Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/269

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Amongst the Mustelidæ, Shakspeare alludes to the sable, fitchew (polecat), ferret, weasel, otter, and badger or "brock."

Hamlet, speaking ironically, though bitterly, of the short time that had elapsed since the death of his father, says—

Shakspeare mentions the "fitchew" or polecat sometimes as an epithet, but never to denote anything very nice or enviable. In Troilus and Cressida, Act v., Scene 1, Thersites, to show his detestation of Menelaus, exclaims:—

The word "ferret" we find applied as a verb adjective, and adjective ; it is probable that ferrets were introduced into the country before the poet's day ; in fact, the second quotation given below tends to prove that the animal was well known to him : —