o 
INTRODUCTION. 
follow him to “ the brook that brawls along the wood,” or 
to that sea “ whose rocky shore beats back the envious 
siege of watery Neptune,” we are alike instructed by his 
observations, and charmed with his apt descriptions. 
How often do the latter strike us as echoes of our own 
experience, sent forth in fitter tones than we could find. 
A sportsman is oft-times more or less a naturalist. His 
rambles in search of game bring him in contact with 
creatures of such curious structure and habits, with insects 
and plants of such rare beauty, that the purpose of his 
walk is for the time forgotten, and he turns aside from 
sport, to admire and learn from nature. 
That Shakespeare was both a sportsman and a 
naturalist, there is much evidence to show. During the 
age in which he lived “ hawking” was much in vogue.. 
Throughout the Plays, we find frequent allusions to this 
sport, and the accurate employment of terms used exclu¬ 
sively in falconry, as well as -the beautiful metaphors 
derived therefrom, prove that our poet had much practical 
knowledge on the subject. We shall have occasion later 
to discuss his knowledge of falconry at greater length. 
It will suffice for the present to observe that there are 
many passages in the Plays which to one unacquainted 
with the habits of animals and birds, or. ignorant of 
hawking phraseology, would be wholly unintelligible, but 
which are otherwise found to contain the most beautiful 
and forcible metaphors. As instances of this may be cited 
