[157.] See also Othello, Act v. Sc. 2, and Timon of Athens, Act ii. Sc. 1.
[158.] See D’Israeli’s “Curiosities of Literature,” iii. p. 84.
[159.] Thornbury, “Shakespeare’s England,” vol. i. pp. 311, 312. Doubtless compiled from Greene’s “Art of Coney Catching,” 1591, and Decker’s “English Villanies,” 1631.
[160.] Compare “Redbreast-teacher,” Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. 1.
[161.] To this day the bird is still called “Martin-pécheur” by the French.
“Arondell,” no doubt the old French, or a corruption of “Hirondelle.”
[163.] One would suppose that such a foreign substance as a “swallow-stone” in the eye would be much more inconvenient than the eyelash which it was destined to remove.
[164.] Curious, if true. Dr. Lebour does not say that he ever found such stones himself, nor does he vouch for their having been found by others in the nests. We have examined a great number of swallows’ nests without being able to discover anything of the kind.
[165.] Pliny makes mention of a “swallow-stone,” but says nothing about its being found in the nest. On the contrary, he says it is found in the stomach of the bird! “In ventre hirundinum pullus lapilli candido aut rubenti colore, qui ‘chelidonii’ vocantur, magicis narrati artibus reperiuntur.”