INTRODUCTION. 13 



the Wild Cat who "sleeps by day" (Merck, of Venice, 

 Act ii. Sc. 5, and Pericles, Act iii. Intro.) ; "the quarrelous 

 Weasel" (Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 4, and Henry IV. Part I. 

 Act ii. Sc. 3) ; "the Dormouse of little valour" (Twelfth 

 Night, Act iii. Sc. i) ; "the joiner Squirrel" (Romeo and 

 Juliet, Act i. Sc. 4), whose habit of hoarding appears to 

 have been well known to Shakespeare (Midsummer 

 NigJifs Dream, Act iv. Sc. 2) ; and " the blind Mole," who 

 " casts copp'd hills towards heaven " (Pericles, Act i. 

 Sc. i);*- f all these are mentioned in their turn, while 

 the Bat " with leathern wing," f " the venom Toad," " the 

 thorny Hedgehog,"^: " the Adder blue," and the " spotted 

 Snake with double tongue," are all called in most aptly by 

 way of simile or metaphor. 



We cannot forget Titania's directions to her fairies in 

 regard to Bats : 



" Some war with rear mice for their leathern wings, 

 To make my small elves coats " 



(Midsummer Night's Dream, Act ii. Sc. 2) ; 



* See also Winter s Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3. 



f In the Midland Counties, the bat is often called leathern-wings. Compare the 

 high German " leder-maus." 



\ . . . . " hedgehogs which 

 Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount 

 Their pricks at my footfall." Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2. 



$ " Rere-mouse" from the old English " hrere-mus," literally a raw mouse. The 

 adjective " rere " is still used in Wiltshire for "raw." The bat is also known as the 

 " rennie-mouse " or " reiny-mouse," although Miss Gurney, in her " Glossary of 

 Norfolk Words," gives " ranny " for the shrew-mouse. The old name of " flitter- 

 mouse," " fluttermouse, " or "fliddermouse," from the high German, " fleder- 

 maus," does not appear in Shakespeare's works. 



