12 SHAKESPEARE'S [APE. 



[After the account given above of the way in which Indians 

 get the gold from the ants, Sir John Mandeville adds] : 



AND in other times when it is not so hot, and that 

 the Pismires [Ants] ne rest them not in the earth, then 

 they get gold by their subtilty. They take mares that 

 have young colts or foals, and lay upon the mares void 

 vessels made therefor ; and they be all open above, and 

 hanging low to the earth ; and then they send forth the 

 mares for to pasture about those hills, and withhold the 

 foals with them at home. And when the Pismires see 

 those vessels they leap in anon, and they have this kind, 

 that they let nothing be empty among them, but anon they 

 fill it, be it what manner of thing that it be ; and so they 

 fill those vessels with gold. And when that the folk suppose 

 that the vessels be full they put forth anon the young foals, 

 and make them to neigh after their dams ; and then anon 

 the mares return towards their foals, with their charges of 

 gold ; and then men discharge them, and get gold enough 

 by this subtility. For the Pismires will suffer beasts to go 

 and pasture amongst them ; but no man in no wise 

 (chap. xxx.). 



If you stamp Lupins (which are to be had at the 

 Apothecaries') and therewith rub round about the bottom 

 or lower part of any tree, no Ants or Pismires will go 

 up and touch the same tree. 



Luptons "Notable Things," bk. iv. 77. 



IF you burn the shells of snails with Styrax, and then 

 sprinkle thereof upon an Ants'-hill, thereby they will be 

 driven forth of the ground or place where they are. 



Ibid., bk. x. 77. 



V. Pismire. 

 Ape. 



MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ii. 2, 181. 

 CYMBELINE, i. 6, 39. 



APES have knowledge of elements, and be sorry in the 

 full of the moon, and be merry and glad in the new of 

 the moon. Of Apes be five manner kinds, of whom 

 some have tails ; and some be like to an hound in the 

 face, and in the body like to an Ape. Some be rough and 



