66 THE " SHARD-BORNE BEETLE." 



introduced into three of Shakspeare's plays. Thus, 

 in his " Antony and Cleopatra," — 



" They are his shards, and he their beetle ;" 



{Act III, Sc. II.) 



and in " Cymbeline," — 



" Often to our comfort do we find 

 The sharded beetle in a safer hold 

 Than is the full-wing'd eagle."— .4c? III. Sc. III. 



These shards or wing cases are raised and ex- 

 panded when the beetle flies, and by their concavity 

 act like two parachutes in supporting him in the air. 

 Hence the propriety and correctness of Shakspeare's 

 description, "the shard-borne beetle," a description 

 embodied in a single epithet. I do not mean to 

 assert that the word shard has not other meanings ; 

 in fact, it is employed by Hamlet in its primitive 

 English signification — a piece of broken tile ; for the 

 priest says of Ophelia, 



"Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her." 



Act V. Sc. I. 



I only deny that any of its other meanings should be 

 used in the present instance. The one most applicable 

 is that given by Mr. Toilet, as quoted in the notes 

 to Ayscough's edition of Shakspeare, that " shard- 

 born beetle is the beetle born in cow- dung; and 

 that shard expresses dung is weU known in the 



