37 



" Your worm is your only emperor for diet. 

 We fat all creatures else to fat us, 

 And we fat ourselves for maggots." — Hamlet, iv., 3. 



It is quite clear that worm is used here again for maggot, but 

 when the Duke addresses Claudius — 



'■ Thou art by no means valiant, 

 For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork 

 Of a poor worm." — Measure fur Measure, iii., 1. 



that again the poison-snake is meant. 



Poins, in answer to Prince Hal's query at the Boar's Head 

 Tavern, " Shall we be merry ? " says — 



" As merry as Crickets." — 1 Henry IV., ii,, 4. 



Thus Shakespere accepted the common notion that the chirping 

 of the fire-side was significant of mirth. 



How pretty is the delicate description of Queen Mab's equipage, 

 part of which we have already quoted — 



" Her waggon spokes made of long spinner's legs. 

 The cover of the wings of grasshoppers. 

 The traces of the smallest spider's web, 

 The collars of the moonshine's watery beams. 

 Her whip of cricket's bone ; the lash, of film." 



Midsummer Night's Dream, i., 4. 



Frequently, when the poet wishes to emphasise complete stillness, 

 he appeals to the cricket. 



Lady Macbeth, in reply to Macbeth's question after the murder 

 of Duncan, if she heard aught, says — 

 " I heard the owls scream and the crickets cry." — Macbeth, ii., 2. 



Again, when lachimo surveys the chamber where Imogen lies 

 sleeping, his first words are — 



" The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labour'd sense 

 Repairs itself by rest." — Ci/mhdiue, ii., 2. 



That insects hear, has often been questioned by the naturalist. 

 We have the poet's view when young Mamillius, dared by Hermione 

 to fright her with goblin tales, says — 



" I will tell it softly; 

 Yon crickets shall not hear me," — Winter's Tale, ii., 1. 



One would have thought that the rapacious, devastating powers of 

 the locust would have afforded a wealth of imagery, and that by 

 reading and report the poet would have been familiar with it, yet 



