The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 13

Itm~ the v day to Nicholas Clampe for the mete of iiij hawks fro the x daye of Maye unto the xxiij daye of June after one peny a daye for a hawke xv s~.

Itm~ to the same John Evans for the mete of iiij hawks by the s.p.a.ce of lx.x.xxvij dayes for e?y hawke one penny by the daye x.x.xij s~. iiij d.

FALCONERS' WAGES.

Itm~ the vij daye paied to John Evans for his bourde wages for one quarter due at our Lady daye laste paste x.x.x s~. v d.

Itm~ the ix daye paied to the same John Evans for his bourde wages fro Mydsom tyll Michelmas after iiij d.

by the daye x.x.x s~. v d.

Itm~ the xxvj daye paied to Nicholas Clampe one of the fawconers for his wages due for one quarter ended at Easter laste paste l s~.

Itm~ the same daye paied to the same Clampe for his bourde wages from the xxv daye of Decembre unto the laste daye of this monethe the which amounts to cxxvij dayes, at iiij d. by the daye xlij s~. iiij d.

[Sidenote: SUNDRIES.]

SUNDRIES.

Itm~ the vth daye paied to old Hugh in rewarde when his hawks went to the mewe xl s~.

Itm~ the xxv daye paied to Walter in rewarde for a Jerfawcon that dyed xl s~.

Itm~ the same daye paied to one that toke up a Lanner that had been lacking a hole yere x s~.

Itm~ the laste daye paied unto Nicholas Clampe for keeping of a lanneret called 'Cutte' for one hole yere at j d. a daye x.x.x s~. v d.

Itm~ the xxvij daye paied to a s'vnt of my lorde Brayes in rewarde for taking up of a fawcon of the kings in Bedfords.h.i.+re vj s~. viij d.

Itm~ the xvij daye paied to one Richard Mason for taking up of a fawcon of the kings besides Hartford vj s~. viij d.

Itm~ the xiij daye paied to a s'vnt of my lorde Darcys in rewarde for taking up of a hawke of the kings and bringing hir to Yorke place vij s~. vi d.

Itm~ the xiij daye paied to Iohn Weste of the garde to ryde into the contry for an hawke by the kings comande^t xx s~.

Itm~ the xxviij daye paid to Willm Tyldesley, grome of the Chambre, for lying oute to take hawkes by the kings comande^t x s~.

Itm~ the xiiij paied to a s'vnt of maister Skevingtons in rewarde for bringing hawkes out of Irlande xl s~.

Itm~ the x daye paied to Garard the fawconer in rewarde for taking of a fawcon and a ta.r.s.ell lvj s~.

Itm~ the xj daye of Marche paied to Garrat and Richard the fawconers in rewarde for finding the Herons x s~.

The interest which attaches to these curious extracts must excuse us with the reader for their length.

We cannot peruse them without being carried back, in spirit, to an age in which, for all that concerns sport, we would fain have lived to bear a part. Alas! that so delightful a pastime as hawking should have declined, and that we should live to see our n.o.ble falcons gibbeted, like thieves, upon "the keeper's tree."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER III.

THE OWL AND ITS a.s.sOCIATIONS.

As Jove a.s.sumed the shape of an Eagle, so Juno selected that of an Owl, for, as Aldrovandus tells us, it was not decorous that the queen of heaven should take on herself the likeness of any small or vulgar bird, but rather that she should be embodied in one whose reign by night was equal with that of the eagle by day. The owl has usually been regarded as a bird of ill omen, and superst.i.tiously considered a messenger of woe. The Athenians alone among the ancients seem to have been free from this popular prejudice, and to have regarded the owl with veneration rather than abhorrence, considering it as the favourite of Minerva, and the image of wisdom. The Romans viewed the owl with detestation and dread. By them it was held sacred to Proserpine: its appearance foreboded unfortunate events, and, according to Pliny, the city of Rome underwent a solemn l.u.s.tration in consequence of an owl having accidentally strayed into the Capitol.

[Sidenote: ITS USE IN MEDICINE.]

In the ancient pharmacopia, which savoured not a little of magic, the owl appears to have been "great medicine." Ovid tells us that this bird was used wholesale in the composition of Medea's gruel:--

"Et strigis infames ipsis c.u.m carnibus alas."

While, according to Horace, the old witch Canidia made use of the feathers in her incantations:--

"Plumamque nocturnae strigis."

[Sidenote: A BIRD OF ILL OMEN.]

The "owlet's wing" was an ingredient of the cauldron wherein the witches prepared their "charm of powerful trouble" (_Macbeth_, Act iv. Sc. 1); and, with the character a.s.signed to it by the ancients, Shakespeare, no doubt, felt that the introduction of an owl in a dreadful scene of a tragedy would help to make the subject come home more forcibly to the people, who had, from early times, a.s.sociated its presence with melancholy, misfortune, and death. Accordingly, we find the unfortunate owl stigmatized at various times as the "obscure," "ominous," "fearful,"

and "fatal" "bird of night." Its doleful cry pierces the ear of Lady Macbeth while the murder is being done:--

"Hark!--Peace! It was the owl that shriek'd, The fatal bellman which gives the stern'st good night."

_Macbeth_, Act ii. Sc. 1.

And when the murderer rushes in immediately afterwards, exclaiming,--

"I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?"

She replies,--

"I heard the owl scream."

And later on--

"The _obscure bird_ clamour'd the live-long night."

_Macbeth_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

The awe, no doubt, with which this bird is regarded by the superst.i.tious, may be attributed in some measure to the fact of its flying by night.

"Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,