44 SHAKESPEARE'S [BROCK. 



Brocks that gather meat with the female against winter, and 

 layeth it up in his den, and when cold winter cometh, the 

 male dreadeth lest store of meat should fail, and refraineth 

 the female, and withdraweth her meat and sufFereth her not 

 to eat her fill, and she feigneth peace, as it were following 

 the male's will, and cometh in on that other side of the 

 den, and openeth her jaws, and eateth and devoureth and 

 wasteth the meat that is gathered, unwitting the male. 

 These beasts hate the fox, and fight oft-times with him, 

 but when the fox seeth that he may not for roughness 

 and for hardness of the skin grieve him, he feigneth him 

 as though he were sick and overcome, and fleeth away, and 

 while the Brock goeth out to get his prey, the fox cometh 

 into his den, and defileth his chamber with urine and other 

 uncleanness. And the Brock is squeamish of such foul 

 things, and forsaketh his house that is so defiled, and 

 getteth needfully another dwelling-place. 



Bartholomew (Berthelet}, hk. xviii. 103. 



THE Brock has short legs, and not equal on the two 

 sides, but shorter on the left side, so that planting th< 

 feet of the right side in the ruts made by wheels, it run! 

 valiantly, and escapes its pursuers. The fat of the Badgei 

 grows when the moon waxes, and decreases as it wan< 

 so that if it be killed on the last day of the old moon 

 none is found. This is strange, that though this part oi 

 the beast is medicinal, yet its bite is often very serioi 

 and fatal ; and the reason of this is that it lives on wasj 

 and animals which creep on the ground, and are venomous, 

 and therefore they infect its teeth. Its brain boiled with oil 

 cures all pains. Hortus Sanitatis, part ii. ch. cxlii. 



[Sir Toby probably calls Malvolio " Brock " in allusion to the 

 habit described by Bartholomew of this animal in strutting 

 (purring) out its skin, so the word conveys a vivid and ludicrous 

 idea of Malvolio's gait.] 



WE have Badgers in our sandy and light grounds, where 

 woods, furzes, broom and plenty of shrubs are to shrowd 

 them in, when they be from their burrows. Foxes and 

 Badgers are rather preserved by gentlemen to hunt and 



