It is surprising that so profuse and prodigal a poet as
Shakespeare, and one so bold in his dealings with human nature,
should seldom or never make a mistake in his dealings with physical
nature, or take an unwarranted liberty with her. True it is that
his allusions to nature are always incidental,--never his main
purpose or theme, as with many later poets; yet his accuracy and
closeness to fact, and his wide and various knowledge of unbookish
things, are seen in his light "touch and go" phrases and
comparisons as clearly as in his more deliberate and central work.