NOTES BY THE WAY 167 



that his allusions to nature are always incidental, — 

 never his main purpose or theme, as with many 

 later poets ; yet his accuracy and closeness to fact, 

 and his wide and various knowledge of unbookish 

 things, are seen in his light " touch and go " phrases 

 and comparisons as clearly as in his more deliberate 

 and central work. 



In "Much Ado about Nothing," Benedick says 

 to Margaret : — 



"Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth — it catches." 

 One marked difference between the greyhound and 

 all other hounds and dogs is, that it can pick up its 

 game while running at full speed, a feat that no 

 other dog can do. The foxhound, or farm dog, will 

 run over a fox or a rabbit many times without being 

 able to seize it. 



In "Twelfth Night" the clown tells Viola that 



" Fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings — the 

 husband 's the bigger." 



The pilchard closely resembles the herring, but is 

 thicker and heavier, with larger scales. 



In the same play, Maria, seeing Malvolio com- 

 ing, says: — 



"Here comes the trout that must be caught with tickling." 



Shakespeare, then, knew that fact so well known to 

 poachers, and known also to many an American 

 schoolboy, namely, that a trout likes to be tickled, 

 or behaves as if he did, and that by gently tickling 

 his sides and belly you can so mesmerize him, as it 

 were, that he will allow you to get your hands in 



