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I will now always imagine a porcupine as a mobile thistle. Wonderful. Do
we have a mobile rose? I was wondering if the use of an American animal
connects at all with Philip Sidney's New World ambitions. Robert Hayman, a
would-be settler of Newfoundland, adopted the Iguana for the title-page of
his *Quodlibets* (1628); he has an anagram on it that reads something like
"Harm I Bear Not" (for Robert Hayman) but it did, for he died exploring
the Amazon. For him, at least, strange American fauna served to recall the
virtues of exploring and settling the Americas. Anne Prescott.

On Mon, 24 Jun 2002 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Don Hart seems right about the bellicose appearance of the
> porcupine but whether the artist in question had ever seen
> one I do not know, although there may be a record of one in
> a Tudor zoo. The animal in question is, of course, famous
> from the quotation in Hamlet I. iv as the 'fretful porpentine',
> which I believe is accurately depicted there in that its quills
> do erect themselves when danger threatens:
>
> And each particular hair to stand on end,
> Like quills upon the fretful porpentine
>
> Certainly this creature, like a mobile thistle, would equally
> deserve the Scots motto, 'No one injures me with impunity'.
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard R
>
> <P>Why did the Sidneys choose a porcupine? I am
> guessing that at the time,&nbsp;the porcupine, as well as
> other animals from the New World, would have been a lively
> topic for story-telling by travellers for the folks back home. It
> was 'cutting edge'. As well, it was commonly believed--many
> still believe it--that a porcupine could throw its quills, like a
> wall of javelins.&nbsp;The image of&nbsp;a porcupine,
> then, would have been adopted proudly by&nbsp;a family of
> warriors.
>