238 The Animal-Lore of ShaJcspeare’s Time. 
connected with falconry, that there is nothing to be 
added so far as Shakspeare himself is concerned. The 
writings of most of the poets and dramatists of the time 
abound with allusions to this pastime. It is somewhat 
curious that the works of Shakspeare’s immediate fore¬ 
runners, Peele, Greene, and Marlowe, should furnish 
exceptions to this statement. We do not find a single 
important allusion to hawks or falcons in their plays. 
A highly poetical description of hawking is given by 
Massinger. The terms employed, though obscure to us 
from their technicality, were at that time perfectly 
familiar to the audience :— 
“ Durazzo. In the afternoon, 
For we will have variety of delights. 
We’ll to the field again; no game shall rise, 
But we’ll he ready for it: if a hare, my greyhounds 
Shall make a course ; for the pie or jay, a sparhawk 
Flies from the fist; the crow so near pursued, 
Shall he compelled to seek protection under 
Our horses’ bellies ; a hern put from her siege, 
And a pistol shot in her breech, shall mount 
So high that, to your view, she’ll seem to soar 
Above the middle region of the air : 
A cast of haggard falcons, by me mann’d 
Eying the prey at first, appear as if 
They did turn tail; but with their labouring wings 
Getting above her, with a thought their pinions 
Cleaving the purer element, make in, 
And by turns binds with her; the frightened fowl, 
Lying at her defence upon her back, 
With her dreadful beak awhile defers her death, 
But, by degrees forced down, we part the fray, 
And feast upon her. 
Caldoro. This cannot be, I grant, 
But pretty pastime. 
Durazzo. Pretty pastime, nephew ! 
’Tis royal sport. Then for an evening flight, 
A tiercel gentle, which I call, my masters, 
As he were sent a messenger to the moon, 
In such a place flies, as he seems to say, 
