Book excerpt: Bears, dogs, foxes, goats, greyhounds, harts, stags, toads - are the many animal characteristics with which Shakespeare imbues his characters. This gift book contains selections of animal imagery from Shakespeare's comedies, tragedies, history plays and poetry. A general introduction places the animals in the context of mythological beliefs and everyday life in 16th-century England. The illustrations are taken from an early Tudor pattern book housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.