_Feltham's Works_ (Vol. ii., p. 133.).--In addition to the works
enumerated by E.N.W., Feltham wrote _A Discourse upon Ecclesiastes_ ii.
11.; _A Discourse upon St. Luke_ xiv. 20.; and _A Form of Prayer
composed for the Family of the Right Honourable the Countess of
Thomond_. These two lists, I believe, comprise the whole of his
writings. The meaning of the passage in his _Remarks on the Low
Countries_, appears to be this, that a person "courtly or gentle" would
receive as little kindness from the inhabitants, and show as great a
contrast to their boorishness, as the handsome and docile merlin (which
is the smallest of the falcon tribe, anciently denominated "noble"),
among a crowd of noisy, cunning, thievish crows; neither remarkable for
their beauty nor their politeness. The words "after Michaelmas" are used
because "the merlin does not breed here, but visits us in October."
_Bewick's British Birds_, vol. i. p. 43.