20 LONDON BIRDS 



in the Coinedy of Errors. Or in Much Ado about 

 Nothing 



'Look, where Beatrice like a Lapwing runs 

 Close to the ground to hear our conference.' 

 Or 



' Like an eagle in a dove-cote, I 

 Fluttered your Volscians in Corioli.' 



One hears the clatter of the wings, as the startled 

 pigeons break out all round. 



Contrast these with any of Milton's allusions to 

 birds. ' Birds of Jove ' driving before them ' birds of 

 gayest plume,' ' ravenous fowls ' hurrying to a field of 

 battle, or 



'Vultures on Imaus bred 

 Disfledging from a region scarce of prey 

 To gorge the flesh of lambs,' etc. 



It is not necessary to multiply instances. In almost 

 any page of the writings of either that one opens, the 

 contrast forces itself into notice. The magic wand is 

 the same, but the hands that hold it are very different. 

 Shakespeare touches us, and we crouch with him and 

 hear the Night-jar rattle and the Shrew Mice whistle 

 in the fern in the deer park as we hold our breath to 

 listen for the keepers ; or we stroll along the track of 

 old Aikman Street, across the unenclosed commons of 

 Buckinghamshire, and take Plovers' eggs with a rollick- 

 ing and not over-respectable company of players on the 

 tramp from Stratford and London ; or loll in the shade 

 on a bank where the wild thyme grows, and listen to 

 the birds and bees overhead in the branches of the 



