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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 Y

 
 SIIAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED.
 
 Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant, 
 Omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta. 
 Aurea, perpetua semper dignissima vita. 13. 
 
 Ltjcbetius iii.
 
 SHAKESPEARE 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY OLD AUTHORS 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM LOWES RUSHTON 
 
 OB GHAT'S INN', BARBISTEB-AT-IiA'W 
 
 Corresponding Member of the Berlin Society for the Study of Modem 
 
 Laii \i,tii.ir of 'Shakespeare a Lawyer,' 'Shakespeare's Legal 
 
 Maxims,' 'Shakespeare Illustrated by the Lex Bcrlpta,' <fec 
 
 Sfulta ignoramus qua nobis non lalerent si veterum lectio 
 s fuit familiaris. — 10 Co. 73. 
 
 THE FIRST PART. 
 
 LONDON : 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 18G7. 
 
 1928429
 
 LOXDOS 
 
 PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. 
 SEW-STREET SQUARE
 
 NOTICE 
 
 Tins small volume contains a few extracts 
 from illustrations of Shakespeare, contributed, 
 since the year 1859, to the Berlin Society for 
 the Study of Modern Languages, and published 
 from time to time in the Archiv fur das Sta- 
 dium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen. 
 
 I will try to illustrate and explain many 
 obscure passages and words and expressions 
 of doubtful meaning in the Works of Shake- 
 SPEARB by extracts from old authors: some- 
 times I will give my own explanations and 
 offer suggestions for the consideration of the 
 reader, but when the extracts themselves 
 sufficiently illustrate and explain the passages 
 selected, and the words and expressions therein 
 contained, I will make no comment. 
 
 5 Essex Court, Temple : 
 Lony Vacation^ 1600.
 
 SHAKESPEAEE 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY OLD AUTHORS. 
 
 Bi rtram. Go with me to my chamber, and advise me. 
 I'll send her straight away : To-morrow 
 I'll to the wars, she to her single sorrow. 
 
 ParoUes. Why, these halls bound; there's noise in it. 
 — 'Tis hard ; 
 A yenmg man, married, is a man that's marr'd; 
 Therefore away, and leave her bravely ; go : 
 The king has done you wrong ; but, hush ! 'tis so. 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 Shakespeare in this passage alludes to a 
 figure called Atanaclasis, or the Rebound, thus 
 described by Puttenham : 
 
 Ye have another figure Avhich by his nature we may 
 call the Rebound, alluding to the tennis ball which, 
 being smitten with the racket, rehoundes backe again, 
 and where the last figure before played with two worde 
 somewhat like, this playeth with one word written all 
 alike, but carrying divers sences, as thus : 
 
 The maide tliaf soone married is, soone marred is. 
 
 B
 
 2 SIIAKESEEAEE ILLUSTEATED. 
 
 Or thus better, because married and marred be different 
 in one letter : 
 
 To pray for you ever I cannot refuse, 
 To pray ujion you I should you much abuse. 
 Or as we once sported upon a countrey fellow who 
 came to runne for the best game, and was by his occu- 
 pation a dyer, and had very bigge swelling legges : 
 
 He is but course to run a course, 
 
 Whose shankes are bigger then his thye, 
 
 Yet is his lucke a little worse, 
 
 That often dies before he dye. 
 
 Where ye see this word course and dye, used in divers 
 senses, one giving the Rebounde upon th' other. — The 
 Arte of English Poesie, 1589, Lib. iii. 
 
 And the reader will perceive that the line used 
 by Parolles, 
 
 A young man married is a man that's marr'd, 
 
 resembles the line, 
 
 The maid that soone married is soone marred is, 
 
 used by Puttenham, in his explanation of this 
 
 figure, the Rebound. 
 
 Par. Younger than she are happy mothers made. 
 Gap. And too soon marr'd are those so early made. 
 
 Pomeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Capulet also probably alludes to the Rebound, 
 
 and to the line used by Puttenham. 
 
 Bion. His daughter is to be brought by you to the 
 supper. 
 
 Luc. And then ? 
 
 Bion. The old priest of Saint Luke's church is at 
 your command at all hours.
 
 'CUM PRIVILEGIO.' 3 
 
 Luc. Ami what of all this ? 
 
 llimi. I cannot tell j expect they are busied about a 
 counterfeit assurance: lake yon assurance of her, ' cum 
 privilegio ad imprimendum solum : ' to the church ; take 
 the priest, clerk, ami Borne sufficient bonest witnesses. 
 
 Taming tin- Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 1. 
 
 The words ' cum privilegio ad imprimendum 
 
 solum,' which Shakespeare uses in this passage, 
 
 are sometimes seen on the title-pages of old 
 
 books announcing the sole privilege of printing 
 
 them, thus : 
 
 The vorkes of Geffrey Chaucer newlye printed, wyth 
 
 dyuers workes which w< neuer in print before: As in 
 
 the table more playnly doth appere. Cum Priuilegio 
 ad imprimendum Solum. Prynted by John Reynes, 
 dwellynge at the sygue of Saynte George, in Paul's 
 Church-yarde, 1542. 
 
 And I think that Shakespeare uses them in a 
 double, or rather in a covert sense. The in- 
 finitive of the Latin verb imprimo, in and 
 premO) signifies to press. Biondello therefore 
 says, in effect, ' take your assurance of her 
 with the sole privilege of pressing her,' and 
 this is an assurance taken in marriage : so that 
 the words, ' cum privilegio ad imprimendum 
 solum,' are applicable to a man who issues a 
 book from the press, and also to a man wh< 
 takes a woman in marriage. 
 
 U 2
 
 4 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Ch. Jtist. I then did use the person of your father ; 
 The image of his power lay then in nie : 
 And, in the administration of his law, 
 Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth, 
 Your highness pleased to forget my place, 
 The majesty and power of law and justice, 
 The image of the king whom I presented, 
 And struck me in my very seat of judgement; 
 Whereon, as an offender to your father, 
 I gave bold way to my authority 
 And did commit you. 
 
 2 Henry IV., Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 Injuria illata judici, seu locum tenenti regis, videtur 
 ipsi regi illata, maxime fiat in exercentem officium. — 
 Coke, 3 Inst. I. 
 
 Shakespeare in this passage probably refers 
 to this maxim, or to the law which it describes. 
 The Chief Justice says, ' When I did use the 
 person of your father, &c, you struck me in 
 my very judgment seat, whereon as an offender 
 to your father I did commit you ; ' and accord- 
 ing to this maxim, an injury offered to a judge, 
 or one holding the place of the king, is con- 
 sidered to be offered to the king himself, espe- 
 cially if done during the exercise of the office 
 of a judge. Also Aristotle, speaking Ilefi 
 {xbi'^wcov xa) ly^arrovcov cloixyjiautcov, says : 
 
 riou yap ovk ay uCtKi]<Jiitv, el ye Kal iv rw ciKaaTr)f>i<o ; 
 —lihd. Lib. i. 14.
 
 * STANDS ACCURSED.' 
 
 Malcolm. If such a one be fit to govern, speak : 
 I am as I Lave spoken. 
 
 Macduff. Fit to govern ! 
 
 No, not to live. — nation miserable, 
 With an untitled tyrant Hoody-scepter'd, 
 When sludt thou see thy wholesome days again ? 
 Since that the truest issue of thy throne 
 ]'>y his own interdiction stands accursed, 
 And does blaspheme his breed ? 
 
 Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 In the second dialogue between the Doer- . 
 
 and Student, Chapter LV., which contains 'the 
 
 eight questions of the Doctor, whether the 
 
 statute of 14th Edward the Third, of Sylva 
 
 ca3dua, stand with conscience,' are these words : 
 
 And it sccmeth to stand hardly with conscience to re- 
 port so many to stand accursed for following of the said 
 stat. and of the said prescription as there do, and yet to 
 do no more than hath bin done to bring them out of it. 
 
 Of this old book, the Doctor and Student, 
 Coke says : 
 
 Dialogus inter sacra) Theologiffi Doctorem et Legis com- 
 munis Studiosum, anno I'o lienr. VIII. conscriptus fait ab 
 anthore appelate S. Germin, viro sine dubio prudente et 
 juris turn municipalis turn Civiliset Canonici satis perito. 
 
 Sam. Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals. 
 
 Ore. No, for then we should be colliers. 
 
 Sam. 1 mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. 
 
 Ore. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of the 
 
 collar. 
 
 Borneo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 1.
 
 G SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Boy. ~Njm and Bardolph are sworn brothers in 
 filching ; and in Calais they stole a fire-shovel : I knew, 
 by that piece of service, the men would carry coals. 
 
 Henry V., Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 In this trouble the earle of Orrnond was greatlie 
 aided by Sir William Wise Knight, a worshipfull gentle- 
 man, borne in the city of Waterford, who deserving in- 
 deed the praise of that great vertue, whereof he bare 
 the name, grew to be of great credit in the conrt, and 
 stood highlie in King Henrie his grace, which he wholie 
 used to the furtherance of his friends, and never abused 
 to the annoiance of his foes. This gentleman was verie 
 well spoken, mild of nature, with discretion stout, as one 
 that in an upright quarell would bear no coles, seldome 
 in an intricate matter gravelled, being found at all 
 affaires to be of a jueasant wit. 
 
 Slender. All his successors gone before hira hath 
 done 't ; and all his ancestors that come after him may : 
 they may give the dozen white luces in their coat. 
 
 Shallow. It is an old coat. 
 
 Evans. The dozen white louses do become an old 
 coat well ; it agrees well, passant ; it is a familiar beast 
 to man, and signifies love. 
 
 Shallow. The luce is the fresh fish ; the salt fish is an 
 old coat. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Having lent the king his signet to seale a letter, who 
 having powdred erimits ingrailed in the seale, Why, 
 how now, Wise (quoth the king), what, hast thou lice 
 here ? And if it like your majestie, quoth Sir William, 
 a louse is a rich cote, for by giving the louse, I part 
 amies with the French King, in that he giveth the 
 floure de Hce. Whereat the King laughed to hearehow
 
 ' THE DOZEN WHITE LUCES.' 
 
 prctilie so biting a taunt (namlic proceeding from a 
 prince) was suddenlie turned to so pleasanta conceipt. — 
 A con!: n of the Oh of In Iwi d, Holinsbed. 
 
 Shakespeare seems to have been familiar with 
 Holinshed's Chronicles, and this passage may 
 have suggested the dialogue between Shallow, 
 Slender, and Evans. 
 
 Servant. My master preaches patience to him, while 
 His man with Bcissars tricks him like af I. 
 
 Comedy "/Errors, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Rights unsemely, on queynte manere, 
 He hym dight, as ye shall here. 
 A barher he callyd, withouten more, 
 And shove hym bothe behynd and before, 
 Qucntly endentyd, out and in ; 
 And also he shove half his chynne : 
 He seemyd a fole, that quoynte sire, 
 Bothe by hede and by atyre. 
 
 Weber's Metrical Eomances, Vol. ii. p. 340. 
 
 Abergavewn/y. I do know 
 
 Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have 
 By this so sicken'd their estates, that never 
 They shall abound as formerly. 
 
 y; <}, vm. O, many 
 
 Have broke their backs with laying manors on them 
 For this great journey. What did this vanity, 
 But minister communication of 
 A most poor issue ? 
 
 A" i' ry VIII. , Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 So ridiculous, moreover, we are in our attires, and 
 for cost so excessive, that as Hierome Baid of old, Uno
 
 8 SIIAKESPEAEE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 filo villarum insunt pretia, tino lino decies sestertium 
 mseritur: 'Tis an ordinary thing to put a thousand 
 oaks and an hundred oxen into a suit of apparel, to 
 wear a whole mannor on his back. — Burton's Anatomy of 
 Melancholy, Part iii. Sec. 2, Mem. 3. Subs. 3. 
 
 Hamlet. Sure, he, that made us with such large 
 discourse, 
 Looking before, and after, gave us not 
 That capability and godlike reason 
 To fust in us unused. 
 
 Act iv. Sc. 4. 
 
 Gewiss, der uns mit soldier Denkkraft schuf 
 Voraus zu schaun und riickwarts, gab uns nicht 
 Die Fahigkeit und gottlicke Vemunffc, 
 Urn ungebraucht in uns zu schimmeln. 
 
 SCHLEGEL. 
 
 The expression, ' looking before and after,' 
 which Shakespeare uses in Hamlet, is to be 
 found in the Iliad, and also in the Odyssey of 
 Homer : 
 
 6 yap olog vpa Tcpoamo km uTriarrii). 
 
 II. xviii. 250 ; Od. xxiv. 451. 
 
 der allein so vorwarts schaute wie riickwarts. 
 
 II, Voss. 
 der allein vorwarts hinschauet und riickwarts. 
 
 Od. Voss. 
 
 ouct 7i oice vo7)vai ujiu irpoaow kui OTriaaui. 
 
 II. i. 343. 
 
 Und nicht weiss er zu schauen im Geist vorwarts und 
 auch riickwarts. II. Voss. 

 
 1 LOOKING BEFORE AND AFTE 11.' 9 
 
 And the reader will perceive that Schlegel, in 
 translating that expression, uses almost the 
 same words which Voss uses in translating 
 those lines. 
 
 Macbeth. Methought I heard a voice cry ' Sleep no 
 more ! 
 Macbeth does murder sleep,' the innocent sleep, 
 Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, 
 The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
 Balm of hart minds, great nature's second course, 
 
 Chief nourisher in life's feast. 
 
 Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 <Z> AiXov vttvov 6i\yt,Tpov, inUovpov voaov, 
 wc '/cu not 77pocn~]\0t<; iv ciu\ri ye. 
 w tcotvio. Xi'iOi) tuJv KaKwv, ojq el aotpt) 
 icai ru'iai cvgtv^ovgiv evKrala Beoq. 214'. 
 
 Euripides, Orestes. 
 
 Somne, quies rerurn, placidissime Somne Deorura, 
 Pax animi, quern cura fugit, qui corda diurnis 
 Fessa ministeriis mulces, reparasque labori. 
 
 Ovid, Met. xi. 623. 
 
 K. John. The king is moved, and answers not to this. 
 Const. 0, be removed from him, and answer well. 
 
 Kinij John, Act iii. Sc. 1. 
 
 Petrucio. Myself am moved to vroo thee for my wife. 
 Katharma. .Moved! in good time: let him that 
 mm-' d you hither 
 love you hence : I knew you at the first 
 You were a moveable. 
 
 Taming the Shrew, Act ii. Sc. 1. 
 
 a 3
 
 10 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Nestor. "With due observance of thy godlike seat T 
 Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply 
 Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance 
 Lies the true proof of men. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 Anne. Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst 
 make 
 No excuse current, but to hang thyself. 
 
 Glou. By such despair, I should accuse myself. 
 Anne. And, by despairing, shouldst thou stand 
 excused ; 
 For doing worthy vengeance on thyself, 
 Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others. 
 
 Richard III., Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Launce. Thou shalt never get such a secret from me 
 but by a parable. 
 
 Speed. 'Tis well that I get it so. But, Launce, how 
 sayest thou, that my master is become a notable lover ? 
 
 Launce. I never knew him otherwise. 
 
 Speed. Than how ? 
 
 Launce. A notable lubber, as thou reportest him 
 to be. 
 
 Speed. Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistakest me. 
 Tv:o Gentlemen of Verona, Act ii. Sc. 5. 
 
 Ye have a figure by which ye play with a couple of 
 words or names resembling, and because the one seemes to 
 answere th' other by manner cf illusion, and doth, as it 
 were, nick him, I call him the nicknamer. If any other 
 man can give him a fitter English name, I will not be 
 angrie, but I am sure mine is veryneere the originall scnce 
 of Prosonomasia, and is rather a by-name geven in sport, 
 than a surname geven of any earnest purpose. As Tibe- 
 rius the Emperor, because he was a great drinker of wine 
 they called him by way of derision to his own name,
 
 1 LOVER AND LUBBER.' 11 
 
 Galdiufl Biberius Mero, insteade of Claudius Tiberius 
 Nero; and so a jesting frier that "wrote against Erasmus, 
 called him by resemblance to bis own name, Erransmus, 
 and are maintained by this figure Prosonomasia, or the 
 nicknamer. But. every name given in jest or by way of 
 a surname, if it do not resemble the true, is not by this 
 figure. Now, when such resemblance happens betweene 
 words of another nature, and not upon men's names, yet 
 doeth the Poet or maker iinde prety sport to play with 
 them in his verse, specially the Comicall Poet and the 
 Epigrammatist. Sir Philip Sidney in a dittie plaide very 
 pretily with these two words, love and live, thus : 
 
 And all my life I will confesse, 
 The lesse I love, I live the lesse. 
 
 And we in our Enterlude called the Woer, plaid with 
 these two words, lubber and lover, thus: the countrey 
 clowne came and woed a young maide of the Citie. and 
 beinij agreeved to come so oft, and not to have his 
 answere, said to the old nurse very impatiently : 
 
 Iche pray you, good mother, tell our young dame. 
 Whence I am come and what is my name ; 
 I cannot come a woing every day. 
 
 Quoth the nurse : 
 
 They be lubbers, not lovers, that so used to say. 
 
 Or as one replyed to his mistresse charging him with 
 some disloyaltie towards her : 
 
 Trove me, madame, ere ye fall I 
 
 Mcckc mindes should rather than accusi . 
 
 Here the words prove and reprove, excuse and accuse, 
 do pleasantly encounter, and (as it were) moek one 
 another by their much resemblance; and this is by the
 
 1-2 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 tigure Prosonomasia, as well as if they were men's proper 
 mimes, alluding to each other. — PuTTENHAM, The Arte 
 of English Poesie, Lib. iii. Chap. 19. 
 
 The reader will perceive that Shakespeare 
 plays with lover and lubber, excuse and ac- 
 cuse, and other words used by Puttenham in 
 illustration of this figure. 
 
 Dromio E. She is so hot, because the meat is cold; 
 The meat is cold, because you come not home ; 
 You come not home, because you have no stomach ; 
 You have no stomach, having broke your fast. 
 But we that know what 'tis to fast and pray, 
 Are penitent for your default to day. 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Rosalind. For your brother and my sister no sooner 
 met, but they looked ; no sooner looked, but they loved ; 
 no sooner loved, but they sighed ; no sooner sighed, but 
 they asked one another the reason ; no sooner knew the 
 reason, but they sought the remedy : and in these degrees 
 have they made a pair of stairs to marriage, which they 
 will climb incontinent, or else be incontinent before mar- 
 riage : they are in the very wrath of love, and they will 
 together; clubs cannot part them. — Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 Ye have a figure which, as well by his Greeke and 
 Latine originals, and also by allusion to the maner of a 
 man's gate, or going, may be called the marching figure, 
 for after the first steppe all the rest proceede by double 
 i he space ; and so in our speech, one word proceeds 
 doable to the first that was spoken, and goeth, as it were, 
 by strides or paces. It may as well be called the ch/mimg
 
 ' STAIRS TO MARRIAGE.' 13 
 
 figure, for clynmx is as much to say as a ladder, as in 
 one of our epitaphes, shewing how a verymeane man, by 
 his wifldome and good fortune, came to great estate and 
 dignitic : 
 
 His vcrtue made him wise, his wisedome brought him 
 
 wealth ; 
 His wealth won many friends, his friends made much 
 
 supply : 
 Of aides in wcale and woe, in sicknesse and in health, 
 Thus came he from a low to sit in seat so hye. 
 
 Or, as Ihean de Mehune, the French poet : 
 
 Peace makes plcntie, plentie makes pride; 
 Pride breeds quarrell, and quarrel brings warre ; 
 Warre brings spoile, and spoile povertie; 
 Povertie pacience, and pacience peace : 
 So peace brings warre, and warre brings peace. 
 Puttenham, The Arte of English 1'oesie, Lib. iii. 19. 
 
 In these passages Shakespeare may refer to 
 Clymax, or the marching figure. Rosalind 
 makes ' one word proceed double to the first 
 that was spoken,' thus — ' Your brother and my 
 sister no sooner met, but they looked; no 
 sooner looked, but they loved; no sooner loved, 
 but they sighed ; no sooner sighed, but they 
 asked one another the reason; no sooner knew 
 the reason, but they sought the remedy;' and 
 she says besides, ' in these degrees have they 
 made a pair of stairs to marriage which they 
 will climb] 1 and Puttenham says, 'It maybe
 
 14 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 called the clyming figure, for clymax is as 
 much as to say as a ladder,' &c. 
 
 Tratno. Mi perdonate, gentle master mine, 
 I am in all affected as yourself ; 
 Glad that you thus continue your resolve 
 To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy. 
 Only, good master, while w r e do admire 
 This virtue and this moral discipline, 
 Let 's be no stoicks, nor no stocks, I pray ; 
 Or so devote to Aristotle's checks, 
 As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured : 
 Talk logic with acquaintance that you have, 
 And practise rhetoric in your common talk ; 
 Music and poesy use to quicken you ; 
 The mathematics, and the metaphysics, 
 Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you : 
 No profit grows, where is no pleasure ta'en ; — 
 In brief, sir, study wdiat you most affect. 
 
 Taming the Shreiv, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Qaittr) F av tovto ko.1 ck rov avi'oji-tiiJjoOat tGiv fjcovwr 
 Katrrijv ty\ tyepyelq. f/v reXstoi. trvyav^ei yap ti)v ki'ipyeiav 
 i] OLKtia liCuri}' judAXov yap ecaora Kpivovai ical iiaicpifiiwoiv 
 oi fittf 1 ijdoptjc erEpyovvrec, oiov yetofierpiKOi yivovrai ol x a '~ 
 povTtQ rw yeuperpeli', k~al KUTat'oovaiv tKuaru jiaXXov, Ofxoiwg 
 3t Kal ol (hiXopovcjot Kal (f>i.\oiKOCop.ot. Knl tQv u\\u)v iKnarot 
 eirtciCoamv elg to oikbiop kpyov y^upovTtq avrui. avvavt^ovai 
 Zi. al rjcovai, to. Cf ovvav£,ovTa o'iKela. 
 
 Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. X. v. 2. 
 
 Tranio, having mentioned Aristotle's checks, 
 logic, rhetoric, music and poesy, mathematics 
 and metaphysics, says : 

 
 'aristotle's checks." 15 
 
 Fall t<> them as yon find your stomach serves you : 
 No profit grows, where is no pleasure lii'cn ; — 
 In brief, sir, study what you most affect. 
 
 And the reader will perceive thai Aristotle in 
 his Ethics says, that those taking pleasure in 
 geometry become geometricians, and perceive 
 each thing better; and that those loving the 
 muses. &c, progress because they take pleasure 
 in the occupation. 
 
 Bastard. And why rail I on this Commodity ? 
 But for because he hath not woo'd me yet : 
 Not that I have the power to clutch my hand, 
 When his lair angels would salute my palm : 
 But for my hand, as unattempted yet, 
 Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich. 
 Well, whiles 1 am a beggar, I will rail, 
 And say — there is no sin, but to be rich. 
 
 King John, Act ii. Sc. 1. 
 
 Our gold is either old or new. The old is that which 
 hath remained since the time of King Edward the Third, 
 or beene coined by such other princes as have reigned since 
 his decease, and without anie abasing or diminution of 
 the finesse of that mettall. Thereof also we have yet 
 remaining, the' riall, the George noble, the Henrie riall, 
 the salut, the angell, and their small peeces as halfes, or 
 quarters, though these in my time are not so common 
 to be scene. — Holinshbd, The Description <>/ England, 
 Second Booke, cap. 25. 
 
 Salute, salus, was a coyn of gold stamped by King 
 Henry the Fifth in France, after his conquests there:
 
 16 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 whereon the arms of England and France were stamped 
 quarterly. — Stow's Chron. p. 589. 
 
 I think that Shakespeare pLoys upon the 
 word salute in this passage, using it in a double 
 sense in connection with the word angel, and 
 I am able to cpiote a passage from Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, in which the word salute is also 
 played upon in a similar way : 
 
 Morecraft. My notable, dear friend, and worth}* 
 Master Loveless, and now right worshipful, all joy and 
 welcome ! 
 
 Young Loveless. Thanks to my dear incloser Master. 
 
 Morecraft. Pr'ythee, old angel-gold, salute my family, 
 I'll do as much for yours. 
 
 The Scornful Lady, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 Young Loveless evidently plays upon the 
 word salute, using it in connection with the 
 word angel-gold : he also speaks of old angel- 
 gold ; and Holinshed, who wrote in Shake- 
 speare's time, speaking of old gold coins, says, 
 ' we have yet remaining, the riall, the George 
 noble, the Henrie riall, the salut, the angell.' 
 
 Chief Justice. You follow the young prince up and 
 down, like his ill angel. 
 
 Falstaff. Not so, my lord ; your ill angel is light ; 
 but, I hope, he that looks upon me, will take me without 
 weighing : and yet, in some respects, I grant, I cannot 
 go : I cannot tell. 
 
 2 Uenrg IV., Act i. Sc. 2. 

 
 • AXGEL AND SALUTE. 17 
 
 Falstaff, referring to his irreat weight, says, 
 in effect, ' I am not his ill angel, because your 
 ill angel is light ; but he that looks upon me, 
 will take me without weighing.' 
 
 Altliouirh in ' Bang John ' the word ' rail ' is 
 used immediately after the words salute and 
 angel, it may be considered very doubtfnl 
 whether Shakespeare there plays upon that 
 word, although he often uses, in a double sense, 
 words which do not differ more from each 
 other in sound and meaning than the words 
 'rail ' and 'rial.' 
 
 Troieus. 0, 'tis the curse in love, and still approved, 
 When women cannot love "where- they're beloved. 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act v. Sc. 4. 
 
 Helena. What though I be not so in graco as you, 
 So hung upon with love, so fortunate ; 
 But miserable most, to love imloved ? 
 This you should pity, rather than despise. 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act hi. Sc. 2. 
 
 tv ce rj) tpiiiTtKrj IvIote fttv u Epaorfa eyKaXei un v-epyiXwy 
 
 OUK UlTlQlXl ('(((. 
 
 Aristotle, Eth. Nio m. IX. i. 2. 
 
 \u\f7TU)- 71) ft)) <f>CXr)V<XC 
 
 \u\e~ur (£ icai yiX^Tui"
 
 18 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Xa\e7ro)repov ce iravrwy 
 AiroTvyyiivEiv tytXovvra. 
 
 Anacreon, Od. xlvi. E?c"Epwra. 
 
 Shakespeare and Aristotle probably refer to 
 this Ode of Anacreon. 
 
 Biron. And among three, to love the worst of all. 
 Love's Labour's Lost, Act iii. Sc. 1. 
 
 And Biron may refer to the greatest of the 
 three grievances in love mentioned by Ana- 
 creon, namely: 
 
 ' AiroTvyxfiVEiv <piXovvra. 
 
 First Cap. Nay, sit, nay, sit, good cousin Capulet ; 
 For you and I are past our dancing days : 
 How long is 't now, since last yourself and I 
 Were in a mask ? 
 
 Second Cap. By'r lady, thirty years. 
 
 First Cap. What, man ! 'tis not so much, 'tis not so 
 much: 
 'Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio, 
 Come Pentecost as quickly as it will, 
 Some five and twenty years ; and then we masked. 
 
 Second Cap. 'Tis more, 'tis more, his son is elder, sir; 
 His son is thirty. 
 
 First Cap. Will you tell me that ? 
 
 His son was but a ward two years ago. 
 
 Borneo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 5. 
 
 Tenure by homage, fealty, and escuage, is to hold by 
 knight service, and it draweth to it ward marriage, and
 
 'THE AGE OF LUCENTIO'S SOX.' 19 
 
 relief. Pop when Buch tenant dietli, and his heirmalebe 
 within the age of twenty-tone years, the lord shall have 
 the land holden of him. until the age of the heir of twenty- 
 one years; the which is called full age, because such 
 heir, by intendment of law, is not able to <U> such knight's 
 service before his age of twenty-one years. And also if 
 such heir be not married at the time el' the death of his 
 ancestor, then the lord shall have the wardship andmar- 
 riage of him. — Ltttlbton's T&wres, Sec. 103. Wardship 
 was abolished bythe 12th Car. II. cap. _ 1. 
 
 The first Capulet says it cannot be so much 
 as thirty years since they were in a mask at 
 the nuptial of Lucontio, but some five and 
 twenty 3 cars, because Lucentio's son was a ward 
 two years ago. The period of wardship lasted 
 until the ward attained twenty-one years of 
 age ; the two years since Lucentio's son was a 
 ward and twenty-one years make twenty-three 
 years. Thus, the age of Lucentio's son, accord- 
 ing to the first Capulet's method of computa- 
 tion, was twenty-three years, and then the 
 ordinary period of gestation, and the period 
 between the time when the Capulets were 
 speaking and Pentecost, might make up ' some 
 live and twenty years.'
 
 20 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Hamlet. There is a play to-night before the king ; 
 One scene of it comes near the circumstance, 
 Which I have told thee of my father's death. 
 I pr'ythee, when thou seest that act afoot, 
 Even with the very comment of thy soul 
 Observe my uncle : if his occulted guilt 
 Do not itself unkennel in one speech, 
 It is a damned ghost that we have seen ; 
 And my imaginations are as foul 
 As Vulcan's stithy. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 All the ancient authors, of old time defined murder 
 to be occulta hominis occisio, &c, when it was done in 
 secret, so as the offender was not known ; but now it is 
 taken in a larger sense. — Coke, 3 Instit. cap. 7. 
 
 Hamlet, who knew how his father had been 
 poisoned by Claudius, speaks of his uncle's 
 occulted guilt, and Fleta says : 
 
 Traditores : qui alicui occulte venenum praebuerint 
 unde expiravit, et inde convincantur, detractentur et 
 suspendantur. — Lib. i. c. 35. 
 
 An ordinary is a handsome house, where every day, 
 about the hour of twelve, a good dinner is prepared 
 by way of ordinary, composed of variety of dishes, in 
 season, well drest, with all other accommodations fit for 
 that purpose ; whereby many gentlemen of great estates 
 and good repute make this place their resort, who after 
 dinner play a while for recreation, both moderately and 
 commonly, without deserving reproof. But here is the 
 mischief: the best wheat will have tares growing amongst 
 it ; rooks and daws will sometimes be in the company 
 of pigeons ; nor can real gentlemen now-a-days so se-
 
 'HECTORS AND LIFTERS.' '21 
 
 cludo themselves from the society of such as arc pre- 
 tendly so, but that they oftentimes mix company, being 
 much of the same colour and feather, and by the eye 
 undistinguishable. 
 
 The day being shut in, you may properly compare 
 this place to those countries which lye far in tlie North, 
 where it is as clear at midnight as at noonday ; and 
 though it is a house of sin, yet you cannot call it a house 
 of darkness, for the candles never go out till morning, 
 unless the sudden fury of a losing gamester make them 
 extinct. 
 
 Pcmdarus. Why, he is very yonng : and yet will he, 
 within three pound, lift as much as his brother Hector. 
 Cressida. Is he so young a man, and so old a lifter ? 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 This is the time (when ravenous beasts usually seek 
 for prey) wherein comes shoals of Huffs, Hectors, Setters, 
 Gilts, Pads, Biters, Divers, Lifters, Filers, Budgies, 
 Droppers, Crossbyters, &c, and these may all pass under 
 the general and common appellation of Rooks ; and in 
 this particular, an ordinary serves as a nursery for 
 Tyburn : for if any one "will put himself to the trouble 
 of observation, he shall find that there is seldom a year 
 wherein there are not some of this gang hung as pre- 
 cious jewels in the ear of Tyburn. Look back and yon 
 will find a great many gone already; God knows how 
 many arc to follow. 
 
 Hectors and lifters, according to this old 
 author, passed under the general and common 
 appellation of rooks. Cressida evidently plays 
 upon the word ' lifter ; ' and it may be con-
 
 22 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 sidered probable that Pandarus also uses the 
 word ' hector ' in a double sense. 
 
 These Rooks are in continual motion, walking from 
 one table to another, till they can discover some un- 
 experienced young gentleman, casheer or apprentice, 
 that is come to this school of virtue, being unskilled in 
 the quibbles and devices there practised; these they 
 call Lambs, or Colls. Then do the Rooks (more properly 
 called "Wolves) strive "who shall fasten on him first, 
 following him close and enQ-ao-ina; him in some advan- 
 tageous Bets, and at length worries him, that is, gets 
 all his money, and then the Rooks (Rogues I should 
 have said) laugh and grin, saying, the Lamb is bitten. 
 
 TSndba/rbus. The itch of his affection should not then 
 Have mcJc'd his captainship. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii. Sc. 6. 
 
 But that which will most provoke (in my opinion) 
 any man's rage to a just satisfaction, is their throwing 
 many times at a good sum with a dry fist (as they call 
 it) ; that is, if they nick you, 'tis theirs ; if they lose, 
 they owe you so much, with many other quillets. 
 
 Perhaps the word nick, used by this old 
 author, and by Shakespeare, in this passage, 
 may be correctly derived from the Greek verb 
 vixam (Wxij), to conquer, to prevail over, to 
 get the upper hand, &c. 
 
 If you wick them, 'tis odds if they wait not your 
 coming out at night and beat you. I could produce 
 you an hundred examples in this kind, but they will 
 rarely adventure on the attempt, unless they are backt
 
 • BULLY ROOK AND BULLY HECTOR.' 23 
 
 with some Bully-Huffs and Bully-Books, with others 
 whose fortunes arc as desperate as their own. 
 
 FaUtaff. Mine host of the garter ! 
 
 J I ■</. Whal says my bully-rook ? speak scholarly 
 and wisely. 
 
 FaUtaff. Truly, mine host, I must turn away some of 
 my followers. 
 
 Host. Discard, lulhj Hercules ; cashier: let them 
 wag ; trot, trot. 
 
 / 'alstaff. I si1 at ten pounds a 'week. 
 
 Host. Tliou "rt an emperor, Caesar, Keisar, and 
 Pheezar. I will entertain Bardolph ; he shall draw, he 
 shall tap: said I well, bully Jh d rr 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 Host. How now, bully-rook? thou 'rt a gentleman: 
 cavalero-justice, 1 say. 
 
 Shal. I follow, mine host, I follow. — Good even, and 
 twenty, good master Page. Master Page, will you go 
 with us ? we have sport in hand. 
 
 Host. Tell him, cavalero-justice; tell him, bully-rook. 
 
 Shal. Sir, there is a fray to be fought between Sir 
 Hugh the Welch priest, and Cains the French doctor. 
 
 Ford. Good mine host o' the Garter, a word with 
 you. 
 
 Host. What sayesl thou, bully-rook? 
 
 Mi rry Wives of Windsor, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Host. I'll call. — Bully hndgM ! Bully Sir John ! speak 
 from thy lungs military: Art thou there? it is thine 
 host, thine Ephesian, calls. 
 
 Fat. (Above.) 1 low now, mine host ? 
 
 Host. Here's a Bohemian Tartar tarries the comincr 
 down of thy fat woman : Let her descend. let her 
 
 descend ; my chambers are honourable. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act iv. Sc. 5.
 
 24 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 The more subtle and gentiler sort of Rooks you 
 shall not distinguish, by their outward demeanour from 
 persons of condition ; these will sit by a whole evening, 
 and observe who wins ; if the winner be bubbleable, 
 they will insinuate themselves into his company by 
 applauding his success, advising him to leave off whilst 
 he is well ; and lastly, by civilly inviting him to drink 
 a glass of -wine, where having well warm'd themselves 
 to make him more than half drunk, they wheadle him 
 into play ; to which if he condescend he shall rpiickly 
 have no money left him in his pocket, unless, perchance, 
 a crown the Booking-winner lent him in courtesie, to 
 bear his charges homewards. 
 
 Pistol. Let vultures gripe thy guts ! for gourd and 
 fulham holds, 
 And high and low beguile the rich and poor. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 This they do by false dice, as Higli-FiiUams 4, 5, 6, 
 Low Fullams 1, 2, 3. By Bristle-Dice, which are fitted 
 for their purpose by sticking a hog's-bristle so in the 
 corners, or otherwise in the dice, that they shall run 
 high or low as they please ; this bristle must be strong 
 and short, by which means the bristle bending, it will 
 not lie on that side, but will be tript over ; and this is 
 the newest way of making a high or low Fullam : the 
 old ways are by drilling them, and loading them with 
 quicksilver ; but that cheat may be easily discovered by 
 their weight, or holding two corners between your fore- 
 finger and thumb; if holding them so gently between 
 your fingers they turn, you may then conclude them 
 false ; or you may try their falsehood otherwise, by 
 breaking or splitting them : others have made them by 
 filing and rounding ; but all these ways fall short of the 
 art of those who make them.
 
 * PRISCIAN A LITTLE SCRATCIl'D.' 25 
 
 This description of an ordinary and its fre- 
 quenters in the seventeenth century I have 
 taken from an old book called, ' The Compleat 
 Gamester, or Instructions how to play all man- 
 ner of usual and most gentile Games,' &c. 
 
 8vr Nathaniel. Lavs den, bone intelligo. 
 Molofernes. Bone? bone, for bene: Priscian a little 
 scratch'd ; 'twill serve. 
 
 Lores Labour's Lost, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Your next intollerable viee is solccismus, or incon- 
 gruitic, as when we speak false English; that is, hy mis- 
 using the graimnaiirall rules to be observed in caseg, 
 genders, tenses, and such like. Every poore scholler 
 knowes the fault, and calls it the breaking of Priscian's 
 head, for he' was among the Latines a principal] gram- 
 marian. — Puttexham's Arte of English Poesie, lib. iii. 
 chap. 22. 
 
 Puttenham evidently refers to Priscianus 
 of Caesarea, who lived probably in the sixth 
 century. His grammatical commentaries, in 
 eighteen books, form the most extensive 
 ancient work on the grammar of the Latin 
 language extant. The first sixteen books 
 treat of the several parts of speech, and are 
 commonly called the Larger Priscian, and the 
 two last books treat of syntax, and are called 
 the Smaller Priscian. Holofernes was a 
 
 c
 
 26 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 schoolmaster, and he probably refers to the 
 fault which Putt 
 Priscian's head.' 
 
 fault which Puttenham calls ' the breaking of 
 
 Vol. Now, trust me, madam, it came hardly off; 
 For, being ignorant to "whom it goes, 
 I writ at random, very doubtfully. 
 
 Sil. Perchance you think too much of so much 
 pains ? 
 
 Vol. No, madam ; so it stead you, I will write, 
 Please you command, a thousand times as much : 
 And yet — 
 
 Sil. A pretty period ! Well, I guess the sequel ; 
 And yet I will not name it : and yet I care not ; 
 And yet take this again : and yet I thank you ; 
 Meaning henceforth to trouble you no more. 
 
 Speed. And yet you will ; and yet another yet. 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act ii. Sc. 1. 
 
 Hamlet. Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, 
 How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, 
 As I perchance hereafter shall think meet 
 To put an antic disposition on, 
 That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, 
 With arms encumber'd thus, or this head-shake, 
 Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, 
 As ' Well, well, we know,' or ' We could, an if we 
 
 would,' 
 Or ' If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,' 
 Or such ambiguous giving out, to note 
 That you know aught of me. 
 
 Act i. Sc. 5.
 
 PUTTEXIIAM. — EITJ TIDES. -_>7 
 
 Not much unlike the wondrer have ye another figure, 
 called tlie doubtfull, because oftentimes we will seeme to 
 cast perils, and make doubt of things, when by a plaine 
 manner of speech we might affirme or deny him, as thus 
 of a cruell mother who murdred her owne child : 
 
 Whether the cruell mother were more to blame, 
 Or the shrewd childe come of so curst a dame ; 
 Or whether some smatch of the father's blood, 
 Whose kiunc were never kinde, nor never good, 
 Mooved her thereto, etc.' 
 
 The Arte of English Poesie, Lib. hi. Chap. 19. 
 
 Queen Margaret. Butchers and villains, bloodv canni- 
 bals ! 
 How sweet a plant have you untimely cropp'd ! 
 You have no children^ butchers ! if you hail, 
 The thought of them would have stirr'd up remorse ! 
 
 3 Hermj VI, Act v. Sc. 5. 
 
 Macd. My children too ? 
 
 Eosse. Wife, children, servants, all 
 That could be found. 
 
 Macd. And I must be from thence ! 
 
 Aly wife kill'd too ? 
 
 Bosse. I have said. 
 
 Mai. Be comforted : 
 
 Let's make us med'eines of our great revenge, 
 To cure this deadly grief. 
 
 Macd. Ue has no children. 
 
 Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 irpoaTwrre 8' oiKrpug roucS' 'QcuaaiwQ yuvv. 
 rat nub . tx £l C ^ Trpi'ifacrtv tan yap r&Kva 
 rut 7w8e, tijv aijv wot iiroucreipcn rv\riv. 341. 
 
 Euripides, EKABH. 
 
 c 2
 
 28 SIIAKESPEAEE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Hostess. A' made a finer end and went away an it 
 had been any christom child. 
 
 Henry V., Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 Here is to be noted, as for the intent of things afore- 
 said, as for those that follow, the which in this solemnity 
 of exorcism, or of conjuration of the devil ; some things 
 they make in operation without all only, the which 
 things are not in the soul materially. But they betoken 
 things spiritual, as in putting the salt in the mouth of 
 the child, the putting of the spittle of the priest in his 
 nostrils and in his ears, he making the cross with the 
 holy oil in the breast and between the shoulders. Also, 
 after the baptism, he maketh the cross with the holy 
 creme upon the child's head ; he putteth on him after- 
 wards the white robe, the which is called the crysome. 
 
 The Ordynarye of Orysten Men. Enprynted in the 
 C} r te of London, in the Fleete Strete, in the sygne of ye 
 Sonne, by Wynkynde de Worde, ye yere of our lord 
 
 JV1CCCCCTJ. 
 
 Sicinms. It is a mind, 
 
 That shall remain a poison where it is, 
 Not poison any farther. 
 
 Goriolarms. Shall remain! — 
 
 Hear you this Triton of the minnows ? mark you 
 His absolute shall ? 
 
 Gominius. 'Twas from the canon. 
 
 Coriolanus. Shall 
 
 O good, but most unwise patricians ! why, 
 You grave, but reckless senators, have you thus 
 Given Hydra here to choose an officer, 
 That with his peremptory shall, being but 
 The horn and noise o' the monsters, wants not spirit 
 To say, he'll turn your current in a ditch, 
 And make your channel his ? 
 
 Ckrlolamis, Act iii. Sc. 1.
 
 triton's shell. — ostracism. lit 
 
 The contrast between Triton, the son of 
 Neptune and Amphitrite, and the minnows, 
 which are very small fish, is apparent ; and, 
 although it maybe truly said that Triton, as a 
 deity of the sea, would rule over the minnows 
 with his ' absolute ' or ' peremptory ' shall, 
 which Coriolanus calls 'the horn and noise <>' 
 the monster,' yet, when it is remembered that 
 Triton used to announce the approach of Nep- 
 tune by blowing his horn, which was a large 
 conch, or sea-shell, it may be considered pro- 
 bable that Shakespeare plays upon the word 
 'shall' in this passage, using it in a double 
 sense ; for the words ' shall ' and ' shell ' do n< >t 
 differ more from each other in sound than the 
 words ' sheep ' and ' ship,' which Speed plays 
 upon in the ' Two Gentlemen of Verona,' Act i. 
 Sc. 1 ; and it may also be considered probable 
 that Shakespeare, further on in the same 
 passage, plays upon the word shall, using it 
 again in a double sense : 
 
 They choose their magistrate ; 
 And such a one as lie, who puts liis shall, 
 His popular shall, againsl a graver bench 
 Than ever frown'd in Greece ! 
 
 For the reader will perceive that Coriolanus 
 speaks of ' such a one as he, who puts his shall
 
 30 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 against a graver bench than ever frown'd in 
 Greece ;' and Shakespeare, using the word shall 
 in a double sense, may refer to the practice in 
 ancient Greece of banishing persons considered 
 dangerous to the state by ostracism, oarrpaxia-^og^ 
 where the votes were given by shells, oo-rpaxa, 
 each man marking upon his oo-rpaxov, or his 
 shell, the name of the person he would have 
 banished. 
 
 Silius. Noble Ventidins, 
 
 Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sivord is warm, 
 The fugitive Parthians follow. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act hi. Sc. 1. 
 
 aXXa ol avdi 
 XvtTE fiu'oc, TrXfj^ac lityEi avyiva Ku>iv)]evTi. 
 nav F vTreOepj-iavdr) iifyoQ alfiart. 331. 
 
 Homer, IAIAA02 n'. 
 
 o 2' 'Ay»'/)'opoc viuv ' E^eatXov 
 iikaai\v K(iKKf<pa\i)i' iifyti y\aae KWTn'iei'Ti. 
 irav o' VTvidtpjiavdr) t,i<j>og eu/iart. 476. 
 
 Homer, IAIAA02 Y'. 
 
 Touch. Nay, if I keep not my rani- — 
 Ros. Thou losest thy old smell. 
 
 As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Certes the making of new gentlemen bred great 
 strife sometimes amongst the Romans ; I meane when 
 those which were Novi homines were more allowed of 
 for their vertues newlie seene and shewed, than the old 
 smell "/ancient race latelie defaced by the cowardise and
 
 PUTTEXIIAM. 31 
 
 evill life of their nepbues and defendants could make the 
 others to be. — Homnshed, The Description of England, 
 chap, 5. 
 
 Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes, — 
 God save the mark ! — here on his manly breast. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. "-'. 
 
 Fal. Pistol !— 
 Pist. lie hears tcith ears. 
 
 Eva. The tevil and his tarn ! what phrase is this, 
 lie hears with ear ? Why, it is affectations. 
 
 Fal. Pistol, did you pick master Slender's purse ? 
 Merry Wwes of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Shakespeare, in these passages, probably re- 
 fers to ' the vice of surplusage,' thus described 
 by Puttenham : — 
 
 Also the poet or maker's speech becomes viscious 
 and unpleasant by nothing more than by using too much 
 surplusage: and this lieth not only in a word or two 
 more than ordinary, but in whole clauses, and perad- 
 venture large sentences impertinently spoken, or with 
 more labour and curiositie than is requisite. The first 
 surplusage the Greekes call Pleonasmus, I call him too 
 full speech and is no great fault, as if one should say, 
 Ihea/rd it with mine ears, and bom if with mine eyes, as if 
 a man could hcare with his heeles or see with his nose. 
 We ourselves used this superfluous speech in a verse 
 written of our mistrease, nevertheles, not much to be 
 mislikud, for even a vice sometime being seasonably 
 used, hath a prctie grace : 
 
 For ever may my time love live and never die, 
 And that mine eyes may see her crownde a Queenc.
 
 32 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 As, if she lived ever, she could ever die, or that one 
 might see her crowned without eyes. — The Arte of 
 English Poesie, Lib. hi. chap. 22. 
 
 Horatio. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye. 
 In the most high and palmy state of Rome, 
 A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, 
 The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 
 Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets : 
 As stars with trains of fire and cleics of blood, 
 Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star 
 Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands 
 Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse : 
 And even the like precurse of fierce events, 
 As harbingers preceding still the fates 
 And prologue to the omen coming on, 
 Have heaven and earth together demonstrated 
 Unto our climatures and countrymen. 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 t--i]£c c' 6\iyov nETEKiaQoV ev re Kvcotfiov 
 wjhte Kaicbv Kpnvictic, Kuril v\podtv i'ikev lipfjaq 
 aifxari fivtaXiac i£ aidifXtc. 54. 
 
 Homer, IAIAAOS A. 
 
 ( '<ilplmrnia. Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the 
 clouds, 
 In ranks, and squadrons, and right form of war, 
 Which drizzled hh,od upon the Capitol. 
 
 Julius Caesar, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Srepe inter nimbos gutta? cecidere cruentse. 
 
 Ovid, Met. xv. 788
 
 ABISTOPHANES. ;3 
 
 In the furthermost parts of Scotland it ra/im&d blood. 
 Holenshed, The Historie of Scotland 
 
 2nd Thief. I'll believe him as an enemy, and _ 
 over my trade. 
 
 Twnon of Athens, Act iv. Sc. o. 
 
 Duke. I know thee well: How dost thou, my good 
 
 fellow ? 
 
 Clo. Truly, sir, the better for my foes, and the \ 
 for my friends. 
 
 Duke. Just the contrary ; the better for thy frien 
 
 Glu. No, sir, the worse. 
 
 Duke. How can that be ? 
 
 Clo, Marry, sir, they praise me, and make an ass of 
 me; now, my foes tell me plainly I am an ass : so that 
 by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of mys 
 and by my friends I am abused : so that, conclusion^ to 
 be as kisses, if your four negatives make your two 
 affirmatives, why then, the worsefor my friends, and the 
 better for my foes. 
 
 Twelfth Night, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 That we may learn many things from our 
 enemies is a sentiment to be found in one 
 the comedies of Aristophanes : 
 
 Eno¥. 
 
 £«' Ct ti)v <pi)tjii' fiev lyQpoi, TUt' 0€ VOVV f.\oiv (bi\oi, 
 tcai iuu^iiTtQ Ti iivj>' iJKovaty Vfiag xpiirri/jiov ; 
 
 XOPOS. 
 
 ttuiq c av ole rifids ti ypf/aifiOP {.uuttuiv ttote, 
 i\ <ppuo£iav, ovtss i%6poi rolvt rruTTrotc toiq 1/jloTq : 
 
 c 3
 
 34 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 EIIO^. 
 dXX air' i^Qpwv cij-a troWa pardavovaiv ai cro(poi. 
 >/ yap evXujjeta <7w£fi iravra' napa jjev ovv <pi\ov 
 ov fiuOotc av Tovff' o o e-^Spog evdvg HtfivayKaaev. 
 avTi\ at TroXsig Trap' avcpihv y t/uadov iyQpwv, kov (j>i\u>v, 
 iKwove'iv 0' v\pT]\a ret-^T] vavr re kiktTjuQui fxanpag. 
 to ce ^aOrifia tovto aw^ei xa'tcag, oikov, yj^ifxara. 
 
 X0P02. 
 Irj-i [sty \6ywv a.Kov<rat irp&rov, wg rip'tv cokf.T, 
 y^i}(ji^iov' jjciboi yap av rig kchto rail' ey^Opoiy ao<p6y. 382. 
 
 Aristophanes, 0PNI9E2. 
 
 Cade. Nay, answer if you can : The Frenchmen are 
 our enemies : go to then, I ask but this : Can he, that 
 speaks with the tongue of an enemy, be a good coun- 
 selled, or no ? 
 
 All. Xo, no ; and therefore we'll have his head. 
 
 2 Henry VI., Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 To use the language of Stafford, the ' gross 
 and miserable ignorance' of Cade's followers 
 makes them decide that no man that speaks 
 with the tongue of an enemy can be a good 
 counsellor. 
 
 Beat. By my troth, I am sick. 
 
 Marg. Get you some of this distilled Carduus Bene- 
 dictus, and lay it to your heart ; it is the only thing for 
 a qualm. 
 
 Hero. There thou prick'st her with a thistle. 
 
 Beat. Benedictus ! why Benedictus ? you have some 
 moral in this Benedictus. 
 
 Marg. Moral ? no, by my troth, I have no moral 
 meaning ; I meant, plain holy-thistle. 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing, Act iii. Sc. 4.
 
 1 CARDUC8 BENEDICTUS.' 35 
 
 We entend to begin with that worth ie hearbe named 
 tbc blessed thistle (for his singular vermes) as well 
 against poysons, as the pestilent ague, and other peri 11- 
 ous diseases of the heart : which to many at this da; 
 very well knowne, although great controversies have beene 
 amongst the ancient phisitions, about the true description 
 of the hearbe: for both the name and forme of the 
 hearbe, doe declare the same to be a kind of thistle : yet 
 the learned Kuellius, writing of the blessed Thistle, came 
 nearer to a troth, and faithfuller described the forme of 
 the hearbe : in that he affirmed the same to have a big 
 stalke, and leaves crisped with prickles (after the condi- 
 tion of the Endive ), the flowre yellowish, and seedes small, 
 contained within the soft dowiie (as in the other ThistL - ), 
 and that they do late waxe ripe. 1 — The Gardener's I. :- 
 byrinth. 
 
 To understand this passage in ' Much Ado 
 about Nothing,' I think it will be necessary to 
 suppose that Margaret, who knows that Beatrice 
 loves Benedict, uses the Latin name of the 
 holy-thistle, Carduus Benedictus, because it 
 includes the sound and also the letters of the 
 name 'Benedict.' Margaret plays upon the 
 word Benedictus, and uses it, or at least a part 
 of it, in a double sense, and Beatrice evi- 
 dently suspects a double meaning, because she 
 says. 'Benedictus! why Benedictus? youhave 
 some moral in this Benedictus.' 
 
 The blessed thistle, according to 'The Gar- 
 dener's Labyrinth,' was considered to have 
 'singular virtue 1 against 'perillous diseases
 
 36 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 the heart.' Beatrice was in love with Bene- 
 dict ; she had an affection of the heart, and 
 Margaret, speaking of the blessed thistle, says 
 to her, ' lay it to your heart.' 
 
 Lear. I have seen the da}-, with my good biting 
 falchion 
 ! would have made them skip : I am old now, 
 And these same crosses spoil me. 
 
 Act v. Sc. 3. 
 
 Othello. I have seen the day, 
 
 That with this little arm and this good sword 
 [ have made my way through more impediments 
 Than twenty times your stop. 
 
 Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 Page. I have heard the Frenchman hath good skill 
 in his rapier. 
 
 Shal. Tut, sir! I could have told you more: in these 
 times you stand on distance, your passes, stoccadoes, 
 and I know not what : 'tis the heart, master Page ; 'tis 
 here, 'tis here. I have seen the time, with my long 
 sword, I would have made you four tall fellows skip 
 like rats. 
 
 Merry Wires of Windsor, Act ii. Sc. 1. 
 pujfur] yap eKXiXonrtv i)i> irpiv ei^ofitv' 
 yupa ce rpojjiFpa yv'ia Ku^iavpov aOivoQ. 
 ei i}v j'tof rt kuti aa>/j.aTO<; Kparcov, 
 Xafiwv av ey\OQ rovle. toiiq £arQove ttXokovq 
 Kadrifjaroitr' &v, war ArXavTiKdv iripa 
 (ptvytw opujf av (tiXia rovfxoi' Copy. 235. 
 
 Euripides, HPAKAHS MAINOMENOH. 
 
 Amphitryon, Lear, Othello, and Shallow, all 
 speak of what they would have done, had they 
 not been old.
 
 'THE VENICE GLASSE8.' 37 
 
 Host. By this In a\ enly ground I tread on, I must be 
 
 fain to pawn both my plate, and the tapestry of my 
 
 dining-chambers. 
 
 Fal. Glasses, glasses, is the only drinking. 
 ****** 
 
 Host. Pray thee, Sir John, let it be but twenty 
 
 nobles: V faith I am loath to pawn my plate, in good 
 
 earnest, la. 2 Hi my IV., Act ii. Sc. i. 
 
 It is a world to see in these our days, wherein gold 
 and silver mosl aboundeth, how that our gentilitie, as 
 loathing those mettals (because of the plentie), do now 
 generallic choose rather the Venice glasses both for our 
 wine and beere, than anie of those mettals or stone 
 wherein before time we have beene accustomed to 
 drinke, bul Buch is the nature of man generallie, that 
 he most coveteth things difficult to be atteined; and 
 such is the estimation of this stnfl'e, that manie become 
 rich onelie with their new trade unto Murana (a towne 
 neere to Venice, situat on the Adriatike Bea), from 
 whence the verie best are dailie to be had, and sueh as 
 for beautie do well neere match the christall, or the 
 ancient Murrhina vasa, whereof now no man hath know- 
 ledge. And as this is seene in the gentilitie, so in the 
 wealthie communalitie the like desire of glasse is not 
 Lected, whereby the gaine gotten by their purchase 
 is yet much more increased, to the benefit of the mer- 
 chant. The poorest also will have glasse if they may, 
 but sith the Venecian is Bomewhat too deere for them, 
 they e. m(cnt themselves with BUch as are made at home 
 of ferme and burned stone, but in fine all go one waie, 
 that is to shards at last, so that our greal expenses in 
 glasses (beside that they breed much strife toward such 
 as have the charge of them) are worst of all bestowed 
 in, mine opinion, because their peeces do turn to no 
 profit. — HolhtsheDj The Description of England.
 
 38 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 First Priest. Her obsequies have been as far enlarged 
 As we have warrantise : her death was doubtful, 
 And, but that great command o'ersways the order, 
 She should in ground unsanctified have lodged 
 Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers, 
 Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her : 
 Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants, 
 Her maiden strewments and the bringing home 
 Of bell and burial. 
 
 Samlet, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 I think the glasses mentioned by Falstaff 
 are the Venice glasses which Holinshed here 
 speaks of. The Hostess says, ' I must be fain to 
 pawn my plate,' &c. ; but Falstaff makes this 
 consolatory answer, ' Glasses, glasses, is the 
 only drinking;' and Holinshed, who wrote in 
 Shakespeare's time, says : 
 
 In these our days, wherein gold and silver most abound- 
 eth, our gentilitie, as loathing those mettals (because of 
 their pleutie), do now generallie choose rather Venice 
 glasses both for our wine and beere. 
 
 Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, 
 
 The dear repose for limbs with travel tired ; 
 
 But then begins a journey in my head, 
 
 To work my mind, when body's works expired. 
 
 Sonnet xxvii. 
 
 rifinra jiev yitp Tip-trap ocvpofxivtf, yooojcra, 
 tr t efih ipy bpoiaoa km dp(j> nroXwu iii oiw 
 iivrup etzIiv Wl, i\(hi, tXrjrji re koItoq airuvTac,
 
 L PEINE FORTE ET DURE.' 39 
 
 Ktlfiai til XfKTfiu), TrvKival < i pot uficf aoivov tcfjp 
 Os£t(it fjiXiCuiyai ocuf)Ojxivr)v epidovoiv. 519. 
 
 Humkk. 0AY22EIAS T . 
 
 Qn 0, I am press'd to death, 
 
 Through want of speaking ! 
 
 Richard II., Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 
 Pandarw. Amen. "Whereupon I will show you a 
 chamber with a lied : which bed, because it shall not 
 speak of your pretty encounters, press it to death : away ! 
 — Troilu8 ni'il Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Shakespeare in these passages probably refers 
 to peine forte et dure, a punishment inflicted on 
 those who, being arraigned of felony, and re- 
 fusing to put themselves upon the ordinary 
 trial of ' God and the country,' were by the 
 interpretation of law considered to be mute. 
 This peine forte et dure wa9 vulgarly called 
 pressing to death. 
 
 The judgment [says Coke] is that the man or woman 
 shall bo remanded to the prison, and laid there in some 
 low and dark house, where they shall He naked on the 
 bare earth without any litter, rushes, or other clothing, 
 and without any garment about them, and that they shall 
 lie upon their backs, their heads uncovered and their 
 feet, and one arm shall be drawn to one quarter of the 
 house with a cord, and the other arm to another quarter, 
 and in (lie same manner shall be dune with their leu r s, 
 and there shad lie laid upon their bodies iron and stone, 
 so much as they may bear, and more, and the next day 
 following they shall have three morsels of barley bread 
 without any drink, and the second day they shall drink
 
 40 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 thrice of tlie water that is next to the house of the prison 
 (except running water) without any bread, and this 
 shall be their diet until they be dead. — 2. List. 178. 
 
 Wood, in his 'Institute' (second edition, page 
 633), says: 
 
 If one arraigned of Petit Treason or Felony stands 
 mute, or answers nothing at all, it shall be enquired 
 whether he stands mute on purpose, or whether he is 
 dumb. If he stands mute out of stubbornness, or if he 
 hath cut out his tongue, or he does not plead directly, or 
 does not put himself upon a trial by the country if a 
 commoner, or if a peer by God and his peers, after he 
 has pleaded not guilty, he shall be put to the penance 
 tfeme forte et dure, with forfeiture of goods. But before 
 the judgment passes the Court orders his thumbs to be 
 tied together with whipcord, and to be drawn together 
 by the whole strength of two men, to give the criminal 
 a taste of his pain to be endured, if he will not then 
 comply. This [continues Wood] is the practice at New- 
 gate Sessions. 
 
 This punishment was common long before, 
 during, and after Shakespeare's time, and it is 
 reasonable to suppose that any allusion to 
 ' pressing to death ' would be well understood 
 by the audiences of the ' Globe.' The Queen 
 and Pandarus seem to refer not only to this 
 punishment, but also to its cause — namely, ' re- 
 fusing to speak,' or ' standing mute,' or, to use 
 the Queen's own words, ' want of speaking.'
 
 TOTTENHAM. 41 ' 
 
 Westmon land. There is no need of any such redress ; 
 
 Or, if there were, it not belongs to you. 
 
 * # # # * 
 
 Set, for your part it iwt a/ppt a/ra to me. 
 
 •2 Henry TV., Act iv. Sc. 1. 
 
 Prospero. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, 
 and groves ; 
 And ye, that on the sands with printless foot 
 Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him 
 When he comes hack; you deini-puppcts, that 
 By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make, 
 Whereof the ewe not bites. Tempest, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Your misplacing and preposterous placing is not all 
 one in behaviour of language, for the misplacing is 
 alw ies intollerable, but the preposterous is a pardonable 
 fault, and many times gives a pretie grace unto the 
 speech. We call it by a common saying, to set the cart 
 before the horse, and it may be done, eyther by a single 
 word or by a clause of speech. By a single word thus : 
 
 And if 1 not performe, God let me never thrive ; 
 for performe not: and this vice is sometimes tollerable 
 inouLih, but it' the word carry any notable sence, it is a 
 vice not tollerable, as he that said, prasing a woman for 
 her red lippes, thus : 
 
 A corall lippe of hew. 
 Which is no good speech, because either he should have 
 sayd no more but a corrall lip, which had bene inough 
 to declare the rednesse, or els he should have said, a lip 
 of* corrall hew, and not a corall lip of hew. Now if this 
 disorder be in a whole clause which carieth more sentence 
 then a word, it is then worst of all. — Pun miam, The 
 Arte j /.'.■ glisli Poesie, Lib. iii. Chap. 22.* 
 
 * Not enriches, Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3. Not respects, Cymbeline, 
 
 Act i. Sc. 7.
 
 42 SIIAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 O, how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow ! 
 
 Her eyes seen in the tears, tears in her eye ; 
 
 Both crystals, where they view'd each other's sorrow, 
 
 Sorrow that friendly sighs sought still to dry ; 
 But like a stormy day, now wind, now rain, 
 Sighs dry her cheeks, tears make them wet again. 
 
 Venus and Adorns, clxi. 
 
 His drumming heart cheers up his burning eye, 
 
 His eye commends the leading to Ms hand ; 
 
 His hand, as proud of such a dignity, 
 
 Smoking with pride, march'd on to make his stand 
 
 On her bare breast, the heart of all her land : 
 
 Whose ranks of blue veins, as his hand did scale, 
 Left their round turrets destitute and pale. 
 
 Lucrece, lxiii. 
 
 Ye have another sort of repetition when with the 
 worde by which you finish your verse, ye beginne the 
 next verse with the same, as thus : 
 
 Comforte it is for man to have a wife, 
 Wife chast, and wise, and lowly all her life. 
 
 Or thus : 
 
 Tour beutie was the cause of my first love, 
 Love while I live, that I may sore repent. 
 
 The Greeks call this figure Anadiplosis ; I call him the 
 Redouble, as the originall beares. — PurrEXimi, The Arte 
 of English Poesie, Lib. hi. Chap. 19. 
 
 Ill these passages, Shakespeare with the 
 word with which he finishes a verse, begins 
 the next. 
 
 Mrs. Ford. Nay, by the mass, that he did not ; he 
 beat him most unpitifully, methought.
 
 MASS AND CUDGEL. 43 
 
 Mrs. Page. I'll have the cudgel hallowed, and hung 
 o'er the altar ; it hath done meritorious service. 
 
 Merry Wives, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 2>ul Clown, TYIio builds stronger than a mason, a ship- 
 wright, or a carpenter ? 
 
 1st Clown. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke. 
 
 2nd Clown. Marry, now I can tell. 
 
 1st Clown. To't. 
 
 2nd Clown. Mass, I cannot tell. 
 
 1st Clown. Cudgel thy brains no more about it ; for 
 your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating. 
 
 llamlet, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Cudgel : derived from theWelsh cogel ; from 
 cog, a mass, lump, or short piece of wood. 
 Mass : derived from the Saxon maesa y maesse ; 
 French messe; German and Danish messe. 
 The word mass so derived signifies primarily 
 leisure, or rest from labour: now, the service 
 of the Romish Church; the office or prayers 
 used at the celebration of the eucharist ; the 
 consecration of the bread and wine. Mass 
 derived from the French masse signifies a 
 mass, heap, a mace or club. Portuguese 
 maqa, dough and mace ; Spanish masa, dough, 
 mortar, a mass, and maza, a club, a mace; 
 maze, a mallet; Italian massa, a heap, and 
 mazza, a maze. These words are supposed to 
 belong to the root of the Greek /x.ao-<ru>, to
 
 44 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 beat or pound, the root of which is [xmy : hence 
 the connection between mass and mace, a club. 
 Shakespeare, in these passages, may play 
 upon the words mass and cudgel, using them 
 in connection with each other: because the 
 word cogel, from which cudgel is derived, sig- 
 nifies a mass or lump. Thus, cudgel suggested 
 the meaning of the word from which it is de- 
 rived, namely, ' mass ' or lump ; and this word 
 ' mass,' which is the meaning ofcogel, suggested 
 the Mass by which men swore. 
 
 Gomiyiius. I tell you, lie does sit in gold, his eye 
 Red as 'twould burn Rome ; and his injury 
 The gaoler to his pity. 
 
 Coriolanus, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Coriolanus. I sometime lay, here in Corioli, 
 At a poor man's house ; he used me kindly : 
 He cried to me ; I saw him prisoner ; 
 But then Aufidius was within my view, 
 And wrath o'erwhehn'd my pity. 
 
 Act i. Sc. 9. 
 
 Duke. Merchant of Syracusa, plead no more ; 
 I am not partial to infringe our laws : 
 The enmity and discord, which of late 
 Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke 
 To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen, — 
 Who, wanting gilders to redeem their lives, 
 Have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods,- 
 Excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks. 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Act i. Sc. 1.
 
 AEISTOTLE. 45 
 
 Ken iui'ite iv diCfniac irdQti ovrtQ' o'wv iv opyfj, 7) ddppei. 
 dXoytora yap rov iaottivov ravza' yj»'/r iv vppioriXQ (ia- 
 tiiott' Ka\ yap uiiroi dXoyiaroi rov ireitTtrrOai ti' a\\ 01 fitr<ti.v 
 ruvrtjy' /J/'/r' av tyapov pinn oyocpa, o'v yap tXtovaiv 01 tK- 
 Trm\i)yjxiroi Ciu to livai TTpOS Tip (nKtiio iradei. /. 
 
 Albany. Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead ! — 
 
 This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble, 
 
 Touches us not with pity. 
 
 Lear, Act v. Sc. 3, 
 
 To yap letrav trtpov tov iXeeivov Kal iKKpovtr-iKov, xal 
 iroAXcuciC ~<t irairio) ^piiffi^iov. 13. 
 
 Aristotle, TEXNH2 PHT0PIKH2 «0. jj'. Lib. ii. 
 
 Aristotle says that those who are in anger 
 (Iv opyjj) do not feel pity, and Shakespeare 
 says almost as much ; for Cominius, speaking 
 of Coriolanus, says, ' his injury is the gaoler to 
 his pity,' and Coriolanus says, 
 
 ' Wrath o'erwhelm'd my pity ;' 
 
 so that the injury and wrath of Coriolanus, 
 and the enmity mentioned by /Egeon, may be 
 considered productive of or equivalent to the 
 anger, or violent emotion or passion, mentioned 
 by Aristotle. 
 
 King. What wooldst thou beg, Laertes, 
 That shall not be my offer, not thy asking ? 
 The head is not more native to the heart, 
 The hand more instrumental to the mouth, 
 Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 2.
 
 46 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Hot. Is it a custom ? 
 
 Ham. Ay, marry, is 't : 
 But to my mind, — though I am native here, 
 And to the manner born, — it is a custom 
 More honour'd in the breach than the observance. 
 This heavy-headed revel, east and west, 
 Makes us traduced, and tax'd of other nations. 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 4. 
 
 Servi anciently signified bondsmen or servile 
 tenants. They were called ' servi, quia serva- 
 baiitur a dominiis et non occidebantur, et non 
 a serviendo ; ' for the life and members of them, 
 as of freemen, were in the hands and pro- 
 tection of kings; and it was, in consequence of 
 the cruelty of some lords, ordained that he who 
 killed his villein should have the same judg- 
 ment as if he had killed a freeman. The 
 proper servi were of four sorts : the first, such 
 as sold themselves for a livelihood; the second, 
 debtors who were sold for payment of their 
 debts; the third, captives made in war, who 
 were maintained and employed as slaves ; the 
 fourth, nativi, such as were the children of 
 villeins born in servitude within a particular 
 district or manor, and were by descent the sole 
 property of the lord. About the year 1554, 
 Henry the Eighth manumitted two of his 
 villeins in these words :
 
 ' \- 
 
 XATIVE,' 'TO Till: MANNER BORN.' 47 
 
 " Whereas God created all men free, but afterwards 
 the laws and customs of nations subjected some under 
 the yoke of servitude, we think it pious and meritorious 
 with God to manumit Henry Knight, a t ay lor, and John 
 Herle, a husbandman, our natives, as being born witlnm 
 manor of Stoke Ch mnivsland, in our County of 
 Cornwall, together with all their goods, lands, and chat- 
 tels acquired or to be acquired, so as the said persons 
 and their issue shall from henceforth by us be free, and 
 of free condition." — Barr. Stats. 276. 
 
 The reader will perceive that Hamlet says : 
 
 I am native here, 
 And to the manner bom ; 
 
 and also that in tins form of enfranchisement 
 the King manumits ' Henry Knight and John 
 Herle, our natives, as being born within the 
 manor of Stoke Clymmysland.' 
 
 Hamlet may speak of Denmark or Elsinore 
 as the manor, himself as nativus, to the manor 
 born, and the ' heavy-headed revel ' as a cus- 
 tom incident to the manor. In this passage 
 Shakespeare probably uses the word manor in 
 a double sense, as in Love's Labour's Lost, 
 Act i. Scene 1, where it is contrasted with the 
 word manner, and played upon: 
 
 Churn. I was seene with her in the mannor-houso, 
 sitting with her upon the forme, and taken following her 
 into the parke : which put together is in manner and 
 form following.
 
 48 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 If it should be considered probable that 
 Hamlet uses the word manner in a double sense, 
 it will then be of little consequence whether 
 the word is spelt with ' e ' or ' o,' because the 
 mention of the one word would be intended to 
 suggest to the mind the other word, which is 
 idem sonans, but different in meaning. 
 
 Doll. Why does the prince love him so, then ? 
 
 Falstaff. Because their legs are both of a bigness : 
 and he plays at quoits well, and eats conger and fennel ; 
 and drinks off candles' ends for flap-dragons ; and rides 
 the wild mare with the boys. 
 
 2 Henry IV., Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 With that bestriding the mast, I gat by little and little 
 towards him, after such manner as boyes are wont, when 
 they ride the wilde mare. — Arcadia, Lib. ii. p. 192. 
 
 Constance. Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious. 
 
 King John, Act hi. Sc. 1. 
 
 Enobarhus. But he loves Coesar best ; — Yet he loves 
 
 Antony : 
 
 Ho ! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets cannot 
 
 Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho, his love 
 
 To Antony. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act hi. Sc. 1. 
 
 Lady Capulet. Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful 
 
 day! 
 
 ****** 
 
 Paris. Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain ! 
 * " * * * * *
 
 
 I 
 
 THE GUTTED COMMA. 49 
 
 Ca/pulet Despised, distressed, hated, man j ,w. l'1]m i 
 
 * • * # # * 
 
 Romeo <md Juliet, Act iv. Sc. 5. 
 
 Malcolm. Bui [have none: The king-beco graces, 
 
 As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, 
 Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowlini 
 Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, 
 1 have no relish of them. 
 
 Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 "We use BO] es to proceede all by single words, 
 
 without any close or coupling, saving thai a little pause 
 or comma is geven to every wind. This figure for plea- 
 sure may be called in our vulgar the cutted comma, for 
 thai there cannot: lie a shorter division then at every 
 word's end. 'The (Ireekes in tlieir language call it short 
 language, as thus: 
 
 Envy, malice. ", disdaine, 
 
 Avarice, deceit, falshed, filthy gah 
 
 If this loose language be used, not in single words, 
 but in long clauses, it is called Asindeton, and in both 
 cases we otter in that fashion when we be earnest, 
 
 or would seeme to make hast. — Pdttenham, Tfo ArU oj 
 English Poesie, Lib. iii. Chap. 19. 
 
 Shakespeare frequently uses this figure, and 
 in the few passages I have selected the render 
 will perceive that some of the verses, to use 
 Puttenham's language, 'proceede all by single 
 words, without close or coupling, saving that 
 a little pause or comma is given to every 
 word,' thus: 
 
 Accti ed, unhappy, v
 
 50 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Tt may be said that Shakespeare does not 
 use this figure in this passage, because Lady 
 Capulet does not proceed entirely by single 
 words, for a comma does not separate the 
 adjective 'hateful' from the noun 'day'; but 
 in the last line which Puttenham uses in il- 
 lustration of the cutted comma, the adjective 
 L filthy' is not separated by a comma from the 
 noun ' gain.' 
 
 Prince Henry. Charge an honest woman with picking 
 thy pocket ! Why, thon whoreson, impudent, embossed 
 rascal, if there were anything in thy pocket but tavern- 
 reckonings, memorandums of bawdy-houses, and one 
 poor penny-worth of sugar-candy to make thee long-winded ; 
 if thy pocket were enriched with any other injuries but 
 these, I am a villain. — 1 Henry IV., Act iii. Sc. 3. 
 
 According to * The Compleat Gamester,' 
 sugar-candy was, with other things, given to 
 fio;htin2: cocks, to make them long-winded: for 
 the author of that old book, in his instructions 
 for ' dieting and ordering a cock for battel,' 
 says: 
 
 You must put them in deep straw-baskets, made for 
 the purpose, or for want of them take a couple of cock- 
 ing-bags, and fill these with straw half-ways, then put 
 in your cocks severally, and cover them over with straw 
 to the top, then shut down the lids and let them sweat ; 
 but do not forget to give them first some white sugar-
 
 r. 
 
 ARISTOriTAXES. 51 
 
 candy, cliopt rosemary, and butter mingled and '-inorpcx. 
 rated together. Let the quantity be about the bigness 
 of a walnut. By so doing you will cleanse him of his 
 grease, increase Ins strength, and prolong his breath. 
 
 Gon. V the commonwealth I would by contraries 
 Execute all things ; for no kind of traffic 
 Would I admit ; no name of magistrate ; 
 Letters should not be known ; riches, poverty, 
 And use of service, none ; contract, succession, 
 Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none ; 
 No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil ; 
 No occupation ; all men idle, all ; 
 And women too, but innocent and pure ; 
 No sovereignty — 
 
 Seb. Yet he would be king on 't. 
 
 Ant. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the 
 beginning. 
 
 Gon. All things in common nature should produce 
 Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony, 
 Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine, 
 Would I not have ; but nature should bring forth, 
 Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance, 
 To feed my innocent people. 
 
 Seb. No marrying 'mong his subjects ? 
 
 Ant. None, man ; all idle : whores and knaves. 
 
 Gon. I would with such perfection govern, sir, 
 To excel the golden age. 
 
 Seb. God save his majesty ! 
 
 7' rrvpest, Act ii. Sc. 1. 
 
 Cade. Be brave, then ; for your captain is bra\ e, and 
 vows reformation. There shall be in England seven 
 halfpenny Loaves sold for a penny : the three-hooped pol 
 shall have ten hoops ; and I will make it felony to drink 
 small beer : all the realm shall be in common; and in 
 
 D 2
 
 52 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Cheapsitlc shall my palfiy go to grass : and when I am 
 Icing, as king I will be — 
 
 All. God save your majesty ! 
 
 Cade. I thank you, good people: there shall be no 
 money ; all shall eat and drink on my score ; and I will 
 apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like 
 brothers and worship me their lord. 
 
 2 Henry VI., Act iv. Sc. 2. 
 
 nPASAroPA. 
 
 uii vvv ■nporepov uriCelg v/iwy dvTeiirrf /irjci' vTroKpovrrri, 
 Trpiv iTricrraaOai ti)v kvivotav kcu tov (ppu£ot>roc aKOvaai. 
 KOiviovelv yap ttcivtuc (pi'irxo) j^prjvai TravTwv fieri^ovraQ, 
 cue ravrov i^ijy, ical /jirj tov fisv wAoi/rcii', tov o iiOXtov tivai, 
 price yewpye'iv tov [xiv 7roXXrjv rw 3' eivai juries ratyrjvai, 
 urjcT (\v?pa7r6hoiQ tov fitv ^prjadai ttoXXoIc, tov e>' oho 
 
 ukoXovOo)' 
 «\\' 'iva 7roiw koivov airaoiv ftlorov Kal tovtov ofjoiov. 
 
 BAEnYPOS. 
 ttwc ovv Karat koivoq cnraviv ; 
 
 nPASArOPA. 
 
 KUTECEl TTtXedoy TtpOTtpOC flOV. 
 
 BAEnYPOS. 
 
 Kai twv tteXIQwv koivwvovuev ; 
 
 nPA^ArOPA. 
 
 fia Ai", aXX' uIjOtjc fJ.' inroKpovaac. 
 toutk yap i'ljjLiXXoy tyw \eittV ti)v yfjv 7rpwrt(7Ta T70ii]au\ 
 KOivnv iravThiV ical Titpyvptov icai tuXX ottoct taTiv ttcucrrw. 
 
 tlr CL-U TOVTiaV KOIVVOV OVTIOP 7]UE~IQ j3o(TKt)lTOfiEV VfXCig 
 
 rauievofievai, ical ^etSo/icrat, cat tt)v yt wfirjv irpoaiyjwoai. 
 
 BAEnYPOS. 
 ■kwq ovy ottic fir] KCKrijrat yi]v T]fiwv, dpyvpiov Ik 
 Ktti dapeiKOvg, dfavfi ttXovtov;
 
 
 ARISTOPHANES. 58 
 
 nr .\i.vn»i'A. 
 
 tovt eq tv piaov Karadi'iaei. 
 
 BAEHYP02. 
 
 ku« /.it] xaruQelc \l/tvlopK>i(TEi. Ka.KTi]<jaTO yap Ciit tovto. 
 
 nPA»AroPA. 
 
 a'W oiiitv rot yj)li<njiov tarai ttclvtojc avru. 
 
 BAEnYPo^:. 
 
 Kara Cj) ri ; 
 riPASArOPA. 
 
 ov$t\g ov$ev irEvia cpaoei' ■navra yap t^ovaiv airavTEc, 
 apTuvc, rEfia^i), fiafas, -xXalvaQ, oivov, arEtyavovq, ipefiivdovc. 
 
 606. 
 Aeistophanes, EKKAH2IAZ0Y2AI. 
 
 I -will place some parts of these passages 
 nearer together, so that the reader may more 
 easily see the resemblance between the demo- 
 cracy of Praxagora and the commonwealths of 
 Cade and Gonzalo, and the words of Aristo- 
 phanes and Shakespeare. 
 
 All the realm, shall be in common. 
 KOivuvE'tv yap irarraQ <p>'i(Tu> -^pipai ttcivtwv ^uriyovraq. 
 
 ti)v yT\v -npioTiUTa iroiiiaio 
 Koutjv iravrwv xai rdpyvpiov kui raW oirva iariv E/caorw. 
 
 There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves 
 sold for a penny. 
 
 iravra yap t£ovoiv inrai'TEe, 
 iiprovQ. 
 
 No marrying among Lis subjects ? 
 
 Xonc, man ; all idle : whores and kna'-
 
 i wa v.«-t.i 1 ^t v ,^ 
 
 54 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 BAEI1YP02. 
 
 »7»' uelpaK icwp kiriBvfxiiay *co! pouXijrcu <TKCt\a6vpai, 
 £l,u tovtujv a<f>t\u)P covvai, tu>v Ik koivuv ce fiede^ei 
 ivyKnracapQiov. 
 
 nPASAroPA. 
 
 d\X it,itrrai irpoiK airw Huy/caraBapQeTv. 
 icai ruvrag yap kowciq ttoiH) toiq dvcpaai avyKaratcEiadaL 
 kui iraiooTToiilv rj3 lJov\o^it'a>. G15. 
 
 EKKAH2IAZ0Y2AI. 
 
 Nature should bring forth, 
 Of its own kind, all foison, all alicndance. 
 
 nPASAroPA. 
 
 a'AA' ovt: 'iiJTCU rovro nap' r)p~iv. 
 
 ■nasi yap a(f>dova Tvuvra izupi^o^ev. 690. 
 
 Mrs. Page. Here comes little Robin. 
 
 [Enter Robin. 
 Mrs. Ford. How now, my eyas-musket? what news 
 with you ? 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act hi. Sc. 3. 
 
 Ham. How comes it ? do they grow rusty ? 
 
 Bos. Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace : 
 but there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases, that cry 
 out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically 
 clapped for 't : these are now the fashion, and so berattle 
 the common stages — so they call them — that many 
 wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills, and dare 
 scarce come thither. 
 
 Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Names are bestowed on a falcon according to her age or 
 taking. The first is an eyess, which name lasts as long as 
 she is in the eyrie. These are very troublesome in their
 
 THE LITTLE EYASES. 55 
 
 feeding, do cry very much, and are difficultly entred: but 
 being well entred and quarried, prove excellent hawks 
 for the hern, river, or any sort of fowl, and are hardy 
 
 and full of mettle. — The Gentleman's I 'ion. 
 
 Horatio. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, 
 
 Of unimproved mettle hoi and full, 
 Hatb in the skirts of Norway here and there 
 Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes, 
 For food and diet, to some enterprise 
 That hath a stomach in 't. 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 A hawk is said to be entered when lie begins 
 
 to kill ; and Coininius, speaking of Coriolanus, 
 
 says : 
 
 At sixteen years, 
 When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought 
 Beyond the mark of others : our then dictator, 
 Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight, 
 When with his Amazonian chin he drove 
 The bristled lips before him : he bestrid 
 An o'er-pressed Roman, and i' the consul's view 
 Slew three opposers : Tarquin's self he met, 
 And struck him on his knee : in that day's feats, 
 When he might act the woman in the scene, 
 He proved best man i' the field, and for his meed 
 Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil age 
 Man-entered thus, he waxed like a sea; 
 And, in the brunt of seventeen battles since, 
 He lurched all swords o' the garland. 
 
 •iolawus, Act ii. Sc. '2. 
 
 Having reclaimed her, thoroughly manned her, and 
 made her eager and sharp set, then you may venture 
 to feed her on her lure. But before you shew her the
 
 oG SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 lure you must consider these three things : — 1. That she 
 be bold in, and familiar with, company, and noways 
 afraid of dogs and horses. 2. That she be sharp set and 
 hungry, regarding the hour of the morning and evening 
 when you will lure her. 3. And lastly, she must be 
 clean within, and the lure must be well garnished with 
 meat on both sides, and you must abscond yourself when 
 you intend to give her the length of the lease. 
 
 Having seeled your hawk, fit her with a large easy 
 hood, which you must take off and put on very often, 
 watching her two nights, handling her frequently and 
 gently about the head as aforesaid. When you perceive 
 she hath no aversion to the hood, unseel her in an even- 
 ing, by candle-light ; continue handling her softly, often 
 hooding and unhooding her, until she takes no offence 
 at the hood, and will patiently endure handling. 
 
 K. Hen. Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to 
 consent to winking. 
 
 Bwr. I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if yon 
 will teach her to know my meaning : for maids, well 
 summered and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew- 
 tide, blind, though they have their eyes ; and then they 
 will endure handlmg, which before would not abide look- 
 ing on. 
 
 Henry V. Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 If your seeled hawk feeds well, abides the hood and 
 handling without striking or biting, then by candle-light 
 in an evening unseel her, and with your finger and 
 s] tittle anoint the place where the seeling- thread was 
 drawn through ; then hood her, and hold her on your 
 fist all night, often hooding, unhooding, and handling 
 her, stroaking her gently about the things and body, 
 giving her sometimes a bit or two, also liring and 
 plumage. — The Gentleman s Recreation.
 
 falconers' terms. ~>~ 
 
 Lecturers get a great deal of money, because fchey 
 preach the people tame; as a man watches a hawk, and 
 then they do what they list with them. — Selden, Table 
 Talk : Lecturers. 
 
 If you would man her well, you should vatch her all 
 the night, keeping her continually on your list. 
 
 Yon must bear her continually upon your fist till she 
 be thoroughly manned, causing her to feed in company. 
 
 "Pandoras. Come, come, what need you blush ? shame's 
 a baby. — Here she is now : swear the oaths now 7 to her, 
 that yon have sworn to me. — What, are yon gone again ? 
 you must be watched ere you be made tame, must you ? 
 — Traili'* and < 'ressida, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 You must unhood her gently, giving her two or three 
 bits, and putting on her hood again you must give bet- 
 as much more ; and be sure that she is close seeled, and 
 after three or four days lessen her diet : and when you 
 go to bed set her on some pearch by you, that you may 
 awaken her often in the night. This you must do till 
 you observe her grow tame and gentle; and when you 
 find she begins to feed eagerly, then give her a sheep's 
 heart. And now you may begin to unhood her by day- 
 time, but it must be far from company: first giving her 
 a bit or two, then hood her again gently, and give her so 
 much more. Be sure not to affright her with anything 
 when you unhood her. 
 
 Pet. Thus have I politicly begun my reign, 
 And 'tis my hope to end successfully ; 
 My falcon now is sharp, and passing empty ; 
 And, till she stoop, she must not be full-gorged, 
 For then she never looks upon her lure. 
 Another way 1 have to man my haggard, 
 To make her come, and know her h call. 
 
 That is, — to watch her, as we watch these kites, 
 
 d 3
 
 58 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 That bate and beat, and will not be obedient. 
 She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat ; 
 Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not. 
 Taming the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 1. 
 
 And when you perceive her to be acquainted with com- 
 pany, and that she is sharp set, unhood her and give her 
 some meat, holding her just against your face and eyes, 
 which will make her less afraid of the countenance of 
 others. 
 
 Having manned your hawk so that she feeds boldly, 
 acquaint her with your voice, whistle, and such words as 
 falconers use. 
 
 When she feeds boldly, and knows your voice and 
 whistle, then teach her to know her feeding, and to bate 
 at it in this manner. Shew her some meat with your 
 right hand, crying and luring to her aloud : if she bate 
 or strike at it, then let her quickly and neatly foot it, and 
 feed on it for four or five bits. 
 
 Sicilius. The holy eagle 
 
 Stoop'd, as to foot us. 
 
 Cymbeline, Act v. Sc. 4. 
 
 Being well reclaimed, let her sit upon a pearch ; but 
 every night keep her on the fist three or four hours, 
 stroaking, hooding, and unhooding, &c, as aforesaid : 
 and this you may do in the day-time, when she hath 
 learned to feed eagerly without fear. — The Gentleman' 's 
 Recreation. 
 
 Pandarus and Petrucio both refer to the 
 watching and waking in training hawks. 
 Petrucio alludes, also, to one of the things to 
 be considered before you show the hawk her
 
 Juliet's unmannd blood. 59 
 
 lure, namely, that she must be sharp set and 
 hungry; and Shakespeare refers to the fal- 
 coner's practice of manning hawks by hooding 
 and unhooding them, when he makes Juliet say : 
 
 Come, civil night, 
 Thou sober-suited matron all iu black, 
 And learn me bow to lose a winning match 
 Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods : 
 Hood my unma/rm'd blood bating- in my cheeks, 
 With thy black mantle ; till strange love, grown bold, 
 Think true love acted simple modesty. 
 
 Act hi. So 2. 
 
 Moreover, in one of the extracts I have 
 made from ' The Gentleman's Recreation,' it 
 is said that, in manning a hawk, you must 
 commence hooding and unhooding her by 
 night, and that you may do this in the day- 
 time, when she hath learned to feed without 
 fear; and Juliet asks the night to hood her 
 unmanned blood till strange love, grown bold, 
 think true love acted simple modesty. 
 
 Gonstahle. By my faith, sir, but it is ; never anybody 
 saw it, but his lackey: 'lis a hooded valour; and, when 
 it appeal's, it will bate. — Henry 1'., Act hi. Sc. 7. 
 
 The word ' bate ' used by Petrucio, Juliet. 
 and Constable, is a term of art in falconry, thus 
 explained in 'The Gentleman's Recreation' — 
 ' Bate is when a hawk endeavoureth to fly from
 
 60 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 the hand or peareh, being tied to either.' So 
 Juliet's unmanned blood flies to her cheeks, as 
 a hawk from the hand or peareh, that is, it is 
 unruly; and Juliet asks the night with her 
 black mantle to hood and thereby subdue her 
 unmanned blood ; she may also wish her cheeks 
 to be concealed, for she elsewhere says : 
 
 Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face, 
 Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek. 
 
 Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 If Falstaff, in the First Part of Henry IV., 
 Act ii. Scene 3, uses the word ' bate ' as a fal- 
 coner's term — 
 
 Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this last 
 action ? Do I not bate ? Do I not dwindle ? Why, 
 my skin hangs about me like an old lady's loose 
 gown. I am withered like an old apple John — 
 
 he must refer, not to the act of bating, but to 
 the effect which it produces upon the body ; 
 for, according to ' The Gentleman's Recreation,' 
 hawks which are ' very great baters are very 
 small eaters ; and a hawk or a man that eats 
 very little, will dwindle.'
 
 ALLEGIANCE AND OBEDIEN'CE. 61 
 
 Kin 'j John. Our discontented counties do revolt ; 
 Our people quarrel with obedrience; 
 Swearing allegiance, and the love of soul, 
 To stranger blood, to foreign royally. 
 
 Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Queen Katlierine. Tongues spit then* duties out, and 
 cold hearts freeze 
 Allegiance in them ; their curses now 
 Live where their prayers did; and it's come to pass, 
 Thai t ractable oil is a slave 
 
 To each incensed will. 
 
 Henry Till., Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 The reader will perceive that Shakespeare 
 uses the terms allegiance and obedience in con- 
 nection with each other; and, according to 
 Coke : 
 
 As the subject oweth to the king his true and faithful 
 Iigeance and obedience, so the sovereign is to govern and 
 protect his subjects : regere et protegere subditos suos ; 
 so as between the sovereign and subject there is duplex 
 el reciprocum ligamen, (juia sicut subditus regi tenetur 
 ad obc-iliciitiam, ita ivx subdito tenetur ad protectionem ; 
 merito igitur ligeantia dieitur, a ligando, quid continet in 
 Be duplex ligamen. 
 
 And again : 
 
 This word Iigeance is well expressed by divers several 
 
 names or synonyma which we lind in our books. Some- 
 time it is called the obedience or obeysance of the sub- 
 ject to the king, obedientia regi. — Co. Hep. Calvin's 
 Case.
 
 62 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Oswald. Help, ho ! murder ! kelp ! 
 Kent. Strike, you slave ; stand, rogue, stand ; you 
 neat slave, strike. 
 
 Lear, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Kent calls the steward a neat slave, and 
 
 there was neat land, terra villanorum, which 
 
 was land let or granted out to yeomanry; 
 
 therefore it may be considered probable that 
 
 the word used by Kent is not the adjective 
 
 ' neat,' Italian netto, French net, Latin nitidus, 
 
 niteo, to shine, to be clean, fair, or fine, but 
 
 that Kent uses the substantive ' neat,' derived 
 
 from the Saxon neat, neten, niten, nyten, 
 
 which signifies black cattle — beeves, as oxen, 
 
 heifers, calves and steers. 
 
 Leontes. Wky,tkat's mybaweock. What, kast smutck'd 
 tky nose ? — 
 Tkey say, it 's a copy out of mine. Come, captain, 
 We must be neat ; not neat, but cleanly, captain : 
 And yet tke steer, tke keifer, and tke calf, 
 Are all call'd neat. 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 The word 'neat' seems to be used by Leontes 
 in a double sense : we must be ' neat,' that is, 
 clean, trim ; and yet we must not be ' neat,' 
 that is, unclean, like ' the steer, the heifer, and 
 the calf,' or those who tend them. It is evident 
 that Leontes uses the adjective ' neat,' signify-
 
 NEAT SLAVE. — DUNGHILL VILLAIN. G3 
 
 ing clean, trim, &c, and also the substantive 
 ' neat,' derived from the Saxon, in the sense of 
 unclean, or at least in a sense which implies the 
 condition of which the adjective ' unclean ' is 
 descriptive — a condition common to 'the steer, 
 the heifer, and the calf,' and those who tended 
 them, as tenants of neat land. Because Leontes 
 uses the word ' neat ' in a sense implying the 
 uncleanliness which is common to cattle, or 
 those who tend them, therefore I have thought 
 it probable that Kent may mean, by using the 
 words 'neat slave,' that Oswald, the steward, 
 was like a tenant of neat land, that is, a base, 
 dirty fellow. It may be considered doubtful 
 whether the word ' neat ' used by Kent is the 
 substantive ' neat,' signifying one who was a 
 tenant of neat land ; but if Kent does use that 
 substantive, he probably uses it in an adjective 
 sense, in connection with the word ' slave,' in 
 the same manner as Shakespeare, in 'Henry VI.' 
 Part 2, seems to use the substantive 'dunghill' 
 in an adjective sense, in connection with the 
 word ' villain.' 
 
 York. r>ase dunghill villain, and mechanical, 
 I'll have thy head for this thy traitor's Bpeech. 
 
 Act i. Sc. 3.
 
 64 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Bigot. Out, dunghill ! clarest thou brave a nobleman ? 
 
 King John, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 Oswald. Out, dunghill ! 
 
 Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6. 
 
 Littleton thus describes the villein service 
 to which Shakespeare may allude in these 
 passages : 
 
 Tenure in villenage is most properly when a vdleiu 
 holdeth of his lord, to whom he is a villein, certain lands 
 or tenements according to the custom of the mannor, or 
 otherwise, at the will of the lord, and to do his lord 
 villein service ; as to carry and re-carry dung of his 
 lord out of the city, or out of his lord's mannor, unto 
 the land of his lord, and to spread the same upon the 
 land, and such like. — Section 172. 
 
 Rosaline. A jest's prosperity lies in the ear 
 Of him that hears it, never in the tongue 
 Of him that makes it. 
 
 Love's Labour's Lost, Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 Kniroi tywy' bpw rijc twv \eyoi'Th)v ^via/,ieu)Q tovq 
 aKovovraQ to nXtioTov KvplovQ' wc yap «»' vpe'ig aTvoceL,ria(h 
 Kal irpoc SKaorov t-)(r)r evvoiac, ovrwg b Xiyiov ioo^e fpove'iv. 
 —Demosthenes, IIEPI TOY 2TE*ANUY. 
 
 The Thanes who possessed bocland divided 
 them according to the proportion of their 
 estates into two sorts, inland and outland,
 
 INLAND AND OUTLAND. 65 
 
 inlantal, inlantale, demesne or inland, to 
 
 which was opposed dclantal'-land, tenanted 
 or outland. ' Abbat et Conventus Glaston. 
 concesserunt vicario de Suppiwike decimas 
 bladi omnium croftarum tunc existentium, 
 duntaxat qua3 non sunt Inlandtal in tota pa- 
 rochia de Suppiwike, eo quod omnes ha3 
 crofta3 sunt Delantal.' (Chartular. Abbat. 
 Glaston. M.S. f. 115 b.) 'Inland, Inlandiun, 
 terra Dominicalis, pars manerii Dominica, 
 terra interior ; ' for that which was let out to 
 the tenants was called utland. In the Tes- 
 tament of Brithericus, in Itiner. Cantii, 'tis 
 said thus according to Lambert's interpreta- 
 tion — 'To Ilulfee (I give) the inland or de- 
 means, and to Elfeyth outland or tenancy.' 
 This word is often found in Doomsday. 
 (Cowell.) The inland was that which lay 
 next, or most convenient for, the lord's man- 
 sion-house, as within the view thereof, and 
 therefore they kept that part in their own 
 hands for the support of themselves and their 
 families. The Normans afterwards called 
 these lands terra; dominieales, the demains, or 
 lord's lands.
 
 66 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Orl. Are you native of this place ? 
 
 Bos. As the coney, that you see dwell where she is 
 kindled. 
 
 Orl. Tour accent is something finer than you could 
 purchase in so removed a dwelling. 
 
 Bos. I have been told so of many : but, indeed, an 
 old religious uncle of mine taught me to speak, who was 
 in his youth an inland man : one that knew courtship 
 too well, for there he fell in love. 
 
 As You Like It, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 It appears to me reasonable to conclude that 
 there would be more refinement of manners 
 and of speech, or, as Orlando says, of ' accent,' 
 in one who was ' inland ' bred, that is, brought 
 up on the demesnes or demain lands of the 
 lord, and subject necessarily to the influence 
 of whatever degree of refinement there may 
 have been in the society formed by the lord's 
 family, his guests and retainers, than in one 
 who was ' outland ' bred, that is, brought up 
 on land which was not next to the lord's 
 mansion-house, but remote therefrom. I am 
 inclined to think that the word ' removed,' 
 used by Orlando, refers to the ' outland,' be- 
 cause Rosalind immediately afterwards makes 
 use of the word ' inland,' to which it is opposed 
 in meaning, and she says, in effect, ' The 
 reason my accent is something finer than
 
 THE TITLE ESQUIRE. 67 
 
 could be acquired in so removed a dwelling, 
 as I have been told of many, is this — that an 
 old uncle of mine taught me to speak, who 
 was in his youth an inland man.' If, for the 
 reasons I have stated, it should be considered 
 probable that the tenants of the inland were 
 more refined than the tenants of the outland, 
 it may then also be considered probable that, 
 in course of time, all persons who resembled 
 the tenants of the outland in their want of 
 refinement, were designated by the term ' out- 
 landish,' an adjective which is often applied 
 in England at the present day to those who 
 are rude in manner and in speech. 
 
 Polonkis. He closes with you in this consequence : 
 
 ' Good sir,' or so, or ' friend,' or ' gentleman,' 
 
 According to the phrase or the addition 
 
 Of man and country. 
 
 Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 1. 
 
 The description of an individual in a legal 
 document as esquire, gentleman, yeoman, &c, 
 is called his addition, and Shakespeare fre- 
 quently uses this word ' addition ' in its legal 
 
 sense. 
 
 King. Wliere great additions swell, and virtue none, 
 It is a dropsied honour: good alone 
 Is good, without a name. 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well, Act ii. Sc. 3.
 
 68 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 So Angelo says : 
 
 Thieves for their robbery have authority, 
 When judges steal themselves. 
 
 Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 It may be said of the addition ' esquire,' that 
 in England there is no title more unwarrant- 
 ably assumed or more indiscriminately applied, 
 
 So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men, 
 So stale and cheap to vulgar company. 
 
 Esquire (French ecuyer ; Italian scudiere, 
 from the Latin scutum, a shield ; from the 
 Greek g-xutos, a hide, of which shields were 
 anciently made, and afterwards covered, for in 
 the time of the Anglo-Saxons the shields were 
 covered with leather) signified originally he 
 who attended a knight in time of war and car- 
 ried his shield, whence he was called escuier in 
 French, and scutifer or armiger, that is, armour- 
 bearer, in Latin. So Shakespeare makes Fal- 
 staff say, playing on the word ' night ' : 
 
 Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not 
 us, that are squires of the night's body, be called thieves 
 of the day's beauty ; let us be — Diana's foresters, gentle- 
 men of the shade, minions of the moon. — 1 Henry TV., 
 Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Shot. Sir Hugh, persuade me not ; I will make a 
 Star-chamber matter of it : if he were twenty Sir John 
 Falstaffs, he shall not abuse Robert Shallow, esquire.
 
 THE TITLE ESQUIRE. 69 
 
 Slen. In the comity of Gloucester, justice of peace 
 ;uk1 ' Coram.' 
 
 Shal. Ay, cousin Slender, and ' Custalorum.' 
 Slen. Ay, and ' Kato-lorum ' too; and a gentleman 
 bom, master parson; who writes himself ' Armigero,' 
 in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation, 'Armigero.' 
 Merry Wires of Windsor, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Slender speaks of Shallow's right to describe 
 himself armigero in any bill, &c. ; and Mac- 
 beth, in answer to the assurance of the first 
 murderer, 'we are men, my liege,' says: 
 
 Macb. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men ; 
 As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, 
 Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, ai'e cleped 
 
 All by the name of dogs : the valued file 
 1 'Istinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, 
 The house-keeper, the hunter, every one 
 According to the gift which bounteous nature 
 Hath in him closed ; whereby he does receive 
 Particular addition, from the bill 
 That writes them all alike : and so of men. 
 
 Act iii. Sc. 1. 
 
 The bill to which Macbeth and Shallow refer 
 may be tin indictment, which is a bill or de- 
 claration of complaint, that is, drawn up and 
 exhibited for some criminal or penal offence, 
 and preferred to the grand jury or inquest of 
 the county, upon whose oaths (taken before 
 proper judges having power to punish or cer- 
 tify the offence) they are to find whether the
 
 70 SnAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 complaint in the indictment is true or not. 
 Therein must be set forth {inter alia) the 
 Christian name, surname, and addition of the 
 offender, &c. 
 
 Armiger, in English, signifies esquire, and 
 perhaps an esquire may be called armiger 
 quasi armigerens, from his bearing arms. 
 Ancient writers and chronologers make men- 
 tion of some who are called armigeri, whose 
 office was to carry the shield of some noble- 
 man. Camden calls them scutiferi, which 
 seems to import as much, and homines ad arma 
 delecti. (Noy's Max.) 
 
 Custos Botulorum is an officer who has the 
 custody of the rolls and records of the ses- 
 sions of the peace, and also, as some authorities 
 state, of the commission of the peace itself. He 
 is constantly a justice of the peace and quo- 
 rum in the county where his office is kept. 
 
 Quorum (Latin, ' of whom ') is a word fre- 
 quently used in the commissions of the justices 
 of the peace, as where a commission is directed 
 to five or seven persons, or to any three of 
 them, among whom B. C. and D. E. are said 
 to be of the quorum, because the rest cannot 
 proceed without them. And thence a justice
 
 THE TITLE ESQUIRE. 71 
 
 of the peace and quorum is one without whom 
 the rest of the judges cannot act in some 
 cases. 
 
 Second Clown. The crowner hath sat on her and finds 
 
 it Christian burial. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Second Clown. But is this law ? 
 First Chm-ti. Ay, marry is't; crowner' s-quest law. 
 
 Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Beside these officers afore mentioned, there are sun- 
 drie other in everie countie, as crowncrs, whose dutie is 
 to inquire of such as cerne to their death by violence, 
 to attach and present the plees of the crowne, to make 
 iuquirie of treasure found, &c. There are divers also of 
 the best learned of the law, beside sundrie gentlemen, 
 where the number of lawiers will not suffice (and whose 
 revenues doo amount to above twentie pounds by the 
 yeare), appointed by especiall commission from the prince, 
 to looke unto the good government of his subjects, in 
 the counties where they dwell. 
 
 Slender. In the county of Gloucester, justice of peace, 
 
 and 'Coram.' 
 
 Merry Wives, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 And of these the least skilfull in the law are of the 
 peace, the other both of the peace and quorum, otherwise; 
 called of Oicr and Determiner; so that the first have 
 authoritie onelie to bear, the other to heare and deter- 
 mine such matters as are brought unto their presence. 
 These also direct (heir warrants to the keepers of tin- trades 
 within their limitations, for the sale keeping of such 
 offenders as they shall judge worthie to commit unto 
 their custodic, there to be kept under ward, until the great 
 assises, to the end their causes may be further examined
 
 72 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 before the residue of the countie ; and these officers were 
 first devised about the eighteene yeare of Edward the 
 Third, as I have beene informed. — HOLINSHED, The De- 
 scription of England, Chap. 1. 
 
 The word ' crowner,' used in ' Hamlet,' is, 
 I think, generally supposed to be a corruption 
 of the Clown's, but it is merely the English of 
 the Law Latin coronator, from corona, a crown, 
 winch Holinshed also uses. Slender says, in 
 effect, that Justice Shallow was the most 
 skilful hi the law, because he was not merely 
 justice of peace, but also of the quorum; and 
 Holinshed says, ' the least skilfull in the law 
 are of the peace, the other both of the peace 
 and quorum.' 
 
 Selden says: 
 
 The title of esquire or armiger is between the dignity 
 of knight-bachelor and the common title of gentleman. 
 And it is of that nature with us now, that to whomso- 
 ever, either by blood, place in the state, or other emi- 
 nence, we conceive some higher attribute should be 
 given than the sole title gentleman, knowing yet that he 
 hath no other honorary title legally fixed on him, we 
 usually style liim an esquire, in such passages as require 
 legally that his degree or estate be mentioned, as espe- 
 cially in indictments and actions whereupon he may be 
 outlawed. — Tit. Hon. 
 
 As a name of estate or degree it was used 
 in divers Acts of Parliament before and after
 
 THE TITLE ESQUIRE, 73 
 
 the 1 Henry V. cap. 5 for Rot. Pari, and 1 
 K. 1. 
 
 John Audeley, an ancient and noble baron, 
 was named Johannes Audeley, Armiger, for 
 that all the rest of the barons that appeared 
 at that Parliament were knights. (2 Inst. 
 6G7.) Under Richard II. we find the name 
 of esquire expressly given as a created and 
 honorary title by patent. One John de 
 Kingston was so by this patent received into 
 the state of a gentleman, and made an esquire 
 by King Richard II. ; and it might be rea- 
 sonablv conceived that the title of esquire was 
 then only such as was either thus created, or 
 otherwise acquired by service or employment. 
 (Selden, Tit. Hon.) In 1413, Dr. Fuller 
 says that John Golope was the first person 
 who assumed the title of an esquire, and that 
 until the end of Henry YI.'s reign such dis- 
 tinctions were not used except in law proceed- 
 ings; but Ordericus A'italis, as early as 1124, 
 speaks of the Earl of Mellent, who, endea- 
 vouring to escape from the troops of Henry 
 Bcauclerc, and being seized by a countryman, 
 bribed him to set him free, and to shave him 
 in the guise of an esquire, • instar armig< ri, 
 
 E
 
 74 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 by which means he eluded his pursuers. 
 From the time of Henry V., when the Statute 
 of Additions was passed, it often occurs as a 
 leofal addition ; and Ions: before the reign of 
 Henry VI. it was a general name with us, 
 for such as were, it seems, by their military 
 employment, militaris Ordinis candidate, and 
 beino; beneath knights -bachelors, were either 
 attendant on them or some greater persons, or 
 employed otherwise in the wars under that 
 name, or had it by creation. Hence it is that 
 in Froissart we have so frequently chivalers 
 and esquires to express the best part of the 
 army, and the like of milites and armigeri. 
 Chaucer mentions the attendance of the es- 
 quire on the knight in his description in the 
 Prologue to the ' Canterbury Tales ' : 
 
 Curteys lie was, lowly, and servysable, 
 And carf byforn Lis fadur at the table. 
 
 And also in the ' Merchant's Tale ' : 
 
 The tyme cam that resoun was to ryse, 
 And after that men daunce, and drynke fast, 
 And spices al about the hous thay cast, 
 And ful of joy and bliss is every man, 
 Al but a squier, that bight Damyan, 
 Which karf before the knight ful many a day.
 
 TIIH TITLE ESQUIEE. 75 
 
 And, says Selderi, for the necessary atten- 
 dance of an esquire upon every knight in the 
 elder ages, long before Chaucer, observe this 
 of Sir Francis Tias : his recovering five pound 
 damages, under Edward L, in Wakefield Court, 
 in Yorkshire, against one German Mercer, 
 for arresting the horse of one William Lepton, 
 that was his esquire, and so making him to 
 be unattended. ' France Tyas, miles ' (so are 
 the words of the court-roll) ' tulit actionem 
 versus Germamnn Mercer, qui arrestavit 
 equum WilHelmi Lepton armigeri sui ad dede- 
 cus et damnum praidicti Franci, quia fuit sine 
 armigero. Et prsedictus Franco recuperavit c. 
 solidos. Ideo Germanus Mercer sit in miseri- 
 cordia.' Under the reign of Henry IV., in our 
 year-books the plaintiff had been bound 1>\ 
 indentures to be the defendant's esquire in 
 time of peace, and it seems plain, says Seldcn, 
 that by this time (mcccci.) the title was 
 fixed on some, without any reference to the 
 words, but only by service en great persons. 
 For of the witnesses examined in thai great case 
 between the Lord Gray of Ruthen and tin 
 Lord Hastings, under the same king, one John 
 Lee of Buckingham is titled esquire, as many
 
 76 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 more are ; and it is said of him, as from his 
 own mouth, that he was a gentleman by birth, 
 and had land of twenty marks by descent, ' et 
 n'ad use point de travailer en guerre ne son 
 pier devant luy, et pour ce ne prist gard d'ap- 
 prendre ses armes;' for he should have an- 
 swered to the questions whether he were a 
 gentleman and had arms or no. And in truth 
 this John Lee was retained to that Lord Ruthen 
 as surveyor of his lands for a time, and be- 
 sides of perpetual fee with him for other ser- 
 vices, whence it seems he was called esquire ; 
 and for some like cause perhaps all the rest, 
 or the most that in those examinations have 
 that title, for many there have it, were styled 
 so. The Lord Rivers also, under Henry V., 
 devises by his will that his feofees should make 
 an estate ' Thomas Gower, armigero meo.' 
 
 I do not recollect an authority for the pre- 
 valent opinion that every gentleman possessing 
 landed property worth three hundred pounds 
 a year, or any other sum, is therefore entitled 
 to this degree, unless this passage in Selden, 
 about John Lee of Buckingham, be considered 
 as such ; and, from all the authorities with 
 which I am familiar, it seems evident that no
 
 FAULCONBBIDGE. 77 
 
 real or personal estate whatsoever will entitli 
 its possessor to the addition esquire. Although 
 King John says, 
 
 Go, Faulconbridge ; now hast thou thy desire, 
 A landless knight makes thee a landed squire, 
 
 Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 it is not certain that Shakespeare means Faul- 
 conbridge was a squire because he had land. 
 
 In the ancient creation of the dignity, says 
 Scldcn, when such as otherwise had it not w- 
 created into it, it is noted that a collar of SS. 
 was given by the king as an ensign of it re- 
 ceived. Justice Newton, under Henry VI.. 
 said : ' If a writ of debt be brought against the 
 Sergeant of the Kitchen in the king's homi . 
 I may call him cook, and my writ is good 
 enough, and yet he hath a collar and is a 
 gentleman.' He uses the word 'gentleman/ 
 applying it to those that were so made esquires 
 by the king's favour, because also they were 
 by their creation put in the rank of the most 
 eminent sort of gentlemen on whom the title oi 
 esquire hath since been so fixed. (Tit. Hon. ) 
 The persons entitled to this degree by the Eng- 
 lish law are, according to various authorities, the 
 sons of all the peers and lords of Parliament,
 
 T8 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 (2 Inst. 667; 2 Yin. Abr. 84, pi. 2s); the 
 eldest sons of peers, and their eldest sons in 
 perpetual succession (Selden, Tit. Hon. Dod. 
 Xob. 144), and, consequently, the younger 
 sons of peers after the death of their fathers 
 (Cowel, Interp. Tit. Esquire), both which speices 
 of esquiers Sir Henry Spelman entitles armigeri 
 natalitii (Gloss. 3); all dukes, marquesses, 
 earles, viscounts, and barons of other nations, 
 or which are not lords of the Parliament of 
 England, are named armigeri, if they be no 
 knights ; and if knights, then are they named 
 milites (2 Inst. 667) ; the eldest sons of 
 baronets (Cowel, Interp.); the eldest sons of 
 knights (2 Inst. 667), and their eldest sons for 
 ever (Selden, Tit. Hon. Dod. Nob.); esquires 
 created expressly with a collar of SS. and 
 spurs of silver ( Spelman, Gloss, verbo Armigeri), 
 of whom there are none at present ; persons to 
 whom the king gives arms by letters patent, 
 with the title esquire, and their eldest sons for 
 ever (Selden, Tit. Hon. Com. Dig. b. viii. ) ; 
 esquires of knights of the Bath, each of whom 
 formerly constituted two at installation, and at 
 present three (Statutes of the Order of the 
 Hath, p. 32); barristers-at-law (Cowel, Spel- 
 man, and 1 Wils, 245).
 
 BARRISTERS. — JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 70 
 
 Sir Henry Spelman says, ' Certe altero hinc 
 sasculo nominatissimus in patri& jurisconsul- 
 tus, setate provectior, etiam munere gaudens 
 publico et praediis amplissimis gcnerosi titulo, 
 bene se habuit ; forte, quod togatas genti 
 magis tunc conveniret civilis ilia appellatio 
 quam castrensis altera.' (Gloss, voce Arm.) 
 But whether barristers-at-law, as such, arc 
 esquires or not, their long assumption of the 
 title seems to have established such a ri^ht to 
 the distinction that, many years ago, the Court 
 of Common Pleas refused to hear an affidavit 
 read because the barrister therein named had 
 not the addition esquire to his name (1 Wils. 
 244) ; and it is said that, about the same time, 
 Mr. Justice Heath refused knighthood, saying, 
 'I am John Heath, Esquire, one of his Majesty's 
 Justices of the Court of Common Bench, and 
 so will die.' And Shallow, in answer to Bar- 
 dolph's enquiry, 'Which is Justice Shallow?' 
 says : 
 
 Skal. I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of 
 this comity, and one of the king's justices of the peace. 
 
 2 Hewry /!'., Ad iii. Se. 2. 
 
 According to Blount, those to whom this 
 title is now of right due, are all the younger 
 sons of noblemen, and their heirs male for
 
 80 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 ever ; the four esquires of the king's body ; 
 the eldest sons of baronets ; so also of all 
 knights of the Bath and knights-bachelors, 
 and their heirs male in right line ; those that 
 serve the king in any worshipful calling, as 
 the sergeant chirurgeon, sergeant of the ewry, 
 master cook, &c. ; and such as are created 
 esquires by the king with a collar of SS. of 
 silver, as the heralds and sergeants-at-arms. 
 The chiefs of some ancient families are like- 
 wise esquires by prescription ; those that bear 
 any superior office in the commonwealth, as 
 high sheriff of any county, who retains the 
 title of esquire during his life, in respect of 
 the great trust he has had of the posse comi- 
 tatus. He who is a justice of the peace has it 
 during the time he is in commission, and no 
 longer, if not otherwise qualified to bear it. 
 Utter barristers, in Acts of Parliament for 
 poll money, were ranked among esquires. In 
 all the British colonies, except Jamaica and 
 Barbadoes, attorneys, as they unite in their 
 practice the distinct departments of attorney 
 and counsel, are styled esquires. (1 Bla. Com. 
 342, note to Williams' edition.) Justices of 
 the peace while in commission, but not justices
 
 CAPTAINS IN THE ARMY AND NAVY. 81 
 
 of the peace of corporate towns (Cowel and 
 1 Wils. 244, seel qiuere), persons chosen 
 esquires to the body of the Prince (Selden, 
 Tit. Hon.), of whom at present there are none ; 
 persons attending on the King's or Queen's 
 corporation in some employment, or persons 
 employed in any superior office under the 
 Crown, and who are styled esquires by the 
 King in their commissions and appointments 
 (Selden, Tit. Hon. Dod. Nob. 144) ; such, for 
 instance, as sheriffs of counties and captains 
 and superior officers in the army and navy 
 (1 Bla. Com. 406, note to Christian's edition) ; 
 but officers in the militia and volunteers are 
 not, it seems, entitled to this addition. Talbot 
 and Eagle, April 21, 1809, was an action 
 brought against the defendant to recover the 
 penalty of £5 given by the statute of 5 Anne, 
 c. xiv. s. 4, for killing game, not being duly 
 qualified. Upon the trial of this cause, before 
 Grose J. at Suffolk spring assizes, the de- 
 fendant, to prove his qualification, gave in 
 evidence a commission signed by the lord- 
 lieutenant of the county of Suffolk, con- 
 stituting the defendant's father the captain 
 commandant of a corps of volunteer infantry,
 
 82 SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 and styling hiin an esquire, and also the 
 Gazette announcing his appointment, and he 
 relied on the statute 54 Geo. III. c. liv. s. 26, 
 which enacts that all officers in corps of volun- 
 teers, having commissions from lieutenants of 
 counties, shall rank with the officers of his 
 Majesty's forces. The jury found a verdict 
 for the plaintiff. Shepherd (Sergeant) now 
 moved to set aside the verdict, and enter a 
 nonsuit, contending that the defendant's father 
 had by this appointment been created an 
 esquire. But the court was clearly of opinion 
 that the statute meant only the same military 
 rank ; the lord-lieutenant of the county could 
 not confer honours ; there was no pretence to 
 call this gentleman an esquire, and they re- 
 fused the rule. (1 Taunt. Rep.) From this 
 decision it seems that lieutenants in the 
 navy and the Guards, who rank as cap- 
 tains, are not, therefore, entitled to this 
 degree. I have quoted most of the authori- 
 ties with which I am familiar, and they are 
 sometimes conflicting; for example, Camden, 
 in his description of an esquire, after men- 
 tioning the persons entitled to the degree, 
 states that others who bear any office of trust
 
 THE TITLE ESQUIRE. 83 
 
 under the Crown are also entitled thereto. 
 "ut Christian, in a note on Blackstone, ob- 
 serves that this description is too extensive, 
 for it. would bestow it on even- exciseman and 
 custom-house officer ; and the learned Selden, 
 perhaps the greatest authority on this subject, 
 does not support the assertion of Camden. It 
 seems that the addition esquire should be 
 limited to those entitled thereto by birth or 
 creation, or to those who are styled esquires 
 by the Queen in their commissions and ap- 
 pointments; yet, according to Selden and 
 Blount, it is sometimes found in the kitchen ! 
 But whoever may or may not be entitled to 
 the addition of esquire, of this there can be no 
 doubt, that 
 
 A king can make a belted knight, 
 
 A marquis, duke, and a' that ; 
 But an honest man's aboon bis might, 
 
 Guid faith he maunna fa' that ! 
 For a' that and a' that, 
 
 Their dignities, and a' that; 
 The pith o' sense and pride o' worth 
 
 Are higher ranks than a' that. 
 
 An enquiry of this kind may be concluded 
 with a few words from the Epilogua to Little- 
 ton's ' Tenures ' :
 
 84 SHAKESFEARE ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Know that I would not have thee believe that all 
 which I have said in these books is law, for I will ijpt 
 
 presume to take this upon me. But of those thip^.-; 
 that are not law, enquire and learn of my wise masters 
 learned in the law. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST PAFvT. 
 
 I.OKL'O.V 
 PBIHIEI) CI SPOIT 1SV.OODF. JM CO. 
 
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