The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 3

"For so work the honey bees, Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

They have a king, and officers of sorts: Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad; Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds; Which pillage they with merry march bring home To the tent-royal of their emperor; Who, busied in his majesty, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold, The civil citizens kneading-up the honey; The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate; The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum, Delivering o'er to executors pale The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,-- That many things, having full reference To one consent, may work contrariously; As many arrows, loosed several ways, Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town; As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea; As many lines close in the dial's centre; So may a thousand actions, once afoot, End in one purpose, and be all well borne Without defeat."

_Henry V._ Act i. Sc. 2.

"The lazy yawning drone" is frequently alluded to as the type of idleness and inactivity (_Pericles_, Act ii. Sc. 1; _Henry VI._ Part II.

Act iii. Sc. 2).

And we are counselled--

"Not to eat honey, like a drone, From others' labours."

_Pericles_, Act i. Sc. 4.

Who does not remember the scene in which t.i.tus Andronicus reproves his brother Marcus for killing a fly at dinner?--

"_Marcus._ Alas, my lord, I have but kill'd a fly.

_t.i.tus._ But how if that fly had a father and mother?

How would he hang his slender gilded wings, And buzz lamenting doings in the air!

Poor harmless fly!

That, with his pretty buzzing melody, Came here to make us merry! and thou hast kill'd him."

_t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act iii. Sc. 2.

This is but one of the many lessons taught us by Shakespeare in his allusions to the animal world, and the kindly spirit which characterizes all his dealings with animals is frequently exemplified throughout the Plays; perhaps nowhere so clearly as in _Measure for Measure_, Act iii.

Sc. 1, where we are told--

"The sense of death is most in apprehension; And the poor beetle that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great As when a giant dies."

Probably enough has been said to show the reader that Shakespeare's knowledge of natural history was by no means slight, and if it be thought to have been only general, it was, at all events, accurate. The use which he has made of this knowledge, throughout his works, in depicting virtue and vice in their true colours, in pointing out lessons of industry, patience, and mercy, and in showing the profit to be derived from a study of natural objects, is everywhere apparent.

The words of the banished Duke, in _As You Like It_ (Act ii. Sc. 1), seem to no one so applicable as to Shakespeare himself. He--

"Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

But to come to the Ornithology. The accurate observations on this subject, the apt allusions, and the beautiful metaphors to be met with throughout the Plays, may be said to owe their origin mainly to three causes. Firstly, Shakespeare had a good practical knowledge of Falconry, a pastime which, being much in vogue in his day, brought under his notice, almost of necessity, many wild birds, exclusive of the various species which were hawked at and killed. Secondly, he was a great reader, and, possessing a good memory, was enabled subsequently to express in verse ideas which had been suggested by older authors.

Thirdly, and most important of all, he was a genuine naturalist, and gathered a large amount of information from his own practical observations. In all his walks, he evidently did not fail to note even the most trivial facts in natural history, and these were treasured up in his memory, to be called forth as occasion required, to be aptly and eloquently introduced into his works.

Apart from the consideration that a poet may be expected, almost of necessity, to invoke the birds of song, Shakespeare has gone further, and displays a greater knowledge of ornithology, and a greater accuracy in his statements, than is generally the case with poets. How far we shall succeed in proving this a.s.sertion, it will be for the reader of the following pages to determine.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER I.

THE EAGLE AND THE LARGER BIRDS OF PREY.

At the head of the diurnal birds of prey, most authors have agreed in placing the Eagles. Their large size, powerful flight, and great muscular strength, give them a superiority which is universally admitted. In reviewing, therefore, the birds of which Shakespeare has made mention, no apology seems to be necessary for commencing with the genus _Aquila_.

Throughout the works of our great dramatist, frequent allusions may be found to an eagle, but the word "eagle" is almost always employed in a generic sense, and in a few instances only can we infer, from the context, that a particular species is indicated. Indeed, it is not improbable that in the poet's opinion only one species of eagle existed.

Be this as it may, the introduction of an eagle and his attributes, by way of simile or metaphor, has been accomplished by Shakespeare with much beauty and effect. Considered as the emblem of majesty, the eagle has been variously styled "the king of birds," "the royal bird," "the princely eagle," and "Jove's bird," while so great is his power of vision, that an "eagle eye" has become proverbial.

[Sidenote: POWER OF VISION.]

"Behold, his eye, As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth Controlling majesty."

_Richard II._ Act iii. Sc. 3.

The clearness of vision in birds is indeed extraordinary, and has been calculated, by the eminent French naturalist Lacepede, to be nine times more extensive than that of the farthest-sighted man. The opinion that the eagle possessed the power of gazing undazzled at the sun, is of great antiquity. Pliny relates that it exposes its brood to this test as soon as hatched, to prove if they be genuine or not. Chaucer refers to the belief in his "a.s.semblie of Foules":--

"There mighten men the royal egal find, That with his sharp look persith the sonne."

So also Spenser, in his "Hymn of Heavenly Beauty,"--

"And like the native brood of eagle's kind, On that bright sun of glory fix their eyes."

[Sidenote: AN EAGLE EYE.]

It is not surprising, therefore, that Shakespeare has borrowed the idea:--

"Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird, Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun."

_Henry VI._ Part III. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Again--

"What peremptory eagle-sighted eye Dares look upon the heaven of her brow, That is not blinded by her majesty?"

_Love's Labour's Lost_, Act iv. Sc. 3.

But in the same play and scene we are told--

"A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind."

And in this respect Paris was said to excel:--

"An _eagle_, madam, Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye, As Paris hath."

_Romeo and Juliet_, Act iii. Sc. 5.