The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 10

Besides the "jesses," the "bells" formed an indispensable part of a hawk's trappings. These were of circular form, from a quarter to a full inch in diameter, and made of bra.s.s or silver, and were attached, one to each leg of the bird, by means of small slips of leather called "bewits." The use of bells was to lead the falconer by their sound to the hawk when in a wood, or out of sight.

"As the ox hath his bow,[50] sir, the horse his curb, and the _falcon her bells_, so man hath his desires."--_As You Like It_, Act iii. Sc. 3.

So in _Henry VI._ Part III. Act i. Sc. 1--

"Nor he that loves him best, The proudest he that holds up Lancaster, Dares stir a wing, if Warwick _shake his bells_."

Again--

"Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells With trembling fear, _as fowl hears falcon's bells_."

_Lucrece._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Sidenote: THE HOOD.]

The "hood," too, was a necessary appendage to the trained falcon. This was a cap or cover for the head, which was not removed until the "quarry" was started, in order to prevent the hawk from flying too soon.

[Sidenote: AN "UNMANN'D" HAWK.]

The Constable of France, speaking of the valour of the Dauphin, says:--

"'Tis a _hooded_ valour, and when it appears it will _bate_."

_Henry V._ Act iii. Sc. 7.

The allusion is to the ordinary action of a hawk, which, when unhooded, _bates_, or flutters. But a quibble may be here intended between "bate,"

the hawking technical, and "bate," to dwindle or abate. The word occurs again in _Romeo and Juliet_ (Act iii. Sc. 2)--

"_Hood_ my unmann'd blood, _bating_ in my cheeks."

And to those not conversant with the terms employed in falconry, this line would be unintelligible. An "unmanned" hawk was one not sufficiently reclaimed to be familiar with her keeper, and such birds generally "bated," that is, fluttered or beat their wings violently in their efforts to escape.

Petruchio, in _The Taming of the Shrew_, gives us a lesson in reclaiming a hawk when speaking thus of Catherine:--

"My falcon now is sharp, and pa.s.sing empty, And, till she _stoop_, she must not be full-gorg'd, For then she never looks upon her _lure_.

Another way I have to _man_ my _haggard_, To make her come, and know her keeper's call, That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites That _bate_, and beat, and will not be obedient.

She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat; Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not."

_Taming of the Shrew_, Act iv. Sc. 1.

The word "stoop," sometimes written "stoup" (Spenser's "Faerie Queene,"

Book I. Canto XI. 18), and "swoop" (_Macbeth_, "at one fell swoop"), signifies a rapid descent on the "quarry." It occurs again in _Henry V._ Act iv. Sc. 1:--

"And though his affections are higher mounted than ours, yet, when they _stoop_, they _stoop_ with the like wing."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Sidenote: THE CADGE.]

The hawks, when carried to the field, were borne on "the cadge," as shown in the engraving; the person carrying it being called "the cadger." The modern word "cad," now generally used in an opprobrious sense, is in all probability an abbreviation of "cadger," and therefore synonymous with "servant" or common fellow.

Florizel, addressing Perdita, in the _Winter's Tale_ (Act iv. Sc. 3), says,--

"I bless the time When my good falcon made her flight across Thy father's ground;"

for this was the occasion of his first meeting her.

[Sidenote: THE HAWK'S "MEW."]

In the following pa.s.sage from _Measure for Measure_, (Act iii. Sc. 1), there occurs a word in connection with falconry, which requires some explanation,--

"This outward-sainted deputy, Whose settled visage and deliberate word Nips youth i' th' head, and follies doth _enmew_ As falcon doth the fowl."

The verb "to mew," or "enmew," signifies to enclose or shut up, owing its origin to the word "mews," the place where the hawks were confined:--

"To-night she's _mew'd_ up."

_Romeo and Juliet_, Act iii. Sc. 4.

Gremio, speaking of Bianca to Signor Baptista, says,--

"Why, will you _mew_ her?"

_Taming of the Shrew_, Act i. Sc. 1.

A question presently solved by Tranio, who says:--

"And therefore has he closely _mew'd_ her up, Because she will not be annoy'd with suitors."

[Sidenote: ORIGIN OF THE WORD "MEW."]

The word "mew," derived from the old French "_mue_," signifies a change, or moult, when birds and other animals cast their feathers, hair, or horns. Hence Latham observes that "the mew is that place, whether it be abroad or in the house, where you set down your hawk during the time she raiseth or reproduceth her feathers."

It was necessary to take great care of a hawk in her mewing time. In "The Gentleman's Academie," edited by Gervase Markham, 1595, there are several sections on the mewing of hawks, from one of which it may be learnt that the best time to commence is in the beginning of Lent; and if well kept, the bird will be mewed, that is, moulted, by the beginning of August.

"Forthcoming from her darksome _mew_."

_Faerie Queene_, Book I. Canto v. 20.

[Sidenote: THE ROYAL MEWS.]

The Royal hawks were kept at the mews at Charing Cross during many reigns (according to Stowe, from the time of Richard II., in 1377), but they were removed by Henry VIII., who converted the place into stables.

The name, however, confirmed by the usage of so long a period, remained to the building, although, after the hawks were withdrawn, it became inapplicable. But, what is more curious still, in later times, when the people of London began to build ranges of stabling at the back of their streets and houses, they christened those places "mews," after the old stabling at Charing Cross.

[Sidenote: THE FOWL ENMEWED.]