84 



Or when La Pucelle says of the dead Talbot, whom Sir W. Lucy had en- 

 quired for under many sounding titles : 



Here is a silly, stately style indeed ! 



The Turk, that two and fifty kingdoms hath, 



Writer not so tedious a style as this. — 



Him, that thou iriagnitiest, with all these titles, 



Stinking, and fly-blown, lies here at our feet. 



1st Part of K. Henry VI., Act IV., sc. 7. 



Occasionally the references are made vindictively, as when lago exclaims : 



" Call upon her father. 



Rouse him ; make after him, poison his delight. 

 Proclaim him on the streets, incense her kinsmen, 

 And though he in a fertile climate dwells. 

 Plague him with flies." 



Othello, Act I, sc. 1. 



At one time the fecundity of flies in hot weather, affords the poet an apt 

 simile to denote the fickle populace: 



Impairing Henry, strength'ning, mis-proud York, 

 The common people swarm like summer-flies ; 

 And whither fly the gnats but to the sun ? 

 And who shines now, but Henry's enemies ? 



3rd Part of K. Henry VI., Act II., sc. 6. 



At another it serves to indicate excessive conceit. Biron says of " figures 

 fantastical 



These summer flies 



Have blown me full of maggot ostentation. 



Love's Labour's Lost, Act V., sc. 2. 



Often the allusion has a tragic ring, as when poor blinded Gloster cries in 

 his despair : 



As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods ; 

 They kill us for their sport. 



King Lear, Act IV., sc. 1. 



And when, in Cymbeline Sicilius Leonatus, addressing Jupiter, says : 



No more thou thunder-master show 

 Thy spite on mortal flies. 



Act v., sc. 4. 



Among the references to flies are two that show how closely Shakespeare 

 had observed these insects. In K. Henry Y., Act Y., sc. l,he places in the mouth 

 of the Duke of Burgundy the words : 



Like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though 

 They have their eyes ; and then they will endure handling. 

 Which before would not abide looking on. 



St. Barfchtolemew's day comes on the 24th of August ; under the old style it 

 would be September 4th, when the flies in the cool English autumn would be 

 growing dull and sluggish. But an allusion shewing more close attention even 

 than that is found in Othello, Act lY., sc. 2. 



0, ay, as summer flies are in the shambles, 



That quicken even in blowing. 



It is not every one who knows that the flesh-fly, Sarcophaga carnaria is 

 ovo-viviparous ; but Shakespeare knew it. 



The sheep-tick, Melophagus ovinus is mentioned once in the plays. 



I would rather be a tick in a sheep than such a valiant ignorance. 



Troilus and Cressida, Act III., sc. 3. 



Other references to flies will be found in The Tempest, Act III., sc. 2 ; As 

 You Like It, Act lY, sc. 1 ; Winter s Tale, Act lY, sc. 8 ; King John, Act lY, 

 sc. 1 ; 2nd Part K. Henry IV., Act III., sc. 1 ; 2nd Part of K. Henry YL, Act I, 

 sc. 2 ; Troilus and Cressida, Act II., sc. 3 ; Antony and Cleopatra, Act II., sc. 2 

 and Act III., sc. 2 ; Cymbeline, Act lY., sc. 2 ; Titus Andronicus, Act III., sc. 2, 

 and Act Y., sc. 2 ; Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act lY, sc. 1, and Act lY., so, 4; 



