THE FATAL SWOOP. 39 



This passage has been differently rendered, by removing 

 the punctuation between "aiery" and "towers," and 

 reading the former " airey " or " airy," and making 

 " towers " a substantive. But the meaning of the passage, 

 as it stands above, seems to us sufficiently clear. 



"Aiery" is equivalent to "eyrie," the nesting-place. 

 The word occurs again in Richard III. (Act i. Sc. 3) : — 



" Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top ;" 

 and, 



" Your aiery buildeth in our aiery 's nest." 



The verb "to tower," in the language of falconry, 

 signifies "to rise spirally to a height." Compare the 

 French "tour!' As a further argument, too, for reading 

 " towers '' as a verb, and not as a substantive, compare the 

 following passage from Macbeth, which plainly shows that 

 Shakespeare was not unacquainted with this word as a 

 hawking term : — 



" A falcon towering in her pride of place." 



Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 4. 



The word " souse," above quoted, is likewise borrowed 

 from the language of falconry, and, as a substantive, is 

 equivalent to "swoop." It would seem to be derived 

 from the German "sausen," which signifies to rush with 

 a whistling sound like the wind ; and this is certainly 

 expressive of the " whish " made by the wings of a falcon 

 when swooping on her prey. 



There is a good illustration of this passage in Drayton's 



