But simply by way of allusion the Hydra is introduced; as in the account of the battle of Shrewsbury (_1 Henry IV._ act v. sc. 4, l. 25, vol. iv. p. 342), Douglas had been fighting with one whom he thought the king, and comes upon “another king:” “they grow,” he declares, “like Hydra’s heads.” In _Othello_ (act ii. sc. 3, l. 290, vol. vii. p. 498), some time after the general had said to him (l. 238),— “Cassio, I love thee; But never more be officer of mine,”— Cassio says to Iago,— “I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all.” So of the change which suddenly came over the Prince of Wales (_Henry V._, act i. sc. 1, l. 35, vol. iv. p. 493), on his father’s death, it is said,— “Never Hydra-headed wilfulness So soon did lose his seat and all at once As in this king.” This section of our subject is sufficiently ample, or we might press into our service a passage from _Timon of Athens_ (act iv. sc. 3, l. 317, vol. vii. p. 281), in which the question is asked, “What wouldst thou do with the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power?” and the answer is, “Give it the beasts, to be rid of the men.” In the wide range of the pre-Shakespearean Emblematists and Fabulists we might peradventure find a parallel to each animal that is named (l. 324),— “If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee: if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee: if thou wert the fox, the lion would suspect thee when peradventure thou wert accused by the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee, and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner[162] ... wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be killed by the horse: wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seized by the leopard: wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life: all thy safety were remotion, and thy defence absence.” And so may we take warning, and make our defence for writing so much,—it is the absence of far more that might be gathered,— “Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’ Like the poor cat i’ the adage.” _Macbeth_, act i. sc. 7, l. 44. [Illustration: _Aneau, 1552._] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SECTION VII. _EMBLEMS FOR POETIC IDEAS._