A Merry Tcde . 
199 
And lastly, Marlowe’s poetical simile:— 
“ Now Phoebus ope the eyelids of the day, 
And for the raven wake the morning lark, 
That I may hover with her in the air, 
Singing o’er these as she does o’er her young.” 
(Jeiu of Malta, ii. 1.) 
Without quoting any other passages at length, men¬ 
tion may be made of the appropriate epithets, the 
“ crested lark ” (Ben Jonson, The Vision of Delight) ; “ the 
airy lark ” (Drayton, Noah's Flood) ; and “ the lark with 
the long toe ” (Skelton, Bohe of Philip Sparow). 
Larks were plentiful in Fuller’s time. We read in 
the Worthies of England, that— 
“ the most and best of these are caught and well dressed about Dun¬ 
stable in this shire [Bedfordshire]. A harmless bird whilst living, not 
trespassing on grain; and wholesome when dead, then filling the 
stomack with meat, as formerly the ear with musick. In winter they 
fly in flocks, probably the reason why alauda signifieth in Latine both 
a lark and a legion of souldiers; except any will) say a legion is so 
called because helmetted on their heads, and crested like a lark, there¬ 
fore also called in Latine galerita. If men would imitate the early 
rising of this bird it would conduce much unto their healthfulness.” 
(Yol. i. p. 133.) 
Drayton gives the woodlark the third place in his list 
of English songsters 
“ To Philomel the next the linet we prefer, 
And by that warbling bird the wood-lark place we then.” 
(Polyolbion, song xiii.) 
The little Wagtail, orWashtaile, was once 
made the theme of a lively jest:— " Wa * t£Ui ‘ 
“ A certayn artificer in London there was, whyche was sore seke, 
and coulde not well dysgest his meat. To whom a physician cam to 
give hym councell, and sayd that he must use to ete metis that be light 
of digestyon and small byrdys, as sparowes, swalowes, and specyally 
that byrd which is called a wagtayle, whose flessh is mervelouse lyght 
of dygestyon, bycause that byrd is ever moving and styryng. The 
