332 The Animal-Lore of Shahspeare’s Time . 
The beaver i’ the parke, strange beast as er'e any man saw, 
Downe-shearing willowes with teeth as sharpe as a hand-saw* 
***** 
Drakes ship at Detford, King Richards bed-sted i’ Leyster, 
The Whitehall whale-bones, the silver bason i’ Chester, 
The live caught dog-fish, the wolfe and Harry the lyon, 
Hunks of the beare-garden, to be feared, if he be nigh on.” 
In Sir Henry Herbert’s Office Booh , which contains a 
register of all the shows of London from 1623 to 1642* 
occurs “ a licence to Francis Sherret to show a straung© 
fish for a yeare, from the 10th of March, 1635.” 
In Mayne’s City Match (iii. 1) allusion is made to this 
custom of exhibiting monsters, though the particular 
subject under discussion is an imposture :— 
(i Poseclap. Some 
Say 'tis an o’ergrown porpoise ; others say 
'Tis the fish caught in Cheshire; one to whom 
The rest agree, said Twas a mermaid. 
Plot. 'Slight! 
Koseclap shall have a patent of him. The birds, 
Brought from Peru, the hairy wench, the camel, 
The elephant, dromedaries, or Windsor Castle, 
The woman with dead flesh, or she that washes, 
Threads needles, writes, dresses her children, plays 
O’ th’ virginals with her feet, could never draw 
People like this.” 
(Dodsletfs Old Plays , vol. xiii. p. 248.) 
The tiny Stickleback, S tickle-bag, Hackle, Sharplin, 
Bansticle, probably owes its proud position at 
the head of the great fish class to the fact that 
it is a good representative of the spiny-finned fishes, which 
according to modem naturalists form the first order. 
It was doubtless as common in early times as it is at 
present. It had probably also the same fascination for 
juvenile anglers. It was found both in salt and fresh 
water. Ho doubt Izaak Walton first learned to love his 
craft by sitting by the pond side with hook fashioned from 
Stickleback. 
