The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 24

_Lady M._ Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes, His mansion, and his t.i.tles, in a place From whence himself does fly? He loves us not; He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren, The most diminutive of birds, will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl."

_Macbeth_, Act iv. Sc. 2.

There are three statements here which are likely to be criticised by the ornithologist. First, that the wren is the smallest of birds, which is evidently an oversight. Secondly, that the wren has sufficient courage to fight against a bird of prey in defence of its young, which is doubtful. Thirdly, that the owl will take young birds from the nest.

As to this last point, see _ante_, pp. 91-94.

Imogen has made mention of the wren, as follows:--

"I tremble still with fear: but if there be Yet left in heaven as small a drop of pity As a wren's eye, fear'd G.o.ds, a part of it."

_Cymbeline_, Act iv. Sc. 2.

And allusions to this little bird will be found in _Twelfth Night_, Act iii. Sc. 2; _Richard III._ Act i. Sc. 3; _King Lear_, Act iv. Sc. 6; _Pericles_, Act iv. Sc. 3; and _Henry VI._ Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2.

"The Finch" is only once mentioned, _i.e._ in a song in _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act iii. Sc. 1. In _Troilus and Cressida_, however, when Thersites and Patroclus are abusing each other (Act v. Sc. 1), the former calls the latter "finch-egg." But what species of Finch the poet had in view, it is not easy to determine. It may have been the Bullfinch, but it is more likely to have been the Chaffinch, which has always been a favourite cage-bird with the lower cla.s.ses.

[Sidenote: THE SPARROW.]

The Hedge-sparrow (_Accentor modularis_), a frequenter of the same haunts, has been more frequently noticed by Shakespeare than the wren.

In many pa.s.sages throughout the Plays mention is made of "the sparrow"

without the prefix "hedge" or "house." Occasionally we are enabled, from the context, to determine the species; but as this is not always the case, we propose to consider under one head all that Shakespeare has said of either species.

[Sidenote: PHILIP SPARROW.]

The sparrow appears to have been early known by the name of "Philip,"

perhaps from its note, to which Catullus alludes:--

"Sed circ.u.msiliens, modo huc, modo illuc, Ad solam dominum usque _pipilabat_."

In Lyly's "Mother Bombie,"

"Cry _Phip, phip_, the sparrows as they fly."

And Skelton, the Poet Laureate of Henry VIII.'s reign, wrote a long poem ent.i.tled "Phylyppe Sparrow," on the death of a pet bird of this species.

Shakespeare thus names it in _King John_ (Act i. Sc. 1):--

"_Gurney._ Good leave, good Philip.

_b.a.s.t.a.r.d._ Philip! sparrow!"

We are told of Cressida, when getting ready to meet her lover, that--

"She fetches her breath so short as a new-ta'en sparrow."

_Troilus and Cressida_, Act iii. Sc. 2.

Lucio, referring to Angelo, the severe Deputy Duke of Vienna, says:--

"This ungenitured agent will unpeople the province with continency; sparrows must not build in his house, because they are lecherous."--_Measure for Measure_, Act iii. Sc. 2.

Iris tells us that Cupid--

"Swears he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows, And be a boy right out."

_Tempest_, Act iv. Sc. 1.

[Sidenote: THE FALL OF A SPARROW.]

In _Troilus and Cressida_, as well as in _Hamlet_, are pa.s.sages in which it is evident the poet had in his mind the words of Matthew x. 29:--

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father."

"I will buy nine sparrows for a penny, and his pia mater is not worth the ninth part of a penny."--_Troilus and Cressida_, Act ii.

Sc. 1.

"There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow."

_Hamlet_, Act v. Sc. 2.

Again, in the following lines, there is an evident allusion to Psalm cxlvii. 9 ("He feedeth the young ravens that call upon him"):--

"And He that doth the ravens feed, Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, Be comfort to my age!"

_As You Like It_, Act ii. Sc. 3.

[Sidenote: THE HEDGE-SPARROW.]

In _Macbeth_ (Act i. Sc. 2), and _Midsummer Night's Dream_ (Act iii. Sc.

1), the sparrow is mentioned; and the following pa.s.sage in _Henry IV._ will doubtless be remembered by all readers of Shakespeare's Plays:--

"_Falstaff._ ... "That sprightly Scot of Scots, Douglas, that runs o' horseback up a hill perpendicular.

_P. Henry._ He that rides at high speed, and with his pistol kills a sparrow flying.

_Falstaff._ You have hit it.

_P. Henry._ So did he never the sparrow."--_Henry IV._ Part I. Act ii. Sc. 4.

The Fool in _King Lear_ reminds us that it is in the hedge-sparrow's nest that the Cuckoo (_Cuculus canorus_) frequently deposits her egg:--

"For you know, nuncle, the hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, that it had its head bit off by its young."--_King Lear_, Act i.

Sc. 4.

Mr. Guest, in adopting the reading of the first folio, observes (_Phil.

Pro._, i. 280) that "in the dialects of the North-western counties, formerly _it_ was sometimes used for _its_. So in the pa.s.sage just quoted we have 'For you know,' &c., 'that _its_ had _it_ head bit off by _it_ young;' that is, that it _has had_ its head, not that it _had_ its head, as the modern editors give the pa.s.sage, after the second folio."

"So likewise, long before _its_ was generally received, we have _it self_ commonly printed in two words, evidently under the impression that _it_ was a possessive of the same syntactical force with the p.r.o.nouns in my self, your self, her self."[78]

So in _Timon of Athens_ (Act v. Sc. 1), we have--