SPORT IN SHAKESPEARE 89 



Huntsman. Why, Bellman is as good as he, my lord, 

 He cried upon it at the merest loss. 

 And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent. 



Lord. Thou art a fool ; if Echo were as fleet, 

 I would esteem him worth a dozen such." 



Here we see nose and pace valued just as 

 much as we value the union of those quali- 

 ties now ; and it is worth observing that 

 these lines occur in a play of no assigned 

 period, whereas we can easily understand 

 the writer putting into the mouth of Theseus 

 such ideas as he might conceive to have 

 been entertained by a sportsman of ancient 

 Greece, however far removed from his own. 



To coursino- there are fewer allusions in 

 our author, though greyhounds are referred 

 to several times. In The Merry Wives of 

 Windsor, Slender asks Page, "How does 

 your fallow greyhound, sir ? I heard say he 

 was outrun on Cotsall." Paore's answer is : 



