Chapter 34

“And damn’d be he that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’”

“And damn’d be he that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’”

We may compare Lady Macbeth’s words (i. 5):

“Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,To cry, ‘Hold, hold!’”

“Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,To cry, ‘Hold, hold!’”

“I’ the name of me.” A vulgar exclamation formerly in use. So in the “Winter’s Tale” (iv. 2) it is used by the Clown.

“O ho, O ho!” This savage exclamation was, says Steevens, constantly appropriated by the writers of our ancient mysteries and moralities to the devil. In “The Tempest” (i. 2), Caliban, when rebuked by Prospero for seeking “to violate the honor of my child,” replies:

“O ho, O ho! would it had been done!Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled elseThis isle with Calibans.”

“O ho, O ho! would it had been done!Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled elseThis isle with Calibans.”

Push.An exclamation equivalent topish.[975]It is used by Leonato in “Much Ado About Nothing” (v. 1):

“And made a push at chance and sufferance;”

“And made a push at chance and sufferance;”

and again, in “Timon of Athens” (iii. 6), where one of the lords says: “Push! did you see my cap?”

Rivowas an exclamation often used in Bacchanalian revels, but its origin is uncertain. It occurs in “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 4): “‘Rivo!’ says the drunkard.” Gifford suggests that it is “corrupted, perhaps, from the Spanishrio, which is figuratively used for a large quantity of liquor,” a derivation, however, which Mr. Dyce does not think probable.

Sneck-up.This was an exclamation of contempt, equivalentto “go and hang yourself.”[976]It is used by Sir Toby in “Twelfth Night” (ii. 3), in reply to Malvolio’s rebuke: “We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Sneck up!”

So-ho.This is the cry of sportsmen when the hare is found in her seat.

Spy.“I spy” is the usual exclamation at a well-known childish game called “Hie spy, hie!”[977]

Tailor.Johnson explains the following words of Puck in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (ii. 1) thus:

“The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,And ‘tailor’ cries, and falls into a cough.”

“The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,And ‘tailor’ cries, and falls into a cough.”

“The custom of crying tailor at a sudden fall backwards, I think I remember to have observed. He that slips beside his chair, falls as a tailor squats upon his board.” Mr. Dyce,[978]however, adds, “it may be doubted if this explains the text.”

Tilly-vally.An exclamation of contempt, the etymology of which is uncertain. According to Douce it is a hunting phrase borrowed from the French. Singer says it is equivalent tofiddle-faddle. It occurs in “Twelfth Night” (ii. 3), being used by Sir Toby: “Am not I consanguineous? am I not of her blood? Tilly-vally, lady!”

In “2 Henry IV.” (ii. 4), the Hostess corrupts it totilly-fally: “Tilly-fally, Sir John, ne’er tell me: your ancient swaggerer comes not in my doors.”

As a further illustration of the use of this word, Singer quotes a conversation between Sir Thomas More and his wife, given in Roper’s Life: “Is not this house, quoth he, as nigh heaven as my own? To whom she, after her accustomed homely fashion, not liking such talk, answered, Tylle-valle, Tylle-valle.”

Westward, ho.This was one of the exclamations of the watermen who plied on the Thames, and is used by Viola in“Twelfth Night” (iii. 1). Dyce[979]quotes from Peel’s “Edward I.” to illustrate the use of this word:

“Queen Elinor.Ay, good woman, conduct me to the court,That there I may bewail my sinful life,And call to God to save my wretched soul.[A cry of ‘Westward, ho!’Woman, what noise is this I hear?Potter’s Wife.An like your grace, it is the watermen that call forpassengers to go westward now.”

“Queen Elinor.Ay, good woman, conduct me to the court,That there I may bewail my sinful life,And call to God to save my wretched soul.[A cry of ‘Westward, ho!’Woman, what noise is this I hear?

Potter’s Wife.An like your grace, it is the watermen that call forpassengers to go westward now.”

Dekker took the exclamation “Westward, ho!” for the title of a comedy; and Jonson, Chapman, and Marston adopted that of “Eastward, ho!” for one jointly written by them a few years afterwards.

Fools.Mr. Douce, in his essay “On the Clowns and Fools of Shakespeare,” has made a ninefold division of English fools, according to quality or place of employment, as the domestic fool, the city or corporation fool, the tavern fool, the fool of the mysteries and moralities. The last is generally called the “vice,” and is the original of the stage clowns so common among the dramatists of the time of Elizabeth, and who embody so much of the wit of Shakespeare.

A very palpable distinction is that which distinguishes between such creatures as were chosen to excite to laughter from some deformity of mind or body, and such as were chosen for a certain alertness of mind and power of repartee—or, briefly, butts and wits. The dress of the regular court fool of the middle ages was not altogether a rigid uniform, but seems to have changed from time to time. The head was shaved, the coat was motley, and the breeches tight, with, generally, one leg different in color from the other. The head was covered with a garment resembling a monk’s cowl, which fell over the breast and shoulders, and often bore asses’ ears, and was crested with a coxcomb, while bells hung from various parts of the attire. The fool’s bauble was a short staff bearing a ridiculous head, to which was sometimes attachedan inflated bladder, by which sham castigations were inflicted; a long petticoat was also occasionally worn, but seems to have belonged rather to the idiots than the wits. The fool’s business was to amuse his master, to excite his laughter by sharp contrast, to prevent the over-oppression of state affairs, and, in harmony with a well-known physiological precept, by his liveliness at meals to assist his lord’s digestion.[980]

The custom of shaving and nicking the head of a fool is very old. There is a penalty of ten shillings, in one of Alfred’s Ecclesiastical Laws, if one opprobriously shave a common man like a fool; and Malone cites a passage from “The Choice of Change,” etc., by S. R. Gent, 4to, 1598—“Three things used by monks, which provoke other men to laugh at their follies: 1. They are shaven and notched on the head like fooles.”

In the “Comedy of Errors” (v. 1), the servant says:

“My master preaches patience to him, and the whileHis man with scissors nicks him like a fool.”

“My master preaches patience to him, and the whileHis man with scissors nicks him like a fool.”

Forfeits.In order to enforce some kind of regularity in barbers’ shops, which were once places of great resort for the idle, certain laws were usually made, the breaking of which was to be punished by forfeits. Rules of this kind, however, were as often laughed at as obeyed. So, in “Measure for Measure” (v. 1):

“laws for all faults,But faults so countenanc’d, that the strong statutesStand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop,As much in mock as mark.”

“laws for all faults,But faults so countenanc’d, that the strong statutesStand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop,As much in mock as mark.”

Gambling.It was once customary for a person when going abroad “to put out” a sum of money on condition of receiving good interest for it on his return home; if he never returned the deposit was forfeited. Hence such a one was called “a putter-out.” It is to this practice that referenceis made in the following passage (“The Tempest,” iii. 3):

“or that there were such menWhose heads stood in their breasts? which now we findEach putter-out of five for one will bring usGood warrant of.”

“or that there were such menWhose heads stood in their breasts? which now we findEach putter-out of five for one will bring usGood warrant of.”

Malone quotes from Moryson’s “Itinerary” (1617, pt. i. p. 198): “This custom of giving out money upon these adventures was first used in court and noblemen;” a practice which “banker-outs, stage-players, and men of base condition had drawn into contempt,” by undertaking journeys merely for gain upon their return. In Ben Jonson’s “Every Man Out of His Humour” (ii. 3) the custom is thus alluded to: “I do intend, this year of jubilee coming on, to travel; and because I will not altogether go upon expence, I am determined to put forth some five thousand pound, to be paid mefive for one, upon the return of my wife, myself, and my dog, from the Turk’s court at Constantinople. If all, or either of us, miscarry in the journey, ’tis gone; if we be successful, why then there will be five and twenty thousand pound to entertain time with.”

Garters.It was the regular amorous etiquette in the reign of Elizabeth,[981]“for a man, professing himself deeply in love, to assume certain outward marks of negligence in his dress, as if too much occupied by his passion to attend to such trifles, or driven by despondency to a forgetfulness of all outward appearance.” His “garters, in particular, were not to be tied up.” In “As You Like It” (iii. 2), this custom is described by Rosalind, who tells Orlando: “There is none of my uncle’s marks upon you: he taught me how to know a man in love; ... your hose should be ungarter’d, your bonnet unbanded, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and every thing about you demonstrating a careless desolation.” Another fashion which seems to have been common among the beaux of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, was that of wearing garters across about the knees, an allusion to whichwe find in “Twelfth Night” (ii. 5), in the letter which Malvolio reads: “Remember who commended thy yellow stockings, and wished to see thee ever cross-gartered.” Douce quotes from the old comedy of “The Two Angrie Women of Abingdon” (1599), where a servingman is thus described:

“Hee’s a fine neate fellow,A spruce slave, I warrant ye, he’ele haveHis cruell garters crosse about the knee.”

“Hee’s a fine neate fellow,A spruce slave, I warrant ye, he’ele haveHis cruell garters crosse about the knee.”

In days gone by, when garters were worn in sight, the upper classes wore very expensive ones, but the lower orders worsted galloon ones. Prince Henry calls Poins (“1 Henry IV.,” ii. 4) a “caddis garter,” meaning a man of mean rank.

Gaudy Days.Feast-days in the colleges of our universities are so called, as they were formerly at the inns-of-court. In “Antony and Cleopatra” (iii. 13), Antony says:

“come,Let’s have one other gaudy night: call to meAll my sad captains; fill our bowls once more;Let’s mock the midnight bell.”

“come,Let’s have one other gaudy night: call to meAll my sad captains; fill our bowls once more;Let’s mock the midnight bell.”

They were so called, says Blount, “fromgaudium, because, to say truth, they are days of joy, as bringing good cheer to the hungry students.”

Glove.As an article of dress the glove held a conspicuous place in many of our old customs and ceremonies. Thus, it was often worn in the hat as a favor, and as a mark to be challenged by an enemy, as is illustrated by the following dialogue in “Henry V.” (iv. 1):

“King Henry.Give me any gage of thine, and I will wear it in my bonnet: then, if ever thou darest acknowledge it, I will make it my quarrel.Williams.Here’s my glove: give me another of thine.King Henry.There.Williams.This will I also wear in my cap: if ever thou come to me and say, after to-morrow, ‘This is my glove,’ by this hand, I will take thee a box on the ear.King Henry.If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it.Williams.Thou darest as well be hanged.”

“King Henry.Give me any gage of thine, and I will wear it in my bonnet: then, if ever thou darest acknowledge it, I will make it my quarrel.

Williams.Here’s my glove: give me another of thine.

King Henry.There.

Williams.This will I also wear in my cap: if ever thou come to me and say, after to-morrow, ‘This is my glove,’ by this hand, I will take thee a box on the ear.

King Henry.If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it.

Williams.Thou darest as well be hanged.”

Again, in “Troilus and Cressida” (v. 2), Diomedes, taking the glove from Cressida, says:

“To-morrow will I wear it on my helm,And grieve his spirit that dares not challenge it.”

“To-morrow will I wear it on my helm,And grieve his spirit that dares not challenge it.”

And in “Richard II.” (v. 3), Percy narrates how Prince Henry boasted that—

“he would unto the stews,And from the common’st creature pluck a glove,And wear it as a favour; and with thatHe would unhorse the lustiest challenger.”

“he would unto the stews,And from the common’st creature pluck a glove,And wear it as a favour; and with thatHe would unhorse the lustiest challenger.”

The glove was also worn in the hat as the memorial of a friend, and in the “Merchant of Venice” (iv. 1), Portia, in her assumed character, asks Bassanio for his gloves, which she says she will wear for his sake:

“Give me your gloves, I’ll wear them for your sake.”

“Give me your gloves, I’ll wear them for your sake.”

When the fashion of thus wearing gloves declined, “it fell into the hands of coxcombical and dissolute servants.”[982]Thus Edgar, in “King Lear” (iii. 4), being asked by Lear what he had been, replies: “A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap.”

To throw the glove, as the signal of a challenge, is alluded to by Troilus (iv. 4), who tells Cressida:

“For I will throw my glove to Death himself,That’s there’s no maculation in thy heart”

“For I will throw my glove to Death himself,That’s there’s no maculation in thy heart”

—the meaning being, says Johnson: “I will challenge Death himself in defence of thy fidelity.”

The glove then thrown down was popularly called “a gage,”[983]from the French, signifying a pledge, and in “Richard II.” (iv. 1), it is so termed by Aumerle:

“There is my gage, the manual seal of death,That marks thee out for hell.”

“There is my gage, the manual seal of death,That marks thee out for hell.”

In the same play it is also called “honor’s pawn.” Thus Bolingbroke (i. 1) says to Mowbray:

“Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,Disclaiming here the kindred of the king;And lay aside my high blood’s royalty,Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.If guilty dread hath left thee so much strengthAs to take up mine honour’s pawn, then stoop.”

“Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,Disclaiming here the kindred of the king;And lay aside my high blood’s royalty,Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.If guilty dread hath left thee so much strengthAs to take up mine honour’s pawn, then stoop.”

And further on (iv. 1), one of the lords employs the same phrase:

“There is my honour’s pawn;Engage it to the trial, if thou dar’st.”

“There is my honour’s pawn;Engage it to the trial, if thou dar’st.”

It is difficult to discover why the glove was recognized as the sign of defiance. Brand[984]suggests that the custom of dropping or sending the glove, “as the signal of a challenge, may have been derived from the circumstance of its being the cover of the hand, and therefore put for the hand itself. The giving of the hand is well known to intimate that the person who does so will not deceive, but stand to his agreement.To shake hands upon itwould not be very delicate in an agreement to fight, and, therefore, gloves may possibly have been deputed as substitutes.”

Again, the glove was often thrown down as a pledge, as in “Timon of Athens” (v. 4), where the senator says to Alcibiades:

“Throw thy glove,Or any token of thine honour else,That thou wilt use the wars as thy redress,And not as our confusion.”

“Throw thy glove,Or any token of thine honour else,That thou wilt use the wars as thy redress,And not as our confusion.”

Whereupon Alcibiades answers: “Then there’s my glove.” In “King Lear” (v. 2), Albany thus speaks:

“Thou art arm’d, Gloster:—let the trumpet sound:If none appear to prove, upon thy person,Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,There is my pledge; [Throwing down a glove] I’ll prove it on thy heart.”

“Thou art arm’d, Gloster:—let the trumpet sound:If none appear to prove, upon thy person,Thy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,There is my pledge; [Throwing down a glove] I’ll prove it on thy heart.”

In “Troilus and Cressida” (iv. 5), Hector further alludes to this practice:

“Your quondam wife swears still by Venus’ glove:She’s well, but bade me not commend her to you.”

“Your quondam wife swears still by Venus’ glove:She’s well, but bade me not commend her to you.”

Scented gloves were formerly given away as presents. In “Winter’s Tale” the custom is referred to by Mopsa, who says to the Clown (iv. 4): “Come, you promised me a tawdry lace, and a pair of sweet gloves;” and Autolycus is introduced singing:

“Gloves as sweet as damask roses.”

“Gloves as sweet as damask roses.”

In “Much Ado About Nothing” (iii. 4), Hero says: “These gloves the count sent me; they are an excellent perfume.” Trinity College, Oxford, not ungrateful to its founder and his spouse, has many entries, after the date of 1556, in the Bursar’s books, “pro fumigatis chirothecis,” for perfumed gloves.

Kiss.In years past, a kiss was the recognized fee of a lady’s partner, and as such is noticed in “Henry VIII.” (i. 4):

“I were unmannerly to take you out,And not to kiss you.”

“I were unmannerly to take you out,And not to kiss you.”

In “The Tempest” (i. 2) it is alluded to in Ariel’s song:

“Come unto these yellow sands,And then take hands:Court’sied when you have, and kiss’d,The wild waves whist,Foot it featly here and there,And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.”

“Come unto these yellow sands,And then take hands:Court’sied when you have, and kiss’d,The wild waves whist,Foot it featly here and there,And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.”

There is probably a veiled allusion to the same ceremony in “Winter’s Tale” (iv. 4), where, at the dance of shepherds and shepherdesses, the following dialogue occurs:

“Clown.Come on, strike up!Dorcas.Mopsa must be your mistress: marry, garlic,To mend her kissing with.Mopsa.Now, in good time!Clown.Not a word, a word; we stand upon our manners.Come, strike up!”

“Clown.Come on, strike up!

Dorcas.Mopsa must be your mistress: marry, garlic,To mend her kissing with.

Mopsa.Now, in good time!

Clown.Not a word, a word; we stand upon our manners.Come, strike up!”

In an old treatise entitled the “Use and Abuse of Dancing and Minstrelsie” we read:

“But some reply, what fools will daunce,If that when daunce is doon,He may not have at ladyes lips,That which in daunce he doon.”

“But some reply, what fools will daunce,If that when daunce is doon,He may not have at ladyes lips,That which in daunce he doon.”

The practice of saluting ladies with a kiss was once very general, and in the “Merry Wives of Windsor” to kiss the hostess is indirectly spoken of as a common courtesy of the day.

In “Romeo and Juliet” (i. 5) a further instance occurs, where Romeo kisses Juliet at Capulet’s entertainment; and, in “Henry VIII.” (i. 4), Lord Sands is represented as kissing Anne Bullen, next to whom he sits at supper.

The celebrated “kissing comfits” were sugar-plums, once extensively used by fashionable persons to make the breath sweet. Falstaff, in the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (v. 5), when embracing Mrs. Ford, says: “Let it thunder to the tune of ‘Green Sleeves,’ hail kissing comfits, and snow eringoes.”

In “Measure for Measure” (iv. 1, song) kisses are referred to as “seals of love.” A Judas kiss was a kiss of treachery. Thus, in “3 Henry VI.” (v. 7), Gloster says:

“so Judas kiss’d his master,And cried ‘All hail!’ when-as he meant all harm.”

“so Judas kiss’d his master,And cried ‘All hail!’ when-as he meant all harm.”

Lace Songs.These were jingling rhymes, sung by young girls while engaged at their lace-pillows. A practice alluded to by the Duke in “Twelfth Night” (ii. 4):

“O, fellow, come, the song we had last night.—Mark it, Cesario; it is old and plain;The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,And the free maids that weave their thread with bonesDo use to chant it.”

“O, fellow, come, the song we had last night.—Mark it, Cesario; it is old and plain;The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,And the free maids that weave their thread with bonesDo use to chant it.”

Miss Baker, in her “Northamptonshire Glossary” (1854, vol. i. p. 378). says, “The movement of the bobbins is timed by the modulation of the tune, which excites them to regularity and cheerfulness; and it is a pleasing sight to see them, in warm, sunny weather, seated outside their cottage doors, or seeking the shade of a neighboring tree; where, in cheerful groups, they unite in singing their rude and simple rhymes. The following is a specimen of one of these ditties, most descriptive of the occupation:

“‘Nineteen long lines, bring over my down,The faster I work it, I’ll shorten my score,But if I do play, it’ll stick to a stay,So heigh ho! little fingers, and twank it away.’”

“‘Nineteen long lines, bring over my down,The faster I work it, I’ll shorten my score,But if I do play, it’ll stick to a stay,So heigh ho! little fingers, and twank it away.’”

Letters.The word Emmanuel was formerly prefixed, probably from feelings of piety, to letters and public deeds. So in “2 Henry VI.” (iv. 2) there is the following allusion to it:

“Cade.What is thy name?Clerk.Emmanuel.Dick.They use to write it on the top of letters.”

“Cade.What is thy name?

Clerk.Emmanuel.

Dick.They use to write it on the top of letters.”

Staunton says: “We can refer to one MS. alone, in the British Museum (Ad. MSS. 19, 400), which contains no less than fourteen private epistles headed ‘Emanewell,’ or ‘Jesus Immanuel.’”

Another superscription of a letter in years gone by was “to the bosom” of a lady. Thus Hamlet (ii. 2) says in his letter to Ophelia:

“In her excellent white bosom, these.”

“In her excellent white bosom, these.”

And in the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (iii. 1), Proteus says:

“Thy letters may be here, though thou art hence;Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver’dEven in the milk-white bosom of thy love.”

“Thy letters may be here, though thou art hence;Which, being writ to me, shall be deliver’dEven in the milk-white bosom of thy love.”

This custom seems to have originated in the circumstance of women having a pocket in the forepart of their stays, inwhich, according to Steevens, “they carried not only love-letters and love-tokens, but even their money and materials for needlework.”

Livery.The phrase “sue my livery,” which occurs in the following speech of Bolingbroke (“Richard II.” ii. 3),

“I am denied to sue my livery here,And yet my letters-patents give me leave;My father’s goods are all distrain’d, and sold,And these, and all, are all amiss employ’d,”

“I am denied to sue my livery here,And yet my letters-patents give me leave;My father’s goods are all distrain’d, and sold,And these, and all, are all amiss employ’d,”

is thus explained by Malone: “On the death of every person who held by knight’s service, the escheator of the court in which he died summoned a jury, who inquired what estate he died seized of, and of what age his next heir was. If he was under age, he became a ward of the king’s; but if he was found to be of full age, he then had a right to sue out a writ ofouster le main, that is, his livery, that the king’s hand might be taken off, and the land delivered to him.” York (“Richard II.,” ii. 1) also says:

“If you do wrongfully seize Hereford’s rights,Call in the letters-patents that he hathBy his attorneys-general to sueHis livery.”

“If you do wrongfully seize Hereford’s rights,Call in the letters-patents that he hathBy his attorneys-general to sueHis livery.”

Love-Day.This denoted a day of amity or reconciliation; an expression which is used by Saturninus in “Titus Andronicus” (i. 1):

“You are my guest, Lavinia, and your friends.—This day shall be a love-day, Tamora.”

“You are my guest, Lavinia, and your friends.—This day shall be a love-day, Tamora.”

Military Lore.Fleshment.This is a military term; a young soldier being said tofleshhis sword the first time he draws blood with it. In “King Lear” (ii. 2), Oswald relates how Kent

“in the fleshment of this dread exploit,Drew on me here again,”

“in the fleshment of this dread exploit,Drew on me here again,”

upon which passage Singer (vol. ix. p. 377) has this note: “Fleshment, therefore, is here metaphorically applied to the first act which Kent, in his new capacity, had performed for hismaster; and, at the same time, in a sarcastic sense, as though he had esteemed it an heroic exploit to trip a man behind, who was actually falling.” The phrase occurs again in “1 Henry IV.” (v. 4), where Prince Henry tells his brother:

“Come, brother John, full bravely hast thou flesh’dThy maiden sword.”

“Come, brother John, full bravely hast thou flesh’dThy maiden sword.”

Swearing by the Sword.According to Nares,[985]“the singular mixture of religious and military fanaticism which arose from the Crusades gave rise to the custom of taking a solemn oath upon a sword. In a plain, unenriched sword, the separation between the blade and the hilt was usually a straight transverse bar, which, suggesting the idea of a cross, added to the devotion which every true knight felt for his favorite weapon, and evidently led to this practice.” Hamlet makes Horatio swear that he will never divulge having seen the Ghost (i. 5):

“Never to speak of this that you have seen,Swear by my sword.”

“Never to speak of this that you have seen,Swear by my sword.”

In the “Winter’s Tale” (ii. 3), Leonato says:

“Swear by this swordThou wilt perform my bidding.”

“Swear by this swordThou wilt perform my bidding.”

The cross of the sword is also mentioned to illustrate the true bearing of the oath. Hence, in “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 4), Falstaff says jestingly of Glendower, that he “swore the devil his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh hook.”[986]On account of the practice of swearing by a sword, or, rather, by the cross or upper end of it, the name ofJesuswas sometimes inscribed on the handle or some other part.

Mining Terms.According to Mr. Collier, the phrase “truepenny” is a mining term current in the north of England, signifying a particular indication in the soil, of the direction in which ore is to be found. Thus Hamlet (i. 5)says

“Ah, ha, boy! say’st thou so? art thou there, truepenny?”

“Ah, ha, boy! say’st thou so? art thou there, truepenny?”

when making Horatio and Marcellus again swear that they will not divulge having seen the ghost.

Patrons.The custom of clergymen praying for their patrons, in what is called the bidding prayer, seems alluded to by Kent in “King Lear” (i. 1):

“Royal Lear,Whom I have ever honour’d as my king,Lov’d as my father, as my master follow’d,As my great patron thought on in my prayers.”

“Royal Lear,Whom I have ever honour’d as my king,Lov’d as my father, as my master follow’d,As my great patron thought on in my prayers.”

Sagittary.This was a monster, half man, half beast, described as a terrible archer; neighing like a horse, and with its eyes of fire striking men dead as if with lightning. In “Troilus and Cressida” (v. 5), Agamemnon says:

“The dreadful SagittaryAppals our numbers.”

“The dreadful SagittaryAppals our numbers.”

Hence any deadly shot was called a sagittary. In “Othello” (i. I) the barrack is so named from the figure of an archer over the door.

Salad Days.Days of green youth and inexperience. Cleopatra says (i. 5):

“My salad days,When I was green in judgment:—cold in blood.”

“My salad days,When I was green in judgment:—cold in blood.”

Salt.The salt of youth is that vigor and strong passion which then predominates. The term is several times used by Shakespeare for strong amorous passion. Iago, in “Othello” (iii. 3), refers to it as “hot as monkeys, as salt as wolves in pride.” In “Measure for Measure” (v. I), the Duke calls Angelo’s base passion his “salt imagination,” because he supposed his victim to be Isabella, and not his betrothed wife, whom he was forced by the Duke to marry.[987]

Salutations.God-den was used by our forefathers as soon as noon was past, after which time “good-morrow” or“good-day” was esteemed improper; the phrase “God ye good den” being a contraction of “God give you a good evening.” This fully appears from the following passage in “Romeo and Juliet” (ii. 4):

“Nurse.God ye good morrow, gentlemen.Mercutio.God ye good den, fair gentlewoman.”

“Nurse.God ye good morrow, gentlemen.

Mercutio.God ye good den, fair gentlewoman.”

Upon being thus corrected, the Nurse asks, “Is it good den?” to which Mercutio replies, “’Tis no less, I tell you, for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.”

A further corruption of the same phrase was “God dig-you-den,” as used by Costard in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (iv. 1): “God dig-you-den all!” Shakespeare uses it several times, as in “Titus Andronicus” (iv. 4), where the Clown says: “God and Saint Stephen give you good den;” and in “King John” (i. 1) we have “Good-den, Sir Richard!”

Another old popular salutation was “good even and twenty” (“Merry Wives of Windsor,” ii. 1), equivalent to “twenty good-evenings.” Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps quotes a similar phrase from Elliot’s “Fruits of the French” (1593), “God night, and a thousand to everybody.”

We may also compare the phrase “good deed” in “Winter’s Tale” (i. 2)—a species of asseveration, as “in very deed.”

Servants Customs.The old custom of the servants of great families taking an oath of fidelity on their entrance into office—as is still the case with those of the sovereign—is alluded to by Posthumus in “Cymbeline” (ii. 4), where, speaking of Imogen’s servants, he says:

“Her attendants areAll sworn and honourable.”[988]

“Her attendants areAll sworn and honourable.”[988]

Gold chains were formerly worn by persons of rank and dignity, and by rich merchants—a fashion which descended to upper servants in great houses—and by stewards as badges of office. These chains were usually cleaned by being rubbed with crumbs. Hence, in “Twelfth Night” (ii. 3),Sir Toby says to the Clown:

“Go, sir, rub your chain with crumbs.”

“Go, sir, rub your chain with crumbs.”

In days gone by, too, it was customary for the servants of the nobility, particularly the gentleman-usher, to attend bare-headed. In the procession to the trial in “Henry VIII.” (ii. 4), one of the persons enumerated is a gentleman-usher “bare-headed.” On grand occasions, coachmen, also, drove bare-headed, a practice alluded to in Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Woman-Hater” (iii. 2):

“Or a pleated lock, or a bareheaded coachman,This sits like a sign where great ladies areTo be sold within.”

“Or a pleated lock, or a bareheaded coachman,This sits like a sign where great ladies areTo be sold within.”

Sheriffs’ Post.At the doors of sheriffs were usually set up ornamental posts, on which royal and civic proclamations were fixed. So, in “Twelfth Night” (i. 5), Malvolio says: “He’ll stand at your door like a sheriff’s post.” “A pair of mayors’ posts,” says Staunton, “are still standing in Norwich, which, from the initials T. P., and the date 159, are conjectured to have belonged to Thomas Pettys, who was mayor of that city in 1592.”

Shoeing-Horn.This, from its convenient use in drawing on a tight shoe, was applied in a jocular metaphor to other subservient and tractable assistants. Thus Thersites, in “Troilus and Cressida” (v. 1), in his railing mood gives this name to Menelaus, whom he calls “a thrifty shoeing-horn in a chain, hanging at his brother’s [Agamemnon] leg.”

It was also employed as a contemptuous name for danglers on young women.

In the same way “shoe-tye” became a characteristic name for a traveller, a term used by Shakespeare in “Measure for Measure” (iv. 3), “Master Forthright the tilter, and brave Master Shoe-tie, the great traveller.”

A Solemn Supper.In Shakespeare’s day this was a phrase for a feast or banquet given on any important occasion, such as a birth, marriage, etc. Macbeth says (iii. 1):

“To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir,And I’ll request your presence.”

“To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir,And I’ll request your presence.”

Howel, in a letter to Sir T. Hawke, 1636, says: “I was invited yesternight to asolemne supperby B. J. [Ben Jonson], where you were deeply remembered.”

So, in “Romeo and Juliet” (i. 5), Tybalt says:

“What! dares the slaveCome hither, cover’d with an antic face,To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?”

“What! dares the slaveCome hither, cover’d with an antic face,To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?”

And in “All’s Well that Ends Well” (ii. 3), the King, on the conclusion of the contract between Helena and Bertram, says:

“The solemn feastShall more attend upon the coming space,Expecting absent friends.”

“The solemn feastShall more attend upon the coming space,Expecting absent friends.”

Statute Caps.These were woollen caps enforced by Statute 13 Elizabeth, which, says Strype, in his “Annals” (vol. ii. p. 74), was “for continuance of making and wearing woollen caps in behalf of the trade of cappers; providing that all above the age of six years (excepting the nobility and some others) should on Sabbath-days and holy-days wear caps of wool, knit thicked, and drest in England, upon penalty of ten groats.” Thus, in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2), Rosaline says:

“Well, better wits have worn plain statute-caps.”

“Well, better wits have worn plain statute-caps.”

Jonson considered that the statute caps alluded to were those worn by the members of the universities.

Theatrical Lore.At the conclusion of a play, or of the epilogue, it was formerly customary for the actors to kneel down on the stage, and pray for the sovereign, nobility, clergy, and sometimes for the commons. So, in the epilogue to “2 Henry IV.,” the dancer says: “My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good night; and so kneel down before you:—but, indeed, to pray for the queen.” Collier, in his “History of English Dramatic Poetry” (vol. iii. p. 445), tells us that this practice continued in the commencement of the 17th century.

Tournaments.In “Coriolanus” (ii. 1) Shakespeare attributes some of the customs of his own times to a people who were wholly unacquainted with them. In the following passage we have an exact description of what occurred at tiltings and tournaments when a combatant had distinguished himself:

“Matrons flung gloves,Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchers,Upon him as he pass’d: the nobles bended,As to Jove’s statue; and the commons madeA shower and thunder with their caps and shouts:never saw the like.”[989]

“Matrons flung gloves,Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchers,Upon him as he pass’d: the nobles bended,As to Jove’s statue; and the commons madeA shower and thunder with their caps and shouts:never saw the like.”[989]

An allusion to the mock tournaments, in which the combatants were armed with rushes in place of spears, is used in “Othello” (v. 2):

“Man but a rush against Othello’s breast.”

“Man but a rush against Othello’s breast.”

Trumpet.In olden times it was the fashion for persons of distinction, when visiting, to be accompanied by a trumpeter, who announced their approach by a flourish of his trumpet. It is to this custom, Staunton[990]thinks, that Lorenzo refers in the “Merchant of Venice” (v. 1), where he tells Portia:

“Your husband is at hand; I hear his trumpet.”

“Your husband is at hand; I hear his trumpet.”

War-Cry.“God and Saint George!”—the common cry of the English soldier when he charged the enemy. “Richard III.” (v. 3). The author of the “Old Arte of Warre,” printed in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, formally enjoins the use of this cry among his military laws (p. 84): “Item. That all souldiers entring into battaile, assaulte, skirmishe, or other faction of armes, shall have for their common cry-word, ‘Saint George, forward, or upon them, Saint George!’ whereby the souldier is much comforted to minde the ancient valour of England, which with that name has been so often victorious; and therefore he who upon any sinister zeale shall maliciously omit so fortunate a name,shall be severely punished for his obstinate, erroneous heart and perverse mind.”

“Havoc!” To cry “havoc” appears to have been a signal for indiscriminate slaughter. The expression occurs in “King John” (ii. 1): “Cry havoc, kings!” In “Coriolanus” Menenius says (iii. 1):

“Do not cry havoc, where you should but huntWith modest warrant.”

“Do not cry havoc, where you should but huntWith modest warrant.”

And in “Julius Cæsar” (iii. 1):

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