UC-NRLF 27 311 NATURAL HISTORY IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME. Natural History in Shakespeare's Time being Extracts illustrative of the Subject as he knew it. Made by H. W. Seager, M.B., Also Pictures thereunto belonging Leye, disce" Printed for Elliot Stock, and are to be sold at 62, Paternoster Row, LONDON. 1896. PREFACE. \. j\. be THIS book presents in a convenient form for reference a collection of the quaint theories about Natural History accepted by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The work is meant to be rather a sketch than an exhaustive treatise, otherwise it would fill many volumes. The plan of the book is to give some illustration of each word mentioned by Shakespeare when there is anything remarkable to be noted about it. The term " Natural History " has been taken in its widest sense, as including not only fauna but flora, as well as some precious stones. It is certain that Shakespeare believed some of the strange ideas here mentioned, especially about those animals which he had had no opportunity of observing in their wild state ; but, on the other hand, Shakespeare's knowledge of Natural History (in so far as his own observation extended) was far greater than that of his contemporaries as here illustrated. All the quotations inserted in this book are from works which were the standard authorities in Shakespeare's time, and the extracts are cited with the utmost exactness, except where the spelling in all but a few rare words has en modernized, and where uninteresting matter has been omitted. A few of these extracts are given, not for their 5188578 vi PREFACE. contents, but for their style. Here and there illustrative notes have been added. The text of Shakespeare referred to is that of the "Globe" edition. The books and editions most frequently quoted are : Bartholomew. " Liber de proprietatibus rerum editus a fratre Bartholomeo anglico ordinis fratrum minor um. Im- pressus Argentine Anno domini MCCCCLXXXV. Finitus in die Sancti Valentini." Bartholomew (Berthelef). " Bartholomeus de Proprietatibus Rerum." [Translated into English by J. Trevisa.] " In aedibus T. Bertheletti, Lond. 1535." So runs the de- scription in the British Museum catalogue, but this version does not follow Trevisa' s translation accurately ; on the contrary, it quotes Trevisa for some deviations from, and additions to, Bartholomew's text. Batman. " Batman upon Bartholome, his Booke ' De Proprietatibus Rerum M ' [in the translation by J. Trevisa]. " Newly corrected, enlarged and amended ; with such Ad- ditions as are requisite vnto euery seuerall Booke. Taken foorth of the most approued Authors, the like heretofore not translated in English," etc. T. East, Lond. 1582. Probably Shakespeare used not Batman's version, but the Berthelet edition, which, being older, would probably be cheaper in his days. All of Batman's " Additions " that are of any interest are quoted in these pages, but they are few and generally unimportant. His emendations con- sist mostly in the substitution for an archaic word of a more modern and less interesting one. There can be no doubt that Friar Bartholomew's book was the standard authority on Natural History in Shake- speare's youth ; indeed, it was the only popular authority. It is true that there were some few books on Natural PREFACE. vii History in Shakespeare's time, which were written on more scientific principles, e.g., " Carol. Clusii Exoticorum Libri Decem," but these were published abroad, and in Latin, and were probably unknown to him. Hortus Sanitatis. The edition here quoted is one of the two undated ones mentioned by Hain, and from it the woodcuts have been photographed. There were five dated editions between 1490 and 1517. Topsell. " The History of Four-footed Beasts and Ser- pents and [71. Mouffef] The Theater of Insects"; in one volume, Lond. 1658. The first edition of Topsell's "His- tory of Four-footed Beasts" was printed in 1607. The "Serpents" followed in 1608. Mouffet's "Theater of Insects" appears to have been written about 1584. Holland's Pliny. "The Historic of the World, com- monly called the Naturall Historic of C. Plinius Secundus. Translated into English by Philemon Holland, Doctor of Physicke . . . London, 1634." The first edition of this book was published in 1601. Harrison s " Description of Britain," sometimes quoted as Holinshed's "Description of Britain." "An Historicall de- scription of the Hand of Britaine . . . written by W. H." [William Harrison]. This description is prefixed to the first volume of Holinshed's Chronicles, and is here quoted from the 1586 edition. It first appeared in 1577. Gerard's "Herbal." "The Herball or Generall Historic of Plantes. Gathered by John Gerarde of London, Master in Chirurgerie. Very much Enlarged and Amended by Thomas Johnson, Citizen and Apothecarye of London. London, 1633." The first edition of Gerard's "Herbal" appeared in 1596. [Johnson's additions are in this book generally distinguished by his name.] t Parkinsons "Herbal." " Theatrum Botanicum : The heater of Plants. Or an Herball of a large Extent . . . viii PREFACE. by John Parkinson, Apothecary of London, and the King's Herbarist. London, 1640." Albertus Magnus. " Alberti cognomento Magni . . . De Virtutibus Herbarum, Lapidum et Animalium quorundam, Jibellus. Item, De Mirabilibus Mundi, ac de quibusdam effectibus causatis a quibusdam animalibus," etc. Lugduni, I5S3- Lupton. " A thousand Notable things of sundry sortes : Whereof some are wonderful], some strange, some pleasant, divers necessary, a great sort profitable, and many very precious." London, 1627. The first edition of this book was published in 1595, the second in 1601. Hart. " KAINIKH, or the Diet of the Diseased ... by James Hart, Doctor in Physicke." London, 1633. Evelyn. " Silva, or a Discourse of Forest-trees, . . . Also Acetaria ; or a Discourse of Sallets, with Kalendarium Horcense ; or The Gard'ner's Almanack ... by John Evelyn, Esq.," etc. Fourth edition. London, 1706. The edition of Ben Jonson here quoted is the folio of 1692 ; that of Beaumont and Fletcher the folio of 1679. The other plays cited are from modern reprints. I have to thank Mr. Mihill Slaughter for the care with which he has photographed the woodcuts in the Hortus Sanitaiis. HERBERT W. SEAGER. HAMPTON COURT, December, 1896. SHAKESPEARE'S NATURAL HISTORY. Aconitum. Shall never leak though it do work as strong As aconitum or rash gunpowder. ii. KING HENRY IV., iv. 4, 47-8. GERARD, in his "Herbal," says that the poison of the broad -leafed and mountain wolf's-bane " is of such force that, if a man especially, and then next any four-footed beast, be wounded with an arrow or other instrument dipped in the juice hereof, they die within half an hour after, remediless"; but the winter wolf's-bane "is not with- out his peculiar virtues. It is reported to prevail mightily against the bitings of scorpions, and is of such force that, if the scorpion pass by where it groweth, and touch the same, presently he becometh dull, heavy and senseless ; and if the same scorpion by chance touch the white hellebore, he is presently delivered from his drowsiness." He enumerates in all twelve varieties of Aconitum, or wolf's-bane, and in addition " mithridate," or wholesome wolf's-bane (Anthora) which is the Bezoar, or counter-poison to Aconite, Gerard says further that, according to Avicenna, " the mouse nourished and fed up with Napellus (Monk's -hood} is alto- gether an enemy to the poisonsome nature thereof, and delivereth him that hath taken it from all peril and danger/' But Antonius Guanerius of Pavia " is of opinion that it is not a mouse that Avicen speaks of, but a fly," which is found on the leaves of wolf's-bane, and from which an antidote is to be made with bay-berries, mithridate, honey, and oil of olive. h'M C" A -: SHAKESPEARE'S [ADAMANT. [Honey is put in opposition to " mortal Aconite " by Dekker in "The Devil's Answer to Pierce Pennylesse." Aconitum originated from the foam of Cerberus. V. Hey- wood's " Brazen Age."] Adamant. As true as steel, 'as plantage to the moon, As sun to day, as turtle to her mate, As iron to adamant, as earth to the centre. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. 2, 184-6. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant ; But yet you draw not iron, for my heart Is true as steel ; leave you your power to draw, And I shall have no power to follow you. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. I, 195-9. V. Diamond, ADAMAS is a little stone of Ind, and is coloured as it were iron, and shineth as crystal ; but it passeth never the quantity of a walnut. No thing overcometh it, neither iron nor fire. And also it heateth never. But though ADAMANT.] NATURAL HISTORY. 3 may not be overcome, and though it despise fire and iron, yet it is broke with new hot blood [of a he-goat (Bartholo- mew^. This stone is contrary to Magnes. For if an Adamas be set by iron, it suffereth not the iron come to the Magnes, but it draweth it by a manner of violence from the Magnes, so that though the Magnes draweth iron to itself, the Adamas draweth it away from the Magnes. It is said that this stone warneth of venom as Electrum doth ; and putteth off divers dreads and fears, and withstandeth witchcraft. Dioscorides saith that it is called a precious stone of reconciliation and of love. For if a woman be away from her husband, or trespasseth against him : by virtue of this stone she is the sooner reconciled to have grace of her husband. And hereto he saith, that if a very Adamas be privily laid under a woman's head that sleepeth: her hus- band may wit whether that she be chaste or no. For if she be chaste by virtue of that stone she is compelled in her sleep to beclip [embrace] her husband ; and if she be untrue, she leapeth from him out of the bed, as one that is unworthy to abide the presence of that stone. Also, as Dioscorides saith, the virtue of such a stone borne in the left shoulder, or in the left arm-pit, helpeth against enemies, against woodness, chiding, and strife, and against fiends that noy [annoy] men that dream in their sleep, against fantasy, against sweveris [dreams] and venom. Bartholomew (Bertbclet), bk. xvi. § 9. THERE is nowadays a kind of Adamant which draweth unto it flesh, and the same so strongly, that it hath power to knit and tie together two mouths of contrary persons, and draw the heart of a man out of his body without offending any part of him. K Edward Fenton s " Certaine Secrete Wonders of Nature " (apud Steevens). Of the Magnet Bartholomew says : MAGNES is a stone of Ind, coloured somewhat as iron. nd is found in Ind among the Troglodytes, and draweth to itself iron in such wise, that it maketh as it were a chain of iron rings. Also it is said, that it draweth glass molten as it doth iron. In certain temples is made an image of iron, and it seemeth that that image hangeth in the air. 4 SHAKESPEARE'S [ADDER. And in Ethiopia is another kind of Magnes that forsaketh iron, and driveth it away from him. Also the same Magnes draweth iron to it in one corner, and putteth it away in another corner. And the more blue the Magnes is the better it is. [He then ascribes to it the same virtues as belong to the Adamant — of reconciling men and their wives, and testing women's chastity.] If the powder thereof be sprung and done upon coals in four corners of the house, it shall seem to them that be in the house, that the house should fall anon. And that seeming is by moving that cometh by turning of the brain. And there be mountains of such stones, and there- fore they draw to them and break ships that be nailed with iron [of which Sir John Mandeville also speaks]. Bartholomew {Berthelet\ bk. xvi. § 63. [It is evident from these quotations that Shakespeare and Lylly confused the Adamant or Diamond, which was supposed to repel iron, with the iron-attracting Magnet, being no doubt misled by the similarity of their other properties.] IF this stone be placed on coals in the four corners of the house, I say, if it be pounded and sprinkled on the coals, sleepers will flee the house and quite forsake it, and then thieves can see after all that they please. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Virtues of Stones." Adder. Is the adder better than the eel, Because his painted skin contents the eye ? TAMING OF THE SHREW, iv. 3, 179, 180. Art thou like the adder waxen deaf? ii. KING HENRY VI., iii. 2, 76. It is the bright day that brings forth the adder ; And that craves wary walking. JULIUS CAESAR, ii. i, 14, 15. Each jealous of the other, as the stung Are of the adder. KING LEAR, v. i? 56, 57. AN Adder dwelleth in shadows, he slideth and wriggleth in slipper draughts and wrinkles, and in slimy passing. AGATE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 5 The Adder fleeth the hind, and slayeth the lion, and he eateth rue, and changeth his skin, and loveth hollowness of wood and of trees, and drinketh milk busily. And he hurteth and grieveth with the teeth, and with the tail, and sheddeth venom, and lieth in the sun under hedges, and sucketh bitches, eateth flies, and licketh powder [dust]. The grease of the water-adder helpeth against the biting of the crocodile ; and if a man have with him the gall of this adder, the crocodile shall not grieve him nor noy him ; and that most jeopardous and fearful beast dare not, nor may do against him in no manner of wise damage nor grief, which beareth the gall of the said Adder. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xviii. § 34. V. Aspick, Serpent. Agate. If low, an agate very vilely cut. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, iii. I, 65. I was never manned with an agate till now ; but F will inset you neither in gold nor silver, but in vile apparel, and send you. back again to your master for a jewel. ii. KING HENRY IV., i. 2, 18-23. Agate-ring. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 78. In shape no bigger than an agate-stone On the forefinger of an alderman. » ROMEO AND JULIET, i. 4, 55-6. THE first manner thereof helpeth witchcraft. For there- th tempest is changed ; and stinteth rivers and streams. And the manner kind of Creta changeth perils and maketh gracious and pleasing, and fair showing and speaking, and giveth might and strength. The third manner stone, that is of Ind, comforteth the sight, and helpeth against thirst and venom, and smelleth sweet if it be nigh. The burning of it is odoriferous. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvi. § n. [Agates were worn by justices of the peace.] Thou wilt spit as formally, and show thy Agate and hatched chain, as well as the best of them. Beaumont and Fletcher's " Coxcomb " (Steevens), [The Agate which is found in the eagle's nest is of two sorts, male and female.] The male thereof is hard, and is 6 SHAKESPEARE'S [ALABASTER. somewhat blazing. And the female is nesh [soft]. Also this stone containeth and breedeth another stone within him. The virtue of this stone maketh a man sober, and augmenteth and increaseth riches, and so it doth love, and helpeth greatly to obtain and conquer victory and favour. If there be any man suspect of fraud of poisoning, if he be guilty, this stone put under his meat will not suffer him to swallow his meat, and if the stone be withdrawn, he shall not tarry to swallow his meat. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xvi. § 39. Alabaster. Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster ? MERCHANT OF VENICE, i. I, 83-4. THIS stone helpeth to win victory and mastery. This gendereth and keepeth friendship. Bartholomew (Bertbelei), bk. xvi. § 3. Almond. The parrot will not do more for an almond. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, v. 2, 193. [" Almond for parrot " is a proverbial phrase so common as to need no reference. Almond milk was made of Almonds with neck of mutton, barley, herbs, and salt (" The Good House Wives Treasurie "). Almond butter was eaten in Lent, and also used as a cos- metic for the hands (Ben Jonsorfs " Staple of News," and Shirley's (?) " Andromana "). Paste of Almonds is also mentioned in the " Staple of News."] Amber. [LAT. Electrum.~\ Her amber hair for foul hath amber quoted. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, iv. 3, 87. With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery. TAMING OF THE SHREW, iv. 3, 58. ELECTRUM is a metal, and is more noble than other metals. And hereof be three manner of kinds — one is such, that when it runneth first out of the tree, it is fleeting and thin gum, but afterwards with heat or with cold it is made hard as a clear stone, as it were crystal. AMBER.] NATURAL HISTORY. 7 That other manner kind is called metal, and is found in the earth, and is had in price. The third manner is made of the three parts of gold, and of the fourth of silver. And kind Electrum warneth of venom, for if one dip it therein, it maketh a great chirking noise, and changeth oft into divers colours as the rainbow, and that suddenly. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xvi. § 38. THE Amber that is brought from these parts [Konigsberg and Kurland] lies in great quantity scattered on the sand of the sea, yet it is as safe as if it were in warehouses, since it is death to take away the least piece thereof. At Dantzic I did see two polished pieces thereof, which were esteemed at a great price, one including a frog with each part clearly to be seen, (for which the King of Poland then being there offered five hundred dollars) the other including a newt, but not so transparent as the former. Fynes Moryson, " Itinerary," pt. iii. bk. ii. ch. 3, p. 8 1. ANY kind of Amber being sodden in the grease of a sow that gives suck to young pigs, is not only thereby the clearer but also much the better. Lupton, bk. i. § 25. OUR drink shall be prepared gold and Amber. Ben Jonson's "Fox," iii. 7. HE must drink his wine With three parts water, and have Amber in that too. Ben jfonson's " Magnetic Lady," ii;. 2. [Ambergris was a synonym for Amber, and was also used in caudles, cullises, and comfits.] I WONDER most at Sophocles the tragical poet. For he sticketh not to avouch, That beyond India Amber proceedeth from the tears that fall from the eyes of the birds. Holland's Pliny, bk. xxxvii. ch. 2. AMBER is found as well in other places as in India. Garcias thinks it to be the nature of the soil, as chalk, bole-ammoniac, etc., and not the seed of the whale, or issuing from some fountain in the sea. Purchai "Pilgrims," p. 508 (ed. 1616). 8 SHAKESPEARE'S [ANCHOVIES. Anchovies. Item, Anchovies and sack after supper. 2s. 6d. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 588-9. ANCHOVIES, 6 sh. I swear but a saucer full. £rome,-"The Covent Garden Weeded." HE doth learn to make strange sauces, to eat Anchovies, Maccaroni, Bovoli, Fagioli, and Caviare, because he loves 'em. Ben Jonson, " Cynthia's Revels," ii. 3. CLEM. For twelve pennyworth of Anchovies, eighteen- pence. BESS. How can that be ? CLEM. Marry, very well, mistress ; twelvepence Anchovies, and sixpence oil and vinegar. Nay, they shall have a saucy reckoning. Heywood's " Fair Maid of the West," ii. 2. IN midst of meat they present me with some sharp sauce or a dish of delicate Anchovies, or a caviare. "Lingua," ii. i. He feeds now upon sack and Anchovies. G. WilkinS) " Miseries of Enforced Marriage," iii. ANCHOVY (Gr. f-y/c/oadt/coXoc) is a fish nearly like a sar- dine, so called because it has bile in its head — from «v (in), (head), and ^oXoc (bile). Minsheu's Dictionary, s.v. Animal. ALL that is comprehended of flesh and of spirit of life and so of body and soul is called animal — a beast — whether it be airy as fowls that fly, or watery as fish that swim, or earthy as beasts that go on the ground and in fields, as men and beasts, wild and tame, or other that creep and glide on the ground. Some beasts have blood and some have none, as bees and all other beasts with rivelled bodies. But such beasts have other humour in stead of blood. It is said that in Ind is a beast wonder ly shape[d], and is like to the bear in body and in hair and to a man in face. And hath a right red head, and a full great mouth, and an horrible, and in either jaw three rows of teeth ANIMAL.] NATURAL HISTORY. 9 distinct between [i.e., separate]. The outer limbs thereof be as it were the outer limbs of a lion, and his tail is like to a wild scorpion with a sting, and smiteth with hard bristle- pricks as a wild swine, and hath an horrible voice as the voice of a trump, and he runneth full swiftly, and eateth men. And among all beasts of the earth is none found more cruel nor more wonderly shapen. The dolphin and other manner of fish fall to the bottom suddenly, as it were in epilepsy, when they hear sudden thundering, or great moving and noise, and be taken as they were drunk. And fish fleeth and voideth the place of wash- ing and slaughter of other fish, and the blood of other fish, and flee and void also hoary and unclean nets ; and come gladly into new. The female bear bringeth forth a lump of flesh not di- vided by shape of members ; and she keepeth that lump hot under her arm-pits as the hen sitteth on her eggs. And the female bear licketh that lump of flesh and shapeth it some and some, until it receive perfect figure and shape of a bear. Also the panther and the lioness bringeth forth whelps but not complete nor perfectly shapen. In all beasts that bring children forth uncomplete and unperfect, the cause is gluttony, for if kind would abide unto they were complete and perfect, the children would slay the mother with sucking, for immoderate and over-passing appetite. Fish in one month waxeth fat, and soon afterward wax lean. And some waxeth fat in the northern wind, as fish with long bodies, and some in southern wind, as fish with broad bodies, and some in rain-time. Rain-water accordeth to all manner shell-fish, out-take [n] the fish that hight Roitera [or Koytea — an unidentified class of fish], that dieth in the same day, if he taste rain-water. And too much rain-water grieveth some fish, for it blindeth them. Some beasts be ordained for man's mirth, as apes and marmosets and popinjays ; and some be made for exercitation of man, for man should know his own infirmities and the might of God. And therefore be made flies and lice ; and lions and tigers and bears be made that man may by the first know his own infirmity, and be afeard of the second. Also some beasts be made to relieve and help the need of many manner infirmities of mankind — as the flesh the adder to make treacle. Wolves flee from him that is IO SHAKESPEARE'S [ANT. anointed with lion's dirt [kidney-fat]. If the tail of an old wolf be hanged at the cows' stall the wolves will not come there nigh. Bear's eyes taken out of the head, and bound together under the right arm of man, abateth the fever quartan. Also the long teeth of a wolf healeth lunatic men. Tame four-footed beasts dread and flee if they see a wolf's eye taken out of the head. If thou besmokest the house with the lungs of an ass thou cleansest the house of serpents and other creeping worms. Bartholomew {Berthelei}, bk. xviii. § I. Ant. Sometimes he angers me With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant. i. KING HENRY IV., iii. 149. We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there's no labouring i' the winter. KING LEAR, ii. 4, 68. SLEIGHT and business of them is much. For in summer they gather store by the which they may live in winter ; ANT.] NATURAL HISTORY. ii and they gather wheat and reck not of barley, and when the wheat is berained, that they gather to heap, then the Ants do all the wheat out into the sun, that it may be dried again. And it is said that in Ethiopia be Ants shap[ed] as hounds, and diggeth up golden gravel with their feet, and keep it that it be not taken away. And pursueth anon to the death them that take it away. And when they be overset in their houses to be taken, then shed they venomous water upon men, and that water burneth his hand that it toucheth, and breedeth therein itching and smarting. For they have that water instead of weapon and of armour. In Ind be right great Ants with horns, that keep gold and precious stones with wonder covetise and desire, but Indians steal them in summer-time when the Ants be hid in hills for strong burning heat ; but the Ants fly after them busily, which take away the gold ; and wound them after, though they flee the Ants riding on swift camels — in them is so wicked fierceness for lust of gold. When bears be sick, they seek Ants, and devour them, and heal themselves in that wise. But in some case Ants' eggs be medicinable. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xviii. § 53. 12 SHAKESPEARE'S [APE. [After the account given above of the way in which Indians get the gold from the ants, Sir John Mandeville adds] : AND in other times when it is not so hot, and that the Pismires [Ants] ne rest them not in the earth, then they get gold by their subtilty. They take mares that have young colts or foals, and lay upon the mares void vessels made therefor ; and they be all open above, and hanging low to the earth ; and then they send forth the mares for to pasture about those hills, and withhold the foals with them at home. And when the Pismires see those vessels they leap in anon, and they have this kind, that they let nothing be empty among them, but anon they fill it, be it what manner of thing that it be ; and so they fill those vessels with gold. And when that the folk suppose that the vessels be full they put forth anon the young foals, and make them to neigh after their dams ; and then anon the mares return towards their foals, with their charges of gold ; and then men discharge them, and get gold enough by this subtility. For the Pismires will suffer beasts to go and pasture amongst them ; but no man in no wise (chap. xxx.). If you stamp Lupins (which are to be had at the Apothecaries') and therewith rub round about the bottom or lower part of any tree, no Ants or Pismires will go up and touch the same tree. Luptons "Notable Things," bk. iv. § 77. IF you burn the shells of snails with Styrax, and then sprinkle thereof upon an Ants'-hill, thereby they will be driven forth of the ground or place where they are. Ibid., bk. x. § 77. V. Pismire. Ape. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. 2, 181. CYMBELINE, i. 6, 39. APES have knowledge of elements, and be sorry in the full of the moon, and be merry and glad in the new of the moon. Of Apes be five manner kinds, of whom some have tails ; and some be like to an hound in the face, and in the body like to an Ape. Some be rough and APE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 13 hairy, and forgetteth soon wildness. And some be pleasing in face with merry movings and playings, and resteth but little. And some be unlike to that other nigh in all manner points, for in the face is a long beard, and have a broad tail. That kind of Apes is next to man's shape, and be diverse and distinguished by tails, and labour wonderly and busily to do all thing that they see : and so oft they shoe themselves with shoes that hunters leave in certain places slyly, and be so taken the sooner ; for while they would fasten the thong of the shoe, and would put the shoes on their feet, as they see the hunters do. they be oft taken with hunters ere they may unlace the shoes, and be delivered of them. The Ape is tamed and chastised by violence with beating and with chains, and is refrained with a clog, so that he may not run about freely at his own will, to abate his fierceness and outrage. And the Ape eateth all manner of meats and unclean things, and therefore he seeketh and looketh worms in men's heads, and throweth them into his mouth, and eateth them. The lion loveth Ape's flesh, for by eating thereof he recovereth when he is sore sick. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xviii. § 96. THE Ape ever killeth that young one which he loveth most with embracing it too fervently. Greenes "Thieves Falling Out," etc. I'll teach you To come aloft and do tricks like an ape. [V. Massinger, " The Bondman/' iii. 3, for various tricks taught the ape.J [Katharina, in "The Taming of the Shrew" (ii. I, 34) — I must dance barefoot on her wedding-day, And for your love to her lead Apes in hell — illudes to the old proverb: Such as die maids do all lead Apes in hell — Compare Douce's note on this passage.] IF you wish to frighten any man while asleep, put the :in of an Ape under his head. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." i4 SHAKESPEARE'S [APPLE. THE pepper-trees are great, and abound with Apes, who gather the pepper for the Indians gratis, brought thereunto by a wile of the Indians, who first gather some, and lay it on heaps, and then go away, at their return finding many the like heaps made by the emulous Apes. Purchas' "Pilgrims," p. 457 (ed. 1616). Apple. Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy ; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod, or a codling when 'tis almost an apple. TWELFTH NIGHT, i. 5, 165-7. She's as like this as a crab's like an apple. KING LEAR, i. 5, 15-6. [Gerard engraves the following sorts of apples : The Pome- water, the Baker's Ditch, the Queening or Queen of Apples, the Summer Pearmain, the Winter Pearmain. Shakespeare mentions or alludes to several sorts of apples, viz., Apple-John, Pomewater, Codling, Carraway, Leather-coat, Lording, Pippin, Bitter-sweet, and Crab (^.^.)-] Apple-John. I am withered like an old apple-John. i. KING HENRY IV., iii. 3, 4-5. The prince once set a dish of apple-Johns before him, and told him there were five more Sir Johns, and pulling off his hat, said : ' I will now take my leave of these six, dry, round, old, withered knights.' ii. KING HENRY TV., ii. 4, 4-9. [In Heywood's "Fair Maid of the Exchange," Fiddle the clown takes it in snuff when he is called "russeting" and " apple-john."] THIS apple will keep two years, but becomes very wrinkled and shrivelled. Steevens' note, ii. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 4. Apricock. Feed him with apricocks and dewberries. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iii. i, 169. Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks. KING RICHARD II., iii. "4, 29. ASH.] NATURAL HISTORY 15 [In 1633 five sorts of Apricots were known : " The common, the long and great, the musk, the Barbary, and the early Apricock."] Johnsorfs edition of Gerard's "Herbal," p. 1448. Ash. That body, where against My grained ash an hundred times hath broke. CORIOLANUS, iv. 5, 112. ASH is good for shafts and spears. The leaves thereof helpeth against venom, and the juice thereof wrung and drunk helpeth best against serpents. And Ash hath so great virtue, that serpents come not in the shadow thereof in the morning nor at even. And if a serpent be set between a fire and Ash-leaves, he will flee into the fire sooner than into the leaves. In Greece the leaves thereof is poison to beasts, and grieveth not other beasts that chew their cud, and grieveth not beasts in Italy. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvii. § 62. THE fruit like unto cods is termed in English Ash-keys, and of some Kite - keys. It is a wonderful courtesy in nature that the Ash should flower before these serpents appear, and not cast his leaves before they be gone again. Three or four leaves of the Ash-tree taken in wine each morning from time to time do make those lean that are fat, and keepeth them from feeding which do begin to Wax fat. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. (WHETHER by the power of magic or nature I determine not) I have heard it affirmed with great confidence, and upon experience, that the rupture to which many children re obnoxious, is healed by passing the infant through a ride cleft made in the bole or stem of a growing Ash-tree, ihrough which the child is made to pass; and then carried second time round the Ash, caused to repass the same iperture again, that the cleft of the tree suffered to close ind coalesce, as it will, the rupture of the child, being irefully bound up, will not only abate, but be perfectly :ured. The white and rotten dotard part composes a ground for our gallants' sweet powder. Evelyns " Sylva," p. 62 (ed. '1706). 1 6 SHAKESPEARE'S Aspick (i.e., Asp). The pretty worm of Nilus there That kills and pains not. # * * * Have I the aspic in my lips ? Dost fall ? If thou and nature can so gently part, The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch, Which hurts, and is desired. [ASPICK. This is an aspic's trail ; and these fig-leaves Have slime upon them, such as the aspic leaves Upon the caves of Nile. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, v 2, 243-4, 296-9, 354-7- V. Adder, Serpent. ASPIS is an Adder [^.^.] worst and most wicked in venom and in biting ; he casteth out fleeing venom, and spitteth and springeth out venom by bitings. Of Adders that hight Aspis be divers manner kind, and have ASPICK.] NATURAL HISTORY. ij diverse effects and doings to noy and to grieve, that is to wit, Dipsas, — when he biteth, he slayeth with thirst. Ipalis is a manner Adder that slayeth with sleep. These manner Adders Cleopatra laid by her, and passed out of the life by death as it were by sleep. And there be many other Adders, and the venom of them is so strong, that they slay with their venom him that toucheth them with a spear. The Adder Aspis, when she is charmed by the enchanter, to come out of her den by charms and conjurations, for she hath no will to come out, layeth her one ear to the ground, and stoppeth that other with her tail, and so she heareth not the voice of the charming, nor cometh out to him that charmeth, nor is obedient to his saying — ["the deaf adder that stoppeth her ears, and refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely"]. This slaying Adder and venomous hath wit to love and affection, and loveth his make [mate] as it were by love of wedlock, and liveth not well without company. Therefore if the one is slain, the other pursueth him that slew that other with so busy wreak and vengeance that passeth weening. And knoweth the slayer, and reseth on him, be he in never so great company of men and of people, and busieth to slay him, and passeth all difficulties and spaces of ways, and with wreak of [will wreak] the said death of his make. And is not let ne put off, but it be by swift flight, or by waters or rivers. But against his malice kind giveth remedy and medicine. For kind giveth him right dim sight ; for his eyes are set in the sides of his head, and be not set in the forehead ; and therefore he may not see his adversary forthright, but aside. Therefore he may not follow his enemy by sight, but he followeth more by hearing and smell ; for in these two wits he is strong and mighty. This Adder Aspis grieveth not men of Africa and Moors ; for they take their children that they have suspect, and put them to these Adders : And 'if the children be of their kind this Adder Aspis grieveth them not : And if they be of other kind anon he dieth by venom of the Adder. These beasts slay strangers and men of other lands. And these serpents spare wonderly men that be born in the same land. So the serpent Anguis about the River Euphrates grieveth not nor hurteth men of the land ; nor noyeth them that sleep, if Ky be of that land, and pain and slay busily other men, ' 1 8 SHAKESPEARE'S [ASS. that be of other nations, what nation soever it be. Also Aristotle saith that in a certain mountain scorpions grieve no strangers ; but they sting and slay men of the country. Bartholomew (Bertkelet}, bk. xviii. § 9. ASP'S sting is not curable, but only with the water of a stone washed, which they take out of the sepulchre of an ancient king. Batman's addition to Bartholomew, loc. cit. IN Egypt so great is the reverence they bear to Asps, that if any in the house have need to rise in the night-time out of their beds, 'they first of all give out a sign by knacking of the fingers, lest they should harm the Asp, and so provoke it against them ; at the hearing whereof, all the Asps get them to their holes and lodgings, till the person stirring be laid again in his bed. A domestical Asp had young ones ; in her absence one of her young ones killed a child in the house ; when the old one came again according to her custom to seek her meat, the killed child was laid forth, and so she understood the harm ; then went she and killed that young one, and never more appeared in that house. Also there was an Asp that fell in love with a little boy that kept geese, whose love to the said boy was so fervent, that the male of the said Asp grew jealous thereof. Where- upon one day as he lay asleep, [he] set upon him to kill him, but the other seeing the danger of her love, awaked and delivered him. All the Asps of Nilus do thirty days before the flood remove themselves and their young ones into the mountains, and this is done yearly, once at the least. A man carrying a bottle of vinegar was bitten by an Asp, whiles by chance he trod thereupon, but as long as he bore the vinegar and did not set it down, he felt no pain thereby, but as often as to ease himself he set the bottle out of his hand, he felt torment by the poison. Topsell) "History of Serpents," pp. 633-6. Ass. THE Ass is a simple beast and a slow, and therefore soon overcome and subject to man's service. The elder the Ass is, the fouler he waxeth from day to day, and hairy and rough, and is a melancholic beast, that is cold and dry, ASS.] NATURAL HISTORY. and is therefore kindly heavy and slow, and unlusty, dull and witless and forgetful. Natheless he beareth burdens, and may away with travail and thraldom, and useth vile meat and little, and gathereth his meat among briars and thorns and thistles. Small birds that nesteth them in bushes, thorns and briars hate the Ass. And therefore small sparrows fighteth with the Ass, for the Ass eateth the thorns, in the which the sparrows make their nests. And also the Ass rubbeth and froteth his flesh against the thorns, and so :he birds or the eggs of the sparrows falleth out of the :iest down to the ground. And when that the Ass reareth and heaveth up her head, then by a strong blast the thorns moveth and shaketh, and of the great noise the birds be afeared full sore, and falleth out of the nest. And there- fore the mothers suffereth them to leap on the face of the Ass, and bite and smite and rese to his eyes with their :>ills. And if the Ass have a wound or a scab in the ridge :>r in the side of pricking of thorns or in any other wise, :he sparrows leapeth on the Ass, and pecketh with their 20 SHAKESPEARE'S [ASS. bills in the wounds or in the sores, for the Ass should pass from their nests. And though such a sparrow be full little, yet unneath may the Ass defend himself against his rese, pricking and biting. The raven hateth full much the Ass, therefore the raven flyeth above the Ass, and laboureth with his bill to peck out his eyes ; but the deepness of eyes helpeth the Ass, and thickness and hardness of the skin, for therewith the Ass closeth her eyes and heleth her sight, and defendeth against the resing and pricking of fowls. Also his long ears and moving thereof helpeth, for therewith he feareth small birds, that rese to peck out his eyes. The smoke of the Ass's hoof helpeth the birth of a child, in so much that it bringeth out a dead child, and shall not otherwise be laid to, for it slayeth a quick child if it be oft laid to, and lieth too long time. And new dirt of the same beast stauncheth blood wonderly. The Ass's milk, and Ass's blood helpeth against the biting of a scorpion. And men say, that if a man looketh in an Ass's ear when he is smit with a scorpion, anon the malice passeth. Also all venomous things fleeth smoke of the Ass's liver. Also the Ass's milk helpeth against venomous plaster, and against the malice of ceruse or of quicksilver. Also Ass's bones bruised and stamped and sod helpeth against venom, if the broth thereof be drunken. And urine of the male Ass with Nardus keepeth and saveth and maketh much hair. And the Ass dreadeth full sore to pass over water, and scrapeth therein ; and the Ass passeth not gladly, where he may see the water through the planks, for he hath a feeble brain, and is soon grudged, and dreadeth therefore, and falleth through the chines of the bridge into the water, that he seeth running thereunder. And the Ass drinketh not gladly but of small wells that he is used to, and those that he may come dry-footed to. And wonder it is to tell, that though an Ass be sore athirst, if his water be changed, un- neath he drinketh thereof, but if it be like the water that he is wont to drink of. And the Ass hath another wretched condition known nigh to all men. For he is put to travail over night [might - - Bartholomew], and is beaten with staves, and sticked and pricked with pricks, and his mouth is wrung with a barnacle [bit], and is led hither and thither, and withdrawn from leys and pasture that is in his way oft by §3ooN.] NATURAL HISTORY. 21 •aining of the barnacle, and dieth at last after vain travails, and hath no reward after his death for the service and travail that he had living, not so much that his own skin is left with him, but it is taken away, and the carrion is thrown out without sepulchre or burials — but it be so much of the carrion that by eating and devouring is some- time buried in the wombs of hounds and wolves. B Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xviii. § 8. WHEN an Ass dieth, out of his body are engendered cer- in flies called Scarabees. Asses are subject to madness when they have tasted to certain herbs growing near Potnias. Some have used to put into gardens the skull of a mare or she-ass that hath been covered, with persuasion that the gardens will be the more fruitful. The wolf with small force doth compass the destruction of an Ass, for the blockish Ass, when he seeth a wolf, layeth his head on his side, that so he might not see, thinking that, because he seeth not the wolf, the wolf cannot see him. Topsell, (i Four-footed Beasts," pp. 19-21. IF a stone be bound to the tail of an Ass, he will not bray nor roar. The skin of an Ass when it is hung over boys prevents them from being frightened. If you wish that a man's head should appear as ah Ass's head, take of the parings of [the hoof of] an Ass, and rub the man's head with them. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." IN Africa also are wild Asses, among which one male hath many females ; a jealous beast, who (for fear of after encroaching) bites off the stones of the young males, if the suspicious female prevent him not by bringing forth in a close place, where he shall not find it. Purcbas' ''Pilgrims," p. 558 (ed. 1616). Baboon. V. Ape, Monkey. You and your coach-fellow Nym . . . had looked through the grate, like a geminy of baboons. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, ii. 2, 7-9. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good. MACBETH, iv. i, 37-8. 22 SHAKESPEARE'S [BALM. BABOONS are a kind of apes, whose heads are like dogs, and their other parts like a man's. Some are much given to fishing ; again, there are some which abhor fishes. Some there are which are able to write, and naturally to discern letters. They will eat venison, which they by reason of their swiftness take easily, and having taken it tear it to pieces, and roast it in the sun. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 8, 9. Balm. Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear, The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood. KING RICHARD II., i. I, 171-2. My pity hath been balm to heal their wounds. 3 KING HENRY VI., iv. 8, 41. BALM drunk in wine is good against the bitings of venomous beasts, comforts the heart, and driveth away all melancholy and sadness. The juice thereof glueth together green wounds, being put into oil, unguent or Balm for that purpose, and maketh it of greater efficacy. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. THIS Balm groweth in no place, but only there [/'.£., beside Cairo]. And though that men bring of the plants for to plant in other countries, they grow well and fair, but they bring forth no fructuous thing. And men cut the branches with a sharp flintstone or with a sharp bone, when men will go to cut them : for whoso cut them with iron, it would destroy his virtue and his nature. And men make always that Balm to be tilled of the Christian men or else it would not fructify, as the Saracens say them- selves: for it hath been often time proved. Sir John Mandeville, ch. v. [He gives elaborate directions for distinguishing the true from the counterfeit balm.] Balsam, Balsamum [i.e. Balm]. TIMON OF ATHENS, iii. 5, no. COMEDY OF ERRORS, iv. I,. 88. BALSAMUM is set tofore all other smells, and was some- time granted but to one land among all lands, that is to wit Judea. And was not had nor found but in two gardens of the King's. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xvii. § 18. BARNACLES.] NATURAL HISTORY. 23 Barnacles. We shall lose our time, And all be turn'd to barnacles. TEMPEST, iv. i, 248-50. I TOLD them of as great a marvel to them that is amongst us : and that was of the Barnacles. For I told them that in our country were trees that bear a fruit that become birds flying : and those that fall in the water live : and they that fall on the earth die anon : and they be right good to man's meat. And hereof had they a great marvel, that some of them trowed it were an impossible thing to be. Sir John Mandeville, ch. xxvi. IN the Islands of Ireland, and Orcades, in certain places there, there be certain trees, much like unto willow-trees, out of which come forth certain little hairs, increasing by little and little into birds, having shape of ducks, hanging upon the bough by their nebs or bills ; and when they are come to full perfectness, they fly away of themselves, or fall into the next seas, which birds we call Barnacles. This is related by the people that dwell there. Lupton's " Notable Things," bk. vii. § 3. [Gerard in his u Herbal " gives a description of the Barnacle or Goose-tree, too long to quote, but he declares that he has seen it, and vouches for it of his own knowledge.] IN Man they have great store of Barnacles breeding upon their coasts. [He adds that he sought vainly for Barnacles until May, 1584, when he found many shells on ships in the Thames newly come home from Barbary or the Canary Isles, and on opening them he] saw the proportion of a fowl in one of them, saving that the head was not yet formed, because the fresh water had killed them all (as I take it). Certainly the feathers of the tail hang out of the shell at least two inches, the wings almost perfect, touching form,, so that it cannot be denied but that some bird or other must proceed of this substance. Harrison's "Description of Britain," p. 38, in Holinshed. foot ONE little fish [Remora or Barnacle], not above half a t long, is able to arrest and stay perforce, yea and hold as prisoners our goodly tall and proud ships. This little detained Caligula's ship (a galliass it was, furnished fish SHAKESPEARE'S [BASILISK. with five banks of oars to a side) ; so soon as ever the vessel was perceived alone in the fleet to stand still, presently they found one of these fishes sticking fast to the very helm. But this prince was most astonished at this, namely, That the fish sticking only to the ship should hold it fast, and the same, being brought into the ship, and there laid, not work the like effect. Neither do I doubt but all the sort of fishes are able to do as much. Holland's Pliny; bk. xxxii. ch. i. Basilisk or Cockatrice. Make me not sighted like the basilisk ; I have look'd on thousands, who have sped the better By my regard, but kill'd none so. WINTER'S TALE, i. 2, 388-90. Come, basilisk, And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight. ii. KING HENRY VI., iii. 2, 52-3. THE Cockatrice is a king of serpents, and they be afeard and flee when they see him. For he slayeth them with his BASILISK.] NATURAL HISTORY. smell and with his teeth ; and slayeth also all thing that hath life, with breath and with sight. In his sight no fowl nor bird passeth harmless, and though he be far from the fowl, yet it is burnt and devoured by his mouth. But he is overcome of the weasel ; and men bring the weasel to the Cockatrice' den where he lurketh and is hid. For the Father and Maker of all thing left no thing without remedy. And so the Cockatrice fleeth when he seeth the weasel, and the weasel pursueth and slayeth him. For the biting of the weasel is death to the Cockatrice ; and never- leless the biting of the Cockatrice is death to the weasel. And that is sooth, but if [unless] the weasel eat rue before. And against such venom, first the weasel eateth the herb of. rue, though it be bitter, and by virtue of the juice of that herb, he goeth boldly and overcometh his enemy. And the Cockatrice is half a foot long, and hath white specks : And the Cockatrice slayeth that that he cometh nigh. As the scorpion he pursueth thirsty animals, and when they come to the water, he maketh them dropsical, and hydrophobic. For that water that he toucheth maketh the dropsy, and it 26 SHAKESPEARE'S [BASILISK. is venomous and deadly. With hissing he slayeth, or he biteth or stingeth. And he presseth not his body with much bowing, but his course of way is forthright, and goeth in mean [the middle]. He dryeth and burneth leaves and herbs, not only with touch, but also by hissing and blast he rotteth and corrupteth all thing about him. And he is of so great venom and perilous, that he slayeth and wasteth him that nigheth him by the length of a spear, without tarrying ; and yet the weasel taketh and overcometh him. And though the Cockatrice be venomous without remedy while he is alive, yet he loseth all the malice when he is burnt to ashes. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xviii. § 8. ITS head is very pointed, its eyes red, its colour inclining to black and yellow ; it has a tail like a viper, but the rest of its body is like a cock. The Basilisk is sometimes gendered from a cock ; for towards the end of summer a cock lays an egg from which the Basilisk is hatched. But many things must concur to this gendering, for it lays the egg in much warm dung, and there sits on it. And those who have seen its creation say that there is no shell to the egg, but a very strong skin which can resist the hardest blows. Also the opinion of some is that a viper or toad sits on that cock's egg — but this is doubtful. Hortus Sanitatis, part iii. (" Of Birds ") ch. xiii. BASLE was built in the year 382, having the name of a Basilisk slain by a knight covered with crystal. Fynes Moryson's " Itinerary," part i. ch. ii. p. 27. EVEN as a lion is afraid of a cock, so is the Basilisk, for he is not only afraid at his sight, but almost dead when he heareth him crow. It is a question whether the Cockatrice die by the sight of himself. Once our nation was full of Cockatrices, and a certain man did destroy them by going up and down in glass, whereby their own shapes were reflected upon their own faces, and so they died. But this fable is not worth refuting, for it is more likely that the man should first have died by the corruption of the air from the Cockatrices. Topsell, "History of Serpents," pp. 679, 68 1. BAY.] NATURAL HISTORY. 27 Bat. All the charms Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you. TEMPEST, i. 2, 339-40. Wool of bat, and tongue of dog. MACBETH, iv. i, 15. THE reremouse [i.e. Bat] hating light flyeth in the even- tide with breaking and blenching and swift moving, with full small skin of her wings. And is a beast like to a mouse in sounding with voice, in piping and crying. And he is like to a bird, and also to a four-footed beast ; and that is but seld found among birds. Reremice be blind as moles, and lick powder [dust] and suck oil out of lamps, and be most cold of kind ; therefore the blood of a reremouse [a]nointed upon the eye-lids sufFereth not the hair to grow again. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xii. § 38. IF you wish to see anything submerged and deep in the night, and that it may not be more hidden from thee than in the day, and that you may read books in a dark night, — anoint your face with the blood of a Bat, and that will happen which I say. Albertus Magnus, "Of the Wonders of the World." Bay, -tree. Rosemary and bays. PERICLES, iv. 6, 160. The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd. KING RICHARD, ii. 4, 8. [" Bay " was used in Shakespeare's time as a synonym for laurel." Cf. Minsheu's Dictionary, s.v., and Cooper's Thesaurus, .v. Laurus.~\ THIS tree worshippeth the house, and maketh it fair, "he land that beareth laurel-tree is safe from lightning both field and in house. Bartholomew (Berthelei], bk. xvii. § 48. BAY-BERRIES taken in wine are good against the bitings of any venomous beast, and against all venom and poison. The oil pressed out of these cureth them that are beaten black and blue, and that be bruised by squats and falls. Common drunkards were accustomed to eat in the morning fasting two leaves thereof against drunkenness. Gerard's "Herbal," bk. iii. ch. Ixviii. 28 SHAKESPEARE'S [BEAGLE. IN the year 1629 at Padua, preceding a great pestilence, almost all the Bay-trees about that famous university grew sick and died. Evelyn's " Sylva," bk. ii. ch. vi. Beagle. V. Brach. TWELFTH NIGHT, ii. 3, 195. TIMON OF ATHENS, iv. 3, 175. Bean. Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog, and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots. I KING HENRY IV., ii. I, 9-10. A fat and bean-fed horse. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. I, 45. THE Bean is a manner cod ware, and serveth to pottage, and in old time men used to eat thereof. Beans cause vain dreams and dreadful. Many meddle beans with bread- corn, to make the bread the more heavy. By oft use thereof the wits be dulled. Or else, dead men's souls be therein. Therefore the bishop should not eat Beans. Beans grow in Egypt with sharp pricks, therefore crocodiles flee from them, and dread lest their eyes should be hurt with the sharp pricks of them. Such a Bean is x cubits long, with a head as a poppy, and therein Beans be closed, and that head is red as a rose. And those Beans grow not On Stalks nor in cods. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xvii. § 64. THE skins of Beans applied to the place where the hairs were first plucked up, will not suffer them to grow big, but rather consumeth their nourishment. Gerard's " Herbal," bk. ii. ch. v. and vii. IN June buttered Beans saveth fish to be spent. Tusser, "A Hundreth Good Poyntes of Husbandrie." ^P You may imagine it to be Twelfth-day at night, and the Bean found in the corner of your cake. Rowleys "Woman Never Vexed," ii. i. Now, now the mirth comes With the cake full of plums. Where Bean's the king of the sport here. HerricVs " Hesperides." BEAR.] NATURAL HISTORY. 29 THE choosing of a person King or Queen by a bean found in a piece of a divided cake was formerly a common Christmas gambol in both the English universities. Brand's " Popular Antiquities," vol. i. p. 20. [See also the same author, p. 97, under " Mid -Lent Sunday/' French Beans are mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher's " Tragedy of Bonduca " (i. 2).] SHE made me colour my hair with Bean-flower to seem elder than I was. Webster s "Devil's Law Case," iv. 2. Bear. Thy groans Did make wolves howl and penetrate the breasts Of ever-angry bears. TEMPEST, i. 2, 287-9. Wolves and bears, they say, Casting their savageness aside, have done Like offices of pity. WINTER'S TALE, ii. 3, 187-9. The rugged Russian bear. MACBETH, iii. 4., 100. Like to a chaos or an unlick'd bear-whelp That carries no impression like the dam. 3 KING HENRY VI., iii. 2, 161-2. One bear will not bite another. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, v. 7, 19. Unicorns may be betray'd with trees. And bears with glasses. JULIUS C.ESAR, ii. i, 204-5. AMID the desert rocks the mountain bear Brings forth unform, unlike herself, her young ; Nought else but lumps of flesh withouten hair. In tract of time her often licking tongue Gives them such shape, as doth (erelong) delight The lookers on. Arthur Broke1 s " Romeus and Juliet," Address to the Reader. WHEN the Bear cannot find origanum to heal his grief, he blasteth all other leaves with his breath. Lilly's "Sappho and Phaon " (Prologue). 30 SHAKESPEARE'S [BEAR. THEIR gendering is in the beginning of winter, and gender not as other fourfooted beasts do, but they gender both lying, and then they depart asunder each from other, and go in dens either by themself, and whelpeth therein the xxx day, and the whelps be not more than five, and be white and evil shapen. For the whelp is a piece of flesh little more than a mouse, having neither eyes nor hair, and having claws somedeal bourging [i.e., burgeoning], and so this lump she licketh, and shapeth a whelp with licking. And so men shall see no where beasts more selder gender nor whelp than Bears, and therefore the males hide them and lurk forty days, and the females array their houses four months with boughs, fruit and branches, and covereth it, for to keep out the rain with nesh twigs and branches. The first forty days of these days they sleep so fast, that they may not be awaked with wounds, and thac time they fast mightily. And the grease of a Bear helpeth against the falling of the hair. And after these days, she sitteth up and liveth by sucking of her feet, and beclippeth the cold whelps, and holdeth them fast to her breast : And heateth and comforteth them, and lieth grovelling upon them, as birds do. And it is wonder to tell a thing that Theophrastus saith and telleth, that Bear's flesh sod that time vanisheth if it be laid up, and is no token of meat found in the almery [cupboard, larder], but a little quantity of humour: and hath that time small drops of blood about the heart, and no manner of blood in the other deal of the body. And in springing time the males go forth and be fat, and the cause thereof is unknown, namely for that time they be not fatted with meat neither with sleep, but only seven days. And when she goeth out of her den, she seeketh an herb, and eateth it to make lax her womb, that is then hard and bound. Then her eyes be dimmed, and therefore namely they labour to get them honey -combs, for the mouth should be wounded with stinging of bees and bleed; and so relieve the heaviness and sore ache of their eyes. His head is full feeble, that is most strong in the lion, and therefore sometime he falleth down headlong upon the rocks, and falleth upon gravel and dieth soon. And as men say, the Bear's brain is venomous, and therefore when they be slain, their heads be burnt in open places, for men should not taste of the brain, and fall into woodness BEE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 31 of Bears. And no beast hath so great sleight to do evil deeds as the Bear. And the Bear eateth crabs and ants for medicine, and eateth flesh for great strength, and is an un- patient beast and wrathful, and will be avenged on all those that him toucheth. If another touch him, anon he leaveth the first, and reseth on the second, and reseth on the third ; and when he is taken, he is made blind with a bright basin [cf. quotation from " Julius Caesar "] and is bound with chains, and compelled to play : and tamed with beating, and is an unsteadfast beast and unstable, and un- easy, and goeth therefore all day about the stake to which he is strongly tied. He licketh and sucketh his own feet, and hath liking in the juice thereof. He can wonderly stie [climb] upon trees unto the highest tops of them [and robs wild bees of their honey]. And the hunter taketh heed thereof, and pitcheth full sharp hooks and stakes about the foot of the tree, and hangeth craftily a right heavy hammer or a wedge tofore the open way to the honey, and then the Bear cometh, and is an hungered, and the log that hangeth there on high letteth him, and he putteth away the wedge dispiteously, but after the removing, the wedge falleth again and hitteth him on the ear, and he hath indignation thereof; and putteth away the wedge dis- piteously and right fiercely, and then the- wedge falleth and smiteth him harder than it did before, and he striveth so long with the wedge, until his feeble head doth fail by oft smiting of the wedge, and then he falleth down upon the pricks and stakes, and slayeth himself in that wise. Bears licketh not drink, as beasts do with sawy teeth ; and sucketh not neither swalloweth, as beasts do that have con- tinual teeth, as sheep and men ; but biteth the water and swalloweth it. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xviii. §§ 112-3. Beast. V. Animal. Bee. Like the bee, culling from every flower The virtuous sweets, Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey, We bring it to the hive, and, like the bees, Are murdered for our pains. ii. KING HENRY IV., iv. 5, 75-81. 32 SHAKESPEARE'S [BEE. 'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb In the dead carrion. ii. KING HENRY IV., iv. 4., 79-80. 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, etc. KING HENRY V., i. 2, 187-204. The commons, like an angry hive of bees, That want their leader, scatter up and down, And care not who they sting in his revenge. ii. KING HENRY VI., iii. 2, 125-8. BEES be cunning and busy in office of making of honey, and they dwell in their own places that are assigned to them, and challenge no place but their own. And they build and make their houses with a wonderful craft, and of divers flowers ; and they make honey-combs, wound and writhen with wax full craftily, and fill their castles with full many children. They have an host and a king, and move war and battle, and fly a^d void smoke and wind, and make them hardy and sharp to battle with great noise. Many have assayed and found that often Bees are gendered and come of carrions of rothern [/.ney. Ibid., iv. 4. 3 34 SHAKESPEARE'S [BEETLE. Beetle. The poor beetle that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance, finds a pang as great As when a giant dies. MEASURE FOR MEASURE, iii. I, 79-81. The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, Hath rung night's yawning peal. MACBETH, iii. 2, 42-3. BEETLES are often produced from the putrid flesh of horses. They are hung round the necks of infants for their cure. The nature of the green Beetle sharpens the sight of those who behold it, and therefore carvers of jewels take pleasure in the sight of it. Hortus Sanitatis, part iii. (" Of Birds "), ch. cvi. (translated). THE Beetle is bred of putrid things and of dung, and it chiefly feeds and delights in that. Of all plants they cannot away with rose-trees, for they die by the smell of them. They have no females, but have their generation from the sun. Though the eagle, its proud and cruel enemy, do make havoc and devour this creature of so mean a rank, yet as soon as it gets an opportunity it returneth like for like. For it flieth up nimbly into her nest with its fellow-soldiers the scarab-beetles, and in the absence of the old she-eagle bringeth out of the nest the eagle's eggs one after another, which, falling and being broken, the young ones are deprived of life. Mouffet, "Theatre of Insects," pp. 1005-13. Bell-wether. V. Wether. A jealous rotten bell-wether. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, iii. 5, ill Benedictus (Carduus). MARG. Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus, and lay it to your heart ; it is the only thing for a qualm. HERO. There thou prickest her with a thistle.- BEAT. Benedictus ! why Benedictus ? You have some moral in thh Benedictus. MARG. Moral ! no, by my troth, I have no moral meaning ; I meant plain Holy thistle, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, iii. 4, 73-80. BIRCH.] NATURAL HISTORY. 35 CARDUUS is a manner herb or a weed with pricks. The kind thereof is biting and cruel. Therefore the juice thereof cureth the falling of the hair. The root thereof sod in water giveth appetite to drinkers, and is most profit- able to the mother, and therefore it is no wonder though women desire it. And in drawing up of carduus men's fingers be oft grieved with pricks. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xvii. § 36. CARDUUS BENEDICTUS is diligently cherished in gardens in these Northern parts. [It is called] in English Blessed Thistle, but more commonly by the Latin name Carduus Benedictus. Blessed Thistle taken in meat or drink is good for the swimming and giddiness of the head, it strengtheneth memory and is a singular remedy against deafness. The juice of the said Carduus is singular good against all poison. Gerard's '•' Herbal," s.v. See also Luptorfs " Notable Things," bk. ii. § 84, and bk. iv. § 53. Bilberry. Where fires thou fincTst unraked, and hearths unswept, There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, v. 5, 48-9. [Bilberries ( Vaccinium myrtillus] are identified by Gerard with worts ( V. uliginosuni] or whortleberries, and he says that the red worts have purple berries, and that the people of Cheshire do eat the black whortles in cream and milk (bk. iii. ch. Ixxiii.) — as is done in the West of England at this day.] irch. As fond fathers, Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch, Only to stick it in their children's sight For terror, not to use, in time the rod Becomes more mock'd than fear'd. MEASURE FOR MEASURE, i. 3, 23-7. [N times past the Magistrates' rods were made hereof; id in our time also the schoolmasters and parents do terrify their children with rods made of Birch. It serveth well to the decking up of houses, and banqueting rooms, for places of pleasure, and beautifying of streets in the cross or gang week, and such like. Gerard's " Herbal," bk. iii. ch. cxiv. SHAKESPEARE'S [BIRD. BIRCH hath many hard twigs and branches with knots, and therewith often children be chastised and beaten on the bare buttocks and loins. And of the boughs and branches thereof be besoms made to sweep and to cleanse houses of dust and of other uncleanness. And this tree hath much sour juice and somewhat biting. And men use therefore in springing time and in harvest to drink it in stead of wine but it feedeth not, nor nourisheth not, nor maketh men drunk. Bartholomew (Bertbelef), bk. xvii. § 159. Bird. THE crane that walketh for the watch by night, holdeth a little stone in his foot, that if he hap to fall asleep, he may be waked by falling of the stone. Bartholomew, Bertbelet, bk. xii., Introduction. To take the Birds that eat the seeds that are sown ; seethe garlick that it may not grow again ; for it is said BIRD.] NATURAL HISTORY. 37 to profit marvellously, if it be thrown unto them ; for they that shall eat of it, will be taken with your hand. If you will make Birds drunk that you may catch them with your hands, take such meat as they love, as wheat or beans, or such like, and lay the same to steep in lees of wine, or in the juice of hemlocks, and sprinkle the same in the place where the Birds use to haunt ; and if they do eat thereof, straightways they will be so giddy, that you may take them with your hands. I wrote this out of an old written book, wherein I know many true things were written. Luptotfs "Notable Things," bk. viii. §§ 4 and 68. IF you wish to understand the speech of Birds, take with you two friends on the fifth day of the Calends of November, and go into a grove with your dogs as if to hunt, and take the first beast you find home with you, and prepare it with the heart of a fox, and straightway you will understand the speech of Birds or beasts ; and if you desire that any one else should understand it, — kiss him, and he will understand likewise. Albertus Magnus, "Of the Wonders of the World." OF such wild fowl as are bred in our land, we have the crane, the bittern, the wild and tame swan, the bustard, the heron, curlew, snite [snipe], wild-goose, wind or dotterel, brant [brant-goose or barnacle], lark, plover of both sorts, lapwing, teal, widgeon, mallard, sheldrake, shoveler, peewit, seamew, barnacle, quail (who only with man are subject to the falling sickness), the knot, the oliet or olife, the dunbird, woodcock, partridge and pheasant, besides divers other. As for egrets, pawpers and such like, they are daily brought to us from beyond the sea. Our tame fowl are common both to us and to other countries, as cocks, hens, geese, ducks, peacocks of Ind, pigeons. I would likewise entreat of other fowls which we repute unclean, as ravens, crows, pies, choughs, rooks, kites, jays, ring-tails, starlings, wood- spikes, woodgnaws, etc. Our other fowls are nightingales, thrushes, blackbirds, mavises, ruddocks, redstarts or dun- nocks, larks, tivits, kingfishers, buntings, (turtles, white or grey), linnets, bulfinches, goldfinches, wash-tails, cherry- crackers, yellowhammers, fieldfares, etc. Harrison's "Description of England," pp. 222-3, in Holinshed. 38 SHAKESPEARE'S [BIRD-LIME. Bird-lime. My invention Comes from my pate as bird-lime does from frize. OTHELLO, ii. I, 126-7. The glue which is made of the berries of mistletoe is called Bird-lime. Gerard's "Herbal." THRUSHES eat the berries, and roost all night on the mistletoe-tree, and by their sitting and [cacando] the mistletoe beareth Bird-lime, the bane of the bird. Minsheu's Dictionary, s.v. " Mistletoe" Bitch, y. Dog. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, iii. 5, 11. Bitter-sweeting. Thy wit is a very bitter-sweeting ; it is a most sharp sauce. ROMEO AND JULIET, ii. 4. [The commentators will have " Bitter-sweeting " to be an apple, and quote in proof instances of the word " Bitter-sweet," which Gerard in his "Herbal" identifies with the woody nightshade. " Bitter-sweet " or " Bitter-scale " is mentioned as a Dorsetshire apple in John Newburgh's " Observations concerning Cider," quoted in Evelyn's " Pomona."] Blackberry. If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 264-6. Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries ? i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 449-50 ; also TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, v. 4, 12. [Gerard in his " Herbal " classes the raspberry and the knot- berry (or cloud-berry) with the bramble or Blackberry. He says :] THE bramble groweth for the most part in every hedge and bush. Bk. iii. ch. 4. ON Michaelmas-day the devil puts his foot upon the Blackberries. Notes and Queries. BLOOD-SUCKER.] NATURAL HISTORY. 39 Blind-worm. Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. 2, 11-12 Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting. MACBETH, iv. I, 16. [Also called] sloe-worm, because it useth to creep and live on sloe-trees. Minshetfs Dictionary, ' s.v. It is small, and has no eyes. Hortus Sanitatis, ch. xxxvi. THE Blind worm is sometimes confounded with the am- nsbcena, a serpent with two heads, one in the usual place, ie other at the end of its tail, and moving either way. 'his serpent is the first to appear, being anxious about its eggs. While one part of it keeps watch, the other sleeps ; and its eyes shine like lanterns. There is another that walks upon its heels, and upon its tail. Chiefly from the Hortus Sanitatts, ch. ix. Bloodhound. You starved bloodhound. ii. KING HENRY IV., v. 4, 31. HOUNDS pursue the foot of prey by smell of blood. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xviii. § 25. THERE is a certain class of hounds which know thieves >y the smell ; and with implacable hatred distinguish them "Om Other men. Hortus Sanitatis, ch. xxiv. Hood-SUCker (i.e., a Leech — Minsheus Dictionary, s.v.). Pernicious blood-sucker of sleeping men. ii. KING HENRY VI., iii. 2, 226. A LEECH sitteth upon venomous things, and therefore rheri he shall be set to a member because of medicine, first shall be wrapped in nettles and in salt, and is thereby >mpelled to cast out of his body if he hath tasted any inomous thing in warm water. Bartbolo?new (Berthelet}, bk. xviii. § 93. 4o SHAKESPEARE'S [BOX-TREE. IT has neither bones, feet nor wings. By sucking too much blood, it often causes its own death. It draws out putrid blood, and kills itself while healing its victim. H or tits San if at is, ch. cxxxi. Box-tree. Get ye all three into the box-tree. TWELFTH NIGHT, ii. 5, 18. Box holdeth long time shapes and figures which be made therein ; so thereof be made fair images and long-during. The shaving of Box dyeth hair that is oft washen in the broth thereof. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xvii. § 20. FOOLISH empirics and women leeches do minister it against the apoplexy and such diseases. Turners and cutlers, if I mistake not the matter, do call this wood dudgeon, wherewith they make dudgeon-hafted daggers. Gerard's "Herbal," bk. iii. ch. Ixx. THE leaves and the dust of the wood boiled in lye will make hairs of an auburn (or Abraham) colour. I learned of a friend who had tried it effectual, to cure the biting of a mad dog — take the leaves and roots of cowslips, of the leaves of Box and penny-royal, of each a like quantity, shred them small, and put them into hot broth, and let it be so taken three days together, and apply the herb, etc., to the bitten place with soap and hogs' suet melted together. Parkinson's " Herbal," s.v. Box-combs bear no small part In the militia of the female art ; They tie the links which hold our gallants fast And spread the nets to which fond lovers haste. The oil assuages the tooth-ache. But the honey which is made at Trebizond in Box-trees, renders them distracted who eat of it. Evelyn's "Sylva," bk. ii. ch. vi. BRASS.] NATURAL HISTORY. 41 Brake. Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iii. I, no. Brake is the female fern. Gerard. A BRAKE of fern, because wild beasts break out of them. Minskeus Dictionary. Brach Merriman the poor cur is emboss'd ; And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach. TAMING OF THE SHREW, Induction I, 17-8. Brach. K]" Brach" is defined in Minsheu's Dictionary as "a little und," and the Italian equivalent given is Bracca, which Florio in his Dictionary gives " a brach, a bitch, a beagle." In the last sense "brach" is used in "King Lear" (iii. 6, 71-2): Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, Hound or spaniel, brach or lym. "Brach," i.e., bitch, occurs in " i. King Henry IV.," iii. I, 241 : I had rather hear Lady my brach howl in Irish ; and in "King Lear," i. 4, 125; cf. Nares' Glossary.] Bramble. V. Blackberry. As You LIKE IT, iii. 2, 380. Is dark and shadowy by reason of his thickness and is therefore friend to adders and other creeping worms. Therefore it is not sicher to sleep and rest nigh such bushes for such venomous worms. Bartholomew (Bertkelet\ bk. xvii. § 40. Brass — Brazen. Pewter and brass and all things that belong To housekeeping. TAMING OF THE SHREW, ii. I, 356-7. BRASS and copper be called ^s, for either is made of the same stone by working of fire, for a stone resolved 42 SHAKESPEARE'S [BREESE. with heat turneth into Brass. Brass and copper be made in this manner as other metal be of brimstone and quick- silver, and that happeth when there is more of brimstone than of quicksilver. If Brass be meddled with other metal, it changeth both colour and virtue, as it fareth in latten. Brazen vessels be soon red and rusty, but they be oft scoured with sand, and have an evil savour and smell but they be tinned. Also Brass, if it be without tin, burneth soon. Bartholomew (Bertbelet\ bk. xv. § 37. RICHMONDSHIRE — the mountains plentifully yield lead, pit-coals and some Brass. . . . Cumberland hath mines of Brass [i.e., copper]. Fynes Moryson, "Itinerary," part iii., p. 144. Breese. Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt, # # # # * The breese upon her, like a cow in June, Hoists sails and flies. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, iii. 10, 10-5. In her ray and brightness The herd hath more annoyance by the breese Than by the tiger. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, i. 3, 47-9. The horrid Breese man's body doth not spare, He flies from us into the open air. But they fled home as herds of oxen do, When that the Breese doth force them for to go, In the springtime when days do longer grow. THE fly called oestrum is of a yellowish colour, wh< when it enters the ears of an ox causeth him to run mad he carries before him a very hard, stiff and well-compact< sting, with which he strikes through the ox his hide. They follow oxen and horses and young cattle by scent of their sweat, because they cannot reach them with their sight, being very weak-sighted. They are generated of the worms that come out of the wood putrefied [or, according t< another authority, from horse-leeches]. Mouffet, "Theatre of Insects," pp. 935-6. BROCK.] NATURAL HISTORY. 43 Briar. V. Rose. TIMON OF ATHENS, iv. 3, 422. THE root of the Briar-bush is a singular remedy found out by oracle against the biting of a mad dog. The fruit when it is ripe maketh most pleasant meats and banqueting dishes, as tarts and such like ; the making whereof I commit to the cunning cook, and teeth to eat them in the rich man's mouth. Gerard's "Herbal," bk. iii. ch. iii. Brimstone. V. Sulphur. To put fire in your heart, and brimstone in your liver. TWELFTH NIGHT, iii. 2, 21-2. IF you would have any beast or any part of the same (of what colour soever he be) to be turned into white, shave off the hairs, and smoke the same that is shaven with the fume of Brimstone, and white hairs will grow there. You may prove the same in flowers. Lupton's "Notable Things," bk. vi. § I. Brock [Badger]. TWELFTH NIGHT, ii. 5, 114.. THE Brock is a beast of the quantity of a fox, and his skin is full hairy and rough. In such beasts is wit and flight, and holdeth in the breath, and blowing ; [and] stretcheth the skin so holding their breathings, when they be hunted and chased with hunters' dogs, and so they find sleight and manner, by such strutting out of the skin, to eschew and put off the biting of those hounds that so do pursue and follow to noy them, and also for to slay them, and in like wise put they off the smitings of the hunters. These beasts know when tempest shall fall, and maketh them therefore dens under 'earth with diverse enterings, and when the Northern wind bloweth, he stoppeth the north entering with his rough tail, and letteth stand open the south entering, and againwards. There is a manner kind of 44 SHAKESPEARE'S [BROCK. Brocks that gather meat with the female against winter, and layeth it up in his den, and when cold winter cometh, the male dreadeth lest store of meat should fail, and refraineth the female, and withdraweth her meat and sufFereth her not to eat her fill, and she feigneth peace, as it were following the male's will, and cometh in on that other side of the den, and openeth her jaws, and eateth and devoureth and wasteth the meat that is gathered, unwitting the male. These beasts hate the fox, and fight oft-times with him, but when the fox seeth that he may not for roughness and for hardness of the skin grieve him, he feigneth him as though he were sick and overcome, and fleeth away, and while the Brock goeth out to get his prey, the fox cometh into his den, and defileth his chamber with urine and other uncleanness. And the Brock is squeamish of such foul things, and forsaketh his house that is so defiled, and getteth needfully another dwelling-place. Bartholomew (Berthelet}, hk. xviii. § 103. THE Brock has short legs, and not equal on the two sides, but shorter on the left side, so that planting th< feet of the right side in the ruts made by wheels, it run! valiantly, and escapes its pursuers. The fat of the Badgei grows when the moon waxes, and decreases as it wan< so that if it be killed on the last day of the old moon none is found. This is strange, that though this part oi the beast is medicinal, yet its bite is often very serioi and fatal ; and the reason of this is that it lives on wasj and animals which creep on the ground, and are venomous, and therefore they infect its teeth. Its brain boiled with oil cures all pains. Hortus Sanitatis, part ii. ch. cxlii. [Sir Toby probably calls Malvolio " Brock " in allusion to the habit described by Bartholomew of this animal in strutting (purring) out its skin, so the word conveys a vivid and ludicrous idea of Malvolio's gait.] WE have Badgers in our sandy and light grounds, where woods, furzes, broom and plenty of shrubs are to shrowd them in, when they be from their burrows. Foxes and Badgers are rather preserved by gentlemen to hunt and BULL.] NATURAL HISTORY. 45 have pastime withal at their own pleasures, than otherwise suffered to live, as not able to be destroyed because of their great numbers. Harrison's "Description of England," p. 225 (1586), in Holinshed. Buck. V. Hart, Stag, Deer. Bugle. [Bugle-Bracelet is probably a bracelet of glass beads ("Winter's Tale," iv. 4, 224), but "your Bugle eyeballs" ("As You Like It," iii. 5, 47) may refer to the Bugle or buffalo, as " Bugle-browed " in Middletoris "Anything for a Quiet Life." Phebe quotes Rosalind's words with a difference in 1. 130: He said mine eyes were black. Bartholomew (bk. xviii. § 15) describes the Bugle (*>., buffalo) as black or red. Or " Bugle eyeballs " may have a similar mean- ing to Homer's " ox-eyed."] BUGLE flesh sod or roasted healeth man's biting. His marrow taken out of the right leg doth away hair off the eyelids. His hoof with myrrh fasteneth wagging teeth. And Bugle-milk is full good against smiting of serpents and of scorpions, and against venom of the cricket [and of the salamander]. Also some be wonderful great, and nevertheless most quiver and swift ; in so much ut fimum quern projiciunt in turning about falleth on their horns or ;ver it may come to the ground. When the cow's time calving cometh, many of them come about her, and make dirt as it were a wall. Bartholomew, at supra. lull. BULLS of Ind be red, and swift and cruel, and their lir is turned in contrary wise, and such a Bull bendeth he neck at his own will, and putteth off darts and shot ath hardness of the back ; and is fierce and is not over- mie ; and when he is tied under a fig-tree, he loseth and leaveth all his fierceness, and is suddenly sober and soft. If thou dost cut and slit his skin, so that it arear some- what from his flesh with blowing with a pipe, and givest him afterward to eat, then he fatteth ; and is made fat 46 SHAKESPEARE'S [BULLOCK. with sweetmeats, as with figs and grapes and raisins. Some Bulls have movable horns, and move them one after another in fighting ; and be always fierce when they be taken, and destroy themselves, and die for indignation. Bartholomew (Berthelei), bk. xviii. § 100. IF the right knee of a Bull be tied with a broad band, it will make him tame. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. iii. § 64. A BULL is the husband of a cow, and ringleader of the herd. When Bulls fight with wolves, they wind their tails together, and so drive them away with their horns. The blood of Bulls is accounted among the chiefest poisons. /) "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 47-50. [!N Cibola, near Mexico,] they drink the blood of the ox hot (which of our Bulls is counted poison). Purcbas* "Pilgrims," p. 778 (ed. 1616). Bullock. V. Bull. Bunting. My dial goes not true ; I took this lark for a bunting. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, ii. 5, 6-7. The goss-hawk beats not at a bunting. Ray's " Proverbs." [The Bunting is the woodlark.] Burnet. The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover. KING HENRY V., v. 2, 49. BURNET is a singular good herb for wounds ; it stauncheth bleeding, as well inwardly taken, as outwardly applied. The lesser Burnet is pleasant to be eaten in salads, in which it is thought to make the heart merry and glad, as also being put into wine, to which it yieldeth a certain grace in the drinking. Gerard's "Herbal," /.r. [Evelyn, in his " Acetaria, or Discourse of Sallets," gives the same characteristics of Burnet] BUTTERFLY.] NATURAL HISTORY. 47 Burr. I am a kind of burr ; I shall stick. MEASURE FOR MEASURE, iv. 3, 189-90. They are but burrs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery ; if we walk not in the trodden paths, our very petticoats will catch them. As You LIKE JT, i. 3, 13-6. [BURR] the Clete groweth by old walls ; and hight Philanthropes, as it were loving mankind, for it cleaveth to men's clothes by a manner affection and love, as it seemeth. They heal smiting of scorpions, nor they smite not a man that is balmed with the juice thereof. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xvii. § 93. THE Burr or fruit of the lesser Burr dock before it be fully withered, being stamped and put into an earthen vessel, and afterwards when need requireth the weight of two ounces thereof and somewhat more, being steeped in warm water and rubbed on, maketh the hairs of the head red ; yet the head is first to be dressed or rubbed with nitre. The roots being stamped with a little salt, and applied to the biting of a mad dog, cureth the same, and so speedily setteth free the sick man. The juice of the leaves drunk with old wine doth wonderfully help against the bitings of serpents. The stalk of Clot burr before the Burrs come forth, the rind pilled off, being eaten raw with salt and pepper, or boiled in the broth of fat meat, is pleasant to be eaten. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. Butterfly. Butterflies Show not their mealy wings but to the summer. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. 3, 78-9. There is diffcrency between a grub and a butterfly ; yet your butterfly was a grub. CORIOLANUS, V. 4, I 1-2. BUTTERFLIES are small birds, which chiefly abound when the mallows are in flower. Butterflies are flying grubs, which get their food from flowers. The female lays eggs, and dies after laying them ; the eggs last through the 48 SHAKESPEARE'S [BUZZARD. winter, and in the summer become grubs, which, invigorated by the warmth of the sun and by nocturnal dew, produce wings for flying. Butterflies should be killed in the month of April when they hurt the bees. Hortus Sanitatis, part iii. ("Of Birds") § 96. BUTTERFLIES be called small fowls, and be most in fruit in apples, and breedeth therein worms that come of their stinking filth. For of malshrags [caterpillars] cometh and breedeth Butterflies, and of the dirt of Butterflies left upon leaves breedeth and cometh again malshrags. Bartholomew (Bertbelef), bk. xviii. § 47. [In Mouffet's " Theatre of Insects " are described and pictured some eighty different moths and Butterflies (including apparently, some flies and beetles), but no English names are given. He says that the venomous dung of Butterflies, with .aniseed, goat's milk cheese, hog's blood, galbanum, and opoponax made into troches (or lozenges) with good sharp wine, and dried in the sun, allure fish to your hook.] Buzzard. O slow-wing'd turtle ! shall a buzzard take thee ? TAMING OF THE SHREW, ii. i, 208. More pity that the eagle should be mew'd While kites and buzzards prey at liberty. KING RICHARD III., i. I, 132-3. THE Buzzard is of the class of hawks ; but somewh; darker, and very slow and sluggish in flight ; yet it l on prey, which it is able to catch by cunning, or when it is let by some sickness or slowness. This bird is very sweet in taste. Hortus Sanitatis, ch. xvii. [A Buzzard was one of the chief dishes in Lieutenant Slicer'< valiant dinner, for which see Cartwright's "The Ordinary," ii. i. Cabbage or Cole or Colewort. Good worts ! good cabbage ! MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, i. I, I2J.. THE tombstone of the introducer of Cabbage into England is said to exist at Wimborne, probably the Sir Anthony .Ashley who was (according to Anthony-a-Wood) a woman- CABBAGE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 49 hater. Evelyn, in his " Acetaria " (1699), saYs> " 'Tis scarce an hundred years since we first had Cabbages out of Holland," in which statement he must be mistaken, as Cabbage was commonly eaten all over England before 1633. (Johnson's Gerard's " Herbal," p. 313.) FIRST men ate Coles ere they had corn and flesh to eat ; tofore the flood men ate apples, Coles and herbs, as beasts eat grass and herbs. The stalks and leaves thereof grow swifter than stalks and leaves of other herbs ; and the overmost crop thereof is called thyme ; and the natural virtue of this herb is namely in the crop thereof. The herb breedeth thick blood and troubly and horrible smell. And some Cole is summer Cole, and some is winter Cole. The malice thereof is withdrawn if it be sod or boiled in water, and that water thrown away, and the Cole then sodden in other water with good fatness and savoury. Leaves thereof, bruised and laid to two days, healeth wounds of hounds both new and old, and that wonderly. Cole withstandeth wine and drunkenness, and comforteth the sinews. And the juice thereof helpeth against venom, and also against biting of a wood hound ; and serpents flee the smell of Cole sod. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xvii. § 1 14. [Gerard in his " Herbal " describes the following sorts of Coleworts : Garden Colewort, curled garden Cole, red Colewort, white Cabbage Cole, red Cabbage Cole, open Cabbage Cole, double Colewort, double crisp or curled Colewort, cauliflower, swollen Colewort (blue and curly), Savoy Cole, curled Savoy Cole, parsley Colewort, and small-cut Colewort; and sea-Colewort (which may be a wild sea-kale), and wild Colewort, grown for its seeds.] THE Colewort being eaten is good for them that have dim eyes, and that are troubled with the shaking palsy. The raw Colewort being eaten before meat doth preserve a man from drunkenness ; the reason is yielded, for that there is a natural enmity between it and the vine, which is such, as if it grow near unto it, forthwith the vine perisheth and withereth away ; yea, if wine be poured unto it while it is in boiling, it will not be any more boiled, and the colour thereof quite altered. The seed taketh away freckles of the face and sun-burning. Gerard's " Herbal," bk. ii. ch. xl. 50 Calf. SHAKESPEARE'S [CALF. The steer, the heifer, and the calf Are all called neat. WINTER'S TALE, i. 2, 124. THE Calf when he is calved hath a certain black spot in the forehead, and witches mean that that speck or whelk exciteth love ; but the mother biteth away this speck out of the Calf's forehead, and receiveth him not to her teats, ere the foresaid venom be taken off and done away. Bartholomew (Bertkelet), bk. xviii. § in. Camel. Of no more soul nor fitness for the world Than camels in the war, who have their provand Only for bearing burdens, and sore blows For sinking under them. CORIOLANUS, ii. i, 266. CAMELS be beasts that bear charges and burthens, and be mild and soft, and ordained to bear charge and carriage CAMOMILE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 51 of men. The Camel of Arabia hath two bunches on the back, and the Camel of Bactria hath but one in the back, on the which he beareth his burthen and charge, and another on the breast, and leaneth thereon. And the Camel hateth the horse by kind, and suffereth thirst four days, and stirreth the water with his feet when he drinketh, or else the drink doth him no good. Among four-footed beasts Camels wax bald as men do, and as the ostrich and certain beasts among fowls. Camels have the podagra and the frenzy, and by the podagra their feet be strained, and this evil slayeth them sometime. The Camel is the most hottest beast of kind, and is therefore lean by kind, for the heat draweth off all fatness of the blood, and therefore the Camel is lean. Bartholomew (Eerthelet\ bk. xviii. § 19. THOSE Camels which are conceived by boars are the strongest, and fall not so quickly into the mire as other. It is disdainful and a discontented creature. In the Lake of Asphaltites, wherein all things sink that come in it, many Camels and bulls swim through without danger. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts/' pp. 72 and 75. .momile. 'hough the camomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster it grows. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 441. THE oil compounded of the flowers is a remedy against 11 wearisomeness. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. THOUGH the Camomile, the more it is trodden and pressed down, the more it spreadeth ; yet the violet the oftener it is handled and touched the sooner it withereth and decayeth. Lilly, "Euphues' Golden Legacy." THE Camomile shall teach thee patience, which thriveth best, when trodden most upon. "The More the Merrier" (1608), quoted by Steevens. 52 SHAKESPEARE'S [CAPER. Caper. SIR AND. Faith, I can cut a caper. SIR TOBY. And I can cut the mutton to 't. TWELFTH NIGHT, i. 3, 129. THEY stir up an appetite to meat. They are eaten boiled (the salt first washed off) with oil and vinegar as other salads be, and sometimes are boiled with meat. They be rather a sauce and medicine than a meat. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. THEY say that those who eat them daily are in no danger of paralysis. They should not be eaten without coriander. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. i. ch. xcvii. Capon. Item, A capon, . 2s. id. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 584. He steps me to her trencher, and steals her capon's leg. Two GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, iv. 4, 10. THE Capon sitteth on brood upon eggs that be not his own, as it were an hen, and companieth with hens, and eateth with them of their meat, but he feedeth them not ; he is fatted with them but he fatteth not them. And sometime his feet are broken to compel him to sit on brood upon eggs. When he is fat, his feet be bound together, and his head hangeth down towards the ground, and is borne by the feet to fairs and to markets. And their brain is better and more profitable than the brains ot Other fowls. Bartholomew (Bertkelet], bk. xii. § 17. A CAPON if he be well beaten with nettles will lead its chickens about like a hen, which as they say, he does not for the good of the chickens, but for his own good, that by the warmth of the chickens he may make the poison of the nettle to evaporate. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. Hi. ch. liv. ALLECTORIA [or Electorius], is a stone that is found in the maws of Capons, and is like dim crystal. And witches tell, it is supposed that in battle-fighting, this ston< CARBUNCLE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 53 maketh men insuperable, and maketh a man gracious and steadfast, and victor, wise and ready and cunning in plea, and accordeth friends, and quencheth thirst in the mouth. Bartholomew (Bertkelet], bk. xvi. <§ 17. Caraway. We will eat a last year's pippin of my own grafting, with a dish of caraways, and so forth. ii. KING HENRY IV., v. 3, 3. [Whether " Caraways " is a kind of apple, or the well-known seeds, the learned commentators on Shakespeare have left un- decided. To the many references in Steevens* Shakespeare may be added Dekker>s " Bankrupt's Banquet " and HeywootPs " Fair Maid of the West," in both which places the seeds are alluded to. Possibly Caraway-seeds were to be eaten with the pippin to correct its crudity, for Gerard says that they are very good for the stomach, help digestion, assuage and dissolve all windi- ness (" Herbal," s.v.). Sir John Neville at the marriage of his daughter in 1530 provided among a great quantity of other spices " I pound of Caraways" for one shilling.] Carbuncle. A carbuncle entire, as big as thou art, Were not so rich a jewel. CORIOLANUS, i. 4, 55. A CARBUNCLE is a precious stone, and shineth as fire, hose shining is not overcome by night. And the kinds .ereof be twelve ; and is gendered in Lybia among the roglodytes. Among these twelve manner kinds of car- ncles, those anthracites be the best that have the colour fire, and be beclipped [enclosed] in a white vein ; which have this property — if it be thrown in fire, it is quenched as it were among dead coals, and burneth if water be thrown thereon. And this precious stone is of great price without comparison in respect of other. It is said that it withstandeth graving. And if it be sometime graved and printed with wax, it taketh with him a part of the wax, as it were with biting of a beast. § Bartholomew (Berth elet\ bk. xvi. § 26. 54 SHAKESPEARE'S [CARNATION. Carnation. V. Gilliflower. Carp. Here is a purr of fortune's, sir, or of fortune's cat — but not a musk- cat — that has fallen into the unclean fish-pond of her displeasure, and, as he says, is muddied withal ; pray you, sir, use the carp as you may. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, v. 2, 20. THE Carp is a fish with scales like gold living in lakes or rivers. This fish has much cunning, so that it evades the net. For when it has entered the net, it swims round to look for the opening ; and if it cannot find it, it tries to jump over the net so as to get into the open air. Sometimes it seeks a refuge under the net ; sometimes it holds sea- weed in its mouth at the bottom of the water, so as to get over the net and escape ; sometimes coming with a rush from above, it fixes its head firmly in the mud, so as to escape capture by getting its tail over the net. Its brain is said to grow and diminish as the moon waxes and wanes ; and though this holds with all fishes, yet especially so in this one, as among quadrupeds in the wolf and the dog. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. ch. xviii. V. Fish. Cat. Hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot at me. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, i. I, 259. [Cf. Steevens' notes.] THE Cat falleth on his own feet when he falleth out of high places, and unneath is hurt when he is thrown down off an high place. And when he hath a fair skin, he is as it were proud thereof, and goeth fast about ; and when his skin is burnt, then he bideth at home ; and is oft for his fair skin taken of the skinner, and flain and slain. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xviii. § 76. WILD Cats flee from the smoke of rue, and bitter almonds. The dirt of the Tom or of the She-Cat with mustard and vinegar cures baldness. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. ch. xxv. CAT.J NATURAL HISTORY. 55 IT is an unclean and a poisonous animal. It is said to fight against toads, and though it be beaten off by their venomed darts, yet it is not killed. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. ch. ci. IF dogs chance to find a Cat's skin, they will rub and roll themselves upon it. And they will do so likewise where it is buried ; they delight so much of the thing dead, which they hated alive. Luptoa, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. i. § 77. EC ATS are of divers colours, but for the most part zzled, like to congealed ice, which cometh from the condition of her meat. If the long hairs growing about her mouth be cut away, she loseth her courage. There was in a certain monastery a Cat nourished by the monks, and suddenly the most part of the monks which used to play with the Cat fell sick ; whereof the Physicians could find no cause, but some secret poison, and all of them were assured that they never tasted any. At the last a >or labouring man came unto them, affirming that he po, 56 SHAKESPEARE'S [CAT. saw the Abbey - cat playing with a serpent, which the Physicians understanding presently conceived that the serpent had emptied some of her poison upon the Cat, which brought the same to the monks, and they by stroking and handling the Cat were infected therewith ; and whereas there remained one difficulty, namely, how it came to pass the Cat herself was not poisoned thereby, it was resolved, that forasmuch as the serpent's poison came from him but in play and sport, and not in malice and wrath, that therefore the venom thereof, being lost in play, neither harmed the Cat at all, nor much endangered the monks ; and the very like is observed of mice that will play with serpents. A Cat is much delighted to play with her image in a glass, and if at any time she behold it in water, presently she leapeth down into the water which naturally she doth abhor ; but if she be not quickly pulled forth and dried she dieth thereof, because she is impatient of all wet. Those which will keep their Cats indoors, and from hunting birds abroad, must cut off their ears, for they cannot endure to have drops of rain distil into them, and therefore keep themselves in harbour. They cannot abide the savour of ointments, but fall mad thereby. It is most certain that the breath and savour of Cats consume the radical humour and destroy the lungs, and therefore they which keep their Cats with them in their beds have the air corrupted, and fall into several hectics and consump- tions. There was a certain company of monks much given to nourish and play with Cats, whereby they were so in- fected, that within a short space none of them were able either to say, read, pray or sing in all the monastery. And therefore also they are dangerous in the time of pestilence, for they are not only apt to bring home venomous infection, but to poison a man with very looking upon him ; wherefore there is in some men a natural dislike and abhorring of Cats. The flesh of Cats can seldom be free from poison, by reason of their daily food, eating rats and mice, wrens and other birds which feed 01 poison ; and, above all, the brain of a Cat is mo< venomous, by reason whereof memory faileth, and the in- fected person' faileth into a frenzy. But a Cat doth much harm with her venomous teeth. The hair also of Cat, being eaten unawares, stoppeth the artery and cauj CATERPILLAR.] NATURAL HISTORY. 57 suffocation. It must needs be an unclean and impure beast that liveth only upon vermin and by ravening, for it is commonly said of a man when he [s]neezeth — that he hath eaten with Cats ; likewise, the familiars of witches do most ordinarily appear in the shape of Cats, which is an argu- ment that this beast is dangerous to soul and body. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 81-3. Caterpillar. Caterpillars eat my leaves away. ii. HENRY VI., iii. I, 90. WHEN the rainbow toucheth the tree, no Caterpillars will hang on the leaves. Lilly, Epilogue to "Campaspe." IF you would destroy Caterpillars, do thus : Anoint all the bottom of the tree round about with tar, then get a great sort of ants or pismires, and put them in some bag, and draw the same by a cord unto the tree, and so let it hang there, so that it touch the body of the tree, and the ants letted to go down from the tree by the means of the tar will for want of food eat and destroy all the Cater- pillars there, without hurting any of the fruit. This was told me for a very truth. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. x. § 51. THE Malshrag [i.e., Caterpillar] is a nesh [soft] worm and full of matter, distinguished with divers colours, shining as a star by night, and hath many colours and foul shape by day. And is not without some pestilential venom, for when he creepeth upon an hot member of a man, he scaldeth the skin, and maketh whelks [i.e., pustules] arise. Bartholomew (Eerthelei), bk. xviii. § 47. V. Vermin and Worm. SOME Caterpillars are the offspring and breed of dew, as common experience can witness. All Caterpillars are not converted into aurelias [chrysalis], but some of them being gathered and drawn together on a heap (as the vine- fretters), do grow at length to putrefaction, from which 58 SHAKESPEARE'S [CAT o' MOUNTAIN. sometimes there falleth as it were three blackish eggs, the true and proper mothers and breeders of flies and cantha- rides. There is not any one sort of Caterpillars, but they are malign, naught and venomous. If you rub a naughty or a rotten tooth with the colewort-Caterpillars, and that often, within a few days following, the tooth will fall out of his own accord. Caterpillars mixed with oil do drive away serpents. Topsell, " History of Serpents," pp. 668-70. Cat o' Mountain. More pinch-spotted make them Than pard or cat o' mountain. TEMPEST, iv. i, 262. V. Pard. IN the Senators' Palace [at Florence] I saw a Cat of the Mountain, not unlike to a dog, with the head of a black colour, and the back like an hedgehog, a light touch whereof gave a very sweet scent to my gloves. Fynes Moryson, " Itinerary," part i., p. 149. Cedar. He shall flourish, And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches To all the plains about him. KING HENRY VIII., v. 5, 54. CEDAR is a tree with merry smell, and endureth and abideth long time, and is never destroyed with moth, neither with the tree-worm. Then the Cedar-tree is always green with good smell, and the smell of it driveth away serpents and all manner of venomous worms. And the apple of Cedar hath three manner savours. Bartholomew (Bertbelet}, bk. xvii. § 23. Evelyn ("Sylva," bk. ii., ch. iv.) says that chests and presses of Cedar-wood corrupt woollen cloth and furs, but preserve other goods from moths, and, indeed, that the dust and very chips are exitial to moths and worms ; that the oil yielded by the wood above all other best preserves books and writings. CHAMELEON.] NATURAL HISTORY. 59 OF all trees the Cedar is greatest, and hath the smallest seeds. Lilly, "Galatea." THE Cedar's juice, whose bitter poison gives The most strong body unavoided death, Procures the carcase by its dying force Void of corruption. Glapthorne, "Hollander." IF his malady grow out of ambition, a top of Cedar or an oak-apple is very sovereign with the spirit of hemp-seed. Brome, "Court-beggar," iii. i. Chameleon. Though the chameleon Love can feed on the air, I am one that am nourished by my victuals. Two GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, ii. i, 178. I can add colours to the chameleon. iii. KING HENRY VI., iii. 2, 191. CHAMELEON is a little beast with divers colours, and his y changeth full soon into divers colours. For it is a 6o SHAKESPEARE'S [CHAMELEON. fearful beast with little blood, and changeth therefore colours. And is four manner divers \_quadrufes (Bartholo- mew}'] : he hath the face of the eft, and sharp claws and crooked, and the body sharp, and an hard skin as the crocodile. And his sides be even long to the nether parts of his womb as it were a fish ; his face is as it were a beast compounded of a swine and of an ape ; and his tail is full long and small at the end ; and his feet be crooked as it were a little eft ; and each of his feet is departed atwin [in two], and the comparison of one foot to another is as in comparison of the thumb of a man to the other deal oi the hand ; and each of those two parts is divided ii fingers ; and his claws be like to the claws of a bird, am all his body is rough and sharp as the body of a Bard, [partan (Bartholomew}, (? pard or crab)]. ' His eyes be deep, great and round, and contained with a skin, like to th< skin of the body, and that skin covereth the eyes. An< he turneth and casteth oft his eyes hither and thither. And changeth his colour when his skin is blown, and hi: CHAMELEON.] NATURAL HISTORY. 61 colour is somewhat black with black speckles therein. And this diversity is in all his body, and namely in the eyes, and also in the tail, and is full heavy in moving and foul of colour in his death, and what is in his body is but of little flesh ; and hath little blood, but in the head, and in the end of the tail, where he hath little blood and also in the heart, and in the veins that come therefrom ; and also hath blood about the eyes, though it be right little. His most might and strength is against the kind of gos- hawks ; for he draweth them, and they fly to him, and he taketh them wilfully to other beasts to be devoured. If his head and his throat be set afire with oaken wood, it maketh both rain and thunder. In sickness he feigneth himself soft and mild, though he be cruel. And it is said, that the Chameleon liveth only by air, and the mole by earth, and the herring by water, and the cricket [sala- mander (Bartholomew^ by fire. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xviii. § 21. IF the Chameleon at any time see a serpent taking the air, and sunning himself under some green tree, he climbeth up into that tree, and settleth himself directly over the serpent, then out of his mouth he casteth a thread like a spider, at the end whereof hangeth a drop of poison as bright as any pearl, which lighting upon the serpent killeth it immediately. The right claw of the fore-feet, bound to the left arm with the skin of his cheeks, is good against robberies and terrors of the night, and the right pap against all fears. If the left foot be scorched in a furnace with the herb Chameleon, and afterward putting a little ointment to it, and made into little pasties, so being carried about in a wooden box, it maketh the party to go invisible. Likewise the liver dissolveth amorous enchant- ments. The entrails and dung of this beast washed in the urine of an ape, and hung up at our enemies' gates, causeth reconciliation. With the tail they bring serpents asleep, and stay the flowing of the floods and waters ; the same mingled with cedar and myrrh, bound to two rods of palm, and struck upon water, causeth all things that Ke contained in the same water to appear. Topsell, " History of Serpents," pp. 675-6. 62 SHAKESPEARE'S [CHERRY. Cherry. KING HENRY VIII., v. I, 169. [Gerard (" Herbal," s.v.) reckons up the following sorts of Cherries: English, Flanders, Spanish, Gascon (late- ripe), Chester, double -flowered, barren double -flowered, bird's Cherry or black grape Cherry, another bird's Cherry, common black Cherry, dwarf Cherry, greater and lesser heart Cherry (or Luke Ward's Cherry and the Naples Cherry), large black Cherry, agriot, large- fruited dwarf, and dun-coloured Cherry, besides many other un- named sorts. Later, he speaks of Kentish Cherries and Morella Cherries, but he has no good word to say of any of them. Evelyn (" Sylva," ch. xx.) says that Cherries were said to have been brought into Kent out of Flanders by Henry VIII.] As many several change of faces As I have seen carved upon a Cherry-stone. Webster's " Devil's Law Case," iii. 4. Chestnut. Do you tell me of a woman's tongue, That gives not half so great a blow to hear As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire ? TAMING OF THE SHREW, i. 2, 208. A CASTEIN tempered with a little honey healeth at the best biting of a wood hound, or man's biting. Also the rinds and leaves burnt and made to powder, tempered with vinegar and laid to a young man's head in a plaster-wise, maketh hair increase, and keepeth hair from falling. Bartholomew (Bertkelet), bk. xvii. § 88. THE Chestnut is next the oak one of the most sought after by the carpenter and joiner. It hath formerly built a good part of our ancient houses in the City of London, as does yet appear. If water touch the roots of the growing trees, it spoils both fruit and timber. The beams made of Chestnut-tree have this property, that, being some- what brittle, they give warning, and premonish the danger by a certain crackling which it makes. Evelyn s " Sylva," bk. i. ch. viii. MAIDS, if you look to roast your Chestnuts well, Observe first with a knife to wound the shell ; If with unbroken skin it touch the fire, 'Twill break in pieces, and with noise retire. Heywootfs "Anna and Phillis," emb. 33. CHRYSOLITE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 63 Chick, Chicken. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, i. 2, 147. A WALNUT put fast in a Chicken, that it fall not out in the roasting thereof; it makes that the same Chicken will be the sooner roasted. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. v. § 32. Chrysolite. If heaven would make me such another world Of one entire and perfect chrysolite, rid not have sold her for it. OTHELLO, v. 2, 143. CHRYSOLITE is a little stone of Ethiopia, shining as gold, and sprinkling as fire, and is like to the sea in colour, and somewhat green. If it be set in gold and • borne on the left arm, it feareth fiends and chaseth them away, and it helpeth night-frays and dreads ; and abateth n evil that hight melancholy, or doth it away ; and 64 SHAKESPEARE'S [CIVET. comforteth the in-wit. One manner of Chrysolite is deemed golden by day, and fiery by night. And another manner kind is coloured as gold, and is right fair in sight in the morrow tide ; and then as the day passeth his colour waxeth dim. And this stone taketh most soonest heat ; for if it be set by the fire, anon it waxeth on aflame. Bartholomew (Bert6e/et), bk. xvi. § 29. According to the Hortus Sanitatis (bk. iv. § 38), Chrysolite drives away demons and the worst melancholy fears if pierced, and the hole filled up with ass's bristles, and the stone bound on the left arm. And some say that it drives away folly, and brings wisdom. CHRYSOLITE, the purer the sooner stained. " Euphues' Golden Legacy." Civet. A' rubs himself with civet. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, iii. 2, 45 Civet is of a baser birth than tar, the very uncleanly flux of a cat. As You LIKE IT, iii. 2, 69. THIS is Civet, this comes from the cat's tail, this per- fumes your ladies, this drug is precious and dear. Sbarpham, " The Fleire." I vow to poison your musk-cats, if their Civet excre- ment do but once play with my nose. Dekker's "Gull's Hornbook," bk. ii. HE wears Civet, And when it was ask'd him where he had that musk, He said all his kindred smeit so. " Soliman and Perseda," i. (CivET as an ingredient of a pomander.) "Lingua," iv. 3. MUSK-CAT, I'ld make your Civet worship stink First in your perfumed buff. Thomas Razvlins, " The Rebellion," ii. i. THIS beast is a very clean beast, and therefore the place where it lieth must be swept every day and the vessels clean washed. The Civet or liquor running out doth go COCK .] NATURAL HISTORY. 65 back again if any vessel be put to receive it, except it be a silver spoon or porringer. This Civet is nothing else but the sweat of the beast under the ribs, fore-legs, neck and tail. Topsell, " Four-footed Beasts," p. 586. Cloves. BIRON. A lemon. LONG. Stuck with cloves. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, v. 2, 653. HERE'S New Year's gift has an orange and rosemary, but not a Clove to stick in 't. Ben Jonson, " Masque of Christmas." WINE will be pleasant in taste and in savour and colour ; it will much please thee^ if an orange or a lemon (stuck round about with Cloves) be hanged within the vessel that it touch not the wine. And so the wine will be preserved from foistiness and evil savour. Lupton, " A Thousand Notable Things," bk. ii. § 40. HE walks most commonly with a Clove or pick-tooth in his mouth. Ben Jonson, " Cynthia's Revels," ii. 3. IN the goose-market numbers of freshmen stuck here and there with a graduate, like Cloves with great heads in a gammon of bacon. Webster's "Northward Ho!" i. i. THAT Westphalian gammon Clove-stuck face. Marston's "Scourge of Villainy," Satire vii., line 114. SOME be feigned with powder of good Cloves meddled with vinegar and wine with good smell, and be unneath known. But these that be feigned may not be kept passing twenty days. Good Cloves comfort the brain and the virtue of feeling, and help also against indignation and ache of the Stomach. Bartholomew (Birthelet], bk. xvii. § 79. Cock. TAMING OF THE SHREW, ii. i, 227-8. COCK'S flesh raw, and laid hot upon the biting of a serpent, doth away the venom. And to the same his brain is good, taken in drink. And if a man be [ajnointed with 5 66 SHAKESPEARE'S [COCK. his grease, or with his juice, he shall be sure from panthers and lions. And if the bones of a Cock or of an hen be meddled with gold when it is molten, they destroy and waste the gold. And so hen's bones be venomous to gold, and that is wonder. When he hath the mastery [over his adversaries] he singeth anon ; and ere he singeth, he beateth himself with his wings to make him the more able to sing. And he useth far in the night to sing most clearly, and to sing strongly. And about the morrow-tide he shapeth light voice and song. The Cock beareth a red comb on his head instead of a crown ; which being lost he loseth his hardiness, and is more slow and coward to assail his adversary. And he setteth next to him on the roost the hen that is most fat and tender, and loveth her best ; in the morrow-tide, when he flieth to get his meat, first he layeth his side to her side ; and he fighteth for her specially as though he were jealous. And he breedeth a precious stone called allectricium, [or allectoria, v. Capon] like to the stone that hight chalcedony ; and the Cock beareth that stone, and by cause of that stone (as some men trow) the lion dreadeth and abhorreth [him], and specially if the Cock be white. For the lion dreadeth the white Cock. Also the Cock dreadeth the eagle and the goshawk, which take their prey on the ground. And the Cock is right sharp of sight, and therefore he looketh downward with the one eye to seek his meat, and upward into the air with the other eye to beware of coming of the eagle and of the goshawk. Also a right aged Cock layeth eggs in his last end, and the eggs are small and full round, and as they were wan or yellow. And if any venomous worm sitteth on brood on them in the canicular days, of them be bred and grow cockatrices. Bartholomew (Bertfcelef), bk. xii. § 16. IT is to be marvelled at, that a Cock or Cockerel which doth not fear a serpent or a dragon is so afraid of the shadow of a glead, when he is flying, that suddenly he seeks a place of refuge, and hides himself. Lupton, " A Thousand Notable Things," bk. i. § 24. IF the blood of a Cock be dried, and made in powder, and mixed in wine, wherein there is water, it makes the water swim above. This was the relation of a learned monk. ibid. bk. vi. § 6. COCKLE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 67 IF any man wishes that a Cock should not crow, let him anoint its head and brow with oil. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." IN the beginning of the night God causeth all the gates of heaven to be shut, and the Angels stay at them in silence, and sendeth evil spirits into the world, which hurt all they meet ; but after midnight they are commanded to open the same. This command and call is heard of the Cocks, and therefore they clap their wings and crow to awaken men ; and then the evil spirits lose their power of hurting. Purchas, "Pilgrims," p. 194 (ed. 1616) ; cf. HAMLET, i. I, 147-155.. Cockatrice. V. Basilisk. Cockle. HAMLET, iv. 5, 25. THE flesh of river Cockles, whether raw or cooked, resist the Stings of scorpions. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. ch. xxiii. COLCHESTER oysters and your Selsey Cockles. Ben J onsen, "The Fox," ii. i. HAVE our Cockles boiled in silver shells. Ben Jonson, "The Alchemist," iv. i. You may eat the cramm'd Cockle. Middleton, "A Game at Chess," v. 3, 70. Cockle (plant). LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, iv. 3, 383. RAY is a certain herb ; poets call this herb ungracious Cockle or weed ; and it groweth among wheat in corrupt time and dry. And ray hath a sharp strength and work- ing, and somedeal venomous, and maketh men drunk, and 68 SHAKESPEARE'S [CODLING. disturbeth the wit, and grieveth the head, and changeth savour of bread and infecteth bread that it is meddled with, and grieveth full soon, and slayeth sometime if it be eaten in great quantity. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xvii. § 194. V. Darnel. Codling. Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy ; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod, or a codling when 'tis almost an apple. TWELFTH NIGHT, i. 5, 167. [So in Benjonsorfs "Alchemist," and Drome's "Mad Couple," i. I.] V. Apple. Columbine. There's fennel for you, and columbines. HAMLET, v. 4, 180. [To the notes in Steevens1 Shakespeare on this passage may be added that the Columbine was also called Herba Leonis, or " the herb wherein the lion doth delight," and that it was " used especially to deck the gardens of the curious, garlands and houses" (Gerard's "Herbal," s.v.\ Minsheu (Dictionary, s.v.} translates Columbine into the Latin A quilegia ("because in its flowers there is some likeness to the eagle "), and Chelidonia (i.e., celandine), which is so called, " for it springeth or bloometh in the coming of swallows." " By the juice of celandine swallows' eyes turneth again to the first state, if they be hurt or put out" (Bartholomew, bk. xvii. § 46). So Lupton ("A Thousand Notable Things," bk. iii. § 89) : ''The eyes of young swallows being in the nest, pricked with a needh or a pin, and so made blind, within four or five days aftei they will see again ; which is very true, for I have proved ii But how they recover their sight I know not. But divei write, if their eyes be hurt, the old swallows restore their sight again with the juice of celandine." And the same author states : " Celandine with the heart of a wont or a mould-warp [i.e., mole], laid under the head of one that is grievously sick, if he be in danger of death, immediately he will cry with a loud voice, or sing: if not, he will weep" (bk. ii. § 4). Most probably Minsheu translated " Columbine " wrongly, but Jthe virtues of celandine are worthy of record.] CONGER.] NATURAL HISTORY. 69 Cony. They will out of their burrows like conies after rain. CORIOLANUS, iv. 5, 226-7 CONIES be called small hares and feeble, and they dig the earth with their claws, and make them bowers and dens under the earth, and dwell therein, and bring forth many rabbits, and multiply right much. And rabbits be so loved in the Balearic Isles that those rabbits without mothers be taken and eaten of the men of the country, though the guts be unneath cleansed. As many dens as be in the increasing [excrement ("Bartholomew)] of the Conies, so many years they have of age. In [that part of] the body be so many holes as the Conies have years. It is said that they have both sexes, male and female. And is a profitable beast both to meat and to clothing, and to many manner medicines. Bartholomew (Bertkelet), bk. xviii. § 68. BY night he devours vine-shoots and fruits, but in the morning he enters his den, and makes the opening of it level with the soil by dust from within, lest men coming past by day should find out his dwelling. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. ch. xlv. Conger. Eats conger and fennel. ii. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 229. CONGER is a sea-fish, as long as a lamprey, but much larger in the body. When the wind blows strongly it grows fat, and its flesh is most sweet to eat. It is an enemy to lampreys and other fish, yet it is strong, so that it can tear a polypus by the strength of its teeth. The Conger and the lamprey hate one another, and bite each other's tails. Hortus Sanifatis^ bk> i;i> clu xxiv. THE Conger hath many wiles, and is witty and wily of getting of meat, for when he seeth meat on a hook, he dreadeth the hook, and biteth not the bait, but holdeth 70 SHAKESPEARE'S [COPPER. the hook with his fins, and letteth it not pass till he have gnawn the meat. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xiii. § 29. FENNEL was commonly eaten with Conger. Ben Jonscn, "Bartholomew Fair," and "Philaster." Copper. i. KING HENRY IV., iii. 3, 162. V. Brass. COPPER is lately not found, but restored again to light. Strangers have most commonly the governance of our mines. Holinsked, "Description of England," p. 238. Coral. Full fathom five thy father lies ; Of his bones are coral made. TEMPEST, i. 2, 397. CORAL is gendered in the Red Sea, and is a tree as long as it is covered with water ; but anon as it is drawn out of water and touched with air, it turneth into stone. Witches tell that this stone withstandeth lightning. His might and virtue is wonderful, for it putteth off lightning, whirlwind, tempest and storms from ships and houses that it is in. And it is double white and red, and is never found passing half a foot long. And the red helpeth against the fiend's guile and scorn, and against divers wondrous doing, and multiplieth fruit, and speedeth begin- ning and ending of causes and of needs. Bartholomew (Berthelei), bk xv. § 33. [Sir Thomas Browne (" Vulgar Errors," bk. ii. ch. v.)f doubts whether Coral be soft under water, and adds that " a gentleman caused a man to go down into the sea no less than a hundred fathom to see if it were so." Truly there were divers in those days ! Further (bk. v. ch. xxiii.) he says : " Though Coral doth properly preserve and fasten the teeth in men, yet it is used in children to make an easier passage for them, and for that intent is worn about their necks."]. CRAB.] NATURAL HISTORY. 71 Cow. The breese upon her, like a cow in June Hoists sails and flies. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, iii. 10, 14. WHEN the kine do oft calve and have many calves, it is a token as men mean that in winter shall be much rain. And when they have sore feet, it is medicine therefor to anoint them between the horns with oil and pitch and other medicines. And have the gout and die of that evil ; and the token thereof is when they bear down their ears, and eat not. And when she is stung with a great fly, then she raiseth up her tail in a wonder wise, and startleth as she were wood about fields and plains. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xviii. § 109. THE hoofs of the fore-feet of a Cow dried, and made in fine powder, increaseth milk in nurses if they eat it in their pottage, or use it in their drink ; and being cast upon burning coals, the smoke thereof doth kill mice, or at the least doth drive them away. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. i. § 4. Cowslip. Freckled cowslip. KING HENRY V., v. 2, 49. COWSLIP, because the cow licketh this flower up with her lips. Minshetts Dictionary, s.v. COWSLIPS [or] tWO-in-a-hose. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. Crab. If like a crab you could go backward. „ HAMLET, ii. 2, 206. GREAT cold grieveth them [i.e., fish] sore, and namely them that have stones in their heads as Crabs and other such. For the stone in the head runneth and freezeth, and such a fish dieth soon. Also the Crab is enemy to the oyster, for he liveth by fish thereof with a wonderful wit. For because that ye [? he] may not open the hard shell of the oyster, he spieth and awaiteth when the oyster openeth, and then the Crab (that lieth in await) taketh a little stone, and putteth between the shells, that the oyster 72 SHAKESPEARE'S [CRAB. may not close himself. And when the closing is so let, the Crab eateth and gnaweth the fish of the oyster. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xiii. § 29. THE Crab goes backward, and has never known how to follow his nose. When he grows old, two stones of a white colour mixed with red are found in his head, which are said to be of such virtue that, given in drink, they heal punctures of the heart. There are some little Crabs on the coast of Judea which are called soldiers, because they run so fast and cannot be caught. And if one of them be cut in half, there is no flesh or superfluity at all to be found in its body, because they take no food. Hortus SanitatiSj bk. iv. ch. xvi. [!N the Moluccas shipwrecked men were forced to build a fort] to defend themselves from certain Crabs of exceed- *ng greatness, and in as great numbers, and of such force, that whosoever they got under their claws it cost him his life. Purcbas\ " Pilgrims," p. 504, ed. 1616. CRABS here with us have a sympathy with the moon, and are fullest with her fulness. In India there is a contrary antipathy, for at full moon they are emptiest. Ibid., P. 505. Crab (i.e., Crab-apple). And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl In very likeness of a roasted crab. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. I, 48. [Lamb's wool was made of cultivated apples, not of crabs. Cf. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. Apple.] A CUP of ale had in his hand, and a Crab lay in the fire. "Gammer Gurton's Needle." Cricket. As merry as crickets. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 400. [CRICKET] is a little beast, feeble and mightless and thievish and venomous with pricks and pikes. This .beast goeth back- ward, and saweth and diggeth the earth, and worketh by night ; and is hunted with an ant tied with an hair, and thrown into his den : and the powder [dust] is first blown away, lest the ant hide herself therein, and so he is drawn to Jove of the ant. Bartholomew (Berthelef), bk. xviii. § 58. CROCODILE.] NATURAL HISTORY. Crocodile. 73 Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of the sun : so is your crocodile. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, ii. 7, 29. If that the earth could teem with woman's tears Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile. OTHELLO, iv. I, 256. The mournful crocodile With sorrow snares relenting passengers. ii. KING HENRY VI., iii. I, 226. O LAND Crocodiles, Made of Egyptian slime, accursed women ! Massinger, "The Renegado," iii. i. THE Crocodile is a serpent that from a small egg, grows in short time to a mighty length and bigness ; he is bold over those that fly him, but fearful of them that pursue him ; the four winter months, November, December, January and February, he eats not at all ; he hath no tongue, but teeth sharp and long ; neither in feeding doth he move his lower jaw. Thomas Heyzuood, " London's Peaceable Estate." 74 SHAKESPEARE'S [CROCODILE. CROCODILE is nigh twenty cubits long, and his skin is hard that recketh not though he be strongly beaten on the back with stones. And a certain fish, having a crest like to a saw, rendeth his tender womb, and slayeth him. And it is said that among beasts only the Crocodile moveth the over jaw. Among beasts of the land he is tongueless, and his biting is venomous ; his teeth be horrible and strongly shapen as a comb or a saw, and no beast that cometh of so little beginning waxeth so great, and is a beast nourished in great gluttony, and eateth right much. And so when he is full, he lieth by the brink or by the cliff, and bloweth for fullness ; and then there cometh a little bird, which is called king of fowls among the Italians, and this bird flyeth tofore his mouth, and sometime he putteth the bird off, and at the last he openeth his mouth to the bird, and suffereth him enter. And this bird claweth him first with claws softly, and maketh him have a 'manner liking in clawing, and falleth anon asleep, and when this bird knoweth and perceiveth that this beast sleepeth, anon he descendeth into his womb, and forthwith sticketh him as it were with a dart, and biteth him full grievously and full CROCODILE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 75 sore. The Crocodile is right nesh and full tender in the womb, and for that cause he is soon overcome of such fishes, which have sharp pricks and crests growing on their backs on high. This grim and most horrible beast followeth and pursueth them that fly, and is dreadful to them ; and he fleeth serpents, and hath dim eyes while he is in the water, and seeth too sharply when he is out of water. And he waxeth more all the time that he is alive. If the Crocodile findeth a man by the brim of the water, or by the cliff, «he slayeth him if he may, and then he weepeth upon him, and swalloweth him at the last. And of his dirt is made an ointment, and with that ointment women anoint their own faces. And so old women and rivelled [wrinkled] seem young wenches for a time. And the Crocodile eateth gladly good herbs and grass, among whom lurketh a little serpent, and is enemy to the Crocodile, and hideth him privily in the grass, and wrappeth himself therein, and so while the Crocodile eateth grass, he swalloweth this serpent, and this serpent entereth into his womb, and allto [quite] rendeth his guts, and slayeth him, and cometh out harmless. The same worm lieth in await on the Crocodile when he sleepeth, and then wrappeth himself in fen [i.e. mud], and entereth in between his teeth, and cometh into his body. The Crocodile lieth in await on certain small birds that breed among the grass of the River Nile, the which birds fly into the womb of the Crocodile for heat of the sun, and eateth the worms of his womb ; and so that fierce beast is cleansed and purified of worms. And so dwelleth in land by day, and in water by night ; for the water is hotter by night than by day, for the water holdeth the sunbeams, and be moved, and so the water is hot. Bartholomew (Bertkelet}, bk. xviii. § 33. OF late years, there hath been brought into England the cases or skins of such Crocodiles, to be seen, — and much money given for the sight thereof, the policy of strangers ; laugh at our folly, either that we are too wealthy, or else that we know not how to bestow our money. Batman's addition to Bartholomew, bk. xviii. § 33. His nature is ever when he would have his prey to cry and sob like a Christian body, to provoke them to come to him, and then he snatcheth at them ; and thereupon came 76 SHAKESPEARE'S [CROCODILE. this proverb that is applied to women when they weep, Lachrymte crocodili, the meaning whereof is, that as the Crocodile when he crieth, goeth then about most to deceive, so doth a woman most commonly when she weepeth. Master John Hawkins* " Second Voyage " apud Hakluyt, p. 534 (ed. 1598). THE Crocodile is a great worm, abiding near the rivers sides. The Crocodile of the earth is afraid of saffron, and therefore the country-people, to defend their hives of bees and honey from them, strew upon the places saffron. It is doubtful whether it hath any place of excrement except the mouth. They do not cast their skins as other serpents do. After the egg is laid by the Crocodile, many times there is a cruel stinging scorpion which cometh out thereof, and woundeth the Crocodile that laid it. The Crocodile is a fearful serpent, abhorring all manner of noise, especially from the strained voice of a man. The Crocodile runneth away from a man if he wink with his left eye, and look steadfastly upon him with his right eye. Because he knoweth that he is not able to overtake a man in his course or chase, he taketh a great deal of water in his mouth, and casteth it in the path-ways, so that when they endeavour to run from the Crocodile, they fall down in the slippery path. There is an amity and natural concord betwixt swine and Crocodiles. If but a feather of the ibis come upon the Crocodile by chance, or by direction of a man's hand, it maketh it immoveable and cannot stir. There is a kind of thorny wild bean growing in Egypt, this is a great terror to the Crocodile, for he is in great dread of his eyes, and therefore all the people bear them in their hands when they travel. When they go to the land to forage and seek after a prey, they cannot return back again, but by the same footsteps of their own which they left imprinted in the sand [and so they may be caught in a trench made in their path]. The Indians have a kind of Crocodile in Ganges, which hath a horn growing out of his nose like a rhinocerot. The blood of a Crocodile is thought to cure the bitings of any serpent. The skin both of the land and water Crocodile dried into powder, and the same powder with vinegar or oil laid upon a part or member of the body to be seared, cut off, or lanced, taketh away all sense and feeling of pai CROW .] NATURAL HISTORY. 77 from the instrument in the action. The poison of the Crocodile worketh by cold air and light, and therefore by the want of both is to be cured. 7'opse//, "History of Serpents," pp. 683-92. Crow. Crows are fatted with the murrion flock. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. i, 97. THE Crow is a bird of long life. And diviners tell that she taketh heed of spyings and awaitings, and teacheth and sheweth ways, and warneth what shall fall. But it is full unlawful to believe, that God showeth his privy council to Crows. Among many divinations, diviners mean that Crows token rain with greding and crying. And is a jangling bird and unmild, and grievous to men there they dwell. And eateth unclean meats and venomous, and liveth right long. In age their feathers wax white ; but in flesh within, the longer they live, the more black they be. Crows rule and lead storks, and come about them as it were in routs, and fly about the storks, and defend them, and fight against other birds and fowls that hate storks. And take upon them the battle of other birds upon their own peril. And an open proof thereof is, — for in that time that the storks pass out of the country Crows be not seen in places where they were wont to be ; and also for they come again with sore wounds, and with voice of blood that is well known, and with other signs and tokens, and show that they have been in strong fighting. And the mildness of the bird is wonderful. For when father and mother in age be both naked and bare of feathers, then the young Crows hide and cover them with their feathers and gather meat and feed them. And sometime when the father and mother wax old and feeble, then the young Crows underset them and rear them up with their wings, and comfort them to use to fly, to bring the members that be diseased into state again. Bartholomew (Berthelet}, bk. xii. § 9. IN the solstice the Crow is seized with disease ; it feeds freely on nuts. It lies in wait for the eggs of the dove, to break them and suck them. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. in., ch. xxxiii. 78 SHAKESPEARE'S [CROW-FLOWERS. IF a Crow chance to eat of the rest of the flesh whereof a wolf hath eaten before : the same Crow will die soon after. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. vi. § 49. Crow-flowers. HAMLET, iv. 7, 170. BESIDES these kinds of Pinks before described, there is a certain other kind either of the gilly-flowers or else of the Sweet Williams, altogether and every where wild. I do hold it for a degenerate kind of wild gilly-flower. These grow all about in meadows and pastures and darkish places. They begin to flower in May and end in June. The Crow-flower is called wild Williams, marsh gilly-flowers, and cuckoo gilly-flowers. These are not used in medicine or in nourishment ; but they serve for garlands and crowns, and to deck up gardens. Gerard's " Herbal/' s.v. Crown imperial. WINTER'S TALE, iv. 4, 126. THIS plant hath been brought from Constantinople amongst other bulbous roots, and made denizens in our London gardens, whereof I have great plenty. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. Crystal. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, ii. I, 243. CRYSTAL is a bright stone and clear with watery colour. Men trow that it is of snow or ice made hard in space of many years. This stone set in the sun taketh fire, insomuch if dry tow be put thereto, it setteth the tow on fire. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xvi. §31. Cuckoo. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iii. I, 134. THE Cuckoo is a dishonest bird, and is very slow, and does not stay in a place. In winter it is said to lose its CUCKOO-BUD.] NATURAL HISTORY. 79 feathers; and it enters a hole in the earth or hollow trees; there in the summer it lays up that on which it lives in the winter. They have their own time of coming, ,and are borne upon the wings of kites, because of their short and small flight, lest they be tired in the long tracts of air and die. From their spittle grasshoppers are produced. In the winter it lies languishing and unfeathered, and looks like an Owl. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. ch. xxxix. IF you mark where your right foot doth stand at the first time that you do hear the Cuckoo, and then grave or take up the earth under the same, — wheresover the same is sprinkled about, there will no fleas breed. And I know it hath proved true. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. iii. § 47. WHEN you first see the Cuckoo, mark well where your right foot doth stand ; for you shall find there an hair, which, if it be black, it signifies that you shall have very evil luck all that year following. If it be white, then it signifies very good luck ; but if it be grey, then indifferent. It is certain such a hair hath been found accordingly, but what event did follow thereof I am yet uncertain. But this was affirmed unto me for a very truth. It was also credibly reported to me, that the like hair will be found under the right foot at the first seeing of the swallow, after they are come at the spring-time ; so that you look after the said swallow, as long as you can see her. Ibid., bk. x. § 80. • Cuckoo-bud. When daisies pied and violets blue And lady smocks all silver white And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue Do paint the meadows with delight. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, v. 2, 906. [If the learned Steevens in writing his note on this passage had noticed that Shakespeare draws a special distinction between the colours of " lady-smocks " and " Cuckoo-buds/' he would not have suggested that Shakespeare might not have been sufficiently acquainted with botany to be aware that lady-smocks are also called Cuckoo-flozvers (which latter word occurs " Lear," iv. 4, 4). " Cuckoo-bud " may be the Ranunculus bulbosus, which 80 SHAKESPEARE'S [CUCKOO-FLOWER. Gerard calls the Round-rooted Crow's-foot, or it may be the " Cuckoo-bread," " Cuckoo-brood," or as Gerard calls it, " Cuckoo- meat," i.e., the Oxalis acetosella. Gerard describes a variety of this plant with yellow flowers, and says that it has its name " because either the Cuckoo feedeth thereon, or by reason when it springeth forth and flowereth the Cuckoo singeth most."] Cuckoo-flower. [See above and Lady-smock.] Currants. WINTER'S TALE, iv. 3, 40. [Gerard only casually alludes to the Currant-bush which now grows in England, of which, however, Johnson, in his appendix to Gerard's " Herbal " gives a full description. These currants, therefore, will be currants of Zante or Cephalonia, as Fynes Moryson calls them.] THE black Currants are used in sauces, and so are the leaves also by many. Parkinson's "Herbal," s.v. Cuttle. An you play the saucy cuttle with me. ii. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 139. CUTTLE-FISH is a kind of sea-fish, with a pointed snout, with which they pierce and sink ships in the Atlantic Ocean. Minsheus 'Dictionary, s.v. ITS ink is so strong that when thrown on a lamp, men seem to be Ethiopians. It conceives by the mouth like a viper. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iv. ch. Ixxxi. Cypress. Cypress chests. TAMING OF THE SHREW, ii. i, 353. THIS Cypress-tree is formable and necessary to edifying and building of towers and temples, and for other great and pompous edifices. And for because it may not rot, DAISY.] NATURAL HISTORY. 81 it faileth never, but abideth and dureth and lasteth always in the first estate and condition ; and hath a right good savour, and most sweetest smelling. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xvii. § 24. CYPRESS groweth in divers places of England where it hath been planted, as at Sion, a place near London, some- time a house of Nuns. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. THE leaves of Cyprus do make the hair red. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. " Privet." [Cyprus ("Winter's Tale," iv. 3, 221), i.e., lawn or crape, was so called from the island, whence it first was brought to Eng- land.] Dace. If the young dace be a bait for the old pike. ii. KING HENRY IV., iii. 2, 356. \Minsheu (Dictionary, j.#.) gives apua for the Latin of Dace, and Cooper ("Thesaurus" s.v.) explains apua — or, as he writes it, aphya — as a " fish having [its] beginning of abundance of rain."] Daffodils. Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty. WINTER'S TALE, iv. 4, 118. [Gerard describes fourteen kinds of Daffodils, to which John- son adds eighteen more.] A CATAPLASM made of the root of Daffodil, honey and oatmeal draws forth spills, shivers, arrow-heads, and thorns, and whatsoever stick within the body. Holland's Pliny, bk. xxi. ch. xix. Daisy. Daisies pied. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, v. 2, 904. DAISY or Ox-eye: The young roots are frequently eaten by the Spaniards and Italians all the spring till June. Evelyn's "Acetaria," § 22. 6 82 SHAKESPEARE'S [DAMSON. [Gerard describes six different Daisies, and states further that the juice of the leaves and root given to little dogs keepeth them from growing great (" Herbal," s.z:).] Damson. My wife desired some damsons. ii. KING HENRY VI., ii. i, 101. OF the plum-tree is many manner of kinds ; but the Damascene is the best, that cometh out of Damask ; only of this tree droppeth and cometh glue and fast gum, physicians say that it is profitable to medicine, and for to make ink for writers' use. Bartholomew (Bertbelet\ bk. xvii. § 125. Darnel. Darnel and all the idle weeds that grow In our sustaining corn. KING LEAR, iv. 4, 5. AMONG the hurtful weeds, Darnel is the first. They grow in fields among wheat and barley of the corrupt and bad seed. They spring and flourish with the corn. The new bread wherein Darnel is eaten, hot, causeth drunken- ness ; in like manner doth beer or ale wherein the seed is fallen, or put into the malt. Darnel hurteth the eyes, and maketh them dim, if it happen in corn either for bread Or drink. Gerard's "Herbal," j.r. Date. Your date is better in your pie and your porridge than in your cheek. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, i. i, 173. THERE is made hereof both by the cunning confectioners and cooks divers excellent cordial, comfortable and nourish- ing medicines, and that procure lust of the body very mightily. The ashes of the Date-stones heal falling away of the hair of the eye-lids, being applied together with Spikenard. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. DEER.] NATURAL HISTORY. 83 Daw. I am no wiser than a daw. i. KING HENRY VI., ii. 4, 18. THE Daw fights with the owl, because the owl has but weak sight by day ; for this reason the Daw carries off the owl's eggs and eats them. Its flesh causes itching in the head, for itself loves to be scratched on the head. It is said to go mad often ; so that it often hangs itself in the forked branches of trees. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. chs. Ixxx. and Iv. Dead Men's Fingers. Long purples That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. HAMLET, iv. 7, 171. [Dead Men's Fingers is the Orchis mascula, or, as Gerard calls it, Satyrion Royal or finger orchis ; the plant has this name from the shape and colour of the root.] Deer. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, iv. 2, 3 et seq. THE most excellent of all animals. Minsbtu's Dictionary, s.v. Cf. Hart. IN the blood of these kind of Deer [Fallow-Deer] are not strings or fibres, wherefore it doth not congeal as other *doth, and this is assigned to be one cause of their fearful nature ; they are also said to have no gall. Their blood doth increase above measure melancholy. The dung or fime of this beast, mingled with oil of myrtles, increaseth hair, and amendeth those which are corrupt. Some of the late writers do prescribe the fat of a mole, of a Deer, and of a bear, mingled together to rub the head withal for increase of memory. Topsell, " Four-footed Beasts," p. 90. ' 84 SHAKESPEARE'S [DEW-BERRY. Dew-berry. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iii. I, 169. Also in Marlow's "Dido, Queen of Carthage," iv, 5 [The Dew-berry is the Rubus ccesius, or heath bramble. The commentators explain this word as either raspberry or goose- berry.] Diamond. V. Adamant. DIAMOND that will receive but one form. "Euphues' Golden Legacie." THE third part [of Ind] toward the Septentrion is full cold ; so that for pure cold and continual frost, the water becometh crystal. And upon the rocks of crystal grow the good diamonds that be of trouble colour. Yellow crystal draweth colour like oil. And they be so hard that no man may polish them. And men find many times hard Diamonds in a mass, that comet h out of gold, when men pure it and fine it out of the mine ; when men break that mass in small pieces. And they grow many together, one little, another great. And they grow together male and female. And they be nourished with the dew of heaven. And they engender commonly and bring forth small children, that multiply and grow all the year. I have oft times assayed that if a man keep them with a little of the rock, and wet them with May-dew often-times, they shall grow every year ; and the small will wax great. For right as the fine pearl congealeth and waxeth great of the dew of heaven, right so doth the very Diamond. And men shall bear the Diamond on his left side ; for it is of greater virtue then, than on the right side. For the strength of their growing is toward the North, that is the left side of the world ; and the left part of man is when he turneth his face toward the East. He that beareth the Diamond upon him, it giveth him hardiness and manhood, and it keepeth the limbs of his body whole. It giveth him victory of his enemies in play and in war (if his cause be rightful) ; and it keepeth him that beareth it in good wit ; and it keepeth him from strife and riot, from sorrows and from enchantments, and from fantasies and illusions of wicked DOG.] NATURAL HISTORY. 85 spirits. And if any cursed witch or enchanter would be- witch him that beareth the Diamond ; all that sorrow and mischance shall turn to himself through virtue of that stone. And also no wild beast dare assail the man, that beareth it on him. Also the Diamond should be given freely without coveting and without begging ; and then it is of greater virtue. And it maketh a man more strong and more sad against his enemies. And it healeth him that is lunatic, and him that the fiend pursueth or travaileth. And if venom or poison be brought in presence of the Diamond, anon, it beginneth to wax moist and for to sweat. Natheless it befalleth often time, that the good Diamond loseth his virtue, by sin and for incontinence of him that beareth it ; and then it is needful to make it to recover his virtue again, or else it is of little value. Sir John Mandeville, ch. xiv. Dock. V. Burr. KING HENRY V., v. 2, 52. ALL kinds of Docks have this property, that what flesh or meat is sod therewith, though they be never so old, hard or tough, they will become tender and meet to be eaten. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. i. § 30. Doe. V. Hart, Stag, Deer. Dog. [Often used by Shakespeare, though it is said that _he has ) good word for a Dog ; but < of the Shrew," Induction, i. 21, no good word for a Dog; but cf. "Lear," iii. 6, 65, and "Taming •J NOTHING is more busy or wittier than an Hound, for he hath more wit than other beasts. Oft Hounds gender with wolves, and of that gendering cometh cruel Hounds. Also oft the Indians teach Bitches, and leave them in woods by night, for tigers should gender with them, and of them 86 SHAKESPEARE'S [DOG. come most sharp Hounds and swift, and be so strong, that they throw down cruel beasts as lions. The cruelness of Hounds abateth to a meek man. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xviii. § 25. GENTLENESS and nobility of Hounds and of Bitches is known by length of face and of the snout, and by breadth of the breast, and by smallness of the womb and flank. And a gentle Hound hath long ears and pliant, and long legs and small, and that is needful to be the more swift in course and in running ; and his tail is more long and crooked than the tails of other Hounds, and hath less flesh than a Dog and shorter hair, and more thin and smooth. ibid., § 26. UNDER the Hound's tongue lieth a worm that maketh the Hound wood, and if this worm is taken out of the tongue then the evil ceaseth. The violence and biting of a wood Hound is so much, that his urine grieveth a man if he tread thereon, and namely if he have a botch or a wound. Also who that throweth his own urine upon DOG.] NATURAL HISTORY. 87 the urine of a wood Hound, he shall anon feel sore ache of the guts and of the loins. Also the Hound is envious ; and he gathereth herbs privily, by whom he purgeth him- self with parbraking [vomiting] and casting, and hath envy, and is right sorry, if any man knoweth the virtue of those herbs. Ibid., § 27. THE tongue of a Dog laid under the great toe within the shoe doth cease the barking of Dogs at the party that so wears the same. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. vii. § 22. IF you pluck out one of the eyes of a black Dog, whiles he is living, and will carry it with you, it will make that no Dogs shall bark at you ; yea, though you walk among them. But it will be more sure, if you put thereto a little of the heart of a wolf. Ibid., §85. THE uttermost or last joint of the tail of a young whelp, after he is forty days old, being writ hen off, the same Dog will never be mad. Besides that his tail will be thereby of a comely length. ibid., bk. ii. § 45. THE teeth of a mad Dog that hath bitten a man or woman, tied in leather, and then hanged at the shoulder, doth preserve and keep the party that bears it, from being bitten of any mad Dog. ibid., bk. iv. § 52. IF a wood Hound's drivelling fall into the water, it infecteth the water ; and who that drinketh of that water shall be dropsical and wood. Bartholomew (Berthelei], bk. vii. § 68. THE delicate, neat and pretty kind of Dogs called the Spaniel-gentle, or the Comforter [Maltese Dog] : — These little Dogs are good to assuage the sickness of the stomach, being oftentimes thereunto applied as a plaster preservative, or borne in the bosom of the diseased and weak person. Moreover, the disease and sickness changeth his place and entereth (though it be not precisely marked) into the Dog, which to be truth experience can testify, for these kind of Dogs sometimes fall sick and sometimes die, without any harm outwardly enforced, which is an argument that the 88 SHAKESPEARE'S [DOG-APE. disease of the gentleman or gentlewoman entereth into the Dog by the operation of heat intermingled and infected. Topsell, '' Four-footed Beasts," pp. 135-6. THAT men may appear to have Dogs' faces : — Take the fat of a Dog's ear, and anoint with it a little new silk, put it in a new lamp of green glass, and place it among the men, and they see Dogs' faces. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." IN many places our Mastiffs (besides the use which tinkers have of them, in carrying their heavy budgets) are made to draw water in great wheels out of deep wells. Besides these also, we have Sholts [? Shoughs] or Curs daily brought out of Iceland, and much made of amongst us, because of their sauciness and quarrelling. Holinshed, "Description of Britain," pp. 230-1. Dog-ape. [Perhaps a He-ape.] As You LIKE IT, ii. 5, 27. OF Apes some be like to an Hound in the face, and in the body like to an Ape. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xviii. § 96. DOLPHIN.] Dog-fish. NATURAL HISTORY. i. KING HENRY VI., i. 4, 107. THE Dog-fish is a terrible monster, and hostile to all living creatures, which die from its blows. These hunt the shoals of fish in the sea, like dogs hunting wild beasts on land, except that they cannot bark ; but instead of a bark they have a horrible breath. These monsters are with difficulty killed by many fish-spears. Its gall is said to be poison, and if any one eats the quantity of a bean of it, he dies after a week. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iv. ch. xvii. Dolphin. i. KING HENRY VI., i. 4, 107. THE Dolphins follow man's voice, and come together in flocks to the voice of the' symphony, and have liking in harmony ; and in the sea is nothing more swift than D olphins be. For oft they startle [spring] and overleap ships, the whose leaping and playing in the waves of the sea tokeneth tempest. And in the river of Nile is a kind Dolphins with ridges [back-bones], toothed as a saw, 90 SHAKESPEARE'S [DORMOUSE. that cutteth the tender wombs of crocodiles, and slayeth them. Dolphins know by the smell if a dead man that is on the sea ate ever of Dolphin's kind ; and if the dead man hath eaten thereof, he eateth him anon ; and if he did not, he keepeth and defendeth him from eating and biting of other fish, and shoveth him and bringeth him to the cliff with his own wroting [cum rostris suis (^Bartholo- mew)— so wroting is rooting with the snout, as a pig does]. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xiii. § 29. THE Dolphin is called the brother of man, because he is in some degree like to man in his ways. They sleep on the water, so that they may be heard to snore. They live to 140 years. The Dolphin alone among fish has no gall. When a Dolphin dies, the other Dolphins come together and surround him, and bear him down to the depths, and bury him, lest other fish should eat him. Small Dolphins are always together like flocks of sheep ; and they have two big Dolphins as guards. Dolphins have their eyes on their backs, and their mouths on the opposite side, and therefore they are not good at catching their prey, because of the want of agreement of the mouth and the eyes ; therefore they turn their mouths towards the heaven, and their backs and eyes towards the earth, so as to follow their prey. They are said to have helped sailors when their ship was about to be wrecked. They are supposed also to weep when they are caught. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iv. ch. xxvii. Dormouse. TWELFTH NIGHT, iii. 2, 20. GLIRES [/'.*., Dormice] be little beasts, as it were great mice, and have that name (glires) for sleep makes them fat. They love their fellows that they know, and strive and fight against other. And they love their father and mother with great mildness and pity, and feed and serve them in their age. Bartholomew (Bertbeki), bk. xviii. § 57. THE soles of the feet anointed with the fat of a Dor- mouse doth procure sleep. Lupton, '-A Thousand Notable Things," bk. Ji. § 16. DRAGON.] NATURAL HISTORY. 91 IF the viper find their nest, because she cannot eat all the young ones at one time, at the first she filleth herself with one or two, and putteth out the eyes of all the residue, and afterwards bringeth them meat and nourisheth them being blind, until the time that her stomach serveth her to eat them every one. But if it happen that in the mean time, any man chance to light upon these viper- nourished-blind Dormice, and to kill and eat them, they poison themselves through the venom which the viper hath left in them. Dormice are bigger in quantity than a squirrel. It is a biting and an angry beast. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," p. 409. Dove. He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds hot blood. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. I, 140. WHEN the Culver [i.e., Dove] hath birds [i.e., young], anon the male ruleth the birds. And if the female tarry over long ere she come to the birds for soreness of the birth, then the male smiteth and beateth her, and com- pelleth her to sit herself upon the birds. And when the birds wax, the male goeth and sucketh salt earth ; and he giveth and putteth it in the mouth of the birds, to make them have talent to meat. A Culver hath no gall, and hurteth and woundeth not with the bill, but his own peer. And hath groaning instead of song. Bartholomew (Eerthelet\ bk. xii. § 6. DOVES are very hot, and eat small stones to temper the stomach. The fresh flesh of a Dove helps against serpents. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. ch. xxxii. V. Pigeon. Dragon. A lonely dragon, that his fen Makes fear'd and talk'd of more than seen. CORIOLANUS, iv. i, 30. THE Dragon is most greatest of all serpents, and oft he is drawn out of his den, and reseth up into the air, and 92 SHAKESPEARE'S [DRAGON. the air is moved by him ; and also the sea swelleth against his venom. And he hath a crest with a little mouth, and draweth breath at small pipes and strait, and reareth his tongue, and hath teeth like a saw. And hath strength, and not only in teeth, but also in his tail, and grieveth both with biting and with stinging, and hath not so much venom as other serpents ; for to the end to slay any thing, to him venom is not needful ; for whom he findeth he slayeth, and the elephant is not sicher of him [safe from him] for all his greatness of body, for he lurketh in the way where the elephant goeth, and bindeth and spanneth his legs, and strangleth and slayeth him. The Dragon breedeth in Ind and in Ethiopia, there as is great burning of continual heat. The Dragon is twenty cubits great. Oft four or five of them fasten their tails together, and reareth up the heads, and sail over sea and over rivers to get good meat. The cause why the Dragon desireth his blood is coldness of the elephant's blood, by the which the Dragon desireth to cool himself. The Dragon is a full thirsty beast, insomuch that unneath [hardly] he may have DRAGON.] NATURAL HISTORY. 93 water enough to quench his great thirst, and openeth his mouth therefore against the wind to quench the burning of his thirst in that wise. Therefore when he seeth ships sail in the sea in great wind, he flieth against the sail to take there cold wind, and overthroweth the ship sometimes for greatness of body, and by strong rese against the sail. And when the shipmen see the Dragon come nigh, and know his coming by the water that swelleth against him, they strike the sail anon, and scape in that wise. Also for might of the venom, his tongue is always a-reared [raised up], and sometimes he setteth the air on fire by heat of his venom ; so that it seemeth, that he bloweth and casteth fire out of his mouth, and sometimes he bloweth out outrageous blasts, and thereby the air is corrupt and infected, and thereof cometh pestilent evils. And they dwell sometimes in the sea, and sometimes swim in rivers, and lurk sometimes in caves and in dens, and sleep but seld, but wake nigh always. The Dragon's biting that eateth venomous beasts is perilous, as the Dragon's biting that eateth scorpions, for against his biting unneath is any remedy or medicine found. Also all venomous beasts flee and void the grease and the fatness of the Dragon ; and his grease meddled with honey cureth dimness of the eyes. Also those fishes die that be bitten of the Dragon. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xviii. § 38. THE Dragon has wings formed from its loose and mobile skin, and they are broad in proportion to the size of its body. Wherever it stops, it poisons the air. Between eagles and Dragons there are often fights, and these much more doubtful if in the air. Also the vulture and the Dragon fight, because they prey on animals. From the brains of Dragons is hatched the stone Dra- contias ; but the stone is only to be taken from the living animal ; for if it die first, the hardness of the stone dis- appears with the breath. Dragons are put to sleep with medicated grasses, and thus the stone is procured ; and the Eastern kings are especially proud of the use of this stone. The heads of Dragons make a house prosperous and fortu- nate. Dragon's flesh is of the colour of glass, and it cools those who eat it. Therefore the Ethiopians who dwell on that burning coast gladly eat the flesh of Dragons, so that 94 SHAKESPEARE'S [DRAGON. their factors tame the Dragon with certain songs, and, sitting on his back, guide him with a bridle until they come into Ethiopia. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. ch. xlviii. [This last statement recalls Mr. Waterton's exploit with the alligator.] IT was wont to be said, because Dragons are the greatest serpents, that except a serpent eat a serpent, he shall never be a Dragon. In Ethiopia they grow to be thirty yards long. There are tame Dragons in Macedonia, where they are so meek, that women feed them, and suffer them to suck their breasts like little children, — their infants also play with them, riding upon them and pinching them, as they would do with dogs. The apples of their eyes are precious stones, and as bright as fire. The Africans believe that the original of Dragons took beginning from the unnatural conjunction of an eagle and a she-wolf. The Dragons of Phrygia when they are hungry turn themselves towards the west, and gaping wide, with the force of their breath do draw the birds that fly over their heads into their throats. They greatly preserve their health by eating of wild lettuce, for that they make them to vomit, and they are most specially offended by eating of apples. They renew and recover their sight again by rubbing their eyes against fennel, or else by eating of it. The Indians take a gar- ment of scarlet, and picture upon it a charm in golden letters, — this they lay upon the mouth of the Dragon's den, for with the red colour and the gold, the eyes of the Dragon are overcome, and he falleth asleep, the Indians in the mean season watching and muttering secretly words of incantation ; when they perceive he is fast asleep, sud- denly they strike off his neck with an axe, and so take out the balls of his eyes, wherein are lodged those rare and precious stones which contain in them virtues unutter- able. Many times it falleth out, that the Dragon draweth in the Indian both with his axe and instruments into his den and there devoureth him, in the rage whereof he so beateth the mountain that it shaketh. [Topsell gives several long stories of the love of some Dragons for men and women, and lastly the tale of Winckelried, who slew a horrible Dragon, whereat for joy he lifted up his sword, .and the blood of the Dragon dripped off the sword and EAGLE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 95 killed him.] The eagles when they shake their wings make the Dragons afraid with their rattling noise, then the Dragon hideth himself within his den. The eagle devoureth the Dragons and little serpents upon earth, and the Dragons again and serpents do the like against the eagles in the air. The griffins are likewise said to fight with the Dragons and overcome them. The panther [<7-^.] also is an enemy unto the Dragons, and driveth them many times into their dens. Topsell, "History of Serpents/' pp. 706-15. THE inhabitants of Paraca, by eating a Dragon's heart and liver, attain to understand the language (if so I may term it) of beasts. Purehas " Pilgrims," p. 457 (ed. 1616). Drone. A huge feeder ; Snail slow in profit, and he sleeps by day More than the wild-cat ; drones hive not with me. MERCHANT OF VENICE, ii. 5, 48. THE Drone is a larger kind of bee ; and it eats the fruit of others' labour ; for it eats what it has not worked for, as it makes no honey. Hortus Banitatis, bk. iii. (" Of Birds "), ch. li. Duck. IF you see Ducks fly massed together, even though the sky be clear, you will expect rain speedily ; if they flap their wings together while on the land, you may suppose that there will be a gale. Jonston, "Natural History of Birds," ch. iii. § 3 (1657). Eagle. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, iv. 3, 334. AMONG all manner kinds of divers fowls, the Eagle is the more liberal and free of heart ; for the prey that she taketh, but it be for great hunger she eateth not alone, but putteth it forth in common to fowls that follow her ; but 96 SHAKESPEARE'S [EAGLE. first she taketh her own portion and part. And therefore oft other fowls follow the Eagle for hope and trust to have some part of her prey. But, when the prey that is taken, is not sufficient to her self, then as a king that taketh heed of a commonty [common people], he taketh the bird that is next to him, and giveth it among the other, and serveth them therewith. And she setteth in her nest two precious stones, which be called agates ; the one of them is male, and that other female ; and it is said that they cannot bring forth their birds without those stones. And she layeth in her nest that precious stone, that bright agate, to keep her birds from the venomous biting of creeping worms. And among all fowls, in the Eagle the virtue of sight is most mighty and strong ; for in the Eagle the spirit of sight is most temperate, and most sharp in act and deed of seeing and beholding the sun in the roundness of his circle, without any blemishing of eyes ; and the sharpness of her sight is not rebounded again with clearness of light of the sun, neither disparpled [dispersed]. Also there is one manner Eagle that is full sharp of sight, and she taketh her own birds in her claws, and maketh them to look even on the sun, and that ere their wings be full grown, and except they look stiffly and steadfastly against the sun, she beateth them, and setteth them even tofore the sun ; and if any eye of any of her birds watereth in looking on the sun, she slayeth him, as though he went out of kind ; or else driveth him out of the nest, and despiseth him, and setteth not by him. Also the Eagle is a fowl that seldom sitteth abrood, and seldom hath birds ; and nourisheth and feedeth her birds. The Eagle layeth three eggs at the most, and throweth the third egg out of the nest ; for she sitteth abrood heavily thereupon. And at that time she is so much feebled, that she may not well hunt birds of other fowls ; for then her claws be crooked, and her wings wax white, and then she is sore grieved in feeding of her birds. And if it happeth that the Eagle hath three birds, she throweth out one of her nest, for difficulty of feeding and nourishing ; but a bird that is called ossifraga feedeth the bird that the Eagle casteth so haply out of her nest. In age the Eagle hath darkness and dimness in eyes, and heaviness in wings. And against this disadvantage she is taught by kind to seek a well of EAGLE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 97 springing water, and then she flieth up into the air as far as she may, till she be full hot by heat of the air and by travail of flight, and so then by heat the pores be opened, and the feathers chafed, and she falleth suddenly into the well, and there the feathers be changed, and the dimness of her eyes is wiped away and purged, and she taketh again her might and strength. Also, when the Eagle ageth, the bill waxeth so hard and so crooked, that unneath he may take his meat. And against this disadvantage he findeth a remedy ; for he seeketh a stone, against the which he smiteth and beateth strongly his bill, and cutteth off the charge of the bill, and receiveth meat and might and strength, and so becometh young again. The gentle falcon or other such fowls unneath take preys on that day that they hear the Eagle ; and that perchance cometh of great dread. And that Eagle that taketh her prey on the water hath one foot close and whole, as the foot of a gander, and therewith she ruleth herself in the water, when she cometh down because of her prey. And her other foot is a cloven foot, with full sharp claws, with the which she taketh her prey. And the Eagle's feathers have a privy fretting virtue; for the Eagle's feathers done and set among feathers of wings of other birds corrumpeth and fretteth them ; as strings made of wolf's guts done and put in a lute or in an harp among strings made of sheep's guts do destroy and fret and corrump the strings made of sheep's guts, if it so be that they be set among them. Also she is right cruel against her own birds, for, to teach and to compel them to take prey of other birds, she beateth and woundeth them With her bill. Bartholomew (Eerthelet\ bk. xii. § i. WHEREVER an Eagle sees from on high a serpent,, he attacks it with great clamour, and tears it with his claws, and after taking out the deadly venom from its entrails, he devours it, and the strength of the venom which was in it, being cooked by the heat of the Eagle, is extin- guished. And by this experiment he is either made sad, or else he glories in it. There is in the North a large Eagle which always lays two eggs ; and it catches a hare or a fox, and carefully flays off its skin, in which it wraps its eggs, and puts them in the warmth of the sun, and so leaves them and does not sit, but waits until they are 7 98 SHAKESPEARE'S [EBONY. broken by natural maturity, and returns when the young birds are hatched, and then feeds them until they attain to perfect Strength. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. ch. i. HARTS that cast their horns, snakes their skins. Eagles their bills, become more fresh for any other labour. Lilly, Prologue to "Campaspe." THE princely Eagle, fearing to surfeit on spices, stoopeth tO bite On WOrm-WOod. Ibid., Prologue to "Sapho and Phaon." THE Eagle is never stricken with thunder. Ibid.) Act iii. Scene 3. EAGLES cast their evil feathers in the sun. Ibid.) " Galatea," Act iii. Scene 4. Ebony. Black as ebony. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, iv. 3, 247. EBONY is oft set by cradles, for black sights should not fear the children. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xvii. § 52. EBONY is a tree whereof the wood is black as jet within, and beareth neither leaves nor fruit. Batmarfs addition to Bartholomew^ I.e. Eel. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, i. 2, 30. THE Eel is generated from the slime of other fishes ; it is hard to skin, and very difficult to kill, as it lives even after it has been skinned ; it is disturbed by the sound of thunder. It is most easily caught when the Pleiades have set. And they say that in the Eastern river Ganges, Eels are gendered with feet to walk on the land. Eels live for eight years ; and they exist without water for six days while the North-east wind blows, but less while the South wind EISEL.] NATURAL HISTORY. 99 blows. Among all Eels there is no male nor female, and they gender neither live creature nor egg, as they are neuter. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iv. § 2. THE Eel is a well known fish ; and its virtues are won- derful ; for if it dies from want of water and its body remains whole, and if strong vinegar be mixed with the blood of a vulture, and it be put somewhere under dung, they will all revive just as they were before. And if the worm [? spinal marrow] of that Eel be extracted and set in the foresaid mixture for a month, the worm will be changed into a very black Eel, and if any one eat of that Eel he Albertus Magnus, " Of the Virtues of Animals." IN many ponds, all the water and mud taken out, by and by Eels do breed, if rain-water come into them, for that with the dew, they do live and are nourished. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. iii. § 63. IF you have many Eels in a vessel of wine, and put mulberries to them, — if any one drink of that, he will abhor wine for a year, and perhaps for ever. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." Thunder shall not so awake the beds of eels. PERICLES, iv. 3, 156. Eels that never will appear Till that tempestuous winds or thunder tear Their slimy beds. Marstorfs " Scourge of Villany," satire vii. 1. 78. V. Fish. Eglantine. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. I, 252. [The sweet-briar.] V. s. Rose. Eisel. V. Vinegar. HAMLET, v. I, 299. ioo SHAKESPEARE'S [ELDER. Elder The stinking elder. CYMBELINE, iv. 2, 59. THE Ellern is a little nesh tree, and beareth flowers and fruit twice in one year, and that fruit is black with horrible smell and savour. And this is, therefore, unprofitable to eat. And wonder it is to see in Ellern, for if the middle rind of the stalk, or of the root, be shaven upward, then it purgeth upward, and if it be shaven downward, then it purgeth downward. Bartholomew (Eerthelet\ bk. xvii. § 144. THE inner bark of Elder applied to any burning takes out the fire immediately. An extract or theriaca may be composed of the berries which is not only efficacious greatly to assist longevity (so famous is the story of Neander), but is a kind of catholicon against all infirmities whatever. And yet when I have said all this, 1 do by no means commend the scent of it, which is very noxious to the air. A certain house in Spain, seated amongst many Elder-trees, diseased and killed almost all the inhabitants, which when at last they were grubbed up became a very wholesome and healthy place. Evglyffs ,silva/, bk> { ch xx § lg> SHEPHERDS think that pipes made from Elder are more sonorous ; and it is cut when the shrub cannot hear the song of the cock. Its leaves drunk in wine resist the bites of serpents. Hortys Sanitatis^ bk> L ch> ccccvi> Elephant. The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, ii. 3, 113. THESE beasts void and flee the mouse. When they be sick, they gather good herbs, and ere they use the herbs, they heave up the head, and look up toward heaven, and pray for help of God in a certain religion. If Elephants see a man coming against them, that is out of the way in wilderness, for they would not affray him, they will draw themself somewhat out of the way, and then they stint [wait], and pass little and little tofore him, and teach him the way. And if a dragon come against him, they ELEPH ANT.] NATURAL HISTORY fight with the dragon, and defend the man, and putteth them forth to defend the man strongly and mightily ; and do so namely [especially] when they have young foals, for they dread that the man seeketh their foals. They dread and flee the voice of the least sound of a swine. Also between Elephants and dragons is perpetual wrath and strife [v. Dragon]. And when the Elephant sitteth, he bendeth his feet ; and may not bend four at once for heaviness and weight of the body, but he leaneth to the right side, or to the left side, and sleepeth standing, and he bendeth the hinder legs right as a man. If he hath iron in his body, oil is given him to drink, and the iron is drawn out by drink of oil. And Elephants be without gall, but they be accidentally cruel and fierce, when they be too soon angered, or if they be wine-drunken to make them sharp to fight in battle. Also no beast liveth so long as the Elephant, and his complexion is like to the air that he dwelleth in. Elephants keep lore and discipline of the stars, and in waxing of the moon go to rivers, and when they be besprung with liquor, they salute and welcome £ ; SHAKESPEARE'S [ELEPHANT. the rising of the sun with certain movings, as they may, and then they turn again into woods and Jaunds. Their youth is known by whiteness of teeth, of the which teeth that one is always working, and that other is spared, lest he should wax dull with continual smiting and rubbing, but when they be pursued with hunters, then they smite both together, and break them, that they be no longer pursued, when the teeth be appaired and defoiled [dam- aged], for they know that the teeth be cause of their peril. And a cave or a ditch is made under the earth, as it were a pit-fall in the Elephant's way, and unawares he falleth therein. And then one of the hunters cometh to him, and beateth and smiteth him, and pricketh him full sore. And then another hunter cometh and smiteth the first hunter, and doth him away, and defendeth the Elephant, and giveth him barley to eat ; and when he hath eaten thrice or four times, then he loveth him that defended him, and is after- wards mild and obedient to him. And if it happeth that he swalloweth a worm that is hight Chameleon, he taketh and eateth of wild olive-tree, and is so holp against the venom. Also the Elephant's bones brent [i.e. burnt] chase and drive away serpents and all venomous beasts. Also there is another thing that is full wonderful ; for among the Ethiopians in some countries, Elephants be hunted in this wise : — There go in desert two maidens all naked and bare with open hair of the head ; and one of them beareth a vessel, and the other a sword ; and these maidens begin to sing alone, and the beast hath liking when he heareth their song, and cometh to them, and licketh their teats, and falleth asleep anon for liking of the song, and then the one maid sticketh him in the throat, or in the side with a sword, and the other taketh his blood in a vessel, and with that blood the people of the same country dye cloth [which is called purple — Bartholomew]. Bartholomew (and Berthelefs translation), bk. xviii. §§ 42-5. ELEPHANTS of all other beasts do chiefly hate the mouse ; so that if they shall see or perceive that a mouse hath once touched their meat that is before them, they loathe the same, and will not eat a bit thereof. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. vi. § 43, ELEPHANT.] NATURAL HISTORY. 103 ELEPHANTS cannot bend their legs and thighs except in youth. Its inside is like a pig's inside, and therefore like a man's. It has no joints in its legs. Hortus SanitatiSj bk. ii. ch. Iv. [Sir Thomas Browne ("Vulgar Errors/' bk. Hi. ch. i.) adduces sundry grave arguments to prove that an Elephant has joints :] WHILE men conceive they never lie down, and enjoy not the position of rest ordained unto all pedestrious animals, hereby they imagine (what reason cannot conceive) that an animal of the vastest dimension and longest dura- tion, should live in a continual motion, without that alternity and vicissitude of rest whereby all others continue. "Vulgar Errors," bk. iii. ch. i. IN the woods or fields where they [Indians or Africans] suspect [Elephants'] teeth to be buried, they bring forth pots or bottles of water, and disperse them, here one, there another, and so let them stand, and tarry to watch them, — so one sleepeth, another singeth, or bestoweth his time as he pleaseth ; after a little time they go and look in their pots, and if the teeth lie near their bottles, by an unspeakable and secret attractive power in nature, they draw all the water out of them that are near them, which the watchman taketh for a sure sign, and so diggeth about his bottle, till he find the tooth. [Topsell decides after argu- ment that tusks are not horns.] The trunk hath two passages, — one into the head and body by which he breatheth, and the other into his mouth. It is false that they have no joints or articles in their legs. They drink not wine, except in war, when they are to fight, but water at all times, whereof they will not taste, except it be muddy and not clear, for they avoid clear water, loathing to see their own shadow therein. In the summer-time they choose out and gather the sweetest flowers, and being led into their stables, they will not eat meat until they take of their flowers, and dress the brims of their mangers therewith, pleasing themselves with their meat, because of the savour of the flowers stuck about their cratch, like dainty -fed persons which set their dishes with green herbs, and put them into their cups of wine. They are never so fierce,, violent, or wild, but the sight of a ram tameth and dis- io4 SHAKESPEARE'S [ELM. mayeth them, for they fear his horns ; and not only a ram, but also the gruntling clamour or cry of hogs. Lions set upon the young calves of Elephants and wound them, but, at the sight of the mothers, the lions run away, and when the mothers find their young ones embrued in their own blood, they themselves are so enraged, that they kill them, and so retire from them, after which time the lions return and eat their flesh. In the River Ganges there are blue worms of sixty cubits long having two arms ; these, when the Elephants come to drink in that river> take their trunks in their hands and pull them off. At the sight of a beautiful woman [Elephants] leave off all rage and grow meek and gentle. In Africa there are certain springs of water, which, if at any time they dry up, by the teeth of Elephants, they are opened and recovered again. In the night-time, Elephants seem to lament with sighs and tears their captivity and bondage, but if any come to that speed, like modest persons they refrain suddenly, and are ashamed to be found either murmuring or sorrowing. When they drink a leech, they are grievously pained. The fime [or dung] by anointing cureth a lousy skin, and taketh away that power which breedeth these vermin ; the same per- fumed driveth gnats or marsh-flies out of a house. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 150-65. Elm. The barky fingers of the elm. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iv. i, 49. THE shadow of Elms is mild and nourishing to those things that it falls upon. Hortus Sanitat^ bk. L ch. dvii. [Evelyn (" Silva," bk. i. ch. iv.), among the uses of the Elm, states that it is proper for dressers and shovel-board tables, and that cattle prefer the dried leaves to oats in the winter when hay and fodder are dear.] THE leaves of an Elm-tree, or of peach-tree, falling before their time doth foreshow or betokens a murrain or death of Cattle. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. iii. § 25. EMERALD.] NATURAL HISTORY. 105 Emerald. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, v. 5, 74. [As adjective.] OF all green precious stones is the chief. Men in old time gave thereto the third dignity after margarites and unions. In no herbs nor in precious stone is more green- ness than in the stone Emerald. It passeth herbs and grass, twigs and branches. And it infecteth the air about it with passing green colour. And his green colour abateth not in the sun in no manner wise. Nothing comforteth more their eyes that be gravers than this stone. Thereof be twelve manner of kinds, but the most noble be found in Scythia, and in Bactria holdeth the second place. And Emeralds be found among and under stones, and in chines thereof, when the Northern wind bloweth. For then the earth is un- covered, and Emerald shineth among the stones. For in such wind gravel and sand is most moved. Though the Emerald be green by kind, yet if it be meddled with wine or with oil, his green colour increaseth. This stone is taken of and from griffins, and plenty of Emeralds may not be found, for great griffins let the coming of men by the way that goeth thereto. The body thereof hath of gift of kind a goodness of virtue to heal divers sicknesses and evils. It increaseth riches, and maketh men have good words and fair evidence in cause and in plea. If this stone be hanged about the neck, it maketh good mind, and helpeth also against all phantasies and japes of fiends, and ceaseth tempest. It is said that it helpeth them that use to divine and guess what shall befall. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xvi. § 88. A TRUTHFUL and curious experimenter coming from Greece said that this stone is generated in the rocks which are under the sea, and is there found. And this is reason- able, for it is generated in veins of brass, and that evidently, .but it does not come to the substance of brass ; because it has the greenness of the rust of brass [i.e., verdigris]. The Emerald if put in drink is suitable for deadly venoms, and for venomous bites and punctures of stings. The Emerald, if it be worn, increases substance ; causes persuasiveness in all business ; makes men chaste and 106 SHAKESPEARE'S [ERINGO. cheerful of body and of speech ; and helps in tempests. Also it makes the memory good. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. v. § 113. IF any one carries an Emerald under his tongue, straight- way he will prophesy. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Virtues of Stones." Eringo or Eryngo (/., fenny] water, will in short time stir and become a living creature. Holinskedj "Description of Britain," pp. 223-4. THE Lomond Lake [hath] fleeting isles and Fish with- out fins. Ibid., p. 88. [!N Cuba] fishermen after a strange fashion used to hunt Fish, and take them by the help of another Fish, which they kept tied in a cord by the boat's side, and when they espied a Fish loosed the cord ; this hunting Fish presently lays hold on the prey, and, with a skin like a purse grow- ing behind her head, graspeth it so fast that by no means it can be taken from her, till they draw her up above the Water. Purcbas* "Pilgrims," p. 904 (ed. 1616). Fitchew. A dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard, an owl, a puttock, or a herring without a row. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, v. I, 67. V. Pole-cat. i THE skin is stiff, harsh and rugged in handling, and therefore long lasting in garments, yet the savour of it is so rank, that it is not in any great request, and moreover it offendeth the head, and produceth ache therein, and therefore it is sold cheaper than a fox-skin. Topsell^ "Four-footed Beasts," p. 172. FLEA.] NATURAL HISTORY. 115 Flax. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, v. 5, 159. THE Flax is made to knots and little bundles, and so laid in water, and lieth there long time. And then it is taken out of the water, and laid abroad till it be dried, and turned and wended [^Bartholomew — desiccantur\ in the sun, and then bound in pretty niches and bundles ; and afterward knocked, beaten and brayed, and carfled [? sliced ?] rodded, and gnodded [? from gnide, i.e., rub ?] ribbed and heckled, and at the last spun. Then the thread is sod and bleached, and bucked and oft laid to drying, wetted and washed, and sprinkled with water until that it be white, after diverse working and travail. Bartholomew (Bertbelei), bk. xvii. § 97. FLAX ought by law to be sown in every country-town in England, more or less ; but I see no success of that good and wholesome law. Holinsked) "Description of England," p. in. Flea. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. i, 16, 23. THE Flea is a little worm, and grieveth men most, and it is namely fed with powder [i.e., dust] ; and is a little worm of wonder lightness, and scapeth and voideth peril with leaping, and not with running, and waxeth slow, and faileth in cold time, and in summer time it waxeth quiver and swift. And the Flea is bred white, and changeth as it were suddenly into black colour, and desireth blood, and doth let them that would sleep with sharp biting, and spareth not kings, but a little Flea grieveth them, if he touch their flesh. And to Fleas wormwood is venom, and so be leaves of the wild fig-tree. And coloquintida a weed that is like to a wild nep helpeth against Fleas, if it be stamped and meddled with water, and sprung in the place there as many Fleas be ; and they bite full sore against rain. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xviii. § 89. A SLUTTISH kept house breedeth Fleas, and lodging next to stables of horses ; also the horse-urine breedeth Fleas, his dung, falling upon his tail, breedeth snakes, his flesh, Wasps. Batman* s addition to Bartholomew, bk. xviii. § 89. u6 SHAKESPEARE'S [FLEA. A FLEA divided in two parts revives. If the water in which brambles have been boiled be sprinkled in a house, Fleas will be quite destroyed. When the blood of a goat is placed in a hole in a house, Fleas collect about it, and then die. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. § 118. WHEN any draws nigh toward their death, and their members lack blood and vital heat : then Fleas and lice leave them quite, or else draw to that part of the body where the said heat tarries the longest ; which is in the hole in the neck under the chin, etc. This is a token that death is at hand. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. iii. § 75, ITEM, paid to good wife Wells for salt to destroy the Fleas in churchwardens' pew, 6d. Parish Accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster (1610). IT is not any disgrace to a man to be troubled with Fleas, as it is to be lousy. Their first original is from dust. Mouffet, "Theatre of Insects," p. IO2. FLY.] NATURAL HISTORY. 117 IF any one be anointed with the milk of an ass, all the Fleas in the house will gather together upon him. Albertus Magnus, "Of the Wonders of the World." Fly and Flesh-fly. When the splitting wind Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks, And flies fled under shade. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, i. 3, 51. FLIES are unquiet, and importunate, and malicious, sting- ing and worrying. Flies, like bees, if killed in water, sometimes revive after an hour. If Flies be burnt, and smeared with honey on bald places, they produce hair. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. ("De Avibus ") § 81. WHEN thou wilt drive away Flies from any place that there shall none be seen there again, make the image of a Fly in the stone of a ring ; or in a plate of brass or copper, or of tin, make the image of a Fly, of a spider, or of a serpent, the second face of Pisces then ascending. And whiles you are making a graving of them, say : This is the image which doth clean rid all Flies for ever. Then bury the same in the midst of the house, or hang it in any place of the house, (but if thou hast four such plates, and bury them or hang them in four corners of the house, or hide them within the walls, that nobody take them away, it were far better). But this laying of them must be when the first face of Taurus doth ascend, And so no Fly will come in there, nor tarry there. Ptolomy saith that he saw the trial hereof in the house of King Adebarus ; who was very wise, and was marvellous expert in natural magic, in whose palace or place, there was neither Fly nor any other hurting worm. And that I might search it out (saith he), I brought in thither live Flies, which presently died. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. ii. § 21. IN the common place where the Censors of Venice sit, there never enter any Flies. And in the flesh shambles of Toledo in Spain, is not seen but one Fly in all the whole year. And in Westminster Hall, in the timber-work, there 1 1 8 SHAKESPEARE'S [FLY. is not to be found one spider, nor a spider's web. Because (as it is thought) the timber wherewith the roof is builded was brought out of Ireland, and did grow there. [N.B. This belief was still held in Wales in 1869.] In all which country of Ireland, I have not only heard it credibly told that there is neither spider, toad, nor any other venomous thing ; but also that some of the earth of that country hath been brought hither, whereon a toad being laid, she hath died presently. Though this be mar- vellous and strange, yet it is true. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. iv. § 31. IF you rub slightly any kind of beast or cattle with the juice of gourds in hot weather, no kind of Flies will then hurt or molest them, nor yet annoy them. A thing desired of many, and very necessary for such as rides in the hot weather. lbid bk> v> 42. FLIES are generated two ways, — by coupling with their own species, or by the putrefaction of other things. When the Flies bite harder than ordinary, making at the face and eyes of men, they foretell rain or wet weather. Trouts are taken with the Ground-fly, but chiefly with the Dung- fly ; so that the anglers use to fasten one or two of them to their hook, and with a sporting or rather cunning snatch- ing back of their line do invite the trouts more greedily to bite, and the bait being swallowed down to hang the surer. Others put as many of those Flies upon their hooks as they will hold, and plunge them quite down to the bottom, especially where they know the greater trouts use to haunt. But every month must have his several Fly ; the which the fishers do very well know, who in defect of the natural Fly do substitute artificial Flies made of wool, feathers, or divers kind of silken colours, with which they cozen and deceive the fish. Only you must take heed that as soon as ever they bite, you pull your line to you, lest the fish refusing the unsavoury bait get away. We conclude this art of making Flies to be very ancient, and derived to us by long tract of time ; however, we have some bold bragging book-men at this day [i.e., 1582] that ascribe it to their own invention. "Theatre of Insects," pp. 932, 944, 946. FOX.] NATURAL HISTORY. 119 As to Flies, we have none that can do hurt or hindrance naturally unto any. The cut- or girt-waisted (for so I English the word Insectd] are the hornets, wasps, bees, and such like, whereof we have great store, and of which an opinion is conceived that the first do breed of the corrup- tion of dead horses, the second of pears and apples, and the last of kine and oxen ; which may be true, especially the first and latter in some parts of the beast, and not their whole substances, as also in the second, sith [since] we have never wasps, but when our fruit beginneth to wax ripe. Yet sure I am of this that no one living creature corrupteth without the production of another ; as we may see by ourselves, whose flesh doth alter into lice ; and also in sheep for excessive numbers of flesh-flies, if they be suffered to be unburied. Hohnshed^ "Description of England," p. 228. Fowl. OUT of the fig-tree there comes such a sharp vapour, that if a hen be hanged thereon, it .will so prepare her, that she will be soon and easily roasted. And the like will be if the feathers be plucked off from Fowls and birds, and the skins pulled off from beasts, and then laid or covered a day or two in a heap of wheat. L upton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. iv. § 19. % You are now in Lincolnshire, where you can want no Fowl, if you can devise means to catch them. Lilly, "Galatea," Act i. Scene 4. Bird. Fox. A Fox hight vulpes, and hath that name as it were wallowing feet aside [uneven-legged : see below], and goeth never forthright, but alway aslant, and with fraud. And is a false beast and deceivable ; for when him lacketh meat, he feigneth himself dead, and then fowls come to him, as it were to a carrion, and anon he catcheth one and de- 120 SHAKESPEARE'S [FOX. voureth him. The Fox halteth alway ; for the right legs be shorter than the left legs ; his skin is right hairy, rough, and hot ; his tail is great and rough ; and when an hound weeneth to take him by the tail, he taketh his mouth full of hair, and stoppeth it. The Fox doth fight with the brock for dens, and defileth the brock's den with his urine and with his dirt, and hath so the mastery over him with fraud and deceit, and not by strength. The hart is friend to a Fox, and fighteth therefor with the brock, and helpeth the Fox. The Fox is a stinking beast and corrupt, and doth corrupt oft the place that they dwell in continually, and maketh them to be barren. His biting is somedeal venomous. And when hounds do pursue him, he draweth in his tail between his legs, and when he seeth he may not scape, he [micturates] in his tail that is full hairy and rough, and swappeth his tail full of [urine] in the hounds' faces that pursue him. And the stench of the [urine] is full grievous to the hounds, and therefore the hounds spare him somewhat. The Fox feigneth himself tame in time of need ; but by night he waiteth his time, and doeth shrewd deeds. And although he be right guileful in himself and malicious ; yet he is -good and profitable in use of medicine. For if a man have upon him a Fox-tongue in a ring or in a bracelet, he shall not be blind, as witches mean. Bartholomew (Berthelet}, bk. xviii. § 114. You may take Foxes with this oil following : Anoint the soles of your shoes, with a piece of fat swine's flesh as broad as your hand, newly toasted or a little broiled at the fire, when you go out of the wood homeward. And in every of your steps, cast a piece of the liver of a swine roasted, and dipped in honey, and draw after your back the dead carcase of a cat, and when the Fox following thee comes near unto the steps, be sure to have a man nigh thee with bow and shafts to shoot at him : or by some other means to hit him. Mizaldus had this of an expert hunter. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. vi. § 21. FOXES being sod or cut in pieces, and then given to hens or geese among their meat, it makes them safe from being hurt of any Foxes after, for the space of two months (Mizaldus). /^ bk. vii. § 44. FOX.] NATURAL HISTORY. 121 THE Fox takes, the juice which flows from the pine-tree into his food, and so recovers his health and prolongs his life. When hungry, he imitates the barking of a dog. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. ch. clix. SERPENTS, apes and Foxes, and all other dangerous, harmful beasts have small eyes, but sheep and oxen, which are simple, very great eyes. The Fox with his breath draweth field-mice out of their holes, like as a hart draweth out serpents with his breath, and devoureth them. In Arabia and Palestine they are so ravenous that in the night they fear not to carry into their dens old shoes and vessels, or instruments of husbandry. But if a Fox eat any meat wherein are bitter almonds [or aloes] they die thereof if they drink not presently. If wild rue be secretly hung under a hen's wing, no Fox will meddle with her. In some places they take upon them to take him [the Fox] with nets, which seldom proveth, because with his teeth he teareth them in pieces. The French have a kind of gin to take by the legs, and I have heard of some which have found the Fox's leg in the same gin, bitten off with his own teeth from his body ; other have counterfeited them- selves dead, restraining their breath and winking, not stirring any member when they saw the hunter come to take them out of the gin [and] so soon as the Fox per- ceiveth himself free, away he went, and never gave thanks for his deliverance. With his tail he draweth fishes to the brim of the river, and when that he observeth a good booty, he casteth the fishes clean out of the water upon the dry land, and then devoureth them. The tongue [of a Fox] either dried or green, laid to the flesh wherein is any dart or other sharp head, it draweth them forth violently. The liver dried and drunk cureth often-sighing. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 174-9. A Fox will not touch any cocks, hens, or such like pullen, that have eaten (before) the dried liver of a Rey- nard, nor those hens which a cock, having a collar about I is neck of a Fox- skin, hath trodden. Holland's Pliny, bk. xxviii. ch. xx. V. also Brock. 122 SHAKESPEARE'S [FROG. Frog. Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog. MACBETH, iv. I, 14. [Note that the Frog occurs here among other animals sup- posed to be venomous as an ingredient of the witches' cauldron.]' THE Frog crieth greedily and maketh much noise in those marais [/.?., marshes] where he is bred. And some Frogs be water-frogs ; and some be of moors and of marais. And there is a manner Frog, that maketh an hound still and dumb, if he cometh in his mouth. And the Frog hath his own voice, and maketh not that voice but only in water. His eyes shineth as a candle, and namely by night. And all fish nourisheth and feedeth his brood, out-take[n] the Frog. Then the Frog is watery and moorish, crying and slimy, with a great womb and speckled there-under, and is venomous, and abominable therefore to men and most hated, and both in water and in land he liveth. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xviii. § 91. BY Frogs I understand not such as arising from putre- faction are bred without copulation, and because they subsist not long are called Temporaria. Sir Thos. Browne, "Vulgar Errors," bk. iii. ch. xiii. FORBEAR in plenty of other meat this wanton eating of Frogs, as things perilous to life and health. They which use to eat Frogs fall to have a colour like lead. They did burn the young Frogs, putting the powder thereof into a cat, whose bowels were taken out, then roasting the cat, and after she was roasted, they anointed her all over with honey, then laid her by a wood-side ; by the odour and savour whereof, all the wolves and foxes lodging in the said wood were allured to come to it, and then the hunters lying in wait did take, destroy and kill them. The flesh of Frogs is good against the biting of the sea-hare, the scorpion, and all kind of serpents. The broth taken into- the body with roots of sea-holm expelleth the salamander. The little Frogs are an antidote against the Toads and great Frogs. Topsell, "History of Serpents," pp. 722-3. V. Paddock, Toad. FURZE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 123 THAT a woman may confess what she has done : — Catch a live Water-frog, and take out its tongue, and put the Frog back into the water, and put the tongue over the region of the woman's heart while she is asleep, and when she is questioned, she will tell the truth. Albertus Magnus, "Of the Wonders of the World." FROGS abound where snakes do keep their residence. Holinshed, "Description of England," p. 228, Fumitory. Rank fumitory KING HENRY V., v. 2, 45. FUMITORY [fumus terrf the flock by the beard, the others be astonied and behold, .nd also the same happeth when one of them biteth a cer- tin herb. And if the Goat conceive afore the northern dnd, she yeaneth males, and if she conceive afore the >uthern wind, she yeaneth females. And if a man take a Goat, and rear him up suddenly, then the other rear them also, and behold him sadly. Serpents be chased and driven away with ashes of Goats' horns, and with their wool burnt. 9 1 30 SHAKESPEARE'S [GOAT. And by remedy of Goats' horns divers manner kind of venom is overcome. With new Goat-skins wounds be holp and healed. Goat's blood meddled with marrow and sod excludeth poison of venom, biting of creeping worms, and smiting of scorpions be saved and healed. And a certain beast sucketh goat's milk of the udder and teats, and then the milk is destroyed and wasted, and the goat waxeth blind thereby. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xviii. § 24. WILD Goats dwell in high rocks and crags ; and if they perceive sometime that they be pursued of men or of wild beasts, they fall down headlong out of the high crags, and save themselves harmless on their own horns. Also the leopard drinketh milk of the wild Goat, and voideth sorrow and woe. Ibid., § 22. WHEN he is wounded, he eateth Dragon tea, and taketh so the arrow out of the body. Serpents hate and flee the wild Goat, and may not suffer the breath of him. Ibid., § 35. THE hot blood of the Goat buck nesheth and carveth the hard adamant stone, that neither fire nor iron may overcome. And the Goat buck hath many and strong horns, and much fatness and namely within about the reins, and then he dieth lightly, but the fatness be withdrawn. Sometime it happed that a Goat buck was seen with horns in the legs, and that was full wonderful to see. The liver of the Goat buck helpeth against biting of the wood hound. ibid., § 60. GOATS will not stray nor wander, if you cut off their beards. Lupton's " A Thousand Notable Things," bk. v. § 58. THE bite of the Goat is deadly to trees. And Goats die if they lick honey. They live on venomous herbs. If Goats drink or eat out of vessels of tamarisk, they will have no spleen. If they lick serpents after these have cast their skin, they will not grow old, though they become GOAT.] NATURAL HISTORY. 131 white. The Goat does not see well in the day-light ; but its sight is more acute by night. The eyes of the Goat shine by night, and they throw out light. Also he-Goats have more teeth than she-Goats. Goat's cheese appeases all wounds and pains if laid upon them. Their hoofs burnt and pounded with liquid pitch cure baldness. Their blood does as much ; and if it be drunk destroys venom. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. § 22. UPON provocation the he-Goat striketh through an ordinary piece of armour or shield at one blow, — his force and the sharpness of his horns are so pregnable. Goats foresee and foreshew change of weather, for they depart from their stables, and run wantonly abroad before showers, and afterward, having well fed, of their own accord return to their folds again. Goats take breath through their ears ; and certain Goats have a certain hole or passage in the middle of their head, betwixt the horns, which goeth directly unto the liver, and the same stopped with liquid wax suffocateth or stifleth the beast. There is no beast that heareth so perfectly and so sure as a Goat, for he is not only holp in this sense with his ears, but also hath the organ of hearing in part of his throat. With Goat's milk wine is preserved from corruption by sourness. Of the suet and fat of Goats are the best candles made, because it is hard and not over liquid. The blood of a Goat scoureth rusty iron better than a file. The loadstone draweth iron, and the same, being rubbed with garlic, dieth and loseth that property, but being dipped again in Goat's blood, reviveth and recovereth the former nature. In ancient time they made fruitful their vineyards by this means : — they took three horns of a female Goat, and buried them in the earth with their points or tops downward to the root of the vine stocks. The gall of a female Goat put into a vessel and set in the earth hath a natural power to draw Goats unto it. Herein appeareth the pride of this beast, that he scorneth to come behind either cattle or sheep, but always goeth before. Goats Love singularity, and may well be_called schismatics among cattle : in great stocks they are soon infected with the pestilence. The wild Goats of Crete •eat dittany against the strokes of darts ; and Goats by lick- 132 SHAKESPEARE'S [GOAT. ing the leaves of tamarisk lose their gall. The rhodo- dendron is poison to Goats, and yet the same helpeth a man against the venom of serpents. Also they avoid cummin, for it maketh them mad, or bringeth upon them lethargies, and such like infirmities. He avoideth also the spittle of man, for it is hurtful to him, and yet he eateth many venomous herbs and groweth fat thereby. The Goats of Cephalonia drink not every day like other Goats, but only once or twice in six months. And wheras all other kind of cattle, when they are sick, consume and pule away by little and little, only Goats perish suddenly, insomuch as all that are sick are unrecoverable ; and the other of the stock must be instantly let blood and separated before the infec- tion overspread all. The female Goat easeth the pain of her eyes by pricking them upon a bullrush, and the male Goat by pricking them upon a thorn. The females never wink in their sleep, being herein like the roe-bucks. There are certain birds called [Goatsuckers] because of their suck- ing of Goats, and when these have sucked a Goat, she presently falleth blind. Young wild Goats gather meat and bring it to their mothers in their age, and likewise they run to the rivers or watering-places, and with their mouths suck up water, which they bring to quench the thirst of their parents ; and whereas their bodies are rough and ugly to look upon, the young ones lick them over with their tongues, making them smooth and neat. The horns, [of the wild Goats] serve them [the shepherds] instead of buckets to draw water out of the running streams ; they are so great, that no man is able to drink them off at one draught. The wild Goats of Egypt are said never to be hurt by scorpions. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 181-94. IF Goat's blood be taken warm, with vinegar and the juice of hay and the like be boiled with glass, it makes the glass soft like paste, and it may be thrown against a wall, and will not break, and if the aforesaid be poured into a vase, and the face anointed with it, strange and horrible things will appear, and the man will think that he must die. dlbertus Magnus, " Of the Virtues of Animals." GOOSE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 133 Goose, Gosling. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, iii. I, 102, etc. CORIOLANUS, v. 3, 35. IN the Alps there is a kind of Goose, biggest of all birds except the ostrich ; but so heavy that it may be taken immovable on the ground by the hand. There is no animal which so quickly perceives the scent of man as the Goose. Its fat helps against baldness. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 10. IF a man steal their eggs from them, they lay still, and never give over till they be ready to burst with laying. If one of their Goslings be stung never so little by a nettle, it will die of it. Their greedy feeding also is their bane, for one while they will eat till they burst again ; another whiles kill themselves with straining their own selves ; for if they chance to catch hold of a root with their bill, they will bite and pull so hard for to have it, that many times they break their own necks withal, before they leave their hold. Against the stinging of nettles the remedy is, that so soon as they be hatched there be some nettle roots laid under their bed of straw. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. ch. lix. IT is said that all summer long even unto the fall of the leaf, Geese and ravens be continually sick. Ibid., bk. xxix. ch. iii. [WHITE Y.] It is also ascribed to the sanctity of Hilda, that those wild Geese (which in winter fly in great flocks to the unfrozen lakes and rivers in the southern parts), to the great amazement of every body, fall down suddenly upon the ground, when they are in their flight over certain neighbouring fields hereabouts ; a relation that I should not have given, if I had not received it from several very credible Persons. Camdats "Britannia," col. 906-7 (ed. 1722). AN excellent pickled Goose, a new service. ch ix HARTS are deceived with music, for they so love that harmony, that they forbear their food to follow it. They live very long — 2,112 years. The bones of young Harts are applied for making of pipes, but if a young one be pricked in his legs with cactus, his bones will never make pipes. If men drink in pots wherein are wrought Harts' horns, it will weaken all force of venom. The magicians have also devised that if the fat of a dragon's heart be bound up in the skin of a roe, with the nerves of a Hart, it promiseth victory to him that beareth it on his shoulder, and that if the teeth be so bound in a roe's skin, it maketh one's lord, master, or all superior powers, exorable and appeased towards their husbands and suitors. Orpheus, in his Book of Stones, commandeth a husband to carry about him a Hart's horn, if he will live in amity and con- cord with his wife. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 101-5. THE young males which our fallow deer do bring forth are commonly named according to their several ages; — for the first year it is a fawn, the second a pricket, the third a sorrel, the fourth a sore, the fifth a buck of the first head. In examining the condition of our red deer, I find that the young male is called - in the first year a calf, in the second a brocket, the third a spay, the fourth a stagon or stag, the fifth a great stag, the sixth an Hart, and so forth unto his death. And with him in degree of venery HAWK .] NATURAL HISTORY. 147 are accounted the hare, boar and wolf. Of these also the stag is accounted for the most noble game, the fallow deer is the next, then the roe, whereof we have indifferent store, and last of all the hare. Holinsked) " Description of Britain," p. 226. Hawk. TAMING OF THE SHREW, Induction, Sc. 2, 45. WE have the eagle ; the lanner [male] and the lanneret [female] ; the tiercel and the goshawk ; the musket [male- sparrow-hawk] and the sparhawk ; the jack and the hobby [a small Hawk] ; and finally some though very few marlions [merlins]. And these are all the Hawks that I do hear as yet to be bred within this island. Howbeit as these are not wanting with us, so are they not very plentiful ; where- fore such as delight in Hawking do make their chief pur- veyance and provision for the same out of Dansk [Denmark], Germany and the East countries ; from whence we have them in great abundance, and at excessive prices, whereas at home they are sold for almost right naught. The spar- hawk is enemy to young children, as is also the ape ; but of the peacock she is marvellously afraid, and so appalled, that all courage and stomach for a time is taken from her upon the sight thereof. Holinshed, "Description of England," p. 227; ch. v. THE goshawk is a royal bird, and is armed more with boldness than with claws, and as much as kind taketh from her in quantity of body, he rewardeth her with boldness of heart. And she is a covetous fowl to take other fowls. Also such Hawks be cruel against their birds, so that they take from them meat when they be fledge and ripe, and they beat and drive them out of their nest, as the eagle doth her birds. And some such Hawks be thieves of the lir only, and some of the earth only. And the more sharp ler breast is, the better she is of flight. And the goshawk lath this property, that in age, when she feeleth herself •ieved with heaviness and weight of feathers, she spreadeth ler wings against the beams of the sun, when the wind is mth, and so by sudden weather and resolving heat the 148 SHAKESPEARE'S [HAZEL. pores be opened. And when the pores be so opened, she smiteth and flappeth her wings, and in so doing the old feathers leap out, and new grow ; and so the new feathers make her in better state and the more able to flight. And two kinds there be of such fowls : for some be tame, and some be wild. And he that is tame taketh wild fowls, and taketh them to his lord ; and he that is wild taketh tame fowls. And this goshawk is of a disdainous kind ; for if she fail by any hap of the prey that she reseth to, that day uneath she cometh to her lord's hand. And they be borne on the left hand, that they may somewhat take of the right hand, and be fed therewith. Bartholomew {Berthelei}, bk. xii. § 2., where also are various directions for keeping and feeding hawks, for which see also Markkam's " Husbandry," etc. WE find in falconry 16 kinds of Hawks or fowls that prey. Of which the Circos (which is lame and limpeth of one leg) was held in ancient time for the luckiest augury in case of weddings and of cattle. In general, Hawks are divided into sundry and distinct kinds by their greediness more or less. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. ch. viii. THE Hawk holds beneath its talons all night a bird that fortune offers it at night-time, but when the sun rises the Hawk even though hungry Jets the bird fly away, and if he meets it at some other time, does not pursue it. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 4. Hazel. TAMING OF THE SHREW, ii. I, 255. V. Filbert. Heart's-ease. ROMEO AND JULIET, iv. 5 (not of the plant). [A writer in the Saturday Review (March 24, 1894) says that " Heart's-ease " is properly the name of the wall-flower, but he gives no authority for the statement] V. Pansy. HEDGEHOG.] NATURAL HISTORY. 149 Heath. TEMPEST, i. I, 70. THE tender tops and flowers are good to be laid upon the bitings and stingings of any venomous beast ; of these flowers the bees do gather bad honey. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. THE leaf of this plant is an enemy to serpents. Holland's Pliny, bk. xxiv. ch. ix. IF it be eaten alone, it induces head-ache, therefore it should be eaten with lettuce or endive. If mixed with milk or vinegar and lozenges made of it, it can keep flesh from putrefaction. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. i. § 176. A KIND of broom, whereof brushes be made. Minsherfs Dictionary, s.v. Hedgehog. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. 2, 9. THE Urchin is a beast heled with pricks, hard and sharp, and his skin is closed about with pikes and pricks, and he closeth himself therewith. And is a beast of purveyance ; for he climbeth upon a vine or an apple-tree, and shaketh down grapes and apples. And when they be felled, he walloweth on them, and sticketh his pricks in them, and so beareth meat to his children in that manner wise. And there is a manner kind of Urchins with a white shell and white pikes, and layeth many eggs. Also the urchin hath feeble hearing, more feeble than other beasts with hard shells, and that go on four feet. In Urchins is wit and knowing of coming of winds north or south ; for he maketh a den in the ground when he is ware that such winds come. And so sometime was one in Constantinople, that had an Urchin, and knew and warned thereby that winds should come, and of what side, and none of his neighbours wist whereby he had such knowledge and warning. Also the Urchin breedeth five eggs better than other, and the eggs of some be much and great, and some be less ; for some 150 SHAKESPEARE'S [HEDGEHOG. be better to seething and to defying [/.*., digesting] than other. Also Urchins have a little body and many pikes, that occupy more place than the body ; and the cause of many great pricks, and the littleness of the body is for feeding of the body passeth into nourishing and growing of pikes, because of scarcity of heat, and for the meat is not well- defied ; and therefore in his body breedeth much superfluity, and that superfluity passeth into nourishing and feeding of pricks. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk xviii. § 62. Is a little beast with pricks, and is like to the Urchin ; but \ he is accounted more than he. He walloweth upon apples, as the Urchin doth, which stick there on his pricks, and he beareth them into hollowness of trees. And beside the apples that he beareth on his back, alway he beareth one in his mouth. And after that he is charged with grapes or with apples, if any apple or grape fall out of the pikes in any manner wise, then for indignation he throweth away off his back all the other deal ; and oft turneth again to the tree to charge him again with new charge. And his skin that is so piked is needful to men, that if there HEMLOCK.] NATURAL HISTORY. 151 were no pikes and pricks, neshness of flesh in beasts were idle to mankind. For with such a beast's skin, cloths be cleansed and piked. Bartholomew (Bertbelet\ bk. xviii. § 63. THE serpent seeketh out the Hedgehog's den, and falleth upon her to kill her ; the Hedgehog draweth itself up together round like a foot-ball, so that nothing appeareth on her but her thorny prickles ; whereat the serpent biteth in vain, for the more she laboureth to annoy the Hedge- hog, the more she is wounded and harmeth herself. The Hedge-hog rolleth upon the serpent, piercing his skin and flesh (yea, many times tearing the flesh from the bones) whereby he scapeth alive, and killeth his adversary, carrying the flesh upon his spears, like an honourable banner won from his adversary in the field. The wolf also is afraid of and flieth from the Hedge-hog ; and there is a story of hatred between the hare and the Hedge-hog, for a hare was seen to pluck off the prickles from the Hedge-hog, and leave her bald, peeled and naked without any defence. With the skin, brushes are made for garments, and also it is set upon a javelin at the door to drive away dogs. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," p. 219. Hemlock. MACBETH, iv. i, 25. IN English, Hemlock, Homlock, Kexe, and Herb Bennet. Hemlock is a very evil, dangerous, hurtful and poisonous herb, insomuch that whosoever taketh of it into his body dieth remediless, except the party drink some wine that is naturally hot, before the venom have taken the heart ; but being drunk with wine the poison is with greater speed carried to the heart by reason whereof it killeth presently, therefore not to be applied outwardly, much less taken in- wardly into the body. . Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. ITS greatest strength is in the root, the second in the leaves, the least in the seed. Its leaves drive away vipers and serpents. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. i. § 115. 152 SHAKESPEARE'S [HEMP. / Hemp. ii. KING HENRY IV., ii. I, 64. [" Hemp-seed " here, of course, refers to the use of Hemp for making ropes.] THE female Hemp [is] barren and without seed, contrary unto the nature of that sex ; which is very like to the male, and one must be gathered before the other be ripe, else it will wither away, and come to no good purpose. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. IF you lay the wick of a candle to infuse or steep in the oil of Hemp-seed, and after make a tallow candle thereof, which if you do light after it be cold, the same candle will not go out with any wind, so long as the whole candle lasteth. And in like sort may lights be made to serve in the night-time, if that fine linen rags be first soaked in the oil of Hemp-seed, and dipped into molten tallow, being so bound or wrought on a staff's end, or other- wise lying in an iron or plate at the end of a staff. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. x. § 23. THE juice of green Hemp-seed, being dropped into the ears, driveth out any worms or vermin there engendered, yea, and what ear-wigs or such like creatures that are gotten into them ; but it will cause head-ache withal. So forcible is this plant, that if it be put into water, it will make it to gather and coagulate. Holland's Pliny, bk. xx. ch. xxiii. Hen. Short-legged hens. ii. KING HENRY IV., v. i, 28. As some men mean if her members were meddled with gold when it is molten, the gold should waste. The Hen is a fowl of great laying, and layeth many eggs without treading, and they be called wind-eggs, and be more un- savoury and less worthy than other eggs. A Hen is a mild bird about chickens ; for she taketh sickness for sorrow of HERB.] NATURAL HISTORY. 153 her chickens, and loseth her feathers. And her kindly love about her chickens is known by roughness of feathers, and by hoarseness of voice. Bartholomew (Bertkelet\ bk. xii. § 18. [N.B. In the article from which the above is an extract, the word "chickens" is spelt as follows: chekyns, chekens, chekynnes, chekennes, chykynnes, chykyns, and chykens.] AN odd number of eggs should always be put under a Hen, and that while the moon is waxing from the tenth to the fifteenth day. The flesh of hens clears the voice. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. ch. liii. THE Hens of country-houses have a certain ceremonious religion. When they have laid an egg, they fall a trembling and quaking, and all to shake themselves. They turn about also, as in procession, to be purified, and with some festue [or fescue, a straw] or such like thing, they keep a ceremony of hallowing, as well themselves as their eggs. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. ch. xli. IF it thunder while she is broody the eggs will be addle, yea, and if the Hen chance but to hear an hawk cry they will be marred. The remedy against thunder is to put an iron nail under the straw of the Hen's nest, or else some earth newly turned up with the plough. Ibid., ch. liv. AT this day, the English inhabitants eat almost no flesh more commonly than Hens. Fynes Moryson, " Itinerary," bk. iii. ch. iii. V. Fowl. Herb. SEEDS AND HERBS FOR THE KITCHEN. AVENS — Betony — Bleets or Beets, white or yellow — Blood- wort — Bugloss — Burnet — Borage — Cabbage, remove in June — Clary — Coleworts — Cresses — Endive — Fennel — French Mallows — French Saffron, set in August — Lang de Beef — 154 SHAKESPEARE'S [HERB. Leeks, remove in June — Lettuce, remove in May — Longwort — Liverwort — Marigolds, often cut — Mercury — Mints, at all times — Nep — Onions, from December to March — Orach or Arache, red and white — Patience — Parsley — Penny-royal— Primrose — Poret — Rosemary, in the spring-time, to grow south or west — Sage, red and white — English Saffron, set in August — Summer Savory — Sorrell — Spinach — Succory - Siethes — Tansey — Thyme — Violets of all sorts. HERBS AND ROOTS FOR SALADS AND SAUCE. Alexanders, at all times — Artichokes — Blessed Thistle, or Carduus Benedictus — Cucumbers in April and May — Cresses, sow with lettuce in spring — Endive — Mustard-seed, sow in the spring, and at Michaelmas — Musk-melon, in April and May — Mints — Purslane — Radish, and often remove them — Rampions — Rocket, in April — Sage — Sorrel — Spinach, for the summer — Sea-holly [i.e., Eringo] Sparage [i.e., Asparagus], let grow two years, and then remove — Skirrets, set these plants in March — Succory — Tarragon, set in slips, in March — Violets, of all colours. These buy with the penny Or look not for any. Capers — Lemons — Olives — Oranges — Rice — Samphire. HERBS AND ROOTS, TO BOIL OR TO BUTTER. Beans, set in winter — Cabbages, sow in March, and often remove — Carrots — Citrons, sow in May — Gourds, in May— Navews, sow in June — Pompions, in May — Parsnips, in winter — Runcival Pease, set in winter — Rapes, sow in June — Turnips in March and April. STREWING HERBS OF ALL SORTS. Basil, fine and bushed, sow in May — Balm, set in March — Camomile — Costmary — Cowslips and Paggles [or Paigles, i.e., Oxlips] — Daisies of all sorts — Sweet Fennel — Germander — Hyssop, set in February — Lavender — Lavender spike — Lavender cotton — Marjoram, knotted, sow or set, at the HERB.] NATURAL HISTORY. 155 spring — Maudlein [i.e., Ageratum, akin to Costmary, i.e., Ealsamita\ — Penny-royal — Roses of all sorts, in January and September — Red Mints — Sage — Tansey — Violets — Winter Savory. HERBS, BRANCHES AND FLOWERS, FOR WINDOWS AND POTS. Bays, sow or plant in January — Bachelor's Buttons — Bottles, blue, red and tawny [i.e., Corn-flowers] — Colum- bines— Campions — Cowslips — Daffodils, or Daffadowndillies —Eglantine, or Sweet-briar — Feverfew — Flower Amour, sow in May [i.e., Amaranthus\ — Flower de Luce — Flower Gentle, white and red [also Amaranthus~\ — Flower Nice — Gilliflowers, red, white, and carnations, set in spring, and at harvest in pots, pails, or tubs, or for summer in beds — Hollyhocks, red, white, and carnations — Indian Eye, sow in May, or set in slips in March — Lavender, of all sorts — Lark's Foot— Laus Tibi — Lilium Convallium — Lilies, red and white, sow or set in March or September — Marigolds double — Nigella Romana — Pansies, or Heart's-ease — Paggles, green and yellow —Pinks of all sorts — Queen's Gilliflowers — Rosemary — Roses of all sorts — Snap-dragon — Sops-in-wine [i.e., Pinks] —Sweet Williams — Sweet Johns — Star of Bethlem — Star of Jerusalem — Stock Gilliflowers of all sorts — Tuft Gilliflowers -Velvet Flowers, or French Marigolds — Violets, yellow and white — Wall Gilliflowers of all sorts. HERBS TO STILL IN SUMMER. Blessed Thistle — Betony — Dill — Endive — Eyebright — Fennel — Fumitory — Hyssop — Mints — Plantain — Roses, red and damask — Respies [Raspberries] — Saxifrage — Strawberries —Sorrel — Succory — Woodruff, for sweet waters and cakes. NECESSARY HERBS TO GROW IN THE GARDEN, FOR PHYSIC, NOT REHEARSED BEFORE. Anise — Archangel — Betony — Chervil — Cingfoil — Cummin —Dragons — Dittany, or Garden Ginger — Gromwell seed, for the stone — Hart's Tongue — Horehound — Lovage, for the stone — Licquorice — Mandrake — Mugwort — Peony — Poppy — 156 SHAKESPEARE'S [HERRING. Rue — Rhubarb — Smallage, for swellings — Saxifrage, for the stone — Savin, for the bots — Stitchwort — Valerian — Wood- bine. Thus ends in brief Of Herbs the chief. To get more skill Read whom ye will Such mo to have Of field go crave. luster's "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry," March's abstract. I HAVE brought here good Herbs, and of them plenty, To make good broth and farcing, and that full dainty. . . . Here is Thyme and Parsley, Spinach and Rosemary, Endive, Succory, Lacture, Violet, Clary, Liverwort, Marigold, Sorrell, Hart's Tongue, and Sage, Pennyroyal, Purslane, Bugloss and Borage, With many very good Herbs, mo than I do name. "The History of Jacob and Esau," iv. 5. BE not merry among those that put Bugloss in their wine and sugar in thine. Lilly, "Sappho and Phaon," ii. I. SUCH unexpected kindness Is like Herb John in broth — 'T may e'en as well be laid aside as used. "A Warning for Fair Women," Act i., line 331. Herring. TWELFTH NIGHT, iii. i, 40. THE Herring's eyes shine by night in the sea like a light, but their virtue dies with the fish. Wherever they see a light in the sea above the water, thither they swim in shoals. The Herring is said to live on water only, as the salamander on fire. The Herring helps against the bite of a dog, and of a sea-dragon. Hortus Sanhatis< bk. iv. § 3. FRESH Herring plenty, Michell [/'.£., Michaelmas] brings With fatted crones, and such old things. Tusser, "Farmer's Daily Diet." HONEY.] NATURAL HISTORY. 157 [The Dutch caught the Herrings in English waters, and sold them to Englishmen, so that they were sold in England at 20s. to 303. the barrel ; cf. " England's Way to Win Wealth " (1614); but "the English export into Italy great quantity of red Herrings " (Fynes Morysoiis " Itinerary," bk. iii. p. 148), though this trade was afterwards encroached on by the Dutch. As to the cooking of the red Herring: "Take well in worth a farthing- worth of flour to white him over and wamble him in " (Nasfts " Lenten Stuff"). He was " hosted, roasted and toasted" (ibid.}, "powdered and salted" (ibid.}, and was served with mustard (ibid., and Greenes " Looking-Glass for London," etc.), or with " oil and onion, crowned with a lemon-pill " (Beaumont and Fletcher s " Elder Brother "). The first dish that was brought up to table (at Queen's College, Oxford) on Easter Day was a red Herring riding away on horseback, i.e., a Herring ordered by the cook something after the likeness of a man on horseback set in a corn salad (Aubrey's MS. Account of English Customs (1678).] Hind. V. Deer, Hog. V. Swine. Honey. KING HENRY V., i. 2, 199. PHYSICIANS tell, that treat of kind of things, that Honey is unprofitable meat and grievous to children and young men, in the which is much heat, and according to full old men and cold, with wine and with hot meats. Also' for Honey is even and temperate, Honey is much according and friend to kind, and likeneth itself much to the members. Honey keepeth and saveth and cleanseth and tempereth bitterness, and is therefore put in Conservatives, and cleanseth medicines to temper bitterness of spicery. But raw Honey not well clarified is right ventuous, and breedeth a fever that hight Diurna, and stretcheth and to- hauleth the body under the small ribs. Bartholomew (Berthelet}, bk. xix. § 54. 158 SHAKESPEARE'S [HONEY. HONEY will suffer no dead bodies to putrefy. Honey boiled cureth the wounds inflicted by the sting or teeth of serpents, and helpeth those who have eaten venomous mushrooms. Good it is also for to kill lice and such like vermin in the head, and to rid away nits. Holland's P/zny, bk. xxii. ch. xxiv. HONEY is engendered naturally in the air, and especially by the influence and rising of some stars. Be it what it will, either a certain sweat of the sky, or some unctuous jelly proceeding from the stars, or rather a liquor purged from the air when it purifieth itself; would God we had it so pure, so clear, and so natural, and, in the own kind refined, as when it descendeth first, whether it be from sky, from star or from the air. Ibid^ bk> xi ch xii> SOMETIME among honey deep in the hive, breedeth certain small worms, as it were attercops [spiders], and do spin and weave and make webs, and have the mastery of all the hive, and therefore the Honey rotteth and is corrupt. Honey that long abideth in old wax, waxeth red, and the corruption of Honey is like to the corruption of wine in flaskets [/.£., bottles ; -Bartholomew has in viribus — in strength], and shall therefore be taken in time. Also bees do sit on the hive and suck the superfluity that is in the Honey-combs ; and if they did not so the Honey should be corrupt that is in the combs, and spiders should be gendered. They sit on the combs, and do keep busily that those spiders have no mastery, and eat them if they find them, and should else all die. Bartholomew (Bertkelet), bk. xix. § 55. OUR Honey is reputed and taken to be the best, because it is harder, better wrought and cleanlier vesselled up, than that which cometh from beyond the sea, where they stamp and strain their combs, bees and young blowings altogether into the stuff. Also it breedeth (being gotten in harvest- time) less choler. Our hives are made commonly of rye- straw, and wattled about with bramble quarters ; but some make the same of wicker, and cast them over with clay. We cherish none in trees, but set our hives somewhere on HORSE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 159 the warmest side of the house. This furthermore is to be noted, that of Honey the best which is heaviest and moistest is always next the bottom. Holinsbed, "Description of England," p. 229. V. Bee. Honey-suckle. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, iii. i, 8. FLIES that die on the Honey-suckle become poison to bees- Lilly, " Sappho and Phaon," ii. 4. Horse. HORSES be joyful in fields, and smell battles, and be comforted with noise of trumps to battles and to fighting, and be excited to run with noise that they know, and be sorry when they be overcome, and glad when they have the mastery. And so feeleth and knoweth their enemies in battles, so far forth that they arise on their enemies with biting and smiting, and also some know their own lords, and forgetteth mildness, if their lords be overcome. And many Horses weep when their lords be dead. Also oft men that shall fight take evidence and divine and guess what shall befall by sorrow or by the joy that the Horse maketh. And those Horses be accounted best in war and in battle, that thrust the head deepest into the water when they drink. Also the gall of a Horse is accounted among venom. His fresh blood and raw is venomous, as the blood of a bull. The Horse's foam drunken with asses' milk slayeth venomous worms. Also sometime Horses, have the podagre, and lose the soles of their feet, and then gendereth new. And sometime an Horse is wood [/.£., mad], and the token thereof is that his ears bend toward the neck ; and this evil hath no medicine. And the Horse knoweth his neighing that will fight with him, and hath liking to stand in meads, and to swim in water,. 160 SHAKESPEARE'S [HORSE. and to drink troublous and thick water, and if the water be clear, the horse stampeth and stirreth it with his foot to make it thick. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xviii. § 39. I KNEW two [scholars] hired for ten groats apiece to say service on Sunday, and that's no more than a post Horse from hence [i.e., from Rochester] to Canterbury [ = 26 miles]. Lilly, "Mother Bombie," iv. i. [BuT in the time of the plague (1625) Horse-hire was dear :] " Coach-men ride a cock-horse and are so full of jadish tricks that you cannot be jolted six miles from London under 30 or 40 shillings." Dekker, " A Rod for Run-aways (Epistle to the Reader]. [Horse-feed cost sixpence a day in Middleton's time ("Phoenix," i. 4, 35).] [Ten pounds was a great price for a Horse (cf. Dekker's " Seven Deadly Sins"); and from the same author's "Bellman of London " we find that sales of Horses were registered in a toll-book. In the same tract is an account of " Horse-priggers " and " Horse-coursers," of whose tricks more is said in " Lan- thorn and Candlelight," as well as of the cheating of hostlers, and of the sale of Horses at Smithfield. In Ruggles " Ignoramus " (First Prologue) a list of the favourite Race-Horses in 1614-15 is given. Sir Thos. Browne devotes a whole chapter of his " Vulgar Errors " to a refutation of the fallacies that Horses have no gall, and that, if they have gall, it is venomous.] IT is said that if Horses be shod with that iron, where- with one hath been before killed, it makes the same Horses very lively and quick. And if of the same you make a bit or a snaffle, that Horse that hath it in his mouth will be made tame and easy to be handled, yea, though he be never so wild, stubborn, or given to biting. Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. vii. § 97. IN the heart of Horses there is found a bone most like unto a dog's tooth ; it is said that this doth drive away all grief or sorrow from a man's heart, and that a tooth being pulled from the cheeks or jaw - bones of a dead HORSE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 161 Horse doth shew the full and right number of the sorrows of the party so grieved. If swords, knives, or the points of spears when they are red fire hot, be anointed with the sweat of a horse, they will be so venomous and full of poison, that if a man or woman be smitten or pricked therewith, they will never cease from bleeding as long as life doth last. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 337-8. THE tooth of a yearling colt laid on the neck of a baby, makes its teeth come without pain. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." THE tooth of a mare placed on the head of a raving madman straightway frees him. ibid. THE hoof of a Horse burnt in a house drives away mice. The same with the hoof of a mule. ibid. THE Londoners pronounce woe to him that buys a Horse in Smithfield, that takes a servant in Paul's Church, that marries a wife out of Westminster. Fynes Moryson, "Itinerary," part iii. p. 53. Cf. ii. KING HENRY IV., i. 2. OUR Horses moreover are high, and although not com- monly of such huge greatness as in other places of the main, yet if you respect the easiness of their pace, it is hard to say where their like are to be had. Such as serve for the saddle are now grown to be very dear among us. There is no greater deceit used anywhere than among our Horse-keepers, Horse-coursers and ostlers. There are cer- tain notable markets, wherein great plenty of Horses and •colts is bought and sold, as Ripon, Newport Pond, Wolf- pit, Harborough and divers other. But as most drovers are very diligent to bring store of these unto those places, .so many of them are too lewd in abusing such as buy them. For they have a custom to make them look fair to the eye, — when they come within two days' journey of the market, to drive them till they sweat, and for the ;pace of 8 or 12 hours, which being done, they turn them ill over the backs into some water, where they stand for season, and then go forward with them to the place n 162 SHAKESPEARE'S [HORSE-LEECH. appointed, where they make sale of their infected ware, and such as by this means do fall into many diseases and maladies. Of such outlandish Horses as are daily brought over unto us I speak not, as the jennet of Spain, the courser of Naples, the hobby of Ireland, the Flemish roil and Scottish nag. King Henry VIII. erected a noble studdery, and for a time had very good success with them, till the officers waxing weary procured a mixed brood of bastard races, whereby his good purpose came to little effect. Sir Nicholas Arnold of late hath bred the best horses in England. Holinshed, "Description of England," p. 220. Horse-leech. KING HENRY V., ii. 3, 58. IN a river of Mauritania are found some of seven cubits in length, which breathe, through perforations in the gullet. Leeches are produced from rottenness, and it is not known whether they gender. Jonstorfs "Natural History," bk. iv. ("On Insects"), tit. ii. ch. i. Hound. V. Dog. Hysena. As You LIKE IT, iv. I, 1,56. HY^NA is a cruel beast like to the wolf in devouring and gluttony. It is his kind to change sexes, for he is now found male and now female, and is therefore an un- clean beast. And cometh to houses by night, and feigneth man's voice as he may, for men should trow that it is a man. And herds tell that among stables, he feigneth speech of mankind, and calleth some man by his own name, and rendeth him when he hath him without. And he feigneth oft the name of some man for to make hounds run out, that he may take and eat them. And hath the neck of the adder viper, and the ridge of an elephant, and HYAENA.] NATURAL HISTORY. 163 may not bend but if he bear all the body about. And this beast hath endless many manners and diverse colours in his eyes, and full movable eyes and unsteadfast. And his shadow maketh hounds leave barking, and be still, if he come near them. And if this beast Hyaena goeth thrice about any beast, that beast shall stint [i.e., stop] within his steps. And this beast gendereth with a lioness of Ethiopia, and gendereth on her a beast that is most cruel, and followeth the voice of men and of tame beasts, and hath many rows of teeth in every side of the mouth. This beast Hyaena breedeth a stone that hight Hyaena ; and what man that beareth it under his tongue, he shall by virtue of that stone divine and tell what shall befall. Also Hyaena hateth the panther. And if both their skins be hanged together, the hair of the panther's skin shall fall away. This beast Hyaena flee'th the hunter, and draweth toward the right side to occupy the trace of the man that goeth before ; and if he [i.e., the man] cometh not after, he [the man again] goeth out of his wit, or else falleth down off his horse. And if he turn against the Hyaena, the beast is soon taken. And also witches use the heart of this beast and the liver in many witchcrafts. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xviii. § 61. IN the Hyaena itself there is a certain magical virtue transporting the mind of man or woman, and ravishing their senses so as that it will allure them unto her very strangely. When the Hyaenas fly before the hunter and would not be taken, they wind with a career out of the way toward the right hand, and wheel about until the man be gotten before them ; and this they do because they would meet with his tracts and footing ; which if they happen upon, and get behind him, you shall see the hunter incontinently to be so intoxicate in his brain, that he is )t able to bear his head nor sit his horse, but to fall from lis back, But in case that they turn on the left hand, it an evident sign that they be ready to faint, and then l they quickly be taken. The sooner also and with lore ease be they caught if the hunter tie his girdle about lis middle with 7 knots, and the cord of his whip likewise therewith he ruleth and jerketh his horse with as many, "his chase after the Hyaena must be just at the very point 1 64 SHAKESPEARE'S [HYAENA. when the moon is passing through the sign Gemini ; and then if they be taken, the huntsman must be sure to save every hair of their skins, and miss not one, so medicinable they are. Whosoever are haunted with sprites in the night-season, and be affrighted with such bugbears, let them but take one of the master-teeth of the Hyaena, and wear it about them tied by a linen thread, they shall be freed from all such fantastical illusions. And as for those that wear under the soles of their feet within the shoe a Hyaena's tongue, there is not a dog will be so hardy as to bay or bark at them. And the hairs growing about the muzzle of this beast have an amatorious virtue with them to make a woman love a man, in case her lips be but touched therewith. If the side-posts or door-cheeks of any house be striked with the Hyaena's blood, wheresoever magicians are busy with their feats and juggling casts, they shall take no effect, whether they be charms, exorcisms or invoca- tions ; insomuch as they shall not be able to raise up spirits, nor have any conference with familiars by any means of conjuration, whether it be by torch-lights, by bason, by water, by globe or otherwise. A decoction made with the ashes of the pastern bone of the left leg, boiled together with the blood of a weasel, causeth as many as be anointed therewith to be odious in the eyes of all men. The hindmost end of the gut in this beast is of virtue that no captain, prince or potentate shall be able to wrong or oppress those who have but the same* about them ; but contrariwise assureth them of good speed in all their petitions, and of happy issue in all suits of law and trials of judgments. Holland's Pliny, bk. xxviii. ch. viii. THE Hyaena when she mourns is then most guileful. "Euphues* Golden Legacy." THE middle of his back is a little crooked or dented, the colour yellowish, but bespeckled on the sides with blue spots, which make him look more terrible, as if it had so many eyes. The eyes change their colour at the pleasure of the beast, a thousand times a day. The skilful lapidarists affirm that the beast hath a stone in his eyes (or rather in his head) called Hyaena or Hyaenius ; but the HYAENA.] NATURAL HISTORY. 165 ancients say, that the apple or pupil of his eye is turned into such a stone, and that if a man lay it under his tongue, he shall be able to foretell and prophesy of things to come. Their neck cannot bend, except the whole body be turned about. This beast hath a very great heart. There is a fish of this name which turneth sex. [Hyaenas] engender not only among themselves, but also with dogs, lions, tigers and wolves. This is accounted a most subtle and crafty beast, and the female is far more subtle than the male, and therefore more seldom taken, for they are afraid of their own company. If she find a man or dog on sleep she [kills it if it be smaller than herself, and runs away if it be bigger]. One of these coming to a man asleep in a sheep-cote, by laying her left hand or fore- foot to his mouth, made or cast him into a dead sleep, and afterward digged about him such a hole like a grave, as she covered all his body over with earth, except his throat and head, whereupon she sat, until she suffocated and stifled him ; yet this is attributed to her right foot. There is also great hatred between a pardel and this beast, for if after death their skins be mingled together, the hair falleth off from the pardel's skin, but not from the Hyaena's. He that will go safely through the mountains or places of this beast's abode must carry in his hand a root of coloquintida. Also if a man compass his ground about with the skin of a crocodile, an Hyaena, or a sea- calf, and hang it up in the gates or gaps thereof, the fruits enclosed shall not be molested with hail or lightning. And a man clothed with this skin may pass without fear or danger through the midst of his enemies. A fig-tree also is never oppressed with hail or lightning ; and the true cause hereof is assigned by the philosophers to be the bitterness of it ; for the influence of the heavens hath no destructive operation upon bitter, but upon sweet things. If the left foot and nails be bound up together in a linen bag, and so fastened unto the right arm of a man, he shall never forget whatsoever he hath heard or knoweth. And if he cut off the right foot with the left hand and wear the same, whosoever seeth him shall fall in love with him, besides the beast. Also the marrow of the right foot is profitable for a woman that loveth not her husband, if it be put into her nostrils. And with the powder of the left 1 66 SHAKESPEARE'S [HYSSOP. claw, they which are anointed therewith, it being first of all decocted in the blood of a weasel, do fall into the hatred of all men. And if the nails of any beast be found in his maw after he is slain, it signifieth the death of some of his hunters. The dung or filth of an Hyaena, being mingled with certain other medicines is very excellent to cure and heal the bites and stingings of crocodiles, and other venomous serpents. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 339-47. Hyssop. OTHELLO, i. 3, 325. IN summer when Hyssop beareth flowers, ye must gather them, and dry them in a clean place and dark, that it be not smoky, and they have virtue to dissolve, to temper, to consume, to waste and to cleanse the lungs. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvii. § 85. HYSSOP, stamped with honey, salt and cummin, and so reduced into a plaster, is thought to be a proper remedy for the sting of serpents. Holland's Pliny, bk. xxv. ch. ii. IF a man perceive that he hath either inwardly taken for a medicine, or applied outwardly, a radish root which is over strong, he must presently have Hyssop given him ; for this antipathy and natural contrariety there is between these two herbs, that the one correcteth the other. Ibid., bk. xx. ch. 4. You are, Sir, Just like the Indian Hyssop, prais'd of strangers For the sweet scent, but hated of the inhabitants For the injurious quality. Robert Davenport, "City Night-cap," Act. i. (1624). Incense or Frankincense. KING LEAR, v. 3, 21. [FRANKINCENSE] is the name of a tree, and of the gum that oozeth and cometh out thereof. It is a tree of Arabia, and is great with many boughs, and with the most lightest INSANE ROOT.] NATURAL HISTORY. 167 rind. And thereof cometh juice with good smell, and is white as almonds, and is fat when it is tempered and neshed [i.e., softened]. And so the tree that beareth Frank- incense groweth without tilling, and loveth clay-land ; and the Arabs tell that Frankincense shall not be gathered nor the tree thereof pared but of holy men and religious, that be not defiled by touching of women in time of gathering. Frankincense is gathered and brought on camels' backs to the city that hight Sabocriam ; and there is a gate opened therefor. And it is not lawful to lead it by another way. And [it] is not lawful to beg neither to sell thereof, before due portion be offered to the god that they worship. And is assayed by witness, if it burneth anon to coals, and waxeth on light on high, if it hold' not together the teeth, when it is bitten, but breaketh anon and falleth to powder. Of Frankincense set afire cometh a good smelling smoke, shapen as a rod, and small beneath, and full movable, and turning, and crooked with many bendings and wrinklings, and moveth towards contrary sides with most light movings, and destroyeth stench of carrion by good savour thereof, and thirleth and passeth straight to the brain, and com- forteth and refresheth the spirit of feeling, and spreadeth into the cells of the brain. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xvii. § 173. IF Incense be drunk by a healthy man, he runs the risk of becoming mad, or of dying. It strengthens the memory. Hortus tianitatis, bk. i. ch. cccclxxxiv. IN English Frankincense and Incense. It doth help and strengthen the wit and understanding, but the often taking of it will breed the head-ache, and if too much of it be drunk with wine, it killeth. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. Insane Root. MACBETH, i. 3, 85. [The commentators consider this to be hemlock, but it is possible that it might be henbane, which as Gerard notes (" Herbal," s.v.), was called Insana, and, according to Pliny (bk. xxv. ch. 4), troubles the brain, and puts men beside their right wits.] 1 68 SHAKESPEARE'S [IVY. Ivy. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iv. I, 48. IVY multiplieth milk in goats that eat thereof. The root thereof pierceth things that be full hard ; and is cold of kind, and tokeneth that the ground is of cold kind that it groweth in. And of Ivy is double kind, white and black, male and female ; the male is harder in leaves and more fat and greater. The white Ivy hath white fruit, and the black hath black. The shadow thereof is noyful and grievous, and strong enemy to cold, and most loved of serpents, and breaketh walls and graves. Also the kind of Ivy is full wonderful in knowledge and assaying of wine. For it is certain, that if wine meddled with water be in a vessel of Ivy, the wine fleeth over the brink, and the water abideth. Bartholomew (Bertkelet\ bk. xvii. § 53. THE gum of Ivy killeth lice and nits, and being laid to it taketh away hair. It is unwholesome to sleep under the Ivy or in an Ivy-bush. It maketh the head light and QlZZy. Batman on Bartholomew, ut supra. ALTHOUGH Ivy be cut asunder in many places, yet it continueth and liveth still. Holland's Pliny, bk. xvi. ch. 34. THE liquor issuing out of Ivy is depilatory ; but as it taketh away hair, so it riddeth lice and vermin. The berries of Ivy colour the hair black. The juice of the Ivy-root, drawn with vinegar and taken in drink, is singular against the poison of the venomous spiders Phalangia. Ibid., bk. xxiv. ch. 10. BOARS cure their ailments with Ivy. A man crowned with Ivy cannot get drunk. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. i. § 172. CATO saith that a cup of Ivy will hold no wine at all. I have made some vessels of the same wood, which refuse no kind of liquor ; and yet I deny not but the Ivy of Greece or Italy may have such a property. Holimhed, "Description of England," p. 239. I JET.] NATURAL HISTORY. 169 Jack-a-napes. KING HENRY V., v. 2, 148. YOUR wife is your ape, and that heavy burden, wedlock, your Jack an ape's clog. but in great hunger. By the tail the boldness and heart of the Lion is known, as the horse is known by the ears. For when the Lion is wroth, first he beateth the earth 184 SHAKESPEARE'S [LION. with his tail, and afterward, as the wrath increaseth, he smiteth and beateth his own back. And out of each wound, that the Lion maketh with claw or with teeth, runneth sharp and sour blood. Also in peril the Lion is most gentle and noble, for when he is pursued with hounds and with hunters, the Lion lurketh not nor hideth himself, but sitteth in fields, where he may be seen, and arrayeth himself to defence. And he hideth himself not for dread that he hath, but he dreadeth himself sometime, only for he would not be dread. When he is wounded, he taketh wonderly heed, and knoweth them that him first smiteth, and reseth on the smiter, though he be in never so great multitude ; and if a man shoot at him [and do not hit him — Bartholomew^ the Lion chaseth him and throweth him down, and woundeth him not, nor hurteth him. When the Lion dieth, he biteth the earth, and tears fall out of his eyes ; and when he is sick, he is healed and holpen with the blood of an ape. And he dreadeth greatly the crowing and the comb of a cock. And the Lion hath a neck as it were unmovable, and is full grim ; and moveth alway first with the right foot, and afterward with the left foot, as a camel doth ; and [hath] LION.] NATURAL HISTORY. 185 little marrow in his bones ; and his bones be so hard that by smiting of them together, fire springeth out thereof. The Lion dreadeth when he seeth or heareth a whelp beaten. He hideth himself in high mountains, and espieth from thence his prey. And he maketh a circle all about other beasts with his tail, and all the beasts dread to pass out over the line of the circle, and the beasts stand astonied and afeard, as it were abiding the hest and com- mandment of their King. And he is ashamed to eat alone the prey that he taketh ; therefore of his grace, of free heart, he leaveth some of his prey to other beasts that follow him afar off". And is so hot of his complexion, that he hath alway the fever quartan ; and hath kindly this evil to abate his fierceness. His grease is contrary to venom, so that whoso be anointed therewith shall not dread that time biting of serpents nor creeping worms. Also his grease meddled with oil of roses keepeth and saveth the skin of the face from wens and vices, and keepeth whiteness. His gall meddled with water sharpeth and cleareth the sight, and helpeth against infecting evils. His heart taken in meat destroyeth the fever quartan. Bartholomew (Bertkelet], bk. xviii. § 65. THE Lion has a strong smell, and especially in the mouth. When he sleeps in a ship, the ship is in danger. The Lion flees before a mouse, and is afraid of the wood which is called sethin. Hellebore too and squill kill dogs and Lions and many wild beasts. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. § 80. THE circles of cart-wheels, empty carts, and the comb on a cock's head do marvellously fear a Lion being a most hardy or fierce beast. Lupton, "Notable Things," bk. iii. § 37. IF you join a Lion's skin to the skin of a wolf or any other beast, it will make them without hair, or cause their hair to fall or consume away. Ibid., bk. vi. § 54. CLOTHES wrapped in a Lion's skin killeth moths. And so great is the fear of Lions to wolves, that if any part of a Lion's grease be cast into a fountain, the wolves never dare to drink thereof, or to come near unto it. The 1 86 SHAKESPEARE'S [LIONESS. flesh of a Lion being eaten either by a man or woman, which is troubled with dreams and fantasies in the night- time, will very speedily and effectually work him ease and quietness. The grease of a Lion being dissolved and pre- sently again conglutinated together, and so being anointed upon the body of those who are heavy and sad, it will speedily extirpate all sorrow and grief from their hearts. The gall of a Lion being taken in drink by anyone doth kill or poison him out of hand. Topsell, " Four-footed Beasts," pp. 376-9. IF thongs be cut from a Lion's skin, a man girt with them will not fear his foes ; and if his eyes be put under the arm-pits, or worn, all beasts will bow their heads, and flee behind his back. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Virtues of Animals." LIONS we have had very many in the North parts of Scotland, and those with manes of no less force than those of Mauritania ; but how and when they were destroyed as yet I do not read. Holinsbed, " Description of England," p. 225. IN Pietra Rossa [Barbary], the Lions are so tame that they will gather up bones in the streets, the people not fearing them. The like Lions are in Guraigura, where one may drive them away with a staff. At Agla the Lions are so fearful, that they will flee at the voice of a child, whence a cowardly braggart is proverbially called a Lion of Agla. Purchai "Pilgrims," p. 621 (ed. 1616). Lioness. As You LIKE IT, iv. 3, 115. THE Lioness is more cruel than the lion, and namely when she hath whelps, for she putteth her in peril of death for her whelps. There is a little beast that the lion and the Lioness dreadeth wonderfully, and that beast hight Leontophonus. For that beast beareth a certain venom, which slayeth the lion and the Lioness. Therefore this said beast is taken, and afterward burnt, and the flesh [which] is sprung [sprinkled] with the ashes, and laid and set in meeting of ways, shall slay and destroy the lions LIZARD.] NATURAL HISTORY. 187 which eat thereof. The lion's breath stinketh, and is right infectious and contagious, and infecteth other things, and his biting is deadly and venomous, and namely when he is wood. For the lion waxeth wood, as the hound doth. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xviii. § 66. STRANGE it is that a Lioness, by showing her hinder parts to the male, should make him run away. Purcbas' "Pilgrims," p. 557 (ed. 1616). Lizard. Venom toads, or lizards' dreadful stings. iii. KING HENRY VI., ii. 2, 138. THE Lizard is a little beast painted on the back with lining specks as it were stars. The Lizard is so contrary :o scorpions that the scorpions dread and lose comfort rhen they see the Lizard. The Lizard liveth most by lew ; and though he be a fair beast and fair painted, yet ie is right venomous ; for the worst medicine is made of le Lizard, for when he is dead in wine, he covereth their ices that drink thereof with vile scabs ; therefore they :hew [? ensue. Bartholomew has — " for this ointment ley who envy the fairness of strumpets kill the Lizard "] put him in medicine and ointment that have envy to fairness of strumpets. His remedy is the yolk of egg, honey and glass. And the gall of a Lizard stamped water assembleth together weasels. And the Lizard lurketh in winter in dens and chines, and his sight limmeth ; and in springing time he cometh out of his den, id feeleth that his sight faileth, and changeth his place, id seeketh him a place toward the East, and openeth >ntinually his eyes toward the rising of the sun, until the tumour in the eye be full dried, and the mist wasted that cause of dimness in the eye. Bartholomew (Berthe/et], bk. xviii. § 94. A GREEN Lizard hath a great delight to behold a man the face, for he will lovingly fawn upon him as a dog dth the moving of his tail. And as much as in him lies, rill defend him from a serpent that lies lurking in the icaths to hurt him. Lupton, "Notable Things," bk. vi. § 73. i88 SHAKESPEARE'S [LIZARD. THE venom of the Lizard is deadly, and the remedy for it is made from the pounded flesh of scorpions. There is no animal more deceitful than the Lizard, and he envies man. In the flesh of the Lizard is virtue for extracting splinters and thorns. Its fat fattens much. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. § 130. THE Lizard when he lies Too open to the hot sun faints and dies. He-flood's "Anna and Phillis," emb. 16. WHEN a certain man had taken a great fat Lizard, he did put out her eyes with an instrument of brass, and so put her into a new earthen pot, which had in it two small holes or passages, big enough to take breath at, but too little to creep out at, and, with her, moist earth and a certain herb ; and furthermore he took an iron ring, wherein was set an engagataes [? agate} stone with the picture of a Lizard engraven upon it ; and besides upon the ring he made nine several marks, whereof he put out every day one, until at the last he came at the ninth, and then he opened the pot again, and the Lizard did see as LOACH.] NATURAL HISTORY. 189 perfectly as ever he did before the eyes were put out. The old one devoureth the young ones as soon as they be hatched, except one which she suffereth to live, and this one is the basest and most dullard ; yet notwithstanding, afterwards it devoureth both his parents. Twice a year they change their skin. They live by couples together, and when one of them is taken, the other waxeth mad, and rageth upon him that took it. They are enemies to bees. They fight with all kind of serpents. The eggs of Lizards do kill speedily, except there come a remedy from falcon's dung and pure wine. Mingled with oil it causeth hair to grow again upon the head of a man. If green Lizards see a man, they instantly gather about him, and laying their heads at the one side with great admira- tion behold his face. The use of these green Lizards is by their skin and gall to keep apples from rotting, and also to drive away caterpillars, by hanging up the skin on the tops of trees, and by touching the apples with the said gall. The ashes of a green Lizard do reduce scars in the body to their own colour. Topsell, "History of Serpents," pp. 739-4.2. TAKE a Lizard and cut off its tail, and take what comes out, because it is like quicksilver. Then take a taper, and moisten it with oil, and put it in a new lamp, and light it,— that man's house will appear splendid and white or silvered. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." [!N the deserts of Lybia is] a kind of great Lizard which never drinketh, and, if water be put in his mouth, he presently dieth. Purchat "Pilgrims," p. 559 (ed. 1616). Loach. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. I, 23. THE Loach is a little river-fish, white with black spots. Some say that it feeds on dead bodies, but this is held by fishermen to be fabulous. They are considered poor and contemptible eating. Hortus Sanitatis,-bk. iv. § 41. [The commentators are puzzled by this passage in " i. King Henry IV." It is quite probable that " like a Loach " has no more accurate meaning than " like a house afire," or " like 1 9o SHAKESPEARE'S [LOCUST. the deuce." But " Some fishes there be, which of themselves are given to breed fleas and lice, among which the chalets, a kind of turbot, is one " (Philemon Holland's Pliny, bk. ix. ch. xlvii.) — and perhaps the Loach is another.] Locust. OTHELLO, i. 3, 354. [May perhaps be the fruit of the Locust-tree.] LOCUST hath that name for it hath long legs as the shaft of a spear. And these worms that night Locust have no king, and yet they pass forth ordinately in companies. And hath a square mouth, and a sting instead of a tail, and crooked and folding legs. And are gendered of the southern wind, and excited to flight. And they die in the Northern wind. Also this worm Locust for the most part is all womb, and therefore it hath never meat enough. And of their dirt worms be gendered. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xii. (" Of Birds ") § 24. HE burneth corn with touching, and devoureth the residue. In India be of them three foot in length, which the people of the country do eat. Batfnatfs addition, ut supra. THE Locust [is] none other creature than the grass- hopper. In Barbary [etc.] they are eaten ; nevertheless they shorten the life of the eaters by the production at the last of an irksome and filthy disease. In India they are three foot long, in Ethiopia much shorter. Holinshed, " Description of England," p. 229. Louse. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, v. I, 72. A LOUSE is a worm of the skin, and grieveth more in the skin with the feet and with creeping, than he doth with biting, and is gendered of right corrupt _air and vapours, that sweat out between the skin and the flesh by pores. And some lice gender of sanguine humour, and be red and great ; and some of phlegmatic humours, and they be nesh and white ; and some of choleric humours, and be LOUSE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 191 citrine [i.e., yellow], long, swift and sharp ; some of melan- cholic humour, and they be coloured as ashes, and be lean and slow in moving. And the leaner that a Louse is, the sharper she biteth and grieveth. Bartholomew (Berthelei], bk. xviii. § 88. LICE cometh also of that cloth that is trained in the wool with the fat or grease of an horse or of a swine, and therefore the Northern cloths worn of a sweating body do breed lice in 12 hours. Ba'mari 's addition to Bartholomew, bk. xviii. § 116. THIS disease is undoubtedly created from the very flesh )f man, and yet invisibly. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. § 119. THE old skin or slough that snakes do cast off in the >ring, whosoever drinketh in his ordinary drink, it will :ill all the vermin or Lice of the body within three days. Holland's Pliny, bk. xxx. ch. xv. [So many remedies are given for this complaint, that it must lave been very common.] 192 SHAKESPEARE'S [LOVE-IN-IDLENESS. OUR doublets were lined with taffeta, wherein Lice cannot breed or harbour ; so as howsoever I wore one and the same doublet till my return into England, yet I found not the least uncleanliness therein. Fynes Moryson, " Itinerary," part i. p. 209. V. Flea. Love-in-idleness. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. I, 168. V. Heart's-ease, Pansy. Luce. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, i. I, 16. THE Luce feeds on poisons, toads and such like ; yet it is said to be good food for the sick. If the net in which it has been caught be lifted from the water so that it sees the light of day, it rarely or never happens that it remains any longer, but seeks itself some way out. The Luce has in its brain a stone like crystal, but only when it has lived long. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iv. § 53. [The Sea-Luce is the codfish.] Mace. WINTER'S TALE, iv. 3, 49. V. Nutmeg. Mackerel. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 4, 395. WHEN Mackerel ceaseth from the seas John Baptist brings grass-beef and pease. Tusser, " Good Husbandry : " " The Farmer's Daily Diet/' THIS law-French is worse than butter'd Mackerel,— Full o' bones, full o' bones. "Life and Death of Captain Thos. Stucley," line 291. MALLARD.] NATURAL HISTORY. 193 THE old tunnies and the young enter into the sea Pontus; and every company of them hath their several leaders and captains ; and before them all the Mackerels lead the way, which, while they be in the water, have a colour of brim- stone ; but without, like they be to the rest. Hollands Pliny, bk. ix. ch. xv. Maggot-pie. MACBETH, iii. 4, 125. MAGOTAPIE. Mijtsfoetfs Dictionary. THE Magpie makes up for the shortness of its wings by the length of its tail. It builds its nest with two holes,— by the one it goes in, and at the other it puts out its tail. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 99. PIES take a love to the words that they speak; for they not only learn them as a lesson, but they learn them with a delight and pleasure ; and by their careful thinking upon that which they learn, they shew plainly how mindful and intentive they be thereto. It is for certain known that they have died for very anger and grief that they could not learn to pronounce some hard words ; as also, unless they hear the same words repeated often unto them, their memory is so shittle, they will soon forget the same again. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. ch. xlii. IF you wish to loose chains, go into a wood, and look where a Pie has her nest with young ones, and when you are there, climb up the tree, and bind the opening [of the nest] round with anything you please, because, when the Pie sees you, it goes for a certain herb, which it puts to the bond, and forthwith it is broken, and then that herb falls to the ground onto a cloth which you should have put under the tree, and do you be handy and take it. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." Mallard. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, iii. 10, 20. THE blood of ducks and Mallards bred in the realm of Pontus is passing good for any such indirect means wrought by poison or witchcraft ; and therefore their blood is 13 194 SHAKESPEARE'S [MALLOW. ordinarily kept dry in a thick mass, and as need requireth is dissolved and given in wine ; .but some think that the blood of the female duck is better than that of the Mal- lard Or drake. Holland's Pliny, bk. xxix. ch. v. YOUR citizens' wives love green geese in spring, Mallard and teal in the fall, and woodcock in winter. Webster, "Westward Ho!" i. I. [Mallards were boiled with cabbage or onions ("Good Hus- wife's Handmaid," p. 5), or stewed (" The Good Huswife's Jewel").] Mallow. TEMPEST, ii. i, 144. HE that is balmed with the juice of the hock [i.e., Mallow — hollyhock], meddled with oil may not be grieved with stinging of bees. Also members balmed with juice thereof be not bitten of attercops [i.e., spiders], nor stung of scorpions. The broth thereof maketh sleep, if the face be washed therewith, and the outer parts of the body. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xvii. § 107. IF a man or woman sup off a small draught (though it were no more but half a spoonful) every day of the juice of any Mallow, it skills not which, he shall be free from all diseases and live in perfect health. Holland's Pliny, bk. xx. ch. xxi. [Mallows were eaten as a vegetable (cf. " The Good Hus- wife's Handmaid," p. i, and Evelyn's "Acetaria," § 40).] Malmsey. KING RICHARD III., i. 4, 161. ii. KING HENRY IV., ii. I, 42, etc. MALMSEY and muscadine were wines of Candia. Fynes Moryson, " Itinerary," part iii. THE Vintners of the Low Countries (I will not say of London) do make of Cute and wine mixed in a certain MANDRAGORA.] NATURAL HISTORY. 195 proportion, a compound and counterfeit wine, which they sell for Candy wine, commonly called Malmsey. Gerard's "Herbal," bk. ii. ch. cccxxiii. I LOVE thee next to Malmsey in a morning. Beaumont and Fletcher, " The Captain," iv. 2. Malt. KING LEAR, iii. 2, 82. OUR Malt is made all the year long in some great towns, but in gentlemen's and yeomen's houses, who com- monly make sufficient for their own expenses only, the winter half is thought most meet for that commodity ; the Malt that is made when the willow doth bud, is commonly worst of all. The best Malt is tried by the hardness and colour, for if it look fresh with a yellow hue, and thereto will write like a piece of chalk, after you have bitten a kernel in sunder in the midst, then you may assure your- self that it is dried down — of all, the straw-dried is the most excellent. For the wood -dried Malt, when it is brewed, doth hurt and annoy the head of him that is not used thereto. Holinsked, "Description of England," p. 169. Mandragora, Mandrake. Not poppy nor mandragora Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou owedst yesterday. OTHELLO, iii. 3, 330. Kill, as doth the mandrake's groan. ii. KING HENRY VI., iii, 2, 310. MANDRAGORA beareth apples with great savour. The •ind thereof meddled with wine is given to them to drink it shall be cut in the body, for they should sleep and tot feel the sore cutting. And apples grow on the leaves, ind be yellow and sweet of smell, but with a manner tviness, and be fresh in savour. But yet Mandragora iust be warily used, for it slayeth if men take much tereof. The juice thereof with woman's milk laid to the imples maketh to sleep, yea though it were in the most lot ague. Mandragora hath many other virtues, and smiteth 196 SHAKESPEARE'S [MANOR AGORA. off and destroyeth swelling of the body, and withstandeth venomous biting. They that dig Mandragora be busy to beware of contrary winds, while they dig, and make three circles about with a sv/ord, and abide with the digging unto the sun going down, and trow so to have the herb with the chief virtues. The juice thereof is gathered and dried in the sun, the apples thereof be dried in the shadow. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xvii. § 104. . THERE hath been many ridiculous tales brought up o this plant, whether of old wives, or of some runagate surgeons or physic-mongers I know not. That it is never or very seldom to be found growing naturally but under a gallows, where the matter that hath fallen from a dead body hath given it the shape of a man ; and the matter of a woman the substance of a female plant. That he who would take up a plant thereof must tie a dog there- MANDRAGORA.] NATURAL HISTORY. 197 into to pull it up, which will give a great shriek at the digging up ; otherwise if a man should do it, he should surely die in short space after. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. \ [Full directions are given by Lupton (" Notable Things," )k. iii. § 43) " to make the counterfeit Mandrake, which hath >en sold by deceivers for much money," from the "great louble root of Briony " — hair to be imitated by millet-seeds — ind the whole to be buried "until it have gotten upon it a ;rtain little skin."] A MANDRAKE'S voice, whose tunes are cries So piercing that the hearer dies. Dekker, "Double P. P." WITHOUT the death of some living thing it cannot be Irawn out of the earth to man's use. Therefore they did 198 SHAKESPEARE'S [MARBLE. tie some dog or some other living beast unto the root thereof with a cord, and digged the earth in compass round about, and in the mean time stopped their own ears for fear of the terrible shriek and cry of this Man- drake. In which cry it doth not only die itself, but the fear thereof killeth the dog or beast which pulleth it out of the earth. Bullein^ "Bulwark of Defence against Sickness," p. 41 quoted in Reed's Shakespeare. IF the root be seethed for six hours with ivory, it softens it and makes it easy to work into any shape desired. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. i. § 276. I FRAMED a mole under my child's ear by art ; you shall see it taken away with the juice of Mandrake. Lilly, " Mother Bombie," v. 3. Marble. MACBETH, iii. 4, 22. MARBLE STONES be noble stones, and be praised for speckles and diverse colours. Over all things we may wonder that Marble stones be not hewed neither cloven with iron, neither with steel, with hammer nor with saw, as they be with a plate of lead set between nesh [soft] shingles or spoons. For with lead and not with iron Marble stones be hewen and cloven and planed, as shingles or small Stones. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xvi. § 69. MANY mines of coarse and fine Marble are there in England ; but chiefly one in Staffordshire, another near to the Peak, the third at Vauldry •(?), the fourth at Snothill (?) (belonging to the Lord Chandos), the fifth at Eaglestone, which is of black Marble spotted with grey or white spots, the sixth not far from Durham. Of white Marble also we have store. The black Marble spotted with green is none of the vilest sort. Ho tin shed, "Description of England," p. 235. Mare. KING HENRY V., ii. I, 25. THE name of an horse's wife shall be called a Mare. And if a Mare, being with foal, smelleth the snuff of a MARIGOLD.] NATURAL HISTORY. 199 candle, she casteth her foal. Also in the forehead of the colt breedeth a black skin of the quantity of a sedge, and the mother licketh it with her tongue, and taketh it away, and receiveth never the colt to suck her teats, but it be first taken away. Also the Mare is proud, and hath joy of her mane, and is sorry when it is shorn, as though the virtue of love were in the mane. Also a bird that hight Ibis [the stork] fighteth with the horse, because the horse driveth her out of her pasture and leys ; for the stork is feeble of sight, and hath a voice as an horse ; and when he flieth above an horse, he stonieth [astonisheth] him, and maketh him flee, and slayeth him sometime. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xviii. § 40. A MARE will bring forth a foal of divers colours if she be covered with a cloth of divers colours, whiles she is taking the horse. The same may be proved with dogs and other beasts. Lupton, "Notable Things," bk. v. § i. Marigold. The marigold that goes to bed wi' the sun And with him rises weeping. WINTER'S TALE, iv. 4, 105. [Marigold is one of the herbs to make broth and farcing 'enumerated in the " History of Jacob and Esau," iv. 5).] I THINK of kings* favours as of a Marigold flower That, as long as the sun shineth, openeth her leaves, And with the least cloud- closeth again. " A Knack to Know a Knave." IF the mouth be washed with the juice, it helpeth the tooth-ache. The yellow leaves of the flowers are dried and kept throughout Dutchland against winter to put into broths, in physical potions, and for divers others purposes, in such quantity, that in some grocers' or spice-sellers' houses are to be found barrels filled with them, and re- tailed by the penny more or less, insomuch that no broths are well made without dry Marigolds. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. 200 SHAKESPEARE'S [MARJORAM. Lupton ("A Thousand Notable Things," bk. vi. § 85, and bk. iv. § 79) confuses Marigolds with sunflowers.] THUS the Mangold opens at the splendour of a hot constant friendship 'twixt you both. Middleton, "No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's," i. i. Marjoram. WINTER'S TALE, iv. 4, 104. SWEET Marjoram is a remedy against cold diseases of the brain and head, being taken any way to your best liking ; put up into the nostrils it provoketh sneezing, and draweth forth much baggage phlegm ; it easeth the toothache being chewed in the mouth ; being drunk, it is used in medicines against poison. The leaves, dried and mingled with honey, and given, dissolveth congealed or clotted blood, and putteth away black and blue marks after stripes and bruises being applied thereto. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. As a plaster or drink, it cures those grieved by a scorpion, if mixed with vinegar and salt. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. i. § 409. WILD Marjoram or Organy is profitably used in a looch, or medicine to be licked, against an old cough and the stuffing of the lungs. The herb strewed upon the ground driveth away serpents. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. Marl. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, ii. i, 66. WE have pits of fat and white and other- coloured Marl, wherewith in many places the inhabiters do compost their soil, and which doth benefit their land in ample manner for many years to come. Holinshed, "Description of England," p. 236. WE have a kind of white Marl, which is of so great force, that if it be cast over a piece of land but once in three score years, it shall not need of any further com- posting. [It] lieth sometime a hundred foot deep. Ibid., p. 109. MAST.] NATURAL HISTORY. 201 Marmoset. TEMPEST, ii. 2, 174. HUSBAND is like your clog to your Marmoset. Ben Jonsons " Poetaster," iv. 2. V. Monkey. Martlet. The martlet Builds in the weather on the outward wall. MERCHANT OF VENICE, ii. 9, 28. v. MACBETH, i. 6, 3-10. MARTINETS, Martins, Martlets. - - These birds are so called because they come to us about the end of the month of March from warm regions, and depart before the feast of St. Martin. MinsMs Dictionary, s.v. MARTINS are good to eat. Batman's addition to Bartholomew, bk. xii. § 21. V. Swallow. Mary-bud. CYMBELINE, ii. 3, 25. V. Marigold. Mast. The oaks bear mast. TIMON OF ATHENS, iv. 3, 422. THE oak bringeth forth a profitable kind of Mast, whereby such as dwell near unto the aforesaid places do cherish and bring up innumerable herds of swine. [Red and fallow deer eat Mast also] ; yea, our common poultry if they may come unto them ; but those eggs which these latter do bring forth (beside blackness in colour and bitter- ness of taste) have not seldom been found to breed divers diseases unto such persons as have eaten of the same. (The like have I seen where hens do feed upon the tender blades of garlick [marginal note].) Holinskea, "Description of England," p. 214. 202 SHAKESPEARE'S [MASTIFF. Mastiff. KING HENRY V., iii. 7, 151. OR Bandog — keeping the house — or molossus. Minsheu's Dictionary, s.v. Medlar. As You LIKE IT, iii. 2, 125. MEASURE FOR MEASURE, iv. 3, 184. ROMEO AND JULIET, ii. i, 36. So also Middleton, "Women Beware Women," iv. 2, 100. [The prejudices of the nineteenth century will not allow the popular name of the Medlar in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to be recalled.] IF you graft the slips of a wilding or sour apple upon the stock of a hawthorn, you shall have Medlars grow thereof. This I have seen proved : therefore I affirm it for a very truth. Lupton, " Notable Things," bk. x. § 95. THE graft should be taken from the middle of the tree ; for one from the top is faulty. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. i. § 294, THE fruit of the three-grain [Neapolitan] Medlar is eaten both raw and boiled. These Medlars be oftentimes preserved with sugar or honey. Moreover, they are singular good for women with child ; for they strengthen the stomach, and stay the loathsomeness thereof. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. MEDLARS, the best : — The Great Dutch, Neapolitan, and one without stones. Evelyn, " Kalendarium Hortense," p. 274. Mermaid. 4 I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall. iii. KING HENRY VI., iii. 2, 186. V. Siren. Milk. WHEN cow's Milk is first congealed, it is as it were a stone, and that happeth when it is meddled with water. Also when a child is nourished with hot Milk, his teeth MITE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 203 springeth the sooner. And if any hair cometh therein, there falleth a great sickness ; and the ache ceaseth not ere the hair cometh out with the Milk, or rotteth. And a black woman hath much better Milk and more nourishing than a white woman. A drop of good Milk put on the nail abideth continually, and droppeth not away. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xix. § 63. Cow's Milk is the better and more wholesome, if the most deal of wateriness be consumed and wasted by stones of the rivers that be heated fiery hot and then quenched therein. ibid., § 65. [Stow, in his " Survey of London," gives the price of milk in his youth (circa 1535) as three ale-pints for a halfpenny in the summer, nor less than one ale-quart for a halfpenny in the winter, always hot from the kine, and he fetched it from the Minories farm just outside Aldgate.] Mint. WINTER'S TALE, iv. 4, 104. MINT is an herb with good smell, and thereof is double kind, wild and tame. It taketh away abomination of wambling, and abateth the yexing [i.e., hiccough], Bartholomew (Bertkelei), bk. xvii. § 106. IT is taken inwardly against scolopenders, bear-worms, sea-scorpions and serpents. It is applied with salt to the bitings of mad dogs. It will not suffer milk to curdle in the stomach, therefore it is put in milk that is drunk for fear that those who have drunk thereof should be strangled. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. Misletoe. TITUS ANDRONICUS, ii. 3, 95. MISTLETOE with red lily opens all locks. If the afore- said be hung on a tree with the wing of a swallow, thither will congregate all the birds within quite five miles, and this last has been tried in my time. Albertus Magnus, " Of Virtues of Herbs," § 10. Mite. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, i. I, 154. V. Worm. 204 Moldwarp. Mole. SHAKESPEARE'S i. KING HENRY IV., iii. I, 149. TEMPEST, iv. I, 194. [MOLDWARP. A MOLE is a little beast somewhat like unto a mouse. And he is damned in everlasting blindness and darkness, and is without eyes, and hath a snout as a swine, and diggeth therewith the earth, and casteth up that he diggeth, and gnaweth and eateth roots under earth, and hateth the sun, and may not live above the earth. And the Mole hath none eyes seen without, and who that slitteth the skin subtly and warily shall find within the fores [i.e., traces] of eyes hidden. And some men trow that that skin breaketh for anguish and for sorrow when he beginneth to die, and beginneth then to open the eyes in dying that were closed living. Bartholomew (Berthelet}, bk. xviii. § 102. A MOLE or want enclosed in an earthen pot, if you set then the powder of brimstone on fire, she will call other Moles or wants to help her with a very mourning voice. Lapton, "Notable Things," bk. iii. § 6. MOON-CALF.] NATURAL HISTORY. 205 IF you will catch Moles or wants, put garlic, leeks or an onion in the mouths of their holes, and you shall see them come or leap out quickly, as though they were amazed or astonied. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. ix. § 14. MOLE'S blood sprinkled on a bald head makes the hairs come back. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. § 139. MOLES have no ears, and yet they understand all speeches spoken of themselves. If a man eat the heart of a Mole newly taken out of her belly and panting, he shall be able to divine and foretell infallible events. There is nothing which is more profitable or medicinable for the curing of the bites of a shrew, than a Mole being flayed and clapped thereunto. For the changing of the hairs of horses from black to white, take a Mole and boil her in salt water, or lye made of ashes three days together, and when the water or lye shall be quite consumed, put new water or lye there- unto ; this being done, wash or bathe the place with the water or lye somewhat hot ; presently the black hairs will fall and slide away, and in some short time there will Come white. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 389-91. IF the foot of a Mole be wrapped in a laurel-leaf and put into a horse's ear, he will run away for fear ; and if it be put in the nest of any bird, no young ones will be hatched out of those eggs. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Virtues of Animals." Monkey. MERCHANT OF VENICE, iii. I, 124. V. Ape. [Monkeys were common pets for ladies, and shared their favour with dogs and paroquets (so Massinger, " New Way to Pay Old Debts"; Ben Jonson, " Cynthia's Revels"; Middleton, " Michaelmas Term/' etc.).] Moon-calf. TEMPEST, ii. 2, in. A FALSE conception called mola or Moon-calf, that is to say, a lump of flesh without shape, without life, and so 2o6 SHAKESPEARE'S [MOSS. hard withal, that unneath a knife will enter and pierce it either with edge or point. Howbeit a kind of moving it hath. Holland's P/iny, bk. vii. ch. xv. Moss. TITUS ANDRONICUS, ii. 3, 95. [Gerard (" Herbal," s.v.) states that he has found " goldilocks, or golden maiden-hair, the bigger and less in great abundance," between Hampstead Heath and Highgate, and " club-moss or wolf-claw Moss " only upon Hampstead Heath, and he testifies that the latter Moss, if it be hanged in a vessel of " floating wine, which is now become slimy," the wine is restored to his former goodness. Moreover, the kind of Moss, which " is found upon the skulls or bare scalps of men and women lying long in charnel-houses or other places, where the bones of men and women are kept together, is thought to be a singular remedy against the falling evil, and the chin-cough in children, if it be produced and then given in sweet wine for certain days together."] Moth. CORIOLANUS, i. 3, 94. A MOTH is a worm of clothes, and is gendered of cor- ruption of cloth, when the cloth is too long in press and thick air, and is not blown with wind, neither unfolded in pure air. And though he be a sensible beast, yet he hideth himself within the cloth, that unneath he is seen. Leaves of the laurel-tree, of cedars, and of cypress, and other such, put among clothes in hutches save the clothes and also books from corruption and eating of Moths. Bartholomew (Berthelet\ bk. xviii. § 105. IF you seethe the dregs, or mother, or foam of oil to the half, and therewith anoint the bottom, corners, and feet of any chest or press, — the clothes that you lay therein shall never be hurt with Moths (so that it be dry before you put therein your clothes). Lupton, " Notable Things," bk. ii. § 94. MOTHS breed in garments so much the sooner if a spider be shut in. They that sell woollen clothes use to wrap up the skin of a bird called the king-fisher amongst them, MOUSE.] NATURAL HISTORY. 207 or else hang one in the shop, as a thing by a secret antipathy that Moths cannot endure. Garments wrapped up in a lion's skin will never have any moths. Mouffety "Theatre of Insects," p. noo. Mouse. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, v. I, 394. THE Mouse is a little beast, and he breedeth and is gendered of humours of the earth. Also the liver of this beast waxeth in the full of the moon, like as a certain fish of the sea increaseth then, and waneth again in the waning of the moon. And the Mouse drinketh not, and if he drinketh, he dieth ; and is a gluttonous beast, and is there- fore beguiled with a little meat when he smelleth it, and will taste thereof. His urine stinketh and is contagious ; and his biting is venomous, and also his tail is venomous accounted. In harvest the male and female gather corn, and charge either other upon the womb, and the male draweth the female so charged by the tail to her den, and dis- chargeth her, and layeth up that stuff in a place in the den, and thus they go again to travail, and gather ears of corn, and the male layeth himself on his own back, and his female chargeth him, and taketh his tail in her mouth, and draweth him so home to the den. And though mice be full grievous and noyful beasts, yet they be in many things good and profitable in medicine. Mice dirt bruised with vinegar keepeth and saveth the head from falling of hair. His new skin laid all about the heel, healeth and saveth kibes and wounds therefro. Bartholomew (Bertbelet), bk. xviii. § 73. PUT one or more quick [i.e., live] Mice in a long or deep earthen pot, and set the same unto a fire made of ash- wood ; and when the pot begins to wax hot, the Mice therein will chirp or make a noise ; whereat all the mice that are nigh them will run towards them, and so will leap into the fire, as though they should come to help their poor imprisoned friends and neighbours. The cause whereof ~ lizaldus ascribes to the smoke of the ash-wood. Lupton, "Notable Things," bk. x. § 93. 208 SHAKESPEARE'S [ MOUSE. WRITING-INK tempered with water, wine, or vinegar, where- in wormwood hath been steeped, Mice will not eat the papers or letters written with that ink. Lupton, "Notable Things," bk. vi. § 51. QUICKSILVER killed, burnt lead, the scales of iron, or black hellebore, mixed with some pleasant meat that Mice love — if any Mice eat thereof, it will kill them. Ibid., bk. x. § 68. OF the vulgar little Mouse : — Concerning their manners they are evil, apt to steal, insidious and deceitful. If the brains of a weasel, the hair or rennet be sprinkled upon cheese, or any other meat whereunto Mice resort, they not only forbear to eat thereof, but also to come in that place. A Mouse watcheth an oyster when he gapeth, and seeing it open, thrusts in his head to eat the fish ; as soon as ever the oyster felt his teeth, presently he closeth his shell again, and so crusheth the Mouse's head in pieces. A man took a Mouse, which Mouse he fed only with the flesh of Mice, and after he had fed it so a long time, he let it go, who killed all the Mice he did meet, and was not satisfied with them, but went into every hole that he could find, and ate them up also. A Mouse being flayed, and afterwards cut through the middle, and put unto a wound or sore wherein there is the head of a dart or arrow, or any other thing whatsoever, will presently and very easily exhale and draw them out of the same. A young Mouse mingled with salt is an excellent remedy against the biting of the Mouse called the shrew, which biting horses and labouring cattle, it doth venom until it come unto the heart, and then they die, except the aforesaid remedy be used. Of the heads of Mice being burned is made that excellent powder for the scouring and cleansing of the teeth called tooth-soap. For the - rottenness and diminishing of the teeth, the best remedy is to take a living Mouse, and to take out one of her teeth, whether the greatest or the least is no great matter, and hang it by the teeth of the party grieved ; but first kill the Mouse from whom you had the tooth, and he shall presently have ease and help of his pain. Topsell, " Four-footed Beasts," pp. 392-402. MUSCADEL.] NATURAL HISTORY. 209 MICE are multiplied in dry seasons (which the store of them this dry winter — 1613 — confirmeth) of which there are great ones in Egypt with two feet which they use as hands, not going but leaping. Purchas' "Pilgrims," p. 560 (ed. 1616). Mulberry. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iii. 1, 170. CORIOLANUS, ill. 2, 79. LEAVES thereof slayeth serpents, if they be thrown or laid upon them. The J eaves sod in rain - water maketh black hair, and healeth the biting of attercops [spiders], and easeth the tooth-ache. Of Mulberries is noble drink made ; elephants drink thereof, and be the more bold and hardy. Bartholomew (Bertbelet\ bk. xvii. § 100. THE Mulberries [in Hegesander's time] did not bring forth fruit in twenty years together, and so great a plague of the gout then reigned and raged so generally, as not only men, but boys, wenches, eunuchs and women were troubled with that disease. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. Mule. WINE -drinking is forbidden the Mule. The more water that the Mule drinketh, the more good his meat doth him. Also the Mule hath no gall openly seen upon nis liver- Bartholomew (BertMet}, bk. xviii. § 72. IF you fumigate a house with the left hoof of a Mule, no rat will remain in that house. The ashes of a Mule's hoofs cure baldness. Hortus 8anitatis, bk. ii. § 98. MULES are broken of their flinging and wincing, if they use often to drink wine. Holland?* Pliny, bk. viii. ch. xliv. THE epithets of a Mule are these : — pack-bearer, dirty, Spanish, rough and bi-formed. Topsell, " History of Four-footed Beasts," s.v. Muscadel, or Muscadine. TAMING OF THE SHREW, iii. 2, 172. [Muscadel and brawn were usual refreshments at Christmas (so Beaumont and Fletcher's " Loyal Subject,'" iii. 4, also Tamer Tamed," iv. I, and "The Pilgrim," ii. i. 210 SHAKESPEARE'S [MUSHROOM. Eggs and Muscadine were supposed to be restorative of the vital powers (" Tamer Tamed," i. I ; " Cupid's Revenge," i. I ; and many other plays of Massinger, Middleton, Brome, etc.). Muscadines were also compounds to sweeten the breath (Warded " Treatise of Alexis of Piedmont's Secrets," 1562).] MUSCADINES of Candia whereof and especially of red Muscadine there is great plenty in this island, wherewith England for the most part is served. Fynes Moryson, "Itinerary," part i. p. 256. Mushroom. TEMPEST, v. i, 39. [Gerard describes not very clearly various kinds of edible and poisonous fungi, but thinks Mushrooms poor food.] V. Toad-stool. ITALIAN delicate oiled Mushrooms. Massinger^ " Guardian," ii. 2 ; so Ben Jonson, " Alchemist," ii. 2. Two small casks — one of blue figs, the other of pickled Mushrooms. Jasper Mayne, "The City Match," v. 4. Musk, Musk-cat. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, ii. 2, 68. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, v. 2, 21. IN the mountains of Ind be some Caprioli [deer] that eateth herbs with good smell and savour, and in their feet be certain hollowness, in the which certain humours be gathered, and breedeth posthumes [i.e., imposthumes, ab- scesses], the which posthumes first be ripened, and then broken with moving and with froting [/'.*., rubbing], and thrown out of the body with small hairy leaves. And the substance, that is contained within the skin, is best of smelling, and most precious among spicery, and most profitable and virtuous in medicine, and that we call commonly Musk. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xviii. § 23. IN the flank of the Musk -cat grows an imposthume from collected humours, and when this is ripe, the beast bruises and rubs it against a tree, and so it is broken, and the matter runs out, and thickens and hardens there, and the substance of the humour is called Musk. The whole MUSK.] NATURAL HISTORY. 211 of its flesh and its dung is named Musk, but that is far better which runs from the imposthume. Musk which has lost its smell recovers its virtue in stinks and latrines ; it strives against stench, and thus revives as it were by Striving. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. § 100. THE Musk-cat is neither like a cat nor a mouse. They make perfume of it ; with this the luxurious women per- fume themselves, to entrap the love of their wooers. The true Musk is sold for 403. an ounce at the least. A Musk-cat is an excellent remedy for those which are troubled with fear in their heart. Topsell, " History of Four-footed Beasts," pp. 427-31 (1658). 1 [!N the Kingdom of Erginul] is found a beast, as big as a goat, of exquisite shape, which every full moon hath an aposthumation or swelling under the belly, which proveth the best Musk in the world. Purckas "Pilgrims," p. 428 (ed. 1616). MUSK is made of the stomach of a beast somewhat greater than a cat. Our greatest sweet we see is but rottenness and putrefaction. Ibid.> p. 502. V. Civet. 212 SHAKESPEARE'S [MUSK-ROSE. Musk-rose. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. I, 252. [The Musk-rose was a moss-rose. Gerard describes and engraves several species.] Mussel. TEMPEST, i. 2, 462. THE Mussel is the male of the whale (q.v.). There are Mussels which are shell-fish, and from their milk oysters breed. The Mussel and the whale are examples of friend- ship, for as the whale's eyes through the great weight of its brows are closed, the Mussel swims before it and points out those things which might be harmful to its bulk, and the Mussel takes the place of eyes for the whale. This sea-mussel which precedes the whale has no teeth, but bristles instead. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iv. § 57. [Two distinct fishes are evidently here described, but the habits of both are interesting. The engraving is of a shell-fish like a whelk. Mussels were seethed or boiled in their shells (second part of "The Good Huswife's Jewel," p. 53).] Mustard. TAMING OF THE SHREW, iv. 3, 22. [Eaten with pancakes (As You LIKE IT, i. 2, 66).] SENVEY hight Sinapis [i.e., Mustard], and healeth smiting of serpents and of scorpions, and overcometh venom of the scorpions, and abateth tooth-ache, and cleanseth the hair, and letteth the falling thereof. Bees love best the flowers and haunt them, and nevertheless bees touch never flowers of olive. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvii. § 155. IF it be drunk fasting, it makes the intellect good. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. i. § 436. IT helpeth those that have their hair pulled off; it taketh away the blue and black marks that come of bruisingS. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. NEAT.] NATURAL HISTORY. 213 [Tewkesbury was famous for Mustard (" ii. King Henry IV.,'" ii. 4, 262, and Paynes Moryson, "Itinerary," part iii. p. 139).} SENVEY bruised and ground with vinegar is a wholesome sauce, meet to be eaten writh hard and gross meats, either flesh or fish. Batman's addition to Bartholomew^ I.e. Myrtle, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, ii. 2, 117. MYRTLE helpeth against venom, and against stinging of scorpions, if it be drunk ; broth thereof helpeth against the falling of hair. Myrtle fasteneth and restoreth weary members and limbs, and therefore it tokeneth comforters of holy church. Bartholomew (Eertkelei), bk. xvii. § 101. THE decoction of Myrtle made with wine withstandeth drunkenness if it be taken fasting. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. IF a wayfaring man that hath a great journey for to go on foot, carry in his hand a stick or rod of the Myrtle- tree, he shall never be weary. Holland's P/zny, bk. xv. ch. xxix. Neat. Neat's tongue. MERCHANT OF VENICE, i. I, 112. NEAT'S tongue dried. Middleton, "Blunt, Master Constable," i. 2, 188. [Neat's tongue was boiled with red wine, stuffed with cloves and sugar, and served with red wine and prunes boiled together, and mustard (Dawson, " The Good Huswife's Jewel ").] Neat's foot. TAMING OF THE SHREW, iv. 3, 17. [Neat's foot was fricasseed, and the sauce was barberries or grape (''Good Huswife's Jewel").] y. Ox. 2i4 SHAKESPEARE'S [NETTLE. Nettle. i. KING HENRY IV., ii. 3, 10. IT is a remedy against the venomous qualities of hem- lock, mushrooms and quicksilver, and a counterpoison for henbane, serpents and scorpions. The oil of it takes away the stinging which the Nettle itself maketh. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. CAST the water of any sick person newly made at night on red Nettles, and if the Nettles be withered and dead in the morning after, then the sick party is like to die of that disease, if they be green still, then he is like to live. Lupton, "Notable Things," bk. iv. § 71. THE virtue of Nettles is to force a woman that waters them to be as peevish for a whole day, and as waspish, as if she had been stung in the brow with a hornet. Greene, " Quip f°r an Upstart Courtier." Now are they plagued in purgatory, and he whips them with Nettles. Tarleton, " News out of Purgatory." His hate to woman made Eupolis eat Nettle-pottage. " Lady Alimony," i. 2. HE who holds this herb in his hand with yarrow is secure from every fear and vfrom every phantasy. And if it be put with the juice of house - leek, and the hand be anointed therewith, and the residue be put in water where are fishes, they will collect about his hand, and also about his net. And if the hand be taken out, forthwith they re- turn to their own places where they were before. Albertus Magnus^ "Of the Virtues of Herbs." Newt. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iii. 2, n. THIS is a little black Lizard of the water ; the poison hereof is like the poison of vipers. This serpent is bred in fat waters and soils, and sometimes in the ruins of old walls. There is nothing in nature that so much offendeth it as salt. Being moved to anger, it standeth upon the NIGHT-CROW.] NATURAL HISTORY. 215 hinder legs, and looketh directly in the face of him that hath stirred it, and so continueth till all the body be white, through a kind of white humour or poison, that it swelleth outward, to harm (if it were possible) the person that did provoke it. And by this is their venomous nature observed to be like the salamander, although their continual abode in the water maketh their poison the more weak. There be some Apothecaries which do use this Newt instead of skinks or crocodiles of the earth, but they are deceived in the virtues and operation, and do also deceive other, for there is not in it any such wholesome properties, and there- fore not to be applied without singular danger. Topsell, " History of Serpents," pp. 744. EWTS' eggs be like to serpents' eggs, but they be less in quantity, and more glimy [gluey] ; and be venomous, but they be less venomous than serpents' eggs. Bartholomew (Bertbelet}, bk. xix. § 101. V. Lizard. Night-crow [= Night-heron]. iii. KING HENRY VI., v. 6, 45. THE Night-crow loveth the night, and fleeth and seeketh his meat by night, and crieth in seeking, and their cry is hateful and odious to other birds. And they eat the eggs of doves and choughs, and fight with them. Also this bird hight Noctua [i.e., the owl ?] ; by night she may see, and when shining of the sun cometh, her sight is dim. The Island of Crete hath not this bird ; if he cometh thither out of other lands, he dieth anon. Bartholomew (Berthelei), bk. xii. § 27. THIS kind of owl is dog-footed, and covered with hair; his eyes are like the glistering ice ; against death he useth a Strange whoop. Batman's addition to Bartholomew, ut supra. BY night (as the vulgar think) the Night-crow seemeth with its hateful cry to portend the death of men. It is pleased with the human voice. The Night-crow is an anti- dote to bees, wasps, hornets and leeches. Its eggs given 216 SHAKESPEARE'S [NIGHTINGALE. in wine for three days cause loathing of wine in drunkards. [This is a quotation from Pliny, bk. xxx., where Holland translates "owls' eggs."] Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 84. Nightingale. [In Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny is a most elequent description of the Nightingale, too long to quote (bk. x. ch. xxix.). Also (ch. xlii.) he says that Germanicus and Drusus had two Nightingales that were taught to speak Latin and Greek — yea, and were able to continue a long speech and discourse.] Night-raven. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, ii. 3, 84. V. Night-crow and Raven. THERE is another kind of Night-raven, black, of the bigness of a dove, flat-headed, out of the which groweth three long feathers, like the cop of a lap-wing, his bill grey, using a sharp voice ; whose unaccustomed appearance betokeneth mortality. He preyeth on mice, weasels, and Such like. Batman's addition to Bartholomew, bk. xii. § 27, Nit. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, iv. I, 150. THESE are little, white, living creatures. The Philosopher affirms that they are called the eggs of lice. They are like to the flowers of Jessamine that grows with us. For as Jessamine brings flowers without seed, so Lice bring forth eggs without young ones in them. Thos. Mouffet, " Theatre of Insects," bk. ii. ch. xxxv. Nut. As You LIKE IT, iii. 2, 115. DROPPING of the leaves thereof grieveth and noyeth other trees about, that be nigh thereto. The fruit thereof hath so great virtue, that if it be put among frog - stools and venomous meats, it spoileth and destroyeth and quencheth all the venom that is therein. And all manner apples that OAK c.] NATURAL HISTORY. 217 be closed in an hard skin, rind, or shell be called Nuts, as pines, chestnuts and filberts, and other such. The shadow of the Nut-tree grieveth them that sleep there- under, and breedeth diverse sicknesses and evils, but the fruit thereof dyeth and cleanseth hair, and letteth the falling thereof. In great French Nuts [i.e., walnuts or barnuts] generally the shape of the cross is printed therein. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvii. § 108. V. Chestnut, Filbert, Walnut, etc. Nutmeg. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, v. 2. WINTER'S TALE, iv. 3, 20. THE more heavy the Nutmeg is in weight, and the more sweet in smell and sharp in savour, the better it is. The Nutmeg holden to the nose comforteth the brain and the spiritual members. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xvii. § 109. THE Nutmeg is good against freckles of the face [and] quickeneth the sight. There is not any so simple but knoweth that the heaviest, fattest and fullest of juice are the best, which may easily be determined by pricking the same with a pin or such like. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. As easily deciphered as the characters in a Nutmeg. Lilly, "Midas," iv. 3. Oak. THE Oak is a tree that beareth mast, and is a fast tree and a sad, and dureth long time, with hard rind, and little pith or none, and there breedeth on the leaves a manner thing sour and unsavoury, and physicians call it gall. Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xvii. § 134. THE Oak is a tree with many boughs and branches, and, by reason of many fair leaves and broad, it causeth pleasant shadow, and beareth great plenty of fruit and of mast. The tree is durable and strong,^ and nigh unable to root ; for stocks thereof laid under water turneth, as it were, into hardness of stone ; and the longer time they be 2i 8 SHAKESPEARE'S [OATS. in such moist places, the more hard they be. And so for hard and durable matter and kind of such tree, misbelieved men made thereof images, and maumets [Mahomets] of false gods. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xvii. § 84. THE Oak-apples, being broken in sunder about the time of their withering, do foreshew the sequel of the year, as the expert Kentish husbandmen have observed, by the living things found in them ; as if they find an ant, they foretell plenty of grain to ensue — if a spider, then (say they) we shall have a pestilence or some such like sickness to follow amongst men — if a white worm like a gentle or maggot, then they prognosticate murrain of beasts and cattle. These things the learned also have observed and noted. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. [So Lupton, bk. iii. § 7 : "If [the little worm in the oak- apple] doth fly away, it signifies wars ; if it creep, it betokens scarceness of corn ; if it turn about, then it foreshews the plague. This is the countryman's astrology, which they have long observed for truth."] V. Gall. Oats. TEMPEST, iv. i, 61. OATS are used in many countries to make sundry sorts of bread, as in Lancashire, where it is their chiefest bread- corn for Jannocks [Oat-cakes], Haver-cakes, Tharf-cakes [Oat-cakes, unleavened], and those which are called generally Oaten-cakes ; and for the most part they call the grain Haver, whereof they do likewise make drink for want of barley. Oatmeal is good for to make a fair and well- coloured maid to look like a cake of tallow, especially if she take next her stomach a good draught of strong vinegar after it. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. Oil. OIL is the juice of herbs of olive, and' the more fresh it is, the more noble it is, and the more slyly it cometh out of the hulls, the better it is and the more noble. If a man be under water with Oil in his mouth and spouteth • NION.] NATURAL HISTORY. 219 out that Oil there in the water, all that is in the bottom, and hid by the ground, is the more clear and the more clearly seen of him. Kind of Oil maketh good savour in meat, and nourisheth light, and easeth, refresheth and com- forteth weary bodies and limbs. Many diverse Oils be pressed out of many diverse things : as Oil of Olive, Oil of Nuts, Oil of Poppy, Oil of Almonds, of Raphans [/'.£., Radishes], Oil of Linseed, Oil of Hemp, and of other such. And Oil slayeth bees, and footless beasts with long and pliant bodies, if it be shed upon them, and vinegar turneth them again to life, if it be shed upon them. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvii. § 112. Olive. As You LIKE IT, iii. 5, 74. THE tree thereof is most sad and fast, and pure and clean without rotting. And the Olive will not be hard beaten with stones and poles to gather the fruit thereof, as some men do that be unready and unwise, for it beareth the worse if it be so beaten. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xvii. § in. THE eagle is never stricken with thunder, nor the Olive with lightning. Lilly, "Sappho and Phaon," iii. 3. SCORE a gallon of sack, and a pint of Olives to the Unicorn. Beaumont and Fletcher, "The Captain," iv. 2, I. Onion. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, v. 3, 321. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iv. 2, 43. IT bringeth out venom, and quencheth biting of a wood hound, and helpeth in other venoms by bitings, and clari- fieth the skin, and openeth pores. To eat too much of them breedeth madness and woodness, and maketh dreadful dreams, and namely if men that be new recovered of sick- ness eat thereof. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvii. § 42. THE juice anointed upon a pilled or bald head in the sun, bringeth again the hair very speedily. The Onion being eaten, yea, though it be boiled, causeth head-ache, 220 SHAKESPEARE'S [OPAL. hurteth the eyes, maketh a man dim-sighted, dulleth the senses, and provoketh overmuch sleep, especially being eaten raw. Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. 'Tis better than an Onion to a green wound i' the left hand made by fire, it takes out scar and all. Webster, "Cure for a Cuckold," iv. i. AYE, Aye, Sir Lionel, they are my Onions ; I thought to have had them roasted this morning for my cold. Gervase, you have not wept to - day ; pray take your Onions. J0hn Cook, " Greene's Tu Quoque." ST. THOMAS'S Onions shall be sold by the rope at Billingsgate by the Statute. "Pennyless Parliament of Thread-bare Poets," § 36 (1608). Opal. TWELFTH NIGHT, ii. 4, 77. OPAL is a stone distingued with colours of divers precious stones ; therein is the fiery colour of the carbuncle, the shining purple of the amethyst, the bright green colour of emerald ; and all the colours shine with a manner diversity. This stone breedeth only in Ind, and is deemed to have as many virtues as colours. This stone keepeth and saveth his eyes, that him beareth, clear and sharp and without grief;— and dimmeth other men's eyes that be about with a manner cloud, and smiteth them with a manner blindness, so that they may not see, neither take heed, what is done tofore their eyes. Therefore it is said, that it is most sure patron of thieves — [safest stone for thieves — Bartholomew}. Bartholomew (Bertkelet\ bk. xvi. § 73. Orange. Civil count, civil as an orange, and something of that jealous com- plexion. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, ii. i, 304. Orange-wife. CORIOLANUS, ii. 178. [" Civil " is probably a pun upon the word " Seville."] OSPREY.] NATURAL HISTORY. 221 THE women [of Portugal] are for the most part like their Oranges, the fairer the outside the rottener within, and the sounder at the heart, the rougher the skin. Heyzvood, "Challenge for Beauty," ii. i. [RECIPE] How to dress Oranges. "The Widow's Treasure (i 595). [RECIPE] To confect Orange pills. Second part of the "Good Huswife's Jewel," p. 42 (1597). Two lemons and an Orange pill. Bacchus' "Bounty" (1593). HERE'S New-Year's-Gift has an Orange and rosemary, but not a clove to stick in't. Ben Jonson, "Christmas Masque" (1616). WINE will be pleasant in taste and in savour and colour; it will much please thee, if an Orange or a lemon (stuck round about with cloves) be hanged within the vessel, that it touch not the wine. And so the wine will be preserved from fustiness and evil savour. Lupton, " Notable Things," bk. ii. § 40. [An Orangeado-pie is mentioned as a delicacy by Dekker in one of his plays. Neither Pliny nor Bartholomew mentions oranges.] Osier. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, iv. 2, 112. V. Willow. WHAT is this snare to which young virgins haste, But like the Osier wheel in rivers placed? The fish yet free to enter wind about, Whilst they within are labouring to get out. Heyzoood, " Anna and Phyllis," embl. 2. Osprey. As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it By sovereignty of nature. CORIOLANUS, iv. 7, 34. THE Osprey only, before her little ones be feathered, will beat and strike them with her wings, and thereby 222 SHAKESPEARE'S [OSTRICH. force them to look full against the sun-beams ; now if she see any one of them to wink, or their eyes to water at the rays of the sun, she turns it with the head forward out of the nest, as a bastard, and not right, nor none of hers, — but bringeth up and cherisheth that whose eye will abide the light of the sun, as she looks directly upon him. Moreover these Ospreys are not thought to be a several kind of Eagles by themselves, but to be mongrels, and engendered of diverse sorts. When [eagles] have cast [their young] off, the Ospreys, which are near of kin unto them, are ready to take them, and bring them up with their own birds. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. ch. iii. OSPREYS are called ossifragi [or bone-breakers], because they drop bones from on high, and break them. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 89. THE Osprey oft here seen, though seldom here it breeds, Which over them the fish no sooner doth espy, But, betwixt him and them by an antipathy, Turning their bellies up, as though their death they saw, They at his pleasure lie, to stuff his gluttonous maw. Drayfon, " Polyolbion," song xxv. (quoted by Steevens). Ostrich. ii. KING HENRY VI., iv. 10, 31. THE Ostrich hath a body as a beast, and feathers as a fowl, and also he hath two feet and a bill as a fowl. And for he is somedeal shaped as a bird, he hath many feathers in the nether part of the body, and hath two feet as a fowl, and is cloven-footed as a four-footed beast ; and is so hot, that he swalloweth, and defieth [digesteth] and wasteth iron. And when the time is come that they shall lay eggs, they heave up their eyes, and behold the stars that hight Pleiades, for they lay no eggs, but when that constellation ariseth and is seen. And about the month of June, when they see those stars, they dig in gravel, and lay there their eggs, and cover and hide them with sand; and when they have left them there, they forget anon where they have laid them, and come never again thereto; but the gravel is chauffed [warmed] with the heat of the OSTRICH.] NATURAL HISTORY. 223 sun, and heateth the eggs that be hid, and breedeth birds therein, and bringeth them forth ; and when the shell is broken, and birds come out, then first the mother gathereth and nourisheth them, — and the bird that she despised in the egg, she knoweth when it is come out of the egg. Also the Ostrich hateth the horse by kind, and is so contrary to the horse, that he may not see the horse without fear. And if an horse come against him, he raiseth up his wings as it were against his enemy, and compelleth the horse to flee with beating of his wings. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xii. §33. CLOVEN hoofs they have like red deer, and with them they fight, for good they be to catch up stones withal,, and with their legs they whirl them back as they run away against those that chase them. But the veriest fools they be of all others ; — for as high as the rest of their body is, yet if they thrust their head and neck once into any shrub or bush, and get it hidden, they think then they are safe enough, and that no man seeth them. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. ch. i. 224 SHAKESPEARE'S [OTTER. SOME reasonless creatures likewise are by nature bold, as Ostriches. Holland's Pliny, bk. xi. ch. xxxvii. THE Ostrich has a small bone under its wings, by which it purges itself in the side, and shakes it when it is pro- voked to anger. It has a very strong skin, by which with its feathers it is protected from the troublesome cold. Hcrtus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 109-10. Sir Gosling : — Sing or howl, or I'll break your Ostrich egg-shell there. Birdlime:— My egg hurts not you. [Birdlime is an elderly lady with not the best of characters.] Webster, " Westward Ho !" v. 3. [OSTRICH] a foolish bird that forgetteth his nest, and leaveth his eggs for the sun and sand to hatch, that eateth any thing, even the hardest iron, that heareth nothing. Purcbas' " Pilgrims," p. 560 (ed. 1616). Otter. Neither fish nor flesh. i. KING HENRY IV., iii. 3, 142-4. THERE is no doubt but this beast is of the kind of beavers, saving in their tail, for the tail of a beaver is fish, but the tail of an Otter is flesh. It hath very sharp teeth, and is a very biting beast. So great is the sagacity and sense of smelling in this beast, that he can directly wind the fishes in the water a mile or two off. There is a kind of Assa called Benjoin, a strong herb, which, being hung in a linen cloth near fish-ponds, driveth away all Otters and beavers. The skin doth not lose its beauty by age, and no rain can hurt it, and is sold for seven or eight shillings ; thereof they make fringes in hems of garments, and face about the collars of men and women's garments, and the skin of the Otter is far more precious than the skin of the beaver. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," s.v. I MARVEL how it came into the writer's head to affirm that the beaver constraineth the Otter in the winter-time to trouble the water about her tail to ^the intent it may not freeze. OUSEL.] NATURAL HISTORY. 225 Ounce. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. 3. SOME have said when a man or beast is bitten with an Ounce, presently mice flock unto him, and poison him with their urine. The gall of this beast is deadly poison ; it hateth all creatures, and destroyeth them. Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," s.v. THE Ounce does not eat its prey, until it has hung it up on high, but when it comes to a tree, it carries its prey to the topmost branch, and eats it hanging. [Then follows the above curious statement about the Ounce-bite and the mice, with a story of a man bitten by an Ounce, " who had himself carried out to sea in a bark," and so baffled the mice.] Hortus Sanitatis, bk. ii. § 158. Ousel. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, iii. I, 128. THE Ousel or blackbird is white in Achaia. The Ousel purges disgust to meat annually with laurel-leaves. The Ousel changes its colour from black to russet, sings in the summer, stutters in winter, changes about the solstice its bill, which is transformed into ivory in year-old cocks. The tame Ousel eats flesh against nature. The Ousel like other birds does not shed its plumage, but changes its bill to a white colour every year. And in the winter for fatness it can scarcely fly. Ibid., bk. iii. § 74. IF the feathers of the right wing of an Ousel be hung up on a red thread, which has never been used, in the middle of a house, no one will be able to sleep in that house, until the wing has been taken down. And if its heart be put under the head of a sleeper, and he be ques- tioned, he will tell with a loud voice all that he has done. And again if it be put in well-water with the blood of a hoopoo, and mixed together, and then rubbed on the temples of any man, he grows weak even to death. Albertus Magnus, " Of the Virtues of Animals." 226 SHAKESPEARE'S [OWL. Owl. THE Owl is a wild bird charged with feathers, but she is always with-holden with sloth, and is feeble to fly, and dwelleth by graves by day and by night, and in chines. And diviners tell that they betoken evil ; for if the Owl be seen in a city, it signifieth destruction and waste. The chough fighteth with the Owl, and taketh the Owl's eggs, and eateth them by day, and the Owl eateth the chough's eggs by night. The crying of the Owl by night tokeneth death. The Owl is fed with dirt, and with other unclean things. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xii. § 5. IF the heart of an Owl be laid on the left side of a sleeping woman, she will tell all that she hath done. The feet of Owls burnt with the herb plantain help against serpents. They put the ashes of Owls' eyes on madmen. Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. § 16. THE Howlet, Screech-owl, etc., when they be hatched come forth of their shells with their tail first ; and by reason of their heads so heavy, the eggs are turned with the wrong end downward. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. ch. xvi. IT is a pretty sight to see the wit and dexterity of these Howlets, when they fight with other birds ; for when they are overlaid and beset with a multitude of them, they lie upon their backs and with their feet make shift to resist them. The falcon by a secret instinct and society of nature, seeing the poor Howlet thus distressed, cometh to succour and taketh equal part with him, and so endeth the fray. Howlets for sixty days in winter keep close and remain in covert, and they change their voice into nine tunes. Ibid.) ch. xvii. FOR the sting of bees, wasps and hornets, — for the biting also of those horse-leeches called blood-suckers, the Howlet is counted a sovereign remedy, by a certain antipathy in nature. ibid., bk. xxix. ch. iv. IF any man put the heart of an Owl under his armpit, no dog will bark at him, but will keep silence ; and if the ox .] NATURAL HISTORY. 227 heart and right foot with its breath [cum anima sua] be hung on a tree, the birds will gather together upon that tree. Albertus Magnus, "Of the Virtues of Animals." Ox. THE dewlap or freshlap that hangeth down under his throat and stretcheth to the legs is a token of gentle- ness and nobility in an Ox. Oxen wax fat by washing with hot water. And Oxen with straight horns be ac- counted excellent in work, and black Oxen with little horns be accounted less profitable to working. Of Ox-horns be made tapping and nocks to bows, to arbalisters, and arrows to shoot against enemies, and breast-plates and other armour by the which unstrong places of man's body be warded and defended against shot and smiting of enemies. And of Ox- horns be lanterns made to put off darkness, and combs to right and to cleanse heads of filth. Also writers and painters use the horns, and keep in them divers colours at best. Also there is a little beast like to scarab