n 4 SHAKESPEARE'S [FITCHEW. 



THE pike is friend unto the tench as to his leech and 

 surgeon ; for when the fishmonger hath opened his side and 

 laid out his rivet and fat unto the buyer, for the better 

 utterance of his ware, and cannot make him away at that 

 present, he layeth the same again into the proper place, and 

 sewing up the wound, he restoreth him to the pond where 

 tenches are, who never cease to suck and lick his grieved 

 place, till they have restored him to health, and made him 

 ready to come again to the stall, when his turn shall come 

 about. It is believed with no less assurance of some than 

 that an horse -hair, laid in a pail full of the like [/>., fenny] 

 water, will in short time stir and become a living creature. 

 Holinskedj "Description of Britain," pp. 223-4. 



THE Lomond Lake [hath] fleeting isles and Fish with- 

 out fins. Ibid., p. 88. 



[!N Cuba] fishermen after a strange fashion used to hunt 

 Fish, and take them by the help of another Fish, which 

 they kept tied in a cord by the boat's side, and when they 

 espied a Fish loosed the cord ; this hunting Fish presently 

 lays hold on the prey, and, with a skin like a purse grow- 

 ing behind her head, graspeth it so fast that by no means 

 it can be taken from her, till they draw her up above the 

 Water. Purcbas* "Pilgrims," p. 904 (ed. 1616). 



Fitchew. 



A dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard, an owl, a puttock, 

 or a herring without a row. 



TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, v. I, 67. 



V. Pole-cat. 



i 



THE skin is stiff, harsh and rugged in handling, and 

 therefore long lasting in garments, yet the savour of it is 

 so rank, that it is not in any great request, and moreover 

 it offendeth the head, and produceth ache therein, and 

 therefore it is sold cheaper than a fox-skin. 



Topsell^ "Four-footed Beasts," p. 172. 



