INTRODUCTION. 1 3 



the Wild Cat who " sleeps by day " (Merck of Venice, 

 Act ii. Sc. 5, and Pericles, Act iii. Intro.) ; "the quarrelous 

 Weasel" (Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 4, and Henry IV Part I. 

 Act ii. Sc. 3) ; "the Dormouse of little valour" (Twelfth 

 Night, Act iii. Sc. 1) ; "the joiner Squirrel" (Romeo and 

 Juliet, Act i. Sc. 4), whose habit of hoarding appears to 

 have been well known to Shakespeare (Midsummer 

 Nights Dream, Act iv. Sc. 2) ; and " the blind Mole,' 7 who 

 " casts copp'd hills towards heaven " (Pericles, Act i. 

 Sc. 1) ; * — all these are mentioned in their turn, while 

 the Bat " with leathern wing," + " the venom Toad," " the 

 thorny Hedgehog," % "the Adder blue," and the "spotted 

 Snake with double tongue," are all called in most aptly by 

 way of simile or metaphor. 



We cannot forget Titania's directions to her fairies in 

 regard to Bats : — 



" Some war with rear mice § for their leathern wings, 

 To make my small elves coats " 



(Midsummer Night's Dream, Act ii. Sc. 2) ; 



* See also Winter s Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3. 



f In the Midland Counties, the bat is often called leathern-wings. Compare the 

 high German " leder-maus." 



% , . " hedgehogs which 



Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount 

 Their pricks at my footfall." Tempest, Act ii. Sc. z. 



g ■• Sere-mouse" from theold English " hrere-mus," literally a raw mouse. The 

 adjective " rere " is still used in Wiltshire for "raw." The bat is also known as the 

 " rennie-mouse " or " reiny-mouse," although Miss Gurney, in her " Glossary of 

 Norfolk Words," gives " ranny " for the shrew-mouse. The old name of ". fritter- 

 mouse," " fluttermouse, " or "fiiddermouse," from the high German, " fleder- 

 maus," does not appear in Shakespeare's works. 



