PREFACE. 
Tuts book presents in a convenient form for reference a 
collection of the quaint theories about Natural History 
accepted by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The work 
is meant to be rather a sketch than an exhaustive treatise, 
otherwise it would fill many volumes. The plan of the 
book is to give some illustration of each word mentioned 
by Shakespeare when there is anything remarkable to be 
noted about it. The term “Natural History” has been 
taken in its widest sense, as including not only fauna but 
flora, as well as some precious stones. 
It is certain that Shakespeare believed some of the strange 
ideas here mentioned, especially about those animals which 
he had had no opportunity of observing in their wild 
state; but, on the other hand, Shakespeare’s knowledge of 
Natural History (in so far as his own observation extended) 
was far greater than that of his contemporaries as here 
illustrated. : 
All the quotations inserted in this book are from works 
which were the standard authorities in Shakespeare’s time, 
and the extracts are cited with the utmost exactness, 
except where the spelling in all but a few rare words has 
been modernized, and where uninteresting matter has been 
omitted. A few of these extracts are given, not for their 
