200 THE WILD-GOOSE CHASE. 



Mer. Thy wit is very bitter sweeting ; it is a most 

 sharp sauce. 



Rom. And is it not well served in to a sweet goose ? 



Mer. O, here 's a wit of cheverel, that stretches from an 

 inch narrow to an ell broad ! 



Rom. I stretch it out for that word broad : which, added 

 to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc. 4. 



The " wild-goose chase " above alluded to was a reck- 

 less sort of horserace, in which two horses were started 

 together, and the rider who first got the lead, compelled 

 the other to follow him over whatever ground he 

 chose.* 



Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," 1660, gives 

 us a general view of the sports most prevalent in the 

 seventeenth century, and after naming the "common 

 recreations of country folks," he alludes to " riding of 

 great horses, running at rings, tilts and tournaments, 

 and wild-goose chases, which are disports of greater men 

 and good in themselves, though many gentlemen by such 

 means gallop quite out of their fortunes." 



Shakespeare has many observations relating to Ducks, 

 but as his remarks illustrate more appropriately what we 

 shall have to say under the head of " wild-fowl," we 

 reserve them accordingly for a future chapter. 



* See " Chambers's Dictionary," last ed., article "Chase;" also Holt White's 

 note to this passage in the " Variorum Shakespeare." 



