35 



" Is't possible that so short a time can alter the condition of a 

 man ? " 



and most justly is he answered byMenenius — 



" There is a difference between a grub and a butterfly ; yet your 

 butterfly was a grub." — Coriolanus, v., 4. 



The observant eye of Shakspere could not fail to note how des- 

 tructive were the larvie of minute moths. Thus Borachio speaks of 

 " the smirch'd moth-eaten tapestry." 



Much Ado about Nothiwf, in., 4. 



and when the visitor to Virgilia bids her to "lay aside her stitchery " 

 and " play the idle huswife," she taunts her — 



" You would be another Penelope ; yet they say all the yarn she 

 spun in Ulysses' absence did but till Ithaca full of moths." 



(Joriolanus i., B. 



Those who take delight in the " innocent flower" will appreciate 

 the words of Montague, who uses them as a simile to express his 

 half suspicion of the inexplicable conduct of his son Romeo — 



" the bud bit with an envious worm 

 Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air. 

 Or dedicate his beauty to the sun." — Romeo and Juliet, i., 1. 



Probably one of the most delicate images that the poet ever 

 employed was when Viola, masquerading as a boy, relates of the 

 inward love of her " sister " that — 



" She never told her love ; 

 But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 

 Feed on her damask cheek." — Twelfth Nitfht, ii., 4. 



The " worm " is often referred to as " the canker " as when 

 Laertes cautions Ophelia against Hamlet's favour — 



" The canker galls the infants of the spring. 

 Too oft, before their buttons be disclosed." 



Hamlet, i., 3. 



One of the duties Titania imposed upon her fairy attendants is — 



" To kill cankers in the musk-rose buds." 



Mids.uwiner Xii/ht's Dream, ii., 3. 



When Prometheus is defending himself against the raillery of his 

 friend Valentine, the image he employs is skilfully turned against 

 himself — 



Prometheus. " Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud 

 The eating canker dwells, so eating love 



