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padding-left: 2.6em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} -.poetry .verseqq {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 2.2em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} - -.poetry .verse2 {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 4em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} -.poetry .verse6 {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 6em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} -.poetry .verse7 {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 7em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} -.poetry .verse8 {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 8em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} -.poetry .verse10 {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 10em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} -.poetry .verse12 {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 12em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} -.poetry .verse14 {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 14em; - margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} - -@media handheld { - .poetry {display: block; margin-left: 4.5em;} -} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote { - background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:90%; - padding:0.5em; - margin-top:5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; -} - -.transnote p {text-indent: 0em;} - - h1.pg,h2.pg,h3.pg { word-spacing: 0em; - letter-spacing: 0em; - line-height: 1em; - font-weight: bold; } - h1.pg { font-size: 190%; } - h2.pg { line-height: 1.8em; } - h3.pg { font-size: 110%; - margin-top: 2em; } - h4 { text-align: center; - clear: both; } - hr.full { width: 100%; - margin-top: 3em; - margin-bottom: 0em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - height: 4px; - border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ - border-style: solid; - border-color: #000000; - clear: both; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Shakespeare the Boy, by W. J. (William James) -Rolfe</h1> -<p>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 <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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.</p> -<p>Title: Shakespeare the Boy</p> -<p> With Sketches of the Home and School Life, Games and Sports, Manners, Customs and Folk-lore of the Time</p> -<p>Author: W. J. (William James) Rolfe</p> -<p>Release Date: February 11, 2017 [eBook #54151]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE THE BOY***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4>E-text prepared by MWS, John Campbell,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - <a href="https://archive.org/details/shakespeareboy00rolf"> - https://archive.org/details/shakespeareboy00rolf</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<div class="transnote"> -<p>A detailed <strong>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE</strong> can be found - at the <a href="#TN">end of the book.</a></p> -</div> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="600" alt="Original cover" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -SHAKESPEARE THE BOY</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="tpage"> -<h1>SHAKESPEARE THE BOY</h1> - -<p class="fs90">WITH SKETCHES OF</p> - -<p class="wsp">THE HOME AND SCHOOL LIFE<br /> -THE GAMES AND SPORTS, THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS<br /> -AND FOLK-LORE OF THE TIME</p> -<br /> -<p class="pfs80">BY</p> - -<p class="pfs135">WILLIAM JAMES ROLFE, <span class="smcap">Litt.D.</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_logo-150.jpg" width="150" alt="" /> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="p2 pfs100 wsp">WITH FORTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS</p> - -<p class="p3 pfs120">LONDON</p> -<p class="pfs135 lsp wsp">CHATTO & WINDUS</p> -<p class="pfs100">1897</p> - - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> - -<p class="p10 pfs80"> -Copyright, 1896, by <span class="smcap">Harper & Brothers</span>.</p> -<hr class="r5a" /> -<p class="pfs80"><em>All rights reserved.</em></p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p class="p4" /> - -<h2>PREFACE</h2> - - -<p>Two years ago, at the request of the editors of the -<cite>Youth's Companion</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Outlines of -the Life of Shakespeare</cite>, Knight's <cite>Biography of Shakspere</cite>, -Furnivall's Introduction to the "Leopold" edition of -Shakespeare, his <cite>Babees Book</cite>, and his edition of Harrison's -<cite>Description of England</cite>, Sidney Lee's <cite>Stratford-on-Avon</cite>, -Strutt's <cite>Sports and Pastimes</cite>, Brand's <cite>Popular Antiquities</cite>, -and Dyer's <cite>Folk-Lore of Shakespeare</cite>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="right">W. J. R.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap pad1">Cambridge</span>, <em>June 10, 1896</em>.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> -<p class="p4" /> - -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="95%" summary=""> -<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr fs70">PAGE</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">PART I.—HIS NATIVE TOWN AND NEIGHBORHOOD</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Warwickshire</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Warwick Castle and Saint Mary's Church</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Warwick in History</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Guy of Warwick</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Kenilworth Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Coventry</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Charlecote Hall</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Stratford-on-Avon</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Early History of Stratford</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Stratford Guild</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Stratford Corporation</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Topography of Stratford</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl tdpp">PART II.—HIS HOME LIFE</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Dwelling-houses of the Time</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Household Furniture</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Food and Drink</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Training of Children</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Indoor Amusements</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Popular Books</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Story-telling</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Christenings</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Superstitions connected with Birth and Baptism</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Charms and Amulets</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl tdpp">PART III.—AT SCHOOL</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Stratford Grammar School</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">What Shakespeare Learnt at School</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Neglect of English</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">School Life in Shakespeare's Day</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">School Morals</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">School Discipline</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">When William Left School</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl tdpp">PART IV.—GAMES AND SPORTS</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Boyish Games</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Swimming and Fishing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Bear-baiting</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Cock-fighting and Cock-throwing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Other Cruel Sports</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Archery</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Hunting</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Fowling</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Hawking</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Theatrical Entertainments</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl tdpp">PART V.—HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, FAIRS, ETC.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Saint George's Day</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Easter</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">The Perambulation of the Parish</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">May-day and the Morris-dance</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Whitsuntide</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Midsummer Eve</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Christmas</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Sheep-shearing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Harvest-home</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Markets and Fairs</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdlx">Rural Outings</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl tdpp">NOTES</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl tdpp">INDEX</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> - -<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - - -<div class="center fs80"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" width="95%" summary=""> -<tr><td class="tdl">SHAKESPEARE THE BOY</td><td class="tdl" colspan="2"><em>Frontispiece</em></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">THE SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE, ABOUT 1820</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">WARWICK CASTLE</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">GATE-HOUSE OF KENILWORTH CASTLE</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">COVENTRY CHURCHES AND PAGEANT</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">CHARLECOTE HALL</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">ENTRANCE TO CHARLECOTE HALL</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">SIR THOMAS LUCY</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">STRATFORD CHURCH</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">STRATFORD CHURCH, WEST END</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">THE GUILD CHAPEL AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL, STRATFORD</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">MAP—PLAN OF STRATFORD</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">SHAKESPEARE HOUSE, RESTORED</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">ROOM IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS BORN</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">INTERIOR OF ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">OLD HOUSE IN HIGH STREET</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">SHILLING OF EDWARD VI.</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">ANCIENT FONT AT STRATFORD</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">PORCH, STRATFORD CHURCH</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">INNER COURT, GRAMMAR SCHOOL</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">THE SCHOOL-ROOM AS IT WAS</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">DESK SAID TO BE SHAKESPEARE'S</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">WALK ON THE BANKS OF THE AVON</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">HIDE-AND-SEEK</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">"MORRIS" BOARD</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">FISHING IN THE AVON</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">THE BEAR GARDEN, LONDON</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">GARDEN AT NEW PLACE</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">ELIZABETH HAWKING</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">BOY WITH HAWK AND HOUNDS</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">ITINERANT PLAYERS IN A COUNTRY HALL</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">WILLIAM KEMP DANCING THE MORRIS</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">THE BOUNDARY ELM</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">MORRIS-DANCE</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">CLOPTON HOUSE ON CHRISTMAS EVE</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">THE FAIR</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">INTERIOR OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL, BEFORE THE RESTORATION</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">CLOPTON MONUMENTS</td><td class="tdl"><em>Facing p.</em></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">THE BAR-GATE, SOUTHAMPTON</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl">ARMS OF JOHN SHAKESPEARE</td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - - - <div class="chapter"></div> - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> -<p class="p6" /> - -<p class="pfs150">SHAKESPEARE THE BOY</p> - -<h2 class="fs100 no-brk"><a name="Part_I" id="Part_I"></a><a href="#CONTENTS"><span class="smcap">Part I</span></a><br /> -HIS NATIVE TOWN AND NEIGHBORHOOD</h2> -<p class="p6" /> - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_003.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -THE SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE, ABOUT 1820</div> -</div> - - -<h3 class="h3x">WARWICKSHIRE</h3> - -<p>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 <cite>Poly-Olbion</cite> -(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 <cite>Poly-Olbion</cite> is rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -prosaic and tedious, attains a kind of genuine inspiration -when, in his 13th book, he comes to describe</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Brave Warwick that abroad so long advanced her Bear,</p> -<p class="verse">By her illustrious Earls renowned everywhere;</p> -<p class="verse">Above her neighboring shires which always bore her head."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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.</p> - - -<h3>WARWICK CASTLE AND SAINT MARY'S CHURCH.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -part of England can hardly parallel; so that now it is -the most princely seat that is within the midland parts -of this realm."</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_005.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -WARWICK CASTLE</div> -</div> - -<p>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 embel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>lished, -at enormous expense, and made the stately fortress -and mansion that Dugdale describes.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"<em>This</em> castle hath a pleasant seat; the air</p> -<p class="verse">Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself</p> -<p class="verse">Unto our gentle senses. This guest of summer,</p> -<p class="verse">The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,</p> -<p class="verse">By his loved mansionry, that the air</p> -<p class="verse">Smells wooingly here; no jutty, frieze,</p> -<p class="verse">Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird</p> -<p class="verse">Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle.</p> -<p class="verse">Where they most breed and haunt I have observed</p> -<p class="verse">The air is delicate."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> -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. <em>He</em> 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. <em>He</em> 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. <em>He</em> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -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.</p> - - -<h3>WARWICK IN HISTORY.</h3> - -<p>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 <cite>Henry VI.</cite> and <cite>Richard III.</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>The Lady Anne of <cite>Richard III.</cite>, 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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse6">"I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter.</p> -<p class="verse">What though I kill'd her husband and her father?"</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> - -<p>Her husband was Edward, Prince of Wales, son of -Henry VI., and was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury.</p> - -<p>The Earl of Warwick who figures in <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> -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 <cite>Henry V.</cite>, and also in -the first scene of <cite>Henry VI.</cite>, 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 <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> (iii. 1. 66) Shakespeare makes the mistake -of calling him "Nevil" instead of Beauchamp.</p> - -<p>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 -<ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—should be Edward (Richard was his father)">his loving brother Richard</ins>. It then passed to the young -son of Clarence, who is another character in the play of -<cite>Richard III.</cite> 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.</p> - - -<h3>GUY OF WARWICK.</h3> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Shakespeare refers to Guy in <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> (v. 4. 22), -where a man exclaims, "I am not Samson, nor Sir Guy, -nor Colbrand"; and Colbrand is mentioned again in -<cite>King John</cite> (i. 1. 225) as "Colbrand the giant, that same -mighty man."</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -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.</p> - - -<h3>KENILWORTH CASTLE.</h3> - -<p>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 <cite>Kenilworth</cite>, -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_013.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -GATE-HOUSE OF KENILWORTH CASTLE</div> -</div> - -<p>There were great doings at this castle of Kenilworth -in 1575, when Shakespeare was eleven years old, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Midsummer-Night's -Dream</cite> (ii. 1. 150) of</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"a mermaid on a dolphin's back</p> -<p class="verse">Uttering such dulcet and harmonious sounds</p> -<p class="verse">That the rude sea grew civil at her song,"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse6">"shot madly from their spheres</p> -<p class="verse">To hear the sea-maid's music."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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?</p> - - -<h3>COVENTRY.</h3> - -<p>The road from Warwick to Kenilworth is one of the -loveliest in England; and that from Kenilworth five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> -miles further on to Coventry is acknowledged to be <em>the</em> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_014fp.jpg" width="550" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -COVENTRY CHURCHES AND PAGEANT</div> -</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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 -<cite>Richard II.</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -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,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse">"Bluff Harry broke into the spence,</p> -<p class="verse2">And turned the cowls adrift."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the books of the Smiths or Armorers, some of the -charges are as follows:—</p> - -<p>"<em>Item</em>, paid for v. schepskens for gods cote and for -makyng, iii<em>s.</em></p> - -<p><em>Item</em>, paid for mendyng of Herods hed and a myter -and other thyngs, ii<em>s.</em></p> - -<p><em>Item</em>, paid for dressyng of the devells hede, viii<em>d.</em></p> - -<p><em>Item</em>, paid for a pair of gloves for god, ii<em>d.</em>"</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<p>"Paide for making and painting hell mouth, xii<em>d.</em></p> - -<p>Paid for keping of fyer at hell mouthe, iiii<em>d.</em>"</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Hamlet</cite> (iii. 2. 16) we -have the expression, "It out-herods Herod"; and in the -<cite>Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (ii. 1. 20), "What a Herod of -Jewry is this!"</p> - -<p>All the actors were paid for their services, the amount -varying with the importance of the part. The same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Henry V.</cite> (ii. 3. 43), where the flea on Bardolph's -rubicund nose is compared to "a black soul -burning in hell-fire."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 Wor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>thies," -which he has burlesqued in <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite>, -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Shakespeare makes no reference to this story of Lady -Godiva, though it was probably well known to him.</p> - - -<h3>CHARLECOTE HALL.</h3> - -<p>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 Shake<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>speare's -deer-poaching—a fine old mansion, seen across -a breadth of fields dotted with tall elms.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_020.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -CHARLECOTE HALL</div> -</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -Over the main door are the royal arms, with the letters -E. R., together with the initials of the owner, T. L.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Henry IV.</cite> and <cite>The -Merry Wives of Windsor</cite>. 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_022.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -ENTRANCE TO CHARLECOTE HALL</div> -</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -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 <em>d.</em>"</p> - -<div class="figleft"> -<img src="images/i_023.jpg" width="250" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -SIR THOMAS LUCY</div> -</div> - -<p>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, <em>Thomas -Lucy</em>."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>STRATFORD-ON-AVON.</h3> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"There is a willow grows aslant a brook,</p> -<p class="verse">That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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, <cite>The Two Gentlemen of Verona</cite>, so -aptly does it give the characteristics of the Warwickshire -stream:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"The current that with gentle murmur glides,</p> -<p class="verse">Thou know'st, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage;</p> -<p class="verse">But when his fair course is not hindered,</p> -<p class="verse">He makes sweet music with the enamell'd stones,</p> -<p class="verse">Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge</p> -<p class="verse">He overtaketh in his pilgrimage;</p> -<p class="verse">And so by many winding nooks he strays,</p> -<p class="verse">With willing sport, to the wild ocean.</p> -<p class="verse">Then let me go, and hinder not my course:</p> -<p class="verse">I'll be as patient as a gentle stream,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -<p class="verse">And make a pastime of each weary step,</p> -<p class="verse">Till the last step have brought me to my love;</p> -<p class="verse">And there I'll rest, as, after much turmoil,</p> -<p class="verse">A blessed soul doth in Elysium."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It is not pleasant to learn that the poet's father was -fined for maintaining a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">sterquinarium</i>, which being -translated from the Latin is <em>dung-heap</em>, 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 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">sterquinarium</i> -had been behind his house instead of before -it.</p> - -<p>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—<em>everywhere</em>, 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 <cite>Much Ado About Nothing</cite> in the reference -to "smoking a musty room."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> - -<p>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 <cite>As You Like It</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Mr. J. R. Wise, in his <cite>Shakespeare, His Birthplace and -its Neighbourhood</cite>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -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."</p> - - -<h3>THE EARLY HISTORY OF STRATFORD.</h3> - -<p>Stratford is a very ancient town. Its name shows -that it was situated at a <em>ford</em> on the Roman <em>street</em>, 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 <span class="fs70">A.D.</span> 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."</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -officiated in the chapel of the old monastery (of which -we find no mention after the year 872), with twenty-one -villeins and seven <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">bordarii</i>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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 doubt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>less -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. <em>Rother</em> 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 <cite>Timon -of Athens</cite> (iv. 3. 12):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"It is the pasture lards the rother's sides,</p> -<p class="verse">The want that makes him lean."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_030fp.jpg" width="450" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -STRATFORD CHURCH</div> -</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_032.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -STRATFORD CHURCH, WEST END</div> -</div> - -<p>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 pur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>chased -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -after he returned to his native town about 1611 or -1612.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>THE STRATFORD GUILD.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_035.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -THE GUILD CHAPEL AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL, STRATFORD</div> -</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>A curious feature of the conditions of membership in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_34">page 34</a> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>THE STRATFORD CORPORATION.</h3> - -<p>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<em>s.</em> viij<em>d.</em>" 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."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> - -<p>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 -<em>leets</em>, or court-leets, to which all the inhabitants -were summoned to revise and enforce the police regulations. -Shakespeare alludes to these leets in <cite>The -Taming of the Shrew</cite> (ind. 2. 89) where the servant tells -Kit Sly that he has been talking in his sleep:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door,</p> -<p class="verse">And rail upon the mistress of the house,</p> -<p class="verse">And say you would present her at the leet</p> -<p class="verse">Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">And Iago (<cite>Othello</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -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 -<cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite> (v. 2. 281); and the regulation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -<a href="images/i_042-large.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_042.jpg" width="600" alt="" /></a> -<div class="caption"> -<span class="smcap">Plan</span> of <span class="smcap">Stratford</span> <em>On Avon</em></div> -</div> - - -<h3>THE TOPOGRAPHY OF STRATFORD.</h3> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -Street;—21. Sheep Street;—22. Chapel Lane;—23. -Buildings call'd Water Side;—24. Southam's Lane;—25. -Dissenting Meeting;—26. White Lion."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -council in 1608. The stocks, pillory, and whipping-post -were in the same locality.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - <div class="chapter"></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> -<p class="p6" /> - -<h2 class="fs100"><a name="Part_II" id="Part_II"></a><a href="#CONTENTS"><span class="smcap">Part II.</span></a><br /> -HIS HOME LIFE</h2> -<p class="p6" /> - - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a><br /><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_049.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -SHAKESPEARE HOUSE, RESTORED</div> -</div> - - -<h3 class="h3x">THE DWELLING-HOUSES OF THE TIME</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There are a few houses of the same period and the -same class still standing in Stratford and its vicinity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>pentice</em>, or <em>penthouse</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>In the <cite>Merchant of Venice</cite> (ii. 6. 1) Gratiano says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"This is the penthouse under which Lorenzo</p> -<p class="verse">Desired us to make stand."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">In <cite>Much Ado About Nothing</cite> (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 <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite> (iii. -1. 17): "with your hat penthouse-like o'er the shop -of your eyes"; and another in <cite>Macbeth</cite> (i. 3. 20):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Sleep shall neither night nor day</p> -<p class="verse">Hang upon his penthouse lid";</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">the projecting eyebrow being compared to this part of -the Elizabethan dwelling.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_050fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -ROOM IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS BORN</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> -in the hall, where he dined and dressed his meat."</p> - -<p>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."</p> - - -<h3>THE HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE.</h3> - -<p>Of the furniture in these old houses we get an idea -from inventories of the period that have come down to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Shakespeare refers to these cloths several times; for -instance, in <cite>As You Like It</cite> (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 (<cite>1 Henry IV.</cite> iv. 2. 28) says -that his recruits are "ragged as Lazarus in the painted -cloth."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> - -<p>In an anonymous play, <cite>No Whipping nor Tripping</cite>, -printed in 1601, we find this passage:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Read what is written on the painted cloth:</p> -<p class="verse">Do no man wrong; be good unto the poor;</p> -<p class="verse">Beware the mouse, the maggot, and the moth,</p> -<p class="verse">And ever have an eye unto the door," etc.</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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 <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<p>"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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Thomas Coryat, in his <cite>Crudities</cite>, 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:—</p> - -<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!"</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Bullein, in his <cite>Government of Health</cite>, 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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_056fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -INTERIOR OF ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE</div> -</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Perfumes were used for neutralizing the foul odors -that resulted from this filthiness. Burton, in his <cite>Anatomy -of Melancholy</cite>, 1621, says: "The smoke of juniper -is in great request with us at Oxford, to sweeten our -chambers." [See also <a href="#Page_25">page 25</a> above.]</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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."</p> - - -<h3>FOOD AND DRINK.</h3> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_059.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -OLD HOUSE IN HIGH STREET</div> -</div> - -<p>Of the times of meals he says: "With us the nobility, -gentry, and students do ordinarily go to dinner at eleven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -they may, so that to talk of their order of repast it were -but needless matter."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Among them is one by Francis Seager, published in -London in 1557, entitled <cite>The Schoole of Vertue, and booke -of good Nourture for Chyldren and youth to learne their -dutie by</cite>. Another is <cite>The Boke of Nurture, or Schoole -of good maners for men, servants, and children</cite>, compiled -by Hugh Rhodes, of which at least five editions were -printed between 1554 and 1577.</p> - -<p>The <cite>Schoole of Vertue</cite> begins thus<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (the spelling -being modernized):—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"First in the morning when thou dost awake</p> -<p class="verse">To God for his grace thy petition then make;</p> -<p class="verse">This prayer following use daily to say,</p> -<p class="verse">Thy heart lifting up; thus begin to pray,"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Down from thy chamber when thou shalt go,</p> -<p class="verse">Thy parents salute thou, and the family also."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Elsewhere, politeness out of doors is enjoined:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse">"Be free of cap [taking it off to his elders] and full of courtesy."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>At meals his first duty is to wait upon his parents, -after saying this grace:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Give thanks to God with one accord</p> -<p class="verse">For that shall be set on this board.</p> -<p class="verse">And be not careful what to eat,</p> -<p class="verse">To each thing living the Lord sends meat;</p> -<p class="verse">For food He will not see you perish,</p> -<p class="verse">But will you feed, foster, and cherish;</p> -<p class="verse">Take well in worth what He hath sent,</p> -<p class="verse">At this time be therewith content,</p> -<p class="verse">Praising God."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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":—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse">"Before the table make thou low curtsy."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Not smacking thy lips as commonly do hogs,</p> -<p class="verse">Nor gnawing the bones as it were dogs.</p> -<p class="verse">Such rudeness abhor, such beastliness fly,</p> -<p class="verse">At the table behave thyself mannerly."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>The directions "how to behave thyself in talking -with any man" are very minute and specific:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"If a man demand a question of thee,</p> -<p class="verse">In thine answer-making be not too hasty;</p> -<p class="verse">Weigh well his words, the case understand,</p> -<p class="verse">Ere an answer to make thou take in hand;</p> -<p class="verse">Else may he judge in thee little wit,</p> -<p class="verse">To answer to a thing and not hear it.</p> -<p class="verse">Suffer his tale whole out to be told,</p> -<p class="verse">Then speak thou mayst, and not be controlled;</p> -<p class="verse">Low obeisance making, looking him in the face,</p> -<p class="verse">Treatably speaking, thy words see thou place,</p> -<p class="verse">With countenance sober, thy body upright,</p> -<p class="verse">Thy feet just together, thy hands in like plight;</p> -<p class="verse">Cast not thine eyes on either side.</p> -<p class="verse">When thou art praised, therein take no pride.</p> -<p class="verse">In telling thy tale, neither laugh nor smile;</p> -<p class="verse">Such folly forsake thou, banish and exile.</p> -<p class="verse">In audible voice thy words do thou utter,</p> -<p class="verse">Not high nor low, but using a measure.</p> -<p class="verse">Thy words see that thou pronounce plaine,</p> -<p class="verse">And that they spoken be not in vain;</p> -<p class="verse">In uttering whereof keep thou an order,</p> -<p class="verse">Thy matter thereby thou shalt much forder [further];</p> -<p class="verse">Which order if thou do not observe,</p> -<p class="verse">From the purpose needs must thou swerve,</p> -<p class="verse">And hastiness of speed will cause thee to err,</p> -<p class="verse">Or will thee teach to stut or stammer.</p> -<p class="verse">To stut or stammer is a foul crime;</p> -<p class="verse">Learn then to leave it, take warning in time;</p> -<p class="verse">How evil a child it doth become,</p> -<p class="verse">Thyself being judge, having wisdom;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -<p class="verse">And sure it is taken by custom and ure [use],</p> -<p class="verse">While young you be there is help and cure.</p> -<p class="verse">This general rule yet take with thee,</p> -<p class="verse">In speaking to any man thy head uncovered be,</p> -<p class="verse">The common proverb remember ye ought,</p> -<p class="verse">'Better unfed than untaught.'"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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":—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"If of message forth thou be sent,</p> -<p class="verse">Take heed to the same, give ear diligent;</p> -<p class="verse">Depart not away and being in doubt,</p> -<p class="verse">Know well thy message before thou pass out;</p> -<p class="verse">With possible speed then haste thee right soon,</p> -<p class="verse">If need shall require it so to be done.</p> -<p class="verse">After humble obeisance the message forth shew,</p> -<p class="verse">Thy words well placing, in uttering but few</p> -<p class="verse">As shall thy matter serve to declare.</p> -<p class="verse">Thine answer made, then home again repair,</p> -<p class="verse">And to thy master thereof make relation</p> -<p class="verse">As then the answer shall give thee occasion.</p> -<p class="verse">Neither add nor diminish anything to the same,</p> -<p class="verse">Lest after it prove to thy rebuke and shame,</p> -<p class="verse">But the same utter as near as thou can;</p> -<p class="verse">No fault they shall find to charge thee with than [then]."</p> -</div></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_064fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Similar counsel is added "against the horrible vice of -swearing":</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"In vain take not the name of God;</p> -<p class="verse">Swear not at all for fear of his rod.</p> -<p class="verse"> * <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span> - <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span></p> -<p class="verse">Seneca doth counsel thee all swearing to refrain, - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> -<p class="verse">Although great profit by it thou might gain;</p> -<p class="verse">Pericles, whose words are manifest and plain,</p> -<p class="verse">From swearing admonisheth thee to abstain;</p> -<p class="verse">The law of God and commandment he gave</p> -<p class="verse">Swearing amongst us in no wise would have.</p> -<p class="verse">The counsel of philosophers I have here exprest,</p> -<p class="verse">Amongst whom swearing was utterly detest;</p> -<p class="verse">Much less among Christians ought it to be used,</p> -<p class="verse">But utterly of them clean to be refused."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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."</p> - -<p>The rules laid down in the <cite>Boke of Nurture</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Blow not your nose on the napkin</p> -<p class="verse2">Where you should wipe your hand,</p> -<p class="verse">But cleanse it in your handkercher."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> - -<p>The <cite>Booke of Demeanor</cite>, printed in 1619, says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Nor imitate with Socrates</p> -<p class="verse2">To wipe thy snivelled nose</p> -<p class="verse">Upon thy cap, as he would do,</p> -<p class="verse2">Nor yet upon thy clothes:</p> -<p class="verse">But keep it clean with handkerchief,</p> -<p class="verse2">Provided for the same,</p> -<p class="verse">Not with thy fingers or thy sleeve,</p> -<p class="verse2">Therein thou art to blame."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It would appear that this <cite>Schoole of Vertue</cite>, or some -other book with the same title, was used in schools for -boys. John Brinsley, in his <cite>Grammar Schoole</cite> 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 <cite>Schoole of Vertue</cite> 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 <cite>Schoole of good manners</cite>, -called <cite>the new Schoole of Vertue</cite>, leading the childe -as by the hand, in the way of all good manners."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>INDOOR AMUSEMENTS.</h3> - -<p>Of the indoor amusements of country people we get -an idea from Vincent's <cite>Dialogue with an English Courtier</cite>, -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."</p> - -<p>"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 <cite>Sports and -Pastimes of England</cite>, describes it thus:—</p> - -<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_068.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -SHILLING OF EDWARD VI</div> -</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>In <cite>The Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (i. 1. 159), Slender, -when asked if Pistol had picked his purse, replies:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -"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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"You see my face is beardless, smooth, and plain,</p> -<p class="verse">Because my sovereign was a child 't is known,</p> -<p class="verse">When as he did put on the English crown;</p> -<p class="verse">But had my stamp been bearded, as with hair,</p> -<p class="verse">Long before this it had been worn out bare;</p> -<p class="verse">For why, with me the unthrifts every day,</p> -<p class="verse">With my face downward, do at shove-board play."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Backgammon, or "tables," as it was called, was -popular in Shakespeare's time. He refers to it in -<cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite> (v. 2. 326), where Biron, ridiculing -Boyet, says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice,</p> -<p class="verse">That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice</p> -<p class="verse">In honourable terms."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>"Tick-tack" was a kind of backgammon; alluded -to, figuratively, in <cite>Measure for Measure</cite> (i. 2. 196): -"thus foolishly lost at a game of tick-tack."</p> - -<p>"Tray-trip" was a game of dice, in which success -depended upon throwing a "tray" (the French <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">trois</i>, -or three); mentioned in <cite>Twelfth Night</cite> (ii. 5. 207): -"Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip, and become -thy bond-slave?"</p> - -<p>"Troll-my-dames" was a game resembling the modern -bagatelle. The name is a corruption of the -French <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">trou-madame</i>. It was also known as "pigeon-holes." -Dr. John Jones, in his <cite>Ancient Baths of Buckstone</cite> -(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 <em>troule-in-madame</em> is called."</p> - -<p>In <cite>The Tempest</cite> (v. 1. 172) Ferdinand and Miranda<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -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.</p> - - -<h3>POPULAR BOOKS.</h3> - -<p>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 <cite>Four Sons of Aymon</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>The <cite>Hundred Merry Tales</cite> was a popular jest-book of -Shakespeare's time, to which he alludes in <cite>Much Ado -About Nothing</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>The <cite>Book of Riddles</cite> was another book mentioned by -Shakespeare in <cite>The Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (i. 1. 205), -in connection with a volume of verse which was equally -popular in the Elizabethan age:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>"<em>Slender.</em> I had rather than forty shillings, I had my -book of Songs and Sonnets here.—</p> - -<p class="center"><em>Enter</em> Simple.</p> - -<p class="noindent">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?</p> - -<p><em>Simple.</em> Book of Riddles? why, did you not lend it -to Alice Shortcake upon Allhallowmas last, a fortnight -afore Michaelmas?"</p> -</div> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>A few of the shortest riddles may be quoted as samples:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>"<em>The</em> li. <em>Riddle</em>.—My lovers will<br /> -<span class="pad8">I am content for to fulfill;</span><br /> -<span class="pad8">Within this rime his name is framed;</span><br /> -<span class="pad8">Tell me then how he is named?</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><em>Solution.</em>—His name is William; for in the first line is -<em>will</em>, and in the beginning of the second line is <em>I am</em>, and -then put them both together, and it maketh <em>William</em>.</p> - -<p><em>The</em> liv. <em>Riddle</em>.—How many calves tailes will reach to -the skye? <em>Solution.</em>—One, if it be long enough.</p> - -<p> -<em>The</em> lxv. <em>Riddle</em>.—What is that, round as a ball,<br /> -<span class="pad8">Longer than Pauls steeple,</span><br /> -<span class="pad8"> weather-cocke, and all?</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><em>Solution.</em>—It is a round bottome of thred when it is -unwound.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> - -<p><em>The</em> lxvii. <em>Riddle</em>.—What is that, that goeth thorow the -wood, and toucheth never a twig? <em>Solution.</em>—It is the -blast of a horne, or any other noyse."</p> -</div> - -<p>A <em>bottom</em> of thread was a ball of it. The word occurs -in <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite> (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 -<cite>The Two Gentlemen of Verona</cite> (iii. 2. 53):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Therefore, as you unwind her love from him,</p> -<p class="verse">Lest it should ravel and be good to none,</p> -<p class="verse">You must provide to bottom it on me."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>This old meaning of <em>bottom</em> doubtless suggested the -name of Bottom the Weaver in the <cite>Midsummer-Night's -Dream</cite>.</p> - - -<h3>STORY-TELLING.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In Milton's <cite>L'Allegro</cite> we have a pleasant picture of a -rustic group listening to fairy stories round the evening -fire:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Then to the spicy nut-brown ale,</p> -<p class="verse">With stories told of many a feat,</p> -<p class="verse">How fairy Mab the junkets eat.</p> -<p class="verse">She was pinch'd and pull'd, she said,</p> -<p class="verse">And he, by Friar's lantern led,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -<p class="verse">Tells how the drudging goblin sweat</p> -<p class="verse">To earn his cream-bowl duly set,</p> -<p class="verse">When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,</p> -<p class="verse">His shadowy flail hath thresh'd the corn</p> -<p class="verse">That ten day-laborers could not end;</p> -<p class="verse">Then lies him down the lubber fiend,</p> -<p class="verse">And, stretch'd out all the chimney's length,</p> -<p class="verse">Basks at the fire his hairy strength,</p> -<p class="verse">And crop-full out of doors he flings</p> -<p class="verse">Ere the first cock his matin rings.</p> -<p class="verse">Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,</p> -<p class="verse">By whispering winds soon lull'd asleep."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Of "fairy Mab" we have a graphic description from -the merry Mercutio in <cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite> (i. 4. 53–94); -and the "drudging goblin," or Robin Goodfellow, is -the Puck of the <cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite>, to whom -the Fairy says (ii. 1. 40):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,</p> -<p class="verse">You do their work, and they shall have good luck."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The children had their stories to tell, like their elders; -and Shakespeare has pictured a home scene in <cite>The -Winter's Tale</cite> (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?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse2">"<em>Hermione.</em> What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, now</p> -<p class="verse">I am for you again; pray you, sit by us,</p> -<p class="verse">And tell 's a tale.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Mamillius.</em> <span class="pad2">Merry, or sad shall 't be?</span></p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Hermione.</em> As merry as you will.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Mamillius.</em> A sad tale 's best for winter. I have one</p> -<p class="verse">Of sprites and goblins.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Hermione.</em> <span class="pad4">Let's have that, good sir.</span></p> -<p class="verse">Come on, sit down; come on, and do your best</p> -<p class="verse">To fright me with your sprites; you're powerful at it.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Mamillius.</em> There was a man—</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Hermione.</em> <span class="pad6">Nay, come, sit down; then on.</span></p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Mamillius.</em> Dwelt by a churchyard:—I will tell it softly;</p> -<p class="verse">Yond crickets shall not hear it.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Hermione.</em> <span class="pad8">Come on, then,</span></p> -<p class="verse">And give 't me in mine ear."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">Just then his father, Leontes, comes in, and the tale is -interrupted, never to be resumed.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -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 pain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>ful -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.</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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....</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">" 'I have heard,</p> -<p class="verse">The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,</p> -<p class="verse">Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat</p> -<p class="verse">Awake the god of day; and at his warning,</p> -<p class="verse">Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,</p> -<p class="verse">The extravagant and erring spirit hies</p> -<p class="verse">To his confine.'</p> -</div></div> - -<p>"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....</p> - -<p>"William Shakespeare could also tell to his greedy -listeners, how in the old days of King Arthur</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseqq">" 'The elf-queene, with her jolly compagnie,</p> -<p class="verse">Danced full oft in many a grene mede.'</p> -</div></div> - -<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -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."</p> - - -<h3>CHRISTENINGS.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There is an allusion to this custom in <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> -(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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> -archbishop wants to escape making a present to the -child.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_081.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -ANCIENT FONT AT STRATFORD</div> -</div> - -<p>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 <em>latten</em>, 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."</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> -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 <cite>Henry V.</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>The "bearing-cloth" was the mantle which covered -the child when it was carried to the font. In the -<cite>Winter's Tale</cite> (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<em>s.</em> 8<em>d.</em>], and the common sort, two, three, or -four, and six shillings apiece."</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Comedy of Errors</cite> (v. 1. 405) the Abbess, when -she finds that the twin brothers Antipholus are her -long-lost sons, says to the company present:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail</p> -<p class="verse">Of you, my sons; and till this present hour</p> -<p class="verse">My heavy burthen ne'er delivered.—</p> -<p class="verse">The duke, my husband, and my children both,</p> -<p class="verse">And you the calendars of their nativity,</p> -<p class="verse">Go to a gossip's feast, and go with me;</p> -<p class="verse">After so long grief, such nativity!"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">And the Duke replies, "With all my heart I'll gossip -at this feast."</p> - -<p>In the <cite>Bachelor's Banquet</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>A writer in 1666, alluding to this and the falling-off -in the custom of giving presents at christenings, says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Especially since gossips now</p> -<p class="verse">Eat more at christenings than bestow.</p> -<p class="verse">Formerly when they used to trowl</p> -<p class="verse">Gilt bowls of sack, they gave the bowl—</p> -<p class="verse">Two spoons at least; an use ill kept:</p> -<p class="verse">'T is well now if our own be left."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH BIRTH AND BAPTISM.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite> (ii. 1. -23), where Puck says that Oberon is angry with Titania</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Because that she as her attendant hath</p> -<p class="verse">A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king;</p> -<p class="verse">She never had so sweet a changeling."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>This "changeling boy" is alluded to several times -afterwards in the play.</p> - -<p>In the <cite>Winter's Tale</cite> (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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -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 <cite>Faerie Queene</cite> (i. 10. 65):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"For well I wote thou springst from ancient race</p> -<p class="verse">Of Saxon kinges, that have with mightie hand,</p> -<p class="verse">And many bloody battailes fought in face,</p> -<p class="verse">High reard their royall throne in Britans land,</p> -<p class="verse">And vanquisht them, unable to withstand:</p> -<p class="verse">From thence a Faery thee unweeting reft,</p> -<p class="verse">There as thou slepst in tender swadling band,</p> -<p class="verse">And her base Elfin brood there for thee left:</p> -<p class="verse">Such men do Chaungelings call, so chaung'd by Faeries theft.<br /><br /></p> -<p class="verse">Thence she thee brought into this Faery lond [land],</p> -<p class="verse">And in a heaped furrow did thee hyde;</p> -<p class="verse">Where thee a Ploughman all unweeting fond [found],</p> -<p class="verse">As he his toylesome teme that way did guyde,</p> -<p class="verse">And brought thee up in a ploughmans state to byde."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>1 Henry IV.</cite> (i. 1. 87), the King, contrasting the -gallant Hotspur with his own profligate son, exclaims:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">"O that it could be proved</p> -<p class="verse">That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd</p> -<p class="verse">In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,</p> -<p class="verse">And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!</p> -<p class="verse">Then would I have his Harry, and he mine."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>The belief in the "evil eye" was another superstition -prevalent in Shakespeare's day, as it had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Thomas Lupton, in his <cite>Book of Notable Things</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>Robert Heron, writing in 1793 of his travels in Scotland, -says: "Cattle are subject to be injured by what -is called an <em>evil eye</em>, 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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>In the <cite>Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (v. 5. 87) Pistol -says to Falstaff: "Vile worm, thou wast o'erlook'd -even in thy birth." In the <cite>Merchant of Venice</cite> (iii. 2. -15) Portia playfully refers to the same superstition in -talking with Bassanio:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"Beshrew your eyes,</p> -<p class="verse">They have o'erlook'd me and divided me;</p> -<p class="verse">One half of me is yours, the other half yours."</p> -</div></div> - - -<h3>CHARMS AND AMULETS.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Othello</cite> (i. 2. 62) Brabantio, the father of Desdemona, -suspects that the Moor has won his daughter's -love by charms. He says to Othello:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter?</p> -<p class="verse">Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In the preceding scene, talking with Roderigo, he -asks:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"Is there not charms</p> -<p class="verse">By which the property of youth and maidhood</p> -<p class="verse">May be abused? Have you not heard, Roderigo,</p> -<p class="verse">Of some such thing?"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">And Roderigo replies: "Yes, sir, I have indeed." -When Othello afterward tells how he had gained the -maiden's love, he says in conclusion:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd,</p> -<p class="verse">And I loved her that she did pity them.</p> -<p class="verse">This only is the witchcraft I have used."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In the <cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite> (i. 1. 27) Egeus -accuses Lysander of wooing Hermia by magic arts: -"This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child."</p> - -<p>In <cite>Much Ado About Nothing</cite> (iii. 2. 72) Benedick, -when his friends banter him for pretending to have -the toothache, replies: "Yet this is no charm for the -toothache."</p> - -<p>John Melton, in his <cite>Astrologaster</cite> (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."</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_088fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -PORCH, STRATFORD CHURCH</div> -</div> - -<p>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 <em>abracadabra</em> was much used in in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>cantations, -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:—</p> - -<p class="p1 center fs80 wsp2"> -<span style="margin-left: 0em;">A B R A C A D A B R A</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: .2em;">A B R A C A D A B R</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: .4em;">A B R A C A D A B</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: .6em;">A B R A C A D A</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: .8em;">A B R A C A D</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A B R A C A</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1.2em;">A B R A C</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1.4em;">A B R A</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1.6em;">A B R</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1.8em;">A B</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>A manuscript in the British Museum contains this -note: "Mr. Banester saith that he healed 200 in one -year of an ague by hanging <em>abracadabra</em> about their -necks."</p> - -<p>Thomas Lodge, in his <cite>Incarnate Divels</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -"piece betwixt two knots" being hung about the patient's -neck.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>Wearing a bay-leaf was a charm against lightning. -Robert Greene, <cite>Penelope's Web</cite> (1601), says: "He which -weareth the bay leaf is privileged from the prejudice of -thunder." In Webster's <cite>White Devil</cite> (1612) Cornelia -says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"Reach the bays:</p> -<p class="verse">I'll tie a garland here about his head;</p> -<p class="verse">'T will keep my boy from lightning."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Burton, in his <cite>Anatomy of Melancholy</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>Reginald Scot, in his <cite>Discoverie of Witchcraft</cite>, 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:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Thy loaf in my hand,</p> -<p class="verse2">And thy penny in my purse,</p> -<p class="verse">Thou art never the better,</p> -<p class="verse2">And I—am never the worse."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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 <cite>Demonology</cite>, -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3 class="h3x">FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A <em>reredos</em> was a kind of open hearth or brazier. <em>Pose</em>, just -below, means a cold in the head, and <em>quack</em> a hoarseness or croaking -caused by a cold in the throat.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> In the original each of these lines is divided into two, thus:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse">"First in the mornynge</p> -<p class="verse2">when thou dost awake</p> -<p class="verse">To God for his grace</p> -<p class="verse2">thy peticion then make;" etc.</p> -</div></div> - -<p>To save space, I arrange the lines as Dr. Furnivall does.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The spelling <em>handkercher</em>, common in these old books, and in -the early editions of Shakespeare, indicates the pronunciation of -the time. In <cite>As You Like It</cite>, <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite>, <cite>Hamlet</cite>, -<cite>Othello</cite>, and other plays, <em>napkin</em> is equivalent to <em>handkerchief</em>. -This, indeed, is the only meaning of the word in Shakespeare, as -often in other writers of the period.</p></div></div> - - - <div class="chapter"></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> -<p class="p6" /> - -<h2 class="fs100"><a name="Part_III" id="Part_III"></a><a href="#CONTENTS"><span class="smcap">Part III.</span></a><br /> -AT SCHOOL</h2> -<p class="p6" /> - - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_095.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -INNER COURT, GRAMMAR SCHOOL</div> -</div> - - -<h3 class="h3x">THE STRATFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL</h3> - -<p>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 cer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>tain -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.</p> - -<p>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" -(<cite>Twelfth Night</cite>, iii. 2. 80). In 1595 the holding of school -in church or chapel was forbidden by statute.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_097.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -THE SCHOOL-ROOM AS IT WAS</div> -</div> - -<p>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 con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>juring -doctor had the position, like Pinch in the <cite>Comedy -of Errors</cite> (v. 1. 237), whom Antipholus of Ephesus describes -thus:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">"Along with them</p> -<p class="verse">They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-fac'd villain,</p> -<p class="verse">A mere anatomy, a mountebank,</p> -<p class="verse">A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller,</p> -<p class="verse">A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,</p> -<p class="verse">A living dead man. This pernicious slave,</p> -<p class="verse">Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -<p class="verse">And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse,</p> -<p class="verse">And with no face, as 't were, out-facing me.</p> -<p class="verse">Cries out, I was possess'd."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -need not suppose that Holofernes is the exact counterpart -of Master Hunt, but the latter was probably, like -the former, a thorough scholar.</p> - - -<h3>WHAT SHAKESPEARE LEARNT AT SCHOOL.</h3> - -<p>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 <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite> -(v. 1. 49):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Yes, yes; he teaches boys the horn-book.</p> -<p class="verse">What is a, b, spelt backward with the horn on its head?"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -a horn-book as twopence; but Shakespeare's probably -cost only half as much.</p> - -<p>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 <em>ab</em>, <em>eb</em>, <em>ib</em> sort, and a copy of the Lord's -Prayer. The matter varied somewhat from time to -time.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_100.jpg" width="300" height="455" - alt="The alphabet and the Lord's Prayer" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> - -<p>The alphabet was prefaced by a cross, whence it -came to be called the Christ Cross row,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> corrupted -into "criss-cross-row" or contracted into "cross-row"; -as in <cite>Richard III.</cite> (i. 1. 55), where Clarence says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"He harkens after prophecies and dreams,</p> -<p class="verse">And from the cross-row plucks the letter G,</p> -<p class="verse">And says a wizard told him that by G</p> -<p class="verse">His issue disinherited should be."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Shenstone alludes to the horn-book in <cite>The School-mistress</cite>:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Their books of stature small they take in hand,</p> -<p class="verse">Which with pellucid horn secured are</p> -<p class="verse">To save from fingers wet the letters fair."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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 <cite>King John</cite>, i. 1. 196:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">"Now your traveller—</p> -<p class="verse">He and his toothpick at my worship's mess,</p> -<p class="verse">And when my knightly stomach is sufficed,</p> -<p class="verse">Why, then I suck my teeth and catechise</p> -<p class="verse">My picked man of countries: 'My dear sir,'—</p> -<p class="verse">Thus, leaning on my elbow, I begin,—</p> -<p class="verse">'I shall beseech you'—that is question now;</p> -<p class="verse">And then comes answer like an Absey book."</p> -</div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> -<p>"Absey" is one of many old spellings for "A-B-C"—<em>abece</em>, -<em>apece</em>, <em>apecy</em>, <em>apsie</em>, <em>absee</em>, <em>abcee</em>, <em>abeesee</em>, etc.</p> - -<p>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, <a href="#Page_42">page 42</a> 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.</p> - -<p>The child, as he passes -that grand mansion, little -dreams that, some twenty-five -years later, he will -buy it for his own residence.</p> - -<div class="figleft"> -<img src="images/i_102.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -DESK SAID TO BE SHAKESPEARE'S</div> -</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> - -<p>His first lessons in Latin were probably from two -well-known books of the time, the <cite>Accidence</cite> and the -<cite lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sententiæ Pueriles</cite>. The examination of Master Page -by the Welsh parson and schoolmaster, Sir Hugh -Evans, in <cite>The Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (iv. 1) is taken -almost verbally from the <cite>Accidence</cite>. Mrs. Page, accompanied -by her son and the illiterate Dame Quickly, -meets Sir Hugh in the street, and this dialogue ensues:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>"<em>Mrs. Page.</em> How now, Sir Hugh! no school to-day?</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> No; master Slender is get the boys leave to -play.</p> - -<p><em>Quickly.</em> Blessing of his heart!</p> - -<p><em>Mrs. Page.</em> 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.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> Come hither, William; hold up your head; come.</p> - -<p><em>Mrs. Page.</em> Come on, sirrah; hold up your head; answer -your master, be not afraid.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> William, how many numbers is in nouns?</p> - -<p><em>William.</em> Two.</p> - -<p><em>Quickly.</em> Truly, I thought there had been one number -more, because they say, 'od's nouns.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> Peace your tattlings!—What is <em>fair</em>, William?</p> - -<p><em>William.</em> <em>Pulcher.</em></p> - -<p><em>Quickly.</em> Pole-cats! there are fairer things than pole-cats, -sure.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> You are a very simplicity 'oman; I pray you -peace.—What is <em>lapis</em>, William?</p> - -<p><em>William.</em> A stone.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> And what is a stone, William?</p> - -<p><em>William.</em> A pebble.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> No, it is <em>lapis</em>: I pray you remember in your -prain.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> - -<p><em>William.</em> <em>Lapis.</em></p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> That is a good William. What is he, William, -that does lend articles?</p> - -<p><em>William.</em> Articles are borrowed of the pronoun; and -be thus declined, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Singulariter</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">nominativo</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">hic</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">hæc</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">hoc</i>.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Nominativo</i>, <em>hig</em>, <em>hag</em>, <em>hog</em>;—pray you, mark: -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">genitivo, hujus</i>. Well, what is your accusative case?</p> - -<p><em>William.</em> <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Accusativo</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">hinc</i>.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> I pray you, have your remembrance, child; <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">accusativo</i>, -<em>hung</em>, <em>hang</em>, <em>hog</em>.</p> - -<p><em>Quickly.</em> Hang-hog is Latin for bacon, I warrant you.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> Leave your prabbles, 'oman.—What is the focative -case, William?</p> - -<p><em>William.</em> O!—<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">vocativo</i>, O!</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> Remember, William; focative is <em>caret</em>.</p> - -<p><em>Quickly.</em> And that's a good root.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> 'Oman, forbear.</p> - -<p><em>Mrs. Page.</em> Peace!</p> - -<p> * <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span> - <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span></p> - -<p><em>Quickly.</em> 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!</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> '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.</p> - -<p><em>Mrs. Page.</em> Prithee, hold thy peace.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> Show me now, William, some declensions of -your pronouns.</p> - -<p><em>William.</em> Forsooth, I have forgot.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> It is <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">qui</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">quæ</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">quod</i>; if you forget your <em>quis</em>, -your <em>quæs</em>, and your <em>quods</em>, you must be preeches. Go -your ways, and play; go.</p> - -<p><em>Mrs. Page.</em> He is a better scholar than I thought he was.</p> - -<p><em>Evans.</em> He is a good sprag memory. Farewell, mistress -Page.</p> - -<p><em>Mrs. Page.</em> Adieu, good Sir Hugh."</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> - -<p>The <cite lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sententiæ Pueriles</cite> was a collection of brief sentences -from many authors, including moral and religious -passages intended for the use of the boys on -Saints' days.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>The Taming of the -Shrew</cite> (i. 1. 167) a passage from Terence is quoted in -the modified form in which it appears in this grammar.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>In <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite> (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 <cite>Harper's Magazine</cite> for May, 1893), but -Baptista Mantuanus, or Giovanni Battista Spagnuoli -(or Spagnoli), who got the name Mantuanus from his -birthplace.</p> - -<p>He died in 1516, less than fifty years before Shakespeare -was born, and was the author of sundry <cite>Eclogues</cite>, -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.</p> - -<p>A little earlier in the same scene the old pedant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -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 <cite lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sententiæ Pueriles</cite> -or similar Elizabethan phrase-books.</p> - - -<h3>THE NEGLECT OF ENGLISH.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Elementarie</cite>, published in 1582, he has the following -plea for the study of English:—</p> - -<p>"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 <em>reading</em> -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 bene<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>ficial -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?</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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:</p> - -<p>"1. <em>General rule</em>, which concerneth the property and -use of each letter.</p> - -<p>"2. <em>Proportion</em>, which reduceth all words of one -sound to the same writing.</p> - -<p>"3. <em>Composition</em>, which teacheth how to write one -word made of more.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> - -<p>"4. <em>Derivation</em>, which examineth the offspring of -every original.</p> - -<p>"5. <em>Distinction</em>, which bewrayeth the difference of -sound and force in letters by some written figure or -accent.</p> - -<p>"6. <em>Enfranchisement</em>, which directeth the right writing -of all incorporate foreign words.</p> - -<p>"7. <em>Prerogative</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> - -<p>Thirty years later, in 1612, another teacher followed -Mulcaster in advocating the study of English. This -was John Brinsley, who, in <cite>The Grammar Schoole</cite>, writes -thus:—</p> - -<p>"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:</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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....</p> - -<p>"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."</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>SCHOOL LIFE IN SHAKESPEARE'S DAY.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -at nine;" that is, apparently, to make the -morning session full five hours.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>Of the age at which boys went to school the same -writer says: "For the time of their entrance with us,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>Seven, as we have seen, was the earliest age at which -boys could be admitted to the Stratford School.</p> - - -<h3>SCHOOL MORALS.</h3> - -<p>Schoolboys in that olden time appear to have been -much like those nowadays. They sometimes played -truant. Jack Falstaff, in the <cite>First Part of Henry IV.</cite> -(ii. 4. 450) asks: "Shall the blessed sun of heaven -prove a micher and eat blackberries?" <em>Micher</em>, <em>meacher</em>, -or <em>moocher</em> is now obsolete, though the practice it -suggests is not; but a contemporary dictionary of <cite>Provincial -Words and Phrases</cite> gives this definition of the -word: "<em>Moocher</em>—a truant; a blackberry moucher. -A boy who plays truant to pick blackberries."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_112fp.jpg" width="500" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -WALK ON THE BANKS OF THE AVON</div> -</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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 <cite>As -You Like It</cite> (ii. 7. 145) we have the familiar picture of</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse">... "the whining schoolboy, with his satchel</p> -<p class="verse">And shining morning face, creeping like snail</p> -<p class="verse">Unwillingly to school;"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">and in <cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite> (ii. 1. 156) the significant -similes:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books,</p> -<p class="verse">But love from love, toward school with heavy looks."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Gremio, in <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite> (iii. 2. 149), -when asked if he has come from the church, replies: -"As willingly as e'er I came from school."</p> - - -<h3>SCHOOL DISCIPLINE.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> - -<p>Thomas Tusser tells of his youthful experiences at -Eton in verses that have been often quoted:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"From Paul's I went, to Eton sent,</p> -<p class="verse">To learn straightways the Latin phrase,</p> -<p class="verse">When fifty-three stripes given to me</p> -<p class="verse7">At once I had:</p> -<p class="verse">For fault but small or none at all</p> -<p class="verse">It came to pass, thus beat I was.</p> -<p class="verse">See, Udall, see the mercy of thee</p> -<p class="verse7">To me, poor lad!"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">Nicholas Udall was the master of Eton at the time.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"'Their tender bodies both night and day</p> -<p class="verse">Are whipped and scourged, and beat like a stone,</p> -<p class="verse">That from top to toe the skin is away;'</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Roger Ascham, in his <cite>Scholemaster</cite>, advocated gentler -discipline than was usual in the schools of his day. -His book, indeed, owed its origin to his interest in this -matter.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>Ascham accordingly wrote <cite>The Scholemaster</cite>, which -was published in 1570 (two years after his death) by -his widow, with a dedication to Sir William Cecil.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>WHEN WILLIAM LEFT SCHOOL.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3 class="h3x">FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> 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.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> 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."</p></div></div> - - - <div class="chapter"></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> -<p class="p6" /> - -<h2 class="fs100"><a name="Part_IV" id="Part_IV"></a><a href="#CONTENTS"><span class="smcap">Part IV.</span></a><br /> -GAMES AND SPORTS</h2> -<p class="p6" /> - - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_121.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<h3 class="h3x">BOYISH GAMES</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Many of the children's games to which he refers are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> -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:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">"What devil was 't</p> -<p class="verse">That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>loggats</em> or <em>loggets</em>—small logs, or sticks of wood -much like "Indian clubs"—at a stake, the player -coming nearest to it being the winner.</p> - -<p>In a poem of 1611 we find loggats in a list of games -with sundry others that are still in vogue:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"To wrastle, play at stooleball, or to runne,</p> -<p class="verse">To pich the Barre, or to shoote off a Gunne,</p> -<p class="verse">To play at Loggets, Nine-holes, or Ten-pinnes;</p> -<p class="verse">To try it out at Foot-ball by the shinnes."</p> -</div></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_122fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -HIDE-AND-SEEK</div> -</div> - -<p>Stool-ball, commonly played by girls and women, sometimes -in company with boys or men, is to this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> -day a village pastime in some parts of England. It is -essentially a lighter kind of cricket, but is more ancient -than that game.</p> - -<p>Pitching the bar was an athletic exercise still common -in Scotland. Scott alludes to it in <cite>The Lady of -the Lake</cite>, iv. 559:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow,</p> -<p class="verse">I'll pitch thee from the cliff as far</p> -<p class="verse">As ever peasant pitch'd a bar!"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>And again, in the account of the sports at Stirling -Castle, v. 647:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Their arms the brawny yeomen bare</p> -<p class="verse">To hurl the massive bar in air."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Poly-Olbion</cite>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> - -<p>The term <em>base</em>, 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."</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Arcadia</cite>:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Then couples three be straight allotted there;</p> -<p class="verse2">They of both ends the middle two do fly;</p> -<p class="verse">The two that in mid-space, Hell called, were</p> -<p class="verse2">Must strive, with waiting foot and watching eye,</p> -<p class="verse">To catch of them, and them to Hell to bear,</p> -<p class="verse2">That they, as well as they, may Hell supply."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Barley-break is often alluded to by the dramatists and -lyrists of Shakespeare's day, and complete poems were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -written upon it by Suckling, Herrick, and others. -Shakespeare does not mention it, though he has several -references to prisoners' base; as in <cite>Cymbeline</cite> -(v. 3. 20):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">"lads more like to run</p> -<p class="verse">The country base than to commit such slaughter."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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 <cite>Venus and Adonis</cite>, -303, in the spirited description of the horse, which, -like many other passages, shows Shakespeare's interest -in the animal:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Sometimes he scuds far off, and there he stares;</p> -<p class="verse2">Anon he starts at stirring of a feather;</p> -<p class="verse">To bid the wind a base he now prepares,</p> -<p class="verse2">And whether he run or fly they know not whether,</p> -<p class="verse">For through his mane and tail the high wind sings,</p> -<p class="verse">Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wings."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In the <cite>Two Gentlemen of Verona</cite> (i. 2. 97), Lucetta -says to Julia, with a pun upon the phrase: "Indeed, I -bid the base for Proteus."</p> - -<p>Drayton, in the <cite>Poly-Olbion</cite>, 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 <cite>Shepherd's Calendar</cite> (October) refers to -it among rustic pastimes: "In rymes, in ridles, and in -bydding base."</p> - -<p>Foot-ball is mentioned by Shakespeare in the <cite>Comedy -of Errors</cite> (ii. 1. 82), where Dromio of Ephesus says to -his mistress Adriana, who has been chiding him:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Am I so round with you as you with me,</p> -<p class="verse">That like a foot-ball you do spurn me thus?</p> -<p class="verse">You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither;</p> -<p class="verse">If I last in this service, you must case me in leather."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>Lear</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The sport was, however, a rough one then as now. -Alexander Barclay, who died in 1552, in one of his -<cite>Eclogues</cite>, tells how</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"The sturdie plowman, lustie, strong, and bold,</p> -<p class="verse">Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball,</p> -<p class="verse">Forgetting labour and many a grievous fall."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">Edmund Waller, in the next century, writes:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"As when a sort [company] of lusty shepherds try</p> -<p class="verse">Their force at foot-ball; care of victory</p> -<p class="verse">Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast,</p> -<p class="verse">That their encounter seems too rough for jest."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>King James I., in his <cite>Basilicon</cite>—a set of rules for the -nurture and conduct of Henry, Prince of Wales, the -heir-apparent to the throne—says:—</p> - -<p>"Certainly bodily exercises and games are very commendable, -as well for banishing of idleness, the mother<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>Burton, in his <cite>Anatomy of Melancholy</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>In Chaucer's <cite>Canterbury Tales</cite> (16936) we read:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Ther gan our hoste for to jape and play,</p> -<p class="verse">And sayde, 'sires, what? Dun is in the myre;'"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Bishop Butler, more than three hundred years later, -writes: "they mean to leave reformation, like Dun in -the mire."</p> - -<p>Gifford, in his notes on Ben Jonson's <cite>Masque of -Christmas</cite>, tells us (in 1816) that he himself had "often -played at this game." He describes it substantially as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Antony and Cleopatra</cite> (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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Authority melts from me; of late, when I cried 'Ho!'</p> -<p class="verse">Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth</p> -<p class="verse">And cry 'Your will?'"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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 <cite>The Magnetic Lady</cite> -(iv. 1), says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"The moneys rattle not, nor are they thrown</p> -<p class="verse">To make a muss yet 'mong the gamesome suitors";</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In the same author's <cite>Bartholomew Fair</cite> (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!"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> - -<p>Dryden, in the prologue to <cite>Widow Ranter</cite>, says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Bauble and cap no sooner are thrown down</p> -<p class="verse">But there's a muss of more than half the town."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>This is the origin of the modern colloquial or slang -use of <em>muss</em>.</p> - -<p>"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 <cite>Lear</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>In the <cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite> (ii. 2. 98) Titania, -lamenting the results of the quarrel with Oberon, -says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud,</p> -<p class="verse">And the quaint mazes in the wanton green</p> -<p class="verse">For lack of tread are undistinguishable."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> - -<p>A woodcut of 1520 represents two monkeys engaged -at it. It was sometimes called "nine men's merrils," -from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">merelles</i>, the old French -name for the "men," or counters, -with which it was played.</p> - -<div class="figleft"> -<img src="images/i_130.jpg" width="200" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -"MORRIS" BOARD</div> -</div> - -<p>The "quaint mazes" in Titania's -speech, according to the -best English critics, refer to a -game known as "running the -figure of eight."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Mulcaster, the head-master of Merchant-Taylors -School in London (see <a href="#Page_106">page 106</a> 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.</p> - - -<h3>SWIMMING AND FISHING.</h3> - -<p>The spirited description of Ferdinand swimming -(<cite>The Tempest</cite>, ii. 1. 113–121) could have been written -only by one well skilled in the art:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"I saw him beat the surges under him,</p> -<p class="verse">And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,</p> -<p class="verse">Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted</p> -<p class="verse">The surge most swoln that met him; his bold head</p> -<p class="verse">'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd</p> -<p class="verse">Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke</p> -<p class="verse">To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd,</p> -<p class="verse">As stooping to relieve him. I not doubt</p> -<p class="verse">He came alive to land."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>There are many other allusions to swimming in the -plays which indicate the writer's personal acquaintance -with the exercise; as in <cite>Macbeth</cite>, i. 2. 8:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"As two spent swimmers that do cling together</p> -<p class="verse">And choke their art."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>The swimming match between Cæsar and Cassius -(<cite>Julius Cæsar</cite>, i. 2. 100) is described with sympathetic -vigor. Cassius says to Brutus:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">"We can both</p> -<p class="verse">Endure the winter's cold as well as he.</p> -<p class="verse">For once, upon a raw and gusty day,</p> -<p class="verse">The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,</p> -<p class="verse">Cæsar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now</p> -<p class="verse">Leap in with me into this angry flood,</p> -<p class="verse">And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,</p> -<p class="verse">Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,</p> -<p class="verse">And bade him follow; so, indeed, he did.</p> -<p class="verse">The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it</p> -<p class="verse">With lusty sinews, throwing it aside</p> -<p class="verse">And stemming it with hearts of controversy.</p> -<p class="verse">But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,</p> -<p class="verse">Cæsar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'</p> -<p class="verse">I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> -<p class="verse">Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder</p> -<p class="verse">The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber</p> -<p class="verse">Did I the tired Cæsar."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Of course William often went a-fishing in the Avon, -and understood, as Ursula says in <cite>Much Ado About -Nothing</cite> (iii. 1. 26), that</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish</p> -<p class="verse">Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,</p> -<p class="verse">And greedily devour the treacherous bait."</p> -</div></div> - - -<h3>BEAR-BAITING.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_132fp.jpg" width="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -FISHING IN THE AVON</div> -</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_133.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -THE BEAR GARDEN, LONDON</div> -</div> - -<p>The clergy were as fond of these amusements as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>It is on record that at a certain place in Cheshire, -"the town bear having died, the corporation in -1601 gave orders to <em>sell their Bible</em> 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.</p> - -<p>There are many allusions to bear-baiting in Shakespeare. -In <cite>Twelfth Night</cite> (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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Have you not set mine honour at the stake,</p> -<p class="verse">And baited it with all the unmuzzled thoughts</p> -<p class="verse">That tyrannous heart can think?"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>2 Henry VI.</cite> (v. 1. 148) we find a similar figure -where York says to Clifford:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,</p> -<p class="verse">That with the very shaking of their chains</p> -<p class="verse">They may astonish these fell-lurking curs:</p> -<p class="verse">Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>The amusing dialogue between Slender and Anne -Page, in the <cite>Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (i. 1. 307), may -be added:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>"<em>Slender.</em> Why do your dogs bark so? be there bears i' -the town?</p> - -<p><em>Anne.</em> I think there are, sir, I heard them talked of.</p> - -<p><em>Slender.</em> 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?</p> - -<p><em>Anne.</em> Ay, indeed, sir.</p> - -<p><em>Slender.</em> 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."</p></div> - -<p><em>Sackerson</em> 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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Publius, a student of the common law,</p> -<p class="verse">To Paris-garden doth himself withdraw,</p> -<p class="verse">Leaving old Ployden, Dyer, and Broke alone,</p> -<p class="verse">To see old Harry Hunkes and Sacarson;"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">that is, neglecting Ployden and other writers on law -for the sports at the bear-garden.</p> - -<p>For the bear to get loose was a serious matter. We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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."</p> - - -<h3>COCK-FIGHTING AND COCK-THROWING.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The good lady who founded the Nottingham grammar -school in 1513 was content with restricting the -sport to "twice a year."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Shakespeare has only two or three allusions to cock-fighting -in his works. Antony says of Octavius (<cite>Antony -and Cleopatra</cite>, ii. 3. 36):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"His cocks do win the battle still of mine,</p> -<p class="verse">When it is all to nought; and his quails ever</p> -<p class="verse">Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Dr. Johnson, in a note on the passage, says: "The -ancients used to match quails as we match cocks." -The birds were <em>inhooped</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>Hamlet, when at the point of death, exclaims:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">"O, I die, Horatio;</p> -<p class="verse">The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit!"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">He means that the poison triumphs over him, as a victorious -cock over his beaten antagonist.</p> - -<p>In the <cite>Taming of the Shrew</cite> (ii. 1. 228), Katharina -says to Petruchio, "You crow too like a craven." -This word <em>craven</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>Another popular diversion, especially among the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Shakespeare makes no reference to this vulgar prejudice -against the cock. On the contrary, in a very -beautiful passage in <cite>Hamlet</cite> (i. 1. 158), he associates -the bird with the joy and hope of Christmas:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes</p> -<p class="verse">Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,</p> -<p class="verse">The bird of dawning singeth all night long;</p> -<p class="verse">And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad,</p> -<p class="verse">The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,</p> -<p class="verse">No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,</p> -<p class="verse">So hallow'd and so gracious is the time."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> - -<h3>OTHER CRUEL SPORTS.</h3> - -<p>When the Chief Justice says to Falstaff (<cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> -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 <em>filliping</em> the toad. A <em>three-man -beetle</em> 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.</p> - -<p>Falstaff alludes to another piece of boyish cruelty to -animals in <cite>The Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> -the brutality of children of larger growth in their sports -and amusements.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Lear</cite> (iv. 1. 38) Gloster says bitterly:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods,</p> -<p class="verse">They kill us for their sport."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">"Mine enemy's dog,</p> -<p class="verse">Though he had bit me, should have stood that night</p> -<p class="verse">Against my fire!"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>The poet did not forget that even an insect may -suffer pain. In <cite>Measure for Measure</cite> (iii. 1. 79) Isabella -says to her brother:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">"Darest thou die?</p> -<p class="verse">The sense of death is most in apprehension;</p> -<p class="verse">And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,</p> -<p class="verse">In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great</p> -<p class="verse">As when a giant dies."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>As You Like It</cite> (ii 1. 21) the banished Duke in -the Forest of Arden laments the necessity of killing -deer for food:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse2">"<em>Duke S.</em> Come, shall we go and kill us venison?</p> -<p class="verse">And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools,</p> -<p class="verse">Being native burghers of this desert city,</p> -<p class="verse">Should in their own confines with forked heads</p> -<p class="verse">Have their round haunches gor'd.</p> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> -<p class="verse2"><em>1 Lord.</em> <span class="pad10">Indeed, my lord,</span></p> -<p class="verse">The melancholy Jaques grieves at that,</p> -<p class="verse">And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp</p> -<p class="verse">Than doth your brother that hath banish'd you.</p> -<p class="verse">To-day my lord of Amiens and myself</p> -<p class="verse">Did steal behind him as he lay along</p> -<p class="verse">Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out</p> -<p class="verse">Upon the brook that brawls along this wood:</p> -<p class="verse">To the which place a poor sequester'd stag,</p> -<p class="verse">That from the hunters' aim had ta'en a hurt,</p> -<p class="verse">Did come to languish; and, indeed, my lord,</p> -<p class="verse">The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans,</p> -<p class="verse">That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat</p> -<p class="verse">Almost to bursting, and the big round tears</p> -<p class="verse">Cours'd one another down his innocent nose</p> -<p class="verse">In piteous chase: and thus the hairy fool,</p> -<p class="verse">Much marked of the melancholy Jaques,</p> -<p class="verse">Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook,</p> -<p class="verse">Augmenting it with tears."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p><em>Rosalind.</em> Alas!</p> - -<p><em>Touchstone.</em> But what is the sport, monsieur, that the -ladies have lost?</p> - -<p><em>Le Beau.</em> Why, this that I speak of.</p> - -<p><em>Touchstone.</em> Thus men may grow wiser every day! It is -the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport -for ladies.</p> - -<p><em>Celia.</em> Or I, I promise thee."</p> -</div> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>ARCHERY.</h3> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>In 1545 Roger Ascham published his <cite>Toxophilus, or -the Schole of Shooting</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>There are many allusions to archery in Shakespeare's -works, only one or two of which can be mentioned here. -In <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>To "clap in the clout" was to hit the <em>clout</em>, or the -white mark in the centre of the target. "Twelve score" -means twelve score or two hundred and forty <em>yards</em>; -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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Much Ado About Nothing</cite> (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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -he posted a challenge, inviting Cupid to compete with -him in shooting with the <em>flight</em>, 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 <em>bird-bolt</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Loves Labour's Lost</cite> (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."</p> - - -<h3>HUNTING</h3> - -<p>Professor Baynes, in his article on Shakespeare in -the <cite>Encyclopædia Britannica</cite>, 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."</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -mouth of Theseus in the <cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite> -(iv. 1. 108):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse2">"<em>Theseus.</em> Go, one of you, find out the forester;</p> -<p class="verse">For now our observation is perform'd:</p> -<p class="verse">And since we have the vaward of the day,</p> -<p class="verse">My love shall hear the music of my hounds.</p> -<p class="verse">Uncouple in the western valley; let them go!—</p> -<p class="verse">Despatch, I say, and find the forester.—</p> -<p class="verse">We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,</p> -<p class="verse">And mark the musical confusion</p> -<p class="verse">Of hounds and echo in conjunction.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Hippolyta.</em> I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,</p> -<p class="verse">When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear</p> -<p class="verse">With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear</p> -<p class="verse">Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,</p> -<p class="verse">The skies, the fountains, every region near</p> -<p class="verse">Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard</p> -<p class="verse">So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Theseus.</em> My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,</p> -<p class="verse">So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung</p> -<p class="verse">With ears that sweep away the morning dew;</p> -<p class="verse">Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;</p> -<p class="verse">Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells</p> -<p class="verse">Each under each. A cry more tuneable</p> -<p class="verse">Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,</p> -<p class="verse">In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:</p> -<p class="verse">Judge when you hear."</p> -</div></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_146fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -GARDEN AT NEW PLACE</div> -</div> - -<p>The talk of the hunters about the dogs in <cite>The Taming -of the Shrew</cite> (ind. 1. 16) is in the same vein:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse2">"<em>Lord.</em> Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds—</p> -<p class="verse">Brach Merriman, the poor cur, is emboss'd—</p> -<p class="verse">And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach.</p> -<p class="verse">Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good</p> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> -<p class="verse">At the hedge corner, in the coldest fault?</p> -<p class="verse">I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>1 Hunter.</em> Why, Bellman is as good as he, my lord;</p> -<p class="verse">He cried upon it at the merest loss,</p> -<p class="verse">And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent:</p> -<p class="verse">Trust me, I take him for the better dog.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Lord.</em> Thou art a fool: if Echo were as fleet,</p> -<p class="verse">I would esteem him worth a dozen such.</p> -<p class="verse">But sup them well, and look unto them all;</p> -<p class="verse">To-morrow I intend to hunt again."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In the <cite>Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (i. 1. 96) Page defends -his greyhound against the criticisms of Slender, -and Shallow takes his part:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>"<em>Slender.</em> How does your fallow greyhound, sir? I -heard say, he was outrun on Cotsall.</p> - -<p><em>Page.</em> It could not be judged, sir.</p> - -<p><em>Slender.</em> You'll not confess, you'll not confess.</p> - -<p><em>Shallow.</em> That he will not.—'T is your fault, 't is your -fault: 't is a good dog.</p> - -<p><em>Page.</em> A cur, sir.</p> - -<p><em>Shallow.</em> Sir, he 's a good dog, and a fair dog; can there -be more said? he is good and fair."</p></div> - -<p><em>Cotsall</em> (or <em>Cotswold</em>) 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.</p> - -<p>The description of the horse in <cite>Venus and Adonis</cite> -(259), a youthful work of Shakespeare's, is famous:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"But, lo, from forth a copse that neighbours by,</p> -<p class="verse">A breeding jennet, lusty, young, and proud,</p> -<p class="verse">Adonis' trampling courser doth espy,</p> -<p class="verse">And forth she rushes, snorts, and neighs aloud;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> -<p class="verse2">The strong-neck'd steed, being tied unto a tree,</p> -<p class="verse2">Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he.</p> -<div class="stanza"> -<p class="verse">Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds,</p> -<p class="verse">And now his woven girths he breaks asunder;</p> -<p class="verse">The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds,</p> -<p class="verse">Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven's thunder;</p> -<p class="verse2">The iron bit he crushes 'tween his teeth,</p> -<p class="verse2">Controlling what he was controlled with.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verse">His ears up-prick'd; his braided hanging mane</p> -<p class="verse">Upon his compass'd crest now stand on end;</p> -<p class="verse">His nostrils drink the air, and forth again,</p> -<p class="verse">As from a furnace, vapours doth he send;</p> -<p class="verse2">His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire,</p> -<p class="verse2">Shows his hot courage and his high desire.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verse">Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps,</p> -<p class="verse">With gentle majesty and modest pride;</p> -<p class="verse">Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps,</p> -<p class="verse">As who should say, 'Lo! thus my strength is tried;</p> -<p class="verse2">And this I do to captivate the eye</p> -<p class="verse2">Of the fair breeder that is standing by.'</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verse">What recketh he his rider's angry stir,</p> -<p class="verse">His flattering 'Holla', or his 'Stand, I say'?</p> -<p class="verse">What cares he now for curb or pricking spur,</p> -<p class="verse">For rich caparisons, or trapping gay?</p> -<p class="verse2">He sees his love, and nothing else he sees,</p> -<p class="verse2">Nor nothing else with his proud sight agrees.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verse">Look, when a painter would surpass the life,</p> -<p class="verse">In limning out a well-proportion'd steed,</p> -<p class="verse">His art with nature's workmanship at strife,</p> -<p class="verse">As if the dead the living should exceed;</p> -<p class="verse2">So did this horse excel a common one,</p> -<p class="verse2">In shape, in courage, colour, pace, and bone.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verse">Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long,</p> -<p class="verse">Broad breast, full eye, small head, and nostril wide,</p> -<p class="verse">High crest, short ears, straight legs, and passing strong,</p> -<p class="verse">Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide:</p> -<p class="verse2">Look, what a horse should have he did not lack,</p> -<p class="verse2">Save a proud rider on so proud a back.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verse">Sometime he scuds far off, and there he stares;</p> -<p class="verse">Anon he starts at stirring of a feather;</p> -<p class="verse">To bid the wind a base he now prepares,</p> -<p class="verse">And whether he run or fly they know not whether;</p> -<p class="verse2">For thro' his mane and tail the high wind sings,</p> -<p class="verse2">Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wings."</p> -</div> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>Richard II.</cite> (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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse2">"<em>Groom.</em> I was a poor groom of thy stable, king,</p> -<p class="verse">When thou wert king; who, travelling towards York,</p> -<p class="verse">With much ado at length have gotten leave</p> -<p class="verse">To look upon my sometimes royal master's face.</p> -<p class="verse">O, how it yearn'd my heart, when I beheld,</p> -<p class="verse">In London streets, that coronation day,</p> -<p class="verse">When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary,</p> -<p class="verse">That horse that thou so often hast bestrid,</p> -<p class="verse">That horse that I so carefully have dress'd!</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>King Richard.</em> Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend,</p> -<p class="verse">How went he under him?</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Groom.</em> So proud as if he had disdain'd the ground.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>King Richard.</em> So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back!</p> -<p class="verse">That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand;</p> -<p class="verse">This hand hath made him proud with clapping him.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> -<p class="verse">Would he not stumble? Would he not fall down,—</p> -<p class="verse">Since pride must have a fall,—and break the neck</p> -<p class="verse">Of that proud man that did usurp his back?</p> -<p class="verse">Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee,</p> -<p class="verse">Since thou, created to be awed by man,</p> -<p class="verse">Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse;</p> -<p class="verse">And yet I bear a burden like an ass,</p> -<p class="verse">Spur-gall'd and tir'd by jauncing Bolingbroke."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>The description of hare-hunting in <cite>Venus and Adonis</cite> -(679) must also have been based on actual experience -in the sport:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare,</p> -<p class="verse">Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles</p> -<p class="verse">How he outruns the winds, and with what care</p> -<p class="verse">He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles:</p> -<p class="verse2">The many musits through the which he goes,</p> -<p class="verse2">Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.</p> -<div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseq">"Sometime he runs among a flock of sheep,</p> -<p class="verse">To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell,</p> -<p class="verse">And sometime where earth-delving conies keep,</p> -<p class="verse">To stop the loud pursuers in their yell,</p> -<p class="verse2">And sometime sorteth with a herd of deer;</p> -<p class="verse2">Danger deviseth shifts, wit waits on fear:</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseq">"For there his smell with others being mingled,</p> -<p class="verse">The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt,</p> -<p class="verse">Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled</p> -<p class="verse">With much ado the cold fault cleanly out;</p> -<p class="verse2">Then do they spend their mouths; Echo replies,</p> -<p class="verse2">As if another chase were in the skies.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseq">"By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill,</p> -<p class="verse">Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear,</p> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> -<p class="verse">To hearken if his foes pursue him still:</p> -<p class="verse">Anon their loud alarums he doth hear;</p> -<p class="verse2">And now his grief may be compared well</p> -<p class="verse2">To one sore sick that hears the passing-bell.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseq">"Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch</p> -<p class="verse">Turn, and return, indenting with the way;</p> -<p class="verse">Each envious brier his weary legs doth scratch,</p> -<p class="verse">Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay:</p> -<p class="verse2">For misery is trodden on by many</p> -<p class="verse2">And being low never reliev'd by any."</p> -</div> -</div></div> - -<p>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."</p> - - -<h3>FOWLING.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>As You Like It</cite> (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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> -wit." And in <cite>Much Ado About Nothing</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>stalking-horse</em> 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."</p> - -<p>In the <cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite> (iii, 2. 20) Puck, describing -the fright of the clowns when Bottom makes his -appearance with the ass's head on his shoulders, says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Anon his Thisbe must be answered,</p> -<p class="verse">And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,</p> -<p class="verse">As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,</p> -<p class="verse">Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,</p> -<p class="verse">Rising and cawing at the gun's report,</p> -<p class="verse">Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,</p> -<p class="verse">So at his sight away his fellows fly."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>1 Henry IV.</cite> (iv. 2. 21) Falstaff says that his recruits -are "such as fear the report of a caliver [mus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>ket] -worse than a struck fowl or a hurt wild-duck." -And in <cite>Much Ado</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>The Tempest</cite> (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 <cite>Hunger's -Prevention, or the Whole Arte of Fowling</cite>, 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.</p> - - -<h3>HAWKING.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The practice of hawking declined with the improve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>ment -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 <cite>Itinerary</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p>Shakespeare knew all the different kinds of hawks. -He refers several times to the <em>haggard</em>, or wild hawk. -In <cite>Much Ado</cite> (iii. 1. 36) Hero says of Beatrice:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"I know her spirits are as coy and wild</p> -<p class="verse">As haggards of the rock."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite> (iv. 1. 196) Petruchio -employs the same figure with reference to Katharina:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Another way I have to man my haggard,</p> -<p class="verse">To make her come and know her keeper's call";</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">where <em>man</em> means to tame. Again in the same play -(iv. 2. 39) the shrew is called "this proud disdainful -haggard."</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_155.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -ELIZABETH HAWKING</div> -</div> - -<p>The nestling or unfledged hawk was called an <em>eyas</em>; -and in <cite>Hamlet</cite> (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 <cite>Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (iii. 3. 22), Mrs. Ford -addresses Robin, the page of Falstaff thus: "How now,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> -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 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">musca</i>, a fly, and probably refers to the small -size of the bird. It is curious that, as applied to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -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 <em>falconet</em>.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite> (ii. 2. 160), when the lover has -left his lady and she would call him back, she says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Hist, Romeo, hist! O for a falconer's voice</p> -<p class="verse">To call this tassel-gentle back again!"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>The <em>tassel-gentle</em>, or <em>tercel-gentle</em>, was the male hawk. -Cotgrave, in his <cite>French Dictionary</cite> (edition of 1672) -defines <em>tiercelet</em> as "the Tassell or male of any kind of -Hawk, so termed because he is, commonly, a third part -less than the female." The <em>gentle</em> referred to the ease -with which the bird was trained.</p> - -<p>We find the word <em>tercel</em> in <cite>Troilus and Cressida</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>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 -<cite>Lancelot and Elaine</cite> originally wrote:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"No surer than our falcon yesterday,</p> -<p class="verse">Who lost the hern we slipt him at";</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">but he afterwards changed "him" to "her."</p> - -<p>The hawk was "hooded," that is, had a hood put -over its head, until it was <em>slipped</em>, or let fly at the -game; and to this we have several allusions in Shakespeare.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> - -<p>In <cite>Henry V.</cite> (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 <em>bate</em>, or <em>bait</em>, was to -flutter the wings, as the bird did when unhooded. In -this passage there is a pun on <em>bate</em> in this sense and -as meaning to abate or diminish.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Othello</cite> (iii. 3. 260), when the Moor has been told -by Iago that Desdemona may be false, he says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">"If I do prove her haggard,</p> -<p class="verse">Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings,</p> -<p class="verse">I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind,</p> -<p class="verse">To prey at fortune."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Here we have several hawking terms in a single sentence. -<em>Haggard</em>, already mentioned, is used as an adjective, -meaning wild or lawless. The <em>jesses</em> were straps -of leather or silk attached to the foot of the hawk, by -which the falconer held her. The bird was <em>whistled off</em> -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 <em>let down the wind</em>, -and from that time shifted for herself and <em>preyed at -fortune</em>, or at random.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Lucrece</cite>, 511:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells</p> -<p class="verse">With trembling fear, as fowl hear falcon's bells."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> - -<p>Touchstone also refers to the bells in <cite>As You Like -It</cite> (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 <cite>3 Henry VI.</cite> i. 1. 47, where Warwick, boasting of -his power, says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Neither the king, nor he that loves him best,</p> -<p class="verse">The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,</p> -<p class="verse">Dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In England <em>mews</em> 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 <em>mew</em>, when it moulted or changed its -feathers. When hawks were moulting they were shut -up in a cage or coop, which was called a <em>mew</em>. The -royal stables in London got the name of <em>mews</em> 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 <em>mews</em>, being thus used for the royal stables, gradually -came to be applied to other buildings of the kind.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_159.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -BOY WITH HAWK AND HOUNDS</div> -</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> -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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Merry Margaret,</p> -<p class="verse2">As midsummer flower;</p> -<p class="verse">Gentle as falcon,</p> -<p class="verse2">Or hawk of the tower."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,</p> -<p class="verse">Some in their wealth, some in their bodies' force,</p> -<p class="verse">Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill,</p> -<p class="verse">Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse.</p> -<p> * <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span> - <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span></p> -<p class="verse">Thy love is better than high birth to me,</p> -<p class="verse">Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost,</p> -<p class="verse">Of more delight than hawks or horses be,</p> -<p class="verse">And, having thee, of all men's pride I boast."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">And in <cite>Much Ado</cite> (iii. 4. 54) when Beatrice sighs, -Margaret asks: "For a hawk, a horse, or a husband?"</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS.</h3> - -<p>When the players came to town I suspect that no -Stratford boy was more delighted than William. John<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_160fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -ITINERANT PLAYERS IN A COUNTRY HALL</div> -</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>How much they had to do in awakening a passion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p class="p4" /> -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_163.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -WILLIAM KEMP DANCING THE MORRIS</div> -</div> - - - <div class="chapter"></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> -<p class="p6" /> - -<h2 class="fs100"><a name="Part_V" id="Part_V"></a><a href="#CONTENTS"><span class="smcap">Part V.</span></a><br /> -HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, FAIRS, ETC</h2> -<p class="p6" /> - - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_167.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -THE BOUNDARY ELM</div> -</div> - - -<h3 class="h3x">SAINT GEORGE'S DAY.</h3> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -understood that the 23d of April, as dates were then -reckoned in England, corresponded to our 3d of May.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>"The ancient ballad of Saint George and the Dragon -(printed in the Percy <cite>Reliques</cite>) 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>"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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<p>"How great would be the preparations! Old arms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>"On <em>the</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> -scarlet robes, their chains of office, and the newly-gilded -maces borne before them.</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"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.</p> - -<p>"And all the time they were passing, the bells would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> -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!'</p> - -<p>"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.'"</p> - - -<h3>EASTER.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>"Surely," as Mr. Charles Knight remarks, "there -was something exquisitely beautiful in the old custom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> -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 <em>not</em> dance on Easter-day.' -But one of the most glorious images of one of his early -plays [<cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite>] has given life and movement -to the sun:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseqq">" 'Night's candles are burnt out, and <em>jocund</em> Day</p> -<p class="verse">Stands <em>tiptoe</em> on the misty mountain's tops.'</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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?"</p> - -<p>Sir John Suckling, in his <cite>Ballad upon a Wedding</cite>, -alludes prettily to this old superstition in the description -of the bride:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"But O she dances such a way!</p> -<p class="verse">No sun upon an Easter day</p> -<p class="verse2">Is half so fine a sight."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Perhaps Shakespeare had this bit of folk-lore in -mind when he wrote these lines in <cite>Coriolanus</cite> (v. -4. 52):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fifes,</p> -<p class="verse">Tabors and cymbals and the shouting Romans,</p> -<p class="verse">Make the sun dance."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> - -<p>Easter was a favorite time for games of ball and -many of the athletic sports described in the preceding -pages.</p> - - -<h3>THE PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> -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</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse">" 'That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.'"</p> -</div></div> - - -<h3>MAY-DAY AND THE MORRIS-DANCE.</h3> - -<p>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 <cite>Anatomie of Abuses</cite> (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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> -their assemblies withal.... But their chiefest jewel -they bring from thence is their <em>May pole</em>, 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."</p> - -<p>Milton, though a Puritan, writes in a different vein -in his <cite>Song on May Morning</cite>:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Now the bright morning-star, day's harbinger,</p> -<p class="verse">Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her</p> -<p class="verse">The flowery May, who from her green lap throws</p> -<p class="verse">The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.</p> -<p class="verse2">Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire</p> -<p class="verse2">Mirth and youth and warm desire!</p> -<p class="verse2">Woods and groves are of thy dressing,</p> -<p class="verse2">Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.</p> -<p class="verse">Thus we salute thee with our early song,</p> -<p class="verse">And welcome thee, and wish thee long."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Kings and queens did not disdain to join in these -rural sports. Henry VIII. and Queen Katherine en<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>joyed -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 -<cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite> (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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"No doubt they rose up early to observe</p> -<p class="verse">The rite of May, and, hearing our intent,</p> -<p class="verse">Came here in grace of our solemnity."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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 <cite>The State of -Eton School</cite>, 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."</p> - -<p>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 -<cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite> (iii. 2. 296), Hermia sneers -at the taller Helena as a "painted May-pole."</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_178fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -MORRIS-DANCE</div> -</div> - -<p>In <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> (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:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Pray, sir, be patient: 't is as much impossible—</p> -<p class="verse">Unless we sweep 'em from the door with cannons—</p> -<p class="verse">To scatter 'em, as 't is to make 'em sleep</p> -<p class="verse">On May-day morning; which will never be."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Of course the day was a holiday in the Stratford -school, and we may be sure that William made the -most of it.</p> - -<p>An important feature in the May-day games in -Shakespeare's time was the <em>Morris-Dance</em>, 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</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Tuck the merry friar which many a sermon made</p> -<p class="verse">In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws and their trade;"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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.</p> - -<p>The forms and number of the characters varied -much with time and place. Sometimes only one or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> -two of those just mentioned were introduced in the -dance, and sometimes others were added.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Love's Labour's -Lost</cite> (iii. 1. 30): "The hobby-horse is forgot;" -and <cite>Hamlet</cite> (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 <cite>Love's Labour's -Lost</cite>) appears to be a quotation from some popular -song of the time. So in Beaumont and Fletcher's -<cite>Women Pleased</cite> (iv. 1.) we find: "Shall the hobby-horse -be forgot then?" and in Ben Jonson's <cite>Entertainment -at Althorp</cite>: "But see, the hobby-horse is forgot."</p> - -<p>Friar Tuck is alluded to by Shakespeare in <cite>The Two -Gentlemen of Verona</cite> (iv. 1. 36), where one of the Outlaws -who have seized Valentine exclaims:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar,</p> -<p class="verse">This fellow were a king for our wild faction!"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">That he kept his place in the morris-dance in the reign -of Elizabeth is evident from Warner's <cite>Albion's England</cite>, -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 <cite>Masque of -the Gipsies</cite>, written about 1620, the Clown notes his ab<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>sence -from the dance: "There is no Maid Marian nor -Friar amongst them."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>1 Henry IV.</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>The connection of the morris-dance with May-day is -alluded to in <cite>All's Well that Ends Well</cite> (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.</p> - -<p>Mr. Knight gives us this fancy picture of the May-day -games as they probably were in Shakespeare's -boyhood:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>"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:—</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseqq">" 'Hark, hark! I hear the dancing,</p> -<p class="verse">And a nimble morris prancing;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> -<p class="verse">The bagpipe and the morris bells</p> -<p class="verse">That they are not far hence us tells.'</p> -</div></div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="noindent">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</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse6">" 'with garlands gay</p> -<p class="verse">Was made the Lady of the May.'</p> -</div></div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="noindent">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 -<cite>Summer's Last Will and Testament</cite> is rung out:—</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseqq">" 'Trip and go, heave and ho,</p> -<p class="verse">Up and down, to and fro,</p> -<p class="verse">From the town to the grove,</p> -<p class="verse">Two and two, let us rove,</p> -<p class="verse">A-Maying, a-playing;</p> -<p class="verse">Love hath no gainsaying,</p> -<p class="verse">So merrily trip and go.'</p> -</div></div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>"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:—</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">" 'So have I seen</p> -<p class="verse">Tom Piper stand upon our village-green,</p> -<p class="verse">Backed with the May-pole, whilst a jocund crew</p> -<p class="verse">In gentle motion circularly threw</p> -<p class="verse">Themselves around him.'</p> -</div></div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="noindent">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</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">" 'the Lady of the May</p> -<p class="verse">Set in an arbor (on a holiday)</p> -<p class="verse">Built by the May-pole, where the jocund swains</p> -<p class="verse">Dance with the maidens to the bagpipe's strains,</p> -<p class="verse">When envious night commands them to be gone.' "</p> -</div></div> - -<p>These latter quotations are from William Browne's -<cite>Britannia's Pastorals</cite> (book ii. published in 1616), and -the poet goes on to tell how the Lady</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Calls for the merry youngsters one by one,</p> -<p class="verse">And, for their well performance, soon disposes</p> -<p class="verse">To this a garland interwove with roses;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> -<p class="verse">To that a carved hook or well-wrought scrip;</p> -<p class="verse">Gracing another with her cherry lip;</p> -<p class="verse">To one her garter; to another then</p> -<p class="verse">A handkerchief cast o'er and o'er again:</p> -<p class="verse">And none returneth empty that hath spent</p> -<p class="verse">His pains to fill their rural merriment."</p> -</div></div> - - -<h3>WHITSUNTIDE.</h3> - -<p>Whitsuntide, the season of Pentecost, or the week -following Whitsunday (the seventh Sunday after Easter), -was another period of festivity in old English times.</p> - -<p>The morris-dance was commonly one of its features, -as of the May-day sports. In <cite>Henry V.</cite> (ii. 4. 25) the -Dauphin alludes to it:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse6">" 'I say 't is meet we all go forth</p> -<p class="verse">To view the sick and feeble parts of France;</p> -<p class="verse">And let us do it with no show of fear,</p> -<p class="verse">No, with no more than if we heard that England</p> -<p class="verse">Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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 <em>bridal</em>, as we now -call it—always a festive occasion; and a "church-ale" -was connected with some ecclesiastical holiday.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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 -<cite>Survey of Cornwall</cite> (1602), says: "The neighboring -parishes at these times lovingly visit one another, and -this way frankly spend their money together."</p> - -<p>Whitsuntide was also a favorite time for theatrical -performances. Long before Shakespeare's day the -miracle-plays and moralities had been popular at this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> -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 <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite> (iv. 4. 134):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"Come, take your flowers:</p> -<p class="verse">Methinks I play as I have seen them do</p> -<p class="verse">In Whitsun pastorals;"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">and such as the disguised Julia describes in <cite>The Two -Gentlemen of Verona</cite> (iv. 4. 163):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse14">"At Pentecost,</p> -<p class="verse">When all our pageants of delight were play'd,</p> -<p class="verse">Our youth got me to play the woman's part,</p> -<p class="verse">And I was trimm'd in Madam Julia's gown,</p> -<p class="verse">Which served me as fit, by all men's judgments,</p> -<p class="verse">As if the garment had been made for me;</p> -<p class="verse">Therefore, I know she is about my height.</p> -<p class="verse">And at that time I made her weep a-good,</p> -<p class="verse">For I did play a lamentable part.</p> -<p class="verse">Madam, 't was Ariadne, passioning</p> -<p class="verse">For Theseus' perjury and unjust flight,</p> -<p class="verse">Which I so lively acted with my tears</p> -<p class="verse">That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,</p> -<p class="verse">Wept bitterly; and would I might be dead</p> -<p class="verse">If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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.</p> - - -<h3>MIDSUMMER EVE.</h3> - -<p>The Vigil of Saint John the Baptist, or the evening -before the day (June 24) dedicated to that Saint, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>In the <cite>Ordinary of the Company of Cooks</cite> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> -the town for the time being to have the same bone-fires."</p> - -<p>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<em>s.</em>"</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>We find many allusions to fern-seed in Elizabethan -writers. In <cite>1 Henry IV.</cite> (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 <cite>New Inn</cite> (i. 1) one of -the characters says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">"I had</p> -<p class="verse">No medicine, sir, to go invisible,</p> -<p class="verse">No fern-seed in my pocket."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> - -<p class="noindent">In <cite>Plaine Percevall</cite>, 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."</p> - -<p>Scot, in his <cite>Discoverie of Witchcraft</cite> (1584), directs us, -as protection against witches, to "hang boughs (hallowed -on Midsummer Day) at the stall door where the -cattle stand."</p> - -<p>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 -<cite>Notable Things</cite> (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!</p> - -<p>Midsummer Eve was also thought to be a season -productive of madness. In <cite>Twelfth Night</cite> (iii. 4. 61) -Olivia says of Malvolio's eccentric behavior, "Why, this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -is very midsummer madness." Steevens, the Shakespearian -critic, believed that the <cite>Midsummer-Night's -Dream</cite> 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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"As mad as a March hare; when madness compares,</p> -<p class="verse">Are not Midsummer hares as mad as March hares?"</p> -</div></div> - -<p>It is not improbable, however, that the <cite>Midsummer-Night's -Dream</cite> 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.</p> - - -<h3>CHRISTMAS.</h3> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_190fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -CLOPTON HOUSE ON CHRISTMAS EVE</div> -</div> - -<p>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. War<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>wickshire -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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseqq">" 'As Joseph was a-walking</p> -<p class="verse2">He heard an angel sing,</p> -<p class="verse">This night shall be born</p> -<p class="verse2">Our heavenly King.</p> -<div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseqq">" 'He neither shall be born</p> -<p class="verse2">In housen nor in hall,</p> -<p class="verse">Nor in the place of Paradise,</p> -<p class="verse2">But in an ox's stall.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseqq">" 'He neither shall be clothed</p> -<p class="verse2">In purple nor in pall,</p> -<p class="verse">But all in fair linen,</p> -<p class="verse2">As were babies all.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseqq">" 'He neither shall be rock'd</p> -<p class="verse2">In silver nor in gold,</p> -<p class="verse">But in a wooden cradle</p> -<p class="verse2">That rocks on the mould.'</p> -</div> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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 pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>served -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....</p> - -<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> -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.'"</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There are a few allusions to Christmas in the plays, -besides the beautiful one in <cite>Hamlet</cite> already quoted -(page 138) in another connection. In <cite>Love's Labour's -Lost</cite> (v. 2. 462) "a Christmas comedy" is alluded to; -and in <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite> (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."</p> - - -<h3>SHEEP-SHEARING.</h3> - -<p>Our English ancestors had other holidays than those -associated with the ecclesiastical year, but only one or -two of them can be mentioned here.</p> - -<p>The time of sheep-shearing was celebrated by a rural -feast such as Shakespeare has introduced in <cite>The Winter's -Tale</cite>. 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 <cite>The Fleece</cite> (1757), fixes -the proper time thus:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"If verdant elder spreads</p> -<p class="verse">Her silver flowers, if humble daisies yield</p> -<p class="verse">To yellow crowfoot and luxuriant grass,</p> -<p class="verse">Gay shearing-time approaches."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> - -<p class="noindent">Drayton, writing in Shakespeare's day (page 3 above), -describes a shearing-feast in the Vale of Evesham, not -far from Stratford:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse14">"The shepherd-king,</p> -<p class="verse">Whose flock hath chanced that year the earliest lamb to bring,</p> -<p class="verse">In his gay baldric sits at his low, grassy board,</p> -<p class="verse">With flawns, curds, clouted cream, and country dainties stored;</p> -<p class="verse">And whilst the bagpipe plays, each lusty jocund swain</p> -<p class="verse">Quaffs syllabubs in cans to all upon the plain;</p> -<p class="verse">And to their country girls, whose nosegays they do wear,</p> -<p class="verse">Some roundelays do sing, the rest the burden bear."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p>Mr. Knight remarks: "There is a minuteness of circumstance -amidst the exquisite poetry of this scene [in -<cite>The Winter's Tale</cite>] which shows that it must have been -founded upon actual observation, and in all likelihood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Thomas Tusser, in his <cite>Five Hundred Points of Husbandry</cite> -(1557), describing this festival, makes the shepherd -say:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Wife, make us a dinner, spare flesh neither corn,</p> -<p class="verse">Make wafers and cakes, for our sheep must be shorn;</p> -<p class="verse">At sheep-shearing, neighbors none other things crave</p> -<p class="verse">But good cheer and welcome like neighbors to have."</p> -</div></div> - - -<h3>HARVEST-HOME.</h3> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Matthew Stevenson, in the <cite>Twelve Months</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>Robert Herrick, in his <cite>Hesperides</cite> (1648), refers to -the harvest-home as follows:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Come, sons of summer, by whose toil</p> -<p class="verse">We are the lords of wine and oil,</p> -<p class="verse">By whose tough labor and rough hands</p> -<p class="verse">We rip up first, then reap our lands,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> -<p class="verse">Crown'd with the ears of corn, now come,</p> -<p class="verse">And to the pipe sing harvest-home.</p> -<p class="verse">Come forth, my lord, and see the cart,</p> -<p class="verse">Drest up with all the country art.</p> -<p class="verse">See here a mawkin, there a sheet</p> -<p class="verse">As spotless pure as it is sweet:</p> -<p class="verse">The horses, mares, and frisking fillies</p> -<p class="verse">Clad all in linen, white as lilies;</p> -<p class="verse">The harvest swains and wenches bound</p> -<p class="verse">For joy to see the hock-cart crown'd.</p> -<p class="verse">About the cart hear how the rout</p> -<p class="verse">Of rural younglings raise the shout;</p> -<p class="verse">Pressing before, some coming after,</p> -<p class="verse">Those with a shout, and these with laughter.</p> -<p class="verse">Some bless the cart, some kiss the sheaves,</p> -<p class="verse">Some prank them up with oaken leaves;</p> -<p class="verse">Some cross the fill-horse; some, with great</p> -<p class="verse">Devotion, stroke the home-borne wheat.</p> -<p class="verse"> * <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span> - <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span></p> -<p class="verse">Well, on, brave boys, to your lord's hearth,</p> -<p class="verse">Glittering with fire; where, for your mirth,</p> -<p class="verse">You shall see, first, the large and chief</p> -<p class="verse">Foundation of your feast, fat beef;</p> -<p class="verse">With upper stories, mutton, veal,</p> -<p class="verse">And bacon (which makes full the meal),</p> -<p class="verse">With several dishes standing by,</p> -<p class="verse">And here a custard, there a pie,</p> -<p class="verse">And here all-tempting frumenty."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Hocky is brought home with hallowing,</p> -<p class="verse">Boys with plum-cake the cart following."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> - -<p>The harvest-home is alluded to in <cite>1 Henry IV.</cite> (i. 3. -35), where Hotspur, describing the "popinjay" lord -who came to demand his prisoners, says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"and his chin new-reap'd</p> -<p class="verse">Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>The Merry Wives of Windsor</cite> (ii. 2. 287) Falstaff -says of Mistress Ford, to whom he intends to make -love, "and there's my harvest-home."</p> - -<p>In the interlude in <cite>The Tempest</cite> (iv. 1. 134) the dance -of the Reapers was apparently a reminiscence of -harvest-home sports. Iris says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,</p> -<p class="verse">Come hither from the furrow and be merry.</p> -<p class="verse">Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on,</p> -<p class="verse">And these fresh nymphs encounter every one</p> -<p class="verse">In country footing."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"When lofty trees I see barren of leaves</p> -<p class="verse">Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,</p> -<p class="verse"><em>And summer's green all girded up in sheaves</em></p> -<p class="verse"><em>Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard</em>," etc.</p> -</div></div> - - -<h3>MARKETS AND FAIRS.</h3> - -<p>In a quiet country town like Stratford the weekly -market was an occasion of some interest to the boys as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p>We find a number of allusions to these markets in -Shakespeare's plays. In <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite> (v. 2. -318) Biron, ridiculing Boyet, says of him:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"He is art's pedler, and retails his wares</p> -<p class="verse">At wakes and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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."</p> - -<p>In <cite>As You Like It</cite> (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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Richard III.</cite> (i. 1. 160) Gloster, after saying that -he means to "marry Warwick's youngest daughter," -adds:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"But yet I run before my horse to market:</p> -<p class="verse">Clarence still breathes, Edward still lives and reigns;</p> -<p class="verse">When they are gone, then must I count my gains."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_200fp.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -THE FAIR</div> -</div> - -<p>In <cite>1 Henry VI.</cite> (iii. 2) Joan of Arc gets into Rouen -with her soldiers in the guise of countrymen bound -for market:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>"<em>Enter</em> La Pucelle, <em>disguised, and</em> Soldiers <em>dressed like -countrymen, with sacks upon their backs</em>.</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse2"><em>Pucelle.</em> These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen,</p> -<p class="verse">Through which our policy must make a breach.</p> -<p class="verse">Take heed, be wary how you place your words;</p> -<p class="verse">Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men,</p> -<p class="verse">That come to gather money for their corn.</p> -<p class="verse">If we have entrance—as I hope we shall—</p> -<p class="verse">And that we find the slothful watch but weak,</p> -<p class="verse">I'll by a sign give notice to our friends</p> -<p class="verse">That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>1 Soldier.</em> Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city,</p> -<p class="verse">And we be lords and rulers over Rouen;</p> -<p class="verse">Therefore we'll knock. <span class="pad10">[<em>Knocks.</em></span></p> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> -<p class="verse2"><em>Guard.</em> [<em>Within.</em>] <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Qui est la?</i></p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Pucelle.</em> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Paisans, pauvres gens de France</i>:</p> -<p class="verse">Poor market-folks, that come to sell their corn.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Guard.</em> [<em>Opening the gates.</em>] Enter, go in; the market-bell</p> -<p class="verse">is rung.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Pucelle.</em> Now, Rouen, I'll shake thy bulwarks to the</p> -<p class="verse">ground."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>The "market-bell" was rung at the hour when the -market was to begin.</p> - -<p>In the same play (v. 5. 54), when a dower is proposed -for Margaret, who is to marry Henry, Suffolk -says:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"A dower, my lords! disgrace not so your king,</p> -<p class="verse">That he should be so abject, base, and poor,</p> -<p class="verse">To choose for wealth, and not for perfect love.</p> -<p class="verse">Henry is able to enrich his queen,</p> -<p class="verse">And not to seek a queen to make him rich:</p> -<p class="verse">So worthless peasants bargain for their wives,</p> -<p class="verse">As market-men for oxen, sheep, or horse."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>2 Henry VI.</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>There are many other allusions to markets, market-men, -market-maids, etc., in the plays, but these will -suffice for illustration here.</p> - -<p>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 but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>ter, -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> -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 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">cantabanqui</i> 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 <cite>The Tale of Sir -Topas</cite>, <cite>Bevis of Southampton</cite>, <cite>Guy of Warwick</cite>, <cite>Adam -Bell and Clymme of the Clough</cite>, 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....</p> - -<p>"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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"'Near the dying of the day</p> -<p class="verse">There will be a cudgel-play,</p> -<p class="verse">Where a coxcomb will be broke</p> -<p class="verse">Ere a good word can be spoke:</p> -<p class="verse">But the anger ends all here,</p> -<p class="verse">Drench'd in ale, or drown'd in beer.'</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> - -<p class="noindent">Morning comes, and Stratford hears only the quiet -steps of its native population."</p> - -<p>There are many allusions, literal and figurative, to -these fairs in Shakespeare's plays, a few of which may -be cited here as specimens.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite>, besides the one quoted -above (page 199), we find the following simile in Biron's -eulogy of Rosaline (iv. 3. 235):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Of all complexions the cull'd soverignty</p> -<p class="verse">Do meet, as at a fair, in her fair cheek."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In the same play (v. 2. 2), the Princess says to her -ladies, referring to the presents they have received:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Sweet hearts, we shall be rich ere we depart</p> -<p class="verse">If fairings come thus plentifully in."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">It was so common a practice to buy presents at fairs -that the word <em>fairing</em>, 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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>The Winters Tale</cite> (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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> -had been hallowed and brought a benediction to the -buyer."</p> - -<p>In <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> (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?"</p> - -<p>In <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> (v. 4. 73) the Chamberlain, seeing -the crowd gathered to get a sight of the royal procession, -exclaims:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Mercy o' me, what a multitude are here!</p> -<p class="verse">They grow still too; from all parts they are coming,</p> -<p class="verse">As if we kept a fair here."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>In <cite>Lear</cite> (iii. 6. 78) Edgar, in his random talk while -pretending to be insane, cries: "Come, march to -wakes and fairs and market-towns!"</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>Stubbes, in his <cite>Anatomy of Abuses</cite> (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."</p> - -<p>Herrick, in his <cite>Hesperides</cite> (page 196 above) took a -more cheerful view of such rural holidays:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Come, Anthea, let us two</p> -<p class="verse">Go to feast, as others do.</p> -<p class="verse">Tarts and custards, creams and cakes,</p> -<p class="verse">Are the junkets still at wakes;</p> -<p class="verse">Unto which the tribes resort,</p> -<p class="verse">Where the business is the sport.</p> -<p class="verse">Morris-dancers thou shalt see,</p> -<p class="verse">Marian too in pageantry;</p> -<p class="verse">And a mimic to devise</p> -<p class="verse">Many grinning properties.</p> -<p class="verse">Players there will be, and those</p> -<p class="verse">Base in action as in clothes;</p> -<p class="verse">Yet with strutting they will please</p> -<p class="verse">The incurious villages.</p> -<p class="verse"> * <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span> - <span class="pad3">*</span> <span class="pad3">*</span></p> -<p class="verse">Happy rustics, best content</p> -<p class="verse">With the cheapest merriment;</p> -<p class="verse">And possess no other fear</p> -<p class="verse">Than to want the wake next year;"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">that is, to miss or lack it.</p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> - -<h3>RURAL OUTINGS.</h3> - -<p>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."</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Volumes have been written on the plant-lore and -garden-craft of <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—Original text: 'Skakespeare; and'">Shakespeare; and</ins> 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.</p> - -<p>In <cite>Richard II.</cite> (iii. 4. 29–66) the Gardener and his -Servant draw lessons of political wisdom from the -details of their occupation:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse2">"<em>Gardener.</em> Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks,</p> -<p class="verse">Which, like unruly children, make their sire</p> -<p class="verse">Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight;</p> -<p class="verse">Give some supportance to the bending twigs.</p> -<p class="verse">Go thou, and like an executioner</p> -<p class="verse">Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays,</p> -<p class="verse">That look too lofty in our commonwealth;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> -<p class="verse">All must be even in our government.</p> -<p class="verse">You thus employ'd, I will go root away</p> -<p class="verse">The noisome weeds, that without profit suck</p> -<p class="verse">The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Servant.</em> Why should we, in the compass of a pale,</p> -<p class="verse">Keep law, and form, and due proportion,</p> -<p class="verse">Showing, as in a model, our firm estate,</p> -<p class="verse">When our sea-walled garden, the whole land,</p> -<p class="verse">Is full of weeds; her fairest flowers chok'd up,</p> -<p class="verse">Her fruit-trees all unprun'd, her hedges ruin'd,</p> -<p class="verse">Her knots disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs</p> -<p class="verse">Swarming with caterpillars?</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Gardener.</em> <span class="pad6">Hold thy peace!</span></p> -<p class="verse">He that hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring</p> -<p class="verse">Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf.</p> -<p class="verse">The weeds that his broad-spreading leaves did shelter,</p> -<p class="verse">That seem'd in eating him to hold him up,</p> -<p class="verse">Are pluck'd up, root and all, by Bolingbroke;</p> -<p class="verse">I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Servant.</em> What, are they dead?</p> -<p class="verse2"><em>Gardener.</em> They are; and Bolingbroke</p> -<p class="verse">Hath seiz'd the wasteful king.—O, what pity is it,</p> -<p class="verse">That he hath not so trimm'd and dress'd his land</p> -<p class="verse">As we this garden! We at time of year</p> -<p class="verse">Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees,</p> -<p class="verse">Lest, being over-proud with sap and blood,</p> -<p class="verse">With too much riches it confound itself:</p> -<p class="verse">Had he done so to great and growing men,</p> -<p class="verse">They might have liv'd to bear, and he to taste</p> -<p class="verse">Their fruits of duty. All superfluous branches</p> -<p class="verse">We lop away, that bearing boughs may live:</p> -<p class="verse">Had he done so, himself had borne the crown,</p> -<p class="verse">Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>Mr. Ellacombe, commenting upon this dialogue, remarks: -"This most interesting passage would almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <cite>Richard II.</cite>, 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.</p> - - - <div class="chapter"></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> -<p class="p6" /> - -<h2><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">NOTES</a></h2> -<p class="p6" /> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> -<p class="p6" /> - -<div class="fs80"> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>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 <em>prose</em>.</p> - -<p>The numbers appended to names of authors (as in the note on <a href="#Page_22">page 22</a>, for example) -are the dates of their birth and death. An interrogation-mark after a -date (as in the note on <a href="#Page_114">page 114</a>) indicates that it is uncertain. I have not -thought it necessary to insert biographical notes concerning well-known authors, -like Spenser, Milton, etc.</p></div> -</div> - -<p class="p6" /> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> - -<p class="pfs180">NOTES</p> -<p class="p4" /> - -<div class="fs90"> - -<div class="figleft"> -<img src="images/i_213.jpg" width="200" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><b>Page 3.</b>—<em>Michael Drayton.</em> He was -born in Warwickshire in 1563. Of his -personal history very little is known. His -most famous work, the <cite>Poly-Olbion</cite> (or -<cite>Polyolbion</cite>, 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 <cite>Ballad of Agincourt</cite> (see -<cite>Tales from English History</cite>, 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 4.</b>—<em>Her Bear.</em> The badge of -the Earls of Warwick.</p> - -<p><em>Wilmcote.</em> A small village about three -miles from Stratford-on-Avon. The name -is also written <em>Wilmecote</em>, and <em>Wilnecote</em>; -and in old documents, <em>Wilmcott</em>, <em>Wincott</em>, etc. It is probably the -<em>Wincot</em> of <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite> (ind. 2. 23) and the <em>Woncot</em> -of <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> (v. 1. 42).</p> - -<p><em>Dugdale.</em> Sir William Dugdale (1605–1686), one of the most -learned of English antiquaries. His <cite>Antiquities of Warwickshire</cite> -(1656) is said to have been the result of twenty years' laborious research.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 7.</b>—<em>Beauchamp.</em> Pronounced <em>Beech'-am</em>.</p> - -<p><em>The herse of brass hoops.</em> The word <em>herse</em> (the same as <em>hearse</em>) -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 <cite>Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke</cite>:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Underneath this sable herse</p> -<p class="verse">Lies the subject of all verse," etc.</p> -</div></div> - -<p><em>The garter.</em> Showing that he was a Knight of the Garter.</p> - -<p><em>The noble Impe.</em> The word <em>imp</em> 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 10.</b>—<em>The famous "dun cow."</em> 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 -<cite>Sir Guy</cite>:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"On Dunsmore heath I also slew</p> -<p class="verse2">A monstrous wild and cruel beast,</p> -<p class="verse">Call'd the Dun-cow of Dunsmore heath,</p> -<p class="verse2">Which many people had opprest.</p> -<div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseq">"Some of her bones in Warwick yet</p> -<p class="verse2">Still for a monument do lie;</p> -<p class="verse">And there exposed to lookers' view</p> -<p class="verse2">As wondrous strange they may espy.</p> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<p class="verseq">"A dragon in Northumberland</p> -<p class="verse2">I also did in fight destroy,</p> -<p class="verse">Which did both man and beast oppress,</p> -<p class="verse2">And all the country sore annoy."</p> -</div> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> - -<p><b>Page 13.</b>—<em>Master Robert Laneham.</em> 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 <cite>Kenilworth</cite>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 14.</b>—<em>Theatres</em>, etc. The cut facing <a href="#Page_14">page 14</a> shows one -of the movable stages referred to by Dugdale; also two of "the -three tall spires" mentioned by Tennyson in the poem of <cite>Godiva</cite>. -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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 15.</b>—<em>The most beautiful in the kingdom.</em> 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 16.</b>—<em>The Cappers.</em> The makers of caps.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 17.</b>—<em>King Herod.</em> Longfellow, in his <cite>Golden Legend</cite>, -introduces a miracle-play, <cite>The Nativity</cite>, 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 18.</b>—<em>Other allusions to these old plays.</em> See, for instance, -<cite>Twelfth Night</cite>, iv. 2. 134, <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> iii. 2. 343, <cite>Richard -III.</cite> iii. 1. 82, <cite>Hamlet</cite>, iii. 4. 98, etc., and the notes in my edition.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 19.</b>—<em>The legend of Godiva.</em> See Tennyson's <cite>Godiva</cite>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 22.</b>—<em>Dr. Forman.</em> 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 -<cite>Macbeth</cite>, which he saw performed "at the Globe, 1610, the 20th -of April, Saturday." See my edition of <cite>Macbeth</cite>, p. 9.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 23.</b>—The head of Sir Thomas Lucy is from his monument -in Charlecote church.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 24.</b>—<em>A willow grows aslant a brook.</em> See <cite>Hamlet</cite>, iv. 7. -165. Some editions of Shakespeare follow the reading of the early -quartos, "ascaunt the brook," which means the same. This willow -(the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Salix alba</i>) 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 26.</b>—<em>The banished Duke in As You Like It, etc.</em> See -the play, ii. 1. 1–18.</p> - -<p><em>His maidens ever sing of "blue-veined violets," etc.</em> The "blue-vein'd -violets" are mentioned in <cite>Venus and Adonis</cite>, 125; the -"daisies pied" (variegated), and the "lady-smocks all silver-white," -in <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite>, v. 2. 904, 905; and the "pansies" -in <cite>Hamlet</cite>, iv. 5. 176.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 27.</b>—<em>A manor of the Bishop of Worcester.</em> Under the -feudal system, a <em>manor</em> was a landed estate, with a village or villages -upon it the inhabitants of which were generally <em>villeins</em>, or -serfs of the owner or lord. These <em>villeins</em> were either <em>regardant</em> or -<em>in gross</em>. 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 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">bordarii</i>, <em>bordars</em>, or <em>cottagers</em>, "seem to have been -distinguished from the <em>villeins</em> simply by their smaller holdings." -For the menial services rendered by the villeins, and their condition -generally, see the following pages.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 32.</b>—<em>A chantry.</em> 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. <cite>Henry V.</cite> iv. 1. 318:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">"I have built</p> -<p class="verse">Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests</p> -<p class="verse">Sing still for Richard's soul."</p> -</div></div> - - -<p><b>Page 40.</b>—<em>Present her at the leet, etc.</em> Complain of her for -using common stone jugs instead of the quart-pots duly sealed or -stamped as being of legal size.</p> - -<p><em>A substantial ducking-stool, etc.</em> The <em>ducking-stool</em> 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."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 41.</b>—<em>Butts.</em> Places for the practice of archery, the <em>butts</em> -being properly the targets.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 45.</b>—<em>Pinfold.</em> Shakespeare uses the word in <cite>The Two -Gentlemen of Verona</cite> (i. 1. 114): "I mean the pound—a pinfold"; -and in <cite>Lear</cite> (ii. 2. 9): "in Lipsbury pinfold." It was so called -because stray beasts were <em>pinned</em> or shut up in it.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 46.</b>—<em>One wagon tract.</em> That is, track. <em>Tract</em> in this -sense is obsolete.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 49.</b>—<em>In which William Shakespeare was probably born.</em> -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.</p> - -<p>The cut facing <a href="#Page_50">page 50</a>, like that facing <a href="#Page_56">page 56</a>, 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 <a href="#Page_49">page 49</a>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 51.</b>—<em>New Place.</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> -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 <cite>Life of Garrick</cite> (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."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 52.</b>—<em>William Harrison.</em> 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 <cite>Description -of Britaine and England</cite> 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 54.</b>—<em>Strewn with rushes.</em> There are many allusions to -this in Shakespeare. In <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite> (iv. 1. 48), when -Petruchio is coming home, Grumio asks: "Is supper ready, the -house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept?" Compare <cite>Romeo -and Juliet</cite>, i. 4. 36: "Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels" -(that is, in dancing); <cite>Cymbeline</cite>, ii. 2. 13:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"Our Tarquin thus</p> -<p class="verse">Did softly press the rushes," etc.</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> - -<p><b>Page 55.</b>—<em>Thomas Coryat</em>, 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 56.</b>—<em>Bullein.</em> William Bullein, or Bulleyn, born about -1500, was a learned physician and botanist. His <cite>Government of -Health</cite> was very popular in its day. He wrote several other books -of medicine. He died in 1576.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 57.</b>—<cite>His Anatomy of Melancholy.</cite> 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."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 60.</b>—<em>Francis Seager.</em> Of his personal history, as of that -of <em>Hugh Rhodes</em>, nothing of importance is known.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 61.</b>—<em>He is then to make low curtsy.</em> This form of obeisance -was used by both sexes in Shakespeare's day. Cf. <cite>2 Henry -IV.</cite> 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." <em>Curtsy</em> is a modern spelling -of the word in this sense.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 62.</b>—<em>Caraways.</em> The word occurs once in Shakespeare -(<cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 63.</b>—<em>Treatably.</em> Tractably, smoothly. Cf. Marston, -<cite>What You Will</cite>, ii. 1: "Not too fast; say [recite] treatably."</p> - -<p><em>Much forder.</em> We find <em>d</em> and <em>th</em> used interchangeably in many -words in old writers; as <em>fadom</em> and <em>fathom</em>, <em>murder</em> and <em>murther</em>, -etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 64.</b>—<em>To charge thee with than.</em> We find <em>than</em> for <em>then</em> in -Shakespeare, <cite>Lucrece</cite>, 1440:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"To Simois' reedy banks the red blood ran,</p> -<p class="verse">Whose waves to imitate the battle sought</p> -<p class="verse">With swelling ridges; and their ranks began</p> -<p class="verse">To break upon the galled shore, and than</p> -<p class="verse">Retire again," etc.</p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> - -<p>Here, it will be seen, the word rhymes with <em>ran</em> and <em>began</em>. On -the other hand, <em>than</em> in the early eds. of Shakespeare and other -writers of the time is generally <em>then</em>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 65.</b>—<em>Utterly detest.</em> That is, <em>detested</em>. The omission of -<em>ed</em> in the participles of verbs ending in <em>d</em> and <em>t</em> (or <em>te</em>) was formerly -not uncommon in prose as well as poetry. Cf. Bacon, <cite>Essay 16</cite>: -"Their means are less exhaust"; and <cite>Essay 38</cite>: "They have degenerate." -See also <cite>Richard III.</cite>, iii. 7. 179: "For first was he -contract to Lady Lucy," etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 66.</b>—<em>To enter children.</em> To begin their training. The -word is now obsolete in this sense of introducing to, or initiating -into, anything. Cf. Ben Jonson, <cite>Epicœne</cite>, iii. 1: "I am bold to -enter these gentlemen in your acquaintance"; Walton, <cite>Complete -Angler</cite>: "to enter you into the art of fishing," etc.</p> - -<p><em>Thorow.</em> <em>Thorough</em> and <em>through</em> were originally the same word, -and we find them and their derivatives used interchangeably in -Shakespeare and other old writers. Cf. <cite>A Midsummer-Night's -Dream</cite>, ii. 1. 3:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Over hill, over dale,</p> -<p class="verse2">Thorough bush, thorough brier,</p> -<p class="verse">Over park, over pale,</p> -<p class="verse2">Thorough flood, thorough fire."</p> -</div></div> - -<p>So we find <em>thoroughly</em> and <em>throughly</em> (<cite>Hamlet</cite>, iv. 5. 36, etc.), -<em>thoroughfares</em> and <em>throughfares</em> (<cite>Merchant of Venice</cite>, ii. 7. 42, etc.).</p> - - -<p><b>Page 67.</b>—<cite>The Ship of Fools.</cite> A translation (with original -modifications) of the <cite lang="de" xml:lang="de">Narrenschiff</cite> 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. <cite>The Ship of Fools</cite> was the first English -book in which any mention is made of the New World.</p> - -<p><em>Strutt.</em> 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 <cite>Sports and Pastimes of the -People of England</cite> appeared in 1801.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 69.</b>—<em>Taylor the Water Poet.</em> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 70.</b>—<em>Dr. John Jones.</em> A physician, who practised at -Bath and Buxton, England, and wrote a number of medical works -between 1556 and 1579.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 71.</b>—<em>No other clear allusion to the game, etc.</em> Some critics -have thought there may be a punning allusion to the <em>stale-mate</em> of -chess in <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite>, i. 1. 58: "To make a stale -of me among these mates"; but this is doubtful.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 73.</b>—<em>She was pinch'd.</em> The <em>she</em> is used in a demonstrative -sense, referring to one of the company (this maid), as <em>he</em> (that -man) is in the next line. The <em>Friar</em> 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."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 74.</b>—<em>The drudging goblin.</em> Robin Goodfellow, the Puck -of Shakespeare. Cf. <cite>A Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite>, ii, 1. 40:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"They that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,</p> -<p class="verse">You do their work, and they shall have good luck."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><em>To bed they creep.</em> Somewhat reluctantly and timidly after the -stories of fairies and goblins.</p> - -<p><em>Charles Knight.</em> An English publisher and author (1791–1873), -one of the leading editors and biographers of Shakespeare.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 75.</b>—<em>William Painter.</em> 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 <cite>The Palace of -Pleasure</cite>, 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 76.</b>—<em>Giletta of Narbonne.</em> The story dramatized by -Shakespeare in <cite>All's Well that Ends Well</cite>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 77.</b>—<em>The "Gesta Romanorum."</em> 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 <cite>Merchant of Venice</cite> are -found in it; and also the story of Theodosius and his daughters, -which is like that of <cite>Lear</cite>, though Shakespeare did not take the -plot of that tragedy directly from it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 78.</b>—<em>The trumpet to the morn.</em> The <em>trumpeter</em> that announces -the coming of day. <em>Trumpet</em> in this sense occurs several -times in Shakespeare; as in <cite>Henry V.</cite> iv. 2. 61: "I will the banner -from a trumpet take," etc.</p> - -<p><em>Extravagant and erring.</em> Both words are used in their etymological -sense of wandering. <em>Extravagant</em> is, literally, <em>wandering -beyond</em> (its proper <em>confine</em>, or limit).</p> - -<p><em>Arden.</em> There was a Forest of Arden in Warwickshire as well -as on the Continent in the northeastern part of France. Drayton, -in his <cite>Matilda</cite> (1594), speaks of "Sweet Arden's nightingales," etc.</p> - -<p><em>The ringlets of their dance.</em> The "fairy rings," so called, which -were supposed to be made by their dancing on the grass. In <cite>The -Tempest</cite> (v. 1. 37) Prospero refers to them thus, in his apostrophe -to the various classes of spirits over whom he has control:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">"You demi-puppets that</p> -<p class="verse">By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make</p> -<p class="verse">Whereof the ewe not bites."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">Dr. Grey, in his <cite>Notes on Shakespeare</cite>, 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 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">agaricum</i>, or -fungus, which enriches the ground by its decay.</p> - -<p><em>Who tasted the honey-bag of the bee, etc.</em> All these allusions to -the fairies are suggested by passages in <cite>A Midsummer-Night's -Dream</cite>. The <em>cankers</em> are canker-worms, as often in Shakespeare.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 79.</b>—<em>A laund.</em> An open space in a forest. See <cite>3 Henry -VI.</cite> iii. 1. 2: "For through this laund anon the deer will come," -etc. <em>Lawn</em> is a corruption of <em>laund</em>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 80.</b>—<em>Who had command over the spirits, etc.</em> Like -Prospero in <cite>The Tempest</cite>.</p> - -<p><em>Vervain and dill.</em> 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. <em>Vervain</em> 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."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 81.</b>—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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 82.</b>—<em>John Stow.</em> A noted English antiquarian and historian -(1525–1604). His <cite>Survey of London</cite> (1598) is the standard -authority on old London.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 83.</b>—<em>The calendars of their nativity.</em> 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."</p> - -<p><em>Caraways.</em> See on <a href="#Page_62">page 62</a> above. <em>Marmalet</em> is an obsolete form -of <em>marmalade</em>. <em>Marchpane</em> was a kind of almond-cake, much -esteemed in the time of Shakespeare. Compare <cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite>, -i. 5. 9: "Good thou, save me a piece of marchpane." <em>Sweet-suckers</em> -are dried sweetmeats or sugar-plums, also called <em>suckets</em>, -<em>succades</em>, etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 85.</b>—<em>Wote.</em> Know; more commonly written <em>wot</em>. It is -the first and third persons singular, indicative present, of the obsolete -verb <em>wit</em>. <em>Unweeting</em> (<em>unwitting</em>), unknowing or unconscious, -is from the same verb.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 86.</b>—<em>Thomas Lupton.</em> He wrote several books besides -his <cite>Thousand Notable Things</cite>, which was a collection of medical -recipes, stories, etc. Little is known of his personal history.</p> - -<p><em>Robert Heron.</em> He was a Scotchman (1764–1807), who wrote -books of travel, geography, history, etc.</p> - -<p><em>Warlocks.</em> Persons supposed to be in league with the devil; -sorcerers or wizards.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 87.</b>—<em>Beshrew.</em> Originally a mild imprecation of evil, -but often used playfully, as here. Compare the similar modern -use of <em>confound</em>, which originally meant ruin or destroy; as in -the <cite>Merchant of Venice</cite>, iii. 2. 271: "So keen and greedy to confound -a man," etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 88.</b>—<cite>Astrologaster.</cite> The full title was "The Astrologaster, -or the Figurecaster: Rather the Arraignment of Artless -Astrologers and Fortune Tellers."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 89.</b>—<em>In the following form.</em> 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -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."</p> - -<p><em>Thomas Lodge.</em> He was born about 1556, and died in 1625, -and wrote plays, novels, songs, translations, etc. His <cite>Rosalynde</cite> -(1590) furnished Shakespeare with the plot of <cite>As You Like It</cite>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 90.</b>—<em>Robert Greene</em> (1560–1592) was a popular dramatist, -novelist, and poet in his day. In his <cite>Groatsworth of Wit</cite> (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 <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite> from Greene's <cite>Pandosto</cite>, or <cite>Dorastus and -Fawnia</cite>, as it was subsequently entitled.</p> - -<p><em>Webster's White Devil.</em> John Webster, who wrote in the early -part of the 17th century, was a dramatist noted for his tragedies, -among which <cite>The White Devil</cite> (1612) is reckoned one of the best. -Of his biography nothing worth mentioning is known.</p> - -<p><em>Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy.</em> See on <a href="#Page_57">page 57</a> above.</p> - -<p><em>Reginald Scot</em>, who died in 1599, is chiefly known by his <cite>Discoverie -of Witchcraft</cite>, the main facts concerning which are given -here.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 91.</b>—<em>Wierus.</em> The Latin form of the name of <em>Weier</em>, a -German physician, who in 1563 published a book (<cite lang="la" xml:lang="la">De Præstigiis -Demonum</cite>) in which the general belief in magic and witchcraft was -attacked.</p> - -<p><em>We infer that Shakespeare had read Scot's book.</em> However this -may be, we are sure that he had read a book by Dr. Samuel Harsnet -(1561–1631) entitled <cite>Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures, -etc., under the pretence of casting out devils</cite> (1603), from -which he took the names of some of the devils in <cite>Lear</cite> (iii. 4).</p> - - -<p><b>Page 96.</b>—<em>Henry Peacham.</em> "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.</p> - -<p><em>Roger Ascham</em> (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 <cite>Toxophilus</cite> (1545) and the <cite>Scholemaster</cite> (see <a href="#Page_115">page 115</a> -below).</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 97.</b>—<em>Took on him as a conjurer.</em> Pretended to be a conjurer. -Compare <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> iv. 1. 60: "I take not on me here -as a physician."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 98.</b>—<em>Who could speak Latin, etc.</em> Latin, the language of -the church, was used in exorcising spirits. Compare <cite>Hamlet</cite> (i. 1. -42), where, on the appearance of the Ghost, Marcellus says: "Thou -art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio." So in <cite>Much Ado About -Nothing</cite> (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, <cite>The Night-Walker</cite>, ii. 1:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Let's call the butler up, for he speaks Latin,</p> -<p class="verse">And that will daunt the devil."</p> -</div></div> - - -<p><b>Page 99.</b>—<em>Transparent horn.</em> Used to protect the paper, as -explained in the quotation from Shenstone on <a href="#Page_101">page 101</a>. The horn-book -was really "of stature small," the figure on <a href="#Page_100">page 100</a> being of -the exact size of the specimen described. One delineated by Mr. -Halliwell-Phillipps is of about the same size. See Chambers's -<cite>Book of Days</cite>, vol. i. p. 46.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_225.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -INTERIOR OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL, BEFORE THE RESTORATION</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p> - -<p><b>Page 101.</b>—<em>Shenstone.</em> William Shenstone (1714–1763) was -educated at Pembroke College, Oxford. His best-known work is -<cite>The Schoolmistress</cite>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 102.</b>—<em>The modern plastered ceiling, etc.</em> This has been -removed within the past few years. Its appearance before the -restoration is shown in the cut (from Knight's <cite>Biography of Shakspere</cite>).</p> - - -<p><b>Page 103.</b>—<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sententiæ Pueriles.</i> Literally, Boyish Sentences, -or Sentences for Boys.</p> - -<p><em>Sir Hugh Evans.</em> The title of <em>Sir</em> (equivalent to the Latin -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">dominus</i>) was given to priests. The "hedge-priest" in <cite>As You -Like It</cite> (iii. 3) is called "Sir Oliver Martext." In <cite>Twelfth Night</cite> -(iii. 4. 298) Viola says: "I had rather go with sir priest than sir -knight."</p> - -<p><em>'Od's nouns.</em> Probably a corruption of "God's wounds," which -is also contracted into <em>Swounds</em> and <em>Zounds</em>. So we find "od's -heartlings," "od's pity," etc. Dame Quickly confounds <em>'od</em> and -<em>odd</em>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 104.</b>—<em>Articles.</em> Sir Hugh uses the word in the sense of -"demonstratives." This shows that the <cite>Accidence</cite> 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 <em>in English</em> 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:—</p> - -<p>"Articles are borrowed of the Pronoune, and be thus declined:</p> - -<div class="center" lang="la" xml:lang="la"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="95%" summary=""> -<tr><td class="tdl pad4">Singulariter.</td><td class="tdl pad4">Pluraliter.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl"><i>Nomin.</i> <i>hic</i>, <i>hæc</i>, <i>hoc</i>.</td><td class="tdl"><i>Nomin.</i> <i>hi</i>, <i>hæ</i>, <i>hæc</i>.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl"><i>Genetivo</i> <i>hujus</i>.</td><td class="tdl"><i>Gen.</i> <i>horum</i>, <i>harum</i>, <i>horum</i>.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl"><i>Dativo</i> <i>huic</i>.</td><td class="tdl"><i>Dativo</i> <i>his</i>.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl"><i>Acc.</i> <i>hunc</i>, <i>hanc</i>, <i>hoc</i>.</td><td class="tdl"><i>Accus.</i> <i>hos</i>, <i>has</i>, <i>hæc</i>.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl"><i>Vocativo</i> <i>caret</i>.</td><td class="tdl"><i>Vocativo</i> <i>caret</i>.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl"><i>Ablativo</i> <i>hoc</i>, <i>hac</i>, <i>hec</i>.</td><td class="tdl"><i>Ablativo</i> <i>his</i>."</td></tr> -</table></div> - -<p class="noindent">It will be noticed that the names of the cases are in Latin, as in -Shakespeare. He may have used this very grammar.</p> - -<p><em>Hang-hog is Latin for Bacon.</em> Suggested by the hanging up of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> -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 <em>Bacon</em> and mine is -<em>Hog</em>, 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."</p> - -<p><em>Leave your prabbles.</em> That is, your <em>brabbles</em>. The word literally -means quarrels or broils; as in <cite>Twelfth Night</cite>, v. 1. 68: "In -private brabble did we apprehend him." Sir Hugh uses it loosely -with reference to the Dame's interruptions and criticisms.</p> - -<p><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">O!—vocativo, O!</i> The boy hesitates, trying to recall the vocative, -but Sir Hugh reminds him that it is wanting—<em>caret</em> in Latin, -which suggests <em>carrot</em> to the Dame. The <em>O</em> is suggested by its use -before the vocative case of nouns in the paradigms in the <cite>Accidence</cite>, -which probably here also agrees with the <cite>Short Introduction</cite>, -where in the first declension we find: "<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Vocativo ô musa</i>"; -in the second: "<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Vocativo ô magister</i>," etc.</p> - -<p>William Lilly (or Lily), the author of the Latin Grammar mentioned -on <a href="#Page_105">page 105</a>, 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 "<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Brevissima -Institutio, seu, Ratio Grammatices cognoscendæ, ad omnium -puerorum utilitatem præscripta.</span>" 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 <cite>Short Introduction</cite> of the same -date in the Harvard Library. Lilly was the author of both.</p> - -<p><em>You must be preeches.</em> That is, you must be <em>breeched</em>, or flogged. -Compare <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite> (iii. 1. 18), where Bianca says -to her teachers: "I am no breeching scholar in the schools."</p> - -<p><em>Sprag.</em> That is, <em>sprack</em>, which meant quick, ready. The word -is Scotch, as well as Provincial English, and Scott uses it in -<cite>Waverley</cite> (chap, xliii.): "all this fine sprack [lively] festivity and -jocularity."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 105.</b>—<em>A passage from Terence.</em> In the play, as in the -Grammar, it reads: "Redime te captum quam queas minimo." -The original Latin is: "<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Quid agas, nisi ut te redimas captum</span>," etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 106.</b>—<em>Richard Mulcaster.</em> The poet Spenser was one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> -his pupils at Merchant-Taylors School in 1568 see (Church's <cite>Spenser</cite> -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 <cite>The First Part of the Elementarie ... of -the Right Writing of our English Tung</cite>. 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.</p> - -<p><em>Correctors for the print.</em> 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 <cite>Will -of Wit</cite> (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."</p> - -<p><em>Rip up.</em> That is, analyze.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 107.</b>—<em>The natural English.</em> That is, natives of England.</p> - -<p><em>Will not yield flat to theirs.</em> Will not conform exactly to theirs.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 108.</b>—<em>Bewrayeth.</em> Shows, makes known. Cf. <cite>Proverbs</cite>, -xxvii. 16; <cite>Matthew</cite>, xxvi. 73.</p> - -<p><em>Enfranchisement.</em> This evidently refers to the "naturalization" -of foreign words taken into the language, or making their orthography -conform to English usage.</p> - -<p><em>Prerogative, etc.</em> This paragraph is somewhat obscure at first -reading; but it appears to mean that <em>common use</em>, or established -usage, settles certain questions concerning which there might otherwise -be some doubt.</p> - -<p><em>Likes the pen.</em> Suits the pen. Compare <cite>Hamlet</cite> ii. 2. 80: "it -likes us well"; <cite>Henry V.</cite> iii. prol. 32: "The offer likes not," etc.</p> - -<p><em>Particularities.</em> Peculiarities.</p> - -<p><em>Which either cannot understand, etc.</em> The relative is equivalent -to <em>who</em>, and refers to the preceding <em>many</em>. This use of <em>which</em> was -common in Shakespeare's day. Compare <cite>The Tempest</cite>, iii. 1. 6: -"The mistress which I serve," etc.</p> - -<p><em>Or cannot entend to understand, etc.</em> That is, cannot <em>intend</em> (of -which <em>entend</em> is an obsolete form), but the word is here used in a -sense which is not recognized in the dictionaries. The meaning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> -seems to be that these "plain people" cannot understand a rule -either at sight or after some effort to comprehend it, having neither -the <em>time</em> nor the <em>conceit</em> (intellect) to master it. <em>Conceit</em> in this -sense is common in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Compare -<cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> ii. 4. 263: "He a good wit?... there's no -more conceit in him than is in a mallet."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 109.</b>—<em>John Brinsley</em> 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 <cite>Ludus Literarius, or the -Grammar Schoole</cite> (1612). He writes much better English than -Mulcaster, and young people will find no difficulty in understanding -the passage quoted from him.</p> - -<p><em>Proceed in learning.</em> That is, pursue their studies after leaving -the grammar school.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 110.</b>—<em>Present correction.</em> Immediate correction, or punishment. -For this old sense of <em>present</em>, compare <cite>2 Henry IV.</cite> iv. -3. 80:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Send Colevile with his confederates</p> -<p class="verse">To York, to present execution."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><em>Countervail.</em> Counterbalance, make up for.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 112.</b>—<em>Willis.</em> 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 <a href="#Page_161">page 161</a> below.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 113.</b>—<em>His references to schoolboys, etc.</em> 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 114.</b>—<em>Thomas Tusser</em> (1527?-1580?) was a poet and -writer on agriculture. Besides his <cite>One Hundred Points of Good -Husbandry</cite> (1557), he wrote <cite>Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, -United to as Many of Good Wiferie</cite> (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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 115.</b>—<em>In few of Shakespeare's references to school life, -etc.</em> See on <em>You must be preeches</em>, <a href="#Page_227">page 227</a> above; and compare -<cite>Much Ado About Nothing</cite>, ii. 1. 228:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"<em>Don Pedro.</em> To be whipped? What's his fault?</p> -<p class="verse"><em>Benedick.</em> The flat transgression of a schoolboy," etc.</p> -</div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> - -<p><b>Page 118.</b>—<em>A sanctuary against fear.</em> 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 -<cite>Richard III.</cite> (ii. 4. 66), where Queen Elizabeth says: "Come, -come, my boy; we will to sanctuary."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 122.</b>—<em>Hoodman-blind.</em> In <cite>All's Well that Ends Well</cite> -(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."</p> - -<p><em>Loggats.</em> 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 125.</b>—<em>The spirited description of the horse.</em> Compare -page 147 below, where it is quoted at length.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 126.</b>—<em>Alexander Barclay.</em> See on <a href="#Page_67">page 67</a> above.</p> - -<p><em>Edmund Waller</em> (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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 127.</b>—<em>The caitch.</em> <em>Catch</em> was another name for tennis. -<em>Palle-malle</em>, or <em>pall-mall</em> (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.</p> - -<p><em>Bishop Butler.</em> Joseph Butler (1692–1752), bishop of Bristol -and afterwards of Durham, and author of the famous <cite>Analogy of -Religion, etc.</cite> (1736).</p> - -<p><em>Gifford.</em> William Gifford (1757–1826), an English critic and -satirical poet, editor of the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> from 1809 to 1824.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 130.</b>—<em>Mulcaster.</em> See on <a href="#Page_106">page 106</a> above.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 132.</b>—<em>At Kenilworth in 1575.</em> See <a href="#Page_12">page 12</a> above.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 134.</b>—<em>A certain place in Cheshire.</em> 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 135.</b>—<em>Paris-garden.</em> It is mentioned in <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> -(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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> -for Parish-garden?" This was a vulgar pronunciation of <em>Paris-garden</em>. -The place was noted for its noise and disorder.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 136.</b>—<em>Dean Colet.</em> John Colet (1456–1519), dean of St. -Paul's in 1505. The school was founded in 1512.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 138.</b>—<em>Sir Thomas More.</em> The well-known English -author and statesman, born in 1473, and executed on Tower Hill -in 1535.</p> - -<p><em>No planets strike.</em> That is, exert a baleful influence; an allusion -to astrology.</p> - -<p><em>No fairy takes.</em> Blasts, or bewitches. Compare <cite>The Merry -Wives of Windsor</cite>, iv. 4. 32: "blasts the tree and takes the cattle," -etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 140.</b>—<em>It irks me.</em> It is <em>irksome</em> to me, troubles me.</p> - -<p><em>Fool</em> was sometimes used as a term of endearment or pity. -Compare <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite> (ii. 1. 18), where Hermione says to -her women who are grieved at the unjust charge against her, "Do -not weep, poor fools!"</p> - -<p>The <em>forked heads</em> are heads of arrows. Ascham refers to such in -his <cite>Toxophilus</cite>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 141.</b>—<em>A poor sequester'd stag.</em> Separated from his companions.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 145.</b>—<em>Professor Baynes</em>. Thomas Spencer Baynes (1823–1887), -professor of English Literature at the University of St. -Andrews, Scotland, and editor of the ninth edition of the <cite>Encyclopædia -Britannica.</cite></p> - - -<p><b>Page 146.</b>—<em>The vaward of the day.</em> The <em>vanguard</em>, or early -part of the day. Compare <cite>Coriolanus</cite>, i. 6. 53: "Their bands -i' the vaward," etc.</p> - -<p><em>Such gallant chiding.</em> The verb <em>chide</em> often meant "to make an -incessant noise." Compare <cite>As You Like It</cite>, ii. 1. 7: "And churlish -chiding of the winter's wind"; <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> iii. 2. 197: "As -doth a rock against the chiding flood," etc.</p> - -<p><em>So flew'd, so sanded.</em> Having the same large hanging chaps and -the same sandy color.</p> - -<p><em>Like bells.</em> That is, like a chime of bells.</p> - -<p><em>Tender well.</em> Take good care of.</p> - -<p><em>Emboss'd</em> was a hunter's term for foaming at the mouth in consequence -of hard running.</p> - -<p><em>Brach.</em> The word properly meant a female hound, but came to -be applied to a particular kind of scenting-dog.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 147.</b>—<em>In the coldest fault.</em> When the scent was coldest -(or faintest), and the hounds most at fault. Compare the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> -quotation from <cite>Venus and Adonis</cite>, <a href="#Page_150">page 150</a> below: "the cold -fault."</p> - -<p><em>He cried upon it at the merest loss.</em> He gave the cry when the -scent seemed utterly lost. See the passage just referred to. <em>Mere</em> -was formerly used in the sense of absolute or complete. Compare -<cite>Othello</cite>, ii. 2. 3: "the mere perdition of the Turkish fleet" (its -entire destruction); <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> iii. 2. 329: "the mere undoing -of the kingdom" (its utter ruin), etc.</p> - -<p><em>A youthful Work of Shakespeare's.</em> 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 148.</b>—<em>Glisters.</em> Glistens. Both Shakespeare and Milton -use <em>glister</em> several times, <em>glisten</em> not at all.</p> - -<p><em>Told the steps.</em> Counted them. Compare <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite>, -iv. 4. 185: "He sings several tunes faster than you'll tell money." -The <em>teller</em> in a bank is so called because he does this.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 149.</b>—<em>The hairs, who wave</em>, etc. <em>Who</em> was often used -where we should use <em>which</em>, and <em>which</em> (see on <a href="#Page_108">page 108</a> above) -where we should use <em>who</em>.</p> - -<p><em>It yearn'd my heart.</em> That is, grieved it. Compare <cite>Henry V.</cite> -iv. 3. 26: "It yearns me not when men my garments wear," etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 150.</b>—<em>Jauncing.</em> Riding hard.</p> - -<p><em>Musits.</em> Holes (in fence or hedge) for creeping through. The -word, also spelled <em>muset</em>, is a diminutive of the obsolete <em>muse</em>, -which means the same. <em>Amaze</em> here means bewilder.</p> - -<p><em>Wat.</em> A familiar name for a hare, as <em>Reynard</em> for a fox, etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 151.</b>—<em>Mr. John R. Wise.</em> Compare <a href="#Page_26">page 26</a> above.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 155.</b>—The cut is a fac-simile of one in <cite>The Booke of -Falconrie</cite> (1575), by George Turbervile, or Turberville (1520?-1595?), -an English poet, translator, and writer on hunting, hawking, -etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 156.</b>—<em>Cotgrave.</em> Randle Cotgrave, an English lexicographer, -who died about 1634. His <cite>French-English Dictionary</cite> -(first published in 1611) is still valuable in the study of French and -English philology.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 159.</b>—<em>John Skelton.</em> 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.'"</p> - - -<p><b>Page 160.</b>—<em>Some in their horse.</em> That is, their horses, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> -word here being plural. Plurals and possessives of nouns ending -in <em>s</em>-sounds were often written without the additional syllable in -the time of Shakespeare. Cf. <cite>King John</cite>, ii. 1. 289: "Sits on -his horse back at mine hostess' door"; <cite>Merchant of Venice</cite>, iv. -1. 255: "Are there balance here to weigh the flesh?" etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 163.</b>—<em>William Kemp dancing the Morris.</em> 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 <cite>The -Nine daies wonder</cite>. 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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 168.</b>—<em>Corresponded to our 3d of May.</em> 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 recog<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>nized -as the anniversary, there is no particular reason for changing -it.</p> - -<p><em>Richard Johnson.</em> He was born in 1573 and died about 1659. -He is chiefly noted as the author of this <cite>Famous History of the -Seven Champions of Christendom</cite>. 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.</p> - -<p><em>Mr. A. H. Wall</em>, 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.</p> - -<p><em>The Percy Reliques.</em> A collection of old ballads, entitled <cite>Reliques -of Ancient English Poetry</cite> (1765), made by Thomas Percy (1729–1811), -a clergyman (in 1782 made Bishop of Dromore in Ireland) -and poet.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 170.</b>—<em>Chambers.</em> 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 -<cite>Henry VIII.</cite> 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<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> his companie were acting at y<sup>e</sup> 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 <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> (iv. 1.) -orders "chambers discharged" at the entrance of the king to the -"mask at the cardinal's house."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 171.</b>—<em>Ambrose Dudley.</em> He was born about 1530, made -Earl of Warwick when Elizabeth came to the throne, and died in -1589.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 172.</b>—<em>The Cage.</em> This house, on the corner of Fore -Bridge Street (see map on <a href="#Page_42">page 42</a>), was occupied by Thomas -Quiney after he married Judith Shakespeare. "The house has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> -long been modernized, the only existing portions of the ancient -building being a few massive beams supporting the floor over the -cellar" (Halliwell-Phillipps).</p> - - -<p><b>Page 173.</b>—<em>Sir Thomas Browne</em> (1605–1682) was an eminent -physician and author. Among his books were the <cite lang="la" xml:lang="la">Religio Medici</cite> -(1643), <cite>Vulgar Errors</cite> (1646), etc.</p> - -<p><em>Sir John Suckling</em> (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 <cite>Ballad -upon a Wedding</cite>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 174.</b>—<em>Izaak Walton</em> (1593–1683) is famous as the author -of <cite>The Complete Angler</cite> (1653), one of the classics of our literature. -He also wrote Lives of Donne, Hooker, Herbert, and other English -divines.</p> - -<p><em>Richard Hooker</em> (1553?-1600) was a celebrated theologian, -author of <cite>Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity</cite>, four books of which appeared -in 1592, a fifth in 1597, and the remaining three after his -death.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 180.</b>—<em>Warner's Albion's England.</em> William Warner -(1558?-1609) was the author of <cite>Albion's England</cite> (1586), a rhymed -history of the country, and the translator of the <cite lang="la" xml:lang="la">Menæchmi</cite> of the -Latin dramatist Plautus (1595), on which Shakespeare founded -the plot of the <cite>Comedy of Errors</cite>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 182.</b>—<em>Watchet-colored.</em> Light blue. Compare Spenser, -<cite>F. Q.</cite> iii. 4. 40: "Their watchet mantles frindgd with silver -rownd."</p> - -<p><em>Like a wild Morisco.</em> That is, a morris-dancer. The quotation -is from <cite>2 Henry VI.</cite> iii. 1. 365:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse12">"I have seen</p> -<p class="verse">Him caper upright like a wild Morisco,</p> -<p class="verse">Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells."</p> -</div></div> - - -<p><b>Page 183.</b>—<em>The featliest of dancers.</em> The most dexterous. -Compare <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite>, iv. 4. 176: "She dances featly"; -and <cite>The Tempest</cite>, i. 2. 380: "Foot it featly," etc.</p> - -<p><em>William Browne</em> (1591–1643?) published book i. of <cite>Britannia's -Pastorals</cite> in 1613. He also wrote <cite>The Shepherd's Pipe</cite> (1614) and -other poems.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 184.</b>—<em>A carved hook</em>, that is, a shepherd's crook (called -a "sheep-hook" in <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite>, iv. 4. 431), as the <em>scrip</em> -is his pouch or wallet. Compare <cite>As You Like It</cite> (iii. 2. 171),<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> -where Touchstone says to Corin: "Come, shepherd, let us make -an honourable retreat; though not with bag and baggage, yet with -scrip and scrippage."</p> - -<p><em>John Aubrey</em> (1626–1697), besides assisting Anthony Wood in -his <cite>Antiquities of Oxford</cite> (1674), wrote <cite>Miscellanies</cite>, a collection -of short stories and other tales of the supernatural.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 185.</b>—<em>The Puritan Stubbes.</em> 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 <cite>Anatomie of Abuses</cite>.</p> - -<p><em>Richard Carew</em> (1555–1620) was a poet and antiquarian, and for -a time high sheriff of Cornwall.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 186.</b>—<em>Pageants.</em> The word in Shakespeare's day was -generally applied to theatrical entertainments.</p> - -<p><em>Play the woman's part.</em> Female parts were played by boys or -young men until after the middle of the 17th century. Samuel -Pepys, in his <cite>Diary</cite>, 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 <cite>The Scornful Lady</cite>, adding: "now done by a woman, -which makes the play appear much better than ever it did to me."</p> - -<p><em>Made her weep a-good.</em> That is, heartily.</p> - -<p><em>Passioning.</em> Grieving, lamenting. Compare <cite>Venus and Adonis</cite>, -1059: "Dumbly she passions," etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 190.</b>—<em>Steevens.</em> 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."</p> - -<p><em>John Heywood</em> (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 <cite>The Four P's</cite> (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 <em>palmer</em> was a pilgrim to the Holy Land, so called from -the palm-branch he brought back in token of having performed -the journey. A <em>pardoner</em> was a person licensed to sell papal indulgences, -or <em>pardons</em>.</p> - -<p><em>No night is now</em>, etc. The quotation is from <cite>A Midsummer-Night's -Dream</cite>, ii. 1. 102.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 191.</b>—<em>Housen.</em> An obsolete plural of <em>house</em>, formed like -<em>oxen</em>, etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 192.</b>—<em>The offices.</em> The rooms in an old English mansion -where provisions are kept; that is, the pantry, kitchen, etc.</p> - -<p><em>Waes-hael.</em> Anglo-Saxon for "Be hale (whole, or well)," equivalent -to "Here's to your health." <em>Wassail</em> 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.</p> - -<p><em>The tenant of Ingon.</em> When Knight wrote this, fifty or more -years ago, he supposed that a certain John Shakespeare who in -1570 held a farm known as <em>Ingon</em> or <em>Ington</em>, 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 <a href="#Page_207">page -207</a> 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.</p> - -<p><em>The Lord of Misrule.</em> The person chosen to direct the Christmas -sports and revels. His sovereignty lasted during the twelve -days of the holiday season. Stow, in his <cite>Survey of London</cite> (see on -<a href="#Page_82">page 82</a> 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 <a href="#Page_185">page 185</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>-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 <cite>Good Thoughts in Worse Times</cite> (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."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 193.</b>—<em>The Clopton who is gone.</em> 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 <cite>Measure for -Measure</cite> (iii. 1. 277).</p> - -<p><em>To burn this night with torches.</em> That is, to prolong the festivities. -The quotation is from <cite>Antony and Cleopatra</cite>, iv. 2. 41.</p> - -<p><em>John Dyer</em> (1700–1758) was an English poet, author of <cite>Grongar -Hill</cite> (1727), <cite>The Ruins of Rome</cite> (1740), etc.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_238fp.jpg" width="500" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -CLOPTON MONUMENTS</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 194.</b>—<em>Flawns.</em> A kind of custard-pie. Compare Ben -Jonson, <cite>Sad Shepherdess</cite>, i. 2:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Fall to your cheese-cakes, curds, and clouted cream,</p> -<p class="verse">Your fools, your flawns," etc.</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">The <em>fools</em> were also a kind of custard, or fruit with whipped cream, -etc. <em>Gooseberry-fool</em> is still an English dish.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 195.</b>—<em>The cost of the sheep-shearing feast.</em> 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 <em>wool</em> from the -shearing will bring. "Let me see," he says; "every 'leven -wether tods [that is, yields a <em>tod</em>, 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." <em>Three-man songmen</em> are singers of catches in three -parts. <em>Means</em> are tenors. <em>Warden pies</em> are pies made of <em>wardens</em>, -a kind of large pears, which were usually baked or roasted. A <em>race</em> -of ginger is a root of it; and <em>raisins o' the sun</em> are raisins dried in -the sun.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 196.</b>—<em>Paul Hentzner.</em> He was a native <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—Original text: 'or Silesia'">of Silesia</ins> -(1558–1623) who wrote a <cite>Journey through Germany, France, -Italy, etc.</cite></p> - -<p><em>Matthew Stevenson</em> wrote several other books in prose and verse, -published between 1654 and 1673.</p> - -<p><em>The furmenty-pot.</em> The word <em>furmenty</em> is a corruption of <em>frumenty</em> -(see <a href="#Page_197">page 197</a>), which is derived from the Latin <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">frumentum</i>, -meaning wheat. The hulled wheat, boiled in milk and seasoned, -was a popular dish in England, as it still is in the rural districts.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> - -<p><em>Robert Herrick</em> (1591–1674) was an English lyric poet. The -<cite>Hesperides</cite> was his most important work. A complete edition of -his poems, edited by Mr. Grosart, was published in 1876.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 197.</b>—<em>A mawkin.</em> A kitchen-wench, or other menial -servant. The word is only a phonetic spelling of <em>malkin</em>, which -Shakespeare has in <cite>Coriolanus</cite>, ii. 1. 224: "the kitchen malkin." -Compare Tennyson, <cite>The Princess</cite>, v. 25:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"If this be he,—or a draggled mawkin, thou,</p> -<p class="verse">That tends her bristled grunters in the sludge;"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">that is, a female swineherd.</p> - -<p><em>Prank them up.</em> Adorn themselves.</p> - -<p><em>The fill-horse.</em> The word <em>fill</em>, for the <em>thills</em> 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. <em>Cross</em> means -to make the sign of the cross upon or over the animal.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 199.</b>—<em>Sheffield whittles.</em> Knives made at Sheffield. -Chaucer, in the <cite>Canterbury Tales</cite> (3931) refers to a "Shefeld -thwitel," or whittle. Compare Shakespeare, <cite>Timon of Athens</cite>, -v. 1. 173: "There's not a whittle in the unruly camp," etc.</p> - -<p><em>Rings with posies.</em> Rings with mottoes inscribed inside them. -<em>Posy</em> is the same word as <em>poesy</em>, which we also find used in this -sense. Compare <cite>Hamlet</cite>, 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, <cite>Love's -Garland, or Posies for Rings, Handkerchiefs, and Gloves; and such -pretty tokens, that lovers send their loves</cite>. Compare <a href="#Page_53">page 53</a> above.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 201.</b>—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Qui est la?</i> Who is there? (French). The reply -is, "Peasants, poor French people."</p> - -<p><em>Whipped three market-days.</em> For some petty offence he had -committed.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 202.</b>—<em>Wick-yarn.</em> 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.</p> - -<p><em>Napery.</em> Linen for domestic use, especially table-linen.</p> - -<p><em>Inkles, caddises, coifs, stomachers, pomanders</em>, etc. All these -things are found in the peddler's pack of Autolycus in <cite>The Winter's -Tale</cite> (iv. 4). Compare <a href="#Page_204">page 204</a> below. <em>Caddises</em> are worsted ribbons, -or galloons. <em>Inkles</em> are a kind of tape. <em>Pomanders</em> were -little balls made of perfumes, and worn in the pocket or about the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> -neck, for the sake of the fragrance or as a mere ornament, and -sometimes to prevent infection in times of plague.</p> - -<p><em>The ivy-bush.</em> 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" (<cite>As You Like -It</cite>, v. epil.), means that a place where good wine is kept needs no -sign to attract customers. Gascoigne, in his <cite>Glass of Government</cite> -(1575), says: "Now a days the good wyne needeth none ivye -garland."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 203.</b>—<em>The juggler with his ape.</em> The ape being used -to perform tricks, as monkeys are nowadays by organ-grinders to -amuse their street audiences. In <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite> (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.</p> - -<p><em>Cantabanqui.</em> Strolling ballad-singers; literally, persons who -sing upon a bench (from the Italian <em>catambanco</em>, formerly <em>cantinbanco</em>). -Compare Sir Henry Taylor, <cite>Philip van Artevelde</cite>, -i. 3. 2:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"He was no tavern cantabank that made it,</p> -<p class="verse">But a squire minstrel of your Highness' court."</p> -</div></div> - -<p><em>The Tale of Sir Topas.</em> One of Chaucer's <cite>Canterbury Tales</cite>, -<cite>The Rime of Sir Topas</cite>, a burlesque upon the metrical romances -of the time. It is written in ballad form.</p> - -<p><em>Bevis of Southampton.</em> A fabulous hero of the time of William -the Conqueror. He is mentioned in <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> i. 1. 38:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse8">"that former fabulous story,</p> -<p class="verse">Being now seen possible enough, got credit,</p> -<p class="verse">That Bevis was believed;"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">that is, <em>so</em> that the old romantic legend became credible. In <cite>2 -Henry VI.</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p><em>Adam Bell and Clymme of the Clough</em> (that is, of the Cliff) -figure in a popular old ballad, which may be found in Percy's -<cite>Reliques</cite>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p> - -<p><em>The woolen statute-caps.</em> 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 -<cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite>, v. 2. 282: "Well, better wits have worn -plain statute-caps." As Knight intimates here, the law was a very -unpopular one.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_242.jpg" width="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -THE BAR-GATE, SOUTHAMPTON</div> -</div> - -<p><em>The Wife of Bath's husbands.</em> Alluding to the <em>Wife of Bath</em>, -one of Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims. In the prologue to her -tale, she says of her husbands (of whom she had five in succession):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"I governed hem so wel after my lawe,</p> -<p class="verse">That eche of hem ful blisful was and fawe [fain, or glad]</p> -<p class="verse">To bringen me gay things fro the feyre."</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">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.</p> - -<p><em>Where a coxcomb will be broke.</em> That is, a head will be broken;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> -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 <cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite> (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 -<cite>Twelfth Night</cite>, v. 1. 178, where Sir Andrew says: "He has broke -my head across and has given Sir Toby a bloody coxcomb too."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 206.</b>—<em>Junkets.</em> The word here means sweetmeats or -delicacies.</p> - -<p><em>Properties.</em> In the theatrical sense of <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—Original text: 'stage requisities'">stage requisites</ins>, such as -costumes and other equipments and appointments.</p> - -<p><em>Incurious.</em> Not <em>curious</em>, in the original sense of <em>careful</em>; not -fastidious, and therefore pleased with these inferior actors.</p> - -<p><em>And possess.</em> The subject of <em>possess</em> is omitted, after the loose -fashion of the time, being obviously implied in <em>rustics</em>. Compare -<cite>Hamlet</cite>, iii. 1. 8:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"Nor do we find him forward to be sounded,</p> -<p class="verse">But with a crafty madness keeps aloof";</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">that is, <em>he</em> keeps aloof.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 207.</b>—<em>We see not its workings.</em> We see the results, but -not the processes by which they have been brought about.</p> - -<p><em>The "green lap" in which the boy poet was "laid."</em> The quotations -are from the passage referring to Shakespeare in <cite>The Progress -of Poesy</cite> by Thomas Gray (1716–1771):—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse2">"Far from the sun and summer gale,</p> -<p class="verse">In thy green lap was Nature's darling laid,</p> -<p class="verse">What time, where lucid Avon stray'd,</p> -<p class="verse">To him the mighty mother did unveil</p> -<p class="verse">Her awful face; the dauntless child</p> -<p class="verse">Stretch'd forth his little arms and smil'd.</p> -<p class="verse">'This pencil take,' she said, 'whose colors clear</p> -<p class="verse">Richly paint the vernal year:</p> -<p class="verse">Thine too these golden keys, immortal boy!</p> -<p class="verse">This can unlock the gates of joy;</p> -<p class="verse">Of horror that, and thrilling fears,</p> -<p class="verse">Or ope the sacred fount of sympathetic tears.' "</p> -</div></div> - -<p><em>The name of Shakespeare was very common.</em> See note on <em>The -tenant of Ingon</em>, <a href="#Page_192">page 192</a>, above.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> - - -<p><b>Page 208.</b>—<em>Volumes have been written on the plant-lore</em>, etc. -The best of these is Rev. H. N. Ellacombe's <cite>Plant-Lore and Garden-craft -of Shakespeare</cite>, which is quoted on the next page.</p> - -<p><em>Apricocks.</em> An old form of <em>apricots</em>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 209.</b>—<em>In the compass of a pale.</em> Within the limits of an -enclosure, or walled garden.</p> - -<p><em>Knots.</em> Interlacing beds. Compare Milton, P. L. iv. 242: "In -beds and curious knots"; and <cite>Love's Labour's Lost</cite>, i. 1. 249: -"thy curious-knotted garden."</p> - -<p><em>He that hath suffer'd</em>, etc. King Richard.</p> - -<p><em>At time of year.</em> That is, at the proper season.</p> - -<p><em>Confound itself.</em> Ruin or destroy itself. Compare <cite>The Merchant -of Venice</cite>, iii. 2. 278:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verse10">"Never did I know</p> -<p class="verse">A creature that did bear the shape of man</p> -<p class="verse">So keen and greedy to confound a man."</p> -</div></div> - - -<p><b>Page 210.</b>—<em>To prove his real profession.</em> Books and essays -have been written to prove Shakespeare's intimate knowledge of -various professions and occupations—law, medicine, military science, -seamanship, etc.</p> - - -<hr class="r30" /> - -<h2>ADDENDA</h2> - - -<p><b>Page 21.</b>—<em>The letters E. R.</em> Young readers may need to be -informed that these letters stand for <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Elizabeth Regina</i> (Latin for -<em>Queen</em>). See cut on <a href="#Page_22">next page</a>.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 37.</b>—<em>The elder Robert of Stratford.</em> 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."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 59.</b>—<em>Old House on High Street.</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> -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 <a href="#Page_59">page 59</a> 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 <cite>Genealogical Gleanings in England</cite>, 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,</p> - -<p><span class="pad4"> -TR</span><span class="pad6">1596</span><span class="pad6">AR</span> -</p> - -<p class="noindent">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.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 89.</b>—<em>Adonai or Elohim.</em> Hebrew names for Jehovah, or -God.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 112.</b>—<em>Shrewd turns.</em> That is, evil turns (chances or happenings). -Cf. <cite>Henry VIII.</cite> v. 3. 176:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"The common voice, I see, is verified</p> -<p class="verse">Of thee, which says thus, 'Do my Lord of Canterbury</p> -<p class="verse">A shrewd turn, and he is your friend for ever';"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">that is, he returns good for evil. Compare <cite>As You Like It</cite>, v. 4. -178:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="verseq">"And after, every [every one] of this happy number</p> -<p class="verse">That have endur'd shrewd days and nights with us</p> -<p class="verse">Shall share the good of our returned fortune;"</p> -</div></div> - -<p class="noindent">and Chaucer, <cite>Tale of Melibæus</cite>: "The prophete saith: Flee -shrewdnesse, and do goodnesse," etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 162.</b>—<em>A sergeant at-arms his mace.</em> In Old English <em>his</em> -was often put in this way after proper names, which had no genitive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> -(or possessive) inflection. In the 16th century it came to be used -frequently in place of the possessive ending -<em>s</em>. 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 -<em>his</em>. The construction occurs now and then in Shakespeare; as in -<cite>Twelfth Night</cite>, iii. 3. 26: "the count his galleys," etc.</p> - - -<p><b>Page 191.</b>—<em>An age of music.</em> 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 <cite>Shakespeare and Music</cite> (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 <em>public-house -song</em> 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."</p> - - -<p><b>Page 204.</b>—<em>Sweet hearts.</em> This must not be supposed to be a -misprint for <em>Sweethearts</em>, which was originally two words and often -used as a tender or affectionate address. <em>Sweetheart</em> occurs in -Shakespeare only in <cite>The Winters Tale</cite>, iv. 4. 664: "take your -sweetheart's hat," etc.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3 class="h3x">FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> 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.</p></div></div> - - - <div class="chapter"></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">INDEX</a></h2> - - -<p class="noindent"> - -A-B-C book, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /> - -abracadabra, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br /> - -absey, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.<br /> - -Adam Bell, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> - -Adonai, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> - -a-good, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -ale-tasters, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br /> - -Alveston, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.<br /> - -Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.<br /> - -amulets, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.<br /> - -amusements, indoor, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> - -Anne, Lady, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.<br /> - -apricocks, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> - -archery, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> - -Arden, Forest of, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -Arden, Richard, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> - -articles (in grammar), <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.<br /> - -Ascham, Roger, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -ash-tree (in charms), <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br /> - -Aubrey, John, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -Avon, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -backgammon, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> - -bait (in hawking), <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.<br /> - -ball-games, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br /> - -Bancroft, the, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br /> - -Barclay, Alexander, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -barley-break, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.<br /> - -base-ball, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br /> - -bat-fowling, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br /> - -bay-leaf (as charm), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> - -Baynes, Professor, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -Bear (of Warwick), <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.<br /> - -bear-baiting, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br /> - -bearing-cloth, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br /> - -Beauchamp, Richard, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.<br /> - -Beauchamp, Thomas, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.<br /> - -beer, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> - -bells (of hawk), <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.<br /> - -beshrew, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -Bevis, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> - -bewrayeth, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br /> - -bid a base, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.<br /> - -bird-bolt, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.<br /> - -blind-man's-buff, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> - -Bolingbroke, Henry, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.<br /> - -bone-fires, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.<br /> - -<em>Book of Riddles</em>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br /> - -<em>Books of Nurture</em>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> - -books, popular, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br /> - -<em>bordarii</em>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.<br /> - -bottom (of thread), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.<br /> - -boundary elm, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.<br /> - -brach, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -bread, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> - -bride-ale, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> - -Brinsley, John, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br /> - -broken coxcomb, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.<br /> - -Browne, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -Browne, William, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -Bullein, William, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> - -Burbage, Richard, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> - -Bursall, Thomas, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.<br /> - -Burton, Robert, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -Butler, Bishop, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -butts, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -caddises, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -Cage, the, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> - -caitch, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -calendars, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -cankers (=canker-worms), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -<em>cantabanqui</em>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> - -cappers, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> - -caps, statute, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.<br /> - -caraways, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -card-playing, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br /> - -<em>caret</em>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.<br /> - -Carew, Richard, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -chambers (cannon), <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> - -changelings, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br /> - -chantry, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> - -Chapel Lane, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br /> - -Charlecote Hall, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br /> - -charms, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.<br /> - -chess, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> - -chiding, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -children, training of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> - -chimneys, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br /> - -chrisom, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br /> - -Christ Cross row, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /> - -christenings, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.<br /> - -christening shirts, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br /> - -Christmas, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.<br /> - -clap in the clout, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> - -Clopton House, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br /> - -Clopton, Hugh, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br /> - -Clopton, William, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.<br /> - -closely (=secretly), <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br /> - -Clymme of the Clough, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> - -cock-fighting, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>cock-throwing, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.<br /> - -Colbrand, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br /> - -coldest fault, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -Colet, Dean, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -compass of a pale, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> - -conceit (=intellect), <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br /> - -confound (=ruin), <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> - -Corporation, Stratford, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br /> - -correctors for the print, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br /> - -Coryat, Thomas, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> - -Cotgrave, Randle, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -Cotsall, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.<br /> - -cottagers (feudal), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.<br /> - -counters, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -countervail, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br /> - -coursing, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.<br /> - -Coventry, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.<br /> - -Coventry churches, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> - -coxcomb (=head), <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.<br /> - -craft-guilds, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br /> - -craven, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> - -cried upon it, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -cross-row, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /> - -curtsy, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -dagswain, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.<br /> - -deer-stealing, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> - -detest (=detested), <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> - -dill (in magic), <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -discovered (=uncovered), <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br /> - -Drayton, Michael, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> - -drink-hael, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br /> - -drinks, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> - -ducking-stool, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br /> - -Dudley, Ambrose, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> - -Dudley, Robert, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.<br /> - -Dugdale, William, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> - -dun cow, the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.<br /> - -Dun in the mire, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br /> - -dwelling-houses, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.<br /> - -Dyer, John, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -Easter, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.<br /> - -elder-tree (in charms), <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br /> - -Ellacombe, H. N., <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> - -Elohim, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> - -embossed, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -enfranchisement, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br /> - -English, neglect of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br /> - -entend, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br /> - -enter children, to, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> - -E. R., <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> - -erring, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -Eton, May-day at, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.<br /> - -Eton, whipping at, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br /> - -evil eye, the, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br /> - -extravagant, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -eyas, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -fairing, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.<br /> - -fairs, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.<br /> - -fairy rings, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -falconet, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br /> - -featliest, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -fern-seed, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.<br /> - -Field, Henry, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> - -fill-horse, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -filliping the toad, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> - -fishing, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br /> - -flawns, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -flewed, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -flight (arrow), <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.<br /> - -fond (=foolish), <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br /> - -food, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.<br /> - -fool (a dish), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -fool (in pity), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -foot-ball, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.<br /> - -forehand shaft, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> - -forked heads (of arrows), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -forks, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.<br /> - -Forman, Simon, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> - -<em>Four Sons of Aymon, The</em>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br /> - -fowling, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br /> - -Friar Tuck, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> - -frumenty, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -furmenty, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -furniture, household, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.<br /> - -Furnivall, F. J., <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -games and sports, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.<br /> - -garden-craft in Shakespeare, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> - -gardens, Stratford, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br /> - -Gastrell, Rev. Francis, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> - -George, Duke of Clarence, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.<br /> - -<em>Gesta Romanorum</em>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> - -Gifford, William, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -Giletta of Narbonne, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> - -glisters, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -Godiva, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br /> - -gospel-trees, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.<br /> - -gossips' feast, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br /> - -<ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note—Original text: 'Grammar Sehool'">Grammar School</ins>, Stratford, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> - -Greene, Robert, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -Guild chapel, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.<br /> - -Guild, the Stratford, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br /> - -Guy of Warwick, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br /> - -Guy's Cliff, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -haggard (noun), <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.<br /> - -handkerchiefs, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br /> - -handy-dandy, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br /> - -hang-hog, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.<br /> - -hare-hunting, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br /> - -Harrison, William, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> - -harry-racket, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> - -Harsnet, Samuel, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -harvest-home, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.<br /> - -hawking, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br /> - -Hell-mouth, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br /> - -Hentzner, Paul, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -Herod (in old plays), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> - -Heron, Robert, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -Herrick, Robert, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -herse, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.<br /> - -Heywood, John, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -hide-and-seek, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>hock-cart, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.<br /> - -hooded (hawk), <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br /> - -hoodman-blind, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -hook (=shepherd's crook), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -Hooker, Richard, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -hopharlots, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.<br /> - -horn-book, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br /> - -horse, description of, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.<br /> - -horse (plural), <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -housen, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> - -<em>Hundred Merry Tales, The</em>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br /> - -Hunt, Thomas, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.<br /> - -hunting, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -imp (=child), <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.<br /> - -incurious, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.<br /> - -Ingon, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> - -inhooped, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> - -inkles, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -irks, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -ivy-bush (vintner's sign), <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -James I. (his <em>Demonology</em>), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> - -jauncing, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -jesses, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.<br /> - -John of Stratford, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.<br /> - -Johnson, Richard, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> - -joint-stools, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> - -Jones, Dr. John, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> - -Jonson, Ben, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.<br /> - -juggler (with ape), <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> - -junkets, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -Kemp, William, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> - -Kenilworth, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -Knight, Charles, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> - -knots (in garden), <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -lamb-ale, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> - -Laneham, Robert, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> - -Latin (at school), <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.<br /> - -Latin (in exorcisms), <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br /> - -latten, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br /> - -laund, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -leet-ale, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> - -leets, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> - -let down the wind, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.<br /> - -likes (=suits), <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br /> - -lill-lill, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.<br /> - -Lilly, William, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.<br /> - -Lodge, Thomas, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -loggats, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -Lord of Misrule, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> - -Lucy, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> - -Lupton, Thomas, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -Lyttleton, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -Mab, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br /> - -Macbeth, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> - -Maid Marian, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br /> - -malkin, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -Mamillius, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br /> - -man (=tame), <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.<br /> - -manor, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> - -marchpane, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -market cross (Stratford), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br /> - -markets, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br /> - -Markham, Gervase, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br /> - -marmalet, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -Mantuan, the, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br /> - -mawkin, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -May-day, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> - -meals, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br /> - -means (=tenors), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -Melton, John, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br /> - -merest loss, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -mews, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> - -micher, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.<br /> - -Midsummer Eve, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.<br /> - -moralities, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br /> - -More, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -Morisco, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -morris-board, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.<br /> - -morris-dance, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> - -Mowbray, Thomas, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.<br /> - -Mulcaster, Richard, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -musits, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -muss, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -napery, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -napkin, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br /> - -Neville, Richard, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.<br /> - -New Place, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> - -nine-holes, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br /> - -nine men's morris, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br /> - -Nine Worthies, the, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.<br /> - -nuntions, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -O!—<em>vocativo</em>, O! <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.<br /> - -'od's nouns, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.<br /> - -o'erlooked (=bewitched), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.<br /> - -offices, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> - -Old and New Style, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> - -orpine, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -pageants, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -painted cloths, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> - -Painter, William, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> - -pale (=enclosure), <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> - -palle-malle, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -palmer, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -pardoner, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -Paris Garden, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -passioning, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -Peacham, Henry, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -penny-prick, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br /> - -penthouse, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.<br /> - -perambulation of parish, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br /> - -Percy, Thomas, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> - -pigeon-holes (game), <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> - -pinfold, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> - -pitching the bar, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br /> - -plucking geese, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> - -poaching, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> - -pomander, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -pomegranate-flowers (as charm), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>pose (=cold in head), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.<br /> - -posies (in rings), <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -prabbles, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.<br /> - -prank them up, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -preeches, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br /> - -present (=immediate), <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br /> - -prisoners' base, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.<br /> - -proceed in learning, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br /> - -properties, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.<br /> - -Puck, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br /> - -pummets, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -quack (=hoarseness), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.<br /> - -quails (for fighting), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -race (=root), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -raisins o' the sun, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -Ralph of Stratford, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.<br /> - -rear-suppers, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> - -reredos, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.<br /> - -Rhodes, Hugh, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> - -riffeling, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /> - -ringlets (=fairy rings), <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -rip up, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br /> - -Robert of Stratford, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> - -Robin Goodfellow, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> - -Rother Market, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.<br /> - -rushes (for floors), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -Sackerson, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> - -Saint George's Day, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.<br /> - -Saint John's wort, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.<br /> - -Saint Mary's Church, Warwick, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.<br /> - -sanctuary, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -sanded, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -school discipline, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br /> - -school life, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.<br /> - -school morals, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.<br /> - -<em>Schoole of Vertue, The</em>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> - -Scot, Reginald, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -Seager, Francis, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> - -sequestered, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -Shakespeare Birthplace, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> - -Shakespeare mulberry-tree, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> - -Shakespeare, Henry, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.<br /> - -Shakespeare, John, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> - -Shakespeare, Mary, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br /> - -sheep-shearing, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.<br /> - -Sheffield whittles, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -Shenstone, William, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.<br /> - -<em>Ship of Fools, The</em>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br /> - -Shottery, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.<br /> - -shove-groat, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> - -shovel-board, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.<br /> - -shrewd (=evil), <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> - -Siddons, Mrs., <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.<br /> - -Sir (title of priests), <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.<br /> - -Skelton, John, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -slide-thrift, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> - -slip-groat, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br /> - -slipping a hawk, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br /> - -Smithe, Ralph, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> - -spoons, apostle, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.<br /> - -spoons, Latin, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br /> - -sprag, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.<br /> - -statute-caps, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.<br /> - -Steevens, George, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -Stevenson, Matthew, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -stool-ball, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> - -story-telling, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.<br /> - -Stow, John, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -Stratford College, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br /> - -Stratford corporation, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br /> - -Stratford early history, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.<br /> - -Stratford grammar school, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> - -Stratford Guild, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br /> - -Stratford-on-Avon, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> - -Stratford topography, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.<br /> - -strikes (of planet), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -Strutt, Joseph, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> - -Stubbes, Philip, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -Suckling, John, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -sun dancing at Easter, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.<br /> - -sweet hearts, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.<br /> - -sweet-suckers, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -swimming, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -table-linen, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<br /> - -takes (of fairies), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -tassel-gentle, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br /> - -Taylor the Water Poet, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> - -tender well, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -than (=then), <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> - -theatres, movable, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> - -theatrical entertainments, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /> - -then (=than), <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> - -thorow, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> - -three-man beetle, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> - -three-man songmen, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -tick (=tag), <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.<br /> - -tick-tack, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> - -tod, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -told (=counted), <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -took on him as a conjurer, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br /> - -toothache, charms for, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br /> - -toothpicks, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br /> - -<em>Topas, Tale of Sir</em>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> - -towels, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.<br /> - -tract (=track), <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> - -training of children, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> - -tray-trip, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> - -treatably, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> - -treen, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<br /> - -troll-my-dames, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br /> - -trumpet (=trumpeter), <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -Tusser, Thomas, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -Udall, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -vaward, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -vervain, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> - -villeins, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.<br /> - -voiders, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -waes-hael, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> - -wakes, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<br /> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>Wall, A. H., <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> - -Waller, Edmund, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> - -Walton, Izaak, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -warden-pies, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> - -warlocks, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -Warner, William, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -Warwick, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.<br /> - -Warwickshire, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.<br /> - -wash-basins, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.<br /> - -Wat, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -watchet-colored, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> - -Webster, John, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -which (=who), <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br /> - -whifflers, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> - -whistled off (in hawking), <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.<br /> - -white meats, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.<br /> - -Whitsuntide, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> - -whittles (noun), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -who (=which), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> - -wick-yarn, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.<br /> - -Wierus, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -Wife of Bath, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.<br /> - -Willis, R., <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br /> - -Wilmcote, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> - -wine, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br /> - -Wise, J. R., <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br /> - -witches, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br /> - -Wolsey, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.<br /> - -woman's part (on stage), <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> - -Woncot, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> - -Worthies, the Nine, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.<br /> - -wote, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -wrestling, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> -<br /> - -yearned (=grieved), <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> -</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_251.jpg" width="250" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -ARMS OF JOHN SHAKESPEARE</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p> - - - <div class="chapter"></div> - -<h2>SCHOOL COURSES IN SHAKESPEARE</h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Of the thirty-seven (or thirty-eight if we include the <cite>Two -Noble Kinsmen</cite>) plays in the standard editions of Shakespeare, -twenty at least are suitable for use in "mixed" schools. -Among the "comedies" are <cite>The Merchant of Venice</cite>, <cite>A -Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite>, <cite>As You Like It</cite>, <cite>Twelfth Night</cite>, -<cite>Much Ado About Nothing</cite>, <cite>The Tempest</cite>, <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite>, -and <cite>The Taming of the Shrew</cite>; among the "tragedies," -<cite>Macbeth</cite>, <cite>Hamlet</cite>, <cite>Lear</cite>, and <cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite>; and among -the historical plays, <cite>Julius Cæsar</cite>, <cite>Coriolanus</cite>, <cite>King John</cite>, -<cite>Richard II.</cite>, <cite>Henry IV. Part I.</cite>, <cite>Henry V.</cite>, <cite>Richard III.</cite>, and -<cite>Henry VIII.</cite></p> - -<p>Certain plays, like <cite>Cymbeline</cite>, <cite>Othello</cite>, and <cite>Antony and -Cleopatra</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p>If but one play is read, my own choice would be <cite>The -Merchant of Venice</cite>; except for <em>classical</em> schools, where -<cite>Julius Cæsar</cite> is to be preferred. All the leading colleges -now require one or more plays of Shakespeare as part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> -the preparation in English, and <cite>Julius Cæsar</cite> is almost invariably -included for every year.</p> - -<p>If <em>two</em> plays can be read, the <cite>Merchant</cite> and <cite>Julius Cæsar</cite> -may be commended; or either of these with <cite>As You Like -It</cite>, or with <cite>Macbeth</cite>, if a tragedy is desired. <cite>Macbeth</cite> is the -shortest of the great tragedies (only a trifle more than -half the length of <cite>Hamlet</cite>, for instance), and seems to me -unquestionably the best for an ordinary school course.</p> - -<p>For a selection of <em>three</em> plays, we may take the <cite>Merchant</cite> -(or <cite>Julius Cæsar</cite>), <cite>As You Like It</cite> (or <cite>Twelfth Night</cite> or -<cite>Much Ado</cite>—the other two of the trio of "Sunny or Sweet-Time -Comedies," as Furnivall calls them), and <cite>Macbeth</cite>. An -English historical play (<cite>King John</cite>, <cite>Richard II.</cite>, <cite>Henry IV. -Part I.</cite>, or <cite>Henry V.</cite>) may be substituted for the comedy, if -preferred; and <cite>Hamlet</cite> for <cite>Macbeth</cite>, if time permits and the -teacher chooses. As I have said, <cite>Hamlet</cite> is about twice as -long as <cite>Macbeth</cite>, and should have at least treble the time -devoted to it.</p> - -<p>If a <em>fourth</em> play is wanted, add <cite>The Tempest</cite> to the list. -<cite>Macbeth</cite> and <cite>The Tempest</cite> together (4061 lines, as given in -the "Globe" edition) are but little longer than <cite>Hamlet</cite> (3929 -lines), and can be read in less time than the latter.</p> - -<p>For a <em>fifth</em> play, <cite>Hamlet</cite>, <cite>Lear</cite>, or <cite>Coriolanus</cite> may be -taken; or, if a shorter and lighter play is preferred, the -<cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite>. 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 -<cite>Midsummer-Night's Dream</cite> (early comedy); <cite>Richard II.</cite>, -<cite>Henry IV. Part I.</cite>, or <cite>Henry V.</cite> (English historical period); -<cite>As You Like It</cite>, <cite>Twelfth Night</cite>, or <cite>Much Ado</cite> (later comedy);<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> -<cite>Macbeth</cite>, <cite>Hamlet</cite>, or <cite>Lear</cite> (period of the great tragedies); -and <cite>The Tempest</cite> or <cite>The Winter's Tale</cite> (the latest plays, or -"romances," as Dowden aptly terms them).</p> - -<p>For a series of <em>six</em> plays, following this chronological -order, instead of one English historical play take two: -<cite>Richard III.</cite>, <cite>Richard II.</cite>, or <cite>King John</cite> (earlier history, -1593–1595), and <cite>Henry IV. Part I.</cite>, or <cite>Henry V.</cite> (later -history, or "history and comedy united," 1597–1599).</p> - -<p><cite>Richard III.</cite> 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, "<cite>Richard III.</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>To return to our courses of reading: for a series of <em>seven</em> -plays I would insert in the above chronological list either -<cite>Romeo and Juliet</cite> (early tragedy) <em>before</em> "early history," or -the <cite>Merchant</cite> (middle comedy) <em>after</em> "early history"; and -for a series of <em>eight</em> plays I would include <em>both</em> these.</p> - -<p><cite>Henry VIII.</cite> 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. <cite>The Taming of the -Shrew</cite> may be mentioned incidentally as an earlier play that -is interesting as being Shakespeare's only in part.</p> - -<p>In closing, let me commend the <cite>Sonnets</cite> as well adapted -to give variety to any extended course in Shakespeare. -They are not known to teachers, or to cultivated people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> -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 <cite>Sonnets</cite>, 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 <cite>Sonnets</cite>, 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.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. J. Rolfe.</span></p> - -<p class="p6" /> - -<p class="pfs70">PRINTED BY<br /> -SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW STREET SQUARE<br /> -LONDON</p> - - -<hr class="chap pg-brk" /> - -<div class="transnote"> -<a name="TN" id="TN"></a> - -<p><strong>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE</strong></p> - -<p>Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been -corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within -the text and consultation of external sources.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, -and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.</p> - -<p> -<a href="#Page_9">Pg 9</a>, 'his loving brother Richard' has been retained though this is -factually incorrect. His brother was Edward (king Edward IV.)<br /> - -<a href="#Page_208">Pg 208</a>, 'Skakespeare; and' replaced by 'Shakespeare; and'.<br /> - -<a href="#Page_226">Pg 226</a>, { and } bracketing has been removed from the declension table, -and the two vertical text headings have been made horizontal.<br /> - -<a href="#Page_239">Pg 239</a>, 'or Silesia' replaced by 'of Silesia'.<br /> - -<a href="#Page_243">Pg 243</a>, 'stage requisities' replaced by 'stage requisites'.<br /> - -<a href="#INDEX">Index:</a> 'Grammar Sehool' replaced by 'Grammar School'.<br /> -</p> -</div> - -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE THE BOY***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 54151-h.htm or 54151-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/4/1/5/54151">http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/1/5/54151</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>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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