Carry the beast to his crib: I have renounc'd him
And all his works.
SOTO.
_Shall the Hobby-horse be forgot then?_
The hopeful Hobby-horse, shall he lye founder'd?
HOB.
I cry out on't,
'Twas the forerunning sin brought in those tilt-staves,
They brandish 'gainst the church, the Devil calls _May poles_.
SOTO.
Take up your horse again, and girth him to ye,
And girth him handsomely, good neighbour _Bomby_.
HOB.
I spit at him.
SOTO.
Spit in the horse-face, cobler?
Thou out-of-tune psalm-singing slave; spit in his visnomy?
HOB.
I spit again, and thus I rise against him:
Against this beast, that signify'd destruction,
Foreshew'd i'th' falls of monarchies.
SOTO.
I'th' face of him?
Spit such another spit, by this hand cobler,
I'll make ye set a new piece o' your nose there;
Take't up I say, and dance without more bidding,
And dance as you were wont; you have been excellent,
And are still but for this new nicety,
And your wife's learned lectures; take up the Hobby-horse,
Come, 'tis a thing thou hast lov'd with all thy heart, Bomby,
And wouldst do still, but for the round-breech'd brothers.
You were not thus in the morning; take't up I say,
Do not delay, but do it: you know I am officer,
And I know 'tis unfit all these good fellows
Should wait the cooling of your zealous porridge;
Chuse whether you will dance, or have me execute;
I'll clap your neck i'th' stocks, and there I'll make ye
Dance a whole day, and dance with these at night too.
You mend old shoes well, mend your old manners better,
And suddenly see you leave off this sincereness,
This new hot batch, borrowed from some brown baker,
Some learned brother, or I'll so bait ye for 't,
Take it quickly up.
HOB.
I take my persecution,
And thus I am forc'd a by-word to my brethren.
The Hobby-horse was represented by a man equipped with as much
pasteboard as was sufficient to form the head and hinder parts of
a horse, the quadrupedal defects being concealed by a long mantle
or foot-cloth that nearly touched the ground. The performer on this
occasion exerted all his skill in burlesque horsemanship. In Sampson's
play of _The vow-breaker_, 1636, a miller personates the hobby-horse;
and being angry that the mayor of the city is put in competition with
him, exclaims, "Let the major play the hobby-horse among his brethren,
and he will, I hope our towne-lads cannot want a hobby-horse. Have I
practic'd my reines, my careeres, my pranckers, my ambles, my false
trotts, my smooth ambles and Canterbury paces, and shall master major
put me besides the hobby-horse? Have I borrowed the forehorse bells,
his plumes and braveries, nay had his mane new shorne and frizl'd, and
shall the major put me besides the hobby-horse?"
Whoever happens to recollect the manner in which Mr. Bayes's troops
in the _Rehearsal_ are exhibited on the stage, will have a tolerably
correct notion of a morris hobby-horse. Additional remains of the
Pyrrhic or sword dance are preserved in the daggers stuck in the
man's cheeks, which constituted one of the hocus-pocus or legerdemain
tricks practised by this character, among which were the threading of
a needle, and the transferring of an egg from one hand to the other,
called by Ben Jonson _the travels of the egg_.[192] To the horse's
mouth was suspended a ladle for the purpose of gathering money from
the spectators. In later times the fool appears to have performed this
office, as may be collected from Nashe's play of _Summer's last will
and testament_, where this stage direction occurs, "Ver goes in and
fetcheth out the Hobby-horse and the morris daunce who daunce about."
Ver then says, "About, about, lively, put your horse to it, reyne him
harder, jerke him with your wand, sit fast, sit fast, man; _foole,
holde up your ladle there_." Will Summers is made to say, "You friend
with the hobby-horse, goe not too fast, for feare of wearing out my
lord's tyle-stones with your hob-nayles." Afterwards there enter three
clowns and three maids, who dance the morris, and at the same time sing
the following song:
"Trip and goe, heave and hoe,
Up and downe, to and fro,
From the towne, to the grove,
Two and two, let us rove,
A maying, a playing;
Love hath no gainsaying:
So merrily trip and goe."
Lord Orford in his catalogue of English engravers, under the article
of Peter Stent, has described two paintings at Lord Fitzwilliam's on
Richmond green which came out of the old neighbouring palace. They
were executed by Vinckenboom, about the end of the reign of James I.,
and exhibit views of the above palace; in one of these pictures a
morris dance is introduced, consisting of seven figures, viz. a fool, a
hobby-horse, a piper, a Maid Marian, and three other dancers, the rest
of the figures being spectators. Of these the first four and one of the
dancers are reduced in the annexed plate from a tracing made by the
late Captain Grose. The fool has an inflated bladder or eel-skin with
a _ladle_ at the end of it, and with this he is collecting money. The
piper is pretty much in his original state; but the hobby-horse wants
the legerdemain apparatus, and Maid Marian is not remarkable for the
elegance of her person.
Dr. Plott, in his _History of Staffordshire_, p. 434, mentions that
within memory, at Abbot's or Paget's Bromley, they had a sort of sport
which they celebrated at Christmas, or on new year and twelfth days,
called the _Hobby-horse dance_, from a person who carried the image of
a horse between his legs made of thin boards, and in his hand a bow
and arrow. The latter passing through a hole in the bow, and stopping
on a shoulder, made a snapping noise when drawn to and fro, keeping
time with the music. With this man danced six others, carrying on their
shoulders as many rein-deer heads, with the arms of the chief families
to whom the revenues of the town belonged. They danced the heys and
other country dances. To the above hobby-horse dance there belonged a
pot, which was kept by turns by the reeves of the town, who provided
cakes and ale to put into this pot; all people who had any kindness for
the good intent of the institution of the sport giving pence apiece
for themselves and families. Foreigners also that came to see it
contributed; and the money, after defraying the expense of the cakes
and ale, went to repair the church and support the poor; which charges,
adds the doctor, are not now perhaps so cheerfully borne.
A short time before the revolution in France, the May games and morris
dance were celebrated in many parts of that country, accompanied by a
fool and a _hobby-horse_. The latter was termed _un chevalet_; and, if
the authority of Minsheu be not questionable, the Spaniards had the
same character under the name of _tarasca_.[193]
VIII. THE DRAGON. The earliest mention of him as a part of the morris
dance we have already seen in the extract from Stubbes's _Anatomie of
abuses_; and he is likewise introduced in a morris, in Sampson's play
of the _Vowbreaker, or fayre maid of Clifton_, 1633, where a fellow
says, "I'll be a _fiery dragon_:" on which, another, who had undertaken
the hobby-horse, observes that he will be "a thund'ring _Saint George_
as ever rode on horseback." This seems to afford a clue to the use of
this dragon, who was probably attacked in some ludicrous manner by the
hobby-horse saint, and may perhaps be the _Devil_ alluded to in the
extract already given from Fetherstone's _Dialogue against dancing_.
IX. THE MORRIS DANCERS. By these are meant the common dancers in
the late morrises, and who were not distinguished by any particular
appellation, though in earlier times it is probable that each
individual had his separate title. If there were any reason for a
contrary opinion, it might depend on the costume of numbers 10 and
11 in Mr. Tollett's window, which may perhaps belong to the present
class. There are likewise two similar figures in the Flemish print;
and the coincidence in their attitudes is no less remarkable than it
is in those of some of the other characters. The circumstance too of
one only wearing a feather in his hat is deserving of notice, as it is
the same in both the representations. The streamers which proceed from
their sleeves and flutter in the wind, though continued in very modern
times, were anciently not peculiar to morris dancers, examples of them
occurring in many old prints.[194] In the reign of Henry the Eighth
the morris dancers were dressed in gilt leather and silver paper, and
sometimes in coats of white spangled fustian. They had purses at their
girdles, and garters to which bells were attached.[195] The latter have
been always a part of the furniture of the more active characters in
the morris, and the use of them is of great antiquity. The _tinkling
ornaments of the feet_ among the Jewish women are reprobated in
_Isaiah_ iii, 16, 18. Gratius Faliscus, who wrote his poem on hunting
in the time of Augustus, has alluded to the practice of dancing with
bells on the feet among the Egyptian priests of Canopus, in the
following lines:
"Vix operata suo sacra ad Bubastia lino
Velatur _sonipes æstivi turba Canopi_."
_Cynegeticon_, lib. i. 42.
There is good reason for believing that the morris bells were borrowed
from the genuine _Moorish dance_; a circumstance that tends to
corroborate the opinion that has been already offered with respect to
the etymology of the _morris_. Among the beautiful habits of various
nations, published by Hans Weigel at Nuremberg, in 1577, there is the
figure of an African lady of the kingdom of Fez in the act of dancing,
with bells at her feet. A copy of it is here exhibited:
[Illustration]
The number of bells round each leg of the morris dancers amounted from
twenty to forty.[196] They had various appellations, as the fore-bell,
the second bell, the treble, the tenor, the base, and the double bell.
Sometimes they used trebles only; but these refinements were of later
times.[197] The bells were occasionally jingled by the hands, or placed
on the arms or wrists of the parties. Scarves, ribbands, and laces
hung all over with gold rings, and even precious stones, are also
mentioned in the time of Elizabeth.[198] The miller, in the play of the
_Vowbreaker_, says he is come to borrow "a few ribbandes, bracelets,
eare-rings, wyertyers, and silke girdles and handkerchers for a morice
and a show before the queene." The handkerchiefs, or napkins[199]
as they are sometimes called, were held in the hand, or tied to the
shoulders.[200] In Shirley's _Lady of pleasure_, 1637, Act I., Aretina
thus inveighs against the amusements of the country:
"... to observe with what solemnity
They keep their wakes, and throw for pewter candlestickes,
How they become the morris, with whose bells
They ring all into Whitson ales, and sweate
Through twenty scarffes and napkins, till the Hobby horse
Tire, and the maide Marrian dissolv'd to a gelly,
Be kept for spoone meate."
The early use of the feather in the hat appears both in Mr. Tollett's
window and the Flemish print; a fashion that was continued a long time
afterwards.[201] Sometimes the hat was decorated with a nosegay,[202]
or with the herb _thrift_, formerly called _our lady's cushion_.[203]
Enough has been said to show that the collective number of the morris
dancers has continually varied according to circumstances, in the same
manner as did their habits. In Israel's print they are nine: in Mr.
Tollett's window, eleven. Mr. Strutt has observed that on his sixteenth
plate there are only five, exclusive of the two musicians: but it
is conceived that what he refers to is not a morris, but a dance of
fools. There is a pamphlet entitled _Old Meg of Herefordshire for a
Mayd Marian and Hereford town for a morris dance, or 12 morris dancers
in Herefordshire of 1200 years old_, 1609, 4to.[204] In the painting
by Vinckenboom, at Richmond, there are seven figures. In Blount's
_Glossographia_, 1656, the _Morisco_ is defined, "a dance wherein
there were usually five men and a boy dressed in a girles habit, whom
they call Maid Marrian." The morris in Fletcher's _Two noble kinsmen_
contains some characters, which, as they are nowhere else to be found,
might have been the poet's own invention, and designed for stage effect:
"The chambermaid, and serving man by night
That seek out silent hanging: Then mine host
And his fat spouse, that welcomes to their cost
The gauled traveller, and with a beckning
Informs the tapster to inflame the reck'ning.
Then the beast-eating clown, and next the fool,
The _Bavian_, with long tail and eke long tool,
_Cum multis aliis_, that make a dance."
Mr. Ritson has taken notice of an old wooden cut "preserved on the
title of a penny-history, (_Adam Bell, &c._) printed at Newcastle in
1772," and which represents, in his opinion, a morris dance consisting
of the following personages: 1. A bishop. 2. Robin Hood. 3. The potter
or beggar. 4. Little John. 5. Friar Tuck. 6. Maid Marian. He remarks
that the execution of the whole is too rude to merit a copy, a position
that is not meant to be controverted; but it is necessary to introduce
the cut in this place for the purpose of correcting an error into which
the above ingenious writer has inadvertently fallen. It is proper to
mention that it originally appeared on the title page to the first
_known_ edition of _Robin Hood's garland_, printed in 1670, 18mo.
[Illustration]
Now this cut is certainly _not_ the representation of a morris dance,
but merely of the principal characters belonging to the garland.
These are, Robin Hood, Little John, _queen Catherine_, the bishop,
the _curtal frier_, (not Tuck,) and the beggar. Even though it were
admitted that Maid Marian and Friar Tuck were intended to be given, it
could not be maintained that either the bishop or the beggar made part
of a morris.
There still remains some characters in Mr. Tollett's window, of
which no description can be here attempted, viz. Nos. 1, 4, 6, and
7. As these are also found in the Flemish print,[205] they cannot
possibly belong to Robin Hood's company; and therefore their learned
proprietor would, doubtless, have seen the necessity of re-considering
his explanations.[206] The resemblance between the two ancient
representations is sufficiently remarkable to warrant a conjecture
that the window has been originally executed by some foreign artist;
and that the panes with the English friar, the hobby-horse, and the
may-pole have been since added.
Mr. Waldron has informed us that he saw in the summer of 1783,
at Richmond in Surrey, a troop of morris dancers from Abingdon,
accompanied by a fool in a motley jacket, who carried in his hand a
staff about two feet long, with a blown bladder at the end of it,
with which he either buffeted the crowd to keep them at a proper
distance from the dancers, or played tricks for the diversion of the
spectators. The dancers and the fool were Berkshire husbandmen taking
an annual circuit to collect money.[207] Mr. Ritson too has noticed
that morris dancers are yet annually seen in Norfolk, and make their
constant appearance in Lancashire. He has also preserved a newspaper
article respecting some morris dancers of Pendleton, who paid their
annual visit to Salford, in 1792;[208] and a very few years since,
another company of this kind was seen at Usk in Monmouthshire, which
was attended by a boy Maid Marian, a hobby-horse, and a fool. They
professed to have kept up the ceremony at that place for the last three
hundred years. It has been thought worth while to record these modern
instances, because it is extremely probable that from the present rage
for refinement and innovation, there will remain, in the course of a
short time, but few vestiges of our popular customs and antiquities.
FOOTNOTES:
[156] This will hereafter appear to be a mistake.
[157] Strutt's _Sports and pastimes of the people of England_, p. 171.
[158] Hist. of Musick, vol. iv. 388, by Sir John Hawkins, who was
clearly of opinion that the morris dance was derived from the Moors.
[159] Etymologicum Anglicanum. In further corroboration of this
deduction of the morris dance, the following words may be adduced;
MORESQUE a kind of grotesque painting, sometimes called Arabesque, and
used in embroidery and damasking. MORISCLE, and MOURICLE, a gold coin
used in Spain by the Moors, and called in the barbarous Latin of the
fourteenth century _morikinus_. See Carpentier, _Suppl. ad glossar._
_Ducangian._ v. _Morikinus._ MORRIS WAX, called likewise _mores wax_,
in the _Garbelling of spices_, 1594, 4to. To these the _morris-pike_
may perhaps be added. It is probable that the English terms _morris_
and _morice_ have been corrupted from _mores_, the older and more
genuine orthography.
[160] Tabourot _Orchesographie_, 1589, 4to, p. 97, where the several
postures of this dance are described and represented. The Pyrrhic dance
appears to have travelled from Greece into the north. See Olaus Magnus,
_De gentibus septentrionalibus_, lib. xv. c. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27.
[161] It is remarkable that the same practice should be found in the
island of Ceylon. Knox tells us that "A woman takes two naked swords,
under each arm one, and another she holds in her mouth, then fetcheth a
run and turns clean over, and never touches the ground till she lights
on her feet again holding all her swords fast."--_Hist. of Ceylon_, p.
99.
[162] Wise's _Enquiries concerning the first inhabitants, language, &c.
of Europe_, p. 51.
[163] Jean Tabourot, canon and official of the cathedral of Lengres,
published his _Orchesographie et traicté en forme de dialogue par
lequel toutes personnes peuvent facilement apprendre et practiquer
l'honneste exercice des dances_, 1589, 4to, under the anagrammatized
name of _Thoinot Arbeau_. He died in 1595, at the age of 66. His work
is equally curious and uncommon.
[164] But the French morris can be traced to a much earlier period.
Among other instances of the prodigality of Messire Gilles de Raiz, in
1440, _morris dancers_ are specified. Lobineau, _Hist. de Bretagne_,
ii. 1069. In the accounts of Olivier le Roux, treasurer to Arthur III.
duke of Bretagne in 1457, is this article: "à certains compaignons
qui avoient fait plusieurs esbatemens de _morisques_ et autres jeux
devant le due à Tours, vi. escus."--Id. 1205. At a splendid feast
given by Gaston de Foix at Vendôme in 1458, "foure yong laddes and a
damosell attired like savages daunced (by good direction) an excellent
_Morisco_, before the assembly."--Favines _Theater of honour_, p. 345;
and see Carpentier, _Suppl. ad glossar._ _Ducangian._ v. _Morikinus._
Coquillart, a French poet, who wrote about 1470, says that the Swiss
danced the _Morisco_ to the beat of the drum. _Œuvres_, p. 127.
[165] Peck's _Memoirs of Milton_, 135. What this writer has added on
the subject of the morris dance is not very interesting; but he is
certainly mistaken in his explanation of _five, seven, or nine men's
morris_.
[166] Ritson's _Robin Hood_, I. cii.
[167] See particularly Stubbes's _Anatomie of abuses_, p. 109, edit.
1595, 4to.
[168] In Laneham's _Letter from Kenilworth or Killingworth castle_, a
bride-ale is described, in which mention is made of "a lively Moris
dauns, according too the auncient manner: six dauncerz, Mawdmarion, and
the fool."
[169] See Stowe's _Survay of London_, 1618, 4to, p. 161.
[170] Stubbes's _Anatomie of abuses_, p. 107.
[171] Fetherston's _Dialogue agaynst light, lewde, and lascivious
dauncing_, 1582, 12mo, sign. D. 7. See a passage to the same purpose in
Northbrooke's _Treatise against dicing, dancing, &c._ 1597, 4to, fo. 68
b.
[172] Albion's _England_, 1612, p. 121.
[173] Steevens's _Shakspeare_, at the end of the play of _King Henry
IV. part I_.
[174] There is a remarkable instance of the corruption that has been
gradually introduced into popular ceremonies, in the celebration of the
gunpowder-plot; in which, formerly, Guy Faux was ignominiously carted,
in company with the Pope and the Devil, all of whom were afterwards
consigned to the flames: whereas at present we have only the image of
a fellow, or sometimes a real boy bedizened with gilded rags, ruffles,
and powdered periwig, under the appellation of _Poor Guy_, for whom the
attendants seem to crave charity. The Pope had been long dismissed by
proclamation or act of parliament; and the Devil is probably forgotten
by some, or become an object of too much terror with others to be
sported with.
[175] Churchwardens' accounts at Kingston, in Lysons's _Environs of
London_, vol. i. p. 227. The learned author of this interesting work
has remarked that he had found no entries at Kingston relating to the
May games, after the 29 Hen. VIII.; but they certainly continued, as
parochial ceremonies, in other places to a much later period. In the
churchwardens' accounts of Great Marlow it appears that dresses for the
morris dance were lent to neighbouring parishes so late as 1629. See
Langley's _Antiquities of Desborough_, 4to, 1797.
[176] Fordun's _Scotichronicon_, 1759, folio, tom. ii. p. 104.
[177] Polyolbion, song xxvi.
[178] Ben Jonson's _Works_, 1756, vol. vi. p. 93.
[179] _Marian_, or as it is more frequently written _Marion_, is not
formed, as some French writers have supposed, from Mary and Ann, but
more probably from _Mariamne_ the wife of Herod, whose name seems
borrowed from that of Miriam מרים the prophetess, the sister of Aaron.
Miriam is said to come from a Syrian word signifying _mistress_,
or from מרר _marar_, _bitterness_. The name of _Mary_, evidently
contracted from _Miriam_ or _Mariamne_, does not occur till the time of
the daughter of Joachim and Anne, the mother of Christ, at which period
we find other _Maries_ in the New Testament. It is remarkable that
_Maria_, from Marius, should not occur among the Roman names of women,
in like manner as we have Julia, Cornelia, Fulvia, Proba, Valeria, &c.,
from Julius, Cornelius, Fulvius, Probus, and Valerius. The facetious
and eccentric Edmund Gayton, in the dedication to his _Festivous notes
on Don Quixote_, speaks of _Mayd Myriam_. He perhaps imagined that the
morris dance had been suggested by the prophetess and her dancing women
with their timbrels.
[180] Steevens's _Shaksp._ viii. 530.
[181] Waldron's _History of the Isle of Man_, 12mo, p. 95, where he has
described the mock battle between the queens.
[182] Strype's Eccl. _memorials_, iii. 376.
[183] The honestie of this age, 1615, 4to, p. 35.
[184] What these ladies exactly were is not easy to comprehend.
_Whitepot_ in old cookery was a kind of custard, made in a crust or
dish with cream, eggs, pulse of apples, sugar, spices, and sippets of
_white_ or manchet bread. It is possible therefore that Maid Marian,
being occasionally personated by a kitchen malkin or cook wench,
obtained the title of a _white-pot queen_.
[185] Golden books of the leaden Goddes, 1577, 4to, fo. 30.
[186] Greene's _Quip for an upstart courtier_, sig. D. 3.
[187] _Bavon_ or _bavette_, is from _bave_, spittle. Hence the middle
age Latin term for a fool, _bavosus_. See Ducange _Gloss_. This is
a very plausible etymology, and might stand well enough by itself;
but it must not be concealed that in some of the Northern languages
_Bavian_ signifies a monkey or _baboon_. Whether Fletcher, who seems
the only writer that has made use of this word, applied it to the fool
in question on account of the _monkey tricks_ that he played, remains
to be ascertained. If we could discover the names of the characters in
a French, Dutch, or German morris of this time, some light might be
thrown on the subject.
[188] See Carter's _Specimens of ancient sculpture and painting_, vol.
ii. pl. xiii. Nos. 5 and 13, and pl. xxxvi.
[189] Edit. 1585, 12mo, p. 299. See likewise the article _chironomus_
in p. 521.
[190] Coryat's _Crudities_, 1611, 4to, p. 9.
[191] Yet, in the reign of Charles the Second, Thomas Hall, another
puritanical writer, published his _Funebria Floræ, the Downfall
of May-games_, 1661, 4to, in which, amidst a great deal of silly
declamation against these innocent amusements, he maintains that
"Papists are forward to give the people May-poles, and the Pope's
holiness with might and main keeps up his superstitious festivals as a
prime prop of his tottering kingdome." That "by these sensual sports
and carnal-flesh-pleasing wayes of wine, women, dancing, revelling,
&c., he hath gained more souls, than by all the tortures and cruel
persecutions that he could invent." He adds, "What a sad account will
these libertines have to make, when the Lord shall demand of them,
where wast thou such a night? why, my Lord, I was with the prophane
rabble, stealing May-poles; and where wast thou such a day? why, my
Lord, I was drinking, dancing, dallying, ranting, whoring, carousing,
&c."
[192] _Every man out of his humour_, Act II. Scene 1.
[193] Spanish dictionary.
[194] See the plate of ancient cards, xxxi. in Strutt's _Sports and
pastimes_, where a _knave_ or attendant is dressed in this manner.
[195] Churchwardens' accounts at Kingston, in Lysons's _Environs of
London_, i. p. 227, 228.
[196] Stubbes's _Anatomie of abuses_, ubi supra.
[197] See Rowley's _Witch of Edmonton_, 1658, Act I. Scene 2.
[198] Stubbes, ubi supra. _Knight of the burning pestle_, Act IV.
[199] Stubbes, ubi supra. Jonson's _Masque of gipsies_. Holme's
_Academy of armory_, book iii. p. 169, whence the following cut has
been borrowed, which, rude as it is, may serve to convey some idea of
the manner in which the handkerchiefs were used.
[Illustration]
[200] _Knight of the burning pestle_, Act IV.
[201] Vox graculi, 1623, p. 49.
[202] Fletcher's _Women pleased_, Act IV.
[203] Greene's _Quip for an upstart courtier_, sign. B. 2.
[204] This tract is mentioned by Sir William Temple, in his Essay on
health and long life, from the communication of Lord Leicester. Howel,
in his _Parly of beasts_, 1660, has recorded that "of late years
ther were call'd out within three miles compasse ten men that were
a thousand years between them, one supplying what the other wanted
of a hundred years apiece, and they danc'd the _morris_ divers hours
together in the market place with a taborer before them 103 years old,
and a maid _Mariam_ 105."--p. 122. This seems to allude to the same
event.
[205] Compare No. 1, with the left hand figure at bottom in the print;
No. 4, with the left hand figure at top; No. 6, with the right hand
figure at bottom; and No. 7, with the right hand figure at top. This
last character in the Flemish print has a flower in his hat as well as
No. 4. Query if that ornament have been accidentally omitted by the
_English engraver_?
[206] This gentleman's death is recorded to have happened Oct. 22nd,
1779. Gough's _Brit. topogr._ ii. 239.
[207] See his continuation to _Ben Jonson's sad shepherd_, 1782, 8vo,
p. 255, a work of very considerable merit, and which will materially
diminish the regret of all readers of taste that the original was left
unfinished.
[208] _Robin Hood_, I. cviii.
INDEX.
"Commoditas homines studiosos invitavit librorum _Indices_
comparare, quibus minimo labore ad id quod quisque quæreret,
tanquam manu duceretur."--CICERO AD ATTICUM.
A. PAGE
Æsop's Fables, a ludicrous cut in some editions of them, 12
Æsopian fables, account of a collection of them made during the middle
ages, 361
----, moralized, 523
Affiancing, some account of this ancient ceremony, 67, 248
Ages of man, prints of them, 185
Alexander the great, his good savour, 150
----, his arms as one of the nine worthies, 150
Althea's firebrand, inaccurately alluded to by Shakspeare, 278
Alligator, a conjecture on the derivation of this word, 436
Alliterative and anapæstic lines, in Love's labour's lost, not
Shakspeare's, 133
Amaimon, the name of a Devil, 264
Ambrose, Saint, a hymn by him against nocturnal illusions, 128
Amulets against fascination, 303, 305
----, phallic, 304
Anachronisms, those of Shakspeare pointed out, 488
Angels, cracked, 460
Anglo-Norman song, 447
Apemantus, his character whence borrowed, 356
Apollonius Tyaneus, account of this romance, 398
April and May, to smell, 45
Appeal for treason, the ceremony observed in the combats on that
occasion, 317, 487
Arbeau Thoinot, his Orchesographie, a curious treatise on dancing, 135,
301
Archee or Archy Armstrong, the fool of James I. and Charles I., 502,
505, 513
Armin, Robert, an imitator of Shakspeare in his play of The Valiant
Welshman, 476
Arthur's show, some account of it, 283
Artillery, names given to it formerly, 261
Ars moriendi, account of a print copied from it, 325
Arvals, description of them, 439
Asmodeus, the demon of nocturnal illusions, 129
Ass, receipt to make a man resemble one, 119
Autolycus, not a minstrel, 216
----, whence his character taken, 217
B.
Bacon, Lord, story from his apophthegms, 276
Badge, account of this ancient mark of servitude, 205
----, representation of it, 209
Bagpipe woollen, the true reading, 162
Banks, some account of him and his horse, 131
Banshee, an Irish fairy, 237
Bardolph, his face, the subject of Falstaff's wit, 267
Bartholomæus de proprietatibus rerum, account of this book, 487
Basilisco oaths, 247
Basilisk, its fabulous property, 321
Batman upon Bartholome, its original price, 6
Battles, the absurd way of representing them on the ancient stage, 296
Bauble, the fool's, description of various sorts of it, 386, 509
Bavian fool, 593
Beadles, their ancient dress, 293
Bear-licking, popular notions respecting it, 330
Beaufort, Cardinal, strictures on a celebrated painting of his death, 325
Beaumont and Fletcher, one edition of their plays curious for the
prints, 489
Bed, blessing of the bridal, 485
Bellona's bridegroom, this expression defended, 228
Bell-savage, sign of the, explained, 61
Belly and the members, origin of this apologue investigated, 361
Benzoria, a sort of witch or fairy, 236
Bercheur or Berchorius, his Repertorium morale, 528
----, whether the author of the Gesta Romanorum, _ib._
Bermuda, island of, 3
Betrothing, some account of this ancient ceremony, 67, 248
Bestiarium, an old work on natural history, 522, 524
Bills, the setting up of, 101
Bird-bolts, explained, 102
Blessing of beds, an ancient ceremony, 126
---- of chambers, _ib._
Blue coats, 205
Boccaccio's novels, a very ancient English translation of them pointed
out, 103
----, account of the English translation of his Decameron, 382
Bond story in the Merchant of Venice, remarks on it, 171
Boot, torture of the, explained, 21
Bow, the awkward use of it by crowkeepers, 417
Bows, materials of which they were made in England, 244
Bras, the ancient pronunciation of this French word ascertained, 310
Brawl, account of this ancient dance, 134
Brazen tombs, meaning of this expression, 130
Breaking the little finger, a token of amorous dalliance, 262
Breeches bible, particulars relating to it, 233
Bridal-bed, ceremony of blessing it, 123
Bromyard, John, an old English preacher, his Summa prædicantium
described, 526
Brothels, signs anciently belonging to them described, 397
----, jesters employed in them, 358, 378
Budha, a deity of Ceylon, story of him and a hare, 10
Bunyan, John, supposed to have been indebted to an old romance for the
materials of his Pilgrim's progress, 256
Burial service, particulars of it before the reformation, 222
C.
Cakes and ale, old custom relating to them, 55
Canary dance, description of, 136
Candlesticks, remarks on ancient ones, 308
Cardanus's comforte, a book used by Shakspeare, 461
Carol, an ancient one, 217
Carpet-knights, account of, 66
Casket story in the Merchant of Venice, remarks on it, 169, 486
Cat, why the favourite of witches, 243
Catullus, a remarkable coincidence between a passage in this author and
one in Shakspeare, 461
Cavendish's life of Wolsey, account of, 159
Cavendish, some remarks on his life of Wolsey, 344
Caxton's chronicle, some account of it, 260
----, his chess book not didactic, 522
----, not the author of a chronicle ascribed to him, 422, 512
Ceremonies, popular, modern corruptions in them noticed, 586
Chastellain, George, his account of the manner in which the duke of
Gloucester was put to death, 322
China dishes, when first brought into England, 78
Chopine, description of it, 457
Chrisome explained, 299
Cilhart, the favourite hound of Prince Llewellyn, a story relating to
him, 547
Clarence, duke of, the manner of his death, 323
Cleopatra, her trick upon Marc Antony, 369
Clerk of Chatham, in King Henry the Sixth, an unreal character, 327
Clown, various remarks on this character, 32, 74, 94, 151, 167, 191,
200, 224
Clowns in old plays, classification of them, 499
----, various remarks on, 374, 387, 398, 483, 497
----. See Fool.
Clocks, their antiquity in England, 138
Coin with cracked edges, hoarded by usurers, 459
Colevile of the dale, 289
Combats, single, in cases of treason, ceremonies observed in them, 317,
487
Comet, a medal stricken to commemorate that which appeared on the death
of Julius Cæsar, 364
Concert improperly used for consort, 314
Conde Lucanor, a Spanish collection of novels, 212
Conscience, its dispute with the flesh, the subject of an old Monkish
fable, 157
Contest devots, account of them, 521
Copley, Antony, account of a work written by him, 210
Cornelius's tub, uncertainty of the origin of this expression, 357
Coroners, their conduct satirized by Shakspeare, 476
Corporal of the field, his office explained, 138
Coryat, a curious quotation from him, 330
Cotgrave, the first edition of his valuable dictionary, 140
Coventry pageants, remarks on, 217
---- plays, an extract from one of them, 463
Covercle, whence derived, 282
Cressets, some account of them, 264
Cressida, how punished for her falsehood to Troilus, 299
Critic on Shakspeare, a female one censured, 379
Cross-gartering, fashion of explained, 57
Crotalum, account of this ancient instrument, 509
Crowns of the sun, the coins so called described, 396
Crying clubs, illustration of that custom, 344
Cude Yeddy, an idiot so called, 416
Cupid, his golden shaft, 53, 484
----, his blindness, 137
----, why called a hangman, 107, 146
Curry favour, origin of this phrase, 291
Curtain formerly placed before pictures, 53
Cymbeline, remarks on the story of this play, 381
D.
Dagonet, the fool of King Arthur in the romances of the round table,
some account of him, 283, 286
Daiphantus, a work by Scoloker, in which Hamlet is alluded to, 465, 478
Dame Habunde or Abunde, a fairy, 237
Dance of death, account of a remarkable one, 81
Dancing rapier, 193
Danes, formerly remarkable for hard drinking, 449
Death and the fool, a subject borrowed from the Dance of death, 80
---- and the lady, old representations of, 478
Dedications, prices of in the time of Elizabeth, 573
Deer, killed by ladies in ancient times, 139
Despenser, Hugh le, his arraignment in the original form, 274
Devices, whence those of the knights in Pericles were borrowed, 392
Devil, his roaring, 258
----'s ruff-shop, print of it, 220
----s invoked by witches, account of them, 315
Diana, a name for Hecate in modern times, 235
----, patroness of witches, 236
Dictionary, the first French and English, by Hollyband, afterwards
amplified by Cotgrave, 140
Dieu et mon droit, when this motto was originally used, 248
Dragon on Chinese porcelain, 18
----, a character in the morris dance, 600
Drinking horns, formerly carried by lunatics, &c., 415
Drinking pots with hoops, explained, 327
Duke, its ancient meaning, 111
Dun is in the mire, an old proverbial phrase, 425
E.
Edward shovel-boards, 33
Ego et rex meus, remarks on this expression, 341
Elbow, rubbing the, a popular superstition, 273
Elf-knots, 426
Elf-locks, _ib._
Elf-stones, _ib._
Elizabeth, Queen, a compliment to her, 341
Eloisa, some compositions by her noticed, 472
Ephesiacs of Xenophon, a romance which is supposed to have furnished a
material incident in the story of Romeo and Juliet, 436
Essex, Earl of, a supposed allusion to his death, 250
Euriphile, whence the name borrowed by Shakspeare, 378
Evil spirits, how the Greeks expelled them from dying persons, 326
Eyes, green, 30
----, grey, _ib._
F.
Fair lady of Norwich, origin of a curious story so entitled, 545
Fairies, delight in cleanliness, 122
----, miscellaneous remarks on them, 238
----, their blessing, 127
----, their immortality defended, 114
----, their rings, 111, 114
----, their song, 51
Falling of the axe, this expression examined, 187
Falstaff, the severity of his punishment censured, 294
Farmer, Doctor, a mistake in a note by him pointed out, 571
Fascination against the influence of evil eyes, remarks on it, 303
Fashions in dress, the English always remarkable for their variation of
them, 105
Fate, used by Shakspeare for fortune, and not death according to
Warburton, 146
Father friar, this expression explained, 84
Favel, the ancient name of a horse, 291
Fica, 303
Ficus, remarks on the disease so called, 304
Fig, making the, explained, 302
Fig of Spain, 307
Finis coronat opus, remarks on this phrase, 199
Florio's First fruits, some account of that book, 140
Fool, death's, 80
----, fortune's, 146
----, time's, 273
----, various remarks on this character, 18, 55, 74, 94, 198, 200
----, Charles the First's, 502
----, city and corporation, 500
----, court, 502
----, domestic, 499, 501
----, Duke of Mantua's, story of him, 505
----, Earl of Suffolk's, 503
----, female, 500
----, fortune's, 431
----, in brothels, 358, 500
----, in dumb shows at fairs, 501
----, in the mysteries and moralities, 500
----, Lord Mansel's, 504
----, Louis the Thirteenth's, 505
----, morris, 501, 592
----, mountebank's, 501
----, Pope's, _ib._
----, proverb relating to him explained, 506
----, Sir Thomas More's, 513
----, stage, his office, 507, 514
----, story of a Welsh one, 503
----, strumpet's, 358, 500
----, tavern, 500
----, various remarks on this character, 358, 412, 419, 483, 497
----, Whitson ale, 501
----, William the Conqueror's, _ib._
Fool's bauble, 509
---- cockscomb, 508
---- combat with death, 394
---- dress, 507, 510
---- general mode of behaviour, 504
---- punishment, 505
Fools, begged, 148
----, pre-eminence of those in Shakspeare's plays, 514
----, their decline, 503, 515
----. See Clowns.
Fortunatus, origin of the story of this romance, 553
Fox-tails, how worn by ladies in the reign of Edward I., 512
French crown, 76
---- songs and ballads, 446, 472, 474
Friar and the boy, a popular story used by Shakspeare, 14
Frier John and frier Richard, a curious story so entitled, 392, 545
---- Tuck, origin of his name, 587
Funeral feasts, borrowed from the ancients, 439
G.
Gascoine, justice, an anachronism concerning him, 293
Gentlemen, what they formerly were, 214, 223
----, who were so formerly, 429, 476, 486
Gesta Romanorum, 400, 401, 402, 403, 420
---- ----, some account of it, 167, 170
---- ----, a curious story from an ancient English MS. of it, 172
---- ----, analysis of a work under this name composed in England, 537
---- ----, inquiries concerning its authors, 527, 571
---- ----, manuscripts of it, 531, 536, 574
---- ----, printed editions of it, 532, 571, 575
---- ----, question examined whether composed in England, 535
---- ----, stories from it used in the pulpit, or otherwise to entertain
the monks, 527
---- ----, translations of it, 533, 571
---- ----, two works under this name, 520
Ghosts retire at the approach of day, 120
----, damned, 466
----, reasons for their appearing, 450
----, why exclusively addressed by scholars, 438
----, why said to fast, 451
----, why they disappeared at the dawn of day, 452
Gilliflower, applied by Perdita to a painted woman, 219
Gilt two-pences, 290
Ginger, in great use formerly as a stomachic, 88
Girdle, turning of the, explained, 109
Gis, a corruption of Jesus, 475
Gloucester, duke of, discordant accounts of his death, 322
Giving hands, an old expression for bestowing applause, 129
Glow-worm's fire, 118
Goblin, what it signified in former times, 242
Golden legend, a story from that work, 239
Gowrie conspiracy, 213
Gower, supposed to have translated the Gesta Romanorum into English, 572
Grace, when this title was first used, 320
Grammatical errors in Shakspeare, 181
Gray, Mr., borrowed from Shakspeare, 343
Green sleeves, an old ballad, 37
---- eyes, less uncommon formerly than at present, 433
---- sleeves, some account of an old time so called, 484
Guido's painting of Bacchus and Ariadne, remarks on, 29
Guido of Colonna, his Troy book not an original work as usually
supposed, but borrowed from Benoit de Saint More a Norman
French poet, 353
Guillelmus Hilacensis, singular title bestowed on himself, 523
Guy Faux, how treated by the modern populace, 586
H.
Halfpence, tearing pieces into, explained, 107
Halifax gibbet, 188
Hamlet, alluded to in Scoloker's Daiphantus, 478
----, enigmatical speech by him explained, 469
Hamlet, his madness, 456
Harlequin, the successor to the old vice of our theatres, 288
Harry ten shillings, when first coined, 283
Hay, an ancient dance, a sort of brawl, 146
Heaping coals of fire on a person's head, explanation of this phrase, 423
Heart, the seat of courage among the ancients, 365
Hearts and hands, 482
Hecate, how accented by Shakspeare, 122
----, her team, 121
----, miscellaneous remarks on, 235
Helmet, some observations on this part of ancient armour, 269
Henbane, 452
----, Shakspeare's insane root, 229
Heraldry ridiculed by Shakspeare, 476
Herb John, a proverbial expression relating to it, 481
Hermit of Prague, 66
Herne's oak, 51
Herod, account of his character in the old mysteries, 463
----, his character in the old mysteries illustrated, 85
Herodias, 236, 237
Higa, mistake concerning its etymology, 306
Hobby-horse, a character in the morris dance, 595
Holinshed, an error in his chronicle, 297
Hollyband, his real name Sainliens, 139
Horn, romance of King, 2
Horned head-dresses of the ladies, 125
Horse, the dancing, account of, 131
Horses, ancient names of, 291
Hugo de Sancto Victore, some tales and fables ascribed to him, 524
Hume, Mr., a singular remark by him, 323
Hundred merry tales, discussion relating to them, 102
Hyena, 189
I.
Idiots, begging of them, 148
Imagines Mortis, a series of prints supposed to have been known to
Shakspeare, 252
Infamis digitus, 302
Israel Von Mecheln, account of a curious print engraven by him
representing a morris dance, 585
Jachimo, remarks on this name, 375
Jack of the clock-house, 337
Janus, his double head difficult to explain, 154
Jesus, corruption of his name into Gis, 475
----, name of, inscribed on swords, 455
Jews, their usury, 155
Joculator, ancient meaning of this word, 502
Jourdain, Margery, some account of her, 316
Judas, an allusion to him,. 215
K.
Kaukie, a sort of fairies, 239
Killigrew, not a regular jester, 503
King Henry the Sixth, account of prayers composed by him, 337
---- ---- ---- ----, reasons why the whole of the plays on his reign
were not written by Shakspeare, 332
King Lear, an unpublished story of him and his daughters, 420
Kirke, Colonel, his conduct misrepresented by Mr. Hume, 95
Kirtle, some observations on it, 282, 294
Kissing, part of the ancient ceremony of betrothing, 248
Knight, remarks on this title, 378
Knights topers, ceremony of dubbing them, 293
L.
Labyrinthus, the author of this Latin comedy indebted to Shakspeare, 427
Lady of the May, 589
Lancaster, Duke of, an error relating to him corrected, 277
Lark, parallel passages relating to his singing extracted from old
poets, 375
Lavolta, an ancient dance described, 300
Law of the twelve tables, permitting a creditor to mangle the debtor's
body, 178
Lawyers compared to frogs by an old monkish writer, 528
Leland probably translated the Gesta Romanorum, 571, 573
Lenox, Mrs., the injustice of some of her criticisms on Shakspeare, 97,
110
Lion, generosity of this animal, 189
Liver, the seat of love, 38
Liveries of servants, 206
Lord of the May, 590
Love, blindness of, noticed by Chaucer, 138
Love's labour's lost, this play supposed to have been taken from a
French novel, 152
Lowth, Bishop, mistaken in his opinion concerning wastel bread, 444
Lucifer the morning star, Aurora's harbinger, 120
Lullaby songs, remarks on them, 383
---- ----, specimens of, 385
Lydgate, his poem against horned head-dresses, 125
Lydgate, monk of Bury, supposed to have been concerned in an English
translation of the Gesta Romanorum, 572
Lying at Ladies' feet, an ancient custom, 466
M.
Machiavellus, an unpublished Latin play, 163
Maiden, an instrument for beheading criminals, some account of it, 188
Maid Marian, her character in the morris dance described, 588
Maillard, Father, his sermons resemble those of the Methodists, 88
Majesty, when first used as a title by sovereigns, 319
Making the fig, explained, 302
Man, how expressed in the Chinese language, 415
Man in the moon, remarks on him, 9
Manuscript, account of a beautiful one, 471
Manus lasciva, 303
Maret, fool of Louis XIII., story of him, 505
Marian, derivation of this name, 588
Marie de France, a fable written by her, 525
Marigold, 219
Markham, Jervis, author of "a health to the gentlemanly profession of
serving men", 207
Marshall, John, some account of him, 551
Mary, when this name first used, 589
Masks, 28
Masques, representations of ancient, 425
Matachins, dance of, 578
May-dew on fairy rings, superstition relating to it, 112
May games, 581, 584
---- ---- censured by the Puritans, 595
May lady, 589
Measure for measure, remarks on the story of it, 94
---- ---- ----, a story resembling its plot, 484
Medlars, some remarks on them, 186
Merchant of Venice, remarks on the story of it, 167
Merchant, particular application of this word in the time of Shakspeare,
429
Mill-sixpences, 33
Milton imitates Shakspeare, 113, 117, 130
Minstrels, some remarks on them, 216
Misletoe, ancient prejudice against the berries of it, 386
Moidor, its etymology, 309
Monarch of the North, a Devil invoked by witches, 315
Monkies, the ancient manner of retaining them, 335
Montfaucon, a mistake by him pointed out, 455
Moon, eclipse of, ideas of various nations concerning it, 18
Moon, how represented by the Chinese, 10, 243
---- ---- ---- by the Egyptians, 243
----, its moisture, 116
----, use of it among witches, 16
Mooncalf, 9
Morality, singular incident in one, 515
Moralizations, the practice of adding them to various works in former
times, 522
Morris dance, characters of which it was composed, 586
---- ----, different sorts of it described, 581
---- ----, etymology of, 572
---- ----, French, 579
---- ----, music to a French one, 580
---- ----, origin of, 577
---- ----, representations of it described, 584
---- ----, when first introduced into England, 580
Morris dancers described, 601
Morton, Earl of, the manner of his execution, 188
Mother Bombie, 64
Mother Cole, some resemblance between her character and that of
Falstaff, 276
Muffler, description of this article of female dress, 47
Muckle John, fool of Charles I., 502
Music, defence of it, against Lord Chesterfield and Mr. Steevens, 165
N.
Naked man with shears, this emblem of the versatility of fashion not
peculiar to the English, 106
Nashe, a story from his Lenten stuffe, 368
Needle-work, ancient, some account of it, 59
Neptune, converted into a mischievous fairy, 240
Nicholas, Saint, why the patron of scholars, 26
Nicholas's clerks, a name for highwaymen, 27
Nicneven, 237
Night-mare, charm against it, 126
Night spells, 127
Nine men's morris, an account of this game and of the origin of the
term, 114
Norman drinking song, 447
North, monarch of the, a Devil so called, 315
Northbrooke, John, a puritanical writer in the manner of Stubbes, 135
O.
Oberon, king of the fairies, 113
Occleve, indebted to the Gesta Romanorum for two of his stories, 552, 570
Occleve, supposed to have translated the Gesta Romanorum into English,
572
Odo de Ceriton, his tales and fables, 524
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----, specimens of them, 525
Orleans, duke of, account of his poems, 471
Ovid, his Metamorphoses moralized, 522
P.
Pageant of the nine worthies, 149
---- of the sea, 154
Painters, their errors in costume, 490
Pandarus, an allusion to him, 311
Paradin's heroical devises, a book probably used by the author of
Pericles, 392
Parke's Curtaine drawer of the world, a book of great merit, 116
----, William, quotations from his Curtaine drawer of the world, 360, 418
Partizan, a different weapon from the pike, 370
Passameasure, music to an old dance so called, 281
Patch, not the real name of a fool as commonly supposed, 158
Patenson, the fool of Sir Thomas More, 513
Paul's, St., cathedral, bills formerly stuck up there as now at the
Royal Exchange, 101
Pavan, an ancient dance, 72
Peacock pie, 448
Pengelden, Rees, a Welsh fool, story of him, 503
Penmanship in the time of Elizabeth remarkably beautiful, 87
Pentapolis, account of, 388
Pericles, the story of this play examined, 398
Perseus and Andromeda, errors of artists in representing the story of
it, 348
Perseus's horse, a critique on it, 347
Perspective glasses, 73
Pheasant pie, 448
Phrases, particular ones in the mouths of theatrical characters, 37
Physicians formerly attended by servants to carry their swords, _ib._
Picture of old Adam new apparelled, 226
Pillory, remarks on this mode of punishment, 90
----, several specimens of it represented, 91
Platting of horses' manes, a superstitious notion explained, 425
Players censured for their stage interpolations, 498
Poking-sticks, 220
Poor Tom, hints for dressing this character on the stage, 415
Preachers, account of ancient, 523
----, their custom of introducing stories into their sermons, 521
Proverbs, old ones explained, 506, 525
Provincial roses, account of, 467
Provost, the story of one, 87
Punch, Dr. Johnson mistaken in his opinion concerning the origin of this
theatrical character, 469
Purgatory, allusions to it in Measure for measure, 82
Puritans burlesqued the music of the Papists, 218
Putscet, a deity of the Samogitæ, 239
Q.
Quail-fighting, remarks on, 367
Queen of Sheba, an ancient sign, explained, 61
R.
Raoul le Fevre, account of his history of Troy, 354
Rapier, account of this weapon, 39
----, engraving of an old one, 279
Receipt to make men seem like horses, 484
Red, an emblem of courage, 156
Reels danced by witches, 370
Retainers, a sort of servants, 206
Reynard the fox, when this romance was composed, 526
Richard III., his deformity, 335
Riddles, their occasional introduction into ancient romances, 389
Riding the wild mare, a childish sport, 282
Rings interchanged on betrothing, 68
Ritson, Mr., a mistake by him corrected, 605
Rivets in armour, when closed up, 308
Robin Rush, the idiot fool of Lord Bussy Mansel, 504
Robinson, Richard, account of a work by him, 285
---- ----, prices of his dedications, 574
---- ----, some curious works by him specified, 573
Rome, pronunciation of this word in Shakspeare's time, 364
Romeo and Juliet, the original story of this play borrowed in part from
a Greek romance, 436
Rosemary, a token of remembrance, 218
----, its use at funerals, 434
Roses of Provins, 467
Rowe, his edition of Shakspeare curious for the prints, 489
Ruffs, satirized in old prints, 220
Rushes, custom of strewing them in halls, &c., 294
Rush ring marriages, explained, 194
S.
Sack, remarks on it, 256
Sackvile's Complaynt of the duke of Bvckingham, a poem ridiculed by
Shakspeare, 281
Saint Helen's fire, a meteor, 3
Satyr's dance, 222
Scoloker, Antony, his Daiphantu, 465, 478
Seldom comes the better, explanation of this phrase, 333
Seven wise masters, the Gesta Romanorum indebted to it, 544, 547
Setebos, 7
Senile odium, of Stubbes, quoted, 129
Sexten, a fool belonging to Wolsey, 158
Shakspeare, his grammatical errors, 181
----, his correct knowledge of the ceremonies belonging to the
Romish Church, 325
----, his metaphors often careless and confused, 338
----, ridiculed by Fletcher, 451, 452
----, the quarto editions of his plays full of typographical errors, 463
Sheriff's fool, 198
Shields in heraldry, conjectures on their origin, 477
Ship of fools, by Brandt, cited, 510
---- ---- ----, English prose translation of it by Watson, 462
Shove-groat, an ancient game, 279
Shovel-board, an ancient game, _ib._
Shylock, what his stage dress should be, 155
Sidney, Sir Philip, reprobated the custom of introducing fools on the
stage, 498
Sights, remarkable love for strange ones among the English, 9
Sir Isumbras, an incident in one of the stories in the Gesta Romanorum,
borrowed from that romance, 543
Sleep, death's counterfeit, 232
Slide-groat, an ancient game, 279
Solomon's judgment, stories in imitation of it, 550
Somers, Will, portraits of him described, 336, 512
Somner, Mr., his erroneous opinion on wastel bread, 446
Songs, ancient, 385, 414, 433, 447, 474
Southern wind, destructive, 6
Spirits belonging to magicians, 5
Staff tipped with horn, explained, 109
Stag, his secretion of tears, 183
Stalking-horses, bulls, &c., 106
Stanihurst's Virgil, passages from it, 249
Stars on ancient medals, expressive of immortality, 397
Stone, a celebrated fool, 505
Stones, superstitions relating to them, 426, 453
Stothard, Mr., his painting of Chaucer's pilgrims, 490
Stowe, an error in his Annals pointed out, 290
----, engraving of an initial letter in his Survey of London, 81
Straparola, his novels quoted, 212
Strappado, a military torture explained, 263
Stumble at the threshold, explanation of this phrase, 331
Suicides how buried formerly, 476
Swan, the death-song of this bird mentioned in various authors, 161
Swan's Speculum mundi, cited for some lines in Shakspeare with
variations, 428
Sword and buckler, remarks on their use, 259
Sword, used as a bridge by heroes of ancient chivalry, _ib._
----, swearing by it, 455
Swords, mottoes on them, 279
Symposii ænigmata, some account of the work so called, 399
T.
Table books, description of those used in Shakspeare's time, 454
Tabor, an instrument used by fools, 61
Tabourot, the earliest writer on dancing, 579
Taming of the shrew, stories resembling that of the induction to this
play, 211
---- ---- ---- ----, outline of the play itself in a Spanish work, 212
Tempest, whence the construction of this play was suggested, 4
Theobald defended against Warburton, 218
Thor's hammers, stones so called that were supposed to control the manes
of the dead, 453
Thunderbolt, superstitions relating to it, 369
Time's fool, 273
Timon of Athens, his epitaph, 358
Toad, remarks on the supposed stone or jewel in its head, 181
Tollett, Mr., remarks on his curious painting on glass of a morris
dance, 584
Tom Piper, a character in the morris dance, 595
Torch bearers at masques, account of, 424
Touchstone, his real character, 181
Trencher-scraping, 11
Tristan de Leonnois, a riddle from that romance, 389
Trinculo, how he should be dressed on the stage, 12, 18
Troilus and Cressida, the origin of their story examined, 352
Troth-plighting, 24
Troy, the names of its gates borrowed by Shakspeare from Caxton's
Recuyles or destruction of Troy, and not from Lydgate, 346
----, the siege of it a frequent subject on old tapestry, 346
Trump, an ancient game at cards explained, 374
Tyrants in the old mysteries, great swearers, 85
Tyrian tapestry, explained, 204
U.
Ucalegon, Dr. Bentley mistaken in his conception of that character, 277
Unities, neglected by the ancient theatrical writers, 296
Urchins' dance, 7
Urinals, the portraits of physicians anciently represented with them, 45
Usurers, some of their practices described, 459
Valentine, a palace so called at Turin, 472
Valentine and Orson, some editions of this romance specified, 462
Valentines, custom of choosing examined, 470
Vice of the old moralities, etymologically considered, 287
----, an ancient theatrical character, 500, 510
Virgil's gnat, some account of it, 548
Vow of the peacock, 290
W.
Wandering knight, the name of a spiritual romance, 255
Warton, Mr., character of his History of English poetry, 519
Warburton, his hyper-criticisms, 217, 294
Wassel, the origin and meaning of this word, 441
Wastel bread, explained, 444
Watson, translated Valentine and Orson, and The ship of fools, 462
Watts, Mr., his erroneous account of wastel bread, 445
Wax tablets, some account of, 455
We three, picture of, 54
Whale to virginity, meaning of this phrase, 199
Whitney's emblems, probably used by the author of Pericles, 393
Wicliffe's bible, an invaluable monument of the English language, 251
Will the taborer, a Welsh fool, 504
Williames, a fool belonging to Wolsey, 158
Willow-garlands, the custom of wearing them explained, 104, 164
Wind, an image relating to it, 482
Wine, formerly made in England, 449
Winter's tale, character of it, 224
Wise woman, 60, 63
Wits, fittes and fancies, account of a book so called, 210
---- ---- ---- ----, a story from that work, 468
Wolsey, Cardinal, account of his fools, 158
---- ----, articles against him, 341
---- ----, improperly censured for placing a cardinal's hat on his
coins, 343
---- ----, Shakspeare's allusion to a strumpet kept by him, 341
X.
Xenophon of Ephesus, a romance written by him supposed to have been used
by the author of the story of Romeo and Juliet, 436
----, Two of the incidents in his Ephesiacs occur in Cymbeline, 437
Y.
Yellow, an epithet applied to jealousy, 105
Yew, bows made of it, 245
----, connected with witchcraft, 244
----, why planted in church-yards, _ib._
Younger brothers, their servile degradation in former times, 208
Z.
Zimimar, monarch of the North, a Devil invoked by witches, 315
GLOSSARIAL INDEX.
A. PAGE
Abstract, 372
Addrest, 121
Ajaxes, 151
Anon, 263
Apron, 316
Aqua-vitæ, 42
Argosies, 152
Aroint, 228
Aspect, 225
Assinego, 349
Aunt, 113
B.
Barnacles, 14
Bases, 391
Basilisk, 261
Bate, 269
Beadsman, 20
Beaver, 269
Become, 28
Bewray, 329
Blue-bottle, 293
Boggy-bo, 202
Boil, 411
Bombast, 151
Bo-peep, 404
Boots, 21
Bout, 143
Brake, 118
Brands, 377
Bras, 310
Breech'd, 232
Brown-paper commodities, 87
Bugs, 202
Bully-rook, 36
Burn'd, 412
Buss, 248
But, 205
Buz, 456
C.
Canary, 45
Candle-holder, 424
Canon, 439
Cantle, 266
Careires, 34
Carouse, 441
Carry coals, 423
Cast, 187
Cat-a-mountain, 41
Caviare, 460
Chace, 298
Charming, 383
Chopine, 457
Cheer, 119
Child of fancy, 130
Christom, 299
City-ward, 44
Clamour, 221
Cleft, 31
Cock and Pye, 290
Cockney, 407
Codpiece, 412
Complete, 450
Concent, 313
Conclusion, 389
Consented, 313
Constant, 162
Corinthian, 262
Corporal, 141
Corrosive, 324
Coted, 141
Countercheck, 248
Counterfeit, 162
Crack'd within the ring, 459
Cruzado, 481
Cry'd game, 105
Culverin, 261
Curry, 291
Curst and brief, 62
Curtail, 38
Curtal, 197
Cypress, 56
D.
Dark-room, 64, 67
Damn'd, 466
Daughters of the game, 351
Day-woman, 133
Dictynna, 140
Diet, 357
Discreet, 282
Dissembling, 333
Dog-apes, 184
Domineer, 205
Draw Dun from the mire, 425
Drawn fox, 267
Driveling, 429
Ducdamé, 184
Duff, 232
Dusty, 246
E.
Eager, 454
E'er, 1, 250
Eleven and twenty, 209
Elves, 15
Embowel'd, 274
Endenes, 217
Enemy, 62, 80
Erinnys, 254
Estridge, 373
Estridges, 268
Extravagant, 439
Eyas-musket, 46
F.
Fall, 77
Fast, 452
Fear, 202
Figo, 302
Filed, 143
Fine's a crown, 202
Flap-dragons, 281
Flaw, 411
Flourish, 86
Forfeits, 93
Forked, 415
Free, 56
Fret, 468
Fulsome, 155
G.
Gadding, 434
Gaze, 165
Geck, 74
Gentle, 214
Gib-cat, 256
Gilded tombs, 160
Gird, 315
Gis, 475
Gleek, 118, 435
Good b'ye, 385
God-dig-you-den, 139
Gongarian, 36
Good-den, 247
Grace, 319
Green-sour, 16
Griping, 435
Guerdon, 137
H.
Hallidom, 28
Handy-dandy, 417
Ha no nonny, 414
Have at you, 340
Hebenon, 453
Henchman, 116
Hiren, 278
Hoodman, 198
Horned, 121
Horse's health, 415
Hunt's up, 432
I.
Jack, 336
Idle, 480
Imbrocato, 144
Imp, 131
Impertinency, 418
Impeticos, 55
Inhibit, 234
Inhoop'd, 367
Intergatory, 166
Insculp, 159
John Drum's entertainment, 198
K.
Keeps, 76
Kirtle, 282
L.
Lavatch, 200
Lavolta, 300
Lead apes in hell, 203
Leman, 49
Lender's books, 413
Libya, 223
Light o'love, 108
Likes, 27
Lion-gait, 299
Lover, 77
Lozel, 215
Lubber the world, 66
Lullaby, 383
Lush, 8, 117
Lustyhood, 108
Lusty young men, 424
M.
Macduff, 232
Majesty, 319
Master of fence, 35
Mate, 201
Meiny, 407
Merely, 1
Milch, 461
Mince, 50
Mind of love, 160
Model, 252
Mome, 225
Momentany, 111
Monarcho, 140
Month's mind, 24
Morisco, 321
Mumbudget, 50
Mysteries, 339
N.
Naples, 363
Nice, 372
Night-rule, 119
Nott-pated, 263
Novum, 149
O.
'Od's pitikins, 381
Ostent, 372
Ourselves, 234
P.
Paddock, 227
Pandar, 350
Parlous, 334
Passes, 49
Passy-measure, 72
Patch, 158
Pavin, 72
Paucas palabris, 201
Peacock, 467
Perspective, 73
Picked, 477
Pick-thanks, 266
Pillicock, 413
Pipe-wine, 45
Pittie-ward, 44
Point-device, 57
Pompæ, 392
Possess'd, 86
Prattlings, 462
Preserved, 79
Prince of the world, 200
Prone, 76
'Proof, 210
Prouder, 251
Provincial roses, 467
Pur, 200
Purveyor, 230
Pygmalion's images, 85
Q.
Quail, 183
Quaint, 5
Quarrel, 112, 227
Quarry, 227, 245
Quart d'ecu, 199
Quests, 86
Quillets, 142
Quinquenove, 149
R.
Ragozine, 89, 153
Ranged, 367
Recorder, 31, 467
Red-lattice, 42
Reels, 370
Resolved, 85
Rest, 250
Roister, 441
Ropery, 429
Rope-tricks, 430
Rouse, 441
Rowel-head, 277
Ruddock, 380
Rule, 119
Runaway's eyes, 431
S.
Sadness, 330
Sack and sugar, 256
Saint George to borrow, 337
Saint George to thrive, 338
Sallet, 328
Sans, 185, 486
Scape, 249
Sere, 456
Silver-sweet, 428
Sirrah, 258
Skains-mates, 430
Sop o' the moonshine, 405
Sorts, 297
Square, 112
Stale, 201
Statue, 30
Sticking-place, 231
Stoccado, 144
Straight, 475
Strain, 37
Stronds, 254
Sufficiency, 75
Swelling heavens, 266
T.
Take the head, 253
Tawny Spain, 130
Tester, 23
Though, 437
Three-hoop'd, 327
Three-men songs, 218
Three-pil'd, 147
Throstle, 154
Tib, 397
Tib and Tom, 196
Timely-parted, 321
Tirra-lirra, 217
To borrow, 338
To boot, 337
Tongue, 266
Triumviry, 141
Troll, 12
Twangling Jack, 204
Turlygood, 406
U.
Unhack'd, 65
Unpitied, 87
Urchins, 6, 9
Usance, 156
Usher, 371
Vailing, 147
Venew, 143
Very, 27
Vice, 469
Vile, 51
Visor, 270
W.
Waxen, 297
Whiffler, 311
Wimpled, 137
Winchester goose, 352
Winter-ground, 380
Wooden pricks, 405
Woe-begone, 277
Wrest, 350
Y.
Yorick, 477
THE END.
PRINTED BY RICHARD KINDER,
GREEN ARBOUR COURT, OLD BAILEY.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Added anchor for footnote on p. 511.
Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors.
Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
Enclosed distinctive font in ~tildes~.