The Raven 
With less justice, the bird has also been 
credited with savageness of disposition— 
a character which Shakespeare has some- 
times attributed to persons who may out- 
wardly seem to be gentle and kindly. These 
are said to have “a raven’s heart within a 
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dove.”* Juliet expands the simile— 
Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical ! 
Dove-feather’d raven ! wolvish-ravening lamb ! 
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st.? 
Yet there was a belief that the Raven can 
show a wholly different nature : 
Some say that ravens foster forlorn children, 
The whilst their own birds famish in their nests.® 
The Raven comes into one of the 
Scriptural allusions in the Plays where 
the faithful old Adam, pressing upon 
Orlando the thrifty savings of his lifetime, 
consoles himself with the prayer 
He that doth the ravens feed, 
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, 
Be comfort to my age !4 
1 Twelfth Night, v. i. 125. 2 Romeo and Juliet, Wi. ii. 75. 
3 Titus Andronicus, 1.111.153. * As You Like It, ui. ii. 43. 
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