The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 43

[5] The Stratford Portrait was doubtless painted from the bust, and probably about the time of the Garrick Jubilee, 1769.

[6] Boaden adds: "Let it be remembered in aid of this inference that tradition has invariably a.s.signed to him, as an actor, characters in the decline of life, and that one of his relatives is reported to have seen him in the part of old Adam, the faithful follower of Orlando, in that enchanting pastoral comedy _As You Like It_." Op. cit., p. 22.

[7] "Life Portraits of William Shakespeare," by J. Hain Friswell.

London, 1864.

[8] We have, unfortunately, no proof that Joseph Taylor, the player, ever painted portraits. There was a contemporary, however, named John Taylor, who was an artist, and it is possible that these two have been confounded.

Boaden refers the picture to Burbage, "who is known to have handled the pencil." Op. cit., p. 49.

[9] Taylor was thirty-three when Shakespeare died in 1616, and survived him thirty-seven years.

[10] This will, it appears, is not to be found (Wivell, Op. cit., p.

49), but it matters little, if we are a.s.sured that Davenant possessed the picture.

[11] These pa.s.sages will be found duly criticised in Chapter II.

[12] In the following pa.s.sage from _The Tempest_, Shakespeare, _a propos_ of fish, gives one of many proofs of his knowledge of human nature. Trinculo comes upon the strange form of Caliban lying flat on the sands:--"What have we here? A man, or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish: a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of, not of the newest, poor-John. A strange fis.h.!.+ Were I in England now (as once I was), and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver: there would this monster make a man: any strange beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian!"--_Tempest_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

[13] The author of "The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, 1496,"

makes the following quaint remarks on the superiority of "Fysshynge"

over "Huntynge":--"For huntynge, as to myn entent, is too laboryous, for the hunter must alwaye renne and followe his houndes: traueyllynge and swetynge full sore. He blowyth tyll his lyppes blyster. And when he weenyth it be an hare, full oft it is an hegge hogge. Thus he chasyth and wote not what."

[14] The subject of Bird-catching will be fully discussed in a subsequent chapter.

[15] Letter from Rowland White to Sir Robert Sidney, dated 12th Sept.

1600.

[16] Nichols' "Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of Queen Elizabeth," vol. iii. p. 90. (1788-1805.)

[17] "A forester is an officer of the forest sworn to preserve the vert and venison therein, and to attend the wild beasts within his bailiwick, and to watch and endeavour to keep them safe, by day and night. He is likewise to apprehend all offenders in vert and venison, and to present them to the Courts of the Forest, to the end they may be punished according to their offences."--_The Gentleman's Recreation._ 1686.

[18] "We say the deer is '_broken up_,' the fox and hare are '_cased_.'"--_The Gentleman's Recreation._ 1686.

From this ancient practice, too, is derived the phrase, "to eat humble pie," more correctly written "_umble pie_." This was a venison pasty, made of the umbles (heart, liver, and lungs), and always given to inferiors, and placed low down on the table when the squire feasted publicly in the hall.

[19] "The coney is called the first year 'a rabbet,' and afterwards 'an old coney.' He is a beast of the warren, and not a beast of venery."--_The Gentleman's Recreation._ 1686.

[20] _Brock_ is the old name for badger, and we still find the word occurring in many names of places, possibly thereby indicating localities where the badger was formerly common. Of these may be mentioned, Brockhurst in Shrops.h.i.+re, Brockenhurst in Kent, Brockenborough in Wilts.h.i.+re, Brockford in Suffolk, Brockhall in Northampton, Brockhampton in Oxford, Dorset, Gloucester, and Herefords.h.i.+re, Brockham Green in Surrey, Brockholes in Lancas.h.i.+re and Yorks.h.i.+re, Brock-le-bank in c.u.mberland, Brocklesby in Lincolns.h.i.+re, Brockley in Somersets.h.i.+re, Brockley in Suffolk, Brockley Hill in Kent, Brockley Hill in Hertfords.h.i.+re, Brockmoor in Staffords.h.i.+re, Brockworth in Gloucesters.h.i.+re.

[21] See also _Winter's Tale_, Act iv. Sc. 3.

[22] In the Midland Counties, the bat is often called leathern-wings.

Compare the high German "_leder-maus_."

[23]

... "hedgehogs which Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount Their p.r.i.c.ks at my footfall."

_Tempest_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

[24] "_Rere-mouse_" from the old English "_hrere-mus_," literally a raw mouse. The adjective "rere" is still used in Wilts.h.i.+re for "raw." The bat is also known as the "rennie-mouse" or "reiny-mouse," although Miss Gurney, in her "Glossary of Norfolk Words," gives "ranny" for the shrew-mouse. The old name of "flittermouse," "fluttermouse," or "fliddermouse," from the high German, "_fledermaus_," does not appear in Shakespeare's works.

[25] "The Natural History of the Insects mentioned in Shakspeare's Plays," by Robert Patterson, 12mo. Lond. 1841.

[26] Mudie, "Feathered Tribes of the British Islands," i. p. 82.

[27] "De Bello Judico," iii. 5.

[28] Xenophon, "Cyropaedia," vii.

[29] "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," June, 1864.

[30] Colquhoun, "The Moor and the Loch," p. 330. And this is not an isolated instance. _See_ Newton, "Ootheca Wolleyana," Part I. p. 11.

[31] Pennant, "British Zoology."

[32] Yarrell, "History of British Birds."

[33] "Rural Sports," vol. i. p. 246.

[34] "Dissertations," vol. i. p. 173.

[35] See Pennant's "Arctic Zoology," ii. p. 195; Sir J. Malcolm's "Sketches of Persia;" Johnston's "Sketches of Indian Field Sports;"

Atkinson's "Travels in Oriental and Western Siberia," and Burton's "Falconry in the Valley of the Indus."

[36] Folio, 1676. Part ii. p. 169.

[37] "Memoirs of Stephen Grellet," i. p. 459.

[38] See "The Naturalist" for May, 1837.

[39] "Tour in Sutherland," vol. i. p. 113.

[40] "The Great Sahara," p. 392.

[41] "Tour in Sutherland," vol. i. p. 121.

[42] The name, no doubt, of a favourite falcon.

[43] Tardif, "Treatise on Falconry."

[44] No doubt a corruption of "erne," a name which is still given to the sea eagle (_Aquila albicilla_).

[45] See his "Faerie Queene," Book III. Canto 4.

[46] This scarce volume, of which we are fortunate enough to possess a copy, contains the work of the Emperor Frederic II., "De arte venandi c.u.m avibus;" Albertus Magnus, "De Falconibus;" as also a digest of Hubner's work. "Sur le vol des oiseaux de proie," and other ancient and rare works on Falconry.

[47] Salvin and Brodrick, "Falconry in the British Islands," pp. 38, 39.