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 502.8 
 
 fi-S^^ SHAKESPEARE'S 
 
 STWUiNTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 LOS ANGELES 
 
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 >
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S 
 TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE
 
 Es ist eine Wollust, einen grossen Mann zu seh'n. 
 
 Goethe.
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S 
 
 TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM LOWES EUSHTON 
 
 OP gray's inn, baeeister-at-law 
 
 Corresponding Member of the Berlin Society for the Study of Modern 
 
 Languages ; Author of ' Shakespeare a Lawyer,' ' Shakespeare's Legal 
 
 Maxims,' 'Shakespeare Illustrated by the Lex Scripta," 
 
 ' Shakespeare Illustrated by Old Authors,' &c. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 1869
 
 LONDON: PHINTED BY 
 
 SPOTIISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STEEET SQUAEE 
 
 AND PABLIAilENT STEEEI
 
 3 
 
 < 
 1 1 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 Many of these illustrations were laid before 
 the Berlin Society for the Study of Modern 
 Languages on the 4th day of February, 1861, 
 and were published in the Archiv fur das 
 Studium der neueren Sprachen und Lite- 
 raturen, XXXI. Band. Shakespeare Illus- 
 trated by the Lex Scriptsl has appeared in the 
 Archiv f. n. Sprachen, but has not yet been 
 published in England. 
 
 4 Ullet Lane, Aigbijrth Koad, 
 
 LiVEEPOOL : 
 
 Lonff Vacation, 1868. 
 
 9SJ^€ 

 
 SHAKESPEARE'S 
 
 TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 In the commencement of the old forms of 
 wills, the testator generally mentions the 
 sickness of his body, and the soundness of his 
 mind or memory. 
 
 Madfolkes and Lunatic persons, during the time of 
 their furor or insanitie of minde, cannot make a testa- 
 ment, nor dispose anie thing by will, no not ad pias 
 causas : The reason is most forcible, because they knowe 
 not what they do ; for in making of testaments the in- 
 tegi'ity or perfitnes of minde and not health of the body 
 is requisite ; and there upon arose that common clause, 
 used in every testament almost, sicJc in body, hut of perfit 
 minde and memory.* 
 
 Ben. Tell me in sadness, who is that you love. 
 Bom. What, shall I groan and tell thee ? 
 
 * A Bricfc Treatise of Testaments and Last Willes. By Henrie 
 Swinburn, Baclielar of Cmll Lawe. London : printed by John 
 Windet, 1590. The Second Part, page 37.
 
 2 SHAKESPEARE'S TESTAMEJ^TARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 Ben. Groan ! why, no ; 
 
 But sadlj tell me who. 
 
 Bom. Bid a side man in sadness waA'e his will : 
 All, word ill urged to one that is so ill ! 
 In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman. 
 
 Borneo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Anne. Now, Master Slender, — 
 
 Slen. Now, good IVIistress Anne, — 
 
 Anne. What is your will ? 
 
 Slen. My will ! 'od's heartlings, that's a pretty jest 
 indeed ! I ne'er miade my will yet, I thank heaven ; I 
 am not such a sieikly creature, I give heaven praise. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 
 Pain. Good as the best. Promising is the very air 
 o' the time : it opens the eyes of expectation : perform- 
 ance is ever the duller for his act ; and, but in the plainer 
 and simpler kind of people, the deed of saying is quite 
 out of use. To promise is most courtly and fashionable : 
 performance is a kind of ivill or testament which argues 
 a great sickness in his judgement that makes it. 
 
 Timon of Athens, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 To this practice or usual clause in old wills 
 Romeo, Slender, and the Painter partly allude, 
 that is, to the statement of sickness. 
 
 I, Nicholas Gybson, citizen and grocer of London, 
 whole of mind and of perfect remembrance, albeit side of 
 body, make this my present Will and Testament, as well 
 concerning the order and disposition of my goods, 
 chattels, and other things moveable, as of my lands and 
 tenements, rents, reversions, and services, and heredita- 
 ments wl atsoever. — Co. liejj.
 
 SICK IN BODY. 8 
 
 I, Chr. Digges, of St. Gregory's without the walls of 
 the City of Canterbury, Esqr., son and heir of Will. 
 Digges, late of Barham in the County of Kent, deceased, 
 being sick in hochj, but of good and perfect remembrance, 
 thanked be Almighty God, revoking and making void 
 all and other my former Wills, ordain and make this my 
 present Testament and last Will. — Co. Bep. 
 
 Sometimes in the beginning the testator 
 commends or bequeathes his soul to God or 
 his Creator, and his body to the earth. To 
 this practice these passages refer : — 
 
 This brief abridgement of my will I make : 
 
 My soul and tody to the shies and ground; 
 
 My resolution, husband, do thou take ; 
 
 Mine honour be the knife's that makes my wound ; 
 
 My shame be his that did my fame confound ; 
 And all my fame that lives disbursed be 
 To those that live, and think no shame of me. 
 
 Lucrece. 
 
 Carlisle. Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought 
 For Jesu Christ in glorious Ckristian field, 
 Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross 
 Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens ; 
 And toil'd with works of war, retired himself 
 To Italy ; and there at Venice gave 
 His body to that pleasant country'' s earthy 
 And his pure soul unto his captain Christ, 
 Under whose colours he had fought so long. 
 
 Richard II., Act iv. Sc. 1. 
 
 Aum. Where is the duke my father with his power ? 
 
 B 2
 
 4 SHAKESPEARE S TESTAMEXTAEY LANGUAGE. 
 
 K. Eich. No matter where ; of comfort no man 
 speak : 
 Let's talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs ; 
 Make dust oui' paper and with rainy eyes 
 AVrite sorrow on the bosom of the earth, 
 Let's choose executors and talk of wills : 
 And yet not so, for what can we bequeath 
 Save our deposed hodles to the ground ? 
 Our lands, our lives and all are BoHngbroke's, 
 And nothinar can we call oui' own but death 
 And that small raodel of the barren earth 
 Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. 
 
 Uichard II., Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 First, I give and bequeath my soul unto Almighty God 
 my Maker, Redeemer, and Saviour, and my body to be 
 buried where it shall please God, after the discretion of 
 my beloved wife, Alice Gybson, my sole executrix under 
 written. — Go. Eejj. The Will of jSTicholas Gybson. 
 
 And Shakespeare's will commences in this 
 manner : — 
 
 In the name of God, amen ! I, WilHam Shackspeai'e, 
 of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Countie of Warr., gent., 
 in perfect health and memorie, God be praysed, doe 
 make and ordayne this my last will and testament in 
 manner and forme followeing, that ys to saye, ffirst, I 
 comend my soule into the handes of God my Creator, hop- 
 ing and assuredlie beleeving, through thonelie merits of 
 Jesus Chi'iste my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe 
 everlastinge, and my bodye to the earth whereof yt ys 
 made. 
 
 Pericles. I'll make my tvill then, and, as sich men do 
 Who know the world, see heaven, but, feeling woe,
 
 TIIE BEQUEST OF SOUL AND BODY. r, 
 
 Gripe not at eartlily joys as erst tliey did ; 
 So I hequeath a liappy peace to you 
 And all good men, as every prince should do ; 
 My riclies to the earth from whence they came ; 
 But my unspotted fire of love to you. 
 
 Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Pericles alludes to this testamentary state- 
 ment of sickness, and he makes a sort of 
 parody on the bequest of soul and body; m 
 other words, instead of bequeathing his soul 
 he bequeathes a happy peace and his un- 
 spotted fire of love, and instead of bequeath- 
 ing his body he bequeathes his riches to the 
 earth from whence they came : and Arthur, in 
 King John, Act iv., Sc. 3— 
 
 Arthur. me ! my uncle's spirit is in these stones- 
 Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones. 
 
 King John, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 — seems to refer to the bequest of soul and 
 body. 
 
 Diana. 0, behold this ring, 
 
 "Whose high respect and rich validity 
 Did lack a parallel ; yet for all that 
 He gave it to a commoner o' the camp. 
 If I be one. 
 
 Cmint. He blushes, and 'tis it : 
 Of six preceding ancestors, that gem, 
 Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue.
 
 Shakespeare's testamextary language. 
 
 Hath it been owed and worn. This is his wife ; 
 That ring's a thousand proofs. 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well, Act v. Sc. 3. 
 
 Give me that ring. 
 
 Ber. I'll lend it thee, my dear ; but have no power 
 To give it from me. 
 
 Bia. Will you not, my lord ? 
 
 Ber. It is an honour 'longing to our house. 
 Bequeathed down from many ancestors ; 
 Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world 
 In me to lose. 
 
 Bia. Mine honour's such a ring : 
 
 My chastity's the jewel of our house, 
 Bequeathed down from many ancestors ; 
 Which were the gi^eatest obloquy i' the world 
 In me to lose. 
 
 All's Well thai Ends Well, Act iv. Se. 2. 
 
 The gem or ring said in these passages to 
 have been conferred by testament to the 
 sequent issue, and bequeathed down from 
 many ancestors, seems to answer, in some 
 respects at least, the descriptions given in 
 our old law books of an heirloom, which, says 
 Coke, is ' a word comprehending divers imple- 
 ments of household stuif or furniture, as a 
 marble hearth, the hrst best bed, and other 
 things which, by the custom of some places, 
 have belonged to a house for certain descents, 
 and are such as are never inventoried after the
 
 HEIR-LOO.M. 7 
 
 death of the owner as chattels, and therefore 
 never go to the executor or administrator, but 
 to the heir along with the house itself by 
 custom, and not by the common law. For a 
 man by the common law cannot be heir to 
 goods and chattels.' — (I. Inst. 18 b. ; 185 b.) 
 
 Heir-loom (says Cowell) seemeth to be compounded 
 of heir and loonL, that is, a frame to weave in ; the word 
 by time hath a more general signification than at first it 
 did bear, comprehending all implements of household, as 
 tables, presses, cupboards, bedsteads, wainscot, and such 
 like ; which, by the custom of some counties, having 
 belonged to a house certain descents^ are never inventoried 
 after the decease of the owner as chattels, but accrue to 
 the heir with the house by custom. 
 
 Selena. A ring the county wears, 
 
 That downward hath succeeded in his house 
 From son to son, some four or five descents 
 Since the first father wore it : this ring he holds 
 In most rich choice ; yet in his idle fire. 
 To buy his will, it would not seem too dear, 
 Howe'er repented after. 
 
 AlVs Well, Act iii. Sc. 7. 
 
 The reader will perceive that Coke and 
 Cowell, in their description of heir-looms, 
 speak of things which, by the custom of some 
 places and counties, had belonged to a house 
 certain descents^ and that Helena speaks of a 
 ring the county wears.
 
 Shakespeare's testamentary language. 
 
 That downward hath succeeded in his house 
 From son to son, some four or five descents. 
 
 The ancient jewels of the crown are heir-looms, and 
 shall descend to the next successor, and are not dcAns- 
 able by testament. For the law preferreth the custom 
 before the devise. — WoocVs Inst., 2nd ed., pp. 66, 67. 
 
 Consuetudo Hundredi de Stretford in Com. Oxon. est 
 quod haeredes tenementorum infra hundi-edumpraedictum 
 existentium post mortem antecessorum suorum habebunt, 
 &c., principalium, Anglice, an heir-loom, -viz. de quodam 
 genere catallorum, utensilium, &c. optimum plaustrum, 
 optimam carucam, optimum, &c. — Co. Litt., 18 b. 
 
 According to some authorities heir-looms 
 consist only of articles of a large size, as 
 benches, tables, cupboards fixed to ihe free- 
 hold. For example, Spelman, in describing 
 an heir loom, says, ' omne utensile robustius 
 quod ab aedibus non facile revellitur, ideoque 
 ex more quorundam locorum ad haeredem 
 transit, tanquam membrum haereditas.' (Gloss., 
 voce Heir-loom.) But such bulky articles 
 would be more properly described as fixtures. 
 
 Vlo. 'Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white 
 Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on : 
 Lady, you are the cniell'st she aHve, 
 If you will lead these graces to the grave 
 And leave the world no copy. 
 
 OU. 0, sir, I will not be so hard-hearted ; I will give 
 out divers schedules of my beauty : it shall be inventoried,
 
 INVENTORY. LADEL. 9 
 
 and every particle and vitensil labelled to my will : as, 
 item, two lips, indifferent red ; item, two grey eyes, 
 with lids to them ; item, one neck, one chin, and so 
 forth. Were you sent here to pi'ctise me ? * 
 
 TioelffJi Night, Act i. Sc. 5'.' 
 
 Inventory, inventorium, is a list, a schedule 
 containing a full and true description of all 
 the goods and chattels of a testator at the time 
 of his death, with their value appraised by in- 
 different persons, which every executor or ad- 
 ministrator ouglit to exhibit to the Bishop or 
 ordinary at such time as he shall appoint. ^ 
 (West. Symb., part I., lib. 2, sec. 396.) 
 
 The word label has two siOTiifications : it 
 signifies a paper annexed by way of addition 
 or explication to a will or testament, which is 
 called a codicil or label (Cowell, Interpr.), and 
 in this sense it may be used by Olivia, who 
 says, ' I will give out divers schedules of my 
 beauty : it shall be inventoried, and every par- 
 ticle and utensil labelled to my will.' The 
 word label also signifies a slip of paper or 
 parchment for an appending seal ; and to 
 understand thoroughly the following passage 
 in Richard II., the idea of such a label is 
 necessary. 
 
 * Praise, sec p. 38. 
 B 3
 
 10 Shakespeare's testamentary language. 
 
 Yorli. What seal is that, that hangs without thy 
 bosom ? 
 Yea, look'st thou pale ? let me see the writing, 
 
 Aum. My lord, 'tis nothing. 
 
 Yorli. No matter, then, who see it : 
 
 I will be satisfied ; let me see the writing. 
 
 Aum. I do beseech your grace to pardon me : 
 It is a matter of small consequence. 
 Which for some reasons I would not have seen. 
 
 YorTc. Which for some reasons, sir, I mean to see. 
 I fear, I fear, — 
 
 Buch. What should you fear ? 
 
 'Tis nothing but some bond, that he is enter' d into 
 For gay apparel 'gainst the triumph day. 
 
 Yorli. Bound to himself ! what doth he with a bond 
 That he is bound to ? Wife, thou art a fool. 
 Boy, let me see the writing. 
 
 Act V. Sc. 2. 
 
 The seal York noticed hanging without 
 Aumerle's bosom was appended to such a 
 label or slip of parchment ; and in this sense 
 the word is also used by Juliet — 
 
 God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands ; 
 
 And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd. 
 
 Shall be the label to another deed. 
 
 Or my true heart with treacherous revolt 
 
 Turn to another, this shall slay them both. 
 
 Borneo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 1. 
 
 who implies that Romeo was a deed to which 
 her hand had been attached as a label, and she
 
 WILL OR TESTAMENT. 11 
 
 states what she would do ere that hand should 
 be a label to another deed, in other words, ere 
 she would marry Paris or any other man. 
 
 Antony. But here's a parcliment with the seal of 
 CjEsar : 
 I found it in his closet, 'tis his will. 
 Let but the commons hear this testament. 
 
 Julius Ccesar, Act iii. So. 2. 
 
 It may seeme that a testament and a last Avill be both 
 one thing, and that there is no diiference betwixt the 
 one and the other, at least heere in England, because 
 we have no necessarie use of those solemn testaments, 
 in making whereof, the presence of vii. witnesses, to- 
 gether mth observation of many moe ceremonies, is ne- 
 cessarily requisite by the Ci\all lawe. On the contrary, 
 it seemeth that they are not both one ; partely because 
 they have diverse names, which doth import diversitie 
 of things ; especially because they have different defini- 
 tions : for it is received for an infalhble axiome, that the 
 definitions being different, the things defined are diveree. 
 As for the former reason, it may be thus answered. 
 That albeit our Testaments be unsolemne, yet it doth 
 not follow that therefore we have no testaments, or that 
 our testaments are therefore meere last willes. For an 
 unsolemne testament is a testament, and that properlie 
 or in strict interpretation, as hereafter shall be confirmed, 
 when wee shall speake of unsolemne testaments. And 
 so the conclusion seemeth rather necessary then pro- 
 bable, that a testament and a last will are not both one, 
 but different. Notwithstantling, tliis conclusion is not 
 simply or perpetually true, for in some respects they are 
 both one, though in other respects they differ. Under-
 
 12 SIIAKESrEARE's TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 stand, therefore, that a testament may be taken two 
 manner of wayes : largely, and strictly. It is said to be 
 taken largely or generally when the signification of the 
 bare name or word Testament (which in Latin is Testa- 
 mentum) is had in consideration. This word Testa- 
 mentmn is as much as Testatio mentis, that is to say, a 
 testifying or witnessing of the minde. So writeth the 
 worthy Emperour Justinian, after Sulpitius, which de- 
 duction others (without cause, I confesse, yet not with- 
 out scofs) doe sharply reprehend. As though, forsooth, 
 Justinian or Sulpitius had contended to deliver the very 
 Etymologic of the worde Testament, and not a certaine 
 Allusion rather of the voice onely. "When this word 
 testament is uttered in this general! sence, it differeth not 
 from a last will ; and any last will, be it a Codicill or 
 other kinde, may be so tearmed a Testament, that is to 
 say, a testifying, or declaring of the minde. And hence 
 it is that not only in our speech, but in our writinges 
 also, wee use the tearmes of Testament and Last Will indif- 
 ferently, or one for another. It is taken strictly, when it 
 is accepted according to that definition invented by 
 Ulpianus, hereafter ensuing, and being taken in that 
 sence, it differeth from a last will, yet not as opposite 
 thereunto, but as the speciall differeth from the generall, 
 for eveiy Testament is a Last Will, but every Last "Will 
 is not a Testament. To speake more plainly, thus they 
 differ : a Last Will is a generall word, and agreeth to 
 every several kind of last will or testament : But a testa- 
 ment properly understoode, is one kinde of last will, even 
 that wherein E.Tecutor is named. For by the naming of 
 an Executor it differeth from the rest. — Swinhurn, 3. 
 
 All. The will ! the testament ! 
 
 Sec. Git. They were villains, murderers : the will ! 
 read the will.
 
 WILL OR TESTAMENT. 13 
 
 Ant. You will compel me, then, to read the will ? 
 Then make a ring about the corpse of Ca3sar, 
 And let me show you him that made the will. 
 
 Julius Ccesar, Act iii. So. 2. 
 
 King Bichard. Let's choose executcrrs and talk of wills: 
 And yet not so, for what can we bequeath 
 Save our deposed bodies to the ground ? 
 Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's, 
 And nothing can we call our own but death 
 And that small model of the barren earth 
 Wliich serves as paste and cover to our bones. 
 
 Richard II., Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 So Shakespeare, as in these passages, makes 
 no distinction between the terms Testament 
 and Last Will, but uses them indifferently, or 
 one for another. 
 
 Fourth Cit. We'll hear the will : read it, Mark 
 Antony. 
 
 All. The will, the will ! we will hear Cassar's will. 
 
 Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it ; 
 It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. 
 You are not wood, you are not stones, but men ; 
 And, being men, hearing the will of C^sar, 
 It will inflame you, it will make you mad : 
 'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs ; 
 For, if you should, 0, what would come of it ! 
 
 Julitis Caesar, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Our Common Law calls him heir who succeeds by 
 right of blood to any man's lands or tenements in fee, 
 for by the Common Law nothing passeth jure hereditatis 
 but only the fee ; moveables or chattels immoveable are
 
 14 shakespeaee's testamextary language. 
 
 given by testament to wliom. the testator listetli, or else 
 are at tlie disposition of the ordinary, to be distributed 
 as he in conscience thinketh meet. — Gowell. 
 
 But Shakespeare in this passage evidently 
 makes Antony use the word heir in the sense 
 in which it is used by the civiHans, who call 
 heredem, qui ex testamento succedit in uni- 
 versum jus testatoris. 
 
 Since the publication of my first attempt to 
 illustrate obscure passages in the works of 
 Shakespeare,* it has been suggested that 
 Shakespeare may have drawn his own Will, 
 and that in disposing of his second best bed 
 with the furniture in these words, ' Item I 
 gyve unto my wief my second best bed with 
 the furniture,' he shows his technical skill, by 
 omitting the word devise, which he had used 
 in disposing of the realty. f This statement 
 has been made in ignorance of the ancient 
 legal signification of the word devise; for al- 
 though the word devise is now applied by 
 Real Property Lawyers to real property, and 
 
 * ShaJccspeare a Lawyer. (See Appendix A.) 
 t Lord Campbell : Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements Considered, 
 p. 105. (See Appendix B.)
 
 DEVISE. 15 
 
 the word bequeath to personal property, yet 
 such distinction was not made in Shakespeare's 
 time. The word devise is used in the disposi- 
 tion of the real estate in Shakespeare's Will, 
 together with the word bequeath, which is not 
 now applied to real estate ; moreover, the 
 word devise, in connection with the word 
 bequeath, is applied in another part of Shake- 
 speare's Will to personal property, namely, to 
 the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds. 
 
 If the devise be of goods ; as when the testator dooth 
 bequeath his signet, his books, or his horse, &c., first to 
 one person, and afterwards to another person : then in 
 case the second legacie be simple (I meane without men- 
 tion of the former), the former legacie is not taken away, 
 but the two legataries concurring, ought to divide the 
 legacie betwixt them. — Stvinburn, 284. 
 
 A legacie (otherwise tearmed of our common lawyers 
 a Devise) is a gift lefte by the deceased, to bee paide 
 or performed by the executor, or administrator. — Sivin- 
 burn, 15. 
 
 Suppose that in the testament it is written, that the 
 testator dooth bequeath such lancles to such person to have 
 and to holde to him and to his assignes for evermore. 
 Howsoever in this devise there is not any mention of 
 heires, without which worde an estate of inheritance can- 
 not passe, by any deed or gift made whiles a man yet 
 liveth ; yet because in testaments, the wil and the in- 
 tent of the testator is preferred before formal or prescript
 
 16 shaxespeare's testamentary l.\nguage. 
 
 wordes, an estate of inlieritance dooth thereby passe, as 
 if he had made expresse mention of his heires. — Swin- 
 hur7i, 191. 
 
 The goodes of the church can not be devised by testa- 
 ment. But the corne growing upon the glebe, and cer- 
 taine other guods, may be bequeathed. Those thinges 
 which after the death of the testator, descende to the 
 heire of the deceased, and not to his executor, can not 
 bee devised by testament, except in such cases where it 
 is lawfull to devise landes, tenementes, or hereditaments. 
 And therefore if a man seased of landes in fee or fee 
 taile, liequeath his trees growing upon the said land at 
 the time of his death, this devise is not good except as 
 before. — Swinhiirn, 93. 
 
 Concerning the second kind of thinges deviseable by 
 testament, namelie goods and chattelles ; this may be 
 delivered for a rule : That all manner of goods and chat- 
 telles niaie be bequeathed or devised by will or testament, 
 certaine cases onelie excepted. Which rale is cleane 
 contrarie to the former of the devise of lands, tenements 
 and hereditaments ; for they can not be devised, saving 
 where some custome or statute hath gained hbertie, of 
 bequeathing or devising of the sebme.—Sivinlurti, 91. 
 
 Divisa : A last will or devise of worldly goods. — 
 (Cowell.) Notum facio quod apud Waltham feci divisam 
 meam de quadam parte pecuniae meae in hunc modum 
 Testamen. Hen. II. apud Gervas Dorobern. sub ann. 
 1182. 
 
 The word devise cometh of the French Divisir, sepa- 
 rare, or deviser to confer unto, and is properly attributed 
 in our Common Law to him that bequeaths his goods, 
 by his last will and testament in writing : and the reason
 
 ' DIVIDE ME LIKE A BRIBE BUCK. 17 
 
 is, because those that now appertain only to the devisor, 
 by this act are distributed into many parts. — Coxvell. 
 
 XIII, 
 Therein three sisters dwelt of sundry sort, 
 The cliildren of one s}Te by mothers three ; 
 Who, dying whylome, did divide this fort 
 To them hy equall shares in equall fee. 
 
 Spenser's Faerie Queene, Book ii. Canto 2. 
 
 And I think Shakespeare understood the pre- 
 cise legal signification of this term, for he 
 makes FalstafF say in the ' Merry Wives of 
 Windsor,' Act v. Sc. 5 — 
 
 Divide me like a bribe buck, each a haunch : I will 
 keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of 
 this walk, and my horns I bequeath your husbands. Am 
 I a woodma:(i, ha ? Speak I like Heme the hunter ? 
 Why, now is Cupid a child of conscience : he makes 
 I'estitution. As I am a true spirit, welcome ! 
 
 Shakespeare may, in this passage, play 
 upon the word woodman, using it in the sense 
 of a forester or huntsman, in connection with 
 Heme the hunter, and in the sense of a 
 mad or wood man in connection with the 
 words divide and bequeath, because, as Swin- 
 burn says, in his Briefe Treatise of Testa- 
 ments and Last Willes, ' Madfolkes and luna- 
 ticke persons, during the furor or insanitie of 
 minde, cannot make a testament, nor dispose
 
 18 Shakespeare's testamentary language. 
 
 of any thing by will ;' and FalstaiF having used 
 the words divide and bequeath, may imply, 
 in asking v\^hether he is a woodman, that he 
 has that ' integritie or perfitnesse of mind ' 
 which is requisite in making testaments. 
 
 Item omnes viduae de cetero possint legare blada sua 
 de terra sua, tarn de dotibus suis, quam de aliis terris, et . 
 tenementis suis ; salvis consuetudinibus, et servitiis domi- 
 norum de feodo, qujB de dotibus, et aliis tenementis suis 
 debentur. Also from henceforth widows may bequeath 
 the crop of their ground, as well of their dowers, as of 
 other lands and tenements, saving to the lords of the 
 fee, all such services as be due for their dowers and 
 other tenements. This, the second chapter of the Statute 
 of Merton and the translation as they appear in Coke's 
 2 Inst. 80, 81. 
 
 In the language of the translation widows 
 may bequeath the crop, but Coke in his ex- 
 position of this chapter says, ' Before the 
 making of this statute, it was a question, 
 whether tenant in dower might devise the 
 corn which she had sown, or whether he 
 in reversion should have them. Some held 
 that she could devise them; or if she devised 
 them not, that her executors should not have 
 them, etc. ;' and he also says, in reference to 
 the Avord legare in this chapter, which is 
 rei^resented in the translation by the word
 
 BEQUEST OF LAXD. 19 
 
 ' bequeath,' ' This word (legare) is appro- 
 priated to a last will, and signifieth to be- 
 queath goods, chattels, and in some cases 
 lands and tenements. Leo:atum a leo;e dicitur 
 quia lege tenetur ille, cui interest perimplere.' 
 So Shakespeare sometimes applies the word 
 Ijequeath to Real Property. 
 
 Biohert. Upon Ms death-bed he by will hequeath'd 
 His lands to me, and took it on liis death 
 That tliis my mother's son was none of his ; 
 And if he were, he came into the world 
 Full fourteen weeks before the course of time. 
 Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine, 
 My father's land, as was my father's will. 
 
 Elinor. I like thee well : wilt thou forsake thy fortune, 
 Bequeath thy land to him and follow me ? 
 
 King John, Act i. So. 1. 
 
 VII. 
 
 To whom the elder did this aunswere frame ; 
 * Then weet ye, sir, that we two brethren be, 
 To whom our sire, Milesio by name, 
 Did equally bequeath Ms lands in fee, 
 Two islands, which ye there before you see 
 Not farro in sea ; of which the one appeares 
 But like a little mount of small decree ; 
 Yet was as great and wide ere many yeares, 
 As that same other isle, that greater bredth now beares.' 
 Spenser, Faerie Queene, Book v. Canto 4.
 
 20 SHAKESPEARE S TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 Sometimes to personal property, as it is 
 applied at the present day : 
 
 Orl. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fasliion 
 hecjueatlied m.e by will but poor a thousand croivns, and, 
 as thou sayest, charged my brother, on liis blessing, to 
 breed me well : and there begins my sadness. 
 
 As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 1 . 
 
 Pe7\ An armotir, friends ! I pray you, let me see it. 
 Thanks, fortune, yet, that, after all my crosses, 
 Thou givest me somewhat to repair myself ; 
 And though it was mine own, part of my heritage, 
 Which my dead father did bequeath to me. 
 
 Pericles, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Ant. But here's a parchment with the seal of Csesar ; 
 I found it in his closet, 'tis his will : 
 Let but the commons hear this testament — 
 Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read — 
 And they would go and kiss dead Coesar's wounds 
 And dij) their napkins in his sacred blood, 
 Yea, beg a hai7- of him for memory, 
 And, dying, mention it within their wills. 
 Bequeathing it as a rich legacy 
 Unto their issue. 
 
 Jidius Ccesar, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 and sometimes he apphes it to words and to 
 things which do not sugsfest the idea of real 
 or personal property : — 
 
 •oa" 
 
 Jaq. You to your former honou,r I bequeath. 
 
 As Yoii Like It, Act v. Sc. 4.
 
 BEQUEATH. 21 
 
 Yet die I will not till. my Collatine 
 Have heard the cause of my untimely death ; 
 That he may vow, in that sad hour of mine, 
 Revenge on him that made me stop my breath. 
 My stained blood to Tarquin I'll bequeath, 
 
 Which by him tainted shall for him be spent, 
 And as his due writ in my testament. 
 
 My Jionour I'll bequeath unto the knife 
 That wounds my body so dishonoured. 
 'Tis honour to deprive dishonour'd life ; 
 The one will live, the other being dead : 
 So of shame's ashes shall my fame be bred ! 
 For in my death I murder shamefal scorn : 
 My 3':ame so dead, mine honour is new-born. 
 
 Lucrece. 
 
 CcES. There is my hand. 
 
 A isister I bequeath you, whom no brother 
 Did ever love so dearly : let her live 
 To join our kingdoms and our hearts ; and never 
 Fly off our loves again ! 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Pan. Brethren and sisters of the hold-door trade. 
 Some two months hence my will shall here be made : 
 It should be now, but that my fear is this, 
 Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss : 
 Till then I'll sweat and seek about for eases, 
 And at that time bequeath you my diseases. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida-, Act v. Sc. 10. 
 
 Lys. You are luikind, Demetrius ; be not so ; 
 For you love Hermia ; this you know I know : 
 And here, with all good will, wdth all my heart, 
 In Hermia's love I yield you up my part ;
 
 22 SHAKESPEARE S TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 And yours of Helena to me hequeatJi, 
 Wlioni I do love and will do till my death, 
 
 A Midhummer Niyhfs Dream, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Paul. 'Tis time ; descend ; be stone no more ; approach ; 
 Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come, 
 I'll fill your grave up : stir, nay, come away, 
 Bequeath to death your nuvihness, for from him 
 Dear life redeems you. 
 
 Winter's Tale, ^ct v. Sc. 3. 
 
 P. Hen. At Worcester must his body be interr'd ; 
 For so he will'd it. 
 
 Bast. Thither shall it then : 
 
 And happily may your sweet self put on 
 The lineal state and glory of the land ! 
 To whom, with all submission, on my knee 
 I do hequeath my faithful services 
 And true subjection everlastingly. 
 
 King John, Act v. Sc. 7. 
 
 X. 
 
 From thence it comes, that this babes bloody hand 
 
 May not be clensd with water of this well : 
 
 Ne certes, sir, strive you it to withstand. 
 
 But let them still be bloody, as befell, 
 
 That they his mothers innocence may tell. 
 
 As she hequeathd in her last testament ; 
 
 That as a sacred symbole, it may dwell 
 
 In her sonnes flesh, to mind revengement. 
 
 And be for all chaste dames an endlesse moniment. 
 
 Spenser, Faerie Queene, Book ii. Canto 2. 
 
 Laf. I would it were not notorious. Was this gentle- 
 woman the daughter of Gerard de Narbon ? 
 
 Count. His sole child, my lord, and bequeathed to my 
 overlooking. 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well, Act i. Sc. 1.
 
 DEVISE AND BEQUEATH. 23 
 
 Tims it is evident that, in Shakespeare's 
 time, the use of the word devise in a Will, in 
 disposing of real property, or the omitting to 
 use that word in disposing of the personal 
 jjroperty, or even the use of the word be- 
 queath in disposing of the personal property, 
 or the omitting to use the word bequeath in 
 disposing of the real property, would afford no 
 evidence of technical skill, nor would the 
 application of the word devise to personal 
 property, or of the word bequeath to real pro- 
 perty, afford evidence of a want of technical 
 skill ; because the few quotations I have made, 
 from the old law writers, prove that before, 
 during, and after Shakespeare's day, the 
 words devise and bequeath were applied in- 
 differently to both real and personal property. 
 
 Definitions are saide to be dangerous in lawe ; the 
 cause may be attributed to the multitude of difierent 
 cases, the penurie of apt wordes, the weakness of our 
 understanding and the contrarietie of opinions. For 
 happely amongest such aboundant varietie of thinges, 
 either we cannot discerne the true essence thereof, or we 
 doo not aptly deliver what we conceave, or els these 
 perils being past, at least in our owne opinions, yet are 
 we still subject to the rigorous examination of all sorts 
 of men, and must abide the doubtfull verdict of the 
 shai-pest wittes, and endure the di'eadfull sentence of
 
 24 SHAKESPEARE S TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 the deepest juclgeraents. And it is rare if at the last, 
 after long and superstitious revolution, one man at least 
 among so many subtile heads and captious conceits doe 
 not espie some defect or excesse in the definition, whereby 
 the same may be subverted. Which thing if it come to 
 pas, then like as when the captain is slaine, the souldiers 
 are in danger to be discomfited ; or as the foundation 
 being ruinous, the huilding is in peril of falling. 
 
 Valentine. thou that dost inhabit in my breast. 
 Leave not the mansion so long tenantless : 
 Lest, growing ruinous, the huilding fall, 
 And leave no memory of what it was ! 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act v. Sc. 4. 
 
 So the definition being overthrowen, all the argu- 
 m.ents drawen from thence and whatsoever els dependeth 
 thereupon, is in perill to be overturned. No marvel then 
 if definitions be reported to be dangerous. — Swinhwn, 5. 
 
 Jaques de Bois. And to the skii-ts of this wild wood 
 he came ; 
 WTiere meeting with an old religious man, 
 After some question with him, was converted 
 Both from his enterprise and from the world, 
 His crown bequeathing to his banish'd brother, 
 And all their lands restored to them again 
 That were with him exiled. 
 
 As Yoti Lil-c It, Act V. Sc. 4. 
 
 By the opinion of divers justices of this realme, and 
 doctors of the cannon and civill lawe, the goodes of this 
 realme, that is to say, of the auncient crowne, and 
 jewelles, cannot be disposed by will. — Swinburn, 93. 
 
 But the word crown used by Jaques in this
 
 'PAPER BULLETS. 25 
 
 passage may signify dominion or sovereignty, 
 or, as Schlegel says, ' Herrschaft ' : — 
 
 Notwithstanding as well by the civill law as by the 
 cannon lawe (with the which lawes the lawcs of this our 
 realme of England doe in this point seeme to joyne 
 hands) : It is unlawfall for a king to give awaie his 
 kingdom from his lawfall heires, for the confirmation 
 whereof divers writers use divers reasons. — Swinhurn, 68. 
 
 Benedict. Shall quips and sentences and these 'paper 
 bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his 
 humour? 
 
 Much Ado About Nothing, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 But amongst all their reasons, I see no reason to in- 
 duce me to adventure anie farther into the examination of 
 this deepe and dangerous question, much lesse to pro- 
 ccede to the conclusion ; not onelie because the same 
 being so high an object, dooth farre exceede the slender 
 capacitie of a meane subjecte, but also for that this 
 princlie controversie, as it hath seldorae received ordi- 
 narie triall heretofore ; so hereafter, if the case were to 
 bo urged in verie deede, verie likelie it is to be urged 
 with more violent arguments and sharpe syllogismes, 
 then by the unbloodie blowes of bare words, or the 
 weake weapons of instruments made of paper and 
 parchment. And on the other side to bee answered 
 with flatte denials of greater force, and distinctions of 
 greater efiicacie, then can proceede from anie legall or 
 logicall engine, and in the end to be decided and ruled 
 by the dead stroke of uncivill and martial cannons, 
 rather than by anie rule of the civill or cannon lawe. — 
 Swinburn, 68. 
 
 Bene. I have almost matter enough in me for such 
 an embassage ; and so I commit you — 
 
 C
 
 26 Shakespeare's testamentary language. 
 
 Claud. To the tuition of God. : From my house, if I 
 had it. 
 
 Much Ado About Nothing, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Shakespeare, iii this passage, uses testa- 
 mentary language, and this meaning of the 
 word tuition will appear from the following 
 extracts : — 
 
 In the third, part of this testamentarie treatise, there 
 is to be shewed, firste what thinges, and then how 
 much the testator maie dispose or devise by his testa- 
 ment. Concerning the former of these, it shall not be 
 a misse to speake first of the hequeathing or devisirtg of 
 landes, tenements or hereditaments. Secondlie, of bequeath- 
 ing or devising Of goods and cattelles ; and thirdlie, of the 
 comniittmg of the tuition of children, and custodie of their 
 portions and rights, during their minorities. — Swinburn, 
 'P^ge 69. 
 
 Hj generall custome observed within the province of 
 Torke, the father by his last will or testament maie for a 
 time com,mit the tuition of his childe, and the custodie of 
 his portion, for within that province children have their 
 filial portions of their father's goods according to the 
 civill lawe, except he be heire or advanced in the life time 
 of his father, which testament and assignation is to be 
 confirmed by the ordinarie, who is also to provide for 
 the execution of the same testament. And if there be 
 no tu.tor testamentarie at all, then maie the ordinarie 
 commit the tuition of the childe to his next kinse-man. 
 — Swinburn, 97. 
 
 In the old forms of wills, in assigning or 
 appointing a tutor, the testator used words
 
 'COMMIT TO THE TUITION.' 27 
 
 such as these : ' I commit my son to the tui- 
 tion of A. B. ;' and so much were the words 
 ' commit ' and ' tuition ' used in connection 
 with each other in making this appointment, 
 that if the testator said ' 1 commit my son to 
 A. B.,' omitting the word 'tuition,' it was 
 presumed that he intended to use it, and that 
 A. B. should be tutor to his child. 
 
 It slcllleth not by what wordes the tutor be appointed, 
 so that the testator's meaning doo appeare, for they are 
 neverthelesse to bee confirmed tntors. Wherefore, if 
 the testator saie I commit my children to the power of 
 A. B. or leave them in his hands, it is in effect, as if the 
 testator had said, I make A. B. tutor to my children ; 
 so it is if hee saie, I leave them to his governement, 
 regiment, administration, &c. K the testator saie, I 
 commit my sonne to A. B. both quicke and dead, with 
 all his legacies by me given, by these wordes it is pre- 
 sumed that the testator meant that A. B. should be 
 tutor to his child if he hved, and if he died, then to have 
 those legacies. If the testator saie, I desire my wife to 
 take care of my children during their minorities, albeit 
 those wordes doo not necessarilie infer or conclude a 
 tuition of their owne nature, but rather that she should 
 chastice them, when they deserved to be corrected, (for 
 to have tuition of children is a greater thinge and ex- 
 tendeth further then to have a care of them onelie:) 
 Neverthelesse, for as much as the ruder sorte of people 
 doe not know the difference of termes, nor the naturall 
 force of wordes : Therefore, if any be assigned tutor by 
 
 c 2
 
 28 Shakespeare's testamentaey language. 
 
 these foresaid words, lie is to be confirmed. The same 
 may be saide where the testator dooth com.niit his childe 
 to the custodie of another. For, albeit it be a greater 
 things to have the tuition of a childe, then to have the 
 bare custodie of a child committed unto him : yet, in all 
 thinges, the will and meaninge of the testator is to be ob- 
 served and preferred before the propertie of the wordes, 
 whereof perhaps he is ignorant, which meaning is to be 
 collected by that which went before or followeth after 
 in the will, and by other circumstances which the dis- 
 creete judge ought to enquire. Finallie, it sMlleth not in 
 what langmage the tutor be assigned, whether in Enghsh, 
 Latine, Greeke, or anie other tongue. — Stoinhum, 101. 
 
 YorTc. It skills not greatly who impugns our doom, 
 
 2 Eennj VI., Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Tra. But to her love concerneth us to add ' 
 Her father's liking : which to bring to pass, 
 As I before imparted to your worship, 
 I am to get a man,— whate'er he be, 
 It shills not much, we'll fit him to oiir turn, — 
 And he shall be Yincentio of Pisa. 
 
 Taming the Shreiv, Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
 Clo. Truly, madam, he holds Belzebub at the stave's 
 end as well as a man in his case may do : has here writ 
 a letter to you ; I should have given 't you to-day morn- 
 ing, but as a madman's epistles are no gospels, so it 
 shills not much when they are delivered. 
 
 Tu-elfth Night, Act v. So. 1. 
 
 ' Skills not,' matters not. 
 
 Swinburn's treatise contains many uncom-
 
 GAPE. 29 
 
 mon words, or common words having an un- 
 common sense, which are used by Shake- 
 speare. 
 
 Clior. Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie, 
 And young affection gapes to be his heir ; 
 
 That fair for which love groan' d for and would die, 
 With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair. 
 
 Borneo and Jidiet, Act ii. 
 
 In a written testament the testator hath this benefit : 
 he maie conceale and keepe secreete the tenor or con- 
 tentes of his will, from the witnesses. Which he cannot 
 doe when he maketh a nuncupative testament. And 
 therefore if the testator be loath to have his will knowne, 
 which thing happeneth very often, either because the 
 testator is afraid to ofiende such persones as doo gajje 
 for greater bequestes then either they have deserved, or 
 the testator is willing to bestowe upon them : (least they 
 peradventure understanding thereof, would not suffer 
 liim to live in quiet), or else because hee should over 
 much encourage others, to whom he meante to bee more 
 beneficiall then they expected (and so give them occa- 
 sion to be more neghgent husbandes, or stewards, about 
 their owne affairs, then otherwise they would have beene, 
 if they had not expected such a benefit at the testator's 
 hands) or for some other considerations. In these and 
 like cases, after the testator hath written his will with 
 his owne hand, or procured some other to write the 
 same, he may close up the writing without making the 
 witnesses privie to the contents thereof, and shewing 
 the same to the witnesses, he may say unto them : This 
 is my last will and testament, or herein is contained my 
 wil : and this is sufficient. — Swinburn, 23.
 
 30 Shakespeare's testamentary language. 
 
 Swinburn, speaking afterwards of testa- 
 ments made by flatterie, says : — 
 
 The fifth case is, when the perswader is verie impor- 
 tunate : for an importunate begger is compared to an 
 extorter, and it is an impudent part still to gape and 
 crie upon the testator, and not to bee content with the 
 first or second deniall. — 243, 
 
 Leonato. Nc, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience 
 To those that wring under the load of sorrow, 
 But no man's virtue nor sufficiency 
 To be so moral when he shall endure 
 The like himself. Therefore give me no counsel : 
 My griefs cry louder than advertisement. 
 
 Much Ado About NotJiing, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 The word advertisement here signifies ad- 
 monition, advice, exhortation, and in this 
 sense it is often used by Swinburn. 
 
 Here followeth the fourthe principall part of this tes- 
 tamentary treatise : wherein I undertook to shew how 
 or in what manner testaments or laste willes maie or 
 ought to be made. For performance whereof I thought 
 it convenient, first to deliver certaine advertisements, and 
 then to proceede. The first advertisement is this, that 
 as there be divers kindes of testaments or laste willes 
 (whereof heretofore) so there be divers formes of tes- 
 taments or laste willes : for everie kinde hath his severall 
 forme, and everie kinde difiereth from another by his 
 forme. The next advertisement is this, that albeit everie 
 particular kinde of testament have his proper forme 
 peculier to it selfe ; neverthelesse they have also generall 
 formes common to them all. — Sivinhurn, 111.
 
 ADVERTISEMENr. 31 
 
 Verg. Yes, I thank God I am as honest as any man 
 livinsr that is an old man and no honester than I. 
 
 Bog. Comparisons are odorous : palabras, neighboui- 
 
 Verges. 
 
 Much Ado About Nuthlng, Act iii. So. 5. 
 
 'O" 
 
 Comparisons he odious. For mine own part, if you 
 will give me leave, I will tell you a tale out of Zasius, 
 writing upon this Q., which shall be as true as any is in 
 ^sop's fables. A certaine painter (saith hee) meaning 
 by his arte to describe the strength of man, did paint a 
 little man riding upon a huge lion, as if a man were 
 stronger than a lion. A lion passing by demanded of 
 the painter, Avhereof he made such picture. Because 
 (quoth the painter) my man is able to tame any lion, as 
 easily as a horse or an asse. Well, sir, said the lion, if 
 we could painte thou shouldst see a lion devouring a 
 painter. Eloquent men are as painters, valiant souldiers 
 as lions. — Siviuhurn, 28. 
 
 Clo. Misprision in the highest degTce ! Lady, cucul- 
 lus non facit monachum ; that's as much to say as I 
 wear not motley in my brain. Good madonna, give me 
 leave to prove you a fool. 
 
 Tivelfth Night, Act i. Sc. 5. 
 
 Escalus. Signior Lucio, did not you say you knew 
 that Friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person ? 
 
 Liicio. ' Cucullus non facit monachum : ' honest in 
 nothing but in his clothes ; and one that hath spoke 
 most villanous speeches of the duke. 
 
 Measure for Measure, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Hitherto in jest : But no we in earnest, yet without 
 offence. It is not the golden chaine, nor the plume of 
 feathers, nor the bigge lookes, nor the proud bragges.
 
 32 SHAKESPEARE S TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 which make a right souldier. Neither is it the long 
 gown nor the grave beard, nor the stately gesture which 
 make a good lawyer. The counterfeit of either deserveth 
 no honour : be hee never so brave, never so grave. If 
 both be as they should, the praeminence in matters of 
 warre is the souldier's ; in matters of peace it is the law- 
 yer's. In other matters, he is the more honourable, which 
 doeth more honour the other. — Swinhurn, page 29. 
 
 After the word lawyer in this passage, there 
 is a reference to a marginal note giving the 
 Latin words, twice used by Shakespeare, 
 ' Cucullus non facit monachum.' (Swin- 
 burn, 28.) 
 
 Macb. If you shall deave to my consent, when 'tis, 
 It shall make honour for you. 
 
 Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 1. 
 
 Pros. Come with a thought. I thank thee, Ariel : 
 come. 
 
 Tinier Ariel. 
 
 Ari. Thy thoughts I cleave to. Wliat's thy pleasure ? 
 
 Tertvpest, Act iv. Sc. i. 
 
 Aum. For ever may my knees grow to the earth, 
 My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth, 
 Unless a pardon ere I rise or speak. 
 
 Richard II., Act v, Sc. 3. 
 
 Ban. New honours come upon him, 
 
 Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould 
 But with the aid of use. 
 
 Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 3.
 
 CLEAVE — REFELLED. 33 
 
 Clif. Plantagenet ! I come, Plantagenet ! 
 And this thy son's blood cleaving to my blade 
 Shall rust upon my weapon, tiU thy blood, 
 Congeal'd with this, do make me wipe off both. 
 
 3 Uennj VI., Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 Concerning the other two (the lawyer I meane and 
 the souldier) ivhether of them deserveth better of the 
 commonwealth, and tvhether is to bee preferred before 
 the other, is a question so incident to this controversie, 
 and cleaveth so close thereunto, that there bee few writers 
 which handle the one, but they also touch the other. 
 In the determination whereof, if the interpreters of the 
 lawe may be judges in their owne cause, then the sen- 
 tence must needes be, cedant anna togae. — Swiubuni, 28. 
 
 ' Whether,' often used by old authors for 
 * which.' ' Cleave,' to cling to, adhere. 
 
 Isah. I went 
 
 To this pernicious caitiff deputy, — 
 
 Duke. That's somewhat madly spoken. 
 
 Isab. Pardon it ; 
 
 The phrase is to the matter. 
 
 Duke. Mended again. The matter ; proceed. 
 
 Isab. In brief, to set the needless process by, 
 How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd, 
 How he refeird me, and how I replied, — 
 For this was of much length, — the vile conclusion 
 I now begin with grief and shame to utter. 
 
 Measure for Measure, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 Albeit the childe be borne blind, or lame, yet is the 
 husbande presumed to have begotten the same, and not 
 the adulterer. In which case, neverthelesse some have 
 
 c 3
 
 34 Shakespeare's testamentary language. 
 
 beene of this opinion, tliat this childe was begotten in 
 adulterie, being so borne (as they imagined) by God's 
 providence and justice, because of the sinne of the 
 parentes : whose rash opinion is by others refelled as 
 erronious and blinde. 
 
 I think I remember reading in this passage 
 in some edition of Shakespeare's Works the 
 word repelled for refelled. Swinburn uses 
 repelled often, but I remember seeing refelled 
 once only in his Treatise. 
 
 Mer. 0, thou art deceived ; I would have made it 
 short : for I was come to the whole depth of m.y tale ; 
 and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 
 First Gent. A notable passion of wonder appeared in 
 them ; but the wisest beholder, that knew no more but 
 seeing, could not say if the im/portance were joy or sor- 
 row ; but in the extremity of the one, it must needs be. 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 The limitations of this former conclusion are these : 
 First, when the testator doth in his testament give 
 licence to the legatarie to take and occupie the same, 
 without deliverie of the executor ; which licence may be 
 granted either expressly or secretly : expressly, when the 
 testator saith, I bequeath my horse to A. B., giving hina 
 licence to take him, and to possesse, him of his owne au- 
 thoritie, without any deliverie to be made by my execu- 
 tor : Secretly, when the testator saith, I bequeath unto 
 him my horse, which I will that he quietly enjoy with- 
 out trouble or molestation ; or by words of hke import- 
 ance. — Swinburn, 289.
 
 DirORTAXCE — WHOLESOME MANxVERS. 35 
 
 Occupy, use. Importance, here used by 
 Shakespeare and Swinburn for import. 
 
 Cor. Think upon me ! hang 'em ! 
 
 I would they would forget me, like the virtues 
 Which our divines lose by 'em. 
 
 Men. You'll mar all : 
 
 I'll leave you : pray you, speak to 'em, I pray you, 
 
 In wholesome manner. 
 
 Coriolaniis, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 A Testament is defined to be a just sentence, we are 
 to consider that this word just, hath divers significations 
 in law. Sometimes it is opposed to that which is wicked 
 or repugnant to justice, equitie, and to good and whole- 
 some manners. Being taken in this sense, it giveth us 
 to understand, that the testator cannot commande any 
 thing that is Avicked, or against justice, pietie, equity, 
 honestie, &c. For things unlawfull are also reputed 
 impossible : and therefore if the testator should com- 
 mande any such thing in his testament, the same were 
 not to be observed. As if he should wil any man to be 
 murthered ; for this is against the law of God : or if he 
 should commande his body to be cast into the river, for 
 this is against hamanitie ; or if he should commande 
 his goods to be burned, for this is against policie ; or if 
 he should commande any ridiculous acte, or prejudiciall 
 onely to his owne credite and dignitie ; as if he should 
 will his buriall or fuuerals to be solemnised with May- 
 games or Morrice daunces, for this were to manifest his 
 follie, or at least to make question whether he were of 
 sound minde and memorie. In these and the like cases 
 the Executor in not performing the commandements or 
 requests of the testator is not onely holden excused, but 
 is highly commended. — Sivinhurn, page 6.
 
 36 Shakespeare's testamentary language. 
 
 Marc. Suffer thy brother Marcus to inter 
 His noble nephew here in virtue's nest, 
 That died in honour and Lavinia's cause. 
 Thou art a Roman ; be not barbarous : 
 The Greeks upon advice did bury Ajax 
 That slew himself; and wise Laertes' son 
 Did graciously plead for his funerals : 
 
 Titus Andronicus, Act i. Sc. 2. 
 
 Funerals. This word is used several times 
 by Swinburn. 
 
 Gloucester. NaugJity lady. 
 
 Lear, Act ui. Sc. 7. 
 
 Bolingbroke. My rights and royalties, 
 
 Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away 
 To upstart unthrifts. 
 
 Richard II., Act ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 Macheth. Methought I heard a voice cry ' Sleep no 
 more ! 
 Macbeth does murder sleep,' the innocent sleep, 
 Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, 
 The death of each day's life, sore laho^tr's bath. 
 Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
 Chief nourisher in life's feast. 
 
 Macheth, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
 
 f 
 
 Timon. Although, I know, you'll swear, terribly 
 
 swear 
 Into strong shudders and to heavenly agues 
 The immortal gods that hear you, — spare your oaths, 
 I'll trust to your conditions : be whores still. 
 
 Timon of Athens, Act iv. Sc. 3.
 
 ' SOEE LABOUR S EATII. 37 
 
 In the opinion of some, the lawe of this land which 
 leaveth all the residue to the disposition of the testator, 
 fimeralles and debts deducted, seemeth to have better 
 grounde in reason, then the custome, whereby he is 
 forced either to leave two partes of three, or at least the 
 one halfe to his wife and children. For what if the 
 Sonne be an unthrifte or naughtie person, what if the 
 wife be not onlie a sharpe shroive, but perhaps of worse 
 ccmditions ? Is it not harde that the testator must leave 
 either the one halfe of his goods to that wife or child or 
 more, for the which also peradventure hee had labored 
 full sore all his life ? were it not more reason that it 
 should be in the libertie of the father, or husband to 
 dispose thereof at his owne pleasure ? which when the 
 wife and children understood, it might be a means 
 whereby they might become more obedient, live more 
 vertuoslie, and contend with good desert, to winne the 
 good will and favoiu* of the testator. These reasons make 
 for the testator, and for the equitie of the common law, 
 which leaveth the whole residue to his disposition. But 
 the custome whereby the libertie of the testator is re- 
 strained is not without reason also. For where it is 
 asked, what if the child be an unthrifte, the wife worse 
 then a shrowe ? So it male be demanded with like faciltie, 
 what if the wife be no untlmfte, but frugall and ver- 
 tuous ? Avhat if the wife be an honest and modest woman ? 
 which thing is the rather to be presumed. But if it be 
 not amisse to fcare the worst, then on the contrarie, 
 what if the testator be an unnaturall father or unkinde 
 husband? perhaps also greatly enriched by his wife, 
 whereas before he was but poore, standeth it not with 
 as great reason that such a wife and children should be 
 provided for, and that it shoulde not be in the power of 
 such a testator, to give all from them, or to bestowe it
 
 38 Shakespeare's testamextary language. 
 
 upon such as had not so "well deserved it, and by that 
 meanes set his wife and children a begging ? Surelie the 
 custonie hath as good ground in reason against lewd 
 husbands and unkinde fathers, as hath the lawe in meet- 
 ing with disobedient wives and tmtJirifty children. — 
 Swinburn, p. 106. 
 
 Several words are used in this passage, as 
 they are sometimes by Shakespeare, in senses 
 different from those which they now convey ; 
 as naughty for bad, wicked; full for very; 
 honest for virtuous or chaste; condition for 
 temper, quality, inclination; and Swinburn 
 here speaks of one who ' had labored full sore 
 all his life,^ and Shakespeare of, 
 
 The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath. 
 
 Shakespeare often uses these words in these 
 senses, although I give only a few examples. 
 
 Olivia. Were you sent here to praise me ? 
 
 Twelfth Night, Act i. Sc. 5. 
 
 The verb to praise signifying to appraise, or 
 value, is used in some of our old law books 
 and ancient statutes (Swinburn, Henry VIII. 
 21, c. 5, and others), which speak of the form 
 to be observed in making an inventory ; and 
 Olivia speaking of an inventory (seep. 9) uses
 
 PRAISE. 39 
 
 it in that sense, so also does Launce who 
 plays upon the word : 
 
 Launce. She bath more qualities than a water-spaniel ; 
 ■which is much in a bare Christian. [Pulling out a paper. ^ 
 Here is the cate-log of her conditions. ' Imprimis : she 
 can fetch and carry.' Why, a horse can do no more: 
 nay, a horse cannot fetch, but only carry ; therefore is 
 she better than a jade. ' Item : she can milk ; ' look 
 you, a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands. 
 • • . • 
 
 Speed. 'Item: She will often praise her liquor.' 
 Launce. If her liquor be good, she shall : if she will 
 not, I will ; for good things should be praised. 
 
 Ttvo Gentlemen of Verona, Act iii. Sc. 1. 
 
 Launce (whose Cate-log resembles Olivia's 
 inventory) says good things should be praised., 
 and an inventory contained a description of 
 the goods with their value appraised ; or to use 
 Swinburn's words, ' The things that are to be 
 put into the inventorie, are all the goods., and 
 cattels, and rights, which were the testator's.' 
 218. 
 
 It is not sufficient to make an inventorie, containing 
 all and singular the goods of the deceased, unless the 
 same be particularly valued and praised by some honest 
 and skilfull persons, to be the just value thereof in their 
 judgements and consciences, that is to say, at such price 
 as the same may be soldo for at that time. In ancient 
 time, amongst many other solemnities of inventories,
 
 40 SHAKESrEAKE's TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 this order was observed : First of all, the moveable goods 
 were inventoried and praised, as household stufie, come, 
 and cattell, &c. ; then the immoveable, as leases of 
 groundes or tenements, after that the debts due to the 
 testator were set downe, which order is for the most 
 parte observed at this time here in England : saving 
 that some doo omit leases, wherein they do amisse : 
 others praise them among the moveables, but it were 
 better to ^raise them severally. — Sivinbiorn, 220. 
 
 'Biclimond. Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord, 
 That would reduce these bloody days again, 
 And make poor England weep in streams of blood. 
 
 Richard III., Act v. Sc. 5. 
 
 Burgimdy. And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and 
 hedges. 
 Defective in their natiires, grow to wildness, 
 Even so our houses and ourselves and children 
 Have lost, or do not learn for want of time. 
 The sciences that should become our country ; 
 But grow like savages, — as soldiers will 
 That nothing do but meditate on blood, — 
 To swearins: and stern looks, diffused attire 
 And everything that seems unnatural. 
 Which to reduce into our former favour 
 You are assembled : 
 
 Benry F., Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 Kecluce, bring back, used in this sense by 
 Swinburn, 
 
 When the testator and legatarie be reconciled and re- 
 duced into friendship againe, then the former enimities 
 do not prejudice the legatarie. — Sivinburn, page 288.
 
 EEDUCE — WENCH. 41 
 
 When tLe thing bequeathed, whereof the former is 
 altered, may be reduced to his first matter ; as when the 
 testator doth bequeath some masse of metall be it gold 
 or silver, tinne, or such like, whereof the testator after- 
 wardes dooth make some vessell, or other instrument. 
 Or on the contrarie, the testator having bequeathed a 
 cuppe of golde, or other vessell, or instrument of metall, 
 dooth afterwardes dissolve the same to his first matter : 
 or the testator having bequeathed a cup of golde dooth 
 make a chaine thereof : the will of the testator by such 
 alterations is not presumed to be altered, and therefore 
 the legacie is not thei-eby extinguished. But if the 
 thing bequeathed after the forme thereof be altered, 
 cannot be reduced to that which it was before ; as wool 
 when it is made clothe : or timber when it is hewen or 
 made parcell of a ship : the testator having bequeathed 
 certaine wool or timber, and afterwards translating the 
 same to other forms, from whence they cannot be re- 
 duced to the former, the legacie is extinguished, unlesse 
 it doo appeare that the will of the testator therein is not 
 chaunged. — Swiuburn, 294. 
 
 Othello. NoAV, how dost thou look, ill-starr'd wench ! 
 Pale as thy smock. Act v. Sc. 2. 
 
 By the said custome generallie observed within the 
 province of Yorke, a Tutor male be assigned to a boie at 
 anie time untill hee have accomplished the age of 14 
 yeeres, and to a loench until she have accomplished the 
 age of twelve yeeres. — Swinburn, 98. 
 
 The word wench is frequently used by 
 Shakespeare in a good sense, as it is by Queen 
 Katherine in Hemy A'^III., and by Swinburn in 
 this passage.
 
 42 SHAKESPEARE'S TESTAMENTARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 Laertes. Think it no more : 
 
 For nature, crescent, does not grow alone 
 In thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes. 
 The inward service of the mind and soul 
 Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves jou now, 
 And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch 
 The virtue of his toill -. but you must fear. 
 His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own ; 
 For he himself is subject to his birth : 
 He maij not, as unvalued persons do. 
 Carve for himself ; for on his choice depends 
 The safety and health of this whole state ; 
 And therefore must his choice be circumscribed 
 Unto the voice and yielding of that body 
 Whereof he is the head. 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 3. 
 
 Shakespeare may have written these verses 
 remembering the following passages from Smn- 
 burn's Treatise on Wills. 
 
 It is an old question, whether he that hath taken an 
 oth not to make a testament, may notwithstanding make 
 a testament : and although there were many which did 
 hold that in this case he could not make a testament, 
 yet the greater number are of the contrarie opinion ; 
 esteeming the othe not to be lawfiill, and consequently 
 not of force to deprive a man of the libertie of making a 
 testament. And therefore if a man first make a testa- 
 ment, and then sweareth never to revoke the same, yet 
 notwithstanding he may make another testament and 
 thereby revoke the former : for there is no cautele under 
 heaven, whereby the libertie of making or revoking his testa- 
 ment can be utterly taken aivay .-^-Sivinliurn, 61.
 
 CAUTEL — ' HE MAY .\0T CARVE FOR HIMSELF.' 43 
 
 The clause derogatorie of tlie power of making testa- 
 ments is utterly voide in law, neither can a man renounce 
 the power or libertie of making testaments, neither is 
 there any canfele under heaven to prevent this hbertie ; 
 which also indureth whiles any life indureth, as hath 
 bene aforesaid. — Sivinburn, 266. 
 
 <( So large and ample is the libertie of making testaments, 
 that a man may as oft as hee will make a newe testament, 
 even untill the last breath, neither is there any cautele 
 under the sunne to prevent this YvbQYiie.-^Sioinhurn, 263. 
 
 In the alphabetical table of the particular 
 contents of this treatise of Swinburn's are 
 these words, ' No cautell can take away the 
 libertie of making a testament.' 
 
 Laertes says, ' no soil nor cautel doth be- 
 smirch the virtue of his will,' and Swinburn 
 ' there is no cautele under heaven, whereby 
 the libertie of making or revoking his testa- 
 ment can be utterly taken away.' Again 
 Laertes says, 
 
 He mmj not, as unvalued persons do 
 
 Carve for himself. 
 
 And according to Swinburn, 'it is not lawful 
 for legataries to carve for themselves., taking 
 their legacies at their own pleasure, but must 
 have them delivered by the executors.' . (Swin- 
 burn, 50.)
 
 44 SHAKESPEARE'S TESTAMENTAEY LANGUAGE. 
 
 If the les:atarie of his owne authoritie without the 
 consent of the executor, do apprehend and occuple the 
 legacie to him bequeathed, he loseth his right and in- 
 terest thereunto : For he may not be his own carver in 
 this case, but ought to receive his legacie at the handes 
 of the executor : which executor ought first to have all 
 the goods and cattels in his hands, for the paiment and 
 discharge of the testator's debts, which debts ought to 
 be paid before legacies. — Sivinhurn, 289.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 ^Dogheri-y. Marry, sir, they have committed false report; 
 moreover, they have spoken untruths ; secondarily, they are 
 slanders ; sixth and lastly, they' have helied a lady ; thirdly, 
 they have verified unjust things ; and, to conclude, they are 
 lying knaves. — Much Ado Ahout Nothing j Act v. Sc. 1. 
 
 * Shakespeare a Lawyer ' was published the 
 first week in August 1858. It was an attempt to 
 illustrate some obscure passages, and to show that 
 Shakespeare had acquired a general knowledge of 
 the principles and practice of the Law of Real Pro- 
 perty, of the Common Law and Criminal Law, 
 that he was familiar Avith the exact letter of the 
 Statute Law, and that he used law terms correctly ; 
 and Lord Campbell says, page 107 : — ' Having con- 
 cluded mj examination of Shakespeare's judicial 
 phrases and forensic allusions, — on the retrospect I 
 am amazed, not only by their number, but by the 
 accuracy and propriety Avith which they are uni- 
 formly introduced. There is nothing so dangerous 
 as for one not of the craft to tamper with our free 
 masonry.'
 
 46 APPENDIX. 
 
 Long after ' Shakespeare a Lawyer ' had been 
 much and favourably reviewed, and was well known 
 in England, Scotland, and Germany, the following 
 paragraph appeared in a literary paper in London : — 
 
 A new illustrator of Shakspeare lias entered tlie field in the 
 person of the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Lord 
 Campbell. During a recent vacation in Scotland, he turned 
 his attention again to our great dramatic poet, and reading over 
 his plays consecutively, he was struck by the vast number of 
 legal phrases and allusions thej^ contain, and by the extreme 
 a2}iwopriateness and accuracy of their application. He began 
 noting them, giving them such explanations and elucidations 
 as his vast experience and knowledge of the law enabled him 
 readily to furnish. He has since put them into more regular 
 form and order, and is printing them in the shape of a familiar 
 letter to Mr. Payne Collier. 
 
 Soon after this announcement was made. Lord 
 Campbell's book was published, and reviewed in 
 several of the London papers, some of them contrast- 
 ■ng it with my pamphlet, as the following extracts 
 will show : — 
 
 Were we to put faith in circumstantial evidence and give no 
 weight to evidence of character, we probably should find Lord 
 Campbell guilty upon the charge of having robbed a mare's 
 oest. Robbery of a mare's nest by the Lord Chief Justice is, 
 however, an impossible off"ence. We are content then simply 
 to remark upon the accidental fact that for all pertinent cita- 
 tions produced by the Chief Justice from Shakespeare's plays 
 in confirmation of Malone's theory that the poet picked up law 
 in an attorney's office, his lordship, when he wrote his letter to 
 Mr. Collier, might have referred to the then extant pamphlet 
 of aLivei-^iool attorney.* Mr. Rushton's little publication was 
 already in print when, on the fifteenth of last September, Lord 
 Campbell dated the first lines of the argument which he now 
 
 * Then a stu lent-at-law.
 
 APrENDIX. 47 
 
 publishes. In * Household Words ' about three months ago, 
 attention was directed to the arfruuient of Mr. Ilushton in an 
 article that, under the head of ' Mr. W. Shakespeare, Solicitor,' 
 treated it with friendly ridicule. Unluckily, the existence of 
 the previous publication, which contains all his discoveries, did 
 not become known to Lord Campbell. — The Examine!-, London, 
 January 29, 1859. 
 
 The greatest error that can be laid to his lordship's charge is, 
 that he completely ignores the existence of a little book which 
 runs pari passu with his own inquiry. It is scarcely three 
 months since a Mr. W. L. Rushton, of Liverpool, published 
 a very modest pamphlet, entitled ' Shakespeare a Lawyer,' and 
 in this unpretending work may be found all, and more than all, 
 the quotations in Lord Campbell's work, with a full and able 
 comment upon the arguments to be derived from them. In 
 illustration, we need only point out the way Mr. Rushton com- 
 mentates on the passage relating to prcemmiire, in which he 
 dilates on the peculiarly legal mode in which Shakespeare 
 uses his legal phraseology. He claims for the poet a knowledge 
 not only of the principles and practice of the law of real property, 
 bnt also of the common law, and a thorough intimacy with the 
 exact letter of the statute law. — The Critic, London, February 5, 
 1859. 
 
 After these reviews appeared, the London Times 
 contained a long and laudatory notice of Lord 
 Campbell's work,Avhich did not mention my pamphlet 
 or my name. Then two works on Shakespeare's 
 various knowledge were brought out, which praised 
 highly Lord Campbell and his book, but said nothing 
 of me or my pamphlet. In some of the biographical 
 notices of Shakespeare, published in England and 
 Scotland at the time of the Tercentenary, and in 
 many of the addresses delivered on that occasion, 
 Lord Campbell and his work were mentioned, but 
 lone of them spoke of W. L. Rushton, or ' Shakes-
 
 48 APPENDIX. 
 
 peare a Lawyer.' I have been Informed that 
 several of the New York papers in the year 1858 
 or 1859 reviewed very kindly ' Shakespeare a 
 Lawyer,' but in the year 1867 a work on Shakes- 
 peare was published in that city which speaks much 
 of Lord Campbell and his book, but says nothing 
 of me or mine. ' Sixth and lastly ' : The Cata- 
 logue of Books does not mention ' Shakespeare a 
 Lawyer,' but ' Shakespeare's Legal Maxims,' of 
 which a second edition has not yet been pubhshed, 
 is therein thus described : — 
 
 Rush (sic) W. L. Shakespeare's Legal Maxims, second ed. 
 flscp. Longmans, Is. 
 
 This is a brief statement of the facts of the case. 
 
 I would to God my name were not so terrible to the enemy 
 as it is. 
 
 FalstaflP, 2 Henry IV. Act. i. Sc. 2.
 
 APPENDIX. 49 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 These are Lord Campbell's words: — 
 
 In his will, when originally engrossed, there was no notice 
 whatever taken of his wife ; but immediately after these limi- 
 tations, he subsequently interpolated a bequest to her in the 
 ibllowing words : — * I give unto my wife my second best bed, 
 with the furniture.' 
 
 The subject of this magnificent gift being only personal pro- 
 perty, he shews his technical skill by omitting the word devise, 
 which he had used in disposing of his realty. — Page 106. 
 
 * While novelists and dramatists ' (says Lord Campbell, 
 page 108) * are constantly making mistakes as to the law of 
 marriage, of wills, and of inheritance, to Shakespeare's law, 
 lavishly as he propounds it, there can be neither demurrer, nor 
 bill of exceptions, nor writ of error. 
 
 This cannot be said of Lord Campbell's law as 
 he propounds it in his ' Shakespeare's Legal Ac- 
 quirements Considered.' Novelists and dramatists 
 are not the only writers who are constantly making 
 mistakes as to the law of marriage, of wills, and 
 inheritance. 
 
 Kitiff. Then for the place where; where, I mean, I did 
 encounter that obscene and most preposterous event, that 
 draweth from my snow-white pen the ebon-coloured ink, 
 which here thou viewest, beholdest, surveyest, or seest : 
 
 D
 
 50 APPENDIX. 
 
 Him I, as my ever-esteemed duty pricks me on, have sent to thee, 
 to receive the meed of punishment, by thy sweet grace's officer, 
 Anthony Dull ; a man of good repute, carriage, bearing, and 
 estimation. 
 
 Lovers Labour Lost, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 Of this passage Lord Campbell says : — 
 
 It is drawn up in the true lawyer-like, tautological dialect, — 
 which is to be paid for at so much a folio. The gifted Shakes- 
 peare might perhaps have been capable, by intuition, of thus 
 imitating the conveyancer's jargon ; but no ordinary man could 
 have hit it oiT so exactly, without having engrossed in an attor- 
 ney's office. — Page 47. 
 
 I have shown (' Shakespeare Illustrated by Old 
 Authors,'* 2nd Part, page 14), that Shakespeare in 
 this and many other passages uses the figure of 
 Store, for he here speaks of that ' obscene and most 
 preposterous eue?z^,' multiplying speech by using many 
 words of one sense, ' viewest, beholdest, surveyest, 
 or seest,' and Puttenham, speaking of the figure of 
 Store, says, " The Latines having no fitte terms to 
 give him called it by a name of event.'' Shakespeare 
 also probably uses this figure in Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 1., 
 where the first CloAvn multiplies his speech by using 
 words of one sense thus, — ' An act hath three bran- 
 ches : it is to do, to act, to perform,' although it was 
 in the last century suggested that Shakespeare here 
 refers to a case in Plowden's Reports * Hales v. 
 Petit ' :— 
 
 Let a non-professional man, however acute (says Lord Camp- 
 bell, page 109), presume to talk law, or to draw illustrations 
 from legal science in discussing other' subjects, and he will 
 speedily fall into some laughable absurdity. 
 
 * See Appendix C.
 
 APPENDIX. 51 
 
 If Lord Campbell had ever engrossed in an attor- 
 ney's office or known more of what he calls the con- 
 veyancer's jargon, he would not, probably, have 
 fallen into a laughable absurdity in describing the 
 words in Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 2, ' In 
 witness whereof the parties interchangeably,' — as 
 the exact form of the testatum clause of an inden- 
 ture. 
 
 These are Lord Campbell's words : — 
 
 The ad-vice of Pandarus to the lovers being taken, he ex- 
 claims — 
 
 * What ! billing again ? Here's In witness the parties inter- 
 changeably.' The exact form of the tedcttum clause in an in- 
 denture. ' In witness whereof the paiiies interchangeably have 
 hereto set their hands and seals.' Pao:e 78. 
 
 ■*c^ 
 
 Mark now how a plain tale shall put you down. 
 
 1 Henry IV., Act. ii. Sc. 4, 
 
 Lord Campbell says, page 49 : — 
 
 In Act i. Sc. 3, and Act ii. Sc. 8, Antonio's bond to Shylock 
 is prepared and talked about according to all the forms obsen^ed 
 in an English attorney's office. The distinction between ' a 
 single bill and a bond with a condition ' is clearly referred to. 
 
 The distinction between a single bond and a bond 
 with a condition is not clearly referred to in the 
 Merchant of Venice, although the folloAving passage 
 from ' Shakespeare a Lawyer,' which explains the 
 difference between a single bond and a bond with a 
 condition may have created that impression : — 
 
 An obligation, according to our common law, is a bond con- 
 taining a penalty, with a condition for payment of money ; or 
 to do or sufier some act or thing, &c. If it is without condi-
 
 52 APPENDIX. 
 
 tion, it is called a hill, which is sometimes with a penalty, and 
 then it is called a penal bill, or simple bond. An obligation or 
 bond is a deed whereby the obligor obliges himself, his heirs, 
 executors, or administrators, to pay a certain sum of money to 
 another at a day appointed. K this be all, the bond is a single 
 one, simplex obligatio. 
 
 Shylock. Go with me to a notary, seal me there 
 Your si7igle bond. 
 
 But a condition is generally added, that if the 
 obligor does some particular act, the obligation shall 
 be void, as performance of covenants, or repayments 
 of a principal sum borrowed of the obligee, with in- 
 terest, which sum is usually one-half of the penal 
 sum named in the bond. 
 
 Say for non-payment that the debt should double. 
 
 Venus and Adonis. 
 
 Portia. What sum owes he the Jew ? 
 Bassanio. For me, three thousand ducats. 
 Portia. What, no more ? 
 
 Pay him six thousand and deface the bond. 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 4. 
 
 Bonds, with conditions of this kind annexed, have 
 been long in use, and in former times on a con- 
 ditional bond becoming forfeited for non-payment 
 of the money borrowed, the whole penalty, usually 
 double the principal sum lent by the obligee, was 
 recoverable. So Macbeth says : — 
 
 But yet I'll make assurance double sure, 
 And take a bond of fate. 
 
 Act. iv. Sc. 1. 
 
 Referring not to a single, but to a conditional bond, 
 under, or by virtue of which, when forfeited, double
 
 APPENDIX. 5fl 
 
 the principal sum was recoverable. — Shakespeare a. 
 Laici/er, page 19. 
 
 In * Shakespeare a Lawyer,' and nowhere else, it 
 may appear that the distinction between a single 
 bond and a bond with a condition annexed, ' is clearly 
 referred ' to in the Merchant of Venice, for although 
 in my pamphlet it seems that Shylock mentions only 
 a single bond, yet, as the reader will see — 
 
 Shyhck. Go with me to a notarj', seal me there 
 Your single bond : and, in a merrj^ sport, 
 If you repay me not on such a day, 
 In such a place, such sum or sums as are 
 Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit 
 Be nominated for an equal pound 
 Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken 
 In what part of your body pleaseth me. 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act i. Sc. o, 
 
 He afterwards, in the same passage, speaks of snch 
 sum or sums as are expressed in the condition! 
 
 Hear, Land o' Cakes, and brither Scots, 
 Frae Maidcnkirk to Johnny Groat's ; — 
 K there's a liole in a' your coats, 
 
 I rede you tent it : 
 A chield's amang you taking notes, 
 
 And, faith, he'll pront it. 
 
 We all know that Lord Campbell was a lawyer 
 of great experience, yet in his book he has made 
 several mistakes in law ; how, then, covdd any errors 
 in law which I might show in Shakespeare's woi-ks 
 afford conclusive evidence that Shakespeare was not 
 a lawyer ? 
 
 E
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 The Guaedian, January 23, 1867. 
 
 Mr. Eushton has before now written a book to prove that Shake- 
 speare was a lawyer; but the first part of his present work — 
 ShaJcespeare Illustrated by Old Authors (Longmans) — does not aim at 
 proving anything in particular. Its object is to explain obscure pas- 
 sages and expressions of doubtful meaning which occur in Shakespeare 
 by reference to other old writers — not necessarily to writers older 
 then Shakespeare, for Selden, Coke, and Burton, the Burton of 
 'Melancholy 'fame, are among Mr. Eushton's authorities. The expla- 
 nations and illustrations thus given are sometimes valuable and 
 almost always interesting. After full allowance for accidental coin- 
 cidences, it is quite clear that Shakespeare welcomed knowledge from 
 whatever quarter it came, and knew how to turn even its fragments 
 to account. The passages quoted by Mr. Eushton contain satisfactory 
 evidence that Shakespeare, when he began to write for the stage, was 
 a student of Puttenham's ' Arte of English Poesie,' then quite a new 
 book. This discursive and amusing little volume ends with an elabo- 
 rate discussion of the true meaning of ' Esquire.' 
 
 The GuABDiAN, June 10, 1868. 
 Mr. Lowes Eushton has now issued a second part of his Shake- 
 speare Blustrated by Old Authors (Longmans). Like the former part, 
 it contains much that will interest lovers of our earlier literature ;
 
 ArPEXDIX. 55 
 
 some of the coincidences between Shakespeare and Spenser which 
 Mr. Rushton has noted are exceedingly curious. The two parts 
 bound together form a very pleasing little book. 
 
 The Mohning Stab, Fnhruary 10, 1868. 
 
 Shakes'peare Illustrated by Old Authors (Longmans) is the title of 
 a somewhat curious and very interesting little work, by Mr. William 
 Lowes Rushton. The object of the author is to collect the most 
 remarkable instances of similar thoughts expressed in somewhat 
 similar words by Shakespeare, and by authors, English or foreign, 
 who preceded or were contemporaneous with him. One practical and 
 scholarly pxirpose in this collection is frequently to elucidate the 
 meaning of some doubtful phrase in Shakespeare by showing how it 
 was used by older English authors, or by his contemporaries. But 
 another object is to endeavour to ascertain the nature and extent 
 of Shakespeare's reading, by discovering where and when he has 
 introduced certain reflections, or employed certain plirases which 
 seem directly inspired by the pages of some preceding writer. Mr. 
 Rushton does not suggest that Shakespeare plagiarised, or even 
 imitated ; but as every man's style is necessarily influenced by the 
 memory of what he reads, the author of this little work thinks that 
 such a collection as his may serve to teacli us what Shakespeare's 
 tastes and favourite writers were. Very cxirious indeed are some of 
 the parallel passages Mr. Rushton cites. In some, however, the 
 resemblance is but faint ; a few, we think, are positively strained to 
 help out a theory. But the amount of reading displayed in the work 
 is quite uncommon, and the lavishness of quotation with which its 
 objects are illustrated make it a very anthology of poetry and prose. 
 Students of Shakespeare will find their curiosity piqued by this little 
 book ; and it is delightful reading for anyone who feels an interest 
 in comparing the thoughts and plirases of great authors.
 
 56 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Athen;eum, February 29," 1868. 
 
 The object of the book is to throw light upon Shakespeare's 
 meanings and allusions by reference to other writers, either contem- 
 poraneous with him or previous to him. Amongst the former, 
 Puttenham, in ' The Arte of English Poesie,' repeatedly figures. But 
 Mr. Eushton frequently ascends to classical authors for his parallels 
 and expositions. The sources drawn upon for illustration in the 
 book are numerous and varied — ancient poets, chroniclers, antiquaries, 
 legal sages, literary essayists, and forgotten gossips. Sometimes the 
 illustrations which they afford are vague and purely conjectural ; but 
 in many cases they are pertinent and valuable. Altogether, we may 
 pronounce this a conscientious and able book, full of particulars which 
 are often valuable in casting light upon Shakespeare, and which, with 
 scarcely an exception, are interesting in themselves. 
 
 LONDON: PBINTED BT 
 
 SPOTTISWOODK AND CO., NBW-STBBBT SQUABB 
 
 AND PAKLIAMBNT STEEET
 
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 This book is DUE on iKe last 
 date stamped below. 
 
 
 
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 REMINGTON RAND INC. 20 
 
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