Folk-lore of Shakespeare, Thomas Firminger Thiselton Dyer [e reader comics TXT] 📗
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[772] “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, p. 143.
[773] “Glossary,” pp. 29, 30.
[774] See Harting’s “Ornithology of Shakespeare,” p. 156; Strutt’s “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, p. 98. A simple mode of bat-fowling, by means of a large clap-net and a lantern, and called bird-batting, is alluded to in Fielding’s “Joseph Andrews” (bk. ii. chap. x.). Drake thinks that it is to a stratagem of this kind Shakespeare alludes when he paints Buckingham exclaiming (“Henry VIII.” i. 1):
Under device and practice.”
[775] Strutt’s “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, p. 396.
[776] A pip is a spot upon a card.
[777] “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, p. 436.
[778] “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 405.
[779] Rub is still a term at the game, expressive of the movement of the balls. Cf. “King Lear” (ii. 2), and “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (iv. 1), where Boyet, speaking of the game, says: “I fear too much rubbing.”
[780] Halliwell-Phillipps’ “Handbook Index to Shakespeare,” p. 43.
[781] Staunton’s “Shakespeare,” vol. iii. p. 592.
[782] See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. ii. p. 409.
[783] She means, “Do you intend to make a mockery of me among these companions?”
[784] “Illustrations of Shakspeare,” p. 20.
[785] Gifford’s note on Jonson’s Works, vol. ii. p. 3.
[786] Ibid., vol. vii. p. 283.
[787] See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 35.
[788] See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 919.
[789] A three-man beetle is a heavy implement, with three handles, used in driving piles, etc., which required three men to lift it.
[790] A correspondent of “Notes and Queries,” 2d series, vol. vii. p. 277, suggests as a derivation the German schnapps, spirit, and drache, dragon, and that it is equivalent to spirit-fire.
[791] Cf. “Winter’s Tale” (iii. 3): “But to make an end of the ship,—to see how the sea flap-dragoned it.”
[792] See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 131.
[793] “Sports and Pastimes,” pp. 168, 169.
[794] See “British Popular Customs,” 1876, pp. 78, 83, 87, 401.
[795] “Shakespeare and his Times,” vol. ii. p. 170; see Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakspeare,” pp. 118, 435.
[796] Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 199.
[797] See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 420.
[798] See Strutt’s “Sports and Pastimes,” pp. 499, 500; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 397, 398.
[799] “Anatomy of Melancholy;” Drake’s “Shakespeare and His Times,” vol. ii. p. 298.
[800] Clark and Wright’s “Notes to Hamlet,” 1876, pp. 212, 213.
[801] See Strutt’s “Sports and Pastimes,” p. 365; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 522.
[802] Baker’s “Northamptonshire Glossary,” 1854, vol. i. p. 198.
[803] See Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 134.
[804] Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 144.
[805] See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 605.
[806] See Strutt’s “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, pp. 368, 369.
[807] See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 429, 432.
[808] See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 606.
[809] “Pictorial Shakespeare,” vol. ii. p. 145.
[810] “Sports and Pastimes.”
[811] Smith’s “Festivals, Games, and Amusements,” 1831, p. 320.
[812] “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, p. 182.
[813] See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 713.
[814] “Sports and Pastimes,” p. 141.
[815] See Milner’s “History of Winchester,” vol. ii. p. 155.
[816] According to Douce, “Illustrations of Shakespeare” (1839, p. 280), it was known as “slide-groat,” “slide-board,” “slide-thrift,” and “slip-thrift.” See Strutt’s “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, pp. 16, 394, 398; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 791; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 441.
[817] See Strutt’s “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, p. 491.
[818] Quoted by Strutt, “Sports and Pastimes,” p. 166.
[819] In “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2), the Princess speaks of “a set of wit well play’d;” upon which Mr. Singer (“Shakespeare,” vol. ii. p. 263) adds that “a set is a term at tennis for a game.”
[820] Quoted by Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 449; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 445.
[821] “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 896.
[822] Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 208.
[823] “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 421.
CHAPTER XVII. DANCES.We are indebted to Shakespeare for having bequeathed to us many interesting allusions to some of the old dances in use in his day, but which have long ago passed into oblivion. As will be seen, these were of a very diverse character, but, as has been remarked, were well suited to the merry doings of our forefathers; and although in some cases they justly merited censure for their extravagant nature, yet the greater part of these sources of diversion were harmless. Indeed, no more pleasing picture can be imagined than that of a rustic sheep-shearing gathering in the olden times, when, the work over, the peasantry joined together in some simple dance, each one vieing with his neighbor to perform his part with as much grace as possible.
Antic. This was a grotesque dance. In “Macbeth” (iv. 1), the witch, perceiving how Macbeth is affected by the horrible apparitions which he has seen, says to her sisters:
And show the best of our delights.
I’ll charm the air to give a sound,
While you perform your antic round.”
To quote another instance, Armado, in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 1), says:
Bergomask Dance. According to Sir Thomas Hanmer, this was a dance after the manner of the peasants of Bergomasco, a county in Italy belonging to the Venetians. All the buffoons in Italy affected to imitate the ridiculous jargon of that people, and from thence it became customary to mimic also their manner of dancing. In “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (v. 1), Bottom asks Theseus whether he would like “to hear a Bergomask dance,” between two of their company.
Brawl. This was a kind of dance. It appears that several persons united hands in a circle, and gave one another continual shakes, the steps changing with the tune. With this dance balls were usually opened.[824] Kissing was occasionally introduced. In “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (iii. 1), Moth asks his master: “Will you win your love with a French brawl.”
Canary. This was the name of a sprightly dance, the music to which consisted of two strains with eight bars in each; an allusion to which is made by Moth in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (iii. 1), who speaks of jigging off a tune at the tongue’s end, and canarying to it with the feet. And in “All’s Well that End’s Well” (ii. 1), Lafeu tells the king that he has seen a medicine
Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary
With spritely fire and motion.”
This dance is said to have originated in the Canary Islands, an opinion, however, which has, says Dyce, been disputed.[825]
Cinque-pace. This was so named from its steps being regulated by the number five:
Which still the dance did with five paces meet.”[826]
In “Much Ado About Nothing” (ii. 1), Shakespeare makes Beatrice make a quibble upon the term; for after comparing wooing, wedding, and repenting to a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque-pace, she says: “then comes repentance, and, with his bad legs, falls into the cinque-pace faster and faster, till he sink into his grave.” A further reference occurs in “Twelfth Night” (i. 3), by Sir Toby Belch, who calls it a “sink-a-pace.”
Coranto. An allusion to this dance, which appears to have been of a very lively and rapid character, is made in “Henry V.” (iii. 5), where the Duke of Bourbon describes it as the “swift coranto;” and in “All’s Well that Ends Well” (ii. 3) Lafeu refers to it. A further notice of it occurs in “Twelfth Night” (i. 3), in the passage where Sir Toby Belch speaks of “coming home in a coranto.”
Fading. Malone quotes a passage from “Sportive Wit,” 1666, which implies that this was a rustic dance:
We country clowns do scorn the court;
We can be as merry upon the downs
As you at midnight with all your sport,
With a fading, with a fading.”
It would appear, also, from a letter appended to Boswell’s edition of Malone, that it was an Irish dance, and that it was practised, upon rejoicing occasions, as recently as 1803, the date of the letter:
“This dance is still practised on rejoicing occasions in many parts of Ireland; a king and queen are chosen from amongst the young persons who are the best dancers; the queen carries a garland composed of two hoops placed at right angles, and fastened to a handle; the hoops are covered with flowers and ribbons; you have seen it, I dare say, with the May-maids. Frequently in the course of the dance the king and queen lift up their joined hands as high as they can, she still holding the garland in the other. The most remote couple from the king and queen first pass under; all the rest of the line linked together follow in succession. When the last has passed, the king and queen suddenly face about and front their companions; this is often repeated during the dance, and the various undulations are pretty enough, resembling the movements of a serpent. The dancers on the first of May visit such newly wedded pairs of a certain rank as have been married since last May-day in the neighborhood, who commonly bestow on them a stuffed ball richly decked with gold and silver lace, and accompanied with a present in money, to regale themselves after the dance. This dance is practised when the bonfires are lighted up, the queen hailing the return of summer in a popular Irish song beginning:
In the “Winter’s Tale” (iv. 4), Shakespeare seems to allude to this dance where he makes the servant, speaking of the pedler, say: “he has the prettiest love songs for maids; so without bawdry, which is strange; with such delicate burdens of ‘dildos’ and ‘fadings.’” Some commentators,[827] however, consider that only the
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