288 SHAKESPEARE'S [SHRIMP. 



To keep beasts safe that the blind mouse called a Shrew 

 do not bite them : Enclose the same mouse quick in 

 chalk, which when it is hard, hang the same about the 

 neck of the beast that you would keep safe from biting ; 

 and it is most certain, that he shall not be touched nor 

 bitten. Lupton, "Notable Things," bk. vii. 52. 



IF a Shrew, I take it to be the blind mouse, doth 

 chance to go over any part of any beast, that part of the 

 beast will after be lame. This I know to be true. 



Ibid., bk. X. II. 



Shrimp. 



ii. KING HENRY VI., ii. 3, 23. 



[ADDRESSED to a salmon] one 

 That for the calmest and fresh time o' the year 

 Dost live in shallow rivers, rank'st thyself 

 With silly smelts and Shrimps. 



Webster, "Duchess of Malfi," iii. 5. 



You shall eat nothing but Shrimp porridge for a fort- 

 night. Brome, " Sparagus Garden," ii. 3. 



Silk. 



So often as I consider that some ten thousands of Silk- 

 worms, labouring continually night and day, can hardly 

 make three ounces of silk, so often do I condemn the 

 excessive profusion and luxuriousness of men in such costly 

 things, who defile with dirt silks and velvets, that were 

 formerly the ornaments of kings, and make no more 

 reckoning of them now than of an old tattered cloak, as 

 if they were ashamed to esteem better of an honourable 

 thing than of a base, and were wholly bent upon waste. 

 Amongst the English a silken habit is so much loved and 

 valued, that they despise their own wool, which compared 

 with silk is not contemptible, and is the most profitable 

 and the greatest merchandise of the kingdom. But time 

 will make them forego this wantonness, when they shall 

 observe that their moneys are treasured up in Italy at that 

 time, when they stand in 'need of it for their public or 

 private affairs. 



Dr. Thos. Moufet, "Theatre of Insects," p. 1033. 



