Introduction. 
3 
beneath us, cropping up through all sedimentary strata here and there, 
often commanding attention by the height and sharpness of its peaks ? 
Mr. Darwin would answer infallibly, without a moment’s hesitation, I 
would venture to predict, ‘ Because of the common nature of man and 
his lower progenitors in the scale of creation.’ I mean, without any 
allusion to Shakspere being of ' Darwin’s views,’Darwin would state on 
biological grounds precisely the same fact in nature as Shakspere has 
worked out on moral or psychological principles.” (New Shakspere 
Society’s Transactions, 1879.) 
The question has been asked,—How is it that the 
number of animal metaphors and similes in Shakspeare’s 
works so greatly exceeds that of any other of his brother 
dramatists ? The answer is to be found mainly in his 
larger sympathy with nature; but it may be that his 
deeper study of the problems concerning man’s origin 
and destiny, led him thus closely to connect man with his 
fellow-denizens of the earth. 
However great the interest in external nature felt by 
our forefathers may have been, the scientific knowledge 
they possessed was still but slight. Natural history, 
according to Pliny, was the authorized version of the 
gospel of nature. The most absurd theories and state¬ 
ments concerning animal life put forth by this classical 
authority remained uncontradicted down to the time of 
Shakspeare. The method of interpreting natural phe¬ 
nomena which was founded by Lord Bacon, of substituting 
patient observation of facts for reliance on speculation 
and tradition, gave a fresh impulse to the study of natural 
history. 
Another source from which writers of this time derived 
their notions of animal life was the Bible, which, recently 
translated, was eagerly read from one end of the country 
to the other. Unfortunately, this rather retarded than 
advanced their knowledge of the subject. The crude 
notions of the ancient Hebrews about beasts and birds, 
the very names of which were sometimes changed by the 
translators, were accepted as undoubted truths, and many 
