The ingenuity which has been exercised in a laudable endeavour to interpret this passage is really surprising. “An ingenious friend,” says the Athenæum,[55] “suggests the following explanation:—‘Among the ancient Ægyptians,
the hawk signified the Etesian, or northerly wind (which, in the beginning of summer, drives the vapour towards the south, and which, covering Ethiopia with dense clouds, there resolves them into rains, causing the Nile to swell), because that bird follows the direction of that wind (Job xxxix. 26). The heron, hern, or hernshaw signified the southerly wind, because it takes its flight from Ethiopia into Upper Egypt, following the course of the Nile as it retires within its banks, and living on the small worms hatched in the mud of the river. Hence the heads of these two birds may be seen surmounting the canopi used by the ancient
Ægyptians to indicate the rising and falling of the Nile respectively. Now Hamlet, though feigning madness, yet claims sufficient sanity to distinguish a hawk from a hernshaw when the wind is southerly; that is, in the time of the migration of the latter to the north, and when the former is not to be seen. Shakespeare may have become acquainted with the habits of these migrating birds of Egypt through a translation of Plutarch, who gives a particular account of them, published in the middle of the sixteenth century by Thomas North.’”
VALUE OF HAWKS.
The present chapter, embodying, as it does, a treatise on hawking, illustrated by quotations from Shakespeare, would scarcely be complete without some reference to the prices paid for hawks, and to the expenses of keeping them, at the period at which Shakespeare lived. These particulars may be gleaned from scattered entries in
certain “Household Books” and “Privy Purse Accounts” of noble owners, which the invaluable labours of antiquaries have placed within reach of the curious.
We have been at some pains to collect and arrange the following entries, believing that the information which they supply will be far more interesting to the reader if allowed to remain in the form in which we have found it:—
| PRICES OF HAWKS. |
|---|
| Itm̃ the viij daye paied to Walshe for so moche money by him layed out for one goshawke and ij fawcons | iij li. |
| Itm̃ the xv daye paied for v fawcons and a tarsell | viij li. |
| Itm̃ the iij daye paied in rewarde toSr Richard Sandes s’vñt for thebringing of a saker to the king athampton courte | | v s̃. |
| Itm̃ the same daye paied for fyve ffawcons | vij li. | vj s̃. | viij d. |
| Itm̃ the iij daye paied to a strangercalled Jasper, fawconer, for vj sakersand v sakeretts at viij corons a pecewhich amots to xx/iiij viij corons | xx li. | x s̃. | viij d. |
| Itm̃ the viij daye paied to maisterWalshe for so much money by himpaied for goshawks the which theking’s grace bought upon the cage | iij li. |
| Itm̃ to iij of maister Skevington’s s’vñtsin rewarde for bringing iij hobbyesto the king’s grace | iij li. |
| Itm̃ the xj daye paied to a s’vñt ofMaister Saint John in rewarde forbringing a caste of hawks | | xx s̃. |
| Itm̃ the viij daye paied to a s’vñt ofthe duc of Ferrers in rewarde forbringing of a caste of fawcons tothe king’s grace at Westm | xxiij li. | vj s̃. | viij d. |
| Itm̃ the xix daye paid to a s’vñt ofMaister Walshe’s for bringing of acaste of Laneretts to the king’sgrace in rewarde | | x s̃. |
| Itm̃ the xxvij daye paied to the Abbotof Tewxbury s’vñt in rewarde forbringing a caste of Launners to theking’s grace | | xx s̃. |
| Itm̃ the xvj daye paied to Augustynethe fawconer for viij hawks at vjAngells a pece, whiche amounteth to | xviij li. |
KEEP OF HAWKS. |
| HAWKS’ FURNITURE. |
|---|
| Itm̃ the iiij daye paied for ij dousin ofhawks’ hoods at iij s̃. iiij d. le dousin | | vj s̃. | viij d. |
| Itm̃ the same daye paied for iij hawks’gloves at vj s̃. viij d. le glove | | xx s̃. |
| Itm̃ the same day paied for vj dousingilte bells at iij corons le dousin | | xliij s̃. |
| HAWKS’ MEAT. |
|---|
| Itm̃ the xx daye paied to Philip Clampefor the mete of ij hawks after therate of ij d. by the daye from thexx daye of Aprill unto the xviijday of Novembre | | xxv s̃. |
| Itm̃ the xxj daye paied to James thehenne taker for hawks’ mete | | x s̃. |
| Itm̃ the xj daye paied to Hans thefawconer for hawks’ mete | | xiiij s̃. | iiij d. |
| Itm̃ to the same Hugh paied the samedaye for the mete of v hawks bythe same space that is to saye forone quarter of a yere; eṽy hawkeat one penny by the daye | | xxxviij s̃. | vj d. |
| Itm̃ the xvj daye to maister Hennagefor the birds’ mete | | | xij d. |
| Itm̃ the v day to Nicholas Clampe forthe mete of iiij hawks fro the xdaye of Maye unto the xxiij dayeof June after one peny a daye fora hawke | | xv s̃. |
| Itm̃ to the same John Evans for themete of iiij hawks by the space oflxxxxvij dayes for eṽy hawke onepenny by the daye | | xxxij s̃. | iiij d. |
| FALCONERS’ WAGES. |
|---|
| Itm̃ the vij daye paied to John Evansfor his bourde wages for one quarterdue at our Lady daye laste paste | | xxx s̃. | v d. |
| Itm̃ the ix daye paied to the same JohnEvans for his bourde wages froMydsom tyll Michelmas after iiij d.by the daye | | xxx s̃. | v d. |
| Itm̃ the xxvj daye paied to NicholasClampe one of the fawconers forhis wages due for one quarter endedat Easter laste paste | | l s̃. |
| Itm̃ the same daye paied to the sameClampe for his bourde wages fromthe xxv daye of Decembre untothe laste daye of this monethe thewhich amounts to cxxvij dayes, atiiij d. by the daye | | xlij s̃. | iiij d. |
SUNDRIES. |
| SUNDRIES. |
|---|
| Itm̃ the vth daye paied to old Hugh inrewarde when his hawks went tothe mewe | | xl s̃. |
| Itm̃ the xxv daye paied to Walter inrewarde for a Jerfawcon that dyed | | xl s̃. |
| Itm̃ the same daye paied to one thattoke up a Lanner that had beenlacking a hole yere | | x s̃. |
| Itm̃ the laste daye paied unto NicholasClampe for keeping of a lanneretcalled ‘Cutte’ for one hole yere atj d. a daye | | xxx s̃. | v d. |
| Itm̃ the xxvij daye paied to a s’vñt ofmy lorde Brayes in rewarde fortaking up of a fawcon of the kingsin Bedfordshire | | vj s̃. | viij d. |
| Itm̃ the xvij daye paied to one RichardMason for taking up of a fawcon ofthe kings besides Hartford | | vj s̃. | viij d. |
| Itm̃ the xiij daye paied to a s’vñt ofmy lorde Darcys in rewarde fortaking up of a hawke of the kingsand bringing hir to Yorke place | | vij s̃. | vi d. |
| Itm̃ the xiij daye paied to Iohn Westeof the garde to ryde into thecontry for an hawke by the kingscomandet | | xx s̃. |
| Itm̃ the xxviij daye paid to WillmTyldesley, grome of the Chambre,for lying oute to take hawkes bythe kings comandet | | x s̃. |
| Itm̃ the xiiij paied to a s’vñt of maisterSkevingtons in rewarde for bringinghawkes out of Irlande | | xl s̃. |
| Itm̃ the x daye paied to Garard thefawconer in rewarde for taking of afawcon and a tarsell | | lvj s̃. |
| Itm̃ the xj daye of Marche paied toGarrat and Richard the fawconersin rewarde for finding the Herons | | x s̃. |
The interest which attaches to these curious extracts must excuse us with the reader for their length.
We cannot peruse them without being carried back, in spirit, to an age in which, for all that concerns sport, we would fain have lived to bear a part. Alas! that so delightful a pastime as hawking should have declined, and that we should live to see our noble falcons gibbeted, like thieves, upon “the keeper’s tree.”