186 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



SHAKESPEARE'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



IT is surprising that so profuse and prodigal a poet 

 as Shakespeare, and one so bold in his dealings with 

 human nature, should seldom or never make a mis- 

 take in his dealings with physical nature, or take an 

 unwarranted liberty with her. True it is that his al- 

 lusions to nature are always incidental never his 

 main purpose or theme, as with many later poets ; 

 yet his accuracy and closeness to fact, and his wide 

 and various knowledge of unbookish things, are seen 

 in his light "touch and go" phrases and compari- 

 sons as clearly as in his more deliberate and central 

 work. 



In " Much Ado about Nothing," Benedick says to 

 Margaret : 



" Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth it catches." 



One marked difference between the greyhound and 

 all other hounds and dogs is, that it can pick up its 

 game while running at full speed, a feat that no other 

 dog can do. The fox-hound, or farm-dog, will run 

 over a fox or a rabbit many times without being able 

 to seize it. 



In " Twelfth Night," the clown tells Viola that 



" Fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings th| 

 husband 's the bigger." 



The pilchard closely resembles the herring, but if 

 thicker and heavier, with larger scales. 



