The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 2

receives his share of notice, although it is not always in his praise, and "subtle as the fox" has become a proverb (_Cymbeline_, Act iii. Sc.

3).

From the "subtle fox" to the "timorous hare," the transition is easy.

What "more a coward than a hare"? (_Twelfth Night_, Act iii. Sc. 5.)

In Roxburgh and Aberdeen, as we learn from Jamieson's "Scottish Dictionary," a hare is termed "a bawd," and the knowledge of this fact enables us to understand the dialogue in _Romeo and Juliet_, which would otherwise be unintelligible:--

"_Mercutio._ A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho!

_Romeo._ What hast thou found?

_Mercutio._ No hare, sir."

Act ii. Sc. 4.

That coursing was in vogue in Shakespeare's day, and practised in the same way as at present, we may infer from such expressions as "a good hare-finder" (_Much Ado_, Act i. Sc. 1), "Holla me like a hare"

(_Coriola.n.u.s_, Act i. Sc. 8), and "I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, straining upon the start" (_Henry V._ Act iii. Sc. 1).

Rabbits were taken, and no doubt poached, in the same way then as now; for we read of the coney[19] "that you see dwell where she is kindled"

(_As You Like It_, Act iii. Sc. 2) struggling "in the net." (_Henry VI._ Part III. Act i. Sc. 4.)

The Brock[20] or Badger (_Twelfth Night_, Act ii. Sc. 5); the Wild Cat who "sleeps by day" (_Merch. of Venice_, Act ii. Sc. 5, and _Pericles_, Act iii. Intro.); "the quarrelous Weasel" (_Cymbeline_, Act iii. Sc. 4, and _Henry IV._ Part I. Act ii. Sc. 3); "the Dormouse of little valour"

(_Twelfth Night_, Act iii. Sc. 1); "the joiner Squirrel" (_Romeo and Juliet_, Act i. Sc. 4), whose habit of h.o.a.rding appears to have been well known to Shakespeare (_Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act iv. Sc. 2); and "the blind Mole," who "casts copp'd hills towards heaven"

(_Pericles_, Act i. Sc. 1);[21]--all these are mentioned in their turn, while the Bat "with leathern wing,"[22] "the venom Toad," "the th.o.r.n.y Hedgehog,"[23] "the Adder blue," and the "spotted Snake with double tongue," are all called in most aptly by way of simile or metaphor.

We cannot forget t.i.tania's directions to her fairies in regard to Bats:--

"Some war with _rear mice_[24] for their leathern wings, To make my small elves coats"

(_Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act ii. Sc. 2);

nor the comfortable seat which Ariel appears to have found "on the bat's back" (_Tempest_, Act v. Sc. 1).

The following striking pa.s.sage must also be familiar to readers of Shakespeare:--

"Ere the bat hath flown His cloister'd flight; ere, to black Hecate's summons, The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, Hath rung night's yawning peal, There shall be done a deed of dreadful note."

_Macbeth_, Act iii. Sc. 2.

In a printed broadside of the time of Queen Anne, in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of London, is the following curious fable relating to the Bat:--

"615. THE BIRDS AND BEASTS. A Fable.

"Once the Birds and Beasts strove for the prerogative: the neuter Batt, seeing the Beasts prevail, goes to them and shows them her large forehead, long ears, and teeth: afterwards, when the Birds prevail'd, the Batt flies with the Birds, and sings chit, chit, chat, and shows them her wings.

"Hence Beakless Bird, hence Winged Beast, they cry'd; Hence plumeless wings; thus scorn her either side.

"LONDON. PRINTED FOR EDW. LEWIS, FLOWER-DE-LUCE COURT, FLEET STREET. 1710."

In alluding to the "venom toad" as "mark'd by the destinies to be avoided," Shakespeare probably only treated it as other writers had done before him, and, without any personal investigation of the matter, ranked it with the viper and other poisonous reptiles, when in fact it is perfectly harmless.

The habit which the snake has, in common with other reptiles, of periodically casting its skin or slough, is frequently alluded to in the Plays, where that covering is sometimes called "the enamell'd skin"

(_Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act ii. Sc. 1); at other times the "casted slough" (_Henry V._ Act iv. Sc. 1, and _Twelfth Night_, Act iii. Sc. 4); and the "shining checker'd slough" (_Henry VI._ Part II. Act iii. Sc.

1).

It is difficult to say why the Adder is supposed to be deaf, unless because it has no visible ears--but then the term would apply to other reptiles. Shakespeare has several times alluded to this. In the Second Part of _King Henry VI._ Act iii. Sc. 2, Queen Margaret asks the King,--

"What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf?"

And in _Troilus and Cressida_, Act ii. Sc. 2, Hector says to Paris and Troilus,--

"Pleasure and revenge Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice Of any true decision."

Again, in Sonnet CXII., "the adder's sense" is referred to in such a way as to leave no doubt of the poet's impression that adders do not hear.

"_Caliban._ Sometime am I All wound with adders, who, with cloven tongues Do hiss me into madness."

_Tempest_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

The "eyeless venom'd worm" referred to in _Timon of Athens_, Act iv. Sc.

3, is of course the Slow-worm (_Anguis fragilis_).

The observant naturalist must doubtless have remarked the partiality evinced by snakes and other reptiles for basking in the sun. Shakespeare has noticed that--

"The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun."

_t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act ii. Sc. 3.

And--

"It is the bright day that brings forth the adder; And that craves wary walking."

_Julius Caesar_, Act ii. Sc. 1.

In _Macbeth_, Act iii. Sc. 2, allusion is made to the wonderful vitality which snakes possess, and to the popular notion that they are enabled, when cut in two, to reunite the dissevered portions and recover:--

"We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it; She'll close and be herself."

Pa.s.sing to the insect world, we may well be astonished at the number of species to which Shakespeare has alluded. Although the same attention has not been given to the insects as to the birds, the following have, nevertheless, been noted. Many others, doubtless, have been overlooked.

The Beetle (_Macbeth_, Act iii. Sc. 2; _King Lear_, Act iv. Sc. 6; _Measure for Measure_, Act iii. Sc. 1). The Gra.s.shopper (_Romeo and Juliet_, Act i. Sc. 4). The Cricket, (_Pericles_, Act iii. Introduction; _Winter's Tale_, Act ii. Sc. 1; _Romeo and Juliet_, Act i. Sc. 4; _Cymbeline_, Act ii. Sc. 2). The Glowworm (_Hamlet_, Act i. Sc. 5); and the Caterpillar (_Richard II._ Act ii. Sc. 4; _Henry VI._ Part II. Act iii. Sc. 1; _Twelfth Night_, Act ii. Sc. 1; _Romeo and Juliet_, Act i.

Sc. 1). The b.u.t.terfly (_Troilus and Cressida_, Act iii. Sc. 3; _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act iii. Sc. 1); and Moth (_Merchant of Venice_, Act ii. Sc. 9; _King John_, Act iv. Sc. 1). The House-fly (_t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act iii. Sc. 2). The small Gilded-fly (_King Lear_, Act iv. Sc. 6). The Blow-fly (_Love's Labour's Lost_, Act v. Sc. 2; _Tempest_, Act iii. Sc. 1); and the Gad-fly, or Brize (_Troilus and Cressida_, Act i. Sc. 3). The Grey-coated Gnat (_Romeo and Juliet_, Act i. Sc. 4; _Comedy of Errors_, Act ii. Sc. 2); the Wasp (_Taming of the Shrew_, Act ii. Sc. 1; _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, Act i. Sc. 2; _Henry VIII._ Act iii. Sc. 2); the Drone (_Henry V._ Act i. Sc. 2); and the Honey-bee (numerous pa.s.sages).

To three only of these shall we direct further attention: firstly, because a more extended notice of all would be beyond the limits of the present work; and, secondly, because the Entomology of Shakespeare has been already dealt with elsewhere.[25]

These three are the Bee, the Drone, and the Fly, and we select quotations in reference to these in order to ill.u.s.trate Shakespeare's knowledge of the subject on which he wrote; the lessons to be learnt from his allusions; and the sympathy which he has manifested for all living creatures.

What better picture of the interior of a hive can be found than the following? How well are the duties of the inmates described!