The Birds of Shakespeare 
The extent to which falconry and its 
language had taken hold of the society of 
Elizabeth’s time is well illustrated in the 
scene in Capulet’s garden where Romeo 
and Juliet make their declaration of mutual 
attachment. She has twice retired, but 
again returns to the window for one last 
word. He has slowly and reluctantly crept 
back into the darkness, but a voice from 
above recalls him : 
Hist ! Romeo, hist! O, for a falconer’s voice 
To lure this tassel-gentle back again ! 
Bondage is hoarse and may not speak aloud.} 
The actual array of hawking is brought 
before us in the gay scene in the .second 
part of King Henry VI. where the King 
and Queen, with their company and 
falconers halloing, appear on the stage 
after a morning’s sport. 
Queen. 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. 
1 Romeo and Juliet, u. ii. 158. The tassel-gentle or 
tercel-gentle was the male gos-hawk, much used in falconry. 
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