Part 5 (1/2)

Sometimes the word was written ”accloy;” as, for instance, in Spenser's ”Faerie Queene” (ii. 7)--

”And with uncomely weeds the gentle wave _accloyes_.”

And in the same author's ”Shepheard's Calendar” (February, 135)--

”The mouldie mosse which thee _accloyeth_.”

It is clear, therefore, that the word occurring in the fourth scene of the fifth act of _Cymbeline_, should be written _cleys_, and not _cloys_.

[Sidenote: EAGLE'S EGGS.]

But to return from this digression; there is a pa.s.sage in the first act of _Henry V._ Sc. 2, which seems to deserve some notice while on the subject of eagles, _i.e._:--

”For once the eagle England being in prey, To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs.”

That the weasel sucks eggs, and is partial to such fare, is very generally admitted. Shakespeare alludes to the fact again in _As You Like It_ (Act ii. Sc. 5), where Jaques says:--”I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs.” But whether the weasel has ever been found in the same situation or at such an alt.i.tude as the eagle, is not so certain. A near relative of the weasel, however, namely, a marten-cat, was once found in an eagle's nest. ”The forester, having reason to think that the bird was sitting hard, peeped over the cliff into the eyrie. To his amazement, a marten was suckling her kittens in comfortable enjoyment.”[30]

The allusion above made to the ”princely eggs,” reminds us of the princely bird which laid them, and those who have read the works of Shakespeare--and who has not?--must doubtless remember the beautiful simile uttered by Warwick when dying on the field of Barnet:--

”Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, Whose arms gave shelter to the _princely_ eagle.”

_Henry VI._ Part III. Act v. Sc. 2.

The conscious superiority of the eagle is depicted by Tamora, who tells us:--

”The eagle suffers little birds to sing, And is not careful what they mean thereby, Knowing that with the shadow of his wing He can at pleasure stint their melody.”

_t.i.tus Andronicus_, Act iv. Sc. 4.

[Sidenote: LONGEVITY OF THE EAGLE.]

The great age to which this bird sometimes attains has been remarked by most writers on Ornithology. The Psalmist has beautifully alluded to it where he says of the righteous man,--”His youth shall be renewed like the eagle's.” A golden eagle, which had been nine years in the possession of Mr. Owen Holland, of Conway, lived thirty-two years with the gentleman who made him a present of it, but what its age was when the latter received it from Ireland is unknown.[31] Another, that died at Vienna, was stated to have lived in confinement one hundred and four years.[32] A white-tailed eagle captured in Caithness, died at Duff House in February, 1862, having been kept in confinement, by the late Earl of Fife, for thirty-two years. But even the eagle may be outlived.

Apemantus asks of Timon:--

”Will these moss'd trees, That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels, And skip when thou point'st out?”

_Timon of Athens_, Act iv. Sc. 3.

The old text has ”moyst trees.” The emendation, however, which was made by Hanmer, is strengthened by the line in _As You Like It_ (Act iv.

Sc. 3):--

”Under an oak, whose boughs were _moss'd_ with age.”

In an old French ”riddle-book,” ent.i.tled ”Demands Joyous,” which was printed in English by Wynkyn de Worde in 1511 (a single copy only of which is said to be extant), is the following curious ”demande” and ”response.” It is here transcribed, as bearing upon the subject of the age of an eagle:--

”_Dem._ What is the age of a field-mouse?

_Res._ A year. And the life of a hedge-hog is three times that of a mouse; and the life of a dog is three times that of a hedge-hog; and the life of a horse is three times that of a dog; and the life of a man is three times that of a horse; and the life of a goose is three times that of a man; and the life of a swan is three times that of a goose; and the life of a swallow is three times that of a swan; _and the life of an eagle is three times that of a swallow_; and the life of a serpent is three times that of an eagle; and the life of a raven is three times that of a serpent; and the life of a hart is three times that of a raven; and an oak groweth 500 years, and fadeth 500 years.”

[Sidenote: ITS AGE COMPUTED.]