NOTES BY THE WAY 167 



that his allusions to nature are always incidental, — 



never his main purpose or theme, as with many 



later poets; yet his accuracy and closeness to fact, 



and his wide and various knowledge of unbookish 



things, are seen in his light "touch and go'' phrases 



and comparisons as clearly as in his more deliberate 



and central work. 



In "Much Ado about Nothing," Benedick says 



to Margaret : — 



"Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth — it catches." 



One marked difference between the greyhound and 



all other hounds and dogs is, that it can pick up its 



game while running at full speed, a feat that no 



other dog can do. The foxhound, or farm dog, will 



run over a fox or a rabbit many times without being 



able to seize it. 



In "Twelfth Night" the clown tells Viola that 



" Fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings — the 

 husband 's the bigger." 



The pilchard closely resembles the herring, but is 

 thicker and heavier, with larger scales. 



In the same play, Mariaj seeing Malvolio com- 

 ing, says: — 



"Here comes the trout that must be caught with tickling." 



Shakespeare, then, knew that fact so well known to 

 poachers, and known also to many an American 

 schoolboy, namely, that a trout likes to be tickled, 

 or behaves as if he did, and that by gently tickling 

 his sides and belly you can so mesmerize him, as it 

 were, that he will allow you to get your hands in 



