The Porcupine, Hystrix cristata.
In Hamlet, Act i., Scene 5, occurs the oft-quoted line—
"Like quills upon the fretful porcupine."
The Duke of York, speaking of the rebel Jack Cade, remarks—
"In Ireland have I seen this stubborn Cade
Oppose himself against a troop of Kernes;
And fought so long, till that his thighs with darts
Were almost like a sharp-quill'd porcupine."
The Hare, Lepus timidus.
Even in Shakspeare's day coursing appears to have been a popular amusement. In the amusing farce with the drunken tinker, a servant asks—
"Say thou wilt course: thy greyhounds are as swift
As breathed stags, ay, fleeter than the roe."
Taming of the Shrew. Induction, Scene 2.
"If I fly, Marcius,
Halloo me like a hare."
Coriolanus. Act i., Scene 8.
The Rabbit, Lepus cuniculus.
With our mischievous little friend the Rabhit we conclude our notes on "The Mammals of Shakspeare," merely quoting a remark of the much-abused but amusing Falstaff—
"Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit-sucker."
Henry IV. Part I., Act ii., Scene 4.
In the foregoing brief notes mention has been made of forty-one animals — fere naturæ. The allusions made to them by Shak- speare, although in many cases almost trivial in their nature, exhibit nevertheless an acquaintance with many peculiarities of haunt and habit which, as regards the indigenous animals, could only have been acquired by close observation in the woods and fields. In regard to the species which he would not be likely to meet with in this country, reading and memory evidently served him in good stead.
