[448] See Brewer's "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," p. 922.
_Weasel._ To meet a weasel was formerly considered a bad omen.[449] That may be a tacit allusion to this superstition in "Lucrece" (l. 307):
"Night-wandering weasels shriek to see him there; They fright him, yet he still pursues his fear."
[449] See Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. iii. p. 283.
It appears that weasels were kept in houses, instead of cats, for the purpose of killing vermin. Phædrus notices this their feline office in the first and fourth fables of his fourth book. The supposed quarrelsomeness of this animal is spoken of by Pisanio in "Cymbeline" (iii. 4), who tells Imogen that she must be "as quarrelous as the weasel;" and in "1 Henry IV." (ii. 3), Lady Percy says to Hotspur:
"A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen As you are toss'd with."
This character of the weasel is not, however, generally mentioned by naturalists.
That Shakespeare possessed an extensive knowledge of the history and superstitions associated with flowers is evident, from even only a slight perusal of his plays. Apart from the extensive use which he has made of these lovely objects of nature for the purpose of embellishing, or adding pathos to, passages here and there, he has also, with a master hand, interwoven many a little legend or superstition, thereby infusing an additional force into his writings. Thus we know with what effect he has made use of the willow in "Othello," in that touching passage where Desdemona (iv. 3), anticipating her death, relates how her mother had a maid called Barbara:
"She was in love; and he she lov'd prov'd mad, And did forsake her; she had a song of willow, An old thing 'twas, but it expressed her fortune, And she died singing it: that song, to-night, Will not go from my mind."
In a similar manner Shakespeare has frequently introduced flowers with a wonderful aptness, as in the case of poor Ophelia. Those, however, desirous of gaining a good insight into Shakespeare's knowledge of flowers, as illustrated by his plays, would do well to consult Mr. Ellacombe's exhaustive work on the "Plant-Lore of Shakespeare," a book to which we are much indebted in the following pages, as also to Mr. Beisly's "Shakespeare's Garden."