110 THE PEREGRINE FALCON. 



When ill-trained it was called a "haggard" or " wild-hawk ;" 

 when taken young and well-trained, a " gentle falcon." Hence, 

 in his fit of jealousy of Desdemona, Othello fiercely exclaims — 



" 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." 



And, in " Twelfth Night," Viola says of the Clown— 



" This fellow's wise enough to play the fool ; 

 And, to do that well, craves a kind of wit : 

 He must observe their mood on whom he jests, 

 And, like the haggard, check f at every feather 

 That comes before his eye." 



And Tennyson, in his poem of " The Falcon," draws a fine 

 picture of the well-trained bird, the "gentle falcon" (hence, 

 possibly, the gentle woman), when he says — 



" My princess of the clouds — my plumed purveyor — ■ 

 My far-eyed queen of the winds, thou canst soar 

 Beyond the morning lark, and, howsoe'er 

 Thy quarry wind and wheel, swoop down upon him 

 Eagle-like — lightning-like — strike, make his feathers 

 Glance in mid-heaven." 



The usual way to tame a falcon was to " watch " it ; that is, 

 to keep it from sleep until tame ; and how finely Shakespeare 

 introduces this fact when he makes even the "gentle 

 Desdemona " say to Cassio, when innocently undertaking to see 

 him reinstalled in his lieutenancy — 



"Before Emilia here, 

 I give thee warrant of thy place : assure thee, 

 If I do vow a friendship, I'll perform it 

 To the last article : my lord shall never rest ; 

 Til watch him tame, and talk him out of patience ; 

 His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift ; 

 I'll intermingle everything he does 

 With Cassio's suit : Therefore be merry, Cassio, 

 For thy solicitor shall rather die 

 Than give thy cause away." 



And also, in the " Taming of the Shrew," he makes Petruchio 

 say of Catherine — 



" My falcon now is sharp, and passing empty, 

 And, till she stoop, she must not be full-gorged, 

 Eor then she never looks upon her lure. 

 Another way I have to tame my haggard, 

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

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

 That bate,t and beat, and will not be obedient." 



Jesses— straps. f Check— fly. X Bate— flutter. 



