Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard.-Tam. of S., ii. 1.

I took this lark for a bunting.-All's W., ii. 5.

The bunting is a bird that has some resemblance to a skylark, but without its fine song, and with so little caution as to be easily snared. I know a hawk from a handsaw.-Hamlet, ii. 2.

This is in direct reference to an old English proverb, given verbatim in Ray's" Proverbs," page 196, ed. 1768, thus:-"He knows not a hawk from a hand-saw." Both Ray and the Folio edition of Shakespeare give "hand-saw," which is a corruption of 'hernshaw'; 'hernshaw' being provincially used for a heron,' though strictly meaning a 'heronry.' We believe that the dramatist purposely put the corrupt form of "hernshaw" into Hamlet's mouth for the very reason that there is additional strongly apparent diversity between "a hawk" and "a hand-saw." Had the prince said a hawk from a hernshaw' there would have been merely the effect of the proverbial knowledge between one bird and another; but saying, a hawk from a handsaw," there is not only the proverbial and well-understood phrase of discrimination, there is also the effect of discerning a bird from a carpenter's tool-just the sort of asserted power of distinguishing which a madman would claim; and therefore well suiting Hamlet's assumption of madness. Shakespeare, as we have frequently shown in the course of the present work, has this largely inclusive force of effect in many of his phrases; and we believe this to be one of these phrases.

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There is indirect reference to the proverbial expression of judgment shown by being able to distinguish between bird and bird, in the following passage:

I chose an eagle, and did avoid a puttock.-Cym., i. 2.

A puttock is a 'kite,' an inferior species of hawk.

TECHNICALITIES.

The poetry and truth lying at the core of even the most prosaic subjects-the mode in which a great poet and dramatist will illustrate a poetical or passionate sentence by an allusion to a practical objectthe special knowledge as well as varied information possessed by Shakespeare-are all evidenced by the numerous technicalities used by him. His interest in the particulars of knowledge, as well as in knowledge itself, led him not only to become acquainted with multiform pursuits, but made him also take pains to become conversant with the proper terms employed in those pursuits. Thus, he uses many technicalities belonging to falconry and hawking:

iii. 3

· 3.

How now, my eyas-musket! what news with you?—Merry W., This was a term for a young sparrow-hawk': "eyas" meaning a nestling or unfledged bird, from the French nias or niais ('a nias' becoming corrupted by malpronunciation into an eyas'); and "musket" being derived from the old French mouschet or mousquet, a male sparrow-hawk.

Nay, do not fly: I think we have watch'd you now.-Merry W., v. 5. To watch a hawk meant to tame it by preventing it from sleeping; therefore the above phrase is equivalent to I think we have broken you of your wild habits.'

This outward-sainted deputy

Whose settled visage and deliberate word

Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth enmew,
As falcon doth the fowl.-M. for M., iii. 1.

The term "enmew," strictly signifying to encage or retain in the mew where hawks are kept, is here employed to express inclosing with intent to destroy, as the falcon soars and circles round the fowl it makes its prey.

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Sharp

My falcon now is sharp, and passing empty;
And, till she stoop, she must not be full-gorg'd,
For then she never looks upon her lure.
Another way I have to man my haggard,

To make her come, and know her keeper's call;

That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites

That bate and beat, and will not be obedient.—Tam. of S., iv. 1.

means sharp-set,' 'hungry;'"stoop," besides its sense of yield,' bend,'' submit,' is used in its technical sense of coming down as a trained falcon upon its prey; "full gorg'd" is 'fully fed'; "lure" is the stuffed bird made to represent that kind of living one which it is intended that the falcon shall pursue; to "man" a hawk is to tame it; and a 'haggard" is a wild unreclaimed hawk.

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And with what wing the stannyel checks at it.—Tw. N., ii. 5.

A "stannyel" is a stonehawk; and "checks" is the technical expression in falconry when a hawk forsakes its appointed prey, and flies at inferior birds that chance to come in view.

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And, like an eagle o'er his aiery, towers,

To souse annoyance that comes near his nest.-John, v. 2.

'Aiery," sometimes spelt 'eyry' (from the Teutonic eyren, eggs), means a bird's brood; to "tower is used in falconry to express the spiral flight or soaring higher and higher of an eagle or hawk; and to souse" is a technicality in hawking for the sudden plunge or stoop which the bird makes when darting down upon its prey.

Imp out our drooping country's broken wing.-R. II., ii. 1.

To imp a hawk' was the term for an operation whereby any feathers that the bird might have lost or injured were artificially supplied.

Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up

The crest of youth against your dignity.—1 H. IV., i. 1.

A hawk is said to "prune" itself, when it picks and ruffles its feathers in order to dress them and set them in good condition.

All plum'd like estridges (that with the wind

Bated, like eagles having lately bath'd).—Ibid., iv. 2.

To "bate" means to flutter and beat the wings, and also to sedulously spread and ruffle the feathers, as birds do after bathing, in order that the air may speedily dry them. We think that Rowe's

alteration of "with to' wing,' adopted by many other editors, spoils this passage; while the original Folio word appears to us to give the author's meaning-the sentence, describing the impression produced by the plumed warriors, being parenthetical.

Never anybody saw it but his lackey: 'tis a hooded valour; and when it appears, it will bate.-H. V., iii. 7.

Besides the allusion to the fact that when a hawk is unhooded it beats, flaps, or flutters its wings, there is included a play upon the word "bate" in its sense of 'abate,'' diminish,'' dwindle.'

Though his affections are higher mounted than ours, yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like wing. [See previous explanation of " stoop."]—Ibid., iv. 1.

For our approach shall so much dare the field,

That England shall couch down in fear, and yield.—Ibid., iv. 2.

Birds are said to be "dared" when by the falcon in the air they are terrified from rising, so that they may sometimes be taken by the hand. Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch.—1 H. VI., ii, 4. Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,

I saw not better sport these seven years' day :
Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high;
And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.-
But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,
And what a pitch she flew above the rest! .
No marvel, an it like your majesty,

My lord protector's hawks do tower so well;
They know their master loves to be aloft,

And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch.-2 H. VI., ii. 1.

"Flying at the brook," or flying at birds of the brook,' meant hawking at water-fowl; and authorities in falconry assert that hawks are very sensitive to wind.

Methinks I should not thus be led along,
Mail'd up in shame.—Ibid., ii. 4.

A hawk was said to be "mailed up " when she was wrapped up in a cloth or handkerchief, that she might not stir her wings or struggle. Neither the king, nor he that loves him best,

The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,

Dares stir a wing, if Warwick shake his bells.—3 H. VI., i. 1.

Hawks had small bells hung upon them; the sound of which was supposed to daunt birds that were hawked at.

Whose haughty spirit, wingèd with desire,
Will cost my crown, and like an empty eagle,

Tire on the flesh of me and of my son !-Ibid., i. 1.

To"tire" was to tear with the beak, to peck like a bird of prey, to feed voraciously. The word "cost," in this passage, may elliptically signify cost me;' but we think it very likely to have been a Folio misprint for foot' (in the sense of clutch') as Shakespeare uses that expression in the passage we below quote from "Cymbeline,” v. 4, where reference is also made to an eagle."

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This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up.-R. III., i. 1.
More pity that the eagles should be mew'd,

While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.-Ibid., i. 1.

The "mew" was the place where hawks were kept, and in which they were confined while moulting.

Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top,

And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun.

Your aiery buildeth in our aiery's nest.-R. III., i. 3.
[See "aiery" previously explained.]

You must be watched ere you be made tame, must you?-Tr. & Cr., iii. 2.
The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i' the river.—Ibid., iii. 2.

"The falcon is the female hawk, "the tercel” is the male hawk. Hist! Romeo, hist! Oh, for a falconer's voice,

To lure this tassel-gentle back again !—R. & Jul., ii. 2.

"Tassel-gentle" is a corruption of 'tiercel-gentle' or 'tercel-gentle.' The term "tiercel" was applied to the male of the goshawk, because it is a 'tierce' or 'third,' less than the female; and the epithet "gentle" was appended, because this kind of hawk is easily tamed, and because it was a favourite with persons of gentle birth.

Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,

With thy black mantle.-Ibid., iii. 2.

See "hooded," "man," and "bated," as previously explained under the present heading.

To-night she is mew'd up to her heaviness.-Ibid., iii. 4.

Come, seeling night,

Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day.-Macb., iii. 2.

Seeling" means 'blinding'; it being the custom to seel the eyes of a hawk by sewing its upper and under lids together, in order to accustom it to its hood.

Did you say all? Oh, hell-kite! All?

What! all my pretty chickens and their dam

At one fell swoop?-Macb., iv. 3.

This is the expression used for the sweeping flight with which a bird of prey descends upon the object of its pursuit.

There is, sir, an aiery of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top of question.Hamlet, ii. 2.

See "aiery" and "eyas-musket," previously explained.

If he be now return'd,

As checking at his voyage.-Ibid., iv. 7.

"Checking at " means flying startingly from'; see "checks," previously explained.

Oh, well-flown, bird!-Lear, iv. 6.

This was the falconer's exclamation when the hawk was successful in her flight.

I'll watch him tame, and talk him out of patience.-Oth., iii. 3.
To seel her father's eyes up close as oak.—Ibid., iii. 3.

See" seeling," previously explained.

If I do prove her haggard,

Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings,
I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune.-Ibid., iii. 3.

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'Haggard" was the term for a degenerate, wild, irreclaimable, or unreclaimed hawk; "jesses" were short thongs or straps of leather attached to the foot of the hawk, which the falconer twisted round his hand, to hold the bird firmly on the fist; "whistle her off" meant 'dismiss her;' and as the falconer always let fly the hawk against the wind, because if she flew with the wind behind her she seldom returned, so, if a hawk for any reason were dismissed, she was "let down the wind," to shift for herself.

But when we in our viciousness grow hard

(Oh, misery on 't!), the wise gods seel our eyes.—Ant. & C., iii. 11. When thou shalt be disedg'd by her

That now thou tir'st on.-Cym., iii. 4.

Disedg'd" means the edge of appetite taken off; for "tir'st," see "tire," previously explained.

The holy eagle

Stoop'd, as to foot us: . . . his royal bird

Prunes the immortal wing, and cloys his beak.—Ibid., v. 4.

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To" foot" is to clutch in the talons.' Cloys," cleys,' or 'clees,' are old forms of claws;' and to claw their beaks is an accustomed action with eagles and hawks.

Shakespeare uses several technicalities of hunting and sporting :How to deny them, whom t' advance, and whom

To trash for over-topping.-Temp., i. 2.

These are terms of the chase. To "trash" meant to check, stop, or correct a hound; "over-topping" meant outrunning the rest of the pack.

For stale to catch these thieves.-Ibid., iv. I.

A "stale" was a fowling term; and meant a decoy, lure, or bait.

I'll warrant we'll unkennel the fox. Let me stop this way first. So, now uncape. -Merry W., iii. 3.

To "uncape" is to unearth.'

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If I cry out thus upon no trail, never trust me when I open again.—Ibid., iv. 2. To cry out" and to " open" mean to bark at sight of the game; and "trail" is the track of scent left by its passage over the ground. Divide me like a bribed buck, each a haunch: I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodman, ha ?—Ibid., v. 5.

A "bribed buck was a buck cut up into portions for distribution : from French, bribe, a piece or portion ; "the fellow of this walk' means the forester. "Woodman was a title given to the forester's attendant; and meant one generally skilled in the sport of hunting game.

I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced.-Ibid., v. 5.

A "stand" was a refuge-place formed with boughs, wherein ladies might station themselves to witness the sport of deer-shooting, and from whence they might even take part in it, by aiming at the game driven by the keepers near to them