_"Nettle in, Dock out."_--Sometime since, turning over the leaves of
Clarke's _Chaucer_, I stumbled on the following passage in "Troilus and
Cressida," vol. ii. p. 104.:--
"Thou biddest me that I should love another
All freshly newe, and let Creseide go,
It li'th not in my power leve brother,
And though I might, yet would I not do so:
But can'st thou playen racket to and fro,
_Nettle' in Dock out_, now this now that, Pandare?
Now foule fall her for thy woe that care."
I was delighted to find the charm for a nettle sting, so familiar to my
childish ear, was as old as Chaucer's time, and exceedingly surprised to
stumble on the following note:--
"This appears to be a proverbial expression implying inconstancy; but
the origin of the phrase is unknown to all the commentators on our
poet."
If this be the case, Chaucer's commentators may as well be told that
children in Northumberland use friction by a dock-leaf as the approved
remedy for the sting of a nettle, or rather the approved charm; for the
patient, while rubbing in the dock-juice, should keep repeating,--
"Nettle in, dock out,
Dock in, nettle out,
Nettle in, dock out,
Dock rub nettle out."
The meaning is therefore obvious. Troilus is indignant at being recommended
to forget this Cressida for a new love, just as a child cures a
nettle-sting by a dock-leaf. I know not whether you will deem this trifle
worth a corner in your valuable and amusing "NOTES."
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