Part 5

_Baily._ Yea, but it was thy drift to bring him into the briars.

_Diccon._ God's bread! hath not such an old fool wit to save his ears? He showeth himself herein, ye see, so very a cox, The cat was not so madly allured by the fox To run into the snares was set for him, doubtless; For he leapt in for mice, and this Sir John for madness.

_Doctor Rat._ Well, and ye shift no better, ye losel, lither, and lazy, I will go near for this to make ye leap at a daisy. In the king's name, Master Baily, I charge you set him fast.

_Diccon._ What! fast at cards or fast on sleep? it is the thing I did last.

_Doctor Rat._ Nay, fast in fetters, false varlet, according to thy deeds.

_Baily._ Master Doctor, there is no remedy, I must entreat you needs Some other kind of punishment.

_Doctor Rat._ Nay, by All-Hallows! His punishment, if I may judge, shall be nought else but the gallows.

_Baily._ That were too sore; a spiritual man to be so extreme!

_Doctor Rat._ Is he worthy any better, sir? how do you judge and deem?

_Baily._ I grant him worthy punishment, but in no wise so great.

_Gammer._ It is a shame, ich tell you plain, for such false knaves entreat. He has almost undone us all--that is as true as steel-- And yet for all this great ado cham never the near my nee'le!

_Baily._ Canst thou not say anything to that, Diccon, with least or most?

_Diccon._ Yea, marry, sir, thus much I can say well, the nee'le is lost.

_Baily._ Nay, canst not thou tell which way that needle may be found?

_Diccon._ No, by my fay, sir, though I might have an hundred pound.

_Hodge._ Thou liar, lickdish, didst not say the nee'le would be gitten?

_Diccon._ No, Hodge; by the same token you were that time beshitten For fear of hobgoblin--you wot well what I mean; As long as it is since, I fear me yet ye be scarce clean.

_Baily._ Well, Master Rat, you must both learn and teach us to forgive. Since Diccon hath confession made, and is so clean shreve, If ye to me consent, to amend this heavy chance, I will enjoin him here some open kind of penance, Of this condition--where ye know my fee is twenty pence: For the bloodshed, I am agreed with you here to dispense; Ye shall go quit, so that ye grant the matter now to run To end with mirth among us all, even as it was begun.

_Chat._ Say yea, Master Vicar, and he shall sure confess to be your debtor, And all we that be here present will love you much the better.

_Doctor Rat._ My part is the worst; but since you all hereon agree, Go even to, Master Baily! let it be so for me!

_Baily._ How say'st thou, Diccon? art content this shall on me depend?

_Diccon._ Go to, Mast Baily, say on your mind, I know ye are my friend.

_Baily._ Then mark ye well: To recompense this thy former action-- Because thou hast offended all, to make them satisfaction-- Before their faces here kneel down, and as I shall thee teach-- For thou shalt take an oath of Hodge's leather breech: First, for Master Doctor, upon pain of his curse, Where he will pay for all, thou never draw thy purse; And when ye meet at one pot he shall have the first pull, And thou shalt never offer him the cup but it be full. To goodwife that thou shalt be sworn, even on the same wise, If she refuse thy money once, never to offer it twice. Thou shalt be bound by the same, here as thou dost take it, When thou may'st drink of free cost, thou never forsake it. For Gammer Gurton's sake, again sworn shalt thou be, To help her to her needle again if it do lie in thee; And likewise be bound, by the virtue of that, To be of good a-bearing to Gib her great cat. Last of all, for Hodge the oath to scan, Thou shalt never take him for fine gentleman.

_Hodge._ Come on, fellow Diccon, chall be even with thee now!

_Baily._ Thou wilt not stick to do this, Diccon, I trow?

_Diccon._ No, by my father's skin, my hand down I lay it! Look, as I have promised, I will not denay it. But, Hodge, take good heed now, thou do not beshit me!

[_And give him a good blow on the buttock._

_Hodge._ Gog's heart! thou false villain, dost thou bite me?

_Baily._ What, Hodge, doth he hurt thee ere ever he begin?

_Hodge._ He thrust me into the buttock with a bodkin or a pin. [_He discovers the needle._ I say, gammer! gammer!

_Gammer._ How now, Hodge, how now?

_Hodge._ God's malt, gammer Gurton!

_Gammer._ Thou art mad, ich trow!

_Hodge._ Will you see the devil, gammer?

_Gammer._ The devil, son! God bless us!

_Hodge._ Chould, [if] ich were hanged, gammer--

_Gammer._ Marry, see, ye might dress us--

_Hodge._ Chave it, by the mass, gammer!

_Gammer._ What, not my nee'le, Hodge?

_Hodge._ Your nee'le, gammer! your nee'le!

_Gammer._ No, fie, dost but dodge!

_Hodge._ Ch' a found your nee'le, gammer, here in my hand be it!

_Gammer._ For all the loves on earth, Hodge, let me see it!

_Hodge._ Soft, gammer!

_Gammer._ Good Hodge!

_Hodge._ Soft, ich say; tarry a while!

_Gammer._ Nay, sweet Hodge, say truth, and not me beguile!

_Hodge._ Cham sure on it, ich warrant you; it goes no more astray.

_Gammer._ Hodge, when I speak so fair, wilt still say me nay?

_Hodge._ Go near the light, gammer, this--well, in faith, good luck!-- Ch'was almost undone, 'twas so far in my buttock!

_Gammer._ 'Tis mine own dear nee'le, Hodge, sikerly I wot!

_Hodge._ Cham I not a good son, gammer, cham I not?

_Gammer._ Christ's blessing light on thee, hast made me for ever!

_Hodge._ Ich knew that ich must find it, else chould a' had it never!

_Chat._ By my troth, gossip Gurton, I am even as glad As though I mine own self as good a turn had!

_Baily._ And I, by my conscience, to see it so come forth, Rejoice so much at it, as three needles be worth.

_Doctor Rat._ I am no whit sorry to see you so rejoice.

_Diccon._ Nor I much the gladder for all this noise; Yet say, "Gramercy, Diccon!" for springing of the game.

_Gammer._ Gramercy, Diccon, twenty times! O, how glad cham! If that chould do so much, your masterdom to come hither, Master Rat, Goodwife Chat, and Diccon together, Cha but one halfpenny, as far as ich know it, And chill not rest this night, till ich bestow it. If ever ye love me, let us go in and drink.

_Baily._ I am content, if the rest think as I think. Master Rat, it shall be best for you if we so do, Then shall you warm you and dress yourself too.

_Diccon._ Soft, sirs, take us with you, the company shall be the more! As proud comes behind, they say, as any goes before! But now, my good masters, since we must be gone, And leave you behind us here all alone; Since at our last ending thus merry we be, For Gammer Gurton's needle sake, let us have a plaudite.

FINIS.

Gurton. Perused and Allowed, &c. Imprinted at London, in Fleetstreate, beneath the Conduite, at the signe of S. John Euangelist, by Thomas Colwell, 1575.

A NOTE-BOOK AND WORD-LIST

INCLUDING

CONTEMPORARY REFERENCES, NOTES, &C., TOGETHER WITH A GLOSSARY OF WORDS AND PHRASES NOW ARCHAIC OR OBSOLETE; THE WHOLE ARRANGED IN ONE ALPHABET IN DICTIONARY FORM.

A FORE-WORD TO NOTE-BOOK AND WORD-LIST

_Reference from text to Note-Book is copious, and as complete as may be. The following pages may, with almost absolute certainty, be consulted on any point that may occur in the course of reading._

NOTE-BOOK AND WORD-LIST TO GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE

'A, the infinitive _have_.

A-FINE, now, at the moment: _i.e._ at the finish.

ALEWIVES, women keeping ale-houses.

ALL-HALLOWS, the old name for All Saints' Day (1st Nov.): formerly ushered in by the ceremonies and merrymakings of All-Hallowe'en.

ALMS, ALMS-DEED, charity, godsend.

A-MEVED, moved, disturbed.

AND, if.

APERN, apron: the usual early form of the word.

ARRAYED, (_a_) disconcerted, afflicted, put out. (_b_) bespattered.

AVENTURE, venture, risk, wager.

A-WREAK, avenge.

BACK SIDE, at the back of the house, backyard.

BALD, short for bald-head, bald-pate: a generic term of abuse.

BALKS, beams, rafters, an overhead rack used for storing bacon.

BEDLAM, a crazy beggar, real or assumed: properly a convalescent from Bethlehem Hospital, an asylum for lunatics since 1547. Many of these unfortunates, being either unable or unwilling to work, adopted vagrancy as a profession, the Simon Pures being avouched by an official arm-badge. These were considerably augmented by the often deserving (but more frequently spurious) poor who had, until the dissolution of the monasteries, been the special care of the religious.

BET, the old past tense of _beat_: still dialectical.

BLEST, bliss.

BODY-LOUSE, proud, conceited, fine. Later we get _"brisk as a body-louse"_ (Ray).

BONABLE, abominable.

BOOTS, avails, profits, is of advantage, matters.

BORROW, pledge, security.

BOULOGNE, _Our dear Lady of Boulogne,_ the image of the Virgin Mary at Boulogne, formerly in so much reverence that pilgrimages were made to it.

BRAWL, brat, offspring.

BREAD AND SALT, a common sixteenth-century oath, probably as symbolising the necessaries of life.

BURSTING, breaking.

BY AND BY, immediately.

CALLET, a lewd woman, drab, scold.

CANDLE, "a _candle_ shall they have a piece." In all cases of distress it was usual with Roman Catholics to promise their tutelary saints to light up candles at their altars.

CHAD, see Cham.

CHAM, I am. The rustic dialect in the piece is conventional, but its general peculiarities are those of the south-western counties: _iche_ = I, reduced to _ch_ in _cham_, _chould_, or _chwold_ (I would), _chwere_, &c. The south-western _v_ for _f_ is not generally used, but occurs in _vylthy_, _vast_, and in _vathers_; _glaye_ (p. 5) for clay is probably not genuine dialect.

CHANNOT, see Cham.

CHAVE, see Cham.

CHILL, see Cham.

CHOLD, I hold. _To hold a noble_ = to wager or bet.

CHOPE, see Cham.

CHWOLD, see Cham.

CLOTH, "painted on a _cloth_," the cloth hangings of taverns on which were depicted such popular themes as the Nine Worthies, the Prodigal Son, and, as in this case, Friar Rush (_q.v._).

COAT, see Walk.

COCK'S BODY, COCK'S PASSION, COCK'S PRECIOUS, &c., a corruption of God: euphemistic.

COCK'S MOTHER (p. 44), see previous entry: the reader must not fall into the error of thinking that Gammer Gurton is here meant.

COLOGNE, "the three kings of _Cologne_." These are supposed to have been the wise men who travelled to Bethlehem by the direction of the star. To these kings have been given the names of Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.

COMMODITY, a word which formerly had plenty to do: anything that afforded advantage, interest, or convenience was _commodity_--profit, interest, accommodation, opportunity, wares, goods, movables, and even harlots.

COSTARD, (_a_) the head, pate.

(_b_) a large kind of apple.

COUNSEL, in secrecy, confidence.

COX, a coxcomb, fool: jesters formerly wore a cap surmounted by a comb or crest resembling that of a cock: cf. cokes = fool.

CRAB, _i.e._ a roasted crabapple put in a bowl of ale: it served a double purpose, to flavour and also to "chill" the beverage.

CRUST, crushed.

CULLION, poltroon, base contemptible fellow: a generic term of abuse.

CURTAL, a short-tailed horse, one docked in the tail.

CUT, a gelding: hence of both sexes, but specifically of women.

DAINTRELS, dainties, delicacies, luxuries.

DAISY, "leap at a _daisy_," be hanged. The allusion is to a story of a man who, when the noose was adjusted round his neck, leapt off with the words, "Have at yon daisy that grows yonder."

DEFY, refuse, deny, renounce.

DICCON, a nickname for Richard: see Bedlam.

DISEASE, anxiety, trouble: originally general in meaning = absence of ease.

DOAT, rave, act the fool.

DOCK, tail, backside: _i.e._ get his backside kicked.

DODGE, "ga' me the _dodge_," _i.e._ cheated, tricked me.

DRAB, a generic reproach--strumpet, slattern, slut.

DRESS'D, served out, done for.

EVERYCHONE, everyone.

DUMP, ill of ease, melancholy: now obsolete in the singular.

EKE, also, besides, likewise, moreover: still occasional in poetry.

FELLOW, (_a_) "originally a courteous mode of addressing a servant, like the French _mon ami_: here _fellow_ = comrade" (Bradley).

(_b_) "Not thy _fellow_, but thy dame," _i.e._ not thy equal, but thy mistress.

FILTH, vile person: a strong reproach.

FLYING FIEND, the devil.

FORTY, generic for an indefinite number: forty pence (or ten groats) = the sum commonly offered for a small wager. Several law fees were fixed at that sum, viz., 3s. 4d.; and when money was reckoned by pounds, marks, and nobles, forty pence was just the half-noble, or the sixth of a pound.

FOX, "allured by the _fox_," see _History of Reynard the Fox_ (1701), vii. (Steevens).

FRIAR RUSH, the principal character in a popular folk-lore story translated from the German. The devil, in friar's garb, seeking to corrupt a convent of monks by delicious fare, assumes human shape, knocks at the door, and is admitted as cook's boy. A favourable opportunity enabling him to dispose of his chief in a boiling cauldron, he is appointed to his place. The virtue of the convent is now at his mercy: the monks forget prayer and fasting over Ruus' exquisite cookery. Strife and wantonness creep in, and the monks are all but lost, when a peasant who has involuntarily overheard a conclave of devils discussing Ruus, discloses his true nature. The abbot, summoning all the monks into the church, seizes Ruus, transforms him into a red horse, and commits him to the power of hell (Herford). There are several versions, the earliest known English one bearing date 1620, but the Stationers' Company registers show it as entered in 1568-9. That the story was extremely popular is obvious from numerous contemporary allusions.

GAFFER, formerly a respectful address, but now in contempt: a corruption of _granfer_, itself a corruption of _grandfather_. The co-relative is _gammer_ (_q.v._).

GAMMER, an old wife, old lady: formerly, like _gaffer_ (which see), a respectful address. _Gammer_ = grammer = grandmother.

GEAR, a word, if not of-all-work, with plenty to do--goods, property in general, outfit, tools, necessaries, materials, stuffs, matters, business, affairs, manners, habits, customs, rubbish, trash--all are included: sometimes = affair, contention.

GIB, (_a_) a generic name for male cats: hence a common reproach.

(_b_) "To set the gib forward" = to expedite matters: proverbial.

GIS, GYS, JIS, &c., Jesus: supposed by some to be a corruption of the letters I.H.S. anciently set on altars, covers of books, &c., to denote the name of Jesus: rather, however, from the name itself.

GITTEN, got.

GLAY, see Cham.

GLOOMING, sulking: cf. "glum."

GOD, "God 'ield you" (p. 143a), _i.e._ God yield you = God reward you: the compositor has duplicated the _d_ of _God_ in the next word: cf. _Good den_, _God deven_ = good e'en.

GOG'S (_passim_), God's. Thus, Gog's blest, Gog's bones, Gog's bread, Gog's cross, Gog's malison, Gog's sacrament, Gog's sides, Gog's soul, Gog's wounds.

GOOD, property.

GOSSIP, a sponsor in baptism: hence an intimate acquaintance, neighbour.

GRAMMERCY, an exclamation of surprise and thanks: Fr. _grand merci_.

HALSE, neck, throat.

HAVE, behave.

HODDEPEAK, fool, cuckold.

HOLD, wager, bet.

HONESTY, the honest sort of people.

HOOD, "I can drink With him that wears a _hood_," _i.e._ a friar; an allusion to their notoriously drunken habits.

INOWE, enough.

I-WIS, I-WYS, certainly, indeed, truly.

JAKES, privy, cesspool: Gammer racks her vocabulary for terms of reproach.

JAPE, jest, joke.

JET, JETTETH, in modern phrase to put on "side" (in word or act), brag, strut, vaunt, swagger: also in a weaker sense = to go.

KIND, nature.

LEAD, copper.

LESE, lose.

LET, hindrance, hinder: archaic except in the phrase "without let or hindrance."

LEVE, dear, beloved: _i.e. lief_.

LICKDISH, parasite.

LITHER, sluggish, spiritless, or as Hazlitt says "wicked," but the true reading is an open question.

LONGS, is appropriate to, fitting for, beseeming.

LOOSE-BREECH, a slovenly lout.

LOSE (p. 27), read _lese_ for the rhyme.

LOSEL, a generic reproach--profligate, rake, scoundrel; and (in weakened form) ne'er-do-well, good-for-nothing.

MALT-WORM, tippler, toper.

MAS, a vulgar or jocular shortening of _master_, usually followed by a proper name or official title: also Mast.

MASTERDOM, mastership.

MELL, meddle, fight, interfere.

MEVE, move.

MINDS, intends, purposes.

MINIONS, wantons, strumpets: also in a weaker sense, favourite, darling.

MO, more.

MOILING, ado, toiling.

MOT, may.

NARSE, one of many instances in which _n_ is found prefixed to a word properly commencing with a vowel: cf. _newt_, _nickname_, _nuncle_; also the converse flexion omitting _n_, _adder_, _apron_, _umpire_, _orange_, for _nadder_, _napron_, _numpire_, _norange_.

NAWL, awl: see previous entry.

NE, nor.

NEAR, nearer.

NICELY, carefully, quietly, gently.

NOBLE, coin value 6s. 8d.: see Chold and Hold.

NOTHER, neither, nor.

ON-LIVE, alive, of which on-live is an earlier form.

OR, ere.

OUGHT, owed.

PAD, see Straw.

PALTER, to speak indistinctly, mumble.

PARTS, parties.

PARTY, person: once literary but now vulgar.

PATCH, (_a_) fool, buffoon, jester: the nickname of Cardinal Wolsey's domestic fool, whose real name was Sexton. Murray suggests the influence of It. _pazzo_ (= fool), combined with the motley wear of professional buffoons.

(_b_), beat, drub, "dust."

PATINS, "it went on _patins_" (p. 27), _i.e._ a great clatter was made: often used figuratively of the tongue.

PERFIT, perfect.

PES, hassock: an East Anglian word.

PIGSNIE, an endearment.

PILD, stripped, shorn: whether by shaving or disease.

PILL, plunder, strip.

PIN, latch, bolt.

PISSING WHILE, a short time.

PLANCH, to plank on: _i.e._ to plaster by patching all round.

POUPED, deceived.

PRANCOME, anything odd or strange, a trick, device.

PUDDINGS, entrails, guts.

PULLEN, poultry.

QUEAN, a wanton.

RAKES (p. 32), a term of abuse: not found elsewhere, and seemingly chosen because of the jingle: cf. the whole passage. Possibly an abbreviated form of Rakehell or Rakeshame.

RAMP, wanton, strumpet.

RAVE, talk wildly, without thought.

RECEIVER (p. 51), "perhaps we should read _recetter_ for the sake of the rhyme" (Bradley).

RECHLESS, "swear to Diccon, _rechless_" (p. 19), reckless: _i.e._ without reservation, not minding the sense of the humorous oath which the Baily administers. Another example of similar fooling is the Highgate oath which travellers toward London were required to take at a certain tavern at Highgate--that they would not prefer small beer before strong, unless indeed they liked the small better; never to kiss the maid if they could kiss the mistress, unless the maid was prettier; and other statements of a similar kind.

REED, (_a_) rood.

(=b=) counsel, advice.

RIG, strumpet.

RIGHT SIDE, "thou rose not on thy _right side_" (p. 17), _i.e._ "you did not commence the day well," "you are not lucky."

ROMTH, room, space.

ROTTEN, rat.

RUSH, see Friar Rush.

ST. CHARITY, a known saint among Roman Catholics.

ST. DOMINIC, the founder of the order of Dominicans or Black Friars: the order was approved by Pope Innocent III. in 1215, and was established in London, building the Convent of the Blackfriars in 1276: the name is perpetuated in the bridge.

SCABB'D HORSE, sorry "screw" of a horse: _scabb'd_ and _scald_ (q.v.) are synonymous, and both are used in contempt.

SCALD, scabby, mean, sorry: hence _scald squire_ = a term of contempt; _scald_ (or _skald_), subs. = a mean wretch.

SEVEN, proverbial, according to the context, for an indefinite length of time.

SHAVE, extort, strip, cheat.

SHOEING-HORN, a pretext, an incitement.

SHREVE, shrive, confess, absolve: _shreve_ by poetic licence.

SHREW, (_a_) curse, call over the coals.

(_b_) the word was formerly applied in contempt to both sexes.

SHRIVE, confess: see Shreve.

SIKERLY, securely, certainly.

SIR JOHN, a priest.

SIR REVERENCE, an apology on mentioning anything for which an excuse was thought necessary. Lat. _salvâ reverentiâ_, whence sa' reverence, sur-reverence, and sir-reverence.

SITH, SITHENS, since, because.

SLIP, neglect.

SMELL, detect, understand, "twig."

SMOLDERS, smothers.

SORT, company, assembly.

SOSSING, dashing, sousing.

SPURRIER, harness-maker.

SQUIRT, diarrhoea, squitters.

STEWED WHORE, a foundered jade of the stews.

STICK, be scrupulous, hesitate.

STOUND, trouble, disaster, blow: also interval, time, station, place--hence, generally, circumstances, exigence, situation.

STOUR, uproar, tumult.

STRAW, "a pad in the _straw_," toad: _i.e._ something lurking or hidden.

SWINK, labour, drudgery.

SWYTH, with vigour and speed, promptly, quickly.

TAR-LEATHER, a term of abuse.

THE, "so mote I _the_," so may I thrive.

THROAT-BOLE, gullet, windpipe.

TOSSING, first-rate, sharp.

T'OU, thou.

TOWN, "the ground attached to the house: cf. Scots _toun_" (Bradley).

TOYS, generic for trifles, persons, and things of little importance, tricks, fancies, &c.

TROT, old woman; usually in contempt, and = drab, slut, strumpet.

TROWL, "_trowl_ to me the bowl" (p. 15), a common phrase in drinking for passing the vessel about.

TRUMP, the card game of triumph.

TWENTY DEVIL WAY, a favourite malediction: _i.e._ in the name of twenty devils.

TWO-LEGGED FOX, a thief, _two-legged cat_ is a colloquialism which is still of service in everyday speech as a retort to blame put on a cat for stealing--"a _two-legged cat_, then!"

WASHICAL, _i.e._ What shall I call [it]; in modern guise, Whatch-em-may-call-it, &c.

WEET, learn, know.

WESE, we shall.

WHEWLING, crying, blubbering, fretful.

WIDE, wide of the mark: cf. modern slang usage = well-informed, clever, &c.

WOLL, will.

YEDE, went.

R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

The Museum Dramatists

REPRINTS OF NOTABLE PLAYS

_Each Volume complete in itself, with Introduction, Glossary, and Facsimile Title-pages_

Price per Vol., boards, =1/6= net; cloth, =2/-= net

The Initial Volumes are:--

1. Gammer Gurton's Needle.

2. Heywood's (J.) Four P.P. and The Pardoner and the Frere.

3. Every Man.

4. Tom Tiler and his Wife.

_These will be followed by others selected from the following_:--

Calisto and Melibæa

Jack Juggler

John John the Husband, Tib his Wife, and Sir John the Priest

Grim the Collier of Croydon

The Puritan, or the Widow of Watling Street (Pseudo-Shakespearian)

Fair Em (Pseudo-Shakespearian)

Hickscorner

Thersites

Patient Grissel

The Three Ladies of London

The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London

The Two Angry Women of Abingdon

A Knack to Know a Knave

Warning to Fair Women

Dr. Dodypoll

The Miseries of Enforced Marriage

The Nice Wanton

The Play of Love

Wine, Beer, and Ale

&c., &c., &c.

End of Project Gutenberg's Gammer Gurton's Needle, by Mr. S. Mr. of Art