i6o 
BIRD-LIME. 
“Now, I pray you, good young man,” he would say, “ do 
so much as light the candle again.” While the boy was 
away the rogue plundered the shop, and having stole 
everything he could find, stole away himself.* 
“ Birdlime,” which, as most people know, is made from 
the bark of the holly, has long been in use for taking 
small birds. Shakespeare makes frequent mention of it:— 
“ The bird that hath been limed in a bush, 
With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush ; 
And I, the hapless mate to one sweet bird, 
Have now the fatal object in my eye 
Where my poor young was lim'd, was caught and kill’d.” 
Henry VI. Part III. Act v. Sc. 6. 
A similar idea will be found in Lucrece :— 
“ Birds never lim'd, no secret bushes fear.” 
Again— 
“ They are limed with the twigs that threaten them.” 
All's Well that ends Well , Act iii. Sc. 5. 
And— 
“ She’s limed, I warrant you.” 
Much Ado, Act iii. Sc. 1. 
Suffolk, speaking to Queen Margaret of Duke Hum¬ 
phrey’s wife, says :— 
Thornbury, “Shakespeare’s England,” vol. i. p. 339. 
