248 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



Deer shooting with bow and arrow or cross- 

 bow was also a favourite form of sport, and to 

 this Shakespeare refers more frequently. It was 

 a sport which appealed especially to ladies, for 

 whom stands, or " standings/' were erected, and 

 the deer driven past by keepers or hounds. The 

 deer were also followed on horseback. Mr. Hart- 

 ing, quoting a letter from Rowland White to Sir 

 Robert Sidney, dated I2th September, 1600, 

 tells us that Queen Elizabeth " is well and excel- 

 lently disposed to hunting, for every second day 

 she is on horseback and continues the sport long/' 

 In 1600 the Queen was in her sixty-seventh year. 



In the opening scenes of Act IV. of " Love's 

 Labour's Lost " Shakespeare refers to the " stand- 

 ings " for ladies, and again in Act III. of "3 

 Henry VI.," and also in " Cymbeline " and " The 

 Merry Wives of Windsor." Above all we must 

 not forget " What shall he have who killed the 

 deer ? " in " As You Like It." The fine descrip- 

 tion of the " roan Barbary " in the last scene 

 but one of " Richard II." shows Shakespeare's 

 love of a horse. 



The mythical animals mentioned in Shakes- 

 peare's plays are the unicorn, the phoenix, the 

 cockatrice or basilisk, the griffin, and the dragon. 



