“Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There is one tree, the phœnix’ throne; one phœnix At this hour reigning there.” Timon of Athens (act iv. sc. 3, 1. 331, vol. vii. p. 281) just hints at the animal’s disposition: “Wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury.” Decius Brutus, in _Julius Cæsar_ (act ii. sc. 1, l. 203, vol. vii. p. 347), vaunts of his power to influence Cæsar, and among other things names the unicorn as a wonder to bring him to the Capitol. The conspirators doubt whether Cæsar will come forth;— “Never fear that: if he be so resolved, I can o’ersway him; for he loves to hear That unicorns may be betray’d with trees, And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, Lions with toils, and men with flatterers.” The humorous ballad in the _Percy Reliques_ (vol. iv. p. 198), written it is supposed close upon Shakespeare’s times, declares,— “Old stories tell, how Hercules A dragon slew at Lerna, With seven heads and fourteen eyes To see and well discern-a: But he had a club, this dragon to drub, Or he had ne’er done it. I warrant ye.” It is curious that the device in Corrozet’s _Hecatomgraphie_ of the Dragon of Lerna should figure forth, in the multiplication of processes or forms, what Hamlet terms “the law’s delay.” Multiplication de proces. Tout homm[e/] en proces tant ſoit fin, Alors qu’il penſe eſtr[e/] à la fin, Il luy en ſuruient troys ou quatre Pour leſquelz il ſe fault debatre. [Illustration: _Corrozet, 1540._] That is the very subject against which even Hercules,—“qu’ aqerre honneur par ses nobles conquestes,”—is called into requisition to rid men of the nuisance. We need not quote in full so familiar a narrative, and which Corrozet embellishes with twenty-four lines of French verses,—but content ourselves with a free rendering of his quatrain,— “All clever though a man may be in various tricks of law, Though he may think unto the end, his suit contains no flaw, Yet up there spring forms three or four with which he hardly copes, And lawyers’ talk and lawyers’ fees dash down his fondest hopes.” It is not, however, with such speciality that Shakespeare uses this tale respecting Hercules and the Hydra. On the occasion serving, the questions may be asked, as in _Hamlet_ (act v. sc. 1, l. 93, vol. viii. p. 154), “Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery?”