The Winter's Tale to him in a dream and bade him name the girl Perdita. He leaves a fardel (a bundle) by the baby containing gold and other trinkets which suggest that the baby is of noble blood. A violent storm suddenly appears, wrecking the ship on which Antigonus arrived. He wishes to take pity on the child, but is chased away in one of Shakespeare's most famous stage directions: "Exit, pursued by a bear." (It is not known whether Shakespeare used a real bear from the London bear-pits, or an actor in bear costume.) Perdita is rescued by a shepherd and his
Practice direction Practice direction In English law, a practice direction is a supplemental protocol to rules of civil and criminal procedure in the courts – "a device to regulate minor procedural matters". The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 contains a large number of practice directions which give practical advice on how to interpret the rules themselves. Also, individual courts and judges may make their own practice directions, especially in specialist types of proceedings such as in the patent court. A famous example of a Practice Statement occurred in 1966 when the House of Lords declared itself able to depart from its own precedent