Hunting the stag was the most popular sport of theMiddle Ages. The works on hunting were Hunting. books without which no gentleman's librarywas complete, and to make a mistake in any of thetechnical terms employed was to show a lamentableignorance of the ways of good society. The pages ofboth poets and dramatists abound in allusions to thispastime. Shakspeare's knowledge of woodcraft is frequently apparent. A spirited account of a stag-hunt, inthe Return from Parnassus, a play written about the yearHunting Terms. 1271600, is so illustrative, and contains so much of theglossary of the stag-hunters, that quotation of it may notbe out of place. The passage is purposely crowded withtechnical expressions, in order to confuse and put tosilence the scholar, Academico:-"Amoretto. It was my pleasure two dayes ago, to take a gallantleash of greyhounds, and into my fathers parke I went, accompaniedwith two or three noblemen of my neere acquaintance, desiring toshew them some of the sport: I caused the keeper to sever the rascalldeere, from the bucks of the first head; now sir, a bucke the first yeereis a fawne, the second yeare a pricket, the third yeare a sorell, thefourth yeare a soare, the fift a buck of the first head, the sixt yeare acompleat buck: as likewise your hart is the first yeare a calfe, thesecond yeare a brochet, the third yeare a spade, the fourth yeare astagge, the fift yeare a great stagge, the sixt yeare a hart: as likewisethe roe-bucke is the first yeare a kid , the second yeare a girl , the thirdyeare a hemuse, and these are your speciall beasts for chase, or, as wehuntsmen call it, for venery. . . . Now sir, after much travell wesingled a buck, I rode that same time upon a roane gelding, and stoodto intercept from the thicket: the buck broke gallantly; my greatswift being disadvantaged in his slip, was at the first behinde, marry,presently coted and out- stript them, when, as the hart presently descended to the river, and being in the water, proferd , and reproferd, andproferd againe and at last he upstarted at the other side of the water,which we call soyle of the hart, and there other huntsmen met himwith an addauntreley: we followed in hard chase for the space of eighthoures, thrise our hounds were at default, then we cryed a slaine,streight so ho; through good reclaiming my faulty hounds found theirgame againe, and so went through the woods with gallant notice ofmusicke, resembling so many viols de gambo: at last the hart laidhim downe, and the hounds seized upon him, he groned, and wept,and dyed. In good faith it made me weepe too, to think of Acteon'sfortune, which my Ovid speaks of. " (Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. ix. ,ed. W. C. Hazlit, 1874.)In Love's Labour Lost the pedant Holofernes plays onthe words pricket, sore, and sorel (Act iv. sc. 2) .Ben Jonson has many hunting allusions. In hispretty pastoral fragment, The Sad Shepherd (i . 1), occursthe following:-128 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time."A hart of tenI trow he be, madam, or blame your men:For by his slot, his entries, and his port,His frayings, fewmets, he doth promise sport,And standing ' fore the dogs: he bears a headLarge and well beamed, with all rights summed and spread . "The slot of a deer is the print of his feet in the ground;entries are places through which the deer has latelypassed, which indicate his size; frayings are the peelingsof the horns. Many other phrases are met with in plays,such as abature, grass trampled down by the passingdeer; and foile, grass only slightly pressed down."Besides these ambiguous contigigrated phrases," writes JohnTaylor, the Water Poet, " the horns have many dogmatical epithets, asa hart hath the burrs, the pearls, the antlers, the surantlers, the royals,the surroyals, and the croches. A buck's horns are composed of burr,beam, branch, advancer, palm, and speller. I think Nimrod the greathunter would have been a madman or a wood- man, if he had studiedhalf the wild and hare-brained terms that belong to this ship [woodman-ship]." ( Works, p. 61 , ed . Hindley, 1872.)In a note on the Merry Wives of Windsor, in Singer'sedition of Shakspeare, we find an explanation of a passagethat has been altered by several commentators. Falstaff,when attired in the spoils of a hart of ten, naturally usesthe terms of the forest. He says: -"Divide me like a brib'd buck, each a haunch: I will keep mysides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my hornsI bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodman? Ha! Speak I likeHerne the hunter? " (Act v. sc. 5.)"This," says Mr. Singer, " is the reading of the old copies, whichhas been unnecessarily changed to a bribe-buck by all recent editors.A brib'd buck was a buck cut up to be given away in portions. Bribesin O.F. were portions or fragments of meat which were given awayHence bribeur was a beggar, and the O.E. bribour a petty thief. "The shoulders of the buck were the perquisites of thekeeper, or fellow ofthe walk.Venison appreciated.129The order of precedence in hunting is thus given byHolinshed:-"The stag is accounted for the most noble game, the fallow deereis the next, then the roe, whereof we have indifferent store; and lastof all the hare, not the least in estimation, because the hunting of thatseelie beast is mother to all the terms, blasts, and artificial devisesthat hunters do use. " (Chronicles, vol i. p. 380.)In the light of our modern civilized sport it is strange tonotice that the fox is not even mentioned.Exaggerated notions prevailed respecting the longevityof the stag. The life of a stag, according to modernauthorities, does not exceed twenty years.A " hot venison pasty " was a favourite dish at alltimes, but was not reckoned a very wholesome one.Andrew Boorde, better known by his nickname, " MerryAndrew," was physician to Henry VIII. He wrote adietary, in 1542, which has been recently edited by Mr.Furnival for the Early English Text Society. Hereinthe worthy doctor admits that his love of venison outweighs his discretion:-" I have gone rownde about Crystendome, and overthwarte Crystendom, and a thousande or two and more myles out of Crystendom,yet there is not so moche pleasure for harte and hynde, bucke, anddoo, and for roo bucke and doo, as is in Englande; and although theflesshe be dispraysed in physycke I pray God to sende me parte of theflesshe to eate, physycke not-withstandyng. "Musk Deer.The pretty little Musk Deer, so valued for its perfume,was found in Thibet and Northern India. Itis thus described by Marco Polo in hisTravels in the East, in the fourteenth century:-"In this country [ Thibet] it is that the finest and most valuablemusk is procured . The animal which yields it is not larger than thefemale goat, but in form resembles the antelope. Its coat is like thatof the larger kind of deer: its feet and tail are those of the antelope,but it has not the horns. It is provided with four projecting teeth orK130 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.tusks, three inches in length; two in the upper jaw pointing downwards, and two in the lower jawpointing upwards; small in proportionto their length, and white as ivory. Upon the whole it is a handsomecreature. " (Travels, p. 252, ed. Marsden, 1818. )This account is incorrect, in so far as the long canineteeth of the musk deer exist only in the upper jaw of theanimal. The scent of the musk was greatly in favourwith our ancestors. Mistress Quickly represents the wooersof Mistress Ford as sending " coach after coach, letterafter letter, gift after gift; smelling so sweetly, all musk(Merry Wives, ii. 2, 66).Giraffe.Amongst all the wonders of animal life met with bymedieval travellers none could have excitedmore their wonder and admiration than thatbeautiful inhabitant of tropical Africa, the Giraffe. Probably the earliest, and certainly the quaintest, notice ofthis animal by an English writer occurs in Sir JohnMandeville's Travels, written about the year 1356. InChinese Tartary he meets withmany bestes, that ben clept orafles. In Arabye, their ben cleptgerfauntz; that is a best pomelée or spotted; that is but a litylle morehighe, then is a stede: but he hathe the necke a 20 cubytes long: andhis croup and his tayl is as of an hert: and he may loken over a grethighe hous." (Page 289 , ed. Halliwell, 1839. )John Sanderson, a London merchant who visited Constantinople about the year 1600, relates his impressionsat the first sight of the giraffe: -"The admirablest and fairest beast that ever I saw was a jarraff,as tame as a domesticall deere, and of a reddish deere colour, whitebrested and cloven footed: he was of a very great height, his fore-legslonger then the hinder, a very long necke, and headed like a camell,except two stumps of horne on his head. This fairest animall was sentout of Ethiopia, to this great Turkes father for a present; two Turkesthe keepers of him, would make him kneele, but not before anyChristian for any money." (Purchas, vol. ii. p. 1619. )The giraffe's legs are in reality of equal length, but theA Giraffe's Caresses.131shoulder-blades are greatly elongated. The slope of theback thus caused gives the appearance of inequality.John Leo, an African explorer of the same period,says:—"The giraffa are so savage and wild, that it is very rare matter tosee any of them: for they hide themselves among the desarts andwoods, where no other beasts use to come; and so soone as oneof them espieth a man, it flieth forthwith, though not very swiftly.It is headed like a camell, and eared like an oxe: neither are anytaken by hunters, but while they are very young." (Purchas, vol. ii.p. 842.)Fynes Moryson, in his Itinerary, 1597 (p. 263), alsodescribes the giraffe:-"Here [Constantinople] be the ruines of a pallace upon the verywals of the city, called the pallace of Constantine, wherein I did seean elephant, called philo by the Turkes, and another beast newlybrought out of Affricke ( the mother of monsters) , which beast isaltogether unknowne in our parts, and is called surnapa by the peopleof Asia, astanapa by others, and giraffa by the Italians, the picturewhereof I remember to have seene in the mappes of Mercator; andbecause the beast is very rare, I will describe his forme as well as Ican. His haire is red coloured, with many blacke and white spots;I could scarce reach with the points of my fingers to the hinder partof his backe, which grew higher and higher towards his foreshoulder,and his necke was thinne and some three els long. So as hee easilyturned his head in a moment to any part or corner of the roomewherein he stood, putting it over the beams thereof, being built like abarne, and high for the Turkish building, not unlike the building ofItaly, both which I have formerly described, by reason whereof hemany times put his nose in my necke, when I thought myselfefurthest distant from him, which familiarity of his I liked not; andhowsoever the keepers assured me he would not hurt me, yet I avoidedthese his familiar kisses as much as I could . His body was slender,not greater, but much higher then the body of a stagge or hart, and hishead and face was like to that of a stagge, but the head was lesse andthe face more beautifull: he had two hornes, but short and scarce halfea foote long; and in the forehead he had two bunches of flesh, hisears and feete like an oxe, and his legges like a stagge. "There is some difficulty in identifying the different132 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.kinds of wild cattle known at this period.Bison.Topsell(p. 51) describes an animal which he calls aBison, and which he says has been falsely calleda buffalo by earlier writers. He derives the name fromThracia, called in ancient times Bistonia. He says:-"It is generally held for a kind of wild oxe, bred in the northernparts of the world, for the most part, and never tamed; as in Scythia,Moscovia, Hercynia, Thracia, and Brussia."He attributes extraordinary strength to the tongue ofthis beast:"For by licking they grate like a file any indifferent hard substance,but specially they can therewith draw unto them any man or beast ofinferiour condition, whom by licking they wound to death. The haireis red , yellow, or black, their eyes very great and terrible, they smelllike a moschus or musk-cat, and their mane reacheth over theirshoulders, shaking it irefully when he brayeth . Their face or foreheadvery broad, especially betwixt their hornes. For Sigismund, king ofPolonia, having killed one of them in hunting, stood betwixt hishornes with two other men not much lesser in quantity then himselfe,who was a goodly, well proportioned, and personable prince. "This animal is apparently the European bison, sometimescalled aurochs, oryx, or bonassus. It is still found in theforests of Lithuania and the Caucasus.The American bison is described by Francis Lopez deGomara in his General History of the West Indies, 1542: —"These oxen are of the bignesse and colour of our bulles, but theirhornes are not so great. They have a great bunch upon their foreshoulders, and more haire on their fore part then on their hinder part:and it is like wooll. They have as it were an horse-mane upon theirbacke bone, and much haire and very long from the knees downwards.They have great tuftes of haire hanging downe their fore-heads, andit seemeth that they have beardes, because of the great sorte of hairehanging downe at their chinnes and throates. The males have verylong tailes, and a great knobbe or flocke at the end: so that in somerespect they resemble the lion, and in some other the camell. Theypush with their hornes, they runne, they overtake and kill an horsewhen they are in their rage and anger. Finally, it is a foule and fiercebeast of countenance and force of bodie. The horses fledde from them,Losh Hides. 133either because of their deformed shape, or else because they had neverseene them. Their masters have no other riches nor substance: of themthey eat, they drinke, they apparel, they shooe themselves. And oftheir hides they make many things, as houses, shooes, apparell, andropes. To bee short, they make so many things of them as they haveneede of, or as many as suffice them in the use of this life. " (Hakluyt,vol. iii. p. 455.)Topsell (p. 57) declares that the ancient writers confused the Buffe with the elk and the rangifer(reindeer), but the picture he gives is notunlike that of the elk:—Buffalo."The head of this beast," he writes, "is like the head of a hart,and his hornes branched or ragged, his body for the most part like awild oxes, his haire deepe and harshe like a beares, his hide is so hardthat the Scithians make breastplates which no dart can piercethrough. His colour for the most part like an asses, but when heis hunted or feared he changeth his hue into whatever thing he seeth:as among trees he is like them; among greene boughs he seemethgreene; amongst rocks of stone he is translated into their colour also;as it is generally by most writers affirmed. "While admitting the difficulty of hair being so suddenlyaffected by the sensations of the animal, this authorobserves that, as the buffe has the face, so has he the fearof a hart, but in a higher degree.The buffe, or losh, whether bison or buffalo, was ananimal greatly valued for its hide. In a letter of theMoscovite Company in London to their Russian agents,1560, the following instructions are given:—"Our mind is you should provide for the next ships, five hundredlosh hides, of them that be large and faire, and thickest in hand, andto be circ*mspect in the choosing, that you buy them that bee killedin season and well dryed and whole. If they be good we may sellthem here for sixteene shillings and better the piece. We would havethe whole skinnes, that is the neckes and legges withall, for these whatyou sent now lacke their neckes and legges. Neverthelesse for thistime you must send them as you may get them. If you could findthe meanes that the haire might bee clipped off them, they wouldenot take so much room in the shippes as they doe. " (Hakluyt,vol. i. p. 342.)134 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Dr. Giles Fletcher reports from Russia, 1588, that"the largest kinde of losh or buffe breedeth aboutRostove, Wichida, Novogrod, Morum, and Perm. Thelesser sort within the kingdome of Cazan " (Hakluyt,vol. i. p. 538).Andrew Boorde informs us in his Introduction toKnowledge, a cyclopædia of miscellaneous information ,that-"the kyngdome of Boeme [ Bohemia] is compassed aboute wythgreat hygh mountaynes and great thyck wods, in the whyche wodsbe many wylde beastes; amongst al other beastes there be bugles, thatbe as bigge as an oxe; and there is a beast called a bovy, lyke a bugle,whyche is a vengeable beast. " (Page 133, ed. Furnivall, Early EnglishText Society, 1870.)The Zebu, or Indian Ox, is noticed by Marco Poloin his observations on Armenia, Turkey, andPersia. Of the last-named country he writes:Zebu."It hath also very great oxen, and all white, thin hayred withthicke blunt short hornes, with a camels bunch on the backe, accustomed to beare great burthens. And when the packe-saddles are setupon the bunch, they bow the knee like camels, and having receivedthe burthen rise againe, being so taught by men. " (Purchas, vol. iii.p. 71.)The wild white cattle of Britain, at one time plentifulin the northern counties of England and inScotland, are mentioned by Camden in hisaccount of Scotland: -English Cattle."Caledon Forest, " he tells us, " nourished in times past a numberof white wild buls, with thicke manes in manner of lions, but in thesedaies few, and those very cruell, fierce, and so hatefull of mankind,that on a certaine time they abhorre whatsoever they had eitherbandled or breathed upon: yea, they utterly skorne the forciblestrength of dogges. "Of these cattle Topsell writes (p. 58): -"In the woods of Scotland there are bred white oxen, maned aboutthe necke like a lyon, but in other parts like ordinary and commonoxen.English White Cattle. 135This wood was once full of them, but now they are all slaine,except in that parte which is called Cummirland. This beast is sohatefull and fearful of mankind that it will not feede of that grasse orthose hearbes, whereof he savoureth a man hath touched, no not formany daies togither. And if by art or policy they happen to betaken alive, they will die with very sullen griefe. If they meete aman presently they make force at him, fearing neither dogs, speares,nor other weapons. Their flesh is very pleasant, though full ofsinewes, and very acceptable to the greatest nobles, for which causethey are now growen to a small number. Their qualities being like tothe former beast [ bison ] except their colour and beard, I will tearmethem the white Caledonian, or Scotian bison. "Mr. John Storer has lately published a work, TheWild White Cattle of Great Britain, wherein he tracesthe history of this beautiful breed, and gives an accountof the few herds which have been preserved to our ownday. Many noblemen have attempted to restore thewhite cattle on account of their beauty, but their ferocity,which remains undiminished, renders them dangerous.inmates of a park.We find but little notice in the writings of theElizabethan period of the various breeds of domesticanimals. Thomas Fuller writes of the long- hornedvariety of Lancashire cattle: -"The fairest in England are bred (or if you will made) in thiscounty, with goodly heads, the tips of whose horns are sometimes distanced five feet asunder. Horns are a commodity not to be slighted,seeing I cannot call to mind any other substance so hard, that it willnot break; so solid, that it will hold liquor within it; and yet so clear,that light will pass through it. No mechanick trade, but hath someutensils made thereof: and even now I recruit my pen with ink froma vessel of the same. Yea, it is useful cap-a-pie, from combs toshooeing-horns. What shall I say, of the many gardens made ofhorns, to garnish houses? I mean, artificiall flowers of all colours,and, besides what is spent in England, many thousand weight areshaven down into leaves for lanthorns and sent over daily into France.In a word, the very shavings of horn are profitable, sold by the sack,and sent many miles from London for the manuring of ground. Nowonder then that the horners are an ancient corporation, though why136 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.they and the bottle- makers were formerly united into one companypasseth my skill to conjecture. The best horns in all England, andfreest to work without flaws, are what are brought out of this county toLondon, the shop-general of English industry." (Worthies of England,vol. i. p. 537.)Fuller, taking a line of Drayton's Polyolbion,"Set the band-dog on the bull,"as his text, thus moralizes on the favourite amusem*nt ofbull-baiting:-"It seems that both the gentry and country-folk in this shire[ Somersetshire] are much affected with that pastime, though somescruple the lawfulness thereof. 1. Man must not be a barrater, to setthe creatures at variance. 2. He can take no true delight in theirantipathie, which was the effect of his sin. 3. Man's charter ofdominion empowers him to be a prince, but no tyrant, over thecreatures. 4. Though brute beasts are made to be destroyed, they arenot made to be tormented. Others rejoyn, that God gave us the creatures as well for our pleasure as necessity; that some nice consciences,that scruple the baiting of bulls, will worry men with their vexatiouscruelties. All that I dare interpose is this, that the tough flesh ofbulls is not onely made more tender by baiting, but also thereby it isdiscoloured from ox-beef, that the buyer be not deceived. " ( Worthies,vol. ii. p. 277.)That neat was a general term for oxen we learn fromShakspeare:-"Leontes. Come, captain,We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calfAre all call'd neat. "(Winter's Tale, i. 2, 123.)A young ox or bullock was called a stot, a young heifera whie, -names still used in Yorkshire. Hage kye was aterm applied in the northern counties of England to cowswith white faces, having white spots or streaks.Shakspeare has no mention of the Antelope. Spenserclasses this harmless creature with beasts ofprey:-Antelopes.The Lant or Dant."The spotted panther, and the tusked bore,The pardale swift, and the tigre cruell,The antelope and wolfe, both fiers and fell."(Faerie Queene, i. 6, 26.)137Topsell (p. 1) accounts for the supposed scarcity of antelopes in his day by the fact that Alexander and hissoldiers, on their journey towards India, slew 8550. Hedoes not inform us who kept the register of this battue.He describes the antelope as having the body of a roe,with long sharp horns made like a saw, with which it cutsasunder the branches of osiers or small trees.Several varieties of antelopes are described by theearly explorers in Africa, but generally under thenative names. The accounts are not sufficiently full tomake identification possible. An animal called a lant ordant is frequently mentioned, whose hide appears to havebeen valued in commerce. One writer tells us that theskin is red, another that it is white; according to onetraveller it has long goat-like horns, another declaresthat it is entirely without these appendages. John Leopays a visit to Cairo, where he finds—"a beast called lant or dant, in shape resembling an oxe, saving thathe hath smaller legs, and comlier hornes . His haire is white, and hishoofs are as blacke as jet, and he is so exceeding swift that no beastcan overtake him, but onely the Barberie horse. He is easier caughtin summer then in winter, because that in regard of the extremefretting heat of the sand his hoofs are then strained and set awry, bywhich meanes his swiftnesse is abated, like as the swiftnesse of staggesand roe-deere. Of the hide of this beast are made shields and targetsof great defence, which will not be pierced, but onely with the forcibleshot of a bullet , but they are sold at an extreme price." (Purchas,vol. ii. p. 846.)Pigafetta, in his account of Congo and the surroundingcountry, writes:-"There are also to be found in this countrie certaine other fourefooted beasts, somewhat lesse then oxen, of colour red, with hornes138 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.like goats hornes, which are very smooth and glistrin , and incliningto blacke, whereof they make divers pretie knackes, as they doe likewise of the buffes hornes. They have their heads and their haires likethe heads and haires of oxen, and their skins are of great estimation;and therefore they are carried into Portugall and from thence intoGermanie to be dressed, and then they are called dantes. The king ofCongo is very desirous to have some men that had skill to cleansethem, and dresse them, and to make them fit for use, to the end hemight employ them for armour of defence. There are besides theseother beasts, called empalanga which are in bignesse and shape likeoxen, saving that they hold their head and necke aloft, and have theirhornes broad and crooked, three hand- breadths long, divided intoknots, and sharpe at the ends, whereof they might make very fairecornets to sound withall: and although they are in the forrests, yet arethey not noysome nor harmefull; the skins of their necks are used forshoo- soles, and their flesh for meate. They might likewise be broughtto draw the plough, and doe good service in any other labour, andtilling of the ground. " (Purchas, vol. ii . p. 1002.)The eland, a large bovine antelope, seems in shape andsize to correspond with these descriptions, but it cannotbe called a fleet animal. Attempts have been made inrecent times to introduce the eland into English parks,but without much success.As the word chamois occurs in the authorized versionof the Bible, the animal must have been known toEnglish naturalists in the sixteenth century. CanonTristram, however, considers that this animal is incorrectly placed in the catalogue of Arabian quadrupeds.He writes:-"In the list of the clean animals permitted as food in Deut. xiv. 5 ,the zemer occurs , and nowhere else in Scripture. From the Arabiczamar we conclude that some leaping animal is intended. It cannotbe the chamois, of the existence of which there is no trace in Biblelands. Nor can it be the giraffe or camelopard, an animal of CentralAfrica, which is the interpretation of some ancient commentators. Asother words designate the rock-goats or ibex , and the various antelopes,it is probable that zemer is applied to the wild mountain sheep, calledkebsch in Arabia, very like the mouflon of Sardinia. " (Natural History ofthe Bible, 1873, p. 73.)Cannibal Sheep.139The translators of the Bible could not well be expected to give names to animals with which they werenot themselves acquainted, but by the substitution of thenames of species other than those originally intendedthey are responsible for many false notions respectingnatural history.Sheep.There appears to have been are in the time westudying great discontent at the number ofSheep kept, to the exclusion of other farmproduce. In The Briefe Conceipt of English Policie, byW. Stafford, a husbandman complains that-"the sheepe is the cause of all these mischieves; for they havedriven husbandry out of the countrey, by the which was increasedbefore all kinde of victuals, and now all together sheepe, sheepe,sheepe. It was farre better when there were not onely sheepe ynough,but also oxen, kine, swyn, pig, goose, and capon, egges, butter, andcheese yea, and breade corne, and malte corne ynough besides, rearedaltogether upon the same lande. " (Harleian Miscellany, vol. ix.p. 149.)The British farmer is somewhat given to grumbling, butthat this complaint was general we may gather fromFuller's Worthies: -"In Warwickshire the complaint of J. Rous continueth and increaseth, that sheep turn cannibals, eating up men, houses, andtowns; their pastures make such depopulation. But, on the otherside, it is pleaded for these enclosures, that they make houses thefewer in this county, and the more in the kingdom. " (Vol. ii . p. 402.)The small outlay and trouble required by this kind ofstock, together with the high price of wool, induced agreat number of landowners to turn their arable landsinto sheep-runs. Acts passed with the object of diminishing this evil were evaded in every possible way. Welearn from Mr. J. S. Brewer's introduction to Starkey'sEngland in the Reign of Henry VIII. (Early English TextSociety, 1871) thata single furrow was driven across a field to prove that it was still140 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.under the plough; the cattle owners, to escape the statutes againstsheep, held their flocks in the names of their sons or servants; thehighways and the villages were covered in consequence with outcastfamilies who were wholly reduced to beggary."In a volume of reprints by the Percy Society is includedan old ballad, anonymous, and without date. It wasprobably written in the reign of Henry VIII. , and maywell have reference to the great increase of sheep at thattime, although the editor, Mr. James Goodwin, considersit a satire against the orders of friars mendicant, thenumber of whom had increased to so enormous an extentthat England may be said to have been almost overrun by them. The power and influence of the friarswas checked by the dissolution of monasteries underHenry VIII."The blacke shepe is a perylous beast;Cuius contrarium falsum est."The leon of lyme ys large and long;The beare to fyght is stowte and strong;But of all beastes that go or crepe,The mightiest ys the horned shepe.The blacke shepe, &c ."The shepe ys off a monstruous myght,What thyng soever his hornes on lyght,He bearyth downe bothe castell and towre,None is him like in marciall powre.The blacke shepe, &c."Syx hundreth howsys with cart and plowghI have earst knowen, where nowght ys nowBut grene moll-hilles, they are layde playne;This cruell beast over all dothe rayne.The blacke shepe, &c." This shepe he is a wycked wyght,Man, woman, and chylde he devowreth quite;No hold, no howse can him wythstande,He swallowth up both see and lande.The blacke shepe, &c.The Ryeland Breed."Men were wont ones off shepe to fede,Shepe now eate men on dowtfull dede,This wollwysshe shepe, this rampyng beast,Consumeth all thorow west and est.The blacke shepe, &c."Halfe Englande ys nowght now but shepe,In everye corner they playe boe pepe;Lorde, them confownde by twentye and ten,And fyll their place with Cristen men.The blacke shepe, &c."(Percy Society, vol. xiii. , 1845.)141Topsell perhaps refers to this ballad when he writes(p. 626):-"Till now I thought the common proverb did but jest,That saies a blacke shepe is a biting beast. "The short- woolled breed of sheep was the most abundant, and was found in every county. According to Mr.Low the Ryeland breed, so called from their living oncertain sandy tracts of country devoted to the productionof rye, situated southward of the river Wye, was thebreed which extended over most of the western counties.As there is no historical record of the introductionof this variety, he assumes that it was indigenous beyondall memory to the districts which it inhabited. Itwas admirably suited, from its endurance of scantyfare, to the commons, waste lands, and woods where itabounded. For, though that district of England is nowrich and fertile, at this time it was still for the most partwild and barren, and incapable of affording rich pasture."The wool of the Ryeland breed," writes Mr. Low, was longregarded as the finest that the British islands produced . The ancient cityof Leominster, being surrounded by a country producing this kind ofwool, and being the market- town to which it was brought for sale,gave the name to the wool of the county, which was termed Lemsterwool, or Lemster ore. Camden, describing the town of Leominster,says, ' The greatest name and fame is of the wool in the territories142 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.round about it; Lemster ore they call it, which setting aside that ofApulia and Tarentum, all Europe counteth to be the verie best . " "(Domesticated Animals.)The Cotswold breed, whose range extended over thehills of Gloucestershire, was also much esteemed for thequantity and quality of its wool. In the former of theseit was superior, according to Drayton, to the Ryeland: -"T' whom Sarum's Plaine gives place, though famous for her flocks,Yet hardly doth she tythe our Cotswolde's wealthy locks:Though Lemster him exceed in finesesse of her ore,Yet quite he puts her downe for his abundant store."(Polyolbion, song 14.)According to Fuller, the finest sheep were bred in Buckinghamshire. The price he thought so exorbitant wouldhardly excite the astonishment of sheep-growers today:-"The best and biggest- bodied in England are in the Vale ofAilsbury in this county, where it is nothing to give ten pound ormore for a breed-ram. So that should a forrainer hear of the pricethereof, he would guess that ram rather to be some Roman engine ofbattery, than the creature commonly so called." (Worthies ofEngland,vol. i. p. 133.)Justice Shallow inquires of his cousin, " How a score ofewes now? " To which Silence replies, " Thereafter asthey be a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds "(2 Henry IV. iii. 2, 54) .A lamb brought up by hand was called a cosset.William Browne writes:-"And full gladly give I woldThe best cosset in my fold,And a mazor for a fee,If this song thou'lt teachen me."(The Shepherd's Pipe, eclogue i .)We find this expression also in a tract called MaroccusExtaticus, 1595: " I have brought thee up right tenderly,Sheep never drink. 143as a baker's daughter would bring up a cosset by hand,and allow it bread and milke." Topsell (p. 640) gives thedifferent names applied to a lamb:-"The first year we call it in English a lamb, so the second year ahog, lam-hog, or teg if it be a female, the third yeare hoggrils andtheaves. The common epithits expressing the nature of this beast arethese rough, yearling, weake, unripe, sucking, tender, butting, fat,milke-eater, merry, sporting, bleating, affable or gentle, field- wanderer,horne- bearer, horne-fighter, unarmed, vulgar, wooll- skinned, woollbearer, wanton, meeke, delicate, and fearefull; and all these are theepithets of a male lamb, but of the female I find these following:dumb, snow-white, neate, young, fearefull, blacke, tame, humble, andtender. "Topsell bestows epithets on most of the animals that hedescribes. They are for the most part taken from hisclassical authorities. Dodded, or hornless sheep, wereconsidered the most profitable. To Topsell also we areindebted for the following information concerning sheep:-" There bee many that trouble themselves about this question;namely, for what cause the sheep of England do never thirst, exceptthey see the water, and then also seldom drink, and yet have we moresheep in England then are in any other country of the world, insomuchas we thinke it a prodigious thing that sheep should drinke; but thetrue cause why our English sheepe drinke not is, for there is so muchdew on the grasse that they need no other water; and thereforeAristotle was deceived, who thinketh that the northern sheep hadmore neede of water then the southern. In Spaine those sheep bear thebest fleeces of wool that drinke least." (Page 605.) " The commontime whereat we sheare sheepe is in June, and lambes in July; thequantitie of wool upon our sheep is more then in any other countreyof the world, for even the least among us, such as are in hard grounds,as in Norfolke, the upper most part of Kent, Hertfort- shier, and otherplaces, have better and weightier fleeces thenthe greatest in other nations.The quantitie in the least is a pound, except the sheep have lost hiswooll, in the middle sort of sheepe two pounds or three pounds, as isvulgar in Buckingham, Northampton, and Leicestershieres; but thegreatest of all in some of those places, and also in Rumney Marsh inKent, foure or five pounds and it is the manner of the shepheards andsheepe masters to wet their rams, and so to keepe their wooll two orthree years together growing upon their backs, and I have credibly144 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.heard of a sheepe in Buckingham-shier in the flock of the L. P. that hadshorne from it at one time, one and twentie pound of wooll. After theshearing of our sheepe, we doe not use either to annoint or washthem, as they doe in other nations, but turne them foorth withouttheir fleeces, leaving them like meadowes new mowen, with expectation of another fleece the next yeare. " (Page 624.)Wool.The number of sheep reared in the country renderedthe employment of the wool in various manufactures a matter of national importance, andprotection was resorted to in order to secure the monopoly.The introduction of felt hats interfered to a great extentwith the sale of the woollen caps that had been previouslyworn. Accordingly, the cappers, or knit- capmakers, ofEngland applied to Parliament for relief, and in 1571obtained a law purporting—" that every person above seven years of age, should wear, on Sundaysand Holidays, a cap of wool, knit, made, thicked, and dressed in England,and dressed only and finished by some of the trade of cappers, on theforfeiture of three shillings and four pence for every day so neglectedto be worn excepting, however, out of this act, maids, ladies, andgentlewomen, and every lord , knight, and gentleman, of twenty marksin land, and their heirs; and also such as have born office of worshipin any city, town, or shire, and also the wardens of London Companies."(Anderson, Origin of Commerce, p. 135.)Notwithstanding this extreme measure, the superiority ofthe felt hats obtained for these articles an easy victory.They were lighter, stronger, more ornamental, and affordedgreater protection against wind and rain, and in a fewyears knit caps were only to be seen in remote parts ofthe kingdom.In consequence of the diminution of religious disputes.in England, and the continuance of the like dissensionsabroad, artisans of all kinds were induced to come to thiscountry for security during the reign of Elizabeth. Hencefresh impulse was given to the woollen trade, which hadlanguished under this queen's predecessors. Severaltowns near the coast, such as Norwich, Canterbury,Lamb-producing Trees. 145Colchester, and Southampton, were crowded with refugees,who brought over superior machinery as well as bettertaste, and contributed to the lasting prosperity of thecountry which gave them a new home. Towards the closeof Elizabeth's reign, an event occurred which affectedevery branch of commerce, and which opened an almostunlimited market for English woollen goods. The EastIndia Company came into existence on the last day ofthe sixteeenth century. On the 31st of December, 1600,Queen Elizabeth granted a charter to George, Earl ofCumberland, and two hundred and fifteen knights, aldermen, and merchants—66 that, at their own cost and charges, · they might set forth one ormore voyages to the East Indians, in the country and parts of Asiaand Africa, and to the Islands thereabouts, . . . divers of which countries,islands, &c. , have long sithence been discovered by others of oursubjects; to be one body politic and corporate, by the name of, theGovernor and Company of Merchants of London trading to the EastIndies."The whole of the document, of which the above is a part,may be found in Anderson's Origin of Commerce, alreadyquoted.Sir John Mandeville professes to have discovered atree whereon gourds containing little beasts like lambswere to be seen hanging in clusters:-"And there [somewhere beyond Cathay] growethe a maner offruyt, as thoughe it were gowrdes, and whan they ben rype, men kuttenhem a to, and men fynden with inne a lytylle best, in flessche, in bon,and blode, as though it wer a lytylle lomb, with outen wolle and meneten bothe the frut and the best; and that is a gret marveyle. Of thatfrute I have eten. " (Travels, p. 264.)The author proceeds to crush any doubts that mightarise in his reader's mind by citing the similar development of the barnacle tree into a bird.Of Goats there is little to be said. Harrison writes,"Goats we have plentie, and of sundrie coloursin the west parts of England; especiallie inGoat.L146 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.and towards Wales, and amongst the rockie hilles, bywhome the owners doo reape no small advantage (Holinshed, vol. i. p. 372, ed. 1807) . " Not for Cadwallader andall his goats," exclaims Pistol (Henry V., v. 1 , 29) .Many accounts of hunting and training the Elephantare to be found in the travels collected by Elephant. Purchas and Hakluyt, together with numerousanecdotes of the sagacity of this animal, which havebecome the stock in trade of all subsequent writers onnatural history. The Great Mogul is described by CaptainWilliam Hawkins, in the year 1610, as having threehundred elephants royal, which are elephants whereon he himself rideth:-"And when they are brought before him, they come with greatjollitie, having some twentie or thirty men before them with smallstremers. When hee rideth on progresse or hunting, the compasse ofhis tents may bee as much as the compasse of London and more, andI may say, that of all sorts of people that follow the campe, there aretwo hundred thousand; for hee is provided , as for a citie. This kingis thought to be the greatest Emperour of the East, for wealth, land,and force of men; as also for horses, elephants, camels, and dromedaries. "(Purchas, vol. p. 219.)His Majesty's time must have been fully employed if hehad to keep so large a number of elephants in exercise.The elephant, or " carry- castle," according to theherald, Guillim-"is a beast of great strength, but greater wit, and greatest ambition,insomuch, that some have written of them, that if you praise them ,they will kill themselves with labour; and if you commend anotherabove them, they will break their hearts with emulation. The beastis so proud of his strength, that he never bows himself to any, neitherindeed can he; and when he is once down, as usually is the case withproud great ones he cannot rise up again." (Display of Heraldry,p. 146, ed. 1744.)The popular idea that the elephant has no joints in hislegs, often occurs in plays:-66The Elephant.Ulysses. The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy:His legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure."(Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3, 113.)"I hope you are no elephant, you have joints. "(All Fools, 1605. )147Sir Thomas Browne considers this absurd notionsufficiently prevalent in his time to be worthy of refutation. He also notes another fallacy regarding this animal.In consequence of its lack of joints it was necessarilyunable to lie down, and as a substitute for a couch it hadto lean up against a tree to sleep. Hunters came beforedusk to saw the tree almost asunder, and when the tiredanimal sought repose the trunk gave way, and once downrising was an impossibility. Travellers, who had opportunities of watching the elephant's habits, contradictthis statement as to the joints. Cada Mosto, a Venetian,writing in 1509, says: —" Before my voyage to Africa I had been told that the elephantcould not bend its knee, and slept standing; but this is an egregiousfalsehood, for the bending of their knees can be plainly perceived whenthey walk, and they certainly lie down and rise again like otheranimals. "This author, while correcting one error, gives credit toanother not less absurd; he says, " Of the large teeth, orrather tusks, each elephant has two in the lower jaw, thepoints of which turn down, whereas those of the wild boarare turned up " (Kerr's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 233) . Thefirst elephant seen in England was a specimen broughtfrom France in the year 1255.Cæsar Fredericke, a Venetian merchant, giving anaccount of his travels in the East Indies, mentions thewhite elephant of Siam, an animal as rare as it isproverbially expensive. Describing the King of Siam'scourt at Pegu, he writes:-" Truly it may be a king's house: withing the gate there is a fairelarge court, from the one side to the other, wherein there are made148 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.places for the strongest and stoutest eliphants appointed for the serviceof the king's person , and amongst all other eliphants, he hath fourethat be white, a thing so rare that a man shall hardly finde anotherking that hath any such, and if this king knowe any other that hathwhite eliphantes, he sendeth for them as a gift. " (Hakluyt, vol. ii .p. 363.)The Black Rat. 149CHAPTER VII.Rat.THE only species of Rat known at this time was theblack, or as it is sometimes called, the oldEnglish rat. Mr. Frank Buckland, in hisCuriosities of Natural History (1st series, p. 57) , considersthat this species was introduced into England fromFrance. The Welsh name for the rat is Llygoden Frengig,the French mouse. The earliest account of it is byGesner, in his Historia Animalium, published at Zurich,about the year 1587. The brown species, erroneouslycalled the Norway rat, was a native of India and Persia,and did not make its way from those distant regionstill many years after the arrival in England of its blackcongener. The black rat, like other primitive occupiersof the soil, has been gradually expelled from its hauntsby the later colonist, and is now almost extinct in thiscountry. According to Carew, rats were rather tooplentiful in Cornwall in 1602: -"Of all manner of vermin, Cornish houses are most pesteredwith rats, a brood very hurtful for devouring of meat, clothes, andwritings by day; and alike cumbersome through their crying andratling, while they dance their gallop gallyards in the roof at night. "(Survey of Cornwall, p. 73, ed. 1811.)The effect of poetry on Irish rats is often mentionedby dramatists. Ben Jonson writes:-"Rhime them to death, as they do Irish ratsIn drumming tunes. "(The Poetaster, v. apologue. )150 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.And again, " Or the fine madrigal-man in rhyme to haverun him out of the country, like an Irish rat " ( The StapleofNews, iv. 1 ) . Shakspeare has a similar allusion. Rosalind" I never was so berhymed since Pythagoras' time,that I was an Irish rat, which I can hardly remember "(As You Like It, iii . 2 , 187). Shakspeare also alludes tothe popular notion that rats will desert a sinking vessel.Prospero describes to Miranda how both he and she wereturned adrift by his usurping brother, insays," A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the very ratsInstinctively had quit it."(Tempest, i. 2, 146.)Topsell devotes fifty folio pages to the history andliterature of the " vulgar little Mouse."Among other pieces of information, he tells us Mouse.that-"the epithets of myce are these: short, small, fearful, peaceable,ridiculous, rustik, or country mouse, urbane, or citty mouse, greedy,wary, unhappy, harmefull, blacke, obscene, little, whiner, biter, andearthly mouse. Mice are sometimes blackish , sometimes white, sometimes yellow, sometimes broune and sometimes ashe colour. Thereare white mice amonge the people of Savoy, and Dolphin in France,called alaubroges, which the inhabitants of the country do beleev thatthey feede upon snow. The enemies of mice are many, not onely men,which by sundry artificiall devises kill them because of harme, butalso beasts and wilde foule doe eat their flesh , and live upon them .And first of all cats and weasels, do principally hunt to catch mice,and have bin therefore by the late writers called murilegi [ from mus,mouse; and lego, I catch] , for their taking of mice. And the nature ofthe weasel is not onely more enclined to hunt after them, then thecat, but is more terrible also unto them, for if the braines of a weasell,the haire or rennet be sprinkled uppon cheese or any other meatewhereto mice resort, they not onely forebear to eat thereof, but alsoto come in that place. "Batman mentions several kinds of mice: " The fieldmouse, the farie, with a long snout; the sleeper, that isA Plague of Mice. 151of a dun colour and will run on the edge of a sword andsleep on the point." The dormouse from its awakeningfrom sleep with the return of the spring was sometimesemployed in ecclesiastical art as a type of the resurrection.Stow mentions, in his Chronicles of England—66 a great plague of mice in the marshes of Dainsey, in Essex, whichgnawed the grass, tainting the same with their venomous teeth,so that the cattle were poisoned and died."The inhabitants of that county were in some perplexityhow to deal with their small enemies, till from all thecountry round gathered a large number of owls, andto the great delight of the farmers soon cleared themarshes.The odd simile, " As drunk as a mouse," dates backto the time of Chaucer. In the Knight's Tale (line 402)we read-"We faren as he that drunke is as a mous."Mr. Charles Mackay would fain save the little animalfrom such discredit by a suggestion that the expression istaken from the Gaelic. The word miosa, in this language,means the worse or worst, consequently the phrase impliessimply a very advanced state of inebriation (Notes andQueries, 5th series, vol. v. p. 394).Lemming.Olaus Magnus was the first to notice the curious.periodic migrations of the Norway Lemming.These animals sometimes make their appearance in locust-like swarms. They march steadily acrossthe country, allowing no obstacle to stop them, destroyingthe crops in their route. Their numbers are thinned byfoxes and ermines, but nothing daunted they pursue theirway to the sea- shore and finally perish in the waves.Beavers were at one time inhabitants of this country.Camden, in his description of Britain, statesthat the Tivey, in Cardiganshire, was inBeaver.152 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.times past the only British river that harboured theseanimals."This beaver," he says, " is a creature living both on land and water,footed before like a dog, and behind like a goose, with an ash-colouredskin somewhat blackish, having a long taile, broad and gristly, whichin his floting he useth in lieu of a sterne. Concerning the subtilewilinesse of which creatures, Giraldus hath observed many things,but at this daie none of them are to be seene. "Drayton, in his Polyolbion, has a long account of thebeaver, and its mode of building, but as he is indebted tosome earlier writer for his information, and not to personalobservation, the passage is hardly worth quoting. Mr.Frank Buckland, in his Curiosities of Natural History,gives it as his opinion that beavers could not have beencommon at any time in this country, as he has never seena beaver's bone or tooth among ancient British or Saxonremains:-"These former inhabitants of Great Britain used much bone in theirhousehold implements, and had beavers been common, we shouldprobably find some bone or other converted to some useful domesticpurpose. " (First series, 1873, p. 90. )Beaver hats were considered as an extravagantluxury in the time of Elizabeth. Philip Stubbes speaksof them in terms of high indignation, and says they costtwenty, thirty, and forty shillings apiece, and " werefetched from beyond the seas, from whence a great sortof other vanities do come besides. "Squirrel."The Squirrell," says Topsell, " is greater in compasse then aweasil, but a weasil is longer than a squirrel . Themouth of their nest is variable, sometimes at the sides,and sometimes at the top, but most commonly it is shutagainst the winde, and therefore I thinke that shee maketh many passages, stopping and opening them as the winde turneth. Insummer time they gather together abundance of fruits and nuttes forwinter, even so much as their little dray will holde and containe,which they carrie in their mouthes, and they lodge manie times twoThe Flying Squirrel.153togither, a male and a female (as I suppose) . They sleep a great partof the winter like the Alpine mouse, and very soundly, for I have seenwhen no noise of hunters could wake them with their cries, beatingtheir nests on the outside, and shootinge boltes and arrowes thoroughit, until it were pulled asunder, wherein many times they are foundkilled before they be awaked. They growe exceeding tame andfamiliar to men if they be accustomed and taken when they areyoung, for they runne up to mens shoulders, and they will oftentimessit upon their handes, creepe into their pockets for nuttes, goe out ofdoores, and returne home againe; but if they be taken alive, being olde,when once they get loose, they will never returne home againe. Theyare very harmefull, and will eat al manner of woollen garments, andif it were not for that discommodity, they were sweete- sportful- beastes ,and are very pleasant playfellowes in a house." (Page 658. )Du Bartas writes ( p. 50): —"There skips the squirrill, seeming weather- wise,Without beholding of heav'ns twinkling eyes:For, knowing well which way the winde will change,He shifts the portall of his little grange."Dr. Giles Fletcher describes the flying squirrel foundin Russia:-"They have a kinde of squirrell that hath growing on the pinionof the shoulder bone, a long tuft of haire, much like unto feathers, witha far broader tayle then have any other squirrels, which they moveand shake as they leape from tree to tree, much like unto a wing.They skise a large space, and seeme for to flie withall, and thereforethey call them letach vechse, that is, the flying squirrels. Their hares and squirrels are of the same colour with ours. In winter the harechangeth her coate into milke white, the squirrel into gray, whereofcommeth the calabar." (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 417.)In Linschoten's narrative of a voyage to Goa, in1583, we find mention of the common grey squirrel ofIndia:-"There are many monkies or marmosets, that doe great hurt tothe palme trees, whereon the Indian nut or cocus doth growe. Inthose trees you shall commonly see certaine little beasts, called bichosde palmeyras, that is, beasts of the palme trees: they are much likeferrets, wherewith men use to hunt and catch cunnies, and have a taile154 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.like the penner of an ink-horne, and grayish speckled haire: they arepretie beasts to keepe and to passe the time withall. " ( Purchas,vol . ii . p. 1771.)Marmot.Topsell enlightens us as to the derivation of the word Marmot:-"The Alpine mouse taketh her name from the Alpes wherein sheis bred, and although there be many other kindes of mice bred in theAlpes, yet this being the principal thereof, receiveth denominationfrom the mountaines. The Italians cal it marmota, in Fraunce marmote, although marmot be a word also among them for a munkey.The Helvetians by a corrupt word, drawne from a mouse of themountain, murmelthier, and murmentle, and some mistbellerle, byreason of his sharp whining voice like a little dogs." (Page 551.)Another species of rodent, much prized for itsbeautiful silky grey fur, was the Chinchilla.Chinchilla. The earliest account of this animal is givenin Joseph Acosta's Observations on the East and WestIndies, of which a translation was published in London in1604. He says:-"The chinchilles is an other kinde of small beasts, like squirrels.They have a wonderfull smoothe and soft skin , which they weare as ahealthfull thing to comfort the stomacke; they make coverings andrugs of the haire of these chinchilles, which are found on the Sierre ofPeru." (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 966.)The confusion of pronouns here is worthy of Clarendonhimself.Viscacha.The Viscacha of the Pampas, a strange-lookinganimal somewhat resembling a marmot, witha double set of whiskers, is also mentioned byAcosta, in company with another burrowing animal, thecuye:-"There is likewise a small beast very common, which they callcuyes, and which the Indians hold for a very good meate, and they areaccustomed to offer these cuyes in their sacrifices. They are likesmall conies, and have their burrowes in the ground, and in someplaces they have undermined all the land: some are grey, some white,The Porcupine.155and some speckled. There are other small animals which they callviscachas, and are like to hares, although they are bigger, they huntthem and eate the flesh. Of common hares there are great store insome parts." (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 966.)Porcupine.A notion was prevalent among poets that the Porcupine, Porkespick, or Porkespyne could employhis quills as darts or assagais, shoot themwith unerring aim, and transfix his enemies therewith.What the poor beast was to do if he was often pursued does not seem to have occurred to these writers. Theporcupine uses its quills as weapons of defence; and ifthey penetrate deeply into its opponent, they are at timesdrawn from the rightful owner. Dogs and other animalshave often been found with the smaller spines imbeddedin their flesh. This error may have arisen from the factthat the loose quills about to be shed have been seen todrop out of the animal's skin when they were suddenlyraised. The quaint writer, Du Bartas, has an amusingdescription of the porcupine's mode of warfare:-"But O! what monster's this that bids me battell,On whose rough back an hoast of pikes doth rattle,Who string-less shoots so many arrowes out,Whose thorny sides are hedged round aboutWith stiff steel - pointed quils, and all his parts Bristled with bodkins, arm'd with auls and darts,Which by fierce darting, seem still fresh to spring,And to his aid still new supplies to bring?O fortunat shaft-never- wanting bow-man!Who, as thou fleest, canst hit thy following foe-man,And never missest, or but very narrow,Th' intended mark of thy selfs-kindred arrow. "(Divine Weekes, p. 50.)This idea is not confined to poets, but is corroborated byJohn Nieuhoff in his voyage to the East Indies. Hewrites:-"About Batavia and in the woods of Java are abundance of iron pigs156 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.or porcupines. When they are at rest they lay their pens or pegs closeto the body, but if they are vexed they can by contracting themselvescast them forth with such strength that they kill man or beast. Inthe winter they retire into holes where they remain without eating ordrinking, they feed upon herbs and roots and cast their pens as othercreatures do their hair. " ( Churchill's Voyages, vol. ii . p. 298. )Roger Ascham, in his Toxophilus, 1515, tells us that"Claudiane the poete saith, that Nature gave exampleof shootynge first by the porpentine, which shootes hisprickes and will hitte anye thinge that fightes with it. "Marlowe employs the porcupine as a simile in Tamburlaine, where the emperor complains that his sons arewanting in a martial appearance:-"Their hair as white as milk and soft as down,Which should be like the quills of porcupinesAs black as jet and hard as iron or steel."(2 Tamburlaine, i. 3.)This comparison may have been in Shakspeare's mindwhen, in Hamlet, the ghost speaks of a tale of horror whichcould make-"Each particular hair to stand on end,Like quills upon the fretfull porpentine. "(Hamlet, i. 5, 19.)A Portuguese writer, whose account of his residencein Brazil has been previously quoted, mentionsthe Agouti, an animal common in SouthAgouti.America:"The acutis are like the conies of Spaine, chiefely in their teeth: thecolour is dunne, and draweth toward yellow. They are domesticallcreatures, so that they goe about the house, and goe out and come inagaine to it. They take with their fore- feet all that they eate, and sothey carrie it to the mouth, and they eate very fast, and hide thatwhich they leave against they be an hungrie. Of these there aremany kindes, and all are eaten." (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1301.)Guinea Pigs eaten.157John Lerius, a Frenchman who lived in Brazil during theyears 1557 and 1558, tells us: —"There is also among the Americans a certaine red wilde beast,which they name agouti, of the height of a weaned pig of thirty dayesold, with a cloven foot, a very short tayle, and with the nose and earesalmost of an hare, most delightfull to the taste. There are also othersof two or three kindes, which they call tapitis, not much unlike ourhares, but somewhat of a reddish haire. " (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1326.)Instead of a cloven foot, the agouti has four well-developedtoes.Paca.This author also describes the pretty little Paca, aspecies of cavy. Like the agouti it is easilytamed, and of lively habits. Specimens areoccasionally brought over to this country. Lerius writes:-" Pag, or pague (for after what manner they pronounce it , you canscarce, or not at all understand), is a wilde beast of the indifferentheight of an hound, with a deformed head, the flesh comming neerethe taste of veale, with a very faire skinne, distinguished with white,russet, and blacke spots, so that it would be of great price with us, ifthey were to be gotten. "Guinea Pig.The Guinea Pig, though now only kept as a pet inthis country, was once apparently considereda palatable dish. In a list of the expensesof a dinner given by William Muigay, Mayor of Norwich,to the Duke of Norfolk and the principal knights of thecounty, in the year 1561, we read, among other items,two brace of partridges at two shillings, four couplerabbits at one and eightpence, and two " guiny piggs "at a shilling.This little animal has been strangely misnamed. Itis not a pig, but a species of cavy. It is not found inGuinea, but in Brazil and Peru.The Hare is frequently mentioned by poets anddramatists, while allusion to its more plebeianrelative, the rabbit, is rare. Drayton givesHare.a description of the hunting of the hare, which, though158 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.of some length, has an interest on account of the technicalterms introduced: —"The man whose vacant mind prepares him to the sport,The finder sendeth out, to seek out nimble Wat,Which crosseth in the field , each furlong, every flat,Till he this pretty beast upon the form hath found,Then viewing for the course, which is the fairest ground,The greyhounds forth are brought, for coursing them in case,And choicely in the slip, each leading forth a brace;The finder puts her up, and gives her coursers law,And whilst the eager dogs upon the start do draw,She riseth from her seat, as though on earth she flew,Forc'd by some yelping cur to give the greyhounds view,Which are at length let slip, when gunning out they go,As in respect of them the swiftest wind were slow,When each man runs his horse, with fixed eyes, and notesWhich dog first turns the hare, which first the other coats,They wrench her once or twice, ere she a turn will take,What's offered by the first, the other good will make;And turn for turn again with equal speed they ply,Bestirring their swift feet with strange agility:A harden'd ridge or way, when if the hare do win,Then as shot from a bow, she from the dogs doth spin,That strive to put her off, but when he cannot reach her ,This giving him a coat, about again doth fetch herTo him that comes behind, which seems the hare to bear;But with a nimble turn she casts them both arrear:Till oft for want of breath, to fall to ground they make her,The greyhounds both so spent, that they want strength to take her."(Polyolbion, song xxiii. )"To cote is not simply to overtake, but to surpass; this being thedistinctive meaning of the term; going beyond is the essential point: soRosencrantz and Guildenstern , having coted the players on their way,reach the palace first ." (Edinburgh Review, October, 1872.)In Shakspeare's Venus and Adonis (lines 752-708) " hotscent-snuffing hounds " are spoken of as employed in ahare-hunt instead of the more usual greyhounds.We learn from Fuller that hares were common inCambridgeshire:-"Though these are found in all counties, yet because lately thereThe Melancholy Hare.159was in this shire an hare- park nigh Newmarket, preserved for theking's game, let them here be particularly mentioned. Some prefertheir sport in hunting before their flesh for eating, as accounting itmelancholicke meat, and hard to be disgested; though others think allthe hardness is now to come by it. " ( Worthies of England, vol. i.p. 153.)Burton attributes melancholy in many cases to diet, andincludes this animal among the articles of food that prodnce it. “ Hare, a black meat, melancholy, and hard ofdigestion; it breeds incubus, often eaten, and causeth fearful dreams; so doth all venison, and is condemned by ajury of phisicians " (Anatomy of Melancholy, vol. i . p. 218).The solitary habits of the hare have probably gained forit the reputation of gloominess. Drayton writes:-"The melancholy hare form'd on brakes and briars. ”—(Polyolbion, song ii. )Prince Henry suggests, in reply to Falstaff's assertion thathe is " as melancholy as a gib cat: " "What sayest thou toa hare or the melancholy of Moor-ditch? " (1 Henry IV. ,i. 2, 86).A hare was called a leveret the first year, a hare thesecond, and a great hare the third. There were severalcurious fancies connected with this animal. When itsleeps the hare's eyelids do not quite join, which gaverise to the notion that it slept with its eyes open:-"That looking to my gold with such hare's eyes,That ever open, ay, even when they sleep. "(BEN JONSON, The Case is Altered, v. 4.)" Tread softly, Trollio, my father sleeps still.Ay, forsooth: but he sleeps like a hare, with his eyes open,An that's no good sign."(FORD, The Lover's Melancholy, ii . 2.)Topsell gives an odd explanation of the expression hareeyed:-"The eyelids comming from the brows are too short to cover theireyes, and therefore this sence is very weake in them, and besides their160 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.over much sleepe, for fear of dogs and swiftnesse causeth them to seethe lesse; when they run they shut their eies, and when they sleepthey open them. " (Page 265.)Lyly alludes to a very curious notion: " Hares we cannotbe, because they are male one year and the next female "(Mydas); and Fletcher, in the Gentle Shepherd, writes,"Hares that yearly sexes change."" Mad as a March hare " is an old proverb::--"The blast of the brymston blew away his braineMased as March hare. "(SKELTON, The Crowne of Lawrell. )It was considered unlucky if a hare crossed the path:-" Nor did we meetWith nimble feet,One little fearful lepus,That certaine sign, as some divine,Of fortune bad to keep us."(ELLISON, Trip to Benwell, lx. )Shakspeare has many references to this creature'stimidity. Sir Toby Belch declares that Viola is " a verydishonest, paltry boy, and more a coward than a hare(Twelfth Night, iii. 4, 420) .""In his treatise on English dogs, Dr. Caius makesmention of a performing hare:-"A hare (being a wilde and skippishe beast) was seene in Englandto the astonishment of the beholders , in the yeare of our Lorde God1564, not onely dauncing in measure, but playing with his former feetuppon a tabbaret, and observing just number of strokes (as a practitioner in that arte) besides that nipping and pinching a dogge withhis teeth and clawes, and cruelly thumping him with the force of hisfeete. This is no trumpery tale, (nor trifling toye) as I imagine, andtherefore not unworthy to be reported , for I recken it a requitall of mytravaile, not to drowne in the seas of silence any speciall thing, whereinthe providence and effectual working of nature is to be pondered. "(Reprint, 1880, p. 16.)The worthy doctor omits to inform us if the aforesaid dogA Performing Hare. 161was kept in the company of the hare for the purpose ofbeing periodically pommelled for the amusem*nt of thespectators. If he was so retained, we may imagine.without much difficulty what the reflections of the unfortunate dog may have been, both upon the providentialworking of nature and upon the humanity of his owner.Ben Jonson includes a similar performing animal in hislist of curiosities which were exhibited at BartholomewFair:-66 Waspe. I have been at the eagle, and the black wolf, and the bullwith the five legs-he was a calf at Uxbridge Fair two years agone—and at the dogs that dance the morrice, and the hare of the tabor; andmist him at all these! Sure this must needs be some fine sight thatholds him so, if it have him." (Bartholomew Fair, v. 3. )Mrs. Palliser (Historic Devices, 1870, p. 236) tells usthat one of the many emblems adopted by Mary, Queenof Scots, and embroidered by her during her captivity,was a lion taken in a net, and hares wantonly passing overhim, with the words, Et lepores devicto insultant leone-"Even hares trample on the conquered lion. " Of thisdevice Alciati gives a representation in his work onemblems. To this drawing Shakspeare possibly refers.Philip Faulconbridge says, tauntingly, to Austria:-" You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard."(King John, ii. 1 , 127. )Rabbits were plentiful in all parts of England.William Lambarde, in his Perambulation ofKent, writes of that county, in 1576:-Rabbit."Parkes of fallow deere, and games of gray conies, it maintainethmany, the one for pleasure, and the other for profit, as it may wellappear by this, that within memorie almost the one halfe of the firstsorte be disparked , and the number of warreyns continueth , if it do notincrease daily. As for red deere, and blacke conies, it nourisheth themnot, as having no forest, or great walks of waste grounde for the one,M162 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.and not tarying the time to raise to gaine by the other: for blackeconyes are kept partly for their skins, which have their season inwinter; and Kent by the nearnesse to London , hath so quicke marketof yong rabbets, that it killeth this game chiefly in summer."Holinshed, dealing with England more generally, givesmuch the same account:--"As for warrens of conies, I judge them almost innumerable anddailie like to increase, by reason that the blacke skins of those beastsare thought to countervaile the prices of their naked carcases, and thisis the onelie cause whie the graie are lesse esteemed . Neere untoLondon their quickest merchandize is of the yong rabbets, whereforthe older conies are brought from further off, where is no such speedieutterance of rabbets and sucklings in their season, nor so great losseby their skins, sith they are suffered to grow up to their full greatnessewith their owners." (Chronicles, vol . i . p. 343, ed . 1807.)In this work (p. 57) we are told that in the group ofislands known as the Channel Islands-" is also the rocky Isle of Burhoo, but now the Isle of Rats, so called ofthe huge plentie of rats that are found there, though otherwise it isreplenished with infinit store of conies, betweene whome and the ratsas I conjecture, the same which we call Turkie conies are oftentimesproduced among those few houses that are to be seene in this island. "Fynes Moryson also notices the abundance of theselittle rodents. " England," he says, " hath infinitenumber of conies, whereof the skinnes especially blackand silver haired are much prised, and in great quantitiestransported, especially into Turkey " (Itinerary, p. 148).""The rabbit, or cony, was considered to have but ascanty allowance of brains. The verb " to cony-catchwas often used when a simple-minded victim was deceivedor entrapped. A French commentator on Du Bartasinforms us that the cony is66 a beast, which by reason of his feare, loseth all ordinarie remembrance; whence the French proverb commeth, Thou hast as muchmemory as a hare, or conny: thou hast lost it in running."Earth-delving Conies.163The name rabbet- sucker, or young cony, was sometimesgiven to the dupe of any imposture. Shakspeare usesthe former name in its literal sense:-"Prince. Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me,and I'll play my father."Fal. Depose me? Ifthou dost it half so gravely, so majestically,both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit- sucker,or a poulter's hare. " (1 Henry IV. , ii. 4, 476.)On account of their abundance rabbits were notheld in high estimation for the table. Instructionsare given in Wynkyn de Worde's Boke of Kervyngefor unlacing, or cutting up, a cony. The sauce recommended is either vinegar and ginger, or mustard audsugar.No doubt Shakspeare had often watched with amusem*nt the antics of these merry little creatures. He mayhave seen, in the evening of a showery summer day, thefurzy down or the woodland glade at one moment bareand deserted, and the next alive with " earth- delvingconies," frisking and gambolling on the dewy grass.The servants of Aufidius comment on the reception whichCoriolanus has met with from their master, and discussthe chances of a speedy attack upon Rome. One of themen declares that, although the enemies of the warlikevisitor have triumphed for a time, yet Coriolanus has leftmany friends behind him. They have withdrawn fromhis side, and taken shelter from the storm of unpopularitythat has overwhelmed him; " But when they shall see,sir, his crest up again, and the man in blood , they willout of their burrows, like conies after rain, and revel allwith him " (Coriolanus, iv. 5, 224).It is not easy to identify all the animals describedby the early travellers, but the minute detailsgiven by Gonzalo Ferdinando de Oviedo inAi.his account of the West Indies leaves little doubt that164 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.the subject of his discourse is the Ai, or Three- toedSloth, a species common in Brazil." There is ," he writes , " another strange beast, which, by a name ofcontrary effect, the Spaniards call cagnuolo, that is, the Light Dogge,whereas it is one of the slowest beasts in the world, and so heavie anddull in moving, that it can scarcely goe fiftie pases in a whole day:these beasts are in the same land , and are very strange to behold forthe disproportion that they have to all other beasts: they are about twospans in length when they are growne to their full bignesse, but whenthey are very young, they are somewhat more grosse then long: theyhave foure subtill feete, and in every one of them foure clawes like untobirds, and joyned together: yet are neither their clawes or their feetable to susteine their bodies from the ground, by reason whereof, andby the heavinesse of their bodies, they draw their bellies on theground: their neckes are high and streight, and all equal like the pestleof a morter, which is altogether equal even unto the top, withoutmaking any proportion or similitude of a head, or any difference exceptin the noddle, and in the tops of their neckes: they have very roundfaces much like unto owles, and have a marke of their own haire afterthe manner of a circle, which maketh their faces seeme somwhat morelong then large: they have small eyes and round, and nostrils like untomonkeyes: they have little mouthes, and moove their neckes from oneside to another, as though they were astonished: their chiefe desireand delight is to cleave and sticke fast unto trees, or some other thingwhereby they may climbe aloft, and therefore for the most part, thesebeasts are found upon trees, whereunto cleaving fast, they mount upby little and little, staying themselves by their long clawes: thecolour of the haire is betweene russet and white, and of the propercolour of the haire of a weasell: they have no tayles, and their voice ismuch differing from other beasts, for they sing onely in the night,and that continually from time to time, singing ever sixe notes onehigher then another, so falling with the same, that the first note isthe highest, and the other in a baser tune, as if a man should say, La,sol, fa, mi, re, ut, so this beast saith, Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Anddoubtlesse, it seemeth to me that as I have said in the chapter of thebeast called bardati, that those beasts might be the originall anddocument to imbarbe horses: even so the first invention of musickemight seeme by the hearing of this beast, to have the first principlesof that science, rather then by any other thing in the world. But nowto returne to the historie. I say that in a short space after this beasthath sung, and hath paused a while , shee returneth againe to the selfesame song, and doth this onely in the night and not in the day. AndUnhappy Condition of the Sloth.165whereas I my selfe have kept them in my house, I could never perceiveother but that they live onely of aire: and of the same opinion are inlike manner all men of those regions, because they have never seenethem eate any thing, but ever turne their heads and mouthes towardthat part where the wind bloweth most, whereby may be consideredthat they take most pleasure in the ayre. They bite not, nor yet caubite, having very little mouthes: they are not venemous or noyous anyway, but altogether brutish, and utterly unprofitable, and withoutcommoditie yet knowne to men." (Purchas, vol . iii . p. 978.)Joseph Acosta, another traveller, is more accurateas to the number of claws that this musical animalpossesses:-" There is another strange beast, which for his great heavinesse,and slownesse in moving, they call perico-ligero, or the little lightdogge; hee hath three nailes to every hand, and mooves both hand andfeete, as it were by compasse and very heavily: it is in face like to amonkey, and hath a shrill crie; it climeth trees and eates ants. "(Purchas, vol. iii . p. 966.)Buffon, in his Natural History, gives an account ofthe ai. According to this naturalist every part of theunfortunate sloth is an error in nature. It is unable towalk or even to crawl; it has no weapons of offence ordefence; slowness, habitual pain, and stupidity are theresults of the " strange and bungling conformation ofcreatures to whom nature has been unkind, and whoexhibit to us the picture of innate misery." More recentobservers, who have studied the habits of the animal inits native haunts, tell us that its formation is in perfectharmony with its environments. The sloth's progressalong the level surface of the ground is tedious andpainful, but when it gains the branch of a tree, its naturalhabitat, the strong curved claws, which impeded its locomotion before, form so many grappling irons, by means ofwhich it can pass from bough to bough with ease andcomfort, and with fair celerity. It feeds, not upon ants,but upon young leaves and shoots.166 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Don Gonzalo writes further:-"There is another kinde of beaste seene in the firme land [ SouthAmerica] which seemeth very strange and marvelous Armadillo.to the Christian men to behold, and much differingfrom all other beasts which have beene seene in other parts of theworld: these beasts are called Bardati, and are foure footed, havingtheir taile and all the rest of their bodies covered onely with askin like to a barbed horse, or the checkered skin of a lisart or crocodile, of colour betweene white and russet, inclining somewhat moreto white. And if these beasts had ever beene seene in these parts ofthe world where the first barbed horses had their original, no manwould judge but that the forme and fashion of the coperture of horsesfurnished for the warres, was first devised by the sight of these beasts."(Purchas, vol. iii . p. 977).Joseph Acosta, in the same work, informs us that inPeru-"there bee little beasts which goe through the woods, called Armadillos, by reason of the defence they have, hiding themselves withintheir scales, and opening when they list: I have eaten of them, anddoe not hold it for meate of any great worth; but the flesh of theyguanas is a better meate, but more horrible to the eye: for they arelike to the very lizardes of Spaine, although they bee of a doubtfullkinde, for they goe to the water, and comming to land, they climbethe trees upon the bankes, and as they cast themselves from the treesinto the water the boates watch underneath to receive them."Topsell gives an account of two extraordinary animals,the latter of which corresponds to the armadillo, with theexception of the duck-like bill."Of the Tatus, or Guinean Beast," he writes, " this is a foure-footedstrange beast, which Bellonius saith, he found in Turchia, among themountebankes and apothicaries. It is brought for the most part outof the new-found world, and out of Guinia, and may therefore be safelyconveyed into those parts, because it is naturally covered with a hardeshell, devided and interlined like the fins of fishes, outwardly seemingbuckled to the backe like coat-armor, with which the beast drawethup his body as a hedghog doth within his prickled skin, and thereforeI take it to be a Brasilian hedghog. The merchants as I have heardand cittizens of London keepe off with these their garden wormes. . . .There is another beast that may bee compared to this, whereof Cardianus writeth, and he calleth the name of it Aiochtochth . It is aThe Ant-eater. 167strange creature, found in Hispania Nova, neare the river Alvaradus,being not greater then a cat, having the bil or snowt of a mallard, thefeet of an hedge- hog, and a very long necke. It is covered al overwith a shell like the trappinges of a horse, divided as in a lobster andnot continued as in an oyster; and so covered therewith , that neitherthe necke nor the head appeare plainely, but onely the eares; and theSpaniards for this cause call it armato and contaxto: there be some doeaffirme that it hath a voice like swine, but the feet thereof are notindeed so cloven that they remaine unequal, but are like to a horses,I meane the several cloves, there are of these as I have hearde to beseene in gardens in London, which are kept to destroy the gardenwormes. " (Page 706.)The former animal is possibly the Peba armadillo (Tatusiapeba), a species of armadillo found throughout Centraland South America.A Portuguese resident in Brazil, gives a descriptionof the Ant-eater, or Ant-bear, which, thoughsomewhat grotesque in its wording, is fairlycorrect.Ant-eater."The tamandua," he says, " is of notable admiration, it is of thebignesse of a great dog, more round then long, and the tayle is twiceor thrice as long as the bodie, and so full of haire, that from the heate,raine, cold and winde, hee harboureth himselfe all under it, that yeecan see nothing of him. The head is small, and hath a thinne snout,no greater mouth then an oyle cruze, round and not open, the tongueis of three quarters long, and with it he licketh up the ants, whereonhe onely feeds; he is diligent in seeking of the ant-heapes, and withthe clawes hee breaketh them, and casting out his tongue the antsstick to it, and so he drawes them in, having no more mouth thento hold his tongue full of them; it is of a great fiercenesse, anddoth assault many people and beasts. The ounces doe feare them andthe dogs exceedingly, and whatsoever they catch, they teare with theirclawes; they are not eaten, neither are they good for any thing but todestroy the ant-heapes; and they are so many that they will neverbe destroyed altogether." (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1301. )The ant-eater, though provided with powerful claws, anda formidable antagonist when roused, does not attack eitherman or beast unprovoked. This animal is called by othertravellers the baremoe.168 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Gonzalo describes, under its native name, another,and perhaps the strangest of the New-World animals,the Opossum:-Opossum." The Churchia is as bigge as a small conie, tawnie, sharp- snowted,dogtoothed, long-tayled like a rat. They doe greatharme to their hennes, killing sometimes twentie ormore at once to sucke their bloud: and if they then have young, sheecarrieth them with her in a bagge of skin under her belly, runningalongst the same like a satchell, which shee opens and shuts atpleasure to let them in and out: and if any come with light when thedamme and young are at their hen-bloud dainties, shee receives theminto this bagge and runneth away with them. And if shee finde the way stopped, shee climeth up above the hen roost, and is sometimestaken alive or dead in this manner, as I have seene." (Purchas,vol. iii. p. 995.)Another traveller, Girolamo Benzoni , a Milanese, writes ina work published at Venice in 1565: -"There exists also a monstrous animal, that has a pouch under itsstomach, into which it makes the young ones get when it wants to gofrom one place to another; this animal has the body and the snout of afox, with fore paws and hind feet like those of a cat, but more handy,and its ears are like those of the rat." (History of America, reprint,Hakluyt Society, 1857.)From one of these descriptions Du Bartas probablyderived his exaggerated notions of the formidable natureof the opossum: —"I fear the beast bred in the bloody coastOf Cannibals, which thousand times (almost)Re-whelps her whelps, and in her tender womb,Shee doth as oft her living brood re-tomb. ”(Divine Weekes, p. 50.)Marshy Condition of England.169CHAPTER VIII.Birds.WE must bear in mind when we pass from quadrupedsto Birds, how different was the external aspectof England in the time of Elizabeth from thatwhich it wears to-day. Forests extended for many miles,of which now only the name and one or two patriarchallooking trees remain. That marshes stretched far inlandfrom the coast, even within sight of the large towns, isevident from the frequent reference to ague, low fever,and other maladies arising from malaria. Norden writesof Essex, in 1593:-"This shire seemeth to me to deserve the title of the EnglisheGoshen, the fattest of the lande: comparable to Palestina, that floweth with milke and hunnye. But I cannot commende the healthfulnesof it and especiallie nere the sea coastes, Rochford, Denge, TenderingHundreds and other lowe places about the creekes, which gave me amoste cruell quaterne fever. But the manie and sweete commoditiescountervayle the danger."The same remarks would apply to many inland places.Little by little these low- lying districts have beendrained, and the woods and forests have been cleared.This transition must have had more effect on the life ofbirds than on that of quadrupeds. The deer, thoughrestricted in their range, had parks set aside for theirpreservation; laws against their destruction made amendsfor their loss of freedom. Of other wild animals, the fox170 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.and hare were protected on account of the amusem*nttheir pursuit afforded, and the badger, otter, and wild catstill remained in parts of the island .To the extensive drainage of marshy lands is to betraced the diminution and final disappearance of a greatnumber of water and wading birds. Naturalists areindebted to the slowness with which this work ofreclaiming the land proceeded for the preservation ofmany species to a sufficiently recent period to be recorded by the sportsman or the chronicler. " The oldorder changeth, yielding place to new," and though sportsmen and epicures may lament the scarcity of the heron,the curlew, and the knot, the lover of melody has fullcompensation in the song of the lark, the robin, and thethrush. The traveller in the Lincolnshire fens, the lastresort of many species of water birds, would hardly nowsend his friends at home a report such as old Camdengives:-" All this tract- over at certaine seasons, good God, what store offoules, to say nothing of fishes, is heere to be found! I meane notthose vulgar birds which in other places are highly esteemed and bearea great price, as teales, quailes, woodco*cks, pheasants, partridges, &c. , butsuch, as we have no Latin names for, the very delicate dainties of service,meates for the demigods, and greatly sought for by these that love thetooth so well, I meane, puits, godwitts, knotts, that is to say, Canuts orknoutsbirds, for out of Denmark they are thought to fly hither."(Britaine.)The Rev. R. Lubbock, in his work, The Fauna ofNorfolk, published 1845, gives many interesting particulars of the feathered inhabitants of the marshy districtsof that county. He writes (page 48):-"The Norfolk fens must in days of yore have literally swarmed withdifferent species of birds. If we glance at the position of Norfolk andSuffolk upon the map, we at once perceive that they stand out as itwere offering an asylum to the storm-beaten bird coming from theocean. If we consider the great variety of soil to be found in themarshy part of the county, and the way in which swamp and high3Presents to the Judges.171ground are continually intermingled, it is plain that formerly the Norfolk fens must have offered the fairest retreat of water birds. It issingular how universal has been the omission of this district amongstolder writers on natural history. "This author notices the preference our forefathersappear to have had for water over land birds as delicaciesfor the table." On " thethe occasion of any festival," he says (p. 67),inhabitants of the marsh are found in the place of honour, andland birds are quite neglected. The same preference for fen birds,the waders especially, pervades the whole of the ' L'Estrange ' housekeeping. Knotts and plovers, with the curlews, appear most prized;a redshank is about one fourth the value of a plover; teal occur onlytwice, and the ruff is not mentioned. Pheasants and partridges appearseveral times, but only two or three at the most. The sea-pye (oystercatcher) is in the list , and another mysterious fowl called a popeler,which is inserted in company with herons."In an account of the expenses of the Judges of Assize,going the Western and Oxford Circuits, between the years1596 and 1601 , reprinted in the fourth volume of theCamden Miscellany, 1857, mention is made of a variety ofbirds which were sent as presents to the judges by thesheriffs of the different towus. In the introduction to thereprint we find a list of the various contributions:-"We do not now dress the bustard, one of which was given atSalisbury in 1600; or the heron; or the heronshawes, which came inat Salisbury, Dorchester, Exeter, and Launceston; the curlew, or thegull, or the puffin, which was a rarity met with in Cornwall alone; orthe kite, cooked at Exeter. The peaco*ck was once dressed at Chard;the swan at Winchester, Salisbury, Andover, Taunton, and two cygnetsat Oxford. Turkeys, then a rare bird, were presented on the earliestcircuit in Cornwall; the heath- poults, now seldom met with in thewest, were sent as presents at Salisbury, Dorchester, and Stafford; andthe heath-co*ck at Launceston . Pheasants, of which there were notmany, and partridges, which were abundant, were killed on bothCircuits in the months of June and July, and also in February.Quails, now very scarce, formed a portion of the presents in each of172 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.the western towns and at Oxford. Plovers, golden and green , arrivedat Taunton and Exeter; puetts at Winchester, Salisbury, Dorchester,Exeter, Oxford, Worcester, and Stafford; and a dozen oxen and kyne,being birds, [ ruffs and reeves?] appear once in July at Exeter."Considering the difficulties of transport in the reignof Elizabeth, England appears to have been well suppliedwith commodities. The daily meal of even the nobleswas probably simple, but on state occasions the bill offare presented great variety. Christmas, one of thecharacters in the play by Thomas Nash, Summer's LastWill and Testament, printed 1600, exclaims-“ O, it were a trim thing to send, as the Romans did, round aboutthe world for provision for one banquet. I must rig ships to Samos forpeaco*cks; to Paphos for pigeons; to Austria for oysters; to Phasis forpheasants; to Arabia for phoenixes; to Meander for swans; to theOrcades for geese; to Phrygia for woodco*cks; to Malta for cranes; tothe Isle of Man for puffins; to Ambracia for chestnuts—and all for onefeast."Will Summer. O sir, you need not you may buy them atLondon better cheap." (Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. viii . , ed. W. C.Hazlitt. )Bird-fowling has from time immemorial been man'sfavourite pursuit, and great has been also the ingenuitydisplayed by him in devising methods for beguiling ordestroying his feathered prey. Thomas Burton quaintlywrites:-" Fowling is more troublesome [than hawking], but al out asdelightsome to some sorts of men, be it with guns, lime, nets, glades,ginnes, strings, baits , pitfalls , pipes, calls, stalking-horses, settingdogges, coy-ducks, &c. , or otherwise. Some much delight to takelarks with day- nets, small birds with chaffe-net , plovers, partridges,herons, snite, &c. Henry the Third, King of Castile (as Mariana theJesuite reports of him, lib. 3, cap. 7) , was much affeeted with catchingof quailes; and many gentlemen take a singular pleasure at morningand evening to go abroad with theyr quail- pipes, and will take anypaines to satisfie their delight in that kinde. " (Anatomy of Melancholy, vol. i. p. 528.)Theories of Migration.173Migration.Among the ancients the migration of birds was madethe subject of close observation. Augurieswere drawn from the flight of passage birds,and agricultural operations were to some extent regulated by the early or late appearance of the differentspecies. But however accurate may have been the knowledge which the priests and farmers of Rome possessedconcerning the times and seasons of the arrival anddeparture of migrating birds, their conjectures, as wellas those of our own early naturalists, as to the destinationof the various kinds were somewhat eccentric. Accordingto some writers, the " half-year birds," as Izaak Waltoncalls them, did not leave the country at all, but soughtshelter from the winter's cold in mudbanks and hollowtrees. Of all the different theories suggested in explanation of the annual exodus of many species of birds, thevery strangest is propounded in a paper preserved in thecollection of curiosities, the Harleian Miscellany (vol. ii .p. 583) , entitled " An enquiry into the physical andliteral sense of that Scripture, ' The stork in the heavenknoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and thecrane, and the swallow, observe the time of theircoming.' (Jeremiah viii. 7. ) " The writer of this articlevouchsafes to the public neither signature nor date. Heargues that if the flight of storks had been in an horizontal direction flocks of migrating birds would havebeen frequently seen by travellers; he therefore assumesthat their route must be perpendicular, and fixes uponthe moon as their destination:--" Therefore the stork, and the like may be said of other seasonobserving birds, till some place more fit can be assigned to them, doesgo unto, and remain in some one of the celestial bodies; and thatmust be the moon, which is most likely because nearest, and bearingmost relation to this our earth, as appears in the Copernican scheme;yet is the distance great enough to denominate the passage thither anitineration or journey. "174 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The imagination of a Jules Verne would be requiredto supply the details of such a passage, and of the birds'sojourn in their new habitation. Two months are allowedby this ingenious writer for the upward flight, three forthe necessary repose and refreshment in the lunar world,and two more for the return journey.Lists of Birds.Harrison, in his description of Britain, prefixed toHolinshed's Chronicle, gives a list of Englishbirds; but as his knowledge of the subjectis limited, the catalogue is necessarily incomplete. Hewrites:-"Order requireth that I speake somewhat of the foules also of England, which I may easilie divide into the wild and tame: but alassuch is my small skill in foules, that, to say the truth, I can neitherrecite their numbers, nor well distinguish one kind of them fromanother. . . . Of such [wildfowl] therefore as are bred in our land, wehave the crane, the bitter, the wild and tame swan, the bustard, theherron, curlew, snite, wildgoose, wind or dottrell, brant, larke, plover(of both sorts), lapwing, teele, wigeon, mallard, sheldrake, shoveler,pewet, seamew, barnacle, quaile ( who onelie with man are subject tothe falling sickenesse), the notte, the oliet or olife, the dunbird, woodco*cke, partrich and feasant, besides divers other, whose names to meare utterlie unknown, and much more the taste of their flesh , wherewith I was never acquainted. . Our tame foule are such (for themost part) as are common both to us and to other countries, as co*cks,hens, geese, duckes, peaco*cks of Inde, pigeons, now an hurtful evil byreason of their multitudes, and such like. I would likewise intreatof other foules which we repute uncleane, as ravens, crowes, pies,choughes, rookes, kites, jaies, ringtailes, starlings, woodspikes, woodnawes, &c. . . . It may be that some looke for a discourse also of ourother foules in this place at my hand, as nightingales, thrushes, blackebirds, mavises, ruddocks, redstarts or dunocks, larkes, tivits, kingfishers, buntings, turtles, white or graie, linets, bulfinshes, goldfinshes,washtailes, cheriecrackers, yellowhammers, felfares &c. But I shouldthen spend more time upon them than is convenient. Neither will Ispeake of our costlie and curious aviaries daile made for the betterhearing of their melodie, and observation of their natures." (Holinshed,vol. i. p. 374, ed. 1807.)The Northumberland Household Book, which gives"Northumberland Household Book." 175an account of the domestic economy of Percy, Earl ofNorthumberland, was written in the year 1512. It wasreprinted by Dr. Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, atthe beginning of the present century. The minutenessof the details given as to the price and quantities ofthe articles required renders this and similar collectionsvaluable sources of information respecting the luxuriesand necessaries of the time. Bishop Percy points out, inthe preface to his edition, that-" Our nobility in the more early times lived in their castles with agross and barbarous magnificence, surrounded with rude and warlikefollowers, without control and without system. As they graduallyemerged from this barbarity, they found it necessary to establish veryminute domestic regulations in order to keep their turbulent followersin peace and order; and from living in a state of disorderly grandeur,void of all system, would naturally enough run into the oppositeextreme of reducing everything, even the most trifling disbursem*nts,to stated formal rules. It may be considered further, that a noblemanin the Dark Ages, when retired to his castle, had neither books, nornewspapers, nor literary correspondence, nor visits, nor cards, to fill uphis leisure; his only amusem*nts were field- sports, and as these, however eagerly pursued, could not fill up all his vacant hours, thegovernment of his household would therefore be likely enough toengage his attention. "We find from the above work that the list of birdsreserved exclusively for his lordship's table includesmany species which would in modern times be discardedas worthless. We see here, spelt in a variety of ways,the names of the heron, bittern, peaco*ck, pheasant, partridge, quail, bustard, mallard, woodco*ck, snipe, lapwing,redshank, plover, stint, widgeon, knot, dottrell, reys (orruffs and reeves) , seagull, shoveler, curlew, seapye, andtern.Richard Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, 1602(p. 108), gives a short list of the waterfowl on the Cornish coast:-"Besides these floating burgesses of the ocean, there are also certain176 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.flying citizens of the air, which prescribe for a corrody [ an allowance ofprovisions] therein; of whom some serve for food to us, and some butto feed themselves. Amongst the first sort we reckon the dipchick (sonamed of his diving and littleness), coots, sanderling, sea larks, oxenand kine [ruffs and reeves], seapies, puffins, pewits, meawes, murres,creysers, curlews, teals, widgeon, burranets, shags, duck and mallard,gull, wildgoose, heron , crane, and barnacle. "After the publication of Mr. Harting's learned andMr. Harting interesting work, The Ornithology of Shake- on Birds. speare, it may be thought not only unnecessary but presumptuous to deal with the various kindsof birds at any length in this volume. But, on referringto his work, it will be seen that all the species of birds.not mentioned by Shakspeare are omitted. The authoralso confines himself chiefly to Shakspeare for his illustrations. Mr. Harting's work is doubtless in the hands ofevery student of our great dramatist; quotations of anylength will therefore not be made from The Ornithology,nor will the birds described in its pages be treated of indetail. The hope may be entertained that the followingaccount of the different varieties of birds mentioned byElizabethan writers generally may serve as an appendixto Mr. Harting's admirable work.Thrush.It accords well with the idea that the reign of forceis no longer paramount, that in modern scientific classification birds of song have usurpedthe place once filled by birds of prey. The Song Thrush,or Throstle, placed by Mr. Wallace first on the list ofthe feathered race, is the compeer of the nightingale involume of song, though not in variety or in sweetness.Drayton writes of this chorister-"The throstel, with shrill sharps; as purposely he sangT'awake the lustless sun; or chiding that so longHe was in coming forth, that should the thickets thrill. "(Polyolbion, song xiii. )The mavis is considered by Yarrell to be another nameJealousy of Philomel. 177for the thrush; but a distinction between the two ismade by Spenser as well as by Harrison:-

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"The thrush replyes; the mavis descant playes."(Epithalamion, line 80.)And Skelton, in his poem, Philip Sparow, writes:—" The threstill with her warblynge,The mavis with her whistell ."In a poem by Gascoigne, The Complaint of Phylomena, adistinction is made between the mavis and the thrush.The " darling of the summer's pride " thus betrays allthe jealousy of a neglected opera-singer in decrying herrivals:-"These thriftles birds (quoth she) which spend the dayIn needlesse notes, and chaunt withouten skil,Are costly kept, and finely fedde alwayWith daintie foode, whereof they feede their fil ." The throstle, she which makes the wood to ringWith shryching loude, that lothsome is to heare,Is costly kept, in cage: O wondrous thing!The mavis cke, whose notes are nothing cleare."Missel- thrush.The Missel- thrush, or Storm-co*ck, sometimes calledthe Holm-thrush from its fondness for hollyberries, though now one of the best known ofour British birds, was apparently much scarcer in earliertimes. Thomas Muffett, in his Healths Improvement(p. 101), says, " Thrushes and mavisses feed most uponhawes, sloes, misle- berries, and privot-berries. Feldefares," he adds, " are of the like feed, and give (almost)as good nourishment, yea better, when juniper-berries beripe, for then all their flesh is perfumed with the scentthereof. "The Redwing is mentioned in the article on migration.already noticed: " Such are the winter-birdsthat breed not here, as the woodco*ck, and Redwing.wind-thrush (or the redwing, wheenerd, whindle; for so N178 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.many names it has in divers countries) , field -fare, snipe,&c. "Blackbird.writes:-The Blackbird, Ouzel, Woozel, or Merle isoccasionally referred to by poets. Drayton"The woosel near at hand, that hath a golden bill;As nature him had markt of purpose t' let us seeThat from all other birds his tunes should different be:For, with their vocal sounds, they sing to pleasant May;Upon his dulcet pipe the merle doth only play,When in the lower brake, the nightingale hard byIn such lamenting strains the joyful hours doth ply,As though the other birds she to her tunes would draw. "(Polyolbion, song xiii . )CCWhen Shallow meets his neighbour and fellow-justice,he inquires after William and Ellen: " And how doth mycousin, your bedfellow? and your fairest daughter andmine, my god-daughter Ellen? " Silence answers, “ Alas,a black ousel, cousin Shallow " (2 Henry IV. , iii . 2, 6) .The ambiguity of the reply has caused some discussionamong commentators. Mr. Harting, who takes for grantedthat it refers to the young collegian, considers the expression " a black ousell " equivalent to the phrase ablack sheep." Mr. Guy, a writer in Notes and Queries(5th series, vol. i. p. 19), assumes the reply to havereference to the lady, and suggests that, as the blackbirdis a solitary warbler, Silence means to say that hisdaughter is still unmarried. Another interpretation isthat Ellen is a comely brunette, and that her father usesthe expression to deprecate her godfather's too partialcommendation of her charms.Nightingale.The range of the far-famed Nightingale in Englandis limited to certain counties. According toMr. Garner (History of Stafford, 1844), mostparts of the county of Stafford are without the nightingale,and the bird is unknown in the rich valley of the TrentNames of the Nightingale.179north of Lichfield. Its song is heard in Yorkshire andoccasionally in the more northern counties, but not inScotland. Fynes Moryson records that it was unknownin Ireland.Mr. Harting has noticed at some length the fablethat the nightingale leans against a thorn for fear sheshould be overtaken by sleep, so often referred to bypoets. Of all epithets applied to this songster none ismore poetical and appropriate than that used by BenJonson, in his pastoral poem, The Sad Shepherd (ii. 3)—" I grant the linnet, lark, and bullfinch sing,But best the dear good angel of the spring,The nightingale."Sappho, angel isa messenger orThough, as Mr. Gifford points out, this expression is aliteral translation from the Greek ofused in the original signification ofharbinger. Spenser writes:-"Like as the darling of the summer's prydeFaire Philomele."(The Tears ofthe Muses, 1. 235.)Giles Fletcher calls the nightingale " the bird of sorrow,"and Drayton, " that charmer of the night." In the Mirrorfor Magistrates (vol. ii. p. 468) we find a differentepithet:--"Sweete are the songs that merry night crow singes,For many parts are in those charming notes.

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"It is a sport to heare the fine night crowChaunt in the queere upon a pricke- song plaine:No musicke more may please a prince's vaineThan descant strange, and voice of faurets breest,In quiet bower when birds be all at rest. ”Of all the small birds that seek the neighbourhoodof dwelling-houses, the Robin Redbreast, orRuddock, has ever held first place in theRobin.affections of man; and the robin has been associated in180 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.the minds of children with kind actions, through themedium of the various ballads on the doleful story of"the Babes in the Wood." Drayton probably refers tothat tragic history when he writes:-"Covering with moss the dead unclosed eye,The little redbreast teacheth charity."(The Owl. )The robin is introduced with a double meaning in apoem on Robert Earl of Essex, which is supposed to havebeen written by one of the friends of that nobleman whilehe was in possession of the queen's favour."The goose but gaggelith in her gate,The co*ck he can but crowe,A thousand birdes do not but prate,And gangell where they goo:The lark and lynnett singith well,The thrisell dothe his best;The robbyn beares away ye bell,And passeth all the rest.He is famyllyer with a lorde,And dreames wheare ladies are;He can in howse singe and recorde,When busshe and bryer is bare."(Camden Miscellany, vol. ii. )Thomas Fuller, writing of Sussex, tells us that—Wheat-ear."the Wheat-ear is a bird peculiar to this county, hardly found out ofit. It is so called because fattest when wheat is ripe,whereon it feeds; being no bigger than a lark, which itequalleth in the fineness of the flesh, far exceedeth in the fatnessthereof. The worst is, that being only seasonable in the heat ofsummer, and then naturally larded with lumps of fat, it is soon subjectto corrupt. That palate-man shall pass in silence, who being seriouslydemanded his judgment concerning the abilities of a great lord , concluded him a man of very weak parts, because once he saw him,at a feast, feed on chickens when there were wheat-ears on the table." "(Worthies of England, vol. ii. p. 382.)This etymology is not quite correct. Notwithstanding theThe Wheat-ear. 181name given to the bird, the wheat-ear is an insect-feeder.Fuller was probably also mistaken when he confined therange of this much-prized bird to one English county.In modern times the wheat- ear, œnanthe, or stone- smatch,is found in some abundance in the North of England andin Scotland. In the northern counties a superstitionprevails that its note gives warning of approaching death.John Taylor, " the Water Poet," also includes thewheat-ear among the commodities of Sussex, in thefollowing doggrel rhymes:-"There were rare birds I never saw before,The like of them I think to see no more:Th' are called wheat-ears, less than lark or sparrow,Well roasted, in the mouth they taste like marrow.When once ' tis in the teeth it is involv'd,Bones, flesh, and all, is lusciously dissolv'd.The name of wheat-ears, on them is yclepedBecause they come when wheat is yearly reap'd,Six weeks, or thereabouts, they are catch'd there,And are wellnigh 11 months, God knows where."(Works, ed. Hindley, 1872. )Wren.The little Wren, by its habit of frequenting the neighbourhood of human habitations, its brightlively movements, and its peculiar shape,has always been a favourite with country folk:-"The hedge-sparrow and her compeer the wren,Which simple people call our lady's hen. "(DRAYTON, The Owl. )Chester speaks of " the little wren that many youngones brings." Sir Toby Belch, on the entrance of Maria,exclaims, " Look where the youngest wren of nine comes! "(Twelfth Night, iii. 2. ) It is hardly safe to assume fromthese words that Shakspeare had at any time counted thenumber of wren's eggs, yet this expression has beenquoted by commentators in proof of the dramatist'saccuracy in ornithological details.182 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The Archangel is the name given by Chaucer tothe Titmouse. In Gascoigne's Complaint ofPhylomena the nightingale laments over thepopularity of her diminutive rival:-Titmouse."Now in good sooth, quoth she, sometimes I wepeTo see tom tyttimouse so much set by."The patience must have been great and the appetitesmall of any one who could make a meal on these tinysongsters, and the caution contained in Andrew Boorde'sDyetary cannot often have been required:-" All maner of smale byrdes be good and lyght of dygestyon,excepte sparowes, whiche be harde of digestyon. Tytmoses, colmoses,and wrens, the whiche doth eate spyders and poyson, be not commendable. Of all smale byrdes the larke is the beste: then is praysedthe blacke byrde and the thrusshe. " (Early English Text Society,ed. Furnivall, 1870, p. 133.)Oriole.The Golden Oriole, or Golden Ouzel, a brilliantlycoloured species of thrush, is an occasionalvisitant toGreat Britain. Giraldus Cambrensisreports that on one occasion Baldwin, Archbishop ofCanterbury, made a progress through Wales. Travellingthrough a valley near Bangor, Baldwin and his attendantssat down under some trees to rest. Cambrensis, whoaccompanied the archbishop in his tour, describes thescene, and writes:-"The sweet notes are heard, in an adjoining wood, of a bird , whichsome said was a wood-pecker, and others more correctly, an aureolus.The wood-pecker is called in French, spec, and, with its strong bill,perforates oak trees; the other bird is called aureolus, from the goldentint of its feathers, and at certain seasons utters a sweet whistling note,instead of a song." (Itinerary through Wales, 1187, p. 442, ed. Wright,1863.)The note of the oriole is loud and flute-like, and maywell be called a whistle,The Golden Oriole. 183Woodwele, the name of a bird, occurs occasionally inmedieval poetry. Chaucer writes:-" In many places were nyghtyngales,Alpes, fynches, and wodewales,That in her swete song delitenIn thilke places as they habiten."(The Romaunt ofthe Rose, ed. Bell. )The woodwele is explained by Percy, in his Reliques ofEnglish Poetry, to be the oriole. We find the name againin the ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne:-"The woodweele sang and wolde not cease,Sitting upon the spray,So lowde he wakened Robin Hood,In the greenwood where he lay."The oriole is said to prefer fruit when it can be procured,but failing this it is not above eating insects. ThomasMuffett, in his Healths Improvement ( p. 100), informs usthat " witwols are of excellent good nourishment, feedingupon bees, flies, snails, cherries, plums, and all manner ofgood fruit." It may be that this beautiful bird was lessrare in former times than it is at present.Magpie.Mr. Harting gives the derivation of Magpie from magotpie; another explanation of the name ofthis bird is that magot is the French for ahoard of secreted money, and may have been bestowedin consequence of the magpie's hiding propensities.Another is that mag, a contraction of Margaret, is anickname corresponding to robin redbreast, or tom titmouse. Skelton speaks of " the flecked pye. "Next we have-"The caryon crowe, that lothsome beast,Which cries against the rayne,Both for hir hewe and for ther rest,The devil resembleth playne."Crow.(GASCOIGNE, Good-morrow.)184 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.raven.This evil-disposed bird was much commoner than theIt closely resembled that bird in its habits and inappearance, and, like the raven, was regarded with superstitious awe by the country people. In his list of thebirds of Norfolk, Sir Thomas Brown includes " rooks,crows, as every where also the pied crow, with dun andblack interchangeable." Moryson, in his History ofIreland, 1600, says that " Ireland hath neither singingnightingale nor chattering pie, nor undermining mole, norblack crow, but only crows of mingled colour, such aswe call royston crows " (vol. i . p. 368). Derrick, in hisImage ofIrelande, makes a similar observation:-Rook."No pies to plucke the thatch from houseAre bred in Irishe grounde;But worse then pies the same to burneA thousand maie be founde."The rook is seldom mentioned by early writers, whichmay be accounted for by the fact that theterms crow and rook were often used indiscriminately. When Shakspeare makes Troilus announcethat-"The busy day,Waked by the lark, hath roused the ribald crows,"he is probably recalling the effect of sunrise on therookery near the village green at Stratford,According to Harrison, crows, or more probably rooks,met with but little protection or encouragement at thehands of the country people: -"Neither are our crowes and choughs cherished of purpose tocatch up the woormes that breed in our soiles (as Polydor supposeth)sith there are no uplandish townes but have (or should have) nets oftheir owne in store to catch them withall. Sundrie Acts of Parlementare likewise made for their utter destruction , as also the spoile of otherravenous foules hurtful to pultrie, conies, lambs, and kids, whosevaluation of reward to him that killeth them is after the head: adevise brought from the Goths, who had the like ordinance for theThe Indian Crow. 185destruction of their white crowes, and tale made by the becke, whichkilled both lambs and pigs. The like order is taken with us for ourvermines, as with them also for the rootage out of their wild beasts,saving that they spared their greatest beares, especiallie the white,whose skins are by custome and privilege reserved to cover thoseplanchers wher upon their priests doo stand at masse, least he shouldtake some unkind cold in such a long peece of worke: and happie isthe man that may provide them for him, for he shall have pardoninough for that so religious an act, to last if he will till doomes daydoo approach: and manie thousands after. " (Holinshed, vol. i. p. 375.) *Whether meant seriously or not, the reference to OlausMagnus in the latter part of this passage shows how wellthe Northern chroniclers' work was known in England.One of the chief features of East Indian life, theimpudent, intruding crow, is mentioned, and some of itsfreaks described, by Linschoten, an early explorer:-"There [Goa] is a most wonderfull number of blacke crowes, whichdoe much hurt, and are so bold that oftentimes they come flying in attheir windowes, and take the meat out of the dish, as it standeth uponthe table, before them that are downe to eat: and as I my selfe satewriting above in a chamber of the house, the windowes being open, oneof those crows flew in at the window, and picked the cotton out of myinke-horne, and blotted all the paper that lay on my table, doe what Icould to let him. They sit commonly upon the buffles and pecke offtheir haire, so that you shall find very few buffles that have any hairesupon their backes, and therefore to avoyd the crowes they get themselves into marishes, and watrie places, where they stand in the waterup to their neckes, otherwise they could never be rid of them."(Voyage to Goa, 1588, Purchas, vol. ii . p. 1770.)The water buffaloes of India have probably other objectsin view in seeking the marshes than merely to rid themselves of the depredations of the crows, however pertinacious these may be.The " Raven called Rolfe " performs the same officein cold countries that the vulture does inwarmer regions, and, like the latter bird,Raven.pays the penalty of unpopularity on account of his un-

• See page 84.

186 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.savoury diet. The raven's croak, like many other ruralsounds, was thought to forebode illness and death:-"The om'nous raven with a dismal chear,Through his hoarse beak of following horror tells,Begetting strange imaginary fear,With heavy echoes like to passing bells."(POOLE, English Parnassus. )Shakspeare and most of his brother dramatists have effectively introduced the belief in the prophetic powers ofthis bird. Thus Peele writes:-"Like as the fatal raven, that in his voiceCarries the dreadful summons of our deaths,Flies by the fair Arabian spiceries,Her pleasant gardens, and delightsome parks,Seeming to curse them with his coarse exclaims,And yet doth stoop with hungry violenceUpon a piece of hateful carrion."(David and Bethsabe.)Du Bartas has a very similar passage:-"Ev'n as the rav'ns with windy wings o'er-flyThe weeping woods of happy Araby,Despise sweet gardens and delicious bowrsPerfuming heav'n with odoriferous flowres,And greedy, light upon the loathsom quartersOf some late Lopez, or such Romish martyrs."(Divine Weekes, p. 118.)The voice of this bird is certainly sufficiently gruff toafford some excuse for the dismay which it caused, especially when heard at night, in a lonely wood, by thebelated traveller.Guillim, in his Display of Heraldry, refers to theextraordinary belief handed down from antiquity that theparent birds, not approving of the colour of their newlyhatched offspring, forsake the nest for a time.says:-HeThe Night Raven.187"It has been an ancient receiv'd opinion , and the same alsogrounded upon the warrant of the sacred Scriptures, if I mistake not,that such is the property of the raven that from the time his youngones are hatched or disclosed, until he seeth what colour they will beof, he never taketh care of them, nor ministreth any food unto them;therefore it is thought that they are in the mean space nourished withthe heavenly dew. And so much also doth the kingly prophet Davidaffirm, which giveth fodder unto the cattle, and feedeth the youngravens that call upon him. Psal. 147, 9. The raven, when he perceiveth his young ones to be penfeather'd and black like himself, thendoth he labour by all means to foster and cherish them from thenceforward." (Page 222.)Why the raven should be so deficient both in commonsense and in parental affection the worthy herald doesnot attempt to explain.By the Scandinavians the raven was consecrated toOdin. By the early Christians it was tranferred fromhim to St. Martin, who inherited Odin's reputation forprophetic knowledge. Hence its name, " St. Martin's bird."It is not quite clear what bird was meant by thenight raven. Spenser writes:-"And after him owles and night ravens flew,The hateful messengers of heavy tidings."(Faerie Queene, ii. 7, 23.)Lyly also classes these two birds together: " The owlehath not shrikt at the window, or the night raven croked ,both being fatal " (Sappho and Phaon) . These passageswould seem to have reference to the raven itself, but ithas been suggested that the bittern, from the weirddrum-like sound of its cry, is meant. Harrison perhapsspeaks of the latter, when he says: —“There is no cause why I should describe the cormorant amongsehawkes, of which some be blacke and manie pied chiefelie about thelle of Elie, where they are taken for the night raven, except I shouldcall him a water hawke." (Holinshed, vol. i . p. 382.)188 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The night-crow, or gor-crow, was probably the samebird as Lyly's night raven:-"Raven and gorcrow, all my birds of prey,That think me turning carcase, now they come. "Ben Jonson makes the augurs-(BEN JONSON, The Fox, i. 1.)"Shew all the birds of food or prey,But pass by the unlucky jay,The night-crow, swallow, or the kite."(The Masque of Augurs.)The Jackdaw, or monedula, seldom obtains honourablemention. Drayton calls him "the thievishdaw." In the Interlude of the Four Elements,Jackdaw.1510, we read:"But he that for a commyn welth bysylyStudieth and laboryth , and lyveth by Goddes law,Except he wax rich, men count hym but a daw."(Rep. Percy Soc. , 1848, vol. xxii.)Warwick, the king-maker, declares that, in nice legalquestions, he is " no wiser than a daw. " These insinuations that jackdaws are inferior to their feathered comradesin intelligence will be treated as calumnies by all whohave been fortunate enough to possess one of these birdsas a pet.Closely allied to the jackdaw is the Cornish Chough,Cornyshe-daw, or Red-legged Crow, a slighter Chough. made bird, and more elegant in shape, chieflyfrequenting the coasts in the west of England. It ismentioned by Camden in his description of Cornwall:-"The rocks underneath [ St. Michael's Mount] as also along theshore everywhere breedeth the Pyrrhocorax, a kind of crow with billand feet red, and not, as Plinie thought, proper to the Alpes onely.This bird the inhabitants have found to be an incendiarie, andtheevish besides: for oftentimes it secretly conveieth fire sticks settingtheir houses a fire, and as closely filcheth and hideth little pieces ofmoney." (Britain, p. 189.)Wingless and Tailless Birds. 189Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, published 1602, givesan account of the various sea-fowl found in thatcountry:-"Amongst which, jackdaw ( the second slander of our country) shallpass for company, as frequenting their haunts, though not theirdiet. I mean not the common daw, but one peculiar to Cornwall, andthere-through termed a Cornish chough: his bill is sharp, long, andred, his legs of the same colour, his feathers black, his conditions, whenhe is kept tame, ungracious, in filching and hiding of money, and suchshort ends, and somewhat dangerous in carrying sticks of fire." (Page110, ed. Tonkin, 1811.)Such an incendiary proceeding as these historians referto might have occasionally happened, but it could nothave been of frequent occurrence.One of the earliest descriptions of the Bird of Paradise is given in the voyage of Magalhanes, orMagellan, the celebrated explorer, in 1521: -Bird of Paradise."The king of Bachian, one of the Molucca Islands, sent two deadbirds preserved, which were of extraordinary beauty. In size, theywere not larger than the thrush: the head was small, with a long bill;the legs were of the thickness of a common quill, and a span in length;the tail resembled that of the thrush; they had no wings, but in theplace where wings usually are, they had tufts of long feathers, ofdifferent colours; all the other feathers were dark. The inhabitants ofthe Moluccas had a tradition that this bird came from Paradise, andthey called it bolondinata, which signifies the bird of God.' Gomararelates some marvellous things concerning this bird and that it wascalled mamucos." (Burney's Travels, p. 105.)If the law of compensation is not universally carriedout in the animal kingdom, it certainly appears to be inthe case of the Bird of Paradise. The existence of thisbird, according to all accounts, must be most unhappy;but perhaps the consciousness of its surpassing beautyconsoles it for the want of personal comfort.The writer quoted above mentions the Bird of Paradiseas possessing legs, but in later times they were supposed190 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.to be destitute of these appendages. Navarette, a missionary to China, about 1670, writes::--" The bird of paradise has neither feet nor wings; I have oftenviewed them carefully, but could never find any sign of feet, that theyhave not wings is more visible to every body. The beak is somewhatthick and large, fit to catch gnats, which is their food. They neverlight nor can they rest upon the ground, as may be easily conceivedas they have no feet. Their fixed abode is the region of the air, forwhich reason they are called birds of paradise. They alight upon treesand by the help of the wind they fly from one to another, making useof their sightly tail . If the wind fails they presently fall, and theirbill being heavy it is the first which lights upon the sand, where itsticks so that they cannot stir but are taken with ease." ( Churchill'sVoyages, vol. i. p. 41.)Wonders like these lose nothing when transmitted bypoets. Accordingly we find, in that storehouse of naturalhistory marvels, Du Bartas's Divine Weekes and Works(p. 45) , a still more astonishing account of the habits ofthe Bird of Paradise: —"But note we nowe, towards the rich Moluques,Those passing strange and wondrous birds mamuques:Wondrous, indeed , if sea, or earth , or sky,Saw ever wonder swim, or go, or fly,None knowes their nest, none knowes the dam that breeds them:Food- less they live; for th' aire alonely feeds them:Wing-less they fly; and yet their flight extends,Till with their flight, their unknow'n lives- date ends. "The belief in the absence of wings and legs is easilyexplained by the fact that the natives, when they prepared the birds for exportation, removed these membersas likely to interfere with the beauty of the specimens.These early writers surmounted the difficulty as to thenests and parentage of these birds by the suggestion thatthe female laid her eggs on the back of the male, andhatched them as they floated through the air in theirendless flight. This explanation is met with in anaccount of the Bird of Paradise given by the learnedAn Ingenious Theory.191author of the Summary on the Poem of Du Bartas-acommentary which was published in England in 1637: —"There is found (saith Cardan) in the Moluques, both upon thesea, and on the land, a dead bird, which the ilanders call manucodiata,and never was he seene living, because he hath no feete. I have seenesuch a dead bird three times, and I suppose the cause why he hath nofeete, is for that he liveth very high in the ayre, and far severed fromthe sight of men. He hath a body and beake almost like a swallow:his wings, and taile containe more widenesse then those of the hawke,and almost equall those of the eagle. His plumes are very soft, andvery much resemble the feathers of a pea-hen. The backe of the malemanucodiata is hollow, and within the same the female hatcheth andlayeth her egges, which by this meanes are kept as it were in a box.The male hath in his tayle a long thred, more then three handsbreadth in length, blacke; neither square, nor round, nor thicke: butsmall, and resembling a coblers grosse thred: which seemeth to serve totye and joyne the male with the female when she sitteth , to the end todefend her from the winds and other accidents. So likewise it seemethto serve them for a grapple, or counterpoize, according to the changesof the aire. It is not to be wondred at that this bird remaineth alwaiesin the aire: for his tayle and wings are spred so properly in a roundthat this maketh an equal counterpoize, which sustaineth the birdperpetually. I suppose that he liveth on no other thing but on dew.".This explanation is all the more ingenious as the writeradmits that he had no opportunity of studying a livingspecimen. He must be, therefore, indebted to his own.imagination or to a careful anatomical examination of thebird's structure.Swallow.A distinction seems early to have been made betweenthe Swallow and the Martin. Lyly ratherconfuses the two: " But thou, Euphues, dostrather resemble the swallow, who in the summer creepethunder the eaves of every house, and in the winter leavethnothing but dirt behind hir " (Euphues, 91) .Chester describes:-"The artificiall nest- composing swallow,That eates his meate flying along the way,Whose swiftnesse in our eyesight doth allow,That no imperial bird makes her his pray:192 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.His yong ones being hurt within the eies,He helpes them with the herbe calcedonies."(Love's Martyr, p. 122.)Drayton, in reference to the habit of feeding duringflight, in his account of the effect produced upon variouscreatures by the approaching Deluge, writes:-" The swift-wing'd swallow feeding as it flies,With the fleet martlet thrilling thro' the skies,Feeling th' unusual moisture of the air,Their feathers flag, into the ark they come,As to the some rock or building, their own home. ”(Noah's Flood.)In connexion with the herb- cure referred to in the lasttwo lines of the quotation from Chester, it may be saidthat Reginald Scot, in his book on witchcraft, 1584,repeats with some caution statements as to the restorativeeffect of certain herbs:-"And for that you shall not say that hearbs have no vertue, forthat in this place I cite none, I am content to discover two or threesmall qualities and vertues, which are affirmed to be in hearbes; marryas simple as they be James and Jambres might have done much withthem if they had had them. If you prick out a young swallowes eies,the old swallow restoreth again their sight, with the application , theysay, of a little celandine. Zanthus, the author of Histories, reporteth ,that a young dragon being dead, was revived by her dam, with anhearb called balim. " (Discovery of Witchcraft, p. 213, ed . 1654. )Martin.The heraldic Martin is always blazoned without legs.It was frequently borne as a charge by thosewho took part in the Crusades, as indicatingthe sacrifice of personal ease and comfort they were prepared to make. Guillim observes that-"the martlet hath legs so exceeding short, that they can by no meansgo. And if perchance they fall upon the ground, they cannot raisethemselves upon their feet, as others do, and so prepare themselves toflight. For this cause they are accustomed to make their nests uponrocks, and other high places, from whence they may easily take theirThe Finch Tribe.flight, from the support of the air. Hereupon it came,193that this birdis painted in arms without feet: and for this cause it is also given fora difference of younger brethren, to put them in mind to trust to theirwings of vertue and merit, to raise themselves, and not in their legs,having no land to put their foot on." (Display of Heraldry, p. 231.)Of the Finch tribe only one or two kinds seem tohave been distinguished. Harrison mentions"bulfinshes and goldfinshes."Gascoigne writes:-Finches."The finche which singeth never a note but peepe."(Complaint of Phylomena. )The Bullfinch was known by a variety of names. InChaucer he appears as the Alp:-"In many places were nyghtyngales,Alpes, fynches, and wodewales. "(The Romaunt of the Rose.)He was also called bulspink, hoop, monk, pope, and inScotland coallyhood.In the same poem by Chaucer we find mention of thechalaundre, which is interpreted by commentators tomean the Goldfinch:-"Chalaundres fele saw I there,That very nigh forsongen were."Drayton writes:-"And of these chaunting fowles the goldfinch not behind,That hath so many sorts descending from her kind.”(Polyolbion, song xiii. )In a poem by Alexander Montgomery, a Scotch poet,about 1570, we read:-"About a bank with balmy bewis,Quhair nychtingales thair notis renewis,With gallant goldspinks gay;The mavis, merle, and progne proud,The lintquhyt, lark, and lavrock loud,Salutit mirthful May."(The Cherrie and the Slae.)194 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The learned commentator on Du Bartas, who has beenpreviously quoted, gives the etymology of goldfinch:-"The Greekes call this bird pækilis, that is to say, painted, byreason of the pleasant varietie of his feathers. The Latines call him carduelis; the French, chardoueret; the English, gold-finch; andtherefore it is called chardoueret, because, saith Belon in his seventhbooke, and thirteenth chapter, he liveth upon the grain of the thistle[carduus]."Of the Spinke, a finch of some kind, probably the Chaffinch, the same writer adds::-"He is described by Belon in the seventh booke, chapter 28, and is socalled, because hee pincheth and holdeth very strongly with his neb,as Belon saith. The Latines call him fringilla, and he useth apleasant warbling note." (Summary on Du Bartas, p. 235.)The chaffinch was also known as the pink, or wet bird,from a notion that its song indicated rain.Thomas Muffett, in his Healths Improvement, informsus that " finches for the most part live upon seeds,especially the goldfinch, which refuses to eat of anythingelse " (p.101). "So also, " he says, "doth the canary finch orsiskin." The siskin is well named by this author thecanary finch. It much resembles that bird in shapeand movements, though it is not so brilliant in colour.The siskin is called in the southern counties the barleybird, being seen about the time when barley is ripe; inother parts of the country it is called the aberdavine.Several of the finch tribe seem to have been taughtsmall accomplishments. Sir Thomas Browne mentions—"a kind of anthus, goldfinch, or fool's coat, commonly called a drawwater, finely marked with red and yellow, and a white bill, whichthey take with trap-cages, in Norwich gardens, and, fastening a chainabout them, tied to a box of water, it makes a shift, with bill andleg, to draw up the water in to it from the little pot, hanging by thechain about a foot below." (Vol. iv. p. 323, ed . Wilkins. )In Whitney's Emblems, printed in 1585, there is aPerforming Birds. 195drawing of a small bird in a cage; the bird is busilyemployed in drawing up water in the manner abovedescribed.While on the subject of performing birds, it may notbe uninteresting to note another kind of bird- trainingpractised in Egypt, and described by John Leo, in anaccount of his visit to that country."There is," he writes, " also another kind of charmers or juglers,which keep certaine little birds in cages after the fashion of cupboords,which birds will reach unto any man with their beaks certaineskroules, containing either his good or evill successe in time to come .And whosoever desireth to know his fortune, must give the bird anhalf-penny; which shee taking in her bill, carrieth into a little boxe,and then comming forth againe, bringeth the said skroule in her beake.I my selfe had once a skroule of ill fortune given me, which althoughI little regarded , yet had I more unfortunate successe then was contained therein." (Purchas, vol. ii . p. 837.)A precisely similar exhibition to that by which theitinerant mountebank of Cairo beguiled John Leo of hiscoin may be seen at the present day in the Londonstreets.Canary.The precise date of the introduction of the Canary intoEurope is not known. Gesner, who wrote in1585, makes mention of this bird, and Aldrovandus, in his Ornithology, printed at Frankfort, in1610, gives the first good description of it. Bolton, inhis British Song Birds, says that probably the canary wasnot known in England till after the time of Aldrovandus,though Willoughby, in his History of Birds, tells us thatthey were common in his time. Some uncertainty alsoprevails as to what colour they were when first importedfrom their native country. Writers of the sixteenthcentury seem to concur in supposing them to be greenand yellow, and to bear a near resemblance to our siskin.In a description of the Azores, by Linschoten, weread:-196 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time."The principal iland of them all, is that of Tercera, . . the iland hathnot any wild beasts or fowles, but very few, having onely canary birds,which are there by thousands, where many birders take them, andthereof make a daily living, by carrying them into divers places. "(Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1669.)In an account by Laurence Aldersey, merchant ofLondon, of his journey to Jerusalem and Tripolis, in 1581 ,he relates that he stopped at Augusta, in Germany, wherea resident, to whom he had an introduction, took himthrough the town to show him the sights:--"He shewed me first the State House, which is very faire, andbeautifull. Then he brought mee to the finest garden, and orchard,that ever I sawe in my life: for there was in it a place for canariebirdes, as large as a faire chamber, trimmed with wier both above andbeneath, with fine little branches of trees for them to sit in, which wasfull of those canaries birdes." (Hakluyt, vol. ii . p. 268.)Gascoigne, who died in 1577, tells us that-"Canara byrds come in to beare the bell. "(Complaint ofPhylomena.)Belon, who wrote about the year 1555, does not mentionthe canary. It was sometimes called the sugar-bird, froma supposed fondness for the sugar- cane.Drayton places the Linnet second only to thenightingale in his list of songsters, andGascoigne writes:-Linnet."The lennet and the larke, they sing alofte,And coumpted are as lordes in high degree."(Complaint of Phylomena. )Sir Thomas Browne in his catalogue of Norfolk birdsincludes the Crossbill; he states that it was Crossbill. at times kept as a cage bird, but that itnever survived its captivity throughout the winter. InCarew's Survey of Cornwall, published 1602 (p. 73) , occursmention of the crossbill, though not actually by name:-"Not long since, there came a flock of birds into Cornwall, aboutThe Battle of the Starlings.197harvest season, in bigness not much exceeding a sparrow, which madea foul spoil of the apples: their bills were thwarted crosswise at theend, and with these they would cut an apple in two at one snap,eating only the kernels. It was taken at first for a foreboden token,and much admired [wondered at] , but soon after, notice grew thatGloucestershire, and other apple countries, have from them an overfamiliar harm. "These birds are called by Willoughby, the ornithologist, shell-apples or crossbills. The statement that thisbird divides an apple at a bite must be received withcaution, as the crossbill hardly exceeds the bullfinch insize. Moreover, the mandibles of the beak, instead ofbeing opposed, are curved right and left and cross eachother. The apple that would admit of being divided ata single snap must have been a very small one.John Locke, in an account of a voyage to Jerusalem,1553, mentions a little bird which is possiblythe highly prized Ortolan, still a favouritewith epicures.? Ortolan."They have also in this island [Cyprus] a certaine small birdmuch like unto a wagtaile in fethers and making, these are so extremefat that you can perceive nothing els in all their bodies: these birdsare now in season. They take a great quantitie of them, and they usetopickle them with vinegar, and salt, and to put them in pots and sendthem to Venice and other places of Italy for presents of great estimation.They say they send almost 1200 jarres or pots to Venice, besides thosewhich are consumed in the island, which are a great number. Theseare so plentiful that when there is no shipping, you may buy them for10 carchies, which coine are 4 to a Venetian soldo, which is penyfarthing the dozen, and when there is store of shipping, 2 pence thedozen, after that rate of their money." (Hakluyt, vol. ii. p. 223.)The Starling, or Stare, was probably as common andas widely distributed in early times as it is Starling.now. At certain periods of the year starlingscongregate in great numbers, and fly from one part ofthe country to another in large flocks. We are told byWalter Yonge, in his Diary, that in September, 1621—198 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time."there were an infinite company of birds, like unto stares, whichcame flying over Corke, a town in Ireland, which fought in so terriblea manner, as many thousands fell down dead into the town." (Rep.Camden Soc. , 1877.)This battle of starlings, which is mentioned by otherhistorians, may have been the result of a chance meetingoftwo migrating bodies of birds.The talking powers of the starling are referred to byShakspeare:-Lark." I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak "Nothing but Mortimer,' and give it him,To keep his anger still in motion."(1 Henry IV., i . 3, 224.)So much has been written in praise of Larks by poetsof all ages, that there is little to note respecting this particular period of the bird's history,except that it was probably less common than at present,owing to the increase, in modern times, in the numberof well-drained fields and meadows. To the quotationsfrom Shakspeare given by Mr. Harting, a few from otherwriters may be added. William Browne writes:-"The mounting larke, daies herauld, got on wing,Bidding each bird chuse out his bough and sing."Drayton:-(Britannia's Pastorals, b. i . song 3.)"The lark that holds observance to the sun,Quavered her clear notes in the quiet air. "(The Legend of Robert Duke ofNormandy. )The beautiful lines of Lyly, to which Shakspeare mayhave been indebted:--"Who is 't now we heare?None but the larke so shrill and cleare;Now at heaven's gate she claps her wings,The morne not waking till shee sings. "(Campaspe, act v. song.)A Merry Tale.And lastly, Marlowe's poetical simile:—"Now Phoebus ope the eyelids of the day,And for the raven wake the morning lark,That I may hover with her in the air,Singing o'er these as she does o'er her young."(Jew of Malta, ii. 1.)66199Without quoting any other passages at length, mention may be made of the appropriate epithets, the" crested lark " (Ben Jonson, The Vision of Delight); “ theairy lark " (Drayton, Noah's Flood); and " the lark withthe long toe " (Skelton, Boke of Philip Sparow).Larks were plentiful in Fuller's time. We read inthe Worthies of England, that-"the most and best of these are caught and well dressed about Dunstable in this shire [Bedfordshire] . A harmless bird whilst living, nottrespassing on grain; and wholesome when dead, then filling thestomack with meat, as formerly the ear with musick. In winter theyfly in flocks, probably the reason why alauda signifieth in Latine botha lark and a legion of souldiers; except any will say a legion is socalled because helmetted on their heads, and crested like a lark, therefore also called in Latine galerita. If men would imitate the earlyrising of this bird it would conduce much unto their healthfulness."(Vol. i. p. 133.)Drayton gives the woodlark the third place in his listof English songsters:-"To Philomel the next the linet we prefer,And by that warbling bird the wood-lark place we then."(Polyolbion, song xiii. )The little Wagtail, or Washtaile, was oncemade the theme of a lively jest:--Wagtail."A certayn artificer in London there was, whyche was sore seke,and coulde not well dysgest his meat. To whom a physician cam togive hym councell, and sayd that he must use to ete metis that be lightof digestyon and small byrdys, as sparowes, swalowes, and specyallythat byrd which is called a wagtayle, whose flessh is mervelouse lyghtof dygestyon, bycause that byrd is ever moving and styryng. The200 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.sekeman, herynge the phesicion say so, answered him and seyd: Sir, ifthat be the cause that those byrdes be lyght of dygestyon, than I knowa mete moch lyghter of dygestyon than other sparow, swallow, or wagtaile, and that is my wyves tong, for it is never in rest, but evermeuying and sterryng." (A. C. Mery Tales, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, p. 21.)This jest is repeated, with slight variation, in AnInterlude ofFour Elements, which was written about theyear 1510.The Sparrow, the commonest of our small birds,especially in the neighbourhood of houses, isfrequently mentioned by Shakspeare, and isSparrow.utilized as a simile by Ben Jonson:-"The use of things is all, and not the store:Surfeit and fulness have killed more than famine:The sparrow with her little plumage flies,While the proud peaco*ck overcharged with pens,Is fain to sweep the ground with his grown train And load of feathers."(The Staple of News, vol. ii. )According to Chester this little bird was gifted with prophetic power:-" The unsatiate sparrow doth prognosticate,And is held good for divination,For flying here and there, from gate to gate,Foretels true things by animadvertion;A flight of sparrowes flying in the day,Did prophesie the fall and sacke of Troy."(Love's Martyr, p. 122.)Bishop Stanley, in his Familiar History ofBirds (p.89), considers the range of the sparrow to be co-extensivewith the tillage of the soil. He writes:-"From certain entries in the Hunstanton Household Book, from1519 to 1578, in which sparrows, or, as they are there written, spowes orsparrouse, are frequently recorded, it would appear that these birds tooktheir place in the larders of the nobility as delicacies with other game,from which we may infer that they were at that time as rare in NorfolkScarcity of Sparrows.201as they are still in some parts of Russia, owing probably to the samecause, viz. the limited state of tillage and growth of corn. "On this passage, Mr. Stevenson (Birds of Norfolk, 1866,vol. i. p. 213) has the following comment:-"That the sparrow was scarce in that part of Norfolk in those daysis most probable, and for the cause alleged, but at the same time thebishop was in error in supposing that the term ' spowes,' so frequentlymet with in the L'Estrange Accounts, referred to our passer domesticus.The term invariably occurs in connection with knots, ring-dotterels,redshanks, and other grallatorial specios, common enough then, asindeed they still are, upon the Hunstanton beach, and under this namethe whimbrell was invariably designated in these old records. Onceonly, in the same Accounts, is the word sparrouse used, as ' Item xijsparrouse of gyste,' articles given in lieu of rent, and these, thusentered alone, were in all probability real sparrows, brought as a delicacyby some poor retainer. "Drayton includes the red-sparrow in his list of songbirds. Skelton, in his satirical poem, The Boke of PhilipSparow, arranges that-"Robyn red breasteHe shal be the priestThe requiem mass to syngLofty warbelingWith help of the red-sparow."By both these authors the reference is perhaps to thereed-sparrow.Yellow- hammer.The Yellow Bunting, Yellow-hammer, or, as Harrisonspells it, Yellow-hamer, is not often mentioned.Drayton, however, calls attention to itssong:-"The yellow- pate, which though she hurt the blooming tree,Yet scarce hath any bird a finer pipe than she."(Polyolbion, song xiii . )Dr. Percival Wright ( Animal Life, p. 263) says thatthe song of the yellow-hammer is not equal to its beauty,and attracts no human ear; whereas the note of this202 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.little bird, by its very monotony and constant repetition,inforces attention, and is one of the most familiar ofcountry sounds. Almost any day in summer, in the roadside copse, the overgrown chalkpit, or even on the cottageroof, may be heard the tuneful call of the yellow- hammer,generally echoed back by some distant rival.The Woodpecker.203CHAPTER IX.SHAKSPEARE has no mention of the Woodpecker, orLaughing-hecco. Drayton, in his poem, The Woodpecker.Owl, describes the persecution which the unfortunate bird of night undergoes from the woodpeckerand the rest of his feathered comrades:-"The wood- pecker, whose hardened beak hath broke,And pierc'd the heart of many a solid oak;That where the kingly eagle wont to pray,In the calm shade in heat of summer's day,Of thousands of fair trees there stands not oneFor him to perch or set his foot upon;Upon the sudden all these murderous fowl,Fallen together on the harmless owl,

• * * * *

The crow is digging at his breast amain;And sharp-neb'd hecco stabbing at his brain."The woodpecker is called in some countries the yaffle,and rainbird, as his cry was held to foretell rain. Othernames were specke, woodspecke, and woodspike; in TheParlyament of Byrdes—a poem, without date, reprintedin the Harleian Miscellany (vol. v. p. 507) —two of thesenames occur:-"The Specke. Then in his hole, sayd the wood- specke,' I wolde the hawk had broke his necke,Or brought into mischevous dale,For of every byrde he makyth a tale." "204 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Sir Thomas Browne records that in Norfolk arefound-"picus martius, or woodspeck, many kinds. The green, the red ,the leucomelanus, or neatly marked black and white, and the cinereusor dun-colored little bird, called a nuthack. They make holes in thetrees without any consideration of the winds or quarters of heaven; butas the rotteness thereof best affordeth convenience. " (Vol. iv. p. 319.)The Toucan, one of the most peculiar of the featheredrace, an inhabitant of America, is describedby John Lerius, a Frenchman, who lived inBrazil about the year 1557.Toucan.Among the rest of the American birds, " he writes," the first placeshall be given to a certaine bird named toucan, whereof we mademention before. It is of the bignesse of a pigeon, of a blacke colourlike a crow, except the brest, which is of a yellow colour, compassedfrom the lower part with a ring of red feathers, which being takenaway, the Barbarians use it for ornament. And it is highly esteemedwith them, because they use it when they intend to dance. From thisit hath taken the name of toucan- tabourace, yet notwithstanding, theyhave such store of them they refuse not to exchange them for ourmerchandizes. The bill of this bird exceeds the whole body in length,wherewith a crane's beak is not to be compared, and therefore it is tobe accompted the most monstrous bill of the whole world." (Purchas,vol. iv. p. 1330.)Gonzalo Ferdinando de Oviedo mentions these birds,but under a different name: —" There is another kind of bird in the Firme Land, which theChristians call picuti because they have very great beakes, in respect ofthe littlenesse of their bodies, for their beakes are very heavie, andweigh more than their bodies: their feathers are very faire, and ofmany variable colours. Their beakes are a quarter of a yard in lengthor more, and bending downe toward the earth, and three fingers broad neere unto the head. Their tongues are very quils, wherewith they make a great (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 980.) hissing."The tongue of this bird differs from that of everyother species in being feathered.The Cuckoo.Chester writes of one of the most familiarof our English birds, the Cuckoo:-"The spring-delighting bird we call the cuckow,Which comes to tell of wonders in this age,Her pretie one note to the world doth showSome men their destinie."The winters envious blast she never tasteth,Yet in all countries doth the cuckoe sing,And oftentimes to peopled townes she hasteth,Therfor to tell the pleasures of the spring:205Cuckoo.Great courtiers heare her voyce, but let her flye,Knowing that she presageth destinie."She scornes to labour or make up a nest,But creepes by stealth into some others roome,And with the larkes deare yong, her yong-ones rest,Being by subtile dealing overcome:The yong birds are restorative to eate,And held amongst us as a princes meate."(Love's Martyr, p. 118.)Shakspeare is more correct in giving the hedgesparrow as the foster-mother whose nest is usually selectedby the parent bird."The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long,That it had its head bit off by its young.""9(Leah, i. 4, 235.)And again:-And, being fed by us, you used us so 66As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird,Useth the sparrow: did oppress our nest;Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk,That even our love durst not come near your sight,For fear of swallowing."(1 Henry IV. , v. i . 59.)Mr. Singer, in a note on this passage, remarks:—"Shakespeare seems to speak from his own observation, and to havebeen the first to notice how the hedge-sparrow was used bythe young cuckoo -a curious fact, now well known and established by the206 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.observations of ornithologists. Something of the same kind is relatedof the cuckoo and the titlark by Pliny, but Holland's translation wasnot published before 1602. "The titling, therefore, that sitteth, beingthus deceived, hatcheth the egge, and bringeth up the chicke of anotherbird -and this she doth so long, untill the young cuckow being oncefledge and readie to flie abroad, is so bold as to seize upon the old titling,and eat up her that hatched her ' ( Pliny, Nat. Hist. , by Holland, b. x.ch. 9). "For the credit of bird nature, it is to be hoped that suchhighly reprehensible conduct on the part of the youngcuckoo is of rare occurrence.The cuckoo was sometimes called "the WelchAmbassador. " This name arose, perhaps, from the factthat Welsh labourers came into the neighbouring countiesabout spring time, in search of employment. In Middleton's play, A Trick to catch an Old One, we read, " Why,thou rogue of universality, do I not know thee? Thysound is like the cuckoo, the Welch Ambassador(iv. 5) .The change in this bird's note as summer advances isobserved by Ben Jonson:-"From a fiddle out of tuneAs the cuckow is in June."(The Gipsies Metamorphosed.)Also by John Heywood, 1587: -" In April the Coocoo can sing her song by rote.In June oft time she cannot sing a note.At first, koo, koo; koo, koo; sings till can she doAt last, kooke, kooke, kooke; six kookes to one koo. "(Epigrams.)Richard II. had, by too frequent appearance and byhis unseemly familiarity with the common people, “ disgraced his kingly glory: "" So when he had occasion to beHe was but as the cuckoo is in June,Heard, not regarded."seen,(1 Henry IV. , iii . 2, 75.)"Wise Men of Gotham."207The attempt of the " wise men of Gotham " to keepperpetual spring by setting a hedge round a cuckoo isoften referred to by poets and dramatists. It may not beout of place to give the origin of the allusion, though itcan hardly be said to come under the title of naturalhistory. The story, as given in T. Blount's Ancient Tenuresof Land, runs thus:-"King John, passing through the village of Gotham towardsNottingham, intending to go over the meadows, was prevented by thevillagers, they apprehending that the ground over which a kingpassed was for ever after to become a public road. The king, incensedat their proceedings, sent from his court soon after some of his servants ,to inquire of them the reason of their incivility and ill - treatment, thathe might punish them by way of fine, or some other way he mightjudge most proper. The villagers, hearing of the approach of the king'sservants, thought ofan expedient to turn away his majesty's displeasurefrom them when the messengers arrived at Gotham, they found someof the inhabitants engaged in endeavouring to drown an eel in a poolof water; some were employed in dragging carts upon a large barn,to shade the wood from the sun; others were tumbling their cheesesdown a hill, that they might find their way to Nottingham for sale;and some were employed in hedging in a cuckoo which had perchedupon an old bush which stood where the present one now stands;which convinced the king's servants that it was a village of fools;whence arose the old adage the wise men' or ' the fools of Gotham." "(Page 133, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1874.)Kingfisher.Michael Drayton was a close observer of nature, andbetter acquainted with the habits of birds thanmost of his contemporaries. In one of thepicturesque descriptions of the marshy district in whichhe delighted, this poet paints the commotion that resultsfrom the rapid swimming of a swan through the water:-" The jealous swan, there swimming in his pride,With his arch'd breast the waters did divide,His saily wings him forward strongly pushing,Against the billows with such fury rushing,As from the same, a foam so white arose,As seem'd to mock the breast that them oppose:208 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.And here and there the wand'ring eye to feed,Of scatter'd tufts of bulrushes and reed ,Segges, longleaved willow, on whose bending spray,The py'd King-fisher, having got his prey,Sate with the small breath of the water shaken,Till he devour'd the fish that he had taken. "(The Man in the Moon. )Mr. Harting has referred to the wide-spread beliefin the Halcyon days. William Browne in his pastoralpoems speaks of-"The mevy and the halcyon famosedFor colours rare, and for the peaceful seas,Round the Sicilian coast, her brooding days."(Britannia's Pastorals, b. ii. song 1. )Montaigne (essay liv. ) gives a full account fromPlutarch of the structure of the kingfisher's nest, and ofthe habits of the bird.Giraldus Cambrensis calls the kingfisher the martinet.The French name of this bird is the martinet-pêcheur.This author never allows any marvel to shake his faith by"supposing it a thing impossible." He has preservedsome curious folk-lore about the kingfisher:-"It is remarkable in these little birds that, if they are preserved ina dry place, when dead, they never decay; and if they are put amongclothes and other articles, they preserve them from the moth and givethem a pleasant odour. What is still more wonderful, if, when dead,they are hung up by their beaks in a dry situation, they change theirplumage every year, as if they were restored to life, as though thevital spark still survived and vegetated through some mysteriousremains of its energy." (Topography of Ireland, 1187, ed. Wright,1813, p. 39.)The students of folk-lore are much beholden to theirancestors for this sublime credulity. Had they discardedsuch stories as absurd they would not have cared torecord them, and the occupation of the students wouldhave been largely gone.The Night-jar.209The range of the beautiful bird, the Hoopoe, is veryextensive. It was known to the Greeks as wellas to the Egyptians. Sir Thomas Browne tellsus that this bird is seen in NorfolkHoopoe."Yet we often meet with it in this county. From the proper noteit is called an hoopebird with us; we apprehend not the hieroglyphicalconsiderations which the Egyptians made of this observable bird; who,considering the order and variety of colors, the 26 or 28 feathers in itscrest, and mewing this handsome outside in the winter, they made itan emblem of the varieties of the world, the succession of times andseasons and signal mutations in them. And therefore, Orus, thehieroglyphic of the world, had the head of an hoopebird upon the topof his staff. " (Vol. iv. p. 184.)Muffett, in his Healths Improvement (p. 100) , writes:-" Houpes were not thought by Dr. Torner to be found in England,yet I saw Mr. Serjeant Goodrons kill one of them in Charingdon Park,when he did very skilfully and happily cure my Lord of Pembroke atIvy Church; they feed upon hurthe-berries, and worms, but delightto feed most upon graves."Goat-sucker.TheGoat- sucker or Night-jar, sometimes called a Nighthawk, must have been sufficiently commonto attract notice by its noiseless , owl- likeflight, and its weird monotonous cry. Its habits, however,are so retiring that there was little chance afforded toour forefathers of making observations that would becorrect.Sir Thomas Browne, writing to Dr. Merritt, inquires,"Have you a caprimulgus, or dorhawk: a bird as apigeon, with a wide throat, as little as a titmouse, whitefeathers in the tail, and paned like a hawk? " (vol. i. p.399). Gilbert White, of Selborne, a naturalist who paidespecial attention to the habits of this bird, writing stilllater, gives it the various names of churn-owl, fernowl, eve-jarr, and puckridge. He ridicules the popularbelief that existed in his day, and that still lingers inP210 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.our own, that the night-jar is injurious to cattle, andexplains that what the bird really seeks as he wheelsround the sleeping kine is not a milk, but an insect diet.Skelton probably refers to the night-jar in the following lines:-"The wodhacke, that singeth churre,Horsly as hee had the murre."(Philip Sparow.)That this bird was classed among the foreboders ofevil will not surprise any one who has listened to thecurious sound it utters, on still summer evenings, whilstit*elf hidden from view."Night-jars and ravens, with wide stretched throats,From yews and hollies send their baleful notes."Humming-(POOLE, English Parnassus.)With a somewhat abrupt transition we turn fromthe hoarse-voiced night-jar of our own country,bird. with its gloomy associations of darknessand ill omen, to the glittering fragments of sunshine thatenliven the forests of America. Joseph Acosta mentionsthe jewel-plumaged Humming-birds, the feathered fairiesof the western world:-" In Peru there are birds which they call tomineios, so small, thatoftentimes I have doubted, seeing them flie, whether they were bees orbutter-flies; but in truth they are birds." (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 965.)Gonzalo Ferdinando de Oviedo, in his description ofthese beautiful little creatures, pays them but a poorcompliment when he compares them to the fancifulrepresentations of birds in the illuminated missalspainted by cloistered artists. He writes:-"There are found in the Firme Land [ South America] certaine birds,so little that the whole bodie of one of them is no bigger then the topof the biggest finger of a mans hand, and yet is the bare body withoutfeathers not halfe so bigge; this bird, beside her littlenesse, is of suchvelocitie and swiftnesse in flying, that whoso seeth her flying in theHumming-birds.211aire, cannot see her flap or beate her wings after any other sorte thendoe the dorres, or humble bees, or beetels: so that there is no man thatseeth her flye, that would thinke her to be any other than a dorre:they make their nests according to the proportion of their bignesse, andI have seene that one of these birds with her nest put into a paire ofgold weights altogether, hath waide no more then a tomini, which arein poise 24 graines, with the feathers, without the which she wouldhave waied somewhat less; and doubtlesse, when I consider the finenesseof the clawes and feete of these birds, I know not whereunto I maybetter liken them then to the little birds which the lymners of bookesare accustomed to paint on the margent of church bookes, and otherbookes of divine service. Their feathers are of manie faire colours, asgolden, yellow, and greene, beside other variable colours: their beakeis verie long for the proportion of their bodies, and as fine and subtileas a sowing needle: they are verie hardy, so that when they see a manclime the tree where they have their nests, they flye at his face, andstrike him in the eyes, comming, going, and returning with suchswiftnesse, that no man should lightly beleeve it that had not seene it,and certainly these birds are so little, that I durst not have mademention hereof, if it were not that divers others which have seene themas well as I can beare witnesse of my saying. They make their nests offlocks and cotten, whereof there is great plentie in these regions, andserveth well for their purpose." (Purchas, vol. iii. p. 977.)We find these small birds mentioned elsewhere underanother name. Antonio Galvano, of New Spain, writes:-"There be certaine small birds named vicmalim, their bil is smalland long. They live of the dew, and the juyce of flowers and roses.Their feathers bee small and of divers colours. They be greatlyesteemed to worke gold with. They die or sleepe every yeere in themoneth of October, sitting upon a little bough in a warme and closeplace: they revive or wake againe in the moneth of Aprill after thatthe flowers be sprung, and therefore they call them the revived birds."(Purchas, vol. ii. p. 1693.)The Portuguese naturalist, whose observations duringhis residence in Brazil have been frequently quoted, alsodescribes the humming-bird, and adds some curious information respecting its mode of reproduction: —" Of all the small birds called guaimimbique, there are sundriekindes, as, fruit of the sunne; by another name, that is, the covering of212 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time. -the sunne; or the haire of the sunne; in the Antilles they call it therisen or awaken bird, and they say it sleepeth sixe moneths, and livethother sixe moneths. It is the finest bird that can bee imagined; ithath a cap on his head, to which no proper colour can be given, for onwhatsoever side yee looke on it, it sheweth red, greene, blacke, andmore colours, all very fine, and shining; and yellow more fine thengold. The bodie is grey; it hath a very long bill, and the tonguetwice the length of the bill; they are very swift in flight, and in theirflight they make a noise like the bee, and they rather seeme bees intheir swiftnesse then birds, for they alwaies feed flying without sittingon a tree, even as the bees doe flie sucking the honnie from the flowers.They have two beginnings of their generation, some are hatched ofegges like other birds, others of little bubbles, and it is a thing to beenoted, a little bubble to beginne to convert itselfe into this little bird,for at one instant it is a bubble and a bird, and so it converts itselfeinto this most faire bird, a wonderful thing, and unknowne to thephilosophers, seeing one living creature without corruption is convertedinto another." (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1305.)It is matter for regret that Shakspeare had no chanceof seeing these flying jewels. Puck might have exchangedhis bat courser for one of these tiny steeds, " Swifter thanarrow from the Tartar's bow." But alas, had they beenpermitted to grace the revels of Titania's court, prosaiccritics would have pointed out that fairies carefully avoidthe sunshine that these tropic gems delight in; so perhapsit is well that humming-birds were unknown to the poet.The Parrot, in consequence of its amusing ways, andParrot.the ease with which it may be taught to talkand imitate various sounds, has been in alltimes a favourite domestic pet. The rose-ringed parrakeetis described with minuteness by Skelton in his singularpoem, Speak Parrot:-" My name is parrot, a bird of Paradise,By nature devised , of a wondrous kyndDienteli dieted, with divers delicate spiceTyl Euphrates that floud, driveth me into IndeWhere men of that countrey by fortune me findAnd send me, to great ladyes of estate,Then parrot must have an almond or a date."Pretty Poll.""With my becke bent, my little wanton eye,My feders fresh, as is the emrawde grene ,About my necke a circulet, lyke the ryche rubye,My little legges, my fete both nete and cleane.

For parrot is no churlish chough, nor no fleked py,Parrot is no pendugum, that men call a carlyng,Parrot is no woodco*cke, nor no butterfly,Parrot is no stamring stare, that men call a starling,But parrot is mine own dere harte, and my darling."213The phrase " An almond for parrot " seems to have beenproverbial. Shakspeare uses it, and Ben Jonson writes:-"How do you, ladybird? so hard at work still!What's that you say; so you bid me walk, sweet bird,And tell our knight? I will. How! Walk, knave, walk!I think you are angry with me, Pol. Fine Pol!Pol is a fine bird! O, fine lady Pol!Almond for parrot. Parrot's a brave bird."(The Magnetic Lady, v. 5.)The phrase occurs again in Haughton:-“ Ah, sirrah, now we'll brag with Mistress Moore,To have as fine a parrot as she hath.Look, sisters, what a pretty fool it is!What a green greasy shining coat he hath,An almond for parrot: a rope for parrot."(English-Menfor my Money: or a Woman willhave her Will, v. 2.)There has been some discussion as to the meaning ofthe word Popinjay, so often used by old writers. In somecases a parrot is evidently intended; but Mr. Bell, in anote in his edition of Chaucer, points out that this nameoccurs in almost all Chaucer's descriptions of spring. Heconsiders it most unlikely that a poet so accurate in portraying nature should introduce the parrot in pictures ofEuropean scenery, and that the jay is more probably thebird intended. In Skelton's Philip Sparow, however,both the jay and the popinjay are included. Phineas214 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Fletcher, in one of his poetical miscellanies, classes theparrot with the " fatal belman of the night ":-"Cousin, day-birds are silenc't, and those fowlYet only sing which hate warme Phœbus' light:Th' unlucky parrot, and death-boding owl. "Mr. Grosart in a note suggests that parrot may here bethe local name for some English bird.Parrots were found in almost all the hot regions ofthe globe, and were brought over in considerable numbersby sailors; they are often mentioned by travellers intheir descriptions of foreign parts. Sir John Mandevilleindulges in his usual exaggeration, and tells of someparrots in the land of Prester John, which rival the Irishman's echo, and speaks of " their propre nature, andsalven men that go throughe the desertes, and speken tothem appropriately as if they were human " (Travels, ed.Halliwell, p. 274). These talking parrots, he goes onto say, have a large tongue, and have five toes on eachfoot, but those that only scream have but three toes.Dr. Percival Wright, in his Animal Life (p. 289),makes mention of a parrot supposed to be of the greyspecies, the property of a cardinal in Rome, in the year1500. This bird was bought for the high price of ahundred pieces of gold, on account of its ability torepeat, clearly and without hesitation, the Apostle'sCreed.Navarette, a missionary to China, reports that " atMarassa there are a great number of a sort of bird theycall cacatua. They are all white, their beak like aparrot. They are easily made tame, and talk " (Churchill's Voyages, vol. i . ) . From this word cacatua is derivedthe English name co*ckatoo.Macaws are mentioned by one of Purchas's pilgrims,a Portuguese, who had lived for some time in Brazil: -"The Arara parots are those that by another name are calledThe Green Parokeet. 215Macaos; it is a great bird, and are very rare, and by the east coastthey are not found, it is a faire bird in colours; their breasts are red asscarlet; from the middle of the bodie to the taile some are yellow,others greene, others blue, and through all the bodie they havescattering some greene, some yellow and blue feathers, and ordinarilyevery feather hath three or foure colours, and the taile is very long.The Indians esteeme them very much, and of their feathers they makevery fine things, and their hangings for their swords. It is a verypleasant bird, they become very tame and domesticall, and speake verywell if they be taught." (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1804. )It is uncertain whether the confusion of pronouns inthe foregoing passage is the fault of the translator, orwhether it must be ascribed to the long exile of thewriter from civilization and books of grammar. Thesemacaws evidently made a very strong impression on thetraveller.A Dutch traveller, whose description of the GoldCoast of Guinea is also included in Purchas's collection oftravels, mentions the little Parokeets, now so common indrawing-room aviaries:-66 The birds that are found there," he writes, " are of divers colours,and are little birds like unto ours; first, there are blewe parrots, whereofare great store, which being young, and taken out of their nests, andmade tame, having not flowne abroad, they are better to teach, and tolearne to speake; but they will not prate so much as the greene Brasilianparrots doe. They have also another kind of greene birds as big as sparrows, like the catalinkins of West India, but they cannot speake. Thesebirds are called asuront, and by our Netherlanders, called parokites.They are taken with nets, as you use to take sparrowes. They keepemuch in low land, where much corne or millet groweth, for they eatemuch thereof. Those birds are alwaies very kind one to the other; forwhen you put a male and a female in a cage, they will alwaies sittogether without making any noyse. The female is of such a nature,that when she is coupled with the male, she respecteth him much, andletteth him sit on the right hand, setting her selfe on the left hand;and when he goes to eate, shee followeth him, and so they live togetherquietly, being almost of the nature of the turtle- doves. They are ofa very faire greene colour, with a spot of orange-tawnie upon theirnoses. There are another kind of parokiten, which are much likethem, being of the same nature, and condition, but are of colour as red216 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.as bloud, with a spot of blacke upon their noses, and a blacke taile,being somewhat greater than the parokites." (Purchas, vol. 2, p. 956.)Another bird of the parrot tribe is described byLinschoten, a Portuguese, in his account of a voyage toGoa, 1583:-"There commeth in India, out of the iland of Molucas, beyondMalacca, a kind of birds, called noyras: they are very faire to looke on,and speake sweetly: there could never yet be any of them broughtliving into Portugall, although they have sought and used all themeanes they could to bring them for a present to the king, which hegreatly desireth: but they die upon the way, for they are very delicate,and will hardly be brought up. " (Purchas, vol. ii . p. 1771.)probably here intended.Moluccas, and is arrayedThe difficulty of transitThe Purple-capped Lory isThis bird is a native of thein gorgeous scarlet plumage.has been overcome by modern collectors, and the easewith which the lory is tamed, no less than its brillantcolouring, makes it a favourite cage-bird.It seems almost unnecessary to suggest that Shakspeare must in his youth have had the charge Pigeon.of Pigeons, as few boys living in the countryhave not; but only those who are well acquainted withthe habits of these birds can realize the almost photographic accuracy with which the poet has observed them.The references to their " golden couplets " (Hamlet, v. 1),their method of feeding their young (As You Like It, ii.27), their gentleness (Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 2) ,courage (2 Henry IV. , iii. 2), and jealousy (As You LikeIt, ii. 2), —all show how closely he had watched them.Mr. Harting has given a full description of pigeons, andnumerous illustrative quotations from Shakspeare's works.The Dove, from its association with certain scripturallegends, has in Christian art ever been held as a type oflove, simplicity, innocence, fidelity, gentleness, and peace.The possession of all these amiable qualities has not,however, procured for the bird any exemption from ill-Pigeons too numerous.217treatment at the hand of man. In early times, amongthe Hebrews, doves were carefully reared in order to beslain by thousands as sacrifices; in the medieval periodtheir chief mission was to provide food and exercise fortheir unrelenting foe, the hawk; and in our own day theyare selected as the favourite victims for shooting matches.The cruel custom of fastening or sewing up the eyesof pigeons is referred to by Sir Philip Sidney:-" Like as the dove, which seeled up, doth fly;Is neither freed, nor yet to service bound;But hopes to get some help by mounting high,Till want of force do force her to the ground. "And again, by Ford:—(Vol. iii. p. 146, ed. 1726.)"Ambition, like a seeled dove, mounts upward,Higher and higher still, to perch on clouds,But tumbles headlong down with heavier ruin."(The Broken Heart, ii. 2.)Thomas Fuller gives us some information with respectto the number of pigeons that were kept, and the complaints that consequently arose.1"Pigeons," he writes, " against their wills, keep one Lent for seavenweeks in the year, betwixt the going out of the old and growing up ofthe new grain. Probably, our English would be found as docile andingenious as the Turkish pigeons, which carry letters from Aleppo toBabilon, if trained up accordingly. But such practices, by these wingposts would spoil many a foot- post, living honestly by that painfulvocation. "What would the worthy doctor have said had any one toldhim that messages would one day be carried by a meansfar outstripping in speed the swiftest pigeon! He adds:-“ I find a grievous indictment drawn up against the poor pigeons forfelony, as the grand plunderers of grain in this land; my author,computing six and twenty thousand dovehouses in England and Wales,and allowing five hundred pair in each house, four bushels yearly for each218 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.pair, hath mounted the annual wast they make to an incredible sum;and, ifthe moiety of his proportions hold true, doves may be accountedthe causers of death, and justly answer their etymology in Hebrew,Jonah, which is deduced from a root signifying to spoil or destroy."(Worthies of England, vol. ii . p. 158.)Though pigeon-breeding was doubtless practised asan amusem*nt, we find no mention by name of anyfancy varieties. In a poem by Barnfield, publishedabout 1590, we meet with a suggestion of a feathered-toedpigeon:-"And when th' art wearie of thy keeping sheepe,Upon a lovely downe, to please thy minde,lle give thee fine ruffe-footed doves to keepe,And pretty pigeons of another kind."Later on, we are informed that-"House-doves are white, and oozels blacke-birds bee."(The Affectinate Shepheard.)Thomas Muffett tells us that " wild doves be especiallyfour; rock-doves, stock-doves, ring-doves, and turtle doves(Healths Improvement, p. 100).The wood- pigeon was called the wood-quist, or woodqueest. Lyly writes:-" Me thought I saw a stock-dove, or wood-quist, I know not howto tearme it, that brought short strawes to build his nest on a tallcedar." (Sappho and Phaon, iv. 3.)Dodo.Sir Thomas Herbert, in his lively narrative of thetravels on which he set out in 1626, givessome interesting particulars of the long extinctDodo, a species of bird closely allied to the pigeon . Heis describing the island of Mauritius, and writes:-"This noble isle, as it is prodigal in her water and wood, so shecorresponds in what else a fruitful parent labours in: not onely boasting in that variety, but in feathered creatures also; yea, in therareness of that variety: I will name but some, and first the dodo; aComplaint ofthe Dodo. 219bird the Dutch call walgh- vogel or dod eersen: her body is round andfat, which occasions the slow pace or that her corpulencie; and so greatas few of them weigh less than fifty pound: meat it is with some,but better to the eye than stomach; such as only a strong appetite canvanquish but otherwise, through its oyliness it cannot chuse butquickly cloy and nauseate the stomach, being indeed more pleasurableto look than feed upon. It is of melancholy visage, as sensible ofnatures injury in framing so massie a body to be directed by complemental wings, such indeed as are unable to hoise her from theground, serving only to rank her amongst birds: her head is variouslydrest; for one half is hooded with down of a dark colour, the otherhalf, naked and of a white hue, as if lawn were drawn over it; her billhooks and bends downwards, the thrill or breathing place is in themidst; from which part to the end, the colour is of a light green mixtwith a pale yellow: her eyes are round and bright, and instead offeathers has a most fine down; her train (like to a Chyna [ Chinaman's]beard) is no more than three or four short feathers: her leggs are thickand black; her tallons great; her stomach fiery, so she can easilydigest stones; in that and shape not a little resembling the ostrich."(Travels, p. 383, 4th ed. )With regard to the culinary properties of the dodoit must be borne in mind that Sir Thomas Herbert wassomewhat hard to please, and scarcely ever condescendedto approve of the different dishes that necessity compelledhim to investigate.The Rev. R. Lubbock writes of theCapercaillie, or co*ck of the wood:-Capercaillie."By reclaiming waste lands and draining marshes we gradually losecertain species; but by cultivating and planting we either encourageor gain others. The greatest achievement is the one lately carriedthrough in the Highlands, the complete restoration of the cappercaillie.This noble bird was annihilated with the pine forests which shelteredhim. The mountains were again clothed with wood, and, withoutmuch trouble, he was reinstated in his former possessions." (Fauna ofNorfolk, 1845, p. 41.)According to Sir Thomas Browne, Grouse were unknown in Norfolk, as was also the Health- poult, by whichhe meant, in all probability, the black grouse.220 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time." The corn-land loving Quail, the daintiest of our bits "(DRAYTON, Polyolbion, song xxv.),Quail.was in the time of Elizabeth considered a delicacy. Thisbird was plentiful in Lancashire and severalother counties, and Sir Thomas Browne mentions it as common in Norfolk. Quails, however, had onepeculiarity, which gave the ancients a dislike to theirflesh; Harrison writes, " They onelie with man are subjectto the falling sicknesse." Against the assertion thatquails were unwholesome, Muffett brings forward the factthat these birds were sent to the Israelites in the wilderness, when they wearied of manna, as the best anddaintiest meat that could be provided (Healths Improvement, p. 98).Lyly gives the quail credit for peculiar taste in theway of food. He compares some one to " the quaile thatforsaketh the malowes to eat hemlock " (Euphues,p. 240).Partridges were chiefly valued as quarry for the smallerkinds of hawks. The French commentator on Partridge. Du Bartas writes of the partridge:-" The reason why she is called delicate hath relation to their tastewho eat therof; although Martiall hath sometimes said , Charior estperdrix, sic sapit illa magis. As if he had said, as they say in French,The coustfait le goust: the cost makes the taste." (Summary on DuBartas, p. 235.)The " Peaco*ck of Inde," mentioned by Harrison, isnoticed by Navarette, in his account of China:Peaco*ck. 66 They carry this bird from Siam, for they donot breed in China, but abundance of them do in someparts of India " (Churchill's Voyages, vol. i. p. 40) .Chester refers to the admiration expressed by Alexander the Great and his soldiers at the sight of thesebeautiful birds:--"The proud sun-braving peaco*cke with his feathers,Walkes all along, thinking himselfe a king,Peaco*ck Fans.And with his voyce prognosticates all weathers,Although God knows but badly he doth sing;But when he lookes downe to his base blacke feete,He droopes, and is asham'd of things unmeete."The mighty Macedonian Alexander,Marching in lovely triumph to his foes,Being accounted the worlds conquerour,In Indie spies a peaco*cke as he goes,And marvelling to see so rich a sightCharg'd all men not to kill his sweet delight. "(Love's Martyr, p. 121.)Du Bartas writes:--"There the fair peaco*ck, beautifully brave,Proud, portly-strouting, stalking, stately -grave,Wheeling his starry trayn, in pomp displayesHis glorious eyes to Phœbus golden rayes.”(Page 46.)221Peaco*cks' plumes have in all ages been prized fortheir beauty, but it is somewhat curious to find that thesebirds were reared in the northern countries of Europeexpressly for their æsthetic value. Olaus Magnus tellsus that-"in Ostrogothia, and Vestrogothia, and Sweden, many peaco*cksbreed, and they are bred up very carefully: so that at first they arefed with pellets made of barley meal; after that with new-milk cheese,pressed from the milk, for the whey hurts them, then when 35days are past they are fed with whole barley; and next in the openfields, where, by instinct of nature, they can feed themselves morefreely, especially where foxes cannot come at them. The reason whythey are fostered more than other birds is, the profit they make, andtheir fine feathers, which painters and weavers imitate in the north, tomake distinction of colours, because the pictures of great artists areseldome brought hither from far countries, because the way is solong. " (Page 203.)Lyly mentions another use to which peaco*cks' feathersmay be put: " They that feare the stinging of waspesmake fannes of peaco*ck tailes, whose spots are like eyes(Prologue to Campaspe).99222 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.An attempt was apparently made to utilize thesefeathers in archery. Roger Ascham, in his Toxophilus(p. 152), 1551, writes:-"Truly, at a short butt, which some men doth use, the peaco*ckfeather doth seldom keep up the shaft either right or level, it is sorough and heavy; so that many men, which have taken them up forgayness, have laid them down again for profit: thus, for our purpose,the goose is the best feather for the best shooter."The peaco*ck, probably more on account of the ornament which its gorgeous plumage added to the banquetthan from any tenderness of its flesh, was a standard dishon every great occasion. This royal bird was usually"eten with gynger," and was served up amidst considerable pomp and ceremony. If we may trust the poet,the city feasts of this period were sometimes the occasionof lavish expenditure. Thus Massinger writes: -"Men may talk of country-Christmasses, and court-gluttony,Their thirty-pound butter'd eggs, their pies of carp's tongues,Their pheasants, drench'd with ambergris, the carcassesOf three fat wethers bruised for gravy, toMake sauce for a single peaco*ck; yet their feastsWere fasts, compared with the city's."(The City Madam, ii . 1.)Montaigne refers to the extravagant luxury of thesebanquets:-"I could have been glad, the better to judge of it, to have tastedthe culinary art of those cooks, who had so rare a way of seasoningexotick odours with the relish of meats; as it was particularly observedin the service of the King of Tunis, who in our days landed at Naples,to have an interview with Charles the Emperour, where his dishes wereforc'd with odoriferous drugs, to that degree of expence, that the cookeryof one peaco*ck and two pheasants amounted to a hundred ducats, todress them after their fashion. And when the carver came to breakthem up, not only the dining-room, but all apartments of his palaceand the adjoining streets were fill'd with an aromatick vapour, whichdid not presently vanish. " (Essay xlii. )The custom frequently adopted by knights, of takingVows on the Pheasant. 223a solemn vow on the pheasant to perform some deed ofprowess, is ascribed by Dr. Brinsley Nicholson to a Pagansource, though at the same time he identifies it with thetoken of the covenant of the rainbow, mentioned inGenesis:--" The medieval knights," he writes, " seem to have known nothingof the origin or meaning of the oath by the peaco*ck or pheasant, thereis therefore the more reason for believing it to have been traditionaland imported. Its incongruous combination also with vows to Godand the Virgin seems to show that it was a Pagan oath Christianized inoutward form by the adspersion of holy words. From it as an example,and when birds were divided into noble and common, and taken asheraldic devices, other similar oaths would follow. But these were theoaths of particular persons, and, as in the case of the swan, oaths byone's ancestral honour, that by the peaco*ck was universal among thenobly born. I conjecture then, and believe, that the oath by thepeaco*ck, and that by the pheasant, were variants of one and the sameoath, the irid-coloured pheasant being the representative of the peaco*ckwhere peaco*cks were scarce or unknown, and both of them the emblemsor representatives of the covenant bow in the clouds. The bringing ofthe bird alive, or dressed in its feathers, the great solemnity of theoath, the fidelity to it that was meant to be thus ensured, and perhapsthe taking of it by many or with many, as though entering into acompact or covenant, are all further circ*mstances tending to corroborate this view." (Notes and Queries, 4th series, vol. iii . p. 565.)Dr. Nicholson explains the connexion between Irisand the peaco*ck as arising from the fact that Iris wasthe attendant on Juno. When the peaco*ck becameknown, her place was taken by that bird. Be this as itmay, the oath thus taken was considered most binding.In 1458, Philip le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, vowed, “ Surle faisan," to go to the deliverance of Constantinople,which had recently fallen into the hands of the Turks.The Pheasant was apparently plentiful in England.Though not preserved in the modern sense ofthe word, it was the quarry pursued by thegoshawk, and was protected accordingly.Pheasant.The Pheasant is repeatedly mentioned in the old224 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time."accounts." The instructions for serving it, given inWynkyn de Worde's Boke of Kervynge, are that the legsand wings are to be lifted the same as those of hens, andthat no sauce is to be used with it, but only salt andpowder of ginger.According to Andrewe (Noble Lyfe, part ii . m. 4), thepheasant was sometimes taken by the simple yet ingenious device of painting a representation of the bird ona cloth, and holding it in view of the quarry. This proceeding so attracted the attention of the bird, that anotherfowler was able to approach from the rear and throw anet over it. Considering the great wantof likenessprevalent in portraits of this period, it is more thanprobable that if the pheasant was attracted at all it wasby curiosity, to discover what new species of fowl hadcome into the neighbourhood. This same writer informsus that-"thys byrde morneth sore in fowle weder, and hideth hym from therayne under the bushes. Towarde the morning and towardes night,than commeth he out of the busshe, and is oftentimes so taken, and heputteth his hede in the ground, and he weneth that all his boddy ishyden and his flessh is very light and good to disjest. " (Babees Book,ed. Furnivall, p. 101.)Ben Jonson, in his enumeration of the various luxuries which Penshurst afforded for its owner's entertainment, writes:-"The topsFertile of wood, Ashore and Sydneys copp's,To crown thy open table, doth provideThe purpled pheasant with the speckled side:The painted partridge lies in ev'ry field,And for thy mess is willing to be killed."(The Forest.)The Argus Pheasant is a native of Sumatra. A varietyof the pheasant mentioned by Marco Polo may possiblybe this argus: " Pheasants are found in it [ Thibet] thatNatural Antipathies. 225are twice the size of ours, but something smaller than thepeaco*ck. The tail-feathers are eight or ten palms inlength " (Travels, p. 225, ed. Marsden, 1813)."The princely co*ck distinguished the hours," writesDrayton; and Du Bartas, in his poem on theCreation, thus describes the " Harbinger ofMorn:"Close by his side stands the courageous co*ck,Crest-peoples king, the peasants trusty clock,True morning watch, Aurora's trumpeter,The lyons terror, true astronomer,Who daily riseth when the sun doth rise;And when Sol setteth then to roost he hies."co*ck.(Fifth Day, p. 46.)The notion to which reference is here made, that thelion had a strong antipathy to the crowing of a co*ck, ismentioned by Reginald Scot, 1584, in a passage whichrecalls Shylock's answer to the Duke's appeal forclemency:-"It is almost incredible, that the grunting, or rather the wheekingof a little pig, or the sight of a simple sheep should terrify a mightyelephant; and yet by that means the Romans did put to flight Pyrrhusand all his hoast. A man would hardly beleeve, that a co*cks combe orhis crowing should abash a puissant lion; but that the experiencehereof hath satisfied the whole world. Who would think that a serpent should abandon the shadow of an ash, etc.? But it seemeth notstrange because it is common, that some man otherwise hardy andstout enough should not dare to abide or endure the sight of a cat. "(Discovery of Witchcraft, p. 70, ed. 1654.)According to Hakewill (Apologie, p. 13) King James I.made trial of the lion's courage, and found that it wasquite proof against the crowing of a co*ck.The porter in Macbeth replies to the accusation ofkeeping late hours, " Faith, sir, we were carousing till thesecond co*ck,"-a time identical with that referred to byLady Macbeth after the banquet, " Almost at odds withmorning, which is which. "226 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Spenser refers to the several periods of crowing"What time the native belman of the night,The bird that warned Peter of his fall,First rings his silver bell t' each sleepy wight,That should their mindes up to devotion call. "(Faerie Queene, V. vi . 36.)Tusser, more precise, gives the exact hours in the nightwhen the co*ck goes through his performance:-"co*ck croweth at midnight, few times above six,With pause to his neighbour, to answer betwix:At three a clock thicker; and then as ye know,Like al in to mattins, near day they do crow."At midnight, at three, and an hour ere day,They utter their language, as well as they may;Which who so regardeth, what counsel they give,Will better love crowing, as long as they live."(Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie. )Mr. Harting illustrates from Hamlet the popular notionthat ghosts vanished at the sound of co*ck- crowing, andthat consequently no spirit dare stir abroad at Christmastime, since at that period of the year chanticleer clamorsthe livelong night. It has been suggested that as theco*ck wakes readily, and crows lustily if roused by anyartificial light, the prolonged labours of the housewifeconsequent upon the approaching Christmas festivities ,and the extension of hours of the lights of the householdat this season, keep him in constant activity.The process of hatching eggs by artificial heat is notby any means a recent invention. The plan adopted inCairo is minutely described by George Sandys, in hisaccount of a journey into Africa, in 1610 (Purchas, vol.ii. p. 906). According to this author, as many as sixthousand eggs were laid on mats in a single oven. Thefloor of the oven was grated, and a slow, smouldering firewas kindled underneath. After eight days of moderateheat the eggs were carefully sorted over, and the bad wereArtificial Egg-hatching.227distinguished from the good by holding them in front ofa lamp. The oven was shut up for ten days longer, at theend of which time the eggs were " disclosed," or hatchedsimultaneously. A similar method of hatching eggs wasemployed in China, about the same date.Sir John Mandeville relates that in China he foundhens without feathers, but with white wool like sheep.Whether the worthy knight was indulging in romance, orwhether he mistook the furry appearance of the CochinChina fowl for wool, is uncertain.Turkey.According to Mr. Bennett (Gardens of the ZoologicalSociety, 1830), much uncertainty prevails as tothe date of the introduction of the Turkeyinto England. This author writes:-"It is a singular fact that the origin of this, the most importantaddition to our domestic poultry that has been made in modern times,should have been involved in such obscurity, as to remain for morethan two centuries out of the three that the bird has been known tous, doubtful and undetermined. . . . In 1541 we find it mentioned ina Constitution of Archbishop Cranmer, published in Leland's Collectanea, by which it was ordered that of such large fowls as cranes,swans, and turkey- co*cks, there should be but one in a dish . In 1566 apresent of twelve turkeys was thought not unworthy of being offeredby the municipality of Amiens to the king; at whose marriage, in1570, it is said, they were first eaten in France."Daines Barrington, in his amusing Miscellanies, 1781 ,tells us that " four young turkies, and consequently bredin England, were dressed at a serjeant's feast in 1555,"and claims to find a still earlier mention of this fowl inthe statement that66 capons of grease (Greece, probably) made part of an entertainment inthe sixth year of Edward IV. , 1467; it being highly probable thatthis bird was common to two countries lying so near to each other asGreece and Asia Minor. Turkies had so increased in England thatCaius, in his account of our rarer animals, printed in 1570, omits mention of them, though he is very particular in the description of aguinea hen, stiling it meleagris."228 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.In the Book of Carving, printed by Wynkyn deWorde, in 1513, instructions are given for cutting up acapon, or " henne of grece," by which is simply meanta fat hen; and in John Russell's Book of Nurture, theexpression " hen of hawt grese " occurs, which, being interpreted, means plump, well fed, so that Mr. Barrington'singenious theory must be given up.Mr. Harting (Ornithology, p. 179) , referring to Shakspeare's anachronism in introducing the domestic turkeyin the reign of Henry IV. , gives full particulars of thevarious names by which the bird has been known.According to Mr. Henry Green-"a general knowledge of the bird was at any rate spread abroad inEurope soon after the middle of the sixteenth century, for we find itfigured in the emblem-books; ' one of which, Freitag's MythologiaEthica, in 1579 (p . 237) , furnishes a most lively and exact representation to illustrate the violated rights of hospitality." (Shakspeare and the Emblem Writers, 1870, p. 356.)In the accompanying picture a stately turkey-co*ck isdepicted advancing with spreading plumes. He is metby a fine specimen of the domestic co*ck, who, with liftedspur and threatening aspect, prepares to attack the intruder. Beneath the drawing is the text, " And if astranger sojourn with thee in your land ye shall not vexhim " (Lev. xix. 33) .Guinea- fowl..Early travellers often confuse the Guinea-fowl withthe turkey. The former is a native of Africa,and the latter of America, which differenceof habitation should save them from being mistaken foreach other. Francis Pretty, in his account of a voyageundertaken by Thomas Candish between the years 1585and 1588, says:-"We found in this place [ Saint Helena] great store of guinie-co*cks,which we call turkies, of colour black and white, with red heads: theyare much about the same bignesse which ours be of in England: theiregges be white, and as bigge as a turkies egge." (Purchas, vol. i .p. 70. )Guinea-fowl. 229This author is quite incorrect in his statement respectingthe eggs of the guinea-fowl. They are not white, butlight red, with small dark spots, and they are not largerthan those laid by the domestic hen.A traveller in Sierra Leone, in 1607, also mentionsthis bird:-"On land are great numbers of gray parrots, as also store of guinyhennes, which are very hurtfull to their rice. This is a beautiful fowle,about thebignesse of a phesant, with parti-coloured feathers. (Purchas,vol. i. p. 416.)230 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Vulture.CHAPTER X.As if to give importance to the most prominent representative of a class which is often endowedwith virtues beyond its merits, the second inrank is sometimes unfairly depreciated. Thus, while thelion is ennobled the tiger is debased. The eagle is heldup for admiration, while the vulture, its rival in size andreally its superior in usefulness, has in all ages beenregarded with dislike. Mr. Bennett observes (Gardens ofthe Zoological Society, 1830) that, ignoring the fact thatboth birds are acting alike in accordance with theirpeculiar instincts, and both fulfilling a part in theeconomy of nature—66 man has chosen to fix upon the one a character for bravery andgenerosity, and to brand the other with the epithets of base, cowardly,and obscene. The vulture, perhaps the most useful and certainly themost inoffensive of birds, has been consigned to perpetual infamy,while the eagle, in the true cant of that military romance which hasever borne so great a sway over the passions of mankind, has beenexalted, in common with the warrior that desolates the world, as anobject of admiration, and selected as the type of military glory."The Vulture is one of the most valuable scavengers ofthe East. The repulsive nature of its food, together withits ungainly appearance and great voracity, are someexcuse for the disgust it has inspired. From a passagein Ben Jonson, it would appear that vultures were onceThe Vulture. 231seen on our shores, unless, as Gifford suggests, the Spanishtroops, which poured into the Netherlands, under D'Alva,are thus complimented:-"That ruff of prideAbout thy neck, betrays thee; and is the sameWith that which the unclean birds, in seventy - seven,Were seen to prank it with on divers coasts."(The Alchemist, iv. 4.)The ancients were by no means precise in distinguishing the species of either birds or quadrupeds. In theEnglish translation of the Bible, the word eagle is probablysubstituted for the vulture in some instances.speaks of a vulture striking at a heron on the wing, not avery likely occurrence.SpenserThe vulture in Egypt and Southern Europe is notmuch larger than a rook. John Leo, who was probablyfamiliar with the sight of this useful bird in the cities ofItaly, was surprised to find one of the larger Africanspecies called by the same name.He says:-“ The nesir is the greatest fowl in all Africa, and exceedeth a cranein bignesse, though the bil, necke, and legs are somewhat shorter. Inflying, this bird mounteth up so high into the aire, that it cannot bediscerned but at the sight of a dead carcasse it will immediatelydescend. This bird liveth a long time, and I myselfe have seene many ofthem unfeathered by reason of extreme old age: wherefore, having castall their feathers, they returne into their nest, as if they were newlyhatched, and are there nourished by the younger birds of the samekind. The Italians call it by the name of a vulture; but I thinke itto be of another kind. They nestle upon high rocks, and upon thetops of wilde and desart mountains, especially upon Mount Atlas. "(Purchas, vol. ii . p. 849.)The Condor, the largest of the American vultures,derives its name from a Mexican word expressive of akeen sense of smell. It is mentioned by Joseph Acostain his Travels:-"In Peru there are birds which they call condores, of an exceeding232 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.greatnesse, and of such a force, that not only they will open a sheepand eate it but also a whole calfe." (Purchas, vol. iii. p. 965.)Though denied by modern scientific classification thehonour of heading the list of the feathered Eagle. tribes, the Eagle held in earlier and morepoetic times the same position among birds that the lionoccupied among beasts, and was in consequence the chosenemblem of royalty in many countries.The lofty flight of the eagle, beyond the range of anybut the most practised archer, and quite out of the reachof the clumsy guns of this period, together with theinaccessible crags which it frequented, gave it comparative immunity from disturbance. The eagle musthave therefore been far more common than at present.Sir Thomas Browne says that the great eagle was notmet with in Norfolk, though several of the fen eagleswere found there. Derricke, in his Image of Irelande,describes-"A mighty fowle, a goodlie birde,Whom men doe eagle call,This builds her nest in highest toppeOf all the oken tree;Or in the craftiest place, whereofIn Irelande manie be."Leland, in his Itinerary, tells us that an eagle built itsnest every year on the side of the rock on which theCastle of Dinas Brane, near Chester, was built. Thiscastle was, at the time he wrote, in ruins. Robert Chesterspeaks of-"The princely eagle of all birds the king,For none but she can gaze against the sunne,Her eye-sight is so cleare, that in her flyingShe spies the smallest beast that ever runne,As swift as gun- shot using no delay,So swiftly doth she flie to catch her pray.The Eagle-stone."She brings her birds being yong into the aire,And sets them for to looke on Phœbus light,But if their eyes with gazing chance to water,Those she accounteth bastards, leaves them quight,But those that have true perfect constant eyes,She cherisheth, the rest she doth despise. "(Love's Martyr, p. 118.)233Prince Edward, in 3 Henry VI. (ii. 1, 91) , is appealedto by his brother Richard to prove in like fashion hisroyalty:-"Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird,Show thy descent by gazing ' gainst the sun."Spenser refers to the notion that the eagle by bathingcould renew its youth:-"An eagle, fresh out of the ocean wave,Where he hath left his plumes all hory gray,And deckt himselfe with fethers youthful gay,Like eyas-hauke up mounts unto the skies,His newly-budded pineons to assay,And marveiles at himselfe, stil as he flies. "(Faerie Queene, I. xi. 35.)In the English translation of the Bible a similarexpression occurs: "Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's'(Psalm ciii. 5).The eagle was evidently a favourite with Lyly, theEuphuist, who has perpetuated some curious classical loreconcerning its habits. He writes, " The princely eagle,who fearing to surfet on spices, stoopeth to bite on wormwood " (Sappho and Phaon). " The eagle is never strickenwith thunder, nor the olive with lightning " (Galathea)."The eagles feathers consume the feathers of all others,"and " every feather of the eagle is of force to consume thebeetle " (Euphues, p. 214) . Lastly, he mentions " theprecious stone, ætites, which is found in the filthy neastesof the eagle " (Euphues, p. 240). This stone, ætites, oreagle-stone, is a flint, which rattles on being shaken,234 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.and contains a nucleus. The story goes that the femaleeagle takes up this stone into her nest, while she issitting, to prevent her eggs from becoming addled. Thecorrosive quality of the eagle's feathers is mentioned byother writers. Du Bartas writes:-"And so the princely eagles ravening plumesThe feathers of all other fowls consumes."(Page 96.)In heraldry the eagle ranks next in popularity to thelion as a charge. It is portrayed in different attitudes,and with a varying number of heads. It is occasionallyblazoned without either beak or legs; then it is termedan allerion. According to the chroniclers, Godfrey ofBoulogne, Duke of Lorraine, during the siege of Jerusalemshot three of these footless birds with an arrow. In honourof that exploit three allerions upon a bend are borne incommemoration by the Dukes of Lorraine to the presentday. "It is perfectly evident," observes Mr. Planché, incommenting on this legend, " that the narrator was theparty who drew the long bow, and not the noble Godfrey."The similarity of the two names, Lorraine and Allerion,probably gave rise to the story.Ben Jonson does not often mention the eagle. Hesays, in one play:-"Every stoop he madeWas like an eagle's at a flight of cranes:As I have read somewhere."(The New Inn, iv. 3.)Shakspeare, on the contrary, though probably likeJonson he drew his knowledge of this " royal bird " fromdescription, or from some tame specimens in the " costlyaviaries " mentioned by Harrison, has frequent referencesto its power of flight, strength of vision, longevity, andother qualities, all which may be found noticed in Mr.Harting's volume.Scandinavian Eagles.235As to synonyms for this bird, according to Harrisonthe eagle was frequently called the erne.He says:-" I was once of the opinion that there was a diversitie of kindbetween the eagle and the erne till I perceived that our nation usedthe word erne in most places for the eagle." (Holinshed, vol. i. p. 381.)Ben Jonson probably means the eagle when he represents the augurs watching-"Which hand the crow cried on, how highThe vulture or the erne did fly."(The Masque of Augurs.)And again, Godolphin was the ancient Cornish namefor the white sea-eagle, now sometimes called the erne.Olaus Magnus thus describes the varieties of eaglesfound in Scandinavia:-"There are six kinds of eagles: the first is Herodius, called also agir-faulcon, the most noble bird of all, of a blew colour, tending towhite, except the breast and wings, where it more evidently representsa celestial colour: she is so strong, that she will carry an eagle, and sofull of animosity that if she be let fly in the ayr after four or fivecranes, she will never forsake the prey, till she strike them all down tothe ground one after another, and a dog bred for the sport takes themaway. Nor will this gir-faulcon come down for indignation, till hetakes away what is fallen. She never breeds more than one young one."The second noble kind after this, is that, which when she hathyoung ones, flyes at geese, swans, coneys, and hares chiefly. This islesse than the gir-faulcon , of divers colours, her feathers are white, andash-colour mingled, and she hath white feathers in her short tail.The third, which sits on the bodies of trees, whose tops are cut off,whence it hath its name; and it is of an ash-colour; she flyes at geeseand ducks, and is less in body and courage than the former two."The fourth, which catcheth fishes, is of divers colours under thebelly, white and black on the back, and upon the bunch it hath blackspots it hath one foot like a duck, to swim with; another like thehawk, to catch the prey: she sits on trees over rivers, lying in wait forfish; and there are great multitudes of them in the northern waters."The fifth kind is small, and various in colour, but notable cunning,236 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.for she will carry bones into the ayr, and let them fall down upon astone, that she may break them, and so come at the marrow." The sixth kind is white, and lives by flying at hares, coneys,hogs, whelpes, foxes, and such like: yet the eagle so loves her young,that she will put her self like a buckler, between her young ones and the arrow shot." But all the kinds of them have this property, that they wraptheir eggs in fox or hare skins to be hatched, which they find bychance or else flea them themselves, and these they leave in theirnests to come to maturity by heat of the sun. For they cannot alwayssit and stay in their nests, because their talons would grow so crookedthat they would not be able to catch their prey." (History of theGoths, etc., p. 196.)The Kite is sometimes called the glead; though inKite the English translation of Deuteronomy xiv.. 13, glede and kite are mentioned separately.According to Belon, who wrote about the year 1560, anamazing number of kites used to collect in the streets ofLondon for the sake of the refuse which was thrown intothe gutters. People were forbidden to kill them, and thebirds were so tame that they took their prey in the midstof the greatest crowds, after the manner of pigeons inour time. Their familiarity, however, was not quite soharmless, for they occasionally invaded the butchers'stalls, and helped themselves to what they fancied.Gascoigne, in his Councell to Duglasse Dive, has thefollowing defence of the kite:—" The kight can weede the worme from corne and costly seedes,The kight can kill the mowldiwarpe, in pleasant meads that breedes,Out of the stately streets the kight can clense the filth,As mencan clense the worthlesse weedes, from fruitfull fallowed tilth;And onely set aside the hennes poor progenie,I cannot see who can accuse the kight for felonie.The falcon, she must feede on partridge, and on quayle,On pigeon, plover, ducke and drake, hearne, lapwing, teale, and raile."(English Poets, vol. ii . , ed. Chalmers. )The puttock was another name for this bird. In thesame poem we find:-Falconry."A puttocke set on pearch, fast by a falcons side,Will quickly shew it selfe a kight, as time hath often tried. "237Du Bartas, in his poem on the Creation (p. 66) , translated by Sylvester, mentions-"The ravening kite, whose train doth well supply A rudders place."Drayton has the same idea:-"The kite his train him guiding in the air,Prescribes the helm, instructing how to steer."(The Owl.)In the time of Elizabeth no amusem*nt was moreuniversally popular than falconry. Every Falconry.class could partake of it; and as the quarrypursued included almost all the wild birds, herons, wildduck, partridges, blackbirds, as well as hares, there wasno difficulty in finding game. In Ben Jonson's EveryMan in his Humour (act i. sc. 1), Master Stephen, a youngman coming from the country to begin his career as afashionable town gentleman, inquires immediately at hiscousin's house in London-“Uncle, afore I go in, can you tell me, an he have e'er a book ofthe sciences of hawking and hunting; I would fain borrow it.Knowell. Why, I hope you will not a hawking now, will you?Stephen. No, wusse; but I'll practise against next year, uncle. Ihave bought me a hawk, and a hood, and bells, and all; I lack nothing but a book to keep it by.Knowell. O, most ridiculous!Stephen. Nay, look you now, you are angry, uncle:—why, youknow an a man have not skill in the hawking and hunting languagesnow-a-days, I'll not give a rush for him: they are more studied thanthe Greek, or the Latin."Mr. Harting, himself an enthusiastic lover of thissport, and an advocate for its revival in our own time,has so fully described the different kinds of falcons andhawks employed, together with the terms and appliances238 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.connected with falconry, that there is nothing to beadded so far as Shakspeare himself is concerned. Thewritings of most of the poets and dramatists of the timeabound with allusions to this pastime. It is somewhatcurious that the works of Shakspeare's immediate forerunners, Peele, Greene, and Marlowe, should furnishexceptions to this statement. We do not find a singleimportant allusion to hawks or falcons in their plays.A highly poetical description of hawking is given byMassinger. The terms employed, though obscure to usfrom their technicality, were at that time perfectlyfamiliar to the audience:-"Durazzo. In the afternoon,For we will have variety of delights,We'll to the field again; no game shall rise,But we'll be ready for it: if a hare, my greyhoundsShall make a course; for the pie or jay, a sparhawkFlies from the fist; the crow so near pursued,Shall be compelled to seek protection underOur horses' bellies; a hern put from her siege,And a pistol shot in her breech, shall mountSo high that, to your view, she'll seem to soarAbove the middle region of the air:A cast of haggard falcons, by me mann'dEying the prey at first , appear as ifThey did turn tail; but with their labouring wingsGetting above her, with a thought their pinionsCleaving the purer element, make in,And by turns binds with her; the frightened fowl,Lying at her defence upon her back,With her dreadful beak awhile defers her death,But, by degrees forced down, we part the fray,And feast upon her.Caldoro. This cannot be, I grant,But pretty pastime.Durazzo. Pretty pastime, nephew!'Tis royal sport. Then for an evening flight,A tiercel gentle, which I call, my masters,As he were sent a messenger to the moon,In such a place flies, as he seems to say,Technical Terms introduced.See me, or see me not! The partridge sprung,He makes his stoop; but wanting breath is forcedTo cancelier; then with such speed as ifHe carried lightning in his wings, he strikesThe trembling bird, who even in death appearsProud to be made his quarry."(The Guardian, i. 1.)239To bind with is to seize. A hawk was said to cancelierwhen she circled once or twice in the air before sheswooped down on her prey.In the play by Thomas Heywood, A Woman Killedwith Kindness, 1607, a quarrel during a hawking expedition forms the groundwork of the plot. In the following extract we have evidence of the care that wasbestowed on details so minute as the tone of the bellsattached to the falcon's legs:-" Charles. So, well cast off; aloft, aloft, well flowne:O now she takes her at the sowse, and strikes herDowne to the earth, like a swift thunder-clap.Wendoll. She hath stroke ten angels out of my way.Francis. A hundred pound from me.Charles. What, faulc'ner?Paul. At hand, sir.Charles. Now she hath seis'd the fowle, and gins to plume her,Rebecke her not; rather stand still and checke her.So: seise her gets, her jesses, and her bels:Away.Francis. My hawke kill'd too.Char. I, but ' twas at the querre,Not at the mount, like mine.Fran. Judgement, my masters.Cran. Yours mist her at the ferre.Wend. I, but our merlin first had plum'd the fowle,And twice renew'd her from the river too;Her bels, Sir Francis, had not both one waight,Nor was one semi-tune above the other:Mee thinkes these millaine bels do sound too full,And spoile the mounting ofyour hawke.Char. "Tis lost.Fran. I grant it not. Mine likewise seised a fowle240 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Within her talents; and you saw her pawesFull of the feathers: both her petty singles,And her long singles, grip'd her more than other;The terrials of her legges were stain'd with blood:Not ofthe fowle onely she did discomfiteSome of her feathers, but she brake away.Come, come, your hawke is but a rifler.Char. How? "The dispute waxes warm, and ends in a fight between therival sportsmen and their retainers, in which Sir Francisis slain.Any bells were thought good enough for sparrowhawks, but for goshawks those made at Milan were mosthighly prized. They were made partly of silver, andhence were sufficiently expensive.Shakspeare notices these musical appendages to thefalcon:--"Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells,With trembling fear, as fowl hears falcon's bells. "(Lucrece, line 510.)And in a similar passage, Du Bartas writes:-"Even as a duck, that nigh some crystal brookHath twice or thrice by the same hawk been strook,Hearing aloft her gingling silver bels,Quivers for fear, and looks for nothing elseBut when the falcon, stooping thunder- like,With sudden souse her to the ground shall strike;And with the stroak, make on the senseless groundThe gutless quar, once, twice, or thrice, rebound."(Page 170.)To return to the extract from Heywood. An explanation of some of the technical terms there used may befound in Gervase Markham's edition of The Book ofSt.Albans, 1595. The writer describes the finding of thequarry in a river or pit, and says: -"If shee [the hawk] nyme, or take, the further side of the river or pit,from you, then she slaieth the foule at fere juttie: but if she kill it onTerms explained.241that side that you are yourselfe, as many times it chanceth, then youshall say shee killed the foule at the jutty ferry, if your hawke nymethe foule aloft, you shall say she tooke it at the mount. If you seestore of mallards separate from the river and feeding in the fielde, ifyour hawke flee covertly under hedges, or close by the ground, bywhich means she nymeth one of them before they can rise, you shallsay, that foule was killed at the querre."Guillim, in his work on heraldry, gives some of thephrases employed by falconers. This list, as the termsso constantly recur in Shakspeare and elsewhere, it maybe well to quote: —"A hawk is said to bate, when she striveth to fly from the fist.She is said to rebate, when by the motion of the bearer's hand she recovereth the fist."You must say, ' Feed your hawk,' and not ' Give her meat.'"A hawk is said, after she hath fed she smiteth or sweepeth herbeak, and not wipeth her beak or bill."By the beak of an hawk is understood the upper part which ishooked; the neather part of the beak is called the hawk's clap. The holes in the hawk's beak are called her nares. The yellow betweenthe beak and the eyes is called the sere. Hawks of long, small beakfeathers like hairs about the sere, are properly called crinites."You must say your hawk jouketh, and not sleepeth. She mantleth, (and not stretcheth), when she extendeth one of her wings alongher legs, and so the other. After she hath thus mantled herself, shecrosseth her wings together over her back, which action you shall termthe warbling of her wings, and say, she warbleth her wings."You shall cast your hawk to the perch, and not set your hawkupon the perch. " (Display of Heraldry, p. 218, 6th ed. , 1724.)Marco Polo, a traveller passionately fond of hawking,loses no opportunity of mentioning the falcons and hawksof the countries he explores. According to him theTartars were most enthusiastic sportsmen, and carried onthis amusem*nt with true Eastern magnificence. In oneportion of his work he describes the Khan of Tartarysetting out on a hunting expedition, attended by-" full ten thousand followers, who carry with them a vast number ofgerfalcons, peregrine falcons, and sakers, as well as many vultures, inR242 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.order to pursue the game along the banks of the river. It must beunderstood that he does not keep all this body of men together in oneplace, but divides them into several parties of one or two hundred ormore, who follow the sport in various directions, and the greater partof what they take is brought to his majesty." (Travels, p. 342, ed.Marsden, 1817.)The falconers were provided with calls and hoods, inorthodox fashion, and each hawk belonging to his Majesty,or to his nobles, had a silver label attached to its leg, bywhich, if lost, it could be readily identified—a refinementonly occasionally adopted in Europe. Supposing theauthor was not exaggerating, we can easily imagine that,conducted on such a grand scale, hawking in Chinese Tartary was " unrivalled by any other amusem*nt in thewhole world."In such honour was falconry held in old times, that inWales the Master of the Hawks was the fourth officer inrank and dignity, and sat in the fourth place from hissovereign at the royal table. This promotion had, however, one drawback-the falconer was only permitted todrink three times lest he should neglect his birds. Whenhe was more than usually successful in his sports theprince was obliged, by law and custom, to rise up toreceive him as he entered the hall, and sometimes to holdhis stirrup as he alighted from his horse.Robert Burton tells us (Anatomy of Melancholy, vol.i. p. 528) that at the time in which he writes, about theyear 1617-"the ordinary sports which are used abroad, are hawking, hunting.Paulus Jovius (Descr. Brit. ) doth in some sort tax our English nobilityfor it, for living in the country so much, and too frequent use of it, asif they had no other means but hawking and hunting to approvethemselves gentlemen with. Hawking comes neer to hunting, the onein the aire, as the other on the earth, a sport as much affected as theother, by some preferred. It was never heard of amongst the Romans,invented some 1200 years since, and first mentioned by Firmicus (lib.5, cap. 8). The Greek emperours began it, and now nothing so fre-Definition ofa Gentleman. 243quent he is nobody, that in the season hath not a hawke on his fist:a great art, and many books written on it. It is a wonder to hear whatis related of the Turkes officers in this behalf, how many thousand menare employed about it, how many hawks of all sorts, how much isspent at Adrianople alone every year to that. purpose. The Persiankings hawk after butterflies with sparrows, made to that purpose, andstares; lesser hawks for lesser games they have, and bigger for therest, that they may produce their sport to all seasons. The Muscovian emperours reclaime eagles to fly at hindes, foxes, etc. , and such aone was sent for a present to Queen Elizabeth: some reclaime ravens,castrils, pies, etc., and man them for their pleasure."There was, however, a darker side to this amusem*nt,which is suggested by Gifford, in a note in his edition ofMassinger." Humanity," he writes, " has seldom obtained a greater triumphthan in the abolition of this most execrable pursuit, compared to whichco*ck fighting and bull-baiting are innocent amusem*nts: and this notso much on account of the game killed in the open field, as theimmense number of domestic animals sacrificed to the instruction ofthe hawk. The blood runs cold while we peruse the calm instructionsof the brutal falconer, to impale, tie down, fasten by the beak, breakthe legs and wings of living pigeons, hens, and sometimes herons, forthe hourly exercise of the hawk, who was thus enabled to pull themto pieces without resistance. " (Note to The Picture, vol. ii. )Probably, with the increase of consideration for animalsuffering, many of the practices Gifford condemns havebeen abandoned by modern falconers.The excess to which love of hawking was occasionallycarried provoked some opposition from the less extravagant portion of the community. A correspondent inNotes and Queries (5th series, vol. viii. p. 133) quotes apassage from a volume of sermons by a nephew of BishopJewell, printed at Oxford in 1633, after the death of theauthor:-"Hunting, hawking are almost become essential to a gentleman, sothat perhaps he defined not much amisse who said, a gentleman wasa beast riding upon a beast, with a beast on his fist, having beastsfollowing him, and himselfe following beasts."244 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Sir Philip Sidney is reported to have said, " Next tohunting I like hawking worst, " and certainly there arefew allusions to the latter sport to be met with in hispoems.The Rev. R. Lubbock (Fauna of Norfolk, 1845, p. 12)draws attention to the way in which, in many instances,the very nature of birds has been affected by the alterationin the manners and customs of man. This is moreespecially the case in the larger birds of prey:--"The forgotten sport of falconry has left behind it abundant recordof the immunity which in days of yore clung to every feathered thing which called itself a hawk; not only were the generous kinds protected, but kites and buzzards marauded in ´security, hiding their mis- deeds under the shadow of the nobler species. In those days mightfairly be seen the nature of the bird as it really was, and that in many instances appears to have been to cling to man. The wild hawks, weare told in old treatises, often paused in their flight to observe thesportsman and his dogs, and gain for themselves some of the bootywhich had escaped the trained bird. But amongst ourselves, a hawkwhen seen has the air of a convicted felon; he skulks along, consciousthat every man's hand is against him; the nature of the bird is insome degree changed by the untoward circ*mstances in which he isplaced. "One result of the indiscriminate slaughter of the hawktribe in modern times has been, that diseased birds of thespecies pursued by hawks, which would otherwise havefallen easy victims in the struggle for existence, continueto exist, and so tend to deteriorate their kind.The passage in Hamlet, ii. 2, 396, "I am but mad northnorth-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawkfrom a hernshaw," noticed by Mr. Harting ( p. 75) , is stillfurther elucidated by Mr. Aldis Wright. He points outthat, as the morning used to be the favourite time forthe sport of hawking, when the wind blew from the northwest the birds would probably fly so that any personwatching them had the sun in his eyes, and could noteasily distinguish the quarry from its pursuer, but thatNetting Wild Hawks. 245when the wind was southerly, the birds flew from the sun,and one could easily " know a hawk from a hernshaw. "An expression in the First Part of Henry VI. (i. 3, 36)has led to some discussion. Gloucester, indignant at theopposition of the turbulent prelate, Bishop of Winchester,exclaims:-"I'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat,If thou proceed in this thy insolence."According to a writer in the Edinburgh Review,October, 1872-66 canvass was a technical name for the peculiarly constructed netwith which wild hawks were snared by the falconer, in order to bemanned for the fist, the flight, and the lure. At least, it was a termtechnically applied to catching wild hawks in this way, and to be canvassed in this sense was to be taken, trapped, or netted."That restlesse I, much like the hunted hare,Or as the canvist kite doth fear the snare.'(Mirrorfor Magistrates)."Wild hawks were trapped by means of a net attachedto a bow of iron or wood. Strings fastened to the sidesof the net were held by the falconer:-Now," writes the reviewer, " the circular sweep of the cardinal'shat, with its knotted strings, has a not unapt resemblance to thehawk-net machinery; and Gloucester, in saying, ' I'll canvass thee inthy broad cardinal's hat,' expressed his determination to trap and seizethe arrogant Churchman, if he persisted in his violent course.22For much information concerning hawking and hunting in medieval times, as well as for every subjectconnected with Shakspeare, the reader is referred to Dr.Drake's learned work, Shakspeare and his Times, published1817, 4to.Harrison enumerates the various kinds of varieties ofhawks known in his time:-Hawks."We have also the lanner and the lanneret: the tersell and the246 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.gosehawk: the musket and the sparhawke: the jack and the hobbie:and finally some (though very few) marlions . And these are all thehawkes that I do heare (as yet) to be bred within this iland. "(Holinshed, vol. i . p. 381. )Derricke, in the Image of Ireland, published 1581gives the varieties of hawks found in that island:-Ger-falcon." The goshauke, first of all the crewe Deserves to have the name;The faucon next for high attemptes,In glorie, and in fame.The tarsell then ensueth on,Good reason ' tis that he,For flying haukes in Ireland nextThe faucon plaste should bee.The tarsell gentle's course is nexte,The fourthe peer of the lande,Combined to the faucon withA lovers friendly bande.The pretie marlion is the fifth,To her the sparhauke nexte,And then the jacke and musket laste,By whom the birds are vexte.These are the haukes which cheefly breedIn fertile Irish grounde;Whose marche for flight and speedie wyng,Elsewhere be hardly founde."The peregrine was the largest of the true falcons, orlong-winged hawks, found in Britain. TheGer-falcon of Iceland and Scandinavia wasoccasionally imported, but, owing to its great strengthand fierceness, the time required for training this species.rendered it so expensive that it was usually reserved forroyalty. Hakluyt mentions that among the presentssent by the Czar Ivan Basiliewitz, by his ambassador,to Queen Mary, 1556, was " a large and fair white jerfawcon, for the wild swan, crane, goose, and other greatfowls."The Peregrine.Of Peregrines, Camden writes:-247"Anoble kind of falcons have their airies here [ Pembrokeshire] andbreed in the rocks, which King Henry the Second, as thesame Giraldus writeth, was wont to prefer before all Peregrine.others. For of that kind are those, if the inhabitantsdoe not deceive mee, which the skilful faulconers call peregrines; forthey have, that I may use no other wordes than the verses of AugustusThuanus Esmerius, that most excellent poet of our age, in that golden booke entituled Hieracasophioy:-"Head flat and low, the plume in rewes alongThe body laid: legges pale and wan are found.With sclender clawes and talons there amongAnd those wide spred: the bill is hooked round ."Marco Polo mentions peregrines as numerous inSiberia::--"When the Grand Khan is desirous of having a brood of peregrinefalcons he sends to capture them at this place; and in an island lyingoff the coast, gerfalcons are found in such numbers that his majestymay be supplied with as many of them as he pleases." (Travels,p. 221.)The female peregrine alone was dignified with the nameof falcon, the male being known as the tiercel, or tassel.The falcon was flown at herons and rooks, and the tiercelat partridges or magpies. Izaak Walton begins the firstchapter of his Complete Angler by a conference between anangler, a falconer, and a hunter, each commending his ownrecreation. The falconer, after dwelling on the advantages of hawking as an amusem*nt, proceeds to enumeratethe various species of hawks, which he divides into nobleand ignoble birds. He says:-"You are to note that they are usually distinguished into twokinds; namely, the long-winged, and the short-winged hawks: of thefirst kind; there be chiefly in use amongst us in this nationThe gerfalcon and jerkin,The falcon and tassel gentle,248 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The laner and laneret,The bockerel and bockeret,The saker and sacaret,The merlin and jack merlin,The hobby and jack:There is the stelletto of Spain,The blood-red rook from Turkey,The waskite from Virginia:And there is of short- winged hawks,The eagle and iron [ erne],The goshawk and tercel,The sparhawk and musket,The French pye of two sorts:These are reckoned hawks of note and worth; but we have also of aninferior rankThe stanyel, the ringtail,The raven, the buzzard,The forked kite, the bald buzzard,The hen-driver, and others that I forbear to name. "Some confusion seeins to have prevailed in the namesgiven to the different kinds of hawks here and elsewhere.By the ringtail and hen-driver are probably meant thehen-harrier of modern times. According to Yarrell(British Birds, vol. i. p. 133)—" The old male, from his almost uniform ash-grey colour, is oftencalled provincially the dove-hawk, blue hawk, or miller, and by thegeneral name of hen-harrier. The female, or ring-tail, is entirelydifferent. Though it has been previously supposed by many naturalists that the hen-harrier were the male and female of the samespecies, others held the opinion that they were distinct, and Montaguseems to have been the first who actually and clearly proved that theremarkable difference between these two birds was but a sexualpeculiarity."The same authority informs us that eyas, or nyas, was thename of the young peregrine taken from the nest, as distinguished from the peregrine or passage hawk, a youngbird caught during the period of migration; whilehaggard was used for a bird caught after the first moultwas completed, and reclaimed. If kept over a moultThe Lanner and Saker. 249they were then called intermewed hawks. The termgentil falcon seems to have had a general rather than aparticular meaning. The bird so called by Pennant iscertainly a goshawk, while the lanner of this author is ayoung female of the same species. When young theperegrine bears some resemblance to the lanner, whichprobably has never been caught in this country. Theyoung of the year were called respectively a red falcon,and a red tiercel, on account of the ruddy tinge of theirplumage. The heroner, a name sometimes met with, wasprobably also the peregrine. This hawk is explained byFrancis Thynne, 1559, as—66' an especiall hawke of the kyndes of longe winged hawkes, of moreaccompte then other hawkes are, because the flighte of the herone ismore dangerous then of other foules. " (Animadversions of FrancisThynne, p. 39, ed. Furnivall. )The true Lanner was imported from the continent,and was trained to fly at the kite. The malewas called the lanneret.Lanner.Marco Polo frequently speaks of the lanner and thesaker in his Travels. Of Tartary, he writes:-"In the mountains there are falcons of the species called saker,falco sacer, which are excellent birds and of strong flight; as well asof that called lanner, falco lanarius. There are also goshawks of aperfect kind, falco astus, or palumbarius, and sparrow-hawks, falconisus."Of these two birds, the lanner and the saker, the Rev.R. Lubbock writes:-"Two species of falcon, formerly prized, have been involved inmuch obscurity; the saker, which in size and courage rivalled orexcelled the gyrfalcon, and the lanner, which came from Sicily, Malta,and the South and East. Temminck makes no mention of this lastspecies in the edition of 1815. The name lanner seems to have beensometimes given to the young of the peregrine falcon, and consequently confusion arose from believing the lanner to be a British bird.After dividing the peregrine in different plumage into two or threekinds, the old treatises on hawking always add that the birds are250 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.alike in feeding, habits, and flight. But the lanner stood alone in itspeculiarities: rather inferior to the peregrine in swiftness and boldness,it was noted for docility and perseverance; it hung long upon wingwithout fatigue, remembered the lessons taught faithfully, wouldmake repeated flights in the same morning, and was far less nice in itsfood than the other; it was the hawk recommended to young andeager falconers, as being the most difficult to spoil in flight or injure infeeding." (Fauna of Norfolk, 1845, p. 26.)The Hobby was very common. It was small butbeautifully shaped, docile, and easily trained. Hobby. It was flown at quails, snipe, and othersmall birds, but chiefly at skylarks. It was also employed in taking larks alive, by the method called daringthem. Ifthe hobby were thrown up in a field, the larksrose and thus betrayed their nests. According to Lyly,it could " o'ermount the lark." He writes, " No bird canlooke against the sunne but those that be bredde of theeagle, neither any hawks soare so high as the broode ofthe hobby."The " pretie Marlion," or Merlin, was the favouritefalcon of the ladies, and of beginners in the Merlin, art of hawking. One of the smallest, it wasat the same time one of the handsomest species, andreadily became attached to its owner. It was flown atquails, snipe, and lark, and in its mode of flight resembled the goshawk, not swooping, but closely followingits prey in the rear, darting along near the surface of theground with great rapidity.The Kestrel, called also Standgale, Stannel, andWindhover, is not often mentioned. It was Kestrel. the hawk allotted to persons of inferior rank.The name is derived by some from coystril, a knave orpeasant, a word which was spelt in a variety of ways.Drayton informs us that-"The soaring kite there scantled his large wings,And to the ark the hovering castril brings. "(Noah's Flood.)The Kestrel. 251Another name by which the kestrel was known wasthe wind-sucker. Nashe, in his Lenten Stuffe, describingthe expedition of the birds against the fishes, says thatthe former chose "the kistrilles or windsuckers, thatfilling themselves with winde, fly against the wind evermore, for their ful-sailed standerd bearer " (HarleianMiscellany, vol. vi. p. 170) .The kestrel was easily tamed, and was affectionate incaptivity. It was trained to fly at small birds, though inits wild state mice were its usual food. It is not impossible that when kept in a farm-yard the kestrel mightstrike up an acquaintance with the pigeons that it sawdaily, otherwise Reginald Scot's theory of their allianceis difficult to accept. Scot writes (Discovery of Witchcraft, p. 213, ed. 1634): —"The friendly society betwixt a fox and a serpent is almost incredible: how loving the lizzard is to a man, we may read though wecannot see. Yet some affirm that our newt is not only like to thelizzard in shape, but also in condition. From the which afectiontowards a man, a spaniell doth not much differ, whereof I could cite incredible stories. The amity betwixt a castrell and a pigeon is much notedamong writers; and specially how the castrell defendeth her from herenemie the sparrow-hawke; whereof they say the dove is not ignorant."Slightfalcon.Another species, the Slightfalcon, is mentioned byDr. Giles Fletcher, in his treatise on Russia,1588, in which he reports that in that country'they have great store of hawkes; the eagle, the gerfaulcon, the slightfaulcon, the goshawke, the tassell, thesparhawke,” etc. (Purchas, vol. iii. p. 417) .66The Goshawk is the largest of the short-wingedhawks. The male was sometimes called thetercel. It was flown at quadrupeds more Goshawk.frequently than at birds, chiefly hares and rabbits, and inits wild state it is quite possible that it might attemptstill larger game:-" Ha, sweet Nature! What goshauk would prey upon such a lamb? "(BEN JONSON, Bartholomew Fair, ii. 1.)252 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Though equal in size it was inferior in power to thelargest of the falcons. It was not common, and wasprobably confounded with the peregrine. Unlike thelast-named species, the goshawk does not swoop downupon its prey, but glides along the surface of the groundin pursuit of it; this mode of attack was called raking.The Sparrow-hawk, now the species most commonlyencountered, was then held in low estimation.hawk. It is one of the most uniformly distributed ofthe hawk tribe, and according to Linschoten, an earlytraveller, was found in the Azores:-Sparrow-"The Iles of Acores, or the Flemish Ilands, are seven. They arecalled Acores, that is to say, Sparhawks or Hawkes, because that in theirfirst discovery they found many sparhawks in them, whereof theyhold the name, although at this day there is not any there to be found.”(Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1667.)This hawk was used for taking land-rails, partridges,blackbirds, and other small birds.The Buzzard was considered too ignoble a bird to bereckoned among the hawks. Not unlike the Buzzard. owl in its stealthy noiseless flight, not farfrom the ground as a rule, it was capable of soaring toa considerable height, and of prolonged exertion. SirThomas Browne, in his list of Norfolk birds, gives thegrey and bald buzzard.Osprey.The Osprey, or Fishing-hawk, was not an uncommonbird at the mouth and along the banks oflarge rivers. Harrison, in his description ofEngland, tells us that the fishing propensity of the ospreywas often taken advantage of by the country people."We have," he writes, " ospraies which breed with us in parks andwoods, whereby the keepers of the same doo reape in breeding time nosmall commoditie; for so soone almost as the yoong are hatched, theytie them to the but ends or ground ends of sundrie trees, where theold ones finding them, doo never cease to bring fish unto them whichthe keepers take and eat from them, and commonlie is such as is well fed,The Osprey.253not of the worst sort. It hath not beene my hap hitherto to seeanie of these foules, and partlie through mine owne negligence: but Iheare that it hath one foot like an hawke to catch hold withall, andanother resembling a goose wherewith to swim; but whether it be so,or not so, I refer the further search and trial thereof to some other."(Holinshed, vol. i. p. 382. )The notion alluded to in the last paragraph was alaudable but unscientific attempt to explain how thisbird performed the difficult feat of holding in a firmgrasp such a slippery object as a live fish. GiraldusCambrensis, 1187, is perhaps the first English authorityfor this assertion-that one foot of the osprey is spreadopen and armed with talons, while the other is close,harmless, and only fit for swimming. The worthyecclesiastic, who never loses an opportunity of improvingthe occasion, and can " make a moral of the devil himself," utilizes thus ingeniously the osprey's mode offishing:—"In like manner, the old enemy of mankind fixes his keen eyes onus, however we may try to conceal ourselves in the troublesome wavesof this present world; and ingratiating himself with us by temporalprosperity, which may be compared to the peaceable foot, the cruelspoiler then puts forth his ravenous claws to clutch miserable soulsand drag them to perdition." (Topography of Ireland, p. 38, ed.Wright, 1863.)"Amongst the thickest of these several fowlWith open eyes still sat the broad fac'd Owl. "Owl.(DRAYTON, Noal's Flood.)If to " give a dog a bad name and you may as wellhang him " were literally true, the poor owl would havelong ago ceased to exist, for never was any bird somaligned.Mr. Harting has given many illustrations fromShakspeare, and has written fully of the various traditionswhich refer to the owl; little, therefore, is left to add.In the beautiful lament of Eglamour for his lost Earine,254 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.the lover bewails, in his " deep hurt phant'sie," that therewas-"Not a voice or sound to ring her bell,But of that dismal pair, the scritching owlAnd buzzing hornet! hark! hark! hark! the foulBird! how she flutters with her wicker wings!Peace! you shall hear her scritch."(BEN JONSON, The Sad Shepherd, i. 1.)The expression " wicker wings " probably refers to thestraw colour of the owl's feathers. Daniel alludes to therough reception which the little birds accord to theirenemy if he makes his appearance in the daytime:-"Look how the day-hater, Minerva's bird,Whilst privileg'd with darkness and the night,Doth live secure t' himself of others fear'd:If but by chance discover'd in the light,How doth each little fowl, with envy stirr'd,Call himto justice, urge him with despite;Summon the feathered flocks of all the wood,To come and scorn the tyrant of their blood. "(Hist. ofthe Civil Wars, book ii. )No distinction appears to have been made between thedifferent varieties of owls. However, a passage bearingupon this point occurs in Dr. Giles Fletcher's account ofRussia. He reports that in that country they have “owle of very great bignesse, more ugly even then theowles of this countrey, with a broad face, and eares muchlike unto a man " (Purchas, vol. iii. p. 417).anWading Birds. 255CHAPTER XI."The Raile, which seldom comes but upon rich men's spits "-(DRAYTON, Polyolbion, song xxv.)this was probably the Water Rail, which is still acommon bird. Sir Thomas Browne, writingin the seventeenth century, mentions among Rail.the land birds of Norfolk, the ralla, or rail, which hecounts a dainty dish; and Leigh, somewhat later, describing the birds of Lancashire, says::--" The rale is a bird about the bigness of a partridge and is commonin these parts, it hides it self in the grass, and is discovered by thesnarling noise that it continually makes; it is very excellent foodand doubtless of extraordinary nutriment." (Nat. Hist. ofLancashire,p. 126.)This latter bird is the land-rail or corncrake, whosefamiliar cry is heard in corn lands and rich meadows,in most parts of the country.Of the various Water Fowl frequenting the Lincolnshire fens, Drayton writes:-"The gossander with them, my goodly fens do showHis head as ebon black, the rest as white as snow,With whom the widgeon goes, the golden-eye, the smeath,And in odd scatterd pits, the flags and reeds beneath;The coot, bald, else clean black, that whiteness it doth bearUpon her forehead star'd, the water-hen doth wearUpon her little tail, in one small feather set.256 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The water-woosell next, all over black as jet,With various colours , black, green , blue, red, russet, white,Do yield the gazing eyes as variable delight,As do those sundry fowls, whose several plumes they be."(Polyolbion, song xxv. )Leigh (p. 149 ) tells us that "the water-hen is commonin ponds and meers, but not much regarded, becauseesteemed unpleasant food." The last bird on Drayton'slist must not be mistaken for the dipper, or water-ouzel.This is a small bird allied to the thrush, that frequentsthe banks of streams, but is not found in marshy districts.By the water- woosell, or black bird, the little moor-henmay be meant.Of waders, Drayton writes:-"And under them again ( that water never take,But by some ditches side, or little shallow lakeLie dabbling night and day) the pallat - pleasing snite,The bidco*ck, and like them the redshank, that delightTogether still to be, in some small reedy bed,In which these little fowls in summer's time were bred."Snipe.Thomas Muffett (Healths Improvement,p. 96) mentions the Snipe, or Snite-"a kind of wood- snite in Devonshire, greater then the commen snite,which never comes into shallows nor springs of water: and in HollandI remember snites never living out of springs, as great almost as ourwoodco*cks, called heeren- schneffs, because they are in comparison thelords or chief of snites, or that they are onely fit for lords tables."Woodco*ck.The habits of the Woodco*ck are somewhat eccentric.These birds may be found in great plentyone day and the next not one can be seen.This peculiarity is noticed in an article in the HarleianMiscellany (vol. ii . p. 583): —"In woodco*cks especially it is remarkable that upon a change ofthewind to the east, about Alhallows- tide, they will seem to have comePreference for Marsh Birds. 257I speak of the west ofall in a night; for though the former day none are to be found, yetthe next morning they will be in every bush.England, where they are most plentiful. "Though not valued now as an article of food, the nameof the Redshank appears in the early lists ofprovisions. Sir Thomas Browne says thisRedshank.bird was plentiful in his day in the marshes, and “ ofcommon food, but no dainty dish." At the end of theseventeenth century redshanks were reported to becommon in Lancashire, but the depredations committedon their nests during the breeding season have greatlydiminished their numbers." The long neck'd hern, there watching by the brim,And in a gutter near again to himThe bidling snite, the plover on the moor,The curlew, scratching in the ouse and ore."(DRAYTON, The Man in the Moon. )Our ancestors seem to have been chiefly indebted forthe delicacies of the table to the various species of fowlsupplied by the marshy parts of this island, which werethen of much greater extent than they are to-day. Inthe L'Estrange Accounts we find curlews ranking firstin importance. Pheasants and partridges were apparentlyless prized, as they were probably more easily procured .The Rev. R. Lubbock ( Fauna ofNorfolk) points out thatfrom the position Norfolk occupies, jutting out as it doesas a refuge from storms for the weary flights of passagebirds, and also from the variety of soil which thatcounty presents, it must have literally swarmed withdifferent species of water fowl. He notices also thecurious omission of any account of this district amongstolder writers on natural history. Sir Thomas Browne'scareful list of the birds found there was not written untilthe middle of the seventeenth century.S258 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Curlew.Leigh, in his Natural History of Lancashire, 1700 ,speaks of two sorts of Curlews, " the curlewand the curlew-hilp, these are the larger, andnot very unlike the woodco*ck; they frequent the sea- coasts,and are very good meat."Shakspeare has no mention of the curlew, but, as hewas a dweller in a midland county, this omission is easilyexplained.Any peculiarity of bird or animal was sure to lead tothe investment of its possessor with some supernaturalqualities, and the curlew was no exception to this rule.Sir J. Emerson Tennent remarks that-"the prayer for protection against ' witches and warlocks, and langnebbed things,' is familiar amongst the peasantry of Scotland, bywhom it has also been implanted in the folk-lore of Ulster. The wordwhaap, which is the popular name of the curlew, a bird notorious forthe length of its bill, is also the term used to signify a hobgoblin;which, as Jamieson says in his Scottish Dictionary, is believed to havea long beak, and to haunt the eaves of houses after nightfall. Wright,in his History of Caricature and Grotesque, has given numerousexamples from the 16th to the 18th century, in which the artists havealways combined a prolonged beak with the other attributes ofdemons." (Notes and Queries, 3rd series, vol. vii. p. 334. )Another correspondent in this periodical, quoting Waring,mentions a different mode by which the curlew inspireddread among the benighted peasantry: -"Mr. William Weston Young describes the nocturnal cry of aflight of curlews as not unlike the cry of hounds and huntsmen in fullchase. This sound, heard at night, and in desolate places, might wellcause terror. The cwn wybr, dogs of the sky, otherwise called cwnannwn, dogs of hell, are imaginary spirits of the same family as thediabolical sky hunts of German demonology." (Page 404.)"The whistler shrill that whoso hears doth die,"referred to by Spenser, may be either the curlew, or thegreen or golden plover, whose shrill cry sounds more likea human note than that of a bird, and may well startlethe belated traveller.Oxen and Kine. 259In the early works on diet and housekeeping, a birdcalled a brew, or brewe, frequently appears,generally in close proximity to the curlew.Whimbrel.The word Brew has by some writers been explained tomean the Whimbrel, a bird sometimes called, from itsresemblance to the last-named species, the Half-curlew orJack- curlew.According to Mr. Stevenson (Birds of Norfolk), theword spowe, which frequently occurs in the early listsof birds for the table, was also a name given to thewhimbrel. In the L'Estrange Accounts spowes arenearly always mentioned in connexion with other shorebirds, such as knots, ring-dotterels, and redshanks. ByBishop Stanley the word spowe is considered to meansparrow.The name given to the whimbrel in the ShetlandIslands is the tang-whaap, or small curlew.Ruff and Reeve.The Ruff and Reeve were sometimes called Oxen andKine. The male is during the spring monthsadorned with a handsome ruff of feathersround its neck, which it can erect or depress at pleasure.Sir Thomas Browne notices another peculiarity of thisbird, which is that no two specimens are taken exactlysimilar in colour:-"Ruffe, a marsh bird of the greatest variety of colour; every onetherein somewhat varying from other. The female is called a reeve,without any ruff about the neck, lesser than the other, and hardly tobe got. They abound mostly in Marshland. " (Vol. iv. p. 319.)The Knot, Gnat- snap, or Canute's bird, was esteemed agreat delicacy. It was found in large numbersat the mouth of tidal rivers. Sir ThomasBrowne writes:-Knot." The gnat, or knot, a small bird, which, taken with nets,grow excessively fat, being mewed and fed with corn. A candleSee page 201.260 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.lighted in the room, they feed night and day, and when they are attheir height of fatness they begin to grow lame, and are then killed, asat their prime and apt to decline. " (Vol. iv. p. 140).The knot is mentioned by Drayton:-"The knot, that called was Canutus' bird of old,Of that great king of Danes, his name that still doth hold,His appetite to please, that far and near was sought,For him, as some have said, from Denmark hither brought."(Polyolbion, song xxv. )Du Bartas (p. 45) speaks of—"The little gnat-snap, worthy princes' boords. "And his commentator adds, " This is the fig- pecker, whichthe Latines call ficedula, and scalis, very delicious "(Learned Summary on Du Bartas, p. 235).Godwit."The puet, Godwit, stint, the palate that allureThe miser, and do make the wasteful epicure."(Polyolbion, song xxv. )Sir Thomas Browne accounts the godwit the daintiestbird taken in England, and, for its size, thebiggest price. According to this author thestint was found plentifully in Marshland, in Norfolk; alsothe shurr, or purre, a bird " somewhat larger than stints,and taken among them." The purre, or perr, wasanother name for the dunlin, the commonest of the shorefrequenting sandpipers.Plover.In the palmy days of water-loving birds, and thosespecies that delighted in heathy open country,Plovers must have been found in great abundance. Drayton tells us that in the marshy lands aboutAxholme, in Lincolnshire, plovers were plentiful: —"For neare this batning isle in me is to be seenMore than on any earth, the plover, gray, and green. "(Polyolbion, song xxv. )A Delicacy.261Spenser introduces this bird as denoting loneliness anddesolation:-"Where my high steeples whilom used to stand,On which the lordly falcon wont to towre,There now is but a heap of lyme and sandFor the scriche-owle to build her baleful bowre:And where the nightingale wont forth to powreHer restless plaints to comfort wakeful lovers,There now haunt yelling mewes and whining plovers. "(The Ruines of Time, 1. 127.)Harrison mentions " plovers of both sorts, lapwings andpewets; " but Skelton classes these last two varieties together " with puwytt the lapwing." Sir Thomas Brownedistinguishes between the plover and the lapwing orvanellus; the former, he says, are plentiful in Norfolk,both the green and grey varieties, but " they do not breedin that county but in some parts of Scotland and plentifully in Iceland. " Mr. Stevenson (Birds of Norfolk,vol. ii. p. 70) considers that by Iceland Ireland is hereintended, but gives no reason for this supposition.66 The ringed plover, mentioned by Sir Thomas Browneunder the name of ringlestone, was common aboutYarmouth sands, laying its eggs, about June, in the sandand shingle " (vol. iv. p. 319). The name Sea-dotterel wasalso applied to this plover, and occurs in two instances inthe Hunstanton Accounts. The white plover which isalso mentioned in these Accounts was probably the greyplover in its winter plumage.The proverb quoted by Muffett, in his HealthsImprovement, as applied to a discontented person, " A grayplover cannot please him," shows that this bird was heldin high estimation as an article of food." There is also," writes Sir Thomas Browne, " a handsome, tallbird, remarkable eyed, and with a bill not above two inches long,commonly called a stone curlew, breeds about Thetford, about thestone and shingle of the rivers."262 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Other names for this bird are the Norfolk plover or thickkneed bustard.The green plover, lapwing, tyrwhit, or peewit is oftenreferred to, chiefly on account of its peculiar appearance,monotonous wail, and from its habit of attempting todivert the attention of passers-by from its nest by plaintive cries. Mr. Harting has given several quotationsillustrating this peculiarity, to which may be added anextract from Chester:-" The lapwing hath a piteous mournefull cry,And sings a sorrowfull and heavy song,But yet shee's full of craft and subtility,And weepeth most being farthest from her yong:In elder age she serv'd for soothsayers,And was a prophetesse to the augurers."(Love's Martyr, p. 119.)Olaus Magnus writes an account of this plover, towhich he also gives the name of the whonp: -66' Lapwings, when at a set-time they come to the northern countriesfrom other parts, they fore- shew the nearnesse of the spring coming on.It is a bird that is full of crying and lamenting to preserve her eggs, oryoung. By importunate crying she shews that foxes lye hid in thegrasse; and so she cries out in all places, to drive away dogs, and otherbeasts. Made tame, she will cleanse a house of flyes, and catch mice.She foreshows rain when she cries." (Page 205.)As a delicacy for the table, the peewit seems to havebeen highly prized, and its name often occurs in thehousehold accounts of this period.The note of every variety of plover is a shrill, humanlike whistle. In his English Folk-lore, 1878 (p. 95), Mr.Dyer informs us that—" there is a Lancashire superstition which identifies the plover with thetransmuted soul of a Jew. When seven of them are seen together,they are called the ' seven whistlers,' and their sound, it is said, foretellsmisfortune to those who hear it. A correspondent of Notes and Queriesthus alludes to this odd piece of superstition: 6 One evening a few yearsAn Imitative Bird. 263ago, when crossing one of our Lancashire moors, in company with anintelligent old man, we were suddenly startled by the whistling overhead of a covey of plovers. My companion remarked that, when a boy,the old people considered such a circ*mstance a bad omen, as theperson who heard the wandering Jews," as he called the plovers, wassure to be overtaken with some ill-luck."999996666Closely allied to the plover is "the Dotterell, thatfoolish peck" (Skelton, Boke of Philip Dotterel.Sparow):--"which being a kind of bird as it were of an apish kind, ready toimitate what they see done, are caught according to foulers gesture: if he put forth an arme, they also stretch out a wing: sets heforward his legge, or holdeth up his head, they likewise doe theirs; inbriefe, whatever the fouler doth, the same also doth this foolish birduntill it be hidden within the net." (Camden, on Lincolnshire. )There is a passage in Drayton's Polyolbion, so similarto the above as to suggest plagiarism on the part of oneauthor:-" The dotterel, which we think a very dainty dish,Whose taking makes such sport, as man no more can wish;For as you creep, or cowr, or lie, or stoop, or go,So marking you with care the apish bird doth go,And acting everything, doth never mark the net,Till he be in the snare, which men for him have set. "Ben Jonson writes:-(Polyolbion, song XXV.)" Bid him put off his hopes of straw, and leaveTo spread his nets in view thus. Though they takeMaster Fitzdottrel, I am no such foul,Nor, fair one, tell him, will be had with stalking."(The Devil is an Ass, ii . 1. )The Oyster- catcher, or Sea- pye, was apparently anabundant species. Leigh, in his NaturalHistory of Lancashire, writes: " The seaOyster- catcher.pyes are very common, they are birds of the colour andabout the size of a magpie, and are a very agreeablefood " (p. 163) . That this was the prevailing opinion is264 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.evident from sea- pyes being included in the bill of fareon state occasions. An entry occurs in the Northumberland Household Book, " Item, see-pyes for my lorde atprincypall feastes and none other tyme."Mr. Stevenson considers the name oyster-catcher amisnomer for this bird, as it chiefly lives on limpets,mussels, and whelks, which it strikes off the rock with its"blunt-pointed, flat- sided beak, hammer and chisel in one "(Birds ofNorfolk, 1866, vol . ii. p. 124). William Brownegives a quaint description of the mode in which a shorebird obtains its prey. He does not mention any name,but his description can hardly apply to any other speciesthan the oyster- catcher:---"On the sand she spyes,A busie bird, that to and fro still flyes,Till pitching where a hatefull oyster lay,Opening his close jawes, closer none than theyUnlesse the griping fist , or cherry lipsOf happy lovers in their melting sips.Since the decreasing waves had left him there,He gapes for thirst, yet meetes with nought but ayre,And that so hote, ere the returning tydeHe in his shell is likely to be fride;The wary bird, a prittie pibble takes,And claps it ' twixt the two pearle- hiding flakesOf the broad-yawning oyster, and she thenSecurely pickes the fish out, as some menA tricke of policie thrust ' tweene two friends,Sever their powres, and his intention ends."(Britannia's Pastorals, book ii . song iii. )"The big-bon'd Bustard then, whose body bears that size,That he against the wind must run, e'er he can rise "(DRAYTON, Polyolbion, song xxv. ),Bustard.must have been the most conspicuous inhabitant of cornand pasture lands. As late as Sir ThomasBrowne's time ( 1660) , it was " not unfrequentin the champian and fieldy part of the country."The large dimensions of the bustard, its habit ofThe Bustard. 265making a nest in young corn, and the small numberof the eggs, the hen only laying two at a time, all contributed to its extinction. Its protection lay chiefly in thechoice which it made for its abode of open country. Aslong as the crossbow was the principal weapon of thesportsman, the wide expanse of country over which thisbird could look must have enabled it to see and escapedanger; but the practice of making small plantations atintervals as screens against the force of the wind, whichwas adopted for many years in Norfolk, afforded opportunities for approach by the hunter, which no amount ofwatchfulness on the part of the unfortunate bird couldcontend against. Mr. Stevenson, in his Birds of Norfolk(1866), has an interesting chapter on the bustard, and thegradual process of its extermination.Shakspeare has no mention of this bird. Coming froma part of the country so well wooded as Warwickshire, heprobably had no opportunity of seeing it in his early days.Thomas Muffett tells us that bustards were called bythe Scots gusestards, that is to say, " slow geese; " that theyfed upon flesh and young lambs out of sowing time, and inharvest time on the ripe corn. He says he has seen asmany as six lying in a wheat-field in the summer(Healths Improvement, p. 91 , ed. 1655) .The Crane, now only an occasional visitor to our coasts,was once indigenous, frequenting the fens ofLancashire and Cambridgeshire in large Crane.flocks. Drayton, describing the marshes of the formercounty, writes:-" There stalks the stately crane, as though he merch'd in war.”(Polyolbion, song xxv.)By an Act of Parliament ( 25 Henry VIII. , 1533) , a fine oftwenty pence was imposed on every person who should"withdraw, purloin, take, destroy, or convey," any egg ofthis species.266 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.In Sir Thomas Browne's time, cranes seem to havegrown scarce. He says:-" Cranes are often seen here in hard winters, especially about thechampian and fieldy parts, but it seems they have been more plentiful,for in a bill of fare, when the mayor entertained the Duke of NorfolkI meet with cranes in a dish. " (Vol. iv. p. 314.)The crane was a customary dish at great entertainmentsin the reign of Henry VIII. , though it is not improbablethat cranes were often confounded in the records withherons.The crowned African crane was first brought intoEurope by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. Itis a native of Africa, particularly of the coast of Guinea,the Gold Coast, and as far as Cape Verd.Marco Polo, one of the earliest travellers, whose workswere much read in the Middle Ages, writing of Tartaryat the close of the thirteenth century, describes some birdsof gorgeous hues, that he calls cranes: -"The first sort are entirely black as crows, and have long wings.The second sort have wings still longer than the first, but are white andthe feathers of the wings are full of eyes, round like those of thepeaco*ck, but of a gold colour and very bright; the head is red and blackand well-formed, the neck is black and white, and the general appearance of the bird is extremely handsome. The third sort are of the sizeof ours in Italy, the fourth are small cranes, having the feathers prettily streaked with red and azure. The fifth are of a grey colour, with thehead red and black, and are of a large size." (Travels, p. 248, ed.Marsden.)The Portuguese Friar, whose travels in Africa in 1586are recorded in Purchas's Collection, probably describesthe crowned crane in the following passage:-66 They have one kinde of fowles, called curvanes, as bigge as cranes,but more beautiful, the back like black sattin, exceeding white on thebelly and breast: the neck two spannes and a halfe long, covered withfine white feathers like silke, which are excellent for plumes: upon thehead it hath a cap of black feathers, very faire (as our gold fincheshave red), and in the midst thereof a crest or plume almost a span long,Flight of Cranes. 267of white, fine, straight feathers, equall on the top, and there spreadingthemselves into a round forme, like a very white mushroom with a whitestalke, and resembling a sombrero de sol (or Indian canopie) to keepe off the sunne. The Cafars call this the king of birds, because their kingshave such a sombreiro, and for the greatnesse and beauty of them.”(Purchas, vol. ii . p. 1545.)There was a notion, derived from antiquity, that cranesduring their migrations carried stones in their beaks tokeep them quiet. According to Pliny, the stone acted asballast and maintained the steadiness of their flight.Lyly alludes to this notion: " Having alwayes the stonein their mouths which the cranes use when they flyeover mountaines least they make a noise " (Euphues,p. 416).Du Bartas gives a description of the passage of a herdof cranes, more remarkable for its minuteness than for itspoetry:-"I hear the crane, if I mistake not, cryWho in the clouds forming the forked Y,Bythe brave orders practiz'd under her,Instructeth souldiers in the art of war.For when her troops of wandring cranes forsakeFrost-firmed Strymon, and (in autumn) takeTruce with the northern dwarfs, to seek adventureIn southern climates for a milder winter;A front each band a forward captain flies,Whose pointed bill cuts passage through the skies;Two skilful sergeants keep the ranks aright,And with their voyce hasten their tardy flight;And when the honey of care-charming sleepSweetly begins through all their veines to creepOne keeps the watch, and ever carefull- most,Walks many a round about the sleeping hoast,Still holding in his claw a stony clod,Whose fall may wake him if he hap to nod.Another doth as much, a third, a fourth,Untill, by turns the night be turned forth .”Shakspeare has no mention of the crane.(Page 46.)268 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Mr. Harting gives a long and animated description,from Freeman and Salvin's work on falconry,Heron.of the sport of Heron-hawking. It is somewhat curious that Shakspeare, notwithstanding his evidentlove of hawking, and his intimate knowledge of the termsemployed in this sport, should not once make mention ofthe heron by name, except in the disputed " handsaw "passage.Bearing somewhat the same relation to the recreationof the nobles of the Tudor period as the fox does to thehunting squires of our own times, " the heron so gauntwas of course carefully preserved, and with about the sameamount of consideration for its personal feelings. A lawwas passed forbidding the capture of herons except bymeans of hawking, or with the long bow.There is much variety in the spelling of the name ofthis bird-harnsey, heronsewe, hornseu, hernshaw, hern,and heyronsewe, all being met with.The heron was esteemed a great delicacy, and stood atthe head of the game course at every state banquet.The price of an egret, or dwarf heron, in the time ofEdward I., was eighteen pence, the very highest assessed price of water fowl in those days.In the accounts of the great feasts of the Tudor periodthe word egret or egritte sometimes appears, and in thetime of Henry IV. it is said that a thousand egrets wereserved up at a single entertainment. It has been suggested that lapwings were here intended, this name beinggiven to them from the aigrette, or tuft of feathers .forming the crest, which this bird possesses. This ispossible as far as this particular entry is considered, butin John Russell's Boke of Nurture, 1450, among theinstructions as to how various dishes are served andseasoned, we find:-"Sauce gamelyn to heyron-sewe, egret, crane and plover,Also brewe, curlew, sugre and salt, with watere of the ryvere,Gamelyn Sauce.Also for bustard, betowre and shovelere, gamelyn is in sesoun;Wodco*k, lapewynk, mertenet, larke and venysoun,Sparows, thrusches, all these seven with salt and synamon."(Babees Book, p. 36, ed. Furnivall, 1868.)269Gamelyn, or cameline, we are told, was a dainty Italiansauce, composed of nuts, bread- crumbs, ginger, cinnamonand vinegar. From the egret being placed between heronand crane a large bird is evidently meant, and as mentionof plover and lapwing occurs later on, the name cannot beused in mistake for the name of one of these. In a workon carving the different joints, printed by Wynkyn deWorde, 1413, the egret has its place after the heron andbittern.Muffett, in his Healths Improvement, p. 93, speaks offour kinds of herons or heronshaws-the black, white, crielheronshaw, and the mire-dromble. Sir John Hawkins, inhis account of the fowls frequenting the waters of Florida,mentions-"an egript, which is all white as the swanne, with legs like to anhearnshaw, and of bignesse accordingly, but it hath in her tailefeathers of so fine a plume, that it passeth the estridge his feather. ”(Hakluyt, vol. iii . p. 616.)Ben Jonson gives the heron as an attendant upon thegoddess of wisdom, on the authority of Homer:-" Minerva's hernshaw, and her owl,Do both proclaim thou shalt controlThe course of things."(The Masque of Augurs.)Vows were often made on the heron, as well as uponthe peaco*ck, swan, and pheasant.Another favourite quarry in hawking was the Bitter,Bittour, Betowre, or Bittern, then abundant,but now only occasionally seen. Sir ThomasBittern.Browne states that it was common in his time. It wasesteemed a choicer dish than the heron. The booming270 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.cry which the bittern gives out was imagined to be due tothe bird burying its beak in the mud, or inserting it in ahollow reed; but modern observers have borne witness tothe fact that the bittern, when it utters its note, raises itsbill perpendicularly.Drayton describes how-"The buzzing bitter sits, which through his hollow billA sudden bellowing sends, which many times doth fillThe neighbouring marsh with noise, as though a bull did roar.”Shoveler.(Polyolbion, song XXV.)"The Shovelar with his brode beck.'(SKELTON, Philip Sparow.)"The shouler, which so shakes the air with saily wings,That ever as he flies, you still would think he sings. "(DRAYTON, Polyolbion , song xxv.)The word shovellewre, or shovelar, has been interpretedby some authors as designating a variety of duck, and byothers as denoting the white spoonbill, a bird now onlyan occasional visitor to our shores. Sir Thomas Browne,in his account of the birds of Norfolk, mentions-" the platea, or shovelard, which build upon the tops of high trees.They formerly built in the hernery at Clayton and Reedham, now atTrimley, in Suffolk. They come in March, and are shot by fowlers,not for their meat, but for the handsomeness of the same; remarkablein their white colour, copped crown, and spoon or spatule-like bill. "(Vol. iv. )Olaus Magnus, in his work on Norway and Sweden(p. 200), writes:-"There is a bird called a shevelar that is in the Northern waters,that is a cruel enemy to birds that dive in the sea to catch fish:wherefore she lyes in wait for them thus: she flyes upon them, andbites their heads, and rends them till she hath got the prey for herself;and they, thus tormented, soon let it go."As he does not describe the bird, it is impossible toidentify the species. The work was originally written inA Crowded Aviary.271Latin, and the name here given to it may have beeninvented by the translator.The name of the shovelard, variously spelt, appearsfrequently in the lists of birds served up at banquets. Ithas often been observed that our ancestors seem to haveeaten with relish many birds that in our time would beconsidered as tough and worthless. It may be that theiroutdoor life gave an edge to their teeth as well as totheir appetite. In Wynkyn de Worde's Boke of Kervynge,1413, the following instructions are given: -" Peco*cke,storke, bustarde, and shovyllarde, unlace them as acrane, and let the feet be on styll " ( Babees Book, p. 159,ed. Furnivall, 1868).Robert Laneham, writing ofthe preparations madefor the entertainment of Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth,describes with some exactness a couple of aviaries, which,if they held all the varieties named, must have beenrather crowded. He says:-"Upon the first pair of posts [ of the bridge] were set two comelysquare wire cages, three feet long and two feet wide, and high in themlive bitterns, curlews, shovelers, hernshaws, godwits, and such likedainty birds of the presents of Sylvanus the god of fowl."The White Stork, never at any time a resident in thiscountry, was an occasional visitant, and wasprobably driven to our shores by stress ofStork.weather. From the earliest times the stork has beenregarded with respect as thefidelity, and filial affection.emblem of temperance,The ancient Egyptiansreverenced the stork on account of the great servicesit performed in acting as scavenger, and among theHebrews also it received respect. Drayton writes:-"The careful stork, since Adam wondered atFor thankfulness to those where he doth breed,That his ag'd parents naturally doth feed,In filial duty as instructing man."(Noah's Flood.)272 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The Dutch held the belief that the stork, in leaving ahouse where she had been encouraged to build, left oneof her young ones behind for the owner. If this werethe case, the mother made but a poor return for heroffspring's affection. The kindness with which the birdis treated in Holland is repaid by confidence and familiarity-a pair of birds returning year after year to thesame nest.Spenser makes the curious mistake of giving thestork a voice:-"Let not the skriech-owle nor the storke be heard,Nor the night-raven, that still deadly yells."(Epithalamion, 1. 435.)The only sound it utters is the sharp snap of its beak, anoise not unlike the rattle of a pair of castanets.Wild Geese. 273CHAPTER XII.Goose.WILD Geese were very abundant in several counties,and, according to Camden, were the sourceof much profit to the native population. Inhis description of the country near Haddington, in Scotland, Camden exclaims:-"What a multitude of sea foules, and especially of those geesewhich they call scoutes and soland geese flocke hither at their times,for, by report, their number is such, that in a cleere day they takeaway the sunnes light; what a sort of fishes they bring, for, as the speech goeth, a hundred garison souldiours that here lay for thedefense of the place fed upon no other meat but the fresh fish thatthey brought in; what a quantity of little twigges they get togetherfor the building of their nests, so that by their means the inhabitantsare abundantly provided of fewell for their fire; what a mighty gainegroweth by their fethers and oyle: the report thereof is so incredible,that no man scarcely would beleeve it, but he that had seene it."The same authority relates the strange effect whichcertain portions of ground had on these birds, moreespecially in the neighbourhood of the Abbey of St.Hilda, near Whitby, in Yorkshire. To the influence ofthe abbess, he writes-" they ascribe, that those wilde geese, which in wintertime flie byflockes unto pooles and rivers that are not frozen over, in the southpartes; whiles they flie over certaine fields neere adjoyning, soudainelyfall downe to the ground, to the exceeding great admiration of all men:a thing that I would not have related, had I not heard it from veryT274 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.many persons of right good credit. But such as are not given tosuperstitious credulity, attribute this unto a secret property of theground, and to a hidden dissent betweene this soile and those geese,such as is betweene wolves and squilla root."Drayton gives a similar report, in verse, as to themultitude of geese which frequented the fens of Lincoln- shire:-"And with my wondrous flocks of wildgeese come I then,Which look as though alone they peopled all the fen,Which here in winter time, when all is overflow'dAnd want of solid sward inforceth them abroad,Th' abundance then is seen, that my full fens do yield,That almost through the isle, do pester every field.The barnacles with them, which wheresoe'er they breed,On trees, or rotten ships, yet to my fens for feedContinually they come, and chief abode do make,And very hardly forc'd my plenty to forsake."(Polyolbion, song xxv. )John Taylor, " the Water Poet," in his PennilessPilgrimage, or account of a tour through Scotland, makesmention of the Solan goose, a variety which still breedsin great numbers on the Bass Rock, in the Frith ofForth:-"It is very good flesh, but it is eaten in the form as we eat oysters,standing at a sideboard, a little before dinner, unsanctified withoutgrace; and after it is eaten, it must be well liquored with two or threegood rouses of sherry or canary sack. The lord or owner of the BassRock doth profit at the least two hundred pounds yearly by thosegeese; the Bass itself being of a great height and near three quartersof a mile in compass, all fully replenished with wild fowl, having butone small entrance into it, with a house, a garden, and a chapelin it; and on the top of it a well of pure water." ( Works, p. 60,ed. Hindley, 1872.)The tame goose was considered to act as a guardagainst thieves, being a light sleeper and very clamorousif disturbed.The origin of the custom of having goose for dinnerThe Barnacle Goose. 275on Michaelmas Day is still involved in obscurity, notwithstanding much learned discussion on the subject. Itcertainly dates as far back in English history as the reignof Edward IV. The tradition which assigns the choice ofthis dish on the 29th of September to the delight ofQueen Elizabeth on hearing the news of the destructionof the Spanish Armada is still pertinaciously believed,despite the well-known fact that the date of the victorywas the 21st of July. It is more likely that the habit ofeating goose on Michaelmas Day arose from the fact thatthe 29th of September was a great festival. Geese werethen plentiful and in full season, and would therefore bechosen as the chief article of diet.Barnacle.Mr. Harting has referred at some length to the strangenotion, so often alluded to by writers of thisperiod, that the Barnacle Goose was produced,according to some authors, from trees, according to othersfrom rotten wood. Camden, it would appear, was tooenlightened to adopt either of these theories, though hewas not quite prepared with a satisfactory solution of thecurious resemblance between the bird and the marineproduction. In his work on Britain he writes:-"Concerning these claike geese, which some with much admiration have believed to grow out of trees, both upon this shore and elsewhere, and when they be ripe to fall downe into the sea, it is scarceworth the labour to mention them. That there be little birds engendered of old and rotten keeles of ships, they can beare witnesse who sawthat ship wherein Francis Drake sailed about the world, standing in adocke neere the Tavish, to the outside of the keele whereof a number ofsuch little birds without life and fethers sticke close. Yet would Igladly thinke that the generation of these birds was not out of thoselogges of wood; but from the very ocean, which the poets termed thefather of all things."The barnacle or brent goose was often seen in greatnumbers in the north of England and Scotland, but itsbreeding-place was unknown. Gerat de Veer, in thedescription of a voyage to Cathay and China, 1596, takes276 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.credit to himself for giving the first account of its haunts.Speaking of the barnacles, he writes:-" Those geese were of a perfit red colour, such as come into Hollandabout Weiringen, and every yeere are there taken in abundance, but tillthis time it was never knowne where they hatcht their egges, so thatsome men have taken upon them to write, that they sit upon trees inScotland that hang over the water, and such egges as fall from themdowne into the water become young geese, and swim there out of thewater; but those that fall upon the land burst asunder and are lost:but this is now found to be contrary, and it is not to be wondered at,that no man could tell where they breed their egges, for that no manthat ever wee knew, had ever beene under 80 degrees: nor that landunder 80 degrees was never set downe in any card, much lesse the red geese that breed therein. " (Purchas, vol. iii. p . 481.)The pains that Harrison took to fathom the greatbarnacle mystery entitles him to be quoted, at therisk of exhausting the reader's patience. He writes,in his description of England prefixed to Holinshed'sChronicles:-" For my part I have been verie desirous to understand the uttermost of the breeding of barnacles, and questioned with divers persons about the same. I have read also whatsoever is written by forrenauthors touching the generation of that foule, and sought out someplaces where I have beene assured to see great numbers of them: butin vaine. Wherefore I utterlie despaired to obteine my purpose, tillthis present yeare of grace 1584, and moneth of Maie, wherein goingto the Court at Greenewich from London by bote, I saw sundrieships lieng in the Thames newlie come home, either from Barbarie orthe Canarie Iles ( for I doo not well remember now from which of theseplaces) on whose sides I perceived an infinit sort of shells to hang sothicke as could be one by another. Drawing neere also, I tooke off tenor twelve of the greatest of them, and afterward having opened them, Isaw the proportion of a foule in one of them more perfectlie than in allthe rest, saving that the head was not yet formed, bicause the freshwater had killed them all (as I take it ) and thereby hindered theirperfection. Certeinlie the feathers of the taile hoong out of the shell atleast two inches, the wings almost perfect touching forme were gardedwith two shels or sheeldes proportioned like the selfe wings, and like- wise the brestbone had hir coverture also of like shellie substance, andaltogither resembling the figure which Lobell and Pena doo give foorthMetamorphosis of the Barnacle. 277in their description of this foule: so that I am now fullie persuadedthat it is either the barnacle that is ingendred after one maner in theseshels, or some other sea- foule to us as yet unknowen. For by thefeathers appearing and forme so apparent, it cannot be denied, but thatsome bird or other must proceed of this substance, which by fallingfrom the sides of the ships in long voiages , may come to some perfection. "(Holinshed, vol. i. p. 67.)Du Bartas puts into verse the theory of the varioustransformations of this bird:---"So, slowe Boôtes underneath him sees,In th' ycie iles, those goslings hatcht of trees;Whose fruitfull leaves, falling into the water,Are turn'd (they say) to living fowls soon after.So, rotten sides of broken ships do changeTo barnacles; O transformation strange!"Twas first a green tree, then a gallant hull,Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull."(Page 58.)Before we find fault with our ancestors for theircredulity in regard to matters now clearly understood byus, it will be well to consider if we ourselves are not dailymaking mistakes almost as ridiculous, mistakes whichthe enlightenment of after ages will have to correct.Mr. Harting inquires, " When men of education are socredulous, how can we wonder at the superstitions of theilliterate? " Surely the resemblance of a barnacle to ayoung bird was strong enough to justify the idea, in theabsence of any other suggestion, that there was someconnexion between them. Nor must we forget that onlywithin quite recent times have our men of science madethe discovery that the infant cirripedia are very differentin appearance from their parents. Instead of beingaffixed to rocks or ships, they possess and use organs forlocomotion, and move rapidly through the water. Astrange similarity caused our ancestors to confuse thebarnacle with the bird; a curious difference has tillrecently prevented our contemporaries from recognizing278 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.the relationship between the barnacle and its young. Oneerror is hardly worse than the other.An early mention of the Booby, a bird closely alliedto the Gannet or Solan goose, occurs in Sir Booby.Thomas Herbert's Travels, 1626 (p. 9). Theauthor, who was at that time cruising off the south coastof Africa, mentions that some boobies perched upon theyardarm of his ship, and suffered his men to capturethem. He adds that the simplicity of this bird hasbecome a proverb, and this statement proves that thebooby was known to previous travellers.There was a strong tendency among early writers togive a generic name to all animals of a somewhat similarnature. Thus many large-horned beasts were calledoxen, and many small close-furred animals, mice. Theichneumon was Pharaoh's mouse; the beaver was thePontic dog; the ostrich was called by classical writers theLibyan sparrow. In the following passage from Oviedo'saccount of the West Indies, the name sparrow is given toa bird which was in all probability the booby:-"There are other fowles called passere sempie -that is, simplesparrowes: these are somewhat lesse then seamewes, and have theirfeet like unto great malards, and stand in the water sometimes, andwhen the ships saile fiftie or a hundred leagues about the ilands, thesefowles beholding the ships coming toward them, breake their flight andfall down upon the saile yards, masts, and cables thereof, and are sosimple and foolish , that they tarrie untill they may easily bee takenwith mens hands, and were therefore called simple sparrows: they areblacke, and have upon their head and shoulders feathers of a darkerusset colour, they are not good to bee eaten, although the marinershave sometimes been forced to eate them. " (Purchas, vol . iii. p. 980.)Swans were, from all accounts, most abundant at thisperiod. Paul Hentzner, in his account of aSwan. journey to England in 1598, writes of theThames:-" This river abounds in swans swimming in flocks, the sight ofSwan-hopping.279them and their noise is vastly agreeable to the fleets that meet themin their course. " (Dodsley's Fugitive Pieces, vol. ii . p. 244.)The swan was called a royal bird, and any stray swanwas appropriated by the sovereign wherever it might befound, unless its owner could establish a prior claim bymeans of certain marks. The frequent enforcement ofthe royal prerogative gave rise to a system of marking allswans on the beak. The ceremony of " upping," or takingup the swans once a year for the purpose of marking them,was conducted according to the strictest regulations. Thevarious marks assigned to the owners of swans in thedifferent rivers or waters were duly registered in a roll , orstandard book. The chief inspector or master was calledthe gamester, and seems to have had a somewhat onerouspost. The penalty for stealing a swan's egg from thenest was imprisonment for a year and a day, with a fine atthe will of the king.The co*ck bird was called the cobbe, and the hen thepenne. A full account of the customs connected withswan-marking, or, as it is now called, " swan- hopping," isgiven in Yarrell's British Birds, 1837 (vol. iii . ) .The Dyers' and Vintners' Companies of the City ofLondon obtained the consent of the Crown to keep swanson the Thames at any part of the river between Londonand Windsor.The wild swan was not uncommon in England at thistime, though probably only as a visitor.describing the Lincolnshire fens, writes:-Drayton,"But wherefore should I stand upon such toys as these,That have so goodly fowls, the wandering eye to please?Here in my vaster pools , as white as snow or milk,In water black as Stix, swims the wild swan, the ilke,Of Hollanders so termed, no nigg*rd of his breath(As poets say of swans who only sing in death),But as other birds, is heard his tunes to roat,Which like a trumpet comes, from his long arched throat."(Polyolbion, song xxv.)280 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Sir Thomas Browne also mentions the " elk, a kind ofwild swan," as plentiful in Norfolk in his time.Aldrovandus, who wrote about the year 1580, was thefirst to observe the singular bendings of the windpipe inthe wild swan. He was, however, not aware of the difference between the wild and the tame varieties of swan,and regarded this structure as a confirmation of the oldopinion that the swan possessed a melodious voice, withwhich, on the approach of death, it sounded its ownfuneral dirge. This fabulous power of singing beforedeath, so often noticed by poets, has been dwelt on atsome length by Mr. Harting. He says (Ornithology, p.202) , " Although the swan has no song, properly so called,it has a soft and rather plaintive note, monotonous, butnot disagreeable. """Allusions are sometimes made to a black variety."Hee is gone to seeke a hayre in a hennes nest, a needlein a bottle of haye, which is as sildome seene as ablacke swan (The Two Angrie Women of Abington). "Itis as rare to see a rich surety, as a black swan " (Lyly,Euphues, p. 229) . Little did these writers imagine thatthis proverbial rarity would one day be found in asgreat abundance as the common wild swan uponlakes of Europe. " Such," writes Mr. Bennett, " hasbeen one of the many results of the discovery of thecontinent of New Holland " (Gardens of the ZoologicalSociety).theWild Ducks, or Mallards, were so common that nodescription of them is met with . They Duck. were evidently, as one author expresses it,"ordained for the purpose " of hawking. Of Lincolnshire,Drayton writes:-66' My various fleets for fowl, O who is he can tellThe species that in me for multitudes excel?The duck and mallard first, the falconer's only sport,Of river-flights the chief, so that all other sort,The Sheldrake. 281They only green- fowl term, in every mere abound,That you would think they sate upon the very ground,Their numbers being so great, the waters covering quite,That rais'd, the spacious air is darken'd with their flight;Yet still the dangerous dykes, from shot do them secure,Where they from flash to flash, like the full epicureWaft, as they love to change their diet every meal.And near to them you see the lesser dibbling tealeIn bunches, with the first that fly from mere to mere,As they above the rest were lords of earth and air. ”(Polyolbion, song xxv.)The Teal does not appear to have been valued asan article of food. In the regulations ofthe Northumberland Household Book, 1512,Teal.teals are ordered to be brought only when no otherwild fowl can be procured.Sheldrake.The Sheldrake, or Shieldrake, included by Harrison inhis list of English birds, was common in manyparts of England. This handsome bird wascalled also the Burrow Duck, from its habit of breedingin rabbit burrows, in sandy soil in the neighbourhood ofthe sea. Sir Thomas Browne speaks of the " Bargander,a noble-coloured fowl, which herd in coney-burrows.'This name, suggests Mr. Wilkins, may be a corruption ofburrow-gander or burrow- duck. Drayton writes: -"The greedy sea-maw, fishing for the fry;The hungry shell-fowl, from whose rape doth flyTh' unnumber'd sholes; the mallard there did feed;The teale and morecoot raking in the weed. "-(The Man in the Moon.)The Loon is described by Sir ThomasBrowne, as- Loon.99a handsome and specious fowl, cristated, and with divided fin feetplaced very backward, and after the manner of all such which theDutch call arsvoote. They come about April, and breed in the broadwaters; so making their nest on the water, that their eggs are seldomdry while they are set on. " (Vol. iv. p. 314.)282 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The great crested grebe is probably here meant by theloon. When Macbeth exclaims to the terrified soldier-"The Devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon! "(Act v. 3, 11),ne probably used the word as a synonym for a coward,but the epithet " cream-faced" was well chosen, as the whitecheeks of the grebe form a noticeable contrast to thedarker portions of its head.It is probable that the larger kinds of birds frequenting the rocks of the sea-coast were vaguely Gull. classed as Gulls without any attempt todiscriminate between the different varieties. The wordgull was frequently employed to denote a dupe or asimpleton, and Sir John Davis well defines the meaningof the name as used by old writers in its metaphoricalsense:-" Oft in my laughing rimes I name a gull,But this new terme will many questions breede,Therefore at first I will express at fullWho is a true and perfect gull indeede:A gull is he which fears a velvet gowne,And when a wench is brave, dares not speak to her:A gull is he which traverses the towne,And is for marriage known a common wooer.A gull is he which while he proudly wearesA silver hilted rapier by his side,Indures the lyes, and knocks about the eares,While in his sheath his sleeping sword doth bide:A gull is he which weares good hansome cloathes,And stands in presence stroaking up his hayre,And fills up his imperfect speech with oathes,But speaks not one wise word throughout the yeare,But, to define a gull in termes precise,Agull is he which seems, and is not, wise."(Epigrams, ii. )The word gull was also used for a nestling, or unfledged bird of any kind. So Worcester speaks of " thatThe Sea-gull.283ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird " ( 1 Henry IV. , v. 1 , 59) ,and the Athenian senator thus prognosticates Timon'sdownfall:-"I do fear,When every feather sticks in his own wing,Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,Which flashes now a phoenix."(Timon of Athens, ii. 1, 29.)Mr. Harting is, for once, somewhat misleading whenhe writes:-"It is amid such scenes [of the sea-coast] that we naturally look forand find the next of Shakespeare's birds , the gull, or, as he sometimescalls it, the sea-mell." ( Ornithology, p. 266.)With the single exception of" scamells from the rock,"dainties that Caliban offers to procure for his patrons,this most beautiful frequenter of our coasts is not oncementioned by name by Shakspeare. Even in thedescription of the cliff in Lear, where we mightnaturally expect to find it, the more familiar choughsand crows rise to his mind. This is but one indicationamong many that Shakspeare was an inland naturalist.There is scarcely an allusion throughout his plays tothose species of birds or to those various phenomena ofthe sea which, in a month's voyage or a week's sojournon the coast, would have attracted his attention.For the word scamell, Mr. Harting reads sea-mell, oryoung sea- gull. Doubtless Caliban was well acquaintedwith the haunts of every bird that frequented his rocky isle;Miranda loved to rear the downy fledglings, brought toher from the nests: to the strange men, therefore, theymight be an acceptable present. A less poetical explanation of the word is that scamell is a common namefor the limpet, both in Cornwall and Ireland.Thomas Muffett (Healths Improvement, p. 108)mentions " white gulls, gray-gulls, and black-gulls (commonly termed by the name of plungers and water-crows. )"284 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The Stormy Petrel, or Mother Cary's Chicken, ismentioned by one of Purchas's pilgrimsunder the appropriate name of sea-stamper.Petrel.Weread:-"The calcamar are as bigge as turtle-doves, or pigeons; the menof the countrie say, that they lay their egges in the sea, and therethey hatch, and breed their young; they flie not, but with their wingsand feet they swimme very swiftly, and they foreshow great calmesand showres, and in calme weather they are so many along theshippes that the mariners cannot tell what to doe, they are eventhe very spite it selfe, and melancholy. " (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1317.)This bird, so dreaded by superstitious sailors, flies closeto the surface of the waves, and assists itself in its progressbymeans of its webbed feet. This manner of skimmingalong gives it the appearance of treading on the water,whence the bird has obtained the name of petrel, inallusion to Saint Peter.The Cormorant was found in the fens, as well as onthe coast of Britain, if we may credit Drayton,who mentions it in that part of his workwhich relates to Lincolnshire:-Cormorant."The cormorant then comes, by his devouring kind,Which flying o'er the fen, immediately doth findThe fleet best stor'd of fish, when from his wings at full,As though he shot himself into the thicken'd skull,He under water goes, and so the shoal pursues,Which into creeks do fly, when quickly he doth choseThe fin that likes him best, and rising , flying feeds."(Polyolbion, song xxv.)This bird was often trained to catch fish to affordamusem*nt, and Mr. Ḥarting has given full particulars ofthe fondness of James I. for this sport.Olaus Magnus gives an account, in his work on Scandinavia (p. 199) , of sea-crows or cormorants:-"There is a kind of water- crows, or called eel- rooks. These birdsare extreme black, except their breasts and bellies; for they are all ash-The Pelican. 285coloured, and they will eat exceedingly. They hunt for fishes, they flyslowly, and they stay long under water when they dive, their bills aremade tooth- ways, as mower's sickles, and with those they hold fastslippery fish, chiefly eels."Shakspeare's references to the cormorant are only asan emblem of insatiable appetite.The Pelican might almost be ranked among the fabulous birds, so strange and unnatural were thequalities attributed to it by the older writers.Pelican.The principal myth concerning the pelican was that theparent bird, if unable to procure food for her offspring,pierced her flesh, and thus provided an impromptu repastfor the little ones. This bird was therefore chosen byartists as an emblem of charity, and a pelican, “ in herpiety," was a favourite heraldic emblazonment. There areseveral modern explanations of this theory; unlike mostmyths, the fable is not derived from classical authority,but in all probability owes its origin to the passagesreferring to the pelican in the Scriptures, and to the notesof the commentators thereon. Chester quotes one ofthese learned authorities in his account of the bird:-"The pellican, the wonder of our age,As Jerome saith, revives her tender yong,And with her purest blood she doth asswageHer yong ones thirst, with poisonous adder stung.And those that were supposed three dayes dead,She gives them life once more being nourished. "(Love's Martyr, p. 122.)Shakspeare has been accused of maligning the character of the juvenile members of the pelican family,when he calls Regan and Goneril " pelican daughters." Ifit be true that the parent bird, when provisions ran short,supplied temporary nourishment by giving herself, Portialike, a voluntary wound, it would be hard to blame theyoung birds for accepting the sacrifice. The more usual286 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.form of the fable was that the " kind, life-renderingpelican " adopted this means of feeding the young oneswhen urged by necessity; but still a notion seems to havebeen current that the young birds in some cases acted asaggressors, instead of being grateful recipients of theirparent's bounty. Shakspeare evidently has this idea inhis mind in Richard II. Gaunt retorts:-"O, spare me not, my brother Edward's son,For that I was his father Edward's son;That blood already, like the pelican,Hast thou tapp'd out, and drunkenly caroused."(Richard II., ii. 1 , 124.)In the Mirror for Magistrates we read that a likebitter complaint was made by Henry II. against the illtreatment and ingratitude he had received from hissons:-"Whereof to leave a long memoriallIn minde of man evermore to rest,A picture hee made and hung it in his hallOf a pellicane sitting on his nest,With four yong byrdes, three pecking at his brest,With bloudy beakes, and furder did devise,The youngest byrde to pecke the father's eyes."(Vol. ii. p. 132, ed . Haslewood, 1815.)The amiable qualities of the pelican could not, however,compensate, in the eyes of Sir John Hawkins, for her wantof personal attraction. In the account of his secondvoyage made to the coast of Guinea, 1564, he tells us:-"Ofthe sea- fowle above all other not common in England, I noted thepellicane, which is fained to be the lovingst bird that is; but for allthis lovingnesse she is very deformed to beholde; for she is of colourrusset; notwithstanding in Guinea I have seene of them as white as aswan, having legs like the same, and a body like a hearne, with a longnecke, and a thick long beake, from the nether jaw whereof downe tothe breast passeth a skinne of such a bignesse, as is able to receive afish as big as one's thigh, and this her big throat and long bill bothmake her seem so ougly! " (Hakluyt, vol. iii . p. 616.)A Centenarian Bird. 287Other travellers mention the pelican, though notalways by that name. The pelican was generally foundin company with the flamingo, and there could havehardly been a more striking spectacle than flocks of thesetwo species of birds, the snowy white of the one contrasting with the brilliant red of the other, and attracting and riveting attention even in those lands wherestrange and beautiful sights abounded. Francois Pyrardde Laval, who gives an account of a journey to the East,writes:-"When I was on the Maldives, there was found a bird which landed inan iland, of prodigious shape and greatnesse. It was three foot high,the body exceeding greate, more than a man could fathom: thefeathers all white as a swan, the feet broad like fowles that swim, thenecke halfe a fathom long, the beake halfe an ell; on the upper part atthe end a kinde of crooked claw, underneath larger then above, whencehung a very great and capable bagge of a yellow-gilded colour resembling parchment. The king was much astonished whence thiscreature should come, and what was the nature of it: and enquiring ofall men which came from other regions, at the last hee happened oncertaine strangers, who told him that this creature was particular toChina, and that it was bred no where else, and the Chinois use them totake fish." (Purchas, vol. ii. p. 1653.)Gonzalo Ferdinando de Oviedo, again, in his report ofthe Indies, addressed to Charles V., the Emperor of Germany, writes::--"In these regions there are likewise found certaine fowles or birds,which the Indians call alcatraz: these are much bigger than geese, thegreatest part of their feathers are of russet colour, and in some partsyellow, their bils or beakes are of two spannes in length, and verylarge neere to the head, and growing small toward the point, they havegreat and large throates, and are much like to a fowle which I saw inFlanders, in Brussels, in your majesties palace, which the Flemmingscall haina: and I remember that when your majestie dined one day inyour great hall, there was brought to your majesties presence a caldronof water, with certain fishes alive, which the said fowle did eat upwhole, and I think verily that that fowle was a fowle of the sea,because she had feet like fowles of the water, as have also these alcatrazi, which are likewise fowles of the sea, and of such greatnesse, that288 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.I have seene a whole coate of a man put into the throate of one ofthemin Panama, in the yeere 1521. (Purchas, vol. iii . p. 979. )The court favourite referred to by Gonzalo was probably identical with the bird noticed thirty years later byRoger Ascham, in a letter to Mr. Edward Raven, Fellowof St. John's College, Cambridge, 1551. He writes:-"At Mechlin we saw a strange bird. The emperor doth allow it 8d.a day. It is milk-white, greater than a swan, with a bill somewhat like a shovel, and having a throat well able to swallow, withouttouch of crest, a white penny loaf of England, except your bread bebigger than your bread-master of St. Johns is wont willingly to makeit. The eyes are as red as fire, and as they say, it is an hundred yearsold. It was wont in Maximilian's days to fly with him whithersoeverhe went." (Ascham's Works, p. 854, ed. 1815.)Mr. Harting tells us ( Ornithology, p. 288) that Mr.Bartlett, the superintendent of the Zoological Gardens,whose practical knowledge of animals is almost unrivalled,is of opinion that the word pelican in the English translation of the Bible should be flamingo, as this latter birdcould exist in desert places, where the pelican, a lover offish, would starve. Mr. Bartlett also asserts, from personal observation, that the flamingo has the power ofsecreting a red fluid, which it mixes with the food for itsyoung, in the same way that the pigeon does, and thatthis may have given rise to the idea of the bird feedingher young with her own blood. That some confusionexisted as to the name of this bird is evident from apassage in a narrative included in Purchas's collection ofTravels. An Englishman was taken prisoner by thePortuguese and sent to Angola, in Africa, where he livedfor nearly eighteen years. Describing that part of thecountry, he writes:-"Here is a kind of fowle that lives in the land bigger then a swan,and they are like a heron, with long legges, and long neckes, and it iswhite and blacke, and hath in her breast a bare place without feathers,where she striketh with her bill, This is the right pelican, and notThe Pelican's Bath. 289those sea-birds which the Portugalls call pelicans, which are white,and as bigge as geese, and those abound in this country also ."(Purchas, vol. ii. p. 983.)In the second voyage to the West Indies made byMr., afterwards Sir, John Hawkins, 1564, mention is madeof the flamingo:—" For the fowle of the fresh rivers [ in Florida] these two I noted to bethe chiefe: whereof the flemengo is one, having all red feathers, andlong red legs like a herne, a necke according to the bill, red, whereofthe upper neb hangeth an inch over the nether." (Hakluyt, vol. iii .p. 617.)As an instance of how long the fabulous element innatural history lingers, in a treatise on animals, publishedso lately as the end of the last century, this extraordinarystatement deserves notice:-"Wild animals come to the pelican's nest to drink the waterwhich the parent bird brings in a sufficient quantity to last for manydays. She carries the water in her pouch, and pours it into the nest torefresh her young ones, and to teach them to swim."The name alcatrazi, sometimes given by the Spaniardsto the pelican, is bestowed by Sir Richard Hawkins, in hisaccount of a voyage to the South Seas in 1593, on anallied species, the tropic bird. He writes:----"The alcatrace is a sea-fowle, different to all that I have seene, eitheron the land, or in the sea. His head like unto the head of a gull, buthis bill like unto a snites bill, somewhat shorter, and in all placesalike. He is almost like to a heronshaw, his legs a good spanne long,his wings very long, and sharpe towards the points, with a long tailelike to a pheasant, but with three or foure feathers onely, and thesenarrower. He is all blacke, of the colour of a crow, and of little flesh;for hee is almost all skinne and bones, hee soareth the highest of anyfowle that I have seene, and I have not heard of any, that have seenethem rest in the sea." (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1376.)The tropic bird, well known to travellers, is about thesize of the common gull. The long tail feathers, herenoticed, equal in length the rest of the bird. It isU290 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.unrivalled for strength of wing, and for power of endurance; it is called by sailors the boatswain, from itspeculiar cry, which is shrill, harsh, and perpetuallyrepeated, night and day. Captain John Smith, 1622,notes:-"The tropike bird hath his name of the places where he is mostseene. Another bird of her cry is called pemblico, seldome seene byday, an unwelcome prophet of tempests by her clamorous crying."(Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1801.)Penguin,seas.Penguins, from their abundance and the ease withwhich they were captured, must have been ofgreat value to the early explorers in distantAfter the privations of a long voyage and a compulsory fish diet, sailors would not be disposed to becritical, but from all accounts the flesh of the penguinwould under other circ*mstances scarcely be appreciated.Anthonie Parkhurst, in a letter dated 1578, and addressedto Richard Hakluyt of the Middle Temple, gives a reportof the commodities of Newfoundland. After describingsome novelties, he writes:-"There are sea-guls, murres, duckes, wild geese, and many otherkind of birdes store, too long to write, especially at one island namedPenguin, where we may drive them on a planke into our ship as manyas shall lade her. These birds are also called penguins, and cannotflie, there is more meate in one of these then in a goose: the Frenchmen that fish neare the Grand Baie, doe bring small store of flesh withthem, but victuall themselves alwayes with these birdes. " (Hakluyt,vol. iii. p. 123.)Either Mr. Parkhurst confused the penguin with thepuffin, or the wholesale slaughter led to the extinction ofthe species in northern latitudes. The penguin is nowalmost entirely confined to the southern seas. JohnJane, " a man of good observation," describes the appearance of this bird in an account of a voyage to SouthAmerica:---" This penguin hath the shape of a bird, but hath no wings, onlyWelsh Explorers.291two stumps in the place of wings, by which he swimmeth underwater with as great swiftnes as any fish. They live upon smelts,whereof there is great abundance upon this coast: in eating they beneither fish nor flesh: they lay great eges, and the birde is of a reasonablebignes, very neere twise so big as a ducke. . . . We stayed in thisharbor [Penguin Isle, in the Straits of Magellan] until the 22 ofDecember, in which time we had dried 200,000 penguins." (Hakluyt,vol. iv. p. 370.)Sir Thomas Herbert, describing a different part of theworld, writes, in 1626: —"We dropt our anchor 14 leagues short of Souldania Bay afore asmall isle call'd Coney Isle through corruption of speech: the propername of that isle being Cain-yne in Welch. The isle is three milesabout, in which we saw abundance of pen-gwins, in Welch whiteheads, agreeable to their colour; a bird that of all other goes mosterect in motion, the wings or fins hanging down like sleeves, coveredwith down instead of feathers, their legs serving them better than theirwings; they feed on fish at sea and grass ashore, and have holes tolive in like conies; a degenerate duck, for using both sea and shore,it feeds in the one, breeds in the other; is very fat and oily, andsome adventure to eat them; for curiosity may invite." ( Travels,p. 12.)Souldania Bay, we are informed, is on the south- eastcoast of Africa, twelve leagues from the Cape of GoodHope. The worthy knight loses no opportunity ofproving by etymology his favourite theory, that Welshmen were the earliest explorers, both in South Africa andin America. In this opinion he is supported both byPurchas and Hakluyt, and also by the lawyer and statesman, John Selden. In a note on Drayton's ninth bookof the Polyolbion, Selden confirms an assertion of that poetin the following words:-"About the year 1170, Madoc, brother to David ap Owen, Princeof Wales, made this sea voyage; and by probability, those names ofCapo de Briton in Norumbeg, and Pengwin in part of NorthernAmerica, for a white rock, and a white headed bird, according to theBritish, were relicks of this discovery, so that the Welsh may challengepriority of finding that new world, before the Spaniards, Genoese, and292 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.all other mentioned in Lopez, Maninæus, Cortez , and the rest of thatkind." (Works, vol. iii. part 2, p. 1802, ed. 1725.)Another traveller, Sir Thomas Roe, 1613, also describes the islands in Souldania Bay::--" Soldania is,” he writes, " as I suppose, an iland, in the south endwhereof is the Cape of Good Hope, divided from the maine land by adeepe bay on the south- east side, and due east by a river, which wee discerne upon the table. There is on the iland, buls, cowes, antelops,baboones, moules of great bignesse, feasants, passerflannugos, and manyothers. On Pengwin [ Island] there is a fowle so called, that goesupright, his wings without feathers, hanging down like sleeves facedwith white: they fly not, but walke in pathes and keep their divisionsand quarters orderly; they are a strange fowle, or rather a miscellaneous creature of beast, bird, and fish, but most of bird, confuting thatdefinition to be animal bipes implume, which is nearer to a descriptionof this creature." (Purchas, vol. i. p. 536.)The great auk, now extinct, was probably abundant.Pennant, in his Zoology, says that the great auk is a birdobserved by seamen never to wander beyond soundings;and according to its appearance they direct their measures, being then assured that land is not very remote.Describing the wonders of the East Riding of Yorkshire,Drayton writes:-“The mullet, and the awke (my fowlers there do find, )Of all Great Britain brood, birds of the strangest kind,That building in the rocks, being taken with the hand,And cast beyond the cliff, that pointeth to the land,Fall instantly to ground, as though it were a stone,But put out to the sea, they instantly are gone,As only by that air they on their wings were borne,And fly a league or two before they do return."Dabchick.(Polyolbion, song xxviii. )The Dabchick, or Little Grebe, has acquired a varietyof names from the peculiarity of its movements. Shakspeare applies to it the appropriate name of dive- dapper:-The Dive-dapper." Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave,Who, being look'd on, ducks as quickly in. ”(Venus and Adonis, 1. 86.)293Drayton uses the same name, with a difference of oneletter:"And in a creek where waters least did stir,Set from the rest the nimble divedopper,That comes and goes so quickly and so oft,As seems at once both under and aloft."(The Man in the Moon.)Drayton elsewhere gives this little bird another title: -"The diving dob-chick, here amongst the rest you see,Now up, now down again, that hard it is to prove,Whether under water most it liveth, or above.”(Polyolbion, song xxv. )In his allegorical poem, The Boke of Philip Sparow,Skelton has a different name again: -66 The divendop to cleep,The water hen to weep."Du Bartas writes (p. 46):-"But (gentle muse) tell me what fowls are thoseThat but even-now from flaggy fenns arose?"Tis th' hungry hern, the greedy cormorant,The coot and curlew, which the moors doe haunt,The nimble teale, the mallard strong in flight,The di-dapper, the plover and the snight."The common shore bird, "the Puffin that is halfe fish,halfe flesh (a John Indifferent, and an ambodexter betwixt either) " (Nashe, Lenten Stuffe),Puffin.is mentioned by Carew in company with the burranet:-"The puffin hatcheth in holes of the cliff, whose young ones arethence ferretted out, being exceeding fat, kept salted , and reputed forfish, as coming nearest thereto in their taste. The burranet hath like294 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.breeding, and after her young ones are hatched, she leadeth them sometimes over-land, the space of a mile or better into the haven, wheresuch as have leisure to take their pastime, chace them one by one witha boat and stones, to often diving, until through weariness, they aretaken up at the boat's side by hand, carried home, and kept tamewith ducks. The eggs of divers of these fowls are good to be eaten."(Survey ofCornwall, 1602, p. 109.)The Ostrich was considered by the ancients to bepartly bird and partly beast. As a compro- Ostrich.mise they gave it the name of camel-bird. Itsrange extends over the whole of Africa and even as far asthe deserts of Arabia. John Leo, the African traveller,after a correct description of the ostrich, relates that-"this fowle liveth in drie desarts and layeth to the number of tenor twelve egges in the sands, which being about the bignesse of greatbullets weigh fifteen pounds a piece; but the ostrich is of so weak amemorie, that she presently forgetteth the place where her egges werelaid, and afterwards the same or some other ostrich hen finding thesaid eggs by chance hatched and fostereth them as if they werecertainely her owne. The chickens are no sooner crept out of the shellbut they prowle up and downe the desarts for their food, and beforetheyr feathers be growne they are so swift that a man shall hardly overtake them. The ostrich is a silly and deafe creature, feeding uponany thing which it findeth, be it as hard and indigestable as yron."(Purchas, vol. ii . p. 849.)Jack Cade thus threatens Iden: " I'll make thee eatiron like an ostrich, and swallow my sword like a greatpin, ere thou and I part " (2 Henry VI., iv. 10, 30) . Thisfondness for metals has obtained for the bird the name ofthe " iron eating-ostrich. " Lyly tells us that " the estrichdigesteth hard yron to preserve his health " (Euphues, p.110). The statements as to the fancied property of thebird of digesting iron, assigned to it by popular credulity,Sir Thomas elaborately refutes, in his work on popularerrors. He mentions the arrival of two ostriches, broughtfrom Tangier, and says, " I sawe one in the latter end ofKing James his dayes, at Greenwich, when I was a schoolboy. "The Iron-eating Ostrich. 295The female ostrich was supposed by some to hatch hereggs by the steadfast gaze of maternal affection. In consequence of this imaginary exploit the ostrich has beenemployed as an emblem of faith.Shakspeare has several references to the ostrich.Harry Hotspur asks, Where are—"The nimble-footed madcap Prince of WalesAnd his comrades, that daff'd the world asideAnd bid it pass? ”He is answered:-"All furnish'd, all in arms;All plumed, like estridges that with the wind,Baited like eagles having lately bathed. "(1 Henry IV., iv. 1, 97.)This is the reading of the Globe edition. Mr. Hartingreads:"All plum'd like estridges that with the windBated; like eagles having lately bath'd. "In reference to this passage, Mr. Douce says it is by nomeans certain that the ostrich is meant. This criticconsiders that a line is probably lost from the passage,which, if supplied, would only the more clearly show thatthe falcon was here intended; " estrich," in the old bookson falconry, denoted that bird, or rather, the goshawk.It is clear that in this latter sense the word estrich is usedin the lines in Antony and Cleopatra:-"To be furiousIs to be frighted out of fear; and in that moodThe dove will peck the estridge."(Antony and Cleopatra, iii . 13, 195.)Mr. Dyce, on the other hand, explains estridge to meanostrich. In support of this reading, a passage fromDrayton's Polyolbion may be quoted:-"Prince Edward all in gold, as he great Jove had been:The Mountfords all in plumes, like estriges were seen,296 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.To beard him to his teeth, to th' work of death they go;The crowds like to a sea seem'd waving to and fro. "(Song xxii. )The near relatives of the ostrich, the Cassawary, andthe Emeu, are described by various travellers.In an account of the first voyage of the Dutchto the East Indies, the narrator informs us thatCassawary."on the third day of December they came to Tuban and Cydaia[Java], where they bought nutmegs and cloves, and the Sabander gavethem a great fowle called eme, about foure foot in height, somewhatlike an ostrich, saving that the foote were not cloven." (Purchas,vol. i. p. 708.)In the same collection of travels a Portuguese travellerdescribes the coast of Zanzibar, and writes:-"From Magadoxo to Sacotora one hundred and fiftie leagues is adesart coast, and dishabited without rivers. In which desarts breedthe great birds, called emas, which breed on the sands, and have buttwo young ones, as pigeons. Their stomacks will consume iron andstones, and they flye not but touch the ground with their feet, runningwith their wings spread, as lightly as other birds flye. They arewhite, ash-coloured; their egges white, holding almost three pints."(Purchas, vol. ii . p. 1556.)In an account of Sumatra written by John Nieuhoff, aDutch traveller, published in Harris's collection of travels,the writer asserts that " the bird is called emeu, or eme,by the natives, and casuaris by the Duch. " After a verycorrect description of the emeu, the narrator evidentlyconsiders himself entitled to draw on his imaginationas a relief, and informs us that it is exceeding greedy,"devouring everything it meets with, even to iron andburning coals."The first emeu was seen in Europe in 1597, when theDutch travellers brought one home on their return fromtheir first voyage to the East Indies. This specimen wasgiven them as a great curiosity by one of the Javaneseprinces, as a token of friendship.Reptiles.297CHAPTER XIII.Or English Reptiles, Harrison writes, in his descriptionof Britain, prefixed to Holinshed's Chronicle: -Reptiles."First of all we have the adder, in our old Saxon toong called anatter, which some men doo not rashlie take to be the viper. We have also efts, both of the land and water, and likewise the noisome swifts,whereof to saie anie more it should be but losse of time, sith they arewell knowne and no region to my knowledge found to be void of them."(Holinshed, vol. i . p. 383.)Harrison has no further mention of the snake than in thefollowing passage: " And as we have great store of todeswhere adders commonlie are found, so doo frogs aboundwhere snakes doo keepe their residence."Drayton describes the gathering of representatives ofthe reptile clans at Noah's bidding. From the commendation bestowed on the considerate conduct of the aspand little slow-worm, it is probable that the writer hadsome idea that the tooth of a venomous snake could berendered innocuous at will:-"The salamander to the ark retires,To fly the floods it doth forsake the fires;The strange camelion comes to augment the crew,Yet in the ark doth never change her hue;

The watchful dragon comes the ark to keep,But lull'd with murmur, gently falls to sleep:298 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The cruel scorpion comes to climb the pile,And meeting with the greedy crocodile,Into the ark together meekly go,And like kind mates themselves they there bestow;The dart and dipsas, to th' ark coming in,Infold each other as they were a twin;The co*ckatrice there kills not with his sight,But in his object joys, and in the lightThe deadly killing aspick when he seethThis world of creatures sheaths his poyson'd teeth,And with the adder and the speckled snake,Them to a corner harmlessly betake;The lizard shuts up his sharp-sighted eyes,Among these serpents, and there sadly lies;The small-eyed slow-worm held of many blind,Yet this great ark it quickly out could find,And as the ark it was about to climb,Out of its teeth shoots the invenom'd slime.

All these base, grovelling, and ground-licking sute,From the large boas, to the little newte;As well as birds, or the four footed beasts,Came to the ark their hostry as Noah's guests."(Noah's Flood. )The statement made by Giraldus Cambrensis, thatIreland possessed an immunity from every kind ofpoisonous creature, has been repeated by almost all subsequent writers on that country. This notion can betraced back as early as the " venerable Bede," who writes,in his Ecclesiastical History (book i . , c. i . ): —"No reptile is found there; no serpent can live there; for, thoughoften carried thither out of Britain, as soon as the ship draws near theland, and the scent of the air from off the shore reaches them, theydie. On the contrary almost all things produced in the island havevirtues against poison."Cambrensis, who quotes this passage, confirms thestatement, and declares that, though some authors haveSnakes in Ireland. 299attributed this absence of noxious creatures to St. Patrickand other saints-"history asserts, with more probability, that from the earliest ages,and long before the island was favoured with the light of revealedtruth, this was one of the things which never existed here, from somenatural deficiency in the produce of the island. " (Typography ofIreland, 1187, p. 48, ed . Wright, 1863.)To the notion that nothing venomous could exist inIreland, England is, according to Cambrensis, indebtedfor the possession of the Isle of Man. This island issituate midway between Britain and Ireland:-"Which country it rightly belonged to was a matter of great doubtamong the ancients: but the controversy was settled in this way;since the island allowed venomous reptiles, brought over for the sakeof experiment, to exist in it, it was agreed by common consent that itbelonged to Britain." (Page 70.)Much time and bloodshed might have been saved ifsuch a delightfully simple method of proving the right ofpossession had been elsewhere adopted.""Even the soil of Ireland was supposed to be antagonistic to snakes. Andrew Boorde, in his Introduction ofKnowledge, written 1542, tells us that " marchauntes ofEngland do fetch of the erth of Irlonde to caste intheir gardens, to kepe out and to kyll venimous wormes( p. 133, Early English Text Society, 1870) . More recentlythis antipathy of serpents to everything Irish was turnedto good account; Paul Hentzner, in his account of ajourney to England, 1598, describes a visit to the Housesof Parliament at Westminster, and records:-"Inthe chamber where the Parliament is usually held, the seats andwainscot are made of wood, the growth of Ireland; said to have hadthat occult quality , that all poisonous animals are driven away by it:and it is affirmed for certain , that in Ireland there are neither serpents,toads, nor any other venomous creature to be found." (Dodsley's Fugitive Pieces, vol. ii. p. 244.)Allusions to this expulsion of reptiles from Ireland300 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.abound in the writings of the Elizabethan era. Shakspeare only echoes the popular sentiment when he makesRichard II. speak so uncivilly of the Irish kerns—"Which live like venom where no venom elseBut only they have privilege to live. ”(Richard II., ii. 1, 156.)John Trundle, the narrator of some exploits of a Sussexdragon, writes, in 1614:-"The Irish ground is most happie, and it seemeth lesse sinfull, sinceit is free from contagion of these venomous creatures: but, non omnisfert omnia tellus, ' every ground brings not forth all kind of fruites.'This land were happie if it were less fertile in these contagious kindsof serpents, which I ascribe not to the nature of the earth, but to thesinfull nature of men. " (Harleian Miscellany, vol. iii. p. 109.)The herb origanum, or marjoram, appears to havebeen esteemed the cure for all diseases. In Euphues(p. 61), Lyly writes: " The torteyse having tasted theviper sucketh origanum and is quickly revived." Montaigne, in his Essays, has an expression so similar, thathad not these two works been published in the same year,one of the authors would have been accused of plagiarism .They were probably both equally indebted to Pliny fortheir information. The learned seigneur inquires:-"Why should we say, that it is only for man by knowledge improv'dby art and meditation, to distinguish the things commodious for hisbeing, and proper for the cure of diseases, to know the virtues of rhubarb, and polypody: and when we see the goats of Candie, woundedwith an arrow, amongst a million of plants, choose out dittanie fortheir cure; and the tortoise, when she has eaten of a viper, immediately go to look out for origanum to purge her, the dragon to rub, andclear his eyes with fennel, -why do we not say the same, that this isknowledge and prudence? "Drayton, describing the universal stampede of livingcreatures towards the ark, classes the snailpaced Tortoise with the lively little hedgehog, as if their movements were similar: —Tortoise.Tortoise and co*ckroach."The tortoise and the hedgehog both so slow,As in their motion scarce designed to go,Good footmen grown, contrary to their kind,Lest from the rest they should be left behind."(Noah's Flood.)301SmallIn our own time we adopt Drayton's arrangement, butwith a difference. We give the tortoise credit for equalspeed with the hedgehog. Quite recently a considerabletraffic has been carried on in the London streets.African tortoises have been taken about on barrows, andpassers-by have been beguiled into becoming purchasersof these little reptiles, by the assurance that one of themwill soon clear a kitchen of black beetles. The wish is,no doubt, father to the thought, and any information asto the purely vegetable diet of the new purchase, volunteered by a presumptuous naturalist, is slighted. Wesmile at the absurd notions of our forefathers in mattersof natural history, but anything more comic than thepicture presented to the imagination by a tortoise in wildpursuit of a co*ckroach would be difficult to find.A traveller in Eastern Tartary tells of " tortoises asbig as an oven " (Hakluyt, vol. ii. p. 163) . This simile isrivalled in exactness by one made use of by a farmer whoappeared as a witness in a court of law. In reply to aquestion of counsel as to the size of some article, he saidit was " about as big as a bit of chalk." The tortoisesreferred to were, no doubt, turtles. An early mention ofthe turtle, or sea tortoise, occurs in an account of Sir JohnHawkins's second voyage to the West Indies. The writer,one of the ship's company, chronicles as follows:-The 5th of July [ 1565] we had sight of certain islands of sand,called the Tortugas, which is low land [ in the Gulf of Mexico] wherethe captain went in, with his pinnace; and found such a number ofbirds that, in half an hour, he laded her with them; and, if there hadbeen ten boats more, they might have done the like. These islandsbear the name of Tortles, because of the number of them which theredo breed: whose nature is to live both in the water and also upon land,302 The Animal-Lore ofShakspeare's Time.but breed only upon the shore, by making a great pit, wherein they layeggs, to the number of three or four hundred, and covering them withsand, they are hatched by the heat of the sun; and by this means,cometh the great increase. Of these, we took very great ones, whichhave both back and belly all of bone of the thickness of an inch; thefish whereof we proved, eating much like veal: and finding a numberof eggs in them tasted also of them, but they did eat very sweetly."(Hakluyt, Arber's English Garner, vol. v. p. 121.)Another notice of these reptiles may be quoted,chiefly interesting as showing how opinions may vary inthe matter of articles of food. Sir Thomas Herbertwrites, in the year 1626:-"Suffer me (whiles in memory) to tell you of a fish or two which, inthese seas [round Madagascar] were obvious. The sea tortoise is one,a fish not differing from those at land , her shell only being somethingflatter; by overturning they are easily taken; some we took, for pastime more than food, and upon trial found that they taste waterish;they have neither tongue nor teeth, superabound in eggs, in those wetook some having near 2000, pale and round, and not easily madehard though extreamly boiled: they cover their eggs with sand, andare hatched by the heat of the sun, as some affirm; such as have strongappetites eat them and the flesh (or fish as you please to call it) , but bythe Levitical law it was forbidden; and though our religion consists notin ceremonies (ending in the prototype) yet except famine or noveltieinvite, with such cates my pallat craves not to be refreshed." (Travels,p. 26, ed. 1677.)Thebad taste manifested in this long-winded sentencemay be due to the want of culinary skill on the part ofthe ship's cook; we must remember also that the worthyknight was a most fastidious traveller, and seldom expressed approval of any novelty. The city magnateshad perhaps learned in the time of Muffett, about 1646,that the turtle by judicious manipulation might be rendered palatable, for in that author's work we read that-"tortoises are likewise no usuall meat amongst us: yet I see noreason but that riot may bring them in, and make them as familiarunto us as turkies are; their flesh nourishes plentifully, and recoversmen out of consumption." (Healths Improvement, p. 190.)The Crocodile,46 Lepidus. What manner o' thing is your Crocodile?Antony. It is shaped, sir, like itself; and it is as303Crocodile.broad as it hath breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with itsown organs it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elementsonce out of it, it transmigrates.Lep. What colour is it of?Ant. Ofits own colour too.Lep. "Tis a strange serpent.Ant. "Tis so. And the tears of it are wet."(Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 7, 46.)Little more explicit are some of the descriptions of thecrocodile by early writers. As a rule no distinction seemsto have been made between the crocodile and the alligator,but Romeo's mention of-" An alligator stuff'd, and other skinsOfill-shaped fishes "(Romeo and Juliet, v. 1, 42),shows that the name alligator was in use at least, thoughthe word crocodile would here probably be more correct.The amphibious habits of these animals seem to havepuzzled our ancestors how to classify them; sometimes,as by Lepidus, it is called a serpent. Chester writes:-" The crocadile a saffron coloured snake,Sometimes upon the earth is conversant,And other times lives in a filthy lake,Being oppressed with foule needy want:The skinn upon his backe as hard as stone,Resisteth violent strokes of steele or iron."(Love's Martyr, p. 116.)Marlowe had a somewhat exaggerated idea of its power ofresistance to attacks from without:-"Lie slumbering on the flowery banks of Nile,As crocodiles that unaffrighted rest,While thundering cannons rattle on their skins. "(1 Tamburlaine, iv. 1.)The crocodile, " Nile's fell rover," is sometimes ranked as304 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.a fish. It is strange that, as this reptile was an inhabitantof a country so well known as Egypt, its manners andcustoms are not more correctly described. Probably theterror it inspired, added to the difficulty which thenatives must have had in its destruction, may have givenrise to the fanciful accounts that have been handed downfrom antiquity. The explorers of Elizabeth's time, however, brought back more accurate descriptions and probablyseveral specimens. Job Hortop, a sailor in the crew ofSir John Hawkins, 1591, thus describes the capture andattempted preservation of a legarto, or alligator:—"He was twenty three feet by the rule, headed like a hog, in bodylike a serpent, full of scales as broad as a saucer, his tail long and fullof knots as big as a ' falcon shot. ' He had four legs; his feet had longnails like unto a dragon; we opened him, flayed him, dried his skin,and stuffed it with straw, meaning to have brought it home, had not theship been cast away." (Hakluyt's Voyages. )But for the mischance of the wreck this specimen mighthave graced the shop of some needy apothecary in FleetStreet.A Portuguese traveller, in his account of the southerncoast of Africa, says:"The crocodile is five and twentie spans long, and thicker then aman; they are cowardly on land, cruell in the water, greene with darkeyellow spots, and gray, and blacke; they have many rowes of teeth,no tongue. The Caffres call them goma." (Purchas, vol. ii. p. 1547.)Marco Polo's description of the crocodile is too grotesqueto be omitted. In his travels in the East, towards theend of the thirteenth century, he tells us:-"Here are seen huge serpents, ten paces in length, and ten spans inthe girt of the body. At the fore-part, near the head they have twoshort legs, having three claws like those of a tiger, with eyes largerthan a fourpenny loaf, and very glaring. The jaws are wide enough toswallow a man, the teeth are large and sharp, and their whole appearance is so formidable, that neither man, nor any kind of animal, canapproach them without terror."An Indigestible Meal. 305The impression left on the mind of the reader is, that thecrocodile has no hind legs at all. Perhaps the illustrioustraveller's courage did not hold out long enough to enablehim to wait till the animal had emerged sufficiently outof the water to ascertain the proper number of its limbs.The American crocodile, or alligator, is mentioned bySir Walter Raleigh, in his account of Guiana, under itsnative name, el lagarto, the big lizard::-—"Upon this river [ the Great Aman] there were great store of fowl,and of many sorts: we saw in it divers sorts of strange fishes, and ofmarvellous bigness; but for lagartos it exceeded; for there werethousands of those ugly serpents, and the people call it for the abundance of them the river of Lagartos, in their language. I had a negro,a very proper young fellow, that, leaping out of the galley to swim inthe mouth of this river, was in all our sights taken and devoured withone of these legartos." (Sir W. Raleigh's Works, vol. viii. p. 42.)Lopes, a Portuguese traveller, in Africa, gives thecrocodile another name: " In this river Jaire (in Congo),there are divers kinds of creatures, and namely, mightiegreat crocodiles, which the country people there callcaiman " (Purchas, vol. ii. p. 990). Andrew Battell, atraveller in Angola, records an astonishing feat ofrapacity, and its consequence:---"One crocodile was so huge and greedy, that he devoured analibamba, that is, a chained company of eight or nine slaves: but theindigestible iron paid him his wage, and murthered the murtherer,found after in his belly." (Purchas, vol. ii. p. 985.)Tom Coryat, the celebrated pedestrian traveller, givesan account of a visit paid by him to the church andmonastery of some rich Benedictine monks at Padua,about the year 1608. He describes the monastery as veryextensive, occupying, with its gardens, the space of a milein compass. His account of the dispensary attached tothe building recalls the humbler dwelling of the poorMantuan vendor of drugs:-" Also I saw two goodly faire rooms within the monasteryX306 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.abundantly furnished with passing variety of pleasant fine waters andapothecary drugges that serve onely for the monkes. In the first ofthese roomes I saw the skin of a great crocodile hanged up at the roofe,and another skinne of a crocodile in the inner roome. This crocodileis a beast of a most terrible shape, fashioned like a dragon, withwonderfull hard scales upon his backe; I observed that he hath notongue at all; his eyes are very little, and his teeth long and sharp."(Coryat's Crudities, vol. i. p. 181 , ed. 1776.)Reference is often made to the notion, handed downfrom antiquity, that the crocodile attracted its victimsby affected weeping. Spenser writes:"As when a wearie traveller, that strayesBy muddy shore of broad seven-mouthed Nile,Unweeting of the perilous wandring wayes,Doth meete a cruell craftie crocodile,Which, in false griefe hyding his harmefull guile,Doth weepe full sore, and sheddeth tender teares;The foolish man, that pities all this whileHis mournfull plight, is swallowed up unwares;Forgetfull of his owne, that mindes another's cares."(Faerie Queene, I. v. 18.)Othello exclaims, when Desdemona weeps:-" O devil, devil!If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile."(Othello, iv. 1, 256.)Dr. Andrew Wilson has recently explained the beliefin crocodile's tears as originating from the loud andsingularly plaintive cries the creature emits, not unlikethe mournful howling of a dog:-"The earlier travellers would very naturally associate tears withthese cries, and once begun, the supposition would be readily propagated, for error and myth are ever plants of quick growth. The belief in the movement of the upper jaw rests on an apparent basis offact. The lower jaw is joined to the skull very far back on the latter,and the mouth-opening thus comes to be singularly wide; whilst, whenthe mouth opens, the skull and upper jaw are apparently observed to inove. This is not the case, however; the apparent movement arisingThe Trochilus. 307from the manner in which the lower jaw and the skull are joinedtogether. The belief in the absence of the tongue is even morereadily explained. When the mouth is widely opened, no tongue is to be seen. This organ is not only present, but is, moreover, of large size;it is, however, firmly attached to the floor of the mouth, and it isspecially adapted, from its peculiar form and structure, to assist theseanimals in the capture and swallowing of their prey." (Leisure TimeStudies, p. 75, 1879.)The tongue of the crocodile acts as a flood-gate to preventwater passing down the throat when the jaws are opened.John Leo, an African traveller, tells the story of thecrocodile's feathered attendant, that has been for a longtime considered a myth. His version differs from theaccount given by Herodotus, and repeated by Aristotle,of this strange partnership, only in the termination. Inthe ancient tale the crocodile moves its neck as a signalthat it is about to shut its mouth, so as to warn thetrochilus to avoid the danger. Leo says:-"As we sayled further we saw great numbers of crocodiles upon thebankes of the ilands in the midst of Nilus lye baking them in thesunne with their jawes wide open, whereinto certaine little birds aboutthe bignesse of a thrush entering, came flying forth againe presentlyafter. The occasion whereof was told me to be this: the crocodiles byreason of their continuall devouring beasts and fishes have certainepieces of flesh sticking fast betweene their forked teeth, which fleshbeing putrified breedeth a kind of worme, wherewith they are cruellytormented; wherefor the said birds flying about and seeing the wormesenter into the crocodiles jaws to satisfie their hunger thereon, but thecrocodile perceiving himselfe freed from the wormes of his teeth offerethto shut his mouth, and to devour the little bird that did him so good aturne, but being hindred from his ungratefull attempt by a prickewhich groweth upon the birds head, hee is constrayned to open hisjawes and to let her depart. " (Purchas, vol . ii . p. 847.)Webster makes use of this story as an illustration, andfollows it so closely, except in the size of the bird, that itis not unlikely he had the passage before him at the timeof writing:-"Flamineo. Stay, my Lord; I'll tell you a tale. The crocodile which308 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.lives in the river Nilus, hath a worm breeds i ' th' teeth of it, which putsit to extream anguish: a little bird, no bigger than a wren, is barbersurgeon to this crocodile; flies into the jaws of it, pieks out the worm,and brings present remedy. The fish, glad of ease, but ungrateful toher that did it, that the bird may not talk largely abroad ofher for nonpayment, closeth her chaps, intending to swallow her, and so put herto perpetual silence. But nature, loathing such ingratitude, hatharm'd this bird with a quill or prick on the head top, which wound thecrocodile i' th' mouth, forceth her to open her bloody prison, and awayflies the pretty took- picker from her cruel patient." (VittoriaCorombona, act iv. ed. Dyce.)This bird, which was called the trochilus by theancients, is referred to by Lyly: " The birde trochilusliveth by the mouth of the crocodile and is not spoyled(Euphues, p. 45) . In modern times this little bird, whichin any case must have had a somewhat precarious existence, has been identified by M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, as aspecies of plover, which enters the crocodile's mouth insearch of gnats. By the prick on its head, mentioned byLeo, the slender crest peculiar to this species of bird isprobably meant.The crocodile, secured by his armour against violence,was not proof against cunning, and Du Bartas, in his poemon the Creation, describes the joint attack of the ichneumon and this same little bird upon the unwieldyreptile:-"Thou mak'st th' ichneumon whom the Memphs adoreTo rid of poysons Nile's manured shore;Although indeed he doth not conquer themSo much by strength as subtle stratagem.

• * *

So Pharoahs rat, yer he begin the fray'Gainst the blinde aspick, with a cleaving clayUpon his coat he wraps an earthen cake,Which, afterward, the sun's hot beams doe bake:Arm'd with this plaister, th' aspick he approcheth,And in his throat his crooketh tooth he brocheth;While th' other boot- less strives to pierce and prickThrough the hard temper of his armour thick:Dread ofSaffron.Yet, knowing himself too-weak, for all his wile,Alone to match the scaly crocodile;Hee, with the wren, his ruine doth conspire.The wren, who seeing, prest with sleeps desireNile's poys'ny pirate press the slimy shore,Suddenly comes, and hopping him before,Into his mouth he skips; his teeth he pickles,Cleanseth his palate, and his throat so tickles,That, charm'd with pleasure, the dull serpent gapesWider and wider with his ugly chaps:Then, like a shaft, th' ichneumon instantlyInto the tyrants greedy gorge doth flie,And feeds upon that glutton, for whose riotAll Nile's fat margents scarce could furnish diet."(Divine Weekes, p. 51. )309Lyly gives the crocodile credit for an elasticity which,to judge by some of the old pictures, was possessed by St.George's Dragon, but assuredly by no other animal:—"The crocodile, who, when one approcheth neere unto him, gathereth up himselfe into the roundnesse of a ball, but running from him,stretcheth him-self into the length of a tree." (Euphues, p. 364.)Thomas Fuller adds poison to the crocodile's otherweapons of destruction:-" The sovereign power of genuine saffron is plainly proved by theantipathy of the crocodile thereunto: for the crocodile's tears are nevertrue, save when he is forced where saffron groweth (whence he hath hisname ofxpoxó-deλos, or the saffron-fearer, knowing himself to be allpoison, and it all antidote. " ( Worthies of England, vol. i. p. 336.)Tom Coryat also notices the dread which the crocodilewas supposed to have of saffron:-" For which cause those amongst the ancient Egyptians that had thecharge to looke to their bees in their gardens, were wont to smear theirbee hives with saffron, which as soone as the crocodile perceived, hewould presently run away." (Crudities, p. 182.)Unless crocodiles were armed with scales internally aswell as externally, a hive full of bees must have been evenmore trying a meal than cold iron.310 The Animal-Lore ofShakspeare's Time.We read, in the early travels, that the Moors anticipated the recent fashion of having purses made of crocodile skin, and no doubt they turned the scaly coat ofthe destructive reptile to good account in many ways.In a pageant on the occasion of Lord Mayor Garway'sprocession, about 1600, a crocodile made what was probably its first appearance in public, and formed a part ofthe show, heralded by a black man, who represented theriver Nile. We have no record as to whether thisparticular crocodile was alive or stuffed.Lizard."The Lizard is a kind of loving creature, 'Especially to man he is a friend:This property is given him by nature,From dangerous beasts poore man he doth defend:For being sleepy he all sence forsaketh,The lizard bites him till the man awaketh."(CHESTER, Love's Martyr, p. 114. )This friendly relation between the lizard and man hasbeen noticed by Reginald Scot. *In Henry VI. we find two references to the venomousproperties of the poor little lizard, but as the play isdoubtful they cannot be quoted as proving Shakspeare'signorance on this point. The lizard is, however, inother places classed with noxious creatures. Thersitesexclaims:-"To be a dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard , an owl, aputtock, or a herring without a roe, I would not care; but to be Menelaus! I would conspire against destiny." (Troilus and Cressida, v. 1 , 67.)Chameleon.It is somewhat curious that an animal of such retiringhabits, and living in regions so remote, asthe Chameleon, should have had so muchattention bestowed upon it. Accounts of the chameleonare in the main fabulous, and derived in great measurefrom Pliny. Du Bartas (p. 50) declares that-

• See page 251.

The Chameleon."Th' eye of Heav'n beholdeth nought more strangeThen the chameleon, who with various changeReceives the colour that each object gives,And food-less else of th' aire alonely lives."311Drayton has a similar passage, and Shakspeare refersseveral times to this creature's atmospheric diet. Hamletreplies to inquiries as to his health, " Excellent well, i'faith; of the cameleon's dish: I eat the air, promisecrammed: you cannot feed capons so " (Hamlet, iii. 2, 98) .The power of changing colour which this animalpossessed was well known:-"I can add colours to the cameleon."(3 Henry VI., iii. 2, 191.)"A true cameleon, I can colour for it."(BEN JONSON, The Staple of News, iii. 1. )But the cause of the alteration was not clearly understood. The change of hue is explained by modernnaturalists as due to the contraction and dilatation ofclastic colour- bags in the animal's skin. Sir Francis Baconsays that"the chameleon feedeth not only upon air, though that be his principalsubstance, for sometimes he taketh flies as was said, yet some that havekept chameleons whole years together, could never perceive that they fed upon anything else but air.”He gives a fairly accurate description of the creatureitself. George Sandys, in his Relations of Africa, 1610,does not confirm the stories of this extreme abstemiousness, though he alludes to them. This traveller describesthe chameleon as-“a creature about the bignesse of an ordinary lizard; his head unproportionably bigge, his eyes great and moving without the writhing ofhis necke, which is inflexible; his backe crooked, his skinne spottedwith little tumors, his tayle slender and long, on each foot he hath fivefingers, three on the outside, and two on the inside, slow of pace, butswiftly expanding his tongue of a manner marvellous for the proportion312 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.of his body, wherewith he preyes upon flyes, the top thereof beinghollowed by nature for that purpose, so that deceived they be whothinke that they eate nothing but live upon aire; though surely aire istheir principal sustenance." (Purchas, vol. ii . p. 904.)Another traveller writes: -" There [ Malay Archipelago] are store of lizards, and chamelions,which agree to Plinies description; onely it is airie, that they live ofaire without other meat; for having kept one aboord but a day, we might perceive him to hunt for flies, in a very strange manner. Having espied her setting , he suddenly shootes a thing forth of his mouth ,perhaps his tongue, lothsome to behold, the fashion almost like a birdbolt, wherewith he takes and eates them, with such speed, that a mancan scarsly discern what he doth; even in the twinkling of an eie."(Purchas, vol. i. p. 417.)A still earlier description of the chameleon is givenby Sir John Mandeville, 1356, in an account of a visit tosome islands off the coast of China."Ther ben also in that contree manye camles, that is a lytille bestas a goot, that is wylde, and he lyvethe by the eyr, and etethe noughtne drynkethe nought at no tyme. And he chaungethe his colour oftentyme for men seen him often scithes, now in a colour and now inanother colour: and he may chaunge him in to alle maner of colouresthat him list, saf only in to red and white." (Travels, p. 289, ed . Halliwell, 1839.)The 66 gray-headed error," to use Sir ThomasBrowne's expression, of the venomous qualities Blind-worm. possessed by the harmless little Blind-worm,or Slow-worm, still lingers in country districts, and hascaused the death of many an innocent victim . In hisaccount of English reptiles, Harrison tells us: -"We have also the sloworme, which is blacke and graiesh of colour,and somewhat shorter than an adder. I was at the killing once of oneof them, and thereby perceived that she was not so called of anie wantof nimble motion, but rather of the contrarie. Neverthelesse we havea blind worme to be found under logs in woods, and timber that hathlien long in a place, which some also doo call (and upon better ground)The Blind-worm's Sting. 313by the name of slow-worms, and they are known by their more orlesse varietie of striped colours, drawen long waies from their heads,their whole bodies little exceeding a foot in length, and yet is their venem deadlie."Timon appeals to the earth to yield him out of hervast storehouse simple sustenance. He adjures the common mother-"Whose self- same mettle,Engenders the black toad and adder blue,The gilded newt and eyeless venom'd worm,With all the abhorred births below crisp heavenWhereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine;Yield him, who all thy human sons doth hate,From thy plenteous bosom, one poor root! "(Timon of Athens, i. 2, 179.)Among night's black agents employed by the witches arethe-" Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting."(Macbeth, iv. 1, 16.)Captain Dampier, one of the early travellers, bestowsthe classical name of Amphisbena on what Amphisbena.was probably the worm- like reptile found inSouth America. He writes of Brazil:--" They have here also the amphisbana, or two-headed snake, of a greycolour, with black streaks, its bite is reckoned incurable: the best is,that it seldom wounds. Having two specks in the head, instead ofeyes, some say it is altogether blind, and lives underground like a mole.Its length is about fourteen inches, with an head at each end; whencethe Portuguese call it cobra de dos cabusees, i.e. the snake with twoheads; but I never saw one of these." (Ilarris's Voyages, p. 116.)Lyly mentions "the serpent amphisbena, which, having at each ende a sting, hurteth both ways " (Euphuesp. 286). Sir Thomas Browne, in his Inquiry into VulgarErrors, doubts the possibility of such a creature. Modernscience has retained the name amphisbæna for a speciesof footless lizard.314 The Animal-Lore ofShakspeare's Time.In the oak woods of Warwickshire Shakspeare mayAdder. often have found that-"It is the bright day that brings forth the Adder;And that craves wary walking."(Julius Caesar, ii. 1, 14.)Shakspeare uses both the names adder and viper, butapplies the latter word chiefly in a metaphorical, and the former in a literal sense.The popular notion of the adder's deafness was derived from a passage in the Bible; and in a sermon byDr. Montague, 1602, the worthy preacher ingeniouslyimproves on his original, and describes the process bywhich the reptile contrived to escape:-"The Scripture telleth us that of all beasts the serpent is the mostsubtill, and his subtility is observed in three points: first, when thosenations in Syria and other hott countries found themselves often endangered by the stinging of venomous beasts, amongst other remediesthey invented charming, which the serpent percevinge, to avoyd theircunning and effect his malice, he would stop both his eares, the one bylaying it close to the earth, the other by stopping it with his tayle.”(Diary ofJohn Manningham, 1602, p. 26, Camden Soc. Rep. )In this extract the adder is supposed to possess thesense of hearing, but from natural depravity to refuse tolisten to the voice of the charmer. The more generallyreceived opinion was that the adder was in reality deaf.The absence of external ears probably led to this idea.The question whether or not the old adder swallowsher young, to protect them from danger, is hardly decidedeven at the present time. At the period of which wewrite, this maternal device was generally believed to beresorted to when occasion required. Ben Jonson says:-66"Or, till we speak, must all run in, to one,Like the young adders to the old one's mouth."(The Devil is an Ass, prologue. )Our forefathers had rather hazy notions as to the exactThe Adder's Fork. 315position of this little reptile's weapon of defence.Richard II. conjures his native earth to defend his kingdom from the usurper's tread: -"And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower,Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adderWhose double tongue may with a mortal touchThrow death upon thy sovereign's enemies."Webster writes:-66(Richard II., iii. 1, 29.)Repentance then will follow like the stingPlaced in the adder's tail."(Vittoria Corombona, act 2.)Another dramatist, John Kirke, says:-"So thinks the adder when his sting is gone,His hissing has the power to venom too."(The Seven Champions of Christendom, iii. 1.)Andrew Boorde, in his Dyetary, 1542, probably refersto some larger species of snake than the adder, if indeedany meaning at all can be attached to the followingpassage. Jews, he says-"lovyth not porke nor swynes flesshe, but doth vituperat and abhorreit; yet for all this they wyll eate adders, which is a kynd of serpentes,as well as any other Crysten man dwellyng in Rome, and other hyghecountries; for adders flesshe there is called ' fysshe of the mountayn.'This notwithstandynge, physycke doth approbat adders flesshe good tobe eaten, sayinge it doth make an olde man yonge, as it apperyth, by aharte eatyng an adder, maketh hym yonge agayne." (Early English Text Society, 1870.)"The Aspis is a kind of deadly snake.He hurts most perillous with venom'd stingAnd in pursute doth neare his foe forsake,But slaies a man with poysonous venoming:Betweene the male and female is such love,As is betwixt the most kind turtle dove.Asp.316 The Animal-Lore ofShakspeare's Time."This is the snake that Cleopatra used,The Egyptian queene belov'd of Anthony,That with her breasts deare bloud was nourished,Making her die (faire soule) most patiently,Rather than Cæsar's great victorious hand,Should triumph ore the queene of such a land.”(CHESTER, Love's Martyr, p. 114. )"The pretty worm of Nilus," the supposed cause ofCleopatra's death, is thought by modern writers to havebeen the horned snake ( Vipera cerastes). This serpent,according to Dr. Wright, was well known to the ancients,and is found abundantly in Egypt.Shakspeare is not inclined to trust the harmlessnessSnake.of the common English Snake. Perhaps insome passages he may have the credit of referring to a foreign species. Macbeth exclaims:-"We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it:-She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor maliceRemains in danger of her former tooth. "(Macbeth, iii. 2, 13.)The expression often used, " a tame snake," meant amean- spirited creature, from whom no danger was to beapprehended.A circ*mstantial account of a serpent nine feet long,found in a wood called St. Leonard's Forest, near Horsham, in Sussex, written by John Trundle, 1614, isrecorded in that repertory of curiosities, the HarleianMiscellany (vol. iii. p. 109). Unfortunately the writer'scaution did not allow him to approach near enough toascertain the exact size of the creature, or to describe itsanatomy with scientific accuracy."This serpent," he writes, " or dragon, as some call it, is reputed tobe nine feete, or rather more, in length, and shaped almost in the formeof an axletree of a cart; a quantitie of thickness in the middest, andsomewhat smaller at both endes. The former part, which he shootsforth as a necke, is supposed to be an elle long; with a white ring, asA Dangerous Serpent.317it were, of scales about it. The scales along his backe seem to beblackish, and so much as is discovered under his bellie, appeareth to be red; for I speak of no nearer description than of a reasonable oculardistance, for coming too neare it, hath already beene too dearely payd for, as you shall heare hereafter. It is likewise discovered to havelarge feete, but the eye may be there deceived; for some suppose that serpents have no feete, but glide upon certain ribbes and scales. . .He is of countenance very proud, and at the sight or hearing of men orcattel will raise his necke upright, and seem to listen and looke about, with great arrogancy. There are likewise on either side of him discovered two great bunches so big as a large footeball, and as some thinke will in time grow to wings; but God, I hope, will so defend thepoor people in the neighbourhood that he shall be destroyed before hegrow so fledge."He will cast his venome about four rodde from him, as by woefullexperience it was proved on the bodies of a man and a woman comingthat way, who afterwards were found dead, being poysoned and verymuch swelled, but not prayed upon. Likewise a man going to chaseit, and as he imagined, to destroy it with two mastive dogs, as yet notknowing the great danger of it, his dogs were both killed, and he himselfe glad to returne with hast to preserve his own life. Yet this is tobe noted, that the dogs were not prayed upon, but slaine and leftwhole: for his food is thought to be, for the most part, in a coniewarren, which he much frequents; and it is found much scanted andimpaired in the encrease it had woont to afford. Three persons, whosenames are hereunder printed, have seene this serpent, beside diversothers, as the carrier of Horsam, who lieth at the White Horse inSouthwarke, and who can certifie the truth of all that has been here related."JOHN STEELE,"CHRISTOPHER HOLDER;"And a widow woman dwelling nere Faygate."The names snake, serpent, adder, and worm wereused indiscriminately, and little attempt was made toidentify the various species. Batman includes as worms,adders, serpents, all creeping beasts that pass from placeto place by stretching of the body and drawing togetheragain. He uses the word adder as the generic name forall kinds of serpents. Quoting Pliny, he states that inIndia " be so great adders that they swallow up both318 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.harts and bulls all whole " (Batman1582) .( upon Bartholome,Don John Bermudez, ambassador from PresbyterJohn, sovereign of the northern parts of India, to JohnIII. of Portugal, in the year 1565, describes severalsnakes under their native names. One of these seems tocorrespond to the cobra di capello, a species found inabundance in India and the neighbouring countries."There be other," he writes, " which they call, Of the shadow, orCanopie, because it hath a skinne on the head, wherewith it covereth avery precious stone, which they say it hath in her head. " (Purchas,vol. ii . p. 1169.)Among the adventures of Antoine Knivet, whoaccompanied Thomas Candish in his second voyage tothe South Seas, in 1591, an encounter with a sorocucu, aspecies of snake, is related:-"The serpent that I killed was thirteene span long, it had foureand twentie teeth, ' as sharpe as any naile, about the necke it hasgreater shels then the other parts of her body; the shels were blackeand russet like a coller, and on her body they were russet and darkegreene; under her belly all speckled with black and white. It hadfoure sharpe feet, no longer than a mans finger, it had a tongue like aharping iron, her taile was like a straight bull horne, all black andwhite, listed. (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1230.)Champlain, in his account of a voyage to the WestIndies and Mexico in the years 1599-1602, mentions therattlesnake. He, however, confuses this species with thehorned snake, and makes an obvious mistake as to thevenomous property of the creature's tail. He writes:-"Throughout New Spain, there is a kind of snake, which is ofthelength of a pike, and as thick as the arm; the head as large as a hen's egg, on which they have two plumes; at the end of the tail they havea rattle, which makes a noise as they glide along. They are verydangerous with their teeth, and with their tail; nevertheless theIndians eat them, after having taken away the two extremities."(Page 3, ed. Hakluyt Soc. , 1859.)The Salamander. 319Modern works on natural history tell us that therattlesnake is only found in America. We find it mentioned as occurring in Congo, in Africa, by one of Purchas's pilgrims, Lopes, a Portuguese: —"Other serpents there are that are venemous, that carrie upon thetippe of their tayle, a certaine little roundell like a bell, which ringethas they goe, so as it may be heard." (Purchas, vol. ii . p. 1003.)A description of the Boa Constrictor occurs in thenatural history notes of the Portuguese resident in Brazil, so frequently quoted in thisvolume:-Boa."The giboya is a snake of the greatest that are in this countrie,and there are some found of twentie foot in length. They are very faire,but more wonderfull they are in swallowing a whole deere; they haveno poison, neither are their teeth great according to the bodie. To taketheir prey whereon they feed, they use this sleight. It layeth it selfealong by the highwayes, and when the prey passeth it leapeth upon it,and windes it selfe in such order, and crusheth it so that it breakethall his bones, and afterward licketh it, and his licking hath such vertuesthat it bruiseth or suppleth it all , and then it swallowes it up whole. "(Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1303.)The Salamander was supposed, by reason of theintense cold of its body, to be able to existin the hottest flames, and even to put out thefire. Sir Thomas Herbert writes, in 1626: --Salamander."Salamanders here [ Madagascar] be also, a sort of lizard extremecold by nature, whence ( like ice) for some time they endure the fire ,yea (if little) extinguish it as Aristotle affirms; yet by tryal we findthat they will quickly be burnt if the fire be powerful. . . . Commonlythey obscure themselves in moist and umbragious places, so as whenthey appear they are sure presages of a storm approaching; their teethand tongues are venemous, but the other parts may be eaten withoutdanger." (Travels, p. 23.)A modern author, Mr. Frank Buckland, considers itpossible that the power possessed by these reptiles of320 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.exuding a fluid has given rise to the fable of their incombustibility.Falstaff, after many uncomplimentary remarks onBardolph's personal appearance, exclaims, " I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any timethis two and thirty years; God reward me for it! "(1 Henry IV. , iii . 3, 52) .A lizard in the midst of flames was adopted byFrancis I. as his badge, with the legend, Nutrisco etextinguo, " I nourish and extinguish."Newt."You spotted snakes with double tongue,Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong;Come not near our fairy queen. "(Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 2 , 9. )"All things that breede in the mudde are not evets,"writes Lyly, either quoting or originating aproverb; but it was quite sufficient that theharmless Newt or Eft was found in damp, cold placesthat it should have gained the reputation of beingspiteful and poisonous. Timon of Athens classes "thegilded newt " with " all the abhorred births below crispheaven " (iv. 2, 182) . " The wall-newt and the waterformed part of Poor Tom's unsavoury diet.Frog.Frogs as well as toads were banished from Ireland ,though upon what pretext it is hard to say.Giraldus Cambrensis reports that a solitaryfrog was found in his time in a meadow, near Waterford,and brought as a curiosity to court. It was pronouncedby the best authorities to be an omen of an invasion ofthe English. As it was quite impossible that this frogcould have been born and bred on Irish soil, the learnedwriter accounts for its appearance by the suggestion thatit must have been wafted across the channel on a cloud; ora ship might have brought it over from some neighbouringFrogs imported into Ireland. 321port. Dr. Perceval Wright, in his recent work, AnimalLife (p. 410), tells us that the introduction of frogs intoIreland is due to Dr. Gwythers, physician, and a Fellowof Trinity College, Dublin, who imported a supply of thesecreatures from England, in the year 1700, and turnedthem out into the ditches of the college park. Theirsurroundings were apparently uncongenial, and in a shorttime they all perished . Not discouraged by his failure,the doctor sent for a fresh supply, not of frogs, but offrog-spawn, which he threw into the same ditches. Thesecond experiment was more successful, and in the courseof some years the frog family had increased sufficientlyto spread itself over the whole island.Both frogs and toads were supposed to have thisnatural property, that when they sit erect they hold theirheads steady and without motion. This stately actionSpenser, in his Shepherd's Calendar, calls the " lording "of frogs.Topsell quotes from Albertus Magnus the statementthat the mouth of the frog closes about the end of Augustand remains shut throughout the winter. This remarkable assertion is repeated and confirmed by Izaak Walton.The frog as an article of diet seems never to havefound favour in England, but it was early appreciated byour continental neighbours. Andrew Boorde tells us that-"in Flaunders, and Braban, and other provinces anexed to the samethe people wil eate the hynder loynes of frogges, and wyll eatetodstooles." (Introduction of Knowledge, 1542, ed. Early English TextSociety, 1870.)Edgar, in his assumed madness, replies to Gloucester'squery as to his name, " Poor Tom, that eats the swimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt andthe water " (King Lear, iii. 4, 134). The connexionbetween frogs and tadpoles was noticed, though probablynot rightly understood. Du Bartas refers to the commonY322 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.notion that frogs came down in showers of rain. Hewrites:-"Earths green bed"With stinking frogs is sometimes covered:Eyther because the floating cloud doth foldWithin it self both moist, dry, hot, and cold,Whence all things heer are made: or else for thatThe active windes, sweeping this dusty flat,Sometimes in th' aire som fruitfull dust doo heap:Whence these new-formed ugly creatures leap:As on the edges of some standing lakeWhich neighbour mountains with their gutters make,The foamy slime, it selfe transformeth oftTo green half-tadpoles, playing there aloft,Half-made, half-unmade; round about the floodHalf-dead, half-living; half a frog, half- mud."And again:--(Page 13. )"Why! Think ye (fond) those people fell from heav'nAll-ready-made; as in a summer ev'nAfter a sweltring day, som sultry showrDoth in the marshes heaps of tadpals pour,Which in the ditches (chapt with parching weather)Lie crusht and croaking in the mud together? ”(Page 130.)Topsell gives a somewhat confused account of thetransformations of the young frog, but leans also to thetheory that some kinds of frog are bred from slime. Herefers to the plague of frogs in Egypt in support of thepopular belief in frog showers."Sweet are the uses of adversity;Which, like the Toad, ugly and venomous,Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."(As You Like It, ii . 1 , 12.)"The foule Toad has a faire stone in his heade,"Toad.writes Lyly (Euphues, p. 53); and again, “ Thefayrer the stone is in the toades head theSinging Toads. 323more pestilent the poyson is in hir bowelles " (p. 326) .Many quotations might be given from early writers settingforth the medicinal qualities of the toad-stone. Whenset in a ring, it was a sure preservative of the weareragainst poison. Fenton, writing in 1569, says, " There isto be found in the heads of old and great toads a stonethey call borax or stelon, which being used as rings givesforwarning against venom." In these " good old times "the study of chemistry seems to have been chiefly pursuedwith the object of gaining possession of the deadliestweapon in nature's armory. That this knowledge waspractical as well as theoretical, we gather from the precautions against poison that were universally adopted, andfrom the anxiety that was felt to secure some unfailingantidote.The toad so common in English gardens is not foundin Ireland, but a species of toad, called the Natter Jack,is met with in that country. Gonzalo Ferdinando deOviedo, in his history of the West Indies, mentions somespecies of South American toads possessed of considerablevocal powers. These toads, he says-" sing after three or foure sort, for some of them sing pleasantly,other like ours of Spaine, some also whistle, and other some makeanother manner of noise: they are likewise of divers colours, as somegreene, some russet or gray, and some almost blacke, but of all sortsthey are great and filthie, and noious by reason of their great multitude,yet are they not venemous, as I have said. " (Purchas, vol . ii. p. 976.)In his quaint treatise on gardening, published 1593,Thomas Hyll recommends, on the authority of the Greekwriter Apuleius, that when the earth is dug preparatoryto seed sowing, a speckled toad should be first drawnround the garden, then put into an earthen pot, buried inthe centre of the bed and left there until sowing time.The toad is then to be dug up and cast a great way off,lest the plants growing in the neighbourhood shouldacquire a bitter taste; after this precaution no creeping324 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.thing will presume to disquiet or grieve the owner ( ArtofGardening, 1593, p. 22) .Lyly explains the origin of the toadstool, a fungus thatsprings up in what are called fairy rings:-"I am of this minde with Homer, that as the snayle that crept outof hir shell was turned eftsoones into a toad, and therby was forced tomake a stoole to sit on, disdaining her own house: so the travaillerthat stragleth from his own countrey, is in short tyme transformedinto so monstrous a shape, that hee is faine to alter his mansion withhis manners, and to live where he canne, not where he would. ”(Euphues, p. 240.)Fish as an Article of Food.325CHAPTER XIV.Fish.THE largeCatholic population, and the great strictness withwhich fast-days were observed in medievalEngland, rendered a constant supply of fishmost important. Even after the Reformation, abstinencewas still enjoined on all Fridays and Saturdays, aswell as on other days denominated fish-days. QueenElizabeth, it is said, who continued to enforce this changeofdiet, expressly stated that her object in thus adoptinga Catholic custom was to encourage " fishermen, thechiefest nurse for mariners," and to diminish the consumption of mutton. This was a measure of protection,not of religious observance, but at the same time it waspolitic on the queen's part to maintain a ceremonialabstinence which was harmless and had certain advantages.In the fifth year of her Majesty's reign it was ordainedthat a penalty of £3 should be inflicted on any one eatingflesh on fish-days, or the alternative of three months'imprisonment. This punishment was considered excessive,and on the 10th of March, 1594, an order of Privy Councilreduced the penalty to £ 1 . This order is given in fullin Mr. Arber's English Garner, 1877 (vol . i . p. 299). Inthis document it is estimated that the number of oxenkilled weekly in the city of London amounted to 67,000;the fish-days in the year, including Lent, amounted to153.326 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Thomas Fuller not only urges the necessity of continuing fast-days for the maintenance of fishermen, buthe points out the appropriateness of the days originallyselected:-"Our English fishermen , in Kent, Sussex, Hantshire, &c. set forthon Monday and catch their fish, which on Tuesday they send up toLondon, where on Wednesday it is sold and eaten. Such therefore,who have lately propounded to antidate fish-eating, and to remove itfrom Wednesday to Tuesday, must thereby occasion the encroachingthe Lord's day to furnish the markets with that commodity. "(Worthies of England, vol. i. p. 24.)Harrison, in his description of England, gives a tolerably complete list of the fresh and salt water fish used asarticles of commerce in his time:-"Besides the salmon therefore, we have the trout , barbell, graile ,powt, chevin, pike, goodgeon, smelt, perch, menan, shrimpes, creveses,lampreies, and such like, whose preservation is provided for by veriesharpe lawes, not onelie in our rivers, but also in plashes or lakes, andponds, which otherwise would bring small profit to the owners. InDecember and Januarie we commonlie abound in herring and red fish ,as rochet and gurnard. In Februarie and March we feed on plaice,trowts, turbut, muskles, &c. In Aprill and Maie, with makrell, andco*ckles. In June and Julie, with conger. In August and September,with haddocké and herring: and the two moneths insuing with thesame, as also thornbacke and reigh of all sorts; all which are the mostusuall, and wherewith our common sort are best of all refreshed. Offishes therefore as I find five sorts, the flat, the round, the long, thelegged, and shelled: so the flat are divided into the smooth, scaled, andtailed. Of the first are the plaice, the but, the turbut, birt, floke orsea flounder, dorreie, dab, &c. Of the second the soles, &c. Of thethird are chaits, maidens, kingsons, flath and thornebacke, whereof thegreater be for the most part either dried and carried into other countries, or sodden, sowsed, and eaten here at home, whilest the lesser befried or buttered. Under the round kinds are commonlie comprehended lumps, an ugly fish to sight, and yet verie delicat in eating, ifit be kindlie dressed: the whiting, an old waiter or servitor in theCourt, the rochet, sea breame, pirle, hake, sea trowt, gurnard, haddocke, cod, herring, pilchard, sprat, and such like. And these are theywhereof I have best knowledge, and be commonlie to be had in theirtimes upon our coasts. Under this kind also are all the great fish con-Species of Fish. 327teined as the scale, the dolphin, the porpoise, the thirlepoole, whale,and whatsoever is round of bodie be it never so great and huge. Ofthe long sort are congers, eeles, garefish, and such other of that forme.Finallie, of the legged kind we have not manie, neither have I seeneanie more of this sort than the polypus called in English the lobstar,crayfish, or crevis, and the crab. ... We have in like sort no smallstore of great whelkes, scalops and perewinkles, and each of them arebrought farre into the land from the sea coast in their several seasons."(Holinshed, vol. i . p. 377.)The word polypus is here used according to its literalsignificance of " many feet."Du Bartas (p. 40) quaintly notices the differencein structure of various species of what he chooses to call fish:-"Some have their heads groveling betwixt their feet,As th' inky cuttles, and the many-feet:Some in their breast (as crabs) , some head- less are,Foot-less, and finnless (as the banefull hare,And heatfull oyster) , in a heap confus'd,Their parts unparted, in themselves diffus'd. "Richard Carew gives the following short list of fishtaken in the havens of Cornwall:-They may be divided into three kinds, shell, flat, and round fish.Of shell fish, there are winkles, limpets, co*ckles, muscles, shrimps,crabs, lobsters, and oysters.“ Of flat fish, rays, thornbacks, soles, flowks, dabs, plaice."Of round fish, brit, sprat, barn, smelts, whiting, scad, chad ,sharks, cuddles, eels, conger, basse, millet, whirlpool, and porpoise."Of eels there are two sorts: the one valsen, of best taste, comingfrom the fresh rivers, when the great rain floods after September dobreak their beds, and carry them into the sea: the other, bred in thesalt water, and called a conger eel, which afterwards, as his bigness increaseth, ventureth out into the main ocean, and is enfranchised aburgess of that vast commonwealth."Ofthe different species found on the coast he writes:-"The coast is plentifully stored, both with those fore-remembered,enlarged to a bigger size, and divers other, as, namely, of shell- fish,sea- hedgehogs, scallops and sheath-fish or flat, brets, turbots, dories,328 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.holybut round, pilcherd, herring, pollock, mackrell, gurnard, illek,tub, bream, old-wife, hake, dog-fish, lounp, cunner, rockling, cod,wrothe, becket, haddock, gilt-head, rough-hound, squar-scad, seal,tunny, and many other."The sheath, or razor-fish, resembleth in length and bigness a man'sfinger, and in taste the lobster, but reputed of greater restorative.The sea-hedgehog, of like or more goodness, is enclosed in a roundshell, fashioned as a loaf of bread, handsomely wrought and pincked,and guarded by an outer skin full of prickles, as the land urchin."(Survey of Cornwall, 1602, p. 97, ed . Tonkin, 1811.)We may form some idea of the variety of fish considered appropriate for the table from the contributionswhich were sent as presents to the Judges on the Westernand Oxford Circuits during the years 1596-1601 ."Of the sturgeon, pieces were sent at Taunton, Dorchester, andExeter. The salmon was usual in February and in July in all thewestern counties. Salmon peale were also general in the west and atGloucester. The shewings, or sea-trout, appear at Hereford. Thedolphin appears once at Dorchester in February; a piece of porpoise,to be roasted or cooked like the sturgeon, once at Launceston; and thedory at Oakhampton and Taunton. The conger was eaten at Taunton,Oakhampton, and Exeter. The cod was used fresh, and also saltedand dried, and a cod's head is not unfrequent; whilst the milwell, afish allied to the cod, appears in Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall; turbot were not very frequent, but are mentioned at Taunton,Dorchester, and Exeter. Braymes were used at Exeter and Gloucester; basse, or sea-perch, at Exeter, Salisbury, and Dorchester, andalso at Reading; mulletts were not unfrequent; and soles, plaice,haddock, herrings, whiting, the thornback or scate, and sprats were common. The other dried fish were the buckthorn, or whiting, splitand dried; the haberdine, or salt cod; ling of various sorts, viz. theLondon, Devonshire, Organ, and green salt ling; herrings; and thedried and salted hake, once called in the account a drie fish calledPoor John, ' and most contemptuously treated by Shakspeare. Theshell-fish included oysters of two sorts, one called at Salisbury andChard the long oyster; ' lobsters, crabs, shrimps, co*ckles, musselswhelks, the razor-fish once, and craw-fish plentiful. The fresh-waterfish were the Thames trout, at Reading, and trout frequently elsewhere; the pike, carp, tench, perch, roach, flounders, barbel, lampreysin February, eels generally, and Holland eels, at Winchester, and flounders at Exeter."Dennys on Fish. 329This extract is taken from an account of the expenses ofthe Judges of Assize riding the Western and Oxford Circuits, in the time of Elizabeth, contributed to the CamdenMiscellany (vol. iv. , 1857) .A long poem on the secrets of angling, written byJohn Dennys, and published before the year 1613, haslately been reprinted by Mr. Arber, in his English Garner,1877 (vol. i . p. 143) . This author professes to teach"the choicest tools, baits, and seasons for the taking ofany fish, in pond or river: practised and familiarly openedin three books." The whole poem will well repay perusal ,but three verses must serve here for a sample:-"The crocodile that weeps when he doth wrong,The halibut that hurts the appetite,The turbot broad, the seal, the sturgeon strong,The cod and cozze that greedy are to bite,The hake, the haddock, and conger long,The yellow ling, the milwell fair and white,The spreading ray, the thornback thin and flat ,The boisterous base, the hoggish tunny fat."These kinds of fish that are so large of size,And many more that here I leave untold,Shall go for me, and all the rest likewiseThat are the flock of Proteus' wat'ry fold;For well I think my hooks would not suffice ,Nor slender lines, the least of these to hold.I leave them therefore to the surging seas:In that huge depth, to wander at their ease."And speak of such as in the fresh are found,The little roach, the menise biting fast,The slimy tench, the slender smelt and round,The umber sweet, the grayling good of taste,The wholesome ruff, the barbel not so sound,The perch and pike that all the rest do waste,The bream, the carp, the chub and chavender,And many more that in fresh waters are."Burton, in his Anatomie of Melancholy ( vol. i . p. 528),330 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.weighs the advantages of the sport of fishing with otheramusem*nts, but he is too cautious to pronounce anydecided opinion on the matter...." Fishing," he writes, " is a kinde of hunting by water, be it withnets, weeles, baits, angling or otherwise, and yeelds all out as muchpleasure to some men, as dogs, or hawks. . . . James Dubravius, thatMoravian, in his book De Pisc. telleth, how travelling by the highwayside in Silesia, he found a nobleman booted up to the groines, wadinghimself, pulling the nets, and labouring as much as any fisherman ofthem all and when some belike objected to him the baseness of hisoffice, he excused himself, ' that if other men might hunt hares, whyshould not he hunt carpes?' Many gentlemen in like sort , with us, willwade up to the arm-holes, upon such occasions, and voluntarily undertake that to satisfie their pleasure, which a poor man for a good stipend would scarce be hired to undergo. But he that shall consider thevariety of baits, for all seasons, and pretty devices which our anglershave invented, peculiar lines, false flies , severall sleights, etc. , will say,that it deserves like commendation, requires as much study and perspicacity as the rest, and is to be preferred before many of them: becausehawking and hunting are very laborious, much riding, and manydangers accompany them: but this is still and quiet and if so be theangler catch no fish, yet he hath a wholesome walk to the brook side,pleasant shade, by the sweet silver streams; he hath good aire andsweet smels of fine fresh meadow flowers; he hears the melodious harmony of birds; he sees the swans, herns, ducks, water-hens, cootes andmany other fowle, with their brood, which he thinketh better than thenoise of hounds, or blast of hornes, and all the sport that they can make."With regard to the wholesomeness of fish as an articleof diet, Burton writes:-"Gomesius doth immoderately extol sca-fish, which others as muchvilifie, and, above the rest, dryed, sowced, indurate fish, as ling, fumados, red-herrings, sprats, stock-fish , aberdine, poor-john, all shell- fish.Tim. Bright excepts lobster and crab. Messarius commends salmon,which Bruerinus contradicts. Magninus rejects congre, sturgeon, turbot,mackerel, skate." (Vol. i. p. 218.)Although the number of fish known at this time nearlyequals that of birds and quadrupeds, the habits of thefinny tribes were so little studied that they are rarelyLove of Monstrosities.331mentioned by poets. The list of fish mentioned inShakspeare's plays is a short one; the references to freshwater fish are scanty, and those to salt-water inhabitantsare more suggestive of a fishmonger's counter than of theirnatural element. Even Mr. Russel, in his enthusiasticdefence of the " gentle craft," while he claims to findangling fondly mentioned by almost every English poet,has to admit that Shakspeare had apparently littleacquaintance with the sport. The oft- quoted speech ofUrsula tells us that-"The pleasantest angling is to see the fishCut with her golden oars the silver stream,And greedily devour the treacherous bait.(Much Ado, iii. 1, 26.)This is, Mr. Russel, in his recent work, The Salmon(p. 26), declares, so far from being " pleasant, not possible,angling, for if you see the fish, the fish sees you, and that'san end of it; " but some allowance may be made for thefact that this was written in an age when British fish werein a comparatively primitive state of mind.Shakspeare refers more than once to the avidity withwhich English people crowd to see any rarity. Trinculoexclaims, at the sight of Caliban:-"A strange fish! were I in England now, as once I was, and hadbut this fish painted , not a holiday fool there but would give a pieceof silver: there would this monster make a man; any strange beastthere makes a man." (Tempest, ii . 2, 28.)This passion for novelty was abundantly supplied by thecuriosity-mongers of the period. Peacham, in his Complete Gentleman, records the wondrous sights of Londonin his time, each to be seen for a penny. Amongst otherswe have-"That horne of Windsor, of an unicorne very likely,The cave of Merlin, the skirts of old Tom a Lincolne;

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Saint James his ginney hens, his cassawarway moreover,332 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The beaver i' the parke, strange beast as er'e any man saw,Downe-shearing willowes with teeth as sharpe as a hand-saw,

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Drakes ship at Detford, King Richards bed- sted i' Leyster,The Whitehall whale-bones, the silver bason i' Chester,The live caught dog-fish, the wolfe and Harry the lyon,Hunks of the beare-garden, to be feared , if he be nigh on. "In Sir Henry Herbert's Office Book, which contains aregister of all the shows of London from 1623 to 1642,occurs "a licence to Francis Sherret to show a straungefish for a yeare, from the 10th of March, 1635."In Mayne's City Match (iii. 1 ) allusion is made to thiscustom of exhibiting monsters, though the particularsubject under discussion is an imposture:—"Roseclap.SomeSay ' tis an o'ergrown porpoise; others say'Tis the fish caught in Cheshire; one to whomThe rest agree, said ' twas a mermaid.Plot. 'Slight!Roseclap shall have a patent of him. The birds,Brought from Peru, the hairy wench, the camel,The elephant, dromedaries, or Windsor Castle,The woman with dead flesh, or she that washes,Threads needles, writes, dresses her children, playsO' th' virginals with her feet, could never drawPeople like this."Stickleback.(Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. xiii . p. 248.)The tiny Stickleback, Stickle-bag, Hackle, Sharplin,Bansticle, probably owes its proud position atthe head ofthe great fish class to the fact thatit is a good representative of the spiny- finned fishes, whichaccording to modern naturalists form the first order.It was doubtless as common in early times as it is atpresent. It had probably also the same fascination forjuvenile anglers. It was found both in salt and freshwater. No doubt Izaak Walton first learned to love hiscraft by sitting by the pond side with hook fashioned fromThe Perch. 333a bent pin, and with a bottle by his side ready to receivethe tiny prey. Afterwards, become " his craft's master,"he writes:-"There is also a little fish called a sticklebag, a fish without scales,but hath his body fenced with several prickles. I know not where hedwells in winter; nor what he is good for in summer, but only to makesport for boys and women-anglers, and to feed other fish that be fish ofprey." (Part i. ch. 18. )Perch." The Pearch with prickling fins against the pike prepared,As nature had thereon bestow'd this stronger guard,His daintiness to keep (each curious palate's proof)From his vile ravenous foe: next him I name the ruffe,His very near ally and both for scale and fin,In taste, and for his bait (indeed) his next of kin. ”(DRAYTON, Polyolbion, song xxvi.)Leland speaks of Perches in great number in a Welshlake near Brecknock. The perch was considered a verywholesome fish, and was recommended for invalids. Perchin jelly seems to have been a fashionable dish. Theperch was found in all lakes and rivers, with few exceptions, throughout England. Sir Thomas Browne includesamong the fishes of Norfolk—"perca or perch, great and small; whereof such as are taken inBreydon, on this side Yarmouth, in the mixed water, make a dish verydainty; and I think, scarce to be bettered in England. "He next mentions its " next of kin," the Ruffe, or PopeRuffe."the aspredo perca minor, and probably the cernua of Cardan, commonly called a ruff; in great plenty in Norwich river,and even in the stream of the city; which thoughCamden appropriated unto this city yet they are alsofound in the rivers of Oxford and Cambridge." (Vol. iv. p. 335.)The ruffe, or pope, says Cuvier, was first noticed byDr. Caius, who sent a drawing of a specimen found byhim in the river Yare, near Norwich, to Gesner, the Swissnaturalist. The name aspredo, from asper, rough, was334 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.bestowed on this fish on account of the harshness of itsscales. The title cernua given by Cardan has been explained by some to signify the downward position ofits head. Thomas Muffett writes (Healths Improvement,p. 187):-"Ruffs or ruggels are not much unlike to perches, for the goodnessof their flesh though their skin be rougher: the best live in sandyplaces where they wax exceeding fat and sweet."Izaak Walton endorses this opinion of the fine flavour ofthis little fish.Drayton, singing the praises of the German Ocean, thusenumerates the fish taken on the east coast of England:-"What fish can any shore, or British sea-town showThat's eatable to us, that it doth not bestowAbundantly thereon? The herring king of sea,The faster feeding cod, the mackarel brought by May,The dainty sole, and plaice, the dab, as of their blood;The conger finely sous'd, hot summer's coolest food;The whiting known to all , a general wholesome dish;The gurnet, rochet, mayd, and mullet, dainty fish;The haddock, turbet, bert, fish nourishing and strong;The thornback, and the scate, provocative among;The weaver, which althoug his prickles venom be;The fishers cut away, which buyers seldom see:Yet for the fish he bears, ' tis not accounted bad;The sea-flounder is here as common as the shad;The sturgeon cut to keggs, too big to handle whole,Gives many a dainty bit, out of his lusty jole.”(Polyolbion, song XXV. )The finest Mullets were taken off the coast nearArundel in Sussex. Of the mullet Mr. Couchwrites: -Mullet."The charge of imbecility brought against this fish by Pliny, asshown by the fact that it hides its head for concealment, and then actsas if persuaded that its whole body was concealed , is , as Cuvier hasremarked, the opposite to what we know of the character of these fishes,of which the vigilance when exposed to observation is very great,The Gurnet. 335although this is accompanied with little appearance that would lead usto suspect its existence. " (British Fishes, 1877, vol. iii. p. 8.)Montaigne (Essay liv. ) bears witness to the amiablecharacter of this little fish." Mullets," he writes, " when one of their companions is engagedcross the line over their back and with a fin they have there indentedlike a saw, cut and saw it asunder."Thomas Muffett (Healths Improvement, p. 158) tellsus that-"sea-mullets differ little or nothing in shape from barbels, savingthat they are very little or nothing bearded , and those that have beards,have them onely on the nether lip."Gurnets, or Gurnards, according to Muffett (p. 152) ,"are of two sorts, swart or reddish; either of Gurnet.them are of a white, firm, dry, and wholesomesubstance." By the dark variety the piper is perhapsmeant. It was less common than the red gurnet. Whensoused, or pickled, the gurnet was held in low estimation.Falstaff exclaims, " If I be not ashamed of my soldiers ,I am a soused gurnet " ( 1 Henry IV. , i . 2, 12)." Currs, " writes Muffett, " are supposed by Dr. Cajus to be all onewith our gurnard; but it somewhat differeth, being of a very firm,whitish, dry sound and wholesome flesh."The Miller's Thumb, or Bullhead, is mentioned by William Browne in one of hispastoral poems:-Miller's Thumb." The trout, the dace, the pike , the breame,The eele, that loves the troubled streame,The millers thombe, the hiding loach,The perch, the ever nibbling roach ,The shoats with whom is Tavie fraught,The foolish gudgeon, quickly caught,And last the little minnow-fish,Whose chiefe delight in gravell is. "(Britannia's Pastorals, book i. song ii.)336 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Yarrell gives an explanation of the name: —"The hand of the miller is constantly under the meal- spout, toascertain by actual contact the character and qualities of the mealproduced. By a peculiar movement the thumb spreads the sampleover the fingers, and is, therefore, employed with tact, the gauge of thevalue of the produce. Hence the proverb, ' An honest miller hath agolden thumb,' in reference to the amount of profit that is the rewardof his skill. By incessant use in this way, the miller's thumb acquiresa form which is said to resemble exactly the shape of the head of thelittle fish so constantly found in the mill-stream. " (British Fishes,vol. i. p. 57.)Thomas Nashe, in his Lenten Stuffe, alludes to thevoracity of this small creature, which is out of allproportion to its size:-"In my exile, and irkesome discontented abandonment, the silliestmiller's thombe, or contemptible stickle- back of my enemies, is as busienibbling about my fame, as if I were a dead man throwne amongstthem to feede upon." (Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi . p. 146.)Mackerel.The Mackerel used to be included in the list ofmigratory fishes, but, according to Yarrell,this was a mistake. It only retires a shortdistance from the shore, returning to the shallow watersto spawn.Warwickshire now boasts that, although an inlandcounty, it is the best supplied with fish. But this wasnot the case in the Middle Ages, and there may be someconnexion between the condition of the fish which reachedthe market town of Stratford-on-Avon, and Shakspeare'sfrequent reference to its unsavoury state. He has but oneallusion to mackerel, not of the freshest, and in the caseof this fish the tediousness of transport must have beenpeculiarly unfortunate.The Tunny, a fish of considerable size, was well knownto the ancients, and has in all times beenhighly prized. It was eaten both fresh and Tunny.An Army of Tunnies. 337salted, though from Muffett's directions some skill seemsto have been required in this preparation."As porpesses must be baked while they are new, so tunny isnever good till it have been long pouldred [pickled] with salt, vinegar,coriander, and hot spices." (Page 173.)According to Pliny a vast shoal of tunnies arrayedthemselves against Alexander the Great, and were moreformidable to his army than Tyrians, Indians, or Persians.Du Bartas refers to this incident, but omits to describetheir mode of warfare:-fish"Shall I omit the tunnies, that durst meetTh' Eoan monarchs never daunted fleet,And beard more bravely his victorious powrsThan the defendants of the Tyrian towrs;Or Porus, conquered on the Indian coast;Or great Darius, that three battels lost? "(Page 40.)Montaigne attributes mathematical knowledge to this

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" In the manner of living of the tunnies, we observe a singularknowledge of the three parts of mathematicks. As to astrology, theyteach it men, for they stay in the place where they are surpriz'd by theBrumal solstice, and never stir from thence till the next equinox: forwhich reason, Aristotle himself attributes to them this science. As togeometry and arithmetick, they always form their body in the figure ofa cube, every way square, and make up the body of a battalion, solid,close and environed round with six equal sides, so that swimming inthis square order, as large behind as before; whoever in seeing themcan count one rank, may easily number the whole troop, by reasonthat the depth is equal to the breadth, and the breadth to the length. "(Essay liv.)The Bonito, or Striped -bellied Tunny, is similar tothe tunny in form, but inferior in size,being only thirty inches long. Sir Richard Bonito.Hawkins, in his description of a voyage to the South Sea,speaks of three fish which accompany ships in theZ338 The Animal- Lore ofShakspeare's Time.tropics; one of these is " the bonito, or Spanish makerill,altogether like unto a mackerell, but that it is somewhatmore growne; he is reasonable food, but dryer than amackerell " (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1375) . The nameSpanish mackerel is given by Yarrell to another speciesof fish. The name Bonito, according to this author,belongs properly to a species of tunny, which is very common in the tropical seas, and which is especially noticedby sailors for its inveterate pursuit of the flying-fish . Ina second voyage, Sir Richard Hawkins gives an accountof the persecution of the unfortunate flying-fish by itsnumerous enemies:-" There be also of sea- fishes , which we saw coming along the coastflying, which are of the bignesse of a smelt, the biggest sort whereofhave foure wings, but the other have but two: of these wee sawe comming out of Guinea a hundred in a company, which being chased bythe gilt-heads, otherwise called the bonitos, do to avoid them thebetter, take their flight out of the water, but yet are they not able to fliefarre, because of the drying of their wings, which serve them not to fliebut when they are moist, and therefore, when they can flie no further,they fall into the water, and having wet their wings, take a new flightagaine. These be of bignesse like a carpe, and in colour like a makarell, but it is the swiftest fish in swimming that is, and followeth herprey very fiercely, not only in the water, but also out of the water, for asthe flying fish taketh her flight, so doth this bonito leape after them,and taketh them sometimes above the water. There were some ofthese bonitos, which being galled by a fisgig, did follow our shippecomming out of Guinea 500 leagues. There is a sea-fowle also thatchaseth this flying fish as well as the bonito: for as the flying fishtaketh her flight, so doth this fowle pursue to take her, which is agreater pleasure then hawking, for both the flights are as pleasant, andalso more often then an hundred times: for the fowle can flie no way,but one or other lighteth in her pawes, the number of them are soabundant. There is an innumerable yoong frie of these flying fishes,which commonly keepe about the ship, and are not so big as butterflies, and yet by flying do avoid the unsatiablenesse of the bonito."(Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 616.)It is perhaps scarcely necessary to point out an error inthe above account. The fish whose existence is thus embit-The Sword-fish.339tered by double persecution, has no power of flight inthe proper sense of the word. According to modern observers, the length of time which it can remain in the airis determined by the power of the spring which it makeson leaving the water. The motion is more that of aleap than of a flight, and cannot be prolonged after theoriginal impetus has diminished.The Sword-fish, or Xiphias of Spenser, is thus described by Sir Thomas Browne, from a specimen taken in his neighbourhood:-Sword-fish."Asword-fish, entangled in the herring-nets at Yarmouth, agreeableunto the Icon [ picture] in Johnstonus, with a smooth sword, not unlikethe gladius of Rondeletius, about a yard and a half long; no teeth;eyes very remarkable; enclosed in a hard cartilaginous covercle, aboutthe bignesse of a good apple. " (Vol. iv. p. 326.)Olaus Magnus, on the contrary, has drawn on his ownimagination, for with the exception of a pointed snout,the account he gives of this fish is wrong in every particular. The mouth of the sword- fish is a mere slit, andthe projection of the upper jaw would effectually baffleany attempt on the part of the inquisitive mariner to lookinto it." The sword- fish, " he writes, " is like no other, but in something itis like a whale. He hath as ugly a head as an owl: his mouth iswondrous deep, as a vast pit, whereby he terrifies and drives awaythose that look into it. His eyes are horrible, his back wedge-fashion ,or elevated like a sword; his snout is pointed." (Page 228.)This fish is said to pursue the whale, and to pierce it withits beak-like weapon, but no motive has been discoveredfor this wanton attack. It also dashes against the sidesof ships, probably mistaking them for whales, piercingthe timbers for some inches.The Yellow Skulpin is one of the most beautifullittle fishes to be seen on our coasts, and notvery uncommon. It is yellow, with delicateUranoscopus.340 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.blue and purple markings, and is called in Sussex thelizard fish. Modern names for it are yellow gurnard,gemmeous dragonet, gowdie, and golden skulpin." This fish," writes Mr. Couch, " is common in the Mediterranean,and must therefore have been known to the ancients, but from theirwant of precision on subjects of natural history, it is not easy to pronounce whether it be the same with the species known to them by thename of callionymus, which is the term adopted by Linnæus as thedesignation of the genus in which the yellow skulpin is arranged. Somefish which bore this name is referred to by Aristophanes, as sufficientlyknown for popular allusion by the supposed property of possessing alarge abundance of gall. It is also mentioned by Aristotle, and in latertimes by Elian. Pliny further tells us that with the Romans, inaddition to the name of callionymus, it was known as the uranoscopus,or sky- gazer, because its eyes were on the top of the head, with theirvision directed upward. This latter circ*mstance, in connection withthe former name, which recognises the beauty of its appearance, maybe supposed to point to the yellow skulpin, which answers to both theparticulars." (British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 174.)Du Bartas, who no doubt drew most of his descriptions from classical sources, makes still clearer the identityof this fish by taking notice of its lengthened fin; thoughif we interpret the word admire, to wonder at, his lineswould apply equally well to the ugly sea-angler."O! who can here sufficiently admireThat gaping-fish whose glistening eyes aspireStill toward heav'n; as if beneath the skiesHe found no object worthy of his eyes.As the woodpecker, his long tongue doth lillOut of the clov'n pipe of his horny bill,To catch the emets; when, beguil'd with -all,The busie swarms about it creep and crawl:Th' urano-scope, so, hid in mud, doth putOut of his gullet a long limber gut,Most like unto a little worm (at sight)Where-at, eft-soons, many small fishes bite:Which ther-withall this angler swallows straight,Alwaies self-armed with hook, line, and bait.”(Page 41. )Cod-fishing.341Muffett calls the Cod a great sea-whiting. This fishwas called, at different stages of its growth, awhitling, codling, and cod. In the north of Cod.Britain it was called a keeling, in the south a cod, and inthe west a melwell.Mr. Daniel writes (Rural Sports, vol. ii. p. 29):-"The greater fisheries of cod were on the coast of Iceland, and of ourwestern isles, before the discovery of Newfoundland. That discoverytook place by Cabot, about the year 1500; and although the Englishbegan settling there twenty years afterwards, the fishery did not flourishuntil 1577, when England had the least share of it. Mr. Anderson, inhis History of Commerce, says the French began to fish there, and itis somewhere asserted, that their first pretence for fishing for cod inthese seas, was only to supply an English convent with that article.Notwithstanding this intrusion, about 1625, Devonshire alone employedone hundred and fifty ships, and 8000 persons at Newfoundland for six months in the year."Iago's reference to this fish-" She that in wisdom never was so frailTo change the cod's head for the salmon's tail "(Othello, ii. 1, 155),has been quoted by some writers to prove that the distance from which the cod was brought rendered it a delicacy superior even to salmon. Mr. Couch, on the contrary, interprets the passage to mean that-"in the reign of Elizabeth , a salmon at table was accounted a matterof fashion, in which a person of ordinary rank might be tempted toape the rich and the great." (British Fishes, vol. iv. p. 194.)He objects, however, to the incongruity of placing thereference in the mouth of one to whom the cod couldscarcely have been known. The great abundance ofsalmon at this period makes it probable that the formerview is correct. In Queen Elizabeth's Household Bookfor the forty-third year of her reign, we find an entry,"Item, the master cookes have to fee all the salmons'tailes."342 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time."Here swimmes the pearch, the cuttle and the stocke-fish ,That with a wooden staffe is often beaten. "(CHESTER, Love's Martyr, p. 99.)Stockfish is here spoken of as a distinct fish, but no suchspecies is found in the works of modern naturalists. Cotgrave says it was a small kind of cod, called a melwell,or keeling, which was dried for winter use, but the namewas not confined to dried cod. Stow, in his Survey ofLondon (p. 32), quotes from a book of householdaccounts, in the time of Edward II.: " For six thousandeight hundred stockfishes, so called for dried fishes of allsorts, as lings, habardines, and other, £41 6s. 7d." Stockfish was evidently uncommonly tough eating, and had tobe pummelled on a stone before it could be penetrated byhuman teeth. Stephano thus threatens Trinculo, who hasirritated Caliban past endurance:-"Trinculo, run into no further danger: interrupt the monster oneword further, and, by this hand, I'll turn my mercy out o' doors, andmake a stockfish of thee." (Tempest, iii . 2, 78.)Thomas Muffett, in his Healths Improvement ( p. 170) ,informs us that—"Stockfish whilst it is unbeaten is called buckhorne, because it isso tough; when it is beaten upon the stock, it is termed stockfish .Erasmus thinketh it to be called stockfish, because it nourisheth nomore than a dryed stock: wherefore howsoever it be sod, buttered, fried ,or baked, and made both toothsomer and delectable by good andchargeable cookery; yet a stone will be a stone, and an ape an ape,howsoever the one be set up for a saint, and the other apparelled likeajudge."The Latin name given to this commodity, asellus aridus,also denotes the treatment to which it was subjected.Stockfish was considered inferior even to salt fish.An account is given by Mr. C. W. Shepherd, in his workon The North- West Peninsula of Iceland, 1867 (p. 11) ,of the mode in which this uninviting article of diet isprepared in that island in recent times. AA very similarSt. Peter's Fish. 343process was probably adopted by our medieval ancestors:-"Dried fish is the most extensively used article of food; and lingand cod are the most desired sorts. When caught, they are splitopen and hung upon lines or exposed on the shore to the cold windsand the hot sun; this renders them perfectly hard, and they keepgood for years. In this dried state it is pummelled on a stone anvil ,with a sort of sledge hammer, formed by a round stone with a holedrilled through it for the handle to pass through; but, even after thissevere ordeal, it requires Icelandic teeth and skill to eat it. Butterand stock-fish form the ordinary Icelandic dinner. After the pummelling, the fish is cut up, or torn into strips of a convenient width to gointo the mouth. The butter is not spread on the fish, but the two areconsumed in alternate mouthfuls."The stockfish, or cod, was borne as a charge by theKing of Denmark.Haddock.The Haddock, as well as the dory, was dignified withthe title of the Peter-fish, from the legendthat money was found in its mouth by thesaint who left the impress of his finger and thumb on thefish's sides. It has been pointed out that the choice ofthis fish to perpetuate this incident was somewhat unfortunate, as it does not exist in the seas of the countrywhere the miracle was performed. It is, moreover, a saltwater inhabitant.The haddock was plentiful all round the coast ofBritain, and was valuable as an article of food, thoughnot considered a delicacy. It was dressed with a saucecompounded of vinegar, powder of cinnamon, and ginger.Thomas Heywood writes:-"We'll make the sea their graves, and themselves foodFor the sea worme call'd haddock. "(If Youknow not Me, You know Nobody. )The Whiting was served with garlic, or mustard,vinegar, and pepper. Young whitings were Whiting.called whiting mops. Beaumont and Fletcherwrite, " They will swim their measure like whiting mops,344 The Animal-Lore ofShakspeare's Time.as if their feet were fins " (Love's Cure, ii. 2) . Theword mop was used, says Nares, as a diminutive, andterm of endearment, as is shown by the following, fromPuttenham's Arte of English Poesie:-"Understanding by this word moppe a litle prety lady, or tenderyoung thing. For so we call little fishes, that be not come to theirfull growth moppes, as whiting moppes, gurnard moppes."The whiting appears in company with other fish insome verses uncomplimentary to ladies, included in aCollection of songs and carols, published about the year1490:--"When whytynges do walke forestes to chase hertys;And herynges ther hornnys in forestes boldly blow;And marmsattes [marmosets] morn in mores and lakys;And gurnardes schot rokes owt of a crose bow;And goslynges hunt the wolfe to overthrow;And sprates ber sperys in armys of defens;Than put women in trust and confydens."Hake.(Ed. Percy Soc. , vol. xxiii. p. 67.)The Hake was a very abundant fish. It was thecheapest fare that could be procured, and wasvalued accordingly. When dried and saltedit was called Poor-John. At the sight of Calibancrouching in fear on the sands, Trinculo exclaims::--" What have we here? a man or a fish? Dead or alive? A fish;he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of notof the newest Poor-John. " ( Tempest, ii. 2, 26.)A servant in Massinger's play, The Renegado (i. 1.) ,replies to his master's query as to his religion: -" Troth, to answer truly,I would not be of one that should command meTo feed upon Poor-John, when I see pheasantsAnd partridges on the table. "Another name for this fish was the Sea-pike orMerluce.The Ling.345The hake frequently pursued the shoals of herringsand drove them away from the coast; hence the proverb,"What we gain in hake we lose in herring."The Ling was another very useful fish. In appearLing.ance it was not unlike a small cod. An oil,says Yarrell, was extracted from the liver ofthis fish, as well as from the cod, which was used as aremedy for rheumatism. This oil was used also by poorpeople to supply their lamps.Muffett writes:-" Ling perhaps looks for great extolling, being counted the beefe ofthe sea, and standing every fish day (as a cold supporter) at my LordMaiors table; yet is it nothing but a long cod; whereof the greatersised is called organe ling, and the other codling, because it is nolonger than a cod, and yet hath the taste of ling: whilst it is new itis called greenfish , when it is salted it is called ling, perhaps of lyinge,because the longer it lyeth (being conveniently turned, and the peacestraw often shifted wherein it lyeth), the better it is, waxing in theend as yellow as the gold noble, at which time they are worth a noblea piece. They are taken only in the far Northern Seas, where thebiggest and sweetest live; but codlings are taken in great plenty neerto Bedwell in Northumberlandshire." (Healths Improvement, p. 155.)..."In the Rutland Papers, printed for the Camden Society, we aretold," writes Mr. Couch (British Fishes, vol. iii. p. 90) , “ That on thevisit of the Emperor Charles V. to London, in the reign of HenryVIII. , salted ling was among the principal matters provided for theentertainment of the guests. . . . Although the taste appears to havedeclined in the reign of the first James, the practice seems to havemaintained its ground; for, among the pieces of merriment of thisking, heis said to have professed that if his royal brother of the lowerregions should be pleased to visit him, his dinner should consist of apole of ling and mustard, with another equal favourite of his, a pipe oftobacco for digestion. According to Fuller ( Worthies of England),the extent of the adventure was equal to the value set on the fish.Referring to the mischief wrought by the civil war, he says, ' We aresensible of the decay of so many towns on our north-east sea, Hartlepool , Whitebay, Bridlington, Scarborough, and generall all from Newcastle to Harewich, which formerly set out yearly, as I am informed,two hundred ships and upwards, imployed in the fisheries, but chieflyfor the taking of ling, that noble fish. ' "346 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Plaice.The Plaice was found everywhere in great abundance.The peculiar countenance of this fish earlyattracted notice. " His mouth shrinks sideways like a scornful plaice," writes Hall (Satires, b. iv.sat. i. ) . Muffett writes, " Plaise (called the sea- sparrows,because they are brown above and white beneath) are ofgood, wholesome, and fine nourishment " (p. 164) .Taste seems to have changed regarding the properseason for eating this fish. Yarrell says the plaice is considered to be in finest condition for the table at the endof May, but Harrison gives as its season February andMarch. It was generally served with wine sauce.The opinion was once held that the plaice was produced from a small crustacean animal of the shrimp kind.Modern discoverers, writes Mr. Couch, have explained thisnotion, from the fact that the ova is deposited in placesfrequented by shrimps; it frequently adheres to theunder portion of these shrimps, at times when the parentplaice is seeking to devour them.Flounder.The Flounder was taken in both salt and fresh water,and was one of the commonest of the flatfish. It was called the butt at Yarmouth,and the flook, or fleuk, in other parts. It was caught allround the coast, and in the mouth of large rivers, whichit also ascended for some distance.Drayton, writing of the Severn, says: -"The flounder smooth and flat , in other rivers caught,Perhaps in greater store, yet better are not thought. ”(Polyolbion, song xxvi. )Dame Juliana Berners observes that the flounder, likethe plaice, is a ground feeder:-" The flounder is an holsom fysshe and a free, and a subtyll byterin his manere: for comynly whan he soukyth his meete he fedyth atgrounde, and therfore ye must angle to hym wyth a grounde lyne lyenge."Sad Result of Sneering.347Enumerating the commodities of Newfoundland, oneof Purchas's pilgrims writes: -"As touching the kindes of fish beside cod, there are herring,salmons, thornebacke, plase, or rather wee should call them flounders,dog-fish, and another most excellent of taste called of us a cat."The flounder and the plaice had their odd-shapedmouths bestowed upon them, according to Nashe (LentenStuffe, Harl. Misc. , vol. vi. p. 170) , for sneering at theelevation of the herring to the sovereignty of the finnytribes:-"None wonne the day in this but the herring; whom al theirclamorous suffrages saluted with Vive le Roy, ' God save the King, Godsave the King; ' save only the playse and the butte, that made wrymouthes at him, and, for their mocking, have wry mouthes ever since;and the herring ever since wears a coronet on his head, in token thathee is, as he is."The dab, mentioned by Drayton, was distinguishedfrom the flounder chiefly by the roughness of its skin.Holibut.The Holibut, or Halybut, was a fish taken in thenorthern seas, chiefly valuable for its largesize. On grand occasions this fish was cookedwhole, and set up as an ornamental dish. As specimenshave been occasionally taken weighing three hundredpounds, it must have formed a striking feature at abanquet.66 "Turbuts, which some call the Sea- pheasant," Muffett informs us(p. 172), were in old times accounted so good anddelicate that this proverb grew upon them, Nihil adrhombum; that is to say, what is all this in comparisonTurbot.of a turbutt. Verily, whilst they be young (at which time they arecalled butts) , their flesh is moist, tender, white, and pleasant.""Soles, or Tongue Fishes, are counted the partridgesof the sea, and the fittest meat of all otherfor sick folks " (Muffett, p. 168) .Sole.348 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The Brill was generally known by the names Bert,Bret, or Burt Fish. It was found in the samelocalities as the turbot, but was more common,Brill.and consequently not so much esteemed.The Dory, as well as the haddock, claimed the nameof St. Peter's Fish, and for the same reason.This is probably the fish referred to by SirThomas Browne, though he does not give the EnglishDory.name:-"The faber marinus, sometimes found very large, answering thefigure of Rondeletius, which though he mentioneth it as a rare fish, andto be found in the Atlantic and Gaditane Ocean, yet we often meet withit in these seas, commonly called a Peter-fish, having one black spot oneither side the body; conceived the perpetual signature, from theimpression of St. Peter's fingers, or to resemble the two pieces of moneywhich St. Peter took out of this fish; remarkable also from its disproportionable mouth, and many hard prickles about other parts." (Vol.iv. p. 330.)The probable derivation of the name of this fish is fromthe French dorée, on account of its golden tinge. Harrisonspells it dorreie, and other authors dorray, dorrey, doree,and dorn. The name John is said to have been bestowedon this fish by Quin, the actor and epicure, as a mark ofhis esteem for its good qualities. We meet with thisname, however, in the sketch of the character of the poorfiddler, in Bishop Earle's Microcosmography, the first editionof which was published in 1628: "Hunger is the greatestpain he takes, except a broken head sometimes, and thelabouring John Dory " (p. 170, ed. Philip Bliss, 1811) .Mr. Bliss explains the name to mean a tune.Abundance of Salmon.349CHAPTER XV.FLUELLEN speaks " but by guessvolunteers the information that99 when he Salmon."there is a river in Macedon; and there is also moreover a river atMonmouth it is called Wye, at Monmouth; but it is out of myprains what is the name of the other river; but ' tis all one, ' tis alike asmyfingers is to my fingers, and there is Salmons in both.” (Henry V.,iv. 7, 27.)Mr. John Booth, speaking of the myth, as he calls it,of the salmon being at one time so plentiful in ourEnglish rivers that parents stipulated that their children ,when bound apprentices, should not be dieted on this fishmore than twice in the week, asks if the stipulation , ifever made, may not have been against fish generally, andnot against salmon in particular. Herrings, eels, cod ,plaice, and other kinds of white fish were common enough,and were much cheaper food than meat, fresh or salt.Salmon, he contends, always fetched a good price compared with other articles of food ( Notes and Queries, vol.vi., 3rd series, p. 13).Fynes Moryson, in his European tour, 1591, findssalmon so plentiful in Hamburg that a stipulation wasthere made by the servants that they should not beexpected to eat this fish more than twice a week. Perhapsthe fish may have been dried and imported, or the likecontract may have been made by German servants in350 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.England. In Sir Thomas Browne's time, at least, thesalmon was no longer common, though " many," he writes,"are taken in the Ouse; in the Bure or North River; inthe Waveney or South River; in the Norwich River butseldom " (vol. iv. p. 334) . Captain Franck, a Cromwelliantrooper, writing in 1658, states that the price of a salmonformerly did not exceed the value of sixpence sterling,and he repeats the tradition regarding apprentices. Defoealso corroborates the statement that servants declined toeat this fish oftener than twice a week. These stories, iftrue, only indicate the abundance of salmon in particularlocalities: the difficulty of transport would necessarilymake this fish cheap when taken in great numbers. Mr.Alexander Russel, the salmon's biographer, observes, however, that there is no confirmation for this tradition, sooften repeated, and that the Royal Commissioners ofInquiry into the Salmon Fisheries of England andWales, 1860, endeavoured in vain to obtain a sight ofthese indentures of apprentices, though they met withpersons who declared they had seen such documents. Hetells a story of a Highland laird of the last century,who, going to a London hotel with his gilly, ordered,from motives of economy, a beef- steak for himself, and"salmon for the laddie. " On reckoning with his host,he discovered to his annoyance that he had to pay ashilling for his own dinner, and a guinea for " the laddie's "(The Salmon, p. 96, 1874).Thomas Fuller writes that the salmon is—"a daintie and wholesome fish, and a double riddle in nature: first,for its invisible feeding, no man alive ever found any meat in the mawthereof. Secondly, for its strange leaping (or flying rather) , so thatsome will have them termed salmons, à saliendo. Being both bow andarrow, it will shoot it selfe out of the water an incredible heighth andlength." (Worthies of England, vol. i . p. 446.)Drayton has an account of the method by which thesalmon ascends mountain streams: -Names of Salmon."When as the salmon seeks a fresher stream to find,Which from the sea comes yearly by his kind,As he in season grows, and stems the watry tract,Where Tivy falling down doth make a cataract,Forc'd by the rising rocks that there her course oppose,As though within their bounds they meant her to inclose;Here, when the labouring fish doth at the foot arrive,And finds that by his strength but vainly he doth strive,His tail takes in his mouth, and bending like a bow,That's to the compass drawn, aloft himself doth throw;Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand,That, bended end to end, and flirted from the hand,Far off it self doth cast; so doth the salmon vaut,And if at first he fail, his second summersautHe instantly assays; and from his nimble ring,Still yerking, never leaves, until himself he flingAbove the streamful top of the surrounded heap. "(Polyolbion, song iii. )351Harrison gives the different names by which thesalmon was known at the successive stages of its existence: " The first year a gravelin, and commonlie so bigas an herring, the second a salmon peale, the third apug, and the fourth a salmon. " This fish has receiveda variety of names in the different localities in whichit is taken. According to Yarrell ( British Fishes, vol . ii.p. 155)-"the smolt or young salmon is by the fishermen of some rivers calleda laspring, and various couplets refer to the fish as well as to the timeand circ*mstances under which the descent is made:-The last spring floods that happen in May,Carry the salmon fry down to the sea.'Under three pounds weight, they are called salmon peal. The laspringof some rivers is the young of the true salmon, but in others it is onlya parr. A grilse is a young salmon that has not spawned.”In John Dennys's poem on angling, published before1613, several names of fish occur, some of which are352 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.now considered to belong to the salmon at differentages:-"And with this bait hath often taken binThe salmon fair, of river fish the best;The shad that in the springtime cometh in;The suant swift, that is not set by least;The bocher sweet, the pleasant flounder thin;The peel, the tweat, the botling, and the rest,With many more, that in the deep doth lieOf Avon, Usk, of Severn and of Wye."(ARBER'S English Garner, vol. i. p. 175.)Of the suant, sewant, or shuin, Muffett writes:-"Shuins seem unto me a kind of salmon, whereof plenty is taken inthe river running by Cardiffe Castle: but it far surpasseth the salmonas much in goodness, as it is surpassed by him in length and greatness." (Healths Improvement, p. 187.)The name sewin is given by modern authors to the bullor grey trout. The bocher, or botcher, is a salmon over ayear old, which has accomplished a journey to the sea.The botcher is smaller and more delicate in shape thanthe salmon, and weighs from three to twelve pounds.The peel is also a two-year-old salmon. Izaak Waltonwrites (part i. ch. 8): —"I might here, before I take my leave of the salmon, tell you thatthere is more than one sort of them, as, namely, a tecon, and anothercalled in some places a samlet, or by some a skegger; but these, andothers which I forbear to name, may be fish of another kind, and differas we know a herring and a pilchard do, which, I think, are as differentas the rivers in which they breed, and must, by me, be left to thedisquisitions of men of more leisure, aud of greater abilities than Iprofess myself to have.""The wary Trout that thrives against the streamwas sufficiently common. According to IzaakWalton- Trout."Gesner says, his name is of German offspring; and he says he is afish that feeds clean and purely, in the swiftest streams, and on theTickling for Trout.353hardest gravel; and that he may justly contend with all fresh-waterfish; as the mullett may with all sea-fish, for precedency and daintiness of taste; and that being in right season, the most dainty palateshave allowed precedency to him." (Part 1 , ch. 4.)Drayton also gives the trout the first place among fish:-"The trout by nature mark'd with many a crimson spot,As though she curious were in him above the rest,And of fresh-water fish, did note him for the best. "(Polyolbion , song xxvi. )Muffett writes:"Trouts are so great in Northumberland, that they seem thicker thensalmons, and are therefore called bull-trouts; there are especially twosorts of them, red trouts resembling little fresh-water salmon, andtherefore termed salmon-trouts; and gray trouts or skurffs, which keepnot in the chanel of bournes or rivers, but lurk like the alderlingsunder the roots of great alders." (Page 188.)Alderlings, this author explains—"are a kind of fish betwixt a trout and a grayling, scaled (as the troutis not) but not so great scaled as the grailing is; it lyeth ever in a deepwater, under some old and great alder." (Page 175.)The device of tickling trout was not unknown toShakspeare: " Here comes the trout that must be caughtwith tickling," cries Maria (Twelfth Night, ii . 5, 24). Alsoto Beaumont and Fletcher-"He is mine own, I have him;I told thee I would tickle him like a trout."(Rule a Wife and have a Wife, act ii. )The Char was a very local fish. According to Camdenit was only taken in one of the Englishlakes:-Char." For, among these mountaines the greatest standing water in allEngland, now called Winander-mere, lieth streatched out for the spaceof tenne miles or there about with crooked bankes, and is all paved,2 A354 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.as it were, with stone in the bottom: in some places of wonderfulldepth, and breeding a peculiar kind of fish found no where else, whichthe inhabitants there by call a chare.”The range of the char is not quite so limited as Camdenimagined. It is found in Scotland and in Wales. TheWelsh charr, or torgoch, was formerly taken in LlanberisLake, on Snowdon.The Gwiniad, another local species, was found, according to Pennant, in one of the lakes of Gwiniad.Ireland, Lough Neagh, where it was calledthe pollen; in Loch Mabon, in Scotland, where it wasknown as the vangis. The old British name, gwiniad, orwhiting, was given to it from the whiteness of its scales.It is sometimes called the fresh-water herring, as like thatfish it dies very soon after being taken from the water,and will not keep long. On account of the large size ofthe scales it was also called the schelly. Camden assertsthat-"the river Dee, in Merionethshire, abounds with salmon, and PembleMere in that county with the gwiniad, yet is the salmon never takenin the mere, nor the gwiniad in the river."Grayling."The Grayllynge, by another name called Umbre, is adelycyous fysshe to mannys mouthe," writesDame Juliana (Treatise on Fishing, p. 27, ed.1841 ) . The name Thymallus was bestowed on the grayling, on account of the peculiar odour which it emitswhen fresh, similar to that of water thyme. Umbra comesfrom its rapid swimming, which causes it to disappearlike a passing shadow. The dusky lines along the bodygive it the third name, grayling, and the epithet of"the flower of fishes," or " flower-fish," was given to itby Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.Drayton mentions-" The greyling, whose great spawn is as big as any pease. "(Polyolbion, song xxvi. )The Pike. 355A distinction was sometimes made between the graylingand the umber, the latter name being generally given tothe fish when advanced in years."Aldrovandus says," writes Walton (part i. ch. vi. ) , " The salmon,the grayling, and trout, and all fish that live in clear and sharpstreams, are made by their mother Nature of such exact shape, andpleasant colours, purposely to invite us to a joy and contentedness infeasting with her. Whether this is true or not, it is not my purpose to dispute: but it is certain, all that write of the umber, declarehim to be very medicinable. And Gesner says that the fat of anumber, or grayling, being set, with a little honey, a day or two in thesun, in a little glass, is very excellent against redness, or swarthiness ,or anything that breeds in the eyes."Ofthe Smelt, Sir Thomas Browne writes::-Smelt." Spirinches, or smelt , in great plenty about Lynn; but wherethey have also a small fish, called a priames, answeringin taste and shape a smelt, and perhaps are but theyounger sort thereof. " ( Vol. iv. p. 330. )The name smelt was given to it from its having, as somethink, the scent of a cucumber or violet. According toMuffett the best smelts were taken " by Kew and Brainford, within eight miles of London, and at Westchester. "The sauce recommended for this fish was the juice ofSeville oranges.Harrison gives the various names bestowed on the Pike at the different stagesof growth:-Pike." I might here make report how the pike, carpe, and some otherof our river fishes are sold by inches of cleane fish, from the eies orgilles to the crotch of the tailes, but it is needlesse: also how the pikeas he ageth, receiveth diverse names, as from a frie to a gilthed, froma gilthed to a pod, from a pod to a jacke, from a jacke to a pickerell ,from a pickerell to a pike, and last of all to a luce." (Holinshed,vol. i. p. 376.)Randle Holme gives the additional name, in . one ofthe junior stages, of a hurling pick.356 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Yarrell says that this fish was so rare in the reign ofHenry VIII. , that a large one sold for double theprice of a house-lamb in February, and a pickerel, orsmall pike, for more than a fat capon. He does not givehis authority for these instances, but the numerous instructions for serving and carving the pike which appearin books long before this period, make it probable that itwas plentiful, at least in certain districts. Leland speaksof good pikes in the Welsh lakes, and so far back as thetime of Edward III. Chaucer writes:-" Full many a fair partrich hadde he in mewe,And many a breme and many a luce in stewe. "(Prologue to Canterbury Tales.)The particular fish referred to by Yarrell may have beenof unusual size.Gesner and other learned authorities endeavour toaccount for the sudden, and even in our own day mysterious, appearance of the pike in ponds far from otherwater, by the theory that they were produced by theheat of the sun from a weed called, in consequence,pickerel- weed. Izaak Walton repeats this theory, withthe remark:-"Doubtless divers pikes are bred after this manner, or are broughtinto some ponds some such other ways as is past man's finding out; ofwhich we have daily testimonies." (Part 1, ch. viii. )In his description of Lincolnshire, Fuller writes:-" Pikes are found plentifully in this shire, being the fresh-waterwolves, and therefore an old pond pike is a dish of more state thanprofit to the owner, seeing a pike's belly is a little fish- pond, wherelesser of all sorts have been contained . Sir Francis Bacon alloweth it(though tyrants generally be short lived) the surviver of all freshwater fish, attaining to forty years. . . The flesh thereof must needs befine and wholsome, if it be true what is affirmed, that in some sort itcheweth the cud; and yet the less and middle size pikes are preferredfor sweetnesse before those that are greater. " ( Worthies, vol. ii. p. 1.)An Aged Fish. 357The pike has been known to attain to a great age.Gesner records the capture of a monster pike at Heilbron,in Suabia, in 1497, that bore a ring of brass, on whichwas the following inscription: " I am the first fish thatwas put into this lake by the hands of the Governor ofthe Universe, Frederick the Second, on the 5th ofOctober, 1232." The weight of this veteran pike is saidto have been 350 lbs.Lincolnshire pikes were proverbially good:-"Ancolme ele, and Witham pike,Search all England and find not the like. "Modern writers on angling endorse Falstaff's assertion ,that " the dace is a good bait for the old pike " (2 HenryIV., iii. 2). This is the only allusion Shakspeare has tothe pike under this name. The passage in Merry Wivesof Windsor, " The luce is the fresh fish, the salt fish is anold coat " (i. 1 , 22), has given rise to much conjecture.The generally received opinion is that it has reference toSir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, the supposed original ofJustice Shallow: three silver pikes, or lucies, on a redfield, were, what is called, the canting arms of the Lucyfamily. Another explanation is given by Mr. Masey:66--Amongst the decorations at the coronation of James I. , it is veryprobable that his arms were impaled with those of his consort, thedaughter of the King of Denmark, or hers associated with his collaterally, and so the singular charge of the stock-fish in the Danish armswould be publicly known. It appears to be likely that the words were added in reference to the Queen's arms, and, if not before, for therepresentation before the king in 1604." (Notes and Queries, 3rdseries, xii. p. 4.)-- Mr. Keightley has another suggestion: -" Shallow had asserted that the dozen white luces ' was an oldcoat, and Sir Hugh had misunderstood him. He here corrects him,telling him that the luce was an old coat too, alluding, as is supposed,tothe arms of the Fishmongers' Company, ' azure, two sea-luces in358 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.saltire with coronets over their mouths; ' or he may have only reiterated his assertion, saying " The same fish is an old coat,' and theprinter, misled by ' fresh fish, ' may have made it ' salt fish.' "The Sea Pike, Merluce, or Garefish was a curiouslooking fish which preceded the mackerel Garefish. in their annual visit to shallow waters. Itwas taken in considerable numbers on the east coast.Harrison classes it with congers, eels, and other long fish.Sir Thomas Browne gives a more correct descriptionof it:-" The acus major, called by some a garfish, and greenback,answering the figure of Rondeletius, under the name of acus primasspecies, remarkable for its quadrangular figure, and verdigrease-greenbackbone."Stow describes a pageant on the return of Edward I.,after his Scotch victory, in which there were " sixe andfortie armed knightes riding on horses, made like lucesof the sea." Whether the garefish is here intended isuncertain, and it is somewhat difficult to imagine eithera knight or a horse, for it is not quite clear which ismeant to represent the fish, being " made up " into sucha totally different shape.The name sea- pike was also given to the hake.In Marlowe's Edward II., the King inquires ofLancaster what device he has chosen for the Flying-fish. forthcoming rejoicings upon the occasion ofGaveston's return. Lancaster replies:-" My lord, mine's more obscure than Mortimer's.Pliny reports there is a flying fishWhich all the other fishes deadly hate,And therefore, being pursued, it takes the air:No sooner is it up, but there's a fowlThat seizeth it: this fish, my lord, I bear,The motto this: undique mors est."Edward, indignant at this implied threat, declares hisFlying-fish.359intention to uphold his favourite against any attacks or insults:-"Though thou compar'st him to a flying fish,And threatenest death whether he rise or fall,"Tis not the hugest monster of the sea,Nor foulest harpy that shall swallow him. " (ii . 2.)The shoals of Flying-fish are often described by theearly explorers. Joseph Acosta writes: —"There are other small fishes , which they call flying fishes, thewhich are found within the tropickes, and in no other place, as Ithinke: they are pursued by the ducades; and to escape them theyleape out of the sea, and goe a good way in the ayre, and for thisreason they are called flying fishes: they have wings as it were oflinnen cloath, or of parchment, which doe support them some space inthe ayre. There did one flye or leape into the ship wherein I went,the which I did see, and observe the fashion of his wings." (Purchas,vol. iii. p. 931.)Sir Thomas Herbert, writing in 1626, says:-"The greatest recreation we had [in the Red Sea] was a view ofsuch large sholes of flying fishes as by their interposing multitude forsome time darkned the body of the sun; a fish beautiful in its eye, thebody though no larger than a small herring yet big enough for thosecomplemental fins, which so long as moist serve as wings to fly 200paces or more, and 40 feet high, helping them to avoid the pursuitwhich sharks, dolphins, bonetaes, albicores, and other sea-tyrants make,and causes them for self-preservation to forsake their proper element.. . . The French call it aronder dumer, the swallow of the sea; othersa sea bat, or reremouse of the sea. " (Travels, p. 39.)Carp.Some uncertainty prevails as to the date when theCarp was first introduced into England.Dame Juliana Berners, in her Treatise onAngling, printed 1496, writes, " The carpe is a deyntousfysshe but there ben but fewe in Englonde and therfore I wryte the lasse of hym" (p. 27, ed. 1841) . LeonardMascall, a Sussex gentleman, has had the credit of im-360 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.porting the carp into England about the year 1514. Thisfish was plentiful in Fuller's time:-"Now as this county [ Sussex ] is eminent for both sea and riverfish, namely an Arundel mullet, a Chichester lobster, a Shelsey co*ckle ,and an Amerly trout; so Sussex aboundeth with more carps than anyother of this nation." (Worthies, vol. iii . p. 240.)Mention is made, in the Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabethof York, 1502, of a reward paid for the present of a carp.Harrison refers to the recent introduction of this fish intoEngland. Noticing the number of fish found in theThames, he writes:-" Onelie in carps it seemeth to be scant, sith it is not long sincethat kind of fish was brought over into England, and but of late tospeake of into this streame, by the violent rage of sundrie landflouds,that brake open the heads and dams of divers gentlemens ponds, bywhich means it became somewhat partaker also of this said commoditie, whereof earst it had no portion that I could ever heare."(Holinshed, vol. i. p. 77.)Robert Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy (vol. i .p. 218) , gives us some learned information respecting thecarp's place in hygiene:-"Carp is a fish, of which I know not what to determine.Franciscus Bonsuetus accounts it a muddy fish. Hippolytus Salvianus,in his book De Piscium Naturâ et Præparatione, which was printedat Rome in folio, 1554, with most elegant pictures, esteems carp nobetter than a slimy watery meat. Paulus Jovius, on the other side,disallowing tench, approves of it; so doth Dubravius in his books offishponds. Frietagius extols it for an excellent wholesome meat, andputs it amongst the fishes of the best rank; and so do most of ourcountrey gentlemen, that store their ponds almost with no other fish. "The sturgeon, on account of its want of scales, was tothe Jews a forbidden fish; a caviare, which was preparedfrom the roe of the carp, was appreciated by them as asubstitute for the genuine article.The notion alluded to by Ben Jonson, that " the carpThe Carp's Tongue.361has no tongue " (Cynthia's Revels, i . 2) , was derived fromAristotle. Gesner follows this classical authority, andsays that this fish has only a piece of flesh-like substancein its mouth resembling a tongue, but which should berather called a palate. Elsewhere Ben Jonson classes thetongues of carps, dormice, and camel's heels " togetheras special dainties (Alchemist, ii. 1 ); and Muffett, in hisHealths Improvement, recommends the tongue of the carpas specially wholesome.66Polonius justifies himself to the spies that he sets uponhis son, by the assurance, " Your bait of falsehood takesthis carp of truth " (Hamlet, ii . 1 , 63). This is Shakspeare's only mention of the carp.The Bream was an inhabitant of the lakes inCumberland and some of the smaller rivers.Bream.It was so plentiful, Leland says, that in aWelsh lake near Brecknock, through which the riverLleveney runs, the breams, which appeared in May, camein such shoals as to break the nets ( Itinerary, vol. v. p. 66) .Walton quotes a French proverb to the effect that " hethat hath breams in his pond is able to give his friendwelcome," but this may be more on account of theirquantity than their quality.It was recorded that the method which the bream, orbrenna, adopted for his defence against the pike was to sinkto the bottom of the stream and by stirring up the mud toprevent his enemy from observing him. Muffett writes:-"Breams seem no other than fat carps: yet whiter of flesh, andfiner nourishment. There is a kind of bream called scarus ruminas,which we call a cudbream, because his lips are ever wagging like a cowchawing the cud." (Page 175.)The black sea bream, beetle, or old wife, was one of thecommonest fish. Muffett says:-"Olaffes, or rather old wives (because of their mumping and sourecountenance), are as dainty and wholesome of substance as they are362 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.large in body; it was my chance to buy one about Putny, as I camefrom Mr. Secretary Walsingham his house about ten years since: whichI caused to be boiled with salt, wine, and vinegar, and a little thime,and I protest that I never did eat a more white, firm, dainty, andwholesome fish." (Page 184.)This author must have had a good memory to be ableto recall the flavour of a dish after so many years hadelapsed.The Tench, on the contrary, was considered unwholesome, or, as one writer expresses it, " of a Tench. most unclean and damnable nourishment."It was frequently eaten nevertheless, and was usuallyserved in jelly.The tench was sometimes called " the physician offishes," and the touch of a tench was even supposed tohave the power of curing the wounds of a human being.Izaak Walton reports that " the tyrant pike will not bea wolf to its physician, but forbears to devour him thoughhe be never so hungry." The cause of this forbearanceis thus explained by Harrison:-" The pike is freend unto the tench, as to his leach and surgeon.For when the fishmonger hath opened his side and laid out his rivetand fat unto the buier, for the better utterance of his ware, and cannotmake him away at that present, he laicth the same againe into theproper place, and sowing up the wound, he restoreth him to the pondwhere tenches are, who never cease to sucke and licke his greevedplace, till they have restored him to health, and made him readie tocome againe to the stall, when his turne shall come about."Fuller, in his description of Dorsetshire, writes of thetench:--"Plenty hereof are bred in the river Stowre; which is so much themore observable, because generally this fish loveth ponds better thanrivers, and pits better than either. It is very pleasant in taste, and iscalled by some the physician of fishes: though in my opinion he maybetter be styled the surgeon; for it is not so much a disease as awound that he cureth, nor is it any potion but a playster which heaffordeth; viz. his natural unctuous glutinousness, which quickly con-The Tench. 363solidateth any green gash in any fish. But the pike is principallybeholding unto him for cures in that kind; and some have observedthat that tyrant, though never so hungry, forbeareth to eat this fish ,which is his physician; not that pikes are capable (which many menare not) of gratitude: but that they are indued with a natural policy,not to destroy that which they know not how soon they may stand inneed of." (Worthies, vol . i. p. 309.)It has been suggested that this consideration on the partof the pike is due to the difficulty he finds in catchingthe tench, as the latter keeps generally at the bottom ofthe water. It was also thought that the tench, unlikeother fishes, enjoyed an immunity from all diseases.The commentators have worried themselves and theirreaders by their vain endeavours to explain the meaningof the carrier's phrase, “ Stung like a tench " (1 Henry IV.,ii. 1 , 17) . The smooth appearance of the fish affords noclue to the meaning of the simile. The Carrier woulddoubtless have been as much puzzled as any one, if he hadbeen called on to give a reason for his words, and as thisis the only mention of the tench by Shakspeare, we areleft rather in the dark as to the amount of the poet'sknowledge of its appearance. It may be, however, thatthe tench has in process of years lost its spots, as thefollowing passage from Sir Thomas Herbert's Travels(p. 384) certainly implies that at one period of its existence it possessed them. In his description of the product of the seas around the Island of Mauritius, thisauthor writes:-"Give me leave to name what fish we took; dolphins, bonetaes, albicores, cavalloes, porpice, grampasse, which Mr. Sands thinks is theright dolphin, none else being of that opinion; this some call the susmarinus, mullet, bream, tench, trout, sole, flounders, tortoise, eels,pike, shark, crab, lobster, oysters , crafish, cuttle- fish (which thoughits blood be as black as ink caused by a high concoction , is neverthelessmeat very delicious) , rock-fish , limpits, and a speckl'd toadfish or poyson fish as the seamen from experience named it; which last-namedcame first to net and eaten too greedily by the heedless sailors was an364 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.error cost some no less than their lives , others for some time their senses;in shape it was not unlike a tench, but more black and deformedlyspotted."Barbel."The Barbell, than which fish a braver doth not swim,Norgreater for the ford within my spacious brim [Trent]Nor, newly taken, more the curious taste doth please. ”(DRAYTON, Polyolbion , song xxvi. )The barbel was considered of sufficient value in Elizabeth's time to be protected by statute, but modern epicures have nothing to say in support of Drayton's opinionof its gastronomic merits. "The barbell is an evil fyssheto take, for he is so strongly enarmyd in the mouth thatthere may no weak harnesse hold him," writes DameJuliana. When caught he makes a brave resistance ,and, according to Du Bartas (p. 40) , strives vigorously torid himself of the hook:-"But timorous barbles will not taste the bit,Till with their tails they have unhooked it:And all the baits the fisher can deviseCannot beguile their wary jealousies."Izaak Walton quotes from Plutarch's De IndustriaAnimalium the statement that the barbel attempts to release himself by striking off the line with his tail. Thisassertion is repeated by a modern authority, Mr. FrankBuckland, and called in question by Mr. Manley, whowrites:-" I hope I may be pardoned when I say ' I doubt this.' How canMr. Buckland tell what the barbel does when he is hooked, unless hehas encased himself in a diver's dress, and lain in barbel swim, or observed this phenomenon through a glass window on a river's bank? ”(Notes on Fish and Fishing, 1877, p. 267.)According to Chester, this fish was remarkable forfecundity:-"The barbell that three times in every yeare,Her natural young ones to the waves doth beare."(Love's Martyr, p. 99.)Chubby-faced.Drayton mentions:-365Roach."The Roche, whose common kind to every flood doth fall."(Polyolbion, song xxvi. )There was a mistaken notion that the Roach possessed animmunity for the various maladies that fish is heir to;whence, according to some, its name. Muffett writes:-" Roches, or Roch fishes (called so of Saint Roch, that legendaryEsculapius and giver of health) are esteemed and thought incapableof any disease, according to the old proverb, as sound as a roch."(Healths Improvement, p. 186. )The little Dace was also common. Draytonwrites:-Dace."The pretty slender dare, of many called the Dace,Within my liquid glass, when Phoebus shows his face,Oft swiftly as he swims, his silver belly shows,But with such nimble sleight , that ere ye can discloseHis shape, out of your sight like lightning he is shot."(Polyolbion, song xxvi. )Shakspeare's only reference to this fish is as a bait forpike." The Chub, whose neater name, which some achevin call,Chub.Food to the tyrant pike, most being in his power,Who for their numerous store he most doth them devour. "(Polyolbion, song xxvi. )The chub, chevin, or chavender seems to have beenmore popular as a dainty in Shakspeare's time than he isin these days. Dame Juliana Berners writes of him,"The chevyn is a stately fysshe: and his heed is a deyntymorsell. There is noo fysshe so strongly enarmyd wythscalys on the body." The chub was called skelly inCumberland, on account of its large scales, and pollardein other places. The chief peculiarity about this fish isthe roundness of the head and the width of the mouth,366 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.which suggests the idea of plumpness. Randle Holmesays that the name chub comes from the German schupfish.Chubby has grown to mean a smooth-faced plumpappearance. Marston writes: -"I never saw a fool lean; the chub-fac'd fopShines sleek with full cramm'd fat of happiness."Bleak.(Antonio's Revenge.)"The Bleke is but a feble fysshe, yet he is holsom,"writes Dame Juliana. The bleak was calledfrom its appearance the fresh-water sprat, andfrom the rapidity of its movements the water- swallow.According to Walton, bleaks were packed in salt andexported by the Italians as anchovies. Another use towhich this fish was put was in the manufacture of artificialpearls. The glittering scales were rubbed off, and formeda silvery paste- like substance, which was made up intoballs, or formed the lining of glass beads.Loach.The name of the next fish, the Loach, is derived bysome writers from the French word locher, tofidget, from its restless movements, especiallyduring stormy weather.Shakspeare's only mention of the loach has given riseto some discussion. Mason suggested that the phrase"breeds fleas like a loach " (1 Henry IV. , ii . 1 , 23) hasreference to the great fecundity of this fish. IzaakWalton says that the loach is usually full of spawn, andbreeds three times in the year, as Drayton reports of thebarbel. He says also that Gesner and other learnedphysicians recommended this small fish as light andharmless diet for invalids. Reference has been made bysome critics to a passage in Pliny (Nat. Hist. b. ix.c. xlvii. ) , showing that in ancient times fishes weresupposed to be infested with the parasites that so annoyedthe Carrier: -"Last of all some fishes there be which of themselves are givenThe Loach. 367to breed fleas and lice; among which the chalcis, a kind of turgot, isone."The sense of the Carrier's remark is by no means obscure;it is simply this, that fleas are abundant, and to attemptprecisely to explain the utterances of such a dull- brainedfellow is as idle as the " famous inquiry into the probablecharacter of the husband of Juliet's nurse.""The dainty Gudgeon, loche, the minnow, and the bleake,Since they but little are, I little need to speakOf them, nor doth it fit me much of those to reck,Which every where are found in every little beck."Gudgeon.(Polyolbion, song xxvi. )The facility with which the gudgeon is captured incertain localities is proverbial; things easily won are aptto be lightly regarded. It may be on this account thatGratiano advises Antonio-" Fish not with this melancholy baitFor this fool gudgeon, this opinion. "(Merchant ofVenice, i. 1.)The gudgeon was considered a wholesome fish , perhaps owing to the possibility of keeping it alive in freshwater till it was required. Muffett writes: "Gulls, guffs,pulches, chevins, and millers thombs are a kind of jolthead gudgins, very sweet, tender and wholesome." Themiller's thumb is now placed by naturalists among thespiny-finned fishes, next to the gurnet." And last the little Minnow-fish,Whose chiefe delight in gravell is."Minnow.(BROWNE, Britannia's Pastorals, book i. song ii. )The Minnow, Menise, Pink, or Penk, was often used asbait for taking larger fish. Of this small swimmer,Muffett writes: -" Minoes, so called either for their littleness, or (as Dr. Cajusimagined) because their fins be of so lively a red, as if they were died368 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.with the true cinnabre-lake called minium: they are less than loches,feeding upon nothing, but licking one another.delicate and light meat, either fried or sodden. " (Page 183.)... They are a mostIn Wynkyn de Worde's Boke of Kervynge, minnowes,or menewes, are recommended as an adjunct to stewedporpoise, as we add shrimp sauce to cod.Coriolanus insolently treats the plebeian senator, thetribune of the people, the tongue of the common mouth,who ventures to oppose him, as a giant among pigmies:-" Shall remain!Hear you this Triton ofthe minnows? mark youHis absolute ' shall '?"(Coriolanus, iii. 1, 87.)The haughty temper ofthe consul who would fain havedestroyed at one fell swoop the many-headed multitude,as a whale annihilates whole shoals of undistinguishedfishes, cannot brook that such small fry should venture tohave rights or opinions of their own.The Pilchard. 369CHAPTER XVI.Pilchard.THE older naturalists had an idea that the Pilchard, likethe herring, was a visitor from distant shores.This is so little true, that the fact is thepilchard is never seen in the Northern Ocean, the resortwhich they assigned to it, and the few that sometimeswander through the Straits of Dover or the BritishChannel have evidently suffered from passing so far outof their accustomed limits ( Yarrell, vol. ii . p. 97) . Thepilchard is found almost exclusively on the western shoresof England and the south of Ireland. Sir Thomas Brownespeaks of some stragglers on the Norfolk coast: " Thoughthis sea aboundeth not with pilchards, yet they arecommonly taken among herrings; but few esteem thereof,or eat them " (vol. iv. p. 332) . Cornwall has always beenthe chief fishing station for the pilchard; and Camdenreports that in his day—"a most rich revenue and commoditie they have by those littlefishes that they call pilchards, which swarming, as one would say, inmighty great skuls about the shores from July unto November, are theretaken, garbaged, salted, hanged in the smoke, laied up, pressed, and byinfinite numbers carried over into France, Spain, and Italie, unto whichcountreys they be very good chaffer, and right good merchandise, andare there named fumados."Chester attributes medical qualities to this fish:-"The little pilcher,Whose onely moisture prest by cunning art,Is good for those troubled with aches smart."(Love's Martyr, p. 100.)2 B370 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.CarewLike the herring, the pilchard will rush through thewater with such force as to cause flashes of light.tells us (Survey of Cornwall, p. 105) that—"the pilchards are pursued and devoured by a bigger kind of fish, calleda plusher, being somewhat like the dog-fish, who leapeth now andthen above water, and therethrough bewrayeth them to the balker[fisherman]. So are they likewise persecuted by the tunny, and he(though not very often) taken with them damagefaisant.”Herring."The Herring, king of fish," is thus described by Olaus Magnus (p. 226):-" Of all fish , almost, this onely lives by water. But taken out of thewater he presently dies, and there is no delay between his coming to theayr, and dying, as can be perceived , so soon as he is drawn forth of thewater. His eyes shine in the sea by night: and which is more, youshall perceive as it were lightnings and glitterings over the sea, withthe great motion of this fish, and turning of vast sholes of them,causing a reflexion; and this is commonly called herring-lightnings. "The sudden motion of a shoal of herrings might on amoonlight night cause a sparkling effect.The phosphorescent appearance of the open sea, of course, earlyattracted the notice of travellers, and was ascribed bythem to a variety of causes. One of Purchas's pilgrimsasserts " that it proved to be cuttle-fish which made thisfearful show " (Purchas, vol. i. p. 352) .The name herring has been derived by some authorsfrom the German word heer, an army, signifying theirnumbers. The chief biographer of this fish is Nashe,who in his Lenten Stuffe, or Praise of the Red Herring,gives it the pre- eminence over all marine inhabitants forusefulness, which honour it deserves even now. Hisenthusiasm is somewhat amusing:-"For if Cornish pilchards, otherwise called fumados, taken on theshore of Cornewall, from July to November, bee so saleable as they arein France, Spain, and Italy, which are but counterfets to the redherring, as copper, to golde, or ockanie to silver; much more their(6King of Fish." 371elbows itch for joy, when they meete with the true golde, the truered-herring itselfe . No true flying-fish but he; or if there be, that fishnever flyes but when his wings are wet, and the red- herring flyes bestwhen his wings are dry; throughout Belgia, High Germanie, Fraunce,Spaine, and Italy hee flyes; and up into Greece and Africa, south andsouthwest, ostrich-like walkes his stations; and the sepulcher palmersor pilgrims, because he is so portable, fill their scrips with them."(Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi . p. 165.)Nashe also gives full particulars of the mode of herringfishing, and enumerates the towns on the English coastwhere this trade was chiefly carried on. Yarmouth then,as now, stands first on the list. In a pamphlet onEngland's Way to win Wealth, 1614, an account is givenof the best fishing stations. The author begins withColchester, and will " scarce afford these men of the waterthe name of fishermen, for that their chiefest trade isdragging of oysters." He moreover charges the inhabitants of this town with catching, under the name ofsprats, infinite thousands of young herrings, which arealmost worthless as food, and thus destroying the summerharvest. Ipswich, according to him, was the best town inEngland for the building of busses, or fishing smacks, alsofor keeping them during the winter. Great Yarmouthwas the head-quarters ofthe herring fishery, and boats fromHolland, Picardy, and Normandy came " in hundred andtwo hundred sail at a time together " to bring fresh fish tobe turned into red herrings ( Harleian Miscellany, vol. iii.p. 398).According to the herring's most recent biographer,Mr. J. M. Mitchell, an idea prevailed in early times thatthe herring came from the Arctic Circle, or at least froma considerable distance northward of Scotland, in largeshoals of some leagues in extent, and divided into lessershoals on coming towards the north of Scotland, one bodyproceeding to the west coast of Scotland and to Ireland,and the other to the east coast, each directing its course372 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.southward. One author actually affirms that the whalewas designed by a kind Providence for the special purposeof, at certain seasons of the year, frightening the herringaway from its native seas into those regions where itwould be obtainable with greater ease by man; he didnot care to inquire what might be the opinion of theherring on the subject. Mr. Mitchell refutes this notionof the shoals migrating from the North, and considers itmore probable that, after the herrings have spawned, theyreturn to the seas in the neighbourhood-"where they continue, and where they feed until the spawning-seasonagain approaches, while the fry, on being vivified, continues near thespawning-ground until it is of sufficient size to venture further."(The Herring, 1864, p. 84.)The title of " king of the sea was probably conferredon the herring in consequence of the great profit thatsome nations derived from the fishery. To account forthe sovereignty of the herring, Nashe relates the following fable:-A falcon, which had escaped from confinementon its passage from Ireland, not finding its ordinary prey,struck at a fish, and thereby came within reach of a shark,which swallowed her, bells and all , at a mouthful. Allvarieties of birds, hearing of this murder of one of theiraristocracy, determined to revenge the insult, and formedthemselves into a league for the purpose of chastising thefishes. Information being carried to the fish by thepuffin, they on their side prepared for the danger, andmet in council to choose a king. The stronger fish, such asthe whale and the dolphin, laughed contemptuously atthe idea of peril, so the choice was limited to the weakerkinds. After much deliberation the selection fell on theherring, who was saluted with Vive le Roy by all present,with the exception of the plaice and the butte, whosneered at the newly chosen king, and for their mockinghave wry mouths ever since. In remembrance of theHero and Leander. 373honour, the herring has since this time worn a coronet onhis head. Nashe does not continue the story, or tell usthe result of the conflict, but only reports that—"the herring, from that time to this, hath gone about with an army,and never stirres abroade without it: and when he stirs abroade withit, he sendes out his scowts or sentinels before him, that oftentimesare intercepted, and by theyr parti- coloured liveries descried, whomthe mariners, after they have tooke, use in this sort: eight or ninetimes they swinge them about the maine mast, and bid them bringthem so many last of herrings, as they have swinged them times; andthat shall be theyr ransome, and so throw them into the sea againe."(Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi . p. 170.)The same writer gives, as the mythological origin ofthe herring, the story of Hero and Leander, and declaresthat after the unfortunate termination of the lovers' lastattempt to cross the Hellespont, the gods, commiseratingthe misfortunes of the unhappy pair, transformed Leanderinto the fish ling, and gave him as a habitation the coastof Iceland; Hero they changed into—"the flanting Fabian or Palmerin of England, which is CadwalladerHerring and as their meeting were but seldome, and not so oft aswelcome, so but seldome should they meete in the heele of the weekerat the best men's table, upon Fridayes and Saturdayes, the holy time ofLent exempted; and then they might be at meats and meale for sevenweekes togither." (Page 169.)Smoked or red herrings seem to have been a commonarticle of food. It is related that on Maunday ThursdayCardinal Wolsey washed and kissed the feet of fifty poorpeople, gave each person twelve pence, three ells of goodcanvas for shirts, a pair of shoes, and a cask of red herrings(Mitchell, p. 149) . Russell, in his Boke of Nurture, 1450,recommends mustard with salt herrings, and with white orfresh herrings, white sugar, which does not sound particularly inviting:-"Baken herynge, dressid and disht with white sugure;That white herynge by the bak a brode ye splat hym sure,374 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Bothe roughe and boonus voyded then may youre lorde endureTo ete merily with mustard that tyme to his plesure."(Babees Book, p. 38, ed . Furnivall, 1876.)Shakspeare has several references to the herring, andtakes notice of its great resemblance to the pilchard.Feste tells Viola, “ Fools are as like husbands as pilchardsare to herrings; the husband's the bigger " (Twelfth Night,iii. 1, 38).Falstaff denounces the cowardice of the Prince andPoins, and sings his own praises:-"Go thy ways, old Jack; die when thou wilt, if manhood, goodmanhood, be not forgot upon the face of the earth, then am I a shottenherring." (1 Henry IV. , ii . 4, 142.)" A shotten herring " was a phrase used to denote ashabby, underfed fellow. Taylor, the Water Poet, hasthe same expression: --"Though they like shotten herrings are to see,Yet such tall souldiers of their teeth they be,That two of them, like greedy cormorants,Devour more than sixe honest Protestants."(Page 5, ed. Hindley. )Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, in his Dictionary, explains theterm " shotten herring " to mean the gutted fish that weredried for keeping. According to other authorities theexpression meant herrings that had spawned, and thatwere consequently in poor condition. Shotten herringmight be cured just the same as full fish, but the nameapplied to the fish and not to the method of preparingthem.Fuller learnedly discourses on the origin of the proverb, " a Yarmouth capon" that is, a red-herring. No news for creatures to be thus disguisedunder other names; seeing criticks by a Libyan bear, sub pelle Libystidisurse, understand a lion, no bears being found in the land of Libya.Interpreters at fault.375And I believe few capons (save what have more fins then feathers) arebred in Yarmouth. But, to countenance this expression , I understandthat the Italian friers (when disposed to eat flesh on Fridays) call acapon pisce è corte, a fish out of the coop." (Worthies, vol. ii. p. 126. )Mr. Mitchell gives an account of the excitementoccasioned among the superstitious of all ranks in 1587,in consequence of marks observed on two herrings caughton the 10th of November of that year, off the coast ofNorway, which seemed to exhibit words in Gothicletters:-66"They were brought to Copenhagen, and seven days after theircapture presented to King Frederick the Second, who was terrifiedat their appearance, and thought they predicted his own death. Heconsulted the wise men of the age, who read the letters, and said theywere the following very innocent, and at present true, prophecy, ' Youwill not fish herrings in future so well as other nations.' But thisinterpretation did not satisfy the king, and he applied to the learnedmen of Rostock; but neither the professors there, nor at several of theUniversities of Germany who were consulted, could give a satisfactoryinterpretation of the prophetic budget carved out on the backs of thetwo ominous fishes; but a learned French mathematician, then atCopenhagen, published a large volume in elucidation of the supposedwords. This work would be a curiosity if it were found, as we are notinformed what his interpretation was. Another author published hisopinions, to the effect that the supposed letters announced the subversion of all Europe." (The Herring, p. 152.)There was an old Highland superstition that theherring quitted the coasts where blood had been shed ,and this theory was revived after the battle of Copenhagen, when it was said that they had deserted theBaltic on account of the noise of the guns.Sprat.Early authorities on fish considered that the Sprat wasthe young of the herring or the pilchard,whence it was called garvie herring, or garvie.The sprat was formerly held in greater estimation thanit is at present. It was thought not unworthy to makeits appearance at the Lord Mayor's banquet, and even376 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.now this fish is not considered to be in season until afterthe 9th of November.Sir Thomas Browne tells us that among the Norfolkfishes-"the herrings departed, sprats, or sardæ, not long after succeed ingreat plenty, which are taken with smaller nets, and smoked and driedlike herrings, become a sapid bit, and vendible abroad. " (Vol. iv.p. 332.)Jasper Mayne observes that—"Since amulets and bracelets,And love-locks were in use, the price of sprats,Jerusalem artichokes, and Holland cheese,Is very much increased. "(The City Match, ii . 1.)Andrew Boorde, in his Introduction of Knowledge,written in 1542, tells his readers that in Spain Sardine. "you shall get kyd, and mesell bakyn, andsalt Sardyns, which is a lytle fysshe as bydg as apylcherd " (p. 198, ed . Early English Text Society, 1870) .These were in all probability the true sardines, still takenin large quantities in the Mediterranean, but in mostcases any small fish that could be caught were pickledand packed in similar fashion.Anchovy.The Anchovy, another fish chiefly found in theMediterranean, has been occasionally takenon the British coast, and its range extendseven as far north as the coast of Norway. AnthonieParkhurst, writing to Richard Hakluyt, in 1578, concerning the commodities of Newfoundland, mentions a fish"like a smelt, which commeth on shore," which a marginalnote explains to be the fish " called by the Spaniardsanchovas, and by the Portugals capalinas." The description of the fish is too slight to warrant this explanation(Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 171) .In the paper of accounts purloined from Falstaff'sAnchovies and Sack. 377pocket by the Prince and Peto, we find that anchovieswere appreciated as a relish by the valiant knight. Petoreads:-“Item, a capon, 2s. 2d.Item, sauce, 4d.Item, sack, two gallons, 5s. 8d.Item, anchovies and sack after supper, 2s. 6d.Item, bread, ob.Prince. O monstrous! but one half-pennyworth of bread to thisintolerable deal of sack! "39(1 Henry IV., ii . 4, 584.)In a discussion between the hostess of an inn and herservant, in Thomas Heywood's play, The Faire Maid oftheWest, this delicacy is again mentioned:—"Clem. Then for twelve penyworth of anchoves, 18d.Besse. How can that be?Clem. Marry, very well mistresse, 12d. anchoves, and 6d. oyle andvineger."Muffett writes:-"Javelings or sea-darts are plentiful in the Venecian Gulf andall the Adriatique Sea, where having taken the young ones, theysalt them and send them to Constantinople in infinite numbers foranchovaes; the greater sort they fry and boil at home." (HealthsImprovement, p. 154.)Eel.Eels were found everywhere, both in fresh and saltwater, and were much esteemed. They weregenerally roasted fresh, but were sometimessalted. The conger was also considered a choice dish.Randle Holme gives the following names for the eel:-"An eel, first a fauser, then a grigg, or snigg, then a scaffling, thena little eel; when it is large, then an eel, and when very large, aconger. "The city of Ely is said to have been so named fromrents being formerly paid in eels, and Elmore on theSevern obtained its name from the immense number of378 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.these fish there taken. Young eels are called elvers inthe neighbourhood of that river ( Yarrell, vol. ii. p. 294) .As at this period naturalists were of opinion that eelswere without scales, they were included among the forbidden articles of food among the Jews; fortunately forthose who like this fish, this restriction has been removedby later investigations.The conger was considered to be only a large-sizedeel, or rather a fresh-water eel that had gone to the seaand remained there long enough to extend its dimensions,whereas the two species are now found to be perfectly distinct. Carew, in his list of fish found on the Cornishcoast, more correctly divides eels into two kinds—"the one valsen, of best taste, coming from the fresh rivers, whenthe great rain floods after September do break their beds, and carrythem into the sea: the other, bred in the salt water, and calleda conger eel, which afterwards, as his bigness increaseth , ventureth outinto the main ocean, and is enfranchised a burgess of that vast commonwealth." (Survey of Cornwall, p. 97.)Fuller assigns the palm to Cambridgeshire for theproduction of eelswhich, though they be found in all shires in England, yet are mostproperly treated of here, as most, first, and best; the courts of the kings ofEngland being thence therewith anciently supplied. I will not engagein the controversy, whether they be bred by generation as other fish;or equivocally, out of putrefaction; or both ways, which is most probable; seeing some have adventured to know the distinguishing marksbetwixt the one and the other. I know the silver eels are generallypreferred, and I could wish they loved men but as men love them, thatI myself might be comprised within the compass of that desire."(Worthies, vol. i . p. 152.)Instead of the beef and cheese usually ordered to beprovided for the repast at the month's mind, which wasthe thirtieth day after a funeral, a testator of the time ofHenry VIII. ordains that eel pies shall be substituted inthe event of his month's mind falling in Lent, or on aA "Month's Mind." 379fast day. The custom of having a grand repast a monthafter a person's decease probably arose from the inabilityof the relations to give sufficient importance to the obsequies in the few days which intervened between the deathand the funeral. Postal arrangements were by no meansrapid, relations and family friends had to be summonedfrom a distance, and provisions to the required amountcould not be obtained without due preparation. Vernon,who wrote in 1561, alludes to the extensive scale on whichthese feasts were sometimes provided:-"I should speake nothing, in the mean season, of the costly feastesand bankettes that are commonly made unto the priestes (which cometo suche doinges from all partes, as ravens do to a deade carkase) , intheir buryinges, moneths mindes, and ycares mindes."Some idea may be gained of the magnitude of thesefeasts from an account of a meal partaken of by themourners, on the occasion of the interment of the Dukeof Norfolk, at Framlingham, in Suffolk, in the year1554. Machyn, citizen and merchant-taylor of London,in his Diary tells us that on this occasion the followingsubstantial repast was provided: forty great oxen, a hundred sheep, and sixty calves, besides venison, swans, andcranes, capons, rabbits, pigeons, pikes, and other provisions, both flesh and fish ( p. 70, ed. Camden Soc. , 1848) .There was a notion that eels were bred from the slimeof other fish, also that they could be produced by layinghorsehair in water. Shakspeare refers to this theory,though it would appear from the context that snakes andnot eels were the result of the experiment:-"Much is breeding,Which like the courser's hair hath yet but life,And not a serpent's poison. "(Antony and Cleopatra, i . 2, 199.)Sir Thomas Browne admits that he failed in hisattempt thus to produce living creatures: he writes:-"Besides horseleaches and periwinkles, in plashes and standing380 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.waters, we have met with vermes setacci, or hard worms; but couldnever convert horsehairs into them by laying them in water. (Vol. iv.p. 335.)In Pericles we find a reference to the irritability ofeels during a thunderstorm.The " feast-famous Sturgeon," or Sturio, was an occasional visitor to our shores, and was alwaysexceedingly welcome:-Sturgeon."The sturgeon cut to keggs, too big to handle whole,Gives many a dainty bit, out of his lusty jole. "(Polyolbion, song xxv. )This fish was taken in considerable quantities at themouth of the Elbe, but its head-quarters were in Russia.Dr. Giles Fletcher, in his account of fresh-water fishcaught there, mentions-" the bellouga, or bellougina, of foure or five elles long, the ositrina,or sturgeon, the severiga and sterlady, somewhat in fashion and tastelike to the sturgeon, but not so thick or long. These foure kinds offish breed in the Volgha, and are catched to great plenty, and servedthence into the whole realme for a great food . Of the roes of thesefoure kindes they make very great store of icary or caveary." (Purchas,vol. iii. p. 417.)The sturgeon was called a " fish royal," and wasgranted by charter to the mayor and burgesses of Boston,in Lincolnshire. When it came into the Thames it wasclaimed by the lord mayor, and was usually presentedby him to the sovereign. Both fresh and salt sturgeonare mentioned as desirable dishes in Russell's Boke ofNurture."The ravin'd salt sea Shark," the terror of mariners,is thus described by Sir Richard Hawkins, inhis voyage in the South Seas, in 1593:-Shark." The Sharke or Tiberune, is a fish like unto those which wee calldog-fishes, but that hee is far greater, I have seene of them eight ornine foot long; his head is flat and broad, and his mouth in the middle,Parental Affection.381underneath, as that of the scate; and he cannot bite of the baitebefore him but by making a halfe turne; and he helpeth himself withhis taile, which serveth him in stead of a rudder; his skinne is rough,like to the fish which we call a rough hound, and russet, with reddishspots, saving that under the belly hee is all white: hee is much hatedof sea-faring men, who have a certaine foolish superstition with them,and say that the ship hath seldome good successe, that is muchaccompanied with them. It is the most ravenous fishe knowne inthe sea; for he swallowth all that hee findeth." (Purchas, vol . iv.p. 1330.)Mr. Couch says that the notion that the shark, whileferocious in the extreme to every other living creature,yet exhibited great devotion to its young, and watchedover them with tender solicitude, is derived from theGreek poet Oppian, who relates that, when dangerthreatens, the parent shark opens her mouth and concealsher young ones in the large concave space provided forthe purpose, much in the same way as the adder is saidto provide for the safety of its offspring. This statementis repeated and confirmed by Rondeletius, a naturalist ofeminence, whose work on fishes was the chief authority ofthis period (British Fishes, vol. i. p. 32).The largest species of shark, and indeed of all truefishes, the Basking Shark, or sun- fish, was formerly oftenmistaken for the whale, from its habit of floating quietlyand peaceably in the sunshine.The Hammer-head, or Balance Shark, was only occasionally found:-"The Italians name them arbalestes, because they have someresemblance therewith. Others call them hammers, or mallets , for theirhead resemble that instrument. They are hideous to behold, haveingtheir two eyes in the ends of that their hammered head, their mouthin the midst, very great, with three rankes of teeth, large and pointed;their tongue as that of a mans, their backe black with four finnesand their tayles divided into two parts. Rondolet describeth them,and sheweth their figure in his 30 booke, chapter ii. " (Learned Summary on Du Bartas, p. 213.)382 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The shark was often observed by sailors to be accompanied by a small fish called the Albacore,Pilot-fish. or Pilot-fish . This little attendant was considered to be a kind of jackal, to provide the prey for hismaster, and to share in the spoil. Sir Richard Hawkins,in his account of a voyage to the South Sea, in 1593,writes:-"There doth accompany this fish [shark] divers little fishes, whichare called pilats fishes, and are ever upon his finnes, his head, or hisbacke, and feed of the scraps and superfluities of his preyes. Theyare in forme of a trowte, and streaked like a mackerell, but that thestreakes are white and blacke, and the blacke greater than the white."(Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1376.)The pilot-fish was also thought to have a friendshipfor man, and to keep close to ships, and to warn them ofdanger by forsaking them when they came near theshore. It was therefore treated as a guide, and protectedfrom injury by mariners. Mr. Couch suggests that thereason of the dislike of this fish to the neighbourhood ofland is probably to be assigned to its objection to encounter any fresh water which may come from the mouthof large rivers.The Remora, or Sucking-fish, was very common inthe Mediterranean. It possesses a flat adhesive disk on the top of the head— Remora."bymeans of which," says Yarrell, " it is able to attach itself firmly tothe surface of other fishes, or to the bottom of vessels, but whetherfor protection or conveyance or both is a question which has not beensatisfactorily ascertained." (British Fishes, vol. ii . p. 281.)Although in reality only a small fish, and not capableof inconveniencing either fish or vessel to any great extent, the obstructive powers attributed to the remora wereout of all proportion to its strength, and the word remoracame to be used to signify an impediment or obstacle.Massinger writes:-The Remora."To swim up to her, and like remorasHang upon her keel, to stay her flight.”(The Renegado, ii. 5. )And Du Bartas is still more imaginative: —"The remora, fixing her feeble hornInto the tempest-beaten vessels stern,Stayes her stone-still, while all her stout consortsSaile thence at pleasure to their wished ports.Then loose they all the sheets , but to no boot:For, the charm'd vessell bougeth not a foot:No more then if three fadome undergrounde,A score of anchors held her fastly bound. "(Page 42.)383Horace, in the Poetaster of Ben Jonson (iii. 1) , whenvictimized by a long-winded " Hydra of discourse," exclaims:-"Death, I am seized hereBy a land remora; I cannot stir,Nor move but as he pleases."And in Mayne we find a like comparison:-"No remora that stops your fleet,Like serjeants gallants in the street. "(The City Match. )Montaigne also has a story to tell of this strangeimpediment:--Many are of opinion that in the great and last naval engagement,that Anthony lost to Augustus, his admirall gally was stay'd in themiddle of her course, by the little fish the Latins call Remora, byreason of the property she has of staying all sorts of vessels, to whichshe fastens her self. And the Emperor Caligula, sailing with a greatnavy upon the coast of Romania, his gally only was suddenly stayedby the same fish, which he caused to be taken, fastned as it was tothe keel of his ship, very angry that such a little animal could resistboth the sea, the wind, and the force of all his oars, by being onlyfastened by the beak to his galley ( for it is a shell- fish) and was, moreover, not without great reason astonished, that being brought tohim in the long-boat, it had no more the strength it had without."(Essay liv.)384 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The curious power of adhesion that the remora possesses was attributed by the ancient writers to supernatural agency, and from these writers also comes theconfusion which often occurs in the descriptions oftravellers between this fish and the lamprey."Frenchmen, I'll be a Salisbury to you:Dog-fish. Pucelle or puzzel, dolphin or Dogfish,Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horse's heels."(1 Henry VI., i. 4, 106.)Thus threatens Talbot, stung to fury, and thirsting torevenge the dying Salisbury.The dog-fish, a species of ground-shark, is chieflyremarkable in modern times for its voracity. It was usedby our forefathers as an article of food, and was renderedpalatable, or at least eatable, by the addition of a saucecompounded of garlic or mustard, verjuice, and pepper.Chaucer thus alludes to the rough scales of this fish,whence the name Rough-hound:-"He lullith her, he kissith hir ful ofte;With thikke bristlis on his berd unsofte,Lik to the skyn of hound- fisch, scharp as brere,(For he was schave al newe in his manere, )He rubbith hir about hir tendre face."(Marchaundes Tale. )According to Du Bartas (p. 46), the dog- fish, like theadder, swallowed its young in time of danger:-" So, in the deep, the dog-fish. for her fryLucina's throwes a thousand times doth try,For, seeing when the suttle fisher followes them,Again alive into her womb she swallows them;And when the perill's past, she brings them thence,As from the cabins of a safe defence;And (thousand lives to their deer parent owing)As sound as ever in the seas are rowing. "The theory was often broached, both by classicalThe Bishop-fish.385Monk-fish.writers and by the philosophers of the sixteenth century,that every creature that has life upon theearth or in the air, has its counterpart in thewater. Du Bartas puts into rhyme this fanciful notion,which may be found stated in prose by other writersof his time:-"Seas have (as well as skies) sun, moon, and stars:(As well as ayre) swallows, and rooks, and stares:(As well as earth) vines, roses, nettles, millions [melons],Pinks, gilliflowers, mushroms, and many millionsOf other plants (more rare and strange than these)As very fishes living in the seas:And also rams, calfs, horses, hares, and hogs,Wolves, lions, urchins, elephants, and dogs,Yea men and mayds; and (which I more admire)The mytred bishop, and the cowled fryer:Whereof, examples ( but a few years since)Were shew'n the Norways, and Polonian prince."(Page 39.)The curiosity referred to in the last two lines wasprobably the Bishop, or Monk-fish, a species of shark.A specimen of this fish, according to Rondeletius, wastaken in the year 1531, in Polonia, and brought alive tothe king. After due inspection it was consideratelyrestored to its own habitation. The monk-fish is a strangelooking creature, with large wing-like fins. It may bethe origin of some of the wonderful stories told by theold chroniclers of seamen. Stow tells us that a bishopfish which was caught was actually taken as a complimentto the nearest church, where, to the chronicler's astonishment, he " showed no signs of adoration.""Fair Queen, forbear to angle for the fishWhich, being caught, strikes him that takes it Torpedo.dead;I mean that vile Torpedo, Gaveston,That now I hope floats on the Irish seas."(MARLOWE, Edward II., i. 4.)2 c386 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The power of imparting an electric shock possessed bythe torpedo, or cramp-fish, was known to the ancients.Oppian, the " Izaak Walton " of classical authors, givesa full account of the mode by which this fish defendsitself against its enemies. The torpedo, or electric ray,is found occasionally on the British coasts. Montaigneillustrates by the action of the torpedo the knowledgewhich animals have of their respective faculties, and theingenuity which they display in putting these facultiesto the best possible use."The cramp-fish," he writes, " has this quality, not only to benumball the members that touch her, but even through the nets transmit aheavy dulness into the hands of those that move and handle them; nay,it is further said, that if one pour water upon her, he will feel this numness mount up the water to the hand, and stupifie the feeling throughthe water. This is a miraculous force; but ' tis not useless to the crampfish; she knows it, and makes use on't, for to catch the prey shedesires, she will bury herself in the mud, that other fishes swimmingover her, struck and benum'd with this coldness of hers, may fall intoher power." (Essay liv. )Thornback.The Thornback, mentioned by Harrison in his list ofBritish fish, was very abundant. It wasmuch used as an article of food. It was subjected to heavy pressure, salted, and dried for winterconsumption.The name maid was given to several fish of the rayspecies, but was generally applied to young skates. Thename skate, says Couch, is derived from the Saxon wordskitan, to reject, and was probably bestowed on this fishon account of its being thrown aside as worth less, at leastfor the market. The fishermen sometimes reserved it fortheir own use. Willoughby records an instance of askate weighing two hundred pounds, dressed by the cookof St. John's College, Cambridge, which proved sufficient to satisfy the appetite of one hundred and twentygentlemen.The Lamprey.387"Lamprey, a fish of the sea, and of the sweet water, well knowne,long and sliding; depictured and described at large byRondolet in his 3 chapter of his fourteenth booke. "Lamprey.So writes the learned commentator on Du Bartas.Fuller, describing Worcestershire, tells us that—"lampreys, in Latin lampetræ, à lambendo petras, from licking therocks, are plentiful in this and the neighbouring counties in the riverSevern. A deformed fish, which for the many holes therein, one would conceive nature intended it rather for an instrument of music than forman's food." (Worthies of England, vol. iii . p. 87.)Drayton writes:-" The lamprey, and his lesse, in Severn genral be."(Polyolbion, song xxvi. )The unwholesomeness of the lamprey grew into aproverb in consequence of the tradition that Henry I.owed his death to his partiality for this fish. In the oldworks on cookery it is recommended that the lamprey bestewed with good wine and herbs.Du Bartas, in his curious jumble of Greek and Hebrewmythology, writes (p. 42): —" His sweetest strokes then sad Arion lentTh' inchanting sinnewes of his instrument:Wherewith he charm'd the raging ocean so,That crook- tooth'd lampreys and the congers rowFriendly together, and their native hateThe pike and mullet, for the time, forgate. "It may not be out of place to quote the poet's apologyfor this incongruity. In the preface to his chief work, along poem on the Creation, Du Bartas announces thathe presents no profession of his faith, but a poem, whichhe has adorned " as much as the subjects will permitwith all those most excellent jewels plucked and pickedout of all sciences and professions." Referring to thethen universal practice of introducing heathen deities into388 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.a religious work, he calls the attention of his readers tothe small use he has made of them:-"Poesie hath been so long times seasoned and seized of these fabulous termes that it is impossible to dispossesse her but by little and littlethereof. I have attempted amongst the first to reform her, some otherwill come after me that will wholly purge her, and will interdict (asthe civilians speake) these monstrous jests from fire and water.”This passage is not in Sylvester's translation, but in thetranslation of the Learned Summary on his Works, byT. L. D., M.P., 1637.The following conjectural emendation on a passagein Pericles has been suggested by Mr. Bell, which hasat least the merit of ingenuity:-"The air-retaining lamps, the belching whale,And humming water must o'erwhelm thy corpse,Lying with simple shells." (iii . 1 , 63.)"The word lamps," writes Mr. Bell, " is here put for one of thelowest, and one of the most loathed species of fish, the lamprey. Thisanimal, as is well known, has seven spiracula or air-holes on its side.These, with the Germans, according to a wide-spread and popularbelief, are taken for seven eyes; which, with the two real ones theanimal has, make up the Teutonic tale of nine, to give it the only nameby which it is known of neunagen,' or nine eyes. But consequently,from this view, no orifices remain for respiration; and it follows that,not being able to emit the air, it must retain it: so that by the changeof a single letter in the line, we have a perfectly consistent epithet, anda perfect solution. The contrast, too, is forcible, betwixt the lampreyemitting no air, and the whale spouting it so furiously, and in suchcolumns." (Notes and Queries, 3rd series, vol. vii. p. 237.)Dame Juliana Berners, after recommending the minnow and the worm as proper baits for the trout in themonth of March, adds, " in Aprill take the same baytes:and also junaba other wyse named vii eyes " (Treatise onFyshynge).Definition of Serpent.389CHAPTER XVII.Insects.THE word insect, from the Latin, in, and seco, to cut,was given originally to such small creatureswhose bodies appear to be cut in, or almostdivided, or, as Topsell calls them, cut-wasted. Insects areincluded by Topsell in his General Treatise of Serpents.He could not place these many-legged creatures with fourfooted beast, and was therefore compelled thus oddly toclassify them. He thus defines the word serpent: -" By serpents we understand in this discourse all venomous beasts,whether creeping without legs, as adders, and snakes, or with legs, ascrocodiles and lizards, or more neerly compacted bodies, as toads,spiders, and bees. . . . Aristotle and Galen define a serpent to be animal sanguineum pedibus orbatum et oviparum, that is, a bloudy beastwithout feet, yet laying egges; and so properly is a serpent to be understood. . . . And thus much for the name in general, which in HolyScripture is Englished a creeping thing. " (Page 598, ed . 1658.)...The phrase in Leviticus (xi. 20) , " All fowls that creep,going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you," isthus explained by Professor Bush, in his notes on thischapter:-"That insects are here meant is plain from the following verse; and,therefore, the sense is , ' all those creatures which fly and also creep,going upon all four, ' i.e. , creeping along upon their feet in the mannerof quadrupeds, such as flies, wasps, bees, etc., together with all leapinginsects; these are to be avoided as unclean, with the exceptions in thenext two verses. "390 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Bacon makes use of the word insecta, but gives adifferent interpretation; after mentioning several kindsof insect, such as the weevil and gadfly, he writes, " Notethat the word insecta agreeth not with the matter, but weuse it for brevity's sake, intending by it creatures bredout of putrefaction. "Thomas Muffett, or Mouffet, a Frenchman, was physician to the English Court, in the reign of Elizabeth.He wrote a learned and elaborate work on insects, butdied before the book was published. This work, TheTheater ofInsects, was brought out by Sir Theodore Mayerne, one of the Court physicians, in the year 1634. Mayerne, in his dedicatory epistle to Sir William Paddy, chiefphysician to Charles I., looks forward to the time whenpowerful microscopes shall reveal the wonders of insectforms. He writes:-" How wilt thou be pleased to see the small proboscis of butterflieswreathed alwaies into a spiral line, after they have drawn forth nutriment from flowers, their extended large wings painted by Nature's artificial pencil, with paints cannot be imitated; to which the very rainbow is scarse comparableWhich right against the sun a thousand colours shewes.What a pleasant spectacle will this be when the artificial hands carefully and curiously guide the most sharp penknife, and very fineinstrument by direction of the sight."Muffett's work, which is printed with Topsell's HistoryofFour-footed Beasts, in Rowland's edition, 1658, is thechief authority of the time on insects. It would havebeen far more valuable had the author devoted himselfexclusively to obtaining information from personal observation and experiment, instead of quoting at length fromAristotle, Pliny, and other classical authorities, perpetuating their errors and conjectures, as well as their truths.The use of Cochineal in dyeing is of great antiquity.Colour-yielding insects are found on variousplants in the southern and eastern countries Cochineal.Cochineal. 391of Europe. The best cochineal comes from Mexico andNew Spain, and was first imported by the Spaniards fromtheir Mexican possessions, about the middle of the sixteenth century. The nature of the coccus was, however,quite unknown. By most early writers it is called eitherthe natural fruit of the tree, or an animal product bred ofputrefaction. Beckmann, in his History ofInventions andDiscoveries, writes: —" As the coccus was gathered at Midsummer [ St. John's Day] it wascalled St. John's blood; probably because the clergy wished by thatappellation to make this revenue appear as a matter of religion; andthat name is still continued among the country people in Germany.As the monks and nuns carried on various trades, particularly thatof weaving, they could employ the St. John's blood to very goodpurpose. "We read in Hakluyt (vol . ii. p. 675) , that on—" the 9th of October, 1589, there arrived in Tercera fourteene shipsthat came from the Spanish Indies, laden with cochinile, hides, golde,silver, pearles, and other rich wares."Du Bartas writes (p. 86):—" There lives the sea-oak in a little shel;There grows untill'd the ruddy cochenel:And there the chermez, which on each side armsWith pointed prickles all his precious arms;Rich trees, and fruitfull in those worms of price,Which pressed, yeeld a crimsin- coloured juice,Whence thousand lambs are died so deep in grain,That their own mothers know them not again."On the second line of this passage his commentator hasthe following note:-" This is a graine first of all brought from the East; and I have heardthat certaine caterpillers doe every yeere cast out the same in a certainetime, as the silk-wormes doe: some likewise hold that it is a part oftheir bodies. The grain is like a small pease; and being kept (as weesee amongst the dyers) resembleth a little graine of dryed currants.Being grinded, it hath a purple browne colour, and serveth the dyers392 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.likewise for purple, which is betweene red and tawny; and is much inuse at this day in Europe. The poet surnameth it red, because it isfound that it hath a more high colour, and that which he addeth (thatit groweth without tillage) may be understood according as I haveexpounded; except a man will say, that there is another graine of thatname which commeth of it selfe: for I know not, whether the other proceeding from the bodie of a creature, may take root and fructifie. "(Learned Summary on Du Bartas, p. 86.)Chermes, or kermes- grain, from the Arabic word kirmiran, was the name given to the Coccus ilicis, an insectfound on the ilex or evergreen oak, a tree growing in thesouth of Europe. Our word crimson is derived from thisobsolete name, kermes.Queen Mab was indebted to the insect Cricket. tribes for her dainty chariot and " team ofatomies:99" Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners ' legs,The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers,The traces of the smallest spider's web,The collars of the moonshine's watery beams,Her whip of Cricket's bone, the lash of film ,Her waggoner a small grey-coated gnat,Not half so big as a round little wormPrick'd from the lazy finger of a maid;Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers. "(Romeo and Juliet, i. 4, 59.)The cricket was often confused with the cicada ofthe ancient Greeks, especially by those writers whoseknowledge of natural history was derived mainly fromclassical sources. We should probably be correct in substituting the word cicada for the grasshopper in the following remarkable piece of information. The main value ofthe passage, however, is to show the extreme credulity ofthe narrator. Giraldus Cambrensis writes:-"In the districts of Apulia and Calabria there are grasshopperswith wings, which spring from place to place not by any effort ofThe Cricket on the Hearth. 393their legs, but by the use of their wings, and have orifices under theirthroats by which they utter tuneful sounds. It is also reported thatthey sing sweetest when their heads are cut off, and when they aredead better than when they are alive. " (Topography ofIreland, 1187,p. 40.)

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This vocal accomplishment was confined to the maleinsect, hence the rhyme, handed down from antiquity:"Happy the cicadas' lives,Since they all have voiceless wives."Ben Jonson credits the cricket also with tunefulpowers: " Walk as if thou hadst borrowed legs of aspinner and voice of a cricket " (Bartholomew Fair, i. 1) .It was considered a sign of good fortune to have acricket chirping by the hearth, and to kill one of theseharmless little creatures was looked on as a breach ofhospitality." The cat, with eyne of burning coal,Now couches fore the mouse's hole;And crickets sing at the oven's mouth,E'er the blither for their drouth."(Pericles, act iii., GOWER.)Shakspeare has several references to this lover of thefireside, whose monotonous note is so suggestive of cosycomfort. The boy Mamillius thus begins a tale of goblins by a winter's fire: -"Mam. There was a manHerm. Nay, come, sit down; then on.Mam. Dwelt by a (churchyard: I will tell it softly;Yond crickets shall not hear it."(Winter's Tale, ii. 1, 28.)This was for some time considered a scientific blunder onthe part of the poet, but modern naturalists have demonstrated that the cricket is by no means deficient in thesense of hearing.Sir Thomas Browne mentions " the Gryllotalpa, or394 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Fen Cricket, common in fenny places; but we have metwith them also in dry places, dunghills, and churchyards,of this city [ Norwich] " ( vol. iv. p. 336) .The Grasshopper was regarded as the type of carelessimprovidence, of light-hearted enjoyment of Grasshopper* the present moment, without thought of themorrow:—"As long liveth the mery man (they say),As doth the sory man, and longer by a day:Yet the grassehopper for all his sommer pipingSterveth in winter wyth hungrie gripyng."(Ralph Royster Doyster.)Muffett, in his Theater ofInsects, says that the grasshopper is the only insect that is without a mouth. It isprovided, according to this writer, with a long proboscis,with which it sucks the dew from the grass. This notionhe derives from his classical authorities, and quotes fromPlato the information that the grasshopper was consecrated to Apollo, and the Muses bestowed upon it thisboon, that it should only live by singing, not so much asmentioning the dew. Ben Jonson writes of some careless spendthrift:-Tut, he will live like a grasshopper-on dew,Or like a bear, with licking his own claws. "(The Staple of News, v. 2.)Unfortunately for farmers this theory of the grasshopper'sdiet is incorrect. It is a vegetable feeder, and in somedistricts has been known to cause considerable damage tothe crops.According to Ben Jonson, the grasshopper's chirp wasmore a sound of anger than of pleasure:-" And though the impudence of flies be great,Yet this hath so provoked the angry wasps,Or, as you said, of the next nest, the hornets,That they fly buzzing, mad, about my nostrils,Excommunication of Locusts.And like so many screaming grasshoppersHeld by the wings, fill every ear with noise. "(The Poetaster, act v. apologue. )395The poet's knowledge of natural history was not equal tohis skill in classical lore, and he here, as elsewhere, confuses the grasshopper with the cicada of Italy andGreece.Locust.Among whole-bodied insects Harrison includes " beetles, horseflies, turdbugs, or dorres (calledin Latine scarabei), and the Locust or grasshopper (which to me also seeme to be one thing ")(Holinshed, vol. i . p . 382) . The locust proper is, fortunately, not a visitor to the cornfields of Britain, thoughthe largest species of grasshopper has sometimes receivedthis name.Shakspeare's only use of the word locust has reference, in all probability, to the bean and not to theinsect: " The food that to him now is as luscious aslocusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida(Othello, i. 3, 354) .In 1553 the neighbourhood of Arles, in the south ofFrance, was visited by swarms of these locusts, whichcaused great distress by their ravages on the standingcrops. Sir Francis Alvarez, a Portuguese priest, givesan account of how he excommunicated the locusts inEthiopia, in the year 1560."The number of these creatures," he writes, " is as great as it isincredible, and with their multitude they cover the earth and fill theayre in such wise that it is an hard matter to be able to see the sun...These vermine are as great as a great grasshopper, and have yellowwings. . . . We assembled the people of the towne, and all the priests ,and taking a consecrated stone and a crosse, all we Portugals sung theLetanie. I caused them to take up a quantity of locusts, and make of[over] them a conjuration, which I carried with me in writing, whichI had made the night before, requiring them, charging them, and excommunicating them, willing them within three houres space to beginto depart toward the sea, or toward the land of the Moores, or towards396 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.the desert mountaines, and to let the Christians alone: and if theyobeyed me not, I called and adjured the fowles of the heaven, thebeasts of the field, and all the tempests, to scatter, destroy, and consume their bodies. And for this purpose I tooke a quantitie of theselocusts, and made this admonition to them which were present, in thename of themselves, and of those which were absent: and so I letthem goe, and gave them libertie. . . . In the meanwhile, arose a greatstorm and thunder towards the sea, which lasted three hours, with anexceeding great shower and tempest, which filled all the rivers, andwhen the water ceased, it was a dreadful thing to behold the deadlocusts, which we measured to be above two fathomes high upon thebankes of the rivers in such wise, that on the next morning there wasnot one of them found alive upon the ground." (Purchas, vol . ii .p. 1047).As this ceremony was so successful, the worthy priestfound himself applied to by the neighbouring countrieswhen their fields were threatened in like manner, but hewas probably too cautious to risk a failure by frequentrepetition of the experiment.The weird- looking creature, the Praying Mantis, ismentioned by Muffett in his Theater of In- Mantis. sects (p. 982) . This author seems in allseriousness disposed to give the insect credit for thedevotion which its eccentric attitude suggests. Hewrites, of locusts:--"I have seen only three kindes very rare, i.e. Italian, Greek, andAffrican: they are called mantes, foretellers, either because by theircoming (for they first of all appear) they do shew the spring to be athand, so Anacreon the poet sang; or else they foretell dearth andfamine, as Cælius the scholiast of Theocritus have observed. Orlastly, because it alwaies holds up its forefeet like hands praying as itwere, after the manner of their diviners, who in that gesture did pourout their supplications to their gods. Of this Italian mantis (whosefigure we do here represent), Rondeletius makes mention in his bookDe Piscibus, in these words: It hath a long breast, slender, coveredwith a hood, the head plain, the eyes bloudy, of a sufficient bignesse,the cornicle short, it hath six feet like the locust, but the foremostthicker and longer than the other, the which for the most part sheholds up together (praying-wise), it is commonly called with usThe Pious Mantis. 397Preque Dieu, the whole body is lean. So divine a creature is thisesteemed, that if a childe aske the way to such a place, she willstretch out one of her feet, and shew him the right way, and seldomeor never misse. Her tail is two forked, armed with two prickles: andas she resembleth those diviners in the elevation of her hands, so alsoin likeness of motion; for they do not sport themselves as others do,nor leap, nor play; but walking softly, she retains her modesty, andshewes forth a kinde of mature gravity.""We are oft to blame in this, -'Tis too much proved-that with devotion's visage And pious action we do sugar o'erThe devil himself."(Hamlet, iii. 1, 44.)The so-called pious action of the mantis denotes in realitypatient watchfulness for prey, as the cat crouches insilence before the mouse's hole. This insect is speciallyremarkable for savage ferocity, and will often destroyothers of its own species, if they chance to come withinrange of its sabre-like legs.An early mention of the singular Leaf Insect occursin an account given by Antonio Pigafetta of the voyageof Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan sailed from Seville1519, proceeded along the coast of South America,through the straits which bear his name, among thenumerous islands of the South Sea, across the GreatPacific Ocean, and after many adventures arrived at theLadrone Islands, where the gallant commander was unfortunately slain in a combat with the natives. Thoughhe did not live to see the return of his expedition,Magellan is almost entitled to the claim of the first circumnavigator, as the Victoria, one of the three ships thatformed the expedition, completed the circuit of the globe,and reached Seville in safety in the year 1522. Pigafetta,who kept a record of the events of this wonderful voyage,writes:-"Leaving Borneo they came to the Isle Cimbubon, which lies in8°7' ofnorth latitude; here they stayed forty days calking their ships,398 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.and taking in fresh water and fuel. In the woods of this isle theyfound a tree, the leaves of which, as soon as they fall on the groundmove from place to place, as if they were alive. They resemblemulberry-leaves, and on the sides of them there are certain fibres produced, that seem like little eggs. If they are cut or broken, there isnothing like blood comes forth; but if they are touched they suddenlyspring away."Dr. John Harris, F.R.S., who includes this narrativein his collection of voyages, informs us that Pigafettakept one of these leaf animals in a dish for eight days.The learned compiler considers it advisable to add as anote:-" This account is not only improbable, but incredible; yet I haveretained it, because, on the credit of Pigafetta, it has been taken intoseveral treatises of natural history." (Harris's Travels, vol . i.p. 116, ed. 1764.)co*ckroach.The beetle, only too well known in modern kitchensby the name of co*ckroach, is an importationfrom the West Indies. Captain John Smith,in his history of the Bermudas, or Summer Islands, 1622,mentions this insect under its native name:---"The musketas or flies are very busie, with a certaine Indian buggecalled by the Spaniards, a cacaroatch, which creeping into chests bytheir ill sented dung defile all, besides their cating." (Purchas, vol. iv .p. 1801.)The word bug, it is scarcely necessary to note, was inolder times, as it still is in America, the name given tobeetles of all kinds. Harrison calls the dor-beetle aturd-bug, and Topsell speaks of humble-bees or shornbugs.Beetles.Muffett mentions several species of Beetle: the greatstag beetle; the long-horned beetle or goatchafer; the dung beetle or sharn-bugg, whichhe describes as a round cat-faced beetle; the oil beetle;the great water beetle; the tree beetle or dorr, andThe co*ckchafer.399others. Of this last, by which he evidently means thecommon co*ckchafer, he writes::--"The tree beetle is very common, and every where to be met withespecially in the moneths of July and August, after sun- set: for then itflyeth giddily in mens faces with a great humming and loud noise, andvexeth cattel. These beetles spoil the leaves of trees, which they donot so much eat as tear in pieces out of an inbred malice; for they feedupon gnats. We call them dorrs in English; the Dutchmen, baumkafer, loubkaefer; Agricola, l . de subterr. anim. seukaefer; the French,hannetons. The sheaths of their wings are of a light red colour, andcovered as it were with a very fine flower, otherwise they shine but alittle; their legs, feet, and prickly tail are of the same colour: its otherparts are all over brown: only that the circle about their eyes, andtheir little horns are yellowish, and of the same colour are they a littleabove the beginning of their tail, the joynts of their bellies are whitish.In Normandy they are much more numerous every third year, and therefore they call it l'an des hannetons. It is recorded in our Chronicles, that in the year of our Lord 1574, on the 24 of February therefell such a multitude of them into the river Severn, that they stopt andclog'd the wheels of the water-mils: and indeed , unless together withthe industry of men, the hens, ducks, goat- milkers, castrels, bats, andother birds of prey (which seem to make these their dainties) hadafforded their help, the mills had even to this day been choaked andstood still." (Theater of Insects, p. 1014.)Ben Jonson has many references to the desultoryuncertain flight of the chafer or dor, and to the blindway in which it frequently dashes itself against the faceof a pedestrian or any other obstacle. He uses the verbto dor in the sense ofto mock, to outwit:-"Abroad with Thomas! Oh, that villian dors me,He hath discovered all unto my wife."(Every Man in His Humour, iv. 6.)"What should I care what every dor doth buz."(Cynthia's Revels, iii. 2. )Shakspeare's allusion to “ the shard-borne beetle withhis drowsy hums " (Macbeth, iii. 2, 42) has provoked somecontroversy. Robert Patterson, in his Natural History ofInsects mentioned in Shakspeare's Plays, 1842, inclines to400 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.the opinion that the adjective shard- borne here refers tothe hard outer coverings of the wings, and that thepeculiarity of the insect's flight would be more likelyto attract the poet's attention than would its place ofnurture."These shards or wing cases," he writes, " are raised and expandedwhen the beetle flies, and by their concavity act like two parachutesin supporting him in the air. Hence the propriety and correctnessof Shakspeare's description, ' the shard-borne beetle,' a description em- bodied in a single epithet."Mr. Patterson refers any reader interested in this questionto a long and interesting note published in the ZoologicalJournal, No. xviii. p. 147.Bellarius warns the aspiring princes, Guiderius andAviragus, that security may best be found under a humbleroof:-"And often to our comfort, shall we findThe sharded beetle in a safer holdThan is the full winged eagle."(Cymbeline, iii. 3, 19.)A contrast is here drawn between the case-wings of thebeetle, which, while they seem to impede its flight,protect it from harm, and the soft full-fledged pinionsof the eagle, which too often carry the bird intodanger.Enobarbus, commenting on the love expressed byLepidus for Cæsar and Antony, insinuates that thispretended devotion is but assumed as a means of selfa*ggrandizement. This " slight unmeritable man " seeksto rise by the aid of the superior strength of hiscolleagues:-" They are his shards, and he their beetle."(Antony and Cleopatra , iii . 2 , 19.)Other critics consider the word shard to refer to theFear of Death.401material usually selected by the parent beetle as ahabitation for its offspring. Lyly uses the word in thissense, and writes: "The quaile that forsaketh the mallowesto eat hemlock, or the fly that shunneth the rose to lighton a cow-shard " (Euphues, p. 240). This reading of theword is supported by Kirby and Spence in their Entomology (p. 221, 7th edition) .Ben Jonson notices these sheath-like cases:-"The scaly beetles with their habergeons,That make a humming murmur as they fly."(The Sad Shepherd, ii. 2.)Isabella's appeal to her brother's courage and honourhas been frequently quoted as indicating Shakspeare'sopinion as to the sensibility of insects. That the dramatistwas too large-hearted and tender to be indifferent to pain,even if suffered by so small a creature as a worm, iscertain, but the Rev. Mr. Bird has pointed out that inthese lines Shakspeare's purpose was to show how littleman feels in dying: —"Darest thou die?The sense of death is most in apprehension;And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,In corporal sufferance finds a pang as greatAs when a giant dies.'(Measurefor Measure, iii. 1 , 76.)The sting of death lies in the foreknowledge of it, notin the act:--"Even a beetle, which feels so little, feels as much as a giant docs.The less, therefore, the beetle is supposed to feel , the more force we giveto the sentiment of Shakspeare." (Patterson, p. 79.)"The honey- bags steal from the humble-bees,And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs, Glow- worm.And light them at the fiery Glow- worm's eyes. "(Midsummer Night's Dream, iii . 1, 171.)2 D402 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The mistake of placing the light in the glow-worm'seyes, instead of its tail, has been commented on by Dr.Johnson, and defended by Monck Mason, who writes:-"Surely a poet is justified in calling the luminous part of the glowworm the eye: it is a liberty we take in plain prose; for the point ofgreatest brightness in a furnace is commonly called the eye of it."It may be observed that as the furnace has no realeyes to begin with, no confusion is likely to ensue fromsuch an expression. Another very excusable error, as tothe sex of the insect, occurs in the speech of the Ghost inHamlet:"The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,And ' gins to pale his uneffectual fire."(Hamlet, i. 5, 89.)Spirits cannot be expected to trouble themselves aboutminute entomological details; besides, the relationship ofthe male winged beetle to the crawling luminous femalewas not commonly recognized. Bacon mentions the lucioliof Italy and hot countries, which, he says, may be theflying glow- worm. He thinks it probable that the luminous insect of cold countries has not ripened far enoughto be winged. He leans also to the doctrine ofthe generation of this insect from putrefaction (Nat. Hist.,century viii. ). Muffett (p. 975) gives the names by whichthe glow-worm is known in a variety of languages. It iscalled in English-" Glow-worm, shine- worm, glass-worm, i.e., a glistering or shiningworm, for here as also in Gasconia, the male or flying glow-worm shines not, but the females which are meer worms. On the other sidein Italy, and in the county of Heidelberg, the females shine not at all ,and the males do. I leave the reason to be discussed by philosophers."Lyly makes frequent and poetical use of this littleinsect: " Dost thou not know that a perfect friend shouldFire-flies.403be like the glaze-worme, which shineth most bright inthe darke?" (Euphues, p. 91) .Again:-"And yet, as bright as glow-worms in the night,With which the morning decks her lovers hayre."(The Woman in the Moon.)Lyly also gives us a curious piece of information:-"Where the rainbow toucheth the tree no caterpillar will hang onthe leaves; where the gloworme creepeth in the night no adder willgoe in the day." (Epilogue to Campaspe.)Webster writes:-Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright,But look'd too near have neither heat nor light."(Vittoria Corombona, act v.)Fire-flies of various sizes are described by the earlyexplorers. The lantern-fly, found in the WestIndies, the Malay Archipelago, and in China,Fire-fly.is mentioned by Champlain, in his account of a voyageto the West Indies and Mexico in the year 1599. Hewrites:-"There is a kind of little animal of the size of prawnes, which flyby night, and make such light in the air that one would say that theywere so many little candles. If a man had three or four of these littlecreatures, which are not larger than a filbert, he could read as well atnight as with a wax light." (Reprint Hakluyt Soc. , 1859, p. 35.)Du Bartas (p. 45) classes this insect among the birdsof the New World:-66 New- Spain's cucuio, in his forehead bringsTwo burning lamps, two underneath his wings:Whose shining rayes serve oft, in darkest night,Th' imbroderer's hand in royall works to light:Th' ingenious turner, with a wakefull eye,To polish fair his purest ivory:The usurer to count his glistring treasures:The learned scribe to limn his golden measures.'404 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.On this passage his commentator remarks:-"Oviedo in the 15 booke of the history of the Indies ch. 8. makethmention of this little bird , which he found in the ile of Hispaniola andin other neighbouring places. He is very little, as of the thicknesse ofa mans thumbe, or thereabouts; he hath two wings very strong andhard under which he hath two other little wings very thin whichappeare not, but when he extendeth his other to fly; then are theyseene (besides his two eyes shining like two burning candles) yeeldingso great light that all about is enlightened. He flyeth not but bynight. The Indians make use of them for candles both in time of warre,and of peace, and they yeeld them a farre greater light than our glowwormes doe. In a word the cucuye is the king of creatures whichshine by night." (A Learned Summary on Du Bartas.)...Oviedo also informs us that the Indians managed toobtain a phosphorescent paste from the bodies of theseflies, with which they smeared their faces. He admitsthat this statement is somewhat incredible, as the lightvanishes with the creature's life. He relates that whenSir Thomas Cavendish and Sir Robert Dudley, son of theEarl of Leicester, first landed in the West Indies, bynight, they saw to their astonishment a number of movingcandles and torches among the trees. Thinking theselights were caused by an attacking body of Spaniards, theyretreated with great haste to their ships, and only bydegrees found out their mistake.Ladybird."They shall be of the lady-cow,The dainty shell upon her back,Of crimson strewed with spots of black."(DRAYTON, The Muses Elysium. )The pretty spotted Ladybird, the favourite of countrychildren, has received a great variety of names. It wascalled cush-cow lady, dowdy-cow, and May-bug or goldenbug. In Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia (p. 130),notice is taken of the strange name sometimes given to thisinsect, Bishop Barnaby:--"It is sometimes called Bishop Benebee, sometimes Bishop Benetree,The Ant's Foresight.405ofwhich it seems not possible to make anything. The name has mostprobably been derived from the barn -bishop; whether in scorn of thatsilly and profane mockery, or in pious commemoration of it, mustdepend on the time of its adoption, before or after the Reformation; andit is not worth inquiring. The two words are transposed, and beeannexed as being perhaps thought more seemly in such a connectionthan fly-bug or beetle. The dignified ecclesiastics in ancient timeswore brilliant mixtures of colours in their habits. Bishops had scarletand black, as this insect has on its wing covers."Tusser includes " the bishop that burneth " in his tenunwelcome guests in the dairy. The name barnaby hasbeen derived by some authors from the low Dutch barn-bie,fire-fly, in allusion to the fiery colour of the wings.Shakspeare has but two references to theAnt. Glendower worries the impatient HotspurAnt. 1"With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant,Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies. "(1 Henry IV. , iii . 1, 149.)The Fool in Lear tells Kent, " We'll set thee to schoolto an ant, to teach thee there's no labouring i' the winter ”(Lear, ii. 4, 67) . Mr. Patterson, from this passage, drawsthe inference that Shakspeare, unlike his contemporaries,was aware that in this country ants lie dormant during thecold winter months, and consequently do not require food.The ant has been held up as a model of industry, wisdom,and foresight, mainly on the authority of Solomon, whobids the sluggard—66' go to the ant, consider her ways and be wise: which having noguide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, andgathereth her food in the harvest. " (Proverbs vi. 6.)Chester writes:-" The ant, or emote is a labouring thing,And have amongst them all a public weale,In sommer time their meat they are providing,And secrets mongst themselves they do conceale:406 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.The monstrous huge big beare being sickly,Eating of these is cured presently."(Love's Martyr, p. 115.)Montaigne illustrates his proposition, that man shareswith other inhabitants of the globe every passion hepossesses, by reference to the storing propensities of theant:--"As to thrift, they surpass us not only in the foresight and layingup, and saving for the time to come, but they have moreover a greatdeal of the science necessary thereto. The ants bring abroad into thesun their grain and seed to air, refresh, and dry them, when they perceive them to mould and grow musty, lest they should decay and rot;but the caution and prevention they use in gnawing their grains of wheat,surpass all imagination of human prudence: for by reason that thewheat does not always continue sound and dry, but grows soft, thawsand dissolves, as if it were steept in milk, whilst hasting to germination, for fear lest it should shoot, and lose the nature and property of amagazine for their subsistence, they nibble off the end by which itshould shoot and sprout. War," he continues, " which is the greatestand most magnificent of human actions, " is exemplified in the encountersof such small creatures as bees and ants. Some trifling quarrel, somepetty jealousy, may cause a leader to sacrifice the lives of many thousands of men. "This furious monster with so many heads andarms, is yet man, feeble, calamitous and miserable man. "Tis but anant-hill of ants disturb'd and provok'd by a spurn. " (Essay liv. )Huber, who studied with immense patience ant habitsand customs, and published the result of his observationsat the beginning of the present century, demolished for atime the claim of these little creatures to the virtuesascribed to them by earlier writers. The grains of corn,he contended, which they were supposed to hoard were inreality the young ants in the pupa stage of development.If we break open an ant-hill in the summer months weshall see that after the first moment of surprise and consternation the chief concern of the ants is for the safetyof these small, white, grain-like forms, which they seizeand carry off to a place of safety. Corn, he declared,An Omission in Shakspeare. 407would be perfectly useless to them, as they feed on soft,generally animal, substances. But more recent investigations have reinstated the ant in its former position ofinstructor. It is true that in cold countries ants do notcollect grain; but in the East, whence these stories hadtheir origin, the warmth of the winter renders hybernation impossible, and a supply of food consequentlynecessary. Further, though the grains of corn or riceare too hard for the ants' mandibles, they becomesoftened by being kept in the moist undergroundgranaries.Mr. Patterson considers it strange that the ant isnot oftener noticed by Shakspeare, when other insectsnot more attractive are so frequently introduced. Itmay be that the qualities which, rightly or wrongly,have been attributed to this insect were not those onwhich Shakspeare cared to dwell. Mr. H. Green, in hisShakspeare and the Emblem Writers, 1870 ( p. 147) , considers that the dramatist has been guilty of a greatomission in neglecting to point out the value of sustainedpersevering work. He remarks:-"Industry, diligence, with their attendant advantages, -negligence,idleness, with their disadvantages, -are scarcely alluded to, and but incidentally praised or blamed. . . . The idea is in some degree approachedin the Chorus of Henry V. (act i. ) , and the triumph of industry mayalso be inferred from the marriage blessing which Ceres pronounces inthe Tempest (iv. 1. 110) , yet for labour, industry, diligence, or bywhatever name the virtue of steady exertion may be known, there isscarcely a word of praise in Shakspeare's abundant vocabulary, and ofits effects no clear description ."Bee." The Bee," writes Batman, " is called apis, and is a little shortincecti, with many feete, and among all flyes with roundbodyes and so shapen he beareth the price [prize ] inmanye things, hugenesee of wit rewardeth him in littlenesse of body,and though he might be accounted among flyeing flyes, yet for he usethfeete, and goeth upon them, he may rightfully be accounted amongbeastes that goe on grounde." (Uppon Bartholome, 1582. )408 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.If Shakspeare has little to say in praise of the ant,he makes up for this want of appreciation by hisnumerous references to the bee. The possibility ofobtaining benefit from apparently adverse circ*mstancesis compared by Henry V. to the labours of this insect:-"There is some soul of goodness in things evil,Would men observingly distil it out:Thus may we gather honey from the weed. "(Henry V., iv. 1, 4.)The poetical description of the economy of a bee-hivein the same play (act i. sc. 2) is not necessarily drawnfrom personal observation. There is a very similaraccount of these small creatures in the Euphues of Lyly.Lyly was in his turn apparently indebted to Virgil, andother classical writers, for his information. Fidus thusaddressed Euphues and his friend Philautus:-..." Gentlemen, I have for ye space of this twenty yeares dwelt inthis place, taking no delight in any thing but only in keeping my bees, and marking them, and this I finde, which had I not seene, Ishould hardly have beleeved. That they use as great wit by indution,and arte by workmanship, as ever man hath, or can, using betweenethemselves no lesse justice than wisdome, and yet not so muchwisdome as majestie: insomuch as thou wouldest thinke, that theywere a kinde of people, a common wealth for Plato. . . . They call aParliament, wher-in they consult, for lawes, statutes, penalties, chusingofficers, and creating their king, not by affection but reason, not bythe greater part, but ye better. . . . Every one hath his office, sometrimming the honny, some working the wax, one framing hives,an other the combes, and that so artificially, that Dedalus could notwith greater arte or excellencie, better dispose the orders, measures,proportions, distinctions, joynts and circles. Divers hew, others polish,all are carefull to doe their worke so strongly as they may resist thecraft of such drones, as seek to live by their labours, which makeththem to keepe watch and warde, as lyving in a campe to others, and asin a court to themselves. . . . Whenthey go forth to work, they markethe wind, the clouds, and whatsoever doth threaten either their ruine,or raign, and having gathered out of every flower honny they returnloden in their mouthes, thighs, wings, and all the bodye, whome they...A Bee-hive. 409that tarried at home receyve readily, as easing their backes of so greatburthens." (Page 262.)Virgil's fanciful description of the bees' labours waspossibly the authority from which both Lyly and Shakspeare quoted:-"They only have a common progeny,The mansions of a city shared of all ,And under noble statutes pass their life;And they alone a native country know,And settled household gods; and mindful ofThe coming winter, in the summer timeEngage in toil, and for the common stockStore up their gains. For some watch o'er the food,And by a covenant agreed uponAre in the fields employed; others, withinTh' enclosures of their homes, the tearOf daffodil, and clammy from the bark,Agum, the first foundations of the combs,Lay down; then hang they up th ' adhesive wax;Others the nation's hope, the full -grown youngLead forth; others all virgin honeys pack,And with the crystal nectar stretch the cells.There are to whom hath fallen out by lotThe sentry at the gates; and in their turnThey watch the waters and the clouds of heaven;Or they the burdens of those coming inReceive, or in battalion formed, the drones,Alazy cattle, from the cribs fend off:Work glows, and th' odorous honeys

smell of thyme.Unto the aged are the towns a charge,To wall the combs, and mould their artful roofs:But, jaded, late at night betake them homeThe younger, loaded on their legs with thyme.And browse they upon arbutes everywhere,And blue-grey willows, and the cassia,And blushing crocus, and the gummy lime,And rust-hued martagons. With all is oneThe rest from work, with all is one the toil. "(Georgics, book iv. , Singleton's trans. )410 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.6The comparison of a well-governed State to themonarchy of the bees, observes M. Paul Stapfer in hisrecent work, Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity (p. 88),"is met with in Plato's Republic,' as well as in a fragment preserved by Augustine of Cicero's long losttreatise, De Republica."" In the reign of Elizabeththere was no translation of Plato, with the exception ofa single dialogue by Spenser. M. Stapfer comments onthe wonderful power possessed by Shakspeare of graspingan idea, and, from the slightest suggestion of an author'sthought, of reproducing it almost in its original shape."It must be remembered," he writes, " that the comparison of awell-ordered government to a concert in which every instrument playsits part, or to a bee-hive, has long since become a commonplace inliterature. Ever since it was set in circulation by Plato and Cicero intheir respective treatises on the ' Republic,' there has probably beenno ancient philosopher or poet from whose writings some analogoussimile could not be quoted.... Lyly, the author of Euphues, borrowedthe name of his hero from Plato's ' Republic,' and his romance teemswith comparisons between human governments and those presented tous in nature, especially in the case of bees. The tedious length of hisexemplification places it far below the poetry of Shakespeare's passage,and makes it infinitely less worthy to be compared to the antiquemodel, but it is precisely in such cases as this that we catch a glimpseof genius at work in one of its most marvellous operations, by virtueof which, diving through all the prolixity and exaggeration that awhole host of imitators have lost themselves in, it re-discovers anancient conception, and makes it live again in all its first freshness andtruth for there is a brotherhood among all great minds, and Shakespeare happening to meet with the enfeebled expression of what hadonce been a thought of Plato's, was able to re-think it , almost back toits original form. "To return to the insects. Thomas Hyll, in 1593,published a treatise on the right ordering of bees, withinstructions for keeping them, and for preparing the wax.His information is gathered almost entirely from theworks of Aristotle, Pliny, Varro, and other classicalauthors. Topsell also perpetuates much ancient loreMassacre of Drones.411respecting the habits and nature of the bee. It isremarkable how long writers on natural history werecontent to repeat at second hand, without caring to verifyby experience, the conjectures of their predecessors.The idea of a king bee instead of a queen prevailed ata time much later than that of Shakspeare. The functionof the drone bees was not clearly understood. Shakspearecalls them " lazy yawning drones," treats them as interlopers and even robbers:-"Drones suck not eagles' blood but rob bee-hives."(2 Henry VI. , iv. 1 , 109.)The yearly slaughter of these helpless members of thecommunity may well have perplexed early naturalists.This " cruel, not unnatural," proceeding is thus explainedby Dr. Ludwig Buchner (Mind in Animals, 1880, p. 214).The drones, according to this author66 represent a hereditary peerage, which lets itself be served and fed byan industrious working class without directly contributing anythingto the good of the community; from May to August they lead aneasy life, devoted to amusem*nt, untouched by care or toil. If, indeed ,they could foresee the woful fate which awaits them at the end of thisperiod, their bliss would be less untroubled. Their great number,which far exceeds real necessity, would be a thoroughly incomprehensible and puzzling fact in the otherwise well-ordered bee State, if itwere not to be regarded as a legacy from the formerly wild anduncultivated condition of the bees, in which each bee colony livedindependently, and partly because of this, partly because of the manydangers threatening the drones on their flight, a very great number ofthese was requisite for the secure attainment of the object of theirexistence; to-day, when as a rule many hives stand close together,and the care and providence of men ward off dangers, so large anumber of drones no longer seems necessary."This mistake of nature, however, is corrected by theworkers, and on the approach of autumn-"the famous massacre of the drones takes place, in which the malearistocracy of the State is offered up for the common good, withoutregard to close family ties between them and the workers."412 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Before the discovery of spermaceti, wax procuredfrom the hive of the bee was a most important article ofcommerce. Jack Cade refers to its use in sealing lettersand documents:-"They say the bee stings, but a say ' tis the bees' wax; for Idid but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since. "(2 Henry VI., iv. 2, 88.)Imogen makes fond delay over a letter from Leonatus:-" Good wax, thy leave. Blest beYou bees that make these locks of counsel.And men in dangerous bonds pray not alike:Though forfeiters you cast in prison, yetYou clasp young Cupid's tables."Lovers(Cymbeline, iii. 2, 35.)The number of candles required for the variousreligious services must have been considerable. Waxmust have therefore been in great demand, though tallowcandles were probably generally used for household purposes. According to Marlowe, wax was put to another use.Describing how Hero held aloft a flaming torch to guideher lover in his perilous passage, he writes: -"Sweet torch, true glass of our society!What man does good, but he consumes thereby?But thou wert loved for good, held high, given show;Poor virtue loathed for good, obscured , held low:Do good, be pined, be deedless good, disgraced;Unless we feed on men, we let them fast.Yet Hero with these thoughts her torch did spend:When bees make wax, nature doth not intendIt should be made a torch; but we, that knowThe proper virtue of it, make it so,And when ' tis made, we light it. "(Hero and Leander, 6th sestiad. )Shakspeare illustrates by the same comparison the ideathat virtue is wasted that is not diffused:-"Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,Not light them for themselves; for if our virtuesThe Humble-bee.Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alikeAs if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd But to fine issues."(Measure for Measure, i. 1 , 33.)413Honey was used in England in the manufacture of ale,and by the Scandinavians in the production of mead,their favourite beverage. It is said that the word honeymoon had its origin in the northern custom of drinkinghoney-wine, hydromel, for thirty days after marriage.The humble-bee is noticed more than once by Shakspeare. Titania bids her fairy train be kind and courteousto her hairy love:-"Feed him with aprico*cks and dewberries,With purple grapes, green figs , and mulberries;The honey-bags steal from the humble- bees,And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs."(Midsummer Night's Dream, iii . 1 , 168.)Bottom accordingly sends one of his attendant sprites onthe following errand:--" Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get you your weapons in yourhand, and kill me a red- hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle;and good mounsieur, bring me the honey- bag. Do not fret yourself toomuch in the action, mounsieur; and, good mounsieur, have a care thehoney-bag break not; I would be loath to have you overflown with ahoney-bag, signior. " (iv. 1, 10.)John Day wrote an allegorical masque, The Parliamentof Bees, which was printed about the year 1607. Mr.A. H. Bullen, who, in 1881, edited the works of Day, isenthusiastic in his admiration of this composition." The Parliament of Bees," he writes, " assuredly deserved to havebeen acted; for a daintier sample of exquisite workmanship in thisform of writing could hardly be found. .. But hear Charles Lamb,the truest and subtlest of all critics:-' The doings,The births, the wars, the wooings,of these pretty little winged creatures are with continued livelinessportrayed throughout the whole of this curious old drama, in words1%414 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.which bees would talk with, could they talk; the very air seemsreplete with humming and buzzing melodies while we read them .Surely bees were never so be-rhymed before."" (Day's Works, part i.introduction, p. 28.)In this work Day brings a serious charge against the humble-bee:-"A bill preferd against a publique wrong,The surly humble bee, who hath too longLiv'd like an out-law and will neither payMoney nor waxe, do service nor obey;But like a fellon , coucht under a weed,Watches advantage to make boot and feedUpon the top-branch blossomes, and by stealthMakes dangerous inroads on your common-wealth;Robs the day-labourer of his golden prizeWasp.And sends him weeping home with emptie thighes .Thus, like a theefe, he flies ore hill and downeAnd out- law-like doth challenge as his owneYour highnes due; nay, pyratick detainesThe waxen fleet sailing upon your plaines."66The Wasp is next arraigned:--Speaker. A bill preferd against the waspe; a flieWho merchant-like under pretence to buyMakes bold to borrow, and paies too.Prorex. But when?Speaker. Why, ad kalendas Græcas; never then.""The wasp," writes Topsell, "is a kinde of insect, that is swift,living in routs and companies together, having somewhat a long bodyencircled, with four membranous wings (whereof the two former arethe greatest), without bloud, stinged inwardly, having also six feet,and a yellow colour, somewhat glistering like gold, garnished withdivers black spots all over the body in form of a triangle."Topsell seems to have made an exception in favour ofthe wasp, and to have endeavoured to test by personalobservation the truth of the information he imparts:-" I think that all the whole pack of them have stings in general,although I am not ignorant that some authors hold the contrary,affirming that the breeding female wasps do want them: but thusEnemies of the Bee. 415much I can say of my own knowledge, that on a time finding a waspsnest, and killing them every one by pouring hot scalding liquor intotheir holes, because I would bolt out the truth, I plainly perceived bylong viewing of their bodies, that there was not one of them all buthad a sting, either thrust out evidently, or closely and secretly keptand covered. "Shakspeare has several references to the irritabletemper of this insect. Brutus refuses to crouch under thetesty humour of Cassius, and declares:-" I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,When you are waspish."(Julius Cæsar, iv. 3, 48.)Wasps as well as bees like honey, and as they do notcollect it for themselves, they are under the painfulnecessity of robbing their more industrious connexions,and frequently commit " flat burglary " in order to obtainthis delicacy. Julia, having torn to shreds her lover'sletter, thus chides herself for her o'erhasty action:—"O hateful hands, to tear such loving words!Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honeyAnd kill the bees that yield it, with your stings!I'll kiss each several paper for amends."(Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2, 105.)Shakspeare has no mention of the Hornet, anothermarauder on the treasure-house of the poorbees. Ofthis formidable intruder, Day writes:" There's the strange hornet, who doth ever weareA scalie armor and a double speareCoucht in his front: rifles the merchants packsUpon the Rhode; your honey and your waxeHornet.He doth by stealth transport to some strange shoare,Makes rich their hives and keeps your own groves poor."(Parliament of Bees.)There was a notion, derived from antiquity, that beeswere bred from the carcase of a bull, and wasps andhornets from that of a horse. For much etymological1416 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.and antiquarian information respecting all these insectsthe reader curious in such matters is referred to Topsell'sHistory of Serpents.Fly.Muffett, in his Theater of Insects, mentions, and givesillustrations of, the following varieties of Fly:the Flesh-fly, or Blue- bottle, a frequenter ofbutchers' stalls; the Dog-fly; the Oxe-fly, or Tabanus;the Horse-fly, or Brees, called in Latin asilum; theWhane, Burrel-fly, or Wringle-tail, a fly like a bee, butwith a longer body; Hair-tails, or Bristle-tails, whichfeed on smaller flies and caterpillars (ichneumons);Adders, Boults, Dragon-flies, or Water- butterflies; theWater-fly, whereof the caddis, or cados-worme; and theTipula, or Crane-fly.We find several of these kinds alluded to by Shakspeare. Ferdinand protests that but for the love ofMiranda, he would-"No more endureThis wooden slavery than to sufferThe flesh-fly blow my mouth."(Tempest, iii. 1, 61.)Doll Tearsheet applies the epithet " blue-bottle rogue " tothe beadle, probably in allusion to the colour of hisuniform.The Horse-fly of Muffett was probably the gad-fly, socalled from the Saxon word gad, a sharp point or goad.This winged torment was, according to the classicalmyth, the instrument chosen by Juno to revenge herselfupon her rival Ino. We read in the Georgics of Virgil: —"Alburnus, an abundant winged thing,Of which Asilus is the Latin name;Greeks have it Estros rendered in their tongue;Fierce, buzzing, shrill; at which all panic- struckThroughout the woods in all directions flyThe herds: storms gather, with their roars convulsed,And dry Tanager's forests and his banks.The Gad-fly.With this dire creature erst her frightful wrathDid Juno wreak, when she designed a plagueFor the Inachian heifer."(Book iii. 1. 202, Singleton's trans. )417Nestor says truly that in the ray and brightness ofsummer-"The herd hath more annoyance by the breeseThan by the tiger."(Troilus and Cressida, i. 3, 48.)When Scarus describes the sea-fight between Antonyand Cæsar, he compares the rash and precipitate flightof Cleopatra to the frenzied rush of some terror-strickenherd:—"Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt,—Whom leprosy o'ertake! -i' the midst o' the fight,When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd,Both as the same, or rather ours the elder,The breese upon her, like a cow in JuneHoists sail and flies. "Ben Jonson writes:-(Antony and Cleopatra , iii. 10, 10.)"Gods, you do know it , I can hold no longer,This brize has pricked my patience."(Poetaster, iii. 1.)Bacon writes, " The fly called the gad-fly breedeth ofsomewhat that swimmeth at the top of the water, andis most about ponds " (Natural History, century vii.) .Guillim informs us that-"this fly maketh a great humming noise when he flieth, and of someis called the gad- bee, and of others the dun- fly, brimesey, or horsefly, which in the summer times do grievously vex cattle, having, (asÆlianus saith) a sting both great and stiff." (Display of Heraldry,p. 236.)Topsell recommends, as a remedy for the stings offlies, the fat of a lion dissolved and clarified. This must2 E418 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.have been a somewhat expensive cure; it is, moreover, agreat indignity that the king of beasts should be boileddown to make an ointment for the stings of flies.It is evident by the illustration he gives, that by thehair-tail or bristle-tail Muffett means the Ichneumon fly.Though he would probably have been puzzled to givea complete life history of this insect, this author is quitecorrect in stating that it feeds on smaller flies and caterpillars. A curious instance of how easily an insufficientobservation of natural phenomena may lead to a conclusion exactly opposed to the true state of things, occurs inLeigh's Natural History of Lancashire (p. 149) . Thewriter here imagines the small ichneumon grubs to bethe young of the caterpillar. He says:-The caterpillar deposites her eggs in cotton, in the clefts of trees,which are enliven'd by the influence of the sun, at a proper season ofthe year; I do think she is destroy'd by her young ones, which creepwithin her to suck, for I have sometimes found them creeping uponcabbages, with twenty young ones within them, and sometimes deadwith these within their bodies; they enter them at little orifices likenipples, on either side of the belly, and sometimes creep so far as to bescarce discernible, but most commonly one half of them hangs out,The possum in the West Indies is said after the same manner toconvey and nourish its young ones, . . . so various are the methodswhich different creatures have for the preservation of their species."After this remarkable conclusion the author sagelyobserves:-"Thus we croud our heads with unnecessary and false ideas ofthings, and neglect the most useful part of learning, which is a trueknowledge of the properties of bodies, so far as we can attain to it byexperimental learning." (Page 169.)Those who have reared butterflies and moths knowtotheir cost that caterpillars are frequently destroyed byichneumon grubs; but these objectionable parasites mustin common justice be acquitted of " a wrong somethingunfilial."The Caddis-fly.419The Water-fly is alluded to by Shakspeare as denotinglight- hearted, empty-headed vanity. Hamlet, on Osric'sentrance, asks of Horatio, " Dost know this water-fly? "Muffett writes of the Caddis-fly, the frequenter ofpools and streams: -66 Phryganide comes from the little worm phryganium (which inEnglish is called cados worm) , living in the waters, and in the monthof August ascending to the top or superficies of the waters; it hathfour wings of a brown colour, the body somewhat long, having twoshort horns, the tail forked, or rather bristles coming out of the tail.The form or figure of this fly is various, in regard of the great varietyof those little cados worms whereof they come." (Page 943.)Izaak Walton mentions several kinds of caddis, orcase-worms, but is ignorant of what sort of flies they turninto. His only interest in them, as in almost every otherliving organism, is whether or not they can be used " tobait fish withal. "The tipula, called in English the Crane-fly, is thusdescribed by Muffett:-"Ofthese flies are four sorts. The first species hath long shankslike a wood spider, the body almost ovall of a whitish ash colour, silverwings, black eyes sticking out, with two very short horns, the tailpointed or piked. It flies (much like the ostrich ) hopping with thefeet, sometimes it flies in the air but not far nor long. So greedy afterthe light, that it oftentimes is burnt in the candle. In autumn it isfrequently seen in pastures and meadowes. This of the male kinde.The female is almost alike, but somewhat more black, the end of thetail as it were bitten off; these are called in English shepherds, inLatin opiliones, because they are most often seen where sheep use tofeed. The second sort of tipula hath a great head, eyes standing out,four small horns, the body pleasantly various with the colours yellowand black interchangeably mixt. The third is almost like unto this,saving that the body being all yellow, is better set out with six or sevenblack spots; both the male and female have a three forked tail . Thefourth species is very rare and curious, the head and especially themouth forked, the shoulders swelling , the feet shorter, the body twiceas thick as the rest; the back black, the belly and sides yellow, thetail black and picked." (Page 943.)420 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.While Titania sleeps, her attendant fairies warn offfrom her elfin bower all hurtful intruders:-"Weaving spiders, come not here;Hence you, long-legg'd spinners, hence!Beetles black, approach not near;Worm nor snail , do no offence."(Midsummer Night's Dream, ii . 2, 21.)Mercutio thus describes Queen Mab's equipage:-" Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners ' legs,The cover of the wings of grasshoppers ,The traces of the smallest spider's web."(Romeo and Juliet, i. 4, 59.)The word spinner is generally explained by annotatorsto mean spider, but it seems probable that in both theseinstances the crane-fly or daddy- long-legs is referred to.There is a want of imagination in repeating, even underanother name, the same creature in the very next line.Ben Jonson writes, " Walk as if thou hadst borrowedlegs of a spinner and voice of a cricket " (BartholomewFair, i. 1) . And again, in the same scene: " Quar. Goodfaith, he looks, methinks, and you mark him, like onethat were made to catch flies, with his Sir Cranion-legs."Drayton, however, gives this appellation to a fly: -" Four nimble gnats the horses were,Their harnesses of gossamere,Fly Cranion, her charioteerUpon the coach- box getting. "(Nymphidia.)Mr. Patterson notices, but does not explain, the curiouscomparison in Henry V. (v. 2, 434): —“ Maids, well summered and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and then they willendure handling, which before would not abide looking on. "He imagines this allusion to have reference to some forgotten legend, some ancient superstition. By the end ofThe Musquito.421August, especially if the season be wet, flies seek theshelter of houses in great numbers, and become drowsyand semi-torpid, or, as children call them, tame."The small grey- coated Gnat " is often mentioned byShakspeare. He refers to its habit of dancing,as it were, in the sunbeams:"When the sun shines let foolish gnats make sport,But creep in crannies when he hides his beams."Gnat.(Comedy of Errors, ii. 2, 30.)" The common people swarm like summer flies;And whither fly the gnats but to the sun? "(3 Henry VI. , ii. 6, 8.)This troublesome little insect was evidently commonin England, and precautions were taken against itsattacks. We find in an inventory of the goods of theabbey of Sawtre, taken in 1537, among other articles offurniture of the " new chamber-the bedstedd with a netfor knattes " (Archæologia, xliii . p. 240). This abbey wasfounded by Simon, Earl of Northampton, in 1146, and wasdismantled by Henry VIII.Muffett quotes from Stow, the chronicler, a strangeaccount of a battle between two giant armies of gnats,observed between the monasteries of Sion and Shene inEngland; such multitudes of these insects gathered tothe fray, that the light of the sun was darkened.The larger and more venomous gnat, known as theMusquito, is mentioned by Henry Hawks, in a descriptionof New Spain, in the year 1572:-"This towne [ Vera Cruz] is inclined to many kinde of diseases, byreason of the great heat, and a certaine gnat or flie which they call amusquito, which biteth both men and women in their sleepe; and assoone as they are bitten, incontinently the flesh swelleth as thoughthey had bene bitten with some venimous worme. And this musquitoor gnat doth most follow such as are newly come into the countrey.Many there are that die of this annoyance. " (Hakluyt, vol. iii.p. 549.)422 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Miles Philips, another explorer, relates his adventures ona voyage to the West Indies, in 1568. He writes:-" We were also , oftentimes, greatly annoyed with a kind of flywhich in the Indian tongue is called tequani, and the Spaniards callthem musketas. There are also in the said country, a number of otherflies, but none so noisome as these tequanies be. You shall hardly seethem they be so small; for they are scarce so big as a gnat. Theywill suck one's blood marvellously, and if you kill them while theyare sucking, they are so venomous that the place will swell extremelyeven as one that is stung with a wasp or bee: but if you let them sucktheir fill and go away of themselves, they do you no other hurt, butleave behind them a red spot somewhat bigger than a flea-biting.”(Hakluyt's Voyages, rep. Arber's English Garner, vol. v. p. 276. )The writer of this account met with adversaries morecruel and bloodthirsty than the dreaded mosquito. Heand his companions were put ashore by Sir John Hawkins,on account of the failure of provisions. A short timeafter they landed they were seized by Spaniards, takento Mexico, and handed over to the mercy of the Inquisition . After about fifteen years of misery and servitude, Philips contrived to make his escape and to returnto England."There is a differency between a grub and a Butterfly; yet yourbutterfly was a grub. This Marcius is grown from man Butterfly. to dragon: he has wings; he's more than a creepingthing." (Coriolanus, v. 4, 10.)The transformations of the butterfly were imperfectlyunderstood. Topsell describes several species of caterpillars, in language so quaint as well to repay perusal,but a short extract must here suffice. He writes:-"If I should goe about to describe and set downe all the differencesand varieties of caterpillers, I might perhaps undertake an endlesse andtedious labour. I thinke it therefore fittest to bend my slender skill,and to imploy my best forces, in speaking of such as are more notableand common with us in this country. For some of them in touchingare rough, hard, and stiffe; and other- some againe, are soft, smooth,and very tender. Some are horned, either in the head or in the tayle,The Butterfly.423and againe, others have no hornes at all, some have many feete, andsome fewer, and none at all have above sixteen feete. Most of themhave a bending swift pace, and like unto waves, and others againekeepe on their way very plainely, softly, by little and little , and without any great haste. Some change their skinnes yeerely, others againethere be that neither change nor cast their old dry skinnes, but keepethem still. Some of them, ceasing altogether from any motion, andgiving over to eate any thing at all, are transformed very strangelyinto a kind of vermin or worms, who beeing covered with a hard crustor shell, lye as it were dead all the winter; and from these come in thebeginning of hot weather, our usuall butter-flyes." (Book 3, p. 104. )The opinions held by Bacon on the subject of insecttransformations were somewhat vague. He writes:-"The caterpillar is one of the most general of wormes, and breedethof dew and leaves: for we see infinite number of caterpillars whichbreed upon trees and hedges by which the leaves of the trees orhedges are in great part consumed, as well by their breeding out ofthe leaf as by their feeding upon the leaf. . . . Greatest caterpillars breed on cabbages which have a fat leaf, and are apt toputrefy. The caterpillar towards the end of summer waxethvolatile and turneth to a butterfly or perhaps some other fly. " (Nat.Hist. , century viii.)The entomologist will find some amusing readingconcerning caterpillars and their ways in Izaak Walton'sComplete Angler (part i. ch. 5).Shakspeare uses this guest of summer as a mostappropriate comparison to " translate the stubbornness offortune:"""What the declined isHe shall as soon read in the eyes of othersAs feel in his own fall; for men, like butterflies,Show not their mealy wings but to the summer."(Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3, 76.)Valeria tries to console Virgilia for her husband'sabsence by speaking in flattering terms of youngMarcius:-"O' my word, the father's son: I'll swear, ' tis a very pretty boy.O' my troth , I looked upon him o' Wednesday half an hour together:424 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.has such a confirmed countenance. I saw him run after a gildedbutterfly; and when he caught it, he let it go again; and after itagain; and over and over he comes, and up again; catched it again;or whether his fall enraged him, or how 'twas, he did so set histeeth and tear it; O, I warrant, how he mammocked it!Volumnia. One on ' s father's moods." (Coriolanus, i. 3, 62.)Truly, " his father's son! " At the close of the playthis childish episode is enacted on a larger scale.Coriolanus hotly pursues a painted glory; checked inhis career and enraged by his fall, he would tear topieces, in like ruthless fashion, the city he had professedto love.Muffett divides butterflies into day-butterflies andnight-butterflies, or phalens. He gives illustrations anddescriptions of several kinds, and is evidently at a loss tofind words in which to paint their varied hues. Henotices the occurrence of one of those blood showers thatare frequently mentioned by medieval writers, and whichwere always held to foretell misfortune."In the year 1553," he writes, " as Sleidanus reports, a little beforethe death of Mauritius, the duke of Saxony, an infinite army ofbutterflies flew through great part of Germany, and did infect thegrasse, herbs, houses and garments of men with bloudy drops, asthough it had rained bloud. ” ( Page 974.)The word Moth generally implies some very smallinsect, and was probably not given to thelarger species of night-butterflies. Muffett Moth.writes:-"Moreover there are found in houses a certain sort of little silvercoloured phalens marked with black spots, which fly to the candlescalled mothes in English, which eat linnen and woollen clothes, andlay eggs, of which come moths, and of the moths again these phalens;they are said to come first of all from rose leaves and other herbsputrefying." (Page 966.)Shakspeare gives the name Moth to one of the littlefairies attendant on Titania, and to the young page ofCanker or Grub. 425Armado. The destructive propensities of these smallinsects are referred to by Valeria:-" You would be another Penelope: yet, they say, all the yarn shespun in Ulysses, absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths." (Coriolanus,i. 3, 92.)Ben Jonson writes:-"But greatness hath his cankers. Worms and mothsBreed out of too much humour, in the thingsWhich after they consume, transferring quiteThe substance of their makers into themselves."(Sejanus, iii. 3.)By medieval writers the words caterpillar, worm, andcanker were used synonymously, as denoting the grubstage of any insect. Viola relates in a few pathetic wordsthe history of many a lovelorn damsel:-"She never told her loveBut let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,Feed on her damask cheek. "(Twelfth Night, ii . 4, 114.)Proteus makes use of a similar comparison:-" Yet writers say, as in the sweetest budThe eating canker dwells, so eating love Inhabits in the finest wits of all."Valentine thus adroitly turns this image against thespeaker:--"And writers say, as the most forward budIs eaten by the canker ere it blow,Even so by love the young and tender witIs turn'd to folly, blasting in the bud,Losing his verdure even in the prime,And all the fair effects of future hopes."Chester writes: -(Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1.)"Of wormes are divers sorts and divers names,Some feeding on hard timber, some on trees,426 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Some in the earth a secret cabbine frames,Some live on tops of ashes, some on olives;Some of a red watrish colour, some of green,And some within the night like fire are seen. "(Love's Martyr, p. 116.)"It was formerly a very prevalent idea," writes Mr. ThisteltonDyer," and one, too , not confined to our own country—that toothache was caused by a little worm, having the form of an eel, whichgradually gnawed a hole in the tooth. This notion is still to be metwith in Germany, and is mentioned by Thorpe in his NorthernMythology (vol. iii . p. 167) . Shakspeare, in Much Ado about Nothing(ii . 2), speaks of this curious belief:-" D. Pedro. What! sigh for the toothache?Leon. Where is but a humour or a worm. ""(English Folk-Lore, 1878, p. 155.)In this passage . Mr. Dyer implies that this superstition has died out in England; but only recently a ladywho read his work remarked, " It is quite true thattoothache does come sometimes from a worm: if youmake a person who has this pain inhale boiling wateryou may see the little worms drop out . I should havethought," she concluded, " that a clever man like Mr.Dyer would have known better. "We come next toSilkworm."The Silkeworme by whose webbe our silkes are made,For she doth dayly labour with her weaving,A worme that's rich and precious in her trade,That whilst poore soule she toyleth in her spinningLeaves nothing in her belly but empty aire,And toyling too much falleth to despaire."(CHESTER, Love's Martyr, p. 116.)The fabric manufactured from the produce of thesilkworm was introduced into Europe from China asearly as the sixth century. Silk, interwoven with threadsof gold or silver, was known as baudekyn, or cloth ofBaldeck or Babylon, from whence it was supposed tocome. The religious persecutions in France, during theIntroduction of Silkworms.427reigns of Elizabeth and James, induced many silkweavers to leave that country and to bring their familiesand their trade to England. In the Harleian Miscellany(vol. ii . p. 218) , there is a reprint of some instructions,published in 1609, for planting mulberry-trees in all theEnglish counties, together with a letter from KingJames I. to the lord lieutenants of the various shires,commanding each of them to buy and distribute tenthousand mulberry plants, at the rate of three farthingsthe plant, or six shillings the hundred. For those whofound the process of planting inconvenient, a goodquantity of mulberry seeds were to be distributed, alsoat a cheap rate, with complete instructions as to breedingand rearing the silkworms. This appears to have beenthe first attempt on an extensive scale to introduce thismanufacture into England, but some few private individuals had already imported both trees and insects.Shakspeare has many references to the use of silk incostume. He is guilty of a slight anachronism inmentioning this fabric as worn by the ancient Britons atthe time of Augustus Cæsar:-"O, this lifeIs nobler than attending for a check,Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk. "(Cymbeline, iii. 3, 21.)When Othello demands from Desdemona the handkerchief,his first gift of love, he declares that it is endowed withsupernatural virtues:-66""Tis true: there's magic in the web of it:A sibyl, that had number'd in the worldThe sun to course two hundred compasses,In her prophetic fury sew'd the work;The worms were hallow'd that did breed the silk;And it was dyed in mummy which the skilful Conserved of maidens' hearts."(Othello, iii. 4, 69.)428 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Du Bartas (p. 46) falls into the error of transformingthe silkworm into a fly:-"Yet may I not that little worm pass by,Of fly turn'd worm, and of a worm a fly:Two births, 2 deaths, heer nature hath assign'd her,Leaving a post-hume (dead-live) seed behind her,Which soon transforms the fresh and tender leavesOf Thisbes pale tree, to those slender sheaves(On ovall clews) of soft, smooth, silken flakes,Which more for us, than for her self, she makes.O precious fleece! which onely did adornThe sacred loyns of princes heretoforn:But our proud age, with prodigall abuse,Hath so profan'd th' old honourable use,That shifters now, who scarce have bread to eat,Disdain plain silk, unless it be besetWith one of those deer metals, whose desireBurns greedy soules with an immortall fire. ”"The Spider," says Guillim prettily, " is born free ofthe weaver's company." Batman writes:—Spider."The spinner is a little creeping beast with manyfeet and hath alwaye feet even, and not odde, and among beasts ofrounde bodyes the spinner hath best feeling of touch. "Quoting Aristotle, he says that spiders are of manykinds, some small and of divers colours, sharp and swiftof moving, some black in colour, whose hind legs arelonger than the rest. He here refers to the huntingspecies. After his discourse on spiders, drawn entirelyfrom classical sources, he concludes his remarks with amost uncomplimentary suggestion: -"Besides this large discourse of spiders, it hath beene reported,that in Ireland be many spiders, and some verye great, and that beingeaten of the Irishmen, have not performed any shewe of venime: itmay be that the greater poyson subdueth the lesse. " (Batman upponBartholome, 1582, p. 347.)Some foreign species of spiders are mentioned bytravellers. In an account of the West Indies written toCharles V. of Spain, 1525, Oviedo remarks:-The Tarantula. 429"There are also spiders of marveilous bignesse, and I have seenesome with bodies and legges bigger than a mans hand extended everyway, and I once saw one of such bignesse, that onely her body was asbigge as a sparrow, and full of that laune whereof they make theirwebbes this was of a darke russet colour, with eyes greater then theeyes of a sparrow, they are venemous, and of terrible shape to behold. "(Purchas, vol. ii. p. 970.)Shakspeare speaks of the spider as poisonous: -"But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom,And heavy-gaited toads lie in their way. ”(Richard II. , iii . 2 , 14.)In Edward III. (iii. 1) , a play either written by Shakspeare or by some most successful imitator, we find thesame idea:-"Dare he already crop the flower-de- luce?I hope, the honey being gather'd thence,He, with the spider, afterward approach'd,Shall suck forth deadly venom from the leaves. "In the following passage it would seem that theinjury inflicted by the spider was more imaginary than real:-"There may be in the cupA spider steep'd, and one may drink, depart,And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge Is not infected: but if one presentThe abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make knownHow he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider."(Winter's Tale, ii. 1 , 39.)The belief in the spider's venomous properties was atthis time universal. At the trial of the Countess ofEssex for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury it cameout, in course of the examination, that the lady hadprocured from one of the witnesses seven large spiders,as the strongest poison that could be obtained.We find in early writings many references to astrange disease called tarantismus. People infected with430 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.this malady were supposed to have been bitten by avenomous spider, which was found chiefly in the vicinityof the city of Taranto in Apulia. Topsell writes:—"If the speckled phalangie of Apulia, which is usually known bythe name of tarantula, do bite any one, there will follow divers andcontrary accidents and symptomes, according to the various constitutions, different complexion, and disposition of the party wounded.For after they are hurt by the tarantula, you shall see some of themlaugh, others contrariwise to weep, some will clatter out of measure,so that you shall never get them to hold their tongues, and othersomeagain you shall observe to be as mute as fishes: this man sleepethcontinually, and another cannot be brought to rest at all, but runnethup and down, raging and raving like a mad man. . . . With othersagain you shall have nothing but sadnesse, and heavinesse of minde,brown-studies, unaptnesse to do any thing, as if one were astonyed.. . . But let them be affected either with this or that passion, yet thisis common to them all, as well to one as to another, that they aregenerally delighted with musical instruments, and at their sound ornoise will so trip it on the toes dancer-like, applying both theirmindes and bodies to dancing and frisking up and down, that duringthe time of any musical harmony, they will never leave moving theirmembers and limbs, like a jackanapes that cannot stand still . " (Page772, ed. 1658.)The dances and songs composed as a remedy for thismalady were called tarantella. According to Muffett,this poisonous spider was of a light brown colour, withdark spots, with short thick, hairy, legs.Muffett has much to say on behalf of the "tame orhouse spider," and draws many a moral from its industrious ways and parental affection:-"Aristotle the greatest diver into Nature, saith that this is themost magnificent, and wisest of all insects. And Solomon himself, atwhose wisdome all the world admired, amongst those four animalsthat exceed philosophers for their knowledge, reckons up the spider,dwelling as he saith in kings palaces, and weaving webs that mancannot do the like. . . . I know not whether I were best commendthe spider for the gifts of her minde, as wisdom , justice, valour,temperance, humanity, love of poverty, love of works, sufficiency,cunning, cleanlinesse, and her other vertues; or else her admirable artand skill in weaving her webs. " (Theater of Insects, p. 1065.)aA Cure for Ague.431According to Lyly, the bee was impervious to theattacks of the spider, and might enter its web withimpunity; "though the spider poyson the fly, shee cannotinfect the bee " (Euphues, p. 35) . The belief that aguecould be cured by wearing a spider hung round the neckin a nutshell has been called an " old wives' fable,"but Robert Burton, while he admits that he was indebted to his mother for his knowledge of this remedy,yet, in apparent seriousness, endorses her belief in itsefficacy himself, and supports it by quotations from otherlearned authors:-" I first observed this amulet of a spider in a nut- shell lapped insilke, &c. , so applied for an ague by my mother: whom although Iknew to have excellent skill in chirurgery, sore eyes, aches, &c. , andsuch experimental medicines, as all the country where she dwelt canwitness, to have done many famous and good cures upon divers poorfolks, that were destitute of help-yet, among all other experiments,this methought was most absurd and ridiculous: I could see nowarrant for it. Quid araneæ cumfebre? For what antipathy? Tillat length, dabbling amongst authors, as often I do, I found this verymedicine in Dioscorides, approved by Matthiolus, repeated by Aldrovandus, cap. de aranæ, lib. de insectis. I began to have a betteropinion of it, and to give credit to amulets when I saw it in someparties answer to experiments." (Anatomy of Melancholy, vol. ii .p. 134.)Well may Mr. Harting ask, " When such men are socredulous, how can we wonder at the superstitions of theilliterate? " Spiders were recommended by medievalphysicians for various diseases; among others, for thegout:-Also that knotty whip of God, and mock of all physicians, thegowt, which learned men say can be cured by no remedy, findes helpand cure by a spider layd on, if it be taken at that time when neithersun nor moon shineth, and the hinder legs pulled off, and put into adeers skin, and bound to the pained foot, and left on for some time."So writes Thomas Muffett, "a notable ornament to thecompany of physicians, a man of the most polite and432 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.solid learning, and well experienced in most sciences "(Theater of Insects, p. 1073). The medicinal virtues ofthe spider's web are also referred to by Bottom the weaver:" I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good masterCobweb: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you "(Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 1 , 184).Another use of these little creatures was to provide adainty repast for the small monkeys or marmosets, thefavourite pets of this period. In Ben Jonson's Staple ofNews (ii . 1 ) , Almanack says of old Penny Boy, as a skitupon his penuriousness, that he66 Sweeps down no cobwebs here,But sells them for cut fingers; and the spiders,As creatures reared of dust, and cost him nothing,To fat old ladies' monkeys."Mr. Patterson points that though Shakspeare hastwice mentioned the silvery threads of gossamer, it isnot in connexion with the little being from whom itoriginates, and with which he was probably unacquainted:"A lover may bestride the gossamer,That idles in the wanton summer air,And yet not fall: so light is vanity. ”(Romeo and Juliet, ii. 6, 18.)The " lash of film," wielded by Queen Mab's coachman, was in all probability composed of this delicatematerial.Sir Thomas Herbert, in the account of his travels,begun in the year 1626, gives a descriptionof the Scorpions in Cashan, a city in Persia:-Scorpion."But which rages there in no less violence is scorpio; not that in theZodiak, but real scorpions which in numbers engender here. A littleserpent of a finger long, which makes me marvel at Cedrenus, whosays there are scorpions 2 cubits long in the Brachmans countrey, i.e.India, like but less than our cray-fish; and is the onely creature thatstings with his tail, some flyes excepted . Of great terrour is thesting; and so inflaming as with their invenomed arrow some die, fewThe Scorpion.433avoid madness, at least for a whole day; the sting proving mostdangerous when the season is hottest, which is when the Dog- starrages; .. the execration is, May a scorpion of Cashan sting thee.But which is more remarkable, and agreeable to what Pliny in hisNatural History reports of the scorpions in Mesopotamia; they say,and we found it true; some of them creeping into our rugs as weslept, they seldom or never hurt a stranger." (Travels, p. 222.)Ben Jonson is also indebted to Pliny for his knowledge of the existence of an antidote to this creature'ssting:-" Tiberius. I have heard that aconite,Being timely taken, hath a healing mightAgainst the scorpion's stroke; the proof we'll give:That, while two poisons wrestle, we may live."(Sejanus, iii. 3.)Chester has also some information to impart, drawnfrom a classical source:-"The scorpion hath a deadly stinging taile,Bewitching some with his faire smiling face,But presently with force he doth assaileHis captive praie, and brings him to disgrace:Wherefore ' tis cald of some the flattering worme,That subtilly his foe doth overturne."Orion made his boast the earth should bringOr yeeld no serpent forth but he would kill itWhere presently the scorpion up did spring,For so the onely powers above did will it:Where in the people's presence they did see,Orion stung to death most cruelly. "(Love's Martyr, p. 116.)The scorpion, used metaphorically, meant the mostvirulent poison:-"Macbeth. O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives."(Macbeth, iii. 2, 36.)2 F434 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.CHAPTER XVIII."" Or the legged kind of fishes," writes Harrison, we have not manie,neither have I seene anie more of this sort than thepolypus, called in English the Lobstar, crafish, or crevis,Lobster.and the crab."Harrison here uses the word polypus in its literal signification of many-feet.Nares, in his Glossary, takes notice of the strangeword that Sylvester coins in his translation of Du Bartas,and adds that, though an explanation is wisely given,the omission of this peculiar verb would have been stillbetter:-66"Thou makest rivers the most deafly-deepTo lobstarize (back to their source to creep). "(Divine Weekes and Workes, p. 184.)Pliny observes that lobstersso long as they are secure of any fear and danger, go directlystraight, letting down their horns at length along their sides; . . . butif they be in any fear, up go their hornes straight, and then theycreep byas and go sidelong." (Nat. Hist., book ix. ch. 30.)Du Bartas (p. 43) writes:-"And lobsters floated fearless all the whileAmong the polyps prone to theft and guile."Shakspeare has no mention of the lobster.Crayfish.435Crayfish, according to Harrison, were found plentifully in streams and small rivers. Thomas Crayfish.Hyll, in his Art of Gardening, 1593, quotesfrom Democritus a strange use for these little creatures:ten sea or river crevises are to be put into a coveredvessel full of water, which is to be set out in the sun forten days, the seeds of plants are to be soaked in thismixture for eight days, and afterwards sown; and—"after the yong plants of those seeds be sprung up, they will notonely drive cattle and other small beasts from the eating of them, butall other creeping things from the gnawing of them." (Page 23.)Describing the river Severn and its produce, Draytonwrites:-"The dainty gudgeon, loche, the minnow, and the bleake,Since they but little are, I little need to speakOf them, nor doth it fit me much of those to reck,Which every where are found in every little beck;Nor of the crayfish here, which creeps along my stones,From all the rest alone, whose shell is all his bones."(Polyolbion, song xxvi. )The crevis, or cray-fish, was a favourite dish. It wasgenerally minced fine, and served cold with vinegar,cinnamon, and ginger. Randle Holme gives, as thevarious names under which the crayfish was known, "acrevice, first a spron frey, then a shrimp, then a sprawn,and when it is large then called a crevice. "66 ""Shrimp.Shrimps," writes Muffett, are of two sorts; the one crookbacked, the other strait- backed: the first sort is calledof Frenchmen caramots de la sante, healthful shrimps;because they recover sick and consumed persons; of allother they are most nimble, witty, and skipping, and of best juice. ...There is a great kind of shrimps, which are called prawnes in English ,and crangones by Rondeletius, highly prized in hectick fevers andconsumptions; but the crookbackt shrimp far surpasseth them for thatpurpose." (Healths Improvement, p. 168.)Shakspeare uses the word shrimp to denote some-436 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.thing small and insignificant. The pedant Holofernes, inhis assumed character of Judas, thus announces his attendant, Moth, who plays the part of Hercules:-"Great Hercules is presented by this imp,Whose club kill'd Cerberus, that three-headed canis;And when he was a babe, a child , a shrimp,Thus did he strangle serpents in his manus. "(Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2, 592.)The Countess of Auvergne expresses her astonishmentat the diminutive stature of Talbot, the scourge ofFrance:--"Is this the Talbot, so much fear'd abroadThat with his name the mothers still their babes?I see report is fabulous and false:I thought I should have seen some Hercules,A second Hector, for his grim aspect,And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs.Alas, this is a child, a silly dwarf!It cannot be this weak and writhled shrimpShould strike such terror to his enemies."(1 Henry VI. , ii. 3, 16.)“Crab.—A fish in the sea that hath his head upon his brest, whereofGesner discourseth amply in the fourth booke of hishistory of fishes, having gathered together in one body,all that which the ancients and modernes have said."Crab.So writes the learned commentator on Du Bartas (LearnedSummary, p. 211)."Crabs of the sea," writes Muffett, " be of divers sorts; somesmooth-crusted, and some rough-casted as it were and full of prickles,called Echinometræ: the first sort hath the two formost clawes verybig and long, the other wanteth them. Wherefore as they go sidewise, so these move not themselves but round about like a spiral line. ”(Healths Improvement, p. 150.)Lyly informs us that " the sea crab swimmeth alwayesagainst the streame; " also that "the filthy sow whenshe is sicke, eateth the sea crab, and is immediatelyThe Crab. 437recured " (Euphues, p. 61). He does not tell how thesow contrives to catch the crab.The eccentric motion of the crab is humorouslyalluded to by Webster:-"Like the irregular crab,Which, though't goes backward, thinks that it goes right,Because it goes its own way."(duch*ess ofMalfi, i. 2.)And Hamlet mockingly tells Polonius, " Yourself, sir,should be old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward" (Hamlet, ii . 2, 205) . The method of locomotionadopted by the crab is more correctly described byOviedo, in an account of a soft-bodied species, found inSouth America:-"There are also a strange kinde of crabbes, which come forth ofcertaine holes of the earth, that they [ themselves make: the headand bodie of these make one round thing, much like to the hood of afalcon, having foure feete comming out of the one side, and as manieout of the other; they have also two mouthes, like unto a paire ofsmall pincers, the one bigger then the other; wherewith they bite, butdoe no great hurt, because they are not venemous: their skin and bodieis smooth, and thinne, as is the skinne of a man, saving that it issomewhat harder; their colour is russet, or white, or blew, and walkesidelong; they are verie good to be eaten, in so much that the Christians travailing by the Firme Land, have beene greatly nourished bythem, because they are found in manner everie where: in shape andforme they are much like unto the crabbe which we paint for thesigne Cancer, and like unto those which are found in Spaine and Andalusia in the river Guadalchiber, where it entreth into the sea, and inthe sea coasts there they are sometimes hurtfull, so that they that eateof them dye, but this chanceth onely when they have eaten any venemous thing, or of the venemous apples wherewith the caniball archerspoison their arrowes, whereof I will speak hereafter, and for this causethe Christians take heede how they eate of these crabbes, if they findethem neere unto the said apple trees. " (Purchas, vol. iii. p. 979.)In Purchas's collection also there is an account of avoyage undertaken by George, Earl of Cumberland, inthe year 1594, to the Southern Seas. The earl's chaplain and attendant, Dr. Layfield, who writes a description438 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.of the expedition, tells us that the wild dogs of PortoRico live on crabs. He is careful to guard against anyconfusion between the crustacean and the apple: -"I meane not fruits of trees, but an animal, a living and sensiblecreature, in feeding whereupon, even men finde a delight, not onely acontentednesse. These woods are full of these crabs, in quantitiebigger than ever I saw any sea-crabs in England, and in such multitudes that they have berries [burrows] like conies in English warrens.They are in shape not different from sea-crabs, for ought I could perceive. For I speake not this out of report, but of my owne sensibleexperience, I have seene multitudes of them both here, and at Dominica .The whitest whereof (for some are ugly black) some of our men didcatch, and eate with good liking, and without any harme, that ever Iheard complaint of. " (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1172.)In John Russell's Boke of Nurture, written about theyear 1450, the following quaintly minute instructions aregiven how to dress and carve the crab when served attable:"Crabbe is a slu*tt to kerve and a wrawd [froward] wight;Breke every clawe a sondur, for that is his ryght:In the brode shelle putt youre stuff, but first have a sightThat it be clene from skyn and senow [sinew] or ye begyn to dight.And what [when] ye have piked the stuff owt of every shelleWith the poynt of youre knyfe, loke ye temper it welle,Put vinegre thereto, verdjus, or ayselle,Cast thereon powdur, the better it wille smelle.Send the crabbe to the kychyn there for to hete,Agayn hit facche [ fetch it] to thy soverayne sittynge at mete;Breke the clawes of the crabbe, the smalle and the grete,In a disch them ye lay if hit like your soverayne to ete."(The Babees Book, ed . F. J. Furnivall, 1868, p. 42.)This delicacy, so carefully prepared, must not be mistaken for the favourite supper dish, referred to byPuck:-"And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,In very likeness of a roasted crab,And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale. "(Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1, 47.)The Hermit Crab. 439"To turne a crab, " writes Dr. Drake, " is to roast a wilding or wildapple in the fire for the purpose of being thrown hissing hot into abowl of nut-brown ale, into which had been previously put a toastwith some spice and sugar." (Shakspeare and his Times, 1817, vol. i .p. 105.)In the well- known drinking song which prefaces thesecond act of the old comedy, Gammer Gurton's Needle,first printed in 1551, we read:-"I love no rost, but a nut brown toste,And a crab layde in the fyre;A lytle bread shall do me stead,Much bread I not desyre."The ingenious device employed by the hermit crab inorder to gain a habitation, is described by Du Bartas(p. 42):--"There would I cease save that this hum'rous songThe hermit-fish compels me to prolong.Aman of might that builds him a defence'Gainst weathers rigour and warr's insolence,First dearly buyes (for, what good is good- cheap?)Both the rich matter and rare workmanship:But, without buying timber, lime, and stone,Or hiring men to build his mansion,Or borrowing house, or paying rent therefore,He lodgeth safe: for, finding on the shoareSome handsom shell, whose native lord, of lateWas dispossessed by the doom of fate:Therein he enters, and he takes possessionOf th' empty harbour by the free concessionOfnatures law; who, goods that owner wantAlwaies allots to the first occupant.In this new cace, or in this cradle (rather)He spends his youth: then, growing both togetherIn age and wit, he gets a wider cellWherein at sea his later daies to dwell. "Olaus Magnus gives a quaint account of the Polypus,an early name for what is now known as theoctopus:-Polypus."On the coasts of Norway there is a polypus, or creature with440 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.many feet, which hath a pipe on his back, whereby he puts to sea, andhe moves that sometimes to the right side, sometimes to the left .Moreover, with his legs as if it were by hollow places, dispersed hereand there, and by his toothed nippers, he fastneth on every livingcreature that come near to him, that wants blood. Whatever he eatshe heaps up in the holes wherein he resides: then he casts out theskins, having eaten the flesh, and hunts after fishes that swim tothem also he casts out the shels, and hard out-sides of crabs thatremain. He changeth his colour by the colour of the stone he sticksunto, especially when he is frighted at the sight of his enemy, theconger. He hath four great middle feet, and in all eight; a littlebody, which the great feet make amends for. He hath also some smallfeet that are shadowed, and can scarce be perceived. By these hesustains, moves, and defends himself, and takes hold of what is fromhim; and he lies on his back upon the stones." (Page 232.)Montaigne (Essay liv. ) distinguishes between thepower possessed by the polypus of changing its hue, andthe similar faculty of the chameleon:--"The cameleon takes her colour from the place upon which it islaid; but the polypus gives himself what colour he pleases, accordingto occasion, either to conceal himself from what he fears, or from thathe has a design to seize in the cameleon ' tis a passive, but in thepolypus ' tis an active change."Nautilus.Thomas Stevens, the first Englishman who was knownto have reached India by way of the Cape ofGood Hope, describes in a letter written fromGoa, in the year 1579, an animal that seems to correspond to the Nautilus. Stevens writes:-"Along all that coast we oftentimes saw a thing swimming uponthe water like a co*ck's comb (which they call a Ship of Guinea), butthe colour much fairer, which comb standeth upon a thing almost likethe swimmer [bladder] of a fish in colour and bigness, and beareth under the water, strings, which saveth it from turning over. Thisthing is so poisonous that a man cannot touch it without great peril. "(ARBER'S English Garner, vol. i . p. 131.)The Cuttle-fish is noticed by Du Bartas:-Cuttle-fish."Even so, almost, the many spotted cuttleWell-neer insnared yet escapeth suttle;Cuttle-fish wholesome.For, when she sees her selfe within the net,And no way left, but one from thence to get,She suddenly a certaine ink doth spew,Which dyes the waters of a sable hew;That, dazling so the fishers greedy sight,She through the clouds of the black waters nightMight scape with honour the black streams of Styx,Whereof already, almost lost, she licks. "(Page 41.)441It is hardly necessary to point out the glaring absurdities of which this author is guilty throughout his poemon the Creation. He delights to describe the variousstratagems by which the different creatures escape fromsnares spread for them by another creature not yet calledinto existence.Bacon observes:-"It is somewhat strange that the blood of all beasts and birds andfishes should be of a red colour, and only the blood of the cuttle shouldbe as black as ink. The cuttle," he adds, " is accounted a delicatemeat, and is much in request. "The Calamary, or Squid, often called the Sea-arrow,or Flying-squid , was, and still is, extensively used as abait by the fishermen of Newfoundland. The body ofthe common squid is not unlike an old-fashioned inkhorn, whence the name calamar. Two long, slendertentacles suggest the idea of pens, and ink is supplied bythe creature.66Of the cuttle- fish, Muffett says:-They are called also sleeves for their shape, and scribes for theirincky humour wherewith they are replenished , and are commended byGalen for great nourishers; their skins be as smooth as any womans,but their flesh is brawny as any ploughmans; therefore I fear meGalen rather commended them upon hear-say then upon any justcause or true experience."Sir Thomas Browne writes:-" The loligo sleve, or calamar, found often upon the shore, fromhead to tail sometimes about an ell long, remarkable for its parrot-like442 The Animal- Lore of Shakspeare's Time.bill, the gladiolus or celanus along the back, and the notable crystalline of the eye, which equalleth if not exceedeth, the lustre of orientalpearl." (Vol. iv. p. 332.)Drayton enumerates some of the delicaciesScallop. of the sea-"These nymphs tricked up in tyers, the sea-god to delightOf coral of each kind, the black, the red, the white;With many sundry shells, the Scallop large and fair;The co*ckle small and round, the periwinkle spare;The oyster, wherein of the pearl is found to breed;The mussel, which retains that dainty orient seed."(Polyolbion , song xx.)Of the mollusks here mentioned, the scallop waschiefly valued in early times on account of its form.Pilgrims to Palestine considered themselves sufficientlyequipped for their long journey if they possessed astaff, a wallet, or bag, and scallop or escallop shell.This last article served them as cup, dish, and spoon.The scallop was the special emblem of St. James theGreat, of Compostella, the tutelary saint of Spain, andthe patron of pilgrims, and was adopted as a badge bythese religious travellers. Ophelia sings:-" How should I your true love know From another one?By his co*ckle hat and staff,And his sandal shoon."(Hamlet, iv. 5, 23.)This beautiful shell was borne as a charge by manyfamilies in memory of the real or imaginary exploits oftheir ancestors in-"Streaming the ensign of the Christian CrossAgainst black pagans, Turks, and Saracens.""Canst tell how an Oyster makes his shell? " asksthe Fool of his royal master, and Lear cannotanswer the question.Oyster.Colchester Oysters.443The town of Colchester owed much of its importanceand wealth to its valuable oyster fisheries. Mr. ThomasCromwell, in his History and Description of Colchester,states that-" Richard I. granted to the burgesses the fishery of the river Colne,and the grant was very amply assured and confirmed to them by subsequent charters, especially by that of Edward IV. " (Page 290.)Attempts were repeatedly made by landed proprietors inthe neighbourhood to deprive the burghers of Colchesterof their ancient rights. The first landowner who endeavoured to gain for himself the privilege bestowed on thetown was Lionel De Bradenham, Lord of the Manor ofLanginhoe, who, in the reign of Edward III. , enclosedparts of the river, and appropriated them to his own use.At a later period John, Earl of Oxford, procured a grantfrom Henry VI. of this royalty; but the Corporation,rather than surrender their claim, entered into a contestwith the earl, and, after some opposition, succeeded inobtaining from the king a confirmation of their rights.Colchester oysters have been celebrated from the earliestperiod, and have been deemed a valuable present. Wefind them on several occasions sent both to Leicester andWalsingham in the reign of Elizabeth .The praises of the Colchester oysters are sounded byThomas Fuller:-"The best in England, fat, salt, green- finn'd, are bred near Colchester, where they have an excellent art to feed them in pits madefor the purpose. King James was wont to say, ' he was a very valiantman who first adventured on eating of oysters; ' most probably meerhunger put men first on that trial. " ( Worthies of England, vol. i.p. 336.)We learn, also, from Norden that-"Some part of the sea shore of Essex yealdeth the beste oysters inEngland, which are called Walflete oysters: so called of a place in thesea; but in what place of the sea it is, hath ben some disputation . . . .444 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Ther is greate difference between these oysters and others which lieupon other shores, for this oyster, that in London and ells wher carieththe name of Walflete, is a little full oyster with a verie greene fynn.And like unto these in quantitie and qualitie are none in this land,thowgh farr bigger, and for some mens diettes better. " (Descriptionof Essex, 1594, p. 11.)Tom Coryat, the celebrated pedestrian traveller, relateswith great gusto, that, during his stay in Venice, hetasted some oysters that even exceeded in flavour thoseof Colchester:-" Here did I eate the best oysters that ever I did in all my life.They were indeede but little, something lesse then our Wainfleteoysters about London, but as green as a leeke, and gratissimi saporis& succi." (Crudities, vol. ii . p. 18.)Coryat, otherwise known as " the Odcombian legstretcher," or " the Peregrine of Odcome," published hisCrudities in 1611. This book was the result of observations made in five months' travel, mostly on foot, fromhis native place of Odcome, in Somersetshire, through agreat part of Europe. He set out in May, 1608, andreturned the same year. He was much ridiculed bysome of his contemporaries, and commended by others.His chief fault is his intense vanity, and his constantreference to himself; but his descriptions of the varioustowns he visited are minute, and tell of careful observation.Tarlton, the Court jester of Elizabeth's time, passedan unfavourable opinion upon oysters:-"Certaine noblemen and ladies of the Court, being eating of oysters,one of them, seeing Tarlton, called him, and asked him if he lovedoysters. No, quoth Tarlton, for they be ungodly meate, uncharitable meate, and unprofitable meate. Why, quoth the courtiers?They are ungodly, sayes Tarlton, because they are eaten withoutgrace; uncharitable, because they leave nought but the shells; andunprofitable, because they must swim in wine. " (Shakspeare's JestBook, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, vol. ii. p. 192.)Pearls, the product of the oyster, have ever beenPearls. 445highly prized and held in great estimation. Margarite,from the Latin word, margarita, was a name sometimesgiven to the pearl. Drummond of Hawthornden plays onthis word in an epitaph on a lady named Margaret:-"In shells and gold , pearles are not kept alone,A Margaret here lies beneath a stone;A Margaret that did excell in worthAll those rich gems the Indies both send forth. "Antonio de Herrera, of Spain, in his description ofthe West Indies, gives some account of the pearl fisheries:-" There are in the Indian Ocean, an infinite number of fishes, thekindes and properties whereof the Creator onely can declare. Now thatwe intreate of the great riches that comes from the Indies, it were noreason to forget the pearle, which the ancients called marguerites, andat the first were in so great estimation, as none but royall persons weresuffered to weare them: but at this day there is such abundance as theNegres themselves doe weare chaines thereof; they grow in shels ofoystres, in eating whereof I have found pearles in the middest of them.These oysters within are of the colour of heaven, very lively. In someplaces they make spoones, the which they call mother of pearle. Thepearles doe differ much in forme, in bignesse, figure, colour and polishing; so likewise in their price they differ much. Some they call AveMariaes, being like the small grains of beades: others are called PaterNosters, being bigger. Seldome shall you finde two of one greatnesse,forme, and colour. For this reason the Romans (as Plinie writeth)called them unions. When they doe finde two that are alike in allpoints, they raise the price much, especially for eare- rings. " (Purchas,vol. iii. p. 952.)Before Hamlet attempts to win the wager that his unclehas laid upon his skill in fencing, Claudius orders somestoups of wine to be set on the table, and declares that atthe first successful hit-" The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath;And in the cup an union shall he throw,Richer than that which four successive kingsIn Denmark's crown have worn.446 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;Here's to thy health. ”(Hamlet, v. 2, 282.)Shakspeare has many references to this beautiful andvaluable ornament. Antony sends to his Egyptian queena precious gift: Alexas, who bears the offering, reports:-"Last thing he did, dear queen,He kiss'd, the last of many doubled kisses,-This orient pearl. His speech sticks in my heart.Cleo. Mine ear must pluck it thence.Alex. Good friend,' quoth he,' Say, The firm Roman to great Egypt sendsThis treasure of an oyster; at whose foot,To mend the petty present, I will pieceHer opulent throne with kingdoms; all the East,Say thou, shall call her mistress.'(Antony and Cleopatra , i . 5 , 39.)Luke, in Massinger's City Madam, for years a poordependant in his brother's household, suddenly becomespossessed of boundless wealth: he describes in glowinglanguage his newly acquired treasures. Gold and silverlay in glittering heaps about the room, and dazzled hissight bytheir splendour; diamonds shot forth their beamsfrom the caskets that contained them, -"And made the placeHeaven's abstract, or epitome! -rubies, sapphires,And ropes of orient pearl, these seen, I could not But look on with contempt."(City Madam, iii . 3.)The history ofthe oyster, as told by our forefathers, isenlivened by a touch of the marvellous. One WilliamFinch, a merchant, in his description of the coast of SierraLeone, in the year 1607, gravely informs us that theoyster is the fruit of a tree: -" There grow likewise within the bayes great store of oysters ontrees, resembling willowes in forme, but the leafe broad and of thick-Oysters on Trees. 447nesse like leather, wearing small knops like those of the cypresse.From this tree hang downe many branches, each about the bignesse of agood walking sticke into the water, smooth, lithe, pithy within, overdowne with the tide, and hanging as thicke of oysters as they cansticke together, being the only fruit the tree beareth, begotten thereof,as it seemeth, by the salt water." (Purchas, vol. i . p. 416.)We often read of these oyster-bearing trees in the narrations of the Elizabethan travellers. Pigafetta mentionsthe close relation of the shell to the tree, although hedoes not, like the last writer, call it the fruit: -"In that part of this island, which is toward the maine land[ Loanda, off Congo], in certaine low places there grow certaine treeswhich (when the water of the ocean ebbeth) discover themselves, andat the feet thereof you shall find certaine shel-fishes cleaving as fast tothe trees as may bee, having within them a great fish as bigge as a manshand, and very good meate. The people of the countrey know themvery well, and call them ambiziamatare, that is to say, the fish of therocke. The shells of these fishes they use to burne, and they makevery good lime to build withall. And being like the corke or barke ofthe tree, which is called manghi, they dresse their oxehides withall ,to make their shooe soles the stronger. " (Purchas, vol. ii. p. 990.)Mussel.The Mussel, spelt muscle and muskle, was sometimescalled the Conche, or Echeola. Mussels werefound in most of the large rivers and ponds inEngland. The pearl-producing property of these shellswas well known. Antonie Parkhurst, in a letter to RichardHakluyt, mentions, among other commodities of Newfoundland66 oisters and muskles, in which I have found pearles, above 40 inone muskle, and generally all have some, great or small. I heard ofa Portugall that found one worth 300 duckets." (Hakluyt, vol. iii .p. 171.)According to classical writers, pearls were formed bydrops of rain falling into the shells of oysters or mussels;this notion long remained uncontradicted. LawrensAndrews, in his Noble Lyfe, writes:-"Echeola is a muskle in whose fysshe is a precious stone, and be448 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.night they flete to the water syde and there they receyve the hevenlydewe, where-throughe there groweth in them a costly margaret or orientperle, and they flete a great many togeder and he that knoweth thewater best gothe before and ledeth the other, and whan he is taken,all the other scater a brode, and geteth them away." (Babees Book,p. 16.)Muffett has little to say in praise of the Englishmussel as an article of diet, but recommends the " lilywhite mussel " found on the coast of Holland.Snail."Fool. I can tell why a Suail has a house.Lear. Why?Fool. Why, to put his head in; not to give it away to hisdaughters, and leave his horns without a case."(Lear, i. 5, 29.)Shakspeare has many references to the timid garden snail:-"Love's feeling is more soft and sensibleThan are the tender horns of co*ckled snails. "(Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3, 337.)“ Or, as the snail, whose tender horns being hit,Shrinks backward in his shelly cave with pain,And there, all smother'd up, in shade doth sit,Long after fearing to creep forth again."(Venus and Adonis, l. 1033.)Menenius compares the enemy of Rome to this cautiousbut destructive intruder:-""Tis Aufidius,Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment,Thrusts forth his horns again into the world;Which were inshell'd when Marcius stood for Rome,And durst not once peep out."Ben Jonson writes:-(Coriolanus, iv. 6, 43.)"We have no shift of faces, no cleft tongues,No soft and glutinous bodies, that can stickLike snails on painted walls; or, on our breasts,Creep up, to fall from that proud height to whichWe did by slavery, not by service climb. "(Sejanus, i. 1.)Snails eaten Abroad.According to Bacon—449" the creatures that cast their skin are the snake, the viper, the grasshopper, the lizard, the silk-worm, &c. Those that cast their shell arethe lobster, the crab, the craw-fish, the hodmandod, or dodman, thetortoise, &c." (Nat. Hist. , century vii.)This word hodmandod has been explained by some writersto mean the shelled snail.Sir John Mandeville tells of some enormous foreignspecies:-" There ben also in that contree [Siam] a kynde of snayles, thatben so grete that many persones may loggen him in here scelles asmen wolde done in a litylle hous. And other snayles there ben, thatben fully grete, but not so huge as the other." (Travels, p. 193.)Garden snails were used in medicine as a remedy foran inward bruise. They also formed the foundation of ahighly recommended " soothing syrup. " They do notseem to have found favour in England as a delicacy forthe table, but, according to Muffett, they were eaten inother countries."Snailes," he writes, " are little esteemed of us in England, but inBarbarie, Spaine, and Italy they are eaten as a most dainty, wholesome, nourishing and restoring meat." (Healths Improvement, p. 190.)"Pistol. Let us to France; like horse-leeches,my boys:To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck."Leech.(Henry V., ii. 3, 58.)The use of the Leech in surgery dates back to a veryearly period. The life of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, is reported to have been prolonged by means of thisremedy.The soft-bodied marine animal, the sea-anemone, sowell known to visitors to the sea- side, may be the creaturereferred to by Du Bartas (p. 42) in the following lines:—"And so the sponge-spye warily awakesThe sponges dull sense, when repast it takes."2 G450 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.His commentator has a long and involved note on thispassage, but does not succeed in making it quite clearwhat sort of creature is meant. He writes:-"This is a little fish (as Plutarch saith in his treatise of theindustry of living creatures) like unto a spider of the sea. He guardethand governeth the spunge (called properly the hollow animal plant)which is not wholly without soule neither without blood and sence:but (as divers other sea-animals) cleaveth to the rocks, and hath aproper motion to restraine her selfe outwardly; but to effect this, sheehath neede of the advertisem*nt and friendship of another, becausethat (being rare, lither, and soft, by reason of her small vents, andempty for want of bloud, or rather want of sence, which is very dull)shee feeleth not when any good substance fit to be eaten, entreth intothese holes, and void spaces, which the spunge there makes her feele,and incontinently she closeth her selfe, and devoureth it. " (LearnedSummary, p. 224.)"Coral of each kind, the black, the red, the white "(Drayton, Polyolbion, song xx. ), was well Coral. known, though its substance was a sorepuzzle to naturalists. The animal nature of coral wasonly discovered about a hundred and fifty years ago.Bacon says it is a submarine plant:-"It hath no leaves, it brancheth only when it is under water; itis soft and green of colour; but being brought into the air it becomeshard and shining red as we see. It is said also to have a white berry,but we find it not brought over with the coral. " (Nat. Hist. ,cent. viii. )Elsewhere he notes, " Coral is in use as an help to theteeth of children." This use of coral is referred to in apoem by G. Fletcher, called " A Canto upon the Deathof Eliza. " An ocean nymph appeals to the rocks aroundher to join in lamentations for Britain's queen:—"Tell me, ye blushing currols that bunch out,To cloath with beuteous red your ragged fire,So let the sea-greene mosse curle round about,With soft embrace (as creeping vines doe wyreTheir loved elmes) your sides in rosie tyre,Coral and Bells.So let the ruddie vermeyle of your cheekeMake stain'd carnations fresher liveries seeke,451So let your braunched arms grow crooked, smooth, and sleeke."So from your growth late be you rent away,And hung with silver bels and whistles shrill;Unto those children be you given to play,Where blest Eliza raign'd; so never illBetide your canes, nor them with breaking spill,Tell me, if some uncivill hand should teareYour branches hence, and place them otherwhere;Could you still grow, and such fresh crimson ensignes beare?"(NICHOLS, Progresses of James I. , vol. i . p. 17. )Coral was brought back by travellers from warmcountries. One of Purchas's pilgrims, wandering throughBrazil, reports that on the shores of that country they-"find great store of white stone corrall under water; it groweth likesmall trees all in leaves, and canes, as the red corrall of India, and ifthis also were so, there would be great riches in this countrie, for thegreat abundance there is of it; it is very white, it is gotten withdifficulty, they make lime of it also. " (Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1316.)And Sir Richard Hawkins, whose travels in the SouthSeas (1593) are recorded in the same collection, informsus that "the corrall in the sea is soft, but comminginto the ayre, becommeth a stone " (vol. iv. p. 1377) .Shakspeare poetically introduces this beautiful materialinto Ariel's song:-"Full fathom five thy father lies;Of his bones are coral made;Those are pearls that were his eyes:Nothing of him that doth fadeBut doth suffer a sea-changeInto something rich and strange.Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell.Ding-dong.Hark! Now I hear them, -ding-dong bell."(Tempest, i. 2, 396.)452 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.CHAPTER XIX.It may perhaps be thought unnecessary to take anynotice of creatures that had only an imaginary existence;but while the unicorn supports the arms of England, thedragon of St. George is stamped upon the coin of therealm, and a griffin rampant guards the entry to the Cityof London, these mythical animals may surely claim abrief mention.Unicorn."Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens. What were these?Seb. A living drollery. Now I will believeThat there are Unicorns."(Tempest, iii. 3, 20.)Of all fabulous animals the unicorn is the most conspicuous, from the position it holds in the English arms.The unicorn was first adopted as a supporter by James IV.of Scotland, and made its appearance as a supporter ofthe royal shield of England on the accession of James VI.to the English throne, as a token of the alliance betweenthe two countries.The unicorn of the Greeks and Romans was probablyfounded upon some exaggerated description of the onehorned rhinoceros; but the unicorn of the Bible, accordingto Mr. Houghton, had reference to a species of bull. TheHebrew word reem, which denotes a two-horned animal,was the wild bull of the Assyrian monuments, an animalcommon at one time both in Palestine and Syria, and theThe Unicorn. 453Assyrian name for which was rimu (Natural History oftheAncients, 1879, p. 170).The heraldic unicorn has gained his horn, accordingto some authors, from the spike anciently fixed to thehead-piece of a war-horse; but as this does not accountfor the cloven hoofs and slender tufted tail, Mr. Lower(Curiosities of Heraldry, p. 101 ) reverses the inference,and derives the appendage of the charger from thepopular notion of the unicorn. Guillim, whose work onheraldry, published about 1600, is at the same time acyclopædia of natural or unnatural history, gives thefollowing account of this animal: —"The unicorn hath his name of his one horn on his forehead.There is another beast of a huge strength and greatnesse, which hathbut one horn, but that is growing on his snout, whence he is calledrinoceros, and both are named monoceros, or one-horned. It hathbeen much questioned among naturalists, which it is that is properlycalled the unicorn: and some have made doubt whether there be any such beast as this or no. But the great esteem of his horn in manyplaces to be seen may take away that needless scruple. . . . Hisvertue is no less famous than his strength, in that his horn is supposed to be the most powerful antidote against poison: insomuch asthe general conceit is, that the wild beasts of the wilderness use notto drink of the pools, for fear of venomous serpents there breeding,before the unicorn hath stirred it with his horn. . . . It seemeth bya question moved by Farnesius, that the unicorn is never taken alive;and the reason being demanded, it is answered, that the greatness ofhis mind is such, that he chuseth rather to die than to be takenalive. " (Display of Heraldry, p. 163, ed. 1724.)All sorts of myths grew up around this creature'shistory; it was supposed to live in solitude in the woods,and to be of indomitable courage. No man could succeedin approaching it, but if a pure maiden came near itshaunts it would lose its fierceness, lie down at her feet,and suffer itself to be captured. It is to be hoped, however, that few maidens consented so basely to betray theconfidence reposed in them. Some say that a youngman, dressed in female attire, served equally well for the454 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.purpose of alluring the unicorn, but this statement givesthe animal little credit for shrewdness. Topsell writes:-"These beasts are very swift, and their legges have not articles.They keep for the most part in the desarts, and live solitary in thetops of the mountaines. There was nothing more horible then thevoice or braying of it, for the voice is straind above measure. Itfighteth both with the mouth and with the ' heeles, with the mouthbiting like a lyon, and with the heeles kicking like a horse."(Page 719.)Sir Thomas Browne, writing half a century later,doubts the existence of such an animal, in spite of thisprecise account; but he mentions five kinds of onehorned animals-the Indian ass, the Indian ox, therhinoceros, the oryx, and the monoceros or unicornis,which last may have been the narwhal.Thomas Fuller dwells at some length on the vexedquestion of the unicorn's existence, but adds little ofvalue to the controversy. That such a creature lived atone time he considers clearly proved by the mention ofit in Scripture, and as the belief then was that no speciescould be wholly lost, it was clear to Fuller that theunicorn was to be met with somewhere. With regard tothe horn, he writes:-"Some are plain, as that in St. Mark's in Venice; others wreathedabout, as that at Dyonis near Paris, with anfractuous spires, andcocleary turnings about it, which probably is the effect of age, those wreaths being but the wrinkles of most vivacious unicorns. Thesame may be said of the colour, white, when newly taken from hishead; yellow, like that lately in the Tower, of some hundred yearsseniority; but whether or no it will ever turn black, as that ofPlinie's description, let others decide. " (Worthies, vol. ii . p. 54.)The Rev. Edward Topsell visits with true ecclesiasticalscorn those sceptical mortals who refuse to accept thetraditional accounts of the unicorn, and even dare todoubt its existence. After enumerating the differentSceptics refuted.455kinds of animals which are described as having a singlehorn, he adds:-:-"Now our discourse of the unicorne is of none of these beasts, forthere is not any vertue attributed to their hornes, and therefore thevulgar sort of infidell people which scarcely beleeve any hearbe butsuch as they see in their owne gardens, or any beast but such as is intheir own flocks, or any knowledge but such as is bred in their ownebraines, or any birds which are not hatched in their owne nests, havenever made question of these, but of the true unicorne, whereof therewere more proofes in the world, because of the noblenesse of his horn,they have ever bin in doubt: by which distraction, it appeareth untome that there is some secret enemy in the inward degenerate natureof man, which continually blindeth the eies of God his people frombeholding and beleeving the greatnesse of God his workes. But to thepurpose that there is such a beast, the Scripture it selfe witnesseth,for David thus speaketh in the 92. Psalme: Et erigetur cornumeum tanquam monocerotis. That is, My horne shall bee lifted uplike the horne of a unicorn; whereupon all divines that ever wrotehave not onely collected that there is a unicorne, that as the horne of the unicorne is wholesome to all beasts and creatures so should thekingdome of David be in the generation of Christ; and do we thinkthat David would compare the vertue of his kingdom, and the powerful redemption of the world unto a thing that is not, or is uncertainor fantastical, God forbid that ever any man should so despight theHoly Ghost." (Page 712.)The Rev. Mr. Topsell is here so angry that he israther incoherent. The following minute description ofthe unicorn by an eye-witness may serve to justify thisauthor's indignation:-"On the other part of the temple [of Mecha] are parkes or placesinclosed, where are seene two unicornes, named of the Greekesmonocerotœ, and are there shewed to the people for a miracle, and notwithout good reason, for the seldomeness and strange nature. Theone of them, which is much hygher then the other, yet not muchunlike to a coolte of thyrtye moneths of age, in the forehead growethonly one horne, in maner ryght foorth of the length of three cubites;the other is much younger, of the age of one yeere, and lyke a youngcolte; the horne of this, is of the length of foure handfuls. This beast is of the coloure of a horse of weesell coloure, and hath the head lykean hart, but no long necke, a thynne mane hangyng onlye on the one456 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.syde: theyr legges are thyn and slender, lyke a fawne or hynde: thehoofes of the fore feete are divided in two, much like the foot of agoat, the outwarde part of the hynder feete is very full of heare.This beast doubtlesse seemeth wylde and fierce, yet tempereth thatfiercenesse with a certain comelinesse. These unicornes one gave to theSoltan of Mecha, as a most precious and rare gyfte. They were senthym out of Ethiope by a kyng of that countrey, who desired by thatpresent to gratifie the Soltan of Macha. " (Hakluyt, vol. iv. p. 5 62.)This account occurs in a narrative of the travels ofLewes Vertomannus, " Gentelman of the Citie of Rome,in the yeere of our Lorde 1503. Translated out ofLatine into Englyshe, by Richarde Eden, 1576.""The horne of Windsor," referred to by previouswriters, is mentioned also by Shakspearean dramatists asone of the stock curiosities of the time. Paul Hentzner,in his account of a visit to England, in 1598, writes ofWindsor Castle."We were shewn here among other things, the horn of a unicorn,of above eight spans and an half in length, valued at above 10,0007.”(Dodsley's Fugitive Pieces, vol. ii. p. 244.)Topsell gives a minute description of this mostprecious article, which was, in all probability, the hornor tusk of a narwhal." I doe also know," he writes, " that [horn] the King of Englandpossesseth to be wreathed in spires, even as that is accounted in the Church of S. Dennis, then which they suppose none greater in theworld, and I never saw any thing in any creature more worthy praise then this horn. . . . It is of so great a length that the tallest man canscarcely touch the top thereof, for it doth fully equal seven great feet.It weigheth thirteen pounds, with their assize, being only weighed.bythe gesse of the hands it seemeth much heavier. The figure dothplainely signifie a wax candle, being folded and wreathed with it selfe,being farre more thicker from one part, and making it selfe by littleand little lesse towards the point, the thickest part thereof cannot beshut within one hand, it is the compasse of five fingers, by the circum- ference, if it bee measured with a thred, it is three fingers and a span.... That part which is next unto the heade hath not sharpenesse, theother are of a polished smoothnes. The splents of the spire areLion and Unicorn. 457smooth and not deep, being for the most part like unto the wreathingturnings of snailes, or the revolutions or windings of wood-bine aboutany wood. But they proceed from the right hande toward the left,from the beginning of the horne, even unto the very ende. Thecolour is not altogether white, being a long time somewhat obscured.But by the weight it is an easie thinge of conjecture, that this beastwhich can beare so great burden in his head, in the quantity of hisbody can be little less then a great oxe." (Page 717.)Specimens of this curiosity, which are in reality tusksof the narwhal, can be seen in many museums, and twoare at the present time exhibited at Gardner's, in OxfordStreet.Spenser not only takes it for granted that the unicornexists, but describes the mode of warfare adopted by itstime-honoured antagonist, the lion:—" Like as the lyon, whose imperial powreA proud rebellious unicorn defyes,T'avoide the rash assault and wrathfull stowreOf his fiers foe, him to a tree applyes,And when him ronning in full course he spyes,He slips aside; the whiles that furious beastHis precious horne, sought of his enimyes,Strikes in the stroke, ne thence can be released ,But to the victor yields a bounteous feast."(Faerie Queene, ii. v. 10.)Shakspeare refers to this method of defeating theunicorn, which was adopted by his human antagonists, aswell as by the lion: in his tirade against Apemantus,Timon ofAthens exclaims:-" Wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee,and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury." (Timon ofAthens, iv. 3, 337.)And again, Decius declares that Cæsar-"Loves to hearThat unicorns may be betray'd with trees,And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,Lions with toils and men with flatterers."(Julius Cæsar, ii. 1, 303.)458 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Webster mentions the horn, and in reference to itssupposed virtues, he tells how men-"Make of the powder a preservative circle,And in it put a spider."(Vittoria Corombona, act ii. )Out of compliment to his Welsh ancestry, Henry ofRichmond adopted the device of the Red Dragon. Dragon, when he advanced against RichardIII. on Bosworth Field. After his coronation he placedthe victorious animal as one of the supporters of theEnglish arms. The dragon maintained this positionthrough the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, butwas superseded on the accession of James I. by theScotch unicorn. One of the pursuivants in the Collegeof Arms at the present day is called " Rouge Dragon,"in commemoration of the Lancastrian victory.Figures of the heraldic dragon vary considerably,according to the fancy of the draughtsman. The chiefcharacteristics are the head of a wolf, the body of aserpent, four eagle's feet, bat- like wings, and barbedtongue and tail. The dragon's attributes were animationand ferocity.Lyly was evidently untroubled by any doubt of theexistence of this imaginary animal. In support of hisassertion that wise counsel is to be regarded, though thespeaker may not be virtuous, he points to the " Preciousgemme dacromtes [draconites] that is ever taken out ofthe heade of the poysoned dragon " (Euphues, p. 124) .Shakspeare often mentions the dragon, but generallyin an allegorical sense. Among the ingredients of thewitches' cauldron, however, are included " scale ofdragon, tooth of wolf.""I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk," exclaims.Richard (3 HenryVI. , ii . 2, 187) . And Draytonwrites:-Basilisk.Compound Animals."The basilisk so poisons with the eye,To call for aid, and then to lie in wait."(England's Heroical Epistles.)459The fatal effect of the glance of the basilisk could onlybe averted by holding in front of the creature a polishedmirror. The terror of its own image caused its instantdeath.The basilisk combined the head and body of a co*ckwith the tail of a serpent. A minute description of thiscreature and other fabulous animals may be found in anygood work on heraldry.The co*ckatrice added to the charms of the basilisk adragon's tail, armed with a sting. It sharedwith the basilisk the power of destroying by co*ckatrice.its glance. Sir Toby Belch says of the intending duellists, " This will so fright them both that they will killone another by the look, like co*ckatrices " (Twelfth Night,iii. 4, 214).Juliet, distracted by her nurse, plays thus nicely withher words:-"What devil are thou, that dost torment me thus?This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but ' I,'And that bare vowel ' I ' shall poison moreThan the death- darting eye of co*ckatrice:I am not I, if there be such an I."(Romeo and Juliet, iii. 2, 43.)In art the co*ckatrice was an emblem of sin generally,and the special attribute of St. Vitus.The Wyvern was a more bird-like form of the dragon,having only two legs, an eagle's head, and ascorpion's tail.Wyvern.The Fire-drake, or Fire- dragon, was a shining serpentthat was supposed to guard hidden treasures. Fire-drake.The name was also given to the luminousappearance known as " will o' the wisp. "460 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Ben Jonson writes:-"The shrieks of luckless owlsWe hear, and croaking night-crows in the air!Green bellied snakes, and fire-drakes in the sky."(The Sad Shepherd, ii. 2.)In Henry VIII. (v. 4, 41) this name is given to a manwith an overflorid complexion:-"There is a fellow somewhat near the door, he should be a brazierby his face, for, o' my conscience, twenty of the dog-days now reignin ' s nose; all that stand about him are under the line, they need noother penance: That fire-drake did I hit three times on the head. "The Griffin, or Gryphon, was a compound animalwhose delineation reflects some credit on its Griffin. inventor. It was supposed to combine thequalities of the king of beasts and the king of birds. Itshead, fore legs, and wings were those of an eagle, whilethe rest of the body resembled that of a lion. Itdenoted watchfulness and courage, and was often borne asa charge, or more frequently as a supporter. Thegriffin's wings, unlike those of the dragon, were plumed.In his prologue to Sappho and Phæon, Lyly writes:" The gryffin never spreadeth her wings in the sunne,when she hath any sicke feathers."Du Bartas has transmitted some legendary lore concerning the griffin's love of gold. To a list of ravenousbirds (p. 45) he adds:-"The Indian griffin with the glistring eyes,Beak eagle-like, back sable, sanguin brest,White (swan-like) wings, fierce talons alwaies prest [ready]For bloody battails; for, with these he tearsBoars, lions, horses, tigres, bulls and bears:With these our grandams fruitful panch he puls,Whence many an ingot of pure gold he culls,To floor his proud nest, builded strong and steepOn a high rock, better his thefts to keep:The Griffin.With these he guards against an army boldThe hollow mines where first he findeth gold;As wroth, that men upon his right should rove,Or thievish hands usurp his tresor-trove."461This is not the griffin of heraldry, but the gigantic birdknown in Eastern fable as the roc, or rukh, to whomSinbad the Sailor was indebted for his discovery of thevalley of diamonds." Burton writes:—66"As I go by Madagascar I would see that great bird rucke thatcan carry a man and horse or an elephant, with that Arabian phoenixdescribed by Adrichomius; see the pellicanes of Egypt, those Scythiangryphes in Asia." (Anatomy of Melancholy, vol. i . p. 489.)Drayton mentions the roc as coming with its featheredcomrades to seek the shelter of the ark:—"All feather'd things yet ever known to men,From the huge ruck, unto the little wren."(Noah's Flood.)In England a large kind of eagle was sometimes calledthe gripe, or griffin; in this sense Shakspeare evidentlyuses the word in 1 Henry IV. (iii. 1, 152) . Hotspur,when reproved by Mortimer for thwarting Owen Glendower, exclaims impetuously-"I cannot chose: sometimes he angers meWith telling me of the moldwarp and the ant,Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies,And of a dragon and a finless fish,A clip-winged griffin and a moulten raven,A couching lion and a ramping cat,And such a deal of skimble skamble stuffAs put me from my faith.”In the passage in Lucrece (line 541) the powerfulfabulous bird described by Du Bartas is probablymeant:-"While she, the picture of pure piety,Like a white hind under the gripe's sharp claws,Pleads, in a wilderness where are no laws,462 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.6To the rough beast that knows no gentle right,Nor aught obeys but his foul appetite."Chester writes (p. 119):—Sphinx."The griffon is a bird rich feathered,His head is like a lion, and his flightIs like the eagles, much for to be feared,For why, he kills men in the ugly night:Some say he keeps the smaragd and the jasper,And in pursute of man is monstrous eager."The Sphinx is too well known to needdescription. It is only once referred to byShakspeare:-:-" For valour, is not love a Hercules,Still climbing trees in the Hesperides?Subtle as sphinx; as sweet and musicalAs bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair."(Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3, 340.)"Lord Bacon's original resolution of this fable," writes Dr. E. C.Brewer, " is a fair specimen of what some persons call ' spiritualisingthe incidents and parables of Scripture.' He says that the whole represents ' science,' which is regarded by the ignorant as a monster. 'As the figure of the sphinx is heterogeneous, so the subjects of scienceare very various. ' The female face denotes volubility of speech; 'her wings show that ' knowledge like light is rapidly diffused; ' herhooked talons remind us of the arguments of science which enter themind and lay hold of it. ' She is placed on a crag overlooking the city,for ' all science is placed on an eminence which is hard to climb.' Ifthe riddles of the sphinx brought disaster, so the riddles of science' perplex and harass the mind. " (Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,p. 844.)Unfortunately Dr. Brewer does not condescend to giveany reference for his quotation.Harpy.The Harpies were imaginary beings of Grecianmythology. According to some writers theywere three in number, Ocypete, Aello, andCeleno. They were the personifications of winds andstorms. They were depicted with the head and body ofThe Harpy.463a woman and the wings and feet of a vulture or eagle,and symbolized deceit and cruelty. Spenser introducesone of them into the Faerie Queene ( II. vii. 23):—"While sad Celeno, sitting on a cliffe,A song of bale and bitter sorrow sings. "Again he writes (II. xii. 36):-"The whistler shrill, that whoso heares shall dy;The hellish harpyes, prophets of sad destiny."By Prospero's command the delicate Ariel assumes theform of one of these savage monsters; the stage directions(Tempest, iii. 3) are, " Thunder and lightning. Enter Ariellike a harpy; claps his wings upon the table; and, witha quaint device, the banquet vanishes. . . . Alonso,Sebastian, &c. , draw their swords: "."Ariel. You fools! I and my fellowsAre ministers of fate: the elements,Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as wellWound the loud winds, or with bemock'd at stabsKill the still-closing waters, as diminishOne dowle that's in my plume. [ He vanishes in thunder.Prospero. Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thouPerform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring."We find this monster again in Pericles (iv. 3, 46): -" Cleon. Thou art like a harpy,Which, to betray, dost, with thine angel's face,Seize with thy eagle's talons. "The Minotaur was a fabulous monster of antiquity,half man and half bull. It guarded thelabyrinth of Minos, and was destroyed byMinotaur.Theseus, with the assistance of Ariadne, the king'sdaughter.66 Suffolk. O, wert thou for thyself! but Suffolk stay;Thou mayst not wander in that labyrinth;There minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk."(1 Henry VI. , v. 3, 187.)464 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.Ben Jonson writes:-"I am neither your minotaur, nor your centaur, nor your satyr, noryour hyæna, nor your babion, but your mere traveller, believe me. "(Cynthia's Revels, i. 1.)The Centaur was another classical monster, half manand half horse. The battle of the Centaurs Centaur. with the Lapitha has been told by Ovidand other authors, as well as by Theseus:-·-" Theseus [ reads]. The battle with the Centaurs, to be sungBy an Athenian eunuch to the harp.'We'll none of that: that have I told my love,In glory of my kinsman Hercules."(Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1, 44.)Chester writes (p. 112):—"The Onocentaur is a monstrous beast;Supposed halfe a man, and halfe an asse,That never shuts his eyes in quiet rest,Till he his foes deare life hath round encompast,Such were the Centaures in their tyrannie,That liv'd by humane flesh and villanie. "HamletSatyrs were sylvan demigods, half men, half goats,who attended the revels of Bacchus.compares his father with his uncle: —Satyr."So excellent a king; that was to this,Hyperion to a satyr."(Hamlet, i. 2, 139.)The Chimæra, a mythological monstrosity frequentlyintroduced into medieval architecture, was aChimæra. creature with a goat's body and three heads,one like a lion, one like a goat, and the third like a dragon.In Christian art it symbolized deliberate cunning orfanciful illusion. The word chimerical in modern usagesignifies an idle dream, a castle in the air, a projectthat can have no existence but in the imagination.A correspondent in Notes and Queries ( 3rd series, vol.Immortal Animals. 465viii. p. 66) gave the name of some brutes, endowed withimmortality, that are sometimes referred to in medievalliterature:-"Mahomet allows that into paradise will be admitted Abraham'scalf, Jonah's whale, Solomon's ant, Ishmael's ram, and Moses's ox, tothese will be added Mahomet's dove, the Queen of Sheba's ass, theProphet Salech's camel, and Belkis' cuckoo. "The writer asked for some particulars of these highlyfavoured beasts, but did not receive much information.One gentlemen wrote:-" By Ishmael's ram is meant a noble victim,' (Koran, suratxxxvii. p. 369, Sale, ) the same which Abel sacrificed , and which wassent to Abraham out of paradise when he offered his son. I can findnothing on the subject of Moses's ox, nor of the Queen of Sheba's(Balkis's) ass. Neither can I find anything of her cuckoo; althoughthe lapwing conveyed messages between her and Solomon. " (Page115.)To this list of immortal beasts the dog of the SevenSleepers may be added.In the play by Wilkins, The Miseries of InforcedMarriage, published 1607, we find moneylenders compared to " Mantichoras, monstrousMantichor.beasts, enemies to mankind, that have double rows of teethin their mouths. They are usurers, they come yawningfor money."Topsell obligingly favours us with a description and adrawing of this formidable creature. Unfortunately thisauthor does not give his authority for the portraits heintroduces into his work of the various animals. Hispicture of the mantichor certainly does such credit to theimaginative powers of the artist that it is a pity his nameis withheld. A facsimile reprint of this drawing formsthe frontispiece of the present volume. The descriptionruns as follows:-" This beast, or rather monster, as Ctesias writeth, is bred amongthe Indians, having a treble rowe of teeth beneath and above, whose2 H466 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.greatnesse, roughnesse, and feete are like a lyons, his face and eareslike unto a mans [ even to the carefully trimmed moustachios] his eiesgray, of colour red, his tail like a scorpion of the earth, armed witha sting, casting forth sharp pointed quils, his voice like the voice of asmall trumpet or pipe, being in course as swift as a hart. . . . Although India be full of divers ravening beastes, yet none of themare stiled with the title andropophagi, that is to say, men eaters;except onely this mantichora." (Page 442.)Topsell sets this remarkable beast down as a kind ofhyena, which however it does not resemble in one singleparticular. If Othello had any adventures to tell ofencounters with such anthropophagi as these mantichorsno wonder that Desdemona preferred listening to histraveller's tales to attending to her domestic duties.Phoenix." Sebastian. Now I will believeThat there are unicorns, that in ArabiaThere is one tree, the Phoenix' throne, one phoenixAt this hour reigning there. "(Tempest, iii. 3, 20.)Ancient writers appear to have quite exhausted theirimagination in depicting the splendid appearance andattributes of the phoenix. This remarkable bird is thusdescribed by Pliny:-

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"By report he is as big as an eagle, in colour yellow, and bright asgold, namely all about the neck, the rest of the bodie a deepe redpurple; the taile azure blue, intermingled with feathers among of rosecarnation colour: and the head bravely adorned with a crest andpennache finely wrought, having a tuft and plume thereupon rightfaire and goodly to be seene." (Holland's Plinie, book x. c. 2.)Du Bartas simply paraphrases this passage when hetells us that—"The heav'nly phoenix first began to frameThe earthly phoenix, and adorn'd the sameWith such a plume, that Phoebus, circuitingFrom Fez to Cairo, sees no fairer thing;Such form, such feathers, and such fate he gave her,That fruitfull nature breedeth nothing braver:The Phoenix.Two sparkling eyes: upon her crown, a crestOf starrie sprigs (more splendid than the rest)A golden doun about her dainty neck,Her brest deep purple, and a scarlet back,Her wings and train of feathers (mixed fine)Of orient azure and incarnadine."(Page 44.)467The origin of the phoenix fiction has been traced bysome writers to Herodotus, but that author in his turnacknowledges that he knows nothing of the bird, butonly writes from report or from pictures. An ingeniousexplanation has been given of the myth of the revival ofthe expiring bird from the burning ashes. In Easterncountries sacrifices were frequently offered in the openair, and cremation was also practised. Vultures andother birds of prey, too impatient to wait for the fire tosubside, may occasionally have flown off with pieces ofsmoking flesh, and have either perished on the funeralpile or have set fire to their own nests.There may.have been some connexion between the supposed ascension of the purified spirit from the flames and the formsof the birds which hovered round the corpse, albeitthe motive of the latter in their attentions was purelycarnal.Lyly informs us that " feathers appeare not on thephoenix under seven months " (Prologue to Campaspe).But as time appears to have been of little value to thisbird, perhaps the delay thus occasioned in its path toperfection was not of much consequence.We learn from Fynes Moryson's History of Ireland(book i. part 2, ch. i. ) that in the sixteenth century thepope supported the Earl of Tyrone, who was then engagedin conflict with the English, and by way of encouragement presented him with a crown of phoenix feathers,"perhaps in imitation of Pope Urban the Third, who sentJohn, the sonne of King Henry the Second, then madeLord of Ireland, a little crowne woven of peaco*cks468 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.feathers." We have no information, unfortunately, as tohow this curiosity was obtained.The phoenix was the badge of Jane Seymour. It wasalso a favourite name for Queen Elizabeth. The versemakers who supplied the dedications of authors to hermost gracious Majesty, and the rhymers " who stuck andspangled her with flatteries " whenever she honouredany of her subjects by a royal progress, repeatedly madeuse of the phoenix in their lines. King James also wasuniversally greeted on his accession as the bird sprungfrom the ashes of his illustrious predecessor. The authorof Henry VIII. gives us an example of this " title blownfrom adulation:99"Nor shall this peace sleep with her: but as whenThe bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,Her ashes new create another heir,As great in admiration as herself,So shall she leave her blessedness to one."(Henry VIII. , v. 5, 39.)Many examples of this fashion of comparing Elizabeth to the phoenix are given by Dr. Grosart, in theintroduction to his edition of Chester's curious poem,Love's Martyr, published by the New Shakspere Society,1878. In this work, Chester describes some otherfabulous birds:-"The snow-like colour'd bird, Caladrius,Caladrius. Hath this inestimable natural propertie,If any man in sicknesse dangerous,Hopes of his health to have recoverie,This bird will alwayes looke with chearefull glance,If otherwise, sad in his countenance.""The gentle birds called the faire Hircinie,Hircinie.(Page 117.)Taking the name of that place where they breed,Within the night they shine so gloriously,That mans astonied senses they do feed;The Liver.For in the darke being cast within the wayGives light unto the man that goes astray.""The birds of Egypt or Memnonides,Of Memnon that was slaine in rescuing Troy,Are said to flie away in companies,To Priames pallace, and there twice a dayThey fight about the turrets of the dead,(Page 119.)469Memnonides.And the third day in battell are confounded."(Page 120. )The Liver was a bird of obscure, heraldic origin. Thename of the city of Liverpool has been Liver.derived from this ornithological curiosity,which in shape is said to have resembled a heron.According to a writer in Notes and Queries (4th series,vol. 8, p. 536), " there is an insurance office near Blackfriars Bridge, over the porch of which is a bird as thecrest, called the liver."In his work, Demonology and Devil-lore (vol. i . p. 319) ,Mr. Conway observes that, while a belief in such creaturesas were-wolves and sea-serpents has arisen from an exaggerated conception of forms that have at one time existed ,the invention of nondescript compound animals is traceable to a more poetic and artistic idea. The portrayal ofsuch creatures as the sphinx and the griffin are—"a kind of crude effort at allgemeinheit, at realisation of the types ofevil -the claw principle, fang principle in the universe, the physiognomies of venom and pain detached from forms to which they areaccidental. "Sea-serpent.The adventurous men who faced " the tyrannousbreathings of the North," and penetrated the"regions of thick-ribbed ice, " may well beexcused if, amid the novelty of the scenes around them,and the hardships they often had to endure, they weresometimes led to exaggerate the wonders of those unvisited seas. One of the marvels described by them2 H 3470 The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare's Time.has not ceased to be a mystery, even in our own time.Various accounts of the Sea- serpent are given by writers;and, according to the imagination of the narrator, thismonster varied in length from one to six hundred feet.One of the most detailed accounts is given by OlausMagnus, who also draws an augury from its appearance: -66 They who in works of navigation , on the coast of Norway,employ themselves in fishing or merchandise, do all agree in thisstrange story, that there is a serpent there which is of a vast magnitude, namely 200 foot long, and moreover 20 foot thick; and is wontto live in rocks and caves toward the sea-coast about Berge: whichwill go alone from his holes in a clear night, in summer, and devourcalves, lambs, and hogs, or else he goes into the sea to feed onpolypus, locusts, and all sorts of sea-crabs. He hath commonly hairhanging from his neck a cubit long, and sharp scales, and is black,and he hath flaming shining eyes. This snake disquiets the shippers,and he puts up his head on high like a pillar, and catcheth away men,and he devours them; and this hapneth not, but it signifies somewonderful change of the kingdom near at hand; namely, that theprinces shall die, or be banished; or some tumultuous wars shallpresently follow. There is also another serpent of an incrediblemagnitude in a town, called Moos, of the diocess of Hammer; which,as a comet portends a change in all the world , so that portends achange in the kingdom of Norway, as it was seen , anno 1522; thisserpent was thought to be fifty cubits long by conjecture, by sightafar off: there followed this the banishment of King Christiernus, anda great persecution of the bishops; and it shew'd also the destructionof the countrey." (Page 235.)" Experience, O, thou disprovest report!The imperious seas breed monsters. "(Cymbeline, iv. 2, 34.)INDEX .Adder, 314 Agouti, 156 Ai, or sloth , 163 Aiochtochth, an animal, 166Albacore, or pilot- fish , 382 Alcatrazi, or pelican, 288 Amphisbena, 313 Anchovy, 376 Aut, 405Ant-eater, 167 Antelope, 136 Archangel, or titmouse, 182 Ardluk, or ork, 99Armadillo, 166 Asp, 315 Ass, 111Astanapa, or giraffe, 131 Auk, 292Aurochs, or bison, 132Badger, 77 Ban- dog, 59 Banks and his horse, 109Barbel, 364 Baremoe, or ant- eater, 167 Barnacles, 275Basilisk, 458 Bat, 11Bawson, or badger, 78 Beagle, 48 Bear, 81 , 185 Bear's grease for the hair, 85 Beaver, 151 Bee, 407 Beech-marten, 67 Beetle, 398Biarataca, or skunk, 80 Biche, a fur, 74Bird- fowling, 172Bird of Paradise, 189Birds, lists of, 171 , 174 Bishop or monk- fish , 385Bison, 132 Bittern, 269Blackbird, 178 Bloodhound, 45 Bleak, 366Blindworm, 312Boa Constrictor, 319 Boar, 115Bocher, a young salmon, 352 Bonassus, or bison, 132 Bonito, 337Booby, 278Boorde (Andrew) , notice of, 129 Bovy, a wild ox, 134 Bream, 361Breese, or gad-fly, 417 Brew, or whimbrel, 259 Brill, 348Brock, or badger, 77 Buffalo, or buffe, 133 Bugle, a wild ox, 134Bulldog, 59 Burge, or bogy, a fur, 74 Bustard, 264Butterfly, 422 Buzzard, 252Caddis- fly, 419 Caius on dogs, 44Calabar, or calabrere, a fur, 74 Caladrius, 468 Camel, 117 Canary, 195 Capercaillie, 219 Carp, 359Cussawary, 296472 Index.Cat, 26 Cattle, English, 134 Centaur, 464 Chameleon, 310 Chamois, 138 Char, 353Cheetah, or hunting leopard , 24 Chermes, 392 Chimæra, 464 Chimpanzee, or engeco, 9Chisamus, a fur, 75Chough, 188 Chub, 365 Churchia, or opossum, 168 Cicada, 392 Civet, 32Coati, or coati-mundi, 80 Cobra, 318Cochineal, 390 co*ck, 225 co*ckatoo, 214 co*ckchafer, 400 co*ckroach, 398 Cod, 341 Coiumero, or manatee, 101 Comforter, a dog, 56 Condor, 231Coral, 450 Cormorant, 284 Coryat, notice of, 444 Cosset, a house lamb, 142 Cotswold games, 53Coursing-matches, 51 Crab, 436 Crane, 265 Crane-fly, 419 Crayfish, 435 Cricket, 392 Crocodile, 303 Crossbill, 196 Crow, 183 Cry of hounds, 48 Cuckoo, 205 Cure for ague, 431 Cure for blindness, 30 Cure for gout, 431Cure for stings of flies, 417 Curlew, 257 Cuttle-fish, 441Dabchick, 292 Dace, 365 Dachshund, or badger-dog, 50, 80 Dant, a species of antelope, 137 Destrier, a war- horse, 108Dodo, 218Dog, 40 Dog-fish, 384 Dogs, Huxley on, 41Dolphin, 95 Dory, 348 Dossus, a fur, 75 Dotterel, 263 Dozado, or dolphin, 96 Dragon, 458 Dromedary, 118 Dugong, 100 Dugong in Palestine, 79Eagle, 232 East India Company founded , 145Eel, 377Egg- hatching in Egypt, 226 Elephant, 146 Elk, 121 Emeu, 296English love ofnovelty, 60 Ermine, 64Falconry, 237 Fallow deer, 125 Ferret, 71 Fewterer, a, 52 Finch, 193Fire-drake, 459 Fire-fly, 403 Fir-martin, 67 Fish as an article of food, 325 Fish, Harrison's definition of, 87 Fish, lists of, 326 Fishing, Burton on, 330 Fisting-hound, 56 Fitchet, or fitchew, 71Flamingo, 288 Flounder, 346 Fly, 416Flying-fish, 338, 358 Foines, or beech-martens, 67 Foulmartin, or foumart, 71Fox, 62Friendships of animals, 251 Frog, 320 Fur out of fashion, 69Gad-fly, 417 Garefish, 358 Gayns, or martens, 67 Galloway horses, 107 Gazehound, 50Gelert, the dog, 50Index. 473Gennet, a Spanish horse, 107Ger-falcon, 246 Gerfauntz, or giraffe, 130 Giraffe, 130 Glow-worm, 402 Glutton, 75 Gnat, 421Gnat-snap, or knot, 260 Goat, 145 Goat-sucker, 209 Godolphin, or sea- eagle, 235 Godwit, 260 Goose, 273 Gorilla, or pongo, 9Goshawk, 251 Gossamer, 432 Grampus, or ork, 99Grasshopper, 394 Gray, or badger, 78 Grayling, 354 Greyhound, 51 Grice, a cub, 78 Griffin, 460 Grouse, 219Grymbart, name of badger, 80 Guanaco, 120 Gudgeon, 367 Guinea-fowl, 228Guinea-pig, 157 Gull, 282 Gurnet, 335 Gwiniad, 354Hackney horses, 107 Haddock, 343 Hake, 344 Hare, 157 Harpy, 463 Harrier, 47 Hecco, or woodpecker, 203 Havoc! a coursing phrase, 51 Hawking, technical terms of, 7,238, 248Hedgehog, 12 Hen-harrier, 248 Herbert, Sir Thomas, notice of, 12 Hermelin, or ermine, 65Heron, 268 Herring, 370 Hippopotamus, 114 Hircinie, 468Hobby, 250 Hobby, an Irish horse, 106 Holibut, 347 Hoopoe, 209Horn, value of, 135 Hornet, 415 Horse, 104 Horsehair laid in water, 379 Humble-bee, 413Humming-bird, 210 Hunt, a co*ckney, 48 Hunting, technical terms of, 7, 127 Hyæna, 32Iceland dog, 60 Ichneumon, 32, 308 Ichneumon fly, 418 Immortal animals, 465Insect, definition of, 388 'Insects, sensibility of, 401 Ireland free from venom, 298Jaccatray, or hyæna, 33 Jackal, 38 Jackdaw, 188 Jaguar, called the tiger, 21 Jews indifferent to animals, 27 Jews indifferent to natural beauty,28Kestrel, 250 Kingfisher, 207 Kinship of man and animals, 1Kite, 236 Knot, 259Koumiss, mare's milk, 108Ladybird, 404 Lamprey, 387 Land-rail, 255 Lanner, 249Lant, species of antelope, 137 Lark, 198Laws respecting dress, 63, 66, 74 Lawyers to wear fox or lamb skin,63 Leaf insect, 397Lear's allusion to dogs, 57Leech, 449Lekat, or ermine, 65 Lemming, 65, 151 Leopard, 22 Lettice, a fur, 66, 69 Ling, 345 Linnet, 196 Lion, 17Lion, heraldic, 23 Lions hanged as scarecrows, 37Lituite, a fur, 75474 Index.Liver, 469 Lizard, 310 Llama, 119 Loach, 366 Lobster, 434 Lobster, or stoat, 65 Locust, 395 Loon, 281Losh, or buffe, 133 Lycanthropy, 34 Lynx, 30Macaw, 215 Machlis, or elk, 122 Magpie, 183 Mallard, 280 Maltese dog, 61 Mamuques, orBirds of Paradise, 189 Manatee, 100 Mantichor, 465 Mantis, 396 Marine animals, 87Marmoset, 10 Marmot, 154 Marocco, a performing horse, 109 Marten, or Martron, 67 Martin, 192 Mastiff, 58 Mavis, or thrush, 176Memnonides, 469 Menageries, 5Merle, or blackbird, 178Merlin, 250 Mermaid, 97 Mermaid tavern , 103 Migration of birds, 173 Miller's Thumb, 335 Miniver, 73 Minnow, 367 Minotaur, 463 Missel-thrush, 177 Mole, 14Monedula, the jackdaw, 188 Monkey, 8Monsters, English love of, 331 Month's mind, a, 378 Moose, or elk, 121 Morse, or walrus, 88Moryson ( F.), notice of, 125 Moth, 424Mouse, 150 Mousehunt, meaning of, 72 Mullet, 334 Musk deer, 129Musquito, 421Mussel, 447Mythology in poetry, 387Myths, growth of, 4Narwhal, 97 Nautilus, 440Neat, term for oxen, 136 Newt, 320Night-crow, or night-raven, 188 Nightingale, 178 Nightjar, 209 Northumberland Household Book,175Norway rat, 65Olaus Magnus, notice of, 124 Opossum, 168 Orafle, or giraffe, 130 Ordegale, the beaver's wife, 72 Oriole, 182 Ork, or orca, 99Ortolan, 197 Oryx, or bison, 132 Osprey, 252 Ostrich, 294 Otter, 76 Ounce, 25 Ouzel, or blackbird, 178 Owl, 253Oyster, 442 Oyster-catcher, 263Paca, 157Paco, or llama, 120Panther, breath of, 23 Paris Garden, 82 Parrot, 212 Partridge, 220 Peaco*ck, 220 Pearls, 445 Peel, a young salmon, 352 Pelican, 285 Penguin, 289 Perch, 333 Peregrine, 247 Performing animals, 111 , 161 Performing birds, 195 Performing dogs, 61 Petit gris, a fur, 75, 77 Petrel, 284Pheasant, 223Philo, or elephant, 131 Phoenix, 466 Pigeon, 216 Pike, 355Pilchard, 369 Pilot-fish, 381 Plaice, 346 Plover, 260 Poaching dog, a, 54 Polecat, 71 Polypus, or octopus, 439 Poor-John, 344Popinjay, meaning of, 213 Porcupine, 155 Porpoise, 98 Prister, or physeter, 94 Puffin, 293 Puma, 24Purchas, notice of, 8Puttock, or kite, 236Quail, 220Rabbit, 161 Racing in England, 109 Rat, 149 Rattlesnake, 318 Raven, 185 Red deer, 124Redshank, 257 Redwing, 177Reindeer, 122 Remora, 382Reptile, 297 Rhinoceros, 112 Roach, 365 Robin, 179 Roc, or griffin, 461 Rondes, or sable, 69 Rook, 184 Rosetel, or ermine, 65 Rosmarine, or walrus, 89 Ruff, 259Ruffe, or pope, 333 Rukenawe, the she ape, 72 Russian furs, 64ole, 68 ables, Hamlet's suit of, 70St. Anthony's pigs, 116 St. Martin's bird, 187Saker, 249 Salamander, 319 Salmon, 349 Sardine, 376 Satyr, 464 Scallop, 442 Scamell, or sea- gull, 283 Scented dogs, 56Index.Scolopendra, 95 Scorpion, 432 Sea-anemone, 450Sea- calf, or seal, 90Seal, 90 Seal in Palestine, 79 Sea- monster of Lear, 100Sea-pye, or oyster-catcher, 263Sea- serpent, 470 Sea- unicorn, or narwhal, 97 Selsey, famous for seals, 90Serpent, definition of, 388 Setter, 55 Shark, 380 Sheldrake, 281Sheep, 139 Sheep-dog, 60 Shoveller, 270 Shrew, 15 Shrimp, 435Siskin, 194 Silkworm, 426Sismusilis, a fur, 75Slightfalcon, 251Skunk, 80Smelt, 355 Snail, 448Snake, 316 Snipe, 256 Sole, 347 Sorocucu, a snake, 318 Spaniel, 54 Sparrow, 200 Sparrow- hawk, 252 Species, distribution of, 102 Species, variation of, 21 Spenser's list of monsters, 95 Sphinx, 462Spider, 428 Spinke, or chaffinch, 194 Sports on Cotswold, 53 Spowe, or sparrow, 201 Spowe, or whimbrel, 201, 259Sprat, 375Squid, 441 Squirrel, 152 Starling, 197 Stickleback, 332 Stockfish, 342 Stork, 271 Stot, a young ox, 136 Sturgeon, 380 Suant, or bull trout, 352Surnapa, or giraffe, 131 Swallow, 191475476 Index.Swan, 278 Sword-fish, 339Talbot, 46 Tamandua, or ant- eater, 167Tarantula, 429 Tatus, or armadillo , 166Teal, 281 Technical terms, 7Tench, 362 Terrier, 49 Thornback, 386 Thresher, or ork, 99 Thrush, 176 Tie-dog, 59 Tiger, 20 Timber offurs, a, 69 Titmouse, 182 Toad, 322 Toothache caused by a worm, 426Torpedo, 386 Tortoise, 300 Toucan, 204 Trials of animals, 36 Trochilus and crocodile, 307Tropic bird, 288 Trout, 352 Tumbler, 53 Tunny, 336 Turbot, 347 Turkey, 227 Turtle, 301Unicorn, 452 Uranoscopus, 339Vair, a fur, 74 Vicuna, 120Viscacha, 154 Vows on birds, 223 Vulture, 230Walrus, 87, 95 Wasp, 414 Water birds, abundance of, 170Weasel, 73 Welsh explorers, 291 Were-wolf myth, 34 Whale, 91 Wheat- ear, 180 Whie, a heifer, 136 Whimbrel, 259 Whirlpool, 94 Whistler, a bird of ill omen, 258,262Whiting, 343 Wise men of Gotham, 207 Wolf, 33 Wolf-dog, Irish, 50 Woodco*ck, 256 Woodlark, 199 Woodpecker, 203 Woodwele, or oriole, 183 Woollen trade, 144 Woolverine, or wood dog, 75 Woozel, or blackbird, 178Wren, 181 Wyvern, 459Xaco, or llama, 121Yellow-hammer, 201Zebel, or sable, 68 Zebra, 112 Zebu, 134PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BE

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Date DueJAN 25 1943RETT AUG 4 1965RES Jan 27'5NOVI 2 1957RECTNOVDEC 1 0 1958008191957REC'D DEQ 18 1957NOV 2 6 1960DEC 14 1960REC'DDEC2 1960AUG 31963RETO JUL 28 196BLibrary Bureau Cat, no. 118.FKLPR3044.P53 9000 005 910 836

Front matter

1 1MANTICHORA THETHE ANIMAL- LOREOFSHAKSPEARE'S TIMEINCLUDINGQUADRUPEDS, BIRDS, REPTILES, FISHAND INSECTSBYEMMA PHIPSONARBOR SCIENTIACARBOR VITELONDONKEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE18833872FKLPR3044.P5580.9(The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved. )

AUTHORS AND EDITIONS QUOTED.

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Contents

INTRODUCTIONCONTENTS .CHAPTER I.Monkey-Bat-Hedgehog-Mole- Shrew

...

PAGE1CHAPTER II.Lion-Tiger-Jaguar-Leopard-Panther-Puma - Ounce-CatLynx-Hyæna-Civet-Ichneumon-Wolf-JackalCHAPTER III.... 17Dog ...CHAPTER IV.Fox - Ermine -- Miniver-Marten - Sable - Ferret - PolecatWeasel-Wolverine-Skunk-Coati-Otter-Badger-BearCHAPTER V.Walrus- Seal -Whale - Dolphin - Narwhal - Porpoise - Ork— Grampus-Manatee ... ...4062... 87CHAPTER VI.Horse-Ass-Zebra-Rhinoceros -Hippopotamus -Pig-CamelLlama-Deer -Giraffe -Bison -Buffalo - Ox - AntelopeSheep-Elephant ... ... ... ... 104CHAPTER VII.Rat-Mouse-Beaver-Squirrel-Marmot-Chinchilla -Porcupine-Hare -Rabbit - Sloth - Armadillo - Iguana-Ant-eater—Opossum ... ... ... 149viii Contents.CHAPTER VIII.Thrush Missel Thrush -Redwing - Fieldfare - NightingaleRobin Wheatear-Wren -Titmouse-Oriole-Magpie-Crow-Raven-Jackdaw-Chough - Bird of Paradise-Swallow- Finch - SiskinOrtolanhammer-- Canary - LinnetStarling Lark--- Bulfinch- -CrossbillWagtail - Sparrow- YellowCHAPTER IX.Woodpecker-Toucan-Cuckoo-Kingfisher-Hoopoe-Goat- sucker-Humming-bird - Parrot - Pigeon - Dodo - CapercaillieQuail-Partridge -Pheasant-co*ck-Turkey-Guinea-fowl ...CHAPTER X.Vulture-Condor-Eagle-Kite-Hawks-Osprey-OwlCHAPTER XI.Water-rail - Land-rail-Coot - Snipe - Woodco*ck - RedshankCurlew Ruff-Knot-Godwit Dunlin - Plover - Oystercatcher-Bustard -Crane-Heron -Bittern -Spoonbill -Stork-FlamingoCHAPTER XII.Goose Swan - Duck - Teal - Sheldrake -Gull - Petrel - Cormorant-Pelican Tropic Bird - Penguin - Auk - Grebe- Puffin-Ostrich-EmeuPAGE169203230255273CHAPTER XIII.Tortoise -Crocodile-Lizard - Chameleon - Blindworm-AdderAsp-Snake-Newt -Salamander-Frog -Toad ... 297CHAPTER XIV.Stickleback-Perch-Ruffe-Mullet - Gurnet - Miller's ThumbMackerel-Tunny-Bonito-Sword- fish -— Sea- angler — Cod—Haddock-Whiting -Hake-Ling-Plaice-Flounder- Turbot -Sole-Brill-Dory ... 325Contents. ixCHAPTER XV.Salmon-Trout - Charr - Gwiniad - Grayling - Smelt- PikeFlying-fish-Carp -Bream-Tench-Barbel-Roach-DaceChub-Bleak-Loach-Gudgeon-MinnowPAGE349CHAPTER XVI.Pilchard-Herring-Sprat-Sardine -Anchovy-Eel - Sturgeon— Shark Pilot-fish Remora ― Dog-fish Monk-fishTorpedo-Thornback-Skate-Lamprey--- -CHAPTER XVII.Cochineal-Cicada - Cricket - Grasshopper -― Locust Mantisco*ckroach -Beetle Glow- worm-Fire- fly-Ladybird -AntBee-Wasp Hornet-Fly -Gnat - Butterfly - Mothworm-Spider-Scorpion ...369Silk389CHAPTER XVIII.Lobster-Crayfish -Shrimp-Crab-Polypus-Nautilus—Cuttlefish -Scallop-Oyster-Mussel-Snail-Leech-Coral ...CHAPTER XIX.Unicorn-Dragon-Basilisk-co*ckatrice —Wyvern·- Fire-DrakeGriffin-Sphinx-Harpy--Minotaur - Centaur - Satyr- Chi- mera Mantichor - Phoenix-Caladrius -Hircinie - Memnonides-Liver-Sea- Serpent434452