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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34179-8.txt b/34179-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99f8ead --- /dev/null +++ b/34179-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5451 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Cursory History of Swearing, by Julian Sharman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Cursory History of Swearing + +Author: Julian Sharman + +Release Date: October 31, 2010 [EBook #34179] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING. + + + + + A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING. + + + BY JULIAN SHARMAN. + + + "Ha! this fellow is worse than me; what, does he + swear with pen and ink?"--_The Tatler_, No. 13. + + + LONDON: + J. C. NIMMO AND BAIN, + 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. + 1884. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. + + At the Scufflers' Club--A stranger at the gates--A somnolent + post-office--The best men in London--A sing-song--"Damn their + eyes!"--"Qui s'excuse s'accuse"--The philosophy of swearing--A + retrospect--"When that I was and a little tiny boy" 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + + The son of discord--Origin of swearing--Decline of lying as an + art--Growth of swearing as a science--The military oath-- + Religious oath--John the Marshall--Fustian oaths--Legislation + begins--"Moralité des Blasphémateurs"--George Fox and Margaret + Fell--Oath of the King-Maker--Oath of the Bear-garden 22 + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Odd's bodikins"--In Socrates' thinking-shop--The British + shibboleth--Don Juan--Beaumarchais--Parny--Joan of Arc a + satirist of swearing--La Hire--Corbleu et Cie.--"Jarnicoton"-- + "[Greek: Ma ton]"--'Jurons de Cadillac'--Little King Goddam-- + Sir John Harrington--'Amends for Ladies'--"Don't care a damn" 38 + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Why has a dog a bad name?--Canine swearing--"Jarnichien!"--The + cast of the die--Dog oath of Socrates--A nation of swearers-- + Aristophanes--The Rhodian cabbage--"Mehercule"--'Ship of + Fools'--Amenities of Roman swearing 60 + + +CHAPTER V. + + Mediæval swearing--The monastic teaching--Cleric and lay-- + Robert Crowley--Mystery of the five wounds--"God's bread!"--In + a Tuscan studio--Stephen Hawes--Thomas Becon--'Miroir du + Monde'--'Handlyng Sinne'--Chaucer's oaths--Plantagenet + swearing--"Ventre Saint Gris"--A royal scapegrace--"Bismillah!" 77 + + +CHAPTER VI. + + The genius of antiquity--A study in dust and cobwebs--The why + and the wherefore of swearing--A swearing _corps d'élite_-- + "Swear me, Kate, like a lady"--The freemasonry of swearing-- + Lord Thurlow--Sir Thomas Maitland--"By jingo!" 99 + + +CHAPTER VII. + + A bank of swearing--Legislation at work--"The sweirer's and + the Devill"--Aberdeen town records--Across the border--Before + the footlights--'Magnetic Lady'--The wits--Colman the + younger--A swearing bureau--Quarter Sessions--Statute of + William and Mary--Convictions--A carnival of swearing 115 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + A saviour of society--Joseph Addison--A tradesman of the last + century--A clerical apologist--Swearing in earnest and at + play--An explanation offered--Blue laws of Connecticut-- + Bobadil--'The Rivals'--'Covent Garden weeded'--Brantôme's + oaths--Eccentricities of swearing--"Old Harry"--"The + dickens"--"The deuce"--"Le diable de Biterne" 139 + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Utilitarian view of swearing--One touch of nature--The + Shandean method--Code of Ernulphus--"Sacré froc d'Habacuc"-- + Mr. William Barley--Philosophy of imprecation--"Bloody"--In + the Low Countries--'The Man of Mode'--Swift without his + waistcoat--Sanglant--Retrospect and ending 171 + + +APPENDIX 193 + + + + +A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AT THE SCUFFLERS' CLUB. + + "'Our armies swore terribly in Flanders,' said my uncle Toby, 'but + nothing to this.'"--_Tristram Shandy._ + + +It lay in the heart of Bohemia. It was approached through a labyrinth of +streets that grew denser and darker as one neared the precincts of the +club. Could any of the brother Scufflers have seen the neighbourhood by +day, it would have presented an appearance dismal and sordid enough. +Dealers in faded wardrobes,--merchants in tinsel and _rouge de +théâtre_,--retailers of wigs and fleshings and all manner of stage +wares, seemed one with another to have made the locality their home. One +missed certainly the bone-sellers and refuse-sifters of the adjacent +Clare Market, and one was spared the cheap cosmetic shops and smug +undertakers of the neighbouring Soho. But you were recompensed, here in +the heart of mid-Bohemia, by the all-pervading odour of potations and +provisions,--of banquets long past, and of banquets that were yet to +come. + +What wonderful odours are those that emanate from this quarter of the +town! The dank vapours of Covent Garden are sweet in the nostrils of +many a cockney reveller. There is no orange-peel so perfumed as the +Drury orange-peel that has been concentrating its fragrance round the +boards of Thespis since the days when Mohun and Hart, and Shatterel and +Betterton strutted on the bare planks of the Cockpit. No scent of +printer's ink is more refreshing than that which adheres to the yards of +flimsy playbill still hawked about by itinerant vendors. But the whole +place has through the day-time a blear-eyed, a drunk-over-night +appearance. It is like a man who is never at his best until he has +supped or dined. From morn till twilight it wears this sullen and +uncared-for look. Wait until nightfall, and it will positively glisten +with lamps and gleam with merriment. No wonder, therefore, that it has +been the birthplace of so many of those midnight carousing dens, into +one of which we are tremulously seeking to enter. + +It was what is called a literary and theatrical club, the Scufflers. It +was literary in so far that the majority of its members lay down at +night with unrealised dreams of authorship. It was theatrical to the +extent that many a one was the possessor of an unacted drama coiled up +in his breast coat-pocket, and was to be seen surging about managers' +doors, only waiting the glance of favour to fall upon author and +manuscript. Nor was this literary impulsion entirely without +fruit-bearing. Scufflers had been known to rush breathlessly into the +club-room at the approach of midnight, and in an excited and panting +condition have been heard to sing out for pens and paper, as the morning +press would wait for no man. Personally the accomplishments of the +members were many and varied. The great _primus_ and leader of the club +was a man who was alleged to dash off a leading article, take a hand at +whist, and tackle a dish of kidneys at one and the same time. + +We must now be supposed to have reached the entrance of the hostelry, +for indeed it was a Covent Garden tavern and nothing more. + +We commence to grope our way along the mouldering, unlit passage that +gives access to the one apartment tenanted by the club, in which their +cheerful deliberations are now proceeding. Time cannot efface the +memory of that green-baize door at the end of this passage, where we +were very properly brought to a stand on that first evening of our +initiation. Never shall we forget how momentous seemed the issues that +were depending in that inner chamber, as the announcement that there was +a "stranger at the gates" was evidently being briskly canvassed there. +To have the unquestioned privilege of passing and repassing that mystic +portal, the barrier as it seemed between all the rhapsody and the syntax +of this weary world, promised to be one of those pleasures that would +well-nigh be imperishable. + +The apartment entered, it was easy to discern the manner of men who had +placed their mark upon its walls and wainscots. There was no lack of +artist force in many of the daubs that were let into the panelling, to +remain rugged monuments of the skill of the frequenters of that chamber. +A piano there was that had seen better days, and was yet to see +considerably worse ones, if in our recollection of the ultimate +dispersal of the property of the club we are not mistaken. Then there +were the pipe-racks. Anything more eloquent can scarcely be imagined +than the story unfolded by these mute implements of smoking. Every pipe +possessed its decided characteristic and was distinctly different from +its neighbour. Some showed themselves as conceited pipes; some were +light and sparkish, others ponderous and clumsy. Leave yourself alone +with these sticks of briar or cherry-wood and you could readily have +brought to mind their absent owners,--the man who sang a good song, the +youngster given to practical jokes, the patriarch, strong in argument, +invincible in debate,--in fact you could easily have helped yourself to +an inventory of the members of the club. The rest of the furniture of +the room consisted of a large oblong table, surrounded by chairs of +various patterns, the former of which on the night we first beheld it +literally groaned with the weight of "rabbits" and foaming tankards. +Stay; food for the mind was not neglected, as how should it be? in that +assembly-room. By virtue of the care of a pile of fly-blown magazines, +and as far as we can remember of a few odd volumes of 'Ruff's Guide' and +a 'White's Farriery,' we became in course of time the elected librarian +of the Scufflers' Club. + +Although not a flourishing community in the matter of finances, there +were instances in plenty of great kindness and liberality displayed by +Scuffler unto Scuffler. There were times when they brought out their +myrrh and cassia, their spikenard and oil of price. When, one bitter +winter morning, an unhappy Scuffler came shivering out of the debtors' +side of the City Prison, they did not beat about the bush and hesitate +at receiving him. Neither did they stand on any dignity or whisper any +threat of expulsion. They did nothing of this kind, they simply made him +drunk. It is, we hope, quite clear that these gentlemen were not +professors of any sort of austerity. + +It may have already dawned upon the reader that there can hardly have +existed a fraternity boasting any such name as the one we have allotted +to it. In this much the reader is perfectly right. The club had a title +strikingly similar to that which we have adopted, and the thin disguise +has only been suggested from a circumstance that we may at once frankly +disclose. Suspended over the club chimney-piece was the usual +notice-board, a perfect encyclopædia in its way, and covered with a +trellis-work of crimson tape for the purpose of retaining the various +_affiches_. In this way were displayed, from day to day, the cards and +letters intended for the members of the club. For so long a time did +they frequently remain exhibited, and so complete a disregard did the +owners manifest for their property, that the appearance of each packet +often grew quite familiar to the frequenters of the place. The +individuality of the writer might be often guessed from the evidence of +the various superscriptions, and when all other sources of amusement +failed the contents of this stationary post-office formed a fair staple +of banter and merry comment. There were to be seen perfumed and +coronetted envelopes addressed to quasi-fashionable members. These were +gentlemen who never seemed to call and claim their belongings. Then +there were letters reputed to emanate from the great publishing houses, +and there were missives surmounted with well-known theatrical monograms +that were alleged to forward brilliant offers of engagements. In fact it +was by the aid of such simple nest-eggs as these that the men managed to +establish reputations. But there was one class of correspondence that +obviously was not intended for much publicity. These were the letters +couched in feminine handwriting, none of the neatest, whose tremulous +writers, in addressing their envelopes, rarely succeeded in hitting off +the proper style and title of the club. The early looker-in might have +made a useful study of these shaky epistles,--scrawls painfully executed +by milliners and toy-women. It was on the cover of one of such +effusions, even worse written and worse spelt than they usually were, +that we first saw the inscription, the "Scufflers' Club." + +Although some years have passed since first we were made free of that +circle, distinctly do we remember the manner of our greeting--"This," +said our introducer, "is a room rendered famous by the celebrated +Addison." He emphasised the "celebrated" owing to an evident misgiving +that we might not perhaps be intimate with the name of that personage. +"Kitty Clive, the actress," he continued, "lodged in the upper +floors,"--which was true--"and Dr. Johnson is said to have worn away the +wainscot with his wig in the further corner,"--which was not. We were +already lingering over the notice-board and letter-rack, reminded +probably by the associations of a similar contrivance at Will's Coffee +House, when Parson Swift came in the mornings to seek for letters from +Stella, when the voice of our cicerone again summoned us. "Drop into a +seat," it whispered, "and I'll show you the best men in London." + +The best men in London were engaged for the most part in imbibing +various amber-coloured fluids, and shouting out at intervals the burden +of a well-known chorus. An entertainment known as a "sing-song" was +vociferously going on. Vocalisation of a very fair order was being +given, whenever any one of the hearty Scufflers had sufficiently wetted +his throat to "oblige." We were in time to hear the 'Friar of Orders +Gray' performed very creditably, and 'When Joan's ale was new' brought +out a ringing chorus. We must have stayed some hours in listening to +this minstrelsy. Hospital songs, ditties well-known at Bartholomew's and +Guy's; poaching songs that bore the flavour of the honest shire of +Somerset; pieces from the comic operas; all were given with the utmost +good-humour and vivacity. But what seemed most to invigorate the spirits +of the Scufflers was a song that had been demanded more than once during +the evening and was at length only given after extreme pressure upon the +part of the audience. We do not know the name of the song; we are not +certain we should recollect the tune; but we are positive of the words, +such of them at least as formed the refrain of the melody. In every +stanza there was held up to reprobation some unpopular type. The severer +virtues were no less mercilessly handled, while all authority of the +more invidious kind, from that of the beak to that of the exciseman, was +subjected to the same unceremonious treatment. Every versicle--well do +we remember it--concluded with the exordium, "Damn their eyes!" Never +can we forget the rapturous reception that was accorded to this piece of +harmony. The men literally shrieked with delight. "Damn their +eyes!"--they grasped convulsively at tumblers and decanters and banged +them on the table. "Damn their eyes!"--they hurrahed, they shouted, they +raved, they swore. "Damn their eyes!"--they bestrode chairs and benches, +as they might have bestridden hobby-horses, and tournamented about the +room. Was this then the pæan or war-song of the Scufflers' Club? + +As with the morning light we came to reflect upon the midnight orgie, we +felt we had opened a chapter in a strange history, and that history a +history of swearing. + +We can hardly bring our pen to write the very title of this book without +being reminded of an incident that has amused while it has displeased +us. It is now very many years ago that a kind relative brought the +present writer, then a child at a dame's school, a handsome copy of the +'Vicar of Wakefield,' and thenceforward for a time that bitter +schoolhouse bade fair to be made bright and joyous with the doings of +the simple men and women whose story the gentle Goldsmith has recorded. +What possible objection could be uttered against so innocent a tale? +None the less however did our worthy preceptress take occasion to +remonstrate. "Does not that book concern females?" asked she. Our friend +could have had no reply prepared that was fitted to so insidious a +reproach. "Ah! well," was the quiet rejoinder, "but poor Goldsmith did +not mean badly." + +If such, then, be the measure dealt out to the more disciplined +champions in the strife with human error, what sort of accord will be +given to the present unharnessed and ill-caparisoned writer, who +attempts, let it be hoped not ill-naturedly, to cope with one of the +more rosy-faced forms of sinfulness. That he will be assailed from the +higher latitudes of prudery he has a right to expect. That the very +novelty of the venture will pass as an affront to some portion of his +readers there is only reason to anticipate. That even the more indulgent +will cast looks of suspicion upon his pirate ensign is a circumstance he +can conceal as little as he can regret it. + +As the matter stands, a poor devil of an author is proposing an +expedition into regions that, despite many hundred years of literary +enterprise, are still remote and untravelled. It were not surprising +therefore at the outset that his readers should inquire if he is sincere +and reliable, or whether on the contrary he is counterfeiting honesty +with a sanctimonious face. It were perhaps right they should be assured +that the trip is really intended for their welfare, and that the skipper +is not given to risk the safety of his craft for a mere capful of wind. +But conceding that it is natural to raise these doubts at the threshold +of the journey, the author has it in his power to give little or no +assurance of the sincerity of his undertaking. Whatever notion he may +entertain of his own, or of other people's morality, he has no opinion +whatever of their professions of it. He refrains therefore from giving +any warranty of the soundness of his wares. + +Save but for this. He has often been vexed, and puzzled as well as +vexed, at one great discord that has been sent upon the world. Yielding +and kindly as it may have been to them, men have not scrupled to cast +defiance and calumny upon this forbearing earth and to hurl hissing +curses at its abundance and its pervading spirit of forgiveness. Not +since the labour of men's hands began have they ceased to furrow it with +menace and sow it with imprecation, cursing while their very corn ripens +under midsummer skies, cursing as they gather in their store of wine and +victual. What does it mean? What _can_ it mean? Whence has it arisen, +and whither does it tend? These are among the questions that have +influenced the mind of the writer in considering the purview of his +book. + +The misfortune that is often experienced in handling any subject lying +wide of the beaten track does not necessarily arise from the inherent +viciousness of the subject itself, but from the fact that a large number +of people have previously arrived at painful impressions concerning it. +It is therefore an obligation cast upon a writer to treat these +preconceived notions with the utmost tenderness and respect. Personally +one may hold the art of swearing in perfect indifference, being neither +among the number of swearers oneself nor having any very strong feeling +of reprobation towards its more active adherents. But despite a certain +inclination that we feel to apologise for what we hold to be the +silliest of vices, we are forced to recollect that to many the offence +will always appear in anything but a trivial light. It is therefore +obligatory upon us to abstain as far as possible from referring to +expressions that are calculated to alarm. At the close of the last +century there existed a religious sect who were in favour of abandoning +the use of clothing. Blake, the poet, was one of these enthusiasts, and +his wife also. The holders of this convenient doctrine were in the habit +of presenting themselves in their households as naked as they were born. +In so acting we may be sure they were only in keeping with their sober +convictions, and that they were ready to maintain in argument the +thorough soundness and consistency of their views. For aught we know to +the contrary, this naked doctrine may of itself have been right, but the +misfortune which continued, and for the matter of that still continues, +to be felt, was that by far the larger portion of humanity retained a +decided prejudice in favour of apparel. So long as the disciple of the +Adamite school was contented to denude himself in his own particular +circle there may have been no positive harm, but it would scarcely have +been open to a member of that fraternity to have walked down Fleet +Street like an ancient Briton. The thinker also who takes upon himself +to theorise in a manner apart from any considerable section of humanity, +is no less bound to entertain a fitting respect for the notions, even to +the mistaken notions, with which that section is animated. Whatever his +own disposition towards an absolute freedom of expression, he is under +the obligation of attiring his ideas in the manner habituated to the +tastes of his listeners. + +Happily, however, there is possible a middle course. We need not grovel +in the sinks and cellars, neither need we ruminate upon the house-tops. +We can settle ourselves as it were, in that easy, neutral smoking-room +of literature, where we can put off broadcloth for fustian; and utter +our heresies with still a chance left us of being forgiven. Here we may +expect to meet only with that mature and seasoned criticism that holds +the scale very evenly between the outspoken and the insolent. While by +no means to be accounted friendly towards the vile excrescences of +swearing, the ordinary man of the world is not to be repelled by every +street oath, or put to lasting confusion by every passing word of +unseemliness. To put it upon no higher ground than that of mere custom, +it were too arrogant to assume abhorrence of a practice that is as trite +and customary as the incidents of one's daily rounds. Besides, there is +another explanation for the supineness that is exhibited towards errors +of this description. It could be shown how, by a slight mental process, +the extravagances and the follies of other men are capable of offering a +subtle compliment to a person's understanding. They set it off. They +adorn what he fancies to be his intellectual superiority, and he is not +indisposed in consequence to extend a feeble patronage towards the very +vices which, did he not experience ever so slight a benefit from them, +he would otherwise be foremost in decrying. Again, it were too obviously +inconsistent to take our repose in a tavern and yet direct our homilies +at tavern habits, at the enormity of tobacco-smoking or of drinking +drams. And yet it may be possible for most of us to go back to no +distant time when we sickened at the scent of the finest Virginian and +the juice of the juniper was bitter. It was not a great while ago +certainly! + +A great while ago! Say, courteous and gentle--nay, uncourteous and +ungentle reader--can you so far travel back in your recollection as to +recall your first parting from all that was homely and kindly and +familiar? Do you remember the first separation from the half-score of +faces that to you had peopled the earth and represented the whole sum +and mystery of living? Can you now realise that desolate night, closing +in upon the blank, colourless day, the lonely stages, the harsh grating +of the wheels, all the impressions in fact of that long, pitiful journey +that once came as a barrier between you and childish innocence? And then +the arrival at that strange school; how hollow the laughter of the men, +how shrill the chirp and twitter of the women! Do you remember the +comfortless morrow that brought the first contact with your boy +associates? They were probably harmless and good-natured enough, those +uncouth, ill-fashioned boys, and doubtless there were among them many +who would have been quick to requite a wrong and eager to soothe any +injury. But how they pained you with their jests; how they bruised you +in their boisterous play; how old they looked to your young eyes; how +full of wiles and intrigue and savagery! And then their talk! not the +mild caressing talk of the lips you loved, of the forms you knew, but +loud and brazen, and savouring of cunning and high-handedness. And in +their quarrels and their games, they swore--those boys swore; not all of +them be it hoped, but the great giants and paladins among them who +seemed to bear rule and mastery with whips and thongs. Many a time +before, perhaps, you may have been seized with faintness and aversion at +some imagined evil, that might as well have been enacted in some distant +planet. But now the horror was no longer slumbering or remote; it was +awake and crying at your door. Now, and within a few hours, were +disclosed the sources of all the aimless brutalities, all the +self-asserting iniquities that have played such havoc in an erring +world. And, as these knowing fellows chattered over their scraps of +worldly wisdom, and as their puny curses were bandied round, it seemed +as if some great treason were being poured out, a trespass alike against +God in heaven and the folks at home. + +How could one know at that young age that all one heard was not really +villainous, that much of it indeed was mere _brusquerie_, rough-ridden +perhaps, but brisk and spirited? How should one understand that the +tones which seemed so harsh and jarring belonged in truth to a very code +of sprightliness? But a few weeks more perhaps, and you too had taken +the ring of this brazen metal. You had perceived upon what measure of +aggression, upon what rasping unkindnesses, the applause of your fellows +was bestowed. To violate every rule with fearless indifference, to be +abreast with every move that was daring or was dexterous, these were the +feats by which approval was won. In the matter of swearing you might +have remained only an unwilling dabbler, only a mixer and meddler in the +luxury, were it not that occasion came when you were solemnly arraigned +for the offence, and straightway branded as a culprit. It is in this way +that offences come. So you may have received your punishment and have +revolted under it; and perhaps you may have had a right to revolt. For +our spiritual pastors, in judging of our virtues, too often endowed us +with the capacities of children, and in judging of our vices they +endowed us with the capacities of men. + +In that our early play-time, of which we have been speaking, we +distinctly call to mind two errant school-fellows, brought together by +kindred tastes, though differing in temper and disposition. Each is of +an age when the world resembles only some May-day morning, and at the +moment we are recalling them they have no other occupation than that of +dreamily rambling through the fields and lanes, delighted with the +breezy country-side, and luxuriating in their own boyish outpourings. +They had conceived this mutual liking because each felt the other to be +in true sympathy with nature, and to be capable of discerning the +wonderful enchantments of poetry and cadence. They had found a warm and +unselfish delight in ministering to the other's appreciation. They could +drink in great draughts of beauty from the chalice so unsparingly held +out by Shelley or Goethe, by Wordsworth or Byron. They could revel in +the rugged measures of 'Marmion,' in the whirl and clatter of the 'Last +Minstrel.' They could be gay with the loves of the Two Gentlemen, or +kindle at the woes of Imogen or the sorrows of Effie Deans. + +And so, in such senseless manner, they are now skirting the golden +harvest-fields, recalling perhaps the bright fancy that has given the +'Skylark' to the world, or mindful of "liquid Peneus" and "darkened +Tempe." Presently there burst out of the thicket two ruffians, with rags +torn and bespattered, caked with summer's dust and mildewed by winter's +rain. As they approached their voices sounded devilish and unearthly. +They raised one long plaint of deep-toned, hard-set blasphemy. Their +every word was shotted with an oath. Hoarse with brandy, bitter with +malevolence, they cursed at the plenty of the harvest,--at the patient +cattle grazing in the fields,--at the crimson poppy blowing in the +ditch,--at the buzzing insects, at the ripening orchards. They cursed at +the luck of the skittle-alley; they cursed at the insolence of the +rulers of the land. When the devil made war with heaven, this must have +been the roar of his artillery. + +We looked at our friend--for this has become a personal narrative, as +may already have been conjectured--and we marked the pain and sorrow of +heart that had visibly overcome him. Silently he seemed to implore +protection from the great span of universe surrounding us--for it was he +who was the gentler and more loyal spirit of the two. Then, as the +curses and ribaldry died away, he emerged slowly as from beneath a +stupefying load. Presently he fell to talking of the strange +perverseness with which men have always clung to this undying evil, and +cited the Levitical story of "the son of the Israelitish woman,"--the +impious oaths demanded of old time by emperors and satraps, and the +resistance of the martyred Polycarp. + +Who knows but that at that moment we may have thought our friend little +better than a fool, and his words the drivel of idiotcy? We have said +somewhere, speaking of morality, that we have no opinion of professions +of it. It must be known that he was mild and retiring and submissive. He +could not give blow for blow as other boys could; he could not cheat or +lie or gamble as other boys did. He was more awkward of limb and coarser +dressed. Anyhow, we have set down here some of our first impressions of +swearing, and now we are cursorily writing its history. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "Now don't let us give ourselves a parcel of airs and pretend that + the oaths we make free with in this land of liberty of ours are our + own; and because we have the spirit to swear them,--imagine that we + have had the wit to invent them too."--_Tristram Shandy._ + + +When Hesiod fabled the god of oaths to be the son of Discord, the poet +could hardly have foreseen the grim reality that would attach to his +satiric allegory. It is now a very small thing--a matter of no +consequence at all--that serious and well-meaning men once attested +their assertions by making passing reference to Minerva or Helios. But +yet is it none the less necessary to realise that they made such +reference for the express purpose of being believed, and that when not +pronouncing one or other of these forms of speech, they ran a strong +chance of being absolutely disbelieved. + +Hesiod has dimly chronicled the genealogy of oaths. But it was for other +generations to chronicle their posterity, to hear them derided in the +amphitheatre, and to see the divinities that inspired them shattered +and broken down. But there is a singular survival and continuity of the +ancient practice: men still swear by Jove. + +A like process of declension seems to have gone on in all countries and +in the same fashion. To begin with, the origin of all swearing was the +same--the one intense dread of falsehood against which as yet no laws +were sufficient to guard. Fancy the mortal distress of barbarian man +when he first wakes to the belief that his enemies can, by smooth +speech, wrest from his hands what his prowess or his labour has +acquired. No art that he is aware of can pervert the action of tongues +set falsely going. Seeing how illimitable is the crop of words, he may +even imagine a plague of lies that will fall thick about him like +locusts or caterpillars; and then arrives the old expedient. Men fasten +upon a symbol such, as it is hoped, the hardiest will revere, and +syllable it out as evidence of truth. + +If we are not mistaken, it may even be said that the degree of +refinement that a community has attained is discernible by taking as a +standpoint the merchantable character of truth. Wherever civilisation is +advancing, the ultimate unserviceability of lying becomes the more +apparent, and there ensues in consequence a depreciation in the value of +veracity. The more widely truth is recognised, the more does it +deteriorate in price, while falsehood ceases to arouse its former +measure of reprobation. Then it is, and not, indeed, until then, that +the old blundering remedy by means of oaths and oath-taking is laid +aside as out of date and no longer availing. Nowadays, at least among +most races of mankind, the ordinary inducements to veracity are of +themselves felt to be sufficiently powerful as to leave no ground for +contending that truthfulness should be the subject of rewards and +bounties. No money value is attached as of right to the performance of +an obvious duty, but in remoter times the recognition of such a +doctrine, could it have been recognised at all, would have spared the +coffers of Roman sesterces and have made the work of the Athenian +pay-clerks hang lightly on their hands. The fact would seem to be that +the prevalency of this deliberative swearing will always be found in +inverse ratio to the prevalency of truth. + +The later civilisations may, therefore, be said to have profited by +centuries of untruthfulness in that they have learnt the preponderating +advantages of an intelligible code of truth. To seek an illustration by +comparison of two periods perfectly dissimilar, it may be affirmed that +there was no greater proportion of really truthful men in France at the +period, say, of Voltaire, than twelve hundred years previously at the +period of Gregory of Tours. But the countrymen of Voltaire had become +fairly apprised of the expediency of common veracity, and their +assertions, in consequence, were not accustomed to be disbelieved. But +among the Frédégondes, the Clotaires, and the Cunégondes of Gregory's +Frankish history, the case is wholly different. In that day it might +almost be supposed from a perusal of the work that the faculty of +truth-telling was lost, or more correctly that it had never arisen, so +necessary was it considered to put a statement to the severest test +before the possibility of its accuracy could be admitted. In an +indulgent, selfish, but disciplined civilisation, a statement is +generally presumed to be true which bears the ordinary impress of +veracity. In periods considerably less intellectual and enlightened, we +shall find that nothing is presumed to be true until it has been +subjected to a searching process of corroboration. It is in fact this +process of corroboration that has furnished all ranks of swearers with +their necessary side-arms and equipment. + +In the two conditions of society we have just indicated, there is +revealed at once the cause and effect of promiscuous oath-taking. The +one, incredulous and diffident of belief, imposes oath upon oath as its +natural safeguard, and engages in an unremitting struggle to render +the bond of truthfulness subservient to a despotic will. The other is +weary of forms that have outlived whatever spirit was once imparted +them; it has snapped asunder the galling fetters, and made sportive +capital of the lumber that remains. An intervening age of irony probably +sufficed to undermine the sanctity of the swearing obligation, until at +last the oath of more sober times has come to be a common catchword, or +the fustian ornament of somewhat spirited talk. In short, we shall +always find that the sonorous expletive of recent days is nothing else +than the once deliberative oath of Christian piety. + +Human ingenuity has seldom been more industriously employed than in +attempting to restore successive breaches in the observances of +swearing. Among the Western nations, it is said, religious sentiment had +nothing to do with the foundation of the usage. With them swearing is +represented to have been of purely military origin, and the oaths taken +upon sword and javelin to have owed nothing to the emotions of piety. +The process undergone by the military oath of Gaul before it finally +culminated in an expression of religious import, was of a very slow and +gradual kind. The Franks were accustomed to appeal to the drawn sword +as being the only arbiter of existence. In course of time the sanctity +of this engagement was broken through, and to ensure due regard for the +solemnity of the oath, it was found necessary to make the weapon the +subject of an impressive ceremony. By the capitularies of Dagobert, the +sword and harness of the warrior were required to be consecrated. Still +later, the name of God was brought into the compact. "If two +neighbours," ordains King Dagobert, "are in dispute as to the boundary +of their possessions, let them bring into the camp a turf of the +disputed territory; and each, with hands resting on the points of their +swords, and taking God to be the witness of the truth, shall give battle +until victory decides the question." Not only was the military oath +superseded; but, as years wore on, even these additional guarantees +proved themselves to be ineffectual. The interposition of saints next +came to be deemed essential, and again with the most conflicting +results. When Chilperic and his brothers divided the kingdom of +Clotaire, and swore never to enter the capital except as allies, their +treaty was ratified by oaths taken in the name of Saint Hilaire, Saint +Policeute, and Saint Martin. As time advanced, these further methods of +precaution in their turn proved abortive. Chilperic, seizing Paris in +contravention of his oath, carried as an antidote the relics of more +potent and illustrious saints in the van of his victorious army. So +dangerous a precedent being once admitted, it became necessary to resort +to still other expedients. It was thought as well to ascertain with what +degree of veneration the intending swearer might happen to regard that +particular member of the calendar whose name was proposed to be invoked. +In doubtful cases, therefore, it was not unusual to conduct a deponent +from one shrine to another, that among the multitude of oaths one of +them at least might prove effectual. A son of Clotaire, being plied by a +rebel agent with insurrectionary advice, thought it prudent to conduct +his adviser before the altars of no less than twelve churches before he +felt himself justified in listening to the representations that were +offered him. + +It would seem, indeed, from the practice of half barbarous nations, that +so far from the Deity, or even the monuments of religion, being the +immediate subject of the swearing obligation, these were practically the +most remote. During the second siege of Rome by the Goths, the ministers +of Honorius were called upon to swear solemnly that they would refuse to +entertain any overtures of peace, and would wage implacable warfare upon +the enemy. With great difficulty were they induced to confirm this +engagement with an oath taken by the head of the emperor. This formula +was the most impressive and, in effect, the most binding that could well +have been resorted to, and it is reported by Gibbon that the ministers +were heard to declare that had the same oath been taken by the name of +the Deity they would have held themselves free to depart from it. In +doing blind obeisance to the arms of warfare or the symbols of +authority, the ancient world only varied from the modern as the usages +of religion differ from those of idolatry. In Rome, we are told, the +spear was sacred to Juno, and in the province of Rhegium was worshipped +as Mars. In Scythia the sword was glorified as the messenger of life and +death. And it is to be noticed as an evidence of the superstitious +sanctity that pervaded warlike implements, that in Rome, according to a +half-religious rite, the hair of newly-married women was parted with the +point of a spear. The oaths, in fine, of the Western military nations +distinctly breathe of the spirit of war, while those of the more +dreamful Eastern world are redolent of light and air, of sun and shade. +To this day in Servia the popular forms of swearing express dependence +and reliance upon the powers of nature. _Taku mi Suntza_, So help me +sun; _Taku mi Semlje_, So help me earth, are the methods of +asseveration that are in every-day use. + +That period in modern history at which the deliberative oath had assumed +something of its ultimate shape is marked by the occurrence of one +singular invasion of its solemnity. The incident we refer to is the +charge preferred by Thomas-à-Becket against John the Marshal, to the +effect that he had sworn upon a "book of old songs" instead of upon the +sacred writings which had then become the proper instruments for this +purpose. Indeed, in tracing the history of these observances it would +seem as if an endeavour was being constantly made to frustrate the aims +and ends of swearing, and that the more Christian modes were only +resorted to when every pagan method had been found inoperative. To swear +upon the authority of everything that was terrible or grotesque--by the +sword or javelin of a conquering nation, as by the love-token on a +maiden's sleeve;[1] by the sepulchre of a debtor;[2] by the abbey church +at Glastonbury,[3] or by the price of the potter's field[4]--these were +expedients that had been tried and been forsaken before the modern forms +of swearing were reached. Like the time-expired worship of the +divinities of the mythology that, in the one solitary temple of Mount +Casano, was maintained for some hundred years after the gods of Olympus +had been deposed: so the impious oaths of pagandom continued to jostle +and wrestle with those of Christianity for many centuries after +authority had pronounced their doom. "Olympian Jupiter!" exclaims +Aristophanes, at the mention of that oath, "to think of your believing +in Jupiter, as old as you are!" + +How stubbornly the ground was contested may be inferred from the +enactments of civil and ecclesiastical law. So early as the ninth +century, Justinian prescribed the punishment of death for the offence of +swearing by the limbs of God. The code that prevailed in the northern +districts of Britain was more severe than any that was enforced +elsewhere in these islands. By statutes of Donald VI. and Kenneth II., +the penalty of cutting out the tongue was inflicted upon swearers. In +France, Charlemagne legislated expressly against the practice of impious +oath-taking, and by an edict of Philip II. swearers were condemned to +drowning in the Seine.[5] The Council of Constantinople passed a +sentence of excommunication upon the swearers of heathen oaths. + +To how great an extent this unmeaning discord disturbed the current of +mediæval life may be seen from an examination of contemporary +literature. In particular, we may instance an early fragment that has +come down to us, and was evidently intended as a glowing satire upon the +prevalence of the abuse. It is called the "Moralité des Blasphémateurs," +and was issued from the Paris press in the early part of the sixteenth +century. The whole design of the piece is to exhibit the supposed agency +of the potentates of Hell in proselytising mankind towards the adoption +of the most abhorrent blasphemy. Satan, according to demonologists once +the governor of the north of Heaven, is now a feudatory prince in the +kingdom of Beelzebub. He is presumed to act under the orders of Lucifer, +the judge of Hell, and is joined in his commission by Behemoth, the +henchman and cupbearer of the infernal chiefs. There is a sufficiency of +invective in the opening greeting of these personages that was doubtless +calculated to add to the repulsive character of the performance:-- + + "Sathan, ennemy traistre et faulx, + Où es tu mauldict loricart?" + +To which Satan replies:-- + + "Que veulx tu, mauldict Lucifer? + Que te fault-il, beste saulvaige?" + +Their salutation finished, these worthies proceed to recount the sport +they have had on earth. Satan has visited the land of France, where he +has spent his time in the company of horse-stealers and cattle-lifters, +fellows, he assures them, who have no thought for mass or vespers; and +he has left them feasting day and night, getting as drunk as herons. +This account of his stewardship seems to give but small satisfaction to +Lucifer, who thereupon bids his followers-- + + "Allez tost par mons et par vaulx + Faire jurer le nom de Dieu + A garses et à garsonneaulx + En toute place et en tout lieu. + C'est une belle operation + De jurer Dieu à chascun point." + +This strain of conversation continues through over a hundred pages of +closely-printed matter, and is only varied by the exordiums of certain +more admirable characters, who are introduced, as we must suppose, to +point a moral to the story. + +The state of feeling disclosed by this offensive farce shows plainly, +even at that time, that the public which tolerated it had passed out of +a state of mere supineness and had assumed an attitude of disrespect and +defiance towards the authority of oaths. The system had been allowed to +overreach itself, and thenceforward its set forms and all the +paraphernalia that pertained to them were made over to the service of +criminality and to the uses of violent speech. The modern practice of +swearing, in either its flippant or vituperative shape, is derived from +the break-up of the process once devised as a protection of truthfulness +and fair dealing. So nearly allied have been the oaths of piety and +statecraft with those of violence and malice, that the severer thinkers, +whether Lollards, Puritans, or Quakers, have waged a war of +extermination against both alike. They have contended, and with some +amount of probability, that these jarring expletives of passion and +irreligion have only been perpetuated by reason of the familiarity that +has ensued from the undue exaction of legal tests. The same stubbornness +with which they combated the evil in endless tracts and broadsides they +maintained before courts and inquisitions. At the Lancaster Assizes of +1664, George Fox and Mrs. Margaret Fell stood upon their trial for +refusing to conform. "I have never laid my hand on the book to swear in +all my life," urged the woman. "I do not care if I never hear an oath +read, for the land mourns because of oaths." And then appealing to the +jury she exclaims: "I was bred and born in this county and never have +been at this assize before. I am a widow, and my estate is a dowry, and +I have five children unpreferred." + +There was one device of oath-taking, half pagan and half barbaric, which +but very slowly relaxed its hold on Christian Europe. We have spoken of +the oath upon the sword--the oath of ancient Scythia, the oath of the +Antigone of Euripedes. In the terrors of an isolated death, remote from +all the outward appliances of his faith, the stricken warrior found +consolation in raising before his vision the hilt of his scabbardless +sword. The tapering metal-hafted blade threw the shadow of a cross upon +the dying soldier, and to this rude emblem the poor fevered lips would +stammer out their last words of petition. The sword had become a revered +symbol conveying to the departing the hope of divine favour and +intercession. This thought so powerfully arrested the imagination that +it did not relinquish its grasp when a period of security had succeeded +a reign of bloodshed and danger. In the traditions of Denmark, the oath +upon the sword-hilt was preserved in a spirit of deep solemnity. Later, +in English history, the King-Maker took his vows upon the cross of his +bared steel, and the custom lingered in effigy to the days of Elizabeth, +when the fencing-masters, practising their calling at the Bear Garden, +were required to take an oath upon their rapier's hilt to carry +themselves honourably in their profession.[6] The gravity with which +this form of conjuration is approached by Hamlet's followers is evident +from the passage:-- + + "_Hor._ } + } My lord, we will not. + _Mar._ } + + _Hamlet._ Nay, but swear it. + + _Hor._ In faith, my lord, not I. + + _Ghost._ (beneath). Swear! + + _Hamlet._ Ha, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art there, true-penny? + Come on--you hear this fellow in the cellarage, + Consent to swear. + + _Hor._ Propose the oath, my lord. + + _Hamlet._ Never to speak of this that you have seen, + Swear by my sword." + +The ground that we have thus far traversed is really one of a remarkable +struggle, that has not abated even in our time. It is not the intention +of this essay to follow the history of judicial oath-taking, or of the +attestations that would seem to be demanded by conscience or religion. +But it must be remembered that the subject of vituperative swearing is +so interwoven with that of these legal and religious ordinances, that +the consideration of them must be frequently forced upon us. But whilst +doing so it should be no less borne in mind that we are never really +losing sight of the object we have in view. We aim simply at +disinterring a neglected, possibly a justly neglected, chapter in the +world's social history, and are called upon to judge both of the tree +and its fruit, of the seed and the grain. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE BRITISH SHIBBOLETH. + + "Pantagruel then asked what sorts of people dwelled in that damn'd + island."--_Rabelais_ iv., chap. lxiv. + + +"If ever I should betake myself to swearing," says Sir John Hazlewood in +the play, "I shall give very little concern to the fashion of the oath. +Odd's bodikins will do well enough for me, and lack-a-daisy for my +wife." Many other persons have been much of the same mind as this Sir +John, and, possessing a certain esteem for the pomp and circumstance of +swearing, have been impelled to cherish some curious substitute so that +they might still get a little harmless amusement out of the vice. In +this way they have contrived so to compound with their consciences as to +become swearers in practice without being blasphemers in intention. + +The characteristic of this good Hazlewood is his extreme tolerance and +neutrality. He is not among the swearers himself, but at a moment of +danger he is prepared to join that body, taking service in the ranks. +To disown allegiance altogether never for a moment coincides with his +sense of the becoming. The worthy man is too loyal to the set rules of +his acknowledged leaders, to harbour a notion so subversive and +dangerous. And in this particular we shall find he has been followed by +the greater number not only of his own degree and class but of all +orders and conditions. + +A circumstance like this would seem to suggest some remarkable +underlying motive as accounting for the wonderful omnipotence of +swearing. It is possible that an occult virus congenial to its +development is so insinuated into the composition of the human mind as +to defy the power of ethics wholly to eradicate it. Can it be that the +habit owes its existence and source of delight to some soothing and +pleasureful qualities which, like the solace of the tobacco-leaf or the +balm of the nightshade, the world will not willingly forego? + +We are disposed to think that the instinct of swearing is very deeply +rooted in the mental constitution. A very little experience of mankind +will incline one to the belief that the censors of morals have on the +whole done wisely in temporising with this strange humour. Of all the +philosophers who of old laid down rules for worldly guidance, Socrates +may be trusted to have held at a just appreciation the trips and sallies +of Athenian manhood. And yet even Socrates is understood to have sworn +deeply and volubly. Not, however, the Herculean oaths that were +resounded in the amphitheatre and at the festivals, but by the names of +more despicable objects, by the dog, the caper, and the plane-tree.[7] +The philosopher was too well versed in the ways of headstrong humanity +to run exactly counter to all the follies inspired by the grape of Chios +and Lesbos. On the contrary, he gains his momentary end and creates a +lasting remonstrance while seemingly sporting and dallying with the +abuse. In like manner, Aristophanes could afford to trifle with the +asseverations of his own Athenian audiences. In portraying the +wind-paved city of the feathered tribes, he transforms these oaths into +the milder shape of "by snares," "by nets," "by meshes." And further to +display the ludicrous side of Attic swearing, he records a time when "no +man used to swear by gods, but all by birds. And still Lampon swears by +the goose when he practises any deceit."[8] + +It would seem almost as if all writers of this indulgent turn had +arrived at one perception, namely, that "bad language" is an +indispensable element in social life, an element to be only softened by +ridicule or perhaps be checked by dissuasion. To seek to suppress it +altogether is regarded as futile. The same impression has evidently +prevailed among the number of practical philosophers who in everyday +life are accustomed to handicap the ebullitions of this impetuous vice. +They may place nagging obstacles in the way of its career, and burdens +upon its back; but otherwise it is allowed to run its course. By means +of an accepted code of rules a kind of _modus vivendi_ in this respect +is obtained. Thus the conversation that is conceded in a club +smoking-room would be intolerable in the boudoir. In some sort men have +been permitted the enjoyment of swearing, and that with impunity, +provided they did not carry it beyond the prohibited pale. To turn again +to ancient Athens for illustration, we find that even children were +allowed to swear profanely by the name of Hercules, but with the single +restriction that they should do so in the open air. The oath was for +some singular reason deemed the especial privilege of young people, and +was only thought offensive and visited with punishment when invoked +within the curtilage of the dwelling.[9] + +It has always seemed to us that vituperative swearing is too closely +allied to the passion of animosity to be ever successfully treated apart +from the human failing from which it takes its rise. Joy and hatred, +terror and surprise must indeed be very old and steadfast emotions in +the history of the world; and while we should prefer to find that joy is +the more universal of these perceptions, hatred is, we fear, the more +historic and the more enduring. Animosity is resolute even in its +caprices; it has few facilities for disguise and but little capacity for +assumption. The tones and gestures it employs are perfectly unequivocal, +and not easily mistaken. For although the vocabulary of hatred has from +time to time received handsome embellishment at the hands of ingenious +and illustrious haters, its wonted expression must always remain fixed. +The keynote is the oath which, in all ages and in all languages, passion +seems to generate with but very little assistance. + +Among a people who, perhaps unjustly, have been prided for the +choiceness of their swearing, the favourite growth and very spoilt-child +of animosity is the word of an exceedingly forcible kind. In +endeavouring to chronicle the amenities of the British "damn," we +believe we are dealing with a monosyllable possessing a remarkable fund +of application. The term has fairly puzzled the ingenuity of continental +neighbours to comprehend. Not only has it excited their ridicule, but we +are not sure that it has not even stimulated their envy. It has been +said by one of the sprightliest of Frenchmen, that a foreigner might +conveniently travel through England with the assistance only of this one +particle of speech. + +The uses, or the misuses, of the word would seem to be twofold: first, +as an accessory of abuse, and secondly, as an accessory of geniality. In +some instances the two qualities are blended. Thus the knights of the +road who stopped coaches and filched purses on the heath of Newmarket or +Hounslow usually rode off "damning" their victims and advising them to +sue the hundred for the injury. Whereat it was customary to remark, in +the joking spirit of the age, that the villains showed themselves true +men of the law by taking their fee before they gave their advice. +Everyone who remembers the eleventh canto of Don Juan will recollect the +pugilistic conflict that took place upon that hero's first arrival at +the outskirts of London, a shower of blackguard oaths taking a +conspicuous part in the encounter. Juan, weary with travel, has arrived +at Shooter's Hill. He is meditating upon the vastness of the city +stretched in panorama at his feet. Suddenly his studious occupation is +interrupted by the onset of a gang of footpads. In the confusion that +ensues, his ignorance of the language places him at a momentary +disadvantage. The only English word he is acquainted with being, as he +phrases it, "their shibboleth, 'Goddamn.'" Even this Juan innocently +imagines to be a form of salutation, a sort of God-be-with-you, a +misconception which the poet professes to think not unnatural-- + + "... for half English as I am + (To my misfortune) never can I say + I heard them wish 'God with you,' save that way." + +No stanza of the poem is more replete than this with a vein of painfully +sarcastic drollery. The insular failing is elsewhere frequently +displayed by the poet in the trying light cast from a misanthrope +genius. + +But perhaps the severest hit, and not the less severe because tempered +with banter and good humour, is that which has been directed from the +pen of Beaumarchais.[10] "Diable! c'est une belle langue que l'anglais; +il en faut peu pour aller loin; avec Goddam en Angleterre on ne manque +de rien ... les Anglais à la vérité, ajoutent par-ci par-là, quelques +autres mots en conversant; mais il est bien aisé de voir que Goddam est +le fond de la langue." + +The highest point of wit in this direction must be supposed to have been +reached when Evariste Parny, a poet of no mean celebrity, produced his +"Goddam! poëme en quatre chants, par un French-dog." This was in the +year XII. or, as we now should prefer to call it, 1804. + +The countrymen, and in one remarkable instance, a countrywoman of +Beaumarchais, have been particularly industrious in fastening this +aspersion upon their English neighbours. So long ago as 1429, when the +arms of Shrewsbury and Bedford had well-nigh wrested the last jewel from +the diadem of France, and a peasant maiden of the Calvados had flung +herself into Orleans to stem the tide of the English advance, there +likewise came to the aid of the fainting cause a welcome supply of mirth +and invective. The Maid of Orleans, inspiriting the beleaguered army by +harangue, by entreaty, even by quips and jests, kept them constantly +reminded of the insular nickname. Rising from sleep and putting on her +armour to direct the memorable assault upon the Tournelles, a soldier of +her command ventured to produce a repast of fish, and prayed her to +break her fast. "Joan, let us eat this shad-fish before we set out." +The Maid indignantly put aside the proffered gift, "In the name of God," +said she, "it shall not be eaten till supper, by which time we will +return by way of the bridge, and I will bring you back a Goddam to eat +it with." How the redoubtable Tournelles was taken by steel and +culverin, and how Joan succeeded in bringing back many hundred Goddams, +has become matter of history. As to the conclusion of the Maid's career, +there has been opened a wide field of controversy, but one incident in +the closing chapter of her life is supported by reliable testimony. +While undergoing close imprisonment pending the decision of her fate, +two English noblemen, the Earls of Warwick and Stafford, came to visit +her in gaol, and would seem to have held out hopes of ransom; Joan, +irritated at the specious language of her visitors, retorted on them +sharply: "I know you well," she cried, "you have neither the will nor +the power to ransom me. You think when you have slain me, you will +conquer France; but that you will never bring about. No! although there +were one hundred thousand Goddams in this land more than there +are!"[11] + +With the assumption of the soldier's tunic, it did not follow that she +adopted the manners of the military fire-eater, or suited herself to the +wild talk of camps. The epithet "Goddam" in the mouth of La Pucelle was +expressive only of acrimony towards the oppressor, and even assuming it +to have been irreverent and ungainly, was not the least in accord with +the language that usually distinguished her. So far from condoning the +irregularities of military life, Joan seems to have laid her strongest +commands upon the soldiery to abstain from oath-taking, and in one +instance would appear to have made a convert of an illustrious kind. +Stories are told, which we need not here repeat, of the licence in +expression of the celebrated La Hire, who may be likened to a Boanerges +among swearers. With him the habit was perfectly indispensable. At last +Joan came to a compromise. He was to retain to the full his privilege of +swearing, provided he referred in his oaths to no other substantive than +his marshal's baton, and thenceforward this sturdy soldier betook +himself to this emasculated form of swearing. + +According to an authority that is entitled to credit, a very similar +subterfuge would seem to have been attempted at a still earlier period +of French history. The courtiers of Louis IX. were wont to indulge in +what may be described as a very flippant and volatile description of +swearing. The indignation of their master, the beloved St. Louis, may of +itself have been no inconsiderable punishment, but a still worse one was +provided in the statute-book, which prescribed the penalty of branding +the tongue with a red-hot iron upon every commission of the offence. The +oaths which at this period were the cause of the greatest mortification +to the saintly king were the _cordieus_, the _têtedieus_, the _pardieus_ +and the numerous offshoots, the effigies of which still survive in the +pages of Rabelais and Molière--the "Moyen de Parvenir" and the "Baron de +Foeneste". With the airy nonchalance of practised sophistry, these +apologists of swearing conceived a device that to themselves at least +proved eminently satisfactory. At this time there was at the palace a +pet dog, known by the name of Bleu. To elude the harsh sentence of the +law that might for ever deprive these gay swearers of the power of +taking oaths, they determine to substitute for _dieu_ the name of the +favourite dog. Thus _cordieu_ became CORBLEU and _têtedieu_ became +TÊTEBLEU, and so on throughout the entire series. Unlike the rigid St. +Louis, a later French monarch, Henry IV. was himself a notorious +offender in this respect. On every occasion of annoyance, he was heard +to give utterance to his favourite oath "Jarnidieu!" To him once came +his confessor, Coton. "Sire," said the confessor, "it is a great sin to +mention the holy name in these terms." "You are right," said Henry, "in +future I will say 'Jarnicoton.'" + +It is singular to turn for a moment from the extravagant exuberance of a +polished French court to find the same device existing in a very +different era of the world's history. The educated Athenian vented his +"Mon Dieus" like any Frenchman on the boulevard, and in like manner +learned to soften his "[Greek: Ma ton theon]" to a simple "[Greek: Ma +ton]" in deference to ears polite. Socrates himself, never altogether +free from a predilection for jocose forms of swearing, also took the +palace dog, so to speak, as his colloquial stalking-horse, and, like the +courtiers of St. Louis, swore [Greek: nê ton kuna]. + +The framework of the story dealing with the conversion of La Hire has +not been lost upon the writers of the theatre. A _petite comédie_ well +known on the boards of the Théâtre Français as 'Les Jurons de Cadillac,' +is occupied with the sufferings of a naval officer who is constrained by +feminine influence to relinquish his customary expletives. "How is it," +asks La Comtesse, "that you have contracted this horrible habit; you, a +scion of an old stock, one of our first Gascon gentlemen?" Cadillac's +answer is spirited. "Comtesse, I was brought up by my grandfather, an +old sea dog, corbleu! With him I learnt to swear before I learnt to +read, and if he has not taught me the language of courts, it is because, +sacrébleu! he did not know it. He made me a true sailor, ventre mahon!" +The Comtesse insists that, as a proof of the captain's professions of +regard, he should abstain from indulging in this habit for the space of +one single hour. Should the ordeal be successfully passed, she consents +that he shall receive her hand as his reward. Cadillac is fairly driven +to desperation. "Ask of me anything but that!" he exclaims; "only let me +swear, or I shall go mad!" Finally he sees no help for it but to accept +the challenge, and the audience is detained in a state of amusing +suspense while witnessing the contrivances with which the honest captain +endeavours to overcome the difficulty. He tampers with the hands of the +clock in the hope of abridging the hour of trial, and this ruse being +discovered he unworthily seeks safety in sullen silence. "No, no, +captain," objects the Comtesse, "unless you converse it is not fair +play." His tormentor lures him with all her skill to let slip one of his +unpremeditated expletives, and a hundred times the worthy fellow is on +the point of giving way. At last, beguiled into a description of one of +his most thrilling sea-fights, and with the recollection of the wild +scenes of carnage passing vividly before his eyes, he is no longer able +to maintain composure. He bursts into a volume of his old sea terms, but +the lady, moved, as it would seem, by the _élan_ and spirit of the +recital, finds it in her heart to be merciful. The play concludes with a +modest _sacrébleu_, this time spoken by La Comtesse. It will be seen +from the evidence of this performance alone that in ascribing to our +nationality a monopoly of energetic language, public report has hardly +been discriminating. + +Not desiring, however, to turn the tables upon our aspersers, we propose +to still further pursue the fortunes of the Britannic shibboleth from +when we left it upon the lips of La Pucelle. The aspersion cast upon the +English on the Picard battle-fields continued to be handed down in camp +story and in rugged _vaux-de-vire_. Neither did it cease to provoke +derision and merriment when it had entered into the common parlance of +the Paris cabaret, and became the stock property of the Palais Royal +farce.[12] The "Goddam" that greeted British officers rollicking +through the city of pleasure in the days succeeding Waterloo was the +same term of opprobrium that assailed the English archers at Agincourt +and Honfleur. + +To what "mute inglorious" satirist we are indebted for this lasting +compliment we shall probably never now determine. The word is at least +discovered in the collection of Norman ballads subjoined to the +'Vaux-de-Vire' of Master Oliver Basselin published at Caen, 1821. This +work dates from the early part of the sixteenth century, but has +reference to the events of the preceding one. It more particularly +speaks of Henry V. as dying _par le mal de St. Fiacre_ and of Henry VI. +as ascending the throne. It is the latter monarch who is referred to in +these verses as "little King Goddam"-- + + "Ils out chargé l'artillerye sus mer, + Force bisquit et chascun ung bydon, + Et par la mer jusqu'en Biscaye aller, + Pour couronner leur petit roy godon." + +We might search in vain for mention of the expression in English +writings of the same period. In France however the epithet is repeated +with equal malignancy in the angry verses which Guillaume Crétin was +pleased to write upon the 'Battle of the Spurs': + + "Cryant: Qui vive aux Godons d'Angleterre. + + * * * * * + + Seigneurs du sang, barons et chevaliers, + Tous seculiers d'illustre parentage, + Permettez vous à ses Godons, galliers, + Gros godaillers, houspalliers, poullalliers, + Prendre palliers au françoys heritaige?" + +The aspersion however did not always rest with Frenchmen. Lord Hailes, +in a criticism written about the year 1770, incidentally gives it as his +experience that in Holland the children when they espy any English +people say, "There come the Goddams," and that the Portuguese, as soon +as they acquire a smattering of the tongue, exclaim, "How do you do, +Jack? damn you!"[13] + +We have attentively considered the tone of contemporary English writings +to ascertain whether by a hazard the nickname was appropriately +bestowed. In the result we have not been able to discover anything to +lead to the supposition that this particular form of speech was, upon +these shores at least, very generally indulged in. Either the tall +soldiers who accompanied Henry of Monmouth to the wars were so +stimulated by the unaccustomed juice of the grape as to then and there +originate this vigorous epithet, unspoken at home, or else there was +little or no justification for the taunting expression. We are inclined +to think that the former surmise is approximately correct. The habit was +not an Englishman's but a soldier's vice, and when the foreign troubles +were at an end it may very well have been drafted back to this country +with the rest of the fighting contingent. + +Although in its usage it is now considered essentially British, there is +no reason to impute to it any other than an etymology decidedly French. +Its similarity with the numerous derivatives of the verb _damno_ have +probably obscured the true derivation of the word. For its real +parentage we must have recourse to the Latin _dominus_ or _domina_ which +produced the Gallic _dame_. This again was used equally to denote a +potentate of either sex, until at last we find the interjection _dame!_ +applied in the same sense as _Seigneur!_ or our own _Lord!_ When, +therefore, we go still further, and meet with _dame Dieu!_ occurring +frequently in ancient texts we are helped at once to the source of our +adopted expletive. By one of those combinations so often to be found +where there is a confusion or admixture of tongues, the English +soldiery rendered their _dame!_ or _dame Dieu!_ in the way we have seen, +and a hybrid term was thus produced which has not even yet been found +waning in popularity. The derivation we have here suggested is +sufficient of itself to account for the amusement that was displayed by +laughter-loving Frenchmen, who twitted the invader in that he was unable +to pronounce the irrepressible _Dieu_, and was forced to anglicise it to +fit it to the remainder of the oath. It will be perceived that, taking +this view of the case, the British shibboleth is rather more of a +shibboleth than has previously been supposed. + +It is true that in a scarce work we find it is recorded that the +expression originated with Richard III., but this is easily confuted by +the examples we have given. The 'Comedy of Errors' contains one isolated +allusion to it:--"_God damn me!_ that's as much as to say, God make me a +light wench." Here the term is dearly interpolated as a kind of +newly-coined catchword. We suspect that the true era of the oath being +absorbed into common speech is indicated by a passage in the epigrams of +Sir John Harrington. This work, which appeared in 1613, is much +concerned at the abusive element that had at that time entered into +English conversation. No longer, says Sir John, do men swear devoutly +by the cross and mass, or by such innocent oaths as the pyx or the +mousefoot. Now they invite damnation as their pledge of sincerity. +"Goddamn-me," he repines, had then become the customary oath. This +appears to us to be the first intimation of the fact that we find in +English literature.[14] + +Neither was amusement neglected to be created out of this new +word-sally. In one of the comedies which throw so much light upon the +manners of the time, a piece called 'Amends for Ladies,' from the pen of +Nat Field, we are introduced among a so-called society of roarers. The +experiment had been already tried by Thomas Middleton, who, in his +'Faire Quarrel,' had initiated his audience into the exercises of a +pretended roaring-school. The notion was simply that the young idlers +about town met together to acquire perfection in the arts of bombast and +exaggeration. In the former production, a Lord Feesimple is supposed to +be enjoying the coveted distinction of being drilled into becoming a +roarer. As was usual in these performances, the characters pass from one +insolence to another, until at last swords are drawn and general uproar +prevails. But what upon the present occasion has given rise to the +misunderstanding, is the unlucky assumption by Feesimple of one of the +roysterers' private and particular oaths. In an ill-omened moment he has +presumed to exclaim, "Damn me!" whereupon a certain Tearchaps who has +been noticeable through the play as the improprietor of the term, very +loudly objects--"Use your own words, damn me is mine; I am known by it +all the town o'er. D'ye hear?" + +Feesimple, although disposed to contest the other's title, is happily +brought to order by the timely interference of one Welltried, whose +knowledge of such matters enables him to bear out the truth of the +assertion. This play, produced in 1618 and acted upon the stage of the +Blackfriars, tallies in substance with Harrington's verses produced in +the earlier year. + +Allied to this expression is a phrase which may even be said to have a +kind of literary merit. "Don't care a damn" is indicative of about the +utmost possible amount of unconcern. It would be in vain to seek for any +object more intrinsically inconsiderable with which to liken a +condition of indifference. Anstey seizes upon it in his 'Bath Guide':-- + + "Absurd as I am, + I don't care a damn + Either for you or your valet-de-sham." + +But curiously enough this figure of speech was originally as independent +of the "shibboleth" as we have seen that was of the classic "damno." +There is in India a piece of money of the minutest value, which is known +as a _dam_. The phrase, therefore, so far from originating in a fanciful +comparison, really does nothing more than announce a prosaic fact. It +has been said that the expression was occasionally used by the "great +Duke," a circumstance for which the Indian experiences of the victor of +Assaye has been held sufficient to account. Mr. Trevelyan, indeed, in +his 'Life of Lord Macaulay' (ii. 257) states positively that the Duke of +Wellington invented this oath. + +Etymology, which has thus brushed away what one might have taken to be a +thoroughly characteristic expression, also supplies a matter-of-fact +explanation for another modification of the phrase. "Don't care a +curse," or "Not worth a curse," we might fondly imagine to possess +something of poetic imagery. The learned in derivations undeceive us. +They say that the word _curse_ is here identical with the plant +"cress." In that sense, "not worth a curse" will be found in Piers +Ploughman's Vision, the remarkable work of the fourteenth century. + + * * * * * + +Since the days when City madams and Fleet Street apprentices flocked +round the dusty scaffold of the Blackfriars play-house, and laughed and +rallied one another, or possibly took passing umbrage at the satire that +was being levelled at this newly-nurtured word, what a remarkable, what +an astounding ascendancy has it not enjoyed? No mint has ever issued its +metal more swiftly than has this exchequer of bad language, or given it +a more unmistakable impression. And yet there is nothing healthful, +nothing good in it. From the disorders which first environed it, it has +never yet recovered. It lives only by disease and unhealthiness, and +when it has rid itself of disease and unhealthiness it will die. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHICH GIVES A DOG A BAD NAME. + + +We have already adverted to that foreign and slanderous tradition which +lays all the grosser sins of vituperation at the Englishman's door. It +has been seen how the "damns" and "goddams" of a marauding soldiery, +though scattered upon the winds of many centuries ago, have continued to +be held up in judgment against the English-speaking race. There remains +to be noticed one other item of continental asperity that has enjoyed in +its day a full measure of approbation owing to the delightful assumption +that it savoured of perfidious Britain. + +Parisian caricaturists have always affected to believe that the +inhabitants of these islands are usually accompanied in their travels +abroad by some member of the canine species. The British bull-dog has +figured again and again in pictorial skits that are supposed to +represent the idiosyncrasies of the travelling Englishman. But the +notion may very well be of older date than this period of facile +illustration. Examples can be quoted of the occurrence of the word dog, +or _dogue_, as a malediction similar to that of "goddam," and at a date +nearly as distant.[15] There can be little doubt as to the inspired +origin of the phrase. So grateful is the demon of animosity for every +new-shaped weapon of attack, that in course of time it came to be +levelled indifferently at any object whether insular or otherwise that +it happened to be the speaker's intention to abuse. The inoffensive word +was the more readily adopted by the classes who had least notion of its +signification. As Dr. Johnson, when he wished to get the better of a +fishwife in a wordy encounter, would call her a parallelogram or a +hypothenuse, so the Seine boatmen and the market-women of the Halles +would denounce their antagonist as a "_dogue_." "Je laisserais plutôt ma +roupille en gage," exclaims one of the characters in the farce of +'Piarot et Janin,'[16] "que de te laisser payer mon quartier. La dogue! +tu ne me connais pas." + +What actual necessity can there have been for so invidiously employing +an imported word, when the French equivalent was already firmly +established as a particle of abuse? Although in our own vernacular the +epithet "dog!" is seldom to be met with outside the histories of Miss +Porter or of Mr. James, elsewhere the Gallic "chien!" has always been in +brisk demand. Both before and since the composition of 'Piarot and +Janin,' has it been customary among a numerous class to grind it in the +teeth of persons who have been the cause of annoyance or affront. In +conjunction also with other substantives, it has served as a powerful +degree of comparison and denotes a superlative expression of contempt. +In the most polite language, _quel chien de temps_ indicates weather of +a most deplorable description; _quel chien d'auteur_, an author whose +stupidity is exasperating. The oath of _Jarnichien!_ passed for a term +of the very darkest complexion; while in _sacré chien_, we have an +expletive as forcible as any that a Frenchman can utter. + +The Romans of old are said to have played with two sorts of dice, the +tali and the tesseræ. The tali had four even surfaces, the tesseræ six. +On opposite faces of the four-sided figure were marked respectively the +numbers one and six, the numbers three and four appearing respectively +on the other surfaces. The tessera, or six-sided figure, bore on its +additional faces the numbers two and five. Both tali and tesseræ were +usually knuckle-bones of an animal, frequently the gazelle; the uneven +ends being planed smooth in the case of the tesseræ, while for the tali +they were left in their natural condition. The game admitted of various +rules and of various degrees of skill, and it would seem that the more +ancient Greek sculptures represent the children and maidens of Athens +manipulating the tesseræ in much the same manner as school-boys still +play at the game of knuckle-bones. But whatever element of dexterity may +have originally pervaded the pastime, it was very rapidly dispelled, and +both tali and tesseræ became, as they have since remained, the +instruments of wagering and gain. The best throw, called the Venus, only +happened when each of the upturned surfaces presented different units. +The worst throw was when the four pieces exposed the same number on +each, and that number an ace. This single pip was technically known as +the _unio_, the side of six as the _senio_; while the name by which the +throw of four aces was chiefly distinguished among the gamesters of +antiquity was the _canicula_ or _canis_. + + "Jure etenim id summum quid dexter senio ferret + Scire erat in voto, damnosa canicula quantum + Raderet." _Persius, Sat._ iii. + +The deduction has been drawn that the player, baulked in his luck, and +turning angrily upon the prone dice as they disclosed the four upturned +aces, sought passing relief by hurling at them an insensate malediction. +In this way, after a long interval and by a slow process of development, +the _damnosa canicula_ of the Roman gamester is said to have become, or +more strictly to be represented by, the _sacré chien_ of a nearer +civilisation. + +The force of association has so indelibly connected the mention of this +animal with whatever is inferior or contemptuous, that there is at first +no room for surprise at finding it used in its present application. So +imperceptibly has this turn of thought entered into our habits of mind, +that, without further inquiry, such an application would appear +perfectly natural and proportionable. But upon the very slightest +reflection a sense of inappropriateness cannot fail to be forced upon +us. Surely the nomenclature of the animal world is sufficiently varied +as to admit of the dishonour done to it being more equally divided. One +would expect to find the members of the canine family at the least no +more than sharers in the distinction in common with other creatures of +the brute world. But no such equal distribution would appear to prevail. +The question therefore that remains is, how it is that the name of the +most sagacious of animals should be universally identified in the +vernacular tongue with whatever is the most ignoble and despicable of +its kind? The wild rose is called the dog-rose, the scentless violet the +dog-violet; bad Latin is termed dog-Latin; and in Ovid we have _verba +canina_ as denoting abusive conversation. + +Although the author of Gallus goes the length of saying that among the +ancients the names of the lower animals were seldom heard as particles +of abuse, the opprobrious application of the name of the dog will be +found to be most classical. The use made of the word in the conversation +of ancient Greece should be in easy recollection, bringing down as it +did upon the Athenian people the accusation of being their popular oath +of asseveration. Socrates, we are to believe, rarely used in his +swearing any other form of expression. "By the dog! Polus," he is made +to exclaim in Plato's 'Gorgias,' "I am really in doubt each time you +speak whether you are stating your own views or are asking my +opinion."[17] + +When, therefore, we find in the twelfth century an archbishop of Juvavia +interdicting his countrymen from ratifying their treaties with an oath +taken by the dog, we gain some insight into the portent of the canine +oath of Thebes and Athens. The superstition and mysticism attaching to +this animal are brought still closer home by a passage from De +Joinville, which mentions the sacrificing of a living dog as a Byzantine +method of confirming an obligation. Moreover, on the coins of Syracuse +the dog as the emblem of constancy is represented in company with the +goddess Diana. That a sacrificial ceremony, barbarous at once and +ineffectual, should have received any countenance among a people of +culture, is only in accordance with the view expressed at an earlier +part of these pages, that the progress of true civilisation may be +clearly traced by comparing the relative values of the veracity. The +cities of Greece were full of straw-shoes, men who distinguished their +calling by a straw at their feet, and who were ready at the bid of a +suitor to give the lightest evidence for the heaviest fee. Confidence +had little place among a nation far too volatile and specious to be able +to rely upon any system of reciprocal good faith. From this circumstance +it was that the Greeks earned for themselves the repute of being the +least trustworthy of all the untruthful nations of antiquity. In such a +community the fragile safeguard of an oath is, from sheer helplessness, +the more rigorously demanded. The Hellenic people may be said to have +been eminently a swearing people. The character had so persistently +clung to them, and was descended from so remote an antiquity, that +Juvenal, in the Sixth Satire, can only refer their immunity from +swearing to the period when innocence was said to have prevailed upon +earth and before Jupiter had begun to let his beard grow. + +But while Greek and Roman riveted oath upon oath and laid ceremony upon +ceremony, to accomplish that simple understanding which should be +effected by the mere parole of right-thinking men, there is no evidence +to show that swearing was carried to the precise point to which it has +been brought among ourselves. That at the lightest stir of the emotions +they were ready to apostrophise the ruling divinities as well as the +shapes of field and flood, of earth and air, must pass as +uncontradicted,[18] but never do they appear, as in the modern world, to +have forged their poetic oaths into weapons of malevolence and hurt. +There would seem to have been no actual counterpart in these languages +to the vituperative swearing of modern days. The difference in this +respect is somewhat singular, but it may readily be accounted for. With +the ancients, oaths were employed in guarding as efficiently as they +could the public conscience and the public security. With the moderns +they have been for the most part released from this unstable duty, and +accordingly, with untrammelled energy and ungovernable vigour, they have +entered upon a system of privateering upon their own account. + +Not only had the ancient mythology to struggle against the constant +infraction of the sanctity of the deliberative oath, but the minds of +heathen votaries must have been strongly biassed by an acquaintance with +instances of light swearing in the gods themselves. To render the +practice the less capricious and incontinent, a notion of an individual +property or trade-mark in oaths came to be perceptibly encouraged. The +specific appropriation of some distinctive oath raised the presumption +that it implied an unequivocal pledge of sincerity. In this way Zeno, +the founder of the Stoics, swore continually "by the caper." Pythagoras, +we are told, was accustomed to swear by the number four, [Greek: ma tên +tetrakton]. This numeral came to be regarded in consequence as +symbolical of the divinity, and the Pythagorean school gravely +inculcated it as a point of morals to abstain from intruding upon so +illustrious an example. + +Besides the oath of Socrates, "by the dog," he is reported to have sworn +variously by the goose and by the plane-tree. Those who argue in favour +of the piety of the philosopher, explain that the habit was assumed as a +foil to the irreverent mention of the gods that was then so universal. +Lucian attaches an intelligible meaning to these flippant expletives, +and represents Socrates as justifying their use. "Are you not aware," he +is presumed to reason, "that the dog is the Anubis of Egypt, the Sirius +of the skies; and in hell is the keeper Cerberus?" and Plutarch is also +found to comment on the oath, "those that worship the dog have a certain +sacred meaning that must not be revealed; in the more remote and ancient +times the dog had the highest honours paid to him in Egypt." In the +copiousness of the ancient swearing the notion of an oath accommodated +itself to all the varieties of monstrous gods. The divinities Isis and +Osiris were invoked in witness of a sacred pledge no less than the +garlic, the leek, and the onion, and indeed every other deity which, as +was said by the Roman satirist, grew and flourished in the +market-gardens of Alexandria. + +We are admitted to a just appreciation of the levity of Athenian +swearing through the medium of one of the most remarkable performances +ever placed upon the stage, whether of the modern or the ancient world. +When, returning from an expedition, Socrates repaired to the theatre to +witness Aristophanes' comedy 'The Clouds,' he found himself portrayed +upon the scene as the central figure of the drama. He was even +represented swung up in a basket in his own thinking-shop and giving +utterance to innumerable heresies and follies. When Strepsiades offers +to swear by the gods, he is at once interrupted by Socrates in the +basket, who reminds him that the gods are not current coin in his system +of philosophy. "By what then do you swear?" asks Strepsiades; "by the +iron money, as they do at Byzantium?" Unhappily the query remained +unanswered. + +The result, however, of the Socratic influence is intended to be shown +by the circumstance of Strepsiades subsequently swearing "by the mist!" +and reproaching his son for taking oaths in the name of a deity of the +outside world. Presently, on being importuned by a creditor for the +return of twelve minæ lent for the purchase of a dapple-grey horse, he +is ready to swear any number of oaths "by the gods" that he is innocent +of the debt. His opinions have in the course of this short dialogue +undergone alteration. He feels justified in ridding himself of his +obligation to repay the loan by making use of declarations which the +philosopher has argued are no longer of any consequence. + +"And will you be willing to deny it upon oath of the gods?" screams the +creditor. + +"What gods?" asks Strepsiades. + +"Jupiter, Mercury, and Neptune." + +"Yes, by Jupiter!" rejoins Strepsiades, "and would pay down, too, a +three-obol piece besides to swear by them." + +It must have been a sorry spectacle to have beheld Socrates in the midst +of an Athenian audience solemnly witnessing this masterpiece of +buffoonery, and a still sadder one to those whose feeling was still +enlisted upon the side of the moribund system of oath-taking. + +One singular instance of whimsicality in the ancient practice of +swearing must not be allowed to pass unnoticed. The Levantine merchants +trading with the port of Rhodes had familiarized Athenian households +with a most excellent description of cabbage. The herb was only to be +found in its highest perfection upon the southern coasts of the +Mediterranean. This Rhodian cabbage had a mellower flavour than that +indigenous to the Troad, and was, moreover, prized by all Athenian +topers as the surest antidote to the effects of drink. No supper-table +would have been perfect without some preparation of this delicacy, and +the gay revellers knew, or in any case imagined, that with this nostrum +close at hand the choicest Chian or Lesbian vintages might safely be +defied. Hence it was that the very name of so precious a vegetable came +to be held in estimation, until it was customary to say that if it were +permitted to blaspheme without offending the gods, it would be by +mention of the Rhodian cabbage.[19] The lover in a fragment of the lost +poet Ananius invokes it solemnly in evidence of his attachment, and +there is found a suggestion in the iambics of Hipponax of the vegetable +having even entered into the mythology-- + + "He, falling down, worshipped the seven-leaved cabbage, + To which, before she drank the poisoned draught, + Pandora brought a cake at Thargelia." + +This oath by the cabbage became in time the favourite expletive of +Ionia, and having winged its way westwards, still lingers in the shape +of the exclamation _Cavolo!_ as a popular phrase of modern Italy. + +Specific forms of swearing were in a great measure localised in the +ancient world. As the Thebans swore by Osiris, the Ionians by the +cabbage and the colewort, so also in Athens Minerva formed the staple of +the national oaths. No Roman citizen was heard to swear by Castor. Why +there should have been this denial upon the part of those who swore +freely by Pollux is not easily explained. But while the Roman women were +loud in the use of "Mecastor"--the affix _me_ being supplied to adapt +the name to swearing purposes, the men abjured that oath as scrupulously +as the women in their turn ignored the expression "Mehercule."[20] +Hercules himself, so the story went, was known to swear but one oath in +the whole course of his life. In recognition of such singular +forbearance, the Roman children were instructed never to make light use +of his sacred name. The prohibition, however, extended no farther than +the four walls and curtilage of the dwelling, and they were free to make +what use they liked of it out of doors. + +An instance of oaths being subjected to the like whimsical conditions is +noticeable in the domestic manners of Old Germany. We gather from the +popular mediæval satire, the 'Ship of Fools,' that a code of rules had +been formulated regulating the propriety of swearing. Society in this +case would seem to have formed its precedents of oath-taking, and to +have withheld its sanction from any others than its own. There was a +time in Germany it appears when a man adopted an oath as deliberately as +he might take to a trade, it being only necessary, to bring it within +the licensed pale, that it should be derived from the symbols of his own +or his father's occupation. The particular merit of this system was that +while it partook of all the abandonment and conferred all the enjoyment +of swearing, it was practically no swearing at all. When, in an outburst +of passion, the grazier called out upon his beeves, or the smith invoked +his anvil or his sledge, all the advantages of swearing, whatever they +may be held to be, had been accomplished, and that without prudery being +ruffled or innocence shocked. In fact the needs of society had invented +a kind of stalking-horse for blasphemy, and the Bob Acreses and Captain +Absolutes of that day must have found themselves cruelly hoodwinked by +the inanimate effigy of swearing. + +But while northern nations were conspicuous for the substantial and +ponderous nature of their oaths, the Roman yielded to none in the +multiform versatility of his adjurations. Caligula owned a horse that +he not only treated as a fellow-being and brought to meals at his table, +but whose name served him wherewith to pronounce his accustomed oaths. +The same emperor is reported to have put to death a Roman citizen who +refused to swear by his "imperial genius." Another of the oaths +prescribed by command of Caligula was "per numen Drusillæ." This +wretched woman he constrained his subjects to worship as a divinity. To +explain this partiality for the use of these absurd if not impious +oaths, it would seem that a tradition had been circulated, ascribing the +duration of his own lifetime to the period during which the oath should +pass current. Any attack of illness that happened to the emperor was +directly attributed to the waning popularity of the oath. Nor was the +doctrine strange to many of the nationalities over which the Roman sway +extended. We have it distinctly occurring among the Scythians,[21] and +it has more recently been noticed by travellers as existing among +half-barbarous tribes. The oath itself was probably a development of the +affirmation that has been used more than any other in the history of the +world. The _life_ or the _head_ of the ruler of the chief tribesman, or +of the spiritual prophet, has invariably furnished the true standard of +affirmation. But even as a mere domestic oath, the _head_ of the goodman +of the house seems to have been permitted a degree of solemnity-- + + "Per caput hoc juro, per quod pater ante solebat." + _Virgil_, Æn. ix. 300. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "He swore by the wound in Jesu's side."--_Coleridge, 'Christabel.'_ + + +We may now turn our backs upon the luxuriant and fanciful swearing of +the ancient world and pursue our researches into one other division of +the subject that gives rise to more serious reflections. The diversions +of the Roman and the Greek in the way of imprecation seem to have been +mostly intended in good part, and to have been productive of little +theological odium. But there is a body of swearing that has diffused +itself through Christian countries which is the very reverse of +sportive, and has undeniably provoked the strongest feelings of +aversion. The abuse to which we allude consisted mainly in the +indiscriminate use of popular oaths that selected the limbs and members +of Christ as the paraphernalia of swearing. There does not appear at the +present day any great irreverence in the exclamation, "S'light," or +"S'lid," or "Bodikins," as, happily, the wave of impiety that brought +them has long since broken and passed away. Indeed, as they now occur +in the pages of sixteenth century writings, they only strike the modern +reader in the light of so many interruptions from the text. But we shall +find as we pursue the inquiry further, that there was a great deal of +meaning wrapped up in these expletives, and that they played a by no +means unimportant part in the workings of the mediæval understanding. + +Whatever may have been the malignities laid to the charge of the later +middle ages, it is certain that the Englishman was on the whole of a +reverential type. The pious moralist who laboured in those times was so +far assisted by an utter absence of captious criticism to honeycomb his +teaching, and by the solid sense of appreciation that was wont to fill +the minds of his listeners. He was practised, moreover, in the exercise +of two potent influences that he was ever ready to exert. The one may be +said to have had its root in his hearers' fund of ready sympathy, the +other in their ghostly apprehension of horror and dread. It is not at +all surprising that in later times we should find an opaqueness to have +obscured the clear crystal of these subtle perceptions, for fear and +pity have no longer the same ascendancy in a busy world. But at a period +more piously illiterate, things of this shadowy nature were linked very +closely to objects of a material kind. A long process of reasoning +could then be saved by reference to some obscure picture of monkish +fancy. And so, in the glooms and twilights of mediæval life, the +moralist might insure speedy victory by overwhelming men's intellects by +an appeal to the formidable images of terror and compassion. + +The pre-Reformation Englishman, stricken and toil-worn, having no hope +save in forbearance from the skies, and no consolation but in the repose +of the ale-house, could yet be awed and subdued by the apprehension of +some priest-directed shape of ghostly terrorism. Above all, he had been +made to grasp a sentiment, which, slightly as it can be treated in a +secular work, may be said to have left no adequate imprint upon the +Protestant world. By dint of the monastic teaching, he had been brought +to entertain a keen personal realisation of the actual sufferings of +Christ. The fact is self-evident from every fragment of contemporaneous +literature intended to react upon the fears and sympathies of +uncultivated men. It was the constant presentment of the notion of the +divine agony, the daily calling to remembrance of the thorns, the nails, +and the hyssop, that was relied upon to keep alive in those poor agued +souls some struggling flame of spiritual vitality. And so surely was the +spark wont to kindle, and so reverently was the similitude of these +priestly images treasured up, that they formed the mainstay of the +ploughman's faith, the sum total of the poor man's theology. + +From this cause it arose, as there is now every reason to suspect, that +the country was at one time inundated with a torrent of the most acrid +and rasping blasphemy. It would not be difficult to trace the relative +connection between the luxuriance of oath-taking and the various forms +of religion under which oath-taking has successively flourished. It +could be shown that the swearing of most Catholic states is of greater +fertility, and displays a readier fund of invention than that of +countries brought under the reformed faith. The more religion appeals to +the senses, the more fecund has been the vocabulary of oaths. The more +it has been made the subject of illustration and imagery, the more +finished and ornate have been the comminations in use. A priest-ridden +nation, such as the Spanish or Italian, has always been eminent for its +proficiency in blasphemy; and as part of the argument it may not be out +of place to mention the instance of the hedge-parson in the 'Fortunes of +Nigel,' who, by reason of his superior knowledge of divinity, could +swear with greater volubility than any of his associates. + +Thus it was that, labouring under the ban of priestly exaction, and +confronted on all sides by the ghostly emblems of wrath and +condemnation, there descended upon England in the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries, a torrent of the hardest and direst of verbal +abuse. Not mere words of intemperate anger came bubbling to the surface, +but sullen and defiant blasphemies, execrations that proclaimed open +warfare with authority and a lasting separation from everything that was +tender in men's faith. Imprecations were contrived from every incident +in the narrative of the Crucifixion. The limbs and members of the slain +Christ were made the vehicle of revolting profanation. The didactic +writers of the time, no less than epic poets and sprightly versifiers, +give full testimony to the prevalency of the offence. The laureate, +Stephen Hawes, Lydgate, Chaucer and the "moral Gower," all are alike +loud in their expression of horror and renunciation. Among the later +writers replete with instances of the scandal is the epigrammatist, +Robert Crowley, who enumerates a lengthy catalogue of expletives current +in his day. Although by the time Crowley appeared upon the scene the +language of blasphemy had become a little softened by the admixture of +rather more innocent particles, as "by cock and pye," or "by the cross +of the mousefoot," the author still finds it necessary to record a set +of hard, grating oaths pronounced by the "hands," the "feet," and the +"flesh" of Christ. + +To refer, for instance, to the use of the one word "zounds!" This +strikes us now-a-days as anything but a very solemn or a very momentous +form of adjuration. But in unreformed England--the England that still +adored the _Genetrix incorrupta_, and had earned among the devout the +title of Our Lady's Dower, it was absolutely impossible to surpass in +blasphemy the hideous import that had been imparted to the user of the +word. It was in fact nothing else than a rebellious and mutinous +rendering of the once sacred oath taken by the wounds of the Redeemer. +There are few who can probably now realise the conspicuous place then +occupied in the Catholic worship by the legends relating to the five +several incisions in the body of Christ. The monkish representations of +the wounds were depicted in countless rosaries and Books of Hours. +Confraternities were formed in the Church for their greater veneration. +There were occasions when papal absolution was specially extended to +those worshippers who paid their devotions to the wound in the side of +Christ. The so-called measurement of them was even preserved in +families, and was reputed to be a charm.[22] In the great northern +insurrection of 1536, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Five Wounds +was the badge under which York and Lincoln farmers marched to avenge the +spoliation of the monasteries. Such was the oath in the days of the last +King Henry. Its more modern application scarcely requires illustration, +but if any such were needed, we might find it in the villainous lines +which Lord Byron wrote in connection with a certain trip on board the +_Lisbon_ packet. + +To the present hour, in Italy, the popular oaths are in close alliance +with the Romanist faith. The ordinary exclamation "_Per l'ostia_" is the +equivalent of "God's bread!" that so long did duty in England of the +pre-Reformation era. A modern traveller has noticed how distinct an +impress has been set upon Italian swearing by the particular notions of +heavenly beings that are inculcated by the national creed. A workman in +an art-studio was heard vociferating in such terms as "_Per Christo_," +"_Per sangue di Christo_," "_Per maladetto sangue di Christo_," +whereupon the following conversation occurred:-- + +"Do you forget who Christ is, that you thus blaspheme Him?" + +"Bah!" replied the man, "I am not afraid of Him." + +"Who, then, do you fear?" + +"I'm afraid of the Madonna, and not of Him." + +The fact was that the Mother of God was the sole being the mind was +brought to esteem with feelings of veneration. Christ was only the +_bambino_, or infant in arms, and nothing more.[23] + +The state of feeling that still prevails in Italy should go far to +explain the presence in pre-Reformation England of this widely-spread +body of irreverent swearing. With the Reformation, however, the +contagion was shortly to abate. The severer authors at the close of the +sixteenth century do not have to complain so bitterly of these jarring +elements of vituperation. In the literature of the stage there is a +marked improvement: in none but the earlier of the Elizabethan comedies +do the characters accentuate their meaning by reference to the grossest +description of blasphemy. When expletives occur they are generally in +the spirit of derision and lampoon. As the writings of the stage grew +more robust, the custom altogether wore away. It may, indeed, be held +that the subversion of the Catholic religion was mainly, if not +entirely, accountable for the change. There is certainly a marked +distinction between the oaths of the outgoing and incoming creeds. But +if we have been finally spared from the ravages of the infection, we may +attribute our deliverance to that reserve of reverence of which we have +spoken as possessed by English laymen, and to the pious devices that +were practised upon it by the inferior orders of preachers. + +The position they chose to assume in combating this "fine old +gentlemanly vice" is a singular feature in its history. Their method was +to associate the practice of swearing with the notion of actual bodily +pain being occasioned to the Saviour. They made it appear that Christ in +person was put to extreme physical agony on every occasion of its +committal. Not alone did they assert the wantonness and hardihood of so +directly incurring the Divine displeasure, but they raised the most +piteous appeal to the compassion of these benighted swearers. It was +daily proclaimed from their pulpits that the profanity in this one +respect of professedly Christian men had worked a sharper and more +agonising martyrdom than that formerly designed by the Jews themselves. +In countless broadsheets, no less than by pictorial illustration, the +wounds of Christ were portrayed as hourly re-opened, and the sufferings +of Golgotha renewed from day to day. The doctrine gained additional +credit when transferred from the hands of monkish authors and embraced +by popular and captivating pens. Stephen Hawes, own poet to +carpet-knights and buckram soldiery, brought home conviction to a class +of offenders that a whole consistory would not have succeeded in +convincing. In a rhyming pamphlet, prefaced by a figure of the bleeding +Christ, Hawes depicts with awful realism those sufferings which, as he +believed, were being actually and bodily inflicted.[24] The author of +'Bel Amour' describes the feet and hands of Christ as literally pierced +anew, and every member torn and lacerated by reason of the imprecations +of unheeding Christians. + +At this time of day it might be difficult to ascertain with any +certainty the origin of this forced view of the iniquity of swearing. So +far as concerns printed literature, we discover it for the first time +in the doggerel of the poet Hawes, but it is none the less traceable to +that encyclopædic work of the thirteenth century, the 'Miroir du Monde.' +This takes us to the year 1279, and instances could be furnished showing +its regular passage through the next three centuries, until the monkish +notion is at last surrendered and delivered over to the cleansing fires +of the Reformation. The last of the English authors who seems to have +seriously advanced the theory is to be found in the rigid disciple of +asceticism, Thomas Becon. + +Becon was a man who, throughout a devout and severe life, had set +himself sternly to the task of rebuking the immoderate lawlessness of +the orders among which he lived. The rustic usage of collecting round +the village tavern to celebrate the Sabbath in sport and holiday was one +particularly repellant to the mind of Becon, and held by him to be the +mainspring of all the evils that ravaged the country-side. The fore part +of the day having been devoted to the services of the Church, it was +usual for a time of high festival to succeed the morning's austerities. +Noon discovered all the grown men of the village assembled round the +vintner's door and partaking of the ale-house hospitalities. Here feats +of rude strength were performed, wrestlers practised their throws, and +sturdy fellows played bouts at quarter-staff. Foot-races were run upon +the greensward for wholesome wagers of barley-cake, and games of hazard +were conducted under the shelter of the ivy-bush at the publican's +threshold. Bets were staked, dice were rattled, and yokels learned to +place the dues of the harvest-field upon the fortunes of the winning or +losing colour. When, therefore, after earnest and fruitless entreaty, +the good Becon rushed into print and produced his learned 'Invective,' +he did not omit to visit with uncompromising censure the chartered +licence of this Sunday festival. + +The riot and pastime that on every seventh day had been wont to disturb +the quietude of rustic life appeared to our reformer as a direct +encouragement to the practice of swearing, and in fact as constituting +so many training-schools for the cultivation of this unwelcome +accomplishment. In the hope of rendering the habit positively forbidding +to the more impressionable among his readers, he reminds them how the +body of the Saviour is actually torn and mangled by reason of the +imprecations hurled at him in these country sports. Oaths, he deplores, +were then used in every matter of chopping and changing, of bargaining +and selling, and he groans to think how the "dicer" will swear rather +than passively submit to the loss of a single cast, the "carder will +tear God in pieces rather than lose the profit of an ace." + +It is a feature that must be very palpable to the student of incipient +literature, that when once an original and daring notion was fairly +launched upon the world, it was not allowed to founder for want of +repetition. The peculiar mode of thought which we have ventured to +ascribe to the 'Miroir du Monde' in the thirteenth century, could boast +a long line of exponents in the interval that closed with Thomas Becon. +The writer to whose industry, rather than invention, English laymen were +indebted for their acquaintance with this painful doctrine was a certain +Dan Michael, described as a brother of the Cloister of Saint Austin. +This person has produced a didactic treatise based upon the model of the +famous 'Miroir,' an original from which no writer at that time felt +himself justified in departing. With the subject of swearing he deals in +a way that is highly painstaking. Not to mention the intricate +distinctions which he treats under these several heads, we find that he +has grouped the offences of the tongue into no less than eight cardinal +divisions. It may be curious to record the titles as our author +enumerates them, notwithstanding that it is scarcely to our purpose to +follow him through the niceties he has created. The branches of the +subject, according to his classification, would therefore seem to be: +"ydelnesse," "yelpinge," "bloudynge," "todiazinge," "stryfinge," +"grochynge," "wyþstondinge," and lastly "blasfemye." So far as we have +mastered the system of Dan Michael we are driven to the conclusion that +the practice of swearing, as understood in the Cloister of Saint Austin, +was, save for the outward distinction of dress, much the same as +prevails in the later world. "For there are some," says he of the +cloister, "so evil taught that they are able to say nothing without +swearing. Some swear as if smitten with sudden pain. Others swear by the +sun, the moon, by the head, or by their father's soul." + +Minute as is Dan Michael in his treatment of the subject of abuse, his +elaborations are possibly surpassed by the next competitor for +moralistic fame. Robert of Brunné, who produced a similar work in the +year 1303, availed himself largely of the other's labours, while he +enriched his collections with recitals of wrong-doing from his own +exclusive stores. From the "Handlyng Sinne," as the production is +called, one may gather considerable insight into the state of prejudice +existing at the time. The neighbours tell one another good stories in +church time, and inquire during the sermon where they can get the best +ale. The monks have become so luxurious that they refuse to shave their +heads and have commenced to array themselves in fine clothes. The king's +courts are crowded with supplicating suitors, craving for redress from +the extortions of trustees and executors, and yielding themselves +victims to the falsity of the men of law. Swearing, at that time, would +seem to be no longer the prerogative of laymen, but even to have become +the privilege of learned clerks. + +To depict what, from this author's point of view, were the fruits and +consequences of blasphemy, Brunné enters into a narrative describing the +Mother of God presenting the bleeding Jesus to the gaze of the rich man +Dives. The latter inquires the reason for the Child being gashed with +wounds. In reply the Virgin points out in terms of keen resentment the +injuries inflicted upon the Infant by the swearing of Dives and his +associates. The doctrine of the 'Miroir' is then introduced in full to +demonstrate the infamy and inhumanity of the practice, the whole +concluding with a promise of repentance on the part of the sinful man. +This fable is only one among many others that were narrated with a view +to curbing the propensities of blaspheming swearers. The work that +contains it met with general circulation at the commencement of the +fourteenth century, but that the spread of the iniquity was not sensibly +abated we may infer from other sources of information we have +mentioned.[25] In 1544, the evil was set forth in the light of a +national grievance, and was paraded in a broadsheet published in that +year entitled a "Supplycacion to Kynge Henry the Eyght." + +Such, then, was the ponderous metal that passed current as the swearing +of pre-Reformation England. These verbal projectiles were sometimes +moulded, however, of a lighter calibre, and when employed in the talk +of priests or women, were so nicely rounded off as to incur little of +theological displeasure. Chaucer's people, in particular, are very +punctilious in the propriety of their oaths; good Sir Thopas swearing +mildly "by ale and bread," and Madame Eglantine naming holy Saint +Eligius as the patron of her vows-- + + "There was also a nonne, a prioresse, + That of hire smyling was ful symple and coy, + Hire grettest oath was but by St. Eloy." + +In much the same way did princes and dignitaries of the land single out +some swearing cognizance that might befriend them in the everlasting +conflict between lies and honesty. Edward I. sanctified his oaths by the +mention of a brace of milk-white swans, and whoever will consult St. +Palaye will find that the peacock and the pheasant entered largely into +the codes of chivalry as bearing witness to the truth of a statement. +Edward III. followed the lead of his grandsire in the selection of his +gage of testimony. At the festival held in 1349 to celebrate the +creation of the Order of the Garter, his cognizance was the swan, +adorned, moreover, with the swearing motto: "Haye! Haye! the Whyte Swan! +by Godde's soule I am thy man." + +The tradition that St. Paul was the saint that Richard III. was wont to +conjure with, has found expression in the tragedy of Shakespeare. +Faithful to the popular notions of the usurper's characteristic, this +form of oath has been placed upon Gloucester's lips at each impassioned +outburst. Henry V., in his wooing of Katherine, gallantly invokes St. +Denis to aid him in his attempts at love-making. But the chronicler who +seems positively to have had an affection for the oaths the memory of +which he is recalling, is the historian Brantôme. Upon this +unimpeachable testimony we learn that the oath of Louis XI. was _par la +Pâque Dieu_, an affirmation that Scott avails himself of in his +portraiture of that monarch in 'Quentin Durward.' This was succeeded by +the _jour de Dieu_ of Charles VIII.; by the _diable m'emporte_ of Louis +XII., and the _foi de gentilhomme_ of Francis I. Among the Gascon oaths +of Henry IV. the most usual was _ventre Saint Gris_. As for Charles IX., +adds Brantôme, he swore in all fashions, and always like a sergeant who +was leading a man to be hanged.[26] + +The question has frequently been asked who was intended by the cognomen +Saint Gris? The answer accorded by Le Duchat, a savant learned in such +matters, is that Saint Francis d'Assise was the person indicated. It is +true that Saint Francis was _ceint_ by a hempen girdle, and, moreover, +was clad in a habit of _gris_. But there nevertheless seems no reason to +suppose that any individual personage was suggested, or, indeed, as has +been stated, that the oath was of a Huguenot character. Says M. Charles +Rozan,[27] who has had occasion to refer to this subject, Saint Gris is +purely a creature of fancy, and was constituted a patron of drinkers, as +St. Lâche was a patron of idlers and St. Nitouche of hypocrites. + +The oath of William Rufus, _per vultum de Lucca,_ has raised conjectures +as to its probable signification. The literal meaning, "by Saint Luke's +face," being rejected as not very intelligible, there remain two +distinct explanations: one that it referred to the face of Christ as +painted by St. Luke, the other that the portrait of Christ as preserved +in the cathedral church at Lucca is the object intended. To support the +first derivation, credence must be given to the legend which places the +apostle among the artist craftsmen of Judæa, and has enshrined him as +the patron saint of all workers in the arts. On the other hand, there +has reposed for some centuries at Lucca a miraculous crucifix, famous +alike for the marvels it has seen and accomplished. The Tuscan people +set great store by the possession of this relic, and have engraved a +representation of it upon their coins. The inscription upon the Tuscan +florin, "Sanctus vultus de Lucca," would seem, therefore, to be +identical with the expletive of William Rufus. + +We have seen how the occupants of the throne have usually comported +themselves in the matter of oaths, but there is one recorded instance of +Plantagenet royalty having created a singular precedent. If any man can +be said to have ever had cause for swearing, Henry VI. might be +described as being that individual. It is stated, however, by +contemporaries who had opportunities for conversing with this king, and +by whom it is given as a somewhat remarkable fact, that he was never +known to swear under the greatest provocation. + +The adage that enjoins us to repeat "no scandal about Queen Elizabeth" +should dispose us to deal lightly with any verbal excesses committed by +the virgin queen. It would appear, however, that the moral atmosphere of +her court, despite the intellect and talent that adorned it, was not so +refined or particular but that the sovereign and the ladies over their +breakfasts of steaks and beer could ring out exclamations that to a +later generation might appear of rather an astounding character.[28] To +turn for comparison to the era of the next female majesty, it is +questionable whether even Sarah Jennings, with all her power of abuse, +would not have taken exception to the flavour of some of the Elizabethan +adjectives. + +A story is told of Edward VI., that at the time of arriving at the +kingly dignity he gave way to a torrent of the most sonorous oaths. The +pastors and masters charged with the well-being of the royal youth could +not but stare in blank astonishment at the conduct of one so well +nurtured as the child of Anne Boleyn. It transpired, however, that the +young king had been given to believe by one of his associates that +language of the kind was dignified and becoming in the person of a +sovereign. Edward was asked to name the preceptor who had so ably +supplemented the course of the royal education. This he instantly and +innocently did, and was not a little surprised at the severe whipping +that was administered to the delinquent.[29] + +The predicament in which the royal child was placed is similar to that +which once befel a clerical gentleman while travelling on mule-back +across Syria. The Syrian muleteers are, it seems, accustomed to urge +onward their beasts with the shout of "Yullah!" or "Bismillah!" and it +was under the escort of these shouting and belabouring drivers that the +traveller made his way into the town of Beyrout. His friends naturally +inquired of him what progress he had made in Arabic, and in reply he +told them he had only acquired two words, _bakhshish_ for a present, and +_Yullah!_ for go-ahead. He was asked if he had used the latter word much +on his way. Certainly, he said, he had used it all the way. "Then, your +reverence," replied his friend, "you have been swearing all the way +through the Holy Land." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any + standers-by to curtail his oaths."--'_Cymbeline_,' ii. 1. + + +In the study of antiquity there are steep and irregular by-paths that +defy the traveller every step that he pursues them. It is in threading +these tortuous windings that many a fearless venturer has lost foot-hold +and been utterly cast away. Many a man with the passion for antiquity +deep at his heart, and with limbs well girded to attain to the summit of +his aim, has been fain to settle down, jaded and dispirited, at +mid-task. He has accomplished nothing perhaps beyond the mere reading of +an inscription or deciphering of a medallion, but the spirit of his +insight is dimmed, and stricken in the work. Thus has it been with many +generations of seekers and inquirers. The _virtuosi_ and _cognoscenti_, +the curious in gems and medals, in brasses and torsos, the commentators +and concordancers,--all these may be said to be nothing more than so +many units in the lost tribe of eager scholarship. Starting confident +of probing to the very source and mystery of things, they have rather +preferred the shelter of some attainable evening refuge than be +overtaken in their task by the chills and storms of night. + +It is easier far, means not being wanting, to place in one's cabinet +some matchless group of Capo di Monti, some priceless specimen of the +fabric of Sèvres or Dresden, than to tax one's strength in extracting +the lessons conveyed by form and colour. It is a simpler matter to be +the possessor of Damascus sword-blades or Aleppo prayer-rugs than to +burden one's self with reflections upon oriental chivalry or mysticism. +And so, again, it is a far readier, as it is certainly a rougher, way of +being in sympathy with antiquity, to notch off a fragment in the +Acropolis, or carve one's name among the ruins of the Forum, than to +originate such poetic passages as Byron uttered over the field of +Marathon, or Longfellow in the market-place of Nuremburg. Say what we +will, both forms of veneration arise alike from the same innate craving +to grasp some part or parcel of the tissue of the past. + +To the untiring few who have overcome the drought and dust of the +up-land journey, the summit, once attained, will disclose many a point +and promontory unsuspected by the purblind dweller in the plain. The +retrospect will reveal to them a busy, thronging life underlying the +serenity of history. They will be able to range the perished multitudes +in their once motley grouping, to restore warmth and colour to +lineaments long obscured in death, and greed and alacrity to the sunk +eyes and folded hands. To those whom the spirit of the past is apt to +visit as a passionate inspiration, the mere record of consecutive events +is often wearisome. It is not altogether for this that they have +laboured to catch some murmur, however slight, of the infinite harmony +that is being sounded by all, the chords of history. Rather, it is to +tramp mistily along from generation to generation in the long, forced +march of human life. Rather, to probe to the depths of some one of the +world's stupendous follies, of some one of its golden vanities, that +they have thus cast about them with measure and lead-line. And when they +have completely searched out and written of the world's stupendous +follies, they will perhaps have written what alone would be worth +calling its history. + +As some small, tentative contribution to the understanding of this +under-life, the plan of this volume has been designed. The past has come +down to us cloaked and shrouded, and attended by its decorous retinue of +mutes and bearers. We are continually seeking to revive this dead past, +just as it was, when its future was a wild, inscrutable thing, and its +life was so fragrant, so masterful, and so momentous. It wants a great +mental effort to recall events that are as indubitably past as if they +had never happened at all. The pleasure of possessing, or of even +entering, the vanished territory is a privilege so rare, that there are +permitted but a few moments for its enjoyment. It is so subtle a +perception that even seasoned historians seldom have the power of +imparting it. They may surround us with the conflict of contending +legionaries, until we seem to recognise the thud of advancing battalions +and the clash and impact of the squadron. These, however lifelike, are +impressions of a much grosser and more tangible nature, and can have but +little in common with the blended sweetness and irony that pertain to +the spontaneous realisation of the dead past. + +What we are for ever craving to learn is something more of the gambols, +the humours, and the anticing of this sad army, for ever on the march. +We yearn to know something more of the vanity and the pettiness, the +fever and the longing, of those weary men and women, the memorial of +whose lives has been trampled out. The historian will sometimes rend +away the veil that separates us from this unwritten history; but more +often it is the creation of the romancer that helps to clothe the dim +spirit of the past from the loom of its misty memories; Pascarel, +depicting the splendours of the artist-life of Florence, while +Arlecchino and the rest of the gay carnival troupe are romping in the +faded street of the stocking-makers; Slender and Shallow and the simple +folk of the Cotswold country ambling out their jests midst the turmoil +of those stirring Lancastrian times; or "sweet Anne Page," provoking and +winning, three hundred years ago, in the glades of Windsor Forest. The +honest yeoman who fought the master of fence--three veneys for a dish of +stewed prunes; the foolish justice who in the days of his youth had beat +Sampson Stockfish behind Gray's Inn, and had heard the chimes at +midnight, lying out in the windmill in St. George's Fields--these and +many kindred types represent to us so many factors in that prodigious +army of the unknown that is never permitted us more thoroughly to know. +It is indeed in the fancy of Shakespeare that this bygone sweetness and +irony seem the oftener to be kindled and awakened. Not, certainly, in +the wordy warring of Capulet and Montagu; not, perhaps, in the outspoken +chivalry of "Harry the King," or the blunt generosity of Falconbridge. +But we find it moving and thrilling in every tone caught up from the +English country-side, in the echoes wafted from the vintage-lands of +France, or the garden walks of Padua. And freshest and daintiest of all, +we find it in the poet's snatches of song and rugged bursts of +minstrelsy. This indeed is the enchantment that subdues us as the +dimpled page advances to the gay theatre lights, and pleading the woes +of three hundred years ago, and exhorting now as he exhorted then, bids +"Sigh no more, ladies; ladies, sigh no more." It is this which +captivates as the scene pauses and the drama halts, that the eye may be +carried back through a vista of three centuries to dwell upon a simple +"lover and his lass" as they wander "between the acres of the rye." + +The subject of swearing the writer has come to regard as one of the many +indices by which the paths of our ancestors may be traced. Holding in +fitting estimation the monuments of their industry and their prudence, +none the less may we seek to view the departed generations in their +hours of carelessness and frolic, and may peer into their casinos and +their tiring-rooms, their spital-houses and their bridewells. What +manner of men were they? we ask. Were they sparkling and festive, +tellers of rare stories, dealers in racy jokes? Were they wholesome in +their living, manly and courageous in their lives, or were they loose +and liquorish, winking at falsehood and cajoling the truth? And if the +monumental record of their virtues be a just one, why did they heirloom +on posterity this bitter heritage of swearing? + +The truth would seem to be that in every society there has existed a +certain _corps d'élite_, which, distinguished at once by its breeding +and its brusquerie, has perversely thought fit to adopt the insignia of +swearing as its own particular device. In advancing this explanation of +the fidelity with which posterity has exercised its watchfulness over +the bequest of swearing, we must not for a moment be misunderstood. It +is far from our purpose to associate good breeding with the use of +coarse vituperation, but at the same time it is impossible to overlook +the fact that swearing has mostly owed its favour and its audacity to +the practice of really cultivated men. The first contrivers of our +modern methods of swearing took pains to raise an air of mystery and +exclusiveness around their favourite art. "To be an accomplished +gentleman," says Carlo Buffone, in Ben Jonson's comedy,[30] "have two +or three peculiar oaths to swear by that no man else swears"; and it +would seem to have been one of the gravest charges brought against the +Hectors and Bobadils of the Elizabethan stage, that they dare assume +acquaintance with courtly oaths. Even Hotspur is portrayed by the +dramatist as a most precise and scrupulous swearer. It may be seen how +he reproaches Lady Percy for swearing "like a comfit-maker's wife," and +bids her "swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art!" and not to mince her +oaths like some city madam or seller of gingerbread.[31] For upwards of +two centuries, the notion of finish and exclusiveness in oath-taking +afforded constant merriment for the stage, the creations of the +playwright seldom failing to give full scope to the illustration of this +strange humour. Every period brought its particular oath and fresh +generations of exponents. Now it was the soldier of fortune returned +from encounters with the Spaniards or the Turk. Anon it was the tavern +rake of King James' day, and after some interval, the wits and foplings +of the Restoration. By-and-by, there followed the crowd of nabobs and +parvenus, the blustering swearers of the days of East Indian +speculation, and finally came the truculent swabbers and commodores of +Adelphi melodrama. The _nouveau riche_ of the younger Colman, who fails +to enrobe himself with dignity by the aid of all ordinary resources, is +enjoined by his more practical helpmate to vent his "zounds" and +"damme," in emulation of the swearing of the great. + +For this _corps d'élite_ of which we have spoken have drawn to +themselves men the most worthless, and men the most admirable. It has +found disciples in every capital--the easy, the affluent, the +voluptuous, cheery and sunny of speech, bold and swarthy of countenance. +There are numbered among them free livers and free lances innumerable. +There are men remarkable for their stores of boisterous animalism, no +less than delicate scholars remarkable only for the brightness of their +fancy and the vividness of their dreams. They have ever been a composite +and a cosmopolitan crew, some shouldering into the ranks by the weight +of their purses or the length of their rent-rolls, others by skill +evinced at high midnight, when taper-lights throw pale vertical rays +upon a refreshing margent of green cloth. Among them, too, are stout +soldiers, bold fearless riders, the wild and fevered blood of many +countries, the fervour of Italy, and the craft of the Levant. To the +precincts of this gilded and splendid society come many sorts and +conditions of aspirants. The boy-parson lays down the sanctity of the +priesthood and rapturously sues for admission. Elders of threescore +demand an entrance upon the strength of _risqué_ stories sprung from +garrison-towns and college common-rooms. Skilled physicians feign +indifference to their calling that they may smack of the kennel and the +hunting-field. Staid, contemplative men, men with a prayer and a tune in +them, press into this joyous throng, eager to clasp the bruised fruit of +human desire and to claim kindred with these cheery fellowships. But, +however varied the elements of the order, the members are constituted +alike in this: they are hearty and laughter-loving; they are jolly and +courageous. + +With outposts so widely distributed, it is the more necessary that there +should be some unmistakable uniform, that whether it be in a Paris +ordinary, or on the steppes of Tartary, one may easily recognise the +scion of the order. Such a uniform, so at least we are constrained to +understand it, has, for the most part, been supplied by a subdued and +discriminate use of the materials of swearing. A Sandwich Islander +appreciates this when he salutes a British crew in terms compounded of +oaths and ribaldry.[32] He is really intending to denote his sense of +the distinction of the exalted visitors, when he exclaims: "Very glad +see you! Damn your eyes! Me like English very much. Devilish hot, sir! +Goddam!" It is to claim kindred with the brotherhood that swell surgeons +vent their "blasted!" and "damnation!" as they tender to the ailments of +rackety young patients. It is to bridge over the gulf between +carelessness and propriety that even mild college tutors will sometimes +venture upon a modest "botheration!" or "confounded!" The most fertile +and most voluminous swearer, we have been given to understand, exists in +the person of one of the leading _littérateurs_ of the century when +desiring to curry favour with a company of fast men. + +Not that it can be altogether denied that there are other contrivances +whereby the members of the fraternity succeed in courting mutual +recognition. The topic of sporting is, perhaps, the most effectual of +these, and it must be understood that a man's convivial condition is +often undergoing a crucial investigation when he is questioned as to his +views upon such subjects as the Cesarewitch or the Cambridgeshire. The +several processes of swearing would seem however to supply the readiest +hall-mark, and are rather of an easier manipulation. This theory of +indulgence might go far to explain the leniency of men like Jonathan +Swift towards a custom which, had they wished it, they might have +deposed from its high places by their ridicule. Swearing was far from +being a rock of offence to the society of Harley and St. John. Why else, +again, has it been permitted from commanders of the stamp of Picton in +the field, and from lawyers of the pattern of Thurlow on the woolsack? +"I will now proceed to my seventh point," pursued Sir Ilay Campbell, +arguing an interminable Scotch appeal in the House of Lords. "I'm damned +if you do," shrieked Lord Thurlow, and the House adjourned neither angry +or scandalised. And again, how else explain the exuberance of the +Duchess of Marlborough's language when calling at Lord Mansfield's +lodgings? His lordship, as we know, was away, and on his return +questioned the doorkeeper as to the name of his visitor. "I do not know +who she was," replied the man, "but she swore like a lady of quality." + +Of Thurlow it has been said that he was renowned as a swearer even in a +swearing age. "He took it as a lad who wishes to show that he has +arrived at man's estate. He could not have got on without it."[33] At +one time a dispute was pending as to the right to present to a vacant +benefice. A certain bishop who claimed the right sent his secretary to +argue with Lord Thurlow, who, for his part, obstinately maintained the +counter-claim of the Crown. The envoy no sooner opened his case and made +known his message, than Thurlow cut short all further argument. "Give my +compliments to his lordship, and tell him I will see him damned before +he present." "That," remonstrated the secretary, "is a very unpleasant +message to deliver to a bishop." "You are right," replied Thurlow, "so +it is. Tell him I will see myself damned before he present." + +Another professor in the same uncompromising school of hard swearers +would seem to have been Sir Thomas Maitland, His Majesty's Lord High +Commissioner administering the government of the Ionian Islands, at that +time and long afterwards under the British dominion. Sir Charles Napier +relates that on arriving at Corfu to enter upon a military appointment, +and being ushered into his Excellency's presence, he was received with a +sullen "Who the devil are you?" and on explaining his business, Sir +Thomas rejoined, "Then I hope you are not such a damned scoundrel as +your predecessor." Sir Thomas seems to have been in the habit of dealing +out abuse the most flagrant towards those with whom he was brought into +contact. "On one occasion,"--we may follow Sir Charles Napier's +words,--"the senate having been assembled in the saloon of the palace +waiting in all form for his Excellency's appearance, the door slowly +opened and Sir Thomas walked in with the following articles of clothing +upon him: + +"One shirt, which like Tam o' Shanter's friend, the cutty-sark, + + "In longitude was sorely scanty." + +"One red night-cap, + +"One pair of slippers. + +"The rest of his Excellency's person was perfectly divested of garments. +In this state he walked into the middle of the saloon, looked round at +the assembled senators and then said, addressing the secretary, "Damn +them, tell them all to go to hell."[34] + +What reception this outburst provoked from the assembled notables we are +not informed. When Thurlow once at a dinner-party administered a similar +admonition to a blundering man-servant, telling him he wished he was in +hell, the terrified man wearily replied, "I wish I was, my lord! I wish +I was." + +There can be little doubt that the practice of gentlemen "damning +themselves as black as butter-milk" was intended to overawe, and on the +whole it has answered the intention. It is however but a cheap +substitute for authority, and belongs of right to a rampant jingoism of +a past age. We are here reminded of a kind of oath which, having +conferred a nick-name upon a political party, seems likely to pass into +the language in some altered form. The "Jingos," as will be remembered, +were the faction in the country who favoured an aggressive policy during +the recent Russian war. The name came to be given them from a +circumstance of quite an insignificant kind. At a certain London +singing-room a patriotic song happened to be nightly delivered, in which +the vocalist emphasised his warlike utterances with a constant +recurrence of this oath. The Radicals seized the moment, and in a short +space of time the term "by Jingo" was pinned to the backs of the Tory +party like a tin kettle tied to a dog's tail. Men soon began to ask +themselves where first they could have met with this undignified +expression? The 'Ingoldsby Legends' seemed the most likely ground, only +that readers of Goldsmith referred to the example of the town-bred lady +who, when introduced into the Vicar's family, swore "by the living +Jingo!" + +Moreover, the term is to be observed in the earliest translation of Don +Quixote (iii. vi.): "by the living jingo, I did but jest," and in +Rabelais (v. xxviii.): "by jingo, I believe he would make three bites of +a cherry." To seek for the origin of the oath, we should have to turn to +a somewhat singular source. We should find it as far away as the slopes +of the Pyrenees, where Basque peasants have long sworn by _Jincoa_, that +in fact being the Basque name for God. + +We have made mention of Swift in a way that might favour the presumption +that his ridicule was not at any time directed against the subject of +oath-taking. That such is hardly the case will be seen from his +prospectus of the Bank of Swearing, where this overgrown distempered +plant is singled out as a fair butt for his sallies. The nature of the +business proposed to be transacted at this fanciful banking-house may be +more aptly considered in another chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "_Viola._ Swear as if you came but new from the knighting. + _Fust._ Nay; I'll swear after £400 a year." + _Decker's Honest W._ + + +Written during the fever of South Sea speculation, the skit of Jonathan +Swift, known as the "Bank of Swearing," was one exceedingly felicitous +and well-timed. We are amused even now, as we read the prospectus of +this preposterous undertaking, at the extreme audacity with which the +would-be projector solemnly enumerates its advantages. Impossible and +altogether ludicrous as was the enterprise, it is not improbable that +many of the eager financiers of that speculative age fancied they saw +solid reason in the scheme. It is only to be hoped that they did not too +eagerly respond to the facilities for investment which the Swearers' +Bank was reputed to hold out. + +The notion was simply that of a chartered bank established upon a novel +basis and financing upon an original principle. Such bank was in fact to +enjoy a monopoly of levying the fines which the laws of the country +imposed upon swearing. Although these penalties had been rarely +inflicted, the mere circumstance of their being warranted by the +statute-book was regarded by the projector in the light of a mine of +latent wealth. A profitable banking concern once fairly in operation, +and backed by the security of these statutory imposts, what more could +the investor require for his capital? + +To convince the investing public of the merits of his scheme, he +proceeds to calculate the sums that might be realised by fully putting +the act into vigour. The neglected statute upon the basis of which the +whole of this superstructure was to be raised and the Bank of Swearing +endowed, was the act of the sixth and seventh year of William and Mary, +inflicting a penalty at the rate of not less than a shilling an +oath.[35] + +"It is computed by geographers,"--so argues the promoter--"that there +are two millions in the kingdom [Ireland], of which number there may be +said to be a million of swearing souls. It is thought there may be five +thousand gentlemen. Every gentleman, taken one with another, may afford +to swear an oath every day, which will yearly produce one million eight +hundred and twenty-five thousand oaths; which number of shillings makes +the yearly sum of £91,250. + +"The farmers of this kingdom, who are computed to be ten thousand, are +able to spend yearly five hundred thousand oaths, which gives £25,000; +and it is conjectured that from the bulk of the people twenty or five +and twenty thousand pounds may be yearly collected." + +The swearing capacity of the army is no less minutely investigated. In +the case of the militia, however, the promoter is disposed to recommend +either a partial immunity from the tax or else a scale of fines +considerably cheapened. To put the law in full force against militiamen, +at least so opines the promoter, would only be to fill the stocks with +porters and the pawnshops with accoutrements. So essential is this point +with him, that he makes direct appeal to his Protestant countrymen, +reminding them of the satisfaction it would afford the Papists to see a +most useful body of soldiery actually swear themselves out of their +Swords and muskets. + +Inclined to a politic leniency towards the military classes, it would +seem that this ingenious projector looked mainly for his revenue to the +swearing dues that might be collected at wakes and fairings. The oaths +of a single Connaught fair, he has calculated, amount to upwards of +three thousand. "It is true," he allows, "that it would be impossible to +turn all of them into money, for a shilling is so great a duty on +swearing, that if it were carefully exacted, the common people might as +well pretend to drink wine as to swear, and an oath would be as rare +among them as a clean shirt." In this way the Reverend Dean rattles on. +He is pointing his satire both at the epidemic of financial adventure +then so fatally prevalent and at that incomprehensible leaning to the +use of "bad language" of which even he was so ready to avail himself +when it either suited his purpose or strengthened his style. + +The Dean can scarcely be supposed to have known that one of the many +proposals put before Lord Burghley in the very early days of political +economy, bore a close resemblance to his manner of handling oaths. A +Monsieur Rodenberg proposed to show how the revenue could be increased +to twenty millions of crowns, and part of his plan consisted in a +rigorous levy of fines on swearing. He further recommended that a +council of twelve "grave persons" should have the disposal of the fund, +which while unexpended should be put out to usury.[36] + +A recommendation of this kind urged upon Queen Elizabeth's ministers was +very much in advance of English politics. It so far denotes a +turning-point in the history of swearing, that we cannot do better than +trace out what the future course of legislation was to be. + +Previous to the period we are now entering, a person addicted to +intemperate language might have been called to account by his church, or +at the bar of his own conscience. He could not have been called to +account by the State. The suggestion of State interference, so far as +concerns the southern division of this island, seems not to have +previously occurred, and we are consequently justified in inferring that +the necessity for it had never seriously arisen. There is, indeed, +complete cohesion and consistency in what was happening. We believe we +have shown elsewhere whence it was, and when it was, that the English +people first began to swear, and we are confirmed in our conclusions by +finding that this was the precise period at which English law-makers +began to legislate upon swearing. + +Passing over barbarous and obsolete laws of a more imperfect +civilisation, we find that the first essays in State control commenced +in Scotland. A full half century before the question came before +Elizabeth's parliament, the sister kingdom had the benefit of a statute +inflicting a monetary penalty upon the use of oaths. This enactment, +passed by the Scottish parliament of 1551, calls for notice upon other +grounds besides those of morality. If a legal document can be said to +partake of a poetic character, it was certainly the case with this +ordinance of Queen Mary, which seems to have been directly inspired by +the metrical labours of William Dunbar, then lately the national poet. + +The verses of Dunbar to which this result can be partially attributed +are those known as 'The Sweirers and the Devill.' It is certainly +remarkable that the framers of the Act would seem to have prepared its +clauses with Dunbar's poetry open before them. At all events, the +statute literally recites the "ugsome oaths" that are used by the old +versifier. There is a severity in the statute at which Dunbar himself +would have been surprised had he lived down to Mary's reign. In +particular, it enacts that "a prelate of kirk, earl or lord," shall for +the first offence be fined to the extent of twelve pennies, but for the +fourth the delinquent shall be banished or imprisoned for a year. + +Dunbar's treatment of his subject is very similar to that of the +nameless author of the 'Moralité des Blasphémateurs' which we have +previously noticed. He supposes the devil to have assumed human shape, +an assumption which in those times would have been thought nothing out +of the way, and in that guise to be conversing with the traders in a +Lowland market. As is usual in these episodes, he invites them to join +him in the use of the most delectable oaths that he can lay before them. +The honest market-folk are so taken by his allurements that we have the +maltman, the goldsmith, the "sowter," and the "fleshor" vieing with one +another in their choice of ribaldry. In this friendly contest, needless +to say, it is the parish priest who carries off the prize. One hopes +that his excuse was as valid as that of the monk in Rabelais. "How now," +exclaims Ponocrates, "you swear, Friar John!" "It is only," replies the +friar, "to grace and adorn my speech; it is the colour of a Ciceronian +rhetoric." + +The place in literature left vacant by Dunbar was soon occupied by +Lindsay, the + + "Sir David Lindsay of the Mount + Lord Lion, king at arms," + +whose name and titles are so familiar to the readers of Scott. He +likewise appears to have led up to the impending legislation, if not +indeed to have been the immediate cause of it. His 'Satyre of the Three +Estaitis,' performed at Coupar in 1535, besides containing other +objectionable matter, is a wild medley of oaths. + +Apart from what was passing in and near the capital, the local +authorities from Glasgow to Aberdeen were up in arms against swearers +before any movement of the kind had taken place in the other division of +the island. To judge from the borough records of the former city,[37] +the prevalency of the habit was a source of great scandal to the +presbytery of that town. The number of Janet Andersons and William +Crawfords who were arraigned before the high bailiff for offences of +this character is something considerable. At Aberdeen[38] in 1592 the +attention of the council was specially engaged in repressing the +swearing of "horrible and execrable oaths." They proceeded to put on +foot a system of fines, and with a degree of confidence that is hardly +commendable, they authorised the heads of families to keep a box in +which to place the mulcts they were empowered to inflict in their +households. Servants' wages were liable to be taxed at the will of +their masters, and wives' pin-money at the instance of their lords. A +few years later the presbytery went further than even the magistracy had +already done. They directed the master of the house to keep a "palmer," +or instrument for inflicting pain upon the palm of the open hand. This +we suppose to have been the last argument used against offenders whose +wages or whose pin-money had been sworn away. Altogether the attempt to +make people moral by Act of Parliament seems to have been productive of +much strife in Scotland, without securing, so far as can be perceived, +any positive gain. The Act of 1551, that under which the local and +spiritual authorities derived their powers, was further supplemented by +Acts of 1567 and 1581. + +We now arrive at the point at which legislation upon the subject was to +cross the border and take a prominent place in the counsels of King +James' reign. + +We have seen that it was Queen Elizabeth's godson Sir John Harington, +who first recorded the positive introduction of the damnatory oath. A +long time, however, must have elapsed before the bantling took heart of +grace and found strength to run alone. An examination of Elizabethan +writings does not conduce to the idea of the term having had a +widespread acceptation. The reference we have given to the comedy of +Nat Field, 'Amends for Ladies,' tends to show that the British +shibboleth was still regarded as of exotic growth. The truth would seem +to be that the literature of the country, gross and abusive as it often +was, was singularly free from terms of this particular description, +while the conversation of the humbler orders was not so unexceptionable. +Already it had become a source of uneasiness to the Legislature. In 1601 +a measure was introduced into the Commons "against usual and common +swearing," but, having been carried up to the Lords, it dropped after +the first reading. This would appear to have been the first attempt at +legislation on the subject.[39] On the accession of James I. the topic +was again brought to the notice of the House, but the early Parliaments +of this reign were too much occupied with the work thrown upon them in +consequence of the Gunpowder Treason to formulate any code for the +regulation of this abuse. Although no less than five separate bills, +having the prevention of swearing for their object, were presented +during the course of this reign, it was not until 1623 that an enactment +was finally carried defining and controlling the offence. The statute of +that year[40] provided that every offender should forfeit the sum of +twelve pence. In default of payment the culprit was to be placed in the +stocks for three hours, or if under the age of twelve years was to be +severely whipped. + +The attack made by the Puritans upon performances of a dramatic nature +had resulted in a kindred piece of legislation especially affecting the +stage. By an Act[41] passed in 1606 it was provided that a penalty of +10_l._ should be borne by every person who jestingly or profanely used +the name "of God, or of Christ Jesus, or the Holy Ghost, or of the +Trinity," in any interlude, pageant or stage-play. It was in consequence +of the rigour of this enactment that Ben Jonson narrowly escaped a +prosecution for blasphemy. On the production of the 'Magnetic Lady,' the +language employed upon the stage gave great offence in legal quarters, +and the author was sent for from a sick-bed and severely questioned by +the Master of the Revels. An examination of the play will show the +charge, as against Jonson, to have been unfounded; even the author was +at a loss to understand the occasion for the accusation being preferred. +The actors in the piece were accordingly called together, and when +confronted with the dramatist, were forced to admit that the +objectionable expletives were those of their own supplying. + +When some months later the play of 'The Wits' was presented to the +licenser, previous to its production on the stage of the Blackfriars, +that dignitary was particularly careful to expunge all such passages as +struck him as unparliamentary. Sir William D'Avenant, the author of the +comedy, complained to the king of this exercise of the censorship, and +His Majesty, after reading the play for himself, negatived the decision +of the licenser. He ruled that the words "s'death," "s'light," and such +kindred terms, were asseverations merely, and not oaths. The court +functionary does not appear to have been any the more satisfied, and has +left an entry in his diary, submitting indeed to his master's judgment, +but maintaining his own opinion. The play was returned to D'Avenant, +having the full sanction of the king, who on its first production took +boat to the Blackfriars playhouse to witness the performance.[42] + +The stage has continued to enjoy a species of traditional immunity from +all the reprobation which swearing is presumed to incur. So long as the +action passing on the boards is in ever so remote a degree in affinity +with its supposed natural counterpart, and is suited with dialogue that +is fairly appropriate, the use of expletives is not omitted in deference +to the susceptibilities of an audience. The theatre may in some sense be +called a school of swearing, and in that capacity has frequently brought +upon itself the castigations of its appointed supervisors. Of all the +censors who from time to time have made a stand against this traditional +licence, George Colman is to be remembered as the most violent and the +most inconsistent. + +As a writer he had scandalised a whole generation of playgoers. The +'Heir-at-Law' and the 'Poor Gentleman,' comedies with which he has +permanently benefited stage literature, do not certainly halt at any +extreme. His very appointment as censor was due to the bottle-acquaintance +that had sprung up with the regent Prince of Wales. Yet so squeamish did +he become when once the official mantle had descended upon his shoulders, +that even the exclamations "lud!" and "la!" were ruthlessly expunged from +productions submitted to his censorship. The words "Oh, Providence!" were +also rigidly excised, and the very names of heaven and hell were flatly +condemned as savouring of irreverence. + +Says Mr. Dutton Cook, in treating of this feature of the Georgian +drama:--"Men swore in those days not meaning much harm or particularly +conscious of what they were doing, but as a matter of bad habit, in +pursuance of a custom certainly odious enough, but which they had not +originated and could hardly be expected immediately to overcome. In this +way malediction formed part of the manners of the time. How could these +be depicted upon the stage in the face of Mr. Colman's new ordinance? +There was great consternation among actors and authors. Critics amused +themselves by searching through Colman's own dramatic writings and +cataloguing the bad language they contained. The list was very +formidable. There were comminations and anathemas in almost every scene. +The matter was pointed out to him, but he treated it with indifference. +He was a writer of plays then, but now he was Examiner of Plays." + +The persecution under which Jonson suffered was due to the steady growth +of Puritan principles. Measures of austerity were speedily generated by +this ascetic philosophy; and among others we find that a scheme for +bringing oaths, in a liquidated shape, to the aid of the national +resources, was put into operation. Letters patent were granted in the +month of July 1635, for establishing a public department for enforcing +the laws against swearing. One Robert Lesley was appointed to the office +of chief inquisitor, and was authorised to take all necessary steps for +carrying out the act in every parish of the kingdom. Whatever moneys +might be realised were to be paid over to the bishops for the benefit of +the deserving poor. Lesley appointed deputies in the parishes, who, we +notice, were at liberty to deduct 2_s._ 6_d._ in the £ for their pains. +A copy of one of these appointments to a London parish appears among the +State papers, but no balance-sheet from which we might learn something +of the "turn-over" of the office appears to be forthcoming.[43] + +With what feelings the army of the Parliament regarded this offence may +be gathered from two sentences passed upon offenders convicted under +military law. In March 1649, a quartermaster named Boutholmey was tried +by council of war for uttering impious expressions. The man was found +guilty and condemned to have his tongue bored with a red-hot iron, his +sword broken over his head, and himself ignominiously dismissed the +service. In the following year a dragoon was similarly sentenced by +court-martial to be branded on the tongue.[44] Even in districts removed +from martial severity the monetary tax on oath-taking was frequently +demanded. We perceive from a recent writer,[45] who has collected the +ancient records of quarter sessions, that swearing was severely visited +upon the lieges of Somerset and Devon. John Huishe, of Cheriton, was +convicted for swearing twenty-two oaths. Humfrey Trevitt, for swearing +ten oaths, was adjudged to pay 33_s._ 4_d._ for the use of the poor. +William Harding, of Chittlehampton, was held to be within the act of +swearing for saying "Upon my life," and Thomas Buttand was fined for +exclaiming "On my troth!" + +To glance at Scotland at this time, we find the governing body enacting +laws of a more searching and stringent character than any that had +preceded them. The Parliament of 1645 ordered that whoever should curse +or blaspheme should upon a second conviction be "censurable" in the +manner prescribed, that is, a nobleman should pay twenty pounds Scots, a +baron twenty marks, a gentleman ten marks. The Act anticipates the case +of a minister of religion coming under its provisions. The punishment in +that case was the forfeit of the first part of his year's stipend. In +1649 a further enactment was passed, the previous one being admittedly +too lenient, and in the same session the offence of cursing a parent was +made punishable by sentence of death. It is certainly curious to witness +the extremes to which the Scottish nation were prepared to go in +legislating against the commission of this offence. In 1650, when the +country was rushing to arms to resist the invasion of Cromwell, an Act +of Parliament was prepared which disqualified for command all officers +who were addicted to swearing. + +The code which, in this country, had proved sufficient for the Puritans +remained in force until the manners of the Restoration had rendered +further legislation imperative. This took the shape of the statute of +William and Mary, by which, as we have seen, the Dean of St. Patrick's +was so greatly exhilarated. After an interval of some fifty years the +interference of Parliament was again felt to be necessary, and an Act of +George II. was passed which still regulates the law upon the subject of +swearing.[46] + +The preamble admits that the existing laws were not sufficiently +powerful to meet the circumstances for which they were designed. A more +onerous scale of penalties was to be prescribed, commencing with a fine +of one shilling in the case of a labourer, and rising to five shillings +in the case of a swearer of gentleman's degree. That this measure should +not want for publicity, it was ordered to be read quarterly in every +church and chapel throughout the kingdom. + +A curious instance of punishment for neglect of this saving provision, +is noticed in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for 1772. In July of that year +a rich vicar and a poor curate were condemned to pay into the hands of +the proper officer a sum of 15_l._ for neglecting to read in church the +Act against swearing. This clause was only repealed by an enactment of +the present century. + +We have some means of knowing whether the fines recoverable under this +statute were in point of fact actually inflicted, and from the +importance attached by the public prints to the decisions of +magistrates on this head, we are justified in thinking that the statute +was very rarely put into requisition. In the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for +July 1751 we read that a woman convicted of uttering a profane oath and +unable to defray the shilling penalty, was sentenced to ten days' hard +labour in Bridewell. In December of the same year a tradesman was +committed for a matter of three hundred and ninety oaths, the fines +amounting to upwards of 20_l._, which he was unable to pay. Convictions +under the statute were at this time seriously attracting public +attention. That the calculations of Dean Swift should not be altogether +lost to the world, one rigid economist practically entertained the +notion of adding to the national resources by preaching a crusade +against the opulent classes of swearers. There was a Mr. Matthew +Towgood, who in 1746 prepared a treatise 'Upon the Prophane and Absurd +use of the Monosyllable Damn.' It is enough to say that neither +imagination nor research seem to have been the especial gift of Mr. +Towgood. It is a whining piece of work, in which the author gravely +informs us that he had taken up his residence at a seaport town in order +the more closely to observe the impious language of the sailors. We +should, however, do the author the justice to refer to the one +distinctive experience he seems to have gathered in his marine retreat. +He had discovered,--so at least he solemnly assures us,--that the +monosyllable in question was a "hortatory expression" by which the +chaplains in His Majesty's navy were accustomed to summon British seamen +to their prayers. + +But much as it enters into the penal administration of the seventeenth +century, there is little to indicate that the vice was countenanced in +high places, or that it was seriously regarded as a pardonable incident +pertaining to the enjoyments of men of rank. That crowning distinction +seems to have been reserved for the age of Anne and the first sovereigns +of the house of Brunswick. Then it was that the insular propensity grew +impudent and headstrong, and soon became a power in the land. It is only +probable that the moral relapse that followed the Restoration may have +given the first impetus to the ascendancy of this invigorating habit. +Charles II. is said to have taught his ladies to swear like parrots, but +oaths were still only the plaything and not part of the serious business +of the Court. The Foppingtons and Clumsys were scrupulously nice in +their methods of affirmation, but it was publicly recognised that their +swearing was a mere theatrical device, and that they either swore like +cavaliers or swore like chambermaids. The acme had not even then been +reached. That point was only attained in the age when Duchess +Marlborough found disguise impossible by reason of her oaths. In the +matter of swearing the courtiers of the Stuarts may have demeaned +themselves like Mantalinis, but the giants of a later day swore home. An +obscure American clergyman, having undertaken a voyage across the +Atlantic to solicit alms for a pious foundation in Virginia, and urging +that the people of that state had souls to be saved as well as their +brethren in England, was met with the rejoinder from King William's +attorney-general, "Souls! damn your souls! make tobacco!" + +In the year 1700 there was founded the Society for the Reformation of +Manners. It had for one of its prime objects the entire suppression of +oath-taking. The society seems to have enrolled members distinguished +alike for a laxity of their own morals and a tender solicitude for the +welfare of other people's. The King Consort, "Est-il-possible," was +persuaded to become a fellow, and was induced to put forth a howling +manifesto upon the iniquities of the age. This exordium was publicly +read at Bow Church. What with openly declaiming against the hideousness +of vice and proceeding criminally against its professors, the society +convinced the diarist Evelyn that they were working a complete +reformation in the habits of the community. + +The building of Saint Paul's Cathedral was proceeding at this time, and +the work necessarily employed a large body of labourers and workmen, +who, as things were and are, were not scrupulously delicate in the +choice of words. Nevertheless, it was the particular care of the +builders that not one offensive word should be used during the progress +of the work.[47] Sir Christopher Wren framed rules which made a +delinquency in this respect liable to be so summarily visited that it +has been the boast of many earnest and slightly credulous people that +the mighty fabric was piled up without an oath being spoken. The society +certainly did good work if they had any hand in this result. + +In spite of the society, the question of swearing and its prevalent +grossness seems to have attracted the attention of the civil courts of +law at this time. In a number of Applebee's Journal for 1723, some +account is given of a certain Abel Boyer, an infamous scribbler and +notorious swearer of the day. It seems he had threatened some of his +fellow journalists with the pains of libel because they had done him +simple justice in referring to the comminations he was accustomed to use +in speech. Before commencing his suit, Abel prudently sought the advice +of counsel, contending that his trifling derelictions did not partake of +the colour of blasphemy. The lawyers accordingly gave it against Mr. +Boyer, advising that his "goddams" and kindred expletives came entirely +within the prohibited pale. In March 1718, there is another instance of +swearing being food for Westminster Hall, as appears from the _Flying +Post_, the prominent Whig journal of the day. Mr. Richard Burridge, a +scurrilous newsman attached to the _British Gazetteer_, had been tried +at Hicks's Hall for addiction to blasphemous expressions, too shocking, +says the _Post_, to be named. Burridge was very properly convicted, +although a strong presentation was made in his favour, that when sober a +better conducted man did not exist. To account for this person's +unfortunate relapse, it was urged that he was "excessively drunk," a +consideration that so weighed with the tribunal, that they passed upon +him what was admitted on all hands to be a most moderate sentence. +Burridge was ordered to take up a position at the New Church in the +Strand and to be from there publicly whipped to Charing Cross. Further, +he was to pay a fine of twenty shillings and be imprisoned for a month. +Thenceforward a paper war was waged between the two political divisions +of journalism. The Tories professed to see the Whig journalists +stigmatised by the disgrace of one of their number, and the great Daniel +Defoe cast censure upon them and upon Burridge from _Mist's Journal_, +the Tory paper he conducted. + + * * * * * + +And so, pursued by judgments of court and branded with letters of +infamy, it would seem to have been a very desperate time for these +unfortunate swearers. The profession of the pen was likely enough to +rankle under this load of aspersion, were it not that a more genial +influence had arisen that was bent upon remedying rather than provoking +offences. For while the leaders of opinion were playing their intensest +game of political intrigue, while poets were occupied with the trade of +admiration, and divines with the trade of subserviency, there arose in +England a gentler and more captivating literature of reproval, that laid +its generous laws upon men the most intolerant and the most prurient. We +allude to that more benevolent code of morality inaugurated by Joseph +Addison. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "_Lackwit._ Now do I want some two or three good oaths to express + my meaning withall. An they would but learn me to swear and take + tobacco! 'tis all I desire."--'_A fine Companion_,' _by Shackerley + Marmion_, 1633. + + +This one voice of kindly censure was that of a man incapable of a +literary mistake. Whatever his own personal blunders, it was impossible +for Joseph Addison to err in a point of literary judgment. Although +wedded to the society of men of taste and perception, it was no part of +his purpose to remove himself from contact with the coarsest of human +ware. The tolerance he exhibited in ordinary intercourse reflects itself +in the labours of his pen. In his philanthropies, as in his severities +or his rebukes, he assumes no tinge of sanctity, no moralist's +sad-coloured robe. He is familiar, and in a manner identified, with the +very follies he is so generously decrying. The society into which he +went was disposed to be exceedingly lenient to fashionable excesses. And +thus it was that in the fulness of his wisdom, it pleased him to be of +good accord with priest and prelate as with the very movers and +seconders of iniquity. + +And so, in the consideration of any social folly of his time and ours, +we are in a moment impelled to ask--What does Mr. Spectator say to this; +or gentle Master Tatler? Even in the present inquiry there can be no +reasonable doubt of their competency to give us testimony. Addison may +have heard as many and as furious oaths as any man of his time. His ways +were beset by inveterate and uncontrollable swearers. His friend Steele +had a tongue that was foolish enough, heaven knows; and when he was wont +to meet with Swift in St. James' Coffee House, may he not too often have +been assailed with language needlessly expressive? What cronies he must +have had! what lads he must have known! He had seen all the tearing +fellows of the day--the three-bottle men at the October Club, the young +blood of the shires who rode into the gap at Blenheim. He could have +remembered the roughest livers of King Charles' time, Sedley and +Rochester, Bully Dawson and Fighting Fitzgerald. He was surrounded with +bravado and devilry, with all the disbanded sins of the Flanders +regiments. For these were the days of Ramilies and Malplaquet, when the +nation was intoxicated with her meed of victory; when his Grace of +Marlborough won the country's battles, and his Lord of Peterborough +scattered sovereigns from his chariot to show the people he was _not_ +the Duke of Marlborough. It was a time of great profusion and great +excess, in curses as in everything else. + +And so, Joseph Addison, though living in the flighty times you did, +there can be no doubt of the quiet evenness of your ways, or how jovial +were the companions who shook you by the fist. But how you drilled and +moulded them, how you held and swayed them by the force of your bright +intelligence, how shall we who never heard your voice be able to +determine? Happily in the pages of the 'Tatler' and 'Spectator' there is +stored up for us the best and rarest of that quiet wisdom. No matter +whether the night were studious or riotous, there arrives the punctual +morning sheet with its offering of sober satire and sprightly sense. He +goes about his task of persuading and humanising as gaily as a man might +set out to laugh at a comedy. He mounts his best ruffles and his finest +tunic as he sits down to write his homily. + +It is with no halting, staid, discriminative pen that he descants upon +the pleasantries and follies, the very reference to which give life and +colour to a weary argument. By the aid of these threads of human +sentiment we fancy we come the closer to him in his musings and his +wanderings, now hieing, as he does, to the pantiles or the playhouse, +now to the Temple Stairs or Vauxhall Gardens. Posterity takes delight in +reversing the footsteps of its favourites. It attempts to return with +them to the scenes which they themselves have left for good so long ago. +And so with Addison, we accustom ourselves to see him mixing in a crowd +of masquers and dominos, or supping in upper chambers with ministers of +state and tavern wits. The fancy is a harmless one, and not far removed +from reality. Imagine, therefore, Mr. Joseph Addison at +Hockley-in-the-Hole or at Cupar's Gardens, but be sure that to-morrow's +sermon will want nothing of its grace and sparkle because inspired +over-night in a mug-house parlour. + +Addison has in fact conceived and transmitted to us some of the loftiest +notions ever formed of a Deity, and of the unending trespass against +divine law. Among surroundings possibly resonant with ribaldry, he could +reflect, as few before him have so impartially and equably reflected, +how much of vileness is to be set down to the score of thoughtlessness +and inanity, how much to a high-handed defiance of the Master he owns. +One number of the 'Spectator,' that of November 8th, 1711, sends forth +the sternest challenge to the government of error. Few other secular +works have made so moderate and at once so eloquent a protest. Adapting +the notion of Locke that the unaided realisation of the Deity is formed +by observation of the qualities we should desire to find in ourselves, +but sublimated by the notion of infinity attaching to each of them, +Addison proceeds to argue a state of veneration being the normal +condition of the mental frame. The horror that is conceived by a child, +or, as it may be, by a grown man, at the jarring dissonance of an oath +is nothing else than a sense of injury dealt out to this deeply-rooted +conviction. A condition of reverence being thus inherent, it follows +that the images which reason has unconsciously reared must meet with +some disturbing shock before they can be impaired or dismembered. But +the blow once fairly delivered, the victim of the assault in too many +cases passes out into the ranks of the assailants. The boundary line +between the state of abhorrence and the succeeding one of aggression is +so faint that it may almost imperceptibly be overpassed, and is apt to +become the more obscure with growth of years. + +The danger is so easily incurred by even right-thinking men, that +Addison enjoins perfect abstinence from the passing mention of the name +of the Deity, instancing the Jewish prohibition which forbad its use +even in professedly religious discourses. And in this point of +veneration, we shall find the practice of Judæa to have been more +precise than anything that is recorded of a nation. Apart from the high +deliberative swearing that was so severely visited by the Mosaic law, +the use of most unmeaning and flippant particles was met with signal +retribution. The man who standing in the Syrian market-place made +mention of the holy name in reference to the common incidents of the +day--to the lusciousness of the melons, the knavery of the merchants--a +mere impatient whisper, perhaps, in all the hubbub of the fair, was +instantly deprived of civil rights. He had lost all power of intercourse +or conversation. He could not appear at a feast of three or a +congregation of ten; he could not mourn for a brother or bury a child. +The sentence was only removed after thirty days of expiation. + +In the 'Spectator' of May 6th, in the same year, he recounts an +experiment supposed to have been successfully practised in a company of +hardened swearers. A host is presented as having invited to his table as +many of his friends as were conspicuous for their proficiency in +swearing. He takes the precaution to station a shorthand writer in a +concealed part of the room. The repast, as may be supposed, was rendered +terrific by the unceasing clatter of oaths, but as soon as it had ended, +the Amphytrion ushered in the scribe, who proceeded to read aloud the +faithful report he had taken down. The writer, it would seem, had filled +many sheets with this animated conversation, but this was found to be so +interspersed with swearing redundancies that the whole might have been +summarised in a single page. The perusal of the document, we are +informed, so far brought conviction to the minds of the swearers, that +they forthwith began to work with a will to amend their lives and their +vocabulary. + +The indignation of our essayist is without doubt most powerfully aroused +at the inadvertent use that was made of the sacred name. "What can we +think," he exclaims, "of those who make use of so tremendous a name in +the ordinary expressions of their anger, mirth, and most impertinent +passions? of those that admit it into the most familiar questions and +assertions, ludicrous phrases and works of humour?" And then, as if +recollecting that gentlemanly example was the one rule to which the +squires and politicians at Button's or the Kitcat would most readily +submit, he instances a person of position, who, during a long life, was +never known to omit a gesture of reverence at the mention of the Deity. +It is a noticeable point in the gossiping moralist that he always +carefully guards himself from passing upon his readers the affront, for +such it would have been esteemed, of directing their attention to the +qualities of persons in a presumably lesser position than themselves. + +On the whole Mr. Spectator has perhaps done wisely in humouring as well +as reprobating. The temper of the times required something less +ponderous than the invective of the older school of moralists, and this +was the very want that a man of Addison's temperament was best able to +supply. The confidence reposed in his readers was not misplaced. The +banter and the satire of these graceful essays are acknowledged to be +reflected in the mended morality of the whole body of subsequent +literature. + +If we mistake not, there is the same improvement soon to be witnessed in +every department, in the national life of the nation as well as the +private life of the citizen. In part attributable to the politic sway of +the Walpole government, in part to the tincture of politeness and good +breeding that these polished penmen had striven to disseminate, there +is, for a time at least, a marked absence of rancour and strife of +tongues. + +The fires of the Puritan faction had smouldered out; those of the +Jacobite frenzy had hardly had time to rekindle. That spirit of minute +controversy which had never ceased to divide both court and city since +the days of Martin Mar-prelate was at length at rest. In this somewhat +remarkable lull we find very little giving or taking of abuse. So far as +social records are a guide, there seems even to be a calm in the usual +tempest of swearing. + +But towards the middle of the eighteenth century comes the relapse. +Jacobitism had blazed again. The factions were relit. Controversy wagged +its tongue as before. Everywhere are evidences of want and misery, of +low sedition and of strong drink. The tipsy Duke of Cumberland is the +hero whose graces we are to admire. The 'Guards' march to Finchley' is +the picture which may be trusted to convey a portraiture of the manners +of the times. It is precisely at this conjuncture that Parliament +enacted the last and most stringent of the measures by which it sought +to place an embargo upon swearing. In the use of coarse and violent +language women competed with the men. In 1756 on the occasion of the +memorable trial concerning the fair fame of the Countess of Grosvenor, +the letters of this lady were produced and read in court. We have Horace +Walpole's authority for saying that the oaths with which they were +plentifully besprinkled were far more masculine than they can be said to +have been tender. The prince of the blood to whom they were addressed +could swear volubly too, and his oaths we may feel assured were neither +masculine nor tender. + +We of this generation can scarcely have any adequate notion of what the +swearing has been which has prevailed in this country at different +periods, and more particularly in the latter part of the reign of George +II. So popular and so ungovernable was the habit, that there is hardly +any rational means to be found for accounting for it. At this time there +lived in an obscure village in Sussex a decent, well-to-do tradesman, +whose shop, well stocked with broadcloth and homespun, was a centre of +commerce for miles around. He was known to be a thriving man, and seems +to have taken a leading part in the administration of parish affairs. +Business was not so burdensome but that he found time to attend at every +festive gathering, and to keep a well-written chronicle of his own and +his neighbours' doings. This diary has of late years been unearthed, and +a very pretty story it has to tell of the _bourgeois_ manner of life +towards the meridian of the century.[48] One entry will speak for many +of the same character. + +"February 5th, 1759.--In the evening I went down to the vestry; there +was no business of moment to transact, but oaths and imprecations seemed +to resound from all sides of the room. I believe if the penalty were +paid assigned by the legislature by every person that swears that +constitute our vestry, there would be no need to levy any tax to +maintain our poor." + +The outbreak must have reached an unprecedented point when we find the +president of quarter sessions, Sir John Fielding, alluding to it in the +charge to the grand jury delivered at the Guildhall in April, 1763. No +language can be stronger than that of Sir John--"I cannot sufficiently +lament," he says "that shameful, inexcusable and almost universal +practice of profane swearing in our streets; a crime so easy to be +punished, and so seldom done, that mankind almost forget it to be an +offence, and to our dishonour be it spoken, it is almost peculiar to the +English nation." + +A state of things like this would seem to have given rise to a singular +communication addressed to the 'Gentleman's Magazine.' The writer lays +the whole blame upon the clergy; they have offered a direct +encouragement to swearing by declaring it a sin. He recommends that +divines in future should describe it as a virtue, which, he says, may be +as easily done as saying the contrary, and he will answer for the +success of the experiment. A clergyman of his acquaintance, continues +the writer, had already carried this bit of precept into use. To +convince the congregation that swearing was far from being a sin, this +gentleman constantly practised it in his own discourses. There might +indeed be some doubt here which was the worse, the remedy or the +disease. + +The imprecations that are so severely censured by Fielding are a totally +different thing from the imprecations patronised by Lady Grosvenor, if +we are to understand the oaths of the populace to have been the hideous +and unsightly objects presented for condemnation to the Middlesex jury. +And here we hardly need point out the distinction between swearing when +at its earnest, and swearing when at its play. In numberless courts and +alleys, in the sinks and hiding-places of a great city, we may be sure +there are innumerable spots where oaths and imprecations never for a +moment are laid aside. They are as punctual and as regular as the +ticking of a clock. No word is uttered that has not its accompaniment of +an oath; no bread broken that is not devoured with cursing. For why? +Human nature is at all times bent upon possessing, and upon increasing +what it has acquired. The very act of producing is sufficient to uphold +the equilibrium of the mental frame. But this same nature, when pinched +and starved, becomes a perfect storehouse of enmity and ill-feeling. +Among the denizens of these holes and crannies humanity has been driven +very hard. It has been crushed and bruised to a point beyond endurance. +The possibility of possessing is very faint, that of enjoying still more +remote. No graceful thing--no pleasant thing, can readily come to its +hand. Yet there is one chattel they _can_ possess when every stick and +stone is denied them. They can be tenacious of their swearing. See how +manifestly useful a thing it is! It can give a man an eloquence where +none would otherwise belong to him. It can set him up with a semblance +of bodily strength, when otherwise he would be puny and fragile. He can +assail authorities, and they dare not answer. He can drown down the +voice of missionaries, and they are halting in reproval. There are +beings so dejected--so penurious--that this swearing constitutes their +whole store of worldly opulence. They know it too, in a fashion, +although it has never been told them and they themselves are incapable +of the telling. + +So much for swearing when in grim earnest; how are we to account for it +in its transition to sport and play? Unless we are greatly mistaken, +there has entered into its composition a spirit of broad humour which +has, in a manner, rendered it attractive, if not positively amusing. +Were we to put the whole body of bad language to a judicial trial, we +should in fairness be compelled to admit the extenuating circumstance of +a time-expired claim to the mock-heroic and the ludicrous. It certainly +does not sparkle now, but it must have come of a witty stock, and have +boasted a mirth-provoking pedigree. To have rendered itself so +particularly palatable as it has done, like many other kinds of verbal +folly, it can only have taken its rise in a perverted spirit of +merriment. + +To apply words, and more especially adjectives, in an unwonted and +unusual sense is one of the arts which go a long way to make +conversation agreeable. To do this with taste, and without corrupting or +annihilating the meaning of the word, demands a certain amount of +literary skill. To do so at any price frequently demands skill, and is +always fraught with consequences of some kind to the listener. Most of +these perversions of highly respectable words have now become so trite +that they pass unchallenged. The verb "to bag," for instance, is in +jocular use for implying a petty appropriation of property. It must of +course at some time have been forcibly wrested from the language of +sportsmen, and no doubt with this circumstance secretly underlying it, +has been productive, and will be again, of general good-humour. Such +another _tour de phrase_ is met with in the verb "to charter." This +originally had reference to the hiring of a ship; but when we hear of +chartering a fly, or chartering a stretcher, there certainly arises an +odd sense of the incongruous. We are far from saying that the merriment +in these cases is acute, but we contend that this kind of pleasantry is +at the bottom of every phrase or catchword obtaining universal +acceptance. + +Examples might be multiplied of this wanton abduction of words. The not +very polite expression "the damage," as signifying the cost of any +article of purchase, is one which upon frequent repetition may fail to +strike the mind as containing any element of humour. But recollecting +the wide region the imagination has to traverse in order to connect the +idea of detriment with the idea of price, we are disposed to allow that +this mental circuit is enlivened with some shreds of grotesque imagery. +Indeed, a large and by no means contemptible portion of the world have +derived a high degree of enjoyment from the simple confusion and +dislocation of terms. Nothing is more frequent than to find a catch-word +ostensibly of no kind of intelligence being exchanged by delighted +youths across half the desks and counters of the metropolis. The +flippant use of oaths is so far practically explained; the colloquial +habit of imputing to unoffending objects a condition of damnation +passing in the light of a fairly respectable joke. Joke indeed there is +none, but it is the popular repute or suspicion of a jest that exercises +this fascination. It is noticeable that a provincial audience witnessing +one of Colman's or Sheridan's comedies is more genuinely amused by the +"zounds" and "dammes" uttered in provoking situations by testy speakers, +than by all the polish of epigram and dialogue. + +As further illustrating this latent element of humour, which has helped +to perpetuate the practice of purposeless swearing, we may be permitted +to refer to an occurrence that befell us when, some number of years ago, +we happened to be taking a humble part in a legal inquiry at a county +assizes. The case was one in which, let us say, Moribundus was +plaintiff, and the Juggernaut Railway Company were defendants. It is not +necessary to refer to the business of the dispute further than to say +that the plaintiff had been shattered almost beyond recovery, and that +our province it was to help to prove to demonstration the utter +untrustworthiness of the story relied upon by Moribundus. The repast +that succeeded the inquiry more nearly concerns us; the lawyers, the +London doctor, and the local practitioner having agreed thus to +celebrate the evening. We do not recollect that the company were at all +disposed to fraternity, as a degree of professional acrimony seemed to +preside at that feast. In the course of dinner, one of the party, +looking round the board, happens to inquire, "Where's the damned +mustard?" No particular notice is taken of this remark, until presently +one of the legal gentlemen solemnly observes, "Where's the damned salt?" +We do not attempt to explain it, but a sudden sense of the ludicrous +instantly overcame the men of law and medicine assembled at the +_Fleece_. This incongruous and perfectly irrelevant joinder of words, +while it revealed the source from which amusement was supposed to flow, +was at the same time a potent satire upon the practice of a +disreputable art. It was taking the name of swearing itself in vain. It +substituted for any closer argument the incisive logic of ridicule. + +It occurs to us to notice that Shakespeare, who was certainly alive to +the hidden springs of swearing, has conceived the notion of winging much +the same folly with a precisely similar shaft. It had been the fashion +among the gay Ephesians of Eastcheap, during Elizabeth's reign, to swear +by their honour. "Where learnt you that oath, fool?" asks Rosalind. "Of +a certain knight," returns Touchstone, "who swore by his honour they +were good pancakes." + +With these examples of compromise before us, it becomes almost a matter +for regret that there should remain so large a body of protectionists +whose resentment at anything savouring of an oath is perhaps one of the +surest means of perpetuating swearing. Among the severest codes devised +to check the progress of the vice was that designed by the Puritan +settlers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. These Blue Laws, as they were +called, aimed at establishing an almost theocratic form of government. +Adopting the polity of Great Britain as a standpoint, these enactments +went considerably further and sought to remodel that system upon the +basis of the severest of Jewish ordinances. Among offences to which the +Puritan mind would seem to have been especially averse are to be +numbered those of swearing and tobacco-smoking. In the case of the +latter, however, retribution was only visited upon the after-generation +of smokers. People who had already acquired the habit were free to +continue in it for the days of their life. In the case of swearing, +needless to say, no such licence was extended, convicted swearers being +liable to be dealt with according to the gravity of the offence. The +penalty seems to have been rated in some instances as low as a fine of +five shillings, and to have amounted in others to the punishment of +death. + +In all countries enactments have been levelled against the excesses of +ejaculation, but the true instruments for keeping them in bounds, +assuming there to be an actual necessity for such treatment, has been +shown to be the voice of ridicule and the keen banter of satire. +Moralists of the pattern of the law-givers of Connecticut would probably +be found to take exception to the oaths of Bobadil, and would condemn +'Every Man in his Humour' as a licentious work. It does not however need +argument to show that the mere fact of the redoubted Bobadil taking +credit to himself for his freaks with the fourth commandment, forms one +of the strongest inducements to respect that prohibition. But in view of +any latent admiration being lurking in any portion of his auditory, +Jonson has contrived a foil in the person of Master Stephen. This is a +vain-glorious, empty parasite, whose clumsy imitation of the Captain is +certainly calculated to put his hearers out of all sympathy with his +model. So captivated is this apt disciple with Bobadil's string of +expletives, that he is found anxiously inquiring whether he also may +swear _en militaire_. "Certainly," says the sagacious Well-bred, "if, as +I remember, your name is entered in the Artillery Garden." + +Bobadil "swore the legiblest of any man christened." The field, however, +has not been suffered to be left without competitors. To see how +persistent has been the struggle for reputation in the matter as well as +manner of swearing, we have only to turn to the well-known dialogue in +Sheridan's comedy: + +"_Absolute._ But pray, Bob, I observe you have got an odd kind of a new +method of swearing. + +"_Acres._ Ha! ha! you've taken notice of it--'tis genteel, isn't it? I +didn't invent it myself though, but a commander in our militia, a great +scholar I assure you, says that there is no meaning in the common +oaths, and that nothing but their antiquity makes them respectable; +because, he says, the ancients would never stick to an oath or two, but +would say, By Jove! or by Bacchus!--by Mars! or by Pallas! according to +the sentiment, so that to swear with propriety, says my little major, +the oath should be an echo of the sense; and this we call the oath +referential, or sentimental swearing--ha! ha! 'tis genteel, isn't it? + +"_Absolute._ Very genteel, and very new, indeed!--and I daresay will +supplant all other figures of imprecation. + +"_Acres._ Ay, ay, the best terms will grow obsolete. Damns have had +their day."[49] + +We are not aware whether it has been noticed how closely this passage is +foreshadowed by dialogue occurring in a much earlier play. Both turn +upon the notion of a species of property being acquired in set forms of +swearing. The play in question is from the pen of Richard Brome, and is +further useful to our purpose as showing that this eccentricity had not +abated in the interval that elapsed between Jonson and Sheridan. Under +the title of 'Covent Garden Weeded,' it exposes the riotous doings that +prevailed in that joyous locality. It was to cleanse this new +plantation of the human nettles and creepers that found shelter in its +precincts that the drama purports to have been designed. The builders +had just completed the spacious piazza which occupies a portion of the +site of the convent garden formerly existing there. Among the rollicking +societies that were springing up in this new settlement, was one known, +at least in the comedy, as the "Brothers of the Blade and the Batoon." +One scene in this play discloses the brethren in a state of carnival. +They are engaged in passing a novice into the ranks of the order, their +captain thus exhorting the new-comer as to their social code:-- + +"_Captain._ I have given you all the rudiments and my most fatherly +advice withall. + +"_Clot._ And the last is that I should not swear; how make you that +good? + +"_Captain._ That's most unnecessary, for look you, the best, and even +the lewdest of my sons do forbear it, not out of conscience, but for +very good ends, and instead of an oath, furnish the mouth with some +affected protestation. _As I am honest!_ it is so. _I am no honest man!_ +if it be not. _'Ud take me!_ if I lie to you. _Nev'rigo! nev'rstir! I +vow!_ and such like. + +"_Clot._ I'll have _I vow_, then. + +"_Nick._ Nay, but you shall not, that's mine. + +"_Clot._ Can't you lend it me now and then, brother?" + +It would almost seem, from the evidence of the several passages we have +had occasion to refer to, as if the various diversities of character and +occupation had engendered a spirit of competition in the assumption of +oaths. Whether scholar or soldier, knight or citizen, each man, +according to his degree, is burning to distinguish himself by some +distinctive and eccentric form of swearing. The asseverations employed +by the Shallows and Slanders are as limpid and as timorous as those of +Falstaff and Bardolph are downright and headstrong. Hotspur, as we have +seen, reproaches Lady Percy for swearing like a comfit-maker's wife. +With the rest of the Percies he had lived in Aldersgate Street, and had +probably contracted an aversion to everything savouring of the vulgar +life of a great city. How defiant and versatile were the expletives of +the old French nobility, we may learn from the pages of Brantôme. When +seeking to convey a flattering portrait of his father, François de +Bourdeilles, he does not omit to impress us with the importance of his +oaths. Playing backgammon with Pope Jules II., his form of adjuration +was _Chardieu bénit!_ when he lost, and _Chardon bénit!_ when he won. + +In Elizabethan England a ridiculous notion prevailed among town society, +associating the idea of good breeding with the use, by way of oath, of +the word "protest." Such an affirmation was understood to raise the +presumption of quality in the person who used it. Says Carlo Buffone, +"Ever, when you can, have two or three peculiar oaths to swear by, that +no man else swears, and above all protest." Neither is Shakespeare +silent upon this fashionable eccentricity. The Nurse in 'Romeo and +Juliet' is instantly won over to the side of the Veronese lover the +moment he utters "I protest," and no longer harbours a doubt of his +principles. We see her desirous of communicating to her mistress this +single expression of gentlemanhood without concerning herself about the +more weighty portion of Romeo's message. This is, perhaps, almost +beneath the dignity of the love-story, but we have to regard it as a +relic. We must understand the allusion as a piece of chaff administered +to the gallants and templars who sported their fine clothes and broached +their oaths and their jests seated upon the very stage where the +performers were playing. A passage in a contemporary, entitled 'Sir +Giles Goosecap,' affords a key to the especial estimation in which the +term then happened to be held:--"There is not the best duke's son in +France dares say _I protest_ till he be one-and-thirty years old at +least, for the inheritance of that word is not to be possessed before." + +Not only do we view these allusions as relics, but we may as justly +consider them in the light of literary fossils. The aim and intention of +the author have become petrified. It is, in fact, only by the help of +study and appreciation that the true shape and proportion of the idea +can be adequately revealed. But search beneath the crust of this +intellectual spoil-bank, and there will be seen those slight, if +somewhat corroded indications which disclose the humour and the temper +of a forgotten age. These inconsequent oaths and no less +incomprehensible bywords, fit only now-a-days to undetermine critics and +to baffle commentary, are really the reflection of a tinsel finery that +was no doubt borne aloft and bravely carried in its day. The explanation +for this is simple. The player, to be well in with his patrons, had to +turn the laugh from side to side, to give a thrust here and a buffet +there, just as the mood or the opportunity dictated. It is this easy +familiarity with audiences which has filled our play-books with such +store of meaningless or half-meaningless expressions. Not that their +supposed want of meaning is more than co-extensive with their apparent +want of purpose. Once re-animated with a design, and that of ever so +trivial a character, and their significance stands out in relief. When, +as frequently happens in our reading, we encounter oaths of the pattern +which Shakespeare ascribes to the youth of Verona, we may feel sure we +have fallen upon some passing home-thrust, some spectral blow, +delivered, as it were, among now ghostly antagonists. + +Thus we find that in the town life of the more favoured days of Charles +I. it was a common affectation to use the words "refuse me," much as the +Elizabethan dandies made mention of the word "protest." We see this +indicated by several examples of contemporary raillery, and particularly +in the play of 'Match at Midnight,' in which the lordlings of the time +are described as "those wicked elder brothers, that swear, _refuse +them!_ and drink nothing but wicked sack." + +So at other periods we find other combinations doing yeoman service in +this particular; as, for instance, in Killigrew's play 'The Parson's +Wedding,' where Careless is explaining his plan for attacking the +affections of the fair sex--"I am resolved to put on their own silence, +answer forsooth, swear nothing but _God's nigs_." Except upon the score +of banter at prevailing idiotcies, it would be difficult to account for +the luxuriant way in which oaths of this description have been +provided. + +We may not inaptly before closing this chapter travel into another +hemisphere and advert to that side of the subject in which the powers of +darkness are accustomed to be apostrophised in place of the powers of +light. Most of the swearing which we have had to pass in review may be +said to have been accumulated at a vast expense to our notions and +perceptions regarding the Source of all light. How is it, then, that the +full detriment of this system was never taken into account before, and +that the obverse of the present practice was not more generally adopted. +One might have supposed that the malignant beings who find so facile an +entrance into popular imagination would have been the first objects with +which to associate so much that is acrimonious. If this could have been +seen to, and thoroughly brought about, it is possible that we should +never have heard of "swearing" at all, or that it might very well have +occupied the same relative position upon the pedestal of virtues as it +now does upon the more degraded tallies of vice. However this may be, +and of course speculation upon the subject can be nothing more than +fanciful, it is the beneficent creations of the universe, and not the +malignant ones, that have absorbed the greater part of the energy +directed to the practice of swearing. + +In English archaic writings the instances in which the mention of the +Satanic power is thus utilised are not numerous. We cannot compete with +the _diables_ and _diavolos_ of another race. Wherever references of +this kind do occur, they as often assume the shape of some amusing +transposition. The sharp edge is at once taken off the anathema. Thus +the soubriquet "old Harry" or "the Lord Harry" generally understood to +refer to Satan, is frequently used as an adjunct of strong feeling.[50] +But as an imprecation it is of quite inferior magnitude, and seems +almost to imply the existence of a strain of good-fellowship with the +Evil One which it might be exceedingly impolitic to disturb. + +But beyond the intuitive feeling that the cognomen does apply to this +individual, there is little to advance which can clear up the question +as to the precise origin of the term. It is supposed that our popular +notion of the devil is derived from the Roman fauni. The shaggy coat, +the horns and cloven feet, are certainly peculiar to the classical +treatment of this supernatural being. It is inferred therefore that the +idea has been transmitted to us through the medium of our early +moralities and interludes. This course of descent derives colour from +the fact that the like paraphernalia are not the subject of opprobrious +mention in the Scriptures,[51] and that hence our notion of the devil +must be drawn from pagan rather than biblical influences. It is +accordingly suggested that "old Harry," the subject of so much +irreverent and irresponsible reference, is no other than "old hairy" of +the earliest phases of theatrical representation. + +A jocose turn seems also to have been given to that common contraction +of the Satanic name of which Mistress Page makes use in the 'Merry +Wives' when she exclaims, "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is!" +It does not however seem that the expression can be traced earlier than +Heywood's 'Edward the Fourth,' of the date 1600, where we meet with the +passage: "What the dickens! Is it love that makes you prate to me so +fondly?" The word is, however, less of an oath than an exclamation. + +Probably few persons who allow themselves the enjoyment of that rather +jocular expletive, _the deuce!_ are in the least aware of the remote +antiquity of this delectable figure of speech. It is perhaps the most +ancient of all the oaths and apologies for oaths that have come down to +us, and which after a long and vicissitudinous transit have arrived at +last, neither mutilated or dismembered. So old is it that it dates from +the very formation of the language, but of so tainted a pedigree that in +spite of some six hundred years of regular descent we can scarcely +permit it to hold dictionary rank. + +But, if the account we have to give of its origin can be credited, its +history is singular as being intimately connected with one of the +greatest social changes that have taken place in the national life. When +we are told that the Norman conquerors imposed their language upon the +subject race, we can understand with what difficulty and hesitation the +Saxon thanes would attempt to assimilate the foreign tongue. So severe a +lesson could only be learned by grasping at such words and phrases as +were the more frequently recurring. To say that oaths and imprecations, +and in fact all terms of anger and violence, would leave the more +durable impression, is only to insist upon what we see daily exemplified +in countries where the like process is going on. So it happened with a +very favourite Norman exclamation. From the evidence of the earliest +metrical romances we gather that _Deus!_ was such a term of impatience +as was constantly upon the lips of the descendants of the invaders. But +no sooner did these more courtly and cultivated entertainments make +their way into English vernacular, than we find that even in this latter +shape the Norman _deus_ is significantly preserved. There it appears +among the rugged doggrel, a piece of continental finery stitched into +the homely Saxon garb. It had dropped out of the vocabularies of the +French romancists and had become the common property of the ordinary +provincial poetaster. It had passed in fact from the French to the +English tongue, and is claimed to be that very _deuce_ with which we are +most of us familiar. + +Proof of this is afforded by comparison of the old romance of 'Havelok +the Dane'[52] as it exists in its home and in its foreign versions, and +both of which are assigned to a period anterior to the fourteenth +century. The translator was evidently a man of spirit, who to warm his +Lincolnshire readers has added much original incident and local +colouring. Nevertheless he carefully retained the Norman _deus_. It was +evidently quite at home on the wolds and in the fens of the +translator's country, and only wanted the accent which Grimsby patrons +would not fail to supply, to transform it to the expression with which +we are so well acquainted. + +There seems to be one oath of this description which bids fair to elude +all guess-work as to its origin or meaning. It was formerly a practice +in France to swear _par le diable de Biterne_. When so much exactitude +had been employed to emphasise the whereabouts of this personage, it is +only natural to inquire where the locality referred to might happen to +be. We believe, however, that no satisfactory answer has as yet been +returned. Some light is thrown upon the question by Francisque Michel +who (in his 'Récherches sur les Etoffes de Soie') has shown that a +present of some rare _pailes de Biterne_ was sent to Alexander by +Candace, one of the queens of Ethiopia. With this single ray of +illumination we must be content. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "As I was finishing this worke, an oyster-wife tooke exception + against me and called me knave."--'_Lamentable Effect of Two + Dangerous Comets_,' 1591. + + +We trust that we have travelled thus far on our journey without wounding +the susceptibilities of any of our readers, and that thus it may +continue to the not distant end. In all probability our remarks and +illustrations will have been scanned by two totally diverse classes of +patrons, those to whom the topics suggested present much that is worthy +of attention, and those to whom this little treatise will appear to be +written in almost an unknown tongue. All that we can do is to claim the +indulgence of these latter. We hope that they at least will acquit us of +any intention of blemishing the fair front of human nature, or of +darkening any of the windows that administer to its requirements of +light and air. In fine, we trust that what has been said, has been +spoken fairly and frankly. Not, however, that we pretend that the views +we may have advanced have anything but a local application. There is a +swearing world, a place in which people habitually swear, but there is +also a non-swearing world in which they are partially if not totally +unacquainted with observances of swearing. To present a picture of the +former to the dwellers in the more opposite locality is to expect +approval of a marine painting from those who have never beheld the sea. +The reflections therefore that we may have been called upon to make by +the way, no less than the numerous instances we have found it as well to +refer to, must be taken as pertaining only to those troubled waters that +surge around the continent inhabited of swearers. + +This careless, indulgent and pleasure-seeking portion of the world have +derived even comfort and convenience from a recognition of the best +regulated usages of swearing. Reputations for courage and audacity have +thus been hourly established by the careful insinuation of hideous +expletives. Friendships have been cemented by the force of this common +bond of union; strangers set at their ease; the weak and hesitating have +been galvanised into action. Judging from a purely worldly standpoint, +it would be inconsistent not to admit that society has been under deep +obligations to this especial form of wickedness. Swearing has in the +main been rendered agreeable and popular in so far that it has been +adopted to span over social distances and level social distinctions, to +create in fact a code of easy sympathy between otherwise thoroughly +unsympathetic men. The worst--and swearers are not necessarily the +worst--no less than the best of mankind endeavour to generate some +species of that "touch of nature" which we are told makes the whole +world kin. We must not therefore be too severe on finding that this very +creditable object is sometimes sought to be accomplished by somewhat +discreditable means. + +As a few of our readers may by this time have harboured a conviction +that swearing is in some degree a social necessity, they will be able to +give full scope to the views upon this point of the excellent Mr. +Shandy.[53] The only compunction that seems to have been entertained by +this gentleman resided in the danger of expending small curses upon +totally inadequate occasions. He maintained, indeed, with the utmost +Cervantic gravity, that he had the greatest veneration for that student +of swearing who, in obvious mistrust of his own extempore powers, +composed forms suitable to all degrees of provocation, and kept them +framed over his chimney-piece for daily reference. + +"I never apprehended," puts in Dr. Slop, "that such a thing was ever +thought of--much less executed." + +"I beg your pardon," replies Mr. Shandy, "I was reading--though not +using--one of them to my brother Toby this morning, whilst he poured out +the tea." + +The work of ingenuity in question turned out to be a decree of +excommunication, certainly a very ponderous and damnatory one, compiled +by Ernulphus, a learned bishop of Rochester. Mr. Shandy is understood to +account for the comprehensiveness of this anathema by assuming it to +have been designed as an institute or perfect digest of swearing. He +conjectures that upon a decline of vituperation Ernulphus had with great +learning collected all the known methods, for fear of their being +dispersed and so lost to the world for ever. The worthy Shandy would +even go so far as to maintain that there was no kind of oath that was +not to be found in Ernulphus. "In short," he would add, "I defy a man to +swear out of it." + +This piece of quaintness, as we need hardly point out, only goes to the +fact that wide as is the range of imprecation, it must always come back +to that one monotonous symbol of despisal. The anathema of the good +bishop is pitched in many keys and sounds, like the collected utterances +of many throats. But even Ernulphus can scarcely have foreseen the +Rabelaisian refinements that would suggest themselves to the minds of +men as soon as literary demands were made upon the well-worn supply. + +The genius of the French language seems more particularly to lend itself +to the fabrication of burlesque forms and subterfuges. Thus to affirm by +_le sacré froc d'Habacuc_, or by _la double-triple manche de serpe_, are +fair specimens of the ingenuity that has been lavished. Far less +offending have been the ludicrous forms of asseveration popular in the +lower ranks of French society, and one of which it is sufficient to +mention as occurring in a curious rhyme of the last century,[54] where +among other things is found characterised the pseudo-nuptials of a +certain abbess and a dignitary of the Church-- + + "Mais, _par la vertu d'un oignon_, + Ils sont mariés environ, + Comme l'est l'évêque de Chartres + Avec l'abbesse de Montmartres." + +It is not improbable that a great deal of the aversion that is +associated with the practice of swearing is due to the custom of those +novelists who are in the habit of screening their oaths behind the most +transparent of disguises. To denote an expletive by its initial letter +followed with a dash is really to attract undue attention to that which +the writer acknowledges himself ashamed of printing. The contrivance +serves no useful purpose, and, if we are not mistaken, the more robust +of modern novelists have eschewed it altogether. Very different in this +respect is the device adopted by Dickens in one of the most entertaining +of his romances. Readers of 'Great Expectations' will remember the +description of Mr. William Barley. This presents us with a picture of a +water-logged old ship's captain, who, as he lay through the long hours +of the day and night upon his uneasy mattress, never ceased to hold +communion with himself in anything but a strain of piety--"Ahoy! bless +your eyes, here's old Bill Barley! Here's old Bill Barley on the flat of +his back, by the Lord! Lying on the flat of his back, like a drifting +old dead flounder; here's old Bill Barley, bless your eyes. Ahoy! Bless +you!" Of course the point of this monologue lies in the fact that the +supposed blessings are really substituted by the novelist for desires of +a very opposite description. + +There are few pictures we would less willingly omit from the gallery of +the author's creations. We have here the portraiture of one among that +godless but soft-hearted race of veterans who have alternately bullied +and blustered, or cried and whimpered, throughout many ages of fiction +and melodrama. And in depicting this type of character writers have +invariably felt it their bounden duty to give full prominence to this +fateful gift of swearing. With much discretion the novelist has in the +present instance invented a subterfuge, which, while it does not rob Mr. +Barley of his idiosyncrasies of speech, leaves an amused and not an +offensive impression behind it. We are, in fact, called in to assist at +a very quiet piece of human contradiction. We are presented to the prone +Barley in his state of helplessness and suffering, and at the same time +are given to understand that the sufferer derives comfort and +consolation from nothing so much as a downright plunge into the torrent +of bad language. + +In these wandering musings of the complaining old sea-captain there is +suggested one of the many spells that are exercised by the force of +imprecation. There is no paucity of men, whether dejected, dissatisfied +or penurious, who are wont to apostrophise some imagined effigy of +themselves, or to construct some idealised fabric as a monument of their +lives, and stalk it abroad for their own and for other men's wonderment. +And the means they employ to spirit up these creations are not +dissimilar to those in use by Mr. Barley. By declaiming loudly against +the ravages of a hard fate that lays them on their backs "like an old +dead flounder," the mind is assisted to form a notion of the victims in +their prime. By deploring the hardships of fallen fortune the eye of the +sympathiser is carried instinctively back to bygone days of +supposititious enjoyment. Imprecation is seldom absent from these +incursions, being, in fact, urgently needed to do duty for closer +argumentation. Again, as there are men so genial that they swear as a +challenge to discontent, so there are men so discontented that they +swear as a challenge to geniality. + +This more unsociable aspect of the subject brings us perforce to the +consideration of a term of swearing that contains no element of +geniality. Of itself it can be accounted nothing but a mere outcome of +bombast and vulgarity, appealing as it does to no known passion of the +human mind. And yet so widespread is its influence, and so powerful its +dominion, that it has been rung out and has reverberated probably more +than any other in the great "fisc and exchequer" of abuse. + +The expletive that it now behoves us to consider is one which has never +been adequately treated in a book. We cannot disguise to ourselves that +there is much in its unfortunate associations to render its occurrence +still exceedingly painful. Originating in a senseless freak of language, +it has by dint of circumstances become so noisome and offensive, that +were it not for the undue power and influence it has usurped, we should +hardly be disposed to treat of it at all. But when we mention that it is +the ungainly adjective "bloody" that will occupy our attention for the +next few pages, we must be allowed to add that it is with the view of +stripping the term of its infamous significance, and if possible of +dispelling from it the cloud of ill favour and of ill fame, that we +venture with less reluctance to grapple with it. + +With the full knowledge of the abhorrence it has imparted in our day, it +is difficult to imagine any unsullied spring-time in the history of so +sordid a word. It is the single particle of objuration that has not +dared assume, as others have so frequently done, a jaunty or a +rollicking demeanour. Not in the wildest days of Eastcheap revelry did +it resound in any one key of vinous harmony. While other epithets may +from time to time have received the sanction of conviviality, here is a +word that is nothing unless discordant and acrimonious. It is the apt +accompaniment of a whining tongue, the fit complement of a verjuice +countenance. Dirty drunkards hiccup it as they wallow on ale-house +floors. Morose porters bandy it about on quays and landing-stages. From +the low-lying quarters of the towns the word buzzes in your ear with the +confusion of a Babel. In the cramped narrow streets you are deafened by +its whirr and din, as it rises from the throats of the chaffering +multitude, from besotted men defiant and vain-glorious in their drink, +from shrewish women hissing out rancour and menace in their harsh +querulous talk. + +And yet to look back no further than to the youth of Shakespeare, the +word had no application beyond such as was seemly, and its history was +simple and spotless and without reproach. The one play of 'Macbeth' +contains an unusual number of instances of its occurrence, all written +without any suspicion of an _équivoque_ and dwelt upon with an +undoubting sincerity that has become barely possible in a modern work. +Indeed into such ill company has fallen this true-minded adjective, that +it is no longer competent to be admitted to its proper place in an +ordinary publication. Now and again strong protest has been made against +the hard sentence passed upon so well-meaning a term, and authors of +taste have demanded its restitution to its former intellectual +companionship. In one of her "Letters to the Author of Orion," Mrs. E. +B. Browning throws reserve upon the subject altogether to the winds, and +insists upon embracing and cherishing this ill-starred word as a long +lost acquaintance. But when Shakespeare wrote of + + "The bloody house of life," + +there was no need for hesitation in shaping it. It was as unsullied and +as transparent as any that might have been placed upon Imogen's lips or +thrown by Hamlet into Ophelia's lap. + +To account for the moral kidnapping that the word has undergone, it +behoves us, strangely enough, to set face towards the Netherlands, and +to hark back there to the campaigns of Flushing and Deventer, where Ben +Jonson and others of his countrymen are shouldering their pikes under +the generalship of Vere and Stanley. We shall then find it to have been +one of the doubtful advantages that were gained by long years of Low +Country soldiering. With the winds and tides that brought home the +shoals of broken veterans, there was wafted to this country the flavour +of foreign oaths, and among them the renown in speech of the German +"blutig." Now "blutig" happened to be an inconsequent sort of particle +that was employed in all the dialects of Germany to denote a sense of +the emphatic. It had been chosen throughout the German fatherland to +minister to the wants of those defective degrees of comparison which are +usually, however, found to be more or less admirably fitted to their +purpose. It thus constituted itself a fourth degree, or +extra-ultra-superlative. Like all verbal contrivances of this kind, it +was more especially favoured among the less cultivated students of the +forms of grammar, and seems at last to have become recognised as a +convenient make-weight with which a reprobate soldiery were accustomed +to balance their assertions. + +It will be at once seen that this alien growth was capable of being +readily transplanted to our soil in the shape of its literal +counterpart. The circumstance of the words being so nearly identical is +sufficient to account for the work of transposition being swiftly and +effectually done. But beyond the mere accident of the respective tongues +offering an exact literal equivalent, there was nothing in common +between the German "blutig" and the English correlative term. As +evidenced by the purity of its antecedents, the latter derives nothing +of the opprobrium that has devolved upon it by reason of any hereditary +defects, far less on account of any of its inherent properties. + +If Ben Jonson, who must have been brought face to face with this +treasure in its natural home, does not seek to commend it to the keeping +of his audiences, we may be sure that in his time at least it had +attained no perceptible degree of literary currency. The comic +dramatists were agreed at this period as to one canon of dramatic +representation. They were accustomed to interlace the serious business +of the comedy with mirth-moving interludes in which the more farcical +characters of the piece were met together for the purpose, as it seemed, +of besprinkling one another with the most aggravating and unpardonable +abuse. The ingenuity of writers was ransacked to furnish material for +this spirited by-play. Collections of all nationalities, and the +reserves of all professions and handicrafts, were studiously drawn upon +to furnish subject-matter for these wordy encounters. So far as they +could help themselves, these shameless dramatists left no word unsaid +that could increase the strife of tongues and raise a smile at the +energy or possibly the grossness of the jargon. But as yet the epithet +in question found no place in the prompt-book, and continued to be +omitted from their vocabularies. Had Bohemian society even partially +adopted it, it would be difficult to imagine the humours of the +Artillery Garden, or the disorders of Ruffians' Hall and Turnbull +Street,[55] being glibly depicted by these outspoken playwrights without +recourse being had to the services of this unconscionable adjective. + +Shakespeare, himself probably the greatest exponent of the arts of +scurrility, is totally exempt from any blameworthy intention in applying +the word in the manner he so frequently uses it. But as years wore on +the relish of foreign and far-travelled terms grew upon the public taste +with surprising rapidity. A novelty must be extremely popular to enable +it to become vulgar, and must even be liked before it can be thoroughly +hated. "Bloody" was no exception to the rule, and enjoyed a brief day of +estimation and patronage. Men of refinement and high culture adopted it +rather as an article of scholarly adornment. Dryden uses it in this way, +as does Swift. Play-writers heralded it on the stage, bestowing upon it +the passport of literary sanction. In Sir George Etheredge's comedy, +'The Man of Mode,' a play that was witnessed by society with unbounded +approval, the final stage in the process of abduction is plainly +indicated. Says one of the characters, referring to the importunities of +a tipsy vagrant, "Give him half-a-crown!" to which the other replies, +"Not without he will promise to be bloody drunk!" + +In this way it would seem that the ball was set rolling. How the game +has continued to be played we are most of us aware. It calls for no +particular skill on the part of the players, neither does the sport +appear to decline for want of appreciation. That it was received at its +first incoming with a kind of _éclat_ is not so surprising as is the +strange attachment that for upwards of two centuries has been manifested +by some ranks of society towards this discreditable word. Its first +flush of approval may have been due to a certain element of +whimsicality. This at least is a sensation frequently conveyed by the +occurrence of any meaningless affectation. But, however this may be, it +certainly was not at the first outset the mere grovelling and +unmitigated blackguardism which it was very shortly to be. Dean Swift, +full of wit and penury, writing from his London lodging to Stella in her +comfortable Irish home, breaks into frequent outbursts at the scantiness +of his comforts. One October, when removed to Windsor, he is +particularly tried by the severity of the autumnal weather, but the +terms in which, addressing a well-bred woman, he expresses his +discomfort are striking, as showing the strange vicissitudes that +language may undergo. "It grows bloody cold," he writes--and one may +well imagine the chilled extremities of the reverend Dean--"it grows +bloody cold, and I have no waistcoat." + +In support of the view that there is nothing in the inherent properties +of the word, or even in the range and frequency of its use, to account +for the degraded position it has occupied in modern times, we have only +to inquire whether any similar treatment has been the fate of the +equivalent word in the language of France. What do we find? The French +_sanglant_ has even a wider sphere of application, and in its legitimate +sense is even a greater favourite than our own adjective, but no such +evil days have overtaken it. It can be used literally, as in the case of +_viande sanglante_, or metaphorically, as in _un sanglant affront_ or +the aphorism _la sanglante raillerie blesse et ne corrige pas_, but not +at any time is it found to deviate from the paths of decency. +Everything, we consider, favours the idea we have formed of our stately +English word proceeding soberly and reputably upon its honest course +only to become the victim of this species of subversive horse-play at +the hands of professed word-corrupters. Appreciative of the objurgatory +advantages of the German _blutig_, they were indifferent to any affront +they might pass upon the English tongue. From that time forward the word +was branded as infamous. The manly ring that of right belonged to it, as +instanced in such widely different productions as 'Piers Ploughman,'[56] +or the 'Philaster' of Beaumont and Fletcher,[57] was becoming no longer +possible. In recent days people have sometimes tried to reconcile these +opposite tendencies and to endow the word with some amount of literary +grace. The best attempt we have noticed in this direction is in a decree +of the Government of Paraguay, which in August 1869 instructed its +resident in this country that the presence of Francisco Lopez on +Paraguayan soil was "a bloody sarcasm to civilisation." The gentleman +who penned this document may have been influenced by the example of +Montaigne[58] who admitted that he was accustomed to swear "more by +imitation than complexion." + +We have given what we believe to be the rational explanation of this +most unwarrantable abduction of the word from its ancient uses. The +English language, whose handmaid it was, has never put in a claim to the +return of its services, and the professors of that language continue to +be scared when they meet with the vulgar changeling at the corner of the +street. The principal reason for abhorrence is probably founded upon +misapprehension. It is assumed that the expression bears the savour of +irreligion. The old Catholic oath of "blood and wounds" has been +advanced as the origin. So far from this theory being well founded, we +rather find the whole brood of Catholic oaths to have been swept away by +the besom of the Reformation long before this expletive had raised its +head. Neither are we able to support the contention that it takes its +rise in the archaic "woundy," which perished in the same fires. It is +quite clear that in this instance there is a marked and deep interval +between the outgoing of the old form of scurrility and the advent of the +new. + +Without being understood to array ourselves on the side of this baneful +expression, we desire to acquit it at once of all suspicion of +irreligion. The men who originated it had furthest from their minds any +inroad upon Catholic fervour. It was simply an imported ware, smuggled +over in a soldier's knapsack. It was left to linger for a time upon the +lips of sutlers and tapsters, and became the plaything of sergeants and +backswordsmen, the broken companions who had smelt powder in the German +wars. It took will and way from the mere caprices of imitation, that +sufficed in time to render it palatable to the wiser and more sober of +men. From the time of Dean Swift downwards, it has mostly suffered from +being lamentably unfashionable. Association, which can do so much to +influence and so little to regulate our dislikes, has insisted in +linking this expletive with the classes that are taken to be the more +sordid and malignant. + +It may certainly come into play now and again among those people who are +not averse to perpetrating a joke at the expense of a little casual loss +of refinement. On these few occasions indeed it would even appear to be +tinctured with some slight leaven of good-nature. Thus, the sailor +appellation of Admiral Gambier--"old bloody Politeful"--must not be +inveighed against too hardly. Neither need we be too squeamish over a +once famous (or infamous) _bon mot_ that passed current in a fashionable +club where a certain learned and witty serjeant was wont to repair for +his nightly rubber. One evening, after meeting with a stranger at the +card-table who held a remarkable number of trumps, he had impatiently +inquired who had been his antagonist. On being told that the player was +Sir So-and-So, Bart., the serjeant is reported to have at once rejoined +that "he might have known the fellow to have been a baronet by his +bloody hand!" + +But there is a deeper and more solemn aspect in all this than any that +we have suggested or advanced. No statistics, could any be collected, no +known or imaginable facts, could be trusted to convey the faintest +notion of the large place that is occupied in public morals by the +presence of this solitary piece of imprecation. Those who have +opportunities of judging, will be bound to admit that they see in it the +plaything and fondling of whole sections of citizen society. In +innumerable households, in countless families, if we may so designate +those fetid accumulations of humanity that we must here be understood to +indicate, there is not an hour of the day--not a moment of the day--in +which this virulent and acrid malediction does not send out its empty +challenge. How can this moral choke-damp, with all its fatal +incrustations, fail to eat away the supports and very framework of the +dwelling. It is hard perhaps to pass so heavy a sentence upon seemingly +so slight an offence, but we are forced to believe that the very +existence and presence of this evil, in its more rampant and impudent +state, is of itself conclusive upon the point of good or evil +government, upon the question of the predominance of human charity or of +the blackest intensity of malice. + +Neither is it the least regrettable circumstance that, considered as a +piece of mingled vileness and effrontery, the word has been, and for the +matter of that is still likely to be, a most telling and signal success. +Those who have followed the writer at all closely will have already +noticed the irresistible impulse of succeeding generations to secure to +themselves the strongest possible anathema with which to carry on all +manner of petty hostilities. But until the expletive that is now passing +under our consideration was fairly launched upon society, no great +measure of success can be said to have crowned their endeavours. The +swearing of the pre-Reformation era may be adjudged the nearest approach +to maledictory perfection, but even that system, admirable as it may +have been from the point of view of an accomplished Boanerges of the +time, was at best but an unstable and fluctuating one, and depended for +its efficiency upon the swearer's own powers of invocation. As a rule no +two oaths were alike, and men gave you the idea of thinking before they +swore. So various a code could hardly be expected to meet with general +success, it being as impossible for an individual to invent a really new +oath--a new "bloody," for example--as it is said to be impossible to +invent a new proverb or a new rhyme for the nursery. Imitations can of +course be easily contrived, but the genuine product only arises through +the seemingly spontaneous consent of approving multitudes. It was +precisely in this way that the present abomination was generated. Not +proceeding from any one man's store of virulence, but resulting from a +long process of evolution and development, it at last springs into +sudden life, in obedience, it would almost seem, to a nation's clamours. +But no sooner was it called into this sphere of activity, than it +became, we repeat, a gigantic success. It is the crown and apex of all +bad language, the coping-stone of all systems of verbal aggression and +abuse. By consent, as it were, of the general conscience it is allowed +to have surpassed in vileness and intensity anything of the kind that +has been intense or vile. That this stream of pollution should continue +to flow, uninterruptedly and with increasing volume, through its inky +channel, is one of the gloomiest and grimmest of the minor features of +our social life. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +_Page 73. Feminine Oaths._--Among the number of feminine expletives may +be reckoned Ophelia's adjuration "by Gis." The derivation has been a +source of trouble to the commentators, who profess to see in it a +corruption of Saint Cecily, an abbreviation of Saint Gislen, or else, as +is more probable, a phonetic form of the letters I.H.S. But whatever its +derivation, the oath was commonly attributed to the female sex. Thus, in +Preston's 'Cambyses,' 1561, it is so employed; and again in the +pre-Shakespearian play of 'King John' the nuns swear by Gis, and the +monks, by way of distinction, take their oaths by Saint Withold. In +'Gammer Gurton's Needle' the oath is placed in the mouth of the old +housewife. + +_Page 84. Foreign Oaths._--We learn from Miss Bunbury's 'Summer in +Northern Europe,' that the most common form of swearing in Sweden is a +contraction of "God preserve us," and that hardly a sentence can escape +from the lips of the lower orders without being supplemented by this +expression--"bevars," the lengthened form of which is "Gud bevarva oss." +Another form of imprecation is "Kors" or "Kors Jesu," the Cross of +Jesus, which the same writer intimates is in great request among the +educated orders in Sweden. + +_Page 85. Pre-Reformation Swearing._--The testimony of Elyot in 'The +Boke named the Governour,' written in 1531, is very conclusive upon the +question. He says: "In dayly communication the mater savoureth nat, +except it be as it were seasoned with horrible othes. As by the holy +blode of Christe, his woundes whiche for our redemption he paynefully +suffred, his glorious harte, as it were numbles chopped in pieces. +Children (whiche abborreth me to remembre) do play with the armes and +bones of Christe, as they were chery stones. The soule of God, whiche is +incomprehensible, and nat to be named of any creature without a +wonderfull reverence and drede, is nat onely the othe of great +gentilmen, but also so indiscretely abused, that they make it (as I +mought saye) their gonnes, wherwith they thunder out thretenynges and +terrible menacis, whan they be in their fury, though it be at the +damnable playe of dyse. The masse, in which honourable ceremony is lefte +unto us the memoriall of Christes glorious passion, with his corporall +presence in fourme of breade, the invocation of the thre divine persones +in one deitie, with all the hole company of blessed spirites and soules +elect, is made by custome so simple an othe that it is nowe all most +neglected and little regarded of the nobilitie, and is onely used among +husbandemen and artificers, onelas some taylour or barbour, as well in +his othes as in the excesse of his apparayle, will counterfaite and be +lyke a gentilman."--ii. 252, _ed. Croft_. + +So also Roger Hutchinson in his 'Image of God,' 1550:--"You swearers and +blasphemers which use to swear by God's heart, arms, nails, bowels, +legs, and hands, learn what these things signify, and leave your +abominable oaths." + +_Page 93. Oath by the Swan._--It was also the custom during the middle +ages to serve with great pomp a pheasant, or some other noble bird, on +which the knights swore to visit the Holy Land. In 1453, Philip the +Good, Duke of Burgundy, vowed, _sur le faisan_, to go to the deliverance +of Constantinople. His example was followed by the barons and knights +assembled, who, in the words of Gibbon, "swore to God, the Virgin, the +ladies and the pheasant." + +_Page 107. A swearing corps d'élite._--So long ago as the reign of Henry +VIII. the expression "to swear like a lord" had become proverbial:--"For +they wyll say he that swereth depe, swereth like a lorde."--'_The +Governour_,' _by Sir T. Elyot_, 1531, _ed. Croft_, i. 275. + +That the habit was making headway in high places may also be inferred +from a bequest in one of the wills preserved in Doctors' Commons, in +which the testator bequeathed a legacy of twenty shillings on condition +that the legatee should desist from swearing. The will is that of Sir +David Owen, a natural son of Owen Tudor, and is dated 1535. + +_Page 121. Sir David Lindsay._--Some idea of the fecundity of the old +poet in the matter of expletives is conveyed by the catalogue of oaths +culled from the 'Satyre of the Three Estaitis' and added to Chalmers' +edition of Lindsay, published in 1806. The list is as follows:-- + + "Be Cokis passion. + Be Godis passion. + Be Cok's deir passion. + Be Cok's tois. + Be God's wounds. + Be God's croce. + Be God's mother. + Be God's breid. + Be God's gown. + Be God himsell. + Be greit God that all has wrocht. + Be him that made the mone. + Be the gude Lord. + Be him that wore the crown of thorn. + Be him that bare the cruel crown of thorn. + Be him that herryit hell. + Be him that Judas sauld. + Be the rude. + Be the Trinity; Be the haly Trinity. + Be the sacrament; Be the haly sacrament. + Be the messe. + Be him that our Lord Jesus sauld. + Be him that deir Jesus sauld. + Be our Lady; Be Sainct Mary; Be sweit Sainct Mary; Be Mary bricht. + Be Alhallows. + Be Sanct James. + Be Sanct Michell. + Be Sanct Ann. + Be Sanct Bryde; Be Bryde's bell. + Be Sanct Geill; Be sweit Sanct Geill. + Be Sanct Blais. + Be Sanct Blane. + Be Sanct Clone; Be Sanct Clune. + Be Sanct Allan. + Be Sanct Fillane. + Be Sanct Tan. + Be Sanct Dyonis of France. + Be Sanct Maverne. + Be the gude lady that me bare. + Be my saul. + Be my thrift. + Be my Christendom. + Be this day." + +Against this list we may place a similar catalogue of objurgations +extracted from the old play of 'Gammer Gurton's Needle,' acted at +Cambridge in 1566. This work, ascribed to John Still, Bishop of Bath and +Wells, very plainly depicts the condition of rustic manners at the +period at which it was written:-- + + "By the mass (occurs 22 times). + Gog's bones (4 times). + Gog's soul (9 times). + By my father's soul (2 times). + Gog's sacrament (2 times). + By my troth. + By God. + By sun and moon. + Gog's heart (6 times). + By God's mother. + Gog's bread (8 times). + By'r Lady (2 times). + By the cross. + By our dear lady of Boulogne. + Saint Dunstan. + Saint Dominic. + The three kings of Cologne. + By God and the devil too. + By bread and salt (2 times). + By him that Judas sold. + Gog's cross (2 times). + By Gog's malt (2 times). + Gog's death. + Gog's blessed body. + By God's blest (2 times). + By Gis. + By Saint Benet. + By my truth. + By Cock's mother dear. + By Saint Mary. + Gog's wounds (2 times). + By Cock's bones. + By All Hallows. + By my fay. + By my father's skin. + By God's pity (2 times). + Gog's sides (2 times)." + +_Page 169. The deuce!_--A specimen from the English version of 'Havelok +the Dane,' edited by Sir F. Madden from the manuscript in the Laudian +Collection in the Bodleian Library, may be appended:-- + + "'Deus!' quoth he, 'hwat may this mene!' + He calde bothe arwe men, and kene + Knithes, and serganz swithe sleie, + Mo than an hundred."--l. 2114. + +Madden also refers the exclamation, _dash you_ or _dase you_, from the +Anglo-Saxon imprecation _datheit_ which had been caught up from the +Norman _deshait_. + + +LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND +CHARING CROSS. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[1] Ducange. + +[2] The laws of Hoel the Good. + +[3] Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester. + +[4] Ducange. + +[5] Mezeray, ii. 121. + +[6] Sloane MS. No. 2530, xxvi. D.; a manuscript giving details of the +grades of students and masters of fence, and of the ceremonial attending +taking their degrees. The oath runs, "First you shall swear, so help you +God and halidome, and by all the christendome which God gave you at the +fount stone, and by the cross of this sword which doth represent unto +you the cross which our Saviour suffered his most painful deathe upon," +&c. + +[7] Socrates' oath, _by the cabbage_, [Greek: ma tên krambên] is given +in Athenæus, ib. ix. p. 370. + +[8] Aristophanes, 'The Birds.' + +[9] Plutarch, Quæstion. Rom., p. 271. + +[10] 'Mariage de Figaro,' iii. 5. + +[11] MS. Bibliothèque nationale. 'Collection Complète des Mémoires,' +vol. viii. + +[12] + + "_Williams._ Ah, damnation! Goddam! + _Blondel._ Goddam! Monsieur est Anglais apparemment." + + '_Coeur de Lion_,' 1789. + +[13] 'Notes on Ancient Poetry,' ed. 1770. + +[14] One of the last cases where the use of the word produced some +coolness on the part of the persons concerned, occurred when a certain +bishop in a northern diocese was reported by the local newspaper to have +said in a sermon, "that he would not preach in that damned old church +any more." The bishop wrote to the paper that he had said "damp old +church." The editor, however, declined to question the accuracy of his +reporter. + +[15] See passage from Roger de Collerye, given by Littré. + +[16] 'L'agréable conférence de Piarot et Janin.' Paris, 1651. + +[17] "[Greek: SO] Nê ton kuna, amphignoô mentoi ô Pôle]" +&c.--'_Gorgias._' + +[18] "On Tuesday, March 31, he and I dined at General Paoli's.... We +talked of the strange custom of swearing in conversation. The general +said that all barbarous nations swore from a certain violence of temper +that could not be confined to earth, but was always reaching at the +powers above. He said, too, that there was a greater variety of swearing +in proportion as there was a greater variety of religious +ceremonies."--Boswell's '_Life of Johnson_,' p. 235. + +[19] Letter from Lynceus at Rhodes to Diagoras at Athens, in 'Journal +des Savants,' 1839, p. 37. + +[20] Aldus Gellius, xi. 6. We find these oaths so distributed in Terence +and Plautus, the women swearing by Castor and the men by Hercules. + +[21] Herodotus, bk. iv. 67. It was the _hearth_ of kings of Scythia that +was dealt with in this way. + +[22] For an able article on the Five Wounds as represented in Art, see +Journal of Brit. Arch. Association for Dec. 1874, by the Rev. W. Sparrow +Simpson. + +[23] 'Roba di Roma,' by W. W. Story, 1863. The writer adds, "A curious +feature in the oaths of the Italians may be remarked. _Dio mio_ is +usually an exclamation of sudden surprise or wonder; _Madonna mia_, of +pity and sorrow, and _per Christo_ of hatred and revenge. It is in the +name of Christ, and not of God as with us, that imprecations, curses, +and maledictions are invoked. The reason is very simple. Christ is to +him the judge and avenger of all, and so represented in every picture he +sees, from Orcagua's and Michael Angelo's Last Judgment down, while the +Eternal Father is a peaceful old figure bending over him." + +[24] 'The Conversyon of Swerers,' 1540. + +[25] The identity of ideas that we have referred to as invariably +occurring in mediæval writings, whenever they happen to turn upon a +similar theme, may be shown by comparison of the following extracts. +They are taken from writers of different times and countries, and who +are not directly plagiarising one another. Dan Michael, in the 'Ayenbite +of Inwyt' (modernised), has:-- + +"These (Christians) are worse than the Jews that did crucify him. They +broke none of his bones. But these break him to pieces smaller than one +doth swine in butchery." + +Robert of Brunné, in the 'Handlyng Sinne,' writes:-- + + "Thy oaths do him more grievousness, + Than all the Jews' wickedness; + They pained him once and passed away, + But thou painest him every day." + +Again, in the 'Moralité des Blasphémateurs' (circa 1530):-- + + "Tu luy fais plus dure bataille + Que les juifz sans nulla faille + Qui pour toy le crucifierent." + +[26] A certain delight in arranging the favourite oaths of his +contemporaries and of other historical personages is plainly to be seen +in Brantôme. In the 'Vies des Grands Capitaines' he throws off a whole +string of these cherished devices. "On appeloit ce grand capitaine, +Monsr. de la Trimouille, 'La vraye Corps Dieu' d'autant que c'estoit son +serment ordinaire, ainsin que ces vieux et anciens grands capitaines en +ont sceu choisir et avoir aucuns particuliers à eux; comme Monsr. de +Bayard juroit, 'Feste Dieu, Bayard!' Monsr. de Bourbon, 'Saincte Barbe!' +le prince d'Orange, 'Saincte Nicolas!' le bonne homme M. de la Roche du +Maine juroit 'Teste de Dieu pleine de reliques!' (où diable alla il +chercher celuy là) et autres que je nommerois, plus sangreneux que ceux +là." + +[27] Ch. Rozan, 'Petites Ignorances de la Conversation.' + +[28] "A shocking practice seems to have been rendered fashionable by the +very reprehensible habit of the Queen, whose oaths were neither +diminutive or rare, for it is said that she never spared an oath in +public speech or private conversation when she thought it added energy +to either,"--_Drake_, '_Shakspeare and his Times_,' ii. 160. + +[29] J. G. Nicholls, 'Literary Remains of Edward VI.' + +[30] 'Every Man out of his Humour,' i. 1. + +[31] 1 Henry IV., iii. 7. + +[32] See Capt. Basil Hall's 'Fragments of Voyages and Travels,' chap. +xvi. p. 89. + +[33] Leigh Hunt's Journal, No. 6, for Jan. 11, 1851. + +[34] 'The Colonies,' by Col. C. J. Napier, 1833. + +[35] If any person or persons shall ... profanely swear or curse ... for +every such offence the party so offending shall forfeit and pay to the +use of the poor of the parish where such offence or offences shall be +committed the respective sums hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, +every servant, day-labourer, common soldier, or common seaman, one +shilling; and every other person two shillings; and in case any of the +persons aforesaid shall, after conviction, offend a second time, such +person shall forfeit and pay double, and if a third time treble the sum +respectively.--6 & 7 _William and Mary_, c. 11. + +[36] Coll. of State Papers, Domestic, 1595, p. 12. + +[37] Borough records of the City of Glasgow, 1573-1581. + +[38] Aberdeen Presbytery Records, printed by the Spalding Club. + +[39] Within the precincts of royal palaces regulations seem to have been +made from time to time to clear the atmosphere of all impious particles. +According to a work by Alexander Howell, the Dean of St. Paul's, printed +in 1611, King Henry I. prescribed a scale of fines according to a table +as follows:-- + + {a Duke 40 shillings. + {a Lord 20 do. + "If he were: {a Squire 10 do. + {a Yeoman 3_s._ 4_d._ + {a Page, to be whipt." + + '_A Sword against Swearers_,' 1611. + +[40] 21 Jac. I. c. 20. + +[41] 3 Jac. I. c. 21. + +[42] Office-book of Sir Henry Herbert. Collier's 'History of Dramatic +Poetry,' ii. 58. + +[43] Coll. of State Papers, Domestic, 1635-6. + +[44] Whitelock's Memorials. + +[45] Quarter Sessions from Queen Elizabeth to Queen Anne, by A. H. A. +Hamilton. 1878. + +[46] 19 Geo. II. cap. 21. There is also a penalty of 40_s._ for using +profane language in the streets under the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, +and the Metropolitan Police Act, 1839. + +[47] J. P. Malcolm, 'Manners of London during XVII. Century.' + +[48] "Diary of a Sussex Tradesman a hundred years ago," printed in +Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. xi. + +[49] 'The Rivals,' act ii. sc. 1. + +[50] "By the Lord Harry! he should have done with Christmas boxes." +Swift, '_Journal to Stella_.' + +[51] The cloven foot is an evidence of a clean beast, and horns are +attributed, pictorially at least, to Moses. + +[52] Edited by Sir Frederick Madden for the Roxburgh Club, 1828. + +[53] 'Tristram Shandy,' vol. iii. ch. 12. + +[54] 'Harangue des Habitans de Sarcelles,' 1740. + +[55] "This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the +wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbull +Street."--2 _Henry IV._, ii. 3. + +[56] Where it is used in the sense of pertaining to kinship--"They are +my blody brethren, quod pieres, for God boughte us alle."--'_Piers +Plowman_,' vi. 210. + +[57] Where it is met with as a verb--"With my own hands, I'll bloody my +own sword." + +[58] 'Montaigne's Essays,' ed. Hazlitt, iii. 120. + + + + +_October 1883._ + + PUBLICATIONS OF J. C. 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In the 'Robinson Crusoe,' +besides the well-known portrait of Defoe by Flameng, there are eight +exceedingly beautiful etchings by Mouilleron.... In fine keeping with +the other volumes of the series, uniform in style and illustrations, and +as one of the volumes of their famous Old English Romances, Messrs. +Nimmo & Bain have also issued the 'Rasselas' of Johnson and the 'Vathek' +of Beckford." + + +Westminster Review. + +"Messrs. Nimmo & Bain have added to their excellent series of 'Old +English Romances' three new volumes, of which two are devoted to +'Tristram Shandy,' while the third contains 'The Old English Baron' and +'The Castle of Otranto.' Take them as they stand, and without +attributing to them any qualities but what they really possess, the +whole series was well worth reprinting in the elegant and attractive +form in which they are now presented to us." + + + + +The Imitation of Christ. + +FOUR BOOKS. + +Translated from the Latin by Rev. W. BENHAM, B.D., + +_Rector of St. Edmund, King and Martyr, Lombard Street._ + +With ten Illustrations by J. P. LAURENS, etched by LEOPOLD FLAMENG. + +Crown 8vo, cloth or parchment boards, 10s. 6d. + + +Scotsman. + +"We have not seen a more beautiful edition of 'The Imitation of Christ' +than this one for many a day." + + +Magazine of Art. + +"This new edition of the 'Imitation' may fairly be regarded as a work of +art. It is well and clearly printed; the paper is excellent; each page +has its peculiar border, and it is illustrated with ten etchings. +Further than that the translation is Mr. Benham's we need say nothing +more." + + + + +Essays from the "North American Review." + +Edited by ALLEN THORNDIKE RICE. + +Demy 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. + + +Saturday Review. + +"A collection of interesting essays from the _North American Review_, +beginning with a criticism on the works of Walter Scott, and ending with +papers written by Mr. Lowell and Mr. O. W. Holmes. The variety of the +essays is noteworthy." + + +Alain René Le Sage. (1668-1747.) + +A SHORT HISTORY OF THE + +LIFE AND WRITINGS OF ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE, + +_The Author of "Gil Blas,"_ + +Who was born at Sarzean on the 8th of May 1668, and died at Boulogne on +the 17th November 1747. + +By GEORGE SAINTSBURY. + +Medium 8vo, 50 pp., paper covers, 3s. 6d. + + +Peter Anthony Motteux. (1660-1718.) + +A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LATE + +MR PETER ANTHONY MOTTEUX, + +A Native of France, + +Whilom Dramatist, China Merchant, and Auctioneer, + +Who departed this life on the 18th of February 1718 (old style), being +then precisely 58 years old. + +By HENRI VAN LAUN. + +Medium 8vo, 43 pp., paper covers, 3s. 6d. + + +The American Patent Portable Book-Case. + +[Illustration] + +For Students, Barristers, Home Libraries, &c. + +This Book-case will be found to be made of very solid and durable +material, and of a neat and elegant design. The shelves may be adjusted +for books of any size, and will hold from 150 to 300 volumes. As it +requires neither nails, screws, or glue, it may be taken to pieces in a +few minutes, and reset up in another room or house, where it would be +inconvenient to carry a large frame. + +_Full Height, 5 ft. 11-1/2 in.; Width, 3 ft. 8 in.; Depth of Shelf, +10-1/2 in._ + +Black Walnut, price £6, 6s. nett. + +"The accompanying sketch illustrates a handy portable book-case of +American manufacture, which Messrs. NIMMO & BAIN have provided. It is +quite different from an ordinary article of furniture, such as +upholsterers inflict upon the public, as it is designed expressly for +holding the largest possible number of books in the smallest possible +amount of space. One of the chief advantages which these book-cases +possess is the ease with which they may be taken apart and put together +again. No nails or metal screws are employed, nothing but the hand is +required to dismantle or reconstruct the case. The parts fit together +with mathematical precision; and, from a package of boards of very +moderate dimensions, a firm and substantial book-case can be erected in +the space of a few minutes. Appearances have by no means been +overlooked; the panelled sides, bevelled edges, and other simple +ornaments, give to the case a very neat and tasteful look. For students, +or others whose occupation may involve frequent change of residence, +these book-cases will be found most handy and desirable, while, at the +same time, they are so substantial, well-made, and convenient, that they +will be found equally suitable for the library at home." + + + Select List from the Catalogue of J. & A. Churchill, + PUBLISHERS, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, + As supplied by J. C. NIMMO & BAIN. + + + Catalogue of the Publications of W. H. Allen & Co., + PUBLISHERS, WATERLOO PLACE, + As supplied by J. C. NIMMO & BAIN. + + +BOOK-CORNER PROTECTORS. + +Metal Tips carefully prepared for placing on the Corners of Books to +preserve them from injury while passing through the Post Office or being +sent by Carrier. + + +Extract from "The Times," April 18th. + +"That the publishers and booksellers of America second the efforts of +the Post Office authorities in endeavouring to convey books without +damage happening to them is evident from the tips which they use to +protect the corners from injury during transit." + +1s. 6d. per Gross, nett. + + +J. C. NIMMO & BAIN, + +14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +Punctuation has been corrected without note. + +The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version +these letters have been replaced with transliterations. + +The misprint "the the" has been corrected to "the" (page 69). + +Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from +the original. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Cursory History of Swearing, by Julian Sharman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING *** + +***** This file should be named 34179-8.txt or 34179-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/1/7/34179/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Cursory History of Swearing + +Author: Julian Sharman + +Release Date: October 31, 2010 [EBook #34179] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h1>A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING.</h1> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h2>A<br />CURSORY<br />HISTORY OF SWEARING.</h2> +<p> </p> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>JULIAN SHARMAN.</h3> +<p> </p> +<p class="note">“Ha! this fellow is worse than me; what, does he swear with pen and ink?”—<i>The Tatler</i>, No. 13.</p> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center">LONDON:<br />J. C. NIMMO AND BAIN,<br />14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C.<br />1884.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table width="70%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>At the Scufflers’ Club—A stranger at the gates—A somnolent post-office—The best +men in London—A sing-song—“Damn their eyes!”—“Qui s’excuse +s’accuse”—The philosophy of swearing—A retrospect—“When +that I was and a little tiny boy”</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>The son of discord—Origin of swearing—Decline of lying as an art—Growth of swearing as +a science—The military oath—Religious oath—John the Marshall—Fustian oaths—Legislation +begins—“Moralité des Blasphémateurs”—George Fox and Margaret Fell—Oath +of the King-Maker—Oath of the Bear-garden</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>“Odd’s bodikins”—In Socrates’ thinking-shop—The British +shibboleth—Don Juan—Beaumarchais—Parny—Joan of Arc a satirist of swearing—La +Hire—Corbleu et Cie.—“Jarnicoton”—“<ins class="correction" title="Ma ton">Μὰ τὸν</ins>”—‘Jurons +de Cadillac’—Little King Goddam—Sir John Harrington—‘Amends +for Ladies’—“Don’t care a damn”</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Why has a dog a bad name?—Canine swearing—“Jarnichien!”—The cast of the +die—Dog oath of Socrates—A nation of swearers—Aristophanes—The Rhodian +cabbage—“Mehercule”—‘Ship of Fools’—Amenities +of Roman swearing</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mediæval swearing—The monastic teaching—Cleric and lay—Robert Crowley—Mystery +of the five wounds—“God’s bread!”—In a Tuscan studio—Stephen Hawes—Thomas +Becon—‘Miroir du Monde’—‘Handlyng Sinne’—Chaucer’s +oaths—Plantagenet swearing—“Ventre Saint Gris”—A royal +scapegrace—“Bismillah!”</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>The genius of antiquity—A study in dust and cobwebs—The why and the wherefore of +swearing—A swearing <i>corps d’élite</i>—“Swear me, Kate, like a +lady”—The freemasonry of swearing—Lord Thurlow—Sir Thomas +Maitland—“By jingo!”</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>A bank of swearing—Legislation at work—“The sweirer’s and the +Devill”—Aberdeen town records—Across the border—Before the footlights—‘Magnetic +Lady’—The wits—Colman the younger—A swearing bureau—Quarter Sessions—Statute of +William and Mary—Convictions—A carnival of swearing</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>A saviour of society—Joseph Addison—A tradesman of the last century—A clerical +apologist—Swearing in earnest and at play—An explanation offered—Blue laws of +Connecticut—Bobadil—‘The Rivals’—‘Covent Garden +weeded’—Brantôme’s oaths—Eccentricities of swearing—“Old +Harry”—“The dickens”—“The deuce”—“Le diable de +Biterne”</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Utilitarian view of swearing—One touch of nature—The Shandean method—Code of +Ernulphus—“Sacré froc d’Habacuc”—Mr. William Barley—Philosophy +of imprecation—“Bloody”—In the Low Countries—‘The Man of Mode’—Swift +without his waistcoat—Sanglant—Retrospect and ending</td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#APPENDIX"><span class="smcap">Appendix</span></a></td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr></table> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2>A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING.</h2> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>AT THE SCUFFLERS’ CLUB.</h3> + +<div class="note"><p>“‘Our armies swore terribly in Flanders,’ said my uncle Toby, ‘but +nothing to this.’”—<i>Tristram Shandy.</i></p></div> + +<p>It lay in the heart of Bohemia. It was approached through a labyrinth of +streets that grew denser and darker as one neared the precincts of the +club. Could any of the brother Scufflers have seen the neighbourhood by +day, it would have presented an appearance dismal and sordid enough. +Dealers in faded wardrobes,—merchants in tinsel and <i>rouge de +théâtre</i>,—retailers of wigs and fleshings and all manner of stage +wares, seemed one with another to have made the locality their home. One +missed certainly the bone-sellers and refuse-sifters of the adjacent +Clare Market, and one was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> spared the cheap cosmetic shops and smug +undertakers of the neighbouring Soho. But you were recompensed, here in +the heart of mid-Bohemia, by the all-pervading odour of potations and +provisions,—of banquets long past, and of banquets that were yet to +come.</p> + +<p>What wonderful odours are those that emanate from this quarter of the +town! The dank vapours of Covent Garden are sweet in the nostrils of +many a cockney reveller. There is no orange-peel so perfumed as the +Drury orange-peel that has been concentrating its fragrance round the +boards of Thespis since the days when Mohun and Hart, and Shatterel and +Betterton strutted on the bare planks of the Cockpit. No scent of +printer’s ink is more refreshing than that which adheres to the yards of +flimsy playbill still hawked about by itinerant vendors. But the whole +place has through the day-time a blear-eyed, a drunk-over-night +appearance. It is like a man who is never at his best until he has +supped or dined. From morn till twilight it wears this sullen and +uncared-for look. Wait until nightfall, and it will positively glisten +with lamps and gleam with merriment. No wonder, therefore, that it has +been the birthplace of so many of those midnight carousing dens, into +one of which we are tremulously seeking to enter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>It was what is called a literary and theatrical club, the Scufflers. It +was literary in so far that the majority of its members lay down at +night with unrealised dreams of authorship. It was theatrical to the +extent that many a one was the possessor of an unacted drama coiled up +in his breast coat-pocket, and was to be seen surging about managers’ +doors, only waiting the glance of favour to fall upon author and +manuscript. Nor was this literary impulsion entirely without +fruit-bearing. Scufflers had been known to rush breathlessly into the +club-room at the approach of midnight, and in an excited and panting +condition have been heard to sing out for pens and paper, as the morning +press would wait for no man. Personally the accomplishments of the +members were many and varied. The great <i>primus</i> and leader of the club +was a man who was alleged to dash off a leading article, take a hand at +whist, and tackle a dish of kidneys at one and the same time.</p> + +<p>We must now be supposed to have reached the entrance of the hostelry, +for indeed it was a Covent Garden tavern and nothing more.</p> + +<p>We commence to grope our way along the mouldering, unlit passage that +gives access to the one apartment tenanted by the club, in which their +cheerful deliberations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> are now proceeding. Time cannot efface the +memory of that green-baize door at the end of this passage, where we +were very properly brought to a stand on that first evening of our +initiation. Never shall we forget how momentous seemed the issues that +were depending in that inner chamber, as the announcement that there was +a “stranger at the gates” was evidently being briskly canvassed there. +To have the unquestioned privilege of passing and repassing that mystic +portal, the barrier as it seemed between all the rhapsody and the syntax +of this weary world, promised to be one of those pleasures that would +well-nigh be imperishable.</p> + +<p>The apartment entered, it was easy to discern the manner of men who had +placed their mark upon its walls and wainscots. There was no lack of +artist force in many of the daubs that were let into the panelling, to +remain rugged monuments of the skill of the frequenters of that chamber. +A piano there was that had seen better days, and was yet to see +considerably worse ones, if in our recollection of the ultimate +dispersal of the property of the club we are not mistaken. Then there +were the pipe-racks. Anything more eloquent can scarcely be imagined +than the story unfolded by these mute implements of smoking. Every pipe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +possessed its decided characteristic and was distinctly different from +its neighbour. Some showed themselves as conceited pipes; some were +light and sparkish, others ponderous and clumsy. Leave yourself alone +with these sticks of briar or cherry-wood and you could readily have +brought to mind their absent owners,—the man who sang a good song, the +youngster given to practical jokes, the patriarch, strong in argument, +invincible in debate,—in fact you could easily have helped yourself to +an inventory of the members of the club. The rest of the furniture of +the room consisted of a large oblong table, surrounded by chairs of +various patterns, the former of which on the night we first beheld it +literally groaned with the weight of “rabbits” and foaming tankards. +Stay; food for the mind was not neglected, as how should it be? in that +assembly-room. By virtue of the care of a pile of fly-blown magazines, +and as far as we can remember of a few odd volumes of ‘Ruff’s Guide’ and +a ‘White’s Farriery,’ we became in course of time the elected librarian +of the Scufflers’ Club.</p> + +<p>Although not a flourishing community in the matter of finances, there +were instances in plenty of great kindness and liberality displayed by +Scuffler unto Scuffler. There were times when they brought out their +myrrh and cassia, their spikenard and oil of price.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> When, one bitter +winter morning, an unhappy Scuffler came shivering out of the debtors’ +side of the City Prison, they did not beat about the bush and hesitate +at receiving him. Neither did they stand on any dignity or whisper any +threat of expulsion. They did nothing of this kind, they simply made him +drunk. It is, we hope, quite clear that these gentlemen were not +professors of any sort of austerity.</p> + +<p>It may have already dawned upon the reader that there can hardly have +existed a fraternity boasting any such name as the one we have allotted +to it. In this much the reader is perfectly right. The club had a title +strikingly similar to that which we have adopted, and the thin disguise +has only been suggested from a circumstance that we may at once frankly +disclose. Suspended over the club chimney-piece was the usual +notice-board, a perfect encyclopædia in its way, and covered with a +trellis-work of crimson tape for the purpose of retaining the various +<i>affiches</i>. In this way were displayed, from day to day, the cards and +letters intended for the members of the club. For so long a time did +they frequently remain exhibited, and so complete a disregard did the +owners manifest for their property, that the appearance of each packet +often grew quite familiar to the frequenters of the place. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +individuality of the writer might be often guessed from the evidence of +the various superscriptions, and when all other sources of amusement +failed the contents of this stationary post-office formed a fair staple +of banter and merry comment. There were to be seen perfumed and +coronetted envelopes addressed to quasi-fashionable members. These were +gentlemen who never seemed to call and claim their belongings. Then +there were letters reputed to emanate from the great publishing houses, +and there were missives surmounted with well-known theatrical monograms +that were alleged to forward brilliant offers of engagements. In fact it +was by the aid of such simple nest-eggs as these that the men managed to +establish reputations. But there was one class of correspondence that +obviously was not intended for much publicity. These were the letters +couched in feminine handwriting, none of the neatest, whose tremulous +writers, in addressing their envelopes, rarely succeeded in hitting off +the proper style and title of the club. The early looker-in might have +made a useful study of these shaky epistles,—scrawls painfully executed +by milliners and toy-women. It was on the cover of one of such +effusions, even worse written and worse spelt than they usually were, +that we first saw the inscription, the “Scufflers’ Club.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>Although some years have passed since first we were made free of that +circle, distinctly do we remember the manner of our greeting—“This,” +said our introducer, “is a room rendered famous by the celebrated +Addison.” He emphasised the “celebrated” owing to an evident misgiving +that we might not perhaps be intimate with the name of that personage. +“Kitty Clive, the actress,” he continued, “lodged in the upper +floors,”—which was true—“and Dr. Johnson is said to have worn away the +wainscot with his wig in the further corner,”—which was not. We were +already lingering over the notice-board and letter-rack, reminded +probably by the associations of a similar contrivance at Will’s Coffee +House, when Parson Swift came in the mornings to seek for letters from +Stella, when the voice of our cicerone again summoned us. “Drop into a +seat,” it whispered, “and I’ll show you the best men in London.”</p> + +<p>The best men in London were engaged for the most part in imbibing +various amber-coloured fluids, and shouting out at intervals the burden +of a well-known chorus. An entertainment known as a “sing-song” was +vociferously going on. Vocalisation of a very fair order was being +given, whenever any one of the hearty Scufflers had sufficiently wetted +his throat to “oblige.” We were in time to hear the ‘Friar of Orders +Gray’<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> performed very creditably, and ‘When Joan’s ale was new’ brought +out a ringing chorus. We must have stayed some hours in listening to +this minstrelsy. Hospital songs, ditties well-known at Bartholomew’s and +Guy’s; poaching songs that bore the flavour of the honest shire of +Somerset; pieces from the comic operas; all were given with the utmost +good-humour and vivacity. But what seemed most to invigorate the spirits +of the Scufflers was a song that had been demanded more than once during +the evening and was at length only given after extreme pressure upon the +part of the audience. We do not know the name of the song; we are not +certain we should recollect the tune; but we are positive of the words, +such of them at least as formed the refrain of the melody. In every +stanza there was held up to reprobation some unpopular type. The severer +virtues were no less mercilessly handled, while all authority of the +more invidious kind, from that of the beak to that of the exciseman, was +subjected to the same unceremonious treatment. Every versicle—well do +we remember it—concluded with the exordium, “Damn their eyes!” Never +can we forget the rapturous reception that was accorded to this piece of +harmony. The men literally shrieked with delight. “Damn their +eyes!”—they grasped convulsively at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> tumblers and decanters and banged +them on the table. “Damn their eyes!”—they hurrahed, they shouted, they +raved, they swore. “Damn their eyes!”—they bestrode chairs and benches, +as they might have bestridden hobby-horses, and tournamented about the +room. Was this then the pæan or war-song of the Scufflers’ Club?</p> + +<p>As with the morning light we came to reflect upon the midnight orgie, we +felt we had opened a chapter in a strange history, and that history a +history of swearing.</p> + +<p>We can hardly bring our pen to write the very title of this book without +being reminded of an incident that has amused while it has displeased +us. It is now very many years ago that a kind relative brought the +present writer, then a child at a dame’s school, a handsome copy of the +‘Vicar of Wakefield,’ and thenceforward for a time that bitter +schoolhouse bade fair to be made bright and joyous with the doings of +the simple men and women whose story the gentle Goldsmith has recorded. +What possible objection could be uttered against so innocent a tale? +None the less however did our worthy preceptress take occasion to +remonstrate. “Does not that book concern females?” asked she. Our friend +could have had no reply prepared that was fitted to so insidious a +reproach. “Ah! well,” was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> quiet rejoinder, “but poor Goldsmith did +not mean badly.”</p> + +<p>If such, then, be the measure dealt out to the more disciplined +champions in the strife with human error, what sort of accord will be +given to the present unharnessed and ill-caparisoned writer, who +attempts, let it be hoped not ill-naturedly, to cope with one of the +more rosy-faced forms of sinfulness. That he will be assailed from the +higher latitudes of prudery he has a right to expect. That the very +novelty of the venture will pass as an affront to some portion of his +readers there is only reason to anticipate. That even the more indulgent +will cast looks of suspicion upon his pirate ensign is a circumstance he +can conceal as little as he can regret it.</p> + +<p>As the matter stands, a poor devil of an author is proposing an +expedition into regions that, despite many hundred years of literary +enterprise, are still remote and untravelled. It were not surprising +therefore at the outset that his readers should inquire if he is sincere +and reliable, or whether on the contrary he is counterfeiting honesty +with a sanctimonious face. It were perhaps right they should be assured +that the trip is really intended for their welfare, and that the skipper +is not given to risk the safety of his craft for a mere capful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> of wind. +But conceding that it is natural to raise these doubts at the threshold +of the journey, the author has it in his power to give little or no +assurance of the sincerity of his undertaking. Whatever notion he may +entertain of his own, or of other people’s morality, he has no opinion +whatever of their professions of it. He refrains therefore from giving +any warranty of the soundness of his wares.</p> + +<p>Save but for this. He has often been vexed, and puzzled as well as +vexed, at one great discord that has been sent upon the world. Yielding +and kindly as it may have been to them, men have not scrupled to cast +defiance and calumny upon this forbearing earth and to hurl hissing +curses at its abundance and its pervading spirit of forgiveness. Not +since the labour of men’s hands began have they ceased to furrow it with +menace and sow it with imprecation, cursing while their very corn ripens +under midsummer skies, cursing as they gather in their store of wine and +victual. What does it mean? What <i>can</i> it mean? Whence has it arisen, +and whither does it tend? These are among the questions that have +influenced the mind of the writer in considering the purview of his +book.</p> + +<p>The misfortune that is often experienced in handling any subject lying +wide of the beaten track does not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> necessarily arise from the inherent +viciousness of the subject itself, but from the fact that a large number +of people have previously arrived at painful impressions concerning it. +It is therefore an obligation cast upon a writer to treat these +preconceived notions with the utmost tenderness and respect. Personally +one may hold the art of swearing in perfect indifference, being neither +among the number of swearers oneself nor having any very strong feeling +of reprobation towards its more active adherents. But despite a certain +inclination that we feel to apologise for what we hold to be the +silliest of vices, we are forced to recollect that to many the offence +will always appear in anything but a trivial light. It is therefore +obligatory upon us to abstain as far as possible from referring to +expressions that are calculated to alarm. At the close of the last +century there existed a religious sect who were in favour of abandoning +the use of clothing. Blake, the poet, was one of these enthusiasts, and +his wife also. The holders of this convenient doctrine were in the habit +of presenting themselves in their households as naked as they were born. +In so acting we may be sure they were only in keeping with their sober +convictions, and that they were ready to maintain in argument the +thorough soundness and consistency of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> their views. For aught we know to +the contrary, this naked doctrine may of itself have been right, but the +misfortune which continued, and for the matter of that still continues, +to be felt, was that by far the larger portion of humanity retained a +decided prejudice in favour of apparel. So long as the disciple of the +Adamite school was contented to denude himself in his own particular +circle there may have been no positive harm, but it would scarcely have +been open to a member of that fraternity to have walked down Fleet +Street like an ancient Briton. The thinker also who takes upon himself +to theorise in a manner apart from any considerable section of humanity, +is no less bound to entertain a fitting respect for the notions, even to +the mistaken notions, with which that section is animated. Whatever his +own disposition towards an absolute freedom of expression, he is under +the obligation of attiring his ideas in the manner habituated to the +tastes of his listeners.</p> + +<p>Happily, however, there is possible a middle course. We need not grovel +in the sinks and cellars, neither need we ruminate upon the house-tops. +We can settle ourselves as it were, in that easy, neutral smoking-room +of literature, where we can put off broadcloth for fustian; and utter +our heresies with still a chance left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> us of being forgiven. Here we may +expect to meet only with that mature and seasoned criticism that holds +the scale very evenly between the outspoken and the insolent. While by +no means to be accounted friendly towards the vile excrescences of +swearing, the ordinary man of the world is not to be repelled by every +street oath, or put to lasting confusion by every passing word of +unseemliness. To put it upon no higher ground than that of mere custom, +it were too arrogant to assume abhorrence of a practice that is as trite +and customary as the incidents of one’s daily rounds. Besides, there is +another explanation for the supineness that is exhibited towards errors +of this description. It could be shown how, by a slight mental process, +the extravagances and the follies of other men are capable of offering a +subtle compliment to a person’s understanding. They set it off. They +adorn what he fancies to be his intellectual superiority, and he is not +indisposed in consequence to extend a feeble patronage towards the very +vices which, did he not experience ever so slight a benefit from them, +he would otherwise be foremost in decrying. Again, it were too obviously +inconsistent to take our repose in a tavern and yet direct our homilies +at tavern habits, at the enormity of tobacco-smoking or of drinking +drams.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> And yet it may be possible for most of us to go back to no +distant time when we sickened at the scent of the finest Virginian and +the juice of the juniper was bitter. It was not a great while ago +certainly!</p> + +<p>A great while ago! Say, courteous and gentle—nay, uncourteous and +ungentle reader—can you so far travel back in your recollection as to +recall your first parting from all that was homely and kindly and +familiar? Do you remember the first separation from the half-score of +faces that to you had peopled the earth and represented the whole sum +and mystery of living? Can you now realise that desolate night, closing +in upon the blank, colourless day, the lonely stages, the harsh grating +of the wheels, all the impressions in fact of that long, pitiful journey +that once came as a barrier between you and childish innocence? And then +the arrival at that strange school; how hollow the laughter of the men, +how shrill the chirp and twitter of the women! Do you remember the +comfortless morrow that brought the first contact with your boy +associates? They were probably harmless and good-natured enough, those +uncouth, ill-fashioned boys, and doubtless there were among them many +who would have been quick to requite a wrong and eager to soothe any +injury. But how they pained you with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> their jests; how they bruised you +in their boisterous play; how old they looked to your young eyes; how +full of wiles and intrigue and savagery! And then their talk! not the +mild caressing talk of the lips you loved, of the forms you knew, but +loud and brazen, and savouring of cunning and high-handedness. And in +their quarrels and their games, they swore—those boys swore; not all of +them be it hoped, but the great giants and paladins among them who +seemed to bear rule and mastery with whips and thongs. Many a time +before, perhaps, you may have been seized with faintness and aversion at +some imagined evil, that might as well have been enacted in some distant +planet. But now the horror was no longer slumbering or remote; it was +awake and crying at your door. Now, and within a few hours, were +disclosed the sources of all the aimless brutalities, all the +self-asserting iniquities that have played such havoc in an erring +world. And, as these knowing fellows chattered over their scraps of +worldly wisdom, and as their puny curses were bandied round, it seemed +as if some great treason were being poured out, a trespass alike against +God in heaven and the folks at home.</p> + +<p>How could one know at that young age that all one heard was not really +villainous, that much of it indeed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> was mere <i>brusquerie</i>, rough-ridden +perhaps, but brisk and spirited? How should one understand that the +tones which seemed so harsh and jarring belonged in truth to a very code +of sprightliness? But a few weeks more perhaps, and you too had taken +the ring of this brazen metal. You had perceived upon what measure of +aggression, upon what rasping unkindnesses, the applause of your fellows +was bestowed. To violate every rule with fearless indifference, to be +abreast with every move that was daring or was dexterous, these were the +feats by which approval was won. In the matter of swearing you might +have remained only an unwilling dabbler, only a mixer and meddler in the +luxury, were it not that occasion came when you were solemnly arraigned +for the offence, and straightway branded as a culprit. It is in this way +that offences come. So you may have received your punishment and have +revolted under it; and perhaps you may have had a right to revolt. For +our spiritual pastors, in judging of our virtues, too often endowed us +with the capacities of children, and in judging of our vices they +endowed us with the capacities of men.</p> + +<p>In that our early play-time, of which we have been speaking, we +distinctly call to mind two errant school-fellows, brought together by +kindred tastes, though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> differing in temper and disposition. Each is of +an age when the world resembles only some May-day morning, and at the +moment we are recalling them they have no other occupation than that of +dreamily rambling through the fields and lanes, delighted with the +breezy country-side, and luxuriating in their own boyish outpourings. +They had conceived this mutual liking because each felt the other to be +in true sympathy with nature, and to be capable of discerning the +wonderful enchantments of poetry and cadence. They had found a warm and +unselfish delight in ministering to the other’s appreciation. They could +drink in great draughts of beauty from the chalice so unsparingly held +out by Shelley or Goethe, by Wordsworth or Byron. They could revel in +the rugged measures of ‘Marmion,’ in the whirl and clatter of the ‘Last +Minstrel.’ They could be gay with the loves of the Two Gentlemen, or +kindle at the woes of Imogen or the sorrows of Effie Deans.</p> + +<p>And so, in such senseless manner, they are now skirting the golden +harvest-fields, recalling perhaps the bright fancy that has given the +‘Skylark’ to the world, or mindful of “liquid Peneus” and “darkened +Tempe.” Presently there burst out of the thicket two ruffians, with rags +torn and bespattered, caked with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> summer’s dust and mildewed by winter’s +rain. As they approached their voices sounded devilish and unearthly. +They raised one long plaint of deep-toned, hard-set blasphemy. Their +every word was shotted with an oath. Hoarse with brandy, bitter with +malevolence, they cursed at the plenty of the harvest,—at the patient +cattle grazing in the fields,—at the crimson poppy blowing in the +ditch,—at the buzzing insects, at the ripening orchards. They cursed at +the luck of the skittle-alley; they cursed at the insolence of the +rulers of the land. When the devil made war with heaven, this must have +been the roar of his artillery.</p> + +<p>We looked at our friend—for this has become a personal narrative, as +may already have been conjectured—and we marked the pain and sorrow of +heart that had visibly overcome him. Silently he seemed to implore +protection from the great span of universe surrounding us—for it was he +who was the gentler and more loyal spirit of the two. Then, as the +curses and ribaldry died away, he emerged slowly as from beneath a +stupefying load. Presently he fell to talking of the strange +perverseness with which men have always clung to this undying evil, and +cited the Levitical story of “the son of the Israelitish woman,”—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +impious oaths demanded of old time by emperors and satraps, and the +resistance of the martyred Polycarp.</p> + +<p>Who knows but that at that moment we may have thought our friend little +better than a fool, and his words the drivel of idiotcy? We have said +somewhere, speaking of morality, that we have no opinion of professions +of it. It must be known that he was mild and retiring and submissive. He +could not give blow for blow as other boys could; he could not cheat or +lie or gamble as other boys did. He was more awkward of limb and coarser +dressed. Anyhow, we have set down here some of our first impressions of +swearing, and now we are cursorily writing its history.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<div class="note"><p>“Now don’t let us give ourselves a parcel of airs and pretend that +the oaths we make free with in this land of liberty of ours are our +own; and because we have the spirit to swear them,—imagine that we +have had the wit to invent them too.”—<i>Tristram Shandy.</i></p></div> + +<p>When Hesiod fabled the god of oaths to be the son of Discord, the poet +could hardly have foreseen the grim reality that would attach to his +satiric allegory. It is now a very small thing—a matter of no +consequence at all—that serious and well-meaning men once attested +their assertions by making passing reference to Minerva or Helios. But +yet is it none the less necessary to realise that they made such +reference for the express purpose of being believed, and that when not +pronouncing one or other of these forms of speech, they ran a strong +chance of being absolutely disbelieved.</p> + +<p>Hesiod has dimly chronicled the genealogy of oaths. But it was for other +generations to chronicle their posterity, to hear them derided in the +amphitheatre, and to see the divinities that inspired them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> shattered +and broken down. But there is a singular survival and continuity of the +ancient practice: men still swear by Jove.</p> + +<p>A like process of declension seems to have gone on in all countries and +in the same fashion. To begin with, the origin of all swearing was the +same—the one intense dread of falsehood against which as yet no laws +were sufficient to guard. Fancy the mortal distress of barbarian man +when he first wakes to the belief that his enemies can, by smooth +speech, wrest from his hands what his prowess or his labour has +acquired. No art that he is aware of can pervert the action of tongues +set falsely going. Seeing how illimitable is the crop of words, he may +even imagine a plague of lies that will fall thick about him like +locusts or caterpillars; and then arrives the old expedient. Men fasten +upon a symbol such, as it is hoped, the hardiest will revere, and +syllable it out as evidence of truth.</p> + +<p>If we are not mistaken, it may even be said that the degree of +refinement that a community has attained is discernible by taking as a +standpoint the merchantable character of truth. Wherever civilisation is +advancing, the ultimate unserviceability of lying becomes the more +apparent, and there ensues in consequence a depreciation in the value of +veracity. The more widely truth is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> recognised, the more does it +deteriorate in price, while falsehood ceases to arouse its former +measure of reprobation. Then it is, and not, indeed, until then, that +the old blundering remedy by means of oaths and oath-taking is laid +aside as out of date and no longer availing. Nowadays, at least among +most races of mankind, the ordinary inducements to veracity are of +themselves felt to be sufficiently powerful as to leave no ground for +contending that truthfulness should be the subject of rewards and +bounties. No money value is attached as of right to the performance of +an obvious duty, but in remoter times the recognition of such a +doctrine, could it have been recognised at all, would have spared the +coffers of Roman sesterces and have made the work of the Athenian +pay-clerks hang lightly on their hands. The fact would seem to be that +the prevalency of this deliberative swearing will always be found in +inverse ratio to the prevalency of truth.</p> + +<p>The later civilisations may, therefore, be said to have profited by +centuries of untruthfulness in that they have learnt the preponderating +advantages of an intelligible code of truth. To seek an illustration by +comparison of two periods perfectly dissimilar, it may be affirmed that +there was no greater proportion of really truthful men in France at the +period, say, of Voltaire, than twelve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> hundred years previously at the +period of Gregory of Tours. But the countrymen of Voltaire had become +fairly apprised of the expediency of common veracity, and their +assertions, in consequence, were not accustomed to be disbelieved. But +among the Frédégondes, the Clotaires, and the Cunégondes of Gregory’s +Frankish history, the case is wholly different. In that day it might +almost be supposed from a perusal of the work that the faculty of +truth-telling was lost, or more correctly that it had never arisen, so +necessary was it considered to put a statement to the severest test +before the possibility of its accuracy could be admitted. In an +indulgent, selfish, but disciplined civilisation, a statement is +generally presumed to be true which bears the ordinary impress of +veracity. In periods considerably less intellectual and enlightened, we +shall find that nothing is presumed to be true until it has been +subjected to a searching process of corroboration. It is in fact this +process of corroboration that has furnished all ranks of swearers with +their necessary side-arms and equipment.</p> + +<p>In the two conditions of society we have just indicated, there is +revealed at once the cause and effect of promiscuous oath-taking. The +one, incredulous and diffident of belief, imposes oath upon oath as its +natural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> safeguard, and engages in an unremitting struggle to render +the bond of truthfulness subservient to a despotic will. The other is +weary of forms that have outlived whatever spirit was once imparted +them; it has snapped asunder the galling fetters, and made sportive +capital of the lumber that remains. An intervening age of irony probably +sufficed to undermine the sanctity of the swearing obligation, until at +last the oath of more sober times has come to be a common catchword, or +the fustian ornament of somewhat spirited talk. In short, we shall +always find that the sonorous expletive of recent days is nothing else +than the once deliberative oath of Christian piety.</p> + +<p>Human ingenuity has seldom been more industriously employed than in +attempting to restore successive breaches in the observances of +swearing. Among the Western nations, it is said, religious sentiment had +nothing to do with the foundation of the usage. With them swearing is +represented to have been of purely military origin, and the oaths taken +upon sword and javelin to have owed nothing to the emotions of piety. +The process undergone by the military oath of Gaul before it finally +culminated in an expression of religious import, was of a very slow and +gradual kind. The Franks were accustomed to appeal to the drawn sword<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +as being the only arbiter of existence. In course of time the sanctity +of this engagement was broken through, and to ensure due regard for the +solemnity of the oath, it was found necessary to make the weapon the +subject of an impressive ceremony. By the capitularies of Dagobert, the +sword and harness of the warrior were required to be consecrated. Still +later, the name of God was brought into the compact. “If two +neighbours,” ordains King Dagobert, “are in dispute as to the boundary +of their possessions, let them bring into the camp a turf of the +disputed territory; and each, with hands resting on the points of their +swords, and taking God to be the witness of the truth, shall give battle +until victory decides the question.” Not only was the military oath +superseded; but, as years wore on, even these additional guarantees +proved themselves to be ineffectual. The interposition of saints next +came to be deemed essential, and again with the most conflicting +results. When Chilperic and his brothers divided the kingdom of +Clotaire, and swore never to enter the capital except as allies, their +treaty was ratified by oaths taken in the name of Saint Hilaire, Saint +Policeute, and Saint Martin. As time advanced, these further methods of +precaution in their turn proved abortive. Chilperic, seizing Paris in +contravention of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> his oath, carried as an antidote the relics of more +potent and illustrious saints in the van of his victorious army. So +dangerous a precedent being once admitted, it became necessary to resort +to still other expedients. It was thought as well to ascertain with what +degree of veneration the intending swearer might happen to regard that +particular member of the calendar whose name was proposed to be invoked. +In doubtful cases, therefore, it was not unusual to conduct a deponent +from one shrine to another, that among the multitude of oaths one of +them at least might prove effectual. A son of Clotaire, being plied by a +rebel agent with insurrectionary advice, thought it prudent to conduct +his adviser before the altars of no less than twelve churches before he +felt himself justified in listening to the representations that were +offered him.</p> + +<p>It would seem, indeed, from the practice of half barbarous nations, that +so far from the Deity, or even the monuments of religion, being the +immediate subject of the swearing obligation, these were practically the +most remote. During the second siege of Rome by the Goths, the ministers +of Honorius were called upon to swear solemnly that they would refuse to +entertain any overtures of peace, and would wage implacable warfare upon +the enemy. With great difficulty were they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> induced to confirm this +engagement with an oath taken by the head of the emperor. This formula +was the most impressive and, in effect, the most binding that could well +have been resorted to, and it is reported by Gibbon that the ministers +were heard to declare that had the same oath been taken by the name of +the Deity they would have held themselves free to depart from it. In +doing blind obeisance to the arms of warfare or the symbols of +authority, the ancient world only varied from the modern as the usages +of religion differ from those of idolatry. In Rome, we are told, the +spear was sacred to Juno, and in the province of Rhegium was worshipped +as Mars. In Scythia the sword was glorified as the messenger of life and +death. And it is to be noticed as an evidence of the superstitious +sanctity that pervaded warlike implements, that in Rome, according to a +half-religious rite, the hair of newly-married women was parted with the +point of a spear. The oaths, in fine, of the Western military nations +distinctly breathe of the spirit of war, while those of the more +dreamful Eastern world are redolent of light and air, of sun and shade. +To this day in Servia the popular forms of swearing express dependence +and reliance upon the powers of nature. <i>Taku mi Suntza</i>, So help me +sun; <i>Taku mi Semlje</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> So help me earth, are the methods of +asseveration that are in every-day use.</p> + +<p>That period in modern history at which the deliberative oath had assumed + +something of its ultimate shape is marked by the occurrence of one +singular invasion of its solemnity. The incident we refer to is the +charge preferred by Thomas-à-Becket against John the Marshal, to the +effect that he had sworn upon a “book of old songs” instead of upon the +sacred writings which had then become the proper instruments for this +purpose. Indeed, in tracing the history of these observances it would +seem as if an endeavour was being constantly made to frustrate the aims +and ends of swearing, and that the more Christian modes were only +resorted to when every pagan method had been found inoperative. To swear +upon the authority of everything that was terrible or grotesque—by the +sword or javelin of a conquering nation, as by the love-token on a +maiden’s sleeve;<small><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1" href="#f1">[1]</a></small> by the sepulchre of a debtor;<small><a name="f2.1" id="f2.1" href="#f2">[2]</a></small> by the abbey church +at Glastonbury,<small><a name="f3.1" id="f3.1" href="#f3">[3]</a></small> or by the price of the potter’s field<small><a name="f4.1" id="f4.1" href="#f4">[4]</a></small>—these were +expedients that had been tried and been forsaken before the modern forms +of swearing were reached. Like the time-expired worship of the +divinities<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> of the mythology that, in the one solitary temple of Mount +Casano, was maintained for some hundred years after the gods of Olympus +had been deposed: so the impious oaths of pagandom continued to jostle +and wrestle with those of Christianity for many centuries after +authority had pronounced their doom. “Olympian Jupiter!” exclaims +Aristophanes, at the mention of that oath, “to think of your believing +in Jupiter, as old as you are!”</p> + +<p>How stubbornly the ground was contested may be inferred from the +enactments of civil and ecclesiastical law. So early as the ninth +century, Justinian prescribed the punishment of death for the offence of +swearing by the limbs of God. The code that prevailed in the northern +districts of Britain was more severe than any that was enforced +elsewhere in these islands. By statutes of Donald VI. and Kenneth II., +the penalty of cutting out the tongue was inflicted upon swearers. In +France, Charlemagne legislated expressly against the practice of impious +oath-taking, and by an edict of Philip II. swearers were condemned to +drowning in the Seine.<small><a name="f5.1" id="f5.1" href="#f5">[5]</a></small> The Council of Constantinople passed a +sentence of excommunication upon the swearers of heathen oaths.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>To how great an extent this unmeaning discord disturbed the current of +mediæval life may be seen from an examination of contemporary +literature. In particular, we may instance an early fragment that has +come down to us, and was evidently intended as a glowing satire upon the +prevalence of the abuse. It is called the “Moralité des Blasphémateurs,” +and was issued from the Paris press in the early part of the sixteenth +century. The whole design of the piece is to exhibit the supposed agency +of the potentates of Hell in proselytising mankind towards the adoption +of the most abhorrent blasphemy. Satan, according to demonologists once +the governor of the north of Heaven, is now a feudatory prince in the +kingdom of Beelzebub. He is presumed to act under the orders of Lucifer, +the judge of Hell, and is joined in his commission by Behemoth, the +henchman and cupbearer of the infernal chiefs. There is a sufficiency of +invective in the opening greeting of these personages that was doubtless +calculated to add to the repulsive character of the performance:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Sathan, ennemy traistre et faulx,<br /> +Où es tu mauldict loricart?”</p> + +<p>To which Satan replies:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Que veulx tu, mauldict Lucifer?<br /> +Que te fault-il, beste saulvaige?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>Their salutation finished, these worthies proceed to recount the sport +they have had on earth. Satan has visited the land of France, where he +has spent his time in the company of horse-stealers and cattle-lifters, +fellows, he assures them, who have no thought for mass or vespers; and +he has left them feasting day and night, getting as drunk as herons. +This account of his stewardship seems to give but small satisfaction to +Lucifer, who thereupon bids his followers—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Allez tost par mons et par vaulx<br /> +Faire jurer le nom de Dieu<br /> +A garses et à garsonneaulx<br /> +En toute place et en tout lieu.<br /> +C’est une belle operation<br /> +De jurer Dieu à chascun point.”</p> + +<p>This strain of conversation continues through over a hundred pages of +closely-printed matter, and is only varied by the exordiums of certain +more admirable characters, who are introduced, as we must suppose, to +point a moral to the story.</p> + +<p>The state of feeling disclosed by this offensive farce shows plainly, +even at that time, that the public which tolerated it had passed out of +a state of mere supineness and had assumed an attitude of disrespect and +defiance towards the authority of oaths. The system had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> allowed to +overreach itself, and thenceforward its set forms and all the +paraphernalia that pertained to them were made over to the service of +criminality and to the uses of violent speech. The modern practice of +swearing, in either its flippant or vituperative shape, is derived from +the break-up of the process once devised as a protection of truthfulness +and fair dealing. So nearly allied have been the oaths of piety and +statecraft with those of violence and malice, that the severer thinkers, +whether Lollards, Puritans, or Quakers, have waged a war of +extermination against both alike. They have contended, and with some +amount of probability, that these jarring expletives of passion and +irreligion have only been perpetuated by reason of the familiarity that +has ensued from the undue exaction of legal tests. The same stubbornness +with which they combated the evil in endless tracts and broadsides they +maintained before courts and inquisitions. At the Lancaster Assizes of +1664, George Fox and Mrs. Margaret Fell stood upon their trial for +refusing to conform. “I have never laid my hand on the book to swear in +all my life,” urged the woman. “I do not care if I never hear an oath +read, for the land mourns because of oaths.” And then appealing to the +jury she exclaims: “I was bred and born in this county and never have +been at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> this assize before. I am a widow, and my estate is a dowry, and +I have five children unpreferred.”</p> + +<p>There was one device of oath-taking, half pagan and half barbaric, which +but very slowly relaxed its hold on Christian Europe. We have spoken of +the oath upon the sword—the oath of ancient Scythia, the oath of the +Antigone of Euripedes. In the terrors of an isolated death, remote from +all the outward appliances of his faith, the stricken warrior found +consolation in raising before his vision the hilt of his scabbardless +sword. The tapering metal-hafted blade threw the shadow of a cross upon +the dying soldier, and to this rude emblem the poor fevered lips would +stammer out their last words of petition. The sword had become a revered +symbol conveying to the departing the hope of divine favour and +intercession. This thought so powerfully arrested the imagination that +it did not relinquish its grasp when a period of security had succeeded +a reign of bloodshed and danger. In the traditions of Denmark, the oath +upon the sword-hilt was preserved in a spirit of deep solemnity. Later, +in English history, the King-Maker took his vows upon the cross of his +bared steel, and the custom lingered in effigy to the days of Elizabeth, +when the fencing-masters, practising their calling at the Bear Garden, +were required to take an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> oath upon their rapier’s hilt to carry +themselves honourably in their profession.<small><a name="f6.1" id="f6.1" href="#f6">[6]</a></small> The gravity with which +this form of conjuration is approached by Hamlet’s followers is evident +from the passage:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>“<i>Hor.</i><br /><i>Mar.</i></td><td><span class="bracket2">}</span></td><td>My lord, we will not.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><i>Hamlet.</i> Nay, but swear it.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><i>Hor.</i> In faith, my lord, not I.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><i>Ghost.</i> (beneath). Swear!</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><i>Hamlet.</i> Ha, ha, boy! say’st thou so? art there, true-penny?<br /> +Come on—you hear this fellow in the cellarage,<br />Consent to swear.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><i>Hor.</i> Propose the oath, my lord.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><i>Hamlet.</i> Never to speak of this that you have seen,<br />Swear by my sword.”</td></tr></table> + +<p>The ground that we have thus far traversed is really one of a remarkable +struggle, that has not abated even in our time. It is not the intention +of this essay to follow the history of judicial oath-taking, or of the +attestations that would seem to be demanded by <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>conscience or religion. +But it must be remembered that the subject of vituperative swearing is +so interwoven with that of these legal and religious ordinances, that +the consideration of them must be frequently forced upon us. But whilst +doing so it should be no less borne in mind that we are never really +losing sight of the object we have in view. We aim simply at +disinterring a neglected, possibly a justly neglected, chapter in the +world’s social history, and are called upon to judge both of the tree +and its fruit, of the seed and the grain.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>THE BRITISH SHIBBOLETH.</h3> + +<div class="note"><p>“Pantagruel then asked what sorts of people dwelled in that damn’d +island.”—<i>Rabelais</i> iv., chap. lxiv.</p></div> + +<p>“If ever I should betake myself to swearing,” says Sir John Hazlewood in +the play, “I shall give very little concern to the fashion of the oath. +Odd’s bodikins will do well enough for me, and lack-a-daisy for my +wife.” Many other persons have been much of the same mind as this Sir +John, and, possessing a certain esteem for the pomp and circumstance of +swearing, have been impelled to cherish some curious substitute so that +they might still get a little harmless amusement out of the vice. In +this way they have contrived so to compound with their consciences as to +become swearers in practice without being blasphemers in intention.</p> + +<p>The characteristic of this good Hazlewood is his extreme tolerance and +neutrality. He is not among the swearers himself, but at a moment of +danger he is prepared to join that body, taking service in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> ranks. +To disown allegiance altogether never for a moment coincides with his +sense of the becoming. The worthy man is too loyal to the set rules of +his acknowledged leaders, to harbour a notion so subversive and +dangerous. And in this particular we shall find he has been followed by +the greater number not only of his own degree and class but of all +orders and conditions.</p> + +<p>A circumstance like this would seem to suggest some remarkable +underlying motive as accounting for the wonderful omnipotence of +swearing. It is possible that an occult virus congenial to its +development is so insinuated into the composition of the human mind as +to defy the power of ethics wholly to eradicate it. Can it be that the +habit owes its existence and source of delight to some soothing and +pleasureful qualities which, like the solace of the tobacco-leaf or the +balm of the nightshade, the world will not willingly forego?</p> + +<p>We are disposed to think that the instinct of swearing is very deeply +rooted in the mental constitution. A very little experience of mankind +will incline one to the belief that the censors of morals have on the +whole done wisely in temporising with this strange humour. Of all the +philosophers who of old laid down rules for worldly guidance, Socrates +may be trusted to have held at a just appreciation the trips and sallies +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> Athenian manhood. And yet even Socrates is understood to have sworn +deeply and volubly. Not, however, the Herculean oaths that were +resounded in the amphitheatre and at the festivals, but by the names of +more despicable objects, by the dog, the caper, and the plane-tree.<small><a name="f7.1" id="f7.1" href="#f7">[7]</a></small> +The philosopher was too well versed in the ways of headstrong humanity +to run exactly counter to all the follies inspired by the grape of Chios +and Lesbos. On the contrary, he gains his momentary end and creates a +lasting remonstrance while seemingly sporting and dallying with the +abuse. In like manner, Aristophanes could afford to trifle with the +asseverations of his own Athenian audiences. In portraying the +wind-paved city of the feathered tribes, he transforms these oaths into +the milder shape of “by snares,” “by nets,” “by meshes.” And further to +display the ludicrous side of Attic swearing, he records a time when “no +man used to swear by gods, but all by birds. And still Lampon swears by +the goose when he practises any deceit.”<small><a name="f8.1" id="f8.1" href="#f8">[8]</a></small></p> + +<p>It would seem almost as if all writers of this indulgent turn had +arrived at one perception, namely,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> that “bad language” is an +indispensable element in social life, an element to be only softened by +ridicule or perhaps be checked by dissuasion. To seek to suppress it +altogether is regarded as futile. The same impression has evidently +prevailed among the number of practical philosophers who in everyday +life are accustomed to handicap the ebullitions of this impetuous vice. +They may place nagging obstacles in the way of its career, and burdens +upon its back; but otherwise it is allowed to run its course. By means +of an accepted code of rules a kind of <i>modus vivendi</i> in this respect +is obtained. Thus the conversation that is conceded in a club +smoking-room would be intolerable in the boudoir. In some sort men have +been permitted the enjoyment of swearing, and that with impunity, +provided they did not carry it beyond the prohibited pale. To turn again +to ancient Athens for illustration, we find that even children were +allowed to swear profanely by the name of Hercules, but with the single +restriction that they should do so in the open air. The oath was for +some singular reason deemed the especial privilege of young people, and +was only thought offensive and visited with punishment when invoked +within the curtilage of the dwelling.<small><a name="f9.1" id="f9.1" href="#f9">[9]</a></small></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>It has always seemed to us that vituperative swearing is too closely +allied to the passion of animosity to be ever successfully treated apart +from the human failing from which it takes its rise. Joy and hatred, +terror and surprise must indeed be very old and steadfast emotions in +the history of the world; and while we should prefer to find that joy is +the more universal of these perceptions, hatred is, we fear, the more +historic and the more enduring. Animosity is resolute even in its +caprices; it has few facilities for disguise and but little capacity for +assumption. The tones and gestures it employs are perfectly unequivocal, +and not easily mistaken. For although the vocabulary of hatred has from +time to time received handsome embellishment at the hands of ingenious +and illustrious haters, its wonted expression must always remain fixed. +The keynote is the oath which, in all ages and in all languages, passion +seems to generate with but very little assistance.</p> + +<p>Among a people who, perhaps unjustly, have been prided for the +choiceness of their swearing, the favourite growth and very spoilt-child +of animosity is the word of an exceedingly forcible kind. In +endeavouring to chronicle the amenities of the British “damn,” we +believe we are dealing with a monosyllable possessing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> a remarkable fund +of application. The term has fairly puzzled the ingenuity of continental +neighbours to comprehend. Not only has it excited their ridicule, but we +are not sure that it has not even stimulated their envy. It has been +said by one of the sprightliest of Frenchmen, that a foreigner might +conveniently travel through England with the assistance only of this one +particle of speech.</p> + +<p>The uses, or the misuses, of the word would seem to be twofold: first, +as an accessory of abuse, and secondly, as an accessory of geniality. In +some instances the two qualities are blended. Thus the knights of the +road who stopped coaches and filched purses on the heath of Newmarket or +Hounslow usually rode off “damning” their victims and advising them to +sue the hundred for the injury. Whereat it was customary to remark, in +the joking spirit of the age, that the villains showed themselves true +men of the law by taking their fee before they gave their advice. +Everyone who remembers the eleventh canto of Don Juan will recollect the +pugilistic conflict that took place upon that hero’s first arrival at +the outskirts of London, a shower of blackguard oaths taking a +conspicuous part in the encounter. Juan, weary with travel, has arrived +at Shooter’s Hill. He is meditating upon the vastness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> the city +stretched in panorama at his feet. Suddenly his studious occupation is +interrupted by the onset of a gang of footpads. In the confusion that +ensues, his ignorance of the language places him at a momentary +disadvantage. The only English word he is acquainted with being, as he +phrases it, “their shibboleth, ‘Goddamn.’” Even this Juan innocently +imagines to be a form of salutation, a sort of God-be-with-you, a +misconception which the poet professes to think not unnatural—</p> + +<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 3em;">“... for half English as I am</span><br /> +(To my misfortune) never can I say<br /> +I heard them wish ‘God with you,’ save that way.”</p> + +<p>No stanza of the poem is more replete than this with a vein of painfully +sarcastic drollery. The insular failing is elsewhere frequently +displayed by the poet in the trying light cast from a misanthrope +genius.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the severest hit, and not the less severe because tempered +with banter and good humour, is that which has been directed from the +pen of Beaumarchais.<small><a name="f10.1" id="f10.1" href="#f10">[10]</a></small> “Diable! c’est une belle langue que l’anglais; +il en faut peu pour aller loin; avec Goddam en Angleterre on ne manque +de rien ... les Anglais à la vérité,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> ajoutent par-ci par-là, quelques +autres mots en conversant; mais il est bien aisé de voir que Goddam est +le fond de la langue.”</p> + +<p>The highest point of wit in this direction must be supposed to have been +reached when Evariste Parny, a poet of no mean celebrity, produced his +“Goddam! poëme en quatre chants, par un French-dog.” This was in the +year XII. or, as we now should prefer to call it, 1804.</p> + +<p>The countrymen, and in one remarkable instance, a countrywoman of +Beaumarchais, have been particularly industrious in fastening this +aspersion upon their English neighbours. So long ago as 1429, when the +arms of Shrewsbury and Bedford had well-nigh wrested the last jewel from +the diadem of France, and a peasant maiden of the Calvados had flung +herself into Orleans to stem the tide of the English advance, there +likewise came to the aid of the fainting cause a welcome supply of mirth +and invective. The Maid of Orleans, inspiriting the beleaguered army by +harangue, by entreaty, even by quips and jests, kept them constantly +reminded of the insular nickname. Rising from sleep and putting on her +armour to direct the memorable assault upon the Tournelles, a soldier of +her command ventured to produce a repast of fish, and prayed her to +break her fast.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> “Joan, let us eat this shad-fish before we set out.” +The Maid indignantly put aside the proffered gift, “In the name of God,” +said she, “it shall not be eaten till supper, by which time we will +return by way of the bridge, and I will bring you back a Goddam to eat +it with.” How the redoubtable Tournelles was taken by steel and +culverin, and how Joan succeeded in bringing back many hundred Goddams, +has become matter of history. As to the conclusion of the Maid’s career, +there has been opened a wide field of controversy, but one incident in +the closing chapter of her life is supported by reliable testimony. +While undergoing close imprisonment pending the decision of her fate, +two English noblemen, the Earls of Warwick and Stafford, came to visit +her in gaol, and would seem to have held out hopes of ransom; Joan, +irritated at the specious language of her visitors, retorted on them +sharply: “I know you well,” she cried, “you have neither the will nor +the power to ransom me. You think when you have slain me, you will +conquer France; but that you will never bring about. No! although there +were one hundred thousand Goddams in this land more than there +are!”<small><a name="f11.1" id="f11.1" href="#f11">[11]</a></small></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>With the assumption of the soldier’s tunic, it did not follow that she +adopted the manners of the military fire-eater, or suited herself to the +wild talk of camps. The epithet “Goddam” in the mouth of La Pucelle was +expressive only of acrimony towards the oppressor, and even assuming it +to have been irreverent and ungainly, was not the least in accord with +the language that usually distinguished her. So far from condoning the +irregularities of military life, Joan seems to have laid her strongest +commands upon the soldiery to abstain from oath-taking, and in one +instance would appear to have made a convert of an illustrious kind. +Stories are told, which we need not here repeat, of the licence in +expression of the celebrated La Hire, who may be likened to a Boanerges +among swearers. With him the habit was perfectly indispensable. At last +Joan came to a compromise. He was to retain to the full his privilege of +swearing, provided he referred in his oaths to no other substantive than +his marshal’s baton, and thenceforward this sturdy soldier betook +himself to this emasculated form of swearing.</p> + +<p>According to an authority that is entitled to credit, a very similar +subterfuge would seem to have been attempted at a still earlier period +of French history. The courtiers of Louis IX. were wont to indulge in +what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> may be described as a very flippant and volatile description of +swearing. The indignation of their master, the beloved St. Louis, may of +itself have been no inconsiderable punishment, but a still worse one was +provided in the statute-book, which prescribed the penalty of branding +the tongue with a red-hot iron upon every commission of the offence. The +oaths which at this period were the cause of the greatest mortification +to the saintly king were the <i>cordieus</i>, the <i>têtedieus</i>, the <i>pardieus</i> +and the numerous offshoots, the effigies of which still survive in the +pages of Rabelais and Molière—the “Moyen de Parvenir” and the “Baron de +Fœneste”. With the airy nonchalance of practised sophistry, these +apologists of swearing conceived a device that to themselves at least +proved eminently satisfactory. At this time there was at the palace a +pet dog, known by the name of Bleu. To elude the harsh sentence of the +law that might for ever deprive these gay swearers of the power of +taking oaths, they determine to substitute for <i>dieu</i> the name of the +favourite dog. Thus <i>cordieu</i> became <span class="smcaplc">CORBLEU</span> and <i>têtedieu</i> became +<span class="smcaplc">TÊTEBLEU</span>, and so on throughout the entire series. Unlike the rigid St. +Louis, a later French monarch, Henry IV. was himself a notorious +offender in this respect. On every occasion of annoyance, he was heard +to give utterance to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> favourite oath “Jarnidieu!” To him once came +his confessor, Coton. “Sire,” said the confessor, “it is a great sin to +mention the holy name in these terms.” “You are right,” said Henry, “in +future I will say ‘Jarnicoton.’”</p> + +<p>It is singular to turn for a moment from the extravagant exuberance of a +polished French court to find the same device existing in a very +different era of the world’s history. The educated Athenian vented his +“Mon Dieus” like any Frenchman on the boulevard, and in like manner +learned to soften his “<ins class="correction" title="Ma ton theon">Μὰ τὸν θεὸν</ins>” +to a simple “<ins class="correction" title="Ma ton">Μὰ τὸν</ins>” +in deference to ears polite. Socrates himself, never altogether +free from a predilection for jocose forms of swearing, also took the +palace dog, so to speak, as his colloquial stalking-horse, and, like the +courtiers of St. Louis, swore <ins class="correction" title="nê ton kuna">νὴ τον κύνα</ins>.</p> + +<p>The framework of the story dealing with the conversion of La Hire has +not been lost upon the writers of the theatre. A <i>petite comédie</i> well +known on the boards of the Théâtre Français as ‘Les Jurons de Cadillac,’ +is occupied with the sufferings of a naval officer who is constrained by +feminine influence to relinquish his customary expletives. “How is it,” +asks La Comtesse, “that you have contracted this horrible habit; you, a +scion of an old stock, one of our first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> Gascon gentlemen?” Cadillac’s +answer is spirited. “Comtesse, I was brought up by my grandfather, an +old sea dog, corbleu! With him I learnt to swear before I learnt to +read, and if he has not taught me the language of courts, it is because, +sacrébleu! he did not know it. He made me a true sailor, ventre mahon!” +The Comtesse insists that, as a proof of the captain’s professions of +regard, he should abstain from indulging in this habit for the space of +one single hour. Should the ordeal be successfully passed, she consents +that he shall receive her hand as his reward. Cadillac is fairly driven +to desperation. “Ask of me anything but that!” he exclaims; “only let me +swear, or I shall go mad!” Finally he sees no help for it but to accept +the challenge, and the audience is detained in a state of amusing +suspense while witnessing the contrivances with which the honest captain +endeavours to overcome the difficulty. He tampers with the hands of the +clock in the hope of abridging the hour of trial, and this ruse being +discovered he unworthily seeks safety in sullen silence. “No, no, +captain,” objects the Comtesse, “unless you converse it is not fair +play.” His tormentor lures him with all her skill to let slip one of his +unpremeditated expletives, and a hundred times the worthy fellow is on +the point of giving way. At last,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> beguiled into a description of one of +his most thrilling sea-fights, and with the recollection of the wild +scenes of carnage passing vividly before his eyes, he is no longer able +to maintain composure. He bursts into a volume of his old sea terms, but +the lady, moved, as it would seem, by the <i>élan</i> and spirit of the +recital, finds it in her heart to be merciful. The play concludes with a +modest <i>sacrébleu</i>, this time spoken by La Comtesse. It will be seen +from the evidence of this performance alone that in ascribing to our +nationality a monopoly of energetic language, public report has hardly +been discriminating.</p> + +<p>Not desiring, however, to turn the tables upon our aspersers, we propose +to still further pursue the fortunes of the Britannic shibboleth from +when we left it upon the lips of La Pucelle. The aspersion cast upon the +English on the Picard battle-fields continued to be handed down in camp +story and in rugged <i>vaux-de-vire</i>. Neither did it cease to provoke +derision and merriment when it had entered into the common parlance of +the Paris cabaret, and became the stock property of the Palais Royal +farce.<small><a name="f12.1" id="f12.1" href="#f12">[12]</a></small> The “Goddam” that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> greeted British officers rollicking +through the city of pleasure in the days succeeding Waterloo was the +same term of opprobrium that assailed the English archers at Agincourt +and Honfleur.</p> + +<p>To what “mute inglorious” satirist we are indebted for this lasting +compliment we shall probably never now determine. The word is at least +discovered in the collection of Norman ballads subjoined to the +‘Vaux-de-Vire’ of Master Oliver Basselin published at Caen, 1821. This +work dates from the early part of the sixteenth century, but has +reference to the events of the preceding one. It more particularly +speaks of Henry V. as dying <i>par le mal de St. Fiacre</i> and of Henry VI. +as ascending the throne. It is the latter monarch who is referred to in +these verses as “little King Goddam”—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Ils out chargé l’artillerye sus mer,<br /> +Force bisquit et chascun ung bydon,<br /> +Et par la mer jusqu’en Biscaye aller,<br /> +Pour couronner leur petit roy godon.”</p> + +<p>We might search in vain for mention of the expression in English +writings of the same period. In France however the epithet is repeated +with equal malignancy in the angry verses which Guillaume<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> Crétin was +pleased to write upon the ‘Battle of the Spurs’:</p> + +<p class="poem">“Cryant: Qui vive aux Godons d’Angleterre.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span><span class="spacer">·</span></span><br /> +Seigneurs du sang, barons et chevaliers,<br /> +Tous seculiers d’illustre parentage,<br /> +Permettez vous à ses Godons, galliers,<br /> +Gros godaillers, houspalliers, poullalliers,<br /> +Prendre palliers au françoys heritaige?”</p> + +<p>The aspersion however did not always rest with Frenchmen. Lord Hailes, +in a criticism written about the year 1770, incidentally gives it as his +experience that in Holland the children when they espy any English +people say, “There come the Goddams,” and that the Portuguese, as soon +as they acquire a smattering of the tongue, exclaim, “How do you do, +Jack? damn you!”<small><a name="f13.1" id="f13.1" href="#f13">[13]</a></small></p> + +<p>We have attentively considered the tone of contemporary English writings +to ascertain whether by a hazard the nickname was appropriately +bestowed. In the result we have not been able to discover anything to +lead to the supposition that this particular form of speech was, upon +these shores at least, very generally indulged in. Either the tall +soldiers who accompanied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> Henry of Monmouth to the wars were so +stimulated by the unaccustomed juice of the grape as to then and there +originate this vigorous epithet, unspoken at home, or else there was +little or no justification for the taunting expression. We are inclined +to think that the former surmise is approximately correct. The habit was +not an Englishman’s but a soldier’s vice, and when the foreign troubles +were at an end it may very well have been drafted back to this country +with the rest of the fighting contingent.</p> + +<p>Although in its usage it is now considered essentially British, there is +no reason to impute to it any other than an etymology decidedly French. +Its similarity with the numerous derivatives of the verb <i>damno</i> have +probably obscured the true derivation of the word. For its real +parentage we must have recourse to the Latin <i>dominus</i> or <i>domina</i> which +produced the Gallic <i>dame</i>. This again was used equally to denote a +potentate of either sex, until at last we find the interjection <i>dame!</i> +applied in the same sense as <i>Seigneur!</i> or our own <i>Lord!</i> When, +therefore, we go still further, and meet with <i>dame Dieu!</i> occurring +frequently in ancient texts we are helped at once to the source of our +adopted expletive. By one of those combinations so often to be found +where there is a confusion or admixture of tongues,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> the English +soldiery rendered their <i>dame!</i> or <i>dame Dieu!</i> in the way we have seen, +and a hybrid term was thus produced which has not even yet been found +waning in popularity. The derivation we have here suggested is +sufficient of itself to account for the amusement that was displayed by +laughter-loving Frenchmen, who twitted the invader in that he was unable +to pronounce the irrepressible <i>Dieu</i>, and was forced to anglicise it to +fit it to the remainder of the oath. It will be perceived that, taking +this view of the case, the British shibboleth is rather more of a +shibboleth than has previously been supposed.</p> + +<p>It is true that in a scarce work we find it is recorded that the +expression originated with Richard III., but this is easily confuted by +the examples we have given. The ‘Comedy of Errors’ contains one isolated +allusion to it:—“<i>God damn me!</i> that’s as much as to say, God make me a +light wench.” Here the term is dearly interpolated as a kind of +newly-coined catchword. We suspect that the true era of the oath being +absorbed into common speech is indicated by a passage in the epigrams of +Sir John Harrington. This work, which appeared in 1613, is much +concerned at the abusive element that had at that time entered into +English conversation. No longer, says Sir John, do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> men swear devoutly +by the cross and mass, or by such innocent oaths as the pyx or the +mousefoot. Now they invite damnation as their pledge of sincerity. +“Goddamn-me,” he repines, had then become the customary oath. This +appears to us to be the first intimation of the fact that we find in +English literature.<small><a name="f14.1" id="f14.1" href="#f14">[14]</a></small></p> + +<p>Neither was amusement neglected to be created out of this new +word-sally. In one of the comedies which throw so much light upon the +manners of the time, a piece called ‘Amends for Ladies,’ from the pen of +Nat Field, we are introduced among a so-called society of roarers. The +experiment had been already tried by Thomas Middleton, who, in his +‘Faire Quarrel,’ had initiated his audience into the exercises of a +pretended roaring-school. The notion was simply that the young idlers +about town met together to acquire perfection in the arts of bombast and +exaggeration. In the former production, a Lord Feesimple is supposed to +be enjoying the coveted distinction of being drilled into becoming a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +roarer. As was usual in these performances, the characters pass from one +insolence to another, until at last swords are drawn and general uproar +prevails. But what upon the present occasion has given rise to the +misunderstanding, is the unlucky assumption by Feesimple of one of the +roysterers’ private and particular oaths. In an ill-omened moment he has +presumed to exclaim, “Damn me!” whereupon a certain Tearchaps who has +been noticeable through the play as the improprietor of the term, very +loudly objects—“Use your own words, damn me is mine; I am known by it +all the town o’er. D’ye hear?”</p> + +<p>Feesimple, although disposed to contest the other’s title, is happily +brought to order by the timely interference of one Welltried, whose +knowledge of such matters enables him to bear out the truth of the +assertion. This play, produced in 1618 and acted upon the stage of the +Blackfriars, tallies in substance with Harrington’s verses produced in +the earlier year.</p> + +<p>Allied to this expression is a phrase which may even be said to have a +kind of literary merit. “Don’t care a damn” is indicative of about the +utmost possible amount of unconcern. It would be in vain to seek for any +object more intrinsically inconsiderable with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> which to liken a +condition of indifference. Anstey seizes upon it in his ‘Bath Guide’:—</p> + +<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 4em;">“Absurd as I am,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">I don’t care a damn</span><br /> +Either for you or your valet-de-sham.”</p> + +<p>But curiously enough this figure of speech was originally as independent +of the “shibboleth” as we have seen that was of the classic “damno.” +There is in India a piece of money of the minutest value, which is known +as a <i>dam</i>. The phrase, therefore, so far from originating in a fanciful +comparison, really does nothing more than announce a prosaic fact. It +has been said that the expression was occasionally used by the “great +Duke,” a circumstance for which the Indian experiences of the victor of +Assaye has been held sufficient to account. Mr. Trevelyan, indeed, in +his ‘Life of Lord Macaulay’ (ii. 257) states positively that the Duke of +Wellington invented this oath.</p> + +<p>Etymology, which has thus brushed away what one might have taken to be a +thoroughly characteristic expression, also supplies a matter-of-fact +explanation for another modification of the phrase. “Don’t care a +curse,” or “Not worth a curse,” we might fondly imagine to possess +something of poetic imagery. The learned in derivations undeceive us. +They say that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> word <i>curse</i> is here identical with the plant +“cress.” In that sense, “not worth a curse” will be found in Piers +Ploughman’s Vision, the remarkable work of the fourteenth century.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p>Since the days when City madams and Fleet Street apprentices flocked +round the dusty scaffold of the Blackfriars play-house, and laughed and +rallied one another, or possibly took passing umbrage at the satire that +was being levelled at this newly-nurtured word, what a remarkable, what +an astounding ascendancy has it not enjoyed? No mint has ever issued its +metal more swiftly than has this exchequer of bad language, or given it +a more unmistakable impression. And yet there is nothing healthful, +nothing good in it. From the disorders which first environed it, it has +never yet recovered. It lives only by disease and unhealthiness, and +when it has rid itself of disease and unhealthiness it will die.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>WHICH GIVES A DOG A BAD NAME.</h3> + +<p>We have already adverted to that foreign and slanderous tradition which +lays all the grosser sins of vituperation at the Englishman’s door. It +has been seen how the “damns” and “goddams” of a marauding soldiery, +though scattered upon the winds of many centuries ago, have continued to +be held up in judgment against the English-speaking race. There remains +to be noticed one other item of continental asperity that has enjoyed in +its day a full measure of approbation owing to the delightful assumption +that it savoured of perfidious Britain.</p> + +<p>Parisian caricaturists have always affected to believe that the +inhabitants of these islands are usually accompanied in their travels +abroad by some member of the canine species. The British bull-dog has +figured again and again in pictorial skits that are supposed to +represent the idiosyncrasies of the travelling Englishman. But the +notion may very well be of older date than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> this period of facile +illustration. Examples can be quoted of the occurrence of the word dog, +or <i>dogue</i>, as a malediction similar to that of “goddam,” and at a date +nearly as distant.<small><a name="f15.1" id="f15.1" href="#f15">[15]</a></small> There can be little doubt as to the inspired +origin of the phrase. So grateful is the demon of animosity for every +new-shaped weapon of attack, that in course of time it came to be +levelled indifferently at any object whether insular or otherwise that +it happened to be the speaker’s intention to abuse. The inoffensive word +was the more readily adopted by the classes who had least notion of its +signification. As Dr. Johnson, when he wished to get the better of a +fishwife in a wordy encounter, would call her a parallelogram or a +hypothenuse, so the Seine boatmen and the market-women of the Halles +would denounce their antagonist as a “<i>dogue</i>.” “Je laisserais plutôt ma +roupille en gage,” exclaims one of the characters in the farce of +‘Piarot et Janin,’<small><a name="f16.1" id="f16.1" href="#f16">[16]</a></small> “que de te laisser payer mon quartier. La dogue! +tu ne me connais pas.”</p> + +<p>What actual necessity can there have been for so invidiously employing +an imported word, when the French equivalent was already firmly +established as a particle of abuse? Although in our own vernacular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> the +epithet “dog!” is seldom to be met with outside the histories of Miss +Porter or of Mr. James, elsewhere the Gallic “chien!” has always been in +brisk demand. Both before and since the composition of ‘Piarot and +Janin,’ has it been customary among a numerous class to grind it in the +teeth of persons who have been the cause of annoyance or affront. In +conjunction also with other substantives, it has served as a powerful +degree of comparison and denotes a superlative expression of contempt. +In the most polite language, <i>quel chien de temps</i> indicates weather of +a most deplorable description; <i>quel chien d’auteur</i>, an author whose +stupidity is exasperating. The oath of <i>Jarnichien!</i> passed for a term +of the very darkest complexion; while in <i>sacré chien</i>, we have an +expletive as forcible as any that a Frenchman can utter.</p> + +<p>The Romans of old are said to have played with two sorts of dice, the +tali and the tesseræ. The tali had four even surfaces, the tesseræ six. +On opposite faces of the four-sided figure were marked respectively the +numbers one and six, the numbers three and four appearing respectively +on the other surfaces. The tessera, or six-sided figure, bore on its +additional faces the numbers two and five. Both tali and tesseræ were +usually knuckle-bones of an animal, frequently the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> gazelle; the uneven +ends being planed smooth in the case of the tesseræ, while for the tali +they were left in their natural condition. The game admitted of various +rules and of various degrees of skill, and it would seem that the more +ancient Greek sculptures represent the children and maidens of Athens +manipulating the tesseræ in much the same manner as school-boys still +play at the game of knuckle-bones. But whatever element of dexterity may +have originally pervaded the pastime, it was very rapidly dispelled, and +both tali and tesseræ became, as they have since remained, the +instruments of wagering and gain. The best throw, called the Venus, only +happened when each of the upturned surfaces presented different units. +The worst throw was when the four pieces exposed the same number on +each, and that number an ace. This single pip was technically known as +the <i>unio</i>, the side of six as the <i>senio</i>; while the name by which the +throw of four aces was chiefly distinguished among the gamesters of +antiquity was the <i>canicula</i> or <i>canis</i>.</p> + +<p class="poem">“Jure etenim id summum quid dexter senio ferret<br /> +Scire erat in voto, damnosa canicula quantum<br /> +Raderet.”<span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </span><span class="spacer"> </span><i>Persius, Sat.</i> iii.</p> + +<p>The deduction has been drawn that the player, baulked in his luck, and +turning angrily upon the prone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> dice as they disclosed the four upturned +aces, sought passing relief by hurling at them an insensate malediction. +In this way, after a long interval and by a slow process of development, +the <i>damnosa canicula</i> of the Roman gamester is said to have become, or +more strictly to be represented by, the <i>sacré chien</i> of a nearer +civilisation.</p> + +<p>The force of association has so indelibly connected the mention of this +animal with whatever is inferior or contemptuous, that there is at first +no room for surprise at finding it used in its present application. So +imperceptibly has this turn of thought entered into our habits of mind, +that, without further inquiry, such an application would appear +perfectly natural and proportionable. But upon the very slightest +reflection a sense of inappropriateness cannot fail to be forced upon +us. Surely the nomenclature of the animal world is sufficiently varied +as to admit of the dishonour done to it being more equally divided. One +would expect to find the members of the canine family at the least no +more than sharers in the distinction in common with other creatures of +the brute world. But no such equal distribution would appear to prevail. +The question therefore that remains is, how it is that the name of the +most sagacious of animals should be universally identified in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> the +vernacular tongue with whatever is the most ignoble and despicable of +its kind? The wild rose is called the dog-rose, the scentless violet the +dog-violet; bad Latin is termed dog-Latin; and in Ovid we have <i>verba +canina</i> as denoting abusive conversation.</p> + +<p>Although the author of Gallus goes the length of saying that among the +ancients the names of the lower animals were seldom heard as particles +of abuse, the opprobrious application of the name of the dog will be +found to be most classical. The use made of the word in the conversation +of ancient Greece should be in easy recollection, bringing down as it +did upon the Athenian people the accusation of being their popular oath +of asseveration. Socrates, we are to believe, rarely used in his +swearing any other form of expression. “By the dog! Polus,” he is made +to exclaim in Plato’s ‘Gorgias,’ “I am really in doubt each time you +speak whether you are stating your own views or are asking my +opinion.”<small><a name="f17.1" id="f17.1" href="#f17">[17]</a></small></p> + +<p>When, therefore, we find in the twelfth century an archbishop of Juvavia +interdicting his countrymen from ratifying their treaties with an oath +taken by the dog, we gain some insight into the portent of the canine +oath of Thebes and Athens. The superstition and mysticism attaching to +this animal are brought still<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> closer home by a passage from De +Joinville, which mentions the sacrificing of a living dog as a Byzantine +method of confirming an obligation. Moreover, on the coins of Syracuse +the dog as the emblem of constancy is represented in company with the +goddess Diana. That a sacrificial ceremony, barbarous at once and +ineffectual, should have received any countenance among a people of +culture, is only in accordance with the view expressed at an earlier +part of these pages, that the progress of true civilisation may be +clearly traced by comparing the relative values of the veracity. The +cities of Greece were full of straw-shoes, men who distinguished their +calling by a straw at their feet, and who were ready at the bid of a +suitor to give the lightest evidence for the heaviest fee. Confidence +had little place among a nation far too volatile and specious to be able +to rely upon any system of reciprocal good faith. From this circumstance +it was that the Greeks earned for themselves the repute of being the +least trustworthy of all the untruthful nations of antiquity. In such a +community the fragile safeguard of an oath is, from sheer helplessness, +the more rigorously demanded. The Hellenic people may be said to have +been eminently a swearing people. The character had so persistently +clung to them, and was descended from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> so remote an antiquity, that +Juvenal, in the Sixth Satire, can only refer their immunity from +swearing to the period when innocence was said to have prevailed upon +earth and before Jupiter had begun to let his beard grow.</p> + +<p>But while Greek and Roman riveted oath upon oath and laid ceremony upon +ceremony, to accomplish that simple understanding which should be +effected by the mere parole of right-thinking men, there is no evidence +to show that swearing was carried to the precise point to which it has +been brought among ourselves. That at the lightest stir of the emotions +they were ready to apostrophise the ruling divinities as well as the +shapes of field and flood, of earth and air, must pass as +uncontradicted,<small><a name="f18.1" id="f18.1" href="#f18">[18]</a></small> but never do they appear, as in the modern world, to +have forged their poetic oaths into weapons of malevolence and hurt. +There would seem to have been no actual counterpart in these languages +to the vituperative swearing of modern days. The difference in this +respect is somewhat singular, but it may readily be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> accounted for. With +the ancients, oaths were employed in guarding as efficiently as they +could the public conscience and the public security. With the moderns +they have been for the most part released from this unstable duty, and +accordingly, with untrammelled energy and ungovernable vigour, they have +entered upon a system of privateering upon their own account.</p> + +<p>Not only had the ancient mythology to struggle against the constant +infraction of the sanctity of the deliberative oath, but the minds of +heathen votaries must have been strongly biassed by an acquaintance with +instances of light swearing in the gods themselves. To render the +practice the less capricious and incontinent, a notion of an individual +property or trade-mark in oaths came to be perceptibly encouraged. The +specific appropriation of some distinctive oath raised the presumption +that it implied an unequivocal pledge of sincerity. In this way Zeno, +the founder of the Stoics, swore continually “by the caper.” Pythagoras, +we are told, was accustomed to swear by the number four, +<ins class="correction" title="ma tên tetrakton">μα την τετρακτον</ins>. +This numeral came to be regarded in consequence as +symbolical of the divinity, and the Pythagorean school gravely +inculcated it as a point of morals to abstain from intruding upon so +illustrious an example.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>Besides the oath of Socrates, “by the dog,” he is reported to have sworn +variously by the goose and by the plane-tree. Those who argue in favour +of the piety of the philosopher, explain that the habit was assumed as a +foil to the irreverent mention of the gods that was then so universal. +Lucian attaches an intelligible meaning to these flippant expletives, +and represents Socrates as justifying their use. “Are you not aware,” he +is presumed to reason, “that the dog is the Anubis of Egypt, the Sirius +of the skies; and in hell is the keeper Cerberus?” and Plutarch is also +found to comment on the oath, “those that worship the dog have a certain +sacred meaning that must not be revealed; in the more remote and ancient +times the dog had <ins class="correction" title="original: the the">the</ins> highest honours paid to him in Egypt.” In the +copiousness of the ancient swearing the notion of an oath accommodated +itself to all the varieties of monstrous gods. The divinities Isis and +Osiris were invoked in witness of a sacred pledge no less than the +garlic, the leek, and the onion, and indeed every other deity which, as +was said by the Roman satirist, grew and flourished in the +market-gardens of Alexandria.</p> + +<p>We are admitted to a just appreciation of the levity of Athenian +swearing through the medium of one of the most remarkable performances +ever placed upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> stage, whether of the modern or the ancient world. +When, returning from an expedition, Socrates repaired to the theatre to +witness Aristophanes’ comedy ‘The Clouds,’ he found himself portrayed +upon the scene as the central figure of the drama. He was even +represented swung up in a basket in his own thinking-shop and giving +utterance to innumerable heresies and follies. When Strepsiades offers +to swear by the gods, he is at once interrupted by Socrates in the +basket, who reminds him that the gods are not current coin in his system +of philosophy. “By what then do you swear?” asks Strepsiades; “by the +iron money, as they do at Byzantium?” Unhappily the query remained +unanswered.</p> + +<p>The result, however, of the Socratic influence is intended to be shown +by the circumstance of Strepsiades subsequently swearing “by the mist!” +and reproaching his son for taking oaths in the name of a deity of the +outside world. Presently, on being importuned by a creditor for the +return of twelve minæ lent for the purchase of a dapple-grey horse, he +is ready to swear any number of oaths “by the gods” that he is innocent +of the debt. His opinions have in the course of this short dialogue +undergone alteration. He feels justified in ridding himself of his +obligation to repay the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> loan by making use of declarations which the +philosopher has argued are no longer of any consequence.</p> + +<p>“And will you be willing to deny it upon oath of the gods?” screams the +creditor.</p> + +<p>“What gods?” asks Strepsiades.</p> + +<p>“Jupiter, Mercury, and Neptune.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, by Jupiter!” rejoins Strepsiades, “and would pay down, too, a +three-obol piece besides to swear by them.”</p> + +<p>It must have been a sorry spectacle to have beheld Socrates in the midst +of an Athenian audience solemnly witnessing this masterpiece of +buffoonery, and a still sadder one to those whose feeling was still +enlisted upon the side of the moribund system of oath-taking.</p> + +<p>One singular instance of whimsicality in the ancient practice of +swearing must not be allowed to pass unnoticed. The Levantine merchants +trading with the port of Rhodes had familiarized Athenian households +with a most excellent description of cabbage. The herb was only to be +found in its highest perfection upon the southern coasts of the +Mediterranean. This Rhodian cabbage had a mellower flavour than that +indigenous to the Troad, and was, moreover, prized by all Athenian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +topers as the surest antidote to the effects of drink. No supper-table +would have been perfect without some preparation of this delicacy, and +the gay revellers knew, or in any case imagined, that with this nostrum +close at hand the choicest Chian or Lesbian vintages might safely be +defied. Hence it was that the very name of so precious a vegetable came +to be held in estimation, until it was customary to say that if it were +permitted to blaspheme without offending the gods, it would be by +mention of the Rhodian cabbage.<small><a name="f19.1" id="f19.1" href="#f19">[19]</a></small> The lover in a fragment of the lost +poet Ananius invokes it solemnly in evidence of his attachment, and +there is found a suggestion in the iambics of Hipponax of the vegetable +having even entered into the mythology—</p> + +<p class="poem">“He, falling down, worshipped the seven-leaved cabbage,<br /> +To which, before she drank the poisoned draught,<br /> +Pandora brought a cake at Thargelia.”</p> + +<p>This oath by the cabbage became in time the favourite expletive of +Ionia, and having winged its way westwards, still lingers in the shape +of the exclamation <i>Cavolo!</i> as a popular phrase of modern Italy.</p> + +<p>Specific forms of swearing were in a great measure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> localised in the +ancient world. As the Thebans swore by Osiris, the Ionians by the +cabbage and the colewort, so also in Athens Minerva formed the staple of +the national oaths. No Roman citizen was heard to swear by Castor. Why +there should have been this denial upon the part of those who swore +freely by Pollux is not easily explained. But while the Roman women were +loud in the use of “Mecastor”—the affix <i>me</i> being supplied to adapt +the name to swearing purposes, the men abjured that oath as scrupulously +as the women in their turn ignored the expression “Mehercule.”<small><a name="f20.1" id="f20.1" href="#f20">[20]</a></small> +Hercules himself, so the story went, was known to swear but one oath in +the whole course of his life. In recognition of such singular +forbearance, the Roman children were instructed never to make light use +of his sacred name. The prohibition, however, extended no farther than +the four walls and curtilage of the dwelling, and they were free to make +what use they liked of it out of doors.</p> + +<p>An instance of oaths being subjected to the like whimsical conditions is +noticeable in the domestic manners of Old Germany. We gather from the +popular mediæval satire, the ‘Ship of Fools,’ that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> code of rules had +been formulated regulating the propriety of swearing. Society in this +case would seem to have formed its precedents of oath-taking, and to +have withheld its sanction from any others than its own. There was a +time in Germany it appears when a man adopted an oath as deliberately as +he might take to a trade, it being only necessary, to bring it within +the licensed pale, that it should be derived from the symbols of his own +or his father’s occupation. The particular merit of this system was that +while it partook of all the abandonment and conferred all the enjoyment +of swearing, it was practically no swearing at all. When, in an outburst +of passion, the grazier called out upon his beeves, or the smith invoked +his anvil or his sledge, all the advantages of swearing, whatever they +may be held to be, had been accomplished, and that without prudery being +ruffled or innocence shocked. In fact the needs of society had invented +a kind of stalking-horse for blasphemy, and the Bob Acreses and Captain +Absolutes of that day must have found themselves cruelly hoodwinked by +the inanimate effigy of swearing.</p> + +<p>But while northern nations were conspicuous for the substantial and +ponderous nature of their oaths, the Roman yielded to none in the +multiform versatility of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> his adjurations. Caligula owned a horse that +he not only treated as a fellow-being and brought to meals at his table, +but whose name served him wherewith to pronounce his accustomed oaths. +The same emperor is reported to have put to death a Roman citizen who +refused to swear by his “imperial genius.” Another of the oaths +prescribed by command of Caligula was “per numen Drusillæ.” This +wretched woman he constrained his subjects to worship as a divinity. To +explain this partiality for the use of these absurd if not impious +oaths, it would seem that a tradition had been circulated, ascribing the +duration of his own lifetime to the period during which the oath should +pass current. Any attack of illness that happened to the emperor was +directly attributed to the waning popularity of the oath. Nor was the +doctrine strange to many of the nationalities over which the Roman sway +extended. We have it distinctly occurring among the Scythians,<small><a name="f21.1" id="f21.1" href="#f21">[21]</a></small> and +it has more recently been noticed by travellers as existing among +half-barbarous tribes. The oath itself was probably a development of the +affirmation that has been used more than any other in the history of the +world. The <i>life</i> or the <i>head</i> of the ruler of the chief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> tribesman, or +of the spiritual prophet, has invariably furnished the true standard of +affirmation. But even as a mere domestic oath, the <i>head</i> of the goodman +of the house seems to have been permitted a degree of solemnity—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Per caput hoc juro, per quod pater ante solebat.”<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 14em;"><i>Virgil</i>, Æn. ix. 300.</span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class="center">“He swore by the wound in Jesu’s side.”—<i>Coleridge, ‘Christabel.’</i></p> + +<p>We may now turn our backs upon the luxuriant and fanciful swearing of +the ancient world and pursue our researches into one other division of +the subject that gives rise to more serious reflections. The diversions +of the Roman and the Greek in the way of imprecation seem to have been +mostly intended in good part, and to have been productive of little +theological odium. But there is a body of swearing that has diffused +itself through Christian countries which is the very reverse of +sportive, and has undeniably provoked the strongest feelings of +aversion. The abuse to which we allude consisted mainly in the +indiscriminate use of popular oaths that selected the limbs and members +of Christ as the paraphernalia of swearing. There does not appear at the +present day any great irreverence in the exclamation, “S’light,” or +“S’lid,” or “Bodikins,” as, happily, the wave of impiety that brought +them has long since broken and passed away. Indeed, as they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> now occur +in the pages of sixteenth century writings, they only strike the modern +reader in the light of so many interruptions from the text. But we shall +find as we pursue the inquiry further, that there was a great deal of +meaning wrapped up in these expletives, and that they played a by no +means unimportant part in the workings of the mediæval understanding.</p> + +<p>Whatever may have been the malignities laid to the charge of the later +middle ages, it is certain that the Englishman was on the whole of a +reverential type. The pious moralist who laboured in those times was so +far assisted by an utter absence of captious criticism to honeycomb his +teaching, and by the solid sense of appreciation that was wont to fill +the minds of his listeners. He was practised, moreover, in the exercise +of two potent influences that he was ever ready to exert. The one may be +said to have had its root in his hearers’ fund of ready sympathy, the +other in their ghostly apprehension of horror and dread. It is not at +all surprising that in later times we should find an opaqueness to have +obscured the clear crystal of these subtle perceptions, for fear and +pity have no longer the same ascendancy in a busy world. But at a period +more piously illiterate, things of this shadowy nature were linked very +closely to objects of a material kind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> A long process of reasoning +could then be saved by reference to some obscure picture of monkish +fancy. And so, in the glooms and twilights of mediæval life, the +moralist might insure speedy victory by overwhelming men’s intellects by +an appeal to the formidable images of terror and compassion.</p> + +<p>The pre-Reformation Englishman, stricken and toil-worn, having no hope +save in forbearance from the skies, and no consolation but in the repose +of the ale-house, could yet be awed and subdued by the apprehension of +some priest-directed shape of ghostly terrorism. Above all, he had been +made to grasp a sentiment, which, slightly as it can be treated in a +secular work, may be said to have left no adequate imprint upon the +Protestant world. By dint of the monastic teaching, he had been brought +to entertain a keen personal realisation of the actual sufferings of +Christ. The fact is self-evident from every fragment of contemporaneous +literature intended to react upon the fears and sympathies of +uncultivated men. It was the constant presentment of the notion of the +divine agony, the daily calling to remembrance of the thorns, the nails, +and the hyssop, that was relied upon to keep alive in those poor agued +souls some struggling flame of spiritual vitality. And so surely was the +spark wont to kindle, and so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> reverently was the similitude of these +priestly images treasured up, that they formed the mainstay of the +ploughman’s faith, the sum total of the poor man’s theology.</p> + +<p>From this cause it arose, as there is now every reason to suspect, that +the country was at one time inundated with a torrent of the most acrid +and rasping blasphemy. It would not be difficult to trace the relative +connection between the luxuriance of oath-taking and the various forms +of religion under which oath-taking has successively flourished. It +could be shown that the swearing of most Catholic states is of greater +fertility, and displays a readier fund of invention than that of +countries brought under the reformed faith. The more religion appeals to +the senses, the more fecund has been the vocabulary of oaths. The more +it has been made the subject of illustration and imagery, the more +finished and ornate have been the comminations in use. A priest-ridden +nation, such as the Spanish or Italian, has always been eminent for its +proficiency in blasphemy; and as part of the argument it may not be out +of place to mention the instance of the hedge-parson in the ‘Fortunes of +Nigel,’ who, by reason of his superior knowledge of divinity, could +swear with greater volubility than any of his associates.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>Thus it was that, labouring under the ban of priestly exaction, and +confronted on all sides by the ghostly emblems of wrath and +condemnation, there descended upon England in the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries, a torrent of the hardest and direst of verbal +abuse. Not mere words of intemperate anger came bubbling to the surface, +but sullen and defiant blasphemies, execrations that proclaimed open +warfare with authority and a lasting separation from everything that was +tender in men’s faith. Imprecations were contrived from every incident +in the narrative of the Crucifixion. The limbs and members of the slain +Christ were made the vehicle of revolting profanation. The didactic +writers of the time, no less than epic poets and sprightly versifiers, +give full testimony to the prevalency of the offence. The laureate, +Stephen Hawes, Lydgate, Chaucer and the “moral Gower,” all are alike +loud in their expression of horror and renunciation. Among the later +writers replete with instances of the scandal is the epigrammatist, +Robert Crowley, who enumerates a lengthy catalogue of expletives current +in his day. Although by the time Crowley appeared upon the scene the +language of blasphemy had become a little softened by the admixture of +rather more innocent particles, as “by cock and pye,” or “by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> the cross +of the mousefoot,” the author still finds it necessary to record a set +of hard, grating oaths pronounced by the “hands,” the “feet,” and the +“flesh” of Christ.</p> + +<p>To refer, for instance, to the use of the one word “zounds!” This +strikes us now-a-days as anything but a very solemn or a very momentous +form of adjuration. But in unreformed England—the England that still +adored the <i>Genetrix incorrupta</i>, and had earned among the devout the +title of Our Lady’s Dower, it was absolutely impossible to surpass in +blasphemy the hideous import that had been imparted to the user of the +word. It was in fact nothing else than a rebellious and mutinous +rendering of the once sacred oath taken by the wounds of the Redeemer. +There are few who can probably now realise the conspicuous place then +occupied in the Catholic worship by the legends relating to the five +several incisions in the body of Christ. The monkish representations of +the wounds were depicted in countless rosaries and Books of Hours. +Confraternities were formed in the Church for their greater veneration. +There were occasions when papal absolution was specially extended to +those worshippers who paid their devotions to the wound in the side of +Christ. The so-called measurement of them was even preserved in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +families, and was reputed to be a charm.<small><a name="f22.1" id="f22.1" href="#f22">[22]</a></small> In the great northern +insurrection of 1536, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Five Wounds +was the badge under which York and Lincoln farmers marched to avenge the +spoliation of the monasteries. Such was the oath in the days of the last +King Henry. Its more modern application scarcely requires illustration, +but if any such were needed, we might find it in the villainous lines +which Lord Byron wrote in connection with a certain trip on board the +<i>Lisbon</i> packet.</p> + +<p>To the present hour, in Italy, the popular oaths are in close alliance +with the Romanist faith. The ordinary exclamation “<i>Per l’ostia</i>” is the +equivalent of “God’s bread!” that so long did duty in England of the +pre-Reformation era. A modern traveller has noticed how distinct an +impress has been set upon Italian swearing by the particular notions of +heavenly beings that are inculcated by the national creed. A workman in +an art-studio was heard vociferating in such terms as “<i>Per Christo</i>,” +“<i>Per sangue di Christo</i>,” “<i>Per maladetto sangue di Christo</i>,” +whereupon the following conversation occurred:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>“Do you forget who Christ is, that you thus blaspheme Him?”</p> + +<p>“Bah!” replied the man, “I am not afraid of Him.”</p> + +<p>“Who, then, do you fear?”</p> + +<p>“I’m afraid of the Madonna, and not of Him.”</p> + +<p>The fact was that the Mother of God was the sole being the mind was +brought to esteem with feelings of veneration. Christ was only the +<i>bambino</i>, or infant in arms, and nothing more.<small><a name="f23.1" id="f23.1" href="#f23">[23]</a></small></p> + +<p>The state of feeling that still prevails in Italy should go far to +explain the presence in pre-Reformation England of this widely-spread +body of irreverent swearing. With the Reformation, however, the +contagion was shortly to abate. The severer authors at the close of the +sixteenth century do not have to complain so bitterly of these jarring +elements of vituperation. In the literature of the stage there is a +marked improvement: in none but the earlier of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> Elizabethan comedies +do the characters accentuate their meaning by reference to the grossest +description of blasphemy. When expletives occur they are generally in +the spirit of derision and lampoon. As the writings of the stage grew +more robust, the custom altogether wore away. It may, indeed, be held +that the subversion of the Catholic religion was mainly, if not +entirely, accountable for the change. There is certainly a marked +distinction between the oaths of the outgoing and incoming creeds. But +if we have been finally spared from the ravages of the infection, we may +attribute our deliverance to that reserve of reverence of which we have +spoken as possessed by English laymen, and to the pious devices that +were practised upon it by the inferior orders of preachers.</p> + +<p>The position they chose to assume in combating this “fine old +gentlemanly vice” is a singular feature in its history. Their method was +to associate the practice of swearing with the notion of actual bodily +pain being occasioned to the Saviour. They made it appear that Christ in +person was put to extreme physical agony on every occasion of its +committal. Not alone did they assert the wantonness and hardihood of so +directly incurring the Divine displeasure, but they raised the most +piteous appeal to the compassion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> these benighted swearers. It was +daily proclaimed from their pulpits that the profanity in this one +respect of professedly Christian men had worked a sharper and more +agonising martyrdom than that formerly designed by the Jews themselves. +In countless broadsheets, no less than by pictorial illustration, the +wounds of Christ were portrayed as hourly re-opened, and the sufferings +of Golgotha renewed from day to day. The doctrine gained additional +credit when transferred from the hands of monkish authors and embraced +by popular and captivating pens. Stephen Hawes, own poet to +carpet-knights and buckram soldiery, brought home conviction to a class +of offenders that a whole consistory would not have succeeded in +convincing. In a rhyming pamphlet, prefaced by a figure of the bleeding +Christ, Hawes depicts with awful realism those sufferings which, as he +believed, were being actually and bodily inflicted.<small><a name="f24.1" id="f24.1" href="#f24">[24]</a></small> The author of +‘Bel Amour’ describes the feet and hands of Christ as literally pierced +anew, and every member torn and lacerated by reason of the imprecations +of unheeding Christians.</p> + +<p>At this time of day it might be difficult to ascertain with any +certainty the origin of this forced view of the iniquity of swearing. So +far as concerns printed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> literature, we discover it for the first time +in the doggerel of the poet Hawes, but it is none the less traceable to +that encyclopædic work of the thirteenth century, the ‘Miroir du Monde.’ +This takes us to the year 1279, and instances could be furnished showing +its regular passage through the next three centuries, until the monkish +notion is at last surrendered and delivered over to the cleansing fires +of the Reformation. The last of the English authors who seems to have +seriously advanced the theory is to be found in the rigid disciple of +asceticism, Thomas Becon.</p> + +<p>Becon was a man who, throughout a devout and severe life, had set +himself sternly to the task of rebuking the immoderate lawlessness of +the orders among which he lived. The rustic usage of collecting round +the village tavern to celebrate the Sabbath in sport and holiday was one +particularly repellant to the mind of Becon, and held by him to be the +mainspring of all the evils that ravaged the country-side. The fore part +of the day having been devoted to the services of the Church, it was +usual for a time of high festival to succeed the morning’s austerities. +Noon discovered all the grown men of the village assembled round the +vintner’s door and partaking of the ale-house hospitalities. Here feats +of rude strength were performed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> wrestlers practised their throws, and +sturdy fellows played bouts at quarter-staff. Foot-races were run upon +the greensward for wholesome wagers of barley-cake, and games of hazard +were conducted under the shelter of the ivy-bush at the publican’s +threshold. Bets were staked, dice were rattled, and yokels learned to +place the dues of the harvest-field upon the fortunes of the winning or +losing colour. When, therefore, after earnest and fruitless entreaty, +the good Becon rushed into print and produced his learned ‘Invective,’ +he did not omit to visit with uncompromising censure the chartered +licence of this Sunday festival.</p> + +<p>The riot and pastime that on every seventh day had been wont to disturb +the quietude of rustic life appeared to our reformer as a direct +encouragement to the practice of swearing, and in fact as constituting +so many training-schools for the cultivation of this unwelcome +accomplishment. In the hope of rendering the habit positively forbidding +to the more impressionable among his readers, he reminds them how the +body of the Saviour is actually torn and mangled by reason of the +imprecations hurled at him in these country sports. Oaths, he deplores, +were then used in every matter of chopping and changing, of bargaining +and selling,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> and he groans to think how the “dicer” will swear rather +than passively submit to the loss of a single cast, the “carder will +tear God in pieces rather than lose the profit of an ace.”</p> + +<p>It is a feature that must be very palpable to the student of incipient +literature, that when once an original and daring notion was fairly +launched upon the world, it was not allowed to founder for want of +repetition. The peculiar mode of thought which we have ventured to +ascribe to the ‘Miroir du Monde’ in the thirteenth century, could boast +a long line of exponents in the interval that closed with Thomas Becon. +The writer to whose industry, rather than invention, English laymen were +indebted for their acquaintance with this painful doctrine was a certain +Dan Michael, described as a brother of the Cloister of Saint Austin. +This person has produced a didactic treatise based upon the model of the +famous ‘Miroir,’ an original from which no writer at that time felt +himself justified in departing. With the subject of swearing he deals in +a way that is highly painstaking. Not to mention the intricate +distinctions which he treats under these several heads, we find that he +has grouped the offences of the tongue into no less than eight cardinal +divisions. It may be curious to record<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> the titles as our author +enumerates them, notwithstanding that it is scarcely to our purpose to +follow him through the niceties he has created. The branches of the +subject, according to his classification, would therefore seem to be: +“ydelnesse,” “yelpinge,” “bloudynge,” “todiazinge,” “stryfinge,” +“grochynge,” “wyþstondinge,” and lastly “blasfemye.” So far as we have +mastered the system of Dan Michael we are driven to the conclusion that +the practice of swearing, as understood in the Cloister of Saint Austin, +was, save for the outward distinction of dress, much the same as +prevails in the later world. “For there are some,” says he of the +cloister, “so evil taught that they are able to say nothing without +swearing. Some swear as if smitten with sudden pain. Others swear by the +sun, the moon, by the head, or by their father’s soul.”</p> + +<p>Minute as is Dan Michael in his treatment of the subject of abuse, his +elaborations are possibly surpassed by the next competitor for +moralistic fame. Robert of Brunné, who produced a similar work in the +year 1303, availed himself largely of the other’s labours, while he +enriched his collections with recitals of wrong-doing from his own +exclusive stores. From the “Handlyng Sinne,” as the production is +called, one may gather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> considerable insight into the state of prejudice +existing at the time. The neighbours tell one another good stories in +church time, and inquire during the sermon where they can get the best +ale. The monks have become so luxurious that they refuse to shave their +heads and have commenced to array themselves in fine clothes. The king’s +courts are crowded with supplicating suitors, craving for redress from +the extortions of trustees and executors, and yielding themselves +victims to the falsity of the men of law. Swearing, at that time, would +seem to be no longer the prerogative of laymen, but even to have become +the privilege of learned clerks.</p> + +<p>To depict what, from this author’s point of view, were the fruits and +consequences of blasphemy, Brunné enters into a narrative describing the +Mother of God presenting the bleeding Jesus to the gaze of the rich man +Dives. The latter inquires the reason for the Child being gashed with +wounds. In reply the Virgin points out in terms of keen resentment the +injuries inflicted upon the Infant by the swearing of Dives and his +associates. The doctrine of the ‘Miroir’ is then introduced in full to +demonstrate the infamy and inhumanity of the practice, the whole +concluding with a promise of repentance on the part of the sinful man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +This fable is only one among many others that were narrated with a view +to curbing the propensities of blaspheming swearers. The work that +contains it met with general circulation at the commencement of the +fourteenth century, but that the spread of the iniquity was not sensibly +abated we may infer from other sources of information we have +mentioned.<small><a name="f25.1" id="f25.1" href="#f25">[25]</a></small> In 1544, the evil was set forth in the light of a +national grievance, and was paraded in a broadsheet published in that +year entitled a “Supplycacion to Kynge Henry the Eyght.”</p> + +<p>Such, then, was the ponderous metal that passed current as the swearing +of pre-Reformation England. These verbal projectiles were sometimes +moulded, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>however, of a lighter calibre, and when employed in the talk +of priests or women, were so nicely rounded off as to incur little of +theological displeasure. Chaucer’s people, in particular, are very +punctilious in the propriety of their oaths; good Sir Thopas swearing +mildly “by ale and bread,” and Madame Eglantine naming holy Saint +Eligius as the patron of her vows—</p> + +<p class="poem">“There was also a nonne, a prioresse,<br /> +That of hire smyling was ful symple and coy,<br /> +Hire grettest oath was but by St. Eloy.”</p> + +<p>In much the same way did princes and dignitaries of the land single out +some swearing cognizance that might befriend them in the everlasting +conflict between lies and honesty. Edward I. sanctified his oaths by the +mention of a brace of milk-white swans, and whoever will consult St. +Palaye will find that the peacock and the pheasant entered largely into +the codes of chivalry as bearing witness to the truth of a statement. +Edward III. followed the lead of his grandsire in the selection of his +gage of testimony. At the festival held in 1349 to celebrate the +creation of the Order of the Garter, his cognizance was the swan, +adorned, moreover, with the swearing motto: “Haye! Haye! the Whyte Swan! +by Godde’s soule I am thy man.”</p> + +<p>The tradition that St. Paul was the saint that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> Richard III. was wont to +conjure with, has found expression in the tragedy of Shakespeare. +Faithful to the popular notions of the usurper’s characteristic, this +form of oath has been placed upon Gloucester’s lips at each impassioned +outburst. Henry V., in his wooing of Katherine, gallantly invokes St. +Denis to aid him in his attempts at love-making. But the chronicler who +seems positively to have had an affection for the oaths the memory of +which he is recalling, is the historian Brantôme. Upon this +unimpeachable testimony we learn that the oath of Louis XI. was <i>par la +Pâque Dieu</i>, an affirmation that Scott avails himself of in his +portraiture of that monarch in ‘Quentin Durward.’ This was succeeded by +the <i>jour de Dieu</i> of Charles VIII.; by the <i>diable m’emporte</i> of Louis +XII., and the <i>foi de gentilhomme</i> of Francis I. Among the Gascon oaths +of Henry IV. the most usual was <i>ventre Saint Gris</i>. As for Charles IX., +adds Brantôme, he swore in all fashions, and always like a sergeant who +was leading a man to be hanged.<small><a name="f26.1" id="f26.1" href="#f26">[26]</a></small></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>The question has frequently been asked who was intended by the cognomen +Saint Gris? The answer accorded by Le Duchat, a savant learned in such +matters, is that Saint Francis d’Assise was the person indicated. It is +true that Saint Francis was <i>ceint</i> by a hempen girdle, and, moreover, +was clad in a habit of <i>gris</i>. But there nevertheless seems no reason to +suppose that any individual personage was suggested, or, indeed, as has +been stated, that the oath was of a Huguenot character. Says M. Charles +Rozan,<small><a name="f27.1" id="f27.1" href="#f27">[27]</a></small> who has had occasion to refer to this subject, Saint Gris is +purely a creature of fancy, and was constituted a patron of drinkers, as +St. Lâche was a patron of idlers and St. Nitouche of hypocrites.</p> + +<p>The oath of William Rufus, <i>per vultum de Lucca,</i> has raised conjectures +as to its probable signification. The literal meaning, “by Saint Luke’s +face,” being rejected as not very intelligible, there remain two +distinct explanations: one that it referred to the face of Christ as +painted by St. Luke, the other that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> portrait of Christ as preserved +in the cathedral church at Lucca is the object intended. To support the +first derivation, credence must be given to the legend which places the +apostle among the artist craftsmen of Judæa, and has enshrined him as +the patron saint of all workers in the arts. On the other hand, there +has reposed for some centuries at Lucca a miraculous crucifix, famous +alike for the marvels it has seen and accomplished. The Tuscan people +set great store by the possession of this relic, and have engraved a +representation of it upon their coins. The inscription upon the Tuscan +florin, “Sanctus vultus de Lucca,” would seem, therefore, to be +identical with the expletive of William Rufus.</p> + +<p>We have seen how the occupants of the throne have usually comported +themselves in the matter of oaths, but there is one recorded instance of +Plantagenet royalty having created a singular precedent. If any man can +be said to have ever had cause for swearing, Henry VI. might be +described as being that individual. It is stated, however, by +contemporaries who had opportunities for conversing with this king, and +by whom it is given as a somewhat remarkable fact, that he was never +known to swear under the greatest provocation.</p> + +<p>The adage that enjoins us to repeat “no scandal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> about Queen Elizabeth” +should dispose us to deal lightly with any verbal excesses committed by +the virgin queen. It would appear, however, that the moral atmosphere of +her court, despite the intellect and talent that adorned it, was not so +refined or particular but that the sovereign and the ladies over their +breakfasts of steaks and beer could ring out exclamations that to a +later generation might appear of rather an astounding character.<small><a name="f28.1" id="f28.1" href="#f28">[28]</a></small> To +turn for comparison to the era of the next female majesty, it is +questionable whether even Sarah Jennings, with all her power of abuse, +would not have taken exception to the flavour of some of the Elizabethan +adjectives.</p> + +<p>A story is told of Edward VI., that at the time of arriving at the +kingly dignity he gave way to a torrent of the most sonorous oaths. The +pastors and masters charged with the well-being of the royal youth could +not but stare in blank astonishment at the conduct of one so well +nurtured as the child of Anne Boleyn. It transpired, however, that the +young king had been given to believe by one of his associates that +language<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> of the kind was dignified and becoming in the person of a +sovereign. Edward was asked to name the preceptor who had so ably +supplemented the course of the royal education. This he instantly and +innocently did, and was not a little surprised at the severe whipping +that was administered to the delinquent.<small><a name="f29.1" id="f29.1" href="#f29">[29]</a></small></p> + +<p>The predicament in which the royal child was placed is similar to that +which once befel a clerical gentleman while travelling on mule-back +across Syria. The Syrian muleteers are, it seems, accustomed to urge +onward their beasts with the shout of “Yullah!” or “Bismillah!” and it +was under the escort of these shouting and belabouring drivers that the +traveller made his way into the town of Beyrout. His friends naturally +inquired of him what progress he had made in Arabic, and in reply he +told them he had only acquired two words, <i>bakhshish</i> for a present, and +<i>Yullah!</i> for go-ahead. He was asked if he had used the latter word much +on his way. Certainly, he said, he had used it all the way. “Then, your +reverence,” replied his friend, “you have been swearing all the way +through the Holy Land.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<div class="note"><p>“When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any +standers-by to curtail his oaths.”—‘<i>Cymbeline</i>,’ ii. 1.</p></div> + +<p>In the study of antiquity there are steep and irregular by-paths that +defy the traveller every step that he pursues them. It is in threading +these tortuous windings that many a fearless venturer has lost foot-hold +and been utterly cast away. Many a man with the passion for antiquity +deep at his heart, and with limbs well girded to attain to the summit of +his aim, has been fain to settle down, jaded and dispirited, at +mid-task. He has accomplished nothing perhaps beyond the mere reading of +an inscription or deciphering of a medallion, but the spirit of his +insight is dimmed, and stricken in the work. Thus has it been with many +generations of seekers and inquirers. The <i>virtuosi</i> and <i>cognoscenti</i>, +the curious in gems and medals, in brasses and torsos, the commentators +and concordancers,—all these may be said to be nothing more than so +many units in the lost tribe of eager scholarship. Starting confident +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> probing to the very source and mystery of things, they have rather +preferred the shelter of some attainable evening refuge than be +overtaken in their task by the chills and storms of night.</p> + +<p>It is easier far, means not being wanting, to place in one’s cabinet +some matchless group of Capo di Monti, some priceless specimen of the +fabric of Sèvres or Dresden, than to tax one’s strength in extracting +the lessons conveyed by form and colour. It is a simpler matter to be +the possessor of Damascus sword-blades or Aleppo prayer-rugs than to +burden one’s self with reflections upon oriental chivalry or mysticism. +And so, again, it is a far readier, as it is certainly a rougher, way of +being in sympathy with antiquity, to notch off a fragment in the +Acropolis, or carve one’s name among the ruins of the Forum, than to +originate such poetic passages as Byron uttered over the field of +Marathon, or Longfellow in the market-place of Nuremburg. Say what we +will, both forms of veneration arise alike from the same innate craving +to grasp some part or parcel of the tissue of the past.</p> + +<p>To the untiring few who have overcome the drought and dust of the +up-land journey, the summit, once attained, will disclose many a point +and promontory unsuspected by the purblind dweller in the plain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> The +retrospect will reveal to them a busy, thronging life underlying the +serenity of history. They will be able to range the perished multitudes +in their once motley grouping, to restore warmth and colour to +lineaments long obscured in death, and greed and alacrity to the sunk +eyes and folded hands. To those whom the spirit of the past is apt to +visit as a passionate inspiration, the mere record of consecutive events +is often wearisome. It is not altogether for this that they have +laboured to catch some murmur, however slight, of the infinite harmony +that is being sounded by all, the chords of history. Rather, it is to +tramp mistily along from generation to generation in the long, forced +march of human life. Rather, to probe to the depths of some one of the +world’s stupendous follies, of some one of its golden vanities, that +they have thus cast about them with measure and lead-line. And when they +have completely searched out and written of the world’s stupendous +follies, they will perhaps have written what alone would be worth +calling its history.</p> + +<p>As some small, tentative contribution to the understanding of this +under-life, the plan of this volume has been designed. The past has come +down to us cloaked and shrouded, and attended by its decorous retinue of +mutes and bearers. We are continually seeking to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> revive this dead past, +just as it was, when its future was a wild, inscrutable thing, and its +life was so fragrant, so masterful, and so momentous. It wants a great +mental effort to recall events that are as indubitably past as if they +had never happened at all. The pleasure of possessing, or of even +entering, the vanished territory is a privilege so rare, that there are +permitted but a few moments for its enjoyment. It is so subtle a +perception that even seasoned historians seldom have the power of +imparting it. They may surround us with the conflict of contending +legionaries, until we seem to recognise the thud of advancing battalions +and the clash and impact of the squadron. These, however lifelike, are +impressions of a much grosser and more tangible nature, and can have but +little in common with the blended sweetness and irony that pertain to +the spontaneous realisation of the dead past.</p> + +<p>What we are for ever craving to learn is something more of the gambols, +the humours, and the anticing of this sad army, for ever on the march. +We yearn to know something more of the vanity and the pettiness, the +fever and the longing, of those weary men and women, the memorial of +whose lives has been trampled out. The historian will sometimes rend +away the veil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> that separates us from this unwritten history; but more +often it is the creation of the romancer that helps to clothe the dim +spirit of the past from the loom of its misty memories; Pascarel, +depicting the splendours of the artist-life of Florence, while +Arlecchino and the rest of the gay carnival troupe are romping in the +faded street of the stocking-makers; Slender and Shallow and the simple +folk of the Cotswold country ambling out their jests midst the turmoil +of those stirring Lancastrian times; or “sweet Anne Page,” provoking and +winning, three hundred years ago, in the glades of Windsor Forest. The +honest yeoman who fought the master of fence—three veneys for a dish of +stewed prunes; the foolish justice who in the days of his youth had beat +Sampson Stockfish behind Gray’s Inn, and had heard the chimes at +midnight, lying out in the windmill in St. George’s Fields—these and +many kindred types represent to us so many factors in that prodigious +army of the unknown that is never permitted us more thoroughly to know. +It is indeed in the fancy of Shakespeare that this bygone sweetness and +irony seem the oftener to be kindled and awakened. Not, certainly, in +the wordy warring of Capulet and Montagu; not, perhaps, in the outspoken +chivalry of “Harry the King,” or the blunt generosity of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> Falconbridge. +But we find it moving and thrilling in every tone caught up from the +English country-side, in the echoes wafted from the vintage-lands of +France, or the garden walks of Padua. And freshest and daintiest of all, +we find it in the poet’s snatches of song and rugged bursts of +minstrelsy. This indeed is the enchantment that subdues us as the +dimpled page advances to the gay theatre lights, and pleading the woes +of three hundred years ago, and exhorting now as he exhorted then, bids +“Sigh no more, ladies; ladies, sigh no more.” It is this which +captivates as the scene pauses and the drama halts, that the eye may be +carried back through a vista of three centuries to dwell upon a simple +“lover and his lass” as they wander “between the acres of the rye.”</p> + +<p>The subject of swearing the writer has come to regard as one of the many +indices by which the paths of our ancestors may be traced. Holding in +fitting estimation the monuments of their industry and their prudence, +none the less may we seek to view the departed generations in their +hours of carelessness and frolic, and may peer into their casinos and +their tiring-rooms, their spital-houses and their bridewells. What +manner of men were they? we ask. Were they sparkling and festive, +tellers of rare stories, dealers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> in racy jokes? Were they wholesome in +their living, manly and courageous in their lives, or were they loose +and liquorish, winking at falsehood and cajoling the truth? And if the +monumental record of their virtues be a just one, why did they heirloom +on posterity this bitter heritage of swearing?</p> + +<p>The truth would seem to be that in every society there has existed a +certain <i>corps d’élite</i>, which, distinguished at once by its breeding +and its brusquerie, has perversely thought fit to adopt the insignia of +swearing as its own particular device. In advancing this explanation of +the fidelity with which posterity has exercised its watchfulness over +the bequest of swearing, we must not for a moment be misunderstood. It +is far from our purpose to associate good breeding with the use of +coarse vituperation, but at the same time it is impossible to overlook +the fact that swearing has mostly owed its favour and its audacity to +the practice of really cultivated men. The first contrivers of our +modern methods of swearing took pains to raise an air of mystery and +exclusiveness around their favourite art. “To be an accomplished +gentleman,” says Carlo Buffone, in Ben Jonson’s comedy,<small><a name="f30.1" id="f30.1" href="#f30">[30]</a></small> “have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> two +or three peculiar oaths to swear by that no man else swears”; and it +would seem to have been one of the gravest charges brought against the +Hectors and Bobadils of the Elizabethan stage, that they dare assume +acquaintance with courtly oaths. Even Hotspur is portrayed by the +dramatist as a most precise and scrupulous swearer. It may be seen how +he reproaches Lady Percy for swearing “like a comfit-maker’s wife,” and +bids her “swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art!” and not to mince her +oaths like some city madam or seller of gingerbread.<small><a name="f31.1" id="f31.1" href="#f31">[31]</a></small> For upwards of +two centuries, the notion of finish and exclusiveness in oath-taking +afforded constant merriment for the stage, the creations of the +playwright seldom failing to give full scope to the illustration of this +strange humour. Every period brought its particular oath and fresh +generations of exponents. Now it was the soldier of fortune returned +from encounters with the Spaniards or the Turk. Anon it was the tavern +rake of King James’ day, and after some interval, the wits and foplings +of the Restoration. By-and-by, there followed the crowd of nabobs and +parvenus, the blustering swearers of the days of East<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> Indian +speculation, and finally came the truculent swabbers and commodores of +Adelphi melodrama. The <i>nouveau riche</i> of the younger Colman, who fails +to enrobe himself with dignity by the aid of all ordinary resources, is +enjoined by his more practical helpmate to vent his “zounds” and +“damme,” in emulation of the swearing of the great.</p> + +<p>For this <i>corps d’élite</i> of which we have spoken have drawn to +themselves men the most worthless, and men the most admirable. It has +found disciples in every capital—the easy, the affluent, the +voluptuous, cheery and sunny of speech, bold and swarthy of countenance. +There are numbered among them free livers and free lances innumerable. +There are men remarkable for their stores of boisterous animalism, no +less than delicate scholars remarkable only for the brightness of their +fancy and the vividness of their dreams. They have ever been a composite +and a cosmopolitan crew, some shouldering into the ranks by the weight +of their purses or the length of their rent-rolls, others by skill +evinced at high midnight, when taper-lights throw pale vertical rays +upon a refreshing margent of green cloth. Among them, too, are stout +soldiers, bold fearless riders, the wild and fevered blood of many +countries, the fervour of Italy, and the craft of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> the Levant. To the +precincts of this gilded and splendid society come many sorts and +conditions of aspirants. The boy-parson lays down the sanctity of the +priesthood and rapturously sues for admission. Elders of threescore +demand an entrance upon the strength of <i>risqué</i> stories sprung from +garrison-towns and college common-rooms. Skilled physicians feign +indifference to their calling that they may smack of the kennel and the +hunting-field. Staid, contemplative men, men with a prayer and a tune in +them, press into this joyous throng, eager to clasp the bruised fruit of +human desire and to claim kindred with these cheery fellowships. But, +however varied the elements of the order, the members are constituted +alike in this: they are hearty and laughter-loving; they are jolly and +courageous.</p> + +<p>With outposts so widely distributed, it is the more necessary that there +should be some unmistakable uniform, that whether it be in a Paris +ordinary, or on the steppes of Tartary, one may easily recognise the +scion of the order. Such a uniform, so at least we are constrained to +understand it, has, for the most part, been supplied by a subdued and +discriminate use of the materials of swearing. A Sandwich Islander +appreciates this when he salutes a British crew in terms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> compounded of +oaths and ribaldry.<small><a name="f32.1" id="f32.1" href="#f32">[32]</a></small> He is really intending to denote his sense of +the distinction of the exalted visitors, when he exclaims: “Very glad +see you! Damn your eyes! Me like English very much. Devilish hot, sir! +Goddam!” It is to claim kindred with the brotherhood that swell surgeons +vent their “blasted!” and “damnation!” as they tender to the ailments of +rackety young patients. It is to bridge over the gulf between +carelessness and propriety that even mild college tutors will sometimes +venture upon a modest “botheration!” or “confounded!” The most fertile +and most voluminous swearer, we have been given to understand, exists in +the person of one of the leading <i>littérateurs</i> of the century when +desiring to curry favour with a company of fast men.</p> + +<p>Not that it can be altogether denied that there are other contrivances +whereby the members of the fraternity succeed in courting mutual +recognition. The topic of sporting is, perhaps, the most effectual of +these, and it must be understood that a man’s convivial condition is +often undergoing a crucial investigation when he is questioned as to his +views upon such subjects as the Cesarewitch or the Cambridgeshire. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +several processes of swearing would seem however to supply the readiest +hall-mark, and are rather of an easier manipulation. This theory of +indulgence might go far to explain the leniency of men like Jonathan +Swift towards a custom which, had they wished it, they might have +deposed from its high places by their ridicule. Swearing was far from +being a rock of offence to the society of Harley and St. John. Why else, +again, has it been permitted from commanders of the stamp of Picton in +the field, and from lawyers of the pattern of Thurlow on the woolsack? +“I will now proceed to my seventh point,” pursued Sir Ilay Campbell, +arguing an interminable Scotch appeal in the House of Lords. “I’m damned +if you do,” shrieked Lord Thurlow, and the House adjourned neither angry +or scandalised. And again, how else explain the exuberance of the +Duchess of Marlborough’s language when calling at Lord Mansfield’s +lodgings? His lordship, as we know, was away, and on his return +questioned the doorkeeper as to the name of his visitor. “I do not know +who she was,” replied the man, “but she swore like a lady of quality.”</p> + +<p>Of Thurlow it has been said that he was renowned as a swearer even in a +swearing age. “He took it as a lad who wishes to show that he has +arrived at man’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> estate. He could not have got on without it.”<small><a name="f33.1" id="f33.1" href="#f33">[33]</a></small> At +one time a dispute was pending as to the right to present to a vacant +benefice. A certain bishop who claimed the right sent his secretary to +argue with Lord Thurlow, who, for his part, obstinately maintained the +counter-claim of the Crown. The envoy no sooner opened his case and made +known his message, than Thurlow cut short all further argument. “Give my +compliments to his lordship, and tell him I will see him damned before +he present.” “That,” remonstrated the secretary, “is a very unpleasant +message to deliver to a bishop.” “You are right,” replied Thurlow, “so +it is. Tell him I will see myself damned before he present.”</p> + +<p>Another professor in the same uncompromising school of hard swearers +would seem to have been Sir Thomas Maitland, His Majesty’s Lord High +Commissioner administering the government of the Ionian Islands, at that +time and long afterwards under the British dominion. Sir Charles Napier +relates that on arriving at Corfu to enter upon a military appointment, +and being ushered into his Excellency’s presence, he was received with a +sullen “Who the devil are you?” and on explaining his business, Sir +Thomas rejoined, “Then I hope you are not such a damned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> scoundrel as +your predecessor.” Sir Thomas seems to have been in the habit of dealing +out abuse the most flagrant towards those with whom he was brought into +contact. “On one occasion,”—we may follow Sir Charles Napier’s +words,—“the senate having been assembled in the saloon of the palace +waiting in all form for his Excellency’s appearance, the door slowly +opened and Sir Thomas walked in with the following articles of clothing +upon him:</p> + +<p>“One shirt, which like Tam o’ Shanter’s friend, the cutty-sark,</p> + +<p class="center">“In longitude was sorely scanty.”</p> + +<p>“One red night-cap,</p> + +<p>“One pair of slippers.</p> + +<p>“The rest of his Excellency’s person was perfectly divested of garments. +In this state he walked into the middle of the saloon, looked round at +the assembled senators and then said, addressing the secretary, “Damn +them, tell them all to go to hell.”<small><a name="f34.1" id="f34.1" href="#f34">[34]</a></small></p> + +<p>What reception this outburst provoked from the assembled notables we are +not informed. When Thurlow once at a dinner-party administered a similar +admonition to a blundering man-servant, telling him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> he wished he was in +hell, the terrified man wearily replied, “I wish I was, my lord! I wish I was.”</p> + +<p>There can be little doubt that the practice of gentlemen “damning +themselves as black as butter-milk” was intended to overawe, and on the +whole it has answered the intention. It is however but a cheap +substitute for authority, and belongs of right to a rampant jingoism of +a past age. We are here reminded of a kind of oath which, having +conferred a nick-name upon a political party, seems likely to pass into +the language in some altered form. The “Jingos,” as will be remembered, +were the faction in the country who favoured an aggressive policy during +the recent Russian war. The name came to be given them from a +circumstance of quite an insignificant kind. At a certain London +singing-room a patriotic song happened to be nightly delivered, in which +the vocalist emphasised his warlike utterances with a constant +recurrence of this oath. The Radicals seized the moment, and in a short +space of time the term “by Jingo” was pinned to the backs of the Tory +party like a tin kettle tied to a dog’s tail. Men soon began to ask +themselves where first they could have met with this undignified +expression? The ‘Ingoldsby Legends’ seemed the most likely ground, only +that readers of Goldsmith referred to the example of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> the town-bred lady +who, when introduced into the Vicar’s family, swore “by the living +Jingo!”</p> + +<p>Moreover, the term is to be observed in the earliest translation of Don +Quixote (iii. vi.): “by the living jingo, I did but jest,” and in +Rabelais (v. xxviii.): “by jingo, I believe he would make three bites of +a cherry.” To seek for the origin of the oath, we should have to turn to +a somewhat singular source. We should find it as far away as the slopes +of the Pyrenees, where Basque peasants have long sworn by <i>Jincoa</i>, that +in fact being the Basque name for God.</p> + +<p>We have made mention of Swift in a way that might favour the presumption +that his ridicule was not at any time directed against the subject of +oath-taking. That such is hardly the case will be seen from his +prospectus of the Bank of Swearing, where this overgrown distempered +plant is singled out as a fair butt for his sallies. The nature of the +business proposed to be transacted at this fanciful banking-house may be +more aptly considered in another chapter.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>“<i>Viola.</i> Swear as if you came but new from the knighting.<br /> +<i>Fust.</i> Nay; I’ll swear after £400 a year.”<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 14em;"><i>Decker’s Honest W.</i></span></td></tr></table> + +<p>Written during the fever of South Sea speculation, the skit of Jonathan +Swift, known as the “Bank of Swearing,” was one exceedingly felicitous +and well-timed. We are amused even now, as we read the prospectus of +this preposterous undertaking, at the extreme audacity with which the +would-be projector solemnly enumerates its advantages. Impossible and +altogether ludicrous as was the enterprise, it is not improbable that +many of the eager financiers of that speculative age fancied they saw +solid reason in the scheme. It is only to be hoped that they did not too +eagerly respond to the facilities for investment which the Swearers’ +Bank was reputed to hold out.</p> + +<p>The notion was simply that of a chartered bank established upon a novel +basis and financing upon an original principle. Such bank was in fact to +enjoy a monopoly of levying the fines which the laws of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> country +imposed upon swearing. Although these penalties had been rarely +inflicted, the mere circumstance of their being warranted by the +statute-book was regarded by the projector in the light of a mine of +latent wealth. A profitable banking concern once fairly in operation, +and backed by the security of these statutory imposts, what more could +the investor require for his capital?</p> + +<p>To convince the investing public of the merits of his scheme, he +proceeds to calculate the sums that might be realised by fully putting +the act into vigour. The neglected statute upon the basis of which the +whole of this superstructure was to be raised and the Bank of Swearing +endowed, was the act of the sixth and seventh year of William and Mary, +inflicting a penalty at the rate of not less than a shilling an +oath.<small><a name="f35.1" id="f35.1" href="#f35">[35]</a></small></p> + +<p>“It is computed by geographers,”—so argues the promoter—“that there +are two millions in the kingdom [Ireland], of which number there may be +said to be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> million of swearing souls. It is thought there may be five +thousand gentlemen. Every gentleman, taken one with another, may afford +to swear an oath every day, which will yearly produce one million eight +hundred and twenty-five thousand oaths; which number of shillings makes +the yearly sum of £91,250.</p> + +<p>“The farmers of this kingdom, who are computed to be ten thousand, are +able to spend yearly five hundred thousand oaths, which gives £25,000; +and it is conjectured that from the bulk of the people twenty or five +and twenty thousand pounds may be yearly collected.”</p> + +<p>The swearing capacity of the army is no less minutely investigated. In +the case of the militia, however, the promoter is disposed to recommend +either a partial immunity from the tax or else a scale of fines +considerably cheapened. To put the law in full force against militiamen, +at least so opines the promoter, would only be to fill the stocks with +porters and the pawnshops with accoutrements. So essential is this point +with him, that he makes direct appeal to his Protestant countrymen, +reminding them of the satisfaction it would afford the Papists to see a +most useful body of soldiery actually swear themselves out of their +Swords and muskets.</p> + +<p>Inclined to a politic leniency towards the military<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> classes, it would +seem that this ingenious projector looked mainly for his revenue to the +swearing dues that might be collected at wakes and fairings. The oaths +of a single Connaught fair, he has calculated, amount to upwards of +three thousand. “It is true,” he allows, “that it would be impossible to +turn all of them into money, for a shilling is so great a duty on +swearing, that if it were carefully exacted, the common people might as +well pretend to drink wine as to swear, and an oath would be as rare +among them as a clean shirt.” In this way the Reverend Dean rattles on. +He is pointing his satire both at the epidemic of financial adventure +then so fatally prevalent and at that incomprehensible leaning to the +use of “bad language” of which even he was so ready to avail himself +when it either suited his purpose or strengthened his style.</p> + +<p>The Dean can scarcely be supposed to have known that one of the many +proposals put before Lord Burghley in the very early days of political +economy, bore a close resemblance to his manner of handling oaths. A +Monsieur Rodenberg proposed to show how the revenue could be increased +to twenty millions of crowns, and part of his plan consisted in a +rigorous levy of fines on swearing. He further recommended that a +council of twelve “grave persons” should have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> the disposal of the fund, +which while unexpended should be put out to usury.<small><a name="f36.1" id="f36.1" href="#f36">[36]</a></small></p> + +<p>A recommendation of this kind urged upon Queen Elizabeth’s ministers was +very much in advance of English politics. It so far denotes a +turning-point in the history of swearing, that we cannot do better than +trace out what the future course of legislation was to be.</p> + +<p>Previous to the period we are now entering, a person addicted to +intemperate language might have been called to account by his church, or +at the bar of his own conscience. He could not have been called to +account by the State. The suggestion of State interference, so far as +concerns the southern division of this island, seems not to have +previously occurred, and we are consequently justified in inferring that +the necessity for it had never seriously arisen. There is, indeed, +complete cohesion and consistency in what was happening. We believe we +have shown elsewhere whence it was, and when it was, that the English +people first began to swear, and we are confirmed in our conclusions by +finding that this was the precise period at which English law-makers +began to legislate upon swearing.</p> + +<p>Passing over barbarous and obsolete laws of a more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> imperfect +civilisation, we find that the first essays in State control commenced +in Scotland. A full half century before the question came before +Elizabeth’s parliament, the sister kingdom had the benefit of a statute +inflicting a monetary penalty upon the use of oaths. This enactment, +passed by the Scottish parliament of 1551, calls for notice upon other +grounds besides those of morality. If a legal document can be said to +partake of a poetic character, it was certainly the case with this +ordinance of Queen Mary, which seems to have been directly inspired by +the metrical labours of William Dunbar, then lately the national poet.</p> + +<p>The verses of Dunbar to which this result can be partially attributed +are those known as ‘The Sweirers and the Devill.’ It is certainly +remarkable that the framers of the Act would seem to have prepared its +clauses with Dunbar’s poetry open before them. At all events, the +statute literally recites the “ugsome oaths” that are used by the old +versifier. There is a severity in the statute at which Dunbar himself +would have been surprised had he lived down to Mary’s reign. In +particular, it enacts that “a prelate of kirk, earl or lord,” shall for +the first offence be fined to the extent of twelve pennies, but for the +fourth the delinquent shall be banished or imprisoned for a year.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>Dunbar’s treatment of his subject is very similar to that of the +nameless author of the ‘Moralité des Blasphémateurs’ which we have +previously noticed. He supposes the devil to have assumed human shape, +an assumption which in those times would have been thought nothing out +of the way, and in that guise to be conversing with the traders in a +Lowland market. As is usual in these episodes, he invites them to join +him in the use of the most delectable oaths that he can lay before them. +The honest market-folk are so taken by his allurements that we have the +maltman, the goldsmith, the “sowter,” and the “fleshor” vieing with one +another in their choice of ribaldry. In this friendly contest, needless +to say, it is the parish priest who carries off the prize. One hopes +that his excuse was as valid as that of the monk in Rabelais. “How now,” +exclaims Ponocrates, “you swear, Friar John!” “It is only,” replies the +friar, “to grace and adorn my speech; it is the colour of a Ciceronian +rhetoric.”</p> + +<p>The place in literature left vacant by Dunbar was soon occupied by +Lindsay, the</p> + +<p class="poem">“Sir David Lindsay of the Mount<br /> +Lord Lion, king at arms,”</p> + +<p>whose name and titles are so familiar to the readers of Scott. He +likewise appears to have led up to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> impending legislation, if not +indeed to have been the immediate cause of it. His ‘Satyre of the Three +Estaitis,’ performed at Coupar in 1535, besides containing other +objectionable matter, is a wild medley of oaths.</p> + +<p>Apart from what was passing in and near the capital, the local +authorities from Glasgow to Aberdeen were up in arms against swearers +before any movement of the kind had taken place in the other division of +the island. To judge from the borough records of the former city,<small><a name="f37.1" id="f37.1" href="#f37">[37]</a></small> +the prevalency of the habit was a source of great scandal to the +presbytery of that town. The number of Janet Andersons and William +Crawfords who were arraigned before the high bailiff for offences of +this character is something considerable. At Aberdeen<small><a name="f38.1" id="f38.1" href="#f38">[38]</a></small> in 1592 the +attention of the council was specially engaged in repressing the +swearing of “horrible and execrable oaths.” They proceeded to put on +foot a system of fines, and with a degree of confidence that is hardly +commendable, they authorised the heads of families to keep a box in +which to place the mulcts they were empowered to inflict in their +households. Servants’ wages were liable to be taxed at the will of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +their masters, and wives’ pin-money at the instance of their lords. A +few years later the presbytery went further than even the magistracy had +already done. They directed the master of the house to keep a “palmer,” +or instrument for inflicting pain upon the palm of the open hand. This +we suppose to have been the last argument used against offenders whose +wages or whose pin-money had been sworn away. Altogether the attempt to +make people moral by Act of Parliament seems to have been productive of +much strife in Scotland, without securing, so far as can be perceived, +any positive gain. The Act of 1551, that under which the local and +spiritual authorities derived their powers, was further supplemented by +Acts of 1567 and 1581.</p> + +<p>We now arrive at the point at which legislation upon the subject was to +cross the border and take a prominent place in the counsels of King +James’ reign.</p> + +<p>We have seen that it was Queen Elizabeth’s godson Sir John Harington, +who first recorded the positive introduction of the damnatory oath. A +long time, however, must have elapsed before the bantling took heart of +grace and found strength to run alone. An examination of Elizabethan +writings does not conduce to the idea of the term having had a +widespread acceptation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> The reference we have given to the comedy of +Nat Field, ‘Amends for Ladies,’ tends to show that the British +shibboleth was still regarded as of exotic growth. The truth would seem +to be that the literature of the country, gross and abusive as it often +was, was singularly free from terms of this particular description, +while the conversation of the humbler orders was not so unexceptionable. +Already it had become a source of uneasiness to the Legislature. In 1601 +a measure was introduced into the Commons “against usual and common +swearing,” but, having been carried up to the Lords, it dropped after +the first reading. This would appear to have been the first attempt at +legislation on the subject.<small><a name="f39.1" id="f39.1" href="#f39">[39]</a></small> On the accession of James I. the topic +was again brought to the notice of the House, but the early Parliaments +of this reign were too much occupied with the work thrown upon them in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +consequence of the Gunpowder Treason to formulate any code for the +regulation of this abuse. Although no less than five separate bills, +having the prevention of swearing for their object, were presented +during the course of this reign, it was not until 1623 that an enactment +was finally carried defining and controlling the offence. The statute of +that year<small><a name="f40.1" id="f40.1" href="#f40">[40]</a></small> provided that every offender should forfeit the sum of +twelve pence. In default of payment the culprit was to be placed in the +stocks for three hours, or if under the age of twelve years was to be +severely whipped.</p> + +<p>The attack made by the Puritans upon performances of a dramatic nature +had resulted in a kindred piece of legislation especially affecting the +stage. By an Act<small><a name="f41.1" id="f41.1" href="#f41">[41]</a></small> passed in 1606 it was provided that a penalty of +10<i>l.</i> should be borne by every person who jestingly or profanely used +the name “of God, or of Christ Jesus, or the Holy Ghost, or of the +Trinity,” in any interlude, pageant or stage-play. It was in consequence +of the rigour of this enactment that Ben Jonson narrowly escaped a +prosecution for blasphemy. On the production of the ‘Magnetic Lady,’ the +language employed upon the stage gave great offence in legal quarters, +and the author was sent for from a sick-bed and severely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> questioned by +the Master of the Revels. An examination of the play will show the +charge, as against Jonson, to have been unfounded; even the author was +at a loss to understand the occasion for the accusation being preferred. +The actors in the piece were accordingly called together, and when +confronted with the dramatist, were forced to admit that the +objectionable expletives were those of their own supplying.</p> + +<p>When some months later the play of ‘The Wits’ was presented to the +licenser, previous to its production on the stage of the Blackfriars, +that dignitary was particularly careful to expunge all such passages as +struck him as unparliamentary. Sir William D’Avenant, the author of the +comedy, complained to the king of this exercise of the censorship, and +His Majesty, after reading the play for himself, negatived the decision +of the licenser. He ruled that the words “s’death,” “s’light,” and such +kindred terms, were asseverations merely, and not oaths. The court +functionary does not appear to have been any the more satisfied, and has +left an entry in his diary, submitting indeed to his master’s judgment, +but maintaining his own opinion. The play was returned to D’Avenant, +having the full sanction of the king, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> on its first production took +boat to the Blackfriars playhouse to witness the performance.<small><a name="f42.1" id="f42.1" href="#f42">[42]</a></small></p> + +<p>The stage has continued to enjoy a species of traditional immunity from +all the reprobation which swearing is presumed to incur. So long as the +action passing on the boards is in ever so remote a degree in affinity +with its supposed natural counterpart, and is suited with dialogue that +is fairly appropriate, the use of expletives is not omitted in deference +to the susceptibilities of an audience. The theatre may in some sense be +called a school of swearing, and in that capacity has frequently brought +upon itself the castigations of its appointed supervisors. Of all the +censors who from time to time have made a stand against this traditional +licence, George Colman is to be remembered as the most violent and the +most inconsistent.</p> + +<p>As a writer he had scandalised a whole generation of playgoers. The +‘Heir-at-Law’ and the ‘Poor Gentleman,’ comedies with which he has +permanently benefited stage literature, do not certainly halt at any +extreme. His very appointment as censor was due to the bottle-acquaintance +that had sprung up with the regent Prince of Wales. Yet so squeamish did +he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> become when once the official mantle had descended upon his shoulders, +that even the exclamations “lud!” and “la!” were ruthlessly expunged from +productions submitted to his censorship. The words “Oh, Providence!” were +also rigidly excised, and the very names of heaven and hell were flatly +condemned as savouring of irreverence.</p> + +<p>Says Mr. Dutton Cook, in treating of this feature of the Georgian +drama:—“Men swore in those days not meaning much harm or particularly +conscious of what they were doing, but as a matter of bad habit, in +pursuance of a custom certainly odious enough, but which they had not +originated and could hardly be expected immediately to overcome. In this +way malediction formed part of the manners of the time. How could these +be depicted upon the stage in the face of Mr. Colman’s new ordinance? +There was great consternation among actors and authors. Critics amused +themselves by searching through Colman’s own dramatic writings and +cataloguing the bad language they contained. The list was very +formidable. There were comminations and anathemas in almost every scene. +The matter was pointed out to him, but he treated it with indifference. +He was a writer of plays then, but now he was Examiner of Plays.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>The persecution under which Jonson suffered was due to the steady growth +of Puritan principles. Measures of austerity were speedily generated by +this ascetic philosophy; and among others we find that a scheme for +bringing oaths, in a liquidated shape, to the aid of the national +resources, was put into operation. Letters patent were granted in the +month of July 1635, for establishing a public department for enforcing +the laws against swearing. One Robert Lesley was appointed to the office +of chief inquisitor, and was authorised to take all necessary steps for +carrying out the act in every parish of the kingdom. Whatever moneys +might be realised were to be paid over to the bishops for the benefit of +the deserving poor. Lesley appointed deputies in the parishes, who, we +notice, were at liberty to deduct 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> in the £ for their pains. +A copy of one of these appointments to a London parish appears among the +State papers, but no balance-sheet from which we might learn something +of the “turn-over” of the office appears to be forthcoming.<small><a name="f43.1" id="f43.1" href="#f43">[43]</a></small></p> + +<p>With what feelings the army of the Parliament regarded this offence may +be gathered from two sentences passed upon offenders convicted under +military law. In March 1649, a quartermaster named<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> Boutholmey was tried +by council of war for uttering impious expressions. The man was found +guilty and condemned to have his tongue bored with a red-hot iron, his +sword broken over his head, and himself ignominiously dismissed the +service. In the following year a dragoon was similarly sentenced by +court-martial to be branded on the tongue.<small><a name="f44.1" id="f44.1" href="#f44">[44]</a></small> Even in districts removed +from martial severity the monetary tax on oath-taking was frequently +demanded. We perceive from a recent writer,<small><a name="f45.1" id="f45.1" href="#f45">[45]</a></small> who has collected the +ancient records of quarter sessions, that swearing was severely visited +upon the lieges of Somerset and Devon. John Huishe, of Cheriton, was +convicted for swearing twenty-two oaths. Humfrey Trevitt, for swearing +ten oaths, was adjudged to pay 33<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> for the use of the poor. +William Harding, of Chittlehampton, was held to be within the act of +swearing for saying “Upon my life,” and Thomas Buttand was fined for +exclaiming “On my troth!”</p> + +<p>To glance at Scotland at this time, we find the governing body enacting +laws of a more searching and stringent character than any that had +preceded them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> The Parliament of 1645 ordered that whoever should curse +or blaspheme should upon a second conviction be “censurable” in the +manner prescribed, that is, a nobleman should pay twenty pounds Scots, a +baron twenty marks, a gentleman ten marks. The Act anticipates the case +of a minister of religion coming under its provisions. The punishment in +that case was the forfeit of the first part of his year’s stipend. In +1649 a further enactment was passed, the previous one being admittedly +too lenient, and in the same session the offence of cursing a parent was +made punishable by sentence of death. It is certainly curious to witness +the extremes to which the Scottish nation were prepared to go in +legislating against the commission of this offence. In 1650, when the +country was rushing to arms to resist the invasion of Cromwell, an Act +of Parliament was prepared which disqualified for command all officers +who were addicted to swearing.</p> + +<p>The code which, in this country, had proved sufficient for the Puritans +remained in force until the manners of the Restoration had rendered +further legislation imperative. This took the shape of the statute of +William and Mary, by which, as we have seen, the Dean of St. Patrick’s +was so greatly exhilarated. After an interval of some fifty years the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +interference of Parliament was again felt to be necessary, and an Act of +George II. was passed which still regulates the law upon the subject of +swearing.<small><a name="f46.1" id="f46.1" href="#f46">[46]</a></small></p> + +<p>The preamble admits that the existing laws were not sufficiently +powerful to meet the circumstances for which they were designed. A more +onerous scale of penalties was to be prescribed, commencing with a fine +of one shilling in the case of a labourer, and rising to five shillings +in the case of a swearer of gentleman’s degree. That this measure should +not want for publicity, it was ordered to be read quarterly in every +church and chapel throughout the kingdom.</p> + +<p>A curious instance of punishment for neglect of this saving provision, +is noticed in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for 1772. In July of that year +a rich vicar and a poor curate were condemned to pay into the hands of +the proper officer a sum of 15<i>l.</i> for neglecting to read in church the +Act against swearing. This clause was only repealed by an enactment of +the present century.</p> + +<p>We have some means of knowing whether the fines recoverable under this +statute were in point of fact actually inflicted, and from the +importance attached by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> the public prints to the decisions of +magistrates on this head, we are justified in thinking that the statute +was very rarely put into requisition. In the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for +July 1751 we read that a woman convicted of uttering a profane oath and +unable to defray the shilling penalty, was sentenced to ten days’ hard +labour in Bridewell. In December of the same year a tradesman was +committed for a matter of three hundred and ninety oaths, the fines +amounting to upwards of 20<i>l.</i>, which he was unable to pay. Convictions +under the statute were at this time seriously attracting public +attention. That the calculations of Dean Swift should not be altogether +lost to the world, one rigid economist practically entertained the +notion of adding to the national resources by preaching a crusade +against the opulent classes of swearers. There was a Mr. Matthew +Towgood, who in 1746 prepared a treatise ‘Upon the Prophane and Absurd +use of the Monosyllable Damn.’ It is enough to say that neither +imagination nor research seem to have been the especial gift of Mr. +Towgood. It is a whining piece of work, in which the author gravely +informs us that he had taken up his residence at a seaport town in order +the more closely to observe the impious language of the sailors. We +should, however, do the author the justice to refer to the one +distinctive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> experience he seems to have gathered in his marine retreat. +He had discovered,—so at least he solemnly assures us,—that the +monosyllable in question was a “hortatory expression” by which the +chaplains in His Majesty’s navy were accustomed to summon British seamen +to their prayers.</p> + +<p>But much as it enters into the penal administration of the seventeenth +century, there is little to indicate that the vice was countenanced in +high places, or that it was seriously regarded as a pardonable incident +pertaining to the enjoyments of men of rank. That crowning distinction +seems to have been reserved for the age of Anne and the first sovereigns +of the house of Brunswick. Then it was that the insular propensity grew +impudent and headstrong, and soon became a power in the land. It is only +probable that the moral relapse that followed the Restoration may have +given the first impetus to the ascendancy of this invigorating habit. +Charles II. is said to have taught his ladies to swear like parrots, but +oaths were still only the plaything and not part of the serious business +of the Court. The Foppingtons and Clumsys were scrupulously nice in +their methods of affirmation, but it was publicly recognised that their +swearing was a mere theatrical device, and that they either swore like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +cavaliers or swore like chambermaids. The acme had not even then been +reached. That point was only attained in the age when Duchess +Marlborough found disguise impossible by reason of her oaths. In the +matter of swearing the courtiers of the Stuarts may have demeaned +themselves like Mantalinis, but the giants of a later day swore home. An +obscure American clergyman, having undertaken a voyage across the +Atlantic to solicit alms for a pious foundation in Virginia, and urging +that the people of that state had souls to be saved as well as their +brethren in England, was met with the rejoinder from King William’s +attorney-general, “Souls! damn your souls! make tobacco!”</p> + +<p>In the year 1700 there was founded the Society for the Reformation of +Manners. It had for one of its prime objects the entire suppression of +oath-taking. The society seems to have enrolled members distinguished +alike for a laxity of their own morals and a tender solicitude for the +welfare of other people’s. The King Consort, “Est-il-possible,” was +persuaded to become a fellow, and was induced to put forth a howling +manifesto upon the iniquities of the age. This exordium was publicly +read at Bow Church. What with openly declaiming against the hideousness +of vice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> and proceeding criminally against its professors, the society +convinced the diarist Evelyn that they were working a complete +reformation in the habits of the community.</p> + +<p>The building of Saint Paul’s Cathedral was proceeding at this time, and +the work necessarily employed a large body of labourers and workmen, +who, as things were and are, were not scrupulously delicate in the +choice of words. Nevertheless, it was the particular care of the +builders that not one offensive word should be used during the progress +of the work.<small><a name="f47.1" id="f47.1" href="#f47">[47]</a></small> Sir Christopher Wren framed rules which made a +delinquency in this respect liable to be so summarily visited that it +has been the boast of many earnest and slightly credulous people that +the mighty fabric was piled up without an oath being spoken. The society +certainly did good work if they had any hand in this result.</p> + +<p>In spite of the society, the question of swearing and its prevalent +grossness seems to have attracted the attention of the civil courts of +law at this time. In a number of Applebee’s Journal for 1723, some +account is given of a certain Abel Boyer, an infamous scribbler and +notorious swearer of the day. It seems he had threatened some of his +fellow journalists with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> pains of libel because they had done him +simple justice in referring to the comminations he was accustomed to use +in speech. Before commencing his suit, Abel prudently sought the advice +of counsel, contending that his trifling derelictions did not partake of +the colour of blasphemy. The lawyers accordingly gave it against Mr. +Boyer, advising that his “goddams” and kindred expletives came entirely +within the prohibited pale. In March 1718, there is another instance of +swearing being food for Westminster Hall, as appears from the <i>Flying +Post</i>, the prominent Whig journal of the day. Mr. Richard Burridge, a +scurrilous newsman attached to the <i>British Gazetteer</i>, had been tried +at Hicks’s Hall for addiction to blasphemous expressions, too shocking, +says the <i>Post</i>, to be named. Burridge was very properly convicted, +although a strong presentation was made in his favour, that when sober a +better conducted man did not exist. To account for this person’s +unfortunate relapse, it was urged that he was “excessively drunk,” a +consideration that so weighed with the tribunal, that they passed upon +him what was admitted on all hands to be a most moderate sentence. +Burridge was ordered to take up a position at the New Church in the +Strand and to be from there publicly whipped to Charing Cross. Further, +he was to pay a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> fine of twenty shillings and be imprisoned for a month. +Thenceforward a paper war was waged between the two political divisions +of journalism. The Tories professed to see the Whig journalists +stigmatised by the disgrace of one of their number, and the great Daniel +Defoe cast censure upon them and upon Burridge from <i>Mist’s Journal</i>, +the Tory paper he conducted.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p>And so, pursued by judgments of court and branded with letters of +infamy, it would seem to have been a very desperate time for these +unfortunate swearers. The profession of the pen was likely enough to +rankle under this load of aspersion, were it not that a more genial +influence had arisen that was bent upon remedying rather than provoking +offences. For while the leaders of opinion were playing their intensest +game of political intrigue, while poets were occupied with the trade of +admiration, and divines with the trade of subserviency, there arose in +England a gentler and more captivating literature of reproval, that laid +its generous laws upon men the most intolerant and the most prurient. We +allude to that more benevolent code of morality inaugurated by Joseph Addison.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<div class="note"><p>“<i>Lackwit.</i> Now do I want some two or three good oaths to express +my meaning withall. An they would but learn me to swear and take +tobacco! ’tis all I desire.”—‘<i>A fine Companion</i>,’ <i>by Shackerley +Marmion</i>, 1633.</p></div> + +<p>This one voice of kindly censure was that of a man incapable of a +literary mistake. Whatever his own personal blunders, it was impossible +for Joseph Addison to err in a point of literary judgment. Although +wedded to the society of men of taste and perception, it was no part of +his purpose to remove himself from contact with the coarsest of human +ware. The tolerance he exhibited in ordinary intercourse reflects itself +in the labours of his pen. In his philanthropies, as in his severities +or his rebukes, he assumes no tinge of sanctity, no moralist’s +sad-coloured robe. He is familiar, and in a manner identified, with the +very follies he is so generously decrying. The society into which he +went was disposed to be exceedingly lenient to fashionable excesses. And +thus it was that in the fulness of his wisdom, it pleased him to be of +good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> accord with priest and prelate as with the very movers and +seconders of iniquity.</p> + +<p>And so, in the consideration of any social folly of his time and ours, +we are in a moment impelled to ask—What does Mr. Spectator say to this; +or gentle Master Tatler? Even in the present inquiry there can be no +reasonable doubt of their competency to give us testimony. Addison may +have heard as many and as furious oaths as any man of his time. His ways +were beset by inveterate and uncontrollable swearers. His friend Steele +had a tongue that was foolish enough, heaven knows; and when he was wont +to meet with Swift in St. James’ Coffee House, may he not too often have +been assailed with language needlessly expressive? What cronies he must +have had! what lads he must have known! He had seen all the tearing +fellows of the day—the three-bottle men at the October Club, the young +blood of the shires who rode into the gap at Blenheim. He could have +remembered the roughest livers of King Charles’ time, Sedley and +Rochester, Bully Dawson and Fighting Fitzgerald. He was surrounded with +bravado and devilry, with all the disbanded sins of the Flanders +regiments. For these were the days of Ramilies and Malplaquet, when the +nation was intoxicated with her meed of victory; when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> his Grace of +Marlborough won the country’s battles, and his Lord of Peterborough +scattered sovereigns from his chariot to show the people he was <i>not</i> +the Duke of Marlborough. It was a time of great profusion and great +excess, in curses as in everything else.</p> + +<p>And so, Joseph Addison, though living in the flighty times you did, +there can be no doubt of the quiet evenness of your ways, or how jovial +were the companions who shook you by the fist. But how you drilled and +moulded them, how you held and swayed them by the force of your bright +intelligence, how shall we who never heard your voice be able to +determine? Happily in the pages of the ‘Tatler’ and ‘Spectator’ there is +stored up for us the best and rarest of that quiet wisdom. No matter +whether the night were studious or riotous, there arrives the punctual +morning sheet with its offering of sober satire and sprightly sense. He +goes about his task of persuading and humanising as gaily as a man might +set out to laugh at a comedy. He mounts his best ruffles and his finest +tunic as he sits down to write his homily.</p> + +<p>It is with no halting, staid, discriminative pen that he descants upon +the pleasantries and follies, the very reference to which give life and +colour to a weary argument. By the aid of these threads of human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +sentiment we fancy we come the closer to him in his musings and his +wanderings, now hieing, as he does, to the pantiles or the playhouse, +now to the Temple Stairs or Vauxhall Gardens. Posterity takes delight in +reversing the footsteps of its favourites. It attempts to return with +them to the scenes which they themselves have left for good so long ago. +And so with Addison, we accustom ourselves to see him mixing in a crowd +of masquers and dominos, or supping in upper chambers with ministers of +state and tavern wits. The fancy is a harmless one, and not far removed +from reality. Imagine, therefore, Mr. Joseph Addison at +Hockley-in-the-Hole or at Cupar’s Gardens, but be sure that to-morrow’s +sermon will want nothing of its grace and sparkle because inspired +over-night in a mug-house parlour.</p> + +<p>Addison has in fact conceived and transmitted to us some of the loftiest +notions ever formed of a Deity, and of the unending trespass against +divine law. Among surroundings possibly resonant with ribaldry, he could +reflect, as few before him have so impartially and equably reflected, +how much of vileness is to be set down to the score of thoughtlessness +and inanity, how much to a high-handed defiance of the Master he owns. +One number of the ‘Spectator,’ that of November 8th,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> 1711, sends forth +the sternest challenge to the government of error. Few other secular +works have made so moderate and at once so eloquent a protest. Adapting +the notion of Locke that the unaided realisation of the Deity is formed +by observation of the qualities we should desire to find in ourselves, +but sublimated by the notion of infinity attaching to each of them, +Addison proceeds to argue a state of veneration being the normal +condition of the mental frame. The horror that is conceived by a child, +or, as it may be, by a grown man, at the jarring dissonance of an oath +is nothing else than a sense of injury dealt out to this deeply-rooted +conviction. A condition of reverence being thus inherent, it follows +that the images which reason has unconsciously reared must meet with +some disturbing shock before they can be impaired or dismembered. But +the blow once fairly delivered, the victim of the assault in too many +cases passes out into the ranks of the assailants. The boundary line +between the state of abhorrence and the succeeding one of aggression is +so faint that it may almost imperceptibly be overpassed, and is apt to +become the more obscure with growth of years.</p> + +<p>The danger is so easily incurred by even right-thinking men, that +Addison enjoins perfect abstinence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> from the passing mention of the name +of the Deity, instancing the Jewish prohibition which forbad its use +even in professedly religious discourses. And in this point of +veneration, we shall find the practice of Judæa to have been more +precise than anything that is recorded of a nation. Apart from the high +deliberative swearing that was so severely visited by the Mosaic law, +the use of most unmeaning and flippant particles was met with signal +retribution. The man who standing in the Syrian market-place made +mention of the holy name in reference to the common incidents of the +day—to the lusciousness of the melons, the knavery of the merchants—a +mere impatient whisper, perhaps, in all the hubbub of the fair, was +instantly deprived of civil rights. He had lost all power of intercourse +or conversation. He could not appear at a feast of three or a +congregation of ten; he could not mourn for a brother or bury a child. +The sentence was only removed after thirty days of expiation.</p> + +<p>In the ‘Spectator’ of May 6th, in the same year, he recounts an +experiment supposed to have been successfully practised in a company of +hardened swearers. A host is presented as having invited to his table as +many of his friends as were conspicuous for their proficiency in +swearing. He takes the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>precaution to station a shorthand writer in a +concealed part of the room. The repast, as may be supposed, was rendered +terrific by the unceasing clatter of oaths, but as soon as it had ended, +the Amphytrion ushered in the scribe, who proceeded to read aloud the +faithful report he had taken down. The writer, it would seem, had filled +many sheets with this animated conversation, but this was found to be so +interspersed with swearing redundancies that the whole might have been +summarised in a single page. The perusal of the document, we are +informed, so far brought conviction to the minds of the swearers, that +they forthwith began to work with a will to amend their lives and their +vocabulary.</p> + +<p>The indignation of our essayist is without doubt most powerfully aroused +at the inadvertent use that was made of the sacred name. “What can we +think,” he exclaims, “of those who make use of so tremendous a name in +the ordinary expressions of their anger, mirth, and most impertinent +passions? of those that admit it into the most familiar questions and +assertions, ludicrous phrases and works of humour?” And then, as if +recollecting that gentlemanly example was the one rule to which the +squires and politicians at Button’s or the Kitcat would most readily +submit, he instances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> a person of position, who, during a long life, was +never known to omit a gesture of reverence at the mention of the Deity. +It is a noticeable point in the gossiping moralist that he always +carefully guards himself from passing upon his readers the affront, for +such it would have been esteemed, of directing their attention to the +qualities of persons in a presumably lesser position than themselves.</p> + +<p>On the whole Mr. Spectator has perhaps done wisely in humouring as well +as reprobating. The temper of the times required something less +ponderous than the invective of the older school of moralists, and this +was the very want that a man of Addison’s temperament was best able to +supply. The confidence reposed in his readers was not misplaced. The +banter and the satire of these graceful essays are acknowledged to be +reflected in the mended morality of the whole body of subsequent +literature.</p> + +<p>If we mistake not, there is the same improvement soon to be witnessed in +every department, in the national life of the nation as well as the +private life of the citizen. In part attributable to the politic sway of +the Walpole government, in part to the tincture of politeness and good +breeding that these polished penmen had striven to disseminate, there +is, for a time at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> least, a marked absence of rancour and strife of +tongues.</p> + +<p>The fires of the Puritan faction had smouldered out; those of the +Jacobite frenzy had hardly had time to rekindle. That spirit of minute +controversy which had never ceased to divide both court and city since +the days of Martin Mar-prelate was at length at rest. In this somewhat +remarkable lull we find very little giving or taking of abuse. So far as +social records are a guide, there seems even to be a calm in the usual +tempest of swearing.</p> + +<p>But towards the middle of the eighteenth century comes the relapse. +Jacobitism had blazed again. The factions were relit. Controversy wagged +its tongue as before. Everywhere are evidences of want and misery, of +low sedition and of strong drink. The tipsy Duke of Cumberland is the +hero whose graces we are to admire. The ‘Guards’ march to Finchley’ is +the picture which may be trusted to convey a portraiture of the manners +of the times. It is precisely at this conjuncture that Parliament +enacted the last and most stringent of the measures by which it sought +to place an embargo upon swearing. In the use of coarse and violent +language women competed with the men. In 1756 on the occasion of the +memorable trial concerning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> the fair fame of the Countess of Grosvenor, +the letters of this lady were produced and read in court. We have Horace +Walpole’s authority for saying that the oaths with which they were +plentifully besprinkled were far more masculine than they can be said to +have been tender. The prince of the blood to whom they were addressed +could swear volubly too, and his oaths we may feel assured were neither +masculine nor tender.</p> + +<p>We of this generation can scarcely have any adequate notion of what the +swearing has been which has prevailed in this country at different +periods, and more particularly in the latter part of the reign of George +II. So popular and so ungovernable was the habit, that there is hardly +any rational means to be found for accounting for it. At this time there +lived in an obscure village in Sussex a decent, well-to-do tradesman, +whose shop, well stocked with broadcloth and homespun, was a centre of +commerce for miles around. He was known to be a thriving man, and seems +to have taken a leading part in the administration of parish affairs. +Business was not so burdensome but that he found time to attend at every +festive gathering, and to keep a well-written chronicle of his own and +his neighbours’ doings. This diary has of late years been unearthed, and +a very pretty story it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> has to tell of the <i>bourgeois</i> manner of life +towards the meridian of the century.<small><a name="f48.1" id="f48.1" href="#f48">[48]</a></small> One entry will speak for many +of the same character.</p> + +<p>“February 5th, 1759.—In the evening I went down to the vestry; there +was no business of moment to transact, but oaths and imprecations seemed +to resound from all sides of the room. I believe if the penalty were +paid assigned by the legislature by every person that swears that +constitute our vestry, there would be no need to levy any tax to +maintain our poor.”</p> + +<p>The outbreak must have reached an unprecedented point when we find the +president of quarter sessions, Sir John Fielding, alluding to it in the +charge to the grand jury delivered at the Guildhall in April, 1763. No +language can be stronger than that of Sir John—“I cannot sufficiently +lament,” he says “that shameful, inexcusable and almost universal +practice of profane swearing in our streets; a crime so easy to be +punished, and so seldom done, that mankind almost forget it to be an +offence, and to our dishonour be it spoken, it is almost peculiar to the +English nation.”</p> + +<p>A state of things like this would seem to have given<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> rise to a singular +communication addressed to the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine.’ The writer lays +the whole blame upon the clergy; they have offered a direct +encouragement to swearing by declaring it a sin. He recommends that +divines in future should describe it as a virtue, which, he says, may be +as easily done as saying the contrary, and he will answer for the +success of the experiment. A clergyman of his acquaintance, continues +the writer, had already carried this bit of precept into use. To +convince the congregation that swearing was far from being a sin, this +gentleman constantly practised it in his own discourses. There might +indeed be some doubt here which was the worse, the remedy or the +disease.</p> + +<p>The imprecations that are so severely censured by Fielding are a totally +different thing from the imprecations patronised by Lady Grosvenor, if +we are to understand the oaths of the populace to have been the hideous +and unsightly objects presented for condemnation to the Middlesex jury. +And here we hardly need point out the distinction between swearing when +at its earnest, and swearing when at its play. In numberless courts and +alleys, in the sinks and hiding-places of a great city, we may be sure +there are innumerable spots where oaths and imprecations never for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> a +moment are laid aside. They are as punctual and as regular as the +ticking of a clock. No word is uttered that has not its accompaniment of +an oath; no bread broken that is not devoured with cursing. For why? +Human nature is at all times bent upon possessing, and upon increasing +what it has acquired. The very act of producing is sufficient to uphold +the equilibrium of the mental frame. But this same nature, when pinched +and starved, becomes a perfect storehouse of enmity and ill-feeling. +Among the denizens of these holes and crannies humanity has been driven +very hard. It has been crushed and bruised to a point beyond endurance. +The possibility of possessing is very faint, that of enjoying still more +remote. No graceful thing—no pleasant thing, can readily come to its +hand. Yet there is one chattel they <i>can</i> possess when every stick and +stone is denied them. They can be tenacious of their swearing. See how +manifestly useful a thing it is! It can give a man an eloquence where +none would otherwise belong to him. It can set him up with a semblance +of bodily strength, when otherwise he would be puny and fragile. He can +assail authorities, and they dare not answer. He can drown down the +voice of missionaries, and they are halting in reproval. There are +beings so dejected—so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> penurious—that this swearing constitutes their +whole store of worldly opulence. They know it too, in a fashion, +although it has never been told them and they themselves are incapable +of the telling.</p> + +<p>So much for swearing when in grim earnest; how are we to account for it +in its transition to sport and play? Unless we are greatly mistaken, +there has entered into its composition a spirit of broad humour which +has, in a manner, rendered it attractive, if not positively amusing. +Were we to put the whole body of bad language to a judicial trial, we +should in fairness be compelled to admit the extenuating circumstance of +a time-expired claim to the mock-heroic and the ludicrous. It certainly +does not sparkle now, but it must have come of a witty stock, and have +boasted a mirth-provoking pedigree. To have rendered itself so +particularly palatable as it has done, like many other kinds of verbal +folly, it can only have taken its rise in a perverted spirit of +merriment.</p> + +<p>To apply words, and more especially adjectives, in an unwonted and +unusual sense is one of the arts which go a long way to make +conversation agreeable. To do this with taste, and without corrupting or +annihilating the meaning of the word, demands a certain amount of +literary skill. To do so at any price frequently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> demands skill, and is +always fraught with consequences of some kind to the listener. Most of +these perversions of highly respectable words have now become so trite +that they pass unchallenged. The verb “to bag,” for instance, is in +jocular use for implying a petty appropriation of property. It must of +course at some time have been forcibly wrested from the language of +sportsmen, and no doubt with this circumstance secretly underlying it, +has been productive, and will be again, of general good-humour. Such +another <i>tour de phrase</i> is met with in the verb “to charter.” This +originally had reference to the hiring of a ship; but when we hear of +chartering a fly, or chartering a stretcher, there certainly arises an +odd sense of the incongruous. We are far from saying that the merriment +in these cases is acute, but we contend that this kind of pleasantry is +at the bottom of every phrase or catchword obtaining universal +acceptance.</p> + +<p>Examples might be multiplied of this wanton abduction of words. The not +very polite expression “the damage,” as signifying the cost of any +article of purchase, is one which upon frequent repetition may fail to +strike the mind as containing any element of humour. But recollecting +the wide region the imagination has to traverse in order to connect the +idea of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> detriment with the idea of price, we are disposed to allow that +this mental circuit is enlivened with some shreds of grotesque imagery. +Indeed, a large and by no means contemptible portion of the world have +derived a high degree of enjoyment from the simple confusion and +dislocation of terms. Nothing is more frequent than to find a catch-word +ostensibly of no kind of intelligence being exchanged by delighted +youths across half the desks and counters of the metropolis. The +flippant use of oaths is so far practically explained; the colloquial +habit of imputing to unoffending objects a condition of damnation +passing in the light of a fairly respectable joke. Joke indeed there is +none, but it is the popular repute or suspicion of a jest that exercises +this fascination. It is noticeable that a provincial audience witnessing +one of Colman’s or Sheridan’s comedies is more genuinely amused by the +“zounds” and “dammes” uttered in provoking situations by testy speakers, +than by all the polish of epigram and dialogue.</p> + +<p>As further illustrating this latent element of humour, which has helped +to perpetuate the practice of purposeless swearing, we may be permitted +to refer to an occurrence that befell us when, some number of years ago, +we happened to be taking a humble part in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> legal inquiry at a county +assizes. The case was one in which, let us say, Moribundus was +plaintiff, and the Juggernaut Railway Company were defendants. It is not +necessary to refer to the business of the dispute further than to say +that the plaintiff had been shattered almost beyond recovery, and that +our province it was to help to prove to demonstration the utter +untrustworthiness of the story relied upon by Moribundus. The repast +that succeeded the inquiry more nearly concerns us; the lawyers, the +London doctor, and the local practitioner having agreed thus to +celebrate the evening. We do not recollect that the company were at all +disposed to fraternity, as a degree of professional acrimony seemed to +preside at that feast. In the course of dinner, one of the party, +looking round the board, happens to inquire, “Where’s the damned +mustard?” No particular notice is taken of this remark, until presently +one of the legal gentlemen solemnly observes, “Where’s the damned salt?” +We do not attempt to explain it, but a sudden sense of the ludicrous +instantly overcame the men of law and medicine assembled at the +<i>Fleece</i>. This incongruous and perfectly irrelevant joinder of words, +while it revealed the source from which amusement was supposed to flow, +was at the same time a potent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> satire upon the practice of a +disreputable art. It was taking the name of swearing itself in vain. It +substituted for any closer argument the incisive logic of ridicule.</p> + +<p>It occurs to us to notice that Shakespeare, who was certainly alive to +the hidden springs of swearing, has conceived the notion of winging much +the same folly with a precisely similar shaft. It had been the fashion +among the gay Ephesians of Eastcheap, during Elizabeth’s reign, to swear +by their honour. “Where learnt you that oath, fool?” asks Rosalind. “Of +a certain knight,” returns Touchstone, “who swore by his honour they +were good pancakes.”</p> + +<p>With these examples of compromise before us, it becomes almost a matter +for regret that there should remain so large a body of protectionists +whose resentment at anything savouring of an oath is perhaps one of the +surest means of perpetuating swearing. Among the severest codes devised +to check the progress of the vice was that designed by the Puritan +settlers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. These Blue Laws, as they were +called, aimed at establishing an almost theocratic form of government. +Adopting the polity of Great Britain as a standpoint, these enactments +went considerably further and sought to remodel that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> system upon the +basis of the severest of Jewish ordinances. Among offences to which the +Puritan mind would seem to have been especially averse are to be +numbered those of swearing and tobacco-smoking. In the case of the +latter, however, retribution was only visited upon the after-generation +of smokers. People who had already acquired the habit were free to +continue in it for the days of their life. In the case of swearing, +needless to say, no such licence was extended, convicted swearers being +liable to be dealt with according to the gravity of the offence. The +penalty seems to have been rated in some instances as low as a fine of +five shillings, and to have amounted in others to the punishment of death.</p> + +<p>In all countries enactments have been levelled against the excesses of +ejaculation, but the true instruments for keeping them in bounds, +assuming there to be an actual necessity for such treatment, has been +shown to be the voice of ridicule and the keen banter of satire. +Moralists of the pattern of the law-givers of Connecticut would probably +be found to take exception to the oaths of Bobadil, and would condemn +‘Every Man in his Humour’ as a licentious work. It does not however need +argument to show that the mere fact of the redoubted Bobadil taking +credit to himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> for his freaks with the fourth commandment, forms one +of the strongest inducements to respect that prohibition. But in view of +any latent admiration being lurking in any portion of his auditory, +Jonson has contrived a foil in the person of Master Stephen. This is a +vain-glorious, empty parasite, whose clumsy imitation of the Captain is +certainly calculated to put his hearers out of all sympathy with his +model. So captivated is this apt disciple with Bobadil’s string of +expletives, that he is found anxiously inquiring whether he also may +swear <i>en militaire</i>. “Certainly,” says the sagacious Well-bred, “if, as +I remember, your name is entered in the Artillery Garden.”</p> + +<p>Bobadil “swore the legiblest of any man christened.” The field, however, +has not been suffered to be left without competitors. To see how +persistent has been the struggle for reputation in the matter as well as +manner of swearing, we have only to turn to the well-known dialogue in +Sheridan’s comedy:</p> + +<p>“<i>Absolute.</i> But pray, Bob, I observe you have got an odd kind of a new +method of swearing.</p> + +<p>“<i>Acres.</i> Ha! ha! you’ve taken notice of it—’tis genteel, isn’t it? I +didn’t invent it myself though, but a commander in our militia, a great +scholar I assure you, says that there is no meaning in the common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +oaths, and that nothing but their antiquity makes them respectable; +because, he says, the ancients would never stick to an oath or two, but +would say, By Jove! or by Bacchus!—by Mars! or by Pallas! according to +the sentiment, so that to swear with propriety, says my little major, +the oath should be an echo of the sense; and this we call the oath +referential, or sentimental swearing—ha! ha! ’tis genteel, isn’t it?</p> + +<p>“<i>Absolute.</i> Very genteel, and very new, indeed!—and I daresay will +supplant all other figures of imprecation.</p> + +<p>“<i>Acres.</i> Ay, ay, the best terms will grow obsolete. Damns have had +their day.”<small><a name="f49.1" id="f49.1" href="#f49">[49]</a></small></p> + +<p>We are not aware whether it has been noticed how closely this passage is +foreshadowed by dialogue occurring in a much earlier play. Both turn +upon the notion of a species of property being acquired in set forms of +swearing. The play in question is from the pen of Richard Brome, and is +further useful to our purpose as showing that this eccentricity had not +abated in the interval that elapsed between Jonson and Sheridan. Under +the title of ‘Covent Garden Weeded,’ it exposes the riotous doings that +prevailed in that joyous locality. It was to cleanse this new +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>plantation of the human nettles and creepers that found shelter in its +precincts that the drama purports to have been designed. The builders +had just completed the spacious piazza which occupies a portion of the +site of the convent garden formerly existing there. Among the rollicking +societies that were springing up in this new settlement, was one known, +at least in the comedy, as the “Brothers of the Blade and the Batoon.” +One scene in this play discloses the brethren in a state of carnival. +They are engaged in passing a novice into the ranks of the order, their +captain thus exhorting the new-comer as to their social code:—</p> + +<p>“<i>Captain.</i> I have given you all the rudiments and my most fatherly +advice withall.</p> + +<p>“<i>Clot.</i> And the last is that I should not swear; how make you that +good?</p> + +<p>“<i>Captain.</i> That’s most unnecessary, for look you, the best, and even +the lewdest of my sons do forbear it, not out of conscience, but for +very good ends, and instead of an oath, furnish the mouth with some +affected protestation. <i>As I am honest!</i> it is so. <i>I am no honest man!</i> +if it be not. <i>’Ud take me!</i> if I lie to you. <i>Nev’rigo! nev’rstir! I +vow!</i> and such like.</p> + +<p>“<i>Clot.</i> I’ll have <i>I vow</i>, then.</p> + +<p>“<i>Nick.</i> Nay, but you shall not, that’s mine.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>“<i>Clot.</i> Can’t you lend it me now and then, brother?”</p> + +<p>It would almost seem, from the evidence of the several passages we have +had occasion to refer to, as if the various diversities of character and +occupation had engendered a spirit of competition in the assumption of +oaths. Whether scholar or soldier, knight or citizen, each man, +according to his degree, is burning to distinguish himself by some +distinctive and eccentric form of swearing. The asseverations employed +by the Shallows and Slanders are as limpid and as timorous as those of +Falstaff and Bardolph are downright and headstrong. Hotspur, as we have +seen, reproaches Lady Percy for swearing like a comfit-maker’s wife. +With the rest of the Percies he had lived in Aldersgate Street, and had +probably contracted an aversion to everything savouring of the vulgar +life of a great city. How defiant and versatile were the expletives of +the old French nobility, we may learn from the pages of Brantôme. When +seeking to convey a flattering portrait of his father, François de +Bourdeilles, he does not omit to impress us with the importance of his +oaths. Playing backgammon with Pope Jules II., his form of adjuration +was <i>Chardieu bénit!</i> when he lost, and <i>Chardon bénit!</i> when he won.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>In Elizabethan England a ridiculous notion prevailed among town society, +associating the idea of good breeding with the use, by way of oath, of +the word “protest.” Such an affirmation was understood to raise the +presumption of quality in the person who used it. Says Carlo Buffone, +“Ever, when you can, have two or three peculiar oaths to swear by, that +no man else swears, and above all protest.” Neither is Shakespeare +silent upon this fashionable eccentricity. The Nurse in ‘Romeo and +Juliet’ is instantly won over to the side of the Veronese lover the +moment he utters “I protest,” and no longer harbours a doubt of his +principles. We see her desirous of communicating to her mistress this +single expression of gentlemanhood without concerning herself about the +more weighty portion of Romeo’s message. This is, perhaps, almost +beneath the dignity of the love-story, but we have to regard it as a +relic. We must understand the allusion as a piece of chaff administered +to the gallants and templars who sported their fine clothes and broached +their oaths and their jests seated upon the very stage where the +performers were playing. A passage in a contemporary, entitled ‘Sir +Giles Goosecap,’ affords a key to the especial estimation in which the +term then happened to be held:—“There is not the best duke’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> son in +France dares say <i>I protest</i> till he be one-and-thirty years old at +least, for the inheritance of that word is not to be possessed before.”</p> + +<p>Not only do we view these allusions as relics, but we may as justly +consider them in the light of literary fossils. The aim and intention of +the author have become petrified. It is, in fact, only by the help of +study and appreciation that the true shape and proportion of the idea +can be adequately revealed. But search beneath the crust of this +intellectual spoil-bank, and there will be seen those slight, if +somewhat corroded indications which disclose the humour and the temper +of a forgotten age. These inconsequent oaths and no less +incomprehensible bywords, fit only now-a-days to undetermine critics and +to baffle commentary, are really the reflection of a tinsel finery that +was no doubt borne aloft and bravely carried in its day. The explanation +for this is simple. The player, to be well in with his patrons, had to +turn the laugh from side to side, to give a thrust here and a buffet +there, just as the mood or the opportunity dictated. It is this easy +familiarity with audiences which has filled our play-books with such +store of meaningless or half-meaningless expressions. Not that their +supposed want of meaning is more than co-extensive with their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> apparent +want of purpose. Once re-animated with a design, and that of ever so +trivial a character, and their significance stands out in relief. When, +as frequently happens in our reading, we encounter oaths of the pattern +which Shakespeare ascribes to the youth of Verona, we may feel sure we +have fallen upon some passing home-thrust, some spectral blow, +delivered, as it were, among now ghostly antagonists.</p> + +<p>Thus we find that in the town life of the more favoured days of Charles +I. it was a common affectation to use the words “refuse me,” much as the +Elizabethan dandies made mention of the word “protest.” We see this +indicated by several examples of contemporary raillery, and particularly +in the play of ‘Match at Midnight,’ in which the lordlings of the time +are described as “those wicked elder brothers, that swear, <i>refuse +them!</i> and drink nothing but wicked sack.”</p> + +<p>So at other periods we find other combinations doing yeoman service in +this particular; as, for instance, in Killigrew’s play ‘The Parson’s +Wedding,’ where Careless is explaining his plan for attacking the +affections of the fair sex—“I am resolved to put on their own silence, +answer forsooth, swear nothing but <i>God’s nigs</i>.” Except upon the score +of banter at prevailing idiotcies, it would be difficult to account for +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> luxuriant way in which oaths of this description have been +provided.</p> + +<p>We may not inaptly before closing this chapter travel into another +hemisphere and advert to that side of the subject in which the powers of +darkness are accustomed to be apostrophised in place of the powers of +light. Most of the swearing which we have had to pass in review may be +said to have been accumulated at a vast expense to our notions and +perceptions regarding the Source of all light. How is it, then, that the +full detriment of this system was never taken into account before, and +that the obverse of the present practice was not more generally adopted. +One might have supposed that the malignant beings who find so facile an +entrance into popular imagination would have been the first objects with +which to associate so much that is acrimonious. If this could have been +seen to, and thoroughly brought about, it is possible that we should +never have heard of “swearing” at all, or that it might very well have +occupied the same relative position upon the pedestal of virtues as it +now does upon the more degraded tallies of vice. However this may be, +and of course speculation upon the subject can be nothing more than +fanciful, it is the beneficent creations of the universe, and not the +malignant ones, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> have absorbed the greater part of the energy +directed to the practice of swearing.</p> + +<p>In English archaic writings the instances in which the mention of the +Satanic power is thus utilised are not numerous. We cannot compete with +the <i>diables</i> and <i>diavolos</i> of another race. Wherever references of +this kind do occur, they as often assume the shape of some amusing +transposition. The sharp edge is at once taken off the anathema. Thus +the soubriquet “old Harry” or “the Lord Harry” generally understood to +refer to Satan, is frequently used as an adjunct of strong feeling.<small><a name="f50.1" id="f50.1" href="#f50">[50]</a></small> +But as an imprecation it is of quite inferior magnitude, and seems +almost to imply the existence of a strain of good-fellowship with the +Evil One which it might be exceedingly impolitic to disturb.</p> + +<p>But beyond the intuitive feeling that the cognomen does apply to this +individual, there is little to advance which can clear up the question +as to the precise origin of the term. It is supposed that our popular +notion of the devil is derived from the Roman fauni. The shaggy coat, +the horns and cloven feet, are certainly peculiar to the classical +treatment of this supernatural being. It is inferred therefore that the +idea has been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>transmitted to us through the medium of our early +moralities and interludes. This course of descent derives colour from +the fact that the like paraphernalia are not the subject of opprobrious +mention in the Scriptures,<small><a name="f51.1" id="f51.1" href="#f51">[51]</a></small> and that hence our notion of the devil +must be drawn from pagan rather than biblical influences. It is +accordingly suggested that “old Harry,” the subject of so much +irreverent and irresponsible reference, is no other than “old hairy” of +the earliest phases of theatrical representation.</p> + +<p>A jocose turn seems also to have been given to that common contraction +of the Satanic name of which Mistress Page makes use in the ‘Merry +Wives’ when she exclaims, “I cannot tell what the dickens his name is!” +It does not however seem that the expression can be traced earlier than +Heywood’s ‘Edward the Fourth,’ of the date 1600, where we meet with the +passage: “What the dickens! Is it love that makes you prate to me so +fondly?” The word is, however, less of an oath than an exclamation.</p> + +<p>Probably few persons who allow themselves the enjoyment of that rather +jocular expletive, <i>the deuce!</i> are in the least aware of the remote +antiquity of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> delectable figure of speech. It is perhaps the most +ancient of all the oaths and apologies for oaths that have come down to +us, and which after a long and vicissitudinous transit have arrived at +last, neither mutilated or dismembered. So old is it that it dates from +the very formation of the language, but of so tainted a pedigree that in +spite of some six hundred years of regular descent we can scarcely +permit it to hold dictionary rank.</p> + +<p>But, if the account we have to give of its origin can be credited, its +history is singular as being intimately connected with one of the +greatest social changes that have taken place in the national life. When +we are told that the Norman conquerors imposed their language upon the +subject race, we can understand with what difficulty and hesitation the +Saxon thanes would attempt to assimilate the foreign tongue. So severe a +lesson could only be learned by grasping at such words and phrases as +were the more frequently recurring. To say that oaths and imprecations, +and in fact all terms of anger and violence, would leave the more +durable impression, is only to insist upon what we see daily exemplified +in countries where the like process is going on. So it happened with a +very favourite Norman exclamation. From the evidence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> the earliest +metrical romances we gather that <i>Deus!</i> was such a term of impatience +as was constantly upon the lips of the descendants of the invaders. But +no sooner did these more courtly and cultivated entertainments make +their way into English vernacular, than we find that even in this latter +shape the Norman <i>deus</i> is significantly preserved. There it appears +among the rugged doggrel, a piece of continental finery stitched into +the homely Saxon garb. It had dropped out of the vocabularies of the +French romancists and had become the common property of the ordinary +provincial poetaster. It had passed in fact from the French to the +English tongue, and is claimed to be that very <i>deuce</i> with which we are +most of us familiar.</p> + +<p>Proof of this is afforded by comparison of the old romance of ‘Havelok +the Dane’<small><a name="f52.1" id="f52.1" href="#f52">[52]</a></small> as it exists in its home and in its foreign versions, and +both of which are assigned to a period anterior to the fourteenth +century. The translator was evidently a man of spirit, who to warm his +Lincolnshire readers has added much original incident and local +colouring. Nevertheless he carefully retained the Norman <i>deus</i>. It was +evidently quite at home on the wolds and in the fens of the +translator’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> country, and only wanted the accent which Grimsby patrons +would not fail to supply, to transform it to the expression with which +we are so well acquainted.</p> + +<p>There seems to be one oath of this description which bids fair to elude +all guess-work as to its origin or meaning. It was formerly a practice +in France to swear <i>par le diable de Biterne</i>. When so much exactitude +had been employed to emphasise the whereabouts of this personage, it is +only natural to inquire where the locality referred to might happen to +be. We believe, however, that no satisfactory answer has as yet been +returned. Some light is thrown upon the question by Francisque Michel +who (in his ‘Récherches sur les Etoffes de Soie’) has shown that a +present of some rare <i>pailes de Biterne</i> was sent to Alexander by +Candace, one of the queens of Ethiopia. With this single ray of +illumination we must be content.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<div class="note"><p>“As I was finishing this worke, an oyster-wife tooke exception +against me and called me knave.”—‘<i>Lamentable Effect of Two +Dangerous Comets</i>,’ 1591.</p></div> + +<p>We trust that we have travelled thus far on our journey without wounding +the susceptibilities of any of our readers, and that thus it may +continue to the not distant end. In all probability our remarks and +illustrations will have been scanned by two totally diverse classes of +patrons, those to whom the topics suggested present much that is worthy +of attention, and those to whom this little treatise will appear to be +written in almost an unknown tongue. All that we can do is to claim the +indulgence of these latter. We hope that they at least will acquit us of +any intention of blemishing the fair front of human nature, or of +darkening any of the windows that administer to its requirements of +light and air. In fine, we trust that what has been said, has been +spoken fairly and frankly. Not, however, that we pretend that the views +we may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> have advanced have anything but a local application. There is a +swearing world, a place in which people habitually swear, but there is +also a non-swearing world in which they are partially if not totally +unacquainted with observances of swearing. To present a picture of the +former to the dwellers in the more opposite locality is to expect +approval of a marine painting from those who have never beheld the sea. +The reflections therefore that we may have been called upon to make by +the way, no less than the numerous instances we have found it as well to +refer to, must be taken as pertaining only to those troubled waters that +surge around the continent inhabited of swearers.</p> + +<p>This careless, indulgent and pleasure-seeking portion of the world have +derived even comfort and convenience from a recognition of the best +regulated usages of swearing. Reputations for courage and audacity have +thus been hourly established by the careful insinuation of hideous +expletives. Friendships have been cemented by the force of this common +bond of union; strangers set at their ease; the weak and hesitating have +been galvanised into action. Judging from a purely worldly standpoint, +it would be inconsistent not to admit that society has been under deep +obligations to this especial form of wickedness. Swearing has in the +main been rendered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> agreeable and popular in so far that it has been +adopted to span over social distances and level social distinctions, to +create in fact a code of easy sympathy between otherwise thoroughly +unsympathetic men. The worst—and swearers are not necessarily the +worst—no less than the best of mankind endeavour to generate some +species of that “touch of nature” which we are told makes the whole +world kin. We must not therefore be too severe on finding that this very +creditable object is sometimes sought to be accomplished by somewhat +discreditable means.</p> + +<p>As a few of our readers may by this time have harboured a conviction +that swearing is in some degree a social necessity, they will be able to +give full scope to the views upon this point of the excellent Mr. +Shandy.<small><a name="f53.1" id="f53.1" href="#f53">[53]</a></small> The only compunction that seems to have been entertained by +this gentleman resided in the danger of expending small curses upon +totally inadequate occasions. He maintained, indeed, with the utmost +Cervantic gravity, that he had the greatest veneration for that student +of swearing who, in obvious mistrust of his own extempore powers, +composed forms suitable to all degrees of provocation, and kept them +framed over his chimney-piece for daily reference.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>“I never apprehended,” puts in Dr. Slop, “that such a thing was ever +thought of—much less executed.”</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon,” replies Mr. Shandy, “I was reading—though not +using—one of them to my brother Toby this morning, whilst he poured out +the tea.”</p> + +<p>The work of ingenuity in question turned out to be a decree of +excommunication, certainly a very ponderous and damnatory one, compiled +by Ernulphus, a learned bishop of Rochester. Mr. Shandy is understood to +account for the comprehensiveness of this anathema by assuming it to +have been designed as an institute or perfect digest of swearing. He +conjectures that upon a decline of vituperation Ernulphus had with great +learning collected all the known methods, for fear of their being +dispersed and so lost to the world for ever. The worthy Shandy would +even go so far as to maintain that there was no kind of oath that was +not to be found in Ernulphus. “In short,” he would add, “I defy a man to +swear out of it.”</p> + +<p>This piece of quaintness, as we need hardly point out, only goes to the +fact that wide as is the range of imprecation, it must always come back +to that one monotonous symbol of despisal. The anathema of the good +bishop is pitched in many keys and sounds, like the collected utterances +of many throats. But even Ernulphus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> can scarcely have foreseen the +Rabelaisian refinements that would suggest themselves to the minds of +men as soon as literary demands were made upon the well-worn supply.</p> + +<p>The genius of the French language seems more particularly to lend itself +to the fabrication of burlesque forms and subterfuges. Thus to affirm by +<i>le sacré froc d’Habacuc</i>, or by <i>la double-triple manche de serpe</i>, are +fair specimens of the ingenuity that has been lavished. Far less +offending have been the ludicrous forms of asseveration popular in the +lower ranks of French society, and one of which it is sufficient to +mention as occurring in a curious rhyme of the last century,<small><a name="f54.1" id="f54.1" href="#f54">[54]</a></small> where +among other things is found characterised the pseudo-nuptials of a +certain abbess and a dignitary of the Church—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Mais, <i>par la vertu d’un oignon</i>,<br /> +Ils sont mariés environ,<br /> +Comme l’est l’évêque de Chartres<br /> +Avec l’abbesse de Montmartres.”</p> + +<p>It is not improbable that a great deal of the aversion that is +associated with the practice of swearing is due to the custom of those +novelists who are in the habit of screening their oaths behind the most +transparent of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> disguises. To denote an expletive by its initial letter +followed with a dash is really to attract undue attention to that which +the writer acknowledges himself ashamed of printing. The contrivance +serves no useful purpose, and, if we are not mistaken, the more robust +of modern novelists have eschewed it altogether. Very different in this +respect is the device adopted by Dickens in one of the most entertaining +of his romances. Readers of ‘Great Expectations’ will remember the +description of Mr. William Barley. This presents us with a picture of a +water-logged old ship’s captain, who, as he lay through the long hours +of the day and night upon his uneasy mattress, never ceased to hold +communion with himself in anything but a strain of piety—“Ahoy! bless +your eyes, here’s old Bill Barley! Here’s old Bill Barley on the flat of +his back, by the Lord! Lying on the flat of his back, like a drifting +old dead flounder; here’s old Bill Barley, bless your eyes. Ahoy! Bless +you!” Of course the point of this monologue lies in the fact that the +supposed blessings are really substituted by the novelist for desires of +a very opposite description.</p> + +<p>There are few pictures we would less willingly omit from the gallery of +the author’s creations. We have here the portraiture of one among that +godless but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> soft-hearted race of veterans who have alternately bullied +and blustered, or cried and whimpered, throughout many ages of fiction +and melodrama. And in depicting this type of character writers have +invariably felt it their bounden duty to give full prominence to this +fateful gift of swearing. With much discretion the novelist has in the +present instance invented a subterfuge, which, while it does not rob Mr. +Barley of his idiosyncrasies of speech, leaves an amused and not an +offensive impression behind it. We are, in fact, called in to assist at +a very quiet piece of human contradiction. We are presented to the prone +Barley in his state of helplessness and suffering, and at the same time +are given to understand that the sufferer derives comfort and +consolation from nothing so much as a downright plunge into the torrent +of bad language.</p> + +<p>In these wandering musings of the complaining old sea-captain there is +suggested one of the many spells that are exercised by the force of +imprecation. There is no paucity of men, whether dejected, dissatisfied +or penurious, who are wont to apostrophise some imagined effigy of +themselves, or to construct some idealised fabric as a monument of their +lives, and stalk it abroad for their own and for other men’s wonderment. +And the means they employ to spirit up these creations are not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +dissimilar to those in use by Mr. Barley. By declaiming loudly against +the ravages of a hard fate that lays them on their backs “like an old +dead flounder,” the mind is assisted to form a notion of the victims in +their prime. By deploring the hardships of fallen fortune the eye of the +sympathiser is carried instinctively back to bygone days of +supposititious enjoyment. Imprecation is seldom absent from these +incursions, being, in fact, urgently needed to do duty for closer +argumentation. Again, as there are men so genial that they swear as a +challenge to discontent, so there are men so discontented that they +swear as a challenge to geniality.</p> + +<p>This more unsociable aspect of the subject brings us perforce to the +consideration of a term of swearing that contains no element of +geniality. Of itself it can be accounted nothing but a mere outcome of +bombast and vulgarity, appealing as it does to no known passion of the +human mind. And yet so widespread is its influence, and so powerful its +dominion, that it has been rung out and has reverberated probably more +than any other in the great “fisc and exchequer” of abuse.</p> + +<p>The expletive that it now behoves us to consider is one which has never +been adequately treated in a book. We cannot disguise to ourselves that +there is much in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> its unfortunate associations to render its occurrence +still exceedingly painful. Originating in a senseless freak of language, +it has by dint of circumstances become so noisome and offensive, that +were it not for the undue power and influence it has usurped, we should +hardly be disposed to treat of it at all. But when we mention that it is +the ungainly adjective “bloody” that will occupy our attention for the +next few pages, we must be allowed to add that it is with the view of +stripping the term of its infamous significance, and if possible of +dispelling from it the cloud of ill favour and of ill fame, that we +venture with less reluctance to grapple with it.</p> + +<p>With the full knowledge of the abhorrence it has imparted in our day, it +is difficult to imagine any unsullied spring-time in the history of so +sordid a word. It is the single particle of objuration that has not +dared assume, as others have so frequently done, a jaunty or a +rollicking demeanour. Not in the wildest days of Eastcheap revelry did +it resound in any one key of vinous harmony. While other epithets may +from time to time have received the sanction of conviviality, here is a +word that is nothing unless discordant and acrimonious. It is the apt +accompaniment of a whining tongue, the fit complement of a verjuice +countenance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> Dirty drunkards hiccup it as they wallow on ale-house +floors. Morose porters bandy it about on quays and landing-stages. From +the low-lying quarters of the towns the word buzzes in your ear with the +confusion of a Babel. In the cramped narrow streets you are deafened by +its whirr and din, as it rises from the throats of the chaffering +multitude, from besotted men defiant and vain-glorious in their drink, +from shrewish women hissing out rancour and menace in their harsh +querulous talk.</p> + +<p>And yet to look back no further than to the youth of Shakespeare, the +word had no application beyond such as was seemly, and its history was +simple and spotless and without reproach. The one play of ‘Macbeth’ +contains an unusual number of instances of its occurrence, all written +without any suspicion of an <i>équivoque</i> and dwelt upon with an +undoubting sincerity that has become barely possible in a modern work. +Indeed into such ill company has fallen this true-minded adjective, that +it is no longer competent to be admitted to its proper place in an +ordinary publication. Now and again strong protest has been made against +the hard sentence passed upon so well-meaning a term, and authors of +taste have demanded its restitution to its former intellectual +companionship.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> In one of her “Letters to the Author of Orion,” Mrs. E. +B. Browning throws reserve upon the subject altogether to the winds, and +insists upon embracing and cherishing this ill-starred word as a long +lost acquaintance. But when Shakespeare wrote of</p> + +<p class="poem">“The bloody house of life,”</p> + +<p>there was no need for hesitation in shaping it. It was as unsullied and +as transparent as any that might have been placed upon Imogen’s lips or +thrown by Hamlet into Ophelia’s lap.</p> + +<p>To account for the moral kidnapping that the word has undergone, it +behoves us, strangely enough, to set face towards the Netherlands, and +to hark back there to the campaigns of Flushing and Deventer, where Ben +Jonson and others of his countrymen are shouldering their pikes under +the generalship of Vere and Stanley. We shall then find it to have been +one of the doubtful advantages that were gained by long years of Low +Country soldiering. With the winds and tides that brought home the +shoals of broken veterans, there was wafted to this country the flavour +of foreign oaths, and among them the renown in speech of the German +“blutig.” Now “blutig” happened to be an inconsequent sort of particle +that was employed in all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> dialects of Germany to denote a sense of +the emphatic. It had been chosen throughout the German fatherland to +minister to the wants of those defective degrees of comparison which are +usually, however, found to be more or less admirably fitted to their +purpose. It thus constituted itself a fourth degree, or +extra-ultra-superlative. Like all verbal contrivances of this kind, it +was more especially favoured among the less cultivated students of the +forms of grammar, and seems at last to have become recognised as a +convenient make-weight with which a reprobate soldiery were accustomed +to balance their assertions.</p> + +<p>It will be at once seen that this alien growth was capable of being +readily transplanted to our soil in the shape of its literal +counterpart. The circumstance of the words being so nearly identical is +sufficient to account for the work of transposition being swiftly and +effectually done. But beyond the mere accident of the respective tongues +offering an exact literal equivalent, there was nothing in common +between the German “blutig” and the English correlative term. As +evidenced by the purity of its antecedents, the latter derives nothing +of the opprobrium that has devolved upon it by reason of any hereditary +defects, far less on account of any of its inherent properties.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>If Ben Jonson, who must have been brought face to face with this +treasure in its natural home, does not seek to commend it to the keeping +of his audiences, we may be sure that in his time at least it had +attained no perceptible degree of literary currency. The comic +dramatists were agreed at this period as to one canon of dramatic +representation. They were accustomed to interlace the serious business +of the comedy with mirth-moving interludes in which the more farcical +characters of the piece were met together for the purpose, as it seemed, +of besprinkling one another with the most aggravating and unpardonable +abuse. The ingenuity of writers was ransacked to furnish material for +this spirited by-play. Collections of all nationalities, and the +reserves of all professions and handicrafts, were studiously drawn upon +to furnish subject-matter for these wordy encounters. So far as they +could help themselves, these shameless dramatists left no word unsaid +that could increase the strife of tongues and raise a smile at the +energy or possibly the grossness of the jargon. But as yet the epithet +in question found no place in the prompt-book, and continued to be +omitted from their vocabularies. Had Bohemian society even partially +adopted it, it would be difficult to imagine the humours of the +Artillery Garden, or the disorders of Ruffians’<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> Hall and Turnbull +Street,<small><a name="f55.1" id="f55.1" href="#f55">[55]</a></small> being glibly depicted by these outspoken playwrights without +recourse being had to the services of this unconscionable adjective.</p> + +<p>Shakespeare, himself probably the greatest exponent of the arts of +scurrility, is totally exempt from any blameworthy intention in applying +the word in the manner he so frequently uses it. But as years wore on +the relish of foreign and far-travelled terms grew upon the public taste +with surprising rapidity. A novelty must be extremely popular to enable +it to become vulgar, and must even be liked before it can be thoroughly +hated. “Bloody” was no exception to the rule, and enjoyed a brief day of +estimation and patronage. Men of refinement and high culture adopted it +rather as an article of scholarly adornment. Dryden uses it in this way, +as does Swift. Play-writers heralded it on the stage, bestowing upon it +the passport of literary sanction. In Sir George Etheredge’s comedy, +‘The Man of Mode,’ a play that was witnessed by society with unbounded +approval, the final stage in the process of abduction is plainly +indicated. Says one of the characters, referring to the importunities of +a tipsy vagrant, “Give him half-a-crown!” to which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> other replies, +“Not without he will promise to be bloody drunk!”</p> + +<p>In this way it would seem that the ball was set rolling. How the game +has continued to be played we are most of us aware. It calls for no +particular skill on the part of the players, neither does the sport +appear to decline for want of appreciation. That it was received at its +first incoming with a kind of <i>éclat</i> is not so surprising as is the +strange attachment that for upwards of two centuries has been manifested +by some ranks of society towards this discreditable word. Its first +flush of approval may have been due to a certain element of +whimsicality. This at least is a sensation frequently conveyed by the +occurrence of any meaningless affectation. But, however this may be, it +certainly was not at the first outset the mere grovelling and +unmitigated blackguardism which it was very shortly to be. Dean Swift, +full of wit and penury, writing from his London lodging to Stella in her +comfortable Irish home, breaks into frequent outbursts at the scantiness +of his comforts. One October, when removed to Windsor, he is +particularly tried by the severity of the autumnal weather, but the +terms in which, addressing a well-bred woman, he expresses his +discomfort are striking, as showing the strange vicissitudes that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +language may undergo. “It grows bloody cold,” he writes—and one may +well imagine the chilled extremities of the reverend Dean—“it grows +bloody cold, and I have no waistcoat.”</p> + +<p>In support of the view that there is nothing in the inherent properties +of the word, or even in the range and frequency of its use, to account +for the degraded position it has occupied in modern times, we have only +to inquire whether any similar treatment has been the fate of the +equivalent word in the language of France. What do we find? The French +<i>sanglant</i> has even a wider sphere of application, and in its legitimate +sense is even a greater favourite than our own adjective, but no such +evil days have overtaken it. It can be used literally, as in the case of +<i>viande sanglante</i>, or metaphorically, as in <i>un sanglant affront</i> or +the aphorism <i>la sanglante raillerie blesse et ne corrige pas</i>, but not +at any time is it found to deviate from the paths of decency. +Everything, we consider, favours the idea we have formed of our stately +English word proceeding soberly and reputably upon its honest course +only to become the victim of this species of subversive horse-play at +the hands of professed word-corrupters. Appreciative of the objurgatory +advantages of the German <i>blutig</i>, they were indifferent to any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> affront +they might pass upon the English tongue. From that time forward the word +was branded as infamous. The manly ring that of right belonged to it, as +instanced in such widely different productions as ‘Piers Ploughman,’<small><a name="f56.1" id="f56.1" href="#f56">[56]</a></small> +or the ‘Philaster’ of Beaumont and Fletcher,<small><a name="f57.1" id="f57.1" href="#f57">[57]</a></small> was becoming no longer +possible. In recent days people have sometimes tried to reconcile these +opposite tendencies and to endow the word with some amount of literary +grace. The best attempt we have noticed in this direction is in a decree +of the Government of Paraguay, which in August 1869 instructed its +resident in this country that the presence of Francisco Lopez on +Paraguayan soil was “a bloody sarcasm to civilisation.” The gentleman +who penned this document may have been influenced by the example of +Montaigne<small><a name="f58.1" id="f58.1" href="#f58">[58]</a></small> who admitted that he was accustomed to swear “more by +imitation than complexion.”</p> + +<p>We have given what we believe to be the rational explanation of this +most unwarrantable abduction of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> the word from its ancient uses. The +English language, whose handmaid it was, has never put in a claim to the +return of its services, and the professors of that language continue to +be scared when they meet with the vulgar changeling at the corner of the +street. The principal reason for abhorrence is probably founded upon +misapprehension. It is assumed that the expression bears the savour of +irreligion. The old Catholic oath of “blood and wounds” has been +advanced as the origin. So far from this theory being well founded, we +rather find the whole brood of Catholic oaths to have been swept away by +the besom of the Reformation long before this expletive had raised its +head. Neither are we able to support the contention that it takes its +rise in the archaic “woundy,” which perished in the same fires. It is +quite clear that in this instance there is a marked and deep interval +between the outgoing of the old form of scurrility and the advent of the +new.</p> + +<p>Without being understood to array ourselves on the side of this baneful +expression, we desire to acquit it at once of all suspicion of +irreligion. The men who originated it had furthest from their minds any +inroad upon Catholic fervour. It was simply an imported ware, smuggled +over in a soldier’s knapsack. It was left to linger for a time upon the +lips of sutlers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> and tapsters, and became the plaything of sergeants and +backswordsmen, the broken companions who had smelt powder in the German +wars. It took will and way from the mere caprices of imitation, that +sufficed in time to render it palatable to the wiser and more sober of +men. From the time of Dean Swift downwards, it has mostly suffered from +being lamentably unfashionable. Association, which can do so much to +influence and so little to regulate our dislikes, has insisted in +linking this expletive with the classes that are taken to be the more +sordid and malignant.</p> + +<p>It may certainly come into play now and again among those people who are +not averse to perpetrating a joke at the expense of a little casual loss +of refinement. On these few occasions indeed it would even appear to be +tinctured with some slight leaven of good-nature. Thus, the sailor +appellation of Admiral Gambier—“old bloody Politeful”—must not be +inveighed against too hardly. Neither need we be too squeamish over a +once famous (or infamous) <i>bon mot</i> that passed current in a fashionable +club where a certain learned and witty serjeant was wont to repair for +his nightly rubber. One evening, after meeting with a stranger at the +card-table who held a remarkable number of trumps, he had impatiently +inquired<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> who had been his antagonist. On being told that the player was +Sir So-and-So, Bart., the serjeant is reported to have at once rejoined +that “he might have known the fellow to have been a baronet by his +bloody hand!”</p> + +<p>But there is a deeper and more solemn aspect in all this than any that +we have suggested or advanced. No statistics, could any be collected, no +known or imaginable facts, could be trusted to convey the faintest +notion of the large place that is occupied in public morals by the +presence of this solitary piece of imprecation. Those who have +opportunities of judging, will be bound to admit that they see in it the +plaything and fondling of whole sections of citizen society. In +innumerable households, in countless families, if we may so designate +those fetid accumulations of humanity that we must here be understood to +indicate, there is not an hour of the day—not a moment of the day—in +which this virulent and acrid malediction does not send out its empty +challenge. How can this moral choke-damp, with all its fatal +incrustations, fail to eat away the supports and very framework of the +dwelling. It is hard perhaps to pass so heavy a sentence upon seemingly +so slight an offence, but we are forced to believe that the very +existence and presence of this evil, in its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> more rampant and impudent +state, is of itself conclusive upon the point of good or evil +government, upon the question of the predominance of human charity or of +the blackest intensity of malice.</p> + +<p>Neither is it the least regrettable circumstance that, considered as a +piece of mingled vileness and effrontery, the word has been, and for the +matter of that is still likely to be, a most telling and signal success. +Those who have followed the writer at all closely will have already +noticed the irresistible impulse of succeeding generations to secure to +themselves the strongest possible anathema with which to carry on all +manner of petty hostilities. But until the expletive that is now passing +under our consideration was fairly launched upon society, no great +measure of success can be said to have crowned their endeavours. The +swearing of the pre-Reformation era may be adjudged the nearest approach +to maledictory perfection, but even that system, admirable as it may +have been from the point of view of an accomplished Boanerges of the +time, was at best but an unstable and fluctuating one, and depended for +its efficiency upon the swearer’s own powers of invocation. As a rule no +two oaths were alike, and men gave you the idea of thinking before they +swore. So various a code could hardly be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>expected to meet with general +success, it being as impossible for an individual to invent a really new +oath—a new “bloody,” for example—as it is said to be impossible to +invent a new proverb or a new rhyme for the nursery. Imitations can of +course be easily contrived, but the genuine product only arises through +the seemingly spontaneous consent of approving multitudes. It was +precisely in this way that the present abomination was generated. Not +proceeding from any one man’s store of virulence, but resulting from a +long process of evolution and development, it at last springs into +sudden life, in obedience, it would almost seem, to a nation’s clamours. +But no sooner was it called into this sphere of activity, than it +became, we repeat, a gigantic success. It is the crown and apex of all +bad language, the coping-stone of all systems of verbal aggression and +abuse. By consent, as it were, of the general conscience it is allowed +to have surpassed in vileness and intensity anything of the kind that +has been intense or vile. That this stream of pollution should continue +to flow, uninterruptedly and with increasing volume, through its inky +channel, is one of the gloomiest and grimmest of the minor features of +our social life.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2> + +<p><i><a href="#Page_73">Page 73.</a> Feminine Oaths.</i>—Among the number of feminine expletives may +be reckoned Ophelia’s adjuration “by Gis.” The derivation has been a +source of trouble to the commentators, who profess to see in it a +corruption of Saint Cecily, an abbreviation of Saint Gislen, or else, as +is more probable, a phonetic form of the letters I.H.S. But whatever its +derivation, the oath was commonly attributed to the female sex. Thus, in +Preston’s ‘Cambyses,’ 1561, it is so employed; and again in the +pre-Shakespearian play of ‘King John’ the nuns swear by Gis, and the +monks, by way of distinction, take their oaths by Saint Withold. In +‘Gammer Gurton’s Needle’ the oath is placed in the mouth of the old +housewife.</p> + +<p><i><a href="#Page_84">Page 84.</a> Foreign Oaths.</i>—We learn from Miss Bunbury’s ‘Summer in +Northern Europe,’ that the most common form of swearing in Sweden is a +contraction of “God preserve us,” and that hardly a sentence can escape +from the lips of the lower orders without being supplemented by this +expression—“bevars,” the lengthened form of which is “Gud bevarva oss.” +Another form of imprecation is “Kors” or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> “Kors Jesu,” the Cross of +Jesus, which the same writer intimates is in great request among the +educated orders in Sweden.</p> + +<p><i><a href="#Page_85">Page 85.</a> Pre-Reformation Swearing.</i>—The testimony of Elyot in ‘The +Boke named the Governour,’ written in 1531, is very conclusive upon the +question. He says: “In dayly communication the mater savoureth nat, +except it be as it were seasoned with horrible othes. As by the holy +blode of Christe, his woundes whiche for our redemption he paynefully +suffred, his glorious harte, as it were numbles chopped in pieces. +Children (whiche abborreth me to remembre) do play with the armes and +bones of Christe, as they were chery stones. The soule of God, whiche is +incomprehensible, and nat to be named of any creature without a +wonderfull reverence and drede, is nat onely the othe of great +gentilmen, but also so indiscretely abused, that they make it (as I +mought saye) their gonnes, wherwith they thunder out thretenynges and +terrible menacis, whan they be in their fury, though it be at the +damnable playe of dyse. The masse, in which honourable ceremony is lefte +unto us the memoriall of Christes glorious passion, with his corporall +presence in fourme of breade, the invocation of the thre divine persones +in one deitie, with all the hole company of blessed spirites and soules +elect, is made by custome so simple an othe that it is nowe all most +neglected and little regarded of the nobilitie, and is onely used among +husbandemen and artificers, onelas some taylour or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> barbour, as well in +his othes as in the excesse of his apparayle, will counterfaite and be +lyke a gentilman.”—ii. 252, <i>ed. Croft</i>.</p> + +<p>So also Roger Hutchinson in his ‘Image of God,’ 1550:—“You swearers and +blasphemers which use to swear by God’s heart, arms, nails, bowels, +legs, and hands, learn what these things signify, and leave your +abominable oaths.”</p> + +<p><i><a href="#Page_93">Page 93.</a> Oath by the Swan.</i>—It was also the custom during the middle +ages to serve with great pomp a pheasant, or some other noble bird, on +which the knights swore to visit the Holy Land. In 1453, Philip the +Good, Duke of Burgundy, vowed, <i>sur le faisan</i>, to go to the deliverance +of Constantinople. His example was followed by the barons and knights +assembled, who, in the words of Gibbon, “swore to God, the Virgin, the +ladies and the pheasant.”</p> + +<p><i><a href="#Page_107">Page 107.</a> A swearing corps d’élite.</i>—So long ago as the reign of Henry +VIII. the expression “to swear like a lord” had become proverbial:—“For +they wyll say he that swereth depe, swereth like a lorde.”—‘<i>The +Governour</i>,’ <i>by Sir T. Elyot</i>, 1531, <i>ed. Croft</i>, i. 275.</p> + +<p>That the habit was making headway in high places may also be inferred +from a bequest in one of the wills preserved in Doctors’ Commons, in +which the testator bequeathed a legacy of twenty shillings on condition +that the legatee should desist from swearing. The will is that of Sir +David Owen, a natural son of Owen Tudor, and is dated 1535.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span><i><a href="#Page_121">Page 121.</a> Sir David +Lindsay.</i>—Some idea of the fecundity of the old +poet in the matter of expletives is conveyed by the catalogue of oaths +culled from the ‘Satyre of the Three Estaitis’ and added to Chalmers’ +edition of Lindsay, published in 1806. The list is as follows:—</p> + +<p class="index">“Be Cokis passion.<br /> +Be Godis passion.<br /> +Be Cok’s deir passion.<br /> +Be Cok’s tois.<br /> +Be God’s wounds.<br /> +Be God’s croce.<br /> +Be God’s mother.<br /> +Be God’s breid.<br /> +Be God’s gown.<br /> +Be God himsell.<br /> +Be greit God that all has wrocht.<br /> +Be him that made the mone.<br /> +Be the gude Lord.<br /> +Be him that wore the crown of thorn.<br /> +Be him that bare the cruel crown of thorn.<br /> +Be him that herryit hell.<br /> +Be him that Judas sauld.<br /> +Be the rude.<br /> +Be the Trinity; Be the haly Trinity.<br /> +Be the sacrament; Be the haly sacrament.<br /> +Be the messe.<br /> +Be him that our Lord Jesus sauld.<br /> +Be him that deir Jesus sauld.<br /> +Be our Lady; Be Sainct Mary; Be sweit Sainct Mary; Be Mary bricht.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>Be Alhallows.<br /> +Be Sanct James.<br /> +Be Sanct Michell.<br /> +Be Sanct Ann.<br /> +Be Sanct Bryde; Be Bryde’s bell.<br /> +Be Sanct Geill; Be sweit Sanct Geill.<br /> +Be Sanct Blais.<br /> +Be Sanct Blane.<br /> +Be Sanct Clone; Be Sanct Clune.<br /> +Be Sanct Allan.<br /> +Be Sanct Fillane.<br /> +Be Sanct Tan.<br /> +Be Sanct Dyonis of France.<br /> +Be Sanct Maverne.<br /> +Be the gude lady that me bare.<br /> +Be my saul.<br /> +Be my thrift.<br /> +Be my Christendom.<br /> +Be this day.”</p> + +<p>Against this list we may place a similar catalogue of objurgations +extracted from the old play of ‘Gammer Gurton’s Needle,’ acted at +Cambridge in 1566. This work, ascribed to John Still, Bishop of Bath and +Wells, very plainly depicts the condition of rustic manners at the +period at which it was written:—</p> + +<p class="index">“By the mass (occurs 22 times).<br /> +Gog’s bones (4 times).<br /> +Gog’s soul (9 times).<br /> +By my father’s soul (2 times).<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>Gog’s sacrament (2 times).<br /> +By my troth.<br /> +By God.<br /> +By sun and moon.<br /> +Gog’s heart (6 times).<br /> +By God’s mother.<br /> +Gog’s bread (8 times).<br /> +By’r Lady (2 times).<br /> +By the cross.<br /> +By our dear lady of Boulogne.<br /> +Saint Dunstan.<br /> +Saint Dominic.<br /> +The three kings of Cologne.<br /> +By God and the devil too.<br /> +By bread and salt (2 times).<br /> +By him that Judas sold.<br /> +Gog’s cross (2 times).<br /> +By Gog’s malt (2 times).<br /> +Gog’s death.<br /> +Gog’s blessed body.<br /> +By God’s blest (2 times).<br /> +By Gis.<br /> +By Saint Benet.<br /> +By my truth.<br /> +By Cock’s mother dear.<br /> +By Saint Mary.<br /> +Gog’s wounds (2 times).<br /> +By Cock’s bones.<br /> +By All Hallows.<br /> +By my fay.<br /> +By my father’s skin.<br /> +By God’s pity (2 times).<br /> +Gog’s sides (2 times).”</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span><i><a href="#Page_169">Page 169.</a> The deuce!</i>—A +specimen from the English version of ‘Havelok +the Dane,’ edited by Sir F. Madden from the manuscript in the Laudian +Collection in the Bodleian Library, may be appended:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“‘Deus!’ quoth he, ‘hwat may this mene!’<br /> +He calde bothe arwe men, and kene<br /> +Knithes, and serganz swithe sleie,<br /> +Mo than an hundred.”—l. 2114.</p> + +<p>Madden also refers the exclamation, <i>dash you</i> or <i>dase you</i>, from the +Anglo-Saxon imprecation <i>datheit</i> which had been caught up from the +Norman <i>deshait</i>.</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><small>LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.</small></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> + +<div class="adverts"> +<p class="right"><i>October 1883.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><big>PUBLICATIONS<br />OF<br />J. C. 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In Ten Vols. demy 8vo, cloth, £5, 5s.</p> + +<p>This New Copyright Library Edition of “Lingard’s History of England,” +besides containing all the latest notes and emendations of the Author, +with Memoir, in enriched with Ten Portraits, newly etched by Damman, of +the following personages, viz.:—Dr. Lingard, Edward I., Edward III., +Cardinal Wolsey, Cardinal Pole, Elizabeth, James L, Cromwell, Charles +II., James II.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—<i>The Edition is limited in number, and intending purchasers would +do well by ordering early from their respective Booksellers.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Times.</b></p> +<p>“No greater service can be rendered to literature than the +republication, in a handsome and attractive form, of works which time +and the continued approbation of the world have made classical.... This +new library edition of Dr. Lingard’s ‘History of England,’ which has +just been published in ten volumes, is an excellent reproduction of a +work which had latterly been becoming somewhat scarce, and of which a +new edition seems to be really wanted.... The accuracy of Lingard’s +statements on many points of controversy, as well as the genial sobriety +of his view, is now recognised.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Tablet.</b></p> +<p>“It is with the greatest satisfaction that we welcome this new edition +of Dr. Lingard’s ‘History of England.’ It has long been a +desideratum.... No general history of England has appeared which can at +all supply the place of Lingard, whose painstaking industry and careful +research have dispelled many a popular delusion, whose candour always +carries his reader with him, and whose clear and even style is never +fatiguing. 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More than sixty years have gone since the first volume of +the first edition was published; many equally pretentious histories have +appeared during that space, and have more or less disappeared since, yet +Lingard lives—is still a recognised and respected authority.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Scotsman.</b></p> +<p>“There is no need, at this time of day, to say anything in vindication +of the importance, as a standard work, of Dr. Lingard’s ‘History of +England.’ For half a century it has been recognised as a literary +achievement of the highest merit, and a monument of the erudition and +research of the author.... His book is of the highest value, and should +find a place on the shelves of every library. Its intrinsic merits are +very great. The style is lucid, pointed, and puts no strain upon the +reader; and the printer and publisher have neglected nothing that could +make this—what it is likely long to remain—the standard edition of a +work of great historical and literary value.”</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><strong>Imaginary Conversations.</strong></p> +<p class="center"><b>By WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.</b></p> +<p class="center">In Five Vols. crown 8vo, cloth, 30s.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">First Series—Classical Dialogues, Greek and Roman.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Second Series—Dialogues of Sovereigns and Statesmen.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Third Series—Dialogues of Literary Men.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Fourth Series—Dialogues of Famous Women.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Fifth Series—Miscellaneous Dialogues.</span></td></tr></table> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—<i>This New Edition is printed from the last Edition of his Works, +revised and edited by John Forster, and is published by arrangement with +the Proprietors of the Copyright of Walter Savage Landor’s Works.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Athenæum.</b></p> +<p>“The appearance of this tasteful reprint would seem to indicate that the +present generation is at last waking up to the fact that it has +neglected a great writer, and if so it is well to begin with Landor’s +most adequate work. It is difficult to overpraise the ‘Imaginary +Conversations.’ The eulogiums bestowed on the ‘Conversations’ by Emerson +will, it is to be hoped, lead many to buy this book.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Scotsman.</b></p> +<p>“An excellent service has been done to the reading public by presenting +to it, in five compact volumes, these ‘Conversations.’ Admirably printed +on good paper, the volumes are handy in shape, and indeed the edition is +all that could be desired. When this has been said, it will be +understood what a boon has been conferred on the reading public; and it +should enable many comparatively poor men to enrich their libraries with +a work that will have an enduring interest.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Literary World.</b></p> +<p>“That the ‘Imaginary Conversations’ of Walter Savage Landor are not +better known is no doubt largely due to their inaccessibility to most +readers, by reason of their cost. This new issue, while handsome enough +to find a place in the best of libraries, is not beyond the reach of the +ordinary bookbuyer.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Edinburgh Review.</b></p> +<p>“How rich in scholarship! how correct, concise, and pure in style! how +full of imagination, wit, and humour! how well informed, how bold in +speculation, how various in interest, how universal in sympathy! In +these dialogues—making allowance for every shortcoming or excess—the +most familiar and the most august shapes of the past are reanimated with +vigour, grace, and beauty. We are in the high and goodly company of wits +and men of letters; of churchmen, lawyers, and statesmen; of party-men, +soldiers, and kings; of the most tender, delicate, and noble women; and +of figures that seem this instant to have left for us the Agora or the +Schools of Athens, the Forum or the Senate of Rome.”</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><strong>The Sunshade, Muff, and Glove.</strong></p> +<p class="center"><b>By OCTAVE UZANNE</b>.</p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Illustrations by</span> PAUL AVRIL.</p> +<p class="center">Royal 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 31s. 6d.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—<i>This is an English Edition of the unique and artistic work +“L’Ombrelle,” recently published in Paris, and now difficult to be +procured. No new Edition in French to be produced.</i></p> + +<p>This Edition has been printed at the press of Monsieur <span class="smcap">Quantin</span> with the +same care and wonderful taste as was his French Edition.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Glasgow Herald.</b></p> +<p>“‘I have but collected a heap of foreign flowers, and brought of my own +only the string which binds them together’ is the fitting quotation with +which M. Uzanne closes the preface to his volume on Woman’s Ornaments. +The monograph on the Sunshade, called by the author ‘a little tumbled +fantasy,’ occupies fully one-half of the volume. It begins with a +pleasant invented mythology of the parasol; glances at the sunshade in +all countries and times; mentions many famous umbrellas; quotes a number +of clever sayings.... To these remarks on the spirit of the book it is +necessary to add that the body of it is a dainty marvel of paper, type, +and binding; and that what meaning it has looks out on the reader +through a hundred argus-eves of many-tinted <i>photogravures</i>, exquisitely +designed by M. Paul Avril.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Athenæum.</b></p> +<p>“The letterpress comprises much amusing ‘chit-chat,’ and is more solid +than it pretends to be. The illustrations contain a good deal that is +acceptable on account of their spirit and variety.... This <i>brochure</i> is +worth reading, nay, we think it is worth keeping.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Scotsman.</b></p> +<p>“This book is to be prized, if only because of its text. But this is by +no means its sole, we might say, its chief attraction. M. Uzanne has had +the assistance of M. Paul Avril as illustrator, and that artist has +prepared many designs of singular beauty and gracefulness. It would be +difficult to speak too highly of them; they have a piquancy and grace +which is in the highest degree attractive. It is one of the prettiest +and most attractive volumes we have seen for many a day.”</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><b>The Complete Angler</b>;</p> +<p class="center">OR,<br />THE CONTEMPLATIVE MAN’S RECREATION,</p> +<p class="center"><b>Of IZAAK WALTON and CHARLES COTTON</b>.</p> +<p class="center">Edited by <span class="smcap">John Major</span>.</p> + +<p>A New Edition, with 8 original Etchings (2 Portraits and 6 Vignettes), +two impressions of each, one on Japanese and one on Whatman paper; also, +74 Engravings on Wood, printed on China Paper throughout the text.</p> + +<p class="center">8vo, cloth, gilt top, 31s. 6d.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Times.</b></p> +<p>“Messrs. Nimmo & Bain, who seem resolved to take a leading place in the +production of attractive volumes, have now issued a beautiful edition of +Walton & Cotton’s ‘Angler.’ The paper and printing leave nothing to be +desired, and the binding is very tasteful.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Field.</b></p> +<p>“As works of art Mr. Tourrier’s etchings are admirable, and the printers +and publishers have done their work admirably.... A very handsome book, +and one which will form a satisfactory present to many an angler.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Daily Telegraph.</b></p> +<p>“To the grand numerical monuments of this book’s universal popularity is +now added a sumptuous reprint of the 1844 edition, with eight brilliant +etchings. The woodcuts, fresh and beautiful, are gems of an art now +endangered by modern requirements of haste. This volume, so carefully +reprinted, is a choice and welcome addition to the piscatorial library.”</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><big><strong>OLD SPANISH ROMANCES.</strong></big></p> +<p class="center"><i>Illustrated with Etchings.</i></p> +<p class="center">In 12 Vols. crown 8vo, parchment boards or cloth, 7s. 6d. per vol.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>THE HISTORY of DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA.</b> Translated from the Spanish of +<span class="smcap">Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra</span> by <span class="smcap">Motteux</span>. With copious Notes (including +the Spanish Ballads), and an Essay on the Life and Writings of <span class="smcap">Cervantes</span> +by <span class="smcap">John G. Lockhart</span>. Preceded by a Short Notice of the Life and Works of +<span class="smcap">Peter Anthony Motteux</span> by <span class="smcap">Henri Van Laun</span>. Illustrated with Sixteen +Original Etchings by <span class="smcap">R. de Los Rios</span>. Four Volumes.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>LAZARILLO DE TORMES.</b> By Don <span class="smcap">Diego Mendoza</span>. Translated by <span class="smcap">Thomas Roscoe</span>. +And <b>GUZMAN D’ALFARACHE</b>. By <span class="smcap">Mateo Aleman</span>. Translated by <span class="smcap">Brady</span>. +Illustrated with Eight Original Etchings by <span class="smcap">R. de Los Rios</span>. Two Volumes.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>ASMODEUS.</b> By <span class="smcap">Le Sage</span>. Translated from the French. Illustrated with Four +Original Etchings by <span class="smcap">R. de Los Rios</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>THE BACHELOR OF SALAMANCA</b>. By <span class="smcap">Le Sage</span>. Translated from the French by +<span class="smcap">James Townsend</span>. Illustrated with Four Original Etchings by <span class="smcap">R. de Los +Rios</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>VANILLO GONZALES</b>; or, The Merry Bachelor. By <span class="smcap">Le Sage</span>. Translated from +the French. Illustrated with Four Original Etchings by <span class="smcap">R. de Los Rios</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>THE ADVENTURES OF GIL BLAS OF SANTILLANE.</b> Translated from the French of +<span class="smcap">Le Sage</span> by <span class="smcap">Tobias Smollett</span>. With Biographical and Critical Notice of <span class="smcap">Le +Sage</span> by <span class="smcap">George Saintsbury</span>. New Edition, carefully revised. Illustrated +with Twelve Original Etchings by <span class="smcap">R. de Los Rios</span>. Three Volumes.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—<i>A small number of above was printed on Medium 8vo Laid Paper.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Times.</b></p> +<p>“This prettily printed and prettily illustrated collection of Spanish +Romances deserve their welcome from all students of seventeenth century +literature.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Daily Telegraph.</b></p> +<p>“A handy and beautiful edition of the works of the Spanish masters of +romance.... We may say of this edition of the immortal work of Cervantes +that it is most tastefully and admirably executed, and that it is +embellished with a series of striking etchings from the pen of the +Spanish artist De los Rios.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Scotsman.</b></p> +<p>“Handy in form, they are well printed from clear type, and are got up +with much elegance; the etchings are full of humour and force. The +reading public have reason to congratulate themselves that so neat, +compact, and well arranged an edition of romances that can never die is +put within their reach. The publishers have spared no pains with them.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Saturday Review.</b></p> +<p>“Messrs. Nimmo & Bain have just brought out a series of Spanish prose works in twelve finely got-up volumes.”</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><big><strong>OLD ENGLISH ROMANCES.</strong></big></p> +<p class="center"><i>Illustrated with Etchings.</i></p> +<p class="center">In 12 Vols. crown 8vo, parchment boards or cloth, 7s. 6d. per vol.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY</b>, <span class="smcap">Gentleman</span>. By <span class="smcap">Laurence Sterne</span>. +In Two Vols. With Eight Etchings by <span class="smcap">Damman</span> from Original Drawings by +<span class="smcap">Harry Furniss</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>THE OLD ENGLISH BARON</b>: <span class="smcap">A Gothic Story</span>. By <span class="smcap">Clara Reeve</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">ALSO</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO</b>: <span class="smcap">A Gothic Story</span>. By <span class="smcap">Horace Walpole</span>. In One Vol. +With Two Portraits and Four Original Drawings by <span class="smcap">A. H. Tourrier</span>, Etched +by <span class="smcap">Damman</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS.</b> In Four Vols. Carefully Revised and +Corrected from the Arabic by <span class="smcap">Jonathan Scott</span>, LL.D., Oxford. With +Nineteen Original Etchings by <span class="smcap">Ad. Lalauze</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>THE HISTORY OF THE CALIPH VATHEK.</b> By <span class="smcap">Wm. Beckford</span>. With Notes, Critical +and Explanatory.</p> + +<p class="center">ALSO</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA.</b> By <span class="smcap">Samuel Johnson</span>. In One Vol. With +Portrait of <span class="smcap">Beckford</span>, and Four Original Etchings, designed by A. H. +Tourrier, and Etched by <span class="smcap">Damman</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>ROBINSON CRUSOE.</b> By <span class="smcap">Daniel Defoe</span>. In Two Vols. With Biographical Memoir, +Illustrative Notes, and Eight Etchings by <span class="smcap">M. Mouilleron</span>, and Portrait by +<span class="smcap">L. Flameng</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>GULLIVER’S TRAVELS.</b> By <span class="smcap">Jonathan Swift</span>. With Five Etchings and Portrait +by <span class="smcap">Ad. Lalauze</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY.</b> By <span class="smcap">Laurence Sterne</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">ALSO</p> + +<p class="hang"><b>A TALE OF A TUB.</b> By <span class="smcap">Jonathan Swift</span>. In One Vol. With Five Etchings and +Portrait by <span class="smcap">Ed. Hedouin</span>.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—<i>A small number of above was printed on Medium 8vo Laid Paper.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Times.</b></p> +<p>“Among the numerous handsome reprints which the publishers of the day +vie with each other in producing, we have seen nothing of greater merit +than this series of twelve volumes. Those who have read these +masterpieces of the last century in the homely garb of the old editions +may be gratified with the opportunity of perusing them with the +advantages of large clear print and illustrations of a quality which is +rarely bestowed on such re-issues. The series deserves every +commendation.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Athenæum.</b></p> +<p>“A well-printed and tasteful issue of the ‘Thousand and One Nights.’ The +volumes are convenient in size, and illustrated with Lalauze’s +well-known etchings.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Magazine of Art.</b></p> +<p>“The text of the new four-volume edition of the ‘Thousand and One +Nights’ just issued by Messrs. Nimmo & Bain is that revised by Jonathan +Scott, from the French of Galland; it presents the essentials of these +wonderful stories with irresistible authority and directness, and, as +mere reading, it is as satisfactory as ever. The edition, which is +limited to a thousand copies, is beautifully printed and remarkably well +produced. It is illustrated with twenty etchings by Lalauze.... In +another volume of this series Beckford’s wild and gloomy ‘Vathek’ +appears side by side with Johnson’s admirable ‘Rasselas.’”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Glasgow Herald.</b></p> +<p>“The merits of this new issue lie in exquisite clearness of type, +completeness; notes and biographical notices, short and pithy; and a +number of very fine etchings and portraits. In the ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ +besides the well-known portrait of Defoe by Flameng, there are eight +exceedingly beautiful etchings by Mouilleron.... In fine keeping with +the other volumes of the series, uniform in style and illustrations, and +as one of the volumes of their famous Old English Romances, Messrs. +Nimmo & Bain have also issued the ‘Rasselas’ of Johnson and the ‘Vathek’ +of Beckford.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Westminster Review.</b></p> +<p>“Messrs. Nimmo & Bain have added to their excellent series of ‘Old +English Romances’ three new volumes, of which two are devoted to +‘Tristram Shandy,’ while the third contains ‘The Old English Baron’ and +‘The Castle of Otranto.’ Take them as they stand, and without +attributing to them any qualities but what they really possess, the +whole series was well worth reprinting in the elegant and attractive +form in which they are now presented to us.”</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><b>The Imitation of Christ.</b></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Four Books.</span></p> +<p class="center"><b>Translated from the Latin by Rev. W. BENHAM, B.D.</b>,</p> +<p class="center"><i>Rector of St. Edmund, King and Martyr, Lombard Street.</i></p> +<p class="center">With ten Illustrations by <span class="smcap">J. P. Laurens</span>, etched by <span class="smcap">Leopold Flameng</span>.</p> +<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth or parchment boards, 10s. 6d.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Scotsman.</b></p> +<p>“We have not seen a more beautiful edition of ‘The Imitation of Christ’ +than this one for many a day.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Magazine of Art.</b></p> +<p>“This new edition of the ‘Imitation’ may fairly be regarded as a work of +art. It is well and clearly printed; the paper is excellent; each page +has its peculiar border, and it is illustrated with ten etchings. +Further than that the translation is Mr. Benham’s we need say nothing +more.”</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><strong>Essays from the “North American Review.”</strong></p> +<p class="center"><b>Edited by ALLEN THORNDIKE RICE.</b></p> +<p class="center">Demy 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Saturday Review.</b></p> +<p>“A collection of interesting essays from the <i>North American Review</i>, +beginning with a criticism on the works of Walter Scott, and ending with +papers written by Mr. Lowell and Mr. O. W. Holmes. The variety of the +essays is noteworthy.”</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><b>Alain René Le Sage. (1668-1747.)</b></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Short History of the</span><br /> +LIFE AND WRITINGS OF ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE,<br /> +<i>The Author of “Gil Blas,”</i><br /> +Who was born at Sarzean on the 8th of May 1668,<br />and died at Boulogne on the 17th November 1747.</p> +<p class="center"><b>By GEORGE SAINTSBURY.</b></p> +<p class="center">Medium 8vo, 50 pp., paper covers, 3s. 6d.</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><b>Peter Anthony Motteux. (1660-1718.)</b></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">A Short History of the Late</span><br /> +MR PETER ANTHONY MOTTEUX,<br /> +A Native of France,<br /> +Whilom Dramatist, China Merchant, and Auctioneer,<br /> +Who departed this life on the 18th of February 1718 (old style),<br />being then precisely 58 years old.</p> +<p class="center"><b>By HENRI VAN LAUN.</b></p> +<p class="center">Medium 8vo, 43 pp., paper covers, 3s. 6d.</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><big><b>The American Patent Portable Book-Case.</b></big></p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i221.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><big>For Students, Barristers, Home Libraries, &c.</big></p> + +<p>This Book-case will be found to be made of very solid and durable +material, and of a neat and elegant design. The shelves may be adjusted +for books of any size, and will hold from 150 to 300 volumes. As it +requires neither nails, screws, or glue, it may be taken to pieces in a +few minutes, and reset up in another room or house, where it would be +inconvenient to carry a large frame.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Full Height, 5 ft. 11½ in.; Width, 3 ft. 8 in.; Depth of Shelf, 10½ in.</i></p> +<p class="center"><b>Black Walnut, price £6, 6s. nett.</b></p> + +<p>“The accompanying sketch illustrates a handy portable book-case of +American manufacture, which Messrs. <span class="smcap">Nimmo & Bain</span> have provided. It is +quite different from an ordinary article of furniture, such as +upholsterers inflict upon the public, as it is designed expressly for +holding the largest possible number of books in the smallest possible +amount of space. One of the chief advantages which these book-cases +possess is the ease with which they may be taken apart and put together +again. No nails or metal screws are employed, nothing but the hand is +required to dismantle or reconstruct the case. The parts fit together +with mathematical precision; and, from a package of boards of very +moderate dimensions, a firm and substantial book-case can be erected in +the space of a few minutes. Appearances have by no means been +overlooked; the panelled sides, bevelled edges, and other simple +ornaments, give to the case a very neat and tasteful look. For students, +or others whose occupation may involve frequent change of residence, +these book-cases will be found most handy and desirable, while, at the +same time, they are so substantial, well-made, and convenient, that they +will be found equally suitable for the library at home.”</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><b>Select List from the Catalogue of J. & A. Churchill</b>,</p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Publishers, New Burlington Street</span>,</p> +<p class="center">As supplied by <span class="smcap">J. C. Nimmo & Bain</span>.</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><b>Catalogue of the Publications of W. H. Allen & Co.</b>,</p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Publishers, Waterloo Place</span>,</p> +<p class="center">As supplied by <span class="smcap">J. C. Nimmo & Bain</span>.</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><b>BOOK-CORNER PROTECTORS.</b></p> + +<p>Metal Tips carefully prepared for placing on the Corners of Books to +preserve them from injury while passing through the Post Office or being +sent by Carrier.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Extract from “The Times,” April 18th.</b></p> + +<p>“That the publishers and booksellers of America second the efforts of +the Post Office authorities in endeavouring to convey books without +damage happening to them is evident from the tips which they use to +protect the corners from injury during transit.”</p> + +<p class="center">1s. 6d. per Gross, nett.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><big>J. C. NIMMO & BAIN,</big><br /> +14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.</p></div> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<p><a name="f1" id="f1" href="#f1.1">[1]</a> Ducange.</p> + +<p><a name="f2" id="f2" href="#f2.1">[2]</a> The laws of Hoel the Good.</p> + +<p><a name="f3" id="f3" href="#f3.1">[3]</a> Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester.</p> + +<p><a name="f4" id="f4" href="#f4.1">[4]</a> Ducange.</p> + +<p><a name="f5" id="f5" href="#f5.1">[5]</a> Mezeray, ii. 121.</p> + +<p><a name="f6" id="f6" href="#f6.1">[6]</a> Sloane MS. No. 2530, xxvi. D.; a manuscript giving details of the +grades of students and masters of fence, and of the ceremonial attending +taking their degrees. The oath runs, “First you shall swear, so help you +God and halidome, and by all the christendome which God gave you at the +fount stone, and by the cross of this sword which doth represent unto +you the cross which our Saviour suffered his most painful deathe upon,” &c.</p> + +<p><a name="f7" id="f7" href="#f7.1">[7]</a> Socrates’ oath, <i>by the cabbage</i>, +<ins class="correction" title="ma tên krambên">μὰ την κραμβην</ins> +is given in Athenæus, ib. ix. p. 370.</p> + +<p><a name="f8" id="f8" href="#f8.1">[8]</a> Aristophanes, ‘The Birds.’</p> + +<p><a name="f9" id="f9" href="#f9.1">[9]</a> Plutarch, Quæstion. Rom., p. 271.</p> + +<p><a name="f10" id="f10" href="#f10.1">[10]</a> ‘Mariage de Figaro,’ iii. 5.</p> + +<p><a name="f11" id="f11" href="#f11.1">[11]</a> MS. Bibliothèque nationale. ‘Collection Complète des Mémoires,’ +vol. viii.</p> + +<p><a name="f12" id="f12" href="#f12.1">[12]</a></p> + +<p class="poem">“<i>Williams.</i> Ah, damnation! Goddam!<br /> +<i>Blondel.</i> Goddam! Monsieur est Anglais apparemment.”<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">‘<i>Cœur de Lion</i>,’ 1789.</span></p> + +<p><a name="f13" id="f13" href="#f13.1">[13]</a> ‘Notes on Ancient Poetry,’ ed. 1770.</p> + +<p><a name="f14" id="f14" href="#f14.1">[14]</a> One of the last cases where the use of the word produced some +coolness on the part of the persons concerned, occurred when a certain +bishop in a northern diocese was reported by the local newspaper to have +said in a sermon, “that he would not preach in that damned old church +any more.” The bishop wrote to the paper that he had said “damp old +church.” The editor, however, declined to question the accuracy of his +reporter.</p> + +<p><a name="f15" id="f15" href="#f15.1">[15]</a> See passage from Roger de Collerye, given by Littré.</p> + +<p><a name="f16" id="f16" href="#f16.1">[16]</a> ‘L’agréable conférence de Piarot et Janin.’ Paris, 1651.</p> + +<p><a name="f17" id="f17" href="#f17.1">[17]</a> “<ins class="correction" title="SO] Nê ton kuna, amphignoô mentoi ô Pôle">ΣΩ] +Νὴ τὸν κύνα, αμφιγνοῶ +μέντοι ὦ Πῶλε</ins>” &c.—‘<i>Gorgias.</i>’</p> + +<p><a name="f18" id="f18" href="#f18.1">[18]</a> “On Tuesday, March 31, he and I dined at General Paoli’s.... We +talked of the strange custom of swearing in conversation. The general +said that all barbarous nations swore from a certain violence of temper +that could not be confined to earth, but was always reaching at the +powers above. He said, too, that there was a greater variety of swearing +in proportion as there was a greater variety of religious +ceremonies.”—Boswell’s ‘<i>Life of Johnson</i>,’ p. 235.</p> + +<p><a name="f19" id="f19" href="#f19.1">[19]</a> Letter from Lynceus at Rhodes to Diagoras at Athens, in ‘Journal +des Savants,’ 1839, p. 37.</p> + +<p><a name="f20" id="f20" href="#f20.1">[20]</a> Aldus Gellius, xi. 6. We find these oaths so distributed in Terence +and Plautus, the women swearing by Castor and the men by Hercules.</p> + +<p><a name="f21" id="f21" href="#f21.1">[21]</a> Herodotus, bk. iv. 67. It was the <i>hearth</i> of kings of Scythia that +was dealt with in this way.</p> + +<p><a name="f22" id="f22" href="#f22.1">[22]</a> For an able article on the Five Wounds as represented in Art, see +Journal of Brit. Arch. Association for Dec. 1874, by the Rev. W. Sparrow +Simpson.</p> + +<p><a name="f23" id="f23" href="#f23.1">[23]</a> ‘Roba di Roma,’ by W. W. Story, 1863. The writer adds, “A curious +feature in the oaths of the Italians may be remarked. <i>Dio mio</i> is +usually an exclamation of sudden surprise or wonder; <i>Madonna mia</i>, of +pity and sorrow, and <i>per Christo</i> of hatred and revenge. It is in the +name of Christ, and not of God as with us, that imprecations, curses, +and maledictions are invoked. The reason is very simple. Christ is to +him the judge and avenger of all, and so represented in every picture he +sees, from Orcagua’s and Michael Angelo’s Last Judgment down, while the +Eternal Father is a peaceful old figure bending over him.”</p> + +<p><a name="f24" id="f24" href="#f24.1">[24]</a> ‘The Conversyon of Swerers,’ 1540.</p> + +<p><a name="f25" id="f25" href="#f25.1">[25]</a> The identity of ideas that we have referred to as invariably +occurring in mediæval writings, whenever they happen to turn upon a +similar theme, may be shown by comparison of the following extracts. +They are taken from writers of different times and countries, and who +are not directly plagiarising one another. Dan Michael, in the ‘Ayenbite +of Inwyt’ (modernised), has:—</p> + +<p>“These (Christians) are worse than the Jews that did crucify him. They +broke none of his bones. But these break him to pieces smaller than one +doth swine in butchery.”</p> + +<p>Robert of Brunné, in the ‘Handlyng Sinne,’ writes:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Thy oaths do him more grievousness,<br /> +Than all the Jews’ wickedness;<br /> +They pained him once and passed away,<br /> +But thou painest him every day.”</p> + +<p>Again, in the ‘Moralité des Blasphémateurs’ (circa 1530):—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Tu luy fais plus dure bataille<br /> +Que les juifz sans nulla faille<br /> +Qui pour toy le crucifierent.”</p> + +<p><a name="f26" id="f26" href="#f26.1">[26]</a> A certain delight in arranging the favourite oaths of his +contemporaries and of other historical personages is plainly to be seen +in Brantôme. In the ‘Vies des Grands Capitaines’ he throws off a whole +string of these cherished devices. “On appeloit ce grand capitaine, +Monsr. de la Trimouille, ‘La vraye Corps Dieu’ d’autant que c’estoit son +serment ordinaire, ainsin que ces vieux et anciens grands capitaines en +ont sceu choisir et avoir aucuns particuliers à eux; comme Monsr. de +Bayard juroit, ‘Feste Dieu, Bayard!’ Monsr. de Bourbon, ‘Saincte Barbe!’ +le prince d’Orange, ‘Saincte Nicolas!’ le bonne homme M. de la Roche du +Maine juroit ‘Teste de Dieu pleine de reliques!’ (où diable alla il +chercher celuy là) et autres que je nommerois, plus sangreneux que ceux +là.”</p> + +<p><a name="f27" id="f27" href="#f27.1">[27]</a> Ch. Rozan, ‘Petites Ignorances de la Conversation.’</p> + +<p><a name="f28" id="f28" href="#f28.1">[28]</a> “A shocking practice seems to have been rendered fashionable by the +very reprehensible habit of the Queen, whose oaths were neither +diminutive or rare, for it is said that she never spared an oath in +public speech or private conversation when she thought it added energy +to either,”—<i>Drake</i>, ‘<i>Shakspeare and his Times</i>,’ ii. 160.</p> + +<p><a name="f29" id="f29" href="#f29.1">[29]</a> J. G. Nicholls, ‘Literary Remains of Edward VI.’</p> + +<p><a name="f30" id="f30" href="#f30.1">[30]</a> ‘Every Man out of his Humour,’ i. 1.</p> + +<p><a name="f31" id="f31" href="#f31.1">[31]</a> 1 Henry IV., iii. 7.</p> + +<p><a name="f32" id="f32" href="#f32.1">[32]</a> See Capt. Basil Hall’s ‘Fragments of Voyages and Travels,’ chap. +xvi. p. 89.</p> + +<p><a name="f33" id="f33" href="#f33.1">[33]</a> Leigh Hunt’s Journal, No. 6, for Jan. 11, 1851.</p> + +<p><a name="f34" id="f34" href="#f34.1">[34]</a> ‘The Colonies,’ by Col. C. J. Napier, 1833.</p> + +<p><a name="f35" id="f35" href="#f35.1">[35]</a> If any person or persons shall ... profanely swear or curse ... for +every such offence the party so offending shall forfeit and pay to the +use of the poor of the parish where such offence or offences shall be +committed the respective sums hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, +every servant, day-labourer, common soldier, or common seaman, one +shilling; and every other person two shillings; and in case any of the +persons aforesaid shall, after conviction, offend a second time, such +person shall forfeit and pay double, and if a third time treble the sum +respectively.—6 & 7 <i>William and Mary</i>, c. 11.</p> + +<p><a name="f36" id="f36" href="#f36.1">[36]</a> Coll. of State Papers, Domestic, 1595, p. 12.</p> + +<p><a name="f37" id="f37" href="#f37.1">[37]</a> Borough records of the City of Glasgow, 1573-1581.</p> + +<p><a name="f38" id="f38" href="#f38.1">[38]</a> Aberdeen Presbytery Records, printed by the Spalding Club.</p> + +<p><a name="f39" id="f39" href="#f39.1">[39]</a> Within the precincts of royal palaces regulations seem to have been +made from time to time to clear the atmosphere of all impious particles. +According to a work by Alexander Howell, the Dean of St. Paul’s, printed +in 1611, King Henry I. prescribed a scale of fines according to a table +as follows:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td rowspan="5" valign="middle">“If he were:</td> + <td rowspan="5" valign="middle"><span class="bracket">{</span></td> + <td>a Duke 40 shillings.</td></tr> +<tr><td>a Lord 20<span class="spacer2"> </span>do.</td></tr> +<tr><td>a Squire 10<span class="spacer2"> </span>do.</td></tr> +<tr><td>a Yeoman 3<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>a Page, to be whipt.”</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td><span style="margin-left: 3em;">‘<i>A Sword against Swearers</i>,’ 1611.</span></td></tr></table> + +<p><a name="f40" id="f40" href="#f40.1">[40]</a> 21 Jac. I. c. 20.</p> + +<p><a name="f41" id="f41" href="#f41.1">[41]</a> 3 Jac. I. c. 21.</p> + +<p><a name="f42" id="f42" href="#f42.1">[42]</a> Office-book of Sir Henry Herbert. Collier’s ‘History of Dramatic Poetry,’ ii. 58.</p> + +<p><a name="f43" id="f43" href="#f43.1">[43]</a> Coll. of State Papers, Domestic, 1635-6.</p> + +<p><a name="f44" id="f44" href="#f44.1">[44]</a> Whitelock’s Memorials.</p> + +<p><a name="f45" id="f45" href="#f45.1">[45]</a> Quarter Sessions from Queen Elizabeth to Queen Anne, by A. H. A. +Hamilton. 1878.</p> + +<p><a name="f46" id="f46" href="#f46.1">[46]</a> 19 Geo. II. cap. 21. There is also a penalty of 40<i>s.</i> for using +profane language in the streets under the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, +and the Metropolitan Police Act, 1839.</p> + +<p><a name="f47" id="f47" href="#f47.1">[47]</a> J. P. Malcolm, ‘Manners of London during XVII. Century.’</p> + +<p><a name="f48" id="f48" href="#f48.1">[48]</a> “Diary of a Sussex Tradesman a hundred years ago,” printed in +Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. xi.</p> + +<p><a name="f49" id="f49" href="#f49.1">[49]</a> ‘The Rivals,’ act ii. sc. 1.</p> + +<p><a name="f50" id="f50" href="#f50.1">[50]</a> “By the Lord Harry! he should have done with Christmas boxes.” +Swift, ‘<i>Journal to Stella</i>.’</p> + +<p><a name="f51" id="f51" href="#f51.1">[51]</a> The cloven foot is an evidence of a clean beast, and horns are +attributed, pictorially at least, to Moses.</p> + +<p><a name="f52" id="f52" href="#f52.1">[52]</a> Edited by Sir Frederick Madden for the Roxburgh Club, 1828.</p> + +<p><a name="f53" id="f53" href="#f53.1">[53]</a> ‘Tristram Shandy,’ vol. iii. ch. 12.</p> + +<p><a name="f54" id="f54" href="#f54.1">[54]</a> ‘Harangue des Habitans de Sarcelles,’ 1740.</p> + +<p><a name="f55" id="f55" href="#f55.1">[55]</a> “This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the +wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbull +Street.”—2 <i>Henry IV.</i>, ii. 3.</p> + +<p><a name="f56" id="f56" href="#f56.1">[56]</a> Where it is used in the sense of pertaining to kinship—“They are +my blody brethren, quod pieres, for God boughte us alle.”—‘<i>Piers +Plowman</i>,’ vi. 210.</p> + +<p><a name="f57" id="f57" href="#f57.1">[57]</a> Where it is met with as a verb—“With my own hands, I’ll bloody my +own sword.”</p> + +<p><a name="f58" id="f58" href="#f58.1">[58]</a> ‘Montaigne’s Essays,’ ed. Hazlitt, iii. 120.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><b>Transcriber’s Notes:</b></p> + +<p>Punctuation has been corrected without note.</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Cursory History of Swearing, by Julian Sharman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING *** + +***** This file should be named 34179-h.htm or 34179-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/1/7/34179/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Cursory History of Swearing + +Author: Julian Sharman + +Release Date: October 31, 2010 [EBook #34179] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING. + + + + + A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING. + + + BY JULIAN SHARMAN. + + + "Ha! this fellow is worse than me; what, does he + swear with pen and ink?"--_The Tatler_, No. 13. + + + LONDON: + J. C. NIMMO AND BAIN, + 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. + 1884. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. + + At the Scufflers' Club--A stranger at the gates--A somnolent + post-office--The best men in London--A sing-song--"Damn their + eyes!"--"Qui s'excuse s'accuse"--The philosophy of swearing--A + retrospect--"When that I was and a little tiny boy" 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + + The son of discord--Origin of swearing--Decline of lying as an + art--Growth of swearing as a science--The military oath-- + Religious oath--John the Marshall--Fustian oaths--Legislation + begins--"Moralite des Blasphemateurs"--George Fox and Margaret + Fell--Oath of the King-Maker--Oath of the Bear-garden 22 + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Odd's bodikins"--In Socrates' thinking-shop--The British + shibboleth--Don Juan--Beaumarchais--Parny--Joan of Arc a + satirist of swearing--La Hire--Corbleu et Cie.--"Jarnicoton"-- + "[Greek: Ma ton]"--'Jurons de Cadillac'--Little King Goddam-- + Sir John Harrington--'Amends for Ladies'--"Don't care a damn" 38 + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Why has a dog a bad name?--Canine swearing--"Jarnichien!"--The + cast of the die--Dog oath of Socrates--A nation of swearers-- + Aristophanes--The Rhodian cabbage--"Mehercule"--'Ship of + Fools'--Amenities of Roman swearing 60 + + +CHAPTER V. + + Mediaeval swearing--The monastic teaching--Cleric and lay-- + Robert Crowley--Mystery of the five wounds--"God's bread!"--In + a Tuscan studio--Stephen Hawes--Thomas Becon--'Miroir du + Monde'--'Handlyng Sinne'--Chaucer's oaths--Plantagenet + swearing--"Ventre Saint Gris"--A royal scapegrace--"Bismillah!" 77 + + +CHAPTER VI. + + The genius of antiquity--A study in dust and cobwebs--The why + and the wherefore of swearing--A swearing _corps d'elite_-- + "Swear me, Kate, like a lady"--The freemasonry of swearing-- + Lord Thurlow--Sir Thomas Maitland--"By jingo!" 99 + + +CHAPTER VII. + + A bank of swearing--Legislation at work--"The sweirer's and + the Devill"--Aberdeen town records--Across the border--Before + the footlights--'Magnetic Lady'--The wits--Colman the + younger--A swearing bureau--Quarter Sessions--Statute of + William and Mary--Convictions--A carnival of swearing 115 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + A saviour of society--Joseph Addison--A tradesman of the last + century--A clerical apologist--Swearing in earnest and at + play--An explanation offered--Blue laws of Connecticut-- + Bobadil--'The Rivals'--'Covent Garden weeded'--Brantome's + oaths--Eccentricities of swearing--"Old Harry"--"The + dickens"--"The deuce"--"Le diable de Biterne" 139 + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Utilitarian view of swearing--One touch of nature--The + Shandean method--Code of Ernulphus--"Sacre froc d'Habacuc"-- + Mr. William Barley--Philosophy of imprecation--"Bloody"--In + the Low Countries--'The Man of Mode'--Swift without his + waistcoat--Sanglant--Retrospect and ending 171 + + +APPENDIX 193 + + + + +A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AT THE SCUFFLERS' CLUB. + + "'Our armies swore terribly in Flanders,' said my uncle Toby, 'but + nothing to this.'"--_Tristram Shandy._ + + +It lay in the heart of Bohemia. It was approached through a labyrinth of +streets that grew denser and darker as one neared the precincts of the +club. Could any of the brother Scufflers have seen the neighbourhood by +day, it would have presented an appearance dismal and sordid enough. +Dealers in faded wardrobes,--merchants in tinsel and _rouge de +theatre_,--retailers of wigs and fleshings and all manner of stage +wares, seemed one with another to have made the locality their home. One +missed certainly the bone-sellers and refuse-sifters of the adjacent +Clare Market, and one was spared the cheap cosmetic shops and smug +undertakers of the neighbouring Soho. But you were recompensed, here in +the heart of mid-Bohemia, by the all-pervading odour of potations and +provisions,--of banquets long past, and of banquets that were yet to +come. + +What wonderful odours are those that emanate from this quarter of the +town! The dank vapours of Covent Garden are sweet in the nostrils of +many a cockney reveller. There is no orange-peel so perfumed as the +Drury orange-peel that has been concentrating its fragrance round the +boards of Thespis since the days when Mohun and Hart, and Shatterel and +Betterton strutted on the bare planks of the Cockpit. No scent of +printer's ink is more refreshing than that which adheres to the yards of +flimsy playbill still hawked about by itinerant vendors. But the whole +place has through the day-time a blear-eyed, a drunk-over-night +appearance. It is like a man who is never at his best until he has +supped or dined. From morn till twilight it wears this sullen and +uncared-for look. Wait until nightfall, and it will positively glisten +with lamps and gleam with merriment. No wonder, therefore, that it has +been the birthplace of so many of those midnight carousing dens, into +one of which we are tremulously seeking to enter. + +It was what is called a literary and theatrical club, the Scufflers. It +was literary in so far that the majority of its members lay down at +night with unrealised dreams of authorship. It was theatrical to the +extent that many a one was the possessor of an unacted drama coiled up +in his breast coat-pocket, and was to be seen surging about managers' +doors, only waiting the glance of favour to fall upon author and +manuscript. Nor was this literary impulsion entirely without +fruit-bearing. Scufflers had been known to rush breathlessly into the +club-room at the approach of midnight, and in an excited and panting +condition have been heard to sing out for pens and paper, as the morning +press would wait for no man. Personally the accomplishments of the +members were many and varied. The great _primus_ and leader of the club +was a man who was alleged to dash off a leading article, take a hand at +whist, and tackle a dish of kidneys at one and the same time. + +We must now be supposed to have reached the entrance of the hostelry, +for indeed it was a Covent Garden tavern and nothing more. + +We commence to grope our way along the mouldering, unlit passage that +gives access to the one apartment tenanted by the club, in which their +cheerful deliberations are now proceeding. Time cannot efface the +memory of that green-baize door at the end of this passage, where we +were very properly brought to a stand on that first evening of our +initiation. Never shall we forget how momentous seemed the issues that +were depending in that inner chamber, as the announcement that there was +a "stranger at the gates" was evidently being briskly canvassed there. +To have the unquestioned privilege of passing and repassing that mystic +portal, the barrier as it seemed between all the rhapsody and the syntax +of this weary world, promised to be one of those pleasures that would +well-nigh be imperishable. + +The apartment entered, it was easy to discern the manner of men who had +placed their mark upon its walls and wainscots. There was no lack of +artist force in many of the daubs that were let into the panelling, to +remain rugged monuments of the skill of the frequenters of that chamber. +A piano there was that had seen better days, and was yet to see +considerably worse ones, if in our recollection of the ultimate +dispersal of the property of the club we are not mistaken. Then there +were the pipe-racks. Anything more eloquent can scarcely be imagined +than the story unfolded by these mute implements of smoking. Every pipe +possessed its decided characteristic and was distinctly different from +its neighbour. Some showed themselves as conceited pipes; some were +light and sparkish, others ponderous and clumsy. Leave yourself alone +with these sticks of briar or cherry-wood and you could readily have +brought to mind their absent owners,--the man who sang a good song, the +youngster given to practical jokes, the patriarch, strong in argument, +invincible in debate,--in fact you could easily have helped yourself to +an inventory of the members of the club. The rest of the furniture of +the room consisted of a large oblong table, surrounded by chairs of +various patterns, the former of which on the night we first beheld it +literally groaned with the weight of "rabbits" and foaming tankards. +Stay; food for the mind was not neglected, as how should it be? in that +assembly-room. By virtue of the care of a pile of fly-blown magazines, +and as far as we can remember of a few odd volumes of 'Ruff's Guide' and +a 'White's Farriery,' we became in course of time the elected librarian +of the Scufflers' Club. + +Although not a flourishing community in the matter of finances, there +were instances in plenty of great kindness and liberality displayed by +Scuffler unto Scuffler. There were times when they brought out their +myrrh and cassia, their spikenard and oil of price. When, one bitter +winter morning, an unhappy Scuffler came shivering out of the debtors' +side of the City Prison, they did not beat about the bush and hesitate +at receiving him. Neither did they stand on any dignity or whisper any +threat of expulsion. They did nothing of this kind, they simply made him +drunk. It is, we hope, quite clear that these gentlemen were not +professors of any sort of austerity. + +It may have already dawned upon the reader that there can hardly have +existed a fraternity boasting any such name as the one we have allotted +to it. In this much the reader is perfectly right. The club had a title +strikingly similar to that which we have adopted, and the thin disguise +has only been suggested from a circumstance that we may at once frankly +disclose. Suspended over the club chimney-piece was the usual +notice-board, a perfect encyclopaedia in its way, and covered with a +trellis-work of crimson tape for the purpose of retaining the various +_affiches_. In this way were displayed, from day to day, the cards and +letters intended for the members of the club. For so long a time did +they frequently remain exhibited, and so complete a disregard did the +owners manifest for their property, that the appearance of each packet +often grew quite familiar to the frequenters of the place. The +individuality of the writer might be often guessed from the evidence of +the various superscriptions, and when all other sources of amusement +failed the contents of this stationary post-office formed a fair staple +of banter and merry comment. There were to be seen perfumed and +coronetted envelopes addressed to quasi-fashionable members. These were +gentlemen who never seemed to call and claim their belongings. Then +there were letters reputed to emanate from the great publishing houses, +and there were missives surmounted with well-known theatrical monograms +that were alleged to forward brilliant offers of engagements. In fact it +was by the aid of such simple nest-eggs as these that the men managed to +establish reputations. But there was one class of correspondence that +obviously was not intended for much publicity. These were the letters +couched in feminine handwriting, none of the neatest, whose tremulous +writers, in addressing their envelopes, rarely succeeded in hitting off +the proper style and title of the club. The early looker-in might have +made a useful study of these shaky epistles,--scrawls painfully executed +by milliners and toy-women. It was on the cover of one of such +effusions, even worse written and worse spelt than they usually were, +that we first saw the inscription, the "Scufflers' Club." + +Although some years have passed since first we were made free of that +circle, distinctly do we remember the manner of our greeting--"This," +said our introducer, "is a room rendered famous by the celebrated +Addison." He emphasised the "celebrated" owing to an evident misgiving +that we might not perhaps be intimate with the name of that personage. +"Kitty Clive, the actress," he continued, "lodged in the upper +floors,"--which was true--"and Dr. Johnson is said to have worn away the +wainscot with his wig in the further corner,"--which was not. We were +already lingering over the notice-board and letter-rack, reminded +probably by the associations of a similar contrivance at Will's Coffee +House, when Parson Swift came in the mornings to seek for letters from +Stella, when the voice of our cicerone again summoned us. "Drop into a +seat," it whispered, "and I'll show you the best men in London." + +The best men in London were engaged for the most part in imbibing +various amber-coloured fluids, and shouting out at intervals the burden +of a well-known chorus. An entertainment known as a "sing-song" was +vociferously going on. Vocalisation of a very fair order was being +given, whenever any one of the hearty Scufflers had sufficiently wetted +his throat to "oblige." We were in time to hear the 'Friar of Orders +Gray' performed very creditably, and 'When Joan's ale was new' brought +out a ringing chorus. We must have stayed some hours in listening to +this minstrelsy. Hospital songs, ditties well-known at Bartholomew's and +Guy's; poaching songs that bore the flavour of the honest shire of +Somerset; pieces from the comic operas; all were given with the utmost +good-humour and vivacity. But what seemed most to invigorate the spirits +of the Scufflers was a song that had been demanded more than once during +the evening and was at length only given after extreme pressure upon the +part of the audience. We do not know the name of the song; we are not +certain we should recollect the tune; but we are positive of the words, +such of them at least as formed the refrain of the melody. In every +stanza there was held up to reprobation some unpopular type. The severer +virtues were no less mercilessly handled, while all authority of the +more invidious kind, from that of the beak to that of the exciseman, was +subjected to the same unceremonious treatment. Every versicle--well do +we remember it--concluded with the exordium, "Damn their eyes!" Never +can we forget the rapturous reception that was accorded to this piece of +harmony. The men literally shrieked with delight. "Damn their +eyes!"--they grasped convulsively at tumblers and decanters and banged +them on the table. "Damn their eyes!"--they hurrahed, they shouted, they +raved, they swore. "Damn their eyes!"--they bestrode chairs and benches, +as they might have bestridden hobby-horses, and tournamented about the +room. Was this then the paean or war-song of the Scufflers' Club? + +As with the morning light we came to reflect upon the midnight orgie, we +felt we had opened a chapter in a strange history, and that history a +history of swearing. + +We can hardly bring our pen to write the very title of this book without +being reminded of an incident that has amused while it has displeased +us. It is now very many years ago that a kind relative brought the +present writer, then a child at a dame's school, a handsome copy of the +'Vicar of Wakefield,' and thenceforward for a time that bitter +schoolhouse bade fair to be made bright and joyous with the doings of +the simple men and women whose story the gentle Goldsmith has recorded. +What possible objection could be uttered against so innocent a tale? +None the less however did our worthy preceptress take occasion to +remonstrate. "Does not that book concern females?" asked she. Our friend +could have had no reply prepared that was fitted to so insidious a +reproach. "Ah! well," was the quiet rejoinder, "but poor Goldsmith did +not mean badly." + +If such, then, be the measure dealt out to the more disciplined +champions in the strife with human error, what sort of accord will be +given to the present unharnessed and ill-caparisoned writer, who +attempts, let it be hoped not ill-naturedly, to cope with one of the +more rosy-faced forms of sinfulness. That he will be assailed from the +higher latitudes of prudery he has a right to expect. That the very +novelty of the venture will pass as an affront to some portion of his +readers there is only reason to anticipate. That even the more indulgent +will cast looks of suspicion upon his pirate ensign is a circumstance he +can conceal as little as he can regret it. + +As the matter stands, a poor devil of an author is proposing an +expedition into regions that, despite many hundred years of literary +enterprise, are still remote and untravelled. It were not surprising +therefore at the outset that his readers should inquire if he is sincere +and reliable, or whether on the contrary he is counterfeiting honesty +with a sanctimonious face. It were perhaps right they should be assured +that the trip is really intended for their welfare, and that the skipper +is not given to risk the safety of his craft for a mere capful of wind. +But conceding that it is natural to raise these doubts at the threshold +of the journey, the author has it in his power to give little or no +assurance of the sincerity of his undertaking. Whatever notion he may +entertain of his own, or of other people's morality, he has no opinion +whatever of their professions of it. He refrains therefore from giving +any warranty of the soundness of his wares. + +Save but for this. He has often been vexed, and puzzled as well as +vexed, at one great discord that has been sent upon the world. Yielding +and kindly as it may have been to them, men have not scrupled to cast +defiance and calumny upon this forbearing earth and to hurl hissing +curses at its abundance and its pervading spirit of forgiveness. Not +since the labour of men's hands began have they ceased to furrow it with +menace and sow it with imprecation, cursing while their very corn ripens +under midsummer skies, cursing as they gather in their store of wine and +victual. What does it mean? What _can_ it mean? Whence has it arisen, +and whither does it tend? These are among the questions that have +influenced the mind of the writer in considering the purview of his +book. + +The misfortune that is often experienced in handling any subject lying +wide of the beaten track does not necessarily arise from the inherent +viciousness of the subject itself, but from the fact that a large number +of people have previously arrived at painful impressions concerning it. +It is therefore an obligation cast upon a writer to treat these +preconceived notions with the utmost tenderness and respect. Personally +one may hold the art of swearing in perfect indifference, being neither +among the number of swearers oneself nor having any very strong feeling +of reprobation towards its more active adherents. But despite a certain +inclination that we feel to apologise for what we hold to be the +silliest of vices, we are forced to recollect that to many the offence +will always appear in anything but a trivial light. It is therefore +obligatory upon us to abstain as far as possible from referring to +expressions that are calculated to alarm. At the close of the last +century there existed a religious sect who were in favour of abandoning +the use of clothing. Blake, the poet, was one of these enthusiasts, and +his wife also. The holders of this convenient doctrine were in the habit +of presenting themselves in their households as naked as they were born. +In so acting we may be sure they were only in keeping with their sober +convictions, and that they were ready to maintain in argument the +thorough soundness and consistency of their views. For aught we know to +the contrary, this naked doctrine may of itself have been right, but the +misfortune which continued, and for the matter of that still continues, +to be felt, was that by far the larger portion of humanity retained a +decided prejudice in favour of apparel. So long as the disciple of the +Adamite school was contented to denude himself in his own particular +circle there may have been no positive harm, but it would scarcely have +been open to a member of that fraternity to have walked down Fleet +Street like an ancient Briton. The thinker also who takes upon himself +to theorise in a manner apart from any considerable section of humanity, +is no less bound to entertain a fitting respect for the notions, even to +the mistaken notions, with which that section is animated. Whatever his +own disposition towards an absolute freedom of expression, he is under +the obligation of attiring his ideas in the manner habituated to the +tastes of his listeners. + +Happily, however, there is possible a middle course. We need not grovel +in the sinks and cellars, neither need we ruminate upon the house-tops. +We can settle ourselves as it were, in that easy, neutral smoking-room +of literature, where we can put off broadcloth for fustian; and utter +our heresies with still a chance left us of being forgiven. Here we may +expect to meet only with that mature and seasoned criticism that holds +the scale very evenly between the outspoken and the insolent. While by +no means to be accounted friendly towards the vile excrescences of +swearing, the ordinary man of the world is not to be repelled by every +street oath, or put to lasting confusion by every passing word of +unseemliness. To put it upon no higher ground than that of mere custom, +it were too arrogant to assume abhorrence of a practice that is as trite +and customary as the incidents of one's daily rounds. Besides, there is +another explanation for the supineness that is exhibited towards errors +of this description. It could be shown how, by a slight mental process, +the extravagances and the follies of other men are capable of offering a +subtle compliment to a person's understanding. They set it off. They +adorn what he fancies to be his intellectual superiority, and he is not +indisposed in consequence to extend a feeble patronage towards the very +vices which, did he not experience ever so slight a benefit from them, +he would otherwise be foremost in decrying. Again, it were too obviously +inconsistent to take our repose in a tavern and yet direct our homilies +at tavern habits, at the enormity of tobacco-smoking or of drinking +drams. And yet it may be possible for most of us to go back to no +distant time when we sickened at the scent of the finest Virginian and +the juice of the juniper was bitter. It was not a great while ago +certainly! + +A great while ago! Say, courteous and gentle--nay, uncourteous and +ungentle reader--can you so far travel back in your recollection as to +recall your first parting from all that was homely and kindly and +familiar? Do you remember the first separation from the half-score of +faces that to you had peopled the earth and represented the whole sum +and mystery of living? Can you now realise that desolate night, closing +in upon the blank, colourless day, the lonely stages, the harsh grating +of the wheels, all the impressions in fact of that long, pitiful journey +that once came as a barrier between you and childish innocence? And then +the arrival at that strange school; how hollow the laughter of the men, +how shrill the chirp and twitter of the women! Do you remember the +comfortless morrow that brought the first contact with your boy +associates? They were probably harmless and good-natured enough, those +uncouth, ill-fashioned boys, and doubtless there were among them many +who would have been quick to requite a wrong and eager to soothe any +injury. But how they pained you with their jests; how they bruised you +in their boisterous play; how old they looked to your young eyes; how +full of wiles and intrigue and savagery! And then their talk! not the +mild caressing talk of the lips you loved, of the forms you knew, but +loud and brazen, and savouring of cunning and high-handedness. And in +their quarrels and their games, they swore--those boys swore; not all of +them be it hoped, but the great giants and paladins among them who +seemed to bear rule and mastery with whips and thongs. Many a time +before, perhaps, you may have been seized with faintness and aversion at +some imagined evil, that might as well have been enacted in some distant +planet. But now the horror was no longer slumbering or remote; it was +awake and crying at your door. Now, and within a few hours, were +disclosed the sources of all the aimless brutalities, all the +self-asserting iniquities that have played such havoc in an erring +world. And, as these knowing fellows chattered over their scraps of +worldly wisdom, and as their puny curses were bandied round, it seemed +as if some great treason were being poured out, a trespass alike against +God in heaven and the folks at home. + +How could one know at that young age that all one heard was not really +villainous, that much of it indeed was mere _brusquerie_, rough-ridden +perhaps, but brisk and spirited? How should one understand that the +tones which seemed so harsh and jarring belonged in truth to a very code +of sprightliness? But a few weeks more perhaps, and you too had taken +the ring of this brazen metal. You had perceived upon what measure of +aggression, upon what rasping unkindnesses, the applause of your fellows +was bestowed. To violate every rule with fearless indifference, to be +abreast with every move that was daring or was dexterous, these were the +feats by which approval was won. In the matter of swearing you might +have remained only an unwilling dabbler, only a mixer and meddler in the +luxury, were it not that occasion came when you were solemnly arraigned +for the offence, and straightway branded as a culprit. It is in this way +that offences come. So you may have received your punishment and have +revolted under it; and perhaps you may have had a right to revolt. For +our spiritual pastors, in judging of our virtues, too often endowed us +with the capacities of children, and in judging of our vices they +endowed us with the capacities of men. + +In that our early play-time, of which we have been speaking, we +distinctly call to mind two errant school-fellows, brought together by +kindred tastes, though differing in temper and disposition. Each is of +an age when the world resembles only some May-day morning, and at the +moment we are recalling them they have no other occupation than that of +dreamily rambling through the fields and lanes, delighted with the +breezy country-side, and luxuriating in their own boyish outpourings. +They had conceived this mutual liking because each felt the other to be +in true sympathy with nature, and to be capable of discerning the +wonderful enchantments of poetry and cadence. They had found a warm and +unselfish delight in ministering to the other's appreciation. They could +drink in great draughts of beauty from the chalice so unsparingly held +out by Shelley or Goethe, by Wordsworth or Byron. They could revel in +the rugged measures of 'Marmion,' in the whirl and clatter of the 'Last +Minstrel.' They could be gay with the loves of the Two Gentlemen, or +kindle at the woes of Imogen or the sorrows of Effie Deans. + +And so, in such senseless manner, they are now skirting the golden +harvest-fields, recalling perhaps the bright fancy that has given the +'Skylark' to the world, or mindful of "liquid Peneus" and "darkened +Tempe." Presently there burst out of the thicket two ruffians, with rags +torn and bespattered, caked with summer's dust and mildewed by winter's +rain. As they approached their voices sounded devilish and unearthly. +They raised one long plaint of deep-toned, hard-set blasphemy. Their +every word was shotted with an oath. Hoarse with brandy, bitter with +malevolence, they cursed at the plenty of the harvest,--at the patient +cattle grazing in the fields,--at the crimson poppy blowing in the +ditch,--at the buzzing insects, at the ripening orchards. They cursed at +the luck of the skittle-alley; they cursed at the insolence of the +rulers of the land. When the devil made war with heaven, this must have +been the roar of his artillery. + +We looked at our friend--for this has become a personal narrative, as +may already have been conjectured--and we marked the pain and sorrow of +heart that had visibly overcome him. Silently he seemed to implore +protection from the great span of universe surrounding us--for it was he +who was the gentler and more loyal spirit of the two. Then, as the +curses and ribaldry died away, he emerged slowly as from beneath a +stupefying load. Presently he fell to talking of the strange +perverseness with which men have always clung to this undying evil, and +cited the Levitical story of "the son of the Israelitish woman,"--the +impious oaths demanded of old time by emperors and satraps, and the +resistance of the martyred Polycarp. + +Who knows but that at that moment we may have thought our friend little +better than a fool, and his words the drivel of idiotcy? We have said +somewhere, speaking of morality, that we have no opinion of professions +of it. It must be known that he was mild and retiring and submissive. He +could not give blow for blow as other boys could; he could not cheat or +lie or gamble as other boys did. He was more awkward of limb and coarser +dressed. Anyhow, we have set down here some of our first impressions of +swearing, and now we are cursorily writing its history. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "Now don't let us give ourselves a parcel of airs and pretend that + the oaths we make free with in this land of liberty of ours are our + own; and because we have the spirit to swear them,--imagine that we + have had the wit to invent them too."--_Tristram Shandy._ + + +When Hesiod fabled the god of oaths to be the son of Discord, the poet +could hardly have foreseen the grim reality that would attach to his +satiric allegory. It is now a very small thing--a matter of no +consequence at all--that serious and well-meaning men once attested +their assertions by making passing reference to Minerva or Helios. But +yet is it none the less necessary to realise that they made such +reference for the express purpose of being believed, and that when not +pronouncing one or other of these forms of speech, they ran a strong +chance of being absolutely disbelieved. + +Hesiod has dimly chronicled the genealogy of oaths. But it was for other +generations to chronicle their posterity, to hear them derided in the +amphitheatre, and to see the divinities that inspired them shattered +and broken down. But there is a singular survival and continuity of the +ancient practice: men still swear by Jove. + +A like process of declension seems to have gone on in all countries and +in the same fashion. To begin with, the origin of all swearing was the +same--the one intense dread of falsehood against which as yet no laws +were sufficient to guard. Fancy the mortal distress of barbarian man +when he first wakes to the belief that his enemies can, by smooth +speech, wrest from his hands what his prowess or his labour has +acquired. No art that he is aware of can pervert the action of tongues +set falsely going. Seeing how illimitable is the crop of words, he may +even imagine a plague of lies that will fall thick about him like +locusts or caterpillars; and then arrives the old expedient. Men fasten +upon a symbol such, as it is hoped, the hardiest will revere, and +syllable it out as evidence of truth. + +If we are not mistaken, it may even be said that the degree of +refinement that a community has attained is discernible by taking as a +standpoint the merchantable character of truth. Wherever civilisation is +advancing, the ultimate unserviceability of lying becomes the more +apparent, and there ensues in consequence a depreciation in the value of +veracity. The more widely truth is recognised, the more does it +deteriorate in price, while falsehood ceases to arouse its former +measure of reprobation. Then it is, and not, indeed, until then, that +the old blundering remedy by means of oaths and oath-taking is laid +aside as out of date and no longer availing. Nowadays, at least among +most races of mankind, the ordinary inducements to veracity are of +themselves felt to be sufficiently powerful as to leave no ground for +contending that truthfulness should be the subject of rewards and +bounties. No money value is attached as of right to the performance of +an obvious duty, but in remoter times the recognition of such a +doctrine, could it have been recognised at all, would have spared the +coffers of Roman sesterces and have made the work of the Athenian +pay-clerks hang lightly on their hands. The fact would seem to be that +the prevalency of this deliberative swearing will always be found in +inverse ratio to the prevalency of truth. + +The later civilisations may, therefore, be said to have profited by +centuries of untruthfulness in that they have learnt the preponderating +advantages of an intelligible code of truth. To seek an illustration by +comparison of two periods perfectly dissimilar, it may be affirmed that +there was no greater proportion of really truthful men in France at the +period, say, of Voltaire, than twelve hundred years previously at the +period of Gregory of Tours. But the countrymen of Voltaire had become +fairly apprised of the expediency of common veracity, and their +assertions, in consequence, were not accustomed to be disbelieved. But +among the Fredegondes, the Clotaires, and the Cunegondes of Gregory's +Frankish history, the case is wholly different. In that day it might +almost be supposed from a perusal of the work that the faculty of +truth-telling was lost, or more correctly that it had never arisen, so +necessary was it considered to put a statement to the severest test +before the possibility of its accuracy could be admitted. In an +indulgent, selfish, but disciplined civilisation, a statement is +generally presumed to be true which bears the ordinary impress of +veracity. In periods considerably less intellectual and enlightened, we +shall find that nothing is presumed to be true until it has been +subjected to a searching process of corroboration. It is in fact this +process of corroboration that has furnished all ranks of swearers with +their necessary side-arms and equipment. + +In the two conditions of society we have just indicated, there is +revealed at once the cause and effect of promiscuous oath-taking. The +one, incredulous and diffident of belief, imposes oath upon oath as its +natural safeguard, and engages in an unremitting struggle to render +the bond of truthfulness subservient to a despotic will. The other is +weary of forms that have outlived whatever spirit was once imparted +them; it has snapped asunder the galling fetters, and made sportive +capital of the lumber that remains. An intervening age of irony probably +sufficed to undermine the sanctity of the swearing obligation, until at +last the oath of more sober times has come to be a common catchword, or +the fustian ornament of somewhat spirited talk. In short, we shall +always find that the sonorous expletive of recent days is nothing else +than the once deliberative oath of Christian piety. + +Human ingenuity has seldom been more industriously employed than in +attempting to restore successive breaches in the observances of +swearing. Among the Western nations, it is said, religious sentiment had +nothing to do with the foundation of the usage. With them swearing is +represented to have been of purely military origin, and the oaths taken +upon sword and javelin to have owed nothing to the emotions of piety. +The process undergone by the military oath of Gaul before it finally +culminated in an expression of religious import, was of a very slow and +gradual kind. The Franks were accustomed to appeal to the drawn sword +as being the only arbiter of existence. In course of time the sanctity +of this engagement was broken through, and to ensure due regard for the +solemnity of the oath, it was found necessary to make the weapon the +subject of an impressive ceremony. By the capitularies of Dagobert, the +sword and harness of the warrior were required to be consecrated. Still +later, the name of God was brought into the compact. "If two +neighbours," ordains King Dagobert, "are in dispute as to the boundary +of their possessions, let them bring into the camp a turf of the +disputed territory; and each, with hands resting on the points of their +swords, and taking God to be the witness of the truth, shall give battle +until victory decides the question." Not only was the military oath +superseded; but, as years wore on, even these additional guarantees +proved themselves to be ineffectual. The interposition of saints next +came to be deemed essential, and again with the most conflicting +results. When Chilperic and his brothers divided the kingdom of +Clotaire, and swore never to enter the capital except as allies, their +treaty was ratified by oaths taken in the name of Saint Hilaire, Saint +Policeute, and Saint Martin. As time advanced, these further methods of +precaution in their turn proved abortive. Chilperic, seizing Paris in +contravention of his oath, carried as an antidote the relics of more +potent and illustrious saints in the van of his victorious army. So +dangerous a precedent being once admitted, it became necessary to resort +to still other expedients. It was thought as well to ascertain with what +degree of veneration the intending swearer might happen to regard that +particular member of the calendar whose name was proposed to be invoked. +In doubtful cases, therefore, it was not unusual to conduct a deponent +from one shrine to another, that among the multitude of oaths one of +them at least might prove effectual. A son of Clotaire, being plied by a +rebel agent with insurrectionary advice, thought it prudent to conduct +his adviser before the altars of no less than twelve churches before he +felt himself justified in listening to the representations that were +offered him. + +It would seem, indeed, from the practice of half barbarous nations, that +so far from the Deity, or even the monuments of religion, being the +immediate subject of the swearing obligation, these were practically the +most remote. During the second siege of Rome by the Goths, the ministers +of Honorius were called upon to swear solemnly that they would refuse to +entertain any overtures of peace, and would wage implacable warfare upon +the enemy. With great difficulty were they induced to confirm this +engagement with an oath taken by the head of the emperor. This formula +was the most impressive and, in effect, the most binding that could well +have been resorted to, and it is reported by Gibbon that the ministers +were heard to declare that had the same oath been taken by the name of +the Deity they would have held themselves free to depart from it. In +doing blind obeisance to the arms of warfare or the symbols of +authority, the ancient world only varied from the modern as the usages +of religion differ from those of idolatry. In Rome, we are told, the +spear was sacred to Juno, and in the province of Rhegium was worshipped +as Mars. In Scythia the sword was glorified as the messenger of life and +death. And it is to be noticed as an evidence of the superstitious +sanctity that pervaded warlike implements, that in Rome, according to a +half-religious rite, the hair of newly-married women was parted with the +point of a spear. The oaths, in fine, of the Western military nations +distinctly breathe of the spirit of war, while those of the more +dreamful Eastern world are redolent of light and air, of sun and shade. +To this day in Servia the popular forms of swearing express dependence +and reliance upon the powers of nature. _Taku mi Suntza_, So help me +sun; _Taku mi Semlje_, So help me earth, are the methods of +asseveration that are in every-day use. + +That period in modern history at which the deliberative oath had assumed +something of its ultimate shape is marked by the occurrence of one +singular invasion of its solemnity. The incident we refer to is the +charge preferred by Thomas-a-Becket against John the Marshal, to the +effect that he had sworn upon a "book of old songs" instead of upon the +sacred writings which had then become the proper instruments for this +purpose. Indeed, in tracing the history of these observances it would +seem as if an endeavour was being constantly made to frustrate the aims +and ends of swearing, and that the more Christian modes were only +resorted to when every pagan method had been found inoperative. To swear +upon the authority of everything that was terrible or grotesque--by the +sword or javelin of a conquering nation, as by the love-token on a +maiden's sleeve;[1] by the sepulchre of a debtor;[2] by the abbey church +at Glastonbury,[3] or by the price of the potter's field[4]--these were +expedients that had been tried and been forsaken before the modern forms +of swearing were reached. Like the time-expired worship of the +divinities of the mythology that, in the one solitary temple of Mount +Casano, was maintained for some hundred years after the gods of Olympus +had been deposed: so the impious oaths of pagandom continued to jostle +and wrestle with those of Christianity for many centuries after +authority had pronounced their doom. "Olympian Jupiter!" exclaims +Aristophanes, at the mention of that oath, "to think of your believing +in Jupiter, as old as you are!" + +How stubbornly the ground was contested may be inferred from the +enactments of civil and ecclesiastical law. So early as the ninth +century, Justinian prescribed the punishment of death for the offence of +swearing by the limbs of God. The code that prevailed in the northern +districts of Britain was more severe than any that was enforced +elsewhere in these islands. By statutes of Donald VI. and Kenneth II., +the penalty of cutting out the tongue was inflicted upon swearers. In +France, Charlemagne legislated expressly against the practice of impious +oath-taking, and by an edict of Philip II. swearers were condemned to +drowning in the Seine.[5] The Council of Constantinople passed a +sentence of excommunication upon the swearers of heathen oaths. + +To how great an extent this unmeaning discord disturbed the current of +mediaeval life may be seen from an examination of contemporary +literature. In particular, we may instance an early fragment that has +come down to us, and was evidently intended as a glowing satire upon the +prevalence of the abuse. It is called the "Moralite des Blasphemateurs," +and was issued from the Paris press in the early part of the sixteenth +century. The whole design of the piece is to exhibit the supposed agency +of the potentates of Hell in proselytising mankind towards the adoption +of the most abhorrent blasphemy. Satan, according to demonologists once +the governor of the north of Heaven, is now a feudatory prince in the +kingdom of Beelzebub. He is presumed to act under the orders of Lucifer, +the judge of Hell, and is joined in his commission by Behemoth, the +henchman and cupbearer of the infernal chiefs. There is a sufficiency of +invective in the opening greeting of these personages that was doubtless +calculated to add to the repulsive character of the performance:-- + + "Sathan, ennemy traistre et faulx, + Ou es tu mauldict loricart?" + +To which Satan replies:-- + + "Que veulx tu, mauldict Lucifer? + Que te fault-il, beste saulvaige?" + +Their salutation finished, these worthies proceed to recount the sport +they have had on earth. Satan has visited the land of France, where he +has spent his time in the company of horse-stealers and cattle-lifters, +fellows, he assures them, who have no thought for mass or vespers; and +he has left them feasting day and night, getting as drunk as herons. +This account of his stewardship seems to give but small satisfaction to +Lucifer, who thereupon bids his followers-- + + "Allez tost par mons et par vaulx + Faire jurer le nom de Dieu + A garses et a garsonneaulx + En toute place et en tout lieu. + C'est une belle operation + De jurer Dieu a chascun point." + +This strain of conversation continues through over a hundred pages of +closely-printed matter, and is only varied by the exordiums of certain +more admirable characters, who are introduced, as we must suppose, to +point a moral to the story. + +The state of feeling disclosed by this offensive farce shows plainly, +even at that time, that the public which tolerated it had passed out of +a state of mere supineness and had assumed an attitude of disrespect and +defiance towards the authority of oaths. The system had been allowed to +overreach itself, and thenceforward its set forms and all the +paraphernalia that pertained to them were made over to the service of +criminality and to the uses of violent speech. The modern practice of +swearing, in either its flippant or vituperative shape, is derived from +the break-up of the process once devised as a protection of truthfulness +and fair dealing. So nearly allied have been the oaths of piety and +statecraft with those of violence and malice, that the severer thinkers, +whether Lollards, Puritans, or Quakers, have waged a war of +extermination against both alike. They have contended, and with some +amount of probability, that these jarring expletives of passion and +irreligion have only been perpetuated by reason of the familiarity that +has ensued from the undue exaction of legal tests. The same stubbornness +with which they combated the evil in endless tracts and broadsides they +maintained before courts and inquisitions. At the Lancaster Assizes of +1664, George Fox and Mrs. Margaret Fell stood upon their trial for +refusing to conform. "I have never laid my hand on the book to swear in +all my life," urged the woman. "I do not care if I never hear an oath +read, for the land mourns because of oaths." And then appealing to the +jury she exclaims: "I was bred and born in this county and never have +been at this assize before. I am a widow, and my estate is a dowry, and +I have five children unpreferred." + +There was one device of oath-taking, half pagan and half barbaric, which +but very slowly relaxed its hold on Christian Europe. We have spoken of +the oath upon the sword--the oath of ancient Scythia, the oath of the +Antigone of Euripedes. In the terrors of an isolated death, remote from +all the outward appliances of his faith, the stricken warrior found +consolation in raising before his vision the hilt of his scabbardless +sword. The tapering metal-hafted blade threw the shadow of a cross upon +the dying soldier, and to this rude emblem the poor fevered lips would +stammer out their last words of petition. The sword had become a revered +symbol conveying to the departing the hope of divine favour and +intercession. This thought so powerfully arrested the imagination that +it did not relinquish its grasp when a period of security had succeeded +a reign of bloodshed and danger. In the traditions of Denmark, the oath +upon the sword-hilt was preserved in a spirit of deep solemnity. Later, +in English history, the King-Maker took his vows upon the cross of his +bared steel, and the custom lingered in effigy to the days of Elizabeth, +when the fencing-masters, practising their calling at the Bear Garden, +were required to take an oath upon their rapier's hilt to carry +themselves honourably in their profession.[6] The gravity with which +this form of conjuration is approached by Hamlet's followers is evident +from the passage:-- + + "_Hor._ } + } My lord, we will not. + _Mar._ } + + _Hamlet._ Nay, but swear it. + + _Hor._ In faith, my lord, not I. + + _Ghost._ (beneath). Swear! + + _Hamlet._ Ha, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art there, true-penny? + Come on--you hear this fellow in the cellarage, + Consent to swear. + + _Hor._ Propose the oath, my lord. + + _Hamlet._ Never to speak of this that you have seen, + Swear by my sword." + +The ground that we have thus far traversed is really one of a remarkable +struggle, that has not abated even in our time. It is not the intention +of this essay to follow the history of judicial oath-taking, or of the +attestations that would seem to be demanded by conscience or religion. +But it must be remembered that the subject of vituperative swearing is +so interwoven with that of these legal and religious ordinances, that +the consideration of them must be frequently forced upon us. But whilst +doing so it should be no less borne in mind that we are never really +losing sight of the object we have in view. We aim simply at +disinterring a neglected, possibly a justly neglected, chapter in the +world's social history, and are called upon to judge both of the tree +and its fruit, of the seed and the grain. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE BRITISH SHIBBOLETH. + + "Pantagruel then asked what sorts of people dwelled in that damn'd + island."--_Rabelais_ iv., chap. lxiv. + + +"If ever I should betake myself to swearing," says Sir John Hazlewood in +the play, "I shall give very little concern to the fashion of the oath. +Odd's bodikins will do well enough for me, and lack-a-daisy for my +wife." Many other persons have been much of the same mind as this Sir +John, and, possessing a certain esteem for the pomp and circumstance of +swearing, have been impelled to cherish some curious substitute so that +they might still get a little harmless amusement out of the vice. In +this way they have contrived so to compound with their consciences as to +become swearers in practice without being blasphemers in intention. + +The characteristic of this good Hazlewood is his extreme tolerance and +neutrality. He is not among the swearers himself, but at a moment of +danger he is prepared to join that body, taking service in the ranks. +To disown allegiance altogether never for a moment coincides with his +sense of the becoming. The worthy man is too loyal to the set rules of +his acknowledged leaders, to harbour a notion so subversive and +dangerous. And in this particular we shall find he has been followed by +the greater number not only of his own degree and class but of all +orders and conditions. + +A circumstance like this would seem to suggest some remarkable +underlying motive as accounting for the wonderful omnipotence of +swearing. It is possible that an occult virus congenial to its +development is so insinuated into the composition of the human mind as +to defy the power of ethics wholly to eradicate it. Can it be that the +habit owes its existence and source of delight to some soothing and +pleasureful qualities which, like the solace of the tobacco-leaf or the +balm of the nightshade, the world will not willingly forego? + +We are disposed to think that the instinct of swearing is very deeply +rooted in the mental constitution. A very little experience of mankind +will incline one to the belief that the censors of morals have on the +whole done wisely in temporising with this strange humour. Of all the +philosophers who of old laid down rules for worldly guidance, Socrates +may be trusted to have held at a just appreciation the trips and sallies +of Athenian manhood. And yet even Socrates is understood to have sworn +deeply and volubly. Not, however, the Herculean oaths that were +resounded in the amphitheatre and at the festivals, but by the names of +more despicable objects, by the dog, the caper, and the plane-tree.[7] +The philosopher was too well versed in the ways of headstrong humanity +to run exactly counter to all the follies inspired by the grape of Chios +and Lesbos. On the contrary, he gains his momentary end and creates a +lasting remonstrance while seemingly sporting and dallying with the +abuse. In like manner, Aristophanes could afford to trifle with the +asseverations of his own Athenian audiences. In portraying the +wind-paved city of the feathered tribes, he transforms these oaths into +the milder shape of "by snares," "by nets," "by meshes." And further to +display the ludicrous side of Attic swearing, he records a time when "no +man used to swear by gods, but all by birds. And still Lampon swears by +the goose when he practises any deceit."[8] + +It would seem almost as if all writers of this indulgent turn had +arrived at one perception, namely, that "bad language" is an +indispensable element in social life, an element to be only softened by +ridicule or perhaps be checked by dissuasion. To seek to suppress it +altogether is regarded as futile. The same impression has evidently +prevailed among the number of practical philosophers who in everyday +life are accustomed to handicap the ebullitions of this impetuous vice. +They may place nagging obstacles in the way of its career, and burdens +upon its back; but otherwise it is allowed to run its course. By means +of an accepted code of rules a kind of _modus vivendi_ in this respect +is obtained. Thus the conversation that is conceded in a club +smoking-room would be intolerable in the boudoir. In some sort men have +been permitted the enjoyment of swearing, and that with impunity, +provided they did not carry it beyond the prohibited pale. To turn again +to ancient Athens for illustration, we find that even children were +allowed to swear profanely by the name of Hercules, but with the single +restriction that they should do so in the open air. The oath was for +some singular reason deemed the especial privilege of young people, and +was only thought offensive and visited with punishment when invoked +within the curtilage of the dwelling.[9] + +It has always seemed to us that vituperative swearing is too closely +allied to the passion of animosity to be ever successfully treated apart +from the human failing from which it takes its rise. Joy and hatred, +terror and surprise must indeed be very old and steadfast emotions in +the history of the world; and while we should prefer to find that joy is +the more universal of these perceptions, hatred is, we fear, the more +historic and the more enduring. Animosity is resolute even in its +caprices; it has few facilities for disguise and but little capacity for +assumption. The tones and gestures it employs are perfectly unequivocal, +and not easily mistaken. For although the vocabulary of hatred has from +time to time received handsome embellishment at the hands of ingenious +and illustrious haters, its wonted expression must always remain fixed. +The keynote is the oath which, in all ages and in all languages, passion +seems to generate with but very little assistance. + +Among a people who, perhaps unjustly, have been prided for the +choiceness of their swearing, the favourite growth and very spoilt-child +of animosity is the word of an exceedingly forcible kind. In +endeavouring to chronicle the amenities of the British "damn," we +believe we are dealing with a monosyllable possessing a remarkable fund +of application. The term has fairly puzzled the ingenuity of continental +neighbours to comprehend. Not only has it excited their ridicule, but we +are not sure that it has not even stimulated their envy. It has been +said by one of the sprightliest of Frenchmen, that a foreigner might +conveniently travel through England with the assistance only of this one +particle of speech. + +The uses, or the misuses, of the word would seem to be twofold: first, +as an accessory of abuse, and secondly, as an accessory of geniality. In +some instances the two qualities are blended. Thus the knights of the +road who stopped coaches and filched purses on the heath of Newmarket or +Hounslow usually rode off "damning" their victims and advising them to +sue the hundred for the injury. Whereat it was customary to remark, in +the joking spirit of the age, that the villains showed themselves true +men of the law by taking their fee before they gave their advice. +Everyone who remembers the eleventh canto of Don Juan will recollect the +pugilistic conflict that took place upon that hero's first arrival at +the outskirts of London, a shower of blackguard oaths taking a +conspicuous part in the encounter. Juan, weary with travel, has arrived +at Shooter's Hill. He is meditating upon the vastness of the city +stretched in panorama at his feet. Suddenly his studious occupation is +interrupted by the onset of a gang of footpads. In the confusion that +ensues, his ignorance of the language places him at a momentary +disadvantage. The only English word he is acquainted with being, as he +phrases it, "their shibboleth, 'Goddamn.'" Even this Juan innocently +imagines to be a form of salutation, a sort of God-be-with-you, a +misconception which the poet professes to think not unnatural-- + + "... for half English as I am + (To my misfortune) never can I say + I heard them wish 'God with you,' save that way." + +No stanza of the poem is more replete than this with a vein of painfully +sarcastic drollery. The insular failing is elsewhere frequently +displayed by the poet in the trying light cast from a misanthrope +genius. + +But perhaps the severest hit, and not the less severe because tempered +with banter and good humour, is that which has been directed from the +pen of Beaumarchais.[10] "Diable! c'est une belle langue que l'anglais; +il en faut peu pour aller loin; avec Goddam en Angleterre on ne manque +de rien ... les Anglais a la verite, ajoutent par-ci par-la, quelques +autres mots en conversant; mais il est bien aise de voir que Goddam est +le fond de la langue." + +The highest point of wit in this direction must be supposed to have been +reached when Evariste Parny, a poet of no mean celebrity, produced his +"Goddam! poeme en quatre chants, par un French-dog." This was in the +year XII. or, as we now should prefer to call it, 1804. + +The countrymen, and in one remarkable instance, a countrywoman of +Beaumarchais, have been particularly industrious in fastening this +aspersion upon their English neighbours. So long ago as 1429, when the +arms of Shrewsbury and Bedford had well-nigh wrested the last jewel from +the diadem of France, and a peasant maiden of the Calvados had flung +herself into Orleans to stem the tide of the English advance, there +likewise came to the aid of the fainting cause a welcome supply of mirth +and invective. The Maid of Orleans, inspiriting the beleaguered army by +harangue, by entreaty, even by quips and jests, kept them constantly +reminded of the insular nickname. Rising from sleep and putting on her +armour to direct the memorable assault upon the Tournelles, a soldier of +her command ventured to produce a repast of fish, and prayed her to +break her fast. "Joan, let us eat this shad-fish before we set out." +The Maid indignantly put aside the proffered gift, "In the name of God," +said she, "it shall not be eaten till supper, by which time we will +return by way of the bridge, and I will bring you back a Goddam to eat +it with." How the redoubtable Tournelles was taken by steel and +culverin, and how Joan succeeded in bringing back many hundred Goddams, +has become matter of history. As to the conclusion of the Maid's career, +there has been opened a wide field of controversy, but one incident in +the closing chapter of her life is supported by reliable testimony. +While undergoing close imprisonment pending the decision of her fate, +two English noblemen, the Earls of Warwick and Stafford, came to visit +her in gaol, and would seem to have held out hopes of ransom; Joan, +irritated at the specious language of her visitors, retorted on them +sharply: "I know you well," she cried, "you have neither the will nor +the power to ransom me. You think when you have slain me, you will +conquer France; but that you will never bring about. No! although there +were one hundred thousand Goddams in this land more than there +are!"[11] + +With the assumption of the soldier's tunic, it did not follow that she +adopted the manners of the military fire-eater, or suited herself to the +wild talk of camps. The epithet "Goddam" in the mouth of La Pucelle was +expressive only of acrimony towards the oppressor, and even assuming it +to have been irreverent and ungainly, was not the least in accord with +the language that usually distinguished her. So far from condoning the +irregularities of military life, Joan seems to have laid her strongest +commands upon the soldiery to abstain from oath-taking, and in one +instance would appear to have made a convert of an illustrious kind. +Stories are told, which we need not here repeat, of the licence in +expression of the celebrated La Hire, who may be likened to a Boanerges +among swearers. With him the habit was perfectly indispensable. At last +Joan came to a compromise. He was to retain to the full his privilege of +swearing, provided he referred in his oaths to no other substantive than +his marshal's baton, and thenceforward this sturdy soldier betook +himself to this emasculated form of swearing. + +According to an authority that is entitled to credit, a very similar +subterfuge would seem to have been attempted at a still earlier period +of French history. The courtiers of Louis IX. were wont to indulge in +what may be described as a very flippant and volatile description of +swearing. The indignation of their master, the beloved St. Louis, may of +itself have been no inconsiderable punishment, but a still worse one was +provided in the statute-book, which prescribed the penalty of branding +the tongue with a red-hot iron upon every commission of the offence. The +oaths which at this period were the cause of the greatest mortification +to the saintly king were the _cordieus_, the _tetedieus_, the _pardieus_ +and the numerous offshoots, the effigies of which still survive in the +pages of Rabelais and Moliere--the "Moyen de Parvenir" and the "Baron de +Foeneste". With the airy nonchalance of practised sophistry, these +apologists of swearing conceived a device that to themselves at least +proved eminently satisfactory. At this time there was at the palace a +pet dog, known by the name of Bleu. To elude the harsh sentence of the +law that might for ever deprive these gay swearers of the power of +taking oaths, they determine to substitute for _dieu_ the name of the +favourite dog. Thus _cordieu_ became CORBLEU and _tetedieu_ became +TETEBLEU, and so on throughout the entire series. Unlike the rigid St. +Louis, a later French monarch, Henry IV. was himself a notorious +offender in this respect. On every occasion of annoyance, he was heard +to give utterance to his favourite oath "Jarnidieu!" To him once came +his confessor, Coton. "Sire," said the confessor, "it is a great sin to +mention the holy name in these terms." "You are right," said Henry, "in +future I will say 'Jarnicoton.'" + +It is singular to turn for a moment from the extravagant exuberance of a +polished French court to find the same device existing in a very +different era of the world's history. The educated Athenian vented his +"Mon Dieus" like any Frenchman on the boulevard, and in like manner +learned to soften his "[Greek: Ma ton theon]" to a simple "[Greek: Ma +ton]" in deference to ears polite. Socrates himself, never altogether +free from a predilection for jocose forms of swearing, also took the +palace dog, so to speak, as his colloquial stalking-horse, and, like the +courtiers of St. Louis, swore [Greek: ne ton kuna]. + +The framework of the story dealing with the conversion of La Hire has +not been lost upon the writers of the theatre. A _petite comedie_ well +known on the boards of the Theatre Francais as 'Les Jurons de Cadillac,' +is occupied with the sufferings of a naval officer who is constrained by +feminine influence to relinquish his customary expletives. "How is it," +asks La Comtesse, "that you have contracted this horrible habit; you, a +scion of an old stock, one of our first Gascon gentlemen?" Cadillac's +answer is spirited. "Comtesse, I was brought up by my grandfather, an +old sea dog, corbleu! With him I learnt to swear before I learnt to +read, and if he has not taught me the language of courts, it is because, +sacrebleu! he did not know it. He made me a true sailor, ventre mahon!" +The Comtesse insists that, as a proof of the captain's professions of +regard, he should abstain from indulging in this habit for the space of +one single hour. Should the ordeal be successfully passed, she consents +that he shall receive her hand as his reward. Cadillac is fairly driven +to desperation. "Ask of me anything but that!" he exclaims; "only let me +swear, or I shall go mad!" Finally he sees no help for it but to accept +the challenge, and the audience is detained in a state of amusing +suspense while witnessing the contrivances with which the honest captain +endeavours to overcome the difficulty. He tampers with the hands of the +clock in the hope of abridging the hour of trial, and this ruse being +discovered he unworthily seeks safety in sullen silence. "No, no, +captain," objects the Comtesse, "unless you converse it is not fair +play." His tormentor lures him with all her skill to let slip one of his +unpremeditated expletives, and a hundred times the worthy fellow is on +the point of giving way. At last, beguiled into a description of one of +his most thrilling sea-fights, and with the recollection of the wild +scenes of carnage passing vividly before his eyes, he is no longer able +to maintain composure. He bursts into a volume of his old sea terms, but +the lady, moved, as it would seem, by the _elan_ and spirit of the +recital, finds it in her heart to be merciful. The play concludes with a +modest _sacrebleu_, this time spoken by La Comtesse. It will be seen +from the evidence of this performance alone that in ascribing to our +nationality a monopoly of energetic language, public report has hardly +been discriminating. + +Not desiring, however, to turn the tables upon our aspersers, we propose +to still further pursue the fortunes of the Britannic shibboleth from +when we left it upon the lips of La Pucelle. The aspersion cast upon the +English on the Picard battle-fields continued to be handed down in camp +story and in rugged _vaux-de-vire_. Neither did it cease to provoke +derision and merriment when it had entered into the common parlance of +the Paris cabaret, and became the stock property of the Palais Royal +farce.[12] The "Goddam" that greeted British officers rollicking +through the city of pleasure in the days succeeding Waterloo was the +same term of opprobrium that assailed the English archers at Agincourt +and Honfleur. + +To what "mute inglorious" satirist we are indebted for this lasting +compliment we shall probably never now determine. The word is at least +discovered in the collection of Norman ballads subjoined to the +'Vaux-de-Vire' of Master Oliver Basselin published at Caen, 1821. This +work dates from the early part of the sixteenth century, but has +reference to the events of the preceding one. It more particularly +speaks of Henry V. as dying _par le mal de St. Fiacre_ and of Henry VI. +as ascending the throne. It is the latter monarch who is referred to in +these verses as "little King Goddam"-- + + "Ils out charge l'artillerye sus mer, + Force bisquit et chascun ung bydon, + Et par la mer jusqu'en Biscaye aller, + Pour couronner leur petit roy godon." + +We might search in vain for mention of the expression in English +writings of the same period. In France however the epithet is repeated +with equal malignancy in the angry verses which Guillaume Cretin was +pleased to write upon the 'Battle of the Spurs': + + "Cryant: Qui vive aux Godons d'Angleterre. + + * * * * * + + Seigneurs du sang, barons et chevaliers, + Tous seculiers d'illustre parentage, + Permettez vous a ses Godons, galliers, + Gros godaillers, houspalliers, poullalliers, + Prendre palliers au francoys heritaige?" + +The aspersion however did not always rest with Frenchmen. Lord Hailes, +in a criticism written about the year 1770, incidentally gives it as his +experience that in Holland the children when they espy any English +people say, "There come the Goddams," and that the Portuguese, as soon +as they acquire a smattering of the tongue, exclaim, "How do you do, +Jack? damn you!"[13] + +We have attentively considered the tone of contemporary English writings +to ascertain whether by a hazard the nickname was appropriately +bestowed. In the result we have not been able to discover anything to +lead to the supposition that this particular form of speech was, upon +these shores at least, very generally indulged in. Either the tall +soldiers who accompanied Henry of Monmouth to the wars were so +stimulated by the unaccustomed juice of the grape as to then and there +originate this vigorous epithet, unspoken at home, or else there was +little or no justification for the taunting expression. We are inclined +to think that the former surmise is approximately correct. The habit was +not an Englishman's but a soldier's vice, and when the foreign troubles +were at an end it may very well have been drafted back to this country +with the rest of the fighting contingent. + +Although in its usage it is now considered essentially British, there is +no reason to impute to it any other than an etymology decidedly French. +Its similarity with the numerous derivatives of the verb _damno_ have +probably obscured the true derivation of the word. For its real +parentage we must have recourse to the Latin _dominus_ or _domina_ which +produced the Gallic _dame_. This again was used equally to denote a +potentate of either sex, until at last we find the interjection _dame!_ +applied in the same sense as _Seigneur!_ or our own _Lord!_ When, +therefore, we go still further, and meet with _dame Dieu!_ occurring +frequently in ancient texts we are helped at once to the source of our +adopted expletive. By one of those combinations so often to be found +where there is a confusion or admixture of tongues, the English +soldiery rendered their _dame!_ or _dame Dieu!_ in the way we have seen, +and a hybrid term was thus produced which has not even yet been found +waning in popularity. The derivation we have here suggested is +sufficient of itself to account for the amusement that was displayed by +laughter-loving Frenchmen, who twitted the invader in that he was unable +to pronounce the irrepressible _Dieu_, and was forced to anglicise it to +fit it to the remainder of the oath. It will be perceived that, taking +this view of the case, the British shibboleth is rather more of a +shibboleth than has previously been supposed. + +It is true that in a scarce work we find it is recorded that the +expression originated with Richard III., but this is easily confuted by +the examples we have given. The 'Comedy of Errors' contains one isolated +allusion to it:--"_God damn me!_ that's as much as to say, God make me a +light wench." Here the term is dearly interpolated as a kind of +newly-coined catchword. We suspect that the true era of the oath being +absorbed into common speech is indicated by a passage in the epigrams of +Sir John Harrington. This work, which appeared in 1613, is much +concerned at the abusive element that had at that time entered into +English conversation. No longer, says Sir John, do men swear devoutly +by the cross and mass, or by such innocent oaths as the pyx or the +mousefoot. Now they invite damnation as their pledge of sincerity. +"Goddamn-me," he repines, had then become the customary oath. This +appears to us to be the first intimation of the fact that we find in +English literature.[14] + +Neither was amusement neglected to be created out of this new +word-sally. In one of the comedies which throw so much light upon the +manners of the time, a piece called 'Amends for Ladies,' from the pen of +Nat Field, we are introduced among a so-called society of roarers. The +experiment had been already tried by Thomas Middleton, who, in his +'Faire Quarrel,' had initiated his audience into the exercises of a +pretended roaring-school. The notion was simply that the young idlers +about town met together to acquire perfection in the arts of bombast and +exaggeration. In the former production, a Lord Feesimple is supposed to +be enjoying the coveted distinction of being drilled into becoming a +roarer. As was usual in these performances, the characters pass from one +insolence to another, until at last swords are drawn and general uproar +prevails. But what upon the present occasion has given rise to the +misunderstanding, is the unlucky assumption by Feesimple of one of the +roysterers' private and particular oaths. In an ill-omened moment he has +presumed to exclaim, "Damn me!" whereupon a certain Tearchaps who has +been noticeable through the play as the improprietor of the term, very +loudly objects--"Use your own words, damn me is mine; I am known by it +all the town o'er. D'ye hear?" + +Feesimple, although disposed to contest the other's title, is happily +brought to order by the timely interference of one Welltried, whose +knowledge of such matters enables him to bear out the truth of the +assertion. This play, produced in 1618 and acted upon the stage of the +Blackfriars, tallies in substance with Harrington's verses produced in +the earlier year. + +Allied to this expression is a phrase which may even be said to have a +kind of literary merit. "Don't care a damn" is indicative of about the +utmost possible amount of unconcern. It would be in vain to seek for any +object more intrinsically inconsiderable with which to liken a +condition of indifference. Anstey seizes upon it in his 'Bath Guide':-- + + "Absurd as I am, + I don't care a damn + Either for you or your valet-de-sham." + +But curiously enough this figure of speech was originally as independent +of the "shibboleth" as we have seen that was of the classic "damno." +There is in India a piece of money of the minutest value, which is known +as a _dam_. The phrase, therefore, so far from originating in a fanciful +comparison, really does nothing more than announce a prosaic fact. It +has been said that the expression was occasionally used by the "great +Duke," a circumstance for which the Indian experiences of the victor of +Assaye has been held sufficient to account. Mr. Trevelyan, indeed, in +his 'Life of Lord Macaulay' (ii. 257) states positively that the Duke of +Wellington invented this oath. + +Etymology, which has thus brushed away what one might have taken to be a +thoroughly characteristic expression, also supplies a matter-of-fact +explanation for another modification of the phrase. "Don't care a +curse," or "Not worth a curse," we might fondly imagine to possess +something of poetic imagery. The learned in derivations undeceive us. +They say that the word _curse_ is here identical with the plant +"cress." In that sense, "not worth a curse" will be found in Piers +Ploughman's Vision, the remarkable work of the fourteenth century. + + * * * * * + +Since the days when City madams and Fleet Street apprentices flocked +round the dusty scaffold of the Blackfriars play-house, and laughed and +rallied one another, or possibly took passing umbrage at the satire that +was being levelled at this newly-nurtured word, what a remarkable, what +an astounding ascendancy has it not enjoyed? No mint has ever issued its +metal more swiftly than has this exchequer of bad language, or given it +a more unmistakable impression. And yet there is nothing healthful, +nothing good in it. From the disorders which first environed it, it has +never yet recovered. It lives only by disease and unhealthiness, and +when it has rid itself of disease and unhealthiness it will die. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHICH GIVES A DOG A BAD NAME. + + +We have already adverted to that foreign and slanderous tradition which +lays all the grosser sins of vituperation at the Englishman's door. It +has been seen how the "damns" and "goddams" of a marauding soldiery, +though scattered upon the winds of many centuries ago, have continued to +be held up in judgment against the English-speaking race. There remains +to be noticed one other item of continental asperity that has enjoyed in +its day a full measure of approbation owing to the delightful assumption +that it savoured of perfidious Britain. + +Parisian caricaturists have always affected to believe that the +inhabitants of these islands are usually accompanied in their travels +abroad by some member of the canine species. The British bull-dog has +figured again and again in pictorial skits that are supposed to +represent the idiosyncrasies of the travelling Englishman. But the +notion may very well be of older date than this period of facile +illustration. Examples can be quoted of the occurrence of the word dog, +or _dogue_, as a malediction similar to that of "goddam," and at a date +nearly as distant.[15] There can be little doubt as to the inspired +origin of the phrase. So grateful is the demon of animosity for every +new-shaped weapon of attack, that in course of time it came to be +levelled indifferently at any object whether insular or otherwise that +it happened to be the speaker's intention to abuse. The inoffensive word +was the more readily adopted by the classes who had least notion of its +signification. As Dr. Johnson, when he wished to get the better of a +fishwife in a wordy encounter, would call her a parallelogram or a +hypothenuse, so the Seine boatmen and the market-women of the Halles +would denounce their antagonist as a "_dogue_." "Je laisserais plutot ma +roupille en gage," exclaims one of the characters in the farce of +'Piarot et Janin,'[16] "que de te laisser payer mon quartier. La dogue! +tu ne me connais pas." + +What actual necessity can there have been for so invidiously employing +an imported word, when the French equivalent was already firmly +established as a particle of abuse? Although in our own vernacular the +epithet "dog!" is seldom to be met with outside the histories of Miss +Porter or of Mr. James, elsewhere the Gallic "chien!" has always been in +brisk demand. Both before and since the composition of 'Piarot and +Janin,' has it been customary among a numerous class to grind it in the +teeth of persons who have been the cause of annoyance or affront. In +conjunction also with other substantives, it has served as a powerful +degree of comparison and denotes a superlative expression of contempt. +In the most polite language, _quel chien de temps_ indicates weather of +a most deplorable description; _quel chien d'auteur_, an author whose +stupidity is exasperating. The oath of _Jarnichien!_ passed for a term +of the very darkest complexion; while in _sacre chien_, we have an +expletive as forcible as any that a Frenchman can utter. + +The Romans of old are said to have played with two sorts of dice, the +tali and the tesserae. The tali had four even surfaces, the tesserae six. +On opposite faces of the four-sided figure were marked respectively the +numbers one and six, the numbers three and four appearing respectively +on the other surfaces. The tessera, or six-sided figure, bore on its +additional faces the numbers two and five. Both tali and tesserae were +usually knuckle-bones of an animal, frequently the gazelle; the uneven +ends being planed smooth in the case of the tesserae, while for the tali +they were left in their natural condition. The game admitted of various +rules and of various degrees of skill, and it would seem that the more +ancient Greek sculptures represent the children and maidens of Athens +manipulating the tesserae in much the same manner as school-boys still +play at the game of knuckle-bones. But whatever element of dexterity may +have originally pervaded the pastime, it was very rapidly dispelled, and +both tali and tesserae became, as they have since remained, the +instruments of wagering and gain. The best throw, called the Venus, only +happened when each of the upturned surfaces presented different units. +The worst throw was when the four pieces exposed the same number on +each, and that number an ace. This single pip was technically known as +the _unio_, the side of six as the _senio_; while the name by which the +throw of four aces was chiefly distinguished among the gamesters of +antiquity was the _canicula_ or _canis_. + + "Jure etenim id summum quid dexter senio ferret + Scire erat in voto, damnosa canicula quantum + Raderet." _Persius, Sat._ iii. + +The deduction has been drawn that the player, baulked in his luck, and +turning angrily upon the prone dice as they disclosed the four upturned +aces, sought passing relief by hurling at them an insensate malediction. +In this way, after a long interval and by a slow process of development, +the _damnosa canicula_ of the Roman gamester is said to have become, or +more strictly to be represented by, the _sacre chien_ of a nearer +civilisation. + +The force of association has so indelibly connected the mention of this +animal with whatever is inferior or contemptuous, that there is at first +no room for surprise at finding it used in its present application. So +imperceptibly has this turn of thought entered into our habits of mind, +that, without further inquiry, such an application would appear +perfectly natural and proportionable. But upon the very slightest +reflection a sense of inappropriateness cannot fail to be forced upon +us. Surely the nomenclature of the animal world is sufficiently varied +as to admit of the dishonour done to it being more equally divided. One +would expect to find the members of the canine family at the least no +more than sharers in the distinction in common with other creatures of +the brute world. But no such equal distribution would appear to prevail. +The question therefore that remains is, how it is that the name of the +most sagacious of animals should be universally identified in the +vernacular tongue with whatever is the most ignoble and despicable of +its kind? The wild rose is called the dog-rose, the scentless violet the +dog-violet; bad Latin is termed dog-Latin; and in Ovid we have _verba +canina_ as denoting abusive conversation. + +Although the author of Gallus goes the length of saying that among the +ancients the names of the lower animals were seldom heard as particles +of abuse, the opprobrious application of the name of the dog will be +found to be most classical. The use made of the word in the conversation +of ancient Greece should be in easy recollection, bringing down as it +did upon the Athenian people the accusation of being their popular oath +of asseveration. Socrates, we are to believe, rarely used in his +swearing any other form of expression. "By the dog! Polus," he is made +to exclaim in Plato's 'Gorgias,' "I am really in doubt each time you +speak whether you are stating your own views or are asking my +opinion."[17] + +When, therefore, we find in the twelfth century an archbishop of Juvavia +interdicting his countrymen from ratifying their treaties with an oath +taken by the dog, we gain some insight into the portent of the canine +oath of Thebes and Athens. The superstition and mysticism attaching to +this animal are brought still closer home by a passage from De +Joinville, which mentions the sacrificing of a living dog as a Byzantine +method of confirming an obligation. Moreover, on the coins of Syracuse +the dog as the emblem of constancy is represented in company with the +goddess Diana. That a sacrificial ceremony, barbarous at once and +ineffectual, should have received any countenance among a people of +culture, is only in accordance with the view expressed at an earlier +part of these pages, that the progress of true civilisation may be +clearly traced by comparing the relative values of the veracity. The +cities of Greece were full of straw-shoes, men who distinguished their +calling by a straw at their feet, and who were ready at the bid of a +suitor to give the lightest evidence for the heaviest fee. Confidence +had little place among a nation far too volatile and specious to be able +to rely upon any system of reciprocal good faith. From this circumstance +it was that the Greeks earned for themselves the repute of being the +least trustworthy of all the untruthful nations of antiquity. In such a +community the fragile safeguard of an oath is, from sheer helplessness, +the more rigorously demanded. The Hellenic people may be said to have +been eminently a swearing people. The character had so persistently +clung to them, and was descended from so remote an antiquity, that +Juvenal, in the Sixth Satire, can only refer their immunity from +swearing to the period when innocence was said to have prevailed upon +earth and before Jupiter had begun to let his beard grow. + +But while Greek and Roman riveted oath upon oath and laid ceremony upon +ceremony, to accomplish that simple understanding which should be +effected by the mere parole of right-thinking men, there is no evidence +to show that swearing was carried to the precise point to which it has +been brought among ourselves. That at the lightest stir of the emotions +they were ready to apostrophise the ruling divinities as well as the +shapes of field and flood, of earth and air, must pass as +uncontradicted,[18] but never do they appear, as in the modern world, to +have forged their poetic oaths into weapons of malevolence and hurt. +There would seem to have been no actual counterpart in these languages +to the vituperative swearing of modern days. The difference in this +respect is somewhat singular, but it may readily be accounted for. With +the ancients, oaths were employed in guarding as efficiently as they +could the public conscience and the public security. With the moderns +they have been for the most part released from this unstable duty, and +accordingly, with untrammelled energy and ungovernable vigour, they have +entered upon a system of privateering upon their own account. + +Not only had the ancient mythology to struggle against the constant +infraction of the sanctity of the deliberative oath, but the minds of +heathen votaries must have been strongly biassed by an acquaintance with +instances of light swearing in the gods themselves. To render the +practice the less capricious and incontinent, a notion of an individual +property or trade-mark in oaths came to be perceptibly encouraged. The +specific appropriation of some distinctive oath raised the presumption +that it implied an unequivocal pledge of sincerity. In this way Zeno, +the founder of the Stoics, swore continually "by the caper." Pythagoras, +we are told, was accustomed to swear by the number four, [Greek: ma ten +tetrakton]. This numeral came to be regarded in consequence as +symbolical of the divinity, and the Pythagorean school gravely +inculcated it as a point of morals to abstain from intruding upon so +illustrious an example. + +Besides the oath of Socrates, "by the dog," he is reported to have sworn +variously by the goose and by the plane-tree. Those who argue in favour +of the piety of the philosopher, explain that the habit was assumed as a +foil to the irreverent mention of the gods that was then so universal. +Lucian attaches an intelligible meaning to these flippant expletives, +and represents Socrates as justifying their use. "Are you not aware," he +is presumed to reason, "that the dog is the Anubis of Egypt, the Sirius +of the skies; and in hell is the keeper Cerberus?" and Plutarch is also +found to comment on the oath, "those that worship the dog have a certain +sacred meaning that must not be revealed; in the more remote and ancient +times the dog had the highest honours paid to him in Egypt." In the +copiousness of the ancient swearing the notion of an oath accommodated +itself to all the varieties of monstrous gods. The divinities Isis and +Osiris were invoked in witness of a sacred pledge no less than the +garlic, the leek, and the onion, and indeed every other deity which, as +was said by the Roman satirist, grew and flourished in the +market-gardens of Alexandria. + +We are admitted to a just appreciation of the levity of Athenian +swearing through the medium of one of the most remarkable performances +ever placed upon the stage, whether of the modern or the ancient world. +When, returning from an expedition, Socrates repaired to the theatre to +witness Aristophanes' comedy 'The Clouds,' he found himself portrayed +upon the scene as the central figure of the drama. He was even +represented swung up in a basket in his own thinking-shop and giving +utterance to innumerable heresies and follies. When Strepsiades offers +to swear by the gods, he is at once interrupted by Socrates in the +basket, who reminds him that the gods are not current coin in his system +of philosophy. "By what then do you swear?" asks Strepsiades; "by the +iron money, as they do at Byzantium?" Unhappily the query remained +unanswered. + +The result, however, of the Socratic influence is intended to be shown +by the circumstance of Strepsiades subsequently swearing "by the mist!" +and reproaching his son for taking oaths in the name of a deity of the +outside world. Presently, on being importuned by a creditor for the +return of twelve minae lent for the purchase of a dapple-grey horse, he +is ready to swear any number of oaths "by the gods" that he is innocent +of the debt. His opinions have in the course of this short dialogue +undergone alteration. He feels justified in ridding himself of his +obligation to repay the loan by making use of declarations which the +philosopher has argued are no longer of any consequence. + +"And will you be willing to deny it upon oath of the gods?" screams the +creditor. + +"What gods?" asks Strepsiades. + +"Jupiter, Mercury, and Neptune." + +"Yes, by Jupiter!" rejoins Strepsiades, "and would pay down, too, a +three-obol piece besides to swear by them." + +It must have been a sorry spectacle to have beheld Socrates in the midst +of an Athenian audience solemnly witnessing this masterpiece of +buffoonery, and a still sadder one to those whose feeling was still +enlisted upon the side of the moribund system of oath-taking. + +One singular instance of whimsicality in the ancient practice of +swearing must not be allowed to pass unnoticed. The Levantine merchants +trading with the port of Rhodes had familiarized Athenian households +with a most excellent description of cabbage. The herb was only to be +found in its highest perfection upon the southern coasts of the +Mediterranean. This Rhodian cabbage had a mellower flavour than that +indigenous to the Troad, and was, moreover, prized by all Athenian +topers as the surest antidote to the effects of drink. No supper-table +would have been perfect without some preparation of this delicacy, and +the gay revellers knew, or in any case imagined, that with this nostrum +close at hand the choicest Chian or Lesbian vintages might safely be +defied. Hence it was that the very name of so precious a vegetable came +to be held in estimation, until it was customary to say that if it were +permitted to blaspheme without offending the gods, it would be by +mention of the Rhodian cabbage.[19] The lover in a fragment of the lost +poet Ananius invokes it solemnly in evidence of his attachment, and +there is found a suggestion in the iambics of Hipponax of the vegetable +having even entered into the mythology-- + + "He, falling down, worshipped the seven-leaved cabbage, + To which, before she drank the poisoned draught, + Pandora brought a cake at Thargelia." + +This oath by the cabbage became in time the favourite expletive of +Ionia, and having winged its way westwards, still lingers in the shape +of the exclamation _Cavolo!_ as a popular phrase of modern Italy. + +Specific forms of swearing were in a great measure localised in the +ancient world. As the Thebans swore by Osiris, the Ionians by the +cabbage and the colewort, so also in Athens Minerva formed the staple of +the national oaths. No Roman citizen was heard to swear by Castor. Why +there should have been this denial upon the part of those who swore +freely by Pollux is not easily explained. But while the Roman women were +loud in the use of "Mecastor"--the affix _me_ being supplied to adapt +the name to swearing purposes, the men abjured that oath as scrupulously +as the women in their turn ignored the expression "Mehercule."[20] +Hercules himself, so the story went, was known to swear but one oath in +the whole course of his life. In recognition of such singular +forbearance, the Roman children were instructed never to make light use +of his sacred name. The prohibition, however, extended no farther than +the four walls and curtilage of the dwelling, and they were free to make +what use they liked of it out of doors. + +An instance of oaths being subjected to the like whimsical conditions is +noticeable in the domestic manners of Old Germany. We gather from the +popular mediaeval satire, the 'Ship of Fools,' that a code of rules had +been formulated regulating the propriety of swearing. Society in this +case would seem to have formed its precedents of oath-taking, and to +have withheld its sanction from any others than its own. There was a +time in Germany it appears when a man adopted an oath as deliberately as +he might take to a trade, it being only necessary, to bring it within +the licensed pale, that it should be derived from the symbols of his own +or his father's occupation. The particular merit of this system was that +while it partook of all the abandonment and conferred all the enjoyment +of swearing, it was practically no swearing at all. When, in an outburst +of passion, the grazier called out upon his beeves, or the smith invoked +his anvil or his sledge, all the advantages of swearing, whatever they +may be held to be, had been accomplished, and that without prudery being +ruffled or innocence shocked. In fact the needs of society had invented +a kind of stalking-horse for blasphemy, and the Bob Acreses and Captain +Absolutes of that day must have found themselves cruelly hoodwinked by +the inanimate effigy of swearing. + +But while northern nations were conspicuous for the substantial and +ponderous nature of their oaths, the Roman yielded to none in the +multiform versatility of his adjurations. Caligula owned a horse that +he not only treated as a fellow-being and brought to meals at his table, +but whose name served him wherewith to pronounce his accustomed oaths. +The same emperor is reported to have put to death a Roman citizen who +refused to swear by his "imperial genius." Another of the oaths +prescribed by command of Caligula was "per numen Drusillae." This +wretched woman he constrained his subjects to worship as a divinity. To +explain this partiality for the use of these absurd if not impious +oaths, it would seem that a tradition had been circulated, ascribing the +duration of his own lifetime to the period during which the oath should +pass current. Any attack of illness that happened to the emperor was +directly attributed to the waning popularity of the oath. Nor was the +doctrine strange to many of the nationalities over which the Roman sway +extended. We have it distinctly occurring among the Scythians,[21] and +it has more recently been noticed by travellers as existing among +half-barbarous tribes. The oath itself was probably a development of the +affirmation that has been used more than any other in the history of the +world. The _life_ or the _head_ of the ruler of the chief tribesman, or +of the spiritual prophet, has invariably furnished the true standard of +affirmation. But even as a mere domestic oath, the _head_ of the goodman +of the house seems to have been permitted a degree of solemnity-- + + "Per caput hoc juro, per quod pater ante solebat." + _Virgil_, AEn. ix. 300. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "He swore by the wound in Jesu's side."--_Coleridge, 'Christabel.'_ + + +We may now turn our backs upon the luxuriant and fanciful swearing of +the ancient world and pursue our researches into one other division of +the subject that gives rise to more serious reflections. The diversions +of the Roman and the Greek in the way of imprecation seem to have been +mostly intended in good part, and to have been productive of little +theological odium. But there is a body of swearing that has diffused +itself through Christian countries which is the very reverse of +sportive, and has undeniably provoked the strongest feelings of +aversion. The abuse to which we allude consisted mainly in the +indiscriminate use of popular oaths that selected the limbs and members +of Christ as the paraphernalia of swearing. There does not appear at the +present day any great irreverence in the exclamation, "S'light," or +"S'lid," or "Bodikins," as, happily, the wave of impiety that brought +them has long since broken and passed away. Indeed, as they now occur +in the pages of sixteenth century writings, they only strike the modern +reader in the light of so many interruptions from the text. But we shall +find as we pursue the inquiry further, that there was a great deal of +meaning wrapped up in these expletives, and that they played a by no +means unimportant part in the workings of the mediaeval understanding. + +Whatever may have been the malignities laid to the charge of the later +middle ages, it is certain that the Englishman was on the whole of a +reverential type. The pious moralist who laboured in those times was so +far assisted by an utter absence of captious criticism to honeycomb his +teaching, and by the solid sense of appreciation that was wont to fill +the minds of his listeners. He was practised, moreover, in the exercise +of two potent influences that he was ever ready to exert. The one may be +said to have had its root in his hearers' fund of ready sympathy, the +other in their ghostly apprehension of horror and dread. It is not at +all surprising that in later times we should find an opaqueness to have +obscured the clear crystal of these subtle perceptions, for fear and +pity have no longer the same ascendancy in a busy world. But at a period +more piously illiterate, things of this shadowy nature were linked very +closely to objects of a material kind. A long process of reasoning +could then be saved by reference to some obscure picture of monkish +fancy. And so, in the glooms and twilights of mediaeval life, the +moralist might insure speedy victory by overwhelming men's intellects by +an appeal to the formidable images of terror and compassion. + +The pre-Reformation Englishman, stricken and toil-worn, having no hope +save in forbearance from the skies, and no consolation but in the repose +of the ale-house, could yet be awed and subdued by the apprehension of +some priest-directed shape of ghostly terrorism. Above all, he had been +made to grasp a sentiment, which, slightly as it can be treated in a +secular work, may be said to have left no adequate imprint upon the +Protestant world. By dint of the monastic teaching, he had been brought +to entertain a keen personal realisation of the actual sufferings of +Christ. The fact is self-evident from every fragment of contemporaneous +literature intended to react upon the fears and sympathies of +uncultivated men. It was the constant presentment of the notion of the +divine agony, the daily calling to remembrance of the thorns, the nails, +and the hyssop, that was relied upon to keep alive in those poor agued +souls some struggling flame of spiritual vitality. And so surely was the +spark wont to kindle, and so reverently was the similitude of these +priestly images treasured up, that they formed the mainstay of the +ploughman's faith, the sum total of the poor man's theology. + +From this cause it arose, as there is now every reason to suspect, that +the country was at one time inundated with a torrent of the most acrid +and rasping blasphemy. It would not be difficult to trace the relative +connection between the luxuriance of oath-taking and the various forms +of religion under which oath-taking has successively flourished. It +could be shown that the swearing of most Catholic states is of greater +fertility, and displays a readier fund of invention than that of +countries brought under the reformed faith. The more religion appeals to +the senses, the more fecund has been the vocabulary of oaths. The more +it has been made the subject of illustration and imagery, the more +finished and ornate have been the comminations in use. A priest-ridden +nation, such as the Spanish or Italian, has always been eminent for its +proficiency in blasphemy; and as part of the argument it may not be out +of place to mention the instance of the hedge-parson in the 'Fortunes of +Nigel,' who, by reason of his superior knowledge of divinity, could +swear with greater volubility than any of his associates. + +Thus it was that, labouring under the ban of priestly exaction, and +confronted on all sides by the ghostly emblems of wrath and +condemnation, there descended upon England in the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries, a torrent of the hardest and direst of verbal +abuse. Not mere words of intemperate anger came bubbling to the surface, +but sullen and defiant blasphemies, execrations that proclaimed open +warfare with authority and a lasting separation from everything that was +tender in men's faith. Imprecations were contrived from every incident +in the narrative of the Crucifixion. The limbs and members of the slain +Christ were made the vehicle of revolting profanation. The didactic +writers of the time, no less than epic poets and sprightly versifiers, +give full testimony to the prevalency of the offence. The laureate, +Stephen Hawes, Lydgate, Chaucer and the "moral Gower," all are alike +loud in their expression of horror and renunciation. Among the later +writers replete with instances of the scandal is the epigrammatist, +Robert Crowley, who enumerates a lengthy catalogue of expletives current +in his day. Although by the time Crowley appeared upon the scene the +language of blasphemy had become a little softened by the admixture of +rather more innocent particles, as "by cock and pye," or "by the cross +of the mousefoot," the author still finds it necessary to record a set +of hard, grating oaths pronounced by the "hands," the "feet," and the +"flesh" of Christ. + +To refer, for instance, to the use of the one word "zounds!" This +strikes us now-a-days as anything but a very solemn or a very momentous +form of adjuration. But in unreformed England--the England that still +adored the _Genetrix incorrupta_, and had earned among the devout the +title of Our Lady's Dower, it was absolutely impossible to surpass in +blasphemy the hideous import that had been imparted to the user of the +word. It was in fact nothing else than a rebellious and mutinous +rendering of the once sacred oath taken by the wounds of the Redeemer. +There are few who can probably now realise the conspicuous place then +occupied in the Catholic worship by the legends relating to the five +several incisions in the body of Christ. The monkish representations of +the wounds were depicted in countless rosaries and Books of Hours. +Confraternities were formed in the Church for their greater veneration. +There were occasions when papal absolution was specially extended to +those worshippers who paid their devotions to the wound in the side of +Christ. The so-called measurement of them was even preserved in +families, and was reputed to be a charm.[22] In the great northern +insurrection of 1536, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Five Wounds +was the badge under which York and Lincoln farmers marched to avenge the +spoliation of the monasteries. Such was the oath in the days of the last +King Henry. Its more modern application scarcely requires illustration, +but if any such were needed, we might find it in the villainous lines +which Lord Byron wrote in connection with a certain trip on board the +_Lisbon_ packet. + +To the present hour, in Italy, the popular oaths are in close alliance +with the Romanist faith. The ordinary exclamation "_Per l'ostia_" is the +equivalent of "God's bread!" that so long did duty in England of the +pre-Reformation era. A modern traveller has noticed how distinct an +impress has been set upon Italian swearing by the particular notions of +heavenly beings that are inculcated by the national creed. A workman in +an art-studio was heard vociferating in such terms as "_Per Christo_," +"_Per sangue di Christo_," "_Per maladetto sangue di Christo_," +whereupon the following conversation occurred:-- + +"Do you forget who Christ is, that you thus blaspheme Him?" + +"Bah!" replied the man, "I am not afraid of Him." + +"Who, then, do you fear?" + +"I'm afraid of the Madonna, and not of Him." + +The fact was that the Mother of God was the sole being the mind was +brought to esteem with feelings of veneration. Christ was only the +_bambino_, or infant in arms, and nothing more.[23] + +The state of feeling that still prevails in Italy should go far to +explain the presence in pre-Reformation England of this widely-spread +body of irreverent swearing. With the Reformation, however, the +contagion was shortly to abate. The severer authors at the close of the +sixteenth century do not have to complain so bitterly of these jarring +elements of vituperation. In the literature of the stage there is a +marked improvement: in none but the earlier of the Elizabethan comedies +do the characters accentuate their meaning by reference to the grossest +description of blasphemy. When expletives occur they are generally in +the spirit of derision and lampoon. As the writings of the stage grew +more robust, the custom altogether wore away. It may, indeed, be held +that the subversion of the Catholic religion was mainly, if not +entirely, accountable for the change. There is certainly a marked +distinction between the oaths of the outgoing and incoming creeds. But +if we have been finally spared from the ravages of the infection, we may +attribute our deliverance to that reserve of reverence of which we have +spoken as possessed by English laymen, and to the pious devices that +were practised upon it by the inferior orders of preachers. + +The position they chose to assume in combating this "fine old +gentlemanly vice" is a singular feature in its history. Their method was +to associate the practice of swearing with the notion of actual bodily +pain being occasioned to the Saviour. They made it appear that Christ in +person was put to extreme physical agony on every occasion of its +committal. Not alone did they assert the wantonness and hardihood of so +directly incurring the Divine displeasure, but they raised the most +piteous appeal to the compassion of these benighted swearers. It was +daily proclaimed from their pulpits that the profanity in this one +respect of professedly Christian men had worked a sharper and more +agonising martyrdom than that formerly designed by the Jews themselves. +In countless broadsheets, no less than by pictorial illustration, the +wounds of Christ were portrayed as hourly re-opened, and the sufferings +of Golgotha renewed from day to day. The doctrine gained additional +credit when transferred from the hands of monkish authors and embraced +by popular and captivating pens. Stephen Hawes, own poet to +carpet-knights and buckram soldiery, brought home conviction to a class +of offenders that a whole consistory would not have succeeded in +convincing. In a rhyming pamphlet, prefaced by a figure of the bleeding +Christ, Hawes depicts with awful realism those sufferings which, as he +believed, were being actually and bodily inflicted.[24] The author of +'Bel Amour' describes the feet and hands of Christ as literally pierced +anew, and every member torn and lacerated by reason of the imprecations +of unheeding Christians. + +At this time of day it might be difficult to ascertain with any +certainty the origin of this forced view of the iniquity of swearing. So +far as concerns printed literature, we discover it for the first time +in the doggerel of the poet Hawes, but it is none the less traceable to +that encyclopaedic work of the thirteenth century, the 'Miroir du Monde.' +This takes us to the year 1279, and instances could be furnished showing +its regular passage through the next three centuries, until the monkish +notion is at last surrendered and delivered over to the cleansing fires +of the Reformation. The last of the English authors who seems to have +seriously advanced the theory is to be found in the rigid disciple of +asceticism, Thomas Becon. + +Becon was a man who, throughout a devout and severe life, had set +himself sternly to the task of rebuking the immoderate lawlessness of +the orders among which he lived. The rustic usage of collecting round +the village tavern to celebrate the Sabbath in sport and holiday was one +particularly repellant to the mind of Becon, and held by him to be the +mainspring of all the evils that ravaged the country-side. The fore part +of the day having been devoted to the services of the Church, it was +usual for a time of high festival to succeed the morning's austerities. +Noon discovered all the grown men of the village assembled round the +vintner's door and partaking of the ale-house hospitalities. Here feats +of rude strength were performed, wrestlers practised their throws, and +sturdy fellows played bouts at quarter-staff. Foot-races were run upon +the greensward for wholesome wagers of barley-cake, and games of hazard +were conducted under the shelter of the ivy-bush at the publican's +threshold. Bets were staked, dice were rattled, and yokels learned to +place the dues of the harvest-field upon the fortunes of the winning or +losing colour. When, therefore, after earnest and fruitless entreaty, +the good Becon rushed into print and produced his learned 'Invective,' +he did not omit to visit with uncompromising censure the chartered +licence of this Sunday festival. + +The riot and pastime that on every seventh day had been wont to disturb +the quietude of rustic life appeared to our reformer as a direct +encouragement to the practice of swearing, and in fact as constituting +so many training-schools for the cultivation of this unwelcome +accomplishment. In the hope of rendering the habit positively forbidding +to the more impressionable among his readers, he reminds them how the +body of the Saviour is actually torn and mangled by reason of the +imprecations hurled at him in these country sports. Oaths, he deplores, +were then used in every matter of chopping and changing, of bargaining +and selling, and he groans to think how the "dicer" will swear rather +than passively submit to the loss of a single cast, the "carder will +tear God in pieces rather than lose the profit of an ace." + +It is a feature that must be very palpable to the student of incipient +literature, that when once an original and daring notion was fairly +launched upon the world, it was not allowed to founder for want of +repetition. The peculiar mode of thought which we have ventured to +ascribe to the 'Miroir du Monde' in the thirteenth century, could boast +a long line of exponents in the interval that closed with Thomas Becon. +The writer to whose industry, rather than invention, English laymen were +indebted for their acquaintance with this painful doctrine was a certain +Dan Michael, described as a brother of the Cloister of Saint Austin. +This person has produced a didactic treatise based upon the model of the +famous 'Miroir,' an original from which no writer at that time felt +himself justified in departing. With the subject of swearing he deals in +a way that is highly painstaking. Not to mention the intricate +distinctions which he treats under these several heads, we find that he +has grouped the offences of the tongue into no less than eight cardinal +divisions. It may be curious to record the titles as our author +enumerates them, notwithstanding that it is scarcely to our purpose to +follow him through the niceties he has created. The branches of the +subject, according to his classification, would therefore seem to be: +"ydelnesse," "yelpinge," "bloudynge," "todiazinge," "stryfinge," +"grochynge," "wyþstondinge," and lastly "blasfemye." So far as we have +mastered the system of Dan Michael we are driven to the conclusion that +the practice of swearing, as understood in the Cloister of Saint Austin, +was, save for the outward distinction of dress, much the same as +prevails in the later world. "For there are some," says he of the +cloister, "so evil taught that they are able to say nothing without +swearing. Some swear as if smitten with sudden pain. Others swear by the +sun, the moon, by the head, or by their father's soul." + +Minute as is Dan Michael in his treatment of the subject of abuse, his +elaborations are possibly surpassed by the next competitor for +moralistic fame. Robert of Brunne, who produced a similar work in the +year 1303, availed himself largely of the other's labours, while he +enriched his collections with recitals of wrong-doing from his own +exclusive stores. From the "Handlyng Sinne," as the production is +called, one may gather considerable insight into the state of prejudice +existing at the time. The neighbours tell one another good stories in +church time, and inquire during the sermon where they can get the best +ale. The monks have become so luxurious that they refuse to shave their +heads and have commenced to array themselves in fine clothes. The king's +courts are crowded with supplicating suitors, craving for redress from +the extortions of trustees and executors, and yielding themselves +victims to the falsity of the men of law. Swearing, at that time, would +seem to be no longer the prerogative of laymen, but even to have become +the privilege of learned clerks. + +To depict what, from this author's point of view, were the fruits and +consequences of blasphemy, Brunne enters into a narrative describing the +Mother of God presenting the bleeding Jesus to the gaze of the rich man +Dives. The latter inquires the reason for the Child being gashed with +wounds. In reply the Virgin points out in terms of keen resentment the +injuries inflicted upon the Infant by the swearing of Dives and his +associates. The doctrine of the 'Miroir' is then introduced in full to +demonstrate the infamy and inhumanity of the practice, the whole +concluding with a promise of repentance on the part of the sinful man. +This fable is only one among many others that were narrated with a view +to curbing the propensities of blaspheming swearers. The work that +contains it met with general circulation at the commencement of the +fourteenth century, but that the spread of the iniquity was not sensibly +abated we may infer from other sources of information we have +mentioned.[25] In 1544, the evil was set forth in the light of a +national grievance, and was paraded in a broadsheet published in that +year entitled a "Supplycacion to Kynge Henry the Eyght." + +Such, then, was the ponderous metal that passed current as the swearing +of pre-Reformation England. These verbal projectiles were sometimes +moulded, however, of a lighter calibre, and when employed in the talk +of priests or women, were so nicely rounded off as to incur little of +theological displeasure. Chaucer's people, in particular, are very +punctilious in the propriety of their oaths; good Sir Thopas swearing +mildly "by ale and bread," and Madame Eglantine naming holy Saint +Eligius as the patron of her vows-- + + "There was also a nonne, a prioresse, + That of hire smyling was ful symple and coy, + Hire grettest oath was but by St. Eloy." + +In much the same way did princes and dignitaries of the land single out +some swearing cognizance that might befriend them in the everlasting +conflict between lies and honesty. Edward I. sanctified his oaths by the +mention of a brace of milk-white swans, and whoever will consult St. +Palaye will find that the peacock and the pheasant entered largely into +the codes of chivalry as bearing witness to the truth of a statement. +Edward III. followed the lead of his grandsire in the selection of his +gage of testimony. At the festival held in 1349 to celebrate the +creation of the Order of the Garter, his cognizance was the swan, +adorned, moreover, with the swearing motto: "Haye! Haye! the Whyte Swan! +by Godde's soule I am thy man." + +The tradition that St. Paul was the saint that Richard III. was wont to +conjure with, has found expression in the tragedy of Shakespeare. +Faithful to the popular notions of the usurper's characteristic, this +form of oath has been placed upon Gloucester's lips at each impassioned +outburst. Henry V., in his wooing of Katherine, gallantly invokes St. +Denis to aid him in his attempts at love-making. But the chronicler who +seems positively to have had an affection for the oaths the memory of +which he is recalling, is the historian Brantome. Upon this +unimpeachable testimony we learn that the oath of Louis XI. was _par la +Paque Dieu_, an affirmation that Scott avails himself of in his +portraiture of that monarch in 'Quentin Durward.' This was succeeded by +the _jour de Dieu_ of Charles VIII.; by the _diable m'emporte_ of Louis +XII., and the _foi de gentilhomme_ of Francis I. Among the Gascon oaths +of Henry IV. the most usual was _ventre Saint Gris_. As for Charles IX., +adds Brantome, he swore in all fashions, and always like a sergeant who +was leading a man to be hanged.[26] + +The question has frequently been asked who was intended by the cognomen +Saint Gris? The answer accorded by Le Duchat, a savant learned in such +matters, is that Saint Francis d'Assise was the person indicated. It is +true that Saint Francis was _ceint_ by a hempen girdle, and, moreover, +was clad in a habit of _gris_. But there nevertheless seems no reason to +suppose that any individual personage was suggested, or, indeed, as has +been stated, that the oath was of a Huguenot character. Says M. Charles +Rozan,[27] who has had occasion to refer to this subject, Saint Gris is +purely a creature of fancy, and was constituted a patron of drinkers, as +St. Lache was a patron of idlers and St. Nitouche of hypocrites. + +The oath of William Rufus, _per vultum de Lucca,_ has raised conjectures +as to its probable signification. The literal meaning, "by Saint Luke's +face," being rejected as not very intelligible, there remain two +distinct explanations: one that it referred to the face of Christ as +painted by St. Luke, the other that the portrait of Christ as preserved +in the cathedral church at Lucca is the object intended. To support the +first derivation, credence must be given to the legend which places the +apostle among the artist craftsmen of Judaea, and has enshrined him as +the patron saint of all workers in the arts. On the other hand, there +has reposed for some centuries at Lucca a miraculous crucifix, famous +alike for the marvels it has seen and accomplished. The Tuscan people +set great store by the possession of this relic, and have engraved a +representation of it upon their coins. The inscription upon the Tuscan +florin, "Sanctus vultus de Lucca," would seem, therefore, to be +identical with the expletive of William Rufus. + +We have seen how the occupants of the throne have usually comported +themselves in the matter of oaths, but there is one recorded instance of +Plantagenet royalty having created a singular precedent. If any man can +be said to have ever had cause for swearing, Henry VI. might be +described as being that individual. It is stated, however, by +contemporaries who had opportunities for conversing with this king, and +by whom it is given as a somewhat remarkable fact, that he was never +known to swear under the greatest provocation. + +The adage that enjoins us to repeat "no scandal about Queen Elizabeth" +should dispose us to deal lightly with any verbal excesses committed by +the virgin queen. It would appear, however, that the moral atmosphere of +her court, despite the intellect and talent that adorned it, was not so +refined or particular but that the sovereign and the ladies over their +breakfasts of steaks and beer could ring out exclamations that to a +later generation might appear of rather an astounding character.[28] To +turn for comparison to the era of the next female majesty, it is +questionable whether even Sarah Jennings, with all her power of abuse, +would not have taken exception to the flavour of some of the Elizabethan +adjectives. + +A story is told of Edward VI., that at the time of arriving at the +kingly dignity he gave way to a torrent of the most sonorous oaths. The +pastors and masters charged with the well-being of the royal youth could +not but stare in blank astonishment at the conduct of one so well +nurtured as the child of Anne Boleyn. It transpired, however, that the +young king had been given to believe by one of his associates that +language of the kind was dignified and becoming in the person of a +sovereign. Edward was asked to name the preceptor who had so ably +supplemented the course of the royal education. This he instantly and +innocently did, and was not a little surprised at the severe whipping +that was administered to the delinquent.[29] + +The predicament in which the royal child was placed is similar to that +which once befel a clerical gentleman while travelling on mule-back +across Syria. The Syrian muleteers are, it seems, accustomed to urge +onward their beasts with the shout of "Yullah!" or "Bismillah!" and it +was under the escort of these shouting and belabouring drivers that the +traveller made his way into the town of Beyrout. His friends naturally +inquired of him what progress he had made in Arabic, and in reply he +told them he had only acquired two words, _bakhshish_ for a present, and +_Yullah!_ for go-ahead. He was asked if he had used the latter word much +on his way. Certainly, he said, he had used it all the way. "Then, your +reverence," replied his friend, "you have been swearing all the way +through the Holy Land." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any + standers-by to curtail his oaths."--'_Cymbeline_,' ii. 1. + + +In the study of antiquity there are steep and irregular by-paths that +defy the traveller every step that he pursues them. It is in threading +these tortuous windings that many a fearless venturer has lost foot-hold +and been utterly cast away. Many a man with the passion for antiquity +deep at his heart, and with limbs well girded to attain to the summit of +his aim, has been fain to settle down, jaded and dispirited, at +mid-task. He has accomplished nothing perhaps beyond the mere reading of +an inscription or deciphering of a medallion, but the spirit of his +insight is dimmed, and stricken in the work. Thus has it been with many +generations of seekers and inquirers. The _virtuosi_ and _cognoscenti_, +the curious in gems and medals, in brasses and torsos, the commentators +and concordancers,--all these may be said to be nothing more than so +many units in the lost tribe of eager scholarship. Starting confident +of probing to the very source and mystery of things, they have rather +preferred the shelter of some attainable evening refuge than be +overtaken in their task by the chills and storms of night. + +It is easier far, means not being wanting, to place in one's cabinet +some matchless group of Capo di Monti, some priceless specimen of the +fabric of Sevres or Dresden, than to tax one's strength in extracting +the lessons conveyed by form and colour. It is a simpler matter to be +the possessor of Damascus sword-blades or Aleppo prayer-rugs than to +burden one's self with reflections upon oriental chivalry or mysticism. +And so, again, it is a far readier, as it is certainly a rougher, way of +being in sympathy with antiquity, to notch off a fragment in the +Acropolis, or carve one's name among the ruins of the Forum, than to +originate such poetic passages as Byron uttered over the field of +Marathon, or Longfellow in the market-place of Nuremburg. Say what we +will, both forms of veneration arise alike from the same innate craving +to grasp some part or parcel of the tissue of the past. + +To the untiring few who have overcome the drought and dust of the +up-land journey, the summit, once attained, will disclose many a point +and promontory unsuspected by the purblind dweller in the plain. The +retrospect will reveal to them a busy, thronging life underlying the +serenity of history. They will be able to range the perished multitudes +in their once motley grouping, to restore warmth and colour to +lineaments long obscured in death, and greed and alacrity to the sunk +eyes and folded hands. To those whom the spirit of the past is apt to +visit as a passionate inspiration, the mere record of consecutive events +is often wearisome. It is not altogether for this that they have +laboured to catch some murmur, however slight, of the infinite harmony +that is being sounded by all, the chords of history. Rather, it is to +tramp mistily along from generation to generation in the long, forced +march of human life. Rather, to probe to the depths of some one of the +world's stupendous follies, of some one of its golden vanities, that +they have thus cast about them with measure and lead-line. And when they +have completely searched out and written of the world's stupendous +follies, they will perhaps have written what alone would be worth +calling its history. + +As some small, tentative contribution to the understanding of this +under-life, the plan of this volume has been designed. The past has come +down to us cloaked and shrouded, and attended by its decorous retinue of +mutes and bearers. We are continually seeking to revive this dead past, +just as it was, when its future was a wild, inscrutable thing, and its +life was so fragrant, so masterful, and so momentous. It wants a great +mental effort to recall events that are as indubitably past as if they +had never happened at all. The pleasure of possessing, or of even +entering, the vanished territory is a privilege so rare, that there are +permitted but a few moments for its enjoyment. It is so subtle a +perception that even seasoned historians seldom have the power of +imparting it. They may surround us with the conflict of contending +legionaries, until we seem to recognise the thud of advancing battalions +and the clash and impact of the squadron. These, however lifelike, are +impressions of a much grosser and more tangible nature, and can have but +little in common with the blended sweetness and irony that pertain to +the spontaneous realisation of the dead past. + +What we are for ever craving to learn is something more of the gambols, +the humours, and the anticing of this sad army, for ever on the march. +We yearn to know something more of the vanity and the pettiness, the +fever and the longing, of those weary men and women, the memorial of +whose lives has been trampled out. The historian will sometimes rend +away the veil that separates us from this unwritten history; but more +often it is the creation of the romancer that helps to clothe the dim +spirit of the past from the loom of its misty memories; Pascarel, +depicting the splendours of the artist-life of Florence, while +Arlecchino and the rest of the gay carnival troupe are romping in the +faded street of the stocking-makers; Slender and Shallow and the simple +folk of the Cotswold country ambling out their jests midst the turmoil +of those stirring Lancastrian times; or "sweet Anne Page," provoking and +winning, three hundred years ago, in the glades of Windsor Forest. The +honest yeoman who fought the master of fence--three veneys for a dish of +stewed prunes; the foolish justice who in the days of his youth had beat +Sampson Stockfish behind Gray's Inn, and had heard the chimes at +midnight, lying out in the windmill in St. George's Fields--these and +many kindred types represent to us so many factors in that prodigious +army of the unknown that is never permitted us more thoroughly to know. +It is indeed in the fancy of Shakespeare that this bygone sweetness and +irony seem the oftener to be kindled and awakened. Not, certainly, in +the wordy warring of Capulet and Montagu; not, perhaps, in the outspoken +chivalry of "Harry the King," or the blunt generosity of Falconbridge. +But we find it moving and thrilling in every tone caught up from the +English country-side, in the echoes wafted from the vintage-lands of +France, or the garden walks of Padua. And freshest and daintiest of all, +we find it in the poet's snatches of song and rugged bursts of +minstrelsy. This indeed is the enchantment that subdues us as the +dimpled page advances to the gay theatre lights, and pleading the woes +of three hundred years ago, and exhorting now as he exhorted then, bids +"Sigh no more, ladies; ladies, sigh no more." It is this which +captivates as the scene pauses and the drama halts, that the eye may be +carried back through a vista of three centuries to dwell upon a simple +"lover and his lass" as they wander "between the acres of the rye." + +The subject of swearing the writer has come to regard as one of the many +indices by which the paths of our ancestors may be traced. Holding in +fitting estimation the monuments of their industry and their prudence, +none the less may we seek to view the departed generations in their +hours of carelessness and frolic, and may peer into their casinos and +their tiring-rooms, their spital-houses and their bridewells. What +manner of men were they? we ask. Were they sparkling and festive, +tellers of rare stories, dealers in racy jokes? Were they wholesome in +their living, manly and courageous in their lives, or were they loose +and liquorish, winking at falsehood and cajoling the truth? And if the +monumental record of their virtues be a just one, why did they heirloom +on posterity this bitter heritage of swearing? + +The truth would seem to be that in every society there has existed a +certain _corps d'elite_, which, distinguished at once by its breeding +and its brusquerie, has perversely thought fit to adopt the insignia of +swearing as its own particular device. In advancing this explanation of +the fidelity with which posterity has exercised its watchfulness over +the bequest of swearing, we must not for a moment be misunderstood. It +is far from our purpose to associate good breeding with the use of +coarse vituperation, but at the same time it is impossible to overlook +the fact that swearing has mostly owed its favour and its audacity to +the practice of really cultivated men. The first contrivers of our +modern methods of swearing took pains to raise an air of mystery and +exclusiveness around their favourite art. "To be an accomplished +gentleman," says Carlo Buffone, in Ben Jonson's comedy,[30] "have two +or three peculiar oaths to swear by that no man else swears"; and it +would seem to have been one of the gravest charges brought against the +Hectors and Bobadils of the Elizabethan stage, that they dare assume +acquaintance with courtly oaths. Even Hotspur is portrayed by the +dramatist as a most precise and scrupulous swearer. It may be seen how +he reproaches Lady Percy for swearing "like a comfit-maker's wife," and +bids her "swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art!" and not to mince her +oaths like some city madam or seller of gingerbread.[31] For upwards of +two centuries, the notion of finish and exclusiveness in oath-taking +afforded constant merriment for the stage, the creations of the +playwright seldom failing to give full scope to the illustration of this +strange humour. Every period brought its particular oath and fresh +generations of exponents. Now it was the soldier of fortune returned +from encounters with the Spaniards or the Turk. Anon it was the tavern +rake of King James' day, and after some interval, the wits and foplings +of the Restoration. By-and-by, there followed the crowd of nabobs and +parvenus, the blustering swearers of the days of East Indian +speculation, and finally came the truculent swabbers and commodores of +Adelphi melodrama. The _nouveau riche_ of the younger Colman, who fails +to enrobe himself with dignity by the aid of all ordinary resources, is +enjoined by his more practical helpmate to vent his "zounds" and +"damme," in emulation of the swearing of the great. + +For this _corps d'elite_ of which we have spoken have drawn to +themselves men the most worthless, and men the most admirable. It has +found disciples in every capital--the easy, the affluent, the +voluptuous, cheery and sunny of speech, bold and swarthy of countenance. +There are numbered among them free livers and free lances innumerable. +There are men remarkable for their stores of boisterous animalism, no +less than delicate scholars remarkable only for the brightness of their +fancy and the vividness of their dreams. They have ever been a composite +and a cosmopolitan crew, some shouldering into the ranks by the weight +of their purses or the length of their rent-rolls, others by skill +evinced at high midnight, when taper-lights throw pale vertical rays +upon a refreshing margent of green cloth. Among them, too, are stout +soldiers, bold fearless riders, the wild and fevered blood of many +countries, the fervour of Italy, and the craft of the Levant. To the +precincts of this gilded and splendid society come many sorts and +conditions of aspirants. The boy-parson lays down the sanctity of the +priesthood and rapturously sues for admission. Elders of threescore +demand an entrance upon the strength of _risque_ stories sprung from +garrison-towns and college common-rooms. Skilled physicians feign +indifference to their calling that they may smack of the kennel and the +hunting-field. Staid, contemplative men, men with a prayer and a tune in +them, press into this joyous throng, eager to clasp the bruised fruit of +human desire and to claim kindred with these cheery fellowships. But, +however varied the elements of the order, the members are constituted +alike in this: they are hearty and laughter-loving; they are jolly and +courageous. + +With outposts so widely distributed, it is the more necessary that there +should be some unmistakable uniform, that whether it be in a Paris +ordinary, or on the steppes of Tartary, one may easily recognise the +scion of the order. Such a uniform, so at least we are constrained to +understand it, has, for the most part, been supplied by a subdued and +discriminate use of the materials of swearing. A Sandwich Islander +appreciates this when he salutes a British crew in terms compounded of +oaths and ribaldry.[32] He is really intending to denote his sense of +the distinction of the exalted visitors, when he exclaims: "Very glad +see you! Damn your eyes! Me like English very much. Devilish hot, sir! +Goddam!" It is to claim kindred with the brotherhood that swell surgeons +vent their "blasted!" and "damnation!" as they tender to the ailments of +rackety young patients. It is to bridge over the gulf between +carelessness and propriety that even mild college tutors will sometimes +venture upon a modest "botheration!" or "confounded!" The most fertile +and most voluminous swearer, we have been given to understand, exists in +the person of one of the leading _litterateurs_ of the century when +desiring to curry favour with a company of fast men. + +Not that it can be altogether denied that there are other contrivances +whereby the members of the fraternity succeed in courting mutual +recognition. The topic of sporting is, perhaps, the most effectual of +these, and it must be understood that a man's convivial condition is +often undergoing a crucial investigation when he is questioned as to his +views upon such subjects as the Cesarewitch or the Cambridgeshire. The +several processes of swearing would seem however to supply the readiest +hall-mark, and are rather of an easier manipulation. This theory of +indulgence might go far to explain the leniency of men like Jonathan +Swift towards a custom which, had they wished it, they might have +deposed from its high places by their ridicule. Swearing was far from +being a rock of offence to the society of Harley and St. John. Why else, +again, has it been permitted from commanders of the stamp of Picton in +the field, and from lawyers of the pattern of Thurlow on the woolsack? +"I will now proceed to my seventh point," pursued Sir Ilay Campbell, +arguing an interminable Scotch appeal in the House of Lords. "I'm damned +if you do," shrieked Lord Thurlow, and the House adjourned neither angry +or scandalised. And again, how else explain the exuberance of the +Duchess of Marlborough's language when calling at Lord Mansfield's +lodgings? His lordship, as we know, was away, and on his return +questioned the doorkeeper as to the name of his visitor. "I do not know +who she was," replied the man, "but she swore like a lady of quality." + +Of Thurlow it has been said that he was renowned as a swearer even in a +swearing age. "He took it as a lad who wishes to show that he has +arrived at man's estate. He could not have got on without it."[33] At +one time a dispute was pending as to the right to present to a vacant +benefice. A certain bishop who claimed the right sent his secretary to +argue with Lord Thurlow, who, for his part, obstinately maintained the +counter-claim of the Crown. The envoy no sooner opened his case and made +known his message, than Thurlow cut short all further argument. "Give my +compliments to his lordship, and tell him I will see him damned before +he present." "That," remonstrated the secretary, "is a very unpleasant +message to deliver to a bishop." "You are right," replied Thurlow, "so +it is. Tell him I will see myself damned before he present." + +Another professor in the same uncompromising school of hard swearers +would seem to have been Sir Thomas Maitland, His Majesty's Lord High +Commissioner administering the government of the Ionian Islands, at that +time and long afterwards under the British dominion. Sir Charles Napier +relates that on arriving at Corfu to enter upon a military appointment, +and being ushered into his Excellency's presence, he was received with a +sullen "Who the devil are you?" and on explaining his business, Sir +Thomas rejoined, "Then I hope you are not such a damned scoundrel as +your predecessor." Sir Thomas seems to have been in the habit of dealing +out abuse the most flagrant towards those with whom he was brought into +contact. "On one occasion,"--we may follow Sir Charles Napier's +words,--"the senate having been assembled in the saloon of the palace +waiting in all form for his Excellency's appearance, the door slowly +opened and Sir Thomas walked in with the following articles of clothing +upon him: + +"One shirt, which like Tam o' Shanter's friend, the cutty-sark, + + "In longitude was sorely scanty." + +"One red night-cap, + +"One pair of slippers. + +"The rest of his Excellency's person was perfectly divested of garments. +In this state he walked into the middle of the saloon, looked round at +the assembled senators and then said, addressing the secretary, "Damn +them, tell them all to go to hell."[34] + +What reception this outburst provoked from the assembled notables we are +not informed. When Thurlow once at a dinner-party administered a similar +admonition to a blundering man-servant, telling him he wished he was in +hell, the terrified man wearily replied, "I wish I was, my lord! I wish +I was." + +There can be little doubt that the practice of gentlemen "damning +themselves as black as butter-milk" was intended to overawe, and on the +whole it has answered the intention. It is however but a cheap +substitute for authority, and belongs of right to a rampant jingoism of +a past age. We are here reminded of a kind of oath which, having +conferred a nick-name upon a political party, seems likely to pass into +the language in some altered form. The "Jingos," as will be remembered, +were the faction in the country who favoured an aggressive policy during +the recent Russian war. The name came to be given them from a +circumstance of quite an insignificant kind. At a certain London +singing-room a patriotic song happened to be nightly delivered, in which +the vocalist emphasised his warlike utterances with a constant +recurrence of this oath. The Radicals seized the moment, and in a short +space of time the term "by Jingo" was pinned to the backs of the Tory +party like a tin kettle tied to a dog's tail. Men soon began to ask +themselves where first they could have met with this undignified +expression? The 'Ingoldsby Legends' seemed the most likely ground, only +that readers of Goldsmith referred to the example of the town-bred lady +who, when introduced into the Vicar's family, swore "by the living +Jingo!" + +Moreover, the term is to be observed in the earliest translation of Don +Quixote (iii. vi.): "by the living jingo, I did but jest," and in +Rabelais (v. xxviii.): "by jingo, I believe he would make three bites of +a cherry." To seek for the origin of the oath, we should have to turn to +a somewhat singular source. We should find it as far away as the slopes +of the Pyrenees, where Basque peasants have long sworn by _Jincoa_, that +in fact being the Basque name for God. + +We have made mention of Swift in a way that might favour the presumption +that his ridicule was not at any time directed against the subject of +oath-taking. That such is hardly the case will be seen from his +prospectus of the Bank of Swearing, where this overgrown distempered +plant is singled out as a fair butt for his sallies. The nature of the +business proposed to be transacted at this fanciful banking-house may be +more aptly considered in another chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "_Viola._ Swear as if you came but new from the knighting. + _Fust._ Nay; I'll swear after L400 a year." + _Decker's Honest W._ + + +Written during the fever of South Sea speculation, the skit of Jonathan +Swift, known as the "Bank of Swearing," was one exceedingly felicitous +and well-timed. We are amused even now, as we read the prospectus of +this preposterous undertaking, at the extreme audacity with which the +would-be projector solemnly enumerates its advantages. Impossible and +altogether ludicrous as was the enterprise, it is not improbable that +many of the eager financiers of that speculative age fancied they saw +solid reason in the scheme. It is only to be hoped that they did not too +eagerly respond to the facilities for investment which the Swearers' +Bank was reputed to hold out. + +The notion was simply that of a chartered bank established upon a novel +basis and financing upon an original principle. Such bank was in fact to +enjoy a monopoly of levying the fines which the laws of the country +imposed upon swearing. Although these penalties had been rarely +inflicted, the mere circumstance of their being warranted by the +statute-book was regarded by the projector in the light of a mine of +latent wealth. A profitable banking concern once fairly in operation, +and backed by the security of these statutory imposts, what more could +the investor require for his capital? + +To convince the investing public of the merits of his scheme, he +proceeds to calculate the sums that might be realised by fully putting +the act into vigour. The neglected statute upon the basis of which the +whole of this superstructure was to be raised and the Bank of Swearing +endowed, was the act of the sixth and seventh year of William and Mary, +inflicting a penalty at the rate of not less than a shilling an +oath.[35] + +"It is computed by geographers,"--so argues the promoter--"that there +are two millions in the kingdom [Ireland], of which number there may be +said to be a million of swearing souls. It is thought there may be five +thousand gentlemen. Every gentleman, taken one with another, may afford +to swear an oath every day, which will yearly produce one million eight +hundred and twenty-five thousand oaths; which number of shillings makes +the yearly sum of L91,250. + +"The farmers of this kingdom, who are computed to be ten thousand, are +able to spend yearly five hundred thousand oaths, which gives L25,000; +and it is conjectured that from the bulk of the people twenty or five +and twenty thousand pounds may be yearly collected." + +The swearing capacity of the army is no less minutely investigated. In +the case of the militia, however, the promoter is disposed to recommend +either a partial immunity from the tax or else a scale of fines +considerably cheapened. To put the law in full force against militiamen, +at least so opines the promoter, would only be to fill the stocks with +porters and the pawnshops with accoutrements. So essential is this point +with him, that he makes direct appeal to his Protestant countrymen, +reminding them of the satisfaction it would afford the Papists to see a +most useful body of soldiery actually swear themselves out of their +Swords and muskets. + +Inclined to a politic leniency towards the military classes, it would +seem that this ingenious projector looked mainly for his revenue to the +swearing dues that might be collected at wakes and fairings. The oaths +of a single Connaught fair, he has calculated, amount to upwards of +three thousand. "It is true," he allows, "that it would be impossible to +turn all of them into money, for a shilling is so great a duty on +swearing, that if it were carefully exacted, the common people might as +well pretend to drink wine as to swear, and an oath would be as rare +among them as a clean shirt." In this way the Reverend Dean rattles on. +He is pointing his satire both at the epidemic of financial adventure +then so fatally prevalent and at that incomprehensible leaning to the +use of "bad language" of which even he was so ready to avail himself +when it either suited his purpose or strengthened his style. + +The Dean can scarcely be supposed to have known that one of the many +proposals put before Lord Burghley in the very early days of political +economy, bore a close resemblance to his manner of handling oaths. A +Monsieur Rodenberg proposed to show how the revenue could be increased +to twenty millions of crowns, and part of his plan consisted in a +rigorous levy of fines on swearing. He further recommended that a +council of twelve "grave persons" should have the disposal of the fund, +which while unexpended should be put out to usury.[36] + +A recommendation of this kind urged upon Queen Elizabeth's ministers was +very much in advance of English politics. It so far denotes a +turning-point in the history of swearing, that we cannot do better than +trace out what the future course of legislation was to be. + +Previous to the period we are now entering, a person addicted to +intemperate language might have been called to account by his church, or +at the bar of his own conscience. He could not have been called to +account by the State. The suggestion of State interference, so far as +concerns the southern division of this island, seems not to have +previously occurred, and we are consequently justified in inferring that +the necessity for it had never seriously arisen. There is, indeed, +complete cohesion and consistency in what was happening. We believe we +have shown elsewhere whence it was, and when it was, that the English +people first began to swear, and we are confirmed in our conclusions by +finding that this was the precise period at which English law-makers +began to legislate upon swearing. + +Passing over barbarous and obsolete laws of a more imperfect +civilisation, we find that the first essays in State control commenced +in Scotland. A full half century before the question came before +Elizabeth's parliament, the sister kingdom had the benefit of a statute +inflicting a monetary penalty upon the use of oaths. This enactment, +passed by the Scottish parliament of 1551, calls for notice upon other +grounds besides those of morality. If a legal document can be said to +partake of a poetic character, it was certainly the case with this +ordinance of Queen Mary, which seems to have been directly inspired by +the metrical labours of William Dunbar, then lately the national poet. + +The verses of Dunbar to which this result can be partially attributed +are those known as 'The Sweirers and the Devill.' It is certainly +remarkable that the framers of the Act would seem to have prepared its +clauses with Dunbar's poetry open before them. At all events, the +statute literally recites the "ugsome oaths" that are used by the old +versifier. There is a severity in the statute at which Dunbar himself +would have been surprised had he lived down to Mary's reign. In +particular, it enacts that "a prelate of kirk, earl or lord," shall for +the first offence be fined to the extent of twelve pennies, but for the +fourth the delinquent shall be banished or imprisoned for a year. + +Dunbar's treatment of his subject is very similar to that of the +nameless author of the 'Moralite des Blasphemateurs' which we have +previously noticed. He supposes the devil to have assumed human shape, +an assumption which in those times would have been thought nothing out +of the way, and in that guise to be conversing with the traders in a +Lowland market. As is usual in these episodes, he invites them to join +him in the use of the most delectable oaths that he can lay before them. +The honest market-folk are so taken by his allurements that we have the +maltman, the goldsmith, the "sowter," and the "fleshor" vieing with one +another in their choice of ribaldry. In this friendly contest, needless +to say, it is the parish priest who carries off the prize. One hopes +that his excuse was as valid as that of the monk in Rabelais. "How now," +exclaims Ponocrates, "you swear, Friar John!" "It is only," replies the +friar, "to grace and adorn my speech; it is the colour of a Ciceronian +rhetoric." + +The place in literature left vacant by Dunbar was soon occupied by +Lindsay, the + + "Sir David Lindsay of the Mount + Lord Lion, king at arms," + +whose name and titles are so familiar to the readers of Scott. He +likewise appears to have led up to the impending legislation, if not +indeed to have been the immediate cause of it. His 'Satyre of the Three +Estaitis,' performed at Coupar in 1535, besides containing other +objectionable matter, is a wild medley of oaths. + +Apart from what was passing in and near the capital, the local +authorities from Glasgow to Aberdeen were up in arms against swearers +before any movement of the kind had taken place in the other division of +the island. To judge from the borough records of the former city,[37] +the prevalency of the habit was a source of great scandal to the +presbytery of that town. The number of Janet Andersons and William +Crawfords who were arraigned before the high bailiff for offences of +this character is something considerable. At Aberdeen[38] in 1592 the +attention of the council was specially engaged in repressing the +swearing of "horrible and execrable oaths." They proceeded to put on +foot a system of fines, and with a degree of confidence that is hardly +commendable, they authorised the heads of families to keep a box in +which to place the mulcts they were empowered to inflict in their +households. Servants' wages were liable to be taxed at the will of +their masters, and wives' pin-money at the instance of their lords. A +few years later the presbytery went further than even the magistracy had +already done. They directed the master of the house to keep a "palmer," +or instrument for inflicting pain upon the palm of the open hand. This +we suppose to have been the last argument used against offenders whose +wages or whose pin-money had been sworn away. Altogether the attempt to +make people moral by Act of Parliament seems to have been productive of +much strife in Scotland, without securing, so far as can be perceived, +any positive gain. The Act of 1551, that under which the local and +spiritual authorities derived their powers, was further supplemented by +Acts of 1567 and 1581. + +We now arrive at the point at which legislation upon the subject was to +cross the border and take a prominent place in the counsels of King +James' reign. + +We have seen that it was Queen Elizabeth's godson Sir John Harington, +who first recorded the positive introduction of the damnatory oath. A +long time, however, must have elapsed before the bantling took heart of +grace and found strength to run alone. An examination of Elizabethan +writings does not conduce to the idea of the term having had a +widespread acceptation. The reference we have given to the comedy of +Nat Field, 'Amends for Ladies,' tends to show that the British +shibboleth was still regarded as of exotic growth. The truth would seem +to be that the literature of the country, gross and abusive as it often +was, was singularly free from terms of this particular description, +while the conversation of the humbler orders was not so unexceptionable. +Already it had become a source of uneasiness to the Legislature. In 1601 +a measure was introduced into the Commons "against usual and common +swearing," but, having been carried up to the Lords, it dropped after +the first reading. This would appear to have been the first attempt at +legislation on the subject.[39] On the accession of James I. the topic +was again brought to the notice of the House, but the early Parliaments +of this reign were too much occupied with the work thrown upon them in +consequence of the Gunpowder Treason to formulate any code for the +regulation of this abuse. Although no less than five separate bills, +having the prevention of swearing for their object, were presented +during the course of this reign, it was not until 1623 that an enactment +was finally carried defining and controlling the offence. The statute of +that year[40] provided that every offender should forfeit the sum of +twelve pence. In default of payment the culprit was to be placed in the +stocks for three hours, or if under the age of twelve years was to be +severely whipped. + +The attack made by the Puritans upon performances of a dramatic nature +had resulted in a kindred piece of legislation especially affecting the +stage. By an Act[41] passed in 1606 it was provided that a penalty of +10_l._ should be borne by every person who jestingly or profanely used +the name "of God, or of Christ Jesus, or the Holy Ghost, or of the +Trinity," in any interlude, pageant or stage-play. It was in consequence +of the rigour of this enactment that Ben Jonson narrowly escaped a +prosecution for blasphemy. On the production of the 'Magnetic Lady,' the +language employed upon the stage gave great offence in legal quarters, +and the author was sent for from a sick-bed and severely questioned by +the Master of the Revels. An examination of the play will show the +charge, as against Jonson, to have been unfounded; even the author was +at a loss to understand the occasion for the accusation being preferred. +The actors in the piece were accordingly called together, and when +confronted with the dramatist, were forced to admit that the +objectionable expletives were those of their own supplying. + +When some months later the play of 'The Wits' was presented to the +licenser, previous to its production on the stage of the Blackfriars, +that dignitary was particularly careful to expunge all such passages as +struck him as unparliamentary. Sir William D'Avenant, the author of the +comedy, complained to the king of this exercise of the censorship, and +His Majesty, after reading the play for himself, negatived the decision +of the licenser. He ruled that the words "s'death," "s'light," and such +kindred terms, were asseverations merely, and not oaths. The court +functionary does not appear to have been any the more satisfied, and has +left an entry in his diary, submitting indeed to his master's judgment, +but maintaining his own opinion. The play was returned to D'Avenant, +having the full sanction of the king, who on its first production took +boat to the Blackfriars playhouse to witness the performance.[42] + +The stage has continued to enjoy a species of traditional immunity from +all the reprobation which swearing is presumed to incur. So long as the +action passing on the boards is in ever so remote a degree in affinity +with its supposed natural counterpart, and is suited with dialogue that +is fairly appropriate, the use of expletives is not omitted in deference +to the susceptibilities of an audience. The theatre may in some sense be +called a school of swearing, and in that capacity has frequently brought +upon itself the castigations of its appointed supervisors. Of all the +censors who from time to time have made a stand against this traditional +licence, George Colman is to be remembered as the most violent and the +most inconsistent. + +As a writer he had scandalised a whole generation of playgoers. The +'Heir-at-Law' and the 'Poor Gentleman,' comedies with which he has +permanently benefited stage literature, do not certainly halt at any +extreme. His very appointment as censor was due to the bottle-acquaintance +that had sprung up with the regent Prince of Wales. Yet so squeamish did +he become when once the official mantle had descended upon his shoulders, +that even the exclamations "lud!" and "la!" were ruthlessly expunged from +productions submitted to his censorship. The words "Oh, Providence!" were +also rigidly excised, and the very names of heaven and hell were flatly +condemned as savouring of irreverence. + +Says Mr. Dutton Cook, in treating of this feature of the Georgian +drama:--"Men swore in those days not meaning much harm or particularly +conscious of what they were doing, but as a matter of bad habit, in +pursuance of a custom certainly odious enough, but which they had not +originated and could hardly be expected immediately to overcome. In this +way malediction formed part of the manners of the time. How could these +be depicted upon the stage in the face of Mr. Colman's new ordinance? +There was great consternation among actors and authors. Critics amused +themselves by searching through Colman's own dramatic writings and +cataloguing the bad language they contained. The list was very +formidable. There were comminations and anathemas in almost every scene. +The matter was pointed out to him, but he treated it with indifference. +He was a writer of plays then, but now he was Examiner of Plays." + +The persecution under which Jonson suffered was due to the steady growth +of Puritan principles. Measures of austerity were speedily generated by +this ascetic philosophy; and among others we find that a scheme for +bringing oaths, in a liquidated shape, to the aid of the national +resources, was put into operation. Letters patent were granted in the +month of July 1635, for establishing a public department for enforcing +the laws against swearing. One Robert Lesley was appointed to the office +of chief inquisitor, and was authorised to take all necessary steps for +carrying out the act in every parish of the kingdom. Whatever moneys +might be realised were to be paid over to the bishops for the benefit of +the deserving poor. Lesley appointed deputies in the parishes, who, we +notice, were at liberty to deduct 2_s._ 6_d._ in the L for their pains. +A copy of one of these appointments to a London parish appears among the +State papers, but no balance-sheet from which we might learn something +of the "turn-over" of the office appears to be forthcoming.[43] + +With what feelings the army of the Parliament regarded this offence may +be gathered from two sentences passed upon offenders convicted under +military law. In March 1649, a quartermaster named Boutholmey was tried +by council of war for uttering impious expressions. The man was found +guilty and condemned to have his tongue bored with a red-hot iron, his +sword broken over his head, and himself ignominiously dismissed the +service. In the following year a dragoon was similarly sentenced by +court-martial to be branded on the tongue.[44] Even in districts removed +from martial severity the monetary tax on oath-taking was frequently +demanded. We perceive from a recent writer,[45] who has collected the +ancient records of quarter sessions, that swearing was severely visited +upon the lieges of Somerset and Devon. John Huishe, of Cheriton, was +convicted for swearing twenty-two oaths. Humfrey Trevitt, for swearing +ten oaths, was adjudged to pay 33_s._ 4_d._ for the use of the poor. +William Harding, of Chittlehampton, was held to be within the act of +swearing for saying "Upon my life," and Thomas Buttand was fined for +exclaiming "On my troth!" + +To glance at Scotland at this time, we find the governing body enacting +laws of a more searching and stringent character than any that had +preceded them. The Parliament of 1645 ordered that whoever should curse +or blaspheme should upon a second conviction be "censurable" in the +manner prescribed, that is, a nobleman should pay twenty pounds Scots, a +baron twenty marks, a gentleman ten marks. The Act anticipates the case +of a minister of religion coming under its provisions. The punishment in +that case was the forfeit of the first part of his year's stipend. In +1649 a further enactment was passed, the previous one being admittedly +too lenient, and in the same session the offence of cursing a parent was +made punishable by sentence of death. It is certainly curious to witness +the extremes to which the Scottish nation were prepared to go in +legislating against the commission of this offence. In 1650, when the +country was rushing to arms to resist the invasion of Cromwell, an Act +of Parliament was prepared which disqualified for command all officers +who were addicted to swearing. + +The code which, in this country, had proved sufficient for the Puritans +remained in force until the manners of the Restoration had rendered +further legislation imperative. This took the shape of the statute of +William and Mary, by which, as we have seen, the Dean of St. Patrick's +was so greatly exhilarated. After an interval of some fifty years the +interference of Parliament was again felt to be necessary, and an Act of +George II. was passed which still regulates the law upon the subject of +swearing.[46] + +The preamble admits that the existing laws were not sufficiently +powerful to meet the circumstances for which they were designed. A more +onerous scale of penalties was to be prescribed, commencing with a fine +of one shilling in the case of a labourer, and rising to five shillings +in the case of a swearer of gentleman's degree. That this measure should +not want for publicity, it was ordered to be read quarterly in every +church and chapel throughout the kingdom. + +A curious instance of punishment for neglect of this saving provision, +is noticed in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for 1772. In July of that year +a rich vicar and a poor curate were condemned to pay into the hands of +the proper officer a sum of 15_l._ for neglecting to read in church the +Act against swearing. This clause was only repealed by an enactment of +the present century. + +We have some means of knowing whether the fines recoverable under this +statute were in point of fact actually inflicted, and from the +importance attached by the public prints to the decisions of +magistrates on this head, we are justified in thinking that the statute +was very rarely put into requisition. In the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for +July 1751 we read that a woman convicted of uttering a profane oath and +unable to defray the shilling penalty, was sentenced to ten days' hard +labour in Bridewell. In December of the same year a tradesman was +committed for a matter of three hundred and ninety oaths, the fines +amounting to upwards of 20_l._, which he was unable to pay. Convictions +under the statute were at this time seriously attracting public +attention. That the calculations of Dean Swift should not be altogether +lost to the world, one rigid economist practically entertained the +notion of adding to the national resources by preaching a crusade +against the opulent classes of swearers. There was a Mr. Matthew +Towgood, who in 1746 prepared a treatise 'Upon the Prophane and Absurd +use of the Monosyllable Damn.' It is enough to say that neither +imagination nor research seem to have been the especial gift of Mr. +Towgood. It is a whining piece of work, in which the author gravely +informs us that he had taken up his residence at a seaport town in order +the more closely to observe the impious language of the sailors. We +should, however, do the author the justice to refer to the one +distinctive experience he seems to have gathered in his marine retreat. +He had discovered,--so at least he solemnly assures us,--that the +monosyllable in question was a "hortatory expression" by which the +chaplains in His Majesty's navy were accustomed to summon British seamen +to their prayers. + +But much as it enters into the penal administration of the seventeenth +century, there is little to indicate that the vice was countenanced in +high places, or that it was seriously regarded as a pardonable incident +pertaining to the enjoyments of men of rank. That crowning distinction +seems to have been reserved for the age of Anne and the first sovereigns +of the house of Brunswick. Then it was that the insular propensity grew +impudent and headstrong, and soon became a power in the land. It is only +probable that the moral relapse that followed the Restoration may have +given the first impetus to the ascendancy of this invigorating habit. +Charles II. is said to have taught his ladies to swear like parrots, but +oaths were still only the plaything and not part of the serious business +of the Court. The Foppingtons and Clumsys were scrupulously nice in +their methods of affirmation, but it was publicly recognised that their +swearing was a mere theatrical device, and that they either swore like +cavaliers or swore like chambermaids. The acme had not even then been +reached. That point was only attained in the age when Duchess +Marlborough found disguise impossible by reason of her oaths. In the +matter of swearing the courtiers of the Stuarts may have demeaned +themselves like Mantalinis, but the giants of a later day swore home. An +obscure American clergyman, having undertaken a voyage across the +Atlantic to solicit alms for a pious foundation in Virginia, and urging +that the people of that state had souls to be saved as well as their +brethren in England, was met with the rejoinder from King William's +attorney-general, "Souls! damn your souls! make tobacco!" + +In the year 1700 there was founded the Society for the Reformation of +Manners. It had for one of its prime objects the entire suppression of +oath-taking. The society seems to have enrolled members distinguished +alike for a laxity of their own morals and a tender solicitude for the +welfare of other people's. The King Consort, "Est-il-possible," was +persuaded to become a fellow, and was induced to put forth a howling +manifesto upon the iniquities of the age. This exordium was publicly +read at Bow Church. What with openly declaiming against the hideousness +of vice and proceeding criminally against its professors, the society +convinced the diarist Evelyn that they were working a complete +reformation in the habits of the community. + +The building of Saint Paul's Cathedral was proceeding at this time, and +the work necessarily employed a large body of labourers and workmen, +who, as things were and are, were not scrupulously delicate in the +choice of words. Nevertheless, it was the particular care of the +builders that not one offensive word should be used during the progress +of the work.[47] Sir Christopher Wren framed rules which made a +delinquency in this respect liable to be so summarily visited that it +has been the boast of many earnest and slightly credulous people that +the mighty fabric was piled up without an oath being spoken. The society +certainly did good work if they had any hand in this result. + +In spite of the society, the question of swearing and its prevalent +grossness seems to have attracted the attention of the civil courts of +law at this time. In a number of Applebee's Journal for 1723, some +account is given of a certain Abel Boyer, an infamous scribbler and +notorious swearer of the day. It seems he had threatened some of his +fellow journalists with the pains of libel because they had done him +simple justice in referring to the comminations he was accustomed to use +in speech. Before commencing his suit, Abel prudently sought the advice +of counsel, contending that his trifling derelictions did not partake of +the colour of blasphemy. The lawyers accordingly gave it against Mr. +Boyer, advising that his "goddams" and kindred expletives came entirely +within the prohibited pale. In March 1718, there is another instance of +swearing being food for Westminster Hall, as appears from the _Flying +Post_, the prominent Whig journal of the day. Mr. Richard Burridge, a +scurrilous newsman attached to the _British Gazetteer_, had been tried +at Hicks's Hall for addiction to blasphemous expressions, too shocking, +says the _Post_, to be named. Burridge was very properly convicted, +although a strong presentation was made in his favour, that when sober a +better conducted man did not exist. To account for this person's +unfortunate relapse, it was urged that he was "excessively drunk," a +consideration that so weighed with the tribunal, that they passed upon +him what was admitted on all hands to be a most moderate sentence. +Burridge was ordered to take up a position at the New Church in the +Strand and to be from there publicly whipped to Charing Cross. Further, +he was to pay a fine of twenty shillings and be imprisoned for a month. +Thenceforward a paper war was waged between the two political divisions +of journalism. The Tories professed to see the Whig journalists +stigmatised by the disgrace of one of their number, and the great Daniel +Defoe cast censure upon them and upon Burridge from _Mist's Journal_, +the Tory paper he conducted. + + * * * * * + +And so, pursued by judgments of court and branded with letters of +infamy, it would seem to have been a very desperate time for these +unfortunate swearers. The profession of the pen was likely enough to +rankle under this load of aspersion, were it not that a more genial +influence had arisen that was bent upon remedying rather than provoking +offences. For while the leaders of opinion were playing their intensest +game of political intrigue, while poets were occupied with the trade of +admiration, and divines with the trade of subserviency, there arose in +England a gentler and more captivating literature of reproval, that laid +its generous laws upon men the most intolerant and the most prurient. We +allude to that more benevolent code of morality inaugurated by Joseph +Addison. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "_Lackwit._ Now do I want some two or three good oaths to express + my meaning withall. An they would but learn me to swear and take + tobacco! 'tis all I desire."--'_A fine Companion_,' _by Shackerley + Marmion_, 1633. + + +This one voice of kindly censure was that of a man incapable of a +literary mistake. Whatever his own personal blunders, it was impossible +for Joseph Addison to err in a point of literary judgment. Although +wedded to the society of men of taste and perception, it was no part of +his purpose to remove himself from contact with the coarsest of human +ware. The tolerance he exhibited in ordinary intercourse reflects itself +in the labours of his pen. In his philanthropies, as in his severities +or his rebukes, he assumes no tinge of sanctity, no moralist's +sad-coloured robe. He is familiar, and in a manner identified, with the +very follies he is so generously decrying. The society into which he +went was disposed to be exceedingly lenient to fashionable excesses. And +thus it was that in the fulness of his wisdom, it pleased him to be of +good accord with priest and prelate as with the very movers and +seconders of iniquity. + +And so, in the consideration of any social folly of his time and ours, +we are in a moment impelled to ask--What does Mr. Spectator say to this; +or gentle Master Tatler? Even in the present inquiry there can be no +reasonable doubt of their competency to give us testimony. Addison may +have heard as many and as furious oaths as any man of his time. His ways +were beset by inveterate and uncontrollable swearers. His friend Steele +had a tongue that was foolish enough, heaven knows; and when he was wont +to meet with Swift in St. James' Coffee House, may he not too often have +been assailed with language needlessly expressive? What cronies he must +have had! what lads he must have known! He had seen all the tearing +fellows of the day--the three-bottle men at the October Club, the young +blood of the shires who rode into the gap at Blenheim. He could have +remembered the roughest livers of King Charles' time, Sedley and +Rochester, Bully Dawson and Fighting Fitzgerald. He was surrounded with +bravado and devilry, with all the disbanded sins of the Flanders +regiments. For these were the days of Ramilies and Malplaquet, when the +nation was intoxicated with her meed of victory; when his Grace of +Marlborough won the country's battles, and his Lord of Peterborough +scattered sovereigns from his chariot to show the people he was _not_ +the Duke of Marlborough. It was a time of great profusion and great +excess, in curses as in everything else. + +And so, Joseph Addison, though living in the flighty times you did, +there can be no doubt of the quiet evenness of your ways, or how jovial +were the companions who shook you by the fist. But how you drilled and +moulded them, how you held and swayed them by the force of your bright +intelligence, how shall we who never heard your voice be able to +determine? Happily in the pages of the 'Tatler' and 'Spectator' there is +stored up for us the best and rarest of that quiet wisdom. No matter +whether the night were studious or riotous, there arrives the punctual +morning sheet with its offering of sober satire and sprightly sense. He +goes about his task of persuading and humanising as gaily as a man might +set out to laugh at a comedy. He mounts his best ruffles and his finest +tunic as he sits down to write his homily. + +It is with no halting, staid, discriminative pen that he descants upon +the pleasantries and follies, the very reference to which give life and +colour to a weary argument. By the aid of these threads of human +sentiment we fancy we come the closer to him in his musings and his +wanderings, now hieing, as he does, to the pantiles or the playhouse, +now to the Temple Stairs or Vauxhall Gardens. Posterity takes delight in +reversing the footsteps of its favourites. It attempts to return with +them to the scenes which they themselves have left for good so long ago. +And so with Addison, we accustom ourselves to see him mixing in a crowd +of masquers and dominos, or supping in upper chambers with ministers of +state and tavern wits. The fancy is a harmless one, and not far removed +from reality. Imagine, therefore, Mr. Joseph Addison at +Hockley-in-the-Hole or at Cupar's Gardens, but be sure that to-morrow's +sermon will want nothing of its grace and sparkle because inspired +over-night in a mug-house parlour. + +Addison has in fact conceived and transmitted to us some of the loftiest +notions ever formed of a Deity, and of the unending trespass against +divine law. Among surroundings possibly resonant with ribaldry, he could +reflect, as few before him have so impartially and equably reflected, +how much of vileness is to be set down to the score of thoughtlessness +and inanity, how much to a high-handed defiance of the Master he owns. +One number of the 'Spectator,' that of November 8th, 1711, sends forth +the sternest challenge to the government of error. Few other secular +works have made so moderate and at once so eloquent a protest. Adapting +the notion of Locke that the unaided realisation of the Deity is formed +by observation of the qualities we should desire to find in ourselves, +but sublimated by the notion of infinity attaching to each of them, +Addison proceeds to argue a state of veneration being the normal +condition of the mental frame. The horror that is conceived by a child, +or, as it may be, by a grown man, at the jarring dissonance of an oath +is nothing else than a sense of injury dealt out to this deeply-rooted +conviction. A condition of reverence being thus inherent, it follows +that the images which reason has unconsciously reared must meet with +some disturbing shock before they can be impaired or dismembered. But +the blow once fairly delivered, the victim of the assault in too many +cases passes out into the ranks of the assailants. The boundary line +between the state of abhorrence and the succeeding one of aggression is +so faint that it may almost imperceptibly be overpassed, and is apt to +become the more obscure with growth of years. + +The danger is so easily incurred by even right-thinking men, that +Addison enjoins perfect abstinence from the passing mention of the name +of the Deity, instancing the Jewish prohibition which forbad its use +even in professedly religious discourses. And in this point of +veneration, we shall find the practice of Judaea to have been more +precise than anything that is recorded of a nation. Apart from the high +deliberative swearing that was so severely visited by the Mosaic law, +the use of most unmeaning and flippant particles was met with signal +retribution. The man who standing in the Syrian market-place made +mention of the holy name in reference to the common incidents of the +day--to the lusciousness of the melons, the knavery of the merchants--a +mere impatient whisper, perhaps, in all the hubbub of the fair, was +instantly deprived of civil rights. He had lost all power of intercourse +or conversation. He could not appear at a feast of three or a +congregation of ten; he could not mourn for a brother or bury a child. +The sentence was only removed after thirty days of expiation. + +In the 'Spectator' of May 6th, in the same year, he recounts an +experiment supposed to have been successfully practised in a company of +hardened swearers. A host is presented as having invited to his table as +many of his friends as were conspicuous for their proficiency in +swearing. He takes the precaution to station a shorthand writer in a +concealed part of the room. The repast, as may be supposed, was rendered +terrific by the unceasing clatter of oaths, but as soon as it had ended, +the Amphytrion ushered in the scribe, who proceeded to read aloud the +faithful report he had taken down. The writer, it would seem, had filled +many sheets with this animated conversation, but this was found to be so +interspersed with swearing redundancies that the whole might have been +summarised in a single page. The perusal of the document, we are +informed, so far brought conviction to the minds of the swearers, that +they forthwith began to work with a will to amend their lives and their +vocabulary. + +The indignation of our essayist is without doubt most powerfully aroused +at the inadvertent use that was made of the sacred name. "What can we +think," he exclaims, "of those who make use of so tremendous a name in +the ordinary expressions of their anger, mirth, and most impertinent +passions? of those that admit it into the most familiar questions and +assertions, ludicrous phrases and works of humour?" And then, as if +recollecting that gentlemanly example was the one rule to which the +squires and politicians at Button's or the Kitcat would most readily +submit, he instances a person of position, who, during a long life, was +never known to omit a gesture of reverence at the mention of the Deity. +It is a noticeable point in the gossiping moralist that he always +carefully guards himself from passing upon his readers the affront, for +such it would have been esteemed, of directing their attention to the +qualities of persons in a presumably lesser position than themselves. + +On the whole Mr. Spectator has perhaps done wisely in humouring as well +as reprobating. The temper of the times required something less +ponderous than the invective of the older school of moralists, and this +was the very want that a man of Addison's temperament was best able to +supply. The confidence reposed in his readers was not misplaced. The +banter and the satire of these graceful essays are acknowledged to be +reflected in the mended morality of the whole body of subsequent +literature. + +If we mistake not, there is the same improvement soon to be witnessed in +every department, in the national life of the nation as well as the +private life of the citizen. In part attributable to the politic sway of +the Walpole government, in part to the tincture of politeness and good +breeding that these polished penmen had striven to disseminate, there +is, for a time at least, a marked absence of rancour and strife of +tongues. + +The fires of the Puritan faction had smouldered out; those of the +Jacobite frenzy had hardly had time to rekindle. That spirit of minute +controversy which had never ceased to divide both court and city since +the days of Martin Mar-prelate was at length at rest. In this somewhat +remarkable lull we find very little giving or taking of abuse. So far as +social records are a guide, there seems even to be a calm in the usual +tempest of swearing. + +But towards the middle of the eighteenth century comes the relapse. +Jacobitism had blazed again. The factions were relit. Controversy wagged +its tongue as before. Everywhere are evidences of want and misery, of +low sedition and of strong drink. The tipsy Duke of Cumberland is the +hero whose graces we are to admire. The 'Guards' march to Finchley' is +the picture which may be trusted to convey a portraiture of the manners +of the times. It is precisely at this conjuncture that Parliament +enacted the last and most stringent of the measures by which it sought +to place an embargo upon swearing. In the use of coarse and violent +language women competed with the men. In 1756 on the occasion of the +memorable trial concerning the fair fame of the Countess of Grosvenor, +the letters of this lady were produced and read in court. We have Horace +Walpole's authority for saying that the oaths with which they were +plentifully besprinkled were far more masculine than they can be said to +have been tender. The prince of the blood to whom they were addressed +could swear volubly too, and his oaths we may feel assured were neither +masculine nor tender. + +We of this generation can scarcely have any adequate notion of what the +swearing has been which has prevailed in this country at different +periods, and more particularly in the latter part of the reign of George +II. So popular and so ungovernable was the habit, that there is hardly +any rational means to be found for accounting for it. At this time there +lived in an obscure village in Sussex a decent, well-to-do tradesman, +whose shop, well stocked with broadcloth and homespun, was a centre of +commerce for miles around. He was known to be a thriving man, and seems +to have taken a leading part in the administration of parish affairs. +Business was not so burdensome but that he found time to attend at every +festive gathering, and to keep a well-written chronicle of his own and +his neighbours' doings. This diary has of late years been unearthed, and +a very pretty story it has to tell of the _bourgeois_ manner of life +towards the meridian of the century.[48] One entry will speak for many +of the same character. + +"February 5th, 1759.--In the evening I went down to the vestry; there +was no business of moment to transact, but oaths and imprecations seemed +to resound from all sides of the room. I believe if the penalty were +paid assigned by the legislature by every person that swears that +constitute our vestry, there would be no need to levy any tax to +maintain our poor." + +The outbreak must have reached an unprecedented point when we find the +president of quarter sessions, Sir John Fielding, alluding to it in the +charge to the grand jury delivered at the Guildhall in April, 1763. No +language can be stronger than that of Sir John--"I cannot sufficiently +lament," he says "that shameful, inexcusable and almost universal +practice of profane swearing in our streets; a crime so easy to be +punished, and so seldom done, that mankind almost forget it to be an +offence, and to our dishonour be it spoken, it is almost peculiar to the +English nation." + +A state of things like this would seem to have given rise to a singular +communication addressed to the 'Gentleman's Magazine.' The writer lays +the whole blame upon the clergy; they have offered a direct +encouragement to swearing by declaring it a sin. He recommends that +divines in future should describe it as a virtue, which, he says, may be +as easily done as saying the contrary, and he will answer for the +success of the experiment. A clergyman of his acquaintance, continues +the writer, had already carried this bit of precept into use. To +convince the congregation that swearing was far from being a sin, this +gentleman constantly practised it in his own discourses. There might +indeed be some doubt here which was the worse, the remedy or the +disease. + +The imprecations that are so severely censured by Fielding are a totally +different thing from the imprecations patronised by Lady Grosvenor, if +we are to understand the oaths of the populace to have been the hideous +and unsightly objects presented for condemnation to the Middlesex jury. +And here we hardly need point out the distinction between swearing when +at its earnest, and swearing when at its play. In numberless courts and +alleys, in the sinks and hiding-places of a great city, we may be sure +there are innumerable spots where oaths and imprecations never for a +moment are laid aside. They are as punctual and as regular as the +ticking of a clock. No word is uttered that has not its accompaniment of +an oath; no bread broken that is not devoured with cursing. For why? +Human nature is at all times bent upon possessing, and upon increasing +what it has acquired. The very act of producing is sufficient to uphold +the equilibrium of the mental frame. But this same nature, when pinched +and starved, becomes a perfect storehouse of enmity and ill-feeling. +Among the denizens of these holes and crannies humanity has been driven +very hard. It has been crushed and bruised to a point beyond endurance. +The possibility of possessing is very faint, that of enjoying still more +remote. No graceful thing--no pleasant thing, can readily come to its +hand. Yet there is one chattel they _can_ possess when every stick and +stone is denied them. They can be tenacious of their swearing. See how +manifestly useful a thing it is! It can give a man an eloquence where +none would otherwise belong to him. It can set him up with a semblance +of bodily strength, when otherwise he would be puny and fragile. He can +assail authorities, and they dare not answer. He can drown down the +voice of missionaries, and they are halting in reproval. There are +beings so dejected--so penurious--that this swearing constitutes their +whole store of worldly opulence. They know it too, in a fashion, +although it has never been told them and they themselves are incapable +of the telling. + +So much for swearing when in grim earnest; how are we to account for it +in its transition to sport and play? Unless we are greatly mistaken, +there has entered into its composition a spirit of broad humour which +has, in a manner, rendered it attractive, if not positively amusing. +Were we to put the whole body of bad language to a judicial trial, we +should in fairness be compelled to admit the extenuating circumstance of +a time-expired claim to the mock-heroic and the ludicrous. It certainly +does not sparkle now, but it must have come of a witty stock, and have +boasted a mirth-provoking pedigree. To have rendered itself so +particularly palatable as it has done, like many other kinds of verbal +folly, it can only have taken its rise in a perverted spirit of +merriment. + +To apply words, and more especially adjectives, in an unwonted and +unusual sense is one of the arts which go a long way to make +conversation agreeable. To do this with taste, and without corrupting or +annihilating the meaning of the word, demands a certain amount of +literary skill. To do so at any price frequently demands skill, and is +always fraught with consequences of some kind to the listener. Most of +these perversions of highly respectable words have now become so trite +that they pass unchallenged. The verb "to bag," for instance, is in +jocular use for implying a petty appropriation of property. It must of +course at some time have been forcibly wrested from the language of +sportsmen, and no doubt with this circumstance secretly underlying it, +has been productive, and will be again, of general good-humour. Such +another _tour de phrase_ is met with in the verb "to charter." This +originally had reference to the hiring of a ship; but when we hear of +chartering a fly, or chartering a stretcher, there certainly arises an +odd sense of the incongruous. We are far from saying that the merriment +in these cases is acute, but we contend that this kind of pleasantry is +at the bottom of every phrase or catchword obtaining universal +acceptance. + +Examples might be multiplied of this wanton abduction of words. The not +very polite expression "the damage," as signifying the cost of any +article of purchase, is one which upon frequent repetition may fail to +strike the mind as containing any element of humour. But recollecting +the wide region the imagination has to traverse in order to connect the +idea of detriment with the idea of price, we are disposed to allow that +this mental circuit is enlivened with some shreds of grotesque imagery. +Indeed, a large and by no means contemptible portion of the world have +derived a high degree of enjoyment from the simple confusion and +dislocation of terms. Nothing is more frequent than to find a catch-word +ostensibly of no kind of intelligence being exchanged by delighted +youths across half the desks and counters of the metropolis. The +flippant use of oaths is so far practically explained; the colloquial +habit of imputing to unoffending objects a condition of damnation +passing in the light of a fairly respectable joke. Joke indeed there is +none, but it is the popular repute or suspicion of a jest that exercises +this fascination. It is noticeable that a provincial audience witnessing +one of Colman's or Sheridan's comedies is more genuinely amused by the +"zounds" and "dammes" uttered in provoking situations by testy speakers, +than by all the polish of epigram and dialogue. + +As further illustrating this latent element of humour, which has helped +to perpetuate the practice of purposeless swearing, we may be permitted +to refer to an occurrence that befell us when, some number of years ago, +we happened to be taking a humble part in a legal inquiry at a county +assizes. The case was one in which, let us say, Moribundus was +plaintiff, and the Juggernaut Railway Company were defendants. It is not +necessary to refer to the business of the dispute further than to say +that the plaintiff had been shattered almost beyond recovery, and that +our province it was to help to prove to demonstration the utter +untrustworthiness of the story relied upon by Moribundus. The repast +that succeeded the inquiry more nearly concerns us; the lawyers, the +London doctor, and the local practitioner having agreed thus to +celebrate the evening. We do not recollect that the company were at all +disposed to fraternity, as a degree of professional acrimony seemed to +preside at that feast. In the course of dinner, one of the party, +looking round the board, happens to inquire, "Where's the damned +mustard?" No particular notice is taken of this remark, until presently +one of the legal gentlemen solemnly observes, "Where's the damned salt?" +We do not attempt to explain it, but a sudden sense of the ludicrous +instantly overcame the men of law and medicine assembled at the +_Fleece_. This incongruous and perfectly irrelevant joinder of words, +while it revealed the source from which amusement was supposed to flow, +was at the same time a potent satire upon the practice of a +disreputable art. It was taking the name of swearing itself in vain. It +substituted for any closer argument the incisive logic of ridicule. + +It occurs to us to notice that Shakespeare, who was certainly alive to +the hidden springs of swearing, has conceived the notion of winging much +the same folly with a precisely similar shaft. It had been the fashion +among the gay Ephesians of Eastcheap, during Elizabeth's reign, to swear +by their honour. "Where learnt you that oath, fool?" asks Rosalind. "Of +a certain knight," returns Touchstone, "who swore by his honour they +were good pancakes." + +With these examples of compromise before us, it becomes almost a matter +for regret that there should remain so large a body of protectionists +whose resentment at anything savouring of an oath is perhaps one of the +surest means of perpetuating swearing. Among the severest codes devised +to check the progress of the vice was that designed by the Puritan +settlers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. These Blue Laws, as they were +called, aimed at establishing an almost theocratic form of government. +Adopting the polity of Great Britain as a standpoint, these enactments +went considerably further and sought to remodel that system upon the +basis of the severest of Jewish ordinances. Among offences to which the +Puritan mind would seem to have been especially averse are to be +numbered those of swearing and tobacco-smoking. In the case of the +latter, however, retribution was only visited upon the after-generation +of smokers. People who had already acquired the habit were free to +continue in it for the days of their life. In the case of swearing, +needless to say, no such licence was extended, convicted swearers being +liable to be dealt with according to the gravity of the offence. The +penalty seems to have been rated in some instances as low as a fine of +five shillings, and to have amounted in others to the punishment of +death. + +In all countries enactments have been levelled against the excesses of +ejaculation, but the true instruments for keeping them in bounds, +assuming there to be an actual necessity for such treatment, has been +shown to be the voice of ridicule and the keen banter of satire. +Moralists of the pattern of the law-givers of Connecticut would probably +be found to take exception to the oaths of Bobadil, and would condemn +'Every Man in his Humour' as a licentious work. It does not however need +argument to show that the mere fact of the redoubted Bobadil taking +credit to himself for his freaks with the fourth commandment, forms one +of the strongest inducements to respect that prohibition. But in view of +any latent admiration being lurking in any portion of his auditory, +Jonson has contrived a foil in the person of Master Stephen. This is a +vain-glorious, empty parasite, whose clumsy imitation of the Captain is +certainly calculated to put his hearers out of all sympathy with his +model. So captivated is this apt disciple with Bobadil's string of +expletives, that he is found anxiously inquiring whether he also may +swear _en militaire_. "Certainly," says the sagacious Well-bred, "if, as +I remember, your name is entered in the Artillery Garden." + +Bobadil "swore the legiblest of any man christened." The field, however, +has not been suffered to be left without competitors. To see how +persistent has been the struggle for reputation in the matter as well as +manner of swearing, we have only to turn to the well-known dialogue in +Sheridan's comedy: + +"_Absolute._ But pray, Bob, I observe you have got an odd kind of a new +method of swearing. + +"_Acres._ Ha! ha! you've taken notice of it--'tis genteel, isn't it? I +didn't invent it myself though, but a commander in our militia, a great +scholar I assure you, says that there is no meaning in the common +oaths, and that nothing but their antiquity makes them respectable; +because, he says, the ancients would never stick to an oath or two, but +would say, By Jove! or by Bacchus!--by Mars! or by Pallas! according to +the sentiment, so that to swear with propriety, says my little major, +the oath should be an echo of the sense; and this we call the oath +referential, or sentimental swearing--ha! ha! 'tis genteel, isn't it? + +"_Absolute._ Very genteel, and very new, indeed!--and I daresay will +supplant all other figures of imprecation. + +"_Acres._ Ay, ay, the best terms will grow obsolete. Damns have had +their day."[49] + +We are not aware whether it has been noticed how closely this passage is +foreshadowed by dialogue occurring in a much earlier play. Both turn +upon the notion of a species of property being acquired in set forms of +swearing. The play in question is from the pen of Richard Brome, and is +further useful to our purpose as showing that this eccentricity had not +abated in the interval that elapsed between Jonson and Sheridan. Under +the title of 'Covent Garden Weeded,' it exposes the riotous doings that +prevailed in that joyous locality. It was to cleanse this new +plantation of the human nettles and creepers that found shelter in its +precincts that the drama purports to have been designed. The builders +had just completed the spacious piazza which occupies a portion of the +site of the convent garden formerly existing there. Among the rollicking +societies that were springing up in this new settlement, was one known, +at least in the comedy, as the "Brothers of the Blade and the Batoon." +One scene in this play discloses the brethren in a state of carnival. +They are engaged in passing a novice into the ranks of the order, their +captain thus exhorting the new-comer as to their social code:-- + +"_Captain._ I have given you all the rudiments and my most fatherly +advice withall. + +"_Clot._ And the last is that I should not swear; how make you that +good? + +"_Captain._ That's most unnecessary, for look you, the best, and even +the lewdest of my sons do forbear it, not out of conscience, but for +very good ends, and instead of an oath, furnish the mouth with some +affected protestation. _As I am honest!_ it is so. _I am no honest man!_ +if it be not. _'Ud take me!_ if I lie to you. _Nev'rigo! nev'rstir! I +vow!_ and such like. + +"_Clot._ I'll have _I vow_, then. + +"_Nick._ Nay, but you shall not, that's mine. + +"_Clot._ Can't you lend it me now and then, brother?" + +It would almost seem, from the evidence of the several passages we have +had occasion to refer to, as if the various diversities of character and +occupation had engendered a spirit of competition in the assumption of +oaths. Whether scholar or soldier, knight or citizen, each man, +according to his degree, is burning to distinguish himself by some +distinctive and eccentric form of swearing. The asseverations employed +by the Shallows and Slanders are as limpid and as timorous as those of +Falstaff and Bardolph are downright and headstrong. Hotspur, as we have +seen, reproaches Lady Percy for swearing like a comfit-maker's wife. +With the rest of the Percies he had lived in Aldersgate Street, and had +probably contracted an aversion to everything savouring of the vulgar +life of a great city. How defiant and versatile were the expletives of +the old French nobility, we may learn from the pages of Brantome. When +seeking to convey a flattering portrait of his father, Francois de +Bourdeilles, he does not omit to impress us with the importance of his +oaths. Playing backgammon with Pope Jules II., his form of adjuration +was _Chardieu benit!_ when he lost, and _Chardon benit!_ when he won. + +In Elizabethan England a ridiculous notion prevailed among town society, +associating the idea of good breeding with the use, by way of oath, of +the word "protest." Such an affirmation was understood to raise the +presumption of quality in the person who used it. Says Carlo Buffone, +"Ever, when you can, have two or three peculiar oaths to swear by, that +no man else swears, and above all protest." Neither is Shakespeare +silent upon this fashionable eccentricity. The Nurse in 'Romeo and +Juliet' is instantly won over to the side of the Veronese lover the +moment he utters "I protest," and no longer harbours a doubt of his +principles. We see her desirous of communicating to her mistress this +single expression of gentlemanhood without concerning herself about the +more weighty portion of Romeo's message. This is, perhaps, almost +beneath the dignity of the love-story, but we have to regard it as a +relic. We must understand the allusion as a piece of chaff administered +to the gallants and templars who sported their fine clothes and broached +their oaths and their jests seated upon the very stage where the +performers were playing. A passage in a contemporary, entitled 'Sir +Giles Goosecap,' affords a key to the especial estimation in which the +term then happened to be held:--"There is not the best duke's son in +France dares say _I protest_ till he be one-and-thirty years old at +least, for the inheritance of that word is not to be possessed before." + +Not only do we view these allusions as relics, but we may as justly +consider them in the light of literary fossils. The aim and intention of +the author have become petrified. It is, in fact, only by the help of +study and appreciation that the true shape and proportion of the idea +can be adequately revealed. But search beneath the crust of this +intellectual spoil-bank, and there will be seen those slight, if +somewhat corroded indications which disclose the humour and the temper +of a forgotten age. These inconsequent oaths and no less +incomprehensible bywords, fit only now-a-days to undetermine critics and +to baffle commentary, are really the reflection of a tinsel finery that +was no doubt borne aloft and bravely carried in its day. The explanation +for this is simple. The player, to be well in with his patrons, had to +turn the laugh from side to side, to give a thrust here and a buffet +there, just as the mood or the opportunity dictated. It is this easy +familiarity with audiences which has filled our play-books with such +store of meaningless or half-meaningless expressions. Not that their +supposed want of meaning is more than co-extensive with their apparent +want of purpose. Once re-animated with a design, and that of ever so +trivial a character, and their significance stands out in relief. When, +as frequently happens in our reading, we encounter oaths of the pattern +which Shakespeare ascribes to the youth of Verona, we may feel sure we +have fallen upon some passing home-thrust, some spectral blow, +delivered, as it were, among now ghostly antagonists. + +Thus we find that in the town life of the more favoured days of Charles +I. it was a common affectation to use the words "refuse me," much as the +Elizabethan dandies made mention of the word "protest." We see this +indicated by several examples of contemporary raillery, and particularly +in the play of 'Match at Midnight,' in which the lordlings of the time +are described as "those wicked elder brothers, that swear, _refuse +them!_ and drink nothing but wicked sack." + +So at other periods we find other combinations doing yeoman service in +this particular; as, for instance, in Killigrew's play 'The Parson's +Wedding,' where Careless is explaining his plan for attacking the +affections of the fair sex--"I am resolved to put on their own silence, +answer forsooth, swear nothing but _God's nigs_." Except upon the score +of banter at prevailing idiotcies, it would be difficult to account for +the luxuriant way in which oaths of this description have been +provided. + +We may not inaptly before closing this chapter travel into another +hemisphere and advert to that side of the subject in which the powers of +darkness are accustomed to be apostrophised in place of the powers of +light. Most of the swearing which we have had to pass in review may be +said to have been accumulated at a vast expense to our notions and +perceptions regarding the Source of all light. How is it, then, that the +full detriment of this system was never taken into account before, and +that the obverse of the present practice was not more generally adopted. +One might have supposed that the malignant beings who find so facile an +entrance into popular imagination would have been the first objects with +which to associate so much that is acrimonious. If this could have been +seen to, and thoroughly brought about, it is possible that we should +never have heard of "swearing" at all, or that it might very well have +occupied the same relative position upon the pedestal of virtues as it +now does upon the more degraded tallies of vice. However this may be, +and of course speculation upon the subject can be nothing more than +fanciful, it is the beneficent creations of the universe, and not the +malignant ones, that have absorbed the greater part of the energy +directed to the practice of swearing. + +In English archaic writings the instances in which the mention of the +Satanic power is thus utilised are not numerous. We cannot compete with +the _diables_ and _diavolos_ of another race. Wherever references of +this kind do occur, they as often assume the shape of some amusing +transposition. The sharp edge is at once taken off the anathema. Thus +the soubriquet "old Harry" or "the Lord Harry" generally understood to +refer to Satan, is frequently used as an adjunct of strong feeling.[50] +But as an imprecation it is of quite inferior magnitude, and seems +almost to imply the existence of a strain of good-fellowship with the +Evil One which it might be exceedingly impolitic to disturb. + +But beyond the intuitive feeling that the cognomen does apply to this +individual, there is little to advance which can clear up the question +as to the precise origin of the term. It is supposed that our popular +notion of the devil is derived from the Roman fauni. The shaggy coat, +the horns and cloven feet, are certainly peculiar to the classical +treatment of this supernatural being. It is inferred therefore that the +idea has been transmitted to us through the medium of our early +moralities and interludes. This course of descent derives colour from +the fact that the like paraphernalia are not the subject of opprobrious +mention in the Scriptures,[51] and that hence our notion of the devil +must be drawn from pagan rather than biblical influences. It is +accordingly suggested that "old Harry," the subject of so much +irreverent and irresponsible reference, is no other than "old hairy" of +the earliest phases of theatrical representation. + +A jocose turn seems also to have been given to that common contraction +of the Satanic name of which Mistress Page makes use in the 'Merry +Wives' when she exclaims, "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is!" +It does not however seem that the expression can be traced earlier than +Heywood's 'Edward the Fourth,' of the date 1600, where we meet with the +passage: "What the dickens! Is it love that makes you prate to me so +fondly?" The word is, however, less of an oath than an exclamation. + +Probably few persons who allow themselves the enjoyment of that rather +jocular expletive, _the deuce!_ are in the least aware of the remote +antiquity of this delectable figure of speech. It is perhaps the most +ancient of all the oaths and apologies for oaths that have come down to +us, and which after a long and vicissitudinous transit have arrived at +last, neither mutilated or dismembered. So old is it that it dates from +the very formation of the language, but of so tainted a pedigree that in +spite of some six hundred years of regular descent we can scarcely +permit it to hold dictionary rank. + +But, if the account we have to give of its origin can be credited, its +history is singular as being intimately connected with one of the +greatest social changes that have taken place in the national life. When +we are told that the Norman conquerors imposed their language upon the +subject race, we can understand with what difficulty and hesitation the +Saxon thanes would attempt to assimilate the foreign tongue. So severe a +lesson could only be learned by grasping at such words and phrases as +were the more frequently recurring. To say that oaths and imprecations, +and in fact all terms of anger and violence, would leave the more +durable impression, is only to insist upon what we see daily exemplified +in countries where the like process is going on. So it happened with a +very favourite Norman exclamation. From the evidence of the earliest +metrical romances we gather that _Deus!_ was such a term of impatience +as was constantly upon the lips of the descendants of the invaders. But +no sooner did these more courtly and cultivated entertainments make +their way into English vernacular, than we find that even in this latter +shape the Norman _deus_ is significantly preserved. There it appears +among the rugged doggrel, a piece of continental finery stitched into +the homely Saxon garb. It had dropped out of the vocabularies of the +French romancists and had become the common property of the ordinary +provincial poetaster. It had passed in fact from the French to the +English tongue, and is claimed to be that very _deuce_ with which we are +most of us familiar. + +Proof of this is afforded by comparison of the old romance of 'Havelok +the Dane'[52] as it exists in its home and in its foreign versions, and +both of which are assigned to a period anterior to the fourteenth +century. The translator was evidently a man of spirit, who to warm his +Lincolnshire readers has added much original incident and local +colouring. Nevertheless he carefully retained the Norman _deus_. It was +evidently quite at home on the wolds and in the fens of the +translator's country, and only wanted the accent which Grimsby patrons +would not fail to supply, to transform it to the expression with which +we are so well acquainted. + +There seems to be one oath of this description which bids fair to elude +all guess-work as to its origin or meaning. It was formerly a practice +in France to swear _par le diable de Biterne_. When so much exactitude +had been employed to emphasise the whereabouts of this personage, it is +only natural to inquire where the locality referred to might happen to +be. We believe, however, that no satisfactory answer has as yet been +returned. Some light is thrown upon the question by Francisque Michel +who (in his 'Recherches sur les Etoffes de Soie') has shown that a +present of some rare _pailes de Biterne_ was sent to Alexander by +Candace, one of the queens of Ethiopia. With this single ray of +illumination we must be content. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "As I was finishing this worke, an oyster-wife tooke exception + against me and called me knave."--'_Lamentable Effect of Two + Dangerous Comets_,' 1591. + + +We trust that we have travelled thus far on our journey without wounding +the susceptibilities of any of our readers, and that thus it may +continue to the not distant end. In all probability our remarks and +illustrations will have been scanned by two totally diverse classes of +patrons, those to whom the topics suggested present much that is worthy +of attention, and those to whom this little treatise will appear to be +written in almost an unknown tongue. All that we can do is to claim the +indulgence of these latter. We hope that they at least will acquit us of +any intention of blemishing the fair front of human nature, or of +darkening any of the windows that administer to its requirements of +light and air. In fine, we trust that what has been said, has been +spoken fairly and frankly. Not, however, that we pretend that the views +we may have advanced have anything but a local application. There is a +swearing world, a place in which people habitually swear, but there is +also a non-swearing world in which they are partially if not totally +unacquainted with observances of swearing. To present a picture of the +former to the dwellers in the more opposite locality is to expect +approval of a marine painting from those who have never beheld the sea. +The reflections therefore that we may have been called upon to make by +the way, no less than the numerous instances we have found it as well to +refer to, must be taken as pertaining only to those troubled waters that +surge around the continent inhabited of swearers. + +This careless, indulgent and pleasure-seeking portion of the world have +derived even comfort and convenience from a recognition of the best +regulated usages of swearing. Reputations for courage and audacity have +thus been hourly established by the careful insinuation of hideous +expletives. Friendships have been cemented by the force of this common +bond of union; strangers set at their ease; the weak and hesitating have +been galvanised into action. Judging from a purely worldly standpoint, +it would be inconsistent not to admit that society has been under deep +obligations to this especial form of wickedness. Swearing has in the +main been rendered agreeable and popular in so far that it has been +adopted to span over social distances and level social distinctions, to +create in fact a code of easy sympathy between otherwise thoroughly +unsympathetic men. The worst--and swearers are not necessarily the +worst--no less than the best of mankind endeavour to generate some +species of that "touch of nature" which we are told makes the whole +world kin. We must not therefore be too severe on finding that this very +creditable object is sometimes sought to be accomplished by somewhat +discreditable means. + +As a few of our readers may by this time have harboured a conviction +that swearing is in some degree a social necessity, they will be able to +give full scope to the views upon this point of the excellent Mr. +Shandy.[53] The only compunction that seems to have been entertained by +this gentleman resided in the danger of expending small curses upon +totally inadequate occasions. He maintained, indeed, with the utmost +Cervantic gravity, that he had the greatest veneration for that student +of swearing who, in obvious mistrust of his own extempore powers, +composed forms suitable to all degrees of provocation, and kept them +framed over his chimney-piece for daily reference. + +"I never apprehended," puts in Dr. Slop, "that such a thing was ever +thought of--much less executed." + +"I beg your pardon," replies Mr. Shandy, "I was reading--though not +using--one of them to my brother Toby this morning, whilst he poured out +the tea." + +The work of ingenuity in question turned out to be a decree of +excommunication, certainly a very ponderous and damnatory one, compiled +by Ernulphus, a learned bishop of Rochester. Mr. Shandy is understood to +account for the comprehensiveness of this anathema by assuming it to +have been designed as an institute or perfect digest of swearing. He +conjectures that upon a decline of vituperation Ernulphus had with great +learning collected all the known methods, for fear of their being +dispersed and so lost to the world for ever. The worthy Shandy would +even go so far as to maintain that there was no kind of oath that was +not to be found in Ernulphus. "In short," he would add, "I defy a man to +swear out of it." + +This piece of quaintness, as we need hardly point out, only goes to the +fact that wide as is the range of imprecation, it must always come back +to that one monotonous symbol of despisal. The anathema of the good +bishop is pitched in many keys and sounds, like the collected utterances +of many throats. But even Ernulphus can scarcely have foreseen the +Rabelaisian refinements that would suggest themselves to the minds of +men as soon as literary demands were made upon the well-worn supply. + +The genius of the French language seems more particularly to lend itself +to the fabrication of burlesque forms and subterfuges. Thus to affirm by +_le sacre froc d'Habacuc_, or by _la double-triple manche de serpe_, are +fair specimens of the ingenuity that has been lavished. Far less +offending have been the ludicrous forms of asseveration popular in the +lower ranks of French society, and one of which it is sufficient to +mention as occurring in a curious rhyme of the last century,[54] where +among other things is found characterised the pseudo-nuptials of a +certain abbess and a dignitary of the Church-- + + "Mais, _par la vertu d'un oignon_, + Ils sont maries environ, + Comme l'est l'eveque de Chartres + Avec l'abbesse de Montmartres." + +It is not improbable that a great deal of the aversion that is +associated with the practice of swearing is due to the custom of those +novelists who are in the habit of screening their oaths behind the most +transparent of disguises. To denote an expletive by its initial letter +followed with a dash is really to attract undue attention to that which +the writer acknowledges himself ashamed of printing. The contrivance +serves no useful purpose, and, if we are not mistaken, the more robust +of modern novelists have eschewed it altogether. Very different in this +respect is the device adopted by Dickens in one of the most entertaining +of his romances. Readers of 'Great Expectations' will remember the +description of Mr. William Barley. This presents us with a picture of a +water-logged old ship's captain, who, as he lay through the long hours +of the day and night upon his uneasy mattress, never ceased to hold +communion with himself in anything but a strain of piety--"Ahoy! bless +your eyes, here's old Bill Barley! Here's old Bill Barley on the flat of +his back, by the Lord! Lying on the flat of his back, like a drifting +old dead flounder; here's old Bill Barley, bless your eyes. Ahoy! Bless +you!" Of course the point of this monologue lies in the fact that the +supposed blessings are really substituted by the novelist for desires of +a very opposite description. + +There are few pictures we would less willingly omit from the gallery of +the author's creations. We have here the portraiture of one among that +godless but soft-hearted race of veterans who have alternately bullied +and blustered, or cried and whimpered, throughout many ages of fiction +and melodrama. And in depicting this type of character writers have +invariably felt it their bounden duty to give full prominence to this +fateful gift of swearing. With much discretion the novelist has in the +present instance invented a subterfuge, which, while it does not rob Mr. +Barley of his idiosyncrasies of speech, leaves an amused and not an +offensive impression behind it. We are, in fact, called in to assist at +a very quiet piece of human contradiction. We are presented to the prone +Barley in his state of helplessness and suffering, and at the same time +are given to understand that the sufferer derives comfort and +consolation from nothing so much as a downright plunge into the torrent +of bad language. + +In these wandering musings of the complaining old sea-captain there is +suggested one of the many spells that are exercised by the force of +imprecation. There is no paucity of men, whether dejected, dissatisfied +or penurious, who are wont to apostrophise some imagined effigy of +themselves, or to construct some idealised fabric as a monument of their +lives, and stalk it abroad for their own and for other men's wonderment. +And the means they employ to spirit up these creations are not +dissimilar to those in use by Mr. Barley. By declaiming loudly against +the ravages of a hard fate that lays them on their backs "like an old +dead flounder," the mind is assisted to form a notion of the victims in +their prime. By deploring the hardships of fallen fortune the eye of the +sympathiser is carried instinctively back to bygone days of +supposititious enjoyment. Imprecation is seldom absent from these +incursions, being, in fact, urgently needed to do duty for closer +argumentation. Again, as there are men so genial that they swear as a +challenge to discontent, so there are men so discontented that they +swear as a challenge to geniality. + +This more unsociable aspect of the subject brings us perforce to the +consideration of a term of swearing that contains no element of +geniality. Of itself it can be accounted nothing but a mere outcome of +bombast and vulgarity, appealing as it does to no known passion of the +human mind. And yet so widespread is its influence, and so powerful its +dominion, that it has been rung out and has reverberated probably more +than any other in the great "fisc and exchequer" of abuse. + +The expletive that it now behoves us to consider is one which has never +been adequately treated in a book. We cannot disguise to ourselves that +there is much in its unfortunate associations to render its occurrence +still exceedingly painful. Originating in a senseless freak of language, +it has by dint of circumstances become so noisome and offensive, that +were it not for the undue power and influence it has usurped, we should +hardly be disposed to treat of it at all. But when we mention that it is +the ungainly adjective "bloody" that will occupy our attention for the +next few pages, we must be allowed to add that it is with the view of +stripping the term of its infamous significance, and if possible of +dispelling from it the cloud of ill favour and of ill fame, that we +venture with less reluctance to grapple with it. + +With the full knowledge of the abhorrence it has imparted in our day, it +is difficult to imagine any unsullied spring-time in the history of so +sordid a word. It is the single particle of objuration that has not +dared assume, as others have so frequently done, a jaunty or a +rollicking demeanour. Not in the wildest days of Eastcheap revelry did +it resound in any one key of vinous harmony. While other epithets may +from time to time have received the sanction of conviviality, here is a +word that is nothing unless discordant and acrimonious. It is the apt +accompaniment of a whining tongue, the fit complement of a verjuice +countenance. Dirty drunkards hiccup it as they wallow on ale-house +floors. Morose porters bandy it about on quays and landing-stages. From +the low-lying quarters of the towns the word buzzes in your ear with the +confusion of a Babel. In the cramped narrow streets you are deafened by +its whirr and din, as it rises from the throats of the chaffering +multitude, from besotted men defiant and vain-glorious in their drink, +from shrewish women hissing out rancour and menace in their harsh +querulous talk. + +And yet to look back no further than to the youth of Shakespeare, the +word had no application beyond such as was seemly, and its history was +simple and spotless and without reproach. The one play of 'Macbeth' +contains an unusual number of instances of its occurrence, all written +without any suspicion of an _equivoque_ and dwelt upon with an +undoubting sincerity that has become barely possible in a modern work. +Indeed into such ill company has fallen this true-minded adjective, that +it is no longer competent to be admitted to its proper place in an +ordinary publication. Now and again strong protest has been made against +the hard sentence passed upon so well-meaning a term, and authors of +taste have demanded its restitution to its former intellectual +companionship. In one of her "Letters to the Author of Orion," Mrs. E. +B. Browning throws reserve upon the subject altogether to the winds, and +insists upon embracing and cherishing this ill-starred word as a long +lost acquaintance. But when Shakespeare wrote of + + "The bloody house of life," + +there was no need for hesitation in shaping it. It was as unsullied and +as transparent as any that might have been placed upon Imogen's lips or +thrown by Hamlet into Ophelia's lap. + +To account for the moral kidnapping that the word has undergone, it +behoves us, strangely enough, to set face towards the Netherlands, and +to hark back there to the campaigns of Flushing and Deventer, where Ben +Jonson and others of his countrymen are shouldering their pikes under +the generalship of Vere and Stanley. We shall then find it to have been +one of the doubtful advantages that were gained by long years of Low +Country soldiering. With the winds and tides that brought home the +shoals of broken veterans, there was wafted to this country the flavour +of foreign oaths, and among them the renown in speech of the German +"blutig." Now "blutig" happened to be an inconsequent sort of particle +that was employed in all the dialects of Germany to denote a sense of +the emphatic. It had been chosen throughout the German fatherland to +minister to the wants of those defective degrees of comparison which are +usually, however, found to be more or less admirably fitted to their +purpose. It thus constituted itself a fourth degree, or +extra-ultra-superlative. Like all verbal contrivances of this kind, it +was more especially favoured among the less cultivated students of the +forms of grammar, and seems at last to have become recognised as a +convenient make-weight with which a reprobate soldiery were accustomed +to balance their assertions. + +It will be at once seen that this alien growth was capable of being +readily transplanted to our soil in the shape of its literal +counterpart. The circumstance of the words being so nearly identical is +sufficient to account for the work of transposition being swiftly and +effectually done. But beyond the mere accident of the respective tongues +offering an exact literal equivalent, there was nothing in common +between the German "blutig" and the English correlative term. As +evidenced by the purity of its antecedents, the latter derives nothing +of the opprobrium that has devolved upon it by reason of any hereditary +defects, far less on account of any of its inherent properties. + +If Ben Jonson, who must have been brought face to face with this +treasure in its natural home, does not seek to commend it to the keeping +of his audiences, we may be sure that in his time at least it had +attained no perceptible degree of literary currency. The comic +dramatists were agreed at this period as to one canon of dramatic +representation. They were accustomed to interlace the serious business +of the comedy with mirth-moving interludes in which the more farcical +characters of the piece were met together for the purpose, as it seemed, +of besprinkling one another with the most aggravating and unpardonable +abuse. The ingenuity of writers was ransacked to furnish material for +this spirited by-play. Collections of all nationalities, and the +reserves of all professions and handicrafts, were studiously drawn upon +to furnish subject-matter for these wordy encounters. So far as they +could help themselves, these shameless dramatists left no word unsaid +that could increase the strife of tongues and raise a smile at the +energy or possibly the grossness of the jargon. But as yet the epithet +in question found no place in the prompt-book, and continued to be +omitted from their vocabularies. Had Bohemian society even partially +adopted it, it would be difficult to imagine the humours of the +Artillery Garden, or the disorders of Ruffians' Hall and Turnbull +Street,[55] being glibly depicted by these outspoken playwrights without +recourse being had to the services of this unconscionable adjective. + +Shakespeare, himself probably the greatest exponent of the arts of +scurrility, is totally exempt from any blameworthy intention in applying +the word in the manner he so frequently uses it. But as years wore on +the relish of foreign and far-travelled terms grew upon the public taste +with surprising rapidity. A novelty must be extremely popular to enable +it to become vulgar, and must even be liked before it can be thoroughly +hated. "Bloody" was no exception to the rule, and enjoyed a brief day of +estimation and patronage. Men of refinement and high culture adopted it +rather as an article of scholarly adornment. Dryden uses it in this way, +as does Swift. Play-writers heralded it on the stage, bestowing upon it +the passport of literary sanction. In Sir George Etheredge's comedy, +'The Man of Mode,' a play that was witnessed by society with unbounded +approval, the final stage in the process of abduction is plainly +indicated. Says one of the characters, referring to the importunities of +a tipsy vagrant, "Give him half-a-crown!" to which the other replies, +"Not without he will promise to be bloody drunk!" + +In this way it would seem that the ball was set rolling. How the game +has continued to be played we are most of us aware. It calls for no +particular skill on the part of the players, neither does the sport +appear to decline for want of appreciation. That it was received at its +first incoming with a kind of _eclat_ is not so surprising as is the +strange attachment that for upwards of two centuries has been manifested +by some ranks of society towards this discreditable word. Its first +flush of approval may have been due to a certain element of +whimsicality. This at least is a sensation frequently conveyed by the +occurrence of any meaningless affectation. But, however this may be, it +certainly was not at the first outset the mere grovelling and +unmitigated blackguardism which it was very shortly to be. Dean Swift, +full of wit and penury, writing from his London lodging to Stella in her +comfortable Irish home, breaks into frequent outbursts at the scantiness +of his comforts. One October, when removed to Windsor, he is +particularly tried by the severity of the autumnal weather, but the +terms in which, addressing a well-bred woman, he expresses his +discomfort are striking, as showing the strange vicissitudes that +language may undergo. "It grows bloody cold," he writes--and one may +well imagine the chilled extremities of the reverend Dean--"it grows +bloody cold, and I have no waistcoat." + +In support of the view that there is nothing in the inherent properties +of the word, or even in the range and frequency of its use, to account +for the degraded position it has occupied in modern times, we have only +to inquire whether any similar treatment has been the fate of the +equivalent word in the language of France. What do we find? The French +_sanglant_ has even a wider sphere of application, and in its legitimate +sense is even a greater favourite than our own adjective, but no such +evil days have overtaken it. It can be used literally, as in the case of +_viande sanglante_, or metaphorically, as in _un sanglant affront_ or +the aphorism _la sanglante raillerie blesse et ne corrige pas_, but not +at any time is it found to deviate from the paths of decency. +Everything, we consider, favours the idea we have formed of our stately +English word proceeding soberly and reputably upon its honest course +only to become the victim of this species of subversive horse-play at +the hands of professed word-corrupters. Appreciative of the objurgatory +advantages of the German _blutig_, they were indifferent to any affront +they might pass upon the English tongue. From that time forward the word +was branded as infamous. The manly ring that of right belonged to it, as +instanced in such widely different productions as 'Piers Ploughman,'[56] +or the 'Philaster' of Beaumont and Fletcher,[57] was becoming no longer +possible. In recent days people have sometimes tried to reconcile these +opposite tendencies and to endow the word with some amount of literary +grace. The best attempt we have noticed in this direction is in a decree +of the Government of Paraguay, which in August 1869 instructed its +resident in this country that the presence of Francisco Lopez on +Paraguayan soil was "a bloody sarcasm to civilisation." The gentleman +who penned this document may have been influenced by the example of +Montaigne[58] who admitted that he was accustomed to swear "more by +imitation than complexion." + +We have given what we believe to be the rational explanation of this +most unwarrantable abduction of the word from its ancient uses. The +English language, whose handmaid it was, has never put in a claim to the +return of its services, and the professors of that language continue to +be scared when they meet with the vulgar changeling at the corner of the +street. The principal reason for abhorrence is probably founded upon +misapprehension. It is assumed that the expression bears the savour of +irreligion. The old Catholic oath of "blood and wounds" has been +advanced as the origin. So far from this theory being well founded, we +rather find the whole brood of Catholic oaths to have been swept away by +the besom of the Reformation long before this expletive had raised its +head. Neither are we able to support the contention that it takes its +rise in the archaic "woundy," which perished in the same fires. It is +quite clear that in this instance there is a marked and deep interval +between the outgoing of the old form of scurrility and the advent of the +new. + +Without being understood to array ourselves on the side of this baneful +expression, we desire to acquit it at once of all suspicion of +irreligion. The men who originated it had furthest from their minds any +inroad upon Catholic fervour. It was simply an imported ware, smuggled +over in a soldier's knapsack. It was left to linger for a time upon the +lips of sutlers and tapsters, and became the plaything of sergeants and +backswordsmen, the broken companions who had smelt powder in the German +wars. It took will and way from the mere caprices of imitation, that +sufficed in time to render it palatable to the wiser and more sober of +men. From the time of Dean Swift downwards, it has mostly suffered from +being lamentably unfashionable. Association, which can do so much to +influence and so little to regulate our dislikes, has insisted in +linking this expletive with the classes that are taken to be the more +sordid and malignant. + +It may certainly come into play now and again among those people who are +not averse to perpetrating a joke at the expense of a little casual loss +of refinement. On these few occasions indeed it would even appear to be +tinctured with some slight leaven of good-nature. Thus, the sailor +appellation of Admiral Gambier--"old bloody Politeful"--must not be +inveighed against too hardly. Neither need we be too squeamish over a +once famous (or infamous) _bon mot_ that passed current in a fashionable +club where a certain learned and witty serjeant was wont to repair for +his nightly rubber. One evening, after meeting with a stranger at the +card-table who held a remarkable number of trumps, he had impatiently +inquired who had been his antagonist. On being told that the player was +Sir So-and-So, Bart., the serjeant is reported to have at once rejoined +that "he might have known the fellow to have been a baronet by his +bloody hand!" + +But there is a deeper and more solemn aspect in all this than any that +we have suggested or advanced. No statistics, could any be collected, no +known or imaginable facts, could be trusted to convey the faintest +notion of the large place that is occupied in public morals by the +presence of this solitary piece of imprecation. Those who have +opportunities of judging, will be bound to admit that they see in it the +plaything and fondling of whole sections of citizen society. In +innumerable households, in countless families, if we may so designate +those fetid accumulations of humanity that we must here be understood to +indicate, there is not an hour of the day--not a moment of the day--in +which this virulent and acrid malediction does not send out its empty +challenge. How can this moral choke-damp, with all its fatal +incrustations, fail to eat away the supports and very framework of the +dwelling. It is hard perhaps to pass so heavy a sentence upon seemingly +so slight an offence, but we are forced to believe that the very +existence and presence of this evil, in its more rampant and impudent +state, is of itself conclusive upon the point of good or evil +government, upon the question of the predominance of human charity or of +the blackest intensity of malice. + +Neither is it the least regrettable circumstance that, considered as a +piece of mingled vileness and effrontery, the word has been, and for the +matter of that is still likely to be, a most telling and signal success. +Those who have followed the writer at all closely will have already +noticed the irresistible impulse of succeeding generations to secure to +themselves the strongest possible anathema with which to carry on all +manner of petty hostilities. But until the expletive that is now passing +under our consideration was fairly launched upon society, no great +measure of success can be said to have crowned their endeavours. The +swearing of the pre-Reformation era may be adjudged the nearest approach +to maledictory perfection, but even that system, admirable as it may +have been from the point of view of an accomplished Boanerges of the +time, was at best but an unstable and fluctuating one, and depended for +its efficiency upon the swearer's own powers of invocation. As a rule no +two oaths were alike, and men gave you the idea of thinking before they +swore. So various a code could hardly be expected to meet with general +success, it being as impossible for an individual to invent a really new +oath--a new "bloody," for example--as it is said to be impossible to +invent a new proverb or a new rhyme for the nursery. Imitations can of +course be easily contrived, but the genuine product only arises through +the seemingly spontaneous consent of approving multitudes. It was +precisely in this way that the present abomination was generated. Not +proceeding from any one man's store of virulence, but resulting from a +long process of evolution and development, it at last springs into +sudden life, in obedience, it would almost seem, to a nation's clamours. +But no sooner was it called into this sphere of activity, than it +became, we repeat, a gigantic success. It is the crown and apex of all +bad language, the coping-stone of all systems of verbal aggression and +abuse. By consent, as it were, of the general conscience it is allowed +to have surpassed in vileness and intensity anything of the kind that +has been intense or vile. That this stream of pollution should continue +to flow, uninterruptedly and with increasing volume, through its inky +channel, is one of the gloomiest and grimmest of the minor features of +our social life. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +_Page 73. Feminine Oaths._--Among the number of feminine expletives may +be reckoned Ophelia's adjuration "by Gis." The derivation has been a +source of trouble to the commentators, who profess to see in it a +corruption of Saint Cecily, an abbreviation of Saint Gislen, or else, as +is more probable, a phonetic form of the letters I.H.S. But whatever its +derivation, the oath was commonly attributed to the female sex. Thus, in +Preston's 'Cambyses,' 1561, it is so employed; and again in the +pre-Shakespearian play of 'King John' the nuns swear by Gis, and the +monks, by way of distinction, take their oaths by Saint Withold. In +'Gammer Gurton's Needle' the oath is placed in the mouth of the old +housewife. + +_Page 84. Foreign Oaths._--We learn from Miss Bunbury's 'Summer in +Northern Europe,' that the most common form of swearing in Sweden is a +contraction of "God preserve us," and that hardly a sentence can escape +from the lips of the lower orders without being supplemented by this +expression--"bevars," the lengthened form of which is "Gud bevarva oss." +Another form of imprecation is "Kors" or "Kors Jesu," the Cross of +Jesus, which the same writer intimates is in great request among the +educated orders in Sweden. + +_Page 85. Pre-Reformation Swearing._--The testimony of Elyot in 'The +Boke named the Governour,' written in 1531, is very conclusive upon the +question. He says: "In dayly communication the mater savoureth nat, +except it be as it were seasoned with horrible othes. As by the holy +blode of Christe, his woundes whiche for our redemption he paynefully +suffred, his glorious harte, as it were numbles chopped in pieces. +Children (whiche abborreth me to remembre) do play with the armes and +bones of Christe, as they were chery stones. The soule of God, whiche is +incomprehensible, and nat to be named of any creature without a +wonderfull reverence and drede, is nat onely the othe of great +gentilmen, but also so indiscretely abused, that they make it (as I +mought saye) their gonnes, wherwith they thunder out thretenynges and +terrible menacis, whan they be in their fury, though it be at the +damnable playe of dyse. The masse, in which honourable ceremony is lefte +unto us the memoriall of Christes glorious passion, with his corporall +presence in fourme of breade, the invocation of the thre divine persones +in one deitie, with all the hole company of blessed spirites and soules +elect, is made by custome so simple an othe that it is nowe all most +neglected and little regarded of the nobilitie, and is onely used among +husbandemen and artificers, onelas some taylour or barbour, as well in +his othes as in the excesse of his apparayle, will counterfaite and be +lyke a gentilman."--ii. 252, _ed. Croft_. + +So also Roger Hutchinson in his 'Image of God,' 1550:--"You swearers and +blasphemers which use to swear by God's heart, arms, nails, bowels, +legs, and hands, learn what these things signify, and leave your +abominable oaths." + +_Page 93. Oath by the Swan._--It was also the custom during the middle +ages to serve with great pomp a pheasant, or some other noble bird, on +which the knights swore to visit the Holy Land. In 1453, Philip the +Good, Duke of Burgundy, vowed, _sur le faisan_, to go to the deliverance +of Constantinople. His example was followed by the barons and knights +assembled, who, in the words of Gibbon, "swore to God, the Virgin, the +ladies and the pheasant." + +_Page 107. A swearing corps d'elite._--So long ago as the reign of Henry +VIII. the expression "to swear like a lord" had become proverbial:--"For +they wyll say he that swereth depe, swereth like a lorde."--'_The +Governour_,' _by Sir T. Elyot_, 1531, _ed. Croft_, i. 275. + +That the habit was making headway in high places may also be inferred +from a bequest in one of the wills preserved in Doctors' Commons, in +which the testator bequeathed a legacy of twenty shillings on condition +that the legatee should desist from swearing. The will is that of Sir +David Owen, a natural son of Owen Tudor, and is dated 1535. + +_Page 121. Sir David Lindsay._--Some idea of the fecundity of the old +poet in the matter of expletives is conveyed by the catalogue of oaths +culled from the 'Satyre of the Three Estaitis' and added to Chalmers' +edition of Lindsay, published in 1806. The list is as follows:-- + + "Be Cokis passion. + Be Godis passion. + Be Cok's deir passion. + Be Cok's tois. + Be God's wounds. + Be God's croce. + Be God's mother. + Be God's breid. + Be God's gown. + Be God himsell. + Be greit God that all has wrocht. + Be him that made the mone. + Be the gude Lord. + Be him that wore the crown of thorn. + Be him that bare the cruel crown of thorn. + Be him that herryit hell. + Be him that Judas sauld. + Be the rude. + Be the Trinity; Be the haly Trinity. + Be the sacrament; Be the haly sacrament. + Be the messe. + Be him that our Lord Jesus sauld. + Be him that deir Jesus sauld. + Be our Lady; Be Sainct Mary; Be sweit Sainct Mary; Be Mary bricht. + Be Alhallows. + Be Sanct James. + Be Sanct Michell. + Be Sanct Ann. + Be Sanct Bryde; Be Bryde's bell. + Be Sanct Geill; Be sweit Sanct Geill. + Be Sanct Blais. + Be Sanct Blane. + Be Sanct Clone; Be Sanct Clune. + Be Sanct Allan. + Be Sanct Fillane. + Be Sanct Tan. + Be Sanct Dyonis of France. + Be Sanct Maverne. + Be the gude lady that me bare. + Be my saul. + Be my thrift. + Be my Christendom. + Be this day." + +Against this list we may place a similar catalogue of objurgations +extracted from the old play of 'Gammer Gurton's Needle,' acted at +Cambridge in 1566. This work, ascribed to John Still, Bishop of Bath and +Wells, very plainly depicts the condition of rustic manners at the +period at which it was written:-- + + "By the mass (occurs 22 times). + Gog's bones (4 times). + Gog's soul (9 times). + By my father's soul (2 times). + Gog's sacrament (2 times). + By my troth. + By God. + By sun and moon. + Gog's heart (6 times). + By God's mother. + Gog's bread (8 times). + By'r Lady (2 times). + By the cross. + By our dear lady of Boulogne. + Saint Dunstan. + Saint Dominic. + The three kings of Cologne. + By God and the devil too. + By bread and salt (2 times). + By him that Judas sold. + Gog's cross (2 times). + By Gog's malt (2 times). + Gog's death. + Gog's blessed body. + By God's blest (2 times). + By Gis. + By Saint Benet. + By my truth. + By Cock's mother dear. + By Saint Mary. + Gog's wounds (2 times). + By Cock's bones. + By All Hallows. + By my fay. + By my father's skin. + By God's pity (2 times). + Gog's sides (2 times)." + +_Page 169. The deuce!_--A specimen from the English version of 'Havelok +the Dane,' edited by Sir F. Madden from the manuscript in the Laudian +Collection in the Bodleian Library, may be appended:-- + + "'Deus!' quoth he, 'hwat may this mene!' + He calde bothe arwe men, and kene + Knithes, and serganz swithe sleie, + Mo than an hundred."--l. 2114. + +Madden also refers the exclamation, _dash you_ or _dase you_, from the +Anglo-Saxon imprecation _datheit_ which had been caught up from the +Norman _deshait_. + + +LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND +CHARING CROSS. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[1] Ducange. + +[2] The laws of Hoel the Good. + +[3] Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester. + +[4] Ducange. + +[5] Mezeray, ii. 121. + +[6] Sloane MS. No. 2530, xxvi. D.; a manuscript giving details of the +grades of students and masters of fence, and of the ceremonial attending +taking their degrees. The oath runs, "First you shall swear, so help you +God and halidome, and by all the christendome which God gave you at the +fount stone, and by the cross of this sword which doth represent unto +you the cross which our Saviour suffered his most painful deathe upon," +&c. + +[7] Socrates' oath, _by the cabbage_, [Greek: ma ten kramben] is given +in Athenaeus, ib. ix. p. 370. + +[8] Aristophanes, 'The Birds.' + +[9] Plutarch, Quaestion. Rom., p. 271. + +[10] 'Mariage de Figaro,' iii. 5. + +[11] MS. Bibliotheque nationale. 'Collection Complete des Memoires,' +vol. viii. + +[12] + + "_Williams._ Ah, damnation! Goddam! + _Blondel._ Goddam! Monsieur est Anglais apparemment." + + '_Coeur de Lion_,' 1789. + +[13] 'Notes on Ancient Poetry,' ed. 1770. + +[14] One of the last cases where the use of the word produced some +coolness on the part of the persons concerned, occurred when a certain +bishop in a northern diocese was reported by the local newspaper to have +said in a sermon, "that he would not preach in that damned old church +any more." The bishop wrote to the paper that he had said "damp old +church." The editor, however, declined to question the accuracy of his +reporter. + +[15] See passage from Roger de Collerye, given by Littre. + +[16] 'L'agreable conference de Piarot et Janin.' Paris, 1651. + +[17] "[Greek: SO] Ne ton kuna, amphignoo mentoi o Pole]" +&c.--'_Gorgias._' + +[18] "On Tuesday, March 31, he and I dined at General Paoli's.... We +talked of the strange custom of swearing in conversation. The general +said that all barbarous nations swore from a certain violence of temper +that could not be confined to earth, but was always reaching at the +powers above. He said, too, that there was a greater variety of swearing +in proportion as there was a greater variety of religious +ceremonies."--Boswell's '_Life of Johnson_,' p. 235. + +[19] Letter from Lynceus at Rhodes to Diagoras at Athens, in 'Journal +des Savants,' 1839, p. 37. + +[20] Aldus Gellius, xi. 6. We find these oaths so distributed in Terence +and Plautus, the women swearing by Castor and the men by Hercules. + +[21] Herodotus, bk. iv. 67. It was the _hearth_ of kings of Scythia that +was dealt with in this way. + +[22] For an able article on the Five Wounds as represented in Art, see +Journal of Brit. Arch. Association for Dec. 1874, by the Rev. W. Sparrow +Simpson. + +[23] 'Roba di Roma,' by W. W. Story, 1863. The writer adds, "A curious +feature in the oaths of the Italians may be remarked. _Dio mio_ is +usually an exclamation of sudden surprise or wonder; _Madonna mia_, of +pity and sorrow, and _per Christo_ of hatred and revenge. It is in the +name of Christ, and not of God as with us, that imprecations, curses, +and maledictions are invoked. The reason is very simple. Christ is to +him the judge and avenger of all, and so represented in every picture he +sees, from Orcagua's and Michael Angelo's Last Judgment down, while the +Eternal Father is a peaceful old figure bending over him." + +[24] 'The Conversyon of Swerers,' 1540. + +[25] The identity of ideas that we have referred to as invariably +occurring in mediaeval writings, whenever they happen to turn upon a +similar theme, may be shown by comparison of the following extracts. +They are taken from writers of different times and countries, and who +are not directly plagiarising one another. Dan Michael, in the 'Ayenbite +of Inwyt' (modernised), has:-- + +"These (Christians) are worse than the Jews that did crucify him. They +broke none of his bones. But these break him to pieces smaller than one +doth swine in butchery." + +Robert of Brunne, in the 'Handlyng Sinne,' writes:-- + + "Thy oaths do him more grievousness, + Than all the Jews' wickedness; + They pained him once and passed away, + But thou painest him every day." + +Again, in the 'Moralite des Blasphemateurs' (circa 1530):-- + + "Tu luy fais plus dure bataille + Que les juifz sans nulla faille + Qui pour toy le crucifierent." + +[26] A certain delight in arranging the favourite oaths of his +contemporaries and of other historical personages is plainly to be seen +in Brantome. In the 'Vies des Grands Capitaines' he throws off a whole +string of these cherished devices. "On appeloit ce grand capitaine, +Monsr. de la Trimouille, 'La vraye Corps Dieu' d'autant que c'estoit son +serment ordinaire, ainsin que ces vieux et anciens grands capitaines en +ont sceu choisir et avoir aucuns particuliers a eux; comme Monsr. de +Bayard juroit, 'Feste Dieu, Bayard!' Monsr. de Bourbon, 'Saincte Barbe!' +le prince d'Orange, 'Saincte Nicolas!' le bonne homme M. de la Roche du +Maine juroit 'Teste de Dieu pleine de reliques!' (ou diable alla il +chercher celuy la) et autres que je nommerois, plus sangreneux que ceux +la." + +[27] Ch. Rozan, 'Petites Ignorances de la Conversation.' + +[28] "A shocking practice seems to have been rendered fashionable by the +very reprehensible habit of the Queen, whose oaths were neither +diminutive or rare, for it is said that she never spared an oath in +public speech or private conversation when she thought it added energy +to either,"--_Drake_, '_Shakspeare and his Times_,' ii. 160. + +[29] J. G. Nicholls, 'Literary Remains of Edward VI.' + +[30] 'Every Man out of his Humour,' i. 1. + +[31] 1 Henry IV., iii. 7. + +[32] See Capt. Basil Hall's 'Fragments of Voyages and Travels,' chap. +xvi. p. 89. + +[33] Leigh Hunt's Journal, No. 6, for Jan. 11, 1851. + +[34] 'The Colonies,' by Col. C. J. Napier, 1833. + +[35] If any person or persons shall ... profanely swear or curse ... for +every such offence the party so offending shall forfeit and pay to the +use of the poor of the parish where such offence or offences shall be +committed the respective sums hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, +every servant, day-labourer, common soldier, or common seaman, one +shilling; and every other person two shillings; and in case any of the +persons aforesaid shall, after conviction, offend a second time, such +person shall forfeit and pay double, and if a third time treble the sum +respectively.--6 & 7 _William and Mary_, c. 11. + +[36] Coll. of State Papers, Domestic, 1595, p. 12. + +[37] Borough records of the City of Glasgow, 1573-1581. + +[38] Aberdeen Presbytery Records, printed by the Spalding Club. + +[39] Within the precincts of royal palaces regulations seem to have been +made from time to time to clear the atmosphere of all impious particles. +According to a work by Alexander Howell, the Dean of St. Paul's, printed +in 1611, King Henry I. prescribed a scale of fines according to a table +as follows:-- + + {a Duke 40 shillings. + {a Lord 20 do. + "If he were: {a Squire 10 do. + {a Yeoman 3_s._ 4_d._ + {a Page, to be whipt." + + '_A Sword against Swearers_,' 1611. + +[40] 21 Jac. I. c. 20. + +[41] 3 Jac. I. c. 21. + +[42] Office-book of Sir Henry Herbert. Collier's 'History of Dramatic +Poetry,' ii. 58. + +[43] Coll. of State Papers, Domestic, 1635-6. + +[44] Whitelock's Memorials. + +[45] Quarter Sessions from Queen Elizabeth to Queen Anne, by A. H. A. +Hamilton. 1878. + +[46] 19 Geo. II. cap. 21. There is also a penalty of 40_s._ for using +profane language in the streets under the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, +and the Metropolitan Police Act, 1839. + +[47] J. P. Malcolm, 'Manners of London during XVII. Century.' + +[48] "Diary of a Sussex Tradesman a hundred years ago," printed in +Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. xi. + +[49] 'The Rivals,' act ii. sc. 1. + +[50] "By the Lord Harry! he should have done with Christmas boxes." +Swift, '_Journal to Stella_.' + +[51] The cloven foot is an evidence of a clean beast, and horns are +attributed, pictorially at least, to Moses. + +[52] Edited by Sir Frederick Madden for the Roxburgh Club, 1828. + +[53] 'Tristram Shandy,' vol. iii. ch. 12. + +[54] 'Harangue des Habitans de Sarcelles,' 1740. + +[55] "This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the +wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbull +Street."--2 _Henry IV._, ii. 3. + +[56] Where it is used in the sense of pertaining to kinship--"They are +my blody brethren, quod pieres, for God boughte us alle."--'_Piers +Plowman_,' vi. 210. + +[57] Where it is met with as a verb--"With my own hands, I'll bloody my +own sword." + +[58] 'Montaigne's Essays,' ed. Hazlitt, iii. 120. + + + + +_October 1883._ + + PUBLICATIONS OF J. C. 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In the 'Robinson Crusoe,' +besides the well-known portrait of Defoe by Flameng, there are eight +exceedingly beautiful etchings by Mouilleron.... In fine keeping with +the other volumes of the series, uniform in style and illustrations, and +as one of the volumes of their famous Old English Romances, Messrs. +Nimmo & Bain have also issued the 'Rasselas' of Johnson and the 'Vathek' +of Beckford." + + +Westminster Review. + +"Messrs. Nimmo & Bain have added to their excellent series of 'Old +English Romances' three new volumes, of which two are devoted to +'Tristram Shandy,' while the third contains 'The Old English Baron' and +'The Castle of Otranto.' Take them as they stand, and without +attributing to them any qualities but what they really possess, the +whole series was well worth reprinting in the elegant and attractive +form in which they are now presented to us." + + + + +The Imitation of Christ. + +FOUR BOOKS. + +Translated from the Latin by Rev. W. BENHAM, B.D., + +_Rector of St. Edmund, King and Martyr, Lombard Street._ + +With ten Illustrations by J. P. LAURENS, etched by LEOPOLD FLAMENG. + +Crown 8vo, cloth or parchment boards, 10s. 6d. + + +Scotsman. + +"We have not seen a more beautiful edition of 'The Imitation of Christ' +than this one for many a day." + + +Magazine of Art. + +"This new edition of the 'Imitation' may fairly be regarded as a work of +art. It is well and clearly printed; the paper is excellent; each page +has its peculiar border, and it is illustrated with ten etchings. +Further than that the translation is Mr. Benham's we need say nothing +more." + + + + +Essays from the "North American Review." + +Edited by ALLEN THORNDIKE RICE. + +Demy 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. + + +Saturday Review. + +"A collection of interesting essays from the _North American Review_, +beginning with a criticism on the works of Walter Scott, and ending with +papers written by Mr. Lowell and Mr. O. W. Holmes. The variety of the +essays is noteworthy." + + +Alain Rene Le Sage. (1668-1747.) + +A SHORT HISTORY OF THE + +LIFE AND WRITINGS OF ALAIN RENE LE SAGE, + +_The Author of "Gil Blas,"_ + +Who was born at Sarzean on the 8th of May 1668, and died at Boulogne on +the 17th November 1747. + +By GEORGE SAINTSBURY. + +Medium 8vo, 50 pp., paper covers, 3s. 6d. + + +Peter Anthony Motteux. (1660-1718.) + +A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LATE + +MR PETER ANTHONY MOTTEUX, + +A Native of France, + +Whilom Dramatist, China Merchant, and Auctioneer, + +Who departed this life on the 18th of February 1718 (old style), being +then precisely 58 years old. + +By HENRI VAN LAUN. + +Medium 8vo, 43 pp., paper covers, 3s. 6d. + + +The American Patent Portable Book-Case. + +[Illustration] + +For Students, Barristers, Home Libraries, &c. + +This Book-case will be found to be made of very solid and durable +material, and of a neat and elegant design. The shelves may be adjusted +for books of any size, and will hold from 150 to 300 volumes. As it +requires neither nails, screws, or glue, it may be taken to pieces in a +few minutes, and reset up in another room or house, where it would be +inconvenient to carry a large frame. + +_Full Height, 5 ft. 11-1/2 in.; Width, 3 ft. 8 in.; Depth of Shelf, +10-1/2 in._ + +Black Walnut, price L6, 6s. nett. + +"The accompanying sketch illustrates a handy portable book-case of +American manufacture, which Messrs. NIMMO & BAIN have provided. It is +quite different from an ordinary article of furniture, such as +upholsterers inflict upon the public, as it is designed expressly for +holding the largest possible number of books in the smallest possible +amount of space. One of the chief advantages which these book-cases +possess is the ease with which they may be taken apart and put together +again. No nails or metal screws are employed, nothing but the hand is +required to dismantle or reconstruct the case. The parts fit together +with mathematical precision; and, from a package of boards of very +moderate dimensions, a firm and substantial book-case can be erected in +the space of a few minutes. Appearances have by no means been +overlooked; the panelled sides, bevelled edges, and other simple +ornaments, give to the case a very neat and tasteful look. For students, +or others whose occupation may involve frequent change of residence, +these book-cases will be found most handy and desirable, while, at the +same time, they are so substantial, well-made, and convenient, that they +will be found equally suitable for the library at home." + + + Select List from the Catalogue of J. & A. Churchill, + PUBLISHERS, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, + As supplied by J. C. NIMMO & BAIN. + + + Catalogue of the Publications of W. H. Allen & Co., + PUBLISHERS, WATERLOO PLACE, + As supplied by J. C. NIMMO & BAIN. + + +BOOK-CORNER PROTECTORS. + +Metal Tips carefully prepared for placing on the Corners of Books to +preserve them from injury while passing through the Post Office or being +sent by Carrier. + + +Extract from "The Times," April 18th. + +"That the publishers and booksellers of America second the efforts of +the Post Office authorities in endeavouring to convey books without +damage happening to them is evident from the tips which they use to +protect the corners from injury during transit." + +1s. 6d. per Gross, nett. + + +J. C. NIMMO & BAIN, + +14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +Punctuation has been corrected without note. + +The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version +these letters have been replaced with transliterations. + +The misprint "the the" has been corrected to "the" (page 69). + +Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from +the original. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Cursory History of Swearing, by Julian Sharman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING *** + +***** This file should be named 34179.txt or 34179.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/1/7/34179/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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