In the celebrated scene in “Julius Cæsar” (iv. 3), in which the reconciliation between Brutus and Cassius is effected, the word is used in a similar sense:
“I’ll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are waspish.”[588]
Water-Fly. This little insect, which, on a sunny day, may be seen almost on every pool, dimpling the glassy surface of the water, is used as a term of reproach by Shakespeare. Thus, Hamlet (v. 2), speaking of Osric, asks Horatio, “Dost know this water-fly?” In “Troilus and Cressida” (v. 1), Thersites exclaims: “Ah, how the poor world is pestered with such water-flies, diminutives of nature.” Johnson says it is the proper emblem of a busy trifler, because it skips up and down upon the surface of the water without any apparent purpose.
FOOTNOTES:
[568] “Insects Mentioned by Shakespeare,” 1841, p. 181.
[569] See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. iii. pp. 190, 191.
[570] See Patterson’s “Insects Mentioned by Shakespeare,” 1841, pp. 104, 105.
[571] “Linnæan Transactions,” vol. xv. p. 407; cf. Virgil’s “Georgics,” iii. l. 148.
[572] “Glossary,” 1876, p. 238.
[573] Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 973.