FOOTNOTES:

“Wife, make us a dinner, spare flesh neither corne,Make wafers and cakes, for our sheep must be shorne;At sheepe-shearing, neighbours none other things crave,But good cheere and welcome like neighbours to have.”

Midsummer Eveappears to have been regarded as a period when the imagination ran riot, and many a curious superstition was associated with this season. Thus, people gathered on this night the rose, St. John’s wort, vervain, trefoil, and rue, all of which were supposed to have magical properties. They set the orpine in clay upon pieces of slate or potsherd in their houses, calling it a “Midsummer man.” As the stalk was found next morning to incline to the right or left, the anxious maiden knew whether her loverwould prove true to her or not. Young men sought, also, for pieces of coal, but, in reality, certain hard, black, dead roots, often found under the living mugwort, designing to place these under their pillows, that they might dream of themselves.[674]It was also supposed that any person fasting on Midsummer-eve, and sitting in the church-porch, would at midnight see the spirits of those persons of that parish who would die that year come and knock at the church-door, in the order and succession in which they would die. Midsummer was formerly thought to be a season productive of madness. Thus, Malvolio’s strange conduct is described by Olivia in “Twelfth Night” (iii. 4) as “A very midsummer madness.” And, hence, “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” is no inappropriate title for “the series of wild incongruities of which the play consists.”[675]The Low-Dutch have a proverb that, when men have passed a troublesome night, and could not sleep, “they have passed St. John Baptist’s night”—that is, they have not taken any sleep, but watched all night. Heywood seems to allude to a similar notion when he says:

“As mad as a March hare: where madness compares,Are not midsummer hares as mad as March hares?”

A proverbial phrase, too, to signify that a person was mad, was, “’Tis midsummer moon with you”—hot weather being supposed to affect the brain.

Dog-days.A popular superstition—in all probability derived from the Egyptians—referred to the rising and setting of Sirius, or the Dog-star, as infusing madness into the canine race. Consequently, the name of “Dog-days” was given by the Romans to the period between the 3d of July and 11th of August, to which Shakespeare alludes in “Henry VIII.” (v. 3), “the dog-days now reign.” It is obvious that the notion is utterly groundless, for not only does the star varyin its rising, but is later and later every year. According to the Roman belief, “at the rising of the Dog-star the seas boil, the wines ferment in the cellars, and standing waters are set in motion; the dogs, also, go mad, and the sturgeon is blasted.” The term Dog-days is still a common phrase, and it is difficult to say whether it is from superstitious adherence to old custom or from a belief of the injurious effect of heat upon the canine race that the magistrates, often unwisely, at this season of the year order them to be muzzled or tied up.

Lammas-day(August 1). According to some antiquarians, Lammas is a corruption of loaf-mass, as our ancestors made an offering of bread from new wheat on this day. Others derive it from lamb-mass, because the tenants who held lands under the Cathedral Church of York were bound by their tenure to bring a live lamb into the church at high mass.[676]It appears to have been a popular day in times past, and is mentioned in the following dialogue in “Romeo and Juliet” (i. 3), where the Nurse inquires:

“How long is it nowTo Lammas-tide?Lady Capulet.A fortnight, and odd days.Nurse.Even or odd, of all days in the year,Come Lammas-eve at night, shall she be fourteen?”

“How long is it nowTo Lammas-tide?

Lady Capulet.A fortnight, and odd days.

Nurse.Even or odd, of all days in the year,Come Lammas-eve at night, shall she be fourteen?”

In Neale’s “Essays on Liturgiology” (2d. ed., p. 526), the Welsh equivalent for Lammas-day is given as “dydd degwm wyn,” lamb-tithing day.

St. Charity(August 1). This saint is found in the Martyrology on the 1st of August: “Romæ passio Sanctaram Virginum Fidei, Spei, et Charitatis, quæ sub Hadriano principe martyriæ coronam adeptæ sunt.”[677]She is alluded to by Ophelia, in her song in “Hamlet” (iv. 5):

“By Gis,[678]and by Saint Charity,Alack, and fie for shame!” etc.

In the “Faire Maide of Bristowe” (1605) we find a similar allusion:

“Now, by Saint Charity, if I were judge,A halter were the least should hamper him.”

St. Bartholomew’s Day(August 24). The anniversary of this festival was formerly signalized by the holding of the great Smithfield Fair, the only real fair held within the city of London. One of the chief attractions of Bartholomew Fair were roasted pigs. They were sold “piping hot, in booths and on stalls, and ostentatiously displayed to excite the appetite of passengers.” Hence, a “Bartholomew pig” became a popular subject of allusion. Falstaff, in “2 Henry IV.” (ii. 4), in coaxing ridicule of his enormous figure, is playfully called, by his favorite Doll: “Thou whoreson little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig.” Dr. Johnson, however, thought that paste pigs were meant in this passage; but this is improbable, as the true Bartholomew pigs were real roasted pigs, as may be seen from Ben Jonson’s play of “Bartholomew Fair” (i. 6), where Ursula, the pig-woman, is an important personage.[679]Gay, too, speaks of the pig-dressers: “Like Bartholomew Fair pig-dressers, who look like the dams, as well as the cooks, of what they roasted.” A further allusion to this season is found in “Henry V,” (v. 2), where Burgundy tells how “maids, well-summered and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and then they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on.”

Harvest Home.The ceremonies which graced the ingathering of the harvest in bygone times have gradually disappeared, and at the present day only remnants of the old usages which once prevailed are still preserved. Shakespeare,who has chronicled so many of our old customs, and seems to have had a special delight in illustrating his writings with these characteristics of our social life, has given several interesting allusions to the observances which, in his day, graced the harvest-field. Thus, in Warwickshire, the laborers, at their harvest-home, appointed a judge to try misdemeanors committed during harvest, and those who were sentenced to punishment were placed on a bench and beaten with a pair of boots. Hence the ceremony was called “giving them the boots.” It has been suggested that this custom is alluded to in the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (i. 1), where Shakespeare makes Proteus, parrying Valentine’s raillery, say, “nay, give me not the boots.”

In Northamptonshire, when any one misconducted himself in the field during harvest, he was subjected to a mock-trial at the harvest-home feast, and condemned to be booted, a description of which we find in the introduction to Clare’s “Village Minstrel:” “A long form is placed in the kitchen, upon which the boys who have worked well sit, as a terror and disgrace to the rest, in a bent posture, with their hands laid on each other’s backs, forming a bridge for the ‘hogs’ (as the truant boys are called) to pass over; while a strong chap stands on each side with a boot-legging, soundly strapping them as they scuffle over the bridge, which is done as fast as their ingenuity can carry them.” Some, however, think the allusion in the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” is to the diabolical torture of the boot. Not a great while before this play was written, it had been inflicted, says Douce,[680]in the presence of King James, on one Dr. Fian, a supposed wizard, who was charged with raising the storms that the king encountered in his return from Denmark. The unfortunate man was afterwards burned. This horrible torture, we are told,[681]consisted in the leg and knee of the criminal being enclosed within a tight iron boot or case, wedges ofiron being then driven in with a mallet between the knee and the iron boot. Sir Walter Scott, in “Old Mortality,” has given a description of Macbriar undergoing this punishment. At a later period “the boot” signified, according to Nares,[682]an instrument for tightening the leg or hand, and was used as a cure for the gout, and called a “bootikins.” The phrase “to give the boots” seems to have been a proverbial expression, signifying “Don’t make a laughing-stock of me; don’t play upon me.”

In the “Merchant of Venice” (v. 1), where Lorenzo says:

“Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn:With sweetest touches pierce your mistress’ ear,And draw her home with music,”

we have, doubtless, an allusion to the “Hock Cart” of the old harvest-home. This was the cart which carried the last corn away from the harvest-field,[683]and was generally profusely decorated, and accompanied by music, old and young shouting at the top of their voices a doggerel after the following fashion:

“We have ploughed, we have sowed,We have reaped, we have mowed,We have brought home every load,Hip, hip, hip! harvest home.”[684]

In “Poor Robin’s Almanack” for August, 1676, we read:

“Hoacky is brought home with hallowing,Boys with plumb-cake the cart following.”

Holyrood Day(September 14). This festival,[685]called also Holy-Cross Day, was instituted by the Romish Church, onaccount of the recovery of a large piece of the supposed cross by the Emperor Heraclius, after it had been taken away, on the plundering of Jerusalem, by Chosroes, king of Persia. Among the customs associated with this day was one of going a-nutting, alluded to in the old play of “Grim, the Collier of Croydon” (ii. 1):

“To morrow is Holy-rood day,When all a-nutting take their way.”

Shakespeare mentions this festival in “1 Henry IV.” (i. 1), where he represents the Earl of Westmoreland relating how,

“On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,Young Harry Percy and brave Archibald,That ever-valiant and approved Scot,At Holmedon met.”

St. Lambert’s Day(September 17). This saint, whose original name was Landebert, but contracted into Lambert, was a native of Maestricht, in the seventh century, and was assassinated early in the eighth.[686]His festival is alluded to in “Richard II.” (i. 1), where the king says:

“Be ready, as your lives shall answer it,At Coventry, upon Saint Lambert’s day.”

Michaelmas(September 29). In the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (i. 1), this festival is alluded to by Simple, who, in answer to Slender, whether he had “the Book of riddles” about him, replies: “Why, did you not lend it to Alice Shortcake upon All-hallowmas last, a fortnight afore Michaelmas,”—this doubtless being an intended blunder.

In “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 4), Francis says: “Let me see—about Michaelmas next I shall be.”

St. Etheldreda, orAudry, commemorated in the Romish Calendar on the 23d of June, but in the English Calendar on the 17th of October, was daughter of Annas, King of the East Angles. She founded the convent and church of Ely, on the spot where the cathedral was subsequently erected.Formerly, at Ely, a fair was annually held, called in her memory St. Audry’s Fair, at which much cheap lace was sold to the poorer classes, which at first went by the name of St. Audry’s lace, but in time was corrupted into “tawdry lace.” Shakespeare makes an allusion to this lace in the “Winter’s Tale” (iv. 4), where Mopsa says: “Come, you promised me a tawdry lace, and a pair of sweet gloves;” although in his time the expression rather meant a rustic necklace.[687]An old English historian makes St. Audry die of a swelling in her throat, which she considered as a particular judgment for having been in her youth addicted to wearing fine necklaces.[688]

St. Crispin’s Day(October 25) has for centuries been a red-letter day in the calendar of the shoemakers, being the festival of their patron saint. According to tradition, the brothers Crispin and Crispinian, natives of Rome, having become converted to Christianity, travelled to Soissons, in France, in order to preach the gospel. Being desirous, however, of rendering themselves independent, they earned their daily bread by making shoes, with which, it is said, they furnished the poor, at an extremely low price. When the governor of the town discovered that they maintained the Christian faith, and also tried to make proselytes of the inhabitants, he ordered them to be beheaded. From this time the shoemakers have chosen them for their tutelary saints. Shakespeare has perpetuated the memory of this festival by the speech which he has given to Henry V. (iv. 3), before the battle of Agincourt:

“This day is call’d the feast of Crispian:He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,And rouse him at the name of Crispian.He that shall live this day, and see old age,Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,And say, ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’”

St. Dennis has been adopted as the patron saint of France(October 9), in the same manner as the English have chosen St. George. The guardianship of the two countries is thus expressed in the chorus to the old ballad:

“St. George he was for England,St. Denis was for France,Singing, Honi soit qui mal y pense.”

King Henry (“Henry V.,” v. 2) says to Princess Katherine: “Shall not thou and I, between Saint Dennis and Saint George, compound a boy, half French, half English,” etc. In “1 Henry VI.” (iii. 2), Charles says:

“Saint Dennis bless this happy stratagem,And once again we’ll sleep secure in Rouen.”

Hallowmas(November 1) is one of the names for the feast of All-hallows, that is, All-Saints. Shakespeare alludes to a custom relative to this day, some traces of which are still to be found in Staffordshire, Cheshire, and other counties. The poor people go from parish to parisha-souling, as they term it, that is, begging, in a certain lamentable tone, for soul-cakes, at the same time singing a song which they call the souler’s song. This practice is, no doubt, a remnant of the Popish ceremony of praying for departed souls, especially those of friends, on the ensuing day, November 2, the feast of All-Souls.[689]The following is a specimen of the doggerel sung on these occasions:

“Soul! soul! for a soul-cake;Pray, good mistress, for a soul-cake.One for Peter, and two for Paul,Three for them who made us all.Soul! soul! for an apple or two:If you’ve got no apples, pears will do.Up with your kettle, and down with your pan,Give me a good big one, and I’ll be gone.Soul! soul! for a soul-cake, etc.An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,Is a very good thing to make us merry.”

“Soul! soul! for a soul-cake;Pray, good mistress, for a soul-cake.One for Peter, and two for Paul,Three for them who made us all.

Soul! soul! for an apple or two:If you’ve got no apples, pears will do.Up with your kettle, and down with your pan,Give me a good big one, and I’ll be gone.Soul! soul! for a soul-cake, etc.

An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,Is a very good thing to make us merry.”

In the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (ii. 1), Speed thusspeaks of this practice: “To watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak puling,[690]like a beggar at Hallowmas.”

The season of Hallowmas, having been frequently mild, has been, from time immemorial, proverbially called “All-hallown summer,”i. e., late summer. Thus, in “1 Henry IV.” (i. 2), Prince Henry, likening Falstaff, with his old age and young passions, to this November summer, addresses him: “Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell, All-hallown summer.”[691]In some parts of Germany there is a proverb, “All-Saints’ Day brings the second summer;” and in Sweden there is often about this time a continuance of warm, still weather, which is called “the All-Saints’ rest.”

There is another reference to this festival in “Richard II.” (v. 1), where the king says of his wife:

“She came adorned hither like sweet May,Sent back like Hallowmas or short’st of day.”

All-Souls’ Day(November 2)—which is set apart by the Roman Catholic Church for a solemn service for the repose of the dead—was formerly observed in this country, and among the many customs celebrated in its honor were ringing the passing bell, making soul-cakes, blessing beans, etc.[692]In “Richard III.” (v. 1), Buckingham, when led to execution, says:

“This is All-Souls’ day, fellows, is it not?Sheriff.It is, my lord.Buckingham.Why, then, All-Souls’ day is my body’s doomsday.”

“This is All-Souls’ day, fellows, is it not?

Sheriff.It is, my lord.

Buckingham.Why, then, All-Souls’ day is my body’s doomsday.”

Lord Mayor’s Day(November 9). A custom which was in days gone by observed at the inauguration dinner was that of the Lord Mayor’s fool leaping, clothes and all, into a large bowl of custard. It is alluded to in “All’s Well that Ends Well” (ii. 5), by Lafeu: “You have made shift to run into’t, boots and spurs and all, like him that leaped into the custard.” Ben Jonson, in his “Devil’s an Ass” (i. 1), thus refersto it:

“He may, perchance, in tail of a sheriff’s dinner,Skip with a rime o’ the table, from new nothing,And take his almain leap into a custard,Shall make my lady mayoress and her sisters,Laugh all their hoods over their shoulders.”

St. Martin’s Day(November 11). The mild weather about this time has given rise to numerous proverbs; one of the well-known ones being “St. Martin’s little summer,” an allusion to which we find in “1 Henry VI.” (i. 2), where Joan of Arc says:

“Expect Saint Martin’s summer, halcyon days.”

which Johnson paraphrases thus: “Expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun.” As an illustration, too, of this passage, we may quote from theTimes, October 6, 1864: “It was one of those rare but lovely exceptions to a cold season, called in the Mediterranean St. Martin’s summer.”

A corruption of Martinmas is Martlemas. Falstaff is jocularly so called by Poins, in “2 Henry IV.” (ii. 2), as being in the decline, as the year is at this season: “And how doth the martlemas, your master?”

This was the customary time for hanging up provisions to dry, which had been salted for winter use.

St. Nicholas(December 6). This saint was deemed the patron of children in general, but more particularly of all schoolboys, among whom his festival used to be a very great holiday. Various reasons have been assigned for his having been chosen as the patron of children—either because the legend makes him to have been a bishop while yet a boy, or from his having restored three young scholars to life who had been cruelly murdered,[693]or, again, on account of his early abstinence when a boy. In the “Two Gentlemen of Verona”(iii. 1) he is alluded to in this capacity:

“Speed.Come, fool, come; try me in thy paper.Launce.There; and Saint Nicholas be thy speed.”

“Speed.Come, fool, come; try me in thy paper.

Launce.There; and Saint Nicholas be thy speed.”

Nicholas’s clerks was, and still is, a cant term for highwaymen and robbers; but though the expression is very common, its origin is a matter of uncertainty. In “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 1) it is thus alluded to:

“Gadshill.Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicholas’ clerks, I’ll give thee this neck.Chamberlain.No. I’ll none of it: I pr’thee, keep that for the hangman: for I know thou worshippest Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may.”

“Gadshill.Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicholas’ clerks, I’ll give thee this neck.

Chamberlain.No. I’ll none of it: I pr’thee, keep that for the hangman: for I know thou worshippest Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may.”

Christmas.Among the observances associated with this season, to which Shakespeare alludes, we may mention the Christmas Carol, a reference to which is probably made in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (ii. 1), by Titania:

“No night is now with hymn or carol blest.”

Hamlet (ii. 2) quotes two lines from a popular ballad, entitled the “Song of Jephthah’s Daughter,” and adds: “The first row of the pious chanson will show you more.”[694]

In days gone by, the custom of carol-singing was most popular, and Warton, in his “History of English Poetry,” notices a license granted in 1562 to John Tysdale for printing “Certayne goodly carowles to be songe to the glory of God;” and again “Crestenmas Carowles auctorisshed by my lord of London.”[695]

In the “Taming of the Shrew” (Ind., sc. 2) Sly asks whether “a comonty[696]is not a Christmas gambold.” Formerly the sports and merry-makings at this season were on a most extensive scale, being presided over by the Lord of Misrule.[697]Again, in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2), Bironspeaks of “a Christmas comedy.”

As we have noticed, too, in our chapter on Plants, a gilt nutmeg was formerly a common gift at Christmas, and on other festive occasions, to which an allusion is probably made in the same scene. Formerly, at this season, the head of the house assembled his family around a bowl of spiced ale, from which he drank their healths, then passed it to the rest, that they might drink too. The word that passed among them was the ancient Saxon phrasewass hael[698],i. e., to your health. Hence this came to be recognized as the wassail or wassel bowl; and was the accompaniment to festivity of every kind throughout the year. Thus Hamlet (i. 4) says:

“The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,Keeps wassail.”

And in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2), Biron speaks of:

“wakes and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs.”

In “Macbeth” (i. 7), it is used by Lady Macbeth in the sense of intemperance, who, speaking of Duncan’s two chamberlains, says:

“Will I with wine and wassail so convince,That memory, the warder of the brain,Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reasonA limbeck only.”

In “Antony and Cleopatra” (i. 4), Cæsar advises Antony to live more temperately, and to leave his “lascivious wassails.”[699]

In the same way, a “wassail candle” denoted a large candle lighted up at a festival, a reference to which occurs in “2 Henry IV.” (i. 2):

“Chief-Justice.You are as a candle, the better part burnt out.Falstaff.A wassail candle, my lord; all tallow.”

“Chief-Justice.You are as a candle, the better part burnt out.

Falstaff.A wassail candle, my lord; all tallow.”

A custom which formerly prevailed at Christmas, and has not yet died out, was for mummers to go from house to house, attired in grotesque attire, performing all kinds of odd antics.[700]Their performances, however, were not confined to this season. Thus, in “Coriolanus” (ii. 1) Menenius speaks of making “faces like mummers.”

Cakes and Ale.It was formerly customary on holidays and saints’ days to make cakes in honor of the day. In “Twelfth Night” (ii. 3), Sir Toby says: “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” To which the Clown replies: “Yes, by Saint Anne; and ginger shall be hot i’ the mouth too.”

Wakes.In days gone by, the church wake was an important institution, and was made the occasion for a thorough holiday. Each church, when consecrated, was dedicated to a saint, and on the anniversary of that day was kept the wake. In many places there was a second wake on the birthday of the saint. At such seasons, the floor of the church was strewed with rushes and flowers, and in the churchyard tents were erected, to supply cakes and ale for the use of the merrymakers on the following day, which was kept as a holiday. They are still kept up in many parishes, but in a very different manner.[701]In “King Lear” (iii. 6), Edgar says: “Come, march to wakes and fairs, and market towns.” We may also compare “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2) and “Winter’s Tale” (iv. 2). In “Hamlet” (i. 4) it is used in the sense of revel.

FOOTNOTES:[639]“The England of Shakespeare,” E. Goadby, 1881, p. 153.[640]“Critical Essays on the Plays of Shakespeare,” 1875, p. 145; see Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. iii. pp. 347, 348.[641]See “British Popular Customs,” p. 473.[642]“Notes and Queries,” 6th series, vol. i. p. 129.[643]Cf. “As You Like It” (i. 2). Touchstone alludes to a “certain knight, that swore by his honour they were good pancakes.”[644]See Hone’s “Every Day Book,” 1836, vol. i. p. 258; “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 239; see, also, Dekker’s “Seven Deadly Sins,” 1606, p. 35; “British Popular Customs,” pp. 62-91.[645]“Notes and Queries,” 1st series, vol. xii. p. 297.[646]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 443; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. p. 101. Taylor, the Water-Poet, has a tract entitled “Jack-a-Lent, his Beginning and Entertainment, with the mad Prankes of Gentlemen-Usher, Shrove Tuesday.”[647]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. vi. p. 219.[648]“Notes and Queries,” 4th series, vol. v. p. 595.[649]See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. i. p. 362; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 164: Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. iii. p. 94.[650]See Hone’s “Every Day Book,” vol. i. p. 318; “British Popular Customs,” pp. 110-113.[651]St. Patrick rids Ireland of snakes; see p.257.[652]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1870, vol. ix. p. 168.[653]Cf. “Henry V.,” v. 2; “3 Henry VI.,” ii. 1, 2; “Taming of the Shrew,” ii. 1; “Richard II.,” i. 3.[654]Cited by Warton in a note on “Richard III.,” v. 3.[655]Hotten’s “History of Sign-boards,” 1866, 3d ed., p. 287.[656]Cf. “Twelfth Night” (iii. 4): “More matter for a May morning.”[657]“Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 575; see “British Popular Customs,” pp. 228-230, 249.[658]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. i. pp. 247-270; “Book of Days,” vol. i. pp. 630-633.[659]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 550.[660]See Drake’s “Shakespeare and his Times,” 1817, vol. i. p. 163.[661]“Encyclopædia of Antiquities,” 1843, vol. ii. p. 653.[662]See “British Popular Customs,” p. 278; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. p. 276.[663]According to the crusaders and the old romance writers a Saracen deity. See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. ix. p. 214.[664]See Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 482.[665]“Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, pp. 25-28; see Warton’s “History of English Poetry,” vol. ii. p. 202.[666]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 154.[667]Staunton’s “Shakespeare,” 1864, vol. i. pp. 147, 148.[668]See “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 712.[669]See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. v. p. 206.[670]See Nichol’s “Collection of Poems,” 1780, vol. iii. p. 204.[671]See Knight’s “Life of Shakespeare,” 1845, p. 71; Howitt’s “Pictorial Calendar of the Seasons,” 1854, pp. 254-267.[672]“Polyolbion,” song 14; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 34; Timbs’s “A Garland for the Year,” pp. 74, 75.[673]Introduction to the “Leopold Shakespeare,” p. xci.[674]“Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 816; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. i. p. 314; Soane’s “Book of the Months.”[675]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 336, 337.[676]See “British Popular Customs,” pp. 347-351.[677]Douglas’s “Criterion,” p. 68, cited by Ritson; see Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 475.[678]This is, perhaps, a corrupt abbreviation of “By Jesus.” Some would read “By Cis,” and understand by it “St. Cicely.”[679]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 57; Morley’s “Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair,” 1859.[680]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 21.[681]Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 47; Douce has given a representation of this instrument of torture from Millœus’s “Praxis Criminis Persequendi,” Paris, 1541.[682]“Glossary,” vol. i. p. 95.[683]Cf. “1 Henry IV.” (i. 3):“His chin, new reap’d,Show’d like a stubble-land at harvest-home.”[684]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 16-33.[685]See “British Popular Customs,” pp. 372, 373. In Lincolnshire this day is called “Hally-Loo Day.”[686]See Butler’s “Lives of the Saints.”[687]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 868; Brady’s “Clavis Calendaria.”[688]Nich. Harpsfield, “Hist. Eccl. Anglicana,” p. 86.[689]See “British Popular Customs,” p. 404.[690]Puling, or singing small, as Bailey explains the word.[691]See Swainson’s “Weather-Lore,” 1873, pp. 141-143.[692]See “British Popular Customs,” p. 409.[693]See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 25; “The Church of Our Fathers,” by D. Rock, 1853, vol. iii. p. 215;Gent. Mag., 1777, vol. xliii. p. 158; see Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. pp. 601, 602; Brady’s “Clavis Calendaria.”[694]Drake’s “Shakespeare and his Times,” vol. i. p. 198.[695]See Sandy’s “Christmastide, its History, Festivities, and Carols;” alsoAthenæum, Dec. 20, 1856.[696]His blunder for comedy.[697]See “British Popular Customs,” 1876, pp. 459, 463; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 943; “Antiquarian Repertory,” vol. i. p. 218.[698]This was a deep draught to the health of any one, in which it was customary to empty the glass or vessel.[699]See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” 1839, pp. 441-449.[700]See “British Popular Customs,” pp. 461, 469, 478, 480.[701]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 1-15.

[639]“The England of Shakespeare,” E. Goadby, 1881, p. 153.

[640]“Critical Essays on the Plays of Shakespeare,” 1875, p. 145; see Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. iii. pp. 347, 348.

[641]See “British Popular Customs,” p. 473.

[642]“Notes and Queries,” 6th series, vol. i. p. 129.

[643]Cf. “As You Like It” (i. 2). Touchstone alludes to a “certain knight, that swore by his honour they were good pancakes.”

[644]See Hone’s “Every Day Book,” 1836, vol. i. p. 258; “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 239; see, also, Dekker’s “Seven Deadly Sins,” 1606, p. 35; “British Popular Customs,” pp. 62-91.

[645]“Notes and Queries,” 1st series, vol. xii. p. 297.

[646]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 443; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. p. 101. Taylor, the Water-Poet, has a tract entitled “Jack-a-Lent, his Beginning and Entertainment, with the mad Prankes of Gentlemen-Usher, Shrove Tuesday.”

[647]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. vi. p. 219.

[648]“Notes and Queries,” 4th series, vol. v. p. 595.

[649]See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. i. p. 362; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 164: Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. iii. p. 94.

[650]See Hone’s “Every Day Book,” vol. i. p. 318; “British Popular Customs,” pp. 110-113.

[651]St. Patrick rids Ireland of snakes; see p.257.

[652]Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1870, vol. ix. p. 168.

[653]Cf. “Henry V.,” v. 2; “3 Henry VI.,” ii. 1, 2; “Taming of the Shrew,” ii. 1; “Richard II.,” i. 3.

[654]Cited by Warton in a note on “Richard III.,” v. 3.

[655]Hotten’s “History of Sign-boards,” 1866, 3d ed., p. 287.

[656]Cf. “Twelfth Night” (iii. 4): “More matter for a May morning.”

[657]“Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 575; see “British Popular Customs,” pp. 228-230, 249.

[658]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. i. pp. 247-270; “Book of Days,” vol. i. pp. 630-633.

[659]Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 550.

[660]See Drake’s “Shakespeare and his Times,” 1817, vol. i. p. 163.

[661]“Encyclopædia of Antiquities,” 1843, vol. ii. p. 653.

[662]See “British Popular Customs,” p. 278; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. p. 276.

[663]According to the crusaders and the old romance writers a Saracen deity. See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. ix. p. 214.

[664]See Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 482.

[665]“Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, pp. 25-28; see Warton’s “History of English Poetry,” vol. ii. p. 202.

[666]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 154.

[667]Staunton’s “Shakespeare,” 1864, vol. i. pp. 147, 148.

[668]See “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 712.

[669]See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. v. p. 206.

[670]See Nichol’s “Collection of Poems,” 1780, vol. iii. p. 204.

[671]See Knight’s “Life of Shakespeare,” 1845, p. 71; Howitt’s “Pictorial Calendar of the Seasons,” 1854, pp. 254-267.

[672]“Polyolbion,” song 14; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 34; Timbs’s “A Garland for the Year,” pp. 74, 75.

[673]Introduction to the “Leopold Shakespeare,” p. xci.

[674]“Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 816; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. i. p. 314; Soane’s “Book of the Months.”

[675]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 336, 337.

[676]See “British Popular Customs,” pp. 347-351.

[677]Douglas’s “Criterion,” p. 68, cited by Ritson; see Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 475.

[678]This is, perhaps, a corrupt abbreviation of “By Jesus.” Some would read “By Cis,” and understand by it “St. Cicely.”

[679]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 57; Morley’s “Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair,” 1859.

[680]“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 21.

[681]Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 47; Douce has given a representation of this instrument of torture from Millœus’s “Praxis Criminis Persequendi,” Paris, 1541.

[682]“Glossary,” vol. i. p. 95.

[683]Cf. “1 Henry IV.” (i. 3):“His chin, new reap’d,Show’d like a stubble-land at harvest-home.”

[683]Cf. “1 Henry IV.” (i. 3):

“His chin, new reap’d,Show’d like a stubble-land at harvest-home.”

[684]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 16-33.

[685]See “British Popular Customs,” pp. 372, 373. In Lincolnshire this day is called “Hally-Loo Day.”

[686]See Butler’s “Lives of the Saints.”

[687]See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 868; Brady’s “Clavis Calendaria.”

[688]Nich. Harpsfield, “Hist. Eccl. Anglicana,” p. 86.

[689]See “British Popular Customs,” p. 404.

[690]Puling, or singing small, as Bailey explains the word.

[691]See Swainson’s “Weather-Lore,” 1873, pp. 141-143.

[692]See “British Popular Customs,” p. 409.

[693]See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 25; “The Church of Our Fathers,” by D. Rock, 1853, vol. iii. p. 215;Gent. Mag., 1777, vol. xliii. p. 158; see Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. pp. 601, 602; Brady’s “Clavis Calendaria.”

[694]Drake’s “Shakespeare and his Times,” vol. i. p. 198.

[695]See Sandy’s “Christmastide, its History, Festivities, and Carols;” alsoAthenæum, Dec. 20, 1856.

[696]His blunder for comedy.

[697]See “British Popular Customs,” 1876, pp. 459, 463; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 943; “Antiquarian Repertory,” vol. i. p. 218.

[698]This was a deep draught to the health of any one, in which it was customary to empty the glass or vessel.

[699]See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” 1839, pp. 441-449.

[700]See “British Popular Customs,” pp. 461, 469, 478, 480.

[701]See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 1-15.

Asevery period of human life has its peculiar rites and ceremonies, its customs and superstitions, so has that ever all-eventful hour which heralds the birth of a fresh actor upon the world’s great stage. From the cradle to the grave, through all the successive epochs of man’s existence, we find a series of traditional beliefs and popular notions, which have been handed down to us from the far-distant past. Although, indeed, these have lost much of their meaning in the lapse of years, yet in many cases they are survivals of primitive culture, and embody the conceptions of the ancestors of the human race. Many of these have been recorded by Shakespeare, who, acting upon the great principle of presenting his audience with matters familiar to them, has given numerous illustrations of the manners and superstitions of his own country, as they existed in his day. Thus, in “Richard III.” (iii. 1), when he represents the Duke of Gloster saying,

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