And possessing more powerful talons:—
“So doves do peck the falcon’s piercing talons.”
Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 4.
She was more easily trained, and capable of being flown at larger game. Hence Shakespeare asserts—
“The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i’ the river.”
Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2.
Sometimes we find the word “tercel” written “tassel,” as in Romeo and Juliet (Act ii. Sc. 2):—
“O, for a falconer’s voice,
To lure this tassel-gentle back again!”
Spenser almost invariably spells the word in this way.[45] To understand the allusion to the falconer’s voice, it should be observed that after a hawk had been flown, and had either struck or missed the object of her pursuit, the “lure” (which we shall presently describe) was thrown up to entice her back, and at the same time the falconer shouted to attract her attention.