146 THE FALL OF A SPARROW. 
“This ungenitured agent will unpeople the province 
with continency ; sparrows must not build in his house, 
because they are lecherous.”—Measure for Measure, Act 
iii. Sc. 2. 
Iris tells us that Cupid— 
“ Swears he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows, 
And be a boy right out.” 
Tempest, Act iv. Se. 1. 
In Troilus and Cressida, as well as in Hamlet, are passages 
in which it is evident the poet had in his mind the words 
of Matthew x. 29 :— 
“ Are not two sparrows sold fora farthing? And one 
of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” 
“JT will buy nine sparrows for a penny, and his pia 
mater is not worth the ninth part of a penny.’— 7vodlus 
and Cressida, Act ii. Se. 1. 
“ There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” 
Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. 
Again, in the following lines, there is an evident allusion 
to Psalm cxlvii. 9 (“ He feedeth the young ravens that 
call upon him ”) :—- 
“ And He that doth the ravens feed, 
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, 
Be comfort to my age !" 
«ls You Like It, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
