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diff --git a/old/54151-0.txt b/old/54151-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 57e20e0..0000000 --- a/old/54151-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9743 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Shakespeare the Boy, by W. J. (William James) -Rolfe - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Shakespeare the Boy - With Sketches of the Home and School Life, Games and Sports, Manners, Customs and Folk-lore of the Time - - -Author: W. J. (William James) Rolfe - - - -Release Date: February 11, 2017 [eBook #54151] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE THE BOY*** - - -E-text prepared by MWS, John Campbell, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made -available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 54151-h.htm or 54151-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54151/54151-h/54151-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54151/54151-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/shakespeareboy00rolf - - -Transcriber's note: - - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - - Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). - - A carat character is used to denote superscription. A - single character following the carat is superscripted - (example: y^e).nsultation of external sources. - - A detailed transcriber's note can be found at the end - of the book. - - - - -[Illustration: SHAKESPEARE THE BOY] - - -SHAKESPEARE THE BOY - -With Sketches of -The Home and School Life -The Games and Sports, the Manners, Customs -and Folk-Lore of the Time - -by - -WILLIAM JAMES ROLFE, LITT.D. - -[Illustration: (Publisher's colophon)] - -With Forty-one Illustrations - - - - - - -London -Chatto & Windus -1897 - -Copyright, 1896, by Harper & Brothers. - -All rights reserved. - - - - -PREFACE - - -Two years ago, at the request of the editors of the _Youth's -Companion_, I wrote for that periodical a series of four familiar -articles on the boyhood of Shakespeare. It was understood at the -time that I might afterwards expand them into a book, and this -plan is carried out in the present volume. The papers have been -carefully revised and enlarged to thrice their original compass, -and a new fifth chapter has been added. - -The sources from which I have drawn my material are often mentioned -in the text and the notes. I have been particularly indebted to -Halliwell-Phillipps's _Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare_, -Knight's _Biography of Shakspere_, Furnivall's Introduction to -the "Leopold" edition of Shakespeare, his _Babees Book_, and his -edition of Harrison's _Description of England_, Sidney Lee's -_Stratford-on-Avon_, Strutt's _Sports and Pastimes_, Brand's -_Popular Antiquities_, and Dyer's _Folk-Lore of Shakespeare_. - -I hope that the book may serve to give the young folk some glimpses -of rural life in England when Shakespeare was a boy, and also to -help them--and possibly their elders--to a better understanding of -many allusions in his works. - - W. J. R. - - CAMBRIDGE, _June 10, 1896_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - PART I.--HIS NATIVE TOWN AND NEIGHBORHOOD 1 - - WARWICKSHIRE 3 - - WARWICK CASTLE AND SAINT MARY'S CHURCH 4 - - WARWICK IN HISTORY 8 - - GUY OF WARWICK 9 - - KENILWORTH CASTLE 12 - - COVENTRY 14 - - CHARLECOTE HALL 19 - - STRATFORD-ON-AVON 24 - - THE EARLY HISTORY OF STRATFORD 27 - - THE STRATFORD GUILD 34 - - THE STRATFORD CORPORATION 39 - - THE TOPOGRAPHY OF STRATFORD 43 - - - PART II.--HIS HOME LIFE 47 - - THE DWELLING-HOUSES OF THE TIME 49 - - THE HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE 52 - - FOOD AND DRINK 57 - - THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 60 - - INDOOR AMUSEMENTS 67 - - POPULAR BOOKS 71 - - STORY-TELLING 73 - - CHRISTENINGS 80 - - SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH AND BAPTISM 84 - - CHARMS AND AMULETS 87 - - - PART III.--AT SCHOOL 93 - - THE STRATFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL 95 - - WHAT SHAKESPEARE LEARNT AT SCHOOL 99 - - THE NEGLECT OF ENGLISH 106 - - SCHOOL LIFE IN SHAKESPEARE'S DAY 110 - - SCHOOL MORALS 112 - - SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 113 - - WHEN WILLIAM LEFT SCHOOL 118 - - - PART IV.--GAMES AND SPORTS 119 - - BOYISH GAMES 121 - - SWIMMING AND FISHING 130 - - BEAR-BAITING 132 - - COCK-FIGHTING AND COCK-THROWING 136 - - OTHER CRUEL SPORTS 139 - - ARCHERY 142 - - HUNTING 145 - - FOWLING 151 - - HAWKING 153 - - THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS 160 - - - PART V.--HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, FAIRS, ETC. 165 - - SAINT GEORGE'S DAY 167 - - EASTER 172 - - THE PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH 174 - - MAY-DAY AND THE MORRIS-DANCE 176 - - WHITSUNTIDE 184 - - MIDSUMMER EVE 186 - - CHRISTMAS 190 - - SHEEP-SHEARING 193 - - HARVEST-HOME 195 - - MARKETS AND FAIRS 198 - - RURAL OUTINGS 207 - - - NOTES 213 - - INDEX 247 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - SHAKESPEARE THE BOY _Frontispiece_ - - THE SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE, ABOUT 1820 3 - - WARWICK CASTLE 5 - - GATE-HOUSE OF KENILWORTH CASTLE 13 - - COVENTRY CHURCHES AND PAGEANT _Facing p._ 14 - - CHARLECOTE HALL 20 - - ENTRANCE TO CHARLECOTE HALL 22 - - SIR THOMAS LUCY 23 - - STRATFORD CHURCH _Facing p._ 30 - - STRATFORD CHURCH, WEST END 32 - - THE GUILD CHAPEL AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL, STRATFORD 35 - - MAP--PLAN OF STRATFORD 42 - - SHAKESPEARE HOUSE, RESTORED 49 - - ROOM IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS BORN _Facing p._ 50 - - INTERIOR OF ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE " 56 - - OLD HOUSE IN HIGH STREET 59 - - ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE _Facing p._ 64 - - SHILLING OF EDWARD VI. 68 - - ANCIENT FONT AT STRATFORD 81 - - PORCH, STRATFORD CHURCH _Facing p._ 88 - - INNER COURT, GRAMMAR SCHOOL 95 - - THE SCHOOL-ROOM AS IT WAS 97 - - DESK SAID TO BE SHAKESPEARE'S 102 - - WALK ON THE BANKS OF THE AVON _Facing p._ 112 - - HIDE-AND-SEEK " 122 - - "MORRIS" BOARD 130 - - FISHING IN THE AVON _Facing p._ 132 - - THE BEAR GARDEN, LONDON 133 - - GARDEN AT NEW PLACE _Facing p._ 146 - - ELIZABETH HAWKING 155 - - BOY WITH HAWK AND HOUNDS 159 - - ITINERANT PLAYERS IN A COUNTRY HALL _Facing p._ 160 - - WILLIAM KEMP DANCING THE MORRIS 163 - - THE BOUNDARY ELM 167 - - MORRIS-DANCE _Facing p._ 178 - - CLOPTON HOUSE ON CHRISTMAS EVE " 190 - - THE FAIR " 200 - - INTERIOR OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL, BEFORE THE RESTORATION 225 - - CLOPTON MONUMENTS _Facing p._ 238 - - THE BAR-GATE, SOUTHAMPTON 242 - - ARMS OF JOHN SHAKESPEARE 251 - - - - -SHAKESPEARE THE BOY - - - - -PART I - -HIS NATIVE TOWN AND NEIGHBORHOOD - - -[Illustration: THE SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE, ABOUT 1820] - - -WARWICKSHIRE - -The county of Warwick was called the heart of England as long ago -as the time of Shakespeare. Indeed, it was his friend, Michael -Drayton, born the year before himself, who first called it so. -In his _Poly-Olbion_ (1613) Drayton refers to his native county -as "That shire which we the heart of England well may call." The -form of the expression seems to imply that it was original with -him. It was doubtless suggested by the central situation of the -county, about equidistant from the eastern, western, and southern -shores of the island; but it is no less appropriate with reference -to its historical, romantic, and poetical associations. Drayton, -whose rhymed geography in the _Poly-Olbion_ is rather prosaic and -tedious, attains a kind of genuine inspiration when, in his 13th -book, he comes to describe - - "Brave Warwick that abroad so long advanced her Bear, - By her illustrious Earls renowned everywhere; - Above her neighboring shires which always bore her head." - -The verse catches something of the music of the throstle and the -lark, of the woosel "with golden bill" and the nightingale with her -tender strains, as he tells of these Warwickshire birds, and of the -region with "flowery bosom brave" where they breed and warble; but -in Shakespeare the same birds sing with a finer music--more like -that to which we may still listen in the fields and woodlands along -the lazy-winding Avon. - - -WARWICK CASTLE AND SAINT MARY'S CHURCH. - -Warwickshire is the heart of England, and the country within ten -miles or so of the town of Warwick may be called the heart of this -heart. On one side of this circle are Stratford and Shottery and -Wilmcote--the home of Shakespeare's mother--and on the other are -Kenilworth and Coventry. - -In Warwick itself is the famous castle of its Earls--"that fairest -monument," as Scott calls it, "of ancient and chivalrous splendor -which yet remains uninjured by time." The earlier description -written by the veracious Dugdale almost two hundred and fifty years -ago might be applied to it to-day. It is still "not only a place -of great strength, but extraordinary delight; with most pleasant -gardens, walls, and thickets such as this part of England can -hardly parallel; so that now it is the most princely seat that is -within the midland parts of this realm." - -[Illustration: WARWICK CASTLE] - -The castle was old in Shakespeare's day. Cæsar's Tower, so called, -though not built, as tradition alleged, by the mighty Julius, dated -back to an unknown period; and Guy's Tower, named in honor of the -redoubted Guy of Warwick, the hero of many legendary exploits, was -built in 1394. No doubt the general appearance of the buildings -was more ancient in the sixteenth century than it is to-day, for -they had been allowed to become somewhat dilapidated; and it -was not until the reign of James I. that they were repaired and -embellished, at enormous expense, and made the stately fortress -and mansion that Dugdale describes. - -But the castle would be no less beautiful for situation, though it -were fallen to ruin like the neighboring Kenilworth. The rock on -which it stands, washed at its base by the Avon, would still be -there, the park would still stretch its woods and glades along the -river, and all the natural attractions of the noble estate would -remain. - -We cannot doubt that the youthful Shakespeare was familiar with the -locality. Warwick and Kenilworth were probably the only baronial -castles he had seen before he went to London; and, whatever others -he may have seen later in life, these must have continued to be his -ideal castles as in his boyhood. - -It is not likely that he was ever in Scotland, and when he -described the castle of Macbeth the picture in his mind's eye was -doubtless Warwick or Kenilworth, and more likely the former than -the latter; for - - "_This_ castle hath a pleasant seat; the air - Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself - Unto our gentle senses. This guest of summer, - The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, - By his loved mansionry, that the air - Smells wooingly here; no jutty, frieze, - Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird - Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle. - Where they most breed and haunt I have observed - The air is delicate." - -Saint Mary's church at Warwick was also standing then--the most -interesting church in Warwickshire next to Holy Trinity at -Stratford. It was burned in 1694, but the beautiful choir and the -magnificent lady chapel, or Beauchamp Chapel, fortunately escaped -the flames, and we see them to-day as Shakespeare doubtless saw -them, except for the monuments that have since been added. _He_ -saw in the choir the splendid tomb of Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of -Warwick, and in the adjacent chapel the grander tomb of Richard -Beauchamp, unsurpassed in the kingdom except by that of Henry VII. -in Westminster Abbey. _He_ looked, as we do, on the full-length -figure of the Earl, recumbent in armor of gilded brass, under the -herse of brass hoops also gilt; his hands elevated in prayer, the -garter on his left knee, the swan at his head, the griffin and -bear at his feet. _He_ read, as we read, in the inscription on the -cornice of the sepulchre, how this "most worshipful knight decessed -full christenly the last day of April the year of oure Lord God -1439, he being at that time lieutenant general and governor of the -realm of Fraunce," and how his body was brought to Warwick, and -"laid with full solemn exequies in a fair chest made of stone in -this church" on the 4th day of October--"honoured be God therefor." -And the young Shakespeare looked up, as we do, at the exquisitely -carved stone ceiling, and at the great east window, which still -contains the original glass, now almost four and a half centuries -old, with the portrait of Earl Richard kneeling in armor with -upraised hands. - -The tomb of "the noble Impe, Robert of Dudley," who died in 1584, -with the lovely figure of a child seven or eight years old, may -have been seen by Shakespeare when he returned to Stratford in his -latter years, and also the splendid monument of the father of the -"noble imp," Robert Dudley, the great Earl of Leicester, who died -in 1588; but in the poet's youth this famous nobleman was living in -the height of his renown and prosperity at the castle of Kenilworth -five miles away, which we will visit later. - - -WARWICK IN HISTORY. - -Only brief reference can be made here to the important part that -Warwick, or its famous Earl, Richard Neville, the "King-maker," -played in the English history on which Shakespeare founded several -dramas,--the three Parts of _Henry VI._ and _Richard III._ He is -the most conspicuous personage of those troublous times. He had -already distinguished himself by deeds of bravery in the Scottish -wars, before his marriage with Anne, daughter and heiress of -Richard Beauchamp, made him the most powerful nobleman in the -kingdom. By this alliance he acquired the vast estates of the -Warwick family, and became Earl of Warwick, with the right to hand -down the title to his descendants. The immense revenues from his -patrimony were augmented by the income he derived from his various -high offices in the state; but his wealth was scattered with a -royal liberality. It is said that he daily fed thirty thousand -people at his numerous mansions. - -The Lady Anne of _Richard III._, whom the hero of the play wooes in -such novel fashion, was the youngest daughter of the King-maker, -born at Warwick Castle in 1452. Richard says, in his soliloquy at -the end of the first scene of the play:-- - - "I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter. - What though I kill'd her husband and her father?" - -Her husband was Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI., and was -slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. - -The Earl of Warwick who figures in _2 Henry IV._ was the Richard -Beauchamp already mentioned as the father of Anne who became the -wife of the King-maker. He appears again in the play of _Henry V._, -and also in the first scene of _Henry VI._, though he has nothing -to say; and, as some believe, he (and not his son) is the Earl of -Warwick in the rest of the play, in spite of certain historical -difficulties which that theory involves. In _2 Henry IV._ (iii. 1. -66) Shakespeare makes the mistake of calling him "Nevil" instead of -Beauchamp. - -The title of the Warwick earls became extinct with the death of the -King-maker on the battle-field of Barnet. It was then bestowed on -George, Duke of Clarence, who was drowned in the butt of wine by -order of his loving brother Richard. It then passed to the young -son of Clarence, who is another character in the play of _Richard -III._ He, like his unfortunate father, was long imprisoned in the -Tower, and ultimately murdered there after the farce of a trial on -account of his alleged complicity in a plot against Henry VII. The -subsequent vicissitudes of the earldom do not appear in the pages -of Shakespeare, and we will not refer to them here. - - -GUY OF WARWICK. - -The dramatist was evidently familiar with the legendary renown of -Warwick as well as its authentic history. Doubtless he had heard -the story of the famous Guy of Warwick in his boyhood; and later -he probably visited "Guy's Cliff," on the edge of the town of -Warwick, where the hero is said to have spent the closing years of -his life. Learned antiquarians, in these latter days, have proved -that his adventures are mythical, but the common people believe -in him as of old. There is his "cave" in the side of the "cliff" -on the bank of the Avon, and his gigantic statue in the so-called -chapel; and can we not see his sword, shield, and breastplate, his -helmet and walking-staff, in the great hall of Warwick Castle? The -breastplate alone weighs more than fifty pounds, and who but the -mighty Guy could have worn it? There too is his porridge-pot of -metal, holding more than a hundred gallons, and the flesh-fork to -match. We may likewise see a rib and other remains of the famous -"dun cow," which he slew after the beast had long been the terror -of the country round about. Unbelieving scientists doubt the bovine -origin of these interesting relics, to be sure, as they doubt the -existence of the stalwart destroyer of the animal; but the vulgar -faith in them is not to be shaken. - -Of Guy's many exploits the most noted was his conflict with a -gigantic Saracen, Colbrand by name, who was fighting with the Danes -against Athelstan in the tenth century, and was slain by Guy, as -the old ballad narrates. Subsequently Guy went on a pilgrimage -to the Holy Land, leaving his wife in charge of his castle. -Years passed, and he did not return. Meanwhile his lady lived an -exemplary life, and from time to time bestowed her alms on a poor -pilgrim who had made his appearance at a secluded cell by the Avon, -not far from the castle. She may sometimes have talked with him -about her husband, whom she now gave up as lost, assuming that he -had perished by the fever of the East or the sword of the infidel. -At last she received a summons to visit the aged pilgrim on his -death-bed, when, to her astonishment, he revealed himself as the -long-lost Guy. In his early days, when he was wooing the lady, -she had refused to give him her hand unless he performed certain -deeds of prowess. These had not been accomplished without sins that -weighed upon his conscience during his absence in Palestine; and -he had made a vow to lead a monastic life after his return to his -native land. - -The legend, like others of the kind, was repeated in varied forms; -and, according to one of these, when Guy came back to Warwick he -begged alms at the gate of his castle. His wife did not recognize -him, and he took this as a sign that the wrath of Heaven was not -yet appeased. Thereupon he withdrew to the cell in the cliff, and -did not make himself known to his wife until he was at the point of -death. - -Shakespeare refers to Guy in _Henry VIII._ (v. 4. 22), where a -man exclaims, "I am not Samson, nor Sir Guy, nor Colbrand"; and -Colbrand is mentioned again in _King John_ (i. 1. 225) as "Colbrand -the giant, that same mighty man." - -The scene of Guy's legendary retreat on the bank of the Avon is -a charming spot, and there was certainly a hermitage here at a -very early period. Richard Beauchamp founded a chantry for two -priests in 1422, and left directions in his will for rebuilding the -chapel and setting up the statue of Guy in it. At the dissolution -of the monasteries in the time of Henry VIII. the chapel and its -possessions were bestowed upon a gentleman named Flammock, and -the place has been a private residence ever since, though the -present mansion was not built until the beginning of the eighteenth -century. There is an ancient mill on the Avon not far from the -house, commanding a beautiful view of the river and the cliff. The -celebrated actress, Mrs. Siddons, lived for some time at Guy's -Cliff as waiting-maid to Lady Mary Greatheed, whose husband built -the mansion. - - -KENILWORTH CASTLE. - -But we must now go on to Kenilworth, though we cannot linger long -within its dilapidated walls, majestic even in ruin. If, as Scott -says, Warwick is the finest example of its kind yet uninjured by -time and kept up as a noble residence, Kenilworth is the most -stupendous of similar structures that have fallen to decay. It -was ancient in Shakespeare's day, having been originally built -at the end of the eleventh century. Two hundred years later, in -1266, it was held for six months by the rebellious barons against -Henry III. After having passed through sundry hands and undergone -divers vicissitudes of fortune, it was given by Elizabeth to Robert -Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who spent, in enlarging and adorning -it, the enormous sum of £60,000--three hundred thousand dollars, -equivalent to at least two millions now. Scott, in his novel of -_Kenilworth_, describes it, with no exaggeration of romance--for -exaggeration would hardly be possible--as it was then. Its very -gate-house, still standing complete, was, as Scott says, "equal -in extent and superior in architecture to the baronial castle -of many a northern chief"; but this was the mere portal of the -majestic structure, enclosing seven acres with its walls, equally -impregnable as a fortress and magnificent as a palace. - -[Illustration: GATE-HOUSE OF KENILWORTH CASTLE] - -There were great doings at this castle of Kenilworth in 1575, when -Shakespeare was eleven years old, and the good people from all the -country roundabout thronged to see them. Then it was that Queen -Elizabeth was entertained by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, -and from July 9th to July 27th there was a succession of holiday -pageants in the most sumptuous and elaborate style of the time. -Master Robert Laneham, whose accuracy as a chronicler is not to be -doubted, though he may have been, as Scott calls him, "as great a -coxcomb as ever blotted paper," mentions, as a proof of the earl's -hospitality, that "the clock bell rang not a note all the while -her highness was there; the clock stood also still withal; the -hands stood firm and fast, always pointing at two o'clock," the -hour of banquet! The quantity of beer drunk on the occasion was 320 -hogsheads, and the total expense of the entertainments is said to -have been £1000 ($5000) a day. - -John Shakespeare, as a well-to-do citizen of Stratford, would -be likely to see something of that stately show, and it is not -improbable that he took his son William with him. The description -in the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (ii. 1. 150) of - - "a mermaid on a dolphin's back - Uttering such dulcet and harmonious sounds - That the rude sea grew civil at her song," - -appears to be a reminiscence of certain features of the Kenilworth -pageant. The minstrel Arion figured there, on a dolphin's back, -singing of course; and Triton, in the likeness of a mermaid, -commanded the waves to be still; and among the fireworks there were -shooting-stars that fell into the water, like the stars that, as -Oberon adds, - - "shot madly from their spheres - To hear the sea-maid's music." - -When Shakespeare was writing that early play, with its scenes in -fairy-land, what more natural than that this youthful visit to what -must then have seemed veritable fairy-land should recur to his -memory and blend with the creations of his fancy? - - -COVENTRY. - -The road from Warwick to Kenilworth is one of the loveliest in -England; and that from Kenilworth five miles further on to -Coventry is acknowledged to be _the_ most beautiful in the kingdom; -yet it is only a different kind of beauty from the other, as that -is from the beauty of the road between Warwick and Stratford. - -[Illustration: COVENTRY CHURCHES AND PAGEANT] - -Till you reach Kenilworth you have all the varieties of charming -rural scenery--hill and dale, field and forest, river-bank and -village, hall and castle and church, grouping themselves in -ever-changing pictures of beauty and grandeur; and now you come to -a straight road for nearly five miles, bordered on both sides by -a double line of stately elms and sycamores, as impressive in its -regularity as the preceding stretch had been in its kaleidoscopic -mutations. - -This magnificent avenue with its over-arching foliage brings us to -Coventry, no mean city in our day, but retaining only a remnant of -its ancient glory. In the time of Shakespeare it was the third city -in the realm--the "Prince's Chamber," as it was called--unrivalled -in the splendor of its monastic institutions, "full of associations -of regal state and chivalry and high events." - -In 1397 it had been the scene of the famous hostile meeting between -Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford (afterwards Henry IV.), and -Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, which Shakespeare has immortalized -in _Richard II._ Later Henry IV. held more than one parliament -here; and the city was often visited and honored with many marks of -favor by Henry VI. and his queen, as also by Richard III., Henry -VII., Elizabeth, and James I. - -Coventry, moreover, played an important part in the history -of the English Drama. It was renowned for the religious plays -performed by the Grey Friars of its great monastery, and kept -up, though with diminished pomp, even after the dissolution of -their establishment. It was not until 1580 that these pageants -were entirely suppressed; and Shakespeare, who was then sixteen -years old, may have been an eye-witness of the latest of them. No -doubt he heard stories of their attractions in former times, when, -as we are told by Dugdale, they were "acted with mighty state -and reverence by the friars of this house, had theatres for the -several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn -to all the eminent parts of the city for the better advantage of -spectators; and contained the story of the New Testament composed -into old English rhyme." There were forty-three of these ancient -plays, performed by the monks until, as Tennyson puts it, - - "Bluff Harry broke into the spence, - And turned the cowls adrift." - -When the boy Shakespeare saw them--if he did see them--they were -played by the different guilds, or associations of tradespeople. -Thus the Nativity and the Offering of the Magi, with the Flight -into Egypt and the Slaughter of the Innocents, were rendered by -the company of Shearmen and Tailors; the Smiths' pageant was the -Crucifixion; that of the Cappers was the Resurrection; and so on. -The account-books of the guilds are still extant, with charges for -helmets for Herod and gear for his wife, for a beard for Judas and -the rope to hang him, etc. In the accounts of the Drapers, whose -pageant was the Last Judgment, we find outlays for a "link to set -the world on fire," "the barrel for the earthquake," and kindred -stage "properties." - -In the books of the Smiths or Armorers, some of the charges are as -follows:-- - -"_Item_, paid for v. schepskens for gods cote and for makyng, -iii_s._ - -_Item_, paid for mendyng of Herods hed and a myter and other -thyngs, ii_s._ - -_Item_, paid for dressyng of the devells hede, viii_d._ - -_Item_, paid for a pair of gloves for god, ii_d._" - -The most elaborate and costly of the properties was "Hell-Mouth," -which was used in several plays, but specially in the representation -of the Last Judgment. This was a huge and grotesque head of canvas, -with vast gaping mouth armed with fangs and vomiting flames. The -jaws were made to open and shut, and through them the Devil made his -entrance and the lost souls their exit. The making and repairing of -this was a constant expense, and frequent entries like the following -occur in the books of the guilds:-- - -"Paide for making and painting hell mouth, xii_d._ - -Paid for keping of fyer at hell mouthe, iiii_d._" - -Many curious details of the actors' dresses have come down to us. -The representative of Christ wore a coat of white leather, painted -and gilded, and a gilt wig. King Herod wore a mask and a helmet, -sometimes of iron, adorned with gold and silver foil, and bore a -sword and a sceptre. He was a very important character, and the -manner in which he blustered and raged about the stage became -proverbial. In _Hamlet_ (iii. 2. 16) we have the expression, "It -out-herods Herod"; and in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (ii. 1. 20), -"What a Herod of Jewry is this!" - -All the actors were paid for their services, the amount varying -with the importance of the part. The same actor, as in the -theatres of Shakespeare's day, often played several parts. In -addition to the payment of money, there was a plentiful supply -of refreshments, especially of ale, for the actors. Pilate, who -received the highest pay of the company, was moreover allowed wine -instead of ale during the performance. - -Reference has been made above to the "lost souls" in connection -with Hell-Mouth. There were also "saved souls," who were dressed in -white, as the lost were in black, or black and yellow. There is an -allusion to the latter in _Henry V._ (ii. 3. 43), where the flea on -Bardolph's rubicund nose is compared to "a black soul burning in -hell-fire." - -The Devil wore a dress of black leather, with a mask, and carried -a club, with which he laid about him vigorously. His clothes were -often covered with feathers or horsehair, to give him a shaggy -appearance; and the traditional horns, tail, and cloven feet were -sometimes added. - -The regular time for these religious pageants was Corpus Christi -Day, or the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but they were -occasionally performed on other days, especially at the time of -a royal visit to Coventry, like that of Queen Margaret in 1455. -Prince Edward was thus greeted in 1474, Prince Arthur in 1498, -Henry VIII. in 1510, and Queen Elizabeth in 1565. - -Shakespeare has other allusions to these old plays besides those -here mentioned, showing that he knew them by report if he had not -seen them. - -Historical pageants, not Biblical in subject, were also familiar to -the good people of Coventry a century at least before the dramatist -was born. "The Nine Worthies," which he has burlesqued in _Love's -Labour's Lost_, was acted there before Henry VI. and his queen -in 1455. The original text of the play has been preserved, and -portions of Shakespeare's travesty seem almost like a parody of it. - -But we must not linger in the shadow of the "three tall spires" -of Coventry, nor make more than a brief allusion to the legend of -Godiva, the lady who rode naked through the town to save the people -from a burdensome tax. It was an old story in Shakespeare's time, -if, indeed, it had not been dramatized, like other chapters in -the mythic annals of the venerable city. It has been proved to be -without historical foundation, being mentioned by no writer before -the fourteenth century, though the Earl who figures in the tale -lived in the latter part of the eleventh century. The Benedictine -Priory in Coventry, of which some fragments still remain, is said -to have been founded by him in 1043. He died in 1057, and both he -and his lady were buried in the porch of the monastery. - -The effigy of "Peeping Tom" is still to be seen in the upper part -of a house at the corner of Hertford Street in Coventry. - -Shakespeare makes no reference to this story of Lady Godiva, though -it was probably well known to him. - - -CHARLECOTE HALL. - -Returning to Warwick, and travelling eight miles on the other -side of the town, we come to Stratford. By one of the two roads -we may take we pass Charlecote Hall and Park, associated with the -tradition of Shakespeare's deer-poaching--a fine old mansion, seen -across a breadth of fields dotted with tall elms. - -[Illustration: CHARLECOTE HALL] - -The winding Avon skirts the enclosure to the west. The house, which -has been in the possession of the Lucy family ever since the days -of Shakespeare, stands at the water's edge. It has been enlarged in -recent times, but the original structure has undergone no material -change. It was begun in 1558, the year when Elizabeth came to the -throne, and was probably finished in 1559. It took the place of -a much older mansion of which no trace remains, the ancestors of -Sir Thomas Lucy having then held the estate for more than five -centuries. The ground plan of the house is in the form of a capital -letter E, being so arranged as a compliment to the Virgin Queen; -and only one out of many such tributes paid her by noble builders -of the time. Over the main door are the royal arms, with the -letters E. R., together with the initials of the owner, T. L. - -Within there is little to remind one of the olden time, but some -of the furniture of the library,--chairs, couch, and cabinet of -coromandel-wood inlaid with ivory,--is said to have been presented -by Elizabeth to Leicester in 1575, and to have been brought from -Kenilworth in the seventeenth century. There is a modern bust of -Shakespeare in the hall. - -The tradition that the dramatist in his youth was guilty of -deer-stealing in Sir Thomas's park is not improbable. Some critics -have endeavored to prove that there was no deer-park at Charlecote -at that time; but Lucy had other estates in the neighborhood, -on some of which he employed game-keepers, and in March, 1585, -about the date of the alleged poaching, he introduced a bill into -Parliament for the better preservation of game. - -The strongest argument in favor of the tradition is to be based on -the evidence furnished by the plays that Shakespeare had a grudge -against Sir Thomas, and caricatured him as Justice Shallow in -_Henry IV._ and _The Merry Wives of Windsor_. The reference in the -latter play to the "dozen white luces" on Shallow's coat of arms is -palpably meant to suggest the three luces, or pikes, in the arms of -the Lucys. The manner in which the dialogue dwells on the device -indicates that some personal satire was intended. - -It should be understood that poaching was then regarded, except -by the victims of it, as a venial offence. Sir Philip Sidney's -May Lady calls deer-stealing "a prettie service." The students -at Oxford were the most notorious poachers in the kingdom, in -spite of laws making expulsion from the university the penalty -of detection. Dr. Forman relates how two students in 1573 (one of -whom afterwards became Bishop of Worcester) were more given to -such pursuits than to study; and one good man lamented in later -life that he had missed the advantages that others had derived -from these exploits, which he believed to be an excellent kind of -discipline for young men. - -[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO CHARLECOTE HALL] - -We must not assume that Sir Thomas was fairly represented in the -character of Justice Shallow. On the contrary, he appears to have -been an able man and magistrate, and very genial withal. The -Stratford records bear frequent testimony to his judicial services; -and his attendance on such occasions is generally coupled with -a charge for claret and sack or similar beverages. It is rather -amusing that these entries occur even when he is sitting in -judgment on tipplers. In the records for 1558 we read: "Paid for -wine and sugar when Sir Thomas Lucy sat in commission for tipplers, -xx _d._" - -[Illustration: SIR THOMAS LUCY] - -That he was a good husband we may infer from the long epitaph of -his wife in Charlecote Church, which, after stating that she died -in 1595, at the age of 63, goes on thus: "all the time of her life -a true and faithful servant of her good God; never detected of any -crime or vice; in religion most sound; in love to her husband most -faithful and true; in friendship most constant; to what in trust -was committed to her most secret; in wisdom excelling; in governing -of her house and bringing up of youth in the fear of God that did -converse with her, most rare and singular; a great maintainer of -hospitality; greatly esteemed of her betters, misliked of none -unless of the envious. When all is spoken that can be said, a woman -so furnished and garnished with virtue as not to be bettered, and -hardly to be equalled by any. As she lived most virtuously, so she -died most godly. Set down by him that best did know what hath been -written to be true, _Thomas Lucy_." - -The author of this beautiful tribute may have been a severe -magistrate, but he could not have been a Robert Shallow either in -his official capacity or as a man. - - -STRATFORD-ON-AVON. - -Stratford lies on a gentle slope declining to the Avon, whose banks -are here shaded by venerable willows, which the poet may have had -in mind when he painted the scene of poor Ophelia's death:-- - - "There is a willow grows aslant a brook, - That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream." - -The description could have been written only by one who had -observed the reflection of the white underside of the willow-leaves -in the water over which they hung. And I cannot help believing -that Shakespeare was mindful of the Avon when in far-away London -he wrote that singularly musical simile of the river in one of his -earliest plays, _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_, so aptly does it -give the characteristics of the Warwickshire stream: - - "The current that with gentle murmur glides, - Thou know'st, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage; - But when his fair course is not hindered, - He makes sweet music with the enamell'd stones, - Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge - He overtaketh in his pilgrimage; - And so by many winding nooks he strays, - With willing sport, to the wild ocean. - Then let me go, and hinder not my course: - I'll be as patient as a gentle stream, - And make a pastime of each weary step, - Till the last step have brought me to my love; - And there I'll rest, as, after much turmoil, - A blessed soul doth in Elysium." - -The river cannot now be materially different from what it was three -hundred years ago, but the town has changed a good deal. I fear -that we might not have enjoyed a visit to it in that olden time as -we do in these latter days. - -It is not pleasant to learn that the poet's father was fined -for maintaining a _sterquinarium_, which being translated from -the Latin is _dung-heap_, in front of his house in Henley -Street--now, like the other Stratford streets, kept as clean -as any cottage-floor in the town--and we have ample evidence -that the general sanitary condition of the place was very bad. -John Shakespeare would probably not have been fined if his -_sterquinarium_ had been behind his house instead of before it. - -Stratford, however, was no worse in this respect than other -English towns. The terrible plagues that devastated the entire -land in those "good old times" were the natural result of the -unwholesome habits of life everywhere prevailing--_everywhere_, -for the mansions of noblemen and the palaces of kings were as -filthy as the hovels of peasants. The rushes with which royal -presence-chamber and banquet-hall were strewn in place of carpets -were not changed until they had become too unsavory for endurance. -Meanwhile disagreeable odors were overcome by burning perfumes--of -which practice we have a hint in _Much Ado About Nothing_ in the -reference to "smoking a musty room." - -But away from these musty rooms of great men's houses, and the -foul streets and lanes of towns, field and forest and river-bank -were as clean and sweet as now. The banished Duke in _As You Like -It_ may have had other reasons than he gives for preferring life -in the Forest of Arden to that of the court from which he had been -driven; and Shakespeare's delight in out-of-door life may have been -intensified by his experience of the house in Henley Street, with -the reeking pile of filth at the front door. - -His poetry is everywhere full of the beauty and fragrance of the -flowers that bloom in and about Stratford; and the wonderful -accuracy of his allusions to them--their colors, their habits, -their time of blossoming, everything concerning them--shows how -thoroughly at home he was with them, how intensely he loved and -studied them. - -Mr. J. R. Wise, in his _Shakespeare, His Birthplace and its -Neighbourhood_, says: "Take up what play you will, and you will -find glimpses of the scenery round Stratford. His maidens ever -sing of 'blue-veined violets,' and 'daisies pied,' and 'pansies -that are for thoughts,' and 'ladies'-smocks all silver-white,' -that still stud the meadows of the Avon.... I do not think it is -any exaggeration to say that nowhere are meadows so full of beauty -as those round Stratford. I have seen them by the riverside in -early spring burnished with gold; and then later, a little before -hay-harvest, chased with orchises, and blue and white milkwort, -and yellow rattle-grass, and tall moon-daisies: and I know nowhere -woodlands so sweet as those round Stratford, filled with the soft -green light made by the budding leaves, and paved with the golden -ore of primroses, and their banks veined with violets. All this, -and the tenderness that such beauty gives, you find in the pages -of Shakespeare; and it is not too much to say that he painted them -because they were ever associated in his mind with all that he held -precious and dear, both of the earliest and the latest scenes of -his life." - - -THE EARLY HISTORY OF STRATFORD. - -Stratford is a very ancient town. Its name shows that it was -situated at a _ford_ on the Roman _street_, or highway, from London -to Birmingham; but whether it was an inhabited place during the -Roman occupation is uncertain. The earliest known reference to the -town is in a charter dated A.D. 691, according to which Egwin, the -Bishop of Worcester, obtained from Ethelred, King of Mercia, "the -monastery of Stratford," with lands of about three thousand acres, -in exchange for a religious house built by the bishop at Fladbury. -It is not improbable that Stratford owes its foundation to this -monastic settlement. Tradition says that the monastery stood where -the church now is; and, as elsewhere in England, the first houses -of the town were probably erected for its servants and dependants. -These dwellings were doubtless near the river, in the street that -has been known for centuries as "Old Town." - -The district continued to be a manor of the Bishop of Worcester -until after the Norman Conquest in 1066. According to the Domesday -survey in 1085, its territory was "fourteen and a half hides," or -about two thousand acres. It was of smaller extent than in 691, -because the neighboring villages had become separate manors. The -inhabitants were a priest, who doubtless officiated in the chapel -of the old monastery (of which we find no mention after the year -872), with twenty-one villeins and seven _bordarii_, or cottagers. -The families of these residents would make up a population of -about one hundred and fifty. "Every householder, whether villein -or cottager, evidently possessed a plough. The community owned -altogether thirty-one ploughs, of which three belonged to the -bishop, the lord of the manor." The agricultural produce was -chiefly wheat, barley, and oats. A water-mill stood by the river, -probably where the old mill now is; and there the villagers were -obliged to grind all their corn, paying a fee for the privilege. -In 1085 the annual income from the mill was ten shillings, but the -bishop was often willing to accept eels in payment of the fees, and -a thousand eels were then sent yearly to Worcester by the people -who used the mill. - -During the 12th century Stratford appears to have made little -progress. Alveston, now a small village on the other side of the -Avon, seemed likely then to rival it in prosperity. The boundaries -of the Alveston manor were gradually extended until they reached -their present limit on the south side of the bridge at Stratford -(at that time a rude wooden structure), and there a little colony -was planted which was known until after the Elizabethan period as -Bridgetown. - -We get an idea of the life led by the majority of the inhabitants -of Stratford and its vicinity in the 12th and 13th centuries from -the ecclesiastical records of the various services and payments -rendered as rent. Many of the large estates outside of the town -had been let as "knight's fees," that is, on condition of certain -military services to be performed by the holders. Some of the -villeins within the village had become "free tenants," or free -from serfdom, and were permitted to cultivate their land as they -pleased on payment of a fixed rental in money, with little or no -labor service in addition. But most of the inhabitants were still -villeins or cottagers, from whom labor service was regularly -exacted. "Villeins who owned sixty acres had to supply two men -for reaping the lord's fields, and cottagers with thirty acres -supplied one. On a special day an additional reaping service was -to be performed by villeins and cottagers with all their families -except their wives and shepherds. Each of the free tenants had then -also to find a reaper, and to direct the reaping himself.... The -villein was to provide two carts for the conveyance of the corn to -the barns, and every cottager who owned a horse provided one cart, -for the use of which he was to receive a good morning meal of bread -and cheese. One day's hoeing was expected of the villein and three -days' ploughing, and if an additional day were called for, food -was supplied free to the workers.... No villein nor cottager was -allowed to bring up his child for the church without permission of -the lord of the manor. A fee had to be paid when a daughter of a -villein or cottager was married. On his death his best wagon was -claimed by the steward in his lord's behalf, and a fine of money -was exacted from his successor--if, as the record wisely adds, he -could pay one. Any townsman who made beer for sale paid for the -privilege." - -In 1197 the inhabitants obtained for the town from Richard I. the -privilege of a weekly market, to be holden on Thursdays, for which -the citizens paid the bishop a yearly toll of sixteen shillings. -The market was doubtless held at first in the open space still -known as the Rother Market, in the centre of which the Memorial -Fountain, the gift of Mr. George W. Childs of Philadelphia, now -stands. _Rother_ is an old word, of Anglo-Saxon origin, applied -to cattle, which must have been a staple commodity in the early -Stratford market. The term was familiar to Shakespeare, who uses it -in _Timon of Athens_ (iv. 3. 12):-- - - "It is the pasture lards the rother's sides, - The want that makes him lean." - -In the course of the 11th century Stratford was also endowed with -a series of annual fairs, "the chief stimulants of trade in the -middle ages." The earliest of these fairs was granted by the Bishop -of Worcester in 1216, to begin "on the eve of the Holy Trinity, -and to continue for the next two days ensuing." In 1224 a fair was -established for the eve of St. Augustine (May 26th) "and on the day -and morrow after"; in 1242, for the eve of the Exaltation of the -Holy Cross (September 14th), "the day, and two days following"; and -in 1271, "for the eve of the Ascension of our Lord, commonly called -Holy Thursday, and upon the day and morrow following." Early in -the next century (1313) another fair was instituted, to begin on -the eve of St. Peter and St. Paul (June 29th) and to be held for -fifteen days. - -[Illustration: STRATFORD CHURCH] - -Trinity Sunday was doubtless chosen for the opening of the first -of these fairs because the parish church was dedicated to the -Holy Trinity, and a festival in commemoration of the dedication -of the church was celebrated on that Sunday by a "wake," which -attracted many people from the neighboring villages. "There -was nothing exceptional in a Sunday of specially sacred character -being turned to commercial uses. In most medieval towns, moreover, -traders exposed their wares at fair-time in the churchyard, and -chaffering and bargaining were conducted in the church itself." -Attempts were made by the ecclesiastical authorities to restrain -these practices, but they continued until the Reformation. - -At the close of the 13th century the prosperity of Stratford was -assured. Alveston had then ceased to be a dangerous rival. The -town was more and more profitable to the Bishops of Worcester, who -interested themselves in promoting its welfare. It appears also -that Bishop Gifford had a park here; for on the 3d of May, 1280, -he sent his injunctions to the deans of Stratford and the adjacent -towns "solemnly to excommunicate all those that had broke his park -and stole his deer." - -In the 14th century the condition of the Stratford folk materially -improved. Villeinage gradually disappeared in the reign of Edward -III. (1327-1377), and those who had been subject to it became -free tenants, paying definite rents for house and land. Three -natives of the town, who, after the fashion of the time, took their -surnames from the place of their birth, rose to high positions in -the Church, one becoming Archbishop of Canterbury, and the others -respectively Bishops of London and Chichester. John of Stratford -and Robert of Stratford were brothers, and Ralph of Stratford was -their nephew. John and Robert were both for a time Chancellors of -England, and there is no other instance of two brothers attaining -that high office in succession. - -[Illustration: STRATFORD CHURCH, WEST END] - -All three had a great affection for their native town, and did -much to promote its welfare. Robert, while holding the living -of Stratford, took measures for the paving of some of the main -streets. John enlarged the parish church, rebuilding portions of -it, and founded a chantry with five priests to perform masses for -the souls of the founder and his friends. Later he purchased the -patronage of Stratford from the Bishop of Worcester, and gave it to -his chantry priests, who thus came into full control of the parish -church. Ralph, in 1351, built for the chantry priests "a house of -square stone for the habitation of these priests, adjoining to -the churchyard." This building, afterwards known as the College, -remained in possession of the priests until 1546, when Henry VIII. -included it in the dissolution of monastic establishments. After -passing through various hands as a private residence, it was -finally taken down in 1799. - -Other inhabitants of Stratford followed the example set by John -and Ralph in their benefactions to the church. Dr. Thomas Bursall, -warden of the College in the time of Edward IV., added "a fair and -beautiful choir, rebuilt from the ground at his own cost"--the -choir which is still the most beautiful portion of the venerable -edifice, and in which Shakespeare lies buried. - -The only important alteration in the church since Shakespeare's -day was the erection of the present spire in 1764, to replace a -wooden one covered with lead and about forty feet high, which had -been taken down a year before. The tower is the oldest part of the -church as it now exists, and was probably built before the year -1200. It is eighty feet high, to which the spire adds eighty-three -feet more. - -The last of the early benefactors of Stratford was Sir Hugh -Clopton, who came from the neighboring village of Clopton about -1480. A few years later he built "a pretty house of brick and -timber wherein he lived in his latter days." This was the mansion -afterwards known as New Place, which in 1597 became the property of -William Shakespeare, and was his residence after he returned to -his native town about 1611 or 1612. - -Sir Hugh also built "the great bridge upon the Avon, at the east -end of the town," constructed of freestone, with fourteen arches, -and a "long causeway" of stone, "well walled on each side." ... -Before this time, as Leland the antiquarian wrote about 1530, -"there was but a poor bridge of timber, and no causeway to come to -it, whereby many poor folk either refused to come to Stratford when -the river was up, or coming thither stood in jeopardy of life." -This bridge, though often repaired, is to this day a monument to -Sir Hugh's public spirit. - - -THE STRATFORD GUILD. - -In the latter part of the 13th century an institution attained a -position and influence in Stratford which were destined to deprive -the Bishops of Worcester of their authority in the government of -the town. This was the Guild of the Holy Cross, the Blessed Virgin, -and St. John the Baptist, as it was then called. The triple name -has suggested that it was formed by the union of three separate -guilds, but of this no historical evidence has been discovered. - -This guild, like other of these ancient societies, had a religious -origin, being "collected for the love of God and our souls' need"; -but relief of the poor and of its own indigent members was also a -part of its functions. - -The "craft-guilds," formed by people engaged in a single trade or -occupation, were a different class of societies, though in many -instances offshoots from the religious guilds, and often, as in -London, surviving the decay of the parent institution. - -[Illustration: THE GUILD CHAPEL AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL, STRATFORD] - -Members of both sexes were admitted to the Stratford Guild, as -to others of its class, on payment of a small annual fee. "This -primarily secured for them the performance of certain religious -rites, which were more valued than life itself. While the members -lived, but more especially after their death, lighted tapers were -duly distributed in their behalf, before the altars of the Virgin -and of their patron saints in the parish church. A poor man in -the Middle Ages found it very difficult, without the intervention -of the guilds, to keep this road to salvation always open. Gifts -were frequently awarded to members anxious to make pilgrimages to -Canterbury, and at times the spinster members received dowries -from the association. The regulation which compelled the members -to attend the funeral of any of their fellows united them among -themselves in close bonds of intimacy." - -The social spirit was fostered yet more by a great annual meeting, -at which all members were expected to be present in special -uniform. They marched with banners flying in procession to church, -and afterwards sat down together to a generous feast. - -Though of religious origin the guilds were strictly lay -associations. In many towns priests were excluded from membership; -if admitted, they had no more authority or influence than laymen. -Priests were employed to perform the religious services of the -guild, for which they were duly paid; but the fraternities were -governed by their own elected officers--wardens, aldermen, beadles, -and clerks--and a council of their representatives controlled their -property and looked after their rights. - -When the Stratford Guild was founded it is impossible to determine. -"Its beginning," as its chief officers wrote in 1389, "was from -time whereunto the memory of man reacheth not." Records preserved -in the town prove that it was in existence early in the 13th -century, and that bequests were then made to it. The Bishops of -Worcester encouraged such gifts, and apparently managed that some -of the revenues of the Guild should be devoted to ecclesiastical -purposes outside its own regular uses. Before the time of Edward -I. the society was rich in houses and lands; and in 1353, as its -records show, it owned a house in almost every street in Stratford. - -In 1296 the elder Robert of Stratford, father of John and Robert -(p. 31), laid the foundation of a special chapel for the Guild, -and also of adjacent almshouses. These doubtless stood where the -present chapel, Guildhall, and other fraternity buildings now are. - -In 1332 Edward III. gave the Guild a charter confirming its -right to all its property and to the full control of its own -affairs. In 1389 Richard II. sent out commissioners to report -upon the ordinances of the guilds throughout England, and the -report for Stratford is still extant. It shows what a good work -the society was doing for the relief of the poor and for the -promotion of fraternal relations among its members. Regulations -for the government of the Guild by two wardens or aldermen and -six others indicate the progress of the town in the direction of -self-government. An association which had come to include all the -substantial householders naturally acquired much jurisdiction -in civil affairs. Its members referred their disputes with one -another to its council; and the aldermen gradually became the -administrators of the municipal police. The College priests were -very jealous of the Guild's increasing influence, and when the -society resisted the payment of tithes they brought a lawsuit to -compel the fulfilment of this ancient obligation; but in all other -respects the Guild appears to have been independent of external -control. - -A curious feature of the conditions of membership in the 15th -century was that the souls of the dead could be admitted to its -spiritual privileges on payment of the regular fees by the living. -Early in the century six dead children of John Whittington of -Stratford were allowed this benefit for the sum of ten shillings. - -The fame of the institution in its palmy days spread far beyond -the limits of Stratford, and attracted not a few men of the -highest rank and reputation. George, Duke of Clarence, brother of -Edward IV., and his wife, were enrolled among its members, with -Edward Lord Warwick and Margaret, two of their children; and the -distinguished judge, Sir Thomas Lyttleton, received the same honor. -Few towns or villages of Warwickshire were without representation -in it, and merchants joined it from places as far away as Bristol -and Peterborough. - -To us, however, the most remarkable fact in the history of the -Guild is the establishment of the Grammar School for the children -of its members. The date of its foundation has been usually given -as 1453, but it is now known to have been in existence before -that time. Attendance was free, and the master, who was paid ten -pounds a year by the Guild, was forbidden to take anything from the -pupils. In this school, as we shall see later, William Shakespeare -was educated, and we shall become better acquainted with it when we -follow the boy thither. - -The Guild Chapel, with the exception of the chancel, which had been -renovated about 1450, was taken down and rebuilt in the closing -years of the century by Sir Hugh Clopton (see page 34 above), who -was a prominent member of the fraternity. The work was not finished -until after his death in September, 1496, but the expense of its -completion was provided for in his will. - - -THE STRATFORD CORPORATION. - -The Guild was dissolved by Henry VIII. in 1547, and its possessions -remained as crown property until 1553. For seven years the town -had been without any responsible government. Meanwhile the -leading citizens--the old officers of the Guild--had petitioned -Edward VI. to restore that society as a municipal corporation. He -granted their prayer, and by a charter dated June 7, 1553, put -the government of the town in the hands of its inhabitants. The -estates, revenues, and chattels of the Guild were made over to the -corporation, which, as the heir and successor of the venerable -fraternity, adopted the main features of its organization. The -names and functions of its chief officers were but slightly -changed. The warden became the bailiff, and the proctors were -called chamberlains, but aldermen, clerk, and beadle resumed -their old titles. The common council continued to meet monthly -in the Guildhall; but it now included, besides the bailiff and -ten aldermen, the ten chief burgesses, and its authority covered -the whole town. The fraternal sentiment of the ancient society -survived; it being ordered "that none of the aldermen nor none -of the capital burgesses, neither in the council chamber nor -elsewhere, do revile one another, but brother-like live together, -and that after they be entered into the council chamber, that they -nor none of them depart not forth but in brotherly love, under -the pains of every offender to forfeit and pay for every default, -vj_s._ viij_d._" When any councillor or his wife died, all were to -attend the funeral "in their honest apparel, and bring the corpse -to the church, there to continue and abide devoutly until the -corpse be buried." - -The Grammar School and the chapel and almshouses of the Guild -became public institutions. The bailiff became a magistrate who -presided at a monthly court for the recovery of small debts, and -at the higher semi-annual _leets_, or court-leets, to which all -the inhabitants were summoned to revise and enforce the police -regulations. Shakespeare alludes to these leets in _The Taming of -the Shrew_ (ind. 2. 89) where the servant tells Kit Sly that he has -been talking in his sleep:-- - - "Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door, - And rail upon the mistress of the house, - And say you would present her at the leet - Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts." - -And Iago (_Othello_, iii. 3. 140) refers to "leets and law-days." -Prices of bread and beer were fixed by the council, and ale-tasters -were annually appointed to see that the orders concerning the -quality and price of malt liquors and bread were enforced. -Shakespeare's father was an ale-taster in 1557, and about the same -time was received into the corporation as a burgess. In 1561 he -was elected as one of the two chamberlains; in 1565 he became an -alderman; and in 1568 he was chosen bailiff, the highest official -position in the town. - -The rule of the council was of a very paternal character. "If -a man lived immorally he was summoned to the Guildhall, and -rigorously examined as to the truth of the rumors that had reached -the bailiff's ear. If his guilt was proved, and he refused to -make adequate reparation, he was invited to leave the town. Rude -endeavors were made to sweeten the tempers of scolding wives. -A substantial 'ducking-stool,' with iron staples, lock, and -hinges, was kept in good repair. The shrew was attached to it, and -by means of ropes, planks, and wheels was plunged two or three -times into the Avon whenever the municipal council believed her -to stand in need of correction. Three days and three nights were -invariably spent in the open stocks by any inhabitant who spoke -disrespectfully to any town officer, or who disobeyed any minor -municipal decree. No one might receive a stranger into his house -without the bailiff's permission. No journeyman, apprentice, or -servant might 'be forth of their or his master's house' after nine -o'clock at night. Bowling-alleys and butts were provided by the -council, but were only to be used at stated times. An alderman was -fined on one occasion for going to bowls after a morning meeting of -the council, and Henry Sydnall was fined twenty pence for keeping -unlawful or unlicensed bowling in a back shed. Alehouse-keepers, -of whom there were thirty in Shakespeare's time, were kept -strictly under the council's control. They were not allowed to -brew their own ale, or to encourage tippling, or to serve poor -artificers except at stated hours of the day, on pain of fine and -imprisonment. Dogs were not to go about the streets unmuzzled. -Every inhabitant had to go to church at least once a month, and -absences were liable to penalties of twenty pounds, which in the -late years of Elizabeth's reign commissioners came from London to -see that the local authorities enforced. Early in the 17th century -swearing was rigorously prohibited. Laws as to dress were regularly -enforced. In 1577 there were many fines exacted for failure to -wear the plain statute woollen caps on Sundays, to which Rosaline -makes allusion in _Love's Labour's Lost_ (v. 2. 281); and the -regulation affected all inhabitants above six years of age. In -1604 'the greatest part' of the inhabitants were presented at a -great leet, or law-day, 'for wearing their apparel contrary to the -statute.' Nor would it be difficult to quote many other like proofs -of the persistent strictness with which the new town council of -Stratford, by the enforcement of its own order and the statutes of -the realm, regulated the inhabitants' whole conduct of life." - -[Illustration: PLAN of STRATFORD _On Avon_] - - -THE TOPOGRAPHY OF STRATFORD. - -No map of Stratford made before the middle of the 18th century -is known to exist. The one here given in fac-simile was executed -about the year 1768, and, as Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps tells us, "it -clearly appears from the local records that there had then been -no material alteration in either the form or the extent of the -town since the days of Elizabeth. It may therefore be accepted -as a reliable guide to the locality as it existed in the poet's -own time, when the number of inhabited houses, exclusive of mere -hovels, could not have much exceeded five hundred." - -The following is a copy of the references which are appended -to the original map: "1. Moor Town's End;--2. Henley Lane;--3. -Rother Market;--4. Henley Street;--5. Meer Pool Lane;--6. Wood -Street;--7. Ely Street or Swine Street;--8. Scholar's Lane alias -Tinker's Lane;--9. Bull Lane;--10. Street call'd Old Town;--11. -Church Street;--12. Chapel Street;--13. High Street;--14. Market -Cross;--15. Town Hall;--16. Place where died Shakespeare;--17. -Chapel, Public Schools, &c.;--18. House where was Shakespeare -born;--19. Back Bridge Street;--20. Fore Bridge Street;--21. Sheep -Street;--22. Chapel Lane;--23. Buildings call'd Water Side;--24. -Southam's Lane;--25. Dissenting Meeting;--26. White Lion." - -Moor Town's End (1) is now Greenhill Street. The Town Hall (15) -did not exist in Shakespeare's time, having been first erected -in 1633, taken down in 1767, and rebuilt the following year. The -"Place where died Shakespeare" (16) was New Place, the home of -his later years. The "Dissenting Meeting" or Meeting-house (25) -was built long after the poet's day. The "White Lion" (26) was -also post-Shakespearian, the chief inns in the 16th century being -the Swan, the Bear, and the Crown, all in Bridge Street. The Mill -and Mill Bridge (built in 1590) are indicated on the river at the -left-hand lower corner of the map; and the stone bridge, erected by -Sir Hugh Clopton about 1500, is just outside the right-hand lower -corner. - -The only important change in the streets since the map was made is -the removal of the row of small shops and stalls, known as Middle -Row, between Fore Bridge Street (20); and Back Bridge Street (19); -thus making the broad avenue now called Bridge Street. - -The "Market Cross" (14) was "a stone monument covered by a low -tiled shed, round which were benches for the accommodation of -listeners to the sermons which, as at St. Paul's Cross in London, -were sometimes preached there." Later a room was added above, and -a clock above that. The open space about the Cross was the chief -market-place of the town. Near by was a pump, at which housewives -were frequently to be seen "washing of clothes" and hanging them on -the cross to dry, and butchers sometimes hung meat there; but these -practices were forbidden by the town council in 1608. The stocks, -pillory, and whipping-post were in the same locality. - -There was also a stone cross in the Rother Market (3), and near the -Guild Chapel (17) was a second pump, which was removed by order -of the council in 1595. The field on the river, near the foot of -Chapel Lane (22), was known as the Bank-croft, or Bancroft, where -drovers and farmers of the town were allowed to take their cattle -to pasture for an hour daily. "All horses, geldings, mares, swine, -geese, ducks, and other cattle," according to the regulation -established by the council, if found there in violation of this -restriction, were put by the beadle into the "pinfold," or pound, -which was not far off. This Bancroft, as it is still called, is now -part of the beautiful little park on the river-bank, adjacent to -the grounds of the Shakespeare Memorial. - -Chapel Lane, which bounded one side of the New Place estate, -was one of the filthiest thoroughfares of the town, the general -sanitary condition of which (see page 25 above) was bad enough. A -streamlet ran through it, the water of which turned a mill, alluded -to in town records of that period. This water-course gradually -became "a shallow fetid ditch, an open receptacle of sewage and -filth." It continued to be a nuisance for at least two centuries -more. A letter written in 1807, in connection with a lawsuit, gives -some interesting reminiscences of it. "I very well remember," says -the writer, "the ditch you mention forty-five years, as after my -sister was married, which was in October, 1760, I was very often -at Stratford, and was very well acquainted both with the ditch and -the road in question;--the ditch went from the Chapel, and extended -to Smith's house;--I well remember there was a space of two or -three feet from the wall in a descent to the ditch, and I do not -think any part of the new wall was built on the ditch;--the ditch -was the receptacle for all manner of filth that any person chose -to put there, and was very obnoxious at times;--Mr. Hunt used to -complain of it, and was determined to get it covered over, or he -would do it at his own expense, and I do not know whether he did -or not;--across, the road from the ditch to Shakespeare Garden was -very hollow and always full of mud, which is now covered over, and -in general there was only one wagon tract along the lane, which -used to be very bad, in the winter particularly;--I do not know -that the ditch was so deep as to overturn a carriage, and the -road was very little used near it, unless it was to turn out for -another, as there was always room enough." Thomas Cox, a carpenter, -who lived in Chapel Lane from 1774, remembered that the open -gutter from the Chapel to Smith's cottage "was a wide dirty ditch -choked with mud, that all the filth of that part of the town ran -into it, that it was four or five feet wide and more than a foot -deep, and that the road sloped down to the ditch." According to -other witnesses, the ditch extended to the end of the lane, where, -between the roadway and the Bancroft, was a narrow creek or ditch -through which the overflow from Chapel Lane no doubt found a way -into the river. - -Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps believes that the fever which proved fatal -to Shakespeare was caused by the "wretched sanitary conditions -surrounding his residence"--an explanation of it which would never -have occurred even to medical men in that day. - - - - -PART II. - -HIS HOME LIFE - - -[Illustration: SHAKESPEARE HOUSE, RESTORED] - - -THE DWELLING-HOUSES OF THE TIME - -The house in Henley Street in which William Shakespeare was -probably born and spent his early years has undergone many changes; -but, as carefully restored in recent years and reverently preserved -for a national memorial of the poet, its appearance now is -doubtless not materially different from what it was in the latter -part of the 16th century. - -There are a few houses of the same period and the same class still -standing in Stratford and its vicinity, which, according to the -highest antiquarian authority, are almost unaltered from their -original form and finish. Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps mentions one -in particular in the Rother Market, "the main features of which -are certainly in their original state," and the sketches of the -interior given by him closely resemble those of the Shakespeare -house. - -These houses were usually of two stories, and were constructed of -wooden beams, forming a framework, the spaces between the beams -being filled with lath and plaster. The roofs were usually of -thatch, with dormer windows and steep gables. The door was shaded -by a porch or by a _pentice_, or _penthouse_, which was a narrow -sloping roof often extending along the the front of the lower story -over both door and windows, as in Shakespeare's birthplace on -Henley Street. - -In the _Merchant of Venice_ (ii. 6. 1) Gratiano says:-- - - "This is the penthouse under which Lorenzo - Desired us to make stand." - -In _Much Ado About Nothing_ (iii. 3. 110) Borachio says to Conrade: -"Stand thee close, then, under this penthouse, for it drizzles -rain." We find a figurative allusion to the penthouse in _Love's -Labour's Lost_ (iii. 1. 17): "with your hat penthouse-like o'er the -shop of your eyes"; and another in _Macbeth_ (i. 3. 20):-- - - "Sleep shall neither night nor day - Hang upon his penthouse lid"; - -the projecting eyebrow being compared to this part of the -Elizabethan dwelling. - -[Illustration: ROOM IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS BORN] - -The better houses, like New Place, were of timber and brick, -instead of plaster, though sometimes entirely of stone. Shakespeare -appears to have rebuilt the greater part of New Place with stone. -The roofs of this class of dwellings were usually tiled, but -occasionally thatched. We read of one Walter Roche, who in 1582 -replaced the tiles of his house in Chapel Street with thatch. The -wood-work in the front of some houses, as in a fine example still -to be seen in the High Street (page 59 below), was elaborately -carved with floral and other designs. - -The gardens were bounded by walls constructed of clay or mud and -usually thatched at the top. Fruit-trees were common in these -gardens, and the orchard about the Guild buildings was noted for -its plums and apples. When the mulberry-tree was first introduced -into England, Shakespeare bought one and set it out in his grounds -at New Place, where it grew to great size. It survived for nearly -a century and a half after the death of the poet, but in 1758 was -cut down by the Rev. Francis Gastrell, who had bought the estate in -1756. - -There was little of what we should regard as comfort in those -picturesque old English houses, with their great black beams -chequering the outer walls into squares and triangles, their small -many-paned windows, their low ceilings and rude interior wood-work, -their poor and scanty furnishings. - -Chimneys had but just come into general use in England, and, though -John Shakespeare's house had one, the dwellings of many of his -neighbors were still unprovided with them. In 1582, when William -was eighteen years old, an order was passed by the town council -that "Walter Hill, dwelling in Rother Market, and all the other -inhabitants of the borough, shall, before St. James's Day, 30th -April, make sufficient chimneys," under pain of a fine of ten -shillings. - -This was intended as a precaution against fires, the frequent -occurrence of which in former years had been mainly due to the -absence of chimneys. - -William Harrison, in 1577, referring to things in England that -had been "marvellously changed within the memory of old people," -includes among these "the multitude of chimneys lately erected, -whereas in their young days there were not above two or three, if -so many, in most uplandish towns of the realm (the religious houses -and manor places of their lords always excepted), but each one -made his fire against a reredos[1] in the hall, where he dined and -dressed his meat." - -In another chapter Harrison says: "Now have we many chimneys; and -yet our tenderlings complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses. Then -had we none but reredosses; and our heads did never ache. For as -the smoke in those days was supposed to be a sufficient hardening -for the timber of the house, so it was reported a far better -medicine to keep the goodman and his family from the quack or pose, -wherewith, as then, very few were acquainted." - - -THE HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE. - -Of the furniture in these old houses we get an idea from -inventories of the period that have come down to us. We have, for -instance, such a list of the household equipment of Richard Arden, -Shakespeare's maternal grandfather, who was a wealthy farmer; -and another of such property belonging to Henry Field, tanner, a -neighbor of John Shakespeare, who was his chief executor. - -From these and similar inventories we find that the only furniture -in the hall, or main room of the house--often occupying the whole -of the ground floor--and the parlor, or sitting-room, when there -was one, consisted of two or three chairs, a few joint-stools--that -is, stools made of wood jointed or fitted together, as distinguished -from those more rudely made--a table of the plainest construction, -and possibly one or more "painted cloths" hung on the walls. - -These painted cloths were cheap substitutes for the tapestries -with which great mansions were adorned, and they were often found -in the cottages of the poor. The paintings were generally crude -representations of Biblical stories, together with maxims or -mottoes, which were sometimes on scrolls or "labels" proceeding -from the mouths of the characters. - -Shakespeare refers to these cloths several times; for instance, -in _As You Like It_ (iii. 2. 291), where Jaques says to Orlando: -"You are full of pretty answers; have you not been acquainted -with goldsmiths' wives and conned them out of rings?"--referring -to the mottoes, or "posies," as they were called, often inscribed -in finger-rings. Orlando replies: "Not so; but I answer you right -painted cloth, from whence you have studied your questions." -Falstaff (_1 Henry IV._ iv. 2. 28) says that his recruits are -"ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth." - -In an anonymous play, _No Whipping nor Tripping_, printed in 1601, -we find this passage:-- - - "Read what is written on the painted cloth: - Do no man wrong; be good unto the poor; - Beware the mouse, the maggot, and the moth, - And ever have an eye unto the door," etc. - -When carpets are mentioned in these inventories, they are coverings -for the tables, not for the floors, which, even in kings' palaces, -were strewn with rushes. Grumio, in _The Taming of the Shrew_ -(iv. 1. 52) sees "the carpets laid" for supper on his master's -return home. A Stratford inventory of 1590 mentions "a carpet for -a table." Carpets were also used for window-seats, but were seldom -placed on the floor except to kneel upon, or for other special -purposes. - -The bedroom furniture was equally rude and scanty, though better -than it had been when the old folk of the time were young. Harrison -says:-- - -"Our fathers and we ourselves have lien full oft upon straw pallets -covered only with a sheet, under coverlets made of dagswain or -hopharlots [coarse, rough cloths], and a good round log under their -heads instead of a bolster. If it were that our fathers or the good -man of the house had a mattress or flock-bed, and thereto a sack -of chaff to rest his head upon, he thought himself to be as well -lodged as the lord of the town, so well were they contented." - -But feather beds had now come into use, with pillows, and "flaxen -sheets," and other comfortable appliances. Henry Field had "one -bed-covering of yellow and green" among his household goods. - -Kitchen utensils and table-ware had likewise improved within the -memory of the old inhabitant, though still rude and simple enough. -Harrison notes "the exchange of treen [wooden] platters into -pewter, and wooden spoons into silver or tin." - -He adds: "So common were all sorts of treen stuff in old time that -a man should hardly find four pieces of pewter (of which one was -peradventure a salt) in a good farmer's house"; but now they had -plenty of pewter, with perhaps a silver bowl and salt-cellar, and a -dozen silver spoons. - -The table-linen was hempen for common use, but flaxen for special -occasions, and the napkins were of the same materials. These -napkins, or towels, as they were sometimes called, were for wiping -the hands after eating with the fingers, forks being as yet unknown -in England except as a curiosity. - -Elizabeth is the first royal personage in the country who is known -to have had a fork, and it is doubtful whether she used it. It was -not until the middle of the 17th century that forks were used even -by the higher classes, and silver forks were not introduced until -about 1814. - -Thomas Coryat, in his _Crudities_, published in 1611, only five -years before Shakespeare died, gives an account of the use of forks -in Italy, where they appear to have been invented in the 15th -century. He says:-- - -"The Italian and also most strangers do always at their meals use -a little fork when they do cut their meat. For while with their -knife, which they hold in one hand, they cut the meat out of the -dish, they fasten the fork, which they hold in their other hand, -upon the same dish; so that whosoever he be that, sitting in the -company of others at meals, should unadvisedly touch the dish of -meat with his fingers, from which all the table do cut, he will -give occasion of offence unto the company, as having transgressed -the laws of good manners." - -Coryat adds that he himself "thought good to imitate the Italian -fashion by this forked cutting of meat," not only while he was in -Italy, but after he came home to England, where, however, he was -sometimes "quipped" for what his friends regarded as a foreign -affectation. - -The dramatists of the time also refer contemptuously to "your -fork-carving traveller"; and one clergyman preached against the use -of forks "as being an insult to Providence not to touch one's meat -with one's fingers!" - -Towels, except for table use, are rarely noticed in inventories of -the period, and when mentioned are specified as "washing towels." -Neither are wash-basins often referred to, except in lists of -articles used by barbers. - -Bullein, in his _Government of Health_, published about 1558, says: -"Plain people in the country use seldom times to wash their hands, -as appeareth by their filthiness, and as very few times comb their -heads." - -Their betters were none too particular in these matters, and in -personal cleanliness generally. Baths are seldom referred to in -writings of the time, except for the treatment of certain diseases. - -[Illustration: INTERIOR OF ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE] - -Reference has already been made to the use of rushes for covering -floors. It was thought to be a piece of unnecessary luxury on the -part of Wolsey when he caused the rushes at Hampton Court to be -changed every day. From a letter of Erasmus to Dr. Francis, -Wolsey's physician, it would appear that the lowest layer of -rushes--the top only being renewed--was sometimes unchanged -for years--the latter says "twenty years," which seems hardly -credible--becoming a receptacle for beer, grease, fragments of -victuals, and other organic matters. - -Perfumes were used for neutralizing the foul odors that resulted -from this filthiness. Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, 1621, -says: "The smoke of juniper is in great request with us at Oxford, -to sweeten our chambers." [See also page 25 above.] - -From the correspondence of the Earl of Shrewsbury with Lord -Burleigh, during the confinement of Mary Queen of Scots at -Sheffield Castle, in 1572, we learn that she was to be removed -for five or six days "to cleanse her chamber, being kept very -uncleanly." - -In a memoir written by Anne, Countess of Dorset, in 1603, we read: -"We all went to Tibbals to see the King, who used my mother and my -aunt very graciously; but we all saw a great change between the -fashion of the Court as it was now and of that in the Queen's, for -we were all lousy by sitting in Sir Thomas Erskine's chambers." - - -FOOD AND DRINK. - -The food of the common people was better in some respects than -it is nowadays, and better than it was in Continental countries. -Harrison says that whereas what he calls "white meats"--milk, -butter, and cheese--were in old times the food of the upper -classes, they were in his time "only eaten by the poor," while all -other classes ate flesh, fish, and "wild and tame fowls." - -Wheaten bread, however, was little known except to the rich, the -bread of the poor being made of rye or barley, and, in times of -scarcity, of beans, oats, and even acorns. - -Tea and coffee had not yet been introduced into England, but wine -was abundant and cheap. It is rather surprising to learn that from -twenty to thirty thousand tuns of home-grown wine were then made in -the country. - -Of foreign wines, thirty kinds of strong and fifty-six of light -were to be had in London. The price ranged from eightpence to a -shilling a gallon. The drink of the common people, however, was -beer, which was generally home-brewed and cheap withal. - -Harrison, who was a country clergyman with forty pounds a year, -tells how his good wife brewed two hundred gallons at a cost of -twenty shillings, or less than three halfpence a gallon. When -nobody drank water, and the only substitute for malt liquors was -milk, the consumption of beer was of course enormous. - -The meals were but two a day. Harrison says: "Heretofore there hath -been much more time spent in eating and drinking than commonly -is in these days, for whereas of old we had breakfasts in the -forenoon, beverages or nuntions [luncheons] after dinner, and -thereto rear-suppers [late or second suppers] generally when it -was time to go to rest, now these odd repasts--thanked be God--are -very well left, and each one in manner (except here and there some -young hungry stomach that cannot fast till dinner time) contenteth -himself with dinner and supper only." - -[Illustration: OLD HOUSE IN HIGH STREET] - -Of the times of meals he says: "With us the nobility, gentry, -and students do ordinarily go to dinner at eleven before noon, -and to supper at five, or between five and six at afternoon. The -merchants dine and sup seldom before twelve at noon and six at -night, especially in London. The husbandmen dine also at high noon, -as they call it, and sup at seven or eight; but out of the term in -our universities the scholars dine at ten. As for the poorest sort, -they generally dine and sup when they may, so that to talk of -their order of repast it were but needless matter." - -Rising at four or five in the morning, as was the custom with the -common people, and going until ten or even noon without food must -have been hard for other than the "young hungry stomachs" of which -Harrison speaks so contemptuously. - - -THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN. - -In the 16th century, children of the middle and upper classes were -strictly brought up. The "Books of Nurture," published at that -time, give minute directions for the behavior of boys like William -at home, at school, at church, and elsewhere. These manuals were -generally in doggerel verse, and several of them have been edited -by Dr. F. J. Furnivall for the Early English Text Society. - -Among them is one by Francis Seager, published in London in 1557, -entitled _The Schoole of Vertue, and booke of good Nourture for -Chyldren and youth to learne their dutie by_. Another is _The -Boke of Nurture, or Schoole of good maners for men, servants, and -children_, compiled by Hugh Rhodes, of which at least five editions -were printed between 1554 and 1577. - -The _Schoole of Vertue_ begins thus[2] (the spelling being -modernized):-- - - "First in the morning when thou dost awake - To God for his grace thy petition then make; - This prayer following use daily to say, - Thy heart lifting up; thus begin to pray," - -A prayer of eighteen lines follows, with directions to repeat the -Lord's Prayer after it. Then come rules "how to order thyself when -thou risest, and in apparelling thy body." - -The child is to rise early, dress carefully, washing his hands and -combing his head. When he goes down stairs he is to salute the -family:-- - - "Down from thy chamber when thou shalt go, - Thy parents salute thou, and the family also." - -Elsewhere, politeness out of doors is enjoined:-- - - "Be free of cap [taking it off to his elders] and full of - courtesy." - -At meals his first duty is to wait upon his parents, after saying -this grace:-- - - "Give thanks to God with one accord - For that shall be set on this board. - And be not careful what to eat, - To each thing living the Lord sends meat; - For food He will not see you perish, - But will you feed, foster, and cherish; - Take well in worth what He hath sent, - At this time be therewith content, - Praising God." - -He is then to make low curtsy, saying "Much good may it do you!" -and, if he is big enough, he is to bring the food to the table. - -In filling the dishes he must take care not to get them so full -as to spill anything on his parents' clothes. He is to have -spare trenchers and napkins ready for guests, to see that all -are supplied with "bread and drink," and that the "voiders"--the -baskets or vessels into which bones are thrown--are often emptied. - -When the course of meat is over he is to clear the table, cover the -salt, put the dirty trenchers and napkins into a voider, sweep the -crumbs into another, place a clean trencher before each person, -and set on "cheese with fruit, with biscuits or caraways" [comfits -containing caraway seeds, which were considered favorable to -digestion, and, according to a writer on health, in 1595, "surely -very good for students"], also wine, "if any there were," or beer. - -The meal ended, he is to remove the cloth, turning in each side -and folding it up carefully; "a clean towel then on the table to -spread," and bring basin and ewer for washing the hands. He now -clears the table again, and when the company rise, he must not -"forget his duty":-- - - "Before the table make thou low curtsy." - -The boy can now eat his own dinner, and equally minute directions -are given as to his behavior while doing it. He is not to break his -bread, but "cut it fair," not to fill his spoon too full of soup, -nor his mouth too full of meat-- - - "Not smacking thy lips as commonly do hogs, - Nor gnawing the bones as it were dogs. - Such rudeness abhor, such beastliness fly, - At the table behave thyself mannerly." - -He must keep his fingers clean with a napkin, wipe his mouth before -drinking, and be temperate in eating--"For 'measure is treasure,' -the proverb doth say." - -The directions "how to behave thyself in talking with any man" are -very minute and specific:-- - - "If a man demand a question of thee, - In thine answer-making be not too hasty; - Weigh well his words, the case understand, - Ere an answer to make thou take in hand; - Else may he judge in thee little wit, - To answer to a thing and not hear it. - Suffer his tale whole out to be told, - Then speak thou mayst, and not be controlled; - Low obeisance making, looking him in the face, - Treatably speaking, thy words see thou place, - With countenance sober, thy body upright, - Thy feet just together, thy hands in like plight; - Cast not thine eyes on either side. - When thou art praised, therein take no pride. - In telling thy tale, neither laugh nor smile; - Such folly forsake thou, banish and exile. - In audible voice thy words do thou utter, - Not high nor low, but using a measure. - Thy words see that thou pronounce plaine, - And that they spoken be not in vain; - In uttering whereof keep thou an order, - Thy matter thereby thou shalt much forder [further]; - Which order if thou do not observe, - From the purpose needs must thou swerve, - And hastiness of speed will cause thee to err, - Or will thee teach to stut or stammer. - To stut or stammer is a foul crime; - Learn then to leave it, take warning in time; - How evil a child it doth become, - Thyself being judge, having wisdom; - And sure it is taken by custom and ure [use], - While young you be there is help and cure. - This general rule yet take with thee, - In speaking to any man thy head uncovered be, - The common proverb remember ye ought, - 'Better unfed than untaught.'" - -Though this may be very poor poetry, it is very good advice; and -so is this which follows, on "how to order thyself being sent of -message":-- - - "If of message forth thou be sent, - Take heed to the same, give ear diligent; - Depart not away and being in doubt, - Know well thy message before thou pass out; - With possible speed then haste thee right soon, - If need shall require it so to be done. - After humble obeisance the message forth shew, - Thy words well placing, in uttering but few - As shall thy matter serve to declare. - Thine answer made, then home again repair, - And to thy master thereof make relation - As then the answer shall give thee occasion. - Neither add nor diminish anything to the same, - Lest after it prove to thy rebuke and shame, - But the same utter as near as thou can; - No fault they shall find to charge thee with than [then]." - -[Illustration: ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE] - -Similar counsel is added "against the horrible vice of swearing": - - "In vain take not the name of God; - Swear not at all for fear of his rod. - - * * * * * - - Seneca doth counsel thee all swearing to refrain, - Although great profit by it thou might gain; - Pericles, whose words are manifest and plain, - From swearing admonisheth thee to abstain; - The law of God and commandment he gave - Swearing amongst us in no wise would have. - The counsel of philosophers I have here exprest, - Amongst whom swearing was utterly detest; - Much less among Christians ought it to be used, - But utterly of them clean to be refused." - -There are also admonitions "against the vice of filthy talking" and -"against the vice of lying"; and a prayer follows, "to be said when -thou goest to bed." - -The rules laid down in the _Boke of Nurture_ are similar and in the -same doggerel measure. It is interesting, by the bye, to compare -the alterations in successive editions as indicating changes in the -manners and customs of the time. A single illustration must suffice. - -When the first edition appeared, handkerchiefs had not come into -general use; and how to blow the nose without one was evidently -a difficulty with the writer and other early authorities on -deportment. Even in 1577, when handkerchiefs began to be common, -Rhodes says:-- - - "Blow not your nose on the napkin - Where you should wipe your hand, - But cleanse it in your handkercher."[3] - -The _Booke of Demeanor_, printed in 1619, says:-- - - "Nor imitate with Socrates - To wipe thy snivelled nose - Upon thy cap, as he would do, - Nor yet upon thy clothes: - But keep it clean with handkerchief, - Provided for the same, - Not with thy fingers or thy sleeve, - Therein thou art to blame." - -The introduction of toothpicks, the gradual adoption of forks, -already referred to, and sundry other refinements, can be similarly -traced in these interesting hand-books. - -It would appear that this _Schoole of Vertue_, or some other book -with the same title, was used in schools for boys. John Brinsley, -in his _Grammar Schoole_ of 1612 (quoted by Dr. Furnivall), -enumerates the "Bookes to be first learned of children." After -mentioning the Primer, the Psalms in metre--"because children -will learne that booke with most readinesse and delight through -the running of the metre"--and the Testament, he adds: "If any -require any other little booke meet to enter children, the -_Schoole of Vertue_ is one of the principall, and easiest for the -first enterers, being full of precepts of civilitie, and such as -children will soone learne and take a delight in, thorow [through] -the roundnesse of the metre, as was sayde before of the singing -Psalmes: and after it the _Schoole of good manners_, called _the -new Schoole of Vertue_, leading the childe as by the hand, in the -way of all good manners." - - -INDOOR AMUSEMENTS. - -Of the indoor amusements of country people we get an idea from -Vincent's _Dialogue with an English Courtier_, published in 1586. -He says: "In foul weather we send for some honest neighbors, if -haply we be with our wives alone at home (as seldom we are) and -with them we play at Dice and Cards, sorting ourselves according -to the number of players and their skill; ... sometimes we fall to -Slide-Thrift, to Penny Prick, and in winter nights we use certain -Christmas games very proper, and of much agility; we want not also -pleasant mad-headed knaves, that be properly learned, and will read -in divers pleasant books and good authors; as Sir Guy of Warwick, -the Four Sons of Aymon, the Ship of Fools, the Hundred Merry Tales, -the Book of Riddles, and many other excellent writers both witty -and pleasant. These pretty and pithy matters do sometimes recreate -our minds, chiefly after long sitting and loss of money." - -"Slide-thrift," called also "slip-groat" and "shove-groat," is -a game frequently mentioned by writers of the 16th and 17th -centuries. Strutt, in his _Sports and Pastimes of England_, -describes it thus:-- - -"It requires a parallelogram to be made with chalk, or by lines -cut upon the middle of a table, about twelve or fourteen inches -in breadth, and three or four feet in length: which is divided, -latitudinally, into nine sections, in every one of which is placed -a figure, in regular succession from one to nine. Each of the -players provides himself with a smooth halfpenny, which he places -upon the edge of the table, and, striking it with the palm of his -hand, drives it towards the marks; and according to the value of -the figure affixed to the partition wherein the halfpenny rests, -his game is reckoned; which generally is stated at thirty-one, -and must be made precisely: if it be exceeded, the player goes -again for nine, which must also be brought exactly or the turn is -forfeited; and if the halfpenny rests upon any of the marks that -separate the partitions, or over-passes the external boundaries, -the go is void. It is also to be observed that the players toss -up to determine which shall go first, which is certainly a great -advantage." - -[Illustration: SHILLING OF EDWARD VI] - -Shovel-board, or shuffle-board, which some writers confound with -slide-thrift, was also played upon a table with coins or flat -pieces of metal; but the board was longer and the rules of the game -were different. - -In _2 Henry IV._ (ii. 4. 206), when Falstaff wants Pistol put out -of the room, he says to Bardolph: "Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a -shove-groat shilling." - -In _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (i. 1. 159), Slender, when asked -if Pistol had picked his purse, replies: "Ay, by these gloves, -did he ... of seven groats in mill-sixpences and two Edward -shovel-boards, that cost me two shillings and twopence apiece." -"Edward shovel-boards" were the broad shillings of Edward VI. which -were generally used in playing the game. It has been suggested -that Slender was a fool to pay two shillings and twopence for a -shilling worn smooth; but it is possible that these old coins -commanded a premium on account of being in demand for this game. -The silver groat (fourpence) was originally used for the purpose, -but the shilling, especially of this particular coinage, came to -be preferred by players. Taylor the Water Poet makes one of these -coins say:-- - - "You see my face is beardless, smooth, and plain, - Because my sovereign was a child 't is known, - When as he did put on the English crown; - But had my stamp been bearded, as with hair, - Long before this it had been worn out bare; - For why, with me the unthrifts every day, - With my face downward, do at shove-board play." - -"Penny-prick" is described as "a game consisting of casting oblong -pieces of iron at a mark." Another writer explains it as "throwing -at halfpence placed on sticks which are called hobs." It was a -common game as early as the fifteenth century, and is reproved by a -religious writer of that period, probably because it was used for -gambling. - -Card-playing had become so general in the time of Henry VIII. that -a statute was enacted forbidding apprentices to use cards except -in the Christmas holidays, and then only in their masters' houses. -Many different games with cards are mentioned by writers of the -time, but few of them are described minutely enough to make it -clear how they were played. - -Backgammon, or "tables," as it was called, was popular in -Shakespeare's time. He refers to it in _Love's Labour's Lost_ (v. -2. 326), where Biron, ridiculing Boyet, says:-- - - "This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice, - That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice - In honourable terms." - -"Tick-tack" was a kind of backgammon; alluded to, figuratively, in -_Measure for Measure_ (i. 2. 196): "thus foolishly lost at a game -of tick-tack." - -"Tray-trip" was a game of dice, in which success depended upon -throwing a "tray" (the French _trois_, or three); mentioned -in _Twelfth Night_ (ii. 5. 207): "Shall I play my freedom at -tray-trip, and become thy bond-slave?" - -"Troll-my-dames" was a game resembling the modern bagatelle. The -name is a corruption of the French _trou-madame_. It was also -known as "pigeon-holes." Dr. John Jones, in his _Ancient Baths of -Buckstone_ (1572) refers to it thus: "The ladies, gentlewomen, -wives and maids, may in one of the galleries walk; and if the -weather be not agreeable to their expectation, they may have in the -end of a bench eleven holes made, into the which to troll pummets, -or bowls of lead, big, little, or mean, or also of copper, tin, -wood, either violent or soft, after their own discretion: the -pastime _troule-in-madame_ is called." - -In _The Tempest_ (v. 1. 172) Ferdinand and Miranda are represented -as playing chess; but there is no other clear allusion to the game -in Shakespeare's works. It was introduced into England before the -Norman Conquest, and became a favorite pastime with the upper -classes, but appears to have been little known among the common -people. - - -POPULAR BOOKS. - -Of books there were probably very few at the house in Henley -Street. Some of those mentioned by Vincent were popular with all -classes. The story of Guy of Warwick had been told repeatedly in -prose and verse from the twelfth century down to Shakespeare's -day, and some of the books and ballads would be likely to be well -known in Stratford, which, as we have seen, was in the immediate -vicinity of the hero's legendary exploits. The _Four Sons of Aymon_ -was the translation of a French prose romance, the earliest form of -which dated back to songs or ballads of the 13th century. Aymon, -or Aimon, a prince of Ardennes whose history was partly imaginary, -and his sons figure in the works of Tasso and Ariosto, and other -Italian and French poets and romancers. - -The _Hundred Merry Tales_ was a popular jest-book of Shakespeare's -time, to which he alludes in _Much Ado About Nothing_ (ii. 1. 134), -where Beatrice refers to what Benedick had said about her: "That -I was disdainful, and that I had my wit out of the Hundred Merry -Tales." - -The _Book of Riddles_ was another book mentioned by Shakespeare -in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (i. 1. 205), in connection with a -volume of verse which was equally popular in the Elizabethan age:-- - - "_Slender._ I had rather than forty shillings, I had my book of - Songs and Sonnets here.-- - - _Enter_ Simple. - - How now, Simple! Where have you been? I must wait on myself, must - I? You have not the Book of Riddles about you, have you? - - _Simple._ Book of Riddles? why, did you not lend it to Alice - Shortcake upon Allhallowmas last, a fortnight afore Michaelmas?" - -The title-page of one edition reads thus: "The Booke of Merry -Riddles. Together with proper Questions, and witty Proverbs to make -pleasant pastime. No lesse usefull than behoovefull for any yong -man or child, to know if he bee quick-witted, or no." - -A few of the shortest riddles may be quoted as samples:-- - - "_The_ li. _Riddle_.--My lovers will - I am content for to fulfill; - Within this rime his name is framed; - Tell me then how he is named? - - _Solution._--His name is William; for in the first line is - _will_, and in the beginning of the second line is _I am_, and - then put them both together, and it maketh _William_. - - _The_ liv. _Riddle_.--How many calves tailes will reach to the - skye? _Solution._--One, if it be long enough. - - _The_ lxv. _Riddle_.--What is that, round as a ball, - Longer than Pauls steeple, - weather-cocke, and all? - - _Solution._--It is a round bottome of thred when it is unwound. - - _The_ lxvii. _Riddle_.--What is that, that goeth thorow the wood, - and toucheth never a twig? _Solution._--It is the blast of a - horne, or any other noyse." - -A _bottom_ of thread was a ball of it. The word occurs in _The -Taming of the Shrew_ (iv. 3. 138), where Grumio says, in the -dialogue with the Tailor: "Master, if ever I said loose-bodied -gown, sew me in the skirts of it, and beat me to death with a -bottom of brown thread; I said a gown." The verb is used in _The -Two Gentlemen of Verona_ (iii. 2. 53):-- - - "Therefore, as you unwind her love from him, - Lest it should ravel and be good to none, - You must provide to bottom it on me." - -This old meaning of _bottom_ doubtless suggested the name of Bottom -the Weaver in the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_. - - -STORY-TELLING. - -If books were scarce in the homes of the common people when -Shakespeare was a boy, there was no lack of oral tales, legends, -and folk-lore for the entertainment of the family of a winter -evening. The store of this unwritten history and fiction was -inexhaustible. - -In Milton's _L'Allegro_ we have a pleasant picture of a rustic -group listening to fairy stories round the evening fire:-- - - "Then to the spicy nut-brown ale, - With stories told of many a feat, - How fairy Mab the junkets eat. - She was pinch'd and pull'd, she said, - And he, by Friar's lantern led, - Tells how the drudging goblin sweat - To earn his cream-bowl duly set, - When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, - His shadowy flail hath thresh'd the corn - That ten day-laborers could not end; - Then lies him down the lubber fiend, - And, stretch'd out all the chimney's length, - Basks at the fire his hairy strength, - And crop-full out of doors he flings - Ere the first cock his matin rings. - Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, - By whispering winds soon lull'd asleep." - -Of "fairy Mab" we have a graphic description from the merry -Mercutio in _Romeo and Juliet_ (i. 4. 53-94); and the "drudging -goblin," or Robin Goodfellow, is the Puck of the _Midsummer-Night's -Dream_, to whom the Fairy says (ii. 1. 40):-- - - "Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, - You do their work, and they shall have good luck." - -In the same scene Puck himself tells of the practical jokes he -plays upon "the wisest aunt telling the saddest tale" to a fireside -group, and of many another sportive trick with which he "frights -the maidens" and vexes the housewives. - -The children had their stories to tell, like their elders; and -Shakespeare has pictured a home scene in _The Winter's Tale_ (ii. -1. 21) which may have been suggested by his own experience as a -boy. As Mr. Charles Knight asks, "may we not read for Hermione, -Mary Shakespeare, and for Mamillius, William?" - - "_Hermione._ What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, now - I am for you again; pray you, sit by us, - And tell 's a tale. - - _Mamillius._ Merry, or sad shall 't be? - - _Hermione._ As merry as you will. - - _Mamillius._ A sad tale 's best for winter. I have one - Of sprites and goblins. - - _Hermione._ Let's have that, good sir. - Come on, sit down; come on, and do your best - To fright me with your sprites; you're powerful at it. - - _Mamillius._ There was a man-- - - _Hermione._ Nay, come, sit down; then on. - - _Mamillius._ Dwelt by a churchyard:--I will tell it softly; - Yond crickets shall not hear it. - - _Hermione._ Come on, then, - And give 't me in mine ear." - -Just then his father, Leontes, comes in, and the tale is -interrupted, never to be resumed. - -Mr. Knight assumes, with a good degree of probability, that William -had access to some of the books from which he drew material for the -story of his plays later in life, and that he may have told these -tales, whether "merry or sad," to his brothers and sisters at home. - -"He had," says this genial biographer, "a copy, well thumbed from -his first reading days, of 'The Palace of Pleasure, beautified, -adorned, and well furnished with pleasant histories and excellent -novelles, selected out of divers good and commendable authors; by -William Painter, Clarke of the Ordinaunce and Armarie.' In this -book, according to the dedication of the translator to Ambrose Earl -of Warwick, was set forth 'the great valiance of noble gentlemen, -the terrible combats of courageous personages, the virtuous minds -of noble dames, the chaste hearts of constant ladies, the wonderful -patience of puissant princes, the mild sufferance of well-disposed -gentlewomen, and, in divers, the quiet bearing of adverse fortune.' -Pleasant little apothegms and short fables were there in the book; -which the brothers and sisters of William Shakespeare had heard -him tell with marvellous spirit, and they abided therefore in -their memories. There was Æsop's fable of the old lark and her -young ones, wherein 'he prettily and aptly doth premonish that -hope and confidence of things attempted by man ought to be fixed -and trusted in none other but himself.' There was the story, most -delightful to a child, of the bondman at Rome, who was brought into -the open place upon which a great multitude looked, to fight with -a lion of a marvellous bigness; and the fierce lion, when he saw -him, 'suddenly stood still, and afterwards by little and little, -in gentle sort, he came unto the man as though he had known him,' -and licked his hands and legs; and the bondman told that he had -healed in former time the wounded foot of the lion, and the beast -became his friend. These were for the younger children; but William -had now a new tale, out of the same storehouse, upon which he had -often pondered, the subject of which had shaped itself in his mind -into dialogue that almost sounded like verse in his graceful and -earnest recitation. It was a tale which Painter translated from -the French of Pierre Boisteau.... It was 'The goodly history of -the true and constant love between Romeo and Julietta.' ... From -the same collection of tales had the youth before half dramatized -the story of 'Giletta of Narbonne,' who cured the King of France -of a painful malady, and the king gave her in marriage to the -Count Beltramo, with whom she had been brought up, and her husband -despised and forsook her, but at last they were united, and lived -in great honor and felicity. - -"There was another collection, too, which that youth had diligently -read,--the 'Gesta Romanorum,' translated by R. Robinson in -1577,--old legends, come down to those latter days from monkish -historians, who had embodied in their narratives all the wild -traditions of the ancient and modern world. He could tell the story -of the rich heiress who chose a husband by the machinery of a gold, -a silver, and a leaden casket; and another story of the merchant -whose inexorable creditor required the fulfilment of his bond in -cutting a pound of flesh, nearest the merchant's heart, and by the -skilful interpretation of the bond the cruel creditor was defeated. - -"There was the story, too, in these legends, of the Emperor -Theodosius, who had three daughters; and those two daughters who -said they loved him more than themselves were unkind to him, but -the youngest, who only said she loved him as much as he was worthy, -succoured him in his need, and was his true daughter.... - -"Stories such as these, preserved amidst the wreck of time, were -to that youth like the seeds that are found in the tombs of ruined -cities, lying with the bones of forgotten generations, but which -the genial influence of nature will call into life, and they shall -become flowers, and trees, and food for man. - -"But, beyond all these, our Mamillius had many a tale 'of sprites -and goblins'.... Such appearances were above nature, but the -commonest movements of the natural world had them in subjection:-- - - "'I have heard, - The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, - Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat - Awake the god of day; and at his warning, - Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, - The extravagant and erring spirit hies - To his confine.' - -"Powerful they were, but yet powerless. They came for benevolent -purposes: to warn the guilty; to discover the guilt. The belief in -them was not a debasing thing. It was associated with the enduring -confidence that rested upon a world beyond this material world. -Love hoped for such visitations; it had its dreams of such--where -the loved one looked smilingly, and spoke of regions where change -and separation were not. They might be talked of, even among -children then, without terror. They lived in that corner of the -soul which had trust in angel protections, which believed in -celestial hierarchies, which listened to hear the stars moving in -harmonious music.... - -"William Shakespeare could also tell to his greedy listeners, how -in the old days of King Arthur - - "'The elf-queene, with her jolly compagnie, - Danced full oft in many a grene mede.' - -"Here was something in his favorite old poet for the youth to work -out into beautiful visions of a pleasant race of supernatural -beings; who lived by day in the acorn cups of Arden, and by -moonlight held their revels on the greensward of Avon-side, the -ringlets of their dance being duly seen, 'whereof the ewe not -bites'; who tasted the honey-bag of the bee, and held counsel by -the light of the glowworm; who kept the cankers from the rosebuds, -and silenced the hootings of the owl.... Some day would William -make a little play of Fairies, and Joan should be their Queen, and -he would be the King; for he had talked with the Fairies, and he -knew their language and their manners, and they were 'good people,' -and would not mind a boy's sport with them. - -"But when the youth began to speak of witches there was fear and -silence. For did not his mother recollect that in the year she was -married Bishop Jewell had told the Queen that her subjects pined -away, even unto the death, and that their affliction was owing to -the increase of witches and sorcerers? Was it not known how there -were three sorts of witches,--those that can hurt and not help, -those that can help and not hurt, and those that can both help and -hurt? It was unsafe even to talk of them. - -"But the youth had met with the history of the murder of Duncan -King of Scotland, in a chronicler older than Holinshed; and he told -softly, so that 'yon crickets shall not hear it,' that, as Macbeth -and Banquo journeyed from Forres, sporting by the way together, -when the warriors came in the midst of a laund, three weird sisters -suddenly appeared to them, in strange and wild apparel, resembling -creatures of an elder world, and prophesied that Macbeth should be -King of Scotland; and Macbeth from that hour desired to be king, -and so killed the good king his liege lord. - -"And then the story-teller would pass on to safer matters--to -the calculations of learned men who could read the fates of -mankind in the aspects of the stars; and of those more deeply -learned, clothed in garments of white linen, who had command over -the spirits of the earth, of the water, and of the air. Some of -the children said that a horseshoe over the door, and vervain -and dill, would preserve them, as they had been told, from the -devices of sorcery. But their mother called to their mind that -there was security far more to be relied on than charms of herb or -horseshoe--that there was a Power that would preserve them from -all evil, seen or unseen, if such were His gracious will, and if -they humbly sought Him, and offered up their hearts to Him in all -love and trust. And to that Power this household then addressed -themselves; and the night was without fear, and their sleep was -pleasant." - - -CHRISTENINGS. - -In the olden time the christening of a child was an occasion of -feasting and gift-giving. It was an ancient custom for the sponsors -to make a present of silver or gilt spoons to the infant. These -were called "apostle spoons," because the end of the handle was -formed into the figure of one of the apostles. The rich or generous -gave the whole twelve; those less wealthy or liberal limited -themselves to the four evangelists; while the poor contented -themselves with the gift of a single spoon. - -There is an allusion to this custom in _Henry VIII._ (v. 3. -168), where the King replies to Cranmer, who has professed to be -unworthy of being a sponsor to the baby Elizabeth, "Come, come, my -lord, you'd spare your spoons,"--a playful insinuation that the -archbishop wants to escape making a present to the child. - -[Illustration: ANCIENT FONT AT STRATFORD] - -It is related that Shakespeare was godfather to one of Ben Jonson's -children, and said to his friend after the christening, "I' faith, -Ben, I'll e'en give him a dozen good Latin spoons, and thou shalt -translate them." That is, as Mr. Thoms explains it, "Shakespeare, -willing to show his wit, if not his wealth, gave a dozen spoons, -not of silver, but of _latten_, a name formerly used to signify a -mixed metal resembling brass, as being the most appropriate gift to -the child of a father so learned." - -After baptism at the church a piece of white linen was put -upon the head of the child. This was called the "chrisom" or -"chrisom-cloth," and originally was worn seven days; but after the -Reformation it was kept on until the churching of the mother. If -the child died before the churching, it was buried with the chrisom -upon it. In parish registers such infants are often referred to -as "chrisoms." In _Henry V._ (ii. 3. 12), Dame Quickly says of -Falstaff, "A' made a finer end, and went away an it had been any -christom child"; that is, his death was like that of a young -infant. "Christom" is the old woman's blunder for "chrisom." - -The "bearing-cloth" was the mantle which covered the child when -it was carried to the font. In the _Winter's Tale_ (iii. 3. 119), -the Shepherd, when he finds the infant Perdita abandoned on the -sea-shore, says to his son: "Here's a sight for thee; look thee, a -bearing-cloth for a squire's child! Look thee here; take up, take -up, boy; open 't." John Stow, writing in the closing years of the -16th century, says that at that time it was not customary "for -godfathers and godmothers generally to give plate at the baptism of -children, but only to give 'christening shirts,' with little bands -and cuffs, wrought either with silk or blue thread. The best of -them, for chief persons, were edged with a small lace of black silk -and gold, the highest price of which, for great men's children, -was seldom above a noble [a gold coin worth 6_s._ 8_d._], and the -common sort, two, three, or four, and six shillings apiece." - -The "gossips' feast" (or sponsors' feast) held in honor of those -who were associated in the christening, was an ancient English -custom often mentioned by dramatists and other writers of the -Elizabethan age. In the _Comedy of Errors_ (v. 1. 405) the Abbess, -when she finds that the twin brothers Antipholus are her long-lost -sons, says to the company present:-- - - "Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail - Of you, my sons; and till this present hour - My heavy burthen ne'er delivered.-- - The duke, my husband, and my children both, - And you the calendars of their nativity, - Go to a gossip's feast, and go with me; - After so long grief, such nativity!" - -And the Duke replies, "With all my heart I'll gossip at this feast." - -In the _Bachelor's Banquet_ (1603) we find an allusion to these -feasts: "What cost and trouble will it be to have all things -fine against the Christening Day; what store of sugar, biscuits, -comfets, and caraways, marmalet, and marchpane, with all kinds of -sweet-suckers and superfluous banqueting stuff, with a hundred -other odd and needless trifles, which at that time must fill the -pockets of dainty dames." It would appear from this that the women -at the feast not only ate what they pleased, but carried off some -of the good things in their pockets. - -A writer in 1666, alluding to this and the falling-off in the -custom of giving presents at christenings, says:-- - - "Especially since gossips now - Eat more at christenings than bestow. - Formerly when they used to trowl - Gilt bowls of sack, they gave the bowl-- - Two spoons at least; an use ill kept: - 'T is well now if our own be left." - -He insinuates that some of the guests were as likely to steal -spoons from the table as to give gilt bowls or "apostle spoons" to -the infant. - -The boy Shakespeare must have often seen this ceremony of -christening. His sister Joan was baptized when he was five years -old; his sister Anna when he was eight; his brother Richard when he -was ten; and Edmund when he was sixteen. - - -SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH AND BAPTISM. - -In the time of Shakespeare babies were supposed to be exposed to -other risks and dangers than the infantile disorders to which they -are subject. Mary Shakespeare, as she watched the cradle of the -infant William, may have been troubled by fears and anxieties that -never occur to a fond mother now. - -Witches and fairies were supposed to be given to stealing beautiful -and promising children, and substituting their own ugly and -mischievous offspring. Shakespeare alludes to these "changelings," -as they were called, in the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (ii. 1. 23), -where Puck says that Oberon is angry with Titania - - "Because that she as her attendant hath - A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; - She never had so sweet a changeling." - -This "changeling boy" is alluded to several times afterwards in the -play. - -In the _Winter's Tale_ (iii. 3. 122), when the Shepherd finds -Perdita, he says: "It was told me I should be rich by the fairies; -this is some changeling"; and the money left with the infant he -believes to be "fairy gold." As the child is beautiful he does not -take it to be one of the ugly elves left in exchange for a stolen -babe, but a human changeling which the fairy thieves have for some -reason abandoned. If it were not for the gold left with it, he -might suppose that the stolen infant had been temporarily hidden -there. We have an allusion to such behavior on the part of the -fairies in Spenser's _Faerie Queene_ (i. 10. 65):-- - - "For well I wote thou springst from ancient race - Of Saxon kinges, that have with mightie hand, - And many bloody battailes fought in face, - High reard their royall throne in Britans land, - And vanquisht them, unable to withstand: - From thence a Faery thee unweeting reft, - There as thou slepst in tender swadling band, - And her base Elfin brood there for thee left: - Such men do Chaungelings call, so chaung'd by Faeries theft. - - Thence she thee brought into this Faery lond [land], - And in a heaped furrow did thee hyde; - Where thee a Ploughman all unweeting fond [found], - As he his toylesome teme that way did guyde, - And brought thee up in a ploughmans state to byde." - -In _1 Henry IV._ (i. 1. 87), the King, contrasting the gallant -Hotspur with his own profligate son, exclaims: - - "O that it could be proved - That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd - In cradle-clothes our children where they lay, - And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet! - Then would I have his Harry, and he mine." - -The belief in the "evil eye" was another superstition prevalent -in Shakespeare's day, as it had been from the earliest times. -It dates back to old Greek and Roman days, being mentioned by -Theocritus, Virgil, and other classical writers. In Turkey passages -from the Koran used to be painted on the outside of houses as a -protection against this malignant influence of witches, who were -supposed to cause serious injury to human beings and animals by -merely looking at them. - -Thomas Lupton, in his _Book of Notable Things_ (1586) says: "The -eyes be not only instruments of enchantment, but also the voice and -evil tongues of certain persons." Bacon, in one of his minor works, -remarks: "It seems some have been so curious as to note that the -times when the stroke or percussion of an envious eye does most -hurt are particularly when the party envied is beheld in glory and -triumph." - -Robert Heron, writing in 1793 of his travels in Scotland, says: -"Cattle are subject to be injured by what is called an _evil -eye_, for some persons are supposed to have naturally a blasting -power in their eyes, with which they injure whatever offends or -is hopelessly desired by them. Witches and warlocks are also much -disposed to wreak their malignity on cattle.... It is common to -bind into a cow's tail a small piece of mountain-ash wood, as a -charm against witchcraft." - -As recently as August, 1839, a London newspaper reports a case in -which a woman was suspected of the evil eye by a fellow-lodger -merely because she squinted. - -In this case, as in many others, the possession of the evil eye -may not have been supposed due to any evil purpose or character. -Good people might be born with this baleful influence, and might -exert it against their will or even unconsciously. It is said that -Pius IX., soon after his election as Pope, when he was perhaps -the best loved man in Italy, happened while passing through the -streets in his carriage to glance upward at an open window at which -a nurse was standing with a child. A few minutes afterward the -nurse let the child drop and it was killed. Nobody thought that the -Pope wished this, but the fancy that he had the evil eye became -universal and lasted till his death. - -In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (v. 5. 87) Pistol says to Falstaff: -"Vile worm, thou wast o'erlook'd even in thy birth." In the -_Merchant of Venice_ (iii. 2. 15) Portia playfully refers to the -same superstition in talking with Bassanio:-- - - "Beshrew your eyes, - They have o'erlook'd me and divided me; - One half of me is yours, the other half yours." - - -CHARMS AND AMULETS. - -Against these dangers, and many like them which it would take -an entire volume to enumerate, protection was sought by charms -and amulets. These were also supposed to prevent or cure certain -diseases. Magicians and witches employed charms to accomplish their -evil purposes; and other charms were used to thwart these purposes -by those who feared mischief from them. - -In _Othello_ (i. 2. 62) Brabantio, the father of Desdemona, -suspects that the Moor has won his daughter's love by charms. He -says to Othello:-- - - "O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter? - Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her." - -In the preceding scene, talking with Roderigo, he asks:-- - - "Is there not charms - By which the property of youth and maidhood - May be abused? Have you not heard, Roderigo, - Of some such thing?" - -And Roderigo replies: "Yes, sir, I have indeed." When Othello -afterward tells how he had gained the maiden's love, he says in -conclusion:-- - - "She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, - And I loved her that she did pity them. - This only is the witchcraft I have used." - -In the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (i. 1. 27) Egeus accuses Lysander -of wooing Hermia by magic arts: "This man hath bewitch'd the bosom -of my child." - -In _Much Ado About Nothing_ (iii. 2. 72) Benedick, when his friends -banter him for pretending to have the toothache, replies: "Yet this -is no charm for the toothache." - -John Melton, in his _Astrologaster_ (1620), says it is vulgarly -believed that "toothaches, agues, cramps, and fevers, and many -other diseases may be healed by mumbling a few strange words over -the head of the diseased." - -[Illustration: PORCH, STRATFORD CHURCH] - -Written charms in prose or verse--or neither, being nonsensical -combinations of words, letters, or signs--were in great favor then, -as before and since. The unmeaning word _abracadabra_ was much used -in incantations, and worn as an amulet was supposed to cure -or prevent certain ailments. It was necessary to write it in the -following form, if one would secure its full potency:-- - - A B R A C A D A B R A - A B R A C A D A B R - A B R A C A D A B - A B R A C A D A - A B R A C A D - A B R A C A - A B R A C - A B R A - A B R - A B - A - -A manuscript in the British Museum contains this note: "Mr. -Banester saith that he healed 200 in one year of an ague by hanging -_abracadabra_ about their necks." - -Thomas Lodge, in his _Incarnate Divels_ (1596) refers to written -charms thus: "Bring him but a table [tablet] of lead, with crosses -(and 'Adonai' or 'Elohim' written in it), he thinks it will heal -the ague." - -Certain trees, like the elder and the ash, were supposed to furnish -valuable material for charms and amulets. A writer in 1651 says: -"The common people keep as a great secret the leaves of the elder -which they have gathered the last day of April; which to disappoint -the charms of witches they affix to their doors and windows." An -amulet against erysipelas was made of "elder on which the sun -never shined," a "piece betwixt two knots" being hung about the -patient's neck. - -In a book published in 1599 it is asserted that "if one eat three -small pomegranate-flowers, they say for a whole year he shall be -safe from all manner of eye sore." According to the same authority, -"it hath been and yet is a thing which superstition hath believed, -that the body anointed with the juice of chicory is very available -to obtain the favor of great persons." - -Wearing a bay-leaf was a charm against lightning. Robert Greene, -_Penelope's Web_ (1601), says: "He which weareth the bay leaf is -privileged from the prejudice of thunder." In Webster's _White -Devil_ (1612) Cornelia says:-- - - "Reach the bays: - I'll tie a garland here about his head; - 'T will keep my boy from lightning." - -Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_ (1621), remarks: "Amulets, -and things to be borne about, I find prescribed, taxed [condemned] -by some, approved by others.... I say with Renodeus, they are not -altogether to be rejected." - -Reginald Scot, in his _Discoverie of Witchcraft_, published in -1584, in which he exposed and ridiculed the pretensions of witches, -magicians, and astrologers, tells an amusing story of an old woman -who cured diseases by muttering a certain form of words over the -person afflicted; for which service she always received a penny and -a loaf of bread. At length, terrified by threats of being burned as -a witch, she owned that her whole conjuration consisted in these -lines, which she repeated in a low voice near the head of the -patient:-- - - "Thy loaf in my hand, - And thy penny in my purse, - Thou art never the better, - And I--am never the worse." - -Scot was one of the few men of that age who dared to assail the -general belief in witchcraft and magic; and James I. ordered his -book to be burned by the common hangman. That monarch also wrote -his _Demonology_, as he tells us, "chiefly against the damnable -opinions of Wierus and Scot; the latter of whom is not ashamed in -public print to deny there can be such a thing as witchcraft." -Eminent divines and scientific writers joined in the attempt to -refute this bold attack upon the ignorance and superstition of the -time. - -We infer, from certain passages in the plays, that Shakespeare had -read Scot's book; and we have good reason to believe that, like -Scot, he was far enough in advance of his age to see the absurdity -of the popular faith in magic and witchcraft. In his boyhood we -may suppose that he believed in them, as his parents and everybody -in Stratford doubtless did; but when he became a man he appears -to have regarded them only as curious old folk-lore from which he -could now and then draw material for use in his plays and poems. - -The illustrations here given of the vulgar superstitions of -Shakespeare's time are merely a few out of thousands equally -interesting to be found in books on the subject, or scattered -through the dramatic and other literature of the period. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] A _reredos_ was a kind of open hearth or brazier. _Pose_, -just below, means a cold in the head, and _quack_ a hoarseness or -croaking caused by a cold in the throat. - -[2] In the original each of these lines is divided into two, thus: - - "First in the mornynge - when thou dost awake - To God for his grace - thy peticion then make;" etc. - -To save space, I arrange the lines as Dr. Furnivall does. - -[3] The spelling _handkercher_, common in these old books, and in -the early editions of Shakespeare, indicates the pronunciation -of the time. In _As You Like It_, _The Taming of the Shrew_, -_Hamlet_, _Othello_, and other plays, _napkin_ is equivalent to -_handkerchief_. This, indeed, is the only meaning of the word in -Shakespeare, as often in other writers of the period. - - - - -PART III. - -AT SCHOOL - - -[Illustration: INNER COURT, GRAMMAR SCHOOL] - - -THE STRATFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL - -The Stratford Grammar School, as we have already seen (page 38 -above), was an ancient institution in Shakespeare's day, having -been originally founded in the first half of the 15th century -by the Guild, and, after the dissolution of that body, created -by royal charter, in June, 1553, "The King's New School of -Stratford-upon-Avon." The charter describes it as "a certain free -grammar school, to consist of one master and teacher, hereafter -for ever to endure." The master was to be appointed by the Earl of -Warwick, and was to receive twenty pounds a year from the income -of certain lands given by the King for that purpose. A part of the -expenses of the school is to this day paid from the same royal -endowment. - -The school-house stood, as it still does, close beside the Guild -Chapel, the school-rooms on the second story being originally -reached by an outside staircase, roofed with tile, which was -demolished about fifty years ago. The building was old and out -of repair in Shakespeare's boyhood. In 1568 it was partially -renovated, and while the work was going on the school was -transferred to the adjoining chapel, as it may have been under -similar circumstances on more than one former occasion. This -probably suggested Shakespeare's comparison of Malvolio to "a -pedant that keeps a school i' the church" (_Twelfth Night_, iii. -2. 80). In 1595 the holding of school in church or chapel was -forbidden by statute. - -[Illustration: THE SCHOOL-ROOM AS IT WAS] - -The training in an English free day-school in the time of Elizabeth -depended much on the attainments of the master, and these varied -greatly, bad teachers being the rule and good ones the exception. -"It is a general plague and complaint of the whole land," writes -Henry Peacham in the 17th century, "for, for one discreet and able -teacher, you shall find twenty ignorant and careless; who (among -so many fertile and delicate wits as England affordeth), whereas -they make one scholar, they mar ten." Roger Ascham, some years -earlier, had written in the same strain. In many towns the office -of schoolmaster was conferred on "an ancient citizen of no great -learning." Sometimes a quack conjuring doctor had the position, -like Pinch in the _Comedy of Errors_ (v. 1. 237), whom Antipholus -of Ephesus describes thus:-- - - "Along with them - They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-fac'd villain, - A mere anatomy, a mountebank, - A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller, - A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch, - A living dead man. This pernicious slave, - Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer; - And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse, - And with no face, as 't were, out-facing me. - Cries out, I was possess'd." - -Pinch is not called a schoolmaster in the text of the play, but in -the stage-direction of the earliest edition (1623) he is described, -on his entrance, as "a schoole-master call'd Pinch." - -In old times the village pedagogue often had the reputation -of being a conjurer; that is, of one who could exorcise evil -spirits--perhaps because he was the one man in the village, except -the priest, who could speak Latin, the only language supposed to be -"understanded of devils." - -A certain master of St. Alban's School in the middle of the 16th -century declared that "by no entreaty would he teach any scholar -he had, further than his father had learned before them," arguing -that, if educated beyond that point, they would "prove saucy rogues -and control their fathers." - -The masters of the Stratford school at the time when Shakespeare -probably attended it were university men of at least fair -scholarship and ability, as we infer from the fact that they -rapidly gained promotion in the church. Thomas Hunt, who was master -during the most important years of William's school course, became -vicar of the neighboring village of Luddington. "In the pedantic -Holofernes of _Love's Labour's Lost_, Shakespeare has carefully -portrayed the best type of the rural schoolmaster, as in Pinch he -has portrayed the worst, and the freshness and fulness of detail -imparted to the former portrait may easily lead to the conclusion -that its author was drawing upon his own experience." We need not -suppose that Holofernes is the exact counterpart of Master Hunt, -but the latter was probably, like the former, a thorough scholar. - - -WHAT SHAKESPEARE LEARNT AT SCHOOL. - -We may imagine young William wending his way to the Grammar School -for the first time on a May morning in 1571. If he was born on the -23d of April, 1564 (or May 3d, according to our present calendar), -he had now reached the age of seven years, at which he could enter -the school. The only other requirement for admission, in the case -of a Stratford boy, was that he should be able to read; and this he -had probably learned at home with the aid of a "horn-book," such as -he afterwards referred to in _Love's Labour's Lost_ (v. 1. 49):-- - - "Yes, yes; he teaches boys the horn-book. - What is a, b, spelt backward with the horn on its head?" - -This primer of our forefathers, which continued in common use in -England down to the middle of the last century at least, was a -single printed leaf, usually set in a frame of wood and covered -with a thin plate of transparent horn, from which it got its name. -There was generally a handle to hold it by, and through a hole in -the handle a cord was put by which the "book" was slung to the -girdle of the scholar. - -In a book printed in 1731 we read of "a child, in a bodice coat -and leading-strings, with a horn-book tied to her side." In 1715 -we find mention of the price of a horn-book as twopence; but -Shakespeare's probably cost only half as much. - -The leaf had at the top the alphabet large and small, with a list -of the vowels and a string of easy monosyllables of the _ab_, _eb_, -_ib_ sort, and a copy of the Lord's Prayer. The matter varied -somewhat from time to time. - -Here is an exact reproduction of the text of one specimen, from a -recent catalogue of a London antiquarian bookseller, who prices it -at twelve guineas, or a trifle more than sixty dollars. These old -horn-books are now excessively rare, having seldom survived the -wear and tear of the nursery. - -[Illustration: - - +Aabcdefghijklmnopq - rsstuvwxyz& aeiou - - ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ - RSTUVWXYZ - - a e i o u | a e i o u - ab eb ib ob ub | ba be bi bo bu - ac ec ic oc uc | ca ce ci co cu - ad ed id od ud | da de di do du - - In the Name of the Father, and of the - Son, and of the Holy Ghoſt. _Amen._ - - Our Father, which art in - Heaven, hallowed be thy - Name; thy Kingdom come, - thy Will be done on Earth, - as it is in Heaven. Give us - this Day our daily Bread; and - forgive us our treſpaſſes, as - we forgive them that treſpaſs - againſt us: And lead us not - into Temptation, but deliver - us from Evil. _Amen._] - -The alphabet was prefaced by a cross, whence it came to be called -the Christ Cross row,[4] corrupted into "criss-cross-row" or -contracted into "cross-row"; as in _Richard III._ (i. 1. 55), where -Clarence says:-- - - "He harkens after prophecies and dreams, - And from the cross-row plucks the letter G, - And says a wizard told him that by G - His issue disinherited should be." - -Shenstone alludes to the horn-book in _The School-mistress_:-- - - "Their books of stature small they take in hand, - Which with pellucid horn secured are - To save from fingers wet the letters fair." - -Possibly, the boy William, instead of a horn-book, had an "A-B-C -book," which often contained a catechism, in addition to the -elementary reading matter. To this we have an allusion in _King -John_, i. 1. 196:-- - - "Now your traveller-- - He and his toothpick at my worship's mess, - And when my knightly stomach is sufficed, - Why, then I suck my teeth and catechise - My picked man of countries: 'My dear sir,'-- - Thus, leaning on my elbow, I begin,-- - 'I shall beseech you'--that is question now; - And then comes answer like an Absey book." - -"Absey" is one of many old spellings for "A-B-C"--_abece_, _apece_, -_apecy_, _apsie_, _absee_, _abcee_, _abeesee_, etc. - -It was not a long walk that our seven-year-old boy had to take in -going to school. Turning the corner of Henley Street, where his -father lives (compare the map, page 42 above), he passes into the -High Street, on which (though the street changes its name twice -before we get there) the Guildhall is situated. The adjoining Guild -Chapel is separated only by a narrow lane from the "great house," -as it was called, the handsomest in all Stratford. - -The child, as he passes that grand mansion, little dreams that, -some twenty-five years later, he will buy it for his own residence. - -[Illustration: DESK SAID TO BE SHAKESPEARE'S] - -The school-room probably looks much the same to-day as it did when -William studied there, the modern plastered ceiling which hid the -oak roof of the olden time having been removed. The wainscoted -walls, with the small windows high above the floor, are evidently -ancient. An old desk, which may have been the master's, and a few -rude forms, or benches, are now the only furniture; for the school -was long since removed to ampler and more convenient quarters. -A desk, said with no authority whatever to have been used by -Shakespeare, is preserved in the Henley Street house. - -What did William study in the Grammar School? Not much except -arithmetic and Latin, with perhaps a little Greek and a mere -smattering of other branches. - -His first lessons in Latin were probably from two well-known books -of the time, the _Accidence_ and the _Sententiæ Pueriles_. The -examination of Master Page by the Welsh parson and schoolmaster, -Sir Hugh Evans, in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (iv. 1) is taken -almost verbally from the _Accidence_. Mrs. Page, accompanied by her -son and the illiterate Dame Quickly, meets Sir Hugh in the street, -and this dialogue ensues:-- - - "_Mrs. Page._ How now, Sir Hugh! no school to-day? - - _Evans._ No; master Slender is get the boys leave to play. - - _Quickly._ Blessing of his heart! - - _Mrs. Page._ Sir Hugh, my husband says, my son profits nothing in - the world at his book. I pray you, ask him some questions in his - accidence. - - _Evans._ Come hither, William; hold up your head; come. - - _Mrs. Page._ Come on, sirrah; hold up your head; answer your - master, be not afraid. - - _Evans._ William, how many numbers is in nouns? - - _William._ Two. - - _Quickly._ Truly, I thought there had been one number more, - because they say, 'od's nouns. - - _Evans._ Peace your tattlings!--What is _fair_, William? - - _William._ _Pulcher._ - - _Quickly._ Pole-cats! there are fairer things than pole-cats, - sure. - - _Evans._ You are a very simplicity 'oman; I pray you peace.--What - is _lapis_, William? - - _William._ A stone. - - _Evans._ And what is a stone, William? - - _William._ A pebble. - - _Evans._ No, it is _lapis_: I pray you remember in your prain. - - _William._ _Lapis._ - - _Evans._ That is a good William. What is he, William, that does - lend articles? - - _William._ Articles are borrowed of the pronoun; and be thus - declined, _Singulariter_, _nominativo_, _hic_, _hæc_, _hoc_. - - _Evans._ _Nominativo_, _hig_, _hag_, _hog_;--pray you, mark: - _genitivo, hujus_. Well, what is your accusative case? - - _William._ _Accusativo_, _hinc_. - - _Evans._ I pray you, have your remembrance, child; _accusativo_, - _hung_, _hang_, _hog_. - - _Quickly._ Hang-hog is Latin for bacon, I warrant you. - - _Evans._ Leave your prabbles, 'oman.--What is the focative case, - William? - - _William._ O!--_vocativo_, O! - - _Evans._ Remember, William; focative is _caret_. - - _Quickly._ And that's a good root. - - _Evans._ 'Oman, forbear. - - _Mrs. Page._ Peace! - - * * * * * - - _Quickly._ You do ill to teach the child such words.--He teaches - him to hick and to hack, which they'll do fast enough of - themselves. Fie upon you! - - _Evans._ 'Oman, art thou lunatics? hast thou no understandings - for thy cases, and the numbers of the genders? Thou art as - foolish Christian creatures as I would desires. - - _Mrs. Page._ Prithee, hold thy peace. - - _Evans._ Show me now, William, some declensions of your pronouns. - - _William._ Forsooth, I have forgot. - - _Evans._ It is _qui_, _quæ_, _quod_; if you forget your _quis_, - your _quæs_, and your _quods_, you must be preeches. Go your - ways, and play; go. - - _Mrs. Page._ He is a better scholar than I thought he was. - - _Evans._ He is a good sprag memory. Farewell, mistress Page. - - _Mrs. Page._ Adieu, good Sir Hugh." - -The _Sententiæ Pueriles_ was a collection of brief sentences from -many authors, including moral and religious passages intended for -the use of the boys on Saints' days. - -The Latin Grammar studied by William was certainly Lilly's, the -standard manual of the time, as long before and after. The first -edition was published in 1513, and one was issued as late as 1817, -or more than three hundred years afterward. In _The Taming of the -Shrew_ (i. 1. 167) a passage from Terence is quoted in the modified -form in which it appears in this grammar. - -There are certain people, by the way, who believe that -Shakespeare's plays were written by Francis Bacon. Can we imagine -the sage of St. Albans, familiar as he was with classical -literature, going to his old Latin Grammar for a quotation from -Terence, and not to the original works of that famous playwright? - -In _Love's Labour's Lost_ (iv. 2. 95) Holofernes quotes the "good -old Mantuan," as he calls him, the passage being evidently a -reminiscence of Shakespeare's schoolboy Latin. The "Mantuan" is not -Virgil, as one might at first suppose (and as Mr. Andrew Lang, who -is a good scholar, assumes in his pleasant comments on the play -in _Harper's Magazine_ for May, 1893), but Baptista Mantuanus, -or Giovanni Battista Spagnuoli (or Spagnoli), who got the name -Mantuanus from his birthplace. - -He died in 1516, less than fifty years before Shakespeare was born, -and was the author of sundry _Eclogues_, which the pedants of that -day preferred to Virgil's, and which were much read in schools. The -first Eclogue begins with the passage quoted by Holofernes. - -A little earlier in the same scene the old pedant gives us a -quotation from Lilly's Grammar. Other bits of Latin with which he -interlards his talk are taken, with little or no variation, from -the _Sententiæ Pueriles_ or similar Elizabethan phrase-books. - - -THE NEGLECT OF ENGLISH. - -No English was taught in the Stratford school then, or for many -years after. It is only in our own day that it has begun to receive -proper attention in schools of this grade in England, or indeed in -our own country. - -It is interesting, however, to know that the first English -schoolmaster to urge the study of the vernacular tongue was a -contemporary of Shakespeare. In 1561 Richard Mulcaster, who had -been educated at King's College, Cambridge, and Christ Church, -Oxford, was appointed head-master of Merchant-Taylors School in -London, which had just been founded as a feeder, or preparatory -school, for St. John's College, Oxford. In his _Elementarie_, -published in 1582, he has the following plea for the study of -English:-- - -"But because I take upon me in this Elementarie, besides some -friendship to secretaries for the pen, and to correctors for the -print, to direct such people as teach children to read and write -English, and the _reading_ must needs be such as the writing leads -unto, therefore, before I meddle with any particular precept, to -direct the reader, I will thoroughly rip up the whole certainty -of our English writings so far forth and with such assurance as -probability can make me, because it is a thing both proper to my -argument and profitable to my country. For our natural tongue -being as beneficial unto us for our needful delivery as any other -is to the people which use it; and having as pretty and as fair -observations in it as any other hath; and being as ready to yield -to any rule of art as any other is; why should I not take some -pains to find out the right writing of ours as other countrymen -have done to find the like in theirs? and so much the rather -because it is pretended that the writing thereof is marvellous -uncertain, and scant to be recovered from extreme confusion, -without some change of as great extremity? - -"I mean therefore so to deal in it as I may wipe away that opinion -of either uncertainty for confusion or impossibility for direction, -that both the natural English may have wherein to rest, and the -desirous stranger may have whereby to learn. For the performance -whereof, and mine own better direction, I will first examine those -means whereby other tongues of most sacred antiquity have been -brought to art and form of discipline for their right writing, to -the end that, by following their way, I may hit upon their right, -and at the least by their precedent devise the like to theirs, -where the use of our tongue and the property of our dialect will -not yield flat to theirs. - -"That done, I will set all the variety of our now writing, and the -uncertain force of all our letters, in as much certainty as any -writing can be, by these seven precepts: - -"1. _General rule_, which concerneth the property and use of each -letter. - -"2. _Proportion_, which reduceth all words of one sound to the same -writing. - -"3. _Composition_, which teacheth how to write one word made of -more. - -"4. _Derivation_, which examineth the offspring of every original. - -"5. _Distinction_, which bewrayeth the difference of sound and -force in letters by some written figure or accent. - -"6. _Enfranchisement_, which directeth the right writing of all -incorporate foreign words. - -"7. _Prerogative_, which declareth a reservation wherein common -use will continue her precedence in our English writing as she -hath done everywhere else, both for the form of the letter, in -some places, which likes the pen better; and for the difference in -writing, where some particular caveat will check a common rule. - -"In all these seven I will so examine the particularities of our -tongue, as either nothing shall seem strange at all, or if anything -do seem, yet it shall not seem so strange but that either the self -same, or the very like unto it, or the more strange than it is, -shall appear to be in those things which are more familiar unto us -for extraordinary learning than required of us for our ordinary use. - -"And forasmuch as the eye will help many to write right by a -seen precedent, which either cannot understand or cannot entend -to understand the reason of a rule, therefore in the end of this -treatise for right writing I purpose to set down a general table of -most English words, by way of precedent, to help such plain people -as cannot entend the understanding of a rule, which requireth both -time and conceit in perceiving, but can easily run to a general -table, which is readier to their hand. By the which table I shall -also confirm the right of my rules, that they hold throughout, and -by multitude of examples help some in precepts." - -Thirty years later, in 1612, another teacher followed Mulcaster in -advocating the study of English. This was John Brinsley, who, in -_The Grammar Schoole_, writes thus:-- - -"There seems unto me to be a very main want in all our grammar -schools generally, or in the most of them, whereof I have heard -some great learned men to complain; that there is no care had in -respect to train up scholars so as they may be able to express -their minds purely and readily in our own tongue, and to increase -in the practice of it, as well as in the Latin and Greek; whereas -our chief endeavour should be for it, and that for these reasons: - -"1. Because that language which all sorts and conditions of men -amongst us are to have most use of, both in speech and writing, is -our own native tongue. - -"2. The purity and elegance of our own language is to be esteemed -a chief part of the honour of our nation, which we all ought to -advance as much as in us lieth.... - -"3. Because of those which are for a time trained up in schools, -there are very few which proceed in learning, in comparison of them -that follow other callings." - -Among the means which he recommends "to obtain this benefit of -increasing in our English tongue as in the Latin" are "continual -practice of English grammatical translations," and "translating and -writing English, with some other school exercises." - -But, as we have seen, the study of our mother tongue continued to -be generally ignored in English schools for nearly three centuries -after Mulcaster and Brinsley had thus called attention to its -educational value. - - -SCHOOL LIFE IN SHAKESPEARE'S DAY. - -From Brinsley's book we get an idea of the daily life of a -grammar-school boy in 1612, which probably did not differ -materially from what it was in Shakespeare's boyhood. - -In his chapter "Of school times, intermissions, and recreations," -Brinsley says: "The school-time should begin at six: all who write -Latin to make their exercises which were given overnight, in that -hour before seven." To make boys punctual, "so many of them as are -there at six, to have their places as they had them by election -or the day before: all who come after six, every one to sit as he -cometh, and so to continue that day, and until he recover his place -again by the election of the form or otherwise.[5] If any cannot be -brought by this, them to be noted in the black bill by a special -mark, and feel the punishment thereof: and sometimes present -correction to be used for terror;" that is, to frighten the rest. - -The school work is to go on from six in the morning as follows: -"Thus they are to continue until nine.... Then at nine to let them -to have a quarter of an hour at least, or more, for intermission, -either for breakfast, or else for the necessity of every one, -or for honest recreation, or to prepare their exercises against -the master's coming in. After, each of them to be in his place -in an instant, upon the knocking of the door or some other sign, -... so to continue until eleven of the clock, or somewhat after, -to countervail the time of the intermission at nine;" that is, -apparently, to make the morning session full five hours. - -For the afternoon the schedule is as follows: "To be again all -ready and in their places at one, in an instant; to continue until -three, or half an hour after; then to have another quarter of an -hour or more, as at nine, for drinking and necessities; so to -continue till half an hour after five: thereby in that half hour -to countervail the time at three; then to end with reading a piece -of a chapter, and with singing two staves of a Psalm: lastly, with -prayer to be used by the master." - -These closing exercises would fill out the time until about six -o'clock, making the school day nearly ten hours long, exclusive -of the two intermissions at nine and three and the interval of -somewhat more than an hour at noon. - -It would seem that some objection had been made to the -intermissions at nine and three, on the ground that the boys then -"do nothing but play"; but Brinsley believed that the boys did -their work the better for these brief respites from it. He adds: -"It is very requisite also that they should have weekly one part of -an afternoon for recreation, as a reward of diligence, obedience, -and profiting; and that to be appointed at the master's discretion, -either the Thursday, after the usual custom, or according to the -best opportunity of the place." - -The sports and recreations of the boys are to be carefully looked -after. "Clownish sports, or perilous, or yet playing for money, are -no way to be admitted." - -Of the age at which boys went to school the same writer says: "For -the time of their entrance with us, in our country schools, it -is commonly about seven or eight years old: six is very soon. If -any begin so early, they are rather sent to the school to keep -them from troubling the house at home, and from danger, and shrewd -turns, than for any great hope and desire their friends have that -they should learn anything in effect." - -Seven, as we have seen, was the earliest age at which boys could be -admitted to the Stratford School. - - -SCHOOL MORALS. - -Schoolboys in that olden time appear to have been much like those -nowadays. They sometimes played truant. Jack Falstaff, in the -_First Part of Henry IV._ (ii. 4. 450) asks: "Shall the blessed -sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries?" _Micher_, -_meacher_, or _moocher_ is now obsolete, though the practice it -suggests is not; but a contemporary dictionary of _Provincial Words -and Phrases_ gives this definition of the word: "_Moocher_--a -truant; a blackberry moucher. A boy who plays truant to pick -blackberries." - -Idle pupils in those days often "made shift to escape correction" -by methods not unlike those known in our modern schools. Boys who -had faithfully prepared their lessons would "prompt" others who had -been less diligent. - -[Illustration: WALK ON THE BANKS OF THE AVON] - -One of these fellows, named Willis, born in the same year with -Shakespeare, has recorded his youthful experience at school in a -diary written later in life which is still extant. He tells how, -after being often helped in this fashion, "it fell out on a day -that one of the eldest scholars and one of the highest form fell -out with" him "upon occasion of some boys' play abroad," and -refused to "prompt" him as aforetime. He feared that he might "fall -under the rod," but, gathering his wits together, managed to recite -his lesson creditably; and "so" he says, "the evil intended to me -by my fellow-scholar turned to my great good." - -How William liked going to school we do not know, but if we are -to judge from his references to schoolboys and schooldays he had -little taste for it. In _As You Like It_ (ii. 7. 145) we have the -familiar picture of - - ... "the whining schoolboy, with his satchel - And shining morning face, creeping like snail - Unwillingly to school;" - -and in _Romeo and Juliet_ (ii. 1. 156) the significant similes:-- - - "Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, - But love from love, toward school with heavy looks." - -Gremio, in _The Taming of the Shrew_ (iii. 2. 149), when asked if -he has come from the church, replies: "As willingly as e'er I came -from school." - - -SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. - -Sooth to say, the schoolmasters of that time were not likely to be -remembered with much favor by their pupils in after years. There is -abundant testimony to the severity of their discipline in Ascham, -Peacham, and other writers of the 16th century. - -Thomas Tusser tells of his youthful experiences at Eton in verses -that have been often quoted: - - "From Paul's I went, to Eton sent, - To learn straightways the Latin phrase, - When fifty-three stripes given to me - At once I had: - For fault but small or none at all - It came to pass, thus beat I was. - See, Udall, see the mercy of thee - To me, poor lad!" - -Nicholas Udall was the master of Eton at the time. - -Peacham tells of one pedagogue who used to whip his boys of a cold -morning "for no other purpose than to get himself a heat." No doubt -it warmed the boys too, but it is not recorded that they liked the -method. - -Some of the grammars of the period have on the title-page the -significant woodcut of "an awful man sitting on a high chair, -pointing to a book with his right hand, but with a mighty rod in -his left." Lilly's Grammar, on the other hand, has the picture -of a huge fruit-tree, with little boys in its branches picking -the abundant fruit. I hope the urchins did not find this more -suggestive of stealing apples than of gathering the rich fruit of -the tree of knowledge. - -Mr. Sidney Lee remarks: "A repulsive picture of the terrors which -the schoolhouse had for a nervous child is drawn in a 'pretie and -merry new interlude' entitled 'The Disobedient Child, compiled by -Thomas Ingeland, late student in Cambridge,' about 1560. A boy who -implores his father not to force him to go to school tells of his -companions' sufferings there--how - - "'Their tender bodies both night and day - Are whipped and scourged, and beat like a stone, - That from top to toe the skin is away;' - -and a story is repeated of how a scholar was tormented to death by -'his bloody master.' Other accounts show that the playwright has -not gone far beyond the fact." - -We will try to believe, however, that Master Hunt of Stratford was -of a milder disposition. Holofernes seems well disposed towards -his pupils, and is invited to dine with the father of one of -them; and Sir Hugh Evans, in his examination of William Page, has -a very kindly manner. It is to be noted, indeed, that in few of -Shakespeare's references to school life is there any mention of -whipping as a punishment. - -Roger Ascham, in his _Scholemaster_, advocated gentler discipline -than was usual in the schools of his day. His book, indeed, owed -its origin to his interest in this matter. - -In 1563, Ascham, who was then Latin Secretary to Queen Elizabeth, -was dining with Sir William Cecil (afterwards Lord Burleigh), -when the conversation turned to the subject of education, from -news of the running away of some boys from Eton, where there -was much beating. Ascham argued that young children were sooner -allured by love than driven by beating to obtain good learning. -Sir Richard Sackville, father of Thomas Sackville, said nothing at -the dinner-table, but he afterwards drew Ascham aside, agreed with -his opinions, lamented his own past loss by a harsh schoolmaster, -and said, Ascham tells us in the preface to his book: "'Seeing it -is but in vain to lament things past, and also wisdom to look to -things to come, surely, God willing, if God lend me life, I will -make this my mishap some occasion of good hap to little Robert -Sackville, my son's son. For whose bringing up I would gladly, -if it so please you, use specially your good advice. I hear say -you have a son much of his age [Ascham had three little sons]; -we will deal thus together. Point you out a schoolmaster who by -your order shall teach my son's son and yours, and for all the -rest I will provide, yea, though they three do cost me a couple of -hundred pounds by year; and besides you shall find me as fast a -friend to you and yours as perchance any you have.' Which promise -the worthy gentleman surely kept with me until his dying day." The -conversation ended with a request that Ascham would "put in some -order of writing the chief points of this our talk, concerning -the right order of teaching and honesty of living, for the good -bringing up of children and young men." - -Ascham accordingly wrote _The Scholemaster_, which was published in -1570 (two years after his death) by his widow, with a dedication to -Sir William Cecil. - -In the very first page of the book, Ascham, referring to training -in "the making of Latins," or writing the language, says: "For the -scholar is commonly beat for the making, when the master were more -worthy to be beat for the mending or rather marring of the same; -the master many times being as ignorant as the child what to say -properly and fitly to the matter." - -Again he says: "I do gladly agree with all good schoolmasters in -these points: to have children brought to good perfectness in -learning; to all honesty in manners; to have all faults rightly -amended; to have every vice severely corrected; but for the order -and way that leadeth rightly to these points we somewhat differ. -For commonly, many schoolmasters--some, as I have seen, more, as -I have heard tell--be of so crooked a nature, as, when they meet -with a hard-witted scholar, they rather break him than bow him, -rather mar him than mend him. For when the schoolmaster is angry -with some other matter, then will he soonest fall to beat his -scholar; and though he himself should be punished for his folly, -yet must he beat some scholar for his pleasure, though there be no -cause for him to do so, nor yet fault in the scholar to deserve so. -These, you will say, be fond [that is, foolish] schoolmasters, and -few they be that be found to be such. They be fond, indeed, but -surely over many such be found everywhere. But this will I say, -that even the wisest of your great beaters do as oft punish nature -as they do correct faults. Yea, many times the better nature is -sorely punished; for, if one, by quickness of wit, take his lesson -readily, another, by hardness of wit, taketh it not so speedily, -the first is always commended, the other is commonly punished; -when a wise schoolmaster should rather discreetly consider the -right disposition of both their natures, and not so much weigh what -either of them is able to do now, as what either of them is likely -to do hereafter. For this I know, not only by reading of books in -my study, but also by experience of life abroad in the world, that -those which be commonly the wisest, the best learned, and best men -also, when they be old, were never commonly the quickest of wit -when they were young." - -The result of ordinary school training, with the free use of the -rod, as Ascham says, is that boys "carry commonly from the school -with them a perpetual hatred of their master and a continual -contempt for learning." He adds: "If ten gentlemen be asked why -they forget so soon in court that which they were learning so -long in school, eight of them, or let me be blamed, will lay the -fault on their ill handling by their schoolmasters." The sum of -the matter is that "learning should be taught rather by love than -fear," and "the schoolhouse should be counted a sanctuary against -fear." - -But Ascham, like Mulcaster and Brinsley, was far in advance of his -age, and it is doubtful whether his wise counsel with regard to -methods of discipline met with any greater favor among teachers -than theirs concerning the importance of the study of English. - - -WHEN WILLIAM LEFT SCHOOL. - -How long William remained in the Grammar School we do not know, but -probably not more than six years, or until he was thirteen. In 1577 -his father was beginning to have bad luck in his business, and the -boy very likely had to be taken from school for work of some sort. - -As Ben Jonson says, Shakespeare had "small Latin and less -Greek"--perhaps none--and this was probably due to his leaving the -Grammar School before the average age. However that may have been, -we may be pretty sure that all the regular schooling he ever had -was got there. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[4] Some believe it got the name from having the letters arranged -in the form of a cross, as they sometimes were; but the other -explanation seems to me the more probable. - -[5] In a preceding chapter we are told that it was a rule for "all -of a form to name who is the best of their form, and who is the -best next him." - - - - -PART IV. - -GAMES AND SPORTS - - -[Illustration] - - -BOYISH GAMES - -Young William may have found life at the Henley Street house and at -the Grammar School rather dull, but there was no lack of diversion -and recreation out of doors. Household comforts and attractions -were meagre enough in those days, but holidays were frequent, -and rural sports and pastimes for young and old were many and -varied. We may be sure that Shakespeare enjoyed these to the full. -His writings abound in allusions to them which were doubtless -reminiscences of his own boyhood. - -Many of the children's games to which he refers are familiar to -small folk now, especially in the rural districts. Hide-and-seek, -for example--also known as "hoop-and-hide" and "harry-racket"--is -probably the play that Hamlet had in mind when he exclaimed (iv. 2. -33), "Hide, fox, and after." Blind-man's-buff is also alluded to -by Hamlet when, chiding his mother for preferring his uncle to his -father, he asks: - - "What devil was 't - That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind." - -A dictionary of Shakespeare's time couples this name for the -pastime with the one that has survived: "The Hoodwinke play, or -hoodmanblinde, in some places called the blindmanbuf." Hamlet's -question is evidently suggested by the practice of making the -"blind man" guess whom he has caught--as Greek and Roman boys did -when they played the game. - -In the grave-digging scene (v. 1. 100) Hamlet asks: "Did these -bones cost no more the breeding but to play at loggats with them?" -This refers to the throwing of _loggats_ or _loggets_--small logs, -or sticks of wood much like "Indian clubs"--at a stake, the player -coming nearest to it being the winner. - -In a poem of 1611 we find loggats in a list of games with sundry -others that are still in vogue:-- - - "To wrastle, play at stooleball, or to runne, - To pich the Barre, or to shoote off a Gunne, - To play at Loggets, Nine-holes, or Ten-pinnes; - To try it out at Foot-ball by the shinnes." - -[Illustration: HIDE-AND-SEEK] - -Stool-ball, commonly played by girls and women, sometimes in -company with boys or men, is to this day a village pastime in -some parts of England. It is essentially a lighter kind of cricket, -but is more ancient than that game. - -Pitching the bar was an athletic exercise still common in Scotland. -Scott alludes to it in _The Lady of the Lake_, iv. 559:-- - - "Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow, - I'll pitch thee from the cliff as far - As ever peasant pitch'd a bar!" - -And again, in the account of the sports at Stirling Castle, v. -647:-- - - "Their arms the brawny yeomen bare - To hurl the massive bar in air." - -A poet of the 16th century tells us that to throw "the stone, -the bar, or the plummet" is a commendable exercise for kings and -princes; and, according to the old chroniclers, it was a favorite -diversion with Henry VIII. after his accession to the throne. - -Nine-holes, a game in which nine holes were made in a board or in -the ground at which small balls were rolled, is among the rustic -sports enumerated by Drayton in the _Poly-Olbion_. - -There were many ball-games besides stool-ball in the days of -Elizabeth, from the simple hand-ball, which Homer represents -the princess of Corcyra as playing with her maidens, to more -complicated exercises, among which we can recognize the germ of -the later "rounders," out of which our Yankee base-ball has been -developed. - -The term _base_, as denoting a starting-point or goal, occurs -in the name of other than ball-games, especially in "prisoners' -base"--sometimes "prisoners' bars," or "prison-bars"--which was -popular long before Shakespeare was born. It is played by two -sides, who occupy opposite bases, or "homes." Any player running -out from his base is chased by the opposite party, and if caught -is made a prisoner. It belongs to a class of old games, one of the -most popular of which was called "barley-break." - -Originally, this was played by three couples, male and female; -one couple was stationed in "hell" or the space between the two -goals, and tried to catch the others as they ran across. It is thus -described by Sir Philip Sidney in the _Arcadia_:-- - - "Then couples three be straight allotted there; - They of both ends the middle two do fly; - The two that in mid-space, Hell called, were - Must strive, with waiting foot and watching eye, - To catch of them, and them to Hell to bear, - That they, as well as they, may Hell supply." - -Later it came to be played by any number of young people, of either -sex or both, with one person in "hell" at the start. The game was -kept up until all had been captured and brought into this Inferno. -In this form, under the name of "Lill-lill"--which was the signal -cry of the person between the goals for beginning the sport--it was -played by schoolboys in eastern Massachusetts fifty years ago. - -Barley-break is often alluded to by the dramatists and lyrists -of Shakespeare's day, and complete poems were written upon it -by Suckling, Herrick, and others. Shakespeare does not mention -it, though he has several references to prisoners' base; as in -_Cymbeline_ (v. 3. 20):-- - - "lads more like to run - The country base than to commit such slaughter." - -To "bid a base," or "the base," was a common phrase for challenging -to a game of this kind, and we often find it used figuratively; -as in _Venus and Adonis_, 303, in the spirited description of -the horse, which, like many other passages, shows Shakespeare's -interest in the animal:-- - - "Sometimes he scuds far off, and there he stares; - Anon he starts at stirring of a feather; - To bid the wind a base he now prepares, - And whether he run or fly they know not whether, - For through his mane and tail the high wind sings, - Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wings." - -In the _Two Gentlemen of Verona_ (i. 2. 97), Lucetta says to Julia, -with a pun upon the phrase: "Indeed, I bid the base for Proteus." - -Drayton, in the _Poly-Olbion_, includes this game with others that -have been described above: "At hood-wink, barley-brake, at tick -[that is, tag], or prison-base"; and Spenser in the _Shepherd's -Calendar_ (October) refers to it among rustic pastimes: "In rymes, -in ridles, and in bydding base." - -Foot-ball is mentioned by Shakespeare in the _Comedy of Errors_ -(ii. 1. 82), where Dromio of Ephesus says to his mistress Adriana, -who has been chiding him:-- - - "Am I so round with you as you with me, - That like a foot-ball you do spurn me thus? - You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither; - If I last in this service, you must case me in leather." - -In _Lear_ (i. 4. 95), Oswald says to Kent, "I'll not be struck, my -lord!" and Kent replies, "Nor tripped neither, you base foot-ball -player." - -The game was popular with the common people of England at least as -early as the reign of Edward III., for in 1349 it was prohibited by -royal edict--not, apparently, from any particular objection to the -game in itself, but because it was believed to interfere with the -popular interest in archery. - -The sport was, however, a rough one then as now. Alexander Barclay, -who died in 1552, in one of his _Eclogues_, tells how - - "The sturdie plowman, lustie, strong, and bold, - Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball, - Forgetting labour and many a grievous fall." - -Edmund Waller, in the next century, writes:-- - - "As when a sort [company] of lusty shepherds try - Their force at foot-ball; care of victory - Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast, - That their encounter seems too rough for jest." - -King James I., in his _Basilicon_--a set of rules for the nurture -and conduct of Henry, Prince of Wales, the heir-apparent to the -throne--says:-- - -"Certainly bodily exercises and games are very commendable, as well -for banishing of idleness, the mother of all vice, as for making -the body able and durable for travell, which is very necessarie -for a king. But from this court I debarre all rough and violent -exercises; as the foote-ball, meeter for lameing than making able -the users thereof; likewise such tumbling tricks as only serve for -comedians and balladines [theatrical dancers] to win their bread -with; but the exercises that I would have you to use, although but -moderately, not making a craft of them, are, running, leaping, -wrestling, fencing, dancing, and playing at the caitch, or tenise, -archery, palle-malle, and such like other fair and pleasant -field-games." - -Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, published in 1660, mentions -foot-ball among the "common recreations of country folks," as -distinguished from the "disports of greater men," or those higher -in rank. - -In _Romeo and Juliet_ (i. 4. 41) Mercutio says to Romeo, "If thou -art Dun, we'll draw thee from the mire"--that is, of love. This is -an allusion to a rural game which seems to have been a favorite for -several centuries, and to which scores of references, literal and -figurative, are to be found in writers of all classes. - -In Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_ (16936) we read:-- - - "Ther gan our hoste for to jape and play, - And sayde, 'sires, what? Dun is in the myre;'" - -Bishop Butler, more than three hundred years later, writes: "they -mean to leave reformation, like Dun in the mire." - -Gifford, in his notes on Ben Jonson's _Masque of Christmas_, tells -us (in 1816) that he himself had "often played at this game." He -describes it substantially as follows: A log of wood called "Dun -the cart-horse" is brought into the middle of the room, and some -one cries, "Dun is stuck in the mire." Two of the players try, with -or without ropes, to drag it out, but, pretending to be unable -to do so, call for help. Others come forward, and make awkward -attempts to draw out the log, which they manage, if possible, to -drop upon a companion's toes, causing "much honest mirth." - -It is remarkable that so simple a diversion could have been popular -with generation after generation of British young folk, and that -they should apparently recall it with so much interest in later -years. Verily, our forefathers in the old country were easily -amused. - -In _Antony and Cleopatra_ (iii. 13. 91) we find an allusion to -another game equally simple--if, indeed, it be not too simple to be -called a game. Antony says:-- - - "Authority melts from me; of late, when I cried 'Ho!' - Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth - And cry 'Your will?'" - -A "muss" was merely a scramble for small coins or other things -thrown down to be taken by those who could seize them. Ben Jonson, -in _The Magnetic Lady_ (iv. 1), says:-- - - "The moneys rattle not, nor are they thrown - To make a muss yet 'mong the gamesome suitors"; - -In the same author's _Bartholomew Fair_ (iv. 1), when the -costard-monger's basket of pears is overturned, Cokes begins to -scramble for them, crying, "Ods so! a muss, a muss, a muss, a -muss!" - -Dryden, in the prologue to _Widow Ranter_, says:-- - - "Bauble and cap no sooner are thrown down - But there's a muss of more than half the town." - -This is the origin of the modern colloquial or slang use of _muss_. - -"Handy-dandy" was a childish play in which something was shaken -between the two hands, and a guess made as to the hand in which -it remained. It is alluded to in _Lear_ (iv. 6. 157): "See how -yond justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: -change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the -thief?" The game is very ancient, being mentioned by Aristotle, -Plato, and other Greek writers. - -In the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (ii. 2. 98) Titania, lamenting the -results of the quarrel with Oberon, says:-- - - "The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud, - And the quaint mazes in the wanton green - For lack of tread are undistinguishable." - -The "nine men's morris" was a Warwickshire game which is still kept -up among the rural population of the county. It is played on three -squares, one within another, with lines uniting the angles and the -middle of the sides; the opponents having each nine "men," which -are moved somewhat as in draughts, or checkers. - -In the country the squares were often cut in the green turf, the -sides of the outer one being sometimes three or four yards long. -In towns, they were chalked upon the pavement. It was also played -indoors upon a board. - -A woodcut of 1520 represents two monkeys engaged at it. It was -sometimes called "nine men's merrils," from _merelles_, the old -French name for the "men," or counters, with which it was played. - -[Illustration: "MORRIS" BOARD] - -The "quaint mazes" in Titania's speech, according to the best -English critics, refer to a game known as "running the figure of -eight." - -Space would fail to describe other boyish games of the time, even -those mentioned in the writings of Shakespeare; and I need not say -anything of leap-frog, trundling-hoop, battledore and shuttle-cock, -seesaw--sometimes called "riding the wild mare"--tops, and many -other pastimes in perennial favor with boys. - -Mulcaster, the head-master of Merchant-Taylors School in London -(see page 106 above), in a book printed in 1581, enumerates -as suitable exercises for boys: "indoors, dancing, wrestling, -fencing, the top and scourge [whip-top]; outdoor, walking, running, -leaping, swimming, riding, hunting, shooting, and playing at the -ball--hand-ball, tennis, foot-ball, arm-ball." William doubtless -had experience in most of these, swimming in the Avon among them. - - -SWIMMING AND FISHING. - -The spirited description of Ferdinand swimming (_The Tempest_, ii. -1. 113-121) could have been written only by one well skilled in the -art:-- - - "I saw him beat the surges under him, - And ride upon their backs; he trod the water, - Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted - The surge most swoln that met him; his bold head - 'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd - Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke - To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd, - As stooping to relieve him. I not doubt - He came alive to land." - -There are many other allusions to swimming in the plays which -indicate the writer's personal acquaintance with the exercise; as -in _Macbeth_, i. 2. 8:-- - - "As two spent swimmers that do cling together - And choke their art." - -The swimming match between Cæsar and Cassius (_Julius Cæsar_, i. 2. -100) is described with sympathetic vigor. Cassius says to Brutus:-- - - "We can both - Endure the winter's cold as well as he. - For once, upon a raw and gusty day, - The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, - Cæsar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now - Leap in with me into this angry flood, - And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word, - Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, - And bade him follow; so, indeed, he did. - The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it - With lusty sinews, throwing it aside - And stemming it with hearts of controversy. - But ere we could arrive the point propos'd, - Cæsar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!' - I, as Æneas, our great ancestor, - Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder - The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber - Did I the tired Cæsar." - -Of course William often went a-fishing in the Avon, and understood, -as Ursula says in _Much Ado About Nothing_ (iii. 1. 26), that - - "The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish - Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, - And greedily devour the treacherous bait." - - -BEAR-BAITING. - -The boy must often have seen a bear-baiting, for the cruel sport -was popular with all classes, from sovereign to peasant. Queen -Elizabeth was fond of it, as was her sister Mary; and it was one -of the "princely pleasures" provided for the entertainment of -the former at Kenilworth in 1575, when thirteen great bears were -worried by bandogs. - -On another occasion, when Elizabeth gave a splendid dinner to -the French ambassadors, she entertained them afterwards with the -baiting of bulls and bears; and she herself watched the sport till -six at night. The next day the ambassadors went to see another -exhibition of the same kind. A Danish ambassador, some years later, -was entertained by the Queen at Greenwich with a bear-baiting and -"other merry disports," as the chronicle expresses it. - -[Illustration: FISHING IN THE AVON] - -Elizabeth was a lover of the drama, but was unwilling that it -should interfere with these brute tragedies. In 1591, a royal edict -forbade plays to be acted on Thursdays, because bear-baiting -and similar sports had usually been practised on that day. This -order was followed by one to the same effect from the lord mayor, -who complained that "in divers places the players do use to recite -their plays to the great hurt and destruction of the game of -bear-baiting and such like pastimes, which are maintained for her -majesty's pleasure." - -[Illustration: THE BEAR GARDEN, LONDON] - -The clergy were as fond of these amusements as their parishioners -appear to have been. Thomas Cartwright, in a book published in -1572, says: "If there be a bear or a bull to be baited in the -afternoon, or a jackanapes to ride on horseback, the minister -hurries the service over in a shameful manner, in order to be -present at the show." - -It is on record that at a certain place in Cheshire, "the town bear -having died, the corporation in 1601 gave orders to _sell their -Bible_ in order to purchase another." At another place, when a -bear was wanted for baiting at a town festival, the church-wardens -pawned the Bible from the sacred desk in order to obtain the means -of enjoying their immemorial sport. - -There are many allusions to bear-baiting in Shakespeare. In -_Twelfth Night_ (i. 3. 98) Sir Andrew Aguecheek says: "I would -I had bestowed that time in the tongues [that is, the study of -languages] that I have in fencing, dancing, and bear-baiting: O, -had I but followed the arts!" In the same play (ii. 5. 9) Fabian, -referring to Malvolio, says to Sir Toby, "You know, he brought me -out of favor with my lady about a bear-baiting here"; and Fabian -replies, "To anger him we'll have the bear back again." There is a -figurative reference to the sport in this play (iii. 1. 130) where -Olivia says to the disguised Viola:-- - - "Have you not set mine honour at the stake, - And baited it with all the unmuzzled thoughts - That tyrannous heart can think?" - -In _2 Henry VI._ (v. 1. 148) we find a similar figure where York -says to Clifford:-- - - "Call hither to the stake my two brave bears, - That with the very shaking of their chains - They may astonish these fell-lurking curs: - Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me." - -The amusing dialogue between Slender and Anne Page, in the _Merry -Wives of Windsor_ (i. 1. 307), may be added:-- - - "_Slender._ Why do your dogs bark so? be there bears i' the town? - - _Anne._ I think there are, sir, I heard them talked of. - - _Slender._ I love the sport well; but I shall as soon quarrel at - it as any man in England.--You are afraid, if you see the bear - loose, are you not? - - _Anne._ Ay, indeed, sir. - - _Slender._ That's meat and drink to me, now: I have seen - Sackerson loose twenty times, and have taken him by the chain; - but, I warrant you, the women have so cried and shriek'd at it, - that it passed [passed description]; but women, indeed, cannot - abide 'em; they are very ill-favoured rough things." - -_Sackerson_ was a famous bear exhibited at Paris Garden, a popular -bear-garden on the Bankside in London, near the Globe Theatre. An -old epigram refers to the place and the animal thus:-- - - "Publius, a student of the common law, - To Paris-garden doth himself withdraw, - Leaving old Ployden, Dyer, and Broke alone, - To see old Harry Hunkes and Sacarson;" - -that is, neglecting Ployden and other writers on law for the sports -at the bear-garden. - -For the bear to get loose was a serious matter. We read in a diary -of 1554 that at a bear-baiting on the Bankside "the great blind -bear broke loose, and in running away he caught a servingman by the -calf of the leg and bit a great piece away," so that "within three -days after he died." - -James I. prohibited baiting on Sundays, but did not otherwise -discourage it. In the time of the Commonwealth Paris Garden was -shut up, the bear was killed, and the amusement forbidden; but -with the Restoration it was revived, and continued to be popular -until the early part of the next century. In 1802 an attempt was -made in Parliament to suppress it altogether, but the House of -Commons by a majority of thirteen refused to pass the bill. It was -not until the year 1835 that baiting was finally abolished by an -act of Parliament, forbidding "the keeping of any house, pit, or -other place, for baiting or fighting any bull, bear, dog, or other -animal." - - -COCK-FIGHTING AND COCK-THROWING. - -Cock-fighting was another barbarous amusement that was very early -in great favor in England. Fitz-stephen, who died in 1191, records -that in London "every year at Shrove Tuesday the schoolboys do -bring cocks to their master, and all the forenoon they delight -themselves in cock-fighting"; and it is not until the 16th century -that we find Dean Colet, the founder of St. Paul's School, -objecting to it as an amusement for the pupils. - -The good lady who founded the Nottingham grammar school in 1513 was -content with restricting the sport to "twice a year." - -In Scotland cock-fights were sanctioned as a school recreation -till the middle of the last century, and the master received a -fee, called "cock-penny," from the boys on the occasion. As late -as 1790, at Applecross, in Ross-shire, "the cock-fight dues" were -reckoned as a part of the schoolmaster's income. - -Shakespeare has only two or three allusions to cock-fighting in -his works. Antony says of Octavius (_Antony and Cleopatra_, ii. 3. -36):-- - - "His cocks do win the battle still of mine, - When it is all to nought; and his quails ever - Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds." - -Dr. Johnson, in a note on the passage, says: "The ancients used -to match quails as we match cocks." The birds were _inhooped_, or -confined within a circle, to keep them "up to the scratch"; or, -according to some authorities, the one that was driven out of the -hoop was considered beaten. - -Hamlet, when at the point of death, exclaims:-- - - "O, I die, Horatio; - The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit!" - -He means that the poison triumphs over him, as a victorious cock -over his beaten antagonist. - -In the _Taming of the Shrew_ (ii. 1. 228), Katharina says to -Petruchio, "You crow too like a craven." This word _craven_, which -meant a base coward, was often applied to a vanquished knight who -had not fought bravely, and hence came to be used with reference to -a beaten or cowardly cock, as it is in this passage. - -Another popular diversion, especially among the boys, was -"throwing at cocks," in which the bird was tied to a stake and -sticks thrown at it until it was killed. This sport, which dates -back to the 14th century, and which was not uncommon in England -less than a hundred years ago, is said to have been peculiar to -that country. - -Sir Thomas More, writing in the 16th century, tells of his own -skill in his childhood in casting a "cock-stele," that is, a stick -or cudgel to throw at a cock. The amusement was regularly practised -on Shrove Tuesday. - -In some places the cock was put into an earthen vessel made for the -purpose, with only his head and tail exposed to view. The vessel -was then suspended across the street twelve or fourteen feet from -the ground, to be thrown at. The boy who broke the pot and freed -the cock from his confinement had him for a reward. - -According to a popular superstition of Shakespeare's day, the cock -was supposed to be a kind of devil's messenger, from his crowing -after Peter's denial of his Master. Clergymen sometimes made this -an excuse for their enjoyment in cock-throwing. - -Shakespeare makes no reference to this vulgar prejudice against -the cock. On the contrary, in a very beautiful passage in _Hamlet_ -(i. 1. 158), he associates the bird with the joy and hope of -Christmas:-- - - "Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes - Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, - The bird of dawning singeth all night long; - And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad, - The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike, - No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, - So hallow'd and so gracious is the time." - - -OTHER CRUEL SPORTS. - -When the Chief Justice says to Falstaff (_2 Henry IV._ i. 2. 255), -"Fare you well; commend me to my cousin Westmoreland," the fat -knight mutters, "If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle." The -allusion is to a cruel sport which is said to have been common -with Warwickshire boys. A toad was put on one end of a short board -placed across a small log, and the other end was then struck with -a bat, thus throwing the creature high in the air. This was called -_filliping_ the toad. A _three-man beetle_ was a heavy rammer with -three handles used in driving piles, requiring three men to wield -it. Such a beetle would evidently be needed for filliping a weight -like Falstaff's. - -Falstaff alludes to another piece of boyish cruelty to animals in -_The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (v. 1.26) when he says, after the -cudgelling he has received from Ford, "Since I plucked geese, -played truant, and whipped top, I knew not what 'twas to be beaten -till lately." The young barbarians of Shakespeare's time thought -it fine sport to pull the feathers from a live goose. If they -sometimes got whipped for it, we may suppose that it was solely -for the mischief done to private property. When their elders were -fond of bear-baiting, cock-fighting, and other brutal amusements, -the boys would hardly be punished for torturing a domestic animal -unless its value was lessened by the ill-treatment. - -Whether Shakespeare in his boyhood was guilty of thoughtless -cruelty like this, as boys are apt to be even nowadays, we cannot -say; but later in life he recognized its wantonness, and more than -once reproved the brutality of children of larger growth in their -sports and amusements. - -In _Lear_ (iv. 1. 38) Gloster says bitterly:-- - - "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, - They kill us for their sport." - -In the same play (iv. 7. 36) Cordelia, referring to the unnatural -conduct of Goneril in turning her old father out of doors in the -storm, exclaims:-- - - "Mine enemy's dog, - Though he had bit me, should have stood that night - Against my fire!" - -The poet did not forget that even an insect may suffer pain. In -_Measure for Measure_ (iii. 1. 79) Isabella says to her brother:-- - - "Darest thou die? - The sense of death is most in apprehension; - And the poor beetle, that we tread upon, - In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great - As when a giant dies." - -In _As You Like It_ (ii 1. 21) the banished Duke in the Forest of -Arden laments the necessity of killing deer for food:-- - - "_Duke S._ Come, shall we go and kill us venison? - And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools, - Being native burghers of this desert city, - Should in their own confines with forked heads - Have their round haunches gor'd. - - _1 Lord._ Indeed, my lord, - The melancholy Jaques grieves at that, - And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp - Than doth your brother that hath banish'd you. - To-day my lord of Amiens and myself - Did steal behind him as he lay along - Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out - Upon the brook that brawls along this wood: - To the which place a poor sequester'd stag, - That from the hunters' aim had ta'en a hurt, - Did come to languish; and, indeed, my lord, - The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans, - That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat - Almost to bursting, and the big round tears - Cours'd one another down his innocent nose - In piteous chase: and thus the hairy fool, - Much marked of the melancholy Jaques, - Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook, - Augmenting it with tears." - -The sympathy of the Duke and the First Lord for the "poor dappled -fools" is sincere, but that of Jaques, as we understand when we -come to know him better, is mere sentimental affectation. We may -be sure that the Duke rather than Jaques represents the feeling of -Shakespeare himself for the unfortunate creatures. - -In another part of the same play (i. 2) the poet, through the mouth -of Touchstone, the philosophic Fool, gives a sly rap at people who -find amusement in brutal games. Le Beau, a courtier who is really -a kind-hearted fellow, as his conduct elsewhere proves, meeting -Rosalind and Celia, tells them that they have just "lost much fine -sport," that is, as he explains, some "good wrestling." They ask -him to "tell the manner of it," and he says:-- - - "There comes an old man and his three sons,--three proper young - men of excellent growth and presence. The eldest of the three - wrestled with Charles, the duke's wrestler; which Charles in a - moment threw him, and broke three of his ribs, that there is - little hope of life in him: so he served the second, and so the - third. Yonder they lie; the poor old man, their father, making - such pitiful dole over them that all the beholders take his part - with weeping. - - _Rosalind._ Alas! - - _Touchstone._ But what is the sport, monsieur, that the ladies - have lost? - - _Le Beau._ Why, this that I speak of. - - _Touchstone._ Thus men may grow wiser every day! It is the first - time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies. - - _Celia._ Or I, I promise thee." - -Wrestling, by the bye, was a common exercise with the rural youth -in the time of Elizabeth, and no doubt the smaller boys often tried -their hand at it. - - -ARCHERY. - -Archery was a popular pastime in those days with young and old. -The bow and arrow continued to be used in warfare long after the -discovery of gunpowder. As late as 1572 Queen Elizabeth promised to -furnish six thousand men for Charles IX. of France, half of whom -were to be archers. Ralph Smithe, a writer on Martial Discipline in -the reign of the same queen, says: "Captains and officers should -be skilful of that most noble weapon the long bow; and to see that -their soldiers, according to their draught and strength, have good -bows," etc. In the reign of Henry VIII. several laws were made -for promoting the use of the long bow. One of these required every -male subject to exercise himself in archery, and also to keep a -long bow with arrows continually in his house. Men sixty years -old, ecclesiastics, and certain justices were exempted from this -obligation. Fathers and guardians were commanded to teach the male -children the use of the long bow, and to have bows provided for -them as soon as they were seven years old; and masters were ordered -to furnish bows for their apprentices, and to compel them to learn -to shoot therewith upon holidays and at every other convenient time. - -In 1545 Roger Ascham published his _Toxophilus, or the Schole of -Shooting_, in which he advocated the practice of archery among -scholars as among the people at large, and gave full directions for -making and using bows and arrows. He dedicated the book to Henry -VIII., who rewarded the patriotic service with a pension of ten -pounds a year. - -Ascham urged that attention should be paid to training the young in -archery; "for children," he said, "if sufficient pains are taken -with them at the outset, may much more easily be taught to shoot -well than men," because the latter have frequently more trouble to -unlearn their bad habits than would suffice to teach them good ones. - -One of the statutes of Henry VIII. forbade any person who had -reached the age of twenty-four years from shooting at a mark less -than 220 yards distant; and a writer of 1602 tells of Cornish -archers who could send an arrow to a distance of 480 yards. -Matches of archery were held under the patronage of Henry VIII. -and Elizabeth, to encourage skill in the art. At one of these, -held in London in 1583, there was a procession of three thousand -archers, each of whom had a long bow and four arrows. Nine hundred -and forty-two of the men had chains of gold about their necks. The -company was guarded by four thousand whifflers (heralds or ushers) -and billmen, besides pages and footmen. They went through the city -to Smithfield, where, after performing various evolutions, they -"shot at a target for honor." - -There are many allusions to archery in Shakespeare's works, only -one or two of which can be mentioned here. In _2 Henry IV._ (iii. -2. 49) Shallow, referring to "old Double," who is dead, says of -him: "Jesu, Jesu, dead! a' drew a good bow; and dead! a' shot a -fine shoot: John O' Gaunt loved him well, and betted much money on -his head. Dead! a' would have clapped i' the clout at twelve score; -and carried you a forehand shaft at fourteen and fourteen and a -half, that it would have done a man's heart good to see." - -To "clap in the clout" was to hit the _clout_, or the white mark in -the centre of the target. "Twelve score" means twelve score or two -hundred and forty _yards_; and the "fourteen" and "fourteen and a -half" also refer to scores of yards. The "forehand shaft" is among -the kinds of arrow mentioned by Ascham, who says: "the forehand -must have a big breast, to bear the great might of the bow"; that -is, the great strain in shooting at long range. - -In _Much Ado About Nothing_ (i. 1. 39) Beatrice, making fun of -Benedick, says: "He set up his bills here in Messina and challenged -Cupid at the flight; and my uncle's fool, reading the challenge, -subscribed for Cupid, and challenged him at the bird-bolt"; that -is, he posted a challenge, inviting Cupid to compete with him -in shooting with the _flight_, a kind of light-feathered arrow -used for great distances. The fool subscribed (wrote underneath) -a challenge to Benedick to try his skill with the cross-bow and -_bird-bolt_, a short, thick, blunt-headed arrow used by children -and fools, who could not be trusted with pointed arrows. The point -of the joke is that Benedick, though he has the vanity to think he -can compete in feats of archery with an expert bowman like Cupid, -is only fit to contend with beginners and blunderers. - -In _Loves Labour's Lost_ (iv. 3. 23) Cupid's own arrow is jocosely -called a bird-bolt. Biron, finding that the King has fallen in love -with the French Princess, exclaims, "Shot, by heaven! Proceed, -sweet Cupid; thou hast thumped him with thy bird-bolt." - - -HUNTING - -Professor Baynes, in his article on Shakespeare in the -_Encyclopædia Britannica_, says: "It is clear that in his early -years the poet had some experience of hunting, hawking, coursing, -wild-duck shooting, and the like. Many of these sports were pursued -by the local gentry and the yeomen together; and the poet, as the -son of a well-connected burgess of Stratford, who had recently -been mayor of the town and possessed estates in the county, would -be well entitled to share in them, while his handsome presence and -courteous bearing would be likely to ensure him a hearty welcome." - -His love for dogs and horses is illustrated by many passages in his -works. There was never a more graphic description of hounds than he -puts into the mouth of Theseus in the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ -(iv. 1. 108):-- - - "_Theseus._ Go, one of you, find out the forester; - For now our observation is perform'd: - And since we have the vaward of the day, - My love shall hear the music of my hounds. - Uncouple in the western valley; let them go!-- - Despatch, I say, and find the forester.-- - We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top, - And mark the musical confusion - Of hounds and echo in conjunction. - - _Hippolyta._ I was with Hercules and Cadmus once, - When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear - With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear - Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves, - The skies, the fountains, every region near - Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard - So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. - - _Theseus._ My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, - So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung - With ears that sweep away the morning dew; - Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls; - Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells - Each under each. A cry more tuneable - Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn, - In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly: - Judge when you hear." - -[Illustration: GARDEN AT NEW PLACE] - -The talk of the hunters about the dogs in _The Taming of the Shrew_ -(ind. 1. 16) is in the same vein:-- - - "_Lord._ Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds-- - Brach Merriman, the poor cur, is emboss'd-- - And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach. - Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good - At the hedge corner, in the coldest fault? - I would not lose the dog for twenty pound. - - _1 Hunter._ Why, Bellman is as good as he, my lord; - He cried upon it at the merest loss, - And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent: - Trust me, I take him for the better dog. - - _Lord._ Thou art a fool: if Echo were as fleet, - I would esteem him worth a dozen such. - But sup them well, and look unto them all; - To-morrow I intend to hunt again." - -In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (i. 1. 96) Page defends his -greyhound against the criticisms of Slender, and Shallow takes his -part:-- - - "_Slender._ How does your fallow greyhound, sir? I heard say, he - was outrun on Cotsall. - - _Page._ It could not be judged, sir. - - _Slender._ You'll not confess, you'll not confess. - - _Shallow._ That he will not.--'T is your fault, 't is your fault: - 't is a good dog. - - _Page._ A cur, sir. - - _Shallow._ Sir, he 's a good dog, and a fair dog; can there be - more said? he is good and fair." - -_Cotsall_ (or _Cotswold_) is an allusion to the Cotswold downs in -Gloucestershire, celebrated for coursing (hunting the hare), for -which their fine turf fitted them, and also for other rural sports. - -The description of the horse in _Venus and Adonis_ (259), a -youthful work of Shakespeare's, is famous:-- - - "But, lo, from forth a copse that neighbours by, - A breeding jennet, lusty, young, and proud, - Adonis' trampling courser doth espy, - And forth she rushes, snorts, and neighs aloud; - The strong-neck'd steed, being tied unto a tree, - Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he. - - Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, - And now his woven girths he breaks asunder; - The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds, - Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven's thunder; - The iron bit he crushes 'tween his teeth, - Controlling what he was controlled with. - - His ears up-prick'd; his braided hanging mane - Upon his compass'd crest now stand on end; - His nostrils drink the air, and forth again, - As from a furnace, vapours doth he send; - His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire, - Shows his hot courage and his high desire. - - Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps, - With gentle majesty and modest pride; - Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps, - As who should say, 'Lo! thus my strength is tried; - And this I do to captivate the eye - Of the fair breeder that is standing by.' - - What recketh he his rider's angry stir, - His flattering 'Holla', or his 'Stand, I say'? - What cares he now for curb or pricking spur, - For rich caparisons, or trapping gay? - He sees his love, and nothing else he sees, - Nor nothing else with his proud sight agrees. - - Look, when a painter would surpass the life, - In limning out a well-proportion'd steed, - His art with nature's workmanship at strife, - As if the dead the living should exceed; - So did this horse excel a common one, - In shape, in courage, colour, pace, and bone. - - Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, - Broad breast, full eye, small head, and nostril wide, - High crest, short ears, straight legs, and passing strong, - Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide: - Look, what a horse should have he did not lack, - Save a proud rider on so proud a back. - - Sometime he scuds far off, and there he stares; - Anon he starts at stirring of a feather; - To bid the wind a base he now prepares, - And whether he run or fly they know not whether; - For thro' his mane and tail the high wind sings, - Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wings." - -In _Richard II._ (v. 5. 72) the dialogue between the Groom and the -King could have been written only by one who knew by experience the -affection that one comes to feel for a favorite horse:-- - - "_Groom._ I was a poor groom of thy stable, king, - When thou wert king; who, travelling towards York, - With much ado at length have gotten leave - To look upon my sometimes royal master's face. - O, how it yearn'd my heart, when I beheld, - In London streets, that coronation day, - When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary, - That horse that thou so often hast bestrid, - That horse that I so carefully have dress'd! - - _King Richard._ Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend, - How went he under him? - - _Groom._ So proud as if he had disdain'd the ground. - - _King Richard._ So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back! - That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand; - This hand hath made him proud with clapping him. - Would he not stumble? Would he not fall down,-- - Since pride must have a fall,--and break the neck - Of that proud man that did usurp his back? - Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee, - Since thou, created to be awed by man, - Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse; - And yet I bear a burden like an ass, - Spur-gall'd and tir'd by jauncing Bolingbroke." - -The description of hare-hunting in _Venus and Adonis_ (679) must -also have been based on actual experience in the sport:-- - - "And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare, - Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles - How he outruns the winds, and with what care - He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles: - The many musits through the which he goes, - Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes. - - "Sometime he runs among a flock of sheep, - To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell, - And sometime where earth-delving conies keep, - To stop the loud pursuers in their yell, - And sometime sorteth with a herd of deer; - Danger deviseth shifts, wit waits on fear: - - "For there his smell with others being mingled, - The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt, - Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled - With much ado the cold fault cleanly out; - Then do they spend their mouths; Echo replies, - As if another chase were in the skies. - - "By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill, - Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear, - To hearken if his foes pursue him still: - Anon their loud alarums he doth hear; - And now his grief may be compared well - To one sore sick that hears the passing-bell. - - "Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch - Turn, and return, indenting with the way; - Each envious brier his weary legs doth scratch, - Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay: - For misery is trodden on by many - And being low never reliev'd by any." - -Mr. John R. Wise comments on this passage as follows: "This -description of the run is wonderfully true; how the 'dew-bedabbled -wretch' betakes herself to a flock of sheep to lead the hounds -off the scent; how she stops to listen, and again makes another -double. Mark, too, the beauty and aptness of the epithets, 'the hot -scent-snuffing' hounds, and the 'earth-delving' conies; but more -especially mark the pity that the poet feels for the poor animal, -showing that he possessed a true feeling heart, without which no -line of poetry can ever be written." - - -FOWLING. - -There are many allusions to fowling in Shakespeare's works. He had -evidently seen a good deal of it, probably in his boyhood, whether -he had had actual experience in it or not. - -In _As You Like It_ (v. 4. 111) the Duke says of Touchstone, who -combined much philosophy with his professional foolery, "He uses -his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that -he shoots his wit." And in _Much Ado About Nothing_ (ii. 3. 95), -when Don Pedro and his companions are talking about Benedick, whom -they know to be hid within hearing, Claudio says: "Stalk on, stalk -on; the fowl sits"; that is, go on with the practical joke, for the -victim does not suspect it. - -The stalking-horse, originally, was a horse trained for the purpose -and covered with trappings, so as to conceal the sportsman from -the game. It was particularly useful to the archer by enabling him -to approach the birds, without being seen by them, near enough to -reach them with his arrows. As it was not always convenient to -use a real horse for this purpose, the fowler had recourse to an -artificial one, made of stuffed canvas and painted like a horse, -but light enough to be moved with one hand. Hence _stalking-horse_ -came to be used figuratively for anything put forward to conceal -a more important object, or to mask one's real intention. Thus an -old writer describes a hypocrite as one "that makes religion his -stalking-horse." - -In the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (iii, 2. 20) Puck, describing the -fright of the clowns when Bottom makes his appearance with the -ass's head on his shoulders, says:-- - - "Anon his Thisbe must be answered, - And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy, - As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, - Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort, - Rising and cawing at the gun's report, - Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky, - So at his sight away his fellows fly." - -In _1 Henry IV._ (iv. 2. 21) Falstaff says that his recruits are -"such as fear the report of a caliver [musket] worse than a struck -fowl or a hurt wild-duck." And in _Much Ado_ (ii. 1. 209) Benedick -says of Claudio, who runs away from his friend's bantering: "Alas, -poor hurt fowl! now will he creep into sedges"; that is, he will go -and brood over his vexation in solitude. - -In _The Tempest_ (ii. 1. 85) we have an allusion to "bat-fowling," -a method of fowling by night in which the birds were started from -their nests and stupefied by a sudden blaze of light from torches. -Gervase Markham, a contemporary of Shakespeare, in his _Hunger's -Prevention, or the Whole Arte of Fowling_, says: "I think meet to -proceed to Bat-fowling, which is likewise a nighty taking of all -sorts of great and small birds, which rest not on the earth, but -on shrubs, tall bushes, hawthorn trees, and other trees, and may -fitly and most conveniently be used in all woody, rough, and bushy -countries, but not in the champaign," or open country. He then -goes on to explain how it is carried on. Some of the sportsmen -have torches to start the birds, while others are armed with "long -poles, very rough and bushy at the upper ends," with which they -beat down the birds bewildered by the light and capture them. - - -HAWKING. - -Hawking, or falconry, the art of training and flying hawks for the -purpose of catching other birds, was a sport generally limited to -the nobility; but Shakespeare's many allusions to it show that -he was very familiar with all its forms and its technicalities. -He doubtless saw a good deal of it in his boyhood rambles in the -neighborhood of Stratford. - -The practice of hawking declined with the improvement in muskets, -which afforded a readier and surer method of procuring game, with -an equal degree of out-of-door exercise. As the expense of training -and keeping hawks was very great, it is no wonder that the gun -soon superseded the bird with sportsmen. The change, indeed, was -surprisingly rapid. Hentzner, in his _Itinerary_, written in 1598, -tells us that hawking was then the general sport of the English -nobility; and most of the best treatises upon this subject were -written about that time; but in the latter part of the next century -the art was almost unknown. - -Shakespeare knew all the different kinds of hawks. He refers -several times to the _haggard_, or wild hawk. In _Much Ado_ (iii. -1. 36) Hero says of Beatrice:-- - - "I know her spirits are as coy and wild - As haggards of the rock." - -In _The Taming of the Shrew_ (iv. 1. 196) Petruchio employs the -same figure with reference to Katharina:-- - - "Another way I have to man my haggard, - To make her come and know her keeper's call"; - -where _man_ means to tame. Again in the same play (iv. 2. 39) the -shrew is called "this proud disdainful haggard." - -[Illustration: ELIZABETH HAWKING] - -The nestling or unfledged hawk was called an _eyas_; and in -_Hamlet_ (ii. 2. 355) the boy actors, who were becoming popular -when the play was written, are sneeringly described as "an aery of -children, little eyases." In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (iii. 3. -22), Mrs. Ford addresses Robin, the page of Falstaff thus: "How -now, my eyas-musket! what news with you?" The eyas-musket was the -young sparrow-hawk, a small and inferior species of hawk. The word -is derived from the Latin _musca_, a fly, and probably refers to -the small size of the bird. It is curious that, as applied to the -firearm, it has the same origin. The gun was figuratively compared -to the hawk as a means of taking birds. Similarly, a kind of cannon -used in the 16th century was called a falcon; and another, of -smaller bore, was known as a _falconet_. - -In _Romeo and Juliet_ (ii. 2. 160), when the lover has left his -lady and she would call him back, she says:-- - - "Hist, Romeo, hist! O for a falconer's voice - To call this tassel-gentle back again!" - -The _tassel-gentle_, or _tercel-gentle_, was the male hawk. -Cotgrave, in his _French Dictionary_ (edition of 1672) defines -_tiercelet_ as "the Tassell or male of any kind of Hawk, so termed -because he is, commonly, a third part less than the female." The -_gentle_ referred to the ease with which the bird was trained. - -We find the word _tercel_ in _Troilus and Cressida_ (iii. 2. 56): -"The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks in the river"; that -is, the female bird is as good as the male. - -The male bird, however, was seldom used in hawking, on account of -its inferiority in size and strength. In descriptions of the sport -we find the female pronoun generally applied to the bird. Tennyson -in _Lancelot and Elaine_ originally wrote:-- - - "No surer than our falcon yesterday, - Who lost the hern we slipt him at"; - -but he afterwards changed "him" to "her." - -The hawk was "hooded," that is, had a hood put over its head, until -it was _slipped_, or let fly at the game; and to this we have -several allusions in Shakespeare. - -In _Henry V._ (iii. 7. 121) the Constable, sneering at the Dauphin, -says of his boasted valor: "Never anybody saw it but his lackey: -'t is a hooded valour; and when it appears it will bate." To _bate_, -or _bait_, was to flutter the wings, as the bird did when unhooded. -In this passage there is a pun on _bate_ in this sense and as -meaning to abate or diminish. - -In _Othello_ (iii. 3. 260), when the Moor has been told by Iago -that Desdemona may be false, he says:-- - - "If I do prove her haggard, - Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings, - I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind, - To prey at fortune." - -Here we have several hawking terms in a single sentence. _Haggard_, -already mentioned, is used as an adjective, meaning wild or -lawless. The _jesses_ were straps of leather or silk attached to -the foot of the hawk, by which the falconer held her. The bird was -_whistled off_ when first set free for flight; and she was always -let fly against the wind. If she flew with the wind behind her, -she seldom returned. If therefore a hawk was for any reason to be -dismissed, she was _let down the wind_, and from that time shifted -for herself and _preyed at fortune_, or at random. - -The legs of the hawk were adorned with two small bells, not both of -the same sound but differing by a semitone. They were intended to -frighten the game, so that it could be more readily caught. This is -alluded to in _Lucrece_, 511:-- - - "Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells - With trembling fear, as fowl hear falcon's bells." - -Touchstone also refers to the bells in _As You Like It_ (iii. -3. 81): "As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb, and -the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires." There is another -figurative allusion to them in _3 Henry VI._ i. 1. 47, where -Warwick, boasting of his power, says:-- - - "Neither the king, nor he that loves him best, - The proudest he that holds up Lancaster, - Dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells." - -In England _mews_ is the name commonly given to a livery stable, -or place where carriage horses are kept. The word has a curious -connection with hawking. A bird was said to _mew_, when it moulted -or changed its feathers. When hawks were moulting they were shut -up in a cage or coop, which was called a _mew_. The royal stables -in London got the name of _mews_ because they were built where -the mews of the king's hawks had been situated. This was done in -the year 1537, the hawks being removed to another place. The word -_mews_, being thus used for the royal stables, gradually came to be -applied to other buildings of the kind. - -It would take too much space to quote and explain all the allusions -to hawking in Shakespeare's works. The few here given may serve as -samples of this very interesting class of technical terms, most of -which became obsolete when the art ceased to be practised. - -[Illustration: BOY WITH HAWK AND HOUNDS] - -Before dropping the subject, however, I may remind the young reader -that many of the quotations here given to illustrate archery, -hawking, and other ancient arts, sports, and games, also illustrate -the fact that the figurative language of a period is affected by -its manners and customs. The one needs to be known in order to -understand the other. To take a fresh example, John Skelton, who -lived in the time o£ Henry VIII., refers to a lady thus:-- - - "Merry Margaret, - As midsummer flower; - Gentle as falcon, - Or hawk of the tower." - -If we should compare a young lady nowadays to a falcon or a hawk, -she would hardly take it as a compliment; and this very simile -has been criticised by a writer who evidently did not understand -it. He says: "We would rather be excused from wedding a lady of -that ravenous class. This simile, we fear, was predictive of sharp -nails after marriage." He forgets, or does not know, that this was -written when, as we have learned, the art of hawking was in vogue. -The trained falcons were as gentle and docile as any dove. They -were domestic pets, and high-born ladies especially took delight in -them. Shakespeare in his 91st Sonnet says:-- - - "Some glory in their birth, some in their skill, - Some in their wealth, some in their bodies' force, - Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill, - Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse. - - * * * * * - - Thy love is better than high birth to me, - Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost, - Of more delight than hawks or horses be, - And, having thee, of all men's pride I boast." - -And in _Much Ado_ (iii. 4. 54) when Beatrice sighs, Margaret asks: -"For a hawk, a horse, or a husband?" - -Commentators on Shakespeare, like the critic quoted above, have -sometimes erred in their interpretation of a passage because -they did not understand the fact or usage upon which a figure or -allusion was founded. - - -THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS. - -When the players came to town I suspect that no Stratford boy was -more delighted than William. John Shakespeare, like his fellows -in the town council, seems to have been a lover of the drama. When -he was bailiff in 1569 he granted licenses for performances of the -Queen's and the Earl of Worcester's companies. - -[Illustration: ITINERANT PLAYERS IN A COUNTRY HALL] - -The Queen's company received nine shillings and the Earl's -twelvepence for their first entertainments, to which the public -were admitted free. They doubtless gave others afterwards for which -an entrance fee was charged. - -Did John Shakespeare take the five-year-old William to see -them act? He may have done so, for we know that in the city of -Gloucester (only thirty miles from Stratford) a man took his -little boy, born in the same year with Shakespeare, to a free -dramatic performance similarly provided by the corporation. In his -autobiography, written in his old age, the person tells how he went -to the show with his father and stood between his legs as he sat -upon one of the benches. - -The play was one of the "moralities" then in vogue, and the good -man's quaint description of it is worth quoting as giving an idea -of those curious dramas:-- - -"It was called The Cradle of Security, wherein was personated a -king or some great prince, with his courtiers of several kinds, -amongst which three ladies were in special grace with him; and -they, keeping him in delights and pleasures, drew him from his -graver counsellors, ... that, in the end, they got him to lie down -in a cradle upon the stage, where these three ladies, joining in -a sweet song, rocked him asleep that he snorted again; and in the -mean time closely [that is, secretly] conveyed under the clothes -wherewithal he was covered a vizard, like a swine's snout, upon -his face, with three wire chains fastened thereunto, the other end -whereof being holden severally by those three ladies, who fall to -singing again, and then discovered [uncovered] his face that the -spectators might see how they had transformed him, going on with -their singing. - -"Whilst all this was acting, there came forth of another door at -the farthest end of the stage two old men, the one in blue with a -sergeant-at-arms his mace on his shoulder, the other in red with -a drawn sword in his hand and leaning with the other hand upon -the other's shoulder; and so they two went along in a soft pace -round about by the skirt of the stage, till at last they came to -the cradle, when all the court was in the greatest jollity; and -then the foremost old man with his mace struck a fearful blow -upon the cradle, whereat all the courtiers, with the three ladies -and the vizard, all vanished; and the desolate prince starting up -bare-faced, and finding himself thus sent for to judgment, made a -lamentable complaint of his miserable case, and so was carried away -by wicked spirits. - -"This prince did personate in the moral the Wicked of the World; -the three ladies, Pride, Covetousness, and Luxury [Lust]; the two -old men, the End of the World and the Last Judgment. - -"This sight took such impression in me that, when I came towards -man's estate, it was as fresh in my memory as if I had seen it -newly acted." - -So far as the Stratford records show, the theatrical company of -1569 was the first that had visited the town, but afterwards -players came thither almost every year. - -How much they had to do in awakening a passion for the drama in -the breast of young William and shaping his subsequent career, -we cannot guess; but "the boy is father of the man," and in all -that we know of Shakespeare as a boy we can detect the germinal -influences of many characteristics of the man, the poet, and the -dramatist. - -[Illustration: WILLIAM KEMP DANCING THE MORRIS] - - - - -PART V. - -HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, FAIRS, ETC - - -[Illustration: THE BOUNDARY ELM] - - -SAINT GEORGE'S DAY. - -We do not know the precise date of William Shakespeare's birth. -That of his baptism is recorded in the parish register at Stratford -as the 26th of April, 1564. It was a common practice then to -baptize infants when they were three days old, and it has therefore -been assumed that William was born on the 23d of April; but the -rule, if rule it can be called, was often varied from, and we have -not a particle of evidence that it was followed in this instance. -It should, moreover, be understood that the 23d of April, as dates -were then reckoned in England, corresponded to our 3d of May. - -It would be pleasant to think that the poet made his first -appearance on the stage of human life on that particular day, for -it was Saint George's day, a great holiday and time of feasting -throughout the kingdom, Saint George being the patron saint of -England. - -There is a book with which Shakespeare was doubtless familiar -when he grew up--a collection of ancient stories made by Richard -Johnson--in which Saint George figures as one of the "Seven -Champions of Christendom." - -From this book, as Mr. A. H. Wall tells us, we learn "how Saint -George was imprisoned by the black King of Morocco, after he had -fought so miraculously against the Saracens, and slain a frightful -dragon, which had destroyed entire cities by the poison of its -breath, and had every day devoured a beautiful virgin. Escaping -from prison, he carried off a princess he had rescued from the -monster, whom neither sword nor spear could pierce, and brought -her to England, where the twain 'lived happily ever after,' in -Warwickshire, where, sometime in the third century they died. -The war-cry of England was 'Saint George!' as that of France -was 'Montjoye Saint Denis!'; and to this day 'by George!' is an -exclamation derived from the ancient custom of swearing by that -Saint. - -"The ancient ballad of Saint George and the Dragon (printed in -the Percy _Reliques_) tells us that the shire in which he died -was that in which he first saw the light; that his mother expired -while giving him birth; that a weird lady of the woods stole him -when an infant and educated him by magic power to become a great -warrior; and that on his person, prophetic of his future career -and greatness, were three very mysterious marks--on one shoulder a -cross, on the breast a dragon, and round one leg a garter. Their -meanings were revealed when he fought so astoundingly as a crusader -in the Holy Land, when he killed the magic dragon in Egypt, and -rescued the King's daughter, Silene or Sabra, and, after his death, -when Edward III. founded the knightly Order of the Garter, and made -Saint George its patron. - -"Centuries before that, the soldiers had adopted him as their -special patron, as had also not a few of the old trade guilds. -In some of the provincial towns and cities regulations for the -annual ceremony of 'Riding the George' were enforced by penalties -more or less severe. An ancestor of Shakespeare's, John Arden, of -Warwickshire, 'bequethed his white harneis complete to the church -of Ashton for a George to were it.' This was in the reign of the -seventh Harry.... There was also an ancient play called 'The Holy -Martyr St. George,' which, sadly degenerated in modern times, used -to be played by rustics as a piece of coarse buffoonery." - -The "Riding of Saint George" was forbidden by Henry VIII., but the -custom was nevertheless kept up in out-of-the-way places even after -Edward VI. had made more stringent laws against it. - -It appears from the ancient records of the Guild that Stratford was -one of the very last places in which the celebration was finally -suppressed. Shakespeare in his boyhood doubtless saw it carried -out with all its antique splendor. Mr. Wall gives the following -description of the festival:-- - -"How great would be the preparations! Old arms and armor from the -Guild's collection would be burnished up to be used by the town -watch and the archers. All sorts of choice dishes and rare wines -would be in demand for mighty feasting. The suit of white armor, -of an antique pattern, which hung above the altar of Saint George, -would be taken down and cleaned with reverential care, and from all -the surrounding towns and villages, castles and mansions, guests -would come flocking in, day after day, filling the numerous inns to -overflowing. - -"On _the_ day, gravel would be spread along the procession's route, -and barricades erected; house fronts would be adorned with plants -and tapestry. Chambers (small cannon) would be fired at daybreak, -and great shouts of 'Saint George!' would drown the echoes of their -explosions. The Master of the Guild, its schoolmaster (a truly -learned man), with the monitors and scholars of the Grammar School -in their long blue gowns and flat caps, with the priests of the -Guild Chapel, would all walk in the procession, with their Guild -brothers and sisters, with representatives of the trades practised -in the town, and even with the old Almshouse people, smiling -and chattering and wagging their ancient heads. Nobody would be -forgotten who had a fair claim to be conspicuously remembered -then. The 'Bedals' would be there of course in all their native -dignity, solemn and severe. The town 'waits' would 'discourse most -excellent music' with drums and fifes and other cheek-distending -wind-instruments. The bells in the church and chapel tower would be -ringing out right jovial peals. Then would come the town trumpeters -marching before the High Bailiff, Aldermen, and Chamberlains, with -their long furred scarlet robes, their chains of office, and the -newly-gilded maces borne before them. - -"Then, riding on horseback, his armor and drawn sword flashing back -the rays of a fitful sun, would be seen the living representative -of Saint George, with his great white plume floating from his -white helm, as the soft, sweet, playing wind tossed it to and fro. -Behind him, creating as he came such a roar of honest irrepressible -laughter as would have done your heart good to hear, would waddle -the dragon (oh! such a dragon!) a 'property' one, with two boys -inside it, led in chains, with the spear of Saint George down its -throat. And then the vicar, his curates, and the gentry, in all -the grandeur of silk and satin lace and spangles, would do the -'Riding' honor, with gold and silver chains about their necks, -spurs at their heels, and swords by their sides, the Lord and Lady -of the Manor riding before them. And these last-named were indeed -dignitaries of great consequence, being, you must know, no lesser -personages than Ambrose Dudley, 'the Good Earl' and his good lady, -patrons of learning and rewarders of virtue, from their great -castle at Warwick. - -"But there is one feature of the Riding which must not on any -account be forgotten. This was the Egyptian Princess, personated -by the prettiest girl in Stratford (where pretty girls were always -found, and are still not few). She came on a raised wheeled -platform with a golden crown upon her head (made of gilded -pasteboard), and by her side a pretty pet lamb, garlanded with the -earliest flowers of the spring, blushing (she, not the lamb) and -smiling, and looking down very charming--as I tenderly imagine. - -"And all the time they were passing, the bells would ring out -right merrily, and the people shout most lustily; and from every -throat, blending thunderously, would come the cry, the cry that -England's foes had trembled at in many a desperate fight: 'Saint -George for England, Saint George for Merry England!' - -"It was customary to announce this Riding by sound of trumpet from -the Market Cross some time before it took place. And so I can fancy -John Shakespeare, the glover, with all his clever work-people, men -and women, artists and mechanics, joining the crowd that listens -to the town trumpeter's loud-ringing voice here at the Cross, and -opposite the Cage, where once lived Judith Shakespeare. By John, -stands--in my fancy--Mary, his wife, with little Willie holding -tightly to her hand, in a state of intense excitement; and almost -before the crier has spoken his lines this laughing little fellow, -who has been looking on with such wide-open wondering brown eyes, -is suddenly lifted into the air and from above his father's head -cries, in his childishly treble voice, 'Saint George for England!' -for his mother had said, ''T is his right to lead the shouting here -to-day, dear neighbors all, for on Saint George's day my boy was -born.'" - - -EASTER. - -The festival of Easter would generally come before Saint George's -day. When Shakespeare was a boy the Reformation had somewhat -mitigated the ancient rigor and austerity of Lent, but Easter was -none the less a joyous and jubilant anniversary. - -"Surely," as Mr. Charles Knight remarks, "there was something -exquisitely beautiful in the old custom of going forth into the -fields before the sun had risen on Easter-day, to see him mounting -over the hills with a tremulous motion, as if it were an animate -thing bounding in sympathy with the redeemed of mankind. The young -poet [Shakespeare] might have joined his simple neighbors on this -cheerful morning, and yet have thought with Sir Thomas Browne, 'We -shall not, I hope, disparage the Resurrection of our Redeemer if we -say that the sun doth _not_ dance on Easter-day.' But one of the -most glorious images of one of his early plays [_Romeo and Juliet_] -has given life and movement to the sun:-- - - "'Night's candles are burnt out, and _jocund_ Day - Stands _tiptoe_ on the misty mountain's tops.' - -Saw he not the sun dance--heard he not the expression of the -undoubting belief that the sun danced--as he went forth into -Stratford meadows in the early twilight of Easter-day?" - -Sir John Suckling, in his _Ballad upon a Wedding_, alludes prettily -to this old superstition in the description of the bride:-- - - "But O she dances such a way! - No sun upon an Easter day - Is half so fine a sight." - -Perhaps Shakespeare had this bit of folk-lore in mind when he wrote -these lines in _Coriolanus_ (v. 4. 52):-- - - "The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fifes, - Tabors and cymbals and the shouting Romans, - Make the sun dance." - -Easter was a favorite time for games of ball and many of the -athletic sports described in the preceding pages. - - -THE PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. - -On the road to Henley-in-Arden, a few hundred yards from John -Shakespeare's house in Henley Street, there stood until about fifty -years ago an ancient boundary-tree--an elm to which reference is -made in records of the 16th century. From that point the boundary -of the borough continued to "the two elms in Evesham highway"; and -so on, from point to point, round to the tree first mentioned. Once -a year, in Rogation Week (six weeks after Easter), the clergy, the -magistrates and public officers, and the inhabitants, including -the boys of the Grammar School, assembled under this elm for the -perambulation of the boundaries. They marched in procession, with -waving banners and poles crowned with garlands, over the entire -circuit of the parish limits. Under each "gospel-tree," as at the -first boundary elm, a passage from Scripture was read, a collect -recited, and a psalm sung. - -These parochial processions were kept up after the Reformation. -In 1575 a form of devotion for the "Rogation Days of Procession" -was prescribed, "without addition of any superstitious ceremonies -heretofore used"; and it was subsequently ordered that the curate -on such occasions "shall admonish the people to give thanks to God -in the beholding of God's benefits," and enforce the scriptural -denunciations against those who remove their neighbors' landmarks. -Izaak Walton tells how the pious Hooker encouraged these annual -ceremonies: "He would by no means omit the customary time of -procession, persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired -the preservation of love and their parish rights and liberties, -to accompany him in his perambulation; and most did so: in which -perambulation he would usually express more pleasant discourse -than at other times, and would then always drop some loving and -facetious observations, to be remembered against the next year, -especially by the boys and young people; still inclining them, and -all his present parishioners, to meekness and mutual kindnesses -and love, because love thinks not evil, but covers a multitude of -infirmities." - -"And so," remarks Mr. Knight, after quoting this passage, -"listening to the gentle words of some venerable Hooker of -his time, would the young Shakespeare walk the bounds of his -native parish. One day would not suffice to visit its numerous -gospel-trees. Hours would be spent in reconciling differences among -the cultivators of the common fields; in largesses to the poor; in -merry-making at convenient halting-places. A wide parish is this -of Stratford, including eleven villages and hamlets. A district of -beautiful and varied scenery is this parish--hill and valley, wood -and water.... For nearly three miles from Welcombe Greenhill the -boundary lies along a wooded ridge, opening prospects of surpassing -beauty. There may the distant spires of Coventry be seen peeping -above the intermediate hills, and the nearer towers of Warwick -lying cradled in their surrounding woods.... At the northern -extremity of the high land, which principally belongs to the estate -of Clopton, and which was doubtless a park in early times, we have -a panoramic view of the valley in which Stratford lies, with its -hamlets of Bishopton, Little Wilmecote, Shottery, and Drayton. As -the marvellous boy of the Stratford Grammar School then looked -upon that plain, how little could he have foreseen the course of -his future life! For twenty years of his manhood he was to have no -constant dwelling-place in that his native town; but it was to be -the home of his affections. He would be gathering fame and opulence -in an almost untrodden path, of which his young ambition could -shape no definite image; but in the prime of his life he was to -bring his wealth to his own Stratford, and become the proprietor -and the contented cultivator of the loved fields that he now saw -mapped out at his feet. Then, a little while, and an early tomb -under that grey tower--a tomb so to be honored in all ages to come - - "'That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.'" - - -MAY-DAY AND THE MORRIS-DANCE. - -The first of May was in the olden time one of the most delightful -of holidays; but its harmless sports were an abomination in the -eyes of the Puritans. Philip Stubbes, in his _Anatomie of Abuses_ -(1583) says: "Against May, every parish, town, and village assemble -themselves together, both men, women, and children, old and -young, even all indifferently: and either going all together, or -dividing themselves into companies, they go, some to the woods and -groves, some to the hills and mountains, some to one place, some -to another, where they spend all the night in pastimes; and in the -morning they return, bringing with them birch boughs and branches -of trees to deck their assemblies withal.... But their chiefest -jewel they bring from thence is their _May pole_, which they bring -home with great veneration, as thus:--They have twenty or forty -yoke of oxen, every ox having a sweet nosegay of flowers tied on -the tip of his horns, and these oxen draw home this May pole, which -is covered all over with flowers and herbs, bound round about with -strings, from the top to the bottom, and sometime painted with -variable colors, with two or three hundred men, women, and children -following it, with great devotion. And thus being reared up, with -handkerchiefs and flags streaming on the top, they strew the ground -about, bind green boughs about it, set up summer halls, bowers, and -arbors hard by it. And then fall they to banquet and feast, to leap -and dance about it, as the heathen people did at the dedication of -their idols, whereof this is a perfect pattern, or rather the thing -itself." - -Milton, though a Puritan, writes in a different vein in his _Song -on May Morning_:-- - - "Now the bright morning-star, day's harbinger, - Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her - The flowery May, who from her green lap throws - The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. - Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire - Mirth and youth and warm desire! - Woods and groves are of thy dressing, - Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. - Thus we salute thee with our early song, - And welcome thee, and wish thee long." - -Kings and queens did not disdain to join in these rural sports. -Henry VIII. and Queen Katherine enjoyed them; and he, in the -early part of his reign, rose on May Day very early and went with -his courtiers to the wood to "fetch May," or green boughs. In the -_Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (iv. 1.) Theseus, Hippolyta, and their -train are in the wood in "the vaward of the day," and find the -pairs of lovers sleeping under the influence of Puck's magic; and -Theseus says:-- - - "No doubt they rose up early to observe - The rite of May, and, hearing our intent, - Came here in grace of our solemnity." - -The boys and girls, as the sour Stubbes has told us, were not slack -to observe this rite of May. In a manuscript in the British Museum, -entitled _The State of Eton School_, and dated 1560, we read that -"on the day of Saint Philip and Saint James [May 1st], if it be -fair weather, and the master grants leave, those boys who choose -it may rise at four o'clock, to gather May branches, if they can -do it without wetting their feet: and that on that day they adorn -the windows of the bedchamber with green leaves, and the houses are -perfumed with fragrant herbs." - -The May-pole was often kept standing from year to year on the -village green or in some public place in town or city, and in -such cases was usually painted with various colors. One described -by Tollet was "painted yellow and black in spiral lines." In the -_Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (iii. 2. 296), Hermia sneers at the -taller Helena as a "painted May-pole." - -[Illustration: MORRIS-DANCE] - -In _Henry VIII._ (v. 4. 15) when the Porter is angry at the crowds -that have made their way into the palace yard, and calls for "a -dozen crab-tree staves" to drive them out, a man says to him:-- - - "Pray, sir, be patient: 't is as much impossible-- - Unless we sweep 'em from the door with cannons-- - To scatter 'em, as 't is to make 'em sleep - On May-day morning; which will never be." - -Of course the day was a holiday in the Stratford school, and we may -be sure that William made the most of it. - -An important feature in the May-day games in Shakespeare's time was -the _Morris-Dance_, in which a group of characters associated with -the stories of Robin Hood were the chief actors. These were Robin -himself; his faithful companion, Little John; Friar Tuck, to whom -Drayton alludes as - - "Tuck the merry friar which many a sermon made - In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws and their trade;" - -Maid Marian, the mistress of Robin; the Fool, who was like the -domestic buffoon of the time, with motley dress, the cap and bells, -and additional bells tied to his arms and ankles; the Piper, -sometimes called Tom Piper, the musician of the troop; and the -Hobby-horse, represented by a man equipped with a pasteboard frame -forming the head and hinder parts of a horse, with a long mantle or -footcloth reaching nearly to the ground, to hide the man's legs; -and the Dragon, another pasteboard device, much like the one in -the Riding of Saint George described above (page 169). In addition -to these characters there were a number of common dancers, in -fantastic costume, with bells about their feet. - -The forms and number of the characters varied much with time and -place. Sometimes only one or two of those just mentioned were -introduced in the dance, and sometimes others were added. - -During the reign of Elizabeth the Puritans, by their sermons -and invectives, did much to interfere with this feature of the -May-day games. Friar Tuck was deemed a remnant of Popery, and -the Hobby-horse an impious superstition. The opposition to them -became so bitter that they were generally omitted from the sport. -Allusions to the omission of the Hobby-horse are frequent in the -plays of the time; as in _Love's Labour's Lost_ (iii. 1. 30): "The -hobby-horse is forgot;" and _Hamlet_ (iii. 2. 142): "or else he -shall suffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph -is, 'For, O, for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot.'" This "epitaph" -(which is also referred to in _Love's Labour's Lost_) appears to be -a quotation from some popular song of the time. So in Beaumont and -Fletcher's _Women Pleased_ (iv. 1.) we find: "Shall the hobby-horse -be forgot then?" and in Ben Jonson's _Entertainment at Althorp_: -"But see, the hobby-horse is forgot." - -Friar Tuck is alluded to by Shakespeare in _The Two Gentlemen of -Verona_ (iv. 1. 36), where one of the Outlaws who have seized -Valentine exclaims:-- - - "By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar, - This fellow were a king for our wild faction!" - -That he kept his place in the morris-dance in the reign of -Elizabeth is evident from Warner's _Albion's England_, published in -1586: "Tho' Robin Hood, little John, friar Tuck, and Marian deftly -play"; but he is not heard of afterwards. In Ben Jonson's _Masque -of the Gipsies_, written about 1620, the Clown notes his absence -from the dance: "There is no Maid Marian nor Friar amongst them." - -Maid Marian also officiated as the Queen or Lady of the May, who -had figured in the May-day festivities long before Robin Hood was -introduced into them. She was probably at first the representative -of the goddess Flora in the ancient Roman festival celebrated at -the same season of the year. - -Maid Marian was sometimes personated by a young woman, but -oftener by a boy or young man in feminine dress. Later, when the -morris-dance had degenerated into coarse foolery, the part was -taken by a clown. In _1 Henry IV._ (iii. 3. 129), Falstaff refers -contemptuously to "Maid Marian" as a low character, which she had -doubtless become by the time (1596 or 1597) when that play was -written. - -The connection of the morris-dance with May-day is alluded to in -_All's Well that Ends Well_ (ii. 2. 25): "as fit ... as a morris -for May-day"; but it came to be a feature of many other holidays -and festivals, and was often one of the sports introduced to amuse -the crowd at fairs and similar gatherings. - -Mr. Knight gives us this fancy picture of the May-day games as they -probably were in Shakespeare's boyhood:-- - - "An impatient group is gathered under the shade of the old elms, - for the morning sun casts his slanting beams dazzlingly across - the green. There is the distant sound of tabor and bagpipe:-- - - "'Hark, hark! I hear the dancing, - And a nimble morris prancing; - The bagpipe and the morris bells - That they are not far hence us tells.' - - From out of the leafy Arden are they bringing in the May-pole. - The oxen move slowly with the ponderous wain; they are garlanded, - but not for the sacrifice. Around the spoil of the forest are the - pipers and the dancers--maidens in blue kirtles, and foresters - in green tunics. Amidst the shouts of young and old, childhood - leaping and clapping its hands, is the May-pole raised. But - there are great personages forthcoming--not so great, however, - as in more ancient times. There are Robin Hood and Little John, - in their grass-green tunics; but their bows and their sheaves - of arrows are more for show than use. Maid Marian is there; but - she is a mockery--a smooth-faced youth in a watchet-colored - tunic, with flowers and coronets, and a mincing gait, but not the - shepherdess who - - "'with garlands gay - Was made the Lady of the May.' - - There is farce amidst the pastoral. The age of unrealities - has already in part arrived. Even among country-folk there is - burlesque. There is personation, with a laugh at the things - that are represented. The Hobby-horse and the Dragon, however, - produce their shouts of merriment. But the hearty morris-dancers - soon spread a spirit of genial mirth among all the spectators. - The clownish Maid Marian will now 'caper upright like a wild - Morisco.' Friar Tuck sneaks away from his ancient companions to - join hands with some undisguised maiden; the Hobby-horse gets rid - of pasteboard and his foot-cloth; and the Dragon quietly deposits - his neck and tail for another season. Something like the genial - chorus of _Summer's Last Will and Testament_ is rung out:-- - - "'Trip and go, heave and ho, - Up and down, to and fro, - From the town to the grove, - Two and two, let us rove, - A-Maying, a-playing; - Love hath no gainsaying, - So merrily trip and go.' - - "The early-rising moon still sees the villagers on that green of - Shottery. The Piper leans against the May-pole; the featliest of - dancers still swim to the music:-- - - "'So have I seen - Tom Piper stand upon our village-green, - Backed with the May-pole, whilst a jocund crew - In gentle motion circularly threw - Themselves around him.' - - The same beautiful writer--one of the last of our golden age of - poetry--has described the parting gifts bestowed upon the 'merry - youngsters' by - - "'the Lady of the May - Set in an arbor (on a holiday) - Built by the May-pole, where the jocund swains - Dance with the maidens to the bagpipe's strains, - When envious night commands them to be gone.'" - -These latter quotations are from William Browne's _Britannia's -Pastorals_ (book ii. published in 1616), and the poet goes on to -tell how the Lady - - "Calls for the merry youngsters one by one, - And, for their well performance, soon disposes - To this a garland interwove with roses; - To that a carved hook or well-wrought scrip; - Gracing another with her cherry lip; - To one her garter; to another then - A handkerchief cast o'er and o'er again: - And none returneth empty that hath spent - His pains to fill their rural merriment." - - -WHITSUNTIDE. - -Whitsuntide, the season of Pentecost, or the week following -Whitsunday (the seventh Sunday after Easter), was another period of -festivity in old English times. - -The morris-dance was commonly one of its features, as of the -May-day sports. In _Henry V._ (ii. 4. 25) the Dauphin alludes to -it:-- - - "'I say 't is meet we all go forth - To view the sick and feeble parts of France; - And let us do it with no show of fear, - No, with no more than if we heard that England - Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance." - -Another custom connected with the festival was the "Whitsun-ale." -Ale was so common a drink in England that it became a part of -the name of various festal meetings. A "leet-ale" was a feast at -the holding of a court-leet; a "lamb-ale" was a sheep-shearing -merry-making; a "bride-ale" was a _bridal_, as we now call -it--always a festive occasion; and a "church-ale" was connected -with some ecclesiastical holiday. - -John Aubrey, the eminent antiquary, writing in the latter part -of the 17th century, says that in his grandfather's days the -church-ale at Whitsuntide furnished all the money needed for the -relief of the parish poor. He adds: "In every parish is, or was, -a church-house, to which belonged spits, crocks, etc., utensils -for dressing provision. Here the housekeepers met and were merry, -and gave their charity. The young people were there too, and had -dancing, bowling, shooting at butts, without scandal." - -The Puritan Stubbes, in the book before quoted (page 176, above), -took a different view of these social gatherings. He says: "In -certain towns, where drunken Bacchus bears sway, against Christmas -and Easter, Whitsuntide, or some other time, the churchwardens -of every parish, with the consent of the whole parish, provide -half a score or twenty quarters of malt, whereof some they buy -of the church stock, and some is given them of the parishioners -themselves, every one conferring somewhat, according to his -ability; which malt, being made into very strong ale or beer, is -set to sale, either in the church or some other place assigned to -that purpose. Then when this is set abroach, well is he that can -get the soonest to it, and spend the most at it." - -Old parish records show that considerable money was obtained at -these festivals, not only by the sale of ale and food, but from the -charges made for certain games, among which "riffeling" (raffling) -is included. Neighboring parishes often united in these church -picnics, as they might be called. Richard Carew, in his _Survey of -Cornwall_ (1602), says: "The neighboring parishes at these times -lovingly visit one another, and this way frankly spend their money -together." - -Whitsuntide was also a favorite time for theatrical performances. -Long before Shakespeare's day the miracle-plays and moralities had -been popular at this season; and these, as we have seen (page 17), -were still kept up when he was a boy, together with "pastorals" and -other "pageants" such as Perdita alludes to in _The Winter's Tale_ -(iv. 4. 134):-- - - "Come, take your flowers: - Methinks I play as I have seen them do - In Whitsun pastorals;" - -and such as the disguised Julia describes in _The Two Gentlemen of -Verona_ (iv. 4. 163):-- - - "At Pentecost, - When all our pageants of delight were play'd, - Our youth got me to play the woman's part, - And I was trimm'd in Madam Julia's gown, - Which served me as fit, by all men's judgments, - As if the garment had been made for me; - Therefore, I know she is about my height. - And at that time I made her weep a-good, - For I did play a lamentable part. - Madam, 't was Ariadne, passioning - For Theseus' perjury and unjust flight, - Which I so lively acted with my tears - That my poor mistress, moved therewithal, - Wept bitterly; and would I might be dead - If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!" - -This is in one of the earliest of his plays, and may be a -reminiscence of some simple attempt at dramatic representation -which he had seen at Stratford. - - -MIDSUMMER EVE. - -The Vigil of Saint John the Baptist, or the evening before the day -(June 24) dedicated to that Saint, was commonly called Midsummer -Eve, and was observed with curious ceremonies in all parts of -England. On that evening the people used to go into the woods -and break down branches of trees, which they brought home and -fixed over their doors with great demonstrations of joy. This was -originally done to make good the Scripture prophecy concerning the -Baptist, that many should rejoice in his birth. - -It was also customary on this occasion for old and young, of both -sexes, to make merry about a large bonfire made in the street or -some open place. They danced around it, and the young men and boys -leaped over it, not to show their agility, but in compliance with -an ancient custom. These diversions they kept up till midnight, and -sometimes later. - -According to some old writers these fires were made because the -Saint was said in Holy Writ to be "a shining light." Others, while -not denying this, added that the fires served to drive away the -dragons and evil spirits hovering in the air; and one asserts that -in some countries bones were burnt in this "bone-fire," or bonfire, -"for the dragons hated nothing more than the stench of burning -bones." - -In the _Ordinary of the Company of Cooks_ at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, -1575, we read among other regulations: "And also that the said -Fellowship of Cooks shall yearly of their own cost and charge -maintain and keep the bone-fires, according to the ancient custom -of the town on the Sand-hill; that is to say, one bone-fire on the -Even of the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, commonly -called Midsummer Even, and the other on the Even of the Feast of -St. Peter the Apostle, if it shall please the mayor and aldermen -of the town for the time being to have the same bone-fires." - -In a manuscript record of the expenses of the royal household for -the first year of the reign of Henry VIII. (1513), under date of -July 1st is the entry: "Item, to the pages of the hall, for making -of the King's bone-fire upon Midsummer Eve, x_s._" - -There were many popular superstitions connected with Midsummer Eve. -It was believed that if any one sat up fasting all night in the -church porch, he would see the spirits of those who were to die in -the parish during the ensuing twelve months come and knock at the -church door, in the order in which they were to die. - -It was customary on this evening to gather certain plants -which were supposed to have magical properties. Fern-seed, for -instance, being on the back of the leaf and in some species -hardly discernible, was thought to have the power of rendering -the possessor invisible, if it was gathered at this time. In some -places it was believed that the seed must be got at midnight by -letting it fall into a plate without touching the plant. - -We find many allusions to fern-seed in Elizabethan writers. In _1 -Henry IV._ (ii. 1. 95) Gadshill says: "We steal as in a castle, -cock-sure; we have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible"; -to which the Chamberlain replies: "Nay, by my faith, I think ye -are more beholding to the night than to fern-seed for your walking -invisible." In Ben Jonson's _New Inn_ (i. 1) one of the characters -says:-- - - "I had - No medicine, sir, to go invisible, - No fern-seed in my pocket." - -In _Plaine Percevall_, a tract of the time of Elizabeth, we read: -"I think the mad slave hath tasted on a fern-stalk, that he walks -so invisible." - -Scot, in his _Discoverie of Witchcraft_ (1584), directs us, as -protection against witches, to "hang boughs (hallowed on Midsummer -Day) at the stall door where the cattle stand." - -St. John's wort, vervain, orpine, and rue were among the plants -gathered on Midsummer Eve on account of their supernatural virtue. -Each was supposed to have its peculiar use in popular magic. -Orpine, for instance, was set in clay upon pieces of slate, and -called a "Midsummer man." According as the stalk was found next -morning to incline to the right or the left, the anxious maiden -knew whether her lover would prove true to her or not. Young women -also sought at this time for what they called pieces of coal, but -in reality hard, black, dead roots, often found under the living -mugwort; and these they put under their pillows that they might -dream of their lovers. Lupton, in his _Notable Things_ (1586), -says: "It is certainly and constantly affirmed that on Midsummer -Eve there is found, under the root of mugwort, a coal which saves -or keeps them safe from the plague, carbuncle, lightning, the -quartan ague, and from burning, that bear the same about them." He -also says it is reported that the same remarkable "coal" is found -at the same time of the year under the root of plantain; and he -adds that he knows this "to be of truth," for he has found it there -himself! - -Midsummer Eve was also thought to be a season productive -of madness. In _Twelfth Night_ (iii. 4. 61) Olivia says of -Malvolio's eccentric behavior, "Why, this is very midsummer -madness." Steevens, the Shakespearian critic, believed that the -_Midsummer-Night's Dream_ owed its title to this association of -mental vagaries with the season. John Heywood, writing in the -latter part of the 16th century, alludes to the same belief when he -says:-- - - "As mad as a March hare; when madness compares, - Are not Midsummer hares as mad as March hares?" - -It is not improbable, however, that the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ -was so called because it was to be first represented at Midsummer, -or because it was like the plays commonly performed in connection -with the festivities of that season. A drama in which fairies -were leading characters was in keeping with the time of year when -fairies and spirits were supposed to manifest themselves to mortal -vision either in vigils or in dreams. - - -CHRISTMAS. - -[Illustration: CLOPTON HOUSE ON CHRISTMAS EVE] - -Passing by sundry minor festivals of the year, we come to -Christmas, which is a day of feasting and merrymaking in England -even now, though but a "starveling Christmas" compared with that -of the olden time. "Where now," as Mr. Knight asks, "is the real -festive exhilaration of Christmas; the meeting of all ranks as -children of a common father; the tenant speaking freely in his -landlord's hall; the laborers and their families sitting at the -same great oak table; the Yule Log brought in with shout and song? -'No night is now with hymn or carol blest.' There are singers of -carols even now at a Stratford Christmas. Warwickshire has -retained some of its ancient carols. But the singers are wretched -chorus-makers, according to the most unmusical style of all the -generations from the time of the Commonwealth.... But in an age of -music we may believe that one young dweller in Stratford gladly -woke out of his innocent sleep, after the evening bells had rung -him to rest, when in the stillness of the night the psaltery was -gently touched before his father's porch, and he heard, one voice -under another, these simple and solemn strains:-- - - "'As Joseph was a-walking - He heard an angel sing, - This night shall be born - Our heavenly King. - - "'He neither shall be born - In housen nor in hall, - Nor in the place of Paradise, - But in an ox's stall. - - "'He neither shall be clothed - In purple nor in pall, - But all in fair linen, - As were babies all. - - "'He neither shall be rock'd - In silver nor in gold, - But in a wooden cradle - That rocks on the mould.' - -London has perhaps this carol yet, among its halfpenny ballads. A -man who had a mind attuned to the love of what was beautiful in the -past has preserved it; but it was for another age. It was for the -age of William Shakespeare. It was for the age when superstition, -as we call it, had its poetical faith.... - -"Such a night was a preparation for a 'happy Christmas.' The Cross -of Stratford was garnished with the holly, the ivy, and the bay. -Hospitality was in every house; but the hall of the great landlord -of the parish was a scene of rare conviviality. The frost or the -snow will not deter the principal tenants and friends from the -welcome of Clopton. There is the old house, nestled in the woods, -looking down upon the little town. Its chimneys are reeking; there -is bustle in the offices; the sound of the trumpeters and the -pipers is heard through the open door of the great entrance; the -steward marshals the guests; the tables are fast filling. Then -advance, courteously, the master and the mistress of the feast. The -Boar's head is brought in with due solemnity; the wine-cup goes -round; and perhaps the Saxon shout of Waes-hael and Drink-hael -may still be shouted. The boy-guest who came with his father, the -tenant of Ingon, has slid away from the rout; for the steward, who -loves the boy, has a sight to make him merry. The Lord of Misrule -and his jovial attendants are rehearsing their speeches; and the -mummers from Stratford are at the porch. Very sparing are the -cues required for the enactment of this short drama. A speech to -the esquire, closed with a merry jest; something about ancestry -and good Sir Hugh; the loud laugh; the song and the chorus; and -the Lord of Misrule is now master of the feast. The Hall is -cleared.... There is dancing till curfew; and then a walk in the -moonlight to Stratford, the pale beam shining equally upon the dark -resting-place in the lonely aisle of the Clopton who is gone, -and upon the festal hall of the Clopton who remains, where some -loiterers of the old and young still desire 'to burn this night -with torches.'" - -This is a fancy picture, but it is in keeping with the life of the -time. Whether the boy Shakespeare spent a Christmas in just this -manner or not, we may be sure that he enjoyed the merriment of the -season to the full. - -There are a few allusions to Christmas in the plays, besides the -beautiful one in _Hamlet_ already quoted (page 138) in another -connection. In _Love's Labour's Lost_ (v. 2. 462) "a Christmas -comedy" is alluded to; and in _The Taming of the Shrew_ (ind. 2. -140), when Sly the tinker learns that a comedy is to be played for -his entertainment, he asks whether a "comonty" is "like a Christmas -gambold or a tumbling-trick." - - -SHEEP-SHEARING. - -Our English ancestors had other holidays than those associated -with the ecclesiastical year, but only one or two of them can be -mentioned here. - -The time of sheep-shearing was celebrated by a rural feast such as -Shakespeare has introduced in _The Winter's Tale_. The shearing -took place in the spring as soon as the weather became warm enough -for the sheep to lay aside their winter clothing without danger. -John Dyer, in his poem entitled _The Fleece_ (1757), fixes the -proper time thus:-- - - "If verdant elder spreads - Her silver flowers, if humble daisies yield - To yellow crowfoot and luxuriant grass, - Gay shearing-time approaches." - -Drayton, writing in Shakespeare's day (page 3 above), describes a -shearing-feast in the Vale of Evesham, not far from Stratford:-- - - "The shepherd-king, - Whose flock hath chanced that year the earliest lamb to bring, - In his gay baldric sits at his low, grassy board, - With flawns, curds, clouted cream, and country dainties stored; - And whilst the bagpipe plays, each lusty jocund swain - Quaffs syllabubs in cans to all upon the plain; - And to their country girls, whose nosegays they do wear, - Some roundelays do sing, the rest the burden bear." - -In _The Winter's Tale_, instead of the shepherd-king we have -the more poetical shepherdess-queen. Dr. F. J. Furnivall, in -his introduction to this play, remarks: "How happily it brings -Shakespeare before us, mixing with his Stratford neighbors at their -sheep-shearing and country sports, enjoying the vagabond peddler's -gammon and talk, delighting in the sweet Warwickshire maidens, -and buying them 'fairings,' opening his heart afresh to all the -innocent mirth and the beauty of nature around him!" Doubtless -he enjoyed these rural festivities in his later years, after he -settled down in his own house at Stratford, no less heartily than -he did in his boyhood, when his father may have had sheep to shear. - -Mr. Knight remarks: "There is a minuteness of circumstance amidst -the exquisite poetry of this scene [in _The Winter's Tale_] which -shows that it must have been founded upon actual observation, and -in all likelihood upon the keen and prying observation of a boy -occupied and interested with such details. Surely his father's -pastures and his father's homestead might have supplied all these -circumstances. His father's man might be the messenger to the town, -and reckon upon 'counters' the cost of the sheep-shearing feast. -'Three pounds of sugar, five pounds of currants, rice'--and then -he asks, 'What will this sister of mine do with rice?' In Bohemia -the clown might, with dramatic propriety, not know the use of -rice at a sheep-shearing; but a Warwickshire swain would have the -flavor of cheese-cakes in his mouth at the first mention of rice -and currants. Cheese-cakes and warden-pies were the sheep-shearing -delicacies." - -Shakespeare evidently knew for what the rice was wanted at the -feast; but the clown, who was no cook, might be familiar with the -flavor of the cakes without understanding all the ingredients that -entered into their composition. - -Thomas Tusser, in his _Five Hundred Points of Husbandry_ (1557), -describing this festival, makes the shepherd say:-- - - "Wife, make us a dinner, spare flesh neither corn, - Make wafers and cakes, for our sheep must be shorn; - At sheep-shearing, neighbors none other things crave - But good cheer and welcome like neighbors to have." - - -HARVEST-HOME. - -The ingathering of the harvest was a season of great rejoicing from -the most remote antiquity. "Sowing is hope; reaping, fruition of -the expected good." To the husbandman to whom the fear of wet, -blights, and other mischances has been a source of anxiety between -seedtime and harvest, the fortunate completion of his long labors -cannot fail to be a relief and a delight. - -Paul Hentzner, writing in 1598 at Windsor, says: "As we were -returning to our inn we happened to meet some country-people -celebrating their harvest-home. Their last load of corn they crown -with flowers, having besides an image richly dressed, by which -perhaps they would signify Ceres. This they keep moving about, -while men and women, riding through the streets in the cart, shout -as loud as they can till they arrive at the barn." In the reign of -James I., Moresin, another foreigner, saw a figure made of corn -drawn home in a cart, with men and women singing to the pipe and -the drum. - -Matthew Stevenson, in the _Twelve Months_ (1661), under August, -alludes to this festival thus: "The furmenty-pot welcomes home the -harvest-cart, and the garland of flowers crowns the captain of the -reapers; the battle of the field is now stoutly fought. The pipe -and the tabor are now busily set a-work; and the lad and the lass -will have no lead on their heels. O, 't is the merry time wherein -honest neighbors make good cheer, and God is glorified in his -blessings on the earth." - -Robert Herrick, in his _Hesperides_ (1648), refers to the -harvest-home as follows:-- - - "Come, sons of summer, by whose toil - We are the lords of wine and oil, - By whose tough labor and rough hands - We rip up first, then reap our lands, - Crown'd with the ears of corn, now come, - And to the pipe sing harvest-home. - Come forth, my lord, and see the cart, - Drest up with all the country art. - See here a mawkin, there a sheet - As spotless pure as it is sweet: - The horses, mares, and frisking fillies - Clad all in linen, white as lilies; - The harvest swains and wenches bound - For joy to see the hock-cart crown'd. - About the cart hear how the rout - Of rural younglings raise the shout; - Pressing before, some coming after, - Those with a shout, and these with laughter. - Some bless the cart, some kiss the sheaves, - Some prank them up with oaken leaves; - Some cross the fill-horse; some, with great - Devotion, stroke the home-borne wheat. - - * * * * * - - Well, on, brave boys, to your lord's hearth, - Glittering with fire; where, for your mirth, - You shall see, first, the large and chief - Foundation of your feast, fat beef; - With upper stories, mutton, veal, - And bacon (which makes full the meal), - With several dishes standing by, - And here a custard, there a pie, - And here all-tempting frumenty." - -The "hock-cart" was the cart that brought home the last load of -corn. It was sometimes called the "hockey-cart"; and one of the -dainties of the feast was the "hockey-cake." In an almanac for -1676, under August, we read:-- - - "Hocky is brought home with hallowing, - Boys with plum-cake the cart following." - -The harvest-home is alluded to in _1 Henry IV._ (i. 3. 35), where -Hotspur, describing the "popinjay" lord who came to demand his -prisoners, says:-- - - "and his chin new-reap'd - Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home." - -In _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ (ii. 2. 287) Falstaff says of -Mistress Ford, to whom he intends to make love, "and there's my -harvest-home." - -In the interlude in _The Tempest_ (iv. 1. 134) the dance of the -Reapers was apparently a reminiscence of harvest-home sports. Iris -says:-- - - "You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary, - Come hither from the furrow and be merry. - Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on, - And these fresh nymphs encounter every one - In country footing." - -The following passage in the 12th Sonnet, though it has nothing -of festival joyousness, may have been suggested by the ceremonial -bringing home of the last load of grain:-- - - "When lofty trees I see barren of leaves - Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, - _And summer's green all girded up in sheaves_ - _Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard_," etc. - - -MARKETS AND FAIRS. - -In a quiet country town like Stratford the weekly market was an -occasion of some interest to the boys as to their elders. There -is still such a market on Fridays at Stratford, when wares of many -sorts are exposed for sale in the streets, and people from the -neighboring villages come to buy. In old times there would have -been a greater throng of buyers and sellers. "The housewife from -her little farm would ride in gallantly between her paniers laden -with butter, eggs, chickens, and capons. The farmer would stand -by his pitched corn, and, as Harrison complains, if the poor man -handled the sample with the intent to purchase his humble bushel, -the man of many sacks would declare that it was sold. There, before -shops were many and their stocks extensive, would come the dealers -from Birmingham and Coventry, with wares for use and wares for -show,--horse-gear and women-gear, Sheffield whittles, and rings -with posies." - -We find a number of allusions to these markets in Shakespeare's -plays. In _Love's Labour's Lost_ (v. 2. 318) Biron, ridiculing -Boyet, says of him:-- - - "He is art's pedler, and retails his wares - At wakes and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs." - -In the same play (iii. 1. 111) there is an allusion to the old -proverb, "Three women and a goose make a market," where Costard, -referring to Moth's nonsense about "the fox, the ape, and the -humble-bee," followed by the goose that made up four, says, "And he -[the goose] ended the market." - -In _As You Like It_ (iii. 2. 104) Touchstone, making fun of -Orlando's verses which Rosalind has just read, says: "I'll rhyme -you so eight years together, dinners and suppers and sleeping-hours -excepted: it is the right butter-women's rank to market"; that -is, the metre is just like the jog-trot of countrywomen riding to -market one after another, with their butter and eggs. - -In _Richard III._ (i. 1. 160) Gloster, after saying that he means -to "marry Warwick's youngest daughter," adds:-- - - "But yet I run before my horse to market: - Clarence still breathes, Edward still lives and reigns; - When they are gone, then must I count my gains." - -He means, in the language of a more familiar proverb, that he is -counting his chickens before they are hatched; that is, he is too -hasty in reckoning upon the success of his plans. - -[Illustration: THE FAIR] - -In _1 Henry VI._ (iii. 2) Joan of Arc gets into Rouen with her -soldiers in the guise of countrymen bound for market:-- - - "_Enter_ La Pucelle, _disguised, and_ Soldiers _dressed like - countrymen, with sacks upon their backs_. - - _Pucelle._ These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen, - Through which our policy must make a breach. - Take heed, be wary how you place your words; - Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men, - That come to gather money for their corn. - If we have entrance--as I hope we shall-- - And that we find the slothful watch but weak, - I'll by a sign give notice to our friends - That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them. - - _1 Soldier._ Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city, - And we be lords and rulers over Rouen; - Therefore we'll knock. [_Knocks._ - - _Guard._ [_Within._] _Qui est la?_ - - _Pucelle._ _Paisans, pauvres gens de France_: - Poor market-folks, that come to sell their corn. - - _Guard._ [_Opening the gates._] Enter, go in; the market-bell - is rung. - - _Pucelle._ Now, Rouen, I'll shake thy bulwarks to the - ground." - -The "market-bell" was rung at the hour when the market was to begin. - -In the same play (v. 5. 54), when a dower is proposed for Margaret, -who is to marry Henry, Suffolk says:-- - - "A dower, my lords! disgrace not so your king, - That he should be so abject, base, and poor, - To choose for wealth, and not for perfect love. - Henry is able to enrich his queen, - And not to seek a queen to make him rich: - So worthless peasants bargain for their wives, - As market-men for oxen, sheep, or horse." - -In _2 Henry VI._ (v. 2. 62), when Cade has said boastingly, "I am -able to endure much," Dick makes the comment, aside: "No question -of that; for I have seen him whipped three market-days together." - -There are many other allusions to markets, market-men, -market-maids, etc., in the plays, but these will suffice for -illustration here. - -The semi-annual Fair was a market on a grander scale. The increased -crowd of dealers called for certain police regulations, and these -were strictly enforced. The town council appointed to each trade -a particular station in the streets. Thus, raw hides were to be -exposed for sale in the Rother Market. Sellers of butter, cheese, -wick-yarn, and fruits were to set up their stalls by the cross -at the Guild Chapel. A part of the High Street was assigned to -country butchers. Pewterers were ordered to "pitch" their wares -in Wood Street, and to pay fourpence a square yard for the ground -they occupied. Salt-wagons, whose owners did a large business when -salted meats formed the staple supply of food, were permitted to -stand about the cross in the Rother Market. At various points -victuallers could erect booths. These regulations were necessary to -prevent strife concerning locations, and violations were punished -by heavy fines. - -Mr. Knight remarks: "At the joyous Fair-season it would seem that -the wealth of a world was emptied into Stratford; not only the -substantial things, the wine, the wax, the wheat, the wool, the -malt, the cheese, the clothes, the napery, such as even great lords -sent their stewards to the Fairs to buy, but every possible variety -of such trumpery as fills the pedler's pack,--ribbons, inkles, -caddises, coifs, stomachers, pomanders, brooches, tapes, shoe-ties. -Great dealings were there on these occasions in beeves and horses, -tedious chafferings, stout affirmations, saints profanely invoked -to ratify a bargain. A mighty man rides into the Fair who scatters -consternation around. It is the Queen's Purveyor. The best horses -are taken up for her Majesty's use, at her Majesty's price; and -they probably find their way to the Earl of Leicester's or the Earl -of Warwick's stables at a considerable profit to Master Purveyor. -The country buyers and sellers look blank; but there is no remedy. -There is solace, however, if there is not redress. The ivy-bush -is at many a door, and the sounds of merriment are within, as -the ale and the sack are quaffed to friendly greetings. In the -streets there are morris-dancers, the juggler with his ape, and -the minstrel with his ballads. We may imagine the foremost in a -group of boys listening to the 'small popular musics sung by these -_cantabanqui_ upon benches and barrels' heads,' or more earnestly -to some one of the 'blind harpers, or such-like tavern minstrels, -that give a fit of mirth for a groat; their matters being for the -most part stories of old time as _The Tale of Sir Topas_, _Bevis -of Southampton_, _Guy of Warwick_, _Adam Bell and Clymme of the -Clough_, and such other old romances or historical rhymes, made -purposely for the recreation of the common people.' A bold fellow, -who is full of queer stories and cant phrases, strikes a few notes -upon his gittern, and the lads and lasses are around him ready to -dance their country measures.... - -"The Fair is over; the booths are taken down; the woolen -statute-caps, which the commonest people refuse to wear because -there is a penalty for not wearing them, are packed up again; the -prohibited felt hats are all sold; the millinery has found a ready -market among the sturdy yeomen, who are careful to propitiate -their home-staying wives after the fashion of the Wife of Bath's -husbands.... The juggler has packed up his cup and balls; the last -cudgel-play has been fought out:-- - - "'Near the dying of the day - There will be a cudgel-play, - Where a coxcomb will be broke - Ere a good word can be spoke: - But the anger ends all here, - Drench'd in ale, or drown'd in beer.' - -Morning comes, and Stratford hears only the quiet steps of its -native population." - -There are many allusions, literal and figurative, to these fairs in -Shakespeare's plays, a few of which may be cited here as specimens. - -In _Love's Labour's Lost_, besides the one quoted above (page 199), -we find the following simile in Biron's eulogy of Rosaline (iv. 3. -235):-- - - "Of all complexions the cull'd soverignty - Do meet, as at a fair, in her fair cheek." - -In the same play (v. 2. 2), the Princess says to her ladies, -referring to the presents they have received:-- - - "Sweet hearts, we shall be rich ere we depart - If fairings come thus plentifully in." - -It was so common a practice to buy presents at fairs that the word -_fairing_, which originally meant presents thus bought, came to be -used in a more general sense, as in this passage and many others -that might be quoted. - -In _The Winters Tale_ (iv. 3. 109) the Clown says of the merry -peddler Autolycus that "he haunts wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings." -Later (iv. 4) we meet the rogue at the sheep-shearing, where he -finds a good market for ribbons, gloves, and other "fairings," -which the swains buy for their sweethearts; and when the festival -is over he says: "I have sold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit -stone, not a ribbon, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad, -knife, tape, glove, shoe-tie, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep my pack -from fasting; they throng who should buy first, as if my trinkets -had been hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer." - -In _2 Henry IV._ (iii. 2. 43) Shallow asks his cousin Silence, "How -a good yoke of bullocks now at Stamford fair?" and Silence replies, -"By my troth, I was not there." Later (v. 1. 26) Davy asks Shallow: -"Sir, do you mean to stop any of William's wages, about the sack he -lost the other day at Hinckley fair?" - -In _Henry VIII._ (v. 4. 73) the Chamberlain, seeing the crowd -gathered to get a sight of the royal procession, exclaims:-- - - "Mercy o' me, what a multitude are here! - They grow still too; from all parts they are coming, - As if we kept a fair here." - -In _Lear_ (iii. 6. 78) Edgar, in his random talk while pretending -to be insane, cries: "Come, march to wakes and fairs and -market-towns!" - -The "wakes," mentioned so often in connection with fairs, were -annual feasts kept to commemorate the dedication of a church; -called so, as an old writer tells us, "because the night before -they were used to watch till morning in the church." The next day -was given up to feasting and all sorts of rural merriment. In the -churchwardens' accounts of the time we find charges for "wine and -sugar," for "bread, wine, and ale," and the like, for "certain -of the parish," for "the singing men and singing children," and -others, on these occasions. - -At these wakes, as at the fairs and other large gatherings, whether -festal or commercial, hawkers and peddlers came to sell their wares -and merchants set up their stalls and booths, often in the very -churchyard and even on a Sunday. The clergy naturally denounced -this profanation of the Sabbath, but it was not entirely suppressed -until the reign of Henry VI. - -Stubbes, in his _Anatomy of Abuses_ (1583), inveighed against these -wakes, as against the May-day sports (page 176 above), especially -on account of the money wasted at them, "insomuch as the poor men -that bear the charges of these feasts and wakes are the poorer -and keep the worser houses a long time after: and no marvel, for -many spend more at one of these wakes than in all the whole year -besides." - -Herrick, in his _Hesperides_ (page 196 above) took a more cheerful -view of such rural holidays:-- - - "Come, Anthea, let us two - Go to feast, as others do. - Tarts and custards, creams and cakes, - Are the junkets still at wakes; - Unto which the tribes resort, - Where the business is the sport. - Morris-dancers thou shalt see, - Marian too in pageantry; - And a mimic to devise - Many grinning properties. - Players there will be, and those - Base in action as in clothes; - Yet with strutting they will please - The incurious villages. - - * * * * * - - Happy rustics, best content - With the cheapest merriment; - And possess no other fear - Than to want the wake next year;" - -that is, to miss or lack it. - - -RURAL OUTINGS. - -Much of the recreation, as of the education, of William Shakespeare -was in the fields. "He is rarely a descriptive poet, distinctively -so called; but images of mead and grove, of dale and upland, of -forest depths, of quiet walks by gentle rivers,--reflections of -his own native scenery,--spread themselves without an effort over -all his writings. All the occupations of a rural life are glanced -at or embodied in his characters. He wreathes all the flowers of -the field in his delicate chaplets; and even the nicest mysteries -of the gardener's art can be expounded by him. His poetry in this, -as in all other great essentials, is like the operations of nature -itself; we see not its workings. But we may be assured, from the -very circumstance of its appearing so accidental, so spontaneous in -its relations to all external nature and to the country life, that -it had its foundation in very early and very accurate observation. -Stratford was especially fitted to have been the 'green lap' in -which the boy-poet was 'laid.' The whole face of creation here wore -an aspect of quiet loveliness." - -The surrounding country was no less beautiful; and William would -naturally become familiar with it in his boyish rambles and in his -visits to his relatives. The village of Wilmcote, the home of his -mother, was within walking distance; and so was Snitterfield, where -his father lived before he came to Stratford, and where his uncle -Henry still resided. All through the wooded district of Arden the -name of Shakespeare was very common, and among those who bore it -were probably other families more or less closely related to John -Shakespeare's. - -However that may have been, the enterprising glover and -wool-merchant must have had large dealings with the neighboring -farmers; and William must have seen much of rural life and -employments in the company of his father, or when wandering at -his own free will in the country about Stratford. In no other way -could he have gained the intimate acquaintance with farming and -gardening operations of which his works bear evidence. He went to -London before his literary career began, and lived there until it -closed, with only brief occasional visits to Warwickshire. In the -metropolis he could not have added much to his early lessons in the -country life and character of which he has given us such graphic -and faithful delineations. These are thoroughly fresh and real; -they tell of the outdoor life he loved, and never smell of the -study-lamp, as Milton's and Spenser's allusions to plants, flowers, -and other natural objects often do. - -Volumes have been written on the plant-lore and garden-craft of -Shakespeare; and the authors dwell equally on the poet's ingrained -love of the country and his keen observation of natural phenomena -and the agricultural practice of the time. - -In _Richard II._ (iii. 4. 29-66) the Gardener and his Servant draw -lessons of political wisdom from the details of their occupation:-- - - "_Gardener._ Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks, - Which, like unruly children, make their sire - Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight; - Give some supportance to the bending twigs. - Go thou, and like an executioner - Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays, - That look too lofty in our commonwealth; - All must be even in our government. - You thus employ'd, I will go root away - The noisome weeds, that without profit suck - The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers. - - _Servant._ Why should we, in the compass of a pale, - Keep law, and form, and due proportion, - Showing, as in a model, our firm estate, - When our sea-walled garden, the whole land, - Is full of weeds; her fairest flowers chok'd up, - Her fruit-trees all unprun'd, her hedges ruin'd, - Her knots disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs - Swarming with caterpillars? - - _Gardener._ Hold thy peace! - He that hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring - Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf. - The weeds that his broad-spreading leaves did shelter, - That seem'd in eating him to hold him up, - Are pluck'd up, root and all, by Bolingbroke; - I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green. - - _Servant._ What, are they dead? - - _Gardener._ They are; and Bolingbroke - Hath seiz'd the wasteful king.--O, what pity is it, - That he hath not so trimm'd and dress'd his land - As we this garden! We at time of year - Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees, - Lest, being over-proud with sap and blood, - With too much riches it confound itself: - Had he done so to great and growing men, - They might have liv'd to bear, and he to taste - Their fruits of duty. All superfluous branches - We lop away, that bearing boughs may live: - Had he done so, himself had borne the crown, - Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down." - -Mr. Ellacombe, commenting upon this dialogue, remarks: "This most -interesting passage would almost tempt us to say that Shakespeare -was a gardener by profession; certainly no other passages that have -been brought to prove his real profession are more minute than -this. It proves him to have had practical experience in the work, -and I think we may safely say that he was no mere 'prentice hand -in the use of the pruning-knife." But this play was written in -London, when he could hardly have known anything more of practical -gardening than he had learned in his boyhood and youth at Stratford. - -Grafting and the various ways of propagating plants by cuttings, -slips, etc., are described or alluded to with equal accuracy; also -the mischief done by weeds, blights, frosts, and other enemies of -the husbandman and horticulturist. He writes on all these matters -as we might expect him to have done in his last years at Stratford, -after he had had actual experience in the management of a large -garden at New Place and in farming operations on other lands he had -bought in the neighborhood; but all these passages, like the one -quoted from _Richard II._, were written long before he had a garden -of his own. They were reminiscences of his observation as a boy, -not the results of his experience as a country gentleman. - - - - -NOTES - - Abbreviations, except a few of the most familiar, have been - avoided in the Notes, as in other parts of the book. The - references to act, scene, and line in the quotations from - Shakespeare are added for the convenience of the reader or - student, who may sometimes wish to refer to the context. The - line-numbers are those of the "Globe" edition, which vary from - those of my edition only in scenes that are wholly or partly in - _prose_. - - The numbers appended to names of authors (as in the note on - page 22, for example) are the dates of their birth and death. - An interrogation-mark after a date (as in the note on page 114) - indicates that it is uncertain. I have not thought it necessary - to insert biographical notes concerning well-known authors, like - Spenser, Milton, etc. - - - - -NOTES - - -[Illustration] - -=Page 3.=--_Michael Drayton._ He was born in Warwickshire in 1563. -Of his personal history very little is known. His most famous work, -the _Poly-Olbion_ (or _Polyolbion_, as it is often printed), is a -poem of about 30,000 lines, the subject of which, as he himself -states it, is "a chorographical description of all the tracts, -rivers, mountains, forests, and other parts of this renowned -Isle of Great Britain; with intermixture of the most remarkable -stories, antiquities, wonders, etc., of the same." His _Ballad -of Agincourt_ (see _Tales from English History_, p. 39) has been -called "the most perfect and patriotic of English ballads." Drayton -was made poet-laureate in 1626. He died in 1631, and was buried in -Westminster Abbey. - - -=Page 4.=--_Her Bear._ The badge of the Earls of Warwick. - -_Wilmcote._ A small village about three miles from -Stratford-on-Avon. The name is also written _Wilmecote_, and -_Wilnecote_; and in old documents, _Wilmcott_, _Wincott_, etc. It -is probably the _Wincot_ of _The Taming of the Shrew_ (ind. 2. 23) -and the _Woncot_ of _2 Henry IV._ (v. 1. 42). - -_Dugdale._ Sir William Dugdale (1605-1686), one of the most learned -of English antiquaries. His _Antiquities of Warwickshire_ (1656) is -said to have been the result of twenty years' laborious research. - - -=Page 7.=--_Beauchamp._ Pronounced _Beech'-am_. - -_The herse of brass hoops._ The word _herse_ (the same as _hearse_) -originally meant a harrow; then a temporary framework, often shaped -like a harrow, used for supporting candles at a funeral service, -and placed over the coffin; then a kind of frame or cage over an -effigy on a tomb; and finally a carriage for bearing a corpse to -the grave. For the third meaning (which we have here), compare Ben -Jonson's _Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke_:-- - - "Underneath this sable herse - Lies the subject of all verse," etc. - -_The garter._ Showing that he was a Knight of the Garter. - -_The noble Impe._ The word _imp_ originally meant a scion, shoot, -or slip of a tree or plant; then, figuratively, human offspring -or progeny, as here and in many passages in writers of the time. -Holinshed the chronicler speaks of "Prince Edward, that goodlie -impe," and Churchyard calls Edward VI. "that impe of grace." -Fulwell, addressing Anne Boleyn, refers to Elizabeth as "thy royal -impe." As first applied to a young or small devil, the word had -this same meaning of offspring, "an imp of Satan" being a child of -Satan. How it came later to mean a mischievous urchin I leave the -small folk themselves to guess. - - -=Page 10.=--_The famous "dun cow."_ This, according to the legend, -was "a monstrous wild and cruel beast" which ravaged the country -about Dunsmore. Guy also slew a wild boar of "passing might and -strength," and a dragon "black as any coal" which was long the -terror of Northumberland. Compare the old ballad of _Sir Guy_:-- - - "On Dunsmore heath I also slew - A monstrous wild and cruel beast, - Call'd the Dun-cow of Dunsmore heath, - Which many people had opprest. - - "Some of her bones in Warwick yet - Still for a monument do lie; - And there exposed to lookers' view - As wondrous strange they may espy. - - "A dragon in Northumberland - I also did in fight destroy, - Which did both man and beast oppress, - And all the country sore annoy." - - -=Page 13.=--_Master Robert Laneham._ He was an English merchant -who became "doorkeeper of the council-chamber" to the Earl of -Leicester. He wrote an account, in the form of a letter, of the -festivities in honor of this visit of Elizabeth to Kenilworth, -which was afterwards printed. He is one of the characters in -Scott's _Kenilworth_. - - -=Page 14.=--_Theatres_, etc. The cut facing page 14 shows one of -the movable stages referred to by Dugdale; also two of "the three -tall spires" mentioned by Tennyson in the poem of _Godiva_. The -nearer church is St. Michael's, said to be the largest parish -church in England, with a steeple 303 feet high. Beyond it is -Trinity Church, with a spire 237 feet high. - - -=Page 15.=--_The most beautiful in the kingdom._ There is a -familiar story of two Englishmen who laid a wager as to which -was the finest walk in England. After the money was put up, one -named the walk from Stratford to Coventry, and the other that from -Coventry to Stratford. How the umpire decided the case is not -recorded. - - -=Page 16.=--_The Cappers._ The makers of caps. - - -=Page 17.=--_King Herod._ Longfellow, in his _Golden Legend_, -introduces a miracle-play, _The Nativity_, which is supposed to -be acted at Strasburg. Herod figures in it after the blustering -fashion of the ancient dramas. Young readers will get a good idea -of these plays from this imitation of them. - - -=Page 18.=--_Other allusions to these old plays._ See, for -instance, _Twelfth Night_, iv. 2. 134, _2 Henry IV._ iii. 2. 343, -_Richard III._ iii. 1. 82, _Hamlet_, iii. 4. 98, etc., and the -notes in my edition. - - -=Page 19.=--_The legend of Godiva._ See Tennyson's _Godiva_. - - -=Page 22.=--_Dr. Forman._ Simon Forman (1552-1611), a noted -astrologer and quack, who wrote several books, and left a diary, in -which he describes at considerable length the plot of Shakespeare's -_Macbeth_, which he saw performed "at the Globe, 1610, the 20th of -April, Saturday." See my edition of _Macbeth_, p. 9. - - -=Page 23.=--The head of Sir Thomas Lucy is from his monument in -Charlecote church. - - -=Page 24.=--_A willow grows aslant a brook._ See _Hamlet_, iv. 7. -165. Some editions of Shakespeare follow the reading of the early -quartos, "ascaunt the brook," which means the same. This willow -(the _Salix alba_) grows on the banks of the Avon, and from the -looseness of the soil the trees often partly lose their hold, and -bend "aslant" the stream. - - -=Page 26.=--_The banished Duke in As You Like It, etc._ See the -play, ii. 1. 1-18. - -_His maidens ever sing of "blue-veined violets," etc._ The -"blue-vein'd violets" are mentioned in _Venus and Adonis_, -125; the "daisies pied" (variegated), and the "lady-smocks all -silver-white," in _Love's Labour's Lost_, v. 2. 904, 905; and the -"pansies" in _Hamlet_, iv. 5. 176. - - -=Page 27.=--_A manor of the Bishop of Worcester._ Under the feudal -system, a _manor_ was a landed estate, with a village or villages -upon it the inhabitants of which were generally _villeins_, -or serfs of the owner or lord. These _villeins_ were either -_regardant_ or _in gross_. The former "belonged to the manor as -fixtures, passing with it when it was conveyed or inherited, and -they could not be sold or transferred as persons separate from the -land"; the latter "belonged personally to their lord, who could -sell or transfer them at will." The _bordarii_, _bordars_, or -_cottagers_, "seem to have been distinguished from the _villeins_ -simply by their smaller holdings." For the menial services rendered -by the villeins, and their condition generally, see the following -pages. - - -=Page 32.=--_A chantry._ A church or a chapel (as here) endowed -with lands or other revenues for the maintenance of one or more -priests to sing or say mass daily for the soul of the donor or the -souls of persons named by him. Cf. _Henry V._ iv. 1. 318:-- - - "I have built - Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests - Sing still for Richard's soul." - - -=Page 40.=--_Present her at the leet, etc._ Complain of her for -using common stone jugs instead of the quart-pots duly sealed or -stamped as being of legal size. - -_A substantial ducking-stool, etc._ The _ducking-stool_ was kept -up as a punishment for scolds in some parts of England until late -in the 18th century. An antiquary, writing about 1780, tells of -seeing it used at Magdalen bridge in Cambridge. He says: "The -chair hung by a pulley fastened to a beam about the middle of the -bridge; and the woman having been fastened in the chair, she was -let under water three times successively, and then taken out.... -The ducking-stool was constantly hanging in its place, and on the -back panel of it was an engraving representing devils laying hold -of scolds. Some time after, a new chair was erected in the place of -the old one, having the same device carved on it, and well painted -and ornamented." - - -=Page 41.=--_Butts._ Places for the practice of archery, the -_butts_ being properly the targets. - - -=Page 45.=--_Pinfold._ Shakespeare uses the word in _The Two -Gentlemen of Verona_ (i. 1. 114): "I mean the pound--a pinfold"; -and in _Lear_ (ii. 2. 9): "in Lipsbury pinfold." It was so called -because stray beasts were _pinned_ or shut up in it. - - -=Page 46.=--_One wagon tract._ That is, track. _Tract_ in this -sense is obsolete. - - -=Page 49.=--_In which William Shakespeare was probably born._ We -have no positive information on this point; but we know that John -Shakespeare resided in Henley Street in 1552, and that he became -the owner of this house at some time before 1590. The tradition -that this was the poet's birthplace is ancient and has never been -disproved. Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, one of the most careful and -conservative of critics, says: "There can be no doubt that from the -earliest period at which we have, or are likely to have, a record -of the fact, it was the tradition of Stratford that the birthplace -is correctly so designated"; and he himself accepts the tradition -as almost certainly founded upon fact. - -The cut facing page 50, like that facing page 56, gives an idea -of the interior appearance of these old houses. The room in which -tradition says that Shakespeare was born is the front room on the -second floor (what English people call the "first floor"), at the -left-hand side of the house as seen in the cut on page 49. - -In the other cut (the interior of the cottage in which Anne -Hathaway, whom Shakespeare married, is said to have lived at -Shottery) the very large old-fashioned fire-place is to be noted. -Persons could actually sit "in the chimney corner," like the woman -in the picture. The grate is a modern addition. - - -=Page 51.=--_New Place._ Sir Hugh Clopton, for whom this mansion -was erected, speaks of it in 1496 as his "great house," a title -by which it was commonly known at Stratford for more than two -centuries. Shakespeare bought it in 1597 for £60, a moderate -price for so large a property; but in a document of the time -of Edward VI. it is described as having been for some time "in -great ruin and decay and unrepaired," and it was probably in a -dilapidated condition when it was transferred to Shakespeare. It -had been sold by the Clopton family in 1563, and in 1567 came -into the possession of William Underhill, whose family continued -to hold it until Shakespeare bought it. He left it by his will -to his daughter Susanna, who had married Dr. John Hall, and who -probably occupied it until her death in 1649, when she had been -a widow for fourteen years. The estate descended to her daughter -Elizabeth, who was first married to Thomas Nash, and afterwards to -Sir Thomas Barnard. In 1675 it was sold again, and was ultimately -re-purchased by the Clopton family. Sir John Clopton rebuilt the -house early in the next century, and it was subsequently occupied -by another Hugh Clopton. He died in 1751, and in 1756 the estate -was sold to Rev. Francis Gastrell, who pulled the house down in -1759, on account of a quarrel with the town authorities concerning -the taxes levied upon it. The year before (1758) he had cut down -Shakespeare's mulberry-tree, in order, as tradition says, to save -himself the trouble of showing it to visitors. The Stratford people -were indignant at this act of vandalism. Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps -says that an old inhabitant of the town told him that his father, -when a boy, "assisted in breaking Gastrell's windows in revenge for -the fall of the tree." It is possible, however, that some injustice -has been done the reverend gentleman. Davies, in his _Life of -Garrick_ (1780), asserts that Gastrell disliked the tree "because -it overshadowed his window, and rendered the house, as he thought, -subject to damps and moisture." There is also some evidence that -the trunk of the tree, which was now a hundred and fifty years old -and grown to a great size, had begun to decay. That Gastrell was -not indifferent to the poetical associations of the tree is evident -from the fact that he kept relics of it, his widow having presented -one to the Lichfield Museum in 1778. It is described in a catalogue -(1786) of the museum as "an horizontal section of the stock of the -mulberry-tree planted by Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon." - - -=Page 52.=--_William Harrison._ An English clergyman, of whose -history we know little except that he was born in London, became -rector of Radwinter, Essex, and canon of Windsor, wrote a -_Description of Britaine and England_ and other historical books, -and probably died in 1592. His detailed account of the state of -England and the manners and customs of the people in the 16th -century is particularly valuable. - - -=Page 54.=--_Strewn with rushes._ There are many allusions to -this in Shakespeare. In _The Taming of the Shrew_ (iv. 1. 48), -when Petruchio is coming home, Grumio asks: "Is supper ready, the -house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept?" Compare _Romeo and -Juliet_, i. 4. 36: "Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels" -(that is, in dancing); _Cymbeline_, ii. 2. 13:-- - - "Our Tarquin thus - Did softly press the rushes," etc. - - -=Page 55.=--_Thomas Coryat_, born in 1577 and educated at Oxford, -was celebrated for his pedestrian journeys on the Continent of -Europe. In 1608 he travelled through France, Germany, and Italy, -"walking 1975 miles, more than half of which were accomplished in -one pair of shoes, which were only once mended, and on his return -were hung up in the Church of Odcombe." Of this tour he wrote an -account entitled "Coryat's Crudities hastily gobled up in five -months' Travels in France," etc. He died at Surat in 1617, after -explorations in Greece, Egypt, and India. - - -=Page 56.=--_Bullein._ William Bullein, or Bulleyn, born about -1500, was a learned physician and botanist. His _Government of -Health_ was very popular in its day. He wrote several other books -of medicine. He died in 1576. - - -=Page 57.=--_His Anatomy of Melancholy._ Of this famous work, -written by Robert Burton (1577-1640), Dr. Johnson said that it was -"the only book that ever took me out of bed two hours sooner than I -wished to rise." - - -=Page 60.=--_Francis Seager._ Of his personal history, as of that -of _Hugh Rhodes_, nothing of importance is known. - - -=Page 61.=--_He is then to make low curtsy._ This form of obeisance -was used by both sexes in Shakespeare's day. Cf. _2 Henry IV._ -ii. 1. 135: "if a man will make courtesy and say nothing, he is -virtuous"; and the epilogue to the same play: "First my fear, then -my courtesy, last my speech." _Curtsy_ is a modern spelling of the -word in this sense. - - -=Page 62.=--_Caraways._ The word occurs once in Shakespeare (_2 -Henry IV._ v. 3. 3: "a dish of caraways"), where it probably has -the same meaning as here; but some have thought that the reference -is to a variety of apple. - - -=Page 63.=--_Treatably._ Tractably, smoothly. Cf. Marston, _What -You Will_, ii. 1: "Not too fast; say [recite] treatably." - -_Much forder._ We find _d_ and _th_ used interchangeably in many -words in old writers; as _fadom_ and _fathom_, _murder_ and -_murther_, etc. - - -=Page 64.=--_To charge thee with than._ We find _than_ for _then_ -in Shakespeare, _Lucrece_, 1440:-- - - "To Simois' reedy banks the red blood ran, - Whose waves to imitate the battle sought - With swelling ridges; and their ranks began - To break upon the galled shore, and than - Retire again," etc. - -Here, it will be seen, the word rhymes with _ran_ and _began_. On -the other hand, _than_ in the early eds. of Shakespeare and other -writers of the time is generally _then_. - - -=Page 65.=--_Utterly detest._ That is, _detested_. The omission of --_ed_ in the participles of verbs ending in _d_ and _t_ (or _te_) -was formerly not uncommon in prose as well as poetry. Cf. Bacon, -_Essay 16_: "Their means are less exhaust"; and _Essay 38_: "They -have degenerate." See also _Richard III._, iii. 7. 179: "For first -was he contract to Lady Lucy," etc. - - -=Page 66.=--_To enter children._ To begin their training. The word -is now obsolete in this sense of introducing to, or initiating -into, anything. Cf. Ben Jonson, _Epicœne_, iii. 1: "I am bold to -enter these gentlemen in your acquaintance"; Walton, _Complete -Angler_: "to enter you into the art of fishing," etc. - -_Thorow._ _Thorough_ and _through_ were originally the same word, -and we find them and their derivatives used interchangeably in -Shakespeare and other old writers. Cf. _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_, -ii. 1. 3:-- - - "Over hill, over dale, - Thorough bush, thorough brier, - Over park, over pale, - Thorough flood, thorough fire." - -So we find _thoroughly_ and _throughly_ (_Hamlet_, iv. 5. 36, -etc.), _thoroughfares_ and _throughfares_ (_Merchant of Venice_, -ii. 7. 42, etc.). - - -=Page 67.=--_The Ship of Fools._ A translation (with original -modifications) of the _Narrenschiff_ of Sebastian Brandt (or -Brant), a German satire (1494) upon the follies of different -classes of men. It was made in 1508 by Alexander Barclay, who died -at an advanced age in 1552. He was educated at Oxford, became a -priest, and was vicar of several parishes in England before he was -promoted to that of All Saints, Lombard Street, London, a few weeks -previous to his death. _The Ship of Fools_ was the first English -book in which any mention is made of the New World. - -_Strutt._ Joseph Strutt (1742-1802) was an eminent English -antiquarian, who wrote several valuable works in that line of -literature and others. The first edition of his _Sports and -Pastimes of the People of England_ appeared in 1801. - - -=Page 69.=--_Taylor the Water Poet._ John Taylor (1580-1654), -a waterman who afterwards became a collector of wine duties in -London. He wrote much in prose and verse, and was very popular in -his day. - - -=Page 70.=--_Dr. John Jones._ A physician, who practised at Bath -and Buxton, England, and wrote a number of medical works between -1556 and 1579. - - -=Page 71.=--_No other clear allusion to the game, etc._ Some -critics have thought there may be a punning allusion to the -_stale-mate_ of chess in _The Taming of the Shrew_, i. 1. 58: "To -make a stale of me among these mates"; but this is doubtful. - - -=Page 73.=--_She was pinch'd._ The _she_ is used in a demonstrative -sense, referring to one of the company (this maid), as _he_ -(that man) is in the next line. The _Friar_ is the Friar Rush -of the fairy mythology, whom Milton seems here to identify with -Jack-o'-the-Lantern, or Will-o'-the-Wisp, the luminous appearance -sometimes seen in marshy places; but Friar Rush, according to -Keightley, "haunted houses, not fields, and was never the same with -Jack-o'-the-Lantern." - - -=Page 74.=--_The drudging goblin._ Robin Goodfellow, the Puck of -Shakespeare. Cf. _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_, ii, 1. 40:-- - - "They that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, - You do their work, and they shall have good luck." - -_To bed they creep._ Somewhat reluctantly and timidly after the -stories of fairies and goblins. - -_Charles Knight._ An English publisher and author (1791-1873), one -of the leading editors and biographers of Shakespeare. - - -=Page 75.=--_William Painter._ He was born in England about 1537, -and died about 1594. He studied at Cambridge in 1554, and in 1561 -was made clerk of the ordnance in the Tower of London. In 1566 he -published the first volume of _The Palace of Pleasure_, containing -sixty tales from Latin, French, and Italian authors. The second -volume (1567) contained thirty-four tales. In later editions six -more were added, making a hundred in all. The collection is the -source from which Shakespeare and other Elizabethan dramatists drew -many of their plots. - - -=Page 76.=--_Giletta of Narbonne._ The story dramatized by -Shakespeare in _All's Well that Ends Well_. - - -=Page 77.=--_The "Gesta Romanorum."_ A popular collection of -stories in Latin, compiled late in the 13th or early in the 14th -century, and often reprinted and translated. The two stories -(of the caskets and of the bond) combined in the _Merchant of -Venice_ are found in it; and also the story of Theodosius and his -daughters, which is like that of _Lear_, though Shakespeare did not -take the plot of that tragedy directly from it. - - -=Page 78.=--_The trumpet to the morn._ The _trumpeter_ that -announces the coming of day. _Trumpet_ in this sense occurs several -times in Shakespeare; as in _Henry V._ iv. 2. 61: "I will the -banner from a trumpet take," etc. - -_Extravagant and erring._ Both words are used in their etymological -sense of wandering. _Extravagant_ is, literally, _wandering beyond_ -(its proper _confine_, or limit). - -_Arden._ There was a Forest of Arden in Warwickshire as well as on -the Continent in the northeastern part of France. Drayton, in his -_Matilda_ (1594), speaks of "Sweet Arden's nightingales," etc. - -_The ringlets of their dance._ The "fairy rings," so called, which -were supposed to be made by their dancing on the grass. In _The -Tempest_ (v. 1. 37) Prospero refers to them thus, in his apostrophe -to the various classes of spirits over whom he has control:-- - - "You demi-puppets that - By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make - Whereof the ewe not bites." - -Dr. Grey, in his _Notes on Shakespeare_, says that they are -"higher, sourer, and of a deeper green than the grass which grows -round them." They were long a mystery even to scientific men, but -are now known to be due to the spreading of a kind of _agaricum_, -or fungus, which enriches the ground by its decay. - -_Who tasted the honey-bag of the bee, etc._ All these allusions -to the fairies are suggested by passages in _A Midsummer-Night's -Dream_. The _cankers_ are canker-worms, as often in Shakespeare. - - -=Page 79.=--_A laund._ An open space in a forest. See _3 Henry VI._ -iii. 1. 2: "For through this laund anon the deer will come," etc. -_Lawn_ is a corruption of _laund_. - - -=Page 80.=--_Who had command over the spirits, etc._ Like Prospero -in _The Tempest_. - -_Vervain and dill._ These were among the plants supposed to be used -by witches in their charms; but many such plants were also believed -to be efficacious as counter-charms, or means of protection -against witchcraft. _Vervain_ was called "the enchanter's plant," -on account of its magic potency; but Aubrey says that it "hinders -witches from their wills," and Drayton refers to it as "'gainst -witchcraft much availing." - - -=Page 81.=--The ancient font represented in the cut was in use in -the Stratford Church until about the middle of the 17th century. -Shakespeare was doubtless baptized at it. - - -=Page 82.=--_John Stow._ A noted English antiquarian and historian -(1525-1604). His _Survey of London_ (1598) is the standard -authority on old London. - - -=Page 83.=--_The calendars of their nativity._ Referring to the -twin Dromios, who were born at the same time with the twin children -of the Abbess, who is really Emilia, the long-lost wife of Egeus. -By a similar figure Antipholus of Syracuse (i. 2. 41) says of -Dromio, "Here comes the almanac of my true date." - -_Caraways._ See on page 62 above. _Marmalet_ is an obsolete form of -_marmalade_. _Marchpane_ was a kind of almond-cake, much esteemed -in the time of Shakespeare. Compare _Romeo and Juliet_, i. 5. 9: -"Good thou, save me a piece of marchpane." _Sweet-suckers_ are -dried sweetmeats or sugar-plums, also called _suckets_, _succades_, -etc. - - -=Page 85.=--_Wote._ Know; more commonly written _wot_. It is the -first and third persons singular, indicative present, of the -obsolete verb _wit_. _Unweeting_ (_unwitting_), unknowing or -unconscious, is from the same verb. - - -=Page 86.=--_Thomas Lupton._ He wrote several books besides his -_Thousand Notable Things_, which was a collection of medical -recipes, stories, etc. Little is known of his personal history. - -_Robert Heron._ He was a Scotchman (1764-1807), who wrote books of -travel, geography, history, etc. - -_Warlocks._ Persons supposed to be in league with the devil; -sorcerers or wizards. - - -=Page 87.=--_Beshrew._ Originally a mild imprecation of evil, but -often used playfully, as here. Compare the similar modern use of -_confound_, which originally meant ruin or destroy; as in the -_Merchant of Venice_, iii. 2. 271: "So keen and greedy to confound -a man," etc. - - -=Page 88.=--_Astrologaster._ The full title was "The Astrologaster, -or the Figurecaster: Rather the Arraignment of Artless Astrologers -and Fortune Tellers." - - -=Page 89.=--_In the following form._ There were other forms, but -this was regarded as one of the most potent. It will be seen that -the word, as here arranged, can be read in various ways; as, for -instance, following each line to the end and then up the right-hand -side of the triangle, etc. An old writer, after giving directions -to write the word in this triangular form, adds: "Fold the paper -so as to conceal the writing, and stitch it into the form of a -cross with white thread. This amulet wear in the bosom, suspended -by a linen ribbon, for nine days. Then go in dead silence, before -sunrise, to the bank of a stream that flows eastward, take the -amulet from off the neck, and fling it backwards into the water. -If you open or read it, the charm is destroyed." It was thought -to be efficacious for the cure of fevers, "especially quartan and -semi-tertian agues." - -_Thomas Lodge._ He was born about 1556, and died in 1625, and wrote -plays, novels, songs, translations, etc. His _Rosalynde_ (1590) -furnished Shakespeare with the plot of _As You Like It_. - - -=Page 90.=--_Robert Greene_ (1560-1592) was a popular dramatist, -novelist, and poet in his day. In his _Groatsworth of Wit_ -(published in 1592, after his death) he attacked the rising -Shakespeare as "an upstart crow," who was "in his own conceit the -only Shake-scene in a country." Shakespeare afterwards took the -story of _The Winter's Tale_ from Greene's _Pandosto_, or _Dorastus -and Fawnia_, as it was subsequently entitled. - -_Webster's White Devil._ John Webster, who wrote in the early part -of the 17th century, was a dramatist noted for his tragedies, among -which _The White Devil_ (1612) is reckoned one of the best. Of his -biography nothing worth mentioning is known. - -_Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy._ See on page 57 above. - -_Reginald Scot_, who died in 1599, is chiefly known by his -_Discoverie of Witchcraft_, the main facts concerning which are -given here. - - -=Page 91.=--_Wierus._ The Latin form of the name of _Weier_, a -German physician, who in 1563 published a book (_De Præstigiis -Demonum_) in which the general belief in magic and witchcraft was -attacked. - -_We infer that Shakespeare had read Scot's book._ However this -may be, we are sure that he had read a book by Dr. Samuel Harsnet -(1561-1631) entitled _Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures, -etc., under the pretence of casting out devils_ (1603), from which -he took the names of some of the devils in _Lear_ (iii. 4). - - -=Page 96.=--_Henry Peacham._ "A travelling tutor, musician, -painter, and author," who wrote on drawing and painting, etiquette, -education, etc. His father, whose name was the same, was also an -author, and it is doubtful whether certain books were written by -him or by his son. - -_Roger Ascham_ (1515-1568) was a noted classical scholar and -author. He was tutor to Elizabeth (1548-1550), and Latin Secretary -to Mary and Elizabeth (1553-1568). His chief works were the -_Toxophilus_ (1545) and the _Scholemaster_ (see page 115 below). - - -=Page 97.=--_Took on him as a conjurer._ Pretended to be a -conjurer. Compare _2 Henry IV._ iv. 1. 60: "I take not on me here -as a physician." - - -=Page 98.=--_Who could speak Latin, etc._ Latin, the language of -the church, was used in exorcising spirits. Compare _Hamlet_ (i. -1. 42), where, on the appearance of the Ghost, Marcellus says: -"Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio." So in _Much Ado About -Nothing_ (ii. 1. 264), Benedick, after comparing Beatrice to "the -infernal Ate," adds: "I would to God some scholar would conjure -her!" See also Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Night-Walker_, ii. 1:-- - - "Let's call the butler up, for he speaks Latin, - And that will daunt the devil." - - -=Page 99.=--_Transparent horn._ Used to protect the paper, as -explained in the quotation from Shenstone on page 101. The -horn-book was really "of stature small," the figure on page 100 -being of the exact size of the specimen described. One delineated -by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps is of about the same size. See -Chambers's _Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 46. - -[Illustration: INTERIOR OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL, BEFORE THE RESTORATION] - - -=Page 101.=--_Shenstone._ William Shenstone (1714-1763) was -educated at Pembroke College, Oxford. His best-known work is _The -Schoolmistress_. - - -=Page 102.=--_The modern plastered ceiling, etc._ This has been -removed within the past few years. Its appearance before the -restoration is shown in the cut (from Knight's _Biography of -Shakspere_). - - -=Page 103.=--_Sententiæ Pueriles._ Literally, Boyish Sentences, or -Sentences for Boys. - -_Sir Hugh Evans._ The title of _Sir_ (equivalent to the Latin -_dominus_) was given to priests. The "hedge-priest" in _As You Like -It_ (iii. 3) is called "Sir Oliver Martext." In _Twelfth Night_ -(iii. 4. 298) Viola says: "I had rather go with sir priest than sir -knight." - -_'Od's nouns._ Probably a corruption of "God's wounds," which is -also contracted into _Swounds_ and _Zounds_. So we find "od's -heartlings," "od's pity," etc. Dame Quickly confounds _'od_ and -_odd_. - - -=Page 104.=--_Articles._ Sir Hugh uses the word in the sense of -"demonstratives." This shows that the _Accidence_ mentioned above -as the book from which Shakespeare got his first lessons in Latin -(as Halliwell-Phillipps and other authorities state) gave some -of the elementary facts in precisely the same form in which they -appear in the Latin Grammar written _in English_ and published in -1574 with the title, "A Short Introduction of Grammar, generally to -be used: compiled and set forth for the bringing up of all those -that intend to attaine to the knowledge of the Latine Tongue." I -transcribe this from the edition published at Oxford in 1651 (a -copy in the Harvard University library, which appears to be the one -studied by President Ezra Stiles when he was a boy). In this book -(page 3), under the head of "Articles," we read:-- - -"Articles are borrowed of the Pronoune, and be thus declined: - -Singulariter. - - _Nomin._ _hic_, _hæc_, _hoc_. - _Genetivo_ _hujus_. - _Dativo_ _huic_. - _Acc._ _hunc_, _hanc_, _hoc_. - _Vocativo_ _caret_. - _Ablativo_ _hoc_, _hac_, _hec_. - -Pluraliter. - - _Nomin._ _hi_, _hæ_, _hæc_. - _Gen._ _horum_, _harum_, _horum_. - _Dativo_ _his_. - _Accus._ _hos_, _has_, _hæc_. - _Vocativo_ _caret_. - _Ablativo_ _his_." - -It will be noticed that the names of the cases are in Latin, as in -Shakespeare. He may have used this very grammar. - -_Hang-hog is Latin for Bacon._ Suggested by the hanging up of -the pork during the process of curing. There is an old story of -Sir Nicholas Bacon (father of the philosopher), who was a judge. -A criminal whom he was about to sentence begged mercy on account -of kinship. "Prithee, said my lord, how came that in? Why, if it -please you, my lord, your name is _Bacon_ and mine is _Hog_, and -in all ages Hog and Bacon are so near kindred that they are not to -be separated. Ay, but, replied the judge, you and I cannot be of -kindred unless you be hanged; for Hog is not Bacon till it be well -hanged." - -_Leave your prabbles._ That is, your _brabbles_. The word literally -means quarrels or broils; as in _Twelfth Night_, v. 1. 68: "In -private brabble did we apprehend him." Sir Hugh uses it loosely -with reference to the Dame's interruptions and criticisms. - -_O!--vocativo, O!_ The boy hesitates, trying to recall the -vocative, but Sir Hugh reminds him that it is wanting--_caret_ in -Latin, which suggests _carrot_ to the Dame. The _O_ is suggested -by its use before the vocative case of nouns in the paradigms in -the _Accidence_, which probably here also agrees with the _Short -Introduction_, where in the first declension we find: "_Vocativo ô -musa_"; in the second: "_Vocativo ô magister_," etc. - -William Lilly (or Lily), the author of the Latin Grammar mentioned -on page 105, was born about 1468 and died in 1523. He was an -eminent scholar and the first master of St. Paul's School, London. -His Grammar (written in Latin) was entitled "Brevissima Institutio, -seu, Ratio Grammatices cognoscendæ, ad omnium puerorum utilitatem -præscripta." Of this book more than three hundred editions were -printed, the latest mentioned by Allibone (who, by the way, gives -the title of the Grammar in an imperfect and ungrammatical form) -having been issued in 1817. A copy of the 1651 edition is bound -with the _Short Introduction_ of the same date in the Harvard -Library. Lilly was the author of both. - -_You must be preeches._ That is, you must be _breeched_, or -flogged. Compare _The Taming of the Shrew_ (iii. 1. 18), where -Bianca says to her teachers: "I am no breeching scholar in the -schools." - -_Sprag._ That is, _sprack_, which meant quick, ready. The word -is Scotch, as well as Provincial English, and Scott uses it in -_Waverley_ (chap, xliii.): "all this fine sprack [lively] festivity -and jocularity." - - -=Page 105.=--_A passage from Terence._ In the play, as in the -Grammar, it reads: "Redime te captum quam queas minimo." The -original Latin is: "Quid agas, nisi ut te redimas captum," etc. - - -=Page 106.=--_Richard Mulcaster._ The poet Spenser was one of his -pupils at Merchant-Taylors School in 1568 see (Church's _Spenser_ -in "English Men of Letters" series). In 1596 Mulcaster became -master of St. Paul's School. He died in 1611. The title of the book -quoted here was _The First Part of the Elementarie ... of the Right -Writing of our English Tung_. The author's theory was better than -his practice, as the specimen of his "right writing" given here -will suffice to show. It is to be hoped that his oral style was -less clumsy and involved. - -_Correctors for the print._ Whether this refers to persons -correcting manuscript for the press or to proof-readers is -doubtful, but probably the former. Some have denied that there was -any proof-reading in the Elizabethan age; but variations in copies -of the same edition of a book (the First Folio of Shakespeare, -published in 1623, for instance) prove that corrections in the text -were sometimes made even after the printing had begun. The author -also sometimes did some proof-reading. At the end of Beeton's _Will -of Wit_ (1599) we find this note: "What faults are escaped in the -printing, finde by discretion, and excuse the author, by other -worke that let [hindered] him from attendance to the presse." - -_Rip up._ That is, analyze. - - -=Page 107.=--_The natural English._ That is, natives of England. - -_Will not yield flat to theirs._ Will not conform exactly to theirs. - - -=Page 108.=--_Bewrayeth._ Shows, makes known. Cf. _Proverbs_, -xxvii. 16; _Matthew_, xxvi. 73. - -_Enfranchisement._ This evidently refers to the "naturalization" of -foreign words taken into the language, or making their orthography -conform to English usage. - -_Prerogative, etc._ This paragraph is somewhat obscure at first -reading; but it appears to mean that _common use_, or established -usage, settles certain questions concerning which there might -otherwise be some doubt. - -_Likes the pen._ Suits the pen. Compare _Hamlet_ ii. 2. 80: "it -likes us well"; _Henry V._ iii. prol. 32: "The offer likes not," -etc. - -_Particularities._ Peculiarities. - -_Which either cannot understand, etc._ The relative is equivalent -to _who_, and refers to the preceding _many_. This use of _which_ -was common in Shakespeare's day. Compare _The Tempest_, iii. 1. 6: -"The mistress which I serve," etc. - -_Or cannot entend to understand, etc._ That is, cannot _intend_ -(of which _entend_ is an obsolete form), but the word is here -used in a sense which is not recognized in the dictionaries. The -meaning seems to be that these "plain people" cannot understand -a rule either at sight or after some effort to comprehend it, -having neither the _time_ nor the _conceit_ (intellect) to master -it. _Conceit_ in this sense is common in Shakespeare and his -contemporaries. Compare _2 Henry IV._ ii. 4. 263: "He a good -wit?... there's no more conceit in him than is in a mallet." - - -=Page 109.=--_John Brinsley_ became master of the grammar school at -Ashby-de-la-Zouche in 1601, where he remained for sixteen years. -The full title of his book is _Ludus Literarius, or the Grammar -Schoole_ (1612). He writes much better English than Mulcaster, and -young people will find no difficulty in understanding the passage -quoted from him. - -_Proceed in learning._ That is, pursue their studies after leaving -the grammar school. - - -=Page 110.=--_Present correction._ Immediate correction, or -punishment. For this old sense of _present_, compare _2 Henry IV._ -iv. 3. 80:-- - - "Send Colevile with his confederates - To York, to present execution." - -_Countervail._ Counterbalance, make up for. - - -=Page 112.=--_Willis._ All that is known of this "R. Willis" is -from his autobiography, the title of which is, "Mount Tabor, or -Private Exercises of a Penitent Sinner, published in the yeare of -his age 75, anno Dom. 1639." He is the same person who is quoted on -page 161 below. - - -=Page 113.=--_His references to schoolboys, etc._ Perhaps we -ought not to lay much stress on these. The description of "the -whining schoolboy" is from the "Seven Ages" of the cynical Jaques, -who describes all these stages of human life in sneering and -disparaging terms; and the other passages simply refer to the -proverbial dislike of boys to go to school. - - -=Page 114.=--_Thomas Tusser_ (1527?-1580?) was a poet and writer -on agriculture. Besides his _One Hundred Points of Good Husbandry_ -(1557), he wrote _Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, United to -as Many of Good Wiferie_ (1570), etc. He was educated at Oxford, -spent ten years at court, and then settled on a farm, where the -rest of his life was passed. - - -=Page 115.=--_In few of Shakespeare's references to school life, -etc._ See on _You must be preeches_, page 227 above; and compare -_Much Ado About Nothing_, ii. 1. 228:-- - - "_Don Pedro._ To be whipped? What's his fault? - _Benedick._ The flat transgression of a schoolboy," etc. - - -=Page 118.=--_A sanctuary against fear._ The allusion is to those -sacred places in which criminals could take refuge and be exempt -from arrest. There was such a sanctuary within the precincts -of Westminster Abbey, which retained its privileges until the -dissolution of the monastery, and for debtors until 1602. Compare -_Richard III._ (ii. 4. 66), where Queen Elizabeth says: "Come, -come, my boy; we will to sanctuary." - - -=Page 122.=--_Hoodman-blind._ In _All's Well that Ends Well_ (iv. -3. 136), when Parolles is brought in blindfolded to his companions -in arms, whom he supposes to be enemies that have captured him, one -of them says aside, "Hoodman comes." - -_Loggats._ When I was at Amherst College, forty or more years ago, -we had this same exercise under the name of "loggerheads"; but I -have not seen it or heard of it anywhere else. - - -=Page 125.=--_The spirited description of the horse._ Compare page -147 below, where it is quoted at length. - - -=Page 126.=--_Alexander Barclay._ See on page 67 above. - -_Edmund Waller_ (1605-1687) was an English poet, who was a leader -in the Long Parliament, afterwards exiled for being concerned in -Royalist plots, returned to England under Cromwell, and was a -favorite at court after the Reformation. - - -=Page 127.=--_The caitch._ _Catch_ was another name for tennis. -_Palle-malle_, or _pall-mall_ (pronounced pel-mel´), was a game in -which a wooden ball was struck with a mallet, to drive it through a -raised iron ring at the end of an alley. It was formerly played in -St. James's Park, London, and gave its name to the street known as -Pall Mall. - -_Bishop Butler._ Joseph Butler (1692-1752), bishop of Bristol -and afterwards of Durham, and author of the famous _Analogy of -Religion, etc._ (1736). - -_Gifford._ William Gifford (1757-1826), an English critic and -satirical poet, editor of the _Quarterly Review_ from 1809 to 1824. - - -=Page 130.=--_Mulcaster._ See on page 106 above. - - -=Page 132.=--_At Kenilworth in 1575._ See page 12 above. - - -=Page 134.=--_A certain place in Cheshire._ The story is told -of Congleton in that county, but it is denied by the modern -inhabitants. The other place referred to is Ecclesfield in -Yorkshire, and I do not know that the statement concerning the -pawning of the Bible has been disputed. - - -=Page 135.=--_Paris-garden._ It is mentioned in _Henry VIII._ (v. -4. 2), where the Porter of the Palace Yard says to the crowd: -"You'll leave your noise anon, ye rascals! do you take the -court for Parish-garden?" This was a vulgar pronunciation of -_Paris-garden_. The place was noted for its noise and disorder. - - -=Page 136.=--_Dean Colet._ John Colet (1456-1519), dean of St. -Paul's in 1505. The school was founded in 1512. - - -=Page 138.=--_Sir Thomas More._ The well-known English author and -statesman, born in 1473, and executed on Tower Hill in 1535. - -_No planets strike._ That is, exert a baleful influence; an -allusion to astrology. - -_No fairy takes._ Blasts, or bewitches. Compare _The Merry Wives of -Windsor_, iv. 4. 32: "blasts the tree and takes the cattle," etc. - - -=Page 140.=--_It irks me._ It is _irksome_ to me, troubles me. - -_Fool_ was sometimes used as a term of endearment or pity. Compare -_The Winter's Tale_ (ii. 1. 18), where Hermione says to her women -who are grieved at the unjust charge against her, "Do not weep, -poor fools!" - -The _forked heads_ are heads of arrows. Ascham refers to such in -his _Toxophilus_. - - -=Page 141.=--_A poor sequester'd stag._ Separated from his -companions. - - -=Page 145.=--_Professor Baynes_. Thomas Spencer Baynes (1823-1887), -professor of English Literature at the University of St. Andrews, -Scotland, and editor of the ninth edition of the _Encyclopædia -Britannica._ - - -=Page 146.=--_The vaward of the day._ The _vanguard_, or early part -of the day. Compare _Coriolanus_, i. 6. 53: "Their bands i' the -vaward," etc. - -_Such gallant chiding._ The verb _chide_ often meant "to make an -incessant noise." Compare _As You Like It_, ii. 1. 7: "And churlish -chiding of the winter's wind"; _Henry VIII._ iii. 2. 197: "As doth -a rock against the chiding flood," etc. - -_So flew'd, so sanded._ Having the same large hanging chaps and the -same sandy color. - -_Like bells._ That is, like a chime of bells. - -_Tender well._ Take good care of. - -_Emboss'd_ was a hunter's term for foaming at the mouth in -consequence of hard running. - -_Brach._ The word properly meant a female hound, but came to be -applied to a particular kind of scenting-dog. - - -=Page 147.=--_In the coldest fault._ When the scent was coldest (or -faintest), and the hounds most at fault. Compare the quotation -from _Venus and Adonis_, page 150 below: "the cold fault." - -_He cried upon it at the merest loss._ He gave the cry when the -scent seemed utterly lost. See the passage just referred to. _Mere_ -was formerly used in the sense of absolute or complete. Compare -_Othello_, ii. 2. 3: "the mere perdition of the Turkish fleet" (its -entire destruction); _Henry VIII._ iii. 2. 329: "the mere undoing -of the kingdom" (its utter ruin), etc. - -_A youthful Work of Shakespeare's._ It was first published in 1593, -when he was twenty-nine years of age; and some critics believe that -it was written several years earlier, perhaps before he went to -London. - - -=Page 148.=--_Glisters._ Glistens. Both Shakespeare and Milton use -_glister_ several times, _glisten_ not at all. - -_Told the steps._ Counted them. Compare _The Winter's Tale_, iv. 4. -185: "He sings several tunes faster than you'll tell money." The -_teller_ in a bank is so called because he does this. - - -=Page 149.=--_The hairs, who wave_, etc. _Who_ was often used where -we should use _which_, and _which_ (see on page 108 above) where we -should use _who_. - -_It yearn'd my heart._ That is, grieved it. Compare _Henry V._ iv. -3. 26: "It yearns me not when men my garments wear," etc. - - -=Page 150.=--_Jauncing._ Riding hard. - -_Musits._ Holes (in fence or hedge) for creeping through. The word, -also spelled _muset_, is a diminutive of the obsolete _muse_, which -means the same. _Amaze_ here means bewilder. - -_Wat._ A familiar name for a hare, as _Reynard_ for a fox, etc. - - -=Page 151.=--_Mr. John R. Wise._ Compare page 26 above. - - -=Page 155.=--The cut is a fac-simile of one in _The Booke -of Falconrie_ (1575), by George Turbervile, or Turberville -(1520?-1595?), an English poet, translator, and writer on hunting, -hawking, etc. - - -=Page 156.=--_Cotgrave._ Randle Cotgrave, an English lexicographer, -who died about 1634. His _French-English Dictionary_ (first -published in 1611) is still valuable in the study of French and -English philology. - - -=Page 159.=--_John Skelton._ An English scholar and poet, a protégé -of Henry VII. and the tutor of Henry VIII. He was born about 1460, -and probably died in 1529. "His rough wit and eccentric character -made him the hero of a book of 'merry tales.'" - - -=Page 160.=--_Some in their horse._ That is, their horses, the -word here being plural. Plurals and possessives of nouns ending in -_s_-sounds were often written without the additional syllable in -the time of Shakespeare. Cf. _King John_, ii. 1. 289: "Sits on his -horse back at mine hostess' door"; _Merchant of Venice_, iv. 1. -255: "Are there balance here to weigh the flesh?" etc. - - -=Page 163.=--_William Kemp dancing the Morris._ Kemp was a favorite -comic actor in the latter years of the reign of Elizabeth. He -acted in some of Shakespeare's plays and in some of Ben Jonson's, -when they were first put upon the stage. In 1599 he journeyed from -London to Norwich, dancing the Morris all the way. The next year -he published an account of the exploit, entitled _The Nine daies -wonder_. The cut here is a fac-simile of one on the title-page of -this pamphlet. It represents Kemp, with his attendant, Tom the -Piper, playing on the pipe and tabor. They spent four weeks on -the journey, nine days of which were occupied in the dancing. At -Chelmsford the crowd assembled to receive them was so great that -they were an hour in making their way through it to their lodgings. -At this town "a maid not passing fourteen years of age" challenged -Kemp to dance the Morris with her "in a great large room," and held -out a whole hour, at the end of which he was "ready to lie down" -from exhaustion. On another occasion a "lusty country lass" wanted -to try her skill with him, and "footed it merrily to Melford, being -a long mile." Between Bury and Thetford he performed the ten miles -in three hours. On portions of the journey the roads were very -bad, and his dancing was frequently interrupted by the hospitality -or importunity of the people along the route. At Norwich he was -received as an honored guest by the mayor of the city. - - -=Page 168.=--_Corresponded to our 3d of May._ The difference -between Old and New Style in reckoning dates, and the fact that the -Gregorian Calendar (or New Style) was not adopted in England until -1752, or nearly two hundred years after it was accepted by Catholic -nations on the Continent, have often led historians, biographers, -and other writers into mistakes concerning dates in the 16th, 17th, -and 18th centuries. For instance, it has been often asserted that -Shakespeare and the Spanish dramatist Cervantes died on the same -day, April 23, 1616; but Shakespeare actually died ten days later -than his great contemporary, New Style having been adopted in Spain -in 1582. If we were certain that Shakespeare was born on the 23d of -April, 1564, we ought now to celebrate the anniversary of his birth -on the 3d of May. As we do not know the precise date of his birth, -and the 23d of April has come to be generally recognized as the -anniversary, there is no particular reason for changing it. - -_Richard Johnson._ He was born in 1573 and died about 1659. He is -chiefly noted as the author of this _Famous History of the Seven -Champions of Christendom_. These, according to him, were St. George -of England, St. Denis of France, St. James of Spain, St. Antony -of Italy, St. Andrew of Scotland, St. Patrick of Ireland, and St. -David of Wales. - -_Mr. A. H. Wall_, of Stratford-on-Avon, was for several years -the librarian of the Shakespeare Memorial Library there, and is -the author of many scholarly articles in English periodicals on -subjects connected with Shakespeare and Warwickshire. - -_The Percy Reliques._ A collection of old ballads, entitled -_Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_ (1765), made by Thomas Percy -(1729-1811), a clergyman (in 1782 made Bishop of Dromore in -Ireland) and poet. - - -=Page 170.=--_Chambers._ These are mentioned in more than one -account of the burning of the Globe Theatre in London, on the 29th -of June, 1613, when, as the critics generally agree, Shakespeare's -_Henry VIII._ was the play being performed. A letter written by -John Chamberlain to Sir Ralph Winwood, describing the fire, says -that it "fell out by a peale of chambers," and a letter from -Thomas Lorkin to Sir Thomas Puckering, dated "this last of June, -1613," says: "No longer since than yesterday, while Bourbege[6] -his companie were acting at y^e Globe the play of Hen=8, and -there shooting of certayne chambers in way of triumph, the fire -catch'd." Another account states that these cannon were fired on -King Henry's arrival at Cardinal Wolsey's house; and the original -stage-direction in _Henry VIII._ (iv. 1.) orders "chambers -discharged" at the entrance of the king to the "mask at the -cardinal's house." - - -=Page 171.=--_Ambrose Dudley._ He was born about 1530, made Earl of -Warwick when Elizabeth came to the throne, and died in 1589. - - -=Page 172.=--_The Cage._ This house, on the corner of Fore Bridge -Street (see map on page 42), was occupied by Thomas Quiney -after he married Judith Shakespeare. "The house has long been -modernized, the only existing portions of the ancient building -being a few massive beams supporting the floor over the cellar" -(Halliwell-Phillipps). - - -=Page 173.=--_Sir Thomas Browne_ (1605-1682) was an eminent -physician and author. Among his books were the _Religio Medici_ -(1643), _Vulgar Errors_ (1646), etc. - -_Sir John Suckling_ (baptized Feb. 10, 1609, and supposed to have -died by suicide at Paris about 1642) was a Royalist poet in the -Court of Charles I. He wrote some plays, but is best known by his -minor poems, one of the most noted of which is the _Ballad upon a -Wedding_. - - -=Page 174.=--_Izaak Walton_ (1593-1683) is famous as the author -of _The Complete Angler_ (1653), one of the classics of our -literature. He also wrote Lives of Donne, Hooker, Herbert, and -other English divines. - -_Richard Hooker_ (1553?-1600) was a celebrated theologian, author -of _Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity_, four books of which appeared in -1592, a fifth in 1597, and the remaining three after his death. - - -=Page 180.=--_Warner's Albion's England._ William Warner -(1558?-1609) was the author of _Albion's England_ (1586), a rhymed -history of the country, and the translator of the _Menæchmi_ of the -Latin dramatist Plautus (1595), on which Shakespeare founded the -plot of the _Comedy of Errors_. - - -=Page 182.=--_Watchet-colored._ Light blue. Compare Spenser, _F. -Q._ iii. 4. 40: "Their watchet mantles frindgd with silver rownd." - -_Like a wild Morisco._ That is, a morris-dancer. The quotation is -from _2 Henry VI._ iii. 1. 365:-- - - "I have seen - Him caper upright like a wild Morisco, - Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells." - - -=Page 183.=--_The featliest of dancers._ The most dexterous. -Compare _The Winter's Tale_, iv. 4. 176: "She dances featly"; and -_The Tempest_, i. 2. 380: "Foot it featly," etc. - -_William Browne_ (1591-1643?) published book i. of _Britannia's -Pastorals_ in 1613. He also wrote _The Shepherd's Pipe_ (1614) and -other poems. - - -=Page 184.=--_A carved hook_, that is, a shepherd's crook (called -a "sheep-hook" in _The Winter's Tale_, iv. 4. 431), as the _scrip_ -is his pouch or wallet. Compare _As You Like It_ (iii. 2. 171), -where Touchstone says to Corin: "Come, shepherd, let us make an -honourable retreat; though not with bag and baggage, yet with scrip -and scrippage." - -_John Aubrey_ (1626-1697), besides assisting Anthony Wood in his -_Antiquities of Oxford_ (1674), wrote _Miscellanies_, a collection -of short stories and other tales of the supernatural. - - -=Page 185.=--_The Puritan Stubbes._ Concerning this Philip Stubbes -little appears to be known except that he was educated at Oxford -and Cambridge, but became a rigid Puritan, and wrote several books -besides the famous _Anatomie of Abuses_. - -_Richard Carew_ (1555-1620) was a poet and antiquarian, and for a -time high sheriff of Cornwall. - - -=Page 186.=--_Pageants._ The word in Shakespeare's day was -generally applied to theatrical entertainments. - -_Play the woman's part._ Female parts were played by boys or young -men until after the middle of the 17th century. Samuel Pepys, -in his _Diary_, under date of January 3, 1660, writes: "To the -Theatre, where was acted 'Beggar's Brush,' it being very well done; -and here the first time that ever I saw women come upon the stage." -Again, under February 12, 1660, he records a performance of _The -Scornful Lady_, adding: "now done by a woman, which makes the play -appear much better than ever it did to me." - -_Made her weep a-good._ That is, heartily. - -_Passioning._ Grieving, lamenting. Compare _Venus and Adonis_, -1059: "Dumbly she passions," etc. - - -=Page 190.=--_Steevens._ George Steevens (1736-1800) was an -eccentric but accomplished editor and critic. "He was often -wantonly mischievous, and delighted to stumble for the mere -gratification of dragging unsuspicious innocents into the mire with -him. He was, in short, the very Puck of commentators." - -_John Heywood_ (1500?-1580) was a dramatist and epigrammatist. His -interludes "prepared the way for English comedy," the characters -having some individuality instead of being mere walking virtues -and vices. Of these plays _The Four P's_ (printed between 1543 -and 1547) is the best known. The characters that give it the -name are a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Potecary (apothecary) and a -Pedlar. A _palmer_ was a pilgrim to the Holy Land, so called from -the palm-branch he brought back in token of having performed -the journey. A _pardoner_ was a person licensed to sell papal -indulgences, or _pardons_. - -_No night is now_, etc. The quotation is from _A Midsummer-Night's -Dream_, ii. 1. 102. - - -=Page 191.=--_Housen._ An obsolete plural of _house_, formed like -_oxen_, etc. - - -=Page 192.=--_The offices._ The rooms in an old English mansion -where provisions are kept; that is, the pantry, kitchen, etc. - -_Waes-hael._ Anglo-Saxon for "Be hale (whole, or well)," equivalent -to "Here's to your health." _Wassail_ is a corruption of this -salutation, which from this meaning was transferred to festive -gatherings where it was used, and then to the liquor served on such -occasions--generally, spiced ale. - -_The tenant of Ingon._ When Knight wrote this, fifty or more -years ago, he supposed that a certain John Shakespeare who in -1570 held a farm known as _Ingon_ or _Ington_, in the parish of -Hampton Lucy near Stratford, was the poet's father; but that he -was one of the many other Shakespeares in Warwickshire (see page -207 below) appears from an entry in the parish register at Hampton -Lucy, showing that he was buried on the 25th of September, 1589. -The poet's father lived until September, 1601, his funeral being -registered as having taken place on the 8th of that month. There -was another John Shakespeare, a shoemaker, who was a resident of -Stratford from about 1584 to about 1594. In the town records he is -generally called the "shumaker," or "corvizer" (an obsolete word of -the same meaning), or "cordionarius" (the Latin equivalent); but -occasionally he appears simply as "John Shakspere," and some of -these entries were formerly supposed to refer to the father of the -dramatist. - -_The Lord of Misrule._ The person chosen to direct the Christmas -sports and revels. His sovereignty lasted during the twelve days of -the holiday season. Stow, in his _Survey of London_ (see on page 82 -above), says: "In the feast of Christmas, there was in the king's -house, wheresoever he lodged, a Lord of Misrule, or Master of Merry -Disports, and the like had ye in the house of every nobleman of -honour or good worship, were he spiritual or temporal." Stubbes -(see on page 185 above) inveighed against the practice in his usual -bitter way: "First, all the wild heads of the parish, conventing -together, choose them a grand captain (of mischief) whom they -innoble with the title of my Lord of Misrule, and him they crown -with great solemnity, and adopt for their king. This king anointed -chooseth forth twenty, forty, three score, or a hundred lusty guts -like to himself, to wait upon his lordly majesty, and to guard his -noble person. Then every one of these his men he investeth with his -liveries, of green, yellow, or some other light wanton color.... -And they have their hobby-horses, dragons, and other antics, -together with their bawdy pipers and thundering drummers, to strike -up the devil's dance withal; ... and in this sort they go to the -church (though the minister be at prayer or preaching) dancing -and swinging their handkerchiefs over their heads in the church, -like devils incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man can -hear his own voice.... Then after this, about the church they go -again and again, and so forth into the churchyard, where they have -commonly their summer halls, their bowers, arbors, and banqueting -houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet, and dance all that day, -and (peradventure) all that night too. And thus these terrestrial -furies spend their Sabbath day." He goes on to tell how the people -give money, food, and drink for these festivities, and adds: "but -if they knew that, as often as they bring any to the maintenance -of these execrable pastimes, they offer sacrifice to the Devil and -Sathanas [Satan], they would repent, and withdraw their hands, -which God grant they may." The Lords of Misrule in colleges were -preached against at Cambridge by the Puritans in the reign of -James I. as inconsistent with a place of religious education, and -as a relic of Pagan worship. In Scotland, the "Abbot of Unreason" -(as the Lord of Misrule was called there), with other festive -characters, was suppressed by legislation as early as 1555. Thomas -Fuller (1608-1681), in his _Good Thoughts in Worse Times_ (1647), -says: "Some sixty years since, in the University of Cambridge, -it was solemnly debated betwixt the heads [of the colleges] to -debar young scholars of that liberty allowed them in Christmas, -as inconsistent with the discipline of students. But some grave -governors mentioned the good use thereof, because thereby, in -twelve days, they more discover the dispositions of scholars than -in twelve months before." - - -=Page 193.=--_The Clopton who is gone._ William Clopton, whose tomb -is in the north aisle of Stratford Church. He was the father of the -William Clopton of Shakespeare's boyhood, who resided at Clopton -House, an ancient mansion less than two miles from Stratford on the -brow of the Welcombe Hills. It is still standing, though long ago -modernized. It is said to have been originally surrounded with a -moat, like the "moated grange" of _Measure for Measure_ (iii. 1. -277). - -_To burn this night with torches._ That is, to prolong the -festivities. The quotation is from _Antony and Cleopatra_, iv. 2. -41. - -_John Dyer_ (1700-1758) was an English poet, author of _Grongar -Hill_ (1727), _The Ruins of Rome_ (1740), etc. - -[Illustration: CLOPTON MONUMENTS] - - -=Page 194.=--_Flawns._ A kind of custard-pie. Compare Ben Jonson, -_Sad Shepherdess_, i. 2:-- - - "Fall to your cheese-cakes, curds, and clouted cream, - Your fools, your flawns," etc. - -The _fools_ were also a kind of custard, or fruit with whipped -cream, etc. _Gooseberry-fool_ is still an English dish. - - -=Page 195.=--_The cost of the sheep-shearing feast._ Mr. Knight -makes a little slip here. The Clown, on his way to buy materials -for the feast, tries to reckon up mentally what the _wool_ from the -shearing will bring. "Let me see," he says; "every 'leven wether -tods [that is, yields a _tod_, or 28 pounds of wool]; every tod -yields pound and odd shilling; fifteen hundred shorn,--what comes -the wool to?" Then, after vainly attempting to make out what the -amount will be, he adds: "I cannot do 't without counters" (round -pieces of metal used in reckoning), and, giving up the problem, -turns to considering what he is to buy for his sister: "Let me -see; what am I to buy for our sheep-shearing feast? Three pound of -sugar, five pound of currants, rice,--what will this sister of mine -do with rice? But my father hath made her mistress of the feast, -and she lays it on. She hath made me four-and-twenty nosegays for -the shearers,--three-man songmen all, and very good ones; but they -are most of them means and bases; but one Puritan amongst them, and -he sings psalms to hornpipes. I must have saffron to colour the -warden pies; mace, dates--none; that's out of my note: nutmegs, -seven; a race or two of ginger,--but that I may beg; four pound of -prunes, and as many of raisins o' the sun." _Three-man songmen_ -are singers of catches in three parts. _Means_ are tenors. _Warden -pies_ are pies made of _wardens_, a kind of large pears, which were -usually baked or roasted. A _race_ of ginger is a root of it; and -_raisins o' the sun_ are raisins dried in the sun. - - -=Page 196.=--_Paul Hentzner._ He was a native of Silesia -(1558-1623) who wrote a _Journey through Germany, France, Italy, -etc._ - -_Matthew Stevenson_ wrote several other books in prose and verse, -published between 1654 and 1673. - -_The furmenty-pot._ The word _furmenty_ is a corruption of -_frumenty_ (see page 197), which is derived from the Latin -_frumentum_, meaning wheat. The hulled wheat, boiled in milk and -seasoned, was a popular dish in England, as it still is in the -rural districts. - -_Robert Herrick_ (1591-1674) was an English lyric poet. The -_Hesperides_ was his most important work. A complete edition of his -poems, edited by Mr. Grosart, was published in 1876. - - -=Page 197.=--_A mawkin._ A kitchen-wench, or other menial servant. -The word is only a phonetic spelling of _malkin_, which Shakespeare -has in _Coriolanus_, ii. 1. 224: "the kitchen malkin." Compare -Tennyson, _The Princess_, v. 25:-- - - "If this be he,--or a draggled mawkin, thou, - That tends her bristled grunters in the sludge;" - -that is, a female swineherd. - -_Prank them up._ Adorn themselves. - -_The fill-horse._ The word _fill_, for the _thills_ or shafts of a -vehicle, used by Shakespeare and other writers of that day, is now -obsolete in England, though still current in New England. _Cross_ -means to make the sign of the cross upon or over the animal. - - -=Page 199.=--_Sheffield whittles._ Knives made at Sheffield. -Chaucer, in the _Canterbury Tales_ (3931) refers to a "Shefeld -thwitel," or whittle. Compare Shakespeare, _Timon of Athens_, v. 1. -173: "There's not a whittle in the unruly camp," etc. - -_Rings with posies._ Rings with mottoes inscribed inside them. -_Posy_ is the same word as _poesy_, which we also find used in -this sense. Compare _Hamlet_, iii. 2. 162: "Is this a prologue, or -the poesy of a ring?" The fashion of putting such posies on rings -prevailed from the middle of the 16th century to the close of the -17th. In 1624 a little book was published with the title, _Love's -Garland, or Posies for Rings, Handkerchiefs, and Gloves; and such -pretty tokens, that lovers send their loves_. Compare page 53 above. - - -=Page 201.=--_Qui est la?_ Who is there? (French). The reply is, -"Peasants, poor French people." - -_Whipped three market-days._ For some petty offence he had -committed. - - -=Page 202.=--_Wick-yarn._ For making wicks for the oil-lamps then -in common use. It was a familiar article in this country fifty -years ago, when whale-oil was used for household illumination. - -_Napery._ Linen for domestic use, especially table-linen. - -_Inkles, caddises, coifs, stomachers, pomanders_, etc. All -these things are found in the peddler's pack of Autolycus in -_The Winter's Tale_ (iv. 4). Compare page 204 below. _Caddises_ -are worsted ribbons, or galloons. _Inkles_ are a kind of tape. -_Pomanders_ were little balls made of perfumes, and worn in the -pocket or about the neck, for the sake of the fragrance or as -a mere ornament, and sometimes to prevent infection in times of -plague. - -_The ivy-bush._ A bush or tuft of ivy was in olden time the sign of -a vintner. Compare the cut of the Morris-Dance, opposite page 178. -The old proverb, "Good wine needs no bush" (_As You Like It_, v. -epil.), means that a place where good wine is kept needs no sign to -attract customers. Gascoigne, in his _Glass of Government_ (1575), -says: "Now a days the good wyne needeth none ivye garland." - - -=Page 203.=--_The juggler with his ape._ The ape being used to -perform tricks, as monkeys are nowadays by organ-grinders to amuse -their street audiences. In _The Winter's Tale_ (iv. 3. 101) the -Clown says of Autolycus: "I know this man well: he hath been since -an ape-bearer"; that is, he carried round a trained ape as a show. - -_Cantabanqui._ Strolling ballad-singers; literally, persons -who sing upon a bench (from the Italian _catambanco_, formerly -_cantinbanco_). Compare Sir Henry Taylor, _Philip van Artevelde_, -i. 3. 2:-- - - "He was no tavern cantabank that made it, - But a squire minstrel of your Highness' court." - -_The Tale of Sir Topas._ One of Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, _The -Rime of Sir Topas_, a burlesque upon the metrical romances of the -time. It is written in ballad form. - -_Bevis of Southampton._ A fabulous hero of the time of William the -Conqueror. He is mentioned in _Henry VIII._ i. 1. 38:-- - - "that former fabulous story, - Being now seen possible enough, got credit, - That Bevis was believed;" - -that is, _so_ that the old romantic legend became credible. In -_2 Henry VI._, after the words (ii. 3. 89), "have at thee with a -downright blow," some editors add from the old play on which this -is founded: "as Bevis of Southampton fell upon Ascapart," a giant -whom he was said to have conquered. Figures of Bevis and Ascapart -formerly adorned the Bar-gate at Southampton, as shown in the cut -on the next page; but when the gate was repaired some years ago -they were removed to the museum. - -_Adam Bell and Clymme of the Clough_ (that is, of the Cliff) figure -in a popular old ballad, which may be found in Percy's _Reliques_. - -_The woolen statute-caps._ Caps which, by Act of Parliament in -1571, the citizens were required to wear on Sundays and holidays. -The nobility were exempt from the requirement, which, as Strype -informs us, was "in behalf of the trade of cappers"--one of sundry -such "protection" measures in the time of Elizabeth. Compare -_Love's Labour's Lost_, v. 2. 282: "Well, better wits have worn -plain statute-caps." As Knight intimates here, the law was a very -unpopular one. - -[Illustration: THE BAR-GATE, SOUTHAMPTON] - -_The Wife of Bath's husbands._ Alluding to the _Wife of Bath_, one -of Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims. In the prologue to her tale, she -says of her husbands (of whom she had five in succession):-- - - "I governed hem so wel after my lawe, - That eche of hem ful blisful was and fawe [fain, or glad] - To bringen me gay things fro the feyre." - -That is, as she goes on to explain, they were glad to bring her -presents from the fair to keep her in good humor, as otherwise she -was apt to treat them "spitously," or spitefully. - -_Where a coxcomb will be broke._ That is, a head will be broken; -but it should be understood that this does not mean a fractured -skull, but merely a bruise sufficient to break the skin and make -the blood flow. Shakespearian critics have sometimes misapprehended -this and similar expressions. In _Romeo and Juliet_ (i. 2. 52), -where the hero says, "Your plantain-leaf is excellent for that" -(referring to a "broken shin"), Ulrici, the eminent German -commentator, thinks that he must be speaking ironically, as -plantain "was used to stop the blood, but not for a fracture of -a bone." Compare _Twelfth Night_, v. 1. 178, where Sir Andrew -says: "He has broke my head across and has given Sir Toby a bloody -coxcomb too." - - -=Page 206.=--_Junkets._ The word here means sweetmeats or -delicacies. - -_Properties._ In the theatrical sense of stage requisites, such as -costumes and other equipments and appointments. - -_Incurious._ Not _curious_, in the original sense of _careful_; not -fastidious, and therefore pleased with these inferior actors. - -_And possess._ The subject of _possess_ is omitted, after the loose -fashion of the time, being obviously implied in _rustics_. Compare -_Hamlet_, iii. 1. 8:-- - - "Nor do we find him forward to be sounded, - But with a crafty madness keeps aloof"; - -that is, _he_ keeps aloof. - - -=Page 207.=--_We see not its workings._ We see the results, but not -the processes by which they have been brought about. - -_The "green lap" in which the boy poet was "laid."_ The quotations -are from the passage referring to Shakespeare in _The Progress of -Poesy_ by Thomas Gray (1716-1771):-- - - "Far from the sun and summer gale, - In thy green lap was Nature's darling laid, - What time, where lucid Avon stray'd, - To him the mighty mother did unveil - Her awful face; the dauntless child - Stretch'd forth his little arms and smil'd. - 'This pencil take,' she said, 'whose colors clear - Richly paint the vernal year: - Thine too these golden keys, immortal boy! - This can unlock the gates of joy; - Of horror that, and thrilling fears, - Or ope the sacred fount of sympathetic tears.'" - -_The name of Shakespeare was very common._ See note on _The tenant -of Ingon_, page 192, above. - - -=Page 208.=--_Volumes have been written on the plant-lore_, etc. -The best of these is Rev. H. N. Ellacombe's _Plant-Lore and -Garden-craft of Shakespeare_, which is quoted on the next page. - -_Apricocks._ An old form of _apricots_. - - -=Page 209.=--_In the compass of a pale._ Within the limits of an -enclosure, or walled garden. - -_Knots._ Interlacing beds. Compare Milton, P. L. iv. 242: "In beds -and curious knots"; and _Love's Labour's Lost_, i. 1. 249: "thy -curious-knotted garden." - -_He that hath suffer'd_, etc. King Richard. - -_At time of year._ That is, at the proper season. - -_Confound itself._ Ruin or destroy itself. Compare _The Merchant of -Venice_, iii. 2. 278:-- - - "Never did I know - A creature that did bear the shape of man - So keen and greedy to confound a man." - - -=Page 210.=--_To prove his real profession._ Books and essays have -been written to prove Shakespeare's intimate knowledge of various -professions and occupations--law, medicine, military science, -seamanship, etc. - - - - -ADDENDA - - -=Page 21.=--_The letters E. R._ Young readers may need to be -informed that these letters stand for _Elizabeth Regina_ (Latin for -_Queen_). See cut on next page. - - -=Page 37.=--_The elder Robert of Stratford._ Sidney Lee says: -"Robert, the father of the prelates Robert and John, was a -well-to-do inhabitant of Stratford, who appears to have set his -sons an example in local works of benevolence. He it is to whom -has been attributed the foundation, in 1296, of the chapel of the -guild, and of the hospital or almshouses attached to it." - - -=Page 59.=--_Old House on High Street._ This house, the finest -example of Elizabethan architecture in Stratford, and one of -the best in England, was built in 1596 by Thomas Rogers, whose -daughter, Katherine, married Robert Harvard, a butcher in the -parish of St. Saviour in London, and became the mother of John -Harvard, the early benefactor of Harvard College from whom it took -its name. The house of Thomas Rogers was nearly opposite New -Place, the residence of Shakespeare in his later years; and Mr. -Rogers and his daughter doubtless knew the dramatist as a famous -neighbor of theirs, and may have seen him on the stage. The cut -on page 59 gives no adequate idea of the elaborate carving on the -front; but this is well shown in the full-page heliotype in Mr. -Henry F. Waters's _Genealogical Gleanings in England_, where these -facts concerning the parentage of John Harvard first appeared. -On the front of the house, under the second-story window, is the -inscription, - - TR 1596 AR - -The "AR" doubtless stands for Alice Rogers, the second wife of -Thomas. This proves that the second marriage occurred before -1596. Mr. Waters found no record of the burial of the first wife, -Margaret, but that of Alice was on the 17th of August, 1608, and -that of her husband on the 20th of February, 1610-11. The Globe -Theatre, of which Shakespeare was a shareholder, stood in the -parish of St. Saviour. Robert Harvard died in 1625, and was buried -in St. Saviour's Church. His widow appears to have been married -twice (to John Elletson and Richard Yearwood) before her death in -1635; but the date of the Elletson marriage (Jan. 19, 1625) given -by Mr. Waters cannot be correct if that of Robert Harvard's death -(Aug. 24, 1625) is right. - - -=Page 89.=--_Adonai or Elohim._ Hebrew names for Jehovah, or God. - - -=Page 112.=--_Shrewd turns._ That is, evil turns (chances or -happenings). Cf. _Henry VIII._ v. 3. 176:-- - - "The common voice, I see, is verified - Of thee, which says thus, 'Do my Lord of Canterbury - A shrewd turn, and he is your friend for ever';" - -that is, he returns good for evil. Compare _As You Like It_, v. 4. -178:-- - - "And after, every [every one] of this happy number - That have endur'd shrewd days and nights with us - Shall share the good of our returned fortune;" - -and Chaucer, _Tale of Melibæus_: "The prophete saith: Flee -shrewdnesse, and do goodnesse," etc. - - -=Page 162.=--_A sergeant at-arms his mace._ In Old English _his_ -was often put in this way after proper names, which had no -genitive (or possessive) inflection. In the 16th century it came -to be used frequently in place of the possessive ending -_s_. It -was occasionally used in the 17th and 18th centuries, when some -grammarians adopted the false theory that the possessive ending -was a contraction of _his_. The construction occurs now and then -in Shakespeare; as in _Twelfth Night_, iii. 3. 26: "the count his -galleys," etc. - - -=Page 191.=--_An age of music._ Such was the Elizabethan age. -Shakespeare himself had a hearty love of music, and evidently a -good knowledge of the science, as the many allusions to it in -his works abundantly prove. No less than thirty-two of the plays -contain interesting references to music and musical matters in the -text; and there are also over three hundred stage-directions of -a musical nature scattered through thirty-six of the plays. Mr. -Edward W. Naylor, in his _Shakespeare and Music_ (London, 1896), -says: "We find that in the 16th and 17th centuries a practical -acquaintance with music was a regular part of the education of the -sovereign, gentlemen of rank, and the higher middle class.... There -is plenty of evidence that the lower classes were as enthusiastic -about music as the higher. A large number of passages in -contemporary authors show clearly that singing in parts (especially -of 'catches') was a common amusement with blacksmiths, colliers, -cloth-workers, cobblers, tinkers, watchmen, country-parsons, and -soldiers.... If ever a country deserved to be called musical, -that country was England in the 16th and 17th centuries. King and -courtier, peasant and ploughman, each could 'take his part,' with -each music was a part of his daily life.... In this respect, at any -rate, the 'good old days' were indeed better than those we now see. -Even a _public-house song_ in Elizabeth's day was a canon in three -parts, a thing which could only be managed 'first time through' -nowadays by the very first rank of professional singers." - - -=Page 204.=--_Sweet hearts._ This must not be supposed to be a -misprint for _Sweethearts_, which was originally two words and -often used as a tender or affectionate address. _Sweetheart_ occurs -in Shakespeare only in _The Winters Tale_, iv. 4. 664: "take your -sweetheart's hat," etc. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[6] Richard Burbage (1567?-1619) was a noted English actor. He -made his fame at the Blackfriars and the Globe, of which he was a -proprietor. He excelled in tragedy, and is said to have been the -original Hamlet, Lear, and Othello. He was a painter as well as an -actor. When this fire occurred at the Globe Theatre, he narrowly -escaped with his life. - - - - -INDEX - - - A-B-C book, 101. - - abracadabra, 88. - - absey, 102. - - Adam Bell, 203, 241. - - Adonai, 245. - - a-good, 236. - - ale-tasters, 40. - - Alveston, 28, 31. - - Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, 75, 171. - - amulets, 87. - - amusements, indoor, 67. - - Anne, Lady, 8. - - apricocks, 208, 244. - - archery, 142. - - Arden, Forest of, 222. - - Arden, Richard, 53. - - articles (in grammar), 226. - - Ascham, Roger, 96, 115, 143, 224. - - ash-tree (in charms), 89. - - Aubrey, John, 184, 236. - - Avon, the, 24. - - - backgammon, 70. - - bait (in hawking), 157. - - ball-games, 123. - - Bancroft, the, 45. - - Barclay, Alexander, 126, 230. - - barley-break, 124. - - base-ball, 123. - - bat-fowling, 153. - - bay-leaf (as charm), 90. - - Baynes, Professor, 145, 231. - - Bear (of Warwick), 4. - - bear-baiting, 132. - - bearing-cloth, 82. - - Beauchamp, Richard, 7, 9. - - Beauchamp, Thomas, 7. - - beer, 58. - - bells (of hawk), 157. - - beshrew, 223. - - Bevis, 203, 241. - - bewrayeth, 228. - - bid a base, 125. - - bird-bolt, 145. - - blind-man's-buff, 122. - - Bolingbroke, Henry, 15. - - bone-fires, 187. - - _Book of Riddles_, 67, 71. - - _Books of Nurture_, 60. - - books, popular, 71. - - _bordarii_, 28. - - bottom (of thread), 73. - - boundary elm, 174. - - brach, 231. - - bread, 58. - - bride-ale, 184. - - Brinsley, John, 66, 109, 229. - - broken coxcomb, 203, 242. - - Browne, Sir Thomas, 173, 235. - - Browne, William, 183, 235. - - Bullein, William, 56, 219. - - Burbage, Richard, 234. - - Bursall, Thomas, 33. - - Burton, Robert, 57, 90, 127, 219, 224. - - Butler, Bishop, 127, 230. - - butts, 41, 217. - - - caddises, 202, 240. - - Cage, the, 172, 234. - - caitch, 230. - - calendars, 223. - - cankers (=canker-worms), 79, 222. - - _cantabanqui_, 203, 241. - - cappers, 16, 215. - - caps, statute, 41, 203, 242. - - caraways, 62, 83, 219, 223. - - card-playing, 69. - - _caret_, 227. - - Carew, Richard, 185, 236. - - chambers (cannon), 170, 234. - - changelings, 84. - - chantry, 32, 216. - - Chapel Lane, 45. - - Charlecote Hall, 19. - - charms, 87. - - chess, 71, 221. - - chiding, 231. - - children, training of, 60. - - chimneys, 51. - - chrisom, 81. - - Christ Cross row, 101. - - christenings, 80. - - christening shirts, 82. - - Christmas, 190. - - clap in the clout, 144. - - Clopton House, 192. - - Clopton, Hugh, 33, 192. - - Clopton, William, 193, 238. - - closely (=secretly), 161. - - Clymme of the Clough, 203, 241. - - cock-fighting, 136. - - cock-throwing, 138. - - Colbrand, 10, 11. - - coldest fault, 231. - - Colet, Dean, 136, 231. - - compass of a pale, 209, 244. - - conceit (=intellect), 229. - - confound (=ruin), 209, 244. - - Corporation, Stratford, 39. - - correctors for the print, 228. - - Coryat, Thomas, 55, 219. - - Cotgrave, Randle, 156, 232. - - Cotsall, 147. - - cottagers (feudal), 28. - - counters, 239. - - countervail, 229. - - coursing, 147. - - Coventry, 4, 14. - - Coventry churches, 215. - - coxcomb (=head), 203, 242. - - craft-guilds, 34. - - craven, 137. - - cried upon it, 232. - - cross-row, 101. - - curtsy, 61, 219. - - - dagswain, 54. - - deer-stealing, 21. - - detest (=detested), 220. - - dill (in magic), 222. - - discovered (=uncovered), 162. - - Drayton, Michael, 3, 123, 213. - - drink-hael, 192. - - drinks, 58. - - ducking-stool, 40. - - Dudley, Ambrose, 75, 171, 234. - - Dudley, Robert, 7, 12. - - Dugdale, William, 4, 16, 213. - - dun cow, the, 10, 214. - - Dun in the mire, 127. - - dwelling-houses, 49. - - Dyer, John, 193, 238. - - - Easter, 172. - - elder-tree (in charms), 89. - - Ellacombe, H. N., 209, 244. - - Elohim, 245. - - embossed, 231. - - enfranchisement, 228. - - English, neglect of, 106. - - entend, 228. - - enter children, to, 220. - - E. R., 21, 244. - - erring, 222. - - Eton, May-day at, 178. - - Eton, whipping at, 114. - - evil eye, the, 85. - - extravagant, 222. - - eyas, 154. - - - fairing, 204. - - fairs, 30, 198, 201. - - fairy rings, 222. - - falconet, 156. - - featliest, 235. - - fern-seed, 188. - - Field, Henry, 53. - - fill-horse, 240. - - filliping the toad, 139. - - fishing, 132. - - flawns, 239. - - flewed, 231. - - flight (arrow), 145. - - fond (=foolish), 117. - - food, 57. - - fool (a dish), 239. - - fool (in pity), 231. - - foot-ball, 125. - - forehand shaft, 144. - - forked heads (of arrows), 231. - - forks, 55, 66. - - Forman, Simon, 22, 215. - - _Four Sons of Aymon, The_, 67, 71. - - fowling, 151. - - Friar Tuck, 179, 180, 221. - - frumenty, 239. - - furmenty, 239. - - furniture, household, 52. - - Furnivall, F. J., 66, 194. - - - games and sports, 121. - - garden-craft in Shakespeare, 208. - - gardens, Stratford, 51. - - Gastrell, Rev. Francis, 51, 218. - - George, Duke of Clarence, 9, 38. - - _Gesta Romanorum_, 77, 221. - - Gifford, William, 127, 230. - - Giletta of Narbonne, 76, 221. - - glisters, 232. - - Godiva, 19. - - gospel-trees, 174. - - gossips' feast, 82. - - Grammar School, Stratford, 38, 95. - - Greene, Robert, 90, 224. - - Guild chapel, 37, 96, 102, 202. - - Guild, the Stratford, 34. - - Guy of Warwick, 5, 9, 67, 71, 203. - - Guy's Cliff, 9. - - - haggard (noun), 154. - - handkerchiefs, 65. - - handy-dandy, 129. - - hang-hog, 226. - - hare-hunting, 150. - - Harrison, William, 52, 54, 58, 199, 218. - - harry-racket, 122. - - Harsnet, Samuel, 224. - - harvest-home, 195. - - hawking, 153. - - Hell-mouth, 17. - - Hentzner, Paul, 196, 239. - - Herod (in old plays), 17, 215. - - Heron, Robert, 86, 223. - - Herrick, Robert, 196, 206, 240. - - herse, 214. - - Heywood, John, 190, 236. - - hide-and-seek, 122. - - hock-cart, 197. - - hooded (hawk), 156. - - hoodman-blind, 122, 230. - - hook (=shepherd's crook), 235. - - Hooker, Richard, 174, 235. - - hopharlots, 54. - - horn-book, 96. - - horse, description of, 147. - - horse (plural), 160, 232. - - housen, 237. - - _Hundred Merry Tales, The_, 67, 71. - - Hunt, Thomas, 96, 115. - - hunting, 145. - - - imp (=child), 7, 214. - - incurious, 243. - - Ingon, 192, 237. - - inhooped, 137. - - inkles, 240. - - irks, 231. - - ivy-bush (vintner's sign), 241. - - - James I. (his _Demonology_), 91. - - jauncing, 232. - - jesses, 157. - - John of Stratford, 31, 32. - - Johnson, Richard, 234. - - joint-stools, 53. - - Jones, Dr. John, 75, 221. - - Jonson, Ben, 81, 118, 127, 188. - - juggler (with ape), 241. - - junkets, 243. - - - Kemp, William, 233. - - Kenilworth, 4, 12, 132, 230. - - Knight, Charles, 172, 181, 194, 202, 221. - - knots (in garden), 207, 244. - - - lamb-ale, 184. - - Laneham, Robert, 13, 215. - - Latin (at school), 103. - - Latin (in exorcisms), 98, 225. - - latten, 81. - - laund, 222. - - leet-ale, 184. - - leets, 40, 43, 184. - - let down the wind, 157. - - likes (=suits), 228. - - lill-lill, 124. - - Lilly, William, 105, 227. - - Lodge, Thomas, 89, 224. - - loggats, 122, 230. - - Lord of Misrule, 192, 237. - - Lucy, Sir Thomas, 20, 215. - - Lupton, Thomas, 86, 223. - - Lyttleton, Sir Thomas, 38. - - - Mab, 73, 74. - - Macbeth, 79. - - Maid Marian, 179, 181. - - malkin, 240. - - Mamillius, 74. - - man (=tame), 154. - - manor, 217. - - marchpane, 83, 223. - - market cross (Stratford), 44, 92. - - markets, 198. - - Markham, Gervase, 153. - - marmalet, 83, 223. - - Mantuan, the, 105. - - mawkin, 240. - - May-day, 176. - - meals, 58, 61. - - means (=tenors), 239. - - Melton, John, 88. - - merest loss, 232. - - mews, 158. - - micher, 112. - - Midsummer Eve, 186. - - moralities, 161. - - More, Sir Thomas, 138, 231. - - Morisco, 235. - - morris-board, 130. - - morris-dance, 179, 184, 233. - - Mowbray, Thomas, 15. - - Mulcaster, Richard, 106, 130, 227, 230. - - musits, 232. - - muss, 128. - - - napery, 240. - - napkin, 65. - - Neville, Richard, 8. - - New Place, 33, 217. - - nine-holes, 123. - - nine men's morris, 129. - - Nine Worthies, the, 18. - - nuntions, 58. - - - O!--_vocativo_, O! 227. - - 'od's nouns, 226. - - o'erlooked (=bewitched), 87. - - offices, 237. - - Old and New Style, 233. - - orpine, 189. - - - pageants, 236. - - painted cloths, 53. - - Painter, William, 75, 221. - - pale (=enclosure), 207, 244. - - palle-malle, 230. - - palmer, 236. - - pardoner, 236. - - Paris Garden, 135, 230. - - passioning, 236. - - Peacham, Henry, 96, 113, 114, 224. - - penny-prick, 69. - - penthouse, 50. - - perambulation of parish, 74. - - Percy, Thomas, 168, 234. - - pigeon-holes (game), 70. - - pinfold, 45, 217. - - pitching the bar, 123. - - plucking geese, 139. - - poaching, 21. - - pomander, 240. - - pomegranate-flowers (as charm), 90. - - pose (=cold in head), 52. - - posies (in rings), 53, 199, 240. - - prabbles, 227. - - prank them up, 240. - - preeches, 227, 229. - - present (=immediate), 229. - - prisoners' base, 124. - - proceed in learning, 229. - - properties, 243. - - Puck, 74. - - pummets, 70. - - - quack (=hoarseness), 52. - - quails (for fighting), 137. - - - race (=root), 239. - - raisins o' the sun, 239. - - Ralph of Stratford, 31, 33. - - rear-suppers, 58. - - reredos, 52. - - Rhodes, Hugh, 60, 219. - - riffeling, 185. - - ringlets (=fairy rings), 222. - - rip up, 228. - - Robert of Stratford, 31, 37, 244. - - Robin Goodfellow, 74, 221. - - Rother Market, 30, 50. - - rushes (for floors), 54, 56, 218. - - - Sackerson, 135. - - Saint George's Day, 167. - - Saint John's wort, 189. - - Saint Mary's Church, Warwick, 6. - - sanctuary, 230. - - sanded, 231. - - school discipline, 113. - - school life, 109. - - school morals, 112. - - _Schoole of Vertue, The_, 60. - - Scot, Reginald, 90, 189, 224. - - Seager, Francis, 60, 219. - - sequestered, 231. - - Shakespeare Birthplace, 49, 217. - - Shakespeare mulberry-tree, 51, 218. - - Shakespeare, Henry, 207. - - Shakespeare, John, 26, 40, 53. - - Shakespeare, Mary, 84. - - sheep-shearing, 193. - - Sheffield whittles, 240. - - Shenstone, William, 101, 226. - - _Ship of Fools, The_, 67, 200. - - Shottery, 4. - - shove-groat, 67. - - shovel-board, 68. - - shrewd (=evil), 112, 245. - - Siddons, Mrs., 12. - - Sir (title of priests), 226. - - Skelton, John, 232. - - slide-thrift, 67. - - slip-groat, 67. - - slipping a hawk, 156. - - Smithe, Ralph, 142. - - spoons, apostle, 80. - - spoons, Latin, 81. - - sprag, 227. - - statute-caps, 41, 203, 242. - - Steevens, George, 190, 236. - - Stevenson, Matthew, 196, 239. - - stool-ball, 122. - - story-telling, 73. - - Stow, John, 82, 222. - - Stratford College, 33, 37. - - Stratford corporation, 39. - - Stratford early history, 27. - - Stratford grammar school, 95. - - Stratford Guild, 34, 37. - - Stratford-on-Avon, 21. - - Stratford topography, 43. - - strikes (of planet), 231. - - Strutt, Joseph, 67, 220. - - Stubbes, Philip, 176, 178, 185, 206, 236. - - Suckling, John, 235. - - sun dancing at Easter, 173. - - sweet hearts, 204, 246. - - sweet-suckers, 83, 223. - - swimming, 130. - - - table-linen, 55. - - takes (of fairies), 231. - - tassel-gentle, 156. - - Taylor the Water Poet, 69, 220. - - tender well, 231. - - than (=then), 219. - - theatres, movable, 14, 215. - - theatrical entertainments, 160, 185. - - then (=than), 220. - - thorow, 65, 220. - - three-man beetle, 139. - - three-man songmen, 239. - - tick (=tag), 125. - - tick-tack, 70. - - tod, 239. - - told (=counted), 232. - - took on him as a conjurer, 225. - - toothache, charms for, 88. - - toothpicks, 65. - - _Topas, Tale of Sir_, 203, 241. - - towels, 56. - - tract (=track), 217. - - training of children, 60. - - tray-trip, 90. - - treatably, 219. - - treen, 55. - - troll-my-dames, 70. - - trumpet (=trumpeter), 222. - - Tusser, Thomas, 114, 195, 229. - - - Udall, Nicholas, 114. - - - vaward, 231. - - vervain, 80, 189, 222. - - villeins, 28. - - voiders, 62. - - - waes-hael, 192, 237. - - wakes, 30, 205. - - Wall, A. H., 168, 234. - - Waller, Edmund, 126, 230. - - Walton, Izaak, 235. - - warden-pies, 239. - - warlocks, 223. - - Warner, William, 235. - - Warwick, 4. - - Warwickshire, 3. - - wash-basins, 56. - - Wat, 232. - - watchet-colored, 235. - - Webster, John, 90, 224. - - which (=who), 228. - - whifflers, 144. - - whistled off (in hawking), 157. - - white meats, 57. - - Whitsuntide, 184. - - whittles (noun), 240. - - who (=which), 231. - - wick-yarn, 240. - - Wierus, 224. - - Wife of Bath, 203, 242. - - Willis, R., 112, 229. - - Wilmcote, 4, 213. - - wine, 58. - - Wise, J. R., 26, 151. - - witches, 79, 84. - - Wolsey, Cardinal, 56. - - woman's part (on stage), 236. - - Woncot, 213. - - Worthies, the Nine, 18. - - wote, 223. - - wrestling, 142. - - - yearned (=grieved), 232. - -[Illustration: ARMS OF JOHN SHAKESPEARE] - - - - -SCHOOL COURSES IN SHAKESPEARE - - -What plays of Shakespeare are to be recommended for school use, and -in what order should they be taken up? These are questions often -addressed to me by teachers, and I will attempt to answer them -briefly here. - -Of the thirty-seven (or thirty-eight if we include the _Two Noble -Kinsmen_) plays in the standard editions of Shakespeare, twenty at -least are suitable for use in "mixed" schools. Among the "comedies" -are _The Merchant of Venice_, _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_, _As You -Like It_, _Twelfth Night_, _Much Ado About Nothing_, _The Tempest_, -_The Winter's Tale_, and _The Taming of the Shrew_; among the -"tragedies," _Macbeth_, _Hamlet_, _Lear_, and _Romeo and Juliet_; -and among the historical plays, _Julius Cæsar_, _Coriolanus_, _King -John_, _Richard II._, _Henry IV. Part I._, _Henry V._, _Richard -III._, and _Henry VIII._ - -Certain plays, like _Cymbeline_, _Othello_, and _Antony and -Cleopatra_, are not, in my opinion, to be commended for "mixed" -schools or classes, but may be used in others at the discretion of -the teacher. - -If but one play is read, my own choice would be _The Merchant of -Venice_; except for _classical_ schools, where _Julius Cæsar_ is -to be preferred. All the leading colleges now require one or more -plays of Shakespeare as part of the preparation in English, and -_Julius Cæsar_ is almost invariably included for every year. - -If _two_ plays can be read, the _Merchant_ and _Julius Cæsar_ may -be commended; or either of these with _As You Like It_, or with -_Macbeth_, if a tragedy is desired. _Macbeth_ is the shortest of -the great tragedies (only a trifle more than half the length of -_Hamlet_, for instance), and seems to me unquestionably the best -for an ordinary school course. - -For a selection of _three_ plays, we may take the _Merchant_ (or -_Julius Cæsar_), _As You Like It_ (or _Twelfth Night_ or _Much -Ado_--the other two of the trio of "Sunny or Sweet-Time Comedies," -as Furnivall calls them), and _Macbeth_. An English historical play -(_King John_, _Richard II._, _Henry IV. Part I._, or _Henry V._) -may be substituted for the comedy, if preferred; and _Hamlet_ for -_Macbeth_, if time permits and the teacher chooses. As I have said, -_Hamlet_ is about twice as long as _Macbeth_, and should have at -least treble the time devoted to it. - -If a _fourth_ play is wanted, add _The Tempest_ to the list. -_Macbeth_ and _The Tempest_ together (4061 lines, as given in the -"Globe" edition) are but little longer than _Hamlet_ (3929 lines), -and can be read in less time than the latter. - -For a _fifth_ play, _Hamlet_, _Lear_, or _Coriolanus_ may be -taken; or, if a shorter and lighter play is preferred, the -_Midsummer-Night's Dream_. In a course of five plays, I should -myself put this first, as a specimen of the dramatist's early work. -For a course of five plays arranged with special reference to the -illustration of Shakespeare's career as a writer, the following may -be commended: A _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (early comedy); _Richard -II._, _Henry IV. Part I._, or _Henry V._ (English historical -period); _As You Like It_, _Twelfth Night_, or _Much Ado_ (later -comedy); _Macbeth_, _Hamlet_, or _Lear_ (period of the great -tragedies); and _The Tempest_ or _The Winter's Tale_ (the latest -plays, or "romances," as Dowden aptly terms them). - -For a series of _six_ plays, following this chronological order, -instead of one English historical play take two: _Richard III._, -_Richard II._, or _King John_ (earlier history, 1593-1595), and -_Henry IV. Part I._, or _Henry V._ (later history, or "history and -comedy united," 1597-1599). - -_Richard III._ is a favorite with many teachers in a course of -three or four plays; but, for myself, I should never take it up -unless in a course of six or more, and only as an example of -Shakespeare's earliest work--not later than 1593. As Oechelhäuser -says, "_Richard III._ is the significant boundary-stone which -separates the works of Shakespeare's youth from the immortal works -of the period of his fuller splendor." As such it has a certain -historical interest to the student of his literary career; but -this seems to me its only claim to attention. I am not disposed, -however, to quarrel with those who think otherwise. - -To return to our courses of reading: for a series of _seven_ plays -I would insert in the above chronological list either _Romeo and -Juliet_ (early tragedy) _before_ "early history," or the _Merchant_ -(middle comedy) _after_ "early history"; and for a series of -_eight_ plays I would include _both_ these. - -_Henry VIII._ can be added to any of the longer series as a very -late play, of which Shakespeare wrote only a part, and which was -completed by Fletcher. _The Taming of the Shrew_ may be mentioned -incidentally as an earlier play that is interesting as being -Shakespeare's only in part. - -In closing, let me commend the _Sonnets_ as well adapted to give -variety to any extended course in Shakespeare. They are not known -to teachers, or to cultivated people generally, as they should be. -In my own experience as a teacher, I have found that young people -always get interested in these poems, if their attention is once -called to them. I once gave one of my classes an informal talk -on the _Sonnets_, merely to fill an hour for which there was no -regular work, owing to an unexpected delay in getting copies of the -play we were about to begin. Some months afterwards, when I asked -the class what play they would select for our next reading if the -choice were left to them, several of the girls asked if we could -not take up the _Sonnets_, and the request was endorsed by a large -majority. We gave about the same time to them as to a play, and I -have never had a more enjoyable or, so far as I could judge, a more -profitable series of lessons with a class. - - W. J. ROLFE. - - - PRINTED BY - SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW STREET SQUARE - LONDON - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - -Transcriber's note: - - Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been - corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within - the text and consultation of external sources. - - The phrases [ 't is ] and [ 'T is ] in quotations in the original - text have been retained, and not changed to the modern contracted - form of 'tis and 'Tis. - - Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, - and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. - - Pg 9, 'his loving brother Richard' has been retained though this is - factually incorrect. His brother was Edward (king Edward IV.) - - Pg 100, The text of the horn-book illustration given in the caption - uses the letter ſ (the long-form s) to reflect the original text. - - Pg 208, 'Skakespeare; and' replaced by 'Shakespeare; and'. - - Pg 226, { and } bracketing has been removed from the declension table, - and the two vertical text headings have been made horizontal. - - Pg 239, 'or Silesia' replaced by 'of Silesia'. - - Pg 243, 'stage requisities' replaced by 'stage requisites'. - - Index: 'Grammar Sehool' replaced by 'Grammar School'. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE THE BOY*** - - -******* This file should be named 54151-0.txt or 54151-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/4/1/5/54151 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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