ENGLISH LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 No. 9?>V b 
 
THE 
 
 Shakespeare Cyclopedia 
 
 AND 
 
 NEW GLOSSARY 
 
3e8tabUsbe& 1870. 
 
The 
 
 Shakespeare Cyclopaedia 
 
 AND 
 
 New Glossary 
 
 GIVING 
 
 The meaning of the Old and Unnsual Words found in Shakespeare'* Works 
 and of the Ordinary Words used in Unusual Senses and in unusual forms 
 of Construction— Explanations of Idiomatic Phrases and of Mytho- 
 logical, Biographical and Antiquarian References— Notes on 
 Folk-I^ore, I^ocal Traditions, I^egends, Allusions, 
 Proverbs, Old English Customs, Btc, Etc., 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 Most Important Variorum Readings 
 
 INTENDED AS A SUPPLEMENT TO ALL THE ORDINARY 
 EDITIONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 
 
 JOHN PHIN 
 
 Author of "Shakespearean Notes and New Readings ;" "Practical Dictionary of Apiculture; 
 " How to Use the Microscope ;" " How to Become a Good Mechanic ;" etc., etc. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 EDWARD DOWDEN 
 
 Litt.D., LL.D., Dublin; LL. D., Edin.; D.C.L., Oxon.; Professor of English Literature 
 in the University of Dublin 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE INDUSTRIAL PUBLICATION COMPANY 
 
 1 902 
 
 of T.'.E 
 
^NGL. LIB, FD. 
 
 C er- iT 
 
 Those who would enjoy Shakespeare fully, must understand him 
 thoroughly. " 
 
 To read Shakespeare's Works even superficially, is entertainment ; 
 to linger over them lovingly and admiringly, is enjoyment; to study 
 them profoundly, is wisdom, moral and intellectual. 
 
 — Mary Cowden- Clarke. 
 
 Copyright, 1902, by John Phin. Entered at Stationers' Hall 
 All rights reserved. 
 
TO 
 
 HENRY PHRKE, K. D.. 
 
 of Patersoq, N. J., U. S. R., 
 
 Witl:|OUt wl:\ose tender care ai\d scientific s^ill tt\ese pages 
 \s^ould never t\a\'e seeq tt\e ligl\t, 
 
 Tt\is volucqe is dedicated by 
 His grateful frier\d, 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 124030 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Preface, ix 
 
 Introduction by Professor Dowden: "The Language of 
 Shakespeare considered as an Encyclopaedia of Con- 
 temporary Knowledge, " xv 
 
 How to Read for Pleasure and Profit, 1 
 
 Shakespeare Clubs and Societies, 8 
 
 The Text of Shakespeare, 10 
 
 The Sources and Causes of Errors in the Text, . . . . 14 
 
 On the Choice of a Copy of Shakespeare's Works, ... 18 
 
 A Short List of Helpful Books, 21 
 
 The Bacon- Shakespeare Controversy, 24 
 
 The Cyclopaedia and Glossary, 33 
 
 Addenda, 387 
 
 Note. — Readers of this Cyclopaedia who fail to find in the body of the work, the word of 
 which they desire an explanation, should consult the Addenda which contain a large number 
 of cross-references as well as several words which were overlooked in the preparation of the 
 earlier pages. Even while the Addenda were passing through the press some subjects have 
 been suggested as requiring elucidation. The insertion of these mars somewhat the symmetry 
 of the work, but it adds very considerably to its usefulness, and the author has always con- 
 sidered that the latter is of far more importance than the former. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 HE purpose for which this volume was written is to furnish those 
 readers and lovers of Shakespeare who have not easy access to an 
 elaborately annotated copy of the poet's works, with such notes and 
 explanations of obsolete words, obscure passages and unfamiliar 
 allusions as will enable them to get close to the mind of the great dramatist and 
 thus derive from his works an amount of pleasure and profit which otherwise 
 would be unai:tainable. For while it is undoubtedly true that there is not a 
 single play which, as a whole, cannot be easily understood by any one who has a 
 fair common school education, and this without any aid from glossaries or 
 commentaries, it is also true that there are in Shakespeare many obsolete words 
 as well as many allusions and expressions which, although quite clear to those 
 whose reading has been extensive, are not familiar to many who are really 
 anxious to fully enjoy their Shakespeare. For example : When Hamlet likens 
 his mother to "Niobe, all tears," the intelligent reader would like to know 
 something about Niobe and the cause of her grief. So, too, when, in The Tempest, 
 Sebastian says of Gonzalo that "his word is more than the miraculous harp," 
 it would certainly add to the pleasure and profit of the earnest reader to have 
 this allusion explained. Then, again, in regard to old customs : When, in Love's 
 Labour's Lost, Biron says of Longaville that "he comes in like a perjure, wearing 
 papers," the expression carries no force unless we have a knowledge of the old 
 custom on which it was based. In addition to this there are many words which 
 have lost their original significance and consequently have not to present-day 
 readers that force and beauty which they formerly had. Such, for example, is 
 the word silly. As usually defined it has no special significance in the speech 
 of the 'British Captain in Cymbeline, Act V, Sc. 3, line 86, but as it is explained 
 for the first time in these pages it has a force and beauty which are truly 
 Shakespearean— lighting up with a single word the whole story of a daring 
 exploit. 
 
 To thoroughly enjoy Shakespeare we must fully understand him, and, unfor- 
 tunately, the " Glossaries " which are appended to most copies of Shakespeare's 
 works are too meagre to give us the information that is required. It is to supply 
 this want in compact form and at a moderate cost that this book has been 
 written; and we have not hesitated to take the element of cost into consideration 
 in this connection, although bibliophiles and collectors may generally regard a 
 cheap book as a poor one. But to the class to whom this volume is addressed — 
 the common people whose whole education has been acquire^ in our commoa 
 
 (ix) 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 schools, this point is one of considerable importance. Fortunately, cheap and 
 really good editions of Shakespeare's works are easily procured. A copy with 
 sound text, legible type, good paper and neat and durable cloth binding may be 
 obtained in this country for a dollar or even less, and in England the "Shilling 
 Shakespeare " is a feature of every book-stall. If to one of these cheap copies 
 any person who desires to read Shakespeare understandingly should add the 
 present volume, I think he will have a fairly good outfit for the intelligent 
 enjoyment of the poet's works. 
 
 It is very obvious that in a work like the present there is not much opportunity 
 for originality, but in a few cases I have offered new glosses which I think must 
 commend themselves to those who are competent to form a sound opinion in 
 the matter. Indeed, they have already received the commendation of some of 
 our foremost Shakespearean scholars. On turning to the words childed, kindless, 
 odd-even, prick, silly, silly cheat, the reader will find examples of what I mean; and 
 there are a few passages in which the sense is, I think, obscured by typographical 
 errors in the generally accepted text for which I have suggested a correction. I 
 take this opportunity to say, however, that I am in entire accord with those who 
 deprecate any interference with the text of the old editions for the purpose of 
 what some are pleased to call "improvement "; I think that even the Cambridge 
 edition has gone too far in this direction. It is only in the case of the most obvious 
 typographical errors that we are justified in making an alteration. This subject 
 I have discussed at greater length on a subsequent page under the heading 
 "Sources of Error in the Text." 
 
 As regards the sources upon which I have depended for information, a few 
 words may not be out of place, especially as I have not thought it necessary to 
 give a formal list of the books which I have read or consulted. In executing a 
 work of this kind the shelves of public libraries, however accessible they may be, 
 and however attentive and efficient the librarians may prove, must be regarded 
 as accessory helps and not as a chief dependence. Occasionally they may enable 
 us to make an indispensable reference to some rare book, but the great bulk of 
 the work of study, comparison and extracting must be done where the writer has 
 continuous control of a large number of volumes. Now, the extent of even a 
 moderate collection of Shakespeareana is sufficient to appall most private 
 collectors. The number of volumes would easily run into five figures^-a library 
 which is beyond the reach of most men, myself included. It is, therefore, 
 obvious that most workers in this department have to content themselves with 
 a careful selection of moderate extent. For many years I have been accumulating 
 a small collection of such books as I found useful or interesting in my Shake- 
 spearean reading, and when I came to put my work into final shape I endeavored 
 to add to these such books and editions as were absolutely necessary. For the 
 early Folios and Quartos I have had, of course, to depend upon public libraries 
 or reprints— volumes costing from $500 to $9,000 being entirely out of the 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 question. Of the First Folio, however, there are several excellent reproductions; 
 two of these I have, as well as the admirable reprint of Lionel Booth. It happens 
 also that several of the modern editions of Shakespeare have added to their 
 contents exact reprints of some of the Quartos, so that no earnest student need be 
 greatly handicapped in this respect. Of the editions between Eowe and Malone, 
 such as those of Theobald, Warburton, Johnson, Steevens and others, it is easy to 
 procure copies, and I have endeavored to quote from the books themselves and 
 not at second-hand. Outside of these the great source of information in regard to 
 early glosses and comments has been the Third Variorum of 1821, in twenty-one 
 volumes. Boswell, to whom Malone left all his notes and materials for a new 
 edition, seems to have been most painstaking and judicious, and his work must 
 always f)rove indispensable so far as old glosses and comments are concerned. 
 
 For the various readings of different editions and suggested new readings, 
 I have depended upon the "Cambridge Shakespeare," edited by William Aldis 
 Wright (9 vols., 1891). This might well be known as the Fourth Variorum. The 
 editions of Singer, Knight, Collier, Verplanck, Hazlitt, Hudson, Dyce, White, 
 Staunton, C. and M. Clarke, Kolfe, The Kugby, The Clarendon Press, "The 
 Leopold" (Delius and Furnivall), "The Henry Irving" (Marshall, Symonds, 
 Verity and Adams), Dowden, Craig and others have all been laid under con- 
 tribution, as well as the "English of Shakespeare," by Craik ; "The Shake- 
 spearian Grammar," by Abbott; the "Shakespeare-Lexicon," by Schmidt, and 
 the works of Douce, Nares, Caldecott, Dyer, Patterson, EUacombe, Beisley, 
 Grindon," etc., and I freely acknowledge the aid I have derived from them. 
 
 Special acknowledgment is due to " The New Variorum " edition of Dr. Horace 
 Howard Furness. This must form the foundation stone of all future collections 
 of Shakespearean literature ; it is so thorough, accurate and comprehensive that 
 after consulting it upon any disputed point the student feels that he has heard 
 all that is to be said upon the subject. In the thirteen volumes already issued 
 (twelve plays), one is pretty sure to find a discussion of the most important 
 Shakespearean words, allusions and dark passages which occur in the other 
 plays, and by the aid of a Concordance it is easy to see just where to look for 
 what is wanted. Some may think that I have drawn too freely from this noble 
 work, but at most I have merely dipped my little bucket into the tide of a full 
 flowing river and given my readers a taste of its pure and refreshing waters. 
 
 For information in regard to Mythology and Classical Biography I have gone 
 to the great storehouse of such knowledge, the " Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
 Biography and Mythology," edited by WilUam Smith, D.C.L., LL.D., and I 
 cannot too fully acknowledge my indebtedness. To those who wish to extend 
 their studies in this direction this work is invaluable. 
 
 In regard to credits in the body of the " Cyclopaedia " my rule has been as 
 follows : Wherever I have made an exact quotation and was sure of the author 
 I have placed the extract within quotation marks and have appended the author's 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 name. In many cases, however, the exigencies of space have compelled me 
 to abridge or condense, and where this has been done the author's name has been 
 retained, but the quotation marks have been omitted. Where the definition 
 or explanation has so far become common property that I have been unable 
 to trace the originator, no credit has been given. In this connection I would 
 remark that perhaps the reader may notice a number of glosses for which I 
 have given no credit, but which in recent Shakespearean literature have been 
 credited to Schmidt, which in general means his " Shakespeare-Lexicon." My 
 reason for this omission is that they have long been the common property of 
 Shakespearean commentators, and why Rolfe, Fleming and others should credit 
 to Schmidt that which belongs to his predecessors is not easily understood, but 
 that they have done so every careful student knows, A curious result of 
 Schmidt's habit of omitting credit may be found in the writings of the late 
 Richard Grant White. White wrote a justly severe criticism of the "Shakespeare- 
 Lexicon " for the Atlantic Monthly and, provoked no doubt by the abusive 
 insolence which Schmidt so often exhibits towards commentators of English 
 blood, his remarks are sometimes rather bitter. But in the case of one of his 
 most severe notes, his condemnation is directed against a gloss which originated, 
 not with Schmidt, but with Dr. Johnson from whom Schmidt " conveyed" it ! 
 
 In every case my sole object has been to discover and present the meaning 
 which Shakespeare himself actually intended, and not that which he might have 
 intended or, as some of the early commentators have actually put it, which he 
 ought to have intended. Imaginative interpretations are so easily devised that, 
 with many, the temptation to let fancy run riot becomes very great. 
 
 The attentive reader cannot fail to notice the number of instances in which 
 I have referred to Scottish literature and lexicons for explanations and illustra- 
 tions of the language of Shakespeare. With a single exception, I know of no 
 Shakespearean commentator who has given special attention to the light which 
 the language of the lowland Scotch throws upon many of the dark passages in 
 Shakespeare's writings. That exception is Dr. Charles Mackay, who has pub- 
 lished a " Glossary of the Obscure Words and Phrases in Shakespeare." Dr. 
 Mackay, however, being a highlander, depends more on Gaslic than upon low- 
 land Scotch, and his etymologies often differ widely from those of Skeat, Mahn 
 and other recognised authorities. I notice, however, that Dr. Furness and one 
 or two others are turning their attention in this direction and with good results. 
 But in order to make effective use of this source of information there is needed 
 something more than an acquaintance with dictionaries. Having been familiar 
 from childhood with the Scottish language as a living and spoken tongue, I feel 
 confident that I have been able to give a correct interpretation of several words 
 and phrases of which the explanations hitherto given have, to say the least, not 
 been quite satisfactory. I do not refer, of course, to the purely Scottish words 
 which so frequently occur in Shakespeare, such as bonny, chapman, neif, pash, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 reek, wee, yeild, etc., etc., but to the peculiar shades of meaning which many 
 modern English words have in Shakespeare and which dififer from the meanings 
 ordinarily assigned to them, a striking instance of which is found in the word 
 sUly. And here it may be well to note that by the Scottish language I do not 
 mean that corrupted jargon which has become familiar to the American public 
 under the name of "kail-yard literature." The Scottish language has its dialects 
 just as we find a dialect for every county in England and for every State in our 
 Union, and our "kail-yard " friends do not always choose the best. Shakespeare 
 ridiculed this very form when he put it into the mouth of Captain Jamy, but the 
 number of true Scottish words which he himself uses shows the intimate relations 
 which existed between that language and his speech. This relation was freely 
 acknowledged long after the days of Shakespeare. I have on my shelves "A 
 Complete Commentary on Milton's Paradise Lost," published in 1744, by James 
 Paterson, M. A., in which he claims to explain, amongst others, the words of 
 "Old English or Scottish." Not only the meaning, but the pronunciation of 
 many words was nearly alike in the two languages and frequently very different 
 from the English of the present day, so that, as I have noted under the word 
 shovel, if Shakespeare were to appear in London or New York in one of his own 
 plays it is more than probable that only educated Scotchmen could understand 
 him. In pursuing this line of study, however, I have endeavored to prevent my 
 natural predilection for my mother tongue from leading me into the swamp of 
 forced definitions and fanciful etymologies; in other words, I have tried to pre- 
 vent a valuable line of investigation from degenerating into a "fad." 
 
 Those who are familiar with Elizabethan literature know that, however the 
 morals of Shakespeare's time may compare with those of the present day, it cannot 
 be denied that the language then in common use, not only amongst men, but women 
 and even "ladies of quality," was such as would not now be tolerated anywhere 
 except perhaps in the very lowest society ; and while, in the matter of decency, 
 Shakespeare stands head and shoulders above most of his contemporaries, there 
 are, nevertheless, in his plays many words and phrases which cannot be read aloud, 
 much less discussed where young people are present. In preparing this Cyclo- 
 paedia I have kept constantly in mind the fact that it is intended for use in 
 families, and I have therefore excluded every subject which cannot be freely 
 discussed in the family circle. 
 
 The line-numbers which I have used are those of the " Globe," chiefly 
 because this is the standard adopted by the great majority of those who have 
 occasion to give a reference to a passage in Shakespeare. Even where the reader 
 is using an edition in which the lines are not numbered, these line-numbers are 
 a great aid to the quick finding of any required passage ; and by taking a slip of 
 cardboard and marking off spaces showing 10, 15, 20 and 25 lines as measured 
 on the copy in use, it is very easy to get quite close to any passage without 
 incurring the trouble of actually counting. But it is to be hoped that in future 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 all editions of Shakespeare will have the lines numbered according to some 
 generally recognised standard. This is something that might be easily done 
 even with an abridged edition ; and it is greatly to be desired that future editions 
 of the "Globe" should have the line-numbers at intervals less infrequent than 
 those in the present edition. Jumps of more than one hundred lines are alto- 
 gether too great ; the index numbers should appear at every tenth line at least. 
 
 It has not always been an easy matter to decide just what words should be 
 admitted to tins glossary and what ones omitted, and tlie room wnicn exists for 
 tne exercise of good judgment in this matter is well shown by a comparison of 
 the different glossaries appended to the various editions of Shakespeare's works. 
 A large percentage of words that are admitted to some glossaries are not found 
 in others and vice versa. Dr. Johnson stated this difficulty very clearly in his 
 famous preface. He says : " It is impossible for an expositor not to write too 
 little for some, and too much for others. He can judge what is necessary oniy 
 by his own experience; and how long soever he may deliberate, will at last 
 explain many lines which the learned will think impossible to be mistaken, 
 and omit many for which the ignorant will want his help. These are censures 
 merely relative, and must be quietly endured." 
 
 Where I have presented views of my own which differ from those usually 
 held, I have endeavored not only to give sound reasons for my own peculiar 
 opinions, but to present also, in an unprejudiced manner, the arguments of the 
 other side. To do this has sometimes demanded more space than the subject 
 under discussion would have seemed to require, but if by any means we can 
 attain to the truth, all considerations of space and labor must give way. 
 
 I am fully aware of the fact that I have frequently laid myself open to the 
 charge of presumption by offering definitions and interpretations which 
 differ from those of the great lights of Shakespearean exegesis, but I 
 cannot help that. Perhaps the atmosphere of New Jersey leads to that 
 kind of independence. Some years ago we had in our city a Justice of 
 the Peace whose legal attainments were of a grade which frequently led to 
 a reversal of his decisions, though, like the British at Waterloo, he never 
 seemed to know when he was beaten. On one occasion, when a case of more 
 than usual importance was being tried in his court, a prominent lawyer, who 
 had been engaged by one of the litigants, very respectfully called his honor's 
 attention to certain decisions of the Supreme Court which seemed to be adverse 
 to the views which he had propounded. Nothing abashed, however, he simply 
 retorted: " Mister Smith, I would have you to understand that that is where I 
 differ from the Shuprame Coort. " 
 
 And so in these cases, even at the risk of being considered a copesmate of 
 our Paterson Justice, I can only say : That is where I differ from Furness, 
 Eolfe, Schmidt and the acknowledged authorities. 
 
 Patebson, N. J., April. 1902. JOHN PHIN. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Zhc XauGuaae of Sbaftespeare Consibere^ as an 
 lEnc^clopa^Dia ot Contemporary IknowleDge, 
 
 EDWARD DOWDEN, 
 
 LiTT.D., LL.D., Dublin; LL.D., Edin. ; D.C.L., Oxon. ; 
 Professor op English Literature in the University op Dublin. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD DOWDEN, 
 
 LiTT.D., LL.D., Dublin; LL.D., Edin. ; D.C.L., Oxon. ; 
 Professor of English Literature in the University op Dublin. 
 
 lANY readers, I believe, will feel that they owe a debt to 
 Mr. Phin for helping them to understand Shakespeare 
 better. By his own studies and by a judicious use of the 
 work of his predecessors he has brought together, within a moderate 
 compass, a large body of information ; and he has so arranged the 
 store of knowledge as to make it readily accessible to one who cares 
 to learn. In work so comprehensive and so full of detail, errors are 
 no doubt inevitable ; nor can everything be included which a student 
 may desire to find. But if we are to be grateful only to those who 
 are infallible, the range of our gratitude may have to suffer some 
 contraction. The reader of Shakespeare cannot fail to obtain from 
 this " Cj^clopaedia " much that will instruct and interest him. To 
 reach the spirit of Shakespeare should be our aim and end ; but in 
 order to reach the spirit of Shakespeare we must conceive aright the 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 meaning of what he wrote, and to do this is not always easy. There 
 is nothing worse, the greatest of critics, Goethe, tells us, " than for 
 any one to make pretensions to the spirit of a thing, while the sense 
 and letter of it are not open and clear to him," And this is true of 
 a sentence or a phrase as well as of an author's entire work. It may 
 require, for example, a little fortitude to dismiss from our minds the 
 amiable misconception or misapplication, which has become general, 
 of the line " One touch of nature makes the whole world kin " ; but 
 we gain more in the end by understanding what Shakespeare's 
 Ulysses really meant, and by recognising the place which that meaning 
 occupies in the large worldly-wisdom of Ulysses, than by reading 
 into his words some sentiment of our own, or some pleasant doctrine 
 of fraternity which has its grounds in the common heart of humanity. 
 Apart from the wisdom and the passion which are conveyed 
 through the words of Shakespeare, the very language is a record of 
 thoughts and things which has a high value and interest of its own. 
 The vocabulary of Shakespeare is by far the largest collection of 
 ideas and of facts, reduced to verbal representation, which any 
 English writer has made and has put into circulation. The student 
 of Shakespeare's language is more than a mere specialist, for he is 
 called on to explore almost every province of life, almost every 
 department of knowledge. Of course a large proportion of these 
 words are still current coin, and pass every day from hand to hand. 
 But many of the coins are out of date, bearing strange devices on 
 the obverse and reverse, and it needs some inquiry to estimate their 
 value. Here, in Shakespeare's vocabulary, are preserved for us, as in 
 a museum, the relics of our forefathers' lives and minds; their 
 manners and customs, their modes of salutation, their peculiarities of 
 costume, their domestic economy, their field-sports, their indoor 
 games, their music of the virginal and the lute, the furniture of their 
 houses, their arts and crafts, their military weapons, their superseded 
 laws, the lore of their schools, their quaint notions of natural history, 
 their faith in the virtues of herbs and of stones, their astronomical 
 theories, their theories of man's physical and mental constitution, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 their belief in the supernatural, their demonology of witchcraft, their 
 tidings from fairy-land, their omens of fear or hope drawn from the 
 conjunction of planets or the lines of the palm. All these things, 
 and much besides, are displayed in the rich museum of Shakespeare's 
 language. And if we are interested in its contents, every old curiosity 
 shop of a minor dramatist or obscure pamphleteer becomes interesting 
 to us, for amid its dusty lumber we may light upon something 
 which fills a gap, or supplies a link, or interprets a puzzle in the 
 treasures of our museum. 
 
 Let us take, for example, some words which are still in common 
 use, and which therefore cannot all be expected to appear in such a 
 volume as the present, the words elements, humours, complexion, 
 melancholy, choler, temper, spirits. How much of primitive physio- 
 logical theory lies behind their familiar meanings! "Does not our 
 life consist of the four elements f asks Sir Toby in Twelfth Night, 
 In a companion pair of Sonnets (XLIV. and XLV.) Shakespeare finds 
 in the theory to which Sir Toby refers the explanation of the sadness 
 and the gladness which he experiences in absence from his friend; 
 the heavier elements of earth and water in his composition cannot 
 fly across the distance which separates him from the man he loves ; 
 the "quicker elements" of air and fire pass to and fro, and, returning 
 with tidings of joy, "recure" the composition of his life. "I am fire 
 and air," exclaims Cleopatra when about to fly to Antony through 
 the portal of death, "my other elements I give to baser life." With 
 one of tl^se four elements, according to ancient and mediaeval 
 physiology, each of the fluids or humours of the body — blood, choler, 
 phlegm, melancholy — was specially connected, and as one of these 
 humours predominated in the composition of a man his temperament 
 or complexion was determined ; it was cold or hot or moist or dry. 
 By a fashion of speech in Shakespeare's day the word " humour " was 
 detached from its scientific meaning, and was loosely applied to any 
 self-willed oddity or freak of fancy, and Nym in King Henry y. 
 adorns his vocabulary with the much-abused expression. Against 
 which popular misapplication of the term Ben Jonson, the dramatist 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the humours, having explained the correct meaning, thinks it 
 needful to protest : 
 
 But that a rook by wearing a pyed feather 
 The cable hatband, or the three-piled ruff, 
 A yard of shoe-tye, or the Switzer's knot 
 On his French garters, should affect a humour ! 
 O, it is more than most ridiculous. 
 
 When the elements, and the humours connected with each of these, 
 were duly proportioned in a man, then he was of perfect " temper " 
 (see the word in the " Cyclopsedia ") ; such was the character of 
 Shakespeare's Brutus, as described in the eulogy of Mark Antony 
 at the close of Julius Caesar : 
 
 His life was gentle, and the elements 
 
 So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up, 
 
 And say to all the world "This was a man!" 
 
 But in addition to the humours, the "spirits" also play a large 
 part in our life. "Forth at your eyes," cries the alarmed Queen 
 to Hamlet, " your spirits wildly peep ! " And Cressida's wanton 
 "spirits" look out "at every joint and motive of her body." The 
 word is intelligible to every reader, but again an antiquated 
 theory of physiology lies behind the word. As we learn from that 
 mediaeval historian of nature, Bartholomew Glanvil, whose work in 
 its Elizabethan form, "Batman upon Bartholome," 1582, is a valuable 
 storehouse of Shakespearian illustrations, "the spirit is a certain 
 substance, subtle and airy, that stirreth and exciteth the vertues of 
 the body in their doings and works." A smoke arising from the 
 liver, where the blood seethes and boils, is purified and made subtle 
 in the veins ; this is the " natural spirit," which causes the motion of 
 blood through the body. By " smiting together the parts of the 
 heai-t " it is further " pured " and rarified, so becoming the " vital 
 spirit," which " worketh in the artery veins the pulse of life." Passing 
 upward to "the dens of the brain," and there being rendered yet 
 finer and more subtle, it is converted into the " animal spirit," which 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in part spreads itself over "the limbs of feeling," in part remains in 
 the brain in order that " common sense, the common wit, and the 
 virtue imaginative may be made perfect." And these three spirits, 
 natural, vital, and animal, without which sensation and motion could 
 not exist, are diverse forms of one and the same spirit, by whose 
 instrumentality the soul operates upon the body and the body upon 
 the soul. 
 
 Thus, by tracing a few words back to their original uses, we are 
 conducted into the strange realms of mediaeval science. And those 
 who read Shakespeare with attention and put Mr. Phin's " Cyclo- 
 paedia " to good use will find as strange a cosmology and natural 
 history. 
 
 The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre 
 
 Observe degree, priority, and place, 
 
 says Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida. " This centre," for Shake- 
 speare's astronomy (see sphere in the " Cyclopaedia ") is Ptolmaio, 
 and the earth stands as the fixed centre of the universe. Around it 
 revolve the spheres or orbs of the Seven Planets, of which the moon 
 is one and " the gloripus planet Sol " is another, each celestial body 
 being whirled around the earth by the motion of its sphere. In the 
 eighth sphere are planted the fixed stars, which themselves are fiery 
 substances : 
 
 Doubt thou the stars are fire ; 
 
 Doubt that the sun doth move. 
 
 Even Bacon maintained that " the celestial bodies, most of them, are 
 true fires or flames, as the Stoics held." And it was a beautiful 
 fancy, coming down from old philosophy, and one to which Shake- 
 speare lent an ear, that the revolving spheres express the harmony 
 of their movement in a spheral music, or, as Lorenzo puts it, that the 
 planets and stars themselves are heavenly choiristers,: 
 
 There's not the smallest orb vrhich thou behold'st 
 But in his motion like an angel sings, 
 Still (juiring to the young-eyed cherubias, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The voice of Antony, as it lives in Cleopatra's, memory "was 
 propertied as all the tuned spheres." 
 
 Shakespeare's acquaintance with the quarters of our globe and 
 its lands and seas was as exact and as inexact as that of his average 
 contemporaries, and was at least sufficient for the purposes of poetry. 
 He names America once, in connection with the Indies — ''India" 
 being, indeed, a name which was formerly given to America — as a 
 land of wealth and of precious stones. He had certainly read for 
 " The Tempest " some of the literature connected with the wreck of 
 Sir George Somers upon the " still-vexed Bermoothes " in 1609 ; and 
 there are indications that he had more than glanced into Hakluyt's 
 Travels. But while he shows his intimacy with many parts of his 
 native country, an acquaintance whether at first or second hand we 
 cannot say, with Scotland, and a curiously exact knowledge of 
 portions of Italy, his geography is often poetical rather than scientific. 
 His Africa is the Africa of maps which made its untravelled spaces 
 interesting with pictures of marvellous creatures — the region of 
 deserts and a torrid sun and the serpent; his Bohemia, like Greene's, 
 has its sea-coast ; his forest of Arden, its palm-trees and its lion ; his 
 Lapland is the haunt of sorcerers and of witchcraft. 
 
 Though Gesner and others had written much, Shakespeare's 
 geological vocabulary is not in any special degree remarkable. But 
 of gems and precious stones he tells us something, for these are 
 closely allied to the interests of humanity with which he deals. It 
 is her mother's diamond that Imogen gives Posthumus at his 
 departure from Britain, and Shakespeare may have thought of those 
 virtues of which we read in the later Gemmarius Fidelius of Nichols: 
 " It asswages the fury of a man's enemies * * * dowes away the 
 terrors of the night, and frustrates all the maligne contageous power 
 of poysons"; Italy, for which Posthumus was bound, had an evil 
 reputation in Shakespeare's day for its skill in the art of poisoning. 
 The carbuncle, that stone which blazes in the chariot of the sun, and 
 to which in Hamlet the eyes of Pyrrhus are compared, is, according 
 to the same authority, a ruby of unusual size, and *'for its innate 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 glory " it " containeth within itself the resemblance of a flame of 
 fire." The chrysolite, as the reader will learn from the '' Cyclopaedia," 
 was sometimes identified with the topaz ; the Gemmarius distinguishes 
 the one from the other, but says that the names were often used 
 interchangeably. The turquoise, gift of his dead Leah to Shylock 
 "when a bachelor," had virtues ascribed to it which "nothing but 
 excesse of faith can beHeve " ; besides those virtues which the 
 "Cyclopaedia" notes, it has this — that it takes away all enmity 
 between man and wife ; but to possess its peculiar virtues, it must 
 be, as with Shylock's stone, presented, not purchased : " these 
 virtues," saya Nichols, "are said not to be in this gemm except the 
 gemm be received of gift." 
 
 The liquid drops of tears which you have shed 
 Shall come again, transformed to orient pearl, 
 
 says Richard III., addressing Queen Elizabeth. And the Gemmarius, 
 which treats of the pearl as an object that comes within the range 
 of the lapidary's art, reminds us that, according to Pliny, this 
 " excellent geniture " of the oyster is " conceived of a certain maritime 
 dew," to which piece of fictitious natural history the king's words 
 may allude. The pearl, which Claudius feigns to throw, in the 
 fashion of Cleopatra, into the drinking-cup, is named "an union"; 
 "if they be great," says Nichols, "they are called Unions, because 
 they are then found single in a shell. If they be small, they ar-e 
 called Margarites." One precious stone, not dug from mines, is 
 spoken of by the banished Duke in his sunny adversity of Arden 
 forest — that worn in his head by the toad. This is the "Lapis 
 bufonius," and sometimes, as we read in Johnston's History of 
 the Wonderful Things in Nature, it bears in it the image of the 
 toad ; but you may often find a toad without the stone, for " it never 
 grows but in those that are very old." It draws poison out of the 
 heart, which may also be among the " uses of adversity." 
 
 The botany of Shakespeare is in itself a large subject on which 
 volumes, such as Canon EUacombe's Plant-Lore and Mr, Beisly's 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Shakespeare^ s Garden, have been written. Sometimes we come 
 across an obsolete theory in vegetable physiology, as in that line of 
 Troilus and Cressida which ascribes the knots in trees to the 
 " conflux of meeting sap." Often we are reminded of the processes 
 of gardening-craft, or the arrangement of "thick-pleached alleys," 
 where hedges formed the borders, and of curious "knots "♦-knots, in 
 this sense, meaning beds of quaint pattern, shaped with tiles, and 
 often raised above the paths. We learn something of pruning and 
 grafting; the production of variety of colours in flowers by that 
 artificial impregnation, which Perdita regards as a wrong done to 
 nature ; and the old custom of placing side by side certain plants 
 which were supposed to suck different juices from the earth, each 
 thus serving the other by leaving it the appropriate nourishment 
 and removing what is adverse to its growth. 
 
 The names of Shakespeare's flowers and herbs and trees are very 
 numerous, and the identification of the plant is sometimes difficult. 
 Thus "mary-bud" is correctly explained in the "Cyclopaedia" as the 
 flower of the marigold ; but is the garden marigold {calendula officin- 
 alis) meant, or Tennyson's " wild marsh marigold," quite a different 
 plant, or, last, the corn marigold, a species of chrysanthemum? 
 Canon EUacombe, with little hesitation, gives his vote for the first 
 of these. With the help of the Herbals of Dodoens, and Gerard, 
 and Parkinson such questions can generally be answered. It is often 
 the beauty of the flower which impresses Shakespeare's imagination, 
 as in those immortal Hnes which describe the daffodil ; but often also 
 there is a reference, expressed or implied, to the " virtues," to which 
 the old herbalists devoted so much attention. Thus, as Mr. Phin 
 notes, when Margaret in Much Ado recommends "carduus bene- 
 dictus " to Beatrice, it is evident that she plays upon the name of 
 Benedick, and has in her mind the singular virtue of the blessed 
 thistle, recorded in The Gardener^ s Labyrinth of 1608, against 
 "perilous diseases of the heart." Sometimes again it is what we 
 may call a botanical myth that Shakespeare turns to poetical uses. 
 Around no plant had gathered more terrible associations — terrible, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 yet also grotesque — than around the mandrake. It was vegetable, 
 but at the same time it was half human ; when torn from the earth, 
 as Suffolk and as Juliet remembered, it groaned and shrieked ; it had 
 a kinship with the gallows and the corpse of the criminal; when 
 wisely used it brought the blessing of sleep ; but for one who dealt 
 rashly with its life, the mandrake became a fierce avenger, the envoy 
 of madness or of death. 
 
 The lore of beasts, birds, fishes, reptiles to be found in Shake- 
 speare is extensive, and for the modern reader it frequently calls for 
 some elucidation. His natural history of animals is partly founded 
 on personal observation, but in large part it is an inheritance from 
 classical and mediaeval writers. Troilus reproaches Hector with a 
 "vice of mercy," 
 
 Which better fits a lion than a man. 
 
 And from Pliny and his mediaeval disciple, Bartholomew, we learn 
 what this vice of mercy is : " Their mercie is known by many and oft 
 ensamples ; for they spare them that He on the ground," pleading for 
 pity by this act of prostration. "You are lions too," says Prince 
 Henry, "you ran away upon instinct, you will not touch the true 
 prince" — for the lion, being the King of beasts, will not attack a 
 royal person. Richard addresses Edward, who has spoken of his 
 valiant father : 
 
 Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird, 
 
 Show thy descent by gazing at the sun. 
 
 " Bird " here means the young one or nestling ; and we read in 
 Bartholomew : " There is also one manner Eagle that is full sharp of 
 sight, and she taketh her own birds in her claws, and maketh them 
 look even on the sun * * * and if any eye of any of her birds 
 watereth in looking on the sun, she slayeth him." "The elephant 
 hath joints," says Ulysses, with a reference to the stubborn Achilles, 
 "but none for courtesy." Shakespeare's natural history had advanced 
 beyond that of many classical authorities, against whom Sir Thomas 
 Browne, in Vulgar Errors (Bk. Ill, Chap. I) argues that " the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 elephant liath joints " ; the Hortus Sanitatis, before Shakespeare's 
 day, adhered to the old opinion, and though the jointless legs of the 
 young elephant could bend, this power, we are told, was lost by the 
 animal in its maturity. " What sayst thou to a hare, or the melancholy 
 of Moor-ditch ? " asks Prince Henry of Falstaff. And in Turbervile 
 we read that the hare "is one of the most melancholicke beasts that 
 is, and to heale her own infirmitie she goeth commonly to sit under 
 the wild succory." 
 
 But in addition to the natural history which is in part truth, in 
 part fable, there is in Shakespeare and his contemporaries a natural 
 history which is wholly fabulous. The most illustrious of imaginary 
 creatures wAs probably the phoenix (see "Cyclopaedia"). The sole 
 Arabian bird alights for a moment on many a bough in the forest of 
 Elizabethan poetry. At the close of Eobert Chester's strange poem 
 of 1601, "Love's Martyr," some of the most eminent of Shakespeare's 
 fellows, and Shakespeare himself with them, unite in celebrating ideal 
 love under the allegory of the phoenix and the turtle. In Sylvester's 
 translation of Du Bartas (Fifth day of the First Week) her legend is 
 told in detail, and we see the brilliant creature as she was seen by 
 Shakespeare's fancy — her sparkling eyes, her crest of " starry sprigs,'* 
 the golden down about her neck, her scarlet back and purple breast, 
 her wings and train of "orient azure and incarnadine." She is 
 consumed and reborn in the perfumed flame. But the salamander, 
 which is a pestilent and venomous beast, lives in and feeds upon the 
 fire; "his song," says Bartholomew, "is crying"; and, if he should 
 please, "he quencheth the fire that he toucheth as ice does, and 
 water frore." 
 
 This fabulous natural history will be found more abundantly in 
 the pages of Lyly than in those of Shakespeare ; but Shakespeare is 
 pre-eminent among Elizabethan writers for his 'intimate knowledge 
 of beast and bird as they are seen in the field-sports of England. 
 His vocabulary here is extraordinarily rich and in its application it is 
 almost infallibly exact. A delightful and learned guide to this 
 province of Shakespearian study will be found in Mr. Justice 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Madden's volume, "The Diary of Master "William Silence." If the 
 sporting terms which Mr. Phin has explained, each in its proper 
 place, were brought together, the collection would form a little 
 glossary of hawking, hunting, coursing, fowling, and other recreations 
 of rural England. The falconer, who trains the long-winged hawks, 
 may be disposed to throw a slight upon such a "gentle astringer" as 
 appears in a stage-direction of Alfs Well, for the goshawk or 
 "estridge," the bird of the astringer, is of inferior flight. It is the 
 falcon that "towers" in her pride of place. And, as Mr. Justice 
 Madden instructs us, you may take your hawk from the nest as an 
 "eyas" (nestling) or you may capture a full-grown hawk, a "haggard," 
 and by training reclaim or "man" the bird. "Eyasses," writes Tur- 
 bervile " * * * do use to cry very much in their feedings " ; and 
 Hamlet's little eyases, the boy actors, "cry out on the toj) of 
 question." The unreclaimed haggard is, as we find in Othello^ the 
 very emblem of worthless inconstancy ; when captured she must be 
 tamed by hunger and "watching." "I'll watch him tame," says 
 Desdemona of her husband, promising to keep him sleepless until 
 he yields to her request. The bird, when brought out upon the fist, 
 must be " hooded " or she will " bate " (flutter the wings) ; " 'tis a 
 hooded valour," says the Constable of France, when depreciating the 
 Dauphin's courage, "and when it appears it will bate." I have 
 followed and reduced to narrow space a few of Mr, Justice Madden's 
 notes, and similar explanations will be found in the "Cyclopaedia." 
 And so we might go on almost without end, illustrating the remark- 
 able familiarity of Shakespeare with the wholesome out-of-door mirth 
 of England. Every point of a horse was known to him; and all 
 the " terms of manage." Thus, Mr. Phin rightly explains the words 
 of Benedick, " Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career," as referring 
 to the tilt-yard, and the word " career " is itself a " term of manage," 
 meaning not an advance which has no definite end, but a gallop 
 which has an abrupt ending — the " stop " (as explained and illustrated 
 by Madden) " by which the horse was suddenly and firmly thrown 
 upon his haunches. Wherever Shakespeare uses the word the stop 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is present to his mind. Leontes * ♦ * spoke terms of manage 
 when he marked 'stopping the career of laughter with a sigh' as a 
 *note infaUible of breaking honesty.'" 
 
 I have illustrated from a few departments the interest which lies 
 in the study of Shakespeare's language ; and the illustration could be 
 indefinitely extended. But Mr. Phin in the *' Cyclopsedia" deals with 
 much more than the vocabulary of Shakespeare. He is now historical, 
 now topographical, and often, where questions of textual correctness 
 arise, he is critical. Into the hazardous discussion of doubtful 
 readings I shall not attempt to follow him. Here, more perhaps 
 than elsewhere, there is room for differences of opinion. In some 
 cases the difficulties are probably insoluble ; but from the days of 
 Rowe, and Pope, and Theobald a real progress has been made. The 
 advance of knowledge in several instances where doubts existed or 
 questions were raised, has justified the original readings. And on 
 the whole it may safely be affirmed that a conservative text is the 
 best text. But no one who has studied the Quartos or the First 
 Folio can retain a superstitious reverence for them as exact records of 
 what Shakespeare wrote ; and more violence is done to the original 
 by forcing an unnatural meaning upon it than by accepting an emend- 
 ation which accords at once with common sense and with the genius 
 of our language as it was written in the age of Elizabeth. 
 
HOW TO READ FOR PLEASURE AND PROFIT. 
 
 I^^^^^EVER, since the dawn of civilization, have the opportunities offered to 
 NiL^lRfl ^^^ people at large for the acquisition of knowledge and for intellectual 
 ^^^^^ culture been as great and as accessible as they are at the present 
 day. The enormous output of books from the presses of the pub- 
 lishers gives the widest range for selection, and the grades of these works are so 
 varied that the most highly-trained mind may find a field for intellectual exercise, 
 while at the same time the simplest and least learned may find mental food 
 suited to its capacity. Added to this we have the recent unprecedented multipli- 
 cation of free libraries which place all this store of knowledge within the reach 
 of the poorest ; and when we examine the reports of these libraries we find that 
 the people are not slow to take advantage of the facilities offered for reading. 
 
 But while this condition of things has gladdened the hearts of all true philan- 
 thropists and workers for progress, there has crept into the minds of our most 
 earnest thinkers a well-founded suspicion that, like almost all other beneficent in- 
 stitutions, the free public library is not altogether an unmixed good, and that unless 
 its patrons receive proper guidance it may actually become a source of dissipation 
 and enervation. These views are not by any means new, and some years ago 
 they found utterance in a small volume by the present writer under the title, "A 
 Book About Books." From it we shall borrow a few passages in a modified form. 
 
 Most of the everyday reading that is done by ordinarily intelligent people is 
 for pleasure, and the subjects chosen are usually fiction, poetry, travels and the 
 more vivid and exciting parts of history. Fiction, however, forms the great bulk 
 of such reading, and this is shown not only by the reports of all our circulating 
 and free public libraries, but by the condition of the books on their shelves. It 
 will be found that while the novels and story-books are thumbed to pieces, the 
 more substantial works, even though occasionally drawn out, are never read so 
 thoroughly and frequently as to be subjected to much tear and wear. 
 
 So strongly has this fact impressed itself upon those interested in promoting 
 the efficiency of our public libraries as educational influences, that a prominent 
 benefactor of these institutions has actually proposed to exclude from their 
 shelves all works of fiction that are not from one to three years old I It is 
 evident, however, that such a proposition, if carried out, could effect no good, 
 and the absurdity of the suggestion is seen at once when we reflect that under 
 such conditions novels like Scott's "Ivanhoe" or the "Antiquary," if just pub- 
 lished, would be excluded, while novels of the "penny-dreadful " class might be 
 admitted if they were three years old ! Obviously, a much better plan would be 
 to limit the department of fiction to a certain percentage of the amount expended 
 for new books and to exercise a reasonable degree of sujgervision over the 
 
THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 character of the books selected, irrespective of the desires expressed by the 
 readers of that class of literature. Such a system, if supplemented by simple 
 instructions in regard to the best methods of reading, would do much to advance 
 the educational efficiency of our public libraries. 
 
 If read in a proper manner, works of fiction (in which class may be included 
 not only novels, but poetry and the drama) may be a very efficient means of culture 
 both as regards language and ideas, but as ordinarily read by those who haunt our 
 free libraries they do anything but good ; and it unfortunately happens that some 
 eminent librarians have urged the formation of what they are pleased to call ' ' the 
 reading habit," no matter what the character of that habit maybe. This is a 
 great mistake. The "reading habit" acquired by a large class of the community 
 is almost as evil in its influences as the opium habit, or the whisky habit. This 
 may seem a strange assertion, but it is true, nevertheless, and the writer speaks 
 on this point not only from general deductions, but from very favorable and 
 extensive personal opportunities for observing the actual effects of inordinate 
 novel reading upon ordinary readers — especially upon females and young people. 
 My experience has been that those who rapidly read novel after novel never do 
 more than skim over the plot so as to indulge in the mental excitement which 
 all stories of a romantic turn and intense action are sure to produce, and it 
 matters not whether the novels that are read are the masterpieces of Scott, 
 Dickens, Thackeray, Cooper or others of our best writers or the latest productions 
 of the dime novel press, the effect on the mind is the same and is only evil, and 
 that continually. For there is another habit which is far more valuable than the 
 reading habit and of which the reading habit, as too often acquired, is utterly 
 destructive, and that is the thinking habit. The confirmed novel reader does not 
 think ; she (for such readers are mostly females and young people) dreams and 
 lives in a land of seemingly pleasant delights, but of good, healthy thinking she 
 knows nothing. 
 
 On the other hand, if we make a judicious selection of any of our standard 
 authors and read according to a proper system, we shall gain not only in 
 knowledge, but in that which is far better— culture and training. Under 
 Buch a method we shall find that new beauties of diction and of thought 
 ■will reveal themselves at every step of our progress, and we shall gradually 
 acquire those habits of thought which sympathy with a writer of strength and 
 refinement is sure to induce. Of course, the reading of the inferior productions of 
 sensational writers never can effect this. We may so read Scott, Cooper and 
 Dickens as to obtain from them all the evil effects of the dime novel, but we can 
 never obtain from the dime novel the culture and improvement which the 
 writings of Dickens, Scott and Cooper are capable of affording if properly used. 
 
 In view of these incontrovertible truths, this question forcibly presents itself : 
 How shall we read so as to avoid the evils we have mentioned and attain the 
 greatest benefit as well as the truest and highest pleasure from a perusal of recent 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 
 
 authors as well as from the greatest of all the literary productions in the English 
 language, the works of Shakespeare? That this question is not always answered 
 wisely is very clearly shown by the reply given net long ago by the editor 
 of a prominent journal to a young enquirer who had not had large oppor- 
 tunities for self-improvement, but who had been attracted to the writings of 
 Shakespeare by the force and beauty of some of the best known passages and by 
 seeing some of the plays acted on the stage. Therefore, that he should have 
 asked, "What is the best way to read Shakespeare?" was the most natural thing 
 in the world. The reply was that '* the best way to read Shakespeare is to read 
 him"! and it is probable that this is the answer which the beginner will get in 
 nine cases out of ten when he applies to some one who has a pseudo-reputation as 
 a "Shakespearean." 
 
 In this bald shape such an answer is either a truism or a very gross mistake. 
 It is certainly true that we cannot read the works of any author without reading 
 them, but if we take up the works of Shakespeare and read straight through 
 from the beginning to the end of the volume, we can never obtain that instruction 
 and pleasure which we might derive from a wiser and more systematic course. 
 
 Shakespeare's writings cannot be regarded as one homogeneous piece, every 
 part of which is united to the rest by a single aim. His works consist of thirty- 
 seven plays and several pieces of poetry, and of these there are but few which 
 have an intimate connection with any of the others. It is his plays, however, 
 which have made his name a household word. It would be difficult to find any 
 person, able to read English, who has not heard of Hamlet, Caesar, Lear, Falstaff 
 or Shylock ; but not one in a thousand has ever heard of " The Passionate 
 Pilgrim," or "The Phoenix and the Turtle." 
 
 All the most important plays have in themselves a completeness and distinctness 
 which render it possible to study them without reference to anything else; and 
 while a true lorer of Shakespeare will not rest content until he has made the 
 entire volume his own, those whose opportunities as regards time, etc., are 
 limited, will do well to master thoroughly one-half or a third of the three 
 dozen plays rather than form a mere general acquaintance with the whole. 
 
 I have seen it stated somewhere that if you wish to test any person's familiarity 
 with the writings of Shakespeare, ask him if he has read Cymbeline, and I presume 
 that the conclusion must be that those who have not read this play are to be set 
 down as knowing little or nothing of the great dramatist. Now, although Cymbeline 
 is a play which no lover of Shakespeare can afford to neglect, it is quite possible that 
 one might not only be an ardent admirer of Shakespeare's works, but have made 
 very important advances in Shakespearean study, and yet might not have read 
 that play. Given two young people of equal talents and equal, but comparatively 
 limited, opportunities as regards leisure and means of study; if one should read 
 all Shakespeare's works and the other should devote the same amount of time 
 and study to ten or a dozen of the most important plays, the latter would ua- 
 
THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 doubtedly become a more tborougli Shakespearean than the other ; and what is 
 more ; The second would probably have attained a higher degree of mental 
 culture, a greater amount of knowledge and, I will venture to say, more real 
 pleasure than the other. 
 
 In reading any one of Shakespeare's plays there are several distinct points which 
 demand our attention. Thus we have : 1. The plot or story ; 2. The various 
 individual characters and their development ; 3. The peculiarities of language and 
 expression and the special meanings borne by words used in their old senses ; 
 4. The various allusions to old time customs, mythology, history, etc. Other 
 points, such as the style of the different plays, indicating the period at which 
 they were written, will also present themselves, but it is hardly to be expected 
 that beginners will have the critical insight which will enable them to derive 
 much profit from this at the start, that is, if they are not under the personal 
 guidance of some teacher of experience. 
 
 The first thing which the reader should try to attain is a clear idea of the 
 general run of the play and of the incidents which mark each stage of its progress. 
 It is a notable feature of all Shakespeare's plays that they may be read with 
 profit even if numerous passages should remain obscure ; and this is true not 
 only in regard to isolated words and expressions, but as to passages of consider- 
 able length. Dr. Johnson, in his famous "Preface," calls special attention to this 
 point in the following words : 
 
 •• Notes are often necessary, but they are necessary evils. Let him, that is yet 
 unacquainted with the powers of Shakespeare, and who desires to feel the highest 
 pleasure that the drama can give, read every play, from the first scene to the last, 
 with utter negligence of all his commentators. When his fancy is once on the 
 wing, let it not stoop at correction or explanation. When his attention is strongly 
 engaged, let it disdain, alike to turn aside to the name of Theobald and Pope. 
 Let him read on through brightness and obscurity, through integrity and 
 corruption ; let him preserve his comprehension of the dialogue and his interest 
 in the fable; and when the pleasures of novelty have ceased, let him attempt 
 exactness, and read the commentators." 
 
 At this point the reader will no doubt ask: "Which of Shakespeare's plays 
 ought we to select for the first half-dozen?" This is a puzzling question and one 
 to which probably no two authorities would give the same answer. It would be 
 impossible to name ten plays and not omit others equally deserving of attention; 
 nevertheless, if we are to read at all, we must begin somewhere. Perhaps as good 
 a play as any to commence with would be The Merchant of Venice. From this 
 the beginner may pass to tragedy as shown in Hamlet, Othello, Lear or Macbeth, or 
 to lively, mirth-provoking comedy as found in Much Ado About Nothing, the two 
 parts of Henry the Fourth, etc. There is no doubt that great advantage may be 
 derived from following the development of Shakespeare's artistic faculty as shown 
 in the characteristics of the different plays, and for this no better guide can be 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 
 
 found than Professor Dowden's little "Primer." But it seems to me that in order 
 to appreciate Dowden, or any other writer on Shakespeare, we must first read a 
 little of Shakespeare himself. If we would study a plant we must first become 
 familiar with the general appearance of the plant itself ; after that, let us follow 
 the instructions of the botanists. 
 
 No difficulty should be found in the effort to grasp the main incidents of the 
 play, and almost all the finer passages may be easily understood, but the reader 
 will find scattered through Shakespeare's writings a few words which are now 
 entirely obsolete, and for an explanation of these, reference must, of course, be 
 made to a special glossary or to one of the large dictionaries. But such words 
 rarely cause any trouble, and need never mislead the reader. It is otherwise, 
 however, with many words employed by Shakespeare and which are still in use, 
 but which now bear a meaning very different from that which they had in the 
 time of Queen Elizabeth. This is apt to give the reader a wrong impression in 
 regard to the meaning of certain passages and to so far mislead him as to make 
 him think that he understands every word, while the truth is that the sense, as 
 it appears to him, is very different from that originally intended. 
 
 One of the best helps to an understanding of Shakespeare is to witness the 
 representation of his plays by really good actors. It was said of one famous 
 actor that to witness his representation of Macbeth was to read Shakespeare by 
 flashes of lightning; and those who have seen Booth in Hamlet and Othello; Forrest 
 in King Lear ; Charlotte Cushman as Lady Macbeth, or Irving in The Merchant of 
 Venice, must fully realise the appropriateness of the expression. 
 
 It has been well said that a thorough study of Shakespeare is sufficient to 
 impart a liberal education. This is no doubt true, but to attain such an end the 
 study must be something more than the ordinary slip-shod reading with which 
 so many are content. We use the word "slip-shod" advisedly, because if any 
 one who has made a careful study of some such play as The Tempest, The Merchant 
 of Venice, Hamlet, or Othello, should discuss its chief features [with the average 
 reader who is fond of quoting the finer or, rather, the more expressive sentences 
 of Shakespeare, he will soon find how vague and inaccurate are the ideas which 
 many people have in regard to the details of most of the plays. Indeed, we find that 
 many who claim to be careful students, and even some who aspire to be teachers 
 and critics, have not read the works of the great master of dramatic literature 
 with a closeness sufficient to give them a clear and accurate knowledge of many 
 very important points. That this is not too strongly stated is easily shown by a 
 reference to our current periodical literature. It is not long since one who has 
 written much about Shakespearean matters, and has published several books 
 professing to deal with Shakespearean interpretation, actually told us, through a 
 prominent literary journal, that Hamlet murdered his mother and then com- 
 mitted suicide! ! 
 Another instance may be seen in a modern and somewhat pretentious edition 
 
THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 of Shakespeare's works, in which we are told, in the introduction to one of the 
 volumes, which, by the way, happens to have two editors, that Shakespeare 
 represents Macbeth as curing a •' crew of wretched souls" by touching for the 
 king's evil. A reference to Mcb. IV, 3, 140, will show that Shakespeare does 
 nothing of the kind. 
 
 I have now before me a recent commentary on Shakespeare, written for the 
 use of young students and readers, in which we are gravely told that Desdemona 
 keeps the office opposite to Saint Peter, whereas, as any intelligent boy or girl 
 may see, it is Emilia to whom that function is assigned. 
 
 These mistakes are evidently not mere slips of the pen, but are due entirely to 
 imperfect methods of reading. Neither do they involve any of those obscure or 
 doubtful points which have puzzled learned and astute commentators ; they 
 relate to plain and obvious details of the play which certainly ought to be clear 
 to the average schoolboy. 
 
 This careful and attentive mode of reading is particularly necessary in the case 
 of certain points which are not obvious to those who merely skim over the text, 
 but which develop themselves under careful study and persistent thought, and 
 then are seen to be not really either doubtful or very subtle. Take, for example, 
 the death scene in Othello, Act V, Sc. 2. Many who have seen this play on the 
 stage, or who have read it in the usual manner, get the idea that Desdemona's 
 life was ended by smothering; and in a recent issue of one of the literary journals 
 an amateur critic throws a good deal of ridicule on Shakespeare, claiming that 
 his method of treating the subject borders on the absurd and really involves 
 impossibilities. "How," he exclaims, "could Desdemona be fatally smothered, 
 then come to life again, carry on an intelligent conversation and immediately 
 afterwards, apparently without further cause, die ?" 
 
 And, as presented by many actors, these obj ections seem to hold good. But 
 on careful examination the reader will see that smothering may not have been 
 the ultimate and effective cause of her death; and on turning to the words So, so^ 
 in this Cyclopaedia it will be found that Shakespeare has not described an un- 
 natural, not to say an impossible scene. 
 
 The same rules which apply to the study of Shakespeare's works apply to the 
 reading of all literature. It is not from a first or even second perusal that the 
 reader gains the full benefit which any really good work of fiction is capable of 
 affording, and if the book is of such a character that it will not bear going over 
 more than once, that very fact is strong evidence of its worthlessness. 
 
 In pursuing such a method of reading it will be found that where really good 
 books are selected, great advantage will be derived from the cpmpanionship of 
 two or more persons in the work. Hence the advantage of those little clubs 
 or societies whose members read and discuss a favorite author together. It may 
 be well, therefore, to devote a page or two to a consideration of the formation 
 and conduct of such associations 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES. 
 
 " Get one or two likely friends to join you in your Shakspere work, if you can, 
 and fight out all your and their difficulties in common ; worry every line ; eschew the 
 vice of wholesale emendation. Get up a party of ten or twelve men and four or six 
 women to read the plays in succession, at one another's houses, or elsewhere, once a 
 fortnight, and discuss each for half an hour after reading. Do all you can to further 
 the study of Shakspere, chronologically and as a whole." FurnivalVs Introduction 
 to " The Leopold Shakspere. " 
 
 ^^^S2^ PLEASURE that is shared with another is doubled, and in nothing is 
 
 'i^^lin^ this more true than in intellectual enjoyments. Hence it follows 
 
 ^S^l^ that the satisfaction obtainable from the study of any favorite author 
 
 may be greatly enhanced by the co-operation of a small number who 
 
 unite as a little club or society for the purpose of reading and discussion. 
 
 But it is not the pleasure only that is increased. When several minds are thus 
 brought together to work on a common object, the stimulus of association enables 
 them to attain results which none of them could reach singly. This is well seen 
 in the effect of competition and encouragement on young people who, instead of 
 studying alone, join a class and work in concert. The solitary reader or student 
 may no doubt derive a great deal of the highest pleasure and instruction from 
 quiet communion with one of the greatest minds of all the ages, but it never- 
 theless remains true that just as it is easy to make a hot fire with half a dozen 
 sticks, any one of which would soon become cold if separated from the rest, so 
 the association of a few earnest minds not only adds to the enthusiasm of the 
 pursuit, but if each one brings his or her contribution of new ideas, however 
 small that contribution may be in itself, the aggregate will prove a surprise to 
 those who have had little or no experience in such matters. Of course, there 
 may be many who will join such a club merely for the name of the thing or for 
 the sociability which it offers ; they would like to have the reputation of being 
 literary, and especially of being supposed to be admirers and students of Shake- 
 speare without doing the hard work, which alone can entitle them to that 
 distinction. Let them come. It will be impossible to bring a dozen people 
 together and get them to read a play or even part of a play by Shakespeare without 
 imparting new ideas to most of them, and thus improving the minds of all. 
 
 On Foeming a Club.— It is not difficult to form a Shakespeare club ; the 
 difficulty is to sustain it. There are very few places of from 3,000 to 5,000 in- 
 habitants in which it would be difficult to find a dozen persons specially interested 
 in those subjects which come within the legitimate scope of such an association. 
 The problem is to bring them together so as to form an organization 'having a 
 local habitation and a name. To effect this it is necessary that two or three 
 individuals should take the initiative and, by appeals either to personal friends 
 or to the public in general, gather in those who are interested. 
 
THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 The organization of a club sliould be as simple as possible ; the offices should 
 not be unnecessarily numerous ; the rules should be few and the expenses should 
 be cut down to the lowest point compatible with efficiency. A President, 
 Secretary and Treasurer are, of course, indispensable ; and there must be Kules 
 and By-laws regulating the conditions of membership, the dates for regular 
 meetings and the order of business ; but beyond these, the less the action of the 
 club is hampered the better. Where a regular Society (which may include several 
 clubs) is established, a more elaborate organization may be necessary, but 
 even in that case it will be found that simplicity is an important element of 
 success. 
 
 The Size of the Club. — Clubs for the reading and study of Shakespeare are 
 most enjoyable and consequently most efficient when small— say, not over a 
 dozen or twenty members, which would mean an average attendance of ten to 
 fifteen persons. In such clubs every member knows all the others, and it is 
 possible to have such pleasant social relations as are not easily maintained in 
 very large associations. In cities of some size several such clubs may be organized 
 and sustained ; I know of one place of not over 25,000 inhabitants in which there 
 are three flourishing clubs. 
 
 While there is certain work which can be done better in small clubs than in 
 large societies, the latter are the most efficient where the reading and after- 
 discussion of carefully prepared papers form the chief features of the exercises. 
 The advantages which belong to both might be easily realized by occasionally 
 holding union meetings when some special subject of general interest is to be 
 brought forward. Or, perhaps it might be a yet better plan to have the clubs, 
 while still retaining their individuality, unite so as to form a Shakespeare Society, 
 which need not meet as often as the clubs, and at which meetings papers by 
 members might be read, lectures and readings by noted Shakespeareans delivered 
 and such other work accomplished as might be more suitable for a public meeting 
 than for a small social gathering. 
 
 Club Work. — There are many ways in which a club may occupy its evenings ; 
 merely reading a play, each member taking a part, furnishes a delightful enter- 
 tainment. Those who take part in such exercises should carefully study their 
 "casts" so that the speeches may be rendered intelligently and with proper 
 emphasis. This leads not only to a more perfect understanding of the plays, 
 but it gives efficient training in that most delightful of all accomplishments— the 
 art of reading aloud with ease and grace. It will frequently be found that the 
 sense that may be derived from a passage of Shakespeare depends largely upon 
 the manner in which it is read and the gestures employed. In some passages the 
 entire meaning is changed by a difference in emphasis or gesture. See under 
 the word take in this "Cyclopaedia." This forms a pleasant and instructive 
 subject for discussion after the reading exercises have closed. 
 
 Thk Selection or an Edition fob Ebadinq. — Where plays are thus read by 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 
 
 members of a club, it is obviously essential that all the members should use the 
 same edition, particularly in those cases where the text has been expurgated or 
 abridged, and as a general rule the edition used under such circumstances should 
 be expurgated— that is, all the indelicate words and passages should be omitted. 
 To the earnest student, reading alone or with two or three companions of the 
 same sex, an expurgated edition is an abomination, but for the family or a club 
 where young persons of both sexes are present, it is a necessity. All the so-called 
 school editions are, of course, expurgated. On a subsequent page the reader will 
 find hints for the selection of a copy of Shakespeare's works for private reading 
 and study, but for the use of clubs, somewhat different rules must guide us. 
 The following points deserve attention : 
 
 1. The type should be clear and of good size so that it may be easily read even 
 when not held close to the eye. 
 
 2. The volume should be light and easily held in one hand. Consequently, 
 those editions in which each play is contained in a separate volume are to be 
 preferred. 
 
 3. The books should be cheap, so that the owner may feel no regret at being 
 obliged to mark, in pencil or ink, what are known as "cuts." It would be a pity 
 to subject a finely-illustrated and annotated copy to such an indignity. 
 
 Among the cheap editions, of which separate plays are sold for a small sum, 
 we may note the following : 
 
 Rolfe's edition, now published by the American Book Company. This is 
 elaborately annotated, and the type is large and clear. Single plays are sold at 
 36 cents in paper, and 56 cents in cloth. 
 
 The Hudson School Shakespeare, published by Ginn and Company, of Boston, 
 is also an admirable edition. Single plays, 35 cents in paper, and 50 cents in 
 cloth. 
 
 Houghton, Mifflin and Company, of Boston, issue very neat editions of the 
 principal plays, carefully edited, expurgated and annotated, at 15 cents in paper 
 and 25 cents in linen. 
 
 A very excellent edition, at the small price of 10 cents per play, in paper, is 
 published by Cassell and Company in their "National Library Series," edited 
 by Professor Henry Morley. It has no notes and is unexpurgated. 
 
 The "Clarendon Press Series," published for the University of Oxford by 
 Henry Frowde (with a New York branch), is elaborately annotated, but unex- 
 purgated. There are seventeen plays mostly edited by W. Aldis Wright, and the 
 prices range from 30 cents to 40 cents. 
 
 The "Eugby" editions are also excellent. They are copiously annotated, but 
 unexpurgated. They are published by the Eivingtons, of London. 
 
 Samuel French, of New York, publishes nearly all the plays in 15 cent paper- 
 covered editions. I have not had an opportunity to examine them, but I believe 
 they are designed chiefly for amateur theatricals. 
 
10 THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 Music. — It generally happens that such clubs include members who have 
 musical talents and acquirements, and they will find the old-time music of Shake- 
 speare a new source of delight for themselves and for their fellow members. 
 
 Several books have been published on this subject, two of which may be 
 mentioned : *' Handbook of Shakespeare Music," by A. Eoffe (London, 1878), and 
 "Shakespeare and Music," by E. W. Naylor (London and New York, 1896). 
 
 Society Work. —While the readiruj of Shakespeare is peculiarly appropriate to 
 clubs, the larger Societies will find their proper field in the reading and sub- 
 sequent discussion of papers on special points, such as the study of the language, 
 folk-lore, historical characters, mythology, and other subjects upon which the 
 plays touch. All these afford material for interesting discussions ; they lead 
 easily and pleasantly to a study of the poet's works, and a thorough study of 
 Shakespeare is equivalent to a liberal education. 
 
 Social Features. — Where the meetings are held in private houses it has been 
 found that it adds much to the interest and sociability of the gathering to have 
 some simple refreshments at the close of each session. Care must be taken, 
 however, not allow this part of the exercises to dominate the intellectual features 
 Off the occasion ; and it is hardly necessary to say that any attempt at display or 
 any indulgence in expensive entertainments, while to some it may increase the 
 pleasures of a single evening, will inevitably work ultimate injury to the club. 
 The meetings will be sure to degenerate into Society Receptions, which will take 
 the place of Literary Gatherings. 
 
 Those who are interested in the formation and conduct of Shakespeare Societies 
 and Clubs will find many practical and sensible directions in Professor Rolfe's 
 Introduction to Fleming's " How to Study Shakespeare." Published by Double- 
 day and McClure Company, New York. 
 
 THE TEXT OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS. 
 
 C^S^^N reading books and articles on Shakespeare we often meet such expres- 
 ^llKs sions as "the accepted text," " the standard text" ; and sometimes we 
 f^^M^i even find the statement: "As Shakespeare wrote it." Then, on the 
 other hand, we find innumerable "new readings," "emendations,'' 
 "corrections," etc., which claim to be "restorations" of what is said to be "the 
 true and correct text." All this is rather puzzling to the unlearned, and it seems 
 to be confusing even to some whose scholarly attainments have acquired for 
 them notable college degrees, evidence of this last being easily found in the 
 correspondence columns of our literary journals. As a clear understanding of 
 this matter will help the reader to form a proper estimate of the real value of 
 many of the comments and suggestions which are found in the annotated 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. H 
 
 editions, glossaries, etc., a few words on the subject will not be out of place. 
 Those who desire to study the subject thoroughly will find the material facts very 
 fully given in Lee's "Life of William Shakespeare," and in the Introduction to 
 Craik's "English of Shakespeare," and the Preface to "The Cambridge Shake- 
 speare." 
 
 None of Shakespeare's dramas was ever published with his authority or under 
 his supervision. The reason for this is not far to seek: Shakespeare wrpte for 
 the theatres, and to them he sold the entire right to his plays. The companies 
 that owned these theatres held the opinion that it would be against their interests 
 to have these manuscripts printed and published, and, consequently, the only 
 editions that were placed on the market were those that were issued by piratical 
 publishers. Of the plays which now form parts of Shakespeare's acknowledged 
 works, seventeen were published in this way, these editions being known as 
 " The Quartos." 
 
 Shakespeare was connected with two theatres — the Blackfriars and the Globe — 
 but his relations with the latter were more intimate than those with the former. 
 On June 29th, 1613, the Globe Theatre was totally destroyed by fire, and all the 
 dresses, prompt-books, etc., were consumed. It may have been that the original 
 manuscripts of many of the plays were destroyed at that time. Shakespeare died 
 three years later — on April 23, 1616— without having collected or edited his own 
 works, and, with the exception of Venits and Adonis and Lucrece, there is not a 
 single line of all his writings that was published with his authority or under his 
 supervision. 
 
 In 1623, seven years after his death, two of his fellow actors, Heminge and 
 Condell, brought out an edition of the plays, now known as the First Folio. 
 They claimed, and so stated on the title-page, that in the production of this 
 volume they used "the true originall copies," but we have the most positive 
 evidence that many of the plays were reprinted from the Quartos which they 
 had so bitterly denounced as " diuerse stolne and surreptitious copies, maimed 
 and deformed by the fraudes and stealthes of incurious impostors that exposed 
 [published] them." Upon this point Lee says: "But it is doubtful if any play 
 were printed exactly as it came from his pen. The First Folio text is often 
 markedly inferior to that of the sixteen pre-existent Quartos, which, although 
 surreptitiously and imperfectly printed, followed play-house copies of far earlier 
 date." 
 
 The First Folio contained thirty-six plays, Pericles having been omitted. 
 Pericles had, however, been printed in Quarto in 1609 and 1611. The Second 
 Folio (1632) was almost a reprint of the First ; in the Third (1664) Pericles and 
 six spurious plays were added to the text of the First Folio. The Fourth (1685) is 
 merely a reprint of the Third with the spelling somewhat modernised. 
 
 A consideration of these facts leads to the unavoidable conclusion that we 
 have no authoritative Shakespearean text ; that there is not a line in any edition 
 
13 THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 of Shakespeare's plaj-s upon which we can lay our finger and say : "This is as 
 Shakespeare wrote it." 
 
 In the case of modern writers we have the knowledge that they corrected the 
 proofs of their works; and it is known also that both Ben Jonson and Spenser 
 saw their writings through the press and were careful to secure the utmost 
 possible accuracy. It waa not so with Shakespeare ; of none of his plays have 
 we any copy that was ever authorised or revised by him. Of course, the prob- 
 ability that very much that we now regard as his writings has come down to us 
 just as he produced it, is so great that we are compelled to accept it as his, but 
 there is always room for doubt. Writing on this point, Dr. Johnson says : "His 
 works were transcribed for the players by those who may be supposed to have 
 seldom understood them ; they were transmitted by copiers equally unskilful, 
 who still multiplied errors ; they were, perhaps, sometimes mutilated by the 
 actors, for the sake of shortening the speeches, and were at last printed without 
 correction of the press." 
 
 The text which is now generally accepted is that of the First Folio, with 
 additions and corrections obtained by carefully collating this volume with the 
 Quartos, of which editions the Cambridge editors say : " In other cases the Quarto 
 is more correctly printed, or from a better MS. than the Folio text, and therefore 
 of higher authority. For example, in Midsummer JS'ight's Dream, in Love's Labour's 
 Lost, and in Richard the Second, the reading of the Quarto is almost always 
 preferable to that of the Folio, and in Hamlet we have computed that the Folio, 
 when it differs from the Quartos, differs for the worse in forty-seven places, 
 while it differs for the better in twenty at most." 
 
 In addition to changes in the text of the Folio made by collating it with the 
 Quartos we have what are known as " conjectural" emendations in which letters, 
 words and sentences are so altered as to make sense where previously this was 
 impossible. All are now agreed that this should be strictly confined to the 
 correction of errors introduced by printers and copyists; and certainly none but 
 blind worshippers of the old text will deny that the printers who set the type 
 for the Quartos and Folios were quite as apt to make mistakes as their more 
 modern brethren. Consequently, where the change of one or two letters enables 
 us to convert a passage which we cannot understand in its present condition, 
 into one that is clear, sensible and forcible, we have a right to make or, at least, 
 to suggest such an emendment. "We know positively that there are passages in 
 which the change of one or more letters has converted nonsense into sense ; see 
 hisson, roiher, etc.; and we also know that there are lines in which certain words 
 (uUorxals, as Dr. Ingleby calls them) are acknowledged by all to be hopelessly 
 corrupt. Therefore, it is not presuming too far to suppose that there may be 
 other passages from which a better sense than any that has yet been extracted 
 may be obtained by a typographical correction. See dare, flax, larmen, etc. 
 
 The typographical errors which mar even the most carefully printed books are 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 13 
 
 a matter of common observation to all careful readers. In most cases these 
 errors do little harm, since they are obvious and easily corrected, but in some 
 instances they affect the sense very materially, and they show a wonderful vitality 
 through successive editions. For example, even those editions of the Waverly 
 novels which claim to be edited with great care exhibit gross errors, evidently 
 due originally to the blunders of the printer. Thus in "Woodstock," in Vol. II, 
 Chap. XV, p. 308, of the edition of 1829, we find the types making Scott speak of 
 turning up a ''swathe" (i.e., grass left in a long row after the scythe) with a 
 plough! ! The original word was no doubt " sward" or sod; swathe makes utter 
 nonsense of the passage, while sward is forcible and to the point; and yet the 
 editor of a fine edition recently published in Edinburgh continues this blunder 
 and the publishers defend it! 
 
 So, too, in "Waverly," Vol. I, p. 117 (same edition), Scott enumerates the 
 delicacies which loaded the breakfast-table of the Baron of Bradwardine, and the 
 printer has put "rein-deer hams " in the list. The rein-deer had been extinct in 
 Scotland for over six hundred years, as Scott very well knew; beyond all 
 question, what he wrote was red-deer, but the error keeps on its way in the best 
 or, at least, the most expensive editions.* 
 
 If such gross and important errors are to be found in a work published within 
 a few years and the proofs of which were carefully revised by the author, what 
 may we not expect in books published under the conditions which gave birth 
 to the First Folio? Upon this point Prof. Craik, one of the ablest and most 
 independent of Shakespearean critics, expresses himself as follows : " As a typo- 
 graphical production it is better executed than the common run of the English 
 popular printing of that date. It is rather superior, for instance, in point of 
 appearance, and very decidedly in correctness, to the Second Folio, produced 
 nine years later. Nevertheless, it is obviously, to the most cursory inspection, 
 very far from what would now be called even a tolerably well-printed book. 
 There is probably not a page in it which is not disfigured by many minute in- 
 accuracies and irregularities, such as never appear in modern printing. The 
 punctuation is, throughout, rude and negligent, even when it is not palpably 
 blundering. The most elementary proprieties of the metrical arrangement are 
 violated in innumerable passages. In some places the verse is printed as plain 
 prose ; elsewhere, prose is ignorantly and ludicrously exhibited in the guise of 
 verse. Indisputable and undisputed errors are of frequent occurrence, so gross 
 that it is impossible they could have been passed over, at any rate in such 
 numbers, if the proof-sheets had undergone any systematic revision by a qualified 
 person, however rapid. They were probably read in the printing office, with 
 more or less attention, when there was time, and often, when there was any 
 
 * Scott's poems have fared even worse at the printer's hands, as may be seen in the edition 
 issued under the care of Prof, Rolfe, who has corrected them with great knowledge and 
 good judgment, 
 
14 THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 hurry or pressure, sent to press with little or no examination. Everything 
 betokens that editor or editing of the volume, in any proper or distinctive sense, 
 there could have been none. The only editor was manifestly the head workman 
 in the printing-ofi&ce. 
 
 "On closer inspection we detect other indications. In one instance, at least, we 
 have actually the names of the actors by whom the play was performed prefixed 
 to their portions of the dialogue instead of those of the dramatis personce. Mr. 
 Knight, in noticing this circumstance, observes that it shows very clearly the text 
 of the Play in which it occurs (Much Ado About Nothing) to have been taken from 
 the playhouse copy, or what is called the prompter's book. ['Library Shake- 
 speare,' II, 366.] But the fact is that the scene in question is given in the same 
 way in the previous Quarto edition of the Play, published in 1600 ; so that here 
 the printers of the Folio had evidently no manuscript of any kind in their hands, 
 any more than they had any one over them to prevent them from blindly following 
 their printed copy into the most transparent absurdities. The Quarto, to the 
 guidance of which they were left, had evidently been set up from the prompter's 
 book, and the proof-sheets could not have been read either by the author or by 
 any other competent person." "The English of Shakespeare " (1859), p. 14. 
 
 And again, on p. 27, he says : " No modern editor has reprinted the Plays of 
 Shakespeare exactly as they stand in any of the old Folios or Quartos. Neither 
 the spelling, nor the punctuation, nor the words of any ancient copy have been 
 retained unaltered, even with the correction of obvious errors of the Press. It 
 has been universally admitted by the course that has been followed that a genuine 
 text is not to be obtained without more or less of conjectural emendation: the 
 only difference has been as to the extent to which it should be carried." 
 
 Since Prof. Craik wrote the above, Dr. Furness has brought out several plays 
 in which the First Folio is followed with great accuracy, even to broken letters, 
 crooked lines and bad work of that kind. But all such reprinting has been rendered 
 unnecessary by the photographic reproductions of the volume. In these we have 
 that liability to error which attends all hand printing, entirely eliminated, and 
 such copies are so cheap that they are within the reach of every student. Another 
 reproduction of this kind, one which promises to be the finest ever issued, is now 
 in course of preparation by the Oxford Press, under the able supervision of the 
 well-known Shakespearean, Sidney Lee. I look forward with eager interest to 
 the recepti6n of my copy of this magnificent, though low-priced, piece of work. 
 It is greatly to be wished that the good work will not stop here, but that the 
 publishers will go on and give us similar reproductions of the other Folios. 
 
 The Sources and Causes of Errors in the Text. 
 
 The sources and causes of typographical mistakes in the writings of Shake- 
 speare and other authors form a most interesting subject of study, not only on 
 general grounds, but because in many cases they afford a clue to the correction 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 15 
 
 of errors and to the true reading. It is more than likely that the chief sources of 
 error in the production of the old copies of the plays, as indeed of all printed 
 matter, were the following : 
 
 1. It is probable that most of the Quartos were set up from copy taken down 
 by shorthand reporters from the recitations of actors either in the theatre or 
 in coffee-houses. Under such circumstances the reporter would be very likely, in 
 some cases, to put down words having a similar sound, but a meaning very 
 different from the true one. That errors have thus crept in is almost certain. 
 
 2. Mr. Theodore De Vinne, who is high authority oji all that relates to typo- 
 graphy, tells us that in the old continental printing offices the printers set up the 
 matter from dictation and not from written copy placed before them, and Dr. 
 Furness thinks that this accounts for many errors hitherto attributed to the 
 reporters; but, while this may be true in a few cases, it is doubtful if it obtained 
 to any great extent, for although the system of setting type from the voice of a 
 reader is known to have obtained on the continent, we have no evidence that it 
 was followed to any great extent in England and, indeed, it has been claimed 
 that much of the type-setting done on books in London was done in the homes 
 of the workmen themselves, just as weaving was carried on chiefly in the homes 
 of the operatives and not in large factories as at present. The same was true of 
 many trades, such as nail-making. In any case, the setting up of the matter 
 from dictation would only be an additional source of error; the original influence, 
 as affecting the copy used by the reader, must have remained in full force. 
 
 3. One of the most fruitful sources of error in printed matter, including books, 
 is the illegibility of the MS. or •* copy." When the compositor* is unable to read 
 the MS. without difficulty or doubt, conjectural emendation begins in its most 
 dangerous form. 
 
 4. Closely akin to original illegibility is the wearing of the copy, by which 
 certain words and sentences become unreadable. That this has happened to 
 several places in the original copy of the plays is altogether more than probable, 
 being caused by ordinary use in the theatres. In such cases the blank might be 
 filled up by some actor who remembered the lines — accurately, perhaps, in some 
 cases, inaccurately in others. 
 
 5. A very common error in printing offices is what is known as a "doublet." 
 The compositor loses his place and sets up a few words, more or less, twice. If 
 he should make any change in the wording of the second set, this error would be 
 apt to pass unobserved in an office where a strict system of copy-holding and 
 proof-reading was not maintained. We have reason to believe that the Eliza- 
 bethan printers were quite loose in this respect. 
 
 6. The converse of the preceding is still more apt to occur. When the same 
 set of three or four words occur within a short distance of each other, after the 
 compositor has set up the first set and a few of the words that follow, he is very 
 
 f The workman who sets up the type is, in technical language, called a "compositor." 
 
16 THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 apt, in again looking at his copy, to resume his work after the second set of 
 words, and he may thus be led to omit words and even lines. Such omissions 
 are technically termed "outs," and are of constant occurrence in modern printing 
 offices. The system now in use, however, is such that "outs" rarely escape the 
 proof-reader, but under the old practice they frequently passed unnoticed. It 
 is believed that there are several such "outs" in the Shakespearean text and that 
 they have caused much perplexity to the commentators. 
 
 7. Errors in which single letters play a part are sometimes caused by the 
 compositor picking up the wrong letter, but more frequently by letters getting 
 into the wrong box or compartment. As many of our readers know, type is 
 arranged in trays or " cases " as they are called. These cases are divided into com- 
 partments or "boxes," one for each letter, and the boxes are so arranged that 
 those letters which are most frequently required are placed within easy reach. The 
 printer soon learns the location of each box, and the placing of his hand on the 
 required letter becomes a second nature with him, so that the chance of picking 
 up the wrong one is very small indeed. But in " distributing " the type, that is, 
 placing it back in the boxes after it has been used, mistakes are somewhat more 
 likely to occur, and when a letter gets into the wrong box it, of course, causes an 
 error when the compositor picks it up the next time. He may detect this error 
 at once and correct it, but sometimes it passes unnoticed until it appears in the 
 proof, and if the proof-reading be careless it gets into the printed book. 
 
 8. Another way in which a letter may get into the wrong box and thus cause 
 a mistake is this : When the boxes are very full the compositor frequently gives 
 the case a light shake to cause the type to settle down, and in doing this it some- 
 times happens that letters slide from one box into another. One more way is, 
 that as the cases are placed on the stands in a slanting position so as to be more 
 easily reached by the compositor, letters sometimes slide from one box to another 
 and thus cause errors. 
 
 In the year 1819 Mr. Z. Jackson published a stout volume in which he attempted 
 to use these facts in the correction of the Shakespearean text. He was a practical 
 printer who had spent eleven years in a French prison at the time of the revolu- 
 tion, and during all that time he was constantly under the shadow of the guillo- 
 tine. In all these dreary years his greatest solace was the study of Shakespeare, 
 and when he returned to England he published a small pamphlet containing 
 several proposed emendations. This was so well received that he published a 
 large volume, but, unfortunately, Mr. Jackson did not confine himself to mere 
 typographical corrections ; he gave a loose rein to his imagination, and most of 
 the seven hundred notes in his "Genius of Shakespeare Justified " are the wildest 
 kind of conjectures. Nevertheless, some of his suggestions, based on his typo- 
 graphical experience, deserve serious attention, as any one who has had much to 
 to do with printing offices must realize. 
 
 0. New errors, which are apt to escape the author, except under the best 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 17 
 
 regulations, are frequently introduced during the correction of old mistakes. 
 Words and even sentences become disarranged, and in bringing tbem together 
 again the printer fails to get the proper connection. 
 
 10. A singular source of error consists in the insertion of that which was 
 intended to be merely a direction to the printer. This has given rise to some 
 very funny "cross-readings." Parallel instances are to be found in the First 
 Folio where actor's names and perhaps stage directions have been introduced as 
 part of the original matter. 
 
 11. Curious errors may arise from the fact that the confidence and zeal of 
 the printer sometimes outrun his knowledge. Thus Burton, in his "Book- 
 Hunter," speaking of an author who prided himself upon his accuracy, 
 says: "It happened to him to have to state how Theodore Beza, or some 
 contemporary of his, went to sea in a Candian vessel. This statement, at 
 the last moment, when the sheet was going through the press, caught the 
 eye of an intelligent and judicious corrector, more conversant with shipping- 
 lists than with the literature of the sixteenth century, who saw clearly what 
 had been meant, and took upon himself, like a man who hated all pottering 
 nonsense, to make the necessary correction without consulting the author. The 
 consequence was that the people read, with some surprise, under the authority 
 of the paragon of accuracy, that Theodore Beza had gone to sea in a Canadian 
 vessel." 
 
 An error which may have occurred in the same way, and which is equally 
 ridiculous, is to be found in the essays of a noted Shakespearean critic. All who 
 have given close attention to Shakespearean comments know that Steevens, 
 although he was one of the keenest and ablest of Shakespearean editors, was 
 unquestionably a most unscrupulous falsifier. No quotation given by him can 
 be accepted without verification (see prince of cats in this glossary'), and no state- 
 ment made by him is entitled to belief without full corroborative evidence. He 
 was a forger of the meanest kind and, as I have elsewhere stated, I am inclined 
 to believe that the forgeries for which poor Collier suffered were really the 
 handiwork of Steevens. Now, when he wished to publish some atrociously vile 
 note, something which he did not dare to issue over his own name, he used the 
 names of Eichard Amner or John Collins, two quiet, inoffensive and highly 
 respectable clergymen. As Amner's name was most frequently abused in this 
 way, these notes came to be known among Shakespearean students as the 
 "Amnerian" notes, but in the essays to which I have alluded they are referred 
 to as Steevens's American notes ! 
 
 In applying these facts to the correction of the accepted text of any author, 
 Shakespeare included, it must be borne in mind that we have no right to intro- 
 duce mere improvements however much they may, to our thinking, better the 
 present reading. It is only when the sense is absolutely obscured that it is 
 permissible to suggest a correction or emendation. 
 
18 THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA. 
 
 ON THE CHOICE OF A COPY OF SHAKESPEARE»S WORKS. 
 
 j^^^^^HE very large number of editions of Shakespeare's works that have 
 m^^n ^^^^ issued within a few years is apt to confuse any one seeking for 
 [^^^t^ j a good serviceable copy, so that a very common question addressed 
 sometimes to booksellers and sometimes to those who are supposed to 
 be familiar with the poet's writings is : Which is the best edition of Shakespeare's 
 works? 
 
 To give a direct answer to this question as it stands would be not only 
 invidious, but difficult, since that which would prove the best edition for 
 one person might not be at all suitable for some one else. It is necessary, there- 
 fore, first of all, to give some consideration to the different needs and purposes 
 of the prospective purchasers. 
 
 Those who desire a handsome copy of Shakespeare's writings, one which may 
 take its place on the center table beside the family Bible, will find no difficulty 
 in gratifying their desires. Nearly every publishing house that deals in what are 
 known as "subscription books" can supply a copy printed in fine large type, 
 abundantly illustrated with attractive engravings and bound in handsome style, 
 with plenty of gold distributed over the surface. Such editions, however, are 
 not those generally sought by students and real lovers of Shakespeare. 
 
 It is not likely that the man with abundant means who wishes to fit up in his 
 library a nook specially devoted to Shakespeare, will come to us for advice, but 
 if he should do so, the best hint we can give him is to study the subject carefully 
 and to "go slow." He will, of course, desire to have a few of the rare and costly 
 editions and several of those that are elaborately annotated. If his taste should 
 run to graphic illustrations, he will find ample scope for the exercise of good 
 judgment and the use of abundant means. A few thousand dollars may be easily 
 expended upon choice copies, though a very much smaller amount, judiciously 
 laid out, will suffice to provide a Shakespearean collection in which the owner 
 may justly feel not only satisfaction, but pride. It is not often, however, that a 
 beginner sets out with "malice aforethought" to form a library of this kind. 
 The owners of such collections are generally led on gradually by reading and 
 correspondence to the accumulation of their treasures. In other words, they 
 develop from mere casual readers into collectors and students. 
 
 One of the first subjects that must occupy the attention of those who wish to 
 make a really valuable collection of this kind is the bibliography of this depart- 
 ment of literature, and this is now so extensive that it would fill an entire volume 
 
AND NE'W GLOSSARY. . 19 
 
 much larger than the present. Those who have a taste for collecting and desire 
 to turn it in the direction of Shakespeareana may obtain substantial aid from 
 Bohn's edition of Lowndes' "Bibliographer's Manual," Part YIII, which is very 
 complete up to the date of its publication (1864); the catalogue of the "Shake- 
 speare Memorial Library," Birmingham ; and the catalogues of the Shakespearean 
 collections in the British Museum and the Boston Public Library. The article 
 on Shakespeare in the last edition of the Encylopsedia Britannica also contains 
 much valuable bibliographical information, as do the several volumes of "The 
 New Variorum," by Dr. Furness. Catalogues of second-hand books will also give 
 valuable aid ; and it is only by careful study and close attention to the different 
 books and editions that the collector can avoid filling his shelves with trash. 
 The number of editions of Shakespeare which show notably distinctive features 
 is usually said to be over two hundred, though I think this is an over-estimate. 
 But of the mere reprints, which differ from each other in size, form, illustrations, 
 quality, etc., there are many times that number. 
 
 Of the editions which are provided with ample explanatory notes, that by Dr. 
 Furness easily stands first. It must form the foundation of all future collections, 
 and of all the public libraries now being established throughout the country, not 
 one, of any pretensions at all, can afford to be without it. Of other editions we 
 have space for merely the names of the editors, which we arrange alphabetically: 
 Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke, Collier, Craig, Deighton, Delius, Dowden, 
 Dyce, Halliwell, Hudson, Innes, Knight, Moberly, Eolfe, Singer, Staimton, 
 Verplanck, White, "Whitelaw, Wright. We should, however, make special mention 
 of " The Henry Irving Shakespeare," This beautiful edition was undertaken by 
 the lamented F. A. Marshall in co-operation with Sir Henry Irving, but Marshall's 
 health failed at an early period of its progress, and the assistance of Messrs. 
 Adams, Beeching, Evans, Symons and Verity was called in. They did good work 
 on several of the plays. This edition may very well be called the plaj^er's edition, 
 for while the full text is given in every case, those parts which may be most 
 properly omitted in acting or reading are clearly marked. This and some other 
 special features give it particular value as a work of reference for clubs and 
 schools. 
 
 All these editions, with the exception of those of Rolfe and Hudson, are 
 unexpurgated. The editions of these two commentators omit all those passages 
 which cannot be read in schools and families, as explained in our preface. 
 
 Most of these editions, however, are somewhat expensive, and it is for a copy 
 of more moderate price (under $2.00) that readers of this work will probably 
 enquire. Such copies are generall}'^ in one or two volumes, without notes or 
 engravings, but with a small glossary appended. Of these, the "Globe" is a 
 good example, though the type is so small that Dr. Furnivall says : "Do not ruin 
 your eyes reading the 'Globe.'" Moreover, "'tis true 'tis pity; and pity 'tis 
 'tis true " that this famous edition does not seem to improve by time, the latest 
 
20 TH]? SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 issue being, to my eyes, not quite as legible as one I purchased several years ago. 
 The "Oxford," edited by Craig, is also an admirable edition, but the type is not 
 much better than that of the "Globe." The result of this is that many prefer 
 some of the American reprints of the " Globe " since the type is a little larger. 
 
 Clubs and reading circles who desire copies of single plays will find a note on 
 that subject under the heading " Shakespeare Societies and Clubs." 
 
 New editions of Shakespeare's works are issued from the press at short in- 
 tervals, so that the choice of to-day may be superseded by the edition of to-morrow. 
 Therefore, instead of describing individual issues I will suggest a few points 
 which should guide the purchaser in making a selection. 
 
 1. See that the reading matter is as near the generally accepted text as 
 possible. At present this is acknowledged to be that of the "Cambridge," the 
 "Globe," or the "Oxford." 
 
 2. See that the type is clear and not too small. Small type, however, if well 
 printed, is less trying to the eyes than type that is one or two sizes larger, but 
 badly printed on poor paper. 
 
 3. Avoid a paper with a highly-glazed surface. Dealers will sometimes tell 
 you that such paper looks better and is more expensive, and they will talk about 
 its being "aesthetic" and "high-toned," and such rubbish. The fact is, that a 
 really good paper with a dull surface costs more than a common grade of paper, 
 even though the latter be highly calendered. Paper with a shiny surface is very 
 trying to the eyes and, except where the printing is of the very highest class, it 
 does not take as clear an impression as that which is dull. If you value your eyes, 
 avoid shiny paper. 
 
 4. Keject any copy in which the lines are not numbered. Forty years ago 
 the numbering of the lines was a thing unknown, aDd the compilers of diction- 
 aries and other works of reference thought that they did well enough when they 
 referred their quotations to "Shakespeare." (See the Imperial Dictionary of an 
 edition as late as 1883.) To search for a quotation with such a reference for a 
 guide is worse than hunting for a needle in a "bottle of bay." To-day the best 
 dictionaries, such as the "New English Dictionary " and the "Century," give not 
 only the Play, but the Act, the Scene and the number of the line in the Scene. 
 A reference to the Act and Scene is not close enough, for some of the Scenes 
 contain a thousand lines, but with the line-number given the time required to 
 find a word or a sentence is the work of but a few moments. The " Globe" has 
 been accepted as the standard for line-numbers, and all references in general 
 literature are made to it. It is obvious that where a passage is inverse, there 
 can be no difficulty about the numbering of the lines, but where the speech 
 is in prose the length of the lines and, consequently, their numbers will be 
 governed by the type and the size of the page or column. Hence, we find that 
 the numbers of the "Cambridge" and the "Oxford" do not always agree with 
 those of the "Globe." "The Henry Irving" seems to follow line for line. 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 21 
 
 Where an edition is expurgated, as is the case with that of Dr. Rolfe, the dis- 
 crepancy frequently becomes very great and, as a consequence, it is sometimes 
 quite a task to look up a passage in that excellent edition. The same is true 
 of the "New Variorum" of Dr. Furness. His line-numbers sometimes vary 
 widely from those of the "Globe." 
 
 These serious anno3'ances might be easily avoided by adopting a standard, 
 such as the "Globe," and giving all lines positive and unvarying numbers, 
 leaving a gap where passages are omitted and adding starred numbers (or their 
 equivalents) where the text is redundant. Any bright school- boy or girl could 
 devise a practicable way of doing this; but under any circumstances, a new edition 
 without line-numbers will hereafter be almost unmarketable unless its literary 
 merits are very extraordinary. 
 
 A SHORT LIST OF HELPFUL BOOKS, 
 
 UT of the immense number of books which have been published in 
 regard to the works of Shakespeare I have selected a short list of 
 those which I think will prove most helpful to the ordinary reader 
 and student. There is, of course, great room for difference of opinion 
 in regard to the value of particular books of this class, and some one else would 
 probably suggest a very different catalogue. I give my views for what they 
 are worth. I have not mentioned the works of Gervinus, Brandes, Schlegel, 
 Ulrici and others, which stand facing me as I write, because it is only the 
 advanced student who can profit by them. A few of those which I regard as 
 most valuable for the beginner I have marked with an asterisk (*) and to some 
 I have added the price. 
 
 Biography and Personal Relations, 
 
 Halliwkll, James O. Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare. 2 Vols. 
 
 In these volumes is accumulated all the information that we have about 
 Shakespeare. Somewhat expensive and not always to be had. 
 
 Lkb, Sidney. A Life of William Shakespeare. 1898. Macmillan. 
 
 This is now the standard life of the poet. It contains the most recent inform- 
 ation and presents the matter in a clear and orderly form. 
 
 Mabie, Hamilton W. William Shakespeare : Poet, Dramatist and Man. Mac- 
 millan. 
 A popular and pleasantly- written life which gives all the known facts and 
 places before the reader the conditions under which Shakespeare must have been 
 brought up and which undoubtedly exerted a powerful influence on his develop- 
 
22 THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA. 
 
 ment. Beautifully Illustrated. An edition at a moderate price ($3.50) has been 
 brought out recently. 
 
 Wise, John R. Shakespeare : His Birthplace and Its Neighbourhood. London. 
 $1.00. 
 
 Grammars and Lexicons, 
 
 * Abbott, E. A. A Shakespearian Grammar. An Attempt to Illustrate some of 
 
 the Differences between Elizabethan and Modern English. Macmillan. $1.50. 
 This is one of the two or three books which every careful student must add 
 to his copy of Shakespeare's works. 
 
 * Cbaik, George L. The English of Shakespeare Illustrated in a Philological 
 
 Commentary on His Julius Caesar. Second Edition. 
 Full of valuable information. An excellent edition of this work has been 
 published in this country under the editorship of Dr. Eolfe. 
 
 Schmidt, Alexandeb Shakespeare-Lexicon. A Complete Dictionary of all the ^ 
 English Words, Phrases and Constructions in the Works of the Poet. 2 Vols^/^ 
 Royal 8vo. $10.00 to $15.00. 
 This work has received the highest possible praise from such Shakespeareans 
 as Skeat, Dowden, Rolfe, Furness and others of that class, men "whose judge- 
 ments in such matters cry in the top of mine" immeasurably. Richard Grant 
 White is the only writer that I can call to mind who dissents from this almost 
 universal chorus of praise, and he has spoiled his criticism by "running amuck;" 
 and yet, with all this array of commendation, I cannot recommend this work to 
 the ordinary reader or even student of Shakespeare. That Dr. Schmidt is a 
 profound grammarian and a classical scholar of the highest attainments is true 
 beyond any question, but when it comes to the explaining of the idiomatic 
 expressions of the English language, his ignorance is equalled only by the 
 insolence and arrogance which he exhibits towards commentators of English 
 blood ; and yet, strange to say, he has exerted a surprising influence over recent 
 interpreters of Shakespeare, many of whom not only adopt his errors, but 
 credit to "Schmidt" many of those sound definitions and explanations which 
 really belong to Johnson, Nares, Steevens, Malone and others. 
 
 Nabes, Robebt, F.R.S. A Glossary. New Edition by James O. Halliwell and 
 
 Thomas Wright. 2 Vols. 
 Dyce, Alexandeb. A Glossary to the Works of William Shakespeare. 
 
 This forms Vol. X of the latest edition of Dyce's Shakespeare. It has been 
 sold separately, but is almost useless to those who do not own the entire set, as 
 the references are to page and volume of Dyce's edition and not to the Act and 
 Scene of the plays. Dyce never numbered his lines, and his latest publishers 
 have not seen fit to remedy a defect which detracts greatly from the value of 
 his edition. 
 
 Babtlett, John. A New and Complete Concordance. 1900 pages. Macmillan. 
 $7.50. 
 This Concordance has taken the place of that of Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke 
 because it gives not only the Act and Scene, but the number of the required line. 
 See our note on this point under the heading "On the Choice of a Copy of 
 Shakespeare's Works." It includes the poems as well as the plays. 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 23 
 
 Other Aids to Study. 
 
 * DowDEN, Edwabd, LL.D. Shakspere. In the "Literature Primers." Published 
 in this country by The American Book Company. 35 cents. 
 If the reader of Shakespeare should be able to add but one book to his copy 
 of the poet's works, this must be the volume. The beginner will get more solid 
 information from this little book than from many a volume ten times its size. 
 
 . Introduction to Shakespeare. Charles Scribner's Sons. 
 
 This is the Introduction to " The Henry Irving Shakespeare," printed 
 separately and somewhat expanded. 
 
 . Shakespeare : His Mind and Art. 
 
 " Attempts to trace the growth of Shakespeare's genius and character through 
 his works, studied chronologically." 
 
 Fleming, William H. How to Study Shakespeare. 2 Vols, Doubleday and 
 McClure Co. f 1.50. 
 
 The idea which led to the production of this work was an ex(3ellent one 
 and it has been well carried out. It gives explanations of the difficult passages 
 in several of the plays and a series of examination questions which call the 
 attention of the student to those points which require careful consideration. It 
 is a pity that such a valuable work should be marred by a defect which might 
 have been easily avoided. If Mr. Fleming had placed the Act and Scene at the 
 top of his pages and appended line-numbers to the words calling for definitions, 
 much time would have been saved to his readers, and in these days even general 
 readers, not to speak of students, cannot afiEord to waste time. 
 
 Prefixed to the first volume is a very thorough, practical and sensible article 
 by Prof. Rolfe on the organization and conduct of Shakespeare clubs. 
 
 * Lamb, Charles and Mary. Tales from Shakespeare. 
 
 There are several editions of this charming little book in market, some at a 
 very low price. It gives the story of several of the plays, told as nearly as 
 possible in Shakespeare's own words, but in the form of a story and not of a 
 drama. Admirable for young beginners. 
 Ellis, A. J. Early English Pronunciation, with Special Reference to Chaucer 
 
 and Shakespeare. 
 LouNSBURT, Thomas R., LL.D. Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist. With an 
 Account of His Reputation at Various Periods. 1902. Charles Scribner's Sons. 
 FuBNiVALL, F. J. Introduction to "The Leopold Shakespeare." 
 
 This has not been published separately, but as there is a cheap edition of 
 *' The Leopold" (Gassell and Co., $1.50) it is within the reach of most students. 
 In addition to a critical discussion of each play it contains a chronology of 
 Shakespeare's works. 
 Hudson, Henry N. Life, Art and Characters of Shakespeare. 2 Vols. 
 
 * Jameson, Anna. Characteristics of Women. Essays upon the Women of 
 
 Shakespeare's plays. Houghton, Mifflin and Co. $1.25. 
 Coleridge, S. T. Lectures on Shakespeare. Bohn. $1.00. 
 
 Very much misquoted by the Baconians. 
 Dyeb, T. F. Thistleton. Folk Lore of Shakespeare. London : Griffith and 
 
 Farran. New York : E. P. Dutton and Co. 
 
THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE CONTROVERSY. 
 
 V\^j^3rT is now nearly lialf a century since the reading public was startled by 
 1^iIk\ *^® astonishing proposition that the author of the writings commonly 
 j^l^j known as the works of Shakespeare was, in reality, not Shakespeare, 
 but Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam. Like many other astounding 
 theories, it attracted considerable attention, so much so that by 1884, when Mr. 
 Wyman published his bibliography of the subject, he had collected 255 titles, of 
 which over forty were separate publications in book and pamphlet form, the rest 
 being articles in reviews, magazines and newspapers. Since that time the 
 number of books and pamphlets issued has been much more than doubled, and 
 the number of notable articles in the journals has correspondingly increased. A 
 journal advocating the new theory was started in Chicago and one also, I believe, 
 in Boston, but I do not find either one in the latest list of periodicals, so that I 
 presume they have been discontinued. There is, however, a journal published 
 in London, called Baconiana, which has a very considerable circulation. 
 
 It would be out of place to enter into an extended discussion of the subject in 
 these pages, but as the question has attracted so much attention, and since even 
 now the young people to whom this volume is specially addressed make frequent 
 enquiries in regard to the matter, it will not do to ignore it entirely. Therefore, 
 although I firmly believe that William Shakespeare, of Stratford-on-Avon, was the 
 author of all the important writings generally attributed to him, I will endeavor 
 to present the subject in a calm and dispassionate manner, for it is greatly to be 
 regretted that in some recent discussions abuse has taken the place of argument, 
 not to say of dignified protest. A notable instance of this was exhibited by a 
 writer in The New York Times Saturday Review about a year ago. It would seem 
 that the best argument that this writer could find against the Baconian hypothesis 
 was to call its advocates "mattoids."* I have been told that the author of the 
 article is a professional alienist ; if this be so, the best advice that could be 
 given to him is that contained in Luke iv, 23. 
 
 While the authorship of various portions of the accepted works of Shakespeare 
 has long been the subject of dispute, and while several whole plays have been 
 attributed to him, in the production of which it is very certain that he had no 
 hand, it was not until the year 1848 that it was boldly claimed that he was not the 
 author of any of the works ordinarily credited to him, and the question was 
 
 ♦This terra originated with Lombroso and signifies a monomaniac characterised by 
 stupidity. This definition certainly does not apply to many staunch and earnest Baconians. 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 25 
 
 raised : Who were the able literary men who wrote the dramas of which he is the 
 reputed author ? 
 
 This question was put forward in that year by Col. Joseph Hart, but Miss Delia 
 Bacon was the first to advance the hypothesis that a coterie of wits, including 
 Bacon, Raleigh, Spenser and others were the real authors, and that the plays 
 infolded a system of Philosophy and Political Economy which they did not dare 
 to publish over their own names, and so were glad to get the otherwise incon- 
 spicuous actor, Wi.Uiam Shakespeare, to father them. Miss Bacon's theory was 
 never fully published by herself. The first suggestion was made in an article 
 published in Putnam's Magazine for January, 1856, but this article was to have 
 been the first of four, and the others were never put in type, the manuscripts 
 having been lost by an unfortunate accident. This first article was exceedingly 
 brilliant in its language and imagery, but utterly pointless, except in the 
 matter of abuse of poor Shakespeare, against whom she uses language which no 
 sane woman would have employed. Prior to the publication of the article she 
 had gone to England with the intention of having Shakespeare's tomb opened, 
 as she felt sure that there she would find absolute proof to substantiate her 
 theory^. It is needless to say that although she made very earnest efforts to 
 accomplish her purpose, she was not allowed to disturb that grave which has 
 been a Mecca to so many pilgrims. While in England, however, she completed 
 one-half of her book and had it published under the title "The Philosophy of the 
 Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded." In bringing out her book she was aided by 
 Emerson, Hawthorne and Carlyle, every one of whom showed her the utmost 
 kindness and consideration, although none of them had any faith in her pro- 
 position. 
 
 The book was a complete failure, and no wonder. Although, like her first 
 article, it contained brilliant sentences and some fine ideas, beautifully expressed, 
 yet, as a whole, it had no distinct objective point. It did not even embody the main 
 points of her theory ; this she reserved for her second volume, which never came 
 out. In a later work * of his, Hawthorne, who wrote a preface to Miss Bacon's 
 volume, says : " I believe that it has been the fate of this remarkable book never 
 to have had more than a single reader. I, myself, am acquainted with it only in 
 insulated chapters and scattered pages and paragraphs." 
 
 I have gone over the book with some care and find it brilliant, but incoherent. 
 The author seems to have been oppressed with the idea that she was in posses- 
 sion of a secret too sacred and too important to be lightly divulged to the people 
 at large ; there is a continual promise of a revelation which, however, is never 
 revealed. In fact, her brilliancy is due in a large measure to the looseness of her 
 methods of thinking and her wonderful powers of expression, which are entirely 
 untrammeled by sound logic and a broad generalization of facts. 
 
 * " Our OW Home," chapter on BecoUections of a Gifted Woman, 
 
26 THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPAEDIA 
 
 The ethereal, though somewhat nebulous, hypotheses propounded by Miss 
 Bacon soon assumed the more concrete, though cruder, form in which they are 
 now generally presented, the authorship of the plays being attributed wholly to 
 Lord Bacon, and the esoteric language and delicate mysteries becoming, in the 
 hands of the Donnelly's, the Owens and the Gallups, a mere cryptographic puzzle 
 embodied in the material form of types, ink and paper, in which it is asserted 
 that Bacon's claims are set forth. The language in which these claims are 
 embodied certainly never had its origin during the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 Those who will take the trouble to look over the books 'of these writers with 
 any degree of attention will find that the authors are quite unfamiliar with 
 Elizabethan language and literature ; Mr. Donnelly certainly did not understand 
 some of the plainest passages in Shakespeare's works. Through a supposed 
 interpretation of their alleged cipher. Dr. Owen and Mrs. Gallup claim that Bacon 
 asserts that he and Essex were the children of Queen Elizabeth, she having been 
 married to Leicester while they were both imprisoned in the Tower. Mrs. Gallup 
 also asserts that Bacon claims the authorship of ' ' The Anatomy of Melancholy " 
 and of most of the writings of Marlow, Greene, Peele and others. But Mrs. Gallup 
 made a fatal mistake when she claimed that Bacon had translated Homer and 
 embodied the Iliad in cipher in " The Anatomy of Melancholy." What possible 
 object Bacon could have had in concealing a translation of Homer, it must, of 
 course, puzzle the ordinary mind to imagine, and yet, notwithstanding this very 
 obvious objection, Mrs. Gallup found strenuous support in quarters from which 
 a convertite was hardly to have been expected. But Mr, Marston in The Nine- 
 teenth Century gives this claim the coup de grace by showing that the Baconian 
 translation, as deciphered by Mrs. Gallup, is simply a transformation of Pope's 
 famous metrical translation. In other words, it is Pope's poetry turned into very 
 mediocre prose. 
 
 But I think it is generally true that the most earnest and intelligent Baconians 
 have very little confidence in these ciphers. Indeed, some of them allege that 
 Mr. Donnelly's "Great Cryptogram " did much more harm than good to the cause, 
 and they rely upon arguments of an entirely different class. "We have not space 
 here to present these arguments at length ; those who desire to inform themselves 
 upon the subject will find the Baconian side of the question very fully and ably 
 set forth in " The Authorship of Shakespeare," by Nathaniel Holmes, and "Bacon 
 vs. Shakgpere," by Edwin Reed. On the other side we have "Notes on the 
 Bacon-Shakespeare Question," by Charles Allen, and a very pleasant little 
 book, "What We Eeally Know About Shakespeare," by Mrs. Caroline Healey 
 Dall. 
 
 After a pretty careful study of the subject, I find that the chief arguments of 
 the Baconians are based upon (1) the alleged illiteracy of Shakespeare, showing 
 that he was utterly incompetent to produce the works which go under his name; 
 (2) Shakespeare's alleged dissolute and so-called profane life ; and (3) the fact 
 
AND NEW glossary: 27 
 
 that there are so many parallelisms and correspondences between the plays and 
 the known writings of Bacon that the cumulative evidence that they were both 
 written by the same hand amounts almost to positive proof. 
 
 Any one who has carefully studied the subject with an unprejudiced mind must 
 conclude that the charge of illiteracy is an entire assumption and one that is 
 opposed to the little that we do know of Shakespeare's attainments. In other 
 words, this argument of the Baconians is a complete begging of the question. 
 They first ask us, on a mere assumption, to admit that Shakespeare was illiterate, 
 and then they argue from this that he could not have written the plays ! But we 
 have the most positive evidence that he was not illiterate. That he had some Latin 
 and some Greek we have the testimony of Ben Jonson ; if he had any Greek at 
 all, he must have been able to read Latin freely, for in his time all Greek text- 
 books were in Latin, and, in addition to this, Aubrey tells us that Shakespeare 
 understood Latin fairly well. To a man of Shakespeare's abilities it would have 
 been a trifling undertaking to have acquired a knowledge of such other languages 
 as he required, and we have not a particle of evidence to show that he did not 
 do so. Indeed, we have some very positive evidence that his knowledge of French 
 was acquired by book study and not from skilled teachers. His pronunciation 
 of the language shows this. See the words bras and pense in this Glossary. 
 Bacon, who spoke French fluently, never would have written the passages in 
 which these words occur. 
 
 In this connection much stress is laid upon the fact that he spells his name 
 two or three different ways. To put forward such an argument as that argues 
 profound ignorance of Elizabethan writing and printing on the part of those who 
 advance it. Their idol. Bacon, once spelled his name Bakon in a letter of 
 attorney ; Sir Walter Ealeigh spelled his name five different ways, and I have 
 now before me an old law book consisting of a series of reports, issued con- 
 secutively, in which the printer, who ought to have been able to spell if any one 
 could, spells his own name differently in each separate issue ! 
 
 In the face of these facts, the attempt to differentiate between Bacon and 
 Shakespeare by assuming that "Shakespeare" was the nom de plume of Bacon, 
 while "Shakspere" was the real name of the man of Stratford-on-Avon — the 
 actor — is, to say the least, certainly illogical. In the language of Dr. Furnivall, 
 "the tomfoolery of it is infinite." 
 
 As for the parallelisms and correspondences which are found in Bacon's works 
 and in the plays, no person of any breadth of reading would give the slightest 
 weight to them. The majority of the correspondences brought forward by Mrs. 
 Potts are merely well-known phrases, expressions and quotations, many of them 
 from the Bible ; and the richest part of the joke is that a very large proportion of 
 the so-called parallelisms are not parallelisms at all ; a few words may be the 
 same in each, but the ideas are radically different. In the few cases in which 
 there is an identity of idea, Dr. Abbott, who wrote a preface to Mrs. Potts' edition 
 
THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 of the "Promiis," comes to the conclusion that Bacon borrowed from Shakespeare, 
 and not Shakespeare from Bacon. This part of Dr. Abbott's testimony in the 
 case is omitted by Mr. Heed in his quotation on page 54 of his "Bacon vs. 
 Shakspere " (1897). 
 
 But against the very illogical assumptions of the Baconians we have the direct 
 testimony, as to authorship, of numerous contemporaries of Shakespeare — 
 Jonson, Meres, Digges, Hey wood, etc., and in the years immediately succeeding 
 his death the number of laudatory notices which appeared, and all of which 
 attributed the plays to Shakespeare, of Stratford-on-Avon, is very large. As 
 Jonson was the friend both of Bacon and of Shakespeare, he must have known 
 the truth of the matter. The Baconians say, however, that he was in the plot 
 to deceive the public and that the others were simply "fooled." To ask us to 
 believe that all the prominent literary men of the early years of the seventeenth 
 century were either knaves or fools is to ask for a degree of credulity compared 
 with which a belief that Francis, the underskinker of the Boar's-Head Tavern, 
 Eastcheap, wrote the plays, would be a rational form of faith. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that of all the prominent literary men who were 
 connected with Miss Bacon and Mrs. Potts, not one accepted the Baconian 
 hypothesis. Carlyle, Emerson, Hawthorne, Abbott and Oliver Wendell Holmes all 
 rejected it as being utterly untenable, though they all urged that the Baconian view 
 be given a fair hearing. Spedding, the biographer of Bacon and one of his most 
 earnest defenders, says : "I doubt whether there are five lines together in Bacon 
 which could be mistaken for Shakespeare or five lines in Shakespeare which 
 could be mistaken for Bacon by one who was familiar with the several styles 
 and practised in such observation. * * * if there were any reason for 
 supposing that the real author was somebody else, I think I am in a condition 
 to say that, whoever it was, it was not Francis Bacon." 
 
 And Holmes,* while he went so far as to say, in a letter to Mrs. Potts, that 
 if the Shakespeareans would not listen to reasonable arguments he would 
 have a starling taught to say nothing but "Verulam" and hang it up where 
 they would be compelled to listen to it, did not accept the Baconian doctrine. 
 In the last book that he wrote, " Our Hundred Days in Europe " (1887), he 
 characterises Miss Bacon's ideas as "insane," and in that book, written three 
 or four years after he had written his pleasant and much misquoted letter to Mrs. 
 Potts, he writes of his visit to Stratford-on-Avon: "It is quite impossible to 
 think of any human being growing up in this place which claims Shakespeare 
 as its child, about the streets of which he ran as a boy, on the waters of which 
 he must have floated, without having his image ever present." That does not 
 sound as if Holmes had been a Baconian. 
 
 * Some confusion has been caused by tlie fact that both Oliver Wendell Holmes, the 
 Shakespearean, and Nathaniel Holmes, th^ ^acQuian, were Professors in Harvard University. 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 29 
 
 HINTS TO READERS AND EXPLANATIONS OF THE CON- 
 TRACTIONS USED IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES. 
 
 a 
 
 O doubt to some persons many of the following " hints and 
 explanations" will appear trivial and unnecessary. It must 
 be borne in mind, however, that the book is not addressed 
 to experienced students and readers, but to those who have merely 
 a common school education and whose facilities for reference and 
 enquiry are quite limited. 
 
 CONTRACTIONS USED FOR THE TITLES OF THE PLATS AND POEMS. 
 
 In adopting these contractions I have endeavored to select those 
 which are as suggestive as possible, so that any person who has ever 
 looked over the works of Shakespeare carefully, need not be at any 
 loss in regard to the meaning of the letters used to designate each 
 play. For example: The usual contraction for AWs Well that £Jnds 
 Well is A. Ws This is not quite as suggestive as AlVs. Particular 
 care has been taken to avoid all risk of leading the reader into error; 
 it would be impossible to apply Wiv., Tw,, Hml. or Cces. to any 
 play except the one intended. This cannot be said of the contractions 
 used in many works of reference — the new Glossary of the famous 
 "Globe" edition, for example: T, A, suggests Timon of Athens 
 quite as much as it does Titus Andronicus. The reader must think 
 a little before he can decide, and this thinking might be applied 
 to a better purpose. The contractions are nearly the same as those 
 used by Dr. Schmidt, in his " Shakespeare Lexicon," and they 
 economize space more thoroughly than any set that I have seen. 
 
 It is a great pity that in these days of universal scientific standards 
 and interchangeable mechanical parts some uniform system cannot 
 be adopted. If you own a Waltham or an Elgin watch, or a Smith & 
 
80 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA 
 
 Wesson revolver, and any part should break, you can send from " the 
 furthest steppes of India " to the factory and have a duplicate of 
 the broken part mailed to you, and it will be sure to fit. 
 
 Let us have, then, a set of standard contractions authorized by 
 competent authority, and let it be universally adopted. 
 
 Ado — Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 All's— All's Well that Ends Well. 
 
 Ant, — Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 Arg. — Argument. 
 
 As — As You Like It. 
 
 Caes. — Julius Caesar. 
 
 Chor. — Chorus. 
 
 Compl. — A Lover's Complaint. 
 
 Cor. — Coriolanus. 
 
 Cym.— Cymbeline. 
 
 Epi. — Epilogue. 
 
 Err. — Comedy of Errors. 
 
 Gent. — The Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 IHIV.— Henry IV, First Part. 
 
 2HIV.— Henry IV, Second Part. 
 
 HV.— Henry V. 
 
 IHVL— Henry VI, First Part. 
 
 2HVI.— Henry VI, Second Part. 
 
 3HVI.— Henry VI, Third Part. 
 
 HVni.— Henry VIII. 
 
 Hml.— Hamlet. 
 
 Ind. — Induction . 
 
 John — King John. 
 
 Kins. — Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 
 LLL. — Love's Labour's Lost. 
 
 Lr.-King Lear. 
 
 Lucr. — The Kape of Lucrece. 
 
 Mcb.— Macbeth. 
 
 Meas. — Measure for Measure. 
 
 Merch. — The Merchant of Venice. 
 
 Mids. — A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
 
 0th. -Othello. 
 
 Per. — Pericles. 
 
 Phoen.— The Phoenix and the Turtle. 
 
 Pilgr. — The Passionate Pilgrim. 
 
 Prol. — Prologue. 
 
 EIL— Richard II. 
 
 RIIL— Richard III. 
 
 Rom. — Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 Shr.— The Taming of the Shrew. 
 
 Sonn. — Sonnets. 
 
 Tim. — Timon of Athens. 
 
 Tit. — Titus Andronicus. 
 
 Tp.— The Tempest. 
 
 Troil. — Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 Tw.— Twelfth Night. 
 
 Ven, — Venus and Adonis. 
 
 Wint.— The Winter's Tale. 
 
 Wiv. — The Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE REFERENCES TO VARIOUS PASSAGES. 
 
 To those w^ho first take up a book like the present, such letters and 
 figures as Mcb, II, 2, 37, have a cabalistic appearance, not very in- 
 telligible to the untrained eye. But a little thought and, if neces- 
 sary, a reference to the preceding key will show that Mcb. stands for 
 Macbeth ; the Roman numerals, II, give the number of the Act ; the 
 
AND NEW GLOSSARY. 
 
 ai 
 
 next figure denotes the number of the Scene, and the figures 37 are 
 the number of the required line in that Scene. When traced up, we 
 find the passage: Sleep that knits up the ravelVd sleave of care. 
 All modem editions of any value have the lines numbered, and to 
 those who use such an edition, the finding of any passage or of any 
 word in Shakespeare is a matter of but a few moments. This subject 
 we have discussed at greater length on a preceding page under the 
 heading, " On the Choice of a Copy of Shakespeare's "Works." 
 
 In the following pages all quotations from Shakespeare are printed 
 in Italics, and not placed within quotation marks. This enables the 
 reader to trace them with great ease. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF OTHER CONTRACTIONS. 
 
 adj. — adjective 
 
 adv. — adverb. 
 
 ante — before ; that is : In a preceding 
 article in this volume. 
 
 bk. — book. 
 
 cap. — chapter (Latin, caput). 
 
 Cent. Diet. — "The Century Dictionary." 
 
 (f. — confer (Latin); compare. 
 
 circa— (Latin) ; about ; near that time. 
 
 Coll. MS.— An MS. correction found in 
 the copy of the Second Folio be- 
 longing to J. P. Collier, and some- 
 times called "The Perkins Folio." 
 It is now in the possession of the 
 Duke of Devonshire. It is almost 
 universally charged that these cor- 
 rections and emendations were 
 forgeries perpetrated by Mr. Col- 
 lier. Having examined the evi- 
 dence with some care I am con- 
 vinced that Mr. Collier has been 
 unjustly dealt with in this matter. 
 
 ooms. — commentators. 
 
 Cot. — ' ' A Dictionarie of the French and 
 English Tongves." Compiled by 
 Eandle Cotgrave. London, 1611. 
 
 diet. — dictionary. 
 
 dr.p. — dramatis persona or personae 
 (Latin); a character or characters 
 in the play. 
 
 ed. — editor or edition. 
 
 eds. — editors or editions. 
 
 e.g. — for example (Latin, exempli gratia). 
 
 et seq. — and following; usually refer- 
 ring to lines. 
 
 Fl,— The First Folio. The first collect- 
 ed edition of Shakespeare's plays, 
 published in 1623. 
 
 F2.— The Second Folio ; 1632. 
 
 F3.-The Third Folio ; 1664. 
 
 F4.- The Fourth Folio ; 1685. 
 
 FF.— All the Folios. 
 
 g. a. — generally accepted. In the ear- 
 lier articles the expressions ' 'stand- 
 ard text" and "accepted text" will 
 be found. This does not mean that 
 we have any really authoritative 
 text of the works of Shakespeare ; 
 it is intended simply as a reference 
 to the text as generally received. For 
 a further discussion of this ques- 
 tion see a preceding page under the 
 
THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA. 
 
 heading, "The Text of Shake- 
 speare." 
 
 id. — idem (Latin) ; the same. 
 
 i.e. — id est (Latin) ; that is. 
 
 m. eds. — modern editors. 
 
 N.E.D.— "The New English Diction- 
 ary." Edited by Dr. Murray. 
 
 Q. — Quarto edition. 
 
 Qq —The Quartos. 
 
 q. V. — qiLod vide (Latin), which see ; that 
 is : Look for it under the word in 
 question. 
 
 Sc. — Scene. 
 
 Schm. —Schmidt's " Shakespeare-Lexi- 
 con." 
 
 Sh. Gram. — "A Shakespearian Gram- 
 mar." ByE. A. Abbott, D.D. New 
 Edition. 1886. 
 
 s. V. — sub verho (Latin), under the word, 
 
 that is: It will be found under that 
 word or heading. 
 
 Scot. — Scotch or Scottish. 
 
 Sh. — Shakespeare or Shakespeare's. 
 
 sic — so ; that is : It is so in the original. 
 
 3rdVar.— The Third Variorum. The 
 Plays and Poems of "William Shake- 
 speare, edited by Malone, and pub- 
 lished after his death under the edi- 
 torial supervision of James Bos well, 
 the son of Johnson's biographer. 
 
 = The algebraic sign signifying equal 
 to; here used to indicate having 
 the same meaning. 
 
 [ ] Brackets are used in quotations 
 to indicate that words and sen- 
 tences thus enclosed are not found 
 in the original from which the quo- 
 tation was taken. 
 
 USEFUL HINTS FOR THOSE WHO CONSULT THIS OTOLOP£DIA AND 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 In the case of obsolete or unusual words no directions are needed ; they will 
 be found in their proper places, either in the body of the work or, in a few 
 instances, in the Appendix. And the same is true in regard to proper names, 
 such as Hecuba, Heme's Oak, Niobe, Nereides, Nymphs, etc. Some passages, 
 however, are obscure as a whole, while the individual words seem plain enough ; 
 such passages will generally be found explained under some prominent word 
 which they contain. Instances of this will be found under priest, print, rake, 
 relative, etc. 
 
 In order to make such reference aa easy as possible, we have added an Appendix 
 in which a very large number of cross references are given, as well as a few 
 words which were omitted by accident. This Appendix really serves as a very 
 efficient index. 
 
 Except in a few special cases, I have not given at length the passages to which 
 reference is made. To have done so would have greatly and needlessly increased 
 the size of the volume, for it is a fact well known to students that a short quota- 
 tion, such as is ordinarily given in Concordances and Glossaries, gives no adequate 
 idea of the general scope of the word or expression under consideration. The 
 course which is always most safe and satisfactory is to read the passage in con- 
 nection with the full context and to look up and carefully read any of the other 
 passages to which reference may be made. 
 
r^ 
 
 THE 
 
 Shakespeare Cyclopaedia 
 
 AND 
 
 New Glossary* 
 
 1. The indefinite article, 
 formed from the Anglo- 
 jfrrn|f7a Saxon, an, the n being 
 ^^1^»1 dropped except before vow- 
 el sounds (see an). In Sh. writings it 
 is frequently repeated where modern 
 usage omits it, as in Rom. II, 5, 56 : an 
 honest gentleman and a courteous and 
 a kind. Also often omitted where 
 modern usage would insert it : What 
 fool is she that knoivs, Gent. I, 2, 
 53 ; Did see man die ! Cym. IV, 4, 
 85 ; Cassius, what night is this ! Cses. 
 I, 3, 44. In Sh. as frequently in the 
 older writers, the article is sometimes 
 transposed, as in Troil. V, 6, 20, much 
 more a fresher man ; and in LLL. 1, 1, 
 65, too hard a keeping oath. See also 
 John, IV, 2, 27 ; Err. Ill, 2, 186. 
 
 2. Frequently with the sense of one 
 (equivalent to the sam,e): He and his 
 physicians are of a mind, All's. I, 3, 
 244. Rose at an instant, As. I, 3, 76. 
 
 3. A contraction of have : God-a-mercy, 
 Hml. IV, 5, 199. 
 
 4. A corruption or dialect form of he : 
 a rubs himself, Ado. Ill, 2, 50. 
 
 5. A mere expletive, void of sense : 
 Merrily hent the stile-a, Wint. IV, 3, 
 133. For a thorough discussion of the 
 use of the article in Sh. see Abbott's 
 *' Shakespearian Grammar. " 
 
 Aaron, dr.p. The name of the Moor be- 
 loved by Tamora. Tit. 
 
 abandon. In addition to the usual mean- 
 ing, to leave, to desert (As. V, 1, 52), 
 this word in Sh. time signified to ban- 
 ish, to drive away. Shr. Ind. 2, 118. 
 
 abate, vb. 1. To overthrow, to humble, 
 to depress. Cor. Ill, 3, 132. 
 
 2. To shorten. Mids. Ill, 2, 432. 
 
 3. To blunt. RIII. V, 5, 35. 
 
 4. To except ; to leave out. Abate 
 . throw at novum, LLL. V, 2, 547. 
 
 5. To reduce, to depreciate. Cym. I, 
 4 73 
 
 6.' To lessen. Hml. IV, 7, 116. 
 
 abatement. 1. Diminution. Lr. I, 4, 64. 
 2. Lower estimation. Tw. I, 1, 13. 
 
 Abbot of Westminster, dr.p. RIL 
 
 Abcee-book, ) An A-B-C book. A prim- 
 
 Absey-book. i er. John, I, 1, 196. 
 
 Abergavenny, George NeviUe, Lord, dr.p. 
 HVIII. 
 
 abhominable. The old mode of spelling 
 abominable. LLL. V, I, 26. It is so 
 spelled in the Promptorium Parvul- 
 orum. It appears to have been going out 
 of use in the time of Shakespeare (Dyce), 
 and Shakespeare seems to ridicule the 
 old fashions used by Nathaniel. 
 
 abhor. 1. To protest against or reject sol- 
 emnly; an old term of canon law, equiv- 
 alent to detestor. HVIII. II, 4, 81. 
 
ABH 
 
 34 
 
 ABT 
 
 2. To loathe; to detest. The common 
 meaning. HVIII. II, 4, 236. 
 
 Abhorson, dr. p. The name of the execu- 
 tioner in Meas. 
 
 abide. 1. To answer for. Caes. Ill, 2, 
 118. See aby. 
 2. To wait for. Mids. Ill, 2, 422. 
 
 abjects. Servile or degraded persons. 
 RIII. I, 1, 106. The word is also found 
 in this sense in Psalm xxxv, 15. 
 
 able, vb. To warrant or answer for. 
 Lr. IV, 6, 172. 
 
 abode, vb. To foretell; to foreshadow. 
 3HVI. V, 6, 45 ; HVIII. I, 1, 93. 
 
 abodement. Omen. 3 HVI. IV, 7, 13. 
 
 abortive. Monstrous ; unnatural. 2HVI. 
 IV, 1, 60. 
 
 Abraliam. 1. The name to which the patri- 
 arch's first name (Abram) was changed 
 by divine command. 
 
 2. The passage in Rom. II, 1, 13, now 
 generally printed : " Young Adam Cu- 
 pid," reads : " Abraham Cupid " in the 
 Fl, and also in the quartos. " Adam " 
 was a conjecture of Upton's, founded 
 on the name of the famous archer, 
 Adam Bell (see Adam). Knight conject- 
 ures that Cupid was called Abraham 
 because he is such a cheat — Abraham- 
 man being slang for a cheating beggar.* 
 To this it has been objected that Abra- 
 ham is not used elsewhere in ShakeS' 
 peare in this sense — an objection of no 
 force whatever, as there are many 
 words used only once by Shakespeare. 
 The term is old slang, of which a dic- 
 tionary was published as early as 1610, 
 and it occurs in Awdeley's " Fraternitye 
 of Vagabondes " (1565), so that the word 
 was no doubt familiar to Shakespeare. 
 Schmidt rejects "Adam Cupid," which 
 he notes as being used "by modern 
 editors quite preposterously," and then 
 tells us that " Young Abraham Cupid " 
 is used " in derision of the eternal boy- 
 hood of Cupid, though, in fact, he 
 was as old as Father Abraham." This 
 explanation, besides being very far- 
 fetched as well as un-Shakespearean, 
 is obviously far less forcible than if 
 applied to ' ' Adam Cupid, ' ' since, even 
 
 on Schmidt's line of thought, Adam was 
 older than Abraham, and Cupid's age 
 no doubt reached back to that of the 
 father of mankind. 
 
 3. The Christian name of Slender. 
 Wiv. I, 1, 57 and 239. 
 
 4. dr.p. Servant to Montague. Rom. 
 Abram. 1. At first the name of Abraham, 
 
 the patriarch. Used in Merch. I, 3, 73 
 and 162, to conform to the metre. 
 2. A form of the word auburn. In Cor. 
 
 II, 3, 23, the First Folio reads: Our 
 heads are some browne, som,e blacke, 
 some Abram, some bald, etc. In the 
 Fourth Folio Abram was changed to au- 
 burn. This led subsequent editors to 
 suppose that Abraham, in Rom. II, 1, 
 13, is a misprint for Abram, and so the 
 word was changed by Theobald to au- 
 born. See auburn. 
 
 abridgement. 1. That which cuts short, 
 as in Hml. II, 2, 439, where he refers to 
 the players who cut short his speech. 
 2. A pastime, or that which makes the 
 time seem short. Mids. V, 1, 39. 
 
 abroach. Literally to set a-running, as 
 the liquor runs from a cask when it is "^ 
 broached. 2HIV. IV, 2, 14; Rom. I, 
 1, 111. 
 
 abrook. vb. To bear ; to abide ; to brook. 
 2HVI, II, 4. 
 
 abruption. A stopping short; breaking 
 off. Troil. Ill, 2, 70. 
 
 absey-book. See abcee-book. 
 
 absolute. 1. Authoritative; positive. Hml. 
 V, 1, 148. 
 
 2. Complete. 0th. II, 1, 193. 
 
 3. Perfect. Kins. II, 1. 
 
 Absyrtus. Medea's brother, whom she 
 cut to pieces when she fled from Col- 
 chos with Jason. See Medea. 
 
 abuse, n. Deception. Meas. V, 1, 205; 
 Hml. IV, 7, 51. 
 
 abuse, vb. To deceive. Tp. V, 1, 112 ; 
 Hml. II, 2, 632 ; Lr. IV, 1, 24 ; do IV, 7, 
 77. Abuse young lays (Kins. V, 1) = the 
 colloquial expression, "murder the 
 [love] songs." Skeat. 
 
 aby. To answer for ; to atone for ; to 
 expiate ; to pay the penalty for. Mids. 
 
 III, 2, 175. See abide. 
 
ABT 
 
 85 
 
 ACB 
 
 abysm. An abyss ; unfathomable depth. 
 Tp. I, 2, 50 ; Ant. Ill, 13, 147. 
 
 accept, n. Pass our accept and peremp- 
 tory answer. HV. V, 2, 82. The mean- 
 ing generally given to the word accept 
 here is acceptance, i.e., " pass [or trans- 
 mit] our acceptance of what we approve 
 and our peremptory answer to the 
 rest" {Toilet). Malone and the Collier 
 MS. reads "or" for "our," making 
 the sense : " reject or accept," and send 
 a peremptory answer. 
 
 accite. 1. To cite ; to summon. 2HIV. V, 
 2, 141 ; Tit. I, 1, 27. 
 2. To incite to ; to instigate. 2HIV. II, 
 
 2, 64. Schmidt and some others think 
 that accites in this passage in the First 
 Folio is a misprint for excites, which is 
 the word given in the Third Folio. 
 
 accomodate. In Shakespeare^s time it 
 was fashionable to introduce this word, 
 properly or improperly, on all occa- 
 sions. Ben Jonson calls it *'one of the 
 perfumed terms of the time. " The in- 
 definite use of it is well ridiculed by 
 Bardolph's vain attempt to define it. 
 2HIV. Ill, 2, 80. 
 
 accomplish. To make complete ; to fur- 
 nish what is lacking. Merch. Ill, 4, 61 ; 
 RII. II, 1, 177 ; HV. IV, Prol. 12. 
 
 accuse, n. Accusation. 2HVI. Ill, 1, 160. 
 
 acerb. Harsh to the taste ; bitter. 0th. 1, 
 
 3, 355. 
 
 Acheron. One of the rivers of hell ; Sh. 
 seems to regard it as a lake. Mids. Ill, 
 2, 357 ; Tit. IV, 3, 44. Various dark 
 lakes and rivers which flowed into 
 caves were thought to be openings to 
 hell, and this is supposed to be the 
 meaning in Mcb. Ill, 5, 15. 
 
 achieve. 1. To conquer. HV. IV, 3, 91. 
 2. To obtain possession of. Merch. Ill, 
 2, 210 ; 0th. II, 1, 61. 
 
 Achilles, dr.p. Troil. Also in the by- 
 play, LLL.V, 2, 635. 
 
 The hero of Homer's Illiad. Alluded 
 to 2HVI. V, 1, 100. AchUles wounded 
 Telephus, King of Mysia, and the Del- 
 phic Oracle, on being consulted, an- 
 swered: "The wounder shall heal." 
 Telephus thought " the wounder " must 
 
 be Achilles, but AchiUes failed to effect 
 a cure. Then Ulysses suggested that 
 the spear was the wounder. On apply- 
 ing some of the rust of the weapon to 
 the wound, it was quickly healed. 
 
 Achilles was the son of Peleus, king 
 of the Myrmidones in Phthiotis, in 
 Thessaly, and of the Nereid Thetis. He 
 was taught eloquence and the art of 
 war by Phoenix, and Chiron the cen- 
 taur taught him the art of healing. He 
 was the great bulwark of the Greeks 
 against the Trojans, and previous to 
 his quarrel with Agamemnon he rav- 
 aged the country around Troy, des- 
 troyed twelve towns on the coast and 
 eleven in the interior. When Agamem- 
 non was obliged to restore Chryseis to 
 her father, he forced Achilles to give 
 up Briseis in her stead, and this caused 
 a mortal quarrel between the heroes. 
 Achilles refused to take further part in 
 the war and "sulked " in his tent. No 
 entreaties or promises could move him 
 until his friend Patroclus was killed, 
 when he took the field to avenge him. 
 He slew Hector and many other Tro- 
 jans, but was himself killed before Troy 
 was taken. 
 
 Achitophel. The counsellor of Absalom, 
 cursed by David (2 Samuel, xv, 35). 
 2HIV. I, '2, 41. 
 
 acknow. To acknowledge ; to confess. Be 
 not acknown on'^=do not confess that 
 you know anything about it. 0th. Ill, 
 3, 319. In the life of Ariosto, appended 
 to Harrington's translation of the Or- 
 lando Furioso (1591) we read, "some 
 say he was married to her privihe, but 
 durst not be acknowne of it. " 
 
 acquit. To be rid of. Wiv. I, 3, 27. 
 
 acquittance, n. 1. Acquittal ; vindica- 
 tion. Hml. V, 7, 1. 
 
 2. Receipt ; discharge. LLL. II, 1, 161 ; 
 Wiv. 1, 1, 10. 
 
 acquittance, vb. To acquit; to clear. 
 RIII. Ill, 7, 233. 
 
 across. This word, as it occurs in several 
 passages, evidently refers to the prac- 
 tice of the tilt-yard, where it was con- 
 sidered disgraceful to break the spear 
 
ACT 
 
 ABO 
 
 across the body of the adversary in- 
 stead of by a push in a direct line. Ado. 
 V, 1, 139 ; As. Ill, 4, 44 ; All's. II, 1, 70. 
 
 act. 1. Agency ; operation. Hml. I, 2, 205. 
 2. Doing ; being active. All's. 1, 2, 30. 
 
 Actson. A famous hunter who incurred 
 the wrath of Diana, and was by her 
 turned into a stag, so that he was torn 
 to pieces by his own hounds. The horns 
 which grew from his head are the sym- 
 bols of cuckoldom. Wiv. II, 1, 122 ; do, 
 III, 2, 44 ; Tit. II, 3, 63. 
 
 action-taking. Going to law; "a fellow, 
 who, if you beat him, would bring an 
 action for the assault instead of resent- 
 ing it like a man of courage." Mason. 
 Lr. II, 2, 18. 
 
 acture. Performance ; action. Compl. 185. 
 
 acutely. WittUy. All's. I, 1, 221. 
 
 Adam. 1. dr. p. The old gardener in As. 
 Also Shr. IV, 1, 139. 
 
 2. Picture of old Adam, new-apparelled. 
 Err. IV, 3, 13. This means the sergeant, 
 an evident play upon the word buff, 
 which in slang means naked, as Adam 
 was ; the sergeant wore a suit of buff. 
 We still speak of being "stripped to 
 the buff." 
 
 3. Let him be clapped on the shoulder 
 and called Ada,m. Ado. I, 1, 261. The 
 allusion is to Adam Bell, the famous 
 archer. Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough 
 (t. e. Clem or Clement of the Cleugh [Sco. ] 
 or Cliff), and William of Cloudesly were 
 three noted outlaws, whose skill in arch- 
 ery made them as famous in the North 
 of England as Robin Hood and his 
 fellows were in the Midland counties. 
 Their abode was in the forest of Engle- 
 wood (firewood or wood for burning in 
 the ingle), not far from Carlisle. They 
 were generally believed to have lived 
 before Robin Hood, and were outlawed 
 for the usual ci-ime — killing deer. Two 
 of them were bachelors ; the third (Will- 
 iam of Cloudesley), had a wife and 
 family, and becoming homesick, he ven- 
 tured into Carlisle to see them, was 
 taken prisoner and at once condemned 
 to death, a brand new gallows being set 
 up for his execution. A little swine- 
 
 herd carried the news to his two com- 
 rades, and the story of his rescue forms 
 the subject of a stirring ballad which 
 may be found in Percy's "Reliquesof 
 Ancient English Poetry." 
 4. The name Adam was substituted (er- 
 roneously, we think,) for Abraham in 
 Rom. II, 1, 13. See Abraham. 
 
 adamant. 1. The lodestone or magnet. 
 Mids. II, 1, 195 ; Troil. Ill, 2, 186. 
 2. Hesiod and some later writers speak 
 of adamant as a very hard, impenetra- 
 ble metal used for making armour. 
 This, no doubt, led to the use of the 
 word as descriptive of an imaginary 
 material of great hardness and strength. 
 Used in this sense in IHVI. I, 4, 52. 
 The modern word diamond is a mere 
 corruption of adamant. — Skeat. 
 
 addiction. Inclination. 0th. II, 2, 6. 
 
 addition. 1. Title ; mark of distinction. 
 AU's. II, 3, 134 ; Hml. I, 4, 20 ; II, 1, 
 47. 
 2. Exaggeration. Hml. IV, 4, 17. 
 
 address. To set about doing ; to prepare ; 
 to make ready. Troil. IV, 4, 148 ; Wiv. 
 Ill, 5, 135. 
 
 addressed. Prepared. LLL. II, 1, 83. 
 
 admiration. Wonder ; astonishment. 
 Hml. I, 2, 192. 
 
 admire. To wonder. The word has now 
 lost much of this meaning. Tp. V, 1, 
 154 ; Tw. Ill, 4, 165. 
 
 admittance. Of high fashion ; admitted 
 into the best company. Wiv. Ill, 3, 
 61 ; do. II, 2, 235. 
 
 Adonis. A beautiful youth beloved by 
 Venus. He was killed by a wild boar 
 while hunting, and Venus sprinkled his 
 blood with nectar, which caused a red 
 anemone to spring up on the place 
 where he fell. Every year festivals 
 were held in his honor, at which women 
 carried about earthen pots with some 
 lettuce or fennel growing in them. These 
 pots were called "Adonis Gardens," 
 and as they were thrown away the day 
 after the festival the name became a pro- 
 verbial expression for things which grow 
 fast and soon decay. Sh. however in 
 IHVI. 1, 6, 6, seizes upon the idea of 
 
ADO 
 
 37 
 
 AFE 
 
 rapid growth and ignores that of rapid 
 
 decay. 
 adoptious. Given by adoption ; not real. 
 
 All's. I, 1, 190. 
 adornings. See bends. 
 adsum. A Latin word signifying '* I am 
 
 here." 2HVI. I, 4, 26. 
 advance. 1. To promote ; to increase the 
 
 value of. Tim. I, 2, 176. 
 
 2. To present ; to show. LLL. V, 2, 123. 
 
 3. To push forward. LLL. IV, 3, 367. 
 advantage. 1. Favorable opportunity. 
 
 3HVI. Ill, 2, 192 ; Tp. Ill, 3, 13. 
 2. Interest upon money. Merch. I, 3, 
 71 ; IHIV. II, 4, 599. 
 
 advantageable. Advantageous ; profit- 
 able. HV. V, 2, 88. 
 
 advertise. To inform. 2HVI. IV, 9, 23. 
 
 advertisement. 1. Intelligence ; informa- 
 tion. IHIV. Ill, 2, 172. 
 2. Admonition ; advice. AU's. 8, 240 ; 
 IHIV. IV, 1, 36. 
 
 advice. Consideration ; discretion. Gent. 
 II, 4, 207 ; 2HVI. II, 2, 68. 
 
 advise. 1 . To consider ; to reflect. Tw. 
 
 IV, 2, 102 ; HV. Ill, 6, 168. 
 
 2. To inform ; to instruct. Gent. Ill, 1, 
 122 ; 2HIV. I, 1, 172. 
 advised. Considerate ; deliberate. 2HVI. 
 
 V, 2, 47. 
 
 advocation. Pleading. 0th. Ill, 4, 123. 
 
 /Ecides. This term means a descendant of 
 -(Eacus, "ides " being a patronymic suf- 
 fix. See Ajax. Shr. Ill, 1, 52. 
 
 eedile. An officer in ancient Rome who 
 had charge of the public buildings and 
 streets. At first the office was of great 
 honor and importance, but later the aed- 
 iles became little better than police-of- 
 ficers, such as Sh. represents them. For 
 this Schm. takes him to task. 
 
 iCmilia, dr. p. An abbess at Ephesus ; 
 Wife to ^geon. Err. 
 
 iCneas, dr.p. One of the Trojan com- 
 manders. Troil. 
 
 ^neas was the son of Anchises and 
 Aphrodite, and was born on Mount Ida. 
 On his father's side he was related to 
 the royal house of Troy. At first he 
 took no part in the Trojan war, but 
 when AchiUes attacked him and drove 
 
 away his flocks, he led his Dardanians 
 against the Greeks, and he and Hector 
 were the great bulwarks of the Tro- 
 jans. On the fall of the city he bore his 
 aged father on his shoulders through the 
 flames. His wife, Creusa, the daughter 
 of Priam and Hecuba, was lost in the 
 hurry of flight. Hence the allusion, 
 Tp. II, 1, 79, to "widower ^neas." 
 His landing at Carthage and his meet- 
 ing with Dido are irreconcilable with 
 chronology. The Romans long held 
 that he was their ancestor, Ascanius 
 being the progenitor of Numitor, grand- 
 father of Romulus and Remus. 
 
 iCoIus. The god of the winds. 2HVI. 
 Ill, 2, 92. 
 
 aery. See aiery. 
 
 .<£sculapius. The son of Apollo, was the 
 god of medicine. He worked so many 
 wonderful cures that Jove, fearing he 
 would render men immortal, killed him 
 with thunderbolts, ^sculapius was 
 worshipped all over Greece, his temples 
 being always built in healthful places 
 and near wells supposed to have heal- 
 ing powers. These temples were not 
 only places of worship, but were fre- 
 quented by great numbers of sick peo- 
 ple, so that they were really hospitals 
 or sanitariums. Per. Ill, 2, 111. 
 
 Dr. Caius is called ^sculapius in jest. 
 Wiv. II, 3, 29. 
 
 i4Bsop. The author of the fables is sup- 
 posed to have been a hunchback. 3HVI. 
 V, 5, 25. 
 
 afeard. Afraid. Wiv. Ill, 4, 28. 
 
 affects, n. Inclinations ; desires. LLL. 
 
 I, 1, 152 ; 0th. I, 3, 264. 
 
 affect, vb. 1. To be in love with. Gent. 
 
 III, 1, 82 ; Wiv. II, 1, 115 ; Kins. II, 4. 
 
 2. To like. Troil. IV, 5, 178 ; 0th. Ill, 
 3, 229. 
 
 3. To aim at. 2HVI. IV, 7, 104 ; Tit. 
 
 II, 1, 105. 
 
 affectioned. Full of affectation. Tw. II, 
 
 3, 162. 
 affections. Things desired or liked. Cor. 
 
 I, 1, 181 ; Kins. I, 3. 
 affeered. Confirmed ; sanctioned. Mcb. 
 
 IV, 3, 34. "It is a law term, applied 
 
AFF 
 
 88 
 
 AIE 
 
 to the fixing of a fine in cases where it 
 is not fixed by statute. "—i?oi/e. 
 
 affiance. Confidence. HV. II, 2, 127; 
 Cym. I, 6, 163. 
 
 affined. Bound by a tie. 0th. I, 1, 39. 
 
 affray. To frighten. Rom. Ill, 5, 33. 
 
 affront, n. Gave the ajfronf= presented 
 the face or front ; encountered. Cym. 
 V, 3, 87. 
 
 affront, vb. To face ; to encounter. Wint. 
 V, 1, 75 ; Troil. Ill, 2, 174 ; Hml. Ill, 
 1,31. 
 
 affy. 1. To confide in ; Tit. I, 1, 47. 
 2. To betroth. Shr. IV, 4, 49. 
 
 afront. In front. IHIV. II, 4, 222. 
 
 after. At the rate of. Meas. II, 1, 253. 
 
 against. Opposite. Caes. I, 3, 20. 
 
 Agamemnon, dr.p. The leader of the 
 Greeks before Troy. Troil. 
 
 Agamemnon was the son of Pleis- 
 thenes and grandson of Atreus, King 
 of Mycenae, in whose house Agamem- 
 non and his brother Menelaus were ed- 
 ucated after the death of their father ; 
 but being driven from home they wan- 
 dered to Sparta, where Agamemnon 
 married Clytemnestra, by whom, with 
 other children, he had a daughter, the 
 famous Iphigenia. When the wife of 
 Menelaus was carried off by Paris, the 
 brothei-s appealed to all the Greek 
 chiefs for aid against Troy. Agamem- 
 non was chosen chief of the expedition, 
 and furnished one hundred ships, be- 
 sides sixty that he lent to the Arcadi- 
 ans. After the fall of Troy, he received 
 Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, as 
 his prize, and after various disasters 
 reached Argolis, in the dominion of 
 JEgisthus, who had seduced Clytemnes- 
 tra during the absence of her husband, 
 ^gisthus invited Agamemnon and his 
 companions to a feast, and during the 
 progress of the repast, treacherously 
 murdered his guests. Clytemnestra on 
 the same occasion murdered Cassandra, 
 her motive being partly jealousy and 
 partly her adulterous life with JEgis- 
 thus. 
 
 JEschylus makes Clytemnestra alone 
 murder Agamenmon. She threw a net 
 
 over him while he was in the bath, and 
 
 slew him with three strokes. 
 agate. A stone which consists of quartz 
 
 or flint ; little figures were often cut in 
 
 it and the stone was then set in a ring. 
 
 Hence in Sh. it is the symbol of small- 
 
 ness. Ado. Ill, 1, 65 ; 2HIV. I, 2, 19 ; 
 
 Rom. I, 4, 55. 
 agazed. Looking in amazement. IHVI. 
 
 1, 1, 126. 
 
 age, golden. The ancients believed that 
 there were four ages :— 1, the golden ; 
 
 2, the silver; 3, the brazen; 4, the iron. 
 The golden age was during the reign of 
 Saturn, when the earth brought forth 
 fruits and grain without the labor of 
 man, and war, robbery and crime were 
 unknown. The silver age began after 
 Jupiter had supplanted his father. In 
 the brazen age, men began to rob and 
 make war. The iron age is that in 
 which we now live. Tp. II, 1, 168. 
 
 Agenor. The father of Europa. See ^it- 
 ropa. 
 
 aglet. The tag at end of a point or lace ; 
 they were frequently cut or moulded 
 into the form of grotesque images ; 
 hence aglet-baby =an aglet in the form 
 of a small human image. Shr. I, 2, 79. 
 
 agnize. To acknowledge ; to confess. 
 0th. I, 3, 232. 
 
 agood. Heartily ; freely ; plentifully. 
 Gent. IV, 4, 170. 
 
 Aguecheek, Sir Andrew, dr.p. Tw. 
 
 a-hold. A sea-term, meamng: Lay the 
 ship as near to the wind as possible, in 
 order to keep clear of the land and get 
 her out to sea. Tp. I, 1, 52. 
 
 aidance. Assistance. Ven. 330 ; 2HVI. 
 Ill, 2, 165. 
 
 aidant. Helpful. Lr. IV, 4, 17. 
 
 aiery. The brood of a bird of prey. RIH. 
 I, 3, 264 ; Hml. II, 2, S64. 
 
 Moberly explains the latter thus: 
 "What brings down the professional 
 actors is the competition of a nest of 
 young hawks (the boys of the Chapel 
 Royal, etc.) who carry on the whole 
 dialogue without modulation at the top 
 of their voices, get absurdly applauded 
 for it, and make such a noise on the 
 
AIO 
 
 39 
 
 ALL 
 
 common stage, that the true dramat- 
 ists, whose wit is as strong and keen 
 as a rapier, are afraid to encounter 
 these chits, who fight, as it were, with a 
 goose-quill! " 
 
 The word also signifies the nest, but 
 does not seem to be so used by Sh. 
 
 aigre. Sour. Hml. I, 5, 69, Found at 
 present in the compound vinegar (vhi 
 aigre sour wine). See eager. 
 
 aim. 1. To guess. 2HVI. II, 4, 58 ; Rom. 
 I, 1, 211. 
 
 2. To cry aim=to applaud ; to encour- 
 age. A cry or shout originally used in 
 archery to encourage the archer. It 
 afterwards became of general applica- 
 tion. John, II, 1, 196. 
 
 aio te. See oracle. 
 
 Ajax, dr. p. A Greek hero who acted a 
 prominent part in the siege of Troy. 
 Troil. 
 
 Ajax was the son of Telamon, and 
 grandson of ^acus, and famed for his 
 great strength and physical beauty. 
 His shield was made of seven folds of 
 bull's hide. Infuriated at the decision 
 which awarded the arms of the dead 
 Achilles to Ulysses, he became mad and 
 attacked the sheep of the Greeks, think- 
 ing that they were his enemies. When 
 he regained his senses he was so much 
 ashamed of himself that he committed 
 suicide. These points in his history are 
 referred to many times in Sh. LLL. IV. 
 3, 7 ; 2HVI. V, 1, 26 ; Tit. I, 1, 379. 
 Two rather coarse puns on his name 
 will be found in LLL. V, 2, 581, and 
 Troil. II, 1, 70. 
 
 Alarbus, dr.p. The eldest son of Tam- 
 ora. Tit. 
 
 Albany, Duke of, dr.p. Lr, 
 
 The name "Albania" was given to 
 all the territory north of the Humber. 
 HoUingshed tells us it was named after 
 Albanacte, youngest son of Bronte. 
 
 Alcibiades, dr.p. Tim. 
 
 Alcibiades was the son of Clinias and 
 Dinomache, born B.C. 450. He was 
 noted for the beauty of his person, 
 great abilities and large wealth. He 
 was the pupil and friend of Socrates. 
 
 Being accused of profanation in Athens, 
 he fled to Sparta and became the open 
 enemy of his country. He was recalled, 
 however, and commanded the Athen- 
 ians in the victory over the Pelopone- 
 sians and Persians. But the defeat at 
 Notium led to his deposition, and after 
 the fall of Athens he went into volun- 
 tary exile. He was treacherously mur- 
 dered by assassins, hired either by the 
 Spartans or by the brothers of a lady 
 whom he had seduced. 
 
 Alcides. The original name of Hercules, 
 the change being made by the Delphic 
 Oracle. "Alcides" is a patronymic 
 formed from Alcaeus, the father of Am- 
 phytro, the reputed father of Hercules. 
 Shr. I, 2, 260. The "twelve " there al- 
 luded to, are the twelve labours of Her- 
 cules. See Hercules. 
 
 alder-liefest. Dearest of all. 2HVI. I, 
 1,28. 
 
 ale. Sometimes used for ale-house, as in 
 Gent. II, 5, 61. Minor church festivals 
 were sometimes called "ales." 
 
 Alecto. One of the three Furies. 2HIV. 
 V, 5, 39. See Furies. 
 
 Alexander, dr.p. Servant to Cressida. 
 Troil. 
 
 Alexander the Great. According to Plut- 
 arch the head of Alexander had a twist 
 towards the left, and his skin had "a 
 marvellous good savour." This ex- 
 plains the jokes in LLL. V, 2, 565-68. 
 
 Alexas, dr.p. Attendant on Cleopatra. 
 Ant. 
 
 Aliena. The name assumed by Celia when 
 she left home. As, 
 
 allay, n. That which abates or lessens. 
 Wint, IV, 2, 9, 
 
 allayment. 1. Abatement. Troil. IV, 4, 
 8. 
 2. Antidote ; modifier. Cjon. I, 5 22. 
 
 Alice, dr.p. Attendant on Princess Kath- 
 arine. HV. 
 
 all-hallond eve. The eve of All Saints' 
 day, Meas, II, 1, 130, 
 
 all-hallowmas. November 1st. Wiv. I, 
 1, 211. 
 
 all-hallown. All-hallown summer = a 
 summer which lasts late into the fall. 
 
ALL 
 
 40 
 
 AXA 
 
 Falstaff was getting old in years, but his 
 niirth and geniality were still those of 
 the summer of life. Steevens, on the 
 other- hand, says "Sh.'s allusion is de- 
 signed to ridicule an old man with 
 youthful passions." IHIV. I, 2, 178. 
 
 all hid. The game of hide-and-seek. LLL. 
 IV, 3, 78. 
 
 all loves. See loves. 
 
 alligant. A bluitder of Mrs. Quickly or 
 the printer. Wiv. II, 2, 69. Dyce says 
 the correct word is "elegant ;" Schmidt 
 says that "elegant" is not a Shakes- 
 pearean word, and that probably the 
 correct word is ' ' eloquent. ' ' The word 
 elegant is found in Cotgrave, so that it 
 was in use in Sh.'s time, and Sh. uses 
 the word elegancy. LLL. IV, 2, 126. 
 
 allic holly. Said to be a blunder of Mrs. 
 Quickly 's (Wiv. I, 3, 162), but found also 
 in Gent. IV, 2, 27, where, in the Fl it is 
 spelled allycholly. Probably a corrup- 
 tion of melancholy. In the Fl the word 
 melancholy of the modern text is spelled 
 mallicholie. 
 
 allow. 1. Approve or praise. 2HIV. IV, 
 2, 54. 
 
 2. To license ; to be privileged. Tw. I, 
 5, 101 ; LLL. V, 2, 478. 
 
 3. To appoint. LLL. I, 2, 136. 
 
 4. Allow the wind= do not stand between 
 me and the wind if your odour is so 
 strong. All's. V, 2, 10. 
 
 allowance. 1. Approbation; authoriza- 
 tion. HVIII. Ill, 2, 322 ; Lr. I, 4, 228 ; 
 Oth. I, 1, 128. 
 
 2. Confirmation. Kins. V, 4. 
 
 3. Idiomatic : — of very expert and ap- 
 proved allowance=aX\owed to be expert 
 and approved (tested). Oth. II, 1, 49. 
 
 4. Regards of safety and allowance- 
 terms securing the safety of the country 
 and regulating the passage of the troops 
 through it (Clarendon). Hml. II, 2, 79. 
 
 allowing. Conniving. Wint. 1, 2, 185. 
 
 allusion. Of this word Schmidt says : 
 " Perhaps used by Holof ernes in its old 
 Latin meaning of jesting [playing], but 
 it may have the modem sense of refer- 
 ence.'' LLL. IV, 2, 42. Either defini- 
 tion makes good sense in this passage. 
 
 Almain. A German. Oth. II, 3, 86. 
 
 alms-drink. Warburton defined this as 
 "a phrase amongst good fellows to sig- 
 nify that liquor of another's share which 
 his companion drinks to ease him." 
 Others say that it means the leavings 
 of drink, or such as might be given 
 away in alms — in other words " heel- 
 taps." Ant. II, 7,5. 
 
 aloes. A very bitter drug ; hence the sym- 
 bol of bitterness. Compl. 273. 
 
 Alonso, dr. p. King of Naples. Tp. 
 
 Althaea. The wife of CEneus, King of 
 Calydon, by whom she had a son, Me- 
 leager. At the birth of Meleager the 
 three Fates visited the house and threw 
 a brand into the fire, declaring that the 
 child's life should last as long as the 
 piece of wood. Althaea snatched the 
 brand from the fire, and kept it care- 
 fully until Meleager slew her two broth- 
 ers, when she burned the brand and her 
 son died. 2HVL I, 1, 234. In a note on 
 2HIV. II, 2, 92 Johnson says : "Shakes- 
 peare has confounded Althaea's fire- 
 brand with Hecuba's. The firebrand of 
 Althaea was real, but Hecuba, when she 
 was big with Paris, dreamed that she 
 was delivered of a firebrand that con- 
 sumed the kingdom." See Meleager, 
 Paris and firebrand. 
 
 Alton. Lord Verdun of Alton, one of Tal- 
 bot's titles. IHVI. IV, 7, 65. 
 
 Amaimon ) The name of a devil whom 
 
 Amamon ) Handle Holme, in his "Ac- 
 ademie of Armourie," calls "the chief 
 whose dominion is on the north part of 
 the infernal gulph." Wiv. II, 2, 311 ; 
 IHIV. II, 4, 370. 
 
 Amazonian. 1. Like an Amazon or fe- 
 male warrior. 3HVI. I, 4. 114. 
 2. Beardless. Cor. II, 2, 95. 
 
 Amazons. A race of female warriors said 
 to have come from the Caucasus, and to 
 have settled in the country about the 
 river Thermodon, where they founded 
 the city Themiscyra, west of the modern 
 Trebizond. They allowed no men in 
 their country. They are said to have 
 founded the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, 
 Cyme, Myrina and Paphos. Amongst 
 
AMB 
 
 41 
 
 ANG 
 
 the adventures credited to them is the 
 invasion of Lycia and Phrygia. One 
 of the labors imposed on Hercules was 
 to take from Hippolyte, the Amazonian 
 queen, the girdle which was the sign of 
 her queenly power. During the Trojan 
 war they went to the assistance of Pri- 
 am, but their queen, Penthesilea, was 
 slain by Achilles. An attempt has been 
 made in recent years to identify the 
 Amazons with the Hittites, whose god- 
 dess was served by an immense army of 
 priestesses. Mids. II, 1, 70; John, V, 
 3, 155. 
 
 amble. 1. To move easily and gently with- 
 out bumping. Ado. V^ 1, 159. 
 2. To move affectedly. Hml. Ill, 1, 151. 
 
 ames^ace. Now generally spelled ambes- 
 ace, literally both aces (ambo and as). 
 The lowest throw at dice. All's. II, 3, 
 85. 
 
 Amiens, dr.p. A lord, attendant on the 
 exiled duke. As. 
 
 amiss. 1. Misfortune ; disaster. Hml. IV, 
 5, 18. 
 2. Offence. Sonn. XXXV, 7. 
 
 amort. Dispirited. All amort = quite 
 dejected. From the French a la mort. 
 Shr. IV, 3, 36. 
 
 an. 1. The indefinite article. Anglo-Sax- 
 on one. 
 
 2. If. An I may hide my face. Mids. 
 I, 2, 53. Also with the sense of though. 
 An thou wert a lion. LLL. V, 2, 627. 
 
 "The Icelandic use of en da in the 
 sense, not only of 'moreover' but of 
 ' if , ' is the obvious origin of the use of 
 the Middle English and in the sense of 
 if. In order to differentiate the senses, 
 i.e., to mark off the two meanings of 
 and more readily, it became at last 
 usual to drop the final d when the word 
 was used in the sense of 'if,' a use very 
 common in Sh. Thus Sh. 's an is nothing 
 but a Scandinavian use of the common 
 word and.''^—Skeat. 
 
 anatomy. A skeleton ; generally used in 
 contempt. Err. V, 1, 238 ; Kins. V, 1. 
 
 Anchises. The father of ^neas. On the 
 taking of Troy he was carried out of 
 the burning city on his son's shoulders. 
 
 and lived through a good part of the 
 wanderings of the Trojans, but died in 
 Sicily before reaching Latium. Troil, 
 IV, 1, 21 ; Caes. I, 2, 114. 
 
 anchor. An anchorite ; a hermit. Hml. 
 Ill, 2, 229. 
 
 ancient. 1. A banner or standard. An 
 old faced ancient = an old patched ban- 
 ner. IHIV. IV, 2, 34. 
 2. An ensign; a standard bearer. Oth. 
 1, 1, 33. 
 
 ancientry. 1. Old people. Wint. Ill, 3, 
 63. 
 
 2. The manners of old age. Ado. II, 1, 
 80. 
 
 Andrew. Evidently a ship, but why called 
 " Andrew " has never been properly ex- 
 plained. The suggestion that it was 
 after the famous Genoese admiral, An- 
 drea Doria, who died in 1560, is not gen- 
 erally accepted. Merch. I, 1, 27. 
 
 Andromache, dr.p. Wife of Hector. 
 Troil. 
 
 Andromache was a daughter of 
 Eetion, King of the Cilician Thebae, and 
 one of the noblest and most amiable of 
 the female characters in the Iliad. Her 
 father and seven brothers were slain by 
 Achilles at the taking of Thebae. She 
 was married to Hector, by whom she 
 had a son, Scamandris. On the taking 
 of Troy, her son was hurled from the 
 wall of the city, and she herself fell to 
 the share of the son of Achilles, to whom 
 she bore three sons. She afterwards 
 became the wife of Helenus, brother of 
 Hector, her first husband. After his , 
 death she followed one of her sons to 
 Pergamus, where she died, and where a 
 shrine was erected in her honor. 
 
 Andronicus, Marcus, dr.p. A tribune; 
 brother of Titus. Tit. 
 
 Andronicus, Titus, dr.p. A noble Ro- 
 man, general against the Goths. Tit. 
 
 Angel. 1. A messenger of God; a good 
 spirit. HV. I, 2, 8; Hml. V, 1, 265. 
 
 2. A demon; evil genius. Mcb. V, 8, 14. 
 
 3. Applied by the Greeks to birds of au- 
 gury, and hence used by the old writers 
 to signify a bird. 
 
 In Massinger's " Virgin Martyr " the 
 
ANG 
 
 42 
 
 AHT 
 
 Roman eagle is spoken of as the Roman 
 Angel. Angel implies a bird of good 
 omen, to the exclusion of such ill- 
 omened birds as the crow, the cuckoo 
 and the rsiveu.—Skeat. Kins. I, 1. 
 Song. 
 
 4. Ancient angel=^'^ An old Angell, and 
 by metaphor a fellow of the old, sound, 
 honest, and worthie, stamp." Cot- 
 grave's "Dictionary" (1611), s. v. An- 
 gelot. Also s. v. escaille: "An old An- 
 gell and (metaphorically) one that hath 
 in him more stuff and worth, than form 
 or fashion." Shr. IV, 2, 61. 
 
 5. Darling; special friend (Craik). Caes. 
 Ill, 2, 185. 
 
 6. A gold coin worth about ten shillings 
 or $2. 50. Hence the puns between coins 
 and good spirits, both being called an- 
 gels. 2HIV. I, 2, 187. The coin was so 
 called because it had on one side a fig- 
 ure of the archangel Michael, trampling 
 on the dragon (Satan or Lucifer), and 
 on the other a cross surmounting the 
 escutcheon of England. 
 
 Angelica, dr.p. Christian name of Lady 
 Capulet. Rom. IV, 4, 5. 
 
 Angelo, dr.p. Name of the goldsmith in 
 Err. Also of the deputy in Meas. 
 
 Angus, dr.p. A Scottish nobleman. Mcb, 
 
 An-heires. A word found in Wiv. II, 1, 
 228. It is evidently nonsense. Theo- 
 bald suggested Mynheers; others give 
 on here; on hearts; on heroes, and 
 hear us. Hearts is used in a similar 
 connection in Wiv. Ill, 2, 85. 
 
 a-night. By night. As. II, 4, 48. 
 
 Anna. Daughter of Belus and sister of 
 Dido, whose confidante she was, both 
 with regard to the love of the latter for 
 ^neas, and her despair when he an- 
 nounced his intention of leaving Carth- 
 age. After the death of Dido she fled 
 to Italy, where she was kindly received 
 by ^neas, but excited the jealousy of 
 his wife, Lavinia. Being warned in a 
 dream by Dido, she drowned herself. 
 Shr. 1, 1, 159. 
 
 Anne, Lady, dr.p. Daughter of the Earl 
 of Warwick, and widow of Edward, 
 Prince of Wales. RIII. 
 
 Anne BuUen, dr.p. Afterwards queen, 
 HVIIL 
 
 annexion. Addition. Lov. Compl. 208. 
 
 annexment. Appendage. Hml. Ill, 3, 21. 
 
 annothanize. One of Armado's high- 
 flown words manufactured for the oc- 
 casion. Probably to annotate ; the late 
 folios have anatomize. It evidently 
 means to explain the sentence by an- 
 alysing it. LLL. IV, 1, 69. 
 
 anon. 1: Immediately. Wiv. IV, 2, 41. 
 
 2. Again; then. LLL. IV, 2, 6. 
 
 3. Answer to a call ; equivalent to the 
 modern "coming." IHIV. II, 1, 5. 
 
 answer. 1. Retaliation ; retribution. 
 Cym. V, 3, 79. 
 
 2. Atonement ; punishment. Tim. V, 
 4, 63 ; Cym. IV, 4, 13. 
 
 3. In fencing it is the coming in or 
 striking in return after having parried 
 or received a hit. Schm. Tw. Ill, 4, 
 305 ; Hml. V, 2, 280. 
 
 answerable. Corresponding. 0th. 1, 3, 
 351. 
 
 Antenor, dr.p. A Trojan commander. 
 Troil. 
 
 Antenor was the son of ^syetes and 
 Cleomestra. According to Homer, he 
 was one of the wisest among the elders 
 at Troy. He received Menelaus and 
 Ulysses into his house when they came 
 to Troy as ambassadors, and advised 
 his fellow-citizens to restore Helen to 
 Menelaus. He is represented as a traitor 
 to his country, and when sent to Aga- 
 memnon, just before the taking of Troy, 
 to negotiate peace, he concerted a plan 
 of delivering the city, and even the pal- 
 ladium, into the hands of the Greeks, 
 who spared him after the capture of 
 the city. Of his subsequent history 
 various accounts are given. 
 
 anthropophagi. Cannibals ; man-eaters. 
 Oth. I, 3, 144. 
 
 anthropophaginian. Literally, a canni- 
 bal ; but in the mouth of the Host, a 
 meaningless term, used because it has a 
 pompous sound. Wiv. IV, 5, 10. 
 
 antic, n. 1. Odd and fantastic shapes 
 and appearances. Lucr. 459 ; LLL. V, 
 1, 119. 
 
ANT 
 
 ^3 
 
 APP 
 
 2. The fool in the old plays. Shr. Ind, 
 I, 101 ; RII. Ill, 2, 162 ; Troil. V, 3, 86. 
 
 3. An antique dance ; a quaint dance. 
 Skeat, Kins. IV, 1. 
 
 This word is spelled antique^ antick 
 and antic indifferently ; but in Sh. the 
 accent is always on the first syllable, 
 whatever may be the meaning. 
 
 antic, vh. To make grotesque ; to turn 
 into a fool. Ant. II, 7, 132. 
 
 antic, adj. 1. Odd ; fantastic ; grotesque. 
 
 Rom. I, 5, 58 ; do. II, 4, 29 ; Hml. I, V, 
 
 1 ?2 ; Mcb. IV, 1, 130. 
 
 2. Ancient ; belonging to old times. 
 
 Sonn. 59, 7 ; As. II, 3, 57 ; Hml. V, 2, 57. 
 
 Antigonus, dr. p. A Sicilian lord. Wint. 
 
 Antiochus, dr. p. King of Antioch. Per. 
 
 Antiochus, dr.p. Daughter of Antio- 
 chus. Per. 
 
 Antipholus of Epliesus, ) dr.p, Twin 
 
 Antipliolus of Syracuse, [brothers, 
 sons of ^geon, but unknown to each 
 other. Err. 
 
 Antonio, dr. p. The father of Proteus. 
 Gent. 
 
 Antonio, dr.p. 
 
 Antonio, dr.p 
 Milan. Tp. 
 
 Antonio, dr.p. Brother of Leonato. Ado. 
 
 Antonio, dr.p. The Merchant of Venice. 
 Merch. 
 
 Antony, Marc, dr.p. The Roman Tri- 
 umvir. Ant. 
 
 antre. A cavern. 0th. I, 3, 140. 
 
 ape. To lead apes in hell was said to be 
 the punishment of old maids. Ado. II, 
 1, 43 ; Shr. II, 1, 34. See barefoot. 
 
 " Unpeg the basket on the house's top, 
 Let the birds fly and, like the famous ape, 
 To try conclusions in the basket creep, 
 And break your own neck down." 
 
 Hml. Ill, 4, 194. 
 
 No one has yet found the fable to 
 which this passage evidently refers, and 
 hence a full explanation is wanting. 
 Sir John Suckling, in one of his let- 
 ters, may possibly allude to the same 
 story. "It is the story of the jack- 
 anapes and the partridges ; thou star- 
 est after a beauty till it be lost to thee, 
 
 A sea-captain. Tw. 
 The usurping Duke of 
 
 and then let'st out another, and starest 
 after that till it is gone too. " — Warner. 
 But this only half the story. 
 Apemantus, dr.p. A churlish philoso- 
 pher. Tim. 
 Apollo. Apollo was the god of the sun, 
 of prophecy and the fine arts. One of 
 the great Olympian gods, the son of 
 Jupiter and Latona. He had a famous 
 oracle at Delphos in Phocis, which was 
 consulted by the ancients in all emer- 
 gencies. (See Wint. III. 2.) The am- 
 biguous character of the answers kept 
 the oracle from becoming discredited, 
 since it was always possible, after the 
 event, to interpret the oracle in such a 
 way as to make it seem to have fore- 
 told what had actually taken place. 
 
 apothecary, an, dr.p. Rom. 
 
 apparent. Heir-apparent. Wint. I, 2, 
 177 ; 3HVI. II, 2, 64. 
 
 appeach. To impeach; to inform against. 
 RII. V, 2, 79; Alls. I, 3, 197. 
 
 appeal, n. Accusation. Meas. V, 1, 303. 
 
 appeal, vh. To accuse. RII. I, 1, 9. 
 
 appeared. Made apparent. The mean- 
 ing obviously is that the identity of Ni- 
 canor is made apparent by his speech. 
 Cor. IV, 3, 9. Instead of appeared the 
 Globe Ed. has approved. The Fl has 
 appeared^ which is decidedly more 
 Shakespearean. 
 
 apperil. Peril ; risk. Tim. 1, 2, 32. 
 
 appertainment. That which appertains, 
 as dignity, attributes, prerogatives. 
 Troil. II, 3, 87. 
 
 apple- John. A kind of apple that keeps 
 long, but becomes shriveled and wrink- 
 led. Said to keep for two years. The 
 variety is supposed to be lost. IHIV, 
 III, 3, 5. 
 
 appointment. Preparation; equipment. 
 Meas. Ill, 1, 60. 
 
 apprehension. Keenness of wit. Ado. 
 Ill, 4, 68. 
 
 apprehensive. Quick to understand. 
 Caes. Ill, 1, 67. 
 
 apricock. Apricot. Mids. Ill, 1, 173. 
 
 approbation. Probation. Meas. I, 2, 183. 
 
 approof. 1. Approval. Meas. II, 4, 174. 
 2. Proof; test. Of very valiant ap- 
 
AFP 
 
 44 
 
 ABI 
 
 proo/= proved or tested valor. All's. 
 II, 5, 3. 
 
 approve. 1. To prove. RII. I, 3, 112. 
 2. To justify. Lr. II, 4, 186. 
 
 apron-man. A mechanic. One who 
 wears an apron as the badge of his 
 trade. (See Cses. I, 1, 7.) Cor. IV, 6, 87. 
 
 apt. Natural; probable. 0th. II, 1, 296. 
 
 Aquilon. The north wind. Troil. IV, .5, 9. 
 
 Arabian bird. The phoenix. Ant. Ill, 2, 
 13 ; Cym. I, 6, 17. See phoenix. 
 
 Aracline. A Lydian maiden, daughter 
 of Idmon, who was a famous dyer. 
 She was a skilful weaver, and so proud 
 of her talent that she ventured to chal- 
 lenge Minerva (Athena) to compete 
 with her. Arachne produced a piece of 
 cloth in which the amours of the gods 
 were pictured, and as Minerva could 
 find no fault with it, she tore the work 
 to pieces, and Arachne hung herself. 
 The goddess loosened the rope and saved 
 her life, but the rope was changed into 
 a cobweb and Arachne herself into a 
 spider, the animal most odious to Mi- 
 nerva. Arachne'' s broken woof^ a 
 spider's web. Troil. IV, 2, 152. 
 
 The name is sometimes speUed Ari- 
 achne. 
 
 arch. Foremost; of the highest rank. 
 Strangely enough, Schmidt defines arch 
 as "wicked." It has no reference to 
 goodness or badness ; there are arch- 
 angels as well as arch-demons, and 
 many archbishops are undoubtedly 
 good men. 
 
 Arclibishop of Canterbury, Cranmer 
 dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal 
 Bourchier, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, Chickeley, 
 dr.p. HV. 
 
 Archbishop of York, Scroop, dr.p. 
 IHIV ; 2HIV. 
 
 Archbishop of York, Thomas Rotheram, 
 dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Archdulce of Austria, dr.p. John. 
 
 Archibald, Earl of Douglas, dr.p. IHIV ; 
 2HIV. 
 
 Archidamus, dr.p. A Bohemian lord. 
 Wint. 
 
 Arcite, dr.p. Nephew to Creon, King 
 of Thebes. Kins. 
 
 Arden. The forest in which the scene of 
 As. is laid. The location of Arden has 
 been the subject of much discussion, 
 but apparently without reaching any 
 very satisfactory conclusion, probably 
 for the reason that Sh. 's forest is purely 
 ideal and had no "local habitation." 
 The forest of Ardennes, in French 
 Flanders, has been very generally ac- 
 cepted as the forest that is meant ; but 
 more recently the forest of Arden, in 
 Warwickshire, seems to be recognized 
 as that which furnished Sh. with most 
 of his imagery. For a thorough pre- 
 sentation of the subject see " The Vari- 
 orum Shakespeare," by Dr. Furness, 
 Vol. VIII. 
 
 argal. The clown's corruption of the 
 Latin ergfo=therefore. Hml. V, 1, 13. 
 
 argentine. Silvery. Per. V, 1, 251. 
 
 Argier. Algiers. Tp. I, 2, 261. 
 
 argo. A corruption of ergo. See argal. 
 2HIV. IV, 2, 31. 
 
 argosy. Originally a vessel of Ragusa, 
 or Ragosa; a Ragosine. Hence, any 
 large merchantman. Merch. I, 1, 9. 
 
 Some derive the word from Argo^ 
 the name of the ship in which Jason 
 and his comrades sailed in search of the 
 golden fleece. 
 
 argument. Subject ; contents. IHIV. 
 11,4,310; Tim. II, 2, 187. 
 
 Argus, surnamed Panoptes, "the all-see- 
 ing," because he had a hundred eyes. 
 He was of superhuman strength, and 
 slew a fierce bull which ravaged Arca- 
 dia ; a satyr who robbed and mur- 
 dered; a serpent which rendered the 
 roads unsafe, and the murderers of 
 Apis. Hera then appointed him to 
 guard the cow into which lo had been 
 changed; but Hermes carried off the 
 cow, having first slain Argus. Hera 
 (Juno) transplanted his eyes to the tail of 
 her favorite bird, the peacock. LLL. 
 Ill, 1, 201 ; Merch. V, 1, 230. See lo, 
 
 Ariachne. See Arachne. 
 
 Ariel, dr.p. An airy spirit under Pros- 
 pero's command. Tp. 
 
AKI 
 
 ASC 
 
 Arion. The allusion to "Arion on the 
 dolphin's back " refers to the well- 
 known adventure of Arion as related 
 by Herodotus. Arion spent the greater 
 part of his life at the court of Perian- 
 der, at Corinth, but on one occasion he 
 went to Sicily, to take part in a musical 
 contest. He won the prize, and, laden 
 with presents, he embarked for Corinth 
 in a Corinthian ship. The sailors, cov- 
 eting his wealth, determined to murder 
 him, and the only favor they would 
 grant him was that he might once more 
 sing and play on his cithara. Arrayed 
 in festal attire, he sat on the prow of 
 the ship and sang and played. Many 
 dolphins gathered around, and one of 
 them, enchanted by the music, took 
 him on its back and carried him to 
 Taenarus, whence he made his way to 
 Corinth. Periander refused to believe 
 his story ; but when the vessel arrived 
 he questioned the sailors, and they said 
 they had left him happy and prosper- 
 ous at Tarentum. Then Arion, at the 
 bidding of Periander, came forward. 
 The sailors owned their guilt and were 
 punished. Tw. I, 2, 15. 
 
 Aristotle. Born at Stagira, in Macedo- 
 nia, B.C. 354. Hence called the Stagir- 
 ite. He is referred to in Troil. II, 2, 
 166. One of Sh's anachronisms. Troy 
 was taken B.C. 1184 — nearly 800 years 
 before Aristotle was born. 
 
 Armado, Don Adrian© de, dr.p. A fan- 
 tastical Spaniard. LLL. 
 
 arm. To take in the arms and lift. Cym. 
 IV, 2, 400; or, to take in one's arms 
 and embrace. Kins. V, 3. 
 
 armigero. A mistake for armiger, Latin 
 for esquire. Wiv. I, 1, 10. 
 
 arm-gaunt. A word of which the mean- 
 ing is unsettled. May have been formed 
 by the printers in reading some un- 
 intelligible manuscript. Singer sug- 
 gests "arrogant," which suits well 
 with the sense. Others suggest "ram- 
 pant," but the article an favours 
 "arrogant." Ant. I, 5, 47. 
 
 armipotent. Mighty in arms. LLL. V, 
 2, 650 ; All's. IV, 3, 265; Kins. V. 1. 
 
 aroint, ) Begone; avaunt. A word of 
 
 aroynt. i doubtful origin. Occurs twice 
 in Sh., viz., Mcb. I, 3, 6, and Lr. Ill, 4, 
 129. Said to be still used in Cheshire 
 by milkmaids in speaking to their cows, 
 with the meaning of get out of the 
 ivay. 
 
 Arragon, Prince of, dr.p. Suitor to Por- 
 tia. Merch. 
 
 arras. Tapestry covering the walls of a 
 room. Hml. II, 2, 163. 
 
 arrest. We arrest your words=we ac- 
 cept your word or take you at your 
 word. Meas. II, 4, 134 ; LLL. II, 1, 160. 
 
 arrose. To sprinkle. Kins. V, 4. 
 
 Artemidorus, dr.p. A sophist of Cnidus. 
 Csps. 
 
 Arthur, Prince, dr.p. Nephew to King 
 John. John. 
 
 Artliur's bosom. Mrs. Quickly's blun- 
 der for Abraham's bosom. HV. II, 
 3, 10. 
 
 Artliur's Sliow. An archery exhibition 
 by a society of London archers, who 
 assumed the names of Arthur and his 
 knights. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 303. 
 
 articulate. 1. To enter into articles of 
 agreement. Cor. I, 9, 77. 
 2. To specify. IHIV. V, 1, 72. 
 
 Arviragus, dr.p. Son of CymbeHne. 
 Cym. 
 
 arts-man. A scholar. LLL. V, 1, 85. 
 
 Ascanius. The son of ^neas by Creusa, 
 daughter of Priam. Cupid assumed his 
 shape in order to cause Dido to fall in 
 love with JEneas. 2HVI. Ill, 2. 116. 
 
 ases. The plural of as (that is of the 
 word itself). Most modern eds. give 
 as'es ; some, as-es ; Fl, assis. Ases of 
 great charge= reasons of great weight. 
 Johnson suggests that there is a pun or 
 quibble between as and ass (a beast of 
 burden), but there does not seem to be 
 the slightest ground for this. The mean- 
 ing is obvious ; and quibbles, puns and 
 jokes are entirely out of place in this 
 most serious conversation between 
 Hamlet and Horatio. 
 
 Ascapart. A giant vanquished by Sir 
 Bevis of Southampton. He was said to 
 have been thirty feet high ; he was coy- 
 
ASC 
 
 46 
 
 ATA 
 
 ered with bristles like a wild boar, and 
 " liker a devil than a man." 
 His staff was a young oak, 
 Hard and heavy was his stroke. 
 2HVI. II, 3, 93. See Bevis. 
 
 ascaunt. Aslant ; dia gonally ; across. In 
 most editions, aslant ; evidently related 
 to askance. Hml. IV, 7, 167. 
 
 asinico. An ass ; a stupid fellow. Troil. 
 II, 1, 49. From the Spanish asinico= 
 a little ass. 
 
 askance, vb. To cause to turn aside. 
 Lucr. 637. 
 
 askance, adv. Awry; with sidelong 
 glance. V. and A. 342. 
 
 aspect. Now always used as nearly sy- 
 nonymous with appearance. Sh. uses 
 it to express the act of looking, as in 
 Err. II, 2, 113, where it means glances, 
 looks. He also uses it in the astrologi- 
 cal, as well as in the common sense : 
 Heavens look with an aspect more fa- 
 vourable, Wint. II, 1, 107, referring to 
 the position, etc., of the planets. 
 
 aspersion. Sprinkling; hence blessing, 
 because before the reformation bene- 
 diction was generally accompanied by 
 the sprinkling of holy water. Tp. Ill, 
 3, 18. 
 
 aspicious. A blunder of Dogberry's for 
 suspicious. Ado. Ill, 5, 50. 
 
 aspire. Besides the ordinary meanings 
 Sh. uses it as synonymous with ascend. 
 Rom. Ill, 1, 122. 
 
 aspray. The osprey, q.v. 
 
 ass. In Lr. I, 4, 177, the reference is to 
 the fable of the old man and his son 
 who tried to please everybody, but 
 pleased nobody, and lost their ass into 
 the bargain. 
 
 assay, n. Attempt ; test. Meas. Ill, 
 
 1, 164. 
 
 assay, vb. To attempt ; to make proof. 
 Wiv. II, 1, 26. 
 
 assemblance. The entirety; totality; 
 aggregate. The "altogether," though 
 not in the Trilby sense. 2HIV. Ill, 
 
 2, 277. 
 
 assigns. Appendages ; belongings. An 
 
 affected expression. Hml. V, 2, 157. 
 assinego. See asinico. 
 
 assubjugate. To debase ; to lessen. Troil. 
 II, 3, 202. 
 
 assured. Betrothed ; affianced. Err. Ill, 
 2, 145 ; John II, 1, 535. 
 
 astronomer. The difference between the 
 term astronomer and astrologer was not 
 clearly defined in Sh. time. Astrono- 
 mer was often employed where now we 
 would use astrologer only, as in Troil. 
 V, 1, 100. The same applies to " astron- 
 omy." 
 
 Assyrian knight. A bombastic and mean- 
 ingless expression, used by Falstaff in 
 ridicule of Pistol. 2HVI. V, 3, 105. 
 
 Atalanta. There are two accounts of the 
 birth and life of Atalanta, but the one 
 most commonly received is as follows : 
 She was the daughter of Jason and 
 Clymene. Her father had hoped for a 
 son, and in his disappointment exposed 
 her on the Parthenian (virgin) hill. 
 She was suckled by a she-bear, the sym- 
 bol of Artemis (Diana), the protectress 
 of the young. She lived in pure maiden- 
 hoodj slew the centaurs who pursued 
 her, took part in the Calydonian hunt 
 and in games. Her father ultimately 
 recognised her and wished her to mar- 
 ry; but as the Delphic oracle had de- 
 clared that marriage would be fatal to 
 her she imposed such conditions on her 
 suitors as none would care to meet. 
 These were that her suitor should con- 
 tend with her in a foot-race ; if suc- 
 cessful he would gain her, but if un- 
 successful she was to put him to death. 
 One suitor, Meilanon, being favored by 
 Aphrodite, received from this goddess 
 three golden apples which he dropped 
 one after the other as he ran. Atalanta 
 stopped to pick them up and lost the 
 race. She and her husband having, by 
 their embraces, profaned the sanctity of 
 the sacred grove of Zeus, were changed 
 to two lions, and thus the oracle was 
 vindicated. 
 
 The passage in As. Ill, 2, 155, Ata- 
 lanta''s better part, has puzzled the 
 commentators. Furness fills over three 
 closely printed pages with the com- 
 ments that have been written upon it. 
 
ATE 
 
 47 
 
 AUB 
 
 His own summing up is most probably 
 correct. He says: " Nature's distilla- 
 tion resulted in Helen's face, Cleo- 
 patra's bearing, Atalanta's form and 
 Lucretia's modesty. " Some have said 
 that her better part was her heels ; but 
 this does not apply to Rosalind. Others, 
 that it was her chastity ; but this is as- 
 signed to Lucretia. 
 Ate. The goddess of mischief and strife. 
 Craik says : " This Homeric goddess 
 had taken a strong hold of Sh. imagin- 
 ation." See Ado. II, 1, 264; LLL. V, 
 
 2, 694 ; Cses. Ill, 2, 271. 
 
 According to Homer she was the 
 daughter of Jupiter; Hesiod says she 
 was the daughter of Eris (strife). Ju- 
 piter having been led by her to make a 
 rash promise to Juno was so enraged 
 at the result that he hurled her down 
 from heaven, and since then she has 
 been making mischief amongst men. 
 See Hercules. 
 
 Atlas. A giant who, with the other Ti- 
 tans, made war upon Jupiter, and was 
 condemned to support the heavens upon 
 his hands and head. 3HVI. V, 1, 36. 
 See Hercules and demi- Atlas. 
 
 attend. To watch for ; to wait for. 
 Sonn. XLIV, 13 ; Wiv. I, 1, 279 ; Kins. 
 IV, 1. 
 
 atomy. An atom ; the smallest particle 
 of matter. As. Ill, 2, 245 ; Rom. I, 4, 57. 
 Mrs. Quickly uses it by mistake for 
 anatomy (skeleton) as applied to a very 
 thin person; not as in contempt of a 
 small person, as the Globe glossary 
 has it. 2HIV. V, 4, 33. 
 
 atone. 1. To reconcile. 0th. IV, 1, 224. 
 2. To agree. As. V, 4, 116 ; Cor. IV, 
 6, 72. 
 
 Atropos. One of the Parcae or Fates. 
 2HIV. II, 4, 213. See Fates. 
 
 attack. To sieze ; to lay hold of . Tp.III, 
 
 3, 5 ; LLL. IV, 3, 375. 
 
 attaint. Stain; disgrace. Err. Ill, 2, 
 
 16 ; Lucr. 825. 
 attask. To reprehend ; to take to task. 
 
 Lr. I, 4, 366. 
 attend. To watch for ; to wait for. Sonn. 
 
 XLIV, 12 ; Wiv. I, 1, 279; Kins. IV, 1. 
 
 attent. Attentive. HmL I. 2, 193. 
 
 attorney. A substitute ; an agent. As. 
 IV, 1,94; RIIL V, 3, 83. 
 
 attorney ed. 1. Employed as an agent. 
 Meas. V, 1, 390. 
 2. Performed by proxy. Wint. I, 1, 30. 
 
 auburn. The color which is now known 
 as auburn is a reddish brown with a 
 tinge of "old gold." In Sh. time it 
 meant flaxen or whitish colored. Florio, 
 in his " New World of Words " (1611), 
 defines alburne as : " That whitish color 
 of woman's hair which we call an al- 
 burne or aburne color." The word oc- 
 curs but once in the Fl, in Gent. IV, 4, 
 194, and is there speUed aburne. See 
 abram. 
 
 audacious. Spirited; daring (but with no 
 sense of evil). LLL. V, 1, 5. 
 
 In many other passages the word li' 
 bears an intimation of evil. 
 
 Audrey, dr. p. A country girl. As. 
 
 The name is a contraction for Ethel- 
 dreda. See tawdry. 
 
 Aufidius, Tullus, dr.p. General of the 
 Volscians. Cor. 
 
 augur. Augury. Mcb. Ill, 4, 126. 
 
 auld. The Scottish or old English form of 
 old. 0th. II, 3, 99. 
 
 Dr. Schmidt, in his " Shakespeare 
 Lexicon," calls it " the vulgar form " I 
 
 Aumerle, Duke of, dr.p. Son of the 
 Duke of York. RII. 
 
 aunt. 1. A good old dame. Mids. II, 1, 51. 
 
 2. A loose woman. Wint. IV, 2, 11. 
 
 3. The aunt of Hector and his brothers, 
 whom the Greeks held, was Priam's 
 sister, Hesione, whom Hercules, being 
 enraged at Priam's breach of faith, 
 gave to Telamon, who by her had Ajax. 
 Troil. II, 2, 77. 
 
 Aurora. The goddess of the morning red. 
 Known to the Greeks as Eos. At the 
 close of every night she rose from the 
 couch of her spouse, Tithonus, and on 
 a chariot drawn by the swift horses 
 Lampus and Phaeton she ascended up 
 to heaven from the river Oceanus, to 
 announce the coming light of the sun 
 to the gods as well as to mortals. She 
 carried off several youths distinguished 
 
ATTT 
 
 4S 
 
 BAB 
 
 for their beauty, such as Orion, Cepha- 
 lus and Tithonus. Mids. Ill, 2, 380; 
 Rom. I, 1, 142. See morning''s love. 
 authentic. Of acknowledged authority. 
 
 Wiv. II, 2, 2a5. 
 Autolycus, dr.p. A pedlar and rogue. 
 Wint. 
 
 The Autolycus of the Greek legend 
 was the son of Mercury and the mater- 
 nal grandfather of Ulysses. He was a 
 robber who lived on Mount Parnassus, 
 and was famed for his cunning. In 
 Golding's translation of Ovid's " Meta- 
 morphoses," from which undoubtedly 
 Sh. took the name, he is thus described : 
 Now when she [i.e. Chione] full her time had 
 
 gon, she bare by Mercurye 
 A Sonne that hight AwMychus, who proude 
 
 a wily pye, 
 And such a fellow as in theft and filching 
 
 had no peere ; 
 He was his fathers owne sonne right ; he 
 
 could mens eyes so bleare 
 As for to make the blacke things white, and 
 white things blacke appeare. 
 See Mercury. 
 Auvergne, Countess of, dr.p. IHVI. 
 Ave. Latin for Hail! acclamation. 
 . Meas. I, 1, 71. 
 
 Ave Mary. The angelic salutation ad- 
 dressed to the Virgin Mary. The Ro- 
 
 man Catholics divide their chaplets 
 into a certain number of Ave Maries 
 and Paternosters. 2HVI. I, 3, 59; 
 3HVI. II, 2, 162. 
 
 averring. Confirming; alleging. Cym. 
 V, 5, 203. 
 
 avoid. Leave ; go away. HVIII. V, 1, 
 86 ; Cor. IV, 5, 25. 
 
 aweless. 1. Standing in awe or in fear 
 of nothing. John, I, 1, 226. 
 2. Not regarded with awe or rever- 
 ence. RIII. II, 4, 52. 
 
 awful. Reverential, awful men = men 
 who reverence or stand in awe of the 
 laws and usages of society. Gent. IV, 
 1, 86; RIL III, 3, 76, etc. 
 
 The expression "awful banks," in 
 2HIV. IV, 1, 176, has given rise to much 
 discussion. Johnson makes it "proper 
 limits of reverence ; " War burton had 
 changed awful to lawful. 
 
 awkward. 1. Distorted ; ill-founded. 
 HV. II, 4, 85. 
 
 2. Adverse. 2HVI. Ill, 2, 83 ; Per. V, 
 1,94. 
 
 ay, 1^ Yes. Generally spelled / in old 
 
 aye. ) editions, and this has given occa 
 sion for a great many puns. 
 
 ayword. Said to be improperly written 
 for nay wordy q.v. Tw. II, 3, 146. 
 
 The second letter of the al- 
 phabet. Fair as a text B in 
 a copybook. LLL. V, 2, 42. 
 cj^^g^ rpjj^ letter B seems to be a fa- 
 vorite for comparisons. The Princess 
 has just said of Rosaline, Beauteous as 
 ink, the black color of which is opposed 
 to fair. Upon this exchange of wits Ma- 
 son makes the following remarks : "Ros- 
 aline says that Biron had drawn her 
 picture in his letter; and afterwards, 
 playing on the word letter, Katherine 
 compares her to a text B. Rosaline in 
 reply advises her to beware of pencils, 
 
 that is, of drawing likenesses, lest she 
 should retaliate, which she afterwards 
 does by comparing her to a red domini- 
 cal letter and calling her marks of the 
 small-pox O's." See dominical. 
 
 baby. The usual term for a very young 
 child. Sometimes applied to images, 
 as aglet-baby q.v. As used by Sh. in 
 Mcb. Ill, 4, 103 : 
 
 If trembling I inhabit then, protest me 
 
 The baby of a girl. 
 
 The word is usually said to mean a 
 
BAC 
 
 BAF 
 
 doll. We doubt the correctness of this 
 interpretation. A doll does not tremble 
 or exhibit f eaf . The literal sense is far 
 more forceful; "the baby of a girl," 
 that is, the child of an immature female 
 who is incapable of bringing forth 
 sturdy progeny like that of a fully de- 
 veloped woman, and whose infant is 
 therefore doubly a baby. 
 The lines in Tim. I, 2, 116 : 
 Joy had the like conception in our eyes 
 And, at that instant, like a babe sprung 
 up, 
 are thus explained by Nares : "The 
 miniature reflection of himself which a 
 person sees in the pupil of another's 
 eye, on looking closely into it, was 
 sportively called by our ancestors a 
 little boy or baby, and made the subject 
 of many amorous allusions. . . As 
 it requires a very near approach to 
 discern these little images, poets make 
 it an employment of lovers to look for 
 them in each other's eyes." Johnson 
 explains it as "a weeping babe." This 
 does not seem as forcible. 
 
 baccare. A cant word, meaning go back, 
 used in allusion to a proverbial saying, 
 " Backare, quoth Mortimer to his sow ;" 
 probably made in ridicule of some man 
 who affected a knowledge of Latin 
 without having it, and who produced 
 his Latinized English words on the 
 most trivial occasions. Nares. Shr. 
 II, 1, 73. 
 
 Bacchus. The god of wine. The son of 
 Zeus or Jupiter and Semele. Festivals 
 known as Dionysia, from his Greek 
 name Dionysus, were held in his honor, 
 and on these occasions his priestesses, 
 called Moenads or Bacchantes., worked 
 themselves up into a state of frenzy by 
 wine and other means, and wandered 
 about the country carrying thyi'si and 
 behaving in a wild and licentious 
 manner. The thyrsus was a staff en- 
 twined with vine leaves and surmounted 
 with pine cones. Bacchus was the 
 original cultivator of the vine and the 
 discoverer of wine. Among the women 
 who won his love none is more famous 
 
 in ancient history than Ariadne, for 
 whose story see Ariadne. LLL. IV, 3, 
 339. 
 
 back-friend. A bailiff ; so called because 
 he generally comes behind his victim 
 when he makes an arrest. Err. IV, 
 2. 37. 
 
 back-swordsman. A single-stick player. 
 2HIV. Ill, 2, 71. 
 
 backward. That which lies behind ; the 
 past. Tp. I, 2, 50. 
 
 backward, adv. Perversely. She would 
 spell him backward=niake his virtues 
 appear vices. Ado. Ill, 1, 61. 
 
 back-trick. A caper backwards in danc- 
 ing. Tw. I, 3, 133. 
 
 Schmidt suggests " the trick of going 
 back in a fight," but nothing had yet 
 been said to Sir A. about fighting. 
 
 bacon. A country fellow, bacon being a 
 staple article of food in the country. 
 IHIV. II, 2, 95. 
 
 For some fatuous but amusing lucu- 
 brations on this word, after the manner 
 of Sergeant Buzfuz, see the "Great 
 Cryptogram," by Ignatius Donnelly. 
 In this work the author brings forward 
 "bacon," used as the designation of a 
 man, as being unknown elsewhere, and 
 therefore manufactured by Lord Bacon 
 for the purpose of bringing his name 
 into the cipher ! 
 
 bacon-fed. Country-bred. 2HIV. II, 2, 
 88. 
 
 The modem form is chaw-bacon, a 
 very common expression in England. 
 One of the illustrations etched by Cruik- 
 shank for Bentley's Miscellany was 
 that of ' ' Giles Chaw-bacon. ' ' In Frank 
 Forester's Warwick Woodlands, a 
 country boy is called "a chaw-bacon." 
 Bacon -fed is also slang for "fat, 
 greasy." See " Slang Dictionary." 
 
 badged. Marked as with a badge. Mob. 
 II, 3, 107 ; ef. 2HVI. Ill, 2, 200. 
 
 baffle. To use contemptuously. 2HIV. 
 V, 3, 109; RII, I, 1, 170; IHIV. I, 2, 
 113. 
 
 Nares tells us that baffling was 
 originally a punishment of infamy, in- 
 flicted on recreant knights, one part of 
 
BAO 
 
 50 
 
 BAN 
 
 which was hanging them up by the 
 heels. The word was also applied to 
 any contemptuous usage, as in Tw. V, 
 1, 337. 
 Bagot, dr. p. Favorite of Richard II. 
 
 RII. 
 bailie. See hallow. 
 
 bait. To feed or take refreshment. The 
 word in this sense is quite old and 
 occurs in Spenser's, "Fairy Queen," I, 
 XII, a5. Only once in Sh. HVIII, V, 
 4, 85. But the word in all its significa- 
 tions is only a form of the word bite ; 
 thus, to bait (i.e., to take refreshment) 
 is to bite ; to bait a bear is to make the 
 dogs bite him ; to bait fish is to induce 
 them to bite. In these latter senses 
 it occurs quite often. Err. II, 1, 94 ; 
 Tw. Ill, 1, 130 ;,2HVI. V, 1, 148. 
 
 baked-meats. Meat-pies, pastry; not 
 merely meat or flesh baked in an oven. 
 Rom. IV, 4, 5 ; Hml. I, 2, 180. 
 
 You speak as if a man 
 Should know what fowl is coffin'd in a 
 
 bak'd meat 
 Afore it is cut up. 
 
 White DevU (Old Play). 
 
 baker. See owl. 
 
 Bajazet's mule. This passage (AU's. IV, 
 
 1, 46) has given great trouble to the 
 commentators. Warburton says that we 
 should read mute, and refers to HV. I, 
 
 2, 232, for the expression Turkish mute. 
 Reed refers to a so-called philosopher 
 who undertook to teach a mule to speak. 
 There is a Scotch story to the effect 
 that a certain charlatan undertook to 
 teach a mule to speak in ten years, and 
 agreed with the king that if he did not 
 succeed his life would be the forfeit. 
 When his friends charged him with 
 being a fool for incurring the risk of 
 certain death, he replied : " Not so ; the 
 king may die, or the mule may die, or 
 I may die myself, so that I have three 
 good chances for escape, and in the 
 meantime I live like a prince." But 
 all this does not explain Parolles' saying. 
 His tongue had brought him into trouble 
 by giving utterance to certain boasts, 
 the meaning of which was obvious. 
 
 He will therefore exchange his tongue 
 for a mule's tongue which utters much 
 noise without any meaning at all. 
 bald. Naked; bare. Cor. Ill, 1, 164. 
 Hence, by inference, senseless ; empty. 
 IHIV. I, 3, 65. 
 baldric k. A belt. Ado. I, 1, 252. 
 bale. Evil ; mischief. Cor. I, 1, 169. 
 balk. To balk logic=to dispute ; to chop 
 
 logic. Shr. I, 1, 34. 
 balk'd. Heaped up in balks or ridges. 
 IHIV. I, 1, 69. This word seems to 
 have puzzled the commentators. R. G. 
 White thinks it a misprint for barked, 
 the sense of which is not obvious. 
 Others have suggested bak''d and bathed. 
 The word, like many others in Sh., is 
 Scottish or old English. See Jamieson's 
 Dictionary. 
 ballow. A cudgell. Lr. IV, 6, 237. 
 
 The word bailie which occurs in the 
 accepted text in Wiv. I, 4, ,92, is ballow 
 in Fl, and is pronounced unintelligible 
 by Schm. Ballow is undoubtedly a cor- 
 ruption of the French word baillez, 
 the imperative of bailler, which signi- 
 fies to give. 
 balm, n. The oil of consecration. RII. 
 Ill, 2, 55. Juice of balm. Wiv. V, 5, 
 66. It was a feature of our ancient 
 luxury to rub tables, chairs, etc., with 
 aromatic herbs. The Romans did the 
 same to drive away evil spirits. 
 balm, V. 1. To anoint. Shr. Ind, I. 48. 
 
 2. To heal. Lr. Ill, 6, 105. 
 Balthasar, dr.p. Servant to Portia. 
 
 Merch. 
 Balthasar, dr.p. Servant to Don Pedro. 
 
 Ado. 
 Balthasar, dr.p. Servant to Romeo. 
 
 Rom. 
 Balthazar, dr.p. A merchant. Err. 
 ban. To curse. Lucr. 1460. 
 Banbury cheese. A gibe at Slender 's 
 thinness— Banbury cheese being pro- 
 ■verbially thin. Steevens quotes from 
 " Jack Drum's Entertainment " : " Put 
 off your clothes, and you are like a 
 Banbury cheese — nothing but paring." 
 Wiv. I. 1, 130. 
 band. Bond ; security. 3HIV. I, 2, 37. 
 
BAN 
 
 51 
 
 BAR 
 
 ban-dogs. Watch dogs, so called from 
 their being bound up or chained. 2HVI. 
 I, 4, 21. 
 
 bandy. To fight ; to contend ; a metaphor 
 taken from striking the balls at tennis. 
 As. V, 1, 62 ; Rom. II, 5, 14. 
 
 banquet. Dessert. Shr. V, 2, 9 ; Rom. 
 I, 5, 126. 
 
 bank'd. Sailed past their towns on the 
 banks of the river. The idea taken from 
 the old play, " The Troublesome Raigne 
 of King John." Dyce. John V, 2, 104. 
 
 Banquo, c?r .p. A Scottish general. Mcb. 
 
 Baptista Minola, dr.p. A rich gentle- 
 man of Padua. Shr. 
 
 Barbason. The name of one of the fiends 
 in the old demonology. Wiv. II, 2, 315. 
 
 barbed. Protected by armour (said of a 
 horse). RII. Ill, 3, 117. 
 
 barber. To shave and di-ess the nair ; to 
 dress up generally. Ant. II, 2, 229. 
 
 Bardolph, dr. p. A follower of Falstaff, 
 who appears in Wiv., in First and Sec- 
 ond HIV. and in HV., where he was a 
 soldier and was hung for stealing. 
 
 Bardolph, Lord, dr.p. An enemy to the 
 king. 2HIV. 
 
 bare. To shave. Meas. IV, 2, 188 ; Alls. 
 . IV, 1, 54. 
 
 bare=foot, to dance. It was a popular 
 notion that unless the elder sisters danced 
 bare-foot at the marriage of a younger 
 one they would inevitably become old 
 maids. Shr. II, 1, 34. See ape. 
 
 barful. Full of impediments. Tw. I, 4,41. 
 
 bargain, to sell a. To make one ridicu- 
 lous. LLL. Ill, 1, 102. Capel tells us 
 that " selling a bargain " consists in 
 drawing a person in, by some stratagem, 
 to proclaim himself a fool by his own 
 lips. Thus, when Moth makes his master 
 repeat the Venvoy, ending in the goose, 
 he makes him proclaim himself a goose, 
 according to rustic wit, and this Cos- 
 tard calls selling a bargain well. 
 
 barley=break. An ancient rural game. 
 Kins. IV, 3. It was thus described by 
 Gifford : " It was played by six people, 
 three of each sex, who were coupled by 
 lot. A piece of ground was then chosen 
 and divided into three compartments. 
 
 of which the middle one was called hell. 
 It was the object of the couple con- 
 demned to this division to catch the 
 others, who advanced from the two ex- 
 tremities, in which case a change of 
 situation took place and hell was filled 
 by the couple who were excluded by 
 pre-occupation from the other places; 
 in this catching, however, there was 
 some difficulty, as by the regulations of 
 the game the middle couple were not to 
 separate before they had succeeded, 
 while the others might break hands 
 whenever they found themselves hard 
 pressed. When all had been taken in 
 turn, the last couple were said to be in 
 hell, and the game ended." The game 
 is often referred to by the early English 
 dramatists. There is another form of 
 the game played in Scotland and the 
 north of England and described by Dr. 
 Jamieson in his "Etymological Diction- 
 ary of the Scottish Language." 
 i barm. Yeast. Mids. II, 1, 38. 
 I barnacle. A kind of shell-fi^ (Lepas 
 anatifera) from which it was fabled 
 that the barnacle goose was produced. 
 Tp. IV, 1, 249. 
 Barnardine, dr.p. A dissolute prisoner. 
 
 Meas. 
 barne. A child. A word still used in 
 Scotland, generally in the modified form 
 bairn. AUs. I, 3, 28. Wint. Ill, 3, 70. 
 Also Ado. Ill, 4, 49, where there is a 
 pun on barns (farm buildings) and 
 barnes (children). 
 Barrabas. The robber whom the Jews 
 chose before Jesus. John's Gospel, 
 XVIII, 40; Merch. IV, 1, 296. Sh. 
 took his spelling of the name from the 
 I old version of the New Testament. 
 I Bartholomew-pig. Roasted pigs were at 
 i one time among the chief attractions of 
 I Bartholomew Fair, London. They were 
 displayed in booths and on stalls to 
 excite the appetite of passers-by and 
 were sold piping hot. Falstaff, in ridi- 
 cule of his rotund, greasy figure, is 
 called a " little tidy Bartholomew 
 boar-pig." 2HIV. II, 4, 2.50. Johnson 
 says that it was "a little pig made of 
 
BAS 
 
 52 
 
 BAV 
 
 paste [dough?], sold at Bartholomew 
 Fair, and given to children for their 
 . fairing." 
 
 base. A game, sometimes called prisoner's 
 base. Cym. V. 3, 20. 
 
 base-court. The lower court in a castle 
 (French basse-cour). RII. Ill, 3, 182. 
 
 bases. A kind of embroidered mantle 
 which hung down from the middle to 
 about the knees, or lower, worn by- 
 knights on horseback. Nares. Per. II, 
 
 I, 167. 
 
 baseness. Illegitimacy; bastardy. Wint. 
 
 II, 3, 78. ^QQ forced. 
 Basilisco-like. This term alludes to a 
 
 stupid play, printed in 1599, called 
 " Soliman and Perseda." One of the 
 characters is Basilisco, who is a coward- 
 ly, bragging knight. Piston, a buffoon 
 servant in the play, jumps on his back 
 and makes him swear to certain terms. 
 The dialogue is as follows : 
 Ba8. O, I swear, I swear. 
 put. By the contents of this blade— 
 Bas. By the contents of this blade— 
 Pist. I, the aforesaid Basilisco— 
 Bas. I, the aforesaid Basilisco— knight, 
 good fellow, knight, knight— 
 
 Pist. Knave, good fellow, knave, knave— 
 The play, though a wretched produc- 
 tion, was at one time very popular. It 
 has been attributed to Kyd. 
 basilisk. 1 . A kind of ordnance or canon. 
 IHIV. II, 3, 56. 
 
 2. A fabulous serpent said to kill by its 
 look. Wint. I, 2, 388. 
 Bassanio, dr.p. A friend of Antonio, 
 
 q.v. Merch. 
 Basset, dr.p. Of the Red Rose faction. 
 
 IHVI. 
 Bassianus, dr.p. Brother of Saturninus. 
 
 Tit. 
 basta. Enough (from the Italian). Shr. 
 
 I, 1, 203. 
 bastard. A sweet Spanish wine. Meas. 
 
 III, 2, 4. 
 
 Bastard of Orleans, dr.p. IHVI. 
 
 batch. A portion; a lot. Troil. V, 1, 5. 
 Not necessarily baked bread as Schm. 
 gives it. "Crusty " in this connection 
 has no reference to crust (as of bread), 
 but is a variant of curst= ill-tempered. 
 
 bate, n. A quarrel. 2HIV. II, 4, 271. 
 
 bate, V. 1. To blunt. LLL. I, 1, 6. 
 2. A term in falconry meaning to flutter 
 the wings as after bathing or when 
 eager for food or prey. It is therefore 
 freely used by old writers to signify 
 eagerness, as in Rom. Ill, 2, 14 ; Shr. 
 IV, 1, 199. In HV. Ill, 7, 122, there is 
 a quibble between hate as defined above 
 and hate in the sense of diminishing. 
 
 Bates, dr.p. A soldier. HV. 
 
 bateless. Not to be blunted or dulled. 
 Lucr, 9. 
 
 bat-fowling. A method of catching birds 
 on dark nights by means of torches. 
 The birds, being roused from their roost, 
 fly towards the lights and are caught 
 with nets or knocked down with poles. 
 Tp. II, 1, 185. 
 
 batlet. A little bat used by washer- 
 women. As. II, 4, 49. 
 
 batten. To feed grossly ; to fatten. Hml. 
 Ill, 4, 67. 
 
 battery. Assault; a series of strokes. 
 Ant. IV, 14, 39. 
 
 battle. 1. An army. John, IV, 2, 78; 
 IHIV. IV, 1, 129. 
 2. A division of an army. 3HVI. 1, 1, 8 ; 
 Mcb. V, 6, 4. 
 
 batty. Like a bat. Mids. Ill, 2, 365. 
 
 bauble. The licensed fool's or jester's 
 "official sceptre or bauble, which was 
 a short stick ornamented at the end 
 with a figure of a fool's head, or some- 
 times with that of a doll or puppet. 
 * * * Aaron [Tit. V, 1, 79,] refers to 
 that sort of bauble or scepter which was 
 usually carried by natural idiots and 
 allowed jesters, and by which it may be 
 supposed that they sometimes swore." — 
 Douce. 
 
 Bavian, The. An occasional, but not a 
 regular character in the old Morris 
 dance. He was dressed up as a baboon, 
 and his office was to bark, tumble, play 
 antics, and exhibit a long tail with what 
 decency he could. The word is from the 
 Dutch baviaan, a baboon. Kins. Ill, 5. 
 
 bavin. A bundle or faggot of brushwood ; 
 sometimes refers to the brushwood it- 
 self, as IHIV. Ill, 2, 61. 
 
BAW 
 
 53 
 
 BEL 
 
 bawcock. A fine fellow ; a term of coarse 
 endearment. From the French beau 
 and coq. Tw. Ill, 4, 125 ; HV. Ill, 2, 26. 
 
 bay. The space between the main timbers 
 of the roof. Meas. II, 1, 2.55. 
 
 The folios have it bay, but Pope sug- 
 gested day, which is no doubt correct. 
 We have no reason to believe that 
 hoases were rented at so much per bay, 
 which is but one point in the value of a 
 dwelling. It certainly is quite as likely 
 that the rate of the rent of " the fairest 
 house" in Vienna woidd be stated in 
 days as in mere size. 
 
 beadsman, } One who repeats prayers 
 
 bedesman, y for another. Grent. 1, 1, 18 ; 
 RII. Ill, 2, 116. 
 
 bean-fed. &>ee filly. 
 
 bearing cloth. A rich cloth in which 
 children were wrapped at their christen- 
 ing. Wint. Ill, 3, 119. 
 
 bear. 1. A well-known animal. The bear 
 and the ragged staff were the cog- 
 nizance of the Nevils, Earls of War- 
 wick; hence the allusion in 2HVI. V, 
 1,144. 
 
 2. The constellation (Ursa Major) known 
 as " The Dipper," etc. Oth. II, 1, 14. 
 
 bear in hand. To keep in expectation ; 
 to amuse with false pretences. Meas. 
 I, 4, 51 ; Mcb. Ill, 1, 81 ; Cym. V, 5, 43. 
 
 bear a brain. To have a good memory. 
 Rom. I, 3, 29. 
 
 bear-whelp, unlick'd. It was an old 
 opinion that "the bear brings forth 
 only shapeless lumps of animated flesh 
 which she licks into the form of bears. " 
 —Johnson. HVI. Ill, 2, 161. 
 
 bear me hard. Evidently an old phrase 
 =does not like me ; bears me a grudge. 
 Craik. Caes. I, 2, 31T ; Caes. Ill, 1, 157. 
 
 beat. To flutter as a falcon ; to meditate ; 
 to consider earnestly. Tp. I, 2, 176. 
 
 Beatrice, dr. p. Niece of Leonato. Ado. 
 
 Beau, Le, dr.p. A courtier. As. 
 
 Beaufort, Henry, dr.p. Bishop of Win- 
 chester. IHVI. 
 
 Beaufort, Cardinal, dr.p. Bishop of 
 Winchester. 2HVI. 
 
 Beaufort, John, dr.p. Earl, afterwards 
 Duke of Somerset. IHVl. 
 
 Beaufort, Thomas, dr.p. Duke of Exeter, 
 Governor of Harfleur. HV. and IHVI. 
 
 beautified. Beautiful. Hml. II, 2, 110. 
 This word, as used in this sense, is called 
 by Sh. (through Polonius) "a vile 
 phrase," but it was in use by the best 
 writers immediately preceding Sh. 
 time. Query : Did Sh. give it the 
 modem meaning of made beautiful ? 
 If so, it is indeed a vile phrase when 
 applied to a young woman. 
 
 beaver. The visor of a helmet. It may 
 be raised to give the wearer an oppor- 
 tunity of taking breath when oppressed 
 with heat, or, without putting off the 
 helmet, of taking his repast. 2HIV. 
 
 IV, 1. 120; Hml. 1,2,230. 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, dr.p. Brother of Henry 
 
 V. HV. 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, dr.p. Regent of France ; 
 brother of Henry V. IHVI. 
 
 bedded. Lying flat, Schm. ; matted, Clark 
 and Wright. Hml. Ill, 4, 121. 
 
 bedlam. A corruption of Bethlehem. 
 The hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, 
 in London (originally a priory), was 
 used as an asylum for lunatics, and the 
 patients when discharged as cured, 
 though perhaps only partially cured, 
 were licensed to beg. They wore on 
 the left arm an armilla or badge of tin 
 about four inches long and were known 
 as bedlam beggars. Jack or Tom, o' 
 Bedlam. Lr. I, 2, 148 ; 2HVI, III, 1, 
 51. Hence 6ed^am=lunatic. John, II, 
 1, 183. 
 
 bed-swerver. One who is false to the 
 marriage bed. Wint. II, 1, 93. 
 
 beef-witted. Having an inactive brain, 
 thought to be caused by eating too 
 much. TroU. II, 1, 14 ; cf. Tw. I, 3, 
 90 and Caes. I, 2, 194. 
 
 beetle. A kind of maUet. 2HIV. I, 2, 
 25.5. A three-man beetle =& beetle so 
 heavy that it takes three men to handle 
 it. See fillip. 
 
 befortune. To happen to ; to fall to 
 one's lot. Gent. IV, 3, 41. 
 
 bed. See Ware. 
 
 Beelzebub, l In the New Testament 
 
 Belzebub. ) Beelzebub is called the 
 
54 
 
 BEH 
 
 ' ' prince of the devils, ' ' In the language 
 of the Philistines the name has been sup- 
 posed to signify either the god of hosts 
 or the god of heaven. The Jews, who 
 delighted in disfiguring the names of 
 false gods by a play upon words, called 
 him in derision the dung-god or god of 
 ffies. Tw. V, 1. 291; HV. IV, 7, 145'; 
 Mcb. II, 3, 4. 
 beg. In LLL. V, 2, 490, the expression 
 you cannot beg us means that you can- 
 not apply to be our guardian. In the 
 old common law was a writ de idiota 
 inquirendo, under which, if a man was 
 legally proved an idiot, the profit of his 
 lands and the custody of his person 
 might be granted by the king to any 
 subject. Such a person, when this 
 grant was asked, was said to be begged 
 for a fool. One of the legal tests of a 
 natural or fool was to try whether he 
 could number, and this is illustrated in 
 the play. See fool-begged. 
 behaviour. This word has a peculiar 
 sense in John, I, 1, 3 : 
 Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of 
 
 France - 
 In my behaviour. 
 
 Johnson explains it as: "The King 
 of France speaks in the character which 
 I here assume," Fleay says: "Not 
 only in my words, but in my bearing 
 and manner — my assumption of super- 
 iority." 
 being, n. Dwelling. Cym, I, 6, 54. 
 being, adv. When. Ado. V, 1, 61. 
 being, vb. The passage. Ant. Ill, 6, 29 : 
 And, being, that tve detain All his 
 revenue — evidently means that "he 
 being deposed, that we retain, etc." 
 Bel. The god of the Chaldaeans, Ado, 
 III, 3, 144. 
 
 The word Bel signifies Lord, and Bel 
 was one of the highest of the Babylonian 
 deities. To him was attributed the crea- 
 tion of the world and the gift of healing 
 diseases. He was supposed to eat and 
 drink like a human being, and the 
 apocryphal book of Daniel relates his 
 detection of the cheat of Bel's priests, 
 who came every night through private 
 
 doors, to eat what was offered to their 
 deity. 
 Belarius, dr. p. A banished lord; dis- 
 guised under the name of Morgan, Cym. 
 Belcli, Sir Toby, dr.p. Uncle of Olivia. 
 
 Tw, 
 be-leeM. One vessel is said to be in the 
 lee of another when it is so placed that 
 the wind is intercepted from it, lago's 
 meaning, therefore, is that Cassio had 
 got the wind of him and be-calmed him 
 from gaining promotion. 0th. I, 1, 30. 
 beil. Bells were attached to hawks by 
 the falconers. They served various pur- 
 poses, amongst others, to frighten game- 
 birds. Hence the allusions in Lucr. 
 511 ; 3HVI. I, 1, 47. 
 bell, book, and candle. "In the solemn 
 form of excommunication used in the 
 Romish Church, the bell was tolled ; the 
 book of offices for the purpose used ; and 
 three candles extinguished with certain 
 ceremonies." Nares. John, III, 3, 12. 
 Bellona. The goddess of war. By Bel- 
 lona\s bridegroom Macbeth is, of course, 
 meant. Mcb. I, 2, 54. 
 
 It is very probable that Bellona was 
 originally a Sabine deity. She is fre- 
 quently mentioned by the Roman poets 
 as the companion of Mars, or even as 
 his sister or his wife. Her temple became 
 of political importance, for in it the 
 senate assembled to give audience to 
 foreign ambassadors. In front of the 
 entrance to the temple stood a pillar 
 which served for making the symbolical 
 declarations of war, the area of the 
 temple being regarded as a symbolical 
 representation of the enemies of the 
 country, and the pillar as that of the 
 frontier. The declaration of war was 
 made by launching a spear over the 
 pillar. 
 belly-pinched. Starved; hungry. Lr. 
 
 Ill, 1, 13. 
 belly-doublet. A doublet made very long 
 in front, and usually stuffed or bom- 
 basted so as to project considerably in 
 front. LLL. Ill, 1, 19. 
 Belzebub. See Beelzebub. 
 be-mete. To measure. Shr. IV, 3, 113. 
 
BEM 
 
 55 
 
 BES 
 
 betnoil. To bemire ; to daub with dirt. 
 Shr. IV, 1, 77. 
 
 bending. The expression, our bending 
 author (HV. Epilogue, 2) means : un- 
 equal to the weight of his subject and 
 bending beneath it. Or he may mean, 
 as in Hml. Ill, 2, 160: "Here stooping 
 to your clemency. " Steevens. Probably 
 the first. 
 
 bends. The passage in Ant. II, 2, 213 : 
 and made their bends adornings, has 
 given rise to endless conjecture as to its 
 meaning. The Variorum of 1821 con- 
 tains six pages of comment upon it, and 
 there has probably been more than 
 that offered since. Professor Rolfe 
 gives the following as the most accept- 
 able interpretation: "The part of 
 North's account [in his translation of 
 Plutarch] which corresponds to made 
 their beyids adornings seems to be the 
 statement that the gentlewomen were 
 apparelled ' like the Graces ;' and this 
 might suggest a reference to grace in 
 their movements. We believe that in. 
 all that has been written on the passage 
 no one has called attention to the very 
 close paraphrase of North which Sh. 
 gives: 'Her ladies and gentlewomen 
 * * * were apparelled like the Nymphs 
 Nereids (which are the mermaids of the 
 waters) and' — after getting so far we 
 have only to seek a parallel for 'like 
 the Graces ;' and may we not find it in 
 made their bends adornings f — made 
 their very obeisance, as they tended 
 her^ like that of the Graces waiting on 
 Venus." 
 
 Benedick, dr.p. A young lord of Padua. 
 Ado. 
 
 The term Benedict is used to signify a 
 married man, and the Century, Stand- 
 ard, and other large dictionaries tell us 
 that it is derived from this character in 
 Ado. Brewer (" Phrase and Fable ") has 
 the following : "A married man, from 
 the Latin benedictus (a happy man) and a 
 skit on the order of St. Benedict, famous 
 for their ascetic habits, and, of course, 
 rigidly bound to celibacy. Sh. , in Ado. , 
 avails himself of this joke in making 
 
 Benedick, the young lord of Padua, rail 
 against marriage, but afterwards marry 
 Beatrice, with whom he falls in love." 
 So that whether Sh. took the idea from 
 a common joke or the joke originated 
 with Sh. seems to be a question to be 
 settled. " Benedick is an easy form of 
 Benedict. " — Century Dictionary. 
 
 Bennet. A contraction of Benedict. The 
 Church of St. Benedick, or Bennet, was 
 at Paul's Wharf, London. It was des- 
 troyed in the great fire of 1666. Tw. V, 
 1,42. 
 
 bent. A term used by Sh. for the utmost 
 degree of any passion or mental quality. 
 The expression is derived from archery. 
 The bow has its bent when it is drawn 
 as far as it can be. Johnson. 
 
 bent brow. Frowning brow. IHVI. V, 
 3, 34 ; 3HVI. V, 2, 19 ; Kins. Ill, 1. 
 
 Benedictus. See Carduus. 
 
 ben venuto. (Ital.) Welcome. LLL. IV, 
 2, 164. Shr. I, 2, 282. 
 
 Benvolio, dr.p. A friend of Romeo. 
 Rom. 
 
 bergomask. A rustic dance framed in 
 imitation of the people of Bergomasco 
 (a province in the State of Venice) , who 
 are ridiculed as being more clownish in 
 their manners and dialect than any 
 people in Italy. All the Italian buffoons 
 imitate them. Nares. Mids. V, 1, 360. 
 
 Berkeley, Earl, dr.p. RII. 
 
 Bermoothes. This is the Spanish pronun- 
 ciation of Bermudas. "The islands 
 are called 'still-vexed,' that is, con- 
 stantly, always vexed by tempests, from 
 the accounts of them which early voy- 
 agers brought home, and which were 
 so unvarying in their character that, 
 as Hunter says, the Bermudas became 
 a commonplace in Sh. time whenever 
 storms and tempests were the theme." 
 Furness. Tp. I, 2, 229. 
 
 Bernardo, dr.p. An ofHcer. Hml. 
 
 Bertram, dr.p. Count of Rousillon. Alls. 
 
 beslabber. To besmear. IHIV. II, 4, 
 244. 
 
 besort, n. Suitable surroundings- Pth. 
 I, 3, 239. 
 
 besort, v. To suit. Lr. I, 4, 272. 
 
BES 
 
 56 
 
 BIB 
 
 Bessy. Malone tells us that there is a 
 peculiar propriety in the address of 
 Mad Tom to Bessy — Mad Tom and Mad 
 Bessy being usually companions. "Bess 
 of Bedlam" was a character as well 
 known among the vagrants of the day 
 as "Tom o' Bedlam." Lr. Ill, 6, 27. 
 See bedlam. 
 
 bested. Another form of bestead. Placed; 
 situated. Worse bested = placed in 
 worse circumstances. 2HVI. II, 3, 56. 
 
 bestraught. Distraught ; distracted. Shr. 
 Ind. II, 26. 
 
 beteem. l. To pour out. Mids. 1, 1, 131. 
 2. To allow. Hml. I, 2, 141. 
 
 betid. Happened. Tp. I, 2, 31. 
 
 Bevis, Sir, of Southampton. Referred 
 to in HVIII. I, 1, 38. Also in the old 
 qu. ed. of 2HVI, II, 3, 93, though the 
 passage, as Bevis of Southampton fell 
 upon Ascapart, is omitted from the 
 accepted text. Bevis was a Saxon whom 
 William the Conqueror is said to have 
 created Earl of Southampton. 
 
 bezonian. A needy fellow. From Ital. 
 besogno, or French besoin. Cot. thus 
 explains the old French bisongne ; " A 
 filthie knave or clown, a raskall, bis- 
 onian, base humored scoundrell," 2HIV. 
 V, 3, 118. Frequently, but erroneously, 
 printed with a capital as if referring to 
 the native of some country. Pistol's 
 question is a quotation from an old play 
 current in the time of Sh. 
 
 Bianca, dr.p. Mistress of Cassio. 0th. 
 
 Bianca, dr.p. Sister of Katherine. Shr. 
 
 Bigot, Robert, dr.p. Earl of Norfolk. 
 John. 
 
 biding. Abiding place. Lr. IV., 6, 228. 
 
 bigamy. This term does not always 
 mean having two wives at the same 
 time, as it does with us. " Bigamy, 
 by a canon of the council of Lyons, 
 A.D. 1274 (adopted in England by a 
 statute in 4 Edward I), was made un- 
 lawful and infamous. It differed from 
 polygamy or having two wives at once, 
 as it consisted in either marrying two 
 virgins successively, or once marrying 
 a widow." Blackstone. RIII. Ill, 7, 
 189. 
 
 biggin. A night-cap. 2HIV. IV, 5, 26. 
 
 bilberry. The whortleberry (Vaccinium 
 Myrtillus). Wiv. V, 5, 49. 
 
 Called in Scotland the blaeberry (blue- 
 berry). It stains the lips a deep, pur- 
 plish blue. Whortle is generally pro- 
 nounced hurtle, and it is probable that 
 this, when transferred to New England, 
 became ' ' huckleberry, ' ' and was applied 
 to a similar berry of a different species. 
 See robin. 
 
 bilbo. A sword-blade manufactured at 
 Bilbao, Spain, and noted for its flexi- 
 bility and fine temper. Wiv. Ill, V, 112. 
 
 bilbos. Iron fetters or shackles. Hml. 
 V 2 6 
 
 bill. 1. A kind of pike or halbert, for- 
 merly carried by the English infantry, 
 and afterward the usual weapon of 
 watchmen. Nares. Ado. Ill, 3, 44; 
 Rom. I, 1, 80. In Ado. Ill, 3, 191 and 
 2HVI. IV, 7, 135, there is a pun upon 
 bills (weapons) and bills (accounts). 
 2. A placard posted by public challen- 
 gers. Dyce. Ado. I, 1, 39. 
 
 bin. Are. Frequently rendered ts, which 
 is a grammatical error, bin being plural. 
 In Fl, Cym. II, 3, 28, reads : 
 And winking Mary -buds begin to ope their 
 
 Golden eyes 
 With everything that pretty is, my Lady 
 sweet arise. 
 
 In order to make a rhyme to begin, 
 Hanmer wrote : 
 
 And winking Mary -buds begin 
 
 To ope their golden eyes 
 With all the things that pretty bin. 
 My Lady sweet, arise. 
 Most modern editors very properly 
 restore the old reading, but Warburton, 
 Johnson, and many others retain bin. 
 bird-bolt. A short, thick arrow with a 
 broad, flat end, used to kill birds with- 
 out piercing — by the mere force of the 
 blow. Frequently ascribed to Cupid. 
 Ado. I, 1, 42. Nares. See bolt. 
 birding. Hawking at partridges. Wiv. 
 
 III, 3, 247. 
 
 birth-child. A child adopted on account 
 of being born in a certain domain. Per. 
 
 IV, 4, 41. 
 
BIS 
 
 57 
 
 BLE 
 
 bisson. 1. Purblind. Cor. II, 1, 70. 
 2. Blinding. Hml. II, 2, 529. 
 
 In Cor. Ill, 1, 131, the text stands : 
 bosome-niultiplied in all the folios. 
 Collier's MS., as given in his notes, 
 reads bisson tmdtitude, and this is the 
 reading in every important subsequent 
 edition. The Cambridge eds. credit 
 this correction to Dyce, which is cer- 
 tainly wrong. 
 
 bite. The phrase : I will bite my thumb 
 at them (Rom. I, 1, 48) seems to indicate 
 a mode of insult common in Sh. time. 
 Decker, in his " Dead Term," has the ex- 
 pression : " What byting of thumbs to 
 beget quarrels!" Cot. s.v. nique, has 
 " Faire la nique. To mocke by nodding, 
 or lifting up of the chinne ; or more 
 properly, to threaten or defie by putting 
 the thumbe naile into the mouth, and 
 with a jerke (from th' upper teeth) 
 make it to knacke. " See ear. 
 
 bitter-sweeting. A kind of apple which 
 seems to have been used for making 
 sauce. Rom. II, 4, 83. 
 
 Black Monday. Easter Monday. Merch. 
 II, 5, 2.5. 
 
 So called from the severity of that 
 day, April 14, 1360, which was so extra- 
 ordinary that of Edward Ill's soldiers 
 then before Paris, many died with the 
 cold. 
 
 blacks. Mourning clothes. Wint. I, 2, 
 133. 
 
 bladed corn. No difficulty has ever been 
 suggested in regard to bladed grass 
 (Mids. I, 1, 211), but the expression 
 bladed corn (Mcb. IV, 1, 5.5) has given 
 rise to considerable discussion since the 
 publication of Collier's "Notes." On 
 the famous second folio margin Col- 
 lier found bleaded, that is, in the ear, 
 substituted for bladed, which signifies 
 the stage just before the ear is fuUy 
 developed ; he has adopted this reading 
 on the ground that while corn in the 
 ear {bleaded) is often lodged by storms, 
 com in the blade, or leaf, is not liable 
 to this accident. But it seems to me 
 that this is the very reason why 
 " bladed " is the correct reading. Any i 
 
 moderately heavy rain-storm will cause 
 corn in the ear to lodge, but it requires 
 a terrific storm of wind and rain to 
 cause com in the blade to lodge, and 
 this is just what Macbeth meant : 
 " Though the storm be so severe as to 
 cause com to lodge even while in the 
 blade." It must be borne in mind that 
 corn here means wheat. 
 Blanch, of Spain, dr. p. Daughter of 
 Alphonso, King of Castile, and niece to 
 King John. John. 
 blank. "The white mark in the middle of 
 a target ; hence, metaphorically, that 
 which is aimed at. Wint. II, 3, 5. 
 blanks. A mode of extortion by which 
 blank papers were given to the agents 
 of the crown, which they were to fill 
 up as they pleased, to authorize the 
 demands they chose to make. Nares. 
 RII. II, 1, 251. 
 blazon. Publication ; revelation. Hml^ 
 
 I, 5, 21. See eternal. 
 blear. To inflame or make sore ; hence 
 to make the sight dim. Shr. V, 1, 120. 
 Blear-eyed has been suggested as the 
 true reading of Tp. 1, 2, 270, which stands 
 in the accepted text blue-eyed ; in Fl 
 blew-ey''d. The term "blue-eyed " con- 
 veys no disagreeable impression, while 
 blear-eyed very weU describes the offen- 
 sive look of an old witch whose eyes are 
 inflamed and blinking owing to the 
 smoke of her hut and her incantations. 
 Dr. Furness accepts blue-eyed as refer- 
 ring to the arcus senilis, the bluish 
 circle which appears in the cornea in 
 old age, and which "is wont to give a 
 baleful expression." For a complete 
 review, see the new Variorum ed. by 
 Furness. See blue-eyed. 
 blench. To start aside ; to flinch. Meas. 
 
 IV, 5, 5 ; Hml. II, 2, 626. 
 blenches. Inconstancies. Sonn. CX, 7. 
 bless. To defend from ; to keep from. 
 A common use of the word among old 
 writers. Ado. V, 1, 145 ; RIII. Ill, 3, 
 5 ; Troil. II, 3, 32. 
 
 God bless the mark. Merch. II, 2, 25. 
 Of this expression Rolfe says, "the 
 origin and meaning are alike obscure." 
 
BLI 
 
 58 
 
 BOL 
 
 The Clarendon ed. tells us that it is 
 used " as a parenthetic apology for some 
 profane or vulgar word ;" in such cases 
 = save your reverence. But it seems 
 to me more likely that in this case it is 
 = God save us — i.e., from the devil 
 whom he is about to name ; the mark 
 being probably the sign of the cross. 
 
 blindworm. A small lizard {Anguis 
 fragilis), sometimes erroneously called 
 a snake. It is without feet and has 
 small eyes covered with moveable lids. 
 Generally supposed to be blind ; hence 
 the name. Also supposed to be deaf 
 and exceedingly poisonous. It is neither 
 blind nor deaf, and is not poisonous. 
 
 blistered. Garnished with puff s. HVIII. 
 I, 3, 31. 
 
 block. I. The wood on which a hat- is 
 formed. Ado. I, 1, 78. 
 2. The fashion of a hat. Lr. IV, 6, 188. 
 
 blood. In blood is a term in hunting, 
 and signifies in perfect condition. LLL. 
 IV, 2, 4; IHVI. IV, 2, 48. / 
 
 blood-boltered. See bolter. \. 
 
 blood, worst in. In worst condition. Cor. 
 I, 1, 141. 
 
 blood-sized. Smeared over with blood, 
 as with size or glue. Kins. I, 1. 
 
 blow. To puflP up. Tw. II, 5, 48. 
 
 blowse. A coarse, redfaced beauty. Tit. 
 IV, 2, 73. 
 
 blue-bottle. A name given in derision 
 to the beadles on account of their blue 
 coats. 2HIV. V, 4, 23. It is a curious 
 fact that in modern London slang police- 
 men still are called " blue- bottles. " 
 
 blue-eyed. Explained by some editors as 
 having a blue or blackish circle round 
 the eyes. Dr. Furness claims that those 
 eyes which Sh. called blue would be, by 
 us, called grey; a somewhat difficult 
 thing to prove. See blear. 
 
 blue-cap. A Scot, so-called from the blue 
 bonnets worn by the Scots. IHIV. II, 
 4, 392. 
 
 Blunt, Sir James, dr. p. Great-grandson 
 of the Sir Walter Blunt in IHIV. ; RIII. 
 
 Blunt, Sir Walter, dr.p. Personated the 
 the king at the battle of Shrewsbury, 
 and was killed by Douglas. IHIV. 
 
 blurted at. Sneered at. Per. IV, 3, 34. 
 
 boar of Thessaly. A monstrous animal 
 which Diana sent to waste the fields of 
 Calydon, because CEneus, the king of 
 the place, once neglected to offer up a 
 sacrifice to the goddess. No one dared 
 to attack the terrible animal until Mel- 
 eager, who had just returned from the 
 Argonaulic expedition, gathered a band 
 and attacked it. Meleager slew it with 
 his own hand. See Althcea. 
 
 board, n. Table. Err. V, 1, 64. "Our 
 ancestors took their meals on loose 
 boards, supported by trestles, and this 
 custom continued tiU Sh. time, and 
 probably after. Capulet, in Rom. I, 5, 
 29, directs his servants to " turn the 
 tables up " to make room, by which it 
 appears that they were loose boards 
 placed upon moveable stands. " — Toone. 
 Steevens says these boards were hinged 
 together, but this was not generally the 
 case. 
 
 board, vb. To accost. Shr. I, 2, 95. 
 
 bob, n. A blow ; metaphorically a sar- 
 casm. As. II, 7, 55. 
 
 bob, V. 1. To strike ; to beat. RIII. V, 
 3, 334. 
 
 2. To knock. Mids. II, 1, 49. 
 
 3. To get in a cunning, underhand man- 
 ner. 0th. V, 1, 16 ; TroH. Ill, 1, 75. 
 
 bodge. To yield ; to give way. 3HVI. 
 
 I, 4, 19. Some define bodge = a bungle 
 or botch. 
 
 bodikin, j Literally a little body. God's 
 
 body kins. ( 5odt//cm,s= God's little body. 
 Wiv. II, 3, 46 ; Hml. II, 2, 554. Said to 
 have referred originally to the sacra- 
 ment. 
 
 bodkin. An instrument for piercing; 
 hence a small dagger. Hml. Ill, 1, 76. 
 
 boggier. A swerver ; a vicious or in- 
 constant woman. Ant. Ill, 13, 110. 
 
 Bohemian Tartar. One of the Host's 
 bombastic and nonsensical phrases. 
 Wiv. IV, 5, 21. Some have suggested 
 that it means gipsy. 
 
 boitier vert. (French.) A green box. 
 Wiv. I, 4, 47. 
 
 bold, ad/. Confident ; full of trust. Cym. 
 
 II, 4, 2 ; LLL. II, 1, 28. 
 
BOL 
 
 BOO 
 
 bold, V. To embolden ; to encourage. Lr. 
 V, 1, 26. 
 
 bolin. Bowline. Per. Ill, 1, 43. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Henry, surnamed, dr.jj. 
 Son to John of Gaunt, and afterwards 
 Henry IV. RII. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Roger, dr.p. A conjuror. 
 2HVI. 
 
 bollen. Swollen. Lucr. 1417. 
 
 bolt, n. 1. A sort of arrow. See bird- 
 bolt. The shaft was sharp and generally 
 barbed. Hence the proverb : " To make 
 a shaft or a bolt of it" — i.e., to make 
 one thing or another of it. Wiv. Ill, 
 4, 24. The explanation of Schm. : '"I 
 will take the risk," does not quite 
 meet the case. A fooVs bolt = a point- 
 less arrow, fools not being trusted with 
 dangerous weapons. HV. Ill, 7, 132; 
 As. V, 4, 67. 
 
 bolt, V. To sift ; to refine. Wint. IV^, 3, 
 377. 
 2. To fetter ; to chain up. Ant. V, 2, 6. 
 
 bolter. A sieve. IHIV. Ill, 3, 81. 
 
 bolting^hutch. The wooden receptacle 
 into which meal is bolted. Steevens. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 495. 
 
 bombast. Padding ; cotton used to stuff 
 out garments. IHIV. II, 4, 495. 0th. 
 I, 1, 13 ; LLL. V, 2, 791. 
 
 bombard. A leathern vessel used for 
 holding liquor ; a jack or black jack. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 497. Baiting of bombards 
 = swilling liquor or refreshing your- 
 selves out of bombards. HVIII. V, 4, 
 85. Used metaphorically for a cloud in 
 Tp. II, 2, 21. 
 
 Bona, Lady, dr.p. The Princess Bonne 
 of Savoy, sister to the French queen. 
 3HVI. 
 
 bona-roba. A woman of light character, 
 so called because they are generally 
 showily dressed. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 26. 
 
 bones. 1. Fingers. By these ten bones (i.e. 
 fingers). 2HVI. 1, 3, 193. An old form of 
 asseveration, c.f. Hml, III, 2, 348. Some- 
 times takes the form by my hand, as in 
 2HVI. V, 3, 29. Fl. Some eds. change 
 this to by my faith. See pickers. 
 2. Pieces of bone used for beating time 
 in music. Mids. IV, 1, 32. See Tongs. 
 
 3. Bobbins used for making lace, and 
 generally made of bone. Tw. II, 4, 46. 
 
 4. O, their bones, their bones ! Rom. 
 II, 4, 37. Unintelligible in its present 
 form, which is that of the accepted text. 
 Sch. suggests that it means : I should 
 like to beat them. The most probable 
 suggestion is that of Theobald, who 
 reads 6on's, the plural of the French 
 word bon. Mercutio has just been 
 ridiculing his Frenchified countrymen 
 for their pardonnez-moVs, and now 
 turns to their use of the word bon which 
 they use instead of " good." 
 
 bonfire. A blazing fire kindled in some 
 open place ; generally made on the 
 occasion of some rejoicing. Wint. V, 2, 
 24 ; 0th, II, 2, 5. A very general idea 
 is that the syllable bon is the French 
 bon = good, but the accepted etymology 
 is that the word is bone-fire— a fire of 
 bones, and that it refers to the burning 
 of saints' relics in the time of HVIII. 
 The words appears to be no older than 
 his reign. Skeat. 
 
 bonjour. French for good-day. Tit. I, 
 1, 494. 
 
 bonneted. Cor. II, 2, 30. Generally said 
 to mean took off their bonnets. To 
 express this idea our present form would 
 be unbonneted (but cf. loose and un- 
 loose). Cot. has "bonneter — to put off 
 his cap unto;" but this is the French 
 idiom. Dyce says : " The passage is 
 very awkward and obscure ;" but the 
 meaning obviously is that his ascent 
 was not so easy as that of those who 
 merely flattered the people and took 
 off their caps to them without perform- 
 ing any meritorious deeds. Compare 
 Cor. V, 1, 5 : 
 
 and knee 
 The way into his mercy. 
 
 bonny. Handsome ; fair ; beautiful. Set. 
 Ado. II, 3, 69; Shr. II, 1, 187; Hml. IV, 
 5, 187. 
 
 book. In addition to the usual meanings, 
 sometimes signifies any writing or paper, 
 as in IHIV. Ill, 1, 224 and 270. In 
 your books = in your good graces. See 
 also bell, book, and candle. 
 
BOO 
 
 60 
 
 BOW 
 
 book-mate. A fellow student. LLL. IV, 
 
 1, 102. 
 book-oath. An oath made on the Bible. 
 
 2HIV. II, 1, 111. 
 boot. Booty. HV. I, 2, 194 ; IHIV. II, 
 
 I, 91. In the latter passage there is a 
 quibble between boots^ foot-covering, 
 and boots, plunder. 
 
 In the phrase give rtie not the boots, 
 Grent. I, 1, 27, the allusion has been sup- 
 posed to be to the boot, an instrument 
 of torture, and the meaning is : "do 
 not torture me." It is also said that 
 " to give one the boots "is an old pro- 
 verbial expression signifying to make a 
 laughing stock of one. The French 
 have an old phrase, Bailler foin en 
 come, which Cot. interprets : " To give 
 one the boots ; to sell him a bargain." 
 See bargain. 
 
 Borachio, dr.p. Follower of Don John. 
 Ado. 
 
 bore. 1. The caliber of a gun or a mea- 
 sure of its size. Hml. IV, 6, 26. 
 2. A hole. Cor. IV, 6, 87. The bores 
 of hearing = the ears. Cym. Ill, 2, 59. 
 
 borrower's cap. The borrower is sup- 
 posed to be ever ready to off with his 
 cap and show complaisance to him from 
 whom he wishes to obtain a loan. 2HIV. 
 
 II, 2, 124. 
 
 bosky. Woody. Tp. IV, 1, 81; IHIV. 
 V 1 2 
 
 bosom. 1. The breast. Abraham'' s bosom 
 = the abode of the blessed. The passage 
 in Hml. II, 2, 113 : To her excellent 
 white bosom these, is thus explained by 
 Nares : " Affectation pervaded even the 
 superscriptions of letters in former 
 times ; they were usually addressed to 
 the bosom, the fair bosom, etc., of a 
 lady. * * * Women anciently had 
 a pocket in the forepart of their stays, 
 in which they not only carried love- 
 letters and love-tokens, but even their 
 money and materials for needlework." 
 2. Wish ; heart's desire. Meas, IV, 3, 
 139 ; Wint. IV, 4, 574. For bosom mul- 
 tiplied, see bisson. 
 
 botcher. A mender of old clothes. All's. 
 IV, 3, 211. 
 
 bots. A worm which infests the digestive 
 tract of horses. IHIV. II, 1, 11 ; Shr. 
 Ill, 2, 56. Sometimes used as an exe- 
 cration, as in Per. II, 1, 124. 
 
 bottle. A small bundle or truss. This 
 word has no relation to the word bottle 
 which signifies a vessel for holding 
 liquids. It is the diminutive of the 
 French botte, a bundle of hay, flax, etc. 
 Skeat. The word is still in use in the 
 proverb : " to look for a needle in a bottle 
 of hay"— a saying which conveys no 
 sense until we understand the meaning 
 of bottle. Mids. IV, 1, 37. In some old 
 works an ostler is called a bottle-man. 
 See cat. 
 
 bottled. Having a lump or hump (not 
 necessarily in front). Hence = hunch- 
 back. Bottled spider : A large, bloated, 
 glossy spider, supposed to contain venom 
 proportionate to its size. Ritson. RIII. 
 
 1, 3, 242. 
 
 Bottom, Nick, dr.p. A weaver who takes 
 a part in the play of Pyramus and 
 Thisbe. Mids. 
 
 bottom, n. A ball of thread. Shr. IV, 
 3, 138. 
 
 bottom, vb. To wind thread. Gent. Ill, 
 
 2, 53. 
 
 Boult, dr.p. A servant. Per. 
 
 bound, vb. To cause to leap. HV. V, 
 2, 145. 
 
 Bourbon, Duke of, dr.p. HV. 
 
 Bourchier, Thomas, dr.p. Archbishop of 
 Canterbury and Cardinal. RIII. 
 
 bourn. 1. A boundary. Hml. Ill, 1, 79; 
 Wint. I, 2, 134. 
 
 2. A brook ; equivalent to the Sco. word 
 burn. Lr. Ill, 6, 27. 
 
 bowget. A leathern pouch ; a budget. 
 Wint. IV, 2, 20. 
 
 bow-hand. The hand that holds the bow, 
 usually the left. Wide o' the bow hand. 
 LLL. IV, 1, 135. A phrase borrowed 
 from archery. If the bow be not held 
 very steadily when the string is released 
 to let the arrow fly, the bow will turn 
 and the arrow will fly wide of the 
 mark. Hence, wide o' the bow-hand = 
 his aim or intention is good, but skill 
 and strength are lacking. 
 
BOW 
 
 61 
 
 BBA 
 
 bow-strings. Hold, or cut bow-strings. 
 Mids. I, 2, 114. This singular expression 
 is thus explained by Capell : " When a 
 party was made at butts, assurance of 
 meeting was given in the words of that 
 phrase ; the sense of the person using 
 them being that he would keep promise 
 or they might cut his bow-strings ; de- 
 molish him for an archer." i 
 
 Boyet, dr. p. A lord in attendance on i 
 the Princess of France. LLL. | 
 
 boy-queller. Boy-killer. A term of re- i 
 proach, as if the subject were able to ! 
 fight with boys only. Troil. V, 5, 45. 
 
 boy, V. In Sh. time, female characters \ 
 were acted by boys. See Hml. II, 2. j 
 Cleopatra dreads that she should see 
 some squeaking Cleopatra boy her 
 greatness — that is, personate her on 
 the stage. Ant. V, 2, 220. See ivoman. 
 
 Brabantio, dr.p. A senator, father of 
 Desdemona. 0th. 
 
 brabble. A quarrel. Tw. V, 1, 69. 
 
 brace. Armour for the arm. Per. II, 
 1, 133. cf. Vantbrace. Figuratively, 
 the word sometimes stands for defence 
 in general, as in 0th. I, 3, 24. 
 
 brach. 1. A dog that hunts by scent. 
 Lr. Ill, 6, 72. 
 
 2. A female dog. Lr. I, 4, 125 ; IHIV. 
 Ill, 1, 240. 
 
 Brackenbury, Sir Robert, dr.p. Lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower. RIII. 
 
 braid, adj. Deceitful. All's. IV, 2, 73. 
 
 braid, v. To reproach. Per. I, 1, 93. 
 Malone, followed by some, prints the 
 word braid, as if it were an abbrevia- 
 tion of u2obraid. See gins. 
 
 brain. Beaten with brains = mocked. 
 Ado. V, 4, 104; a hot brain = skill in in- 
 vention. Wint. IV, 4, 701. Boiled brains 
 = hot-headed fellows. Wint, III, 3, 64. 
 Much throwing about of brains = much 
 satirical controversy. Hml. II, 2, 376. 
 Cure thy braines [Now vselesse) boile 
 within thy skidl. Tp. V, 1, 60 (as in 
 Fl.). Modern editions, boiVd for boile. 
 This passage has given rise to much dis- 
 cussion, but the general meaning is 
 obvious. Alonso had been under the 
 spell of Prosper© and had been driven 
 
 crazy by what had happened to him, so 
 that his brains were useless, or "boil- 
 ing." Prospero commands him and his 
 companions to stand while the music 
 does its work and the charm dissolves. 
 For a full discussion see Tempest. New 
 Variorum, ed. by Furness, page 238. 
 brake. The only meaning given to this 
 word by Schm. is thicket. In HVIII. 
 
 I, 2, 75, it has been suggested that it 
 means an engine of torture like the so- 
 called Duke of Exeter''s daughter, but 
 a path beset with thorns and briars is 
 equally forcible. The passage in Meas. 
 
 II, 1, 39: Some run from brakes of 
 ice, has thus far defied the commenta- 
 tors. Rowe read, through brakes of 
 vice. Ingleby, in his " Hermeneutics " 
 devotes considerable space to this pass- 
 age, but to my mind without clearing 
 it up. 
 
 branched. Adorned with needlework re- 
 presenting flowers and twigs. Schm. 
 Tw. II, 5, 54. 
 
 Brandon, Sir William. Ealled at Bos- 
 worth. RIII. 
 
 Brandon, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 brands. There is a difference of opinion 
 as to the meaning of this word in Gym. 
 II, 4, 91 : 
 
 two winking Cupids 
 Of silver, each on one foot standing, nicely 
 Depending on their brands. 
 
 Some think the brands are torches, as in 
 Sonn. CLIII, 1, and CLIV, 2, and that 
 the Cupids leaned on their inverted 
 torches while standing on one foot. 
 This would certainly be the best ar- 
 rangement mechanically, as it would 
 give two points of support to each 
 image. Others claim that the brands 
 are the brand-irons, or that portion of 
 the andirons which supported the logs, 
 and that the Cupids stood with one foot 
 on these. Such an arrangement would 
 be mechanically very weak, and not 
 likely to be used by a good workman. 
 A Cupid standing on one foot and un- 
 obtrusively supported by his inverted 
 brand, while having a light, airy, and 
 artistic look, would be very strong. 
 
BBA 
 
 BRI 
 
 bras. The French for arm. HV. IV, 4, 
 18. It is pronounced bra, and attention 
 has frequently been called to the error 
 made by Sh. when Pistol mistakes it for 
 brass, the s in the French word being 
 silent. From this it has been inferred 
 that Sh. knowledge of French must have 
 been very slight. It has been suggested 
 that the pronunciation may have been 
 different in his time, but we know that 
 this was not the case, for Eliot, in his 
 *'Orthoepia Gallica," published in 1593, 
 directs that bras de fer be pronounced 
 bra de fer. Sh. may have had a read- 
 ing although not a speaking knowledge 
 of French. 
 
 brave, n. Boast. John, V, 2, 159. 
 
 brave, adj. 1. Bold ; courageous. 2HVI. 
 IV, 8, 21. 
 
 2. Well-dressed ; splendid ; beautiful. 
 Tp. I, 2, 6 ; III, 2, 104. 
 
 The word here takes the French mean- 
 ing. See face. 
 
 bravery. 1. Finery. Shr. IV, 3, 57. 
 2. Boastfulness. Hml. V, 2, 79. 
 
 brawl. A kind of dance. LLL. Ill, 1, 9. 
 From the French branle, to shake. 
 " It was performed by several persons 
 uniting hands in a circle and giving 
 each other continual shakes, the steps 
 changing with the time." Douce. 
 
 break. To carve. LLL. IV, 1, 56. See 
 capon. Broken mouth = a mouth from 
 which some of the teeth are gone. 
 Broken music = music on stringed in- 
 struments. ' ' The term originating pro- 
 bably f rbm harps, lutes, and such other 
 stringed instruments as were played 
 without a bow, not having the capability 
 to sustain a long note to its full duration 
 of time. " As. I, 2, 150 ; Troil. Ill, 1, 52. 
 This was the explanation first offered 
 by Chappell, but he afterwards changed 
 his opinion and supposed that it was 
 music by a set of instruments from 
 which some of the pieces are absent. All 
 explanations of the phrase seem to be 
 mere conjectures, so that one is as good 
 as another. 
 
 breast. Voice. Tw. II, 3, 20, 
 
 breathe. 1. To exercise. Hml. V, 2, 181. 
 
 2. To rest. Cor. I, 6, 1. Breathe in your 
 watering = stop and take breath while 
 you are drinking. IHIV. II, 4, 17. 
 Also employed in other and more usual 
 senses. 
 
 breathed. Rendered strong by exercise. 
 LLL. V, 2, 659 ; As. I, 2, 230; Shr. Ind. 
 II, 50. 
 
 breeched. The passage in Mcb. II, 3, 122 : 
 Their daggers unmannerly breeched 
 with gore has had many explanations, 
 none satisfactory. The general meaning 
 is obvious enough, but some of the 
 words have defied the commentators. 
 
 breeching. A whipping. I am no breech- 
 ing scholar in the schools, means : 
 I am no schoolboy liable to be whipt. 
 Shr. Ill, 1, 18. 
 
 breed=bate. One who fosters quarrels. 
 Wiv. I, 4, 12. 
 
 breese. The gadfly. Troil. I, 3, 48; 
 Ant. Ill, 10, 14. 
 
 Briareus. Referred to in Troil. I, 2, 30. 
 Known also as ^gaeon. He was the 
 son of Uranus by Gsea. He had two 
 brothers, Gyges and Cottus, and the 
 three were known as the Uranids. They 
 are described as huge monsters, with a 
 hundred arms and fifty heads each. On 
 one occasion, when the Olympian gods 
 were about to put Zeus in chains, Thetis 
 called in the assistance of -(Egaeon, who 
 compelled the gods to desist from their 
 intention. Being hated by Uranus, they 
 were concealed in the depth of the earth, 
 but when the Titans made war upon Zeus 
 they were delivered from their prison 
 that they might assist him. They over- 
 came the Titans by hurling three hun- 
 dred rocks at once. 
 
 The opinion which regards JEgaeon 
 (Briareus) and his brothers as only 
 personifications of the extraordinary 
 powers of nature, such as are manifested 
 in the violent commotions of the earth, 
 as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and 
 the like, seems to explain best the various 
 accounts given of them. 
 
 bribed bucl(. A buck divided into parts 
 to be given away. Wiv. V, 5, 27. 
 This expression has caused much un- 
 
BSI 
 
 BBO 
 
 necessary perplexity. Halliwell gives 
 stolen; Theobald, sent as a prize or 
 present ; Schm., apreseyit made to cor- 
 rupt a person, but, as if not satisfied 
 with this, tells us to compare with de- 
 formed, disdained, etc. Singer gives 
 the meaning which we have adopted, 
 because we find in Cot. (1611) : " Bribe : 
 f. a peece, lumpe, or cantill of bread 
 giuen vnto a begger." 
 bride=house. A public hall for celebrat- 
 ing marriages, which seems to have 
 been one of the social arrangements of 
 ancient times. Nares. Kins. I, 1. 
 brief. A contract of espousals ; a license 
 of marriage. Dyce. All's. II, 3, 186. 
 Schm. pronounces this passage unin- 
 telligible : 
 
 the favour of the king 
 Smile upon this contract ; whose cere- 
 mony 
 Shall seem expedient on the now-born 
 
 brief, 
 And be performed to -flight : 
 
 Fl. and F2. have *' now borne ;" others 
 " now born. " The word expedient evi- 
 dently carries its etymological meaning 
 and signifies quickly, immediately (see 
 expedient). The meaning, therefore, is 
 obvious : the ceremony [of marriage] 
 shall follow immediately on the con- 
 tract just made [now born] and be per- 
 formed to-night. 
 brinded. Brindled ; of a gray or tawny 
 color, with streaks or bars of a darker 
 hue. The word occurs but once in Sh. , 
 Mcb. IV, 1, 1. The association of 
 witches and cats is to be found in the 
 folk-lore of almost all nations; but gen- 
 erally the "familiar" of the witch is 
 supposed to be a perfectly black cat, 
 without a single white hair in its fur. 
 Here, however, the cat is gray, and in 
 the same play (I, 1, 9) it is to Gray- 
 malkin that the witch makes i-esponse. 
 In heraldry it means spotted. 
 
 bring. To conduct; to lead; to accom- 
 pany. Meas. I, 1. 63. To he with a 
 person to bring is a phrase which is 
 common in the old dramatists, but of 
 
 which no quite satisfactory explanation 
 has been given. Dyce gives several 
 examples of its use, and from these it 
 would seem to have meant to get even 
 with, to humiliate. It occurs but once 
 in Sh. Troil. I, 2, 305. We give two 
 illustrative quotations : 
 And heere He have a fling at him, 
 
 that's flat ; 
 And, Balthazar, He be with thee to 
 
 bring, 
 And thee, Lorenzo, etc. 
 
 Kyd's Spanish Tragedy. 
 
 Why did not I strike her ? but I will 
 
 do something 
 And be with you to bring before you 
 
 think on't. 
 
 Shirley : Tlie BaU. 
 
 brize. See breese. 
 
 broach. 1. To pierce through ; to trans- 
 fix. Tit. IV, 2, 85. 
 
 2. To set abroach, q.v. Shr. I, 2, 84 ; 
 3HVI. II, 2, 1.59 ; Tit. II, 1, 67. 
 
 brock. A badger ; used as a term of re- 
 proach. Tw. II, 5, 114. 
 
 brogue. A stout, heavy shoe, probably 
 made of very coarse leather. Cym. IV, 
 2, 214. Schm., following Nares, says a 
 wooden shoe. Doubtful if wooden shoes 
 are ever clouted. See clout. 
 
 broke. To act as a procurer. All's. Ill, 
 5, 74. 
 
 broken music. See break. 
 
 broker. A go-between, frequently in a 
 vile sense. Compl. 173; John, II, i, 
 568 and 582. 
 
 brooch. To adorn. Ant. IV, 13, 25. 
 
 brook. Flying at the brook = hawking 
 at water fowl. 2HVI. II, 1, 1. 
 
 broom-groves. Groves of broom. Fl. 
 broome groues. Tp. IV, 1, 66. This 
 word has given much trouble to the 
 commentators, so much, indeed, that 
 Hanmer changed the word to brown 
 groves, the point made being that the 
 broom plant does not grow large enough 
 to form a grove. It has been suggested 
 that by broome Sh. merely meant the 
 tree from which brooms are made, and 
 that this was quite as often the birch as 
 the broom. Nares. Schm. interprets 
 the word as "groves or woods over- 
 
BBO 
 
 64 
 
 BUG 
 
 grown with genista " (broom) ; but if 
 my memory fails not, the broom plant 
 does not grow freely in the shade of 
 trees. In rich land the broom grows 
 quite tall, high enough to cast the 
 shadow spoken of in the text, and so 
 far as the word grove is concerned, 
 such terms are very apt to be elastic. 
 Burns speaks of "groves o' sweet 
 myrtle," and etymologists tell us that 
 "the original sense must have been a 
 glade or lane cut through trees. " Skeat. 
 Grove probably did not have quite the 
 meaning which we now attach to it, 
 but rather that of thicket. Cot. s.v. 
 Chesnaye has "Chesnaye: f. A wood, 
 groue, or thicket of oakes." At any 
 rate the broom is a favorite plant with 
 lovers; the Scotch love songs are full 
 of it. 
 
 broomstaff. The handle of a broom. 
 They came to the b. to me = they came 
 within a broomstaff's length of me. 
 HVIII. V, 4, 57. 
 
 brotherhood. 1. A trading company. 
 Troil. I, 3, 104. 
 2. A religious order. Rom. V, 2, 17. 
 
 Brownist. An adherent of a Puritan 
 sect founded in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth by Robert Browne. Dyce 
 says that Browne left the sect. Nares 
 tells us that he died in jail in 1630, aged 
 about 80 years. Tw. Ill, 2, 34. 
 
 bruising-irons. Weapons. RIII. V,3,110. 
 c/. Troil. II, 3, 18. Also Psalm ii, 9. 
 (Prayer-book version) Hunter. Accord- 
 ing to Henley, bruising-iron = the mace 
 with which some of the English cavalry 
 were armed, but this idea is gross and 
 unpoetical. The expression occurs in 
 a prayer, and the term is evidently 
 generic, not specific. 
 
 bruit. Noise ; report ; rumour. 3HVI. 
 IV, 7, 64. 
 
 brush. Rude assault. Troil. V, 3, 34. 
 
 Brutus, Decius, dr. p. A Roman con- 
 spirator. Caes. His name really was 
 Decimus Brutus. Sh. got the name 
 Decius from North's " Plutarch." 
 
 Brutus, Junius, dr.p. A Roman tribune 
 of the people. Cor. 
 
 Brutus, Lucius Junius. There was a 
 Brutus once, etc. Caes. I, 2, 159. He 
 brought about the expulsion of Tar- 
 quinius Superbus. When consul he 
 condemned his sons to death for at- 
 tempting to restore the kingdom. 
 
 Brutus, Marcus, dr.p. A conspirator 
 against Caesar. Caes. 
 
 bubulcles. Pimples. HV. Ill, 6, 111. 
 This is the only known passage in which 
 the word occurs. 
 
 buck. 1. Male deer. Troil. Ill, 1, 127. 
 
 2. Linen for washing ; also the lye in 
 which the clothes are steeped. 2HVL 
 IV, 2, 51. 
 
 3. The symbol of cuckoldom. Wiv. Ill, 
 3, 167. 
 
 buck-basket. A basket for soiled linen. 
 Wiv. Ill, 3, 2. 
 
 Buckingham, Edward Stafford, Duke of, 
 dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 Buckingham, Henry Stafford, Duke of, 
 dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Buckingham, Humphrey Stafford, Duke 
 of, dr.p. 2HVI. 
 
 Bucklersbury. A street in London, 
 chiefly inhabited by druggists, whose 
 chief wares were simples or herbs. 
 These had a strong odor. Wiv. Ill, 3, 
 79. 
 
 buck of the first head. One m its fifth 
 year. LLL. IV, 2, 10. 
 
 buck-washing. Washing in lye. Wiv. 
 Ill, 3, 140. 
 
 bug. A bugbear ; a bugaboo. 3HVI. V, 
 2, 2. The word bug is probably derived 
 from the Welsh word for ghost or 
 spectre ; bug-bear = spectre-bear. The 
 use of the word bug to signify an insect 
 is comparatively recent. The word bug- 
 bear occurs in Troil. IV, 2, 84. 
 
 In Matthew's Bible, Ps. xci, 5, is 
 rendered : " Thou shalt not nede to be 
 afraid of any bugs by night." 
 
 bugle. A short piece of glass tubing used 
 as a bead; generally, though not always, 
 black. Bugle bracelet = a bracelet 
 made of bugles, or ornamented with 
 bugles. Wint. IV, 4, 224. Bugle eye- 
 balls = black eyes. As. Ill, 5, 47. This 
 we gather from line 130, where Phoebe 
 
BUL 
 
 65 
 
 BUT 
 
 says : " He said iniiie eyes were black. ' ' 
 But perhaps this was only Phoebe's 
 interpretation of another meaning. It 
 is more probable that bugle means bril- 
 liant and that Phoebe did not understand 
 it. This would be just like one of Sh. sly 
 touches. 
 
 Bull=calf, dr.p. One of Falstaff's re- 
 cruits. 2HIV. 
 
 Bullen, Anne, dr.p. Afterwards Count- 
 ess of Pembroke and Queen. HVIII. 
 
 bulk. A projecting part of a building. 
 0th. V, 1, 1. 
 
 bully-rook. A bragging cheater. Wiv. 
 I, 3, 2. It has been objected to this mean- 
 ing of the word, that if it be correct, 
 the host would never have applied the 
 term to his best customer. But this is 
 just where the joke comes in. Half the 
 time the host does not understand the 
 meaning of the words he uses. Some 
 eds. have suggested bully-rock. 
 
 Bunch of Grapes. See tavern. 
 
 bung. A pickpocket. 2HIV. II, 4, 136. 
 
 bunting. A bird resembling the skylark. 
 " The general resemblance of this bunt- 
 ing to the skylark in the colour of its 
 plumage has given origin to another 
 provincial name by which it is known, 
 that of the bunting lark." Yarrell's 
 ' ' History of British Birds. ' ' I took this 
 lark for a bunting = I did not give 
 the man credit for what he really is. 
 All's. II, 5, 7. 
 
 burgonet. A close-fitting helmet. Ant. 
 I, 5, 24. 
 
 Burgundy, Duke of, dr.p. HV. 
 
 Burgundy, Duke of, dr.p. Suitor for 
 the hand of Cordelia, but retires when 
 she is disinherited. Called by his ri\ al 
 the duke of "Waterish Burgundy." 
 Lr. 
 
 burial. See death. 
 
 bush. A sign ; an advertisement. As. 
 Epi. 4. A bush of ivy was the vintner's 
 sign, as this plant was sacred to Bacchus. 
 It was so consecrated, because when 
 the chi],d Bacchus lay in his cradle the 
 nymphs of Nisa concealed him from the 
 vengeance of Juno by covering him 
 with ivy trails. 
 
 Bushy, Sir John, dr.p. A creature of 
 Richard II. RII. 
 
 busky. Bushy. IHIV. V, 1, 2. 
 
 buss. A kiss. 2HIV. II, 4, 291. 
 
 busy-less. In Fl. Tp. Ill, 1, 15, the 
 reading is busie lest; this was changed 
 by Theobald to busyless, a word which 
 is found nowhere else in the language. 
 The text as usually given reads busy- 
 lest. 
 
 This passage is the great crux of the 
 play, and Dr. Furness tells us that it 
 " has received a greater number of 
 emendations and staggers under a 
 heavier weight of comment than, I 
 believe, any other in Sh. , not excepting 
 even Juliet's 'runaways eyes.'" In 
 evidence of this he gives twelve solid 
 pages of fine type to it, and then con- 
 cludes as follows, the explanation being 
 credited to Hicl'cson (1850). Ferdinand 
 says in effect : "I am forgetting my 
 work ; but when I do thus forget, my 
 mind so teems with thoughts that I am 
 really most busy when I seem to be 
 least busy, and by these sweet thoughts 
 I am even refreshed for "my work." 
 The spelling lest for least is quite com- 
 mon with old authors. 
 
 butcher. See lent. 
 
 butcher's cur. Cardinal Wolsey is said 
 to have been the son of a butcher. 
 Johnson. HVIII. I, 1, 120. 
 
 but. 1. Except. 2HIV. V, 3, 83; do. II, 
 3, 8 ; IHVI. II, 2, 82. 
 2. Only. Ado. II, 1, 45. 
 
 butt. Goal ; "the end to which I was 
 destined." 0th. V, 2, 267. 
 
 butt. This word occurs in Fl., and in 
 most eds. is rendered boat. Tp. I, 2, 
 146. It has been supposed, however, 
 and not without good reason, that butt 
 is tho name of a peculiar kind of vessel. 
 Some have supposed that it means a 
 car k, which is absurd. 
 
 buttery-bar. In large establishments, a 
 room whence provisions were dispensed. 
 Tw. I, 3, 74. Maria's speech is thus 
 explained byKenrick: "The bringing 
 the hand to the buttery-bar and letting 
 it drink, is a proverbial phrase among 
 
BTTT 
 
 CAD 
 
 forward Abigails, to ask at once for a 
 kiss and a present. Sir Andrew's slow- 
 ness of comprehension in this particular 
 gave her a just suspicion at once of his 
 frigidity and avarice." 
 
 button. 1, A well-known device for 
 fastening clothes. In his buttons = he 
 is able to do it; it is in him. It is a 
 familiar expression to-day, and can 
 cause trouble only to closet students. 
 Wiv. Ill, 2, 71. 
 2. Buds. Hml. I, 3, 40. 
 
 butt-shaft. A kind of arrow used for 
 shooting at butts ; formed without a 
 barb so as to be easily extracted. Rom. 
 II, 4, 16. 
 
 Butts, Doctor, dr. p. Physician to Henry 
 VIII. HVIII. 
 
 buxom. Lively ; fresh ; brisk. Buxom 
 valour = vigorous valour. HV. Ill, 
 6, 27. 
 
 by-drinkings, or drinkings at odd times. 
 Occasional drinkings. IHIV. Ill, 3, 84. 
 
 by'riakin. By our Ladykin, or little 
 Lady (the Virgin Mary). Mids. Ill, 1, 
 13. 
 
 buzzard. A common or inferior kind of 
 hawk, and one not easily tamed. Shr. 
 II, 1, 208 ; RIII. I, 1, 133. 
 
 There is no doubt about the meaning 
 of buzzard in Shr. II, 1, 208, but it has 
 been suggested that in line 209 buzzard 
 means an insect, but this seems to miss 
 the point which turns upon the mistake 
 of taking a gentle turtle for a hawk, 
 and one untameable at that. 
 
 ^^g^sj ABIN. 1. To dwell in a cabin. 
 (1^^ Tit. IV, 2, 179. 
 Jk^^ 2. To imprison. I am cabin'' d, 
 ^^-^i cribb''d, confined, bound in — 
 i.e., made a prisoner to saucy doubts 
 and fears. Mcb. Ill, 4, 24. 
 
 cable. Scope, or, as we say colloquially, 
 "rope." Oth. I, 2, 17. 
 
 caco-demon. A bad demon ; an evil 
 spirit of the worst kind. RIII. I, 3, 
 144. 
 
 cade. A small barrel or keg. 2HVI. 
 IV, 2, 36. 
 
 Cade, Jack, dr.p. A rebel. 2HVI. 
 
 John Cade, or as he is called in 
 2H VI. , Jack Cade, was born in Ireland 
 and killed near Heathfield, in Sussex, 
 England, July 12, 1450. Cade's rebellion 
 was chiefly a rising of Kentishmen for 
 real or imaginary grievances. At first 
 they had considerable success. They 
 defeated the royal army at Seven Oaks, 
 killing the commanders, Sir Humphrey 
 Stafford and his brother. They entered 
 London July 2, and put Lord Say and 
 his son-in-law to death, but owing to 
 their plundering and ravaging, the citi- 
 zens of London became enraged and 
 
 defeated Cade and his followers. Cade 
 fled in disguise, and his death is said to 
 have occurred pretty much as Sh. has 
 described it. 
 
 caddis. Worsted galloon ; some say it is 
 so-called because it resembles the caddis- 
 worm. Wint. IV, 4, 208. 
 
 caddis-garter. Worsted garter ; a term 
 used in derision. Garters of the time 
 being worn in sight: they were usu- 
 ally made of costly material, and to 
 wear a cheap, coarse kind was a subject 
 of reproach. IHIV. II, 4, 80. 
 
 cadent. Falling. Lr. I, 4, 307. 
 
 Cadmus. Son of Agenor, King of Phoe- 
 nicia, and brother of Europa. When 
 Europa was carried off by Jupiter to 
 Crete, Agenor sent Cadmus in search of 
 his sister, enjoining him not to return 
 without her. Unable to find her, Cad- 
 mus settled in Thrace, but having con- 
 sulted the oracle at Delphi, he was com- 
 manded by the god to follow a cow of 
 a certain kind, and to build a town on 
 the spot where the cow should sink 
 down with fatigue. Cadmus found the 
 cow in Phocis, and followed her into 
 Boeotia, where she sank down on the 
 
CAD 
 
 67 
 
 CAL 
 
 spot on which Cadmus built Cadmea, 
 afterward the citadel of Thebes. In- 
 tending to sacrifice the cow to Minerva, 
 he sent some persons to the well of 
 Mars (Ares) to fetch water. The well 
 was guarded by a dragon, a son of 
 Mars, who killed the men sent by Cad- 
 mus. Cadmus slew the dragon, and by 
 advice of Minerva, sowed the teeth of 
 the monster, out of which armed men 
 grew up, called Sparti (or the Soivn), 
 who killed each other, with the excep- 
 tion of five, who were the ancestors of 
 the Thebans. 
 
 Cadmus is said to have introduced 
 into Greece, from Phoenicia or Egypt, 
 an alphabet of sixteen letters and also 
 the art of mining, and civilization in 
 general. Mids. IV, 1, 117. 
 
 caduceus. The wand of Mercury, around 
 which were twined two snakes repre- 
 sented as kissing each other. Hyginus 
 tells us that Mercury once found two 
 snakes fighting and divided them with 
 his wand ; from this circumstance they 
 were used as an emblem of peace, and 
 from caduceus was formed the word 
 Caduceator^ which signified a person 
 sent to treat of peace. The caduceus 
 had the power of inducing sleep ; hence, 
 Milton calls it the " opiate rod. " Troil. 
 II, 3, 14. 
 
 Cadwal, dr.p. The assumed name of 
 Arviragus. Cym. 
 
 Cadwalader. The last king of the Welsh 
 or ancient Bi-itons. Surnamed Bhen- 
 diged, or the Blessed. He performed 
 wondrous feats of valour in defending 
 Wales against the Saxons, and accord- 
 ing to the prophecy of Merlin, he is one 
 day to return to the world to expel the 
 Saxons from the land. He succeeded 
 to the throne in 634 and died in 664. 
 HV. V, 1, 29. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, dr.p. Caes. 
 
 Caius Julius Cae^sar was born July 12, 
 100 B.C. Killed at Rome, March 15, 
 44 B. c. Amongst other notable achieve- 
 ments, he reformed the calendar 46 b. c. , 
 and gave his name to the Julian calen- 
 aar and the month of July. His famous 
 
 "crossing of the Rubicon" occurred 
 49 B.C. 
 
 Caesar, Octavius, dr.p. A Roman trium- 
 vir. Caes. and Ant. 
 
 Csesario, dr.p. The name assumed by 
 Viola while in the disguise of a man. 
 Tw. 
 
 Caesarion. The son of Cleopatra by Julius 
 Caesar. Ant. Ill, 13, 162. 
 
 cage. 1. A prison. 2HVI. IV, 2, 56. 
 2. A wicker-work basket. Rom. II, 3, 7. 
 The expression cage of rushes, As. 
 Ill, 2, 389, has called forth a good deal 
 of comment. Some think it refers to 
 the rush rings used by country folks in 
 a mock ceremony of marriage, but this 
 seems to me far fetched. Does it not 
 rather refer to the cages made of rushes 
 by children who, time out of mind, 
 have therein imprisoned butterflies and 
 insects of various kinds ? Such a cage 
 is the very emblem of flimsiness. 
 
 Cain-coloured. Yellow or red, as a color 
 of hair, being esteemed a deformity, 
 was by conmion consent attributed to 
 Cain and Judas, and these characters 
 were generally represented in old tapes- 
 tries with yellow or red beards. It has 
 been conjectured that the odium took 
 its rise from the aversion to the red- 
 haired Danes. Wiv. I, 4, 23 ; As. Ill, 
 4, 10. 
 
 Caithness, dr.p. A Scottish nobleman. 
 Mcb. 
 
 caitiff. A wretch ; slave ; captive ; hence, 
 sometimes a witch. All's. Ill, 2, 117. 
 
 Caius, Dr., dr.p. A French physician, in 
 love with Anne Page. Wiv. 
 
 Caius, dr.p. Name assumed by Earl of 
 Kent during his banishment. Lr. 
 
 Calchas, dr.p, A Trojan priest, taking 
 part with the Greeks. Father of Cres- 
 sida. Troil. 
 
 In Sh. play Calchas is represented as 
 a Trojan, who has deserted his country 
 and gone over to the enemy, but there 
 is no trace of this story in the ancient 
 legends. See Cressida. He was the 
 son of Thestor of Mycenae, a high- priest, 
 and the wisest soothsayer amongst the 
 Greeks. He foretold the duration of 
 
OAI 
 
 68 
 
 CAM 
 
 the Trojan war, even before the Greeks 
 sailed from Aulis, and while they were 
 engaged in the war he explained to 
 them the cause of the anger of Apollo. 
 An oracle had declared that Calchas 
 should die if he should meet with a 
 soothsayer superior to himself ; and this 
 came to pass at Claros, for Calchas met 
 the famous soothsayer Mopsus in the 
 grove of the Clarian Apollo, and was 
 defeated by him in not being able to 
 state the number of figs on a wild fig- 
 tree, or the number of pigs which a sow 
 was going to give birth to — things which 
 Mopsus told with perfect accuracy. 
 Hereupon Calchas is said to have died 
 of grief. Another story about his death 
 runs thus : A soothsayer saw Calchas 
 planting some vines in the grove of 
 Apollo, near Grynium, and foretold 
 him that he would never drink any of 
 the wine produced by them. When the 
 grapes had grown ripe and wine was 
 
 • made of them, Calchas Invited the 
 soothsayer among his other guests. 
 Even at the moment when Calchas held 
 the cup of wine in his hand the sooth- 
 sayer repeated the prophecy. This ex- 
 cited Calchas to such a fit of laughter 
 that he dropped the cup and choked. 
 
 calf's skin. The phrase, and hang a 
 calfs skin on those recrea7it limbs, is 
 thus explained by Sir John Hawkins : 
 " Fools, kept for diversion in great 
 families, were often distinguished by 
 coats of calfskin, with buttons down 
 the back. Therefore, Constance and 
 Faulcon bridge mean to call Austria a 
 fool in that sarcastic line so often re- 
 peated." To this Ritson replies : " But 
 it does not appear that Constance means 
 to call Austria a fool, as Sir John 
 Hawkins would have it; but she cer- 
 tainly means to call him coward, and 
 to tell him that a calfs skin would suit 
 his recreant limbs better than a lion's." 
 John III, 1, 129. 
 
 Caliban, dr.p. A savage and deformed 
 slave ; the son of Sycorax. Tp. 
 
 Some coms. contend that the name 
 Caliban is an anagram of cannibal^ 
 
 but there does not seem to be any good 
 ground for this. It has been suggested 
 that the idea of Caliban is of Hebraistic, 
 or at least of Oriental origin, and is, in 
 fact, no other than the fish-god Dagon 
 of the Philistines. For a full exposition 
 of this theory see Hunter's "New Illus- 
 trations," Vol, I, p. 183, or Furness's 
 "Tempest," p. 65. 
 
 calculate. To prophesy. Caes. I, 3, 65. 
 This application of the word evidently 
 had its origin in the practice of as- 
 ti'ology. Is our Americanism, "I cal- 
 culate," a relic of this old use of the 
 word and brought over by the first 
 settlers ? 
 
 caliver. A hand gun, less and lighter 
 than a musket, and fired without a 
 rest. Dyce. IHIV. IV, 2, 21; 2HVI. 
 Ill, 2, 289. 
 
 Calipolis. A character is Peele's bom- 
 bastic tragedy, "The Battle of Alcazar." 
 Feed and be fat, my fair C. (2HIV. 
 II, 4, 193) is a travesty of one of the 
 lines. 
 
 calling. Appellation; title. As. I, 2, 
 245. 
 
 callat, \ A woman of bad character. 
 
 callet, [ Wint. II, 3, 90 ; 2HVI. I, 3, 86 ; 
 
 callot. ) 0th. IV, 2, 121. 
 
 calm. A Quicklyisra for qualm. 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 40. 
 
 Calpurnia, dr.p. Wife of Julius Caesar. 
 Caes. 
 
 Calydon. The prince's heai-t of Calydon. 
 2HVI. I, 1, 235. See Meleager. 
 
 Cambio, dr.p. Name assumed by feucen- 
 tio in Sh. 
 
 Cambridge, Earl of, dr.p. A conspirator. 
 HV. 
 
 Cambyses. King of ancient Persia. In 
 King Cambyses vein (IHIV. II, 4, 425); 
 an allusion to Preston's play entitled: 
 "A lamentable Tragedie * * * c©n- 
 taining the life of Cambises, King of 
 Percia * * * and his odious death 
 by God's lustice appointed." 
 
 Camillo, dr.p. A Sicilian lord. Wint. 
 
 Camelot. The place where Arthur kept 
 his court in the west. In the parts of 
 Somersetshire, near Camelot, there are 
 
CAM 
 
 CAP 
 
 many large moors, upon which great 
 numbers of geese are bred. In Lr, II, 
 5, 90, there is, perhaps, a double allu- 
 sion to Camelot as famous for its geese, 
 and to those knights who were van- 
 quished by the Knights of the Round 
 Table being sent to Camelot to yield 
 themselves vassals to King Arthur. 
 
 Campeius, Cardinal, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 can. An old way of spelling gan {began). 
 Pilgr. 232 ; LLL. IV, 3, 106 ; Per. Ill, 
 Prol. 36. 
 
 can. To know ; to be skilful in. Hml. 
 IV, 7, 8.5. 
 
 canakin. A little can ; a mug. 0th. II, 
 3, 71. See clink. 
 
 canary. A quick and lively dance. All's. 
 II, 1, 77. 
 
 canary. A blunder of Mrs. Quickly for 
 quandary. Wiv. II, 2, 61 and 64. Dr. 
 Schmidt objects to this interpretation 
 on the ground that "this word is un- 
 known to Sh." The word (quandarie) 
 was used by Greene in his " Mamillia " 
 (printed 1.593). Greene died in 1592, and 
 as he had lampooned Sh. , Sh. may have 
 ridiculed some of his expressions. Sh. 
 was well acquainted with Greene's 
 works, for the " Winter's Tale " is a 
 dramatization of one of Greene's stories, 
 Pandosto. 
 
 candidatus. A Roman name for a suitor 
 for a high office, so called from his 
 white gown. Tit. I, 1, 185. 
 
 Canidius, dv.p. Lieutenant-general of 
 Antony. Ant. 
 
 canker. The dog-rose. Ado. I, 3, 28. 
 
 canker^bloom. The flowers of the wild 
 rose. Sonn. LIV, 5. 
 
 canker=blossom. A worm that preys on 
 blossoms. Mids. Ill, 2, 282. 
 
 candle. See belli, book, and candle. 
 
 candle's ends. "It may, perhaps, be 
 asked why drinking off candle's ends 
 for flap-dragons should be esteemed an 
 agreeable qualification ? The answer is, 
 that as a feat of gallantry, to swallow a 
 candW s-end formed a more formidable 
 and disagreeable flap-dragon than any 
 other substance, and therefore aftorded 
 a stronger testimony of zeal for the 
 
 lady to whose health it was drunk." 
 Nares. 2HIV. II, 4, 267. See flap- 
 dragon. 
 
 candle^mine. A huge mass of tallow, 
 2HIV. II, 4, 326. 
 
 candle-waster. One who sits up at night 
 either for study or revelry. Ado. V, 
 I, 18. 
 
 cannibal. One who eats human flesh. 
 3HVI. I, 4, 152; 0th. I, 3, 143. In 
 2HIV. II, 4, 180, Pistol, in his bombastic 
 speech, evidently uses cannibals for 
 Hannibals, and in Meas. II, 1, 183, 
 Elbow uses Hannibal for cannibal. 
 
 canstick. A candlestick. IHIV. Ill, 1, 
 1.31. 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of, Bourchier, 
 dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of, Chicheley, 
 dr.p. HV. 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of, Cranmer, 
 dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 cantle. A piece ; a part. IHIV. Ill, 1, 
 100 ; Ant. Ill, 10, 6. 
 
 canton. A song. Tw. 1, 5, 289 and III, 
 1, 100. 
 
 canvass. To toss, as in a blanket. In 
 2HIV. II, 4, 243, this is undoubtedly 
 the signification, but in IHVI. I, 3, 36, 
 this meaning does not apply so well. 
 To tumble the bishop into his hat and 
 toss him therein is not very feasible. A 
 writer in the Edinburgh Review (Oct. 
 1872) suggests that canvass here means 
 to trap or to ensnare, canvass being a 
 technical name for a net used for catch- 
 ing wild hawks. The hat being the 
 emblem of his position, which he abused 
 by granting immoral licences, he would 
 be caught in it. 
 
 canzonet. A song ; a ditty. [Ital. can- 
 zo7ietta.] LLL. IV, 2, 125. 
 
 cap. A covering for the head ; meta- 
 phorically, the top. Tim. IV, 3, 363; 
 Hml. II, 2, 233, and cf., our collo- 
 quial: " that caps all. " 
 
 capable. Capacious. 0th. Ill, 3, 4.59. 
 
 cap-a-pe. From head to foot. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 761 ; Hml. I, 2, 200. In some eds. 
 cap-a-pie, the old French form. 
 
 Caphis, dr.p. A servant. Tim. 
 
CAP 
 
 70 
 
 CAB 
 
 caper. The unexpanded flower of the 
 caper-bush, used for pickling. For 
 quibble, see mutton. 
 
 capitulate. 1. To make head. IHIV. 
 
 III, 3, 120. 
 
 2. To treat with; to make agreement. 
 Cor. V, 3, 83. 
 capocchia. (Ital.) A simpleton. Troil. 
 
 IV, 3, 33. 
 
 capon. Besides the usual and well-known 
 meaning of the word as applied to 
 certain kinds of fowl (Gent. IV, 4, 10 ; 
 Hml. Ill, 3, 100), it is also applied as a 
 term of reproach (Err. Ill, 1, 33 ; Ado. 
 
 V, 1, 155, where the inference is obvi- 
 ous). It has been suggested that in 
 Cym. II, 1, 35, there is a quibble (capon 
 = cap on = coxcomb). In LLL. IV, 1, 
 56, the word capon evidently means a 
 love-letter. Theobald, in reference to 
 this passage, says : " Our poet uses this 
 metaphor as the French do their pou^e^, 
 which signifies a young fowl and a 
 love-letter. The Italians use the same 
 manner of expression when they call a 
 love-epistle una pollicetta [polizzetta] 
 aino7'osa. I ow'd the hint of this equi- 
 vocal use of the word to my ingenious 
 friend Mr. Bishop. " Farmer, the famous 
 Sh. critic, adds : " Heniy IV. consulting 
 wdth Sully about his marriage, says : 
 ' My niece of Guise would please me 
 best, notwithstanding the malicious 
 reports that she loves poulets in paper 
 better than in a fricassee.' " See also 
 carve and break. 
 
 caprice io. (Italian.) Caprice ; fancy. 
 All's. II, 3, 310. 
 
 capricious. J am here with thee and thy 
 goats, as the most c. poet, honest Ovid, 
 was among the Ooths. As. Ill, 3, 8. 
 Meaning here is uncertain. The pun 
 on Goths and goats (the th having fre- 
 quently the sound of t in Sh. time) is 
 obvious. Ovid may here be called 
 "capricious," as being notedly amatory 
 (See his Art of Love), and the goat is 
 one of the most salacious of animals. 
 (0th. Ill, 3, 403.) 
 
 captious. Various meanings have been 
 given to this word as it occurs in All's. 
 
 I, 3, 308. Schm. makes it = "capaci- 
 ous." Here, as in many other cases, 
 Sh. probably gave it the purely ety- 
 mological meaning, taking, so that 
 "captious and intenible " would mean 
 " taking and not holding." 
 
 captivate, adj. Captive. IHVI. II, 3, 
 43. 
 
 Capucius, dr.p. Ambassador from 
 Charles V. HVIII. 
 
 Capulet, dr.p. Father of Juliet. Rom. 
 
 Capulet, Lady, dr.p. Wife of Capulet, 
 and mother of Juliet. Rom. 
 
 car. In the expression : Though our 
 silence be drawn from us with cars 
 (Tw. II, 5, 71), the meaning has never 
 been satisfactorily ascertained. John- 
 son makes cai-s = carts. Perhaps Fabian 
 means though our silence be drawn 
 from us by whipping at the carVs tail, 
 a well known mode of punishment at 
 that time. Jackson suggested cats, 
 meaning, of course, the cat-o' -nine-tails. 
 But was this word in use then in that 
 sense ? Hanmer suggested ears, and 
 this reading is adopted by Rolf e. 
 
 caraclc. A large ship of burden. (Ital. 
 caracca.) Cot. tells us that a carraque 
 is : " The huge ship tearmed a carricke. ' ' 
 Err. Ill, 3, 140 ; 0th. 1, 3, 50 ; Kins. 
 Ill, 4. 
 
 caraways. Comfits made with caraway 
 seeds. 3HIV. V, 3, 3. 
 
 carbonado. Meat scotched for broiling. 
 IHIV. V, 3, 61. 
 
 carcanet, ) A necklace ; a collar of 
 
 carkanet. f jewels. Err. Ill, 1. 4 ; Sonn. 
 LII, 8. 
 
 card, i;. To debase by mixing. IHIV. 
 Ill, 3, 63. 
 
 This use of the word was not uncom- 
 mon in Sh. time. Thus, in Greene's 
 "Quip for an Upstart Courtier" we 
 find : "You card your beer, if you see 
 your guests begin to be drunk, half 
 small, half strong." 
 
 card, n. 1. The face of a mariner's com- 
 pass. Mcb. I, 3, 17. 
 
 2. Printed or written rules. Hml. V, 1, 
 149. See /ace. 
 A "cooling card" is a stroke whicli 
 
CAB 
 
 .71 
 
 CAS 
 
 suddenly turns the tables. IHVI. V, 3, 
 84. 
 
 Cardecue. A quarter of a French crown. 
 {quart d'ecu). All's. IV, 3, 311. 
 
 Cardinal Beaufort, dr.p. Bishop of Win- 
 chester. 2HVI. 
 
 Cardinal Bourchier, dr.p. Archbishop 
 of Canterbury. RIII. 
 
 Cardinal Campeius, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 Cardinal Pandulph, dr.p. The Papal 
 legate. John. 
 
 Cardinal Wolsey, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 Carduus Benedictus. The blessed thistle. 
 This plant was reputed to cure all 
 diseases — even the plague. Cogan in 
 his "Haven of Health," published in 
 4to. in 1586, says: "This her be may 
 worthily be called Benedictus or Omni- 
 morbia, that is, a salve for every sore, 
 not knowen to jDhysitians of old time, 
 but lately revealed by the speciall pro- 
 vidence of Almighty God. " It is alleged 
 that Luther was cured of " a congeal- 
 ing of blood about the breast " by 
 drinking the water of Carduus Bene- 
 dictus. It is evident that in Ado. Ill, 
 4, 74, Margaret twits Beatrice with 
 her love for Benedick, and recommends 
 Carduus Benedictus as a remedy for 
 heart disease. 
 
 career. Defined by Schm. as : 1. The 
 ground on which a race is run ; 2. The 
 race itself. This scarcely gives the idea 
 intended in some passages. In Ado. V, 
 1, 135, / shall meet your wit in the 
 career, certainly does not mean that 
 Benedick will meet Claudio's wit in the 
 race ; that would be impossible, as con- 
 testants in a race never meet. The 
 term is borrowed from the tilt-yard, 
 and means that he will meet him in the 
 full rush of his attack. So in Ado. II, 
 3,250: The career of his humour 
 means when his humour is intense or 
 in full swing. Also in RII. I, 3, 49 : 
 first career means the first encounter. 
 The word occurs seven times in the 
 plays and has this signification in each 
 case, except HV. II, 1, 132, where it has 
 no meaning at all, being nonsensically • 
 used by Nym (not by Pistol, as Schm. 
 
 gives it). Bardolph's speech, Wiv. I, 1, 
 184, is evidently thieves' Latin intended 
 to confuse Slender, and any attempt to 
 make sense of it would simply be a 
 waste of time. 
 
 carl. A churl ; a fellow. Cym. V, 2, 4. 
 
 Carlisle, Bishop of, dr.p. RII. 
 
 carlot. A jjeasant ; a churl. As. Ill, 5, 
 108. 
 
 carnal. Carnivorous, RIII. IV, 4, 56. 
 
 carpet. He is a knight, dubbed with un- 
 hatched rapier and on carpet con- 
 sideration. Tw. Ill, 4, 258. '■'Carpet 
 knights were dubbed at court by mere 
 favour — not on the field of battle for 
 their military exploits. Our early 
 writers constantly speak of them with 
 great contempt, and carpet knight 
 became a term for an effeminate per- 
 son." Dijce. See also Nare's "Gloss- 
 ary," where it is stated that "trencher- 
 knight ' ' is probably synonymous. 
 
 carpet=nionger. One who frequents car- 
 pets and ladies' bowers. Ado. V, 2, 32. 
 
 carpets. Table-cloths. Shr. IV, 1, 52. 
 
 carrack. See carack. 
 
 carve. In Hml. I, 3, 20, the phrase carve 
 for himself obviously means : to shape 
 his own destiny. 
 
 In Wiv. I, 3, 48, and probably in 
 LLL. V, 2, 323, the word has a special 
 meaning first pointed out by Hunter in 
 his " New Illustrations of Shakespeare, " 
 Vol. I, p. 215. In these passages the 
 word means "to make certain signs 
 with the fingers, indicating a desire 
 that the person to whom they are ad- 
 dressed should be attentive and pro- 
 pitious." In "A Very Woman" we 
 find : " Her lightnesse gets her to swim 
 at the top of the table, where her wrie 
 little finger bewraies carving ; her 
 neighbours at the latter end know they 
 are welcome." 
 Casca. dr.p. A Roman conspirator, 
 
 and friend of Brutus. Cajs. 
 case, n. Skin. The skin of a fox is 
 
 called its case. Tw. V, 1, 168. 
 case, V. To strip off the skin. All's. Ill, 
 
 6, 110. cf. uncase. 
 casque. A helmet. RII. I, 3, 81. 
 
CAS 
 
 73 
 
 CAT 
 
 Cassandra, dr.p. A prophetess. Troil. 
 Cassandra was the daughter of Priam 
 and Hecuba. She and her twin brother 
 Helenus, when young, were left asleep 
 in the sanctuary of Apollo, when their 
 ears were purified by serpents, so that 
 they could understand the divine sounds 
 of nature and the voices of birds. After- 
 wards, Cassandra sometimes used to 
 sleep in the same temple, and when 
 she grew up her beauty won the lo\ e of 
 Apollo. The god endowed her with 
 the gift of prophecy upon her promising 
 to comply with his desires, but when 
 she had become possessed of the pro- 
 phetic art, fhe refused to fulfil her 
 promise. Thereupon the god, in anger, 
 ordained that no one should believe her 
 prophecies. She predicted to the Trojans 
 the ruin that threatened them, but no 
 one believed her ; she was looked upon 
 as a madwoman, and according to a 
 late account was shut up and guarded. 
 On the capture of Troy she fled into the 
 sanctuary of Minerva, but was torn 
 from the statue of the goddess by A jax, 
 son of Orleus, and, according to some 
 accounts, was even ravished by him in 
 the sanctuary. On the division of the 
 booty she fell to the lot of Agamemnon. 
 See Agamemnon. 
 
 Cassibelan. A king of Britain in the 
 time of Julius Caesar. After his death 
 Theomantius, the youngest son of Lud, 
 was made king. He reigned twenty- 
 two years and left the kingdom to his 
 son Cymbeline or Kymbeline. Cym. I, 
 1, 30. 
 
 Cassio, dr.p. Lieutenant to Othello. 
 0th. 
 
 Cassius, dr.p. A Roman conspirator 
 and friend of Brutus. Caes. 
 
 cassock. A military cloak. All's. IV, 
 3, 193. 
 
 cast. 1. Dismissed. 0th. I, 1, 150. 
 2. This was the word used by quacks to 
 desci'ibe the inspection of the urine by 
 which diseases were found out. Mcb. 
 V, 3, 50. cf. Tw. Ill, 4, 113. 
 
 Castalion-King-Urinal. A nonsensical 
 word coined by the host. It doubtless 
 
 has a satirical reference to the Doctor's 
 system of medical practice. Sometimes 
 printed Castillian. Wiv. II, 3, 34. 
 Castiliano vulgo. Schm. calls this " Span- 
 ish of Sir Toby's own making and not 
 easily translated. ' ' Warburton suggest- 
 ed volto for vulgo., and explained it as 
 = "Put on your Castilian counten- 
 ance ; that is, your grave solemn looks." 
 Tw. I, 3, 45. 
 castle. A very strong helmet. In Mal- 
 lory's "History of King Arthur" 
 (Camelot Classics, p. 294), we find this 
 passage : " ' Do thou thy^best,' said Sir 
 Gawaine ; ' therefore, hie thee fast that 
 thou wert gone : and wit thou well, we 
 shall soon come after, and break the 
 strongest castle that thou hast upon 
 thy head.'" Hollinshed has : "Then 
 suddenlie, with great noise of trumpets, 
 entered sir Thomas Knevet in a castell 
 of cole blacke." This is also the mean- 
 ing in Tit. Ill, 1, 170 ; Troil. V, 2, 187. 
 
 The expression : My old lad of the 
 castle ! IHI V. I, 2, 48, is equivalent to 
 "my old buck." It has been claimed 
 that this is a reference to the old play 
 in which Falstaff appears as Sir John 
 Oldcastle. But this opinion is now 
 relinquished. The expression "old lad 
 of the castle " is an old one. 
 Catalan. A Chinaman ; a native of 
 Cathay. A cant term for a sharper or 
 thief. Wiv. II, 1, 147. 
 cater-cousin. A corruption of the French 
 quatre-cousin = fourth cousin. Gobbo 
 perhaps used it as meaning that two 
 persons ate together. Merch. II, 2, 139. 
 cates. Delicacies ; dainty food. IHIV. 
 Ill, 1, 103 ; Shr. II, 1, 190. (A pun or 
 quibble.) 
 Catesby, Sir William, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 His name was made the subject of 
 a rhyme by one CoUingbourne : 
 The Cat, the Rat, and Lovell our dog 
 Doe rule all England under a Hog.; 
 The crooke backt boore the way hath 
 
 found 
 To root our roses from our ground. 
 
 The Cat was Catesby; the Rat, Rat- 
 cliff ; Lovell was Lord Lovel ; the Hog 
 
CAT 
 
 73 
 
 CEB 
 
 was Richard III., whose cognizance was 
 a boar. Collingboume was executed 
 for making this rhyme. Catesby was 
 taken prisoner at Bosworth and exe- 
 cuted. 
 
 catlings. Fiddle-strings ; catgut. Troil. 
 Ill, 3, 306. 
 
 Cato, the Yoimger, dr.p. A friend to 
 Brutus. Caes. 
 
 caudle. A warm, cordial drink made of 
 gruel, with ale or wine, and spices, 
 given to the sick — especially to women 
 and their gossips. Hempen caudle = 
 execution by hanging ; help of hatchet 
 = decapitation, both being certain cures 
 for all diseases. 2HVI. IV, 7, 95 ; cf, 
 Cym. V, 4, 169, et seq. This passage has 
 caused trouble to some, but the meaning 
 seems obvious. See help. 
 
 cautel. Deceit. Hml. I, 3, 15. 
 
 cautelous. False ; deceitful ; insidious. 
 Cor. IV, 1, 33 ; Cses. II, 1, 129. 
 
 caviare. The roe of the sturgeon, pre- 
 served by salting. The taste for caviare 
 is an acquired one, and to ' ' the general ' ' 
 it is not acceptable, hence Hamlet's 
 comparison. Hml. II, 2, 457. 
 
 cease. Decease ; death. Hml. Ill, 3, 15. 
 
 Celia, dr.p. Daughter of the usurping 
 Duke Frederick, and companion of 
 Rosalind. As. 
 
 censer. A pan for burning perfumes. 
 " The censers had pierced convex covers 
 and stood on feet. They not only 
 served to sweeten a barber's shop, but 
 to keep his water warm and dry his 
 cloths on." Steevens. The reference 
 in Shr. IV, 3, 91, is to the perforations 
 in the cover. The portable censers, 
 used for burning perfumes in dwelling 
 houses, had thin embossed figures in the 
 middle of the lid, and it has been sug- 
 gested that it is to these figures that 
 reference is made in 2HIV. V, 4, 21. 
 White's idea is that the thin officer 
 wore some kind of cap which Doll Tear- 
 sheet likened to a censer, and this is 
 certainly a very satisfactory explana- 
 tion. 
 
 censure, n. Judgment. IHVI. II, 3, 10 ; 
 RIII. II, 2, 144 ; Oth. II, 2, 3, 193. 
 
 censure, v. 1. To pass sentence upon. 
 Meas. I, 4, 72. 
 2. To judge ; to criticise. Gtent. I, 2, 19. 
 
 Cephalus. Corrupted by Bottom to Shafa- 
 lus. Mids. V, 1, 200. Alluded to as 
 "the morning's love" in Mids. Ill, 2, 
 389, Cephalus was the son of Deion, 
 the ruler of Fhocis. He was married 
 to Procris or Procne, to whom he was 
 sincerely attached. Once when the 
 handsome Cephalus was amusing him- 
 self with the chase, Aurora approached 
 him with loving entreaties which, how- 
 ever, he rejected. The goddess then 
 bade him not break his vow until 
 Procris had broken hers, but advised 
 him to try her fidelity. She then meta- 
 morphosed him into a stranger, and 
 gave him rich presents with which he 
 was to tempt Procris. Procris yielded, 
 when he discovered himself to her, 
 whereupon she fled in shame to Crete 
 and discovered herself to Diana, who 
 gave her a wonderful dog and spear 
 which were never to miss their object. 
 She then returned home in the disguise 
 of a youth and went out with Cephalus 
 to hunt. When he saw the excellence 
 of the dog and spear he wished to buy 
 them, but she would sell them only for 
 love. When he promised to love her 
 she discovered herself to him, and they 
 were reconciled. As she still feared 
 Aurora, however, she always jealously 
 watched him while hunting, and by 
 accident he killed her with the spear, 
 mistaking her for a wild animal. Grief 
 led him to kill himself. 
 
 cere-clotli. Waxed cloth sometimes used 
 to enwrap dead bodies. Merch. II, 7, 51. 
 
 ceremonies. 1. Honorary ornaments; 
 tokens of respect. Caes. I, 1, 70. Here 
 they mean scarfs. See Caes. I, 2, 289. 
 2. Omens ; signs deduced from sacri- 
 fices or other ceremonial rites. Caes. II, 
 1, 197; do. 11,2, 13. 
 
 Ceres, dr.p. Represented by one of the 
 spirits called up by Prospero. Tp. 
 
 Ceres, whom this spirit represented, 
 was one of the great divinities of the 
 Greeks, and was the daughter of Cro- 
 
CBR 
 
 74 
 
 CHA 
 
 nus (Saturn) and Rhea, and sister of Ju- 
 piter, by whom she became the mother 
 of Proserpine. She was the goddess of 
 agriculture and of all the fruits of the 
 earth. It has been claimed (see Tp. IV. 
 1, 66) that she was not the goddess of 
 trees and forests; but the ancient legends 
 tell us that she punished with fearful 
 hunger Erysicthon, who cut down her 
 sacred grove. 
 
 Cerimon, dr.jp. A lord of Ephesus. Per. 
 
 cess. Measure; reckoning. IHIV. II, 
 
 I, 8. 
 
 cestron. A cistern. Kins. V, 1. 
 
 certify. To convince. Merch. II, 8, 10. 
 
 chaffless. Without chaff; without any 
 imperfection. Cym. I, 6, 178. 
 
 chair days. A time of repose ; the even- 
 ing of life. 2HVI. V, 2, 48. 
 
 chamber. 1. A small piece of ordnance. 
 HVIII. I, 4, 47 (stage direction); 2HIV. 
 
 II, 4, 57. (quibble.) 
 
 2. London was anciently called "Camera 
 Regis " (King's Chamber). This title it 
 began to have immediately after the 
 Norman Conquest. RIII. Ill, 1, 1. 
 
 chamberer. An effeminate man ; a car- 
 pet knight. 0th. Ill, 3, 265. 
 
 chameleon. A species of lizard, notable 
 for its power of changing its color so as 
 to resemble the object on which it rests; 
 said, also, to live upon air. It feeds 
 upon insects, which it captures so dex- 
 terously that few eyes are sharp enough 
 to observe the process. Gent. II, 4, 26 ; 
 Hml. Ill, 2, 98. 
 
 changeable. Varying in color. Tw. II, 
 4, 75. 
 
 changeling. The belief that fairies were 
 in the habit of carrying off human chil- 
 dren and leaving their own in place of 
 them was anciently common all over 
 Europe, and in some countries it sur- 
 vived until a comparatively recent pe- 
 riod. The child was stolen before it 
 was baptized; it could not be stolen 
 after that. The motive which led to 
 the change was that every seven years 
 the fairies were compelled to sacrifice 
 one of their number to the devil, and 
 they tried to substitute a human child 
 
 for one of themselves. A baptized in- 
 fant the devil could not accept. It was 
 always believed that certain charms 
 would compel the fairies to return the 
 stolen child and take back their own; 
 but the most effectual way was said to 
 be to close doors, windows and even the 
 chimney, and then throw the fairy brat 
 on the fire. Its screams would call its 
 own people to its rescue, and the real 
 child would be returned to its mother. 
 Mids. II, 1, 22. Much has been said 
 about the term changeling being here 
 applied to the human child, but, of 
 course, it was a changeling to the 
 fairies, just as the elfin youngster was a 
 changeling to the human parent. In 
 this case, however, there seems to have 
 been no exchange. 
 
 chanson. A song. HnU. II, 2, 438. The 
 4to of 1603 has : "the first verse of the 
 godly ballet. " This explains the mod- 
 ern reading. 
 
 chape. The metal part at the end of a 
 scabbard. All's. IV, 3, 164. 
 
 chapeless. Without a chape. Shr. Ill, 
 2, 48. 
 
 chapless. The jaw being gone. Rom. 
 IV, 1, 83 ; Hml. V, 1, 97. 
 
 chapman. A dealer ; a trader ; a pedlar. 
 LLL. II, 1, 16; Troil. IV, I, 75. 
 
 charact. A distinctive mark. Meas. V, 
 1,56. 
 
 character. To write ; to inscribe. Hml. 
 
 1, 3, 59. 
 
 characterless. Unrecorded. Troil. Ill, 
 
 2, 195. 
 
 charactery. Writing. Wiv. V, 5, 77. 
 chare, n. Work; a piece of drudgery. 
 
 Ant. IV, 15, 75 ; do. V, 2, 231. 
 chare, vb. To do a job. AlPs chared = 
 
 the business is finished. Kins. Ill, 2. 
 charge-house. A school-house, but of 
 
 what kind is uncertain. LLL. V, 1, 87. 
 
 Some read church-house. 
 Charles, dr.p. The Dauphin of France. 
 
 IHVI. 
 Charles \l., dr.p. King of Erance. HV. 
 Charles, dr.p. A wrestler. As. 
 Charles' wain. The constellation known 
 
 as Ursa Major, or the Great Bear. Also 
 
CHA 
 
 75 
 
 CHI 
 
 called the Dipper. See wain. IHIV. 
 II, 1, 2. 
 
 charm. To check or restrain. Shr. IV, 
 2, 58 ; 2HVI. IV, 1, 64 ; 3HVI. V, 5, 31 ; 
 0th. V, 2, 183. 
 
 charmer. A sorceress. 0th. Ill, 4, 57, 
 
 Charmian, dr. p. One of Cleopatra's 
 attendants. Ant. 
 
 charneco. A species of sweet wine. 
 2HVI. II, 3, 63. 
 
 chace [ A term of tennis-play, used 
 
 chase. I by Sh. as = match played at 
 tennis. HV. I, 2, 266. 
 
 Chatham, the Clerk of, dr.p. A non- 
 entity in history. {Douce.) 2HVI. IV, 
 2, 92. 
 
 Chatillon, dr.p. Ambassador from 
 France. John. 
 
 chats him. The explanations given of 
 this phrase are not quite satisfactory, 
 but the best seems to be that of the 
 Rugby Sh. " Talks Coriolanus," as we 
 say a man "talks horse." Various 
 emendations have been suggested ; none 
 of much value. Cor. II, 1, 224. 
 
 chaudron. Entrails. Mcb. IV, 1, 33. 
 
 cheater, ) 1. A swindler ; a decoy. 
 
 cheator. f 2HIV. II, 4, 111. 
 2. A corruption of escheator, an officer 
 who collected the fines to be paid into 
 the exchequer. In Wiv. I, 3, 76, there 
 seems to be a quibble based on the two 
 different meanings of the word. 
 
 check. A term in falconry. When a 
 falcon flies at a bird which is not her 
 proper game, she is sa,id to check at it. 
 Tw. 11.5,125; 111,1,71. 
 
 checks. Generally considered a misprint 
 for ethics in Shr. I, 1, 32. 
 
 cheer, n. Countenance ; face. Mids. Ill, 
 2, 96; IHVI. I, 2, 48; Kins. I, 5. It is 
 the old French word chere, defined by 
 Cot. as "face, visage, countenance." 
 
 cheer, vb. To encourage; to raise the 
 spirits. Mcb. V, 3, 20. See disease. 
 
 chequin. A zechin, or sequin ; an Italian 
 gold coin worth a little more than $2. 
 Per. IV, 2, 28. 
 
 cherry-'pit. A game in which cherry-pits 
 are thrown into a hole. Tw. Ill, 4, 129. 
 
 cheveril. Kid or roe-buck leather ; a 
 
 symbol of elasticity, as in a c. glove^ 
 Tw. Ill, 1, 13 ; a c. conscience, HVIII. 
 II, 3, 32; a c. vdt, Rom. II, IV, 87. 
 
 che vor ye. Somerset dialect for I warn 
 ye. Lr. IV, 6, 346. 
 
 chewit. A chough. IHIV. V, 1, 29. 
 
 childed. Occurs in the following lines : 
 How light and portable my pain seems 
 
 now, 
 When that which makes me bend 
 
 makes the king bow, 
 He childed as I fathered. 
 
 Lr. m, 6. 117. 
 The word is found nowhere else in 
 Sh. Schm. gives the meaning of c/it7derf 
 as "having children." The Century 
 Dictionary gives "provided with or 
 having a chUd or children, ' ' both quoting 
 this passage. There are two meanings 
 which may be suggested and which do 
 not strain the sense : 1. To child = to 
 become as a child. Lear grew more 
 childlike as Edgar became stronger or 
 more like a father. 2. The king seemed 
 to adopt Edgar as a child in proportion 
 as Edgar adopted him as a father by 
 rendering son-like duty to him. 
 
 childing. Fruitful ; prolific. Mids. II, 1, 
 112. Some have suggested that childing 
 is a misprint for chilling or chiding, 
 but it is now generally accepted with 
 the meaning given above. 
 
 childe. Thus in Fl., but usually spelled 
 child. Lr. Ill, 3, 187. Byron's " Childe 
 Harold" has made the term quite 
 familiar. According to Warburton, 
 vol. VI, p. 85: "In the old times of 
 chivalry, the noble youths who were 
 candidates for knighthood, during the 
 season of their probation, were called 
 InfanSj Varlets, Damoysels, Bache- 
 liers. The most noble of the youth, 
 particularly, Infans.'''' Infans = child. 
 Rowland is the same as Roland. Edgar 
 evidently mixes up a ballad about the 
 Child Rowland, and lines from a 
 popular rhyme about Jack the Giant- 
 KiUer. 
 
 childness. Childish dispkosition. Wint. 
 I, 2, 170. 
 
 ch'ill. I will. (Somerset dialect.) Lr. 
 IV, 6, 239, and 247. 
 
CHI 
 
 76 
 
 CLE 
 
 chine. The spine ; a piece of the spine 
 cut for cooking. 2HVI. IV, 10, 61; 
 HVIII. V, 4, 26. See mose. 
 
 chinks. Money. Rom. I, 5, 118. So 
 called from its " chinking " sound. The 
 term still survives as a slang word. 
 
 chirurgeonly. In the manner of a sur- 
 geon. Tp. II, 1, 140. 
 
 chopine. A shoe or clog with a very high 
 heel. Hml. II, 2, 447. Some of these 
 chopines were more like stilts than 
 shoes, being 18 inches high, and when 
 a lady who wore them went abroad she 
 required one or two assistants to walk 
 by her side and keep her from falling. 
 
 choppy. Chopped. Mcb. I, 3, 44. 
 
 Christendom. The state of being a Chris- 
 tian. John IV, 1, 16. 
 
 christom. Mi-s. Quickly means chrisom 
 child = a child just christened. Infants 
 dying within a month of christening 
 were called chrisoms. The term is also 
 applied to the face-cloth or piece of 
 linen put upon the head of a child 
 newly baptised. HV. II, 3, 12. 
 
 chuclc. A chicken ; a term of endear- 
 ment. LLL. V, 1, 117. ; 0th. Ill, 4, 49. 
 
 chuff. A coarse, unmannered clown, at 
 once sordid and wealthy. IHIV. II, 2, 
 94. 
 
 chrysolite. Literally gold-stone— a pre- 
 cious stone, evidently at one time in 
 high repute amongst jewellers. Some- 
 times identified with the topaz, but 
 probably a very different and much 
 more valuable mineral. The chrysolite 
 of the modern mineralogist has no value 
 as a jewel. 0th. V, 2, 145. 
 
 Chiron, dr.p. Son of Tamora. Tit. 
 
 Cicero, dr. p. A Roman senator. Caes. 
 
 cincture. A belt or girdle. John IV, 
 3, 1.5.5. The word is center in the folio, 
 and this Schm. glosses as soul. The 
 word cincture was pronounced center 
 in Sh. day (R. G. White), hence the 
 mistake in spelling. 
 
 Cinna, dr. p. A conspirator against Julius 
 Caesar. Caes. 
 
 Cinna, dr. p. A poet. Plutarch tells us 
 that the populace mistook him for Cinna 
 the conspirator and put him to death. 
 
 cinque-pace. A lively dance, the steps 
 of which were regulated by the number 
 five. From the French cinq = five. 
 Literally five-step. Ado. II, 1, 77. See 
 sink-a-pace. 
 
 cipher. To decipher. Lucr. 208. 
 
 circumstance. Phrases ; ceremony. Hml. 
 I, 5, 127 ; 0th. I, 1, 13 ; 2HVI. I, 1, 105. 
 
 cite. To call ; to incite. Gent. II, 4, 85. 
 
 citizen. Town-bred ; effeminate. Cym. 
 IV, 2, 8. 
 
 cittern. A guitar. LLL. V, 2, 614. The 
 allusion here is to the fact that the 
 cittern usually had a head grotesquely 
 carved at the extremity of the neck 
 and the finger-board. Nares. 
 
 clack-dish. A wooden dish carried by 
 beggars, with a movable cover, which 
 they clapped and clattered to show that 
 it was empty. In this they received 
 the alms. Nares. Meas. Ill, 2, 135. 
 
 Also called clap-dish., and sometimes 
 jocularly applied to a woman's mouth 
 from the noise it is supposed to 
 make. " Widow, hold your clap-dish " 
 (Greene's " Tu Quoque ") means, do not 
 speak. 
 
 clap. By itself this word has the usual 
 meaning ; to clap on the shoulder was 
 the sign of arrest by bailiffs, and this 
 (and not a sign of applause, as is the 
 usual interpretation,) is evidently the 
 meaning in As. IV, 1, 48. 
 
 clap i' the clout. To shoot an arrow 
 into the buU's eye of the target. 2HIV. 
 Ill, 2, 51. 
 
 Clarence, George, Duke of, dr. p. Son of 
 the Duke of York, and brother of 
 Edward IV. and Richard III. 3HVI. 
 and RIII. 
 
 Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, dr. p. Son 
 of Henry IV. 2HIV. 
 
 Claudio, dr. p. Brother of Isabella, and 
 condemned to death. Meas. 
 
 Claudio, dr. p. A young Florentine lord 
 in love with Hero. Ado. 
 
 Claudius, dr./7. King of Denmark. Uncle 
 and stepfather to Hamlet. Hml. 
 
 Claudius, dr. p. Servant to Brutus. Caes. 
 
 claw. To flatter. Ado. I, 3, 18. 
 
 Cleomenes, c2r.j7. A Sicilian lord. Wlnt. 
 
CLE 
 
 CLO 
 
 Cleon, dr. p. Governor of Tarsus. Per. 
 Cleopatra, dr. p. Ant. j 
 
 The Cleopatra who makes such a 
 figure in history and in Sh. play was 
 the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, and 
 was born 69 B.C. At the age of seven- 
 teen she was left heir to the kingdom 
 jointly with her younger brother, 
 Ptolemy, whose wife, in accordance 
 with Egyptian custom, she was to 
 become. Being deprived of her king- 
 dom by her guardians, she withdrew 
 into Syria and prepared to recover her 
 kingdom by force of arms. At this 
 time she met Julius Caesar, who had 
 followed Pompey into Egypt, and 
 Caesar, smitten with her charms, at 
 once took her part, defeated the Ptole- 
 my who had usurped her rights, and 
 replaced her on the throne, in conjunc- 
 tion with the younger brother, to whom 
 she was contracted in marriage. On 
 Caesar's return to Rome, Cleopatra fol- 
 lowed him with her young husband, of 
 whom, however, she got rid by poison, 
 but on the assassination of Caesar she 
 returned to Egypt. Some years before 
 this she had met Antony, and made 
 such a deep impression upon him that 
 he followed her to Egypt, where they 
 lived together in the most unbridled 
 and wanton luxury. They assumed the 
 names of "Osiris " and " Isis," and gave 
 themselves out as divinities. War was, 
 however, declared against them by Oc- 
 tavianus Caesar (Augustus), and the 
 rest of her history is given in the play. 
 She had three children by Antony and 
 a son called Caesarion by Julius Caesar. 
 Caesarion was executed by order of 
 Augustus. 
 
 clepe. To call ; to name. Hml. I, 4, 19. 
 
 Clifford, Lord, dr.p. A Lancastrian. 
 2HVI. and 3HVI. 
 
 Clifford, Young, dr.p. Son of Lord 
 Clifford. 2HVI. 
 
 climature. Region. Hml. I, 1, 12.5. 
 
 cling. To waste away. Mcb. V, 5, 40. 
 
 clink. To make a ringing sound : IHIV. 
 II, 4, 51 ; 0th. II, 8, 71. In the latter 
 passage the "clink" is supposed to be 
 
 made by touching mugs or glasses, as is 
 
 even now a common fashion. 
 clinquant. Glittering ; shining. HVIII. 
 
 I, 1, 19. 
 clip. To embrace ; to enclose. 0th. Ill, 
 
 3, 404 ; 2HVI. IV, 1, 6. 
 clipper. Adefacerofcoin. HV. IV, 1,249. 
 Clitus, dr.p. Servant to Brutus. Caes. 
 closely. Secretly ; privately. John IV, 
 
 1, 133 ; Hml. Ill, 1, 29. 
 
 Cl3ten, dr.p. Son of the queen, and thn 
 rejected lover of Imogen. Cym. 
 
 clothier's yard. An arrow the length 
 of a clothier's yard. Lr. IV, 6, 88. 
 
 cloud. A dark spot between the eyes of a 
 horse. This gives him a sour look, and 
 being supposed to indicate an ill-temper 
 is regarded as a great blemish. Steevens. 
 Ant. Ill, 2, 51. 
 
 clout. 1. A rag or piece of cloth. John, 
 III, 4, 58 ; RIII. I, 3, 177 ; Hml. II, 2, 
 529. Schm. suggests that in Ant. IV, 
 7, 6, clouts = cuffs [blows]. Surely not. 
 It is true that there is a Scotch word 
 clout, which signifies a blow, but here 
 the word means broken heads tied up 
 with cloths. 
 
 2. The white mark fixed in the center of 
 the target at which archers shot for 
 practice. LLL. IV, 1, 136 ; 2HIV. Ill, 
 
 2, 51 ; Lr. IV, 6, 92. 
 
 Nares derives the word from the 
 French clouette, which is not to be found 
 in the ordinary French dictionaries. 
 Cot. has '■'■ clouet, a little nayle." But 
 none of the forms or combinations of 
 the English word clout have any rela- 
 tion to the French clou, a. nail. A 
 clout nail, or as Cot. has it, "aclowte 
 nayle," is a nail with a very broad 
 head used for nailing cloth, canvass, 
 leather, and similar materials to wood, 
 and ch>ut, as used here, has direct re- 
 ference to the purpose for which it is 
 used — i.e., nailing clouts. In this case 
 the small head of the common nail 
 would go through the material and 
 would not hold. Hunter, in his " New 
 Illustrations of Shakespeare," vol. II, 
 page 70, quotes the "accompts of re- 
 pairs at Woodstock, in the sixth year 
 
CLO 
 
 78 
 
 coc 
 
 of King Edward the Fourth, ' Item 
 solut. Roberto Austyn pro c. cloute 
 neyle pro le goters in Rosamond.' " 
 
 The clout of the archer was a piece of 
 white cloth nailed to the center of the 
 butt. See hob-nail and clap. 
 
 clouted. There is a difference of opinion 
 as to whether this word signifies patched 
 or studded with clout or hob-nails in 
 2HVI. IV, 2, 195, and Cym. IV, 2, 214. 
 In the second quotation it certainly 
 means studded with nails. Arviragius 
 puts off his " clouted brogues " for fear 
 of making too much noise ; patched 
 brogues would not make a noise, but 
 brogues studded with nails would. In 
 2H VI. the order is to spare poor people — 
 those whose coarse shoes, studded with 
 nails, gave evidence that they were 
 peasants. Surely the mere accident 
 that a peasant's shoes were not patched 
 would not have condemned him to 
 death. The soles of the shoes of the 
 upper classes were not so studded with 
 nails. Hunter, to whose work we have 
 already referred, quotes from Poole's 
 "English Parnassus," the following 
 lines referring to small-pox : 
 
 which ploughs up flesh and blood, 
 And leaves such prints of beauty if he 
 
 come, 
 As clouted shoon do upon floors of 
 lorae. 
 Patched shoes would not leave imprints 
 resembling small-pox upon floors of 
 loam. That clouted sometimes means 
 patched is undoubtedly true. See 
 Joshua ix, 5. See brogue. 
 
 clown, dr.p. Pompey, servant to Mrs. 
 Overdone. Meas. 
 
 clown, dr.p. Feste, servant to Olivia. 
 Tw. 
 
 cloy. To stroke with the claw. "An 
 accustomed action with hawks and 
 eagles." Steevens. Cym. V, 4, 118. 
 
 coast. 1. To creep along the coast. Err. 
 I, 1, 135 ; H VIII. Ill, 2, 38. 
 2. To advance. V. and A., 870. 
 
 coasting. Inviting ; amorous approach ; 
 courtship. Troil. IV, 5, 59. In some 
 eds. accosting. 
 
 cob-loaf. A coarse, uneven loaf with a 
 round top to it. A term of contempt 
 applied to a man. Troil. II, 1, 41. 
 
 The meaning of cob is a round lump. 
 Thus a cob, said of a horse, means a 
 dumpy animal; a cob-nut is a round 
 nut ; a cobble-stone is a stone of a round 
 form, such as is used for pavement, and 
 a cobble is a boat wide in proportion to 
 its length. 
 
 cobweb. The fiber spun by spiders. 
 Country people consider it an excellent 
 styptic, hence Bottom's words in Mids. 
 Ill, 1, 186, where, if he cut his finger, 
 he will desire a cobweb to stanch the 
 bleeding. 
 
 cock. 1. A male bird. 
 
 2. A small boat ; a cock-boat. Lr. IV, 
 6, 19. 
 
 3. A minced form of God, frequently 
 used in oaths. Same as cox. Cock''s 
 passion = God's passion, that is, the 
 sufferings of Christ. Shr. IV, 1, 121. 
 By cock-and-pie. Wiv. I, 1, 316. An 
 oath of uncertain derivation. Cock is 
 supposed to stand for God (as it does 
 elsewhere) and pie to mean the service 
 book of the Romish Church. Dyce. 
 
 cock-a-hoop. To cast off all restraint. 
 Rom. I, 5, 85. 
 
 cocatrice. A fabled animal, said to be 
 hatched from the egg of an old cock. 
 It was said to have eight feet, a crown 
 on its head and a hooked and recurved 
 beak. It was supposed to have such 
 deadly power that it killed by the very 
 glance of its eye (Rom. Ill, 2, 47) ; but 
 it was also believed that the animal 
 could not exercise this faculty unless it 
 first perceived the object of its wrath 
 before it was itself seen by it ; if first 
 seen, it died. Also called the basilisk, 
 q.v. 
 
 Cockatrice was a popular name for a 
 loose woman, probably from the fasci- 
 nation of the eye. 
 
 cockle. 1. The shell of the cockle (not 
 mussel, as Schm. has it). Shr. IV, 3, 
 166; Per. IV, 4, 2. The cockle-sheU 
 was the badge of pilgrims bound for 
 places beyond the sea. Hml. IV, 5, 25. 
 
coc 
 
 79 
 
 COL 
 
 2. An obnoxious weed; the darnel. 
 LLL. IV, 3, 383; Cor. Ill, 1, 70. See 
 darnel. 
 
 cockney. Both the meaning and origin 
 of this word are quite uncertain. For 
 a good discussion of the subject see 
 *' Century Dictionary." s.v. cockney. 
 In Lr. II, 4, 123, it has been interpreted 
 to mean cook ; in Tw. IV, 1, 15, it is 
 evidently intended to mean an ignorant 
 person. 
 
 cockscomb. See coxcomb. 
 
 cockshut. A large net suspended between 
 two poles, employed to catch or shut in 
 woodcocks, and used chiefly in the twi- 
 light ; hence it came to be used for twi- 
 light. Also in the form cockshut time 
 = the time for catching woodcocks — 
 twilight. Some say the time when 
 cocks and hens go to roost. RIII. V, 3, 70. 
 
 Cocytus. A river in Epirus, a tributary 
 of the Acheron. Like the Acheron, 
 the Cocytus was supposed to be con- 
 nected with the lower world, and hence 
 came to be described as a river in the 
 lower world, cf. Acheron. Homer 
 makes the Cocytus a tributary of the 
 Styx. Tit. II, 3, 236. 
 
 cod's head. To change the cocfs head 
 for the salmon tail = to give up the 
 best part of a homely thing for the 
 worst part of something very fine. 
 White. 0th. II, 1, 156. 
 
 White here uses homely in the Ameri- 
 can sense of inferior or ill-looking^ not 
 in the British sense of like home. An 
 unfortunate euphemism. 
 
 coffin. The crust of a pie. Tit. V, 2, 189. 
 
 coign. A corner; a projecting comer- 
 stone. Mcb. I, 6, 7 ; Cor. V, 4, 1. 
 
 coil. Timiult; turmoil; bustle. Tp. I, 
 2, 207. Shuffled off this mortal coil = 
 when we have got rid of all the turmoil 
 of mortality. Hml. Ill, 1, 67. 
 
 coistrel. See coystrel. 
 
 Colbrand. A Danish giant, whom Guy 
 of Warwick discomfited in the presence 
 of King Athelstan. Johnson. John, 
 I, 1, 225 ; HVIII. V, 4, 22. 
 
 coliied. Blackened ; darkened. 0th. II, 
 3,206. 
 
 collier. A term of reproach, not only 
 from the black appearance of colliers, 
 but from their reputation as cheats 
 and swindlers. Tw. Ill, 4, 130 ; Rom. 
 I, 1, 3. Collier here means seller or 
 pedlar of coal rather than a miner. 
 coUop. A slice of flesh. Wint. I, 2, 137 ; 
 IHVI. V, 4, 18. 
 
 An old English word found in the 
 " Promptorium Parvulorum " and else- 
 where, and still in common use in Scot- 
 land, where "minced collops " are a 
 favorite dish. Schm. says, "part of a 
 man's flesh," but this is true only 
 metaphorically, as in the text. 
 Colme-kill. The cell or chapel of St. 
 Columba, situated on a barren islet 
 now known as Icolmkill or lona, about 
 eight miles north of Staffa. Mcb. II, 
 4,33. 
 
 Here St. Columba, an Irish Christian 
 preacher, founded a monastery in a.d. 
 563, and here he died about a.d. 597, or 
 at the time when Augustine landed in 
 Kent to convert the English. From this 
 monastery in lona, Christianity and 
 civilization spread, not only through 
 Scotland, but even to the Orkneys and 
 Iceland. Hence the island came to be 
 considered holy ground, and there was a 
 traditionary belief that it was to be 
 specially favored at the dissolution of 
 the world. According to the ancient 
 prophecy. 
 
 Seven years before that awful day 
 
 When time shall be no more, 
 A watery deluge shall o'ersweep 
 
 Hibernia's mossy shore ; 
 The green-clad Isla, too, shall sink, 
 
 While with the great and good 
 Columba's happier isle shall rear 
 Her towers above the flood. 
 It is not to be wondered at that mon- 
 archs desired to be buried in this sacred 
 spot, and that thus it became the ceme- 
 tery where, as CoUins has sung. 
 The mighty kings of three fair realms 
 are laid— 
 Scotland, Ireland and Norway. No 
 trace of their tombs now remains, the 
 oldest monuments left on the island be- 
 ing those of Irish ecclesiastics of the 
 
COL 
 
 80 
 
 COM 
 
 12th century. Besides these there are 
 the ruins of a chapel (of the 11th cen- 
 tury), of a nunnery (founded about 
 1180), and of the cathedral church of 
 St. Mary, built early in the 13th cen- 
 tury. Of the three hundred and fifty 
 sculptured stone crosses which formerly 
 adorned the island, only two are still 
 standing. One is called "Maclean's 
 Cross," and is a beautifully carved 
 monolith, eleven feet high; the other, 
 " St. Martin's Cross," is about fourteen 
 feet high. All the other crosses were 
 thrown into the sea, about the year 
 1560, by order of the anti-Popish Synod 
 of Argyll. Rolfe. 
 
 The beautiful tribute to the ruins of 
 lona by Dr. Johnson must be fresh in 
 the mind of every cultivated person. 
 Columbine. The Aquilegia vulgaris. 
 This was termed of old a thankless 
 flower — the emblem of ingratitude, and 
 also of cuckoldom on account of the 
 horns of its nectaria. It was also em- 
 blematical of forsaken lovers. The 
 name Coi?twi6tne originated in a fancied 
 resemblance of its petals and sepals to 
 the heads of pigeons round a dish. LLL. 
 V, 3, 661; Hml. IV, 5, 180. All Ophe- 
 lia's flowers seem to be emblematic of 
 something, but coms. are not agreed 
 as to what the columbine signified in 
 this case. Perhaps ingratitude. 
 Colville, Sir John, dr.p. An enemy to 
 
 Henry IV. 2HIV. 
 comart. Bargain ; covenant. Hml, 1, 1, 
 
 93. In most eds. rendered covenant. 
 combinate. Betrothed ; contracted ; prom- 
 ised. Meas. Ill, 1, 231. 
 comeddle. In most modem editions, com- 
 mingle, which means the same thing. 
 Hml. Ill, 2, 74. cf. meddle. 
 comfect. Comfit ; dry sweetmeat. See 
 
 Count Comfect, 
 Cominius, dr.p. A Roman general em- 
 ployed against the Volscians. Cor. 
 comma. The smallest break or stop. 
 
 Hml. V, 2, 42. 
 commandments. My ten command- 
 ments =■-■ my ten fingers ; an old slang 
 expression. 2HVI. I, 3, 145. 
 
 commodity. A quantity ; a parcel. Meas. 
 IV, 3, 5; Tw. ftl, 1,50. 
 
 comonty. Slv's blunder for comsdy. 
 Shr. Ind. 2, 140. 
 
 comparative, n. One who makes com- 
 parisons ; a scoffer. IHIV. Ill, 2, 67. 
 
 comparative, adj. Quick at compari- 
 sons. IHIV. I, 2, 90. 
 
 compass. The circle of the sun through 
 the heavens ; a year. 0th. Ill, 4, 71. 
 
 compassed window. A bow window. 
 Troil. I, 2, 120. Perhaps a circular 
 window. 
 
 compassionate. Complaining ; asking 
 for compassion. RII. I, 3, 174. 
 
 complement. Outward form ; show ; 
 ceremony. LLL. I, 1, 169. 
 
 complexion. 1. Temperament; natural 
 disposition. Merch. Ill, 1, 32 ; Hml. I, 
 4, 27. 
 
 2. General appearance. Tp. I, 1, 32; 
 Wiv. V, 5, 9 ; Hml. II, 2, 477. 
 
 3. Color of the skin. Err. 111,2, 103; 
 Ado. II, 1 , 305. The passage in As. Ill, 
 2, 204, Good my complexion, has puz- 
 zled some. Theobald emended to odd^s 
 my complexion, and Nares, perhaps 
 following Ritson, asks if Rosalind does 
 not mean to swear by her complexion, 
 as in "Good heavens!" Referring 
 back to line 192, we find Celia, after 
 hinting at the presence of Orlando, 
 asking: "Change you colour?" And 
 now Rosalind uses to her complexion a 
 form of expression found in " Good my 
 lord," " Good my mother," " Good my 
 glass," etc., and implies that her com- 
 plexion has shown her sex, and then 
 claims that this is quite as it ought to be. 
 
 comply with. To compliment ; to ofl'er 
 formal courtesy. Hml. II, 2, 390 ; do. 
 V, 2, 195. 
 
 compose. To agree ; to come to an un- 
 derstanding. Ant. II, 2, 15. 
 
 composition. Agreement ; compact. 
 Meas. I, 2, 2 ; John, II, 1, 561 ; Mcb. I, 
 2, 59. No composition in these news 
 = no consistency or agreement in these 
 statementr. 0th. I, 3, 1. 
 
 compromise. To agree ; literally : to 
 promise together. Merch. I, 3, 79. 
 
COM 
 
 81 
 
 CON 
 
 comptible. Sensitive. Tw. I, 5, 187. 
 
 con. 1, To give ; to acknowledge. All's. 
 IV, 3, 174 ; Tim. IV, 3, 428. 
 2. To learn by heart. Conned them 
 out of rings = learned by heart the 
 mottoes or posies found in rings. As. 
 Ill, 2, 289. 
 
 conceit. As found in As. V, 2, 59. Most 
 commentators give the meaning as in- 
 telligence ; wit. Schm. defines it as 
 extraction, birth, and says : " Rosalind, 
 in order to convince Orlando of her 
 pretended knowledge of mysteries, says 
 to him : ' I know you are a gentleman 
 of good conceit. ' This cannot be == a 
 gentleman of good parts, of wit ; ' for 
 there needs no magician to teU him 
 this.'" 
 
 concernancy. Relation ; bearing ; im- 
 port. Hml. V, 2, 128. 
 
 conclusion. 1. An experiment. Ant. V, 
 2, a56 ; Hml. Ill, 4, 195. 
 2. Inference. Ant. IV, 15, 28. 
 
 concolinel. A scrap of a song, but 
 whether the beginning or the burden 
 has not been determined. Some have 
 claimed that it is part of an Irish song. 
 LLL. Ill, 1, 3. 
 
 concupy. A contraction of concupiscence; 
 lust. TroU. V, 2, 177. 
 
 condolement. Grief; mourning. Hml. 
 I 2 93. 
 
 coney,)* A rabbit. As. Ill, 2, a57; 
 
 cony, f Cor. IV, 5, 226. 
 
 coney-catch. See cony-catch. 
 
 confirmity. A blunder of Mrs. Quickly's 
 for infirmity. 2HIV. II, 4, 64. 
 
 confound. To consume ; to waste away. 
 IHIV. I, .3, 100. 
 
 congrue. To agree; to mean the same 
 thing. HV. I, 2, 182; Hml. IV, 3, 
 66. 
 
 congruent. Fitting ; suitable. LLL. I, 
 2, 14, and V, 1,97. 
 
 conger. A sea eel. 2HIV. II, 4, 266. 
 Applied as a term of reproach, probably 
 because the conger is known to be a 
 foul-feeding, mud-loving fish. 2HIV. 
 
 II, 4, 58. See fennel. 
 
 conjee t. To guess ; to conjecture. 0th. 
 
 III, 3, 149. 
 
 conjunctive. Closely imited. Hml. IV, 
 7,14; 0th. 1,3,374. 
 
 Conrade, di\p. A follower of Don John. 
 Ado. 
 
 considerance. Consideration; reflection. 
 2HIV. V, 2, 98. 
 
 consideration. See carpet. 
 
 consign. 1. To agree; to confederate. 
 2HIV. V, 2, 143; HV. V, 2, 90. 
 2. To assign ; to allot. Troil. IV, 4, 47. 
 
 consolate. To console ; to comfort. AU's. 
 Ill, 2, 131. 
 
 consort. A number of persons or a com- 
 pany, as a band of musicians. Grent. 
 Ill, 2, 84. 
 
 conspectuity. Sight. Cor. II, 1, 70. 
 
 Constable of France, The, dv.p. Charles 
 Delabreth, or D'Albret. He was slain 
 at the Battle of Agincourt. HV. 
 
 Constance, dr.p. Mother of Prince Ar- 
 thur. John. 
 
 constancy. Consistency. Mids. V, 1, 26. 
 
 constant. Firm ; unshaken. Tp. I, 2, 207. 
 
 constantly. 1, With fii-mness. Caes. V, 
 
 I, 92. 
 
 2. Certainly ; for certain. Meas. IV, 1, 
 
 21. 
 constant-qualified. Faithful. Cym. I, 
 
 '4, 65. 
 conster. To construe. So spelled in some 
 
 editions. 
 constringe. To condense ; to cramp. 
 
 Troil. V, 2, 173. 
 construe. To interpret ; to explain. Tw. 
 
 Ill, 1, 63; Caes. II, 1, 307; Oth. IV, 1, 
 
 102. 
 consul. A Venetian senator. Oth. 1, 1, 25. 
 contemptible. Contemptuous; scornful. 
 
 Ado. II, 3, 187. 
 contemptuous. Despicable; contempti- 
 ble. 2HVI. I, 3, 86. 
 continent. 1. That which contains and 
 
 encloses anything. Hml. IV, 4, 64 ; Lr. 
 
 Ill, 2, 58; LLL. IV, 1, 111. In ilids. 
 
 II, 1 , 92 = the banks of rivers. 
 
 2. That which is contained; contents. 
 2HIV. II, 4, 309. 
 contraction. A contract. Hml. Ill, 4, 
 46. In this instance, the marriage con- 
 tract. This form of the word is very 
 unusual, and has given occasion for 
 
CON 
 
 COB 
 
 much discussion, but the meaning seems 
 
 obvious. 
 contrarious. Adverse ; contradictory. 
 
 IHIV. V, 1, 52; Meas. IV, 1, 62. 
 contrary, v. To oppose. Rom. I, 5, 87. 
 contrive. 1. To conspire ; to plot. Hml. 
 
 IV, 7, 136 ; Mids. Ill, 2, 196. 
 
 2. To pass away the time. Shr. I, 2, 
 276. Some claim that in this passage it 
 means to scheme. The word generally 
 has a bad sense, but not necessarily. 
 Perhaps it here means simply to asso- 
 ciate together. 
 
 convent, v. 1. To summon. Meas. V, 
 158 ; H VIII, V, 1, 52. 
 2. To be convenient ; to suit. Tw. V, 391. 
 
 convertite. A convert. Lucr. 743; John, 
 
 V, 1, 19. 
 
 convey. Besides the usual signification 
 is cant for steal. Wiv. I, 3, 32; Cym. 
 I, 1, 63. 
 
 conveyance. Theft ; fraud ; trickery. 
 IHVI. I, 3, 2; 3HVI. Ill, 3, 160. 
 
 conveyer. A cheater ; a thief. RII. IV, 
 1, 317. 
 
 convict. Convicted. RIII. I, 4, 192. 
 
 convicted. Usually defined as defeated ; 
 overpowered. John, III, 4, 2. This 
 word is evidently a misprint. " Con- 
 vected, " " con vented, " " collected, ' ' 
 and several other words have been sug- 
 gested as the true reading. 
 
 convince. To overpower ; to defeat. 
 Mcb. I, 7, 64, and IV, 3, 142; Cym. I, 
 4, 104. 
 
 convive. To feast. Troil. IV, 5, 272. 
 
 coney-catch. To swindle; to steal; the 
 coney or rabbit being considered a very 
 simple animal. Wiv. I, 1, 128, and I, 
 3, 36. 
 
 " It has been shown, from Decker's 
 'English Villanies,' that the system 
 of cheating, or as it is now called, 
 swindling, was carried to a great length 
 early in the seventeenth century ; that 
 a collective society of sharpers was 
 called a warren, and their dupes rab- 
 bit-suckers (that is, young rabbits) or 
 conies. One of their chief decoys was 
 the selling goods or trash to be resold 
 at a loss. They had several other terms 
 
 of their art, all derived from the 
 
 warren." Nares. 
 In Shr. IV, 1, 45, the word is used 
 
 to express foolery or trickery ; but this 
 
 is not the generally accepted use of the 
 
 term. 
 cooling-card. See card. 
 copatain hat. A hat with a high and 
 
 pointed crown, like a sugar loaf. Shr. 
 
 V, 1. 69. 
 cope. V. 1. To reward; to equal; to 
 
 meet. Merch. IV, 1, 412. 
 2. To meet with; to encounter. 0th. 
 
 IV, 1, 87. 
 cope, n. The firmament. Per. IV, 6, 132. 
 copesmate. A companion. Lucr. 925. 
 copped. Rising to a prominent top, head 
 
 or cop. Per. I, 1, 101. 
 copy. Copyhold ; tenure. Mcb. Ill, 2, 38. 
 coragio. Courage. Tp. V, 1, 258; All's. 
 
 II, 5, 96. 
 coram. A Latin preposition, supposed 
 
 by Slender to be a title. Wiv. I, 1, 6, 
 
 Schm,. Part of a term {coram nobis) 
 
 used in certain writs. 
 R. G. White glosses it as a blunder 
 
 for quorutn. Improbable. 
 coranto. A quick, lively dance. All's. 
 
 II, 3, 49 ; Tw. I, 3, 137. 
 Cordelia, dr.p. The youngest daughter 
 
 of King Lear. Lr. 
 Corin, dr.p. A shepherd. As. 
 Corinth. A cant term for a disorderly 
 
 house. Tim. II, 2, 73. 
 Corinthian. A licentious person, Corinth 
 
 having been proverbial for its immor- 
 
 ahty. In IHIV. II, 4, 13, it probably 
 
 means a lad of mettle ; a spirited young 
 
 fellow. 
 Coriolanus, Caius Marcius, dr.p. A noble 
 
 Roman. Cor. 
 corky. Shrivelled, like the rough and 
 
 cleft bark of the cork tree. Lr. Ill, 7, 
 
 29. 
 corn. In England this word signifies 
 
 wheat ; in some parts of Ireland and 
 
 Scotland, oats; in Arabia the equiva- 
 lent term signifies barley ; in the United 
 
 States, maize. See robin. 
 cornuto. A cuckold. Wiv. Ill, 5, 71. 
 Cornelius, dr.p. A courtier. Hml. 
 
COB 
 
 COU 
 
 Cornelius, dr. p. A physician. Cym. 
 
 Cornwall, Duke of, dr. p. The husband 
 of Regan. Lr. 
 
 corollary. A surplus. Tp. IV, 1, 57. 
 
 coroner. Literally a crowner. An offi- 
 cer whose original duty was to take 
 charge of the property of the crown. 
 Afterwards this office was confined to 
 holding inquests on dead bodies. The 
 word which is rendered "coroners" in 
 As. IV, 1, 105, is "chronoclers " in the 
 Folios. Chroniclers is retained in the 
 Cambridge ed. , but coroners is the read- 
 ing in the Globe and many others. 
 As Schm. says : " The Sh. form of the 
 word is crowner." 
 
 corporal, adj. Corporeal. Mcb. I, 3, 81, 
 
 corporal=of-the-field. An aide-de-camp. 
 LLL. Ill, 1, 189. 
 
 corroborate. A word used nonsensically 
 by Pistol. HV. II, 1, 130. 
 
 corrigible. 1. Docile ; submissive to cor- 
 rection. Ant. IV, 14, 74. 
 2. Corrective. 0th. I, 3, 329. 
 
 corrival. A companion. IHIV. IV, 4, 
 31. 
 
 corruption. Perversion ; false represent- . 
 ation. HVIII. IV, 2, 71. Hml. I, 4, 
 35. 
 
 corsive. Corrosive ; irritating. IHVI. 
 Ill, 3, 3. 
 
 Costard, dr.p. A clown. LLL. 
 
 costard. Slang for head. Lr. IV, 6, 247. 
 
 costermonger, adj. Peddling ; mercen- 
 ary. 2HIV. I, 2, 191, 
 
 cote, n. A cottage. As. II, 4, 83. 
 
 cote, vh. 1. To overtake; to pass. Hml. 
 II, 2, 330. 
 
 2. To quote ; to instance. LLL. IV, 3, 
 87. 
 
 cot^quean. A man who busies himself 
 with women's affairs ; a molly-coddle ; 
 a cot-betty. Rom. IV. 4, 6. 
 
 Hunter has this note on the word : 
 *' A cot-quean is the wife of a faithless 
 husband, and not as Johnson, who knew 
 little of the language of Sh. time, ex- 
 plains it, ' a man who busies himself 
 about kitchen affairs. ' It occurs twice 
 in Golding's translation of the story of 
 Tereus. The nurse is speaking to Lady 
 
 Capulet, and the word calls forth all 
 the con\ ersation which follows about 
 jealousy." But Johnson merely fol- 
 lowed Phillips' " New World of Words," 
 or Bailey, by both of whom it is thus 
 defined. Many editors give the speech 
 in which it occurs to Lady Capulet on 
 the ground that the Nurse has been 
 sent away for spices. But in most eds., 
 including Fl, the Nurse and Lady Cap- 
 ulet leave after line 12, and not before. 
 Rom. IV, 4, 7. 
 
 Count Comfect. A gallant composed of 
 affectation. " A nobleman made of 
 sugar." Steevens. "My Lord Lolli- 
 pop." Staunton. Ado. IV, 1, 318. 
 
 countenance, n. In addition to the 
 usual significations, it means : 1. Author- 
 ity ; credit. Sonn. LXXXVI, 13 ; Wiv. 
 II, 2, 5 ; Lr. V, 1, 63. 
 2. Fair show; specious appearance. Meas. 
 V, 1, 118. 
 
 countenance, vb. To favor ; to support. 
 2HIV. IV, 1, 35 ; 2HIV. V, 1, 41. 
 
 counter. To run counter is to mistake 
 the course of the game, or to turn and 
 pursue the backward trail; to draw 
 dry-foot is to track by the scent of the 
 foot. To run counter and draw dry- 
 foot well (Err. IV, 2, 39) are therefore 
 inconsistent. The jest consists in the 
 ambiguity of the word counter, which 
 means the wrong way in the chase and 
 also a prison in London. The officer that 
 arrested Antipholus was a sergeant of 
 the counter. See counter-gate. 
 
 counter. A round piece of metal used in 
 calculations, and of little or no value. 
 As. II, 7, 63. 
 
 counter-caster. An accountant ; a busi- 
 ness clerk and not a military man. 
 0th. I, 1, 31. 
 
 Counter-gate. The gate of the prison in 
 London called Counter. Wiv. Ill, 3, 85. 
 
 counterpoint. A counterpane. Literally 
 a stitched quilt. Counterpane is a cor- 
 rupted form of the word. Cot. gives, 
 " Contrepointer. To quilt ; to worke 
 the backe stitch or to work with the 
 back stitch." Shr. II. 1, 353. 
 
 Countess of Auvergne, dr.p. IHVI. 
 
COTJ 
 
 84 
 
 coz 
 
 Count of Rousillon, dr.p. Bertram. 
 All's. 
 
 Countess of Rousillon, dr.p. Mother of 
 Bertram. All's. 
 
 county. Count : a title ; originally near- 
 ly equivalent to earl. Rom. I, 2, 68. 
 
 couplet. A pair. Hml. V, 1, 310. The 
 dove always lays two eggs for a sitting, 
 and when the young are newly hatched 
 the yellow down gives them a golden 
 hue. 
 
 course. In regard to Tp. I, 1, 4.5, Holt 
 says, " The courses meant in this place 
 are two of the three lowest and largest 
 sails of a ship, which are so called be- 
 cause, as largest, they contribute most 
 to give her way through the water, 
 and, consequently, enable her to feel 
 her helm, and stear her course better 
 than when they are not set or spread to 
 the wind. ' ' This explains the passage in 
 Kins. Ill, 4. 
 
 courser's hair. It was an old belief 
 that a horse hair when placed in water 
 acquired life and became a slender 
 snake. Two facts contributed to es- 
 tablish this erroneous belief : 1 — When 
 a horse hair is placed in water, the ab- 
 sorption of moisture causes it to move, 
 just as a very thin shaving will curl 
 and move when laid on a damp sur- 
 face; 2 — There is a peculiar parasite, 
 the Gordius Aquaticus, which passes 
 a portion of its life in stagnant pools, 
 and which in outward appearance and 
 size closely resembles the hair of a 
 horse. I have met those who could not 
 be convinced that they had not seen 
 hairs turned into snakes. Ant. I, 2, 200. 
 
 Court, dr.p. A soldier in army of Henrv 
 V. HV. 
 
 court-cupboard. A sort of movable side- 
 board, without doors or drawers, on 
 which were displayed the plate of an 
 establishment — the flagons, beakers, 
 cups, etc. Difce. Rom. I, 5, 8. 
 
 court holy-water. Flattery ; fair words. 
 Lr. Ill, 2, 10. Cot. gives : " Eau beniste 
 de Cour. Court holie water ; comple- 
 ments, f aire words, flattering speeches. " 
 
 courtship. Courtly breeding; elegance 
 
 of behaviour. LLL. V, 2, 363 ; 0th. II, 
 1, 171. 
 
 cousin. Besides the usual meaning, it often 
 signifies nephew or niece. Hml. I, 2, 
 64. Tw. V, 1, 313. In I, 3, 1, Sir Toby 
 calls Olivia his niece. Kings and princes 
 usually give this title to the noblemen 
 in their train. 
 
 cousin -german. A first cousin. Troll. 
 IV, 5, 121. 
 
 covent. Convent. Meas. IV, 3, 133. 
 An old form of convent, still sur- 
 viving in the name Covent Garden, 
 London, which was originally the 
 garden of the convent at Westminster. 
 
 cover. To lay the table for a meal. 
 Merch. Ill, 5, 65. 
 
 cowish. Cowardly. Lr. IV, 2, 12. 
 
 cowl-staff. A pole on which a weight is 
 borne between two persons. Wiv. Ill, 
 3, 156. 
 
 cox. A minced form of God. Same as 
 cock, q.v. Cox my jjassion = by God's 
 passion. All's. V, 2, 42. 
 
 coxcomb. 1. A fool's cap. It was the 
 fashion to decorate the head of the 
 domestic fool with a comb, like that of 
 a cock, and. frequently the apex of the 
 hood took the foi-m of the neck and 
 the head of a cock. Shr. II, 1, 226 ; 
 Lr. I, 4, 105. Shall I hove a c. of 
 frize ? (Wiv. V, 5, 146), = shall I 
 have a fool's cap of frize ? meaning 
 shall I be made a fool of by a Welsh- 
 man ? — Wales being famous for this 
 kind of cloth. Sometimes used for the 
 head, as in Tw. V, 1, 179, where Ague- 
 cheek speaks of a bloody coxcomb. 
 2. A conceited fool. HV. IV, 1, 79; 
 LLL. IV, 3, 84. 
 
 coy. V. 1. To disdain. Cor. V. 1, 6. 
 2. To caress. Mids. IV, 1, 2. 
 
 coystrel. A paltry groom, one only fit 
 to carry arms, not to use them ; a mean, 
 paltry fellow. Tw. I, 3, 43 ; Per. IV, 
 6, 176. 
 
 cozen-Qermans. German swindlers. A 
 word of Evans's making. Wiv. IV, 5, 
 79. 
 
 cozier. A botcher; apatcher; a cobbler. 
 Tw. II, 3, 97. 
 
CBA 
 
 85 
 
 CBE 
 
 Crab. The dog owned by Launce. Gent. 
 II, 3, 5. 
 
 crab. 1. The wild apple. It is used, 
 when roasted, to flavor hot ale and as 
 an ingredient in " Lambs- wool, " which 
 was the favorite liquor of the gossip's 
 bowl. Lambs-wool consisted of ale, 
 nutmeg, sugar, toast, and roasted crabs. 
 Mids. II, 1, 48. 
 
 The crab is very sour ; hence used as 
 a name for a morose person. Shr. II, 
 
 1, 230 ; Lr. I, 5, 16. 
 
 2. A well-known animal concerning 
 
 which the popular idea is that it walks 
 
 backwards. Hml. II, 2, 206. 
 crab-tree. The wild apple-tree. The 
 
 wood is noted for its great weight and 
 
 toughness. HVIII. V, 4, 7. 
 crack. 1. A flaw ; a breach. Wint. I, 
 
 2, 322 ; 0th. II, 3, 330. 
 
 2. A pert little boy. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 34 ; 
 Cor. I, 3, 74. 
 cracked within the ring. A simile taken 
 from the cracking of coin, but evidently 
 referring to the change of voice which 
 occurs in boys at a certain age. Cal- 
 decott suggests a voice broken in conse- 
 quence of licentious indulgence, but 
 there is no ground for this. In Sh. time 
 female parts were acted by boys and 
 young men (seefe7nale), and Hamlet, ac- 
 costing the boy who had formerly acted 
 a female part, addresses him as "my 
 young lad}^ and mistress," and remarks 
 that he has grown taller, and then 
 adds : " Pray God that your voice be 
 not cracked," as it is apt to be with the 
 approach of manhood. This, of course, j 
 would have injured him for playirig j 
 female parts. In regard to coin, Gif- j 
 ford, in his notes to Jonson's works, | 
 explains the expression thus : " The 
 gold coin of our ancestors was veiy 
 thin, and therefore liable to crack. It 
 still, however, continued passable until 
 the crack extended beyond the ring — 
 i.e., beyond the inmost round which 
 circumscribed the inscription; when it 
 became xincurrent, and might be legally 
 refused." Hml. II, 2, 448. c.f. The 
 mannish crack. Gym. IV, 2, 236. 
 
 cracker. A blusterer; swaggerer; boaster. 
 
 John, II, 1, 147. 
 cracks-hemp. A rogue that deserves to 
 
 be hanged. Shr. V, 1, 46. 
 crafty - sick. Feigning illness. 2HIV. 
 
 Ind. 37. 
 crank. A winding passage. Cor. 1, 1, 141. 
 cranks. Crooked streets. Kins. I, 2. 
 cranking. To run winding. Ven. 692; 
 
 IHIV. Ill, 1, 98. 
 Cranmer, Thomas, dr.p. Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury. HVIII. 
 crants. A garland carried before the 
 
 bier of a maiden and hung over her 
 
 grave. Hml. V, 1, 255. 
 crare. A smaU vessel or skiff. Cym. 
 
 IV, 2, 205. 
 craven, sh. A dunghill cock. Shr. II, 
 
 1, 228. 
 craven, v. To make cowardly. Cym. 
 
 Ill, 4, 80. 
 craver. A beggar. Per. II, 1, 92. 
 credent. 1. Credulous. Hml. I, 3, 30. 
 
 2. Credible. Wint. I, 2, 142. 
 
 3. Creditable. Meas. IV, 4, 29. 
 credit. 1. Report. Tw. IV, 3, 6. 
 
 2. Credibility. 0th. II, 1, 296. 
 
 creek. A rivulet. Cjm. IV, 2, 151. This 
 word has gone entirely out of use in 
 England in this sense, but is common 
 in the United States. 
 
 crescive. Growing; increasing. HV. I, 
 1, (36. 
 
 cresset. An iron cage or basket for hold- 
 ing burning fuel. IHIV. Ill, 1, 1.5. 
 
 Cressida, dr.p. Daughter of Calchas. 
 Troil. 
 
 The Cressida of Chaucer and of Sh. 
 play has no existence in classic legend, 
 being entirely an invention of the mid- 
 dle ages. Of the origin of the story 
 Saintsbury gives the following account: 
 " As far as can be made out, the inven- 
 tion of Cressid (called by him and for 
 some time afterwards, Briseida, and so 
 identified with Homer's Briseis) belongs 
 to Benoist de Ste. More, a trouvere of 
 the 12th century, who wrote a Roman , 
 de Troie of great length, as well as a 
 verse chronicle of Normandy. The 
 story is told by Benoist in no small de- 
 
CBE 
 
 86 
 
 CSI 
 
 tail, and the character of Briseida (which 
 Dryden has entirely spoiled by making 
 her faithful) is well indicated. After 
 Benoist, Guido delle Colonne reproduced 
 the story in a very popular Latin work, 
 "The Historia Trojana." Cressid is 
 here still Briseida, or rather Briseis. 
 From Guido the story passed to Boccac- 
 cio, who seems himself to be responsible 
 for the character of Pandarus, and from 
 Boccaccio to Chaucer. See Calchas. 
 
 crestless. Of low birth ; not dignified 
 with a crest. IHVI. II, 4, 85. 
 
 crewel. Worsted. Crewel or worsted 
 garters were a cheap and common kind. 
 Lr. II, 4, 7. See cruel. 
 
 crib. A hovel. 2HIV. Ill, 1, 9. 
 
 cribbed. Confined to a small hut. Mcb. 
 Ill, 4, 24. 
 
 cride-game, \ The expression, cry aim, 
 
 cried game, las it occurs in Wiv. Ill, 2, 
 
 cried I aim. ) 45, and John, II, 1, 196, 
 means to encourage, to applaud (see 
 aim) ; but the words, cried I aim, as 
 found in Wiv. II, 3, 93, are cride-game 
 in Fl, and no quite satisfactory explan- 
 ation of them has yet been given. Ver- 
 planck, in discussing this passage, says : 
 " Halliwell, one of the most learned 
 old-English scholars of his day, con- 
 fesses, in his late curious edition of the 
 original sketch of this play, that he can- 
 not clear up the obscurity. The fact 
 seems to be that the phrase having been 
 merely colloquial, and not preserved in 
 books, is so obsolete that the meaning 
 can only be guessed at." 
 
 Various emendations have been pro- 
 posed, such as, Tried game ; Cock 'o the 
 game ; Cry aim, ; Curds and cream, 
 and others. Cried I aim. = do I en- 
 courage you ? seems as good as any. 
 Ingleby thinks that it is a phrase bor- 
 rowed from hare-coursing, and means : 
 *' Did I find the game ? " which, in this 
 case, is, of course, Anne Page. But 
 this requires an emendation, and if we 
 emend at all we may as well do it thor- 
 oughly. On this passage poor old Jack- 
 son, whose ideas, though often wild, 
 were frequently original, has the fol- 
 
 lowing note, which is worth reproduc- 
 ing: "Let it be considered, that the 
 Host avails himself of Caius's ignorance 
 of the English language, and conveys 
 gross abuse under the mask of friend- 
 ship. In one place he calls him Heart 
 of Elder, which means a spiritless fel- 
 low — the elder tree having no heart, its 
 interior being all pulp. In another 
 place, he gives him the genteel name of 
 Monsieur Muck-water, which he in- 
 terprets, valour, bully : again, — He 
 will clapper-claw thee tightly, bully : 
 which he interprets — He will make thee 
 amends. But the epithet which he 
 gives him at present is even worse than 
 these : the grossest he could use to a 
 man going to court a young and beauti- 
 ful damsel ; yet, for this, Caius's ignor- 
 ance of what the other says, is such 
 that he promises to procure him guests 
 of the first distinction : — de good guest, 
 de earl, de knight, de lords, de gentle- 
 tnen, etc. , and all this for being called 
 Dry'd game, i.e., an old, sapless fellow, 
 in whom the animal juices that could 
 create passion are extinct." And so he 
 would read : / will bring thee where 
 Mistris Anne Page is, at a Farm-house 
 a Feasting : and thou shalt wooe her : 
 Dride-game, said I well f (Copied from 
 Fl, with the change of a single letter). 
 crisp. Curled. Tp. IV, 1, 130; Tim. IV, 
 3, 183. Crisp heaven, alluding to the 
 curled clouds. Tim. IV, 3, 183. 
 Crispian, [ Crispin and Crispinian were 
 Crispin. \ natives of Rome, and becom- 
 ing converted to Christianity, travelled 
 to Soissons, in France, in order to preach 
 the gospel. Desiring to be independent, 
 they worked at their trade of shoemak- 
 ing and furnished shoes to the poor at 
 extremely low prices. When the gov- 
 ernor of the town learned that they 
 maintained their Christian faith and 
 tried to make proselytes, he caused them 
 to be beheaded. They were canonized, 
 and the 25th of October was set apart 
 as their festival. The shoemakers adopt- 
 ed them as their patron saints. The 
 battle of Agincourt was fought on this 
 
CRI 
 
 87 
 
 CBO 
 
 day 
 40. 
 
 hence the allusion in HV. IV, 3, 
 
 critic. A cynic ; a carper. Troil. V, 2, 
 128. 
 
 Cromwell, Thomas, dr.p. Servant to 
 Wolsey. HVIII. 
 
 Wolsey's advice to Cromwell (HVIII. 
 Ill, 2, 429) is known to every reader of 
 Sh. The king made him Earl of Essex, 
 and he became chancellor and vicar- 
 general. He so far gained the confidence 
 of the king that he became the monarch 's 
 chief advisor, and it was mainly through 
 his influence that the Church of England 
 separated from the Papacy. He brought 
 about the marriage of Henry with 
 Anne of Cleves, but after that he fell 
 into disfavour, was accused of treason, 
 and beheaded July 28, 1540. 
 
 cross. A piece of money. In old times 
 most money had a cross deeply stamped 
 into it so that it could be broken into 
 two or four pieces, each of a propoi-tion- 
 ate value. This fact gave rise to many 
 puns or quibbles. LLL, I, 2, 36; As. 
 II, 4, 12 ; 2HIV. I, 2, 253. 
 
 cross. Of the passage in Hml. I, 1, 127, 
 two explanations have been given : 1 — 
 It was a prevalent notion that a person 
 who crossed the spot on which a spectre 
 or ghost was seen, became subject to 
 its malign influence; 2 — That Horatio 
 expressed his intention of summoning it 
 by the sign of the cross. The first is 
 that which is generally accepted. 
 
 crosses, lioly. In reference to Merch. 
 V, 1, 31, Knight tells us that " Crosses 
 by the wayside still, as of old, bristle 
 the land in Italy and sanctify the sea. 
 Besides those contained in churches, 
 they mark the spot where heroes were 
 born, where saints rested, where travel- 
 lers died. They rise on the summits of 
 hills, and at the intersections of roads ; 
 and there is now a shrine of Madonna 
 del Mare in the midst of the sea between 
 Mestre and Venice, and another between 
 Venice and Palestrina, where the gon- 
 dolier and the mariner cross themselves 
 in passing, and whose lamp nightly 
 gleams over the waters, in moonlight 
 
 or storm. The days are past when 
 pilgrims of all ranks, from the queen 
 to the beggar maid, might be seen 
 kneeling and praying ' for happy wed- 
 lock hours,' or for whatever else lay 
 nearest their hearts ; and the reverence 
 of the passing traveller is now nearly 
 all the homage that is paid at those 
 shrines." 
 
 crossways. The bodies of suicides not 
 being admitted to burial in sanctified 
 ground, were buried in crossroads as 
 being a place generally marked with 
 a cross and the next best place to a 
 churchyard. Mids. Ill, 2, 383. See 
 floods. 
 
 cross-gartered. Wearing the garters 
 crossed on the leg. The garters were 
 often highly ornamented, and were 
 worn in sight. Tw. II, 5, 167. See 
 caddis-garter. 
 
 cross-row. The alphabet. The alphabet 
 was called the Christ-cross row, some 
 say because a cross was prefixed to 
 the alphabet in the old primers. Others 
 derive the name from a superstitious 
 custom of writing the alphabet in the 
 form of a cross, by way of a charm. 
 RIII. I, 1, 55. 
 
 crow -keeper. Either a scarecrow (a 
 stuffed figure) or a person employed to 
 keep crows away from a newly-planted 
 field. Lr. IV, 6, 88 ; Rom. I, 4, 6. 
 
 crown. It has been suggested that the 
 reference to a red-hot crown of steel in 
 RIII. IV, 1, 61, may be an allusion to 
 the red-hot crown sometimes employed 
 as a punishment for rebels and usurpers, 
 but the general trend of the passage 
 does not seem to warrant this conclu- 
 sion. 
 
 crowner. See coroner. 
 
 crownet. Coronet. Troil. Prol. 6, Ant. 
 V, 2, 91. 
 
 crown imperial. The Frltillaria im- 
 perialis. A well-known liliaceous gar- 
 den plant, noted for its beautiful flowers. 
 Also called the crown thistle. Wint. 
 IV, 3, 126. 
 
 Of this beautiful flower the following 
 jiretty German legend is told: "The 
 
CEU 
 
 cue 
 
 flower was originally white and erect, 
 and grew in its full beauty in the garden 
 of Gethsemane, where it was often 
 noticed and admii'ed by our Lord ; but 
 in the night of agony, as He passed 
 through the garden, all the other flowers 
 bowed their heads in sorrowful adora- 
 tion, the Crown Imperial alone remain- 
 ing with its head unbowed — but not for 
 long ; sorrow and shame took the place 
 of pride ; she bent her proud head, and 
 blushes of shame and tears of sorrow 
 soon followed ; and so she has ever con- 
 tinued, with bent head, blushing color, 
 and ever-flowing tears." 
 
 Gerard tells us that " in the bottome 
 of each of the bells there is placed six 
 drops of most clear, shining, sweet 
 water, in taste like sugar, resembling 
 in shew faire Orient pearles, the which 
 drops, if you take away, there do 
 immediately appear the like ; notwith- 
 standing, if they may be suffered to 
 stand still in the floure according to his 
 owne nature, they will never fall away, 
 no, not if you strike the plant until it 
 be broken." 
 
 The crown imperial is easily culti- 
 vated in any rich soil, and not only 
 makes a fine show, but is interesting 
 from its associations. 
 
 cruel. Hard-hearted. As. IV, 3, 31. 
 The passage in Lr. Ill, 7, 65, all cruels 
 else subscribe, is acknowledged to be 
 inexplicable. Page upon page of at- 
 tempted explanations have been offered, 
 but none that is satisfactory. 
 
 In Lr. II, 4, 7, he wears cruel garters, 
 there is a quibble on the words crewel 
 (worsted) and cruel, alluding to the 
 stocks in which Kent's legs were placed. 
 See crewel and caddis-garter. 
 
 crusado, |^ A Portuguese gold coin 
 
 cruzado. ) worth about $2.50. It was 
 so called because it had a cross stamped 
 Upon it. 0th. Ill, 4, 26. 
 
 crush a cup. To take a drink. Rom. 
 I, 2, 85. A common expression in the 
 old plays. We still say "crack a 
 bottle. ' ' Steevens. 
 
 crusty. See curst and batch. 
 
 cry, n. A company, or pack ; as a cry 
 of players. Hml. Ill, 2, 289. A cry of 
 curs. Cor. Ill, 3, 120. 
 
 cry, vb. 1. To weep. Troil. II, 2, 101. 
 2. To shout ; to utter in a loud voice. 
 Mcb. II, 2, 22. 
 
 To cry aim. See aim and cride- 
 gam,e. 
 
 crystals. Eyes. HV. II, 3, .56. 
 
 cub-drawn. Sucked by cubs until hungry 
 and ravenous. Lr. Ill, 1, 12. 
 
 cubiculo. Apartment ; lodging. Tw. 
 Ill, 2, .56. 
 
 cuckold, n. A man whose wife is false 
 to him. Hml. IV, 5, 118. See Wittol. 
 
 cuckold, vb. To treat in the same way 
 that the cuckoo serves other birds, viz., 
 by laying an egg in their nest. Wiv. 
 Ill, 5, 140. 
 
 cuckoo. 1 . A bird well known in Europe ; 
 the cuculus canorus. The name is 
 derived from its cry, which, as O. W. 
 Holmes jokingly says, is an exact imi- 
 tation of the sound made by the ordi- 
 nary cuckoo-clock. The chief peculiar- 
 ity which makes the bird interesting to 
 readers of Sh. is its habit of laying its 
 eggs in the nests of other birds, gener- 
 ally smaller than itself. When the 
 cuckoo eggs hatch out, the young 
 cuckoo usually manages to throw out 
 the young of the owner of the nest so 
 that it may obtain all the food brought 
 by its foster-parents. In Lr. I, 4, 236, 
 the fool speaks of the hedge-sparrow 
 having "it head bit off by it young," 
 but this never occurs. The young 
 cuckoo destroys the nestlings of its 
 foster-parents by pressing them to death 
 by its greater bulk and weight ; IHIV. 
 V, 1 , 60. From this habit of the cuckoo, 
 the bird is the symbol of cuckoldom, 
 and, indeed, the source of that word. 
 LLL. V, 2, 910. Hence the term slan- 
 derous cuckoo. Kin§. 1, 1. The cuckoo 
 was one of the birds of ill-omen. 
 2. A fool; a simpleton. IHIV. II, 4, 
 387. 
 
 cucullus non facit monachum. A hood 
 does not make a monk ; and the clown 
 would infer that motley does not make 
 
CUE 
 
 CUR 
 
 a fool. Tw. I, 5, 62. Also Meas. V, 1, 
 263. 
 
 cue. The last words of an actor's speech 
 which is the signal for the next actor 
 to begin. Wiv. Ill, 3, 39; Ado. II, 1, 
 316; Lr. I, 2, 147. Hence it sometimes 
 means sign, hint, motive. Hml. II, 2, 
 587 ; 0th. I, 2, 83. 
 
 cuisses. Armour for the thighs. IHIV. 
 IV, 1, 105. 
 
 cullion. A mean wretch. Shr. IV, 2, 20. 
 
 culverin, A kind of cannon; the early 
 cannon bore representations of snakes 
 (old French couleuvres) and other ven- 
 omous reptiles, and this was probably 
 the origin of the name. Some say be- 
 cause it was long, like a snake, cf. bas- 
 ilisk. IHIV. II, 3, 56. 
 
 cunning, n. Skill, without the suggestion 
 of slyness. Hml. II, 2, 461 . 
 
 cunning, adj. Skilful; knowing. Ven. 
 686; Ado. V, 1, 234. 
 
 Cupid. The god of love. A favorite 
 deity with the poets. Referred to fifty- 
 one times in the plays of Sh. 
 
 Cupid is usually described as the son 
 of Venus (Aphrodite), but various 
 fathers have been assigned to him 
 (Mars, Jupitei-, Mercury), and some- 
 times it is claimed that he had no father 
 at all. He was first represented as a 
 handsome youth, but in later times as 
 a wanton boy of whom a thousand 
 cruel tricks were related, and from 
 whom neither gods nor men were safe. 
 He is generally represented with golden 
 wings, and his eyes are sometimes 
 covered so that he acts blindly. Hence 
 the allusions to bli^id Cupid; Mids. I, 
 1, 2.35 ; Lr. IV, 6, 141, and elsewhere. 
 By the earlier poets, however, he is not 
 described as blind ; this was a later 
 thought. His arms consist of a bow 
 and arrows, which he carries in a golden 
 quiver. He also bears torches which 
 no one can touch with impunity. His 
 arrows are of diff'erent powers ; some 
 are golden and kindle love in the heart 
 they wound ; others are blunt and heavy 
 with lead, and produce aversion to a 
 lover. This explains the passage in 
 
 Mids. I, 1, 169. Cupid''s flower = 
 heartsease. Mids. IV, 1, 78. See Dan; 
 Dianas bud and hare-finder. 
 
 Curan, dr. p. A courtier. Lr. 
 
 curb. To bend. Hml. Ill, 4, 155. In 
 Fl. this passage reads, courb and woe 
 for leave; in the "Globe" and most 
 other eds. the reading is curb and woo. 
 The original meaning of curb is to bend, 
 the Middle English being courben, to 
 bend; but the word curb has now 
 changed its meaning to such an extent 
 that it might be well to retain the old 
 spelling courb whenever the old idea is 
 to be conveyed. 
 
 curdy. To congeal. Cor. V, 3, 66. 
 
 Curio, dr.p. An attendant on the Duke 
 of lUyria. Tw. 
 
 curious. 1. Elegant. Cym. V, 5, 362. 
 2. Careful ; anxious. Cym. I, 6, 191. 
 
 curiosity. Scrupulosity ; exactest scru- 
 tiny. Lr. I, 1, 6. 
 
 currance. Current ; flow. HV, I, 1, 34. 
 
 currents. Occurrences. IHIV. II, 3, 58. 
 
 curst. Cross ; ill-tempered. Ado. II, 1, 
 22; Mids. Ill, 2, 300; Shr. I, 2, 128. 
 
 The word crusty as applied to a per- 
 son who has a bad temper, is simply a 
 variant, by metathesis, of curst. The 
 letter r is peculiarly liable to this 
 change. Crusty = ill-tempered ; and 
 crusty = covered with crust, as bread, 
 are two entirely different words. See 
 batch. 
 
 curstness. Quarrelsomeness ; shrewish- 
 ness. Ant. II, 2, 25. 
 
 curtal. Having the tail cut short, as in 
 dogs, or " docked," as in horses. Nares 
 defines a "curtal dog" as "originally 
 the dog of an unqualified person, which 
 by the forest laws must have its tail 
 cut short, partly as a mark, and partly 
 from a notion that the tail of a dog is 
 necessary in running. [Not in running, 
 but in turning. A greyhound could 
 not course if his tail were cut off, and 
 one with a weak or light tail is sure to 
 fail at the turn.] In later usage, curtal 
 dog means either a common dog, not 
 meant for sport, or a dog that missed 
 his game. " It has the latter sense in 
 
CUR 
 
 90 
 
 CTM 
 
 Wiv. II, 1, 114. Used of a horse in 
 All's. II, 3, 65. 
 
 curtail. Same as curtal. 
 
 Curtis, dr. 2). Servant to Petruchio. Shr. 
 
 curtle-axe. A cutlass ; a short, slightly- 
 curved sword. As. I, 3, 119. 
 
 The word is a corruption of cutlass, 
 French coutelas. The weapon was not 
 an axe, and had no relation to that 
 implement. In Fl, the word is cur- 
 telax. 
 
 cushes. The old fomi of cuisses. q.v. 
 
 cushion. A kind of sack or bag stuffed 
 for a seat. From the casque to the 
 cushion = from war to peace. Cor, 
 IV, 7, 43. 
 
 custalorum. Shallow's corruption of 
 Oust OS Rotulorum, the Keeper of the 
 Rolls or records of the session, and the 
 chief civil officer of the county. Wiv. 
 1,1,7. 
 
 custard. Like him that leaped into the 
 custard. All's. II, 5, 41. " It ^vas a 
 foolery practised at city entertainments, 
 while the jester or zany was in vogue, 
 for him to jump into a large deep 
 custard, set for the purpose, ' to set on 
 a quantity of barren spectators to 
 laugh,' as our poet says in his Hamlet." 
 Theobald. 
 
 custard-coffin. The upper crust covering 
 a custard-pie. Shr. IV, 3, 82. 
 
 customer. A prostitute. All's. V, 3, 
 287 ; Oth. IV, 1, 123. 
 
 cut. A horse. IHIV. II, 1, 6 ; Tw. II, 
 3, 203 ; Kins. Ill, 4. 
 
 That the word was a common name 
 for a horse is very evident. In the old 
 ballad, "The Pynning of the Basket," 
 we read : " He spurred his cutte." As 
 to whether the word had reference to 
 the docking of the tail or to gelding, the 
 coms. are not agreed. Sir Toby's re- 
 mark may mean merely ' ' call me horse, ' ' 
 or it may have had a more offensive 
 intimation. 
 
 cut and longtail. All kinds. Dogs with 
 cut tails (see curtal) were of the lowest 
 degree ; long tail dogs, used for hunting, 
 were the first ofi their kind, and the 
 expression as a whole includes all kinds 
 
 of dogs. Used metaphorically of men. 
 Wiv. Ill, 4, 47. 
 
 cuttle. Evidently means a swaggerer or 
 swash-buckler. Perhaps a misprint for 
 cutter, or perhaps a specimen of Doll's 
 " frittering " of English. Cot. has 
 " taille-bras : a hackster, arme-slasher, 
 cutter, swaggerer, swash - buckler. " 
 Sometimes defined as the slang name 
 for the knife used by cut-purses, but 
 this does not seem quite appropriate in 
 the only passage in which it occurs in 
 Sh. 2HIV. II, 4, 139. 
 
 Halliwell tells us that a foul-mouthed 
 fellow was called a cuttle, in reference 
 to the habit of the cuttle-fish which, 
 when pursued, ejects an inky and black 
 juice that fouls the water. But this, I 
 am afraid, is too far-fetched to be 
 accurate. 
 
 Cyclopes. The meaning of this name is 
 "round-eyed," and they were said to 
 be of gigantic size, and to have a single, 
 large, round eye in the center of the 
 forehead. Various accounts are given 
 of their origin and habits, but the story 
 to which Sh. refers in Hml. II, 2, 511, 
 is the later tradition, in which they are 
 represented as the assistants of Vulcan 
 who used the principal volcanoes as 
 their workshops. They made the 
 metal armour and arms for gods and 
 heroes. According to the earlier tra- 
 dition, they were three in number, 
 and were killed by Apollo because they 
 supplied Jupiter with the thunderbolts 
 with which he killed ^sculapius. 
 
 Cymbeline, dr.p. King of Britain. 
 Cym. 
 
 cyme. The identity of this purgative 
 drug has never been fully decided. The 
 word is cyme in Fl. and in most edi- 
 tions, but in F4. the reading is senna^ 
 and this has been followed by many. 
 The old spelling of senna was sene or 
 scene. Ingleby, in his " Hermeneutics," 
 p. 35, thinks that by cyme is meant the 
 sprouts of the colewort, of which an old 
 name is cyma, and which was known 
 to be a gentle laxative. But what Mcb. 
 wanted was a violent cathartic that 
 
CYK 
 
 91 
 
 D^D 
 
 would "scour these English hence," 
 not a mild laxative. Mcb. V, 3, 55. 
 
 cynic. A snarler ; so called after the 
 Greek word for a dog. The term is 
 applied not only to a follower of Antis- 
 thenes and his pupil Diogenes, but to 
 any habitual sna rling fault-finder. Caes. 
 IV, 3, 133. 
 
 Cynthia. A poetical name of Diana, the 
 goddess of the moon and of chastity. 
 Hence used as a name for the moon 
 itself. The names Cynthia (Diana) and 
 Cynthius (Apollo) are derived from 
 Mount Cynthus in the island of Delos, 
 which was their birthplace. 
 
 cypress, ) Crape. Wint. IV, 4, 221. 
 
 Cyprus, f Tw. Ill, 1, 132. 
 
 It is claimed with much reason that 
 in Tw. II, 4, 53, cypress means a coffin 
 made of cypress M'ood, and not a shroud 
 or wrapping of crape. A few lines 
 lower down, the shroud is expressly 
 mentioned by itself. Cypress wood 
 was a favourite material for coffins 
 owing to its durability when laid in the 
 ground, and it is very likely that 
 cypress here means wood, while in other 
 passages it means crape, as certainly in 
 Wint. IV, 4, 221. 
 
 Cyrus. The Cyrus referred to in HVI. 
 
 II, 3, 6, was Cyrus, the elder, the son 
 of Cambyses, and King of Persia. His 
 grandfather, Astyages, having dreamed 
 that his unborn grandson should be 
 ruler of Asia, gave the child, as soon as 
 born, to his confidential attendant, 
 Harpagus, with orders to kill it. Instead, 
 however, he was reared as the son of 
 a herdsman, and the story of the re- 
 velation of his real parentage is deeply 
 interesting, but too long for our pages. 
 He dethroned his grandfather, con- 
 quered the Babylonians, and attempted 
 the subjugation of the Massagetae, a 
 Scythian people, who defeated and slew 
 him. Their queen, Tomyris, cut off his 
 head and threw it into a bag filled with 
 human blood so that he might satiate 
 himself (as she said) with gore. 
 Cytherea. Venus or Aphrodite. She 
 was so called after a mountainous 
 island off the south-western point of 
 Laconia. Into this island the Phoeni- 
 cians introduced her worship, and for 
 this it became celebrated. According 
 to some traditions it was in the neigh- 
 bourhood of this island that she first 
 rose from the foam of the sea. Shr. 
 Ind. II, 53 ; Wint. IV, 4, 122 ; Cym. II, 
 2, 14. 
 
 /4EDALUS. A mythical person- 
 age, under whose name the 
 Greek writers personified the 
 earliest development of the 
 arts. The name itself implies skill, 
 and the earliest works of art which 
 were attributed to the gods were called 
 daidala. Daedalus was the reputed 
 inventor of the saw, the axe, the plumb- 
 line, the augur or gimlet and glue. He 
 was said to have been taught the art of 
 carpentry by Minerva. He instructed 
 his sister's son, Calos, Talus, or Perdrix, 
 
 who soon came to surpass him in skill 
 and ingenuity, and Daedalus killed him 
 through envy. Being condemned to 
 death for this murder he fled to Crete, 
 where the fame of his skill obtained for 
 him the friendship of Minos, but when 
 Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, gave birth 
 to a monster (the Minotaur) Daedalus, 
 who aided Pasiphae, was imprisoned. 
 Pasiphae released him, and as Minos 
 had seized all the ships on the coast of 
 Crete, Daedalus made wings for himself 
 and his son Icarus, fastening them on 
 
SAF 
 
 93 
 
 DAB 
 
 with wax. Daedalus himself flew safely 
 over the ^gean, but as Icarus flew 
 . too near the sun, the wax by which his 
 wings were fastened on was melted, 
 and he dropped down and was drowned 
 in that part of the ^gean which was 
 called after him the Icarian Sea. 3H VI. 
 V, 6, 21 ; IHVI. IV, 6, 54. 
 
 daff. 1. To put off. A variant of doff. 
 0th. IV, 2, 176; Compl. 297. 
 2. To push ; to turn aside. Ado. II, 3, 
 176 ; IHIV. IV, 1, 96. 
 
 dagger of lath. See Vice. 
 
 Dagonet, Sir. A fool at the court of 
 King Arthur. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 303. 
 
 Arthur " loved him passing well, and 
 made him knight with his own hands." 
 The courtiers played all manner of 
 tricks on him. On one occasion they 
 persuaded him to attack Mark, King 
 of Cornwall, who was in reality an 
 arrant coward. Mark, supposing him 
 to be Lancelot of the Lake, ran away, 
 but met another knight, who at once 
 attacked Dagonet and tumbled him 
 from his horse. For other tricks and a 
 full discussion of the Arthur's show see 
 Dyce's " Glossary. " See also Arthur'' s 
 Show, ante, p. 45. 
 
 damask. 1. Of a pink color, like the 
 damask rose. Cor. II, 1, 282. 
 2. Having the colors mingled. LLL. 
 V, 2, 296; Tw. 11,4, 115. 
 
 Damascus. Damascus was supposed to 
 be the place where Cain slew Abel. 
 Hence the allusion in IHVI. 1, 3, 39. In 
 regard to this passage Ritson quotes 
 "Polychronicon," Fol. XII: "Damas- 
 cus is as moche to say as shedynge of 
 blood. For there Chaym slowe Abell 
 and hidde hym in the sonde." 
 
 damn. To condemn. Caes. IV, 1, 6. 
 
 Dan. Lord ; master. A corruption of 
 Dominus. (Dyce.) Dan Cupid = Master 
 Cupid. LLL. Ill, 1, 182. 
 
 Daniel. The allusion in Merch. IV, 1, 
 223, is to the story of Susannah and the 
 elders in "The Apocrypha." She was 
 the wife of Joiachim, and being accused 
 of adultery was condemned to death. 
 *' But the Lord raised up the holy spirit 
 
 of a young youth, whose name was 
 Daniel," who proved her innocence 
 and turned the tables on her accusers, 
 who were put to death instead. 
 
 dancing horse. A performing horse 
 belonging to one Bankes, a Scotchman. 
 LLL. I, 2, .58. See horse. 
 
 dancing rapier. A sword worn only for 
 dress occasions. Tit, II, 1, 39. 
 
 danger. 1. Power; reach. Merch. IV, 
 
 1, 180. You stand within his danger 
 = under obligation to him. 
 
 2. Peril ; hazard. Tw. V, 1, 87. 
 
 dank. Damp. IHIV. II, 1, 9. 
 
 Dansker. A Dane. Hml. II, 1, 7. 
 
 Daphne. A beautiful maiden beloved by 
 Apollo and Leucippus, both of whose 
 suits she rejected. In order to win 
 her, Leucippus disguised himself as a 
 maiden, but Apollo's jealousy caused 
 his discovery, and he was killed by the 
 companions of Daphne. Apollo now 
 pursued Daphne, and she was on the 
 point of being overtaken by him when 
 she prayed for aid and was metamor- 
 phosed into a laurel-tree, which became, 
 in consequence, the favourite tree of 
 Apollo, and of the boughs of which he 
 made himself a wreath. Shr. Ind. II, 
 59 ; Mids. II, 1, 231 ; TroH. I, 1, 101. 
 
 Dardanian. Trojan, the name being 
 derived from Dardanus, the mythical 
 ancestor of the Trojans and through 
 them of the Romans. Merch. Ill, 2, 58. 
 cf. Lucr. 1428-1436. 
 
 Dardanius, dr.p. Servant to Brutus. 
 Caes. 
 
 dare,ti. Boldness. IHIV. IV, 1, 78. 
 
 dare. To terrify. In this sense it is a 
 term in falconry where the game is 
 afraid to rise for fear of the hawk. H V. 
 IV, 2, 36. For larks and small birds 
 mirrors and pieces of scarlet cloth were 
 used. This is referred to in HVIII. Ill, 
 
 2, 282, where the allusion evidently is 
 to the scarlet hat of the cardinal. 
 
 The passage in Meas. IV, 4, 26, has 
 given rise to much discussion. 
 
 But that her tender shame 
 Will not proclaim against her maiden 
 loss 
 
DAE 
 
 DAY 
 
 How she might tongue me 1 Yet 
 
 reason dares her no ; 
 For my authority bears of a credent 
 
 bulk, etc., etc. 
 It is impossible to make sense of these 
 lines, punctuate them how you will, 
 and all ways have been tried, as well 
 as other conjectural emendations. 
 White suggests dares her on, but this 
 does not quite meet the case. But if 
 we change the letter n in no to a iall 
 difficulty vanishes. Yet reason dares 
 her to, i.e., to tongue me. As the box 
 containing the n's in the printer's case 
 is just above that containing the Ts, it 
 was easy for an n to slip into the t box 
 and so cause this confusion. 
 Darius. The rich-jeweWd coffer of Da- 
 rius. IHVI. I, 6, 25. " When Alexan- 
 der the Great took the city Gaza, the 
 metropolis of Syria, amidst the other 
 spoils and wealth of Darius treasured 
 up there, he found an exceeding rich 
 and beautiful little chest or casket. 
 Having surveyed the singular rarity of 
 it, and asked those about him what they 
 thought fittest to be laid up in it ; when 
 they had severally delivered their opin- 
 ions, he told them, he esteemed nothing 
 so worthy to be preserved in it as Ho- 
 mer's Iliads." Malone. By day this 
 casket and its contents were carried 
 with him, and at night the poems were 
 laid under his pillow. 
 darker. More secret; less known. Lr. 
 
 I, 1, 37. 
 dark house. A mad house ; sometimes a 
 darkened room for confining madmen. 
 Err. IV, 4, 97 ; As. Ill, 2, 421 ; Tw. Ill, 
 4, 148 ; AU's. II, 3, 309. 
 darkling. In the dark. Mids. II, 2, 86 ; 
 
 Lr. I, 4, 237. 
 darnel. This name seems to have been 
 applied to any hurtful weed especially 
 to those growing amongst corn. HV. 
 V, 2, 45; Lr. IV, 4, 50. By darnel, bot- 
 anists generally understand Lolium Te- 
 mulentum. According to the old herb- 
 alists, darnel, when it got into bread or 
 drink, was injurious to the eyes, caus- 
 ing temporary blindness. Steevens sug- 
 
 gests that this is alluded to in IHVI. 
 Ill, 2, 44, where La Pucelle intimates 
 that the corn she carried with her had 
 produced this effect on the guards of 
 Rouen, otherwise they would have seen 
 through her disguise and defeated her 
 stratagem. 
 
 darraign. To set in array; to range. 
 3HVI. II, 2, 72. 
 
 dash. n. A stigma; mark of infamy. 
 Wint. V, 2, 127 ; Lucr. 206. 
 
 " In the books of heraldry a particular 
 mark of disgrace is mentioned, by which 
 the escutcheons of those persons were 
 anciently distinguished who discourt- 
 eously used a widow, maid or wife 
 against her will." Malone. 
 
 dash. vb. To frustrate; to set aside. 
 LLL. V, 2, 462; 3HVI. II, 1, 118. 
 
 daub. 1. To smear ; to color. IHIV. I, 
 1,6. 
 
 2. To disguise ; to counterfeit. Lr. IV, 
 1, 54. 
 
 daubery. Imposition ; a crude, but art- 
 ful trick. Wiv. IV, 2, 186. 
 
 daughter-beamed. A quibble on sun- 
 beamed (son-beamed). LLL. V, 2, 171. 
 c/. 3HVI. II, 1, 41. 
 
 Dauphin. The eldest son of the King of 
 France, and heir - apparent to the 
 crown. He bore on his crest three 
 dolphins, and in Sh. time the word was 
 generally spelled Dolphin. In IHVI. 
 
 I, 4, 107, there is a pun on the word 
 as meaning both the prince and a fish. 
 See dolphin. 
 
 Dauphin, Louis, the, dr. p. John. See 
 
 Melun. 
 Davy, dr.p. Servant to Shallow. 2HIV. 
 day-bed. A sofa ; a lounge. Tw. II, 
 
 5, 54. 
 daylight, to burn. To waste time. Wiv. 
 
 II, 1, 54 ; Rom. I, 4, 43. 
 day-woman. A dairy-maid. LLL. I, 2, 
 
 136. Schm. defines the word as "a 
 woman hired by the day," which is 
 clearly wrong. The word is weU known, 
 and is used by Scott as = dairy-maid in 
 " The Fair Maid of Perth." 
 
 Our word dairy "is hybrid, being 
 made by suffixing the French erie to 
 
DBA 
 
 94 
 
 DEL 
 
 to the Middle English deye, a maid, a 
 female servant, especially a dairy- 
 maid." Skeat. 
 dead-killing. Deadly. Lucr. 540 ; RIII. 
 
 IV, 1, 36. 
 
 dear. In Sh. time this word not only 
 had the sense of highly-esteemed, as 
 IHIV. V, 4, 108; beloved, as in Tp. I, 
 3, 17 ; of great price as in RII. V, 5, 
 68 ; and Hml. II, 2, 382 ; but of intense, 
 excessive, superlative, whether used in 
 a good or a bad sense. Thus dearest 
 foe = bitterest foe (Hml. I, 2, 183) ; 
 dearest speed = greatest speed (IHIV. 
 
 V, 5, 36) ; dear peril = great peril 
 (Tim. V, 3, 331). The same is true in 
 regard to dearly, q.v. The origin of 
 these various meanings has given rise 
 to much discussion. The reader who 
 desires to study the subject thoroughly 
 would do well to consult Dr. Furness's 
 Var. ed. of Romeo and Juliet under the 
 sentence, / must use In dear employ- 
 ment. Act V. 3, 33. 
 
 dearly. Grievously; bitterly. Err. II, 
 
 3, 133 ; Hml. IV, 3, 43 ; As. I, 3, 35. 
 
 How dearly ever parted = however 
 
 . excellently endowed. Troil. Ill, 3, 96. 
 
 See dear and painted. 
 
 dearn. 1. Lonely. Per. III. , Prol. 15. 
 2. Dreadful. Lr. Ill, 7. 63. 
 
 death. See funeral. 
 
 death-tokens. Plague spots. Troil. II, 
 3, 189. See tokened. 
 
 debile. Weak. All's. II, 3, 39. 
 
 Deborah. A Jewish heroine. In regard 
 to the sword of Deborah (IHVI. I, 3, 
 105) there is no record of her ever hav- 
 ing used a sword. 
 
 decent. Becoming. HVIII. IV, 3, 14i). 
 
 Decius Brutus. See Brutus, Decius. 
 
 deck. A pack of cards. 3HVI. V, 1, 44. 
 This word was in use in England in 
 Sh. time, but became obsolete except as 
 slang. It was undoubtedly brought to 
 this country by the first settlers, and 
 like many others which have gone out 
 of use in England it still survives here, 
 and is called "an Americanism! " See 
 Bartlett's " Dictionary. " 
 
 deck. To bedew. Probably a form of the 
 
 verb to dag or deg, now a provincial 
 word meaning to sprinkle. Tp. 1, 3, 155. 
 decline. To consider ; to recount ; to go 
 over carefully. The word is still used 
 in this sense in grammar as in going 
 through the cases of a noun. RIII. IV, 
 
 4, 97 ; Troil. II, 3, 55. 
 
 deedless. Inactive. Troil. IV, 4, 59. 
 deem. Idea ; thought. Troil. IV, 4, 61. 
 deep-fet. Deep-fetched. 3HVI. II, 4, 33. 
 defeat. 1. To disfigure. 0th. I, 3, 346. 
 2. To destroy. Hml. I, 2, 10 ; 0th. IV, 
 
 3, 160. 
 defeature. Disfigurement. Err. II, 1, 
 
 98 ; do. V, 1, 399. 
 defence. The art of fencing. Hml. IV, 
 
 7,98. 
 defend. To prohibit ; to forbid. Ado. IV, 
 
 3, 31 ; IHIV. IV, 3, 38. 
 In Sh. time this word had the double 
 
 meaning of protecting and prohibiting, 
 
 as is now the case with the French word 
 
 defendre. 
 defensible. Able to fight; having the 
 
 power to defend. 3HIV. II, 3, 38. 
 defunction. Death. HV. I, 3, 58. 
 defunctive. Funereal. Phoen. 14. 
 defuse. To make uncouth or irregular. 
 
 Lr. I, 4, 3. 
 In some of the old copies defuse is 
 
 used instead of di/f use in some passages. 
 
 See diffused. 
 defused. Deformed ; shapeless. RIII. 
 
 I, 3, 78. 
 defy. To renounce; to despise. Tw. I, 
 
 5, 133; IHIV. IV, 1, 6. 
 
 degree. A step or round of a staircase or 
 ladder. Caes. II, 1, 36. 
 
 Deiphobus, dr. p. Son of Priam. TroiL 
 
 delation. A conveying ; imparting. Close 
 delations == hidden intimations. Oth. 
 Ill 3 133 
 
 delighted. 1. Delightful. Oth. 1, 3, 391; 
 Gym. V, 4, 103. 
 
 2. As it occurs in Meas. Ill, 1, 119, the 
 word has given rise to considerable dis- 
 cussion. The usual meanings fit so 
 poorly with the general sense of the 
 passage that various words have been 
 suggested as the correct reading : be- 
 nighted, dilated, delinquent, etc. 
 
DEL 
 
 DEN 
 
 Schm. interprets it as "having the 
 power of giving delight ;" others, 
 " framed for delight," which meets the 
 sense. It has also been suggested that 
 Sh. used the word in its etymological 
 sense (as he does many other words), and 
 that in this instance it is de-lighted = 
 deprived of light. 
 
 deliverly. Neatly ; adroitly. Kins. Ill, 5. 
 
 Delphos or Delphi. A small town in 
 Greece, but one of the most celebrated 
 on account of its being the seat of the 
 oracle of Apollo. The modern name is 
 Kastri. It is situated six miles from 
 the Corinthian Gulf, at the foot of 
 Mount Parnassus. Sh. evidently sup- 
 posed that it was an island. Wint. Ill, 
 1, 2. In this he followed Greene, in whose 
 novel, "Pandosto, the Triumph of 
 Time" (1588), afterwards published 
 mider the title of " The Pleasaunt and 
 Delightful History of Dorastus and 
 Fawnia" (1588), the queen desires the 
 king to send six of his noblemen, whom 
 he best trusted, to the isle of Delphos." 
 It has been suggested that Greene 
 confounded Delphi ("Delphos") with 
 Delos, the island which was the birth- 
 place of Apollo and his sister Artemis 
 or Diana. In "Pandosto" Sh. found 
 the plot of "The Winter's Tale." 
 Delphi was regarded as the central 
 point of the whole earth and hence was 
 called "the navel of the earth." It 
 was said that two eagles sent forth by 
 Jupiter, one from the east and one from 
 the west, met at Delphi at exactly the 
 same time. Besides the great temple 
 of Apollo, it contained numerous sanc- 
 tuaries, statues, and other works of 
 art. The temple contained immense 
 treasures ; for not only were rich offer- 
 ings presented to it by kings and private 
 persons, who had received favorable 
 replies from the oracle, but many of 
 the Greek states had in the temple 
 separate thesauri^ in which they de- 
 posited, for the sake of security, many 
 of theii" valuable treasures. Xerxes 
 attempted to take possession of these 
 treasures, and was defeated, but they 
 
 were ultimately seized by various suc- 
 cessful robbers. In 1893 the French 
 began to excavate the site of the temple 
 and its surroundings, and great hopes 
 are entertained that important dis- 
 coveries will soon be made. See Oracle. 
 demerit. This word " was formerly 
 synonymous with merit and that sense 
 was more classical than the contrary, 
 which has since prevailed, demereo 
 being even stronger than mereo.'''' 
 Nares. It is used in the sense of 
 "merits" or "deservings" in Cor. I, 
 
 I, 276; Oth. I, 2, 22, and elsewhere. 
 Our present sense of the word comes 
 from the French, and both appear to 
 have been upon the change about the 
 time of Elizabeth. 
 
 Demetrius, dr. p. A friend of Anthony. 
 Ant. 
 
 Demetrius, dr. p. Hermia's lover. Mids. 
 
 Demetrius, dr. p. A son of Tamora. Tit. 
 
 demi-Atlas. Half an Atlas, bearing half 
 the world. Ant. I, 5, 23. See Atlas. 
 
 demi-cannon. A kind of ordnance. Shr. 
 IV, 3, 88. 
 
 demi-natured. Sharing the nature of ; 
 half grown together. Hml. IV, 7, 88. 
 
 demi-puppets. In regard to this expres- 
 sion Furness says: "There must have 
 been some reason for the use of ' demy,' 
 but what it is I cannot say." To define 
 it as " half a puppet " throws no light 
 whatever on the meaning. The only 
 idea that suggests itself to me is that 
 Sh. meant to indicate the very small 
 size of the fairies that dance in these 
 fairy rings (see Mids. Ill, 1), demi be- 
 ing used in a general sense for small. 
 
 demi-wolves. A cross between dogs and 
 wolves, like the Latin lycisci. John- 
 son. Mcb. Ill, 1, 94. 
 
 demurely. Solemnly. Ant. IV, 9, 31. 
 
 demuring. Looking demurely. Ant. IV, 
 15, 29, 
 
 den. An abbreviation for evening. Rom. 
 
 II, 4, 116. 
 
 denay. Denial. Tw. II, 4, 127. 
 denier. A very small piece of money; 
 the 12th part of a French sol. RIII. I, 
 
DEN 
 
 96 
 
 Dlk 
 
 Dennis, dr.p. Servant to Oliver. As. 
 
 Denny, Sir Anthony, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 depart, n. Death. 3HVI. II, 1, 110. 
 
 depart, vb. To part ; to separate. 3HVI. 
 II, 6, 43 ; Tim. I, 1, 263. 
 
 depend. To be in service. Lr. I, 4, 271. 
 
 depending. See brands. 
 
 depose. To put under oath. RII. I, 3, 30. 
 
 deprave. To slander; to detract from. 
 Tim. I, 2, 145. 
 
 depravation. Detraction. Troil. V, 2, 
 132. 
 
 deputation. That to which one has been 
 deputed or appointed. Thy topless 
 deputation he puts on (Troil. I, 3, 
 1.52) means that he imitates you in the 
 supreme position to which you have 
 been deputed or appointed. See topless. 
 
 deracinate. To extirpate. HV. V, 2, 47. 
 
 Dercetas, dr.p. A friend to Anthony. 
 Ant. 
 
 derogate. Corrupt ; depraved. Lr. I, 4, 
 302. 
 
 dern. See dearn. 
 
 descending. Lineage. Per. V, 1, 130. 
 
 Desdemona, dr.p. Daughter of Braban- 
 tio and wife to Othello. 0th. 
 
 despatcli, ) To deprive ; to rob. Hml. 
 
 dispatcii. il, 5, 78. 
 
 despised time. My despised time = my 
 miserable old age. 0th. I, 1, 162. 
 
 detect. To charge ; to blame. Meas. Ill, 
 2, 130; 3HVI. II, 2, 143. 
 
 determine. To end; to conclude. Cor. 
 111,3,43; do. V, 3, 120. 
 
 Deucalion. The Noah of the Greeks. He 
 was the son of Prometheus and Cly- 
 mene, and when Zeus, after the treat- 
 ment he had received from Lycaon, had 
 resolved to destroy the human race, 
 Deucalion, on the advice of his father, 
 built a ship and stored it with provi- 
 sions, so that when Zeus sent a flood all 
 over Hellas, which destroyed its in- 
 habitants, Deucalion and Pyrrha, his 
 wife, alone were saved. After floating 
 about for nine days, the ship landed on 
 Mount Parnassus. Wint. IV, 4, 442; 
 Cor. II, 1, 102. 
 
 deuce-ace. One and two thrown at dice. 
 LLL. I, 2, 49. 
 
 devest. To undress. 0th. II, 3, 183. 
 
 dewberry. The fruit of the Rubus 
 Coisius. This plant grows on the 
 borders of fields and on the banks of 
 hedges and ditches. It generally grows 
 close to the ground ; the fruit is ripe in 
 September, and is very pleasant to the 
 taste. Mids. Ill, 1, 173. 
 
 dew<lap. Flesh or skin hanging loosely 
 from the throat. Mids. IV, 1, 127 ; do. 
 II, 1, 50. Schm, , in the latter quotation, 
 explains the word as " hanging breasts," 
 which is certainly wrong. It means 
 simply a double chin. 
 
 In Tp. Ill, 3, 46, the passage, mount- 
 aineers Dew-lapp''d like bulls, evidently 
 refers to persons afflicted with goitre, 
 a disease common in Switzerland and 
 some other mountainous countries. 
 
 Diana, dr.p. Daughter of a widow in 
 Florence. AU's. 
 
 Diana, dr.p. The goddess ; she appears 
 in a vision. Per. 
 
 Diana was an ancient Italian divinity, 
 whom the Romans identified with the 
 Greek Artemis. Hence she was said to 
 be the daughter of Jupiter and Latona, 
 and the twin sister of Apollo, and as 
 Apollo was the god of the sun, so Diana 
 represented the moon. As sister of 
 Apollo, Diana is armed with bow, 
 arrows and quiver, and is the goddess 
 of hunting. In the Trojan war she 
 sided with the Trojans. She is the 
 virgin goddess, never conquered by 
 love. She slew Orion because he made 
 an attempt upon her chastity, and 
 she changed Actseon into a stag and 
 had him torn to pieces with his own 
 hounds, merely because he accidentally 
 obtained a view of her while she was 
 bathing. 
 
 Diana, being goddess of the moon, 
 has also been identified with Selene, 
 but the two characters do not harmonize 
 very well together. See Endymion. At 
 a later period she was identified with 
 Hecate (q.v.), a mysterious divinity, 
 whose threefold character has led some 
 to suppose that it was to this that Sh. 
 referred in the passage : And thou. 
 
DIA 
 
 97 
 
 DIE 
 
 thrice- crowned queen of night, As. 
 Ill, 2, 2. In the classics she is often 
 spoken of as "triple." Johnson ex- 
 plains the expression as "alluding to 
 the triple character of Proserpine, 
 Cynthia, and Diana, given by some 
 mjiihologists to the same Goddress." 
 Dian's buds. The buds of Agnus Castus, 
 or Chaste Tree. Mids. IV, 1, 78. 
 
 An old herbal tells us that "the 
 vertue of this herbe is that he wyll 
 kepe man and woman chaste. ' ' Chaucer, 
 in " The Flower and the Leaf," has the 
 following lines : 
 " See ye not her that crowned is," 
 
 quoth she, 
 "All in white ?"—" Madame," quoth 
 
 I, "yes," 
 " That is Diane, goddess of chastite, 
 And for because that she a maiden is. 
 In her hond the braunch she beareth 
 
 this, 
 That agnus castus men call properly ; 
 And all the ladies in her company, 
 
 Which ye se of that hearbe chaplets 
 
 weare. 
 Be such as ban kept alway hir maiden- 
 
 dich. A corruption of do it. Tim. 1, 2, 73, 
 
 Dick, dr. p. A butcher; a follower of 
 Jack Cade. 2HVI. 
 
 dickens. A mincing word for devil. 
 Wiv. Ill, 2, 19. 
 
 Dido. The reputed founder of the ancient 
 city of Carthage, built where Tunis 
 now stands. She was the daughter of 
 Belus, King of Tyre, and the sister of 
 Pygmalion, who succeeded to the crown 
 after the death of his father. She 
 was married to her uncle, Acerbas or 
 Sicha^us, a priest of Hercules, who was 
 very wealthy. Pygmalion, coveting 
 his wealth, murdered him. Dido then 
 secretly fled to the north coast of Africa, 
 where she purchased as much land as 
 could be encircled by a bull's hide. By 
 cutting the hide into exceedingly thin 
 strips, she surrounded a space on which 
 she was able to build a strong citadel, 
 which was called Byrsa — the Greek 
 name for a bull's hide. Here she 
 reigned for some years until a neigh- 
 
 bouring king demanded her hand in 
 marriage, and on her refusal threat- 
 ened war. To escape a fate which was 
 odious to her, she erected a funeral pile 
 on which she stabbed herself in the 
 presence of her people. 
 
 All this occurred three hundred years 
 after the capture of Troy, but Virgil 
 makes ^neas contemporary with Dido, 
 who falls in love with him under the 
 influence of Cupid, who assumed the 
 form of Ascanius (q.v.) for th\s pur- 
 pose. Tp. II, 1, 76 ; Merch. V, 1, 9 ; Tit. 
 V, 3, 82. 
 
 die. To kiU. As. Ill, 5, 7. 
 
 diet. The usual meaning is food ; and in 
 most cases it refers to the restricted 
 quantity and kind of food given in 
 sickness and convalescence. A popu- 
 lar, though erroneous, etymology of 
 the word connected it with the Latin 
 dies, a day, especially a set day, 
 and it may be that this idea con- 
 trolled its use in All's. IV, 3, 35, 
 where Parolles is said to be dieted to 
 his hour, i.e., strictly bound to his 
 appointment. In the same play, V, 3, 
 221, You, that have turned off a first 
 so noble wife, May justly diet me, is a 
 passage that has puzzled the coms. 
 Malone explains it thus: "may justly 
 loathe or be weary of me, as people 
 generally are of a regimen or prescribed 
 and scanty diet." Steevens thinks diet 
 me = deny me the rights of a wife. 
 Marshall, the ed. of "The Henry Ir- 
 ving Shakespeare," explained it thus: 
 " You may prescribe rules for me and 
 give me just as much or as little as you 
 please." None of these explanations is 
 very satisfactory, and while I dislike 
 conjectural emendations, may not diet 
 be a misprint for do it f The reading 
 then would be : You that have turned 
 off a first so noble wife, may justly 
 do it me. That is : May serve me in 
 just the same manner, the to being 
 omitted, as it frequently is in similar 
 passages in Shakespeare. 
 
 Dieu. French for God. Occurs in vari- 
 ous passages. See niort. 
 
DIE 
 
 08 
 
 BIS 
 
 Dieu de batailles. God of battles. (Fr.) 
 Not quoted f roui the scriptures as some 
 would have us believe. HV. Ill, 5, 15. 
 
 diffuse. To confuse. Lr. I, 4, 2. 
 
 diffused. Wild ; confused ; uncouth. Wiv. 
 
 IV, 4, 54; HV. V, 2, 61. See defuse. 
 difference. A term in heraldry. Clark, 
 
 in his "Introduction to Heraldry," 
 defines it as " certain figures added to 
 coats of arms, to distinguish one branch 
 of a family from another, and how 
 distant younger branches are from the 
 elder." Ado. I, 1, 69 ; Hml. IV, 5, 183. 
 See rue. 
 digress. To transgress ; to offend. RII. 
 
 V, 3, 66. 
 
 digression. Transgression. LLL. I, 2, 
 121. 
 
 dig-you-den. Give you [good] evening. 
 LLL. IV, 1, 42. 
 
 dildo. The chorus or burden of a song. 
 Wint. IV, 4, 195. 
 
 diluculo surgere. Part of a sentence 
 from Lilly's Grammar. The rest is : 
 saluherrmiuni est., and the whole is 
 Latin for "to rise early is most health- 
 ful." Tw. II, 3, 3. 
 
 dint. Stroke. Cses. Ill, 2, 198. cf. 2HIV, 
 IV, 1, 128. 
 
 Diomedes, dr.p. A Greek general for 
 whose sake Cressida deserted Troilus. 
 Troil. 
 
 Diomede, 3HVI. IV, 2, 19, or Dio- 
 medes, Troil., was, next to Achilles, the 
 bravest hero in the Greek army. He 
 went to the Trojan war with eighty 
 ships and fought the best of the Trojans 
 — Hector, ^neas, and others. He and 
 Ulysses carried off the palladium from 
 the city of Troy, as it was believed that 
 Troy could not be taken so long as the 
 palladium was within its walls. Homer 
 tells how he and Ulysses acted as scouts 
 against the Trojan army. When on 
 their way they met Dolon, a Trojan 
 scout, and compelled him to describe to 
 them the plan of the Trojan camp. 
 Amongst other things, Dolon pointed 
 out the camp of the Thracians, who 
 had just come to the help of the Trojans, 
 bringing with them much wealth and 
 
 several magnificent white horses of 
 wonderful swiftness. They then slew 
 their guide, Dolon, and fell upon the 
 Thracians whom they found fast asleep. 
 They killed the Thracian king, Rhesus, 
 and eleven of his followers, and carried 
 off the horses. It is to this incident 
 that Warwick alludes in 3HVI. IV, 3. 
 
 Diomedes, dr.p. An attendant on Cleo- 
 patra. Ant. 
 
 Dion, dr.p. A Sicilian lord. Wint. 
 
 Dionyza, dr.p. Wife to Cleon. Per. 
 
 direction. Judgment; skill. RIII. V, 
 3, 16. 
 
 directitude. A word coined by a ser- 
 vant and not understood by his fellow 
 servant. He probably meant undeter- 
 mined. Cor. IV, 5, 222. 
 
 disable. To disparage. Merch. II, 7, 30 ; 
 As. V, 4, 80. 
 
 Dis. The god Pluto. Tp. IV, 1, 89; 
 Wint. IV, 4, 118. See Pluto and Pro- 
 serpine. 
 
 disannul. To annul completely ; to can- 
 cel. Err. I, 1, 145; 3HVI. Ill, 3, 81. 
 "From Latin dis, apart, here used in- 
 tensively." Skeat. A somewhat rare 
 use of this prefix and one that seems to 
 have escaped Prof. Abbott. See his 
 " Shakespearian Grammar," § 439. 
 
 disappointed. Unprepared ; unready. 
 Hml. I, 5, 77. See appointment. 
 
 disbench. To drive from one's seat. 
 Cor. II, 2, 75. 
 
 discandy. To melt; to dissolve. Ant. 
 IV, 12, 23. 
 
 disease. To undress. Tp. V, 1, 85 ; Wint. 
 
 IV, 4, 648. 
 
 disclose, v. To hatch. Hml. V, 1, 309. 
 
 disclose, n. The coming forth of the 
 young bird from the shell. Used metar 
 phorically in Hml. Ill, 1, 175. 
 
 discomfit, n. Discouragement. 3HVL 
 
 V, 2, 86. 
 
 discomfit, v. 1. To defeat. IHIV. I, 
 
 1,67. 
 
 2. To discourage. Shr. II, 1, 164. 
 discontent. A malcontent. IHIV. V, 
 
 1, 76 ; Ant. I, 4, 39. 
 discourse. Power of reasoning. HmL 
 
 IV, 4, 36. 
 
DIS 
 
 HOG 
 
 discoverer. A scout. 2HIV. IV, 1, 3. 
 disdained. Disdainful. IHIV. I, 3, 183. 
 dis-eate. A word found in Fl. in the 
 passage (Mcb. V, 3, 20) : 
 
 this push 
 Will cheere me euer or dis-eate me 
 
 now. 
 The words cheer and dis-eate have 
 greatly puzzled the corns., although the 
 general meaning of the passage is quite 
 obvious. Indeed, this is a marked 
 feature of Sh. writings ; in many pass- 
 ages particular words may be difficult 
 to explain, while the general meaning 
 does not admit of doubt. 
 
 Two meanings have been attached to 
 these words. Some say that cheer 
 means to encourage ; to make happy ; 
 and that dis-eate is a misprint for dis- 
 ease, of which one of the old meanings 
 is to annoy, to make unhappy. To 
 others this does not seem quite forceful 
 enough, and they give another inter- 
 pretation, according to which cheer = 
 chair, and dis-eate = disseat, the mean- 
 ing being that this push or effort will 
 either place him firmly in the chair, 
 i.e., on the throne, or will for ever 
 unseat him. I confess that on account 
 of its more decisive character the latter 
 seems to me the true gloss. The fact 
 that Sh. nowhere else uses these words 
 with precisely these meanings, has, with 
 me, very little weight. Sh. frequently 
 gives special meanings to words, and 
 uses words of special meaning only once. 
 
 disedge. To surfeit ; to take the edge 
 off appetite. Cym. Ill, 4, 96. 
 
 dislimn. To disfigure ; to efface. Ant. 
 IV, 14, 10. 
 
 disme. A tithe or tenth. Troil. II, 2, 19. 
 
 dispark. To convert a private park into 
 public commons by destroying fences, 
 etc. RII. Ill, 1, 23. 
 
 disponge, i To let drop as from a 
 
 dispunge. ) sponge. Ant. IV, 9, 13. 
 
 dispose, n. 1. Disposal. Gent. II, 7, 
 86; Err. I, 1, 21. 
 2. Disposition ; temper. 0th. I, 3, 403. 
 
 dispose, V. To conspire. Ant. IV, 14, 
 123. 
 
 disputable. Disputatious. As. II, 5, 36. 
 
 dissembly. Dogberry's word for as- 
 sembly. Ado. IV, 2, 1. 
 
 distain. To soil ; defile ; to stain. RIII. 
 V, 3, 322. 
 
 distance. Hostilitv ; alienation. Mcb. 
 
 III, 1, 116. 
 
 distaste. To render unsavoury. Troil. 
 
 IV, 4, 50. 
 
 distil. To melt ; to dissolve. Hml. I, 2, 
 204. 
 
 distraction. Detachment; division. Ant. 
 Ill, 7, 77. 
 
 distraught. Distracted ; mad. RIII. Ill, 
 5, 4 ; Rom. IV, 3, 49. 
 
 disvouch. To contradict. Meas. IV, 4, 1. 
 
 dividual. Different ; separate. More than 
 in sex dividual, i.e., where the sex of 
 the parties is different. Kins. I, 3. 
 
 diverted. Turned from the course of 
 nature. As. II, 3, 37. 
 
 division. A passage in a melody. Rom. 
 Ill, 5, 29. 
 
 Doctor, dr.p. Kins. 
 
 Doctor, dr.p. Mcb. 
 
 Two doctors, one English and one 
 Scotch appear in Macbeth. 
 
 It is the Scotch doctor, attendant on 
 Lady Macbeth to whom reference is 
 generally made. 
 
 Doctor Butts, dr.p. Physician to Henry 
 VIII. HVIII. 
 
 Doctor Caius, dr.p. A French physician 
 in love with Anne Page. Wiv. 
 
 document. Instruction. Hml. IV, 5, 177. 
 This word is an interesting and striking 
 example of the change from the etymo- 
 logical meaning to a meaning which 
 must be regarded as chiefly conven- 
 tional. The word occurs but once in 
 Sh., and in his time it had the meaning 
 given to the French word document by 
 Cot. in his ' ' Dictionarie. ' ' He defines it 
 as : precept ; instruction ; admonition. 
 It now means written or printed matter. 
 
 doff. To put off ; to evade. 0th. IV, 2, 
 
 176. 
 dog-ape. A male ape. As. II, 5, 26. 
 
 Much learning has been wasted on 
 this term. Thus, Dyce suggests that 
 by dog-ape is meant the dog-faced 
 
DOG 
 
 100 
 
 DOT! 
 
 baboon, and most annotated editions 
 have much to say about cenophes and 
 cenocephales, forgetting that Jaques is 
 not talking of dog-faced or dog-headed 
 apes, but of dog-apes, i.e., male apes 
 that, like most males of the lower 
 animals, quarrel and fight when brought 
 together; e.g., two bulls, or two rams 
 (cf. As. V, 2, 34), or two stallions. And 
 the apes would chatter, and grin, and 
 claw, so as to be the best illustration 
 Jaques could have chosen in this par- 
 ticular case. Even the acute and 
 judicious Dr. Furness seems to accept 
 the dog-faced gloss which to my mind 
 is certainly wrong. The prefix dog is 
 frequently used to indicate male. See 
 dog-fox. 
 
 Dogberry, dr. p. A blundering, con- 
 ceited constable. Ado. 
 
 dog-fish. This is a true fish, a species of 
 shark, the squalus acanthius. It is 
 not at all related to the dolphin. IH VI. 
 
 I, 4, 107. 
 
 dog-fox. A male fox. A common ex- 
 pression amongst hunters. The prefix 
 dog is also applied to other animals, 
 indicating the male, as, for example, 
 dog-wolf. Thersites speaks of that same 
 dog-fox Ulysses, because the recognised 
 characteristic of Ulysses was craftiness 
 or foxiness. Troil. V, 4, 12. Schm. 
 suggests that dog here ==" bloody- 
 minded, cruel," but Thersites, three 
 lines above, calls him crafty, and says 
 nothing of cruelty. 
 
 dog-hearted. Unfeeling ; inhuman. Lr. 
 IV, 3, 47. 
 
 dog-hole. A kennel. All's. II, 3, 291. 
 
 dog-weary. Extremely weary. Shr. 
 IV, 2, 60. 
 
 doit. A very small coin ; a trifle. Tp. 
 
 II, 2, 33. 
 
 Dolabella, dr.p. A friend to Octavius 
 
 Caesar. Ant. 
 dole. 1. Share; portion, Wiv. Ill, 4, 
 
 68 ; All's. II, 3, 170 ; IHIV. II, 2, 81. 
 2. Grief ; sorrow ; dolour. Hml. I, 2, 
 
 13; Per. Ill, Prol. 42; Kins. I, 5. 
 Doll Tearsheet, dr.p. 2H1V. See road. 
 dolphin. 1. The Delphinus delphis, a 
 
 mammal allied to the whales. It is not 
 a fish, as Schm. states. It abounds in 
 the Mediterranean and the temperate 
 parts of the Atlantic, and is also known 
 as the porpoise or as Sh. spells it, por- 
 pus^ q.v. The dolphin or porpoise is 
 exceedingly active, tumbling about in 
 the waves and catching fish upon which 
 it feeds. Hence the allusion in All's. 
 II, 3, 31. For the story of Arion and 
 the dolphin, see Arion. A viermaid 
 071 a dolphin^ s hack (Mids. II, 1, 150). 
 See mermaid. 
 
 2. The word dauphin was formerly 
 spelled daulphin, and in the older 
 editions of Sh. is generally spelled dol- 
 phin. See dauphin. 
 
 3. Dolphin chamber. See tavern. 
 dominical. The red letter which in church 
 
 almanacs was used to denote Sunday. 
 LLL. V, 2, 44. 
 
 Rosaline here twits Katherine with 
 having her face marked with the small- 
 pox and consequently of a redder 
 complexion than usual. See letters B 
 and O. 
 
 Domitius Enobarbus, dr.p. Ant. 
 
 Don Adriano de Armado, dr.p. A fan- 
 tastical Spaniard. LLL. 
 
 Donalbain, dr.p. Son of King Duncan. 
 Mcb. 
 
 Don John, dr.p. Bastard brother to Don 
 Pedro. Ado. 
 
 doom. 1. Judgment. 2HVI. I, 3, 214. 
 2. The day of judgment; the last day. 
 Hml. HI, 4, 50; Mcb. IV, 1, 117. 
 
 Dorcas, dr.p. A shepherdess. Wint. 
 
 Doric les. The name assumed by Prince 
 Florizel when he visited the shepherd's 
 cottage. Wint IV, 4, 146, etc. 
 
 Dorset, Marquis of, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Thomas Grey, first Marquis of Dor- 
 set, joined Buckingham's rebellion, 
 and on its failure escaped to Brittany. 
 Lady Jane Grey was his great-grand- 
 daughter. 
 
 double. It should be observed that dou- 
 ble and single anciently signified strong 
 and weak when applied to liquors and 
 to other objects. In this sense the for- 
 mer word may be employed by lago in 
 
DOIT 
 
 101 
 
 DEU 
 
 0th. I, 2,14: A voice potential As dou- 
 ble the Duke''s. And the latter, by the 
 Chief Justice, speaking to Falstaff in 
 ' 2HIV. I, 2, 207 : Is not your wit single? 
 So, too, in Mcb. I, 8, 140, his single 
 state may mean his weak and debile 
 state of mind. 
 
 double-fatal. See yew. 
 
 double^henned. This phrase appears to 
 have caused some confusion. Schm., 
 followed by Rolfe, explains as a spar- 
 row with a double hen, i.e., with a fe- 
 male married to two cocks, and hence 
 false to both. This does not sound En- 
 glish, and hence not Shakespearean. 
 The plain meaning of the words is, a 
 man doubly married. Thersites is 
 hounding Paris against Menelaus — the 
 cuckold-maker against the cuckold — 
 and calls him a double-henned sparrow, 
 because he had two wives, the first, 
 CEnone, who was still alive, and the 
 second, Helen, whom he stole from 
 Menelaus. Troil. V, 7, 11. 
 
 doucets. Correspond to lambs' fries or 
 "mountain oysters." Kins. Ill, 5. 
 
 Douglas, Archibald, Earl of, dr. p. IHIV, 
 
 dout. To do out ; to quench. HV. IV, 
 2, 11; Hml. IV, 7, 192. 
 
 dove. This bird was sacred to Venus, and 
 was employed to draw her chariot. Tp. 
 IV, 1, 94. In Raleigh's "History of the 
 World " we are told that Mahomet had 
 a dove "which he used to feed with 
 wheat out of his ear ; which dove, when 
 it was hungry, lighted on Mahomet's 
 shoulder, and thrust its bill in to find 
 its breakfast ; Mahomet persuading the 
 rude and simple Arabians that it was 
 the Holy Ghost that gave him advice." 
 It is to this that allusion is made in 
 IHVI. T, 2, 140. 
 
 dowlas. A kind of coarse towelling. 
 IHIV. Ill, 3, 79. 
 
 dowle. One of the fibers which go to 
 make up a feather. Tp. Ill, 3, 65. 
 
 down=gyved. Fallen down to the ankle, 
 after the fashion of gyves or fetters. 
 Heath. Hml. II, 1, 80. 
 
 down sleeves. Hanging sleeves. Ado. 
 
 down-roping. Hanging down in glutin- 
 ous strings. HV. IV, 2, 48. 
 
 Dowsabel. A nickname jocularly applied 
 to a very fat servant. Err. IV, 1, 110. 
 Her real name was Nell. Err. Ill, 2, 
 
 III. The name means sweet and beau- 
 tiful (French douce et belle), and was a 
 favorite with a certain class of poets. 
 Here used ironically. 
 
 doxy. A mistress. A cant word. Wint. 
 
 IV, 2, 2. 
 
 drabb. A loose woman. Meas. II, 1, 247 ; 
 
 Mcb. IV, 1, 81. 
 drabbing. Following loose women. Hml. 
 
 II, 1, 26. 
 draff. Dregs ; refuse. Wiv. IV, 2, 112. 
 dram. 1. The eighth part of an ounce ; 
 
 a very small quantity. Merch. IV, 1, 
 
 6 ; Hml. I, 4, 36. 
 2. Poison; a poisonous draught. Wint 
 
 I, 2, 320 ; 0th. I, 3, 105 ; Cym. V, 5, 
 381 ; Kins. I, 1. 
 
 draw dry-foot. To follow game by scent. 
 
 Err. IV, 2, 39. See counter. 
 drawer. A tapster. Wiv. II, 2, 167; 
 
 IHIV. II, 4, 7. 
 drawn. Having their swords drawn. Tp. 
 
 II, 1, 308. 
 
 drawn fox. A fox turned out of his 
 earth. IHIV. Ill, 3, 128. 
 
 dresser. A table or sideboard on which 
 meat was carved and dishes prepared 
 for guests. Shr. IV, 1, 166. 
 
 dribbling. Falling weakly like a drop. 
 Meas. I, 3, 2. It has been suggested 
 that the word is a misprint for drib- 
 bing, dribber and dribbed being terms 
 in archery signifying a bad shot. 
 
 drollery. A humorous picture. 2HIV. 
 II, 1, 156. 
 
 Dromio of Ephesus, [ dr. p. Twin broth- 
 
 Dromio of Syracuse. ) ers, attendants on 
 the twins Antipholus. Err. 
 
 drug. A drudge according to most coms. 
 Tim. IV, 3, 254. Sometimes spelled 
 drugge, as in Fl. That drug is an old 
 mode of spelling drudge there is abund- 
 ant evidence. Schm. suggests that in 
 the passage cited it may mean, "all 
 things in passive subserviency to salu- 
 tary as well as pernicious purposes," 
 
DBTT 
 
 103 
 
 DtTN 
 
 but English-speaking readers will hardly 
 accept this gloss. 
 
 drum. A well-known musical (?) instru- 
 ment. In order to understand ParoUes' 
 distress at the loss of the drum, we 
 must " remember that the drums of the 
 regiments of his day were decorated 
 with the coloi'S of the battalion. It was 
 therefore equivalent to the loss of the 
 flag of the regiment— a disgrace all good 
 soldiers deeply feel. ' ' Fairholt. 
 
 Has led the drum before the En- 
 glish tragedians. It was the custom 
 in England for players to have a drum 
 beaten so as to give notice of their ar- 
 rival in any town where they intended 
 to perform. All's. IV, 3, 298. 
 
 Drum, Jack. The old joke, " Jack Drum's 
 entertainment," which meant a sound 
 threshing, is obvious enough. The 
 drum gets a beating and so does Jack. 
 It is like "hickory oil," "strap oil," 
 and sundry other euphemisms for a 
 beating. Sometimes called " Tom 
 Drum's entertainment." All's. Ill, 6, 
 41 ; also 322. There was a play pub- 
 lished in 1601, the title of which was 
 Jack Drunri^s Entertainment. It is 
 republished in Simpson's " The School 
 of Shakspere," vol. II. 
 
 drumble. To dawdle; to be sluggish. 
 Wiv. Ill, 3, 156. 
 
 dry-beat. To thresh ; to cudgel. LLL. 
 V, 2, 264. 
 
 dry-foot. Hunting by scent. Err. IV, 
 2, 39. See counter. 
 
 dub me knight. This refers to the cus- 
 tom of persons drinking, on their knees, 
 a large draught of wine or other liquor, 
 in consequence of which they were said 
 to be dubbed knights, and retained the 
 title for the evening. Dyce. 2HIV. V, 
 3,78. 
 
 ducat. A silver coin. The Venetian du- 
 cat was nearly equal in value to a United 
 States doUar. Merch. I, 3, 1. 
 
 ducdame. Undoubtedly a meaningless 
 word, coined by Jaquesforthe occasion. 
 As. II, 5, 56. It has served admirably 
 the purpose for which he claims that it 
 was intended and has called a multitude 
 
 of "fools into a circle" to discuss its 
 meaning, their lucubrations filling three 
 solid pages of small type in the New 
 Variorum ed. That it is not a misprint 
 like larmen and Ullorxa is evident. 
 Hanmer tells us that it is Latin, modi- 
 fied from due ad me (bring him to me). 
 But Jaques himself tells us that it is 
 Greek, which is defined in the old slang 
 dictionaries as "lingo, cant, or gibber- 
 ish." See "Lexicon Balatronicum,"s.r. 
 Greek. Others say that it is the cry 
 used by farmers' wives to call their 
 poultry. Others, again, make it out to 
 be Gaelic, Welsh, Italian, French, etc. 
 In coining this word and calling it "a 
 Greek invocation to call fools into a 
 circle," Jaques evidently "builded 
 better than he knew." 
 
 dudgeon. The handle of a dagger. Mcb. 
 II, 1, 46. 
 
 due. To endue. IHVI. IV, 2, 34. 
 
 Duke, the banished, dr. p. Living in the 
 Forest of Arden. As. 
 
 Duke, the usurper, dr. p. Brother to the 
 banished duke. As. 
 
 Duke. For the various dukes who appear 
 as dr. p.., see Albany, Alencjon, Aumerle, 
 Bedford, Buckingham (3), Burgundy (2), 
 Clarence (2), Cornwall, Exeter (2), 
 Florence, Gloucester (3), Lancaster, 
 Milan (2), Norfolk (3), Orleans, Oxford, 
 Somerset, Suffolk (2), Surrey, Venice 
 (2), York (3). 
 
 Dull, dr. p. A constable characterised by 
 his name. LLL. 
 
 Dumain, dr. p. A lord attendant on the 
 King of Navarre. LLL. 
 
 dumb. To put to silence. Ant. I, 5, 50. 
 
 dump. A melancholy strain in music. 
 Gent. Ill, 2, 85; Rom. IV, 5, 108. (Pe- 
 ter's absurd speech.) 
 
 dun. 1. A color of no very certain shade. 
 The colors of the mouse and of the deer 
 are said to be dun. In Rom. I, 4, 40, 
 there is a quibble between done and 
 dun, and this seems to be the only 
 meaning to be drawn from the saying 
 of Mercutio, in reply to Romeo's " I 
 am done" — "Tut, dun's the mouse." 
 But why this should be "the eonstar 
 
DUN 
 
 108 
 
 EAL 
 
 ble's ovvn word" has never been ex- 
 plained. Some say that it is a slang 
 phrase meaning "keep quiet," "be 
 still," like the modern slang, "cheese 
 it." And in "Patient Grissil," a com- 
 edy by Dekker, Chettle and Houghton 
 (1603), we find "yet don is the mouse, 
 lie still." 
 
 2. A name for an old cart-horse, corre- 
 sponding to Dobbin ; hence applied to an 
 old game called " Drawing Dun out of 
 the mire," which is thus described by 
 Gilford : " A log of wood is brought into 
 the midst of the room : this is Dun (the 
 cart horse), and a cry is raised that he 
 is stuck in the mire. Two of the com- 
 pany advance, either with or without 
 ropes, to di-aw him out. After repeated 
 attempts, they find themselves unable 
 to do it, and call for more assistance. 
 The game continues till all the company 
 take part in it, when Dun is extricated, 
 of course; and the merriment arises 
 from the awkward and affected efforts 
 of the rustics to lift the log, and from 
 sundry arch contrivances to let the ends 
 of it fall on one another's toes." It 
 would seem that it is to this that Mer- 
 cutio refers in Rom. I, 4, 41. 
 
 Duncan, dr. p. King of Scotland. Mcb. 
 : dungy. Coarse ; filthy. Ant. I, 1, 35. 
 I dunghill, ad. Costard's blunder for ad 
 I unguent, at the nail, or, as he expresses 
 I it, at the fingers' ends. LLL. V, 1, 80. 
 \ dup. To open. Hml. IV, 5, 53. 
 ! durance. A very durable material made 
 ! to imitate the buff leather which in for- 
 i mer days was used for making the 
 1 clothing of the lower classes. Hence a 
 i name for a prison dress. Err. IV, 3, 
 27. '^ Durance is still familiarly used 
 for confinement, especially in the phrase 
 durance vile for imprisonment. ' ' In the 
 use of the word there seems to be a hint 
 of a pun between the two meanings, 
 durability and sufferance (enduring). 
 cf. IHIV. I, 2, 49. 
 Dictynna. One of the names of Diana. 
 LLL. IV, 2, 38. So called from the 
 legend that Minos had loved and pur- 
 sued her till she leapt into the sea, 
 and was saved by being caught in a 
 fisherman's net. In this character she 
 was chiefly the goddess of seafarers, and 
 as such was widely worshipped on the 
 islands and coasts of the Mediterranean. 
 duties. Compliments; homage. IHIV. 
 V, 2, 56. 
 
 ACH, AT, This phrase, as found 
 in Lr. IV, 6, 53, has occasioned 
 needless trouble to the Pris- 
 cians. Ten masts at each 
 (So in Fl.) evidently means arranged 
 separately, i.e., end to end, and not in 
 a bundle. Warburton called it non- 
 sense ; Johnson would accept it only if 
 some precedent could be found ; R. G. 
 White, so censorious in regard toemend- 
 dations by others, says: "Evidently, 
 we should read * * * reach''''; Singer 
 reads at eche, for which he suggests an 
 Anglo-saxon derivation ; "at eke;" "a- 
 stretch ;" "at least ;" "at length, ' ' 
 etc., etc., ad nauseam. All which 
 
 affords another good illustration of the 
 truth that while it may frequently be 
 difficult to give a technical explanation 
 of the words in many passages of Sh., 
 the general meaning admits of no 
 doubt. 
 
 eager. 1. Sharp; sour. Hml. I, 5,69. 
 See aigre. 
 2. Keen ; biting. Hml. I, 4, 2. 
 
 eale. A combination of letters for which, 
 so far as we know, no meaning has yet 
 been found. The passage in which it 
 occurs, Hml. I, 4, 36 : 
 
 the dram of eale 
 Doth all the noble substance of a doubt 
 To his own scandal, 
 
EAN 
 
 104 
 
 EAV 
 
 has thus far defied the corns. , although 
 the general meaning is obvious and may 
 bei paralleled by Ecclesiastes x, 1. The 
 two words which cause the difficulty 
 are eale and doubt, and the number of 
 emendations which have been proposed 
 is quite large. The new Var. gives six 
 solid pages to a discussion of the various 
 readings that have been suggested. The 
 most plausible changes, and those that 
 seem to meet the sense most closely, are 
 the substitution of ill or evil for eale, 
 and dout (= do out, or extinguish, as in 
 HV. IV, 2, 11, and Hml. IV, 7, 192) for 
 doubt. The reading then would be : 
 the dram of ill [evil] 
 Doth all the noble substance often dout 
 To his own scandal. 
 This meets the required sense. 
 
 ean. To yean; to bring forth young. 
 Merch. I, 3, 88 ; Per. Ill, 4, 6. 
 
 From the Anglo-saxon ednian, to 
 bring forth young. In yean the pre- 
 fixed y represents the very common 
 Anglo-saxon prefix ge, readily added to 
 any verb without afl:ecting the sense. 
 This prefix ge was very common both 
 as applied to substantives and verbs. 
 Is this the origin of the i/ so frequently 
 prefixed to Scottish and early English 
 words ? See Yedward. 
 
 eanling. A young lamb, just bom. 
 Merch. I, 3, 80. 
 
 ear, n. The organ of hearing. You may 
 prove it by tny long ears (Err. IV, 4, 
 29), meaning that his master had 
 lengthened his ears by frequently pull- 
 ing them. Steevens. I will bite thee 
 by the ear (Rom. II, 4, 81). To bite 
 the ear was once an expression of en- 
 dearment. Gifl:'ord, in his edition of 
 Jonson's works, has the following note : 
 " This odd mode of expressing pleasure, 
 which seems to be taken from the prac- 
 tice of animals, who, in a playful mood, 
 bite each other's ears, etc. , is very com- 
 mon in our old dramatists. " 
 
 ear, v. To till; to cultivate. All's. I, 
 3,47. 
 
 ear-kissing. Confidential ; private. Lr. 
 II, 1, 9. In some eds. ear-bussing. 
 
 Earl Berkeley, dr.p. A follower of the 
 
 Duke of York. RII. 
 Earl of Cambridge, dr.p. A conspirator 
 
 against Henry V. HV. 
 Earl of Douglas, Archibald, dr.p. A 
 
 Scottish noble. IHIV. 
 Earl of Essex, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, dr.p. 
 
 John. 
 Earl of Gloucester, dr.p. Lr. 
 Earl of Kent, dr.p. Lr. 
 Earl of March, Edward Mortimer, dr.p. 
 
 IHIV. 
 Earl of March, dr.p. Afterwards Ed- 
 ward IV. 3HVI. 
 Earl of Northumberland, dr.p. RII. 
 Earl of Northumberland, Henry Percy, 
 
 dr.p. IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 Earl of Northumberland, dr.p. A Lan- 
 castrian. 3HVI. 
 Earl of Oxford, dr.p. RIII. 
 Earl of Pembroke, William MareschaU, 
 
 dr.p. John. 
 Earl of Pembroke, dr.p. A Yorkist. 
 
 3HVI. 
 Earl of Richmond, dr.p. 3HVI. and 
 
 RIII. 
 Earl Rivers, dr.p. RIII. 
 Earl of Salisbury, WiUiam Longsword, 
 
 dr.p. John. 
 Earl of Salisbury, dr.p. RII. 
 Earl of Salisbury, dr.p, A Yorkist. 
 
 IHVI. and 2HVI. 
 Earl of Suffolk, dr.p. IHVI. 
 Earl of Surrey, dr.p. Son to Duke of 
 
 Norfolk. RIII. and HVIII. 
 Earl of Warwick, dr.p. 2HIV. 
 Earl of Warwick, dr.p. HV. 
 Earl of Warwick, dr.p. A Yorliist. 
 
 IHVI., 2HVI. and 3HVL 
 Earl of Westmoreland, dr.p. Friend to 
 
 Henry IV. and V. IHIV. 2HIV., and 
 
 HV. 
 Earl of Westmoreland, dr.p. A Lan- 
 castrian. 3HVI. 
 Earl of Worcester, Thomas Percy, dr.p. 
 
 IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 eaves. The dipt edge of a thatched roof. 
 
 The word is singular, and the plural 
 
 should be eaveses. Skeat. Tp. V, 1, 
 
 17. cf. reed. 
 eaves-dropper. One who stands under 
 
ECH 
 
 105 
 
 EGY 
 
 and catches the drippings from the 
 eaves ; hence, metaphorically, a secret 
 listener. RIII. V, 3, 221. 
 
 eche. To piece out. Merch. Ill, 2, 23. 
 In modem eds. generally spelled eke. 
 
 ecstasy. Any state of being beside one- 
 self ; extreme delight ; madness. Merch. 
 Ill, 2, 112 ; Hml. Ill, 4, 138. 
 
 In the usage of Sh. and writers of 
 that time, it stood for every species of 
 alienation of mind, whether temporary 
 or permanent, proceeding from joy, 
 sorrow, wonder, or any other exciting 
 cause. And this certainly suits the 
 etymology. Nares. 
 
 Edgar, dr. p. Son to Earl of Gloucester. 
 Lr. 
 
 Edmund, dr. p. Earl of Rutland. 3HVI. 
 
 Edmund, dr.p. Bastard son to Earl of 
 Gloucester. Lr. 
 
 Edmund Mortimer, dr.p. Earl of March. 
 IHIV. 
 
 Edmund Mortimer, dr.p. Earl of March. 
 IHVI. 
 
 Edmund of Langley, dr.p. Duke of 
 York. RII. 
 
 Edward IV., dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Edward, dr.p. Son to Plantagenet. 
 2HVI. 
 
 Edward, Prince of Wales, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Edward, Prince of Wales, dr.p. Son 
 to Henry VI. 3HVI. 
 
 Edward, Earl of March, dr.p. After- 
 wards Edward IV. 3HVI. 
 
 Edward shovel-boards. The broad shil- 
 lings of Edward VI, used for playing 
 at the game of shovel-board. Wiv. I, 
 1, 159. See shovel-board and shove 
 groat. 
 
 effect. Expression; intimation. 2HIV. 
 I, 2, 183. Answer in the effect of your 
 reputation (2HIV. II, 1, 142) = answer 
 in a manner suitable to your character. 
 Johnson. 
 
 eft. Convenient ; ready. Ado. IV, 2, 38. 
 
 eftsoons. By and by ; after a while. Per. 
 V, 1, 256. 
 
 egal. Equal. Tit. IV, 4, 4. 
 
 Egeus, dr.p. Father to Hermia. Mids. 
 
 egg, ill-roasted. Roasting seems to have 
 been a popular mode of cooking eggs in 
 
 the olden time, if we may judge by the 
 number of proverbs relating to the pro- 
 cess. They required constant turning 
 during the operation. Steevens says 
 there is a proverb that a fool is the best 
 roaster of eggs because he is always 
 tunaing them. But Skeat gives an- 
 other proverb with an opposite trend : 
 " There goes some reason to the roast- 
 ing of eggs." As. Ill, 2, 38; Kins. II, 3. 
 
 eggs for money. The proverbial expres- 
 sion : Will you take eggs for money f 
 Wint. I, 2, 161, seems to be rightly ex- 
 plained, " Will you suffer yourself to 
 be buUied or imposed upon." Dyce. 
 cf. Cor. IV, 4, 21, not worth an egg. 
 He will steal an egg out of a cloister^ 
 (AU's. IV, 3, 280) =-- he will steal any- 
 thing, however trifling, from any place, 
 however holy. Johnson. 
 
 Eglamour, dr.p. Agent for Silvia in her 
 escape. Gent. 
 
 egma. Costard's blunder for enigma. 
 LLL. Ill, 1, 73. 
 
 Egyptian thief. The allusion in Tw. V, 
 1, 121, is to " Thyamis, who was a native 
 of Memphis, and at the head of a band 
 of robbers. Theagenes and Chariclea 
 falling into their hands, Thyamis fell 
 desperately in love with the lady, and 
 would have married her. Soon after, 
 a stronger body of robbers coming down 
 upon Thyamis's party, he was in such 
 fear for his mistress that he had her 
 shut into a cave with his treasure. It 
 was customary with those barbarians, 
 when they despaired of their own safe- 
 ty, first to make away with those whom 
 they held dear, and desired for com- 
 panions in the next life. Thyamis, 
 therefore, benetted round with his ene- 
 mies, raging with love, jealousy and 
 anger, went to his cave ; and calling 
 aloud in the Egyptian tongue, so soon 
 as he heard himself answered towards 
 the cave's mouth by a Grecian, making 
 to the person by the direction of her 
 voice, he caught her by the hair with his 
 left hand, and (supposing her to be 
 Chariclea,) with his right hand plunged 
 his sword into her breast." Theobald. 
 
£18 
 
 106 
 
 ELD 
 
 eisel. Vinegar. So defined in most of 
 the glossaries. In Sonn. CXI, 10, it 
 certainly means vinegar. But in regard 
 to this word as it occurs in Hml. V, 1, 
 299, Dr. Furness says: "With the ex- 
 ception of the dram of eale, no word 
 or phrase in this tragedy has occasioned 
 more discussion than this Esill or Esile, 
 which as it stands represents nothing in 
 the heavens above, or the earth be- 
 neath, or the wat«rs under the earth." 
 
 While some suppose that Hamlet 
 challenges Laertes to drink vinegar (a 
 most puerile idea) others suggest that 
 he refers to a river Oesil, which is said 
 to be in Denmark, or if not, Sh. might 
 have thought there was. The question 
 was much disputed between Steevens 
 and Malone, the former being for the 
 river and the latter for vinegar. Nares 
 says : " The challenge to drink vinegar, 
 in such a rant, is so inconsistent, and 
 even ridiculous, that we must decide 
 for the river, whether its name can be 
 exactly found or not. To drink up a 
 river, and eat a crocodile with his 
 impenetrable scales, are two things 
 equally impossible. There is no kind of 
 comparison between the others." In 
 attempting to form an opinion, we 
 should bear in mind that Hamlet's 
 challenge to feats impossible of execu- 
 tion is but a reply to the equally im- 
 possible deeds which Laertes has just 
 ordered the gra\ e-diggers to perform, 
 viz., to make a mountain that would 
 o'er-top old Pelion, or the skyish head 
 
 Of blue Olympus. 
 
 For a man so deeply in earnest as was 
 Hamlet, to match such a piece of bom- 
 bast by a suggestion to drink vinegar, 
 "In order to produce 'a vinegar as- 
 pect,' " as suggested by Dr. Schmidt in 
 his "Lexicon," or to eat the dried or 
 pickled crocodile of the apothecary's 
 shop, as some coms. would have it, 
 seems to me entirely inappropriate, to 
 say the least. In Fl the word is spelled 
 Esile, and in italics. Capitals did not 
 count for very much with the printers 
 of 1623, but throughout the play proper 
 
 names are capitalized, and this at least 
 indicates a suggestion of Esile 's being a 
 proper name. Strange to say, the Globe 
 edition, which claims to follow the old 
 copies so closely, does not use a capital 
 letter here. Dr. Furness " believes jPsiW 
 and Esile to be misprints for Eysell." 
 New Var., Hamlet. Vol. I, p. 409. 
 
 eke. 1. Also. Wiv. 1, 3, 105. 
 2. To add to ; to piece out. As. I, 2, 208. 
 
 Elbow, dr. p. A constable. Meas. 
 
 eld. Old age. Wiv. IV, 4, 36. 
 
 elder. A shrub or small tree, the Satn- 
 bucus nigra. Our American elder (the 
 Sambucus Canadense) is a closely al- 
 lied species. Both are well known from 
 the peculiarity of the wood and fruit, 
 the latter being a favorite for the mak- 
 ing of spiced wine. The wood is fre- 
 quently used as a substitute for box- 
 wood in the manufacture of the cheaper 
 rules and straight-edges. The young 
 trees and shoots have a very large, 
 pithy center. Hence heart of elder, 
 Wiv. II, 3, 30, means a weak, spiritless 
 creature; opposed to the familiar 
 phrase, "heart of oak." See cride- 
 game. The leaves of the elder have a 
 strong and disagreeable odor; hence 
 called stinking elder, Cym. IV, 2, 59. 
 The elder has, from time immemorial, 
 possessed a bad reputation, and has been 
 regarded as a plant of ill omen. One 
 of the traditions connected with it is 
 that Judas was hanged on an elder, 
 LLL. V, 2, 610. This legend is found 
 scattered through all the literature of 
 the time of Sh. and that immediately 
 preceding. Sir John Mandeville (1364) 
 tells us in his " Travels " that at Jeru- 
 salem he was shown the identical ' ' tree 
 of Elder that Judas hange himself up- 
 on, for despeyr that he hadde when he 
 yolde and betrayed owre Lord." 
 
 Concerning another species, the Sam- 
 bucus Ebulus, or Dwarf Elder, the 
 tradition runs that it grows most where 
 blood has been shed either in battle or 
 murder. In Welsh it is called "plant 
 of the blood of man," and Sh. may 
 have had this piece of plant-lore in 
 
ELD 
 
 107 
 
 ENO 
 
 mind when he represents Bassanius as 
 killed at a pit beneath an elder tree. 
 This is the pit and this the elder tree. 
 Tit. II, 3, 277. 
 
 elder-gun. A pop-gun. So called be- 
 cause usually made by boys out of a 
 branch of elder fiom which the pith 
 has been removed. It was capable of 
 inflicting a sharp stinging blow with its 
 pellets of moistened tow, but could not 
 cause any serious injury. Hence the al- 
 lusion in HV. IV, 1, 210. 
 
 Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, dr.p. 
 2HVI. 
 
 eleven and twenty. That teacheth tricks 
 eleven and twenty long. Shr. IV, 2, 
 57. A phrase of which the origin is 
 unknown. Probably similar to the 
 American phrase forty - eleven. See 
 ' ' The Professor at the Breakfast Table. ' ' 
 
 elf. To mat the hair together. The elves 
 or fairies were supposed to tangle the 
 hair for mischief. Lr. II, 3, 10. 
 
 elf-lock. A lock of hair tangled or matted 
 together by the fairies. Rom. I, 4, 90. 
 
 Elinor, Queen, dr.p. Mother of King 
 John. John. 
 
 Elizabeth Woodville, dr.p. Lady Grey 
 and queen to Edward IV. 3HVI. and 
 RIII. 
 
 Ely, Bishop of, dr.p. John Morton. 
 RIII. 
 
 Ely, Bishop of, dr.p. HV. 
 
 emballing. The ceremony of carrying the 
 ball, as queen, at a coronation. The 
 word is one of Sh. manufacture, and 
 has given some trouble to the coms. 
 The above is Johnson's explanation, 
 and is clearly the best out of many. 
 Some are offensive and improbable. 
 
 emboss. To hunt to death. All's. Ill, 
 6, 106. 
 
 embossed. 1. SwoUen. As. II, 7, 67. 
 2. Foaming at the mouth from hard 
 running. Shr. Ind., I, 17; Ant. IV, 
 11,3. 
 
 embarguement. Hindrances ; impedi- 
 ments. A word of doubtful origin and 
 significance. Cor. I, 10, 22. 
 
 embrasure. Embrace. Troil. IV, 4, 39. 
 
 Emilia, dr.p. Sister to Hippolyta. Kins. 
 
 Emilia, dr.p. Wife to lago. 0th. 
 Emilia, dr.p. A lady attending on Her- 
 
 mione. Wint. 
 emmew. A term in falconry, signifying 
 
 to cause the game to lie close for fear. 
 
 Meas. Ill, 1, 91. 
 empery. 1. Empire; dominion. HV. I, 
 
 2, 226. 
 
 2. Country over which sway is held. 
 
 RIII. Ill, 7, 136. 
 empiricutic. Quackish. Undoubtedly a 
 
 coined word. Cor. II, 1, 128. 
 emulous. Jealous; envious. Troil. II, 
 
 3, 242. 
 
 enactures. Action; representation. Schm. 
 Hml. Ill, 2, 207. Johnson gives "re- 
 solutions " as the meaning. In the 
 Folio of 1623 the word is ennectors ; 
 enactures is the word in the Quarto. 
 
 end. Still an end == ever and anon. 
 Gent. IV, 4, 67. Qu. Corrupted from 
 "still and anon." 
 
 endart. To shoot forth. Rom. I, 3, 98. 
 
 endeared. Bound. 2HIV. II, 3, 11 ; Tim. 
 
 1, 2, 236. 
 
 Endymion. A beautiful youth, said to 
 have been a hunter or shepherd who 
 fell asleep in a cave of Mount Latmus, 
 and while there was visited by Selene 
 (the moon, Luna) who fell in love with 
 him, and kept him in a perpetual slum- 
 ber so that she might be able to kiss 
 him without his knowledge. By him 
 she is said to have had fifty daughters. 
 Such is the generally accepted story, 
 but there are various poetical versions 
 of the legend. Merch. V, 1, 109. See 
 Diana. 
 
 enfeoff. To give in vassalage ; to grant 
 out as a feoff or estate. IHIV. Ill, 
 2,- 69. 
 
 enforce. To exaggerate ; to lay stress 
 upon. Caes. Ill, 2, 42 ; Ant. V, 2, 125. 
 
 englut. To swallow at a gulp. Tim. II, 
 
 2, 175. 
 
 engraffed. Deep-fixed. Kins. IV, 3. 
 engross. 1. To make fat. RIII. 7, 76. 
 
 2. To amass. IHIV. Ill, 2, 148 ; 2HIV. 
 IV, 5, 71. 
 
 3. Seizing the whole of. All's. Ill, 2, 
 68; Rom. V, 3, 115. 
 
ENK 
 
 108 
 
 ETE 
 
 enkindle. To incite; to make keen. Mcb. 
 
 1, 3, 121. 
 
 Enobarbus, Domitius, dr.p. A friend to 
 
 Anthony. Ant. 
 enseamed. Gross : defiled ; filthy. Hml. 
 
 Ill, 4, 92. See seam. 
 ensear. To dry up. Tim. IV, 3, 187. 
 ensconce. To hide ; to cover. Wiv. II, 
 
 2, 27 ; do. Ill, 3, 96. 
 
 cjnskyed. Heavenly ; raised above earthly 
 things. Meas. I, 4, 84. 
 
 ensteeped. Lying under water. 0th. 
 II, 1, 70. 
 
 entail. Hereditary right to property. 
 All's. IV, 3, 343. 
 
 entertain. Encounter. HV. I, 2, 111. 
 
 entreatments. Interviews ; entertain- 
 ments. Hml. I, 3, 122. 
 
 Ephesian. A cant term for jolly com- 
 panion; a toper. Wiv. IV, .5, 19. 
 Ephesians ^ ^ * of the old church 
 = companions of the old sort. 2HIV. 
 II, 2, 164. 
 
 equipage. A word of equivocal meaning 
 as it occurs in Wiv. II, 2, 3. Schm. 
 notes it " quite unintelligible ; " War- 
 burton says it is a cant term for stolen 
 goods; Farmer is certain that it is a 
 cant word, but of unascertained mean- 
 ing. (It is not found in modern 
 slang dictionaries.) Steevens thinks it 
 means attendance. 
 
 Ercles. A contraction of Hercules. Mids. 
 I, 2, 31. 
 
 erewliile. A short time since. LLL. IV, 
 1, 99 ; As. II, 4, 89. 
 
 eringo. Sea-holly, much used as a deli- 
 cacy and believed to be a powerful 
 aphrodisiac. Wiv. V, 5, 33. 
 
 Eros, dr.p. A friend to Antony. Ant. 
 
 Erpingham, Sir Thomas, dr.p. An oflScer 
 in the English army. HV. 
 
 err. Besides the usual meaning, this 
 word in Sh. time signified wandering 
 (without any suggestion of evil) . Hml. I, 
 1 , 1 54 ; 0th. 1, 3, 362. See extravagan t 
 
 Escalus, dr.p. A lord of Vienna. Meas. 
 
 Escalus, dr.p. Prince of Verona. Rom. 
 
 Escanes, dr.p. A lord of Tjn-e. Per. 
 
 escape. A freak ; an escapade. Tit. IV, 
 
 escape. Escapes of wit = sallies of wit. 
 
 Meas. IV, 1, 63. 
 escapen. The old form of escaped. Per. 
 
 II, Prol. 36. 
 escot. To pay for ; to maintain. Hml. 
 
 II, 2, 362. Cot. gives " disner d escot 
 
 = a dinner at an ordinarie ; or where 
 
 every guest payes his part." 
 Esile. See eisel. 
 esperance. Hope. The motto of the 
 
 Percies. IHIV. II, 3, 74. 
 espial. A spy. Hml. Ill, 1, 32. 
 Essex, Earl of, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, dr.p. 
 
 John. 
 estimation. Conjecture. IHIV. I, 3, 
 
 272. 
 estridge. An ostrich. IHIV. IV, 1, 98. 
 
 By some = goshawk. Ant. Ill, 13, 197. 
 eternal. In many passages this word is 
 
 evidently not used in the sense of 
 
 " without end. " Mrs. Ford (Wivs. II, 
 
 1, 50) speaks of an eternal moment; 
 Emilia of an eternal villain (0th. IV, 
 
 2, 130), and Cassius of the eternal devil 
 (Caes. I, 2, 160). The expression eternal 
 blazon (Hml. I, 5, 21,) has given rise to 
 considerable discussion. Schm. gives 
 the meaning as "this account of the 
 things of eternity " ; others suggest that 
 it is a misprint for infernal. It is 
 probable that it here means simply 
 great, tremendous. As it occurs in 
 some passages Schm. explains the word 
 as " used to express extreme abhor- 
 ence ; " but this does not apply in many 
 cases where it evidently does not mean 
 ' ' without end. ' ' Thus ' ' the propitiatory 
 address to the reader in the ante-natal 
 edition of Troilus and Cresida, 1609, 
 begins : ' Eternall reader, you have 
 here a new play, never staled with the 
 stage, etc. I remember other like 
 sentences, but have not time to look 
 them up ; nor is thei'e any need ; one 
 such example is as good as forty. Mani- 
 festly, this writer did not intend to 
 open his address in favor of his new 
 play by ' expressing extreme abhorence ' 
 of his reader with Dr. Schmidt, or by 
 calling him ' infernal reader, ' with Mr. 
 Walker. And yet the word is useti just 
 
ET£ 
 
 109 
 
 EXP 
 
 as it is in the passages quoted above 
 from Sh., and as the rustic Yankee 
 uses it in ' tarnal. ' In all these cases 
 the word is used merely as an expletive 
 of excess. It means simply boundless, 
 immeasurable, and corresponds very 
 nearly in its purport to the word 
 egregious, as it is used by some of our 
 elder writers, and nowadays in Spanish, 
 egregio autore.''^ R. G. White. 
 
 eterne. Eternal. Mcb. Ill, 2, 38 ; Hml. 
 II, 2, 512. 
 
 eternize. To immortalise. 2HVI. V, 3, 
 31. 
 
 Europa. According to common tradition, 
 the daughter of the Phoenician king 
 Agenor. Her surpassing beauty charmed 
 Jupiter, who assumed the form of a 
 bull (Wiv. V, .5, 4) and mingled with 
 the herd as Europa and her maidens 
 were sporting on the seashore. En- 
 couraged by the tameness of the animal, 
 Europa ventured to mount upon his 
 back, whereupon Jupiter rushed into 
 the sea and swam with her in safety to 
 Crete. Here she became, by Jupiter, 
 the mother of Minos, Radamanthys, 
 and Sarpedon. She afterwards married 
 Asterion, King of Crete, who brought 
 up the children whom she had had by 
 the King of the Gods. Referred to in 
 Shr. I, 1, 173. 
 
 Europe, as a division of the world, 
 was believed to ha\ e derived its name 
 from this fabulous Phoenician princess. 
 
 Euphronius, dr.p. An ambassador. Ant. 
 
 Evans, Sir Hugh, dr.p. A Welsh parson 
 famous for his "frittering " of English. 
 Wiv. 
 
 even-Christian. FeUow Christian. Hml. 
 V, 1, 32. 
 
 even-pleaclied. Hedges so interwoven 
 and trimmed as to have an even sur- 
 face. HV. V, 2, 42. 
 
 evil. 1. A privy. Meas. II, 2, 172 ; HVIII. 
 II, 1, 67. 
 
 2. The king's evil. Mcb. IV, 3, 148. A 
 scrofulous disease which was so called 
 because the kings and queens of Eng- 
 land were supposed to have the power 
 of curing it by a touch. Many of our 
 
 readers will remember that Dr. Johnson, 
 when a child, was carried to London 
 by his mother so that he might be 
 touched by Queen Anne and cured. 
 
 evitate. To avoid. Wiv. V, 5, 241. 
 
 examine. To doubt ; to call in question. 
 All's. Ill, 5, 66. 
 
 excrement. Hair, beard and other things 
 growing out of the body. Merch. Ill, 
 2, 87 ; Err. II, 2, 79. The etymological 
 meaning of excitement is something 
 which grows out, and it is in this sense 
 that it is used in Sh. , with, perhaps, a 
 single exception (Tim. IV, 3, 445). It 
 is doubtful if even this passage furnishes 
 an exception. 
 
 exercise. Religious services. RIII. Ill, 
 2, 112. 
 
 Exeter, Duke of, dr.p. Uncle to Henry 
 V. HV. and3HVI. 
 
 exliale. To draw out. In Pistol's speech 
 (HV, II, 1, 66) he means "draw your 
 sword," 
 
 exiiibition. Pension ; allowance, Gent. 
 
 1, 3, 69 ; Lr. I, 2, 25 ; 0th, I, 3, 238. 
 Used blunderingly in Ado. IV, 2, 5. 
 We have the exhibition to examine = 
 we have the examination to exhibit, 
 Steevens. 
 
 exigent. 1. Decisive moment; pressing 
 necessity. Caes. V, 1, 19. Ant. IV, 14, 
 63. 
 2. The end ; death. IHVI. II, 5, 9. 
 
 exion. Mrs. Quickly's blunder for action. 
 2HIV. II, 1, 32, 
 
 exorcise. This word (and words formed 
 from it — exorcism, exorcist, etc.) was 
 employed by Sh. in the sense of raising 
 spirits, not laying them, as is the 
 modern use. 2HVI. 1, 4, 5 ; Cym. IV, 
 
 2, 276. 
 
 expedience. 1. Haste. RII. II, 1, 287. 
 2. Campaign; expedition. IHIV. I, 1, 
 33 ; Ant. I, 2, 185. 
 
 expedient. Expeditious ; swift. John, II, 
 1, 60; 2HVI. Ill, 1, 288. This is the 
 etymological meaning of the word. 
 The meaning was about to change at 
 this time, and the word does not appear 
 in Sh. in plays wiitten after 1596. 
 Fleay. 
 
EXP 
 
 110 
 
 ET8 
 
 expediently. Quickly; expeditiously. As. 
 Ill, 1, 18. See expedient. 
 
 expiate. Completed : brought to a close. 
 Sonn. XXII, 4; RIII. Ill, 3, 23. 
 
 expire. To bring to an end ; to conclude. 
 Rom. I, 4, 109. 
 
 expostulate. To expound ; to explain. 
 Hml. II, 2, 86. 
 
 exposture. Exposure ; the state of being 
 exposed. Cor. IV, 1, 36. It has been 
 suspected that this word is an error of 
 the press, as it has not been found any- 
 where else except in this passage. 
 
 expulse. To expel; to drive out. IHVI. 
 Ill, 3, 25. 
 
 exsufflicate. Contemptible ; abomina- 
 able. 0th. Ill, 3, 182. 
 
 This word is found nowhere else, and 
 the meaning is rather uncertain. Some 
 explain it as blown up, but this would 
 be tautology. Nares, following Du 
 Cange, derives it from low Latin ex- 
 sufflare^ used in an old ecclesiastical 
 form of renouncing the devil. 
 
 extend. A law term meaning to seize 
 upon. Ant. I, 2. 105. 
 
 extent. Seizure. As. Ill, 1, 17. 
 
 Lord Campbell regards Sh. use of ^his 
 term as indicating a deeper technical 
 knowledge of law than could be ob- 
 tained by mere ordinary observation. 
 " The usurping Duke, Frederick, wish- 
 ing all the real property of Oliver to be 
 seized, awards a suit of extent against 
 him, in the language which would be 
 used by the Lord Chief Baron of the 
 Court of Exchequer. Make an extent 
 upon his house and lands — an extendi 
 facias applying to houses and lands, as 
 & fieri facias would apply to goods and 
 chattek, or a capias ad satisfaciendum 
 to the person." 
 
 extenuate. To undervalue; to detract 
 from. Cses. Ill, 2, 42. 
 
 extirp. To extirpate ; to root out. Meas, 
 III, 2, 110. 
 
 extracting. Distracting. Tw. V, 1, 288. 
 
 extraught. Extracted; descended. 3HVI. 
 II, 2, 142. 
 
 extravagancy. Wandering ; v^agrancy. 
 Tw. II, 1, 12. 
 
 extravagant. "Wandering ; straying be- 
 yond bounds. LLL. IV, 2, 68 ; Hml. I. 
 
 1, 154; 0th. 1, 1, 137. The word occurs 
 but three times in Sh., and is always 
 used in the old and strictly etymological 
 sense. Never with the meaning which 
 now attaches to it. 
 
 extreme. 1. Extravagance of conduct. 
 Wint. IV, 4, 6. 
 2. Extremity. Rom. IV, 1, 62. 
 
 extremity, in. Extremely. Mids. Ill, 
 2,3. 
 
 eyas. A nestling ; a young hawk. Hml. 
 II, 2, 855. " Niais : a nestling ; a young 
 bird taken out of a neast. " Also, under 
 niez : • ' a niais hawke. ' ' Cot. 
 
 eyas musket. A young male sparrow- 
 hawk. Wiv. Ill, 3, 22. 
 
 eye. 1. Aglance ; anceilliade. g.r. Tp. I, 
 
 2, 44L 
 
 2. A shade of color, as in shot silk. Tp. 
 II, 1, 55. Phillpotts suggests that " the 
 jesting pair mean that the grass is 
 really tawny (tanned, dried up), and 
 that the only ' green ' spot in it is Gon- 
 zalo himself. 
 
 In the passage in Hml. I, 3, 128, the 
 reading in many eds. is dye ; in the 
 folios, eye. Eye formerly signified a 
 shade of colour, and it was also said to 
 mean a very small quantity of any- 
 thing, in proof of which Malone quotes 
 from an old work on Virginia, "not an 
 eye of sturgeon has yet appeared in the 
 river." But may not eye here mean a 
 single sturgeon, just as we might say 
 of fish, "not a fin," and of cattle, 
 "notahoof "? 
 
 The expression, an eye of death, IHIV. 
 I, 3, 143, is explained by Johnson and 
 Steevens as " an eye menacing death," 
 but Mason's gloss, "an eye expressing 
 deadly fear," seems better. See /. 
 
 eye-beam. A glance ; a look. LLL. IV, 
 3,28. 
 
 eye-glass. The lens of the eye. (Not the 
 retina, as Schm. has it.) Wint. I, 2, 268. 
 
 eyliad. See oeilliade. 
 
 eyne. The old form of the plural of eye. 
 LLL, V, 2, 206. 
 
 eysell. See eisel. 
 
FA 
 
 III 
 
 FAD 
 
 A. R. G. White notes that Sh. 
 often shows that he was a 
 musician as well as a lover of 
 music, and the frequent refer- 
 ences to the notes of the gamut show 
 this. See LLL. IV, 2, 103; Shr. Ill, 1, 
 76, as well as the jocular reference in 
 Rom. IV, 5, 121. The use of fa, sol, la, 
 mi in Lr. I, 2, 149, has been the occasion 
 of some display of musical learning. 
 Dr. Bumey, as quoted by Furness, 
 says: "Sh. shows by the context that 
 he was well acquainted with the pro- 
 perty of these syllables in solmization, 
 which imply a series of sounds so un- 
 natural that ancient musicians pro- 
 hibited their use. The monkish writers 
 on music say : mi contra fa est dia- 
 bolus : the interval fa 'mi, including a 
 tritonus, or sharp 4th, consisting of 
 three tones without the intervention of 
 a semitone, expressed in the modern 
 scale by the letters F, G, A, B, would 
 form a musical phrase extremely dis- 
 agreeable to the ear. Edmund, speak- 
 ing of eclipses as portents and pro- 
 digies, compares the dislocation of 
 events, the times being out of joint, to 
 the unnatural and offensive sounds, fa 
 sol la mi. See gamut. 
 
 On the other hand it is claimed that 
 the humming of these notes by Edmund 
 is merely the act of one who wishes to 
 seem not to observe the approach of 
 another. Moberly suggests that "the 
 sequence ' fa sol la mi ' (with ' mi ' des- 
 cending) is like a deep sigh, as may be 
 easily heard by trial." 
 Fabian, dr. p. Servant to Olivia. Tw. 
 face. 1. To bully ; to lie with effrontery. 
 Faced it with a card of ten (Shr. II, 1, 
 407) is, according to Nares, " a common 
 phrase, originally expressing the confi- 
 dence or impudence of one who with a 
 ten, as at brag, faced or outfaced one 
 who had really a faced card. " 
 2. To trim with facings. IHIV. V, 1, 74 ; 
 Shr. IV, 3, 123. In the latter quotation 
 
 there is a quibble between /ace, to trim, 
 and /ace, to bully. Also between brave, 
 to defy, and brave, to make fine or 
 well-dressed. See brave. 
 
 3. To carry a false appearance ; to play 
 the hypocrite. Johnson. IHVI. V, 3, 
 142. 
 
 4. To patch. IHIV. IV, 2, 34. See 
 ancient. 
 
 In regard to the passage in Caes. II, 
 1, 114, if not the face of men, the coms. 
 are, as Craik says, "all alive here." 
 For face it has been proposed to read 
 fate, faiths, etc. " It is difficult to see 
 much difficulty in the old reading, 
 understood as meaning the looks of 
 men. It is preferable, at any rate, to 
 anything which has been proposed." 
 Craik. 
 
 face royal. A pun upon a royal face 
 and the face upon a royal or ten-shilling 
 piece of gold. 2HIV. I, 2, 26. See 
 royal. 
 
 facinerious. Claimed by some to be a 
 word coined by Parolles, and without 
 meaning. All's. II, 3, 35. But Parolles 
 was a linguist, and did not make blun- 
 ders of this kind like Pistol and Quickly. 
 Steevens therefore corrected it to faci- 
 norus, a well-established word which 
 signifies atrociously wicked. And this 
 meaning fits very well. Facinerious 
 is probably a printer's error. 
 
 fact. Something done ; deed. Meas. IV, 
 2, 141 ; All's. Ill, 7, 47 ; Wint. Ill, 2, 86. 
 Schm. defines it as = evil deed, crime. 
 This word does not of itself imply evil, 
 but in Sh. it seems to be always used in 
 connection with crime. 
 
 factious. Active ; urgent. Cses. I, 3, 118. 
 This is the etymological meaning of the 
 word, and in this passage it conveys no 
 hint of wrong, but elsewhere in Sh. it 
 has the usual evil sense. 
 
 factionary. Taking part in a quarrel or 
 dissension. Cor. V, 2, 30. 
 
 fadge. To suit ; to fit ; to succeed. LLL. 
 V, 1,154; Tw. 11,2,34. 
 
FAD 
 
 112 
 
 7A8 
 
 fading. A kind of burden or ending to a 
 song. Wint. IV, 4, 195. 
 
 fail. FaUure. Wint. II, 3, 170 ; HVIII. 
 II, 4, 198. 
 
 fair. Beauty. As. Ill, 2, 99. An adjec- 
 tive used as a substantive. 
 
 fairing. A present. LLL. V, 2, 2. A 
 word still used in Scotland in this sense, 
 as in Burns's " Tarn O'Shanter : " 
 
 Ah Tam ! ah Tarn ! thouU get thy 
 fairin'. 
 
 "When lads and lasses, who are friends, 
 meet at a fair, the lad is in duty bound 
 to give the girl "her fairing." The 
 word occurs but once in Sh., and has 
 been erroneously explained by some as 
 "making fair." I am told that the 
 word is in use to-day all over England 
 ia the sense that I have given. 
 
 fairy. An enchantress. Ant. IV, 8, 12. 
 
 faithed. Credited. Lr. II, 1, 72. 
 
 faitor. Evil-doer ; deceiver ; rogue ; vaga- 
 bond. 2HIV. II, 4, 173. 
 
 fall. 1. To let fall ; to drop. As. Ill, 5, 5. 
 
 2. To befall; to happen to. Ven. 472; 
 John I, 1, 78. 
 
 Still used in Scotland in this sense. 
 See Burns's "Address to a Haggis": 
 Fair fa' [fall] your honest sonsie face. 
 
 3. To bring forth; to give birth to. 
 Merch. I, 3, 89. 
 
 fallible. Liable to error. Used impro- 
 perly by the clown in Ant. V, 2, 258. 
 In the First Folio it is printed falliable, 
 which may possibly be an intentional 
 vulgarism. 
 
 fallow. Fawn colored. Wiv. I, 1, 91. 
 
 false, V. To perjure ; to falsify. Cym. 
 II, 3, 74. 
 
 falsing. Deceptive. Err. II, 95. 
 
 Falstaff, Sir John, dr. p. IHIV; 2HIV 
 and Wiv. 
 
 fame. To make famous. Sonn. LXXXIV, 
 11. 
 
 familiar. 1. A particular friend. LLL. 
 V, 1, 101 ; Tim. IV, 2, 10. 
 2. A familiar spirit ; usually one attend- 
 ant on a sorcerer. LLL. 1, 2, 177 ; 2HVI. 
 IV, 7, 114. 
 
 fancies. Love songs : a name for a sort 
 
 of light ballads or airs. Nares. 2HIV. 
 Ill, 2, 342 ; Shr. Ill, 2, 70. 
 
 fancy. Love. Lucr. 200 ; Wint. IV, 4, 
 493 ; 0th. Ill, 4, 63. 
 
 fancy-free. Untouched by love. Mids. 
 II, 1, 164. 
 
 fancy-monger. A love-monger ; one who 
 makes love his business. As. Ill, 2, 
 382. 
 
 fancy-sick. Love-sick. Mids. Ill, 2, 96. 
 
 Fang, dr.p. A sheriff's officer. 2HIV. 
 
 fang. To seize with the teeth or fangs ; 
 to tear. Tim. IV, 3, 23. 
 
 fangled. Fond of finery. Cyifa. V, 4, 
 134. 
 
 fantasied. Filled with fancies or imagin- 
 ation. John IV, 2, 144. 
 
 fap. Drunk. Wiv. I, 1, 183. 
 
 farced. Stuffed ; extended. HV. IV, 1, 
 280. 
 
 fardel. A pack ; a burden. Hml. Ill, 1, 
 76. 
 
 far-fet. Literally, far-fetched; full of 
 deep stratagems. 2HVI. Ill, 1, 293. 
 
 farrow. A litter of pigs. Mcb. IV, 1, 
 65. 
 
 farthingale. A hooped petticoat. Grent. 
 II, 7, 51 ; Wiv. Ill, 3, 69. 
 
 fartuous. Mrs. Quickly's form of virtu- 
 ous. Wiv. II, 2, 100. 
 
 fashions. A skin disease in horses ; now 
 called farcy. Shr. Ill, 2, 54. 
 
 fast and loose. This was a cheating 
 game much practised in Sh. time, where- 
 by gipsies and other vagrants beguiled 
 the common peoj^e of their money, and 
 hence very often seen at fairs. Its other 
 name was "pricking at the belt or 
 girdle ;" and it is thus described by Sir J. 
 Hawkins: "A leathern belt was made 
 up into a number of intricate folds and 
 placed edgewise upon a table. One of 
 the folds was made to resemble the 
 middle of the girdle, so that whoever 
 could thrust a skewer into it would 
 think he held it fast to the table; 
 whereas, when he had so done, the 
 person with whom he plays may take 
 hold of both ends, and di-aw it away." 
 It was an easy matter for a juggler to 
 make the belt either fast or loose at his 
 
FAS 
 
 113 
 
 FEA 
 
 option after the skewer had been in- 
 serted. It is frequently alluded to by 
 old writers. Thus Drayton, in his 
 " Mooncalf," tells us : 
 
 He like a gypsy oftentimes would go, 
 All kinds of gibberish he hath learned 
 
 to know ; 
 And with a stick, a shortstring, and a 
 
 noose. 
 Would show the people tricks at fast 
 
 and loose. 
 
 This is what is referred to in Ant. IV, 
 11, 28, and Nares thinks that it is this 
 trick of the sharper's trade that Falstaff 
 recommends to Pistol (Wiv. II. 2, 19) 
 when he says : " Go. A short knife 
 and a throng. To your manor of Pickt- 
 hatch ! Go." It is throng in Fl, but 
 Pope emended to thong. The usual 
 interpretation of this passage is that 
 Falstaff recommends the cutting of 
 purses in a throng, and for this advises 
 him to get a short knife. At that time 
 purses were usually carried suspended 
 from the girdle. Hence the term cxit- 
 purse. This seems to be the most 
 natural explanation of the passage. 
 
 Fastolfe, Sir John, dr. p. IHVI. 
 
 fat. Dull. LLL. Ill, 1, 105 ; Tw. V, 1, 
 112. 
 
 fat. It is generally believed that the de- 
 scription of Hamlet— /a ^ and scant of 
 breath — applied to Burbage, the famous 
 actor of Sh. time, who was the first im- 
 personator of Hamlet. 
 
 Fates, The. The three sisters who pre- 
 sided over the destinies of men. Their 
 names were Clotho, Lachesis and Atro- 
 pos. According to Hesiod, it is Clotho 
 who spins the web of man's destiny ; 
 Lachesis who assigns to man his fate, 
 and Atropos who cuts the thread of life. 
 Hence Pistol's saying Come, Atropos, I 
 saij! 2HIV. II, 4, 213. In works of 
 art they are represented as grave 
 maidens, with different attributes, viz., 
 Clotho with a spindle or a roll (the book 
 of fate) ; Lachesis pointing with a staff 
 to the horoscope on the globe, and 
 Atropos with a pair of scales, or a sun- 
 dial, or a pair of shears. 
 
 father. The passage in As. I, 3, 11, my 
 
 child'' s father, is by many regarded as 
 corrupt, the claim being that the proper 
 • reading is my father'' s child. The usual 
 argument in favor of the latter reading 
 is the indelicacy of the former one ; but 
 this does not count for much in Sh., the 
 manners and habits of those times being 
 so different from what they are now. 
 I think, however, that a careful read- 
 ing of the whole passage shows that it is 
 for herself, i.e., her father'' s child, and 
 " for the burs in her heart " that Rosa- 
 lind is depressed. The thought embod- 
 ied in the reading of the Fl is so far- 
 fetched and, under the circumstances, 
 so strained, that it points with almost 
 certainty to a typographical error. 
 fathered. See childed. 
 fatigate. Fatigued. Cor. II, 2, 121. 
 Faulconbridge, Lady, dr. p. Mother to 
 Robert and Philip Faulconbridge. John. 
 Faulconbridge, Philip, dr.p. Bastard 
 
 son to Richard I. John. 
 Faulconbridge, Robert, dr.p. Son of Sir 
 
 Robert Faulconbridge. John. 
 
 favour. Countenance; feature; aspect. 
 
 IHIV. Ill, 2, 136. Defeat thy favour 
 
 with a usurped heard (0th. I, 3, 846) 
 
 = disguise yourself with a false beard. 
 
 fay. Faith. Rom. I, 5, 128. 
 
 fear, v. To affright; to terrify. Meas. 
 
 II, 1, 2 ; 2HIV. IV, 4, 121. 
 fearful. 1. Timorous. As. Ill, 3, 49. 
 2. Terrible ; inspiring fear. Lucr. 1741 ; 
 Tp. V, 1, 106. 
 
 It will be seen from the above (1 and 
 2) that this word is used to convey two 
 very different meanings. Just which 
 of these meanings it should carry in the 
 passage found in Tp. I, 2, 470, he''s gen- 
 tle and not fear fid, has caused some 
 discussion. Furness favors the inter- 
 pretation given by Ritson : " Do not 
 rashly determine to treat him with se- 
 verity, he is mild and harmless and not 
 in the least terrible or dangerous.'''' 
 Others would accept that of Smollett, 
 quoted by Reed from Humphrey Clink- 
 er: "How have your commentators 
 been puzzled by [this passage] as if it 
 
F£A 
 
 114 
 
 FEB 
 
 was a paralogism to say that being gen- 
 tle, he must of course be courageous ; 
 but the truth is, one of the original 
 meanings, if not the sole meaning, of 
 that word was noble, high-minded ; and 
 to this day a Scotch woman in the 
 situation of the young lady in The 
 Tempest would express herself in nearly 
 the same terms. Don't provoke him ; 
 for, being gentle, that is, high-spirited, 
 he won't tamely bear an insult, Spen- 
 ser, in the very first stanza of the Faierie 
 Queene, says : ' A gentle knight was 
 pricking o'er the plain, ' which knight, 
 far from being tayne and fearful, was 
 so stout that ' Nothing did he dread, 
 but ever was ydrad. ' " See gentle. 
 
 feat, V. To make neat. Cym. I, 1, 49. 
 
 feat, adj. Neat ; handy ; dextrous. Cym. 
 V, 5, 88; Tp. 11,1,273. 
 
 feather. A forest of feathers, referring 
 to the extravagant use of feathers as 
 an ornament to the hat at one time. 
 Hml. Ill, 2, 286. 
 
 featly. Nimbly ; daintily, Tp. I, 2, 380. 
 
 feature. Beauty. Cym. V, 5, 163. 
 
 Feeble, dr.p. One of Falstaff 's recruits. 
 2HIV. 
 
 feeder. 1. One who feeds and cares for 
 animals, as sheep in As. II, 4, 99. Cer- 
 tainly not an idler in this case, as de- 
 fined in a recent glossary. 
 
 2. One who eats ravenously ; a servant 
 or perhaps a parasite. Tim. II, 2, 168. 
 
 3. One who encourages. 2HIV. V, 
 5,66. 
 
 fee-farm. A kiss in fee-farm (Troil. 
 Ill, 2, 53) "is a kiss of a duration that 
 has no bounds, a fee-farm being a grant 
 of lands in fee," that is for ever, re- 
 serving a certain rent. " Malone. 
 
 fee-grief. A grief peculiar to one person ; 
 literally, the peculiar property of one. 
 Mcb. IV, 3, 196. 
 
 fee-simple. Absolute fee ; a fee that is 
 not qualified ; absolute property in. 
 Compl. 144; Wiv. IV, 2, 225; All's. IV, 
 3, 312. 
 
 fedary. Accomplice. Meas. II, 4, 122. 
 
 federary. Same as fedary; an accom- 
 pUce. Wint. II, 1, 90. 
 
 fehememtly. Evans's blunder for ve- 
 hemently. Wiv. Ill, 1, 7. 
 
 felicitate. Made happy. Lr. I, 1, 76. 
 
 fell, n. Hide ; the entire skin and wool or 
 hair of an animal. As. Ill, 2, 55 ; Mcb. 
 V, 5, 11. 
 
 fell, adj. Fierce ; savage ; cruel. Mids. 
 II, 1, 20 ; 0th. V, 2, 362. 
 
 fell-lurking. Lurking to do mischief. 
 2HVI. V, 1, 146. 
 
 fellowly. Sympathetic. Tp. V, 1, 64. 
 
 female actors. In the early dramas all 
 female characters were acted by boys 
 or men. If the face did not exactly 
 suit, they took advantage of the fashion 
 of wearing masks, and then the actor 
 had only his voice to modulate. Thus 
 in Mids. I, 2, 50, Flute objects to play- 
 ing a woman because he has a beard 
 coming, and is told that he may play it 
 in a mask and speak as small as he will. 
 See cracked within the ring and hoy. 
 This frequently gave rise to the most 
 absurd situations. Thus Jordan, writ- 
 ing in 1662, says : 
 
 For to speak truth, men act, that are be- 
 tween 
 
 Forty and fifty, wenches of fifteen ; 
 
 With bone so large, and nerve so incom- 
 pliant. 
 
 When you call Desdemona — enter Giant ! 
 
 According to Collier, the first attempt 
 to introduce women as actors on the 
 English stage occurred in 1629, when a 
 company of French comedians per- 
 formed at the Blackfriars Theatre. 
 Malone tells us that it is the received 
 tradition that Mrs. Saunderson, who 
 afterwards married Betterton, was the 
 first English actress. 
 
 These facts explain many passages in 
 Sh., especially Hml. II, 2, 449, and As. 
 Epilogue. 
 
 fence. Art or skill in defence. 2HVI. 
 II, 1, 52 ; Tw. Ill, 4, 312. 
 
 Fenton, dr. p. Lover and finally husband 
 of Anne Page. Wiv. 
 
 Ferdinand, dr.p. King of Navarre. 
 LLL. 
 
 Ferdinand, dr.p. Son to the King of 
 Naples. Tp. 
 
FEB 
 
 115 
 
 m 
 
 feodary. One who holds an estate by suit 
 or service to a superior or lord ; hence 
 one who acts under the direction of 
 another. Cym. Ill, 2, 21. 
 
 fere. A companion; a mate (husband 
 or wife). Tit. IV, 1, 89. 
 
 fern-seed. The seed of the fern, of which 
 Holt White says : " The ancients, who 
 often paid more attention to received 
 opinions than to the evidence of their 
 senses, believed that ferns bore no seed. 
 Our ancestors imagined that this plant 
 produced seed which was invisible. 
 Hence, from an extraordinary mode of 
 reasoning, founded on the fantastic 
 doctrine of signatures, they concluded 
 that they who possessed the secret of 
 wearing this seed about them would 
 become invisible." Hence it was a 
 most important object of superstition, 
 being gathered mystically, especially 
 on Midsummer Eve. The superstition 
 survived even to the days of Addison, 
 who tells us that it was " impossible to 
 walk the streets of London without 
 having an advertisement thrust into 
 your hand of a doctor who had arrived 
 at the knowledge of the green and red 
 dragon, and had discovered the female 
 fern seed." This explains the remark 
 of GadshiU, we have the receipt of 
 fernseed, we walk invisible. IHIV. 
 II, 1, 96. 
 
 ferret, v. To worry. HV. IV, 4, 30. 
 
 ferret, adj. Such ferret and such fiery 
 eyes. Caes. I, 2, 186. Sharp and pierc- 
 ing, like those of a ferret. According 
 to Schm. and others, red or albino-like. 
 A doubtful gloss. Some ferrets have 
 red eyes, but Cicero was not an albino. 
 It is more probable that ferret and fiery 
 mean sharp and briUiant. Redness in 
 eyes does not mean piercing. 
 
 Feste, dr. p. A clown ; servant to Olivia. 
 Tw. 
 
 festinate. Hasty. Lr. Ill, 7, 10. 
 
 fet. Fetched. HV. Ill, 1, 18. 
 
 fetch, n. A trick ; a stratagem. Hml. 
 11,1,38; Lr. 11,4,90. 
 
 fetch off. To make away with. Wint. 
 1,2,334. 
 
 fettle. To dress ; to prepare. Rom. Ill, 
 
 5, 154. 
 fewness. Rarity ; brevity. Meas. 1, 4, 89. 
 fico. A fig. (Spanish.) Wiv. I, 3, 38. 
 
 See^igr. 
 fidiused. A word jocularly formed from 
 
 the name of Aufldius, and meaning 
 
 dealt with ; beaten. Cor. II, 1, 144. 
 field. Battle ; combat ; war. LLL. Ill, 
 
 I, 189 ; Mcb. V, 1, 4. 
 
 field-bed. A camp-bed. Rom. II, 1, 40. 
 
 fielded. Engaged in fight ; on the battle- 
 field. Cor. I, 4, 12. 
 
 fig, n. Literally, a well-known fruit, but 
 as a token of worthlessness, as in the 
 expression, "a fig for Peter" (2HVI. 
 
 II, 3, 67), it undoubtedly arose from 
 the verb to fig, as explained in next 
 article. As Nares well says : " Figs 
 were never so common in England as 
 to be proverbially worthless." cf. Ant. 
 I, 2, 32. 
 
 Perhaps, however, it may be merely 
 *' fig's-end " shortened. A fig's-end is 
 certainly a very worthless object, and 
 it is, moreover, an old synonym for a 
 thing of little value. Thus, in Withal's 
 Dictionary we find Fumi umora non 
 emerim rendered by " I will not give a 
 fig's-end for it." And in Oth. II, 1, 286, 
 lago employs "Blessed fig's-end" as 
 an expression of contempt. 
 
 It seems to have been a common 
 opinion that the fig was a favorite 
 vehicle, as a physician would say, for 
 administering poison. Dyce thinks Pistol 
 alludes to this in his "fig of Spain." 
 HV. Ill, 6, 62. Nares quotes several 
 allusions to this in works near Shake- 
 speare's time. 
 
 fig, V. To insult by thrusting out the 
 thumb between the two first fingers of 
 the clenched hand. The custom was 
 originaUy Spanish. 2HIV. V, 3, 123. 
 
 fights, n. Cloth or canvas hung round a 
 ship to conceal the men from the enemy. 
 Wiv. II, 2, 142. 
 
 figo. Qeefico. 
 
 file, n. 1. A list; a catalogue; a rolL 
 All's. IV, 3, 189 ; Mcb. lU, 1, 95 ; da 
 V, 3, 8. 
 
rii 
 
 116 
 
 PLA 
 
 2. A wire upon which papers are strung. 
 AU's. IV, 3, 231. 
 file, V. 1. To polish. Sonn. LXXXV, 
 4; LLL. V, 1, 12. 
 
 2. To defile ; to stain. Mcb. Ill, 1, 65. 
 
 3. To march in line ; to keep pace with. 
 HVIII. Ill, 2, 171. 
 
 fill. The thill of a carriage. Troil. Ill, 
 2, 48. This word is still in use in this 
 sense in New England. 
 
 fill-horse. Shaft horse ; i.e., the horse 
 that goes between the shafts. When 
 two horses are driven tandem, one is 
 the fill- or thill-horse and the other 
 t\iQ fore-horse. Merch. II, 2, 100. See 
 fore-horse. 
 
 fillip. In Troil. IV, 5, 45, the word evi- 
 dently means a stroke given by a jerk 
 of the finger, but this is not the mean- 
 ing in 2HIV. I, 2, 255, as given by 
 Schm. The reference there is to a com- 
 mon and cruel diversion practiced by 
 boys. They lay a board two or three feet 
 long, at right angles over a transverse 
 piece two or three inches thick, then 
 placing a toad at one end of the board, 
 the other end is struck by a bat or 
 large stick, which throws the poor ani- 
 mal forty or fifty feet in the air, killing 
 it, of course. Falstaff was so large and 
 heavy that no ordinary bat or beetle 
 would have served in his case. It would 
 have required such a beetle as was used 
 for driving piles, etc., and was worked 
 by three or more men. 
 
 filth. A coarse name for a common wo- 
 man. Tim. IV, 1, 6. 
 
 fine, n. The end. Ado. I, 1, 247 ; Hml. 
 V, 1, 115. 
 
 fine, V. To make fine or specious. Lucr. 
 936 ; HV. I, 2, 72. In the latter passage 
 many eds. residfiyid. 
 
 fineless. Endless ; infinite. 0th. Ill, 3, 
 173. This word occurs nowhere else 
 inSh. 
 
 firago. Sir Toby's blunder for virago. 
 Tw. Ill, 4, 302. 
 
 fire-brand brother. See Althea and 
 Paris. 
 
 fire. To expel ; to drive out. Sonn. 
 CXLIV, 14; Lr. V,3, 23. 
 
 fire-drake. A fiery dragon; a Will-o- 
 the-wisp ; a meteor. Used jocularly 
 for a man with a red face. HVIII. 
 V, 4, 45. 
 
 fire-new. Brand-new ; newly-made — said 
 of things in metal which are worked by 
 fire, and applied metaphorically to 
 others. LLL. I, 1, 179. 
 
 firk. To beat. HV. IV, 4, 29. 
 
 fishmonger. A seller of fish. Hml. II, 
 2, 174. Malone suggests that a pun was 
 here intended, as fishmonger was a cant 
 term for a licentious person. 
 
 fisnomy. Physiognomy. All's. IV, 5, 42. 
 
 fit. A canto or division of a song. TroU. 
 
 III, 1, 62. 
 
 fitchew. A polecat ; supposed to be very 
 amorous ; hence used as an illustration 
 of wantonness. Lr. IV, 6, 124; 0th. 
 
 IV, 1, 150. 
 
 fitted. Worked or vexed by paroxysms 
 or fits. Sonn. CXIX, 7. 
 
 Fitz-Peter, Geoffrey, Earl of Essex, dr. p. . 
 John. 
 
 Fitzwater, Lord, dr.p. RII. 
 
 fives. A disease of horses, consisting of 
 an inflammation of the parotid glands. 
 Shr. Ill, 2, 54. 
 
 five-finger-tied. Tied by giving her hand. 
 Troil. V, 2, 157. 
 
 flame n. A priest of ancient Rome. Cor. 
 II, 1, 229. 
 
 Flaminius, dr.p. Servant to Timon. Tim. 
 
 flannel. A well-known woolen stuff. A 
 ludicrous name for a Welshman, Wales 
 being noted for its flannel. Wiv. V, 
 5, 172. 
 
 flap-dragon, n. ** A flap-dragon is some 
 small combustible body, fired at one 
 end, and put afloat in a glass of liquor. 
 It is an act of a toper's dexterity to toss 
 off the glass in such a manner as to 
 prevent the flap-dragon from doing 
 mischief." Johnson. " In former days 
 gallants used to vie with each other in 
 drinking off flap-dragons to the health 
 of their mistresses,— which flap-dragons 
 were generally raisins, and sometimes 
 even candles' ends, swimming in brandy 
 or other strong spirits, whence, when 
 on fire, they were snatched by the 
 
FLA 
 
 117 
 
 FLU 
 
 mouth and swallowed." Dijce. LLL. 
 
 V, 1, 46. See candies'' end. 
 flap^dragon, v. To swallow as gallants 
 
 in their revels swallow a flap-dragon. 
 
 Wint. Ill, 3, 100. 
 flap- jack. A pancake. Per. II, 1, 87. 
 flap^mouthed. Having broad hanging 
 
 lips. Ven. 920. (A dog is here meant. ) 
 flat. Positive ; certain. IHIV. IV, 2, 43. 
 flat-long. With the flat side down ; not 
 
 edgewise. Tp. II, 1, 181. 
 flatness. Depth; completeness. Wint. 
 
 Ill, 2, 123. 
 Flavius, dr.p. A Roman tribune. Cses. 
 Flavius, dr.p. Steward to Timon. Tim. 
 flaw, n. 1. A fragment; a breach; a 
 
 crack. LLL. V, 2, 415 ; Lr. II, 4, 288. 
 
 2. Misfortune. Ant. Ill, 12, 34. 
 
 3. A sudden gust of wind. Hml. V, 1, 
 239. 
 
 4. Fits of passion. Meas. II, 3, 11 ; Mcb. 
 Ill, 4, 63. 
 
 flaw, V. To break ; to crack. HVIII. I, 
 1, 95 ; Lr. V, 3, 196. 
 
 flax. A bag of flax f Wiv. V, 5, 159. 
 As flax was never packed in bags and 
 has no significance in this passage, 
 should we not read^ua? f See " Shake- 
 spearean Notes and New Readings," 
 p. 10. 
 
 flax-wench. A woman whose occupation 
 it is to dress flax. One of the lowest 
 occupations assigned to women, and 
 hence an indication of low position and 
 character. Wint. I, 2, 277. 
 
 Fleance, dr.p. Son of Banquo. Mcb. 
 
 flecked. Spotted ; dappled. Rom, II, 3, 
 3. In some eds. fleckled and fleckered. 
 
 fleer. To sneer ; to grin in scorn. LLL. 
 V, 2, 109; Cses. I, 3, 117. Palsgrave, as 
 quoted by Halliwell, explains it as mak- 
 ing "an yvil countenaunce with the 
 mouthe by uncoueryng of the tethe." 
 
 Fleet, The. A famous London prison, 
 formerly standing on Farringdon Street, 
 and long used for debtors. Stowe 
 speaks of it as "the Fleete, a prison 
 house, so called of the fleet or water 
 running by it. ' ' Fromflede, the Anglo- 
 saxon for stream. It was abolished in 
 1844, and the "stream" is now a cov- 
 
 ered sewer. 2HIV. Y, 5, 96. A good 
 
 description of the internal economy of 
 
 The Fleet may be found in "Little 
 
 Dorritt." 
 fleet. 1. To float. Ant. Ill, 13, 171. 
 2. To pass quickly. 2HVI. II, 4, 4. To 
 
 make to pass quickly. As. I, 1, 124. 
 fleeting. Inconstant. Lucr. 212; RIII. 
 
 I, 4, 55. 
 flesh. 1. To give flesh to ; to satiate. 
 
 AU's. IV, 3, 19 ; 2HIV. IV, 5, 133. 
 
 2. To initiate in slaughter ; to feed, with 
 flesh for the first time. IHIV. V, 4, 133. 
 
 3. Savage ; hardened ; eager for slaugh- 
 ter. HV. Ill, 3, 11 ; RIII. IV, 3, 6. 
 
 fleshment. The act of fleshing; fierce- 
 ness. Lr. II, 2, 130. 
 
 fleshmonger. A fornicator. Meas. V, 
 I, 337. 
 
 flewed. Having large hanging chaps. 
 Mids. IV, 1, 125. 
 
 flight. A long, light arrow. Ado. I, 1, 40. 
 
 flighty. Swift. Mcb. IV, 1, 145. 
 
 flirt-gill. A woman of light behaviour. 
 Rom. II, 4, 162. 
 
 flock. A tuft of wool. IHIV. II, 1, 7. 
 
 floods. That " floods " and deep waters 
 were sometimes the abode of " damned 
 spirits " was an old and popular super- 
 stition. The spirits of those who were 
 drowned and who never had proper 
 burial rites bestowed on their bodies 
 were supposed to wander for a hundred 
 years. Mids. Ill, 2, 383. 
 
 Florence, Duke of, dr.p. All's. 
 
 Florence, a widow of, dr.p. All's. 
 
 Plorizeh dr.p. SontoPolixenes. Assumes 
 the name of D orioles. Wint. 
 
 flote. Wave; sea. Tem. I, 2, 234. 
 
 flourish, n. Ostentatious embellishment. 
 LLL. II, 1, 14; do. IV, 8, 238. 
 
 flourish, V. To excuse; to gloss over. 
 Meas. IV, 1, 75. 
 
 Fluellen, dr.p. An oflBLcer in Henry V's 
 army. HV. 
 
 flurted. Scorned. Eans. I, 2. 
 
 flush. In its prime ; full of vigor. Hml. 
 Ill, 3, 81 ; Ant. I, 4, 52. 
 
 Flute, dr.p. A bellows mender who 
 takes part in the play of Pyramus and 
 Thisbe. Mids. 
 
FOB 
 
 118 
 
 VOB 
 
 fob. To cheat ; to trick. 0th. IV, 2, 197. 
 
 See fub. 
 fobbed. Cheated. IHIV. I, 2, 68. 
 foil. 1. Defeat. IHVI. V, 3, 23. 
 2. Blemish. Tp. Ill, 1, 46 ; Ant. I, 4, 24. 
 foln. To make a thrust as in fencing. 
 
 2HIV. II, 4, 252 (with an evident 
 
 quibble). 
 foison. Plenty. Mcb. IV, 3, 88. 
 fond. 1. Foolishly affectionate. 0th. I, 
 
 3, 320. 
 
 2. Foolish; without any indication of 
 affection. IHVI. II, 3, 45. 
 
 3. Slight ; trifling ; trivial. Meas. II, 2, 
 149 ; 0th. II, 1, 139. 
 
 fondly. Foolishly. RII. Ill, 3, 186. 
 fool-begged. Absurd. Err. II, 1, 41. 
 fool's-head. The emblems of a fool as 
 worn on the head ; a coxcomb. Wiv. 
 
 I, 4, 134. 
 
 foot-cloth. A saddle-cloth hanging down 
 to the ground. 2HVI. IV, 7, 51. 
 
 foot-land-raker. A pedestrian vagabond. 
 IHIV. II, 1, 81. 
 
 foppish. Foolish. Lr. I, 4, 182. 
 
 forbid. Cursed ; outlawed. Mcb. I, 3, 21. 
 
 forbod. Forbidden. Comp. 164. 
 
 force. 1. To reinforce ; to strengthen. 
 Mcb. V, 5, 5. 
 
 2. To attribute falsely. Wint. II, 3, 78. 
 "Leontes had ordered Antigonus to 
 take up the bastard; Pauline forbids 
 him to touch the princess under that 
 appellation. Forced is false, uttered 
 with violence to truth." Johnson. 
 
 3. To stuff. (A form of farce.) Troil. 
 
 II, 3, 232. 
 
 4. To hesitate; to care about doing a 
 thing. LLL. V, 2, 440. 
 
 As an illustration of this use of force^ 
 Collier quotes from the interlude of 
 Jacob and Esau (1568) • 
 O, Lordel some good body, for God's 
 
 sake, gyve me meate, 
 I force not what it were, so that I had 
 to eate. 
 Ford, dr.p. A gentleman dwelling at 
 Windsor ; assumes the name of Brook. 
 Wiv. 
 Ford, Mrs., dr.p. One of *'the wives." 
 Wiv. 
 
 fordo. 1. To undo ; to destroy. HmL 
 II, 1, 103. 
 2. To tire ; to exhaust. Mids. V, 1, 381. 
 
 foregoers. Ancestors. All's. II, 3,, 144. 
 
 forehorse. In a team the horse which 
 goes foremost. At one time the fore- 
 horse was gaily ornamented with tufts 
 and ribbons and bells. All's. II, 1, 30. 
 Bertram here complains that he will 
 have to squire and usher in ladies 
 instead of going to the wars. Qe& fill- 
 horse. 
 
 foreign. Of another country ; foreign 
 man = one living abroad. HVIII. II, 
 
 2, 129. 
 
 forepast. Antecedent. All's. V, 3, 121. 
 
 foreslow. To delay. 3HVI. II, 3, 56. 
 
 fore-spurrer. One that rides before ; a 
 harbinger. Merch. II, 9, 95. 
 
 foreward. The vanguard. RIII. V, 3, 
 293. 
 
 forefoot. Pistol's word for the hand. 
 HV. II, 1, 71. 
 
 forfend. To avert ; forbid. 3HVI. II, 1, 
 191 ; Lr. V, I, 11. 
 
 forgery. Invention ; devising, Hml. IV, 
 7,90. 
 
 forgetive. Inventive ; full of imagina- 
 tion. This and the word forgery are 
 derived from the word forge in the 
 sense of to make. 2HIV. Ill, 1, 8. 
 
 fork. 1. The tongue of an adder or 
 snake. Meas. Ill, 1, 16. 
 
 2. A barbed arrow-head. Lr. I, 1, 146. 
 
 forked. Horned; a reference to cuck- 
 oldom. Wint. I, 2, 186 ; 0th. Ill, 3, 
 276. 
 
 forspeak. To speak against. Ant. Ill, 
 7,3. 
 
 forspent. 1. Previously bestowed. Cym. 
 
 II, 3, 64. 
 
 2. Past ; foregone. HV. II, 4, 36. 
 
 3. Weary ; exhausted. 2HIV. I, 1, 37. 
 forted. Fortified ; strengthened. Meas. 
 
 V, 1, 12. 
 forth. Out of. Mids. I, 1, 164; 2HVL 
 
 III, 2, 89. 
 
 forth-right. A straight path. Tp. Ill, 
 
 3, 3 ; Troil. Ill, 3, 158. See meander. 
 Fortinbras, dr.p. Prince of Norway. 
 
 Hml. 
 
FOB 
 
 119 
 
 FBO 
 
 forwearied. Quite worn out ; exhausted. 
 John, II, 1, 233. 
 
 fosset-seller. One who sells fossets or 
 faucets ; pipes to be inserted in casks so 
 as to allow the liquor to be drawn off. 
 Cor. II, 1, 79. 
 
 foutra. A corruption of an indecent 
 French word, not unfrequently used of 
 old by the gross and vulgar as an ex- 
 pression of contempt. Pistol did not 
 know its meaning, and his readers need 
 be no wiser than he. White. 2HIV. V, 
 3, 103. See Cotgrave. 
 
 fox. A sword. Most glossaries give this 
 word as a cant term, but there is good 
 reason for supposing that it was a 
 specific name for a sword of a particular 
 English maniifacture, not German, as 
 stated by some. Thus, in an old play. 
 The White Devil, we find : 
 
 O, what blade is it? 
 A Toledo or an English Fox ? 
 In the same way old sportsmen used to 
 speak of a "Joe Manton," meaning 
 thereby a choice gun made by that 
 celebrated gunsmith. So in The Cap- 
 tain, by Beaumont and Fletcher, we 
 find: 
 
 Put up your sword, 
 I've seen it often ; 'tis a fox. 
 
 The name is said to have originated 
 from the figure of a fox (not a wolf) 
 engraved on the blade. Halliwell thinks 
 it was so called because the blade was 
 red. This is a very probable suggestion , 
 as it may have been " browned " like a 
 gun-barrel, partly to keep it from 
 i-usting, and partly to bring out the 
 beautiful grain of well-wrought steel. 
 HV. IV, 4, 9. 
 
 foxship. Cunning and selfishness. Cor. 
 IV, 2, 18. 
 
 fraction. 1. Breach ; discord. TroiL II, 
 3, 107. 
 
 2. Fragment ; scrap. Troil. V, 2, 158 ; 
 Tim. II, 2, 220. 
 
 frampold. Uneasy ; vexatious ; quarrel- 
 some. Wiv. II, 2, 94. 
 
 France, King of, dr.p. All's. 
 
 France, King of, dr.p. Lr. 
 
 France, Princess of, dr.p. TiTT., 
 
 Francisca, dr.p. A nun. Meas. 
 Francisco, dr.p. A soldier. Hml. 
 Francisco, dr.p. A lord of Naples. Tp. 
 frank. A pen or enclosure. Cot. defines 
 
 franc as " a franke or stie, to feed and 
 
 fatten hogs in. " 2HIV. II, 2, 160. 
 frank, v. To shut up in a frank or sty. 
 
 RIII. I, 3, 314. 
 franklin. A yeoman ; a freeholder. Wint. 
 
 V, 2, 173 ; Cyra. Ill, 2, 79. 
 fraught, n. Load ; cargo ; contents. 0th. 
 
 III, 3, 449. 
 
 frauglit, vb. To load ; to burden. Cym. 
 
 I, 1, 126. 
 frauglitage. Freight; cargo. Err. IV, 
 
 I, 87. 
 
 Frederick, dr.p. Brother to the banished 
 
 duke. As. 
 freeze. See frieze. 
 fresli. A spring of fresh water. Tp. Ill, 
 
 2,75. 
 fresh-new. Unpractised; inexperienced. 
 
 Per. Ill, 1, 41. 
 fresh-fish. A novice. HVIII. II, 3, 86. 
 fretted. Variegated ; adorned. Caes. 
 
 II, 1, 104; Hml. II, 2, 313; Cym. II, 
 4,88. 
 
 friar. Robin Hood^s fat friar (Gtent. 
 
 IV, 1, 36) is, of course, the famous 
 Friar Tuck of the ballads, the Holy 
 Clerk of Copmanshurst of Ivanhoe, and 
 the Curtal Friar of Fountain's Abbey. 
 For Robin Hood see Hoody Robin. 
 
 Friar Francis, dr.p. Ado. 
 
 Friar John, dr.p. A Franciscan. Rom. 
 
 Friar Laurence, dr.p. A Franciscan. 
 
 Rom. 
 friend, v. To befriend ; to favor. Troil. 
 
 I, 2, 84; HVIII. I, % 140; Cym. II, 
 
 3, 52. 
 frieze. A thick woolen cloth of loose 
 
 texture to which birdlime would stick 
 
 very firmly. Freeze in Fl ; frize in the 
 
 Globe. 0th. II, 1, 127. 
 frippery. A shop where old clothes are 
 
 sold. Tp. IV, 1, 225. 
 frize. See frieze. 
 from. 1 . Away from ; far from. Tim. 
 
 IV, 3, 533. 
 2. Contrary to. Mcb. Ill, 1, 100; Hml. 
 
 III, 2, 22. 
 
FBO 
 
 130 
 
 PtTN 
 
 So in the passage, Write from it if 
 you can, in hand or phrase (Tw. V, 
 1, 340), the meaning obviously is : 
 Write in a different manner if you can. 
 
 front. The passage HVIII. 1, 2, 42, has 
 caused some discussion, which seems 
 superfluous. To front is to present 
 one's face, and Wolsey claims to do this, 
 but in that file where others tell steps 
 with him, 
 
 frontlet. A band worn on the forehead ; 
 hence, metaphorically, a look. Lr. I, 
 4,208. 
 
 frontier. 1. An outwork in fortification. 
 IHIV. II, 3, 55. 
 2. Opposition. IHIV. I, 3, 19. 
 
 Froth, dr.p. A foolish gentleman. Meas. 
 
 froth. To fill up a pot of beer by causing 
 the liquid to froth. This was sometimes 
 done by putting a little soap in the bot- 
 tom of the tankard. Wiv. I, 3, 15. See 
 lime. 
 
 fruitful. In addition to the sense to 
 which this word is now almost entirely 
 confined, we find it used in Sh. with 
 two other and distinct meanings. 
 
 1. Plenteous; copious. Meas. IV, 3, 161; 
 Tim. V, I, 153 ; Hml. I, 2, 80. 
 
 2. Liberal; bountiful. HVIII. I, 3, 56; 
 0th. II, 3, 347. 
 
 In the passage in Cym. V, 4, 55, 
 fruitful evidently means rich in good 
 qualities. 
 
 fruitfully. Copiously in Lr. IV, 6, 270. 
 But it is doubtful if it has this meaning 
 in All's. II, 2, 73, as Schm. gives it. It 
 may mean completely, but why not the 
 usual sense ? The countess asks the 
 clown if he understands her ; he replies 
 " most fruitfully," and promises instant 
 action, i.e., that his understanding of 
 her wishes will inmaediately bring forth 
 fruit. 
 
 frush. To bruise ; to batter. Troil. V, 
 6, 29. 
 
 frustrate. Vain; ineflFectual. Tp. Ill, 
 3, 10. 
 
 fub off. To put off ; to delay. 2HIV. II, 
 1,37. See/o6. 
 
 full. Complete ; perfect. 0th. II, 1, 36. 
 As used in Ado. I, 1, 110, is an ex- 
 
 pression evidently borrowed from the 
 tilt-yard. You have it full = your 
 adversary has made a straight push 
 without swerving or missing. Or, as 
 Furness says: "In sporting language 
 of to-day, Don Pedro would have said : 
 ' You have a facer, Benedick.' " 
 
 Or in the still more recent slang of the 
 prize ring: "Benedick, you have got it 
 in the solar plexus. " 
 
 But it certainly has not the meaning 
 given to it by the learned Dr. Schmidt 
 in his " Shakespeare- Lexicon " : " You 
 are the man, you will do." 
 
 full-acorn'd. Fully fed with acorns, the 
 most invigorating and exciting food 
 that can be given to swine. Cym. II, 
 5, 16. cf. larmen. 
 
 fuUam. The cant name for some kinds 
 of false dice. Wiv. I, 3, 94. 
 
 There were high fullams and low 
 fullams, probably from being full or 
 loaded with some heavy metal on one 
 side so as to produce a bias, which 
 would make them come high or low as 
 they were wanted. Dyce suggests that 
 in the passage (Wint, V, 1, 207) The 
 odds for high and low''s alike, there is 
 an allusion to high and low dice, with a 
 quibble, of course. See gourd. 
 
 fulsome. 1. Lustful. Merch. I, 3, 87. 
 2. Disgusting. Tw. V, 1, 112. 
 
 fume. 1. To be dull ; stupified. Ant. II, 
 1,24. 
 2. To be in a rage. Shr. II, 1, 253. 
 
 fumiter, ) The fumaria officinalis, 
 
 fumitory, f a weed common in cornfields. 
 Lr. IV,4,3; HV. V, 2, 45. 
 
 function. Power of thinking and acting. 
 0th. II, 3, a54 ; Mcb. I, 3, 140. On the 
 latter passage Johnson has the following 
 comment: "All powers of action are 
 oppressed and crushed by one over- 
 whelming image in the mind, and 
 nothing is present to me but that which 
 is really future. Of things now about 
 me I have no perception, being intent 
 wholly on that which has yet no exist- 
 ence." 
 
 funeral. The folk-lore of death, burials 
 and funerals, as found in Sh., is quite 
 
Fua 
 
 131 
 
 FUS 
 
 extensive. We can touch upon only- 
 one or two points. In Cym. IV, 2, 256, 
 Guiderius says : We must lay his head 
 to the east; my father hath a reason 
 for H. On this R. G. White remarks : 
 " The reason was that the British 
 people, whom our Anglo-saxon and 
 pagan forefathers supplanted, were 
 Christians ; and antiquarians now de- 
 termine the nationality of ancient 
 sepulchral remains in England by the 
 direction of the graves in which they 
 are found. If the graves are oriented, 
 the remains are those of ancient Britons ; 
 if not, of Anglo-saxons or Danes. But 
 how did this man, Shakespeare, know 
 all these things ? 
 
 Amongst curious superstitions current 
 in the time of Sh. was that which held 
 that death was delayed till the ebb of 
 the tide. In various accounts of deaths 
 recorded in parish registers and else- 
 where it is noted that the death occurred 
 just at the turning of the tide. And 
 this is referred to in HV. II, 3, 13, in 
 Mrs. Quickly 's description of Falstaff 's 
 death. Another interesting custom of 
 the ancients was the use of lamps in 
 the sepulchres of the dead. This is 
 referred to in Per. Ill, 2, 63, and ac- 
 cording to some, in Troil. Ill, 2, 167. 
 In most cases these lamps were probably 
 kept burning by loving hands, but 
 there was a legend that the ancients 
 possessed the art of constructing per- 
 petual lamps, i.e., lamps that burned 
 forever without any attention. Of this 
 legend, writers on the "lost arts" have 
 made much, but there is no reason to 
 believe that there was any truth in it. 
 Furies. These wei-e the Avenging Deities, 
 three in number, Tisiphone, the avenger ; 
 Alecto, the unresting, and Mega^ra, the 
 jealous. Alecto alone is mentioned by 
 name by Sh. In the works of later 
 writers they gradually assumed the 
 character of goddesses who punished 
 men after death, and they seldom ap- 
 peared on earth. Homer describes 
 them, under the name of Erinyes, as 
 pursuing the living. He represents 
 
 them as inhabitants of Erebos, where 
 they remain quiet until some curse pro- 
 nounced upon a criminal calls them 
 into activity. They took away from 
 men all peace of mind and led them 
 into misery and misfortune. 
 furnace. To exhale like a furnace. Cym. 
 
 1, 6, 66. 
 
 furnishings. This word, as it occurs in Lr. 
 Ill, 1, 29, has been interpreted in several 
 different ways. Stee vens suggested that 
 the word here meant samples, and cites 
 Greene's GroaVs worth of Witte for 
 an example : " For to lend the world a 
 furnish of witte she layes her own to 
 pawne." Hudson explains it as mean- 
 ing : "These things are but the trim- 
 mings or appendages, not the thing 
 itself, but only the circumstances or 
 furniture of the thing." Rolf e adopts 
 Johnson's gloss: "Colors; external 
 pretences." It would seem that what 
 is really meant by furnishings here is 
 what might be called in miners' lan- 
 guage, surface indications. 
 
 furred pack. A wallet or knapsack of 
 skin with the hair outward. Johnson. 
 Evidently home-made of untanned 
 hide, and consequently of cheap, and, 
 perhaps, stolen material. 2HVI. IV, 2, 
 51. 
 
 furrow weeds. Weeds growing in the 
 furrows of a grain field where, owing 
 to the moisture, they grew more rank 
 than elsewhere. Lr. IV, 4, 3. 
 
 fust, V. To grow fusty, rusty, or mouldy. 
 Hml. IV, 4, 39. 
 
 fustian, n. 1. A coarse cotton stuff. 
 Shr. IV, 1, 49. 
 
 2. High-sounding nonsense. 0th. II, 3, 
 282. 
 
 fustian, adj. High-sounding, and at the 
 same time nonsensical. Tw. II, 5, 119 ; 
 2HIV. II, 4, 203. 
 fustilarian. A low term of contempt, 
 perhaps derived from fusty, but more 
 probably a nonsensical word coined by 
 Falstaff for the occasion and used for 
 i its mere sound, as were other words in 
 I the same sentence. 2HIV. II, 1, 66. 
 i fusty. Mouldy. Troil. I, 3, 161. 
 
GAB 
 
 133 
 
 OAK 
 
 ^^^^ABERDINE. According to Cot. 
 
 «^^S|r the "gabbardine" was "a 
 
 JS^^^i/ long coat or cassock of course 
 
 *-^^^-^ [i.e., coarse] and for the most 
 part motley or partie-colored stuff e." 
 See Cot. s.v. galleverdine. It was 
 made with or without a hood or sleeves, 
 and was the distinctive dress of the 
 Jews when their manner of dressing 
 was prescribed by law. Merch. I, 3, 
 113. It must have been worn quite 
 loose by common people, since Trinculo 
 could find room to creep under the 
 gaberdine of Caliban. Tp, II, 2, 40. 
 
 gad. A goad ; a sharp-pointed instru- 
 ment. Upon the gad (Lr. I, 2, 26) = 
 suddenly ; upon the spur of the moment. 
 
 Qadshill, dr.p. A follower of Sir John 
 Falstaff. IHIV. 
 
 gain-giving. Misgiving. -Hml. V, 2,226. 
 
 gait. Going ; advance ; way. Hml. I, 2, 
 31. Go your gait {Lr. IV, 6, 242) = go 
 your way. (Scotch.) Sometimes spelled 
 gate, as in othergates, q.v. 
 
 gali. To scoff ; to jest. HV. V, 1, 78. 
 
 galliard. A nimble and lively dance. 
 Tw. I, 3, 127. 
 
 gallias. A large galley. Shr. II, 1, 380. 
 
 gallimaufry. A medley ; a hotch-potch. 
 Wiv. II, 1, 119 ; Wint. IV, 4, 335. 
 
 gallow. To frighten. Lr. Ill, 2, 44. 
 
 gallows. One who ought to be executed 
 on a gallows. LLL. V, 2, 13. 
 
 gallowglasses. Heavy-armed foot-sol- 
 diers of Ireland and the Western Isles. 
 2HVI. IV, 9, 26 ; Mcb. I, 2, 13. 
 
 Galloway nags. One of Pistol's bom- 
 bastic phrases of which he himself 
 evidently did not understand the mean- 
 ing. 2HIV. II, 4, 205. See nag. 
 
 Johnson explains the term as "com- 
 mon hackneys," and most eds., follow- 
 ing his hint, add : " The Galloway 
 horses were a small and inferior breed. " 
 They certainly were not "inferior," 
 although small. They have always 
 been noted for their speed and en- 
 
 durance. In the old play of The Trouble- 
 some Raigne of King John, the Bastard 
 tells the king that : 
 
 Myselfe upon a galloway right free, 
 
 well pac'd, 
 Outstript the flouds that followed 
 
 wave by wave, 
 I so escaped to tell this traglcke tale. 
 So, too, Dumple, the famous horse of 
 of Dandle Dinmont, was a Galloway. 
 Johnson did not know much about 
 horses ; witness his definition of pastern 
 as " the knee of a horse ! ! " 
 Qallus, dr.p. A friend to Caesar. Caes. 
 gamester. 1. A froKcsome fellow ; a 
 merry rogue. As. I, 1, 170: Shr. II, 
 1, 402. 
 
 2. A courtizan. All's. V, 3, 188; Per. 
 IV, 6, 81. 
 gamut. The diatonic scale in music. 
 The names of the notes were taken 
 from certain initial syllables of a monk- 
 ish hymn to St. John, and at first were 
 ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. The name ut 
 was displaced by the more sonorous 
 syllable do. In Sh. time, and until 
 a comparatively recent date, the syl- 
 lables for solmization, instead of do re 
 mi fa sol la si were fa sol la fa sol la 
 mi. Shr. Ill, 1, 67. See /a. 
 Qanymede. The name assumed by Rosa- 
 lind when she fled to the forest of 
 Arden. As. I, 3, 127. 
 
 Ganymede was said to be the most 
 beautiful of all mortals. He was 
 carried off by the gods so that he might 
 live amongst the eternal deities and 
 serve as cup-bearer to Jupiter. Jupiter 
 compensated the father of Ganymede 
 (Tros) with the present of a pair of 
 divine horses, and Hermes or Mercury, 
 who delivered the horses, comforted 
 him by the information that by the 
 will of Jupiter, Ganymede had become 
 immortal and exempt from old age. 
 
 The idea of Ganymede being the cup- 
 bearer of Jupiter subsequently gave 
 
OAO 
 
 12S 
 
 GEN 
 
 rise to his identification with the divinity 
 who was believed to preside over the 
 sources of the Nile, and of his being 
 placed by astronomers among the stars 
 under the name of Aquarius. Kins. 
 IV, 2. 
 
 Another legend is that Aurora or 
 Eos fell in love with him and carried 
 him off, as she did several others. See 
 Aurora. 
 
 In works of art Ganymede is fre- 
 quently represented as a beautiful 
 youth with the Phrygian cap. He 
 appears either as a companion of Jupiter 
 or in the act of being carried off by an 
 eagle or of giving food to an eagle from 
 a patera. 
 
 Handsome slaves, who officiated as 
 cup-bearers, were sometimes called 
 Ganymedes. 
 
 Qaoler, dr.j>. Kins. 
 
 Gaoler's Daughter, dr.p. Kins. 
 
 garboil. Disturbance ; tumult ; uproar. 
 Ant. I, 3, Gl. 
 
 garden. Costard's blunder for guerdon. 
 LLL. Ill, 1, 171. 
 
 Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, dr.p, 
 HVIII. 
 
 Gargantua. A giant described tjy Rabe- 
 lais. The name, according to Cot., 
 means great throat. He had an enor- 
 mous appetite, and a mouth so large 
 that at one mouthful he swallowed, by 
 accident, five pilgrims, with their 
 staves and all, in his salad. Hence 
 Celia's expression about Gargantua 's 
 mouth and big words. The term was 
 applied to Dr. Johnson on account of 
 his using " words which requii-ed the 
 mouth of a giant to pronounce them." 
 See Boswell's " Life of Johnson." Pope 
 spelled the name erroneously Gara- 
 gantua, and this error is found in 
 many eds. As. HI, 2, 238. 
 
 Gargrave, Sir Thomas, dr.p. IHVI. 
 
 gaskins. Loose breeches. Tw. I, 5, 27. 
 
 gasted. Frightened. Lr. II, 1, 57. 
 
 gastness. Ghastliness. 0th. V, 1, 106. 
 
 gaudy. In addition to other meanings, 
 signifies festive, as in Ant. Ill, 13, 183. 
 
 gave. Misgave ; doubted. My mind gave 
 
 me (HVIII. V, 3, 109) = I was afraid ; 
 
 I suspected. 
 gawds. Toys ; knick-knacks. Mids. I, 1, 
 
 33. 
 gaze. An object of wonder. Mcb. V, 
 
 8, 24. 
 gear. 1. Stuff; dress. Rom. V, 1, 60; 
 
 LLL. V, 2, 303. 
 2. Affair; business. Merch. II, 2, 176; 
 
 2HVI. I, 4, 17. 
 geek. A dupe ; a fool. Tw. V, 1, 351. 
 Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, Earl of Essex, dr.p. 
 
 John. 
 George. The figure of Saint George on 
 
 horseback, worn by Kjiights of the Gar- 
 ter. 2HVI. IV, 1, 29 ; RIII. IV, 4, 366. 
 George, dr.p. A follower of Jack Cade. 
 
 2HVL 
 George, Duke of Clarence, dr.p. 3HVI. 
 
 and RIII. 
 geld. 1. To deprive of an essential part. 
 
 LLL. II, 1, 149; RII. II, 1, 237; IHIV. 
 
 III, 1, 110. 
 
 2. To castrate. Meas. II, 1, 242. 
 geminy. A pair. Wiv. II, 2, 9. 
 gender. Kind ; race. Phcenix, 18 ; Hml. 
 
 IV, 7, 18; 0th. I, 3, 326. 
 
 general. The common people. Hml. II, 
 2, 457 ; Meas. II, 4, 27. 
 
 genera! of our gracious empress. The 
 allusion here, HV. V, Prol. 30, is to the 
 Earl of Essex, and the prophecy was a 
 most unfortunate one. In April, 1599, 
 he went to Ireland to suppress the re- 
 bellion of Tyrone. His departure was 
 marked by an ovation in which all 
 ranks and conditions joined, pressing 
 around him and cheering and blessing 
 him. Becoming fearful that because 
 of his absence from court his influence 
 with the queen was waning, he re- 
 turned, without leave, in September of 
 the same year, solitary and in secret, 
 and although kindly received by her 
 majesty, this was the beginning of his 
 downfall. 
 
 generosity. Nobility. Cor. I, 1, 217. 
 
 generous. Of noble birth. Meas. IV, 6, 
 13 ; 0th. Ill, 3, 280. 
 
 gennet. A horse of the race of the Barbs, 
 0th. I, 1, 113. 
 
GEN 
 
 124 
 
 06B 
 
 gentle, vb. To ennoble. HV. IV, 3, 63. 
 gentry. 1. People of high social stand- 
 ing. AU's. I, 2, 16; Mcb. V, 2, 9. 
 
 2. Rank by birth. Lucr. 569 ; Wiv. II, 
 1,53. 
 
 3. Courtesy ; conduct becoming a gen- 
 tleman. Hml. II, 2, 22. 
 
 germens. Germs ; seeds. Mcb. IV, 1, 
 59; Lr. 111,2,8. 
 
 Qerrold, dr. p. A schoolmaster. Kins. 
 
 Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, dr. p. Hml. 
 
 gest. A lodging or stay for rest in a 
 progress or journey. Kersey. 
 
 The gest was appointed not only for 
 place but for length of stay. Wint. I, 
 2, 41. 
 
 gests. Deeds ; exploits. Ant. IV, 8, 2. 
 
 ghasted. Frightened. Lr. II, 1, 57. 
 
 Qhost of Hamlet's father, dr.p. Hml. 
 
 ghost. In the days of Sh. , and for some 
 years after, the word ghost was used to 
 signify the dead body as well as the 
 soul or spirit. 2HVI. Ill, 2, 161. 
 
 gibbet. Usually, to hang on a gallows, 
 but sometimes, to hang on or upon any- 
 thing. Thus, in 2HIV. Ill, 2, 282, 
 swifter than he that gibbets on the 
 brewer''s bucket., alludes to the manner 
 of carrying a barrel by putting it on a 
 sling made for the purpose. To hang 
 or gibbet a barrel on the pole must be 
 done by a quick movement, as there are 
 two hooks which must both be attached 
 at the same time. 
 
 Qibbet-maker. The clown's blunder for 
 Jupiter. Tit. IV, 3, 80. 
 
 gib-cat. A male cat. IHIV. I, 2, 83. 
 Tibert is old French for Gilbert, and 
 appears as the name of the cat in the 
 old story of "Reynard the Fox." 
 Chaucer, in " The Romaunt of the 
 Rose," gives " Gibbe our cat" as the 
 translation of " Thibert le cas." v, 
 6204. From Thibert, Tib also was a 
 common name for a cat. 
 
 gig. A top. LLL. IV, 3, 167. 
 
 giglet, / 1. A lewd woman. Meas. V, 352. 
 
 giglot. f 2. A giddy girl (not necessarily 
 bad). IHVI. IV, 7, 41 ; Cym. Ill, 1, 31. 
 
 gilder. See guilder. 
 
 gilt. Money. HV. II, Prol. 26. 
 
 gimmal. Made with links or rings. HV. 
 IV, 2, 49. 
 
 gimmor. A contrivance; an invention. 
 IHVI. I, 2, 41. 
 
 gin. To begin. Mcb. I, 2, 25. Usually 
 supposed to be a contraction of begin, 
 but, as shown by Todd, really from the 
 Saxon gynnan. It is very common in 
 all old writers, and is used through all 
 the tenses, which can no longer be 
 thought extraordinary now that it is 
 known to be the original form. In Fl,, 
 Hml. I, 4, 90, there is no apostrophe 
 before gins, as is generally the case in 
 modem eds. 
 
 ging. A gang ; a pack. Wiv. IV, 2, 123. 
 
 gird, n. A gibe ; a sarcasm. Shr. V, 2, 
 58. 
 
 gird, V. To make fun of. It is the word 
 gride, to cut ; to pierce ; the position of 
 the r being changed. 2HIV. I, 2, 7. 
 
 gird. To gibe. 2HIV. 1,2, 7. OriginaUy 
 to cut as with a switch ; now to cut 
 with wit. 
 
 Qis. A corruption of Jesus. Hml. IV, 
 5, 58. 
 
 QIansdale, Sir William, dr.p. IHVI. 
 
 glass-faced. Reflecting as in a mirror 
 the looks of another. Tim. I, 1, 58. 
 
 gleek, n. A scoff. IHVI. Ill, 2, 123. 
 
 gleek, V, To scoff. Mids. Ill, 1, 150. 
 
 Qlendower, Owen, dr.p. IHIV. 
 
 glib. To emasculate. Wint. II, 1, 149. 
 
 Gloucester, Duchess of, dr.p. RII. and 
 2HVI. 
 
 Gloucester, Duke of, dr.p. Brother to 
 Henry V. HV. 
 
 Gloucester, Duke of, dr.p. Uncle and 
 Protector to Henry VI. HVI. 
 
 Gloucester, Duke of, dr.p. Afterwards 
 Richard III. RIII. 
 
 Gloucester, Earl of, dr.p. Lr. 
 
 Gloucester, Prince Humphrey of, dr.p. 
 Son to Henry IV. 2HIV. 
 
 gloze. A tirade ; words not to the pur- 
 pose. LLL. IV, 3, 370. 
 
 glut. To swallow. Tp. I, 1, 63. 
 
 Gobbo, Launcelot, dr.p. Servant to 
 Shylock. Merch. 
 
 Gobbo, Old, dr.p. Father to Launcelot 
 Gk)bbo. Merch. 
 
GOD 
 
 135 
 
 GRA 
 
 God. In the third year of James I. an 
 act was passed prohibiting the use of 
 the name of God on the stage. As a eon- 
 sequence, we find that in many passages 
 where the word God was originally 
 used, the text has been changed. Thus, 
 heaven was substituted for God in Hml. 
 
 1, 2, 195, and in the same play, IV, 5, 
 198, God ha'' mercy was changed to 
 Gramercy, which does not make sense. 
 See gramercy. 
 
 god, V. To idolize. Cor. V, 3, 11. 
 
 God before. With God's help. HV. I, 
 
 2, and III, 6. An old expression found 
 in Chaucer. 
 
 God-den. See good-den. 
 
 Godgigoden. God give you a good 
 evening. Rom. I, 2, 58. Thus in the 
 First Folio. Modern form is God gi 
 god-den. 
 
 Godild, ) A corruption of God yield, 
 
 God ild. ) i.e., God requite you. As. Ill, 
 
 3, 76. It occurs without contraction in 
 Ant. IV, 2, 33. 
 
 god=°kissing. See kissing. 
 
 God's bread. An oath like *' God's 
 wounds." Probably an allusion to the 
 eucharist. Rom. Ill, 5, 177. 
 
 God's sonties. It is not. quite settled 
 whether this is a corruption of " God's 
 saints," or " God's sanctity," or " God's 
 sant6," i.e., health. Merch. II, 2, 47. 
 
 Qogs-wouns. A mincing oath corrupted 
 from God's wounds. Shr. Ill, 2, 163. 
 
 golden shaft. See Cupid. 
 
 Goneril, dr.p. Daughter of King Lear. 
 Lr. 
 
 Qonzalo, dr.p. Councillor of Naples. Tp. 
 
 Good-conceited. Well-devised; fanciful. 
 Cym. II, 3, 18. 
 
 good-deed. In very deed. Wint. I, 3, 
 43. 
 
 good-den. Good evening. Rom. II, 4, 
 116. 
 
 good=jer. See good years. 
 
 good years. (The form in the First 
 Folio.) Supposed to be corrupted from 
 the French goujere, i.e., the French 
 disease. Lr. V, 3, 24. A form which 
 appears elsewhere is good-jer (Wiv. I, 
 
 4, 129), used there apparently as a 
 
 synonym for the pox. What the good- 
 jer = what the pox, which in Sh. time 
 referred always to the small-pox. 
 
 gorbellied. Having a large protruding 
 paunch. IHIV. II, 2, 93. 
 
 gorget. A piece of armour to defend the 
 throat. Troil. I, 3, 174. 
 
 gospelled. Fixed in Christian faith. Mob. 
 Ill, 1, 88. 
 
 goss. Gorse ; Scotch, whins. Tp. IV, 1, 
 180. 
 
 Sh. seems to make a distinction 
 between goss and furze, but the best 
 authorities regard them as the same. 
 It is claimed, however, that goss or 
 gorse is often used to denote brushwood 
 in general, and not any particular 
 plant. 
 
 goujere. See good years. 
 
 gourd. A species of false dice, with an 
 internal cavity bored out for the pur- 
 pose of giving them a bias. Wiv. I, 3, 
 94. See fullams. 
 
 gout. A drop. Mcb. II, 1, 46. 
 
 Gower, dr.p. The poet, introduced as 
 chorus. Per. 
 
 Gower, dr.p. Of the king's party. 2HIV. 
 
 Gower, dr.p. Officer in Henry V's ar- 
 my. HV. 
 
 graff. A scion; a shoot. Per. V, 1, 60; 
 Lucr. 1062. 
 
 gramercy. Properly, great thanks ; many 
 thanks. (French grand merci.) Often 
 wrongly taken for grant mercy, and so 
 used by many old writers. In the First 
 Folio the last line of Ophelia's song 
 (Hml. IV, 5, 199) has gramercy; the 
 Quarto and most modern eds., God a 
 mercy, which is undoubtedly the true 
 reading. In many other passages (Shr. 
 I, 1, 41 ; Tim. II, 3, 74) the meaning is 
 evidently " many thanks. " 
 
 grand guard. A piece of defensive ar- 
 mour, thus described by Meyrick : " It 
 has over the breast for the purpose of 
 justing, what was called the grande 
 garde, which is screwed on by three 
 nuts, and protects the left side, the edge 
 of the breast, and the left shoulder." 
 Kins. Ill, 6. 
 
 Grandpr^, dr.p. A French lord. HV. 
 
GBA 
 
 126 
 
 GUA 
 
 grate. To irritate. Ant. I, 1, 18; Wiv. 
 II, 2, 6. 
 
 Qratiano, dr.p. Brother to Brabantio. 
 Oth. 
 
 Qratiano, dr.p. Friend to Antonio and 
 Bassanio. Merch. 
 
 gratify. To reward. Cor. II, 2, 45. 
 
 gratillity. A word formed by the fool 
 in Tw. II, 3, 27. Meaning uncertain, 
 but generally supposed to be a corrup- 
 tion of gratuity. 
 
 gratulate. To gratify ; to give pleasure 
 to ; also to congratulate, but with a 
 slight difference of meaning. Tim. I, 
 2,131; mil. IV, 1, 10. 
 
 grave. 1. To bury. RII. Ill, 2, 140 ; Tim. 
 IV, 3, 166. 
 
 2. To cut slightly ; to graze. Ven. 376. 
 
 3. To engrave ; to carve. Lucr. 755 ; 
 Merch. II, 7, 36. 
 
 gravel>blind. Worse than sand-blind; pur- 
 blind. Merch. II, 2, 38. See sand-blind. 
 
 gravel - heart. Usually interpreted as 
 stoney-heart. Meas. IV, 3, 68. 
 
 Of this expression White says, in his 
 " Riverside " edition, " Incomprehen- 
 sible ; but no satisfactory substitute has 
 been proposed, unless it be ' grovelling 
 beast ' in the Collier Folio, 1632. " White 
 does not adopt this reading in his latest 
 (" Riverside ") ed., but in his ed. of 1858 
 he incorporated it in his text with these 
 remarks: "The folio has 'O gravell 
 heart,' which means nothing, although 
 many have tried to persuade themselves 
 and others to receive it for ' O stoney 
 heart. ' The misprint [gravell heart for 
 grovelling beast] is an easy one, and 
 the sense which it [the new reading] 
 gives, most appropriate." 
 
 gravelled. Stuck ; brought to a stop as 
 if stuck in sand or gravel. As. IV, 1, 
 74. 
 
 greasily. Grossly ; foully. LLL. IV, 1, 
 139. 
 
 great morning. Broad daylight. Troil. 
 IV, 3, 1. 
 
 great oneyers. These words are hy- 
 phenated by Schm., but there is no 
 hyphen in Fl., and in most modern eds. 
 See oneyers. 
 
 gree. To agree. Meas. IV, 1, 42. 
 
 Greek. Then she^s a merry Greek, in- 
 deed. Troil. I, 2, 118. Upon this 
 passage Nares comments as follows: 
 " The Greeks were proverbially spoken 
 of by the Romans as fond of good living 
 and free potations ; and they used the 
 term groecari, for to indulge in these 
 articles. Hence we also took the name 
 of a Greek for a jovial fellow, which 
 ignorance has since corrupted into grig ; 
 saying ' as merry as a grig^ ' instead of 
 'as a Greek.'" See "John Brent," 
 page 181. 
 
 greenly. Foolishly. Hml. IV, 5, 83. 
 
 Green, dr.p. ' ' Creature ' ' to Richard II. 
 RII. 
 
 greet. To weep. Tim. I, 1, 90. So de- 
 fined in the Globe glossary and some 
 others. But here the meaning seems 
 rather to be, to salute. 
 
 Gregory, dr.p. Servant to Capulet. 
 Rom. 
 
 Gremio, dr.p. Suitor to Bianca. Shr. 
 
 Grey, Lady, dr.p. Queen to Edward IV. 
 3HVI. and RIII. 
 
 Grey, Lord, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Grey, Sir Thomas, dr.p. A conspirator. 
 HV. 
 
 grief-shot. Sorrow-stricken. Cor. V, 
 1,45. 
 
 Griffith, dr.p. Gentleman-usher to Queen 
 Katherine. HVIII. 
 
 grize. A step ; a degree. Tw. Ill, 1, 135 ; 
 Tim. IV, 3, 16. 
 
 groundling. A spectator in the pit of a 
 theatre. Hml. Ill, 2, 12. 
 
 grossly. Palpably. H V. II, 2, 107 ; Lr. 
 
 I, 1, 295. 
 
 grow. Among other meanings signifies 
 to accrue ; to be due. Err. IV, 1, 18 ; 
 do. IV, 4, 124. 
 
 grow to. To have a strong flavour. Merch. 
 
 II, 2, 18. 
 
 Grumio, dr.p. Servant to Petruchio. 
 
 Shr. 
 guard. To decorate. Merch. II, 2, 164 ; 
 
 John IV, 2, 10. 
 guardage. Guardianship. Oth. I, 2, 70. 
 guards. Ornaments; trimmings. Meas. 
 
 III, 1. 97 ; LLL. IV, 3, 58. 
 
GUA 
 
 137 
 
 avL 
 
 guards of th' ever-fixed pole. 0th. II, 
 1, 15. Several opinions have been ex- 
 pressed in regard to the identification 
 of these stars. Johnson says : "Allud- 
 ing to the star Arctophylax.''^ The 
 names Arctophylax and Arcturus 
 both mean guards of the hear. Rolfe 
 has "no doubt that the guards of the 
 pole here are the two stars commonly 
 called the Pointers. ' ' A correspondent 
 of "Notes and Queries," quoted in H. 
 Irving Sh., writes as follows: "The 
 guards are the two stars Beta and Gam- 
 ma Ursae Minoris, on the shoulder and 
 foreleg of the Little Bear, as usually 
 depicted, or sometimes on the ear and 
 shoulder. They were more observed in 
 Shakespeare's time than now for the 
 purposes of navigation. Norman's 
 'Safeguard of Sailers,' 1587, has a 
 chapter, ' Howe to Knowe the houre 
 of the night by the Guards.' They 
 were even made the subject of mechan- 
 ical contrivances for facilitating calcu- 
 lation, one of which is described in ' The 
 Arte of Navigation ; trans, by Richard 
 Eden from the Spanish of Martin Cor- 
 tez,' 1561, consisting of fixed and mov- 
 able concentric circles with holes, 
 through which to observe 'the two 
 starres called the Guardians, or the 
 mouth of the home.' " 
 
 Quiderius, dr. p. Son to CymbeUne; as- 
 sumed the name of Polydore. Cym. 
 
 guidoHc " A Standard, Ensigne or Ban- 
 ner, under which a troupe of men of 
 Armes doe serve ; also he that beares it. ' ' 
 Cot. Grose tells us that " the guidon, 
 according to Markham, is inferior to 
 the standard, being the first colour any 
 commander of horse can let fly in the 
 field." The folios have guard: on. 
 This was corrected by Rann, and also 
 by Dr. Thackeray, and the correction is 
 confirmed by a reference to Holinshed, 
 the source of Sh. information. HV. 
 IV, 2, 60. 
 
 Quildenstern, dr. p. A courtier. Hml. 
 
 guilder. A Dutch coin worth about forty 
 cents. Err, I, 1, 8. 
 
 Guildford, Sir Henry, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 guiltless blood-shedding. The shedding 
 of innocent blood. 2HVI. IV, 7, 108. 
 
 gukiea-hen. A term of contempt for a 
 woman; a cant term for a woman of 
 bad repute. 0th. I, 3, 317. 
 
 Quitiover. Variously spelled in the old 
 Arthurian romances Guinevere, Guin- 
 ever, Geneura, Ganore, etc. LLL. IV, 
 1,125. 
 
 Guineveer or, as she is called by 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth, Guanhumara, 
 was daughter of Leodograunce of 
 Camelyard, and was said to be the most 
 beautiful woman in the universe. Her 
 stature was noble and elegant, her com- 
 plexion fair, and the expression of her 
 countenance lively, yet dignified, but 
 sometimes tender. Her eyes were said 
 by some to be of the finest blue of 
 heaven, though she was generally called 
 the " grey-eyed." She was the wife of 
 King Arthur, but entertained a guilty 
 passion for Sir Lancelot of the Lake, 
 one of the Knights of the Round Table. 
 During the absence of King Arthur in 
 his expedition against Leo, King of the 
 Romans, she "married" Modred, her 
 husband's nephew, whom he had left in 
 charge of the kingdom. As soon as 
 Arthur heard of this he hastened back. 
 Guinever fled from York and took the 
 veil in the nunnery of Julius the 
 Martyr, and Modred set his forces in 
 array at Cambula, in Cornwall. Here 
 a desperate battle was fought in which 
 Modred was slain, and Arthur mortally 
 wounded. Guinever was buried at 
 Meigle, in Strathmore, and her name 
 has become the synonym of a wanton, 
 or adulteress. One of Tennyson's 
 "Idyll's of the King" has Guinevere 
 for its subject, and is marked by its 
 delicacy and its sadness. Lancelot be- 
 came a monk, and spent his last years 
 saying masses for the souls of his old 
 companions in arms. 
 
 gules. Red. Hml. II, 2, 479 ; Tim. IV, 
 3, 59. 
 
 A term in heraldry. This word is 
 nothing but the plural of the French 
 gueule, the mouth, though the reason 
 
GUL 
 
 VIS 
 
 HAC 
 
 for the name is not very clear, unless 
 the reference be, as is probable, to the 
 color of the open mouth of the (heraldic) 
 lion. Skeat. The terra is frequently 
 used by the poets, as in The Eve of St. 
 Agnes (Keats) : 
 Full on this casement shone the 
 
 wintry moon 
 And threw warm gvles on Madeline's 
 fair breast. 
 
 gulf. The throat ; the gullet. Mcb. IV, 1, 23. I 
 
 gull. A fool; a simpleton. Tw. V, 1, j 
 351. Literally an unfledged nestling. i 
 
 gun-stones. Cannon-balls of stone, used 
 in former times as missiles. HV. I, 2, | 
 282. Even after the introduction of iron [ 
 shot for heavy artillery, the name gun- | 
 stone was retained in the sense of " bul- j 
 let." Dyce. \ 
 
 Qurney, James, dr.p. Servant to Lady ; 
 Faulconbridge. John. 
 
 gust,n. 1. A violent blast of wind. Merch. 
 IV, 1, 77. 
 
 2. Taste ; relish. Sonn. CXIV, 11 ; Tw. 
 I, 3, 33. 
 
 3. Notion; idea; conception. Tim. Ill, 
 5, 54. 
 
 gust, V. To form an idea of ; to perceive. 
 Wint. I, 2, 219. 
 
 Guy, Sir. A famous warrior of gigantic 
 size. He was the son of Siward, Baron 
 of Wallingford, and became Earl of 
 Warwick through marriage with Felicia, 
 daughter of Rohand, a warrior of the 
 time of Alfred. He was nine feet high, 
 and is said to have performed many 
 wondrous feats. Amongst others he 
 overcame the Danish giant, Colbrand, 
 at Winchester. See Colbrand. He 
 also killed the famous dun cow on 
 Dunsmore Heath, a gigantic animal 
 whose bones are still to be seen in the 
 porter's lodge at Warwick Castle. The 
 bones are probably those of some large 
 extinct mammal allied to the elephant 
 or mastodon. His sword, shield, hel- 
 met, breastplate and staff are also kept 
 there on exhibition. His "porridge- 
 pot," which is capable of containing 
 102 gallons, is in the great hall. After 
 his battle with Colbrand, Sir Guy 
 retired to a hermitage at Guy's 
 Cliff, where he died in 929. HVIII. 
 V, 4, 22. 
 
 For the letter that begins 
 3 them all, H. Ado. Ill, 4, 56. 
 "Margaret asks Beatrice for 
 what she cries heigh-ho ; Bea- 
 trice answers for an H, that is, for an 
 ache or pain.''"' Johnson. The word 
 ache was formerly pronounced like the 
 letter H. 
 habit. You know me by my habit. HV. 
 Ill, 6, 121. "That is, by his herald's 
 coat. The person of a herald being in- 
 violable, was distinguished in those 
 times of formality by a peculiar dress, 
 which is likewise yet worn on particu- 
 lar occasions. " Johnson. 
 habitude. Condition of body. Compl. 114. 
 hack. The passage (Wiv. II, 1, 52), these 
 knights will hack, is very obscure. 
 
 " About the meaning of it, sundry con- 
 jectures have been offered, the most 
 probable one, perhaps, being that there 
 is an allusion to the extravagant num- 
 ber of knights created by King James, 
 and that hack is equivalent to ' become 
 cheap or vulgar.'" Dyce. But this 
 play was written for Queen Elizabeth, 
 and, moreover, it is not likely that Sh. 
 would have ventured to ridicule the 
 the acts of James. But the interpreta- 
 tion is quite plausible so far as the word 
 is concerned. Johnson would read : 
 These knights weHl /lacfc, meaning, "it 
 is not worth the while of a gentlewoman 
 to be made a knight, for we'll degrade 
 all these knights in a little time by the 
 usual form of hacking off their spurs." 
 
HAG 
 
 129 
 
 HAN 
 
 Other interpretations have been given, 
 
 but these are the most plausible. 
 haggard, n. An untrained hawk. Tw. 
 
 Ill, 1, 71. 
 haggard, ad/. Wild; unprincipled. 0th, 
 
 III, 3, 260. 
 hag-seed. The offspring of a hag. Tp. 
 
 I, 2, 365. 
 hai, ) A home-thrust in fencing. Rom. 
 hay. ] II, 4, 27. 
 hair. 1. Against the hair = against the 
 
 grain. Wiv. II, 3, 41. A similar idea 
 
 is found in the expression, ' ' rub the fur 
 
 the wrong way. ' ' 
 
 2. Peculiar nature. IHIV. IV, 1, 61. 
 
 3. The appearance of the bride in dis- 
 hevelled hair, apparently a classic cus- 
 tom, betokened virginity, and was in 
 use up to Jacobian times, at least 
 (about 1625). Speaking of the marriage 
 of the Countess of Essex to Somerset, 
 Wilson, in his "Life of James I.," 
 says : " She, thinking all the world ig- 
 norant of her slie practices, hath the 
 impudence to appear in the habit of a 
 Virgin, with her hair pendent almost 
 to her feet; which Ornament of her 
 body (though a fair one) could not cover 
 the deformities of her soul." Kins. I, 1. 
 (Stage direction.) 
 
 halberd. A kind of battle-axe fixed to a 
 long pole. 3HVI. IV, 3, 20. 
 
 halcyon. A kingfisher. It is a vulgar 
 opinion that the dead body of this 
 bird if hung up will always turn its 
 breast to the wind, and by that means 
 show from what point it blows. Miss 
 Charlotte Smith, in her "Natural His- 
 tory of Birds," tells us that she found 
 this superstition prevalent amongst 
 English cottagers. Lr. II, 2, 84. It was 
 also a superstition that the bird built 
 its nest on the surface of the water and 
 had the power of calming the waves of 
 the ocean so that no storms ai'ose during 
 its breeding season. Hence the calm 
 days of this period were called halcyon 
 days. IHVI. I, 2, 131. 
 
 half'Caps. Caps half taken off; slight 
 salutions. Tim. II, 2, 221. 
 
 half-checked bit. One which is muti- 
 
 lated ; of which only one part remained. 
 According to Clarke it means "a bit 
 that but half does its duty of checking 
 the horse." Shr. Ill, 2, 58. 
 
 half-kirtles. See kirtles. 
 
 Half-moon. See tavern. 
 
 half-pence. She tore the letter into a 
 thousand half-pence (Ado. II, 3, 147) 
 = into a thousand little pieces. As 
 Douce remarks, the half-pence of Eliza- 
 beth were of silver and very small. 
 
 half-sword, at. Within half the length of 
 of a sword ; at close fight. IHIV. II, 
 4, 182. 
 
 halidom, i Sanctity; salvation. GTene- 
 
 halidome. j rally used as a mild oath. 
 Gent. IV, 2, 136. See holydame. 
 
 hall. 1. A large room. LLL. V, 2, 924. 
 
 2. A manor house. Shr. II, 1, 189 ; 
 Troil. Ill, 3, 134. 
 
 3. An exclamation, formerly common, 
 to make a clear space in a crowd. Dyce. 
 Especially space for dancing. Rom. I, 
 5,28. 
 
 Hallowmas. The feast of All Saints (1st 
 of November). Meas. II, 1, 128 ; Gtent. 
 II, 1, 27. "On AU Saints' Day poor 
 people went from parish to parish 
 begging in a certain lamentable tone 
 for a kind of cakes." The cakes were 
 called sold cakes, and the beggars pro- 
 mised to pray for the souls of the givers' 
 departed friends. Nares. 
 
 Hamlet, dr. p. Hml. 
 
 This is the longest of Sh. plays. The 
 accepted text contains 3,928 lines. The 
 next longest is RIII. with 3,506 lines. 
 See fat. 
 
 handfast. Betrothal. Cym. I, 5, 78. 
 
 hand, n. See hones ; also pickers. 
 
 hand, v. To handle. Tp. I, 1, 25. 
 
 handsaw. See hawk. 
 
 handy-dandy. Sleight of hand ; changing 
 quickly from one hand to another so as 
 to deceive the spectator. Lr. IV, 6, 157. 
 
 Hannibal. A famous Carthaginian gene- 
 ral, bom B.C. 247. He was only nine 
 years old when his father, Hamilcar, 
 took him with him to Spain, and it was 
 upon this occasion that he was made to 
 swear upon the altar eternal hostility 
 
HAK 
 
 ISO 
 
 RAH 
 
 to Rome. After the assassination of 
 Hasdrubal, the soldiers unanimously 
 proclaimed him commander-in-chief, 
 and this the government at Carthage 
 at once ratified. Hannibal was then in 
 his twenty-sixth year. After establish- 
 ing the Carthaginian power in Spain, 
 he invaded Italy, defeated the Romans 
 in several pitched battles, inflicting the 
 most disastrous losses on them, though 
 with terrible losses on his own part. 
 After several years war, the Romans 
 sent Scipio into Africa to attack the 
 enemy. Hannibal returned home to 
 oppose him, but was utterly defeated 
 at the battle of Zama. After various 
 vicissitudes, he found refuge at the 
 court of the Bithynian king, but on 
 the Romans threatening that monarch 
 with war if the refugee were not 
 delivered up, Hannibal took poison and 
 ended his life about the year b. c. 183. 
 
 The allusion to him in IHVI. I, 521, 
 refers to his stratagem to escape by 
 fixing bundles of lighted twigs on the 
 horns of oxen and driving them towards 
 the enemy's camp. 
 
 Elbow, the constable, confounds his 
 name with cannibal in Meas. II, 1, 183, 
 and Pistol makes a mistake exactly the 
 reverse in 2HIV. II, 4, 180. 
 
 hanged, because they could not read, 
 thou hast hanged them. 2HVI. IV, 7, 
 49. ' ' That is, they were hanged because 
 they could not claim the benefit of 
 clergy." Johnson. 
 
 hangman boys. Young rascals. Gent. 
 IV, 4, 61. 
 
 hap. Chance; fortune. Err. I, 1, 89; 
 Ado. Ill, 1, 105 ; Hml. IV, 3, 70. 
 
 happy, V. To make happy. Which hap- 
 pies those that pay. Sonn. VI, 6. 
 
 happily. Haply ; perchance. The soul 
 of your granddam, might happily in- 
 habit a bird (Tw. IV, 3, 57) = might 
 perchance inhabit a bird. So in various 
 other passages. 
 
 Harcourt, dr. p. A Lancastrian. 2HIV. 
 
 hardiment. Boldexploit; daring. IHIV. 
 I, 3, 101. 
 
 hare-finder. The passage in Ado. I, 1, 
 
 185, Do you play the flouting Jack to 
 tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder 
 and Vulcan a rare carpenter f has 
 caused some discussion. 
 
 R. Gr. White explains it thus : " Do 
 you mean to tell us that the blind boy 
 has the eyes of a greyhound, and that 
 Vulcan's forge and anvil are used to 
 work wood ? " But the greyhound was 
 not the hare -finder, but the hare- 
 catcher, and nothing is said about 
 Vulcan's forge and anvil. Of course, 
 the general drift is : Are you in earnest 
 (sad) or are you trying to fool us ? To 
 say that Cupid, who is said to be blind, 
 a few lines further on (256) is good at that 
 which requires the keenest sight, is to 
 state an absurdity ; but why Vulcan, who 
 was a good mechanic, although a worker 
 in iron, should not be skilful with car- 
 penters' tools is not quite so apparent. 
 But although not quite so forcible as an 
 illustration, as the blind god, he fur- 
 nishes an example good enough for the 
 purpose, tiz., that of applying talents 
 to wrong purposes, against which Lyly 
 in his Euphues gives a strong caution, 
 telling us that " It is vnseemly for the 
 Painter to feather a shafte, or the 
 Fletcher to handle the pencill." 
 
 The hare-finder was a well-known 
 functionary in the coursing of hares. 
 The greyhounds were taken to the field 
 in a leash ; the hare-finder found and 
 started the hare and the dogs were 
 slipped. To find a hare on her form 
 requires experience and very sharp 
 eyes, so that the absurdity of suggesting 
 blind Cupid for a hare-finder is obvious. 
 Ulrici suggests that Vulcan, if a car- 
 penter, would supply Cupid with his 
 shafts, apparently forgetting that 
 arrows were not made by carpenters 
 but by fletchers, and Schmidt suggests 
 that the proper reading may be hair- 
 finder, and refers to the Grerman Haar- 
 finden, meaning one who easily finds 
 fault. He also suggests an indecent 
 quibble. All of which is entirely out 
 of place in this connection. 
 harloclc. Charlock or wild mustard. Lr. 
 
HAB 
 
 131 
 
 HAW 
 
 IV, 4, 4. Many eds. give burdock. The 
 Quartos have "hor-docks" and the Fo- 
 lios "hardokes" or "hardocks." The 
 burdock is a common weed in En- 
 gland, but is not usually found " in our 
 sustaining corn, " while charlock or har- 
 lock is a well-known pest in the farm- 
 er's grain fields. See corn. 
 
 harlot, adj. Base. Wint. II, 3, 4. 
 
 harpies, that is, the Robbers or Spoilers, 
 are in Homer nothing but personified 
 storm- winds who were said to carry off 
 any one who suddenly disappeared from 
 the earth, but later writers represent 
 them as most disgusting monsters, being 
 birds with the heads of maidens, long 
 claws, and faces pale with hunger. 
 They were sent by the gods to torment 
 Phineus, a blind soothsayer, who had 
 cruelly treated his sons, putting out 
 their eyes, and otherwise maltreating 
 them. Whenever a meal was placed 
 before him the harpies descended and 
 either devoured the food themselves or 
 rendered it unfit to be eaten. It is pro- 
 bably from this story that Sh. took the 
 idea of Ariel's appearing at the banquet 
 (Tp. Ill, 3) and carrying off the food. 
 Other references are Ado. II, 1, 279 and 
 Per. IV, 3, 46. 
 
 harry. To vex ; to tease ; to harass. 
 Ant. Ill, 3, 43. 
 
 Hastings, Lord, dr. p. A Yorkist. 2HIV., 
 3HVI. and RIII. 
 
 hatch. The lower half of a door cut in 
 two horizontally. It was common in 
 houses of the lower class to have the 
 door thus cut so that pigs, poultry, etc. , 
 might be kept out and small children 
 kept in, whUe at the same time light 
 and air were allowed to enter. In at 
 the window or else o^er the hatch = 
 entering unlawfully, and hence a pro- 
 verbial phrase for illegitimacy. John 
 I, 1, 171. Dogs leap the hatch means 
 that they are so terrified that they try 
 to escape by forbidden ways. Lr. Ill, 
 6, 76. Make you take the hatch =so 
 terrify you that you will not wait to 
 open the door but will leap over the 
 hatch. JohnV, 3, 138. 
 
 hatched. Engraved. Troil. I, 3, 65. 
 Hatched in silver has been interpreted 
 to mean with grey or silver hairs such 
 as Nestor was known to have, and 
 Steevens quotes a passage from Love in 
 a Maze, " thy chin is hatched in silver," 
 to sustain this view. But Johnson 
 makes this comment : " Ulysses begins 
 his oration with praising those who 
 had spoken before him, and marks 
 the characteristick excellencies of 
 their different eloquence, strength 
 and sweetness, which he expresses by 
 the different metals on which he re- 
 commends them to be engraven for 
 the instruction of posterity. The 
 speech of Agamemnon is such that it 
 ought to be engraven in brass, and the 
 tablet held up by him on the one side 
 and Greece on the other, to shew the 
 union of their opinion. And Nestor 
 ought to be exhibited in silver, uniting 
 aU his audience in one mind by his soft 
 and gentle elocution. Brass is the com- 
 mon emblem of strength, and sUver of 
 gentleness. "VVe call a soft voice a 
 silver voice, and a persuasive tongue a 
 silver tongue. " And certainly it would 
 seem that if "brass" did not refer to 
 the personality of Agamemnon, the 
 "silver" cannot properly refer to the 
 personality of Nestor, so that the argu- 
 ments in favor of Johnson's view are 
 very strong. 
 
 haught. Haughty. 3HVI. II, 1, 169; 
 RII. IV, 1, 254. 
 
 haunch. The latter end. 2HIV. IV, 4, 92. 
 
 haunt. Company ; the coming in contact 
 with people in general. Hml. IV, 1, 
 18 ; Ant. IV, 14, 54. 
 
 haver. Possessor. Cor. II, 2, 89. 
 
 having. Possession ; property ; estate. 
 Wiv. Ill, 2, 73 ; Cym. I, 2, 19 ; 0th. IV, 
 8,92, 
 
 Probably signifies allowance or pin- 
 money in the latter passage. 
 
 havoc. To cry " havoc " signifies to give 
 no quarter. Caes. Ill, 1, 273 ; Hml. V, 
 2, 378. 
 
 hawk. I know a hawk from a handsaw. 
 Hml. II, 2, 397. Over this expression 
 
R£A 
 
 182 
 
 HEC 
 
 of Hamlet's much Christian ink has 
 been shed in the effort to make sense 
 out of that which probably never was 
 intended to bear strict examination. 
 According to Nares, the proverb, in the 
 form used by Hamlet, is older than Sh. 
 And then, consider the ridiculous com- 
 parisons that creep into proverbs of 
 this kind, such as "don't know him 
 from a side of sole leather;" "don't 
 know a B from a bull's foot ; " " smil- 
 ing as a basket of chips," etc., etc. 
 The most important emendation is that 
 of hernsew for handsaw, hernsew be- 
 ing another name for a heron, and the 
 meaning then being that he knew the 
 hawk from its prey. The word hawk 
 has been explained by White as a car- 
 penter's tool, and that there is such a 
 tool is certain, but what a carpenter's 
 hawk and handsaw have to do with the 
 direction of the wind is another matter. 
 Fumess is inclined to accept the hern- 
 sew emendation, and it certainly is the 
 best, if any such explanation is desired; 
 but on the whole, I cannot help think- 
 ing that Hamlet used a proverb then 
 in common use, but without specific 
 meaning, merely a sort of jingle like 
 many others. 
 
 head-borough. The office of borough 
 was similar to that of a constable ; the 
 head-borough was the chief constable. 
 Shr. Ind. 1, 12. 
 
 head-lugged. Dragged by the head, and 
 consequently made savage. Lr. IV, 
 2,43. 
 
 hearted. Rooted in the heart. 0th. I, 
 
 3, 373. 
 
 heartlings. ^od^s heartlings, Wiv. Ill, 
 
 4, 59, an exclamation similar to 'od's 
 bodikins. See 'od's. 
 
 heat, n. A course, as in a horse race. 
 Seven years'' heat (Tw. I, 1, 26) has 
 been interpreted as seven courses of the 
 sun, and also as the heats of seven 
 summers. The Fl. has heate, modern- 
 ized to heat in most eds. Some eds., 
 however, read hence. 
 
 heat, V. To run a course or heat ; hence 
 to run over. Wint. I, 3, 96. 
 
 heaves. Deep sighs. Wint. II, 3, 35 ; 
 
 Hml. IV, 1, 1. 
 hebenon. A word of doubtful meaning ; 
 probably henbane, but identity uncer- 
 tain. Hml. I, 5, 63. 
 
 The yew, ebony and hemlock have all 
 been suggested. The Quartos have he- 
 bona ; hebenon in Fl. Henbane or 
 hyoscyamus nigra, sometimes called 
 stinking nightshade, is a poisonous plant, 
 especially destructive to domestic fowls ; 
 whence the name. It does not, indeed, 
 produce any leprous symptoms ; but in 
 Sh. time the doctrine of signatures was 
 a matter of very general belief, and the 
 idea of its leprous effects may have 
 been founded on the clammy appear- 
 ance of the plant. 
 
 Elton, in his "Origins of English 
 History," speaks of "the henbane or 
 insane root, which the Gauls used for 
 their poisoned arrows." 
 
 Strong claims have been advanced 
 for " the double-fatal yew." It is said 
 by Dodceus to be " altogether venem- 
 ous and against man's nature. Such as 
 do but only slepe under the shadow 
 thereof become sicke, and sometimes 
 they die." Grindon's "Shakespeare 
 Flora," p. 46. 
 Hecate, dr.p. A witch, or rather the 
 goddess or mistress of witches. Mcb. 
 
 This mysterious divinity is described 
 as a mighty and formidable deity, iden- 
 tified with Selene or Luna in heaven, 
 with Diana on earth, and Proserpine in 
 the lower world. Being thus, as it were, 
 a three-fold goddess, she is described 
 with three bodies or three heads, the 
 first of a horse, the second of a dog, 
 and the third of a lion. From her be- 
 ing an infernal divinity, she came to be 
 regarded as a spectral being, who sent 
 at night all kinds of demons and terri- 
 ble phantoms from the lower world, 
 who taught sorcery and witchcraft, 
 and dwelt at places where two roads 
 crossed, on tombs and near the blood 
 of murdered persons. She herself wan- 
 dered about with the souls of the dead, 
 and her approach was announced by 
 
H£C 
 
 138 
 
 HEL 
 
 the wbiuiiig and howling of dogs. 
 Hence regarded as the guide and ruler 
 of witches. Reginald Scott, in his 
 *' Disco verie of Witchcraft," tells us 
 that "Certeine generall councels, by 
 their decrees, have condemned the con- 
 fusions and erronious credulitie of 
 witches, to be vaine, fantasticall and 
 fabulous * * * to wit ; their night- 
 walkings and meetings with Herodias 
 and the Pagan gods : etc. * * * 
 The words of the councell are these; 
 It may not be omitted that certeine 
 wicked women following Sathans pro- 
 vocations, being seduced by the illusion 
 of divels, beleeve and professe that in 
 the night times they ride abroad with 
 Diana, the goddesse of the Pagans, or 
 else with Herodias, with an innumer- 
 able multitude, upon certeine beasts, 
 and passe over manie countries and 
 nations, in the silence of the night, and 
 doo whatsoever those fairies or ladies 
 command. " See Acheron and witch. 
 hectic. A fever. Hml. IV, 3, 68. 
 Hector, dr. p. Son of Priam. Troil. 
 Hector was the chief hero amongst 
 the Trojans in their defence of Troy 
 against the Greeks. He was the son of 
 Priam and Hecuba, and the husband of 
 Andromache. He fought with the brav- 
 est of the Greeks. After Paris had fled 
 from Menelaus, Hector challenged the 
 latter, who only saved himself by flight. 
 He fought with A jax, and slew Patro- 
 clus, taking off the armor of the Greek 
 and putting it on himself. Achilles, en- 
 raged at the death of his friend, attacked 
 Hector and slew him. Dr. Schmitz, in 
 his article on Hector in Smith's Diction- 
 ary, says : " Hector is one of the noblest 
 conceptions of the poet of the Illiad. 
 He is the great bulwark of Troy, and 
 even Achilles trembles when he ap- 
 proaches him. He has a presentiment 
 of the fall of his country, but he per- 
 severes in his heroic resistance, pre- 
 ferring death to slavery and disgrace. 
 But besides these virtues of a warrior, 
 he is distinguished also, and, perhaps, 
 more so than Achilles, by those of a 
 
 man ; his heart is open to the gentle 
 feelings of a son, a husband and a 
 father." 
 
 Hecuba. Hecuba was the wife of Priam, 
 King of Troy, and the mother of Hector, 
 Paris, and other children. When Troy 
 fell, she and her daughters, Cassandra 
 and Polyxena, were carried off as 
 prisoners by the Greeks. Hecuba had 
 hoped to meet in Thrace her son, Poly- 
 dorus, whom Priam had sent as a child, 
 with much treasure, to Polymestor, the 
 Thracian King, to be kept until the 
 war was over. The ghost of Polydorus 
 appeared to Hecuba and told her that 
 he had been murdered by Polymestor 
 for the treasure, whereupon Hecuba 
 tore out the eyes of Polymestor and 
 slew his children. The Thracians 
 attempted to kill her, but the gods 
 changed her into a dog. Ultimately 
 she committed suicide by leaping into 
 the sea at a place named from this cir- 
 cumstance Cynossema, or the dog's 
 grave. 
 
 hedge. To skulk. Wiv. II, 2, 27 ; Troil. 
 Ill, 1, 66. This word has again come 
 into use in this sense amongst politicians 
 and other gamblers. 
 
 hedge-born. Born outside of a home ; of 
 mean birth. IHVI. IV, 1, 48. 
 
 hedge-priest. A priest who performs 
 the offices of the church in the shelter 
 of a hedge, having no church. A priest 
 of the lowest order. LLL. V, 2, 545. 
 
 heel, V. To dance. Troil. IV, 4, 88. 
 
 hefts. Heavings. Wint. II, 1, 44. 
 
 Helecanus, dr. p. A lord of Tyre. Per. 
 
 Helen, dr. p. Wife of Menelaus. Troil. 
 
 Helen, dr. p. A lady attending on Imo- 
 gen. Cym. 
 
 Helena, dr. p. A gentlewoman protected 
 by the Countess of Rousillon. All's. 
 
 Helena, dr. p. In love with Demetrius. 
 Mids. 
 
 Helenus, dr.p. Son of Priam. Troil. 
 
 Helicons. As used by Pistol (2HIV. V, 
 3, 108), this word probably carried mere 
 sound without meaning. Nevertheless 
 it may be well to explain what it would 
 have meant if Pistol had understood it. 
 
HSL 
 
 134 
 
 HEB 
 
 Helicon is a celebrated range of mount- 
 ains in Boeotia, and was sacred to Apol- 
 lo and the Muses. Here sprung the cele- 
 brated fountains of t^e Muses, Agan- 
 ippe and Hippocrene. At the fountain 
 of Hippocrene was a grove sacred to the 
 Muses, which was adorned with some 
 of the finest works of art. On the 
 slopes and in the valleys of the mount- 
 ains grew many medicinal plants, 
 which may have given occasion to 
 the worship of Apollo as the healing 
 god. 
 
 hell. One that, before judgment, carries 
 poor souls to hell. Err. IV, 2, 40. 
 That is, one that, on mesne process, 
 carries poor souls to prison — hell being 
 a cant term for the worst dungeon in 
 the prisons of our poet's time. Dyce. 
 
 helm. To steer ; to manage ; to guide. 
 Meas. Ill, 2, 151. 
 
 helpless. 1. Incurable. Lucr. 756. 
 2. Incapable of giving help. RIII. I, 
 2, 13. 
 
 help. See caudle and hempen. 
 
 hemlock. A poisonous herb, Conium 
 maculatum, well known in Europe, 
 often the cause of fatal accidents, and 
 whose name is associated with the 
 darkest deeds from the fact that it is 
 supposed to have been the poison ad- 
 ministered to Socrates. In an American 
 Glossary it is proper to note this lest 
 the name hemlock should convey to the 
 reader the idea of the hemlock tree, a 
 kind of spruce {Tsuga Canadensis), 
 which supplies immense quantities of 
 cheap lumber, and whose bark is used 
 in tanning. It has no poisonous or 
 noxious properties whatever, and would 
 convey no suggestion of evil if it were 
 the plant named in the incantations of 
 the witches in Macbeth. HV. V, 2, 45 ; 
 Mcb. IV, 1, 25 ; Lr. IV, 4, 4. 
 
 hempen. Made of hemp; the material 
 of which ropes are made. Hempen cau- 
 dle = a hangman's halter, which is 
 supposed to be a cordial for all dis- 
 eases. See caudle. 
 
 hemo-seed. Mrs. Quickly's word for 
 homicide. 2HIV. II, 1, 64. 
 
 henchman. A page or attendant. Mids. 
 
 II, 1, 121. 
 
 Henry, dr.p. Earl of Richmond. 3HVI. 
 
 and RIII. 
 Henry Bolingbroke, dr.p. Afterwards 
 
 Henry IV. RII., IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 Henry Percy, dr.p. Son of Earl of 
 
 Northumberland. RII. 
 Henry Percy (Hotspur), dr.p. Son of 
 
 Earl of Northumberland. IHIV. and 
 
 2HIV. 
 Henry, Prince, dr.p. Son of King John, 
 
 John. 
 Henry, Prince of Wales, dr.p. Son of 
 
 Henry IV., and afterwards Henry V. 
 
 IHIV., 2HIV. and HV. 
 Henry IV., dr.p. RII., IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 Henry V., dr.p. IHIV., 2HIV. and HV. 
 Henry VI., dr.p. IHVI., 2HVL and 
 
 3HVI. 
 Henry VIII., dr.p. HVIII. 
 hent, V. To take, in the sense of the 
 
 horseman's "taking" a fence; to cross; 
 
 to pass beyond. Wint. IV, 3, 133; 
 
 Meas. IV, 6, 14. 
 hent, n. Opportunity; taking. Hml. 
 
 III, 2, 88. 
 
 herblets. SmaU herbs. Gym. IV, 2, 287. 
 
 herb of grace. Rue. RII. Ill, 4, 105. 
 
 Herbert, Sir Walter, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Hercules and his load, too. This allu- 
 sion may be to the Globe playhouse on 
 the Bankside, the sign of which was 
 Hercules carrying the Globe. Steevens. 
 Malone says : " I suppose Shakespeare 
 meant that the boys drew greater 
 audiences than the elder players of the 
 Globe Theatre." Hml. II, 2, 378. 
 
 Hermes. See Mercury. 
 
 Her mia J dr.p. Daughter to Egeus. Mids. 
 
 Hermione, dr.p. Queen of Sicilia. Wint. 
 
 hermit. A beadsman, q-. v. Mcb. I, 6, 20. 
 
 Heme's Oak. The legend of Heme the 
 hunter would seem to have been 
 anciently current at Windsor and in 
 times gone by a certain oak was identi- 
 fied as that immortalized by Sh. HaUi- 
 well says that "the general opinion is 
 that it was accidentally destroyed in 
 1796, through an order of George JII. 
 to the bailiff, Robinson, that all the 
 
ia5 
 
 HOB 
 
 unsightly trees iu the vicinity of the 
 castle should be removed ; an opinion 
 confirmed by a well-established fact 
 that a person named Grantham, who 
 contracted with the bailiff for the re- 
 moval of the trees, fell into disgrace 
 with the king for having included the 
 oak in his gatherings." In regard to 
 the present condition of the site, the 
 following from "The Windsor Guide " 
 is interesting : " Heme's Oak, so long 
 an object of much curiosity and en- 
 thusiasm, is now no more. The old 
 tree was blown down, August 31st, 
 1863 ; and a young oak was planted by 
 her Majesty, September 12th, 1863, to 
 mark the spot where Heme's Oak 
 stood." 
 
 Hero, dr. p. Daughter to Leonato. Ado. 
 
 best. Command. Tp. I, 2, 274. 
 
 hewgh. A word imitative of the sound 
 of an arrow as it whistles through the 
 air. Lr. IV, 6, 93. 
 
 hide'fox, and all after. The game of 
 hide and seek. Hml. IV, 2, 32. 
 
 high. Fully ; quite. 0th. IV, 2, 249. In 
 use in this sense at the present time in 
 "high noon." 
 
 high and low. Kinds of false dice. Wiv. 
 I, 3, 93. 
 
 high-battled. At the head of a victori- 
 ous army. Ant. Ill, 11, 29. 
 
 high-day. Holiday. Merch. II, 9, 98. 
 
 high-fantastical. In many eds. high 
 fantastical. Tw. I, 1, 15, Highly 
 imaginative. The meaning of the 
 passage is that love (fancy) alone is 
 capable of forming the highest and 
 noblest conception of things. 
 
 high-lone. Standing alone on her feet ; 
 a nursery expression. Rom. I, 3, 36. 
 
 hight. Called ; named. LLL. I, 1, 171 ; 
 Mids. V, 1, 140. 
 
 high-viced. Conspicuously wicked. Tim. 
 IV, 3, 110. 
 
 hild. Held (used for the sake of the 
 rhyme). Lucr, 1257. 
 
 hilding. Base; menial. (From the Saxon 
 healdan; one who is held or kept.) 
 2H1V. I, 1, 57. 
 
 hip. 1. The upper part of the thigh ; in 
 
 deer, the haunch. To have on the 
 hip has received two interpretations. 
 Johnson, in his notes to Shake- 
 speare, says that it is taken from 
 the art of wrestling, and this is prob- 
 ably the view of most modern readers, 
 since it is well known that when 
 a wrestler can throw his adversary 
 across his (the wrestler's) hip he can 
 give him the severest of all falls, tech- 
 nically termed a cross-buttock. It was 
 to this, doubtless, that the countryman 
 alluded when he exclaimed (Kins. II, 3) : 
 My mind misgives me, 
 This fellow has a vengeance trick o' 
 the hip. 
 
 The other interpretation refers to the 
 action of the hound in hunting deer. 
 When the hound has caught the deer 
 by the hip he may feed himself fat on 
 his flesh. This seems to accord with 
 Merch. I, 3, 47, Halliwell, in Nares' 
 Glossary, applies this to 0th. II, 1, 314. 
 Johnson, in his Dictionary, adopts the 
 hunting explanation. Fumess, how- 
 ever, brings forward fresh proof in 
 favor of the wrestling origin of the 
 expression, which is no doubt the true 
 one. 
 
 2. The fruit of the briar or dog-rose, 
 Rosa canina. Tim. IV, 3, 432, 
 
 Hippolyta, dr. p. Queen of the Amazons ; 
 betrothed to Theseus. Mids. and Kins. 
 For details see Theseus. 
 
 hive. A kind of bonnet. Lov. Compl. 8. 
 
 hoar. To become mouldy or rotten. Tim. 
 IV, 3, 155. 
 
 hobby-horse. 1. A principal part in the 
 morris-dance. Hml. Ill, 2, 144. 
 2. A light woman. Ado. Ill, 2, 75; 
 Oth. IV, 1, 158. 
 
 hob-nail. A short nail with a large coni- 
 cal or pyramidal head— not flat. The 
 nail with a broad, flat head is a clout 
 nail. IHI V. II, 4, 398 ; 2HV1. IV, 10, 
 63. Hobnails were used by shoemakers 
 who drove them thickly into the soles 
 of shoes for the purpose of protecting 
 the leather from wear. Distinct from 
 clout nails, but often confounded with 
 them. See clouted. 
 
HOI 
 
 186 
 
 HOO 
 
 In Sh. time nails were sold by count. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 398, and see also ante 
 under clout, where a bill will be found 
 for "C. [one hundred] cloute neyle." 
 From this we may infer that a nail 
 which sold for sixpence per hundred 
 was a sixpenny nail. Hence our terms 
 sixpenny, ten penny, etc., as applied to 
 nails. All our large dictionaries make 
 the mistake of supposing that penny is 
 here a corruption of the word pound. 
 See "Shakespearean Notes and New 
 Readings " for a discussion of this 
 question. 
 
 The hob-nail was not the nail used 
 for shoeing horses as stated by Schm. 
 
 hoise. To hoist up ; to overthrow. 2H VI. 
 ■ I, 1, 169. 
 
 hold. See bow-strings. 
 
 holding;. 1, The burden of a song. Ant. 
 II, 7, 118. 
 2. Sense ; congruity. All's. IV, 2, 27. 
 
 holidame, ) The same as halidom, q.v. 
 
 holydame. f Shr. V, 2, 99. The original 
 word was halidom, which signifies 
 simply holiness, the affix dam being the 
 same as that in kingdom and other 
 words. The corruption arose from 
 supposing that the word meant holy 
 dame i.e., the Virgin Mary. 
 
 HoloferneSf dr. p. A schoolmaster. LLL. 
 It is frequently asserted that Holo- 
 fernes is a caricature of the Italian 
 teacher John Florio, who translated 
 Montaigne's Essays, and is the author 
 of a well-known Italian-English Dic- 
 tionary. Florio had criticised the En- 
 glish dramas as being "neither right 
 comedies nor right tragedies, but per- 
 verted histories without decorum." 
 But, as Marshall has pointed out, it 
 may be doubted whether Sh. would 
 have ridiculed one who was so especial 
 a prot6g6 of the Earl of Southampton 
 as Florio was. It is more probable 
 that under cover of a character found, 
 as the Pedant, in many old Italian 
 comedies, Sh. intended to satirize the 
 silly display of Latinity which Lilly 
 was so fond of making in his plays. 
 
 holy -ales. Rural festivals. Per. I, Prol. 6. 
 
 holy-cruel. Cruel by being too virtuous. 
 All's. IV. 2, 32. 
 
 homager. A vassal. Ant. 1, 1, 31. 
 
 honest. Chaste. As. I, 2, 40. 
 
 honey-heavy. Very sweet. Cabs. II, 1, 
 230. 
 
 honey-seed. A Quicklyism for homicide. 
 2HIV. II, 1, 57. 
 
 honey-stalks. Clover. Tit. IV, 4, 90. 
 
 honey-suckle. Mrs. Quickly's blunder 
 for homicidal. 2HIV. II, 1, 56. 
 
 honorificabilitudlnitatibus. Dr. Johnson 
 says that "the word, whencesoever it 
 comes, is often mentioned as the longest 
 word known. ' ' There are longer words 
 in Elliott's Indian Bible. Hunter, in 
 his "New Illustrations," Vol. I, p. 264, 
 after denying that it is a word, says : 
 " This is a mere arbitrary and unmean- 
 ing combination of syllables, devised 
 merely to serve as an exercise in pen- 
 manship, a schoolmaster's copy for 
 persons learning to write. It is of some 
 antiquity. I have seen it on an Ex- 
 chequer record, apparently in a hand 
 of the reign of Henry the Sixth ; and it 
 may be seen, with some additional 
 syllables, scribbled on one of the leaves 
 of a manuscript in the Harleian Library, 
 No. 6113. It is even still in use." LLL. 
 V, 1, 44. 
 
 Hood, Robin. A famous outlaw whose 
 exploits form the subject of numerous 
 stirring ballads. According to some 
 legends he was the outlawed Earl of 
 Huntingdon, but in some of the ballads 
 it is positively asserted that he was a 
 yeoman. He was said to have been 
 born at Locksley, in Nottinghamshire, 
 about the year 1100, and from this cir- 
 cumstance Scott gave him the name of 
 Locksley in " Ivanhoe." One of the old 
 historians tells us that he entertained 
 a hundred tall men, all good archers, 
 with such spoils and thefts as he got 
 from the rich. He suffered no woman 
 to be oppressed, violated, or otherwise 
 molested. Poor men's goods he spared, 
 abundantly relieving them with that 
 which he got from abbeys and the 
 houses of rich carles. After living for 
 
HOO 
 
 137 
 
 HOB 
 
 many years in Sherwood Forest and 
 Barnesdale, in Yorkshire, he at length 
 fell a victim to the treachery of a nun 
 to whom he had applied for blood-let- 
 ting, and who bled him to death. He 
 is referred to several times in 
 Sh. Gent. IV, 1, 36; As. I, 1, 
 122 ; 2HIV. V, 3, 107. 
 
 hoodman. The person blinded in 
 the game of blind man's buff. 
 All's. IV, 3, 137. 
 
 hoodman-blind. Now called blind 
 man's buff. Hml. Ill, 4, 77. 
 
 hoop. Whoop. Out of all hoop- 
 ing, As. Ill, 2, 203, = beyond all 
 shouts of admiration. 
 
 hope. To expect; to suppose. 
 Often used to express expectation 
 without the desire which it indi- 
 cates at present. HV. Ill, 7, 
 77; Ant. 11,1,38. 
 
 Horatio, dr.p. Friend to Hamlet. 
 Hml. 
 
 horn-book. A primer. LLL. V, 
 1, 49. Hornbooks were so called 
 because the paper or parchment 
 on which the alphabet, etc., were 
 printed or written, was covered 
 with a thin transparent sheet of 
 horn, so as to protect it from the 
 dirty hands of the scholars. The 
 paper and horn were usually 
 tacked to a board which had a 
 handle at its lower end as shown 
 in the accompanying cut. 
 
 horned. Furnished with horns ; 
 cuckolded. 0th. IV, 1, 63. 
 
 Horner, Thomas, dr.p. An arm- 
 ourer. 2HVI. 
 
 horn-mad. The usual signification 
 attached to this word is mad or 
 angry at having been made a 
 cuckold, and that this is the 
 meaning in Wiv. Ill, 5, 155 is 
 evident. But how this could be 
 the meaning in Wiv. I, 4, 52 
 is not so clear. Caius was not married 
 nor even engaged, so that the idea 
 of cuckoldom or even jealousy could 
 not enter into the case except on 
 a very far-fetched supposition. Again, 
 
 in Err. II, 1, 57, Dromio repudi- 
 ates the cuckold theory. When he 
 tells Adriana that her husband is 
 horn-mad, she seems at once to seize 
 the idea of cuckold mad, and then 
 
 ab ?b ih o\i w» u be b? oc 
 
 l5e«:.l)aUotDe^ be tb j>iSame 
 
 ti 
 
 XMtn^ fcommli 
 
 A HORNBOOK. 
 
 Dromio says : I mean not cuckold-mad., 
 but, sure, he is stark mad. 
 
 How the expression originated is not 
 clear. Wright thinks that ho7'n is a 
 corruption of the Scotch hams or 
 
ho: 
 
 1S8 
 
 HOB 
 
 brains, so that the word would literally 
 he brain-mad ; but the connections in 
 which it occurs render this improbable. 
 It is well known to stock-raisers that 
 there is a disease called horn-ail from 
 which cattle sometimes suffer intensely 
 and, like all animals suffering acute 
 pain, become irritable and angry. To 
 couple the idea of a bull, mad with the 
 pain of horn-ail, and a man mad with 
 the sense of wearing a cuckold's horns 
 does not require a great stretch of 
 imagination. 
 
 The word occurs four times in Sh. 
 In two of these it undoubtedly implies 
 cuckoldom ; from the other two the 
 idea seems to be excluded. In addition 
 to the passages named it is found in 
 Ado. I, 1, 272. 
 
 horn-maker. A maker of cuckolds. As. 
 IV, 1, 63. 
 
 hornpipe. A country dance of a lively 
 and hilarious character. The name is 
 also applied to the music appropriate to 
 such dances. Wint. IV, 3, 46. 
 
 " An allusion to a practice, common 
 at this time amongst the Puritans, of 
 burlesquing the plein chant of the Pa- 
 pists, by adapting vulgar and ludicrous 
 music to psalms and pious composi- 
 tions." Douce. 
 
 horologe. A clock. HeHl watch the ho- 
 rologe a double set = stay awake for 
 twenty-four hours. - 0th. li, 3, 135. 
 
 horse. 1. I am, a peppercorn or brewer'' s 
 horse. IHIV. Ill, 3, 9. This compari- 
 son of Falstaff's has "bothered" the 
 commentators. Boswell suggested that 
 the key to it was to be found in a 
 conundrum in The DeviVs Cabinet 
 Opened: What is the difference be- 
 tween a drunkard and brewer's horse ? 
 the answer to which is, that the one 
 carries all his liquor on his back and 
 the other in his belly. But as regards 
 Falstaff's saying, this is unsatisfactory. 
 May it not be that Falstaff compares 
 himself to the inferior animals used by 
 small brewers for grinding their malt ? 
 Such horses travelled in a circular path, 
 dragging the arms of the mill, and were 
 
 frequently blind. Malt-horse is used 
 as an epithet of contempt in Err. Ill, 
 1, 32, and Shr. IV, 1, 132. It was also 
 common amongst the dramatists of the 
 time. 
 
 2. The dancing horse will tell you. 
 LLL. I, 2, 57. The horse here alluded 
 to was the famous horse, Morocco, 
 which was owned and taught by a 
 Scotchman named Bankes, and hence 
 was generally known as " Bankes 's 
 Horse. " This horse, from all accounts, 
 showed an intelligence almost human, 
 and a docility such as has never been 
 equalled. It is said that his most wonder- 
 ful feat was his ascending to the top of 
 St. Paul's Cathedral in 1600, but to my 
 mind this was nothing very extraordi- 
 nary ; it was the descending that was the 
 marvellous feature of this performance, 
 as every one familiar with horses must 
 know. Raleigh, in his " History of the 
 World," says : " If Bankes had lived in 
 older times, he would have shamed all 
 the inchanters in the world ; for who- 
 soever was most famous among them 
 could never master or instruct any 
 beast as he did his horse." He had sil- 
 ver shoes, and Bastard, in his "Epi- 
 grams," thus describes his acquire- 
 ments : 
 
 Bankes hath a horse of wondrous qualitie. 
 For he can fight, and dance and lie, 
 And find your piwse, and tell what coyne 
 
 ye have : 
 But, Bankes, who taught your horse to 
 smell a knave ? 
 
 This famous horse was exhibited all 
 over Europe. While in France, Bankes 
 and his horse were accused of being in 
 league with the devil, but Bankes made 
 the animal kneel down to the crucifix 
 and kiss it, and they were thus cleared 
 of the charge, as it was held that ' ' the 
 divell had no power to come neare the 
 crosse. " But it was said that in Rome 
 they did not get off so easily, and that 
 both the horse and his owner were 
 burned at the stake by order of the 
 Pope. Mr. Halliwell, however, has 
 discovered records which show that 
 
HOR 
 
 Him 
 
 Bankes was alive in 1637, and that he 
 followed the occupation of a vintner in 
 Cheapside. 
 3, The ominous horse. Hml. II, 2, 476. 
 This refei's, of course, to the wooden 
 horse by means of which Troy was 
 taken. The Greeks having tried in vain 
 to take Troy by force of arms at length 
 accomplished their purpose by deceit. 
 By the advice of that sly dog-fox 
 Ulysses, they constructed an immense 
 wooden horse in whose inside several of 
 their best warriors, including Ulysses 
 and Menelaus, lay concealed. The 
 Greeks then embarked as if they had 
 given up their attempt to capture Troy, 
 leaving the wooden horse on the shore. 
 Of course, the Trojans came out to 
 examine such a curious object, and 
 while gazing in amazement at it a Greek 
 (see Sinon), who claimed to have been 
 maltreated by his countrymen, and who 
 had mutilated himself to giv^e color to 
 his story, came up and asked their pro- 
 tection. He told them that the Greeks 
 had constructed it as an offering to 
 Minerva, and that if they would take it 
 into their city and offer it to the goddess 
 they would obtain her favor and she 
 would enable them to make a successful 
 invasion of Greece. The Trojans took 
 this advice and carried the horse within 
 their walls. During the night Sinon 
 undid the fastenings and allowed the 
 enclosed Greeks to come out and open 
 the gates of Troy to their comrades, 
 who had in the meantime returned. 
 In this way Troy was taken and 
 burned. 
 
 fiortensio, dr.p. Suitor to Bianca. Shr. 
 
 Hortensius, dr.p. A servant. Tim. 
 
 host, V. To lodge. Err. I, 2, 9 ; All's. 
 Ill, 5, 97. 
 
 Hostess, dr.p. A character in the In- 
 duction. Shr. 
 
 Hostess, dr.p. Dame Quickly of " The 
 Boar's Head." IHI V. and 2HIV. And 
 as wife of Pistol in HV. 
 
 Hotspur, Henry Percy, dr.p. Son to 
 the Earl of Northumberland. IHIV. 
 and 3H1V. 
 
 hot at hand. Not to be held in. 
 
 IV, 2, 23. 
 hot>house. A bagnio. Meas. II, 1, 66. 
 hounds. Theallusionin Tw. I, 1,22, is to 
 
 the hounds of Actseon. Actaeon, while 
 
 returning from the chase, surprised 
 
 Diana bathing. This so enraged the 
 
 goddess that she changed him into a 
 
 stag and he was torn to pieces by his 
 
 own dogs. 
 housel. The Eucharist, or Lord's Supper. 
 
 See unhouseled. 
 hox. To hough; to hamstring. Wint. I, 
 
 2,244. 
 hoy. A small vessel. Err. IV, 3, 40. 
 Hubert de Burgh, dr.p. Chamberlain 
 
 to King John, John. 
 hugger-mugger. Secresy ; privacy. Hml. 
 
 IV, 5, 84. 
 hull, V. To float. Tw. I, 5, 217. 
 hulling. Floating at the mercy of the 
 
 waves. HVIII. II, 4, 197. 
 Hume, dr.p. A priest. 2HVI. 
 humorous. 1. Moist ; damp. Rom. II, 
 
 1,31. 
 
 2. Capricious. As. I, 2, 278; John III, 
 1, 119. 
 
 3. Afflicted with " humours ;" sad. LLL. 
 Ill, 1, 177; As. IV, 1, 19. 
 
 Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, dr.p. 
 
 2HVI. 
 Humphrey, Prince of Gloucester, dr.p. 
 
 2HIV. 
 hunt. Game killed in the chase. Cym. 
 
 Ill, 6, 89. 
 Huntsman, dr.p. A character in the 
 
 Induction. Shr. 
 hunt-counter. So printed in First Folio, 
 
 but in most modern editions given as 
 
 two words. See counter. 
 hunts-up. Any song intended to arouse 
 
 in the morning — even a love-song — was 
 
 formerly called a " hunt's-up," and the 
 
 name was, of course, derived from a 
 
 tune or song employed by early hunters. 
 
 Drayton (1604) has the following lines : 
 And now the cocke, the morning's 
 
 trumpeter, 
 Played huntsup for the day star to 
 appear. 
 
 Butler in his " Principles of Musick " 
 
HXTE 
 
 140 
 
 lAB 
 
 (1636) defines a hunVs-tip as "morning 
 music," and Cot. defines Resveil as a 
 hunts-up or morning song for a new- 
 married wife. Chappell's " Popular 
 Music of the Olden Time." Rom. Ill, 
 5,34. 
 
 hurly. Tumult ; commotion. Shr. V, 1, 
 206 ; 2HIV. Ill, 1, 25. 
 
 hurly-burly. Uproar ; tumult. Mcb. I, 
 1, 3. Used as an adjective in IHIV. V, 
 1, 78. 
 
 hurtle. 1. To pass rapidly through the 
 air so as to make a noise. Caes. II, 3, 22. 
 2. To dash together ; making a great ' 
 noise. As. IV, 3, 132. i 
 
 husbandry. Thrift ; economy. Mcb. II, 
 1,4. 
 
 huswife. A housewife. Cor. I, 3, 76. 
 The Globe glossary defines huswife 
 here as "a jilt," but surely without any 
 reasonable grounds. From the word 
 housewife or huswife comes the word 
 hussy, which frequently conveys a 
 suggestion of evil or, at least, of con- 
 tempt, but with the possible exception 
 
 of 0th. IV, 1, 95, housewife is always 
 used by Sh. in a good sense. 
 
 hyen. A hyena. As. IV, 1, 163. 
 
 hypocrisy. The meaning of the passage 
 in 0th. IV, 1, 9, It is hypocrisy against 
 the devil, is not very clear. Johnson 
 says this means "Hypocrisy to cheat 
 the devil. As common hypocrites cheat 
 men, by seeming good and yet live 
 wickedly, these men would cheat the 
 devn by giving him flattering hopes, 
 and at last avoiding the crime which 
 he thinks them ready to commit." 
 Warburton says " this observation 
 seems strangely abrupt and un occa- 
 sioned ;" and Marshall (" The Henry 
 Irving Shakespeare," Vol. VI, p. 97) 
 considers the opening of the scene diffi- 
 cult and the distribution of the speeches 
 unsatisfactory. This leads him to 
 suggest a somewhat different arrange- 
 ment. In expurgated or "Bowdler- 
 ized" editions the difficulty is greatly 
 enhanced, and indeed this line becomes 
 nonsense and should be omitted. 
 
 (^j^/ In books printed in Sh. time 
 ■^lifvi ^^^ even later, this letter is 
 ^igk) used not only for the personal 
 ^^2J pronoun but for the affirmative 
 aye. This has given rise to numerous 
 quibbles, as in Rom. Ill, 2, 46, and 
 Tw. II, 5, 147 and 148. Sir Thomas 
 Samwell proposes that the passage, 
 Hml. I, 2, 188, 1 shall not look upon his 
 like again, should read Eye shall, etc. , 
 as more in the true spirit of Sh. This 
 is certainly more forcible when read, 
 but when spoken (as Sh. dramas are in- 
 tended to be) it is not easily appreciated. 
 This is probably the reason why the 
 lamented Marshall did not take note of 
 it in the "Henry Irving Shakespeare," 
 although that edition was prepared with 
 special reference to stage effect. The 
 same phrase occurs in Ado. I, 1, 184. 
 
 Dr. Furness prefers the interpretation 
 eye in both passages. 
 
 lachimo, dr. p. A friend to Philaris. 
 Cym. 
 
 lago, dr.p. Ancient to Othello. 0th. 
 
 larmen. This unintelligible word occurs 
 in Cym. II, 5, 16, and is evidently a 
 misprint. In Fl. and F2. the words are: 
 
 Like a full Acorn'd Boare, a larmen on. 
 Rowe suggested that " larmen " was a 
 misprint for "German," and Mai one 
 defends this on the ground that boars 
 were not hunted in Britain in the time 
 of Sh. — a foolish argument, since a 
 " full acorn'd " boar is not necessarily 
 a hunted boar, or even a wild one. 
 Warburton suggested a "churning on," 
 and Collier's M.S. Corrector "a foam- 
 ing one." The word which puzzled the 
 compositors who set up the First Folio 
 
ICE 
 
 141 
 
 IHF 
 
 was most probably "human." Not 
 being able to read it, they simply put 
 together such letters as the copy looked 
 like, and "larmen" was the result. 
 That " human " makes good sense is ob- 
 vious. "We speak of a "human ti- 
 ger," meaning a man with the char- 
 acteristics of a tiger. So we might speak 
 of a "human boar," meaning a man 
 with the characteristics of a " full 
 acorn'd boare." See "Shakespearean 
 Notes and New Readings," p. 7. 
 
 ice-brook. A brook with ice-cold water. 
 0th. V, 2, 253. 
 
 The brook here referred to is sup- 
 posed to be the rivulet Salo (now Xalon) 
 near Bilbilis. It is a fact well known 
 to mechanics that some wat«r enables 
 the workman to give a much finer tem- 
 per to steel than others. 
 
 Iden, Alexander, dr.p. A gentleman 
 of Kent. The slayer of Jack Cade. 
 2HVI. 
 
 i'fecks. In faith ; a mild oath. Wint. I, 
 2, 120. Fecks or faix is the Scotch 
 form of faith. 
 
 ignomy. Ignominy; disgrace. Meas. II, 
 4, 111. 
 
 Mid. A contraction of yield. As. Ill, 3, 
 76. See God Hid. 
 
 ill-inhabited. Poorly lodged. As. Ill, 3, 
 10. Not badly peopled, as our modem 
 use of the word would signify. 
 
 illustrious, ) Without lustre or bright- 
 
 illustrous. \ ness ; giving no light. Cym. 
 I, 6, 109. Illustrious in the First Fo- 
 lio ; illustrous and unlustrous in mod- 
 era editions. 
 
 imbar, I To bare ; to lay open. HV. 
 
 imbarre. ) I, 2, 9-4. Schmidt adopts the 
 definition to bar ; to exclude ; but this 
 is evidently not the sense of the passage. 
 Knight and Clarke and AVright read 
 imbar, and explain it as to bar in ; to 
 secure. But the context certainly does 
 not bear out this rendering. 
 
 immanity. Ferocity. IHVI. V, 1, 13. 
 
 immask. To cover or hide with a mask. 
 IHIV. I, 2, 201. 
 
 immediacy. Nearness; close connection. 
 Lr. V, 3, 65. 
 
 immoment. Unimportant. Ant. V, 2, 
 166. 
 
 immortal. Exempt from death; living 
 for ever. Used improperly by the 
 clown in Ant. V, 2, 247. He, of course, 
 means mortal. 
 
 immure. A wall. Troil. Prol. 8. 
 
 Imogen, dr.p. Daughter of Cymbeline 
 and wife to Fosthumus. Cym. 
 
 imp, n. A shoot ; a graft ; an offspring. 
 LLL. I, 2, 5 ; 2HIV. V, 5, 46. 
 
 imp, V. A term borrowed from falconry. 
 " When the wing-feathers of a hawk 
 were dropped or forced out by any 
 accident it was usual to supply as many 
 as were deficient. This operation was 
 called to imp a hawk.'''' Steevens. 
 RII. II, 1, 292. 
 
 impawn, ) To pawn ; to pledge. HV. 
 
 impone. f I, 2, 21 ; Hml. V, 2, 155. 
 
 impeach. A reproach ; an accusation. 
 Err. V, 1, 269; 3HVI. I, 4, 60. 
 
 impeachment. Hindrance. (French em- 
 pechement.) HV. Ill, 6, 151. 
 
 impercieverant, ) Dull of perception ; 
 
 imperseverant. ) thoughtless. Cym. IV, 
 
 I, 15. 
 
 impeticos. A word coined by the fool 
 and evidently meaning to pocket. Tw. 
 
 II, 3, 27. 
 
 Johnson proposes to read impetticoatj 
 and gives as a reason that fools were 
 kept in long coats and that the allowed 
 fool was occasionally dressed in petti- 
 coats. But Malone, supported by Dyce 
 and many others, urges that the reading 
 of the old copy should not be disturbed. 
 importance. 1. Meaning. Wint. V, 2, 
 20. 
 
 2. Consequence; weight. Wint. II, 1, 
 181. 
 
 3. Subject ; matter. Cym. I, 4, 45. 
 
 4. Importunity. Tw. V, 1, 371. 
 important. Importunate. Lr. IV, 4, 
 
 26; Err. V, 1, 138. 
 importing. Significant; expressive. All's. 
 V, 3, 186. 
 
 In the passage, Than settled age his 
 sables and his weeds, importing health 
 and grateness (Hml. IV, 7, 81), the 
 word health has received much com- 
 
IMF 
 
 142 
 
 IND 
 
 ment. Schm. defines it as "wellfare, 
 prosperity ;" Malone and others explain 
 it = care for health. Warburton ob- 
 jects that a warm-furred gown implies 
 sickness rather than health, and pro- 
 poses to emend by reading wealth. 
 Johnson undoubtedly struck the true 
 explanation when he gave to importing 
 its etymological meaning, as Sh. does 
 to so many other words, as noted in 
 this glossary. Johnson says : " Import- 
 ing here may be, not inferring by 
 logical consequence, but producing by 
 physical effect. A young man regards 
 show in his dress, an old man health.'''' 
 
 impose. Injunction ; command. Gent. 
 IV, 3, 8. 
 
 imposition. 1. Imposture ; means of de- 
 ception. 0th. II, 3, 269. 
 
 2. Charge ; command. Lucr. 1697 ; 
 Merch. I, 2, 114. 
 
 3. Accusation; imputation. Meas. I, 2, 
 194 ; Wint. I, 2, 74. 
 
 Upon the latter passage Warburton 
 makes the following note: "Setting 
 aside original sin ; bating the imposi- 
 tion from the offence of our first 
 parents, we might have boldly protested 
 our innocence to heaven." 
 
 impostliume. An abscess. Troil. V, 1, 
 24. 
 
 imprese, ) n. A device with a motto 
 
 impress, \ engraved or painted on any- 
 thing. RII. Ill, 1, 25. 
 
 impress, v. To compel to serve ; to force 
 into service. Mcb. IV, 1, 95. 
 
 incapable. Unconscious. Hml. IV, 7, 
 179. 
 
 incardinate. A blunder for incarnate. 
 Tw. V, 1, 1&5. 
 
 incarnadine, ) To make red. Mcb. 
 
 incarnardine. f II, 2, 62. 
 
 incense. Nares tells us that besides the 
 usual meanings, this word is a Stafford- 
 shire provincialism signifying to in- 
 form; to instruct; to school. And 
 this seems to be the sense in which it is 
 used in HVIII. V, 1, 43; RIII. Ill, 1, 
 152; Ado. V, 1, 242. 
 
 incision. Blood-letting. God make in- 
 cision in thee (As. Ill, 2, 75) = Gk)d 
 
 cure thee. Blood-letting was one of 
 the most common methods of cure in 
 the time of Sh. The passage : A fever 
 in your blood ! why then incision 
 would let her out in saiicers, LLL. IV, 
 
 3, 98, " has been erroneously explained 
 as containing an allusion to the mad 
 fashion of lovers stabbing themselves 
 and drinking their blood in honor of 
 their mistresses; it merely means 'if 
 your mistress reigns a fever in your 
 blood, get yourself blooded, and so let 
 her out in saucers. ' " Dyce. 
 
 incli-meal. By inches. Tp. II, 2, 3. An 
 example of the modern use of meal in 
 this sense is seen in piece-meal. * See 
 also limb-meal. 
 
 inclining. Compliant. Oth. II, 3, 346. 
 
 inclip. To embrace ; to enclose. Ant. 
 II, 7, 74. 
 
 include. To end ; to conclude. Gent. V, 
 
 4, 160 ; Troil. I, 3, 119. 
 incontinent. Immediately. As. V, 2, 44. 
 incontinently. Immediately. Oth. I, 3, 
 
 307. 
 incony. A word apparently coined by 
 
 Costard, and meaning fine, delicate. 
 
 LLL. Ill, 1, 136; do. IV, 1, 144. 
 incorporate. Identified with ; forming 
 
 part of the same body. Caes. I, 3, 135. 
 incorpsed. Made one body. Hml. IV, 
 
 7, 88. 
 incorrect. Rebellious; ill-regulated. Hml. 
 
 I, 2, 95. 
 
 indent. To bargain ; to compromise. 
 
 IHIV. I, 3, 87. 
 indenture. Agreement ; contract. IHIV. 
 
 II, 4, 53 ; Hml. V, 1, 119. 
 "Indentures were agreements made 
 
 out in duplicate, of which each party 
 kept one. Both were written on the 
 same sheet, which was cut in two in a 
 crooked or indented line, in order that 
 the fitting of the two parts might prove 
 the genuineness of both in case of dis- 
 pute." Clark and Wright. This was 
 no doubt the original meaning. But 
 of. IHIV. Ill, 1, 80. 
 
 index. Explanatory preface or prologue. 
 RIII. IV, 4, 85 ; Hml. Ill, 4, 52. 
 
 Indian. In the Fl. the reading is Like 
 
IND 
 
 143 
 
 INH 
 
 the base Judean in 0th. V, 2, 347. 
 Some defend this reading on the ground 
 that the allusion may be to the well- 
 known story of Herod and Mariamne. 
 Boswell, however, quotes several pre- 
 cisely parallel passages from the older 
 dramatists in which ignorant Indians 
 are represented as throwing away valu- 
 able gems, supposing them to be worth- 
 less pebbles. Thus Howard, in The 
 Woman''s Conquest, says : 
 
 Behold my queen— 
 
 Who with no more concern I'll cast 
 away 
 
 Than Indians do a pearl that ne'er did 
 know 
 
 Its value. 
 
 indict. To accuse ; to convict. Hml. II, 
 2, 464; 0th. Ill, 4, 154. (In some 
 editions, both old and recent, this word 
 is spelled indite.) 
 
 indite. Used blunderingly for invite. 
 2HIV. II, 1, 30. In Rom. II, 4, 135 the 
 word is probably used by Benvolio in 
 derision of the nurses "confidence." 
 
 indifferency. Moderation. 2HIV. IV, 3, 
 23. 
 
 indifferent. Neither good nor bad ; 
 ordinary; commonplace. Hml. II, 2, 
 231. 
 
 indifferently. 1 . In a reasonable degree ; 
 tolerably. Hml. Ill, 2, 41. 
 2. Impartially. Tit. I, 1, 430. 
 
 indigest, n, A chaos. John V, 7, 26. 
 
 indigest, adj. Chaotic ; formless. Sonn. 
 CXIV, 5. 
 
 indign. Disgraceful. 0th. I, 3, 274. 
 
 indubitate. Evident; without doubt. A 
 word coined by Armado. LLL. IV, 1, 
 67. 
 
 i nduc tion . Beginning; introduction. 
 IHIV. Ill, 1,2; RIII. 1,1,32. 
 
 indrenclied. Covered with water. Troil. 
 I, 1, 51. 
 
 indued. Adapted to ; destined for. Hml. 
 IV, 7, 180. 
 
 indurance. Delay. HVIII. V, 1, 122. 
 According to some, indurance here is 
 equivalent to suffering ; according to 
 others, it is durance or confinement. In 
 some ^tious it is spelled endurance, 
 
 inexecrable. That cannot be sufficiently 
 execrated. Merch. IV, 1, 128. 
 
 infamonize. Armado's word for disgrace. 
 LLL. V, 2, 684. 
 
 infect. To affect. John IV, 3, 69. 
 
 infection. A contagious disease. InVen. 
 508 "the poet evidently alludes to a 
 practice of his own age, when it was 
 customary, in time of plague, to strew 
 the rooms of every house with rue and 
 other strong-smelling herbs, to prevent 
 infection." Malone. 
 
 infer. To bring in ; to introduce. The 
 radical or etymological sense of the 
 word. RIII. IV, 4, 343; do. V, 3, 314; 
 Tim. Ill, 5, 73. Sh. sometimes uses the 
 word in its modem sense of deducing, 
 proving, as in HV. I, 2, 204. 
 
 infinite, n. Utmost power. Ado. II, 3. 
 106. 
 
 infinitive. Quicklyism for tri/lm^e. 2HIV. 
 II, 1, 26. 
 
 inform. 1. To take shape. Mcb. II, 1,48. 
 2. To animate; to inspire. Cor. V, 3, 71. 
 
 informal. Crazy. Meas. V, 1, 230. 
 
 ingener. One possessed of great natural 
 gifts. Steevens. 0th. II, 1, 65. 
 
 " An ingenious person, a deviser, an 
 artist, a painter; but the reading is 
 questionable." Dyce. 
 
 ingraft. Made to form a part of the in- 
 dividual, as a graft forms part of a 
 tree. Oth. II, 3, 145. Some editions, 
 engraffed. 
 
 inliabit. Mcb. Ill, 4, 105. This passage 
 has been discussed to such an extent, 
 both as to the proper reading and also 
 as to the meaning of the word, that it 
 would seem almost impossible to reach 
 a positive conclusion on these points. But 
 amidst all this confusion and doubt, the 
 general idea which Sh. wished to con- 
 vey stands out clear and indubitable. 
 
 inliabitable. Not habitable. RII.1,1,65. 
 
 inliabited. Lodged. See ill-inhabited. 
 
 intierit. 1. To take possession. Tp. 11. 
 2, 179; Gent. 111,2,87. 
 2. To put in possession. RII. I, 1, 85. 
 
 inhibition. Prohibition ; hindrance. Hml. 
 II, 2, 346. Probably an allusion to a 
 law passed in 1600 forbidding theatrical 
 
INH 
 
 144 
 
 imr 
 
 performances in the city of London, 
 except at the Globe and the Fortune. 
 Hence many players were forced to 
 travel into the country. 
 
 inhooped. Enclosed in a hoop. Cocks 
 or quails were sometimes made to fight 
 within a broad or, perhaps rather, a 
 deep hoop to prevent them from run- 
 ning away from each other. Ant. Ill, 
 8,38. 
 
 Iniquity. "One name of the Ftce, who 
 was the established buffoon in the old 
 Moralities and other imperfect dramas. 
 He had the name sometimes of one vice, 
 sometimes of another, but most com- 
 monly of Iniquity, or vice itself. He 
 was grotesquely dressed in a cap with 
 ass's ears, a long coat, and a dagger of 
 lath ; and one of his chief employments 
 was to make sport with the devil, leap- 
 ing on his back and belabouring him 
 with his dagger of lath, till he made 
 him roar. The devil, however, always 
 carried him off in the end, the morality 
 of which representation clearly was 
 that sin, which has the wit and courage 
 to make merry with the devil, and is 
 allowed by him to take great liberties, 
 must finally become his prey. This is 
 the regular end also of Punch, in the 
 puppet-shows, who, as Dr. Johnson 
 rightly observed, is the legitimate suc- 
 cessor of the old Iniquity ; or, rather, 
 is the old Vice himself transposed from 
 living to wooden actors. His successors 
 on the stage were the fools and clowns, 
 who so long continued to supply his 
 place, ill making sport for the common 
 people. Harlequin is another scion 
 from the same stock. ' ' Nares. 
 
 Continuing, this author says : " Fraud, 
 covetousness, vanity and vices [or sinsj 
 enumerated by Ben Johnson [in *' The 
 Devil is an Ass "] were the most com- 
 mon. Vanity is even used for the Vice 
 occasionally." Sh. gives us the Vice, 
 Iniquity and Vanity together in IHIV. 
 II, 4, 499. The Vice and his functions 
 are frequently referred to in Sh. See 
 Tw. IV, 2, 130. 
 
 Injointed. Joined. 0th. I, 3, 35. 
 
 inlc. See B. 
 
 inlc-liorn mate. A bookish man ; an 
 ecclesiastic ; a term of contempt. IHVI. 
 Ill, 1, 99. 
 
 inlcle. A kind of inferior tape. LLL. 
 Ill, 1, 140 ; Wint. IV, 4, 208. 
 
 inland. Civilized ; probably living near 
 a town. Caldecottsays: " Uplandish in 
 our early writers and dictionaries is 
 interpreted ' unbred, rude, rustical, 
 clownish, because,' says Minsheu (1617), 
 ' the people that dwell among moun- 
 tains are severed from the civilitye of 
 cities.'" As. II, 7, 96. cf. Scotch 
 Landwart. 
 
 inly, adj. Inward. Gent. II, 7, 18 
 3HVI. I, 4, 171. 
 
 inly, adv. Inwardly. Tp. V, 1, 200 
 HV. IV, Chor. 24. 
 
 innocent. An idiot. All's. IV, 3, 214 
 Per. IV, 3, 17; Kins. IV, 1. 
 
 inquisition. Search ; inquiry. Tp. I, 2, 
 35 ; As. II, 2, 20. 
 
 insane root. Supposed to be either 
 hemlock or henbane. Mcb. I, 3, 84. 
 See hemlock. The best authorities, 
 however, are agreed that it is impossible 
 to decide just what plant Sh. meant. 
 
 insanie. Madness. (A word coined by 
 Holofernes.) LLL. V, 1, 28. 
 
 insconce. 1. To hide ; to shelter. Wiv. 
 Ill, 3, 96. 
 2. To protect ; to fortify. Err. II, 2, 38. 
 
 insculped. Engraved ; cut. Merch. II, 
 7,57. 
 
 insculpture. An inscription cut in stone. 
 Tim. V, 4, 67. 
 
 insisture. Persistency. Troil. I, 3, 87. 
 
 instance. 1. Motive. Hml. Ill, 2, 194. 
 
 2. Proof. 2HIV. Ill, 1, 103. 
 
 intelligencer. An agent ; a go-between, 
 mil. IV, 4, 71. 
 
 intend. 1. To pretend. Lucr. 121; Ado. 
 II, 2, a5. 
 
 2. To lead to ; to tend. 2HIV. I, 2, 9. 
 
 3. To set forth ; to exhibit. Mids. Ill, 
 2, SSS. 
 
 4. Used by Dr. Cains in the sense of the 
 French entendre = understand. Wiv. 
 I, 4, 47. 
 
 Intending. Regarding. Tim. II, 2, 219. 
 
INT 
 
 145 
 
 lEI 
 
 intendment. Intention; purpose. 0th. 
 
 IV, 2, 206. 
 
 intenible. Unretentive. All's. I, 3, 210. 
 
 intentively. Attentively ; with close ap- 
 plication. 0th. I, 3, 155. 
 
 interessed. Interested ; connected with. 
 Lr. I, 1, 87. 
 
 intermission. Delay. Mcb. IV, 3, 232. 
 
 interpret. To explain. I could inter- 
 pret between you and your love if I 
 could see the puppets dallying. Hml. 
 Ill, 2, 256. This is an allusion to the 
 puppet-shows or motions in which the 
 actions of the puppets were always 
 explained or interpreted to the audience 
 by the interpreter. See motion. 
 
 intrenchant. That cannot be cut. Mcb. 
 
 V, 8, 9. 
 
 intrinse. Intricate ; entangled. Lr. II, 
 2, 81. Such is the meaning given 
 to this word by all English-speaking 
 authorities so far as we have been able 
 to find. Schm. defines it as "intimate ; 
 internal; deep-rooted." 
 
 intrinsicate. Intricate. Ant. V, 2, 307. 
 
 invectively. Reproachfully. As. II, 1, 
 58. 
 
 invention. 1. Forgery ; falsehood. Mcb. 
 Ill, 1, 33. 
 
 2. Imagination. Ven. Ded. 5 ; 0th. II, 
 
 1, 126. 
 
 3. Activity of mind. Meas. II, 4, 3. 
 invincible. Invisible; not to be made 
 
 out. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 337. Some eds. 
 read invisible. 
 
 Invitus nubibus. Latin, the meaning of 
 which is : In spite of the clouds. 
 Malone quotes Camden as follows : 
 " Edward III bore for his device the 
 rays of the sun dispersing themselves 
 out of a cloud. " 2HVI. IV, 1, 99. 
 
 inward. An intimate friend ; one privy 
 to the thoughts of another. Meas. Ill, 
 
 2, 138. 
 
 inwardness. Intimacy. Ado. IV, 1, 247. 
 
 lo. And how she was beguiled and sur- 
 prised. Shr. Ind. II, 57. 
 
 lo was the daughter of Inachus, the 
 first King of Argos and the founder of 
 the worship of Hera, with whom the 
 Romans identified their goddess Juno. 
 
 Jupiter fell in love with her and aroused 
 the jealousy of Juno. In order to pro- 
 tect lo, Jupiter transformed her into a 
 beautiful heifer, but Juno, suspecting 
 the intrigue, requested the heifer as a 
 gift, and the request was granted. Juno 
 then placed lo under the charge of 
 Argus, who tied her to an olive tree 
 and watched her with his hundred eyes, 
 two of which only were ever closed at 
 a time. See Argus. 
 
 It is also said that under the surveil- 
 lance of Argus she wandered about on 
 different pastures, and on one occasion 
 came to her former home, where her 
 father and sisters were mourning for 
 her absence, believing her to be dead. 
 They fed and petted the beautiful 
 heifer and lo let them know who she 
 was by writing her name, " lo," in the 
 sand with her foot. Jupiter at last, in 
 answer to her prayers, sent Hermes or 
 Mercury to dehver her. Mercury ap- 
 peared as a shepherd and so won upon 
 Argus by his singing and playing that 
 at last he put the giant to sleep and cut 
 off his head. But lo's wanderings con- 
 tinued for a long time after the death 
 of Argus. Some writers tell us that 
 she was tormented by the stings of a 
 gadfly sent by Juno, and that she w;as 
 driven in a frenzy from land to land 
 over the whole earth. The Bosporus 
 is said to have derived its name from 
 the fact that she swam across it. At 
 length she found rest on the banks 
 of the Nile, where she recovered her 
 original form, and bore to Jupiter a 
 son who was named Epaphus. Accord- 
 ing to some, she afterwards married 
 Telegonus, King of Egypt, and was 
 identified with the Egyptian Isis. 
 Iras, dr. p. Attendant on Cleopatra. Ant. 
 Iris, dr.p. A spirit. Tp. 
 
 Iris was the daughter of Thaumas 
 and of Electra, and sister of the Harpies. 
 Iris appears to have been originally the 
 personification of the rainbow, for this 
 brilliant phenomenon in the skies, which 
 vanishes as quickly as it appears, was 
 regarded as the swift messenger of the 
 
IBB 
 
 146 
 
 JAC 
 
 gods. Some poets describe Iris as the 
 rainbow itself, while others represent 
 the rainbow as only the road on which 
 Iris travels, and which therefore appears 
 whenever the goddess wants it, and 
 vanishes when it is no longer needed. 
 In the earlier poets Iris appears as a 
 virgin goddess, but in the later she is 
 the wife of Zephyrus and the mother of 
 Eros. 
 
 irregulous. Lawless ; unprincipled. Cym. 
 IV, 2, 315. 
 
 iron-witted. Unfeeling ; insensible. RIII. 
 IV, 2, 28. 
 
 Isabel, dr.p. Queen of France. HV. 
 
 Isabella, dr.p. Sister to Claudio. Meas. 
 
 Isis. The references to this goddess are 
 found only in the play of Antony and 
 Cleopatra. She was one of the chief 
 of the Egyptian divinities, and was the 
 wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus, 
 the Egyptian god of the sun. As Osiris, 
 the god of the Nile, taught the people 
 the use of the plough, so Isis invented 
 the cultivation of wheat and barley, 
 which were carried about in the pro- 
 cessions at her festivals. In works of 
 art Isis appears in figure and counten- 
 
 ance like Juno ; she wears a long tunic 
 and her upper garment is fastened 
 on her breast by a knot ; her head is 
 crowned with a lotus flower, and her 
 right hand holds the sistrum, a kind of 
 musical instrument in which the sounds 
 are produced by shaking. 
 
 isle. Fertile the isle. Wint. Ill, 1, 2. 
 Delphos was not situated on an island. 
 See Delphos. 
 
 iterance. Repetition. 0th. V, 2, 148. 
 
 iteration. Repetition. IHIV. I, 2, 101; 
 Troil. Ill, 2, 183 ; Oth. V, 2, 150. 
 
 I wis, ) Assuredly ; certainly. A modi- 
 
 I wis. \ fled form of the Anglo-saxon 
 ge-wis. Merch. II, 9, 68 ; RIII. I, 3, 102. 
 "It is to be particularly noted that 
 the Middle- English prefix i (= A. s. ge) 
 is often written apart from the rest of 
 the word, and with a capital letter. 
 Hence, by a mistake of editors, it is 
 sometimes printed I wis, and explained 
 to mean ' I know. ' Hence, further, 
 the imaginary verb wis, to know, has 
 found its way into our dictionaries. 
 But it is pure fiction ; the verb being 
 wit." Skeat. In the Fl. the reading 
 is Iwis. 
 
 ^^^^TIACK. 1. A form of John used 
 ^^H famiUarly, as in 2HIV. II, 2, 
 SMKI 143. Jack Falstaff with my 
 ^ ^^"^ ■^ l familiars, John with m^y 
 
 brothers and sisters, and Sir John 
 
 with aH Europe. 
 
 2. A term of contempt denoting a mean, 
 low fellow. Ado. V, 1, 91 ; Rom, II, 4, 
 160 ; Cor. V, 2, 67. 
 
 3. A drinking measure. Shr. IV, 1, 51. 
 A play upon the words jacks and jills, 
 which signify two drinking measures 
 as well as men and maid-servants. 
 Steevens. 
 
 4. The small bowl (sometimes called the 
 mistress) aimed at in the game of bowl- 
 ing. Cym. I, 2, 2. To kiss the jack 
 
 is a state of great advantage. Johnson. 
 5. A key of the virginal. Sonn. 
 CXXVIII. 5, 13. 
 
 Jack-a-Lent. A puppet thrown at during 
 Lent, as cocks were thrown at on 
 Shrove Tuesday. Wiv. Ill, 3, 27. 
 
 jack-an-apes. An ape ; a monkey. Wiv. 
 IV, 4, 67 ; Cym. II, 1, 4. 
 
 jack-dog. A term of contempt coined 
 by Dr. Caius. Wiv. II, 3, 65. 
 
 Jack guardant. A Jack-in-offlce ; a low 
 fellow occupying a position of import- 
 ance. Cor. V, 2, 67. 
 
 Jack-o*-lantern, or Will-o'-the-Wisp. A 
 certain luminous vapor or ignis fatuus, 
 Tp. IV, 1, 198. cf. Ado. I, 1, 186. 
 
 Jack-o'-the-clock. In old clocks a figure 
 
JAC 
 
 147 
 
 JET 
 
 which struck the bell to mark the hours. 
 RII. V, 5, 60. 
 
 Jack Cade. See Cade. 
 
 Jack-sauce. A saucy fellow. HV. IV, 
 7, 149. 
 
 Jack-slave. A mean feUow. Cyin. II, 
 1, 22. 
 
 jadery. Jade's tricks. Kins. 5, 4. 
 
 jade, n. A worthless, wicked or mal- 
 treated horse. Meas. II, 1, 269; Ado. I, 
 1, 145; 2HIV. 1, 1, 45. Also applied as a 
 term of contempt to men and women. 
 Shr. II, 1, 202 ; John II, 1, 385. 
 
 Sh. frequently refers to "jade's 
 tricks. ' ' These are of an " infinite varie- 
 ty." The reference in Ado. I, 1, 145, 
 You ahcays end with a jade''s trick, 
 is thus explained by Dr. Furness : " Re- 
 ferring to Every Man in his Humour, 
 III, 2, Cob says, ' An you offer to ride 
 me with your collar, or halter either, I 
 may hap shew you a jade's trick, sir. ' 
 Cash replies : ' O, you'll slip your head 
 out of the collar. ' As soon as Beatrice 
 has fairly collared Benedick, he says, 
 ' he is done,' and by this jade's trick 
 slips his head out of the collar, and 
 Beatrice may talk to the empty air." 
 
 Pistol's expression : Hollow pampered 
 jades of Asia, which cannot yo but 
 thirty miles a-day (2HIV. II, 4, 178) 
 is a corruption of a line in the Second 
 Part of Marlowe's Tamburlane, IV, 4 : 
 Holla, ye pamper'd jades of Asia I 
 What ! Can ye draw but twenty miles 
 a-day ? 
 The jades were the conquered kings 
 whom Tamburlane compelled to draw 
 his chariot. 
 
 jade, V. To make ridiculous or contempt- 
 ible. Tw. II, 5, 180. 
 
 Jakes. A privy. Li-. II, 2, 59. A coarse 
 pun on Ajax. LLL. V, 2, 581. 
 
 James Qurney. See Giirney. 
 
 Jamy, dr.p. An oflBcer in the army of 
 Henry V. HV. 
 
 jane. A kind of cheap cotton cloth. The 
 word is still in use with a variation in 
 the spelling. Kins. Ill, 5. 
 
 jangle. To sound discordantly. Hml. 
 Ill, 1, 166. 
 
 Jaquenetta, dr.p. A country girl. LLL. 
 
 Jaques, dr.p. Son to Sir Rowland de 
 Bois. As. 
 
 Jaques, dr.p. A lord attendant on the 
 banished Duke. " The melancholy 
 Jaques." As. 
 
 jar, n. The tick of a clock. Wint. I, 2, 43. ' 
 
 jar, V. To tick as a clock. RII. V, 5, 51. 
 
 jaunce, v. To ride hard ; to harass the 
 horse. RII. V, 5, 94. 
 
 jaunce. A rough journey ; a wild tramp. 
 Rom. II, 5, 26. In some eds. jaunt. 
 
 jay. A loose woman. Wiv. Ill, 3, 44; 
 Cym. Ill, 4, 51. 
 
 jennet. See gennet. 
 
 Jeronimy. The phrase. Go by, Jeronimy, 
 used by Sly (Shr. Ind. I, 9) is a mean- 
 ingless expression intended, it is said, 
 to ridicule a play by Thomas Kyd, 
 which was quite popular in its time. 
 The play was entitled: The -Spanish 
 Tragedy, containing the lamentable 
 end of Don Horatio and Bel-Imperia 
 with the pitiful death of Old Hiero- 
 nimo. Numerous sarcastic allusions to 
 this play are to be found in the di-amas 
 of Shakespeare's time, and this saying 
 of Sly's is a quotation of a line from the 
 fourth act. As the play was quite 
 popular, this line may have become a 
 popular ' ' gag. ' ' Instances of meaning- 
 less sayings taken from popular plays 
 and used as slang expressions are quite 
 common now. Jei'onimy is supposed 
 to be a corruption of Hieronomo. 
 
 jesses. "The short straps of leather, 
 but sometimes of silk, which went 
 round the legs of a hawk, in which 
 were fixed the vai-vels or little rings of 
 silver, and to these the leash, or long 
 strap, which the falconer twisted round 
 his hand." Nares. 0th. Ill, 3, 261. 
 
 Jessica, dr.p. Daughter to Shylock. 
 Merch. 
 
 jest. A play or masque. RII. I, 3, 95. 
 
 jet. 1. To strut ; to stalk. Cym. Ill, 3, 5. 
 2. To exult over; to treat with insolence. 
 RIII. II, 4, 51. 
 
 jet, V. 1. To stalk ; to strut. Tw. II, 5, 
 36 ; Cym. Ill, 3, 5. 
 2. To insult ; to flout. RIII. II, 4, 51. 
 
JEW 
 
 ]48 
 
 JOH 
 
 Jewes eye. Thus in Fl. Most modern 
 eds. read Jewess"* eye. Merch. II, 5, 
 43. *' Worth a Jew's eye " was a com- 
 mon expression for something of great 
 value, the Jews being frequently com- 
 pelled to pay a large ransom or, in 
 default, to have an eye put out. There 
 is probably a pun intended ; " worth a 
 Jewess' eye " meaning worthy the 
 attention of a Jewess, and "worth a 
 Jew's eye" meaning of great value. 
 Grant White objected to the use of the 
 word Jewess on the ground that it is 
 modern, but Dyce shows that it was in 
 use in Tyndale's Bible (1525). Grant 
 White, Ingleby and some others have 
 made bad mistakes by founding im- 
 portant claims upon the alleged fact 
 that certain words were not in use in 
 the time of Sh. 
 
 jig. A facetious metrical composition ; a 
 humorous ballad ; a merry dance. Pilg. 
 253 ; Hral. II, 2, 522 ; Ado. II, 1, 77. 
 
 jig-maker. A writer or composer of jigs. 
 Hml. Ill, 2, 131. 
 
 Joan. The name of a woman ; also a 
 hawk. 2HVI. II, 1, 4. In this passage 
 the meaning is that "the wind was so 
 high it was ten to one that old Joan 
 [the hawk] would not have taken her 
 flight at the game. " Percy. 
 
 Joan La Pucelle, dr. p. Commonly caUed 
 Joan of Arc. IHVI. 
 
 Joan, or rather Jeanne d'Arc or 
 Dare, known also as the Maid of Or- 
 leans, was born about 1411 at Domremy, 
 a small village partly in Champagne 
 and partly in Lorraine. Her father 
 was Jaques Dare, a peasant proprietor 
 of Domremy. She never learned to 
 read or write, but was brought up most 
 religiously by her mother. In early 
 girlhood she was remarkable for physical 
 vigor and energy, but without the least 
 tendency to coarseness or unfeminine 
 ways. She was a most duteous daughter, 
 and her kindness of heart and good 
 temper made her a favorite with all 
 her neighbors. Up to about her seven- 
 teenth year she tended her father's 
 sheep, and during the solitude of this 
 
 occupation her imagination led her to 
 hear voices and see visions. At this 
 time France was in hard straits, for the 
 English had greatly extended their con- 
 quests through an alliance with Philip 
 of Burgundy. At length Joan believed 
 that the Virgin Mary appeared to her 
 and commanded her to arise and deliver 
 her country from the oppressor. It is 
 doubtful if in her seclusion she had 
 ever heard of the famous prophecy by 
 Merlin that France was to be delivered 
 from oppression by a chaste virgin, but 
 this prophecy was current among the 
 people, and perhaps prepared the way 
 for the events that occurred. Her in- 
 troduction to Charles; her raising of 
 the siege of Orleans ; her victory at 
 Patay and the capture of Troyes are 
 well-known matters of history. At the 
 defence of Compiegne against the Duke 
 of Burgundy she was made prisoner by 
 the Burgundians and sold to the English, 
 who delivered her to the Inquisition, 
 by whom she was burned at the stake 
 in the streets of Rouen. 
 
 According to the best historical 
 authorities of modem times, with, 
 perhaps, a single exception, the filthy- 
 minded Voltaire, Joan d'Arc was a 
 woman of the most pure and noble char- 
 acter, and it is greatly to be regretted 
 that Sh. should have cast upon her the 
 vile slurs which are found in IHVI. But 
 Sh. took his information from the sources 
 which he found most readily at hand, 
 Hall and Holinshed, and as his great 
 object in producing these plays was to 
 make money, he too often sacrificed the 
 truth of history to the existing likes 
 and dislikes of the public that patronised 
 his theatre. But it is pleasant to know 
 that amongst the tributes offered to the 
 memory of the Maid of Orleans, none 
 have been more sincere or more lauda- 
 tory than those paid by the descendants 
 of her enemies. 
 
 John, dr. p. A follower of Jack Cade. 
 2HVI. 
 
 John, Don, dr. p. Bastard brother to 
 Don Pedro. Ado. 
 
JOH 
 
 149 
 
 JUM 
 
 John, Friar, dr.p. A Franciscan. Rom. 
 
 John of Gaunt, dr.p. Duke of Lan- 
 caster. 
 
 John, Prince of Lancaster, dr.p. Son to 
 Henry IV. IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 John Talbot, dr.p. Son to Lord Talbot. 
 IHVI. 
 
 John a=dreams. A dreamy, idle fellow. 
 Hml. II, 2, 595. 
 
 joint-ring. A split ring, the halves made 
 to fit in each other very closely when 
 united, and the joined hands to lock it 
 tight. Such rings were extensively 
 used as love tokens in the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries. Fairholt. 
 0th. IV, 3, 73. 
 
 joint-stool. The phrase, Cry you mercy, 
 I took you for a joint stool (Lr. Ill, 6, 
 54), seems to have been a common slang 
 expression in the time of Sh. Like 
 similar slang phrases of the present 
 day, it probably had no meaning and 
 was used by those who wished to appear 
 "smart." 
 
 jole. See jowl. 
 
 joll, ) V. To knock or dash. All's. I, 3, 
 
 jowl, ) 60; Hml. V, 1,82. 
 
 jolthead. A blockhead. Shr. IV, 1, 169. 
 
 Jordan. A slang name for a chamber 
 utensil. IHIV. II, 1, 22. 
 
 The history of this word is not very 
 clearly made out. It appears as early 
 as 1882. The most probable origin 
 seems to me to be from the name of the 
 river Jordan. Pilgrims on their return 
 from the Holy Land brought back a 
 bottle of the water of the sacred river 
 for baptismal purposes, and the bottles 
 themselves, which seem to have re- 
 sembled the well-kno%vn Florence flask 
 in shape, when emptied, continued to 
 be looked upon as somewhat sacred. 
 Hence, they were employed by chemists 
 for their more delicate operations, and 
 also by certain quack doctors. Owing 
 to the use made of them by the latter 
 the name came to be applied to any 
 vessel used for a similar purpose. It is 
 not probable that the original bottles 
 ever became so common as to be so 
 used. See Skeat's "Etymological Dic- 
 
 tionary" and the " Promptorium Parvu- 
 lorum," Vol. 1, page 267. 
 
 The word has no connection with 
 joram as intimated in a recent glossary. 
 Joram signifies a bowl of punch. 
 Jourdain, Margery, dr.p. A witch. 2HVI. 
 Margery Jourdain was a real charac- 
 ter, also known as the witch of Eye. 
 It was laid to her charge that she and 
 her confederates had, at the request of 
 the Duchess of Gloster, devised an 
 image of wax representing the king, 
 which by their sorcery a little and a 
 little consumed, intending thereby in 
 conclusion to waste and destroy the 
 king's person and so to bring him to 
 death. Margery was burnt in Smith- 
 field, and one of her confederates, Roger 
 Bolingbroke, was drawn and quartered, 
 at Tyburn, protesting his innocence 
 with his last breath. 
 
 journal. Daily. Gym. IV, 2, 10. 
 
 journeyman. A man who, having passed 
 his apprenticeship, is hired to work by 
 the day. French, joMrnee, a day's work. 
 RII. I, 3, 274 ; Hml. Ill, 2, 37. 
 
 Jove. See Jupiter. 
 
 Jovial. 1. Like Jupiter or Jove. Cym. 
 IV, 2, 311, and V, 4, 105. 
 2. Merry. Mcb. Ill, 2, 28. 
 
 Judas. See Oain-colored. 
 
 Judean. See Indian. 
 
 judicious. Critical. Wiv. I, 3, 68. 
 
 Jug. Whoop, Jug ! I love thee ! Com- 
 mentators are not agreed as to the 
 meaning of this expression of the fool. 
 It probably had no special meaning and 
 was merely a sort of "explosive" ex- 
 clamation, perhaps taken from some 
 old song. "Jug" was a nickname for 
 Joan. Lr. I, 4, 245. 
 
 Julia, dr.p. A lady of Verona. Grent. 
 
 Juliet, dr.p. Betrothed to Claudio. Meas. 
 
 Juliet, dr.p. Daughter to Capulet. Rom. 
 
 July, the sixth of. Wright points out 
 that this was old Midsummer Day and 
 an appropriate date for such midsummer 
 madness. Ado. I, 1, 285. 
 
 jump, n. A stake ; a hazard. Ant. Ill, 
 8, 6. 
 
 jump, adv. Exactly ; pat. Hml. I, 1, 65. 
 
JUH 
 
 150 
 
 JUV 
 
 Junius Brutus. See Brutus. 
 
 junkets. Dainties. Shr. Ill, 2, 250. 
 
 Juno, dr.p. A spirit. Tp. 
 
 Juno was the chief goddess in the 
 Roman mythology. She was identified 
 by the Romans with the Greek Hera, 
 who was the daughter of Cronos and 
 Rhea, and sister and wife of Zeus or 
 Jupiter. She was the goddess who pre- 
 sided over all the important affairs of 
 women. As the most important period 
 in a woman's life is marriage, she was 
 supposed to preside over this event, and 
 the month of June, which is said to 
 have been originally called Junonius, 
 was considered to be the most favorable 
 period for marrying. Her most promi- 
 nent characteristic was jealousy, and 
 she bitterly persecuted all the children 
 of Jupiter by mortal mothers — Hercules, 
 Bacchus and others. In art she is 
 usually represented as a mature woman 
 of majestic appearance, with a beauti- 
 ful forehead, large and widely-opened 
 eyes, and a grave expression command- 
 ing reverence. The peacock was sacred to 
 her. See Argus and lo. In As. I, 3, 
 77, Celia says : like Juno''s swans, Still 
 went we coupled and inseparable. 
 This is a mistake. The swan was sacred 
 to Venus. 
 
 Jupiter. The supreme deity of the 
 Romans and identified by them with 
 the Greek Zeus, who was a son of 
 Cronos and Rhea. He is called the 
 father of gods and men, the most high 
 and powerful among the immortals and 
 the one whom aU others obey. Being 
 the lord of heaven, he was worshipped 
 as the god of rain, storms, thunder and 
 lightning, the epithets Pluvius, Ful- 
 gurator, Tonans, etc., being given to 
 him in each special case. He is the hero 
 of numerous amatory intrigues, many of 
 which are alluded to in Sh., and the 
 details of which will be found under 
 Europa, lo, Leda, etc. Jupiter was 
 regarded as the guardian of law, the 
 protector of justice and virtue, and the 
 maintainer of the sanctity of an oath ; 
 hence, perhaps, the frequent invocation 
 
 of Jupiter or Jove in the oaths of the 
 ancients. As he was lord of heaven 
 and prince of light, the white color was 
 sacred to him ; consequently white 
 animals were sacrificed to him ; his 
 chariot was drawn by white horses, and 
 his priests were dressed in white. The 
 eagle, the oak and the summits of 
 mountains were sacred to him. Ac- 
 cording to the belief of the Romans, 
 he determined the course of all earthly 
 and human affairs ; he foresaw the 
 future and the events happening in 
 it were the result of his will. In 
 works of art his usual attributes are 
 the scepter, eagle, thunderbolt and a 
 figure of Victory in his hand. The 
 name Jupiter signifies father or lord, 
 being a contraction of Diovis pater or 
 Diespiter. 
 
 jure. A word manufactured by Falstaff 
 for the occasion and evidently having 
 no definite meaning. Grant White says : 
 " Falstaff 's exclamation, 'You are 
 grand jurors, are ye ? We'll jure ye, 
 i' faith,' seems to be based on an in- 
 tended whimsical misunderstanding of 
 ' we ' and ' ours ' in the Traveller's out- 
 cry ; ' ours ' having probably been pro- 
 nounced oors in Shakespeare's day." 
 
 just. Besides the usual meanings era- 
 bodying ideas of justice and right, this 
 word is used by Sh. both as an adjec- 
 tive and as an adverb to signify exact- 
 ness and precision. Merch. IV, 1, 327 ; 
 Ado. I, 1, 875 ; All's. V, 3, 221 ; 0th. 
 II, 3, 129. In Ado. II, 1, 28, just = 
 exactly so. 
 
 just, V. To tilt as in a tournament. Per. 
 II, 1, 116. 
 
 Justice Sliallow. See Shallow. 
 
 justicer. A judge. Lr. Ill, 6, 59 ; Cym. 
 V, 5, 214. 
 
 jut. 1. To encroach. RIII. II, 4, 51. 
 Also spelled jet. 
 
 2. To project ; to thrust forth. Tim. I, 
 2,237. 
 
 jutty, n. A projection. Mcb. I, 6, 6. 
 
 jutty, V. To project. HV. Ill, 1, 13. 
 
 Juvenal. A youth. LLL. I, 2, 8 ; 2HIV. 
 I, 2, 22. 
 
KAM 
 
 151 
 
 KIH 
 
 bvw/VWjAM. Crooked ; awry ; wrong. 
 
 ^l[^^ = entirely wrong. Sometimes 
 
 L^ U J "^w written cam. This word, like 
 crank, is no doubt connected with the 
 mechanical idea involved in the device 
 known as a cam, or crank. 
 
 Kate. See Percy, Lady. 
 
 Kate. In The Taming of the Shrew Sh. 
 introduces several puns on this word ; 
 thus in II, 1, 190 : For dainties all 
 are Kates is evidently a pun on cates 
 and Kates. In the same Act and scene, 
 line 279, some see a play upon wild cat 
 and wild Kate, but this seems to me 
 rather far-fetched. Still, in the rollick- 
 ing "chaff" between Petruchio and 
 Katharina we may imagine almost 
 anything in the way of puns and 
 quibbles. 
 
 Katharina, dr. p. The shrew. Shr. 
 
 Katharine, dr. p. A lady in attendance 
 on the Princess of France. LLL. 
 
 Katharine, Princess, dr.p. Daughter to 
 Charles VI, King of France. HV. 
 
 Katharine, Queen, dr.p. Wife to Henry 
 VIII. HVIII. 
 
 kecksy. The dried stem of hemlock or 
 similar plant. HV. V, 2, 52. 
 
 keech. The fat of an ox, rolled up into 
 a round lump ; hence the name given 
 to a fat person. 2HIV. II, 1, 101; 
 HVIII. I, 1, 55. 
 
 keel. According to some, this word 
 means to cool ; according to others it 
 means to skim. LLL. V, 2, 930. 
 
 keep, n. Custody ; guard. Shr. 1, 2, 118. 
 
 keep, V. To restrain ; to control. Gent. 
 IV, 4, 11. 
 
 Keisar. Caesar ; emperor. Wiv. I, 3, 9. 
 
 ken, n. Sight ; seeing distance. 2HIV. 
 IV, 1, 151 ; 2HVI. Ill, 2, 113. 
 
 ken, V, 1. To descry ; to see. 3HVI. 
 Ill, 2, 101. 
 
 2. To know. Troll. IV, 5, 14 ; Wiv. I, 
 8,40. 
 
 Kent, Earl of, dr.p. Attendant on King 
 Lear. Lr. 
 
 kern, i A foot soldier, usually Irish 
 
 kerne, j or from the Western Isles ; a 
 boor. Mcb. I, 2, 13; V, 7, 17. 
 
 kettle. A kettle-drum. Hml. V, 2, 286. 
 
 key. A tuning key. Tp. I, 2, 83. 
 
 key-cold. Cold as a key ; stone cold. 
 RIIL I, 2, 5. Lucr. 1774. 
 
 kibe. 1. A chilblain. Temp. II, 1, 284. 
 2. A chap on the heel. Hml. V, 1, 252 ; 
 Wiv. I, 2, 35. 
 
 kick at. To turn away from with loath- 
 ing and disgust. Cor. II, 2, 129. This 
 expression seems to have again come 
 into use in a slangy way. 
 
 kick-shaws. Toys ; trifles ; a made dish. 
 2HIV. V, 1, 29 ; Tw. I, 3, 122. A cor- 
 ruption of the French quelques choses. 
 
 kicksy-wicksy, \ A ludicrous term for 
 
 kicky-wicky. j a wife. AU's. II, 3, 297. 
 
 kill. Kill, kill, kill, was the ancient cry 
 of the English troops when they charged 
 the enemy. Ven. 652 ; Lr. IV, 6, 191. 
 
 killen. To kill. Per. II, Prol. 20. 
 
 kiln-hole. English coms. explain as the 
 ash-hole under a kiln or oven; Schm., 
 followed by "Century Dictionary," 
 calls it the opening of an oven. Wiv. 
 IV, 2, 59; Wint. IV, 4, 247. Harris 
 says: "Kiln-hole is pronounced kill- 
 hole in the Midland counties, and gener- 
 ally means the lire-place used in making 
 malt, and is stiU a noted gossiping 
 place." 
 
 kind. This word, as an adjective with 
 the usual meanings, occurs very fre- 
 quently in Sh., but in the passage, A 
 little more than kin and less than kind 
 (Hml. I, 2, 64), these meanings do not 
 seem to quite fill Hamlet's intention. 
 Johnson suggested that the word here 
 meant child or son, and this I believe 
 to be the correct interpretation of the 
 line. The King had just called Hamlet 
 his cousin, and then, on second thoughts, 
 called him son. Hamlet is at once 
 struck with the peculiarity of the King's 
 address, and in an aside says : " A little 
 more than Cousin and less than sou, 
 
XIK 
 
 152 
 
 EIB 
 
 else why did he hesitate." The words 
 kin and kind (pronounced kinn^d) being 
 used instead of cousin and son for the 
 sake of the jingle, as is very common 
 in Sh. works, as in Mcb. II, 3, 146 : the 
 near in blood, The nearer bloody. 
 That Sh, was addicted to these allitera- 
 tive jingles, notwithstanding the ridi- 
 cule which he throws upon them in 
 LLL. IV, 3, 57, is well known to all 
 attentive readers of his works. 
 
 Johnson's gloss has not been accepted 
 by any prominent com. or actor that I 
 know of except Mr. Wilson Barrett, but 
 I am confident that it is correct. The 
 chief objection that has been made is 
 that by Steevens, who claims that the 
 word kind is not to be found anywhere 
 else with this sense. But to any in- 
 telligent student of Sh. this is the feeb- 
 lest of aU reasons. Sh. cared nothing 
 for precedents; he uses many words 
 only once and to many words he gives 
 special forms and meanings and then 
 casts them aside, not to be used again. 
 To bolster up the common interpreta- 
 tion of the word the coms. have filled 
 pages with utterly irrelevant quotations 
 from dramatists of the period. See 
 kindless and unkind in this glossary 
 and " Shakespearean Notes and New 
 Readings," page 19. 
 
 kindle. 1. To bring forth young; also 
 to be born. Always applied to rabbits, 
 hares, cats and. similar animals. As. 
 Ill, 3, 3.58. ' 
 
 2. To inflame ; hence, to stimulate ; to 
 incite. As. I, 1, 179. 
 
 kindless. This word occurs but once in 
 all English literature, so far as I have 
 been able to find. In Hml. II, 2, 609, 
 we find ''remorseless, treacherous, 
 lecherous, kindless villain. ' ' The usual 
 meaning given to the word as here 
 found is without affection or kindness; 
 unnatural— & weak and ineffective 
 meaning considering the strong adjec- 
 tives that have preceded it. Some 
 years ago I suggested that the word 
 meant childless, such a reproach having 
 been considered very degrading in the 
 
 early times of aU nations. On sub- 
 mitting this gloss to the late Edwin 
 Booth he made the objection that Ham- 
 let was not likely to have "made a 
 kick at the old king's sterility." It 
 seems to me that this is just what he 
 would have done, for he boasts to 
 Ophelia of his own virility. See Hml. 
 Ill, 3, 260. The combination of the 
 affix less with an adjective is, to say 
 the least, unusual. It is almost always 
 used with nouns, as childless, homeless, 
 armless, etc., etc. See kind. 
 
 kindly, adj. Natural ; in keeping with 
 the natural qualities or properties of 
 things. Thus, by " the kindly fruits of 
 the earth " is meant the natural fruits. 
 In As. II, 3, 53, frosty, but kindly means 
 suited to his age. In IHVI. Ill, 1, 131, 
 the bishop has a kindly gird has re- 
 ceived various interpretations. Some 
 make it "a rebuke appropriate to the 
 occasion;" others explain it as "a 
 gentle rebuke;" others again as "a 
 reproach in kind." 
 
 kindly, adu. 1. Pertinently ; aptly. Rom. 
 II, 4, 59. 
 
 2. In a manner suited to the occasion. 
 Shr. Ind. I, 66. 
 
 King Edward IV, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 King Henry IV, dr.p. IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 King Henry V, dr.p. HV. 
 
 King Henry VI, dr.p. IHVI., 2HVI. and 
 3HVI. 
 
 King Henry Vlll, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 King John, dr.p. John. 
 
 King of France, dr.p. All's. 
 
 King of France, dr.p. Lr. 
 
 King Richard II, dr.p. RII. 
 
 King Richard III, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 kirtle. "Few words have occasioned 
 such controversy among the commen- 
 tators on our old plays as this, and all 
 for want of knowing that it is used in a 
 two-fold sense, sometimes for the jacket 
 merely, and sometimes for the train or 
 upper petticoat attached to it. A full 
 kirtle was always a jacket and petticoat, 
 a half -kirtle ^a term which frequently 
 occurs) was either the one or the other. " 
 Gifford. 
 
SIS 
 
 153 
 
 ENO 
 
 Under the word half-kirtle Nares tells 
 us that it was a common dress of 
 courtesans ; it seems to have been a 
 short-skirted loose-bodied gown ; but 
 not a bed-gjown, though it might also 
 be worn as such. Pilgr. 363; 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 297. 
 kiss. No need of a definition, but there 
 are two passages that will bear remark. 
 In Tw. V, 1, 22, the expression conclu- 
 sions to he as kisses, if your four 
 negatives make your two afflrma- 
 tives, has occasioned some comment. 
 War burton says: "What monstrous 
 absurdity have we here ? The Clown 
 is affecting to argue seriously and in 
 form. I imagine the poet wrote, so 
 that conclusion to be asked is, i.e., so 
 that the conclusion I have to demand 
 of you is this, if your four, etc. " Upon 
 this, Coleridge remarks : " Surely War- 
 burton could never have wooed by 
 kisses and won, or he would not have 
 flounder-flatted so just and humorous, 
 nor less pleasing than humorous an 
 image into so profound a nihility. In 
 the name of love and wonder, do not 
 four kisses make a double affirmative ? 
 The humor lies in the whispered ' No ' 
 and the inviting 'Don't! ' with which 
 the maiden's kisses are accompanied, 
 and thence compared to negatives, 
 which by repetition constitute an af- 
 firmative." 
 
 The line in Hml. II, 2, 182, being a 
 god-kissing carrion, has drawn forth 
 much discussion. Furness fills four 
 closely-printed pages with the observa- 
 tions of the corns., and then the mean- 
 ing is not made clear. In the Folios 
 and Quartos it reads good kissing. 
 Warburton changed good kissing to 
 god-kissing, and has been followed by 
 many modern eds. His remarks are 
 more in the nature of a sermon than a 
 note. It must be borne in mind that in 
 all his conversations with Folonius, 
 Hamlet apparently seeks to puzzle and 
 befog the old man. This probably ac- 
 counts for the intricacy of thought and 
 expression in the present case. It is easy 
 
 to imagine satisfactory and beautiful ex- 
 planations of this passage, but whether 
 they embody Sh. ideas or not is another 
 question. 
 
 kissing-comfits. Sugar-plums perfumed 
 to sweeten the breath. Wiv. V, 5, 
 22. 
 
 kitchen, v. To entertain in the kitchen. 
 Err. V, 1, 418. 
 
 knap. 1. To break off short. Merch. 
 Ill, 1, 10. 
 2. To rap. Lr. II, 4, 125. 
 
 knave. 1. A boy. Often used without 
 implying badness, and frequently as a 
 term of endearment. LLL. Ill, 1, 144. 
 In Scotch, often used to signify a male, 
 as in knave-bairn. 
 2. A servant. Lr. II, 2, 144; 0th. I, 
 
 1, 126. In old versions of the New 
 Testament "Paul, a servant of Jesus 
 Christ," is rendered " a knave of Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 knee. Lend me your knees = aid me in 
 my supplication. Meas. V, 1, 436. 
 
 knoll. Sounds ; probably a variant of 
 knell. Kins. I, 1. 
 
 knot-grass. A common weed, the Poly- 
 gonum aviculare. It is low, straggling 
 and having numerous and prominent 
 joints, whence the name. It was a 
 common superstition that children and 
 other young animals fed upon a decoc- 
 tion of knot-grass became stunted or 
 dwarfed. Some say that the term 
 " hindering " applied to it in Mids. Ill, 
 
 2, 329, means that it clogs the plow or 
 harrow and thus hinders the workman. 
 But the connection in which it occurs 
 points to the first interpretation as 
 being the true one. Furness suggests 
 that "hindering" applies not only to 
 knot-grass but to Hermia ; hence it 
 becomes in reality, a botanical pun. 
 
 knot-pated. Thick-headed. IHIV. II, 
 
 4, 79. 
 knots. Beds or plots in which a garden 
 
 is laid out. RIl. Ill, 4, 46. 
 know. To acknowledge ; to realize. Mob. 
 
 II, 2, 73. 
 known. Been acquainted with each other. 
 
 Ant. II, 6, 86 ; Cym. I, 4, 36. 
 
LA 
 
 154 
 
 LAM 
 
 MR^f^JA. 1. An exclamation signifying 
 
 Qfr^Bv! ^^^^ ' There now ! Tw. Ill, 4, 
 
 Nl^ll 111 ; Wint. II, 3, 50. 
 
 r . ^~e-^^ 2. Probably a euphemism for 
 Lord, and used as a mild form of as- 
 severation. Wint. I, 1, 86 ; Hml. IV, 
 5, 57. 
 
 3. A musical note in Guido's scale. LLL, 
 IV, 2, 102 ; Lr. I, 2, 149. 
 
 laborsome. Elaborate. Hml. I, 2, 59 ; 
 Cym. Ill, 4, 167. 
 
 labras. (Spanish.) Lips. Wiv. I, 1, 166. 
 
 lace. To adorn with ; material fastened 
 on. Sonn. LXVII, 4 ; Mcb. II, 3, 118 ; 
 Cym. II, 2, 22. See mutton. 
 
 lade. To empty ; to drain. 3HVI. Ill, 
 2, 139. 
 
 Lady Anne, dr.p. Widow to Edward, 
 Prince of Wales, and daughter to Earl 
 of Warwick. RIII. 
 
 Lady Capulet, dr.p. Wife to Capulet 
 and mother to Juliet. Rom. 
 
 Lady Faulconbridge, dr.p. Mother to 
 Robert and Philip Faulconbridge. John. 
 
 Lady Qrey, dr.p. Afterwards queen to 
 Edward IV. 3HVI.; RIII. 
 
 Lady Macbeth, dr.p. Wife to Macbeth. 
 Mcb. 
 
 Lady Macduff, dr.p. Wife to Macduff. 
 Mcb. 
 
 Lady Montague, dr.p. Wife to Mon- 
 tague. Rom. 
 
 Lady Mortimer, dr.j}. Daughter to Glen- 
 dower. IHIV. 
 
 Lady Northumberland, dr.p. 2HIV. 
 
 Lady Percy, dr.p. Wife to Hotspur. 
 See Percy, Lady. IHIV. 
 
 lady-bird. Staunton claims that this 
 term was usually applied to women of 
 loose manners, and that the " God for- 
 bid " in the nurse's exclamation means, 
 " G<xi forbid that such a term should 
 be applied to her." But Dyce sees in 
 it only a term of endearment, and that 
 the " God forbid " is properly an ellipsis 
 of '• Gtod forbid that any accident should 
 keep her away. ' ' Dyce is most probably 
 
 correct. Halliwell, in his "Dictionary 
 of Archaic Words," gives ladybird 
 with Staunton's meaning, but there is 
 only one instance of such use thus far 
 discovered. It does not appear to have 
 been in common use in this sense. Rom. 
 I, 3, 5. 
 
 lady-smock. The plant cardamine pror 
 tensis. LLL. V, 2, 903. 
 
 Laertes, dr.p. Son to Polonius. Hml. 
 
 Lafeu, dr.p. An old lord. All's. 
 
 lag, n. The last or lowest class of people. 
 Tim. Ill, 6, 90. 
 
 lag, adv. Late ; tardy ; coming short of. 
 RIIL 11,1, 90; Lr. 1,2, 6. 
 
 lag, V. To move slowly. RII. I, 3, 214. 
 
 lag-end. The latter end ; the last part. 
 IHIV. V, 1, 24 ; HVIII. I, 3, 35. 
 
 laid. Waylaid. The country i.s laid = 
 set on its guard to arrest. 2HVL IV, 
 10,4. 
 
 lakin. A contraction of ladykin = little 
 lady, an endearing term applied to the 
 Virgin Mary, and used as a mincing 
 oath. Tp. Ill, 3, 1 ; Mids. Ill, 1, 14. 
 
 Lammas-tide. The first of August in 
 the old calendar ; now the twelfth. So- 
 caUed from the Anglo-saxon hlaf-mcesse 
 = loaf -mass or bread-mass, because on 
 this day the first fruits of the harvest 
 were offered at mass. In Scotland and 
 the North of England this is the time 
 when the lambs are sold, and numerous 
 fairs, known as "Lammas Fairs," are 
 held in different parts of the country. 
 Hence, some have erroneously derived 
 the name from lamb. 
 
 Lamond. In the Fl. Lamound. It has 
 been suggested that Sir W. Raleigh 
 was the original of this character, but 
 without good grounds. Mr. C. E. 
 Brown thinks that it is an allusion to 
 Pietro Monte, a famous cavalier and 
 swordsman, who is mentioned by Cas- 
 tiglione as the instructor of Louis the 
 Seventh's Master of Horse. 
 
 lampass, A disease which affects the 
 
LAN 
 
 155 
 
 LAU 
 
 mouths of horses. Shr. Ill, 2, 53. 
 " The bars [of the palate] occasionally 
 swell, and rise to a level with, and even 
 beyond, the edge of the teeth. They 
 are very sore, and the horse feels badly 
 on account of the pain he suffers from 
 the pressure of the food on them. This 
 is called the Lampas.'''' Youatt. 
 
 Lancaster, Duke of, dr.p. Uncle to 
 Richard II. RII. 
 
 Lancaster, Prince John of, dr.p. Son 
 to Henry IV. IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 lances. Lancers ; men armed with lances. 
 LLL. V, 3, 650; Lr. V, 3, 50. 
 
 land. Lawn. Tp. IV, 1, 130 ; LLL. V, 
 2, 310. 
 
 land-carrack. See carrack. 
 
 land-damn. A word of which the mean- 
 ing is entirely conjectural. It occurs 
 but once in Sh., and certainly means to 
 inflict extreme punishment, but what 
 or how we know not. Wint. II, 1, 143. 
 
 land-raker. A vagabond. IHIV. II, 1, 81. 
 
 lank, V. To shrink ; to become lank. 
 Ant. I, 4, 71. 
 
 lantern, ) A louvre; a window-turret. 
 
 lanthorn. f Rom. V, 3, 84. 
 
 lap. To wrap up. Mcb. I, 2, 55 ; Cym. 
 V, 5, 361. 
 
 lapwing. A bird ; the Vanellus crista- 
 tus ; called also the peeivit or peetvee 
 from its cry. It is about as large as a 
 pigeon, and is familiar to every one 
 who has had occasion to cross waste 
 lands in Great Britain. Like some 
 other ground-nesting birds it has a habit 
 of luring intruders away from its nest 
 by fluttering along the ground as if it 
 were wounded or had a broken wing, 
 and in this way enticing the would-be 
 capturer to a distance, when it suddenly 
 takes flight and regains its nest by a 
 circuitous route. This habit of decep- 
 tion has made the lapwing a symbol of 
 insincerity, and has given rise to the 
 proverb : " The lapwing cries most far- 
 thest from her nest." Ray's "Prov- 
 erbs." Ado. Ill, 1,25; Err. IV, 2, 27. 
 Another characteristic which the lap- 
 wing shares with some other ground- 
 nesting birds is that the young are so 
 
 forward that the moment the shell 
 is hatched the young are able to 
 run about, and often do so with 
 part of the shell adhering to their 
 bodies. Most writers speak of the shell 
 adhering to the head, but this I have 
 never seen ; but even the newly-hatched 
 chickens of common barn-door fowl 
 are often seen carrying portions of the 
 sheU on their backs. Hml. V, 2, 193. 
 
 lapsed, p.p. Surprised ; taken ; appre- 
 hended. Tw. Ill, 3, 36 ; Hml. Ill, 4, 107. 
 
 lard. To ornament. Hml. IV, 5, 38. 
 
 large. Unrestrained ; free ; licentious. 
 Mcb. Ill, 4, 11 ; Ado. II, 3, 206; Rom. 
 
 II, 4, 102. 
 
 largess. Donation ; bounty. Mcb. II, 
 1, 14. 
 
 lark. The European sky-lark, famed for 
 its song while soaring in the heavens. 
 Cym. II, 3, 21 ; Rom. Ill, 5, 31. " The 
 toad having very fine eyes and the lark 
 very ugly ones, was the occasion of a 
 common saying among the people that 
 the toad and lark had changed eyes.'''' 
 Warhurton. 
 
 laroon. A thief. (French, larron.) Wiv. 
 I, 4, 71. 
 
 lass-lorn. Forsaken by his mistress or 
 sweetheart. Tp. IV, 1, 68. 
 
 latch. 1. To catch ; to lay hold of. Mcb. 
 IV, 3, 195. 
 
 2. To anoint; to besmear. Mids. Ill, 2, 
 36. Schm. doubts the propriety of this 
 definition of the word, but there seems 
 to be good authority for it. 
 
 lated, p.p. Belated ; benighted. Mcb. 
 
 III, 3, 6 ; Ant. Ill, 11, 30. 
 
 lath. A wooden sword used by clowns ; 
 hence, a contemptuous term for a sword 
 in the handsof a weakling. Tit. II, 1, 41. 
 
 latten. A coarse kind of brass ; a metal 
 incapable of taking a fine temper or 
 holding a keen edge. Wiv. I, 1, 165. 
 
 Launce, dr.p. Servant to Proteus. Gent. 
 
 Launcelot Gobbo, dr.p. Servant to Shy- 
 lock. Merch. 
 
 laund. A glade or open space in the 
 woods. The old form of lawn. 3HVI. 
 Ill, 1, 2 ; Kins. Ill, 1. 
 
 launder. To wash. CompL 17, 
 
LAU 
 
 156 
 
 L'EN 
 
 Laurence, Friar, dr. p. A Franciscan. 
 Rom. 
 
 Lavache, dr. p. A clown. All's. 
 
 Lavinia, dr.p. Daughter to Titus An- 
 dronicus. Tit. 
 
 lavolta. A dance consisting chiefly in 
 high bounds and whirls. Troil. IV, 4, 88. 
 
 law-day. A court day ; a day on which 
 the judges sit to administer justice, 
 0th. Ill, 3, 140. 
 
 lay. A wager. 0th. II, 3, 330 ; Gym. 1, 4, 59. 
 
 leading. The power of leading ; general- 
 ship. IHIV. IV, 3, 17. 
 
 leaguer. A camp; generally used to 
 signify the camp of the assailants in a 
 siege. AU's. Ill, 6, 27. 
 
 Leander. A youth of Abydos who was 
 in lo\e with Hero, the priestess of 
 Venus in Sestus. Guided by a lamp 
 displayed by Hero, he swam across the 
 Hellespont every night to meet her and 
 returned before daybreak. One stormy 
 night his strength was unequal to the 
 task and he was drowned. Next morn- 
 ing his body was cast up on the shore 
 of Sestus, whereupon Hero cast herself 
 into the sea and perished. The story 
 of Hero and Leander is alluded to 
 several times in Sh. Gent. Ill, 1, H7 ; 
 Rom. II, 4, 44 ; As. IV, 1, 100. 
 
 Lear, dr.p. King of Great Britain. Lr. 
 
 learn. To teach. Tp. I, 2, 365; Ado. 
 IV, 1, 31 ; RII. IV, 1, 130. A use of 
 the word which is now regarded as in- 
 correct. 
 
 leash. A set of three, from the string 
 or thong for leading greyhounds, to 
 which usually three dogs were attached. 
 The leash of drawers are Tom, Dick 
 and Francis, who have just been named. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 7. 
 
 leasing. Lying. Tw. I, 5, 105 ; Cor. V, 
 2, 22. 
 
 leather-coats. The apples generally 
 known as golden russets or russetings. 
 2HIV. V, 3, 44. 
 
 leave, n. License; licentiousness. Ven. 
 ofW ; 3HVL III, 2, 34. 
 
 leave, r. 1. To part with. Hml, III, 4, 91, 
 2. To desist from: to leave off. Gent. 
 11,6, 17: March. V, 1,43. 
 
 Le Beau, dr.p. A courtier. As. 
 
 Leda. The daughter of Thesti us and wife 
 of Tyndareus. She was a very beauti- 
 ful woman, and Jupiter fell in love 
 with her. In order to gain access to 
 her he transformed himself into a swan. 
 Wiv. V, 5, 7. The accounts given by 
 the ancient writers of the paternity of 
 her children are very much confused. 
 She was the mother of Castor and 
 Pollux and other children, including the 
 famous Helen, the wife of Menelaus and 
 the cause of the Fall of Troy. 
 
 leech. A physician. Tim. V, 4, 84. 
 
 leer. 1. An amorous and smiling look. 
 Wiv. I, 3, 50. 
 
 2. Complexion ; color. As. IV, 1, 67 ; 
 Tit. IV, 2, 119. 
 
 leese. To loose. Sonn. V, 14. 
 
 leet. A manor court or private juris- 
 diction for petty offences ; also a day on 
 which such court is held. Nares. Shr. 
 Ind. II, 89 ; 0th. III. 3, 140. ^ee sealed. 
 
 leg. A bow ; an obeisance. Cor. II, 1, 
 78 ; Tim. I, 2, 241. 
 
 lege. To allege. Shr. I, 2, 28. 
 
 leiger, ) Ambassador or messenger. 
 
 leidger. ) Meas. Ill, 1, 59 ; Cym. I, 5, 80. 
 See also lieger. 
 
 legerity. Lightness; nimbleness. HV. 
 IV, 1, 23. 
 
 legs. As proper a man as ever went on 
 four legs. Tp. II, 2, 62. The usual 
 form of the proverb is : "As proper a 
 man as ever went on two legs," but 
 Stephano, seeing four legs sticking out 
 from under one gaberdine, thinks this 
 a man with four legs and alters the 
 proverb to suit. See neaVs-leather. 
 
 leman. A lover ; a paramour (either 
 masculine or feminine). Wiv. IV, 2, 
 172 ; Tw. II, 3, 26. 
 
 Lennox, dr.p. A Scottish nobleman. 
 Mcb. 
 
 Leonardo, dr.p. Servant to Bassanio. 
 Merch. 
 
 lenten. Spare (like the fare in Lent). 
 Tw. I, 5, 9 ; Hml. II, 2, 329. 
 
 I'envoy. A technical term (old French) 
 signifying a sort of postscript ; a fare- 
 well or moral at the end of a poem or 
 
LET 
 
 157 
 
 LIM 
 
 prose piece. LLL. Ill, ], 72, 73, etc. 
 The expression the Venvoy, found in 
 lines 88 and 89, is rather awkward as 
 using both the English and French 
 articles together before the same noun, 
 1' (le) being the French for the. But 
 this form was and* still is in common 
 use. 
 
 let, n. A hindrance. HV. V, 2, 65. 
 
 let, V. To hinder. Gent. Ill, 1, 113; 
 Hml. I, 4, 85. 
 
 lethe. 1. A river in Hades whose waters 
 were said to have the property of 
 causing those who drank of them or 
 bathed in them to forget everything 
 that had occurred in their past lives. 
 Hml. I, 5, 83 ; Tw. IV, 1, 66 ; 2HIV. V, 
 2, 72. 
 2. Death. Cses. Ill, 1, 206. 
 
 level, n. The direction of an aim. All's. 
 11,1,159; HVIII. 1,2,2. 
 
 level, V. To aim, RIII. IV, 4, 202; 
 Merch. I, 2, 41 ; Ant. V, 2, 339. 
 
 lets. Hindrances. Kins. Ill, 5. 
 
 Leonato, dr.p. Governor of Messina. 
 Ado. 
 
 Leonatus Posthumus, dr.p. Husband 
 to Imogen. Cym. 
 
 Leonine, dr.p. Servant to Dionyza. Per. 
 
 Leontes, dr.p. King of Sicilia. Wint. 
 
 Lepidus, Marcus ^milius, dr.p. A tri- 
 umvir. Ant. 
 
 lewdly. Wickedly ; badly. 2HVI. II, 1, 
 167. 
 
 lewdster. A Ubertine. Wiv. V, 8, 23. 
 
 llbbard. A leopard. LLL. V, 2, 551. 
 "The knee-caps in old dresses and in 
 plate-armour frequently represented a 
 libbard's (i.e., a leopard's) head." Dyce. 
 
 liberal. Licentious ; wanton. Ado. IV, 
 
 1, 93; Hml. IV, 7, 171; 0th. II, 1, 165. 
 liberty. Freedom from rules, Hml. II, 
 
 2, 421. This passage has given rise to a 
 great deal of conjecture. See writ. 
 
 license. Licentiousness. Meas. Ill, 2, 216. 
 
 Lie has. He was the attendant or servant 
 of Hercules and was sent by the latter 
 to his wife, Deianira, for a robe suitable 
 for him to wear while offering a sacri- 
 fice to Jupiter. Deianira sent a garment 
 steeped in the blood of Nessus, and as 
 
 soon as it had grown warm on the body 
 of Hercules, the latter suffered the 
 most excruciating tortures. Maddened 
 by the pain which he endured, he threw 
 his faithful servant, Lichas, into the 
 sea. Merch. II, 1, 32; Ant. IV, 12, 45. 
 
 lictors. Officers who attended the magis- 
 trates in ancient Rome, clearing the 
 way and performing other duties. Ant. 
 V, 2, 214. 
 
 lie. To dwell; to abide. Gent. IV, 2, 
 137; Shr. IV, 4, 56 ; Tw. Ill, 1, 8. 
 
 liefest. Best beloved. 2HVI. Ill, 1, 164. 
 
 lifter. A thief. Troil. I, 2, 129. (Punning.) 
 
 lieger. An ambassador. Cym. I, 5, 80. 
 "A lieger ambassador is one that 
 resides in a foreign court to promote 
 his master's interests. " Johnson. 
 
 Kg. To rest: to lie. HV. Ill, 2, 125. 
 Sh. puts this word in the mouth of the 
 Scottish captain, Jamy, as a Scotticism. 
 It is old English and is used by Spencer 
 and Chaucer. As a dialect word it is 
 used to-day in the North of England 
 more than in Scotland. See Tennyson's 
 " Northern Farmer. " 
 
 Ligarius, dr.p. A Roman conspirator. 
 Caes. 
 
 liggens. Shallow's oath, by God^s liggens. 
 2HIV. V, 3, 69. 
 
 Said to be manufactured for Shallow, 
 but this is doubtful, 
 
 lightly. Usually ; commonly, RIII. Ill, 
 1, 94, Nares. 
 
 light-o'-love. " An old tune of a dance, 
 the name of which made it a proverbial 
 expression of levity, especially in love 
 matters. Sir John Hawkins recovered 
 the original tune from an old MS. , and 
 it is inserted in the notes to Much Ado 
 About Nothing.'''' Nares. The music 
 and some of the words may be found in 
 the New Variorum Ed. of Ado., by Dr. 
 Furness, page 181. 
 
 Limander. Bottom's blunder for Leander. 
 q.v. Mids. V, 1, 198. 
 
 limbeck. An alembec; a still. Sonn. 
 CXIX, 2 ; Mcb. I, 7, 67. 
 
 limber. Easily set aside. Wint. I, 2, 47. 
 
 limb-meal. Limb by Umb. Cym. II, 4, 
 147. See inch-meal. 
 
LIM 
 
 158 
 
 LIV 
 
 limbo (lirabus). 1. The borders of hell or 
 hell itself ; usually supposed to be a 
 region outside of hell where. those who 
 have not received the grace of Christ, 
 while living, and yet are not actually 
 condemned, have their abode. Limbus 
 patrum, a prison on the outer circle of 
 hell where are confined those righteous 
 who died before the coming of Christ. 
 2. A cant expression for prison. Err. 
 IV, 2, 32 ; HVIII. V, 4, 67. 
 
 Lincoln, Bishop of, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 lime, n. 1. A well-known substance of 
 which mortar is made. It is strongly 
 alkaline and was frequently added to 
 wine and beer to correct acidity. IHIV. 
 
 II, 4, 137. 
 
 2. Bird-lime; a sticky substance used 
 
 for catching birds. Tp. IV, 1, 246; 
 
 Gent. Ill, 2, 68; Mcb. IV, 2, 34. 
 
 lime, V. 1. To smear with bird-lime. 
 
 2HVI. 1,3, 91; Tw. Ill, 4, 82; Hml. 
 
 III, 3, 68. 
 
 2, To add lime to wine to correct its 
 
 acidity. Wiv. I, 3, 15. 
 limit. To appoint. Meas. IV, 2, 175; 
 
 Mcb. II, 3, 58. 
 limn. To draw ; to paint. As. II, 7, 
 
 194. 
 line. 1. To draw ; to delineate. As. Ill, 
 
 2,97. 
 
 2. To pad ; to stuff. Tim. IV, 1, 14. 
 
 3. To bribe. Cym. II, 3, 72. 
 
 4. To fortify ; to strengthen. John II, 
 1, 352 ; IHIV. II, 3, 86 ; Mcb. I, 3, 112. 
 
 line-grove. Supposed to be a misprint 
 for lime-grove. Tp. V, 1, 10. 
 
 ling. 1. A fish {molva vulgaris) which 
 is extensively used as food in a salted 
 and dried condition like codfish. This 
 is probably what the clown means in 
 All's. Ill, 2, 14. " The clown probably 
 uses ling for meagre food in general, 
 as he uses Isbels for waiting-women 
 generally." Cowden Clarke. 
 2. The name is also applied to moorland 
 plants — heather, broom, etc., and Dyce 
 and some others claim that the word 
 " long " in Tp. I, 1, 70 should be " ling. " 
 
 lining. Padding ; stuffing ; something to 
 fill out. • LLL. V, 2, 791. 
 
 link. A torch. Shr. IV, 1, 137. It 
 was a common trick to color or 
 blacken old hats by holding them over 
 the smoky flame of a pitch torch. In 
 Mihil Mumchance (wrongly attributed 
 by Steevens to Greene) we read : "This 
 cozenage is used, likewise, in selling old 
 hats found upon dung-hills, instead of 
 newe, blackt over with the smoake of 
 an old linke." 
 
 linsey-woolsey. Cloth made of flax and 
 wool ; hence a mixture of ill-assorted 
 things ; a farago. All's. IV, 1, 13. 
 
 linstock. " A curved stick with a cock 
 at one end to hold a gunner's match, 
 and a sharp point at the other to stick 
 it upright in the ground." "Kersey's 
 Dictionary." The old means of firing 
 a cannon. HV. Ill, chor. 33. 
 
 Lion. A character in the interlude. Mids. 
 
 lip, V. To kiss. 0th. IV, 1, 72. 
 
 Lipsbury pinfold. The location of Lips- 
 bury has never been found out. Capell 
 says: "This we may know, and with 
 certainty, that it was some village or 
 other famed for boxing ; that the boxers 
 fought in a ring or enclosed circle and 
 that this ring was called ' Lipsbury 
 pinfold.'" Nares thought it might 
 " mean the teeth as being the pinfold 
 within the lips." Collier's MS. gives 
 "Finsbury," and Jennen's suggests 
 "Ledbury." Kent evidently meant a 
 place or enclosure where he could thrash 
 Oswald without fear of interruption. 
 Lr. II, 2, 9. 
 
 list. Boundary ; enclosure. Meas. I, 1, 6 ; 
 Hml. IV, 5, 99. 
 
 lither. Soft ; pliant. IHVI. IV, 7, 21. 
 
 litigious. Doubtful ; precarious. Per. 
 
 III, 3, 3. 
 
 littered. Born ; a term generally applied 
 to puppies and kittens, but used by 
 Autolycus in regard to himself. Wint. 
 
 IV, 3, 25. 
 
 livelihood. Semblance of life. All's. I, 
 1, 58. 
 
 livery. A law phrase, signifying the act 
 of delivering a freehold into the posses- 
 sion of the heir or purchaser. RII. II, 
 3, 129 ; IHIV. IV, 3, 62. 
 
LIV 
 
 159 
 
 LOB 
 
 living. Active ; present ; convincing. 
 0th. Ill, 3, 409. 
 
 lizard. The common gray lizard of 
 England is the Lacerta agilis, a slender 
 animal with four legs and a long tail. 
 In Shakespeare's time it was a general 
 belief that the harmless little lizard 
 was armed with a venomous little sting 
 (2HVI. Ill, 2, 335), and the same idea 
 is quite common even at the present 
 time. This was probably the reason 
 why the lizard and a very similar-look- 
 ing, though radically different, animal, 
 the newt, formed an ingredient in the 
 broth of witches. It is needless to say 
 that the lizard is quite harmless and, 
 indeed, forms a very pretty and inter- 
 esting pet. Like the chameleon it lives 
 wholly upon insects. See newt. 
 
 loach. A kind of fish. IHIV. II, 1, 23. 
 The comparison here has drawn forth 
 much comment from Sh. editors, but 
 without satisfactory results. See hawk. 
 
 lob, n. A lout ; something large or thick. 
 Thou lob of spirits. Mids. II, 1, 16. 
 Johnson correctly says that the word 
 indicates inactivity of body and dulness 
 of mind. Dyce says that as Puck could 
 fly "swifter than arrow from the Tar- 
 tar's bow,'- and could "put a girdle 
 round about the earth in forty minutes, ' ' 
 the Fairy could hardly mean, as Mr. 
 Collier supposes, "to reproach Puck 
 with heaviness. " This is all weU enough 
 for a man to say, because even a Verne 
 did not suggest that he could do it in 
 less than eighty days. But light would 
 go round the world while Puck was 
 making a couple of flaps with his wings, 
 and electricity in still less time. If the 
 fairy could have done it in forty seconds 
 she might well call Puck a slow, loutish 
 creature. That the word indicates large 
 size is seen m the name lob-worm 
 given to a large, slow-moving kind 
 of earth-worm often used by anglers 
 for bait. 
 
 lob, V. To hang down in a wearied and 
 sluggish manner. HV. IV, 2, 47. 
 
 lockram. A cheap kind of linen. Cor. 
 II, 1, 225. So called from Locrenan, 
 
 the place in Brittany where it was 
 made. 
 
 locusts. Undoubtedly the fruit (long 
 pods) of the carobtree (ceratonia siliqua) 
 and not insects. 0th. I, 3, 354. These 
 pods, when in good condition, are quite 
 sweet. They are known as " John the 
 Baptist's bread." 
 
 lodestar. The leading star; the pole 
 star. Lucr. 179 ; Mids, I, 1, 183. 
 
 Lodovico, dr.p. Kinsman to Brabantio. 
 Merch. 
 
 lodged. Growing grain is said to be 
 lodged when it is laid flat by wind and 
 rain. RII. Ill, 3, 162 ; Mcb. IV, 1, 55. 
 See bladed. 
 
 loffe. To laugh. Mids. II, 1, 55. 
 
 loggats. A popular game in which small 
 logs are thrown at a stake fixed in the 
 ground. Hml. V, 1, 100. Hanmer, 
 Capell and most of the smaU glossaries 
 make it the same as nine-pins, but 
 Nares shows that this is a mistake. 
 
 loggerhead. A blockhead ; a dolt. LLL. 
 
 IV, 3, 204; IHIV. II, 4, 4. 
 
 long. To belong. Meas. II, 2, 59 ; HV. 
 
 11,4, 80; Per. II, Intro. 40. 
 Longaville, dr.p. A lord attendant on 
 
 the King of Navarre. LLL. 
 longly. Fondly ; lovingly. Shr. 1, 1, 170. 
 long of. On account of ; because of. Mids. 
 
 Ill, 2, 339 ; Cym. V, 5, 272. 
 long-staff sixpenny strikers. Fellows 
 
 that infest the road with long staves and 
 
 rob men of sixpences. IHIV. II, 1, 82. 
 Longsword, William, dr.p. Earl of 
 
 Salisbury. John. 
 loof . To luff ; to bring close to the wind. 
 
 Ant. Ill, 10, 18. 
 loon. A low contemptible fellow. Mcb. 
 
 V, 3, 11. 
 
 looped. FuU of holes. Lr. Ill, 4, 31. 
 
 loose, V. To discharge an arrow. HVIII. 
 V, 4, 60. 
 
 loose, n. The discharge of an arrow. 
 LLL. V, 2, 750. 
 
 Lord, A, dr.p. A character in the Induc- 
 tion. Shr. 
 
 Lord Abergavenny, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 Lord Bardolph, dr.p. An enemy to the 
 king. 2HIV. 
 
LOR 
 
 160 
 
 LTTC 
 
 Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
 dr.p. 3HIV. 
 
 Lord Clifford, dr.p. A Lancastrian. 
 2HVI. andSHVI. 
 
 Lord Fitzwater, dr.p. RII. 
 
 Lord Grey, dr.p. Son to Lady Grey. 
 RIII. 
 
 Lord Hastings, dr.p. 2HIV., 3HVI. and 
 RIII. 
 
 Lord Lovel, dr.p. RIII. See Lovel. 
 
 Lord Mowbray, dr.p. An enemy to the 
 king. 2HIV. 
 
 Lord Rivers, dr.p. Brother to Lady 
 Grey. 3HVI. 
 
 Lord Ross, dr.p. RII. 
 
 Lord Sands, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 Lord Say, dr.p. 2HVI. 
 
 Lord Scales, dr.p. Governor of the 
 Tower. 2HVI. 
 
 Lord Scroop, dr.p. An enemy to the 
 king. HV. 
 
 Lord Stafford, dr.p. A Yorkist. 3HVI. 
 
 Lord Stanley, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 Lord Talbot, dr.p. Afterwards Earl of 
 Shrewsbury. IHVI. 
 
 Lord Willoughby, dr.p. RII. 
 
 "Lord have mercy on us." The in- 
 scription which used to be placed on 
 the doors of houses visited by the plague 
 to warn persons not to approach them. 
 LLL. V, 2, 419. 
 
 Lord's tokens. Plague spots. It was 
 supposed that when these appeared 
 there was no hope of recovery. LLL. 
 V, 2, 424. 
 
 Lorenzo, dr.p. The lover of Jessica. 
 Merch. 
 
 lots to blanks. Very great odds. Cor. 
 V, 2, 10. 
 
 lottery, A prize; that which falls to 
 one's share by lot. Ant. II, 2, 248. 
 
 Louis, dr.p. The Dauphin of France. John. 
 
 Louis, dr. />. The Dauphin of France. HV. 
 
 Louis XI, dr.p. King of France. 3HVI. 
 
 lout, ) n. An awkward, foolish fellow ; 
 
 lowt, j a bumpkin. Gent. IV, 4, 71 ; 
 Wint. I, 2, 301 ; Cym. V, 2, 9. 
 
 lout, I V. To make a fool of. IHVI. 
 
 lowt, ) IV, 3, 13. 
 
 love-day. A day for the amicable settle- 
 ment of differences. Tit. 1, 1, 4. 
 
 Lovel, Lord, dr.p. A friend to Richard 
 III. 
 
 This was Francis, Lord Lovell and 
 Holland, who is referred to in the 
 famous lines quoted ante under Catesby. 
 He escaped from the battle of Bosworth 
 and reached Flanders and Burgundy, 
 whence he returned with two thousand 
 men to support the impostor Lambert 
 Sininel. Some say that he was slain at 
 the battle of Stoke ; others, that he es- 
 caped and found refuge in a secret 
 vault in his old home. In 1708 there 
 was found in this vault a skeleton, with 
 remnants of jars, etc. It is supposed 
 that the skeleton was his and that he 
 had eventually starved to death. 
 
 Lovell, Sir Thomas, dr.j). HVIII. 
 
 loves. Of all loves = for love's sake, i.e., 
 for the sake of the love between us. 
 Wiv. II, 2, 119 ; Mids. II, 2, 154. In 
 0th. Ill, 1, 13 the Fl. and most modern 
 eds. read for love'^s sake ; the Quarto 
 reads of all loves. 
 
 love-in-idleness. The pansy or heart's- 
 ease — viola tricolor. Mids. II, 1, 168 ; 
 Shr. I, 1, 156. 
 
 lown. A base feUow. 0th. II, 3, 96; 
 Per. IV, 6, 19. Same as loon. 
 
 lozel. A faint-hearted, cowardly, worth- 
 less feUow. Wint. II, 3, 109. 
 
 lubber. A heavy, inactive fellow. G«nt. 
 II, 5, 47 ; Tw. IV, 1, 14 ; Troil. Ill, 3, 
 139. Mrs. Quickly uses Lubber's head 
 for Libbard's head in 2HIV. II, 1, 30. 
 
 luce. A British fish, very similar in ap- 
 pearance and habits to the American 
 pickerel. It is called a jack when small, 
 a pike when in its middle stage, and a 
 luce or lucie when full grown. Sir 
 Thomas Lucy, the poet's old enemy, 
 bore three luces in his coat of ai'ms. 
 Slender increases them to a dozen, and 
 Evans, seeming to understand the word 
 according to his own pronunciation, 
 calls them "louses;" the word louse 
 in old English, Scottish, and some 
 English dialects being pronounced loos 
 or luce. He therefore remarks that a 
 dozen white louses do become an old 
 coat well, that it is a familiar beast to 
 
LTJC 
 
 161 
 
 LUC 
 
 man and signifies love, because, as 
 Bos well says, "it does not desert man 
 in distress. ' ' Some have detected a pun 
 in the "salt fish" and the "luce salt- 
 ant " (leaping) ; but the proper word for 
 that, in the case of fish, is haurient. 
 But then we must not look for accuracy 
 at the hands of Shallow. Commenting 
 on this passage, Verplanck says : "The 
 English commentators have been much 
 perplexed here, and pronounce the 
 passage 'an heraldic puzzle.' Did not 
 Shakespeare merely intend to ridicule 
 the pedantry of heraldry so common 
 in his days, and doubtless, like all other 
 pedantry, often blundering?" Wiv. 
 I, 1, 16 ; and see prick. 
 
 It has been suggested that Sh. 
 found a hint for the speeches of 
 Slender, Shallow and Evans in Hollin- 
 shed's "Chronicles of Ireland." This 
 is quite possible, for Sh. would seize 
 upon any facts or even forms of expres- 
 sion that suited his purpose, no matter 
 where they came from. To such an 
 extent is this true that somebody gave 
 him the sobriquet of " The Great War- 
 wickshire Thief. " The passage in ques- 
 tion reads as follows : " Having lent 
 the king his signet to seal a letter, who 
 having powdered erinuts ingrailed in 
 the seal ; ' "WTiy, how now. Wise, ' quoth 
 the king, ' what, hast thou lice here ? ' 
 'And if it like, your majesty,' quoth 
 Sir William, ' a louse is a rich coat, for 
 by giving the louse I part arms with 
 the French king, in that he giveth the 
 flower de Uce.' Whereat the king 
 heartily laughed to hear how prettily 
 so biting a taunt was suddenly turned 
 to so pleasant a conceit." 
 
 In view of this passage, Schm. sug- 
 gests that the luce of Slender and 
 Shallow may be the " fiower-de-luce ! " 
 No one can read the line I, 1, 23 in- 
 telligently and adopt Schm. idea. 
 
 Luce, dr. p. Servant to Adriana. Err. 
 
 Lucentio, dr. p. Son to Vicentio. Shr. 
 
 Lucetta, dr. p. Waiting- woman to Julia. 
 Gent. 
 
 Luciana, dr. p. Sister to Adriana. Err. 
 
 Lucifer. Satan. Wiv. I, 3, 84; 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 360 ; HV. IV, 7, 145. The name 
 literally means the light-bringer, hence 
 its application to the common lucif er or 
 light-bringing match. The poets claim 
 that before his fall Satan was called 
 Lucifer, and in the authorized version 
 of the Bible (Isaiah xiv, 12) the name is 
 applied to Nebuchadnezzar, King of 
 Babylon. It is to this passage, doubt- 
 less, that Sh. makes Wolsey refer in his 
 speech (HVIII. Ill, 2, 371) : And when 
 he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never 
 to hope again. 
 
 Lucilius, dr.p. A friend to Brutus and 
 Cassius. Cses. 
 
 Lucilius, dr.p. Servant to Timon. Tim. 
 
 Lucina. The Roman goddess, who pre- 
 sided over the birth of children. Her 
 name is derived from the Latin word 
 lux, light, because she brings children 
 into the light. Cym. V, 4, 43. 
 
 Lucio, dr.p. A fantastic. Meas. 
 
 Lucius, dr.p. A lord, flatterer of Timon. 
 Tim. 
 
 Lucius, dr.p. A servant. Tim. 
 
 Lucius, dr.p. Servant to Brutus. Caes. 
 
 Lucius, dr.p. Son to Titus. Tit. 
 
 Lucius, Caius, dr.p. General of the 
 Roman forces. Cym. 
 
 lucky days. In Sh. time great attention 
 was paid to this surperstitious fancy, 
 and se\ eral allusions to it are found in 
 the plays. Thus, in Wint. Ill, 3, 142, 
 the shepherd says to the clown : Tis a 
 lucky day, hoy; and weHl do good 
 deeds onH. In the old almanacs the 
 days supposed to be favorable or un- 
 favorable are enumerated, allusion to 
 which occurs in Webster's Duchess of 
 Malfy (1623) : 
 By the almanac, I think. 
 To choose good days and shun the 
 critical. 
 This was no doubt the controlling idea 
 of the speakers in John III, 1, 86 and 
 Mcb. IV, 1, 134. Even at this day the 
 superstition has a deep hold on the 
 popular mind, e.g., the widespread feel- 
 ing that it is unlucky to begin anj'- im- 
 portant undertaking on Friday. 
 
LUC 
 
 162 
 
 LTJH 
 
 LucuIIus, dr.p. A lord, flatterer of 
 
 Timon. Tim. 
 Lucy, Sir William, dr.p. IHVI. 
 
 Lud's-Town. The ancient name of Lon- 
 don. Cyra. Ill, 1, 33. " Trinovantum, 
 called Caer Lud, and by corruption of 
 the word Caer Lo7idon, and in process 
 of time London, was rebuilt by Lud, 
 Cassibelan's elder brother. " Grey, 
 
 lug. To drag ; to pull. Tim. IV, 3, 31 ; 
 Hml. Ill, 4, 212. Liig is also an old 
 word for the ear — whether of an animal 
 or the projection on some inanimate 
 object like a jug or pail. Hence, lugged 
 signifies not only dragged but eared. 
 Thus a lugged bear (IHIV. I, 2, 83) has 
 been held by many coms. to mean a 
 bear whose ears had been pulled by 
 dogs. Others as one that was merely 
 lugged or dragged through the streets. 
 Lugged seems also to have signified 
 gelded, and a lugged bear has been ex- 
 plained as a gelded bear (see "Century 
 Dictionary"), a doubtful gloss, as we 
 have no evidence that bears were ever 
 gelded. 
 
 lumpish. Heavy; dull; spiritless. Gtent. 
 Ill, 2, 62. 
 
 lunes. Mad freaks ; fits of lunacy. Wint. 
 II, 2, 30. Also in modern editions of 
 Wiv. IV, 2, 22, and Troil. II, 3, 139, 
 lunes has been substituted for lines. 
 
 Lupercal, The Feast of. "The Roman 
 festival of the Lupercalia {-ium, or 
 -toritm), whatever may be the etymology 
 of the name, was in honor of the god 
 Pan. It was celebrated annually on the 
 Ides (or 13th) [1,5th?] of February, in a 
 place called the Lupercal at the foot of 
 Mount Aventine. A third company 
 of Lupercij or priests of Pan, with 
 Antony for its chief, was instituted in 
 honor of Julius Caesar. " Craik. 
 
 It is a tradition that the grotto near 
 the western angle of the Palatine Hill 
 in ancient Rome was the den of the she- 
 wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus. 
 Near it was the Ficus Ruminalis, the 
 fig-tree beneath which Romulus and 
 Remus were left by the retiring waters 
 of the Tiber. 
 
 The Luperci assembled on the day of 
 the Lupercalia, and to the god they 
 sacrificed goats and young dogs as ap- 
 propriate sacrifices to Lupercus, the 
 god of fertility. After the sacrifice 
 was over, the Luperci partook of a meal, 
 at which {key were plentifully supplied 
 with wine. They then cut the skins of 
 the goats which they had sacrificed into 
 pieces, with some of whicll they covered 
 parts of their body in imitation of the 
 god Lupercus, who was represented 
 half -naked and half -covered with goat- 
 skin. The other pieces of the skins 
 they cut into thongs, and holding them 
 in their hands they ran through the 
 streets of the city, touching or striking 
 with them all persons whom they met 
 in their way, and especially women, who 
 even used to come forward voluntarily 
 for the purpose, since they believed that 
 this ceremony rendered them fruitful. 
 Cses. I, 1, 72, and III, 2, 100. 
 lurch. 1. To filch; to steal. Wiv. II, 
 2,26. 
 
 Schm. defines this word as "to lurk," 
 and lurk is defined as "to lie hidden 
 and in wait." SoalsoSkeat. But Cot- 
 grave in defining the word Fortraire 
 explains it as "to lurch ; to purloyne ; 
 withdraw from. " And it would seem 
 on a careful reading of Falstaff 's words 
 that this is the meaning here. Ben 
 Jonson in The Silent Woman has: 
 " You have lurched your friends of the 
 better half of the garland by concealing 
 this part of the plot." 
 2. As it occurs in Cor. II, 2, 105, He 
 lurched all swords of the garland, 
 Skeat, followed by Schni., defines it as 
 to "pilfer, steal, rob, plunder." But 
 surely not to pilfer or steal in the brunt 
 of seventeen battles. The meaning, of 
 course, is evident, and as Malone puts 
 it: "To 'lurch all swords of the gar- 
 land ' was to gain from all other warriors 
 the wreath of victory with ease and in- 
 contestable superiority." The expres- 
 sion in this case is probably from an 
 old game mentioned by Cotgrave and 
 called "Lurcbe," and "a lurch" was 
 
LTTB 
 
 163 
 
 LYC 
 
 the term used in this game when one 
 person gained every point before an- 
 other made one, 
 lure. A figure stuffed to resemble a bird 
 and used by falconers to allure the 
 hawk. Shr. IV, 1, 195. 
 luscious. In 0th. I, 3, 354, this word 
 evidently has the usual meaning — sweet 
 to excess. As it occurs in Mids. II, 1, 
 251, it may have the same meaning 
 applied to the sense of smeU. Thus 
 Drayton, in his " Polyolbion," has : 
 The azur'd Hare-bell next, with them, 
 
 they neatly mixt ; 
 To allay whose lushious smell, they 
 
 Woodbine plac't betwixt. 
 But some give it the sense of lush, q.v. , 
 and Theobald changed it from luscious, 
 as in the FL, to lush. Of this Johnson 
 tells us : " On the margin of one of my 
 folios an unknown hand has written 
 lush Woodbine, which I think is right. " 
 And Ritson says : " Lush is clearly 
 preferable in point of sense and ab- 
 solutely necessary in point of metre." 
 In regard to the latter point Furness 
 notes : " It can be no disgrace to accept 
 this line as an Alexandrine : 
 Quite 6 I ver c^n | oped | with Ids | - 
 cioCis I woodbine, 
 where the resolved syllables of ' lus-ci- 
 ous ' need not be harshly nor strongly 
 emphasised." 
 lush. Juicy; succulent; fresh. Tp. II, 
 
 1,52. 
 lust. 1. Desire; wLsh. TroU. IV, 4, 134. 
 2. Pleasure; delight. Lucr. 1,384; Tim. 
 IV, 3, 492. 
 lustig {lustique in the Fl). Lusty ; cheer- 
 ful. All's. II, 3, 45. This word occurs 
 frequently in old plays. Capell notes 
 that "An old play, that has a great deal 
 of merit, called The Weakest goeth to 
 the Wall (printed in 1600 ; but how much 
 earlier written, or by whom written, 
 we are no where informed), has in it a 
 Dutchman called Jacob Van Smelt, who 
 speaks a jargon of Dutch and our 
 language, and upon se\eral occasions 
 uses this very word, which in English 
 is lusty." 
 
 lustihood. Vigor ; energy ; high animal 
 spirits. Ado. V, 1, 76. Reason and 
 respect make livers pale and lustihood 
 deject. Troil. II, 2, 50. The liver was 
 supposed to be the seat of courage and 
 energy. 
 
 luxurious. Lustful ; unchaste. Ado. IV, 
 1, 42 ; HV. IV, 4, 20. 
 
 luxury. Lust ; lasciviousness. Meas. V, 
 1, 506; Hml. I, 5, 83; Lr. IV, 6, 119. 
 This is the only sense in which this 
 word is used by Shakespeare. 
 
 Lychorida, dr. p. Nurse to Marina. Per. 
 
 Lycurgus. The famous legislator of 
 Sparta. Referred to in Cor. II, 1, 60. 
 
 He was the son of Eunomus, King of 
 Sparta, and brother of Polydectes. The 
 latter succeeded his father as king of 
 Sparta and afterwards died, leaving 
 his wife with child. She proposed to 
 Lycurgus to destroy her offspring if he 
 would share the throne with her. He 
 seemingly consented ; but when the 
 child was born he openly proclaimed 
 him king, and as next of kin acted as 
 his guardian. But being charged by 
 the opposite party with ambitious de- 
 signs, he left Sparta and travelled ex- 
 tensively during many years. Mean- 
 while things in Sparta fell into disorder, 
 and on his return he was hailed as the 
 one man who could restore order. He 
 undertook the task and, having con- 
 sulted the Delphic oracle, he obtained 
 for his institutions the approval of the 
 god. He then exacted from the people 
 a promise that they would not make 
 any alteration in his laws before his 
 return. And now he left Sparta to 
 finish his life in voluntary exile in 
 order that his countrymen might be 
 bound by their oath to preserve his 
 constitution inviolate for ever. Where 
 and how he died nobody could tell. He 
 vanished from the earth like a god, 
 leaving no traces behind but his spirit, 
 and he was honored as a god at Sparta, 
 with a temple and yearly sacrifices 
 down to the latest times. The date of 
 Lycurgus is variously given, but it is 
 impossible to place it later than B.C. 825. 
 
LTM 
 
 IM 
 
 MAC 
 
 lyra. A bloodhound ; so called because it 
 was held by the hunter in a lym, learn 
 or leash until slipped in pursuit of the 
 game. Lr. Ill, 6, 72. 
 
 Lymoges. O, Lymoges! O, Austria! 
 John III, 1, 115. " Shakespeare, in the 
 person of Austria, has conjoined the 
 two well-known enemies of Richard 
 Coeur-de-Lion. Leopold, Duke of Aus- 
 tria, threw him into prison in a former 
 expedition (in 1193), but the castle of 
 Chaluz, before which he fell (in 1199), 
 belonged to Vidomar, Viscount of 
 Limoges." Blake. The cause of the 
 siege, as related by French, was that a 
 vassal of Vidomar found, as was re- 
 ported to King Richard, a treasure of 
 golden statues, representing a Roman 
 emperor, with his wife, sons and daugh- 
 ters, seated at a golden table, and was 
 required to yield up the prize to Richard, 
 
 Suzerain of the Limousin. On Vido- 
 mar's refusal he was besieged in his 
 castle at Chaluz-Chabrol, before which 
 the heroic king received the wound of 
 which he died twelve days after, viz.^ 
 April 6, 1 199. The archer who pierced his 
 shoulder with an arrow (of which wound 
 he died) was Bertrand de G-ourdon. 
 Austria in the old play [The Trouble- 
 some Raigne of King John] is called 
 Lymoges, the Austrich duke. HoUin- 
 shed says: *'The same year Philip, 
 bastard sonne to King Richard, to 
 whom his father had given the castell 
 and honour of Coniacke, killed the Vis- 
 count of Lymoges in revenge of his 
 father's death. " 
 
 Lysander, dr. p. In love with Hermione. 
 Mids. 
 
 Lysimachus, dr.p. Governor of Mity- 
 lene. Per. 
 
 AB. The queen of the fairies. 
 Rom. I, 4, 53, This passage 
 is the first that has been dis- 
 covered containing the name 
 Mab as that of the fairy queen. There 
 has been much discussion as to the 
 . origin of the name, but no satisfactory 
 conclusion has been reached. 
 Macbeth, dr.p. General of the Scottish 
 
 army. Mcb. 
 Macbeth, Lady, dr.p. Wife to Macbeth. 
 Mcb. 
 
 Shakespeare's play has made the 
 names of Macbeth and his wife known 
 wherever the English language is 
 spoken. It is therefore greatly to be 
 regretted that he should hav© given 
 such an erroneous and unjust view of 
 of their characters as he has embodied 
 in his drama, and it is well for the 
 reader to bear in mind that Macbeth 
 and the other dramatis personce of the 
 play are purely the creations of the 
 poet ; grand and wonderful creations, 
 no doubt, but entirely fictitious and 
 
 not at all historical. Indeed, several of 
 the characters have no place whatever 
 in history, and the main facts are 
 merely imaginary. Macbeth, instead 
 of being the bloodthirsty and unscru- 
 pulous tyrant that Sh. represents him 
 to be, was a just and wise monarch, 
 and the best authorities agree that his 
 reign was one of unusual peace and 
 prosperity. Sir Walter Scott condenses 
 the real history of Macbeth as follows : 
 "Duncan, by his mother, Beatrice, a 
 grandson of Malcolm II, succeeded to 
 the throne on his grandfather's death 
 in 1033 ; he reigned only six years. 
 Macbeth, his near relation, also a grand' 
 child of Malcolm II, though by the 
 mother's side, was stirred up by am- 
 bition to contest the throne with the 
 possessor. The Lady of Macbeth also, 
 whose real name was Graoch, had 
 deadly injuries to avenge on the reign- 
 ing prince. She was the granddaughter 
 of Kenneth IV, killed 1003 fighting 
 against Malcolm II ; and other causes 
 
MAC 
 
 165 
 
 MAL 
 
 for revenge animated the mind of her 
 who has been since painted as the stern- 
 est of women. The old annalists add 
 some instigations of a supernatural 
 kind to the influence of a vindictive 
 woman over an ambitious husband. 
 Three women of more than human 
 stature and beauty appeared to Mac- 
 beth in a dream or vision and hailed 
 him successively by the titles of Thane 
 of Cromarty, Thane of Moray (which 
 the king afterwards bestowed on him), 
 and finally by that of King of Scots ; 
 this dream, it is said, inspired him with 
 the seductive hopes so well expressed 
 in the drama. 
 
 " Macbeth broken© law of hospitality 
 in his attempts on Duncan's life. He 
 attacked and slew the king at a place 
 called Bothgowan, or the Smith's House, 
 near Elgin, in 1039, and not, as has 
 been supposed, in his own castle of 
 Inverness. The act was bloody, as 
 was the complexion of the times ; but, in 
 very truth, the claim of Macbeth to the 
 throne, according to the rule of Scottish 
 succession, was better than that of 
 Duncan. As a king, the tyrant so 
 much exclaimed against was in reality 
 a firm, just and equitable prince. Ap- 
 prehensions of danger from a party 
 which Malcolm, the eldest son of the 
 slaughtered Duncan, had set on foot in 
 Northumberland, and still maintained 
 in Scotland, seem, in process of time, to 
 have soured the temper of Macbeth and 
 rendered him formidable to his nobility. 
 Against Macduff, in particular, the 
 powerful Maormor of Fife, he had 
 uttered some threats which occasioned 
 that chief to fly from the court of Scot- 
 land. Urged by this new counsellor, 
 Siward, the Danish Earl of Northum- 
 berland, invaded Scotland in the year 
 1054, displaying his banner in behalf of 
 the banished Malcolm. Macbeth en- 
 gaged the foe in the neighbourhood of 
 his celebrated castle of Dunsinane. He 
 was defeated, but escaped from the 
 battle, and was slain at Lumphanan 
 in 1056." 
 
 Macmorris, dr.p. An Irish officer in 
 Henry the Fifth's army. HV. 
 
 maculate. Stained; impure. LLL. 1, 2, 98. 
 
 mad. Wild ; untrained. IHVI. V, 3, 191. 
 
 made. Endowed with a fortune. Tw. 
 Ill, 4, 57. 
 
 Maecenas, dr.p. A friend to Octavius 
 Caesar. Ant. 
 
 maggot-pie. A magpie; a bird whose 
 color is partly black and partly white, 
 and which is noted for its power of 
 mimicry. Mcb. Ill, 4, 125. 
 
 magnifico. A title given to Venetian 
 grandees. Merch. Ill, 2, 282; 0th. 1, 2, 12. 
 
 Maid Marian. A character in the morris 
 dance. IHIV. Ill, 3, 128. 
 
 mailed. Covered as with a coat of mail. 
 2HVI. II, 4, 31. 
 
 main. 1. Ahandatdice. IHIV. IV, 1, 47. 
 2. The mainland. Lr. Ill, 1, 6. 
 
 main-course. A main-sail. Tp. I, 1, 40. 
 
 mained. Maimed. 2HVI. IV, 2, 176. 
 Cade evidently gives it this form so as 
 to make a pun on Maine. Some eds. 
 suppose that mained is a misprint for 
 maimed and correct it, thus destroying 
 the joke. 
 
 mainly. Forciblv ; mightily. IHIV. II, 
 4, 222 ; Troil. IV, 4, 87. 
 
 makeless. Mateless; widowed. Sonn. 
 IX, 4. 
 
 malady. Disease. Of man and beast 
 the infinite tnalady = "every kind of 
 disease incident to man and beast." 
 Johnson. R. G. White suggests in- 
 fectious for infinite. Tim. Ill, 0, 109. 
 
 Malcolm, dr.-p. Son to King Duncan. 
 Mcb. 
 
 Malkin. A familiar name for Mary, 
 hence kitchen malkin = a servant 
 wench. Cor. II, 1, 224 ; Per. IV, 3, 34. 
 
 Mall. A diminutive of Mary ; old form 
 of our Moll. Tp. II, 2, 50. 
 
 There has been much speculation as 
 to the identity of Mistress MaU, referred 
 to in Tw. I, 3, 135, but without reaching 
 a positive conclusion. Steevens claimed 
 that the reference was to Mary Frith, 
 better known as Mall Cutpurse, the 
 heroine of Middleton and Dekker's 
 comedy, The Roaring Girl, but this 
 
MAL 
 
 166 
 
 HAB 
 
 Mall was only eleven or thirteen when 
 Sh. play was written. The best author- 
 ities are agreed that the allusion is to a 
 mere impersonation and not to any 
 particular individual. 
 
 mallecho. Mischief. Probably from the 
 Spanish tnalhecho == mischief. Hml. 
 Ill, 3, 146. 
 
 malt-horse. See horse. 
 
 malt-worm . One who drinks malt liquor. 
 IHIV. II, 1, 83. 
 
 Malvolio, dr. p. Steward to Olivia. Tw. 
 
 Mamillius, dr.p. The young prince of 
 Sicilia. Wint. 
 
 mammering. Hesitating; muttering. 0th. 
 
 III, 3, 70. 
 
 mammet. A puppet ; a doll. Rom. Ill, 
 5, 186 ; IHIV. II, 3, 95. That in the 
 first of these passages mammet means 
 *' puppet " (used as a term of reproach) 
 is certain ; but in the second passage 
 m,ammets perhaps means (as Gifford 
 first suggested) "breasts" (from mam- 
 ma). Dyce. 
 
 mammock. To tear in pieces. Cor. I, 
 3, 71. 
 
 man. To tame a hawk. A term in fal- 
 conry. Shr. IV, 1, 196. 
 
 manage. 1. Management. Tp. I, 2, 70; 
 Merch. Ill, 4, 25. 
 
 2. Measures; means. RII. I, 4, 39. 
 
 3. Training ; government. RII. Ill, 3, 
 179. 
 
 mandragora, ) A plant noted for its 
 mandrake. ) soporific qualities. The 
 root usually has two branches, and this 
 gives it a resemblance to the human 
 figure. It was said to utter shrieks 
 when uprooted and to cause madness 
 and even death to those who tore it 
 from the ground. 2HIV. I, 2, 17 ; Rom. 
 
 IV, 3, 47; 0th. 111,3,330. 
 mankind, adj. Masculine. Wint. II, 
 
 3, 67 ; Cor. IV, 2, 18. 
 
 manned. Furnished with a servant. 
 2HIV. I, 2, 18 and 59. 
 
 manner. Custom ; practice. Hml. I, 4, 
 16. 
 
 We give this common and simple 
 word a place so es to have the oppor- 
 tunity of saying that in the foregoing 
 
 passage it is not a misprint for manoi . 
 A suggestion of this kind seems to have 
 perennial vitality amongst unfledged 
 Shakespearean critics. 
 
 manner. To be taken with the manner 
 = to be caught in the act. LLL. I, 1, 
 202; Wint. IV, 4, 752. 
 
 man-queller. A slayer of men ; a mur- 
 derer. 2HIV. II, 1, 58. 
 
 manure. To cultivate. 0th. I, 3, 329. 
 This word has entirely changed its 
 meaning; it originally signified "to 
 work with the hand, ' ' being a contracted 
 form of manoeuvre. 
 
 mappery. The study of maps ; theory 
 as opposed to real practice in warfare. 
 Troil. I, 3, 205. 
 
 marble. Everlasting; like marble. Tim. 
 
 IV, 3, 193. 
 
 marble-constant. Firm as marble. Ant. 
 
 V, 2, 240. 
 
 Marcellus, dr.p. An officer. Hml. 
 Marcellus, dr.p. A Roman tribune. Caes. 
 March, Earl of, dr.p. Edward Mortimer. 
 
 IHIV. 
 March -chick. A chicken hatched in 
 
 March ; precocious. Ado. I, 3, 58. 
 marches. Frontiers; borders. HV. I, 
 
 2, 140. 
 marchpane. A kind of sweet biscuit 
 
 composed largely of sugar and pounded 
 
 almonds. Rom. I, 5, 9. 
 Marcius, Caius, dr.p. A noble Roman, 
 
 surnamed Coriolanus. Cor. 
 Marcius, Young, dr.p. Son to Caius 
 
 Marcius Coriolanus. Cor. 
 Marcus Andronicus, dr.p. A tribune 
 
 and brother to Titus Andronicus. Tit. 
 Marcus Brutus, dr.p. A conspirator 
 
 against Julius Caesar. Caes. 
 Mardian, dr.p. Attendant on Cleopatra. 
 
 Ant. 
 mare. The nightmare. 2HIV. II, 1, 86. 
 " The Hostess had threatened to ride 
 
 Falstaff like the Incubus or Nightmare; 
 
 but his allusion (if it be not a wanton 
 
 one) is to the Gallows^ which is ludic- 
 rously called the Timber or Two-legged 
 
 Mare." Steevens. 
 To ride the wild mare = to play at 
 3HIV. II, 4, 208. This is 
 
MAR 
 
 167 
 
 MAS 
 
 the interpretation given by Douce 
 and accepted by most corns. But it 
 seems to me that Falstaff's expression 
 means more than this. 
 
 Mareschall, William, dr.p. Earl of Pem- 
 broke. John. 
 
 Margarelon, dr.p. Bastard son to Priam. 
 Troil. 
 
 Margaret, dr.p. Attendant on Hero. 
 Ado. 
 
 Margaret, dr.p. Daughter to Reignier 
 (Renee), Eang of Anjou ; queen and 
 afterwards widow to Henry VI. IHVI., 
 2HVI., 3HVI. andRIII. 
 
 Margery Jourdain, dr.p. A witch. 2HVI. 
 See Jourdain. 
 
 margent. 1. Margin. LLL. V, 2, 8. 
 2. Glosses or comments frequently 
 printed on the margins of old books. 
 Hml. V, 2, 162. 
 
 Maria, dr.p. A lady attending on the 
 Princess of France. LLL. 
 
 Maria, dr.p. Attendant on Olivia. Tw. 
 
 Mariana, dr.p. A neighbour to a widow 
 of Florence. All's. 
 
 Mariana, dr.p. The betrothed of Angelo. 
 Meas. 
 
 Marina, dr.p. Daughter to Pericles. Per. 
 
 marlc. God bless the mark. Merch. II, 
 2, 25. God save the mark. Rom. Ill, 
 2, 53. See hless. ' 
 
 Marlc Antony, dr.p. The Roman trium- 
 vir. Caes. 
 
 Marquis of Dorset, dr.p. Son to Lady 
 Grey. RIII. 
 
 Marquis of Montague, dr.p. A Yorkist. 
 3HVL 
 
 married. Examine every married linea- 
 inent. Rom. I, 3, 83. In the Fl. and 
 all other early texts except the Quartos 
 this passage reads, several lineam^ents. 
 Prof. Dowden. in his new ed. of this 
 play, says: "The word, as used here 
 for mutually dependent, is illustrated 
 by the ' well-tuned sounds By unions 
 married ' of Sonn. VIII ; but several 
 has the authority of all texts except Q. " 
 
 marry. An exclamation supposed to have 
 been derived from the name of the 
 Virgin Mary. Gent. I, 1, 130 ; Tw. IV, 
 2, 109 ; Cym. I, 1, 76. 
 
 marry-trap. An exclamation of insult 
 when a man was caught in his own 
 stratagem. Johnson. Wiv. I, 1, 170. 
 
 Mars. An ancient Roman god subse- 
 quently identified with the Greek, Ares. 
 He was the son of Jupiter and Juno, 
 and next to Jupiter enjoyed the highest 
 honors at Rome. He was worshipped 
 as the god of war, and his priests, the 
 Salii, danced in full armour, and the 
 place dedicated to warlike exercises was 
 called after his name, Caynpus Martins. 
 The wolf was sacred to him in his char- 
 acter of war-god, and the wood-pecker 
 was dedicated to him as to a god gifted 
 with prophetic powers. He is generally 
 represented as driving a chariot drawn 
 by his sister, Bellona. Mars'' hot minion 
 (Tp. IV, 1, 97) = Venus. Her son, of 
 course, is Cupid. See Venus. 
 
 Mars. One of the planets. The astrologers 
 claimed that the influence of this planet 
 on the destinies of humanity was very 
 great. All's. I, 1, 206 ; IHVI. I, 2, 1. 
 
 mart. To traffic. Cym. I, 6, 151. 
 
 Martext, Sir Oliver, dr.p. A vicar. As. 
 
 Martius, dr.p. Son to Titus Andronicus. 
 Tit. 
 
 Martlemas. A corruption of Martinmas. 
 The feast of St. Martin, which occurs 
 November 11th. Used of a person in 
 the decline of life. 2HIV. II, 2, 110. 
 
 mary-buds. Flowers of the marigold. 
 Cym. II, 3, 25. 
 
 mastic. A word of no well-ascertained 
 meaning which occurs in Troil, I, 3, 73. 
 In the Fl. it reads Masticke. Rowe 
 changed this to mastiff; Boswell sug- 
 gested mastive, and Orger, nasty. R. 
 G. White notes that "mastix, said to 
 be the feminine of mastigia, w^as used 
 to mean a whip or scourge, especially of 
 a moral kind," and quotes a passage 
 from the Arcadia in support of its use 
 here. He further says mastic " has 
 generally been regarded as an error 
 for ' mastiff ' — an epithet, the appro- 
 priateness of which to the jaws of 
 Thersites I cannot see, as he was one 
 of those barking dogs that never bite." 
 Fleay, who thought that the character 
 
MAT 
 
 lt58 
 
 MED 
 
 of Thersites was a satirical portrait of 
 Dekker, sees in mastic an allusion to 
 the Histrio-mastix, or, The Player 
 Whipt of that writer, one of whose 
 lines was probably aimed at Shak;^- 
 speare. The line is 
 
 That when he shakes his furious speare. 
 But is it not possible that the epithet 
 was applied to Thersites because he was 
 such an incessant talker that his jaws 
 were always moving as if he were 
 chewing (masticating) ?" 
 
 match. An appointment. Wiv. II, 2, 
 304. 
 
 mate. To confound ; to paralyze. Mcb. 
 V, 1, 86. 
 
 maund. A hand-basket. Compl. 36. 
 
 mazed. Confused ; bewildered ; literally, 
 lost in a maze or labyrinth. Mids. II, 
 
 I, 113; IHVI. IV, 2, 47; HVIII. II, 4, 
 185. This word is not a contraction of 
 amazed as it is sometimes printed and 
 glossed. 
 
 mazzard. The head. A modification of 
 mazar, a bowl. Hml. V, 1, 97 ; 0th. 
 
 II, 3, 157. 
 
 meacock. Tame; cowardly; spiritless. 
 Shr. II, 1, 315. 
 
 meard. Johnson defines this word, as it 
 occurs (Meas. IV, 2, 86) : " sprinkled, 
 defiled." Blackstone: " mingled, com- 
 pounded," from the French meler. But 
 is it not rather a form of the A.S. vncel, 
 a part or portion, and meaning : were 
 he art and part with that which he 
 corrects, as the Scotch would say. 
 
 meander. A winding way. Through 
 forthrights and meanders = straight 
 paths and crooked or winding ways. 
 Tp. Ill, 3, 3. 
 
 measles. Originally signified leprosy, 
 though now used for a very different 
 disorder. The origin is the old French 
 word meseau or mesel, a leper. Cot- 
 grave has " meseau, a meselled, scurvy, 
 leaporous, lazarous person. ' ' The word 
 still retains somewhat of its original 
 meaning in the case of hogs or pork, 
 and we speak of measly pork. Cor. 
 
 III, 1, 78. 
 
 measure. 1. Reach. Gent. V, 4, 127. 
 
 2. A grave and dignified dance. The 
 word is frequently used in a punning 
 sense, as in Rom. I, 4, 10 and RII. Ill, 
 4, 7. 
 
 meazel. The old spelling of measle ; a 
 leper; spoken in contempt of a mean 
 person. Cor. Ill, 1, 78. 
 
 mechanical, n. A handicraftsman ; a 
 mechanic. Mids. Ill, 2, 9 ; Caes. I, 1, 3. 
 
 medal. Defined by Schm. and others as 
 "a portrait in a locket." Wint. I, 2, 
 307. 
 
 meditance. Premeditation. Kins. I, 1. 
 
 medius fidius. " An old Latin oath, 
 apparently short for me dius Fidius 
 adiuvet, may the divine Fidius help 
 me I If fidius stands for filius, then 
 it means, may the divine son of Jupiter 
 help me ! The reference in that case 
 is most likely to god Hercules. ' ' Skeat • 
 Kins. Ill, V. 
 
 meddle. 1. To mix; to mingle. Tp. I, 
 2,22. 
 
 2. To have to do with. Tw. II, 4, 275. 
 In this instance = to fight, cf. comeddle. 
 
 Medea was the daughter of JEtes, King 
 of Colchis. She was celebrated for her 
 skill in magic. When Jason came to 
 Colchis in search of the golden fleece, 
 she fell in love with the hero, assisted 
 him in accomplishing the object of his 
 adventure and afterward fled with 
 him as his wife to Greece, taking her 
 younger brother Absyrtus with her. 
 Her father pursued her and when she 
 was nearly overtaken, she murdered 
 Absyrtus, cut his body into pieces and 
 strewed them on the road so that her 
 father might be delayed in gathering 
 the limbs of his child. (2HVI. V, 2, .59.) 
 When Jason and she reached lolcus 
 they found JEson, the aged father of 
 Jason, still alive, and Medea restored 
 him to youth by injecting the juice of 
 magic herbs into his veins. (Merch. V, 
 1, 15.) After some years, however, 
 Jason deserted Medea in order to marry 
 Glance or Creusa, daughter of Creon, 
 the king of the country. Medea took 
 fearful vengeance for the insult. She 
 killed her two children that she had by 
 
MED 
 
 MEL 
 
 Jason and sent Glauce a poisoned gar- 
 ment which burned her to death when 
 she put it on. Creon likewise perished 
 in the flames. She then fled to Athens 
 in a chariot drawn by winged dragons. 
 Others relate that she fled to Hercules 
 at Thebes, he having promised her his 
 assistance, while yet in Colchis, in case 
 of Jason being unfaithful to her. She 
 cured Hercules, who was seized with 
 madness. At length Medea is said to 
 have become immortal, to have been 
 honored with divine worship, and to 
 have married Achilles in Elysium. 
 
 medicine. A physician. (French medi- 
 cin.) All's. II, 1, 75 ; Wint. IV, 4, 598 ; 
 Mcb. V, 2, 27. 
 
 medlar. A tree, the fruit of which is 
 small and in shape like an apple, but 
 flat at the top and only fit to be eaten 
 when very ripe or mellow. The Mespi- 
 lus germanica. Ellacombe tells us that 
 "Shakespeare only used the common 
 language of his time when he described 
 the medlar as only fit to be eaten when 
 rotten. But, in fact, the medlar when 
 fit to be eaten is no more rotten than a 
 ripe peach, pear or strawberry, or any 
 other fruit which we do not eat till it 
 has reached a certain stage of softness. 
 There is a vast difference between a 
 ripe and a rotten medlar, though it 
 would puzzle many of us to say when a 
 fruit (not a medlar only) is ripe, that is, 
 fit to be eaten. The Japanese alwajs 
 eat their peaches in an unripe state ; 
 they regard a ripe peach as rotten.'^ 
 Chaucer gives the medlar a very pro- 
 minent place in his description of a 
 beautiful garden ; and certainly a fine 
 medlar-tree "ful of blossomes " is a 
 handsome ornament on any lawn. 
 
 In As. Ill, 2, 125 there is an obvious 
 pun between meddler and medlar. 
 Also in Tim. IV, 3, 307. In Meas. IV, 
 3, 184 it is used as a term of contempt 
 for a woman, undoubtedly with the 
 same meaning implied in Rom. II, 1, 
 38, but which cannot be discussed here. 
 In the early days of printing the 
 wood of the medlar-tree was used for 
 
 making type, it being close-grained like 
 that of the pear and apple. 
 
 meed. 1. Reward; hire. As. II, 3, 58; 
 RIII. I, 3, 139 ; Cym. Ill, 5, 168. 
 2. Merit ; worth. 3HVI. II, 1, 36 ; Tim. 
 I, 1, 288. 
 
 meered, ) This word has given rise to 
 
 mered. f much discussion. It is meered 
 in the Fl ; mered in some other editions. 
 Schm. explains it as sole, entire (mere) ; 
 Nares, as defined, limited. To m^ear 
 (meaning to bound) occurs in Spenser 
 and in North's " Plutarch," and meere- 
 stone is an old word for boundary 
 stone. Ant. Ill, 13, 10. 
 
 mehercle. By Hercules. LLL. IV, 2, 80. 
 
 meiny, | A company belonging to or 
 
 menie. ) attending upon a particular 
 person ; from mesnie, old French, which 
 Roquefort defines, " famille, maisoH, 
 tons ceux qui la composent." Nares. 
 Often, but erroneously, confounded with 
 the English word many. Lr. II, 4, 35. 
 Meynie, in Cor. Ill, 1, 66, is in most 
 modern editions changed to m,any and, 
 perhaps, properly so. 
 
 Meleager. This name does not occur in 
 Sh., but there are several references to 
 him. Prince'' s heart of Calydon, 2HV1. 
 I, 1, 235, and the boar of Thessaly, 
 Ant. IV, 13, 2. He was the son of 
 CEneus and Althea, and was one of the 
 most famous -lEtolian heroes of Caly- 
 don. He took part in the Argonautic 
 expedition, and on his return home he 
 found the fields of Calydon wasted by 
 an enormous boar which Diana had 
 sent against the country as a punish- 
 ment, because CEneus, the king, once 
 neglected to offer up a sacrifice to the 
 goddess. Meleager, with a band of 
 heroes, went out to hunt the boar. 
 Amongst the company was the fair 
 maiden Atalanta, but the heroes refused 
 to hunt with her until Meleager, who 
 was in love with her, overcame their 
 opposition. Atalanta gave the animal 
 the first wound, and it was then slain 
 by Meleager. He presented the hide to 
 Atalanta, but his mother's brothers, 
 the sons of Thestius, took it from her, 
 
MEL 
 
 170 
 
 MEB 
 
 whereupon Meleager, in a rage, slew 
 them. This, however, was the cause of 
 his own death, for which see Althea. 
 Althea, repenting too late of what she 
 had done, put an end to her life, and 
 his wife, Cleopatra (not the heroine of 
 Sh. play), died of grief. 
 
 mell. To meddle ; to have to do with. 
 All's. IV, 3, 257. 
 
 Melun, dr. p. A French lord. John. 
 
 Matthew Paris tells us that Melun, 
 before his death, made the confession 
 which is given in John V, 4. In the old 
 play of The Troublesome Raigne of 
 King John, may be found the details of 
 the agreement between the dauphin 
 and sixteen of his nobles, and the oath 
 by which they bound themselves to 
 execute their English allies and deprive 
 their heirs of their seigniories. Melun 
 was one of the sixteen. 
 
 memorize. To make memorable ; to make 
 glorious. HVIII. Ill, 2, 52; Mcb. I, 
 2,40. 
 
 Menas, dr.p. Friend to Pompey. Ant. 
 
 Menec rates, dr.p. Friend to Pompey. 
 Ant. 
 
 Menelaus, dr.p. Brother to Agamemnon. 
 Troil. 
 
 Menelaus was the son of Plisthenes or 
 Atreus and the younger brother of 
 Agamemnon. He was king of Lace- 
 daemon, and married to the famous 
 Helen, by whom he became the father 
 of Hermione. When Helen had been 
 carried of by Paris, Menelaus and 
 Ulysses sailed to Troy in order to 
 demand her restitution. Menelaus was 
 hospitably treated by Antenor, but the 
 journey was of no avail, and the Trojan, 
 Antimachus, even advised his fellow- 
 citizens to kill Menelaus and Ulysses. 
 Thereupon Menelaus and his brother, 
 Agamemnon resolved to march against 
 Troy with all the forces that the Greeks 
 could muster. Agamemnon was chosen 
 the commander-in-chief. In the Trojan 
 war Menelaus was under the special 
 protection of Juno and Minerva, and 
 distinguished himself by his bravery in 
 battle. He killed many illustrious 
 
 Trojans, and would have slain Paris 
 also in single combat had not the latter 
 been carried off by Venus in a cloud. 
 Menelaus was one of the heroes con- 
 cealed in the wooden horse (see horse)^ 
 and as soon as Troy was taken he and 
 Ulysses hastened to the house of Dei- 
 phobus, who had married Helen after 
 the death of Paris, and put him to death 
 in a barbarous manner. Menelaus is 
 said to have been secretly introduced 
 into the chamber of Deiphobus by Helen, 
 who thus became reconciled to her 
 former husband. He was among the 
 first that sailed away from Troy, ac- 
 companied by his wife, Helen, and 
 Nestor, but he was eight years wander- 
 ing about the shores of the Mediterranean 
 before he reached home. Henceforth 
 he lived with Helen at Sparta in peace 
 and wealth, and his palace is said to 
 have shone in its splendor like the sun 
 or the moon. 
 
 Menenius Agrippa, dr.p. Friend to Corio- 
 lanus. Cor. 
 
 Menteith, dr.p. A Scottish nobleman. 
 Mcb. 
 
 Menteith. A district in the south of 
 Perthshire, Scotland, laying between 
 the Leith and the Forth. It is not a 
 county as Schm. saj^s. IHIV. I, 1, 73. 
 
 Mephistophilus. A disparaging nick- 
 name applied by Pistol to Slender. Wi v. 
 I, 1, 132. Mephistophilus was the name 
 of a supposed familiar spirit in the old 
 legend of Sir John Faustus, and con- 
 sequently the principal agent in Mar- 
 lowe's play of Dr. Faustus. 
 
 Mercade, dr.p. A lord attending on the 
 Princess of France. LLL. 
 
 mercatante. Italian for merchant and 
 used in same sense. Shr. IV, 2, 63. In 
 some editions marcautant. See mer- 
 chant. 
 
 merchant. A fellow ; a chap ; probably 
 equivalent to peddler or chapman. 
 IHVI. II, 3, 57 ; Rom. II, 4, 153. Used 
 also in a better sense. Merch. Ill, 2, 242. 
 
 Mercurial. Like Mercury; swift^footed. 
 Mercury had wings on his feet. Cym. 
 IV, 2, 310. See Mercury 
 
MEB 
 
 171 
 
 MEB 
 
 Mercury. This was the name of the 
 Roman god of commerce and gain, the 
 origin of the word being exactly the 
 same as that of our word vier chant. 
 His statue in Rome had a purse in its 
 hand to signify his functions. The 
 Romans of later times identified this 
 god of merchants and tradespeople with 
 the Greek, Hermes, and transferred all 
 the attributes and myths of the latter 
 to the former. But the Fetiales or 
 College of Priests never recognized the 
 identity of the two, and instead of a 
 caduceus used a sacred branch as the 
 emblem of peace. In all the references 
 in Sh., however, the allusions are to the 
 attributes of Hermes, who was the son 
 of Jupiter and Maia, the daughter of 
 Atlas, He was born in a cave of Mount 
 Cyllene in Arcadia. A few hours after 
 his birth he escaped from his cradle, 
 went to Pieria and stole some of the 
 oxen of Apollo. That he might not be 
 discovered by the traces of his footsteps 
 he wore sandals and drove the oxen to 
 Pylos, where he killed two and con- 
 cealed the rest in a cave. When he 
 returned to Cyllene he found a tortoise 
 at. the entrance of his native cave. He 
 took the shell of the animal, drew 
 strings across it and thus invented the 
 lyre, on which he immediately played. 
 Apollo, by his prophetic power, had, in 
 the meantime discovered the thief and 
 charged Hermes with the crime before 
 his mother, Maia. She showed to the 
 god the child in its cradle, but Apollo 
 carried him before Jupiter who com- 
 manded him to return the oxen. Hermes 
 then conducted Apollo to Pylos and 
 restored to him his oxen, but when 
 Apolio heard the sounds of the lyre he 
 was so charmed that he allowed Hermes 
 to keep the cattle. 
 
 An account of the adventures of 
 Mercury (Hermes) and the services that 
 he rendered to the gods would fill a 
 large book. His principal function 
 was that of herald to the gods, hence he 
 was regarded as the god of eloquence, 
 since eloquence is one of the most im- 
 
 portant of the arts employed by heralds 
 and messengers. And as messengers 
 should also be endowed with cunning, 
 he'was known as the god of thieves and 
 liars. Tw. I, 5, 105. He was also the 
 acknowledged author of many inven- 
 tions. His principal attributes are : 1. 
 A travelling hat, with a broad brim, 
 which in later time was adorned with 
 two little wings. 2. His staff, which, 
 instead of being entwined with white 
 ribbons like the ordinary herald's staves, 
 was entwined with two serpents. See 
 caduceus. The staff, in later times, is 
 further adorned with a pair of wings 
 expressing the swiftness with which 
 the messenger of the gods moved from 
 place to place. 3. The sandals. They 
 were beautiful and golden, and carried 
 the god across land and sea with the 
 rapidity of the wind. At the ankles 
 they were provided with wings. 
 
 The planet Mercury is evidently re- 
 ferred to by Autolycus. Wint. IV, 3. 
 25. The old astrological beliefs were 
 strongly held in the days of Sh., and 
 the influence of the planet Mercury 
 upon human destiny was supposed to 
 tend powerfully towards an endowment 
 of the characteristics of the god whose 
 name it bore. 
 
 Mercutio, dr. p. Friend to Romeo. Rom. 
 
 mere. Complete ; entire. 0th. II, 2, 3 ; 
 Cym. IV, 2, 92. Used as an adverb 
 (= merely) in AU's. Ill, 5, 58. 
 
 mere, ) Entire; absolute; only. 0th. 
 
 mered. j II, 2, 3 ; Troil. I, 3, 111 ; Ant. 
 Ill, 2, 10 ; Cym. V, 5, 335. 
 
 merely. Simply ; absolutely ; quite. Tp. 
 I, 1,59; Hml. I, 2, 137. 
 
 mermaid. A fabulous creature, half 
 woman and half fish. Schm. says the 
 word is synonymous with -siren, but 
 this is not strictly correct, although Sh. 
 frequently applies the word interchange- 
 ably, as in Err. Ill, 2, 45 and 168, and 
 elsewhere. See siren. Mermaid was 
 old slang for a woman of bad char- 
 acter. Of the passage : And heard 
 a mermaid on a dolphin^s back, etc. 
 (Mids. II, 1, 150), Furness tells us that 
 
MER 
 
 173 
 
 MES 
 
 "this speech of Oberon has been the 
 subject of more voluminous specu- 
 lation than any other twenty-five lines 
 in Shakespeare. Perhaps, not unnatur- 
 ally. Let an allegory be once scented 
 and the divagations are endless." Ac- 
 cording to Rowe, it amounted to no 
 more than a compliment to Queen 
 Elizabeth, who is meant by the "fair 
 vestal, throned by the west. " In regard 
 to this all are agreed. But Warburton 
 went further and claimed that the mer- 
 maid was Mary, Queen of Scots, the 
 dolphin being the dauphin of France, 
 son of Henry II, to whom Mary was 
 married. See dauphhi. The superla- 
 tive abilities and attractions of Mary 
 are set forth in the line : uttering such 
 (iulcet and harmonious breath; and 
 by the stars that shot madly from their 
 spheres are "meant the earls of North- 
 umberland and Westmoreland, who fell 
 in her quarrel ; and principally the 
 great duke of Norfolk, whose projected 
 marriage with her was attended with 
 such fatal consequences. ' ' The allegory 
 is certainly very close. Marshall and 
 others think it refers to the entertain- 
 ment given to Elizabeth at Kenilworth 
 in 1575, and that the stars that shot 
 madly from their spheres were fire- 
 works! 1 But this is certainly a very 
 unpoetical conception and one entirely 
 unworthy of the passage under consider- 
 ation. He identifies the mermaid on 
 the dolphin with Arion "riding aloft 
 upon his old friend the dolphin^'''' as 
 described by Laneham in his account of 
 the festivities. Arion must have made 
 a rare old mermaid. 
 
 It is worthy of note in this connection 
 that Mary, in her own day, was carica- 
 tured under the symbol of a mermaid. 
 See Strickland's "Queens of Scotland," 
 art. Mary. 
 
 The point is one of intense interest, 
 and those who desire to study the sub- 
 ject thoroughly will find the material 
 in Furness's ed. of Midsummer NighV s 
 Dream,, where nearly seventeen closely 
 printed royal octavo pages are devoted 
 
 to it. The following quotation from 
 Furness cannot fail to interest our 
 readers : "In the copy of Hanmer's 
 ' Shakespeare,' which Mrs. F. A. Kemble 
 used in her Public Readings, and 
 which she gave to the present editor, 
 there is in the margin opposite this 
 passage the following MS. note by that 
 loved and venerated hand : ' It always 
 seems to me the crowning hardship of 
 Mary Stuart's hard life to have had 
 this precious stone thrown at her by 
 the hand of Shakespeare — it seems to 
 me most miserable, even when I think 
 of all her misery, that she should have 
 had this beautiful, bad record from the 
 humanest man that ever lived, and, for 
 her sins, the greatest poet — ^and she that 
 was wise (not good) and prosperous, to 
 have this crown of stars set on her 
 narrow forehead by the same hand.' " 
 But although Sh. as a poet paid Eliza- 
 beth this glowing compliment, evidently 
 before he realized her true character, 
 when she came to die he had not one 
 word of sorrow or of praise to utter in 
 her behalf. 
 
 Merops. A king of the Ethiopians. His 
 wife, Clymene, became the mother of 
 Phaethon by Helios (the Sun). See 
 Pho'thon. Gent. Ill, 1, 1.53. 
 
 meshed. Mashed ; brewed. Tit. Ill, 2, 38. 
 
 mess. 1. A party eating together; a 
 company. John I, 1, 190; Hml. V. 2, 
 89. Lower messes == persons of inferior 
 rank; properly those who, at meals, 
 sat below the salt — at the lower end of 
 the table. Wint. I, 2, 227. 
 
 2. A party of four. Thus Cotgrave 
 gives; "A messe. (Vulgairement) Le 
 nombre de quatre." Mess came to 
 signify a set of four, because at great 
 dinners the company was usually ar- 
 ranged into fours, which were called 
 messes. LLL. IV, 3, 207 ; do. V, 2, 361 ; 
 3HVI. I, 4, 73. 
 
 3. A small quantity ; as much as would 
 serve for a meal. 2HIV. II, 1, 103; 
 0th. IV, 1, 211. 
 
 Messala, dr.p. Friend to Brutus and 
 Cassius. Caes. 
 
MET 
 
 173 
 
 MIL 
 
 metaphysical. Supernatural. Mcb. 1, 5, 30, 
 
 Metellus Cimber, dr. p. Conspirator 
 against Julius Caesar. Caes. 
 
 mete=yard. A measuring yard. Shr. 
 IV, 3, 153. 
 
 mew. " Mew is the place, whether it be 
 abroad or in the house, in which the 
 Hawk is put during the time she casts 
 or doth change her feathers. " Holme's 
 "Academy of Armory and Blazon." 
 Shr. I, 1, 87; John IV, 2, 57; RIII. I, 
 1, 38, and 133. 
 
 mettle. 1. Material; quality. HV. Ill, 
 
 1, 27 ; Mcb. I, 7, 73. 
 
 2. Disposition ; courage ; temper. Tw. 
 
 Ill, 4, 300 ; Tp. II, 1, 183 ; IHIV. II, 4, 13. 
 meyny. The multitude ; probably a form 
 
 of many. Cor. Ill, 1, 66. 
 Michael, dr .p. A follower of Cade. 2HVI. 
 Michael, Sir, dr. p. Friend to Archbishop 
 
 of York. IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 micher. A sneak; a truant. IHIV. II, 
 
 4, 450. 
 miching. Secret; sneaking. Hml. Ill, 
 
 2, 146. 
 
 mickle. Much ; great. Err. Ill, 1, 45 ; 
 HV. II, 1, 70 ; Rom. II, 3, 15. A word 
 almost obsolete in the time of Sh., but 
 still in use in Scotland in the form 
 "muckle," which is a mere variant. 
 There is an old proverb : " Many a 
 pickle make a mickle," or, as Ray gives 
 it : "Many littles make a mickle." By 
 a strange perversion this proverb is 
 frequently altered to "Many a mickle 
 make a muckle," which is nonsense, as 
 mickle and muckle are merely different 
 forms of the same word. 
 
 Midas. The son of Gordius and Cybele, 
 is said to have been a wealthy but 
 effeminate king of Phrygia, a pupil of 
 Orpheus and a great patron of the 
 worship of Bacchus. It is said that 
 while a child, ants carried grains of 
 wheat into his mouth to indicate that 
 one day he should be the richest of all 
 mortals. On one occasion Silenus, the 
 companion and teacher of Bacchus, had 
 gone astray in a state of intoxication 
 and was caught by the country people 
 in the rose gardens of Midas, He was 
 
 bound with wreaths of flowers and 
 led before the king. Midas received 
 Silenus kindly, and after treating him 
 with hospitality he led him back to 
 Bacchus who, in his gratitude, allowed 
 Midas to ask a favor of him. Midas, in 
 his folly, desired that all things which 
 he touched should be changed into gold. 
 The request was granted, but as even 
 the food which he touched became gold 
 he implored the god to take his favor 
 back. Bacchus accordingly ordered him 
 to bathe in the source of Pactolus, near 
 Mount Tmolus. This bath saved Midas, 
 but from that time the river always 
 had abundance of gold in its sand. 
 Merch. Ill, 2, 103. On one occasion, 
 when Pan and Apollo were engaged in 
 a musical contest on the flute and lyre, 
 Midas was chosen to decide between 
 them. The king decided in favor of 
 Pan, whereupon Apollo changed his 
 ears into those of an ass. Midas con- 
 trived to conceal them under his 
 Phrygian cap, but the servant who 
 used to cut his hair discovered them. 
 The secret so much harassed this man 
 that, as he could not betray it to a 
 human being, he dug a hole in the earth 
 and whispered in it ; " King Midas has 
 ass's ears." He then filled the hole up 
 again and his heart was relieved. But 
 on the same spot a reed grew up which 
 in its whispers betrayed the secret. 
 Midas is said to have killed himself by 
 drinking the blood of an ox. 
 
 middest. The middle ; the thick. 2HVI. 
 IV, 8, 64. 
 
 middle=earth. The world. A man of 
 middle-earth (Wiv. V, 5, 86) evidently 
 means one who belongs to the space 
 between the sky and the infernal 
 regions. 
 
 Milan, Duke of, dr.}). Father to Silvia. 
 Gent. 
 
 milch. Moist ; shedding tears. Hml. II, 
 2, 548. 
 
 milliner. A man dealing in fancy articles. 
 Wint. IV, 4, 193. 
 
 mill-sixpence. A coin (sixi^ence) on which 
 the impression was made by a screw 
 
mi 
 
 174 
 
 MIX 
 
 press instead of with a bannner. Such 
 coins were introduced about 1572 and 
 were, in many respects, superior to the 
 old ones. Wiv. I, 1, 158. 
 
 millstones. *'To weep millstones" is a 
 proverbial expression signifying not to 
 weep at all. RIII. I, 3, 353. Troil. I, 
 2, 157. 
 
 mince. 1. To make small ; hence to 
 extenuate or palliate. 0th. II, 3, 247 ; 
 Ant. I, 2, 109. 
 2. To act in an affected and delicate 
 manner, as, for example, to take small 
 steps. Wiv. V, 1, 9 ; Merch. Ill, 4, 67 ; 
 Troil. I, 2, 279. 
 
 For the passage in Lr. IV, 6, 119, it 
 has been suggested by Collier's MS. 
 corrector that minces is a misprint for 
 mimics. This is certainly a good sug- 
 gestion ; counterfeiting or mimicking 
 virtue seems more expressive here than 
 m,incing, even if we accept an old 
 definition of mincing given by Cotgrave 
 {s.v. m,ineux) — squeamish, quaint, coy. 
 
 mine. To undermine ; to sap ; to destroy. 
 As. I, 1, 22. 
 
 mineral. Anything that is mined or dug 
 out of a mine. Hml. IV, 1, 26. See ore. 
 
 Minerva. Identified by the Romans with 
 the Greek goddess Athena. Various 
 accounts are given of her birth and 
 parentage, one being that she was the 
 daughter of Jupiter without a mother. 
 Jupiter being tormented with severe 
 pains in his head ordered Vulcan to 
 split his skull open. This was done, 
 and Minerva sprang forth with a mighty 
 shout and clad in complete armour. 
 She was the goddess of all wisdom and 
 of the arts and sciences, and her in- 
 ventions are many and important. She 
 was believed to have invented nearly 
 every kind of work in which women 
 were employed, and she herself was 
 skilled in such work, as witness her 
 contest with Arachne. See Arachne. 
 She assumes the character of a warlike 
 divinity, but, unlike Mars, she preserves 
 men from slaughter when prudence 
 demands it and repels the savage love 
 of war shown by Mars, and conquers 
 
 him. In the reign of Cecrops both 
 Neptune and Minerva contended for 
 the possession of Athens. The gods re- 
 solved that whichever of them produced 
 a gift most useful to mortals should have 
 possession of the land. Neptune struck 
 the ground with his trident and straight- 
 way a horse appeared. Minerva ( Athena) 
 then planted the olive. The gods there- 
 upon decreed that the olive was more 
 useful to man than the horse and gave 
 the city to the goddess. From her it 
 was called A-thenae. 
 
 minikin. Small and pretty. Lr. Ill, 6, 45. 
 
 minion. The best ; the choice. Mcb. II, 
 4, 15. From the French mignon, which 
 Cot. defines as pleasing, gentle, kind. 
 Skeat suggests that the use of the word 
 with a sinister meaning was probably 
 borrowed from the Italian mignone, a 
 favorite. But the transition from favor- 
 ite, in the good sense of one well-beloved, 
 to favorite, a servile follower, is obvious 
 and easy. 
 
 minimus. Anything very small. Mids. 
 Ill, 2, 329. 
 
 Minos. A king and lawgiver of Crete. 
 His wife, Pasiphse, gave birth to a 
 monster, Minotaur us, which had a bull's 
 body and a human head. Others say 
 a human body and a bull's head. The 
 monster was kept in the labyrinth con- 
 structed by Daedalus at Cnosus. See 
 Daedalus. Minos made war against the 
 Athenians and Megarians and compelled 
 the former to send either every year or 
 every nine years, a tribute of seven 
 youths and seven maidens who were 
 devoured in the labyrinth by the Mino- 
 taurus. The monster was slain by 
 Theseus. 3HVI. V, 6, 22. 
 
 Minotaur. IHVI. V, 3, 189. See Minos. 
 
 minute-jacks. Fickle time-servers ; liter- 
 ally, fellows that watch their minutes 
 to make their advantage. Tim. Ill, 6, 
 107. 
 
 minutely. Every minute. Mcb. V, 2, 
 18. This word, in this sense, has now 
 fallen into disuse, like the word pre- 
 sently as meaning at present, which is 
 used only in Scotland, where they speak 
 
XIB 
 
 175 
 
 HON 
 
 of a person as " presently residing " — 
 meaning residing at present. In Sh. 
 time this was one of the ordinary sig- 
 nifications of the word. 
 
 mirable. Admirable. Troil. IV, 5, 142. 
 
 miraculous harp. The reference in Tp. 
 II, 1, 87, to the miraculous harp may 
 be either to that of Amphion or that of 
 Apollo. Amphion and his brother 
 Zethus having taken Thebes and put 
 Lycus, the king, and his wife, Dirce, to 
 death because Lycus had repudiated 
 their mother, they fortified the city by 
 a wall, and it is said that when Amphion 
 played the lyre the stones moved of 
 their own accord and formed the wall. 
 Apollo, by means of his harp, raised 
 the walls of Ti-oy. Phillpotts says : 
 " If Gonzalo makes Carthage and Tunis 
 into one city, his word has more power 
 than Amphion 's harp, which raised the 
 walls of Thebes." 
 
 Miranda, dr.p. Daughter to Prosper©. 
 Tp. 
 
 miscreate. Illegitimate. HV. I, 2, 16. 
 
 misdoubt, n. Suspicion ; apprehension. 
 2HVI. Ill, 1, 332. 
 
 misdoubt, v. To mistrust. Wiv. II, 1, 
 192; LLL. IV, 3, 194. 
 
 miser. A miserable wretch. Not neces- 
 sarily a hoarder of money. IHVI. V, 
 4,7. 
 
 misery. Wretchedness; poverty. Cor. 
 II, 2, 131. Grenerally explained here as 
 avarice, but, as Schm. well says, quite 
 unnecessarily. 
 
 misgraffed. Ill-placed/ Mids. I, 1, 137. 
 
 misprise, ) 1. To undervalue; to slight. 
 
 misprize. \ As. I, 1, 177 ; TroU. IV, 5, 74. 
 From the French mepriser. 
 2. To mistake. Mids. Ill, 2, 74. 
 
 misprised. Mistaken. Mids. Ill, 2, 74. 
 
 misprision. 1. The taking of one thing 
 for another ; mistake ; error. Ado. IV, 
 1, 187; LLL. IV, 3, 98 ; IHIV. I, 3, 27. 
 2. Contempt; undervaluing. All's. II, 
 3, 159. 
 
 miss. Misconduct. Ven. 53. 
 
 missingly. With regret. Wint. IV, 1, 34. 
 
 missive. A messenger, Mcb. I, 5, 7 ; 
 Ant. II, 2, 78. 
 
 mist. To bedew; to cover with mist. 
 Lr. V, 3, 264. 
 
 mistempered. 1. Badly tempered or 
 hardened (as steel). Rom. I, 1, 94. 
 2. Ill-tempered ; angry. John. V, 1, 12. 
 
 misthinlc. To think ill of. 3H VI. II, 5, 108. 
 
 mistreadings. Sins. IHIV. Ill, 2, 11. 
 
 mistress. 1. A term of courtesy used 
 in Sh. time in speaking of or to women 
 (except those of high rank) indiscrimin- 
 ately, whether they were married or 
 not. Even in the beginning of the last 
 century it was customary to style an un- 
 married lady, mistress. Wiv. V, 5, 194. 
 2. The small ball at the game of bowls, 
 now called the Jack, at which the 
 players aim. Nares. Troil. Ill, 2, 52. 
 
 mixture. But when the planets In evil 
 mixture to disorder wander. Troil. 
 I, 3, 95. "I believe the poet, according 
 to astrological opinions, means when 
 the planets form malignant configura- 
 tions, when their aspects are evil to- 
 wards one another. This he terms evil 
 mixture. ' ' Johnson. 
 
 mobled. Having the head wrapped up 
 or muffled. Hml. II, 2, 525. 
 
 modern. Commonplace. As. II, 7, 156 ; 
 AU's. II, 3, 2. Mcb. IV, 3, 170. 
 
 module. An image ; not the real thing. 
 John V, 7, 58. 
 
 moe. More. RII. II, 1, 239. 
 
 moiety. A portion. Lr. 1, 1, 7. Properly 
 a half, from the Latin medius, the 
 middle. It has this meaning in All's. 
 Ill, 2, 69. 
 
 moist star. The moon. Hml. I, 1, 118. 
 See moon. 
 
 moldwarp. A mole. {Scotch mody wart.) 
 IHIV. Ill, 1, 149. 
 
 mome. A dolt; a blockhead. Err. Ill, 
 1,33. 
 
 momentany. Lasting but a moment ; 
 momentary. Mids. I, 1, 143. 
 
 Monarcho. The nickname of a crack- 
 brained Italian who attracted a great 
 deal of attention just before Sh. time. 
 He fancied that he was emperor of the 
 world. LLL. IV, 1, 101. 
 
 Montague, dr.p. At variance with Capu- 
 let. Romeo's father. Rom. 
 
HON 
 
 176 
 
 HOB 
 
 Montague, Lady, dr,p. Wife to Mont- 
 ague. Rom. 
 
 Montague, Marquis of, dr. p. A Yorkist. 
 3HVI. 
 
 Montano, dr.p. Governor of Cyprus. 
 0th. 
 
 Montgomery, Sir John, dr.p. 3HVI. 
 
 montant. An old fencing term, meaning 
 an upright blow or thrust. Cot. Wiv. 
 
 II, 3, 27. cf. Montanto, applied by 
 Beatrice to Benedick. Ado. I, 1, 30. 
 
 month's mind. Sometimes defined as 
 monthly commemoration of the dead, 
 but used ludicrously to mean a great or 
 strong desire. Croft explains it as a 
 woman's longing such as sometimes 
 occurs in pregnancy. Gent. I, 2, 137. 
 
 Montjoy, dr.p. A French herald. HV. 
 
 monumental. Ancestral. All's. IV, 3, 20. 
 
 mood. Anger. Gent. IV, 1, 51 ; Rom. 
 
 III, 1, 13. 
 
 moon. The moon was believed not only 
 to govern the tides (Hml. I, 1, 118) and 
 to exert a powerful influence over the 
 condition of men and plants (Troil. Ill, 
 3, 184), but to be the source of dew. 
 The dew-drops were supposed to be the 
 tears of the moon. Mids. Ill, I, 204 ; 
 Mcb. Ill, 5, 24. 
 
 moon-calf. Literally, a person or con- 
 ception influenced by the moon ; an 
 abortion ; a monster. Tp. II, 2, 115. 
 
 moonish. Inconstant; capricious; change- 
 able like the moon. As. Ill, 2, 430. 
 
 Moonshine, dr.p. A character in the 
 Interlude. Mids. 
 
 moonshine, sop o' th'. Kent's emphatic 
 threat : Fll make a sop o' W moon- 
 shine of you (Lr. II, 2, 35) has called 
 forth much comment, some of which 
 seems more realistic than poetical. Thus 
 Nares even goes so far as to suggest 
 that Kent threatens to convert Oswald 
 into a dish known as "eggs in moon- 
 shine," and in illustration of his ex- 
 planation he actually gives a cookery 
 recipe for this culinary preparation I 
 Entwisle says : " Plainly, Kent's in- 
 tention is to make a ' sop ' of him in the 
 sense of steeping him in his own blood, 
 by the consenting light of the moon. " 
 
 Clarke thinks that Kent means: "I'll 
 beat you flat as a pancake." It is 
 evident that none of these conveys a 
 meaning precisely equivalent to that 
 intended by Sh, Moonshine has always 
 been regarded as one of the most un- 
 substantial of entities ; " a sop o' the 
 moonshine " is the next thing to nothing ; 
 to convert Oswald into that, would be 
 to almost annihilate him, so that Kent's 
 threat is equivalent to saying, in the 
 vernacular, though, perhaps, less poetic 
 language, of to-day: "I won't leave a 
 grease spot of you." The moon was 
 shining and so there was light enough 
 for " thrust and ward." 
 
 mop, n. A nod ; a grimace. Tp. IV, 1, 47. 
 
 mop, V. To make grimaces. Lr. IV, 1, 64. 
 
 mopping. Making grimaces. Lr. IV, 1,62. 
 
 Mopsa, dr. 2). A shepherdess. Wint. 
 
 moral. A hidden meaning. Ado. Ill, 4, 
 78 ; Shr. IV, 4, 79 ; HV. Ill, 6, 35. 
 
 Morgan, dr.p. Assumed name of Belarius. 
 Cym. 
 
 Morocco, Prince of, dr.p. Suitor to 
 Portia. Merch. 
 
 Morisco. A morris dancer. 2HVI. Ill, 
 
 I, 365. 
 
 morning's love. See Aurora and Cepha- 
 
 lus. 
 morris. 1. A morris-dance, q.v. All's. 
 
 II, 2, 25. 
 
 2. The nine tnen'^s morris. Mids. II, 1, 
 98. In the Var. Sh. (1821) James ex- 
 plains this as follows : " In that part of 
 Warwickshire where Shakespeare was 
 educated, and in the neighbouring parts 
 of Northamptonshire, the shepherds 
 and other boys dig up the turf with 
 their knives to represent a sort of im- 
 perfect chessboard. It consists of a 
 square, sometimes only a foot in dia- 
 meter, sometimes three or four yards. 
 Within this is another square, every 
 side of which is parallel to the ex- 
 ternal square, and these squares are 
 joined by lines drawn from each comer 
 of both squares and the middle of each 
 line. One party or player, has wooden 
 pegs, the other stones, which they move 
 in such a manner as to take up each 
 
M0& 
 
 177 
 
 MOR 
 
 other's men, as they are called, and the 
 area of the inner square is called the 
 pound, in which the men taken up are 
 impounded. These figures are al ways cut 
 upon the green turf, or leys as they are 
 called, or upon the grass at the end of 
 ploughed lands, and in rainy seasons 
 never fail to be choked up with mud." 
 Cotgrave, Douce, Strutt, Wright and 
 others describe various modifications of 
 the game which in some forms is a very 
 old one. 
 
 morris^dance. The morris dance, or 
 Moorish dance, was used on festival 
 occasions, particularly on May Day and 
 other seasons of great licence. HV. 
 II, 4, 25. It appears that a certain set 
 of personages were usually represented 
 in the May Day morris-dance, who have 
 been thus enumerated. 1. The Bavian 
 or fool. 2. Maid Marian or the Queen 
 of May, the celebrated mistress of Robin 
 Hood. 3. The friar, that is, Friar Tuck, 
 chaplain to the same personage. 4. 
 Her gentleman-ushei; or paramour. 5. 
 The hobby-horse. 6. The clown. 7. A 
 gentleman. 8. The Maypole. 9. Tom 
 Piper. 10, 11. Foreigners, perhaps Moris- 
 cos. 12. The domestic fool or jester. 
 It is not to be supposed that all these 
 personages were always there, but 
 allusions to all, or most of them, are 
 found in various places. It is difficult 
 to trace any part of these dances clearly 
 to Moorish origin, and the presumption 
 is chiefly founded upon the names 
 Morris and Morisco. Nares. 
 
 morris pike. A formidable weapon used 
 often by the English mariners and some- 
 times by soldiers. Supposed to be of 
 Moorish origin, hence the name. Err. 
 IV, 3, 28. 
 
 mort. French for death ; hence a hunt- 
 ing term for a certain flourish or notes 
 blown at the death of the deer. Wint. 
 I, 2, 118. 
 
 mortal. In the passage moi'tal in folly 
 (As. II, 4, 5(5), this word has given the 
 commentators some trouble. Johnson 
 explains it as abounding in folly, the 
 word mortal being an English pro- 
 
 vincialism for much or viery^ as mortal 
 tall, mortal little. Other meanings 
 have been suggested, but none are 
 satisfactory, and Staunton thinks that 
 there is a meaning that we have not 
 yet discovered. Rosalind's reply: "Thou 
 speakest wiser than thou art ware of," 
 would seem to indicate a deeper meaning. 
 The expression, human mortals, 
 (Mids. II, 1, 101) has given rise to a 
 question as to whether the fairies, with 
 Oberon and Titania, were mortal, like 
 men, or immortal, and the argument 
 has been conducted with some bitter- 
 ness. In line 135 Titania speaks of a 
 human female, a votaress of her order, 
 who " being mortal of that boy did die," 
 which would seem to imply that Titania 
 herself was not mortal. But this ques- 
 tion, like everything else connected 
 with these creations of the imagination, 
 is unsettled, and will no doubt remain so. 
 
 morrow. To-morrow. Mids. I, 1, 223; 
 Rom. II, 2, 186. 
 
 mort de ma vie. French for death of 
 my life ; a common French oath. HV. 
 Ill, 5, 11. 
 
 mort-du-vinaigre. Literally, death of 
 vinegar ; a ridiculous and probably 
 meaningless oath used by ParoUes. 
 All's. II, 3, 50. 
 
 mort Dieu. French for death of God; 
 same as 'Sdeath, which is a contraction 
 for God's death. 2HVI. I, 1, 123. 
 
 mortified. 1. Dead ; insensible ; numb. 
 Lr. II, 3, 15 ; Caes. II, 1, 324. 
 2. Ascetic ; retired from the world. 
 Mcb. V, 2, 5 ; LLL. I, 1, 28. 
 
 The phrase, the m^ortified man (Mcb. 
 V, 2, 5), may mean either a hermit, i.e., 
 one who is dead to the world and its 
 passions, or a man who is physically 
 dead. The Clarendon Press ed. takes 
 the latter view, and adds: "If *the 
 mortified man ' really means the dead, 
 the word bleeding in the former line 
 may have been suggested by the well- 
 known superstition that the corpse of a 
 murdered man bled afresh in the pre- 
 sence of the murderer. It is true that 
 
 . this interpretation gives an extravagant 
 
MOR 
 
 178 
 
 MOT 
 
 sense, but we have to choose between 
 extravagance and feebleness." 
 
 Mortimer, Edmund, dr.p. Earl of March. 
 IHIV. 
 
 Mortimer, Lady, dr.p. Daughter to 
 Glendower. IHIV. 
 
 Mortimer, Sir Hugh, dr.p. Uncle to the 
 Duke of York. 3HVI. 
 
 Mortimer, Sir John, dr.p. Uncle to the 
 Duke of York. 3HVI. 
 
 Morton, John, dr.p. Bishopof Ely. RIII. 
 
 Morton, dr.p. Servant to the Earl of 
 Northumberland. 2HIV. 
 
 mose. " To mose in the chine, a disorder 
 in horses, by some called mourning in 
 the chine." Nares. Shr. Ill, 2, 51. 
 
 mot. Motto , device. Schm. Motto, or 
 word, as it was sometimes called. Rolfe. 
 Lucr. 830. These definitions seem to 
 me scarcely to meet the case. That the 
 word mot is French for the English 
 term word is true, but here it evidently 
 has a sinister meaning. Cotgra ve gives 
 as one of the definitions of mot : a quip^ 
 cut, nip, frumpe, scoffe, jeast. Here 
 it evidently signifies a mark of disgrace. 
 
 Moth, dr.p. A fairy. Mids. 
 
 Moth, dr.p. Page to Armado. LLL. 
 
 mother. The disease hysterica passio. 
 Lr. II, 4, 56. 
 
 The disease called the m^other or 
 hysterica passio in Sh. time was not 
 thought peculiar to women. Percy. 
 
 The passage in Cym. Ill, 4, 51 : Some 
 jay of Italy Whose itnother was her 
 painting, is one of the cruces of the 
 play. Johnson explains it as: "The 
 creature not of nature, but of painting. " 
 In support of this, reference has been 
 made to Lr. II, 2, 60, a tailor made 
 thee. And in Cym. IV, 2, 82, we find : 
 No, nor thy tailor, rascal, 
 Who is thy grandfather ; he made 
 
 those clothes, 
 Which, as it seems, make thee. 
 
 Clarke and Wright say : " If the text 
 be right, the meaning probably is, 
 whose mother aided and abetted her 
 daughter in her trade of seduction." 
 A rather forced gloss, of which Ingleby 
 properly remarks: "By no ingenuity 
 
 is it possible to make ' whose mother 
 was her painting " mean "whose mother 
 was her bawd.' " 
 
 Various emendations have been pro- 
 posed. Thus, Theobald read "plant- 
 ing" for "painting;" Hanmer read 
 "feathers" for "mother;" and the 
 Collier MS. corrector read: "Who 
 smothers her with painting." Hallo- 
 well wrote a pamphlet in condemnation 
 of this emendation, and Singer (" Shake- 
 speare Vindicated," page 307) makes 
 some quite severe, though erroneous 
 remarks. The emendation is quite as 
 good as any that has been proposed, 
 but Johnson's explanation seems to 
 remove any need for alteration. 
 
 moth of peace. A mere idler ; one who 
 consumes, but does not work. 0th. I, 
 3, 257. 
 
 motion, n. 1. Motive; that which makes 
 to move. Cor. II, 1, 56. 
 
 2. Impulse; tendency of the mind or 
 feelings ; will. Meas. I, 4, 59 ; Merch. 
 V, 1, 86 ; John IV, 2, 255 ; 0th. I, 3, 95. 
 
 3. Offers; requests. Meas. V, 1, 541; 
 Err. I, 1, 60 ; Cor. II, 2, 57. 
 
 4. A puppet show, and also a single 
 puppet. Lucr. 1326; Wint. IV, 3, 103; 
 Gent. II, 1, 100. 
 
 The passage in Meas. Ill, 2, 118, has 
 given rise to some discussion, but the 
 best authorities define motion there as 
 puppet. See interpret. 
 
 In Meas. Ill, 1, 120, the expression, 
 this warm motion, does not seem to 
 refer wholly to the mere movement of 
 the limbs and organs. The term motion, 
 generally applied to puppets, etc., is 
 here used metaphorically to signify the 
 human body. 
 
 Unshaked of motion. Cses. Ill, 1, 
 70. Malone, with whom Dyce agrees, 
 says " unShaked by suit or solicitation, 
 of which the object is to move the 
 person addressed." Craik explains as 
 "unshaken in his motion," but this is 
 not in accordance with the facts, the 
 pole star being supposed to have no 
 motion. The obvious meaning is "un- 
 moving," the of here having the sense 
 
MOT 
 
 179 
 
 MTTC 
 
 of by, as in Hml. I, 1, 25, and II, 1, 64 : 
 And thus do we of wisdom and of 
 reach. 
 motion, v. To propose ; to counsel. IHVI. 
 
 1, 3, 63. 
 
 motive. 1. Cause; one who moves. Tim. 
 
 V, 4, 27; Ant. 11,2,96. 
 2. Instrument ; that which moves. All's. 
 
 IV, 4, 20 ; Troil. IV, 5, 57. 
 motley, n. 1. The parti-colored dress 
 
 worn by fools; hence, sometimes used 
 
 for the fool himself. As. II, 7, 34, 58 ; 
 
 do. Ill, 3, 79 ; Lr. I, 4, 160. 
 motley , adj. Of different colors ; so-called 
 
 because spotted ; originally applied to 
 
 curdled milk. Skeat. As. II, 7, 43. A 
 
 long motley coat, guarded with yellow. 
 
 HVIII., Prol. 16. Yellow was the fool's 
 
 color. See guarded. 
 motley - minded. Foolish; having the 
 
 mind of a motley or fool. As. V, 4, 41. 
 mould. Earth ; men of mould = mortal 
 
 men, i.e., made of the earth. HV. Ill, 
 
 2, 23. "Mr. Grant White is altogether 
 mistaken when he says that ' a man of 
 mould is a man of lai'ge frame, and so 
 of strength, of prowess.' " Dyce. The 
 word, in the sense we have given, was 
 in frequent use among the old poets. 
 If Nyni, Bardolph and Pistol had been 
 men of strength and prowess they would 
 not have asked mercy of Fluellen. 
 
 Mouldy, dr. p. A recruit. 2HI V. 
 
 Mountanto. See moyitanto or montant. 
 Beatrice calls Benedick Signor Moun- 
 tanto to indicate that she considered 
 him a mere fencer. Ado. I, 1, 30. 
 
 mountebank, n. One who mounts on a 
 bench (banco) to advertise his nostrums 
 at fairs and street corners. Err. V, 1 , 
 238 ; Hml. IV, 7, 142. 
 
 mountebank, v. To impose upon after 
 the manner of a quack. Cor. Ill, 2, 133. 
 
 mouse, n. A term of endearment very 
 common in old authors and therefore 
 presumably in frequent use in Sh. time. 
 Hml. Ill, 4, 183. 
 
 mouse, V. To tear in pieces. John II, 
 1, 354. 
 
 mouse-hunt. A weasel, sometimes a 
 stoat. As all animals of this family 
 
 are believed to be very amorous (see 
 ante, fitchew), the name was often 
 applied to men who were inclined to 
 run after women. Some think that the 
 origin of the word was mouse, used as 
 a term of endearment (see m,ouse), 
 hence mouse-htiyit = a hunter after 
 dears. Rom. IV, 4, 11. 
 
 mouth, n. Voice or cry. Mids. IV, 1, 122; 
 IHVI. II, 4, 12. Not the bark as some 
 corns, explain it. 
 
 mouth, v. To join mouths ; to kiss. Meas. 
 Ill, 2, 194. 
 
 mouthed, adj. Open; gaping. Sonn. 
 LXXVII, 6 ; IHIV. I, 3, 97. 
 
 mow. A grimace. Tp. IV, 1, 47. 
 
 moy. A word originated by Pistol from 
 a misunderstanding of the French m,oi 
 (me) which he supposed to be something 
 valuable offered as ransom by the 
 French soldier. HV. IV, 4, 14. John- 
 son thought that by m.oy Pistol under- 
 stood a piece of money, probably a 
 moidore ; Douce laughs at this and 
 suggests muy or muid, a French 
 measure for corn. But if Pistol did not 
 understand moi it is very unlikely that 
 he would have understood muid. Be- 
 sides, he asks it par donnezm,oi (pardon 
 me) means a ton of moj^s. It is evident 
 that this word, like much else that 
 Pistol utters in this passage, is mere 
 gibberish, and that is where the humor 
 lies. 
 
 Mowbray, Thomas, dr.p. Duke of Nor- 
 folk. RII. 
 
 Mowbray, Lord, dr.p. In league against 
 Henry IV. 2HIV. 
 
 muck-water. A word of uncertain mean- 
 ing. Mock-water in the Fl. • " A jocular 
 term of reproach used by the Host, in 
 the Merry Wives of WindsoPj to the 
 French Dr. Caius. Considering the 
 profession of the Doctor and the coarse- 
 ness of the Host, there can be no doubt, 
 I think, that he means to allude to the 
 mockery of judging of diseases by the 
 water or urine, which was the practice 
 of all doctors, regular and irregular, 
 at that time, and the subject of much, 
 not ill-placed, jocularity. Mock-water 
 
HUD 
 
 180 
 
 MUS 
 
 must mean, therefore, ' you pretending 
 water-doctor.'' A very few speeches 
 before, the same speaker calls Dr. Caius 
 King Urinal, and twice in the folio wing 
 scene Sir Hugh threatens to knock his 
 V- urinals about his costard or head. Can 
 anything be more clear ? Mr. Steevens' 
 interpretation, relating to the water of 
 a jewel, would be good if anything had 
 led to the mention of a Jewell, or the 
 alluding to it." Nares. See cride- 
 game. 
 
 muddy-mettled. Dull-spirited; irresolute. 
 Hnil. II, 2, 59i. c/. mettle. 
 
 mulled. Insipid ; flat. Cor. IV, 5, 240. 
 
 multipotent. Almighty. Troil. IV, 5, 129. 
 
 mumble-news. A teU-tale; a prattler. 
 LLL. V, 2, 464. 
 
 muniments. Expedients ; instruments. 
 Cor. I, 1, 122. 
 
 mural. WaU. Mids. V, 1, 208. In the 
 Fl. morall ; changed by Pope to mural. 
 White says that "the use of 'mural' 
 for ' wall ' is an anomally in English, 
 and is too infelicitous to be regarded as 
 one of Shakespeare's daring feats of 
 language." In his first edition he re- 
 tained moral; in his later edition he 
 adopted the emendation of Collier's 
 MS. and gave wall down. Hanmer 
 read mure all down. Mure^ meaning 
 wall, is found in 2HIV. IV, 4, 119, and 
 the compound immure, in Troil., Prol. 
 8. Mural is properly an adjective. 
 
 murdering-piece. A cannon loaded with 
 case and sometimes with chain shot. 
 Hml. IV, 5, 95. 
 
 mure. A waU. 2HIV. IV, 4, 119. 
 
 murmur. Rumour. ''Twas fresh in 
 murmur = was a recent rumour. Tw. 
 I, 2, 32. 
 
 murrion. Afflicted with the murrain. 
 Mids. II, 1, 97. 
 
 Muses. According to the earliest writers 
 the Muses were the inspiring goddesses 
 of song and, according to later notions, 
 divinities presiding over the different 
 kinds of poetry and over the arts and 
 sciences. As regards their parentage, 
 the most common notion was that they 
 were the daughters of Jupiter and 
 
 Mnemosyne and born in Pieria, at the 
 foot of Mount Olympus. They were 
 worshipped chiefly on Mount Helicon, 
 in Pieria, and on Mount Parnassus. 
 Near the latter mountain was the 
 famous Castalian Spring, well known 
 as sacred to the Muses. They were nine 
 in number, their names and attributes 
 being as follows : 1. Calliope, the Muse 
 of epic poetry, represented with a tablet 
 and stylus, or reed pen, and sometimes 
 with a roll of paper. 2. Clio, the Muse 
 of history ; appears in a sitting atti- 
 tude, with an open roll of paper, or an 
 open chest of books. 3. Euterpe, the 
 Muse of lyric poetry, with a flute. 4. 
 Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy, with 
 a tragic mask, the club of Hercules, or 
 a sword ; her head is surrounded with 
 vine leaves, and she wears the cothurnus 
 or buskin, such as were worn by tragic 
 actors. 5. Terpsichore, the Muse of 
 choral dance and song ; appears with 
 a lyre and the plectrum, an instrument 
 for striking the lyre. 6. Erato, the 
 Muse of erotic poetry and mimic imita- 
 tion ; sometimes also has the lyre. 7. 
 Polymnia or Polyhymnia, the Muse of 
 the sublime hymn; usually appears 
 without any attribute, in a pensive or 
 meditating attitude. 8. Urania, the 
 Muse of astronomy ; with a staff point- 
 ing to a globe. 9. Thalia, the Muse of 
 comedy and of merry and idyllic poetry; 
 appears with a comic mask, a shepherd's 
 staff, or a wreath of ivy. Sometimes 
 the Muses are seen with feathers on 
 their heads, alluding to their contests 
 with the Sirens. See Sirens, None of 
 the Muses is referred to by name in 
 Sh. The nine Muses are referred to in 
 Mids. V, 1, 52. References to Muse in 
 this sense are found in HV., Prol. 1, 
 and 0th. II, 1, 128. 
 muset, ( The opening in a fence or 
 musit. ) thicket through which a hare 
 or other beast of sport is accustomed 
 to pass. Nares. Ven. 683. In Kins. 
 Ill, 1, the word does not mean "hiding- 
 place," but the opening through which 
 the hiding-place is reached. 
 
MUS 
 
 181 
 
 MYS 
 
 music. Of the phrase " Let him ply his 
 music" (Hml. II, 1, 73) no quite satis- 
 factory explanation has been given. 
 Clarke explains it : " Let him conduct 
 himself in any style and at any rate he 
 chooses." Hudson: "Lethimliddlehis 
 secrets out." Schra. : " Apply himself 
 to his music." 
 
 muss. A scramble ; a row. Ant. Ill, 11,91. 
 This word is classed as colloquial or 
 slang, and in Farmer's " Slang and Its 
 Analogues " it is set down as American. 
 Another instance of the survival, on 
 this side of the Atlantic, of Elizabethan 
 words which have fallen into disuse in 
 England. It is a common colloquial 
 word with us. 
 
 Mustardseed, dr. p. A fairy. Mids. 
 
 mutes. Actors who appear on the stage 
 but do not speak. Hml. Ill, 2, 141 ; 
 do. V, 2, 346. 
 
 mutine,n. A rebel; a mutineer, John 
 II, 1,378; Hml. V, 2, 6. 
 
 mutine, v. To rebel. Hml. Ill, 4, 83. 
 
 mutiner. A mutineer. Cor. I, 1, 254. 
 
 Mutius, dr. p. Son to Titus Andronicus. 
 Tit. 
 
 mutton. 1. A sheep, i.e., the animal 
 itself. Merch. I, 3, 168. 
 
 2. The flesh of sheep. T w. 1, 3, 130 ; 2HI V. 
 V, 1, 28. In the passage in T w. 1, 3, 129 : 
 
 Sir And. : Faith, I can cut a caper. 
 
 Sir Toby : And I can cut the mutton to't, 
 there is evidently a pun on caper as a 
 sauce, and caper as a frolicsome skip or 
 spring. It is evident from this that 
 mutton and caper sauce together are at 
 least as old as the time of Sh. 
 
 3. A woman, especially in the carnal 
 sense, but not necessarily with an evil 
 meaning. Thus, most glossaries define 
 laced mutton (Gent. I, 1, 102) as a cant 
 expression for a courtesan, and a quibble 
 is suggested — courtesans being notori- 
 ously fond of finery and also frequently 
 subjected to the whip. Thus Du Bartas 
 speaks of "Lacing with lashes their 
 unpitied skin. " But surely in applying 
 this term to the chaste and faithful 
 Julia, Speed never intended a sug- 
 gestion of evil. The truth seems to be 
 
 that many of these cant phrases with 
 objectionable meanings are good ordin- 
 ary terms degraded to euphemisms. 
 Myrmidons, The. An Achaean race in 
 Thessaly, over whom Achilles ruled and 
 who accompanied him to Troy. Troil. 
 V, 7, 1. They are said to hav e inhabited 
 originally the island of ^gina, and to 
 have emigrated with Peleus into Thes- 
 saly. Of the origin of their name two 
 accounts are given. One is that they 
 are descended from Myrmidon, the son 
 of Jupiter and Eurymedusa, daughter 
 of Clitos, whom Jupiter deceived in the 
 disguise of an ant. Her son was for 
 this reason called Myrmidon, from the 
 Greek word for an ant. Another ac- 
 count is that Jupiter, designing ^gina 
 for the kingdom of his son, ^acus, fur- 
 nished the originally uninhabited island 
 with people by changing ants into men. 
 
 The speech of the clown in Tw. II, 3, 
 29, that the Myrmidons are no bottle- 
 ale houses, is evidently intended for big 
 words without any meaning, and has 
 caused a great waste of critical ingenuity. 
 
 Our word myrmidon, which signifies 
 a devoted, but unscrupulous, adherent, 
 is derived from the name of these 
 followers of Achilles. 
 mystery. 1. A secret. Cor. IV, 2, 35; 
 Hml. Ill, 2, 382. 
 
 2. A trade. In Sh. time, and even down 
 to the present day, even the most com- 
 mon trade is called stmys tery. Th us, the 
 shoemaker's trade is spoken of as "the 
 art and mystery of shoemaking." In 
 Sh. writings we find the term applied 
 to the trade of the hangman (Meas. Ill, 
 
 2, 30), and even to thieving (Tim. IV, 
 
 3, 458), and to the business of the bawd 
 (0th. IV, 2, 30). In the latter passage 
 the expression : Your mystery, your 
 mystery = betake you to your trade. 
 
 3. Secret rites. Lr. I, 1, 112. These 
 rites were practised only by certain in- 
 itiated persons, and formed the most 
 solemn modes of ancient worship. They 
 consisted of purifications, sacrificial 
 offerings, processions, hymns, danceSi 
 dramatic performances and the like. 
 
NAG 
 
 182 
 
 KAK 
 
 ^^^AQ. A horse ; usually applied 
 ■rJjKJ to a small horse, but not 
 ||p/J^ necessarily a poor or worth- 
 ^i^'^rhVI less horse as Schm. has it. 
 The word comes from neigh, the sound 
 made by a horse. It would seem that 
 originally it did not even imply a small 
 horse, but simply a horse. In the " Gest 
 Hystoriale of the Destruction of Troy " 
 we find "He neyt as a nagge." This 
 does not seem to imply that the word 
 was used in the sense of poor, or even 
 small. The word occurs thrice in Sh, , 
 and in each case with a qualifying 
 adjective, two of which denote in- 
 feriority. IHIV. Ill, 1, 135; 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 205 ; Ant. Ill, 10, 10. 
 
 Schm. gives as a second meaning : 
 ' ' Term of contempt for a loose woman ;' ' 
 but this is scarcely correct. In both 
 instances in which Sh. uses the word in 
 this connection, it will be found that 
 the expression of contempt is to be 
 found in the accompanying adjective 
 and not in the mere word nag, and in 
 one of the instances (2HIV. II, 4, 205) 
 it is very evident that the speaker uses 
 bombastic language which he does not 
 understand. See Galloway. 
 
 Naiades. A general name for the nymphs, 
 or female divinities, who presided over 
 fresh water, whether of rivers, lakes, 
 brooks or springs. Tp. IV, 1, 128. See 
 Nymphs. 
 
 nail. 1. The homy growth at the ends 
 of the fingers and toes. Tp. II, 2, 172 ; 
 Err. IV, 4, 107, and numerous other 
 
 2. A spike of wood or metal. Gent. 
 II, 4, 193; All's. II, 2, 26. The original 
 idea conveyed by the word nail was a 
 piercer. In regard to the expression 
 "dead as nail in door" (2HIV. V, 3, 
 126), Steevens says: "This proverbial 
 expression is of tener used than under- 
 stood. The door-nail is the nail on 
 which, in ancient doors, the knocker 
 
 strikes. It is therefore used as a com- 
 parison to any one irrecoverably dead, 
 one who has fallen (as Virgil says) 
 multa morte, that is, with abundant 
 death, such as iteration of strokes on 
 the head would naturally produce." 
 This explanation is interesting and 
 ingenious, but to us it seems too subtle 
 and far-fetched for an everyday pro- 
 verb. Doors in the olden time were not 
 the light paneled affairs now in use, 
 but heavy and battened so as to resist 
 the blows even of a hammer. The old 
 door of the Tolbooth in Edinburgh re- 
 sisted the fiercest assaults of the Porteus 
 mob, who used sledge hammers and 
 crowbars, and was only reduced by fire. 
 (See Heart of Mid-Lothian.) In the 
 time of Sh. the nails used in common 
 doors were hand-made of wrought iron, 
 and were bent over or clinched so that 
 their usefulness as nails was destroyed 
 until re-forged. They were therefore 
 mechanically dead. There were many 
 such nails in the door. But the proverb 
 is one of those common and often 
 meaningless comparisons which the 
 common people are apt to use. We 
 have heard "dead as a stone," "dead 
 as a hammer," etc. See hob-nail and 
 handsaw. See also "Shakespearean 
 Notes and New Readings." 
 3. A measure equal to 2}^ inches (the 
 one-sixteenth of a yard). Shr. IV, 3, 109. 
 naked. 1. Without clothing. Wint.III, 
 2, 212. Naked bed (Ven. 397); "a 
 person undressed and in bed was form- 
 erly said to be ' in naked bed. ' It may 
 be observed that down to a certain 
 period those who were in bed were 
 Uterally naked, no night linen being 
 worn." Nares. 
 
 2. Drawn ; unsheathed. Err. IV, 4, 148 ; 
 Rom. I, 1, 39. 
 
 3. Unarmed. 2HVI. Ill, 2, 234 ; 0th. 
 V, 2, 234. 
 
 4. Destitute. Hml. IV, 7, 44. 
 
NAR 
 
 183 
 
 NAT 
 
 Narcissus. A beautiful youth, who was 
 wholly inaccessible to the feeling of 
 love, and the nymph. Echo, who was 
 enamoured of him, died of grief. 
 One of his rejected lovers, however, 
 prayed to Nemesis to punish him 
 for his unfeeling heart. So one day, 
 when Narcissus was tired with the 
 chase, he lay down to rest by a stream 
 in the wood. Stooping to drink, he 
 saw his own image in the water, and 
 Nemesis caused him to fall in love with 
 it. But as he could not approach or 
 embrace the object of his affection, he 
 gradually pined away and his corpse 
 was metamorphosed into the flower 
 which bears his name. In the land of 
 Shades he gazes continually at his own 
 image in the river Styx. Ant. II, 5, 96. 
 
 Nathaniel, Sir, dr. p. A curate. LLL. 
 
 native, n. Origin ; source. Cor. Ill, 1, 129. 
 
 native, ad/. Real. Native act and figure 
 of my heart =■ my real thoughts. 0th. 
 
 1, 1, 63. 
 
 Which native she did owe (LLL, I, 
 
 2, 111) = which she naturally possessed. 
 Native seems to be an adverb here. 
 
 natural. An idiot. Tp. Ill, 2, 37 ; As. 
 
 I, 2, 52 ; Rom. II, 4, 96. 
 nature. 1. Life. All's. IV, 3, 272 ; Mcb. 
 1, 5, 51 ; Hml. I, 5, 12. 
 2. Innate affection of the heart and 
 mind. Hml. 1, 5, 82; Mcb. I, 5, 46. 
 
 The sentence, One touch of nature 
 makes the whole world kin (Troil. Ill, 
 
 3, 175), is quoted by thousands who do 
 not know the occasion of its utterance 
 and, indeed, scarcely know that it is 
 from Shakespeare. Therefore, it is not 
 to be wondered at that it is generally 
 misunderstood. In an article in the 
 Galaxy for Feb., 1877, Grant White 
 calls attention to its true meaning, 
 which is : " There is one point on which 
 aU men are alike, one touch of human 
 nature which shows the kindred of all 
 mankind — that they slight familiar 
 merit and prefer trivial novelty. * * * 
 It has come to be always quoted with 
 the meaning implied in the following 
 indication of emphasis : ' One touch of 
 
 nature makes the whole world kin.' 
 Shakespeare wrote no such sentimental 
 twaddle. Least of all did he write it in 
 this play, in which his pen ' pierces to 
 the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 
 and of the joints and marrow, and is a 
 discemer of the thoughts and intents of 
 the heart.' The line which has been 
 thus perverted into an exposition of 
 sentimental brotherhood among all man- 
 kind, is, on the contrary, one of the 
 most cynical utterances of an undis- 
 pu table moral truth, disparaging to the 
 nature of aU mankind, that ever came 
 from Shakespeare's pen. * * * Xhe 
 meaning [as shown by the context] is 
 too manifest to need, or indeed, admit 
 a word of comment, and it is brought 
 out by this emphasis : One touch of 
 nature makes the whole world kin"* — 
 that one touch of their common failing 
 being an uneasy love of novelty. Was 
 ever poet's or sage's meaning so per- 
 verted, so reversed 1 And yet it is hope- 
 less to think of bringing about a change 
 in the general use of this line and a cessa- 
 tion of its perversion to sentimental 
 purposes, not to say an application of 
 it as the scourge for which it was 
 wrought ; just as it is hopeless to think 
 of changing by any demonstration of 
 unfitness and unmeaningness a phrase 
 in general use — ^the reason being that 
 the mass of users are utterly thought- 
 less and careless of the right or the 
 wrong, the fitness or the unfitness, of 
 the words that come from their mouths, 
 except that they serve their purpose 
 for the moment. That done, what care 
 they ? And what can we expect, when 
 even the Globe edition of Shakespeare's 
 works has upon its very title-page and 
 its cover, a globe with a band around it, 
 on which is written this line in its per- 
 verted sense, that sense being illustrated, 
 enforced and deepened into the general 
 mind by the union of the band-ends by 
 clasped hands. I absolve, of course, 
 the Cambridge editors of the guilt of 
 this twaddling misuse of Shakespeare's 
 line; it was a mere publisher's con- 
 
NAU 
 
 184 
 
 KEA 
 
 trivance ; but I am somewhat surprised 
 that they even should have ever allowed 
 it such sanction as it has from its appear- 
 ance on the same title-page with their 
 names." 
 
 But the most surprising case of in- 
 attention to these obvious points, which 
 are familiar to all close readers of Sh., 
 occurs in " The Henry Irving Shake- 
 speare." This admirable ed. was, as 
 some of our readers are no doubt aware, 
 prepared with special reference to 
 dramatic production, either on the stage 
 or in private readings. This, of course, 
 involves the omission of certain portions 
 of the text which, if retained, would 
 make the play too long, and we are told 
 that *'the passages placed between 
 brackets are those which may, without 
 any detriment to the story or action of 
 the play, be left out." 
 
 In the standard text the passage 
 under consideration reads as follows : 
 
 One touch of nature makes the whole 
 world kin. 
 
 That all with one consent praise new- 
 born gawds. 
 
 Though they are made and moulded 
 of things past, 
 
 And give to dust that is a little gilt 
 
 More laud than gilt o'er-dusted. 
 Now, can it be believed that in this 
 passage all the lines after kin are marked 
 for omission, thus striking out the very 
 keynote of this part of the speech of 
 Ulysses and literally putting in his 
 mouth a meaning the very opposite to 
 that intended ? 
 
 Verily, this is equalled only by the 
 preacher who chose for his text a well- 
 known passage from the Gospel accord- 
 ing to St. Matthew: "Hang all the 
 law and the prophets I " 
 
 It is very certain that Sir Henry 
 
 Irving never read the proof of this part 
 
 of the edition which has been published 
 
 under his name. 
 
 naught. Improper ; licentious. Hml. 
 
 Ill, 2, 157. 
 A meaning still retained in our 
 
 modem word naughty. Dowden quotes 
 
 from "Grace Abounding," where Bun- 
 
 yan declares that he never " so much as 
 attempted to be naught with women." 
 nave. The navel. The expression in Mcb. 
 
 I, 2, 22 : Till he unseam'd him from 
 the nave to the chaps, has been the 
 subject of some discussion. A blow 
 which would make a cut " from the 
 navel to the jaws " seems to be a rather 
 awkward one; "from the chaps to the 
 navel" would seem to be the more 
 usual stroke. Consequently, Warburton 
 would read nape. But these reversals 
 of direction are not unusual in Sh., cf. 
 As. Ill, 5, 7, he that dies and lives. 
 With the old two-handed sword, strokes 
 which would have "unseamed" from 
 the chaps to the navel were not un- 
 known. 
 
 nay ward. Towards nay; inclining to a 
 negative. Wint. 11, 1, 64. 
 
 nayword. A watchword. Wiv. 11, 2, 131. 
 In Tw. 11, 3, 146, we find nayword in 
 most modern editions, but in Fl. and 
 some of the older editions it is ayword. 
 Here, however, it evidently means by- 
 word or laughing-stock — not watch- 
 word, as Schm. has it. 
 
 neaf, \ The hand. Mids. IV, 1, 20 ; 
 
 neif. f 2H1V. 11, 4, 200. 
 
 near. To come near = to touch in a 
 tender spot. IHIV. 1, 2, 14 ; Rom. 1, 5, 24. 
 
 near-legged. Knock-kneed. Shr. Ill, 2, 58. 
 
 neat, n. Horned cattle are known as 
 neat. Hence, neaVs leather = leather 
 made from the hide of an ox. Such 
 leather is especially fitted for making 
 the soles of shoes ; hence the expression : 
 As proper men as ever trod upon 
 neaVs Leather. Caes. I, 1, 29 ; also Tp. 
 
 II, 2, 72. 
 
 neat, adj. Foppish. IHIV. I, 3, 33. 
 The meaning of the word neat in the 
 sentence. Yon neat slave^ strike ! (Lr. 
 II, 2, 45) has given rise to much dis- 
 cussion. Steevens, followed by Dyce, 
 Schmidt, Wright, Moberly and others, 
 defines it as foppish, finical. Johnson 
 suggested that it meant "mere slave, 
 very slave," and Walker carries out 
 this idea by the definition, pure, un- 
 mixed, just as unmixed liquor is to-day 
 
NEB 
 
 185 
 
 HEP 
 
 spoken of as *'neat." Staunton gave 
 to neat a meaning connecting it with 
 neat cattle, and suggesting that Oswald 
 was to be graded with cattle. Furness 
 is inclined to accept Walker's interpre- 
 tation, which is certainly the most 
 forcible. Rolfe objects to Johnson's 
 definition (as modified by Walker) that 
 Sh. nowhere else has neat = pure, un- 
 mixed, but, as we have often noted in 
 this glossary, such an objection carries 
 very little weight. Sh. writings are 
 full of instances of the single use or 
 mode of use of a word. 
 
 neb. Now signifies the beak of a bird, 
 but Sh. probably uses it in the Scotch 
 sense in which it means the nose in 
 particular, but sometimes the face or 
 countenance. Wint. I, 2, 183. 
 
 necessitied. So poor as to urgently need 
 aid. All's. V, 3, 85. 
 
 needful. Full of need ; wanting suppKes. 
 3HVI. II, 1, 147. 
 
 needly. Absolutely. Rom. Ill, 2, 117. 
 
 neeld. A needle. Mids. Ill, 2, 204 ; John 
 V, 2, 157. 
 
 neeze. To sneeze. Mids. II, 1, 56. 
 
 neglection. Want of care; disregard. 
 IHVI. IV, 3, 49 ; Per. Ill, 3, 30. 
 
 negligence. Disregard ; contempt. Hml. 
 IV, 5, 134. See spied. 
 
 Ne intelligis? Latin for do you not 
 understand? LLL. V, 1, 28. Neintelli- 
 gis in Fl ; anne intelligis in some eds. 
 
 Nemean lion. The valley of Nemea, 
 between Cleonae and Phlius, was in- 
 habited by a monstrous lion, the off- 
 spring of Typhon and Echidna. Eurys- 
 theus ordered Hercules to bring him 
 the skin of the monster. After using 
 in vain his club and arrows against the 
 lion, he strangled the animal with his 
 own hands. He returned, carrying the 
 dead lion on his shoulders, but Eurys- 
 theus was so frightened at the gigantic 
 strength of the hero that he ordered 
 him in future to deliver the account of 
 his exploits outside the town. The 
 slaying of the Nemean lion was the first 
 of the twelve labors of Hercules. LLL. 
 IV, 1,90; Hml. 1,4,83. 
 
 Nemesis. A Greek goddess, who is usually 
 described as the daughter of Night, 
 though some caU her a daughter of 
 Erebus or of Oceanus. She is a per- 
 sonification of the moral reverence for 
 law, of the natural fear of committing 
 a culpable action, and hence of con- 
 science. From this arose the idea of 
 her being an avenging and punishing 
 fate, who, like Justice, sooner or later 
 overtakes the sinner. She is usually 
 represented in works of art as a virgin 
 divinity. In the more ancient works 
 she seems to have resembled Aphrodite 
 or Venus, whereas in the later ones she 
 was more grave and serious. IHVI. 
 IV, 7, 78. 
 
 nephew. Properly the son of a brother 
 or sister, but used by old writers with 
 great latitude. Thus, in IHVI. II, 5, 
 64, it signifies cousin ; in 0th. 1, 1, 112 
 = grandchild. See niece. 
 
 Neptune. Referred to quite often in the 
 plays, and, by a sort of metonomy, the 
 name is frequently used instead of the 
 ocean itself, as in Tp. V, 1, 35, and 
 elsewhere. Neptune was chief marine 
 divinity of the Romans, who identified 
 him with the Greek Poseidon and trans- 
 ferred to him all the legends and attri- 
 butes of that god. Poseidon or Neptune 
 was the son of Saturn and Rhea, and 
 was therefore a brother of Jupiter, 
 Pluto, Juno, Vesta and Ceres. It was 
 determined by lot that he should rule 
 over the seas. His palace was in the 
 depths of the sea near -lEgae, in Euboea, 
 where he kept his horses with brazen 
 hoofs and golden manes. With these 
 horses he rides in a chariot over the 
 waves of the sea, which become smooth 
 as he approaches, and the monsters of 
 the deep recognise him and play around 
 his chariot. In conjunction with Apollo 
 he built the walls of Troy for Laomedon. 
 Laomedon refused to give these gods 
 the stipulated reward and even dismissed 
 them with threats. Thereupon Neptune 
 sent a marine monster which was on 
 the point of devouring Laomedon 's 
 daughter when it was killed by Hercules. 
 
NIB 
 
 186 
 
 N£R 
 
 As a consequence Neptune sided with 
 the Greeks in the war with Troy. He 
 was regarded as the creator of the 
 horse (see Minerva) and horse and 
 chariot races were held in his honor on 
 the Corinthian isthmus. In works of 
 art Neptune may be easily recognised 
 by his attributes, the dolphin, the horse 
 or the trident. His figure does not 
 present the majestic calm which charac- 
 terises his brother Jupiter, but as the 
 state of the sea is varying, so also is the 
 god represented sometimes in violent 
 agitation and sometimes in a state of 
 repose. 
 
 There is no legend that he ever 
 metamorphosed himself into a ram, 
 though he did assume the form of a 
 horse in order to deceive Ceres (Demeter ) . 
 The statement of Florizel, in Wint. IV, 
 4, 28, is probably based on the story 
 that Neptune was concealed among a 
 flock of lambs to save him from being 
 devoured by his father, Saturn. See 
 Saturn. A well in the neighbour- 
 hood of Mantinea, in Arcadia, where 
 this is said to have happened, was 
 believed from this circumstance to have 
 been called "Arne," or the Lamb's 
 WeU. 
 Nereides. The marine nymphs of the Medi- 
 terranean, in contradistinction to the 
 Naides or the nymphs of fresh water, 
 and the Oceanides or the nymphs of the 
 great ocean. There were fifty of them, 
 daughters of Nereus and Doris. Their 
 names are not the same in all writers ; 
 one of the most celebrated was Thetis, 
 the mother of Achilles. They are des- 
 cribed as lovely divinities, dwelling 
 with their father at the bottom of the 
 sea, and were believed to be propitious 
 to all sailors, and especially to the 
 Argonauts. They were worshipped in 
 several parts of Greece, but more 
 especially in her seaport towns. The 
 epithets given them by the poets refer 
 partly to their beauty and partly to 
 their place of abode. They are fre- 
 quently represented in works of art, 
 and commonly as youthful, beautiful 
 
 and naked maidens, and they are often 
 grouped with Tritons and other marine 
 beings. Sometimes they appear on 
 gems as half maidens and half fishes. 
 Ant. II, 2, 211. See Nymphs. 
 
 Nerissa, dr.p. Waiting-maid to Portia. 
 Merch. 
 
 Nero. An infamous Roman emperor. He 
 was the son of the Cn. Domitius Aheno- 
 barbus and of Agrippina, daughter of 
 Germanicus Caesar and sister of Cali- 
 gula. Born December 15th, a.d. 37; when 
 sixteen he married Octa via, the daughter 
 of Claudius and Messalina. His mother 
 had married her uncle, the Emperor 
 Claudius, and on the death of her hus- 
 band she secured the succession for her 
 son, to the exclusion of Britannicus, 
 the son of Claudius. Nero and Agrip- 
 pina soon quarreled, however; the 
 mother threatened to take sides with 
 Britannicus and place him on the throne, 
 and Nero caused his rival to be poisoned. 
 Afterwards he caused his mother to be 
 assassinated. This is referred to in Hml. 
 Ill, 2, 412. Upon this passage Dowden, 
 in his edition of Hml., remarks : " Per- 
 haps the coincidences are accidental, 
 that Agrippina was the wife of Claudius, 
 was accused of poisoning a husband, 
 and of living in incest with a brother." 
 After this the history of Nero became a 
 mere succession of crimes. He caused 
 the deaths of the most eminent men in 
 Rome, amongst them being Seneca, the 
 famous philosopher. The burning of 
 Rome is generally laid to his charge, 
 and, to divert the odium from himself, 
 he tried to throw it on the Christians, 
 many of whom were put to death in a 
 most cruel manner. It is said that 
 while the city was burning he played 
 on a musical instrument, and this is 
 alluded to in IHVI. I, 4, 95. Against 
 such a monster a revolt was sure to 
 come. He was driven from his palace and 
 committed suicide by stabbing in the 
 year a.d. 68, in his thirty-first year. 
 His name has become a sjoionym for 
 cruelty and licentiousness. John V, 
 3, 152. 
 
NES 
 
 187 
 
 NET 
 
 Nestor, dr. p. A Grecian commander. 
 Troil. 
 
 Nestor was King of Pylos, and in his 
 youth and early manhood he was a 
 distinguished warrior. He defeated both 
 the Arcadians and Eleans. He took 
 part in the fight of the Lapithae against 
 the Centaurs, and he is mentioned 
 amongst the Calydonian hunters and 
 the Argonauts. Although far advanced 
 in age, he sailed with the other Greek 
 heroes against Troy, Having ruled 
 over three generations of men, his 
 advice and authority were deemed equal 
 to that of the gods, and he was renowned 
 for his wisdom, his justice and his 
 knowledge of war. After the fall of 
 Troy he returned home and arrived 
 safely in Pylos, where he lived to a full 
 old age, surrounded by brave and in- 
 telligent sons. Outside of Troilus and 
 Cressida, in which play he makes a 
 prominent figure, he is referred to in 
 LLL. IV, 3, 169; Merch. 1, 1, 56; IHVI. 
 II, 5, 6 ; 3HVI. Ill, 2, 188. 
 
 Nessus. A Centaur, who carried travelers 
 across the river Evenus for a small sum 
 of money. When Hercules and his wife, 
 Deianira, went into exile they had to 
 cross this river ; Hercules himself forded 
 it, but he entrusted his wife to the 
 Centaur to carry her across. Nessus 
 attempted to outrage her, and Hercules, 
 hearing her screams, shot him through 
 the heart with a poisoned arrow dipped 
 in the gall of the Lernsean Hydra. The 
 dying Centaur told Deianira to take 
 his blood with her as it was a sure 
 means of preserving the love of her 
 husband. Some time after, Hercules 
 prepared to offer a sacrifice to Jupiter 
 and sent his servant to Deianira for a 
 suitable garment for the ceremony. She 
 sent one, but first dipped it in the blood 
 of the Centaur, as she was afraid that 
 lole, whom Hercules had carried off as 
 a prisoner, would supplant her in his 
 affections. As soon as the robe be- 
 came warm on the body of Hercules, 
 the poison penetrated all his limbs and 
 caused him the most excruciating agony, 
 
 and when he tried to pull off the gar- 
 ment, he tore off great masses of flesh 
 with it. His torture was so great that 
 he put an end to his life. All's. IV, 3, 
 281 ; Ant. IV, 12, 43. See Lichas. 
 
 nether-stocks. The lower part of the 
 hose or leg-covering, as distinguished 
 from the trunk-hose or thigh covering. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 130. 
 
 nettle. In the Fl. the passage Tw. II, 
 5, 17 reads : How now, my Mettle of 
 India ? This was changed in the F2. 
 to vfiy nettle of India, a reading which 
 has been followed by some eds. In 
 defence of the latter reading Mason 
 says : "The nettle of India is the plant 
 that produces the cow-itch, a substance 
 only used for the purpose of tormenting 
 by its itching quality," and the allusion 
 is supposed to be to Maria's ability to 
 torment and irritate. I cannot find in 
 the old pharmacopoeias that "nettle of 
 India " was a synonym for cow-itch or 
 cowhage {Macxma pruriens). Mason 
 is mistaken in supposing that cow-itch 
 is used only for playing tricks ; it was 
 an important item in the old materia 
 medica, being used as a vermifuge or 
 anthelmintic, and if " nettle of India " 
 had been a synonym, it is probable that 
 it would have been mentioned as such. 
 White gives the scientific name as 
 Urtica Marina, which is Latin for 
 "sea nettle." But the sea nettle is a 
 jelly fish, and Maria was no jelly fish. 
 The word nettle, both as noun and verb, 
 occurs frequently in Sh., and always in 
 reference to the common nettle ( Urtica 
 dioica) and its action. It seems to me 
 that the Fl. reading is to be preferred. 
 White makes my metal of India=^^ my 
 lass of gold;" Rolfe explains it as: 
 " my golden girl, my jewel, an expres- 
 sion quite in Sir Toby's vein. " Kjiight 
 asks: "Was Sir Toby likely to use a 
 common figure or one so far-fetched ? 
 If Shakespeare had wished to call Maria 
 a stinging nettle, he would have been 
 satisfied with naming the indigenous 
 plant— as he has been in RII. and HIV. 
 —without going to the Indian seas," 
 
NEW 
 
 188 
 
 HIC 
 
 news. In Rom. Ill, 5, 124, the sentence : 
 These are news indeed ! as found in the 
 Fl., is spoken by Juliet. Collier's MS. 
 corrector gives them to Lady Capulet, 
 and they certainly might come appro- 
 priately from her. But it is always 
 best to follow the old reading where 
 possible, and as Dyce observes, Juliet's 
 words refer to Lady Capulet's promise 
 (line 105) : Fll tell thee joyful tidings, 
 girl. 
 
 newt. Said by Schmidt and others to be 
 a lizard, which it is not. Sh. speaks of 
 both lizards and newts, but whether he 
 recognised them as essentially different 
 ' animals may be an open question, but 
 in Lr. Ill, 4, 135, he evidently makes a 
 distinction and speaks of the wall-newt 
 and the water, i.e., the water-newt. 
 The word was originally evet or eft, 
 and the n of the article became attached 
 to the word so that an ewt became a 
 newt, just as Tniyie uncle became my 
 nuncte. The opposite took place in some 
 words ; thus, nadder became an adder ; 
 nauger became an auger. The original 
 meaning of eft is a water animal or 
 inhabitant of a stream. Skeat. 
 
 Why the harmless and pretty little 
 newt should have become an object of 
 horror and an ingredient in the broth 
 of witches it is hard to tell. It forms 
 a curious and interesting pet when kept 
 in the aquarium and may be handled 
 with impunity, but, unfortunately, like 
 that most useful insect, the dragon-fly 
 or devil's darning-needle, which is quite 
 harmless and a most efficient destroyer 
 of the mosquito and other pestiferous 
 insects, most people, out of sheer ignor- 
 ance, regard it as venomous. 
 
 nice. 1. Foolish. Shr. Ill, 1, 80. 
 2. Trivial. Rom. Ill, 1, 159. 
 
 niceness, | Coyness. Meas. II, 4, 163; 
 
 nicety. ] Cym. Ill, 4, 158. 
 
 Niciiolas. St. Nicholas' clerks is a cant 
 term for highwaymen and robbers, but 
 though the expression is very common, 
 its origin is still uncertain. That he 
 was the patron saint of scholars is well 
 known, and to this there is an aUusion 
 
 in Gent. Ill, 1, 300. Douce tells us that 
 there was a legend according to which 
 the saint was accorded this honor be- 
 cause he discovered that a wicked host 
 had murdered three scholars on their 
 way to school. By his prayers Saint 
 Nicholas restored them to life. By the 
 statutes of St. Paul's School, the 
 scholars are required to attend divine 
 service at the cathedral on the anniver- 
 sary of this saint, and the parish clerks 
 of London were incorporated into a 
 guild, with Saint Nicholas for their 
 patron. 
 
 Warburton explains the adoption of 
 St. Nicholas by thieves as their patron 
 saint thus : " <Si. Nicholas was the 
 Patron Saint of scholars ; and Nicholas 
 or Old Nick is a cant name for the Devil. 
 Hence, he equivocally calls robbers St. 
 Nicholas's clerks." This seems rather 
 far-fetched. Knight gives the follow- 
 ing : ' ' Scholars appear, from the ancient 
 statutes against vagrancy, to have been 
 great travellers about the country. 
 These statutes generally recognise the 
 right of poor scholars to beg, but they 
 were also liable to the penalties of the 
 gaol and the stocks unless they could 
 produce letters testimonial from the 
 chancellors of their respective univer- 
 sities. It is not unlikely that in the 
 journeys of these hundreds of poor 
 scholars they should have occasionally 
 'taken a purse' as well as begged 'an 
 almesse, ' and that some of ' St. Nicholas's 
 clerks ' should have become as celebrated 
 for the same accomplishments which 
 distinguished Bardolph and Peto at 
 Gadshill as for the learned poverty 
 which entitled them to travel with a 
 chancellor's license. " 
 
 However this might have been, it is 
 certain that the expression was a com- 
 mon one in the time of Sh. Steevens 
 quotes "A Christian turned Turk" 
 (1612) : "St Nicholas' clerks are stepp'd 
 up before us ;" and in " The Hollander " 
 Glapthorne has : "divers rooks and St. 
 Nicholas' clerks." But Donnelly, in 
 bis "Great Cryptogram," page 633, 
 
NIC 
 
 189 
 
 NIO 
 
 tells us that the name Saint Nicholas 
 was "dragged into " this passage so as 
 to bring the name of Nicholas Bacon 
 into the cipher, and intimates that pre 
 viously Saint Nicholas was not known 
 at all in this connection ! ! 
 
 nick, n. 1. The exact spot; the very 
 moment. 0th. V, 2, 317. 
 2. In some of the uses of this word re- 
 ference is evidently made to the nicks 
 cut on tallies or sticks for keeping 
 scores or accounts. Gent. IV, 2, 76. 
 
 nick, V. To cut notches in ; to injure or 
 destroy. Ant. Ill, 13, 8. Nicks him 
 like a fool (Err. V, 1, 175), that is, cuts 
 his hair in nicks or notches, as was 
 formerly done to fools, " who were 
 shaved and nicked in a particular 
 manner in our author's time. " Malone. 
 
 niece. Granddaughter. RIII. IV, 1, 1. 
 See nephew. 
 
 nightingale. It is an old idea that the 
 nightingale sings with its breast pressed 
 against a thorn. Lucr. 1135 ; Pilgr. 380 ; 
 Kins. Ill, 4, 25. Sir Thomas Brown, in 
 his "Vulgar Errors," asks "whether 
 the nightingale's sitting with her breast 
 against a thorn be any more than that 
 she placeth some prickles on the out- 
 side of her nest, or roosteth in thorney, 
 prickly places, where serpents may 
 least approach her." In the "Zoolo- 
 gist " for 1862, the Rev. A. C. Smith men- 
 tions the discovery on two occasions of 
 a strong thorn projecting upward in 
 the center of the nightingale's nest. 
 
 Another popular error is that the 
 nightingale never sings by day. Portia 
 says (Merch. V, I, 103) : I think the 
 nightingale^ if she could sing by day, 
 etc., and cf. Rom. Ill, 5, 1, et seq. But 
 the nightingale often sings as sweetly 
 in the day as during the night. There 
 is an old superstition that the nightin- 
 gale sings all night to keep herself 
 awake lest the glow-worm should devour 
 her. That the nightingale frequents the 
 pomegranate trees in preference to any 
 other is said to be a fact, and it is well 
 known that no birds are more faithful 
 to a favorite locality. Year after year 
 
 they wiU frequent the same spot and 
 pour forth their songs from the same 
 bushes. Rom. Ill, 5, 1. 
 
 In referring to the nightingale, all 
 poets and other writers speak of the 
 female bird only as the one that sings. 
 This is an error. The female does not 
 sing, but the male bird sings almost 
 continually from pairing to hatching 
 time, after which he is too busy helping 
 his mate to feed the young to sing 
 much. Such are some of the legends 
 which have been woven round this 
 interesting bird. For the story of the 
 unhappy Philomela see Philomel. 
 
 night-cap. A cap worn at night or when 
 at work. Cses. I, 2, 247 ; Oth. II, 1, 316. 
 In the latter case with a metaphorical 
 quibble. 
 
 night-crow. The identity of this bird is 
 not well established. The night-heron, 
 the owl and the night- jar have all been 
 suggested and urged as being the bird 
 meant by Sh. 3HVI. V, 6, 45. 
 
 nighted. 1. Black. Hml. I, 2, 68. 
 2. Darkened. Lr. IV, 5, 13. 
 
 night-rule. Night revel ; diversion. Mids. 
 Ill, 2, 5. See rule. 
 
 nill. Will not. Shr. II, 1, 273. ; Hml. V, 
 1, 19; Per. Ill, Prol. 55. 
 
 nine-fold. This, according to Tyrwhitt, 
 is put for the rhyme instead of nine 
 foals; according to Malone, it means 
 " nine familiars." Lr. Ill, 4, 126. 
 
 ninny. A fool ; a jester. Tp. Ill, 2, 71. 
 
 N iobe. She was the daughter of Tantalus, 
 the sister of Pelops and the wife of 
 Amphion, King of Thebes, by whom 
 she had a large number of children, the 
 most commonly received account being 
 seven sons and seven daughters. Being 
 proud of the number of her children 
 she deemed herself superior to Latona, 
 who had given birth to only two, Apollo 
 and Diana. These two divinities, being 
 indignant at the insult thus offered to 
 their mother, slew all Niobe's childi*en 
 with their arrows. For nine days the 
 bodies lay in their blood unburied, 
 because Jupiter had changed the people 
 into stones, but on the tenth day the 
 
HIT 
 
 190 
 
 NOB 
 
 gods themselves buried them, and Niobe 
 was metamorphosed into stone as she 
 sat weeping on Mount Sipylus. Hml. 
 I, 2, 149. It is said that this stone 
 always sheds tears during the summer. 
 The story of Niobe and her children was 
 a favorite subject with the ancient 
 artists. One of the most celebrated of 
 the ancient works of art still extant is 
 the group of Niobe and her children, 
 which filled the pediment of the temple 
 of Apollo Sosianus at Rome, and which 
 was discovered in the year 1583, or 
 about eighteen or nineteen years before 
 Sh. play of Hamlet was written. This 
 group is now at Florence, and consists 
 of the mother, who holds her youngest 
 daughter on her knees, and thirteen 
 statues of her sons and daughters, 
 besides a figure usually called the paeda- 
 gogus of the children. 
 
 nit. The egg of an insect, especially that 
 of the pediculus. Originally, it meant 
 the insect itself. Applied to Moth on 
 account of his small size. LLL. IV, 1, 
 150; Shr. IV, 3, 110. 
 
 nobility. Greatness; magnitude. Hml. 
 I, 2, 110. 
 
 noble. A gold coin worth 6s. 8d. ; RII. 
 
 1, 1, 88. The royal went for 10s. ; the 
 noble only for 6s. 8d., and upon this is 
 founded numerous jests, as in IHIV. I, 
 
 2, 156, and II, 4, 331. The last seems to 
 allude to a jest of Queen Elizabeth. Mr. 
 John Blower, in a sermon before her 
 majesty, first said, "My royal queen," 
 and a little after, " My wo6^e queen ; " 
 upon which, says the queen: "What, 
 am I ten groats worse than I was ? " 
 
 nobody. Played by the picture of no- 
 body. Tp. Ill, 2, 136. The allusion 
 here is either to the print of Nobody, 
 as prefixed to the anonymous comedy 
 of No-Body and Some-Body, without 
 date, but printed before 1600 (Reed), or 
 to the very singular engraving on the 
 old and popular ballad of The Well- 
 spoken Nobody (Halliwell). 
 
 nod. " To give the nod ; " a term in the 
 game of cards called "Noddy." TroU. 
 I, 2, 209. 
 
 noddy. A fool ; a simpleton. Gent. I, 1, 
 119. 
 
 noise. A company of musicians. 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 13. 
 
 "This term, which occurs perpetually 
 in our old dramatists, means a company 
 or concert. In Jonson's days they 
 sedulously attended taverns, ordinaries, 
 etc., and seem to have been very im- 
 portunate for admission to the guests. 
 They usually consisted of three, and 
 took their name from the leader of 
 their little band. Thus we hear of ' Mr. 
 Sneak's notse,' 'Mr. Creak's notse," 
 and in Cartwright of 'Mr. Spindle's 
 noise.'''''' — Gifford^s note on '"'■Jonson'^s 
 Works.''"' The term continued in use 
 down to the time of Dryden. Dyce 
 calls attention to the fact that Wycherly, 
 in The Plain Dealer, uses the word in 
 the sense of " a company " without any 
 reference to music. "I could as soon 
 suffer a whole noise of flatterers at a 
 great man's levee in a morning," 
 
 nole, ) A grotesque word for head, 
 
 nowl. ) like pate, noddle. Mids. Ill, 
 2, 17. 
 
 Some of the old books on magic gave 
 receipts which were said to enable the 
 reader to make "a man's head seenie 
 an asse head. ' ' Receipts from Albertus 
 Magnus and from Scot's "Discoverie of 
 Witchcraft" are quoted by Wright in 
 the Clarendon ed. of A Midsumm,er 
 NighVs Dream. Also by Douce. 
 
 nonce. Literally, for the once; for the 
 one time ; for this particular occasion. 
 IHIV. I, 2, 201 ; IHVI. II, 3, 57; Hml. 
 IV, 7, 161. 
 
 nook-shotten. Shooting out into capes, 
 promontories and necks of land. War- 
 burton. Or, perhaps, thrust into a 
 comer apart from the rest of the world. 
 HV. Ill, 5, 14. cf. Cym. Ill, 4, 141. 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, dr.p. RII. and RIII. 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, dr.p. Of the Duke of 
 York's party. 3HVI. 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, dr.p. Father to the 
 Earl of Surrey. HVIII. 
 
 north. 1. The north wind, proverbial 
 for its coldness and violence. Hence, 
 
NOR 
 
 191 
 
 NUN 
 
 in 0th. V, 2, 20, as liberal as the norths 
 that is, as loudly and freely as the north 
 wind blows. In Cym. I, 3, 36, the re- 
 ference is to the cold and frosty charac- 
 ter of the north wind and its blighting 
 effects on vegetation, cf. Tp. I, 2, 256. 
 Applied metaphorically to the bad 
 opinion of any one, as in Tw. Ill, 2, 28, 
 the north of my lacly''s opinion. 
 
 2. "The north was always supposed to 
 be the particular habitation of bad 
 spirits. Milton, therefore, assembles 
 the rebel angels in the north. " Johnson. 
 Hence, Sh. makes La Pucelle appeal to 
 those who are substitutes. Under the 
 lordly monarch of the north (IHVI. V, 
 3, 6). Read article on Joan La Pucelle. 
 " The monarch of the north was Zimi- 
 mar, one of the four principal devils 
 invoked by witches. The others were : 
 Amaimon, king of the east, Gorson, 
 king of the soutli, and Goap, king of the 
 west. Under these devil kings were devil 
 marquesses, dukes, prelates, knights, 
 presidents and earls. They are all 
 enumerated from Wier, De Prcestigils 
 dcemonum, in Scot's 'Discoverie of 
 Witchcraft.' Book xv., c. 2." Douce. 
 
 Northumberland, Earl of, dr.p. 3HVI. 
 
 Northumberland, Earl of, dr.p. Henry 
 Percy. RII. ; IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 nose. It was not for nothing that my 
 nose fell a-bleeding. Merch. II, 5, 24. 
 In Sh. time bleeding at the nose was 
 considered ominous. In regard to LLL. 
 V, 2, 568, see Alexander. 
 
 note. A stigma; a mark of reproach. 
 RII. I, 1, 43. 
 
 noted. D isgi'aced ; marked with a stigma. 
 Cses. IV, 3, 2. 
 
 not ever. Not ever is an uncommon ex- 
 pression and does not mean never, but 
 not always. Mason. HYIII. V, 1, 130. 
 
 not=pated. Having the hair cut close. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 78. According to some, it 
 means bull-headed ; stubborn. Nares 
 calls attention to the fact that beardless 
 wheat has been called not wheat, cf. 
 Line 251 in same scene — knotty-pated. 
 Also Chaucer's description of the Yeo- 
 man (" Canterbury Tales," Prol. line 
 
 109): "A not-hed hadde he, with a 
 broune visage." 
 
 nourish. This word, as it occurs in IHVI. 
 I, 1, 50 : Our isle be made a nourish of 
 salt tears, has occasioned some dis- 
 cussion. The usual interpretation is 
 that the isle would be made a nurse or 
 nourisher of salt tears, and the singular 
 expression in the preceding line : When 
 at their mother'' s moist eyes babes shall 
 suck, lends color to this view. That 
 nourish, nourice or norice is an old 
 form of nurse is easily shown (Nares 
 gives several examples). Pope, however, 
 objected to this reading and changed 
 nourish to m^arish or marsh, and this 
 has been adopted by several eds. — Delius, 
 Rolf e, Craig, etc. In support of marish, 
 Ritson quotes Kyd in the Spanish 
 Tragedy: "Made mountains marsh 
 with spring- tides of my tears," but this 
 idea is a common one. Marshall, in 
 "The Henry Irving" ed., retains 
 nourish, with the remark that " Pope's 
 ingenious emendation marish has been 
 very generally adopted ; but on mature 
 consideration we have rejected it." 
 
 Novi hominem tanquam te. Latin for 
 / know the man as well as I do you. 
 LLL. V, 1, 10. 
 
 novum. " Novum, or Novem was a game 
 at dice, played by five or six persons. 
 Its proper name was Novem quinque, 
 from the two principal throws being 
 five and nine. Dyce. LLL. V, 2, 547. 
 
 noyance. Injury. Hml. Ill, 3, 13. 
 
 numbered. Having full numbers; richly 
 stored. Cym. I, 6, 36. Thus, in the 
 Fl. Theobald changed to unnumbered, 
 and this reading has been adopted by 
 many. In support of the change, refer- 
 ence is made to Lr. IV, 6, 21 : The mur- 
 muring surge. That on the unnumber''d 
 idle pebbles chafes. Numerous other 
 emendations have been suggested, such 
 as humbled, umbr''d, cumber''d, etc., 
 but none has been accepted. See twinned. 
 
 nuncle. A contraction of mine uncle, 
 and the usual address, it appears, of the 
 domestic fool to his superiors. Lr. I, 4, 
 117, and elsewhere in this play. In the 
 
NUB 
 
 192 
 
 NTM 
 
 same style the fools called each other 
 
 cousin. Nares. 
 
 Nurse, rfr.p. (Of Juliet.) Rom. 
 
 It may be interesting to our readers 
 to know the fate of the nurse, as related 
 in Brooke's poem from which Sh. un- 
 doubtedly drew much of his material. 
 Dowden summarises the fates of the 
 subordinate actors as follows: "The 
 nurse is banished because she hid the 
 marriage ; Romeo's servant is allowed 
 to live free ; the apothecary is hanged ; 
 Friar Laurence is discharged, retires to 
 a hermitage two miles from Verona, 
 and after five years, there dies." 
 
 nut-hook. Properly, a pole with a hook 
 at the end used for gathering nuts ; a 
 cant term for a catchpole or bailiff. 
 Wiv. I, 1, 173 ; 2HIV. V, 4, 8. 
 
 nuzzling. Nosing ; thrusting in the nose. 
 Ven. 1,115. 
 
 Nym, dr. p. A soldier in the king's army. 
 HV. 
 
 Nym, dr. p. A follower of FalstafP. 
 
 Nymphs. 1. A class of inferior female 
 divinities who are described as the 
 daughters of Jupiter. They were be- 
 lieved to dwell on earth, in groves, on 
 the summits of mountains, in rivers, 
 streams, glens and grottoes. Homer 
 describes them as presiding over game, 
 accompanying Diana, dancing with her, 
 weaving in their grottoes purple gar- 
 ments and kindly watching over the 
 fate of mortals. The early Greeks saw 
 in all the phenomena of ordinary nature 
 some manifestation of the deity ; springs, 
 rivers, grottoes, trees and mountains, 
 all seemed to them fraught with life ; 
 and all were only the visible embodi- 
 ments of so many divine agents. The 
 salutary and beneficient powers of 
 nature were thus personified and re- 
 garded as so many divinities ; and the 
 sensations produced on man in the con- 
 templation of nature, such as awe, 
 terror, joy, delight, were ascribed to 
 the agency of the various divinities of 
 nature. L. Schmitz. 
 
 The nymphs were divided into various 
 species, according to the different parts 
 
 of nature of which they are the repre- 
 sentatives. The most prominent were: 
 
 1. Nymphs of the watery element. To 
 these belong, first, the nymphs of the 
 ocean, the Oceanides; and next, the 
 nymphs of the Mediterranean or inner 
 sea, the Nereides. The rivers were 
 represented by the Potameides, who 
 were named after their particular rivers. 
 The nymphs of fresh water, whether of 
 rivers, lakes, brooks or springs, were 
 also designated by the general names of 
 Naiades. Even the rivers of the lower 
 regions were described as having their 
 nymphs. Many of these nymphs pre- 
 side over waters or springs which were 
 believed to inspire those who drank of 
 them, and the nymphs themselves were 
 thought to be endowed with prophetic 
 power and to inspire men with the same, 
 and to confer on them the gift of poetry. 
 
 2. Nymphsof mountains and grottoes, 
 called Oreades. 
 
 3. Nymphs of forests, groves and glens 
 were believed sometimes to appear to 
 and frighten solitary travelers. 
 
 4. Nymphs of trees were believed to die 
 together with the trees which had been 
 their abode and with which they had 
 come into existence. They were called 
 Dryades and Hamadryades. 
 
 The sacrifices offered to nymphs 
 usually consisted of goats, lambs, milk 
 and oil, but never of wine. They were 
 worshipped and honored with sanctu- 
 aries in many parts of Greece, especially 
 near springs, groves and grottoes. 
 
 Nymphs are represented in works of 
 art as beautiful maidens, either quite 
 naked or only half covered. Later poets 
 sometimes describe them as having sea- 
 colored hair. 
 
 There are numerous references in the 
 plays to these nymphs. See Naiades^ 
 Nereides, Sirens, Thetis. 
 2. The nymphs being beautiful and 
 benevolent female divinities, the term 
 nymph has been frequently applied to an 
 attractive and beautiful young woman, 
 as in Gent. V, 4, 12; Mids. II, 1, 245; 
 Hml. Ill, 1, 89, and other passages. 
 
193 
 
 02E 
 
 ^ The fifteenth letter of the 
 
 alphabet, often used as a 
 
 M synonym for other things, 
 
 such as 
 circle ; a sphere or globe. 
 
 Ant. 
 
 1. A 
 
 V, 2, 81. 
 
 2. The arithmetical cipher. Lr. I, 4, 212. 
 
 3. The Globe Theatre, on the Bankside, 
 which was circular within. HV., 
 Prol. 13. See theatre. 
 
 4. Orbs ; stars (fiery O's). Mids. Ill, 2, 
 188. 
 
 5. A sigh ; an affliction. Rom. Ill, 3, 90. 
 
 6. Marks of the small-pox (round pits). 
 LLL. V, 2, 45. 
 
 oak. To him who saved the life of a 
 citizen in battle the Romans awarded a 
 crown or garland of oak, inscribed with 
 the words " ob civem servatura. " Such 
 a crown was accounted more honorable 
 than any other. Cor. I, 3, 16; Kins. 
 IV, 2, 137. The oak was sacred to 
 Jupiter. Tp. V, 1, 45. See Heme's Oak. 
 
 oar. To row as with^oars. Tp. II, 1, 118. 
 
 Oberon, dr. p. King of the Fairies. Mids. 
 With the exception of the name, the 
 Oberon of the Midsummer NighVs 
 Dream is purely a Shakesperean crea- 
 tion. The name he may have found 
 in Spenser's "Faerie Queene," in the 
 description of Sir Guyon (Book II, 
 cant. I, Z 6) : 
 
 Well could he tourney and in lists 
 
 debate, 
 And knighthood tooke of good Sir 
 
 Huon's hand, 
 When with King Oberon he came to 
 
 Faryland. 
 
 The name Oberon, or, as Greene has it 
 in his " Scottish History of James IV," 
 Oberam, is the same as that of the 
 dwarf Elberich, who aided the Emperor 
 Otnit or Ortnit to gain the daughter of 
 the Paynim Soldan of Syria, as told in 
 Keighbley's "Fairy Mythology." Ac- 
 cording to Grimm, as stated by Keight- 
 ley, the change was made as follows : 
 
 "From the usual change of I into u (as 
 al, CLU, col, cou, etc.) in the French 
 language, Elberich or Albrich (derived 
 from Alp, Alf ) becomes Auberich ; and 
 ichy not being a French termination, 
 the diminutive on was substituted, and 
 so it became Aubeion or Oberon; a 
 much more likely origin than the usual 
 one from Uaube dujour.''^ 
 
 " Shakespeare seems to have at- 
 tempted a blending of the Elves of the 
 village with the Fays of romance. His 
 fairies agree with the former in their 
 diminutive stature — diminished, indeed, 
 to dimensions inappreciable by village 
 gossips— in their fondness for dancing, 
 their love of cleanliness and their child- 
 abstracting propensities. Like the Fays, 
 they form a court ruled over by the 
 princely Oberon and the fair Titania. 
 There is a court and chivalry. Oberon 
 would have the queen's sweet change- 
 ling to be a ' knight of his train to trace 
 the forest wUd. ' Like earthly monarchs, 
 he has his jester, 'the shrewd and 
 knavLsh sprite, called Robin Good-fel- 
 low," Keightley. 
 
 Commenting on Lamb's alleged state- 
 ment that Sh. "invented the fairies," 
 Furness says : "No ore was evermore 
 competent than Lamb to pronounce 
 such an opinion, and nothing that Lamb 
 ever said is more true. There were no 
 real fairies before Shakespeare's. What 
 were called ' fairies ' have existed ever 
 since stories were told to wide-eyed 
 listeners round a winter's fire. But 
 these are not the fairies of Shakespeare, 
 nor the faii-ies of to-day. They are the 
 fairies of Grimm's 'Mythology,' Our 
 fairies are spirits of another sort, but 
 unless they wear Shakespeare's livery 
 they are counterfeit. The fairies of 
 Folk-lore were rough and repulsive, 
 taking their style from the hempen 
 homespuns who invented them ; they 
 were gnomes, cobboldSf lubber-louts, 
 
OAT 
 
 194 
 
 ODIX 
 
 and descendants though they may have 
 been of the Greek Nereids, they had 
 lost every vestige of charm along their 
 Northern route. " 
 
 That the fairies were very diminutive 
 creatures is insisted upon whenever 
 they are described. Thus Sh. tells us 
 that they could "creep into acorn-cups 
 and hide them there," and Titania 
 speaks of making her small elves coats 
 from the leathern wings of bats. And 
 yet these pigmies are said to be in love 
 with human beings — Titania with The- 
 seus, and Oberon with Hippolyta ; and 
 Oberon is said to have had ' ' credit ' ' with 
 the "bouncing Amazon." But this 
 apparently contradictory absurdity is 
 accounted for by the fact that these 
 beings could, like the gods of Greece, 
 assume any form that they chose. 
 Thus, Puck takes the form of a crab- 
 apple and a filly foal, and in wooing 
 Hippolyta, Oberon may have taken on 
 the form of an attractive young man. 
 See lob, Puck and Titania. 
 
 oathable. Fit to be sworn. Tim. IV, 3, 
 135. 
 
 obscene. Offensive; abominable. LLL. 
 
 I, 1, 244; RII. IV, 1, 131; IHIV. II, 4, 
 252. 
 
 obscenely. Used blunderingly for obs- 
 curely or in secret. Mids. I, 2, 111, and 
 probably for some very different word 
 in LLL. IV, 1, 145. Perhaps it may in 
 both instances be a blunder for seemly. 
 
 obscure. 1. To hide. Meas. V, 1, 395; 
 Merch. Ill, 2, 77; As. V, 4, 34. 
 2. To degrade ; to make mean. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 8 ; Lr. II, 2, 175. 
 
 obsequious. In a manner suited to one 
 who performs funeral obsequies. 3HVI. 
 
 II, 5, 118; Hml. I, 2, 92 ; Tit. V, 3, 152. 
 obsequiously. In the character of a 
 
 mourner. RIII. I, 2, 3. 
 observation. The observance of proper 
 rites and ceremonies. Mids. IV, 1, 109. 
 In this passage the reference is to the 
 rites due to the morning of May. The 
 passage in Tp. Ill, 3, 8, ivith good life 
 and observation strange, has called 
 forth some comment. Good life is ex- 
 
 plained as "done to the life," and 
 observation strange may possibly mean 
 unusual performances, a sense similar 
 to that found in our first quotation; 
 so that the meaning of the whole passage 
 is that Prospero's meaner ministers have 
 carried out their strange performances 
 in a life-like manner. 
 
 obstacle. An illiterate shepherd's blun- 
 der for obstinate. IHVI. V, 4, 17. 
 
 Occident. The west. Gym. IV, 2, 372. 
 
 occulted. Hidden. Hml. Ill, 2, 85. 
 
 occupation. The persons engaged in the 
 trades. Cor. IV, 6, 97. 
 
 occurrent. An event; an incident; an 
 occurrence. Hml. V, 2, 368. 
 
 Octavia, dr. p. Wife to Antony. Ant. 
 
 Octavius Cffisar, dr. p. Triumvir of Rome. 
 Caps, and Ant. 
 
 'od, I A corruption or contraction for 
 
 od's. ) God or God's. Wiv. I, 1, 273 ; 
 As. Ill, 5, 43 ; 0th. IV, 8, 75. 
 
 odd, I Uneven; not divisible by 2. 
 
 odds. ) LLL. Ill, 1, 86. In this passage 
 there is an evident error unless Sh. 
 meant to introduce confusion. Adding 
 4 to 3 will not make an even number ; 
 adding 1 (the goos^ to 3 will make an 
 even number. Perhaps adding is a 
 mistake for making, so that we should 
 read: 
 
 Until the goose came out of door, 
 Staying the odds by making four. 
 
 odd-even. Irregular; untimely. 0th. I, 
 1, 124. 
 
 The explanation that is usually given 
 of this expression is that the time was 
 "between twelve at night and one in 
 the morning," and the passage from 
 Mcb. Ill, 4, 127, where, in reply to 
 Macbeth's question: "What is the 
 night ? " Lady M. replies : " Almost at 
 odds with morning, which is which," is 
 quoted as confirming this view, although 
 the meaning, as well as the form of the 
 expression, is evidently very different. 
 From twelve to one is even-odd, not 
 odd-even, and we have no indication 
 that this was the exact time of Desde- 
 mona's flight. Various emendations, 
 such as "oddseason," "odd hour," etc., 
 
(EI 
 
 195 
 
 OLI 
 
 have been suggested, but they are not 
 needed. The expression obviously sig- 
 nifies irregularity, and that is just what 
 is meant and all that is meant. 
 oeillades. Amorous glances ; ogles. Wiv. 
 
 1, 3, 68 ; Lr. IV, 5, 25. 
 
 o'er-dyed. Dyed over ; colored with an- 
 other dye; o''er-dyed blacks (Wint. I, 
 
 2, 132) = black things dyed with another 
 color, through which the ground will 
 soon appear. 
 
 o'ercrow. To overpower ; to triumph 
 over, as a victorious cock crows over 
 his adversary. Hml. V, 2, 364. Ore- 
 crows in Fl. ; Pope and some other eds. 
 change to ore-growes, 
 
 o'erlook. To bewitch. Wiv. V, 5, 87 ; 
 Merch. Ill, 2, 15. In allusion to the 
 superstition of the evil eye. 
 
 o'er-flourished. Varnished or painted 
 over. Tw. Ill, 4, 404. 
 
 o'er-of f ice. To get the better of and lord 
 over by virtue of an oflice. Hml. V, 1, 
 87. The Quartos have o''er-reaches. 
 
 0*er-parted. Having assigned to him a 
 part too difficult or beyond his parts or 
 abilities. LLL. V, 2, 588. 
 
 o'erpeer. To overtop ; to rise above. 
 Cor. II, 3, 128. 
 
 o'er-perch. Usually explained as "to fly 
 over." Rom. II, 2, 66. Grant White 
 says: "O'er-perch cannot mean to fly 
 over, as perch does not mean fly. In 
 the only passage in which Shakespeare 
 uses it, Romeo's ' with love's light wings 
 I did o'er-perch these walls,' it is a 
 picturesque word showing us the young 
 lover touching for an instant the top of 
 the wall as he surmounted it. " 
 
 o'er-raught. 1. Over-took ; literally, 
 over-reached. Hml. Ill, 1, 17. 
 2. Over-reached; cheated. Err. 1,2,96. 
 See raught. 
 
 o'er-sized. Covered over as with size or 
 glue. Hml. II, 2, 493. 
 
 o'er=teemed. Worn out by bringing 
 forth children. Hml. II, 2, 531. 
 
 o'erwhelm. To cover ; to conceal. Hml. 
 I, 2, 258 ; Per. Ill, 1, 64. 
 
 oes. The plural of o. Sometimes spelled 
 o's. See O. 
 
 off-capped. Took ofi! their caps in the 
 usual form of courtesy. 0th. I, 1, 10. 
 
 offendendo. Se offendendo is the grave- 
 digger's blunder for se defendendo — in 
 self-defence. Hml. V, 1, 9. 
 
 offer. To challenge. IHIV. IV, 1, 69 ; 
 2HIV. IV, 1, 219. 
 
 office. 1. Service. Wiv. I, 1, 102 ; AU's. 
 IV, 4, 5. 
 
 In 0th. IV, 2, 92, the passage, that 
 have the office opposite to Saint Peter, 
 means the position held by Emilia, viz. , 
 that of gate-keeper to hell, as Saint 
 Peter is gate-keeper in Heaven. A 
 recent commentary assigns this oflice to 
 Desdemona, but that is surely wrong. 
 It is Emilia that is meant. And cf. line 
 22 in same act and scene. [To Emilia.] 
 Some of your function, viistress. 
 2. An act of worship. HVIII. Ill, 2, 
 144 ; Cym. Ill, 3, 4. 
 
 old, n. Wold; downs. Lr. Ill, 4, 125. 
 See Swithold. 
 
 old, adj. The use of this word in the 
 sense of great, very much, frequent, 
 etc., seems to have been as common in 
 the time of Sh. as it is at present. Just 
 as we speak of "a high old time" we 
 find in Sh. an old abusing of God''s 
 patience and the King''s English (Wiv. 
 I, 4, 5) ; Vonder''s old coil at home 
 (Ado. V, 2, 98) ; here will be old Utis 
 (2HIV. II, 4, 21). 
 
 Generally, old means of great age, but 
 not always. The question: "How old 
 are you ?" might be addressed to a child 
 or to a centenarian, the word old being 
 equivalent to age, which may be more 
 or less. This is evidently the meaning 
 of the word in Hml. II, 2, 206. The 
 word young might have been substituted 
 for old here with propriety. Most of 
 our readers will remember the joke of 
 the genial Autocrat who claimed that 
 he was seventy years young, not seventy 
 years old. The ideas are similar, though 
 not identical. 
 
 Old Gobbo, dr.p. Father to Launcelat 
 Gobbo. Merch. 
 
 olive. The emblem of peace. Tw. I, 5, 
 326; 2HIV. IV, 4, 87; Ant. IV, 6, 7. 
 
OLI 
 
 196 
 
 OMN 
 
 Oliver, dr. p. Son to Sir Rowland de 
 
 Bois. As. 
 Olivia, dr. p. A rich countess. Tw, 
 Olympian Qames. Referred to in 3HVI. 
 II, 3, 53. Usually called the Olympic 
 Games, the greatest of the national 
 festivals of the Greeks. They were 
 celebrated at Olympia, in Elis, which 
 seems not to have been a town, but 
 rather a collection of temples and public 
 buildings. The origin of the Olympic 
 games is buried in obscurity. They 
 were said to have been first established 
 by Hercules, who, in a contest with his 
 four brothers, won a footrace. He 
 thereupon established a contest which 
 was to be celebrated every five years, 
 because he and his brothers were five in 
 number. Later, the celebration occurred 
 every fourth year, and the period of 
 four years was called an Olympiad and 
 was the most celebrated chronological 
 era among the Greeks. The Olympiads 
 began to be reckoned from the victory 
 of Coroebus in the footrace, which hap- 
 pened in the year B.C. 776. At first the 
 contest consisted merely of a footrace 
 and occupied but one day, but after- 
 wards contests of wrestling, boxing, 
 quoit and javelin throwing, horse-racing 
 and chariot-racing were introduced, 
 and the contest lasted for five days. 
 There were no combats with any kind 
 of weapons. The "Student's Greece" 
 gives the following account of these 
 games : " The only prize given to the 
 conqueror was a garland of olive ; but 
 this was valued as one of the dearest 
 distinctions in life. To have his name 
 proclaimed before assembled Hellas was 
 an object of ambition with the noblest 
 and wealthiest of the Greeks. Such a 
 person was considered to have conferred 
 everlasting glory upon his family and 
 his country, and was rewarded by his 
 fellow citizens with distinguished hon- 
 ours. His statue was generally erected 
 in the Altis or sacred grove of Jove, at 
 Olympia ; and on his return home he 
 entered his native city in a triumphal 
 procession, in which his praises were 
 
 sung, frequently in the loftiest strains 
 of poetry. He also received stiU more 
 substantial rewards. He was generally 
 relieved from the payment of taxes, 
 and had a right to the front seat at 
 all public games and spectacles. An 
 Athenian victor in the Olympic Games 
 received, in accordance with one of 
 Solon's laws, a prize of 500 drachmas 
 and a right to a place at the table of 
 the magistrates in the prytaneum or 
 town hall; and a Spartan conqueror 
 had the privilege of fighting on the 
 field of battle near the person of the 
 king." 
 
 Olympus. A mountain which forms part 
 of the chain which constituted the 
 boundary of ancient Greece proper. Its 
 shape is that of a blunt cone, with its 
 outline picturesquely broken by minor 
 summits. Its height is about nine thou- 
 sand seven hundred feet, and its chief 
 summit is covered with perpetual snow. 
 In the Greek mythology Olympus was 
 the chief seat of the third dynasty of 
 gods, of which Jupiter was the head, 
 and this was a really local conception 
 with the eai-ly poets, to be understood 
 literally, and not metaphorically, and 
 it was only in the later years that the 
 abode of the gods was transferred from 
 the top of the mountain to the blue 
 vault above it. Homer describes the 
 gods as having their several palaces on 
 the summit of Olympus ; as spending 
 the day in the palace of Jupiter, round 
 whom they sit in solemn conclave, while 
 the younger gods dance before them 
 and the muses entertain them with the 
 lyre and song. They are shut in from 
 the view of men upon the earth by a 
 wall of clouds, the gates of which are 
 kept by the Hours. 
 
 There are in Sh. several references to 
 Olympus, generally citing it merely as 
 a very high mountain. Hml. V, 1, 277 ; 
 0th. II, 1, 190. Thou great thunder- 
 darter of Olympus, refers to Jupiter. 
 Troil. II, 3, 11. 
 
 omne bene. Latin for all well. LLL. 
 IV, 2, 33. 
 
ON 
 
 197 
 
 OBA 
 
 on. Sometimes has a meaning = o/, as 
 in Sonn. XXIX, 10; Lucr. 87; Ven. 
 160 ; Tp. IV, 1, 157 ; Mids. I, 2, 9. Some- 
 times confounded with o/, as in IHIV. 
 
 II, 1, 33 ; Troil. Ill, 3, 306. 
 once. 1. One time. 
 
 2. Used to add emphasis to the fact of 
 something having been done : Like 
 soldiers when once their captain doth 
 hxit yields they basely fly, Ven. 893 ; 
 have I once lived to see two honest 
 men ? Tim. V, 1, 59. 
 
 3. Or of something to be done. Wiv. 
 
 III, 4, 103 ; Mids. Ill, 2, 68 ; Tp. Ill, 
 2,24. 
 
 4. Enough. (Hudson.) Ado. I, 1, 319. 
 Nearly equivalent to "once for all." 
 See nonce. 
 
 Of the phrase, all at once, in As. Ill, 
 5, 36, and HV. I, 1, 36, Singer says it 
 has been asked, "What 'all at once' 
 can possibly mean here ? It would not 
 be easy to give a satisfactory answer." 
 Staunton says it " was a trite phrase in 
 Shakespeare's day, though not one of 
 his editors has noticed it," and then 
 gives several examples from the old 
 dramatic writers. Steevens paraphrases 
 the passage in As. thus: "That you 
 insult, exult and that too all in abreath," 
 and Furness thinks this is near enough. 
 
 one. This word was formerly written on 
 and probably pronounced like on. Hence 
 the pun in Gent. II, 1, 3, between on 
 and one. 
 
 oneyers. This word has given rise to 
 much conjecture and many suggested 
 emendations. A common definition is 
 banker; others suggest great ones; 
 Schm. hyphenates it with great and 
 explains as men who converse with 
 great ones. IHIV. II, 1, 84. 
 
 ope, adj. Open. Mcb. II, 3, 72 ; Cses. I, 
 2, 267. 
 
 ope, V. Open. Rom. V, 3, 283 ; Gym. V, 
 4,81. 
 
 open, adj. Evident ; plain. Meas. II, 1, 
 21 ; IHIV. II, 4, 250. 
 
 open, V. To give tongue as a hound on 
 scent or on view of game. Wiv. IV, 
 ^2, 209. 
 
 operance. Operation. Kins. I, 3. 
 
 operant. Active. Tim. IV, 3, 25 ; Hml. 
 Ill, 2, 184. 
 
 Ophelia, dr. p. Daughter to Polonius. Hml. 
 
 opinion. The passage in 0th. IV, 2, 109,- 
 that he might stick The smaiVst opinion 
 on my least misuse ? is said by Schm. 
 to be "peculiar." Furness gives the 
 following paraphrase, which he says is 
 substantially the same as that of the 
 Clarkes: "How have I been behaved 
 that he could find the smallest pos.sible 
 fault with my smallest possible mis- 
 deed ?" 
 
 opinioned. Dogberry's blunder lor pin- 
 ioned. Ado. IV, 2, 69. 
 
 opposeless. Irresistible. Lr. IV, 6, 38. 
 
 opposite. Adversary. Tw. Ill, 2, 68; 
 2HIV. I, 3, 55 ; Hml. V, 2, 62. 
 
 opposition. Combat. IHIV. I, 3, 99 ; 
 0th. II, 3, 184. The meaning usually 
 given to the word in Cym. IV, 1, 14, is 
 single combats. Schm. suggests : when 
 compared as to particular accomplish- 
 menis. 
 
 oppression. 1. Tyranny. Hml. II, 2, 
 606 ; Lr. I, 2, 52. 
 
 2. Pressure. RII. Ill, 4, 31; Rom. I, 
 4,24. 
 
 3. Embarrassment ; difficulty. Ant. IV, 
 7,2. 
 
 4. Affliction; misery. Rom. I, 1, 190, 
 and V, 1, 70. 
 
 oppugnancy. Opposition. Troil. 1,3, 111. 
 
 or. Before ; sooner than. Hml. 1, 2, 183, 
 and V, 2, 30; Mcb. IV, 3, 173. 
 
 Oracle. 1 . The god who revealed to men 
 the will of the gods ; sometimes applied 
 to the place where the temple of the 
 oracle was located and sometimes to the 
 revelations uttered by the oracle. There 
 were numerous oracles in ancient times, 
 the most famous being the oracle of 
 Delphi, the most celebrated of the 
 oracles of Apollo. It was to this that 
 Leontes sent a deputation to inquire 
 into the chastity of Hermione. Wint. 
 Ill, 2. See isle. 
 
 In the center of this temple there was 
 a small opening in the ground from 
 which, from time to time, intoxicating 
 
OBA 
 
 198 
 
 OBI 
 
 smoke arose. Over this opening stood 
 a high tripod on which the Pythia took 
 her seat whenever the oracle was to be 
 consulted. The smoke affected her brain 
 
 . in such a manner that she fell into a 
 state of delirious intoxication, and the 
 sounds which she uttered in this state 
 were believed to contain the revelations 
 of Apollo. These sounds were carefully 
 written down by the attending prophets 
 and afterwards communicated to the per- 
 sons who had come to consult the oracle. 
 These utterances were generally quite 
 ambiguous, so that they truthfully ap- 
 plied to the event, no matter what the 
 outcome might be. Thus, Pyrrhus, 
 being about to make war against Rome, 
 was told: " Aio te, -^acida, Romanos 
 vincere posse," or, in English : "I say 
 that you, the son of ^acus, the Romans 
 can conquer." This may mean either 
 that he would conquer the Romans or 
 the Romans would conquer him. Hence 
 the quotation in 2HVI. I, 4, 65. 
 2 . A person of great wisdom or authority. 
 Merch. 1, 1, 93. 
 
 orange. Civil as an orange. Ado. II, 
 1, 305, Upon this expression Dyce has the 
 following note : " It may be noted that 
 a ' civil (not a Seville) orange ' was the 
 orthography of the time. See "Cot- 
 grave's Dictionary " in ' Aigre Douce ' 
 and in 'orange.' " Turning to Cot. we 
 find : " Aigre-douce : f . A ciule Orange ; 
 or, Orange, that is between sweet and 
 sower." Which, as Fumess says, is 
 exactly what Claudio was, neither sad, 
 nor sick, nor merry, nor well, but 
 between sweet and sour. 
 
 orbed. Circular. Orbed continent {Tw.V, 
 1, 278) =the sun. Tellus^ orbed ground 
 (Hml. Ill, 2, 166) = the round earth. 
 
 orchard. In Sh. time was generally sy- 
 nonymous with garden. Now is usually 
 confined to a plantation of fruit trees. 
 Tw. Ill, 2, 8 ; Hml. I, 5, 35. 
 
 order. 1. Necessary measures or steps. 
 Meas. II, 1, 246 ; Err. V, 1, 46; RII. V, 
 1,53; 0th. V, 2, 72. 
 
 2. A fraternity or society. Wiv. V, 5, 
 65 ; Mids. II, 1, 123 ; Rom. Ill, 3, 114. 
 
 ordinance. Order ; rank. Cor. Ill, 2, 12. 
 ordinant. Ruling ; ordaining. Hml. V, 
 
 2,48. 
 ordinary, n. 1. The general mass. As. 
 111,5,42. 
 
 ' 2. A meal; a repast. All's. II, 3, 211; 
 
 Ant. II, 2, 230. 
 ore. In Sh. time the word ore signified 
 the metal itself, and not the mineral 
 from which the metal was extracted. 
 Thus, in Paradise Lost, XI, 570, we 
 find: 
 
 The liquid ore he drain'd 
 Into fit moulds prepared. 
 And in the "English-French Diction- 
 ary," appended to Cotgrave, the word 
 ore is confined to gold. In the Fl. the 
 reading in Hml. IV, 1, 25, is some ore; 
 Walker suggested and Fumess adopted 
 the reading fine ore, but if ore was 
 generally understood to mean gold, there 
 is no need for any change. In the only 
 other passage in the plays in which the 
 word ore occurs (All's. Ill, 6, 40, to 
 what metal this counterfeit lump of 
 ore will be melted) the meaning seems 
 to be gold. Johnson says : " Shake- 
 speare seems to think ore to be Or, that 
 is, gold. Base metals have ore no less 
 than precious," But Johnson seems to 
 forget that the language had changed 
 since Sh. day. 
 
 organ-pipe. The tube which serves to 
 produce sound in an organ. Hence 
 used for the throat or wind-pipe. On 
 the passage, Tp. Ill, 3, 98, 
 
 and the thunder. 
 That deep and dreadful organ-pipe 
 
 pronounced 
 The name of Prosper— 
 Dr. Schm. makes the sage remark : 
 " Apparently not the pipe of a musical 
 organ, which would have been unable 
 to pronounce a name." Dr. Schm. is 
 apparently deficient in the poetical 
 faculty. 
 
 orgillous, I Proud; haughty. TroiL, 
 
 orgulous. \ Prol. 2. 
 
 orient. Bright ; shining. Mids. IV, 1, 
 59. Orient generally means the east, 
 and Wright gives this explanation of the 
 
ORI 
 
 199 
 
 OTH 
 
 way it came to have this special sig- 
 nification : " The epithet appears to be 
 originally applied to the pearl and 
 other gems as coming from the orient 
 or east, and to have acquired the general 
 sense of bright and shining from the 
 objects which it most commonly de- 
 scribes. Compare Milton, Paradise 
 Lost, I, 546 : 
 Ten thousand banners rise into the 
 
 air, 
 With orient colours waving." 
 
 orifex. Opening ; aperture. Troil. V, 2, 
 151. 
 
 Orlando, dr.p. Son to Sir Rowland de 
 Bois. As. 
 
 Orleans, Duke of, dr.p. HV, 
 
 Orpheus. A famous musician, the son of 
 CEagrus and the Muse, Calliope. He 
 lived in Thrace in the time of the Ar- 
 gonauts and accompanied them in their 
 expedition. Presented with the lyre by 
 Apollo and instructed by the Muses in 
 its uses, he enchanted with its music not 
 only the wild beasts, but trees and rocks 
 so that they moved from their places to 
 follow the sound of his golden harp. 
 These powers enabled him to aid the 
 Argonauts materially ; at the sound of 
 his lyre the Argo glided down into the 
 sea ; the Argonauts tore themselves 
 away from the pleasures of Lemnos, and 
 the Colchian dragon, which guarded the 
 golden fleece, was lulled to sleep. After 
 his return from the Argonautic ex- 
 pedition he took up his abode in a cave 
 in Thrace. His wife was a nymph 
 named Eurydice. She was killed by 
 the bite of a serpent, and Orpheus fol- 
 lowed his lost wife into the abodes of 
 Hades, where the charms of his lyre 
 suspended the torments of the damned 
 and won back his wife from the most 
 inexorable of all deities, but only upon 
 condition that he should not look at 
 her until they reached the upper world. 
 But just on the confines of Hades 
 Orpheus forgot himself, looked back to 
 see if his wife was following him, and 
 lost her forever. He wandered about 
 inconsolable, and his grief led hmi to 
 
 treat with repugnance the approaches 
 of the Thracian women. They, being 
 angry at this, attacked him while under 
 the influence of their Bacchic frenzy 
 and tore him to pieces. It is this that 
 is referred to in Mids. V, 1, 49. Other 
 references to Orpheus are found in 
 Gent. Ill, 2, 78; Merch. V, 1, 79; 
 HVIII. Ill, 1, 3. 
 
 Orsino, dr.p. Duke of Illyria. Tw. 
 
 o's. See oes. 
 
 osprey. The fishing-hawk. It was sup- 
 posed to have the power of fascinating 
 the fish on which it preyed, and it is 
 probably to this that allusion is made 
 in Cor. IV, 7, 34. 
 
 orts. Leavings ; remnants ; refuse. Lucr. 
 985 ; Troil. V, 2, 158 ; Tim. IV, 3, 400. 
 
 Osric, dr.p. A courtier. Hml. 
 
 ostent. Show; appearance. Merch. II, 
 8, 44. In Per. I, 2, 25, where old eds. 
 give stint of war, modern eds. give 
 ostent of war. 
 
 ostentation, n. 1. Display; show; ex- 
 hibition. Hml. IV, 5, 215 ; Ant. Ill, 6, 
 52; RII. 11,3,95, 
 2. A spectacle. LLL. V, 1, 118. 
 
 Oswald, dr.p. Steward to Goneril, Lr. 
 
 Othello, dr.p. The Moor of Venice. 0th. 
 Connected with the play of Othello 
 there are two questions which have been 
 the subject of much discussion. The 
 first is : Was Othello really black ? The 
 second relates to the means by which 
 he eff'ected the death of Desdemona. 
 The latter question will be considered 
 under the words "So, So," which the 
 reader will find in their proper place. 
 Other questions, such as the real nature 
 of the relations between Othello and 
 Desdemona (to which an entire volume 
 has been devoted) may be of interest to 
 speculative minds, but they have not, 
 to any great extent, attracted the at- 
 tention of Shakespearean students in 
 general. 
 
 As to the color of Othello, the widest 
 range of opinion prevails amongst the 
 corns. Some, like Professor Wilson 
 (Christopher North), maintain that he 
 was black — with negro characteristics — 
 
OTH 
 
 OTH 
 
 a veritable Blackamoor. Others, again, 
 side with Coleridge, who says that "it 
 would be something monstrous to con- 
 ceive this beautiful Venetian girl falling 
 in love with a veritable negro." And 
 one writer, Mary Preston, in her 
 "Studies in Shakespeare," holds posi- 
 tively to the opinion that Othello was 
 absolutely white — not a blonde, of 
 course, but simply a very dark brunet. * 
 
 That black, as an epithet, has been 
 frequently applied to dark-complexioned 
 men of pure Caucasian extraction is 
 common knowledge. Witness the well- 
 kno^vn historical characters, ' ' The Black 
 Douglas" and " Black Colin Campbell. " 
 But it is evidently not in this sense that 
 the word " black " is used by Sh. in 
 this play, and I confess I cannot agree 
 with those who hold that Othello, instead 
 of being really black, was nothing more 
 than a white man with a very dark 
 complexion. It seems to me that the 
 mistake made by the majority of writers 
 on both sides of the question, consists in 
 treating it as if it were a real historical 
 problem and not a mere dramatic one. 
 We all know that there never was such 
 a real historical person as Othello. He 
 is wholly a creation of Sh. genius, and 
 the point to be decided is not : Was he 
 really a black man ? but : Did Sh. in- 
 tend to portray a black man ? and I 
 think that the answer to the latter 
 question must be in the affirmative. 
 
 The following passages are far too 
 strong and far too pointed to be explained 
 away by any mere sentimental antipathy 
 to the marriage, or even by making large 
 allowance for dramatic intensiveness of 
 expression on the part of the actors : 
 
 What a full fortune doth the thick- 
 lips owe. Oth. I, 1, 66. 
 
 Run from her guardage to the sooty 
 bosom of such a thing as thou. I, 2, 70. 
 
 To fall in love with what she feared 
 to look on. I, 3, 98. 
 
 Your son-in-law is far more fair 
 
 * Brunette applies only to females. 
 
 In this speech of the duke the fairness 
 of the mental and moral qualities of 
 Othello are contrasted with his physical 
 blackness ; the speech would have en- 
 tirely lost its point if Othello had not 
 been actually black. 
 
 H^er* name that was as fresh As 
 Dian''s visage is now begrimed and 
 black as mine own face. Ill, 3, 387. 
 
 It must be obvious to every attentive 
 reader that the blackness of Othello is 
 the pivotal incident of this drama. It 
 is upon this that lago harps in his talk 
 with Roderigo, and even in the dialogue 
 with Othello himself, his argument is 
 based chiefly on this point when he says : 
 
 Not to affect many proposed m,atches 
 Of her own clime, complexion and 
 degree. Ill, 3, 239. 
 
 So, too, even in the mind of Othello 
 himself the first thought, when he is 
 debating with himself the reasons for 
 her supposed desertion, is Haply, for I 
 am black. Ill, 3, 263. And it is notice- 
 able that while he tries to soften the 
 fact that he is " declined into the vale 
 of years," and says, by way of paren- 
 thesis, "yet that's not much," he does 
 not say anything in excuse of his 
 acknowledged blackness, as did the 
 Prince of Morocco. Merch. II, 1, 1. 
 Of course, there are negroes and negroes, 
 and Sh. would not have made Othello a 
 mere black savage from Guinea, but it 
 is equally certain that he intended to 
 describe a man of a race and color the 
 very opposite to that of Desdemona. 
 
 The traditions of the stage seem to 
 vary as much as do the opinions of the 
 coms., but the closer we get to the time 
 of Sh. the darker do the Othellos be- 
 come. Hawkins, in his " Life of Edmund 
 Kean," tells us that "Betterton, Quin, 
 Mossop, Barry, Garrick and John 
 Kemble all played the part with black 
 faces, and it was reserved for Kean to 
 innovate, and Coleridge to justify, the 
 attempt to substitute a light brown for 
 the traditional black." 
 
 * My in the Second and Third Quartos. 
 
OTH 
 
 301 
 
 OVE 
 
 othergates. Otherways ; in another man- 
 ner. Tw. V, 1, 198. The word gate 
 here is an old English and Scotch word 
 which signifies way or road. Thus, in 
 Tarn 0''Shanter we find : 
 
 As market days are wearing late 
 An' folk begin to tak the gate. 
 
 ouches. Ornaments. 2HIV. II, 4, 52. 
 
 ought. Owed. IHIV. Ill, 3, 151. 
 
 ouphe. An elf ; a goblin. Wiv. IV, 4, 49. 
 " Oxiph, Steevens complacently tells 
 us, in the Teutonic language, is a fairy ; 
 if by Teutonic he means Grerman, and 
 we know of no other, he merely showed 
 his ignorance. Ouph is the same as oaf 
 (formerly spelt aulf) and is probably to 
 be pronounced in the same manner. It 
 is formed from elf by the usual change 
 ofHutott." Keightley. 
 
 ousel cock. The blackbird. Mids. Ill, 
 
 1, 128. Spelled woosel in old eds. This 
 bird is very different from our American 
 blackbird. See robin. 
 
 The meaning of the phrase, a black 
 ousel (2HIV. Ill, 2, 8) is not very clear. 
 The Clarkes merely note: "Master 
 Silence speaks with mock-modest dis- 
 paragement of his pretty dark-haired 
 daughter." Dyer thinks the phrase 
 corresponds to our modern one, "a 
 black sheep," but this seems to me very 
 doubtful. 
 out. 1. Abroad ; in foreign countries. 
 Gent. I, 3, 7 ; Lr. 1, 1, 33. 
 
 2. Fully; completely. Tp. I, 2, 41. 
 
 3. Not knowing what to say. LLL. V, 
 
 2, 152 ; As. IV, 1, 76. 
 
 4. Torn ; ragged. Caes. I, 1, 18. 
 out-breasted. Out-sung. Kins. V, 4. 
 
 See breast. 
 
 out-dure. To outlast. Kins. Ill, 6. 
 
 out-face. 1. To put on a good appear- 
 ance. As. I, 3, 124. 
 
 2. To put down by terror. Outfaced 
 infant state. John II, 1, 97. 
 
 Marshall says : " The meaning of this 
 phrase is somewhat vague. ' ' The general 
 meaning seems obvious, though the 
 phraseology is rather peculiar. Marshall 
 explains it thus: "Philip means that 
 John has shamelessly disregarded the 
 
 rights of the infant (Arthur) to the 
 throne." The Clarkes paraphrase it: 
 " Brazenly outraged a child's rights." 
 
 out-herod. To give vent to excessive 
 rage and bombast. Hml. Ill, 2, 15. The 
 reference here is to the Herod of the 
 old mysteries who was one of the most 
 violent characters on the stage. Douce 
 describes the Coventry play of The 
 Nativity, in which a bombastic speech 
 is followed by the stage direction : ' ' Here 
 Erode ragis in thys pagond [pageant] 
 and in the strete also. ' ' 
 
 out-look. To look bigger than ; to face 
 down. John V, 2, 115. 
 
 out-peer. Surpass ; excel. Cym. Ill, 6, 86. 
 
 out-prize. To overrate. Cym. I, 4, 88. 
 Not " exceed in value " as Schm. has it, 
 but to over-estimate. See prize. 
 
 outrage. Passionate utterance. Rom. V, 
 3, 215. Collier's MS. reads outcry, and 
 Collier refers to the same act and scene, 
 line 193, where Lady Capulet says : All 
 run With open outcry. See also IHVI. 
 IV, 1, 126. Schm. explains as "an out- 
 break of rage and fury." 
 
 out-tongue. To speak louder than. Oth. 
 
 I, 2, 19. 
 
 outvied. Beaten by a higher card. Shr. 
 
 II, 1, 379. 
 
 out-wall. Exterior ; appearance. Lr. 
 
 III, 1, 45 ; cf. wall in Tw. I, 2, 48, and 
 John III, 3, 20. 
 
 outward, n. Personal appearance ; form. 
 Sonn. LXIX, 5; Troil. Ill, 2, 169; 
 Cym. I, 1, 23. 
 
 outward, adj. Not admitted to state 
 secrets. All's. Ill, 1, 11. 
 
 overbuy. To pay too much for. Cym. 
 I, 1, 146. 
 
 Overdone, Mrs., dr. p. Keeper of a dis- 
 orderly house. Meas. 
 
 over-scutched. Over whipped. Over- 
 scutched huswives. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 840. 
 In this passage huswives undoubtedly 
 carries an evil sense. Nares suggests 
 " whipped, probably at the cart's tail," 
 a common method of punishing certain 
 classes of evil-doers. Of the meaning 
 of the words there can be no doubt. 
 Skeat derives scutch or scotch from 
 
OVE 
 
 302 
 
 FAC 
 
 scutcher, a riding whip. Cot. defines 
 verge as "a rod, wand, switch or 
 scutcher to ride with. " The word scutch 
 is also a technical term used in flax- 
 dressing and means to beat so as to 
 separate the coarse outer covering from 
 the fine inner fibre. 
 
 overseen. Bewitched. Lucr. 1206. See 
 o''erlook. 
 
 overshot. Put to shame ; outdone in 
 shooting. LLL. I, 1, 141 ; HV. Ill, 7, 
 134. In the last passage it has been 
 suggested that overshot means tipsy. 
 
 overture. 1. Disclosure ; communication. 
 Wint. II, 1, 172 ; Lr. Ill, 7, 89. 
 2. Proposal ; offer. All's. IV, 3, 46; Tw. 
 I, 5, 225. This word in Cor. 1, 9, 46, has 
 never been satisfactorily explained, and 
 is supposed to be a corruption. 
 
 overween. To be self -concei ted ; to be 
 arrogant. 2HIV. IV, 1, 149; Tit. II, 
 1,29. 
 
 overwhelm. In addition to the usual 
 meaning which this word has in Ado. 
 V, 1, 9 ; 2HIV. I, 2, 13, and elsewhere, 
 it has the sense of overhang in 
 
 Ven. 183; HV. Ill, 1, 11 ; Rom. V, 
 1,39. 
 
 owe. To own ; to possess. Tp. Ill, 1, 45 ; 
 John IV, 2, 99 ; 0th. Ill, 3, 332. 
 
 Owen Qlendower, dr.p. IHIV. 
 
 owl. A well-known bird. They say the 
 owl was a baker''s daughter. Hml. 
 IV, 5, 42. This alludes to a common 
 legend according to which our Saviour 
 went into a baker's shop and asked for 
 bread. The mistress put a piece of 
 dough in the oven to bake, but was 
 reprimanded by her daughter for giving 
 such a large piece. The daughter re- 
 duced it to a very small size, but it 
 immediately began to swell and soon 
 became of enormous bulk, whereupon 
 the daughter cried out, " heugh, heugh, 
 heugh," and was immediately changed 
 into an owl. 
 
 Oxford, Duke of, dr.p. A Lancastrian. 
 3HVI. 
 
 Oxford, Earl of, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 oyes. The word of the court crier signi- 
 fying Hear ye ! Hear ye ! (French, oyez. ) 
 Wiv. V, 5, 45 ; Troil. IV, 5, 143. 
 
 ACE, n. A step. He has no 
 pace, but runs where he will. 
 All's. IV, 5, 70. Johnson ex- 
 plains this as having "a cer- 
 tain or prescribed walk ; so we say of a 
 man meanly obsequious, that he has 
 learned his paces, and of a horse who 
 moves irregularly, that he has no 
 paces. ''^ 
 
 The passage: That by a pace goes 
 backward, with a purpose It hath to 
 climb (Troil. I, 3, 128) = " That goes 
 backward step by step, with a design 
 in each man to aggrandise himself, by 
 slighting his immediate su perior . ' ' John- 
 son. Cowden Clarke paraphrases it 
 thus: "By neglecting to observe due 
 degree of priority, men lose ground 
 while striving to advance ; since each 
 
 person who pushes on regardless of his 
 superiors will be pushed back in turn 
 by them." 
 
 pace, V. To train ; to teach proper move- 
 ments. A horse- trainer's term some- 
 times applied to men and women. Meas. 
 IV, 3, 137 ; Per. IV, 6, 68. 
 
 pack, n. 1. A confederacy for a bad 
 purpose. Wiv. IV, 2, 123 ; Err. IV, 4, 
 105. 
 2. A budget or bag. See furred. 
 
 pack, V. To plot ; to conspire. Shr. V, 
 
 1, 121 ; Err. V, 1, 219 ; Ado. V, 1, 308. 
 She has packed cards with Ccesar 
 (Ant. IV, 14, 19) = conspired with 
 Caesar. 
 
 packing. Plotting. Lr. Ill, 1, 26. 
 paction. Contract ; agreement. HV. V, 
 
 2, 393. 
 
FAD 
 
 203 
 
 PAI 
 
 In the Fl. the word is pation, and it 
 has been rendered passion by some eds. 
 Paction is a good old English word 
 which is still in common use in Scot- 
 land. 
 paddock. A toad. Hml. Ill, 4, 190. 
 In Mcb. 1, 1, 9, the name of a familiar 
 spirit, probably in the shape of a toad. 
 The familiar spirits of witches frequently 
 took the form of cats and toads, as may 
 be seen in Hell Brugel's painting of St. 
 James (1566), In the Scottish language 
 paddock or puddock signifies a frog. 
 Thus, in a Scotch rhyme we have : 
 Half a paddock, half a toad. 
 Half a yellow yorling, 
 showing that the paddock was not a 
 toad. Cotgrave gives : " Grrenouille : f. 
 A Frog, a Paddocke." And in the 
 later Wickliffite version the frogs that 
 came up on the land of Egypt are called 
 * ' paddockis. ' ' On the other hand, there 
 are numerous examples in which pad- 
 dock means toad. Thus the " Prompt- 
 orium Parvulorum" gives: "Paddok, 
 toode. Sm/o." It seems very certain 
 that in Sh. paddock always means toad. 
 The toad has always been regarded with 
 a degree of dislike and disgust which is 
 rot shown towards the frog, and when 
 Milton transforms Satan into a loathe- 
 some and devilish object it is into a toad. 
 Him they found. 
 Squat like a toad close at the ear of 
 Eve. 
 This feeling arises partially from a belief 
 that the toad is poisonous or venomous. 
 Upon this point Mr. Frank Buckland, 
 in his " Curiosities of Natural History," 
 says : " Toads are generally reported to 
 be poisonous ; and this is perfectly true 
 to a certain extent. Like the lizards, 
 they have glands in their skin which 
 secrete a white, highly acid fluid, and 
 just behind the head are seen two emin- 
 ences like split beans ; if these be pressed 
 this acid fluid wiU come out — only let 
 the operator mind that it does not get 
 into his eyes, for it generally comes out 
 with a iet. There are also other glands 
 dispersed through the skin. A dog will 
 
 never take a toad in his mouth, and the 
 reason is that this glandular secretion 
 burns his tongue and lips. It is also 
 poisonous to the human subject. Mr. 
 Blick, surgeon, of Islip, Oxfordshire, 
 tells me that a man once made a wager, 
 when half drunk in a village public- 
 house, that he would bite a toad's head 
 off ; he did so, but in a few hours his 
 lips, tongue and throat began to swell 
 in a most alarming way, and he was 
 dangerously ill for some time. " 
 
 pagan. This word " seems to have been 
 a cant term, implying irregularity either 
 of birth or manners. " Steevens. What 
 a pagan rascal is this? IHIV. II, 3, 
 31. What pagan [prostitute] may that 
 he ? 2HIV. II, 3, 168. Also Hml. Ill, 
 2, 36, and 0th. I, 2, 99. 
 
 Page, Mr., dr. p. A gentleman dwelling 
 at Windsor. Wiv. 
 
 Page, Mrs., dr. p. Wife to Mr. Page. 
 Wiv. 
 
 Page, Anne, dr. p. Daughter to Mr. Page. 
 Wiv. 
 
 Page, William, dr. p. Son to Mr. Page. 
 Wiv. 
 
 pageant, v. To mimic as actors do in a 
 pageant or theatrical representation. 
 Troil. I, 3, 151. 
 
 painted cloth. This was cloth or canvas 
 used as hangings for rooms, painted in 
 oil, representing various subjects, with 
 devices and mottoes or proverbial say- 
 ings interspersed. It has been errone- 
 ously explained to mean Tapestry. Dyce. 
 Lucr. 245 ; LLL. V, 2, 579 ; As. Ill, 2, 
 290; IHIV. IV, 2, 28. 
 
 painted. Artificial, in the sense of unreal ; 
 counterfeit. John III, 1, 105 ; Tim. IV, 
 2, 36. My most painted word (Hml. 
 Ill, 1, 53) = my most hypocritical speech. 
 Whose mother was her painting. Cym. 
 Ill, 4, 52. See mother. 
 
 Painted one way like a Gorgon, The 
 other way''s a Mars. Ant. II, 5, 116. 
 " An allusion to the ' double ' pictures in 
 vogue formerly, of which Burton says : 
 ' Like those double or turning pictures ; 
 stand before which you see a fair maid, 
 on the one side an ape, on the other an 
 
PAI 
 
 204: 
 
 PAN 
 
 owl.' And Chapman, in All Fools\ 
 Act I, sc. 1 : 
 
 But like a couzening picture, which 
 
 one way- 
 Shows like a crow, another like a 
 
 swan." Staunton. 
 
 Such pictures are now in common use 
 for changeable signs which show one 
 set of letters from the front, another set 
 from one side and a third set from the 
 other side. 
 
 painful. Laborious. Tp. Ill, 1, 1 ; Sonn. 
 XXV, 9. 
 
 pajock. Hml. Ill, 2, 295, This word has 
 given rise to much discussion. Paddock 
 (toad) has been urged as the proper 
 reading, and other words, such as mea- 
 cock, puttock, etc., have been suggested. 
 Dyce says: "Here pajock certainly 
 means peacock. I have often heard 
 the lower classes in the north of Scot- 
 land call the peacock a pea- jock, and 
 their almost invariable name for the 
 turkey-cock is ' ' bubbly-jock, ' ' Furness 
 thinks ' ' Dyce's testimony is conclusive. ' ' 
 That the word that Hamlet uttered was 
 peacock, I think there can be no doubt, 
 but it is obv ious that the word which 
 he at first meant to use was ass. Note 
 Horatio's remark : You might have 
 rhymed. 
 
 palabras. Paucas pallabris, a mutila- 
 tion and corruption of the Spanish 
 pocas palabras = few words. Ado. Ill, 
 5, 18 ; Shr. Ind. I, 5. 
 
 Palamon, dr. p. Nephew to Creon, King 
 of Thebes. Kins. 
 
 pall. 1. To wrap up ; to cloak. Mcb. I, 
 5, 52. 
 
 2. To decay ; to wane ; to go to wreck. 
 Hml. V, 2, 9. 
 
 palled. Ruined. Ant. II, 7, 88. 
 
 pale, n. An enclosure, or, rather, the 
 fence or paling surrounding an en- 
 closure. Err. II, 1, 100 ; Hml. I, 4, 28. 
 The line : For the red blood reigns 
 in the winter'' s pale (Wint. IV, 3, 4), 
 has given some trouble to the coms. 
 Farmer calls attention to the fact that 
 "the English pale and the Irish pale 
 were frequent expressions in Shake- 
 
 speare's time " and explains the passage 
 thus : " The red, the spring blood now 
 reigns o''er the parts lately under the 
 dominion of winter.''^ And in "The 
 Henry Irving Shakespeare " it is sug- 
 gested that there is a double meaning — 
 pale = paleness, and pale = enclosure. 
 But it is improbable that it means any- 
 thing more than "the red blood reigns 
 in the place of the pale blood of winter. " 
 Dyce. There is too much of this read- 
 ing of far-fetched and irrelevant ideas 
 into the writings of Sh. 
 
 pale, V. 1. To enclose as with a paling. 
 HV. V, Chor. 10 ; Ant. II, 7, 74. 
 2. To make pale or wan. Hml. I, 5, 90. 
 
 palliament. A robe. Tit. I, 1, 182. 
 
 palmer. A pilgrim ; one who bears a 
 palm branch in token of having made 
 a pilgrimage to Palestine. All's. Ill, 
 5, 38 ; Rom. I, 5, 102. 
 
 palmy. Flourishing ; prosperous ; superior, 
 as if crowned with palm. Hml, 1, 1, 113. 
 
 Pandarus, dr,j>. Uncle to Cressida. Troil. 
 The Pandarus of Sh. is a modern 
 creation and has no resemblance to the 
 original character as described in the 
 Illiad, The Pandarus of Homer was a 
 son of Ly caon or Lycian and com manded 
 the inhabitants of Zeleia, on Mount Ida, 
 in the Trojan war. He was distin guished 
 in the Trojan army as an archer, and 
 was said to have received his bow from 
 Apollo. He was slain by Diomedes or, 
 according to others, by Sthenelus and 
 was afterwards honored as a hero at 
 Pinara, in Lycia. 
 
 The Pandarus of later romance and 
 of Sh. is a mere go-between or procurer 
 from whose name has been coined a 
 synonym for such brokers. Troil. Ill, 
 2, 211. For the origin of the modem 
 form of the story see Cressida. 
 
 Pandulph, Cardinal, dr.p. The Pope's 
 legate. John. 
 
 pang, V. To pain ; to torment. HVIII. 
 II, 3, 15 ; Cym. Ill, 4, 98. 
 
 pantaloon. An old fool; taken from a 
 character in an Italian comedy. As. 
 II, 7, 158 ; Shr. Ill, 1, 37. 
 
 Panthino, dr.p. Servant to Antonio. Gtent. 
 
PAK 
 
 ao5 
 
 PAB 
 
 pantler. A servant in charge of the 
 pantry. Wint. IV, 4, 56 ; 2HIV. II, 4, 
 258 ; Cym. II, 3, 129. 
 
 panyn. In the Fl., Tw. V, 1, 206, Sir 
 Toby says of Dicke Surgeon that Tie's a 
 Rogue, and a passy measures panyn. 
 The later Folios read Pavin. Pope 
 changed to a past measure painim ; 
 Rann to : ayid after a passy measure 
 or a pavin. HalliweU and Steevens 
 have expended a great deal of learned 
 investigation on the two dances, passy- 
 measiire and pavin, q.v., but the re- 
 levancy is not very obvious. That the 
 drunken Sir Toby should use the not 
 very common names of two dances as 
 terms of reproach, or rather of Billings- 
 gate, is, to say the least, far-fetched. 
 It is therefore more than probable that 
 panyn is either a misprint or a drunken 
 mispronunciation of paynim (the old 
 word for pagan) which has always been 
 considered a scurrilous epithet, and 
 passy -measures, instead of being a cor- 
 ruption of the Italian name of a dance 
 (see passy-measure), is quite as likely 
 to be a corruption of past measure or 
 passing measure, so that what Sir 
 Toby meant to say was : "he is a rogue 
 and beyond measure a paynim or 
 pagan. ' ' See pagan . 
 
 The interpretation which makes 
 passy-measures and pavin the names 
 of two dances is that generally accepted, 
 and the ed. of "The Henry Irving 
 Shakespeare" says: "A metaphor de- 
 rived from dances comes very character- 
 istically from Sir Toby." See Tw. I, 
 3, 136, et seq. But for all that, it seems 
 to me that the scurrilous word paynim 
 is the most appropriate here. 
 
 papers. In Sh. time all criminals pun- 
 ished by exposure to public view were 
 compelled to bear on their breasts, 
 papers describing their crime. It is to 
 this that reference is made in LLL. IV, 
 3, 48. On September 27th, 1631, John 
 Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, had a play 
 (said to have been Midsum,mer NighVs 
 Dream) acted at kis house in London. 
 For this be was severely punished and 
 
 the court also made the following order 
 in regai-d to the getter-up of the ex- 
 hibition : 
 
 " Likewise we doe order, that Mr. Wil- 
 son, because hee was a speciall plotter 
 and contriver of this business and did 
 in such a brutish manner act the same 
 with an Asses Head, and therefore he 
 shall uppon Tuisday next, from 6 of the 
 clocke in the morning till 6 of the clocke 
 at night, sitt in the Porter's Lodge at 
 my Lords Bishopps House, with his feet 
 in the stocks and attyred with his asse 
 head, and a bottle of hay sett before 
 him, and this subscription on his breast : 
 Good people I have plaj^ed the beast 
 
 And brought ill things to passe ; 
 I was a man, but thus have made 
 My selfe a silly Asse." 
 
 Paphos. The name of two towns on the 
 western coast of Cyprus and called 
 respectively "Old Paphos" and "New 
 Paphos. ' ' Old Paphos was situated near 
 the coast, while New Paphos lay more 
 inland. Old Paphos was the chief seat 
 of the worship of Venus, who is said to 
 have landed there after her birth among 
 the waves. Hence, Venus is frequently 
 called the Paphian goddess. In Old 
 Paphos, Venus had a celebrated temple, 
 the high priest of which exei-cised a 
 kind of religious superintendence over 
 the whole island w hich, in consequence, 
 is frequently regarded as the home of 
 sensual love, as is seen in the word 
 Cyprian. Every year there was a 
 grand procession from New Paphos to 
 the temple of the goddess in the old 
 city. Thei-e can be no doubt of the 
 Phoenician origin of Old Paphos and 
 that the worship of Venus (Aphrodite) 
 was introduced here from the east. This 
 would connect the rites with those of 
 Astarte. Ven. 1193 ; Tp. IV, 1, 93 ; Per. 
 Prol. 32. 
 
 paradise, fool's. A common expression 
 in Sh. time. Rich, in his " Farewell to 
 Military Profession" (1581), has: "By 
 praising of our beautie, you [men] think 
 to bring us into a foole's paradise." 
 The meaning is obvious — a belief in a, 
 
PAB 
 
 206 
 
 PAB 
 
 good fortune which does not really 
 exist. Rom. II, 4, 176. 
 
 parallel. The word as ordinarily used 
 requires no explanation, but as it occurs 
 in Troil. I, 3, 168 : as near as the ex- 
 tremest ends Of parallels, it presents 
 some difficulty. Johnson says: "The 
 parallels to which the allusion seems to 
 be made are the parallels on a map ; as 
 like as East to West. ' ' Schm. , followed 
 by several coms., explains it as "the 
 opposed extremities of two parallels." 
 But the opposed extremities of two 
 parallels may be infinitely near to each 
 other, and the implication here is that 
 they are very far asunder. Johnson's 
 explanation is probably the true one. 
 
 Pares. The three Fates. HV. V, 1, 21. 
 See Fates. 
 
 parcel. In part ; partly. Thus, parcel- 
 bawd = partly bawd. Meas. II, 1, 63 ; 
 parcel-gilt =psirt\j gilt. 2HIV. II, 1,94. 
 
 parcel, v. To make into a parcel or lot. 
 That mine own servant should Parcel 
 the sum of my disgraces by Addition 
 of his envy. Ant. V, 2, 163. Schm. 
 explains parcel here as "to enumerate 
 by items; to specify." But this is an 
 unusual meaning, although it is adopted 
 by the "Century Dictionary." The 
 idea here evidently is to fill up or com- 
 plete. 
 
 parcelled. Particular ; not general. RIII. 
 II, 2, 81. 
 
 pard. A leopard. Tp. IV, 1, 262 ; Mids. 
 II, 2, 31. 
 
 pardonnez mol. French for ' ' pardon me ' ' 
 or " beg pardon. " RII. V, 3, 117 ; HV. 
 IV, 4, 22 ; HV. V, 2, 108. 
 
 Paris, dr.p. A young nobleman ; lover 
 of Juliet. Rom. 
 
 Paris, dr.p. Son to Priam. Troil. 
 
 Paris was the second son of Priam 
 and Hecuba. Before his birth Hecuba 
 dreamed that she had brought forth a 
 firebrand which had destroyed the 
 whole city. Accordingly, as soon as 
 the child was born, he was given to a 
 shepherd with orders to expose him on 
 Mount Ida. After five days the shep- 
 herd returned to Mount Ida and found 
 
 the child still alive and fed by a she- 
 bear. Thereupon he carried the boy 
 home and brought him up along with his 
 own child, and called him Paris. When 
 Paris had grown up, he distinguished 
 himself as a valiant defender of the 
 flocks and shepherds, and hence received 
 the name of Alexander, i.e., defender 
 of men. He also succeeded in discover- 
 ing his real origin and was received by 
 Priam as his son. He now married 
 CEnone, the daughter of the river god, 
 Cebren. But the event which has made 
 his name so generally known was his 
 abduction of Helen. This was brought 
 about as follows : When Peleus and 
 Thetis solemnized their nuptials, all the 
 gods were invited to the marriage with 
 the exception of Eris or Strife. En- 
 raged at this slight, Eris threw amongst 
 the guests a golden apple inscribed : 
 "To the fairest." Juno, Venus and 
 Minerva each claimed the apple for her- 
 self, and Jupiter ordered Mercury to 
 take the goddesses to Mount Ida, to the 
 beautiful shepherd Paris, who was to 
 decide the dispute. Juno promised him 
 the sovereignty of Asia and great riches ; 
 Minerva, great glory and renown, and 
 Venus, the fairest of women for his 
 wife. He decided in favour of Venus, 
 and, of course, incurred the enmity of 
 Juno and Minerva. Under the pro- 
 tection of Venus, Paris now sailed for 
 Greece and was hospitably received in 
 Sparta by Menelaus, whose wife, Helen, 
 was the most beautiful woman in the 
 world. Some say that he carried her 
 off by force ; others claim, that under 
 the influence of Venus, she accompanied 
 him willingly. He also treacherously 
 carried off much treasure from the 
 hospitable house of Menelaus. These 
 acts led to the Trojan war. 
 
 Homer describes Paris as a handsome 
 man, fond of the female sex and of 
 music, and not ignorant of war, but as 
 dilatory and cowardly, and detested V>y 
 his own friends for having brought 
 upon them the fatal war with the 
 Grreeks. He fought with Menelaus before 
 
PAB 
 
 207 
 
 PAR 
 
 the walls of Troy and was defeated, but 
 was carried off by Venus. He is said 
 to have killed Achilles either by one of 
 his arrows or by treachery in the temple 
 of the Thymbraen Apollo. He, himself, 
 was wounded by Philoctetes with one 
 of the poisoned arrows of Hercules. He 
 returned to his abandoned wife, CEnone, 
 and asked her to heal him, but she, re- 
 membering the wrongs she had suffered, 
 refused. He then went back to Troy, 
 and CEnone, repenting too late, hastened 
 after him with those remedies which 
 she, as the daughter of a god, knew so 
 well how to apply. Paris died, and 
 CEnone, in her grief, hung herself. 
 
 In works of art Paris is represented 
 as a beautiful youth, without a beard, 
 with a Phrygian cap, and sometimes 
 with an apple in his hand, in the act of 
 presenting it to Venus. 
 
 Paris- garden . ' ' The place on the Thames 
 bankside at London where the bears are 
 kept and baited. It was anciently so 
 called from Robert de Paris, who had 
 a house and garden there in Richard the 
 Second's time." BlounVs Glosso- 
 graphia. HVIII. V, 4, 2. 
 
 Parish-garden. A vulgarism for Paris- 
 garden, q.v. 
 
 parish top. A large top was formerly 
 kept in every village to be whipped in 
 frosty weather, that the peasants might 
 be kept warm by exercise and out of 
 mischief while they could not work." 
 Steevens. Tw. I, 3, 44. 
 
 paritor. An apparitor; "an officer of 
 the Bishop's Court who carries out 
 citations ; as citations are most fre- 
 quently issued for fornication the pari- 
 tor is put under Cupid's government." 
 Johnson. LLL. Ill, 1, 188. 
 
 parle. A parley ; a talk ; a conference. 
 Gent. I, 2, 5. Break the parle (Tit. V, 
 3, 19) = break off this kind of talk. 
 Angry parle (Hml. I, 1, 62) = angry 
 conference. See Polacks. 
 
 parlous. 1. Perilous, of which it is a 
 
 corruption. As. Ill, 2, 45 ; Rom. I, 3, 54. 
 
 2. Amazing ; wonderful ; great. Used 
 
 in the generic sense of esccessive. Halli- 
 
 well. Mids. Ill, 1, 14 ; RIIL III, 1 , 154 ; 
 
 Kins. II, 3. 
 parmaceti. Spermaceti. IHIV. I, 3, 58. 
 Parolles, dr.p. A follower of Bertram. 
 
 All's. 
 
 parrot. The sentence : Or rather, the 
 prophecy like the parrot, ^'■beware the 
 ropers end " (Err. IV, 4,45), "alludes 
 to people's' teaching that bird unlucky 
 words ; with which, whenever any pass- 
 enger was offended, it was the standing 
 joke of the wise owner to say : ' Take 
 heed, sir, my parrot prophecies.' To 
 this Butler hints, where, speaking of 
 Ralph's skill in augury, he says (Hudi- 
 bras p. 1, c. 1) : 
 Could tell what subtlest parrots mean. 
 That speak, and think contrary clean; 
 WTiat member 'tis of whom they talk. 
 When they cry rope, and walk, knave, 
 walk." Warburton. 
 
 partake. 1. To side with; to take the 
 part of another. Sonn. CXLIX, 2. 
 2. To communicate ; to impart. Wint. 
 V, 3, 132 ; Per. I, 1, 153. 
 
 parted. 1. Endowed with abilities ; dearly 
 parted = having good parts. Troil. Ill, 
 3,96. 
 
 2. Parted eye (Mids. IV, 1, 194) = the 
 eyes being out of unison so that the 
 images in the two eyes do not comcide so 
 as to form one picture. Certainly not 
 "divided into pieces" as Schmidt ex- 
 plains this particular passage. 
 
 partial. A partial slander = a reproach 
 of partiality. RII. I, 3, 241. 
 
 parti-coated, j Dressed in a coat of 
 
 party-coated. ) divers colors, like a fool. 
 LLL. V, 2, 776. 
 
 partizan. A kind of halberd or pike ; " a 
 sharp, two-edged sword placed on the 
 summit of a staff." Fair holt. Rom. 
 
 1, 1, 80; Hml. I, 1, 140; Cym. IV, 
 
 2, 399. 
 
 Partlet. " The name of the hen in the 
 old story-book of Reynard the Fox; 
 and in Chaucer's tale of The Cock and 
 the Fox, the favorite hen is called dame 
 Pertelote.^^ Steevens. So called from 
 her ruff, Wint. II, 3, 75 ; IHIV. Ill, 
 3,60. 
 
PAE 
 
 208 
 
 PAT 
 
 party-verdict. Whereto thy tongue a 
 party-verdict gave (RII. I, 3, 234) = 
 "you had yourself a part or share in 
 the verdict that I pronounced. ' ' Malone. 
 
 pash, n. The head. Wint. I, 2, 128. A 
 Scotch word only used humorously. 
 
 pash, V. To strike ; to knock down. Troil. 
 
 II, 3, 213 ; V, 5, 10. 
 
 pass, n. 1. Act; proceeding; course. 
 Meas. V, 1, 375. 
 
 2. A term in fencing having two mean- 
 ings : (a) a push ; a thrust. Hml. V, 2, 
 61. ^dQpractice. (6) A bout of fencing 
 continued until one of the combatants 
 is hit. Hml. V, 2, 173. 
 
 3. Passage. Hml. II, 2, 77. 
 
 Between the pass and fell incensed 
 points {Hml. V, 2, 61), that is, to come 
 between two combatants and, as Moberly 
 says, " so as to get the dangerous wound 
 which comes from the ' redding-straik. ' ' ' 
 The Scotch have a proverb: "Beware 
 of the redding-straik," that is, the 
 stroke which one is apt to get when 
 attempting to settle or " red " a quarrel. 
 It is said to be the most fatal of all 
 blows. See Scott's " Guy Mannering," 
 Vol. I, p. 278, of ed. 1829. 
 
 pass, V. 1. To practise upon ; to make a 
 sally of wit at one's expense. Tw. Ill, 
 1, 48. 
 
 2. To care for; to have regard for. 
 2HVI. IV, 2, 136. 
 
 passado. A pass or motion forward ; a 
 term in fencing. LLL. I, 2, 188. 
 
 passage. 1. Passers-by; no passage 
 (0th. V, 1, 37) = no one passing. Stir- 
 ring passage (Err. Ill, 1, 99) = passing 
 crowds. 
 2. Occurrence. Common passage iS^ym. 
 
 III, 4, 94) = ordinary occurrence. 
 passing, adj. Excessive ; egregious. Gent. 
 
 I, 2, 17; 3HVI. V, 1, 106. 
 passing, adv. Exceedingly. Ado. II, 1, 
 
 84 ; Mids. II, 1, 20; Hml. II, 2, 427. 
 passion, v. To feel pain and sorrow. Tp. 
 
 V, 1, 24 ; Gent. IV, 4, 172. 
 passionate, adj. Sorrowful. Gent. I, 2, 
 
 124 ; LLL. Ill, 1, 69 ; John. II, 1, 544. 
 passionate, v. To express sorrow. Tit. 
 
 Ill, 2, 6. 
 
 passy measures. Said by some to be 
 corrupted from passamezzo, the Italian 
 name of a slow, stately dance. For this 
 reason the two words are hyphenated 
 in many eds. Tw. V, 1, 206. Malone 
 explains the expression thus : In this 
 passage " Sir Toby means that the 
 surgeon is a grave and solemn coxcomb. ' ' 
 But see panyn. 
 
 pastry. The room where pastry is made. 
 Rom. IV, 4, 2. 
 
 patch. Properly, a domestic fool, so 
 called from his wearing a patched or 
 parti-colored dress. Tp. Ill, 2, 71 ; Err. 
 
 III, 1, 32 ; Merch. II, 5, 46. But it was 
 used also to denote a mean or paltry 
 fellow, as in Mids. Ill, 2, 9 ; Mcb. V, 3, 15. 
 
 patched. Parti - colored ; motley. . A 
 patched fool = a fool in a parti-colored 
 coat. Johnson. Mids. IV, 1, 208. Schm. 
 gives paltry as the meaning, but no 
 prominent com. agrees with him. Staun- 
 ton describes a picture representing "a 
 grand al fresco entertainment of the 
 description given to Queen Elizabeth 
 during her ' Progresses,' in which there 
 is a procession of masquers and nmm- 
 mers, led by a fool or jester, whose 
 dress is covered with many-coloured 
 coarse patches from head to heel." 
 
 patchery. Roguery ; bungling hypocrisy. 
 Troil. II, 3, 77; Tim. V, 1, 99. 
 
 patent. 1. Privilege ; right. My virgin 
 patent (Mids. I, 1, 80) = my right to 
 remain a virgin. 
 2. Warrant ; title. All's. IV, 5, 69 ; 0th. 
 
 IV, 1, 209. 
 
 The word patent literally means open ; 
 hence, letters patent (RII. II, 3, 130) = 
 open letters, and such were issued to 
 those to whom monopolies and special 
 privileges were granted. 
 path, V. In Cses. II, 1, 83, the word path 
 has given rise to nmch discussion. The 
 Fl. reads : "For if thou path thy native 
 semblance on," etc. Modern eds. place 
 a comma after path, and some place 
 one after For. Coleridge is convinced 
 that we should read "if thou put thy 
 native semblance on;" Knight and 
 Dyce agree with him. Pope suggested 
 
PAT 
 
 309 
 
 PAU 
 
 march ; Grant White, hadst, others, 
 pace or pass. Path is used as a verb 
 by Drayton, but not exactly in this 
 sense ; he speaks of path in g a passage 
 and of pathing a waj^, that is, making 
 or smoothing a passage or way. Sh. 
 would not have hesitated to use jioih in 
 anyway that suited his purpose, so that 
 Johnson's paraphrase: "If that walk 
 is thy true form," may be accepted as 
 the intended sense. 
 
 pathetical. Caldecott's definition of this 
 word (As. IV, 1 , 196) is "piteously 
 moaning; passionate." Whiter explains 
 it as : "A whining, canting, promise- 
 breaking swain." 
 
 Patience, cZr.^x Woman to Queen Kath- 
 arine. HVIII. 
 
 patient, v. To compose one's self ; to 
 make patient. Tit. I, I, 121. 
 
 patine. "The small flat dish or plate 
 [for holding the bread] used with the 
 chalice, in the administration of the 
 Eucharist. In the time of Popery, and 
 probably in the following age, it was 
 commonly made of gold." Malone. 
 Merch. V, 1, .59. 
 
 Patriclc, St. Hamlet's reference to the 
 patron saint of Ireland has given rise 
 to some comment. Warburton says it 
 was because "at this time all the whole 
 northern world had their learning from 
 Ireland, to which place it had retired, 
 and there flourished under the auspices 
 of this saint." Tschischwitz remarks 
 that if Sh. had wished to be historically 
 correct, he would have made a Dane 
 swear by St. Ansgarius. But since the 
 subject concerned an unexpiated crime, 
 he naturally thought of St. Patrick, 
 who kept a Purgatory of his own. Fur- 
 ness corrects the learned German by 
 quoting a passage from The Honest 
 Whore, in which St. Patrick is said to 
 ' ' keep Purgatory ' ' and not a Purgatory 
 of his own. Moberly explains the use 
 of this saint's name here by hinting that 
 St. Patrick was the patron saint of all 
 blunders and confusion. Hml. I, 5, 137. 
 
 Patroclus, dr. p. A Grecian commander. 
 Troil. 
 
 Patroclus was the son of Menoetius, 
 who was a brother of ^acus, the grand- 
 father of Achilles, so that Patroclus 
 and Achilles were kinsmen as well as 
 friends. While still a boy, Patroclus 
 accidentally slew Clysonymus, son of 
 Amphidamas, in consequence of which 
 misfortune he was taken by his father to 
 Peleus at Phthia, where he was educated 
 with Achilles, thus bringing the two boys 
 very close together. Therefore, when 
 Achilles joined the expedition against 
 Troy, Patroclus accompanied him. He 
 fought bravely and slew many enemies, 
 but was struck by Apollo and rendered 
 senseless. In this state Euphorbus ran 
 him through with his lance from behind 
 and Hector gave him the last and fatal 
 blow. Hector then took possession of 
 his armor, and a long struggle ensued 
 between the Greeks and the Trojans 
 for the possession of his body, but the 
 former gained the day and brought the 
 body to Achilles, who burned it with 
 funeral sacrifices. 
 
 patronage, v. To maintain ; to make 
 good. IHVI. Ill, 1, 48 ; III, 4, 32. 
 
 pattern, v. To be an example or pattern 
 for. Meas. II, 1, 30; Wint. Ill, 3, 37; 
 Tit. IV, 1,57. 
 
 pauca. A Latin word signifying few. 
 It was adopted as a slang or cant term, 
 and meant "be brief." Wiv. I, 1, 134; 
 HV. II, 1, 83. 
 
 pauca verba. Few words. (Latin. ) Wiv. 
 I, 1, 123. 
 
 paucas. See pallabris. 
 
 Paul, St. The body of old St. Paul's 
 Church, in London, was a constant 
 place of resort for business and amuse- 
 ment. Advertisements were fixed up 
 there, bargains made, servants hired, 
 politics discussed, etc. , etc. Nares. In 
 "The Choice of Change," by N. Breton, 
 1598, it is said : " A man must not make 
 choyce of three things in three places — 
 of a wife in Westminster, of a servant 
 in Paule's, or of a horse in Smithfield ; 
 lest he chuse a queane, a knave, or a 
 jade." Malone quotes from Osborne's 
 "Memoirs of James I.": "It was the 
 
PAir 
 
 210 
 
 PEE 
 
 fashion in those times .... for the 
 principal gentry, lords, courtiers, and 
 men of all professions, not merely 
 mechanicks, to meet in St. Paul's Church 
 by eleven, and walk in the middle aisle 
 till twelve, and after dinner from three 
 to six; during which time some dis- 
 coursed of business, others of news. 
 Now, in regard of the universal com- 
 merce — there happened little that did 
 not first or last arrive here." 
 
 Paulina, dr.p. Wife to Antigonus. Wint. 
 
 paunch, v. To rip up. Tp. Ill, 2, 101. 
 
 paved. Pebbly; stoney. Paved fountain 
 (Mids. II, 1, 84) = a fountain whose bed 
 was covered with clean gravel or pebbles 
 and whose water was consequently clear 
 and not easily muddied like that of a 
 rushy brook, whose bed would be muddy 
 or oozy. His paved bed (Meas. V, 1, 
 439) = his grave, because paved or 
 covered with a stone. 
 
 pavilioned. Tented ; lying in tents. HV. 
 I, 2, 129. The meaning of this passage 
 is that although the bodies of the Eng- 
 lish are still here, their hearts or spirits 
 are in France eager for combat. The 
 force and earnestness of this imagina- 
 tive address is quite in Sh. style. 
 
 pavin. Explained by some as a grave 
 Spanish dance. Tw. V, 1, 207. But see 
 panyn. 
 
 pax. Peace. (Latin.) HV. Ill, 6, 42. 
 The pax was the symbol of peace, and 
 was a small plate of metal (either 
 precious or common) which, during a 
 certain part of the Mass, was tendered 
 to the laity to be kissed, the priest say- 
 ing : '"'■ Pax Domini sit semper vohis- 
 eum''^ (The peace of the Lord, may it 
 be always with you) ; it was also named 
 osculatoriiim. On its surface was en- 
 graved or embossed some religious 
 subject, generally the Crucifixion. 
 Sometimes erroneously confounded with 
 pix. 
 
 pay. To hit or kill in fighting. Tw. Ill, 
 4, 305 ; IHIV. II, 4, 213. 
 
 peach. To turn King's or State's evidence. 
 Meas. IV, 3, 12. This is a common 
 slang word at the present day. 
 
 peak. To grow thin ; to mope. Mcb. I, 
 
 3, 23 ; Hml. II, 2, 602. 
 
 peaking. Sneaking. Wiv. Ill, 5, 73. 
 
 pearl. A cataract in the eye. Gent. V, 
 2, 13. A quibble or pun. 
 
 Peaseblossom, dr.p. A fairy. Mids. 
 
 peascod. Properly, a peapod, but in As. 
 II, 4, 52, Touchstone evidently uses 
 peascod for a peastalk. ' ' Our ancestors 
 were frequently accustomed in their 
 love affairs to employ the divination of 
 a peascod by selecting one growing on 
 the stem, snatching it away quickly, 
 and if the omen of the peas remaining 
 in the husk were preserved, then pre- 
 senting it to the lady of their choice.'' 
 Halliwell. And in his " Dictionary of 
 Archaic and Provincial Words" HaUi- 
 well gives the following extract from 
 Mr. Davy's MS. " Suffolk Gloss " : " The 
 efficacy of peas cods in the affairs of 
 sweethearts is not yet forgotten among 
 our rustic vulgar. The kitchen-maid, 
 when she shells green peas, never omits, 
 if she finds one having niyie peas, to lay 
 it on the lintel of the kitchen door, and 
 the first clown who enters it is infallibly 
 to be her husband or at least her sweet- 
 heart." 
 
 peat. A pet ; a darling. Shr. 1, 1, 78. 
 
 peck. To strike ; to throw. HVIII. V, 
 
 4, 94. In some eds. pick. Probably a 
 mere variant of pitch. 
 
 peculiar. Preserved ; guarded. Meas. I, 
 2,96. 
 
 Pedant, dr.p. Personates Vincentio. Shr. 
 
 pedascule. A pedant; a schoolmaster. 
 Shr. Ill, 1, 50. 
 
 Of this word War burton says: "He 
 would have said Didascale, but think- 
 ing this too honourable, he coins the 
 word Pedascale in imitation of it, from 
 Pedant.'''' It evidently means teacher. 
 Shr. Ill, 1, 50. 
 
 Pedro, Don, dr.p. Prince of Aragon. 
 Ado. 
 
 peeled. 1. Having the bark removed. 
 Merch. I, 3, 85. 
 2. Shaved. IHVI. I, 3, 30. 
 
 peer, v. 1. To come in sight ; to appear. 
 Ven. 86; Wiv. IV, 2, 26; Shr. IV, 3, 
 
PEE 
 
 211 
 
 PEL 
 
 1 76. For some ridiculous comments on 
 this word as it occurs in Wiv. IV, 2, 26, 
 see Donnelly's "Great Cryptogram," 
 page 5r20. Ford's exclamation, " Peer 
 out, peer out !" as he buffets himself on 
 the forehead evidently refers to the 
 horns, which are the well-known insignia 
 of cuckoldom and which he thinks ought 
 now to appear on his head. 
 2. To bring into sight ; to let appear. 
 Lucr. 472. 
 
 peevish. Silly ; foolish. Tw. I, 5, 321 ; 
 RIII. IV, 2, 96 ; Rom. IV, 2, 14. Dow- 
 den explains peevish, in this passage, 
 as childish, thoughtless, foolish, and 
 quotes from Lyly's "Endimion," I, 1: 
 " There never was any so peevish to 
 imagine the moone either capable of 
 affection or shape of a mistris," and 
 adds: "Perhaps childishly perverse is 
 implied." 
 
 peg, V. To wedge. Tp. I, 2, 295. 
 
 Peg«a-Ramsey. The name of an old 
 song alluded to by Sir Toby. Tw. II, 
 3, 81. Percy says it was an indecent 
 ballad. The tune is preserved, but the 
 words are lost. 
 
 Scott makes one of his characters 
 apply it in a contemptuous manner to a 
 young woman. 
 
 Pegasus. A famous winged horse which 
 sprang from Medusa when Perseus 
 struck off her head. His name, which 
 means "a spring," was given to him 
 because he was belie v'ed to have made 
 his appearance near the sources of the 
 Oceanus, which was believed to be a 
 great river. He plays a prominent part 
 in various mythological legends. Per- 
 seus was riding on this horse when he 
 delivered Andromeda from the sea- 
 monster. See Perseus. Hence the al- 
 lusion in HV. Ill, 7, 22, to a beast for 
 Persens. It was by the aid of Pegasus 
 that Bellerophon slew the Chimaera. 
 The association of Pegasus with the 
 Muses is based on the following legend : 
 When the nine Muses engaged in a 
 contest with the nine daughters of 
 Pierus on Mount Helicon, all became 
 darkness when the daughters of Pierus 
 
 began to sing ; whereas, during the 
 song of the Muses, heaven, the sea and 
 all the rivers stood still to listen, and 
 Helicon rose heavenward with delight 
 until Pegasus, on the advice of Nep- 
 tune, stopped its ascent by kicking it 
 with his hoof. From this kick there 
 arose Hippocrene (the horse's well), the 
 inspiring well of the Muses on Mount 
 Helicon. Pegasus is often seen repre- 
 sented in ancient works of art along 
 with Minerva and Bellerophon. He is 
 referred to twice by name in Sh. plays, 
 IHIV. IV, 1, 109, and HV. Ill, 7, 15. 
 In the latter passage he is described as 
 having "nostrils of fire" — chez les 
 narines defeu, and is spoken of as le 
 cheval volant, or the flying horse. 
 
 pegs. The pins of an instrument by which 
 the strings are brought into tune. 0th. 
 II, 1, 203. 
 
 peise, [ 1. To poise; to balance. John 
 
 peize. ) II, 1, 575. 
 2. To weigh down ; to render slow and 
 heavy. Merch. Ill, 2, 22 ; RIII. V, 3, 105. 
 
 pelican. From time immemorial this bird 
 has served as an illustration of parental 
 care and self-sacrifice, and it was adopted 
 by some of the fathers as an emblem 
 of Jesus Christ, "by whose blood we 
 are healed." Various fables have been 
 told of this bird, one being that when 
 the young ones begin to grow they rebel 
 against the male bird and provoke his 
 anger so that he kills them ; the mother 
 returns to the nest in three days, sits on 
 the dead birds, pours her blood over 
 them, revives them, and they feed on 
 the blood. The common superstition is 
 that when the mother pelican finds her- 
 self unable to provide food, she tears 
 open her own breast and feeds her 
 young with her blood. Thus, Sir Thomas 
 Browne, in his " Enquiries into Vulgar 
 and Common Errors," discusses "the 
 picture of the Pelican opening her breast 
 with her bill, and feeding her young 
 ones with the blood distilled from her." 
 It is needless to say that these ideas 
 have no foundation in fact, the young 
 being fed on fish, caught by the mother 
 
PEL 
 
 212 
 
 FEN 
 
 and brought to the nest in the large 
 pouch which hangs under her bill. 
 Caldecott, in a note on Hml. IV, 5, 145, 
 quotes the following from Dr. Sherwen : 
 " It is not often that the grossest fables 
 obtain currency without some founda- 
 tion, or at least the semblance of truth ; 
 and so by the pelican's dropping upon 
 its breast its lower bill to enable its 
 young to take from its capacious pouch, 
 lined with a fine flesh-coloured skin, this 
 appearance is, on feeding them, given." 
 It is quite as possible that the idea may 
 have arisen from the fact that the breast 
 of the pelican is sometimes smeared with 
 the blood of the fish which are frequently 
 crushed or reduced to small pieces while 
 in the pouch. This supposed character- 
 istic of the pelican is referred to in RII. 
 II, 1, 126, and Lr. Ill, 4, 77. In the Fl. 
 the passage Hml. IV, 5, 14.5, reads : 
 *'And like the kinde Life-rend'ring 
 Politician," upon which comic misprint 
 Mr. Arthur Symons ("The Henry Irving 
 Shakespeare," Vol. VIII, page 140) 
 makes the following pertinent remarks : 
 " I can fancy that, had not the Quartos 
 preserved the true reading, comment- 
 ators would have been found to defend 
 the reading of Fl. even on grounds of 
 sentiment. Might not the politician 
 become a beautiful illustration of the 
 patriot, feeding his country with his 
 own blood ? It is still not too late for a 
 German editor to take up the point." 
 
 pellet, V. To form into balls or pellets. 
 Compl. 18. Pelleted storm = a storm 
 of hail. Ant. Ill, 13, 165. 
 
 Pelops. The legend relating to Pelops' 
 shoulder, referred to Kins. IV, 2, 21, is 
 as follows : Pelops was the grandson of 
 Jupiter and the son of Tantalus and 
 Dione, the daughter of Atlas. He was 
 
 " King of Pisa, in Elis, and from him the 
 great southern peninsula of Greece was 
 believed to have derived its name of 
 Peloponnesus. Tantalus, the favorite 
 of the gods, once invited them to a re- 
 past, and on that occasion killed his 
 own son, and having boiled him, set the 
 flesh before them that they might eat. 
 
 But the immortal gods, knowing what 
 it was, did not touch it ; Ceres (Demeter) 
 alone, being absorbed by grief for her 
 lost daughter, Proserpine, consumed 
 the shoulder of Pelops. Hereupon, the 
 gods ordered Mercury (Hermes) to put 
 the limbs of Pelops into a cauldron and 
 thereby restore him to life. When the 
 process was over, Clotho took him out 
 of the cauldron, and as the shoulder 
 consumed by Ceres was wanting, the 
 goddess supplied its place by one made 
 of ivory ; his descendants (the Pelopidae), 
 as a mark of their origin, were believed 
 to have one shoulder as white as ivory. 
 
 pelt, V. To chafe with anger. Lucr. 1418. 
 
 pelting. Paltry; insignificant. Meas. II, 
 2, 112 ; Mids. II, 1, 91 ; Troil. IV, 5, 267; 
 Lr. II, 3, 18 ; Kins. II, 2, 269. 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of, dr.j). William Mare- 
 schall. John. 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of, dr. p. A Yorkist 
 noble. 3HVI. 
 
 pen. The expression in AlFs. II, 1, 80, 
 To give great Charlemain a pen in''s 
 hand., probably refers to the fact that 
 Charlemain, late in life, vainly at- 
 tempted to learn to write. Dyce. 
 
 Penelope. Referred to but once in the 
 plays. The allusion in Cor. I, 3, 93, 
 will be best understood from her history. 
 She was the daughter of Icarius and 
 Periboea, of Sparta. There were many 
 suitors for her hand, and her father 
 promised to give her to the hero who 
 should conquer in a foot-race. Ulysses 
 won the prize, but Icarius tried to per- 
 suade his daughter to remain with him 
 and not accompany Ulysses to Ithaca. 
 Ulysses allowed her to do as she pleased, 
 whereupon she covered her face with 
 her veil to hide her blushes, and thus 
 intimated that she would follow her 
 husband. Icarius then desisted from 
 further entreaties, and erected a statue 
 of Modesty on the spot. By Ulysses 
 she had an only child, Telemachus, who 
 was an infant when her husband sailed 
 against Troy. During the long absence 
 of Ulysses she was besieged by many 
 importunate suitors, whom she deceived 
 
PEN 
 
 313 
 
 PEP 
 
 by declaring that she must finish a large 
 robe which she was making for her aged 
 father-in-law, Laertes, before she could 
 make up her mind. During the day- 
 time she accordingly worked at the 
 robe, and in the night she undid the 
 work of the day. By this means she 
 succeeded in putting off the suitors. 
 But at length her stratagem was be- 
 trayed by her servants and the suitors 
 became more and more urgent. Just 
 at this time Ulysses arrived after an 
 absence of twenty years. Having re- 
 cognised her husband by several signs, 
 she heartily welcomed him, and the 
 days of her grief and sorrow were at an 
 end. See Ulysses. 
 
 Penelophon. In most eds. this name is 
 wrongly spelled Zenelophon^ q.v. 
 
 Pendragon. Referred to in IHVI. Ill, 
 2, 95. " This hero was Uther Pendragon, 
 brother to Aurelius, and father to King 
 Arthur. Shakespeare has imputed to 
 Pendragon an exploit of Aurelius, who, 
 says Hollinshed, 'even sicke of a flixe 
 as he was, caused himself to be carried 
 forth in a litter : with whose presence 
 his people [the Bi-itons] were so encour- 
 aged, that encountering with the Saxons 
 they wan the victorie. ' " Steevens. 
 
 " Hardy ng ('Chronicle,' chap. 72) 
 gives the following account of Uter 
 Pendragon : 
 
 'For whiche the kyng ordeyned a 
 
 horse litter 
 To beare hym so then vnto the Vero- 
 
 lame, 
 Wher Occa laye, and Oysa also in 
 
 feer, 
 That Saynt Albones now hight of 
 
 noble fame. 
 Bet downe the walles ; but to hym 
 
 forth they came, 
 Wher in battayll Occa and Oysa were 
 
 slayne. 
 The felde he had, and thereof was 
 full fayne.' " 
 
 Grey as quoted by Dyce. 
 penetrative. Affecting the feelings power- 
 fully. Ant. IV, 14, 75. 
 penner. A case for holding pens. Kins. 
 Ill, 5, 126. 
 
 pense. French for thinks. (3rd pers. sing.) 
 Pronounced as one syllable, the final e 
 being silent. In Wiv. V, 5, 73, honi 
 soil qui mal y pense, the metre requires 
 that this word should be pronounced as 
 two syllables, so that the final e must 
 be sounded. The word occurs also in 
 HV. Ill, 4, 10 and 29 ; also in same, IV, 
 4, 2 and 59, but these passages are in 
 prose. Is it not quite possible that Sh. 
 obtained his knowledge of French from 
 books alone, and consequently had but 
 a slight knowledge of the French pro- 
 nunciation ? See also bras for his pro- 
 nunciation of that word. One thing is 
 certain : Bacon had nothing to do with 
 this part of Sh. works, for he had lived 
 in France and spoke French fluently. 
 
 pensioners. Gentlemen in the personal 
 service of the sovereign. Wiv. II, 2, 
 79 ; Mids. II, 1, 10. Warton tells us : 
 " This was said in consequence of Queen 
 Elizabeth's fashionable establishment of 
 a band of military courtiers, by the name 
 of pensioners. They were some of the 
 handsomest and tallest young men of 
 the best families and fortune that could 
 be found. Hence, says Mrs. Quickly, 
 and yet there has been earls, nay, 
 which is more, pensioners. They gave 
 the mode in dress and diversions. ' 
 And Halliwell notes that Holies, in his 
 " Life of the First Earl of Clare," says : 
 " I have heard the Earl of Clare say 
 that when he was pensioner to the 
 Queen he did not know a worse man 
 of the whole band than himself, and 
 that all the world knew he had then an 
 inheritance of £4,000 a year." "They 
 were the handsomest men of the first 
 families — tall as the cowslip was to the 
 fairy, and shining in their spotted gold 
 coats like that fiower under an April 
 sun." Knight. 
 
 pensived. Pensive, Lov. Compl. 219. 
 
 Pepin. Surnamed " The short, " was the 
 son of Charles Martel, King of the 
 Franks and founder of the Carlovingian 
 dynasty. He died in 768, and conse- 
 quently the time when he lived is re- 
 ferred to in LLL. IV, 1, 122, as being 
 
FEN 
 
 214 
 
 PER 
 
 very long ago. HV. I, 2, 65 ; HVIII. 
 I, 3, 10. 
 Penthesilea. A famous queen of the 
 Amazons. She was the daughter of 
 Mars and Otrera. After the death of 
 Hector, she came to the assistance of 
 the Trojans, but was defeated and killed 
 by Achilles, who mourned over the 
 dying queen on account of her beauty, 
 youth and valor. Thersites ridiculed 
 the grief of Achilles and treated the 
 body of Penthesilea with contempt. 
 For this he w as slain by Achilles, who 
 buried her on the banks of the Xanthus. 
 Others say that Diomedes, a relative of 
 Thersites, threw the body into the river 
 Scamander, In Tw. II, 8, 193, Sir Toby 
 calls Maria, Penthesilea, probably be- 
 cause she was very small, the queen of 
 the Amazons being presumably large 
 and strong. So in Act I, 5, 218, Viola 
 speaks of her as " your giant." 
 
 penthouse. A corruption of pentice, the 
 ice being corrupted into house. It 
 means a sloping roof or shed projecting 
 from the main wall or placed over a 
 door or window. Ado. Ill, 3, 110; 
 Merch. II, 6, 1. In Mcb. I, 3, 20, it is 
 used metaphorically of the eyelid. 
 
 perch. By many a dern and painful 
 perch. Per. Ill, Pro!. 15. " 'A perch is a 
 measure of five yards and a half,' says 
 Steevens, and truly enough; but the 
 unknown author of this portion of 
 Pericles (using here the word for the 
 sake of a rhyme) thought no more about 
 the exact measure of a perch than Mil- 
 ton did about that of a rood, when he 
 tells us that Satan ' lay floating many 
 a rood.'' ^^ Dyce. 
 
 The word has also been explained as 
 a resting or stopping place, but the 
 exposition given above is probably the 
 true one. 
 
 Percy, Henry, dr. p. Earl of Northum- 
 berland. IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 Percy, Henry, dr.p. Son to Earl of 
 Northumberland. IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 Percy, Lady, dr.p. Wife to Hotspur. 
 IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 Sh. seems to have been so fond of the 
 
 name Kate that he makes Hotspur call his 
 wife Kate although her name -was Eliza- 
 beth. She was the daughter of Edmund 
 Mortimer, third Earl of March, and her 
 mother was Philippa Plantagenet, 
 granddaughter of Edward III. She 
 was born in 1371, and was named after 
 her grandmother, Elizabeth de Burgh, 
 wife of Lionel Clarence. 
 
 Percy, Thomas, dr.p. Earl of Worcester. 
 IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 perdie, [ A mincing oath ; a contraction 
 
 perdy. S of French par Dieu = by God. 
 Err. IV, 4, 74; Hml. Ill, 2, 305 ; Lr. II, 
 4, 86. 
 
 Perdita, dr.p. Daughter to lieontes and 
 Hermione. The name signifies "the 
 lost one." Wint. 
 
 perdition. Diminution; loss. Tp. I, 2, 
 30 ; Hml. V, 2, 117. 
 
 perdona-mi. Undoubtedly a corruption 
 of pardonnez moi, q.v. Mercutio is 
 ridiculing the affected style of speaking 
 adopted by some of the young " bloods. " 
 Rom. II, 4, 35. In the Fl., pardon- 
 tnee^s. Cambridge eds. read perdona- 
 Tn^s. 
 
 perdu. French for lost. A soldier sent 
 on a forlorn hope. Lr. IV, 7, 35. 
 
 perdurable. Lasting. HV. IV, 5, 7; 
 0th. I, 3, 343. 
 
 perfect, v. To instruct fully. Tp. I, 2, 
 79 ; Meas. IV, 3, 146 ; Per. Ill, 2, 67. 
 
 perfect, adj. Certain; well-informed. 
 Wint. Ill, 3, 1 ; Mcb. I, 5, 2 ; Cym. 
 Ill, 1, 73. 
 
 perfections. The passage in Tw. I, 1, 
 37-39, reads thus in the Fl. : 
 
 When Liuer, Braine and Heart, 
 These soueraigne thrones, are all sup- 
 
 ply'd and flU'd 
 Her sweete perfections with one selfe 
 king. 
 
 It has given rise to much discussion. 
 Warburton proposed to emend by read- 
 ing Three for These, but the change is 
 evidently unnecessary. He also changed 
 Her sweete perfections to : (O ! sweet 
 perfection ! ), made it a parenthesis and 
 placed commas after supply'' d and fiWd, 
 but in this he was not followed by John- 
 
FEB 
 
 215 
 
 RB 
 
 son, who was the next editor. Several 
 editors note that in the time of Sh. the 
 liver, brain and heart were admitted, 
 in poetry, to be the seat of passion, 
 judgment and sentiment respectively, 
 and Steevens adds : " These are what 
 Sh. calls her sweet perfections. " Knight 
 thinks this a mistaken interpretation 
 and adopts Warburton's substitution of 
 perfection for perfections, the meaning 
 of perfection being the completion of 
 womanhood by marriage ; and in sup- 
 port of this he quotes, from Froissart, 
 the soliloquy of the rich Berthault of 
 Malines, who was desirous to marry his 
 daughter to the noble Earl of Guerles : 
 "My daughter should be happy if she 
 might come to so great a perfection as 
 to be conjoined in marriage with the 
 Earl of Guerles." C. and M. Clarke 
 adopt this explanation and refer to John 
 
 II, 1, 437; also to Tw. II, 4, 41, where 
 "perfection " is held to mean not only 
 the full-blown state in the rose, but 
 completed loveliness in woman when 
 matched with h er chosen manly counter- 
 part. This, however, not only requires 
 an emendation, but seems to me a some- 
 what forced interpretation. In 3HVI. 
 
 III, 2, 85, All her perfections challenge 
 sovereignty, " perfections " simply 
 means good qualities. 
 
 Where so many able editors have been 
 unable to agree, it would be somewhat 
 presumptuous to offer a positive opinion 
 as to the meaning of the passage ; never- 
 theless, a suggestion may not be out of 
 place. 
 
 The liver, brain and heart are evi- 
 dently the thrones which are to be sup- 
 plied with occupants. Whether they 
 are to be supplied and filled or whether 
 they are to be supplied and the sweet 
 perfections filled with one self king 
 seems to be the question which has 
 caused most of the difficulty. According 
 to Warburton, the thrones were to be 
 supplied and filled with one self king, 
 "her sweet perfections," or, as he made 
 it, "(O! sweet perfection!)," being an 
 apostrophe addressed to her good 
 
 qualities. But the other reading, which 
 is, that the thrones are to be supplied 
 and her sweet perfections filled with 
 one self king seems to me more in ac- 
 cordance with the Folio text. Self, 
 here, as in many other passages, is 
 equivalent to sa7ne and implies one 
 only. See self. 
 
 But, however difficult it may be to 
 work out the grammatical construction 
 of the passage, there can be no difficulty 
 or doubt as to its general meaning. It 
 is a mere expansion, or, rather, an 
 attempted philosophical explanation of 
 the idea contained in the first half of 
 the Duke's speech, worked out accord- 
 ing to the psychological theories of that 
 age. 
 
 perforce. By force. Force perforce = hy 
 very force ; an emphatic form of per- 
 force. 2H VI. 1, 1, 258 ; 2HIV. IV, 1, 116. 
 
 periapts. Amulets; charms. Cotgrave 
 gives: " Periapte. A medicine hanged 
 about any part of the body." Usually 
 about the neck. IHVI. V, 3, 2. 
 
 Generally, however, they consisted of 
 written charms, portions of the first 
 chapter of St. John being considered 
 especially potent. In illustration of 
 this use of that particular passage, 
 Malone quotes the following story from 
 "Wits, Fits and Fancies" (1595): "A 
 cardinal, seeing a priest carrying a 
 cudgel under his gown, reprimanded 
 him. His excuse was that he had only 
 carried it to defend himself against the 
 dogs of the town. * Wherefore, I pray 
 you,' replied the cardinal, 'serves St. 
 John's Gospel?' 'Alas, my lord,' said 
 the priest, 'these curs understand no 
 Latin.'" 
 
 Pericles, dr. p. Prince of Tyre. Per. 
 
 Perigenia. Called Perigouna in North's 
 "Plutarch," and sometimes Perigune. 
 The account given in North's trans- 
 lation of "Plutarch," which was no 
 doubt the source of Sh. information, is 
 as follows : Theseus, having set out to 
 rid the country of robbers, slew a robber 
 called Periphetes, and then ' ' going on 
 further, in the Straits of Peloponnesus, 
 
PEB 
 
 216 
 
 PEE 
 
 he killed another, called Sinnis, sur- 
 named Pityocamtes, that is to say, a 
 wreather or bower of pineapple trees 
 [fir-trees], whom he put to death in that 
 self-cruel manner that Sinnis had slain 
 many other travelers before. [Sinnis 
 killed his victims by fastening them to 
 the top of a fir-tree, which he curbed or 
 bent down, and then let spring up again. ] 
 Not that he had experience thereof, by 
 any former practice or exercise, but 
 only to shew that clean strength could 
 do more than either art or exercise. 
 This Sinnis had a goodly fair daughter 
 called Perigouna, which fled away when 
 she saw her father slain : whom he 
 followed and sought all about. But she 
 had hidden herself in a grove full of cer- 
 tain kinds of wild pricking rushes, called 
 stoebe, and wild sperage [asparagus] 
 which she simply, like a child, in treated 
 to hide her, as if they had heard and 
 had sense to understand her ; promising 
 them, with an oath, that if they saved 
 her from being found, she would never 
 cut them down or burn them. But 
 Theseus, finding her, called her, and 
 swore by his faith he would use her 
 gently and do her no hurt nor dis- 
 pleasure at all. . Upon which promise 
 she came out of the bush and bare unto 
 him a goodly boy, which was called 
 Menalippus. Afterwards Theseus mar- 
 ried her unto one Deioneus, the son of 
 Euretus, the CEchalian. Of this Menalip- 
 pus, the son of Theseus, came loxus : the 
 which with Ornytus brought men into 
 the county of Caria, where he built the 
 city of loxides. And hereof cometh 
 that old ancient ceremony, observed 
 yet unto this day by those of loxides, 
 never to burn the briars of wild sperage, 
 nor the stoebe, but they have them in 
 some honour and reverence. " Mids. II, 
 1, 78. See Theseus. 
 
 perishen. To perish. Per. II, Prol. 35. 
 
 perjure. A perjurer. LLL. IV, 3, 48. 
 Dyce says : " This word was formerly 
 common enough (which I mention 
 because here some editors print ' per- 
 jured.')" In Sh. time con\icted per- 
 
 jurers and, indeed, all criminals exposed 
 to public view, while undergoing pun- 
 ishment, were obliged to wear on their 
 breasts papers describing their ofi'ence. 
 See papers. 
 
 perked up. Dressed up ; adorned. HVIII. 
 II, 3, 21. 
 
 perpend. To reflect ; to consider. Wiv. 
 II, 1, 117 ; As. Ill, 2, 69. 
 
 per se. By himself. (Latin.) Troil. I, 2, 
 17. " These words are used by Chaucer 
 and other old authors to denote super- 
 excellence or pre-eminence." Toone's 
 "Glossary." 
 
 Perseus. The son of Jupiter and Danae, 
 and grandson of Acrisius. An oracle 
 having told Acrisius that he was doomed 
 to perish by the hands of Danae's son, 
 he shut his daughter up in a tower of 
 brass or stone. But Jupiter metamor- 
 phosed himself into a shower of gold, 
 came down through the roof of the 
 prison and became by Danae the father 
 of Perseus. As soon as Acrisius dis- 
 covered that Danae had given birth to 
 a son, he put both mother and son into 
 a chest and threw them into the sea. 
 Jupiter, however, caused the chest to 
 float to the island of Seriphos, one of the 
 Cyclades. where Dictys, a fisherman, 
 found them and carried them to Poly- 
 dectes, the king of the country. They 
 were treated with kindness, but Poly- 
 dectes fell in love with Danae, and not 
 being able to gratify his passion in con- 
 sequence of the presence of Perseus, 
 who, meantime, had grown up to man- 
 hood, he sent Perseus on an expedition 
 to fetch the head of Medusa, one of 
 the Gorgons. Guided by Mercury and 
 Minerva, Perseus first went to the 
 Graese, the sisters of the Gorgons, 
 took from them their one tooth, and 
 their one eye, and would not restore 
 them until they showed him the way 
 to the nymphs who possessed the winged 
 sandals, the magic wallet and the helmet 
 of Pluto, which rendered the wearer 
 invisible. He also received from Mer- 
 cury a sickle, and from Minerva a 
 mirror, and with these he mounted into 
 
FEB 
 
 217 
 
 PET 
 
 the air and arrived at the Gk>rgons, who 
 dwelt near Tartessus, on the coast of the 
 ocean, and whose heads were covered 
 like those of serpents, with scales, and 
 who had large tusks like boars, brazen 
 hands and golden wings. He found 
 them asleep and cut off the head of 
 Medusa, looking at her figure through 
 the mirror, for a sight of the monster 
 herself would have changed him into 
 stone. Perseus put her head in the 
 wallet which he carried on his back, 
 and as he went away he was pursued 
 by the two other Gorgons, but his hel- 
 met, which rendered him invisible, en- 
 abled him to escape. He then went to 
 Ethiopia, where he found Andromeda, 
 the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiope, 
 the king and queen of the country, 
 chained to a rock, an oracle having 
 declared that the sacrifice of a maiden 
 was necessary to appease ^sea monster 
 which was laying waste the land. Per- 
 seus slew the monster and married 
 Andromeda. After many wanderings, 
 Perseus, Andromeda and Danae re- 
 turned to Argos. Acrisius, remember- 
 ing the oracle, escaped to Larissa, but 
 Perseus followed him and tried to per- 
 suade him to return. The King of 
 Larissa, in the meantime, celebrated 
 games in honor of his guest, Acrisius, 
 and Perseus, taking part in them, ac- 
 cidently hit the foot of Acrisius with 
 the discus and caused his death. HV. 
 
 III, 7, 22. 
 
 person. The old form of parson. LLL. 
 
 IV, 2, 8.5. Parson is a mere variant of 
 persona, and persona ecclesice, "the 
 representative of the Church," was the 
 term applied to clergymen. Holof ernes 
 makes a clumsy pun — person = pers- 
 one = pierce one, which he and Costard 
 elaborate between them. 
 
 personage. Figure; personal appearance. 
 Mids. Ill, 2, 292 ; Tw. I, 5, 164. 
 
 perspective. Shakespeare has several 
 references to optical arrangements 
 which cause things to present an ap- 
 pearance very different from the reality. 
 Douce says that in Sh. time a perspec- 
 
 tive meant a glass that assisted the 
 sight in any way. Some of these " per- 
 spectives," however, were probably 
 arrangements like the anamorphoscope 
 in which distorted drawings were made 
 to assume their proper appearance by 
 viewing them either in a curved mirror 
 or from a particular point of view ; or, 
 by means of glasses ground with differ- 
 ent curves and facets, objects may be 
 made to assume the most extraordinary 
 forms or be multiplied to any extent. 
 Such glasses are described in Scot's 
 " Disco verie of Witchcraft" (1584), and 
 Douce says that they cannot be exceeded 
 in number by any modern optician's 
 shop in England. References to this 
 are found in Sonn. XXIV, 4 ; All's. V, 
 3, 48 ; RII. II, 2, 18. The effect which 
 the Duke suggests in Tw. V, 1, 224, 
 might be produced by a piece of glass 
 with two facets arranged at an angle to 
 each other. A single object, such as a 
 person, seen through a glass of this kind 
 would appear double, as the Duke 
 describes. 
 
 pert. Lively. Mids. I, 1, 17. In Sh. 
 this word was not used in the somewhat 
 bad sense given to it later. "Pert is 
 still a common word in New England, 
 used exactly in the Sh. sense and pro- 
 nounced as it is spelled in the quartos 
 peart, i.e., peert." Furness. 
 
 perttaunt-like. A word of which the 
 meaning has not yet been ascertained. 
 LLL. V, 2, 67. 
 
 Peter, dr.p. A friar. Meas. 
 
 Peter, dr.p. Horner's apprentice. 2HVI. 
 
 Peter, dr.p. Attendant on nurse. Rom. 
 
 Peter of Pomfret, dr.p. A prophet. John. 
 
 Peto, dr.p. One of Falstaff's followers. 
 IHIV, and 2HIV. 
 
 Petrucio, dr.p. A gentleman of Verona ; 
 the tamer of the Shrew. Shr. 
 
 pettish. Capricious. Troil. II, 3, 140. 
 
 pettitoes. The feet. Originally it meant 
 pig's feet, but afterwards came to be 
 applied in a jocular or colloquial way 
 to the human feet, especially as used in 
 dancing. Wint. IV, 4, 619. It does not 
 necessarily indicate contempt, as some 
 
PEW 
 
 218 
 
 PHI 
 
 have it, any more than "fore-foot," as 
 applied to the hand In HV. II, 1, 71. 
 
 pew. A stall or pen. Lr. Ill, 4, 54. Milton 
 (1659) uses the word in reference to the 
 pens in which sheep were kept in Smith- 
 field Market; now used only in refer- 
 ence to seats in churches. 
 
 pew-fellow. A companion ; a comrade. 
 RITI. IV, 4, 58. 
 
 Phaethon. The son of Apollo by the 
 Oceanid Clymene, the wife of Merops. 
 His father gave him the significant name 
 of Phaethon, that is, "the shining," and 
 afterwards he was ambitious and pre- 
 sumptuous enough to request his father 
 to allow him, for one day, to drive the 
 chariot of the sun across the heavens so 
 that he might prove their relationship. 
 After long persuasion by himself and 
 his mother, Clymene, Apollo consented, 
 but Phaethon was too weak to con- 
 trol the fiery horses, which broke 
 away from him, rushed out of their 
 usual track, and came so near the earth 
 as almost to set it on fire. Tellus then 
 appealed to Jupiter for protection, and 
 he hurled a thunderbolt which struck 
 Phaethon and dashed him headlong into 
 the river Po, where he was drowned. 
 His sisters, who had yoked the horses 
 to the chariot, while standing lamenting 
 his fate, were turned into poplar trees 
 and their tears into amber. Gent. Ill, 
 
 1, 153 ; Rom. Ill, 2, 3 ; 3HVI. I, 4, 33. 
 See Phoebus. 
 
 phantasime. A fantastical person. LLL. 
 
 IV, 1, 102. 
 phantasma. A vision. Caes. II, 1, 65. 
 Pharamond. A king of the Franks who 
 
 instituted the Salic law in a.d. 424. 
 
 This law was afterwards ratified by 
 
 Clovis I, in a council of state. HV. I, 
 
 2, 37. 
 
 Phebe, dr.p. A shepherdess. As. 
 Phebe, v. To serve as Phebe does; to 
 
 treat cruelly. As. IV, 3, 39. 
 Pheezar. A nonsensical word coined by 
 
 the Host. Malone says, " A made word 
 
 from pheeze,'''' but this is doubtful. 
 
 Most probably "made out of his own 
 
 head." Wiv. I, 3, 10. 
 
 pheeze. In the Fl. this is spelled phese 
 in Troil. II, 3, 215 ; pheeze in Shr. Ind. 
 I, 1 ; and in the old play fese. It has 
 caused some trouble to the coms. Halli- 
 well, in his " Dictionary of Archaic and 
 Provincial Words," has "pheeze, to 
 beat; to chastise; to humble." He 
 refei-s to Sh. and Ben Jonson, and adds : 
 "Forby has pheesy, fretful, irritable, 
 which he supposes to be connected with 
 this word." He also quotes from an 
 MS. Devon Glossary : ^'To phease, i.e., 
 to pay a person off for an injury." In 
 Ray's "Proverbs "I find: "I'll vease 
 thee. i.e. Hunt or drive thee. Somer- 
 set.''^ It is probably equivalent to the 
 colloquial expression, "I'll take him 
 down," used whether physical force or 
 mere banter is employed. 
 
 Rolf e quotes Mr. J. Crosby: "In the 
 North of England they have a word 
 pronounced p^a^e, meaning to make an 
 impression upon, to stir up, to tousle, 
 to arouse ; as in 'I called the man a 
 scoundrel, but it never phazed him ;" 
 "I hit the door with all my might, 
 but could not phaze it.' " Mr. Crosby 
 thinks that perhaps this may be Shake- 
 speare's word. We have a colloquialism 
 in common use — to faze or to be fazed, 
 which means to be astonished, dazed, 
 daunted. The "Century Dictionary" 
 gives as an illustration a quotation from 
 Trans. Amer. Philo. Ass. XVII, 39, 
 being the expression of a Vanderbilt 
 professor in regard to a Kentucky 
 teacher — ' ' nothing/a2;es him. ' ' May it 
 not be a variant of daze ? I have never 
 heard it applied to material things, but 
 the "Standard Dictionary " illustrates 
 by, "the chisel will not fase this steel " 
 (no reference), cf. The Scotch fazart, 
 a coward. 
 
 Phibbus. Bottom's blunder for Phoebus, 
 q.v. Mids. I, 2, 37. 
 
 Philario, dr.p. A friend to Posthumus. 
 Cym. 
 
 Philemon, dr.p. Servant to Cerimon. Per. 
 
 Philemon. An aged Phrygian who, with 
 his wife, Baucis, lived in a poor 
 "thatched bouse." As. 111,3, 11. Jupiter 
 
PHI 
 
 219 
 
 PH(E 
 
 and Mercury once upon a time assumed 
 the form of ordinary mortals, and in the 
 gfuise of poor travelers wandered into 
 Phrygia and visited a village where 
 every one refused to receive them. At 
 last they came to the hut of Philemon, 
 where the two gods were treated most 
 kindly. After the meal the gods as- 
 sumed their true forms and astonished 
 their hosts by their size and splendour. 
 The poor old couple were frightened at 
 first, but Jupiter reassured them and 
 bade them follow him to a neighbouring 
 height from which all the district was 
 visible. Here they saw the whole vil- 
 lage, with the exception of their own 
 hut, submerged and destroyed. The 
 hut was metamorphosed into a temple, 
 and Jupiter asked his hosts what favor 
 they desired of him. Their prayer was 
 that they might be made priest and 
 priestess of the temple and die together 
 at the same time. Jove granted their 
 wishes; they served in the temple for 
 many years, and at last one day when 
 standing in the door of the temple they 
 were metamorphosed into two trees 
 whose branches met and closely en- 
 twined with each other. Alluded to in 
 Ado. II, 1, 99. 
 
 Philip, dr. p. King of France. John. 
 
 Philip Faulconbridge, dr. p. Bastard son 
 to Richard I. John. 
 
 Philip. A sparrow. John I, 1, 231. Philip 
 was, and still is, a name for the common 
 sparrow, perhaps from its note, phip, 
 phip ; the speaker, now Sir Richard, 
 disdains his old name Philip. Dyce. 
 
 Philip and Jacob. The first of May ; the 
 festival of St. Philip and St. James. 
 (Jacobus.) Meas. Ill, 2, 218. 
 
 Philo, dr.p. A friend to Antony. Ant. 
 
 Philomel. 1. The nightingale, q.v. Lucr. 
 1079 ; Sonn. CII. 7; Mids. II, 2, 13. 
 2. The daughter of Pandion. Lucr. 1128 ; 
 Tit. II, 3, 43 ; Cym. II, 2, 46. 
 
 Pandion, King of Attica, who had 
 two daughters, Philomela and Procne, 
 called in the assistance of Tereus, son 
 of Mars and King of the Thracians, 
 against some enemy, and gave him 
 
 in marriage his daughter Procne, by 
 whom he had a son, Itys. Different 
 accounts are given of his treatment of 
 Procne and Philomela, but the following 
 is the one generally received : After five 
 years of married life, Procne longed to 
 see her sister, and Tereus went to fetch 
 Philomela. As soon as he sa w his sister- 
 in-law he fell in love with her, and on 
 the journey home he dishonored hei-. 
 Philomela, having upbraided him for 
 his perfidy, he cut out her tongue and 
 shut her up in a tower, and on his 
 return told Procne that her sister was 
 dead. But Philomela wove the story 
 of her wrongs into a peplus or kind of 
 shawl and sent it to Procne, who took 
 advantage of the Bacchic revels to go 
 and liberate her sister. The two women 
 then returned to the palace of Tereus 
 and revenged themselves by killing Itys 
 and serving up his body to Tereus, who 
 partook of the horrible dish and was 
 then told what he had eaten. He tried 
 to kill Procne and Philomela, but they 
 fled and he pursued them with an axe. 
 When the sisters were overtaken, they 
 prayed to the gods for help and were 
 metamorphosed into birds, Procne be- 
 coming a swallow, Philomela a nightin- 
 gale and Tereus a hawk. 
 
 Philostrate, dr.p. Master of the revels. 
 Mids. 
 
 Philotus, dr.p. A servant. Tim. 
 
 Phoebe. The feminine form of Phoebus. 
 It is a surname of Diana in her capacity 
 as the goddess of the moon (Luna), the 
 moon being regarded as the female 
 Phoebus or sun. LLL. IV, 2, 39 ; Mids. 
 I, 1, 209; Tit. I, 1, 316. 
 
 Phoebus. An epithet of Apollo, signify- 
 ing The Bright or Pure, and used to 
 signify the brightness and purity of 
 youth. At a later time, when Apollo 
 became connected with the sun, the 
 name Phoebus was also applied to him 
 as the sun-god. The references to him 
 in Sh. are numerous. Tp. IV, 1, 31 ; 
 Merch. II, 1, 5 ; Lr. II, 2, 114, and else- 
 where. See Apollo and Phcethon. The 
 allusion in Kins, I, 2, 85, to Phoebusi 
 
PHOE 
 
 220 
 
 PIC 
 
 when he broke his whipstock, is to the 
 story of Phsethon in Ovid. The day 
 after Phaethon's death Phoebus could 
 hardly be persuaded to drive the chariot 
 of the sun. once more, and wreaked 
 some of his anger upon the horses, which 
 he lashed severely." Skeat. 
 
 phcenix. A fabled bird of Arabia, said 
 to live 500 years, when it makes a nest 
 of spices in which it burns itself to 
 ashes and then rises with life renewed 
 for another 500 years. There is said to 
 be but one phoenix living at a time, 
 hence it is a synonym for matchless ex- 
 cellence. As. IV, 3, 17 ; Cym. I, 6, 17. 
 The palm or aate tree was said to be 
 the habitation or throne of the phoenix , 
 and Lyly tells us that "as there is but 
 one phoenix in the world, so is there 
 but one tree in Arabia wherein she 
 buildeth." Tp. Ill, 3, 23. It is to the 
 spiced nest in which the phoenix is 
 burned that reference is made in Kins. 
 I, 3, 70 — where. Phoenix-like, They died 
 in perfume. 
 
 phraseless. Indescribable. Lov. Compl. 
 225. 
 
 Phrynia, dr.p. Mistress to Alcibiades. 
 Tim. 
 
 physic. To maintain in health. Cym. 
 Ill, 2, 34. 
 
 physical. Wholesome ; medicinal. Cor. I, 
 5, 18 ; Cses. II, 1, 261. 
 
 pia mater. Properly, the membrane 
 which covers the brain, but used by Sh. 
 for the brain itself. LLL. IV, 2, 71 ; 
 Tw. I, 5, 123 ; Troil. II, 1, 77. 
 
 pick, V. To pitch. Cor. 1, 1, 206 ; HVIII. 
 V, 4, 96. 
 
 picked. Quaint ; punctilious. Not neces- 
 sarily "refined," as Schm. gives it, but 
 probably the opposite, according to the 
 modern acceptation of the word. The 
 term was connnon in Sh. time in this 
 sense and is found in LLL. V, 1, 14; 
 John I, 1, 193; Hml. V, 1, 151. In the 
 first passage Johnson reads piqued, 
 which he explains thus : "To have the 
 beard piqued or shorn so as to end 
 in a point, was, in our author's time, 
 A mark of a traveller affecting foreign 
 
 fashions; so says the Bastard in K. 
 John : 
 
 I catechise 
 My piqued man of countries.'''' 
 
 And on Hml. V, 1, 151, he remarks : 
 " There was, I think, about that time, a 
 picked shoe, that is, a shoe with a long 
 pointed toe, in fashion, to which the 
 allusion seems likewise to be made." 
 But I think the use of the word by Cot- 
 grave settles the true meaning. Thus 
 he has the word " Miste ; com. Neat, 
 spruce, compt, quaint, picked, minion, 
 trickesie, fine, gay.''' The Clarendon ed. 
 thinks there may possibly be a covert 
 reference here to the pointed shoes, but 
 the context does not seem to favor that 
 idea. 
 
 pickers. The hands ; the fingers. Schm. 
 defines the word as "thieves," which 
 seems scarcely correct. The phrase 
 pickers and stealers (Hml. Ill, 2, 348) 
 means simply the hands, and is taken 
 from the church catechism, where the 
 catech umen , in his d uty to his neighbour, 
 is taught to keep his hand from pick- 
 ing and stealing. Whalley. " By these 
 hands" or "by these bones" was an 
 old form of oath. See bones. 
 
 picking. Petty ; insignificant. 2HIV. IV, 
 1, 198. Schm. defines as "sought in- 
 dustriously," but all the best English 
 coms. give "insignificant." 
 
 pickle - herring. The "pickle-herring " 
 of Sir Toby (Tw. I, 5, 129) was no doubt 
 not only "preserved in salt liquor," but 
 flavored with spices. It was an ai-ticle 
 often eaten by topers to create an ap- 
 petite for liquor. The learned lexico- 
 grapher. Dr. Schmidt, who seems to be 
 entirely destitute of all sense of humor, 
 tells us that " Sir Toby seems to suffer 
 from heart-burning." Not at all. He 
 is drunk, but just sol>er enough to know 
 that he is di-unk, and the joke consists 
 in his attributing his drunken condition 
 to the herring instead of to the wine. 
 
 Almost as rich is the comment by C. 
 and M. Clarke, who quote the Spectator 
 to show that " pickled herring" is used 
 as a nickname, and add: "Thus Sir 
 
PIC 
 
 PIN 
 
 Toby, asked what sort of gentleman the 
 youth at the gate is, intends to describe 
 him scoffingly, while a reminiscence of 
 his last-eaten provocative to drink dis- 
 turbs hiin in the shape of a hiccup." 
 The judicious Rolfe doubts whether any 
 such double meaning was intended. On 
 the plural "herring" in the usually 
 singular form, Rolfe notes: "Many of 
 the editors have followed Malone in 
 changing this to ' pickle-herrings ' ; but 
 it is a legitimate plural, like trout, sal- 
 mon and other names of fishes, cf. Lr. 
 Ill, 6, 33: 'two white herring.' The 
 regular fonn of the plural is also u.sed 
 [2HVI. lY, 2, 36], as in the case of some 
 other nouns of this class. " 
 pick-thanks. Officious fellows. IHIV. 
 
 Ill, 3, 25. 
 Pickt-hatch. A place in London noted 
 as the resort of bad characters. Wiv. 
 II, 2, 19. 
 
 The exact position of this celebrated 
 locality has never been fully determined. 
 It lay amongst certain scattered col- 
 lections of small tenements, generally 
 with gardens attached to them, and the 
 name was probably derived from the 
 iron spikes placed over the half-door or 
 hatch, one of the characteristics of 
 houses of a certain kind. See hatch. 
 pie. 1. The magpie. 3HVI. V, 6, 48. 
 2. The service-book of the Romish 
 Church, supposed to be meant in the 
 oath hy cock and pie == by God and his 
 worship. Wiv. 1, 1, 316 ; 2HIV. V, 1, 1. 
 piece. The usual meaning is, a part ; a 
 portion. And in this sense it is fre- 
 quently used by Sh., e.gr., Tp. I, 2, 8 ; 
 Wiv. V, 5, 86, and many other passages. 
 But there are some passages, such as 
 Tp. I, 2, 56 ; Wint. IV, 4, 31, and V, 3, 
 38; HVIII. V, 5, 27; Troil. IV, 1, 61 ; 
 Cym. V, 5, 439; Per. IV, 2, 48, in which 
 R. G. White claims that piece means a 
 woman, and that in Sh. time the word 
 was commonly used with that meaning 
 Thus in Constance of Cleveland ("Rox- 
 burghe Ballads ") we find the lines : 
 The knight with his fair piece 
 At length the lady spied. 
 
 And in Drayton's "English Heroicall 
 Epistles " the word is used in the same 
 
 sense : 
 
 Nor by Ambitious Lures will I be 
 
 bought 
 In my chaste breast to harbour such 
 
 a thought 
 As to be worthy to be made a Bride 
 A Piece unfit for Princely Edward's 
 
 side. 
 
 For a full discussion of the question, 
 see White's "Riverside Edition," Vol. 
 
 1, pp. XIV, et seq. 
 
 pied. Variegated ; parti-colored. Tp. Ill, 
 
 2, 71 (in allusion to the motley or parti- 
 colored coat worn by fools) ; LLL. V, 2, 
 904 ; Merch. I, 3, 80. 
 
 pieled. An old way of spelling peeled^ q.v. 
 
 Pierce, Sir, of Exton, dr.p. RII. 
 
 piglit. An obsolete preterite and past 
 participle of pitch. Pitched; fixed. 
 Troil. V, 10, 24. Resolved ; determined. 
 Lr. II, 1, 67. See straight-pight. 
 
 Pigrogromitus. See Qiieubus. 
 
 pike. See rake ; also vice. 
 
 pilcliard, ) 1. A fish much resembling 
 
 pilclier. S the herring. Tw. Ill, 1, 39. 
 2. A scabbard (cant and contemptuous). 
 Rom. Ill, 1, 84. 
 
 "No other example known as used 
 here for scabbard ; probably the same 
 as pilch, a leather coat or cloak, and 
 hence applied to scabbard." Doivden. 
 Staunton conjectures pitch, sir ; Singer 
 reads pitcher; Warburton, pilche; in 
 the Fl., Pilcher. 
 
 piled. In the passage, piled as thou art 
 piled, for a French velvet (Meas. I, 2, 
 35), there is an obvious quibble between 
 piled = peeled (stripped of hair ; bald 
 from the French disease) and piled as 
 applied to velvet, three-piled velvet 
 meaning the finest and costliest kind of 
 velvet. Dyce. 
 
 pill, V. To rob ; plunder ; pillage. RII. IL 
 1, 246; RIIL I, 3, 159; Tim. IV, 1, 12. 
 
 pin. According to Gifford, the clout is 
 "the wooden pin by which the target is 
 fastened to the butt. As the head of 
 this pin was commonly painted white, 
 to hit the white and hit the clout were, 
 
TIN 
 
 PIT 
 
 of course, synonymous." This explana- 
 tion has been quoted quite extensively, 
 but its accuracy is doubtful. See clout, 
 ante. Malone explains it thus: "The 
 clout or white mark at which the arrows 
 are directed was fastened by a black 
 pin placed in the center." This gloss 
 is sustained by a passage in Middleton's 
 iVb Wit, No Help Like a Woman'' s, II, 
 1, 27 : " And I'll cleave the black pin in 
 the midst of the white. " LLL. IV, 1, 
 138 ; Rom. II, 4, 15. 
 pin and web. A disease of the eye; 
 cataract. Wint. 1, 2, 291 ; Lr. Ill, 4, 120. 
 pinch. 1. To trick ; to make ridiculous. 
 Shr. II, 1, 373 ; Wint. II, 1, 51 ; Ant. II, 
 7,7. 
 
 2. To steal. Wint. IV, 4, 622. 
 Pinch, dr.p. A schoolmaster and con- 
 juror. Err. 
 Pindarus, dr.p. Servant to Cassius. Cses. 
 pinfold. A pound ; a place where stray 
 cattle are kept. Gent. I, 1, 114; Lr. 
 11,2,9. 
 pinked. Worked in eyelet-holes. HVIII. 
 
 V, 4, 50. 
 pink eyne. Eyes, small and half-closed as 
 if looking through an eyelet-hole. See 
 pinked. The word has no relation to 
 pink, a color. Ant. II, 7, 121. 
 pioned. Explained by some as overgrown 
 with marsh-marigold. Tp. IV, 1, 64. 
 The marsh-marigold is even at present 
 called peony in the neighborhood of 
 Stratford. Others define it as trenched 
 or dug (pionered ?). The line has given 
 rise to much discussion. See twilled. 
 pioner. A soldier whose office is to 
 dig, level, remove obstructions, form 
 trenches and do all work executed with 
 un warlike tools, as spades, etc. Captain 
 Grose gives instances to show that the 
 situation of a pioner or pioneer was 
 formerly a degradation. A soldier, of 
 course, considers himself superior to a 
 mere laborer, consequently it must be a 
 degradation to him to be turned into 
 that corps. Nares. Hml. 1, 5, 163 ; 0th. 
 111,3,346. In "The Laws and Ordinances 
 of War," established by the Earl of 
 Essex, and printed in 1640, is the follow- 
 
 ing : " If a trooper shall loose his horse 
 or hackney, or a footman any part of 
 his arms, by negligence or lewdness, by 
 dice or cardes, he or they shall remain 
 in qualitie of pioners or scavengers, till 
 they be furnished with as good as were 
 lost, at their own charge." Walker 
 shows that the spelling pioner must be 
 retained on account of the verse. 
 
 A pioneer is now a honorable desig- 
 nation, and the work of preparing the 
 way for the army is confided to a highly 
 trained corps, the Sappers and Miners. 
 
 pip. A spot on a card. Shr. I, 2, 33. A 
 pip out = intoxicated, with reference 
 to a game called " one and thirty." 
 
 pipe-wine. Wine from the butt or pipe. 
 Wiv. Ill, 2, 94. A play upon the other 
 meaning of pipe ; a musical instrument 
 to which country people often danced. 
 
 Pirithous, dr.p. An Athenian general. 
 Kins. 
 
 Pisanio, dr.p. Servant to Posthumus. 
 Cym. 
 
 Pistol, dr.p. One of Falstaff's followers 
 and a soldier in the army of Henry V. 
 Wiv., 2HIV. and HV. 
 
 pistol's length. Evidently not the mere 
 length of the weapon, but its range or 
 the distance at which it is effective. 
 Per. I, 1, 168. 
 
 This is, of course, a gross anachronism, 
 and, indeed, the same is true of the 
 mention of the pistol in every play ex- 
 cept, perhaps. The Merry Wives of 
 Windsor. Steevens notes that Beau- 
 mont and Fletcher in The Humorous 
 Lieutenant have equipped Demetrius 
 Poliorcetes, one of the immediate suc- 
 cessors of Alexander the Great, with 
 the same weapon. But these mistakes 
 do not detract in the slightest from the 
 effect of the play. 
 
 pitch, n. The height to which a falcon 
 soars. RII. I, 1, 109; 2HVI. II, 1, 6. 
 In Sonn. VII, 9, it refers to the position 
 of the sun at noon. 
 
 The meaning of the passage (HVIIL 
 II, 2, 49), Lito what pitch he please, is 
 not V ery clear. Hanmer reads "pinch ; " 
 Theobald suggests "batch;" Rolfe de- 
 
PIT 
 
 223 
 
 PLA 
 
 fines pitch here as stature, height ; 
 Schm., height ? or baseness ? 
 
 pitch, V. To place firmly ; to set. Meas. 
 11,2, 172; RIIL V, 3, 1. 
 
 " To understand the allusion in IHVI. 
 Ill, 1, 103, it must be remembered that 
 before beginning a battle it was cus- 
 tomary for the archers and other foot- 
 men to encompass themselves with sharp 
 stakes firmly pitched in the ground to 
 prevent theii* being overpowered by the 
 cavalry." Staunton. This is clearly 
 described in same play, I, 1, 115, et seq. 
 The expression pitch and play, HV. 
 II, 3, 51, was a proxerbial one in Sh. 
 time, and meant to pay down at once 
 or pay on delivery. The origin is 
 obscure, though the meaning is well 
 settled. Middleton's Blurt, Master 
 Constable, I, 2, 171, has. 
 But will you pitch and pay, or will 
 your worship run ? 
 In Herod and Antipater we find, 
 
 He that will purchase this 
 Must pitch and pay. 
 It is said that the expression is derived 
 from the term pitching as used in 
 market places, meaning to secure a 
 stand. One of the old laws of Black weU 
 Hall was that "a penny be paid by the 
 owner of every bale of cloth for pitch- 
 ing." Nares. 
 
 pittikins. Little pity. Being pity with 
 the addition of the affix kin {lambkin, 
 bodikins, etc). Cym. IV, 2, 293. See 
 'Oti's. 
 
 pity. The phrase, it were pity of my life, 
 Mids. Ill, 1, 44, has a peculiar con- 
 struction. See " Shakespearean Gram- 
 mar," sec. 174. The meaning is, "it 
 were a sad thing for my life, that is, 
 forme." Wright, cf. Wiv. I, 1,40; 
 Meas. II, 1, 77. 
 
 placket. This word occurs five times in 
 Sh. , and although it was common and 
 well-understood in his day, it has given 
 rise to no little discussion amongst 
 modern coms. It has been taken to 
 mean a petticoat, an under petticoat, a 
 stomacher, a woman's pocket, a slit in 
 a petticoat and, figuratively, a woman. 
 
 That it has the last meaning in LLL. 
 Ill, 1, 186, and TroU. II, 3, 22, is very 
 obvious. In Wint. IV, 4, 622, it prob- 
 ably means a woman's pocket ; pinching 
 a placket and gelding a codpiece of a 
 purse are similar expressions, strictly 
 in Autolycus's line, he being confessedly 
 a pickpocket and thief. Pinch is even 
 now a slang word for certain kinds of 
 theft. See "Lexicon Balatronicum. " 
 We may here note that the placket or 
 woman's pocket was not " a pocket in a 
 woman's dress," as stated in the " Cen- 
 tury Dictionary." Elderly men, whose 
 memory goes back to the time when 
 their grandmothers or, perhaps, mothers 
 wore the old-fashioned pocket or placket, 
 will remember that it was a peculiarly 
 shaped bag which was carried by being 
 tied round the waist by means of strong 
 tape, and was reached through a hole 
 in the dress or even petticoat, called 
 the placket-hole. Old-country boj'S of 
 seventy years ago, if now living, must 
 remember these pockets with delight. 
 They were quite capacious and always 
 contained a store of good things. 
 
 So far then, the meaning of placket 
 in three out of the five passages seems 
 obvious, but in "Wint. IV, 4, 245, and 
 Lr. Ill, 4, 100, the application is not so 
 clear and, indeed, can scarcely be dis- 
 cussed fully in this place. That placket 
 sometimes meant a petticoat is certain. 
 Thus, in Crowme's " Sir Courtly Nice," 
 II (1685), we find, " The word Love is a 
 fig-leaf to cover the naked sense, a 
 fashion brought up by Eve, the mother 
 of jilts ; she cuckolded her husband 
 with the serpent, then pretended to 
 modesty, and fell a making plackets 
 presently." The conclusion reached by 
 White is this : " It is clear, at least, that 
 the placket, in Shakespeare's time and 
 after, was an article of feminine apparel 
 so secret as not to admit description, 
 and so common as not to require it; and 
 that, consequently, the thing having 
 passed out of use, the word statnominis 
 umbra.'''' Furness, referring to the use 
 of this word in Wint. IV, 4, 245, says : 
 
PLA 
 
 224 
 
 PIE 
 
 "It is quite sufficient to comprehend 
 that the clown asks in effect, Will you 
 wear as an outer garment that which 
 should be an inner one?" Those who 
 desire to look further into the subject 
 should consult White's "Studies in 
 Shakespeare," p. 342, and Halli well's 
 " Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial 
 Words." s.v. placket. 
 
 plain song. "By which expression the 
 uniform modulation or simplicity of the 
 chaunt was anciently distinguished, in 
 opposition to prick-song or variegated 
 music sung by note." T.Warton. Mids. 
 Ill, 1,134; HVIII. 1,3,45. 
 
 plaited. Folded ; intricate. Lr. 1, 1, 183. 
 
 plane hed. Made of planks or boards. 
 Meas. IV, 1, 30. 
 
 plant. The sole of the foot. Ant. II, 7, 2. 
 
 plantage. Anything planted ; vegetation. 
 Ellacombe, however, thinks it means 
 plantain. Troil. Ill, 2, 184. Warburton 
 thinks that this passage refers distinctly 
 to the influence of the moon upon grow- 
 ing plants. That this idea was a very 
 common one at that time is shown by 
 the directions given by Tusser in his 
 "Five Hundred Points of Good Hus- 
 bandry," under February^ where he 
 
 Sow peason and beans, in the wane of 
 the moon, 
 
 Who soweth them sooner, he soweth 
 too soon. 
 
 That they with the planet may rest 
 and arise, 
 
 And flourish, with bearing most plen- 
 tiful wise. 
 
 The superstition is not yet extinct. 
 Many of the Dutch farmers in Penn- 
 sylvania observe the waxing and waning 
 of the moon and in their agricultural 
 operations follow its indications most 
 religiously. 
 Plantagenet, Richard, dr. p. Duke of 
 York. IHVI., 2HVI. and 3HVI. 
 
 The name Plantagenet literally means 
 broom-plant, which was the emblem of 
 Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. His son, 
 Henry II, founded the Plantagenet line 
 of £i^lish kings. The origin of the term 
 
 is very uniquely given in the well-known 
 lines of Barham : 
 
 A very great king who'd an Angevin 
 
 hat, 
 With a great sprig of broom, which 
 
 he wore as a badge in it, 
 Named from this circumstance, Henry 
 
 Plantagenet. 
 
 There were eight kings in this line, 
 ending with Richard II, who died in 
 1399. 
 
 plantain. A common plant of which 
 there are several species. Still in com- 
 mon use by country people as a healing 
 applicaticm for wounds. It seems to 
 act as a styptic when bruised or chewed 
 and laid on a cut. LLL. Ill, 1, 75. 
 
 plantation. Cokmizing ; establishing ; 
 founding of laws and manners. Tp. II, 
 1, 143. The colonies in Virginia and 
 Massachusetts were called "planta- 
 tions," not from any reference to the 
 setting out of trees or other plants, 
 but because the word was in use as a 
 synonym for colony. 
 
 plash. A pool of water. Shr. I, 1, 23. 
 
 plate, n. A flat piece of metal, hence 
 money. Ant. V, 2, 92. 
 
 plate, v: To clothe in armor. RII. I, 3, 
 28 ; Lr. IV, 6, 169; Ant. I, 1, 4. 
 
 platform. Scheme; plan. IHVI. II, 1,77. 
 
 plausibly. By acclamation. Lucr. 1854. 
 
 plausive. Plausible ; pleasing ; specious. 
 All's. I, 2, 53 ; Hml. I, 4, 30. 
 
 Players, dr. p. Characters in the Induc- 
 tion. Shr. 
 
 Players, dr. p. Characters in the play. 
 Hml. 
 
 play-feres. Playmates. Kins. IV, 3, 92. 
 See fere. 
 
 pleached. Interwoven; intertwined. Ado. 
 Ill, 1, 7; Ant. IV, 14,73. 
 
 "In Ado. I, 2, 10, it may be that 
 it is the sides of the ' alley ' that are 
 'pleached,' but in III, 1, 7, it would 
 appear that the bower is pleached over- 
 head by the honey-suckles. The over- 
 head . pleaching seems more in accord- 
 ance with the Italian practice, but thick 
 pleached hedges are better adapted to 
 conceal listeners. " Furness. 
 
PLE 
 
 PLU 
 
 pleas'inan. An officious or servile pei'son 
 who courts favor ; a pick thank. LLL. 
 V, 2, 463. 
 
 pledge. Used by a sort of metonomy for 
 drink. To pledge one in a cup is to 
 drink with one. The triumph of his 
 pledge (Hml. I, 4, 13) = his glorious 
 achievement as a drinker, cf. Burns's 
 ballad of The Whistle, of the origin of 
 which he gives the following account : 
 " In the train of Anne of Denmark, 
 when she came to Scotland with our 
 James the Sixth, there came over also 
 a Danish gentleman of gigantic stature 
 and great prowess and a matchless 
 champion of Bacchus. He had a little 
 ebony whistle, which at the commence- 
 ment of the orgies he laid on the table ; 
 and whoever was last able to blow it, 
 everybody else being disabled by the 
 potency of the bottle, was to carry off 
 the whistle as a trophy of victory. * * * 
 After many overthrows on the part of 
 the Scots, the Dane was encountered by 
 Sir Robert Laurie, of Maxwelton, who, 
 after three days and three nights hard 
 contest, left the Scandinavian under the 
 table and 'blew on the whistle his re- 
 quiem shrill.' " 
 
 So it would appear that the reputation 
 of the Danes for potency in drinking 
 was generally acknowledged in the time 
 of Shakespeare. 
 
 plighted. Folded ; intricate. Lr. I, 1, 283. 
 
 pluck up. To rouse up. Pluck up, my 
 heart, and be sad (Ado. V, 1, 207) = 
 rouse yourself and be serious. See sad. 
 
 plume up. This phrase, as it occurs in 
 0th. I, 3, 399, has generally been ex- 
 plained as to cause to triumph, some- 
 what in the sense in which we use the 
 expression "he plumes himself upon 
 such or such a feat, ' ' and Co wden Clarke, 
 accepting it in this sense, has the fol- 
 lowing note: "This, in lago's mouth, 
 has most characteristic effect ; as if any 
 project that involved reduplication of 
 knavery were a feather in the cap of 
 his depraved will — a thing to plume 
 himself upon as a feat of intellectual 
 volition. The words Shakespeare chooses 
 
 are so significant, so inclusive, that they 
 suggest a crowd of images in their ex- 
 pressive conciseness." And yet I doubt 
 the accuracy of the gloss. lago is study- 
 ing how to undermine Cassio; he has 
 made his decision and determines to 
 " plume up"— that is, to strengthen or 
 brace up his will so that this determina- 
 tion may be carried out. The glory, if 
 such it might be called, would not accrue 
 to his ivill, but to his inventive poivers; 
 and he tries to get his will in good 
 feather, like a vigorous bird, and not 
 like one whose feathers droop. The 
 First Quarto has make instead of plume, 
 which seems to confirm my suspicion. 
 pluresie, [ Superabundance; unnatural 
 pluresy. ) excess ; plethora. Hml. IV, 
 7, 117; Kins. V, 1,66. 
 
 This word is not the same as the name 
 of the disease known to modern medicine 
 as pleurisy. Pleurisy is the name now 
 given to inflammation of the pleural 
 covering of the lungs. The word 
 pluresy is "evidently formed as if from 
 Latin phiri — crude form of plus, more 
 — by an extraordinary confusion with 
 pleurisy.'''' Skeat. 
 Pluto. The god of the infernal regions. 
 He was the son of Saturn and Rhea and 
 brother of Jupiter and Neptune. In 
 the division of the world among the 
 three brothers Pluto obtained the nether 
 world, the abode of the shades over 
 which he reigns. He carried off Proser- 
 pine (see Proserpine) and made her 
 his wife. He possessed a helmet which 
 rendered the wearer invisible, and the 
 old legends say that both gods and men 
 were honored by Pluto with the tem- 
 porary use of it. (See Perseus.) His 
 character is described as fierce and 
 inexorable, whence of all the gods he 
 was most hated by moi'tals. He was 
 called by the Greeks Hades and by the 
 Romans Orcus, Tartarus and Dis. He 
 is represented as an elderly man with a 
 dignified, but severe, aspect, and often 
 as holding in his hand a two-pronged 
 fork. His ordinary attributes are the 
 key of Hades and Cerberus. Referred 
 
PLV 
 
 POL 
 
 to in several passages, amongst others, 
 2HIV. II, 4, 169; Troil. IV, 4, 139 ; Cor. 
 
 1, 4, 36. 
 
 Plutus. The god of gold and riches ; re- 
 garded as the personification of wealth. 
 He was the son of lasion and Ceres. It 
 is said that at the wedding of Harmonia, 
 the sister of lasion, Ceres fell in love 
 with him and in a thrice- ploughed field 
 became by him the mother of Plutus. 
 It is said that Jupiter deprived him of 
 sight so that he might not bestow his 
 favors on righteous men exclusively, 
 but that he might distribute his gifts 
 blindly and without regard to merit. 
 In ancient art he seems to have been 
 commonly represented as a boy with a 
 cornucopia. All's. V, 3, 101 ; Troil. Ill, 
 3, 197; Tim. I, 1,287. 
 
 ply. See music. 
 
 Poins, dr.p. One of Falstaff's followers. 
 IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 point. 1. "A tagged lace, common in 
 ancient dress— pom^s being generally 
 used to fasten the hose or breeches to 
 the doublet, but sometimes serving 
 merely for ornament. Shr. Ill, 2, 49. 
 Ties his points = acts as his body 
 servant. Ant. Ill, 18, 157. Very obvious 
 punning in Tw. I, 5, 25 ; IHIV. II, 4, 
 238 ; Wint. IV, 4, 206. 
 
 2, A signal given by the blast of trum- 
 pet. 2HIV. IV, 1, 52. Hence = direc- 
 tion; command. Cor. IV, 6, 125. 
 
 3. A quibble on the French negative ne 
 point = not at all. No point in English 
 is a punning form of not at all in French. 
 LLL. II, 1, 190; V, 2, 277. Touching 
 now the point of human skill (Mids. II, 
 
 2, 119) = having reached the height of 
 discernment possible to man. 
 
 point - blanlc. Without elevating the 
 muzzle ; hence, directly. Wiv. Ill, 2, 
 a5; 2HVI. IV, 7, 28. Schm. defines it 
 as "with a certain aim, so as not to 
 miss." But this does not at all convey 
 the idea, which is rather that of " with- 
 in easy range." 
 
 point-device, / 1. Affectedly nice ; finical. 
 
 point-devise. )' A translation of the old 
 French : d point devis = according to a 
 
 point that is devised or imagined. As. 
 Ill, 2, 401. 
 2. Exactly. Tw. II, 5, 176. 
 
 polcing-sticlcs. Irons for setting out ruffs. 
 Wint. IV, 3, 228. 
 
 Polaclc. The Polanders. Said by some 
 to be used in the singular as " Dane " is 
 in Hml. I, 2, 44. The cases are different, 
 however. Is it not rather an adjective, 
 people being understood as when we say 
 the British ? At any rate, the meaning 
 is obvious in Hml. II, 2, 75 ; do. IV, 4, 
 23, and V, 2, 388. In the Fl. the modes 
 of spelling in these passages are, Poleak 
 in the first, and Polake in the third. 
 The sentence containing the second 
 quotation is omitted from the Fl., and 
 a long passage has here been supplied 
 to the g. a. text from the Quartos. The 
 word as used in this sense is probably 
 adopted from the French Polaque. But 
 the meaning of the word found in Hml. 
 I, 1, 63, has given rise to a good deal of 
 discussion. In the Fl. the spelling is 
 " Pollax," and under this word we will 
 consider it. See Pollax. 
 
 pole. The passage in Ant. IV, 15, 65, The 
 soldiers'' pole is faWn, is taken by 
 Johnson to mean: "He at whom the 
 soldiers pointed, as at a pageant, held 
 high for observation." Upon which 
 Bos well remarks: "The pole, I appre- 
 hend, is the standard.'''' 
 
 pole-dipt vineyard. " A vineyard in 
 which the poles are dipt (embraced) by 
 the vines." Dyce. See clip. Schm. 
 explains it as a vineyard "hedged in 
 with poles," but it is doubtful if vine- 
 yards were ever so protected. War- 
 burton emended to pale-clip)t, i.e., sur- 
 ' rounded with a fence. This makes good 
 sense, but the meaning given by Dyce 
 is probably the correct one. Tp. IV, 
 1,68. 
 
 Polixenes, dr.p. King of Bohemia. Wint. 
 
 Pollax. This word is spelled Polacks in 
 the g. a. text (Hml. 1, 1, 6:^) and is taken 
 to mean natives of Poland. See Polack. 
 Polacks has been adopted by the Cam- 
 bridge eds. In the Fl. the word is 
 Pollax, and not Pollax as stated in the 
 
POL 
 
 POL 
 
 "Cambridge Shakespeare," in which 
 the variorum readings are all printed in 
 italics. It is pollax in the First, Second, 
 Third and Fom-th Quartos; Pollax in 
 the Fifth and Sixth Quartos and the 
 Second Folio ; Polax in the Third Folio 
 and Pole-axe in the Fourth Folio. 
 
 The question which has arisen is : 
 Does the expression "sledded Pollax" 
 of the Fl. mean Polanders (Polacks) 
 seated in sleighs or sledges, or does it 
 mean a battle-axe or pole-axe with a 
 long handle and a heavy sledge or ham- 
 mer attached to the head, or, rather, 
 forming a part of it ? 
 
 Ro we adopted the spelling ' ' Pole-axe ' ' 
 from the Fourth Folio ; Pope, who 
 printed from Rowe, changed this to 
 "Polack," appending the following 
 note : " He speaks of the Prince of 
 Poland whom he slew in battle. He 
 uses the word Polack again, Act 2, Sc, 
 4." Malone added an s so as to make 
 the pronunciation of the word corre- 
 spond to that of the word in the early- 
 editions, and the whole credit of the 
 so-called emendation has generally been 
 given to him, though it is evident that 
 to Pope belongs the credit, if credit it 
 can be called, of the first suggestion. 
 
 Furness says that " the German com- 
 mentators have found more diflSculty 
 in this phrase than the English," and 
 devotes nearly two pages to a discussion 
 of the subject, but he advances no 
 arguments of his own on either side and 
 makes no decision in the matter. But 
 from the fact that, notwithstanding his 
 well-known prepossession in favor of 
 the FL, he adopts "Polacks" into his 
 text, it is to be assumed that he favors 
 the "Polander" gloss. 
 
 Most of the coms. who have adopted 
 the "Polacks" reading pour unmiti- 
 gated ridicule upon those who claim 
 that the phrase means a pole-axe or 
 battle-axe. R. G. White, in his review 
 of Schm. " Lexicon," who, by the way, 
 adopts the pole-axe explanation, says : 
 "There could not be better evidence of 
 Dr. Schmidt's superfluity as a Shake- 
 
 spearean lexicographer than this amaz- 
 ing, and I must be pardoned for saying 
 ridiculous, explanation. The absurdity 
 of it is felt by every English-minded 
 reader more easily than it is explained. 
 It is so laughably inconsistent with the 
 tone of this scene, awful with the wraith 
 of the majesty of buried Denmark, to 
 picture the royal Dane smiting the ice 
 with his pole-axe, like a testy old heavy 
 father in a comedy." "Studies in 
 Shakespeare," p. 304. 
 
 Rolfe, after adopting " Polacks" into 
 his text, explains "sledded Polacks" 
 as "Polanders on sleds or sledges," 
 and after a short discussion of the 
 question adds: "Furness gives nearly 
 two pages of comical German com- 
 ments on the passage, with some 
 English ones equally amusing," and 
 he illustrates the line with an en- 
 graving taken from Verplanck's edition, 
 in which the elder Hamlet is represented 
 on horseback smiting the "Polack," 
 who is sitting in a sledge and defending 
 himself with his sword against the Dane, 
 who is represented as armed with a 
 sledded battle-axe, i.e., a, battle-axe with 
 a sledge or hammer on the head or part 
 opposite the edge ! ! This is certainly 
 a rich joke. How Dr. Rolfe could have 
 used this cut to illustrate a "parle," 
 however "angry," passes my compre- 
 hension. 
 
 In " The Henry Irving Shakespeare " 
 the editor (the lamented Marshall, who 
 lived to edit only to Act I, Sc. 3, in this 
 play) adopts the emendation " Polacks " 
 into his text, and in his notes he offers 
 corroborative evidence from Caldecott 
 tending to show that Polack means a 
 Polander. But of this there is no doubt. 
 The testimony would be to the point if 
 the word Polack had appeared in any 
 of the old editions in this passage, but 
 it does not, and it may be stigmatised 
 as a modern corruption. Further on 
 he says : " It is very unlikely that the 
 elder Hamlet, who is represented as a 
 man of great dignity and self-restraint, 
 should have struck at a number of the 
 
POL 
 
 POTT 
 
 enemy at a parley, however angry. ''^ 
 Mr. Marshall's "chief difficulty in 
 accepting pole-axe lies in the word 
 sledded,''^ the reading of the Folios, and 
 he seems to think that weighted with 
 lead appears to be the only way out. I 
 think not. A battle-axe with lead 
 attached to the head would be very 
 liable to accident, and we have no evi- 
 dence that weapons loaded or weighted 
 in this way were ever einplo^^ed by any 
 except executioners, and they only 
 struck two or three blows at a time. 
 But all battle-axes or pole-axes seem to . 
 have been sledded or furnished with a 
 sledge (a well-known Anglo-saxon name 
 for a hammer, in use even at this 
 day, as may be found by inquiring in 
 any blacksmith's shop), so that they 
 could strike a blow on a hard substance 
 without injuring the sharp edge, and 
 the pole-axe figured in Dr. Rolfe's cut 
 shows the sledge part very distinctly. 
 
 I think that the arguments on both 
 sides may be fairly summed up as fol- 
 lows — and first for those in favor of 
 *' pole-axe " : 
 
 1. The spelling in all the old editions, 
 with the very distinct spelling "Pole- 
 axe " of the Fourth Folio, would seem 
 to favor the " pole-axe " reading. That 
 pollax was the usual spelling of pole-axe 
 in those days may be shown by numer- 
 ous instances. Thus, in the address to 
 the reader in "Euphues' Golden Leg- 
 acie " we find : "I'll down into the hold 
 and fetch out a rustie pollax." And in 
 Stany hurst's " Description of Ireland " 
 he tells us that " the gallowglasse useth 
 a kind of pollax for his weapon." And, 
 which is still more to the point, in LLL. 
 V, 2, 580, the word which, in the g. a. 
 text, is spelled pole-axe (and correctly 
 so, since that is what it means), is 
 spelled Pollax in the Fl. On the other 
 hand, Polack, where it undoubtedly 
 means a Polander, is spelled Poleak, 
 Polake, Polacke, Polack (Second, Third 
 and Sixth Quartos), Polak and Pollock, 
 but never Pollax. 
 
 2. There is no intimation of a war 
 
 between Poland and Denmark. It was 
 " the ambitious Norway " that Hamlet 
 combated, and although Poland is men- 
 tioned twice in the play, nothing is said 
 about a war between the Danes and 
 that country. 
 
 3. Horatio speaks of a " parle," not a 
 fight or a battle. Now, if there was a 
 " parle " or conference, there must have 
 been a truce, and for Hamlet to have 
 smitten a Polander in that "parle," 
 however angry, would have been an 
 act of treachery to which his nature, as 
 it is portrayed to us, would have been 
 entirely repugnant. 
 
 4. Horatio sai<; him frown ; therefore, 
 he must have seen his face, which must 
 have been exposed, an unlikely condition 
 in the ev^entof a battle or even a sudden 
 onslaught. The first thing he would 
 have done would have been to pull down 
 his beaver. See beaver. 
 
 5. The difficulty raised by the word 
 sledded can only arise in the minds of 
 those who are not familiar with the 
 construction of the old battle-axe. A 
 sled, sledge or hannner seems to have 
 formed an essential part of that weapon. 
 See sledded. 
 
 In favor of the interpretation " Po- 
 lacks" (Polanders) I can find no argu- 
 ment — nothing but the arbitrary cor- 
 ruption of Pope, a reading, which he 
 evidently evolved out of his own im- 
 agination, and which modern eds. sup- 
 port only by ridicule of the other gloss. 
 Consequently, I, for one, am compelled 
 to reject it without hesitation. 
 
 To the unknown editor of the Fourth 
 Folio is due the true reading, in modern 
 form, " pole-axe." 
 
 I have, perhaps, devoted more space 
 to this word than its real importance 
 would justify. The fact that almost all 
 the coms. favor the side opposite to 
 that which I have taken is my only 
 excuse. 
 
 polled, I 1. Shorn ; bald-headed. Kins. 
 
 pouPd. ) V, 1, 85. 
 2. Bare ; stripped ; plundei*ed. Cor. IV, 
 5, 215. 
 
POL 
 
 229 
 
 P08 
 
 Polonius, dr.p. Lord Chamberlain. Hail. 
 
 Polydore, dr.p. Name assumed by Guide- 
 rius. Cym. 
 
 pomander. This term was applied both 
 to a ball composed of perfumes and to 
 the case used for carrying them about 
 the person. It would be difficult to say 
 which is meant in Wint. I Y, 4, 609. Po- 
 manders were carried either in the 
 pocket or suspended from the neck or 
 girdle and were sometimes looked upon 
 as amulets, sometimes as an efficient 
 means of preventing infection. An old 
 recipe for making them directs a mix- 
 ture of carefully prepared garden soil, 
 labdanum, benzoin, storax, ambergris, 
 civet and musk. These, when well in- 
 corporated, are Warranted "to make 
 you smell as sweet as my lady's dog, if 
 your breath be not too valiant." 
 
 Pomegarnet. A blunder for Pomegran- 
 ate ; the name of a room in a tavern. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 42. See tavern. 
 
 pomewater. A kind of apple. LLL. IV, 
 2, 4. The name has been applied to a 
 particular variety of apple, but it seems 
 to have been also used for apples in 
 general. Thus, in The Puritan we 
 read of the "pomewater of his eye," 
 meaning the apple of his eye. 
 
 Pompeius Sextus, dr.p. A friend to 
 Antony. Ant. 
 
 Pompey, dr.p. Servant to Mrs. Over- 
 done. Meas. 
 
 poop. To strike fatally. Per. IV, 2, 25. 
 
 Poor=John. Hake ; a cheap kind of fish, 
 salted and dried. Tp. II, 2, 28 ; Rom. 
 
 I, 1, 37. Sometimes written poor 
 John. 
 
 poperin. A variety of pear named after 
 Poperingne, a town in French Flanders, 
 two leagues distant from Ypres. Rom. 
 
 II, 1, 38: 
 
 popinjay. A parrot ; hence a name for a 
 fop or coxcomb. IHIV. I, 3, 50. 
 
 Popilius Lena, dr.p. A Roman senator. 
 Caes. 
 
 popish. Bigoted. Tit. V, 1, 76. 
 
 popular. Vulgar. HV. IV, 1, 38; Cor. 
 II, 1, 233. 
 
 popularity. Vulgarity. IHIV. Ill, 2, 69. 
 
 poring dark. Darkness which makes one 
 strain his eyes. HV. IV, Chor. 2. 
 
 porpentine, n. 1. A porcupine. 2HVI. 
 Ill, 1,363; Hml. 1,5,20. 
 2. The name of an inn. Err. Ill, 1, 116. 
 
 porpentine, v. To prick or irritate as the 
 porcupine does with its quills. It was 
 an old superstition that the porcupine 
 could dart its quills at an enemy. Troil. 
 
 II, 1, 27. In Dekker's Satiro-Mastix, 
 Tucca, one of the characters, says: 
 " Thoul't shoot thy quills at me, when 
 my terrible back's turn'd, for all this, 
 wilt not, Porciipiyie f " 
 
 porringer. A shallow vessel used for 
 holding liquids ; hence applied to a head- 
 dress shaped like such a vessel. Shr. IV, 
 3,64; HVIII. V, 4, 50. 
 
 port. 1. Deportment ; bearing. HV. 
 Prol. 6; 2HVI. IV, 1,19; Ant. IV, 
 14, 52. 
 
 2. Pomp; state; importance. Merch. I, 
 
 I, 124, and III, 2, 28:3 ; Shr. I, 1, 208. 
 
 3. A gate. All's. Ill, 5, 39 ; 2HIV. IV, 
 5, 24 ; Cor. I, 7, 1. 
 
 4. A natural or artificial harbor which 
 vessels can enter and lie safe from injury 
 by storms. Mcb. I, 3, 15. 
 
 portable. Bearable. Mcb. IV, 3, 89 ; Lr. 
 
 III, 6, 115. 
 
 portage. 1. A port-hole; an opening. 
 HV. Ill, 1, 10. 
 
 2. Port-dues. Per. Ill, 1, 35. 
 portance. Conduct; deportment. Cor. 
 
 II, 3, 232 ; 0th. I, 3, 139. 
 
 Portia, dr.p. A rich heiress. Merch. 
 Portia, dr.p. Wife to Brutus. Caes. 
 portly. 1. Good-looking; of a stately 
 appearance. Merch. I, 1, 9 ; Troil. IV, 
 
 5. 162. 
 
 2. Well-behaved ; of good deportment. 
 
 Rom. I, 5, 68. 
 posie, ) A short motto, often inscribed 
 posy. \ on rings and other tokens. Merch. 
 
 V, 1, 151 ; Hull. Ill, 2, 164 ; Kins. IV, 
 
 1, 90. See con. 
 possess. To inform ; to give one the 
 
 knowledge of what was intended or 
 
 what had happened. Meas. IV, 1, 45 ; 
 
 Ado. V, 1, 290 ; Merch. I, 3, 65, and IV, 
 
 1, 35 ; Tw. II, 3, 149. 
 
P08 
 
 230 
 
 POW 
 
 Posthumus Leonatus, dr.p. A gentle- 
 man ; husband to Imogen. Cym. 
 
 post, in. In haste. Rom. V, 3, 273. Some- 
 times post-haste (Hml. I, 1, 107) ; some- 
 times joosi-pos^/iaA-fe (0th. I, 3, 46) and 
 also haste-post-haste (0th. I, 2, 38). 
 
 The expression Haste-Post-Haste — 
 Ride for yoxir life — your life — these, 
 was a common inscription on letters 
 and packages sent by express in Sh. 
 time and much later. 
 
 pot, to the. To sure destruction. Cor. I, 
 4, 47. 
 
 potato. The potato mentioned by Sh. in 
 Wiv. V, 5, 21, and Troil. V, 2, 56, is not 
 the common or "Irish" potato, the 
 solantim tuberostun, as Dr. Schm. 
 states it is. The common potato was 
 carried to Europe from this country 
 and was first cultivated on the estate of 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, near Cork. The 
 Irish farmers, to whom the plant was 
 entirely new, supposed that the potato 
 grew on the stems just as tomatoes are 
 developed on the tomato plant, and 
 when they saw no "fruit," except little, 
 round apples, they concluded that the 
 entei*prise was a failure and that pota- 
 toes would not grow in Ireland, so they 
 ploughed them up to get rid of them, 
 and then, to their great astonishment, 
 they found the tubers in abundant 
 quantity. This was later than 1588, 
 and the first printed description of the 
 potato appears in Gerard's "Herbal," 
 published in 1597. Gerard gives this 
 description: "The roote is thick, fat 
 and tuberous ; not much differing either 
 in shape, color or taste from the com- 
 mon potatoes, saving that the rootes 
 hereof are not so great nor long ; some 
 of them as round as a ball, some oual 
 or egg-fashion, some longer and others 
 shorter ; which knobbie rootes are fast- 
 ened unto the stalks with an infinite 
 number of threddie strings. " The "com- 
 mon potatoes" of which Gerard speats 
 are the tubers of convolvulus batatas, 
 or sweet potato. W. G. Smith tells us 
 in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica " that 
 " the cultivation of the potato in England 
 
 made but little progress, even though it 
 was strongly urged by the Royal Society 
 in 1663," so that it is very certain that 
 the "Irish" potato was not the one 
 alluded to by Sh. And I have never 
 read that any aphrodisiac properties 
 were attributed to it. 
 
 The sweet potato was imported into 
 England in considerable quantities from 
 southern Europe. Gerard tells us that 
 he bought those he experimented with 
 at the Exchange in London, and he 
 gives an interesting account of the uses 
 to which they were put, the manner in 
 which they were prepared for "sweet- 
 meats," and the invigorating properties 
 claimed for them. They were too ex- 
 pensive to be used as an article of com- 
 mon food. 
 
 potch. To thrust at; to push violently. 
 Cor. I, 10, 15. 
 
 potent. A potentate. John II, 1, 358. 
 
 pottle. A large tankard ; more specific- 
 ally, a measure holding two quarts. 
 Wiv. II, 1, 223 ; 0th. II, 3, 87. 
 
 pottle-deep. To the bottom of the pottle 
 or tankard. 0th. II, 3, 56. 
 
 pottle-pot. A tankard containing two 
 quarts.- 2HIV. II, 2, 83. 
 
 poulter. A dealer in poultry and game ; 
 an old form of poulterer. IHIV. II, 4, 
 480. Upon the phrase, " poulter 's hare," 
 Johnson remarks : " The jest is in com- 
 paring himself to something thin and 
 little. So a poulter''s hare ; a hare 
 hanging by the hind legs without a skin 
 is long and slender." And especially 
 thin when it has been eviscerated, as 
 such hares always are. 
 
 pouncet-box. A box with a perforated 
 lid used for carrying perfumes. IHIV. 
 1, 3, 38. Pouncet-boxes or pounce-boxes 
 were also used until quite recent times 
 for holding pounce or sand for sprinkl- 
 ing over fresh writing on paper instead 
 of using blotting-paper. 
 
 pound. To shut up in a pin-fold. Gent. 
 I, 1, 110; Cor. I, 4, 17. 
 
 pourquoi, [ French for Why ? Tw. I, 
 
 pourquoy. S 3, 95. 
 
 powder. The expression, Like potvder 
 
POW 
 
 331 
 
 PEE 
 
 in a skilless soldier'' s flash. Is set afire 
 by thine own ignorance (Rom. Ill, 3, 
 132), may not be easily understood in 
 these days of fixed ammunition. " The 
 ancient English soldiers using match- 
 locks * * * were obliged to carry a 
 lighted match, hanging at their belts, 
 very near to the wooden flask in which 
 they kept their powder." Steevens. 
 The powder and bullets were carried 
 loose ; cartridges had not been invented, 
 
 powder, v. 1. To salt. IHIV. V, 4, 112. 
 2. An old-time cure for certain diseases ; 
 see poivdering-tub. Meas. Ill, 2, 62; 
 HV. II, 1, 79. 
 
 powdering = tub. An apparatus for the 
 cure of certain diseases. H V. II, 1 , 79. 
 
 Powle. St. Paul. RIII. I, 1, 188. 
 
 Powle's. St. Paul's Church, the principal 
 cathedral of London. IHIV. II, 4, .576 ; 
 HVIII. V, 4, 16 ; 2HIV. I, 2, 58. See 
 PaiiVs. 
 
 pox. This word is frequently used as a 
 mild form of oath, and some have con- 
 sidered it rather coarse, especially in the 
 mouth of a princess, as in LLL. V, 2, 
 46. Farmer, in reply to Theobald, 
 stated that only the small-pox is meant, 
 and Rolfe seems to agree with him. 
 Dyce, under the wordpoa?, says : " Need 
 I observe that, in Shakespeare's time, 
 this imprecation undoubtedly referred 
 to the small-pox ?" Surely this is going 
 too far. The subject is not one for ex- 
 tended discussion in these pages, but 
 that, in Sh. time, the word often had 
 the same meaning that it now has, is 
 easily seen by examining the numerous 
 passages in which it occurs. The ex- 
 planation of its use in the mouths of 
 ladies and people of the better class is 
 simply that in those days the language 
 was broader than it is now, and even re- 
 fined people "called a spey'd a spey'd." 
 Sh. puts expressions quite as indelicate 
 as this in the mouths of refined women. 
 The times tolerated it, and it is not best 
 to disguise or deny this fact. We might, 
 perhaps, be charitable enough to sup- 
 pose that these ladies did not understand 
 the meaning of the words they used. 
 
 I have heard respectable girls use words 
 which would have horrified them if 
 they had known their true meaning. 
 
 practic. Practical. While Sh. uses f/i^oric 
 elsewhere, the only passage in which 
 practic occurs is HV. I, 1, .51. Johnson 
 explains the passage thus : " His theory 
 must have been taught by art and 
 practice; which, he says, is strange, 
 since he could see little of the true art 
 or practice among his loose companions, 
 nor ever retired to digest his practice 
 into theory. ' ' 
 
 practice. Treachery ; artifice ; trick ; 
 wicked device. Meas. V, 1, 107; Ado. 
 IV, 1, 190; Tw. V, 1, 360; HV. II, 2, 
 90 ; Hml. IV, 7, 68. 
 
 In Hml. IV, 7, 138, and in a pass of 
 j)ractice Requite him for your father, 
 the word practice has been explained 
 both as a treacherous thrust [Clarendon) 
 and as a favorite pass, one that Laertes 
 was well practised in. In line 68 of this 
 scene it undoubtedly means treachery ; 
 but here it seems to have the meaning 
 usually given to it at the present day. 
 
 practisant. One who carries out or aids 
 in a practice or artifice. IHVI. Ill, 
 2, 20. 
 
 practise, v. To plot. As. I, 1, 158. 
 
 praemunire. A writ issued against one 
 who has committed the offence of intro- 
 ducing a foreign authority or power 
 into England. HVIII. Ill, 2, 340. 
 
 " The word is low Latin tor prcemon- 
 ere. The writ is so called from the 
 first words of it, which forewarn the 
 person respecting the oft'ence of intro- 
 ducing foreign authority into England. " 
 Rolfe. 
 
 praise. To appraise; to estimate the value 
 of. Tw. I, 5, 213 ; 0th. V, 1, 66. 
 
 prank. To dress up ; to adorn. Tw. II, 
 4, 89; Wint. IV, 4, 10; Cor. Ill, 1, 23. 
 
 preachment. A sermon ; a discourse. 
 3HVI. I, 4, 72. 
 
 precedent. 1. A rough draft. John V, 
 2, 3. 
 2. A prognostic ; an indication. Ven. 26. 
 
 precept. A summons issued by a court. 
 2HIV. V, 1, 14 ; HV. Ill, 3, 26. 
 
PRE 
 
 232 
 
 PBE 
 
 preceptial. Instructive. Ado. V, 1, 24. 
 
 precious. Employed by Sh. with the 
 usual meanings, such as of great value. 
 As. II, 1, 14, and elsewhere. The ex- 
 pression, precious villain (0th. V, 2, 
 235), is explained by Schm. as an ironical 
 use of the word, and in this he is fol- 
 lowed by Rolfe, Fleming and some 
 others, but irony seems rather out of 
 place here. The word is frequently used 
 in the sense of excessive, just as is dear 
 in the passage dearest foe. SeQ dear. 
 In " Tom Brown's School Days at 
 Rugby " we find, " It's hard enough to 
 see one's way, a precious sight harder 
 than I thought last night. ' ' Boston ed. p. 
 851. Precious villain means thorough, 
 great villain, and precious varlet, in 
 Cym. IV, 2, 83, simply means " you 
 wretched varlet. ' ' Cloten had no brains 
 to spare for irony and used the word in 
 a thoroughly idiomatic sense. 
 
 preciously. Valuably; i.e., in business 
 of great importance. Tp. I, 2, 241. 
 
 precisian. A puritan ; a precise person. 
 This word is found in Wiv. II, 1, 5, in 
 the Folies. In the g. a. text it has been 
 changed t© jihysician. The reading, 
 physician, was suggested by Theobald, 
 and upon it Johnson has the following 
 H©te: "Of this word [precisian] I do 
 not see any meaning that is very ap- 
 posite to the pre? ent intention. Perhaps 
 Falstaff said. Though love use reason 
 as his physician he admits him not for 
 his counsellor. This will be plain sense. 
 Ask not the reason' of my love ; the 
 Business of Reason is not to assist love, 
 but to cure it." Dyce was the first to 
 introduce physician into the text. 
 
 precurrer. Forerunner. Phoen. 6. 
 
 predominance. Superior power or in- 
 fluence. Troil. II, 3, 138; Mcb. II, 4, 8. 
 See spherical. 
 
 predominate. To oversway. Wiv. II, 2, 
 294 ; Tim. IV, 3, 142. 
 
 prefer. 1 . To recommend ; to commend. 
 Lr. I, 1, 277; Cses. V, 5, GiJ; Shr. I, 1, 
 97. Reed tells us that '' to prefer seems 
 to have been the established phrase for 
 recommending a servant." Upon this. 
 
 Craik (" English of Shakespeare," p. 344) 
 remarks : " But to prefer was more 
 than merely to recommend. It was, 
 rather, to transfer or hand over." 
 2. To present; to offer. In several 
 passages Sh. gives to this word its 
 radical meaning. Commenting on it as 
 it occurs in Mids. IV, 2, 34, Theobald 
 says: "This word is not to be under- 
 stood in its most common acceptation 
 here, as if their play was chosen in pre- 
 ference to the others (for that appears 
 not to be the fact), but means that it 
 was given in among others for the 
 Duke's option. " See also Caes. Ill, 1, 28. 
 
 pregnancy. Cleverness ; fertility of in- 
 vention. 2HIV. I, 2, 192. 
 
 pregnant. This word occurs fifteen times 
 in the plays, and as its meaning has 
 given rise to considerable discussion we 
 give references to all the passages in 
 which it is found. They are : Meas. I, 
 1, 12, and II, 1, 23; Tw. II, 2, 29 ; do. 
 Ill, 1, 100 and 101; Wint. V, 2, 34; 
 Troil. IV, 4, 90; Ant. II, 1, 45; Lr. II, 
 
 1, 78, and IV, 6, 227; Hml. II, 2, 212, 
 and III, 2, 66; 0th. II, 1, 239 ; Cym. IV, 
 
 2, 325 ; Per. IV, Prol. 44. In addition 
 to these, pregnancy occurs once (2HIV. 
 I, 2, 192); pregnantly once (Tim. I, 1, 
 92), and unpregnant twice (Meas. IV, 
 4, 23, and Hml. II, 2, 595). The student 
 can easily refer to these passages and 
 consider the word in relation to its con- 
 text. 
 
 The " Century Dictionary " classifies 
 the various meanings of the word under 
 nine heads, between some of which, 
 however, it is a little diflBcult to see any 
 great difference. Nares arranges the 
 different meanings under four divisions 
 which may be briefly described as : 1. 
 Stored with information, 2. Ingenious, 
 full of art or intelligence. 3. Appre- 
 hensive, ready to understand. 4. Full 
 of force or conviction ; and he adds : 
 *'The word was, however, used with 
 great laxity, and sometimes abused, as 
 fashionable terms are; but generally 
 may be referred to the ruling sense 
 of being full or productive of some- 
 
PRE 
 
 PRE 
 
 thing." There can be no doubt about 
 this being the sole meaning of the word 
 at the present time, whether it is used 
 with a strictly physiological meaning 
 or metaphorically. Sh. never uses the 
 word in its physiological or, as some 
 have called it, its literal sense, though 
 there are more than a score of passages 
 in which the condition is stated in other 
 words. 
 Furness, in his comments on Lr. II, 
 
 I, 78, devotes considerable space to the 
 subject. He agrees with Nares and 
 says that in all the passages in w^hich 
 the word occurs it has this meaning, 
 " productive of something. " After giv- 
 ing the views of Wright, Caldecott, 
 Keightley and others on the passage 
 found in Hml, III, 2, 66, 
 
 And crook the pregnant hinges of the 
 knee 
 
 Where thrift may follow fawning, 
 he adds: "Pregnant because untold 
 thrift is born from a cunning use of the 
 knee." 
 
 It is always unsafe to differ from Dr. 
 Furness, because he is evidently in the 
 habit of giving laborious and conscien- 
 tious study to his subject, and always 
 with a judicial mind. Nevertheless, I 
 can scarcely agree with him in his views 
 on this question, and will look forward 
 with much interest to his forthcoming 
 volume for an explanation of pregnant 
 * * * ear, as found in Tw. Ill, 1, 100. 
 After very careful consideration, I 
 cannot avoid the thought that the word 
 is found in Sh. bearing two entirely 
 opposite meanings — one, that of being 
 producti\ e, and the other, that of being 
 receptive of something. Thus, in Hml. 
 
 II, 2, 212, in the expression. How preg- 
 nant sotnetimes his replies are! we 
 evidently have the physiological word 
 used metaphorically, the being pro- 
 ductive, i.e., bringing forth apt and 
 wise thoughts. But in Tw. Ill, 1, 100, 
 where Viola speaks of Olivia's ear as 
 being pregnant, it is evident that the 
 sense is that her ear is receptive ; that 
 it takes hold of what is offered to it. 
 
 And I am convinced that the cause of 
 this seeming confusion lies in the fact 
 that we have here, not one word with 
 two or more meanings, but two entirely 
 different words; different in their origins 
 and different in their meanings, but, by 
 mere accident, alike in spelling and 
 pronunciation. 
 
 The first word is derived from the 
 Latin prcegnare, to be about to bear. 
 It takes the form " pregnant " and has 
 the usual physiological meaning with 
 metaphorical applications to other 
 things, and, as Nares very properly says, 
 it has the ruling sense of being full or 
 productive of something. 
 
 The second word, which has the same 
 spelling and pronunciation, is from the 
 French prendre,* prenant, and signi- 
 fies to grasp ; to take hold ; to appre- 
 hend. The word pregnable (a slightly 
 different form) is from the same root. 
 And it is this word which is found in 
 Tw. Ill, 1, 100, and Lr. IV, 6, 227, while 
 it is the first word that is found in Hml. 
 II, 2, 212. t 
 
 As in other cases of this kind, the 
 meanings of these two words tended to 
 shade off into each other and to become 
 confounded until it often became difficult 
 to determine just which word was the 
 one used, and finally one became obso- 
 lete and extinct, as has happened also 
 in the case of the two lets and others. 
 Keeping these points in mind, I think 
 the reader will have no difficulty in 
 reaching the correct meaning of any 
 passage in which the word pregnant 
 occurs. 
 
 As used in the passage, Crook the 
 pregnant hinges of the knee Where 
 thrift may follow fawning, Johnson 
 
 * Prendre is defined in French dictionaries 
 as, to take, to apprehend, to assume, to 
 contract, to imbibe, to undertake. It 
 has a wide range of meaning. 
 
 t This etymology of the word is an old one; 
 it was adopted by the " Imperial Dic- 
 tionary,'' but was not accepted by the 
 "Century," which was based on the 
 "Imperial." 
 
PRE 
 
 234 
 
 PRE 
 
 long ago defined pregnant as "ready." 
 It is the fawning that is productive ; 
 the readiness of the hinges to crook 
 themselves may contribute to the fawn- 
 ing, and the more so in that they 
 are prompt and ready ; but surely the 
 hinges themselves cannot be said to be 
 " full and productive." 
 
 In the passage in Meas. II, 1, 23 : 
 'Tis very pregnant 
 
 The jewel that we find we stoop and 
 tak't 
 
 Because we see it, 
 
 pregnant certainly means obvious, evi- 
 dent, or, as Johnson has it, plain ; and 
 the idea conveyed is that the thought 
 takes hold of us. We might, with per- 
 fect conformity to the sense, substitute 
 taking for pregnant, and this meaning 
 was given to it long before the German 
 corns, were born. 
 
 Again, the passage in Wint. V, 2, 34 : 
 Most true, if ever truth were pregnant 
 by circumstance, is explained by Dr. 
 Furnessas, "if ever truth were stored 
 full by circumstance. " But surely this 
 gloss does not convey the meaning that 
 Sh. wished to express, which is, that 
 the truth is proved by circumstance, or, 
 in other words, that by circumstance 
 we are enabled to take hold of it. In 
 his comments on Lr. II, 1, 78, Dr. Fur- 
 ness says that in "Wint. V, 2, 34, preg- 
 nant is "used in so metaphorical a sense 
 that one may give to it almost any 
 meaning that his mother wit suggests 
 as applicable to the passage." But I 
 think this dictum will not hold true if we 
 only get rid of the idea of pi'oductive- 
 ness and accept that of receptivity. 
 
 Such, in a very condensed form, are 
 the conclusions to which a very careful 
 study of the subject has led me ; but 
 before the reader adopts my views, 
 which are in a large measure those of 
 the older coms., he should by all means 
 examine the comments of Dr. Fumess 
 on Lr. II, 1, 78; Hml. Ill, 2, 56, and 
 Wint. V, 2, 34. 
 pregnantly. Clearly; forcibly. Tim. I, 
 1,92. 
 
 premised. Pre-sent; sent before their 
 time. Dyce. 2HVI. V, 2, 41. 
 
 prenominate. 1. To forename; to fore- 
 tell. Troil. IV, 5, 250. 
 2. Aforesaid ; just named. Hml. II, 1, 43. 
 
 prenzie. Symons, in " The Henry Irving 
 Shakespeare," tells us that " few words 
 in Shakespeare have given rise to so 
 much controversy as this word prenzie.'''' 
 It occurs twice : Meas. Ill, 1, 95, and 98. 
 In the F2. the reading is princely. 
 Hanmer emended to priestly, and this 
 has been accepted by many, amongst 
 others, by Professor Rolfe, who says 
 that prenzie is " pretty clearly a mis- 
 print for priestly or some other word," 
 his chief reason being that it is not 
 English. "Saintly," "pensive" and 
 many other words have been suggested. 
 It seems to me very clear, however, 
 that "priestly" cannot have been the 
 woi'd ; Angelo was not a priest and 
 there is no indication that he ever pre- 
 tended to be one. That he wassi prince 
 we know, and therefore the princely of 
 the F2. might be accepted. But the 
 suggestion that p)renzie is merely a 
 modified form of the Scottish or old 
 English prtmste (prim, demure) removes 
 the need of emendation, as well as Pro- 
 fessor Rolfe's objection that it is not 
 English. Sh. employs a great many 
 Scottish words, and words still retained 
 in modern English, but which he uses 
 in the Scottish sense. See silly. 
 
 pre-ordinance. Old established law. Caes. 
 Ill, 1, 38. 
 
 presence. Presence-chamber; room of 
 state. RII. 1, 3, 289 ; HVIII. Ill, 1, 17; 
 Rom. V, 3, 86. 
 
 present. In hand ; thus, present money 
 = ready money. Err. IV, 1 , 34. 
 
 presenter. An exhibiter ; an actor. Shr. 
 I, 1 (stage direction). 
 
 press. 1. An impress; a commission to 
 foi-ce persons into military service. 
 IHIV. IV, 2, 13. 
 
 2. A printing press. Wiv. II, 1, 80. 
 There is an evident pun here upon 
 printing press and a press for squeezing. 
 
 pressed. Impressed. Cor. 1, 2, 9. This 
 
PEE 
 
 235 
 
 PRI 
 
 word has been defined by some as ready 
 (seeprest), but the best authorities give 
 the definition we have adopted. Wright 
 says: ''Nothing to do with j:)>"es<, 
 'ready,' which could not be used as an 
 active participle. " 
 
 prest. Ready. Merch. 1, 1, 160 ; Per. IV, 
 Prol. 45. It is the old French word 
 2)rest, now pre^, read}'. 
 
 Prester John. A fabulous eastern mon- 
 arch. Ado. II, 1, 278. 
 
 His title of Prester John originated, 
 according to that veracious traveler, Sir 
 John Mandeville, in the following cir- 
 cumstance : The said king having gone 
 with a Christian knight into a church 
 in Egypt, was so pleased with the ser- 
 vice that he determined no longer to be 
 called king or emperor, but priest^ 
 "and that he wolde have the name 
 of the first priest that wente out of 
 the chirche : and his name was John." 
 Dyce. 
 
 pretence. Intention ; purpose ; design. 
 Gent. Ill, 1, 47 ; Wint. Ill, 2, 18 ; Mcb. 
 II, 3, 137. 
 
 pretend. 1. To intend. Gent. II, 6, 37; 
 Mcb. II, 4, 24. 
 2. To portend. lH\a. IV, 1, 16. 
 
 pretended. Predetermined ; intended. 
 Kins. I, 1, 210. The word is here used 
 with its etymological meaning. 
 
 pretenders. Aspirants; not in a bad 
 sense. Skeat. Kins. V, 1, 158. 
 
 pretty. Bold ; strong. Merch. Ill, 4, 64. 
 In former times a pretty man did not 
 mean a good-looking man, but a strong, 
 courageous man. Pretty vaulting = 
 strong vaulting. 2HVI. Ill, 2, 94. 
 
 prevent. To come before ; to forestall ; 
 to be beforehand with ; to anticipate. 
 Merch. I, 1,61; Tw. Ill, 1,94; IHVI. 
 IV, 1, 71 ; Hml. II, 2, 30.5. 
 
 In these passages the word is used in 
 its etymological or radical meaning, 
 which was the usual sense in Sh. time. 
 Thus, in Psalm CXIX, 147, we find, " I 
 prevented the dawning of the morning, ' ' 
 I.e., I anticipated the dawning ; not that 
 the Psalmist obstructed the dawning of 
 the morning. 
 
 Priam, dr. p. King of Troy. Troil. 
 
 Priam' was King of Troy during the 
 Trojan war. He was a son of Laomedon 
 and Strymo, and his original name is 
 said to have been Podarces, or " the 
 swift-f ooted, " which was changed to 
 Priamus, "the ransomed," because his 
 sister Hesione ransomed him after he 
 had fallen into the hands of Hercules. 
 His first wife is said to have been Arisbe, 
 daughter of Merops, but afterwards he 
 gave her up to Hyrtacus and married 
 Hecuba, by whom he had nineteen sons. 
 Hence the allusion in Hml. II, 2, 531. 
 By other women he is said to have been 
 the father of many fnore, the Homeric 
 tradition crediting him with the father- 
 hood of fifty sons, to whom others add 
 an equal number of daughters. At the 
 commencement of the Trojan war Priam 
 was already advanced in years and took 
 no part in the fighting. Once only did 
 he venture upon the field of battle, to 
 conclude the agreement respecting the 
 single combat between Paris and Mene- 
 
 ■ laus. After the death of Hector, Priam, 
 accompanied by Mercury, went to the 
 tent of Achilles to ransom his son's body 
 for burial and obtained it. When the 
 Greeks entered Troy, the aged king put 
 on his armor and was on the point of 
 rushing against the enemy, but was 
 prevailed on by Hecuba to take refuge 
 with herself and her daughters as a 
 suppliant at the altar of Jupiter. While 
 he was tarrying in the temple, his son, 
 Polites, pursued by Pyrrhus, rushed 
 into the sacred spot and expired at the 
 feet of his father; whereupon, Priam, 
 overcome with indignation, hurled his 
 spear with feeble hand against Pyri-hus, 
 but was forthwith killed by the latter. 
 Hml. II, 2, 490, et seq. There are 
 numerous references to Priam outside 
 of Troilus and Cressida. For the 
 allusion in 2HIV. I, 1, 72, Sh. probably 
 had recourse to his imagination. The 
 account given by Virgil is very different. 
 In the reference to Helen in All's. I, 3, 
 77, there is probably a mistake — Prian? 
 for Paris. 
 
PHI 
 
 236 
 
 PEI 
 
 prick, n. 1. A dot or spot. This is the 
 original sense of the word. Sharp points, 
 punctures, etc., came after. Skeat. 
 LLL. IV, 1, 134. Used for the points 
 marking time on the dial. Noon-tide 
 prick (3HVI. I, 4, 34) and prick of noon 
 (Rom. II, 4, 119) = the mark on the 
 dial which denotes noon. 
 
 2. A thorn (see nightingale) ; the sharp 
 quills of a hedgehog. Tp. II, 2, 12. 
 
 3. A wooden skewer. Lr. II, 3, 16. 
 
 4. The act of pricking or piercing ; the 
 usual action of the needle. HV. II, 1, 36. 
 
 5. A hurt caused by a sharp point. 
 HVIII. II, 4, 171. 
 
 6. The word, as it occurs in Troil. I, 3, 
 343, is defined by Schm. as "a small 
 roll;" Johnson defined small pricks as 
 small points compared with the volumes. 
 Rolfe, the ed. of "The Henry Irving 
 Shakespeare " and most English coms. 
 adopt Johnson's interpretation. It is 
 true that prick is a nautical term for a 
 small roll of tobacco or spun yarn, but 
 that it was ever used for a small volume 
 may be doubted. 
 
 7. In LLL. IV, 1, 140, the expression 
 she is too hard for you at pricks, 
 means that she excels you in shooting 
 at a mark ; shooting "at pricks " being 
 a technical term in archery, opposed to 
 shooting "at rovers." Schm. entirely 
 mistakes the meaning of the phrase in 
 this passage, and explains pricks as "a 
 hurt made by a prickle, a sting, a 
 stitch." 
 
 prick, V. 1. To mark by a dot or other 
 check-mark ; to mark down. LLL. V, 
 2, 548; 2HIV. Ill, 2, 121; Cses. Ill, 
 1, 216. 
 
 In LLL. V, 2, 548, the reading is pick 
 out in the Globe, the Cambridge and 
 many other eds. It is pricke in the 
 Folios and Q2; picke in QI. In many 
 eds., amongst others " The Henry Irving 
 Shakespeare," the reading of the Fl. is 
 retained. Marshall, the editor, says 
 *' The expression prick out is much 
 more characteristic." Precisely the 
 same expression is found in Caes. Ill, 
 1, 216. 
 
 2. To stick in. Shr. Ill, 2, 70. 
 
 In this sense the word is still in use in 
 horticulture ; the gardener speaks of 
 "pricking out" young plants, that is, 
 setting them out with a dibble. 
 
 3. To erect ; to point. Tp. IV, 1, 176. 
 
 4. To hurt ; to wound. This is un- 
 doubtedly the meaning in 2HI V. Ill, 2, 
 122, I was i^ricked well enough before. 
 Schm. explains it as "dressed up; 
 trimmed ;" but it is doubtful if Sh. ever 
 used the word in that sense. As it 
 occurs in line 164, same Act and scene, 
 if he had been a vian\<i tailor, heHd 
 ha^ pricked you, Schm. again defines 
 the word prick as "to dress up, to 
 trim," and fails to see the slur here 
 thrown at Justice Shallow, of whomSh. 
 old enemy. Sir Thomas Lucy, was the 
 prototype. Lucy bore as his coat of arms 
 three luces or pike, or, as Parson Evans 
 calls them (Wiv. 1, 1, 16), louses. Now, 
 the cant name for a man's tailor was 
 prick-louse, a word which will be found 
 in Burns and is used by Sir R. L'Estrange 
 (see the "Imperial Dictionary," s.v. 
 prick-louse). Therefore, if Feeble had 
 been a man's tailor, he would have 
 pricked the luce^ (louses) which repre- 
 sented Lucy or Shallow. See " Shake- 
 spearean Notes and New Readings," 
 p. 16. 
 
 prick-eared. Having pointed ears. HV. 
 II, 1, 44. 
 
 This epithet was commonly applied 
 by the English cavaliers to the Puritans 
 because, their hair being cut close all 
 around, their ears stood out prominently. 
 
 pricket. A buck in his second j'ear. LLL. 
 IV, 2, 12, etc. 
 
 prick-song. Music sung from notes. Rom. 
 II, 4, 21. 
 
 pride. In HV. I, 2, 112 ; IHVI. Ill, 2, 40, 
 and IV, 6, 15, pride, according to War- 
 burton, means "haughty power." Col- 
 lier thinks that in IHVI. Ill, 2, 40, the 
 pride of France means La Pucelle, but 
 a careful reading of the context shows 
 that he is manifestly wrong. Dyce. 
 
 priest. The passage in Wint. IV, 4, 471, 
 Where no priest shovels in dust, is 
 
PEI 
 
 287 
 
 PBI 
 
 explained by Grey as "meaning that 
 he should be buried under the gallows, 
 without burial service. In the Greek 
 Church the puttlq^earth upon the body 
 was thought absolutely necessary, and 
 the priest enjoined to do it in the form 
 of a cross; and in the Popish office, 
 before the Reformation, the priest, or 
 person officiating, was ordered to put 
 earth upon the body of the deceased in 
 the form of a cross, with other cere- 
 monies." 
 
 prig. A thief. Wint. IV, 3, 108. 
 
 primal. First ; earliest. Hml. Ill, 3, 37 ; 
 Ant. I, 4, 41. 
 
 prime. The spring of the year. Lucr. 
 332 ; Sonn. XCVII, 7. 
 
 primer. More important. HVIII. I, 2, 67. 
 
 primero. A game at cards, which was 
 very fashionable in Sh. time, and which 
 seems to have been, from the meagre 
 accounts we have of it, "a very com- 
 plicated amusement." Gifford. It 
 seems to be now unknown. Wiv. IV, 
 5, 104 ; HVIII. V, 1, 7. 
 
 primrose-beds, faint. It has been ques- 
 tioned whether the word faint refers to 
 the color or to the odor in Mids. I, 1, 
 215. The point has not been decided. 
 Wright says: '"'■faint primrose-heds, 
 on which those rest who are faint and 
 weary. This proleptic use of the ad- 
 jective is common in Shakespeare." 
 
 primy. Early or, perhaps, flourishing. 
 Hml. I, 3, 7. 
 
 Prince, The Black. The allusion to Ed- 
 ward, the Black Prince, in HV. I, 2, 
 105, refers to the battle of Cressy, where 
 the king refused to send aid to his son 
 because he did not wish to diminish the 
 credit which would be due to him in 
 the event of victory. 
 
 prince of cats. Tybalt is a name with 
 various modifications — Tibei't, Tybert, 
 Tyber, all from Thibault. In "The 
 Historye of Reynard the Foxe" (of 
 which Caxton published two editions, 
 1481 and 1490) the cat is named Sir 
 Tibert, and Jonson speaks of cats as 
 tiberts. The expression. More than 
 prince of cats, applied to Tybalt by 
 
 Mercutio in Rom. II, 4, 19, is sometimes 
 said to be derived from Dekker's Satiro- 
 Mastix or The Untrussing of the 
 Humorous Poet, but this was not pub- 
 lished until 1602 (Romeo and Juliet had 
 been published five years before that) 
 and, as Marshall has pointed out in 
 "The Henry Irving Shakespeare," the 
 term there is "prince of rattes." The 
 mistake originated with Steevens and 
 has been followed by almost all sub- 
 sequent corns., including Furness, Rolfe, 
 White, down to the latest edition by 
 Dowden. The passage, as it is found 
 in Vol. III. of "The Origin of the 
 English Drama," by Hawkins, p. 189, 
 reads : " And then you keep a revelling 
 and arrainging, and a scratching of 
 men's faces, as though you were Tyber, 
 the long-tail'd prince of rats, do you ?" 
 These words are addressed by Tucca to 
 Horace, under which name Ben Jonson 
 is ridiculed or " untrussed." 
 
 I cannot help thinking that this so- 
 called mistake on the part of Steevens 
 was intentional. We all know that he 
 was a forger of the meanest kind ; that 
 he introduced readings and glosses for 
 the mere purpose of confusing his suc- 
 cessors, and it is not at all unlikely that 
 he was the author of some of the forged 
 papers for which poor Collier was 
 blamed. But in Have with you to 
 Saffroyi Waldon (1596) we have the 
 phrase "not Tibalt, prince of cats,^^ 
 showing that it was in common use. 
 
 Prince Henry, dr.p. Son to King John 
 and afterwards Henry III. John. 
 
 Prince Humphrey of Gloucester, dr.p. 
 Son to Henry IV. 2HIV. and 2HVI. 
 
 Prince John of Lancaster, dr.p. Son to 
 Henry IV. 2HIV. 
 
 Prince of Aragon, dr.p. Suitor to Portia. 
 Merch. 
 
 Prince of Morocco, dr.p. Suitor to Portia. 
 Merch. 
 
 Prince of Wales, dr.p. Edward, son to 
 Edward IV. RIII. 
 
 Prince of Wales, dr.p. Henry, after- 
 wards Henry V. IHIV. and 2H1V. 
 
 Princess Katherine, dr.p. Daughter to 
 
PRI 
 
 238 
 
 FSO 
 
 Charles VI, afterwards Queen of Eng- 
 land. HV. 
 
 Princess of France, dr.p. LLL. 
 
 principality. 1. According to some, a 
 person of the highest dignity, but in 
 Gent. II, 4, 152, it evidently means 
 something more. It was a common 
 Elizabethan word to signify a high 
 order among the angels, and that is 
 evidently its meaning here. In Romans 
 viii, 38, we find "nor angels, nor prin- 
 cipalities." Milton ("Paradise Lost," 
 Book VI) has : "Next upstood Nisrock 
 of Principalities the prime," Scot, in 
 his "Discoverie of Witchcraft," tells us 
 that principalities were the seventh of 
 the nine orders of angels. 
 2. In Ant. Ill, 13, 19, the word evidently 
 means the territory of a prince. 
 
 principals. The corner beams of a house. 
 Per. Ill, 2, 16. 
 
 princox. A pert young coxcomb, Rom. 
 I, 5, 88. 
 
 print. The phrase in print (LLL. Ill, 
 
 I, 173) means accurately. So in Gent. 
 
 II, 1, 175, / speak in print = to the 
 letter; with great precision. Dyce re- 
 marks that this phrase was not obsolete 
 even in the time of Locke, and quotes 
 from " Some Thoughts Concerning 
 Education " : " Who is not designed to 
 lie always in my young master's bed at 
 home and to have his maid lay all 
 things in print and tuck him in 
 warm." 
 
 When Mopsa declares that she loves 
 " a ballad in print o' life, for then we 
 are sure they are true," she gives ex- 
 pression to a feeling that seems to be 
 common at this day. Wint. IV, 4, 264. 
 Priscian. In the FL, the line LLL. V, 1, 
 31, reads : " Bome boon for boon, 
 prescian, a little scratched, 'twilserue." 
 In the Globe ed. the reading is: "Bon, 
 bon, fort bon, Priscian ! a little scratched, 
 'twill serve." In the g. a. text, it is : 
 *' Bone ? — bone for bene: Priscian a little 
 scratched, 'twill serve." This emend- 
 ation is by Theobald and has been ac- 
 cepted by Warburton, Johnson, Dyce, 
 Rolfe and others. It is probably the 
 
 true reading. For a discussion of the 
 passage see Rolfe's ed., p. 154. 
 
 The phrase, " Priscian a little 
 scratched " is a paraphrase of a common 
 expression, " Diminuis Prisciani caput," 
 which, as Theobald says, was applied to 
 such as speak false Latin. 
 
 Priscian was the most celebrated 
 Latin grammarian, and lived about 500 
 A. D., or somewhat before Justinian. 
 Of his work " Institutiones Grammati- 
 cae " over one thousand MS. copies were 
 made and deposited in all the great 
 libraries. It may fairly be said that 
 from the beginning of the sixth century 
 until recently, Priscian has reigned over 
 Latin grammar with almost as generally 
 recognised an authoi'ity as Justinian 
 has over Roman law. For an excellent 
 account of Priscian and his works see 
 " Encyclopaedia Britannica," Vol. XIX, 
 p. 748. 
 
 priser. A champion or challenger; one 
 who has taken prizes in athletic contests. 
 As. II, 3, 8. 
 
 prize, n. 1. Value; estimation. Cym. Ill, 
 6,76. 
 2. Privilege. 3HVI. 1,4, 59 ; do. II, 1, 20. 
 
 prize, V. To value ; to estimate. Ado. 
 Ill, 1, 90. 
 
 probal. Satisfactory; reasonable ; another 
 form of probable. Oth. II, 3, 347. 
 
 process. An account or detailed state- 
 ment. Hml. I, 5,38. Clark and Wright 
 think that perhaps the word has here 
 the sense of an official narrative, coming 
 nearly to the meaning of the French 
 proces verbal. 
 
 Procrus. A corruption of Procris, the 
 wife of Cephalus. Mids. V, 1, 200. See 
 Cephalus. 
 
 Proculeius, dr.p. Friend to Octavius 
 Caesar. Ant. 
 
 procurator. Substitute; proxy. 2HVI. 
 I, 1, 3. 
 
 procure. To cause ; to prevail with to 
 some end ; to bring. Rom. Ill, 5, 58. 
 
 prodigious. Portentous; in the nature 
 of a prodigy. Rom. I, 5, 143 ; Mids. V, 
 1, 419. Not necessarily monstrous as 
 some have it. 
 
PRO 
 
 239 
 
 PKO 
 
 proditor. A traitor. IHVI. I, 3, 31. 
 
 preface, inter j., means " Much good may 
 it do you!" 2HIV. V, 3, 30. 
 
 This expression, used in this sense, 
 seems to have been common in Sh. time. 
 It is so explained by Florio in his 
 "Second Frutes." 
 
 profane. Irreverent ; outspoken ; gross. 
 0th. I, 1, 11.5; II, 1, 165. 
 
 profanely. Grossly. Hml. Ill, 2, 34. 
 
 Progne. A mistake for Procne, the sister 
 of Philomela, q.v. The reference in 
 Tit. V, 2, 196, is to the killing of Itys 
 and the serving of his flesh to his father, 
 Tereus. 
 
 prognostication. The passage, in the 
 hottest day prognostication claims 
 (Wint. IV, 4, 817) is explained by John- 
 son as the hottest day foretold in the 
 almanac. Malone tells us that "al- 
 manacs were in Shakespeare's time 
 published under this title: "An Al- 
 manac and Prognostication made for 
 the year of our Lord God 1595." 
 
 progress. A journey made by a sovereign 
 through his dominions. Hml. IV, 3, 33. 
 
 project. To define ; to shape. Ant. V, 
 2, 121. 
 
 prolixious. Tedious ; causing delay. Meas. 
 II, 4, 163. 
 
 prologue arm'd. ' ' The prologue speakers 
 customarily wore black cloaks. There 
 are other instances in which they are 
 directed to appear in armour. One of 
 these is afforded by Ben Jonson's 
 Poetaster, the first part of the prologue 
 to which is spoken by Envy, who 
 ' descends slowly ' ; then, after ' the 
 third sounding,' ' as she disappears, 
 enter Prologue hastily in armour.' Jon- 
 son's Prologue was armed as if to defend 
 the poet against his detractors ; Shake- 
 speare's only to suit the martial action 
 of the play which he introduced." Grant 
 White. Troil. I, Prol. 23. 
 
 Prometheus. A famous Titan whose 
 name signifies "forethought." He 
 was the son of the Titan lapetus and 
 Clymene. On one occasion Jupiter 
 wanted to destroy the whole of man- 
 kind, whose place he proposed to fill 
 
 with an entirely new race of beings, 
 but Prometheus prevented the execution 
 of the scheme and saved mankind from 
 destruction. He is said to have stolen 
 fire from heaven and to have brought 
 it down to earth, where he instructed 
 men in its use. He also taught them 
 architecture, mathematics, astronomy, 
 writing, navigation, medicine, the art 
 of working metals and other useful 
 knowledge, but as he did all this against 
 the will of Jupiter, the latter ordered 
 Vulcan to chain him to a rock in Scy thia. 
 As he still remained rebellious, Jupiter 
 hurled both the rock and Prometheus 
 down to Tartarus. After a long time, 
 Prometheus returned to the upper world, 
 but only to endure a fresh course of 
 suffering, for he was now fastened to 
 Mount Caucasus and his liver devoured 
 by an eagle during the day, while at 
 night it was rene wed, so that he under- 
 went perpetual torment. Tit. II, 1, 17. 
 There is also a legend according to which 
 Prometheus created men out of earth 
 and water, at the very beginning of the 
 human race, or after the flood of Deu- 
 calion, and that he stole from heaven 
 the fire which endowed them with life. 
 It is to this legend that reference is 
 made in LLL. IV, 3, 304, and 0th. V, 
 2,12. 
 
 prompture. Instigation; suggestion. Meas. 
 II, 4, 178. 
 
 prone. 1. Eagerly ; ready. Cym, V, 4, 208. 
 2. Peculiar passage in Meas. I, 2, 188, 
 explained by some as "speaking fer- 
 vently and eagerly without words." 
 According to Malone, "prompt, sig- 
 nificant, expressive." Cotgrave defines 
 prone as "readie * * * easily mouing, " 
 and it is in this sense, no doubt, that Sh. 
 uses it. 
 
 proof. 1. Temper; impenetrability. Arm- 
 our of proof = armour hardened till it 
 will abide a certain trial. Johnson. 
 RII. I, 3, 73 ; RIII. V, 3, 219 ; Mcb. I, 
 2, 54. 
 2. Strength of manhood. Ado. IV, 1, 46. 
 
 propagation. This word occurs but once 
 in Sh. (Meas. I, 2, 154) and has given 
 
PEO 
 
 240 
 
 PRO 
 
 work to the corns., who have offered 
 several emendations. In the Fl. it is 
 propagation ; in the other Folios pro- 
 pagation ; Malone suggested proroga- 
 tion ; Jackson, procuration, and Grant 
 White, preservation. Marshall explains 
 it as improvement or increase, and this 
 is the sense which the verb {propagate) 
 has in All's. II, 1, 200; Rom. I, 1, 193, 
 and Tim. 1, 1, 67. Claudio and Julietta 
 were anxious to keep their marriage 
 secret so that Julietta's dower might 
 not be lost, it being still in the possession 
 of her friends. Other suggestions have 
 been offered, but in the face of this very- 
 forcible explanation emendations are 
 unnecessary. 
 
 propagate. 1. In Per. I, 2, 73, this word 
 has the usual meaning and is used in 
 the usual sense — to beget. 
 2. To improve ; to increase ; to augment ; 
 to advance. All's. II, 1, 200 ; Rom. I, 
 1, 193 ; Tim. I, 1, 67. 
 
 propend. To incline. Troil. II, 2, 190. 
 
 propension. Inclination. Troil. II, 2, 133. 
 
 proper. I. One's own; what specially 
 belongs to an individual. Tp. Ill, 3, 
 60 ; Tw. V, 1, 327. Proper deformity 
 seems not in the fiend so horrid as in 
 woman (Lr. IV, 2, 60) is thus explained 
 by Warburton : " Diabolic qualities ap- 
 pear not so horrid in the dev il, to whom 
 they belong, as in woman who unnatur- 
 ally assumes them." 
 
 In this sense it is evidently an adoption 
 of the French propre. 
 
 2. Appropriate; suitable; peculiar. Meas. 
 I, 1, 31 ; 2H1V. I, 3, 32 ; Hml. II, 1, 114 ; 
 Lr. IV, 2, f>0. 
 
 3. Honest ; respectable (used of women). 
 All's. IV, 3, 240 ; 2HIV. II, 2, 169. 
 
 4. Handsome; fine looking. Tp. II, 2, 
 63 ; As. Ill, 5, 51 ; RIII. I, 2, 255; 0th. 
 IV, 3, 35. Schm. confines the use of 
 the word in this sense to men, but in 
 As. lit, 5, 51, proper is applied to a 
 woman, and evidently in regard to her 
 physical qualities. 
 
 proper-false. Handsome and deceitful. 
 Tw. II, 2, 30. 
 Johnson strangely misunderstood this 
 
 passage and reversed its meaning. He 
 says : " The meaning is, how easy is 
 disguise to women; how easily does 
 their own falsehood, contained in their 
 waxen changeable hearts, enable them 
 to assume deceitful appearance." The 
 meaning of the passage is evidently just 
 the reverse of this. It is : How easy is 
 it for handsome and deceitful persons 
 to impress their forms on the hearts of 
 women. 
 
 property, n. 1. Ownership. Lr. I, 1, 
 116; Phoen. 37. 
 2. Scenes, dresses, etc., used in a theatre. 
 Wiv. IV, 4, 78 ; Mids. 1, 2, 108. Wright, 
 Clarendon ed., defines properties as "a 
 theatrical term for all the adjuncts of a 
 play except the scenery and the dresses 
 of the actors." This is probably tech- 
 nically correct, as it is understood by 
 theatre managers. 
 
 property, V. 1. Toendow with properties 
 or qualities. Ant. V, 2, 83. 
 2. To take possession of; to make pro- 
 perty of. Tw. IV, 2, 99 ; John V, 2, 79 ; 
 Tim. I. 1, 57. 
 
 Prophetess, Cassandra, the, dr.p. Troil. 
 See Cassandra. 
 
 propose, n. Conversation. Ado. Ill, 1, 12. 
 
 propose, V. 1. To place before; to pro- 
 mise as a reward. RIII. I, 2, 170 ; Caes. 
 I, 2, 110; Hml. Ill, 2, 204. 
 
 2. To call before the mind's eye ; to 
 imagine. 2HIV. V, 2, 92 ; Troil. II, 2, 
 146. Hence = to meet ; to encounter. 
 Tit. II, 1, 80. 
 
 3. To speak. Ado. Ill, 1, 3; Oth. 1, 1,25. 
 propinquity. Nearness ; kindred. Lr. I, 
 
 1, 116. 
 
 propriety. Individuality ; consciousness 
 of self . Tw. V, 1, 150. Hence = proper 
 state or condition. Oth. II, 3, 176. 
 
 propugnation. Means of opposition or 
 defence. Troil. II, 2, 136. 
 
 prorogue. To draw out ; to lengthen ; to 
 extend. Ant. II, 1, 26 ; Per. V, 1, 26. 
 
 Proserpina. The daughter of Jupiter 
 and Ceres. The Greek form of the name 
 is Persephone. Jupiter, without the 
 knowledge of Ceres, promised Proser- 
 pina to Pluto or Dis (Wint. IV, 4, 118), 
 
?B0 
 
 241 
 
 PUB 
 
 and as her mother objected to her going 
 down to Hades, Jupiter advised Pluto 
 to carry her ofJ. He accordingly seized 
 her while she was gathering flowers 
 with Diana and Minerva and bore her 
 away to his realms below the earth. 
 Ceres was absent when this happened, 
 but as soon as she missed her daughter 
 she sought for her all over the earth 
 with torches, until at last she discovered 
 the place of her abode. She also, in 
 her wrath, smote with sterility the fields 
 over which she passed, thus causing a 
 fearful famine upon the earth, nor 
 would she let the crops grow again until 
 Proserpina was restored to her. Jupiter, 
 pitying the sufferings of men, consented 
 that Ceres should have her child again, 
 provided the latter had eaten nothing 
 during her sojourn in Hades. But Pluto 
 had given her the kernel of a pomegran- 
 ate to eat, whereby she became doomed 
 to the lower world. It was, therefore, 
 agreed that she should spend part of 
 the year with her mother and part with 
 Pluto. 
 
 Even with the ancients, the story of 
 Proserpina was supposed to be sym- 
 bolical of vegetation, which during a 
 portion of the year is hid under the 
 earth, and when spring comes shoots 
 forth and reappears in all its glory. In 
 the mysteries of Eleusis the return of 
 Cora (i.e., maiden or daughter) from 
 the lower world was regarded as the 
 symbol of immortality, and hence she 
 was frequently represented on sar- 
 cophagi. In the mystical theories of 
 the Orphics she is described as tLe all- 
 pervading goddess of nature who both 
 produces and destroys everything. 
 . In works of art Proserpina is seen 
 very frequently ; she bears the grave 
 and severe character of an infernal 
 Juno, or she appears as a mystical 
 divinity with a sceptre and a little box, 
 but sbe was mostly represented in the 
 act of being carried off by Pluto. She 
 is referred to in Tp. IV, 1, 89. 
 Prosper©, dr.p. The rightful Duke of 
 Milan. Tp. See Sycorax. 
 
 Proteus, dr.p. A gentleman of Verona. 
 
 Gent. 
 Proteus. The Proteus referred to in 
 3HVI. Ill, 2, 192, was the herdsman of 
 Neptune and attended to the flocks of 
 that god, which, however, were not 
 sheep, but seals. He was also called 
 " the prophetic old man of the sea," 
 because he had the gift of foretelling 
 the future, and was also endowed with 
 the power of assuming various shapes. 
 His habit was to rise from the flood at 
 midday and sleep in the shadow of the 
 rocks of the coast while the monsters of 
 the deep lay around him. Any one 
 wishing to compel him to foretell the 
 future was obliged to catch hold of him 
 at that time ; he would then call into 
 play his power of assuming every pos- 
 sible shape and thus try to escape. But 
 whenever he saw that his endeavors 
 were of no avail, he resumed his usual 
 appearance and told the truth. When 
 he had finished his prophecy he returned 
 into the sea. In art he is sometimes 
 represented as riding through the sea 
 in a chariot drawn by Hippocampae. 
 
 proud-pied. Gorgeously variegated. Sonn. 
 XCVIII, 2. 
 
 provand. Food ; provender. Cor. II, 1, 
 267. 
 
 provincial. Belonging to or under the 
 jurisdiction of a province. Noi' here 
 provincial (Meas. V, 1, 318) = nor sub- 
 ject to the ecclesiastical authorities of 
 this province. Dyce. See Eoses. 
 
 provision. Foresight ; provident care. 
 Tp. I, 2, 28 ; Lr. I, 1, 176. 
 
 prune. 1. To dress up ; to adorn. LLL. 
 IV, 3, 183. 
 
 2 . To preen ; to dress or trim the feathers 
 as birds do. Cym. V, 4, 118. 
 
 Publius, dr.p. A Roman senator. Cses. 
 
 Publius, dr.p. Son to Marcus Andronicus. 
 Tit. 
 
 Publius. Who is your sister''s son, 
 Mark Antony. Caes. IV, 1, 6. This is 
 a mistake of the poet, as Upton has 
 shown ; the person meant, Lucius Caesar, 
 was uncle by the mother's side to Mark 
 Antony. 
 
PUC 
 
 d4d 
 
 PTJG 
 
 Pucelle, Joan La, dr.p. IHVI. LaPucelle 
 is French for the maid. PuceLle d'' Or- 
 leans = the maid of Orleans. See Joan 
 la. Pucelle. 
 
 Puck ^ dr. p. A fairy. Mids. 
 
 The name of Sh. "merry wanderer of 
 the night " is a modification of pouke — 
 an old name for the devil, and Keightley 
 tells us that " it is first in Sh. that we 
 find Puck confounded with the House- 
 spirit and having those traits of char- 
 acter which are now regarded as his 
 very essence." Of the origin of pouke 
 or Puck much has been written. In 
 Icelandic, Puki is an evil spirit, and this 
 name easily became Puck, Pug and Bug ; 
 and finally, in Friesland the Kobold 
 or evil spirit is called Puk. The pranks 
 to which this being is addicted are well 
 described in A Midsummer NighVs 
 Dream. To what is there said we may 
 add what Reginald Scot tells of him in 
 regard to his doing the work of those to 
 whom he took a liking : " Indeed, your 
 grandam's maids were wont to set a 
 bowl of milk before him (Incubus) and 
 his cousin Robin Goodf ellow for grind- 
 ing of malt or mustard and sweeping 
 the house at midnight ; and you have 
 also heard that he would chafe exceed- 
 ingly if the maid or good wife of the 
 house, having compassion on his naked- 
 ness, laid any clothes for him beside his 
 mess of white bread and milk, which 
 was his Standing fee; for in that case 
 he saith : 
 ' What have we here ? Hempten, 
 
 hamten, 
 Here will I never more tread nor 
 
 stampen.' " 
 About the year 1584 there was pub- 
 lished in London, by an unknown author, 
 a little work called " The Mad Pranks 
 and Merry Jests of Robin Goodf ellow," 
 and it is thought that from this book 
 Sh. derived some of his ideas of Puck. 
 In it we are told that Robin was the 
 offspring of " a proper young wench by 
 a hee-f ayrie, ' ' a king or something of that 
 kind among them. iBy the time he was 
 six years old he was so mischievous and 
 
 unlucky that his mother undertook to 
 give him a whipping and he ran away. 
 After various adventures, he lay down 
 to sleep by the wayside, and in his sleep 
 he had a vision of fairies. When he 
 awoke, he found lying beside him a 
 scroll, evidently left by his father, 
 which, in verses written in letters of 
 gold, informed him that he should have 
 any thing he wished for, and have also 
 the power of turning himself "to horse, 
 to hog, to dog, to ape," etc., but he was 
 to harm none but knaves and queans, 
 and was to " love those that honest be, 
 and help them in necessitie." 
 
 Amongst many other adventures, he 
 came to a farmer's house and took a 
 liking to a "good handsome maid " that 
 was there. In the night he did her 
 work for her, breaking hemp and flax, 
 bolting meal, etc. Having watched one 
 night and seen him at work, and ob- 
 served that he was rather bare of clothes, 
 she provided him with a waistcoat by 
 the next night, but when he saw it he 
 started and said : 
 
 "Because thou layest me himpen 
 
 hampen 
 I will neither bolt nor stampen. 
 'Tis not your garments, new or old. 
 That Robin loves ; I feel no cold. 
 Had you left me milk or cream. 
 You should have had a pleasing dream; 
 Because you left no drop or crum, 
 Robin never more will come." 
 
 Those who are interested in this 
 curious department of folk-lore will find 
 much interesting matter in Keightley's 
 "Fairy Mythology " and Dyer's " Folk- 
 Lore of Shakespeare," from which we 
 have condensed the above account. 
 
 pudding. HeHl yield the crow a pudding 
 (HV. II, 1, 91) = he will become food 
 for crows — a rude way of intimating 
 that he has not long to live. 
 
 puddle. To make muddy ; to befoul ; . 
 metaphorically, to confuse. Err. V, 1, 
 173; Oth. Ill, 4, 143. 
 
 pudency. Modesty. Cym. II, 5, 11. 
 
 pugging. Of this word, as it occurs in 
 Wint. IV, 3, 7, Johnson says: " It is 
 
PTII 
 
 243 
 
 PUB 
 
 certain that ' pugging ' is not now under- 
 stood. But Dr. Thirlhy observes that 
 this is the cant of gipsies." It is not 
 found in the slang glossaries with any 
 meaning applicable to this passage, the 
 cant meaning of pug being inferior. It 
 is generally defined as thievish, and it 
 is supposed to be used in the same way 
 that we speak of a person's having "a 
 sweet tooth " when he is fond of sweets. 
 Another interpretation of the passage 
 is this : Autolycus, thinking of the 
 white sheets which he sees on the hedges, 
 has his appetite for ale sharpened when 
 he thinks how he might steal the sheet 
 and at the ale-house exchange it for a 
 quart of ale. And Furness thinks that 
 the connection between sheets and ale 
 in this passage is confirmed by the 
 following quotation from The Three 
 Ladies of London (Hazlitt's ed. of 
 "Dodsley,"p. 347): 
 
 Our fingers are lime-twigs, and barbers 
 
 we be, 
 To catch sheets from hedges, most 
 
 pleasant to see ; 
 Then to the ale-wife roundly we set 
 
 them to sale, 
 And spend the money merrily upon 
 
 her good ale. 
 
 But all this does not explain "pug- 
 ging." Collier thinks it is a misprint 
 for prigging, and in this he is perhaps 
 right. For various other suggestions 
 see Furness's ed. of The Winter''s Tale, 
 p. 164. 
 
 puisny. Unskilful. As. Ill, 4, 44. 
 
 puissance. 1. Strength. HV. Ill, Chor. 
 21 ; 2HVI. IV, 2, 173. 
 2. Armed forces. John III, 1, 339 ; 2HIV. 
 1,3,9; RIII. V, 3, 299. 
 
 puke-stocking. Puke = dark - colored ; 
 perhaps puce. IHIV. II, 4, 79. 
 
 pump. A light shoe. Rom. II, 4, 64. 
 See roses. 
 
 pun. To beat ; to pound. Troil. II, 1, 42. 
 This word still survives in the dialects 
 of some of the counties of England. 
 
 punished. For the fate of the surviving 
 characters, as referred to in Rom. V, 3, 
 808, see nurse. 
 
 punto. A stroke or thrust ; a term in 
 fencing. Wiv. II, 3, 26. 
 
 punto reverso. A back-handed stroke in 
 fencing. Rom. II, 4, 28. According to 
 Saviola "you may give him [your 
 adversary] a punta either dritta or 
 ri versa." 
 
 purchase, n. 1. A cant term for stolen 
 goods. IHIV. II, 1, 101 ; RIII. Ill, 7, 187. 
 2. Profit; gain; advantage. Fer.,Prol. 9. 
 The expression found in Tw. IV, 1, 24, 
 after fourteen years purchase, evi- 
 dently means at a high rate or price. 
 "Fourteen (or any other number of) years 
 purchase " is a technical term, much used 
 in England in the purchase or sale of 
 land, but almost unknown in the United 
 States. It means a present sum equal 
 to the entire rent for fourteen years. It 
 seems that the current rate in Sh. time 
 was about twelve years purchase, so 
 that fourteen years would be a rather 
 high rate. 
 
 purcliase, v. 1. To acquire; to obtain. 
 
 As. Ill, 2, 360 ; in Cor. II, 1, 155, true 
 
 purchasing =d.esert earned by exertion. 
 
 2. Obtained by unfair means. 2HIV. IV, 
 
 5, 200. Dyce. 
 
 Puritan. An adherent of the sect which 
 intended to restore the Church to the 
 pure form of apostolic times ; generally 
 disliked and ridiculed by the young 
 bloods of the time. All's. I, 3, 56 ; Tw. 
 II, 3, 152 ; Wint. IV, 3, 46. See horn- 
 pipe. 
 
 purl. To curl ; to run in circles. Lucr. 
 1407. 
 
 purlieus. The grounds on the borders of 
 a forest. As. IV, 3, 77. 
 
 purples, long. " This is the early purple 
 orchis (orchis mas cula), which blossoms 
 in April and May ; it grows in meadows 
 and pastures, and is about ten inches 
 high ; the flowers are purple, numerous 
 and in long spikes. The poet refers 
 to another name by which this flower 
 was called by liberal shepherds, and 
 says that 
 Cold maids did [do] dead men'' s fingers 
 call them. 
 From this I consider that the cold maids 
 
PXFE 
 
 244 
 
 PYG 
 
 mistook one of the other orchids, having 
 palmated roots, for long purples. The 
 orchis mascula has two bulbs, and is 
 in many parts of England called by a 
 name that liberal shepherds used, and 
 which is found in the herbals of Shake- 
 speare's time. The spotted palmate 
 orchis {orchis maculata) and the marsh 
 orchis [orchis latifolia) have palmated 
 roots and are called ' dead men's fingers, ' 
 which they somewhat resemble." Beis- 
 ley's " Shakspere's Garden." The vari- 
 ous names given to this plant in the 
 herbals are too gross for repetition ; 
 Malone tells us that one of the grosser 
 names which Gertrude had a particular 
 reason to avoid was the rampant widow. 
 Hml. IV, 7. 170. 
 
 purple-in-grain. A color obtained from 
 the kermes or coccus, an insect which 
 feeds on oak and various other plants. 
 It was very durable and was so manip- 
 ulated as to give a great number of 
 different shades. For a discussion of 
 grain in the sense of a dye, the reader 
 will do well to consult Marsh's "Lec- 
 tures on the English Language " (revised 
 ed.), pp. 56-65. Also Furness's New 
 Variorum ed. of A Midsummer NighVs 
 Dream, p. 41. See also grain in ap- 
 pendix to this book. 
 
 pursy. Fat and shortwinded. Hml. Ill, 
 4, 153. Cotgrave gives : " Poulsif : 
 Pursie, shortwinded."*^ 
 
 push. 1. An emergency ; a special occa- 
 sion. Wint. V, 3, 129; Mcb. V, 3, 20. 
 Schm., following Delius, defines push 
 in the first quotation as: "an impulse 
 given; a setting in motion." But, as 
 Furness says, the explanation given 
 above, which is that of the Clarkes, 
 " seems to be the best." 
 2. An expression of contempt; an old form 
 of " pish ! " Ado. V, 1, 38. Boswell and 
 some others think that push here means 
 defiance, resistance ; but Collier's ex- 
 planation, which we adopt, seems to be 
 preferred by the best English coms. 
 
 push-pin. A childish game. LLL. IV, 
 3, 169. 
 
 put over. To refer. John I, 1, 62. 
 
 putter-on. 1. Inventor ; author. flVllI. 
 I, 2, 24. 
 2. Instigator. Wint. II, 1, 141. 
 
 putter-out. Schm. defines this as "one 
 who goes abroad," but this is certainly 
 wrong. The phrase : Each putter out 
 of fine for one, as it stands in the Fl., 
 Tp. Ill, 3, 48, alludes to a practice which 
 was common in Sh. time, and which, as 
 Furness says, "in effect reverses [the 
 practice of] the modern Travellers'' 
 Insurance Companies.'''' It is fully ex- 
 plained in Jonson's Every Man out of 
 His Humour, II, 1, where Puntarvolo 
 says : " I do intend, this year of jubilee 
 coming on, to travel ; and because I will 
 not altogether go upon expense, I am 
 determined to put forth some five thou- 
 sand pound, to be paid me five for one. 
 upon the return of myself, my wife and 
 my dog from the Turk's court in Con- 
 stantinople. If all or either of us mis- 
 carry in the journey, 'tis gone; if we 
 be successful, why, there will be five 
 and twenty thousand pound to entertain 
 time withal." 
 
 Objection has been made to the ex- 
 pression of five for one, and some have 
 claimed that it should be one for five. 
 Theobald emended to on five for one, 
 but the phrase seems to have been one in 
 common use, and well understood to 
 mean " at the rate of five for every one 
 put out." For a full discussion see 
 Furness's ed. p. 179. 
 
 puttock. A kite. 2HVI. Ill, 2, 191 ; 
 Cym. I, 1, 140. 
 
 puzzel. A hussy ; a foul drab. IHVI. I, 
 4, 107. The word is from the Italian 
 puzzolente, and was in common use in 
 Sh. time. Sometimes spelled pussle. 
 The play on pucelle, a chaste maid, and 
 puzzel, a foul drab, is obvious. 
 
 Pygmalion. A famous king of Cyprus. 
 He was a skilful sculptor and is said to 
 have fallen in love with the ivory image 
 of a maiden which he himself had made. 
 At the festival of Venus he prayed to 
 the goddess that the statue might be 
 endowed with life. His prayer was 
 granted, and Pygmalion married the 
 
PYG 
 
 245 
 
 PYR 
 
 animated image which he so loved, and 
 she became by him the mother of Paphus. 
 The name given to the image- maiden is 
 Gralatea in the modem vei*sions of the 
 legend, but it is apocryphal. Meas. 
 Ill, 2, 48. 
 
 The editor of the " Century Cyclo- 
 paedia of Names" confounds the Pyg- 
 malion of the image legend with an 
 entirely different character, Pygmalion, 
 the brother of Dido and the murderer 
 of Acerbas or Sichseus, the husband of 
 the latter. See Dido. 
 Pygmies. A race of dwarfs who were 
 so called because their height was that 
 of a pygnie, a Greek measure equal to 
 the distance between the elbow and the 
 hand. According to Homer they had 
 every year to sustain a war against the 
 cranes on the banks of Oceanus, which 
 was supposed by the ancients to be a 
 huge river encompassing the earth. 
 Various stories are told of them, such 
 as that they cut down each stalk of 
 wheat viith an axe. When Hercules 
 came into their country they climbed 
 with ladders to the edge of his goblet 
 to drink from it, and when they attacked 
 the hero, three whole armies combined 
 in the assault. Ovid relates that CEnoe, 
 the mother of the pygmies, was changed 
 by Juno into a crane because she entered 
 into a contest with the goddess, and in 
 this form she was obliged to make war 
 upon her own people. 
 
 There was also a legend of northern 
 pygmies who lived in the neighborhood 
 of Thule; they are described as very 
 short lived, small and armed with spears 
 like needles. Another account tells of 
 a race of Indian pygmies who lived under 
 the earth on the east of the river Ganges. 
 Aristotle did not believe that the 
 accounts of the pygmies were altogether 
 fabulous, but that they were a tribe in 
 Egypt who had exceedingly small horses 
 and dwelt in caves. And modern dis- 
 covery has revealed the existence of 
 African races of dwarfish size, but 
 nothing comparable to that of the old 
 legends. Ado. II, 1, 278. 
 
 It is quite probable that like many 
 other myths, that of the pygmies was 
 originally based on the accounts given 
 by travelers of people who really existed, 
 these accounts being afterwards dis- 
 torted and magnified by the poets. 
 
 pyramides. A pyramid. Ant. V, 2, 61. 
 
 pyramis. A pyramid. IHVI. I, 6, 21. 
 
 Pyramus, dr. p. A character in the inter- 
 lude. Mids. 
 
 The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is 
 found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, and 
 is not by any means a burlesque as 
 originally told. The lovers lived in ad- 
 joining houses in Babylon and often 
 conversed secretly with each other 
 through an opening in the wall, as their 
 parents would not sanction their marri- 
 age. The rendezvous at the tomb of 
 Ninus (or Ninny as Bottom calls him), 
 the lion and all the rest are pretty much 
 as set down in the play. Ovid relates 
 that Thisbe, with her last breath, com- 
 manded the mulberry tree, under which 
 she and her dead lover lay, to bear 
 thenceforth black fruit instead of white, 
 and that the gods so decreed. 
 
 Pyrrhus. The Pyrrhus mentioned in Hml. 
 II, 2, 472, et seq. , was the son of Achilles, 
 and was so called either because of his 
 fair hair or because his father, when 
 disguised as a girl, bore the name of 
 Pyrrha. He was also called Neoptole- 
 mus. He was brought up in Scyros in 
 the palace of Lj'comedes, and was 
 brought thence by Ulysses to join the 
 Greeks in the war against Troy, Helenus 
 having prophesied that Neoptolemus 
 and Philoctetes were necessary for the 
 capture of Troy. He was one of those 
 concealed in the wooden horse. When 
 Troy was taken he killed Polites, a son of 
 Priam, before the eyes of the latter, 
 and when the old king upbraided him 
 for this act, Pyrrhus brutally slew him 
 also at the sacred hearth of Jupiter, and 
 then sacrificed Polyxena to the spirit of 
 his father. When the Trojan captives 
 were distributed among the conquerors, 
 Andromache, the widow of Hector, was 
 given to Pyrrhus, and by her he became 
 
PYX 
 
 246 
 
 atTA 
 
 the father of Molossus, the ancestor of 
 the Molossian kings. He was finally 
 slain at Delphi, but the circumstances 
 connected with his death are variously 
 related, 
 Pythagorus. A celebrated philosopher, 
 the events of whose life are shrouded in 
 the mists of antiquity. The date of his 
 birth is placed at about 582 B.C., and 
 that of his death about 80 years later. 
 He was born in Samos in Greece, and 
 ultimately settled at Crotona, one of 
 the Dorian colonies in the south of 
 Italy. Here he founded the Pythagorean 
 brotherhood. He is said to have been 
 the discoverer of several valuable geo- 
 metrical truths, the most important 
 being that known as the Pythagorean 
 proposition. It form s the f am ou s f or ty- 
 seventh proposition of the first book of 
 Euclid, that the square on the hypoth- 
 enuse of a right-angled triangle is equal 
 to the sum of the squares erected on the 
 sides. But the doctrine by which he is 
 most generally known is that of the 
 metempsychosis or transmigration of 
 
 souls, an idea probably adopted from 
 the Orphic mysteries. The bodily life 
 of the soul, according to this doctrine,, 
 is an imprisonment suffered for sins 
 committed in a former state of exist- 
 ence. At death the soul reaps what it 
 has sown in the present life. The re- 
 ward of the best is to enter the cosmos, 
 or the higher and purer regions of the 
 universe, while the direst crimes re- 
 ceive their punishment in Tartarus. 
 But the general lot is to live afresh in a 
 series of human or animal forms, the 
 nature of the bodily prison being deter- 
 mined in each case by the deeds done in 
 the life just ended. Xenophanes men- 
 tions the story of his interceding on 
 behalf of a dog that was being beaten, 
 professing to recognise in its cries the 
 voice of a departed friend. He himself 
 is said to have pretended that he had 
 been Euphorbus in the Trojan war, as 
 well as various other characters — a 
 tradesman, a courtezan, etc. Merch. 
 IV, 1, 131; As. Ill, 2, 187; Tw. IV, 2, 
 54. See rat and verse. 
 
 ^^^^•jUAIL, w. 1. A bird somewhat 
 ^^Y/»V resembling our American quail, 
 ^j^^^^ or, as it is sometimes called, 
 'S^ifr^ l partridge (Bob White), but 
 rather smaller. The ancients trained 
 them to fight just as the moderns train 
 gamecocks. Ant. 11,3, 37. ^eeinhooped. 
 2. Cant term for a loose woman. Troil. 
 V, 1, 57. 
 quail, V. 1. To quell; to crush. Mids. 
 V, 1,292; Ant. V, 2, 8,5. 
 2. To faint ; to slacken ; to be terrified. 
 As. II, 2, 20 ; IHIV. IV, 1, 39; Cym. V, 
 5, 149. 
 
 In the lines : And let not search and 
 inquisition quail To bring again these 
 foolish runaways (As. II, 2, 20), it has 
 been suggested that quail is a misprint 
 for fail, and certainly the latter word 
 
 seems most appropriate. But Cotgrave 
 makes quaile and faile synonymous. 
 Douce cites from The Choise of Change 
 the following line in support of the 
 claim that quail means to slacken, re- 
 lax, diminish: "Thus Hunger cureth 
 love, for love quaileth when good 
 cheare faileth." But quail here may 
 mean to become afraid, its usual sig- 
 nification. 
 quaint. 1. Neat ; pretty ; dainty. Wiv. 
 IV, 0, 41 ; Shr. IV, 3, 103; Mids. II, 2, 7. 
 2. Ingenious ; clever ; artful. Tp. I, 2, 
 316; Merch. Ill, 4, 69; Shr. Ill, 2, 149; 
 2HVI. Ill, 2, 274. 
 
 " The word is derived from the Latin 
 cognitus, which in old French became 
 coint. Cotgrave gives ' Coint * * * 
 Quaint, compt, neat, fine, spruce, brisk. 
 
QUA 
 
 247 
 
 aTTA 
 
 smirke, smug, daintie, trim, tricked 
 vp.' " Wright. 
 
 quaintly. Prettily; daintily; pleasantly. 
 Gent. II, 1, 128 ; III, 1, 117 ; Hml. II, 
 1, 31. 
 
 quake. To cause to tremble. Cor. I, 9, 
 6. Steevens quotes from T, Heywood, 
 Silver Age (1613): "We'll quake them 
 at that bar where all souls wait for 
 sentence." Whitelaiv. 
 
 qualification. Appeasement; pacification. 
 Whose qualification shall come into 
 no true taste again (0th. II, 1, 282) = 
 "whose resentment shall not be so 
 qualified or tempered, as to be well 
 tasted, as not to retain some bitterness." 
 Johnson. 
 
 qualify. To moderate ; to soften. Lucr. 
 424; Meas. I, 1, 66; John V, 1, 13 ; Lr. 
 I, 2, 176; 0th. II, 3, 41 (slily mixed 
 with water). 
 
 quality. 1. Profession ; calling. Gent. 
 IV, 1, 58 ; Meas. II, 1, 59 ; Hml. II, 2, 363. 
 
 2. Rank. Lr. V, 3, 120 ; V, 3, 111 ; HV. 
 IV, 8, 95. 
 
 3. Cause ; occasion, Troil. IV, 1, 44 ; 
 Tim. Ill, 6, 117. 
 
 Peculiar passage in IHIV. IV, 3, 36 ; 
 probable meaning : are not of our kind, 
 i.e., of our party. 
 quantity. Besides the usual meanings, 
 we have: 1. Proportion; corresponding 
 degree. Mids. 1, 1, 232 ; Hml. Ill, 2, 177. 
 2. Very small portion. Shr. IV, 3, 112 ; 
 JohnV, 4, 23. 
 
 Falstaff says (2HIV. V, 1, 70) : If I 
 were sawed into quantities [little 
 pieces] / should make four dozen of 
 such bearded herm.its staves as Master 
 Shallow. 
 quarrel. Cause ; suit. 2HVI. Ill, 2, 233. 
 
 The passage in HVIII. II, 3, 14, if 
 that quarrel fortune do divorce it 
 from the bearer, has occasioned much 
 discussion. Warburton takes quarrel 
 to mean arrow. This makes good sense. 
 Johnson reads "quarreler," and other 
 emendations have been suggested. Quar- 
 rel, in the sense of arrow, is used by 
 Spenser, and in "Hakluji^'s Voyages " 
 we find : " A servaunt * * * was found 
 
 shooting a quarrellof a crossbow with a 
 letter." The "Century Dictionary" 
 gives " quarrel = quarreler," but with- 
 out any authority except this passage, 
 which seems hardly suflScient. 
 
 In Mcb. I, 2, 14, the sentence. And 
 Fortune on his damned quarrel smil- 
 ing has given rise to comments which 
 fill a full page of the "New Variorum. " 
 Johnson explains quarrel here as cause, 
 a meaning which it has in other passages. 
 Others read "quarry." But the sense 
 of the above and the following line 
 seems to be that Fortune, while she ap- 
 peared to smile on his accursed cause, 
 deceived him (Macdonwald). 
 
 In the Fl. the reading is Quarry; 
 Johnson proposed quarrel, and Fur- 
 ness adopts this reading. The word 
 quarrel is used by Hollinshed in the 
 very passage which Sh. here used : " For 
 out of the Western Isles there came 
 unto him a great multitude of people, 
 offering themselves to assist him in 
 that rebellious quarrel, and out of 
 Ireland in hope of the spoil came no 
 small number of Kernes and GaUow- 
 glasses." 
 
 Numerous attempts have been made 
 to trace the origin of Touchstone's dis- 
 sertation on quarrels in As. V, 4, 94 : O, 
 Sir, we quarrel in print by the book, 
 etc. It seems that the " bloods " of Sh. 
 time studied the art of duelling as laid 
 down in several books which had been 
 published on the subject. Warburton, 
 Malone and others give the titles of 
 some of them, and some endeavor to 
 point out the particular book which Sh. 
 had in view, but it is more than probable 
 that reference was made to no special 
 treatise, but to the general fact that the 
 science of quarreling and the art of 
 self-defence were favorite studies with 
 those whom Theobald calls " the boister- 
 ous Gallants in Queen Elizabeth's 
 reign." 
 quarrelous. Disposed to quarrel; quarrel- 
 some. Cym. Ill, 4, 162. 
 quarry. As used by Sh. signifies a heap 
 of slaughtered game. Cor. I, 1, 202; 
 
QUA 
 
 348 
 
 auE 
 
 Mcb. I, 2, 14 ; do. IV, 3, 206 ; Hml. V, 
 2, 375. 
 
 This word is derived from the French 
 (yiirie, which Cotgrave defines as "a 
 (dogs) reward ; the hounds fees of, or 
 part in, the game they have killed." 
 The word was also written cuyerie, and 
 came into English in the form of querre 
 or querry. {Defendre la curee, to keep 
 the dogs from the game till it was 
 properly prepared for them). From 
 this it came to mean simply the slain 
 animal. This is certainly better than 
 the derivation from carree^ the square 
 enclosure into which the game was 
 driven. Whitelaw. 
 
 quart d'ecu. A quarter of a French 
 crown or fifteen pence. All's. IV, 3, 311 ; 
 V, 2, 35. See cardecue. 
 
 quarter, n. This word, as used in Err. 
 II, 1, 108, and 0th. II, 3, 180, is explained 
 by Schm. as peace ; friendship ; concord. 
 Others think it means at the appointed 
 station or post. To keep fair quarter 
 with his bed can hardly mean to keep 
 peace with his bed, but rather to keep 
 the set appointment with his bed ; to V>e 
 in his proper place. The plural, quartern 
 = lodging or encampment. 
 
 quarter, v. 1 . To place the arms of an- 
 other family in the compartments of a 
 shield. Wiv. I, 1, 24. 
 2. Lodged; stationed. RIII. V, 3, 34; 
 Caes. IV, 2, 28. 
 
 Behold their quartered fires (Cym. 
 IV, 4, 18) = their camp fires ; the fires 
 burning in their quarters. 
 
 quartered. Slaughtered. Cor. I, 1, 205. 
 
 quat. A pimple. 0th. V, 1, 11. Seesen.s*^. 
 
 quatch-buttock. Squat or flat buttock. 
 All's. II, 2, 19. 
 
 queasy. 1. Squeamish ; nauseated. Ado. 
 II, 1,399; Ant. Ill, 6,20. 
 2. Ticklish ; nice. Lr. II, 1, 19. 
 
 queasiness. Nausea; disgust. 2HIV. I, 
 1, 196. 
 
 Queen, dr.p. Wife to Cymbeline. Cym. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, dr.p. Wife to Edward 
 IV. 3HVI. and RIII. 
 
 Married Sir John Grey, and after- 
 wards Edward IV. The tree in Whittle- 
 
 bury Foi-est, near Grafton, under which 
 Elizabeth waited, with her two young 
 sons, to petition King Edward for the 
 restitution of their father's lands, is 
 still known as the Queen's oak. 
 
 Queen Isabella, dr.p. Wife to Richard 
 II. RII. 
 
 Queen Katharine (of Aragon), dr.p. Wife 
 to Henry VIII. HVIII. 
 
 Queen Margaret (of Anjou), dr.p. Wife 
 to Henry VI. IHVI., 2HVI., 3HVI. 
 and RIII. 
 
 quell. Murder. Mcb. I, 7, 72. 
 
 quench. To grow cool. Cym. I, 5, 47. 
 
 quern. " A handmill for grinding corn 
 [wheat] made of two corresponding 
 stones. It is one of our oldest words 
 and with slight variations is found in 
 all northern languages." Brockett. 
 Mids. II, 1, 36. 
 
 Delius makes quern = churn, but this 
 is unquestionably wrong. Johnson sees 
 a difficulty in the fact that the Fairy 
 mixes up good and bad acts by Puck, 
 but we must remember that she is re- 
 counting all his tricks, as he himself does 
 in The Pranks of Puck., as reprinted in 
 Percy's "Reliques." f^ee Puck. 
 
 quest. 1. A search. Per. Ill, Prol. 21. 
 
 2. A body of searchers. 0th. I, 2, 46. 
 
 3. Inquiry. Meas. IV, 1, 62. 
 
 4. Inquest ; an impanelled jury. RIII. 
 I, 4, 189; Hml. V, 1, 24. 
 
 questant. A seeker ; aspirant. All's. II, 
 
 1, 16. 
 
 question, n. 1. Conversation. As. Ill, 
 4, 37; Merch. IV, 1, 73. 
 2. The subject of conversation or inquiry. 
 Ai}y constant question (Tw. IV, 2, 53) 
 = settled, determinate, regular question. 
 Johnson. The question of his death 
 is enrolled in the Capitol. Caes. Ill, 2, 
 40. " The word question is here used 
 in a somewhat peculiar sense. It seems 
 to mean the statement of the reasons." 
 Craik. 
 Cry out on top of question (Hml. II, 
 
 2, 356) = recite at the very highest 
 pitch of their voices. 
 
 ^Tis the way To call hers exquisite^ 
 in question more. Rom. I, 1, 235. The 
 
QUE 
 
 249 
 
 QUI 
 
 usual explanation of this passage is "to 
 make her unparalleled beauty more the 
 subject of thought and conversation." 
 Malone. And he further adds that 
 question here does not mean to doubt 
 or dispute, but conversation. On the 
 other hand we must remember that the 
 passage is a reply by Romeo to Ben- 
 volio's advice to compare Rosaline with 
 others ; it seems to me, therefore, that 
 a correct paraphrase of Romeo's speech 
 would be : " The way to make her beauty 
 appear superior to others is to call it 
 more in question by comparing them." 
 question, v. To converse ; to talk. Lucr. 
 
 questionable. That may be questioned 
 or talked with; inviting conversation. 
 Hml. I, 4, 43. 
 
 questrist. One who goes in quest or 
 search of another. Lr. Ill, 7, 17. 
 
 queubus. A nonsensical word probably 
 used by the clown and quoted by Sir 
 Andrew in Tw. II, 3, 25; bombastic 
 language manufactured by Feste ; big 
 words without any sense. 
 
 quick. 1. Alive; living. Wiv. Ill, 4, 90 ; 
 Tim. IV, 3, 44 ; Hml. V, 1, 137. 
 
 2. Lively; sprightly. LLL. I, 1, 162; 
 RIII. I, 3, 5 ; Ant. V, 2, 216. 
 
 3. In action, as running springs of water. 
 Tp. Ill, 2, 75. 
 
 4. Pregnant. LLL. V, 2, 682. 
 
 5. The quick = the sensitive nerves. 
 Hml. II, 2, 636. 
 
 quicken. 1. To come to life. Lr. Ill, 
 7, 39 ; 0th. Ill, 3, 277 ; Ant. IV, 15, 39. 
 2. To bring to life. Tp. Ill, 1,6; AU's. 
 II, 1, 77. 
 
 Quickly, Mrs., dr. p. Hostess of a tavern 
 and afterwards wife to Pistol. IHIV., 
 2H1V. and HV. 
 
 Quickly, Mrs., dr. p. Maid of all work to 
 Dr. Caius ; "in the manner of his nurse, 
 or his dry nurse, or his cook, or his 
 laundry, his washer, and his wringer." 
 Wiv. I, 2, 3, et seq. 
 
 quiddit, I Equivocation; subtlety; cavil. 
 
 quiddity, f IHIV. 1, 2, 51 ; Hml. V, 1, 107. 
 
 quid for quo. Tit for tat. IHVl. V, 3, 
 109. 
 
 quietus. Final settlement of an account ; 
 audit. Sonn. CXXVI, 12; Hml. Ill, 1, 75. 
 From the law term, quietus est, used 
 in the settlement of accounts. 
 
 quill. Pipe; voice. Mids. Ill, 1, 131. 
 The wren with little quill == the wren 
 with small voice or note. In this passage 
 Schm. makes it " the strong feather of 
 the wing of a bird." But it certainly 
 has not that meaning here. cf. Milton's 
 "Lycidas," line 188: 
 He touched the tender stops of various 
 
 quills. 
 In the quill = all together ; in a body. 
 2H VI. 1, 3, 4. There has been considerable 
 diversity of opinion in regard to the 
 meaning of this phrase. In the coil or 
 confusion ; in proper form, i.e., as ruffs, 
 etc., were quilled; penned or written, 
 just as we say, in print, etc., etc. But 
 Ainsworth, in his "Latin Dictionary" 
 (1761), explains in the quill by "acting 
 in concert" (ex compacto agunt), and 
 in the Devonshire Danisefs Frolic, 
 where a bevy of girls are described as 
 swimming close together, we find : 
 Thus those females were all in a quill 
 And following on their pastimes still. 
 
 quillet. A sly trick in argument ; chi- 
 canery. LLL. IV, 3, 288 ; IHVI. II, 4, 
 17; Hml. V, 1, 108 ; 0th. Ill, 1, 25. 
 
 Quince, dr. p. The carpenter. Mids. 
 
 quintain. A post or figure set up for 
 tyros in chivalry to practise at. At 
 first it was a mere post ; then a figure 
 dressed like a Saracen ; afterwards it 
 was made more complicated and turned 
 round on a pivot or axis. The object 
 of this was that if the horseman did not 
 direct his lance with sufficient dexterity 
 to strike the figure fair in the center it 
 would turn round and give the awkward 
 tilter a blow with the wooden sword 
 which it held in its hand. This was 
 considered a disgrace to the horseman 
 and was a source of great merriment to 
 the spectators. As. I, 2, 263. 
 
 Quinapalus. An author of whom nothing 
 is known. The name was evidently 
 manufactured for the occasion by Festa. 
 Tw. I, 5, 31. 
 
QUI 
 
 BAG 
 
 Quintus, dr. p. Son to Titus Andronicus. 
 Tit. 
 
 quip. A sharp jest ; a taunt. Gent, IV, 
 2, 12 ; Ado. II, 3, 249 ; As. V, 4, 79. 
 
 quire, n. 1. A company. Mids. II, 1, 
 55 ; 2H VI. I, 3, 92. 
 2. A place for singers. Cym. Ill, 3, 43. 
 
 quire, v. To sing in concert. Merch. V, 
 1, 62 ; Cor. Ill, 2, 113. 
 
 quirlc. 1 . A sudden turn ; an evasion. 
 Per. IV, 6, 8. 
 
 2. A shallow conceit. Ado. II, 3, 258 ; 
 0th. II, 1, 63. 
 
 quit. To repay ; to requite ; to pay off. 
 Meas. V, 1, 416; 3HVI. Ill, 3, 128 ; Hml. 
 V, 2, 68; V, 2, 280. 
 
 quital. Requital ; retaliation. Lucr. 236. 
 
 quittance, n. 1. A discharge from obliga- 
 tion or debt, Wiv. 1, 1, 10; As. Ill, 5, 133. 
 2. Return; acquital. HV. II, 2, 34; 
 Tim. I, 1, 291. Rendering faint quit- 
 tance (2HIV. I, 1, 108) = giving faint 
 return of blows. Ail use of quittance 
 (Tim. I, 1, 291) = all the customary re- 
 turns made in discharge of obligations. 
 Warhurton. 
 
 quittance, v. To requite ; to retaliate. 
 IHVI. II, 1, 14. 
 
 quiver, adj. Nimble ; active. 2HIV. Ill, 
 
 2, 301. 
 quoif. A cap or hood generally worn by 
 
 women and sick people. Wint. IV, 4, 
 
 226 ; 2HIV. I, 1, 147. 
 quoit. To pitch as one does a quoit. 
 
 2HIV. II, 4, 205. 
 quondam. Former ; that used to be. HV. 
 
 II, 1, 82, Quondatn day (LLL. V, 
 
 I, 7) = yesterday. The play occupies 
 two days according to Daniel, and 
 this speech was made on the second 
 day. 
 
 quote. 1. To note; to observe, Gent. 
 
 II, 4, 18 (a pun upon quote and coat). 
 Troil. IV, 5, 233 ; Hml. II, 1, 112; Rom. 
 
 1, 4, 31, 
 
 2. To construe ; to interpret. LLL. V, 
 
 2, 796, 
 
 3. To note ; to set down as in a note- 
 book, LLL, II, 1, 246 ; All's. V, 3, 205 ; 
 John IV, 2, 222. 
 
 quotidian. A fever whose paroxysms 
 return every day. As. Ill, 2, 383, 
 
 In HV. II, 1, 124, the Hostess speaks 
 of a burning quotidian Tertian^ thus 
 mixing up big words so as to make 
 nonsense. See Tertian. 
 
 ^ THE eighteenth letter. Rom. 
 
 II, 4, 223. 
 Even in the days of the 
 
 Romans, R was called the 
 dog's letter from its resemblance in 
 sound to the snarling of a dog. Lucilius 
 alludes to it in a fragment, and Ben Jon- 
 son, in his "English Grammar," says 
 that R "is the dog's letter, and hurreth 
 in the sound ; the tongue striking the 
 inner palate with a trembling about 
 the teeth." 
 rabato. A kind of ruff or band (French 
 rabat). Ado. Ill, 4, 6. " Menage saith 
 it comes from rabattre, to put back, 
 because it was at first nothing but the 
 collar of the shirt or shift turned back 
 towards the shoulders. " Hawkins. 
 
 rabbit-sucker. A young rabbit. IHIV. 
 II, 4, 480. 
 
 Some editors make rabbit-sucker = a 
 weasel, but in Lyly's "Endymion " we 
 find : " I prefer an old coney before a 
 rabbit-sucker. " The context shows that 
 a young rabbit was meant. Weasels 
 were not hung by the heels in con- 
 nection with poulter's hares." See 
 poulter. 
 
 rabblement. The rabble. Cses. I, 2, 
 245. 
 
 race. A root. Wint. IV, 3, 50. cf. raze. 
 
 rack, n. Floating vapor ; a cloud. Sonn. 
 XXXIII, 6; Tp. IV, 1, 156; Hml. II, 
 2, 506 ; Ant, IV, 14, 10, 
 
 rack, V. 1. To move as clouds. 3HVI. 
 II, 1, 27. 
 
BAD 
 
 251 
 
 KAN 
 
 2. To extend; to stretch ; to strain. Ado. 
 
 IV, 1,222; Merch. I, 1,181. 
 
 In LLL. V, 2, 828, the word rack'd, 
 which is the reading of the old eds., 
 seems inexplicable. Rowe emended to 
 rank, which seems the true meaning. 
 cf. Hml. Ill, 3, 36: O, my offence is 
 rank, it smells to heaven. 
 
 raddock. See ruddock. 
 
 rag. A terra of contempt applied to 
 persons. Wiv. IV, 2, 194 ; Shr. IV, 3, 
 112 ; RIII. V, 3, 328 ; Tim. IV, 3, 271. 
 
 raged. Chafed. RII. II, 1, 70. 
 
 raging=wood. Raving mad. IHVI. IV, 
 7, 35. cf. wood. 
 
 rake, n. This well-known implement was 
 the symbol of leanness, probably because 
 in that condition the ribs showed regu- 
 larly like the teeth of a rake. In Cor. 
 
 I, 1, 21, there is probably a play on the 
 words inkes and rakes, both being 
 used in agriculture, one for gathering 
 together, the other (pike or pitch-fork) 
 for tossing into place. 
 
 rake, v. 1. To search for as with a rake. 
 HV. II, 4, 87 and 97. 
 
 2. To cover up. Before the invention 
 of lucifer matches, fu'es were " raked " 
 every night, i.e., covered with ashes or 
 culm so that they would keep in all 
 night. See Wiv. V, 5, 48 : Where fires 
 thou find''st unrak''d, etc. Lr. IV, 6, 
 281 : here in the sands thee Fll rake up. 
 
 Rambures, dr.p. A French lord, HV. 
 
 ramp. A wanton wench. Cym. I, 6, 134, 
 The meaning given by Schm. is "a 
 leap," a definition which utterly des- 
 troys the sense of the passage. Cotgrave 
 gives " Rampeau. Droict de ramp. A 
 priuiledge, or power, to lecher." Mid- 
 dleton and Dekker use the word in the 
 sense we have given : 
 The bouncing ramp, that roaring girl, 
 my mistress. 
 
 —Roaring Girl, III, .3. 
 
 rampallian. A term of low abuse. 2HIV. 
 
 II, 1, 67. Probably formed from the 
 word ramp, q.v. 
 
 rampant. Rearing ; standing on the hind 
 legs as if preparing to spring. 2HVI. 
 
 V, 1, 203. 
 
 ramping. Rampant ; or it may have the 
 sense in which Chaucer uses ranipen, 
 "to rage, be furious with anger. " IHIV. 
 Ill, 1, 152. 
 
 rank, n. The expression : The right 
 butter-women'' s rank to market (As. Ill, 
 2, 103) has puzzled the coms. , but here, 
 as in many other passages, although the 
 precise definition of some of the words 
 may be subject to doubt, the general 
 meaning of the passage is clear enough. 
 Touchstone means to ridicule the sing- 
 song cadences of Orlando's rhymes. 
 Various emendations have been pro- 
 posed for rank, such as rate, rant, 
 racke, etc. Whiter says: "The right 
 butter- women's rank to market ' means 
 the jog-trot rate (as it is vulgarly called) 
 with which butter-women uniformly 
 travel one after another in their road 
 to market; in its application to Orlando's 
 poetry it means a set or string of verses 
 in the same coarse cadence and vulgar 
 uniformity of rhythm." Here rank 
 means row or file. 
 
 rank, adj. 1. Swollen. Ven. 71. 
 
 2. Lustful; rutting, Merch. I, 3, 81. 
 
 3. Strong, in the sense of offensive, noi- 
 some, rancid. Sonn, LXIX, 12 ; Wiv. 
 Ill, 5, 93 ; Hml, III, 3, 36 ; Tw, II, 5, 136. 
 
 4. Luxuriant ; gross. HV. V, 2, 45 ; Hml. 
 Ill, 4, 152 ; Lr. IV, 4, 3. 
 
 The passage in As. IV, 1, 85, I should 
 think my honesty ranker than my wit, 
 has puzzled the coms. Schm. defines 
 ranker here as "greater;" this seems 
 to me the very opposite of what is 
 meant. Collier's MS. Corrector changes 
 to "I should thank my honesty rather 
 than my wit," a reading which White 
 says has found some favor, but which 
 Dyce condemns. Fumess, after quoting 
 these three, leaves the matter where he 
 finds it. 
 
 It seems to me that the meaning is 
 not far to seek. Rank here has the 
 sense of strongly offensive ; rancid ; and 
 Cotgrave has " Ranci : Mustie, fustie, 
 reasie, restie, tainted, stale, putrified, 
 wafted, stinking, unsauorie, ill-smell- 
 ing." Rosalind evidently means that 
 
EAN 
 
 252 
 
 BAU 
 
 she would think her honesty more 
 tainted than her wit. 
 
 The line 0th. II, 1, 315, which in the 
 g. a. text, reads : Abuse him to the 
 Moor in the rank garb (the reading of 
 the Quartos), is right garb in the Folios, 
 Bank is defined by Malone as " lascivi- 
 ous " ; Steevens, " grossly, i.e., without 
 mincing the matter"; Rolfe, "in the 
 coarsest fashion. " Furness thinks that 
 the' reading of the Folio is the true one : 
 " lago's plans are not yet settled, all is 
 'but yet confused,' details will depend 
 on circumstances as they arise ; the 
 main point is to get Cassio on the hip 
 and then abuse him to the Moor in the 
 right garb, in the best fashion, what- 
 ever that fashion maybe." For garb 
 = fashion, see Lr. II, 2, 104, and Hml 
 II, 2, 390. 
 
 ransom, v. 1. To redeem. Err. I, 1, 23 
 
 Cym. V, 5, 85. 
 2. To release for ransom. LLL. I, 2, 64 
 Cor. I, 6, 36. 
 
 rap. To transport with emotion. Cym 
 I, 6, 51 ; Cor. IV, 5, 122 ; Mcb. I, 3, 57 
 Tim. V, 1, 67. 
 
 rapture. 1. A fit; a passion. Cor. II, 1, 235, 
 2. A violent seizure. Per. II, 1, 161. 
 
 rarely. Early. Sometimes spelt r early 
 Kins. IV, ], 110. 
 
 rascal. A deer lean and out of season 
 As. Ill, 3, 58. 
 
 " Certain animals, not accounted as 
 beasts of chace, were so termed * * * 
 the hart, until he was six years old, was 
 accounted rascayle.''^ Way. After 
 wards applied to men. 
 
 rascal-like. Like lean and worthless deer 
 IHVI. IV, 2, 49. 
 
 rash. To strike as does a boar with his 
 fangs. Percy, in the glossary to the ' ' Re- 
 liques of Ancient English Poetry," says : 
 *' Rashing seems to be the old hunting 
 term to express the stroke made by the 
 wild boar with his fangs, " It occurs in 
 some eds. of Sh. in Lr. Ill, 7, 58 {sticke 
 in the Fl.) ; RIII. Ill, 2, 11. (Generally 
 rased.) 
 
 rat. A well-known animal with which 
 many superstitions are connected. Thus, 
 
 in Tp. I, 2, 147, Prospero says of the 
 old hulk aboard which he was placed 
 that the very rats instinctively had 
 quit it. This is a universal superstition 
 amongst sailors. So, too, with houses ; 
 i*ats are said to forsake a house that is 
 in danger of falling. These ideas may 
 have arisen from the fact that rats are 
 quite sensitive to any unusual motion 
 indicating weakness in a structure. Rats 
 are also known to migrate in large 
 numbers from one barnyard to another, 
 and even from one part of a country to 
 another. The same is true of squirrels. 
 That they have a motive for this, the 
 reason of which we may not be able 
 to see, is beyond question. The supply 
 of food and drink are probably great 
 incentives to such migrations. A story 
 is told of a cunning Welsh captain who 
 wanted to get rid of rats that infested 
 his ship, then lying in the Mersey at 
 Liverpool. Having found out that there 
 was a vessel laden with cheese in the 
 basin, and getting alongside of her 
 about dusk, he left all his hatches open 
 and waited till all the rats were in his 
 neighbor's ship and then moved off. 
 See tail and verses. 
 
 Ratcliff, Sir Richard, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 He was the " rat " of CoUingbourne's 
 rhyme (see Catesby) and was such a 
 cruel, bloodthirsty wretch that he was 
 called "the jackall" of Richard, He 
 shared his master's fate at the battle of 
 Bosworth, 
 
 rat-catcher. A cat; a pun on Tybalt's 
 name, Rom, III, 1, 78, See Tybalt 
 and Prince of Cats. 
 
 rate, n. Estimate. Tp. I, 2, 92 ; II, 1, 
 109 ; Mids. Ill, 1, 157. 
 
 In the latter passage it probably 
 means rank or worth. 
 
 rate, v. 1. To apportion. Ant. Ill, 6, 25. 
 2. To equal in value. Ant. Ill, 11, 69. 
 
 ratolorum. Slender's blunder for rotu- 
 lorum. Wiv. I, 1, 8. 
 
 raught. Reached; an old form of the 
 past tense and participle of the verb to 
 reach. LLL, IV, 2, 41 ; HV. IV, 6, 21 ; 
 3HVI. I, 4, 68 ; Ant. IV, 9, 30, 
 
BAV 
 
 253 
 
 BED 
 
 ravel. To unravel. RII. IV, 1, 228; 
 
 Hml. Ill, 4, 186. 
 ravined. Gorged with prey. Mcb. IV, 
 
 I , 24. Mason thought that it meant the 
 opposite, starved, but the word seems 
 to have been used by writei-s of that 
 period in the sense that we have given. 
 
 ravish'd. Snatched from. Kins. II, 2, 22. 
 rawly. "Without due preparation and 
 
 provision. HV. IV, 1, 147. 
 rawness. Unprepared and unprovided 
 
 condition. Mcb. IV, 3, 26. 
 rayed. 1. Defiled; dirtied. Shr. IV, 1,3. 
 2. Afflicted; sick. Shr. Ill, 2, 54. 
 raze, n. A root or, perhaps, a package. 
 
 IHIV. II, 1, 27. 
 razed. Slashed or streaked in patterns. 
 
 Hml. Ill, 2, 293. 
 reach. Far sightedness. We of wisdom 
 
 and of reach = we who are endowed 
 
 with wisdom and reach. Hml. II, 1, 
 
 64. cf. We of taste and feeling. LLL. 
 
 IV, 2, 30. 
 rear-mouse. See rere-mouse. 
 rearward. The last troop ; the rearguard. 
 
 IHVI. Ill, 3, 33. Figuratively in Sonn. 
 
 XC, 6; Rom. 111,2, 121. 
 reason. 1. To converse; to talk. Merch. 
 
 II, 8, 27 ; John IV, 3, 29 ; RIII. IV, 4, 
 537. 
 
 2. To argue ; to debate. HV. V, 2, 165; 
 Lr. V, 1, 28. 
 
 rebate. To blunt; to take off the edge. 
 Meas. I, 4, 60. 
 
 rebeck. A three-stringed fiddle. Used 
 as a name in Rom. IV, 5, 135. 
 
 recheat. " A recall or retreat ; from the 
 old French recept or recet. A hunting 
 term for a certain set of notes sounded 
 on the horn to call the dogs off. In 
 Ado. I, 1, 243, the meaning is: '"I will 
 supply horns for such a purpose " 
 (Nares), i.e., for sounding a recheat, 
 alluding, of course, to the threadbare 
 joke of the cuckold's horns. For a full 
 discussion of recheat, see Fumess's 
 "New Variorum," Ado. p. 32. 
 
 receipt. 1. The thing received ; money. 
 RII. 1,1,126; Cor. 1,1,116. 
 2. Capacity; power of receiving. Sonn. 
 CXXXVI, 7. 
 
 3. Receptacle ; a place for receiving and 
 containing anything. HVIII. II, 2, 139 ; 
 Mcb. I, 7, 66. 
 
 receive. 1. To accept (intellectually) ; to 
 acknowledge ; to believe. Gent. V, 4, 
 78; Meas. I, 3, 16; Tw. Ill, 4, 212; 
 Mcb. I, 7, 74. 
 
 2. To understand. Meas. II, 4, 82 ; re- 
 ceiving = capacity or rmderstanding. 
 Tw. Ill, 1, 131. 
 
 reck. To heed ; to care ; to mind. Ven. 
 283; As. II, 4, 81 ; Hml. I, 3, 51 ; Cym. 
 IV, 2, 154. 
 
 record. 1. To witness. Tit. I, 1, 255 ; 
 Tim. IV, 2, 4. 
 
 2. To sing. Gent. V, 4, 6 ; Per. IV, 
 Prol. 27. 
 
 recordation. Remembrance. 2HIV. II, 
 3, 61; Troil. V, 2,- 116- In the latter 
 instance, perhaps = recall to mind. 
 
 recorder. A kind of flute or flageolet. 
 Mids. V, 1, 123 ; Hml. Ill, 2, 303. 
 
 recourse. Frequent flowing. Troil. V, 
 3, 55. The word is evidently used here 
 in its radical or etymological sense. 
 
 recover the wind. To get the windward 
 of the game so that it may not scent 
 the hunter and thus prevent him from 
 approaching it and driving it into the 
 toil. Hml. Ill, 2, 368. 
 
 recure. To restore to health ; to heal. 
 Ven. 465 ; Sonn. XLV, 9 ; RIII. Ill, 7, 
 130. cf. unrecuring. 
 
 rede. Advice ; counsel. Hml. I, 3, 51. 
 This word is stiU in use in Scotland. 
 Compare the closing lines of Burns's 
 " Epistle to a Young Friend " : 
 And may ye better reck the rede 
 Than ever did th' adviser 1 
 
 red-lattice. It is said that a lattice 
 window painted red was formerly a 
 common distinction of an alehouse; 
 hence, red-lattice phrases = alehouse 
 talk. 2HIV. II, 2, 86. Other colors 
 seem also to have been used, as appeai-s 
 from the following note by Gifford on 
 the Green Z/a^^ice mentioned in Jonson's 
 Every Man in His Humour: " In our 
 author's time the windows of alehouses 
 were furnished with lattices of various 
 colors (glass, probably, was too costly 
 
BED 
 
 254 
 
 BEG 
 
 and too brittle for the kind of guests 
 which frequented them). Thus we hear 
 of the red, the blue and in this place of 
 the Green Lattices. There is a lane in 
 the city yet called Green-lettuce (lattice) 
 Lane, from an alehouse which once stood 
 in it ; and Serjeant Hall, in The Tatler, 
 directs a letter to his bi'other at the Red 
 Lettace (lattice) in Butcher Row." May 
 not different alehouses have been dis- 
 tinguished by different colors, and may 
 not the "Red Lattice" have had the 
 reputation of being low ? 
 
 red plague. According to Steevens == 
 the erysipelas ; Dr. Krautt believes it 
 to be the leprosy. In the "General 
 Practise of Physicke " (1605), p. 675, 
 three different kinds of the plague-soi-e 
 are mentioned — 'sometimes it is red, 
 other whiles yellow, and sometimes 
 blacke, which is the very worst and 
 most venimous.' " Halliwell. Tp. I, 2, 
 364; Troil. II, 1, 20; Cor. IV, 1, 13. 
 
 reduce. 1. To bring back; HV. V, 2, 
 63 ; RIII. V, 5, 36. 
 
 2. To bring ; to convey. RIII. II, 2, 68. 
 In all these instances the word bears 
 the etymological meaning, 
 
 reed, n. Any tall, broad-leaved grass 
 growing on the margins of streams or 
 other wet places. The common reed 
 was extensively used for thatching 
 buildings, and the dripping rain falling 
 from the eaves furnishes a striking 
 simile in Tp. V, 1, 17. 
 
 Musical pipes were also made of the 
 hollow stems of reeds ; hence, simile in 
 Merch. Ill, 4, 67. See eaves and eaves- 
 dropper. 
 
 reed, adj. Piping. Merch. Ill, 4, 67. 
 See reed, n. 
 
 re-edify. To rebuild. RIII. Ill, 1, 71. 
 This is the radical or etymological 
 meaning of the word. 
 
 reek, n. Smoke ; vapor. Wiv. Ill, 3, 86 ; 
 Cor. Ill, 3, 121. The word reek (both 
 as noun and verb) is still used in Scot- 
 land. The city of Edinburgh is known 
 as *' Auld Reeky " from the great 
 quantity of smoke produced by the com- 
 bustion of bituminous coal. 
 
 reek, v. To emit smoke or vapor ; to per- 
 spire. Ven. 555; LLL. IV, 3, 140; 
 HVIII. II, 4, 208 ; Lr. II, 4, 30. 
 
 reeky. Smoky ; squalid ; stinking. Rom. 
 IV, 1, 83 ; Ado. Ill, 3, 143. 
 
 reeling ripe. See ripe. 
 
 refel. To refute. Meas. V, 1, 94. 
 
 refer, v. refl. 1. To appeal. Wint. Ill, 2, 
 116; 0th. 1,2,64. 
 
 2. To have recourse to. Meas. Ill, 1, 255. 
 
 3. To devote one's self to ; to give one's 
 self up. Cym. I, 1, 6. 
 
 Regan, dr. p. Daughter to King Lear. Lr. 
 
 regiment. Government ; sway. Ant. Ill, 
 6, 95. 
 
 region. 1. A tract of country ; a neigh- 
 bourhood ; a locality. IHVI. II, 1, 9 ; 
 Cor. IV, 6, 102 ; Lr. I, 1, 147. 
 2. Place; rank; station; dignity. Wiv. 
 111,2,75; Cym. V, 4, 93. 
 
 The word, as it occurs in Hml. II, 2, 
 509, is thus explained by the " Clarendon 
 Press" ed. : "Originally, a division of 
 the sky marked out by the Roman 
 augurs. In later times the atmosphere 
 was divided into three regions — upper, 
 middle and lower." And this meaning 
 has been generally given to the word in 
 this passage, as also in line 509 of same 
 act and scene, and in Rom. II, 2, 21. 
 But the usual meaning, viz., a locality, 
 a tract, seems to fit all these cases. The 
 "region kites" may mean simply the 
 kites of that neighborhood ; Hamlet cer- 
 tainly does not mean all the kites that 
 frequent the upper regions of the whole 
 atmosphere. So, too, in Rom. II, 2, 21 ; 
 the very expression "airy region" 
 shows that region did not specially de- 
 note the air in Sh. mind. 
 
 Reignier (Ren6e), dr.p. Duke of Anjou. 
 IHVL 
 
 regreet, n. Salutation ; greeting. Merch. 
 
 II, 9, 89 ; John III, 1, 241. 
 
 regreet, v. 1. To greet again ; to re- 
 salute. RII. I, 3, 142. 
 2. To greet ; to salute. RII. I, 3, 67. 
 reguerdon, n. Reward ; requital. IHVI. 
 
 III, 1, 170. 
 
 reguerdon, v. To reward. IHVI. Ill, 
 4,23. 
 
REJ 
 
 255 
 
 REN 
 
 rejourn. To adjourn. Cor. II, 1, 80. 
 
 relative. Applicable ; pertinent ; conclu- 
 sive. Hml. II, 2, 633. 
 
 Symons truly observes that the best 
 comment which has been made on these 
 lines is to be found in Mr. Irving's 
 acting. This is described by Marshall, 
 in his "Study of Hamlet," as follows : 
 " He takes his tablets out of his pocket 
 before speaking the words — 
 
 I'll have grounds 
 More relative than this. 
 The precise meaning of the word ' this ' 
 and what it refers to, never seemed very 
 clear ; but this action explains it. In 
 the first act, after the Ghost has left 
 him, it will be remembered that Hamlet 
 has written down in his tablets that 
 Claudius was a villain. These same 
 tablets he holds now in his hand; in 
 them he is going to put down some ideas 
 for the speech which he intends to in- 
 troduce into the play to be performed 
 before Claudius with the object of 
 making 
 
 his occulted guilt 
 * * * itself unkennel. 
 
 Can there be any more natural action 
 than this, that he should touch those 
 tablets with the other hand while he 
 
 I'll have grounds 
 More relative than this, 
 
 i.e., 'than this record of my uncle's 
 guilt which I made after the interview 
 with my father's spirit.' " 
 
 relume. To light again. 0th. V, 2, 13. 
 
 remainders. In the passage Cym. 1, 1, 129, 
 it is obvious that by good remainders 
 Posthumus means those that are to abide 
 at the court. Evans thinks that there is 
 a touch of irony here, and points it out 
 thus : " Posthumus prays for a blessing 
 on the good people left at court when 
 it was relieved of the burden of his un- 
 worthiness." Surely this is a mistake. 
 Imogen, his wife whom he worshipped, 
 was there. Did he throw his ironical 
 slurs at her ? There was no thought of 
 irony or of his own unworthiness, as 
 Schm. suggests, but an expression of 
 
 feeling for the loved ones he was com- 
 pelled to leave. 
 
 remediate. Medicinal ; able to furnish a 
 remedy. Lr. IV, 4, 17. 
 
 remember. To remind. Sonn. CXX, 9 ; 
 Wint. Ill, 2, 231 ; IHIV. V, 1, 32 ; Lr. 
 
 I, 4, 72. cf. learn. 
 
 remorse. Pity. Meas. II, 2, 54 ; Hml. 
 
 II, 2, 513 ; Lr. IV, 2, 73. 
 
 This word, as it occurs in 0th. Ill, 3, 
 468, And to obey shall be in me remorse, 
 is not easily explained, and it has been 
 suggested that the passage is probably 
 corrupt. In the same act and scene, 
 line 369, the word remorse would seem 
 to mean conscience rather than pity, 
 and it may have the same meaning here. 
 
 remorseful. Tender-hearted ; compassion- 
 ate. Gent. IV, 3, 13; 2HVL IV, 1, 1; 
 RIII. I, 2, 156. 
 
 remotion. Removal ; keeping aloof ; non- 
 appearance. Tim. IV, 3, 346 ; Lr. II, 
 4, 115. 
 
 remove, n. A post stage. All's. V, 3, 131. 
 
 removed. 1. Remote ; sequestered. Meas. 
 
 1, 3, 8 ; As. Ill, 2, 360 ; Hml. I, 4, 61. 
 2. The passage in As. V, 4, 71, a lie seven 
 
 times removed, is explained by Schm. 
 as "seven steps in the scale of grada- 
 tion." Perhaps, however, the word is 
 here used in its radical sense and means 
 simply, repeated — re-moved, each time 
 becoming more offensive than the pre- 
 ceding. For a full discussion of the 
 whole passage, see the "New Variorum " 
 of Furness. 
 
 As it occurs in IHIV. IV, 1, 35 : On 
 any soul removed but on his own, 
 Johnson explains as : " On any less 
 near to himself ; on any whose interest 
 is remote. ' ' 
 
 render. Statement ; account. Cym. IV, 
 4, 11. 
 
 renege. To renounce ; to deny. Lr. II, 
 
 2, 84 ; Ant. I, 1, 8. Still in use in this 
 country as a term in card-playing. 
 
 renown. Goodness; praise worthy quality. 
 
 Cym. V, 5, 202. 
 rent. To rend ; to tear. Mids. Ill, 2, 215. 
 renying. Denying ; disowning ; becoming 
 
 a renegade. Pilgr. 250. 
 
REP 
 
 256 
 
 RET 
 
 repair. To comfort. All's. I, 2, 30. 
 repasture. Food. LLL. IV, 1, 96. 
 
 A sense somewhat similar to repast, 
 
 i.e., a meal. 
 repeal, n. Recall from exile. Gent. Ill, 
 
 1, 234 ; Cor. IV, 1, 41. 
 repeal, v. To recall from exile. Gent. 
 
 V, 4, 143 ; RII. II, 2, 49. 
 replenished. Consummate. Wint. II, 1, 
 
 78 ; RIII. IV, 3, 18. 
 replication. 1. Echo; reverberation. Caes. 
 
 I, 1, 50. 
 
 2. Answer. Hml. IV, 2, 13. 
 report. Reputation. Cym. Ill, 3, 57. 
 reportingly. On hearsay. Ado. Ill, 1, 116. 
 reprisal. Prize. IHIV. IV, 1, 118. 
 reprobation. Perdition. 0th. V, 2, 209. 
 
 In some eds. the word here is repro- 
 
 bance. q.v. 
 reprobance. Perdition ; damnation. 0th. 
 
 V, 2, 209. 
 reproof. 1. Refutation. IHIV. I, 2, 213. 
 
 Troil. I, 3, 33 ; Cor. II, 2, 37. 
 
 2. Contradiction. HV. IV, 1, 216; Per. 
 I, 2, 42. 
 
 3. Check ; reprimand. As. V, 4, 82. 
 repugn. To oppose ; to resist. IHVI. IV, 
 
 1,94. 
 
 repugnancy. Opposition. Tim. Ill, 5, 46. 
 
 requiem. Mass for the dead, so called 
 because it begins with the words, " Re- 
 quiem eternam dona eis, Domine." 
 Hml. V, 1, 260. 
 
 rere-mouse. A bat. (Plural, rere-mice). 
 Mids. II, 2, 4. 
 
 The word is a form of the Anglo- 
 saxon hrere-mus, hrere being from 
 • hreran, to stir, to agitate. The name 
 corresponds to the old word flitter- 
 niouse, which is used by Jonson in the 
 Alchemist, V, 2 : 
 
 My fine flitter-mouse. 
 My bird o' the night. 
 Schm. gives rear-mouse as the correct 
 mode of spelling, but this is decidedly 
 wrong. 
 
 reserved. As it occurs in Cym. 1, 1, 87, 
 Johnson explains the expression thus: 
 "I say I do not fear my father, so far 
 as I may say it without breach of duty." 
 
 resolutes. Desperadoes. Hml. I, 1, 98. 
 
 respect, n. 1. Deliberation ; reflection. 
 Lucr. 275; LLL. V, 2, 792; John IV, 2, 
 214. 
 
 2. Reason ; consideration. Ado. II, 3, 
 176; RIIL III, 7, 175; Hml. Ill, 1, 68. 
 
 The passage in Merch. V, 1, 99, No- 
 thing is good, I see, without respect, 
 evidently means that the good or bad 
 qualities of things depend upon circum- 
 stances. 
 
 respect, v. Misapplied by Elbow and 
 Pompey instead of suspect. Meas. II, 
 1, 169 ; do. 176, 177, 183, 184. 
 
 respective. 1. Caring for; regardful. 
 Merch. V, 1, 156; Rom. Ill, 1, 128. 
 2. Worthy of being cared for. Gent. 
 
 IV, 4, 200. 
 
 respectively. Respectfully. Tim. Ill, 1, 8. 
 responsive. Correspondent ; suited. Hml. 
 
 V, 2, 159. 
 
 'rest. To arrest. Err. IV, 2, 42. 
 
 rest. " To set up one's rest," meaning 
 that the speaker is perfectly determined 
 on a thing, is "a metaphor taken from 
 play, where the highest stake the parties 
 were disposed to venture was called the 
 rest. To appropriate this term to any 
 particular game, as is sometimes done, 
 is extremely incorrect. ' ' Gilford's note 
 in "Massinger's Works." The expression 
 occurs quite frequently in Sh. Lr. I, 
 1, 125; Merch. 11,2, 110. 
 
 The metaphor is generally said to be 
 taken from the play of primero, a game 
 at cards. Dowden, in a note on Rom. 
 IV, 5, 6, says : " As I understand it, the 
 stake was a smaller sum, the rest a 
 larger sum, which if a player were con- 
 fident (or desperate) might all be set or 
 set uj), that is, be wagered. In the 
 game of primero, played in dialogue, in 
 the 'Dialogues' (p. 26) appended to 
 Minsheu's 'Spanish Dictionary.' 'two 
 shillings form the stake, eight shillings 
 the rest.' Florio explains the Italian 
 restare, ' to set up one's rest, to make 
 a rest, or play upon one's rest at pri- 
 mero.' " 
 
 resty. Lazy ; slothful. Cym. Ill, 6, 84. 
 
 retail. To tell ; to hand down. 2HIV. I, 
 
KET 
 
 257 
 
 RHE 
 
 retire, n. 1. Retreat. IHIV. II, 3, 54; 
 
 Cor. I, 6, 3 ; Cym. V, 3, 40. 
 2. Return. Lucr. 573 ; John II, 1, 253. 
 retire, v. 1. To return. Van. 906 ; Troil. 
 
 I, 3, 281. 
 
 2. To answer. Troil. I, 3, 54. 
 
 3. To withdraw. RII. II, 2, 46. 
 reverb. To echo ; to resound. Lr. I, 1, 156. 
 reverence. This word, as used by Sh., 
 
 has in general the usual signification, 
 viz., respect and veneration. In some 
 cases, as in HV. 1, 2, 20, it is used towards 
 church dignitaries much as the word 
 *' worship " is used towards judges, etc. 
 — a sort of title of honor. As it occurs 
 in As. I, 1, 54, it has called forth a long 
 note in most annotated editions. Thus, 
 after quoting the passage, Warburton 
 remarks as follows : " This is sense, 
 indeed, and may be thus understood — 
 The reverence due to my father is, in 
 some degree, derived to you, as the 
 first-born — but I am persuaded that 
 Orlando did not here mean to compli- 
 ment his brother, or condemn himself ; 
 something of which there is in that 
 sense. I rather think he intended a 
 satirical reflection on his brother, who 
 by letting him feed with his hinds, 
 treated him as one not so nearly related 
 to old Sir Robert * as himself was. I 
 imagine, therefore, Shakespear might 
 write, — albeit your coming before ine 
 is nearer to his Revenue, i.e., though 
 you are no nearer in blood, yet it must 
 be owned, indeed, you are nearer in 
 estate." 
 
 There was no irony here; it was all 
 sober earnest, and Orlando spoke strictly 
 according to the facts as they were 
 recognised in England. The eldest son 
 inherited the title and honors and these 
 carried the revenues, so that War bur- 
 ton's alteration is no improvement. 
 
 Caldecott's explanation is evidently 
 the true one. He makes nearer to his 
 
 * A strange mistake, seeing that the true 
 name. Sir Rowland, occurs only five 
 lines lower down. Warburton prob- 
 ably had old Sir Robert Faulconbridge 
 in his mind. 
 
 reverence = "more closely and directly 
 the representative of his honours ; the 
 head of the family, and thence entitled 
 to a larger proportion of derivative 
 respect ; so Prince Henry to his father : 
 My due from thee is this imi)erial 
 
 crown, 
 Which, as immediate from thy place 
 
 and blood, 
 Derives itself to me. 
 
 2HIV. IV,5,41,e<seg." 
 In regard to Oliver's sudden outburst 
 of violence, Furness says: "It is evi- 
 dently the irony in the tone, whatever 
 the word, which inflames Oliver." But 
 surely no irony was needed. It was 
 Orlando's direct and bitter upbraidings 
 (no irony about them) that excited 
 Oliver into the attempt to lay violent 
 hands on his brother. 
 revolt. A deserter. John V, 2, 151 ; V, 
 
 4, 7 ; Cym. IV, 4, 6. 
 Reynaldo^ dr. p. Servant to Polonius. Hml. 
 rlieum. 1. Tears. Ado. V, 2, 85 ; Hml. 
 II, 2, 529. 
 
 2. Saliva. Merch. I, 3, 118. 
 
 3. Rheumatism. Meas. Ill, 1, 31. This 
 is the usual explanation, but it is 
 possibly wrong. See rheumatic. 
 
 rheumatic. Malone (Variorum ed.. Vol. 
 V, p. 216) says: "Rheumatic diseases 
 signified in Sh. time not what we now 
 call rheumatism, but distillations from 
 the head, catarrhs, etc. " In the Sydney 
 " Memorials " it is said of the health of 
 Sir Henry Sydney that " He hath verie 
 much distemporid divers pai-ts of his 
 bodie ; as, namelie, his hedde, his 
 stomack, etc. And thereby is always 
 subject to distillacions, coughes and 
 other rumatick diseases." And in Hol- 
 land's " Translation of Pliny's Natural 
 History," bk. XIX, cap. 23, occurs: 
 " And these are supposed to be singular 
 for thoses fluxes and catarrh es which 
 take a course to the belly and breed 
 fluxes called by the Greeks Eheu- 
 matisms.^" Mids. II, 1, 105. 
 
 The accent is on the first syllable, as 
 in Ven. 135 : 
 
 O'erwom, despised, rheumatic and cold. 
 The word is used blunderingly by Mrs. 
 
RH£ 
 
 268 
 
 EIC 
 
 Quickly in H V. II, 3, 40. It is not very 
 clear what word she meant to use ; 
 lunatic and fanatic have been sug- 
 gested ; perhaps erratic. 
 
 Rhesus. A son of King Eioneus in Thrace 
 and an ally of the Trojans in their war 
 with the Greeks. He possessed horses 
 white as snow and swift as the wind, 
 which were carried off by night by 
 Ulysses and Dioniedes, the latter of 
 whom murdered Rhesus himself in his 
 sleep. 3HVI. IV, 2, 20. 
 
 Rhodope. A famous Greek courtezan of 
 Thracian origin. Her name signifies 
 "the rosy-cheeked," and she was a 
 fellow slave with -lEsop, the poet, both 
 of them belonging to ladmon, a Samian. 
 She afterwards became the property of 
 Xanthes, another Samian, who carried 
 her to Naucratis, in Egypt, in the reign 
 of Amasis, and at this great seaport, 
 the Alexandria of ancient times, she 
 carried on the trade of an hetaera for 
 the benefit of her master. Charaxus, 
 the brother of Sappho, having come to 
 Naucratis in the way of business, fell 
 desperately in love with her and ran- 
 somed her from slavery. She continued 
 to live at Naucratis after she obtained 
 her freedom and, pursuing her old 
 occupation, amassed so much wealth 
 that it is said that she was able to build 
 the third pyramid. It is to this that 
 allusion is made in IHVI. I, 6, 22. 
 Herodotus tries to prove that there was 
 no truth in this story, and it is claimed 
 that the third pyramid was built by 
 Nitocris, an Egyptian queen, famous 
 for her beauty. On the other hand, it 
 is claimed that Rhodope and Nitocris 
 are the same, and the following account 
 of the way in which she became queen 
 is given : As Rhodope was one day 
 bathing at Naucratis, an eagle took up 
 one of her sandals, flew away with it, 
 and dropped it in the lap of the Egyptian 
 king, as he was administering justice at 
 Memphis. Struck by the strange oc- 
 currence and the beauty of the sandal, 
 he did not rest until he had found out 
 the fair owner, and as soon as he had 
 
 discovered her he made her his queen. 
 -(Elian calls the king " Psammitichus," 
 but the accuracy of this is doubtful. 
 
 The passage in IHIV. I, 6, 22, reads 
 Then Rhodophe'^s or Memphis ever 
 was in the Fl. Capell suggested that 
 or was a misprint for of, which it un- 
 doubtedly is, and this emendation was 
 adopted by Dyce and is now usually 
 found in the g. a. text. 
 
 rhymed. See rat and verses. 
 
 Rialto. The meaning of this name is 
 thus given by Florio in his "Italian 
 Dictionary " : " As it were, Rivo Alto, 
 a high shore. * * * An eminent place 
 in Venice where Marchants commonly 
 meet." The name Rialto was applied 
 to three different objects : A large 
 island on which the Exchange was 
 built ; the Exchange itself, and the 
 bridge which connected the island with 
 St. Mark's Quarter. Sh. always refers 
 to the Exchange. Coryat, in his " Crud- 
 ities " (1611), thus describes the building : 
 "The Rialto, which is at the furthest 
 side of the bridge as you come from St. 
 Mark's, is a most stately building, being 
 the Exchange of Venice, where the 
 Venetian gentlemen and the merchants 
 doe meete twice a day, betwixt eleuen 
 and twelue of the clocke in the morning, 
 and betwixt flue and sixe of the clocke 
 in the afternoone. This Rialto is of a 
 goodly height, built all with bricke as 
 the palaces are, adorned with many 
 faire walkes or open galleries that I 
 before mentioned, and hath a prety 
 quadrangular court adioyning to it. 
 But it is inferior to our Exchange in 
 London, though indeede there is a farre 
 greater quantity of building in this 
 then in ours." Merch. I, 3, 20. 
 
 rib, V. To enclose and protect from injury. 
 Merch. II, 7, 51 ; Gym. Ill, 1, 19. 
 
 ribaudred. Lewd ; ribald. Ant. Ill, 8, 20. 
 
 Richard, dr.jy. Afterwards Duke of 
 Gloucester and Richard III. 3HVI. 
 and RIII. 
 
 Various attempts have been made to 
 show that Richard was not the monster 
 that he is generally represented in 
 
KIC 
 
 259 
 
 EIM 
 
 history, but without success. Walpole, 
 in his "Historic Doubts," was amongst 
 the first. The consensus of opinion now 
 is, that instead of representing him 
 in the play as blacker than he was, 
 Sh. has really done him more than 
 justice. 
 
 Richard, dr. p. Son to Plantagenet, Duke 
 of York. 2HVI. 
 
 Richard Cceur-de-lion. The passage (John 
 I, 1, 267), Nor keep his princely heart 
 from Richard'' s hand, alludes to a story 
 told in the old metrical romance of 
 "Richard Cceur de Lyon," a very full 
 account of which will be found in the 
 Introduction to the Third Series in 
 Percy's " Reliques of Ancient English 
 Poetry." In this romance we are told 
 that Richard, on his return from the 
 Holy Land, having been discovered in 
 the habit of "a palmer in Almaye," 
 was seized as a spy and thrown into 
 prison. Wardrewe, the king's son, 
 hearing of Richard's great strength, 
 desires the jailor to let him have a sight 
 of his prisoners. Richard being the 
 foremost, Wardi'ewe asks him "if he 
 dare stand a buffet from his hand?" 
 and that on the morrow he shall return 
 him another. Richard consents and re- 
 ceives a blow that staggers him. On 
 the morrow, having previously waxed 
 his hands, he waits his antagonist's 
 arrival. Wardrewe "held forth as a 
 trewe man" and Richard gave him a 
 blow that broke his jaw-bone, and killed 
 him on the spot. The king, to revenge 
 the death of his son, orders, by the 
 advice of one Eldrede, that a lion, kept 
 purposely from food, shall be turned 
 loose upon Richard. But the king's 
 daughter, having fallen in love with 
 him, she not only told him of the plot, 
 but furnished him with forty ells of 
 white silk " kever-chefes " ; these 
 " aboute his arme he wonde," and when 
 the lion attacked him he thrust his arm, 
 thus protected, down the lion's throat 
 
 "And rente out the herte with his 
 
 honde 
 Lounge and all that he there f onde. 
 
 The lyon fell deed to the grounde": 
 Richard felte no wem," i.e., wound or 
 hurt. 
 
 Rastell, in his " Chronicle," makes 
 mention of this memorable feat, but 
 adds : " Therfore some say he is called 
 Rycharde Cure de Lyon; but some say 
 he is called Cure de Lyon because of 
 his boldenesse and hardy stomake." 
 
 The reference to Great Coeur-de- 
 lion's heart in IHVL III, 2, 83, is to 
 Holinshed's account of Richard's last 
 directions as to the disposal of his body 
 after death, which is as follows : " Fi- 
 nallie remembring himselfe also of the 
 place of his buriall, he commanded that 
 his bodie should be interred at Fonteu- 
 vard at his father's feet, but he willed 
 his heart to be conueied vnto Rouen, 
 and there buried in testimonie of the 
 loue which he had ever found in 
 the citizens there. His bowels he or- 
 deined to be buried in Poictiers, as in a 
 place naturallie vnthankefull and not 
 worthie to reteine any of the more 
 honorable parts of. his body," 
 
 It is said that in accordance with the 
 above directions the heart of Richard 
 was buried in Rouen Cathedral, and is 
 now in the museum of that town. For 
 an account of the death of Richard, see 
 Lymoges. 
 
 Richmond, Henry Tudor, Earl of, dr. p. 
 Afterwards Henry VII. 3HVI. and 
 RIII. 
 
 rid. To destroy. Tp. I, 2, 364; RII. V, 
 4, 11 ; 3HVI. V, 5, 67. 
 
 rigglsh. Wanton ; lewd. Ant. II, 2, 245. 
 
 right, n. Satisfaction. Dome right {AWs. 
 V, 1, 149) = meet me in combat. Same 
 expression in 2HIV. V, 3, 77 = pledge 
 me in drink. 
 
 right, adj. True ; exact ; downright. 
 Mids. Ill, 2, 302 ; As. Ill, 2, 103 ; also 
 127 and 290. 
 
 rigol. A circle. Lucr. 1745 ; 2HIV. 5, 36. 
 
 rim. Some part of the abdomen not very 
 weU defined. HV. IV, 4, 15. 
 
 " The original reading [the Fl.] is 
 rymme, which Capell, judging from 
 the main object of the speaker, boldly 
 
RIN 
 
 RIV 
 
 pronounced to signify money; others 
 have wished to read ryno, but that terra 
 is probably not of such antiquity, and 
 the conjecture supposes the original 
 word to be rym, which it is not. Pistol, 
 with a very vague notion of the anatom- 
 ical meaning of rymme, seems to use 
 it in a general way for any part of the 
 intestines; his object being to terrify 
 his prisoner. 
 
 The slender rimme too weak to part 
 The boyling liver from the heart. 
 
 Gorge's Lucan. 
 In the latter passage it seems more like 
 the diaphragm, as Mr. Steevens inter- 
 prets it, but it is not properly so. Nares. 
 ring. See cracked and rush. 
 ringlets. The curious rings which are 
 frequently seen in pastures and on hill- 
 sides were supposed to be caused by the 
 fairies. They are of two kinds, one in 
 which the grass is of a brighter green 
 than elsewhere, and which were supposed 
 to be kept in good condition by being 
 watered and tended by these strange 
 beings. Mids. II, 1, 9, and Wiv. V, 5, 
 73. In the others the grass is poor and 
 the ground almost bare. In these the 
 grass was supposed to be injured by the 
 dancing of the l)ad fairies. The refer- 
 ences to these rings or ringlets in the 
 older literature are quite numerous. In 
 addition to those already quoted from 
 Sh., see Tp. V, 1, 37; Mids. II, 1, 86; 
 Mcb. IV, 1, 42. Drayton thus refers to 
 them in his "Nymphidia " : 
 And in their courses make that round 
 In meadows and in marshes found, 
 Of them so called the fayrie ground 
 
 Of which they have the keeping. 
 Douce, in his note on Mids. II, 1, 9, 
 says : "When the damsels of old gathered 
 the May dew on the grass, and which 
 they made use of to improve their com- 
 plexions, they left undisturbed such of 
 it as they perceived on the fairy rings ; 
 apprehensive that the fairies should, in 
 revenge, destroy their beauty. Nor was 
 it reckoned safe to put the foot within 
 the rings lest they should be liable to 
 the fairies' power. ' ' 
 
 The cause of these rings was for a 
 long time a mystery, but it is now 
 generally believed that they are due to 
 the growth of a species of fungus which 
 spreads from a centre, gradually dying 
 down and enriching the soil as it decays, 
 fungi being, as is well known, very rich 
 in nitrogen. While the fungus is grow- 
 ing, it crowds out the grass and causes 
 an appearance of barrenness ; after it 
 dies out or becomes dormant the grass 
 springs up with renewed vigor. Mar- 
 shall says that he has examined many 
 of these fairy rings, but never could find 
 any trace of the fungi. I think I have 
 seen it stated that they are microscopic. 
 
 ring time. In some eds. these words are 
 hyphenated, but in the Cambridge Sh. 
 and most others, as well as in the Edin- 
 burgh MS., they are given as two 
 words. In the Folios the word is rang 
 time; Johnson suggested rank time, 
 and Steevens conjectured ring tim,e, i. e. , 
 " the aptest season for marriage. " Douce 
 notes that "in confirmation of Mr. 
 Steevens's reading, it appears from the 
 old calenders that the spring was the 
 season of marriage." Steevens's con- 
 jecture was confirmed by the finding of 
 an old MS. which, as Knight says, 
 "cannot have been written later than 
 sixteen years after the publication of 
 the present play," i.e., As You Like It. 
 The meaning given by Steevens and 
 Douce is, no doubt, the true one, though 
 Schm. gives an explanation slightly 
 different. As. V, 3, 20. See rye. 
 
 ripe. Mature; brought to completion. 
 Thus reeling ripe (Tp. V, 1, 279) = 
 ready to reel or stagger ; in this case 
 from drunkenness. Also, in LLL. V, 
 2, 274, weeping-riije = ready to weep. 
 So, too, in Err. I, 1, 78, sinking-ripe = 
 ready to sink. In Chapman's May 
 Day we find rope-ripe, i.e., ready for 
 hanging. Ripe, of itself, does not mean 
 drunk, though we have seen it so defined. 
 
 rivage. The shore. HV. Ill, Chor. 14. 
 
 rival. An associate ; a companion ; a 
 
 partner. Mids. Ill, 2, 156 ; Hml. 1, 1, 13. 
 
 This word, which now means a com- 
 
EIV 
 
 261 
 
 BOB 
 
 petitor or antagonist, is derived from 
 rivalis, one who uses the same brook as 
 another, a neighbour. Even in Sh. 
 time it was beginning to change its 
 meaning. Thus one of Cotgrave's de- 
 finitions is: "A competitor in loue," 
 and it is used in this sense in several 
 passages. Mids. Ill, 2, 155 ; Lr. I, 1, 47. 
 cf. rivality. 
 
 rivality. Co-partnership ; equality. Ant. 
 Ill, 5, 8. 
 
 rive. To discharge ; to fire. IHVI. IV, 
 2,29. 
 
 rivelled. Corrugated ; wrinkled. Troil. 
 V, 1, 26. 
 
 Rivers, Earl, dr.p. Antony Woodville, 
 brother to Lady Grey. 3HVI. and RIII. 
 The name of Antony Woodville will 
 be known as long as men give any 
 attention to the history of English 
 letters. He was one of the most learned 
 men of his age and was the patron of 
 Caxton, who, under his auspices, pro- 
 duced the first book printed in England. 
 He was also the translator of the second 
 book printed by Caxton, viz., "The 
 Dictes and Sayeings of the Philosophers 
 translated out of French by Antone Erl 
 Ryuyers." This was published in folio 
 in 1477. 
 
 rivo. A word of doubtful meaning ; a 
 bacchanalian exclamation. IHIV. II, 
 4, 126. 
 
 road. 1. A roadstead ; a place where 
 ships may ride at anchor in safety. 
 Merch. I, 1, 19; Sh. II, 1,377. 
 
 2. A journey; a stage. HVIII. IV,2, 17. 
 
 3. An inroad ; a foray. HV. I, 2, 188 ; 
 Cor. Ill, 1, 5. Probably a variant of 
 raid. 
 
 In 2HIV. II, 2, 183, Doll Tearsheet is 
 said to be a common road, evidently 
 meaning that she was easily accessible. 
 As an instance of emendation run mad 
 we find the reading Doll Tearstreet 
 suggested. 
 roast. The passage, 2HVI. I, 1, 109, in 
 the g. a. text-reads, 7^ule the roast. In 
 all the Folios the word is rost, and some 
 doubt has been expressed as to whether 
 rost should be rendered roast or roost. 
 
 i.e., whether the reference is to the 
 master who sits at the head of the table 
 and rules the feast or to some one who 
 is "cock of the walk," i.e., master of 
 the hens that roost with him. It has 
 also been suggested that it is the word 
 roust, "the turbulent part of a channel 
 or firth occasioned by the meeting of 
 rapid tides, " but how this could be ruled 
 is not easily seen. Another suggestion 
 is that it is roadst or council. This 
 would be most appropriate provided 
 any authority could be produced for the 
 word roadst. 
 rob. To plunder. In 0th. I, 1, 87, the 
 expression: ^Zounds, sir, you^rerobb^d; 
 for shame, put on your gown, as It 
 is found in the g. a. text, reads, Sir, 
 y''are rob^d, for shame put on your 
 Gowne, in the Fl. * As found in the 
 Fl. there seems to be a pun upon 
 "robb'd" and "rob'd," which is lost 
 in the modern reading. The admonition 
 — put on your Gowne, lends force to 
 this. Theobald thinks that gowyi does 
 not mean a nightgown, but his senatorial 
 gown. cf. toga. This would be as 
 much as to say : Put on your senatorial 
 dignity and powers. 
 
 In a note conununicated to Dr. Fur- 
 ness by the late Edwin Booth we are 
 told that "Brabantio should be seen 
 through the open window at his books 
 or papers ; this would account for his 
 appearance, instead of his servants, at 
 this ' terrible summons. ' lago should 
 keep in shadow during this." It 
 must seem desperately presumptuous 
 for a mere amateur like myself to differ 
 from two such high authorities, but 
 surely they are not sustained by the 
 context. Brabantio could not read his 
 books and papers without a light, and 
 yet the first thing he does after he 
 realises the situation, is to ask for a 
 taper. Why should he order the serv- 
 
 * The " Cambridge Shakespeare," which 
 professes to give all important vari- 
 orum readings, reads "robb'd" and 
 makes no note of the reading of the Fl. 
 
ROB 
 
 HOE 
 
 ants to "strike on the tinder" if be 
 already had a lamp burning ? And if 
 he sat reading at his papers, he would 
 have been dressed and lago's joke about 
 "robbing" and "robing" would have 
 fallen flat. I have no doubt that Sh. 
 intended to have Brabantio in bed when 
 Roderigo and lago roused him. See 
 rouse and tinder. 
 
 Robert Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, dr.p. 
 John. 
 
 Robert Faulconbridge, dr.p. Lawful son 
 to Sir Robert Faulconbridge. John. 
 
 Robin, dr.p. Page to Sir John Falstaff. 
 Wiv. 
 
 Robin Qoodfellow, dr.p. A fairy. Mids. 
 See Puck. 
 
 Robin Hood. See Hood, Robin. 
 
 robin - redbreast. A bird well known 
 in Europe, but not an inhabitant of 
 America, our robin not being a robin 
 at all, but a thrush — the Turdus migra- 
 tor ius or migratory thrush. The English 
 robin is known to ornithologists as the 
 Erithacus rubecula. It is not quite as 
 large as the English sparrow, being 
 about 53^ inches long and 9 inches in 
 extent of wing, while the sparrow is 
 6 inches long and 9^ inches in extent of 
 wing. It has an olive-brown back and 
 a red breast, the color of the latter 
 being much brighter than that of our 
 American robin. It is so great a favorite 
 with all classes in Great Britain that it 
 is looked upon as almost sacred, so that 
 amongst the common people it is con- 
 sidered almost a crime to kill one. On 
 the continent, however, it is regarded 
 as a great delicacy for the table and is 
 caught in enormous numbers by pro- 
 fessional birdcatchers. It is a migratory 
 bird, and on the approach of winter 
 presses in myriads towards the south, 
 although a certain number always re- 
 main in their old haunts, so that in the 
 coldest winter they may be seen even in 
 Scotland, where they approach the 
 houses and become quite familiar. It 
 is curious that this favorite bird is men- 
 tioned only three times in Sh. : Gent. 
 II, 1, 21; IHIV. Ill, 1, 265, and Cym. 
 
 IV, 3, 234, where it is called the "rud- 
 dock" ("Raddocke" in Fl). In the 
 latter passage allusion is made to that 
 common belief which is embodied in the 
 ballad of The Babes in the Wood, and 
 which holds that the ruddock or red- 
 breast always covers with leaves or 
 moss any dead body that it may find 
 exposed. 
 
 In the passage in IHIV. Ill, 1, 265, 
 referring to a redbreast teacher, a 
 teacher or trainer of singing birds is 
 undoubtedly meant. On this point, 
 however, Marshall ("The Henry Irving 
 Shakespeare") says: "Bullfinches are 
 commonly taught to pipe ; redbreasts 
 rarely. We might have supposed the 
 bullfinch to be the bird here meant, but 
 robin redbreast is not, so far as I know, 
 a name given to that bird." 
 
 It may be well to note here that the 
 English names given to American plants 
 and animals are often misleading to 
 American readers. When the first 
 English colonists landed here they saw 
 a bird which appeared to resemble the 
 robin of their old home, much larger in 
 size, it is true, but with a reddish breast, 
 and so they gave it the name of ' ' robin. ' ' 
 The grouse they called a pheasant, and 
 a bird halfway between a partridge and 
 a quail they sometimes called quail and 
 sometimes partridge. Other names were 
 misapplied, and if we wish to know 
 with any approach to accuracy just 
 which plant, bird, beast or fish is meant, 
 the only way is to use the scientific 
 name. 
 
 robustious. Rough ; stout ; sturdy. Hml. 
 Ill, 2, 10 ; HV. Ill, 7, 159. 
 
 rocked. Shook ; trembled. Lucr. 263. 
 
 Roderigo, dr.p. A Venetian gentleman. 
 0th. 
 
 roe. This word, as used by Mercutio, 
 Rom. II, 4, 41, has afforded some fun if 
 nothing else. 
 Benvolio. Here comes Romeo, here 
 
 comes Romeo. 
 Mercutio. Without his roe, like a 
 dried herring. 
 Here roe can scarcely mean anything 
 
E06 
 
 263 
 
 BOS 
 
 else tbau the roe of a fish. Dowden, in 
 his edition of this play, gives the follow- 
 ing interesting note on the passage : 
 " Seymour has the grotesque notion that 
 
 - Romeo without his roe is meo or O, me! 
 a lover's sigh. Rolfe thinks roe may 
 mean mistress (from the female deer). 
 Why, has not some 'ingenious gentle- 
 man ' said that i^oe stands for i?o-saline? 
 ' A herring without a roe ' is the crown- 
 ing comparison of Menelaus with con- 
 temptible creatures put into Thersites' 
 mouth. Troilus and Cressida, V, 1, 
 168." 
 
 Rogers, dr.p. A Sicilian gentleman. 
 Wint. 
 
 roguing. Vagrant; roaming. Per. IV, 
 
 I, 97. 
 
 roisting. Bullying; blustering. Troil. 
 
 II, 2, 208. 
 
 romage. Bustle ; turmoil. Hml. 1, 1, 107. 
 That this word, as used in this passage, 
 has the meaning we have given to it all 
 the coms. are agreed, but its origin is 
 not so obvious. The words roomage and 
 rummage are nautical terms almost 
 equivalent to stowage. Rummage has 
 acquired the sense of to tuni over, to 
 search, and this change of meaning is 
 not greater than has occurred in the 
 case of many other words. Various 
 origins have been suggested, but none 
 that seem to aid matters. It is just 
 possible that the word, as here used, 
 may be a variant of roamage, a roaming 
 or running to and fro in the land. 
 
 Rome. That this word was, sometimes at 
 least, pronounced room is evident from 
 John III, 1, 180, and Cses. I, 2, 147. 
 
 Romeo, dr.p. Son to Montague and lover 
 and husband of Juliet. Rom. 
 
 For note on fate of subordinate actors 
 in this play, see nurse. 
 
 rondure. Circle. Sonn. XXI, 8. 
 
 ronyon. A mang}-, scabby creature. 
 (French, rogneux.) Wiv. IV, 2, 195; 
 Mcb. I, 3, 6. 
 
 rood. The crucifix. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 3; 
 Rom. I, 3, 36; Hml. Ill, 4, 14. 
 
 "It would appear that, at least in 
 earlier times, the rood signified not 
 
 merely the cioss, but the image of Christ 
 on the cross." Dyce. 
 
 rook, n. A cheater ; a thief. Wiv. I, 3, 2. 
 (In bully-rook. ) 
 
 rook,v. To perch; to roost. 3HVI.V,6,47. 
 
 rooky. Misty ; gloomy. Perhaps full of 
 rooks or crows. Mcb. Ill, 2, 51. 
 
 rooted. Learned by heart. Cor. Ill, 2, 55. 
 
 roots. The word roots, as it occurs in 
 Hml. I, 5, 34, is rots in the Folios, and 
 this has been followed in many modern 
 eds. The Quartos have rootes. Either 
 word makes sense, but roots seems the 
 most forcible as well as the true reading. 
 Rotting with ease does not convey as 
 striking an idea as rooting with ease, 
 and, as White remarks, the opposition 
 of roots to stir in the next line also 
 supports this reading. 
 
 ropery. Probably the nurse's word for 
 roguery. Rom. II, 4, 154. 
 
 rope-tricks. Roguery. Shr. I, 2, 112. 
 It has been suggested this word is here 
 confounded with rhetoric. Others ex- 
 plain it as " tricks such as are played 
 by a rope-dancer." Malone says: 
 '•'• Ropery or rope-tricks originally sig- 
 nified abusive language, without any 
 determinate idea ; such language as 
 parrots are taught to speak. " Another 
 explanation is: "tricks deserving the 
 rope, that is, hanging." Why not de- 
 serving or calling for a whipping with 
 a rope or rope's end ? cf. Err. IV, 1, 16. 
 
 roping. Dripping. HV. IV, 2, 48. cf. 
 down-roping. 
 
 Rosalind, dr.p. Daughter to the banished 
 duke. As. 
 
 Rosaline, dr.p. A lady attending on the 
 Princess of France. LLL. 
 
 Rosaline. Romeo's first love. Rom. II, 
 3, 44, and elsewhere. She was prob- 
 ably a Capulet (Rom. I, 2, 72), as her 
 name was on the list of Capulet's in- 
 vitations. See rote. 
 rosemary. This plant was considered as 
 a symbol of remembrance, and used at 
 weddings and funerals. At weddings 
 it was usual to dip the rosemary in the 
 cup, and drink to the health of the 
 newly-married couple. Sometimes it 
 
ROS 
 
 264 
 
 Ron 
 
 made a garnish for the meats. Rose- 
 mary was also carried at funerals, 
 probably for its odour, and as a token 
 of remembrance of the deceased, which 
 custom is noticed as late as the time of 
 Gay, who refers to it in his Pastoral 
 Dirge. Nares. Dekker, in The Won- 
 derful Year., has: "Death rudely lay 
 with her and spoild her of a maiden- 
 head. * * * the rosemary that w as 
 washt in sweete water to set out the Brid- 
 all is now wet in teares to furnish her 
 buriall." Rolfe quotes from Sir Thomas 
 More : " I lett it run alle over my 
 garden walls, not onlie because my 
 bees love it, but because tis the herb 
 sacred to remembrance, and therefore to 
 friendship, whence a sprig of it hath 
 a dumb language that maketh it the 
 chosen emblem at our funeral wakes 
 and in our buriall gronnds, " 
 
 It was said to have the power of 
 strengthening the memory. 
 
 Rosencrantz, dr. p. A courtier. Hml. 
 
 roses. In Hml. Ill, 2, 288, with two pro- 
 vincial roses on my razed shoes, 
 Hamlet is, of course, speaking of the 
 ornamental shoe-ties called roses, con- 
 sisting of ribands gathered into large 
 knots. Dyce. A great deal has been 
 said in this connection about the different 
 kinds of roses, but such discussion is 
 out of place here. Hunter, "New Il- 
 lustrations," Vol. II, p. 254, says : " The 
 wearing of roses in the shoes was a 
 fashion or, rather, folly of the times, 
 it was carried to such an extreme. The 
 roses may be seen in many portraits of 
 the distinguished men of that age. The 
 fashion is thus noticed by Peacham in 
 The Truth of Our Times, 1638, in the 
 chapter Of Following the Fashions : ' A 
 sempstress in Hoi born told me that 
 there are shoe-ties which go under the 
 name of roses frojn thirty shillings to 
 three, four and five pounds the pair.' 
 Yea, a gallant of the time not long 
 since payed thirty pounds for a pair," 
 
 The Clarendon Press eds. quote Randle 
 Holme, "Academy of Armorie": 
 *' Pinked or raised shooes have the over 
 
 leathers grain part cut into Roses or 
 other devices." 
 
 Ross, dr. p. A Scottish nobleman. Mcb. 
 
 Ross, Lord, dr. p. A partisan of Boling- 
 broke. RII. 
 
 rote. To read by rote (Rom. II, 3, 88), 
 is to repeat phrases learned by heart, 
 but without intelligence or understand- 
 ing. The friar tells Romeo that Rosa- 
 line knew that his love for her was a 
 mere mechanical passion as was clearly 
 shown by his sudden change. 
 
 rother. An ox or other bovine. An old 
 English word, now obsolete. It occurs 
 but once in Sh,, Tim. IV, 3, 12. The 
 reading in the Fl. is : It is the Pastour 
 lards, the Brother'' s sides. This, as it 
 stands, is nonsense, but it was changed 
 to : It is the pasture lards the rother'' s 
 sides, and this has been adopted in all 
 recent eds. That the word rother in 
 this sense was familiar to Sh. cannot be 
 doubted. There was a ' ' Rother Market ' ' 
 in Stratford, and out of it led " Rother 
 Street." The word is also found in 
 many compounds, as Rotherham. 
 Rutherford is probably a variant of 
 Rotherford or cattleford — fords in the 
 olden time being notable places and 
 giving names to villages, cities and even 
 private mansions, e.g., Abbotsford. In 
 an old dictionary (Baret's " Alvearie") 
 we find : "the Dewlap of a rudder-beast, 
 hanging downe vnderthe necke." 
 
 Rotherham, Thomas, dr.p. Archbishop 
 of York. RIII. 
 
 rough-cast. A kind of plaster formed 
 of lime and gravel, made quite thin by 
 water and dashed against the wall to 
 which it adheres and soon hardens. 
 Mids. Ill, 1, 71. 
 
 round, n. A crown. Mcb. I, 5, 29. 
 
 round, adj. Unceremonious; plain-spoken. 
 HV. IV, 1, 216 ; Hml. Ill, 1, 191 ; Lr. I, 
 4, 58. 
 
 To be round with = to speak plainly 
 to. Err. II, 1, 82 ; Tw. II, 3, 104. 
 
 round, V. To grow round ; euphemistic- 
 ally == to advance in pregnancy. Wint. 
 II, 1, 16. 
 
 roundel. A dance in a circle. Mids. II, 2,1. 
 
ROTJ 
 
 2^5 
 
 ROY 
 
 roundly. Plainly ; directly. As. V, 3, 12. 
 
 roundure. Round; circle. John II, 1, 259. 
 
 rouse, n. 1 . A bumper ; a copious draught 
 of liquor. Hml. I, 2, 127 ; do. I, 4, 8 ; 
 0th. II, 3, 66. 
 
 2. A carouse : a drinking bout. Hml. 
 II, 1, 58. 
 
 In a note on Massinger's Tfie Duke of 
 Milan, Gifford tells us that "a rouse 
 was a large glass, ' not past a pint, ' as 
 lago says, in which a health was given, 
 the drinking of which by the rest of the 
 company formed a carouse. Barnaby 
 Rich is exceeding angry with the in- 
 ventor of the custom, which, however, 
 with a laudable zeal for the honour of 
 his country, he attributes to an English- 
 man, who, it seems, 'had his brains 
 beat out with a pottle-pot ' for his in- 
 genuity. There could be no rouse or 
 carouse unless the glasses were emptied. 
 In process of time, both these words 
 were used in a laxer sense. They are 
 used in their primal and appropriate 
 signification in : 'I've ta'en, since sup- 
 per, a rouse or two too much,' etc. 
 Knigh t of Malta. ' ' And Gifford alleges 
 that the word has a fixed and deter- 
 minate sense, and that Johnson and 
 Steevens are wrong in defining it other- 
 wise. But in this Gifford is surely mis- 
 taken. There was nothing definite about 
 either a rouse or a carouse ; the one was 
 simply a drinking bout and the other a 
 large, but indefinite draught, otherwise 
 there could not have been a "little 
 one." Oth. II, 3, 68. Skeat says: "I 
 have little doubt that the original sense 
 was simply 'noise ' or uproar." 
 
 rouse, V. To awaken ; to start game in 
 hunting. 3HVI. V, 1, 65 ; RII. II, 3, 
 128. Rolfe tells us that in the passage 
 in Oth. I, 1, 69 : Call up her father. 
 Mouse him : make aftei' him, poison, 
 his delight, Proclaim him in the 
 streets, " the first him refers to 
 Brabantio, the second to Othello." 
 Upon which Furness remarks : "Which 
 is true if we follow Dr. Johnson's punc- 
 tuation. But I prefer to follow Fl., 
 where clearly Othello alone is referred 
 
 to in both cases. * * * The main idea 
 is to rouse and disturb Othello and 
 poison his delight. " Rolfe's punctuation 
 differs both from the Fl. and Dr. John- 
 son's ed. Edwin Booth favored the 
 interpretation given by Rolfe. See rob. 
 
 Rousillon, Count of, dr,p. Bertram. 
 All's. 
 
 Rousillon, Countess of, dr. p. Mother to 
 Bertram. All's. 
 
 rout. 1. A mob; a crowd. Err. Ill, 1, 
 101 ; Cses. I, 2, 78. 
 2. A brawl. Oth. II, 3, 212. 
 
 royal. A gold coin of the value of ten 
 shillings (about $2.50). Hence Falstaff's 
 saying : Thou earnest not of the blood 
 royal, if thou darest not stand for ten 
 shillings. IHIV. I, 2, 157. Also in 
 IHIV. II, 4, 320 : " Give him as much 
 as will make him [the nobleman] a royal 
 man," the pun is between noble (6s. 8d.) 
 and royal (10s). See noble. 
 
 royal merchant. Commenting on Merch. 
 IV, 1, '29, Warburton tells us that " we 
 are not to imagine the word royal to be 
 only a ranting sounding Epithet. It is 
 used with great propriety, and shows 
 the Poet well acquainted with the 
 history of the People whom he here 
 brings upon the stage. For when the 
 French and the Venetians, in the be- 
 ginning of the thirteenth century, had 
 won Constantinople, the French, under 
 the emperor Henry, endeavoured to 
 extend their conquests into the provinces 
 of the Grecian empire on the Terra 
 Firma ; while the Venetians, who were 
 masters of the sea, gave liberty to any 
 subject of the Rupublic who would fit 
 out vessels to make themselves masters 
 of the isles of the Archipelago, and 
 other maratime places ; and to enjoy 
 their conquests in sovereignty ; only 
 doing homage to the Republic for their 
 several principalities. By virtue of this 
 licence the Sanudo''s, the Justinianiy 
 the Grimaldi, the Summaripo''s and 
 others, all Venetian merchants, erected 
 principalities in several places of the 
 Archipelago (which their descendants 
 enjoyed for many generations) and 
 
KOY 
 
 266 
 
 RUE 
 
 thereby became truly and properly 
 royal tnerchants, which, indeed, was 
 the title generally given them all over 
 Europe. Hence the most eminent of 
 our own merchants (while public spirit 
 resided amongst them and before it was 
 aped by faction) were called royal 
 merchants.''^ 
 
 Upon this, Johnson remarks: "This 
 Epithet was in our Poet's time more 
 striking and better understood, because 
 Gresham was then commonly dignified 
 with the title of the royal merchants.''^ 
 (sic.) 
 ^ To which Hunter in his "New Illus- 
 
 trations," Vol. I, p. 308, adds: "War- 
 burton does not appear to have caught 
 the precise effect of the term. ' A royal 
 merchant, in the middle ages, was a 
 merchant who transacted business for a 
 sovereign of the time. " 
 
 roynish. Paltry; mangy; scabby. (French 
 rogneux.) As. II, 2, 8. 
 
 rub, n. A term used in the game of bowls ; 
 an impediment. John III, 4, 128 ; RII. 
 Ill, 4, 4 ; H V. II, 2, 188 ; Cor. Ill, 1, 60. 
 In " British Rural Sports," by Stone- 
 henge, in the article on the game of 
 bowls, rub is thus defined: ^^ Rub or 
 set. — When a jack or bowl, in its transit, 
 strikes or touches any object or thing 
 on the green which alters or impedes its 
 motion. * * * If a running bowl 
 before it has reached the parallel of the 
 jack do rub or set on any person (not of 
 the playing party), or on a bowl or jack 
 belonging to another party, it can be 
 played again. " So that the meaning of 
 rub, in this connection, is "to come 
 into contact with any obstacle animate 
 or inanimate." Swift has, "without 
 rub or interruption," and Stanihurst 
 makes the following comparison : " Like 
 a bowle that runneth in a smooth allie, 
 without any rub. " 
 
 rub, 1?. In the passage, rub on and kiss 
 the mistress (Troil. Ill, 2, 52), "The 
 allusion is to bowling. What we now 
 call the jack seems, in Shakespeare's 
 time, to have been termed the mistress. 
 A bowl that kisses the jack or mistress. 
 
 i.e., remains touching the jack, is in the 
 most advantageous position. Rub on 
 is a term at the same game." Malone. 
 
 rubious. Red like a ryby. Tw. I, 4, 32. 
 
 ruddock. The robin redbreast. Cym. IV, 
 2, 224. See robin redbreast. 
 
 rudesby. A rude fellow. Shr. Ill, 2, 10 ; 
 Tw. IV, 1, 55. 
 
 rue. A bushy, woody plant known to 
 botanists as Ruta graveolens. As rose- 
 mary was a symbol of remembrance, so 
 rue was a symbol of grace. Hence the 
 allusion in Wint. IV, 4, 74. It was 
 called "herb of grace" in Sh. time; 
 thus we find in Cotgrave: "Rue: f, 
 Rue, Hearbe Grace.'''' And in RII. Ill, 
 4, 104, we find : 
 
 Here in this place, 
 I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of 
 
 grace : 
 Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall 
 
 be seen 
 In the remembrance of a weeping 
 queen. 
 Why it was called "herb o' grace," 
 and especially why called "herb o' 
 grace o' Sundays," has been the subject 
 of much discussion. Warburton (prob- 
 ably following Jeremy Taylor), in a 
 note on Hml. IV, 5, 181, tells us that 
 " Herb of grace is the name the country 
 people give to Rue. And the reason is 
 because that herb was a principal in- 
 gredient in the potion which the Roynish 
 priests used to force the possessed to 
 swallow down when they exorcised 
 them. Now, these exorcisms being per- 
 formed generally on a Sunday, in the 
 church before the whole congregation, 
 is the reason why she says, we call it 
 herb of grace o' Sundays." On the 
 the other hand, Malone (Variorum of 
 1821, Vol. VII, p. 422) objects to this on 
 the ground that " Herb of grace was 
 not the Sunday name, but the every- 
 day name of rtie." And he further 
 says: "Ophelia only means, I think, 
 that the Queen may, with peculiar pro- 
 priety on Sundays, when she solicits 
 pardon for that crime which she has so 
 much occasion to rue and repent of, 
 call her rue herb of grace.'' ^ But it 
 

 RUE 
 
 267 
 
 RUN 
 
 seems hardly likely that Ophelia, even 
 though mad, would have thus insulted 
 "the beauteous majesty of Denmark." 
 
 On the question of the queen's wearing 
 it "with a difference," much has been 
 written. The term is one in heraldry 
 (see difference), but whether so used 
 here or not may be doubted. Steevens 
 explains it thus : " You, madam (says 
 Ophelia to the queen), may call your 
 rue by its Sunday name, het-b of grace, 
 and so wear it with a difference to dis- 
 tinguish it from mine, which can never 
 be anything but merely rue, i.e., 
 sorrow." Skeat makes the following 
 note : " There is no difficulty here if we 
 do not force the words into some heraldic 
 phrase. It merely means this : I offer 
 you rue, which has two meanings : it is 
 sometimes called herb of grace and in 
 that sense I take some for myself ; but 
 with a slight difference of spelling it 
 means ruth, and in that respect it will 
 do for you. This explanation is not 
 mine — it is Shakespeare's own. See RII. 
 Ill, 4, 105 [quoted above]." But in the 
 passage from RII., referred toby Skeat, 
 there is no reference to "difference." 
 Schm. gives the following explanation : 
 " with a difference, because you are old 
 and I am young," and he then gives a 
 note on the supposed therapeutic effects 
 of rue. 
 
 It seems to me, however, that the 
 expression is derived from heraldry. 
 Ophelia and the queen were both to wear 
 rue, and as their social positions were 
 vastly different, Ophelia apologises to 
 the queen for seeming to place herself 
 on a level with majesty by suggesting 
 that she wear it with a difference. 
 
 Much has been said about the letter 
 of Edward Alleyn to his wife in which 
 he speaks of " rue and herbe of grace," 
 and in the reply of his parents they 
 speak of using " wormwode and re we." 
 This would seem to imply that worm- 
 wood was known as "herb of grace," 
 but this may be a mistake on the part 
 of Alleyn's parents. We all know how 
 ready such people are to make mistakes 
 
 in these matters, and Ophelia herself 
 says, "we may call it [rue] herb of 
 grace." That rue was used for such 
 purposes is shown by Warburton's 
 quotation from Sandys: "At Grand 
 Cairo there is a species of rue much in 
 request with which the inhabitants per- 
 fume themselves, not only as a pre- 
 servative against infection, but as very 
 powerful against evil spirits." 
 
 ruffle. To be boisterous. Lr. II, 4, 304. 
 
 Rugby, Jack, dr. p. Servant to Dr. Caius. 
 Wiv. 
 
 rug-headed. Rough-headed. RII. II, 1, 
 157. 
 
 ruinate. To ruin. Lucr. 944 ; 3HVI. V, 
 1, 83.^ 
 
 rule. Usually defined as behaviour ; con- 
 duct. Tw. II, 3, 133. 
 
 Nares, referring to this passage says : 
 " Apparently put for behaviour or con- 
 duct ; with some allusion perhaps to the 
 frolics called mis-rule." Dyce believes 
 it is equivalent to rev el, noisy sport. See 
 night-rule. The word night-rule has 
 been supposed to be a contraction of 
 night-revel, which in Sh. time would be 
 printed night-reuel. Halliwell quotes 
 the old statutes of London given by 
 Stowe : " No man shall, after the houre 
 of nine at the night, keep any rule 
 whereby any such sudden outcry be 
 made in the still of the night, as making 
 any affray, etc." 
 
 rump-fed. There has been great diversity 
 of opinion in regard to the meaning of 
 this word. Some say it means pampered; 
 others, fed on offal. Mcb. I, 3, 6. 
 
 Rumour, dr.p. As a Prologue. 2HIV. 
 
 run-away's. This word, as it occurs in 
 Rom. Ill, 2, 6, has been a puzzle to the 
 corns. Furness, in the " New Variorum," 
 fills twenty-eight royal 8vo. pages of 
 fine type with a condensed account of 
 the various emendations and annota- 
 tions that have been made on it. In 
 the Fl. the passage reads as follows : 
 
 Ivl. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed 
 
 steedes, 
 Towards Phoebiis lodging: such a 
 
 Wagoner 
 
RUN 
 
 268 
 
 RTTir 
 
 As Phaeton would whip you to the west, 
 
 And bring in Cloudie night immedi- 
 ately. 
 
 Spread thy close Curtaine Loue-per- 
 forming night, 
 
 That run-awayes eyes may wincke, 
 and Romeo 
 
 Leape to these armes, vntalkt of and 
 vnseene. 
 
 The comments on this word may be 
 divided into two classes : Those which 
 seek to explain the text as it stands and 
 those which suggest an emendatinn. Of 
 the latter there is a very large number 
 —between thirty arid forty. We give 
 some of them, omitting the originators' 
 names as this would occupy too much 
 space. These are specimens : curious, 
 Cynthia's, enemies', envious, in no 
 ways, Luna's, neighbouring, nooyi- 
 day's, renomy's, ribald's, roavinge, 
 rude day's, rumourous. Rumour's, 
 run-about's, runagates', run-astray's, 
 runaway spies, run-i-th'-ways' , soon 
 day's, sun awake's, sun away's, sun- 
 aweary, sunny day's, sun-weary's, 
 surveyor's, Titan's, unawares, un- 
 ivary, Uranus, Veronese, wandering^ 
 wary ones', yonder. 
 
 Most of these emendations speak for 
 themselves; that is, to say, the line of 
 thought which led their authors to put 
 them forth is quite obvious. 
 
 The first ed. who attempted an ex- 
 planation of the passage as it stands 
 was Warburton, and as his interpreta- 
 tion has been adopted by several pro- 
 minent eds. and coms., including the 
 latest and one of the ablest (Prof. Dow- 
 den), we quote it verbatim from War- 
 burton's ed. of 1747. He says : 
 
 " That runaways eyes may wink. 
 What runaways are these, whose eyes 
 Jidiet is wishing to have stopt ? Mac- 
 beth we may remember, makes an in- 
 vocation to Night much in the same 
 strain : 
 
 Come seeling Night, 
 Scarf up tlie tender eye of pitiful day, 
 etc. 
 
 So Juliet here would have Night's 
 darkness obscure the great eye of the 
 
 day, the Sun, whom considering in a 
 poetical light as Phoebus, drawn in his 
 carr with fiery-footed steeds, and post- 
 ing thro' the heavens, she very properly 
 calls him, with regard to the swiftness 
 of his course, the Runaway. In the 
 like manner our Poet speaks of the 
 Night in The Merchant of Venice : 
 
 For the dose night doth play the Run- 
 away." [^erch. II, 6, 47.] 
 
 To which note Johnson (1765) appends 
 the remark: "I am not satisfied with 
 this emendation, yet have nothing 
 better to propose." In the same year 
 Heath published his " Revisal of Shake- 
 speare's Text," in which he protested 
 very strongly against Warburton 's ex- 
 planation and offered " Rumour's " as 
 an emendment. 
 
 In the elaborate resume of the sub- 
 ject appended by Dr. Furness to his ed. 
 of Romeo and Juliet, the earliest note 
 from Steevens is dated 1773, but as 
 early as 1765 Steevens contributed the 
 following note to the Appendix to the 
 eighth vol. of Johnson's edition : " I am 
 no better satisfied with Dr. Warburton^ s 
 emendation than the present editor, but 
 tho' I have none I have a good opinion 
 of, to propose in its room, will yet offer 
 at an explanation. Juliet wishes the 
 night may be so dark that none of those 
 who are obliged to run away in it, on 
 some account or other, may meet with 
 Romeo, and know his person, but that 
 he may 
 
 Leap to her arms untalk'd of and un- 
 seen. 
 
 The runaway in this place cannot be 
 the sun, who must have been effectually 
 gone before night could spread its 
 curtain, and such a wish must have 
 taken place before the eyes of these 
 run-aways could be supposed to wink. 
 
 The "Revisal" reads, 7Vta^ Rumour's 
 eyes may wink, and he might have sup- 
 ported his conjecture from the figure 
 of Fame, i.e.., Rumour, as described by- 
 Virgil, 
 
 Tot vigilea ocvli subter, etc. 
 And yet this is but a conjecture, though 
 
RUN 
 
 269 
 
 BUS 
 
 a very ingenious one." Neither this 
 note nor a synopsis of it appears in the 
 Variorum of 1821, but it is substantially 
 the explanation adopted by Schm. and 
 Rolfe, who credits it to Hunter. It is 
 also adopted by Marshall in "The Henry 
 Irving Shakespeare." 
 
 In his " Shakespeare's Scholar " (1854 
 Grant White suggested "Rumour" for 
 "runaway," and defended it by remind- 
 ing us of " the vital importance of the 
 secrecy of Juliet's nuptials," and that 
 " Romeo might be seen entering her 
 chamber window by no one who would 
 talk of or rumor it. " But in his ed. of 
 1858 he adopts Warburton's explana- 
 tion, and in his review of Schm. " Lexi- 
 con" he says: "Of all the many in- 
 acceptable and needless explanations of 
 this word (of which I myself once fur- 
 nished one). Dr. Schmidt adopts that 
 which is the most unacceptable, one 
 presenting an idea which it is quite im- 
 possible that Shakespeare should have 
 had in mind : ' people who ramble about 
 the streets at night to spy out the doings 
 of others.' The inconsistency of this 
 meaning with the context is mani- 
 fest at a glance. These people (to whom 
 it would be absurd to apply the term 
 rtin-aivay) ramble about the Streets at 
 night ; they need night for their occu- 
 pation, and therefore, we are asked to 
 believe, Juliet prays for night to come : 
 and prays for it ' that runaways eyes 
 may wink,' i.e., because the darkness 
 which is the necessary condition of their 
 eavesdropping, and which they desire, 
 will surely cause them to go to sleep. 
 Moreover, Juliet cared for, thought of, 
 no one who might be in the streets. 
 She knew well enough that she was 
 secure against all such spying. The 
 Capulet mansion was no street-side 
 house to be pryed into by any passer-by. 
 Juliet's window, her balcony, her loggia, 
 were separated from all that by a gar- 
 den and a wall ; at Romeo's passing of 
 which Shakespeare makes her wonder. 
 This explanation given in the ' Lexicon ' 
 is the most futile of all which have been 
 
 elicited by this passage. Juliet's run- 
 away is merely the sun." 
 
 Mr. Halpin wrote an elaborate article 
 to prove that the runaway is Cupid. 
 Douce thinks that the runaway is Juliet 
 herself, who nas run away from her 
 duty. Various other explanations have 
 been offered, but the great majority of 
 coms. seem to be divided between those 
 of War burton and Steevens — the sun 
 and observers in the streets. In the 
 latter case runaways = runagates, q.v. 
 runagate. A vagabond. RIII. IV, 4, 465. 
 
 So defined by Schm., followed by 
 Rolfe. That the word is now used 
 almost wholly in this sense is certain, 
 but in Sh. time it seems to have been 
 almost synonymous with runaway, and 
 in the four passages in which it occurs 
 in the plays it xwsiY bear the meaning of 
 " one who runs away " quite as well as 
 that of vagabond. And in "A New 
 General English Dictionary," by Rev. 
 Thomas Dyche (1735), runagate and 
 runaway are given as synonyms and 
 defined as "a dissenter, a rover, or 
 wanderer." And in Rom. Ill, 5, 90, 
 runagate evidently means "one who 
 has run away." Even in RIII. IV, 
 4, 465, it seems to me that "white 
 liver 'd runagate " means a coward who 
 has run away rather than one who is a 
 mere vagabond or wanderer. 
 
 Runagate is a corruption of renegate^ 
 which is derived from low Latin rene- 
 gatus, to deny again ; hence = an 
 apostate, a deserter. " It is remarkable 
 that when renegate had been corrupted 
 into runagate, we borrowed the word 
 over again, in the form renegade, from 
 Spanish renegado. It is a pity we 
 could not do without it altogether." 
 Skeat. 
 
 The other passages in which runagate 
 occurs are Gym. I, 6, 137, and IV, 2, 62. 
 running banquet. In the original sense, 
 a hasty refreshment. In HVIII. I, 4, 
 12, the sense is obviously lascivious. 
 In HVIII. V, 4, 71, it is a slang term 
 for a whipping. 
 rush. A well - known plant. Before 
 
BTT8 
 
 270 
 
 RUS 
 
 the general introduction of carpets, 
 the floors of dwelling houses, even 
 amongst the higher classes, were 
 strewed with rushes. Rom. I, 4, 36. 
 It would also seem that for processions 
 connected with great state occasions the 
 pavements were strewed with rushes. 
 2HIV. V, 5, 1 . Man but a rush against 
 Othello's breast. 0th. V, 2, 270. Staun- 
 ton tells us that this is an allusion to 
 the mock tournaments, in which the 
 combatants were armed with rushes in 
 place of spears. This has been generally 
 accepted. Perhaps it is correct. 
 
 As TiVs rush for Toin''s forefinger. 
 All's. II, 2, 24. This probably refers to 
 the practice of marrying with a rush 
 ring. This seems to have been common 
 both in England and other countries. 
 Breval, in his " Antiquities of Paris," 
 mentions it as a kind of espousal used 
 in France by such persons as meant to 
 live together in a state of concubinage, 
 but in England it was scarce ever prac- 
 tised, except by designing men, for the 
 purpose of corrupting those young 
 women to whom they pretended love. 
 Hawkins. As Tom is the man and Tib 
 the woman, Hawkins suggested that it 
 should be Tom''s rush for Tib''s fore- 
 finger. But Mason tells us that it was 
 the practice in former times for the 
 woman to give the man a ring as well 
 as for the man to give her one, and 
 refers to the account given by the priest 
 of Olivia's marriage in the last scene of 
 Twelfth Night, in which he speaks of 
 inter changenient of your rings. Be- 
 sides, if we were to adopt the amend- 
 ment of Sir J. Hawkins, it is probable 
 that we would have to change fore- 
 finger, as that is not the finger upon 
 which the bride's ring is usually placed. 
 For a discussion of the subject see Third 
 Variorum, Vol. X, p. 370, and Brand's 
 ''Popular Antiquities" (Bohn's ed.), 
 Vol. II, p. 107. 
 
 rush aside, to. To push aside. Rom. 
 Ill, 3, 26. 
 
 rush-candle. ^' A candle made of a rush 
 dipped in tallow." Schmidt. It would 
 
 be diflicult to make a serviceable candle 
 in that way. The rush-candle or rush- 
 light was made by using the pith of the 
 rush (not the rush itself) for a wick. 
 This was dipped in the melted tallow or 
 used in a mould. Rush-lights were in 
 use in Great Britain up to the time of 
 the discovery of kerosene oil. Shr. IV, 
 5, 14. 
 
 rushling. Mrs. Quickly's form of rustle. 
 Wiv. II, 2, 68. 
 
 russet-pated. Grey-headed. The word 
 russet is still used in the sense of gretj 
 as descriptive of a variety of apple — 
 the russet. The russet-pated chough 
 (Mids. Ill, 2, 21) is undoubtedly the 
 jackdaw, whose ear-coverts and neck is 
 grey. Bennet suggested that for russet- 
 pated we should read russet-patted or 
 red-legged. (French, d pattes rousses. ) 
 The emendation was adopted by Wright 
 in the Clarendon ed. , but was abandoned 
 by him after more mature consideration. 
 See "The Henry Irving Shakespeare," 
 Vol. II, p. 377. 
 
 rust. In the g. a. text Rom. V, 3, 169, 
 part of the speech of Juliet reads : This 
 is thy sheath [stabs herself] ; there rust 
 and let me die. This is the reading of 
 the Folios. The First Quarto has rest 
 for rust, and upon this Dyce remarks : 
 " In several earlier passages of the play, 
 the 4to., 1597, alone supplies the true 
 reading ; and I suspect that here, too, 
 it is right— I mean so far as it has 
 'rest' instead of 'rust.' The former 
 appears to me the more natural expres- 
 sion : at such a moment, the thoughts 
 of Juliet were not likely to wander 
 away to the future rusting of the 
 dagger; she only wishes it, by resting 
 in her bosom as in its sheath, to give 
 her instant death. ' ' Dyce's ' ' Remarks, ' ' 
 p. 177. 
 
 Grant White, in his "Shakespeare's 
 Scholar," p. 388, commenting on this 
 passage, says: "'There rust' is an 
 obvious misprint for ' there rest,' which 
 appears in the First Quarto, 1597." But 
 in the notes to his first ed. of Sh. he says, 
 referring to this Quarto, "where 'rest' 
 
RUT 
 
 271 
 
 SAB 
 
 has induced the supposition (to which, 
 when I was green in judgment, I hastily 
 agreed) that rust of the Quarto of 1599 
 and subsequent old copies is a misprint. 
 Its best support is Mr. Dyce's remark 
 that 'at such a moment the thoughts 
 of Juliet were not likely to wander away 
 to the future rusting of the dagger.' 
 But Juliet's thoughts do not wander ; 
 they go forward, though not to the 
 literal end. Her imagination is excited, 
 and looking beyond her suicidal act, she 
 sees her dead Romeo's dagger, which 
 would otherwise rust in its sheath, 
 rust in her heart ; and with fierce and 
 amorous joy, she cries — ' This is thy 
 sheath ; there rust, and let me die.' " 
 Clarke says : " The expression, ' Oh, 
 happy dagger,' though meaning 'Oh, 
 happily - found dagger ! ' ' Opportune 
 dagger ! ' yet conveys an included sense 
 that is in keeping with the word ' rest, ' 
 which also affords antithetical effect 
 with 'let me die.'' Poetically calling 
 her bosom the ' sheath ' to Romeo's 
 dagger, ' rest ' seems more in harmony 
 than 'rust' with the image presented." 
 
 ruth. Pity. RII. Ill, 4, 106; Cor. I, 1, 
 '203. 
 
 rye. A kind of grain well known in this 
 country and on the continent of Europe, 
 but not so well known in Great Britain. 
 It is mentioned twice in the plays, while 
 wheat is mentioned seven times under 
 its own name and thirty-five times 
 
 under that of com. See corn. It is 
 mentioned under peculiar circumstances 
 in the song sung by the two pages in 
 As. V, 3 : 
 
 Between the acres of the rye. 
 With a hey and a ho, and a hey 
 nonino. 
 These pretty country folks would lie. 
 In spring time, the only pretty ring 
 time. 
 Etc., etc. 
 
 In regard to this, W. Ridgeway, in 
 "The Academy" for October 20, 1883, 
 asks : " Is there not here a reference to 
 the ancient system of open-field culti- 
 vation ? The corn-field being in the 
 singular [see line 19] implies that it is 
 the special one of the common fields 
 which is under corn for the year. The 
 common field being divided into acre- 
 strips by balks of unploughed turf, 
 doubtless on one of these green balks, 
 ' Between the acres of the rye. These 
 pretty country folk would lie. ' " 
 
 This calls to mind the old song " Com- 
 ing Thro' the Rye," and the discussion 
 as to whether the Rye there mentioned 
 was a river or a rye-field ? The weight 
 of evidence in the case of the song, as 
 modified by Burns, is for the river, 
 but there seems to have been a very 
 old, and somewhat indelicate form of 
 the song (now lost) in which the rye- 
 field may have been meant. See ring- 
 time. 
 
 !ABA. The queen of Sheba. 
 HVIII. V, 5, 24. The name 
 Sheba seems to have been un- 
 known in English and Latin 
 literature until after the translation of 
 the Bible — Saba being the form pre- 
 viously used. It occurs frequently in 
 the works of Marlowe, Peele and others. 
 Saba was a kingdom in Yemen, in south- 
 western Arabia, and the person who 
 Cftme to yisit Solomon was queen of 
 
 Sheba or Saba. Her name is unknown, 
 but in the Koran she is called Balkis. * 
 She was said to be a descendant of 
 Sheba, the grandson of Cush. See 
 Genesis x, 7. Josephus, however, says 
 that Sheba was the ancient name of the 
 city of Meroe, and that the queen who 
 visited Solomon came thence. It is 
 generally believed that the Abyssinians 
 
 * This has a suspicious resemblance to 
 BasiUissa, the Greek for Queen. 
 
SAB 
 
 273 
 
 SAC 
 
 are descended from a colony sent out 
 from Sheba or Yemen, and the Abys- 
 sinians themselves have a tradition that 
 after the return of their queen to her 
 own country she bore a son to King 
 Solomon, and that from him their 
 present race of kings is descended. 
 
 sables. A rich kind of fur. Hml. IV, 7, 
 80. The passage in Hml. Ill, 3, 137, let 
 the devil wear black, for I'll have a 
 suit of sables, has not l3een quite satis- 
 factorily explained. It has been sug- 
 gested that sables is another form of 
 sabell, which means flame color or a 
 fawn color, a good deal brightened with 
 red. This, of course, would be a striking 
 contrast to the black worn by the devil. 
 Capell thought that Hamlet simply ex- 
 pressed an intention to have an ex- 
 pensive and showy suit in opposition to 
 the plain apparel usually worn during 
 the period of mourning. The Clarendon 
 Press eds. think that there may be a 
 quibble between sables (black garments) 
 and robes trimmed with the fur of the 
 sable. 
 
 sack. A kind of wine. The name is sup- 
 posed to be derived from the French 
 sec, dry, and to have been applied to 
 wines imported from Spain and the 
 Canary Islands. It was a white wine 
 and was frequently taken with sugar. 
 Henderson says that "they probably 
 came into favor in consequence of their 
 possessing greater sti'ength and dur- 
 ability, and being more free from acidity 
 than the white wines of France and 
 Germany, and owed their distinctive 
 appellation to that peculiar sub-astrin- 
 gent taste which characterises all wines 
 prepared with gypsum. " That gypsum 
 or sulphate of lime was added to the 
 juice of grapes before fermentation 
 seems to be well established, but it also 
 seems to have been the practice of the 
 lower classes of vintners to add lime to 
 wines which were too acid for the taste 
 of their customers. IHIV. II, 4, 137. 
 It is quite probable that the lime was 
 added in the form of common limestone 
 (carbonate of lime) ground to a fine 
 
 powder. This would not only correct 
 the acidity of the wine, but would give 
 it "life " by the action of the carbonic 
 acid gas which would be liberated. 
 
 Sackerson. The name of a famous bear 
 at Paris Garden on the Bank side, prob- 
 ably named after his keeper. Wiv. I, 
 1,30. 
 
 Sacrament. 1. The Eucharist. RII. I, 
 1, 139. 
 
 2. To take the sacrament = to take an 
 oath. All's. IV, 3, 156 ; RII. IV, 1, 338; 
 RIII. V, 5, 18. 
 
 sacred. 1. Hallowed ; entitled to rever- 
 ence. Meas. IV, 3, 150 ; Merch. I, 3, 49, 
 and elsewhere. In the passage (Troil. 
 IV, 5, 134), thy mother, my sacred 
 aunt, Steevens sees a Grecism, since 
 "the Greeks give to an uncle the title 
 of Sacred." And he further adds: 
 " This circumstance may tend to estab- 
 lish an opinion I have elsewhere ex- 
 pressed, that this play was not the entire 
 composition of Shakespeare, to whom 
 the Grecism before us was probably 
 unknown." Rolfe quotes this without 
 dissent, but I see no force in it, and 
 it appears to be decidedly far-fetched ; 
 sacred here is probably = revered, a 
 very common expression at the present 
 day. 
 
 2. Accursed ; damned (in the vulgar 
 sense), or as a well-known French dic- 
 tionary explains sacre, "bloody." This 
 is a Latinism which Malone illustrates 
 by auri sacra fames, the accursed 
 hunger for gold. It literally means 
 "devoted to a deity for destruction." 
 Riddle. 
 
 The expression in Tit. II, 1, 130, our 
 empress with her sacred wit To villany 
 and vengeance consecrate, is thus ex- 
 plained In the Third Variorum, Vol. 
 XXI, 391, and this interpretation has 
 been accepted by most coms. , but Schm. 
 gives it the usual meaning (as in 1) 
 and Rolfe advocates this view on the 
 ground that it is " more in keeping with 
 Aaron's character to consider this 
 ironical than to explain it as a Latin- 
 ism." But I think the context scarcely 
 
SAC 
 
 373 
 
 SAG 
 
 bears out this view, and besides, it was 
 not only a Latinism, but a Gallicism. 
 
 sacrificial. Reverend ; made as if to a god 
 in sacrificing. Tim. I, 1, 81. 
 
 sacring bell. A bell rung when the 
 elements are consecrated at Mass. 
 HVIII. Ill, 2, 296. 
 
 sad. Serious. Gent. I, 3, 1; Err. Ill, 1, 
 19 ; Ado. II, 1, 358. Telling the saddest 
 tale (Mids. II, 1, 51) = telling the most 
 grave or serious story. 
 
 sadly. Seriously. Ado. II, 3, 299 ; Rom. 
 I, 1, 207. 
 
 sadness. Seriousness. Ven. 807; Wiv. 
 Ill, 5, 135 ; Shr. V, 2, 63. 
 
 saffron, n. The plant Crocus sativus or 
 autumnal crocus. The coloring matter 
 is extracted from the stigmas of the 
 flowers, and it takes over four thousand 
 flowers to yield an ounce of the stigmas. 
 The color is a deep yellow or orange, 
 and it is still used to color confectionary, 
 cakes and pies. Wint. IV, 3, 48. In 
 All's. IV, 5, 2, the expression, whose 
 villanous saffron would have made all 
 the unbaked and doughy youth of a 
 nation in his color, is thought by War- 
 burton to be "an allusion both to the 
 fashionable and fantastic custom of 
 wearing yellow, and to that of colouring 
 paste with saffron." 
 
 Sagittary. A terrible monster described 
 in the mediaeval romances of the Trojan 
 war. He is represented as a Centaur, 
 armed with a bow and arrows, and 
 having eyes of fire which struck men 
 dead. In " The Three Destructions of 
 Troy," printed by Caxton, this " beste " 
 is thus described : ' ' Beyonde the royalme 
 of Araasonne came an auncyente kynge, 
 wyse and dyscreete, named Epystrophus, 
 and brought a M [a thousand] knyghtes, 
 and a mervayllouse beste that was 
 called sagittayre, that behynde the 
 mjaldes was an horse and to fore, a man : 
 this beste was heery like an horse, and 
 had his eyen rede as a cole, and shotte 
 well with a bowe : this beste made the 
 Grekes sore aferde, and slew many of 
 them with his bowe. " A more circum- 
 stantial account of this Sagittary is to 
 
 be found in Lydgate's "Auncient His- 
 torie." This is quoted in the Third 
 Variorum, Vol. VIII, p. 451. Also in 
 Dyce's "Glossary," and Rolfe's ed. of 
 Troilus and Cressida. Troil. V, 5, 14. 
 The Sagittary referred to in 0th. I, 
 1, 159, has not been clearly identified. 
 Knight says : "This is generally taken 
 to be an inn. It was the residence at 
 the arsenal of the commanding oflBcers 
 of the navy and army of the republic. 
 The figure of an archer, with his drawn 
 bow, over the gates, still indicates the 
 place. Probably Shakspere had looked 
 upon that sculpture. " Upon this Rolfe 
 makes the following remarks (see his 
 ed. of Othello, p. 211): "The figure 
 mentioned by K. is not ' over the gates, ' 
 but is one of four statues standing in 
 front of the structure. It represents a 
 man holding a bow (not ' drawn') in his 
 hand, but is in no respect more con- 
 spicuous than its three companions. If 
 S. was ever in Venice he probably saw 
 the statue (if it is as old as the gateway, 
 which was built in 1460), but we cannot 
 imagine why it should suggest to him 
 to call the place the Sagittary. That 
 word means, not an ordinary archer, 
 but a Centaur with a bow, as in the 
 familiar representations of the Zodiacal 
 sign Sagittarius. This is its sense in 
 the only other passage in which S. uses 
 it (Troil. V, 5, 14) : ' The dreadful Sagit- 
 tary,' etc. That the Sagittary in the 
 present passage cannot be the Arsenal, 
 is, however, suflSciently clear from I, 3, 
 121. The Arsenal was by far the largest 
 and most prominent public building, or 
 collection of buildings, in all Venice, its 
 outer walls being nearly two miles in 
 circuit. To suppose that anybody in 
 the employ of the government would 
 need the help of lago in finding the 
 place is absurd." Dr. Rolfe evidently 
 speaks from personal observation. Be- 
 sides, if the Sagittary had been the 
 residence of the commanding officers, 
 surely Cassio would not have asked 
 lago : " Ancient, what makes he here ?" 
 I, 2, 49. Verity, in " The Henry Irving 
 
SAI 
 
 274 
 
 SAL 
 
 Shakespeare," has the following note: 
 "I may mention, too, an incidental 
 point of evidence, viz., that Coryat, in 
 his 'Crudities,' gives a minute and 
 detailed account of the Arsenal, and 
 had the Sagittary formed a portion of 
 the latter, it would hardly have passed 
 without mention. Perhaps, after all, 
 the name was a mere invention on the 
 part of Shakespeare ; in which case it 
 is a thousand pities that he has not had 
 the satisfaction of laughing at the tor- 
 tures to which he unwittingly subjected 
 generations of editors," 
 
 The name is not found in any list of 
 the inns of Venice of that day, so it 
 probably existed only in the imagination 
 of Shakespeare. 
 
 sain. Said. LLL. Ill, 1, 83. This archaic 
 form of the word is used by Armado for 
 the sake of the rhyme. 
 
 salad, n. Raw herbs, dressed with salt, 
 etc. , to make them savory, and generally 
 with fragrant and piquant herbs to add 
 to their flavor. All's. IV, 5, 15; Hml. 
 II, 2, 462. The meaning in this passage 
 is that there was no "high seasoning 
 of loose ribaldry and luscious double 
 meanings " in the play. {Heath.) See 
 sallet. 
 
 salad, adj. Unripe ; green. Ant. I, 5, 75. 
 
 Salanio, [ dr. p. Friends to Antonio and 
 
 Salarino. ) Bassanio. Merch. 
 
 Salerio, dr. p. A messenger from Venice. 
 Merch. 
 
 sale work. "Those works that nature 
 makes up carelessly and without exact- 
 ness. The allusion is to the practice of 
 mechanics, whose work bespoke is more 
 elaborate than that which is made up 
 for chancQ customers, or to sell in 
 quantities to retailers, which is called 
 sale-work.'''' Warburton. As. Ill, 5, 43. 
 
 sallad. So spelled by Schm. See salad. 
 
 sallet. 1. A close-fitting helmet or head- 
 piece. 2HVI. IV, 10, 12. 
 2. Salad or savory herbs dressed raw for 
 food. In Hml. II, 2, 462, this word 
 evidently means stirring passages or, 
 perhaps, ribaldries. Pope suggested salt 
 as the true reading, and this has been 
 
 adopted by some on the ground that 
 salt gives a high flavor and also that 
 it has the double meaning of licen- 
 tious, cf. Oth. II, 1, 244. See salt. 
 Moreover, Baret, in his Dictionary de- 
 fines salt as "a pleasaunt and merrie 
 word that maketh folks to laugh and 
 sometimes pricketh." The g. a. text 
 reads sallets, and the meaning usually 
 adopted is that given under salad, q. v. 
 
 Salisbury, Earl of, dr.p. William Long- 
 sword. John. 
 
 Salisbury, Earl of, dr.p. A Yorkist. HV., 
 IHVI. and 2HVI. 
 
 Salisbury, Earl of, dr.p. RII. 
 
 salt, n. 1. Flavor; spirit. Wiv. II, 3, 50. 
 2. Tears. Cor. V, 6, 93 ; Lr. IV, 6, 199; 
 cf. also John V, 7, 45, and Hml. I, 2, 154. 
 In Gent. Ill, 1 , 369, the cover of the 
 salt hides the salt, this word evidently 
 has two meanings, the salt itself and 
 the salt-cellar. Malone (Third Vari- 
 orum, Vol. IV, p. 86) tells us that " the 
 ancient English salt-cellar was very 
 different from the modern, being a 
 large piece of plate, generally much 
 ornamented, with a cover to keep the 
 salt clean. There was but one salt- 
 cellar on the dinner-table, which was 
 placed near the top of the table ; and 
 those who sat below the salt were, for 
 the most part, of an inferior condition 
 to those who sat above it." Hence the 
 expression "placed above the salt." 
 
 A man of salt (Lr. IV, 6, 199) = a 
 man of tears. 
 
 salt, adj. 1. Preserved in salt ; old; as 
 distinct from new and fresh. Wiv. I, 
 1, 22. Schm. defines "salt fish " in this 
 passage as "a fish from salt water," a 
 strange misconception. This is not the 
 meaning of the word as commonly used 
 by English-speaking people, and it spoils 
 the humor of the saying. 
 
 2. Sharp ; bitter. Troil. I, 3, 371. 
 
 3. Lecherous. Meas. V, 1, 406 ; Oth. II, 
 1,244; Ant. 11,1,21. 
 
 The two words salt = saline, and 
 salt = lecherous are entirely different 
 words from entirely distinct roots. Of 
 their separate origin there can be no 
 
SAL 
 
 275 
 
 SAK 
 
 doubt, and they furnish another illus- 
 tration of the remarks made on this 
 point under pr-egnant, q. v. 
 
 saltiers. Satyrs or hairy men. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 334. 
 
 "A dance of satyrs was no unusual 
 entertainment in the middle ages. At 
 a great festival celebrated in France, 
 the king and some of the nobles person- 
 ated satyrs dressed in close habits, 
 tufted or shagged all over to imitate 
 hair. They began a wild dance, and in 
 the tumult of their merriment one of 
 them went too near a candle and set 
 fii-e to his satyr's garb ; the flame ran 
 instantly over the loose tufts and spread 
 itself to the dress of those that were 
 next him ; a great number of the dancers 
 were cruelly scorched, being neither 
 able to throw off their coats nor extin- 
 guish them. The king had set himself 
 in the lap of the dutchess of Burgundy, 
 who threw her robe over him and saved 
 him." Johnson. 
 
 For a more elaborate account of these 
 frolics, illustrated with a curious en- 
 graving, see Third Variorum, Vol. XIV, 
 p. 371. 
 
 saltness. Flavor ; effect. 2HI V. 1, 2, 113. 
 
 salve. In LLL. Ill, 1, 75, et seq., there 
 is a good deal of punning over salve, an 
 ointment, and salve, a salutation or 
 farewell. The learned Dr. Farmer re- 
 marks on this: "I can scarcely think 
 that Shakespeare had so far forgotten 
 his little school-learning as to suppose 
 the Latin verb salv6 and the English 
 substantive, salve, had the same pro- 
 nunciation ; and yet without this the 
 quibble cannot be preserved." But the 
 pun seems to have been common in Sh. 
 time. Steevens notes that "the same 
 quibble occurs in Aristippus, or The 
 Jovial Philosopher (1630) : 
 Salve, Master Simplicius. 
 Salve me ; 'tis but a surgeon's com- 
 plement. 
 
 Costard seems to think that enigma, 
 
 riddle and I'envoy all mean various 
 
 kinds of salve, ^eeplantain and V envoy. 
 
 Samkigo. A contraction of Saint Dom- 
 
 ingo, the patron saint of drinkers. 
 2HIV. V, 3, 77. 
 
 Sampson, dr. p. Servant to Capulet. 
 Rom. 
 
 sand-bag. " As according to the old 
 laws of duels, knights were to fight with 
 the lance and sword : so those of inferior 
 rank fought with an ebon staff or bat- 
 toon, to the further end of which was 
 fixed a bag crammed hard with sand. 
 To this custom Hudibras has alluded in 
 these humorous lines : 
 
 Engag'd with money-bags as bold 
 As men with sand-bags did of old." 
 
 Warburton. 
 
 This mode of fighting is described in 
 2HVI. II, 3. 
 
 sand-blind. Half -blind ; purblind. Merch. 
 II, 2, 37. 
 
 This word is hyphenated in the g. a. 
 text as well as the Fl. But in high- 
 gravel blind, high and gravel are 
 hyphenated, but not gravel and blind. 
 In the YlAtishigh grauel blinde; some 
 eds. high-gravel-blind. The word sand- 
 blind is in common use in Scotland ; 
 stone-blind is a common expression 
 wherever the English language is spoken, 
 and Launcelot finds a degree between 
 these — gravel-blind. Hales thinks that 
 sand-blind means half-blind (Anglo- 
 saxon, sdm), but this is not probable. 
 More likely it signifies a condition of 
 the sight resembling that blinking state 
 caused by sand getting into the eyes. 
 
 sanded. Of a sandy color ; explained by 
 some as, marked with yellow spots. 
 Mids. IV, 1, 126. 
 
 Sands, Lord, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 sans. French for without. Thus, in Tp. 
 I, 2, 97, we have sans limit = without 
 bound. Nares tells us that "a general 
 combination seems to have subsisted 
 among aU our poets to introduce this 
 French word, certainly very convenient 
 for their verse, into the English lan- 
 guage ; but in vain, the country never 
 received it ; and it has always appeared 
 as an exotic, even though the elder 
 poets Anglicized its form into saunce 
 or gave it the English pronunciation. 
 
SAB 
 
 276 
 
 SAT 
 
 * * * It seems to have been generally 
 pronounced as an English word and not 
 with the French sound. Shakespeare, 
 , who used it four times in one line, must 
 strongly have felt the want of a mono- 
 syllable bearing that sense : Sans teeth, 
 sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. 
 As. II, 7, 166. It seems, indeed, quite 
 impossible to substitute any equivalent 
 expressions, in the place of this very 
 energetic line." He then goes on and 
 gives seven instances of its use by con- 
 temporary writers. 0th. I, 3, 64. The 
 line. Sans sans, I pray you (LLL. V, 
 3, 416), means leave out the sans; your 
 love is not without crack or flaw. 
 sarcenet, ) A fine, thin silk stuff, plain 
 sarsenet. ) or twilled, especially valued 
 for its softness. Troil. V, 1, 36. 
 
 In the passage. And givest such sar- 
 cenet surety for thy oaths (IHIV. Ill, 
 1, 256), sarcenet means delicate, soft, 
 affected. Schm. explains it as meaning 
 " such as becomes a mercer's wife," but 
 this does not exactly correspond to the 
 idea involved. 
 Satis quod sufficit. Latin for enough 
 is sufficient, or, as the proverb goes, 
 " enough is as good as a feast." LLL. 
 V, 1, 1. 
 Saturn. The oldest of the gods, known 
 in Greek mythology as Cronos (Time). 
 He was the son of Uranus (Heaven) and 
 Ge (the Earth), and was the father of 
 Jupiter (Zeus), Neptune (Poseidon), and 
 Pluto (Hades). At the instigation of 
 his mother, Cronos unmanned his father 
 for having thrown the Cyclopes, who 
 were likewise his children by Ge, into 
 Tartarus. Out of the blood thus shed 
 sprang up the Erinnyes or Furies. See 
 Furies. When the Cyclopes were de- 
 livered from Tartarus, the government 
 of the world was taken from Uranus 
 and given to Cronos, who in turn was 
 dethroned by Zeus, or Jupiter. 
 
 The Romans identified their god, 
 Saturn, with Cronos, and the legend 
 runs that he came to Italy during the 
 reign of Janus and introduced agricul- 
 ture and the habits of civilised life in 
 
 general. His reign on earth was known 
 as the Golden Age (see age, golden). 
 Like many other mythical kings, he 
 suddenly disappeared, the fable being 
 that he had been removed to the abodes 
 of the gods. A statue was erected to 
 him, which was hollow and filled with 
 oil, probably to denote the fertility of 
 Latium in olives. He is represented as 
 holding in his hand a crooked pruning 
 knife, his feet being surrounded with a 
 woollen ribbon. In the pediment of the 
 temple of Saturn were seen two figures 
 resembling Tritons, with horns, and 
 whose lower extremities grew out of 
 the ground. 
 
 The ancients assigned the seven known 
 planets and seven metals to certain 
 gods. The common names of the planets 
 are the same as the names of the gods, 
 but the common names of the metals 
 and their relations to the planets are 
 not so generally known. In the old 
 alchemical system gold was Sol, the 
 sun ; silver was Luna, the moon, hence 
 the salts of silver were called lunar 
 salts, e.g., lunar caustic, or silver 
 nitrate ; the metal Mercury and the 
 planet have the same common name; 
 copper was Venus, and salts of copper 
 were known as Venereal salts or salts 
 of Cyprus (seePaphos) ; iron was if ars, 
 and salts of iron were known to the old 
 pharmacists as martial salts ; tin was 
 Jupiter, and salts of tin were called 
 jovial salts ; lead was Saturn, and 
 even to-day, lead ointment is known as 
 Saturnine ointment. Lead, being a 
 dull, heavy metal, was supposed to 
 correspond to the qualities of the planet, 
 which is not very bright and of a dull, 
 cold color. Hence, Saturn was the 
 emblem of coldness and apathy. Sonn. 
 XCVIII, 4 ; Cym. II, 5, 4 ; Tit. II, 3, 
 31. Among the astrologers Saturn was 
 regarded as an evil planet. This is well 
 set forth in a note by Dr. Furness on 
 Ado. I, 3, 12, in which he quotes from 
 "Batman vppon Bartholome" as fol- 
 lows : " Saturnus is an euill willed 
 Planet, colde and drie, a night Placet 
 
SAT 
 
 377 
 
 SCA 
 
 and heauie. And therefore by fables 
 he is painted as an old man, his circle 
 is most farre from the earth, and neuer- 
 thelesse it is most noifull to the earth. 
 And for that he is far from the earth, 
 he f ul endeth not his course before 30. 
 yeres. And greeueth more when he 
 goeth backwarde than when he goeth 
 forth right. * * * And therefore a 
 child & other broodes, that be conceiued 
 & come forth vnder his Lordship, dye, 
 or have full euill qualities. For * * * 
 he maketh a man browne and fowle, 
 misdoing slowe, and heauie, eleinge 
 [ailing ?] and sorie, seldom gladde and 
 merrye or laughing. " For the rest we 
 must refer the reader to Dr. Furness's 
 admirable ed. of Ado. p. 51. 
 
 Saturninus, dr.p. Emperor of Rome. 
 Tit. 
 
 Satyr. A creature generally represented 
 as half man, half goat and of a very 
 sensual expression. Hml. I, 2, 140. 
 
 The Satyrs were a class of beings in 
 Greek mythology who are inseparably 
 connected with the worship of Dionysus 
 (Bacchus), and represent the luxuriant 
 vital powers of nature. In their ap- 
 pearance they somewhat resembled 
 goats or rams. The appearance of the 
 Satyrs is described by later writers as 
 robust and rough, though with various 
 modifications, but their general features 
 are as follows : The hair is bristly, the 
 nose round and somewhat turned up- 
 wards, the ears pointed at the top like 
 those of animals ; they generally have 
 little horns or, at least, two horn-like 
 protuberances, and at or near the end 
 of the back there appears a little tail 
 like that of a horse or goat. In works 
 of art they are represented at different 
 stages of life ; the older ones, commonly 
 called Seilens or Silens, usually have 
 bald heads and beards, and the younger 
 ones are termed Satyrisci. All kinds 
 of Satyrs belong to the retinue of 
 Dionysus (Bacchus) and are always 
 described as fond of wine, whence they 
 often appear either with a cup or a 
 thyrsus (see Bacchus) in their hand. 
 
 They are devoted to every kind of 
 sensual pleasure, whence they are seen 
 sleeping, playing musical instruments 
 or engaged in voluptuous dances with 
 nymphs. Like all the gods dwelling in 
 forests and fields, they were greatly 
 dreaded by mortals. 
 
 Later writers, especially the Roman 
 poets, confound the Satyrs with the 
 Pans and the Italian Fawns, and accord- 
 ingly represent them with larger horns 
 and goat's feet, although originally they 
 were a quite distinct kind of beings, 
 and in works of art, too, they are kept 
 quite distinct. Satyrs usually appear 
 with flutes, the thyrsus, syrinx, the 
 shepherd's staff, cups or bags filled with 
 wine. They are dressed with the skins 
 of animals and wear wreaths of vine, 
 ivy or fir. Representations of them 
 are still very numerous, but the most 
 celebrated in antiquity was the Satyr 
 of Praxiteles at Athens. 
 
 saucy. 1. Wanton ; lascivious. Meas. 
 II, 4, 45 ; All's. IV, 4, 23. 
 2. Insolent ; outrageous. 0th. I, 1, 139. 
 " Used in a stronger sense than merely 
 malapert. Compare Mcb. Ill, 4, 25 : 
 / am, * * * bound in to saucy doubts 
 and fears.'''' Furness. 
 
 saw. A maxim ; a moral saying. As. 
 II, 7, 156 ; Hml. I, 5, 100 ; Lr. II, 2, 167. 
 
 sawn. Sown. Conipl. 91. Not seen as 
 Malone defines it. The form is still 
 used in Scotland and may be found in 
 Burns. 
 
 say. 1. A kind of silk. 2HVLIV,7, 27 
 2. Assay; taste ; relish. Lr. V, 3, 143. 
 
 Say, Lord, dr.jh 2HVI. 
 
 'sblood. A contraction of ' ' Good's blood. ' ' 
 In some eds. the word is uniformly sup- 
 pressed in obedience to a law passed in 
 1606 prohibiting the use of the name of 
 God on the stage. See God. IHIV. I, 
 2, 82 ; Hml. II, 2, 384 ; 0th. I, 1, 4. 
 
 scaffoldage. The floor of the stage. Troil. 
 
 1, 3, 156. 
 
 scald. Bailey gives scaley head or scurvy 
 or scabby head. HV. V, 1, 5 ; Ant. V, 
 
 2, 215. See scall. 
 
 scale. To weigh ; to measure. Meas. Ill, 
 
SCA 
 
 278 
 
 8CH 
 
 1, 266; Cor. II, 3, 257. Some make 
 scaled^ as it occurs in Meas. Ill, 1, 
 266 = stripped of scales ; unmasked. 
 
 In Cor. I, 1, 95, the word stale, as 
 found in the g. a. text, is scale in the 
 Folios. To stale, of course, is to make 
 old or threadbare. For a discussion of 
 scale in this connection, see the Rugby 
 ed. of Coriolamis; by Whitelaw. 
 
 Scales, Lord, dr. p. Brother to Lady 
 Gray. 2HVI. 
 
 scall. Usually explained as Evans's word 
 for scald, q.v. Wiv. Ill, 1, 123. Per- 
 haps = puny ; unfledged. A scall is a 
 dialect terra for a young nestling. 
 
 scamble. To struggle ; to scramble for. 
 Ado. V, 1, 94; John IV, 3, 146 ; HV. V, 
 
 2, 218. 
 
 scamels. This word has given rise to 
 pages of "conjectural emendations," 
 and its meaning is still in doubt. Sea- 
 mews, limpets, staniels, etc., etc., have 
 all been suggested. Probably some 
 rock-breeding bird was intended. Sea- 
 mews are called sea-mells in some 
 localities. Tp. II, 2, 176. 
 
 scantling. A small portion. Troil. I, 
 
 3, 341. 
 
 Schm. explains it as "a pattern, a 
 sample." Verity says it "signifies not 
 so much a ' sample ' as ' a measure, ' 
 proportion.'" Properly, it means "a 
 cut piece of timber.'' Malone quotes 
 from Florio's translation of Montaigne's 
 "Essays " : " When the lion's skin will 
 not sufllce, we must add a scantling of 
 the fox's." 
 
 scape. A mutilated form of escape. 
 Skeat. Still retained in the compounds 
 scapegoat, scapegrace. From the Latin 
 ex cappd, out of one's cape or cloak. 
 The word scape is frequently used by 
 Sh. Sometimes printed 'scape, but, as 
 Skeat says, the apostrophe is unneces- 
 sary. Tp. II, 1, 146 ; Meas. Ill, 2, 197 ; 
 Mcb. IV, 3, 234. 
 
 scarf, V. 1. To cover as with a bandage 
 or scarf. Mcb. Ill, 2, 47. cf. Rom. I, 
 4,4. 
 
 2. To decorate with flags and streamers. 
 Merch. II, 6, 15. 
 
 3. To put on loosely like a scarf. Hml. 
 V, 2, 13. 
 
 Scarlet and John. These were two famous 
 companions of Robin Hood. 2HIV. V, 3, 
 107. In Wiv. I, 1, 177, Falstaff addresses 
 Bardolph and Nymas Scarlet and John, 
 names which were quite appropriate as 
 they were his companions in robbery. 
 Warburton says that the humour con- 
 sists in the allusion to Bardolph's red 
 face. Perhaps. 
 
 scarre. This is one of the words which 
 have defied satisfactory explanation or 
 emendation. The passage is hopelessly 
 corrupt. We give a few of the pro- 
 posed emendations and then leave it to 
 our readers. In the FL, All's. IV, 2, 
 38 and 39, read : 
 I see that men make rope's in such a 
 
 scarre 
 That wee'l forsake ourselues. Give 
 
 me that Ring." 
 Rowe suggested: "make hopes in 
 such affairs"; Malone: "make hopes, 
 in such a scene"; Mitford : "make 
 hopes in such a case ' ' ; Halliwell : 
 " may cope's in such a sorte " ; Staun- 
 ton : "make hopes, in such a snare"; 
 Kinnear : ' ' have hopes, in such a cause. " 
 None of these is satisfactory. 
 
 Scarus, dr. p. Friend to Antony. Ant. 
 
 scathful. Destructive; damaging. Tw. 
 V, 1, 59. 
 
 scene individable. A play which observes 
 unity of place; "poem unlimited" 
 means a play which disi'egards the 
 unities." Dowden. 
 
 scholar. In Sh, time this term usually 
 meant one who spoke Latin. In Hml. 
 I, 1, 42, on the appearance of the Ghost, 
 Marcellus says: Thou art a scholar; 
 speak to it, Horatio, and the force of 
 this speech lies in the fact that it has 
 always been a vulgar notion that spirits 
 and supernatural beings can only be 
 spoken to with propriety or effect by 
 persons of learning. Thus Toby, in 
 The Night Walker, by Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, says : 
 
 " It grows still longer, 
 'Tis steeple-high now; and it sails 
 away, nurse, 
 
SCH 
 
 279 
 
 SCB 
 
 Let's call the butler up, for he speaks 
 
 Latin, 
 And that will daunt the devil." 
 
 In like manner the honest Butler, in 
 Mr. Addison's Drumtner\ recommends 
 the Steward to speak Latin to the Ghost 
 in that play. Reed. 
 
 In Ado. II, 1, 263, Benedick says of 
 Beatrice: You shall find her the in- 
 fernal Ate in good apparel. I tvoidd 
 to God some scholar would conjure 
 her. This follows the same line of 
 thought. On this passage Furness 
 quotes Tschischwitz : "Evil spirits were 
 not exorcised by the sign of the cross 
 alone, but cried out to the exorciser the 
 Latin hexameter Signa te signa, teniere 
 me tangis et angis, a verse which, 
 being a palindrome [reading forwards 
 and backwards alike], reveals its dia- 
 bolic origin." 
 
 Bos well gives as a reason for this 
 popular idea in regard to this use of 
 Latin that it was ' ' because the church 
 service was in Latin. ' ' Third Variorum, 
 Vol. VIII, 145. But the general idea 
 seems to be that it was because the 
 exorcisms were in Latin. 
 
 school. In several passages in the plays 
 school is synonymous with university. 
 As. I, 1, 6 ; Hml. I, 2, 113. Verity, in 
 a note on the first passage, tell us that, 
 even in the seventeenth century, the 
 birching of undergraduates was by no 
 means unusual, and further states that 
 at Oxford the whipping of students is 
 a contingency for which the statutes 
 still provide. 
 
 sconce, n. 1. A fortification. HV. 111,6, 
 76 ; Err. II, 2, 37. 
 2. The head. Err. 1, 2, 79; Hml. V, 1,110. 
 
 sconce, v. To ensconce ; to hide. Hml. 
 Ill, 4, 4. I'' II sconce me even here. 
 This is the reading in the g. a. text. In 
 the Quartos and Folios it is silence me. 
 The emendation is due to Haumer. cf. 
 Wiv. Ill, 3, 96 and 97. Some eds., how- 
 ever, retain "silence " and give strong 
 reasons for so doing. 
 
 scot. Contribution; tax. IHIV. V, 4, 
 115. This word has the same origin as 
 
 shot (the reckoning at a tavern) g.v., 
 and has no reference to Scotland. 
 
 scored. The meaning of this word, as it 
 occurs in 0th. IV, 1, 130, is not very 
 easily made out, chiefly because we 
 have no connected context to guide us. 
 Steevens (3rd Var., IX, 420) says : " To 
 score originally meant no more than to 
 cut a notch upon a tally, or to mark 
 out a form by indenting it on any sub- 
 stance. Spenser, in the first canto of 
 his Fairy Queen, speaking of the Cross, 
 says: 
 'Upon his shield the like was also 
 scor'd.' 
 But it was soon figuratively used for 
 setting a brand or mark of disgrace on 
 any one. 'Let us score their backs,' 
 says Scarus in Ant. and Cleo. ; and it 
 is employed in the same sense on the 
 present occasion. " 
 
 To this Collier (2nd ed.) adds: "The 
 sense usually attached to the phrase has 
 been : Have you marked me like a 
 beast, which you have made me by 
 giving me horns." Johnson explains 
 it thus: "Have you made my reckon- 
 ing ? have you settled the term of my 
 life ?" Which Delius elaborates by 
 saying : " Othello applies to Desdemona 
 lago's words, ' you shall marry her,' 
 and asks, ' Have you made out my 
 reckoning ? Are you finished with me ? ' 
 It is not until Othello is out of the way 
 that a marriage with her is possible." 
 A very German-like gloss seeing that 
 Othello did not hear the words of the 
 speakers, but guessed at what they were 
 saying from their pantomime. If 
 Othello had heard the conversation, 
 lago could not have fooled him. It was 
 this trick, as set forth to Othello by 
 lago in lines 82 to 88, that led Othello 
 astray. 
 
 scotch, V. To cut with shallow incisions ; 
 to cut slightly. Cor. IV, 5, 198 ; Mcb. 
 
 III, 2, 13. 
 
 scotch,?!. A cut ; a slight wound. Ant. 
 
 IV, 7, 10. 
 
 scrimer. A fencer. (French, escrimeur). 
 Hml. IV, 7, 101. 
 
8CB 
 
 280 
 
 SSA 
 
 scrip. 1. A written list. Mids. I, 2, 3. 
 2. A wallet ; a small pouch. As. Ill, 2, 
 171. When Touchstone opposes scrip 
 and scrippage to bag and baggage, it 
 is evidently on the ground that a shep- 
 herd's scrip or pouch is a trifling affair 
 compared to the equipment of an army. 
 
 Scroop, dr.p. Archbishop of York. 
 IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 Scroop, Lord, dr.p. A conspirator. HV. 
 
 Scroop, Sir Stephen, dr.p. RII. 
 
 scrowl. Perhaps a variant of scrawl ; 
 evidently means to write. Tit. II, 4, 5. 
 
 scrowles, ) Shabby fellows ; rascals ; 
 
 scroyles. f " mangy fellows. " (French, 
 escrouelles.) John II, 1, 373. 
 
 scrubbed. Stunted. Merch. V, 1, 162. 
 
 scull. A shoal ; a school of fish. Troil. 
 V, 5, 22. 
 
 scullion. A kitchen wench ; a domestic 
 servant of the lowest grade. 2HIV". II, 
 1, 65 ; Hral. II, 2, 616. 
 
 scut. The short, stubby tail of "hares, 
 rabbits and deer. Wiv. V, 5, 20. 
 
 Scylla and Chary bdis. These were two 
 dangerous rocks between Italy and 
 Sicily. They were quite close together, 
 and ships in trying to steer clear of one 
 were almost certain to be wrecked on 
 the other. Hence the proverb, "In 
 trying to avoid Scylla he runs against 
 Chary bdis." This is the allusion in 
 Merch. Ill, 5, 19. In the rock nearest 
 to Italy there was a cave in which dwelt 
 Scylla, a daughter of Crataeis, a fearful 
 monster, barking like a dog, with twelve 
 feet, and six long necks and heads, each 
 of which contained three rows of sharp 
 teeth. On the opposite rock, which was 
 much lower, grew an immense fig-tree 
 under which dwelt Charybdis, who 
 tbrice every day swallowed down the 
 waters of the sea, and thrice threw 
 them up again. One tradition relates 
 that Scylla was a beautiful maiden who 
 often played with the nymphs of the 
 sea, and was beloved by the marine god 
 Glaucus. The latter applied to Circe 
 for means to make Scylla return his 
 love, but Circe, jealous of the fair 
 maiden, threw magic herbs into the 
 
 well in which Scylla was wont to bathe, 
 by means of which the lower part of 
 her body was changed into the tail of 
 a fish or serpent surrounded by dogs, 
 while the upper part remained that of 
 a woman. Charybdis is also described as 
 a daughter of Neptune and Terra, and 
 a voracious woman, who stole oxen 
 from Hercules, and was hurled by the 
 thunderbolt of Jupiter into the sea. 
 
 *sdeath^ A contraction of God's death; 
 a common oath in the time of Sh. Cor. 
 1, 1, 221. See 'sblood. 
 
 sealing. Sleeping. Ant. Ill, 2, 3. 
 
 sealed quarts. Quart measures oflicially 
 stamped to show that they would hold 
 the proper quantity. Shr. Ind. II, 90. 
 " In the reigns of Elizabeth and James 
 
 I, there was a very wholesome law that, 
 for the protection of the public against 
 ' false measures,' ale should be sold only 
 in sealed vessels of the standard capacity ; 
 and the violation of the law was to be 
 presented at the ' Court Leet,' or ' View 
 of Frankpledge,' held in every hundred, 
 manor, or lordship, before the steward 
 of the leet." Lord Campbell. 
 
 sea-maid. A mermaid. Meas. Ill, 2, 115 ; 
 Mids. II, 1, 154. See mermaid. 
 
 sea-mark. An object serving for a direc- 
 tion to mariners. 0th. V, 2, 267. 
 
 seam. 1, A line of union or separation ; 
 the joint made by sewing. Per. II, 1, 156. 
 2. Grease; fat. Troil. II, 3, 195. ef. 
 enseamed. 
 
 seamy. Having seams, cf. seam, 1. In 
 0th. IV, 2, 146, the passage : that turned 
 your wit the seamy side without^ means, 
 that turned your wit the wrong side out 
 and exposed the course side of the seams, 
 i.e., the most unfavorable side of your 
 wit. 
 
 sear, V. 1. To brand. All's. II, 1, 176; 
 Wiut. II, 1, 73. 
 2. To harden; to wither. Compl. 14. 
 
 Sear'd Is very properly substituted 
 tor fear'' d in most modern eds. in Meas. 
 
 II, 4, 9, and Cym. II, 4, 6. The old 
 form of s greatly resembled/, the only 
 difference being the absence of the cross- 
 line. Collier says that in Lord EUesmere's 
 
SEA 
 
 281 
 
 SEL 
 
 copy of theFl. the reading is sear''d not 
 fear''cl, which is the reading in most 
 other copies. The misprint seems to 
 have been corrected while the sheets 
 were passing through the press ; this 
 was often done in old-time books, the 
 slow process of printing by hand-press 
 in those days giving an opportunity for 
 such changes. In the Cambridge Sh., 
 Note IX, on Meas, it is claimed that 
 the change was made by erasure, and 
 this on the authority of Ingleby's "Com- 
 plete View," p. 24. But on the pre- 
 ceding page of this work, a question 
 asked by Ingleby shows him to be a 
 partisan whose bitterness overcomes his 
 discretion, and to my mind his word in 
 such matters is to be taken cum " bw- 
 relo " salts. See sere. 
 search. To probe ; to sound so as to 
 apply a remedy. Gtent. I, 2, 116; Troil. 
 
 II, 2, 16. 
 
 season, n. Preserver ; that which keeps 
 fresh. Mcb. Ill, 4, 141. Perhaps = 
 preservation in Ado. IV, 1, 144. 
 
 season, v. 1. To establish; to ripen ; to 
 confirm. Cor. Ill, 3, 64 ; Hml. I, 3, 81 ; 
 
 III, 2, 219. 
 
 2. To temper; to moderate. Hml. I, 2, 
 192. 
 
 seated. Situated. Lucr. 1144. 
 
 Sebastian, dr.p. Brother to the King of 
 Naples, Tp. 
 
 Sebastian, dr.p. Brother to Viola. Tw. 
 
 sect. 1. A cutting ; a scion. 0th. I, 3, 
 336. 
 
 2. As used in 2HIV. II, 4, 41, this word 
 is usually supposed to mean sex, and 
 Steevens gives numerous examples of 
 its use in that sense. But in this pas- 
 sage it probably means trade or pro- 
 fession. 
 
 secure, adj. Careless; unguarded. Wiv. 
 II, 1, 241; IHVI. II, 1, 11; Hml. I, 5, 
 61 ; Kins. I, 1, 154. 
 
 secure, v. To make careless ; to throw 
 off one's guard. Tim. II, 2, 185 ; Lr. 
 
 IV, 1, 22. 
 
 securely. Carelessly; confidently. Lucr. 
 89; Wiv. II, 2, 252; RII. II, 1, 266; 
 Troil. IV, 5, 74. 
 
 security. Carelessness. Caes. II, 3, 8 ; 
 Mcb. Ill, 5, 32. 
 
 seedness. Sowing of the seed. Meas. I, 
 4, 42. 
 
 seek him with candle. Steevens remarks 
 on this passage in As. Ill, 1, 6, that it 
 is probably an allusion to Luke xv, 8. 
 But it might be to Diogenes and his 
 lantern. The meaning evidently is : 
 Make a most minute search. 
 
 seel. To close up the eyes; to blind. 
 Properly a term of falconry, to seel a 
 hawk meaning to close up her eyelids, 
 either partially or entirely, by running 
 a fine thread through them in order to 
 make her tractable and endure the hood. 
 Mcb. Ill, 2, 46 ; 0th. I, 3, 270 ; Ant. Ill, 
 13, 112. 
 
 seeming. This word, as used in As. V, 
 4, 72, is equivalent to seemly. Daniel 
 suggests, however, that the word should 
 be sivim^ming, and cites numerous ex- 
 amples of the use of this latter word to 
 describe a movement of the body then 
 much in fashion (c/. the schoolmaster's 
 advice to the girls in Kins. Ill, 5, 28 : 
 Swim, with your bodies) ; but swimming 
 was a movement and Audrey was 
 standing still. 
 
 seen. Well seen = well versed ; pro- 
 ficient. Shr. I, 2, 134. 
 
 segregation. Dispersion; separation. 0th. 
 II, 1, 10. 
 
 seld. Seldom. Troil. IV, 5, 149. Seld- 
 shown = rarely exhibited. Cor. II, 1, 
 232. 
 
 Seleucus, dr.p. Attendant on Cleopatra. 
 Ant. 
 
 self. The same. Err. V, 1, 10 ; Merch. I, 
 1, 148 ; Lr. I, 1, 71. 
 
 self-bounty. Inherent goodness ; innate 
 kindness. 0th. Ill, 3, 200. 
 
 self-cover'd. The passage in which this 
 word occurs (Lr. IV, 2, 62), Thou 
 changed and self -cover'' d thing, for 
 shame, Be-monster not thy feature, is 
 so obscure that it has never been satis- 
 factorily explained, and numerous 
 emendations have been proposed, none 
 of which, however, has been generally 
 accepted. The whole speech of Albany 
 
S£L 
 
 SEN 
 
 and the reply of Goneril are omitted in 
 the Folios. Theobald suggested self- 
 converted; Becket, self-convict; ^Singer, 
 false-covered ; Moberly, self-coloured ; 
 Crosby, sex-covered; Beale, devil-cov- 
 ered ; and this does not nearly exhaust 
 the list. But none of them, except, 
 perhaps, that of Crosby, has attracted 
 much attention. 
 
 Johnson explains it as : Thou that hast 
 hid the woman under the fiend. Ma- 
 lone : Thou who hast put a covering on 
 thyself which nature did not give thee. 
 Rolfe, whose whole note on the passage 
 deserves careful attention, says: "The 
 meaning, then, is: "Thou perverted 
 creature, who hast lost thy proper 
 self (either thy womanly self, or thy 
 self as it seemed to me, the ideal of my 
 affection) and hast become a fiend, do 
 not thus make a monster of thyself." 
 Furness, after giving a page of opinions 
 from others, winds up thus: "Is it 
 over-refinement to suppose that this 
 revelation to Albany of his wife's 
 fiend-like character transforms, in his 
 eyes, even her person ? She is changed, 
 her true self has been covered ; now that 
 she stands revealed, her whole outward 
 shape is be-monstered. No woman, 
 least of all Goneril, could remain un- 
 moved under such scathing words from 
 her husband. Goneril 's 'feature' is 
 quivering and her face distorted with 
 passion. Then it is that Albany tells 
 her not to let her evil self, hitherto 
 covered and concealed, betray itself in 
 all its hideousness in her outward 
 shape." This is very clear and forcible. 
 The only point on which we would ven- 
 ture to differ from Dr. Furness, for which 
 see apology in our preface, is in regard to 
 the meaning of the word /ea^wre. Dr* 
 Furness, misled, I think, by Schmidt, 
 who is certainly poor authority on the 
 interpretation of English words, makes 
 it mean her "shape, exterior, the whole 
 turn or cast of the body . " (See his note 
 on line 63). I think there is an error 
 here. Goneril's face would exhibit her 
 fiendish character, but surely her body. 
 
 covered as it was by her dress, could 
 hardly do so. For further note on 
 feature see 3rd Var., Vol, X, p. 203, 
 and the word feature in our Addenda. 
 
 semblable, adj. Similar; like. 2HIV. 
 V, 1, 73 ; Ant. Ill, 4, 3. 
 
 semblable, n. Like; equal. Tim. IV, 
 3, 23 ; Hml. V, 2, 124. 
 
 semblably. Similarly. IHIV. V, 3, 21. 
 
 Sempronius, dr. p. A lord ; a fiatterer of 
 Tiraofi. Tim. 
 
 senior-junior. Older and younger. The 
 passage is evidently a collection of con- 
 trarieties. In the Fl. it is "signior 
 lunios gyant drawfe," and numerous 
 conjectural emendations have been 
 offered. The emendnient generally 
 adopted (senior-junior) was suggested 
 to Theobald, but not adopted into the 
 text by him, though he greatly approved 
 of it. Upton suggested: "This signior 
 Julio's giant-dwarf," the idea being 
 that Sh. intended to compliment Julio 
 Romano, referred to in Wint, V, 1, 106. 
 Upton tells us that this sculptor drew 
 Cupid in the character of a giant-dwarf, 
 but no one has ever discovered the 
 sketch. Senior- junior is most probably 
 the true reading. LLL. Ill, 1, 183. In 
 the old tragedy of Gis nionde of Salerne 
 Cupid is called" the little greatest god." 
 And in this play (V, 2, 11) Rosaline says : 
 ** That was the way to make his god- 
 head wax, 
 For he hath been five thousand years 
 a boy." 
 
 The evident misprint, signior for 
 senior, occurs also in Err. V, 1, 422, 
 which in the Fl. reads: WeeH draw 
 Cuts for the Signior. 
 
 seniory. Seniority; eldership. RIII. IV, 
 4,36. 
 
 Senoys. The Siennese ; the people of 
 Sienna. All's. I, 3, 1. 
 
 sennet. A flourish of trumpets. Occurs 
 frequently as a stage direction. 
 
 sense. 1. Feeling; perception. All's. 
 
 I, 3, 178; III, 4, 39; 0th. I, 2, 73; V, 1, 
 
 II. In the latter passage, to the sense 
 means, to the quick. The passage in Hml. 
 I, 2, 99, the most vulgar thing to sense, 
 
SEN 
 
 SES 
 
 is explained by Caldecott as : " addressed 
 to sense ; in every hour's occurrence 
 offering itself to our observation and 
 feelings." See vulgar. 
 
 The passage in the same play, III, 4, 
 71, Sense sure you have, Else could 
 you not have motion, has received 
 several explanations. Staunton sajs 
 the meaning is: "Sense (i.e., the sen- 
 sibility to appreciate the distinction 
 between external objects) you must 
 have, or you would no longer feel the 
 impulse of desire.''^ The Clarendon ed. 
 explains * motion ' as == emotion. 
 2. Sensuality. Meas. I, 4, 59 ; II, 2, 169. 
 
 senseless-obstinate. Unreasonably ob- 
 stinate. RIII. Ill, 1, 44. 
 
 sensible. Feeling. Merch. II, 8, 48 ; Hml. 
 IV, 5, 150. 
 
 septentrion. The north. 3HVI. 1, 4, 136. 
 The word septentrion is derived from 
 the Latin septem, seven, and triones, 
 ploughing oxen. The name was given 
 by the Romans to the seven stars known 
 as the "Great Bear," the "Dipper," 
 " Charles Wain," etc. As they lie near 
 the North Pole and two of the stars 
 (known as the pointers) are nearly in a 
 line with the Pole-star, the word sep- 
 tentriones came in time to signify the 
 north. 
 
 sequester. Seclusion. 0th. Ill, 4, 40. 
 
 sequestration. 1. Separation; divorce. 
 0th. I, 3, 351. 
 
 2. Seclusion. HV. I, 1, 58; IHVI. II, 
 5,25. 
 
 sere. 1. Dry ; withered. Err. IV, 2, 19, 
 The passage : The Clowne shall make 
 those laugh ivhose lungs are tickled 
 a' f/i' sere (Hml. II, 2, 337), has been ex- 
 plained in various ways. Stee v ens made 
 sere = serum ; Capell explained it as 
 "delighted with dry jokes"; Malone 
 acknowledges that he is puzzled. 
 
 The interpretation given by Nicholson 
 in "Notes and Queries" for July 22, 
 1871, seems to be the true one: "The 
 sere or, as it is now spelt, sear (or scear) 
 of a gun-lock is the bar or balance-lever 
 interposed between the trigger on the 
 one side, and the tumbler and other 
 
 mechanism on the other, and is so-called 
 from its acting the part of a serre or 
 talon in gripping that mechanism and 
 preventing its action. It is, in fact, a 
 pawl or stop catch. When the trigger 
 is made to act on one end of it, the 
 other end releases the tumbler, the 
 mainspring acts, and the hammer, flint 
 or match falls. Hence, Lombard (1596), 
 as quoted in Halliwell's ' Archaic Dic- 
 j tionary,' says, 'Even as a pistole that 
 is ready charged and bent will flie off 
 by-and-by, if a man do but touch the 
 scare. ' Now, if the lock be so made of 
 purpose, or be worn, or be faulty in 
 construction, this sear or grip may be 
 : so tickle or ticklish in its adjustment 
 that a slight touch or even a jar may 
 ; displace it, and then, of course, the gun 
 j goes off. Hence, 'light,' or 'tickle of 
 the sear' (equivalent to, like a hair- 
 trigger), applied metaphorically, means 
 that which can be started into action 
 i at a mere touch, or on the slightest 
 I provocation, or on what ought to be no 
 j pro V ocation at all . " 
 sergeant. 1. A sheriff's oflScer. Err. 
 IV, 2, 56 ; Hml. V, 2, 347. 
 2. A non-commissioned officer in the 
 ^ army. Mcb. I, 2, 3. 
 i serpent's tongue. The phrase: If we 
 1 have unearned luck, Now to scape the 
 serpenVs tongue (Mids. V, 1, 440), means, 
 if we escape being hissed. Johnson. 
 So in J. Markham's " English Arcadia '' 
 (1607) : " But the nymph, after the 
 I custom of distrest tragedians, whose 
 { first act is entertained with a snaky 
 salutation, etc.^^ Steevens. Seewonn. 
 serpigo. A kind of tetter or dry erup- 
 tion of the skin. Meas. Ill, 1, 31 ; Troil. 
 
 II, 3, 81. 
 
 serviceable. .Officious. Lr. IV, 6, 257. 
 
 Serviceable vows = vows promising 
 
 service. Gent. Ill, 2, 70. 
 Servilius, dr.p. Servant to Timon. Tim. 
 sessa. A word of which the meaning is 
 
 not very clear. Some regard it as a 
 
 mere exclamation. As it occurs in Lr. 
 
 III, 4, 104, Johnson thinks it may be 
 the French cessez = stop ! spoken to an 
 
SET 
 
 fJ84 
 
 SHA 
 
 imaginary horse trotting by ; Steeven's 
 thinks that in III, 6, 77, it is a corrup- 
 tion of Cecilia, spoken to an imaginary 
 beggar-woman. In Shr. Ind. I, 6, it is 
 possible that it is equivalent to Johnson's 
 cessez^ but it is very unlikely that Sly 
 got it from the French. More likely it 
 is simply a low form of cease^ meaning 
 "shut up." 
 
 set. Has the usual and easily compre- 
 hended significations in most of the 
 passages in which it occurs in Sh. As 
 found in Cym. Ill, 4, 90, it obviously 
 means to instigate ; to prompt. As it 
 occurs in Hml. IV, 3, 64, several mean- 
 ings have been given. Malone thinks it 
 means to "set by"; Mason suggests 
 "set at nought"; Singer thinks it 
 means "to set or tell the price." Re- 
 ference has also been made to Sonn. 
 LXXXVIII, set me light = esteem me 
 lightly; and RII. I, 3, 293, sets it 
 light = makes light of it, i.e., sorrow. 
 The general meaning, as we have pointed 
 out in regard to many other passages 
 in Sh., is obvious enough, and it seems 
 to me that the word here has its 
 original meaning, viz., to place; fix; 
 plant ; lay down. The adverb cofdly 
 qualifies this sense sufficiently, and the 
 phrase is equivalent to, coldly lay down. 
 
 Setebos. The god of Sycorax, dam of 
 Caliban. Said to have been the god of 
 of the Patagonian giants, a description 
 of whom had been published in Eden's 
 "History of Travayle" (1577), and the 
 name of their god Setebos given. Eden 
 tells us that the giants, when they found 
 themselves fettered, "roared like bulls 
 and cried upon [their great devil] Sete- 
 bos to help them. ' ' Fanner. 
 
 setter. A spy; one who watches for 
 travelers so as to give information to 
 thieves. 1 HIV. II, 2, 70. 
 
 several, n. 1. An individual; a single 
 person. Wint. I, 2, 226. 
 2. (In the plural.) Particulars; details. 
 HV. I, 1,86; Troil. 1,3, 180. 
 
 several, (ad/.?). The passage: My lips 
 are no common, though several they he 
 (LLL. II, 1, 224), is thus explained by 
 
 Halliwell : "Fields that were enclosed 
 were called severals, in opposition to 
 comm,ons, the former belonging to in- 
 dividuals, the others to the inhabitants 
 generally." Rolfe prefers Staunton's 
 explanation : " If we take both as places 
 devoted to pasture — the one for general, 
 the other for particular use — the mean- 
 ing is easy enough. Boyet asks permis- 
 sion to graze on her lips. * Not so,' she 
 answers ; ' my lips, though intended for 
 the purpose, are not for general use.' " 
 But it seems to me that this does 
 not bring out so clearly the joke 
 between several and common, cf. 
 Sonn. CXXXVII, 9. See though. 
 
 sewer. An officer whose duty originally 
 was to taste the dishes placed on the 
 royal table. Mcb. 1, 7, stage direction, 
 line 2. 
 
 *sfoot. Corrupted from Good's /oof. Troil. 
 11,3,6. See'sblood. 
 
 Sextus Pompeius, dr.p. A friend to 
 Antony. Ant. 
 
 Seyton, dr. p. Officer attending on Mac- 
 beth. Mcb. 
 
 Shadow, dr. p. One of Falstaff's recruits. 
 2HIV. 
 
 Shafalus. A blunder for Cephalus. Mids. 
 V, 1, 200. See Cephalus. 
 
 shaft. An arrow, i.e., the long arrow 
 used with the long-bow, as distinguished 
 from the short arrow, bolt or quarrel 
 used with the cross-bow. Mids. II, 1, 
 161 ; Lr. I, 1, 145, and elsewhere. 
 
 In regard to the passage in Merch. I, 
 1, 140, Douce tells us that this method 
 of finding a lost arrow is prescribed by 
 P. Crescentius in his treatise " De 
 Agricultura," lib. X, cap. XXVIII. 
 For ni make a shaft or a bolt onH, 
 see holt. 
 
 When the rich golden shaft (Tw. I, 
 1, 35), is thus explained : Cupid carried 
 two kinds of arrows or shafts ; one, with 
 a golden head, inspired pure and deep 
 love ; the other kind was headed with 
 lead and produced indifference or aver- 
 sion. See also Mids. I, 1, 170. See 
 Cupid and holt. 
 
 Shales. Husks ; shells. HV. IV, 2, 18. ^ 
 
SHA 
 
 2S5 
 
 SHE 
 
 Shallow, Robert, dr. p. A country justice. 
 Wiv. and2HIV. 
 
 It is generally accepted that in Justice 
 Shallow we have a caricature of Sir 
 Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, near Strat- 
 ford. The tradition is that, among his 
 youthful escapades, Sh., with some other 
 young fellows, killed some of Lucy's 
 deer and for this Lucy had him severely 
 punished. Sh., in revenge, is said to 
 have written a most bitter ballad against 
 Lucy ; this led to further persecution, 
 and it is alleged that this was the chief 
 cause of Sh. leaving Stratford. At- 
 tempts have been made to discredit the 
 the whole story, but all authorities are 
 agreed that there is a considerable basis 
 of truth for the legend. See luce and 
 prick. 
 
 shalPs. A contraction of shall us. An 
 ungrammatical colloquialism. Cor. IV, 
 6, 148. 
 
 shard. 1 . A shred ; a fragment of pottery 
 or potsherd. HmL V, 1, 254. 
 2. The wing-case or elytron of a beetle. 
 Ant. Ill, 2, 20. Steevens thus explains 
 the line : They are his shards and he 
 their beetle : "They are the wings that 
 raise this heavy lumpish insect from 
 the ground." This involves an error in 
 natural history. The wing-cases are 
 not the members used by the beetle in 
 flying ; the wings perform that function. 
 The shards, wing-cases or elytra serve 
 chiefly to protect the wings, which ai'e 
 delicate membranous parts that would 
 be easily injured when the beetle entered 
 holes, etc. It is quite possible, how- 
 ever, that they may be used to give the 
 beetle a first start from the ground. 
 See shard-borne. 
 
 shard-borne. Upheld by shards or wing- 
 cases. Mcb. Ill, 2, 42. This is probably 
 an error, though a trifling one. See 
 shard. Patterson, in his "Letters on 
 the Natural History of the Insects 
 Mentioned in Shakespeare's Plays," has 
 this note on the subject : " These shards 
 or wing-cases are raised and expanded 
 [?] when the beetle flies, and by their 
 concavity act like two parachutes in 
 
 supporting him in the air. * * * [The 
 other meaning] most applicable is that 
 given by Mr. Toilet, as quoted in the 
 notes to Ayscough's edition of Shak- 
 speare, that 'shard-born beetle is the 
 beetle born in cow-dung ; and that shard 
 expresses dung is well known in the 
 north of Staffordshire, where cow's 
 shard is the word generally used for 
 cow-dung.' * * * A long and very 
 interesting note on the subject was 
 published in the 'Zoological Journal,' 
 No. XVIII, p. 147." 
 
 It seems to me that by shard-borne 
 Sh. undoubtedly meant, supported by 
 shards or wing-cases. To the ordinary 
 observer these wing-cases appear to be 
 the wings themselves, and Sh. object 
 was to make an impression upon minds 
 to whom the droning beetle was a 
 familiar sight. If Sh. had given a 
 minute and accurate description of the 
 flight of the beetle his audience would 
 not have understood him and his words 
 would have fallen dead. 
 
 sharded. Having wing-cases like beetles. 
 Cym. Ill, 3, 20. 
 
 shark. To snatch up without distinction 
 as a shark does his prey. Hml. I, 1, 98. 
 
 sheaied. Shelled. Lr. I, 4, 219. 
 
 she. This word is frequently used by Sh. 
 as a noun. See Tw. I, 5, 259 ; Cym. I, 
 3, 29 ; All's. II, 1, 82. But the passage 
 in Wint. I, 2, 44, behind What Lady 
 she her Lord, as it stands in the Fl., 
 has made trouble for some coms., un- 
 necessarily it seems to me. Several eds. 
 have even gone so far as to offer emend- 
 ations. Collier and Dyce read should 
 instead of she on the ground that "she " 
 is a misprint for shd., the contracted 
 form of should. Staunton hyphenates 
 lady and she, and this has been adopted 
 in the Globe ed., but not in the Cam- 
 bridge ed. Keightley suggests lady 
 soever, and Hudson, lady e'er. But it 
 seems to me that all this is unnecessary. 
 "Lady " is here an adjective and " she " 
 a noun, just as in Wint. IV, 4, 360. No 
 hyphen necessary. The meaning is 
 obvious: "I love thee not a jar o' the 
 
SHE 
 
 SHO 
 
 clock behind what any noble woman 
 does her lord." And, as Furness well 
 says: "We must doggedly adhere to 
 the original text as long as it conveys 
 any good and intelligible meaning." 
 To which, however, I would add : Pro- 
 vided that meaning is obviously the one 
 which Sh. intended, and not one marred 
 by an evident typographical error as in 
 Wiv. V, 5, 159. 
 
 shearman. One who shears cloth. 2HVI. 
 IV, 2, 145. 
 
 sheaved. Made of straw. Compl. 31. 
 
 sheen, n. Light. Mids. II, 1, 29; Hml. 
 Ill, 2, 167. 
 
 Some, Johnson among others, make it 
 an adjective = shining ; bright ; gay. 
 
 sheep. This word was often pronounced 
 ship in the time of Sh., and, indeed, 
 this is still the pronunciation in some 
 parts of England. Hence the puns in 
 Gent. I, 1, 73 ; Err. IV, 1, 93; LLL. II, 
 1, 219. 
 
 sheep-biter. A cant term for a thief. 
 Dyce. W. A. Wright says it is a term 
 of reproach taken from a vicious dog. 
 "It usually denotes a niggard. A dog 
 that has once bitten or worried sheep be- 
 comes so worthless and incorrigible that 
 it has to be incontinently killed, or, as 
 Taylor, the Water- Poet, says : 
 And in some places I have heard and 
 
 seene 
 That currish sheep-biters have hanged 
 been." 
 
 Hence, like many such phrases, it came 
 to be used as a general term of contempt 
 equivalent to "cowardly cur." Dr. 
 Furness quotes from Nashe's Pierce 
 Penniless : " What curre will not 
 bawle, and be ready to flye on a mans 
 face, when he is set on by his master, 
 who, if hee bee not by to encourage 
 him, he casts his taile betwixt his legges, 
 and steales away like a sheepe-byter." 
 Tw. II, 6, 6. See sheep-biting. 
 sheep-biting. The expression, show your 
 sheep-biting face, as found in Meas. V, 
 1, 359, is defined by Schm. as "morose, 
 surly, malicious. " But surely the duke 
 showed himself anything but morose 
 
 and surly, even to Lucio. The meaning 
 here is undoubtedly cowardly and mean, 
 as the duke seemed afraid to show his 
 face. 
 
 sheer. Clear ; pure ; unmixed. RII. V, 
 3, 61. Also in Shr. Ind. II, 25, where 
 the word has also been interpreted as 
 "shire" — shire ale in this case being 
 ale made in the shire or county. In 
 some parts of England shire is still pro- 
 nounced sheer. 
 
 shent. Reproved harshly ; treated with 
 rough language. Wiv. I, 4, 38 ; Troil. 
 11,3,86; Hml. 111,2,416. 
 
 Shepherd. The epithet, Dead Shepherd, 
 in As. Ill, 5, 82, refers to Marlowe, who 
 was killed in a duel in 1593, aged 27 
 years. The "saw of might" is from 
 his Hero and Leander, published in 
 1598, and the title " Shepherd " is taken 
 from his famous poem, " The Passionate 
 Shepherd to His Love." The saying, 
 "saw of might," recalls Ben Jonson's 
 well-known expression, "Marlowe's 
 mighty line." 
 
 sheriff's post. " At the doors of sheriffs 
 were usually set up ornamented posts, 
 on which royal and civic proclamations 
 were fixed." Dyce. Tw. I, 5, 157. 
 
 shield. 1. To protect. Lr. IV, 2, 67. 
 2. To forbid ; to avert. Meas. Ill, 1, 
 141 ; Airs. I, 3, 174; Rom. IV, 1, 41. 
 
 shift. To change. To shift his being = 
 to change his dwelling. Cym. I, 5, 54. 
 
 ship-tire. A particular kind of head- 
 dress worn at that period. Wiv. Ill, 3, 
 60. See tire. 
 
 shive. A slice. Tit. II, 1, 87. " 'Tis safe 
 taking a shive of a cut loaf " is a very 
 old proverb. 
 
 shoes. The expression over shoes, for 
 moderately deep, occurs in Mids. Ill, 2, 
 48, and Gent. I, 1, 24. In the latter 
 passage it is contrasted with over boots, 
 which is deeper yet. 
 
 In John II, 1, 144, the word shows, of 
 the g. a. text, reads shoes in the Fl. In 
 the 3rd Var., Vol, XV, p. 229, the old 
 reading is retained, and Steevens cites 
 numerous passages to support it. The 
 emendation is due to Theobald. The 
 
SHO 
 
 287 
 
 SHO 
 
 very obvious meaning is, " As Hercules' 
 lion's skin (the skin of the Nemean 
 lion which he wore) shows upon the 
 back of an ass." F. A. Marshall. See 
 slipper. 
 
 shoeing-horn. Awell-known toilet article; 
 metaphorically, a subservient tool or 
 instrument. In applying the terra to 
 Menelaus, Thersites, no doubt, had in 
 mind the time-worn joke about horns 
 and cuckolds. Troil. V, 1, 61. See 
 transformation. 
 
 shog. To move on. HV. II, 1, 47. 
 
 shoots. In Wint, I, 2, 128, shoots evi- 
 dently means the horns of the cuckold. 
 Henley (the old Sh. com.), in the 3z-d 
 Var. (1821), Vol. XIV, p. 249, thus 
 paraphrases the words of Leontes : "To 
 make thee a calf thou must have the 
 tuft on thy forehead and the young 
 horns that shoot up in it, as I have." 
 It has been objected that " he gives no 
 authority for his explanation of ' pash ' 
 by tuft.'''' But he does not explain 
 "pash " by tuft; the pash is the head 
 (see pash) and the rough pash which 
 Leontes speaks of is a pash with a tuft 
 of hair such as usually grows on the 
 head of a young bull. See also Ad- 
 denda, s.v. pash. 
 
 Shootie. The name of Master Shooty, 
 the great traveller, as it reads in the 
 g. a. text (Meas.IV, 3, 18), is "Shootie" 
 in the FL, and it has been suggested 
 that it is a sort of pun on shoe tie. 
 Warburton reads Shooter, and the 3rd 
 Var. and some others Shoe-tie. See 
 Sure-card. 
 
 shot. 1. Range; reach. Tit. II, 1, 2; 
 Hml. I, 3, 35. 
 
 2. In 2HIV. Ill, 2, 295, shot "is used for 
 shooter, one who is to fight by shooting." 
 Johnson. At the present day it is in 
 common use as a synonym for marks- 
 man, but in Sh. time it was equivalent 
 to musketeer, as in IHVI. I, 4, 53, and 
 HVIII. V, 4, 59. This was the meaning 
 among writers of the time as quoted by 
 Steevens and Malone. Thus in Stowe's 
 " Annales," speaking of a body of men, 
 he says : ' ' the greater part whereof were 
 
 shot, and the other were pikes and 
 halberts in faire corslets." 
 3. A tavern reckoning or one's share 
 thereof. Gent. II, 5, 7 ; Cym. V, 4, 1.58. 
 " The literal sense is ' contribution,' that 
 which is ' shot ' into the general fund." 
 Skeat. In IHIV. V, 3, 30, there is a 
 pun upon the two meanings of the word 
 — a tavern reckoning and also a missile 
 discharged from a gun. 
 shotten herring. One that has shed its 
 roe and is consequently lank and lean. 
 Cowden Clarke. Hunter makes it "a 
 herring gutted and dried." Clarke's 
 definition is probably correct. IHIV. 
 
 II, 4, 145. 
 
 shough. A kind of shaggy dog. Mcb. 
 
 III, 1, 94. 
 
 shoulder. The word itself requires no 
 explanation, but some of the passages 
 in which it occurs have called forth 
 comment. 
 
 In As. IV, 1, 48, Cupid hath clapt 
 him o' the shoulder, hut Fll warrant 
 him heart-whole, has been explained in 
 two ways : (1) to clap on the shoulder in 
 token of friendly encouragement, as in 
 Ado. I, 1, 261 ; LLL. V, 2, 107, and 
 Troil. Ill, 3, 138 ; and (2) to arrest, as 
 in Cym. V, 3, 78, and Err. IV, 2, 37. 
 Schm. and some others prefer the latter 
 explanation, but Furness thinks that 
 "on the whole, the former interpreta- 
 tion seems preferable. " It appears so to 
 me. Furness seems to think that "there 
 is colour for [Schmidt's] preference in 
 the use of the word 'warrant' im- 
 mediately following." But " warrant " 
 here is not a writ of attachment, but a 
 verbal guarantee, and if Cupid had 
 attached the supposed delinquent lover 
 by way of arrest, there would have been 
 no escape for him. He would not have 
 remained "heart-whole." Verity ("The 
 Henry Irving Shakespeare") explains 
 the expression as "lightly touched." 
 
 Othello's description of 'inen whose 
 heads Do grow beneath their shoulders 
 was, no doubt, taken from Sir John 
 Mandeville's account of his travels, in 
 which he teUs us that "in another Yle, 
 
SHO 
 
 288 
 
 SIB 
 
 toward the South, duellen folk of foule 
 Stature and of cursed kynde, than have 
 no Hedes ; and here Eyen ben in here 
 Scholdres." This seems to have im- 
 pressed itself upon the people of Sh. 
 
 ■ time, for it is alluded to again in Tp. 
 Ill, 3, 47. 
 
 shoulder, v. To push with violence ; to 
 displace. IHVI. IV, 1, 189; RIII. Ill, 
 7, 128. 
 
 shoulder-shotten. Sprained ; dislocated 
 in the shoulder. Shr. Ill, 2, 56. 
 
 shove-groat shilling. A smooth shilling 
 used in the game of shove-groat. 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 205. 
 
 At first the game was played with the 
 silver groats of the time, then nearly as 
 large as modern shillings. When the 
 broad shillings of Edward VI were 
 coined they were substituted for the 
 groats in this game. See Edward 
 shovel-boards. 
 
 shovel. To throw with a shovel. In 
 Wint. IV, 4, 471, the metre requires 
 that this word should have the Scottish 
 or old English pronunciation — shool. 
 The spelling in the Fl. is shoriel, but 
 this is of no weight, as the u v\ as gener- 
 ally substituted for v under certain con- 
 ditions, as in aduenture in line 472. I 
 think it very probable that if Sh. him- 
 self were to appear on an English or 
 American stage in one of his own plays, 
 none but educated Scotchmen would be 
 able to understand him. See priest. 
 
 Dr. Furness seems to appreciate this, 
 and in his recent volumes gives more 
 and more attention to the Scottish 
 language as found in Sh. And there is 
 yet room. See silly. 
 
 shovel-board. Steevens seems to imply 
 that shove-groat and shovel-board were 
 the same, but Douce claims that they 
 were different. The game consisted in 
 shoving or sliding smooth pieces of 
 metal (groats or shillings) so as to land 
 them near certain marks on a smooth 
 board. Wiv. I, 1, 159. See Strutt's 
 "Sports and Pastimes," and Donee's 
 " Illustrations of Shakespeare." 
 
 Showed. Appeared. In Mcb. I, 2, 15, 
 
 the meaning is that Fortune, while she 
 
 smiled on him, deceived him. Malone. 
 shrewd. 1. Bad ; mischievous. Wiv. II, 
 
 2, 232 ; Meas. II, 1, 263 ; Shr. I, 1, 185 ; 
 
 John. V, 5, 14; RII. Ill, 2, 59; 2HIV. 
 
 II, 4, 228. 
 2. Cunning; artful. Mids. II, 1, 83; 
 
 Troil. I, 2, 206. 
 shrewdly. To a great and mischievous 
 
 extent ; mischievously. Ado. II, 1, 84 ; 
 
 All's. Ill, 5, 91 ; HV. Ill, 7, 52 ; do. 163; 
 
 Hml. I, 4, 1. 
 shrieve. A sheriff. AU's. IV, 8, 213; 
 
 2HIV. IV, 4, 99. 
 shriving-time. Opportunity or time for 
 
 confession and repentance. Hml. V, 2, 47. 
 shroud. To cover ; to take shelter. Tp. 
 
 II, 2, 42 ; LLL. IV, 3, 137. 
 
 shrow. A shrew (a mere variation in 
 spelling, like sew and sow). LLL. V, 
 2, 46. 
 
 shrowd, n. Shelter ; protection. Ant. 
 
 III, 13, 71. 
 
 Shylock, dr.p. A Jew. Merch. 
 
 sib. Related by blood ; nearly akin. 
 (Scotch.) Kins. I, 2, 72. See gossip. 
 
 Sibyl. The name by which several pro- 
 phetic women are designated. The first 
 Sibyl, from whom all the rest are said 
 to have derived their name, is called a 
 daughter of Dardanus and Neso. They 
 are generally described as of great age 
 (0th. Ill, 4, 70), and their number is 
 variously stated at from four to ten. 
 The most famous of the Sibyls was the 
 Cumaean, who guided JEneas into Hades. 
 She is said to have come to Italy from the 
 East, and she is the one who, according 
 to tradition, appeared before Tarquinius 
 Superbus, the last king of Rome, with 
 nine books containing the Roman des- 
 tinies, which she offered him for three 
 hundred pieces of gold. The king re- 
 fused the offer, thinking the price too 
 high, whereupon the Sibyl burnt three 
 •of the books and demanded the same 
 price for the remaining six. The king 
 again refused, and again she departed 
 and burnt three of the books, and on 
 her return again demanded the same 
 price for the remaining three books. 
 
SIC 
 
 289 
 
 8IL 
 
 Tarquin consulted the pontiffs, and by 
 their advice paid the three hundred gold 
 pieces for the three books that were 
 left. These books were kept with great 
 care at Rome ; they were called the 
 Sibylline Books, and two magistrates 
 were appointed to consult them in every 
 crisis. In IHVI. I, 2, 56, the number 
 of Sibyls is given as nine ; as the num- 
 ber of the Sibyls is nowhere given as 
 nine, it is supposed that in this case Sh. 
 has made the mistake of giving the 
 number of Sibylline Books for the num- 
 ber of the Sibyls. 
 
 sides. Shekels. Meas. II, 2, 149. 
 
 Sicinius Velutus, dr.p. Tribune of the 
 people. Cor. 
 
 side-sleeves. Loose, hanging sleeves (in 
 some eds. not hyphenated). Ado. Ill, 
 4,21. 
 
 siege. 1. Seat. Meas. IV, 2, 101. 
 
 2. Rank ; degree ; place. Hml. IV, 7, 
 77 ; 0th. I, 2, 22. 
 
 This use of the word is derived from 
 definition 1, because people sat at table 
 and elsewhere in order of precedence. 
 
 3. Excrement; faecal matter. Tp. II, 
 2, 110. 
 
 The use of the word in this sense is 
 far-fetched, but very obvious. See 3rd 
 Var., Vol. XV, p. 100. 
 
 sieve. In most passages (Ado. V, 1, 5 ; 
 Airs. 1, 3, 208 ; Mcb. I, 3, 8), the ordinary 
 sifter or sieve is meant. In this form 
 the holes with which the bottom is per- 
 forated, allow water and fine powders 
 to pass through freely. But there was 
 another vessel, also called a sieve and 
 made in the form of a sieve, but with 
 a closely woven bottom. Such sieves 
 were and are used for carrying and 
 measuring grain, etc. , and were used in 
 former times to receive the refuse of 
 the table. This is undoubtedly the 
 article alluded to in Troil. II, 2, 71. 
 Such sieves or fiat-bottomed baskets 
 when used at table were called voider s. 
 The reading in the Quarto is stue, a 
 common form in old books for " sive '' or 
 *• sieve." The Fl. reads same ; the other 
 
 . Folios, jplaoe, and Delius, sink^ a Ger- 
 
 man emendation which looks very much 
 like a technological anachronism. 
 
 sighted. Having eyes. Wint. I, 2, 388. 
 
 siglitless. 1. Invisible. Mcb. I, 5, 50. 
 2. Unsightly ; offensive. John III, 1, 45. 
 
 siglits. The perforated part of their 
 helmets, through which they could see. 
 to direct their aim. Steevens. 2HIV. 
 IV, 1, 121. 
 
 sign. 1. To mark ; to denote. John IV, 
 2, 222 ; HVIII. II, 4, 108 ; Cses. Ill, 1, 206. 
 2. To be an omen. Ant. IV, 3, 14. 
 
 Silence, dr.p. A country justice, cousin 
 to Justice Shallow. 2HIV. 
 
 Silius, dr.p. An ofllcer of Ventidius's 
 army. Ant. 
 
 silken point. A tagged lace used for 
 supporting the hose and other parts of 
 the dress. 2HIV. I, 1, ,54. Here evi- 
 dently equivalent to " a trifling matter. '* 
 
 silly. Skeat tells us that this " word has 
 much changed its meaning. It meant 
 timely^ then lucky, happy, blessed, 
 innocent, simple, foolish." The old 
 form was seely or sely, and that it also 
 bore the meaning of poor, trifling, weak, 
 both as to intellectual and material 
 things, can easily be shown. Thus, in 
 the " Travels " of Sir John Mandeville 
 we find, ' ' to apparay lie with our Bodyes, 
 we usen a sely litylle clout." And in 
 Spenser's Sonn. LXIII, the word occurs 
 in the same sense : 
 
 After long storms * * * 
 In dread of death and dangerous dis- 
 may, 
 With which my silly bark was tossed 
 
 sore, 
 I do at length descry the happy shore. 
 And in Burns's lines " To a Mouse " he 
 
 Thy wee bit * housie too in ruin I 
 Its silly wa'st the win's are strewin. 
 The word is now used almost wholly 
 in the sense of foolish or weak-minded, 
 
 * These words were hyphenated in the 
 first ed. of Burns's poems, but not in 
 the Edinburgh ed., published under the 
 poet's supervision, and not in the best 
 subsequent eds. 
 
 t Walls. 
 
SIL 
 
 290 
 
 BIL. 
 
 but by Sh. it is used with a variety of 
 meanings. Schmidt, in his "Lexicon," 
 notes the following : 
 
 1. " Harmless, innocent, helpless. " In 
 some of his instances, as Lucr. 167, it 
 may bear this meaning, but in 3HVI. 
 I, 1, 243, and Gent. IV, 1, 72, the word 
 weak would be a closer synonj'^m. 
 
 2. " Plain, simple. " That the word has 
 this meaning in Tw. II, 4, 47 (cf. silly- 
 sooth) is no doubt correct, but surely 
 this is not the meaning in IHVI. IV, 7, 
 72 : Here is a silly stately style indeed, 
 for this would be a contradiction in 
 terms. If we make silly = foolish in 
 this passage, I think we get nearer to 
 the true sense. And it certainly is not 
 the meaning in Wint. IV, 3, 28. See 
 silly cheat. Again : As found in Cym. 
 V, 3, 86 : There was a fourth man, in 
 a silly habit, That gave the affront 
 with them, Schm. gloss — "plain, simple" 
 — robs the British captain's speech of 
 its entire point and force. Steevens 
 explained the word here as "simple or 
 rustick," and in this he has been followed 
 by most coms. Malone's note on this 
 passage is as follows : "So in the novel 
 of Boccace, on which this play is formed: 
 *The servant, who had no great good 
 will to kill her, very easily grew pitifull, 
 took off her upper garment, and gave 
 her a poore ragged doublet, a silly 
 chapperone, etc' 'The Decameron,' 
 1620. " But Sh. could not ha v e obtained 
 the expression from this book, which 
 did not appear until many years after 
 Cymbeline had been placed upon the 
 stage. And even here "simple or 
 rustic " does not seem to give the true 
 sense. A ' ' poore ragged doublet ' ' would 
 be one that was weak to defend from 
 the weather, and this is evidently just 
 what is meant. In Cym. V, 3, 86, pre- 
 cisely as in the lines quoted from Burns, 
 the word means physically or materially 
 weak — incapable of resisting spear- 
 thrust or sword-cut. It was a grand 
 and emphatic testimony to the bravery 
 and skill of Posthumus that, without 
 armour, "in a silly habit," he should 
 
 have fought with the steel-clad Roman 
 soldiers and overcome them. It calls to 
 mind the song of " The Bloody Vest " in 
 Scott's "Talisman," where the hero at 
 his lady's behest exchanged 
 
 A hauberk of steel for a kirtle of 
 thread 
 
 And charged, thus attired, in the 
 tournament dread, 
 acquitting himself with such credit as 
 to deserve the praises of minstrels and 
 the hand of the princess. 
 
 But to make silly mean "plain," 
 "simple," or "rustic" takes the very 
 life out of this noble tribute to the 
 chivalrous daring of Posthumus. 
 
 3. Schmidt's third class is defined as 
 " poor (a) as a term of pity (6) as a term 
 of contempt," and afterwards he gives 
 examples in which it is equivalent to 
 "simple, witless, foolish." But in most 
 of the passages cited in this class, the 
 nearest equivalents are probably foolish 
 and weak. 
 
 Bearing these points in mind, the 
 reader will find no difficulty in extract- 
 ing the true sense from any passage in 
 which the word occurs. 
 silly cheat. Of this phrase, as found in 
 Wint. IV, 3, 28 ("siUy Cheate" in the 
 FL), Furness says: "Neither 'silly' 
 nor ' cheat ' is difficult of comprehension, 
 nor is any difficulty added when they 
 are combined." Certainly not if, in 
 the first place, we manage to get the 
 right meaning of the separate words. 
 Dr. Furness does not attempt to tell us 
 what that meaning is, evidently think- 
 ing that the words are too simple to 
 need explanation, and the ordinary dic- 
 tionaries, even the large ones, give us 
 no special information on the point. 
 
 Hanmer felt so puzzled over the ex- 
 pression that he suggested an emend- 
 ment : sly for silly ; for this Warburton 
 took him severely to task, saying that 
 "silly means simple, low, mean," and 
 implying that the combination was 
 merely another mode of saying that he 
 (Autolycus) was "a snapper -up of 
 unconsidered trifles." Steevens says: 
 
StL 
 
 201 
 
 SliT 
 
 " The silly cheat is one of the technical 
 terms belonging to the art of coney- 
 catching or thievery^ which Greene has 
 mentioned, among the rest, in his 
 treatise on that ancient and honorable 
 science. I think it means picking 
 pockets.'"' But Furness says: "As a 
 * technical term' I have not noted it in 
 Greene." Schm., followed by Rolfe, 
 defines it as " petty thievery." 
 
 Any one of these explanations makes 
 very good sense, but does it give the 
 meaning that Sh. had in view ? Autoly- 
 cus was supposed to be an adept in 
 slang; now, in slang, "cheat" or 
 *'chete" means a thing or person, e.g., 
 grunting-cheat = a pig ; lullaby -cheat 
 = a baby. This word, or affix rather, 
 is found in the earliest rogue's lexicon, 
 that by Harman, published in 1566. So 
 that silly-cheat would mean a foolish 
 person, and this, I think, is the mean- 
 ing of the words here. 
 
 It may be objected to this that Auto- 
 lycus says that his revenue is the silly 
 cheat, and the strict sense of revenue is 
 income. But the word was sometimes 
 used for the source of the income as 
 well as for the income itself, a sort of 
 metonymy which is not uncommon in 
 Sh. cf. Tp. I, 1, 98. See silly. 
 
 silly sooth. Plain, simple truth. John- 
 son. See sooth. 
 
 Silvia, dr.p. Daughter to the Duke of 
 Milan. Gent. 
 
 Simonides, dr.p. King of Pentapolis. 
 Per. 
 
 Simpcox, dr.p. An impostor. 2HVI. 
 
 Simple, dr.p. Servant to Slender. Wiv. 
 
 simple, n. A medicinal herb. Wiv. I, 
 4, 65 ; Rom. V, 1, 40. 
 
 simple, adj. Foolish ; silly. Gent. II, 1, 
 38 ; Rom. II, 5, 38 ; Hml. I, 2, 97. 
 
 Simular. Counterfeit ; false ; hypocritical. 
 Lr. Ill, 2, 54; Gym. V, 5, 200. 
 
 Single. Simple ; silly ; weak. 2HIV. I, 
 2, 207 ; Cor. II, 1, 40 ; Mcb. I, 3, 140. 
 See double. 
 
 singleness. SiUiness ; simplicity. Rom. 
 II, 4, 73, In Sonn. VIII, 8, it means 
 the state of "single blessedness." 
 
 single>soled. Threadbare ; weak ; foolish. 
 Rom. II, 4, 72. There is here an obvious 
 pun upon single sole and single souL 
 The meaning of the word as it was 
 understood in Sh. time is very fully 
 settled. Cotgrave, s. v. " Relief " has : 
 " Bas relief. Gentilhome de bas relief. 
 A thred-bare or single-soled Gentle- 
 man; a Gentleman of low degree.''^ 
 Furness and the 3rd Var. give numerous 
 examples of its use in this sense. 
 
 singularity. 1. Peculiarity; distinction. 
 Tw. 11,5, 164; Cor. I, 1,282. 
 2. A rarity ; a curio. Wint. V, 3, 11. 
 
 sinister. Left. Bight and sinister = 
 right and left. Mids. V, 1, 162. Wright 
 says Snout uses this word for two 
 reasons: "first, because it is a long 
 word, and then because it gives a sort 
 of rhyme to whisper." 
 
 sink-a>pace. A corruption of cinque- 
 pace iq. V). Tw. I, 3, 139. 
 
 In Ado. II, 1, 82, there is an evident 
 pun between cinque-pace and sink-a- 
 pace. Beatrice says : falls into the 
 cinque-pace faster and faster, till he 
 sink into his grave. Collier's MS. cor- 
 rector emended to '■''Sink a-pace into his 
 grave. ' ' This Halli well calls ' ' an alter- 
 ation of singular ingenuity," and even 
 Dyce, an avowed enemy of Collier, says : 
 "There is no denying that, in this 
 instance at least, Mr. Collier's MS. cor- 
 rector has drawn on his invention with 
 considerable success." Furness says: 
 " The chief est objection to Collier's text, 
 apart from its lack of authority, is to 
 me, its obviousness ; the play upon 
 words is amply evident without it." 
 Yes, when the play is read at leisure by 
 cultivated persons; but Sh. wrote for 
 the multitude whom he wished to 
 attract to his theatre, and many of his 
 puns are very obvious. 
 
 sinking>ripe. See ripe. 
 
 Sinon. According to "Virgil, he was a 
 grandson of Autolycus and a kinsman 
 of Ulysses whom he accompanied to 
 Troy. Tradition relates that he allowed 
 himself to be taken prisoner by the 
 Trojans, after he had mutilated himself 
 
819 
 
 SIB 
 
 in such a nmnner as to make them 
 believe that he had been illtreated by 
 the Greeks, He told the Trojans that 
 he was hated by Ulysses and had been 
 selected by him to be sacrificed, because 
 Apollo had ordered a human sacrifice 
 to be offered that the Greeks might 
 safely depart from the coast of Troy, 
 and, he atided, that he had escaped 
 death by flight. When he was asked 
 what was the purport of the wooden 
 horse, he told them that it had been 
 constructed as an atonement for the 
 Palladium which had been carried off. 
 For the rest of the story see horse, 
 ominous. 3H VI. Ill, 2, 190 ; Cym. Ill, 
 4,61. 
 
 sins. The seven deadly sins referred to 
 in Meas. Ill, 1, 111, are pride, envy, 
 wrath, sloth, covetousness, gluttony, 
 lechery. Dyce. 
 
 sir. 1. Used in a sense corresponding to 
 she, q.v. Thus in Cym. V, 5, 145, a 
 nobler' sir ne''er lived. 
 
 2. "A title formerly applied to priests 
 and curates in general ; for this reason : 
 dominus, the academical title of a 
 bachelor of arts, was usually rendered 
 by sir in English at the universities ; 
 so that a bachelor, who in the books 
 stood Dominus Brown, was in conver- 
 sation called Sir Brown. This was in 
 use in some colleges even in my memory. 
 Therefore, as most clei-ical persons had 
 taken that first degree, it became usual 
 to style them .9tr. " Nares. 
 
 3. A gallant; a courtier. To play the 
 sir = to act the gallant. 0th. II, 1, 176. 
 
 Siren. In Sh. time the terms siren and 
 Tnermaid seem to have been synonym- 
 ous. In the old mythology the Sirens 
 were sea-nymphs who, by their singing, 
 fascinated those who sailed past their 
 island, and enticed sailors to throw 
 themselves into the sea. The number 
 is variously stated at two, three or more. 
 Homer tells us that Ulysses, forewarned 
 by Circe, stopped the ears of his crew 
 with wax SQ that they might pass the 
 isles of the Sirens with safety. He 
 himself wisk«d to hear their song, so he 
 
 caused the sailors to tie him to the mast, 
 with strict injunctions not to untie him, 
 however strongly he might plead or 
 command, until they had passed the 
 isle of the enchantresses. When the 
 Argonauts passed by the Sirens, the 
 latter began to sing, but in vain, for 
 Orpheus rivalled and surpassed them ; 
 and as it had been decreed that they 
 should live only until some one hearing 
 their song should pass by unmoved, 
 they threw themselves into the sea and 
 were metamorphosed into rocks. 
 
 It is said that the Sirens were origin- 
 ally the attendants of Proserpina, and 
 when their mistress was carried off by 
 Pluto they were metamorphosed into 
 birds, some say at their own request, 
 that they might fly over the sea in 
 search of Proserpina, while others say 
 that Ceres so transformed them as a 
 punishment for not having guarded 
 their mistress more faithfully. They 
 were deprived of their wings because 
 they had the presumption to challenge 
 the Muses to a singing contest. 
 
 In works of art they are represented 
 as having the head, arms and generally 
 the bust of a young woman, and the 
 wings and lower part of the body, or 
 sometimes only the feet, of a bird. 
 Sonn. CXIX, 1 ; Err. Ill, 2, 47 ; Tit. 
 II, 1, 23. 
 sir reverence. A corruption of save- 
 reverence (salva reverentia) an old 
 formula of apology for introducing any 
 too free or indelicate expression. It 
 was considered a suflBcient apology for 
 anything indecorous. It corresponds to 
 the vulgar formula, saving your pre- 
 sence. In Err. Ill, 2, 93, Droniio of S. 
 evidently wishes to suggest that he 
 could not speak of the fat cook without 
 using words unfit for ears polite. In 
 Rom. I, 4, 42, the Fl. reads. Or saue 
 your reuerence loue; the g. a. text. Of 
 this sir-reverence love, which Knight 
 explains thus: "Mercutio says he will 
 draw Romeo from the 'mire of this 
 love,' and uses, parenthetically, the 
 ordinary form of apology for speaking 
 
SIS 
 
 293 
 
 SKI 
 
 so profanely of love." He then gives 
 quotations illustrating the use of the 
 phrase. Gifford, referring to this ex- 
 pression, says : " An allusion to the 
 good old custom of apologizing for the 
 introduction of a free expression, by 
 bowing to the principal person in com- 
 pany and saying : ' Sir, with reverence,' 
 or 'Sir, reverence.'" In Ado. Ill, 4, 
 33, Margaret twits what she thinks is 
 Hero's prudishness by suggesting that 
 she should use this phrase in speaking 
 of a husband. 
 
 sister, v. To resemble closely. Per. V, 
 Prol. 7. 
 
 sistering. Neighboring. Compl. 2. 
 
 sith. Since. Hml. II, 2, 12. 
 
 sithence. Since. Cor. Ill, 1, 47 ; All's. 
 
 I, 3, 124. 
 
 Siward, dr.p. Earl of Northumberland, 
 general of the English forces. Mcb. 
 See Macbeth. 
 
 Siward, Young, dr.p. Son to Siward. 
 Mcb. 
 
 sizes. Settled portions or allowances. Lr. 
 
 II, 4, 178. 
 
 Prom this comes the word sizar , the 
 name given to a poor college student, 
 from the sizes or allowances given to 
 him. 
 skains-mates. An expression which has 
 never been clearly explained. Malone 
 made it " cut-throat " companions, and 
 Steevens has a long note explaining that 
 skein or skain is a knife or short dagger, 
 and that by skains-inates the nurse 
 meant his loose companions who fre- 
 quented the fencing-school with him. 
 (3rd Var., Vol. VI, p. 109.) That skeen 
 or skein means a knife is true, but 
 irrelevant, as it would be diflBcult to 
 imagine the old nurse going with a lot 
 of young bloods to a fencing school. 
 Dyce thought the meaning remained to 
 be discovered, but accepted Staunton's 
 explanation, which is : " The word skain, 
 I am told by a Kentish man, was for- 
 merly a familiar term in parts of Kent 
 to express what we now call a scape- 
 grace or ne'er-do-well ; just the sort of 
 person the worthy old Nurse would 
 
 entertain a horror of being considered 
 a companion [or mate] to." Rom. II, 
 4, 162. Douce supposes that sempstresses 
 is meant, from " skein " of thread, and 
 Dowden thinks this not improbable, for 
 sempsters (fem.) had an ill-repute. 
 
 skill. 1. Cunning. Wint. II, 1, 166. 
 2. Reason; motive. Wint. IV, 4, 152. 
 To this explanation, first offered by 
 Warburton, Mason and some others 
 objected that there was no example of 
 its use in this sense, but Halliwell and 
 Dyce bring forward several instances. 
 Thus, in "The Voiage and Travaile '^ 
 of Sir John Maundeville, we find : " For 
 in that desert is fulle gret defaute of 
 watre : and often time it fallethe, that 
 where men fynden watre at o tyme in 
 a place, it faylethe another tyme. And 
 for that skylle, thei make none habita- 
 ciouns there. " And in Warner's ' ' Con- 
 tinuance of Albions England" (1606) 
 are the lines : 
 Hence Englands heires apparant haue 
 
 of Wales bin princes, till 
 Our queene deceast concealed her 
 heire, I wot not for what skill. 
 
 skill, V. To be of importance ; to signify ; 
 to matter. Shr. Ill, 2, 134 ; T w. V, 1, 295 ; 
 2HVI. Ill, 1, 281. 
 
 skilless. Ignorant ; unacquainted with. 
 Tp. Ill, 1, 53; Troil. I, 1, 12; Tw. 
 Ill, 3, 9. 
 
 skillet. A small iron pot, generally made 
 with three feet. 0th. I, 3, 274. 
 
 skimble-skamble. Wandering; disjointed; 
 confused. IHIV. Ill, 1, 154. 
 
 skin. The expression, honest as the skin 
 between his brows (Ado. Ill, 5, 13), seems 
 to have been a common saying. It 
 occurs twice in Gammer Gurton^s 
 Needle (1551). Furness makes the very 
 ingenious suggestion that the phrase 
 may have arisen "from the fact that 
 it was on the forehead that the brand 
 of shameful conduct was set." Conse- 
 quently, an unbranded brow would 
 denote honesty. This is a better ex- 
 planation than can be found for most 
 phrases of the kind. See hawk. 
 The saying of the clown in All's. II, 
 
SKI 
 
 294 
 
 dL£ 
 
 2, 29, as fit * * * as the pudding 
 to his skin, is easily understood when 
 we remember the old practice of filling 
 the emptied and cleansed intestines of 
 pigs and sheep with pudding-stuff, just 
 as we now fill them with sausage-meat. 
 In Sh. pudding often means intestine, 
 as in Wiv. II, 1, 32. The original 
 meaning of pudding was simply a bag, 
 afterwards applied to the material with 
 which the bag was filled. 
 
 skinker. A drawer of liquor ; a tapster. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 26. 
 
 skipper. A thoughtless fellow. Shr. II, 
 1, 333. 
 
 skirr. To scour ; to move rapidly. HV. 
 IV, 7, 64 ; Mcb. V, 3, 35. 
 
 slab. Slimy ; glutinous. Mcb. IV, 1, 33. 
 
 slack. To neglect. Lr. II, 4, 248 ; 0th. 
 IV, 3, 88. 
 
 The expression in Rom. IV, 1, 3, / 
 ani nothing slow to slack his haste, 
 seems, at first sight, to convey a mean- 
 ing directly opposite to that intended. 
 Malone explains it as : " There is nothing 
 of slowness in me to induce me to 
 slacken or abate his haste." Knight 
 makes it: "I am nothing slow (so as) 
 to slack his haste. " This Dowden thinks 
 is the right explanation. 
 
 slander. 1. Disgrace; reproach. RIII. 
 I, 3, 231. 
 2. Ill report ; bad name. Cym. I, 1, 71. 
 
 slanderous cuckoo. By some explained 
 as "because supposed to tell tales of 
 unfaithful wives." But if the wives 
 were unfaithful, the tales would not be 
 slanderous. Probably it means that the 
 cuckoo accuses all alike, the good and 
 the bad, and consequently slanders many 
 virtuous women. Kins. I, 1, 19. See 
 cuckoo. 
 
 slave. To turn to base or slavish uses. 
 Lr. IV, 1, 71. 
 
 sleave, I Floss silk. Troil. V, 1, 3.5 ; 
 
 sleave silk. ) Mcb. II, 2, 38. See sleided. 
 
 sledded. This word occurs but once in 
 Sh. and the corns, are divided as to 
 whether it means seated in a sled or 
 sledge, or provided with a sledge or 
 hammer. It is an unusual word, and 
 
 the only instance of its use, given in 
 the dictionaries, is this passage. The 
 letters s-1-e-d-g-e represent, not one 
 word with two different meanings, but 
 two entirely different words, having 
 entirely different origins, and whose 
 spelling and pronunciation are the same 
 merely by accident. That this is the 
 case with several words in common use 
 is well known (see pregnant and salt 
 3), and it has given rise to some con- 
 fusion when not taken fully into con- 
 sideration. Sledge, meaning a vehicle, 
 is dei-ived from the same Teutonic base 
 as slide, and conveys the idea of sliding; 
 sledge, a hammer, comes from the 
 Anglo-Saxon slecge, a hammer. The 
 inflections, etc., of both words are now 
 the same. 
 
 Whether we shall adopt the vehicle 
 or the hammer gloss for the word under 
 consideration must depend upon the 
 meaning given to "Pollax," which it 
 qualifies in Hml. I, 1, 63. See Pollax, 
 where the subject is treated exten- 
 sively. 
 
 Various emendations of sledded have 
 been proposed, but all futile. Sleaded, 
 Rochester; leaded, Moltke; sturdie, 
 Leo, are not needed. If Polanders, 
 seated in sledges or sleds, are meant, 
 then sledded is the proper word, and its 
 meaning is obvious. If "Pollax" means 
 a pole-axe, then sledded, i.e., furnished 
 with a sledge or hammer, is equally 
 appropriate, and no emendation is re- 
 quired. 
 sleeve-hand. A wrist-band or cuff. Wint. 
 
 IV, 4, 212. 
 
 sleeveless. Useless; unprofitable. Troil. 
 
 V, 4, 9. 
 
 " I suspect that sleeveless, which has 
 puzzled etymologists, is that which can- 
 not be sleaved, sleided or unravelled ; 
 and therefore useless : thus, a sleeveless 
 errand would be a fruitless one." 
 Singer. 
 sleided. Untwisted silk prepared to be 
 used in the weaver's sley or slay is said 
 to be sleided. Troil. V, 1, 35 ; Per. IV, 
 Prol. 21 ; Compi. 48. In the latter pass- 
 
ULt 
 
 205 
 
 SLU 
 
 age reference is made to the practice of 
 tying up letters with sieided or floss 
 silk, the ends of which were fastened 
 with seals. 
 
 Sleight. An artifice ; a trick. 3HVI. IV, 
 2, 20 ; Mcb. Ill, 5, 26. 
 
 Slender, di\p. Cousin to Justice Shallow. 
 Wiv. The word is slang for " country- 
 gentleman." 
 
 slice. This word, as it occurs in Wiv. I, 
 1, 134, is usually defined as a mere in- 
 terjection and consequently meaning- 
 less. Schm. gives the common defini- 
 tion (a thin piece cut off), and then says : 
 "A term applied to Mr. Slender by 
 Nym, " intending, we suppose, that Nym 
 is chafiing or guying Slender on his 
 thin, lank appearance. But is it not 
 more probable that Nj^m uses the word 
 in the sense of "cut it short" ; "shut 
 up," or, as modem slang has it, " cheese 
 it"? 
 
 *slid. Said to be a mincing contraction 
 of "God's lid," the meaning of which 
 is not very clear. Some say it means 
 "God's eyelid" and refer us to Acts 
 xvii, 30. Schm. says: "A mean oath 
 used by such pei-sons as Mr. Slender and 
 Sir Andi'ew." Probably in common 
 use and no meaner than ^sblood or 
 ^slight, or any "pretty oaths that are 
 not dangerous." (As. IV, 1, 192.) Wiv. 
 Ill, 4, 24 ; Tw. Ill, 4, 427. It is God's 
 lid in Troil. I, 2, 228. See 'sblood. 
 
 'slight. A minced oath. Nares says it 
 is " a contracted form of ' by this light,' 
 a familiar asseveration," In this he 
 is followed by some coms. who seem 
 anxious to soften the coarseness of the 
 real origin, which is undoubtedly "God's 
 light," just as in the case of ^sblood, 
 ^swounds iq.v). Some even go so far 
 as to make 'slid = by this light, but cf. 
 Troil. I, 2, 228, where the uncontracted 
 form is given "flat-footed," if we may 
 be pardoned a slang, but expressive, 
 phrase. If these expressions are ob- 
 jectionable, leave them out, but do not 
 misstate the facts. 
 
 slip. 1. A leash ; a kind of noose in which 
 greyhounds are held before they are 
 
 allowed to start for the game. So called 
 because by slipping one part the dog is 
 set free. HV. Ill, 1, 31. 
 2. A piece of false money. Ven. 515 ; 
 Rom. II, 4, 51 (punning), cf. Troil. II, 
 3, 27. 
 
 slipper, adj. Slippery. Oth. II, 1, 246. 
 
 slippers. The passage in John IV, 2, 197, 
 tvhich his nimble haste had falsely 
 thrust upon contrary feet, called forth 
 the following curious note from Dr. 
 Johnson : " I know not how the com- 
 mentators understand this important 
 passage, which, in Dr. Warburton's 
 edition, is marked as eminently beauti- 
 ful and, on the whole, not without 
 justice. But Shakespeare seems to have 
 confounded the man's shoes with his 
 gloves. He that is frighted or hurried 
 may put his hand into the wrong glove, 
 but either shoe will equally admit either 
 foot. The author seems to be disturbed 
 by the disorder which he describes." 
 Johnson's Edition (1765), Vol. Ill, p. 475. 
 The 3rd. Var., Vol. XV, p. 325, contains 
 a page and a half of explanatory notes 
 on this passage, prefaced by the follow- 
 ing from Bos well : " The following notes 
 afford a curious specimen of the difii- 
 culties which may arise from the fluc- 
 tuations of fas.hion. What has called 
 forth the antiquarian knowledge of so 
 many learned commentators is again 
 become the common practice at this 
 day." That is to say, in 1765 shoes 
 were not made rights and lefts ; in 1821 
 they were so made, and thus the ivhirli- 
 gig of time brings in his revenges, 
 which are sometimes very amusing. 
 
 sliver. To break or tear off. Mcb. IV, 
 
 I, 28 ; Lr. IV, 2, 34. 
 
 This is a common word on this side of 
 
 the Atlantic, though English coms. 
 
 seem to think it necessary to explain it. 
 slobbery, adj. Wet ; sloppy ; flooded. 
 
 HV. Ill, 5, 13. 
 slops. Large, loose trousers or breeches. 
 
 Ado. Ill, 2, 36; 2HIV. I, 2, 34; Rom. 
 
 II, 4, 47. 
 
 slubber. 1. To soil ; to sully. Oth. I, 3, 
 227. cf. beslubber. 
 
SLIT 
 
 ftHO 
 
 2. To slur over ; to do carelessly. Merch. 
 
 II, 8, 39. 
 
 sluttish spoils. Johnson explains sluttish 
 spoils of opportunity (Troil. IV, 5, 62) 
 as " corrupt wenches, of whose chastity 
 every opportunity may make a prey." 
 
 Sly, Christopher, dr.p. A drunken tinker. 
 Shr. Ind. 
 
 smack. A smattering. All's. IV, 1, 18. 
 
 small. Not loud, but high-toned and 
 clear. Cor. Ill, 2, 114 ; Tw. I, 4, 32. 
 cf. quill. 
 
 smatch. Smack ; taste. Caes. V, 5, 46. 
 
 smatter. To prate ; to chatter. Rom. 
 
 III, 5, 172. 
 
 smilet. Diminutive of smile. Lr. IV,3, 21. 
 
 Smith the Weaver, dr.p. A follower of 
 Jack Cade. 2HVI. 
 
 smoke. The passage in Ado. I, 3, 61, as 
 I was smoking a musty room, sounds 
 queerly to modern ears. But in the 
 time of Sh. the practice of fumigating 
 rooms for "the swetynynge of the 
 house " (Sir John Puckering's directions 
 to his steward) was quite common. 
 Burton, in his " Anatomy of Melan- 
 choly," tells us that "the smoake of 
 juniper is in great request with us at 
 Oxford, to sweeten our chambers." 3rd 
 Var., Vol. VII, p. 32. 
 
 After quoting various notes on this 
 passage, Dr. Furness, in his elaborate 
 ed. of Ado., makes the following re- 
 mark : "It has been noted (first, I 
 think, by Thornbury ; but I speak under 
 correction) that Shakespeare nowhere 
 alludes to tobacco. It is clear that 
 those who make this claim did not read 
 their Shakespeare in either Rowe's 
 Second Edition or in Pope, where 
 Borachio is made to say that he was 
 * smoking in a musty room." This is 
 a capital hit at super - serviceable 
 emendators. 
 
 smooth, adj. Bland; insinuative. As. 
 V, 4, 47 ; IHIV. II, 4, 79. 
 
 smooth, V. 1. To make bland and in- 
 sinuative. Pilgr. 306. 
 2. To flatter. 2HVI. I, 1, 156 ; Tit. IV, 
 4, 96 ; Per. I, 2, 78. 
 
 snaffle. A bridle consisting of a slender 
 
 mouth-bit with a single rein and with- 
 out a curb. Ant. II, 2, 63. Schm. 
 defines it as a " bridle which crosses the 
 nose," certainly an imperfect descrip- 
 tion. A snaffle is one of the easiest 
 forms of bit (for the horse), hence 
 Antony's expression : which with a 
 snaffle you may pace easy, that is, 
 without a severe bit, such as a curb. 
 
 Snare, dr.p. A sheriff's officer. 2HIV. 
 
 sneck up. Usually defined as an ex- 
 clamation of contempt, equivalent to 
 " Gro and hang yourself ! " So in Nares, 
 Dyce, Schm., etc. Tw. II, 3, 101. I 
 think it quite as probable that in this 
 case it means "shut up!" A sneck is 
 an old word for latch (still used in 
 Scotland) ; sneck the door = shut or 
 latch the door. Either definition makes 
 good sense in this passage, the only one 
 where the word occurs in Sh. In the 
 3rd Var. the comments on this passage 
 include several quotations which favor 
 the "go hang yourself " gloss. 
 
 sneap, n. A reprimand; a taunt; a 
 snub. 2HIV. II, 1, 133. 
 
 sneap, v. To check ; to nip. LLL. I, 1, 
 100 ; Wint. I, 2, 13. 
 
 snipe. The smallest of game birds, hence 
 a synonym for a trifling, insigniflcaut 
 creature. 0th. I, 3, 390. Warburton 
 calls it "a diminitive woodcock," which 
 it certainly is not, as it belongs to an 
 entirely different species. 
 
 snipt- taffeta. Ribbons or snippings of 
 taffeta. All's. IV, 5, 2. A contemptu- 
 ous expression used by Lafeu in allusion 
 to Parolles' would-be fine clothes, orna- 
 mented with ribbons or snippings of 
 taffeta. See taffeta. 
 
 snore, v. To breathe with a rough, hoarse 
 noise in sleep. Tp. II, 1, 217 and 300; 
 Cym. Ill, 6, 34. 
 
 snore, n. A breathing with a harsh 
 noise in sleep. Tp. II, 1, 218 ; Mcb. II, 2, 6. 
 This word as verb and noun occurs 
 nine times in the plays. It is, no doubt, 
 an imitative or onomatopoetic word, 
 akin to snarl. Snore and snort seem 
 to l)e from the same root, and it is prob- 
 able that, as Wedgwood suggests, the 
 
8N0 
 
 297 
 
 SNU 
 
 effect of the final t is to express abrupt- 
 ness or discontinuity. In Sh. time the 
 two words were clearly differentiated, 
 and it would seem that snoring would 
 be more appropriate than snorting in 
 0th. I, 1, 90. When we consider Fal- 
 staff's " robustious " characteristics, 
 snorting would, perhaps, be a permis- 
 sible word to use in his case. IHIV. II, 
 4, 578. 
 
 snorting. Snoring. 0th. 1, 1, 90 ; IHIV. 
 II, 4, 578. See snore. 
 
 Snout the Tinker, dr.p. Mids. 
 
 snow. The line in Mids. V, 1, 59, That 
 is, hot ice and strange snoiv, involves 
 a difficulty which is not easily solved. 
 The speech of Theseus has for its object 
 the setting in opposition of various con- 
 tradictory qualities ; hot ice is easily 
 understood, but strange snow does not 
 seem to convey any clear idea. Pope 
 omitted the line altogether. Others 
 have emended by reading "shew" for 
 "snow"; "black snow"; "strong 
 snow"; "seething snow"; "swarthy 
 snow " ; " staining snow " ; " sable 
 snow." Steevens explained the expres- 
 sion as : " hot ice and snow of as strange 
 a quality." The Cowden-Clarkes, how- 
 ever, explain strange, as it occurs here 
 and in some other passages, as " anom- 
 alous, unnatural, prodigious," and this 
 seems to give a good sense as the line 
 stands. 
 
 snow-broth. The cold, foamy product of 
 melted snow. Meas. I, 4, 58. 
 
 This expression has puzzled some, but 
 it is a common one amongst Scotch 
 anglers, who know that "snaw-broo" 
 s})oils the water for fishing. 
 
 snuff. The radical meaning of this word 
 is the black carbonaceous deposit which 
 gathers on the wick of an old-fashioned 
 candle and which, in the early part of 
 the last century, was removed every 
 little while by means of a pair of 
 "snuffers," some of which were of the 
 most beautiful and elaborate designs 
 and costly materials. In these days of 
 electricity, acetylene, gas, kerosene and 
 patent candles which require no " snuff- 
 
 ing," the force of some of Sh. expres- 
 sions in which "snuff" is used is not 
 evident to modern readers. Thus, in 
 Cym. I, 6, 86, To hide me from the 
 radiant sun, and solace P the dungeon 
 by a snuff, a "snuff " means an unsnuffed 
 candle, i.e., one of which the wick is 
 laden with snuff and which consequently 
 gives a poor light. (Rolfe explains as 
 a "snuffed candle," meaning, no doubt, 
 a candle with much snuff; but this is 
 an unusual use of the word "snuffed.") 
 See also Hml. IV, 7, 116, and Lr. IV, 6, 
 89. From this darkening of the light 
 by the accumulation of snuff, the word 
 snuff came to mean offence or huff, as 
 in LLL. V, 2, 22, and Mids. V, 1, 254, 
 and also an object of contempt, as in 
 All's. I, 2, 59, all which uses, allusions 
 and quibbles are easily understood when 
 the facts relating to their origin are 
 known. 
 Snug the Joiner, dr.p. Mids. 
 
 In a note upon Bottom's direction to 
 Snug, in Mids. Ill, 1, 46: Let him 
 name Iiis name ; and tell them 2Jlainly, 
 he is Snug the joiner, Malone (8rd Var., 
 Vol. V, p. 246) says: "There are prob- 
 ably many temporary allusions to par- 
 ticular incidents and characters scat- 
 tered through our author's plays, which 
 gave a poignancy to certain passages, 
 while the events were recent, and the 
 persons pointed at yet living. In the 
 speech now before us, I think it not 
 improbable that he meant to allude to 
 a fact which happened in his time, at 
 an entertainment exhibited before Queen 
 Elizabeth. It is recorded in a manu- 
 script collection of anecdotes, stories, 
 etc., entitled Merry Passages and 
 Jeasts, MS. Harl. 6395 : 
 
 " ' There was a spectacle presented to 
 Queen Elizabeth upon the water, and, 
 among others, Harry Goldingham was 
 to represent Arion upon the Dolphin's 
 backe ; but finding his voice to be verye 
 hoarse and unpleasant, when he came 
 to perform it, he tears off his disguise 
 and swears he was none of Arion, not 
 he, but even honest Harry Golding- 
 
so 
 
 so 
 
 ham; which blunt discoverie pleased 
 the queene better than if it had gone 
 through in the right way : — yet he could 
 order his voice to an instrument ex- 
 ceeding well. ' 
 
 " The collector of these Merry Passages 
 appears to have been nephew to Sir 
 Roger L' Estrange." 
 
 Sir Walter Scott in his " Kenil worth, " 
 Vol. II, p. 203 (ed. of 1831), makes Mike 
 Lambourne the hero of this story, and 
 refers in a note to Laneham's account 
 of the queen's entertainment, "a very 
 diverting tract, written by as great a 
 coxcomb as ever blotted paper." 
 SO, sol These words (0th. V, , 2, 86), 
 standing as they do, without any stage 
 direction, are apt to puzzle the ordinary 
 reader. Indeed, within a few weeks a 
 most energetic, though, evidently, not a 
 very well-informed correspondent has 
 addressed a letter to one of our journals 
 in which he scores poor Sh. unmercifully 
 for what he calls the absurdity of this 
 scene. If he had turned to the New 
 Variorum edition of Dr. Furness, he 
 would have found nearly six solid pages 
 of fine type in which the subject is fully 
 explained. 
 
 The difiiculty arises from the apparent 
 contradiction of first having Desdemona 
 smothered, then having her revive so 
 as to speak intelligently and afterwards 
 die without apparent cause. This was 
 noted by Steevens (see 3rd. Var., Vol. 
 IX, p. 473), who says : " I am of opinion 
 that some theatrical direction has been 
 omitted, and that when Othello says— 
 ' Not dead ? not yet quite dead ? * * * 
 So, so ! ' he then stabs her, repeating the 
 two last words as he repeats the blow." 
 
 Verplanck says : " There is no stage 
 direction at this place in the original 
 copies ; but it is most probable that the 
 Poet intended Othello here to stab Des- 
 demona, according to the practice of 
 the modern stage. His previous resolu- 
 tion, 'I'll not shed her blo6d,' is for- 
 gotten in the agony and terror of the 
 moment, when he says — ' Not dead ! not 
 yet quite dead V " 
 
 That "the practice of the modern 
 stage " is the tradition of the past seems 
 more than probable. Collier published 
 an old ballad, found amongst the Eger- 
 ton papers, in which we are told that 
 Othello 
 
 sought his lady as she layde 
 Within her virgin bed, 
 And there his hands of blackest shade 
 He dyed to gory red. 
 
 The antiquity of the ballad has been 
 called in question, and Collier himself 
 points out some errors in it, but it is 
 apparently not quite as modern as Dr. 
 Ingleby would have us believe. 
 
 That Garrick used the dagger is well 
 known, but it is not quite settled whether 
 he followed an old practice or intro- 
 duced an innovation, the apologies that 
 were offered for his so doing favoring 
 the latter i dea. Amongst modern actors, 
 Booth, Fechter, Davenport and several 
 others adopt the stabbing method ; Sal- 
 vini thinks that "So, so" "means that 
 Othello kneels on her breast to hasten 
 her death." I am told that on the 
 German stage stabbing is the usual 
 practice. 
 
 Of the editors, Steevens, Rann, 
 Knight, Verplanck, Collier, Hudson, 
 approve of stabbing ; the Clarkes think 
 that probably Othello merely heaped 
 more clothes around her ; Dyce, Staun- 
 ton, White, Rolfe and Purnell are silent 
 (Furness). Strange to say, " The Henry 
 Irving Shakespeare " (Marshall and 
 Verity), which is supposed to be the 
 actor's special edition, passes the subject 
 by without a word of comment. 
 
 Furness, with his usual indefatig- 
 able thoroughness, has not only dis- 
 cussed the subject from the historical 
 point of view, but he has insti- 
 tuted a series of physiological en- 
 quiries which throw much light on the 
 subject. He very naively gives his 
 reason for so doing : " For Shakespeare's 
 credit I felt no concern, but I did feel 
 mortified for Nature, on whose behalf 
 it seemed that if ever our best medical 
 wisdom were to be unmuzzled, this was 
 
so 
 
 299 
 
 SOI 
 
 the hour." He therefore sent a marked 
 copy of Act V, Scene 2, to seven of the 
 most prominent medical men of the 
 country and obtained from each his 
 opinion as to the cause of death and the 
 mode of its infliction. The results he 
 gives at length on pages 304, et seq., of 
 his edition of Othello. The details are 
 altogether too voluminous to be quoted 
 here and we must, therefore, refer to 
 the work just cited. 
 
 That stabbing removes all the physio- 
 logical objections which have been urged 
 against Sh. description of this murder 
 seems M'ell established. Against the 
 practice there has been urged the de- 
 claration of Othello himself, Yet Fll 
 not shed her blood. But it is to be 
 observed that the stabbing is used only 
 after the attempt to smother has failed ; 
 that Othello should, in the intense ex- 
 citement of the moment, entirely forget 
 his first resolution, is no violation of the 
 natural course of things. 
 
 Again ; he uses the simile : Pale as 
 thy smock, and this was the point which 
 seemed to Dr. Furness to be an over- 
 sight on the part of Sh., for if Desde- 
 mona were smothered, her face, accord- 
 ing to the common ideas of such matters, 
 would be dark and congested, and if 
 stabbed, her smock would be red. But 
 aside from the fact that mere smother- 
 ing does not always cause a discoloration 
 of the face, the stabbing would make 
 it pale, and the blood, if any flowed 
 out of the wound, would descend, by 
 the action of gravity, to the bed, so 
 that that part of the smock that was in 
 sight would remain unstained and white. 
 I cannot see any difficulty here. 
 
 Another objection to the stabbing 
 theory has been found in the words : 
 Whose breath, indeed, these hands 
 have newly stopped. This has been 
 taken to mean that he stopped her 
 breath by smothering, not by stabbing. 
 But if we take the words in an absolutely 
 literal sense, he must have held his 
 hands over her mouth or round her 
 throat ; he could not have used the bed- 
 
 clothes or a pillow, as has always been 
 the custom in the first stage of the 
 murder and as is, indeed, implied in the 
 stage direction in the Fl.— Smothers 
 her. Her breath might have been 
 stopped by his hands, using a dagger or 
 a pistol bullet, as really as if he had, by 
 his proper hands, fractured "the cricoid 
 cartilage of the larynx, "as Dr. Hunt 
 claims he did. 
 
 The reader who wishes to study the 
 subject thoroughly must consult the ed. 
 of Dr. Furness. 
 
 sob. This word, as it occurs in Err. IV, 
 3, 25, has been pronounced nonsense, 
 though, perhaps, the usual meaning of 
 sob — "a convulsive sigh" (Worcester), 
 is not so very inapt. A man would be 
 likely to give a convulsive sigh when 
 suddenly arrested. It is the reading in 
 the FL, the s being the old long form, 
 which is very like an /. Consequently, 
 Rowe amended to fob, giving this word 
 the meaning of " a tap on the shoulder," 
 a meaning which has been adopted 
 by most modern dictionaries on the 
 strength of this very passage, certainly 
 a most unwarranted proceeding. Han- 
 mer emended to "bob"; Dyce to 
 "sop," and G.White to "stop." "Bob," 
 in the sense of a light blow {cf. As. II, 
 7, 55) makes good sense, but a reason- 
 ably good meaning is conveyed by 
 "fob," and this was adopted by Mar- 
 shall in "The Henry Irving Shake- 
 speare." And we may here note that 
 in the old printer's case the boxes for/ 
 and the long s were placed side by side 
 so that an exchange was easy. The 
 known meanings otfob are (1) to cheat; 
 to trick ; (2) to beat or maltreat ; (3) to 
 be put out of breath by running. The 
 last, which is an old English or Scotch 
 meaning, gives not a bad sense. Rolfe 
 adopts "bob " which, after all, is prob- 
 ably the true reading. 
 
 soiled. Kept in a stall and fed upon 
 fresh grass or other green forage (vetches 
 are frequently used) cut and brought to 
 it. Such rich food and the limiting of 
 exercise is apt to make an animal high- 
 
SOI 
 
 300 
 
 SON 
 
 spirited and boisterous. The practice 
 and the word are both in use at the 
 present day. Lr. IV, 6, 124. 
 
 Schm. explains it as "high-fed with 
 green food," omitting mention of the 
 confinement, and Furness, following 
 Heath (1765), says: "This is the term 
 used for a horse that is turned out in 
 the spring to take the first flush of 
 grass." A pasture-fed horse is not 
 usually known as a soiled horse. For 
 obvious reasons this mode of feeding is 
 specially applicable to stud horses. 
 
 soilure. Defilement. Troil. IV, 1, 56. 
 
 solemnity. A feast ; a festival. Rom. 
 
 I, 5, 59; and cf. All's. II, 3, 187; Mcb. 
 Ill, 1, 14, and Mids. IV, 1, 190. 
 
 Hunter, "New Illustrations," Vol. 
 
 II, p. 136, has this note upon the word : 
 " The application of the word solemyi 
 
 is a relic of the sentiment of remote 
 ages, when there was something of the 
 religious feeling connected with all high 
 festivals and banquettings. The history 
 of the word solemn would form an 
 interesting philological article, pre- 
 senting as it does so many phases in 
 succession. ' ' Ariosto, translated by Har- 
 rington, has : 
 
 never did young lady brave and bright 
 Like dancing better on a solemn day. 
 
 solidare. A small coin. Tim. Ill, 1, 46. 
 
 Solinus, dr. p. Duke of Ephesus. Err. 
 
 Solon. The reference to Solon in Tit. I, 
 1, 177, that hath aspired to Solon'' s 
 happiness, is to the famous reply of 
 that sage to Croesus, the last king of 
 Lydia, who asked him : Who was the 
 happiest man he had ever seen? Solon 
 answered that no man could be called 
 happy till he had finished his life in a 
 happy way. Alarmed at the growing 
 power of the Persians, Croesus sent to 
 consult the oracle of Apollo, at Delphi, 
 whether he should march against the 
 Persians, and received for answer that 
 if he did so he would overthrow a 
 great empire. Hereupon he collected 
 a great army, marched against Cyrus, 
 and after some indecisive battles he 
 returned to Sardis where Cyrus besieged 
 
 him, and after fourteen days captured 
 the city. Croesus was taken alive and 
 condemned to be burned to death. As 
 he stood before the pyre, the warning 
 of Solon came to his mind, and he thrice 
 uttered the name of the sage. Cyrus 
 enquired who it was that he called on ; 
 and, upon hearing the story, repented 
 of his purpose, and not only spared the 
 life of Croesus, but made him his friend. 
 Croesus survived Cyrus and accom- 
 panied Cambyses in his expedition 
 against Egypt. 
 
 Solon was one of the seven sages. He 
 lived to a ripe old age (about eighty) 
 and died about 558 B. c. 
 
 solve. Solution. Sonn. LXIX, 14. 
 
 Somerset, Duke of, dr. p. A Lancastrian. 
 2HVI. and 3HVI. 
 
 Somerville, Sir John, dr.p. 3HVI. 
 
 sometime. Former or formerly. Tp. V, 
 1, 86; Cor. V, 1, 2; Hml. I, 2, 8, and 
 III, 1, 114. 
 
 sometimes. Formerly. RII. I, 2, 54; 
 Hml. 1,1,49; do. I, 2, 8. 
 
 sonance. Sound ; tune. HV. IV, 2, 35. 
 
 songs. Although this work makes no 
 pretensions to the character of a co7i- 
 cordance, it may not be out of place to 
 give here a list of the songs found in 
 Sh. A reference to the act and scene 
 is all that is required, as such passages 
 are easily found. 
 
 A cup of wine that's brisk and fine. 2HIV. 
 
 V,3. 
 And will he not come again? Hml. IV, 5. 
 Be merry, be merry, my wife has all. 2HIV. 
 
 V, 3. 
 Black spirits and white. Mcb. IV, 1. 
 Blow, blow, thou winter wind. As. II, 7. 
 Come away, come away, death. Tw. 11, 4. 
 Come unto these yellow sands. Tp. I, 2. 
 Come, thou monarch of the vine. Ant. II, 7. 
 Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer. 
 
 2HIV. V, 3. 
 Fear no more the heat o' the sun. Cym. 
 
 IV, 2. 
 Fie on sinful fantasy. Wiv. V, 5. 
 Fools had ne'er less grace in a year. Lr. 1, 4. 
 Full fathom five thy father lies. Tp. I, 2. 
 Get you hence, for I must go. Wint. IV, 4. 
 Hark, harkl the lark at heaven's gate 
 
 sings. Cym. H, 3. 
 
SON 
 
 801 
 
 SOU 
 
 He that has and a little tiny wit. Lr. Ill, 2. 
 Honour, riches, marriage - blessing. Tp. 
 
 IV, 1. 
 How should I your true love know? Hml. 
 
 IV, 5. 
 I am gone, sir, and anon, sir. Tw. IV, 2. 
 I shall no more to sea, to sea. Tp. II, 2. 
 It was a lover and his lass. As. V, 3. 
 King Stephen was a worthy peer. 0th. II, 3. 
 Lawn as white a driven snow. Wint. IV, 4. 
 Love, love, nothing but love, still morel 
 
 Troil. Ill, 1. 
 Now the hungry lion roars. Mids. V, 1. 
 Now, until the break of day. Mids. V, 1. 
 Oh I mistress mine, where are you roaming? 
 
 Tw. II, 3. 
 On a day— alack the day 1 LLL. IV, 3. 
 Orpheus with his lute made trees. HVIII. 
 
 III, 1, 
 
 Over hill, over dale. Mids. II, 1. 
 Pardon, goddess of the night. Ado. V, 3. 
 Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. Ado. 
 
 11,3. 
 Take, O take those lips away. Meas. IV, 1. 
 Tell me, where is fancy bred ? Merch. Ill, 2. 
 The ousel-cock, so black of hue. Mids. Ill, 1. 
 The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore 
 
 tree. 0th. IV, 2. 
 Then is there mirth in heaven. As. V, 4. 
 To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day. Hml. 
 
 IV, 5. 
 
 To shallow rivers, to whose fall. Wiv. Ill, 1. 
 Under the greenwood tree. As. II, 5. 
 Was this fair face the cause? quoth she. 
 
 All's. I, 3. 
 Wedding is great Juno's crown. As. V, 4. 
 What shall he have that killed the deer? 
 
 As. IV, 2. 
 When daisies pied, and violets blue. LLL. 
 
 V,2. 
 When daffodils begin to peer. Wint. IV, 3. 
 When that I was and a little tiny boy. Tw. 
 
 V, 1. 
 
 Where the bee sucks, there suck I. Tp. V, 1. 
 While you here do snoring lie. Tp. II, 1. 
 Who is Silvia? What is she? Gent. IV, 1. 
 Willyoubuy any tape? Wint. IV, 4. 
 You spotted snakes, with double tongue. 
 Mids. II, 2. 
 
 sonties. Dyce is in doubt as to whether 
 this word in old Gobbo's oath (Merch. 
 II, 2, 47) is God''s saints, or God^s 
 sanctity, or God^s sante (health). 
 
 sooth, n. Truth. Tw. II, 4, 47 (see silly- 
 sooth) ; HV. Ill, 6, 151 ; 0th. Ill, 4, 97. 
 
 sooth, adj. True. Mcb. V, 5, 40. 
 
 sop. Something, such as bread or cake, 
 
 soaked in a liquid. RIII. I, 4, 163; 
 Troil. I, 3, 113 ; Lr. II, 2, 35. 
 
 The cakes or wafers placed in the wine 
 drank at festivities. Shr. Ill, 2, 175. 
 "At weddings, cakes, wafers and the 
 like were blessed and put into the sweet 
 wine which was always presented to the 
 bride on those occasions. " Nares. See 
 wine and moonshine. 
 
 sore. A buck in his fourth year. The 
 old spelling was soare. LLL. IV, 2, 59. 
 
 sorel. A buck in his third year. LLL. 
 IV, 2, 60. 
 
 sort. 1. Rank; quality. Meas. IV, 4, 
 19 ; Ado. I, 1, 7 ; Mids. Ill, 2, 159 ; HV. 
 IV, 7, 142. 
 
 The word, as used in this sense, has 
 given rise to considerable discussion. 
 dr. White claims that it simply means 
 "kind" or "species," aiid Marshall 
 seems to be of the same opinion. Upon 
 this point Furness very judiciously 
 remarks: "The fact is that this word, 
 like many others, has various shades of 
 meaning, ranging from class to rank; 
 the particular shade must be determined 
 by the context according to the insight 
 of the reader." 
 
 2. Set ; company. RII. IV, 1, 246 ; 
 2HVI. II, 1, 167; Mids. 111,2, 13 and 21. 
 
 3. Lot or chance. Troil. I, 3, 376. 
 sort, V. 1. To select ; to find. 3HVI. V, 
 
 6,85. 
 
 2. To turn out ; to result. Mids. Ill, 2, 
 353 ; 2HVI. I, 2, 107 ; Hml. I, 1, 109. 
 
 3. To ordain ; to govern. Merch. V, 1, 
 132; RIIL 11,3,36. 
 
 4. To associate with. Ven. 689. 
 sortance. Suitableness. 2HIV. IV, 1, 11. 
 sot. A fool ; a blockhead. Wiv. Ill, 1, 
 
 119; Tw. 1,5,129; Lr. IV, 2, 8. 
 
 soud. A word imitative of a noise made 
 by a person heated and fatigued. Shr. 
 IV, 1, 145. 
 
 souls. The expression in Tw. II, 3, 60, 
 that will draio three souls out of one 
 weaver, has given rise to some queer 
 comments. Warburton, after referring 
 to Ado. II, 3, 61, says: "Why he says 
 ' three souls ' is because he is speaking 
 of a catch in three parts ; and the peri- 
 
sov 
 
 302 
 
 SOW 
 
 patetic philosophy, then in vogue, very 
 liberally gave every man three souls: 
 The vegetative or plastic^ the animal 
 and the rational. To this, too, Jonson 
 alludes in his ' Poetaster ' : ' What, 
 will I turn shark upon my friends? 
 or my friend's friends? I scorn it 
 with my three sottZs.'" Upon which 
 Coleridge remarks: "O, genuine and 
 inimitable (at least, I hope so) Warbur- 
 ton 1 This note of thine, if but one in 
 five millions, would be half a one too 
 much." But Warburton having given 
 the hark-away, the idea of three souls 
 in one man was worked " for all it was 
 worth." Jackson suggested that the 
 souls here mentioned are French sous 
 or halfpence, and as weavers were an 
 impecunious set, it must have been 
 wonderful music that could draw three 
 halfpence out of one of them! Few of 
 the coms. give any satisfactory explan- 
 ation of the passage and, perhaps, none 
 is needed. Wright's interpretation is 
 probably the correct one: "To draw 
 three souls out of one starved weaver 
 can be nothing more than a humorously 
 exaggerated consequence of the power 
 exerted by music, and to bring this 
 about by a drinking song was a greater 
 triumph still, for weavers were given 
 to psalms." ^e weaver. 
 
 soul-fearing. Terrifying the soul. John 
 II, 1, 383. cf. fear. 
 
 sound, n. This word, as it occurs in Tw. 
 I, 1, 5, has given rise to much discussion. 
 Rowe changed to windy and Pope to 
 southy and the latter emendation has 
 been very generally adopted. But the 
 objections to south are strong ; except 
 in a single instance (Wint. V, 1, 161), 
 Sh. always speaks of the south as an 
 evil. See As. Ill, 5, 50 ; Tp. I, 2, 3;33 ; 
 Cym. II, 3, 136. White asks : " But did 
 Pope, or the editors who have followed 
 him, ever lie musing o\\ the sward at 
 the edge of a wood and hear the low, 
 sweet hum of the summer air as it 
 kissed the coyly shrinking wild flowers 
 upon the banks, and passed on loaded 
 with fragrance from the sweet salute? 
 
 If they ever did, how could they make 
 this change of sound to south ? and if 
 they never did, they are unable to en- 
 tirely appreciate the passage, much less 
 to improve it." Schm. explains the 
 passage thus: "Like the sweet talk of 
 lovers upon a bank of violets, perfuming 
 the air and perfumed by it." 
 
 Rolfe, in his ed. of Twelfth Nighty 
 has given elaborate consideration to the 
 passage, and his notes are well worth 
 consulting. 
 sound, V. 1, To fathom ; to measure the 
 depth of, in a literal sense. Tp. Ill, 3, 
 101 ; 2HIV. IV, 2, 51 ; Tit. IV, 3, 7. 
 
 2. To examine or try to find out. No. 1 
 used figuratively. Wi v. II, 1, 246 ; Hml. 
 Ill, 2, 383 (with a pun). 
 
 3. To proclaim ; to give utterance to. 
 John IV, 2, 48; Per. Ill, Prol. 36. 
 
 The word, as it occurs in HVIII. V, 
 2, 13, is generally explained as " to pro- 
 claim," " to give utterance to " (Rolfe, 
 "The Henry Irving Shakespeare," and 
 others). But it seems to me that to 
 fathom gives even a better sense. Cran- 
 mer would probably hope that Dr. 
 Butts would not see the full measure of 
 his disgrace rather than wish that he 
 might not prattle about it. In Rom. Ill, 
 2, 126, the word may mean either to 
 give utterance to or to sound as with a 
 plummet. The whole passage is obscure. 
 Furness and Rolfe offer no comment on 
 it, and there is none to be found in the 
 3rd Var. of 1821. 
 
 souse. To pounce upon ; to swoop down 
 on as does a bird of prey. John V, 3, 
 150. 
 
 soused. Pickled. IHIV. IV, 2, 13. 
 
 A word in common use in the U.S. as 
 well as in many parts of England, 
 though the coms. seem to think it 
 necessary to give an explanation. 
 
 Southwell, dr. p. A priest. 2HVI. 
 
 sow. A sow of lead = a large bar of 
 lead. Kins. V, 3, 120. In casting lead 
 and iron into masses for future melting 
 (not into special forms) the metal is 
 poured into a central gutter, from which 
 branches lead ofT on each side. The 
 
sow 
 
 303 
 
 SPA 
 
 central bar thus formed is called a sow, 
 and the bars at the sides, pigs. Hence 
 the terms pig-iron and pig-lead. 
 
 sowl. To pull ; to drag. Cor. IV, 5, 213. 
 
 Sowter. Usually explained as the name 
 of a hound. Tw. II, 5, 135. 
 
 Much learning has been expended on 
 this word and many passages cited, 
 very unnecessarily it seems to me, to 
 prove that sowter means a cobbler or 
 shoemaker. The word was common in 
 old English and is still in general use in 
 Scotland. The Souter Johnnie of ' ' Tam 
 o' Shanter " should be reference enough, 
 but if another should be needed, let us 
 take the old song : 
 
 It's up wi' the souters o' Selkirk 
 And doon wi' the Yerl o' Hume 
 
 And up wi' a' the braw lads 
 That sew the single-soled shoon. 
 
 All this is plain enough ; a sowter is a 
 cobbler, but that there is any relation 
 between the characteristics of a cobbler 
 and a hound is not so apparent. 
 
 Beckford (1781), in his " Thoughts on 
 Hunting," gives a long list of names 
 suitable for hounds, but Sowter is not 
 among them, Saunter being the nearest. 
 Furness, in his ed. of Twelfth Night, 
 which has reached me just as these 
 pages are going through the press, makes 
 an ingeniou s suggestion. He says : ' ' Bu t 
 are we certain that ' Souter ' (so spelled 
 in the foregoing quotation from Greene) 
 [if Appelles * * * suffer the greasie 
 Souter to take a view of his curious 
 worke] was not pronounced Shouter? — 
 just as suitor was pronounced shooter. 
 Would there then be absolutely no 
 meaning, as a hound's name, in 
 ' Shouter ' ? Would it not be as appro- 
 priate as Echo? " 
 
 But is it necessary that the name of a 
 hound should have a meaning? And if 
 so, what is the meaning of " Clowder " 
 in Shr. Ind. I, 18 ? 
 
 And are we sure that the word was 
 intended for the name of a hound ? 
 Souter, like cozier and botcher, was a 
 contemptuous epithet, and may here 
 mean no more than lout, lubber or 
 
 botcher. The addition of a hunting 
 phrase, making a sort of mixed meta- 
 phor, would not be out of place in the 
 mouth of Sir Toby. The expression 
 would then mean : Although as unskil- 
 ful as a botcher, cozier or souter, he 
 will again pick up the scent, since it is 
 as rank as a fox. For though == since, 
 see though. 
 
 space. Upon this word, as it occurs in 
 Lr. I, 1, 56, Craig makes the following 
 note: "Schmidt explains space, 'space 
 in general (the world) ' and liberty ' the 
 freedom to enjoy it' ; but I rather take 
 the meaning to be absolute, complete 
 freedom, 'ample room and verge 
 enough.' " See undistinguished. 
 
 Spain. For the fig of Spain (HV. Ill, 6, 
 62) see fig. The only other passage in 
 which Spain is mentioned and which 
 requires notice is that in Oth. V, 2, 253 : 
 It was a sword of Spain. That Spain 
 in the time of Sh. was famous for its 
 swords is well known. See Rom. I, 4, 
 84. Jonson speaks of them frequently. 
 Referring to ice-brook^s temper, John- 
 son tells us that "steel is hardened by 
 being put red-hot into very cold water." 
 This is true, but most modern eds. tell 
 us that "steel is tempered by being 
 plunged in cold water," which is not 
 true. See temper. 
 
 span-counter. A boyish game, played 
 with counters instead of marbles. Strutt 
 says : " I have frequently seen the boys, 
 for want of both, perform it with stones. 
 This sport is called in French tapper, 
 a word signifying to strike or hit, 
 because if one counter is struck by 
 the other, the game is won." 2HVI. 
 IV, 2, 170. 
 
 spaniel. To follow subserviently. Ant. 
 IV, 10, 34. 
 
 Spartan dog. Hanmer explains this 
 epithet by saying that " the dogs of 
 Sparta were reckoned among those of 
 the most fierce and savage kind." 
 Singer, probably more correctly, says : 
 " The reference seems to be to the 
 determined silence of lago and to the 
 proverbial silence of the Spartans imder 
 
8FA 
 
 304 
 
 SPH 
 
 suffering, as well as to the savageness 
 
 of the dogs. " Oth. V, 3, 361. 
 spay, ) To remove the ovaries. Meas. 
 splay, f II, 1, 242. 
 specialty. The specialty of rule (Troil. 
 
 I, 8, 78) = "the particular rights of 
 
 supreme authority. ' ' Johnson. 
 speciously. Dame Quickly's blunder for 
 
 especially. Wiv. Ill, 4, 113, and IV, 
 
 5, 1 14. 
 speculation. 1. Vision ; sight. Troil. Ill, 
 
 3, 109 ; Mcb. Ill, 4, 95. Also in Lr. Ill, 
 
 I, 24, where the abstract is put for the 
 concrete. 
 
 2. The act of beholding. HV. IV, 2, 31. 
 sped. Dispatched ; done for. Merch. II, 
 
 9, 72; Shr. Ill, 2, 53; Rom. Ill, 1, 94. 
 Speed, dr. p. A clownish servant. Gent. 
 speed. Fortune ; protecting power. Shr. 
 
 II, 1, 139 ; Cjm. Ill, 5, 167 ; As. I, 2, 
 222; Oth. 11,1,67. 
 
 speken. Obsolete form of speak. Per. 
 II, Prol. 12. 
 
 spell. To spell backward is to reverse 
 the usual order of the letters ; hence, to 
 understand or explain in an exactly 
 contrary sense ; to turn inside out ; to 
 reverse the character or intention of. 
 Ado. Ill, 1, 61. Steevens says: "Al- 
 luding to the practice of witches in 
 uttering prayers. " (?) See scholar. A 
 similar train of thought is found in 
 Lyly's "Anatomy of Wit" (1581), as 
 quoted by Steevens : "if he be cleanly, 
 they [women] term him proude ; if 
 meene in apparel, a sloven ; if tall, a 
 , lungis ; if short, a dwarf ; if bold, blunt ; 
 if shamefast, a cowarde," etc. 
 
 spend. See to spend. 
 
 spendthrift sigh. The allusion in Hml. 
 IV, 7, 123, is to the current notion that 
 sighs shorten life by drawing blood 
 from the heart. The same idea is found 
 in Mids. Ill, 2, 97. 
 
 sperr. To shut; to make fast. Troil., 
 Prol. 19. The word is " stirre " in the 
 PL, changed to sperr by Theobald. It 
 is an old word signifying to defend by 
 bars. Spenser has : 
 The other that was entred, labour'd fast 
 To sperre the gate. 
 
 And in Warner's "Albion's England ": 
 " When chased home into his holdes, 
 there sparred up in gates. " The use of 
 spar as an equivalent of bar is now 
 obsolete except in ship-building and 
 some of the mechanic arts. 
 
 sphere. In the passage : Swifter than 
 the moon^s sphere (Mids. II, 1, 7), the 
 reference is not to the orbit in which 
 the moon moves as Schm. and some 
 others have it, for certainly the orbit 
 of the moon does not move. " At the 
 date of this play the Ptolemaic system 
 was believed in, and the moon and all 
 the planets and stars were supposed to 
 be fixed in hollow crystalline spheres or 
 globes. These spheres were supposed 
 to be swung bodily round the earth in 
 twenty-four 'hours by the top sphere, 
 the primum mobile, thus making an 
 entire revolution in one day and night." 
 Furnivall in "New Shakespearean 
 Society Transactions." It did not re- 
 quire any great knowledge of geometry 
 to see that even if the moon were at a 
 distance from the earth much less than 
 that which we know it to be, the velocity 
 of the sphere which carried the moon 
 must have been greater than anything 
 else of which the men of Sh. time had 
 any knowledge. 
 
 spherical. Planetary in the astrological 
 sense. In Sh. time the sun and moon 
 were included among the planets. By 
 spherical predominance (Lr. I, 2, 134) 
 means, through some special star being 
 predominant or ruling at the hour of 
 our birth. See All's. I, 1, 211. See 
 predominance. 
 
 sphery. Starlike. Mids. II, 2, 99. 
 " Sphere " is used by Sh. to denote the 
 star itself as well as the crystalline 
 sphere which was supposed to carry it 
 round the earth. See sphere. 
 
 Sphinx. The Sphinx was a female monster, 
 daughter of Orthus and Chimaera. 
 Various accounts are given of the cause 
 of her being sent to Thebes, but when 
 there she settled on a rock and put a 
 riddle to every Theban that passed by, 
 and whoever was unable to solve it was 
 
SFI 
 
 305 
 
 SPI 
 
 devoured. Two forms of the riddle are 
 given : 1. A being with four feet, has 
 two feet and three feet, and only one 
 voice ; but its feet vary, and when it 
 has most it is weakest? 2. What animal 
 is that which walks on four legs in the 
 morning, on two during the day and on 
 three in the evening? The latter form 
 is the one most generally known. After 
 many Thebans had been devoured, 
 CEdipus solved the riddle as follows: 
 The animal is man who creeps on hands 
 and knees in infancy, walks upright on 
 two legs during the noonday of life and 
 in the evening or old age leans on a 
 staff. This, of course, is the solution of 
 both forms. On the riddle being solved, 
 the Sphinx threw herself from the rock 
 and was killed. Other accounts say that 
 she threw herself into the sea. 
 
 The Greek Sphinx had the form of a 
 winged lion, the breast and upper part 
 being the figure of a woman. Some- 
 times it appears with the face of a 
 maiden, the breast, feet and claws of a 
 lion, the tail of a serpent and the wings 
 of a bird. The Sphinxes were represented 
 in various attitudes and were frequently 
 introduced by Greek artists as orna- 
 ments of architectural works. 
 
 The Egyptian Sphinx is the figure of 
 a lion without wings in a lying attitude, 
 the upper part of the body being that 
 of a human being. The Sphinxes ap- 
 pear in Egypt to have been set up in 
 avenues forming the approaches to 
 temples. 
 
 spial. A spy. IHVI. I, 4, 8. In many 
 eds. espials. 
 
 spied. Perceived. 0th. I, 1, 77. That 
 this word makes utter nonsense in this 
 passage must be evident to every 
 thoughtful reader. Warburton, in his 
 ed. (1747), Vol. VIII, p. 278, suggests 
 that spied is a misprint for spread^ 
 which in the Fl. is generally spelt spred 
 (see Hml. Ill, 4, 151 ; do. IV, 7, 176 ; Cor. 
 Ill, 1, 311, all spelled spred in the Fl.) 
 and consequently might give rise to a 
 very probable misprint. The substitu- 
 tion of spread or spred forspied makes 
 
 perfect sense, and it is surprising that 
 it has not been adopted. Various at- 
 tempts have been made to bring good 
 sense out of the passage as it stands, 
 but, to my mind, none are reasonably 
 successful. See " Shakespearean Notes 
 and New Readings," p. 12. 
 
 spill. To destroy ; to spoil. Hml. IV, 5, 
 20 ; Lr. Ill, 2, 8. 
 
 spiJth. Spilling ; waste. Tim. II, 2, 169. 
 
 spinner. A spider. Mids. II, 2, 21 ; Rom. 
 I, 4, 59. I have retained the generally 
 accepted definition of spinner given by 
 the best Sh. coms. and by Palsgrave 
 and the " Promptorium Parvulorum," 
 but I doubt if any species of spider was 
 the insect meant in these two passages. 
 I incline to some species of the Tipulidce 
 or daddy-long-legs, which in my boy- 
 hood were called spinners and jenny- 
 spinners, from their motion when de- 
 positing their eggs at the roots of plants. 
 Long-legged spiders do not spin webs 
 and they are quite sluggish in their 
 movements. Paterson, in his " Insects 
 Mentioned in Shakespeare," p. 215, 
 seems to think that spiders are meant ; 
 Dyer and Furness are silent, and Do wden 
 quotes Fox's "Acts and Monuments" : 
 " Where the bee gathereth honey, even 
 there the spinner gathereth venome." 
 But in Mids. II, 2, spiders and spinners 
 •are mentioned separately as if they 
 were regarded as distinct species : 
 Weaving spiders come not here ; 
 Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence! 
 
 spit. This word of itself requires no 
 gloss, but thete are two passages in 
 which it occurs and which require a 
 note. 
 
 In Shr. Ill, 1, 39, Bianca says, O.fie! 
 the treble jars. On which Lucentio 
 remarks : Spit in the hole, man, and 
 tune again. Schm. gives a special de- 
 finition (5) for "hole" here, making it 
 mean "the hollow of the palm" and 
 explaining the whole passage as " spit 
 in your hand, take courage and make a 
 new effort. " And this is substantially 
 repeated under "spit." R. G. White 
 makes the following remarks upon this 
 
SPI 
 
 806 
 
 SPO 
 
 very absurd gloss : "It seems almost 
 trifling to say that what he was told to 
 do was to spit in the peg-hole in the 
 neck of the instrument, so that the peg 
 would hold when he screwed up the 
 string. Moreover, even in Shakespeare's 
 time, gentlemen did not spit into their 
 hands in the presence of ladies, if at 
 all." " Studies in Shakespeare," p. 339. 
 The other passage occurs in 2HIV. I, 
 2, 237, where Falstaff says: And I 
 brandish anything but a bottle, I would 
 I might never spit white again. Rolfe 
 calls this a perplexing expression, and 
 Nares and Dyce explain spitting white 
 as the result of intemperance, so that 
 Falstaff's remark would mean, may I 
 never get drunk again. Furni vail quotes 
 "Batman upon Bartholome" to the 
 effect that spitting white is a sign of 
 health, and Rolfe accepts this as the 
 key to the puzzle. R. G. White thinks 
 that it means, may I never be thirsty 
 again so that I can relish a good drink, 
 spitting white or "spitting cotton" 
 being a well-known sign of intense 
 thirst. There is an old Joke about a 
 sea-captain who always preferred very 
 salt food because after a little while it 
 produced a thirst for which he would 
 not take ten dollars. I am inclined to 
 think that this is what Falstaff means. 
 spital, ) An hospital. HV. II, 1, 
 
 spital house. ) 78 ; Tim. IV, 3, 39. Schni. 
 says that this term is used "in con- 
 tempt. ' ' Hardly ; merely low colloquial. 
 Spite. 1. Despite; scornful defiance. Rom. 
 
 1, 1, 85. 
 
 2. Vexation ; mortification. Mids. Ill, 
 
 2, 194; Tw. V, 1, 131 ; IHVI. II, 4, 106. 
 
 3. Ill-luck ; bad fortune ; trouble. Hml. 
 
 I, 5, 189. 
 
 The rather singular expression spite 
 of spite is found three times in Sh. : 
 Err. II, 2, 191 ; John V, 4, 5, and 3HVI. 
 
 II, 2, 5. Schin. explains it as "come 
 th« worst that may, notwithstanding 
 anything that may happen." That it 
 has this meaning in the third quotation 
 is no doubt true, but in the other pass- 
 ages this does not seem to give a good 
 
 sense — certainly not in the first. There, 
 it seems to me, that O spite of spites 
 simply means extraordinary bad luck, 
 just as we might say ill of ills, or 
 horror of horrors. 
 
 In John V, 4, 5, the first spite is evi- 
 dently equivalent to despite, and the 
 second to ill-luck or bad fortune. 
 
 The passage in Tim. IV, 3, 272, in spite 
 put some stuff, is explained by Schm. as 
 "against her will. This seems a very 
 erroneous interpretation. Spite, here, 
 does not mean in spite of or forcibly ; 
 it indicates a desire to indulge spite or 
 malice against humanity. 
 
 splenitive. Easily excited to anger. Hml. 
 V, 1, 284. In Sh. time the spleen was 
 supposed to be the seat of anger. 
 
 split. To make all split (Mids. I, 2, 25) 
 means to cause a great uproar ; to make 
 every one laugh and act boisterously. 
 The phrase is a nautical one, but to 
 split one's sides with laughter is a com- 
 mon colloquialism. 
 
 spoons. The passages referring to spoons 
 in HVIII. V, 3, 168, and V, 4, 40, are 
 not easily understood unless we know 
 the customs of the times. "Spoons of 
 silver gilt — called apostle-spoons be- 
 cause the figui-e of an apostle was 
 carved at the extremity of the handle 
 of each — were, in the time of Sh. (and 
 much earlier), the usual present of 
 sponsors at christenings to the child. 
 Such as were at once opulent and 
 generous, gave the whole twelve ; those 
 who were either more moderately rich 
 or liberal escaped at the expense of the 
 four evangelists; or, even, sometimes 
 contented themselves with presenting 
 one spoon only, which exhibited the 
 figure of any saint in honour of whom 
 the child received its name. " Steevens. 
 Then follows numerous references to the 
 literature of the day, to which Malone 
 adds the following story, given on the 
 authority of Donne: " Shakespeare was 
 god- father to one of Ben Jonson's 
 children, and after the christening, 
 being in deep study, Jonson came to 
 cheer him up, and asked him why he 
 
sro 
 
 S07 
 
 satr 
 
 was so melancholy. No 'faith, Ben, 
 says he, not I ; but I have been con- 
 sidering a great while what should be 
 the fittest gift for me to bestow upon 
 my godchild, and I have resolv'd at 
 last. I pry thee, what ? says he. I' 
 faith, Ben, I'll give him a douzen good 
 latten [Latin] spoons, and thou shalt 
 translate them. ' ' See latten. 
 
 Sport. When Celia (As. I, 2, 108) asks Le 
 Beau, Sport! of what colour ? she 
 glances apparently at Le Beau's affected 
 or dandified pronunciation of sport, he 
 having got it nearer to spot than sport. 
 Hudson. Schm. explains colour as 
 meaning kind, but the context does not 
 seem to favor this as much as Collier's 
 gloss, as adopted by Hudson. 
 
 Spot. 1. A piece of embroidery. Cor. 
 
 1, 3, 56. 
 
 2. A stain; a disgrace. M.Mason. John 
 V, 2, 30, and V, 7, 107. 
 
 Spotted. Embroidered. Oth. Ill, 3, 4.3.5. 
 Spotted with strawberries = having 
 figures of strawberries worked on it ; it 
 does not mean stained with strawberries. 
 cf. Cor. I, 3, 56. 
 
 Sprag. Alert ; quick ; spry. (A mispro- 
 nunciation of sprack.) Wiv. IV, 1, 84. 
 
 Spring. 1. The rise; the beginning. Mids. 
 II, 1, 82 ; 2HIV. IV, 4, 35. cf. Luke i, 78. 
 
 2. The season after winter. Farewell, 
 thou latter spring! (IHIV. I, 2, 177) 
 evidently means an old man renewing 
 youthful geniality and jollity. See all- 
 hallown. 
 
 3. A young shoot. Ven. 656. 
 Springe. A snare for catching birds. 
 
 Wint. IV, 3, 36; Hml. I, 3, 115; do. V, 
 
 2, 317. Pronounced sprinj. 
 spring-halt. A nervous disease in horses 
 
 which causes them to twitch up the legs 
 suddenly when they take a step. Some- 
 times called s^rmgr-Tia^^. HVIII. I, 3, 13. 
 
 sprited. Haunted. Cym. II, 3, 144. In 
 some eds. sprighted. 
 
 sprightly, ) Having the likeness of a 
 
 spritely. j spirit. Cym. V, 5, 428. 
 
 spur. The root of a tree. Tp. V, 1, 47 ; 
 Cym. IV, 2, 58. 
 Malone says : "Spurs are the longest 
 
 and largest leading roots of trees." 3rd 
 Var., Vol. XIII, p. 149. But I think 
 the word applies to roots in general and 
 especially to the branches of the roots. 
 Pope, in his note on Cym. IV, 2, 58, 
 says : " Spurs, an old word for the fibres 
 of a tree." 
 spy. Of this word, as it occurs in Mcb. Ill, 
 
 I, 130, Acquaint you with the perfect 
 spy o' the time, Johnson says : " What 
 is meant by this passage will be found 
 difficult to explain," and he suggests an 
 emendation — a perfect spy o' the time 
 for the perfect spy o' the time. This 
 correction was also suggested by Collier's 
 MS. corrector and has been adopted by 
 White. Monk Mason says: "'With' 
 has here the force of by ; and the mean- 
 ing of the passage is : I will let you 
 know by the person best informed of 
 the exact moment in which the business 
 is to be done." 
 
 As noted by the Clarendon eds., there 
 are two interpretations which may be 
 given to the passage: 1. It may mean 
 that Macbeth would acquaint the mur- 
 derers with the most accurate observa- 
 tion of the time ; or, 2. The "spy o' the 
 time " may mean the third murderer 
 who joins them and delivers their offices. 
 The latter meaning was that adopted 
 by Dr. Johnson. 
 
 squander. To scatter. Merch, I, 3, 22. 
 In Howell's "Letters " (1650) bespeaks 
 of " islands squandered in the vast 
 ocean. ' ' Here it does not mean ' ' wasted ' ' 
 as is the modern signification. 
 
 squandering. Rambling; going at ran- 
 dom. As. II, 7, 57. 
 
 square. 1. Regularity; propriety. Ant. 
 
 II, 3, 6. (Masonic?) 
 
 2. A squadron or troop. HV. IV, 2, 28. 
 As the word occurs in Ant. Ill, 11, 40, 
 it is generally defined as squadrons. 
 But may it not possibly mean fights or 
 battles ? This seems to give better sense, 
 and see next articles. 
 
 3. The front of the female dress, near 
 the bosom, generally worked or em- 
 broidered. Wint. IV, 4, 212. 
 
 The passage in Lr. I, 1, 76, which the 
 
SQU 
 
 308 
 
 STA 
 
 most precious square of sense pos- 
 sesses, has given rise to much discussion. 
 The Folios read pro/esses ,* the Quartos, 
 possesses, and the latter has been 
 adopted in the g.a. text. Many eds. 
 think that the entire passage is corrupt. 
 Warburton thinks that square refers 
 to the four nobler senses : sight, hearing, 
 taste and smell; Moberly explains it 
 as: "the choicest estimate of sense"; 
 Wright as : " the most delicately sensi- 
 tive part of my nature." Verity says : 
 " The critics see the general sense, which 
 is obvious enough, and try to express it 
 in a way that will best square with 
 square; but no one succeeds, I think, 
 in making the connection really natural. 
 Furness, in his note on professes (the 
 reading which he adopts), says : " What- 
 ever meaning or no-meaning we may 
 attach to 'square of sense,' it seems 
 clear to me that Regan refers to the 
 joys which that ' square ' ' professes ' to 
 bestow ; I therefore follow the Folios." 
 To my mind the objection to professes 
 lies in the fact that it requires the 
 elaborate filling up of an ellipsis. Verity 
 suggests that the compositor was led 
 astray by his eye having caught pro/ess 
 two lines above. 
 
 square, v. 1. To quarrel. Mids. II, 1, 
 30 ; Tit. II, 1, 100. 
 2. To judge. Troil. V, 2, 132. 
 
 squarer. A quarreller. Ado. I, 1, 82. 
 
 squash. An unripe peascod. Mids, III, 
 1, 191. 
 
 Not yet old enough for a man, nor 
 young enough for a boy ; as a squash 
 is before 'tis a peascod. Tw. I, 5, 106. 
 
 squier, ) A square, rule or measure. 
 
 squire, f LLL. V, 2, 474 ; Wint. IV, 4, 
 348; IHIV. 11,2, 13. 
 
 squiny. To look asquint. Lr. IV, 6, 140. 
 
 Stafford, Lord, dr. p. A Yorkist. 3HVI. 
 
 Stafford, Sir Humphrey, dr.p. 2HVI. 
 
 stages. Actors. Hml. II, 2, 358. Theo- 
 bald suggested that the word stages 
 here is a misprint for stagers. To define 
 it as "the floor on which theatrical per- 
 formances are exhibited" (Schm.) hardly 
 meets the sense in this passage. 
 
 staggers. A disease in horses which 
 sometimes causes dulness, blindness, 
 etc., and at others great excitement. 
 Johnson suggests that it is to the latter 
 (" wild and delirious perturbation ") that 
 allusion is made in Cym. V, 5, 233. But 
 allusion to either form would make 
 sense. All's. II, 3, 170 ; Shr. Ill, 2, 55. 
 
 stain. 1. To eclipse. Sonn. XXXV, 3; 
 RII. 111,3,66; Ant. 111,4,27. 
 2. To pervert; to corrupt. Sonn. CIX, 
 11; All's. II, 1, 123. 
 
 stair. The passage in Ado. V, 2, 6, shall 
 I always keep below stairs f has re- 
 ceived several interpretations, that 
 generally accepted being : Shall I always 
 be a servant and never a mistress? 
 which, perhaps, also conveys a sub- 
 audition of, shall I never get married? 
 Theobald emended and read above stairs, 
 but as Steevens says : " There is danger 
 in any attempt to reform a joke two 
 hundred years old." 
 
 stale, n. 1. A decoy; bait. Tp. IV, 1, 
 187; Shr. Ill, 1, 90. Cotgrave gives: 
 "Estalon * * * a stale (as a Larke, 
 etc.) wherewith Fowlers traine sillie 
 birds unto their destruction." 
 
 2. A stalking-horse, q.v.; a mask. Err. 
 II, 1, 101. So Malone, Dyce and some 
 others gloss the word in this passage. 
 Thus Malone: " Adriana unquestion- 
 ably means to compare herself to a 
 stalking horse [from] behind whom 
 Antipholus shoots at such game as he 
 selects. " Others render it as in 3. 
 
 3. Laughing-stock ; dupe, which it un- 
 doubtedly means in 3HVI. Ill, 3, 260, 
 and Tit. I, 1, 304. 
 
 4. A wanton of the lowest type (Furness) ; 
 a prostitute. Ado. II, 2, 26, and IV, 1, 66. 
 
 5. The urine of horses. Ant. I, 4, 62. 
 In Wiv. II, 3, 30, the term " bully stale " 
 is used by the host in derision of the 
 Doctor's method of practice. 
 
 See scale. 
 
 In Shr. I, 1, 58, this word has been 
 defined by some as harlot, but I can- 
 not think that it will bear that signifi- 
 cation there. Rather, a laughing-stock, 
 or perhaps an old maid whose attractions 
 
STA 
 
 STA 
 
 have become stale. That it has an 
 opprobrious meaning in some passages 
 is beyond question. 
 
 stalk, V. To steal quietly upon game so 
 as to get within shooting distance. 
 Lucr. 365 ; Ado. II, 3, 95. 
 
 stalking-horse, n. A horse trained to 
 approach game quietly, feeding all the 
 time, while the gunner or archer con- 
 ceals himself behind the animal and is 
 thus enabled to get within shooting 
 distance. Sometimes an artificial or 
 stuffed horse mounted on wheels was 
 used. As. V, 4, 111. 
 
 stall. 1. To dwell; to lodge. Ant.V,l,89. 
 2. To keep close as in a stall ; to keep 
 secret. All's. I, 3, 131. 
 
 stammer. To use language imperfectly. 
 Stammers 'em = speaks stammeringly 
 concerning them ; does them but small 
 justice. Skeat. Kins. II, 1, 26. 
 
 stamp, n. \, At our stamp (Mids. Ill, 
 2, 2.5), i.e., at hearing the footsteps of 
 the fairies, which were powerful enough 
 to rock the ground. See IV, 1, 85. 
 Wright. Johnson could not see how 
 the stamps of fairies could be heard, 
 and read stump, the idea being that the 
 "patches" were tripped up by some 
 stump well known to the fairies. Fur- 
 ness gives a note from Allen (MS.) to 
 the effect that: "It cannot be our; 
 there was no we in the case; [have 
 fairies no editors to disseminate their 
 news?] no fairy but Puck alone ; and it 
 was nobody's stamp that made the boors 
 scatter ; it was merely the sight of 
 Bottom's new head. Perhaps: ' at one 
 stamp ' — as we might say at one bound, 
 at one rush ; * * * anticipative of 
 stam.pede.'''' 
 
 2. A coin. Wiv. Ill, 4, 16 ; Cym. V, 4, 24. 
 
 In the passage in Mcb. IV, 3, 153, 
 
 Hanging a golden stanij) about their 
 
 necks, the stamp was the coin called an 
 
 angel. See angel (6). Also evil (2). 
 
 Holinshed thus describes the gift of 
 curing the evil which was alleged to 
 exist in the person of Edward the Con- 
 fessor : " As it has been thought, he was 
 inspired with the gift of prophecy, and 
 
 also to have the gift of healing infirmi- 
 ties and diseases. He used to help those 
 that were vexed with the disease com- 
 monly called the king's evil, and left 
 that virtue as it were a portion of in- 
 heritance unto his successors the kings 
 of this realm. ' ' According to the Claren- 
 don ed., " there is no warrant in Holin- 
 shed for the statement that the Con- 
 fessor hung a golden coin or stamp 
 about the necks of the patients. This 
 was, however, a custom which prevailed 
 in later days. Previously to Charles 
 II 's time some current coin, as an angel, 
 was used for the purpose, but in Charles's 
 reign a special medal was struck and 
 called a ' touch piece. ' The identical 
 touch piece which Queen Anne hung 
 round the neck of Dr. Johnson is pre- 
 served in the British Museum." 
 
 stamp, V. To give currency to. Cor. V, 
 2,22. 
 
 stand. The station or hiding-place of a 
 huntsman waiting for game. Wiv. V, 
 5, 248; Cym. Ill, 4, 111 ; LLL. IV, 1, 
 10 ; 3H VI. Ill, 1, 3. Some of the editors 
 appear to suppose that stands were 
 only for the use of lady hunters, but it 
 is evident from some of these passages 
 that this is a mistake. Rolfe. 
 
 standing bowl. A footed goblet. Per. 
 II, 3, 64. 
 
 standing-tuck. A rapier standing on 
 end. IHIV. II, 4, 274. Not hyphenated 
 in the old editions, 
 
 staniel. Another name for the kestrel or 
 windhover, an inferior but beautiful 
 species of falcon. Tw. II, 5, 124. The 
 word in the Fl. is stallion; "the men- 
 tion of ' wings ' and ' checking ' makes 
 Hanmer's stanyel an emendatio cer- 
 tissima.'" Furness. 
 
 Stanley, Sir John, dr.p. 2HVI. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, dr.p. Called also Earl of 
 Derby. RIII. 
 
 Stanley, Sir William, dr.p. 3HVI. 
 
 star. "A celestial body shining in the 
 night." Schmidt. 
 
 In IHIV. I, 2, 16; 2HIV. II, 4, 201, 
 and Lr. I, 5, 38, we find references to 
 the seven stars. This term is usually 
 
8TA 
 
 310 
 
 8TA 
 
 understood to refer to the Pleiades, a 
 well-known group of stars whose rising, 
 in ancient times, was supposed to indi- 
 cate the time of safe navigation. The 
 actual number of stars in the group, 
 when seen through a telescope of very 
 moderate power, is quite large, but to 
 the ordinary eye only six are visible, 
 and hence the tradition of a lost Pleiad. 
 It is said, however, that some eyes can 
 clearly distinguish a seventh. They 
 are referred to in Job xxxviii, 31, in a 
 way which shows the regard in which 
 they were held in ancient times, and 
 Tennyson's lines in " Locksley Hall" 
 must be familiar to all readers : 
 
 Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising 
 thro' the mellow shade, 
 
 Gutter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled 
 in a silver braid. 
 
 Furness, in a note on Lr. I, 5, 38, 
 expresses the opinion that the Great 
 Bear, known also as The Dipper and as 
 Charles's Wain, was meant, his chief 
 reason being that these "seven stars 
 are the most conspicuous group in the 
 circle of perpetual apparition in the 
 Northern Hemisphere, so conspicuous, 
 indeed, that the Latin word for ' North ' 
 was derived from them. See Septen- 
 trion. But while the stars of the Great 
 Bear are much more brilliant than those 
 of the Pleiades, the close grouping of 
 the latter make them, if anything, more 
 notable as a constellation. 
 
 The reference in Hml. I, 1, 36, yond 
 same star thaVs westward from the 
 pole, is to a star the identity of which 
 could be determined only if we knew 
 the hour and season when the observa- 
 tion was made. It certainly cannot be 
 " polaris or the pole star " as stated in 
 a recent Shakespearean text-book. 
 
 The watery star (Wint. I, 3, 1) and 
 the moist star (Hml. I, 1, 118) both 
 mean the moon. Compare Mids. II, 1, 
 104 — the moon the governess of floods, 
 Pale in her anger, washes all the air. 
 Upon this passage Marshall comments : 
 *' Every one must have seen the moon 
 when she is pale coloured and blurred 
 
 with a faintly luminous mist, in which 
 state she is generally called by country 
 people ' a wet moon. ' This appearance 
 of the moon is one of the most unfailing 
 precursors of rainy weather." 
 
 In Hml. I, 1, the passage including 
 lines 117 and 118 is held by most coms. 
 to be hopelessly corrupt. Furness fills 
 nearly two pages with the various 
 attempts that have been made to make 
 it read well, but none is satisfactory. 
 In the 3rd Var. the line immediately 
 preceding 117 is left blank (a mere suc- 
 cession of dashes), and the Cambridge 
 Shakespeare follows this example, in 
 both cases indicating that a line is sup- 
 posed to have been dropped out. It 
 may be well to note that lines 108 to 
 125 are not found in the Fl. A very 
 superficial reading of the lines 116, 117 
 and 118 as they stand in the Globe ed. 
 shows that something is wanting : 
 
 Did squeak and gibber in the Roman 
 
 streets : 
 As stars with trains of fire and dews 
 
 of blood 
 Disasters in the sun ; and the moist 
 
 star, etc. 
 
 As in many other passages, although 
 the continuity of the speech is evidently 
 broken, the general sense is clear enough. 
 The expression. Earth treading stains 
 that make dark heaven light (Rom. I, 
 2, 25), has called forth emendations 
 from Warburton (dark even) ; Mason 
 (heaven''s light) ; Daniel (that mock 
 dark heaven^ s light). But surely no 
 emendation is required. We speak 
 of a fire actually "illuminating the 
 heavens," and the gorgeous beauties 
 which Capulet had in mind might be 
 supposed to do so metaphorically. 
 2. Sphere ; fortune. Hml. II, 2, 141. 
 cf. Tw. II, 5, 156. 
 
 stark. Stiff. Rom. IV, 1, 103 ; Cym. IV, 
 2, 209. "Stark and stiff" is an ac- 
 knowledged pleonasm, but a very old 
 expression. 
 
 starkly. Stiffly. Meas. IV, 2, 70. 
 
 starred. Fated. Wint. Ill, 2, 100. 
 
 starve. In Sh. time this word signified 
 
STA 
 
 311 
 
 STI 
 
 not only to inflict or to suffer from 
 hunger, but from cold, and the word is 
 still used in this sense in many parts of 
 Ireland — one of the numerous survivals 
 of the Elizabethan language in that 
 country. Gent. IV, 4, 159 ; 2HVI. Ill, 
 1, 343 ; Tit. Ill, 1, 252 ; Cym. I, 4, 180. 
 
 The word starveth, as found in Rom. 
 V, 1, 70, was changed to stareth by 
 Rowe who followed Otway's modified 
 plagiarism of the line in his Caius 
 Marius. Many eds., including Dyce, 
 Singer, Grant White (Riverside ed.) 
 have adopted the emendation, which 
 has been strongly defended by Ritson. 
 
 Starveling the Tailor, d7\p. Mids. 
 
 state. 1. The chair in which persons of 
 very high office are seated. Tw. II, 5, 50. 
 2. A person of high rank. John II, 1, 
 395; Troil. II, 3, 118; Cym. Ill, 4, 39. 
 
 station. Act or mode of standing. Mcb. 
 V, 8, 42 ; Hml. Ill, 4, 58 ; Ant. Ill, 3, 22. 
 
 Statist. A statesman. Hml. V, 2, 33; 
 Cym. II, 4, 16. 
 
 statua. A statue. RIII. Ill, 7, 25. So 
 written in this and other passages where 
 the metre requires a trisyllabic word. 
 
 statue. Image. Gent. IV, 4, 206. 
 
 statute. A bond ; obligation ; security. 
 Sonn. CXXXIV, 9 ; Hml. V, 1, 113. 
 
 statute caps. Woollen caps ordered by 
 Act of Parliament (passed in 1571) to be 
 worn on Sabbath days and holidays by 
 all persons above the age of six years, 
 with the exception of the nobility and 
 a few others. The act was passed for 
 the benefit of the cappers or cap-makers, 
 and the penalty for violating it was ten 
 groats. The obvious meaning of the 
 passage (LLL. V, 2, 281) is that Better 
 wits may be found amongst the com- 
 m,on peojile. 
 
 staves. The wood of the lances and 
 sometimes used for the lances them- 
 selves. Mcb. V, 7, 18 ; RIII, V, 3, 65. 
 
 Some light will be thrown on the 
 second passage if we remember that it 
 was usual to carry more than one into 
 the field, and hence the lightness of 
 them was an object of consequence. 
 Steevens, 
 
 stead. 1. To profit; to be of advantage; 
 to help. Tp. I, 2, 165; Gent. II, 1, 119 ; 
 Meas. I, 4, 17 ; Merch. I, 3, 7. 
 2. With wp; to supply ; to replace. Meas. 
 Ill, 1, 260. 
 
 stealers. See pickers. 
 
 steep down. Precipitous. 0th. V, 2, 280. 
 
 stelled. 1. Starry; stellar. Lr. 111,7,61. 
 2. Fixed. Lucr. 1,444; Sonn. XXIV, 1. 
 It has been suggested that in the latter 
 passages the word is a variant of stalled 
 or placed in a stall. Others regard the 
 word as a doubtful reading. 
 
 Stepliano, dr. p. A drunken butler. Tp. 
 
 Stephano, dr. p. Servant to Portia. 
 Merch. 
 
 sternage. Steerage. HV. Ill, Prol. 18. 
 
 sticking place. This expression, as found 
 in Mcb. I, 7, 60, is "a metaphor, per- 
 haps, taken from the screiving-up the 
 chords of string-instruments to their 
 proper degree of tension, when the peg 
 remains fast in its sticking-place, i.e., 
 in the place from which it is not to 
 move." Steevens. 
 
 stickler. " A stickler was one who stood 
 by to part the combatants when victory 
 could be determined without bloodshed. 
 They are often mentioned by Sidney. 
 'Anthony,' says Sir Thomas North in 
 his translation of ' Plutarch,' ' was him- 
 self in person a stickler to part the 
 young men when they had fought 
 enough.' " Steevens. 
 
 stickler-like. Like a stickler. Troil. V, 
 8, 18. 
 
 stigmatic. One on whom nature has set 
 a mark of deformity — a stigm^a. 2HVI. 
 V, 1, 215 ; 3HVI. II, 2, 136. 
 
 stigmatical. Deformed. Ezt. IV, 2, 22. 
 
 stile. A device for passing over a fence, 
 
 . usually consisting of a double set of 
 stairs. Wint. IV, 3, 133. 
 
 In Ado. V, 2, 6, Li so high a style, 
 Margaret, that no man living shall 
 come over it, Delius sees a pun on style 
 and stile, and again a play on the words 
 "come over it," which may mean either 
 to surpass or to cross over it. In the 
 Fi. the word is spelt stile. See also LLL. 
 I, 1, 201 , and IV, 1, 98. See stair. 
 
8TI 
 
 812 
 
 8T0 
 
 still, adv. Constantly. Tp. I, 2, 229 ; 
 
 RIII. IV, 4, 344. 
 still, adj. Constant ; continual. Tit. Ill, 
 
 2, 45. (Silent ; calm ; patient. Schmidt. ) 
 stUI-stand. An absolute stop. 2HIV. II, 
 
 3, 64. We now invert the order of the 
 two words and use "stand-still." 
 
 stilly. Softly. HV. IV, Prol. 5. 
 
 stinking. It was suggested by Mason 
 that stinking, as it occurs in Lr. II, 4, 
 72, should read sinking as being ifaore 
 expressive of fallen fortunes, and re- 
 ferred to Ant. Ill, 10, 26, for confirma- 
 tion of this view; upon which, Malone 
 made the following remark : "Mankind, 
 says the fool, may be divided into those 
 who can see and those who are blind. 
 All men, but blind men, though they 
 follow their noses, are led by their eyes ; 
 and this class of mankind, seeing the 
 king ruined, have all deserted him : 
 with respect to the other class, the blind, 
 who have nothing but their noses to 
 guide them, they also fly equally from 
 a king w^hose fortunes are declining ; 
 for of the noses of twenty blind men 
 there is not one but can smell him, who 
 'being rauddy'd in fortune's mood, 
 smells somewhat strongly of her dis- 
 pleasure.' [All's. V, 2, 4.] You need 
 not therefore be surprised at Lear's 
 coming with so small a train," 
 
 Stint. To cease. Rom. I, 3, 48 ; Per. IV, 
 
 4, 42. 
 
 stitliy, n. A smith's forge ; literally, the 
 place where the stith or anvil (Scotch, 
 studdy or stuthy) stands. Hml. Ill, 2, 89. 
 
 stitliy , V. To forge ; to form on an anvil. 
 Troil. IV, 5, 255. 
 
 stoccado, ) A thrust in fencing. Wiv. 
 
 stoccata. \ II, 1, 234 ; Rom. Ill, 1, 77. 
 
 stoclc, n. 1. A stocking. Grent. Ill, 1, 
 312 ; Shr. Ill, 2, 67. 
 
 2. A thrust in fencing ; astoccado. Wiv. 
 II, 3, 26. 
 
 stock, V. To put in the stocks. Lr. II, 
 2, 139 ; do. II, 4, 191. 
 
 stock-fish. Dried cod. Meas. Ill, 2, 116 ; 
 IHIV. II, 4, 271. Make a stock-fish of 
 thee = lt)eat thee as stock-flsh is beaten 
 before it is boiled. Tp. Ill, 2, 79. 
 
 stockings, tall. "Stockings drawn high 
 above the knee." Fairholt. HVIII. I, 
 3, 80. 
 
 stomach, n. 1. Anger; resentment. Glent. 
 I, 2, 68 ; IHVI. I, 3, 90 ; Lr. V, 3, 74. 
 
 2. Courage ; stubbornness. Tp. I, 2, 
 157; 2HIV. I, 1, 129. See quotation 
 from Rastell under Richard Goeur-de- 
 Lion. 
 
 3. Pride; arrogance. Shr. V, 2, 176; 
 HVIII. IV, 2, 34. 
 
 stomach, v. To be angry at ; to resent. 
 
 Ant. Ill, 4, 12 ; do. II, 2, 9. 
 stone-bow. A cross-bow from which 
 stones or bullets were shot. Tw. II, 5, 51. 
 stones, a philosopher's two. Warbur- 
 ton explains Falstaff's expression, I will 
 make him a philosopher'' s two stones 
 to me (2HIV. Ill, 2, a55), thus: "One 
 of which was an universal medicine, 
 and the other a transmuter of base 
 metals into gold." Johnson took ex- 
 ception to the assertion that the uni- 
 versal medicine was a stone and sug- 
 gested that Falstaff meant a stone of 
 twice the value of the usually recognised 
 philosopher ' s stone. That the el ixir was 
 supposed to be a stone is shown by a 
 passage in Churchyard's " Commenda- 
 tion," etc. (1593) : 
 Wrate sundry workes, as well doth 
 
 yet appeare 
 Of stone for gold, and shewed plaine 
 
 and cleare, 
 A stone for health. 
 
 Falstaff evidently meant that he would 
 get health and wealth from Shallow. 
 He got the wealth to the extent of a 
 thousand pounds. (See 2HIV. V, 5, 12.) 
 The 3rd Var., Vol. XVII, p. 141, et seq., 
 contains lengthy notes on the point. 
 
 stool ball. A game still played in some 
 parts of England. It is played only by 
 women and girls and is almost like 
 cricket. Kins. V, 2, 69. 
 
 stool for a witch. Upon this expression, 
 which occurs in Troil. II, 1, 46, Johnson 
 has the following note: "In one way 
 of trying a witch they used to place 
 her upon a chair or stool, with her legs 
 tied across, that all the weight of her 
 
STO 
 
 313 
 
 STR 
 
 body might rest upon her seat ; and by 
 that means, after some time, the cir- 
 culation of the blood in some hours 
 would be much stopt, and her sitting 
 would be as painful as the wooden 
 horse." 
 
 stoop. To swoop or pounce down upon 
 prey. HV. IV, 1, 113 ; Cym. V, 3, 42. 
 
 stop. In Mids. V, 1, 120, this word is, 
 according to Wright, a technical term 
 in horsemanship, c/. Compl. 109. 
 
 stored. Filled. Per. II, 3, 49. 
 
 stout. Proud ; overbearing. Tw. II, 5, 
 185; 2HVI. 1,1,187. 
 
 stover. Fodder for cattle. Tp. IV, 1, 
 63. From estovers, a law term, which 
 is so explained in the law dictionaries. 
 Both are derived from the old French 
 word estouvier, which signifies pro- 
 vision. 
 
 Strachy. A title of which no explanation 
 has yet been given. Tw. II, 5, 45. 
 
 Furness in his ed. of this play fills 
 nearly five pages with suggested emend- 
 ations and explanations, but as he him- 
 self says, they do not bring us any 
 nearer to a true understanding of the 
 subject. There needs no ghost come 
 from the grave to tell us that in all 
 ages there have been women who 
 married beneath them, and unless we 
 can find the particular story to which 
 Malvolio alluded, all conjectures as to 
 what Strachy might mean are futile. 
 That there was such a story current at 
 the time this play was brought out 
 and that it appealed to the theatre- 
 going public is more than probable, 
 but thus far we have found no trace 
 of it. 
 
 straight-pight. Straight-built ; straight- 
 fixed ; standing erect. Cym. V, 5, 164. 
 
 strain, n. 1. DiflSculty; doubt. Troil. 
 
 I, 3, 326. 
 
 2. Disposition; motion of the mind. Wiv. 
 
 II, 1, 91 ; Ado. II, 1, 394 ; LLL. V, 2, 
 770; Troil. 11,2, 113. 
 
 3. Stock ; race. HV. II, 4, 51 ; Tim. I, 
 1, 259. 
 
 strain, V. 1. To filter ; to purify. Troil. 
 IV, 4, 26 ; do. IV, 5, 169. 
 
 2. To wrench ; to constrain. Rom. IV, 
 
 1, 47 ; Merch. IV, 1, 184. 
 
 Strain courtesy = overdo courtesy ; 
 to decline to go first. Rora. II, 4, 53. 
 On this passage Mr. Staunton observes : 
 "When anyone hesitated to take the 
 post of honour in a perilous undertaking 
 he was sarcastically said to strain 
 courtesy. Turberville applies the ex- 
 pression to dogs as Sh. does : ' for many 
 hounds will strain courtesie at this 
 chace.'" 
 
 straited. At a loss; straitened. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 365. 
 
 strange. This word literally means ' * that 
 which is without ' ' (Skeat) ; hence foreign 
 and outlandish. Metaphorically, it might 
 mean abnormal ; beyond all rule ; extra- 
 ordinary. Schm. also gives the mean- 
 ing "enormous," no doubt equivalent 
 to very great, and in this sense explains 
 it as it occurs in Lr. II, 1, 79, in the 
 Folios. See strong. 
 
 strangely. 1. As a thing belonging to 
 another country or to another people. 
 Wint. II, 3, 182. 
 2. Distantly ; reservedly ; as if unac- 
 quainted. Sonn. XLIX, 5 ; 2HIV. V, 
 
 2, 63 ; Troil. Ill, 3, 39. 
 strangeness. Reserve; coyness; distant 
 
 behavior. Ven. 310; Tw. IV, 1, 16; 
 Troil. Ill, 3, 45. 
 
 stranger, n. A foreigner. HVIII. II, 
 2, 102. 
 
 stranger, adj. Foreign. John V, 2, 27. 
 
 strappado. " A military punishment. 
 * * * the term is evidently taken 
 from the Italian strappare, to pull or 
 draw with violence." Douce. IHIV. 
 II, 4, 262. 
 
 Holmes, in his " Academy of Armory 
 and Blazon," thus describes it: "The 
 Half Strapp)ado is to have the Mans 
 hands tyed behind his Back, and so by 
 them to be drawn up to a considerable 
 height, and so let down again ; this, in 
 the least of it, cannot but pull either 
 the Shoulders or Elbows or both out of 
 Joynt.— The Whole Strappado is when 
 the i^erson is drawn up to his height, 
 and then suddenly to let him fall half 
 
8T& 
 
 314 
 
 STY 
 
 way with a jerk, which not only break- 
 eth his Arms to pieces, but also shaketh 
 all his Joynts out of Joint ; which 
 Punishment is better to be Hanged than 
 for a Man to Undergo." 
 
 Strato, dr. p. Servant to Brutus. Caes. 
 
 straw. " A wisp, or small twist of straw 
 or hay, was often applied as a mark of 
 opprobrium to an immodest woman, a 
 scold, or similar offender; even the 
 showing it to a woman was, there- 
 fore, considered as a grievous affront." 
 Nares. 3HVI. II, 2, 144. 
 
 strewments. Strewing ; things strewed. 
 Hml. V, 1, 256. From the context 
 {virgin crantz, maiden strewments) 
 and what is afterwards said, this term 
 seems to refer to more than the mere 
 affectionate strewing of flowers upon 
 the grave, such as the queen offered. 
 Was it the strewing of earth on the 
 coflin— "Dust to dust"? Evidently 
 some special ceremony, ^ee priest. 
 
 stricture. Strictness. Meas. I, 3, 12. 
 
 strike. 1. A naval term signifying to 
 submit ; to give way. 2HIV. V, 2, 18 ; 
 RII. II, 1, 266. 
 
 2. To tap ; to broach. Ant. II, 7, 103. 
 The word strike in this passage puzzled 
 Johnson, Steevens, Ritson, Holt White 
 and many others. Some claim that it 
 means to strike the drinking cups to- 
 gether as is now the custom with some 
 drinkers, and as is supposed to be meant 
 by lago in his song, " Let me the cana- 
 kin clink, clink." See clink. 
 
 It occurs in the sense of broach in 
 Prior's "Alma" : 
 
 L'Avare, not using half his store, 
 Still grumbles that he has no more ; 
 Strikes not the present tun, for fear 
 The vintage should be bad next year. 
 Etc., etc. 
 
 3. To blast ; to destroy (used in regard 
 to planetary influences). Wint. I, 2, 
 201 ; Hml. I, 1, 162. 
 
 striker. A thief; a robber; a dissolute 
 fellow. IHIV. II, 1, 82. " Long-staff 
 sixpenny strikers = "fellows that in- 
 fest the road with long staffs and knock 
 men dowu for sixpence." Johnson, 
 
 Malone says that " a striker had some 
 cant signification with which at present 
 we are not exactly acquainted." In 
 Greene's " Art of Coneycatching " (1592) 
 under the table of " Cant Expressions 
 used by Thieves," the cutting a pocket 
 or picking a purse is called "striking," 
 and in "A Collection of the Canting 
 Words and Terms, both Ancient and 
 Modern, used by Beggars, etc.," ap- 
 pended to Vol. II of Bailey's Dictionary 
 (1760), the definition given of the word 
 strike is " to beg ; to rob ; also to borrow 
 money," and a long list of expressions 
 containing the word is given. The word 
 has to-day the same meaning in modern 
 slang, and "to strike any one" is a 
 well-known expression. 
 
 strong. Reckless ; determined. Tim. IV, 
 3, 45 ; Lr. II, 1, 79. In the latter pass- 
 age the word is strong in the Qnartos, 
 strange in the Folios. Both the Cam- 
 bridge and the Globe eds. read strong , 
 and this is the reading in the g.a. text. 
 See strange. 
 
 strossers. Trousers; tight drawers or 
 breeches. HV. Ill, 7, 57. 
 
 stuck. Stoccado, a thrust in fencing; 
 more properly stock, a contraction of 
 stoccado. Tw. Ill, 4, 303 ; Hml. IV, 7, 
 162. In some eds. stuckin or stuck-in. 
 
 studied. Practised. Merch. II, 2, 211; 
 Mob. I, 4, 9. 
 
 stuff. The most important element ; the 
 essential part. Oth. I, 2, 2. 
 
 stumbling niglit. A night which causes 
 one to stumble. John V, 5, 18. 
 
 Styga. Per Styga, per Manes vehor 
 (Latin) = I am borne through the Styx, 
 through the kingdom of the dead. Tit. 
 II, 1, 135. 
 
 style, n. Title. Large style == long list 
 of titles. 2HVI. I, 1, 111. See stile. 
 
 style, V. To fix or determine the style or 
 rank. Kins. I, 1, 83. 
 
 Styx. The principal river in the nether 
 world, around which it flows seven 
 times. The name is derived from the 
 Greek verb to hate or to abhor. Styx 
 is described as a daughter of Oceanus 
 and Tethys. As a nymph she dwelt at 
 
SUB 
 
 315 
 
 SUG 
 
 the entrance of Hades, in a lofty grotto 
 which was supported by silver columns. 
 As a river, Styx is described as a 
 branch of Oceanus, flowing from its 
 tenth source; and the River Cocytus, 
 again, is a branch of the Styx. By 
 Pallas,* Styx became the mother of 
 Zelus (zeal), Nice (victory), Bia (strength) 
 and Cratos (power). She was the first 
 of all the immortals who took her 
 children to Jupiter to assist him against 
 the Titans ; and in return for this, her 
 children were allowed forever to live 
 with Jupiter, and Styx herself became 
 the divinity by whom the most solemn 
 oaths were sworn. When one of the 
 gods had to take an oath by Styx, Iris 
 fetched a cup full of water from the 
 Styx, and the god, while taking the 
 oath, poured out the water. See Charon. 
 
 subscribe. To yield ; to give up. 2HVI. 
 Ill, 1, 38 ; Troil. IV, 5, 105 ; Tit. IV, 2, 
 130 ; Lr. I, 2, 24. 
 
 The passage in Lr. Ill, 7, 65, All 
 crweZseisesti6scrt6ed, is rather obscure. 
 The Folios read subscribe; the Quartos 
 subscribed. That the word here means 
 yielded or submitted seems the general 
 opinion ; cruels is held by some to mean 
 cruel creatures like the wolves men- 
 tioned two lines above ; others think it 
 means cruel habits, acts or practices. 
 Craig, in his ed. of Lear, just out, ex- 
 plains it thus : *' gave up for a time their 
 ci'uel habits and fierceness " — " their " 
 evidently referring to the wolves. Fur- 
 ness, after quoting many comments, 
 says : " This is to me the most puzzling 
 phrase in this play, more puzzling even 
 than * runaways' eyes ' or ' the dram of 
 eale. ' * * * None of the interpreta- 
 tions are to my mind satisfactory. ' ' His 
 explanation in condensed form is : 
 "Acknowledge the claims of all crea- 
 tures, however cruel they may be at 
 other times." 
 
 subscription. Submission ; obedience ; 
 allegiance. Lr. Ill, 2, 18. 
 
 substractors. Probably Sir Toby's blun- 
 der for detractors. Tw. I, 3, 37. It is 
 .0. curious fact that subtraction is fre- 
 
 quently pronounced substraction in 
 some parts of Great Britain. 
 
 subtilties. Referring to this word, as it 
 occurs in Tp. V, 1, 124, Steevens says : 
 " This is a phrase adopted from ancient 
 cookery and confectionary. When a 
 dish was so contrived as to appear un- 
 like what it really was, they called it a 
 subtilty. Dragons, castles, trees, etc., 
 made out of sugar had the like denomin- 
 ation. * * * Froissart complains much 
 of this practice, whjch often led him 
 into mistakes at dinner. 
 
 success. 1. Succession. 2HIV. IV, 2, 47. 
 In whose success (Wint. I, 2, 394) = in 
 succession from whom. Johnson. 
 2. Issue ; consequence. Oth. Ill, 3, 222. 
 In this passage the word has its radical 
 or etymological sense of succeeding or 
 following after and does not in any 
 degree carry its present meaning of good 
 fortune. 
 
 successantly. In succession. Tit. IV, 
 4, 112. 
 
 successor. Having a right of succession or 
 inheritance. Sonn. CXXVII, 3 ; 2HVI. 
 Ill, 1, 49 ; Tit. I, 1, 4. 
 
 sucking dove. Wright calls attention to 
 Bottom's "blunder of 'sucking dove' 
 for 'sucking lamb.' " Mids. I, 2, 85. Is 
 it a blunder ? Has Wright given care- 
 ful attention to the manner in which 
 young doves are fed ? Did he ever hear 
 of "dove's milk"? Sh. knew some 
 things which even the coms. do not 
 seem to know. 
 
 suffer'd. Let alone; allowed to go on. 
 2HVI. 111,2,262. 
 
 Suffolk, Duke of, dr.p, A Lancastrian. 
 2HVI. 
 
 Suffolk, Duke of, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 Suffolk, Earl of, dr.p. Afterwards duke. 
 IHVI. and 2HVI. 
 
 suggest. To tempt ; to seduce. Gent. 
 Ill, 1, 34 ; All's. IV, 5, 47 ; HVIII. I, 
 1, 164; Oth. II, 3, 358. "The verb 
 to suggest, in Sh., has generally the 
 sense of to tempt, to incite to evil." 
 Craig. 
 
 suggestion. Temptation; seduction. An 
 expression takeu f I'om HoUnshed, mean- 
 
SUF 
 
 316 
 
 STJN 
 
 ing, perhaps, any underhand practice. 
 2HIV. IV, 4, 45 ; HVIII. IV, 2, 35. 
 sufferance. 1. Connivance. As. II, 2, 3. 
 
 2. Death by execution. HV. II, 2, 159. 
 
 3. Damage ; loss. 0th. II, 1, 23. 
 
 4. Suffering. Troil. I, 1, 28. 
 suffigance. Dogberry's blunder for suf- 
 ficient. Ado. Ill, 5, 56. 
 
 suit. To clothe ; to dress. As. I, 3, 118 ; 
 
 Cym. V, 1, 23. 
 sullen. Sad ; melancholy. John 1, 1, 28 ; 
 
 2HIV. I, 1, 102. 
 suUens. Moroseness ; dumps. RII. II, 
 
 1, 139. 
 summer. When Sh. makes Perdita say 
 (Wint. IV, 4, 107) : 
 
 These are flowers 
 Of middle summer, and, I think, they 
 
 are given 
 To men of middle age, 
 
 he, no doubt, had in mind that in 
 heraldry certain flowers were, as the 
 heralds say, "given" to certain ages. 
 Hunter ("New Illustrations," Vol. I, 
 p. 420) quotes from Sir John Feme's 
 " Blazon of Gentry " (1586) as follows : 
 
 Infancy.— The Lilly and White Rose. 
 Puerility.— The Blue Lilly. 
 Adolescence.— The Mary Gold. 
 Lusty Green Youth.— All manner of 
 
 verdures or green things. 
 Virility.— Gillofer and Red Rose. 
 Grey Hairs.- The Violet. 
 Decrepitude. — The Aubifaine. 
 
 The word aubifaine is not to be found 
 in our dictionaries, but Cotgrave gives 
 " Aubifoin : the weed Blew-bottle, Blew- 
 blow, Corne-flower, Hurtsickle." 
 
 La Pucelle's promise in IHVI. I, 2, 
 131, Expect St. Martinis Summer, 
 halcyon days, means: "Expect pros- 
 perity after misfortune, like fair weather 
 at Martlemas, after winter has begun." 
 Johnson. Saint Martin's Day is the 
 11th of November, and about this time 
 there is frequently a period of mild 
 weather, which in Great Britain is 
 called St. Martin's summer. It seems 
 to correspond to our Indian summer. 
 So that La Pucelle means to say, in 
 other words, after the winter of mis- 
 
 fortune will come the summer of suc- 
 cess. See halcyon. 
 
 For all-hallown sum.m,er see all- 
 hallown, and for m,iddle sum,m,er''s 
 spring see spring. 
 
 summered. Provided, as cattle are with 
 pasture. HV. V, 2, 334. 
 
 sumpter. A sumpter-horse is a pack- 
 horse ; a horse that carries provisions, 
 etc. In Lr. II, 4, 219, the word is usu- 
 ally explained as " a pack- horse driver," 
 but more probably it has the meaning 
 given by Cotgrave, s.v. "Sommier: 
 A sumpter-horse ; (and generally any 
 toyling, and load-carrying, drudge, or 
 groome.) 
 
 sun. The proverb which Kent in his 
 soliloquy addresses to King Lear : Thou 
 out of heaven^s benediction com.estto 
 the warm sun (Lr. II, 2, 169) is fre- 
 quently found in the literature of that 
 time. The meaning is obviously to go 
 from better to worse, but how it came 
 to take this form is not so clear. Han- 
 mer observes that it is a proverbial 
 saying, applied to those who are turned 
 out of house and home to the open 
 weather; to which Johnson adds: "It 
 was perhaps used of men dismissed from 
 an hospital, or house of charity, such 
 as was erected formerly in many places 
 for travellers. Those houses had names 
 properly enough alluded to by heaven^s 
 benediction.''^ Furness, following Ma- 
 lone, objects that Lear " is not yet 
 homeless. " How Furness could be thus 
 misled is a puzzle to me. Lear had just 
 been turned away from Goneril'shome; 
 on going to Regan's he had found the 
 place closed and the owners departed for 
 the castle of Gloucester, whither he fol- 
 lows them only to be turned out except 
 upon conditions to which his kingly pride 
 would not submit. It is true that Lear 
 had not yet found this out, but shrewd 
 old Kent, in whose mouth the speech is 
 put, saw it all clearly, and events turned 
 out precisely as Hanmer's interpretation 
 describes — the old king was at that very 
 time practically turned out of house 
 and home. The most recent attempt at 
 
SUN 
 
 817 
 
 SUE 
 
 explanation is that of Craig in his ed. of 
 Lear, p. 93 : " Can it refer to the folly 
 of leaving some grateful and beneficent 
 shade, as of a spreading tree, to journey 
 or toil in the extreme heat of the mid- 
 day sun?" Did Craig have in mind that 
 passage in Isaiah xxxii, 2: "As the 
 shadow of a great rock in a weary 
 land " ? See sun-buimt. 
 
 Referring to Hamlet's speech, / am 
 too much V the sun (Hml. I, 2, 67), 
 Dowden remarks : " Hamlet's delight 
 in ambiguous and double meanings 
 makes it probable that a plSy is intended 
 on ' sun ' and ' son. ' He is too much in 
 the sunshine of the court, and too much 
 in the relation of son — son to a dead 
 father, son to an incestuous mother, son 
 to an uncle- father. It was suggested by 
 Johnson that there is an allusion to the 
 proverbial expression (see Lear II, 2, 
 168) : ' Out of heaven's blessing into the 
 warm sun,' which means to be out of 
 house and home ; Hamlet is deprived of 
 the throne. Schmidt takes it to mean 
 merely, 'I am more idle and careless 
 than I ought to be. ' " 
 
 Our half -faced sun. This expression, 
 found in 2HVI. IV, 1, 98, is thus ex- 
 plained : " Edward the third bare for 
 his device the rays of the sun dispersing 
 themselves out of a cloud." Camden 
 quoted by Dyce. The motto, Invitis 
 nuhibus, means : In spite of the clouds. 
 sun-burnt. This word, as it occurs in 
 Ado. II, 1, 331, Thus goes every one to 
 the world, but /, and I am sun-burnt, 
 has received various explanations. 
 Steevens says sun-burnt means: "I 
 have lost my beauty and am conse- 
 quently no longer such an object as can 
 tempt a man to marry." And Collier 
 says the meaning is : " her beauty is 
 damaged." Hunter, in his "New Illus- 
 trations," devotes four pages and a half 
 to showing that the expression "sun- 
 burnt" meant destitute of family rela- 
 tions, and paraphrases the passage as 
 follows: "Thus every one finds her 
 mate and I am left alone in the world, 
 a solitary woman." 
 
 Halliwell, Staunton, Wright and Rolfe 
 seem to agree with Steevens, but Fur- 
 ness accepts Hunter's explanation on 
 the ground that " any interpretation is 
 better than that of supposing that 
 Beatrice was angling for a compliment, 
 which the disparaging remark of a 
 woman on her own good looks always 
 is. " In this it seems to me that Furness 
 is unquestionably right. 
 
 That sun-burnt had generally the 
 plain, obvious meaning of tanned by 
 the sun, as in Tp. IV, 1, 134, and con- 
 sequently connoted the destruction of 
 beauty, as in HV. V, 2, 154, and Troil. 
 I, 3, 282, is unquestionable. But it may 
 also have had an idiomatic meaning, 
 and this it probably has in Ado. See 
 world. 
 
 Sundays. Benedict's expression : Sigh 
 away Sundays (Ado. I, 1, 204), is said 
 by Warburton to be a proverbial one to 
 signify that " a man has no rest at all," 
 but there is no instance of such a pro- 
 verb. Wright explains it as, " when 
 you will have most leisure to reflect on 
 your captive condition "; to which Fur- 
 ness adds: "And when, owing to the 
 domesticity of the day, you cannot 
 escape from your yoke-fellow." 
 
 superflux. Superfluity. Lr. Ill, 4, 35. 
 
 supervise, ) Inspection ; mere sight of. 
 
 supervize. f Hml. V, 2, 23. 
 
 suppliance. Supply ; gratification ; diver- 
 sion. Hml. I, 3, 9. 
 
 suppliant. Auxiliary; furnishing sup- 
 plies. Cym. Ill, 7, 14. Spelt supplyant 
 in some eds. 
 
 supply. 1. To gratify; to content. Meas. 
 V, 1, 212 ; Oth. IV, 1, 28. 
 2. To fill a place. Shr. Ill, 2, 249; Tw. 
 I, 1, 38. 
 
 supposal. Opinion. Hml. I, 2, 18. 
 
 supposes, n. Tricks ; deceptions ; assumed 
 characters. Shr. V, 1, 120. 
 
 sur-addition. Extra title; surname. Cym. 
 I, 1, 33. 
 
 surcease, n. Cessation ; stop ; death. 
 Mcb. I, 7, 4. 
 
 surcease, v. To cease. Cor. Ill, 2, 121 ; 
 Rom. IV, 1, 67. 
 
STTB 
 
 318 
 
 SWE 
 
 Sure-card. A name which occurs in 
 2HIV. Ill, 2, 95. 
 
 This was a term used for a boon com- 
 panion, so lately as the latter end of 
 the last century, by one of the trans- 
 lators of Suetonius. It is observable 
 that many of Sh. names are invented 
 and characteristical. Master Forth- 
 light, the tilter; Master Shoe-tie, the 
 traveller ; Master Smooth, the silkman, 
 etc., etc. Malone. To which we may 
 add Borachio, which in Spanish signifies 
 a vessel made of the skin of a beast 
 in which wine is kept ; figuratively, a 
 drunkard. 
 
 sur-reined. Over-ridden ; used up. HV. 
 Ill, 5, 19. 
 
 Surrey, Duke of, dr. p. RII. 
 
 Surrey, Earl of, dr.p. Son to the Duke 
 of Norfolk. RIII. and HVIII. 
 
 suspire. To breathe. 2HI V. IV, 5, 33 ; 
 John III, 4, 80. 
 
 swabber. The one who sweeps the deck ; 
 a very inferior personage in the ship's 
 crew. Tp. II, 2, 48; Tw. I, 5, 217. In 
 the latter passage Viola takes up the 
 nautical metaphor of hoist sail and 
 turns it contemptuously against Maria. 
 Rolfe. 
 
 swart. Black. Err. Ill, 2, 104; John 
 III, 1, 46 ; Tit. II, 3, 72 ; Gent. II, 6, 26. 
 In some eds. swarthy or swarty. 
 
 swarth, n. A corruption of swath (1), a 
 heaped row of mown grass. Tw. II, 
 3, 162. 
 
 swasher. A braggart; a bully. HV. 
 Ill, 2, 30. 
 
 swashing. 1. Swaggering; hectoring. As. 
 I, 3, 122. 
 
 2. Sweeping ; crushing. Rom. I, 1, 70. 
 This word is washing in the Folios and 
 in the 2nd and 3rd Quartos; swashing 
 in 4th and 5th Quartos. 
 
 It is possible that washing may be 
 right, as it seems that it was a technical 
 term in quarter-staff play. 
 
 swath. 1. A line of grass as it is cut 
 and thrown in a lengthened heap by the 
 scythe. Troil. V, 5, 25. 
 2. The bandages wrapped round new- 
 born chUdren. Tim. IV, 3, 352. 
 
 swathling. Same as swaddling ; bandages 
 for new-born children. IHIV. Ill, 2, 112. 
 
 sway. To move. 2HIV. IV, 1, 24. 
 
 swear. Thou swear'' st thy gods in vain. 
 Lr. 1, 1, 163. The preposition by is here 
 omitted ; Sh. frequently omits such 
 prepositions. See ' ' Sh. Gram. , " § 200. 
 
 The passage in Wint. I, 2, 424, Swear 
 his thought over by each particular 
 star in heaven, is said by Dr. Purness 
 not to be obscure. Nevertheless it has 
 been the subject of some comment and 
 emendation. The meaning is obvious : 
 Even if ybu should outs wear his asser- 
 tions you cannot overcome his jealousy. 
 Hotspur's injunction to his wife (IHIV. 
 II, 1, 258), Swear ine Kate, like a lady, 
 receives the following note from Clarke: 
 " Very characteristic of Harry Percy 
 in his wishing his wife to abjure minc- 
 ing oaths, and to come out with good 
 round sonorous ones. Her Majesty 
 Queen Elizabeth's wonted imprecations 
 were of this kind ; and some of them, 
 recorded as being familiar in her mouth, 
 were of a character sufficiently potential 
 to become the lips of the daughter of 
 Henry VIII., and warrant the drama- 
 tist in making Hotspur say ' Like a lady 
 as thou art ' to his wife. " 
 
 swearer. One who uses profane language, 
 hence, a dissolute person. Per. IV, 6, 13. 
 
 sweet. Perfumed. Tit. II, 4, 6; Rom. 
 V, 3, 14. See rosemary. 
 
 sweet and twenty. See twenty. 
 
 sweeting. 1. A kind of apple used for 
 sauce. Rom. II, 4, 83. 
 2. A term of endearment. Shr. IV, 3, 
 36; 0th. 11,3,252. 
 
 sweetmeats. As mentioned in Rom. I, 
 4, 76, are explained by Malone as "kiss- 
 ing-comfits. Tliese artificial aids to per- 
 fume the breath are mentioned by 
 Falstaff in the last act of the M, W. 
 of W.," and this gloss has been accepted 
 by most corns. , Rolfe, Schmidt, Dowden 
 and even the sagacious Dr. Furness. I 
 regard it as very doubtful. The breath 
 was probably tainted by the indigestion 
 caused by eating articles of various 
 kinds preserved in sugar or honey, 
 
SWI 
 
 319 
 
 SYM 
 
 which was extensively used for sugar 
 in the old times. That Sh. recognised 
 the effects of sweets on digestion is seen 
 in RII. I, 3, 236, Things siveet to taste 
 prove in digestion sour. So in Mids. I, 
 I, 34, sweetmeats probably meant no 
 more than sweet articles. Kissing- 
 comfits were, no doubt, extensively used, 
 but were called by their proper name. 
 
 swift. Prompt ; ready. Ado. Ill, 1, 89 ; 
 LLL. Ill, 1, 63; As. V, 4, 65. "Swift 
 had a special meaning, 'ready at re- 
 plies,' or, as we should say, 'good at 
 repartee.'" Marshall. 
 
 switch and spurs. In the Fl. swits and 
 spurs. By this Romeo means, " whip 
 up your flagging wits." Rom. II, 4, 70. 
 See wild-goose. 
 
 swill. To swallow ; to gulp down. HV. 
 
 III, 1, 14. 
 
 swinge. To beat ; to strike. Gent. II, 
 1, 91 ; Wiv. V, 5, 197 ; 2HIV. V, 4, 23. 
 
 swinge-buckler. A roisterer ; a swash- 
 buckler. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 24. 
 
 Swithold. Probably a corruption of Saint 
 Vitalis, a saint that was specially in- 
 voked against the night-mare. Lr. Ill, 
 4,125. The 3rd Var., Vol. X, p. 160, 
 has a couple of pages of notes on this 
 subject. See also the ed, of Lear by 
 Furness, p. 195. See wold. 
 
 Switzers. Hired guards, so called because 
 at first they came from Switzerland. 
 Malone quotes Nash, "Christ's Teares 
 over Jerusalem" (1594) : "Law, logicke 
 and the Switzers may be hired to fight for 
 anybody." But Reed says : " In many 
 of our old plays the guards attendant 
 on kings are called ' Switzers,' and that 
 without any regard to the country 
 where the scene lies." Hml. IV, 5, 97. 
 
 swoop-stake. Wholesale ; entirely. Hml. 
 
 IV, 5, 141. Swoopstakes or sweepstakes 
 is a game of cards in which a player 
 may win all the stakes or take all the 
 tricks. 
 
 sword-and-buckler. " When the rapier 
 and dagger were introduced they be- 
 came the distinctive weapons of gentle- 
 men, while the sword and buckler were 
 used by serving men and brawling, 
 
 riotous fellows ; therefore, Percy coins 
 this epithet for Prince Hal, to intimate 
 that he was but one of those low and 
 vulgar fellows with whom he was 
 associated." Clarke. IHIV. I, 3, 230. 
 Stowe speaks of a time "when every 
 serving-man, from the base to the best, 
 carried a buckler at his back, which 
 hung by the hilt or pomel of his sword," 
 and Steevens, in confirmation, says : 
 " I have now before me a poem entitled 
 ' Sword and Buckler, or The Serving- 
 Man's Defence,' by William Bas, 1602." 
 sworder. A gladiator. 2HVI. IV, 1, 135. 
 sworn-brother. This word is not hyphen- 
 ated in the Fl. , and many eds. follow 
 that text. Furness thinks, however, 
 that Capell was " unquestionably right 
 in joining these two words with a 
 hyphen." On the meaning of the word 
 as it occurs in Ado. I, 1, 73, Hunter 
 ("New Illustrations," Vol. I, p. 244), 
 has the following note : "This is one of 
 the popular phrases of England to 
 denote strict alliances and amities, and 
 has survived the recollection of the 
 circumstances in which the term arose. 
 The fratres conjurati were persons 
 linked together in small fellowships, 
 perhaps not more than two, who under- 
 took to defend and assist each other in 
 a military expedition under the sanction 
 of some stricter tie than that which 
 binds the individuals composing a whole 
 army to each other. They are found 
 in genuine history as well as in the 
 romances of chivalry." cf. IHIV. II, 
 4,7. 
 swound. To swoon. Rom. II, 2, 56. 
 'swounds. See zounds. 
 Sycorax. The name of Caliban's mother. 
 Tp, I, 2, 258, etc. Of this name Ruskin, 
 in his ' ' Munera Pul veris, ' ' says : ' ' Pros- 
 pero [which signifies for hope], a true 
 governor, is opposed to Sycorax, the 
 mother of slavery, her name, 'Swine- 
 raven,' indicating at once brutality and 
 deathf ulness. " 
 Sylvius, dr. p. A shepherd. As. 
 sympathy. Equality; just proportion. 
 0th. II, 1, 232. 
 
TAB 
 
 820 
 
 TAI 
 
 ABLE. 1. Referring to Rom. 
 Y-^A Ii 5» 29, turn the tables up, 
 umB Steevens says: "Before this 
 ■^-J phrase is generally intelligible, 
 it should be observed that ancient tables 
 were flat leaves, joined by hinges, and 
 placed on trestles. When they were to 
 be removed, they were therefore turned 
 up." Toone, s.v. board, says "they 
 were loose boards." It is doubtful if 
 they were merely hinged and laid on 
 trestles; this would make a very un- 
 reliable support ; it is more likely that 
 they were battened and that the turning 
 up was simply standing them on edge. 
 In this way they would occupy but little 
 room, less, indeed, than if they were 
 hinged. See board. 
 
 2. The canvas or panel on which a pic- 
 ture is painted. John II, 1, 503. 
 
 3. The palm of the hand or, rather, " the 
 space between certain lines on the skin 
 within the hand." Halliwell. Nares 
 says : " The whole collection of lines on 
 the skin within the hand." A term in 
 palmistry. Merch. II, 2, 174. 
 
 tabled. Set down. Cym. I, 4, 7. 
 tables. 1. Tablets; a pocket-book for 
 containing memoranda, usually made 
 of prepared ass's skin. Hml. I, 5, 107. 
 See relative. 
 
 2. The game of backgammon. LLL. V, 
 2, 327. Nares gives a quotation from 
 the " Witts Recreation" : 
 Man's life's a game at tables, and he 
 
 may 
 Mend his bad fortune by his wiser play. 
 
 tackled stair. A rope-ladder. Rom. II, 
 4, 203. 
 
 tabor. A small drum, beaten with a 
 single stick, and generally accompanied 
 by a pipe which the taborer played 
 himself. Douce tells us that "this in- 
 strument is found in the hands of fools 
 long before the time of Sh.»' Tw. Ill, 
 1, 2 and 10 ; Tp. IV, 1, 175; Wint. IV, 
 4,183. 
 
 taborer. A player on the tabor. Tp. 
 Ill, 2, 160. 
 
 tabourine. A drum. Troil. IV, 5,275; 
 Ant. IV, 8, 37. " The tambourine, both 
 of ancient and modern times, seems to 
 be a different thing, having parchment 
 on one side only, and played with the 
 fingers." Nares. 
 
 taffeta. A thin, soft silk. LLL. V, 2, 
 159 ; Tw. II, 4, 76. See snipt. 
 
 tag. The mob ; the common people. Cor. 
 Ill, 1,247. 
 
 tag-rag people. The common people; 
 the "great unwashed." Caes. I, 2, 259. 
 
 tailor. See prick. 
 
 tailor cries. This expression (Mids. II, 1, 
 54) has never been satisfactorily ex- 
 plained. Johnson says: "The custom 
 of crying tailor at a sudden fall back- 
 ward I think I remember to have ob- 
 served. He that slips beside his chair 
 falls as a tailor squats upon his board." 
 Furness says: "It needs scarcely an 
 ounce of civet to sweeten the imagina- 
 tion if it be suggested that the slight 
 substitution of an e for an o in the word 
 * tailor ' will show that, as boys • in 
 swimming take a ' header ' the wisest 
 Aunt was subjected to the opposite." 
 These explanations might be accepted 
 if the expression had been uttered by 
 the spectators, but as Sh. puts it in the 
 mouth of the subject of the accident 
 they seem to me untenable. In the ed. 
 of Nares, by Halliwell and Wright, 
 taylor or tailor is given as equivalent 
 to thief, which has always been a com- 
 mon term of reproach, and they quote 
 " Pasquil's Night-Cap " : 
 Thieving is now an occupation made, 
 Though men the name of tailor do it 
 give. 
 This seems the most probable explana- 
 tion. A suggested reading is rails or 
 cries for tailor cries; another suggested 
 emendation is traitor for tailor, but 
 here, as elsewhere, emendations are out 
 
TAI 
 
 321 
 
 TAN 
 
 of place when a good, sound sense may 
 be obtained from the text as it stands. 
 
 taint, p.p. Used instead of tainted. IHVI. 
 V, 3, 183. 
 
 tainture. Defilement. 2HVI. II, 1, 188. 
 
 take. 1. To infect; to bewitch. Wiv. 
 
 IV, 4, 32 ; Wint. IV, 4, 119 ; Hml. I, 1, 
 163 ; Lr. II, 4, 166. 
 
 2. To take out == to copy. 0th. Ill, 4, 
 179. 
 
 3. Take up = make up. As. V, 4, 104 ; 
 Tw. Ill, 4, 323. 
 
 4. Take up = reprove. Gent. I, 2, 132. 
 
 5. Take tne with you = make me under- 
 stand you. Rom. Ill, 5, 142. 
 
 6. Took it at his death = at his death 
 protested or took it on his oath. John 
 I, 1, 110. See also IHIV. II, 4, 9, and 
 
 V, 4, 154. 
 
 Take this from this, if this be other- 
 wise. Hml, II, 2, 157. " Theobald here 
 added a stage direction, ' Pointing to 
 his head and shoulders ' ; he has been 
 followed by many editors. Stage tra- 
 dition may have guided Theobald. But 
 see lines 166, 167. May not ' this from 
 this ' mean the chamberlain's staff or 
 wand and the hand which bears it ?" 
 Dowden. This stage direction is adopted 
 in the Cambridge, the Globe, Furness's 
 Var. and almost all eds. since Theobald. 
 But I think that, " in contempt of ques- 
 tion," Dowden is right. 
 Talbot, John, dr.p. Son to Lord Talbot. 
 
 IHVI. 
 Talbot, Lord, dr.p. Afterwards Earl of 
 
 Shrewsbury. IHVI. 
 tale. Reckoning ; counting. Mcb. I, 3, 
 97. The sentence in the Fl. is : 
 As thick as tale 
 Can post with post : 
 and the meaning usually given is : As 
 fast as the posts could be counted. 
 In modern eds. the reading is : 
 As thick as hail 
 Came post with post : 
 In the Globe ed. the Glossary defines 
 *'tale" in this passage as above, but 
 the text gives the second reading I 
 alents. 1. In most modern eds. means a 
 sum of money. Cym. I, 6, 80. 
 
 2. A locket containing hair or other 
 souvenir. Compl. 204. 
 
 In LLL. IV, 2, 65, Dull puns on talent 
 and talon. Talon is spelt talent in the 
 old eds. 
 tall. Able ; bold ; strong. Merch. Ill, 1, 
 6 ; Qth. II, 1, 79 ; Wiv. II, 1, 237 ; Rom. 
 II, 4, 31. 
 taller. Stronger ; more robust. Shr. IV, 
 
 I, 11. 
 
 tallow-catch. It is uncertain whether 
 tallow-ketch (= a tub of tallow) or tal- 
 low- keech (= the tallow of an animal 
 rolled into a lump or "keech" to be 
 sent to the chandler) is meant in IHIV. 
 
 II, 4, 252. Either reading makes good 
 sense. 
 
 tame. Spiritless ; cowardly. Wiv. Ill, 
 5, 153 ; Mids. Ill, 2, 259. 
 
 The passage in Lr. IV, 6, 225, made 
 tame to fortune^ s blows reads lame by 
 in the Quartos. Malone retained this 
 reading on account of its similarity to 
 Sonn. XXXVII, 3, So I, made lame by 
 fortune^s dearest spight. 
 
 Tamora, dr.p. Queen of the Goths. Tit. 
 
 tang, n. A sharp sound. Tp. II, 2, 52. 
 
 tang, V. To utter with a sharp voice. 
 Tw. II, 5, 163. 
 
 tanling. One who is scorched or tanned 
 by the sun. Cym. IV, 4, 29. 
 
 Tantalus. The particulars of his history 
 vary, but all authorities agree that he 
 was a very wealthy king, some say of 
 Lydia, others of Argos or Corinth. The 
 legend goes that he was the son of 
 Jupiter and Pluto who was the daughter 
 of Oceanus and Tethys. He is celebrated 
 in ancient story for the very severe 
 punishment inflicted upon him in the 
 lower world after his death. Various 
 reasons are given for this punishment, 
 but the one most generally accepted is 
 that Jupiter invited him to his table 
 and communicated to him his divine 
 counsels. Tantalus divulged the secrets 
 intrusted to him, and the gods punished 
 him by placing him in the nether world 
 in the midst of a lake, but rendering it 
 impossible for him to drink when he 
 was thirsty, the water always receding 
 
TAB 
 
 323 
 
 TAS 
 
 when he stooped towards it. Moreover, 
 branches laden with fruit hung over 
 his head, but when he stretched forth 
 his hand to reach them they withdrew. 
 And over his head was suspended a 
 huge rock ever threatening to crush 
 him. This story gave rise to a proverb 
 amongst the ancients and from it the 
 English have derived the verb to " tan- 
 talize," i.e., to hold out hopes or pros- 
 pects which cannot be realized. 
 
 Another tradition relates that he, 
 wanting to try the gods, cut his son, 
 Pelops in pieces, boiled them and set 
 them before the immortals. See Pelops. 
 Tantalus is referred to in Ven. 599, 
 and Lucr. 858. 
 
 tarre. To set on (as if a dog) ; to urge 
 on. John IV, 1, 117; Troil. I, 3, 393; 
 Hml. II, 2, 370. 
 
 tarriance. The act of tarrying; delay. 
 Gent. 11,7,90; Pilgr. 74. 
 
 Tartar. 1. A native of Tartary. Wiv. 
 IV, 5, 21 ; Merch. IV, 1, 32. 
 
 On the passage in Rom. I, 4, 5, a Tar- 
 tar''s painted bow of lath, Douce re- 
 marks that Tartarian bows resembled 
 in their form the old Roman or Cupid's 
 bow, such as we see on medals and bas- 
 reliefs. Sh. uses the epithet to distin- 
 guish it from the English bow, whose 
 shape is the segment of a circle. 
 
 2. Hell. Tw. II, 5, 225 ; HV. II, 2, 123. 
 In Err. IV, 2, 32, a comparison is made 
 between a prison (for which hell was 
 the cant term) and the real hell. See 
 hell. 
 
 task. 1. To tax (as ask was sometimes 
 spelt ax in old writings). IHIV. IV, 
 3 92 
 2.' To challenge. IHIV. V, 2, 51. 
 
 3. To keep busy ; to occupy. Wiv. IV, 
 6, 30 ; HV. I, 2, 6. 
 
 tassel-gentle. Properly tercel-gentle or 
 tiercel-gentle, the male of the goshawk. 
 Rom. II, 2, 160. 
 
 "Tiercel or tassel is the general name 
 of the male of all large hawks. ' ' Holme 's 
 "Academy of Armory and Blazon." 
 "This bird is said to have been called 
 gentle ou account of its tractable dis- 
 
 position and the ease with which it was 
 tamed." Dyce, Madden notes that in 
 using the term there was a subtle 
 tribute paid by Juliet to her lover's 
 nobility of nature. See tercel. 
 taste. The original meaning of taste was 
 to touch, to feel carefully, and it was de- 
 rived, through several mutations, from 
 the Latin tangere. See Skeat, s.v. taste. 
 Hence it came to mean to try, to test, 
 although the latter is an entirely differ- 
 ent woi-d and from an entirely differ- 
 ent root. The word taste has now lost 
 much of its old sense, but even in Sh. 
 time it retained the meaning of to try. 
 Troil. Ill, 2, 98 ; Tw. Ill, 4, 267. In 
 his speech : Taste your legs, sir; put 
 them to motion (Tw. Ill, 1, 87), Toby 
 uses the word in a sense quite common 
 in Sh., but Viola's reply, that she does 
 not understand what he means by 
 bidding her "taste her legs," has mis- 
 led the coms. Hotspur uses the word 
 in the same sense in IHIV. IV, 1, 119, 
 Come, let me taste my horse, (over- 
 looked by Schm.), where "taste" does 
 not mean to test the actual flavor of 
 horse-flesh. And yet Halliwell tells us 
 that " Sir Toby is perhaps ridiculing 
 the effeminate appearance of Viola and 
 tells her to taste her legs, they are so 
 tender and delicate." ! ! And so Rolfe, 
 misled no doubt by Schm. , says : ' ' Prob- 
 ably meant as another bit of affectation, 
 and not an ordinary metaphor, 'like 
 taste their valour ' in III, 4, 267. " I do 
 not think so. Toby uses the word in 
 a sense evidently quite conunon at the 
 time, but Viola puns upon it, gives it 
 the meaning found in Rom. I, 3, 30, 
 when it did taste the wormwood, and 
 pretends not to understand. It was 
 Viola, not Sir Toby, who used "a bit 
 of affectation," and she would probably 
 have continued it if Olivia had not ap- 
 peared just at that moment. The ex- 
 pression "taste their valour," in III, 4, 
 267, is not "an oi'dinary metaphor," 
 but a legitimate use of the word in its 
 original sense which it had not tiien 
 quite lost. 
 
TAT 
 
 TEL 
 
 The expression, who did taste to hinif 
 in John V, 6, 28, and also the passages 
 in RII. V, 5, 99, and Kins. V, 2, 23, 
 refer to the old practice of having a 
 prominent oflBcial taste all food offered 
 to kings and other great personages as 
 a precaution against poison, Dyce says : 
 "Allusions to the royal taster, whose 
 •office it was to give the say (prse libare), 
 to taste and declare the goodness of the 
 wine and dishes." By " goodness " Dyce 
 probably means freedom from anything 
 injurious. 
 
 tattering. In the Fl. (John V, 5, 7) this 
 word is tott'ring. Pope suggested 
 tattered, and Malone tattering, which 
 emendation is adopted in the Globe ed. ; 
 tottering in the Cambridge. Some ex- 
 plain the word as torn or ragged ; others 
 as waving. 
 
 Taurus, dr. p. Lieutenant - General to 
 Octavius Caesar. Ant. 
 
 Taurus. The Bull, one of the signs of the 
 Zodiac. Tw. I, 3, 147; Tit. IV, 3, 69. 
 Johnson remarks that the allusion in 
 Tw. is to the medical astrology still 
 preserved in almanacs which refers the 
 affections of particular parts of the 
 body to the predominance of particular 
 constellations. As Douce says, both 
 knights are wrong in their astrology 
 according to the almanacs of the time, 
 which make Taurus govern the neck 
 and throat. Their ignorance is, perhaps, 
 intentional. Upon which Furness re- 
 marks that Sir Andrew's ignorance was 
 genuine, but Sir Toby wanted merely a 
 pretext for a coarse allusion. 
 
 tavern. It was the custom in old times 
 and, indeed, is yet the practice in some 
 old-fashioned places, to give a fancy 
 name to each room in the house, as, for 
 example, " The Bunch of Grapes " (Meas. 
 II, 1, 133); "The Half-Moon" (IHIV. 
 II, 4, 31); "The Pomgarnet" (Pome- 
 granate) (IHIV. II, 4, 42). At the 
 present day, at the Shakespeare Hotel, 
 in Stratford, the rooms, instead of being 
 numbered, are named after the Shake- 
 spearean plays. Rooms in mansions 
 and palaces were also so named, as the ' 
 
 "Jerusalem Chamber," 2HIV. IV, 5j 
 235. 
 
 tawdry-lace. A rustic necklace. Wint, 
 IV, 4, 253. Tawdry is a corruption of 
 Saint Audrey or Ethelreda, on whose 
 day, the 17th of October, a fair was 
 held in the Isle of Ely, where gay toys 
 of all sorts were sold. There is a tradi- 
 tion that St. Audrey died of a swelling 
 in the throat which she considered a 
 special judgment for having been ad- 
 dicted to wearing fine necklaces in her 
 youth. 
 
 tax. To censure ; to condemn ; to re- 
 proach. Meas. II, 4, 79 ; Troil. I, 3, 197 ; 
 Hml. I, 4, 18 ; Hml. Ill, 3, 29. Now 
 used in the sense of to accuse, cf. task. 
 
 taxation. 1. Demand; claim. Tw. 1,5, 
 225. 
 
 2. Censure; satire; invective. As. I, 2,91. 
 
 YouHl be whipped for taxation one 
 
 of these days (As. I, 2, 91) = you'll be 
 
 whipped for using your tongue too 
 
 freely. 
 
 Tearsheet, Doll, dr.p. A woman of bad 
 repute. 2HIV. See road. 
 
 tedious. The brief and the tedious of 
 it — Parolles form for the long and the 
 short of it. All's. II, 3, 34. 
 
 teen. Vexation ; grief ; pain. Ven. 808; 
 Tp. I, 2, 64; LLL. IV, 3, 164; Rom. I, 
 3, 13. In the latter passage the F2. and 
 F4. read teeth, which spoils the play on 
 fourteen. 
 
 teeth. The expression, did it from his 
 teeth, (Ant. Ill, 4, 10) is thus explained 
 by Pye: "To appearance only, not 
 seriously. " He also cites from Dry den's 
 Wild Gallant ; " I am confident she is 
 only angry from the teeth outwards.'' 
 Dyce. In words merely, not from the 
 heart. See tooth-pick and tooth, coifs. 
 
 Telamon. The father of A jax the Great, 
 who is therefore frequently called the 
 Telamonian Ajax to distinguish him 
 from Ajax, the son of Oileus. Telamon 
 was the son of ^acus and the brother 
 of Peleus. He was one of the Calydonian 
 hunters and one of the Argonauts. In 
 Ant. IV, 13, 2, the reference to the 
 madness of Telamon is no doubt a mis- 
 
TEL 
 
 TEM 
 
 take, Ajax being intended, but in 2HVI. 
 V, 1, 26, Ajax is properly called Ajax 
 Telamonius and his madness is alluded 
 to. He is more mad than Telam,on 
 for his shield refers, of course, to the 
 shield of Achilles, which was the most 
 valuable part of the armor, and to the 
 dispute with Ulysses in regard to its 
 possession. See Ajax. 
 
 tell. To count. Ven. 277; Wint. IV, 4, 
 185; Lr. II, 4, 55. The word survives 
 in the tenn teller, one who counts votes 
 at a meeting. Also one who counts 
 money in a bank. Tell ten, that is, 
 count ten. " It was a trial of idiocy to 
 make the person count his fingers." 
 Weber. Kins. Ill, 5, 80. 
 
 Tellus. Another form for Terra, the 
 name under which the earth was per- 
 sonified among the Romans, as Ge was 
 among the Greeks. She was regarded 
 as one of the deities of the nether world, 
 and Hesiod tells us that she was one of 
 the first beings that arose out of Chaos 
 and that she gave birth to Uranus 
 (Coelus) and Pontus. Sh. uses the name 
 as a synonym for the earth in Hral. Ill, 
 2, 166, and Per. IV, 1, 14. 
 
 temper. The original meaning of this 
 word is to make " a right admixture. " 
 Thus Trench says : " What has been 
 said under the word ' humour ' [see 
 Addenda, s. v. humout^] will also ex- 
 plain 'temper,' and the earlier uses of 
 it which we meet. The happy ' temper ' 
 would be the happy mixture, the blend- 
 ing in due proportions of the four prin- 
 cipal 'humours' of the body." This 
 meaning still survives in the use of the 
 word in regard to mortar ; the mason 
 speaks of "tempering" mortar when 
 he works and mixes it ; and this very 
 meaning is found in '2HVI. Ill, 1, 311; 
 Lr. I, 4, 326 ; Tit. V, 2, 200. Schmidt 
 gives a special signification to the word 
 in these passages : " to wet ; to moisten 
 (dry things).'' Not at all; the fact of 
 moistening, or of the things being dry , is 
 a mere accident ; mortar that is too wet 
 may be tempered by the addition and 
 thorough mixing of dry lime and sand. 
 
 The word has also the same meaning in 
 Ado. II, 2, 21 ; Rom. II, Chor. 14; Hml. 
 V, 2, 339 ; Gym. V, 5, 250. 
 
 In the case of metals the meaning 
 evidently is to give such a mixture of 
 qualities (hardness, toughness, elasticity, 
 etc.,) as may be best suited to the pur- 
 pose in view. Schm. gives the absurd 
 definition : " to make hard by cooling." 
 But metals may be tempered by ham- 
 mering as well as cooling, and hardening 
 is not tempering, and never was. It is 
 an easy thing to make steel hard, but 
 to give it that special mixture of quali- 
 ties which fits it for special purposes is 
 an art which is not understood even by 
 all metal-workers. That Sh. understood 
 all this is evident from his writings. 
 See ice-brook. In a recent Shake- 
 spearean commentary we find the fol- 
 lowing : "The way of tempering steel 
 is by plunging it red-hot into cold 
 water, and the colder the water, the 
 higher the temper attained. " A sword 
 tempered in this way would fly to pieces 
 like a strip of glass on the first encounter 
 with a Spanish blade. The vitality of 
 these absurd views is something wonder- 
 ful. Even the scientific Rolfe has em- 
 bodied a similar statement (unthink- 
 ingly, I have no doubt) in his note on 
 Oth. V, 2, 253. 
 
 I believe Booth made the subtle sug- 
 gestion that when Othello spoke of 
 the ice-brook he alluded to the temper- 
 ing of sword blades by means of waters 
 possessing certain charmed qualities. 
 That some of the old fabricators did use 
 incantations to cover up their mechani- 
 cal secrets is more than probable. That 
 the alchemists did so is well known ; and 
 we also know that the ancients attri- 
 buted supernatural powers to those 
 streams and fountains which were 
 sacred to certain divinities (Naiades) 
 who, if properly propitiated, would 
 assure success to those who used the 
 waters over which they presided. See 
 Nymphs 
 
 temperance. Temperature. Tp. II, 1, 42. 
 
 temporize. This word, as a verb, occurs 
 
TEK 
 
 325 
 
 TEK 
 
 four times in Sh., viz., in Ado. I, 1, 276 ; 
 John V, 2, 125 ; Troil. IV, 4, 6, and 
 Cor. IV, 6, 17. Also as temporizer in 
 Wint. I, 2, 302. The meaning now 
 usually given to the word temporize is 
 to delay, to put off, and this is the 
 meaning given to it by Rann in the 
 passage from Ado : You will temporize 
 with the hours. Schm. explains it as, 
 •'to come to terms; to compromise," 
 and Rolfe, "you will come to terms in 
 course of time. " Furness suggests that 
 the word should be tem2)erise, " that is, 
 you will become attempered by the 
 hours ; your temper will change and 
 become more pliant and yielding." It 
 seems to me that tempering or modifica- 
 tion is, as Furness indicates, the chief 
 idea conveyed by Sh. in his use of the 
 word. 
 
 tend. To attend. Hml. IV, 3, 47; Mcb. 
 I, 5, 88. 
 
 tender, v. To take care of ; to treat with 
 kindness ; to have consideration for. 
 Tw. V, 1, 129; RII. I, 1, 32; RIII. II, 
 4,72; Rom. 111,1,74. 
 
 The phrase which occurs in Hml. I, 3, 
 107 : tender yourself more dearly ; 
 Or — not to crack the wind of the poor 
 phrase, Running it thus — youHl tender 
 me a fool, has received various inter- 
 pretations. Dowden asks : " Does this 
 mean, You will present yourself to me 
 as a fool ? or, present me to the public 
 as a fool?" There is evidently a play 
 upon the word tender. Rolfe and Fur- 
 ness are both silent in regard to it ; the 
 3rd Var. has several notes, but none 
 very satisfactory. 
 
 tender-hefted. The expression, thy ten- 
 der-hefted nature shall not give thee 
 o^er to harshness (Lr. II, 4, 174), has 
 never been clearly explained. The 
 words are hyphenated in the Fl. 
 Steevens says : " Hefted seems to mean 
 the same as heaved. Tender-hefted, 
 i.e., whose bosom is agitated by tender 
 passions. * * * Shakespeare uses hefts 
 for heavings in Wint. II, 1, 4.5. Both 
 the Quartos, however, read ' tender - 
 hested ' nature ; which may mean a 
 
 nature which is governed by gentle 
 dispositions. Hest is an old word signi- 
 fying command." Rowe emended to 
 tender-hearted. The come, have gone 
 to a good deal of unnecessary trouble to 
 prove that haft or heft means a handle. 
 Of course it does ; the word in this sense 
 being common. And reference is made 
 to Cotgrave and others to show that 
 the corresponding French woi-d em- 
 manche (helved) was used in reference 
 to the person. This would make tender- 
 hefted = set in a delicate bodily frame, 
 and Wright, who suggests this inter- 
 pretation, states that Regan was less 
 masculine than Goneril — a somewhat 
 bold assertion in the face of the fact 
 that Regan was the one who seized a 
 sword and slew the servant who pro- 
 tested against the tearing out of Glou- 
 cester's eyes. Grant White says that 
 "'tender-hefted' is inexplicable con- 
 sistently with common sense and Shake- 
 speare's use of language. ' ' The ' ' finely 
 sheathed " or " delicately housed " gloss 
 he pronounces " a most manifest mare's 
 nest, and one at which every editor of 
 Shakespeare must have looked and 
 passed by on the other side. Lear's 
 thought 'has no reference to Regan's 
 body but to her soul. * * * There 
 is possibly a misprint of tender-hearted, 
 although we all shun such a simple 
 relief of our difficulty, and linger in the 
 sweet obscurity of tender-hefted.''^ Of 
 "tender-hearted" Rolfe says: it "is 
 ' tolerable and not to be endured. ' Sh. 
 could never have written 'tender- 
 hearted nature. ' " A somewhat danger- 
 ous assertion. 
 
 Among the many desperate attempts 
 to make sense of the passage, Craig, in 
 the latest ed. of this play, picks up a 
 Shropshire meaning for the word: "a 
 dead heft = a weight that cannot be 
 lifted," and suggests that " tender- 
 hefted might simply mean 'pliable, 
 manageable.' " He then falls into the 
 singular mistake of saying that ' ' ' hefty' 
 has in America the meaning of easy to 
 lift or handle. ' ' Speaking for that part 
 
TEN 
 
 826 
 
 TES 
 
 of America known as the United States, 
 I should say that the meaning is just 
 the opposite. Hefty simply means heavy 
 (heft being an old form of heaved), and 
 a thing that is hefty is one that is not 
 easily lifted. 
 
 tent, n. A probe for searching a wound. 
 Troil. II, 2, 10; do. V, 1, 11. In the 
 latter passage there is a pun on tent, 
 which signifies both a temporary house 
 and a surgeon's probe. 
 
 tent, r. 1. To probe. Hml. II, 2,626; 
 Cym. Ill, 4, 118. 
 
 2. To cure. Cor. I, 9, 31. cf. untented. 
 
 3. To lodge as in a tent. Cor. Ill, 2, 116. 
 tercel. The male of the goshawk, ac- 
 cording to Nares, but Cotgrave (s.v. 
 tiercelet) says it is the tassel or male 
 *'of any kind of Hawke." The word 
 literally means "thirdling," and Cot- 
 grave says it was "so tearmed, because 
 he is, commonly, a third part lesse then 
 the female." Others say that the name 
 originated in the popular belief that the 
 female hawk laid three eggs and that 
 the third or last laid was sure to pro- 
 duce a male. The falcon was the female 
 hawk, and in the nomenclature of 
 hawking there were several kinds of 
 falcons, but the male corresponding to 
 each kind was called the tercel. See 
 Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," Book 
 I, chap. 2. 
 
 The falcon as the tercel, for all the 
 ducks V the river (Troil. Ill, 2, 56) has 
 been the subject of emendation. Rowe 
 and Pope read has the tercel; Tyrwhitt 
 conjectured at the tercel. Cressida, of 
 course, was the falcon and Troilus the 
 tercel, and the meaning suggested by 
 Tyrwhitt is that Cressida would make 
 the attack. There seems to be no need 
 of emendation ; the meaning is that 
 Cressida is the equal of Troilus, and on 
 this Pandarus is willing to bet "all the 
 ducks i' the river," not that Cressida 
 will take to the water and go duck- 
 bunting as some have explained it. See 
 tassel- gentle. 
 
 Tereus. See Philomel. 
 
 Termagant. According to the Crusaders 
 
 and old romance-writers, Termagant, 
 Termagaunt or Turmagant was a god 
 of the Saracens. Like Herod, he was 
 often introduced into the early Miracle- 
 or Mystery-plays and was represented 
 as a most violent character. IHIV. V, 
 4, 114; Hml. Ill, 2, 15. 
 
 termless. Indescribable. Compl. 94. 
 
 terms. The expression, recollected terms 
 (Tw. II, 4, 5), is somewhat obscure. 
 Knight says that "term" forms no 
 part of the technical language of music 
 and suggests tunes as an emendment. 
 Perhaps the word may have been turns^ 
 defined in the Cent. Diet. (6) as "a 
 melodic embellishment or grace, etc." 
 Whether or not this word was in use in 
 the time of Sh. I do not know. In in- 
 distinct writing turns and terms much 
 resemble each other. But see note at 
 end of she. Wright explains the word 
 as " phrases gathered with pains, not 
 spontaneous. Knight proposed tunes, 
 but we have already had the tunes in 
 the ' airs ' and the ' terras ' must there- 
 fore be the words set to music. ' ' Wright's 
 gloss is unquestionably one of the best 
 and clearest. And this is the meaning 
 given to " terms " in Ado. V, 2, 41, and 
 LLL. V, 2, 406. 
 
 terrene. Earthly. Ant. Ill, 13, 153. 
 
 terrible. Affrighted ; suffering from 
 terror. Lr. I, 2, 32. cf. fear. 
 
 tertian. A fever whose paroxysms re- 
 turn every third day, according to 
 Bailey, Worcester, Skeat and others; 
 every second day, according to Schm., 
 Cent. Diet., Imperial, etc. ; Johnson 
 says two fits in three days. Mrs. 
 Quickly made an obvious jumble when 
 she spoke of a " quotidian tertian," but 
 the lexicographers seem to be in almost 
 as great confusion. HV. II, 1, 124. See 
 quotidian. 
 
 test. Testimony ; evidence. Troil. V, 2, 
 122 ; 0th. I, 3, 107. 
 
 tester. A slang term for sixpence. 2HI V. 
 Ill, 2, 299. Apparently used by Pistol 
 for money in general. Wiv. I, 3, 94. 
 
 testern. To give money to (probably 
 sixpence). Gent. I, 1, 155. 
 
TES 
 
 337 
 
 THE 
 
 testril. A sixpence (probably the clown's 
 variant of teste)-). Tvv, II, 3, 36. 
 
 testy. QuarreLsomet fretful. Mids. Ill, 
 2, 358. 
 
 tetchy. Peevish; touchy. RIII. IV, 4, 169. 
 
 Thaisa, dr.p. Daughter to Simonides. 
 Per. 
 
 Thaliard, dr.p. A lord of Antioch. Per. 
 
 tharborough. A constable (corrupted 
 from third-horoxigh). LLL. I, 1, 185. 
 " The office of third-borough is the same 
 with that of constable, except in places 
 where thei-e are both, in Avhich case the 
 former is little more than the constable's 
 assistant." Ritson. 
 
 thatched. See Philemon and visor. 
 
 theatre. The following notes, condensed 
 from Vol. Ill of the 3rd Var., throw 
 light on many passages and allusions in 
 the plays : 
 
 In the time of Sh. there were seven 
 principal theatres : three private houses, 
 viz., that in Blackfriars, that in White- 
 friars, and The Cockpit or Phoenix in 
 Drury Lane, and four that were called 
 public theatres, viz., The Globe on the 
 Bankside, The Curtain in Shoreditch, 
 The Red Bull at the upper end of St. 
 John's Street, and The Fortune in 
 Whiteci;^ss Street. The last two were 
 chiefly frequented by citizens. There 
 were, however, but six companies of 
 comedians, for the playhouse in Black- 
 friars and The Globe belonged to the 
 same troop. Beside these seven theatres, 
 there were for some time on the Bank- 
 side three other public theatres: The 
 Swan, The Rose and The Hope ; but The 
 Hope being used chiefly as a l)ear-garden 
 and The Swan and The Rose having 
 fallen to decay early in King James's 
 reign, they ought not to be enumerated 
 with the other regular theatres. All 
 the established theatres that were open 
 in 1598 were either without the city of 
 London or its liberties. 
 
 All the plays of Sh. appear to have 
 been performed either at The Globe or 
 the theatre in Blackfriai-s. These be- 
 longed to the same company of come- 
 dians, namely, his majesty's servants, 
 
 which title they obtained after a licence 
 had been granted to them by King 
 James in 1603. Like the other servants 
 of the household, the performers en- 
 rolled into this company were sworn 
 into office, and each of them was allowed 
 four yards of bastard scarlet for a cloak 
 and a quarter of a yard of velvet for 
 the cape every second year. 
 
 The Globe was built not long before 
 the year 1596; it was situated on the 
 Bankside (the southern side of the river 
 Thames) nearly opposite to Friday 
 Street, Cheapside. It was an hexagonal 
 building, partly open to the weather 
 and partly thatched. Like all the other 
 theatres of that time, it was built of 
 wood. It was of considerable size, and 
 the plays were always acted by day- 
 light. On the roof of this and the other 
 public theatres a pole was erected, to 
 which a flag was affixed. These flags 
 were probably displayed only during 
 the hours of exhibition ; and it would 
 seem fi-om one of the old comedies that 
 they were taken down in Lent, in which 
 time, in the early part of King James's 
 reign, plays were not allowed to be 
 represented, though at a subsequent 
 period this prohibition was dispensed 
 with. It is probable that The Globe 
 was denominated only from the sign 
 painted on its side. This was a figure 
 of Hercules supporting the Globe, under 
 which was written : Totus Mundus 
 agit histrionem. This theatre was 
 burnt down on the 29th of June, 1613, 
 but it was rebuilt in the following year 
 and decorated with more ornament than 
 had been originally bestowed upon it. 
 The exhibitions at The Globe seem to 
 have t)een calculated chiefly for the 
 lower class of people ; those at Black- 
 friars, for a more select and judicious 
 audience. One of these theatres was a 
 winter and the other a summer house. 
 As The Globe was partly exposed to the 
 weather, and they acted there usually 
 by day-light, it is probable that this 
 was the summer house. 
 Some difficulty has been occasioned 
 
THE 
 
 THE 
 
 by the fact that Sh. speaks of The Globe 
 theatre as this xvooden O (HV. Prol. 13). 
 But aside from the license usually ac- 
 corded to poets, a hexagon on the scale 
 that the theatre was built is near 
 enough to a circle to justify the title in 
 a general way. 
 
 Many of the ancient dramatic pieces 
 were performed in the yards of carriers' 
 inns, in which, in the beginning of 
 Queen Elizabeth's reign, the comedians,, 
 who then first united themselves in 
 companies, erected an occasional stage. 
 The form of these temporary playhouses 
 seems to be preserved in our modern 
 theatre. The gallei'ies in both are 
 ranged over each other on three sides 
 of the building. The small rooms under 
 the lowest of these galleries answer to 
 present boxes, and it is observable that 
 these, even in theatres which were built 
 in a subsequent period expressly for 
 dramatic exhibitions, still retained their 
 old name and are frequently called 
 rooms by the old writers. The yard 
 bears a sufRcient resemblance to the pit 
 as at present in use. We may suppose 
 the stage to have been raised in this 
 area, on the fourth side, with its 
 back to the gateway of the inn, at 
 which the money for admission was 
 taken. 
 
 Hence, in the middle of The Globe, 
 and probably of other public theatres 
 in the time of Sh. , there was an open 
 yard or area where the common people 
 stood to see the exhibition ; from which 
 circumstance they are called by our 
 author "groundlings," and by Ben 
 Jonson " the understanding gentlemen 
 of the ground.''^ The galleries, or 
 scaffolds as they are sometimes called, 
 and that part of the house which in 
 private theatres was called the pit, seem 
 to have been at the same price, the 
 usual cost of admission being sixpence 
 in houses of reputation, while in some 
 of the meaner theatres it was only a 
 penny or, perhaps, twopence. The price 
 of admission to the best rooms or boxes 
 was one shilling in Sh. time, though 
 
 afterwards it rose to two shillings and 
 half a crown. 
 
 From several passages in our old plays 
 we learn that spectators were admitted 
 on the stage and that the critics and 
 wits of the time usually sat there. Some 
 stood or lounged around ; others sat on 
 stools, the price of which was either 
 sixpence or a shilling, according to loca- 
 tion. And they were attended by pages, 
 who furnished them with pipes and 
 tobacco, which was smoked here as well 
 as in other parts of the house. But it 
 would seem that persons were suffered 
 to sit on the stage only in the private 
 playhouses (such as Blackfriars, etc.) 
 where the audience was more select and 
 of a higher class ; and that in The Globe 
 and the other public theatres no such 
 license was permitted. 
 
 The stage was strewed with rushes, 
 which in those days formed the usual 
 covering for floors. See rush. The 
 curtain, instead of being raised as at 
 present, was parted in the middle and 
 drawn to each side. How little the 
 imaginations of the audience were as- 
 sisted by scenical deception and how 
 much necessity the dramatist had to 
 call on them to "piece out imperfections 
 with their thoughts" may be collected 
 from Sir Philip Sydney, who, describing 
 the state of the drama and the stage in 
 his time (about 1583), says : " Now you 
 shall have three ladies walk to gather 
 flowers, and then we must beleeve the 
 stage to be a garden. By and by we 
 heare news of shipwreck in the same 
 place; then we are to blame if we 
 accept it not for a rock. Upon the 
 back of that comes out a hidious mon- 
 ster with fire and smoke ; and then the 
 miserable beholders are bound to take 
 it for a cave ; while in the mean time two 
 armies fly in, represented with four 
 swords and bucklers, and then what 
 hard hart wil not receive it for a pitched 
 battle." 
 
 At this time all female characters 
 were represented by boys. This we have 
 noted under the head female actors. 
 
THE 
 
 329 
 
 THE 
 
 then. The word than is almost always 
 spelled then in the old eds., and some 
 modern eds. follow the old style. 
 
 theoric. Theory (opposed to practice). 
 All's. I, 1, 53 ; IV, 3, 163 ; 0th. I, 1, 34. 
 See practic. 
 
 thereafter. According as. 2HIV. Ill, 
 3, 56. Thereafter as they be = accord- 
 ing to their condition. 
 
 Thersites, dr.p. This deformed and evil- 
 minded Greek is alluded to in Cym. IV, 
 3, 353. According to Homer, he was 
 the son of Agrius and was the most 
 impudent talker among the Greeks at 
 Troy. Once, when he had spoken in the 
 assembly in an unbecoming manner 
 against Agamemnon, he was severely 
 chastised by Ulysses. According to the 
 later poets, he pulled the eyes out of the 
 dead body of Penthesilea, the beautiful 
 queen of the Amazons, who had been 
 slain by Achilles. For this Achilles 
 slew him. See Penthesilea. 
 
 Theseus, dr.p. Duke of Athens. Kins. 
 
 Theseus, dr.p. Duke of Athens. Mids. 
 The great hero of Attic legend seems 
 to have taken strong hold of the imagin- 
 ation of Sh., for we find him the prin- 
 cipal character in two plays, besides 
 being mentioned elsewhere (Gent. IV, 
 4, 173) . His reputed father was Neptune 
 or Poseidon, and the Troezenians for 
 many ages pointed to the Holy Isle 
 where his mother, JEthra, met the god. 
 But his real father was -lEgeus, King of 
 Athens, who, being childless, went to 
 consult the oracle at Delphi, and after- 
 wards went to Troezen where he met 
 -i35thra, the daughter of Pittheus, the 
 king. Before the birth of Theseus, 
 ^geus left Troezen, telling ^thra that 
 he had deposited his sword and boots 
 under a certain heavy rock and that if 
 she gave birth to a boy who, on reach- 
 ing maturity, should be able to lift the 
 rock and remove the sword and boots, 
 she was to send him secretly to his 
 father at Athens. In due time Theseus 
 lifted the rock, secured the sword and 
 boots and set out for Athens. Accord- 
 ing to some accounts, it was on this 
 
 journey that he slew the robber Cory- 
 netes (the club-carrier) and carried off his 
 club, and shortly after he killed Sinnis 
 and had an adventure with his daughter. 
 See Perigenia. He also slew a mon- 
 strous boar or sow ; he flung over his own 
 cliff, Sciron, who, while his guests were 
 perforce washing his feet, used to kick 
 them over into the sea ; he wrestled 
 with and killed Cercyon, and a little 
 further on he slew Procrustes, who had 
 only one bed for all comers : if his guest 
 was too short for the bed, he stretched 
 him out ; if he was too long, he cut him 
 down. (From his name comes our word 
 Procrustean.) As he passed through 
 the streets of Athens, his curls and long 
 garment, reaching to his ankles, di-ew 
 on him the derision of some masons who 
 were putting on the roof of the new 
 temple of Apollo Delphinius: "Why," 
 they asked, " was such a pretty girl out 
 alone?" In reply, Theseus took the 
 bullocks out of their cart and flung 
 them higher than the roof of the temple. 
 He found his father married to Medea, 
 the sorceress, who had fled from Corinth. 
 Medea knew Theseus before his father 
 did and attempted to poison him, but 
 -(Egeus recognised the sword and ac- 
 knowledged the bearer as his son. The 
 sons of Pallas, the brother of ^geus, 
 who had hoped to succeed to the sup- 
 posedly childless monarch, attempted 
 to secure the succession by violence and 
 declared war, but were betrayed by the 
 herald Leos and were destroyed. 
 
 His next exploit was the capture of 
 the flame- spitting bull of Marathon 
 which he brought alive to Athens and 
 sacrificed to Apollo. The time now 
 arrived when the Athenians had to send 
 to Minos (see Minos) their tribute of 
 seven youths and seven maidens. The- 
 seus voluntarily offered himself as one 
 of the youths with the design of slaying 
 the Minotaur or perishing in the attempt. 
 AVhen they reached Ci^te, Ariadne, 
 daughter of Minos, fell in love with 
 Theseus and provided him with a sword, 
 with which he killed the Minotaur, and 
 
THE 
 
 330 
 
 THI 
 
 a clue of thread by which he was able 
 to retrace his steps and escape from the 
 labyrinth. After a time, Theseus set 
 sail from Crete, taking Ariadne with 
 him, but he abandoned her on the island 
 of Naxos. Gent. IV, 4, 172 ; Mids. II, 
 1, 80. The vessel on which the youths 
 and maidens sailed carried a black sail, 
 and Theseus promised his father that if 
 they were successful and returned in 
 safety the black sail should be changed 
 for a white one. But he forgot his 
 promise, and when old -<Egeus saw the 
 black sail he threw himself down from 
 the cliff on which he had been watching 
 and was killed. 
 
 Of his adventures with the Amazons 
 there are different accounts. Some give 
 the name of the Amazon queen who 
 opposed him as Antiope ; others make 
 it Hippolyta. Other accounts say that 
 Antiope and Hippolyta were sisters and 
 that Theseus made love to both. 
 
 However we may reject many of the 
 evidently fabulous stories and adven- 
 tures which relate to Theseus, his legend 
 seems to contain recollections of his- 
 torical events, the most important of 
 which was the unification of the various 
 small townships into the single nation- 
 ality of Attica. 
 
 Thessaly. A district which in ancient 
 times formed the northeastern division 
 of Greece. In it are the mountains 
 Ossa, Pelion and Othrys, and through 
 it ran the river Peneus which traversed 
 the famous vale of Tempe. Many of its 
 cities, mountains and valleys were cele- 
 brated in Grecian history and its in- 
 habitants were aristocratic and pro- 
 Persian. Explanations of the references 
 to Thessaly will be found under boar 
 and Meleager. 
 
 Thetis. A marine divinity, one of the 
 daughters of Nereus and Doris. She 
 was the wife of Peleus, by whoiji she 
 became the mother of Achilles. Her 
 wedding was attended by all the gods 
 except Eris or Strife. See Paris. Like 
 her sisters, the Nereids, she dwelt in the 
 depths of the sea with her father, Nereus. 
 
 In Troil. I, 3, 39, and Per. IV, 4, 39, her 
 name is used as a personification of the 
 sea, and in Ant. Ill, 7, 61, Antony- 
 addresses Cleopatra by this name as if 
 she governed the sea. Schm. points out 
 that the goddess of the ocean was 
 Tethys, the wife of Oceanus, and not 
 Thetis. 
 thewes, ) Muscles ; sinews. 2HIV. Ill, 
 thews, f 2, 276 ; Cses. I, 3, 81 ; Hml. 
 
 I, 3, 12. 
 
 "It is a remarkable evidence of 
 Shakespeare's influence upon the English 
 language that while, so far as has yet 
 been observed, every other writer, 
 one single instance excepted, employs 
 ' thews ' in the sense of manners, quali- 
 ties of mind and disposition, the fact 
 that, as often as he employs it, it is in 
 the sense of nerves, muscular vigor, has 
 quite overborne the other use ; which, 
 once so familiar in our literature, has 
 now quite passed away." Trench, See 
 also Craik's "English of Shakespeare," 
 §124. 
 
 thick, adj. Dim ; with defective sight. 
 Wint. I, 2, 269 ; 2HIV. Ill, 2, 336 ; Cses. 
 V, 3, 21. 
 
 thick, adv. Rapidly. 2HIV. II, 3, 24 ; 
 Mcb. I, 3, 97 ; Cym. I, 6, 67 ; do. Ill, 2, 58. 
 
 thicken. 1. To strengthen. 0th. Ill, 3, 
 430. 
 2. To grow dim. Mcb. Ill, 2, 50; Ant. 
 
 II, 3, 27. cf. thick. 
 
 thick-eyed. Not dtm-eyed as some have 
 it, but the absorbed look of a man in 
 deep thought. IHIV. II, 3, 51. 
 
 thick-pleached. Thickly interwoven or 
 intertwined. Ado. I, 2, 10. 
 
 thick-skin. A numbskull; a blockhead. 
 Wiv. IV, 5, 2 ; Mids. Ill, 2, 13. Changed 
 by Hanmer in the latter passage to 
 thick-skull, but unnecessarily ; the word 
 was in common use. 
 
 thili-horse. Shaft-horse. Merch. II, 2, 103. 
 
 thin, too. Not of sufficient substance. 
 HVIII. V, 3, 125. This expression, as 
 oldasSh., was but a short time ago a 
 common "gag " or slang phrase. 
 
 think. " To think or to take thought 
 seems formerly to have been used in the 
 
THI 
 
 831 
 
 THO 
 
 sense of to give way to sorrow or 
 despondency." Craik. Ant. Ill, 13, 3. 
 cf. thought. 
 third. This word, as it occurs in Tp. IV, 
 1, 3, was emended to thread by Theo- 
 bald, and in this he is followed by 
 Knight, Singer, Staunton, Dyce, Rolfe, 
 White,* Symons and others. The Globe 
 ed. has the equivalent form thrid. 
 That "thrid " is an old form of thread 
 is well known, and that the r is one of 
 the most commonly transposed letters 
 is equally certain. Girdle for griddle 
 I have heard time and again. So that 
 whether we should use thread or third 
 is really a question of interpretation 
 rather than of reading. In favor of 
 "thread" Dyce says: "In a volume 
 which I published in 1853, I observed, 
 ' In case any future editor should still 
 be inclined to make Prospero tei-m 
 Miranda ' third of his life ' (the Folio 
 having here ' third ' = thrid, thread), 
 it may be well to remark that, in the 
 language of poetry, from the earliest 
 times, a beloved object has always been 
 spoken of, not as the third, but as the 
 HALF of another's life or soul." And 
 he then goes on to cite examples of 
 which many may be found. 
 
 Capell, on the other hand, believes 
 that if the next line, " Or that for which 
 I live," had been "reflected on thor- 
 oughly by editors and their remarkers, 
 Theobald's correction (thread for third) 
 had not been fallen in with so readily, 
 for that poetical thread of the fates' 
 spinning is not what we live for, but 
 what we live 6]/." He then assumes 
 that the three-thirds of Prospero 's life 
 
 * Dr. Furness says that White, in his first 
 ed., adopted " thread." having objected 
 to third because it "is rather arith- 
 metical than poetical and takes us too 
 far into vulgar fractions." He adds 
 that White, in his second ed. (the River- 
 side), "adopted the arithmetical 3^," 
 but. by an oversight, no doubt, he omits 
 White's note on the word. It is: "a 
 third, that is, a thread, by a common 
 transposition of r; as bird for brid.'" 
 
 are : his realm, his daughter and him- 
 self ; the daughter he gives away, keep- 
 ing all his concern for her ; the realm 
 he hoped to return to, and when retired 
 to his Milan, then (as he tells us in 
 almost his last speech) "every third 
 thought should be his grave," words 
 that seem to derive themselves from 
 the expression in this passage. Apud 
 Furness. 
 
 Furness adds: ' ' Could any one imagine 
 Shakespeare talking of 'living for a 
 thread of his own life ' ? The true in- 
 terpretation, it seems to me, is Capell's." 
 
 third-borough. A constable. Head-bor- 
 ough in Fl. (Shr. Ind. 1, 12), but changed 
 in the g. a. text to conform to Sly's 
 answer. See tharborough. 
 
 Thisbe, dr.p. A character in the Inter- 
 lude. Mids. See Pyramus. 
 
 Thisne. Bottom's blunder for Thisbe. 
 Mids. I, 2, 55. 
 
 Thomas, dr.p. A friar. Meas. 
 
 Thomas, Duke of Clarence, dr.p. Son 
 to Henry IV. 2HIV. 
 
 Thomas Horner, dr.p. An armorer. 
 2HVI. 
 
 Thopas, Sir. So spelt in the Fl. Topas 
 in the g. a. text. See Topas. 
 
 though. This word, as it occurs in Tw. 
 II, 5, 136, has been explained as = since 
 by the Cowden - Clarkes. The same 
 meaning has been given to it in LLL. 
 II, 1, 323, though several they he, and 
 also in All's, IV, 3, 216, though I know 
 his brains are forfeit. The word has 
 a considerable range of meaning, and it 
 is not stretching matters very far to 
 to give it this signification in the pass- 
 ages cited. It certainly gives better 
 sense. 
 
 thought. Anxiety; despondency. Caes. 
 II, 1, 187; Hml. IV, 5, 188. cf. think. 
 
 The expression, thought is free (Tw. 
 I, 3, 72) seems to have been proverbial, 
 but, like most such phrases, changeable 
 in its meaning and application. I think 
 that what Maria means to say is: "I 
 do not wish to call you a fool, but I am 
 not prevented from thinking so." 
 
 thought-executing. Executing with the 
 
THO 
 
 THB 
 
 quickness of thought. Johnson. Ac- 
 cording to Moberley: "executing the 
 thought of him who casts you." Lr. 
 Ill, 2, 4. 
 thousand. In Err. IV, 1, 21, Dromio of 
 Ephesus says : / buy a thousand pound 
 a year ! I buy a rope /—a speech which 
 has never been satisfactorily explained. 
 It seems to me that all the explanations 
 thus far offered only serve to make the 
 passage more obscure. 
 thrasonical. Extravagant boasting. As. 
 V, 2, 34. The word is older than Sh. 
 and is derived from the name of Thraso, 
 a boastful soldier in Terence's Eu- 
 nuchus. 
 thread. See third. 
 
 three. Teste's question. Did you never 
 see the picture of we three ? (Tw. II, 
 3, 17) evidently refers to a picture, 
 common then as now, in which two 
 asses, two wooden-heads or two fools 
 are depicted, and underneath is the 
 legend: " We three asses be," or what- 
 ever the representation might require. 
 Furness says that " the clown referred 
 to the picture of three fools, and Sir 
 Toby retaliated by referring to the 
 picture of three asses." 
 Three Witches, The, dr.p. Mcb. 
 three-farthings. The speech of the Bas- 
 tard in John I, 1, 143, "Look where 
 three- farthings goes," alludes to the 
 three-farthing silver pieces of Queen 
 Elizabeth, which were very thin and 
 had the profile of the sovereign with 
 a rose at the back of her head, and we 
 must remember that in Shakespeare's 
 time sticking roses in the ear was a 
 court fashion. Dyce. 
 three-inch fool. A fool three inches high, 
 alluding to Grumio's diminutive size. 
 Shr. IV, 1,27. 
 three-hooped pot. The old drinkfng pots, 
 being of Mood, were bound together, as 
 barrels are, with hoops ; whence they 
 were called hoops. Cade promised that 
 every can which then had three hoops 
 shall be increased in size so as to i"e- 
 quire ten. Douce. Nash, in his Pierce 
 Pennilesse, says : " I believe hoopes in I 
 
 quart pots were invented to that end, 
 that every man should take his hoope 
 and no more." 2HVI. IV, 2, 73. 
 three-man beetle. A beetle worked by 
 three men. 2HIV. 1, 2, 255. " A diver- 
 sion is common with boys in Warwick- 
 shire and the adjoining counties, on 
 finding a toad, to lay a board about two 
 or three feet long, at right angles, over 
 a stick about two or three inches dia- 
 meter. Then, placing the toad at one 
 end of the board, the other end is struck 
 by a bat or large stick, which throws 
 the creature forty or fifty feet perpen- 
 dicular from the earth, and its return 
 in general kills it. This is called Fillip- 
 ing the Toad. A three-man beetle is 
 an implement used for driving piles ; it 
 is made of a log of wood, about eighteen 
 or twenty inches diameter and fourteen 
 or fifteen inches thick, with one short 
 and two long handles. A man at each 
 of the long handles manages the fall of 
 the beetle, and a third man, by the short 
 handle, assists in raising it to strike the 
 blow. Such an implement was, without 
 doubt, very suitable for filliping so 
 corpulent a being as Falstaff. " Johnson^ 
 the architect, quoted by Dyce. 
 three-man song-men. Singers of songs 
 
 in three parts. Wint. IV, 3, 44. 
 three-nooked. Having three corners or 
 angles. ("Craven Glossary.") Ant. IV, 
 6, 6. In John V, 7, 116, we find : Come 
 the three corners of the world in arms. 
 The expression : the three-nooked world 
 Shall bear the olive freely, means that 
 there shall be universal peace. Thus, 
 in 2HIV. IV, 4, 87, we find ; But Peace 
 puts forth her olive every where. 
 three-pile, n. The richest and most costly 
 
 kind of velvet. Wint. IV, 3, 14. 
 three-piled. Of first-rate quality. Meas. 
 
 I, 2, 33 ; LLL. V, 2, 407. 
 threne. Lamentation ; funeral song. 
 
 Phoen. 49. 
 thrice-crowned. Luna, Queen of Night, 
 Proserpine, Queen of Hades, and Diana, 
 the Goddess of Chastity, were all 
 three sometimes identified in classical 
 mythology ; hence, the epithet thrice- 
 
THB 
 
 833 
 
 TIE 
 
 crowned. Hudson. As. Ill, 2, 2. See 
 Diana. 
 
 thrice-driven bed. A driven bed is a 
 bed for which the feathers are selected 
 by driving with a fan, which separates 
 the light from the heavy. Johnson. 
 0th. I, 3, 232. 
 
 thrice repured. Three times refined. Troil. 
 Ill, 2, 21. 
 
 thrid. Thread ; fibre. Tp. IV, 1, 3. In 
 some eds. third, q.v. 
 
 throe, n. Extreme pain; agony. HVIII. 
 II, 4, 199 ; Tim. V, 1, 203 ; Cym. V, 4, 44. 
 
 throe, V. To pain ; to cause agony. Tp. 
 II, 1, 231. 
 
 throng. See/asi and loose. 
 
 throstle. A thrush. Mids. Ill, 1, 130. 
 A bird closely related to the American 
 robin and in appearance somewhat re- 
 sembling a young robin. 
 
 thrum. The tufted end of a thread in 
 weaving. Mids. V, 1, 293. 
 
 thrummed hat. A hat made of very 
 coarse woolen cloth. Wiv. IV, 2, 82. 
 
 thumb. See bite. 
 
 thunder stone. A thunder-bolt. Caes. 
 1,3,49; Cym. IV, 2, 271. 
 
 " The thuuderstone is the imaginary 
 product of the thunder, which the 
 ancients called Brontia, mentioned by 
 Pliny as a species of gem and as that 
 which, falling with the lightning, does 
 the mischief. It is the fossil commonly 
 called the Belemnite, or Finger-stone, 
 and now known to be a shell." Craik. 
 It is not impossible, however, that the 
 opinions of the ancients in regard to 
 thunderstones may have been derived 
 from the fact that in some cases the 
 passage of the electric current through 
 the soil produces vitrified tubes known 
 as fulgurites. These tubes have often 
 been dug up and might readily be taken 
 for thunder-bolts or thunder-stones. 
 The opinion that the damage caused by 
 lightning was produced by a solid pro- 
 jectile was very common. Thus Othello 
 asks: Are there no stones in heaven 
 but what serve for the thunder^ Oth. 
 V, 2, 2:35. It is unnecessary to give any 
 space to a discussion of modern views 
 
 on the subject as they may be found in 
 any work on physics or electricity. 
 
 Thurio, dr.p. A foolish suitor to Silvia. 
 Gent. • • 
 
 thwart. Perverse ; cross. Lr. I, 4, 307. 
 
 Thyreus, dr.p. A friend to Octavius 
 Caesar. Ant. 
 
 tickle. Tottering ; unsteady. Meas. I, 2, 
 177 ; 2HVI. I, 1, 216. 
 
 tickle-brain. A cant name for a species 
 of strong drink. Hence, applied meta- 
 phorically to a seller of liquor. IHIV. 
 II, 4, 438. 
 
 Defined by Cent. Diet, as, " One who 
 has a tickle or unsteady brain, as one 
 intoxicated." Steevens quotes A New 
 Trick to Cheat the Devil (16.36) : 
 A cup of Nipsitate brisk and neat, 
 The drawers call it tickle-brain. 
 
 tickling. A peculiar method of catching 
 trout by tickling them lightly with the 
 fingers on the belly. After a little 
 practice it is easy to grasp the fish 
 behind the gills and lift it out of the 
 water. The process is called guddling 
 in Scotland, and the writer, when a boy, 
 has caught hundreds in this way. Tw. 
 II, 5, 26. 
 
 tick-tack. A sort of backgammon (evi- 
 dently a quibble). Meas. I, 2, 202. 
 
 tide. 1. The alternate ebb and fiow of 
 the sea. HV. II, 3, 14. " It has been 
 a very old opinion which Mead, ' De 
 Imperio Soils,' quotes as if he believed 
 it, that nobody dies but in the time of 
 ebb ; half the deaths in London confute 
 the notion; but we find that it was 
 common among the women of the poet's 
 time. ' ' Johnson. 
 
 2. Time, as in Lamraas-tide (Rom. I, 3, 
 14), even-tide, spring-tide, etc. Hence, 
 high-tides (John III, 1, 86) = high times 
 or days ; festivals ; solemn seasons ; 
 times to be observed above others. 
 
 tie. The passage in Meas. IV, 2, 187, 
 Shave the head and tie the beard, has 
 been subjected to emendation. Simpson 
 suggested dye the beard, and this was 
 adopted by Grant White in both his eds. 
 Theobald conjectured tire, and Dyce 
 adopted trim, the conjecture of Jervis, 
 
TIE 
 
 a34 
 
 TIN 
 
 Tie has been defended on the ground 
 that it was a not unusual practice to tie 
 the beard out of the way of the axe. 
 Thus Sir Thomas More, when laying 
 his head on the block, said to the exe- 
 cutioner : " Let me put my beard aside ; 
 that hath not committed treason. " But 
 this is entirely irrelevant since this 
 tying was for the execution, not for ex- 
 hibition. Jackson argues that Simpson's 
 reading is justified by the passage in 
 sc. 3, line 76 : A man of Claudio''s 
 years ; his beard and head Just of his 
 colour. While we are bound to stick 
 to the original text where we can make 
 good sense, I think it probable that 
 "tie " is a printer's error for " die " as 
 dye was then spelt. 
 
 tied. See tithed. 
 
 tiercel. See tercel. 
 
 tiger. " It was an ancient belief that 
 this animal roared and raged most furi- 
 ously in stormy and high winds — a piece 
 of folk-lore alluded to in Troil. I, 3, 52, 
 by Nestor." Dyer. 
 
 tight. Nimble ; active. Ant. IV, 4, 15. 
 
 tightly. Adroitly; soundly; nimbly. Wiv. 
 I, 3, 88 ; do. II, 3, 67. 
 
 tike. A dog; a cur. Lr. Ill, 6, 73. 
 Hence, a tei-m of reproach. HV, II, 1, 
 31. The word is still in use in some parts. 
 
 tile. His hraiyis are forfeit to the next 
 tile that falls, that is, he is destined to 
 run but a short course. All's. IV, 3, 
 217. Douce thinks that the illustration 
 was taken from a story found in Whit- 
 ney's ' ' Emblems. ' ' Three women threw 
 dice to ascertain who should die first. 
 The loser was disposed to laugh at the 
 decrees of Fate, when she was instantly 
 killed by the accidental falling of a tile. 
 To wash a tile = to labor in vain. 
 Kins. Ill, 5, 41. 
 
 tilly-fally. ) An exclamation of con- 
 
 tilly-valley. ) tempt, the origin and pre- 
 cise meaning of which are alike obscure. 
 Tw. II, 3, 83; 2HIV. II, 4, 90. 
 
 tilth. Husbandry ; cultivation ; tillage. 
 Tp. II, 1, 152; Meas. I, 4, 44. 
 
 time goes upright with his carriage. 
 Tp. V, 1, 2, " Alluding to on© carrying 
 
 a burden : ' This critical period of my 
 life proceeds as I could wish.' Time 
 brings forward all the expected events 
 without faltering under his burden." 
 Steevens. 
 
 "The thought is pretty. Time is 
 usually represented as an old man al- 
 most worn out, and bending under his 
 load. He is here painted as in great 
 vigour, and walking upright to denote 
 that things went prosperously on." 
 Warhv^rton. 
 
 Timandra, dr. p. Mistress to Alcibiades. 
 Tim. 
 
 Time, as Chorus, dr.p. Wint. 
 
 timeless. Untimely ; unseasonable ; pre- 
 mature. Gent. Ill, 1, 21; RII. IV, 1, 
 5 ; Rom. V, 3, 162. 
 
 timely. Early. Pilgr. 133; Err. I, 1, 
 139 ; Mcb. II, 3, 51 ; do. Ill, 3, 7. Too- 
 timely = too early ; too forward. Kins. 
 II,.2, 28. 
 
 timely-parted. Having died a natural 
 death. Some explain it as recently dead. 
 2HVI. Ill, 2, 161. cf. ghost. 
 
 Timon, dr.p. A noble Athenian. Tim. 
 
 timorous. Caused by feai\ Nothing iron- 
 ical in this case as some would have it. 
 lago was in dead earnest. 0th. 1, 1, 75. 
 
 tinct. 1. Dye ; color ; stain. Hml. Ill, 
 4, 91 ; Cym. II, 2, 23. 
 2. Tincture ; the grand elixir of the al- 
 chemists. All's. V, 3, 102 ; Ant. I, 5, 37. 
 
 tinder. The invention of the lucif er match 
 has so entirely changed our methods of 
 lighting lamps and candles and kindling 
 fires that many of the expressions in 
 Sh. and other old authors are completely 
 unintelligible to the people of this gen- 
 eration. In the time of Sh. and until 
 almost the middle of the last century 
 the process used for obtaining fire was 
 so tedious and, in many cases, so un- 
 certain, that in some houses fires were 
 kept in from one year's end to the other, 
 and it was no uncommon thing for one 
 family to send to another to obtain a 
 light or a coal of fire. Hence, every night 
 the fire on the hearth, which burned 
 wood or peat, was " raked " or covered 
 with ftshes (Wiv. V, 5, 48) so that the 
 
TIN 
 
 835 
 
 TIN 
 
 fuel might not burn out and yet, at the 
 same time, keep red hot, so that when 
 morning came a few puffs from a pair 
 of bellows or the mouth would brighten 
 it up. When the fire did go out, it was 
 generally rekindled by the use of flint 
 and steel, tinder and old-fashioned brim- 
 stone (sulphur) matches. The tinder 
 usually consisted of charred rags, which 
 were kept in a tinder-box (Wiv. I, 3, 
 27), the common form of which was a 
 round tin box with a cover which slipped 
 on and was nearly air-tight. A few 
 rags being placed in this and set on fire, 
 
 THE OLD FLINT AND STEEL. 
 
 the cover was put on and the fire soon 
 went out, leaving a charred mass which 
 the least spark would ignite. The steel 
 was generally made expressly for the 
 purpose, though I have used the back 
 of the blade of a jack-knife with good 
 effect. The regular steel consisted of a 
 bar on which a neat handle was forged, as 
 shown in the accompanying engraving. 
 This made it easy to get a good hold, 
 and the knuckles were protected from 
 chance blows. The flint consisted of a 
 flake with a sharp edge, gun-flints being 
 
 frequently used for the purpose. The 
 temper of the steel bar was an important 
 point, as, if too hard, it was impossible 
 to tear off flakes sufficiently large to 
 ignite the tinder, and if too soft, the 
 force required to tear off bits of the 
 steel was not sufficient to ignite them. 
 When the steel was of the right degree 
 of hardness, an expert could hold it in 
 the left hand over the tinder and striking 
 it with the flint, giving a scraping action 
 to the latter, send down such a shower 
 of sparks as would light up a small 
 room. With a good steel, a well-shaped 
 flint and a sufficient degree of dexterity, 
 a single stroke generally ignited the 
 tinder all over its surface. But in many 
 cases the steel was of poor quality or 
 badly tempered ; the flint would get so 
 dull that it would slide over the surface* 
 of the steel instead of tearing into it, 
 and it was not every one that had the 
 dexterity to give a properly directed 
 and effective blow. In addition to this, 
 the tinder, even when ignited, would 
 not set fire to anything substantial, and 
 it was necessary to employ brimstone 
 matches to take fire from the tinder and 
 communicate it to paper, shavings, 
 straw and other light material. These 
 matches were usually three or four 
 times the length of those now in use and 
 were tipped with sulphur at both ends. 
 This was effected by melting the sulphur 
 in any old cup or similar vessel and 
 dipping the ends of the matches, a hand- 
 ful at a time. In the best matches one 
 end was thick while the other tapered 
 to a fine point. It would be difficult to 
 light a thick match by means of the 
 delicate spark of tinder, but a finely- 
 pointed one gave no trouble. On the 
 other hand, the thick ends were much 
 more efficient when a small coal was 
 available. 
 
 The flint and steel has been frequently 
 used by smokers during recent years, a 
 special form of punk or "match " being 
 employed. But when used for this pur- 
 pose the punk is placed on the flint, 
 which is then struck with the steel. It 
 
TIE 
 
 TIT 
 
 will be readily seen that the description 
 which we have just given of this house- 
 hold article, conforms to the directions 
 given by Brabantio — " strike on the 
 tinder." Oth. I, 1, 141. 
 
 The history of the various methods 
 which were devised for procuring fire, 
 before the introduction of the lucifer 
 match, is exceedingly interesting. The 
 number of devices which were placed 
 on the market was very large, but they 
 were all inferior to the flint and steel. 
 In 1827 Faraday, probably the best in- 
 formed chemist in the world at that 
 time, published his " Chemical Manipu- 
 lation," and in the seconded., published 
 in 1833, he states that he knows no 
 better means for lighting the laboratory 
 fire than flint and steel. Matches of 
 various kinds were sold, but all very 
 ineffective and very expensive. I have 
 now before me a chemical work, pub- 
 lished in 1818, in which matches are 
 advertised at 7s. 6d. ($1.80) per box, 
 warranted to contain 100. Our present 
 matches were introduced about 1837 to 
 1840. 
 
 tire-valiant. A fanciful head-dress of 
 which we do not seem to have any clear 
 description. Wiv. Ill, 3, 60. 
 
 tire, n. 1. Attire; dress. Wiv. IV, 4, 
 73. Tire is the reading in some modern 
 eds.; the Folio has time, which many 
 eds. think does not make good sense. It 
 is retained in the "G-lobe." 
 
 2. Head-dress. Gent. IV, 4, 190; Ado. 
 Ill, 4, 13. 
 
 3, Furniture; perhaps bed-clothes. Per. 
 Ill, 2, 22. 
 
 tire, V. 1. To dress ; to attire ; to adorn. 
 LLL. IV, 2, 131. (The horse adorned 
 with ribbons or trappings, not the 
 wearied horse.) 
 
 2. To feed ravenously. A term in fal- 
 conry frequently applied to other birds 
 of prey as well as to hawks. Ven. 56 ; 
 3HVI. I, 1, 269; Cym. Ill, 4, 97. 
 
 tiring-house. The dressing-room of a 
 theatre. Mids. Ill, 1, 5. 
 
 tirrets. Perhaps terrors. One of Mrs. 
 Quickly's words. 3HIV. II, 4, 219, 
 
 tisiclc. A cough. Troil. V, 3, 101. 
 
 Titan. This word occurs six times in the 
 plays and in every instance it denotes 
 the sun. Troil. V, 10, 25 ; Rom. II, 3, 
 4; Cym. Ill, 4, 166. The passage in 
 IHIV. II, 4, 133, in the Fl. reads : Didst 
 thou neuer see Titan kisse a dish of 
 Butter, pittifull hearted Titan that 
 melted at the siveete Tale of the Sunne? 
 And this reading is retained in the Globe, 
 the Cambridge and several modern 
 eds. As the passage stands it does not 
 make sense. Theobald emended pitiful- 
 hearted Titan to pitiful hearted butter, 
 and this has been generally accepted. 
 In the earliest Quarto the reading is, 
 at the sweete tale of the sonnes, and 
 some retain Titan and adopt Steevens' 
 explanation that the "sonne" was 
 " Phaeton, who, by a plausible story, 
 won on the easy nature of his father so 
 far as to obtain from him the guidance 
 of his own chariot for a day. 
 
 The Titans were the sons and daughters 
 of Uranus and Ge (Heaven and Earth), 
 but the name was also given to their 
 descendants : Prometheus, Hecate, La- 
 tona, Pyrrha, and especially Helios (the 
 Sun) and Selene (the Moon). Helios 
 was the son of the Titan, Hyperion. 
 
 Titania, dr.jo. Queen of the Fairies. Mids. 
 The name Titania was given by Ovid, 
 in his "Metamorphoses," to several 
 goddesses, Diana, Latona and Circe, 
 because they were supposed to be de- 
 scended from the Titans, q.v. As Pro- 
 fessor Baynes says in his " Shakespeare 
 Studies": the name "thus used em- 
 bodies rich and complex associations 
 connected with the silver bow, the 
 magic cup and the triple crown. * * * 
 Diana, Latona, Hecate are all goddesses 
 of night, queens of the shadowy world, 
 ruling over its mystic elements and 
 spectral powers. The common name 
 thus awakens recollections of gleaming 
 huntresses in dim and dewey woods, of 
 dark rites and potent incantations under 
 moonlit skies, of strange aSrial voyages 
 and ghostly apparitions of the under 
 WQrld, It was, therefore, of all possibly 
 
TIT 
 
 337 
 
 TOL 
 
 names, the one best fitted to designate 
 the queen of the same shadowy empire, 
 with its phantom troops and activities 
 in the northern mythology. And since 
 Sh., with prescient inspiration, selected 
 it for this purpose, it has naturally come 
 to represent the whole world of fairy 
 beauty, elfin adventure and goblin sport 
 connected with lunar influences, with 
 enchanted herbs and muttered spells. 
 The Titania of 8h. fairy mythology may 
 thus be regarded as the successor of 
 Diana and other regents of the night 
 belonging to the Greek Pantheon." 
 tithe. In Katherine's description of Wol- 
 sey, HVIII. IV, 2, lines 35 and 36 read : 
 One that by suggestion Ty''de all the 
 Kingdome, and 4;his is retained in many 
 eds.— the Globe, the "Henry Irving" 
 and others. Hanmer changed to tithed, 
 and this reading has been adopted by 
 Grant White, Rolfe, Dyce, Hudson and 
 some others. By suggestion tied all 
 the kingdom is supposed to mean "by 
 craft limited or infringed the liberties 
 of the kingdom." But tithed seems 
 more nearly to conform to the passage 
 in Holinshed, from which Sh. got his 
 information : " By crafty suggestion 
 gat into his hands innumerable treas- 
 ure." See suggest and suggestion. 
 
 tithe-woman. The tenth woman. All's. 
 I, 2, 88. As the tithes belonged to the 
 parson of the parish, the tenth woman 
 or tithe-woman would belong to him, 
 or, as the song made it, "one good in 
 ten." 
 
 tithing. " A tithing is a division of a 
 place ; a district ; the same in the country 
 as a ward in the city." Steevens. Lr. 
 Ill, 4, 40. 
 
 Titinius, dr.p. A friend to Brutus and 
 Cassius. Caes. 
 
 Titus Andronicus, dr.p. General against 
 the Goths. Tit. 
 
 Titus Lartius, dr.p. General against the 
 Volscians. Cor. 
 
 to. As it occui's in Troil. I, 1, 7, has been 
 explained as "in proportion to. ' ' Others 
 explain it here and in Mcb. Ill, 1, 52, as 
 " in addition to. " cf. to-spend. 
 
 toad. See la7'k and paddock. 
 
 toast. Bread scorched and put into liquor. 
 Dyce. Troil. I, 3, 45. In this passage 
 the "saucy boat" is to be a dainty 
 morsel for Neptune to swallow. Verity. 
 So in Wiv. Ill, 5, 3, Falstaflf tells Bar- 
 dolph to put a toast in his quart of sack. 
 As rheum,atic as two dry toasts 
 (2HIV. II, 4, 62) = which cannot meet 
 but they grate one another. Johnson. 
 
 toasting-iron. A slang name for a sword. 
 John IV, 3, 99. cf. HV. II, 1, 9. 
 
 toaze. To pull apart ; to draw out. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 760. Probably another form of 
 touse, q.v. 
 
 tod, n. T wenty -eight pounds or a quarter 
 of a hundredweight (112 lbs). Wint. 
 IV, 3, 34. 
 
 tod, V. To yield a tod of wool. Wint. 
 IV, 3, 33. 
 
 tofore. Before. LLL. Ill, 1, 88. 
 
 toge. A robe ; a gown; the Roman togra. 
 Cor. II, 3, 122. See woolvish. 
 
 The passage in 0th. I, 1, 25, which 
 reads toged consuls in the g. a. text 
 reads tongued consuls in the Fl. The 
 change from tongued to toged was 
 made by Theobald, as the word toged 
 gave a contrast to arms or soldiership 
 such as is found in the legal maxim 
 cedant ay-ma togce (let arms give place 
 to robes). But Boswell judiciously re- 
 marks (3rd Var., Vol. IX, p. 222) : "The 
 Folio reads tongued, which agrees better 
 with the words which follow, 'mere 
 prattle without practice.' " 
 
 tokens. Plague spots. LLL. V, 2, 423. 
 See Lord^s tokens. The inscription 
 "Lord have mercy on us" was put 
 upon the doors of houses infected with 
 the plague. 
 
 tokened. Spotted, denoting the infection 
 of the plague. Ant. Ill, 10, 9. 
 
 toll. To take toll ; to collect a tax. John 
 III, 1, 154; 2HIV. IV, 5, 75. 
 
 The passage in All's. V, 3, 149, / 
 will buy me a son-in-law in a fair, 
 and toll for this, is rather obscure. 
 The passage reads toule for this in the 
 Fl. ; toule him for this in the other 
 Folios. Some explain the expression 
 
TOM 
 
 838 
 
 TOU 
 
 as, "I will pay tax for the privilege of 
 selling him." Others: "I will offer 
 him for sale and toule him, i.e., drive 
 him up and down as they do horses to 
 show them off."* Others think it 
 means, " I will look upon him as a dead 
 man and have the church bell tolled for 
 him." 
 
 tomboy. A drab. Cyra. I, 6, 123. 
 
 Tom o' Bedlam. See Bedlam. 
 
 Tomyris. See Cyrus. 
 
 tongs. An instrument for making a kind 
 of music. " The music of the tongs was 
 produced, I believe, by striking them 
 with a key, while bones were played 
 upon by rattling them between the 
 the fingers." Dyce. Mids. IV, 1, 32. 
 
 tongue, V. To denounce ; to scold. Meas. 
 IV, 4, 28. 
 
 tongued. See toge. 
 
 tongues. Languages. Gent. IV, 1, 33; 
 Ado. V, 1, 167; Tw. I, 3, 97. Sir 
 Toby pretends to understand the word 
 " tongues " in the latter passage to mean 
 "tongs," both words being probably 
 pronounced more nearly alike than they 
 are now. He therefore replies to Sir 
 Andrew, Then hadst thou had an ex- 
 cellent head of hair. The pun here is 
 between tongues and tongs, i.e., curling- 
 tongs. This was first clearly set forth 
 by Mr. Joseph Crosby in the American 
 Bihliopolist for June, 1875. 
 
 too too. Excessively. Gent. II, 4, 20.5. 
 The slang phrase " too too " may occur 
 to some readers. 
 
 tooth, colt's. Literally, one of the first 
 set of teeth in a colt. These are shed 
 when the animal is about three years 
 old. Hence, for a young man to cast 
 his colt's tooth means to get rid of 
 youthful habits or to sow his wild oats. 
 HVIII. I, 3, 48. 
 
 tooth-pick. The use of the tooth-pick 
 was in Sh. time considered as an affecta- 
 tion of foreign manners. As Dr. John- 
 son notes : "It has been already re- 
 
 * Query : Is the expression " to tool a 
 coach," i.e., to drive a coach, a modifi- 
 cation of this word ? It is in common 
 use amongst sporting men. 
 
 marked that to pick the tooth and 
 wear a piqued heard were, in that 
 time, marks of a man affecting foreign 
 fashions. " Ben Jonson, in his Cynthia'' s 
 Revels, has : " A traveller, one so made 
 out of the mixture and shreds of forms 
 that himself is truly deformed. He 
 walks most commonly with a clove or 
 pick-tooth in his mouth." All's. I, 1, 
 171 ; Wint. IV, 4, 780 ; John I, 1, 190. 
 
 Topas, Sir, dr. p. A curate whose name 
 and character were assumed by Feste, 
 the clown, in Tw. IV, 2. In regard to 
 the name, Purness has this note, for 
 which he gives credit to his son, H. H. 
 Purness, Jr. : "Did Shakespeare choose 
 this name by design ? Reginald Scot, 
 in his ' Disco verie of Witchcraft ' (Sixt. 
 Chap., p. 294, ed. 1584), speaking of the 
 virtues imparted to precious stones, 
 says that ' a topase healeth the lunatike 
 person of his passion of lunacie." Por 
 the title " Sir " see sir. 
 
 top-gallant. The summit; the highest 
 point. The top-gallant is above the top- 
 mast and below the royal. Perhaps in 
 Sh. time the highest sail or mast. Rom. 
 II, 4, 203. 
 
 topless. Supreme ; that cannot be over- 
 topped; without a superior. Troil. I, 
 
 3, 152. 
 
 tortive. Twisted ; turned awry. Troil. 
 I, 3, 9. 
 
 tottering. Hanging in tatters or rags. 
 John V, 5, 7. 
 
 to-spend. These two words, as they oc- 
 cur in John V, 2, 39, were hyphenated 
 by Steevens, who has been followed by 
 many eds. Not hyphenated in the PI. 
 nor in the Cambridge or Globe eds. The 
 idea was that the to was intensive, but, 
 as Rolfe says, "it seems to be merely an 
 instance of the insertion of to with a 
 second infinitive after its omission with 
 the first." cf. to-pinch. Wiv. IV, 4, 
 57. These words are hyphenated in the 
 Globe but not in the Fl. 
 
 touch, n. 1. A touchstone. IHIV. IV, 
 
 4, 10. 
 
 2. A trait. As. Ill, 2, 160 ; do. V, 4, 27 ; 
 Troil. Ill, 3, 175. 
 
TOTT 
 
 339 
 
 TBA 
 
 3. A test ; a proof. Cor. IV, 1, 49. Of 
 noble touch = of tried nobleness. 
 
 4. Exploit ; deed. Mids. Ill, 2, 70. 
 
 5. Upon the word, as it occurs in Tw, 
 
 II, 1, 18, Furness has the following 
 remarks: "Schmidt (Lexicon) is some- 
 what astray in defining this present use 
 of touch as 'dash, spice, smack'; 
 ' touch ' is more refined than these rude 
 words. W. A. Wright defines it by 
 'delicate feeling,' and quotes in proof 
 the following passages." He then 
 quotes Mids. Ill, 2, 286; Tp. V, 1, 21; 
 Cym. I, 1, 135. 
 
 One touch of nature. See nature. 
 touch, V. To test ; to put to the proof. 
 John III, 1, 100 ; Cor. II, 3, 199 ; Tim. 
 
 III, 3, 6 ; Oth. Ill, 3, 81. 
 
 torcher. A torch bearer. All's. II, 1, 165. 
 
 Touchstone, dr.p. A clown. As. 
 
 touse. To pull apart ; to rend. Meas. 
 V, 1, 313. cf. toaze. 
 
 toward. Ready ; at hand ; coming. Mids. 
 Ill, 1, 81 ; As. V, 4, 35 ; Rom. I, 5, 134. 
 
 tower. The Tower of London is tradi- 
 tionally said to have been the work of 
 Julius Caesar. Johnson. RII. V, 1, 2 ; 
 RIII. Ill, 1, 68. 
 
 tower. To soar as a bird. John V, 2, 
 149. 
 
 toy. This word is used by Sh. in several 
 senses, the differences between which 
 are not always appreciated by readers 
 or even by corns. The original meaning 
 of toy was probably "spoil'**; "hence, 
 materials for one's own use as well as 
 stuff, gear and trash." Skeat. And 
 like many other words it was after- 
 wards applied to mental as well as 
 material things. The following are 
 some of the senses in which it occurs : 
 
 1. A trinket ; a bauble. Tw. Ill, 3, 44. 
 
 2. A thing of no value, hence, applied 
 in a depreciatory sense. Lucr. 214 ; 
 IHVI. IV, 1, 145 ; RIII. Ill, 3, 114. 
 
 3. A freak ; a sudden whim ; an odd 
 conceit. Pilgr. 337; RIII. I, 1, 60; 
 Rom. IV, 1, 119; Hml. I, 3, 6, and I, 4, 
 75 ; Kins. V, 4, 66. 
 
 4. A rumor ; an idle report ; a curious 
 story. Mids. V, 1, 3 ; John I, 1, 232. 
 
 5. A head-dress; a sort of cap. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 326 ; Kins. I, 3, 71. 
 
 Most coms. define the word toy in 
 these two passages as "an ornament" 
 or "bit of finery," but it seems to me 
 that this does not quite satisfy the 
 obvious requirements of the context : 
 Any toys for yoiu' head 
 Of the new'st and finest, finest wear— a? 
 It is much more likely that what Auto- 
 lycus here offered was a head-dress such 
 as was at one time worn by all women, 
 young and old. Toy, in this sense, is a 
 good old English word still surviving 
 in Scotch. Thus, Burns, in his address 
 " To a Louse," speaks of "an auld 
 wife's flainen toy," and in his own 
 glossary, appended to the eds. issued 
 during his lifetime, he defines toy as "a 
 vezy old fashion of female head-dress." 
 Strange to say, the word is not found 
 in Jamieson's "Dictionary of the Scot- 
 tish Language " (4 vols. 4to.), and Henley 
 omits it from his glossary, appended to 
 the Centenary ed. , but it may be found 
 in all good eds. of Burns. 
 
 The Cent. Diet, gives toy-mutch as 
 the equivalent of toy. This, to my 
 thinking, is a very queer compound not 
 found in any authoritative list of Scot- 
 tish words within my reach. A mutch 
 is a cap, so that " toy-mutch " literally 
 translated would be cap-cap. 
 
 tract. Trace; track. HVIII. I, 1, 40; 
 Tim. I, 1, 51. 
 
 trade. The general course ; way ; beaten 
 path. HVIII. V, 1, 36. 
 
 traded. Professional ; skilful. John IV, 
 3, 109 ; Troil. II, 2, 64. 
 
 train, n. Bait; allurement. Mcb. IV, 
 3, 118. 
 
 train, v. To entice ; to allure. Err. Ill, 
 2, 45 ; Tit. V, 1, 104. 
 
 traject. See tranect. 
 
 trammel up. To oatch as in a net. Mcb. 
 I, 7, 3. 
 
 tranect. A ferry. Merch. Ill, 4, 53. 
 This is the word used in the Fl. and in 
 many eds. Corrected by Rowe to tra- 
 ject., of which it is in all probability a 
 misprint. Coryat, in his "Crudities," 
 
IBA 
 
 340 
 
 TEE 
 
 tells us that " there are in Venice thir- 
 teen ferries or passages which they 
 commonly call Traghetti." 
 
 Tranio, dr.p. Servant to Lucentio. Shr. 
 
 transformation. The passage: the goodly 
 transformation of Jupiter there (Troll, 
 V, 1, 9) is thus explained by Warburton: 
 " He calls Menelaus the transformation 
 of Jupiter, that is, as he himself explains 
 it, the bull, on account of his horns, 
 which he had as a cuckold. This cuckold 
 he calls the primitive statue of cuckolds ; 
 i.e., his story had made him so famous, 
 that he stood as the great archetype of 
 his character. ' ' See Europa. 
 
 translate. To transform ; to change the 
 appearance of. Sonn. XCVI, 10 ; Mids. 
 
 I, 1, 191, and III, 1, 122 ; Hml. Ill, 1, 
 113 ; Cor. II, 3, 198. 
 
 trap. See tnarry. 
 
 trash. 1. To prune or lop off branches. 
 Tp. I, 2, 81. 
 
 2. To restrain ; to check. 0th. II, 1, 312. 
 A hunting term dei'ived from the tech- 
 nical name of the leash or strap used 
 to hold dogs back. 
 
 traverse. To make a thrust. Wiv. II, 
 3,25. 
 
 traversed. Crossed ; folded. Tim. V, 4, 7. 
 
 travel. A demure travel of regard (Tw. 
 
 II, 5, 59), "that is, scanning his ' officers ' 
 gravely, one by one." Furness. 
 
 Travers, dr,p. Servant to Northumber- 
 land. 2HVI. 
 
 tray-trip. "A game at cards, played 
 with dice as well as with cards, the 
 success in which chiefly depended upon 
 the throwing of treys." Halliwell. 
 Nares says that some coins, have fancied 
 that it resembled the game called hoj)- 
 scotch or Scotch-hop. He adds, how- 
 ever, that this seems to rest merely 
 upon unauthorized conjecture, and that 
 "it is not likely that a great stake 
 should be played for at a childish game 
 of activity." Tw. II, 5, 207. 
 
 treacher. A traitor. Lr. I, 2, 133. The 
 Quartos have trecherers, which has been 
 adopted in some eds. 
 
 treaties. 1. Entreaties; supplications. 
 Ajit. Ill, 11, 62. 
 
 2. Proposal ; offer. John II, 1, 481 ; Cor. 
 II, 2, 59. 
 
 treble - dated. Living for three ages. 
 Phoen. 17. 
 
 Trebonius, dr. p. A Roman conspirator. 
 Caes. 
 
 trench. To cut ; to carve. Gent. Ill, 2, 7. 
 
 trencher-friend. A sponger ; a parasite ; 
 one who flatters for the sake of a place 
 at table. Tim. Ill, 6, 106. 
 
 trencher-knight. Usually defined as " a 
 serving man attending at table. ' ' (Cent. 
 Diet, and Schm. " Lexicon.") Dyce 
 defines it as " one who holds a trencher ; 
 a parasite." Nares suggests that it is 
 synonymous with carpet knight; but 
 while a carpet knight was regularly 
 dubbed a knight, the epithet " trencher 
 knight" was not only a term of con- 
 tempt but actual knighthood did not 
 seem to form any necessary condition 
 for conferring it. The only quotation 
 given from Sh. or any other old writer 
 is LLL. V, 2, 464, and the functions of 
 the trencher-knight as there described 
 are certainly not those of a serving 
 man: 
 
 Some please-man, some 
 slight zany, 
 Some mumble-news, some trencher- 
 knight, some Dick 
 That smiles his cheek in years and 
 
 and knows the trick 
 To make my lady laugh when she's 
 disposed. 
 Surely it never was the custom for 
 serving men and waiters (except, of 
 course, the professional fool) to join in 
 the discourse at table and make the host 
 and guests laugh. The expression, you 
 are alloiv^d, in line 478, would seem to 
 show that a fool rather than a serving 
 man was intended. Schm. refers to 
 lines further on (476), but these indicate 
 the functions of the fool rather than 
 those of the serving man. See carpet 
 knight. 
 trencher-man. A feeder. A very valiant 
 trencher-man = a good feeder. Ado. 
 I, 1, 51. 
 trespass. Sin ; crime. Wint. I, 2, 265 ; 
 mi. I, 1, 138. The passage in Tp. Ill, 
 
TBE 
 
 341 
 
 TBI 
 
 3, 99, the thunder * * * did bass 
 my trespass = the deep pipe told it me 
 in a rough bass sound. Johnson. See 
 organ-pipe. 
 
 tresses. See hair. 
 
 trey. Three ; a term at cards. LLL. V, 
 2, 233. 
 
 tribulation. A name applied to Puritans, 
 either to the whole sect or to some par- 
 ticular congregation. HVIII. V, 4, 67. 
 
 trick, n. 1. A peculiarity ; special feature ; 
 characteristic. All's. I, 1, 107; John I, 
 1, 85 ; IHIV. II, 4, 446 ; Lr. IV, 6, 108. 
 In this sense the word " is properly an 
 heraldic term, meaning a delineation of 
 arms, in which the colors are distin- 
 guished by their technical marks, with- 
 out any color being laid on. " Dyce. 
 
 2. A habit ; manner ; custom. Meas. V, 
 1,510; 2HIV. 1,2,240. 
 
 3. A knack ; a faculty. LLL. V, 2, 465 ; 
 Hml. V, 1, 99 ; Cym. Ill, 3, 86. 
 
 4. A toy ; a puppet. Shr. IV, 3, 67 ; 
 Wint. II, 1, 51. 
 
 The M ord, as it occurs in Hml. IV, 4, 
 61: That for a fantasy and trick of 
 fame, has received several interpreta- 
 tions. Caldecott makes trick of fame 
 = point of honour. Dowden, a toy or 
 trifle of fame. Delius thinks that both 
 fantasy and trick should be connected 
 with fame and makes it " an illusion 
 and a whim that promise fame." But 
 may it not be a purely heraldic term 
 referring to the " trick " or delineation 
 of a great deed that is placed over a 
 soldier's tomb or embodied in his 
 history ? 
 
 trick, V. To dress out; to adorn. HV. 
 Ill, 6, 80. In Hml. II, 2, 479, trick'd = 
 painted ; smeared. E v idently an applica- 
 tion of the heraldic term. cf. trick, n. (1 ) . 
 
 tricking. Dresses ; ornaments. Wiv. IV, 
 
 4, 79. 
 
 tricksy. 1. Clever; adroit; sportive. Tp. 
 V, 1, 226. 
 2. Affected ; quibbling. Merch. Ill, 5, 74. 
 
 Trigon. " Fiery Trigon " was a term in 
 the old judicial astrology when the three 
 upper planets met in a fiery sign — a 
 phenomenon which was supposed to 
 
 indicate rage and contention. 2HI V. II, 
 4, 288. Dr. Nash, in his notes to Butler's 
 "Hudibras," says: "The twelve signs 
 in astrology are divided into four ti^igons 
 or triplicities, each denominated from 
 the connatural element; so they are 
 three fiery, three airy, three watery and 
 three earthy signs. " These are : 
 Fiery— Aries, Leo, Sagittarius. 
 Airy— Gemini, Libra, Aquarius. 
 Watery— Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces. 
 Earthy — Taurus, Virgo, Capricornus. 
 Thus, when the three superior planets 
 met in Aries, Leo or Sagittarius, they 
 formed a fiery trigon ; when in Cancer, 
 Scorpio or Pisces, a watery one. 
 
 trill. To trickle. Lr. IV, 3, 14. 
 
 Trinculo, dr. p. A jester. Tp. 
 
 triple. 1. A third ; one of three. All's. 
 II, 1, 111; Ant. I, 1, 12. In this last 
 passage the allusion is to Caesar's being 
 one of the triumvirate. 
 2. Three-fold. Mids. V, 1, 391. The al- 
 lusion here is to the triple character of 
 Hecate : Luna in heaven ; Diana on 
 earth and Hecate in the nether world. 
 See Diana. 
 
 triple-turned. Three times faithless. Ant. 
 IV, 12, 13. Cleopatra was first the 
 mistress of Julius Caesar, then of Cneius 
 Pompey, and afterwards of Antony. 
 The latter now supposes that she had 
 betrayed him to Augustus ; hence, the 
 opprobrious epithet. 
 
 triplex. Triple-time in music. Tw.V, 1,41. 
 
 tristful. Sorrowful. Hml. Ill, 4, 50. 
 
 Triton. The son of Neptune and Araphi- 
 trite, who dwelt with his father and 
 mother in a golden palace on the bottom 
 of the sea or, according to Homer, at 
 ^gae, in Euboea. Later writers de- 
 scribe this divinity of the Mediterranean 
 as riding over the sea on horses and 
 other sea monsters. Sometimes also 
 Tritons are mentioned in the plural 
 and as serving other marine divinities 
 in riding over the sea. They are always 
 conceived as having the upper part of 
 their bodies human and the lower part 
 as that of a fish. The chief character- 
 istic of Tritons in poetry as well as in 
 
TBI 
 
 342 
 
 TBO 
 
 works of art is a trumpet consisting of 
 a conch-shell, which they blow at the 
 command of Neptune to calm the rest- 
 less waves of the sea, and in the fight of 
 the Gigantes this trumpet served to 
 to frighten the enemies. The reference 
 in Cor. Ill, 1, 89, needs no explanation. 
 
 triumph. A trump card. Ant. IV, 12, 20. 
 
 Troilus, dr.p. Son to Priam. Troil. 
 
 Troian, [ "A cant term used in various 
 
 Trojan. ) meanings, sometimes as a 
 term of reproach, sometimes as com- 
 mendation." Dyce. LLL. V, 2, 640; 
 do. V, 2, 681 ; IHIV. II, 1, 77; HV. V, 
 1, 20. Trojan Greeks (2HIV. II, 4, 181) 
 is one of Pistol's drunken and nonsen- 
 sical expressions. 
 
 troll. To sing in rotation. Tp. Ill, 2, 
 1L>9. 
 
 troll -my -dames. The game of Troll- 
 madam was borrowed from the French 
 (Trou-raadame) : an old English name 
 for it was Pigeon-holes, as the arches 
 in the machine through which the balls 
 are rolled resemble the cavities made 
 for pigeons in a dove-house. Steevens. 
 Wint. IV, 3, 92. 
 
 tropically. Figuratively ; by way of a 
 trope or figure. Hml. Ill, 2, 250. The 
 word is trapically in QL, and Dowdeu 
 suggests that a pun may have been in- 
 tended. 
 
 trot. 1. A decrepit old woman or man. 
 Shr. I, 2, 80 ; Meas. Ill, 2, 53. 
 2. One of the horse's gaits. Upon this 
 word, as used in As. Ill, 2, 328, Hudson 
 remarks : " Hardly anything is so apt 
 to make a short journey seem long as 
 riding on a hard-trotting horse, however 
 fast a horse may go. On the other 
 hand, to ride an ambling horse makes 
 a long journey seem short, because the 
 horse rides so easy. It were hardly 
 needful to say this, but that some have 
 lately proposed to invert the order of 
 the nags in this case. " 
 
 trowel. Celia's reply to Touchstone, that 
 was laid on with a trowel (As. I, 2, 112), 
 is an old proverb which may be found 
 in Ray (p. 73, ed. of 1813). Furness 
 very properly says that as the first ed. 
 
 of Ray was published in 1670, his work 
 is useless as an unsupported authority 
 for any phrase of Sh. like this. But 
 Ray lived very close to Sh. time, and 
 his Collection of Proverbs was no doubt 
 gathered from the lips of those who 
 were contemporaries of Sh. Ray quotes 
 the proverb as applied to "a great lie," 
 "a loud one." But it probably was 
 applied to any extravagant speech and 
 literally means: "That was laid on 
 thick." 
 
 troth-plight. Betrothment. Wint. 1,2, 
 278. 
 
 trow. To trust ; to believe ; to know. 
 Lr. I, 4, 135 ; do. I, 4, 234 ; HVIII. I, 1, 
 184 ; Shr. I, 2, 4 ; As. Ill, 2, 189. 
 
 Troy. This city is frequently referred to 
 in other plays of Sh. besides Troilus 
 and Cressida, of which the main sub- 
 ject is the siege of Troy. The very 
 existence of Troy has been disputed 
 and the story of its origin, siege and 
 destruction has been relegated to the 
 region of fable and poetry. On the 
 other hand, there are those who main- 
 tain that Troy had a real existence and 
 that the story of the siege was the 
 history of a decisive conflict between 
 the great Thracian empire in the north- 
 west of Asia Minor and the rising power 
 of the Achgeans in Greece, in which the 
 latter were victorious. But the Troy 
 legend enters so extensively into the 
 literature of every age and of every 
 European people that a brief account 
 of it is not out of place. 
 
 The first town near the site of the 
 city of Priam was founded by Teucer, 
 who was told by an oracle to settle 
 wherever the "earth-born ones" at- 
 tacked him. So when he and his com- 
 pany were attacked in the Troad by 
 mice, which gnawed their bow-strings 
 and the handles of their shields, he 
 settled on the spot, thinking that the 
 oracle was fulfilled. He built a town 
 and called it Sminthium, Sminthius 
 being the Cretan word for a mouse. In 
 his reign, Dardanus, in consequence of 
 a flood, drifted from the island of 
 
TBO 
 
 343 
 
 TUM 
 
 Samothrace on a raft to the coast of the 
 Troad, where Teucer gave him a por- 
 tion of land and his daughter, Batea, 
 for a wife. He founded the city of 
 Dardania or Dardanus on high ground 
 at the foot of Mount Ida. On the death 
 of Teucer, Dardanus succeeded to the 
 kingdom and called the whole land 
 Dardania after himself. He had a son, 
 Erichthonius, who was the father of 
 Tros, by Astyoche, daughter of Simois. 
 On succeeding to the throne, Tros called 
 the country Troy and the people Trojans. 
 He had three sons, Ilus, Assaracus and 
 Ganymede. From Ilus and Assaracus 
 sprang two separate lines of the royal 
 house — that from Ilus being Laomedon, 
 Priam and Hector ; that from Assara- 
 cus, Capys, Anchises and -^neas. Ilus 
 went to Phrygia where, being victorious 
 in wrestling, he received as a prize a 
 spotted cow with an injunction to follow 
 her and found a city wherever she lay 
 down. The cow lay down on the hill 
 of the Phrygian At6, and here, accord- 
 ingly, Ilus founded the city of Ilios. 
 Afterwards Dardania, Troy and Ilios 
 became one city. Desiring a sign at 
 the foundation of Ilios, Ilus prayed to 
 Zeus (Jupiter), and as an answer he 
 found, lying before his tent the Pal- 
 ladium, a wooden statue of Pallas, three 
 cubits high, with her feet joined, a 
 spear in her right hand and a distaff 
 and spindle in her left. Ilus built a 
 temple for the image and worshipped 
 it. Ilus had a son, Laomedon, in whose 
 reign Poseidon (Neptune) and Apollo, or 
 Poseidon alone, built the walls of Troy. 
 Hercules besieged Troy, took the city, 
 slew Laomedon and his children except 
 one daughter, Hesione, and one son, 
 Podarces. The life of Podarces was 
 granted at the request of Hesione ; but 
 Hercules stipulated that Podarces must 
 first be a slave and then be redeemed 
 by Hesione ; she gave her veil for him ; 
 hence, his name Priam (trom. praisthai^ 
 to buy). See Priam,. During his reign 
 the Greeks besieged Troy and took it by 
 stratagem after ten years' fighting. See 
 
 horse, ominous, Achilles, Paris, Sinon, 
 miraculous harp, etc. 
 
 truckle-bed. A low bed which runs on 
 castors and can be pushed under an 
 ordinary bed ; a trundle-bed. Wiv. V, 
 5, 7; Rom. II, 1,39. 
 
 true defence. Honest defence; defence 
 in a good cause. Johnson. John IV, 
 3, 84. 
 
 true-penny. An honest fellow. Hml. I, 
 5, 150. 
 
 trundle-tail. A dog with a curling tail. 
 Lr. Ill, 6, 78. 
 
 trunk-sleeve. A full sleeve. Shr. IV, 
 3, 141. 
 
 try. To bring a ship as close to the wind 
 as possible. Tp. I, 1, 40. 
 
 tub, ) Refers to a particular process 
 
 tub-fast. ) of curing the venereal disease 
 by sweating. Meas. Ill, 2, 61 ; Tim. 
 IV, 3, 86. 
 
 The reference in HV. II, 1, 79 and 80, 
 " alludes to the punishment of Cressida 
 for her falsehood to Troilus. She was 
 afflicted with the leprosy ' like a Lazar- 
 ous" and sent to the 'spittel hous.'" 
 Douce, cf. Chaucer's Testament of 
 Creseide. 
 
 Tubal, dr.p. Friend to Shylock. Merch. 
 
 tuck. A rapier. Tw. II, 4, 247. See 
 standing-tuck. 
 
 tucket sonance. A flourish on a trum- 
 pet. HV. IV, 2, 35. 
 
 tuition. Protection. Another instance 
 of the word used in its etymological 
 sense. It is derived from the Latin 
 tuitus, p.p. of tueri, to watch, protect. 
 Skeat. The word occurs only once in 
 Sh. (Ado. I, 1, 283), but it was in com- 
 mon use in this sense in his time. Malone 
 quotes Michael Drayton, who concludes 
 one of his letters to Drummond of 
 Hawthornden, in 1619, thus: "And so, 
 wishing you all happiness, I commend 
 you to God's tuition, and rest your 
 assured friend." 
 
 Tullus Auf idius, dr.p. A Volscian general. 
 Cor. 
 
 tumbler's hoop. The expression. And 
 wear his colours like a tumbler''s hoop 
 (LLL. Ill, 1, 190), is thus explained by 
 
TUN 
 
 844 
 
 TWE 
 
 Harris: "Tumblers' hoops are to this 
 day bound round with ribbons of various 
 colours." 
 
 ttin-dish. A funnel or tunnel. Meas. Ill, 
 3, 182. Dyce says a wooden funnel. 
 Why ? 
 
 tune. Accent. Cym. V, 5, 239. 
 
 Turk. To turn Turk = to go to the bad. 
 Ado. Ill, 4, 56 ; Hml. Ill, 2, 292. 
 
 Turk Gregory. "Meaning Gregory the 
 Seventh, called Hildebrand. This furi- 
 ous friar surmounted almost invincible 
 obstacles to deprive the Emperor of his 
 right of investiture of bishops, which 
 his predecessors had long attempted in 
 vain. Fox, in his History, hath made 
 Gregory so odious, that I don't doubt 
 but the good Protestants of that time 
 were well pleased to hear him thus 
 characterized, as uniting the attributes 
 of their two great enemies, the Turk 
 and Pope in one. " Warhurton. IHIV. 
 V, 3, 46. 
 
 Turiy-god, ) A word which has caused 
 
 Turly-good. ) much discussion, but evi- 
 dently used by Sh. as equivalent to 
 Tom-o'-Bedlam. Lr. II, 3, 21. Collier 
 has suggested that it is simply a vulgar 
 mode of pronouncing thoroughly-good ; 
 but this seems to me untenable. War- 
 burton derives the name from Tur lupin, 
 a fraternity of naked beggars which 
 ran up and down Europe, and were 
 probably so called from their wolvish 
 bowlings. Nares thinks it is an original 
 English term, too remote in form to 
 be derived from Turlupin. Cotgrave 
 gives: " Tirelupin : m. A catchbit, or 
 captious companion ; a scowndreU or 
 scuruie fellow.'''' 
 
 Turn -bull street. Properly Tummill- 
 street, near Cler ken well ; a street notori- 
 ous as the residence of low characters. 
 It had its name from a river or brook 
 formerly there whereon stood several 
 mills. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 329. 
 
 turning away. The Clown's speech in 
 Tw. I, 5, 21, for turning away, let 
 summer hear it out, is thus explained 
 by Steevens : "If I am turned away, 
 the advantages of the approaching 
 
 summer will bear out or support all the 
 inconveniences of dismission ; for I shall 
 find employment in every field, and 
 lodging under every hedge." Wright 
 says : " But perhaps the Clown, having 
 been frequently threatened with dis- 
 missal, simply means. Wait till summer 
 comes, and see if it be true." 
 
 turquoise. This stone was said to fade 
 or brighten as the health of the wearer 
 increased or grew less. To this Ben 
 Jonson refers in his Sejanus, 1, 1 : "And 
 true as turquoise in my dear lord's ring. 
 Look well or ill with him." Steevens. 
 Edward Fen ton, in "Secret Wonders 
 of Nature " (1569), says : " The Turkeys 
 doth move when there is any perill pre- 
 pared to him that weareth it." Merch. 
 Ill, 1, 126. 
 
 turtle. This word in Sh. always means 
 the turtle-dove ; never the tortoise or 
 allied species. The turtle-dove was the 
 emblem of chaste and faithful love, and 
 hence the name was used for a chaste 
 woman, as in Wiv. II, 1, 71 ; Wint. V, 
 3, 132. 
 
 twangling. Shrill - sounding ; jingling. 
 Tp. Ill, 2, 146 ; Shr. II, 1, 159. 
 
 twenty. The phrase sweet and twenty 
 (Tw. II, 3, 52) has been variously ex- 
 plained. Capell's comment is: "then 
 give me a kiss, sweet, give me twenty 
 kisses." Johnson observes that the "line 
 is obscure ; we might read, Come, a 
 kiss then, sweet, and twenty. Yet I 
 know not whether the present reading 
 be not right, for in some counties sweet 
 and twenty, whatever be the meaning, 
 is a phrase of endearment." It is true 
 that twenty has been used in the sense 
 of twenty times, as in Wiv. II, 1, 203, 
 where Shallow says, Good even and 
 twenty, good Master Page! but, as 
 Furuess well observes, such " quotations 
 are not, I think, exactly parallel to the 
 preseiit phrase; the twenty * * * is 
 repeated directly after a noun, such as 
 * evening. ' ' ' Steevens gives a quotation 
 supporting Dr. Johnson's suggestion, 
 "his little wanton wagtailes, his sweet 
 and twenties," etc., but nobody has yet 
 
TWI 
 
 345 
 
 TWI 
 
 verified it, though many have quoted 
 it. Very probably one of Steevens's 
 "fakes." But Johnson was before 
 Steevens and his evidence is all that is 
 needed. The probability, therefore, is 
 that it was an idiomatic phrase express- 
 ing endearment. 
 
 The words sweet and twenty are not 
 hyphenated in the Fl. This was done 
 first by Reed, who has been followed by 
 many eds., including the Variorums of 
 1793, 1803, 1813 and 1821. Not hyphen- 
 ated in either the Globe or the Cam- 
 bridge ed. 
 twiggen. Made of twigs ; encased in 
 
 osier or wicker-work. Oth. II, 3, 153. 
 twilled. The line Thy banks withpioned 
 and twilled hrims (Tp. IV, 1, 64) has 
 never been clearly explained. Furness 
 devotes nearly six pages to the notes and 
 explanations which have been offered, 
 and Skeat, in his Etym. Diet., says that 
 the word "twilled" as it occurs here 
 "is yet unexplained." The following 
 are a few of the interpretations which 
 have been offered. Of the different 
 emendations which have been suggested, 
 tulip^d, Rowe ; tilled, Capell ; lilted, 
 Rann ; willow'' d, Keightley ; tvillied, 
 Keightley, and others it is unnecessary 
 to speak. 
 
 The interpretations may be divided 
 into two classes : first, those which ex- 
 plain pioned and twilled as covered 
 with flowers. Professor Bayne insists 
 that pion is the Warwickshire name for 
 the maish marigold, and pioned would 
 then mean covered with this plant. 
 Twilled is said by some to be reeded, 
 i.e., covered with reeds ; others make it 
 covered with lilies, and this gloss, covered 
 with flowers of some kind, has been 
 accepted by many corns. , including John- 
 son, Steevens, Dyce, White, Schmidt, 
 Rolfe and others. Johnson's note on the 
 passage is as follows : " The old Edition 
 reads pioned and twilled brims, which 
 I do not understand." In the text he 
 changed pioned to pionied. 
 
 The second explanation is that pioned 
 means dug or trenched, and twilled, 
 
 ridged. Henley (not W. E., but the old 
 Shakespearean com.) seems to have been 
 the first to insist upon dug and ridged 
 as being the meaning of pioned and 
 twilled. That "pion" means to dig is 
 seen in Spenser's "Fairie Queen," Book 
 II, chap. 11 : 
 Which to outbarre, with painful 
 
 pyonings 
 From sea to sea he heapt a mighty 
 movmd. 
 And the word "pioner," which signifies 
 a digger, occurs in Lucr. 1380 ; HV. Ill, 
 2, 92 ; Hml. I, 5, 163 ; Oth. Ill, 3, 346. 
 See pioner. To manufacture the word 
 " pioned " out of this would be just like 
 Sh. Twilled has been explained in two 
 ways. Some define it as thrown into 
 ridges which give land an appearance 
 similar to that of twilled cloth ; others 
 claim that it means staked and wattled, 
 a process often applied to land to pre- 
 vent banks from being washed away. 
 White objects to this interpretation 
 that "dug and ridged banks cannot 
 ' make cold nymphs chaste crowns ;' for 
 those we must go to pioned and lilied 
 banks.'' But Sh. does not say that the 
 "chaste crowns" are made of dug and 
 ridged banks. The " chaste crowns" are 
 made of the trimmings bestowed by 
 spongy April, as may be seen on reading 
 the passage : 
 Thy banks with pioned and twilled 
 
 brims, 
 Which spongy April at thy hest be- 
 
 trims, 
 To make cold nymphs chaste crowns. 
 
 Knight, Collier, Marshall, Furness and 
 several others adopt Henley's gloss, 
 which seems to me to be most probably 
 right. Those who desire to study this 
 point exhaustively should consult the 
 ed. of Dr. Furness, who closes as follows : 
 " I doubt if there be any corruption in 
 this line which calls for change. We 
 have simply lost the meaning of words 
 which were perfectly intelligible to Sh. 
 audience. As agricultural or horticul- 
 tural terms 'pioned' and 'twilled' will 
 b« some day, probably, sufficiently ex- 
 
TWI 
 
 346 
 
 ULL 
 
 plained to enable us to weave from them 
 the chaste crowns for cold nymphs. In 
 the mean time I see no reason why we 
 should not accept Henley's interpreta- 
 tion as the best means of enabling 
 spungy April, in Emerson's fine phrase, 
 to turn the sod to violet. " 
 
 twire. To twinkle ; to shine with an un- 
 steady light. Sonn. XXVIII, 12. 
 
 twist. A string. Cor. V, 6, 96. 
 
 .Tybalt, dr. p. Nephew to Capulet. Rom. 
 See prince of cats. 
 
 Tyburn. The place of public execution in 
 Middlesex until 1783. After that time, 
 until quite recently, all executions took 
 place in Newgate. " Tyburn Tree " was 
 the public gallows, and malefactors were 
 conveyed there in an open cart. The 
 old gallows at Tyburn stood near the 
 N. E. corner of Hyde Park, at the 
 angle formed by the Edge ware- road and 
 the top of Oxford-street. In 1778 this 
 
 was two miles out of London. It took 
 its name from a small stream which 
 ran through this district. The region 
 is now highly fashionable and is known 
 as Tyburnia, facetiously divided by the 
 Londoners into Tyburnia Felix, Ty- 
 burnia Deserta and Tyburnia Snobbica. 
 
 type. A badge ; a distinguishing mark. 
 RII. IV, 4, 244 ; HVIII. I, 3, 31. 
 
 tyrannically. Violently; outrageously; 
 after the manner of the tyrants in the 
 old miracle plays. Hml. II, 2, 356. 
 
 tyrant. One who shows no mercy. Ado. 
 I, 1, 170; Meas. II, 4, 169; 2HIV^ Ind. 
 14. Of this word, as it occurs in Ado. 
 I, 1, 170, Furness says: "An extremely 
 unusual use of the word, wherein there 
 cannot be involved the idea of dominion, 
 usurped or otherwise. The hatred felt 
 for a tyrant is transferred to the objects 
 of his tyranny." 
 
 Tyrrel, Sir James, dr. p. RIII. 
 
 PJ^/^jaaLLGRXA. A word which occurs 
 Mf^T/y in the Fl. (Tim. Ill, 4, 113), 
 'W^^jlH and which has proved a puzzle 
 g^^'^W to all the corns. It was omitted 
 from the F3. and F3., and this course 
 has been followed by Dyce and several 
 others. The Cambridge eds. read : Ally 
 sirrah, all. White and Clarke sug- 
 gested that it was a misprint for Ven- 
 tidius. Fleay suggested all luxors, 
 luxors meaning luxurious or lustful 
 persons and being a favorite word of 
 Cyril Tourneur, whom Fleay atf one 
 time conjectured to be the second author 
 concerned in the play. But the passage 
 reads well enough with the word omitted. 
 Professor Harold Littledale has, how- 
 ever, suggested in the London " Athen- 
 8Bum " a reading which deserves at- 
 tention and which seems the most 
 plausible of any yet offered. He says : 
 "My theory, at least, is that the 
 word as it stands is nothing more than 
 a running together by the printer of 
 
 four words — two being numerals and 
 one a contraction — into the mystic crux 
 Vllorxa. Let us divide it — Vll-or-X-a. 
 The only question is as to the a. This 
 I take be or = other. Thus the Folio 
 makes Timon say to his faithful Steward: 
 Go, bid all my Friends againe, 
 
 Lucius, LucuUus, and Sempronius 
 Vllorxa : All, 
 
 He once more feast the rascals. 
 
 What Shakspere meant Timon to say 
 
 was this : 
 
 Go, bid all my friends again, 
 Lucius, LucuUus, and Sempronius : 
 Seven or ten other : All I 
 I'll once more feast the rascals. 
 
 As the printer could not make out the 
 (probably close- written) numerals and 
 contraction, he printed quite faithfully 
 what he took to be a Greek name. The 
 contraction or for other is still in com- 
 mon *use, and, written carelessly, closely 
 resembles the loosely written Eliza- 
 bethan a, in which the stroke often 
 
TJLY 
 
 347 
 
 UNA 
 
 stood out from the o, though joined at 
 the top." 
 
 Ulysses, dr.p. A Grecian commander. 
 Troii. 
 
 Ulysses, or Odysseus as he was called 
 by the Greeks, was one of the principal 
 Greek heroes in the Trojan war. He 
 was the son of Laertes and Anticlea, 
 the daughter of Autolycus, the famous 
 robber of Mount Parnassus. See Auto- 
 lycus. He was married to Penelope 
 (see Penelope), by whom he became the 
 father of Telemachus. When a young 
 man he went to see his grandfather, 
 Autolycus, and while there he was 
 wounded by a wild boar in his knee, 
 and by this scar his old nurse, Euryclea, 
 recognised him when he returned to 
 Ithaca after his twenty years wander- 
 ings. Even at an early age he was 
 distinguished for courage, for knowledge 
 of navigation, for eloquence and skill 
 as a negotiator. Laertes, having had 
 some sheep stolen from him by the 
 Messenians, sent Ulysses to demand 
 reparation. He there met with Iphitus, 
 who was seeking the horses stolen from 
 him and who gave Ulysses the famous 
 bow of Eurytus. This bow was so 
 
 " strong that very few could bend it. It 
 is said that he was one of the suitors of 
 Helen and he advised Tyndareus to 
 make the suitors swear that they would 
 defend the chosen bridegroom against 
 any one who should insult him on 
 Helen's account. After Paris had car- 
 ried Helen off, Palaraedes and some 
 other Greeks visited him to urge him to 
 keep his promise and aid them. He 
 feigned madness, and to carry out the 
 pretence he yoked an ass and an ox 
 together and sowed salt. Palamedes, 
 to try him, placed the infant Telemachus 
 in the way of the plow, whereupon 
 Ulysses had to confess, but he never 
 forgave Palamedes. During the siege 
 of Troy he distinguished himself as a 
 valiant and undaunted warrior, but 
 more particularly as a cunning spy and 
 a prudent and eloquent negotiator, 
 (See Diormdes and Rhesus.) He is 
 
 said to have devised the stratagem of 
 the wooden horse, and he was one of 
 those who were concealed inside it. (See 
 Sinon, and horse, ominous.) On his 
 way home from Troy he met with a 
 series of misfortunes which so prolonged 
 his absence that he was twenty years 
 away from home. (See Circe and 
 Sirens.) On his return he found that 
 Penelope, during his absence, had been 
 beset by a number of suitors who wasted 
 his substance in riotous living and re- 
 fused to desist unless Penelope married 
 one of them. (See Penelope.) Penelope, 
 with great diflSculty, was made to pro- 
 mise her hand to the one who should 
 conquer the others in shooting with the 
 bow of Ulysses. As none of the suitors 
 was able to draw the bow, Ulysses him- 
 self took it and then began to attack 
 them. Being supported by Athena 
 (Minerva) and Telemachus, his son, he 
 soon slew them all. He then made him- 
 self known to Penelope and went to see 
 his aged father. Of his after life 
 various accounts are given. According 
 to some, he was slain by his son, Tele- 
 gonus, whom he had by Circe and whom 
 he and Telemachus had attacked for 
 plundering the coast of Ithaca, Tele- 
 gonus having been cast thereon by a 
 storm and being without provisions. 
 
 umber. A brownish paint. Certainly 
 not "red ochre" as some have it. As. 
 I, 3, 114. 
 
 umber'd. Darkened ; shadowed. HV. 
 IV, Chor. 9. 
 
 umbrage. Shadow. Hml. V, 2, 126. 
 
 unable. Weak, inadequate. Lr. I, 1, 
 61. See HV., Epi. 1 : My weak and all 
 unable pen. Nash had written in Pierce 
 Pennilesse, "My unable pen." Craig. 
 
 unaccommodated. Not furnished with 
 what is necessary. Lr. Ill, 4, 111. 
 
 unagreeable. Unsuitable; not adapted 
 to the circumstances. Tim. II, 2, 41. 
 
 unaneled. Not having received extreme 
 unction. Hml. I, 5, 77. 
 
 unapproved. Unconfirmed. Compl. 53. 
 
 unaptness. Unfitness; not being in 9. 
 proper mood. Tit. II, 2, 140, 
 
UNA 
 
 348 
 
 UNC 
 
 unattainted. Impartial; without defect. 
 Rom. I, 2, 90. 
 
 unavoided. 1. Inevitable; unavoidable. 
 (See "Sh. Grammar," §375.) RII. 2, 
 268 ; IHVI. IV, 5, 8 ; RIII. IV, 4, 217. 
 2. Unshunned. RIII. IV, 1, 56. See 
 cockatrice. 
 
 unbacked. Not taught to bear a rider ; 
 unbroken. Tp. IV, 1, 176. 
 
 unbarbed. 1. The Cent. Diet., following 
 Dyce, defines unbarbed as unshorn ; 
 untrimmed. Schm., unharnessed ; bare. 
 Gould suggested unbarber''d as the 
 correct reading. But barbed = covered 
 with armor was in common use (c/. RII. 
 Ill, 3, 117, and RIII. I, 1, 10), and the 
 word in Cor. Ill, 2, 99, probably means 
 uncovered or without a helmet. The 
 word is a corruption of bard. Chaucer 
 uses barbe for a hood covering the head 
 and shoulders. 
 
 unbated. 1. Undiminished. Merch. II, 
 6, 11. 
 
 2. Unblunted ; without a button on the 
 point. Hml. V, 2, 328. 
 
 unbid. Unsought for ; unwelcome. 3H VI. 
 V, 1, 18. 
 
 unbent. A bow is said to be bent when 
 it is ready for action. Imogen asks 
 Pisanio why he is not ready ? why he, 
 like a bow, is unbent ? Cym. Ill, 4, 111. 
 
 unblown. Unopened. RIII. IV, 4, 10. 
 
 unbolt. To disclose ; to reveal. Tim. I, 
 1,51. 
 
 unbolted. Literally, unsifted ; hence, 
 coarse ; gross ; rank. Lr. II, 2, 71. 
 
 unbonneted. This word has greatly 
 puzzled the corns., and White says: 
 *'The question of manners, in Sh. time, 
 as to the hat seems veiy difficult. The 
 'remembering courtesy,' the 'off-cap- 
 ping ' and the ' unbonneting ' are quite 
 incongruous. No attempt to reconcile 
 these expressions has been at all success- 
 ful." It seems to me, however, that 
 the difficulty lies in the language used 
 rather than in the manners practiced ; 
 amongst the Aryan nations it has always 
 been courteous to remove the head- 
 covering, and surely we understand 
 what was meant by off- capping. 
 
 Furness gives nearly a page of fine 
 type to the notes and comments which 
 have been written upon this word, and 
 the 3rd Var. (Vol. IX, p. 240) discusses 
 it very fully. The word unbonneted is 
 used in Lr. Ill, 1, 14, in the sense of 
 without a honnet-r-unbonneted he runs. 
 But cf. loose and unloose as ordinarily 
 used. Now Cotgrave gives " bonneter: 
 to put off his cap unto.'' ^ And if the 
 French idiom had survived until the 
 time of Sh. , to unbonnet would be, not 
 ' ' to put his cap off unto. " Bos well, in the 
 3rd Var., quotes " A. C." to this effect : 
 "Unbonneted is uncovered, revealed, 
 made known." Fuseli is quoted by 
 Steevens as follows: "I am his equal 
 or superior in rank ; and were it not so, 
 such are my demerits, that unbonneted, 
 without the addition of patrician or 
 senatorial dignity, they may speak to 
 as proud a fortune, etc.— At Venice, 
 the bonnet as well as the toga, is a badge 
 of aristocratic honours to this day." 
 Staunton says : " The import we take 
 to be, — my services when revealed 
 ( unbonneted ) may aspire or lay 
 claim, to (may speak to) as proud a 
 fortune as this which I have attained." 
 Oth. I, 2, 23. See bonneted and de- 
 merit. 
 
 unbookish. Skilless ; foolish ; ignorant. 
 Oth. IV, 1, 102. 
 
 unbraced. Unbuttoned. Cees. I, 3, 48; 
 Hml. II, 1, 78. 
 
 unbraided. Unfaded ; undamaged. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 204. Braided is an old word 
 meaning faded, given by Baily and by 
 the N. E. D. White suggested em- 
 broidered. 
 
 unbreathed. Unexercised ; unpractised. 
 Mids. V, 1, 74. cf. breathe. 
 
 uncandied. Thawed ; dissolved. Kins. I, 
 1, 107. 
 
 uncape. To throw off the hounds ; to put 
 them on the scent. Wiv. Ill, 3, 176. 
 Warburton says it means : to dig out 
 the fox when earthed; Steevens: to 
 turn the fox out of the bag. Eds. are 
 not at all agreed as to this word, but 
 the general meaning is obvious. 
 
TTNC 
 
 349 
 
 UND 
 
 uncase. To undress. LLL. V, 2, 707; 
 
 Shr. I, 1, 213. cf. case. 
 uncharge. To acquit of blame ; not to 
 
 accuse. Hml. IV, 7, 68. 
 uncharged. Unassailed. Tim, V, 4, 55. 
 uncharmed. In Rom. I, 1 , 217, the word 
 
 uuharm'd, as found in the g.a. text, is 
 
 uncharmed in the Fl. Unharmed is 
 
 the reading of the Ql. and makes better 
 
 sense. 
 unchary. Heedlessly. Tw. Ill, 4, 222. 
 unchecked. Uncontradicted. Merch. Ill, 
 
 1,2. 
 unciew. To unwind ; to undo. Tim. I, 
 
 1, 168. 
 
 uncoined. Unstamped. HV. V, 2, 161. 
 Uncoined constancy = the constancy 
 of a mind which had never borne the 
 stamp of another. Also defined as un- 
 feigned; natural. 
 
 uncolted. Deprived of his horse. IHIV. 
 II, 2, 42. 
 
 uncomprehensive. Not understood ; not 
 known. Troil. Ill, 3, 198. 
 
 unconfirmed. Inexperienced. Ado. Ill, 
 3, 124 ; LLL. IV, 2, 19. 
 
 uncouth. This word occurs three times 
 in Sh., viz., Lucr. 1598; As. II, 6, 6; 
 Tit. II, 3, 211. In its original sense it 
 meant strange, unfamiliar, and is merely 
 the Anglo-Saxon word for unknown. 
 This sense it still retains in the Scottish 
 unco, and it had not quite lost it in the 
 time of Sh. , for in the first and last of the 
 above quotations it distinctly bears that 
 meaning. In the second quotation the 
 meaning has been modified to ill-formed, 
 rude, ungainly, and this is its usual 
 signification at the present day. 
 
 uncrossed. Not struck out; not cancelled. 
 Cym. Ill, 3, 26. When an account was 
 paid, it was crossed out of the trades- 
 man's book. 
 
 uncurse. To take off a curse. RII. Ill, 
 
 2, 137. 
 
 undeaf. To cure of deafness. RII. II, 
 
 1, 16. 
 undeeded. Not noted for any exploit. 
 
 Mcb. V, 7, 20. 
 underbear. To face ; to trim. Ado. Ill, 
 
 4,21. 
 
 underborne. Trimmed ; bordered ; some 
 have suggested lined. Ado. Ill, 4, 21. 
 
 undercrest. To wear as a crest. Cor. I, 
 9,72. 
 
 undergo. 1. To undertake. Gent. V, 4, 
 42; Wint. II, 3, 164; Caes. I, 3, 133; 
 Cym. Ill, 5, 110. 
 2. To endure with firmness. Tp. I, 2, 
 157 ; Cym. Ill, 2, 7. 
 
 underskinlcer. An under drawer ; a tap- 
 ster's helper. IHIV. II, 4, 26. 
 
 undertaker. One who undertakes or gives 
 assurance either for another or in re- 
 gard to some special matter. The word 
 occurs but twice in Sh., and a great deal 
 of learning has been expended over the 
 application of the term to certain ob- 
 noxious government ofiicials, but it 
 seems to me that this is quite beside 
 the question. Schm. defines it as "a 
 meddler,' and in this he is followed, as 
 usual, by most recent coms. In Tw. 
 Ill, 4, 349, Antonio had assumed re- 
 sponsibility for Viola ; he undertook 
 for her, and Toby tells him, Nay, if 
 you he an undertaker, i.e., if you want 
 to stand in her shoes, / am for you. 
 Meddler does not supply the idea re- 
 quired here. Even the sagacious Fur- 
 ness seems to lean towards the idea that 
 the word undertaker was used here as a 
 special term of contempt. I cannot 
 think so. It seems to me that Sir 
 Toby used it in its legitimate sense of 
 surety, and I can hardly believe that 
 he felt much contempt for the daring 
 and combative Antonio. 
 
 So in 0th. IV, 1, 224, And for Cassia, 
 let me be his undertaker, evidently 
 means, let me give assurance that he 
 will be disposed of. The usual glosses : 
 " Let me take care of him," or "let me 
 deal with him," have none of the force 
 conveyed by lago's words which are 
 intended to assure Othello that he 
 (lago) will be bondsman for his (Cassio's) 
 taking-off. 
 
 undervalued. Inferior in value. Merch. 
 I, 1, 165. 
 
 underwrite. To subscribe to ; to acknow- 
 ledge. Troil. II, 3, 137. 
 
UND 
 
 sm 
 
 UNH 
 
 underwrought. Undermined. Literally, 
 worked under or beneath. John 11,1, 95. 
 
 undeserver. A person of no merit. 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 406. 
 
 undeserving. Undeserved. LLL.V,2,366. 
 
 undistinguished. The passage in Lr. IV, 
 6, 278, O undistinguished space of 
 woinan^s will, has received several 
 emendations, but unnecessarily so. The 
 meaning is not far to seek. Hudson 
 explains it thus: "Woman's will has 
 no distinguishable bounds or no assign- 
 able limits ; there is no telling what 
 she will do or where she will stop." 
 
 undone. Solved. Per. I, 1, 117. 
 
 uneared. Unplowed. Sonn. Ill, 5. 
 
 uneatli. With diflSculty. Literally, with- 
 out ease. 2HVI. II, 4, 8. 
 
 unexperient. Inexperienced. Compl. 318. 
 
 unexpressive. Inexpressible. As. Ill, 
 2, 10. 
 
 unfair, v. To deprive of beauty. Sonn. 
 V,4. 
 
 unfatlierM lieirs. Equivocal births ; ani- 
 mals that had no animal progenitors. 
 Johnson. Not produced in the ordinary 
 course of nature. Staunton explains 
 the expression as meaning certain so- 
 called prophets, who pretended to have 
 been conceived by miracle, like Merlin. 
 Montaigne, in his " Essays," says : "In 
 Mahomet's religion, by the easie beleefe 
 of that people, are many Merlins found ; 
 That is to say, fatherles children ; 
 Spiritual children, conceived and borne 
 devinely in the wombs of virgins." 
 And the reader will no doubt call to 
 mind the birth of Brian in the Third 
 Canto of "The Lady of the Lake." 
 2HIV. IV, 4, 122. 
 
 unfellow'd. Without an equal. Hml. V, 
 2,. 150. 
 
 unfenced. Without any protection. John 
 II, 1, 386. 
 
 unfold. 1. To release from a fold or pen. 
 The unfolding star = the star that 
 bids the shepherd unfold his sheep and 
 turn them out to pasture. Meas. IV, 3, 
 218. 
 
 In illustration of this expression, 
 Steevens quotes Milton's " Comus " : 
 
 The star that bids the shepherd fold, 
 Now the top of heaven doth hold. 
 
 And Malone adds, from Marston's " In- 
 satiate Countess " (1613) : 
 
 So doth the evening star present itself 
 Unto the careful shepherd's gladsome 
 
 eyes 
 By which unto the fold he leads his 
 
 flock. 
 
 Reference in both these instances is 
 made to the evening star and to the in- 
 folding of the flock; here the Duke 
 refers to a morning star and to the un- 
 folding of the flock. The star in both 
 cases was most probably Venus, which 
 at some seasons sets a little after the 
 sun and, from its brilliancy, has been 
 called the evening star. At other 
 seasons, this planet rises a little before 
 the sun, and hence has been called the 
 morning star, or Lucifer, the light- 
 bringer, the harbinger of day. The 
 evening star is called Hesperus. All's. 
 
 II, 1, 167. 
 
 2. To make known ; to display. Hml. I, 
 
 1, 2 ; Cym. II, 3, 101. 
 unfool. To take away the disgrace of 
 
 being fooled. Wiv. IV, 2, 120. 
 unfurnished. Uncompanioned ; without 
 
 corresponding features. Merch. Ill, 2, 
 
 126. 
 ungenitured. It has not been quite settled 
 
 whether this word, as it occurs in Meas. 
 
 III, 2, 184, means un begotten (see line 
 112 above) or impotent. 
 
 ungird. To unbend ; to relax. Ungird 
 thy strangeness (Tw. IV, 1, 16) = be 
 communicative and unreserved. 
 
 ungracious. Without grace ; wicked. Tw. 
 
 IV, 1, 51 ; Hml. I, G, 47. 
 ungravely. Without gravity or dignity. 
 
 Cor. II, 3, 233. 
 unhaired. Beardless ; foolish ; not yet 
 come to years of discretion. John V, 
 2,133. 
 
 In the Fl. this passage reads: This 
 un - heard sawcinesse and boyish 
 Troopes. Theobald corrected to un- 
 hair''d, giving the following reasons : 
 " Unheard is an epithet of very little 
 force of meaning here; besides, let us 
 
UNH 
 
 351 
 
 UNL 
 
 observe how it is coupled. Faulcon- 
 bridge is sneering at the Dauphin's in- 
 vasion as an unadvised enterprise, 
 savouring of youth and indiscretion ; 
 the result of childishness and unthinking 
 rashness; and he seems altogether to 
 dwell on this character of it, by calling 
 his preparation ' boyish troops, dwarfish 
 war, pigmy arms, etc.,' which, accord- 
 ing to my emendation, sort very well 
 with unhaired^ i.e., unbearded sauci- 
 ness." Malone notes that hair was 
 formerly written hear, and so the mis- 
 take might easily happen. . 
 
 Unhair''d is now found in the g. a. 
 text, and the Globe and even the Cam- 
 bridge ed. have adopted it. Schm. 
 prefers unheard = unprecedented, and 
 adds: "Modern ed. unhaired, in the 
 sense of unbearded, in which the poet 
 would hardly have used the word." 
 unhandsome. 1. Unbecoming. As. Epi. 
 2 ; IHIV. I, 3, 44. 
 2. Unfair. Unhandsome warrior (Oth. 
 
 III, 4, 151) = unfair assailant. "A 
 lovely reminiscence of her husband's 
 having called her ' ray fair warrior ' in 
 the joy of his first meeting, on arrival." 
 Cowden-Clarkes. 
 
 unhappy. Evil ; pernicious ; mischievous. 
 Err. IV, 4, 127 ; LLL. V, 2, 12 ; All's. 
 
 IV, 5, 66. In the last passage = roguish ; 
 full of tricks. 
 
 unhappily. Mischievously; eviUy. HVIII. 
 I, 4, 89 ; Hml. IV, 5, 13 ; Lr. I, 2, 157. 
 
 unhatched. 1. Undeveloped ; which has 
 
 not yet taken effect. Oth. Ill, 4, 140. 
 
 2. Unbacked ; uninjured. Tw. 111,4,260. 
 
 unheedy. Inconsiderate. Mids. I, 1, 237. 
 
 unhelpful. Unaiding ; unavailing. 2HVI. 
 Ill, 1, 218. 
 
 unhoused. In regard to this word, as it 
 occurs in Oth. I, 2, 26, Hunter, in his 
 "New Illustrations," p. 282, says : "This 
 passage affords one of the best proofs of 
 Shakespeare's acquaintance with the 
 Italian language. Unhoused conveys 
 to English eai's no idea of anything 
 which any one would be unwilling to 
 resign ; and, in fact, it is only by re- 
 collecting the way in which the Italians 
 
 use cassare that we arrive at its true 
 meaning, which is unmarried. A sol- 
 dier was as much unhoused, in the 
 ordinary meaning of the term, after 
 marriage as before. Othello would not 
 resign the freedom of his bachelor- 
 estate.'''' 
 
 unhouseled. Not having received the 
 Sacrament. Hml. I, 5, 77. 
 
 unimproved. Hml. I, 1, 96. Quite a 
 number of meanings have been given to 
 this word. Johnson: "Not regulated 
 or guided by knowledge or experience.". 
 Schm. : "Not yet used for advantage ; 
 not turned to account. " Nares : "Un- 
 reproved; unimpeached." Singer: "Un- 
 tried." Staunton : " Insatiable, un- 
 governable," etc., etc. 
 
 unintelligent. Uninformed ; unaware of. 
 Wint. I, 1, 16. 
 
 union. A fine pearl. Hml. V, 2, 283. 
 Under pretence of throwing a pearl 
 into the cup, the king may be supposed 
 to drop some poisonous drug into the 
 wine. Hamlet seems to suspect this, 
 when he afterwards discovers the effects 
 of the poison, and tauntingly asks him, 
 " Is thy union here ? " Steevens. 
 
 unjointed. Incoherent. IHIV. I, 3, 65. 
 
 unjust. 1. Dishonest. Wint. IV, 4, 688 ; 
 IHIV. IV, 2, 30. 
 
 2. Not founded in fact ; untrue. Ado. 
 V, 1, 223. 
 
 3. Faithless. Gent. IV, 4, 173 ; Meas. 
 Ill, 1, 249. 
 
 unkennel. To drive a fox from his earth ; 
 to drive one from his hiding-place ; to 
 disclose. Wiv. Ill, 3, 174; Hml. Ill, 
 
 2, 86. 
 
 unkind. 1. Unnatural. Lr. I, 1, 263; 
 do. Ill, 4, 73. 
 
 2. Childless. Ven. 204. c/. kind and 
 kindless. 
 
 unlace. 1. To uncover ; to expose to in- 
 jury ; to damage ; to disgrace. Oth. II, 
 
 3, 194. Thus the coms. Perhaps the 
 idea is to loose or unfasten the reputa- 
 tion and let it depart. 
 
 2. To unfasten (referring to a woman's 
 dress). Pilgr. 149. 
 unlived. Deprived of life. Lucr. 1754. 
 
UNL 
 
 853 
 
 vrr-R 
 
 unlustrous. Wanting lustre ; non-illumi- 
 nating. Cym. I, 6, 109. The Fl. reads 
 illustrious. The emendation is due to 
 Rowe. See illustrious. 
 
 unmanned. This is a term in falconry ; 
 a hawk is said to be unmanned when 
 she is not yet accustomed to her keeper. 
 A hood is a sort of cap used to prevent 
 the hawk from seeing objects. Rom. 
 Ill, 2, 14. See bate. 
 
 unmastered. Unbridled; unrestrained. 
 Hml. I, 3, 33. 
 
 unmeritable. Devoid of merit. RIII. 
 Ill, 7, 155 ; Cses. IV, 1, 13. 
 
 unnumbered. Innumerable. Caes. Ill, 
 l,63;Lr. IV, 6, 31. 
 
 unowed. Having no owner. John IV, 3, 147. 
 
 unpang'd. Free from pain or pangs. 
 Kins. I, 1, 169. 
 
 unpay. To undo. 3HIV. II, 1, 130. 
 
 unpinked. Not pierced with eyelet-holes. 
 Shr. IV, 1, 136. 
 
 unpitied. Without pity ; unmerciful. 
 Meas. IV, 3, 13. 
 
 unplausive. Displeased ; disapproving. 
 Troil. Ill, 3, 43. 
 
 unpoHcied. Stupid ; devoid of policy. 
 Ant. V, 3, 311. 
 
 unpregnant. Stupid; unapt for business. 
 Meas. IV, 4, 23; Hml. II, 3, 595. See 
 pregnant. 
 
 unprevailing. Unavailing. Hml. I, 3, 
 107; cf. prevail in Rom. Ill, 3, 60. 
 Dry den, "Essay on Dramatic Poetry," 
 has : " He may often prevail himself of 
 the same advantages." 
 
 unprizable. 1. Of exceeding value; in- 
 valuable ; inestimable. Cym. I, 4, 99. 
 2. Worthless ; not to be valued highly. 
 Tw. V, 1, 58. 
 
 Abbott, Sh. Gram., §3, says the word 
 means "not able to be made a prize of, 
 captured," but this definition has not 
 been generally accepted. Furness quotes 
 the Cent. Diet.: "Incapable of being 
 prized or of having its value estimated, 
 as being either below valuation or above 
 or beyond valuation." Furness adds: 
 "Hence it follows that the meaning 
 can be determined only by the context, 
 which in the present passage is, I think, 
 
 in favor of valueless. Thus * unvalued * 
 is also used by Sh. with opposite mean- 
 ings. In Hml. I, 3, 19, Laertes says of 
 Hamlet, ' He may not as unvalued per- 
 sons do, Carve for himself ; ' where 
 unvalued means common, ordinary. In 
 RIII. I, 4, 27, Clarence describes the 
 sight in his dream of ' heaps of pearls, 
 Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,' 
 where unvalued means uncommon, ex- 
 traordinary. " 
 
 unprized. Unvalued or, perhaps, price- 
 less. Lr. I, 1, 263. 
 
 unproper. Not one's own ; not peculiar 
 to an individual ; common. 0th. IV, 
 1, 69. cf. proper (1). 
 
 Schm., followed as usual by several 
 coms., sees here a quibble between two 
 meanings which he gives to the word — 
 "common" and "indecent." But it 
 seems to me that there is no quibbling 
 here. The context, which they dare 
 swear peculiar , would seem to confine 
 it to the single meaning which we have 
 given. And, besides, it was not a time 
 for quibbles. Furness does not note any 
 quibble, though he must have seen 
 Schmidt's suggestion. 
 
 unprovide. To deprive of what is neces- 
 sary. Oth. IV, 1, 218. "Divest [my 
 mind] of resolution." Johnson. The 
 only instance of its use in Sh. 
 
 unqualified. Unmanned; deprived of his 
 faculties. Malone would understand it 
 to mean " unsoldiered " — quality being 
 formerly common in the sense of " pro- 
 fession. ' ' Ant. Ill, 1 1 , 44. 
 
 unquestionable. Averse to question or 
 conversation. As. III. 2, 393. 
 
 This word is the reverse of question- 
 able (Hml. I, 4, 43), which means in- 
 viting conversation, and does not mean 
 suspicious, as it is often understood. 
 See question and questionable. 
 
 unraked. Not made up for the night. 
 Wiv. V, 5, 48. In Sh. time, long before 
 the invention of matches, fires were 
 kept constantly burning, and at night 
 they were "raked" or made up so as 
 to consume very little fuel. See rake^ v; 
 also tinder. 
 
tTNa 
 
 553 
 
 tTNT 
 
 unready. Undressed. IHVI. II, 1, 39. 
 
 unrecalling. Past recall ; that caunot be 
 repealed. Lucr. 993. 
 
 Schm. says : " Not the participle, but 
 the gerund used adjectively. " See also 
 Sh. Gram., §372. 
 
 unreclaimed. Untamed ; undisciplined. 
 A term in falconry. Hml. II, 1, 34. 
 
 unrecuring. Fast cure ; uucurable. Tit. 
 Ill, 1, 90. 
 
 unresisted. Irresistible. Lucr. 282. 
 
 unrespective. Unregarded ; unvalued. 
 Troil. II, 2, 71. 
 
 The termination ive is sometimes used 
 by Sh. in a passive instead of as now in 
 an active signification ; thus, incompre- 
 hensive depths, etc. See Abbott's Sh. 
 Gram., §445. See also sieve. 
 
 unrip. To rip ; to cut open. RIII. I, 4, 
 212. The un here is intensive as in un- 
 loose. 
 
 unrolled. Struck off the roll or register 
 (of expert thieves). Wint. IV, 3, 130. 
 
 unroosted. Driven from the roost ; hen- 
 pecked. Wint. II, 3, 74. 
 
 unrough. Unbearded. Mcb. V, 2, 10. 
 
 unscanned. Inconsiderate ; unobservant. 
 Cor. Ill, 1, 313. 
 
 unseam. To rip ; to cut open. Mcb. I, 
 2,22. 
 
 unseasoned. 1. Untrained; inexperienced. 
 All's. I, 1, 80. 
 2. Unseasonable. 2HIV. Ill, 1, 105. 
 
 unsecret. Wanting in secrecy. Troil. 
 
 III, 2, 133. 
 
 unseminared. Deprived of virility. Ant. 
 
 I, 5, 11. 
 unset. Unplanted. Sonn. XVI, 6. 
 unshape. To disorder ; to derange. Meas. 
 
 IV, 4, 23. 
 
 unsifted. Untried; inexperienced. Hml. 
 I, 3, 102. 
 
 unsisting. Meas. IV, 2, 92. A doubtful 
 word for which no satisfactory explana- 
 tion has been offered. As a corrected 
 reading, unresisting has been suggested, 
 but has not been adopted, although it 
 has actually been' accepted as a defini- 
 tion of the word in one of the large 
 dictionaries ! The Cent. Diet, does not 
 mention it. Schm. and most corns. 
 
 consider it a misprint. " Unshifting," 
 "unresting," "uulisting," have all Ceen 
 oflFered as emendations. Arthur Symons 
 explains it as "perhaps shaking." It 
 seems to me that this comes nearest to 
 the real sense. The radical or etymo- 
 logical meaning of the word would be 
 " un-standing " (from Latin stare)^ 
 which, of course, is = shaking. There 
 is an old Scotch word, sist, now used 
 only as a law term, which means to 
 stop or make to stand (in relation to 
 law proceedings;. Unsisting may be 
 related to this word. 
 
 unsorted. Unsuitable. IHIV. II, 8, 13. 
 
 unsphere. To remove from its orbit. 
 Wint. I, 2, 48. See sphere. 
 
 unsquared. Unsuitable. Troil. I, 3, 159. 
 
 unstanched, ) 1. Insatiate; unquenched. 
 
 unstaunched. ) 3HVI. II, 6, 83. 
 2. Incontinent. Tp. I, 1, 51. 
 
 unstate. To divest of state or dignity. 
 Lr. I, 2, 108 ; Ant. Ill, 13, 30. 
 
 untempering. Unsof tening ; not produc- 
 ing the desired effect. HV. V, 2, 241. 
 cf. temper. 
 
 untent. To bring out of the tent. Troil. 
 II, 3, 178. 
 
 untented. Not to be probed by a tent 
 or probe; incurable ; unsearchable. Lr. 
 I, 4, 322. cf. tent. 
 
 unthread. As used in its ordinary sense, 
 this word requires no gloss or comment, 
 but as it occurs in John V, 4, 11, it has 
 given some trouble. The phrase, un- 
 thread the rude eye of rebellion, is 
 rather obscure, and Theobald proposed 
 untread the rude way, but the emend- 
 ation has not been generally accepted. 
 White, adopted it in his first ed , but 
 rejected it in his second. The combina- 
 tion of "thread" with "eye" is so 
 obviously apt that it hardly seems 
 possible that either word singly should 
 be corrupt. Then we have in Cor. Ill, 
 1, 127 : They would not thread the 
 gates. So that on the whole it would 
 seem that the present reading is the 
 true one, although the metaphor may, 
 perhaps, be a little crude. But under any 
 circumstances the general meaning is 
 
VNt 
 
 354 
 
 tJPC 
 
 obvious enough. The Cowden-Clarkes 
 say : *' The metaphor has the more pro- 
 priety, because to thread the eye of a 
 needle is a process of some difficulty, 
 while to unthread a needle's eye is, on 
 the contrary, one of the most easy of 
 tasks ; therefore, the proposal to un- 
 thread the rude eye of rebellion ap- 
 propriately metaphorizes the intricate 
 course they have taken in forsaking the 
 English side and revolting to the French, 
 and also the facile one they vpould take 
 in withdrawing themselves from it and 
 returning to their natural allegiance." 
 cf. RII. V, 5, 17, and Matthew xix, 25. 
 
 untoward. Refractory; unmannerly. Shr. 
 IV, 5, 79; JohnI, 1,243. 
 
 untraded. Not employed in common 
 use ; unhackneyed. Troil. IV, 5, 178. 
 
 tintread. To retrace one's steps. Merch. 
 
 II, 6, 10; John V, 4, 52. 
 untrimmed. Stripped of ornamental dress, 
 
 Sonn. XVIII, 8. The passage in John 
 
 III, 1, 209, the devil tempts thee here 
 In likeness of a new untrimmed bride, 
 has occasioned some discussion. Theo- 
 bald emended to and trimmed, but 
 White, in hLs first ed., says : " An un- 
 trimmed bride is a bride in deshabille, 
 and in some such condition was Blanch 
 on account of her unexpected nuptials." 
 White thinks he sees an "obvious al- 
 lusion to the temptation of Saint An- 
 thony," though he admits that "it is, 
 of course, not intimated that Blanch 
 was then and there in a condition ap- 
 proaching that in which the temptress 
 of Saint Anthony is generally supposed 
 to have won the victory for the devil." 
 This, however, is, I think, too fine-spun. 
 Moreover, untrimmed = en deshabille 
 does not meet the case. Constance is 
 enumerating attractions, not defects, 
 and a woman untrimmed is not generally 
 supposed to be as attractive as one well 
 dressed. I cannot but think that those 
 coms. who see here an allusion to the 
 old custom of the bride's going to church 
 with her hair dishevelled are right. 
 It would then mean virgin bride, the 
 strongest attraction that could be offered 
 
 to a young man. Numerous passages 
 from the poets may be cited in support 
 of this view. Thus Webster in White 
 Devil : 
 
 Let them dangle loose 
 As a bride's hair. 
 In Spenser's " Prothalamion " we find : 
 Locks all loose untyde. 
 As each had bene a Bryde. 
 Fleay, who is of this opinion, quotes 
 Tancred and Gismunda (Dodsley, Vol. 
 VII, p. 86) : 
 So let thy tresses, flaring in the wind 
 Untrimmed hang about thy bared neck. 
 
 The lamented Marshall, whose judg- 
 ment in such matters was excellent, 
 seemed to favor this view. And see 
 hair. 
 
 untrussing. Unloosing the points of the 
 hose. Meas. Ill, 2, 194. Certainly not 
 " unpacking " as Schm. has it. 
 
 untucked. Dishevelled. Compl. 31. 
 
 untuneable. Not harmonious; discordant ; 
 not nuisical. Gent. Ill, 1, 208. 
 
 It has been thought by some that this 
 word, as it occurs in As. V, 3, 37, is a 
 misprint for untimeable, the reply of 
 the page leading to that conclusion. 
 But " untuneable agrees better with 
 what Touchstone afterwards says, ' God 
 mend your voices. ' The page mistakes 
 the point of the criticism, perhaps in- 
 tentionally." Eolfe. 
 
 unvalued. 1. Mean ; not of the nobility. 
 Hml. I, 3, 19. 
 2. Invaluable ; inestimable. RIII. 1, 4, 27. 
 
 unweighed. Reckless. Wiv. II, 1, 23. 
 
 unweighing. Thoughtless. Meas. Ill, 2, 
 147. 
 
 unwitted. Deprived of wit or intelligence. 
 ■Oth. II, 3, 182. 
 
 unworthy. Undeserved. RIII. I, 3, 88. 
 
 unyoke. To cease work; to put off the 
 yoke. Hml. V, 1, 57. 
 
 unyoked. Uncontrolled; unbridled. IHIV. 
 I, 2, 220. 
 
 upcast. A throw or cast at bowls ; per- 
 haps the final throw. Cym. II, 1, 2. 
 
 Upon an upcast means by a throw 
 from another bowler directed straight 
 up. Johnson. 
 
TIPS 
 
 355 
 
 tJTT 
 
 up her. The expression found in Rom. 
 IV, 2, 41, help to deck up her, is pecu- 
 liar. Hudson and some others emend 
 to deck her up. See line 45 below. We 
 speak of "trimming up a hedge," 
 "cleaning up a room," etc. The ex- 
 pression is evidently idiomatic and 
 should be allowed to stand. 
 
 In Shakespeare the place of the word 
 up in compounds and partial compounds 
 seems in many instances to have been 
 different from that now generally used. 
 Thus we have upfill for fill up (Rom. II, 
 
 3, 7) ; uphoard for hoard up (Hml. I, 1, 
 136) ; uplock for lock up (Sonn. LII, 2) ; 
 up-jjrick for prick up (Ven. 271), etc. 
 
 upright. Straight up; directly upward. 
 
 Lr. IV, 6, 27 ; 2HVI. Ill, 1, 365. 
 uproar, v. To throw into confusion. Mcb. 
 
 IV, 3, 99. 
 upstaring. Standing on end. Tp. I, 2, 
 
 213. 
 upshoot, [ The deciding shot. LLL. IV, 
 upshot. \ 1, 138; Hml. V, 2, 395. 
 upspring. A boisterous sort of dance. 
 
 Hiul. I, 4, 9. Pope emended to upstart, 
 
 meaning the king. 
 Upswarm. To cause to rise In a swarm 
 
 or in swarms. 2HIV. IV, 2, 30. 
 up-till. Against ; up to. In Scottish and 
 
 old English, till is fi-equently used where 
 
 we would say to. Pilgr. 382. 
 urchin. 1. A hedgehog. Tit. II, 3, 101 ; 
 
 Tp. I, 2, 326. In the latter passage it is 
 
 possible that the word has the meaning 
 
 given in the next definition. Urchin is 
 
 still used in Scotland and the North of 
 
 England for hedgehog. 
 2. A kind of fairy or goblin. Wiv. IV, 
 
 4, 49. Also in Tp. II, 2, 5, in the com- 
 pound word urchin-show. 
 
 urge. To allege as a cause or reason. 
 Ant. II, 2, 46. " Made use of my name 
 as a pretext for the war. ' ' Warburton. 
 
 Ursula, dr. p. Attendant on Hero. Ado. 
 
 Urswick, Christopher, dr.p. A priest. 
 RIII. 
 
 This person, who was chaplain to the 
 Countess of Richmond and afterwards 
 almoner to King Henry VII, is called 
 Sir as being a priest. Dyce. See Sir. 
 
 usance. Interest paid for use of money. 
 
 Merch. I, 3, 46. 
 use. Interest paid for borrowed money. 
 
 Meas. I, 1, 41; Ado. II, 1, 288; Tw. Ill, 
 
 1, 57. 
 
 usurer's chain. Gold chains were for- 
 merly worn by rich merchants; and 
 merchants were the chief usurers of 
 those days. Dyce. Ado. II, 1, 197. 
 
 ut. The first note in Guido's musical 
 scale : ut, re, sol, la, mi, fa. LLL. IV, 
 
 2, 102 ; Shr. Ill, 1, 76. 
 
 utis. This word is from the French huit, 
 eight, and signifies the eighth day or 
 the space of eight days after any festival. 
 It was a law term and occurs in some 
 of the English statutes. Now more 
 commonly called the octave. Any day 
 between the feast and the eighth day 
 was said to be within the utis or utas. 
 Dyce. Here will he old utis = here 
 will be a high old time. 2HIV. II, 4, 
 22. See old. 
 
 utter. To put forth ; to dispense. Hence 
 to dispose of to the public in the way of 
 trade. Schm. says: "not exactly = 
 sell as the commentators explain it." 
 This is true ; the words sell and utter 
 are not synonymous, but the result is 
 the same in both cases. In LLL. II, 1, 
 16, beauty is bought by judgment of 
 the eye, not uttered by base sale of 
 chapmen'' s tongues, "uttered" evi- 
 dently means disposed of. Upon this 
 passage Johnson has the following note : 
 " Chapman here seems to signify the 
 seller, not as now commonly the buyer. 
 Cheap or cheaping was anciently the 
 market: chapman is therefore market- 
 man. The meaning is, that the esti- 
 mation of beauty depends not on the 
 uttering or proclamation of the seller, 
 but on the eye of the buyer." This 
 note has been frequently quoted with- 
 out protest, although it contains a very 
 obvious blunder. The uttering is not 
 the proclamation of the seller, but the 
 actual sale to or purchase by the buyer. 
 The difficulty here lies in the word sale, 
 not in the word utter ; the of is here, as 
 in some other places (see Sh. Gram., 
 
VAO 
 
 8156 
 
 VAL 
 
 § 170) = by, and the sense of the passage 
 is : not disposed of by base sale (or pro- 
 clamation) of chapmen's tongues. So 
 in Wint. IV, 4, 330, utter = dispose of. 
 The passage in Ado. V, 8, 20, has re- 
 ceived many explanations, for which 
 see Furness's ed. of the play, p. 275. 
 The chief interpretations are: 1. The 
 cry, graves yawn, etc., shall be raised 
 till death. Schm. 2. That death is to 
 be expelled (outer^ed) by the power of 
 Heaven. An obscure allusion to the 
 resurrection. White and others. 8. 
 *' Till death be uttered " means till 
 
 death be overcome, vanquished to the 
 utterance. Furness. 
 utterance. Extremity; the "bitter end." 
 Mcb. Ill, 1, 72 ; Cym. Ill, 1, 78. On 
 the first quotation, champion me to the 
 utterance, Johnson remarks : " A chal- 
 lenge or a combat a Voutrance [French], 
 to extremity, was a fixed term in the 
 law of arms, used when the combatants 
 engaged with an odium internecinum, 
 an intention to destroy each other, in 
 opposition to trials of skill at festivals, 
 or on other occasions, where the contest 
 was only for reputation or a prize." 
 
 |ACANCY. Unoccupied and idle 
 time. If he filled his vacancy 
 with his voluptuousness. Ant. 
 I, 4, 26. On the passage in 
 Ant. II, 2, 221, Whistling to the air; 
 which, but for vacancy, Had gone to 
 gaze on Cleopatra too, Warburton 
 makes a note: "Alluding to an axiom 
 in the peripatetic philosophy then in 
 vogue, that Nature abhors a vacuum.'''' 
 In other words : The air was chained to 
 the spot lest its absence should create a 
 vacuum. Line 223, And m,ade a gap 
 in nature, seems to confirm this view. 
 
 vade. To fade. Pilgr. 131 ; RII. I, 2, 20. 
 
 vail, n. A going down ; a setting. Troil. 
 V, 8, 7. 
 
 vail, v. To lower ; to let fall. Ven. 314 ; 
 Meas. V, 1, 20 ; Hml. I, 2, 70. 
 
 vagrom. A blunder for vagrant. Ado. 
 
 III, 3, 26. 
 
 vailful. Available; advantageous. Meas. 
 
 IV, 6, 4. 
 
 vails. Payment for services. Per. II, 1, 
 157. This word, like the word wages, 
 is generally used in the plural. It has 
 given some trouble to the corns., some 
 of whom make it = avails and print it 
 'vails. "The Henry Irving Shake- 
 speare" explains it as "perquisites. ' 
 But it seems to have been a legitimate 
 word for payment for services. It is 
 
 used by Cotton (1670) in this sense, as 
 the following extract from his " Voyage 
 to Ireland " shows : 
 A guide I had got, who demanded 
 
 great vails 
 For conducting me over the mountains 
 
 of Wales ; 
 Twenty good shillings, which sure 
 
 very large is : 
 Yet that would not serve, but I must 
 bear his charges. 
 From this it is very clear that the " per- 
 quisites" were extra and were not the 
 "vails." 
 vainly. Erroneously. 2HIV. IV, 5, 239. 
 vainness. 1. Falseness. Tw. Ill, 4, 389. 
 2. Vanity ; boastfulness. HV. V, Chor. 
 20. 
 valance, n. A short curtain or fringe; 
 generally used upon a bedstead. Shr. 
 II, 1, 856. 
 valance, v. To fringe or decorate with a 
 valance ; used figui-ately in regard to the 
 beard. Hml. II, 2, 451. 
 Valdes. Name of a pirate in Per. IV, 1, 
 97. It is noticeable that an admiral in 
 the Spanish Armada bore the same 
 name. 
 Valentine. Halliwell has this note on 
 Hml. IV, 5, 50: "This song alludes to 
 the custom of the first girl seen by a 
 man on the morning of this day being 
 considered his Valentine or true-love." 
 
VAL 
 
 357 
 
 VAS 
 
 Valentine, dr. p. A geiitleiuaii of Verona. 
 
 Gent. 
 Valentine, di-.p. Attendant on the Duke 
 
 of IlJyria. Tw. 
 Valeria, dr.p. Friend to Virgilia, Cor, 
 Valerius, dr.p. A Theban nobleman. 
 
 Kins. 
 validity. 1. Efficacy. Hml. Ill, 2, 199. 
 
 2. Value. All's. V, 3, 19:3 ; Lr. I, 1, 83. 
 
 3. Worth or dignity. Johnson. Rom. 
 Ill, 3, 33. 
 
 valued. Having the value of each item 
 estimated. Valued file = a list in which 
 the good are distinguished from the 
 worthless. Mcb. Ill, 1, 95. 
 
 vanish'd. Dowden, in his valuable ed. 
 of the play, has this note on Rom. Ill, 
 3, 10, A gentler judgement vanisWd 
 from his lips : " No such use of vanish 
 is found elsev\here in Sh., for breath 
 vanishing from the lips like smoke (in 
 Lucr. 1041) is not a parallel. Massinger, 
 however, in the Renegado, V, 3, has : 
 ' Upon those lips from which those sweet 
 words vanished,' which Keightley sup- 
 poses was written on the authority of 
 the present passage. Heath conjectured 
 issued. I suspect that banishment in 
 the next line misled the printer ; but 
 possibly (and it is strange that this has 
 not been suggested) Shakespeare wrote : 
 
 A gentler judgment—' banish'd ' from 
 his lips." 
 
 Vanity. On this passage in Lr. II, 2, 39, 
 Dyce has this note: "The coms. may 
 be right in seeing here an allusion to 
 the character of Vanity in some of the 
 early Moralities or Moral-plays, but 
 we occasionally meet with similar pass- 
 ages where there does not appear to be 
 any such allusion ; e.g. : 
 Young Mistris Vanity is also sad, 
 Because the parrat's dead she lately 
 had, etc. 
 — Wither's Abuses Stript and Wliipt— Joy, 
 p. 141, ed. 1617." 
 
 Here, as in many other passages of our 
 old writers, "puppet" may be nothing 
 else than a term of contempt for a 
 female. See Iniquity. 
 
 vantage. 1. In addition to ; to boot. 
 Hml. Ill, 3, 33 ; 0th. IV, 3, 86. 
 
 2. Favorable condition. Gent. I, 3, 82 ; 
 Mcb. I, 3, 113. 
 
 3. Superiority. Lucr. 249 ; Mids. I, 1, 
 102 ; HV. Ill, 6, 153. 
 
 vara. Costard's way of pronouncing very. 
 LLL. V, 2, 487. 
 
 Varrius, dr.p. Friend to Pompey. Ant. 
 
 varlet. 1. A servant to a kni'ght (used 
 without implying reproach). HV. IV, 
 2, 2; Troil. I, 1, 1. Really the same 
 word as the modern valet. 
 2. A term of reproach ; knave ; rascal. 
 Tp. IV, 1, 170; Wiv. I, 3, 106; IHIV. 
 II, 2, 25. 
 
 varletry. Rabble ; mob. Ant. V, 2, 56. 
 
 Varro, dr.p. Servant to Brutus. Cses, 
 
 vary. Change ; caprice. Lr. II, 2, 85. 
 
 vant brace. Armor for the arm. Troil. 
 I, 3, 397. c/. brace. 
 
 Vapians. Sir Andrew's quotation from 
 Feste's nonsensical speech: "the Vapians 
 passing the Equinoctial of Queubus," 
 which, as Leigh Hunt says, is "some 
 gloi'ious torrid zone, lying beyond three 
 o'clock in the morning " has caused 
 some discussion without any result, and 
 no wonder. It is mere nonsense, but 
 very good nonsense or, as Sir Andrew 
 calls it, "very gracious fooling." 
 Brewer, in his "Reader's Handbook," 
 says of it : " ' The Equinoctial of Queu- 
 bus,' a line in ' the unknown sea ' passed 
 by the Vapians on the Greek kalends of 
 the Olympiad era, B.C. 777, according 
 to the authority of Quinapalus." After 
 some discussion of this "gracious fool- 
 ing," Furnesssays, in a sort of tentative 
 manner : " It is not exclusively to 
 Rabelais that we should look for light, 
 but also to Astrology and to conjuring. 
 And this leads to the only feeble little 
 ray that here dawns on me. At the 
 risk of being deemed a copesmate of Sir 
 Andrew, I am willing to confess that in 
 the distorted ' Pigrogromitus ' I think 
 we may possibly find Sir Andrew's 
 version of the Tetragrammaton.''^ 
 vast. A waste (sea or land). Wint. I, 1, 
 33 ; Per. Ill, 1, 1. Vast of night = the 
 
VAS 
 
 ssa 
 
 VEK 
 
 dead void of night when liviiig things 
 have aU retired. Tp. I, 2, 327 ; Hml. I, 
 2, 198. 
 
 A number of extended comments have 
 been written about this expression and 
 various readings have been suggested, 
 e.g., waist, intimating the iniddle of the 
 night and waste == dead or void. The 
 word vast as used here needs no amend- 
 ment and scarcely a gloss. It is one of 
 those expressions of Sh. which convey- 
 precisely the idea he intended to impart, 
 and this often without our being able 
 to accurately define the words employed. 
 "In the dead vast and middle of the 
 night" impresses us with just that 
 •' eerie " feeling appropriate to all the 
 circumstances of the case. Vast, ac- 
 cording to Skeat, is a 16th century word, 
 and both waste and vast are originally 
 the same. About the time of Sh. the 
 two words seem to have been differ- 
 entiated as to their meanings, but vast 
 seemed to carry with it the idea of 
 waste as well as of immensity. 
 
 vastidity. Immensity. Meas. Ill, 1, 69. 
 
 vastly. Like a waste. Lucr. 1740. See 
 vast. 
 
 vasty. Boundless ; vast. Merch. II, 7, 
 41 ; IHIV. Ill, 1, 52; HV., Prol. 12. 
 
 Vaughan, Sir Thomas, dr.p. RIII. 
 
 vaultages. Caverns. HV. II, 4, 124. 
 
 vaulty. Arched; vaulted. John III, 4, 
 30, and V, 2, 52; Rom. Ill, 5, 22. 
 
 vaunt. 1. The beginning. Troil., Prol. 
 27. From the French avant. 
 2. Boast; brag. 2HVI. Ill, 1, 50. 
 
 vaunt-courier. A forerunner. Lr. Ill, 
 2, 5. 
 
 Vaux, dr.p. 2HVI. 
 
 Vaux, Sir Nicholas, dr.p. HVIII. 
 
 vaward. 1. The vanguard of an army. 
 RV. IV, 3, 130; Cor. I, 6, 53. In IHVI. 
 1, 1, 132, he being in the vaward, placed 
 behind, the term vaward has given rise 
 to an apparent contradiction which 
 Hanmer and Theobald have tried to 
 avoid by changing vaivard to rearward. 
 But the vaward of an army is not a 
 mathematical line without breadth or 
 thickness ; it has a front and a rear of 
 
 its own, and this may explain the ap- 
 parent confusion. Clarke's explanation 
 is : Fastolfe, being in the front line of 
 his own troop, at the head of his own 
 division, was placed behind the main 
 body of the army. 
 2. The forepart of anything. Mids. IV, 
 
 I, 110 ; 2HIV. I, 2, 199. 
 vegetives. Vegetables. Per. Ill, 2, 36. 
 Velutus, Sicinius, dr.p. Tribune of the 
 
 people. Cor. 
 
 velure. Velvet. Shr. Ill, 2, 62. 
 
 velvet guards. Velvet trimmings on 
 ladies' dresses. IHIV. Ill, 1, 261. By 
 this expression is meant the higher class 
 of female citizens whose gowns (at least 
 their holiday ones) were guarded with 
 velvet. Malone. See guards. 
 
 veney. A term in fencing; literally, a 
 coming on or onset ; a turn or bout ; a 
 hit or touch. Used metaphorically for 
 a repartee or sally of wit. Wiv. I, 1, 
 296 ; LLL. V, 1, 62. Also spelled venue, 
 venew and veny. 
 
 vengeance, n. Mischief ; injury. As. 
 IV, 3, 48 ; Tim. II, 3, 113. 
 
 vengeance, adv. Excessively; very. Cor. 
 
 II, 2, 6. As an adj. in Kins. II, 3, 71, it 
 means either dangerous or that he is 
 very expert at the " trick o' the hip." 
 
 Venice, Duke of, dr.p. 0th. and Merch. 
 
 Venice. In regard to the passage in Ado. 
 I, 1, 273, if Cupid have not spent all 
 his quiver in Venice, Capell tells us 
 that "Venice was in Shakespeare's 
 time, and is now, of such celebrity for 
 its dissolute gallantries, that there is 
 small occasion for extracts from any 
 writer to prove the fitness of making 
 that city the exhauster of all Cupid's 
 quiver." All the writers of the 18th 
 century agree in representing Venice in 
 the same light as the ancients did 
 Cyprus. 
 
 vent, n. Escape; utterance. All's. II, 
 3, 213; Ant. V, 2, 353. 
 
 This word, as it occurs in Cor. IV, 5, 
 238, full of vent, has been explained as 
 " like wine, full of working, effervescent, 
 opposed to * mulled. ' " It has also been 
 claimed that it is a hunting term, mean- 
 
VEK 
 
 VER 
 
 ing to wind or scent game, and it is sup- 
 posed that war is conceived as a dog full 
 of the excitement of the chase and 
 straining at the leash. But Sh. nowhere 
 uses the word in this sense, and uses 
 it often, both as verb and noun, in its 
 ordinary sense. Here it signifies the 
 escape or relief of boisterous spirits. 
 
 vent, v. 1. To void ; to get rid of . Tp. 
 II, 2, 111 ; Cym. I, 2, 5 ; Cor. I, 1, 229. 
 2. To utter ; to give expression to. As. 
 II, 7, 43 ; Tvv. IV, 1, 10. 
 
 ventages. The holes in a flute or flageo- 
 let which regulate the note. Hml. Ill, 
 2, 373. 
 
 Ventidius, dr.p. One of Timon's false 
 friends. Tim. 
 
 Ventidius, dr.p. A friend to Antony. 
 Ant. 
 
 ventricle. A cavity. LLL. IV, 2, 70. 
 
 Venus. The goddess of love.; referred to 
 many times in Sh. works. Before she 
 was identified with the Greek goddess, 
 Aphrodite, she was one of the least im- 
 portant of the Roman divinities, al- 
 though her worship was established at 
 an early date. But the Romans identi- 
 fied her with the Greek goddess and all 
 the legends pertaining to the latter were 
 attributed to Venus. She is said to 
 have surpassed all the other goddesses 
 in beauty and to have had the power to 
 make others beautiful and beloved. She 
 had a magic girdle and whoever wore 
 it immediately became the object of love 
 and desire. Through her influence Paris 
 won Helen from her husband, Menelaus. 
 See Paris. 
 
 In the Iliad she is said to have been 
 the daughter of Jupiter and Dione ; 
 later traditions make her the daughter 
 of Saturn, but the poets most frequently 
 relate that she arose from the foam of 
 the sea. She was the wife of Vulcan, 
 but was faithless to him and carried on 
 an intrigue with Mars, whence she is 
 called, in Tp. IV, 1, 98, Mars's hot 
 minion. Vulcan caught them both in 
 an invisible net and exposed them to 
 the ridicule of the assembled gods. 
 In the vegetable kingdom the myrtle, 
 
 rose, apple, poppy, etc., were sacred to 
 her. The animals which are sacred to 
 her are the sparrow, the dove, the swan 
 and the swallow, and they are men- 
 tioned as her messengers or as drawing 
 her chariot. The planet, Venus, and 
 the month of April are likewise sacred 
 to her. See Cytherea. 
 
 The wicked bastard of Venus (As. 
 IV, 1, 216) is, of course, Cupid. 
 
 Ver. The spring ; season after winter. 
 Kins. I, 1, 7. 
 
 verbal. 1. Literal ; word for word. Ven. 
 831. 
 
 2. Expressed in words. Lr. IV, 3, 26. 
 Furness explains this line thus: "Did 
 she give you to understand her meaning 
 hy words as well as by the foregoing 
 external testimonies of sorrow ?" 
 
 3. Plain-spoken or, according to some, 
 verbose. Cym. II, 3, 111. 
 
 verdict. Literally, a true saying. IsH a 
 verdict? = do I say right? are we 
 agreed ? Cor. I, 1, 11. 
 
 verge. Space ; bound ; compass. RII. II, 
 
 I, 103 ; RIII. IV, 1, 59. 
 
 Verges, dr.p. A foolish old ofiicer. Ado. 
 Vernon, dr.p. Of the White Rose or 
 
 York faction. IHVI. 
 Vernon, Sir Richard, dr.p. IHIV. 
 versal. A corruption of wntrersaZ. Rom. 
 
 II, 4, 219. 
 
 verses. The line. By magic verses have 
 contrived his end (IHVI. 1, 1, 27) refers 
 to the notion which was prevalent for a 
 long time that life might be taken away 
 by metrical charms. " As superstition 
 grew weaker, these charms were imag- 
 ined only to have power on irrational 
 animals. In our author's time it was 
 supposed that the L^ish could kill rats 
 by a song." Johnson, cf. As. Ill, 2, 
 188. 
 
 The fanciful idea that rats were com- 
 monly rhymed to death, in Ireland, 
 arose probably from some metrical 
 charm or incantation used for that pur- 
 pose. Sir W. Temple seems to derive 
 it from the Runic incantations; for, 
 after speaking of them in various ways, 
 he adds : "And the proverb of rhyming 
 
VES 
 
 360 
 
 VIC 
 
 rats to death came, I suppose, from the 
 same root." 
 Vesta. Although her name does not occur 
 in Sh., the woi-d Vestal cannot be well 
 understood without a knowledge of her 
 mythological character. 
 
 She was one of the great Roman 
 divinities and was the goddess of the 
 hearth. In the ancient Roman house 
 the hearth was the central part, and 
 around it all the inmates daily assembled 
 for their common meal ; every meal 
 thus taken was a fresh bond of union 
 and affection among the members of a 
 family, and at the same time an act of 
 worship of Vesta combined with a 
 sacrifice to her and the Penates. Every 
 dwelling-house, therefore, was, in some 
 sense, a temple of Vesta, but a public 
 sanctuary united all the citizens of the 
 state into one large family. This sanc- 
 tuary stood in the Forum, between the 
 Capitoline and Palatine hills, and not 
 far from the temple of the Penates. 
 The goddess was not represented in her 
 temple by a statue, but the eternal fire 
 burning on her hearth or altar was her 
 living symbol. This fire was believed 
 to have been brought by -<Eneas from 
 Troy along with the images of the 
 Penates, and it was continually watched 
 and kept up by Vestals who were sup- 
 posed to be chaste and pure maidens. 
 The extinction of this fire was con- 
 sidered as the most fearful of all pro- 
 digies and emblematic of the extinction 
 of the state. If such misfortune befell 
 and was caused by the carelessness of 
 the priestess on duty, she was stripped 
 and scourged by the Pontif ex Maximus, 
 in the dark and with a screen inter- 
 posed, and he rekindled the flame by 
 the friction of two pieces of wood from 
 Skfelix arbor. 
 
 Supreme importance was attached to 
 the purity of the Vestals, and a terrible 
 punishment awaited her who violated 
 the vow of chastity. When condemned 
 by the college of pontifices, she was 
 stripjied of her vittae and other badges 
 of office, was scourged, attired like a 
 
 corpse and borne to a small underground 
 vault which had been previously pre- 
 pared. There she was actually buried 
 alive, the earth over the vault being 
 leveled and made to conform to the 
 surrounding ground. In every case the 
 paramour was publicly scourged to 
 death in the Forum. 
 
 To compensate for this life of priva- 
 tion they had numerous and important 
 privileges and honors, and after a ser- 
 vice of thirty years they might retire, 
 re-enter life and even marry. 
 Vestal, n. A priestess of Vesta. Ven. 
 752 ; Lucr. 883 ; Ant. Ill, 12, 81 ; Per. 
 IV, 5, 7. Hence, a chaste woman. Mids. 
 
 II, 1, 158, and ironically in Ei'r. IV, 4, 
 78, the allusion being to her taking care 
 of the kitchen fire. See Vesta and cf. 
 tinder. 
 
 very. True.. Gent. Ill, 2, 41; Merch. 
 
 III, 2, 226. 
 
 Vestal, ad/. Pure; chaste. Rom. II, 2, 
 8 ; Per. Ill, 4, 10. 
 
 via. 1. Off with you 1 go! Merch. II, 2, 11. 
 2. Florio, in his " Italian and English 
 Diet.," gives: "Via, an adverbe of 
 encouraging much used by commanders, 
 as also by riders to their horses, Goe on, 
 forward, on, away, goe to, on quickly." 
 3HVI. II, 1, 182. 
 
 As it occurs in LLL. V, 1, 156, it 
 evidently means "speak out." The 
 word has various meanings according 
 to the words to which it is joined. 
 
 vice, n. 1. A well-known mechanical 
 tool consisting of two jaws which may 
 be forced together with a screw. Hence 
 it signifies a tight grasp or hold. 2HI V. 
 II, 1, 34. As it occurs in Ado. V, 2, 21, 
 it probably has the same meaning. 
 Some have defined it as a screw, from 
 the French vis (from which it is un- 
 doubtedly derived), but the tool which 
 is known to us as a vice is described by 
 Moxon (1677) under that name. Thoms 
 calls attention to the well-known fact 
 (as shown in numerous engravings) that 
 the circular bucklers of the 16th century, 
 now called more commonly " targets," 
 had frequently a central spike or * 'pike ' ' 
 
VIC 
 
 361 
 
 VIN 
 
 which was usually screwed into the 
 center of the buckler. It is evident that 
 to turn this screw in with sufficient force 
 to make it hold firmly, must have re- 
 quired the use of a vice. But there 
 is evidently a coarse quibble in Bene- 
 dict's speech, and the word might mean 
 either a vice or a screw. 
 
 2. A character in the old Moralities or 
 Moral-plays frequently referred to by 
 Sh., and evidently so named from the 
 vicious qualities attributed to him. 
 Usually he was a mischievous buffoon ; 
 he wore sometimes the parti-coloured 
 dress of a fool, a feature which Dyce 
 thinks gave rise to the expression "a 
 king of shreds and patches." Like the 
 fool, he was sometimes furnished with 
 a dagger of lath, and it was not unusual 
 that it should be gilt. With this he 
 belabored the devil till he made him 
 roar. Tw. IV, 2, 134; Hml. Ill, 4, 98. 
 Bee iniquity; nails; vanity. 
 
 vice, V. Generally explained as, to screw. 
 
 Wint. I, 2, 416; and cf. Tw. V, 1, 
 
 125. 
 vicious. Blameable ; wrong. 0th. Ill, 
 
 3, 145 ; Cym. V, 5, 65. 
 
 victualler. In 2HIV. II, 4, 375, all victu- 
 allers do so, Steevens notes that "the 
 brothels were formerly screened, under 
 pretext of being victualling houses and 
 taverns,^'' just as they are in New York 
 at present under the name of " Raines' 
 Law Hotels." 
 
 vie. 1. To compete ; to rival. Ant. V, 
 2,98; Per. 111,1,26. 
 2. A term at gleek, Primero and other 
 games signifying to challenge or invite. 
 In one of Gifford's notes on Jonson's 
 works we read : "To vie was to hazard, 
 to put down, a certain sum upon a hand 
 at cards ; to revie was to cover it with 
 a larger sum, by which the challenged 
 became the challenger, and was to be 
 revied in his turn, with a proportionate 
 increase of stake. This vying and re- 
 vying upon each other continued till 
 one party lost courage and gave up the 
 whole, or obtained, for a stipulated 
 sum, a discovery of his antagonist's 
 
 cards, when the best hand swept the 
 table." Shr. II, 1, 311. 
 viewless. Invisible. Meas. Ill, 1, 124. 
 vigitant. Evidently a blunder of Dog- 
 berry for vigilant. Ado. Ill, 3, 100. 
 villagery. Either a district of villages or 
 simply a village and its outlying houses. 
 Mids. II, 1, 35. This is the only known 
 instance of the occurrence of this word. 
 villain. 1. Originally this word signified 
 merely a feudal serf who belonged to 
 the land and whose rights as regards 
 property, real or personal, were quite 
 limited. Contrary to the definition 
 given by many authors (Schm. and 
 others), "the villain was not a slave, 
 but a freeman minus the very important 
 rights of his lord." {E. A. Freeman, 
 "Norman Conquest.") For full dis- 
 cussion see Cent. Diet., s.v. villain. 
 Hence, a base-born person ; a peasant ; 
 a clown. Lucr. 1338 ; As. I, 1, 59 ; Tit. 
 IV, 3, 73; Lr. 111,7,78. 
 2. A rascal ; a scoundrel. Tp. I, 2, 309; 
 Hml. I, 5, 106 i do. I, 5, 108 ; Oth. 1, 1, 118. 
 On the passage in Hml, I, 5, 123, 
 There^s ne^er a villain dwelling in all 
 Denmark but he^s an arrant knave, 
 Seymour remarks: "Hamlet begins 
 these words in the ardour of sincerity 
 and confidence; but suddenly alarmed 
 at the magnitude of the disclosure he is 
 going to make, not only to Horatio, but 
 to another besides, he breaks off hastily : 
 * There's ne'er a villain in all Denmark ' 
 that can match (perhaps he would have 
 said) my uncle in villainy ; and then, 
 recollecting the danger of such a declar- 
 ation, he pauses for a moment and then 
 abruptly concludes : ' but he's an arrant 
 knave.' " 
 
 3, Sometimes used as a term of endear- 
 ment, just as we hear children fondly 
 called " little rogue" and "little rascal." 
 Err. I, 2, 19; Wint. I, 2, 136; Tw. II, 5, 
 16; Troil. Ill, 2,35. 
 villain, adj. Same as preceding (2) but 
 used adjectively. Merch. II, 8, 4; RIII. 
 IV, 4, 144 ; Cym. IV, 2, 71. 
 villiago. A base coward. (Italian, vigli- 
 acco.) 2HVL IV, 8, 49. 
 
VIH 
 
 362 
 
 VIX 
 
 vinaigre. Vinegar. (French; literally, 
 sour wine.) See mort. 
 
 Vincentio, dr.p. Duke of Vienna. Meas. 
 
 Vincentio, dr.p. An old gentleman of 
 Pisa. Shr. 
 
 vindicative. Revengeful. Troil. IV, 5, 107. 
 
 vinewed'st. Most mouldy. Troil. II, 1, 15. 
 
 viol. Said to be a six-stringed guitar. 
 RII. I, 8, 163. 
 
 Viola, dr.p. In love with the Duke of 
 lUyria. Tw. 
 
 viol-de-gamboys. A base viol or viol da 
 gamba. Tw. I, 3, 27. "It appears, 
 from numerous passages in our old plays, 
 that a viol de gambo was an indispens- 
 able piece of furniture in every fashion- 
 able house, where it hung up in the 
 best chamber, much as the guitar does 
 in Spain and the violin in Italy, to be 
 played on at will and to fill up the void 
 of conversation. Whoever pretended 
 to fashion affected an acquaintance with 
 this instrument. " Gifford. It was so 
 called because it was held between the 
 legs, gamba being Italian for legs. 
 
 Violenta, dr.p. Neighbor to Widow of 
 Florence. All's. 
 
 violentetli. Is violent. Troil, IV, 4, 4. 
 
 Virgilia, dr.p. Wife to Coriolanus. Cor. 
 
 virgin, v. To be chaste ; to keep uncon- 
 taminated. Cor. V, 3, 48. 
 
 virginal, n. Generally used in the plural 
 and frequently, though erroneously, 
 spoken of as a pair of virginals. It was 
 " an instrument of the spinnet kind, but 
 made quite rectangular, like a small 
 piano-forte." Nares. The name was 
 probably derived from their being used 
 by young girls. Kins. Ill, 3, 34. 
 
 virginal, v. To pat or tap with the finger 
 as if playing upon a virginal. Wint. 
 I, 2, 125. 
 
 virgin knight. " Knight, in its original 
 signification, means follower or pupil, 
 and in this sense may be feminine. 
 Helena, in All's. [I, 3, 120], uses knight 
 in the same signification." Johnson. 
 Steevens explains the expression as 
 virgin hero, i.e., one who had not yet 
 achieved any adventure, and adds that 
 *' Hero had as yet atchieved no matri- 
 
 monial one." Ado. V, 3, 13. But this in- 
 terpretation is not only far-fetched, but 
 clearly inapplicable here. Malone quotes 
 from The Two Noble Kinsmen : 
 
 O sacred, shadowy, cold and constant 
 queen, 
 — who to thy female knights 
 Allow'st no more blood than will make 
 a blush. 
 Which is their order's robe — 
 
 Dyce calls attention to Wiv. II, 1, 15 
 and 16, where night is made to rhyme 
 to knight. 
 virtue. 1. Valor; bravery. Among the 
 Romans the predominant signification 
 of virtus. Cor. I, 1, 41 ; flo. II, 2, 88 ; 
 Lr. V, 3, 103 ; Kins. Ill, 6, 82. 
 
 2. Accomplishments. Per. IV, 6, 195. 
 
 3. Power ; ability ; efficiency. Sonn. 
 LXXXI, 13; Merch. V, 1, 101 ; HVIIL 
 V, 3, 50 ; Oth. I, 3, 320. 
 
 4. The essence ; the ultimate substance. 
 Tp. 1,2,27; Mids. IV, 1, 174. 
 
 5. Personification. 2HIV. II, 4, 51; 
 HVIII. Ill, 1, 103 (with a quibble on 
 cardinal virtues). Tim. Ill, 5, 7. 
 
 virtuous. Powerful; efficacious. Meas. 
 II, 2, 168; Mids. Ill, 2, 367; Oth. Ill, 
 4, 111. 
 
 Sir Toby Belch's question : Dost thou 
 think, because thou art virtuous, there 
 shall be no more cakes and ale ? (Tw. 
 II, 3, 123) is thus explained by Lether- 
 land : " It was the custom on holidays 
 and saints' days to make cakes in honour 
 of the day. The Puritans called this 
 superstition ; and [in line 151 of this 
 same act and scene] Maria says that 
 ' Malvolio is sometimes a kind of puri- 
 tan. ' See Quarlous's Account of Rabbi 
 Busy, Act I, Sc. 3, in Ben Jonson's 
 Bartholomew Fair." 
 
 visitating. Surveying; viewing. Kins. 
 I, 1, 146. The etymological meaning of 
 the word. 
 
 visitings. Fits ; attacks. Mcb. I, 5, 46. 
 
 vixen. Properly, a she-fox; hence, ap- 
 plied to an ill-tempered, spiteful, snap- 
 pish woman. Mids. Ill, 2, 324. 
 
 The form of the word is especially in- 
 teresting as being the only instance in 
 
VIZ 
 
 VUL 
 
 which the feminine termination en has 
 been preserved. 
 vizaments. The Welsh priest's corrup- 
 tion of advisements. Wiv. I, 1, 39. 
 Vllorxa. See Ullorxa. 
 vlouting stogs. The Welshman's pro- 
 nunciation of ilouting-stocks, i.e., laugh- 
 ing-stocks. Wiv. IV, 5, 83. 
 voice, n. Authority ; direction. Mids. 
 
 -I, 1, 54 ; All's. II, 3, 60. 
 voice, V. 1. To report; to proclaim. Tim. 
 IV, 3, 81. 
 
 2. To nominate ; to vote for. Cor. II, 
 3,242. 
 voiding-lobby. Ante-room. 2HVI. IV, 
 
 1,61. 
 volable. Quick-witted. LLL. Ill, 1, 67. 
 Voltimand, dr.p. A courtier. Hml. 
 voluble. Fickle ; inconstant. 0th. II, 
 
 1, 242. 
 Volumnia, dr.p. Mother to Coriolanus. 
 
 Cor. 
 Volumnius, dr.p. Friend to Brutus and 
 
 Cassius. Caes. 
 voluntary. A volunteer. John II, 1, 67 ; 
 
 Troil. II, 1, 106. 
 vomit. The passage in Cym. I, 6, 44 to 
 46, has called forth explanations from 
 several corns. lachimo, in his pretended 
 rapture, makes a comparison between 
 Imogen and some "jay of Italy," and 
 declares that the latter is, in comparison, 
 so sluttish that to one who has once 
 beheld Imogen, she would cause nausea 
 in the hungry, i.e., in those who are 
 empty. A common idea with the poets. 
 cf. Burns's "Tarn o' Shanter" — gazing 
 on the " wither'd beldams, auld and 
 droll," and the poet wondering why it 
 "did na turn his stomach." 
 votaress. A devotee ; one consecrated 
 by a vow or solemn promise. Mids. II, 
 1, l;23 and 163 ; Per. IV, Prol. 4. Also 
 spelt votress. 
 votarist. A votary ; one who has taken a 
 vow ; masculine of votaress. Tim. IV, 
 8, 27 ; Meas. I, 4, 5 ; 0th. IV, 2, 190. 
 Vox, Latin for voice ; it also means tone ; 
 accent. When Feste tells Olivia that 
 she must allow Vox, he means that she 
 must allow him to read Malvolio's letter 
 
 with the appropriate tone, i.e., loud and 
 madman-like. The meaning is obvious, 
 though some coms. have been puzzled 
 over it. Heath says, "this word hath 
 absolutely no meaning." Tw. V, 1, 304. 
 Vulcan. The Roman god of fire whose 
 worship was of considerable political 
 importance at Rome at an early day. 
 The Roman poets transferred all the 
 stories relating to the Greek Hephaestus 
 to their own Vulcan, the two divinities 
 having, in the course of time, been com- 
 pletely identified. According to the 
 Homeric account, Hephaestus or Vulcan 
 was the son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Hera 
 (Juno). He is the god of fire, especially 
 in so far as it manifests itself as a power 
 of physical nature in volcanic districts, 
 and in so far as it is the indispensable 
 means in arts and manufactures, and 
 hence he is regarded as a skilful work- 
 man in all arts carried on by fire. Ado. 
 I, 1, 187. His workshop was at first on 
 Olympus, but later poets assign him 
 some volcanic isle with the Cyclopes, 
 Brontes, Steropes and others as his 
 workmen and assistants. The flames 
 and foul gasses which issue from these 
 places were thus accounted for, and 
 hence the allusion in Hml. Ill, 2, 89. 
 His favorite workshop was on the isle 
 of Lemnos. 
 
 He is said to have been quite lame, 
 his legs being very weak and sustained 
 by artificial supports skilfully made of 
 gold. Sonie say he was lame from 
 birth; others, that he was made lame 
 by his fall when Jupiter threw him out 
 of heaven for taking the part of his 
 mother in one of her quarrels with his 
 father. But during the best period of 
 Grecian art, he was represented as a 
 vigorous man, with a beard, and was 
 characterised by his hammer or some 
 other instrument, his oval cap and the 
 chiton which leaves the right shoulder 
 and arm uncovered. He is among the 
 male what Minerva is among the female 
 deities, for, like her, he gave skill to 
 mortal artists and, conjointly with her, 
 he was believed to have taught men the 
 
VTJL 
 
 864 
 
 WAI 
 
 arts which embellish and adorn life. 
 He had the most beautiful of the god- 
 desses for his wife, but she proved un- 
 faithful and preferred the more showy 
 and handsome Mars to her brainy and 
 skilful husband. Hence, the allusion in 
 Tit. II, 1, 89, to FwZcan'.v badge, i.e., 
 the cuckold's horns. See Venus. 
 
 vulgar, n. 1. The common people. HV. 
 IV, 7, 80 ; Caes. I, 1, 75 ; Wint. II, 1, 94. 
 2. The common tongue; vernacular. 
 LLL. IV, 1,70; As. V, 1, 53. 
 
 vulgar, adj. Common ; ordinary ; pub- 
 
 lic. Hml. I, 3, 99; Err. Ill, 1, 100; 
 Lr. IV, 6, 214. 
 
 In the time of Sh. this word did not 
 convey the opprobrious meaning that it 
 now carries. Thus, in Tw. Ill, 1, 135, 
 Viola says : for His a vulgar proof, 
 that is, a common, an obvious proof. 
 The vulgar heart (2HVI. I, 3, 90) = the 
 heart of the people. A vulgar station 
 (Cor. II, 1, 231) = a standing place in 
 the crowd. 
 vulgarly. Publicly. It does not mean 
 rudely or obscenely. Meas. V, 1, 160. 
 
 'AFER-CAKE. A very thin, 
 brittle cake. For oaths are 
 straws, 7nen''s faiths are 
 wafer-cakes. HV. II, 3, 53. 
 In the old dramatists the wafer- woman 
 bore a somewhat unenviable character 
 as a go-between, and perhaps a not very 
 trustworthy one. See Nares, s.v. wafer- 
 woman. 
 waft. To beckon. Err. II, 2, 111 ; Merch. 
 
 V, 1, 11 ; Hml. I, 4, 78. 
 waftage. Passage by water. Err. IV, 
 
 I, 95 ; Troil. Ill, 2, 11. 
 
 wafture. The act of beckoning. Caes. 
 
 II, 1, 246. 
 
 wage. 1. To bet. Hml. V, 2, 154 ; Lr. 
 I, 1, 158. 
 
 2. To pay wages to. Cor. V, 6, 40. 
 
 3. To counterpoise ; to be in opposition 
 to. Ant. V, 1, 31 ; Per. IV, 2, 34. 
 
 4. To contend against ; to fight. Lr. II, 
 4, 212. 
 
 In the passage, To wake, and wage a 
 danger profitless (0th. I, 3, 30), the 
 word wage is defined by Steevens as to 
 fight, to combat. It has generally been 
 explained, however, as to hazard ; to 
 attempt. In other passages, as in IHIV. 
 IV, 4, 20, To ivage an instant trial 
 with the king, and John I, 1, 266, The 
 aweless lion could not wage the fight, 
 it more probably means to carry on the 
 
 fight. In both cases the ones concerned 
 did hazard the fight, but could not 
 tvage it. 
 
 waggon. This word as used by Sh. is 
 equivalent to chariot or other vehicle 
 adapted to rapid motion. In England 
 the meaning has entirely changed, and 
 the word is now used to designate heavy, 
 slow-moving conveyances adapted to 
 carry freight. It furnishes another 
 instance of our retention of the same 
 meaning that the word had when first 
 brought over to this country. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 118 ; Tit. V, 2, 51 ; Rom. I, 4, 59. 
 For a full discussion of this point see 
 White's 1st ed., Vol. V, p. 402. 
 
 wagtail. A familiar bird in Great Britain, 
 of which the most noticeable feature is 
 the continual wagging motion of its 
 tail. Generally known as the " water 
 wagtail," Motacilla lugubris, from its 
 habit of frequenting streams. Kent 
 applies the name as a term of opprobrium 
 to the ducking and wagging Oswald. 
 Lr. II, 2, 73. cf. silly-ducking in line 
 109 of same scene. 
 
 wailful. Mournful; doleful. Gent. Ill, 
 2, 69. 
 
 wain. A wagon. Charles'' wain= Charles^ 
 wagon. See Charles^ wain. IHIV. II, 
 1, 2. Wain-ropes = cart- ropes. Tw. 
 Ill, 2, 64. 
 
WAI 
 
 365 
 
 WAH 
 
 waist. "That part of a ship which is 
 contained between the quarter-deck and 
 forecastle, being usually a hollow space, 
 with an ascent of several steps to either 
 of those places." Wright. Tp. I, 2, 197. 
 
 waiting=women. The suggestion, in Lr. 
 IV, 1, 62, that the fiend Flibbertigibbet, 
 he of "mopping and mowing," pos- 
 sesses chainber maids and waiting- 
 women was thought by Theobald to 
 be an allusion to the three chamber- 
 maids in the family of Mr. Edward 
 Peckhani mentioned in Harsnet's "De- 
 claration," from which Malone quotes 
 to the effect that if she " hold her armes 
 and handes stiff e, make antike faces, 
 grinne, mow and mop like an ape — 
 then no doubt— the young girle is owle- 
 blasted and possessed. ' ' Moberly thinks 
 it refers to chambermaids who perform 
 antics before their mistresses' looking- 
 glasses. 
 
 wake, n. A nightly festival, kept origin- 
 ally on the day of dedication of a parish 
 church ; vigilia. LLL. V, 2, 318 ; Wint. 
 IV, 3, 109; Lr. 111,6,77. 
 
 Through the large attendance from 
 neighbouring parishes at wakes, devo- 
 tion and reverence grad ually diminished, 
 until they ultimately became mere fairs 
 or markets, characterized by merry- 
 making and often disgraced by indulg- 
 ence and riot. The wake or revel of 
 country parishes was originally the day 
 of the week on which the church had 
 been dedicated ; afterward, the day of 
 the year. Braride. 
 
 wake, V. To keep late revel. Hml. I, 4, 8. 
 
 Wales, Henry, Prince of, dr.p. After- 
 wards Henry V. IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 Wales, Edward, Prince of, dr.p. Son to 
 Edward IV. RIII. 
 
 wall-eyed. Having a large portion of the 
 white of the eye visible, which gives a 
 fierce look to the eye; glaring-eyed. 
 John IV, 3, 49 ; Tit. V, 1, 44. Certainly 
 not blear-eyed in any known dialect. 
 Yet so stated in a recent " Glossary." 
 
 waU=newt. A species of lizard. Lr. Ill, 
 4, 133. 
 It is not a newt, as the true newt lives 
 
 in water and very damp places, and 
 not on walls. Mrs. Browning, in her 
 " Aurora Leigh," thus alludes to these 
 "wall-newts": 
 
 Lizards, the green lightnings of the 
 
 walls, * * * 
 With such prodigious eyes in such 
 
 small heads. 
 
 See lizard and newt. 
 
 walls. The passage in Lr. V, 8, 76, the 
 walls are thine, has been a subject 
 for discussion. Some think that "the 
 walls " allude to Regan's castle referred 
 to in line 245 of this scene. Warburton 
 explains it as "a metaphorical phrase 
 taken from the camp and signifjdng, 
 to surrender at discretion. Johnson 
 and Steevens accept this, and Steevens 
 refers to Cym. II, 1, 67, for a parallelism. 
 Rolfe thinks this is the correct inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 wanned. Turned pale and wan. Hml. 
 II, 2, 580. 
 
 wannion. Used only in the phrase with 
 a wannion = with a vengeance. Per. 
 
 II, 1, 17. 
 
 want. The passage in Mcb. Ill, 6, 8, Who 
 cannot want the thought, has given 
 rise to much discussion. Malone makes 
 this remark: " The sense requires : Who 
 can want the thought. Yet, I believe, 
 the text is not corrupt. Shakespeare is 
 sometimes incorrect in these minutiae." 
 R. G. White, after giving some pretty 
 positive views in his " Shakespeare's 
 Scholar," says in his 1st ed. : "A recol- 
 lection of the mistakes that I have made 
 myself and known others to make have 
 led me unwillingly to the belief that 
 Malone may be right"; and in his 
 "Riverside" ed. he has this note: 
 "Shakespeare meant ' Who can want,' 
 etc. ; an example of heterophemy. " 
 {Heterophemy means saying one thing 
 when another thing is meant.] 
 
 The word want has two very distinct 
 meanings in Sh., with several varying 
 shades. In some passages, as in RIII. 
 
 III, 1, 6, / want more uncles here to 
 welcome me, it signifies desire, need of. 
 In others, as in Tim. Ill, 2, 43, it sigui- 
 
WAN 
 
 WAR 
 
 fies to be without, and in Lr. I, 1, 28'i, 
 it seems to be used in both senses. That 
 it retains both senses even now is a 
 matter of common knowledge, but that 
 in old English or Scotch the second 
 meaning was more marked than it is 
 to-day is also well known. As an in- 
 stance of this we may cite Burns's 
 famous Selkirk " Grace " : 
 
 Some hae meat, and canna eat, 
 
 And some wad eat that want it ; 
 But we hae meat, and we can eat, 
 And sae the Lord be thankit. 
 Here the meaning of the second line is : 
 Some would eat who have no meat. 
 
 In trying to get at the meaning of 
 the passage in Mcb. we must bear in 
 mind that the whole speech is ironical ; 
 Lennox is saying exactly the opposite 
 of what he means. 
 wanton. In addition to the usual mean- 
 ings, sometimes signifies effeminate ; 
 feeble ; brought up in luxury. John 
 V, 1, 70; RII. V, 3, 10; Hml. V, 3, 210. 
 want-wit. An idiot. Merch. I, 1, 6. 
 wappened. Over-worn; stale. Tim. IV, 
 3, 38. Other readings, such as ivained, 
 vapid, woepined, etc., have been sug- 
 gested, but good authority has been 
 found for the word as it stands, though 
 it would be impossible to discuss its 
 origin in these pages. 
 ward. 1. A guard made in fencing. Tp. 
 I. 2, 471. 
 2. Prison. 2HVI. V, 1, 112. 
 warden. A large, hard pear, chiefly used 
 for roasting or baking. Warden-pies 
 = pies made of warden pears. Wint. 
 IV, 3, 48. " They are now generally 
 baked or stewed without crust; and 
 coloured with cochineal, not saffron, 
 as in old times. " Nares. 
 warder. " A kind of truncheon or staff 
 of command carried by a king or by 
 any commander-in-chief, the throwing 
 down of which seems to have been a 
 solemn act of prohibition, to stay pro- 
 ceedings. I do not know that it was 
 called ivarder except on such occasions. " 
 Nares. RII, I, 3, 118; 2HIV. IV, 1, 
 l:J5. 
 
 Ware. A town in Hertfordshire, England, 
 about 21 miles north of London, The 
 allusion in Tw. Ill, 2, 51, to the bed of 
 Ware in England is to a curious piece 
 of furniture, celebrated by Sh, and 
 Jonson. It is still preserved, and is 
 made of oak, richly carved, measuring 
 ten feet, nine inches in length ; ten feet, 
 nine inches in width, and seven feet, 
 six inches in heighth, Nares says that 
 it was reported to be "capable of hold- 
 ing twenty or twenty-four persons ; but 
 in order to accommodate that number, 
 it is evident that they must lie at top 
 and bottom with their feet meeting in 
 the middle. " He gives the size as twelve 
 feet square, but the actual measure- 
 ments are as given above. Nares 
 further tells us that "in Chauncy's 
 ' Hertfordshire ' there is an account of 
 its receiving at once twelve men and 
 their wives, who lay at top and bottom, 
 in this mode of arrangement : first, two 
 men, then two women, and so on alter- 
 nately, so that no man was near to any 
 woman but his wife. For the ridiculous 
 conclusion of the story, I refer to that 
 book." 
 
 In regard to its history Dyce says : 
 " At what inn in Ware it was kept 
 during Shakespeare's days is uncertain : 
 but, after being for many years at the 
 Saracen's Head, it was sold there by 
 auction in September, 1864, and knocked 
 down at a hundred guineas (the news- 
 papers erroneously adding that Mr. 
 Charles Dickens was the purchaser)." 
 'ware pencils. See B. 
 warn. To summon. John II, 1, 201 ; 
 Rom, V, 3, 207 ; Caes. V, 1, 5, 
 
 The phrase God warn us, in As. IV, 
 1, 1, has been thought by some to be a 
 coiTuption of God ward us, i.e., guard 
 us. Others explain it as " sunnnon us," 
 as in RIII. I, 3, 39. It undoubtedly 
 means " God protect us," but the idiom 
 is unusual. 
 warning. A summons. Mids. V, 1, 211 ; 
 
 Hml, I, 1, 152, 
 warp. In the line, Though thou the 
 waters warp (As. II, 7, 187), the mean- 
 
WAR 
 
 367 
 
 WAT 
 
 ing of warp is not positively clear, but 
 the interpretation of Wright is, no 
 doubt, the correct one. He says : " We 
 may therefore understand by the warp- 
 ing of the waters either the change pro- 
 duced in them by the action of the 
 frost or the bending and ruffling of 
 their surface caused by the wintry 
 wind." Probably the latter. Any one 
 who has stood by a pond on a wintry 
 day and seen a sharp, cold wind ruffle its 
 surface, must recall the intensely chill- 
 ing and dreary character of the scene, 
 corresponding exactly to the tenor of 
 the song — Blow, blow, thou wintry 
 wind. 
 
 warrant. The usual explanation of the 
 phrase Lord warrant us (As. Ill, 3, 5), 
 is : Lord protect us ! 
 
 warrener. A gamekeeper. Wiv. 1,4, 28. 
 
 Wart, dr.p. One of Falstaff's recruits. 
 2HIV. 
 
 Warwick, Earl of, dr.p. Known as ' ' The 
 King-maker." IHVI. ; 2HVI. ; 3HVI. 
 
 wary. The expression, hold their honours 
 in a wary distance (0th. II, 3, 58), is 
 explained by Rolfe as being sensitive 
 with regard to their honour ; quick to 
 take offence at a supposed insult. 
 
 wash, n. The sea. Hml. Ill, 2, 146. 
 
 Grerman corns, have expended a great 
 deal of useless conjecture in regard to 
 this word, but the meaning is so obvious 
 that it cannot give rise to a doubt ex- 
 cept under a cloud of useless learning. 
 "The original sense was probably 'to 
 wet, ' hence, to flood with water. ' ' Skeat. 
 The verb, by a common transition, was 
 afterwards used also as a noun, and is 
 in common use in household parlance. 
 It has also been specifically applied to 
 an arm of the North Sea, on the coast 
 of England, between Norfolk and Lin- 
 colnshire, which has been called " The 
 Wash." 
 
 wash'd. Weeping. Lr. I, 1, 271. The 
 word wash is often applied to weeping, 
 as in Ado. I, 1, 27 ; Mids. II, 2, 93 ; 
 Rom. II, 3, 70, and elsewhere. 
 
 Washford. The old name of Wexford, 
 in Ireland. IHVL IV, 7, 63, 
 
 waspish-headed. Irritable; petulant. Tp. 
 IV, 1,99. 
 
 wassail. A drinking bout ; a carousing. 
 LLL. V, 2, 318; Mcb. I, 7, 64; Hml. I, 
 4, 9. In Ant. I, 4, 56, some eds. read 
 vas sails, others vassals. 
 
 wassail candle. " A large candle lighted 
 up at a feast. There is a poor quibble 
 upon the word wax, which signifies 
 increase as well as the matter of the 
 honey-comb." Johnson. 2HI V. 1, 2, 179. 
 
 wat. A name for the hare used colloqui- 
 ally amongst sportsmen. Ven. 697. 
 
 watch. The watch is referred to several 
 times in Sh., as in Tp. II, 1, 12; LLL. 
 Ill, 1, 194; Tw. II, 5, 66. "The inven- 
 tion of striking watches is ascribed to 
 Peter Hele, of Nuremberg, about the 
 year 1510." Wright. 
 
 The passage in Tw. II, 5, 66, which in 
 the Fl. reads winde up my watch, or 
 play with my some I'ich lewell, has a 
 dash after play with my in the g.a. 
 text. This was inserted by Collier, who 
 says: "It is more natural to suppose 
 that Malvolio, having mentioned his 
 watch, then rather a rarity, wishes to 
 enumerate some other valuable in his 
 possession, and pauses after * or play 
 with my,' following it up with the 
 words ' some rich jewel,' not being able 
 on the sudden to name any one in par- 
 ticular." Nicholson makes the follow- 
 ing very pertinent suggestion : " There 
 is here a true touch of nature and a 
 most humourous one. While Sir Toby 
 is being fetched to the presence, the 
 Lord Malvolio would frowningly wind 
 up his watch or play with — here, from 
 force of habit, he fingers [his badge of 
 office] and is about to add play with my 
 chain, but suddenly remembering that 
 he would be no longer a steward, or 
 other gold-chained attendant, he stops 
 short, and then confusedly alters his 
 phrase to — ' some rich jewel.' " Apud 
 Furness. 
 
 watch-case. Generally explained as a 
 sentry-box. 2HIV. Ill, 1, 17. "This 
 alludes to the watchman set in garrison 
 towns on some eminence attending upon 
 
WAT 
 
 WEA 
 
 an alarum bell, which was to ring out 
 in case of fire or any approaching 
 danger." Hanmer. On the other hand, 
 Holt White, followed by C. and M. 
 Clarke and some others explain the 
 term as referring to an alarm watch or 
 clock. But the fact that 'larum bell is 
 mentioned as well as watch-case would 
 seem to be in favor of Hanmer's gloss. 
 water. 1. A well-known liquid. The 
 expression, But what should go by 
 water (0th. IV, 2, 104) = by weeping. 
 
 The clown's saying, / ain for all 
 waters (Tw. IV, 2, 68), is generally 
 supposed to mean, *' I can tummy hand 
 to anything ; like a fish, I can swim in 
 all waters." 
 
 To raise waters = to excite tears. 
 Merch. II, 2, 53. 
 
 2. The lustre of a diamond. Tim. I, 1, 
 18 ; Per. Ill, 2, 102. 
 water, V. To drink. IHIV. II, 4, 17. cf. 
 the expression, his steeds to water. 
 Gym. II, 3, 23. 
 water-colours. Literally, colors mixed 
 with water instead of oil; hence, thin 
 and transparent. In IHIV. V, 1, 80, it 
 seems to mean flimsy excuses. Others 
 define the term as " weak fellows." 
 water-gall. A secondary rainbow. Lucr. 
 
 1588. 
 waterish. Abounding in water ; weak ; 
 thin ; insipid. Lr. I, 1, 261. Burgundy 
 abounded in streams, and Burgundians 
 boasted that it was the best- watered 
 district in France. The expression is 
 here used contemptuously, as in Oth. 
 Ill, 3, 15. 
 water-rugs. Rough water dogs. Mcb. 
 
 in, 1, 94. 
 water -work. A painting executed in 
 water-colors or in distemper. 2HIV. 
 II, 1, 158. 
 watery. Eagerly desirous (as when the 
 
 mouth waters). Troil. Ill, 2, 20. 
 wave. To fluctuate. Cor. II, 2, 19. 
 wax. Tlie phrase, a man of wax (Rom. 
 I, 3, 76), is generally explained as well- 
 made ; as if he had been modeled in 
 wax. In support of this interpretation 
 Stwveus quotes Hor«vce: "When you, 
 
 Lydia, praise the waxen arms of Tele- 
 phus;" and White from "Euphues 
 and his England": "So exquisite, 
 that for shape he must be framed in 
 wax." 
 
 The line in John V, 4, 24, even as a 
 form of wax Resolveth from his figure 
 Against the fire ? is, of course, an allu- 
 sion to the images made by witches. 
 Holinshed observes that it was alleged 
 against Dame Eleanor Cobbam and her 
 confederates " that they had devised 
 an image of wax representing the king, 
 which, by their sorcerie, by little and 
 little consumed, intending thereby, in 
 conclusion, to waste and destroy the 
 king's person. " Steevens. 
 waxen, adj. Made of wax ; impressible ; 
 soft. Lucr. 178 ; RII. I, 3, 75. 
 
 In Mids. Ill, 1, 172, Sh. adopts the 
 popular error that the pollen with which 
 the bees load their thighs is wax. Bees- 
 wax is not a plant product, and is not 
 found by the bees, but is a fatty pro- 
 duct secreted by the bees themselves 
 and formed out of honey. 
 waxen, v. Mids. II, 1, 56. The only in- 
 stance of waxen, as a verb, in Sh. The 
 explanation given by Johnson is : "That 
 is, increases, as the moon waxes.''^ It 
 was suggested by Dr. Farmer that 
 waxen is probably corrupted from 
 yoxen or yexen, to hiccup, and taken 
 in connection with neeze this might 
 seem to be the true meaning. But most 
 authorities. Dr. Furness included, agree 
 with Johnson, and if the language were 
 intentionally "an affectation of ancient 
 phraseology," as Steevens alleges, it 
 would probably have remained yaxen, 
 or yexen, or yoxen. 
 wealsmen. Statesmen. Cor. II, 1, 60. 
 wealth. Welfare; prosperity. Merch. V, 
 
 I, 249; Hml. IV, 4, 27. 
 
 wear. Fashion. Meas. Ill, 2, 78 ; As. II, 
 
 7, 34; All's. I, 1, 219; Wint. IV, 4, 327. 
 
 weather. Storm. John IV, 2, 109 ; Merch. 
 
 II, 9, 29. 
 
 To keep the weather means to have 
 the advantage ; to keep on the wind- 
 ward side. Troil. V, 3, 26. 
 
WE A 
 
 WES 
 
 weather - fend. To defend from the 
 
 weather. Tp. V, 1, 10. 
 weaver. It seems that weavers were 
 noted for tlieir singing; thus, in IHIV. 
 II, 4, 147, Falstaffisays: I would I were 
 a weaver ; I could sing psalms or any- 
 thing. Many of the weavers in England 
 in Sh. time were Calviuistic refugees 
 from the Netherlands and consequently 
 were very much given to singing psalms. 
 Their libertine neighbors said that 
 psalm-singing was all their religion. 
 For the allusion in Tw. II, 3, 61, see 
 soul. 
 
 web and the pin. An old name for catar- 
 act in the eye. Lr. Ill, 4, 122; Wint. 
 I, 2, 291. 
 
 wee. Small ; little. Wiv. I, 4, 22. Still 
 in common use in Scotland. 
 
 weed. A garment. Mids. II, 1 , 256 ; T w. 
 V, 1, 262 ; Hml. IV, 7, 81. In Meas. I, 
 3, 20, the word occurs with a peculiar 
 meaning in the passage the needful bits 
 and curbs to headstrong weeds. Collier 
 points out that the term weed is still 
 commonly applied to an ill-conditioned 
 horse. The readings steeds and wills 
 have been suggested as emendations. 
 
 ween. To imagine ; to hope. IHVI. II, 
 5, 88 ; HVIII. V, 1, 136. cf. overween. 
 
 week. The phrase, in by the week, is a 
 slang expression for being a close pri- 
 soner. LLL. V, 2, 61. 
 
 weep. See millstones. 
 
 weeping-ripe. Ready to weep. 3HVI. 
 I, 4, 172. See ripe. 
 
 weet. To know. Ant. I, 1, 39. 
 
 weird. Fate or destiny. The word is 
 used by Sh. as an adjective, but properly 
 it is a noun. It is used by Sh. only as 
 applied to the witches in Mcb. In this 
 connection it occurs six times, the pro- 
 nunciation varying according to the 
 requirements of the metre. Sh. took 
 the word from Holinshed, who, after 
 describing " three women in strange 
 and wild apparell, resembling creatures 
 of the elder world," says : "Afterwards 
 the common opinion was, that these 
 women were either the weird sisters, 
 that is (as ye would say), the goddesses 
 
 of destinie, or else some nymphs or 
 fairies." Mcb. I, 3, 32, and elsewhere. 
 
 weikin, n. The sky. Yen. 921 ; Tp. I, 2, 
 4. In LLL. Ill, 1, 68, By thy favor 
 sweet welkin, Armado, with the false 
 dignity of a Spaniard, makes an apology 
 for sighing in its face. Johnson. 
 
 The passage in Tw. II, 3, 59, shall we 
 make the welkin dance? is explained 
 by Johnson as "drink till the sky seems 
 to turn round." 
 
 In Tw. Ill, 1, 65, Feste uses welkin as 
 synonymous with " element, " which is 
 sometimes used for sky, for the purpose 
 of avoiding the more familiar word. In 
 his Satiro-m,astix, Dekker had ridiculed 
 this word, element, putting it in the 
 mouth of Horace, who was a caricature 
 of Ben Jonson. 
 
 welkin, adj. Sky-blue ; according to some, 
 heavenly. Wint. I, 2, 136. 
 
 well-a-day. Alas ! Wiv. Ill, 3, 106 ; 
 Tw. IV, 2, 116. 
 
 weil=a-near. Alas ! Per. Ill, Prol. 51. 
 
 well-graced. Graceful; popular. RII. 
 V, 2, 24. 
 
 well-liking. In good condition. LLL. V, 
 2, 268. 
 
 well-said. Well done. As. II, 6, 14 ; 
 IHIV. V, 4, 75; 2HIV. V, 3, 10. 
 
 In some passages, however, it un- 
 doubtedly has the meaning which we 
 now give to "well-said." 
 
 well=seen. Skilful. Shr. I, 2, 136. 
 
 well-wished. Popular. Meas. II, 4, 28. 
 
 Welsh-hook. An old military weapon of 
 the bill kind, but having, in addition to 
 a cutting blade, a hook at the back. 
 IHIV. II, 4, 372. 
 
 went. The phrase. Wherein went he ? 
 (in As. Ill, 2, 234), means, " How was 
 he dressed ?" 
 
 wench. This word occurs many times in 
 Sh., but never with a depreciatory 
 meaning, except whei-e such meaning 
 is conveyed by some accompanying 
 word. Prospero twice calls his daughter 
 wench in Tp. I, 2, 139 and 412 ; the nurse 
 calls Juliet wench in Rom. II, 5, 45, and 
 Othello addresses Desdemona as wench, 
 not in his insane jealousy, but lovingly, 
 
WES 
 
 370 
 
 WHE 
 
 after he has fully realized how innocent 
 she was and how her look " would hurl 
 his soul from heaven " (Olh. V, 2, 272) ; 
 and in William, of Palerne (Early 
 English Text Society's ed. I, 1901) the 
 writer speaks of " William and his 
 worthie wenche," the wench being a 
 princess. Furness thinks that *' there 
 was, nevertheless, a faint sub-audition 
 of inferiority of some kind," but this 
 seems to have been always indicated by 
 the coiftext. The original word meant 
 a child, and hence indicated physical 
 weakness, but physical ideas were very 
 apt to run into the mental and moral, 
 as we see in the case of silly, q.v. Thus, 
 in Chaucer's MerchanV s Tale (I, 958), 
 we read : " I am a gentil woniman, and 
 no wenche." That the idea of a depre- 
 ciatory sense attaching to the word was 
 quite common actually led one com. to 
 suggest an emendation of Othello's apos- 
 trophe to Desdemona, the word wench 
 being changed to wretch ! 
 
 wesand. See wezand. 
 
 Westminster, Abbott of, dr. p. RII. 
 
 Westmoreland, Earl of, dr. p. IHIV. ; 
 2HIV. ; HV. 
 
 Westmoreland, Earl of, dr.p. 3HVI. 
 
 Westward Ho 1 The cry of the watermen 
 on the river Thames. Tw. Ill, 1, 146. 
 
 wezand. The wind-pipe. Tp. Ill, 2, 99. 
 
 what is he for a fool? An idiomatic form 
 of " what manner of fool is he ?" Ado. 
 I, 3, 49. 
 
 wheat, white. Wheat that is ripe — ' ' white 
 unto the harvest." Lr. Ill, 4, 133. 
 
 wheaten garland. An emblem of fertility; 
 also of peace and plenty. Kins. I, 1, 
 in stage direction, and also line 64. 
 
 wheel, n. The burden or refrain of a 
 song, or else a spinning-wheel at which 
 it was sung. Hml. IV, 5, 171. 
 
 The wheel is come full circle (Lr. V, 
 3, 174), that is, the wheel of fortune, cf. 
 Caes. V, 3, 25, and the clown's " whirli- 
 gig," Tw. V, 1, 385. Also Lr. II, 2, 
 180. See also Enid's song in "The 
 Idyls of the King": "Turn, fortune, 
 turn thy wheel." 
 The passage in Err. Ill, 2, 151, and 
 
 made ine turn V the wheel, is an allu- 
 sion to the old practice of training dogs 
 to turn a wheel so as to cause the spit, 
 which carried the meat, to revolve 
 before the fire. In those days the 
 method generally used for roasting meat 
 and game was to hang them on a spit 
 before the fire and cook them by means 
 of the radiated heat. Various devices 
 were employed for turning the spit so 
 as to have the meat roast evenly, and 
 as the amount of power required was 
 very small, young children and dogs 
 were sometimes employed. So common 
 was this practice in Great Britain, until 
 quite recent times, that the mention of 
 it in this passage does not call forth a 
 single word of comment or explanation 
 in the 3rd Var. of 1831. In " The Henry 
 Irving Shakespeare," we find this note 
 on line 151 : " Referring to the turnspit 
 dogs, a race lately come into fashion 
 again, but in a less useful capacity than 
 that which they fulfilled in Sh. time." 
 Halliwell fills three folio pages with a 
 description of the various inventions 
 made for doing this work. Weights, 
 acting as they do in clocks, were a 
 favorite source of power ; springs were 
 also used, and in many cases the current 
 of hot air going up the chimney was 
 made to turn the spit. But the dog 
 seems always to have been a favorite 
 for this purpose, and a breed specially 
 adapted to the work, and known as the 
 turnspit^ was generally employed. Top- 
 sell, in his " History of Four-Footed 
 Beasts" (1007), thus describes it: "There 
 is comprehended under the curres of 
 the coursest kinde, a certain dogge in 
 kitchen service excellent : for when any 
 meat is to be roasted, they go into a 
 wheel, which they turning about with 
 the weight of their bodies, so diligently 
 looke to their businesse, that no drudge 
 nor scullion can do the feate more 
 cunningly." 
 wheel, V. 1. To roam. Troil. V, 7, 2 ; 
 0th. I, 1, 137. 
 2. To make a circuit ; to go round. Cor. 
 I, 6, 19. 
 
WHE 
 
 371 
 
 WSI 
 
 wheeling. As this word occurs in 0th. I, 
 1, 137, it evidently means circling about, 
 and corresponds to extravagant, which 
 here means wandering. Collier's MS. 
 suggested wheedling, and Staunton 
 whirling, but wheeling is no doubt the 
 true word. 
 Wheeson week. The hostess's blunder 
 
 for Whitsun week. 2HIV. II, 1, 96. 
 whelk. A swelling; a pustule; a ridge. 
 
 HY. Ill, 6, 108. 
 whelked. Having wavy ridges like a 
 
 ram's horn. Lr. IV, 6, 71. 
 whenas, ) When. Sonn. XLIX, 3 ; Err. 
 when as. f IV, 4, 140; 3HVI. I, 2, 75. 
 
 Printed as one word in some eds. 
 where, n. A place. Lr. I, 1, 264. On 
 this passage Johnson remarks : " Here 
 and where have the power of nouns. 
 where, adv. Whereas. LLL. II, 1, 103; 
 
 Merch. IV, 1, 22 ; IHVI. V, 5, 47. 
 whey-face. A face white or pale from 
 fear or any other cause. Mcb. V, 3, 17 ; 
 Wiv. I, 4, 22. 
 whiffler. One who goes before in a pro- 
 cession and clears the way. HV. V, 
 Chor. 12. 
 
 The word " is by no means, as Han- 
 mer had conceived, a corruption from 
 the French /iwisstej'. He was apparently 
 misled by the resemblance which the 
 office of a whiffler bore in modern times 
 to that of an usher. The term is un- 
 doubtedly borrowed from whiffle, an- 
 other name for a fife or small flute ; for 
 whifflers were originally those who pre- 
 ceded armies or processions as fif ers or 
 pipers. * * * In process of time the 
 term ivhiffler, which had always been 
 used in the sense of a fifer, came to 
 signify any person who went before in 
 a procession. Minsheu, in his " Dic- 
 tionary" (1617), defines him to be 'a 
 club or staff- bearer.' Sometimes the 
 whifflers carried white staves. ' ' Donee. 
 while. Until. RII. I, 3, 132 ; Mcb. Ill, 
 
 1, 44. 
 whiie-ere. Erewhile ; not long ago. Tp. 
 
 Ill, 2, 127. 
 whiles. Until. Tw. IV, 3, 29. cf. tvhile. 
 whip. In Cor. I, 8, 12, the passage: 
 
 Hector, That was the whip of your 
 bragged j^rogeny, is a little awkward. 
 It was the Trojans, not the Greeks, 
 from whom the Romans claimed to be 
 descended ; the of, therefore, must mean 
 belonging to ; i.e.. Hector was the whip 
 belonging to the Trojans, who whipped 
 his enemies. 
 whipping-cheer. A flogging; chastise- 
 ment. 2HIV. V, 4, 5. 
 whipster. A whipper-snapper ; a nimble, 
 restless little fellow ; one who suddenly 
 seizes or whips up anything. 0th. V, 
 2, 244. 
 whipstock. The handle of a whip. Tw. 
 II, 3, 28 ; Per. II, 2, 51 ; Kins. I, 2, 86. 
 
 One of the words in common use in 
 England in the 16th century and still 
 retained in this country and in many 
 parts of England, though it would seem 
 to have fallen somewhat into disuse, 
 the "Globe" and other glossaries find- 
 ing it necessary to explain it. 
 
 The clown's expression in Tw. II, 3, 
 28, Malvolio^s nose is no whipstock, is 
 not easily understood. It is easy en ough 
 to imagine plausible meanings for it, 
 but that is not the problem. Hutson 
 explains it as follows: "This reply of 
 the Clown is apparently a whimsical 
 series of inconsecutive ideas ; but, ex- 
 amined closely, it will be found not to 
 lack continuity; — ' I pocketed thy trifling 
 gratuity (for he seems to me to mean a 
 hidden sneer by his diminutive), because 
 Malvolio would soon nose me out if I 
 abstracted wine from the steward's 
 stores ; my lady (not Olivia, but the 
 girl Sir Andrew sent him the sixpence 
 for) has too white a hand to condescend 
 to common tipple, and the tavern called 
 the Myrmidons, where I would regale 
 her, is no place for cheap drink." This 
 is certainly interesting, even if a little 
 far-fetched and imaginative, but it does 
 not explain the connection between 
 Malvolio's nose and a whipstock. 
 
 Perhaps it may have been because 
 this feature of Malvolio's countenance 
 was somewhat large and prominent, a 
 whipstock being usually quite slender. 
 
WHI 
 
 3T: 
 
 WHI 
 
 whir. To hurry away. Per. IV, 1, 21. 
 Some eds. hurrying. 
 
 whist. The lines in Ariel's song (Tp. I, 
 2, 378) : 
 
 Curtsied when you have, and kiss'd 
 The wild waves whist, 
 are thus explained by Wright : "If we 
 take ' kiss'd ' to refer to the fairies, who, 
 before beginning their dance, courtsy 
 to and kiss their partners, the words 
 ' The wild waves whist ' must be read 
 parenthetically, ' the wild waves being 
 silent,' and as it is Ariel's music that 
 stills the waves, and not the fairies, this 
 seems to be the better reading. " Prof. 
 Allen, as quoted by Furness, regards the 
 waves as spectators who are hushed into 
 silent attention by the signal of the fairies 
 taking hands, courtesy ing and kissing. 
 But this does not seem quite as fully in 
 accordance with the general action of 
 the play as Wright's interpretation. 
 
 Hudson's explanation is that the fairies 
 kissed the wild waves into silence, "a 
 delicate touch of poetry that is quite 
 lost as the passage is usually printed, 
 the line, The wild waves whist, being 
 made parenthetical, an'd that, too, with- 
 out any authority from the original." 
 This has been adopted by Rolfe. 
 
 whistle. Groneril's remark : / have been 
 worth the whistle, is explained by 
 Moberly as meaning: "There was a 
 time when you would not have waited 
 so long without coming to meet me." 
 There is an old proverb : " It is a poor 
 dog that is not worth the whistling," 
 and to this Goneril refers. Lr. IV, 
 2,29. 
 
 The phi'ase, Fid whistle her off 
 and let her down the wind, is taken 
 from falconry, and means to dismiss a 
 hawk from the fist. 0th. Ill, 2, 29. 
 "The falconers always let the hawk fly 
 against the wind; if she flies with the 
 wind behind her, she seldom returns. 
 If, therefore, a hawk was, for any 
 reason, to be dismissed, she was let 
 down the wind, and from that time 
 shifted for herself and preyed at for- 
 tune. Johnson. 
 
 white. The center of an archery butt. 
 Shr. V, 2, 186. There is here a pun 
 on the name Bianca, which signifies 
 white. 
 
 The term white wench, as it occurs in 
 Rom. II, 4, 14, is supposed to be a term 
 of endearment, like " white boy," which 
 is used in The Knight of the Burning 
 Pestle by Mrs. Merrythought to her 
 darling son, Michael: "What says my 
 white boy ? " and in the ^^ Eeturne from 
 Parnassus, II, 6, the Page says : " When 
 he returns, I'll tell twenty admirable 
 lies of his hawk ; and then I shall be his 
 little rogue and his white villain for a 
 whole week after." See Nares, s. v. 
 white boy. 
 
 The meaning of white herring, in Lr. 
 Ill, 6, 33, has not been satisfactorily 
 settled. The term has been applied to 
 salt or pickled herring as opposed to red 
 herring, and also to fresh herring. A 
 writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, 
 as quoted by Furness, says that " there 
 is no occasion to pickle the herring," 
 but it was done, nevertheless, and 
 pickled herring were called white her- 
 ring. In the " Glossary of Mauley and 
 Corringham," Lincolnshire, as pub- 
 lished by the English Dialect Society, 
 white herring is given as ineaning fresh 
 herring, so that the authorities seem to 
 be equally divided. 
 
 white-fac'd shore. England is supposed 
 to be called Albion from the white 
 rocks facing France. Johnson. John 
 II, 1, 23. 
 
 white-livered. Cowardly; having no blood 
 in the liver. H V. Ill, 2, 34 ; RIII. IV, 
 4, 46.5; and cf. Tw. Ill, 2, 66. 
 
 whiting-time. Bleaching time. Wiv. Ill, 
 3, 140. 
 
 Whitley. Pale-faced. LLL. Ill, 1, 198. 
 A doubtful word; some defined it as 
 faded. It is whitley in the Fl. ; whitely 
 in the F3. and F4. and the Cambridge 
 ed. ; wightly in the 1st Cambridge ed. 
 and in the Globe. See wightly. 
 
 Whitmore, Walter, dr. p. 2HVI. 
 
 whitster. A bleacher ; literally, one who 
 makes things white. Wiv. Ill, 3, 14. 
 
WHI 
 
 373 
 
 WIL 
 
 whittle. A large kuife, especially one 
 carried in the belt. Still a good Ameri- 
 can word, though with our cousins it 
 seems to have dropped out of common 
 use, Tim. V, 1, 183. The Scotch still 
 retain it. See Burns's " Death and Dr. 
 Hornbook," Tenth Stanza. 
 
 whole. Solid; sound. Mids. Ill, 3, 53; 
 Mcb. Ill, 4, 22. 
 
 whoo-bub. Outcry; clamor; hubbub. 
 Wint. IV, 4, 629. 
 
 whoop. An interjection, or, rather, an 
 exclamation. Wint. IV", 4, 199 ; Lr. I, 
 4, 245. Sometimes "hoop," as in As. 
 Ill, 2, 203, out of all hooping = beyond 
 all exclamation of wonder. 
 
 Writing of the servant's speech in 
 Wint. IV, 4, Dr. Purness says : "A 
 Bibliography of this old song is given 
 by Chappell on pp. 208, 774, together 
 with the music. A song with this 
 bui'den is to be found in Fry's Ancient 
 Poetry, 'but,' adds Chappell, 'it would 
 not be desirable for republication.' 
 Indeed, the humour in the whole of this 
 speech by the Clown [Servant, not 
 Clown] would be relished by an Eliza- 
 bethan audience, to whom the praises 
 bestowed by the Clown [?] on the 
 decency of the ballads, would be at 
 once recognised as one of the jokes." 
 
 wicked. Mischievous ; baneful ; poison- 
 ous. Tp. I, 2, 321. 
 
 wide. Distracted ; astray. Ado. IV, 1, 
 60 ; Lr. IV, 7, 50. 
 
 widow, V. 1. To give a jointure to ; to 
 endow with a widow's rights. Meas. V, 
 1, 429. 
 
 2. To become a widow to; to survive a 
 husband. Ant. I, 2, 27. 
 
 widow-hood. A widow's right in the 
 estate of her deceased husband. Shr. II, 
 1, 125. 
 
 wife. lago's speech in 0th. I, 1, 21, A 
 fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife, 
 has puzzled not only the corns., but 
 most readers of Sh. Dr. Furness gives 
 five solid pages of fine type to the ex- 
 planations and emendations that have 
 been offered. Johnson says : "This is 
 one of the passages which must for the 
 
 present be resigned to corruption and 
 obscurity. I have nothing that I can, 
 with any approach to confidence, pro- 
 pose. " Furness can only say, " I merely 
 re-echo Dr. Johnson's words. " 
 
 Various emendations have been pro- 
 posed, but none that is in any way 
 satisfactory. 
 
 wight. A person. Troil. IV, 2, 12 ; Wiv. 
 I, 3, 23 ; 0th. II, 1, 159. 
 
 wightly. Nitnble. LLL. Ill, 1, 198. 
 Whitly, q.v., in the Fl. As Rosaline 
 was dark, it may very well be that the 
 reading of the Folios is a printer's error. 
 
 wild. Weald. IHIV. II, 1, 60. 
 
 The Weald was originally partly 
 covered with forests and partly desti- 
 tute of them. Topley tells us that even 
 as late as Elizabeth's time, swine are 
 said to have run wild there. 
 
 wilderness. Wildness. Meas. Ill, 1,142. 
 
 wild-goose chase. Holt White describes 
 this as a race of two horses ; the rider who 
 could get the lead might choose what 
 ground he pleased and the other was 
 obliged to follow. That horse which 
 could distance the other won the race. 
 This barbarous sport is enumerated by 
 Burton, in his " Anatomy of Melan- 
 choly," as a recreation much in vogue 
 in his time among gentlemen. 
 
 This account explains the pleasantry 
 kept up between Romeo and his 
 gay companion: "My wits fail," says 
 Mercutio. Romeo exclaims, briskly, 
 " Switch and spurs, switch and spurs." 
 To which Mercutio rejoins, " Nay, if 
 thy wits run the wild-goose chase," etc. 
 3rd Var., Vol. VI, p. 103. 
 
 wilful-blame. IHIV. Ill, 1, 177. This 
 word has given the coms. a world of 
 trouble. It is not hyphenated in the 
 FJ . " The present compound is peculiar, 
 as the second part is not an adjective." 
 Rolfe. Johnson suggested " wilful- 
 blunt," "wilful-bent;" Keightley sug- 
 gests " wilful- blamable. " Schm. defines 
 it as "blameable on purpose, on prin- 
 ciple ; indulging your faults, though 
 conscious that they are faults." None 
 of these seem to me to give the meaning 
 
WIL 
 
 374 
 
 WIN 
 
 of the passage. Careful reading of the 
 context seems to show that the meaning 
 is : " You are too wilful or obstinate in 
 blaming or finding fault with him." 
 
 William, dr.p. A rustic. As. 
 
 William Longsword, dr. p. Earl of Salis- 
 bury. John. 
 
 William Mareschal, dr.p. Earl of Pem- 
 broke. John. 
 
 William Page, dr.p. Son to Mrs. Page. 
 Wiv. 
 
 Williams, dr.p. A soldier in the army of 
 Henry V. HV. 
 
 Willoughby, Lord, dr.p. RII, 
 
 wimpled. Hooded ; veiled ; blindfolded. 
 LLL. Ill, 1, 181. 
 
 win me and wear me. An old proverb 
 found in Ray's collection and in other 
 works of the time. Ado. V, 1, 83. 
 
 Winchester, Bishop of, dr.p. Stephen 
 Gardiner. HVIII. 
 
 The public stews were under the con- 
 trol of the Bishop of Winchester, and 
 a strumpet was called a "Winchester 
 goose." Winchester goose was also a 
 cant term for certain venereal sores. 
 
 wind. 1. To scent; to nose. Tit. IV, 1,97. 
 2. To blow as on a bugle or horn. Ado. 
 I, 1, 243. 
 
 Wind me into him (Lr. I, 2, 106) 
 means make cautious, indirect advances 
 and find out his intentions. 
 Let her down the wind. See whistle. 
 
 windlace, ) A circuit; an indirect method; 
 
 windlass.} a shift. Hml. II, 1, 65. 
 
 window. In HVIII. V, 2, a stage direc- 
 tion says: Enter at a window ahove^ 
 upon which Steevens has the following 
 note : " The suspicious vigilance of our 
 ancestors contrived windows which over- 
 looked the insides of chapels, halls, 
 kitchens, passages, etc. Some of these 
 convenient peep-holes may still be found 
 in colleges and such ancient houses as 
 have not suffered from the reformations 
 of modern architecture. Among An- 
 drew Borde's instructions of building a 
 house (see his "Dietarie of Health ") is 
 the following : "Many of the chambers 
 to have a view into the chapel." He 
 then gives several instances of the use 
 
 of these devices, and concludes that 
 without a knowledge of these facts, the 
 stage arrangements of Shakespeare's 
 time would in many cases be unintelli- 
 gible. 
 
 window-bars. A sort of embroidery in 
 the form of lattice- work, worn by women 
 across the bosom. Tim. IV, 3, 116. 
 
 Staunton explains it as " the cross-bars 
 or lattice- work, worn as we see it in the 
 Swiss women's dress, across the breasts. 
 In modern times these bars have al- 
 ways a bodice of satin, muslin or other 
 material beneath them ; at one period 
 they crossed the nude bosom. 
 
 windowed. 1. Full of holes. Lr. Ill, 4, 31. 
 2. Placed in a window. Ant. IV, 14, 73. 
 
 wind-galls. Swellings consisting of small 
 bags or sacs on the legs of horses and 
 supposed erroneously to contain wind. 
 Shr. Ill, 2, 54. 
 
 windring. Said to be a misprint in Tp. 
 IV, 1, 138, for either winding or wan- 
 dring. Schni. calls it an " unintelligible 
 lection." For myself, I do not regard 
 it as either a misprint or unintelligible. 
 Sh. would make a word at any time if 
 he wanted one to suit, and would have 
 no hesitation- about adding an r for 
 alliteration or if he thought it sounded 
 better. 
 
 wine. In Shr. Ill, 3, 173, we read that 
 after 7nany ceremonies done, He calls 
 for wine. Upon this there is a series 
 of notes in the 3rd Var., Vol. V, p. 450. 
 A quotation from Lelaud reads : " The 
 fashion of introducing a bowl of wine 
 into the church at a wedding, to be 
 drank by the bride and bridegroom, and 
 persons present, was very anciently a 
 constant ceremony ; and, as appears 
 from this passage, not abolished in our 
 author's age. We find it practised at 
 the magnificent marriage of Queen Mary 
 and Philip, in Winchester Cathedral, 
 1554 : ' The trumpets sounded, and they 
 both returned to their traverses in the 
 quire, and their remayned untill masse 
 was done : at which tyme, wyne and 
 sopes were hallowed and delyvered to 
 them both.' " The wine generally used 
 
WIK 
 
 375 
 
 WIT 
 
 was muscadel or muscadiue, and we 
 fiiid in Ben Jonson's Magnetic Lady 
 that the wine drank on this occasion is 
 called the knitting cup. Middletou, in 
 No Wit Like a Woman''s, calls it the 
 contracting cup. Steevens saj'S there 
 was a flower called "sops in wine," the 
 name of which was borrowed from this 
 ceremony. We have now an apple called 
 "sops in wine," but I believe the name 
 is derived from its color. 
 winking. The usual definition is half- 
 closed. This suits very well for the 
 passage in Cym. II, 4, 89, though Col- 
 lier's MS. corrected to winged Cupids, 
 which makes fair sense. But Cupid is 
 generally represented as blind ; this does 
 not mean eyes " half -closed " ; and half- 
 closed does not give good sense in Rom. 
 Ill, 2, 6, that runaway'' s eyes may 
 wink. Juliet wanted to have them en- 
 tirely closed. 
 
 So, too, the passage in John II, 1, 215, 
 
 winking gates, can hardly mean half 
 
 shut ; rather, entirely shut. Malone 
 
 explains this expression as ' ' gates hastily 
 
 closed from an apprehension of danger. ' ' 
 
 It is probable that winking has slightly 
 
 changed its meaning since Sh. time. 
 
 winnowed. Wise ; sifted. Hml. V, 2, 201. 
 
 Winnowed opinions=trmsvas. Schni. 
 
 winter, adj. Old. 2HVI. V, 3, 2. 
 
 winter, n. Old age. Troil. IV, 5, 24. 
 
 (The kiss of Nestor, the old man.) 
 winter-ground. To cover over so as to 
 protect from the effects of frost during 
 winter. Cym. IV, 2, 2:^. This word 
 seems to be found nowhere else than in 
 this passage, and has puzzled the coms. 
 Warburton, followed by Johnson, main- 
 tained that to winter-ground with moss 
 was an absurdity, and suggested winter- 
 gown. Collier's MS. suggests lointer- 
 guard, but it may have been a technical 
 term in the horticulture of the day. 
 The meaning is obvious. 
 winter's sisterhood. A sisterhood de- 
 voted to perpetual chastity ; hence, cold, 
 barren. As. Ill, 4, 17. 
 wipe. A brand ; a mark of infamy. Lucr. 
 537. 
 
 wis. See Iwis. 
 
 wise woman. A witch ; a fortune-teller. 
 
 Wiv. IV, 5, 59 ; Tw. Ill, 4, 116. 
 wisli to. To recommend to. Shr. I, 1, 113. 
 wisp of straw. The badge of a scold. 
 
 3HVI. II, 2, 144. See strata. 
 wistly. 1. Attentively; scrutinisingly. 
 Ven. 343 ; Lucr. 1355. 
 2. Wishingly ; wistfully. RII. V, 4, 7. 
 wit, 11. Mind ; intellect ; wisdom. Wiv. 
 V, 5, 134 ; Merch. II, 1, 18 ; Caes. Ill, 
 2, 225. 
 
 By the early writers, the "five wits" 
 were used synonymously with the five 
 senses, as in Ado. I, 1, 66. The passage 
 in LLL. I, 2, 94, she had a green wit, 
 is a very obvious allusion to Judges xvi, 
 7 and 8, and the story of Samson and 
 Delilah and how she had him bound 
 with green withes. Withe was probably 
 pronounced wit in Sh. time. 
 wit, V. To know. IHVI. II, 5, 16 ; Per. 
 IV, 4, 31. "A preterit-present verb 
 whose forms have been much confused 
 and misused in modern English. Cent. 
 Diet. 
 Witclies, The Three, dr. p. Mcb. 
 
 In the Fl., after line 34 of IV, 1, of 
 Mcb. the stage direction is : Enter Hecat 
 and the other three Witches. As there 
 is no evidence that there were more than 
 three witches present, this has been 
 changed to, Enter Hecate to the other 
 three Witches in the g. a. text. Sh. 
 has been criticised for describing Hecate 
 as a witch, but in this he seems to have 
 conformed to the opinions of the times 
 and the description of Holinshed. See 
 weird. Lamb, in a note on Middleton's 
 Witch, in his " Specimens of English 
 Dramatic Poets," points out the differ- 
 ence between the "weird sisters" of 
 Sh. and the ordinary witch as : " Though 
 some resemblance may be traced be- 
 tween the Charms in Macbeth and the 
 Incantations in this play, which is sup- 
 posed [probably erroneously] to have 
 preceded it, this coincidence will not 
 detract much from the originality of 
 Shakespeare. His Witches are distin- 
 guished from the Witches of Middleton 
 
WIT 
 
 876 
 
 WOL 
 
 by essential differences. Tliese are 
 creatures to whom man or woman, 
 plotting some dire mischief, might re- 
 sort for occasional consultation. Those 
 originate deeds of blood and begin bad 
 impulses to men. From the moment 
 that their eyes first met Macbeth 's he 
 is spell-bound. That meeting sways his 
 destiny. He can never break the fasci- 
 nation. These Witches can hurt the 
 body ; those have power over the soul. 
 Hecate, in Middleton, has a Son, a low 
 buffoon ; the hags of Shakespeare have 
 neither child of their own, nor seem to 
 be descended from any parent. They 
 are foul Anomalies, of whom we know 
 not whence they are sprung, nor whether 
 they have beginning or ending. As 
 they are without human passions, so 
 they seem to be without human relations. 
 They come with thunder and lightning, 
 and vanish to airy music. This is all 
 we know of them. Except Hecate, they 
 have no names ; which heightens their 
 mystei'iousness." Edition of Grollancz 
 (1893), Vol. I, p. 271. 
 
 And in his note on The Witch 
 of Edmonton, by Rowley, he says : 
 " Mother Sawyer differs from the hags 
 of Middleton or Shakespeare. She is 
 the plain traditional old woman Witch 
 of our ancestors ; poor, deformed and 
 ignorant ; the terror of villages, herself 
 amenable to a justice. That should be 
 a hardy sheriff, with the power of a 
 county at his heels, that would lay 
 hands on the Weird Sisters. They are 
 of another jurisdiction." The same 
 work. Vol. II, p. 17. 
 
 The passage in IHVI. I, 5, 6, Blood 
 will I draw on thee, thou art a witch, 
 refers to the current superstition of 
 those times which taught that he that 
 could draw the witch's blood was free 
 from her power. Johnson. 
 
 In the time of Sh. the word was 
 applied to persons of either sex. Thus, 
 it is applied to males in Err, IV, 4, 160 ; 
 Ant. I, 2, 40 ; Cym. I, 6, 166. The word 
 wizard also occurs four times in the 
 plays. See tail in Supplement. 
 
 withering. Slowly wasting away. Mids. 
 
 1, 1, 6. 
 
 This phrase is quite apt and expres- 
 sive, though Warburton asserted that it 
 is not good English and emended by 
 changing to wintering on. 
 
 withers. The highest pait of the back of a 
 horse, between the shoulder-blades and 
 the root of the neck ; it literally means 
 the resisting part. IHIV. II, 1, 8; 
 Hml. Ill, 2, 253. 
 
 wit-old. A pun upon wittol, q.v. , of which 
 horns, two lines lower down, are the 
 "figure." LLL. V, 1, 66. 
 
 without. 1. Beyond. Tp. V, 1, 271; 
 Mids. IV, 1, 158. 
 2. Except. Gent. II, 1 , 38 ; Wint. IV, 2, 16. 
 Macbeth's speech, Tts better thee 
 without than he within (Mcb. Ill, 4, 
 14) has received several interpreta- 
 tions. Johnson paraphrases thus: "It 
 is better that his blood were on thy 
 face than he in this room." Others: 
 " Better on thy face than in his body." 
 Hunter has a long note on the passage 
 in which he tries to show that Macbeth's 
 speeches are asides, not addressed to 
 the murderer, and concludes thus : "In 
 what follows, we cannot suppose that 
 Macbeth speaks so as to be heard by the 
 murderer, much less speaks to him, re- 
 vealing the secret purpose and thoughts 
 of his mind." "New Illustrations," 
 Vol. II, p. 191. I think a careful reading 
 of the whole passage will fail to uphold 
 this view. 
 
 wits. Senses. Ado. I, 1, 66; Tw. IV, 2, 
 93. See wit, n. 
 
 wittol. A contented cuckold. Wiv, II, 
 
 2, 317. 
 
 wittolly. Wittol-like. Wiv. II, 2, 288. 
 
 wolf. In regard to Edgar's comparisons 
 in Lr. Ill, 4, 95, et seq., Prof. Skeat 
 remarks that in "The AncrenRiwle" 
 the seven deadly sins are figured under 
 the names of various animals. Steevens 
 points out that Harsnet, in his "De- 
 claration," says that "the Jesuits pre- 
 tended to cast the seven deadly sins out 
 of Mainy in the shape of those animals 
 that represented them ; and before each 
 
WOL 
 
 377 
 
 WOO 
 
 was cast out, Mainy, by gestures, acted 
 that particular sin ; curling his hair to 
 show pride, vomiting for gluttony, 
 gaping and snoring for sloth, etc. " Sh. 
 was no doubt familiar with Harsnet's 
 book, 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, dr.p. HVIII. 
 woman. The passage in Tw, II, 4, 30, 
 still let the woman take An elder than 
 herself, has given rise to the most 
 diverse comments. I think the majority 
 of coms. feel that in this line Sh. gives 
 expression to his feelings over the result 
 of a violation of the precept in his own 
 case. "Anne Hathaway, whom Sh. 
 married in June or July, 1582, was then 
 in her twenty-sixth year, that is seven 
 years and a half older than her husband : 
 a disproportion of age which seldom 
 fails, at a subsequent period of life, 
 to be productive of unhappiness, and 
 which, perhaps, about thirteen years 
 afterwards, gave rise to a part of 
 the following beautiful verses on the 
 subject of marriage, which no man who 
 ever felt the passion of love, can read 
 without emotion." Malone, "Life of 
 William Shakspeare." 3rd Var., Vol. 
 II, p. 1 12. The lines quoted are Mids. 
 I, 1, 132, et seq., particular attention 
 being called to line 137, or else mis- 
 graffed in respect of years ; and he 
 adds : " Perhaps, indeed, the same feel- 
 ing suggested the following judicious 
 precept, at a still later period, when our 
 poet was in his forty-third year. " And 
 he then quotes Tw. II, 4, 29, et seq. 
 
 After giving two pages of quotations, 
 the majority of which agree with Malone, 
 Dr. Furness adds this note: "Notonlj^ 
 do I not believe that Shakespeare was 
 here referring to his own experience, 
 but I do not believe that Orsino's 
 assertion itself is true. The record of 
 marriages where the woman is the elder 
 will prove, I think, that, as a rule, such 
 unions, founded as they are, not on the 
 fleeting attractions of youth, which is 
 'a stuff will not endure,' but on the 
 abiding elements of intellectual con- 
 geniality, have beeu unusually happy." 
 
 I think most men will agree with Sh. 
 and hold that such happy marriages are 
 the exception, and not "the rule " ; and, 
 besides, a mere intellectual partnership 
 is not marriage in the highest sense. 
 
 For women as actors, see female 
 actors. 
 womb. Belly ; paunch. 2HIV. IV, 3, 24. 
 This is the original meaning of the word 
 which still survives in the Scotch wame. 
 Thus, in Wiclif 's version of St. Luke we 
 find (xv. 16) : " And he coveitide to fille 
 his wombe of the coddis that the hoggis 
 eeten, and no man gaf hym " ; and in 
 "The Canterbury Tales," by Chaucer : 
 
 Of this matere, o Poule, well canst 
 
 thou trete ; 
 Mete unto wombe and wombe eke 
 
 unto mete. 
 
 Rolfe thinks that Falstaff uses the 
 
 word "jocosely," but it seems to me 
 
 that the joke did not consist in the mere 
 
 use of this word ; it lay far deeper. 
 
 wonder'd. Able to perform wonders. 
 
 Wright. Tp. IV, 1, 123. 
 woodbine. A plant of this name is i-e- 
 ferred to three times in the plays, but 
 it is not quite certain which plant is 
 meant. In Mids. IV, 1, 48, honeysuckle 
 and woodbine are both mentioned, while 
 several authors claim that they are 
 really the same plant. Johnson thought 
 that woodbine was the plant and honey- 
 suckle the flower, and Baret, in his 
 " Alvearie," makes the same distinction 
 and speaks of " Woodbin that beareth 
 the Honiesuckle. " Some, however, have 
 concluded from this that woodbine was 
 a name for any climbing plant. Thus, 
 Steevens claims that it is even applied 
 to the ivy. Various species of Lonicera 
 and convolvulus have been claimed as 
 the true plants. The difficulty arises 
 from the uncertainty which affects all 
 the popular names of plants and animals 
 and which vary with each locality. 
 White, in discussing this subject, mixes 
 up American and English names some- 
 what confusedly. Upon this point, see 
 ante article on robin. The general idea 
 that Sh, wishes to convey, one plant 
 
woo 
 
 378 
 
 WOR 
 
 twining about another, is clear enough. 
 The other references to this plant are 
 Ado. Ill, 1, 30, and Mids. II, 1, 251. 
 
 woodcock. A highly-esteemed game-bird, 
 the Scolopax rusticula (sometimes, 
 erroneously, rusticola, as by Schm.) 
 or European woodcock, the American 
 woodcock being a smaller bird of a 
 different species. In former times the 
 woodcock was caught in large numbers 
 in snares or springes, and it was so 
 easily deceived that the term woodcock 
 became a synonym for a foolish person. 
 Someone who evidently had no practical 
 knowledge of the bird attempted to 
 explain this by the assertion that "the 
 bird was supposed to have no brains," 
 and this erroneous statement has found 
 a place in many respectable Shake- 
 spearean commentaries. The truth is 
 that the woodcock's brain is quite large 
 in proportion to the size of the bird 
 and it is regarded as quite a delicious 
 morsel. Ado. V, 1, 158 ; All's. IV, 1, 
 100; Tw. II, 5, 93; Hral. I, 3, 115. 
 
 woodman. A hunter; one skilled in 
 tracking game. Hence, a pursuer of 
 deer (dears). Wiv. V, 5, 29. 
 
 Woodville, d7\p. Lieutenant of the Tower. 
 IHVI. 
 
 woollen. Made of wool. To lie in the 
 woollen (Ado. II, 1, 33) is supposed by 
 Steevens to mean between blankets, 
 without sheets, cf. LLL. V, 2, 717, 
 / have no shirt; I go woolward for 
 penance. The wearing of woollen next 
 the skin was often enjoined by the 
 Church of Rome as a penance. There 
 are numerous allusions to this in the 
 literature of Sh. tiixie. In "Exchange 
 Ware at the Second Hand" (1615) we 
 find: 
 
 * * * make 
 Their enemies, like Friers, woolward 
 to lie. 
 
 Some explain the phrase as being buried, 
 as it was at one time the custom to bury, 
 in woollen grave-clothes. 
 
 In Merch. IV, 1, 56, this term, as used 
 by Shylock, evidently has reference to 
 some special couditiou coimected with 
 
 "singing in the nose." It is very 
 doubtful if any of the glosses that have 
 been given are correct. The proper place 
 to look for a solution of this crux is 
 amongst skilled bag-pipe players. 
 
 woolward. Having wool next the skin. 
 LLL. V, 2, 717. See woollen. 
 
 Worcester, Earl of, dr. p. Thomas Percy. 
 IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 word. As a general rule this term oc- 
 casions no difficulty. In John III, 4, 
 110, the reading in the g. a. text is : the 
 sweet world'' s taste; it is word'' s taste 
 in the Fl. As it occurs in Hml. IV, 5, 
 105, The ratifiers and props of every 
 word, it has been emended to " ward," 
 "weal," "work," "worth," etc., but 
 the best coms. think that no emendation 
 is required. Antiquity and custom are 
 the ratifiers and props of every title 
 and of every law, both of which depend 
 upon "a form of sound words." Or, 
 perhaps, as Schm. explains it: "Of 
 everything that is to serve for a watch- 
 word and shibboleth to the multitude." 
 Caldecott says: ^^Word is term, and 
 means appellation or title ; as lord used 
 before and king afterwards ; and in its 
 most extended sense must import ' every 
 human establishment.' The sense of 
 the passage is — As far as antiquity 
 ratifies, and custom makes every term, 
 denomination, or title known, they run 
 counter to them, by talking, when they 
 mention kings, of their right of chusing 
 and of saying who shall be king or 
 sovereign." 
 
 Of the passage in Tw. Ill, 1, 24, words 
 are very rascals since bonds disgraced 
 them, Furness says: "I have given 
 every explanation that I can find of this 
 dark passage; and I confess that none 
 of them affords me a ray of light. ' ' The 
 chief explanations are: (1) The restric- 
 tions laid on the Poet's art by an order 
 in Privy Council, June, 1000. These 
 restrictions may be said to have placed 
 words under bonds and so disgraced 
 them. (2) Words are put into bonds 
 (i.e., money bonds) and hence may be 
 said tp be in confinement (in bonds or 
 
WOE 
 
 379 
 
 WOE 
 
 shackles) and so disgraced. (3) Bonds 
 have disgraced words by using them in 
 the trickeries of business. To these 
 Furness adds: "Words are placed in 
 bonds when they are accurately defined. 
 To have strict, unalterable meanings 
 attached to words could not but have 
 been offensive to Feste, whose delight, 
 and even profession, it was to be a 
 'corrupter of words.'" But may not 
 the meaning be : In the golden age a 
 man's word was a sufficient obligation 
 and was always accepted as such, but 
 now mere words are discredited or dis- 
 graced because written bonds are always 
 required. 
 
 The expression, I moralize two mean- 
 ings in one word (RIII. Ill, 1, 83), 
 " signifies either ' extract the double 
 and latent meaning of one word or 
 sentence ' or ' couch two meanings 
 under one word or sentence. ' " Malone. 
 Word here means a saying, a short 
 sentence, a proverb, as motto does in 
 Italian and bon-mot in French. Mason. 
 I am at a word (Wiv. I, 3, 15) = I 
 am as good as my word. 
 
 He words me girls (Ant. V, 2, 191) 
 means : He puts me off with words. 
 
 work. A military term signifying a 
 fortification. HVIII. V, 4, 61 ; Oth. 
 Ill, 2, 3. 
 
 workings. Labours of thought. Steevens. 
 2HIV. IV, 2, 23. 
 
 Mock your workings in a second 
 body (2HI V. V, 2, 90) means : Treat 
 with contempt your acts executed by a 
 representative. Johnson. 
 
 world. In regard to the saying of Beat- 
 rice in Ado. II, 1, 331, thus goes every- 
 one to the world but J, Hunter remarks 
 that there are few phrases which are 
 more decidedly unsophisticated English. 
 It signifies "tying oneself to the world," 
 and expresses entering on the cares and 
 duties of the married life, just as the 
 nun, betaking herself to the cloister, is 
 said "to forsake the world." See sun- 
 burned. 
 
 worm. This word is frequently used by 
 Sh. as synonymous with snake, as in 
 
 Meas. Ill, 1, 17; Mids. Ill, 2, 71 ; Ant. 
 V, 2, 243. In Meas. Ill, 1, 16, the Duke 
 makes the popular mistake of supposing 
 that the " fork " or tongue of the snake 
 is its weapon of offence. 
 
 In Ado. V, 2, 86, and RIII. I, 3, 222, 
 the worm is taken as the emblem of 
 conscience, the suggestion being, no 
 doubt, taken from Mark ix, 48 : " Where 
 their worm dieth not, and the fire is 
 not quenched." In the old Mysteries 
 or Moralities the conscience was repre- 
 sented under the figure of a worm or 
 a serpent. Halliwell tells us that in the 
 entry of payments for expenses incurred 
 in representing the Coventry Mysteries 
 is the following for dresses : " Item payd 
 to ij wormes of conscience, xvj. d." 
 
 wormwood. A plant proverbial for its 
 bitterness. The true wormwood, Ar- 
 temisia Absinthium, is a perennial. 
 The common name, wormwood, is a 
 modified form of ivermode. ' ' The com- 
 pound wer-mod unquestionably means 
 ware-mood or 'mind preserver' and 
 points back to some primitive belief as 
 to the curative properties of the plant 
 in mental affections. " Skeat. LLL. V, 
 2, 857 ; Hml. Ill, 2, 191. It has long been 
 in use amongst the common people in 
 weaning children. Rom. I, 3, 26. See 
 rue. 
 
 worst. Of the passage in Tim. IV, 3, 
 275, If thou hadst not been born the 
 worst of men. Thou hadst been a knave 
 and flatterer, Johnson says: "Shake- 
 speare has here given a specimen [of his 
 power of satire] by a line, bitter beyond 
 all bitterness, in which Timon tells 
 Apemantus that he had not virtue 
 enough for the vices which he con- 
 demns." 
 
 wort. 1. The sweet solution of malt which, 
 when fermented, becomes beer or ale. 
 LLL. V, 2, 233. 
 
 2. A plant of any kind, but usually 
 applied to the cabbage or col wort, and 
 used by Falstaff to ridicule Sir Hugh's 
 pronunciation of words. Wiv. I, 1, 124. 
 Frequently appended to the names of 
 plants as in mugwort. Orchard is 
 
won 
 
 880 
 
 WRE 
 
 from the same root and means a plant- 
 yard or garden, in which sense the word 
 is generally used in fSh. 
 
 worth. Wealth. Tw. Ill, 3, 17. 
 
 His worth Of contradiction (Cor. Ill, 
 3, 26) = his full share or proportion of 
 contradiction. 
 
 worthied. Rendered worthy or deserving. 
 Lr. II, 2, 128. 
 
 worthies. The " nine worthies " alluded 
 to in LLL. V, 1, 488, were : Joshua, 
 David and Judas Maccabseus ; Hector, 
 Alexander and Julius Caesar ; and 
 Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of 
 Bouillon. Thus, there were three Jews, 
 three Pagans and three Christian 
 Knights. 
 
 woundless. Invulnerable. Hml. IV, 1, 44. 
 
 wounds. The passage in RIII. I, 2, 55, 
 dead Henry''s wounds open their con- 
 geaVd mouths and bleed afresh ! refers 
 to a superstition very common in the 
 time of Sh. Johnson tells us that "it 
 is a tradition, very generally received, 
 that the murdered body bleeds on the 
 touch of the murderer. This was so 
 much believed by Sir Kenelm Digby 
 that he has endeavoured to explain the 
 reason." To this Steevens adds several 
 quotations, amongst others, one from 
 TheWidoiv's Tears, by Chapman (1612) : 
 " The captain will assay an old con- 
 clusion often approved ; that at the 
 murderer's sight the blood revives again 
 and boils afresh ; and every wound has 
 a condemning voice to cry out guilty 
 against the murderer." And Drayton, 
 in the 46th Idea, has : 
 
 If the vile actors of the heinous deed 
 Near the dead body happily be brought, 
 Oft 't hath been proved that breathless 
 corps will bleed. 
 Toilet observes that " this opinion seems 
 to be derived from the ancient Swedes 
 or Northern nations, frojn whom we 
 descend ; for they practised this method 
 of trial in dubious cases." Those who 
 haveread Scott's "Fair Maid of Perth " 
 cannot fail to remember the vain at- 
 tempt to bring Bonthron, the brutal 
 murderer of Oliver Proudfute, the 
 
 Bonnet-maker, to touch the corpse of 
 his victim. 
 
 wrack. Wreck ; destruction ; ruin. Tp. 
 I, 2, 26 ; Mcb. V, 5, 51. The modern 
 word wreck was always spelled and 
 pronounced wrack in the time of Sh. 
 The "Globe" and many modern eds. 
 change the spelling in some cases to 
 wreck. 
 
 wrangler. An adversary ; a term in 
 tennis. HV. I, 2, 264. 
 
 wreak. Revenge. Cor. IV, 5, 91 ; Tit. 
 IV, 3, 33. 
 
 wreakful. Revengeful. Tit. V, 2, 32; 
 Tim. IV, 3, 229. 
 
 wreckful. Destructive. Sonn, LXV, 6. 
 
 wren. This little bird is mentioned nine 
 times in the plays, and in nearly all 
 cases the feature that is most noted is 
 its diminutive size. The only passage, 
 however, in which the wren is spoken 
 of and which requires comment is that 
 in Tw. Ill, 2, 70, where Sir Toby says 
 of Maria, Look where the youngest 
 wren of mine comes. The word mine 
 of the FP. in this line, was changed to 
 nine by Theobald, and this emendation 
 has been adopted by the " Cambridge," 
 the "Globe," Warburton, Johnson, 
 3rd Var. , Dyce, Knight, White, Hudson, 
 Rolfe, "The Henry Irving Sh.," "The 
 Leopold Sh." (Delius and Furnivall), 
 and almost all the eds., though, I think, 
 without good grounds. Furness, of 
 course, follows the Fl., and Halliwell is 
 one of the very few who retain mine. 
 The reason for the change, as given by 
 Hanmer, is: "The wren is remai'kable 
 for laying many eggs at a time [she 
 really lays but one at a time, but let 
 that pass], nine or ten, and sometimes 
 more ; and as she is the smallest of 
 birds, the last of so large a brood may 
 be supposed to be little indeed, which 
 is the image intended here to be given 
 of Maria " ; and Warburton adds : " The 
 women's parts were then acted by boys, 
 sometimes so low in stature that there 
 was occasion to obviate the impropriety 
 by such kind of oblique apologies." 
 (this does not quite agree with Jordan's 
 
WEE 
 
 381 
 
 WRE 
 
 account. See female actors.) White, 
 in his "Riverside ed.," actually saj^s : 
 "The "wren lays nine eggs," though, as 
 a well-known matter of fact, the num- 
 ber varies within wiJe limits ; and these 
 arguments seem to have been adopted 
 by all subsequent coms. 
 
 To me these reasons do not seem at 
 all forcible. Why nmel If a large 
 luimber be needed, why not make it 
 twelve or fifteen ? Every Old Country 
 boy-naturalist knows that the wren 
 often lays more than nine or ten eggs. 
 To me the speech of Sir Toby carries a 
 very diflferent meaning. Sir Toby was 
 a roysterer and, no doubt, like all men 
 of his kidney, loved to boast of his 
 success with the fair sex. Now, the 
 wren, whether the first or the ninth of 
 the brood, is small, and we know that 
 Maria was small. Sir Toby calls her 
 "the little villain," and Viola speaks 
 of her ironically as "your giant." 
 Moreover, the wren is a notoriously 
 amorous bird (Lr. IV, 6, 114), and we 
 know that Maria was so in love with 
 Sir Toby that it had not escaped the 
 observation of the Clown, cf. Tw. I, 
 5, 29 to 32, where she half acknowledges 
 it; and we are told in V, 1, 372, that he 
 marries her. Therefore he had a right 
 to say: "Look where the youngest 
 wren of mine comes ; my youngest 
 [latest] conquest." "In contempt of 
 question," the reading of the Folio is 
 right and gives the best sense, and the 
 rule is imperative that no change should 
 be made unless absolutely necessary. 
 
 The wren of Great Britain and Ireland 
 differs materially in appearance and 
 habits from any of the wrens found 
 on the American continent. It is the 
 Troglodytes parviilus of the ornitholo- 
 gist, and while it does not live in caves, 
 it generally builds its nest under cover 
 of some kind, most frequently in out- 
 houses. The nest is always covered 
 with a dome, dome and nest forming 
 one structure, and entrance being gained 
 through a hole in the side. In this nest 
 the bird lays its eggs, varying in number 
 
 from seven or eight to sixteen and even 
 as many as eighteen. 
 
 There is no bird more intimately con- 
 nected with the folk-lore of Europe than 
 the wren, and the number of names 
 that have been applied to it, is remark- 
 able—the French alone giving it 139 
 local names. In English also the num- 
 ber is quite large. It is sometimes 
 called "Our Lady of Heaven's hen," 
 and Kitty-wren and Jenny-wren are 
 common terms. The last name will 
 recall that of the DolPs Dressmaker in 
 " Our Mutual Friend." 
 
 In the old folk-lore the wren is called 
 the " King of Birds," and the following 
 legend is related as accounting for the 
 title : The birds having determined to 
 choose a king, it was finally decided 
 that the bird which could mount highest 
 should have that honor. Of course, 
 the eagle rose higher than any one ejse, 
 and the assembly were about to pro- 
 claim him king, when a loud burst of 
 song was heard, and out of the feathers 
 on his back rose the triumphant little 
 wren which, unseen and unfelt, had 
 been borne aloft on the back of the 
 giant. So the wren became the king of 
 birds. 
 
 In Ireland, in South Wales and in the 
 South of France it is customary to 
 "hunt the wren " on St. Stephen's day 
 — the 26th of December. The origin of 
 this cruel and barbarous orgie has never 
 yet been satisfactorily explained. Men 
 and boys go round to the farm houses 
 with the wren in a little box, which is 
 called its coffin, and money is collected 
 for the purpose of giving it " a decent 
 burial." That any excuse is good 
 enough for collecting money for a spree 
 requires no argument, but the connection 
 of the wren with such a frolic or with 
 the Feast of the Three Kings is not 
 quite so evident. 
 wrest, n. A tuning key ; an instrument 
 for adjusting the tightness of the strings 
 of the harp. Troil. Ill, 3, 23. Johnson 
 explained the word here as meaning 
 distortion, i.e.. the loss of Antenor was 
 
WEE 
 
 88^ 
 
 XAK 
 
 such a violent distortion of their affairs. 
 Theobald suggested rest, drawing the 
 simile from the use of a rest for sup- 
 porting a musket. But the expression 
 "must slack" shows that the explana- 
 tion of Steevens and Douce (which we 
 adopt) is the correct one. 
 
 wrested pomp. Greatness obtained by 
 violence. Johnson. Malone remarks : 
 *' Rather greatness wrested from its 
 possessor. But they both come to the 
 same thing, Faulconbridge had just 
 left the mangled remains of Prince 
 Arthur, and it was this that inspired 
 his speech. Schm. suggests " wretched " 
 as an emendment, but the original 
 obviously gives the best sense. 
 
 wretched. Hateful; vile; utterly bad. 
 RIII. V, 2, 7; Lucr. 999. 
 
 wring. To writhe. Ado, V, 1, 28. 
 
 wringing. Torture. HV. IV, 1, 253. 
 
 wrjt. This word, as it occurs in Hml. II, 
 2, 431, has given trouble to some. Walker 
 insists that it should be wit, claim- 
 ing that writ for composition is not 
 English. Not modern English certainly, 
 but old English or Scotch, very surely. 
 " Hand o' writ" for hand-writing is a 
 common Scotch expression, found, I 
 think, in Scott. The expression; the 
 
 laiv of writ and the liberty probably 
 means, "for observing the parts set 
 down for them and for freedom of im- 
 provising." Caldecott explains it as: 
 " For the observance of the rules of the 
 drama, while they take such liberties as 
 are allowable, they are the only men." 
 
 write. To claim ; to style oneself. All's. 
 II, 3, 67, and II, 3, 208; 2HIV. I, 2, 30; 
 Lr. V, 3, 35. 
 
 writhled. Wrinkled. IHVI. II, 3, 23. 
 Some have supposed that this word 
 is a mere misspelling of wrinkled, but 
 we find it in Sir J. Harrington's version 
 of the " Orlando Furioso " : 
 To scorne her writheld skin and evill 
 favour. —Book XX, Stanza 76. 
 
 wrong. Prospero's words : / fear you 
 have done yourself some wrong (Tp. 
 1, 2, 443), are thus explained by Steevens : 
 " I fear that in asserting yourself to be 
 King of Naples, you have uttered a 
 falsehood which is below your character 
 and, consequently, injurious to your 
 honour." 
 
 wrotli. Calamity; misery; sorrow. Merch. 
 II, 9, 78. 
 
 wrung, p.p. of wring. Hurt; galled; 
 chafed ; strained. IHIV. II, 1, 7. 
 
 wry, V. To swerve, Cym. V, 1, 5. 
 
 ANTHIPPE. The wife of Socrates, 
 the famous philosopher. Her 
 alleged shrewish temper is pro- 
 verbial, and her name has be- 
 come the synonym for a scold. Shr. 
 I, 2, 71, 
 
 As an illustration of her shrewishness 
 and the mild temper of her husband we 
 are told that on one occasion, after she 
 had scolded him unmercifully until her 
 tongue gave out and yet without draw- 
 ing forth the slightest remonstrance or 
 exciting the least anger on his part, 
 she emptied a vessel of dirty water over 
 bim. His only remark was that "after 
 
 thunder we must naturally expect 
 rain." 
 
 But, on the other hand, it is claimed 
 that Xanthippe had good cause for her 
 shrewishness. Socrates and his wife had 
 several children, and z'eport saj^s that he 
 did not provide very libei'ally for their 
 wants. Dr. Jackson, of Cambridge 
 (Eng.), in his account of Socrates, tells 
 us that "the eccentricity of Socrates' 
 life was not less remarkable than the 
 oddity of his appearance and the irony 
 of his conversation. His whole time • 
 was spent in public — in the market- 
 place, the streets, the gymnasia. * * * 
 
XAN 
 
 383 
 
 TEA 
 
 He talked to all comers — to the crafts- 
 man and the artist as willingly as to 
 the poet or the politician. * * * His 
 meat and drink were of the poorest ; 
 summer and winter his coat was the 
 same ; he was shoeless and shirtless. ' A 
 slave whose master made him live as 
 you do, ' says a sophist in the Meinora- 
 bilia, 'would run away.'" Now, it 
 stands to reason that if most of his 
 time w^as spent in wandering about the 
 streets or sitting on a soap-box in some 
 corner grocery holding forth to the 
 
 assembled • idlers of the neighborhood, 
 his wife and family must have fared 
 but poorly. We have no doubt that 
 many a time his wife had to pick up 
 material for a dinner for herself and 
 children as best she could, and we can 
 readily suppose that when her lord and 
 juaster, impelled by hunger, came home 
 at noon and wanted something to eat, 
 neither his dinner nor his welcome would 
 be very warm. 
 
 So, perhaps, after all, there may be a 
 good deal to be said for Mrs. Socrates. 
 
 [^^^^ *' The participial prefix y- is 
 
 [irjS|^^B| only two or three times used in 
 
 ^jj3kal\ ^^' plays: 'y-clept,' '3-clad,' 
 
 ^^^'<^» ' y-slaked. ' In early English 
 
 y- is prefixed to other forms of speech 
 
 besides participles, like the German ge-. 
 
 But in Elizabethan English the y- was 
 
 wholly disused except as a participial 
 
 prefix, and even the latter was archaic. " 
 
 ^6&o«, Sh. Gram., §345. 
 
 yare. Readv ; nimble ; quick. Tp. I, 1, 
 
 7; Meas. IV, 2, 61; Tw. Ill, 4, 244; 
 
 Ant. Ill, 7, 39. 
 
 yarely. Readily ; actively. Tp. I, 1, 4 ; 
 
 Ant. II, 2, 216. 
 Yaughan. It is generally supposed that 
 this was the name of a tavern-keeper 
 near the theatre — one who was well 
 known to the frequenters of the Globe 
 and whose name, like all local allusions, 
 would bring down the house. Elze, with 
 German subtlety, supposes that it is an 
 allusion to the name Johan in the sneer- 
 ing "Johannes factotum" that Greene 
 applies to Sh, Hml. V, 1, 68. Like 
 many German comments this is de- 
 cidedly faifetched as well as improb- 
 able. 
 yaw. To move unsteadily as a ship which 
 does not answer the helm. Hml. V, 2, 
 130. This word has given rise to a good 
 deal of discussion. Johnson suggested 
 that yaw was a misprint for raw. The 
 
 whole passage is designedly stilted and 
 affected and intended to ridicule Osric. 
 
 yclad. Clad. 2HVI. I, 1, 33. 
 
 ycleped, ]^ Named; called. LLL. I, 1, 
 
 ycllpped. \ 242 ; do. V, 2, 602. 
 
 Yead. Same as Ed., which is a contrac- 
 tion for Edward. Wiv. I, 1, 160. cf. 
 Yedivard. 
 
 Yedward. Same as Edward. IHIV. I, 
 2, 149. Some claim that the Y is here a 
 contraction of my. It is more than prob- 
 able that it is the old English addition 
 to many words ; this addition still sur- 
 vives in some parts of Scotland in the 
 words, ale, once, one, oats, etc., of which 
 the Scotch form is, in some localities, 
 yill, yin, yince, etc. ^See the " Glossary " 
 appended to the editions of Burns's 
 works issued under his own supervision 
 where yill = ale. It is also heard in 
 Lancashire, and in Shadwell's "Lanca- 
 shire Witches," Clod, who speaks the 
 Lancashire dialect, says: "Why, 'tis 
 Sir Yedard Hartf ort 's. ' ' See F. 
 
 yea=forsooth. A " yea-forsooth knave " 
 was one who used mild forms of oatk 
 instead of the "red- lattice phrases and 
 bold-beating oaths" of such men as 
 Falstaff, Pistol and others. 2HIY. I, 
 2, 41. Probably equivalent to rascally 
 Puritan. 
 yean. See ean. 
 yeanling. See eanling. 
 
YEA 
 
 384 
 
 YIE 
 
 year. The expression, thou heap'st a 
 year's age on me (Cym. I, 1, 133), has 
 given much needless trouble to the 
 corns. Rolfe says: "As the passage 
 stands, this seems an impotent con- 
 clusion, and the defective measure of 
 the preceding line suggests that some- 
 thing may have been lost." Hanmer 
 emended to heapest many; Capell, 
 heap'st instead ; Theobald, heap'st a 
 yare age; Johnson, heap'' st years, ages, 
 etc., etc. The difficulty that seems to 
 strike these eds. is that an extra year's 
 age would be such a trifling matter that 
 it would not be worth mentioning. But 
 to the aged, a year's age, with its in- 
 creasing infirmities, is no such trifling 
 matter, and Cymbeline could not have 
 said "many years" with propriety for 
 his hair had not whitened ; his step did 
 not falter, but he felt that his hopes had 
 gone, and whether the effect of one year 
 or of twenty, was a matter of trifling 
 importance. 
 
 yearn. To grieve ; to vex. Wiv. Ill, 5, 
 45 ; HV. IV, 3, 26. 
 
 yellow. The emblem of jealousy. Wint. 
 II, 3, 107. 
 
 yellowness. Jealousy. Wiv. I, 3, 111. 
 
 yellows. The jaundice. Shr. Ill, 2, 54, 
 Youatt, speaking of jaundice in horses, 
 says : " Jaundice, commonly called the 
 yellows, is the introduction of bile into 
 general circulation. * * * The yellow- 
 ness of the eyes and mouth and of the 
 skin, where it is not covered with hair, 
 mark it sufficiently plainly." 
 
 yeoman. 1. A freeholder ; one owning a 
 .small landed property, but not entitled to 
 wear a crest and, consequently, not rank- 
 ing as a gentleman in the higher sense of 
 that word. IHIV. IV, 2, 16 ; IHVI. II, 
 4, 81 and 85. cf. Lr. Ill, 6, 11, et seq. 
 
 2. An under-bailiff ; an attendant or as- 
 sistant. 2HIV. II, 1,4. 
 
 3. A gentleman attendant in a royal 
 or noble household, ranking between a 
 sergeant and a groom. Tw. II, 5, 45. 
 
 Yeoman's service means "that which 
 is as good service as a yeoman per- 
 formed for his feudal lord. ' ' Caldecott. 
 
 "The ancient yeomen were famous for 
 
 their military valor. " Steevens. Hml. 
 
 V, 2, 36. 
 yerk. To make a sudden push or motion. 
 
 0th. I, 2, 5. A mere phonetic variation 
 
 of jerk. 
 yest. The foam on troubled water. Wint. 
 
 III, 3, 94. 
 
 yesty. Foamy; frothy; frivolous. Mcb. 
 
 IV, 1, 53 ; Hml. V, 2, 199. 
 
 yew. A tree of slow growth frequently 
 planted in churchyards. The wood of 
 the yew is a favorite for making bows. 
 It is "called double-fatal becau.se its 
 leaves are poisonous and the wood is 
 employed for instruments of death." 
 Warburton. RII. Ill, 2, 117. 
 
 The poisonous character of the leaves 
 and seeds gave the yew a reputation 
 for evil which caused it to be used in 
 the incantations of witches, as in Mcb. 
 IV, 1, 29. But it was also regarded as 
 the symbol of immortality and of the 
 future life, and sprigs of yew were 
 employed in funeral ceremonies, a cus- 
 tom noted in Tw. II, 4, 56. See hebenon. 
 
 yield. To reward; to bless. Ant. IV, 2, 
 33. cf. GodHld. 
 
 As the word occurs in Lr. IV, 1, 12, 
 Life would not yield to age^ it has 
 occasioned some comment. Craig calls 
 this a difficult passage, and undoubtedly 
 so it is, though here, as frequently else- 
 where, the general meaning is very 
 obvious. Malone's explanation is prob- 
 ably correct. It is: "O world 1 if re- 
 verses of fortune and changes such as I 
 now see and feel, from ease and affluence 
 to poverty and misery, did not show us 
 the little value of life, we should never 
 submit with any kind of resignation to 
 the weight of years, and its necessary 
 consequence, infirmity and death." 
 
 The word yield seems to be used here 
 in some unusual sense. Is it possible 
 that it is a verb formed from the old 
 word eld or eild with prefixed y, as in 
 Yedward, q.v.^ and signifying to age 
 or grow old ? The meaning then would 
 be that we would not keep on aging 
 until we were very old; we would 
 
tox 
 
 385 
 
 YOV 
 
 rather die by our own band. The word 
 yeild (or yeelde as it is spelled in the 
 Fl.) being substituted for age (verb) to 
 avoid tautology. 
 
 On turning to the Scottish diction- 
 aries, and especially to the Glossary 
 appended to Sibbald's "Chronicle of 
 Scottish Poetry," I find yeild [sic] {n) 
 = old age. The word is also given as 
 an adjective, so that its use as a verb in 
 this sense does not seem to be very far- 
 fetched. If so used, the word should be 
 spelled yeild and not yield. 
 
 Some conjectural emendations have 
 been proposed, but if my gloss is correct 
 they are unnecessary. 
 
 yoked. Yoked with his that did-betray 
 the Best (Wint. I, 2, 419), that is, with 
 Judas who betrayed Christ. The capital 
 B in Best shows this. Douce points out 
 that in the sentence against excom- 
 municated persons there was a clause : 
 " Let them have part with Judas that 
 betrayed Christ. Amen " ; and he sug- 
 gests that "this is here imitated." 
 
 yoke-devils. Two devils yoked together. 
 HV. II, 2, 106. 
 
 yokes. In the g. a. text the passage 
 in Wiv. V, 5, 111, reads : do not 
 these fair yokes Become the forest 
 better than the town f In the Fi. it 
 is yoaks; in the F2. and F3., okes^ 
 and in Fi., oakeSy and there has 
 been a good deal of discussion as to 
 which is correct. The allusion is ob- 
 viously to the horns, the emblems of 
 cuckoldom, with which Falstaff's head 
 was adorned, but whether the true sense 
 is yokes or oaks is not so easily deter- 
 mined. Most eds. read yo/ces. M.Mason 
 says : " I am confident that oaks is the 
 right reading. I ^gree with Theobald 
 that the words, ' See you these, husband V 
 relate to the buck's horns; but what 
 resemblance is there between the horns 
 of a buck and a y oak ? W hat connection 
 is there between a yoak and a forest ? 
 [Oxen, with their yokes, are frequently 
 employed in forests. J. P.] Wh}% none ; 
 whereas, on the other hand, the con- 
 nection between a forest and an oak is 
 
 evident; nor is the resemblance less 
 evident between a tree and the branches 
 of a buck's horns ; they are, indeed, 
 called branches from that very re- 
 semblance ; and the horns of a deer are 
 called, in French, les bois. Though 
 horns are types of cuckoldom, yoaks 
 are not ; and surely the types of cuck- 
 oldom, whatever they may he, are more 
 proper for a town than for a forest. I 
 am surprised that the subsequent editors 
 should have adopted an amendment 
 which makes the passage nonsense." 
 
 To this note Steevens adds the re- 
 mark : " Perhaps, however (as Dr. 
 Farmer observes to me), he was not 
 aware that the extremities of yokes for 
 cattle, as still used in several counties 
 of England, bend upwards, and rising 
 very high, in shape resemble horns.'''* 
 But are not yokes generally attached to 
 the neck while the emblems of cuckoldom 
 ornament the head ? It seems to me 
 that oaks is the true reading. 
 
 yond. Yonder. Hml. I, 1, 36 ; 0th. Ill, 
 3,460. 
 
 York, Archbishop of, dr. p. Scroop. 
 IHIV. and 2HIV. 
 
 York, Archbishop of, dr.p. Thomas 
 Rotherham. Kill. 
 
 York, Duchess of, dr.p. RII. 
 
 York, Duchess of, dr.p. Mother to Ed- 
 ward IV. RIII. 
 
 York, Duke of, dr.p. Cousin to Henry 
 V. HV. 
 
 York, Duke of, dr.p. Uncle to Richard 
 II. RII. 
 
 York, Duke of, dr.p. Son to Edward IV. 
 RIII. 
 
 Yorick. Various surmises have been made 
 as to the origin of this name. Some 
 think it is the Danish Georg or Jorg ; 
 Magnusson suggests that it may be a 
 corruption of Rorick ; Furness points 
 out that Jerick is the name of a Dutch 
 Bowr in Chapman's Alphonsiis. Hml. 
 V, 1, 198. 
 
 young. Recent. HVIII. Ill, 2, 47. y(mng 
 bones = unborn progeny. Lr. II, 4, 165. 
 
 Young Cato, dr.p. Fi-iend to Brutus and 
 Cassius. CaBS. 
 
YOU 
 
 ZOU 
 
 Young Clifford, dr.p. Son to Lord Clif- 
 ford. 2HVI. 
 
 Young Marcius, dr.p. Son to Coriolanus. 
 Cor. 
 
 Young Siward, dr.p. Son to Si ward. Mcb. 
 
 your. This word, as it occurs in Mids. 
 Ill, 1, 33; Hml. IV, 3, 24; Ant. II, 7, 
 29, is used colloquially, but is regarded 
 as vulgar. Howell, in his " Instructions 
 for Forraine Travel " (1642), says : 
 " There is an odd kind of Anglicism, 
 wherein some do fi'equently express 
 
 themselves, as to say, — Your Boores of 
 Holland, sir ; Your Jesuits of Spain, 
 sir ; Your Courtesans of Venice, sir ; 
 whereunto one answered (not impertin- 
 ently) : My Courtesans, sir ? Pox on 
 them all for me ! they are none of my 
 Courtesans." c/. Shr. 1,2, 31, and see 
 me. Also cf. Sh. Gram., § 221. 
 
 yravish. To ravish ; to delight. Per. Ill, 
 Prol. 35. 
 
 yslaked. To slake ; to abate ; to silence. 
 Per. Ill, Prol. 1. 
 
 ANI, or ZANY. A subordinate 
 buffoon whose office was to 
 make awkward attempts at 
 mimicking the tricks of the 
 professional clown. LLL. V, 2, 463 ; 
 Tw. I, 5, 96. 
 
 Douce explains zany as the fool's 
 bauble, but, as Hunter points out, 
 not so used by Sh., and he tells us 
 that: "A Zani is explained by old 
 Cole [undoubtedly Elisha Coles whose 
 "English Dictionary " is before me] to 
 mean ' a tumbler who procures laughter 
 by his mimic gestures ; a jack-pudding ;" 
 and a writer in the Edinburgh Review 
 for July, 1869, tells us that "The zany 
 in Shakespeare's day was not so much 
 a buffoon and mimic as the obsequious 
 follower of a buffoon and the attenuated 
 mime of a mimic." Wright says that 
 "the Italian Zaimi (our zany) is aeon- 
 traction for Giovanni in the dialect of 
 Bergamo, and is the nickname for a 
 peasant of that place. ' ' See bergom,a.sk. 
 Zantippe. So spelt in the later Folios. 
 
 See Xanthippe. 
 zed. The name of the letter Z. Lr. II, 
 2, 69. " Zed is here probably used as a 
 term of contempt, because it is the last 
 letter in the English alphabet, and as 
 its place may be supplied by S ; and the 
 Roman alphabet has It not; neither is 
 it read in any word originally Teu- 
 tonick." Steevens. 
 Ben Jonson, in his "English Gram- 
 
 mar," says : " Z is a letter often heard 
 amongst us, but seldom seen." 
 
 Zenelophon. So given in most eds. in 
 LLL. IV, 1, 67. There can be no doubt 
 about her identity, as the name of 
 Cophetua settles that. It is evident, 
 therefore, that Zenelophon is a mere 
 misprint for Penelophon, and there is 
 no reason why the blame should be laid 
 on Armado. The ballad is found in 
 Richard Johnson's " Crown Garland of 
 Goulden Roses" (1612), 12mo., where it 
 is entitled simply, " A Song of a Beggar 
 and a King." It is given by Percy in 
 his " Reliques," First Series, Book II, 
 No. 6. 
 
 Zentippe. So spelt in the Fl. See 
 Xanthippe. 
 
 zenith. A term borrowed from astrology 
 and signifying the highest point of one's 
 fortune. Tp. I, 2, 181. 
 
 zodiac. The twelve signs through which 
 the sun passes ; hence, a year. Meas. I, 
 2, 172. "There can be little doubt that 
 either ' nineteen ' in this passage should 
 be ' fourteen,' or that 'fourteen years ' 
 in the next scene and page should be 
 ' nineteen i/ea?'s. ' " Dyce. 
 
 zounds. A common oath in former times. 
 It is a variant of 's wounds, which is a 
 a mincing contraction of God's wounds, 
 referring to Christ's sufferings on the 
 cross. The word is frequently omitted 
 in the Fl., as in 0th. II, 3, 163, where 
 it occurs in the g. a. text. See Ood. 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 N order to facilitate reference to various passages which are the subject 
 of annotation, I have added a large number of cross-references that 
 really serve the same purpose as an index. Where the required ex- 
 planation is merely that of some obsolete word, it is readily found, but 
 where the reference is to a line or passage it is not always easy to select the word 
 under which it is given. At the same time I have taken advantage of the 
 opportunity to add a few additional comments and glosses. 
 
 ADDRESSED. Ready; prepared. Mids. 
 V, 1, 106 ; 2HIV. IV, 4, 5 ; Cses. 
 Ill, 1, 29. 
 ad manes fratrum. (Latin.) To the shades 
 
 of the brothers. Tit. I, 1, 98. 
 admiration. Something to be wondered 
 
 at. All's. II, 1, 91. 
 Adrian, dr. p. A lord of Naples. Tp. 
 Adriana, dr.p. Wife of Antipholus of 
 
 Ephesus. Err. 
 adulterate. To commit adultery. John 
 
 III, 1, 56. 
 advertise. To counsel; to instruct. Meas. 
 
 V, 1, 388. 
 ^geon, dr.p. A merchant of Syracuse. 
 
 Err. 
 iCgle. A nymph, the daughter of Pan- 
 opeus. She was beloved by Theseus, 
 and for her he forsook Ariadne. Mids. 
 II, 1, 79. See Theseus. 
 iCmilius, dr.jj. A noble Roman. Tit. 
 >Emiiius Lepidus, dr.p. A Roman Trium- 
 vir. Caes. 
 affection. Sympathy ; correspondence of 
 feeling. Merch. IV, 1, 50. 
 
 This passage has called forth a good 
 deal of comment. In the Fl . the lines 
 read : 
 Cannot containe their Vrine for aflfec- 
 
 tion. 
 Masters of passion swayes it to the 
 
 moode. 
 Of what it hkes or loathes. 
 
 Thirlby suggested a semi-colon after 
 
 urine and no period after affection, 
 and this has been adopted in the " Cam- 
 bridge," the "Globe" and most eds. 
 With this change the sense is obvious. 
 See phssion. 
 
 Agrippa, dr.p. A friend to Octavius 
 Caesar. Ant. 
 
 Agrippa, Menenius, dr.p. A friend to 
 Coriolanus. Cor. 
 
 ale. See pugging. 
 
 Alengon, Duke of, dr.p. IHVI. 
 
 all. This word is frequently used ad- 
 verbially by Sh. RII. II, 2, 126 ; Tim. 
 I, I, 139. See Sh. Gram., § 28. 
 
 alliance. The passage in Ado. II, 1, 830, 
 Good Lord, for alliance, has received 
 several interpretations. Capell thinks 
 it means " Good Lord, here have I got 
 a new cousin!" Boswell explains it: 
 "Good Lord, how many alliances are 
 forming," and Furness seems to favor 
 this interpretation. 
 
 allottery. That which is allotted ; a por- 
 tion or inheritance. As. I, 1, 76. 
 
 Amurath. "Anmrath the Third (the 
 sixth Emperor of the Turks) died on 
 January the 18th, 1596. The people 
 being generally disaffected to Mahomet, 
 his eldest son, and inclined to Amurath, 
 one of his younger children, the Em- 
 peror's death was concealed for ten daj'S 
 by the Janizaries, till Mahomet came 
 from Amasia to Constantinople. On 
 his arrival he was saluted Emperor 
 
 (387) 
 
ANC 
 
 ARI 
 
 by the great Bassas, and others his 
 favourers ; ' which done ' (saysKiiolles), 
 ' he presently after caused all his breth- 
 ren to be invited to a solemn feast in 
 the court ; whereuntothey, yet ignorant 
 of their father's death, came chearfully, 
 as men fearing no harm : but, being 
 come, we7-e there all most miserably 
 strangled.'' It is highly probable that 
 Shakespeare here alludes to this trans- 
 action. 
 
 " This circumstance, therefore, may 
 fix the date of this play subsequently to 
 the beginning of the year 1596; and 
 perhaps it vfas written while this fact 
 was yet recent." Malone. 2HIV. V, 
 2, 48. 
 
 ancient. Old. T?ie ancient of war (Lr. 
 V, 1, 32) = the elders ; old soldiers 
 skilled in the art of war. # 
 
 answer, n. Encounter; contest. Hml. 
 V, 2, 176. 
 
 answer, v. To encounter ; to resist. Lr, 
 III, 4, 106. 
 
 Anthony, { In the Fl., Ant. Y, 2, 86-88, 
 
 Antony. S Cleopatra says of Antony : 
 For his Bounty 
 There was no winter in't. An Anthony 
 
 it was 
 That grew the more by reaping : 
 
 The g.a. text, including the "Cam- 
 bridge " and the " Globe," read autumn 
 for Anthony, the emendation being 
 Theobald's. In the Fl. the name An- 
 tony is uniformly spelt Anthony. 
 
 Prof. Corson, in his "Introduction 
 to the Study of Shakespeare," claims 
 that the Folio is right. He gives good 
 rea.sons for the opinion that "autumn " 
 makes nonsense of the passage, and 
 concludes as follows : "Now, could not 
 the ' less Greek ' which, Ben Jonson 
 tells us, Shakespeare -possessed, have 
 led him to see in ' Anthony ' the word 
 anthos? [Greek for a young bud or 
 sprout] and to quibble on the word as 
 meaning a flower garden ? His bounty 
 had no winter in it ; it was a luxuriant, 
 ever- blooming flower garden." This is 
 certainly admirable and not only does 
 away with all necessity for emendation, 
 
 but gives real sense to the passage, 
 which Theobald's "correction" cer- 
 tainly does not give. Strange to say, 
 however, the new editions all keep in 
 the old track. See note on she and 
 wren, ante. 
 
 Antiopa. An Amazon, the sister of Hip- 
 polyta, who married Theseus. Mids. 
 II, 1, 80. When Attica was invaded by 
 the Amazons, Antiopa fought with 
 Theseus against them and died the death 
 of a heroine by his side. 
 
 ape. " ' Ape of nature ' is a title accorded 
 to more than one painter by his flatterers; 
 it was given, among others, to Giotto's 
 disciple, Stefano. " Sijmons. Wint. V, 
 2, 108. 
 
 argument. This word in As. Ill, 1, 3, 
 evidently means subject and not "cause, 
 reason,'' as Schni. defines it in this 
 passage. If argument = reason, it cer- 
 tainly could not be absent. Johnson 
 says : " An argument is used for the 
 content&of a book ; thence, Shakespeare 
 considered it as meaning the subject 
 and then used it for subject in another 
 sense." cf. IHIV. II, 4, 810, and Lr. 
 I, 1, 218. 
 
 Ariadne. A daughter of Minos and Pasi- 
 phae, of Crete. When Theseus arrived 
 in Crete with the tribute sent by the 
 Athenians to Minos, Ariadne fell in love 
 with him and furnished him with the 
 sword with which he killed the Mino- 
 taur, and the clew of thread by which 
 he found his way out of the labyrinth. 
 Theseus, in return, promised to marry 
 her, and she accordingly left Crete with 
 him, but when he arrived in Naxos he 
 forsook her for the nymph -lEgle, the 
 daughter of Panopeus. Mids. II, 1, 79. 
 Various accounts are given of her fate. 
 Some say that she put an end to her 
 own life in despair, while other tradi^ 
 tions relate that Dionysus saved her 
 and, in amazement at her beauty, made 
 her his wife. There are several cir- 
 cumstances in the story of Ariadne 
 which offered the happiest subjects for 
 works of art, and some of the finest 
 ancient work on gems, as well as paint- 
 
ABI 
 
 BAD 
 
 ings, of which Ariadne is the subject, 
 are still extant. Gent. IV, 4, 172. See 
 Theseus. 
 
 arithmetician. A book-keeper; a busi- 
 ness clerk, and not a military man. 
 0th. I, 1, 19. 
 
 Steevens explains it as one "that 
 fights b}^ the book of arithmetic." cf. 
 Rom. Ill, 1, 106. 
 
 arms. The expression, / must change 
 arms at home (Lr. IV, 2, 17), is thus 
 explained b}^ Craig : " ' I must take the 
 sword out of my weak husband's hands, 
 resigning to him the distaff.' Compare 
 the old terms for husband and wife, 
 ' the spear side ' and ' the spindle side ' ; 
 and see Cym. V, 3, 83-84." 
 
 article. Importance ; moment. Hml. V, 
 2, 132. 
 
 as. Upon this word, as it occurs in the 
 expression, That he should hither come 
 as this dire night (Rom. V, 8, 247), 
 Dowden remarks: "This as used with 
 adverbs and adverbial phrases of time 
 is still conunon dialectically, but literary 
 English retains only, as yet (N. E. D). 
 I have noticed it frequently in Richard- 
 son's novels, used as in the following 
 from Mrs. Delany 's ^w^o&togr.. Ill, 608 
 (quoted in N. E. D.) : 'To carry us off 
 to Longleat as next Thursday.' Its 
 force was restrictive ; now we regard 
 it as redundant. Compare Meas. V, 1, 
 74 : As then the messenger.''^ 
 
 Asmath. The spirit raised in 2HVI. I, 4. 
 The name occurs nowhere else. Some 
 have supposed it to be a corruption of 
 Asmodeus. 
 
 aspic. This is the archaic form of asp, 
 the name of a very venomous serpent 
 of Egypt. Aspicke is the spelling of 
 the Fl. The word occurs four times in 
 the plays, viz., Oth. Ill, 3, 450; Ant. V, 
 2, 296, 354 and 355. The asp has become 
 celebrated as the means by which Cleo- 
 patra conunitted suicide, the particular 
 serpent being in all probability the 
 horned viper, which is a snake about 
 fifteen inches long, though the name 
 has also been applied to another species, 
 the Naja haje,which. attains a length of 
 
 three or four feet. The color of the 
 horned viper is a mottled green and 
 brown, and the skin of the neck is 
 dilatable, though less so than that of the 
 true cobra. It is of frequent occurrence 
 along the Nile, and is the sacred serpent 
 of ancient Egypt, represented commonly 
 in art as a part of the head-dress of 
 kings and divinities and often connected 
 w ith their emblems as a symbol of royal 
 power. Cent. Diet. 
 
 ass. A well-known animal. While it is 
 more than doubtful that there is any 
 pun between ass and as in Hml. V, 2, 
 48, it is quite obvious that Maria puns 
 upon these two words in Tw. II, 3, 185. 
 See ases. 
 
 Athens. This city was named after 
 Athena, one of the great divinities of 
 the Greeks. By the Romans she was 
 identified with Minerva. See Minerva 
 and Theseus. The scene of Mids. is 
 laid in Athens and the surrounding 
 country. 
 
 attest. To stand for. HV., Prol. 16. 
 
 avaunt. Used as a noun in HVIII. II, 3, 
 10, meaning dismissal. To give her the 
 avaunt = to send her away contemptu- 
 ously. Johnson. 
 
 autumn. See Anthony. 
 
 BACKED. It has been suggested that 
 this word, as it occurs in Hml. Ill, 
 2, 397, should be becked, i.e., snouted. 
 Hollinshed, in his "Description of 
 England," has, "if hebe wesell-becked," 
 and Quarles uses the word as a term of 
 reproach in his Virgi7i Widow: "Go, 
 you weazel-snouted, addle-pated, etc." 
 Steevens. The Q4. and Q5. have black 
 instead of backed, but as weasels are 
 not black, this is probably a typo- 
 graphical error, though it has been 
 adopted by Pope, Theobald and others, 
 Theobald suggested ouzle instead of 
 weasel since ouzles are black, cf. 2HIV. 
 Ill, 2, 9. 
 badge. Douce, in a note on Shr. IV, 1, 
 93, says : "In [the reign of] Edward the 
 Fourth the terms livery and badge 
 
BAK 
 
 BIS 
 
 appear to have been synonymous, the 
 former having no doubt been borrowed 
 from the French language, and signify- 
 ing a thing delivered. The badge con- 
 sisted of the master's device, crest or 
 arms, on a separate piece of cloth, or 
 sometimes silver, in the form of a shield, 
 fastened to the left sleeve " ; and a little 
 further on he gives a cut of men wear- 
 ing badges. Wright says: "A badge 
 was a mark of service; hence, appro- 
 priately used for a mark of inferiority, 
 and as such an expression of modesty." 
 This explains the use of the word in 
 Ado. I, 1, 23. 
 
 baker's daughter. See owl. 
 
 bandy. To toss from side to side. A term 
 in tennis. LLL. V, 2, 29 ; Lr. I, 4, 92. 
 
 barber-monger. A fop who deals much 
 with barbers, to adjust his hair and 
 beard. Lr. II, 2, 36. 
 
 barren. Stupid ; unintellectual ; witless. 
 Mids. Ill, 2, 13 ; Tw. I, 5, 90 ; Hml. Ill, 
 
 2, 45. 
 
 bass, V. To utter a deep bass sound ; to 
 proclaim with a bass voice. Tp. Ill, 3, 99. 
 
 bauble. A trifle ; a thing of no account. 
 Cym. Ill, 1, 27. Sometimes defined as 
 "a small boat " ; surely not so ; a ship 
 may be "a bauble," a trifle; but a 
 trifle or bauble does not signify a ship. 
 
 Baucis. See Philemon. 
 
 bawbling. Trifling ; insignificant. Tw. 
 V, 1, 57. 
 
 beast. An animal of the ox kind. Lr. 
 Ill, 4, 109. A special, but very common 
 application of the word. 
 
 becomed love. " Becomed for becoming: 
 one participle for the other ; a frequent 
 practice with our author." Steevens. 
 Rom. IV, 2, 26. See Sh. Gram., §374. 
 
 becoming, n. Grace. Ant. I, 3, 96; 
 Sonn. CL, 5. 
 
 bell, as sound as a. A very old proverb, 
 still in common use, found in Ado. Ill, 
 
 3, 13. As is well known to every old 
 woman who buys crockery and tests its 
 soundness by tapping it and causing it 
 to ring, a bell which has the slightest 
 crack no longer gives a true ringing 
 sound. Steevens, followed by most I 
 
 corns., thinks that "there is a covert 
 allusion to the old proverb: 'As the 
 fool thinketh. So the bell clinketh.'" 
 Wright thinks that the allusion is so 
 covert as to be doubtful, and most 
 sensible readers must agree with him. 
 
 bend. To direct. RIII. I, 2, 95 ; Lr. IV, 
 2, 74. 
 
 beshrew. To blame severely. Rom. Ill, 
 2, 26. 
 
 Best, The. Jesus Christ. Wint. I, 2, 
 419. ^ee yoked. 
 
 bestow. To carry ; to show. As. IV, 3, 
 85 ; 2HIV. II, 2, 84. 
 
 betray. See yoked. 
 
 bias. 1. Awry. Troil. I, 3, 15. 
 2. Swollen out of shape "as the bowl on 
 the biassed side." Johnson. Troil. 
 IV, 5, 8. 
 
 biggen. The origin of this word is thus 
 given by Boucher in his "Glossary of 
 Arch, and Prov. Words": "A cap, 
 quoif, or dress for the head, formerly 
 worn by men, but now limited, I believe, 
 almost entirely to some particular cap 
 or bonnet for young children. * * * 
 Caps or coifs were probably first called 
 beguins or biggins, from their resem- 
 blance to the caps or head-dress worn 
 by those Societies of young women who 
 were called Beguines in France and 
 who led a middle kind of life between 
 the secular and religious, made no vows, 
 but maintained themselves by the work 
 of their own hands. " Apud Dyce. 
 
 bird. Hamlet's speech (Hml. I, 5, 116), 
 Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come^ 
 "is the call which falconers use to their 
 hawk in the air, when they would have 
 him come down to them." Hanm,er. 
 
 biscuit. Thus defined by Skeat : " A 
 kind of cake baked hard." It was so 
 called because it was twice baked {bis 
 coctus) so as to dry it thoroughly in 
 order that it might keep. In Great 
 Britain the term is always applied to 
 what we call crackers or hard tack. 
 We use it to designate a small loaf, 
 usually prepared without fermentation 
 and used in a fresh and soft state. Even 
 Achilles could not "pun" one of our 
 
BIT 
 
 BBA 
 
 biscuits iuto shivers ; a blow would oiily 
 flatten it. As. II, 7, 39 ; Troil. II, 1, 43. 
 
 bitumed. Smeared with bitumen. Per. 
 Ill, 1, 72. 
 
 blaze. To publish; to proclaim. Rom. 
 Ill, 3, 151. cf. blazon. 
 
 blood. 1. A high-spirited young man. 
 John II, 1, 278 and 461 ; Cses. I, 3, 151. 
 2. See witch. 
 
 bloody flag. The signal of war. HV. I, 
 2, 101 ; Cor. II, 1, 84. 
 
 blue coats. The common dress of serving- 
 men in Sh. time and long before. Dyce. 
 Shr. IV, 1, 93. 
 
 boar. See Catesby. 
 
 bold-beating. Brow-beating. Wiv. II, 
 2, 28. 
 
 bonds. See word. 
 
 bonny. Bonnie in the Fl. in As. II, 3, 
 8. This word is generally defined as 
 handsome ; fair ; beautiful. But it is 
 also considered synonymous with pretty; 
 now, a "pretty" man in Scotch does 
 not mean beautiful, but strong, and it 
 is quite probable that bonnie has that 
 meaning in the passage quoted (the 
 bonnie priser of the humorous duke), 
 just as "merry" men, in the old 
 English ballads, did not mean jolly 
 fellows, but strong, stout fighters. 
 
 The word has given a good deal of 
 trouble to the coins., as may be seen in 
 the 3rd Var., Furness, Rolfe and others. 
 Emendations have been suggested, but 
 to me it seems certain that Sh. used 
 the word in the old Scottish sense of 
 " pretty " or strong. 
 
 book. Learning ; scholarship. 2HVI. IV, 
 7, 76. This is the meaning usually given 
 to this word in this passage, but its 
 accuracy is doubtful. See quarrel. 
 
 boot. The expression, Grace to boot 
 (As. I, 2, 80), evidently means, " Grace 
 be my help," as in the saying, "St. 
 George to boot," i.e., St. George be our 
 help. 
 
 boot -hose. Stocking - hose or spatter- 
 dashes. Shr. Ill, 2, 68. 
 
 bosom. Love ; affection. Lr. I, 1, 275. 
 
 box=tree. The box-tree mentioned by 
 Maria in Tw. II, 5, 18, was evidently a 
 
 piece of topiaiy work, an art in which 
 European gardeners were very skilful. 
 The box-tree lent itself very readily to 
 this art, and no doubt one or more 
 trees, planted close together, had been 
 so trained and cut as to form a 
 rustic arbor or cabin in which two or 
 three persons could easily hide. Dr. 
 Furness (New Var., Twelfth Night, p. 
 206) says that box-tree here "means 
 a hedge," but I think this is scarcely 
 the proper term to apply to it. Maria 
 would hardly have told the two knights 
 and Fabian to get " into " a hedge ; if 
 the box-trees had formed a hedge she 
 would have told them to get behind it. 
 
 brach. In Troil. II, 1, 126, the Folios and 
 Quarto read brooch, which was changed 
 to brach by Rows and to brock by 
 Malone. Brach, that is, a dog or hound 
 following at the heels of Achilles, seems 
 to be the most natural. Brock (a badger) 
 has no pertinency, and where Malone 
 got the meaning of "fop" for brock it 
 is diflicult to imagine. Johnson adopts 
 brach as the reading of his text, but in 
 regard to brooch says: "Brooch is an 
 appendant ornament. The meaning may 
 be, equivalent to one of Achilles^s 
 hangers on.''' This may satisfy the 
 sticklers for "the original text." 
 
 bravery. In the g. a. text this word 
 occurs in 0th. 1, 1, 100. Upon malicious 
 bravery dost thou come To start my 
 quiet. This is the reading of the 
 Qq. The FP. read knavery instead of 
 bravery, and it seems to me that this 
 makes better sense. The Clarkes ex- 
 plain it as : " Urged by a malicious 
 desire to brave me." 
 
 As it occurs in Cym. Ill, 1, 18, the 
 natural bravery of your isle, Schm., 
 followed, of course, by most subsequent 
 coms., explains it as "a state of defi- 
 ance." But the usual meaning of the 
 expression, that is to say, courage, 
 gives a much better sense. The defence 
 of the isle was the courage of its in- 
 habitants and its natural advantages. 
 Evans suggests " splendour," which 
 seems to me to be a forced interpretation. 
 
BRA 
 
 CAN 
 
 brawn. A mass of flesh. The connection 
 
 of this word with the boar's flesh is 
 
 merely accidental. IHIV. II, 4, 123; 
 
 2HIV. I, 1, 19. 
 
 brazed. Hardened. Lr. I, 1, 11; Hml. 
 
 Ill, 4, 37. 
 bred and born. This expression occurs 
 in Tvv. 1, 2, 22, and has given no trouble, 
 though it reverses the usual sequence 
 "born and bred." But an apparently 
 corresponding passage in As. Ill, 5, 7, 
 he that dies and lives by bloody drops, 
 has called forth pages of annotation. 
 See die in these Addenda. 
 
 breed. Progeny ; offspring. Used figur- 
 atively for interest on money in Merch. 
 I, 3, 135. 
 
 broker. A go-between, frequently in a 
 vile sense. Compl. 173 ; John II, 1, 568 
 and 582. White says that it was not 
 until the last ten years of the seventeenth 
 century that the word was advanced to 
 the honor of a connection with stock 
 operations. 
 
 brooded. This word, as it occurs in John 
 III, 3, 52, is generally explained as 
 brooding, that is, vigilant as a bird 
 with a brood of young to care for. For 
 the acti\'e use of passive participles, see 
 Sh. Gram., §374. Pope changed broocied 
 to broad-ey^d, and certainly there are 
 strong grounds for the emendment, but 
 the rule is imperative that no change 
 shall be made where a passable mean- 
 ing can be derived from the original. 
 
 bucklers. To "give the bucklers" was 
 to acknowledge defeat. Ado. V, 2, 17. 
 cf. vice. 
 
 bulk. This reading in 0th, V, 1, 1, has 
 been generally accepted as meaning a 
 projecting part of a building. In the 
 Fl. it reads barke. Singer says: "I 
 feel assured that balke was intended, 
 and not bulk. Palsgrave renders that 
 word by pouste [a variant of post?] 
 and Huloet defines it, ' the chief beanie 
 or piller ot a house.'" The word still 
 survives in the Scottish "bank," and 
 certainly is more appropriate here than 
 bulk. 
 
 burthen. "The burthen of a song, in the 
 
 old acceptation of the word, was the 
 base, foot or under-song. It was sung 
 throughout, and not merely at the end 
 of a verse. * * * Many of these 
 burthens were short, proverbial expres- 
 sions, such as ' 27s merry in hall when 
 beards wag all. Other burthens were 
 mere nonsense, words that went glibly 
 off the tongue, giving the accent of the 
 music, such as hey nonny, nonny no ; 
 hey derry down.'' ^ Chapell. "Popular 
 Music of the Olden Time." Tp. I, 2, 
 381 ; Wint. IV, 4, 195. 
 burial. See funeral. 
 but. "But, in the sense of except, fre- 
 quently follows negative comparatives, 
 where we should use than. " Sh. Gram, , 
 §127. Mcb. V, 8, 42; Hml. I, 1, 108; 
 0th. I, 1, 126. 
 button. The very butcher of a silk 
 button (Rom. II, 4, 24), that is to say, 
 one who can direct the point of his 
 rapier to a button's breadth. Staunton 
 quotes Silver, "Paradoxes of Defence" 
 (1599): "Signior Rocca * * * thou 
 that takest upon thee to hit anie English- 
 man with a thrust upon anie button." 
 buzz. Idle, vague rumor. Lr. I, 4, 348. 
 Compare Hml. IV, 5, 90 : buzzers to 
 infect his ear; also Chapman, The 
 Widow''s Tears, II, 1, Shepherd, Works, 
 1874, p. 315 (a): "Think 'twas but a 
 buzz devised by him to set your brains 
 a- work." Craig. 
 by and by. Immediately; presently, as 
 often in Sh. Rom. V, 3, 284. Dowden. 
 Not, after a considerable time, as it now 
 generally means with us. 
 
 CABINET. This word in Ven. 854 means 
 a nest; in Lucr. 442 it means the 
 heai't. 
 cakes and ale. See virtuous. 
 call. The expression in John III, 4, 174, 
 they would be as a call, is an image 
 taken from the manner in which birds 
 are sometimes caught ; one being placed 
 for the purpose of drawing others to 
 the net by his note or call. Malone. 
 Cancer. The crab ; the sign in the zodiac 
 
CAN 
 
 393 
 
 CAT 
 
 which the sun enters at the summer 
 solstice. Hence, add more coals to 
 Cancer (Troll. II, 3, 206) = increase the 
 heat of summer. The same thought is 
 expressed by Thomson in his ' ' Seasons ' ' : 
 And Cancer reddens with the solar 
 blaze. 
 Hyperion is Apollo or the sun-god. See 
 Hyperion. 
 
 Candy. Candia, now Crete. Tw. V, 1, 64. 
 
 candles of the night. The stars. Merch. 
 V, ], 220; Rom. Ill, 5, 9; Mcb. II, 1, 5. 
 
 canis. Latin for dog. LLL. V, 2, 593. 
 
 cap. The expression, wear his cap with 
 suspicion (Ado. I, 1, 2(X)) is thus ex- 
 plained by Johnson: "That is, subject 
 his head to the disquiet of jealousy." 
 But the meaning evidently is that a 
 married man caimot wear his cap with- 
 out being suspected of using it to cover 
 his horns — the emblems of cuckoldom. 
 
 In Painter's "Palace of Pleasure," 
 p. 233, we find: "All they that weare 
 homes be pardoned to weare their 
 cappes upon their heads." And see 
 0th. II, 1, 316 ; and 3rd Var., Vol. VII, 
 p. 191. 
 
 capable. In reference to the passage 
 in Lr. II, 1, 86, Fll work the means 
 To make thee capable^ Lord Camp- 
 bell says: "In forensic discussions re- 
 specting legitimacy, the question is put, 
 whether the individual whose status is 
 to be determined is 'capable,' i. e., 
 capable of inheriting ; but it is only a 
 lawyer who would express the idea of 
 legitimising a natural son by simply 
 saying: 'I'll work the means to make 
 him capable.'" "Shakespeare's Legal 
 Acquirements," p. 80. 
 
 Capitol. In Hinl. Ill, 2, 109, Polonius 
 says : I was killed V the Capitol. This 
 error as to the place of Caesar's death 
 appears in Chaucer, Monkes Tale, and 
 in Sh. Julius Ccesar. So Fletcher, The 
 Noble Gentleman, V, 1. Doivden. " It 
 may be just noticed, as the historical 
 fact, that the meeting of the Senate at 
 which Caesar was assassinated was held, 
 not, as is here assumed, in the Capitol, 
 but in the Curia in which the statue of 
 
 Pompey stood, being, as Plutarch tells 
 us, one of the edifices which Pompey 
 had built and had given, along with his 
 famous Theatre, to the public. ' ' Craik's 
 "English of Shakespeare," p. 224. 
 
 card. Various explanations have been 
 given of the phrase we must speak by 
 the card (Hml. V, 1, 149), but all seein 
 rather far-fetched. The obvious mean- 
 ing is : We must speak with precision, 
 but whence derived we know not. 
 
 carry. See coals. 
 
 cart. The pun upon court and cart in 
 Shr. I, 1, .5.5, is an allusion to a common 
 punishment for scolds, which consisted 
 in drawing them about the town in a 
 rough cart and on a very uncomfortable 
 seat. 
 
 careful. Anxious ; full of care. H V, IV, 
 ], 248. 
 
 cased. The expression, a cased lion, as 
 it reads in the Fl., in John III, 1, 2.59, 
 was emended to chafed lion by Theo- 
 bald, and this is the reading in the g. a. 
 text, though some eds. retain cased. 
 The meaning of chafed is quite obvious ; 
 cased has been explained as concealed, 
 but this is not quite as forcible as chafed. 
 
 cat. The cat occupies such a prominent 
 place in the folk-lore as well as the 
 daily life of most peoples that it is no 
 wonder that frequent reference is made* 
 to it by Sh. Most of these references, 
 however, require no comment. Hang 
 me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at 
 me (Ado. I, 1, 2.59) has been explained 
 in various ways. Steevens tells us that 
 it was once a practice to enclose a cat, 
 with a quantity of soot, in a wooden 
 bottle (such as that in which shepherd's 
 carry their liquor) and suspend it on a 
 line. He who beat out the bottom as 
 he ran under it, and was nimble enough 
 to escape the contents was regarded as 
 the hero of this inhuman invention. 
 This, however, is one of Steevens's far- 
 fetched explanations, and it seems to 
 me that it does not quite meet the case. 
 That it was a conmion practice to shoot 
 at cats and at images of cats numerous 
 references in the literature of the six- 
 
CATT 
 
 394 
 
 CHA 
 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries show, 
 but of the details we are ignorant. 
 
 Pur ! the cat is gray. Lr. Ill, 6, 47. 
 An allusion, no doubt, to the relation 
 of witches and fiends to cats. Malone 
 thinks that Pxir may be a fiend ; it is 
 the name of one of the devils mentioned 
 by Harsnet. See Graymalkin and tail. 
 A part to tear a cat in (Mids. I, 2, 32), 
 is supposed by some to be a burlesque 
 upon the killing of the lion by Hercules. 
 See brinded and prince of cats. 
 
 cause. The passage in 0th. V, 2, 1, It is 
 the cause, it is the cause my soul, has 
 baffled all the coms. The reader will 
 find the most complete discussion of the 
 subject in "The Henry Irving Shake- 
 speare," Vol. VI, p. 104, in a note by 
 Marshall, too long to transfer to these 
 pages and which it would be difficult to 
 abridge satisfactorily. 
 
 Centaurs. The word literally means bull- 
 killers, and the name was first applied 
 to a rude and savage race of men who 
 inhabited the mountains of Thessaly, 
 and whose chief pastime and means of 
 subsistence was the hunting of wild 
 cattle. In later writers they are de- 
 scribed as monsters whose bodies were 
 partly human and partly those of horses, 
 and it has been suggested that as they 
 spent the greater part of their lives on 
 horse-back they may, at some early 
 period, have made upon their neighbor- 
 ing tribes the same impression as the 
 Spaniards did upon the Mexicans, 
 namely, that man and horse were one 
 being. The Centaurs are particularly 
 celebrated in ancient story for their 
 fight with the Lapithae, which arose at 
 the marriage-feast of Pirithous. Tit. 
 V, 2, 204. On this occasion a Centaur, 
 named Eurytus, becoming heated with 
 wine, tried to carry off the bride, Hip- 
 podamia. Thereupon, the other Centaurs 
 made similar attempts on other women, 
 and a fierce fight ensued. The Lapithae 
 overcame the Centaurs, killed many of 
 them, and drove the rest from their 
 country, compelling them to take refuge 
 on Mount Pindus, on the frontiers of 
 
 Epeirus. This fight is sometimes put in 
 connection with a combat of Hercules 
 and the Centaurs, and it is to this that 
 Theseus alludes in Mids. V, 1, 44, ef seq. 
 The two Centaurs who are best known 
 by name are Cheiron, famous for his 
 skill in hunting, medicine, music and 
 the art of prophecy, and Nessus, who 
 was killed by Hercules for attemj^ting 
 to carry off Deianira, and whose poison- 
 ous blood caused the death of his slayer. 
 There were also female Centaurs who 
 are said to have been of great beauty, 
 and perhaps it is to this that Lear 
 alludes in Lr. IV, 6, 126. 
 
 Cerberus. The many-headed dog that 
 guarded the entrance of Hades, into 
 which he admitted the shades, but never 
 let them out again. Hesiod, who is the 
 first that gives his name and origin, 
 calls him fifty-headed, but later writers 
 describe him as a monster with only 
 three heads, with the tail of a serpent 
 and a mane consisting of the heads of 
 various snakes. The place where he 
 kept watch was, according to some, at 
 the mouth of the Acheron, and accord- 
 ing to others, at the gates of Hades. 
 Cerberus is referred to thrice in the 
 plays, viz., LLL. V, 2, 593; Troil. II, 1, 
 37, and Tit. II, 4, 51. Pistol's "King 
 Cerberus" (2HIV. II, 4, 182), is, of 
 course, one of his senseless and bom- 
 bastic utterances. 
 
 chamber. See tavern. 
 
 chambermaid. Referring to Maria in T w. 
 I, 3, 54, Fumess says: "Let not the 
 modern humble duties of making beds, 
 airing rooms, etc. , be imputed to Maria, 
 who stood in relation to Olivia as a 
 companion and as an assistant at the 
 toilet. In I, 5, 172, Olivia calls her ' my 
 Gentlewoman,' and Malvolio immedi- 
 ately responds by summoning her as 
 'Gentlewoman.' * * * In the end, 
 she marries Sir Toby. " 
 
 Nerissa also, Portia's maid, is her 
 companion, and marries Gratiano, the 
 companion of Portia's lover and hus- 
 band. Merch. Ill, 2, 200. 
 See waiting-woman. 
 
CHA 
 
 CIR 
 
 changes. In the g. a. text the line Oth. 
 I, 1, 73, reads : Yet throw such changes 
 of vexation on^t. This is the reading 
 of the Qq.; the FF., with Rovve, Knight, 
 Staunton and a few others, read chances 
 instead ot changes. Furness sa5's : "I 
 think * chances ' mean here simply pos- 
 sibilities of vexation, which might dis- 
 color Othello's joy. To read changes 
 of vexation (with the Qq.) renders the 
 contingency of 'may lose ' superfluous. 
 A change of vexation could hardly fail 
 to make his joy lose color." 
 
 charge. Value or importance. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 261 ; Rom. V, 2, 18. 
 
 Charlemain. See pen. 
 
 Charon. The name of the aged and 
 dirty ferryman who conveyed in his 
 boat the shades of the dead across 
 the rivers of the lower world. He 
 carried only those whose bodies had 
 been properly buried, the others being 
 compelled to wait for one hundred years 
 before they could pass to their final 
 rest. For this service he was paid by 
 each shade with an obolus or danace, 
 which coin was placed in the mouth of 
 every dead body previous to its burial. 
 Charon is the ferryman referred to in 
 RIII. I, 4, 46. His name occurs in 
 Troil. 111,2, n. 
 
 Charybdis. See Scylla. 
 
 cheat. See silly cheat. 
 
 cheer. As this word occurs in Hml. Ill, 
 2, 229, it is usually explained as fare or 
 food. But Steevens says: "I believe 
 we should read .anchor's chair. So, in 
 the second satire of Hall's fourth book, 
 ed. 1602, p. 18 : 
 
 Sit seven yeres pining in an anchores 
 
 cheyre. 
 To win some parched shreds of mini- 
 vere." 
 The word scope in the context supports 
 this interpretation. 
 child-changed. Three explanations have 
 been given of this word as it occuz's in 
 Lr. IV, 7, 17 : (a) Changed to a child ; 
 made imbecile. Steevens, Henley, Ab- 
 bott, (b) Changed by the conduct of his 
 children. Malone, Halliwell. As simi- 
 
 larly formed words, Malone cites care- 
 crazed or crazed by care, and wave- 
 worn^ i.e., worn by the waves, (c) 
 Delius suggests that it may mean that 
 he has exchanged children, i.e., he has 
 left Regan and Goneril and come to 
 Cordelia. A fourth explanation might be 
 suggested: changed towards his child. 
 Cordelia was at one time his favorite, 
 but he had cast her off — was changed 
 towards her, his child. As this was the 
 great sorrow of Cordelia's life, it is 
 most likely that it would be this that 
 would be present in her thoughts and 
 find expression in her language ; she 
 would pray that he might be restored 
 to his right senses and so turned towards 
 her again. 
 
 chop-logic. "To chop is to barter, give 
 in exchange ; to chop-logic, to exchange 
 or bandy logic ; a chop-logic is a con- 
 tentious sophistical arguer. Awdelay, 
 Fraternitye of Vacabondes (1561), p. 
 15, New Sh. Soc. reprint : ' Choplogyke 
 is he that when his master rebuketh 
 him of his fault he wyll geve him xx 
 words for one. ' " Dowden. Rom. Ill, 
 5, 150. 
 
 chough. The jack-daw. Mids. Ill, 2, 
 21. See russet-pated. 
 
 Circe. A famous sorceress or enchantress 
 who was a daughter of Helios or the 
 Sun, by the ocean ny mph Perse. Having 
 murdered her husband, the prince of 
 Colchis, she was expelled by her subjects 
 and placed by her father on the solitary 
 island of .^aea, on the coast of Italy. 
 By the power of magic potions she was 
 able to turn men into various kinds of 
 animals, and when Ulysses visited her 
 island she turned his companions into 
 swine, but Mercury came to the aid of 
 the hero and gave him an herb called 
 Moly, which not only enabled him to 
 resist her spells, but to gain her love. 
 Having compelled her to restore his 
 companions to their proper shapes, 
 Ulysses remained some time on her 
 island, and it is said that she bore him 
 two sons, Agrius and Telegonus, and 
 that in after years he was slain by the 
 
CIV 
 
 396 
 
 OOA 
 
 latter. See Ulysses. At length, when 
 he wished to leave her, she prevailed 
 upon him to descend into the lower 
 world to consult the prophet Teiresias, 
 who warned him of the dangers that he 
 would encounter and advised him how 
 to meet them. 
 
 Circe is referred to twice in the plays, 
 viz., IHVI. V, 3, 34, and Err. V, 1, 270. 
 
 civil. Grave ; sober. Tw. Ill, 4, 5 ; Rom. 
 Ill, 3, 10. See orange. 
 
 cliff. 1. A clef or key. Troil. V, 2, 11. 
 A variant of clef. 
 2. A steep rock; a precipice. Lr. IV, 
 1,76. 
 
 "The cliff now known as Shake- 
 speare''s Cliff is just outside of the town 
 of Dover, to the southwest. It has been 
 somewhat diminished in height by fre- 
 quent landslips, but is still about 350 
 feet high. The surge still chafes against 
 the pebbles, and the samphire-gatherer 
 is still let down in a basket to pursue 
 his perilous trade ; but the cliff is not 
 so perpendicular, nor do objects below 
 seem so small as one would infer from 
 the poet's description. Probably he did 
 not mean to give a picture of this par- 
 ticular cliff, but delineated one ' in his 
 mind's eye ' and more or less ideal. 
 The South- Eastern Railway now runs 
 through the Dover Cliff in a tunnel 
 1,331 yards long. ' ' Rolfe. 
 
 Edgar, in describing the cliff to his 
 father, evidently meant to create a deep 
 impression on the old man ; it would be 
 natural to expect that he would ex- 
 aggerate a good deal. 
 
 cloistress. A nun. Tw. I, 1, 28. 
 
 close. To come to an agreement. Meas. 
 V, 1, 346; Wint. IV, 4, 830; Cses. Ill, 
 1,202; Hml. 11,1,45. 
 
 "Clubs." The cry formerly used to call 
 forth the London apprentices, who were 
 supposed to employ their clubs for the 
 preservation of the public peace, al- 
 though it probably as often happened 
 that they were used to create a disturb- 
 ance, as in HVIII. V, 4, 53. Malone 
 tells us that it appears from many of 
 our old dramas that in Sh. time it was 
 
 a common custom on the breaking out 
 of a fray to cry, "Clubs, clubs," to 
 part the combatants. Rom. I, 1, 80. 
 
 coals. The phrase, weHl not carry coals 
 (Rom. 1, 1, 1), is thus explained by Nares: 
 "To put up with insults; to submit to 
 any degradation. The origin of the 
 phrase is this : that in every family the 
 scullions, the turnspits, the carriers of 
 wood and coals, were esteemed the very 
 lowest of menials. The latter, in par- 
 ticular, were the servi servorum, the 
 drudges of all the rest." Hence, the 
 origin of the term black-guard, which 
 Nares says was "originally a jocular 
 name given to the lowest menials of the 
 court. " Ben Jonson, in his Every Man 
 out of his Humour, makes Puntarvolo 
 say: "See here comes one that will 
 carry coals, ergo will hold my dog." 
 
 coats. The passage in Mids. Ill, 2, 213 : 
 
 So with two seeming bodies, but one 
 heart ; 
 
 Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, 
 has given rise to some comment. The 
 Fl. has the word life instead of like; 
 this was altered by Theobald, at the 
 suggestion of Folkes, and accepted by 
 most subsequent eds. Wright explains 
 the passage as follows: "Shakespeare 
 borrows the language of heraldry, in 
 which, when a tincture has been once 
 mentioned in the description of a coat 
 of arms, it is always afterwards referred 
 to according to the order in which it 
 occurs in the description ; and a charge 
 is accordingly said to be of the 'first' 
 'of the second,' etc., if its tincture be 
 the same as that of the field which is 
 always mentioned first, or as that of 
 the second or any other that has been 
 specified. Hence Douce's explanation 
 is the correct one [See his ' Illustrations,' 
 p. 120, ed. of 1839] : Helen says, ' we 
 had two seeming bodies but only one 
 heart. ' She then exemplifies her posi- 
 tion by a simile — ' we had two of the 
 first, i.e., bodies, like the double coats 
 in heraldry that belong to man and 
 wife as one person, but which, like our 
 single heart, have but one crest.' " 
 
coc 
 
 89T 
 
 COTJ 
 
 cock. The following additional notes 
 may be of interest to some beginners : 
 
 4. While the word, when used alone, is 
 generally applied to the male of the 
 barnyard fowl, it sometimes means the 
 woodcock, as in Wint. IV, 3, 36. See 
 woodcock. 
 
 5. A pert young man. As. II, 7, 89. 
 
 6. The crowing of the cock in the morn- 
 ing. IHI V. II, 1, 20 ; Mcb. II, 3, 27. 
 
 7. A faucet or spigot. Tim. II, 2, 171. 
 PistoVs cock is up (HV. II, 1, 55), 
 
 means that the hammer or cock of his 
 fire-lock is raised ready for firing. The 
 hammer was called a cock because it 
 was originally made in the form of a 
 cock's head. 
 
 cock-a-hoop. The source of this phrase 
 is obscure. Coles, in his Diet., gives 
 two origins: "At the height of mirth 
 and jollity; the cock or spigot being 
 laid on the hoop, and the barrel of ale 
 stumed, as they say in Staffordshire, 
 that is, drank out without intermission. 
 Or else coq-a-hupe, a cock with a cop, 
 crest or comb. " 
 
 Colchis, ) The country of the golden 
 
 Colchos. ) fleece. Merch. I, 1, 171. See 
 Jason. 
 
 cold. Chaste; modest. Hml. IV, 7, 172. 
 
 coUeagued. In collusion with ; allied to. 
 Hml. I, 2, 21. 
 
 colours. The expression, fear no colours 
 (Tw. I, 5, 6), probably means to fear no 
 enemy. 
 
 colourable colours. Specious appearances. 
 LLL. IV, 2, 156. 
 
 comfortable. Strengthening ; supporting. 
 Rom. V, 3, 148. Used as often in the 
 active sense, cf. All's. 1, 1, 86. Dowden. 
 
 commodity. Advantage ; gain. John II, 
 1, 573 ; 2HIV. I, 2, 278; Lr. IV, 1, 23. 
 
 companion. Fellow, Mids. I, 1, 15. The 
 words companion and fellow have com- 
 pletely changed their meanings in later 
 usage. Companion is not now used 
 contemptuously as it once was, and as 
 fellow frequently is. cf. 2HI V. II, 4, 133. 
 
 conceal. Simple's blunder for reveal. 
 Wiv. IV, 5, 45. 
 
 COn^^{(l^d w«Us. Steevens explained this 
 
 phrase, as it occurs in John V, 2, 139, 
 as " wells in concealed or obscure situa- 
 tions ; viz. , in places secured from, 
 public notice.'''' Malonesays: "I believe 
 our author, with his accustomed license, 
 used concealed for concealing; wells 
 that afforded concealment and protec- 
 tion to those who took refuge there." 
 Rolfe accepts Steevens's gloss, but I 
 think Malone gives the right meaning. 
 Wells are not often placed in concealed 
 situations; there is generally a pretty 
 plain path leading to them. For the 
 use of concealed for concealing see 
 beconied and Sh. Gram., §374. 
 
 conduce. Evidently used in a peculiar 
 sense in Troil. V, 2, 147. Sometimes ex- 
 plained as "to commence" ; others para- 
 phrase the passage as : A battle is joined ; 
 the opposing forces are brought together. 
 
 constant-qualified. In Cym. I, 4, 65, 
 these w^ords appear as a compound in 
 most modern eds. — the "Cambridge," 
 the "Globe," Rolfe, Knight, W^hite, 
 Dyce, etc. Delius, Ingleby, "The Henry 
 Irving Shakespeare," and a few others 
 follow the Folio, in which the reading is 
 ' ' Constant, Qualified. ' ' In Capell's ed. , 
 1768, subsequent to Pope, Warburton, 
 Theobald and Johnson, the comma was 
 changed to a hyphen, greatly to the 
 detriment of the passage. Steevens 
 adopted the corruption and has been 
 followed by most eds., the definition 
 ' ' faithful ' ' being given to the compound 
 word. But " constant " of itself means 
 faithful, and "qualified " is an additional 
 praise- word for which Dr. Ingleby has 
 given abundant authority in his edition 
 of Cynibeline. See qualified. 
 
 convicted. Some corns, have thought that 
 this word, as it occurs in John III, 4, 2, 
 is a misprint, but Malone shows that it 
 was in use in the time of Sh. in the 
 sense of overcome. See Minsheu's Diet. 
 (1617) : " To convict or convince, a Lat. 
 co7ivictus, overcome." Recent coms. 
 attribute this definition to Schmidt. 
 
 couragious. O most couragious day! 
 Mids. IV, 2, 27. " It is not worth while 
 to guess what Qiuuc© intended to say. 
 
COTJ 
 
 398 
 
 ORE 
 
 He used the first long word that occurred 
 to him without reference to its meaning, 
 a practice which is not yet altogether 
 extinct." W. A. Wright. 
 
 counter-sealed. Sealed in duplicate. Cor. 
 V, 3, 205. 
 
 couplement. 1. A pair. LLL. V, % 535. 
 2. A union. Sonn. XXI, 5. 
 
 course. A relay of dogs set on a baited 
 bear. Lr. Ill, 7, 57 ; Mcb. V, 7, 2. So 
 in Brome, Antipodes : " You shall see 
 two ten-dog courses at the great bear, 
 i.e., two successive attacks of ten dogs. " 
 Craig. 
 
 courtesy. The phrase, remember thy 
 courtesy (hhli. V, 1, 103), means : "Re- 
 member that you have already complied 
 with the requirement of courtesy; so 
 cover your head. " Dowden. c/. Hml. 
 V, 2, 108. 
 
 courtship. As it occurs in Rom. Ill, 3, 
 34 = the state of a courtier permitted 
 to approach the highest presence. John- 
 son. Or, familiarity with courts, cf. 
 As. Ill, 2, 364, where there is a pun 
 upon the two meanings of courtship. 
 
 coverture. Cover ; shelter. Ado. Ill, 1, 
 30. In Cor. I, 9, 46, the word overture 
 of the FF. was changed by Tyrwhitt to 
 coverture, meaning cover. 
 
 crack, v. Usually defined as to brag ; to 
 boast. Skeat gives ^^ crake, to boast, 
 an obsolescent word." That it implies 
 boasting in many cases is no doubt true, 
 but it is probable that with Sh. it also 
 had the modern Scottish meaning of to 
 talk, as in the old song : 
 Sit ye doun here, my cronies, and gie 
 
 us your crack; 
 Let the win' tak' the care o' this life 
 
 on its back. 
 In Cym. V, 5, 177, the boasting lies 
 in the word brags rather than in 
 
 •' crack'd " : 
 
 Our brags 
 Were crack'd [or spoken] of kitchen 
 trulls. 
 And so a cracker, in John II, 1, 147, 
 may mean simply a talker — one who 
 says much and does little. 
 
 See the N. E. D. for a very complete 
 discussion of this word. 
 
 craft, V. To make nice work. Cor. IV, 
 6, 118. 
 
 crants. For this word, as found in 
 Quartos 2, 3, 4, 5, in Hml. V, 1, 255, the 
 FF. substituted Rites, and Johnson 
 makes this attempt to explain the 
 change: "I have been informed by an 
 anonymous correspondent that crants 
 is the German word for garlands, and 
 I suppose it was retained by us from 
 the Saxo7is. To carry garlands before 
 the bier of a maiden, and to hang them 
 over her grave, is still the practice in 
 rural parishes. 
 
 " Crants, therefore, was the original 
 word, which the authour, discovering it 
 to be provincial, and perhaps not under- 
 stood, changed to a term more intelligible 
 but less proper. " 
 
 But although the word is generally 
 supposed to be a German expression, it 
 seems to have been in use by the Scot- 
 tish writers and, therefore, was probably 
 familiar to Sh. Jamieson, in his " Ety- 
 mological Dictionary of the Scottish 
 Language," quotes from "A Choice 
 Collection of Comic and Serious Poems," 
 by James Watson (1706), II, 10 : 
 Thair heids wer garnisht gallandlie 
 With costly craneis maid of gold. 
 Nares says the word is German " and 
 probably also Danish, as Rosencrantz, 
 Rosy-garland, is the name of a character 
 in the same play. * * * But how 
 Shakespeare came to introduce a word 
 so very unusual in our language, has 
 not yet been accounted for ; probably 
 he found it in some legend of Hamlet. 
 No other example has been found." 
 
 Elze, however, has found two instances 
 of its use in Chapman's Alphonsus, so 
 that whether its etymological origin 
 was old Dutch (Skeat) or German it 
 seems to have been a regularly natural- 
 ized word. 
 
 Cressida was a beggar. Theobald, in a 
 note on Tw. Ill, 1, 61, says: "The Poet 
 in this circumstance undoubtedly had 
 his eye on Chaucer's [?] Testament of 
 Cressid. Cupid, to revenge her pro- 
 fanation against his Deity, calls in the 
 
CBE 
 
 CRO 
 
 Planetary gods to assist in his vengeance. 
 They instantly turn her mirth into 
 melancholy, her health into sickness, 
 her beauty into deformity and in the 
 end pronounce this sentence upon her : 
 This sail thow go begging f ra hous to 
 
 hous, 
 With cop and clapper lyke ane lazar- 
 ous." 
 "The Testament of Cresseid," which 
 was once attributed to Chaucer, is not 
 to be found in recent editions of his 
 works. Wright says that it really was 
 the work of Robert Henryson. 
 
 There is another allusion to the same 
 tradition in HV. II, 1, 80. 
 Cressid's uncle. Pandarus. All's. II, 1, 
 
 100. See Pandarus. 
 Crete. The "desperate sire of Crete" 
 referred to in IHVI. IV, 6, 54, is Daeda- 
 lus, father of Icarus. See Dcedalus. 
 crocodile. The passage in 0th. IV, 1, 
 257: 
 If that the earth could teem with 
 
 woman's tears, 
 Each drop she falls would prove a 
 crocodile, 
 refers to what was known as the doctrine 
 of "equivocal generation," by which 
 was meant that animals were produced 
 without any parentage, simply by the 
 generative power of various kinds of 
 matter acted upon by heat and moisture. 
 Thus, Virgil tells us that bees may be pro- 
 duced from a dead carcass, and he gives 
 special directions for doing it, though no 
 one has ever succeeded. Worms, too, 
 were supposed to be generated in dead 
 bodies without the access of flies. This 
 doctrine is alluded to in Ant. II, 7, 29 : 
 Vour' serpent of Egypt is bred noiv of 
 your mud by the operation of your 
 sun. It is only within a few years that 
 this hypothesis, more recently known 
 as "spontaneous generation," has been 
 entirely rejected. Othello says that if 
 a woman's tears, acting on the earth, 
 could produce [teem or bring forth] any 
 animal, it would be a crocodile. It 
 seems that in Sh. time a dead crocodile 
 about nine feet long was exhibited in 
 
 London, and the general idea in regard 
 to the animal, as expressed by Bullokar 
 in his "English Expositor" (1616), was 
 that "he will weep over a man's head 
 when he hath devoured the body, and 
 then will eat up the head too. Where- 
 fore in Latin there is a proverbe, croco- 
 dili lachrymce, crocodile's tears, to 
 signify such tears as are fained and 
 spent only with intent to deceive, or 
 doe harm, ' ' This supposed characteristic 
 is referred to in 2HVI. Ill, 1, 226. 
 crop. This word, as it occurs in Cym. I, 
 6,* 33, has received various definitions. 
 Warburton says : He is here speaking 
 of the covering of sea and land, and 
 therefore wrote, and the rich cope. 
 Steevens derides this emendation and 
 says : " The crop of sea and land means 
 only the productions of either element. " 
 In this he is followed by most coms., 
 Schm,, Rolfe, Gollancz, etc. White has 
 the following note (Riverside Ed.) : 
 "This speech is meant to be extrava- 
 gant ; and Sh. falls into his most re- 
 motely suggestive style ; the rich crop 
 of sea and land = all the products of 
 the earth." 
 
 None of these explanations seems to 
 be entirely satisfactory. The original 
 sense of crop seems to have been that 
 which sticks up or out, a protuberance, 
 bunch. Skeat. Thus we speak of the 
 out-cropping of rocks. It seems to me, 
 therefore, that Ingleby's explanation 
 comes most nearly to what is meant: 
 " The crop, or out-crop, is that which 
 strikes the eye. It might, however, be 
 contended with some show of probability 
 that ' the rich crop ' is that vast treasury 
 of pebbles which belongs almost as much 
 to the sea as to the land. All other 
 
 * This Scene is number 7 in the Fl,, the 
 3rd. Var, and several other eds., in which 
 Scene 1 ends at line 69. Rovve combined 
 Scenes 1 and 2, and thus made only six 
 Scenes in the First Act. In this he has 
 been followed by most modern eds,, in- 
 cluding the "Globe," "•Cambridge," 
 Dyce, White, Rolfe, etc. Dr. Ingleby, in 
 his special ed. of this play follows the Fl, 
 
CBO 
 
 400 
 
 CYN 
 
 interpretations may be safely discount- 
 enanced. Those ' spectacles so precious, ' 
 says the Italian, ' can do two very 
 different things : can see the whole 
 hemisphere of the heavens above and 
 the vast compass of the sea and land 
 beneath ; and also can distinguish be- 
 tween any two objects, either in the 
 heavens (as stars) or on the shore (as 
 stones), which are, to a casual observer, 
 so much alike that they might be taken 
 for twins. It is curious and noteworthy 
 that Johnson expressed himself unable 
 to understand ' twinn'd stones. ' " 
 
 crow. The expression, the crying of your 
 natioiVs crow (John V, 2, 144), means 
 the crowing of a cock ; gallus meaning 
 both a cock and a Frenchman. Douce. 
 
 cry. The expression, cried in the top of 
 mine (Hml. II, 2, 459), means greatly 
 exceeded mine. For the passage, cry 
 out 071 the top of question, see question. 
 
 cruels. See subscribe. 
 
 cuckoo-buds. The corns, are uncertain as 
 to which plant Sh. refers by this name. 
 Some species of ranunculus or crow-foot 
 is probably meant. LLL. V, 2, 906. 
 
 cuckoo-flowers. Probably the lady-smock 
 or Cardamine pratensis. Lr. IV. 4, 4. 
 
 cunnings. In the g. a. text, in Hml. IV, 
 7, 156, the FF. read commings ; it is 
 cunniyigs in Ql. Cunnings is explained 
 as skill, as in II, 2, 461, same play. So 
 Cambridge, Globe, Dyce, Furness, "The 
 Henry Irving Sh.," Dowden, etc. Cal- 
 decott, Knight and a few others adopt 
 the reading of the Folios, commings, 
 which they explain as "meeting in 
 assault, bout, or pass at fence. " " Com- 
 ming. Gall. Venue." Minsheu. Calde- 
 cott also quotes from Cotgrave : ' ' Venue 
 f. A Comming; also a vennie in fenc- 
 ing. " But this quotation does not apply ; 
 Euclid's first axiom does not hold good 
 here. Because venue = comming (so in 
 Cot.) and venue = vennie in fencing, it 
 does not follow that comming = vennie. 
 TheN. E. D. does not give this definition 
 of comming. So that it looks very nmch 
 as if the word in the FF. was a mis- 
 print, and that the g. a. text is right. 
 
 curfew bell. The meaning and origin of 
 this word is plain ; it was the evening 
 signal for covering the fire. Its use 
 in Rom. IV, 4, 4, has, however, given 
 rise to many notes, an evening bell 
 at three o'clock in the morning (foure 
 a clocke in Ql.), having proved 
 puzzling to many. White says that, 
 to him, it is " inexplicable," and 
 Ulrici thinks that old Capulet is so 
 flurried that he does not know what he 
 does or hears. But Professor Dowden, 
 in his excellent ed. of this play, has the 
 following note, which seems to me to 
 fully explain the matter: "Strictly, 
 this was an evening bell (couvre feu) 
 rung at eight or nine o'clock. Shake- 
 speare uses cnrfew correctly in Meas. 
 IV, 2, 78. The word came to be used 
 of other ringings. Thus, in Liverpool 
 Municipal Records of 1073 and 1704 
 (quoted in N. E. D.) : ' Pting Curphew 
 all the yeare long at ^ a clock in the 
 morning and at eight at a night.' " 
 
 curious. As it occurs in Lr. I, 4, 35, is 
 thus explained by Craig : " Complicated, 
 elaborate, opposed to plain. Schmidt 
 explains, ' elegant, nice. ' Compare the 
 sense of curiosity in North's Plutarch'' s 
 Lives (Tiberius and Caius), ed. 1597, 
 p. 865: 'Tiberius' words * * * being 
 very proper and excellently applied, 
 where Caius' words were full of fine- 
 nesse and curiosity.' " 
 
 curious-knotted. Laid out in fanciful 
 plots. LLL. I, 1, 249. 
 
 " The great feature of the Elizabethan 
 garden [was] the formation of the ' curi- 
 ous-knotted garden. ' Each of the large 
 compartments was divided into a com- 
 plication of ' knots,' by which was meant 
 beds arranged in quaint patterns, formed 
 by rule and compass with mathematical 
 precision." Ellacombe. 
 
 Cynthia's brow. In the lines in Rom. 
 Ill, 5, 20 : 
 I'll say yon grey is not the morning's " 
 
 eye, 
 'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's 
 brow, 
 
 the word brow was changed to bow in 
 
BAK 
 
 401 
 
 DAM 
 
 the Collier MS., and Singer, who was 
 bitterly opposed to Collier, accepted the 
 change on the ground that the correc- 
 tion "is quite unexceptionable, as an 
 easy amendment of an evident misprint, 
 which I also find so corrected in my 
 second folio." Singer's "The Text of 
 Shakespeare Vindicated," p. 283. 
 
 Johnson explained the pale reflex 
 thus : " The appearance of a cloud 
 opposed to the moon." Rolfe explains 
 it as "the pale light of the moon shining 
 through or reflected from the breaking 
 clouds," and adds : " the passage would 
 seem to be clear enough without ex- 
 planation, but some of the editors have 
 done their best to obscure it." The 
 word is hrow in all the old eds., and the 
 Clarkes explain it very properly thus : 
 Cynthia, or the moon (see Cynthia) "is 
 classically represented with a crescent 
 moon upon her forehead. It is the pale 
 reflection of this ornament of Luna's, 
 or Cynthia's, brow, therefore, that is 
 here beautifully alluded to." 
 
 All discussion of the astronomical or 
 physical fitness of the expression or of 
 the alleged scientific facts, is entirely 
 out of place, because Romeo starts out 
 with the assertion that he is "content " 
 and will say that that which both Juliet 
 and he know to be not so is so. 
 
 DAM'D COLOUR' D. This word, which 
 occurs in Tw. I, 3, 144, was changed 
 by Rowe to flame-coloured, and 
 this is the reading in the g. a. text. But 
 great doubt has been expressed as to its 
 correctness. Damask-colou red, dun-col- 
 oured, dove-coloured, pane-coloured, 
 damson-coloured, claret-coloured, etc., 
 have all been suggested. Dam'd colour'd 
 has been defended on the ground that 
 couleur d''enfer was a recognised color 
 in Sh. time. Cotgrave has: "Couleur 
 d'enfer. as much as, Noir-brun en- 
 fum6," which, being translated into 
 English, is: " Color of hell, as much as 
 a smoky black-brown." [Couleur de 
 ciel (heaven) was blue.] R. M. Spence, 
 
 in " Notes and Queries," March 15, 1879, 
 says: "Shakespeare would never have 
 made a vain coxcomb like Sir Andrew 
 show the good taste to choose so unpre- 
 tending a color as black. By a ' dam'd 
 colour'd stocke ' I understand checkered 
 hose. To this day old people among the 
 peasantry of Scotland [and young ones, 
 too] speak of any checkered garment 
 as being of the 'dam-brod,' Anglic^^ 
 "draught-board' pattern." He might 
 have told the story of the London clerk 
 who was horrified when a respectable 
 old lady, with a very decided Scotch 
 accent, asked for some dress goods of 
 
 what he understood to be "ad d 
 
 broad pattern." Dam, here, has nothing 
 to do with color, nor is it in the least pro- 
 fane. It is the French word dame (pro- 
 nounced dam) by which the "men" or 
 pieces on the draught-board were known 
 in Scotland; "dam," of itself, in this 
 connection, would mean nothing. So 
 that this explanation cannot be accepted. 
 The word " brod " here is siinply board 
 with the r transposed, as is frequently 
 done in Scottish or old English, See 
 third. That the passage is corrupt is 
 very probable. After an elaborate re- 
 cital of what has been offered from time 
 to time. Dr. Furness gives the following 
 judicious summing up : "Rowe's emend- 
 ation has the largest following; but 
 then there are eminent critics who dis- 
 pute it. There is such a difference, 
 however, both to the eye and to the ear, 
 between 'dam'd' and ^awie that, until 
 some happier substitute be found, I 
 think the text should remain undis- 
 turbed ; and surely Sir Andrew's char- 
 acter is not so exalted as to be seriously 
 lowered by a little profanity." 
 
 It would seem to be very certain, how- 
 ever, that dam'd is not the word that 
 Sh. wrote. It is true that Sir Andrew 
 uses this word in III, 4, 313, and that in 
 III, 4, 211, he brags thus : Nay, let me* 
 alone for swearing. But in every 
 other passage his language is of the 
 mildest kind, and his expletives scarcely 
 rise to the dignity of oaths — certainly 
 
BAN 
 
 402 
 
 BEX 
 
 they have not the characteristics and 
 flavor of those "g.'X)d mouth-filling 
 oaths " which Hotspur desired to hear 
 from his wife (IHIV. Ill, 1, 259). Is it 
 possible that the word could have been 
 Cain-colour'd ? Cain-colour was yellow 
 (Wiv. I, 4, 23), or, perhaps, yellow with 
 a slight tinge of red, a most absurd 
 color for stockes or stockings, one ab- 
 horred by Olivia, laughed at by Maria 
 in the case of Malvolio, and therefore a 
 most appropriate hue for the "foolish 
 knight," Sir Andrew, upon whom Sh, 
 so delighted to throw ridicule. 
 
 Dan. The word "Dan," meaning Lord, 
 is found several times in Chaucer. One 
 instance occurs in Canterbury Tales, 
 Wif of Bathes Tale (5617) : Lo, here 
 the wise King Dan Solomon. See Dan, 
 ante. 
 
 Dane. The King of Denmark as repre- 
 sentative of the Danish people. Hinl. 
 
 1, 1, 15, and I, 2, 44. See Milan. 
 date-broke. Not paid when due. Tim. 
 
 II, 2, 37. 
 
 death-practised. Having his death in- 
 tended. Lr. IV, 6, 284. 
 
 debonair. Courteous ; affable ; of pleasant 
 manners. It is the French de ban air 
 = of good air or carriage. TroU. I, 3, 
 235. 
 
 declension. Deterioration ; getting worse 
 and worse. RIII. Ill, 7, 189 ; Hml. II, 
 
 2, 149. 
 
 deed. The saying in Lr. I, 1, 73, She 
 names my very deed of love, is ex- 
 plained by Wright as : " she exactly 
 describes my love." Deed is sometimes 
 equal to truth ; thus, in very deed == in 
 very truth ; indeed = truly. Regan's 
 speech may be paraphrased : She truly 
 names my love. Deed of saying = the 
 fulfilment of a promise. Tim. V, 1, 28. 
 
 defeat. Destruction. Hml. V, 2, 58. 
 
 definite. Positive ; certain. Cym. 1, 6, 43. 
 
 delated. Set forth in detail. Hml. I, 2, 
 38. Dilated in the FP. 
 
 descant. " Since Malone's time, * descant' 
 in this passage [Gent. I, 2, 94] has been 
 most strangely interpreted to mean 
 ' variations,' as of an air in music ; — a 
 
 definition incorrect in itself and unsuited 
 to the context. The word did come to 
 be loosely and ignorantly used some- 
 what in that sense ; but in Shakespeare's 
 time it meant 'counterpoint' or the 
 adding one or more parts to a theme, 
 which was called the 'plain song.'" 
 White, 1st Ed. 
 The word is used figuratively in RIII. 
 
 I, 1, 27. 
 
 descry. Discovery. The main descry 
 Stands on the hourly thought = we 
 expect every hour to see the main body 
 approaching. Lr. IV, 6, 217. 
 
 Desdemona's death. See So, so! 
 
 desperate. Reckless. Desperate of shame 
 and state = unattentiveto his character 
 or his condition. Johnson. Tw. V, 1, 
 67. Schm. makes s^a^e = "danger" ; 
 Deighton thinks that " the point em- 
 phasized seems to be his disreput- 
 able character, not his recklessness of 
 danger." Antonio himself has spoken 
 of the danger which he ran, and said : 
 It " shall seem sport." Tw. II, 1, 49. 
 
 detect. To expose ; to disclose. 3HVI. 
 
 II, 2, 143 ; RIII. I, 4, 141. 
 
 The word detected, as it occurs in 
 Meas. Ill, 2, 129, has been explained as 
 suspected, but the meaning exposed or 
 accused makes better sense. It is used 
 in this sense in Green way's translation 
 of "Tacitus" (1622). 
 dexterity. This word occurs five times 
 in the plays and in Lucr. 1389. The 
 meaning which it bears in Lucr. ; Wiv. 
 IV, 5, 121 ; IHIV. II, 4, 286; Troil. V, 
 5, 27, and Rom. Ill, 1, 168, is evidently 
 adroitness or skill, and, as it occurs in 
 Hml. I, 2, 157, Dowden explains it as 
 ' ' adroitness. " It strikes me that readi- 
 ness gives a better meaning. 
 
 In every instance Schm. makes it 
 equal to " nimbleness. " 
 
 In Hml. I, 2, 157, " Walker suspects 
 that Sh. wrote celerity; but elsewhere 
 the idea of adroitness in the word seems 
 to have suggested to Sh. that of quick- 
 ness." Rolfe. In most of the passages 
 in which "dexterity" occurs in Sh. the 
 idea of celerity is expressed by another 
 
DRU 
 
 403 
 
 DIE 
 
 word — quick or speed. Thus, Hamlet's 
 speech is : O, most wicked speed to post 
 With such dexterity to incestuous 
 sheets ! Dexterity here evidently means 
 readiness. 
 
 dies. The expression dies and lives by 
 bloody drops (As. Ill, 5, 7) has drawn 
 forth many comments and several 
 emendations. If " bloody drops " be the 
 means by which the executioner lives, 
 it is difficult to see how he "dies" by 
 them, consequently, deals ( Warburton), 
 dyes (Johnson), dines (Collier) thrives 
 (Hanmer), slays (Kinnear) and some 
 others have been suggested as the true 
 reading. Caldecott thinks dies here 
 means kills, that being the means by 
 which the executioner gets his living. 
 Ingleby, in his "Hermeneutics," p. 59, 
 adopts Dr. Sebastian Evans's paraphrase 
 of the sentence: "A man's profession 
 or calling by which he lives, and failing 
 which he dies." Furness objects that 
 "the felicitousness of the phrase blinds 
 us to the fact that it does not explain 
 the curious inversion of dying and 
 living.'^ But this hysteron proteron 
 (putting the cart before the horse) is 
 not unusual in Sh. See Tw. I, 2, 22, 
 bred and born. It seems to me that 
 the difficulty lies not in the inversion so 
 much as in the idea of a man's dying by 
 that whereby he gets his living. Mus- 
 grave's explanation is: "To die and 
 live by a thing is to be constant to it, 
 to persevere in it to the end " — a slight 
 change in the meaning of the word by. 
 
 diffidence. Suspicion ; distrust. John I, 
 1, 65; IHVI. Ill, 3, 10; Lr. I, 2, 161. 
 
 digressing. Varying ; deviating. Rom. 
 Ill, 3, 127. 
 
 diseases. This word, as used in Lr. I, 1, 
 177, means discomforts, annoyances, 
 dis-eases. It bears the same meaning 
 in IHVI. II, 5, 44. cf. Tim. Ill, 1, 56, 
 and Cor. I, 3, 117. See dis-eate. 
 
 disgracious. Wanting grace; not pleasing. 
 RIII. Ill, 7, 112. 
 
 dishabited. Dislodged. John II, 1, 220. 
 
 disorbed. Thrown out of its orbit or 
 sphere. Troil. II, 2, 46. See sphere. 
 
 dislionest. The reverse of honest. Honest 
 in Sh. is frequently used for virtuous. 
 HV. I, 2, 49; Hml. Ill, 1, 103 and 123. 
 So dishonest — indecent. Wiv. Ill, 3, 
 196 ; Tw. I, 5, 46. 
 
 disposer. A word of which the meaning, 
 as it occurs in Troil. Ill, 1, 95, has never 
 been settled. The whole passage is 
 difficult, and emendations do not help 
 much. See 3rd Var., Vol. VIII, p. 318, 
 for a lengthened discussion. 
 
 dispute. To discuss ; to reason about ; 
 to consider. Rom. Ill, 3, 63 ; Oth. I, 
 2, 75. 
 
 disquantity. To lessen the quantity ; to 
 diminish. Lr. I, 4, 270. 
 
 ditch-dog. Generally defined as a dead 
 dog found in a ditch. I very much 
 doubt this. More likely it is some of 
 the "small deer" of which we do not 
 know the exact name. Lr. Ill, 4, 138. 
 
 disproperty. The expression, Dispropei-- 
 tied their freedoms (Cor. II, 1, 264), 
 means to take away from their freedom 
 all the properties which make it really 
 freedom. 
 
 division. Arrangement; order. Ado. V, 
 1, 230. 
 
 doctor. A learned man ; not necessarily 
 a physician. The etymological meaning 
 of doctor is teacher. Ado. V, 1, 206. 
 
 dog. See wolf. 
 
 dogged. Cruel; unfeeling. John IV, 1, 
 129 ; 2HVI. Ill, 1, 158. 
 
 dominical. By red dominical and golden 
 letter in LLL. V, 2, 44, Marshall thinks 
 Rosaline means to refer to the "fashion- 
 able " color of Katharine's hair. A very 
 probable conclusion. 
 
 door. See sweep. 
 
 door-nail. See nail. 
 
 dove. See sucking. 
 
 dread bolted. See thunder. 
 
 dream, Althaea's. Sh. makes a mistake 
 here. Althaea's fire-brand was a real 
 one. It was Hecuba who, just before 
 Paris was born, dreamed that she was 
 delivered of a fire-brand. Bardolph's 
 red nose and face leads the page to call 
 him "Althaea's dream." 2HIV. II, 2, 
 92. See Althaea and Paris. 
 
DEU 
 
 404 
 
 E6L 
 
 drug-damn'd. The allusion in Cym. Ill, 
 4, 15, is to the notoriousness of Italian 
 poisoning. Johnson, cf. Ill, 2, 5, of 
 same play. 
 
 dry. Empty ; a dry hand = a hand with 
 no money or present in it. Tw. I, 3, 77. 
 So, too, a dry fool = an empty fool. 
 Tw. I, 5, 45. 
 
 Johnson suggested that perhaps by 
 dry in the first passage Maria meant to 
 insinuate that it was not a lover's hand ; 
 not the hand of an amorous person, and 
 reference is made to 0th. Ill, 4, 44, in 
 support of this contention. But it is 
 not likely that Maria had any thought 
 of Sir Andrew as a lover. Sir Toby 
 was her bargain. See same Act and 
 Scene, line 39, et seq. 
 
 dry-beat. A blow that does not draw 
 blood is a dry blow. The N. E. D. 
 quotes Palsgrave, " Lesclarcissement, 
 etc." (1530): "Bio, blewe and grene 
 coloured, as ones bodie is after a dry 
 stroke." LLL.V, 2, 263 ; Rom. IV, 5, 126. 
 
 duer. More duly. 2HIV. Ill, 2, 330. 
 
 dust. See sweep. 
 
 EAR-KISSING. Whispered ; told with 
 the speaker's lips touching the 
 hearer's ear. The Quartos read ear- 
 bussing, and Collier suggested that there 
 might be a pun upon buzzing and buss- 
 ing. Lr. II, 1, 9. See buz. 
 
 ears. The phrase, Go shake your ears 
 (Tw. II, 3, 134), is a common expression 
 of contempt evidently implying that 
 the ears of the person addressed are of 
 assinine proportions. 
 
 earth. 1. The passage in Rom. I, 2, 15, 
 She is the hopeful lady of my earth, 
 has been explained in various ways. 
 Johnson suggested that the true reading 
 is : She is the hope and stay of my 
 full years ; Cartwright supposed that 
 earth was a misprint for hearth, and 
 other changes have been suggested. 
 Steevens thought the expression a Gal- 
 licism, ^Z^e de terre being the French 
 phrase for an heiress. Mason explained 
 earth as the body (see 2), and this has 
 
 been accepted by several coms. ; and 
 since to ear, q.v., means to plough, it 
 has been claimed that earth here means 
 ploughing, and this affords another in- 
 terpretation, cf. Ant. II, 2, 233. The 
 Clarkes say : " It is most likely that 
 Capulet intends to include the sense of 
 'she is my sole surviving offspring in 
 whom I have centred all my hopes.'" 
 2. In several passages the word means the 
 human body. Sonn. CXLVI, 1 ; Rom, 
 II, 1, 2, and III, 2, 59. In the old church- 
 yard of Melrose Abbey, not far from 
 our family burial plot, is a tombstone 
 with the following curious inscription : 
 THE EARTH GOETH 
 ON THE EARTH 
 GLISTRING LIKE 
 
 GOLD 
 THE EARTH GOES TO 
 THE EARTH SOONER 
 THEN IT WOLD ; 
 THE EARTH BUILDS 
 ON THE EARTH CAST- 
 LES AND TOWERS ; 
 THE EARTH SAYS TO 
 THE EARTH. ALL SHALL 
 BE OURS. 
 earthquake. Tyrwhitt conjectured that 
 the earthquake referred to in Rom. I, 
 3, 23, was that felt in England, April 
 6, 1.580, and he inferred that the play, 
 or this part of it, was written in 1591 . 
 Malone pointed out that if we suppose 
 that Juliet was weaned at a year old, 
 she would be only twelve; but she is 
 j ust fourteen. An earthquake happened 
 at Verona 1348 (Knight) and at Verona 
 1570 (Hunter) ; an account of the Italian 
 earthqualies of 1570 was printed in Lon- 
 don (Staunton). Collier says: "In the 
 whole speech of the Nurse there are 
 such discrepancies as render it impossible 
 to arrive at any definite conclusion." 
 Dowden. 
 ecce signum. Behold the sign ; behold 
 
 the proof. 1 HIV. II, 4, 187. 
 eglantine. The sweetbriar. Noted for 
 the delicious fragrance of its leaves, 
 
£60 
 
 405 
 
 FAL 
 
 especially when moistened with a gentle 
 shower. Mids. II, 1, 252 ; Cym. IV, 2, 
 223. 
 
 Ego et Rex meus. Latin for I and my 
 king. Holinshed says : " In all writings 
 which he wrote to Rome, or any other 
 foreign prince, he wrote Ego et Rex 
 meus, I and my king ; as who should 
 say that the king were his servant." 
 " But, as Wolsey urged in his defence, 
 this order was required by the Latin 
 idiom." Rolfe. HVIII. Ill, 2, 314. 
 
 encave. To hide. Oth. IV, 1, 82. 
 
 ends. The expression, flout old ends 
 (Ado. I, 1, 290), has called forth a good 
 deal of comment. It was suggested by 
 Capell that "old ends" meant the old 
 and formal conclusions of letters as 
 quoted in line 285. Deighton thinks 
 that Benedick "merely says, with mock 
 solemnity : ' Be careful how you ridicule 
 things so venerable and sacred as these 
 old ends.' " 
 
 enseamed. Soiled with grease. Seam is 
 the fat of the hog. Hml. Ill, 4, 92. 
 
 envious. Malicious. Rom. Ill, 1, 173. 
 
 equinoctial. See Queubus. 
 
 equinox. This word, as it occurs in Oth. 
 II, 3, 129, is explained by Schm. as 
 "the equal length of the day and the 
 night." This is not exactly the mean- 
 ing of the word which is equal nighty 
 not equal day and night, as is its usual 
 application. Cassio's vice of drunken- 
 ness was a night or dark spot equal to 
 his virtue. Sh. uses the word here in 
 its strictly etymological sense. 
 
 Erebus. Tartarus ; hell. Merch. V, 1, 
 87 ; 2HIV. II, 4, 171 ; Caes. II, 1, 84. 
 
 erection. Mrs. Quickly "s blunder for 
 direction. Wiv. Ill, 5, 41. 
 
 estimation. 1 . Reputation ; honor. Meas. 
 IV, 2, 28 ; Gent. II, 4, .56 ; Err. Ill, 1, 102. 
 2. Conjecture. IHIV. I, 3, 272. 
 
 except, before excepted. Malone ex- 
 plains this -phrase as being the usual 
 language of leases: "To have and to 
 hold the said demised premises, etc., 
 with their and every of their rights, 
 members, etc. (except before excepted) . ' ' 
 Tw. I, 3, 9. Lord Campbell, in his 
 
 " Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements," 
 does not allude to this legal expression. 
 A great deal has been written about it. 
 
 execution. Employment ; exercise. Oth. 
 Ill, 3, 467. cf. Troil. V, 7, 6. 
 
 exposition. Bottom's blunder for dis- 
 position. Mids. IV, 1, 43. 
 
 eye of Phoebus. HV. IV, 1, 290. Eye 
 of holy Phoebus. Kins. I, 1, 45. See 
 Phoebus and cf. runaway's eyes. 
 
 FACE. With that face? LLL. I, 2, 
 145. Steevens says : " This cant 
 phrase has oddly lasted till the 
 present time ; and is used by people who 
 have no more meaning annexed to it 
 than Fielding had, who, putting it into 
 the mouth of Beau Didapper, thinks it 
 necessary to apologise (in a note) for 
 its want of sense, by adding that 'it 
 was taken verbatim from very polite 
 conversation.' " 
 
 fairy. See Oberon, Puck and Titania. 
 
 fall. In Oth. I, 1, 66, the reading of the 
 Fl. is : What a fall Fortune do^s the 
 Thick-lips owe. This line " is ordinarily 
 printed, following the Quarto : 
 
 What a fvH fortune does the thick- 
 lips owe. 
 
 " This is simply, how fortunate he is. 
 The reading of the Folio, which we 
 adopt, conveys a much more Shak- 
 sperian idea. If the Moor can carry it 
 thus — appoint his own officer, in spite 
 of the great ones of the city who capp'd 
 to him, and, moreover can secure Des- 
 demona as his prize — he is so puffed up 
 with his own pride and purposes, and is 
 so successful, that fortuyie owes him a 
 heavy fall. To owe is used by Shak- 
 spere not only in the ancient sense of to 
 own, to possess, but in the modern 
 sense of to be indebted to, to hold or 
 possess for another. Fortune here 
 owes the thick-lips a fall, in the same 
 way that we say, ' He owes him a good 
 or an evil turn.' The reading which 
 we adopt is very much in Shakspere's 
 manner of throwing out a hint of coming 
 
FAL 
 
 406 
 
 FEA 
 
 calamities. The commentators do not 
 even notice this reading. " Knight. 
 
 This is certainly an admirable mean- 
 ing, true to Shakespeare, and is another 
 instance of how often the accepted 
 emendations of the Fl. text are really 
 mis-readings. See Anthony and yield, 
 both in the body of this " Cyclopaedia " 
 and in the " Addenda." 
 
 fall away. To desert. Ant. IV, 6, 17; 
 HVIII. II, 1, 139. 
 
 fallen off. Revolted. Cym. Ill, 7, 6. 
 
 falling sickness. Epilepsy. Caes. I, 2, 
 256. The Comitia, or general assembly 
 of the Roman people, was stopped if 
 any one present was attacked by this 
 illness. Hence it was called "Morbus 
 comitialis." 
 
 fantastical. See high-fantastical. 
 
 fastened. Inveterate ; hardened. Lr. II, 
 1, 79, Perhaps a metaphor from the 
 language of Masonry. In the N. E. D. 
 we find an example from Leoni's trans- 
 lation of Alberti's " Architecture " 
 (1726), I, 366 : " buildings are taken with 
 the frost before ever they have fast- 
 ened. ' ' Craig. 
 
 father. This word was often used as a 
 respectful mode of addressing an old 
 man. Gent. IV, 3, 59 ; Wint. IV, 4, 
 3,53. Hence, in Merch. II, 3, 73 and 76, 
 Launcelot calls old Gobbo "father" 
 without being recognised as his son. 
 The same occurs in Lr. IV, 6, 233, where 
 Edgar calls Gloucester "father" and 
 is not recognised. 
 
 fathom. Depth ; ability ; intelligence. 
 0th. I, 1, 153. 
 
 favour. In IHIV. V, 4, 96, it means a 
 scarf or similar article of wear. Some- 
 thing worn as a token. In Tw. II, 4, 
 24 and 25, the word is used ambiguously; 
 in the first line it means countenance ; 
 in the second, permission. But Abbott 
 notes that it may have the same mean- 
 ing in both lines and that the word by 
 in the second line may mean near. 
 Viola was in love with the Duke. 
 
 fear. 1. In early English and Scotch the 
 verb to fear had the signification of 
 to frighten. So in 3HVI. Ill, 3, 326 ; 
 
 Merch. II, 1, 9. Spenser has : " words 
 fearen babes," and in Hogg's Queen''s 
 Wake we find, " It fears me muckle," 
 meaning : / am much afraid. 
 2. In Hml. I, 3, 53, fear me not = fear 
 not for me — the preposition being fre- 
 quently omitted in the case of some 
 verbs. It has this meaning also in Tit. 
 II, 3, 305, and Lr. IV, 3, 31. 
 feature. On p. 114 (ante) this word, as it 
 occurs in Cym. V, 5, 163, is explained as 
 " beauty," the usual definition given in 
 the glossaries. A more careful reading 
 of the passage shows that grace and 
 elegance of form are more nearly what 
 is meant. Dr. Furness, in his ed. of 
 Lear (on IV, 3, 63, p. 346), says : "See 
 Schm. Lex. for proof that this [feature] 
 invariably means in Sh. the shape, ex- 
 terior, the whole turn or cast of the 
 body." This is Schm. definition; it is 
 no doubt correct in many cases, but it 
 seems to me that some of the passages 
 that he cites in support of this conten- 
 tion prove that his assertion is too 
 broad. For example : In Tw. Ill, 4, 
 387, Viola says to Antonio : Nor know 
 I you by voice or a,ny feature. Viola 
 could not have spoken of " any feature " 
 if there had not been more than one 
 feature ; to make up the whole turn or 
 cast of the body there must have been 
 several " features," and the word prob- 
 ably bears, in some passages in Sh., 
 nearly the same meaning that we give 
 to it now, though in Sh. it is not alto- 
 gether confined to the countenance as 
 is generally the case at present. Even 
 in the passage under consideration (Lr. 
 IV, 3, 63) it is quite as probable that 
 Albany refers to Goneril's countenance, 
 which was visible and would be distorted 
 with passion, as to the general shape of 
 her body, for the latter had suffered no 
 visible change ; and in As. Ill, 3, 3, it 
 is quite as likely that Touchstone refers 
 to his countenance as to the turn or 
 cast of his body, even though the word 
 is in the singular. 
 
 Sh. no doubt used the word in the 
 same sense that it was used by other 
 
FEC 
 
 407 
 
 FET 
 
 writers of the time, and examples of 
 both meanings may be found. Thus, 
 Du Bartas (1598— my copy 1641), in his 
 Fifth Day, tells us : 
 
 God quicken'd in the sea and in the 
 
 rivers, 
 So many fishes of so many features, 
 That in the waters we may see all 
 
 creatures. 
 
 Features here evidently means shapes. 
 But in Puttenham's "Arte of English 
 Poesie" we find : 
 
 Those louely lookes that fauour 
 
 amiable. 
 Those sweet features, and visage full 
 
 of grace, 
 
 where features evidently means the 
 lineaments of the face. 
 
 That the original meaning of the word 
 was malce, shape, tout-ensemble is cer- 
 tain, but the meaning seoiis to have 
 been changing about the time of Sh. 
 
 fecks. Faith. Wint. I, 2, 120. The 
 modern Scottish form of this word is 
 faiks. See i' fecks, 
 
 feeding. Pasturage ; a tract of land for 
 the support of sheep and cattle. Wint. 
 IV, 4, 169. 
 
 feet. The passage in 0th. V, 2, 286, / 
 look down towards his feet, means : 
 "To see if, according to the common 
 opinion, his feet be cloven." Johnson. 
 
 fennel. A plant which is still occasion- 
 ally cultivated in gardens, the botanical 
 name being Foeniculum vulgare. It is 
 frequently eaten boiled and in flavor 
 resembles celery, but with a sweet taste 
 and a more delicate odor. It was a 
 great favorite with the Romans and so 
 much used in their kitchens that there 
 were few meats seasoned or vinegar 
 sauces served up without it. The seeds 
 are aromatic, carminative and stinm- 
 lant, and the oil distilled from them 
 was used in the preparation of cordials. 
 It is mentioned twice in Sh.— 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 267, and Hml. IV, 5, 180. In the 
 first passage reference is no doubt made 
 to its stimulating and "provocative" 
 properties, a quality which was also 
 
 supposed to belong to fish and especially 
 to eels. 
 
 Ophelia's meaning in offering fennel 
 to the king is not quite clear. Fennel 
 was a well-known emblem of flattery, 
 so much so that Florio, in his Italian 
 Diet., translates Dare finocchio by, to 
 give fennel ; to flatter ; to dissemble. 
 But this would be a strange offering. 
 So, too, would it be if given for the 
 reason that. Staunton suggests, that is, 
 as emblematic of lust. Fennel, how- 
 ever, was supposed to have many vir- 
 tues, as set forth by Longfellow in The 
 Goblet of Life: 
 Above the lowly plants it towers. 
 The fennel, with its yellow flowers. 
 And in an earlier age than ours 
 Was gifted with the wondrous powers 
 
 Lost vision to restore. 
 It gave new strength and fearless 
 
 mood ; 
 And gladiators fierce and rude. 
 Mingled it in their daily food; 
 And he who battled and subdued, 
 A wreath of fennel wore. 
 
 And these old and well-known reasons 
 were probably those which Sh. had in 
 mind when he, through Ophelia, made 
 fennel a fit offering for a king. 
 
 We have also an English word (ferula) 
 interesting to schoolboys, and derived 
 from the Latin name of the giant fennel 
 —ferula communis — the stalks of which 
 were used by the Roman schoolmasters 
 for the same purpose as that for which 
 some modern pedagogues use the cane. 
 
 ferry. See Charon. 
 
 ferryman. See Charon. 
 
 fetch in. As it occurs in Ado. I, 1, 225, 
 is defined by Schm. as "to take in, to 
 dupe." It is not probable that it has 
 this meaning here. Upon this passage 
 White ("Studies in Shakespeare," p. 
 335) says: " Don Pedro was not taking 
 in or duping his young officer. What 
 occasion had he to do so ? Claudio 
 means, as we all apprehend without 
 conscious thought, that his superior 
 designs, by a gracious compliment to 
 his mistress, to draw him out of the 
 slightly antagonistic attitude into wkicb 
 
FIO 
 
 408 
 
 FOX 
 
 he has been driven by the gibes of 
 Benedick." 
 
 flg*s-end. Blessed fig''s-end (0th. II, 1, 
 256), an expression of contempt. For 
 its origin see ^gr. Cotgravehas: "Trut 
 avant. A fig''s-end, no such matter.'''* 
 The French Trut = our tut. 
 
 filly foal. A female foal, specially attrac- 
 tive to a horse fed on rich and stimu- 
 lating food. Mids. II, 1, 46. Grose, in 
 his "Provincial Glossary," tells us that 
 in Hampshire they give the name of 
 Colt-pixey to a supposed spirit or fairy 
 which, in the shape of a horse, neighs 
 and misleads horses into bogs. It was, 
 no doubt, to this bit of folk-lore that 
 Sh. referred. 
 
 finder of madmen. Thus explained by 
 Ritson: "'Finders of madmen' must 
 have been those who formerly acted 
 under the writ De Lunatico inquirendo; 
 in virtue of which they/ou?id the man 
 mad.'''' This is accepted by Rolf e and 
 others on the ground that for a jury to 
 find a man guilty is a common expres- 
 sion. But were these men ever known 
 as "finders"? Dr. Johnson explains 
 it as "an allusion to the witch-finders." 
 A witch-finder was a well-known official, 
 and I think Dr. Johnson's suggestion 
 gives the true explanation. Readers of 
 Scott's "Kennil worth" cannot ha ve for- 
 gotten old Gaffer Pinniewinks, the trier 
 (finder) of witches. Tw. Ill, 4, 154. 
 
 fine. The end. Ado. I, 1, 247. The 
 quibble between fine., the end, and 
 fine, well-dressed and equipped, is ob- 
 vious. 
 
 fire. The passage, fire us hence like 
 foxes (Lr. V, 3, 2o), refers to the old 
 practice of driving foxes from their 
 earths by fire and smoke. 
 
 first. See coats. 
 
 t\&h. When Kent says that he eats no 
 fish he means that he is a good Protest- 
 ant. To eat fish on account of religious 
 scruples was, in Queen Elizabeth's time, 
 the mark of a Papist and an enemy to 
 good government. Warburton. Lr. I, 
 4, 18. 
 
 flame-coloured. See darned colour''d. 
 
 flight. This word, as it occurs in Merch. 
 I, 1, 141, evidently means that combina- 
 tion of length and weight which gives 
 character to an arrow. 
 
 flowers. As given to different ages, see 
 summer, middle. 
 
 flushing. Rapid flowing. Hml. I, 2, 155. 
 Schm. makes it: "ere her tears had 
 had time to redden her eyes " ? Wright 
 says "the verb 'flush' is still used 
 transitively, meaning, to fill with 
 water." Hardly. To "flush" is not 
 to fill, but to cause a rapid fiow. 
 
 fool. Fool, in Sh. time, was frequently 
 used as an expression of pity and also 
 endearment. Lr. V, 3, 305. In Tw. V, 
 1, 377, the word fool is not addressed to 
 the clown, but to Malvolio. 
 
 Some have supposed that "fool" in 
 Lr. V, 3, 305, refers to the fool or clown, 
 but it certainly refers to Cordelia. 
 
 Thou art Death''s fool (Meas. Ill, 1, 
 11), refers to the introduction of Death 
 and a Fool in the rude old plays and 
 dumb shows ; the sport being made by 
 Death's endeavors to surprise the Fool 
 and the finally unsuccessful efforts of 
 the latter to elude them. 
 Fool-begged, cf. beg. 
 
 foot. 1. To seize with the foot or talons. 
 Cym. V, 4, 116. 
 
 2. To effect a landing; to settle in a 
 place. HV. II, 4, 143 ; Lr. Ill, 7, 48. 
 
 forage. This word, as used in John V, 
 
 1, 59, has its original sense — to range 
 abroad. Johnson. 
 
 fork. See worm. 
 
 formal capacity. Average intelligence; 
 having a mind of the usual form or 
 ability. Tw. II, 5, 127. cf. Err. V, 1, 105. 
 
 forslow. To delay. 3HVI. II, 3, 56. 
 
 fortitude. Strength ; power of resistance. 
 0th. I, 3, 222. 
 
 fortune, iieefall. 
 
 foundation. God save the foundation 
 was a customary phrase employed by 
 those who received alms at the gates of 
 religious houses. Steevens. Ado. V, 1, 
 228. 
 
 fox. Hide fox, and all after. Hml. IV, 
 
 2, 33. This is supposed to refer to the 
 
FOX 
 
 409 
 
 GLU 
 
 boyish game of " All hid " ; and Sir T. 
 Haniner expressly t«lls us that it was 
 sometimes called, "Hide fox, and all 
 after." Collier. See wolf. 
 
 foxes. See^r^. 
 
 fraction. Discord ; disagreement ; liter- 
 ally, a breaking. Troil. II, 3, 107. 
 
 from. Away from, not proceeding from. 
 Caes. II, 1, 196; Tw. I, 5, 201, and V, 
 1,340. 
 
 fruit. Dessert. Hml. II, 2, 52. 
 
 fruitfully. Amply; fully. All's. II, 2, 
 73 ; Lr. IV, 6, 270. 
 
 full. See fall. 
 
 GAIN-QIVINQ. Misgiving; doubtful 
 fear. Hml, V, 2, 226. cf gainsay. 
 Also gainstand = withstand, and 
 gainstrive — strive against. 
 
 gall. Sh. refers clearly to both the animal 
 and the vegetable gall ; to the latter in 
 Tw. Ill, 2, 52; Cym. I, 1, 101. To the 
 former, 2HIV. I, 2, 199 ; Mcb. I, 5, 49 ; 
 0th. IV, 3, 92. Both kinds of gall are 
 very bitter. 
 
 gallant-springing. Full of useful pro- 
 mise. RIII. I, 4, 226. 
 
 Galloway. Referring to Galloway nags 
 (p. 122, ante), I may add that Drayton, 
 in the Polyolbion, III, 28, has : 
 
 And on his match as much the Western 
 
 horseman lays 
 As the rank-riding Scots upon their 
 
 Galloways. 
 
 A Scot could scarcely be " rank-riding," 
 i.e., hard-riding, upon an inferior horse. 
 gamester. At p. 122 (ante) this word, as 
 it occurs in As. I, 1, 170, is defined as a 
 frolicsome, merry fellow. This inter- 
 pretation has never quite satisfied me. 
 Caldecott defines it as "disposed to try 
 his fortune at this game." Furness 
 calls attention to a passage in Painter's 
 " Palace of Pleasure," where gladiators 
 are said to be "a certain sort of gam- 
 sters in Rome, which we terme to bee 
 maistei-s of defence. ' ' Readers of ' ' Tom 
 Brown's School Days at Rugby " cannot 
 have forgotten the ti'ials of skill at 
 
 " backswording " at the "Veast" de- 
 scribed in the second chapter. The 
 author tells us : " The players are called 
 ' old gamesters, ' — why I can't tell you, — 
 and their object is simply to break one 
 another's heads." As here used, the 
 word is undoubtedly a survival from 
 the time of Sh. , and fully explains the 
 expression in the play. 
 
 gaping. See pig. 
 
 garb. Fashion; manner. Hml. 11,1,390; 
 Lr. II, 2, 104. 
 
 geminy. A pair. Wiv. II, 2, 8. 
 
 gentle, v. To ennoble. HV. IV, 8, 63. 
 
 gentle, adj. Noble; well-bom. Wint. 
 I, 2, 394 ; RIII. I, 3, 73. 
 
 german, n. A kinsman. Oth. I, 2, 114. 
 
 german, adj. Akin. Tim. IV, 3, 344; 
 Hml. V, 2, 165. 
 
 gild. To make drunk. Tp. V, 1, 280. 
 
 girdle. The expression : He knows how 
 to turn his girdle, has never been satis- 
 factorily explained. Some make it out 
 to be a mere proverbial phrase without 
 any reasonable meaning ; others think 
 that it means : He knows how to turn 
 his girdle so as to bring the handle of 
 his sword within reach. The latter 
 seems to be a plausible explanation. 
 Ado. V, 1, 142. 
 
 given. As used in Wint. IV, 4, 107, is an 
 heraldic term. See summer, m,iddle 
 (ante). For a full explanation, see 
 Hunter's "New Illustrations," Vol. I, 
 p. 419, and Fumess's ed. of TheWinter''s 
 Tale, p. 194. 
 
 glass. A "glass" is the time required 
 for the sand to run through the hour- 
 glass, or one hour. Two glasses = two 
 hours. Tp. I, 2, 240. 
 
 Globe Theatre. " Barclay's Brewery has 
 long swallowed it up. Globe Alley, too, 
 and Thrale's house where Dr. Johnson 
 worked, on the site of the Globe Theatre. 
 The Blackf riars and other theatres were 
 closed in 1642, and put down by the 
 Puritans in 1647. The Globe was pulled 
 down in 1644." Furnivall. 
 
 glutton. The "glutton" referred toby 
 Falstaff (2HIV. I, 2, 39), is Dives, or 
 the rich nmn mentiouod in Luke xvi, 
 
BOH 
 
 410 
 
 OTV 
 
 gondola. Johnson explains the phrase, 
 swam in a gondola (As. IV, 1, 38), 
 thus: "That is, been at Venice, the 
 seat at that time of all licentiousness, 
 where the young English gentlemen 
 wasted their fortunes, debased their 
 morals and sometimes lost their re- 
 ligion," 
 
 good. Such phrases as "good my lord," 
 ' ' good my friends, " " good my mother , ' ' 
 frequently occur in Sh. and seem rather 
 awkward to modern ears. Abbott notes: 
 "The possessive adjectives, when un- 
 emphatic, are sometimes transposed, 
 being really combined with nouns (like 
 the French monsieur , milord). " Dear 
 my lord (Caes. II, 1, 255) ; Good my 
 brother (Hml. 1,3, 46). See Sh. Gram., 
 §13. 
 
 good life. See life. 
 
 Qordlan knot. This familiar phrase is 
 used twice in the plays ; its origin is as 
 follows : Internal disturbances having 
 broken out in Phrygia, an oracle fore- 
 told that a car would bring them a 
 king who should settle their disputes. 
 While the people were discussing the 
 words of the oracle, Gordius, with his 
 wife and his son Midas, drove into the 
 market place and was at once hailed 
 as king. The new king dedicated to 
 Jupiter his car and the yoke to which 
 the oxen had been fastened — this yoke 
 having been attached to the pole of the 
 car by means of a rope of bark tied 
 with a wonderfully intricate knot. An 
 oracle declared that whoever should 
 untie that knot should reign over all 
 Asia, and when Alexander the Great 
 arrived at Gordium, one of the first 
 things he did was to try to untie it. 
 •Not being able to succeed, he cut the 
 knot with his sword and applied the 
 oracle to himself. HV, I, 1, 46 ; Cym. 
 II, 2, 34. 
 
 Qorgon. The Gorgon referred to in 
 Mcb. II, 3, 77, and Ant. II, 5, 116, 
 was Medusa, whose head was cut 
 oflf by Perseus and afterwards be- 
 came the boss of Minerva's shield. 
 According to Homer, there was but one 
 
 Gorgo, who is represented as a frightful 
 phantom in Hades. Hesiod mentions 
 three sisters, Stheno, Euryale and 
 Medusa. They were frightful beings; 
 their heads were covered with hissing 
 serpents instead of hair, and they had 
 wings, brazen claws and enormous 
 teeth. Medusa, who alone was mortal, 
 was at first a beautiful maiden, but 
 having defiled one of the temples of 
 Minerva, the goddess changed her hair 
 into serpents and made her head so 
 fearful that every one who looked at it 
 was changed into stone. Hence the 
 great difiiculty which Perseus had in 
 killing her ; for an account of which 
 see Perseus. 
 
 Qrace to boot. See boot in Addenda. 
 
 grain, in. While this sometimes means 
 dyed with kermes, a material extracted 
 from the coccus insect, it also means 
 that a color or other quality belongs to 
 the natural substance, fibre or grain of 
 any object, as in Tw. I, 5, 255, and Err. 
 Ill, 2, 108. Thus we speak of evil being 
 "ingrained" in some persons, i.e., ex- 
 isting in the very grain or fibre of their 
 being. In Tw. I, 5, 255, Olivia means 
 to assert that her color is natural, not 
 artificial like a dye or paint. 
 
 grange. A lonely farm-house. Meas. Ill, 
 1, 277 ; 0th. I, 1, 106. 
 
 gravel-blind. See sand-blind. 
 
 griffin. A fabulous beast found only in 
 tiie zoology of heraldry. It was half 
 beast, half bird of prey. Mids. II, 1, 
 232; IHIV. 111,1, 152. 
 
 grow to. Sometimes explained as "a 
 household phrase applied to milk when 
 burnt to the bottom of the sauce-pan, 
 and thence acquiring an unpleasant 
 taste." Wright. Others explain it as, 
 having a tendency to. Merch. II, 2, 18. 
 
 gyves. Fetters. Convert his gyves to 
 graces. Hml. IV, 7, 21. This expres- 
 sion has been the subject of some 
 criticism, but the meaning is evident 
 even though Schm. does call it "an 
 obscure passage not yet satisfactorily 
 explained or amended." It needs no 
 emendation, and the meaning is obvious, 
 
HAB 
 
 411 
 
 HER 
 
 simple and appropriate. The king says 
 in effect that if he were to restrain 
 Hamlet, the love of the people (the 
 general gender) for him is such that 
 they would look upon him as a martyr, 
 and his fetters, instead of being a dis- 
 grace, would be graces. 
 
 Elzeasks: " Ho w can coporeal 'gyves' 
 be converted into incorporeal abstract 
 'graces'?" and adds: *'An abstract 
 noun in this connection ruins the whole 
 metaphor and is illogical." Very il- 
 logical, perhaps, but very expressive. 
 
 HABITS. Johnson explains the phrase, 
 thhi habits and poor liklihoods 
 ofTnodern seeming (0th. I, 3, 108), 
 as "weak show of slight appearance." 
 Hunter paraphrases it : " Than the thin 
 garb with which you invest the matter. ' ' 
 hair, men of. See saltiers. 
 hand. The phrase, at any hand (Shr. I, 
 2, 147) = at any rate ; at all events. 
 Nares. 
 
 Give me your hands (Mids. V, 1, 444) 
 
 = applaud by clapping. 
 
 happy. Lucky ; accidental. Lr. II, 3, 2, 
 
 harlotry. "Used much as 'slut' might 
 
 be used at a later date. Compare the 
 
 description of Lady Mortimer in IHIV. 
 
 III, 1, 198 : 'a peevish, self-will'd har- 
 lotr}% one that no persuasion can do 
 good upon.'" Doivden. See peevish. 
 
 harp. See m^iraculous. 
 
 hate. See love. 
 
 haud credo. (Latin) = I do not believe 
 it. LLL. IV, 2, 11. 
 
 havoc. This quarry cries on havoc (Hml. 
 V, 2, 375) = "This heap of dead pro- 
 claims an indiscriminate slaughter." 
 White. 
 
 health. See importing. 
 
 heart. See Richard Coeur-de-lion. 
 
 hedge-pig. A hedge-hog or urchin. Mcb. 
 
 IV, 1, 2. 
 
 The urchin, or hedge-hog, from its* 
 solitariness, the ugliness of its appear- 
 ance, and from a popular opinion that 
 it sucked or poisoned the udders of cows, 
 was adopted into the demouologic sys- 
 
 tem, and its shape was sometimes sup- 
 posed to be assumed by mischievous 
 elves. Hence it was one of the plagues 
 of Caliban in The Tempest T. Warton. 
 Hercules. As might well be expected, 
 Sh. refers very frequently to Hercules, 
 who is acknowledged to be the most 
 celebrated hero of all antiquity. Many 
 of these references are merely allusions 
 to him as a symbol of immense strength 
 and prowess, but some of them are con- 
 nected with incidents in his career which 
 must be known before we can fully 
 understand the passages in which they 
 occur. 
 
 According to Homer, Hercules (Her- 
 acles) was the son of Jupiter by Alcmena, 
 of Thebes, in Boeotia, who was a grand- 
 daughter of Perseus. She was the 
 wife of Amphitryon, in whose likeness 
 Jupiter came to her while her husband 
 was absent warring against the Taphians. 
 On the day on which Hercules was to 
 have been born Jupiter boasted of his 
 becoming the father of a hero who was 
 to rule over the race of Perseus. Juno 
 prevailed upon him to swear that the 
 descendant of Perseus, born that day, 
 should be the ruler, and then she hast- 
 ened to Argos and caused the wife of 
 Sthenelus, the son of Pei'seus, to give 
 birth to Eurystheus, and at the same 
 time she delayed the birth of Hercules, 
 thus robbing him of the empire which 
 Jupiter had destined for him. Jupiter 
 was enraged at the trick played upon 
 him, but he could not violate his oath, 
 Juno, inspired by her hatred of the 
 children of Jupiter by all mortal 
 mothers, sent two serpents to destroy 
 him while yet in his cradle, but the 
 infant hero strangled them with his 
 fists. LLL. V, 2, 595. 
 
 His first great adventure happened 
 while he was still watching the oxen of 
 his step- father, Amphitryon. A huge 
 lion, which haunted Mount Cithaeron, 
 made great havoc among the flocks of 
 Amphitryon and Thespius. Hercules 
 slew the lion and afterwards wore its 
 skin as bis ordinary garment, its mouth 
 
413 
 
 and head forming the helmet. The gener- 
 ally accepted story of the lion's skin, how- 
 ever, is that it was that of the Nemean 
 lion (LLL. IV, 1, 90, and Hml. I, 4, 83). 
 It is related that after some other 
 achievements he was driven mad by 
 Juno, and while in this state killed his 
 children by Megara, and also two of 
 those of Iphicles. He then consulted 
 the oracle at Delphi ; the Pythia called 
 him for the first time Heracles (Her- 
 cules), for his name had hitherto been 
 Alcides or Alcaeus, and ordered him to 
 live at Tiryns and do as he was bid by 
 Eurystheus. Eurystheus commanded 
 him to perform twelve feats, which are 
 known as "the twelve labours of Her- 
 cules," and proverbial for their diffi- 
 culty. Ado. II, 1, 880. These labours 
 were as follows : 
 
 1. The fight with the Nemean lion. 
 This lion was brought up by Juno ; it 
 was a monstrous animal, and after 
 using his club and arrows in vain the 
 hero seized it with his hands and 
 strangled it. He carried the dead lion 
 on his shoulders and presented it to 
 Eurystheus, but the latter was so fright- 
 ened at the gigantic strength of the 
 hero that he ordered him in future to 
 deliver the account of his exploits out- 
 side the town. 
 
 2. The destruction of the Lernaean 
 hydra. Like the lion, this monster was 
 brought up by Juno and ravaged the 
 country of Lerna, near Argos. It had 
 nine heads, the middle one being im- 
 mortal. Hercules struck ofT its heads 
 with his club, but in place of the head 
 he struck off two new ones grew forth 
 each time. A gigantic crab also came 
 to the assistance of the hydra and 
 wounded Hercules. But with the as- 
 sistance of his faithful servant, lolaus, 
 he burned away the mortal heads and 
 buried the immortal one under a huge 
 rock. He then dipped his arrows in 
 the gall of the monster, and this made 
 the wounds inflicted by them incurable. 
 
 3. The capture of the Arcadian 
 stag. This ftuimal had golden autleri? 
 
 and brazen feet. Hercules pursued it 
 for a whole year, and finally wounded 
 it with an arrow and carried it away 
 on his shoulders. 
 
 4. The capture of the Erymanthian 
 boar. Hercules was ordered to bring 
 this animal alive to Eurystheus; he 
 chased it through the snow, tired it out 
 and caught it in a net. 
 
 5. His fifth task was the cleansing of 
 the stables of Augeas, King of Elis. 
 These stalls had not been cleansed in 
 thirty years, though three thousand 
 oxen were kept in them. Hercules 
 turned the rivers Alpheus and Peneus 
 through them and cleansed them in a 
 single day. 
 
 6. The destruction of the Stymphalian 
 birds. These voracious creatures had 
 been brought up by Mars; they had 
 brazen claws, wings and beaks, and 
 used their feathers for arrows. By 
 means of a brazen rattle furnished by 
 Minerva, Hercules startled the birds, 
 and when they attempted to fly away 
 he shot them with his arrows. 
 
 7. Capture of the Cretan bull. Ac- 
 cording to some, this bull was the one 
 which had carried Europa across the 
 sea. Hercules ca ught it and brought it 
 home on his shoulders. 
 
 8. The capture of the mares of the 
 Thracian, Diomedes. These animals 
 were fed on human flesh and were very 
 savage. Hercules slew Diomedes and 
 fed his flesh to these mares, after which 
 they became quite tame. 
 
 9. Seizure of the girdle of the Queen 
 of the Amazons. Some traditions say 
 that he slew Hippolyta and carried off 
 the girdle, but this does not seem to 
 accord with the account given under 
 Theseus, q. v. 
 
 10. The capture of the oxen of Ger- 
 yones. 
 
 11. Fetching the golden apples of 
 the Hesperides. Being unable to find 
 them himself, by the advice of Pro- 
 metheus he sent Atlas to fetch them, 
 and in the meantime bore the weight of 
 heftvew for him, See Hmi, II, 2, §78* 
 
HEE 
 
 413 
 
 IFG 
 
 12. Bringing Cerberus from the lower 
 world. This was the most difficult of 
 all his tasks, and he accomplished it 
 only through the assistance of Mercury 
 and Minerva. 
 
 For other allusions to Hercules see 
 Deiayiira and Lichas. 
 
 hereby. When Jaquenetta says, ThaVs 
 hereby (LLL. I, 2, 141), she means, that 
 is as it may happen ; Armado takes it 
 in the sense of just by or near by. It 
 has this latter sense in this play, IV, 1, 
 9. In RIII. I, 4, 94, it has the sense of 
 ' ' by this. ' ' These are the only passages 
 in which the word occurs in the plays. 
 
 Hero. The priestess of Venus with whom 
 Leander was in love. See Leander. 
 
 The Helen mentioned in Mids. V, 1, 
 199, is probably intended for Hero, but 
 in the speeches of these plaj^ers the 
 names and facts are so confused that 
 it would be a vain task to try to 
 straighten them out. 
 
 Hesperus. See Lucifer and unfold. 
 
 Hobgoblin. This name is equivalent to 
 Robin the Goblin, i.e., Robin Good- 
 fellow. See Puck. 
 
 hog. See wolf. 
 
 horn. Aubrey, in his " Natural History 
 of Wiltshire " (1656), tells us that "Bed- 
 lam beggars wore about their necks a 
 great home of an ox in a string or 
 bawdrie, which, when they came to an 
 house for almes they did wind, and they 
 did put the drink given them into this 
 home whereto they did put a stopple." 
 This explains Edgar's allusion in Lr. 
 Ill, 6, 79. 
 
 horologe. On page 138 {ante} a double 
 set of the horologe is said to be twenty- 
 four hours, but Halpin, in his "Drama- 
 tic Unities," p. 18, says that the Italian 
 horologe had twenty-four hours upon 
 its dial-plate; this would make the 
 double set equal to forty-eight hours. 
 Twenty-four hours is not a long period 
 to keep awake ; forty-eight hours would 
 be notable. 
 
 humour. As this word has in Sh. a sense 
 different from that in which we now 
 use it, we add to the definitions pre- 
 
 viously given the following note from 
 Trench's "Select Glossary": "The 
 four ' humours ' in a man, according to 
 the old physicians, were blood, choler, 
 phlegm, and melancholy. So long as 
 these were duly mixed, all would be 
 well. But so soon as any of them un- 
 duly preponderated, the man became 
 ' humourous,' one ' humour ' or another 
 bearing too great a sway in him. As 
 such, his conduct would not be according 
 to the received rule of other men, but 
 have something peculiar, whimsical, 
 self-willed in it. In this self-asserting 
 character of the ' humourous ' man lay 
 the point of contact, the middle term, 
 between the modern use of ' humour ' 
 and the ancient. It was his humour 
 which would lead a man to take an 
 original view and aspect of things, a 
 'humourous' aspect, first in the old 
 sense, and then in that which we now 
 employ." As. I, 2, 278. 
 Hyperion. By this name Sh. always 
 means either the sun or Apollo. HV. 
 IV, 1, 292 ; Hml. I, 2, 140. 
 
 ICARUS. The son of Daedalus. He was 
 drowned in the Icarian Sea, which 
 was named after him. See Daedalus. 
 
 ice, hot. See snow. 
 
 idle. Weak ; foolish. Lr. I, 3, 16. 
 
 lUyria. Douce suggests that there is a 
 play on Illyria and Elysium in Tw. I, 
 2, 2. That the name Illyria may have 
 suggested Elysium to Viola is more than 
 probable, but there does not seem to be 
 much room for a play on the words, 
 and Viola certainly was not in a punning 
 mood. 
 
 impone. Osric's affected way of pro- 
 nouncing impawn. Hml. V, 2, 155. 
 
 impair. Unworthy ; unsuitable. Troil. 
 
 IV, 5, 103. This being the only instance 
 of the use of the word, Johnson suggested 
 impure, which was adopted by Dyce. 
 
 inform. To give form or shape. Mcb. 
 
 II, 1, 48. 
 ingenious. Quick in apprehension. Hml. 
 
 V, 1, 271 ; Lr. IV, 6, 287. 
 
INK 
 
 414 
 
 JAS 
 
 ink, license of. This expression, as it 
 occurs in Tw. Ill, 2, 48, is thus explained 
 by Furness : "That is with all the free- 
 dom of speech which the written word 
 allows." May not the phrase be thus 
 paraphrased : Taunt him with a license 
 which you would not dare to use if you 
 were face to face with him ? Sir Andrew 
 was a great coward, and both he and 
 Sir Toby knew it. 
 
 Inoculate. In Hml. Ill, 1, 119, the word 
 is evidently used in the old horticul- 
 tural sense of to "bud," a kind of 
 grafting in which a bud or eye (oculus) 
 was used instead of a branch. The word 
 was in common use among the old 
 gardeners. Bishop Hall has : " That 
 Palatine vine, late inoculated with a 
 precious bud of our royal stem." 
 
 insinuate. To suggest ; to thrust in. It 
 insinuateth me of insanie (LLL. V, 1, 
 27), evidently means : it maketh me 
 mad. Holof ernes explains it in the next 
 line as, to make frantic, lunatic. The 
 expression has given occasion for con- 
 siderable discussion. 
 
 insinuation. Thrusting in. Hml, V, 2, 
 59, Their own insinuation = by their 
 having insinuated or thrust themselves 
 into the employment, Malone. 
 
 inter* gatories. Questions ; interroga- 
 tories, Merch. V, 1, 298. 
 
 In regard to this expression Lord 
 Campbell says : " In the court of Queen's 
 Bench, when a complaint is made against 
 a person for a ' contempt,' the practice 
 is that before sentence is finally pro- 
 nounced, he is sent into the Crown 
 Office, and being there ' charged upon 
 interrogatories^'' he is made to swear 
 that he will ' answer ' all things faith- 
 fully. Another palpable allusion to 
 English legal procedure." 
 
 intendment. Purpose ; intention. As. I, 
 1, 140; Oth. IV, 2, 208; HV. I, 2, 144. 
 
 invention. Imagination, Ven., Ded. 5 ; 
 LLL. IV, 2, 129; As, II, 5, 49; HV,, 
 Prol. 2. 
 
 invisible. In some eds. this is the reading 
 in John V, 7, 16. Hanmer changed to 
 insensible, and this has been adopted 
 
 by most of the eds. — Dyce, Staunton, 
 Singer, White and others. It makes 
 good sense, Marshall retains invisible, 
 and says : " But may not invisible be 
 used adverbially, meaning that Death, 
 having preyed upon the body, passed 
 unperceived (invisible) to attack the 
 mind ? But it is only fair to say that 
 insensible is certainly in accordance 
 with the first two lines of this speech." 
 
 JANUS. Mentioned twice in Sh. (Merch. 
 I, 1, 50, and Oth, I, 2, 33), and both 
 times as a deity to swear by. Janus 
 is only another form of Dianus, and is 
 from the same root as dies, day. He 
 presided over the beginning of every- 
 thing, and was therefore always invoked 
 first in every undertaking. He opened 
 the year and the seasons, and hence the 
 first month (January) is named after 
 him. He was the guardian deity of 
 gates, and is therefore represented with 
 two heads or faces because every door 
 looks two ways. At Rome, Numa is 
 said to have dedicated to Janus the 
 covered passage bearing his name, which 
 was opened in times of war and shut in 
 times of peace. This passage is com- 
 monly, but erroneously, called a temple. 
 Jason. The story of Jason and the 
 golden fleece, alluded to in Merch. I, 
 1, 172, and III, 2, 244, is as follows : 
 When Phrixus, the son of the nymph 
 Nephele, was about to be sacrificed to 
 Jove by the people of Orchomenus, in 
 Boeotia, Nephele obtained from Mercury 
 the gift of a ram with a golden fleece, 
 which can-ied off Phrixus and his sister 
 Helle through the air. Phrixus was 
 carried safely to Colchis, but Helle fell 
 off and was drowned in the strait which 
 was called after her, Hellespont, i. e.\ 
 Helle 's sea. The ram was sacrificed to 
 Jupiter, and its fleece was nailed to an 
 oak tree and guarded by a fierce dragon. 
 Pelias, the uncle of Jason, having de- 
 prived the latter of his right of suc- 
 cession, wished to destroy him, and 
 accordingly sent him to Colchis to 
 
JEK 
 
 415 
 
 LAK 
 
 obtain the golden fleece. With the aid 
 of Minerva he built the famous ship, 
 the Argo, and sailed for Colchis, which 
 he reached in due time, and by the aid 
 of Medea obtained the fleece. See 
 Medea. 
 
 Associated with him in the expedition 
 was a band of heroes known as the 
 " Argonauts " after the name of the 
 ship, and this name was, in modern 
 times, applied to those adventurers who, 
 in 1849, set out for California to seek 
 for gold in its mines. 
 
 Jerusalem Chamber. Of this, as men- 
 tioned in 2HIV. V, 5, 235, Rolfe says : 
 " The Jerusalem Chamber is not a bed- 
 room. The king is holding a council 
 there when he swoons ; and when he 
 asks to be taken to ' some other chamber ' 
 (that is to a bedroom), he is of course 
 obeyed, and the scene shifts to that 
 chamber, where he remains until he 
 asks to be borne back to the Jerusalem 
 Chamber on account of the prophecy 
 concerning his death." Considerable 
 discussion has taken place o%er the 
 change of scene in this part of this Act, 
 for an excellent exposition of which see 
 Rolfe'sed. of 2mV.,p. 193. 
 
 It may be interesting to note that it 
 was in this Chamber that the Assembly 
 of Divines met in 1043 and, during the 
 five years which followed, drew up the 
 Presbyterian " Confession of Faith," a 
 "Directory of Public Worship," the 
 "Shorter Catechism," etc. 
 
 jewel. See watch. 
 
 Jezebel. When Sir Andrew calls Mal- 
 volio Jezebel (Tw. II, 5, 46), " he merely 
 knows this name as a term of re- 
 proach; and his applying a woman's 
 name to a man is of a piece with his 
 other accomplishments." C. and M. 
 Cowden-Clarke. 
 
 Jove. In most passages where Jove is 
 used as a form of oath, as in Tw. II, 5, 
 107, it is probable that God was the 
 original word which was altered on 
 account of the statute of James I. 
 HaUiwell. See Cod, Jupiter and 
 Philemon, 
 
 KILLINQWORTH. An old form (and 
 even now a local pronunciation) of 
 Kenil worth, i^o^/e. 2H VI. IV, 4, 39. 
 One of the places described in Scott's 
 famous novel of that name. 
 
 kind. Species. Tit. II, 1, 116. 
 
 kiss. In Sh. time it was the custom for 
 partners to kiss at the beginning of 
 some dances. Tp. I, 2, 378. In HVIII. 
 I, 4, 95, the king says : / were un- 
 tyiannerly, to take you out and not to 
 kiss you. 
 
 kitchen-vestal. See vestal. 
 
 knap. To strike smartly. Lr. II, 4, 125. 
 Steevens retains the rapp''d of the Q., 
 and says: " Rapp'd must be the true 
 reading, as the only sense of the verb to 
 knap is to snap or break asunder. ' ' But 
 in Scottish or old English knap means 
 to strike. It is so used both by Allan 
 Ramsay and Burns. 
 
 knife, iiee fast and loose. 
 
 knis:ht. See virgin. 
 
 LABEL. The seal of a deed. Rom. IV, 
 1, 57 ; RII. V, 2, 56. 
 
 " The seals of deeds in our author's 
 time were not impressed on the parch- 
 ment itself on which the deed was 
 written, but were appended on distinct 
 slips or labels affixed to the deed. Hence, 
 in King Richard II, the Duke of York 
 discovers a covenant which his son, the 
 Duke of Aumerle, had entered into by 
 the depending seal : What seal is that 
 which hangs without thy bosom f^^ 
 Malone. 
 
 Schm. says: "Used for the deed it- 
 self," and cites Cym. V, 5, 430. But 
 surely the label which Posthumus found 
 on his bosom when he awoke was any- 
 thing but a deed. 
 lady-she. See she. 
 
 lantern, i This word is generally spelt 
 lanthorn. \ lanthorne in the Fl. In 
 the g. a. text this spelling is retained in 
 Mids. Ill, 1, 61, and V, 1, 136, etc., and 
 2HI V. I, 2, 55, because in these passages 
 there is a quibble upon horn referring 
 in Mids. to the horns of the moon, and 
 
LAP 
 
 416 
 
 LIF 
 
 In 2HIV. to the horns of the cuckold. 
 Elsewhere, as in Wiv. V, 5, 82, and 
 2HVI. II, 3, 25, it is spelt properly, 
 lantern. Before glass became so com- 
 mon, the manufactui-e of thin, trans- 
 parent plates from the horns of the ox 
 was extensively carried on, and in the 
 best lanterns such plates were used to 
 protect the lamp or candle and yet 
 allow the light to shine through. From 
 this fact came the popular, though 
 erroneous, etymology of the word and 
 the consequent spelling, lanthorn. 
 lapsed. The meanings ordinarily given 
 to this word (e. g., as it occurs in Hiul. 
 Ill, 4, 107), do not make sense in Tw. 
 Ill, 3, 36, and Hunter therefore pro- 
 posed to substitute latched^ a word 
 which has the meaning of caught, in 
 several passages, e.g., Sonn. CXIII, 6, 
 and Mcb. IV, 3, 195. Schm. makes 
 lapsed = "surprised, taken in the act " 
 both in Tw. and Hml., but by this, as 
 Furness says, " the passage in Ha^nlet, 
 
 * who lapsed in fume [sic\ * and passion ' 
 is altogether misinterpreted." Lapsed 
 usually signifies fallen, and although 
 the mode of expression is unusual and 
 probably unique, we might, perhaps, 
 thus paraphrase Antonio's saying : If I 
 should fall into their power. 
 
 lard. 1. To fatten. Tim. IV, 3, 12. 
 
 2. To baste, as grease is applied to meat 
 during the process of roasting. IHIV. 
 II, 2, 116. 
 
 3. To stuff. Hml. IV, 5, 37. 
 
 The word as it occurs in HV. IV, 6, 
 8, has been explained as enriching and 
 also as garnishing. Either definition 
 makes good sense, and the word has 
 both meanings in Sh. 
 
 lay-by. Stand still. IHIV. I, 2, 40; 
 HVIIL III, 1, 11. 
 
 Learning. The passage in Mids. V, 1, 52, 
 The thrice three Muses mourning for 
 
 * This word is time in the Fl. and the g. a. 
 
 text. CoUier'sMS. suggested /wme, but 
 Furness rejected it in his text, and in 
 his notes gave strong reasons for so 
 doing. He has adopted it in his quota- 
 tion. See his ed. of Tw., p. 313. 
 
 the death Of Learning, late deceased 
 in beggary, has been supposed by Knight 
 to refer to the death of Greene, which 
 took place in 1593, in great poverty and 
 misery. Greene took great pride in the 
 fact that he was a graduate of the 
 University, and the following tjvo lines: 
 This is some Satire keene andcriticall, 
 agree very well with the fact that Sh. 
 had no good reason to either respect or 
 love him. 
 
 Warton thought that it referred to 
 Spenser's Tears of the Muses, but the 
 entire passage does not sustain this idea. 
 Rolfe seems to think that it is nothing 
 more than an allusion to the general 
 neglect of learning in that day. 
 
 leek. The national plant of the Welsh, 
 who wear a leek on St. David's day 
 (the first of March) in honor of their 
 patron saint. Much doubt exists as to 
 the origin of this custom. According 
 to the Welsh, it is because St. David 
 ordered his Britons to place leeks in 
 their caps that they might be distin- 
 guished in fight from their Saxon foes. 
 Sh. in HV. IV, 7, 101, et seq., puts in 
 the mouth of Fluellen another explana- 
 tion. Dr. Owen Pughe supposes the 
 custom arose from the practice of every 
 farmer contributing his leek to the 
 common repast when they met at Cym- 
 mortha, an association by which they 
 reciprocated assistance in ploughing 
 the land. Dyer. 
 
 let-alone. The power of preventing it, 
 of saying " Do it not." Craig. Lr. V, 
 3, 79. 
 
 lieutenantry. Substitution. Dealt on 
 Lieutenantry = fought by proxy. The 
 etymological or radical meaning of the 
 word. Ant. Ill, 11, 39. 
 
 life. The phrase, a song of good life, as 
 it occurs in Tw. II, 3, 37, is explained 
 by Malone, Schm. and some others 
 as a good course or manner of living. 
 Steevens thought it meant "harmless 
 mirth and jollity. ' ' Furness thinks that 
 the clown knew his company too well 
 to propose a song of a moral turn, and 
 that Steevens has given the right defln- 
 
LIN 
 
 417 
 
 MAL 
 
 ition, the "harmless" being possibly 
 omitted. Foi- the expression good life, 
 as it occurs in Tp. Ill, 3, 8, see observa- 
 tion. 
 
 linger. To delay ; to protract ; to put 
 off. Mids. I, 1, 4; RII. II, 2, 72. 
 
 lion. See wolf. 
 
 lion-fell. A lion's skin. Mids. V, 1, 227. 
 Field suggested lion^s fell or lion-fell. 
 Furness makes this comment: "Field's 
 high deserving lies in his discerning 
 that ' fell ' is a noun and not an adjec- 
 tive; and that by this interpretation 
 point is given to 'lion's dam,' For 
 Snug to say that he is ' neither a lion 
 nor a lioness ' is to me pointless, but all 
 is changed if we suppose him to say that 
 he is a lion's skin, and only because, as 
 such, he encloses a lion, can he be a 
 lioness." The objection to this, in my 
 mind, is that the idea is too subtle to be 
 put into the mouth of a "patch" like 
 Snug, and Sh. generally adapts the 
 language of his characters to their 
 personalities. Daniel conjectures the 
 foUovping : '• I am Snug the joiner in A 
 lion-fell or else a lion's skin." Rowe 
 read No lion for A lion. It veould not 
 be a great stretch to paraphrase Snug's 
 words thus: "I, one Snug the joiner, 
 am merely a lion's skin, not even a 
 lioness. ;' The words lion and fell are 
 not hyphenated in the Fl. The hyphen 
 has been adoped in the Globe and most 
 modern eus. 
 
 lion-sick. Sick of proud heart. Troil. 
 II, 3, 93. 
 
 live. See die. 
 
 loam. This word, as it occurs in the Fl. 
 in Mids. V, 1, 162, was changed to lime 
 in 3rd Var., after a conjectural emend- 
 ation by Capell. Lime is probably the 
 correct reading, as that material, and 
 not loam,, forms an ingredient in rough- 
 cast. A very little loam would spoil 
 the rough-cast. 
 
 loathly. Loathingly. Lr. II, 1, 52. 
 
 Lord. The expression for the Lord^s 
 sake was the supplication of imprisoned 
 debtors to the passers-by. Meas. IV, 3, 
 21. 
 
 lost. For this word, as it occurs in Rom. 
 I, 1, 203, Allen would read left, and 
 Dowden is much inclined to believe that 
 this is the true reading. 
 
 love. In Rom. Ill, 1, 63, the Fl, reads : 
 Romeo the love I bear thee. In the Ql. 
 the reading is the hate, and this word 
 has been adopted by most eds. in place 
 of love. The use of love indicates irony, 
 and as Dowden says, Tybalt is not 
 given to irony. 
 
 MADDED. Made mad ; driven insane. 
 Sh. does not use maddened. Lr. 
 IV, 2, 43. 
 
 made. The expression in Wiv. II, 1, 244, 
 What they made there, is equivalent to 
 what they were doing there. See also 
 Rom. V, 3, 280. 
 
 magic. See verses. 
 
 maid. As it occurs in Rom. II, 2, 6, 
 refers to Juliet as "a votary of the 
 virgin Diana. " Dowden. 
 
 make. A mate; a partner. Lr. IV, 3, 
 36. It is one self mate and make in 
 Ql. ; mate and mate in Q2. and Q3. 
 Omitted from Fl. The "Cambridge," 
 "Globe" and most eds. follow the Q2. 
 andQ3. The "Oxford," the "Dowden" 
 and some others follow the QL, which 
 to me seems altogether the most Shake- 
 spearean. "Make" or "maik" is a 
 well-known Scotch and old English 
 word found in Chaucer in the same 
 sense, and quite common in old Scottish 
 poetry. The use of the word in this 
 passage avoids tautology and is far 
 more expressive. See makeless. 
 
 mallet. This word, as it occurs in 2HIV. 
 II, 4, 263, there^s no more conceit in 
 him than is in a mallet, does not seem 
 to afford such a striking comparison as 
 Sh. usually puts into the mouth of 
 Falstaff. If Sh. had sought some in- 
 animate object as an illustration of 
 stupidity and lack of conceit, he cer- 
 tainly could have found something more 
 appropriate than that tool which is the 
 symbol of handicraft and the repre- 
 sentative of activity, work and progress, 
 
HAH 
 
 418 
 
 MIM 
 
 as seeu in the common sign of the 
 mechanic's arm and hammer or mallet. 
 It is more than probable that Sh. com- 
 pared Poins to some stupid animal, and 
 that the word he used was mullet, the 
 name of a dull, mud-loving fish, and 
 the very emblem of an unimaginative, 
 witless fellow. Three lines below, Fal- 
 staff speaks of another fish, the conger 
 eel. It is true that mullet occurs no- 
 where else in Sh., but then neither does 
 mallet. 
 
 The only suggestion of a new reading 
 that I can find is that by Schm., who 
 proposes "mallard " ; but this certainly 
 could not have been the word. The 
 mallard, as Sh. very well knew, is one 
 of the most wide-awake, cunning and 
 intelligent birds known to sportsmen, 
 and one not at all devoid of conceit, 
 which, according to Schm. and others, 
 signifies "mental faculty, comprising 
 the understanding as well as the imagin- 
 ation." 
 
 manage. 1. The training of a horse to 
 
 obey the hand and voice. As. I, 1, 13. 
 
 2. The management or government of a 
 
 horse. RII. Ill, 3, 179 ; IHI V. II, 3, 52. 
 
 marish. See nourish. 
 
 marriage ceremonies. See hair and 
 wine. 
 
 martial hand. Probably a bold, free 
 hand with large letters. Tw. Ill, 2, 45. 
 Johnson defines it as "a careless scrawl, 
 such as showed the writer to neglect 
 ceremony." Furness says: "Possibly 
 it may mean with heavy-faced, aggres- 
 sive flourishes." 
 
 Martin, Saint. See summer. 
 
 maugre. In spite of. Tw. Ill, 1, 163 ; 
 Lr. V, 3, 131. 
 
 me. In the following passage : A good 
 sherris-sack hath a twofold operation 
 in it. It ascends me into the brain; 
 dries me thet-e all the foolish ayid dull 
 and crudy vapours which environ it. 
 * * ♦ The second property of your 
 excellent sherris is * * * and then 
 the vital commoners and inland petty 
 spirits m^uster me all to their captain. 
 SHIV. IV, 3, 103, et seq. Also Hml. 
 
 II, 1, 7 : Inquire me first what Danskers 
 are in Paris. The me and you in these 
 passages are what is known as the 
 "ethical dative," which is defined as 
 " the dative of a first or second personal 
 pronoun, implying a degree of interest 
 in the person si>eaking or the person 
 addressed used colloquially to give a 
 lively or familiar tone to the sentence." 
 Cent. Diet. See your. 
 meet. Fit for ; equal to. Ado. I, 1, 47, 
 /te'Z^ be meet with you = he'll be a 
 match for you. 
 mellow. Ripe; fit to be disclosed. Tw. 
 
 I, 2, 43. 
 merchant. See royal merchant. 
 Merlin. This famous wizard and prophet 
 is referred to twice in the plays — IHIV. 
 Ill, 1, 150, and Lr. Ill, 2, 95. There 
 seems to have been two of this name, 
 but the one generally meant is the hero 
 of the Arthurian romances. He is said 
 to have been of miraculous birth and to 
 have been an adept in magic. He fell 
 under the wiles of an enchantress and 
 lies sleeping in some dark tangled wood, 
 guarded by magic from all intrusion. 
 Amongst other famous deeds. Merlin is 
 said to have instituted the Round Table 
 at Carduel. In the days preceding Sh. 
 all this was firmly believed. Tennyson, 
 in his " Idylls of the King," gives an 
 account of Merlin and the enchantress, 
 Vivien. The prophecies attributed to 
 him were written by H6lie de Borron 
 about the year 1200. 
 Merry Tales, The Hundred. See tales. 
 metheglin. A drink made of a solution 
 
 of honey, fermented. Wiv. V, 5, 168. 
 mettle or metal of India, ^ee nettle. 
 Milan. As it occurs in Tp. V, 1, 8, the 
 word means Duke of Milan. So in 
 Hml. I, 2, 44 : You cannot speak of 
 reason to the Dane, i.e., to the King 
 of Denmark. 
 mimic. An actor; a player. Mids. Ill, 
 2, 19. 
 
 Various emendations of this word 
 have been given. Johnson thought it 
 a mere term of contempt ; Ritson read 
 mammockt which he says "signifies a 
 
HIN 
 
 419 
 
 NOB 
 
 huge misshapen thing." But Malone 
 pointed out that mirmnick is used as 
 synonymous to actor in Decker's " Guls 
 Hornebooke;" and Wright quotes from 
 Herrick's The Wake (II, 63) : 
 
 Morris-dancers thou shalt see, 
 Marian too in Pagentrie : 
 And a Mimiek to devise, 
 Many grinning properties. 
 "Minnick " in the Ql. ; "Minnock " in 
 the Q2 ; " Mimmick " in the first three 
 Folios. 
 
 mine. See wren. 
 
 misuse. To deceive. Ado. II, 2, 28. cf. 
 abuse. 
 
 mock> water. See muck-water. 
 
 mole. A blemish. Hml. I, 4, 2i. 
 
 monarch. See north. 
 
 mongrel. In Troil. II, 1, 14, Thersites 
 calls Ajax a "mongrel," probably be- 
 cause his father, Telamon, was a Greek, 
 and his mother, Hesione, a Trojan, cf. 
 same play, IV, 5, 120. See Ajax. 
 
 moon. Beeplantage. 
 
 moral. Moralizing ; like one who utters 
 *' wise saws." Lr. IV, 2, 58. 
 
 moralize. To expound; to interpret. As. 
 II, 1, 44 ; Shr. IV, 4, 8 1 ; RIII. Ill, 1, 83. 
 
 mortifying. Killing. Ado. 1, 8, 13 ; Merch. 
 I, 1, 82. Frequently used by Sh. in the 
 literal or etymological sense. 
 
 murderer. Two murderers appear in 
 RIII. as dr. p., and three in Mcb. A 
 question has arisen as to who the third 
 murderer in Mcb. was. Some think 
 that it was Macbeth himself ; others 
 claim that it was merely a messenger 
 sent to inform them in regard to Ban- 
 quo's movements. Johnson, in his note 
 on line 130, says that he was "the 
 perfect spy o' the time." See spy. 
 
 music, broken. " Some instruments, such 
 as viols, violins, flutes, etc., were for- 
 merly made in sets of four, which when 
 played together formed a ' consort. ' If 
 one or more of the instruments of one 
 set were substituted for the correspond- 
 ing ones of another set the result 
 was no longer a consort but broken 
 music." Jephson. As. I, 2, 150; HV. 
 V, 2, 263. 
 
 mussel - shell. Open-mouth. VViv. IV, 
 
 5,29. 
 
 mustachio. In the Fl. this word, in 
 IHIV. II, 1, 83, is hyphenated with the 
 two following, thus, mustachio-jnirple- 
 huecl, hence some have interpreted it 
 as =" ale-topers ; those who dip their 
 mustachios so deeply and perpetually in 
 liquor as to stain them purple red. ' ' This 
 is doubtful. Mustachios, curled up at the 
 ends, have always been a characteristic 
 of bravado like fellows who adopted the 
 airs of Spanish bandits. I think the 
 meaning probably is fiery-faced fellows 
 with fierce mustachios. Wine might 
 dye the hair purple, but I doubt if ale 
 would do so. 
 
 mute. Referring to this word in Tw. I, 
 2, 62, Schm. gives this extraordinary 
 explanation : " In Turkey, a dumb officer 
 acting as executioner." Upon which 
 Furness very properly remarks : " It is 
 not easy to see the appropriateness of 
 such an officer on the present occasion. " 
 Deighton suggests that the word eunuch 
 in Viola's speech brings to the captain's 
 mind the mutes of the eastern courts. 
 This is very probable, because Viola had 
 just requested his silence as to her true 
 condition. That Sh. sometimes con- 
 nected the "mutes" with the Turkish 
 court and harem is seen in HV. I, 2, 232. 
 
 mutually. In Wiv. V, 5, 103, and Cor. 
 I, 1, 106, this word evidently means all 
 together, and does not involve the idea 
 of reciprocity, which is the prominent 
 element in its meaning at present. 
 
 NEIF. The hand or, rather, fist. This 
 word in 2HIV. II, 4, 200, gives rise 
 to half a page of comment in the 
 3rd Var. It is a common Scotch word. 
 The expression, "a neiv-fu' " is a com- 
 mon Scotch synonym for a handful. 
 night. See vast. 
 nine. See wren. 
 Nine Worthies. See Worthies. 
 Nob. A familiar and somewhat con- 
 temptuous form of Robert. I would 
 not be Sir Nob = I would not be Sir 
 
NOO 
 
 420 
 
 OUT 
 
 Robert, i.e., his brother. John I, 
 1, 147. 
 
 noon. The expression, Fll go to bed at 
 noon (Lr. Ill, 6, 92), is not unusual in 
 the Elizabethan drama. It was used to 
 signify easy-going idleness. Some have 
 thought that the fool prophecies his 
 own early death, but there seems to be 
 no ground for this. 
 
 note. Memorandum ; list. Wint. IV, 3, 49. 
 
 notorious. Egregious ; great. Tw. V, 
 1, 337. 
 
 notoriously. Excessively ; egregiously. 
 Tw. V, 1, 388. 
 
 nursery. Attendance; nursing. Lr. I, 
 1, 126. 
 
 OB. An abbreviation of obolus — a 
 halfpenny. IHIV. II, 4, 590. The 
 obolus was the smallest Greek coin 
 and was the silver piece placed in the 
 mouth of each corpse when properly 
 prepared for burial. See Charon. 
 
 o'er looked. Marshall explains this word, 
 as it occurs in John V, 4, 5.5, as " over- 
 borne," but a nearer synonym would 
 probably be "risen above." cf. Hml. 
 IV, 5, 99 — the ocean overpeering of his 
 list. 
 
 old man. Sir Andrew's expression in 
 Tw. I, 3, 126 : and yet I ivill not 
 compare with an old man, has not 
 been very clearly explained. Theobald 
 changed old man to nobleman, but this 
 does not seem to mend matters. The 
 Clarkes explain it thus : " We take its 
 signification to be, that the knight, by 
 the terra ' an old man,' means ' a man 
 of experience," just as he has before 
 deferred to his ' betters ' ; while the use 
 of the word 'old' gives precisely that 
 absurd effect of refraining from com- 
 peting in dancing, fencing, etc., with 
 exactly the antagonist incapacitated by 
 age, over whom even Sir Andrew might 
 hope to prove his superiority." The 
 contest, however, was not about "danc- 
 ing and fencing," but about "masks 
 and revels," and in these Sir Andrew 
 might be at a disadvantage with a man 
 
 of greater experience than himself, even 
 though his antagonist should be physic- 
 ally less active. 
 
 It is sometimes a fruitless task to try 
 to make sense out of the foolish knight's 
 " maunderings," but as a last desperate 
 attempt to extract sense out of what 
 may be mere nonsense, it might be 
 suggested that "compare" here may be 
 a form of "compear," and that Sir 
 Andrew means that he would not ap- 
 pear in a mask with an old man. 
 olive. See three-nooked. 
 one-trunk-inheriting. "Possessing but 
 one trunk, one coffer of effects. To 
 inherit has frequently the sense to 
 possess in Sh. See Tp. II, 2, 179. Here 
 it might have the ordinary meaning." 
 Craig. Lr. II, 2, 20. 
 opinion. Reputation. Merch. I, 1, 91. 
 orbs. As it occurs in Mids. II, 1, 9, is 
 generally supposed to refer to the ' ' fairy 
 rings" sometimes found in meadows. 
 See ringlets. Bell thinks the fairy 
 means that she gathers dew to wash the 
 eyes of the queen, Maydew being sup- 
 posed to be a wonderful preserver of 
 beauty. 
 orchard. See wort, (2). 
 Orion. A misprint for Arion in Tw. I, 
 2, 15, occurs in the Fl. and has been 
 copied in some eds. See Arion. 
 orphan heirs. This expression, which 
 occurs in Wiv. V, 5, 43, was changed 
 by Theobald to oup hen heirs, that is, 
 fairy or goblin heirs. But, as explained 
 by the Cowden-Clarkes, the reading of 
 the Fl. makes very good sense. They 
 explain it as : " Beings created orphans 
 by fate; in allusion to supposed spon- 
 taneous and unnatural births, such as 
 Merlin's and others of his stamp, holding 
 place in popular superstition, who were . 
 believed to have been born without 
 fathers. ' ' See unfathered. 
 ouphen. See orphan heirs. 
 outlaw'd. The phrase outlawed from my 
 blood (Lr. Ill, 4, 172), means condemned 
 to outlawry (loss of estate, etc.) through 
 corruption of the blood. Those subject 
 to attainder (stain or corruption of 
 
PAN 
 
 421 
 
 PLTJ 
 
 the blood) formerly suffered such loss. 
 
 Craig, cf. IHVI. Ill, 1, 159. 
 overture. See coverture. 
 owe. S>eefall. 
 
 PANDION. King of Athens and the 
 father of Procne and Philomela. 
 Pilgr. 395. In return for assistance 
 in a war against Labdacus, King of 
 Thebes, be gave his daughter, Philomela, 
 to Tereus, in marriage. See Philomela. 
 parts. Of this word, as it occurs in 0th. 
 I, 2, 31, Furness says: "Schmidt and 
 Rolfe agree in interpreting this as 
 merits. It seems to me that it is rather 
 the endowments of nature, his natural 
 gifts, like ' 3'^our sum of parts ' in Hml. 
 IV, 7, 74." See parted, (1). 
 pash. The head. The comments on this 
 word, as it occurs in Wint. I, 2, 128, fill 
 a page in the 3rd Var. Malone's note 
 is worth reproducing. He says : "I 
 have lately learned that pash in Scot- 
 land signifies a head. The old reading, 
 therefore, may stand. Many words that 
 are now used only in that country, were 
 perhaps once common to the whole 
 island of Great Britain, or at least to 
 the northern part of England. The 
 meaning, therefore, of the present pass- 
 age, I suppose, is this : ' You tell me 
 (says Leontes to his son), that you are 
 like me; that you are my calf. I am 
 the horned bull ; thou wantest the 
 rough head and the horns of that 
 animal, completely to resemble your 
 father.'" 
 
 The word pash, meaning head, is 
 quite common in Scottish poetry. Kara- 
 say, in his letter to Arbucklo (January, 
 1719), referring to his occupations of 
 poet, bookseller and wigmaker, says : 
 
 I theek [thatch] the out an' line the 
 inside 
 
 O' mony a douse an' witty pash 
 
 An' baith ways gather in the cash. 
 See ante, under shoots. 
 pass of pate. Sally of wit. Tp. IV, 1,344. 
 passion. The expression, masters of 
 passion (March. IV, 1, 51) = agencies 
 
 (such as Shy lock has been speaking of) 
 that move either the sympathy or anti- 
 pathy of any man. Passion is used in 
 the original sense ot feeling or emotion, 
 cf. Caes. I, 2, 48, / have much mistook 
 your passion, etc. Rolfe. See affec- 
 tion. The Globe, Cambridge and some 
 other eds. follow Capell and read mis- 
 press of passion. 
 perfumer. What we would now call 
 
 a fumigator. Ado. I, 3, 60. 
 physician. See precisian. 
 pig. A young pig dressed whole and with 
 a lemon stuck in its gaping mouth was 
 frequently served at table. Merch. IV, 
 1,47. 
 Pigmies. See Pygmies. 
 plummet. A leaden weight (from the 
 lusitm, plumbum, lead). Tp. Ill, 3, 101, 
 and V, 1, 56 ; Wiv. V, 5, 173. 
 
 The word is sometimes erroneously 
 applied to the line to which the plummet 
 is usually attached. Cotgrave has: 
 "Plombeau: m. A plummet; or weight 
 of lead.''^ Falstaff 's saying in Wiv. V, 
 5, 173, has given rise to a good deal of 
 comment and some curious emendations. 
 Thus Johnson suggested " has a plume 
 o' me," i.e., "plucks me and decks 
 itself with the spoils of my weakness" ; 
 Farmer conjectured: "is a planet o'er 
 me," and there are others. Tyrwhitt 
 explained the passage thus : " ignorance 
 itself is not so low as I am by the length 
 of a plummet-line, ' ' evidently forgetting 
 not only that a plummet-line has no 
 definite length, but that Falstaff is 
 speaking of a plummet, and not a 
 plummet-line. R. G. White thinks it 
 means: "ignorance itself points out 
 ray deviations f rora rectitude. " Schm. : 
 " ignorance itself sounds my depth and 
 searches my bottom." The Cowden- 
 Clarkes: "ignorance itself can sound 
 the depths of my shallowness in this." 
 Marshall and Daniel: "I am at the 
 lowest point of Fortune's wheel ; ignor- 
 ance, at the highest, triumphs over 
 rae"; but what a plumraet has to do 
 with Fortune's wheel is not so easily 
 seen. It seems to me that the meaning 
 
POS 
 
 m 
 
 &08 
 
 is simple and obvious: " iguorauce 
 itself (the 'Welsh flannel' making 
 * fritters of English ') is a heavy weight 
 directly over me and crushing me 
 down." 
 
 So, in Laws of Candy, by Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, IV, 1, we find : 
 
 For when sad thoughts perplex the 
 
 mind of man 
 There is a plummet in the heart that 
 
 weighs 
 And pulls us, living, to tho dust we 
 
 came from. 
 
 poem. See scene. 
 
 point. The expression " at point " means 
 in armed readiness, fully equipped or 
 accoutred. Mcb. IV, 3, 135; Hml. I, 
 2, 200 ; Lr. I, 4, 347. 
 possessed. Insane. Tw. Ill, 4, 9. In 
 Sh. time madmen were supposed to be 
 possessed of devils. Hence the mock 
 exorcisms in Act IV, Sc. 2, same play. 
 post. See sheriff's post. 
 prick, V. Under def. (4) of this word I 
 have suggested that Sh. refers to the 
 word "prick- louse," which is a cant 
 name for a man's tailor. That this 
 word was in use in the time of Sh. is 
 certain. The earliest use of the word, 
 that I had found, was by Sir Roger 
 L'Estrange (1616-1704), but Professor 
 Dowden has kindly pointed out to me 
 that it occurs in a ballad by the Scottish 
 poet, William Dunbar (1460-1525), en- 
 titled, " The Justis Betuix the Tailyeour 
 and Sowtar," which begins : 
 Nixt at a Tornament was tryit 
 That lang before in Hell was cryit 
 
 In presens of Mahoune 
 Betuix a Tailyeour and a Sowtar 
 A priklouss and a hobbill clowtar 
 Thair barrass was maid bonne. 
 —Dunbar^a Poems, ed. David Lang, 1834. 
 process. See set. 
 
 progeny. 1, Offspring; children. LLL. 
 V, 2, 754 ; Mids. II, 1, 115. 
 2. Progenitors ; ancestry. IHVI. V, 4, 
 38; Cor. I, 8, 12. Bee ivhip. 
 
 The first sense is the only one in use 
 now, but Sh. and other authors of the 
 time use the word in both senses. 
 
 propertied. Endowed with qualities or 
 properties. Ant. V, 2, 83. 
 
 property, v. To appropriate; to con- 
 vert into property. Tw. IV, 2, 99 ; 
 JohnV, 2, 79; Tim. 1,1,57. 
 
 Collier suggested that in Tw. Sh. had 
 some allusion to the properties (as they 
 were then, and are still called) of a 
 theatre, which, when out of use, were 
 thrust into some dark loft or lumber- 
 room. From Sh. familiarity with play- 
 house terms, it is not unlikely that this 
 suggestion may be well founded. Fur- 
 ness seems inclined to accept it. 
 
 QUALIFIED. Endowed with all good 
 qualities. Shr. IV, 5, 66 ; Cym. I, 
 4, 65. 
 Ingleby cites Davenant's Unfortunate 
 Lovers, I, 1, for an instance of the use 
 of this word in this sense : 
 But why, Rampino? since this lady is 
 So rarely qualified. 
 See constant-qualified. 
 
 RAG. This word, as it occurs in Tim. 
 IV, 3, 271, does not seem to make 
 good sense. Johnson suggested 
 rogue, a word which is probably the 
 correct reading. See 3rd Var. XIII, 
 391. 
 
 recollected. See terms. 
 
 recomforture. Fresh comfort. RIII. IV, 
 4, 425. 
 
 red-breast. See robin red-breast. 
 
 rliyme. See verses. 
 
 rose. This flower occupies a prominent 
 position in the writings of Sh., and it 
 well deserves it. Ellacombe, in his 
 "Plant -Lore and Garden -Craft of 
 Shakespeare," devotes over ten pages 
 to the rose and its history. The scene 
 in the Temple Garden (IHVI. II, 4), 
 where the White and Red Roses were 
 taken as the colors of the houses of 
 York and Lancaster was the prelude to 
 civil wars which sent thousands of 
 " souls to death and deadly night." 
 Ellacombe tells us that the White 
 
!ROtf 
 
 m 
 
 SPE 
 
 Rose of York has never been satisfac- 
 torily identified, but he seems to hold 
 that the Red Rose and the Provengal 
 Rose are the colors of Lancaster, and 
 "are no doubt the same andare what we 
 now call E. Centifolia, or the Cabbage 
 Rose." To a rose whose petals were 
 striped with red and white the name of 
 "York and Lancaster" has been given. 
 The white rose has a very ancient 
 interest for Englishmen, the flower 
 having been connected with one of the 
 most ancient names of the island. The 
 elder Pliny, in discussing the etymology 
 of the word Albion, suggests that the 
 land may have been so named from the 
 white roses which abounded in it. 
 
 rounded. Whispered, Wint. I, 2, 217; 
 John II, 1, 566. This use of the word 
 is common in Chaucer and the writers 
 of Sh. time. 
 
 rowel-head. Defined by most dictionaries 
 and by Schm. as "the axis on which 
 the rowel turns." Surely not. The 
 rowel-head is the fork which serves to 
 hold the rowel and its axis. The ends 
 of the forks prevent the rowel from 
 sinking into the hide ; hence the expres- 
 sion : "up to the rowel-head." 2HIV. 
 1,1,46. 
 
 rushes. See cage. 
 
 SAMPHIRE. A plant which grows on 
 rocks within the influence of sea 
 spray. The name is said to be a 
 corruption of Saint Peter, and the plant 
 was called in Italian, Herba di San 
 Pietro — Peter, as is well known, signifies 
 a rock. In Sh. time the gathering of 
 samphire was a regular trade, and the 
 leaves were used to make a pickle, "the 
 pleasantest sauce, most familiar and 
 best agreeing with man's body," but 
 which has now fallen out of use and 
 ia rarely seen, though the plant grows 
 round all the coasts of Great Britain 
 and Ireland wherever there are suitable 
 rocks. Lr. IV, 6, 15. 
 sanctuarise. To give a sanctuary or place 
 of refuge to. Even the church should 
 
 not protect Hamlet, he being the mur- 
 derer of Polonius. Hml. IV, 7, 139. 
 saying. See deed. 
 
 set. A term in tennis. LLL. V, 2, 29. 
 silver. The piece of silver referred to in 
 Kins. IV, 3, 18, is the obolus, the small- 
 est silver coin among the Greeks. It 
 was placed in the mouth of every corpse 
 that received proper burial. See Charon. 
 
 sinews. Nerves. Ven. 903; Lr. Ill, 6, 
 105. In the latter passage (which is 
 omitted from the Folios, but is found 
 in the Quartos) the "Globe" reads 
 senses, which was suggested by Theo- 
 bald. The "Cambridge," Dyce and 
 many others adhere to the reading of 
 the Quartds, which is probably correct. 
 
 sing. On the passage in Lr. V, 3, 9, We 
 two alone will sing like birds V the 
 cage, Craig has this note: "We must 
 not forget that cage had the meaning of 
 prison. See 2HVL IV, 2, 56." True it 
 had and still has that meaning in the 
 slang of jailbirds and thieves (see latest 
 ed. of the "Lexicon Balatronicum "), 
 but what has that to do with the pure . 
 Cordelia and her kingly father ? Even 
 though we learn from our study of 
 "peddler's French" that "cage" isslang 
 for prison, why should we destroy an 
 exquisite metaphor by reading into such 
 a beautiful expression of affection and 
 hope a coarse idea which certainly has 
 no place there ? 
 
 soothe. To humor. Lr. Ill, 4, 182. 
 
 Sophy. " The title of Sophy, by which 
 the Shah of Persia was most commonly 
 known in the 16th and 17th centuries, 
 was derived from the Safavi dynasty, 
 founded in 1500 by Shah Ismail, whose 
 descendants occupied the throne until 
 1736, when the power was seized by 
 Nadir Shah." Wright. Their ambassa- 
 dors spent money so lavishly that 
 their wealth was supposed to exceed 
 anything known to western nations. 
 Tw. II, 5, 197. 
 
 spear-grass. The identification of this 
 plant has puzzled the coms. Ellacombe 
 thinks it is the couch-grass {Triticum 
 repens), but it is doubtful if the leaves 
 
SPE 
 
 424 
 
 TAK 
 
 of that plant are rough enough for the 
 purpose indicated in IHIV. II, 4, 840. 
 
 spectacles. Eyes ; organs to see with. 
 2HVI. Ill, 2, 112 ; Cjni. I, 6, 37. 
 
 states. Estates. As. V, 4, 181. 
 
 stelled. This word, as it occurs in Lr. 
 Ill, 7, 61, is explained by Craig as fixed, 
 with, perhaps, a play on the other sense 
 — starry. His note on p. 162 of the 
 " Dow den " ed. of Lear is well worth 
 consulting. 
 
 stones. See thunder. 
 
 strange. See snow. 
 
 swan. When Celia (As. I, 8, 77) speaks 
 of Juno's swans she forgets that the 
 peacock, and not the swan, belonged to 
 Juno. The Swan was sacred to Venus. 
 See Juno and Venus. 
 
 sweep. The expression. To sweep the 
 dust behind the door (Mids. V, 1, 39T), 
 is explained by Halliwell as "to sweep 
 away the dust which is behind the door, ' ' 
 and this is undoubtedly right. Good 
 housewives have a proverb : *' Sweep 
 the corners clean and the middle will 
 take care of itself." Wright says: To 
 sweep the dust behind the door, where 
 it would be likely to escape notice — 
 a doubtful gloss. 
 
 TABLE. In the Fl. the line HV. II, 3, 17, 
 reads : his Nose was as sharpe as a 
 Pen, arid a Table of greene fields. 
 This was changed by Theobald to : his 
 nose was as sharp as a pen, and a' 
 babbled of green fields, and the emend- 
 ation has not only been generally ac- 
 cepted, but is regarded by the best 
 Shakespearean scholars as one of the 
 happiest restorations that has ever been 
 made in the text. Other readings 
 have been suggested, but none that so 
 well meets the conditions of the case. 
 Desperate attempts have been made to 
 defend the text as it stands, chiefly by 
 the Baconians, who see in it a reference 
 to Hippocrates, a medical writer whose 
 works it is very improbable that Sh. 
 had ever seen, but whose description of 
 the appearances which usually precede 
 
 death has been quoted by Bacon. But 
 the fades Hippocratica (the Hippo- 
 cratic face) was well known to the doc- 
 tors, and even to the old women nurses, 
 of Sh. time and must have been common 
 talk amongst them. Theobald's reading 
 is sustained by what is previously said 
 about his playing with flowers and the 
 well-known tendency of the dying to 
 revertf to the times of childhood and 
 boyhood, and to dream of wandering 
 about cool streams and green fields. 
 The word is fields in theFl., and not 
 field, which it would naturally have 
 been if used as a synonym for back- 
 ground. 
 
 tail. Upon the expression in Mcb. I, 2, 
 9, And like a rat without a tail, 
 Steevens has the following note: "It 
 should be remembered (as it was the 
 belief of the times) that though a witch 
 could assume the form of any animal 
 she pleased, the tail would still be want- 
 ing. The reason given by some of the 
 old writers, for such a deficiency, is 
 that though the hands and feet, by an 
 easy change, might be converted into 
 the four paws of a beast, there was still 
 no part about a woman which corre- 
 sponded with the length of tail common 
 to almost all our four-footed creatures ' ' ; 
 and in Dyer's "Folk Lore" we find: 
 " In German legends and traditions we 
 frequently find notice of witches as- 
 suming the f oi-m of a cat, and displaying 
 their fiendish character in certain dia- 
 bolical acts. It was, however, the 
 absence of the tail that only too often 
 was the cause of the witch being detected 
 in her disguised form. That horrible 
 creature of superstition, the wer-wolf, 
 or human being changed into a wolf, 
 was distinguished by having no tail." 
 
 Capell makes the following note on 
 this point: '■^ Tails are the rudders of 
 water-animals, as the rat is occasionally, 
 so that it is intimated in effect that she 
 would find her port without a rudder 
 as well as sail in a sieve." 
 
 take. Although this word is properly 
 defined in its regular place and reference 
 
TAL 
 
 4'25 
 
 VEA 
 
 made to Wint. IV, 4, 119, it may be 
 well to call special attention to it as the 
 ordinary reader frequently fails to per- 
 ceive the exquisite beauty of the ex- 
 pression : 
 
 * * * daffodils, 
 That come before the swallow dares, 
 [and take 
 The winds of March with beauty. 
 
 That is : that fascinate or bewitch the 
 winds of March. 
 
 tales. The book, "A Hundred Mery 
 Talys " was reprinted in 1866, from the 
 only perfect copy known. After going 
 over it attentively, I cannot describe 
 it better than in the language of Dr. 
 Furness: "lb is a coarse book, the 
 natural product of coarse times, and its 
 flavor is not unlike the atmosphere of 
 the houses which demanded daily and 
 prolonged fumigations. Well, indeed, 
 may Beatrice have deeply resented the 
 imputation that from it she drew her 
 ■wit — and yet there is a tradition that 
 this book, and others like it, were the 
 solace of Queen Elizabeth's dying 
 hours." Ado. II, 1, 135. 
 
 tears. See crocodile. 
 
 teem. See crocodile. 
 
 temperance. Sanity. Lr. IV, 7, 24. 
 
 throat. On the passage in 2HIV. I, 2, 
 94, / had lied in my throat, if I had 
 said so. Hunter makes this remark : 
 "The lie in the throat was a lie uttered 
 deliberately ; the. lie in the teeth was 
 one for which some excuse was al- 
 lowed on the ground of its having 
 proceeded from haste or some palliating 
 cause." 
 
 throughly. An early form of thoroughly. 
 It is really the same word. Sh. uses 
 both forms. Tp. Ill, 3, 14 ; Merch. IV, 
 1, 173, etc., etc. 
 
 throughfare. Same as thoroughfare. 
 Merch. II, 7, 42 ; Cym. I, 2, 11. 
 
 trunks. Upon Antonio's expression, 
 empty trunks o'' er flourish'' d by the 
 devil (Tw. Ill, 4, 404), Steevens has the 
 following note : " In the time of Shake- 
 speare, trunks, which are now deposited 
 in lumber-rooms, or other obscure 
 
 places, were part of the furniture of 
 apartments in which company was re- 
 ceived. I have seen more than one of 
 these, as old as the time of our poet. 
 They were richly ornamented on the 
 tops and sides with scroll-work, em- 
 blematical devices, etc., and were 
 elevated on feet." 
 
 UP AND DOWN. Exactly ; out and 
 out. Gent. II, 3, 32 ; Tw. II, 1, 124. 
 This was an idiomatic expression of 
 the time, similar to our present phrase, 
 downright. As found in Mids. Ill, 
 2, 396; 2HIV. II, 1, 114, and several 
 other passages it has the ordinary 
 meaning. 
 
 upshot. The result. A common expres- 
 sion at this day. While in some passages 
 it no doubt means the decisive shot (as 
 the word is used in bowls and archery), 
 yet in Tw. IV, 2, 76, it probably has 
 the ordinary meaning. 
 
 unpossessing. Incapable of inheriting; 
 not lawful issue, and therefore, as 
 Blackstone says : " nullius filius, and 
 therefore of kin to nobody." Lr. II, 
 1, 79. 
 
 usurp. To counterfeit ; to assume that 
 which does not belong to one. Shr. 
 Ind., I, 131; Tw. I, 5, 198; do. V, 1,' 
 257. An usurped heard = a false beard. 
 Oth. I, 3, 346. 
 
 VEAL. Upon this word, as used in 
 LLL. V, 2, 247, Veal, quoth the 
 Dutchman, Malone says: "I sup- 
 pose by veal, she means well, sounded 
 as foreigners usually pronounce that 
 word ; and introduced merely for the 
 sake of the subsequent question. " Bos- 
 well adds: The same joke occurs in 
 The Wis dome of Doctor Dodypoll : 
 
 Doctor : " Hans, my very speciall friend; 
 fait and trot me be right glad for to see 
 you vecUe.'''' 
 
 Hans : " What, do you make a calfe of 
 me, M. Doctor ? " 
 
WAL 
 
 4r26 
 
 WRO 
 
 WALL. Icicles hang by the wall 
 when they hang from the eaves 
 of a building. LLL. V, 2, 922. 
 
 well advised. This expression, as it 
 occurs in LLL. V, 2, 434, is explained 
 by Rolfe as " probably = in your right 
 mind. cf. Err. II, 2, 215: 'mad or 
 well advis'd.' See also RIII. I, 3, 318. 
 The ordinary sense of ' acting with due 
 deliberation,' which most editors give 
 here, seems rather tame." 
 
 whale. The expression in All's. IV, 3, 
 249, who is a whale to virginity, is 
 thought by Douce to refer to the 
 story of Andromeda, who, in obedi- 
 ence to the oracle of Ammon, was 
 chained to a rock so that she might 
 be devoured by a sea monster. See 
 Perseus. Douce tells us that in the 
 old prints the monster was very fre- 
 quently represented as a whale. But 
 the allusion to "small fry" and the 
 fact that the whale devours so many of 
 them renders this explanation doubtful. 
 The comparison in LLL. V, 2, 332, 
 as white as a whalers bone, probably 
 owed its origin to the fact that "the 
 ivory of western Europe in the middle 
 ages was the tooth of the walrus." 
 Nares. The simile was a very common 
 one, and is employed by Spenser, Lord 
 
 ' Surrey and others. In Turberville's 
 Poems (1567) we find : 
 A little mouth with decent chin, 
 
 A corall lip of hue 
 With teeth as white as whale his bone 
 Ech one in order due. 
 
 windowM. 1. Placed in a window for 
 exhibition. Ant. IV, 14, 72. 
 2. Full of holes or windows. Lr. Ill, 4, 
 31. The original sense of window is 
 "wind-eye," i.e., eye or hole for the 
 wind to enter at; an opening for air 
 and light. Skeat. 
 
 witch. The phrase, I forgive thee for a 
 witch (Ant. I, 2, 40), is "from the 
 common proverbial reproach to silly, 
 ignorant females — 'you'll never be 
 burnt for a witch. ' " Steevens. 
 
 When Sir Hugh Evans (Wiv. IV, 2, 
 202) says of the disguised Falstaff, l3y 
 
 yea or no, I think the ^oman is a ivitch 
 indeed: I like not when a ^onian has a 
 great pear d; I spy a. great peard under 
 his muffler, he refers to a recognised 
 characteristic of the witfch. Thus, in 
 The Honest Man^s Fortune, it is said : 
 "The women that come to us for dis- 
 guises must wear beards, and that's to 
 say a token of a witch." 
 
 wit-snapper. One who affects repartee. 
 Johnson. "One hunting after wit." 
 Schmidt. Merch. Ill, 5, 55. 
 
 wooden O. This expression, as found in 
 HV., Prol. 13, refers to the Globe 
 theatre, so called because of its hexagonal 
 or nearly round shape. See theatre 
 and O, and also Globe in the Addenda. 
 
 wooden thing. " An awkward business ; 
 an undertaking not likely to succeed." 
 Steevens. IHVI. V, 3, 89. 
 
 word. Steevens tells us that when Hamlet 
 says (Hml. 1, 5, 110), '■'Now to my ivord: 
 it is ^ Adieu, adieu! remember me,' he 
 evidently alludes to the watchword 
 given every day in militaiy service. 
 The ghost had already, in line 91, given 
 him these words. But.it would rather 
 seem that by "word" here Hamlet 
 intends a motto or maxim, as in RIII. 
 V, 3, 349, our ancient word of courage, 
 fair Saiyit George, Inspire us. The 
 term watchword is used in both senses, 
 but I think Hamlet uses it here in the 
 second sense and not in that given by 
 Steevens. Dowden suggests that it 
 means "word of command" as given 
 by the ghost. 
 
 world. The expression found in LLL. V, 
 2, 799, To make a world-without-end 
 bat-gain in, means an everlasting, 
 never-ending bargain, alluding, no 
 doubt, to the words of the marriage 
 service " till death do you part. " 
 
 wroth. To our previous explanation of 
 this word, as found in Merch. II, 9, 78, 
 we may add : It is wroath in the Fl. ; 
 White thinks it is "used somewhat in 
 its radical sense, which connects it with 
 the idea of suffering." Steevens tells 
 us that " wroath is used in some of the 
 old books for misfortune ; and is often 
 
YIE 
 
 427 
 
 GOO 
 
 spelt like ruth, which at present signi- 
 fies only pity or sorrow for the miseries 
 of another.^'' 
 
 YIELD. Referrii% to the explanation 
 which I have given of this word, as 
 it occurs in Lr. IV, 1, 12, the ob- 
 jection has been made that it calls for an 
 emendation — yeild for yield. But the 
 accepted reading, yield, is quite as 
 much an emendation as yeild. It is 
 yeelde in the Fl. The usually accepted 
 meaning of yield in this passage is 
 that given by Schm,— "to submit," 
 and the reading then would be "life 
 would not submit to age," which cer- 
 tainly is not a forcible expression. Now, 
 when Hh. uses language he generally 
 employs it to express some very clearly 
 
 defined thought, and if we adopt the 
 old word the meaning is clear and strong 
 and to the point. Moberly 's explanation 
 of this line (adopted by Rolfe) does not 
 seem to me to quite meet the point. It 
 is : " We so hate life that we gladly find 
 ourselves lapsing into old age and ap- 
 proaching death, which will deliver us 
 from it." 
 
 The verb to eild, meaning to grow 
 old, is used by the old Scottish poet, 
 Douglas, in his translation of " Virgil ": 
 
 All thocht he eildit was, or step In age. 
 In Vol, I of Jamieson's Diet. (4 Vols., 
 4to., 1808) the definition of eild is "to 
 wax old." The y is a common prefix 
 to words of this kind and is often used 
 by Sh. 
 
 The word eld, signifying old age or 
 old people, occurs in Wiv. IV, 4, 86. 
 
 bed. Upon the line in Feste's closing 
 song, But when I came unto my beds 
 (Tw. V, 1, 410), Halliwell has this note 
 from Overbury's " New and Choice 
 Characters " (1615) : " It is said among 
 the folkes heere, that if a man die in 
 his infancsy, hee hath onely broke his 
 fast in this world. If in his youth, hee 
 hath left us at dinner. That it is bedde 
 time with a man at three score and 
 tenne." 
 
 dolphin. Under this word reference is 
 made to All's. II, 3, 31, and I have 
 adopted Malone's explanation that "dol- 
 phin " here means the so-called " fish " 
 of that name, in support of which he 
 quotes Ant. V, 3, 89. Steevens, how- 
 ever, thinks the reference is to the 
 dauphin, the heir to the throne, a young 
 man who would be likely to be healthy 
 and lusty. The Clarkes, in their ed. of 
 Sh., think there is a punning allusion 
 to both, but in their "Shakespeare 
 Key " they adopt the dauphin sense. 
 
 Good morrow. In the year 1883 Mrs. 
 Henry Pott published a book entitled 
 
 "The Promus of Formularies and 
 Elegancies," by Francis Bacon. This 
 was a sort of common-place book in 
 which Bacon had jotted down various 
 ideas and expressions, presumably for 
 future use, and amongst others was a 
 collection of about a dozen different 
 forms of salutation such as "good 
 morning," "bon jour," "bon soir," 
 etc. Upon this Mrs. Pott based the 
 amazing assertion that such forms of 
 salutation as "good morning" and 
 "good evening" were not in use in 
 England until introduced by Bacon. 
 See Mrs. Pott's "Introductory Chap.," 
 page 61. And in a work recently 
 issued we are gravely told that "it is 
 evident that Bacon was making an 
 effort in 1594-96 to introduce salutations 
 of this kind into English speech." And 
 again: "'Good morrow,' which, it is 
 believed, had been used but once before 
 in England, as a salutation [! !], occurs 
 one hundred and fifteen times in them," 
 i.e., the plays. 
 Mrs. Pott, however, in her book. 
 
HEB 
 
 438 
 
 STJN 
 
 gives two instances, one from Gascoigne 
 (1587) and one as early as 1548, in the 
 "Interlude" of John Bon and Mast 
 Person. The latter begins : 
 
 The Parson ; " What, John Bon! Good 
 Morrowe to thee." 
 
 John Bon : " Nowe good morrowe, Mast 
 Parson, so mut I thee." 
 
 Both these cases she rejects, however, 
 the latter on the ground that it does 
 not appear to have been "used as a 
 morning salutation " ! ! 
 
 But in Stanihurst's description of 
 Ireland, embodied in Holinshed's 
 "Chronicle" (1586), the writer tells us 
 that the Irish had by that time borrowed 
 this very phrase from the English and 
 incorporated it in their own language. 
 His words are : " They vse also the con- 
 tracted English phrase, God morrow, 
 that is to sale, (Jod giue you a good 
 morning." 
 
 And Sh. himself, in 2HVI. Ill, 1, 13, 
 tells us that a morning salutation was 
 common in his time and that the omis- 
 sion of it gave great offence. The words 
 are: 
 
 * * * and be it in the morning 
 When every one will give the time of 
 day. 
 
 One of the most dangerous assertions 
 that a literary man can make is to say 
 positively that a certain word or form 
 of words was not in use prior to a cer- 
 tain date. lugleby, White and several 
 others have tripped up on this. 
 
 Herculean Roman. Antony traced his 
 descent from Anton, a son of Hercules. 
 Steevens. Ant. I, 3, 84. Hence his 
 reference to his "ancestor," Alcides. 
 Ant. IV, 13, 44. See Alcides. 
 
 homag:er. A vassal. Ant. I, 1, 31. 
 
 moment. Reason ; motive. Ant. I, 2, 
 147. 
 
 pole. Probably a quarter-staff. LLL. 
 V, 2, 700. The epithet ' ' northern man ' ' 
 is said by some to refer to men of the 
 North of England because they were 
 skilful with the quarter - staff . But 
 the quarter-staff was in use all over 
 
 England. Strutt mentions the London 
 apprentices and men of Devonshire. 
 Farmer thinks the expression is equiva- 
 lent to "clown," — Vir Borealis. See 
 3rd Var., IV, 449. 
 
 sacks. The expression, more sacks to 
 the mill (LLL. IV, 3, 81), is said to refer 
 to a boyish game. 
 
 serpent. When Cleopatra, in Ant. I, 5, 
 35, says: Or murmuring '■'■Whereas 
 my serpent of old Nile ? " she does not 
 use the term "serpent" as indicative 
 of cunning, wisdom, or coiling seduc- 
 tiveness, but as referring to the emblem 
 of Egyptian royalty which is frequently 
 seen as part of the head-dress of- kings 
 and divinities in old sculptures. See 
 aspic in Addenda. 
 
 This is one of those delicate touches 
 which show how thoroughly Sh. identi- 
 fied himself with the feelings and habits 
 of thought of each of his characters. 
 When he puts a speech into the mouth 
 of Cleopatra he becomes, for the time 
 being, the Egyptian queen ; when he 
 writes the philosophy of Hamlet, he 
 becomes veritably Hamlet ; and when 
 he displays the ignorant, but honest, 
 jealousy of Othello or the cunning of 
 lago, he, for the moment, transforms 
 his whole being into an Othello or an 
 lago. And this, it has always seemed 
 to me, is in a large measure the secret 
 of his tremendous power. 
 
 shave. The expression, / would not 
 shaveH to-day (Ant. II, 2, 8), means, I 
 would not take even that trouble out 
 of respect for him. See line 339 in same 
 Scene, bartered ten times o^er. 
 
 skipping. Frivolous; light; unsteady. 
 LLL. V, 2, 771; Merch. II, 2, 196. 
 
 sun. The expression, get the sun of 
 them (LLL. IV, 3, 369), is thus explained 
 by Malone: "In the days of archery, 
 it was of consequence to have the sun 
 at the back of the bowmen, and in the 
 face of the enemy. This circumstance 
 was of great advantage to our Henry 
 the Fifth at the battle of Agincourt, 
 Our poet, however, I believe had also 
 an equivoque in his thoughts." 
 
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*v 
 
 v^^ 
 
 
 '.\^ '^^'S:'