HABITS AND ATTITUDES. 3 I 



Prunes the immortal wing, and cloys his beak, 

 As when his god is pleas'd." 



"Prune" signifies to clean and adjust the feathers, and 

 is synonymous with plume. A word more generally used, 

 perhaps, than either, is preen. 



Cloys is, doubtless, a misprint for cleys, that is, claws. 

 Those who have kept hawks must often have observed 

 the habit which they have of raising one foot, and 

 whetting the beak against it. This is the action to 

 which Shakespeare refers. The same word occurs in 

 Ben Jonson's " Underwoods," (vii. 29) thus : — 



" To save her from the seize 

 Of vulture death, and those relentless cleys." 



The verb " to cloy " has a very different signification, 

 namely, " to satiate," "choke," or "clog up." Shakespeare 

 makes frequent use of it. 



In " Lucrece " it occurs : — 



" But poorly rich, so wanteth in his store, 

 That, cloyd with much, he pineth still for more." 



And again, in Richard II. (Act i. Sc. 3) : — 

 " O, who can hold a fire in his hand, 

 By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ? 

 Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite, • 

 By bare imagination of a feast ?" 



See also Henry V Act ii. Sc. 2. 



