12 INTRODUCTION. 



and the knowledge of this fact enables us to understand 

 the dialogue in Romeo and Juliet, which would otherwise 

 be unintelligible : 



" Mcrcutio. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd ! So ho ! 

 Romeo. What hast thou found ? 

 Mercutio. No hare, sir." Act ii. Sc. 4. 



That coursing was in vogue in Shakespeare's day, and 

 practised in the same way as at present, we may infer 

 from such expressions as "a good hare-finder" (Much 

 Ado, Act i. Sc. i), "Holla me like a hare" (Coriolanus, 

 Act i. Sc. 8), and " I see you stand like greyhounds in the 

 slips, straining upon the start" (Henry V. Act iii. Sc. i). 



Rabbits were taken, and no doubt poached, in the 

 same way then as now ; for we read of the coney * " that 

 you see dwell where she is kindled" (As Yon Like It, 

 Act iii. Sc. 2) struggling "in the net." (Henry VI. Part III. 

 Act i. Sc. 4.) 



The Brock f or Badger (Twelfth Night, Act ii. Sc. 5) ; 



* "The coney is called the first year 'a rabbet,' and afterwards 'an old coney.' 

 He is a beast of the warren, and not a beast of venery." The Gentleman's 

 Recreation. 1686. 



f Brock is the old name for badger, and we still find the word occurring in 

 many names of places, possibly thereby indicating localities where the badger was 

 formerly common. Of these may be mentioned, Brockhurst in Shropshire, 

 Brockenhurst in Kent, Brockenborough in Wiltshire, Brockford in Suffolk, 

 Brockhall in Northampton, Brockhampton in Oxford, Dorset, Gloucester, and 

 Herefordshire, Brockham Green in Surrey, Brockholes in Lancashire and York- 

 shire, Brock-le-bank in Cumberland, Brocklesby in Lincolnshire, Brockley in 

 Somersetshire, Brockley in Suffolk, Brockley Hill in Kent, Brockley Hill in 

 Hertfordshire, Brockmoor in Staffordshire, Brockworth in Gloucestershire. 



