Folk-lore of Shakespeare Part 23

"The dove and very blessed spirit of peace."

Its love, too, is several times referred to, as in "Romeo and Juliet"

(ii. 1), "p.r.o.nounce but-love and dove;" and in "1 Henry VI." (ii. 2), Burgundy says:

"Like to a pair of loving turtle-doves, That could not live asunder, day or night."

This bird has also been regarded as the emblem of fidelity, as in the following graphic pa.s.sage in "Troilus and Cressida" (iii. 2):

"As true as steel, as plantage to the moon, As sun to day, as turtle to her mate, As iron to adamant, as earth to the centre;"

and in "Winter's Tale" (iv. 4) we read:

"turtles pair, That never mean to part."

Its modesty is alluded to in the "Taming of the Shrew" (ii. 1): "modest as the dove;" and its innocence in "2 Henry VI." (iii. 1) is mentioned, where King Henry says:

"Our kinsman Gloster is as innocent From meaning treason to our royal person As is the sucking lamb or harmless dove: The duke is virtuous, mild and too well given To dream on evil, or to work my downfall."

The custom of giving a pair of doves or pigeons as a present or peace-offering is alluded to in "t.i.tus Andronicus" (iv. 4), where the clown says, "G.o.d and Saint Stephen give you good den: I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here;" and when Gobbo tried to find favor with Ba.s.sanio, in "Merchant of Venice" (ii. 2), he began by saying, "I have here a dish of doves, that I would bestow upon your wors.h.i.+p." Shakespeare alludes in several places to the "doves of Venus,"

as in "Venus and Adonis:"

"Thus weary of the world, away she [Venus] hies, And yokes her silver doves; by whose swift aid Their mistress, mounted, through the empty skies In her light chariot quickly is conveyed; Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen Means to immure herself and not be seen;"

and in "A Midsummer-Night's Dream" (i. 1), where Hermia speaks of "the simplicity of Venus' doves." This will also explain, says Mr.

Harting,[201] the reference to "the dove of Paphos," in "Pericles" (iv.

Introd.). The towns of Old and New Paphos are situated on the southwest extremity of the coast of Cyprus. Old Paphos is the one generally referred to by the poets, being the peculiar seat of the wors.h.i.+p of Venus, who was fabled to have been wafted thither after her birth amid the waves. The "dove of Paphos" may therefore be considered as synonymous with the "dove of Venus."

[201] "Ornithology of Shakespeare," pp. 190, 191.

Mahomet, we are told, had a dove, which he used to feed with wheat out of his ear; when hungry, the dove lighted on his shoulder, and thrust its bill in to find its breakfast, Mahomet persuading the rude and simple Arabians that it was the Holy Ghost, that gave him advice.[202]

Hence, in "1 Henry VI." (i. 2), the question is asked:

"Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?"

[202] Sir W. Raleigh's "History of the World," bk. i. pt. i.

ch. 6.

_Duck._ A barbarous pastime in Shakespeare's time was hunting a tame duck in the water with spaniels. For the performance of this amus.e.m.e.nt[203] it was necessary to have recourse to a pond of water sufficiently extensive to give the duck plenty of room for making its escape from the dogs when closely pursued, which it did by diving as often as any of them came near it, hence the following allusion in "Henry V." (ii. 3):

"And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck."[204]

[203] Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," 1876, p. 329.

[204] There is an allusion to the proverbial saying, "Brag is a good dog, but Hold-fast is a better."

"To swim like a duck" is a common proverb, which occurs in "The Tempest"

(ii. 2), where Trinculo, in reply to Stephano's question how he escaped, says: "Swam ash.o.r.e, man, like a duck; I can swim like a duck, I'll be sworn."

_Eagle._ From the earliest time this bird has been a.s.sociated with numerous popular fancies and superst.i.tions, many of which have not escaped the notice of Shakespeare. A notion of very great antiquity attributes to it the power of gazing at the sun undazzled, to which Spenser, in his "Hymn of Heavenly Beauty" refers:

"And like the native brood of eagle's kind, On that bright sun of glory fix thine eyes."

In "Love's Labour's Lost" (iv. 3) Biron says of Rosaline:

"What peremptory eagle-sighted eye Dares look upon the heaven of her brow, That is not blinded by her majesty?"[205]

[205] In the same scene we are told,

"A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind."

Cf. "Romeo and Juliet," iii. 5; "Richard II.," iii. 3.

And in "3 Henry VI." (ii. 1) Richard says to his brother Edward:

"Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird, Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun."

The French naturalist, Lacepede,[206] has calculated that the clearness of vision in birds is nine times more extensive than that of the farthest-sighted man. The eagle, too, has always been proverbial for its great power of flight, and on this account has had a.s.signed to it the sovereignty of the feathered race. Aristotle and Pliny both record the legend of the wren disputing for the crown, a tradition which is still found in Ireland:[207] "The birds all met together one day, and settled among themselves that whichever of them could fly highest was to be the king of them all. Well, just as they were starting, the little rogue of a wren perched itself on the eagle's tail. So they flew and flew ever so high, till the eagle was miles above all the rest, and could not fly another stroke, for he was so tired. Then says he, 'I'm the king of the birds,' says he; 'hurroo!' 'You lie,' says the wren, darting up a perch and a half above the big fellow. The eagle was so angry to think how he was outwitted by the wren, that when the latter was coming down he gave him a stroke of his wing, and from that day the wren has never been able to fly higher than a hawthorn bush." The swiftness of the eagle's flight is spoken of in "Timon of Athens," (i. 1):

"an eagle flight, bold, and forth on, Leaving no tract behind."[208]

[206] Quoted by Harting, in "Ornithology of Shakespeare," p. 24.

[207] Kelly's "Indo-European Folk-Lore," pp. 75, 79.

[208] Cf. "Antony and Cleopatra," ii. 2: "This was but as a fly by an eagle."

The great age, too, of the eagle is well known; and the words of the Psalmist are familiar to most readers:

"His youth shall be renewed like the eagle's."

Apemantus, however, asks of Timon ("Timon of Athens," iv. 3):

"will these moss'd trees, That have outlived the eagle, page thy heels, And skip when thou point'st out?"

Turbervile, in his "Booke of Falconrie," 1575, says that the great age of this bird has been ascertained from the circ.u.mstance of its always building its eyrie or nest in the same place. The Romans considered the eagle a bird of good omen, and its presence in time of battle was supposed to foretell victory. Thus, in "Julius Caesar" (v. 1) we read:

"Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign Two mighty eagles fell; and there they perch'd, Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands."

It was selected for the Roman legionary standard,[209] through being the king and most powerful of all birds. As a bird of good omen it is mentioned also in "Cymbeline" (i. 1):

"I chose an eagle, And did avoid a puttock;"

and in another scene (iv. 2) the Soothsayer relates how

"Last night the very G.o.ds show'd me a vision, ... thus:- I saw Jove's bird, the Roman eagle, wing'd From the spungy south to this part of the west, There vanish'd in the sunbeams: which portends (Unless my sins abuse my divination), Success to the Roman host."

[209] Josephus, "De Bello Judico," iii. 5.