ZOOLOGY IN TIME OF SHAKESPEARE 223 

 disposal of an average man in the latter half of 

 the sixteenth century. Through medieval times 

 had drifted a certain " corpus " of moralised 

 natural history known as the " Physiologus," 

 which was in essence a Bestiarium. It took 

 various forms, and was read throughout Europe 

 and the Near East. This " Physiologus " was 

 primarily religious in its aim, but dealt not only 

 with the animals mentioned in the Bible but 

 with other and often mythical monsters. Scienti- 

 fically the zoology of the " Physiologus " was of 

 the poorest : in fact, the study of zoology was at 

 its worst during the Middle Ages ; it had fallen 

 far lower than in classical days. The " Physio- 

 logus " had its origin in Alexandria in early Chris- 

 tian times, and was translated into many tongues, 

 including Coptic. It was sometimes fathered 

 upon Ambrose, but is older than his day. 



During the eleventh century a certain " Epis- 

 copus incertus," one Theobaldus, made a metrical 

 version of the descriptions of twelve of the animals 

 dealt with in this little volume. This was pub- 

 lished under the name " Physiologus Theobaldi 

 Episcopi de naturis duodecim animalium," the 

 earliest printed edition being that issued at Delft in 

 1487. Numerous editions were published in many 



