Part 24
A question having arisen concerning the pronunciation of the French word _bras_ in the time of Shakspeare, it was observed in a former note that some remarks by the Rev. Mr. Bowle, in another place, had contributed at least to leave the matter open to discussion. That gentleman has certainly offered some evidence from Pasquier, that in the _middle_ of words the _s_ was pronounced where now it is silent; but on the other hand there is positive proof that the contrary practice prevailed in 1572, when De la Ramée published his French grammar. At page 19, he says, "Premierement nous sommes prodigues en lescripture de _s_, _sans la prononcer_ comme en _maistre_, _mesler_, _oster_, _soustenir_." This writer has expatiated on the difficulty which foreigners have in pronouncing the French language on account of its orthography, and offered a new mode by which it may be avoided. In the course of this specimen, he has, fortunately for the present occasion, printed the word _bras_ without the _s_, (see p. 61,) and thereby supplied the means of deciding the present question, which, after all, was scarcely worth a controversy. Whoever wrote this dialogue was unacquainted with the true pronunciation of the French language, as Mr. Malone has already remarked, and framed Pistol's reply accordingly. In Eliot's _Orthoepia Gallica_, 1593, 4to, mentioned in Dr. Farmer's note, there is a passage which seems to have escaped the doctor's notice. In page 61, the author directs the sentence "vous avez un _bras_ de fer," to be pronounced "voo-za-ve-zewn _bra_ de fer."
SCENE 5. Page 448.
BOUR. Let him go hence, and with his cap in hand, Like a base pander, hold the chamber door, &c.
This is an allusion to the conduct of Pandarus when he introduced Troilus to his niece Cressida's chamber. See the story as related by Chaucer.
ACT V.
Page 470.
CHOR. ... Like a mighty _whiffler_, 'fore the king Seems to prepare his way.
Some errors have crept into the remarks on this word which require correction. It is by no means, as Hanmer had conceived, a corruption from the French _huissier_. He was apparently misled by the resemblance which the office of a whiffler bore in modern times to that of an usher. The term is undoubtedly borrowed from _whiffle_, another name for a _fife_ or small flute; for whifflers were originally those who preceded armies or processions as fifers or pipers. Representations of them occur among the prints of the magnificent triumph of Maximilian I. In a note on _Othello_, Act III. Scene 2, Mr. Warton had supposed that _whiffler_ came from what he calls "_the old_ French _viffleur_;" but it is presumed that that language does not supply any such word, and that the use of it in the quotation from Rymer's _fœdera_ is nothing more than a vitiated orthography. In process of time the term _whiffler_, which had always been used in the sense of a _fifer_, came to signify any person who went before in a procession. Minsheu, in his _Dictionary_, 1617, defines him to be a club or staff-bearer. Sometimes the whifflers carried white staves, as in the annual feast of the printers, founders, and ink-makers, so curiously described in Randle Holme's _Academy of armory_, book iii. ch. 3, where one of them is stated to have carried in his right hand a great bowl of white wine and sugar. Another mistake occurs in Mr. Warton's note, when he says, that "by degrees the word _whiffler_ hence acquired the metaphorical meaning which it at present obtains in common speech, and became an appellation of contempt." This is by no means the case, for _whiffler_, in its sense of a _babbler_, _trifler_, or _versatile person_, is pure Saxon, ƿæꝼleꞃe, _blatero_.
KING HENRY VI.
PART I.
ACT I.
SCENE 1. Page 506.
BED. And with them scourge the bad revolting stars, That have _consented_ unto Henry's death.
IT is conceived that most readers, after perusing the several notes on these lines, will be of opinion that some further elucidation is necessary. The first attempt should be to ascertain the respective significations of the words _concent_ and _consent_, which can only be effected by an attention to their Latin etymology.
_Concent_, in its simple and primitive acceptation, is nothing more than a _singing together harmoniously_; but because in such harmony there is an _agreement_ of sounds, the word was sometimes metaphorically used to express _concord or agreement generally_. _Consent_ never means _union of sounds_, but _agreement generally_, or an union of _sense_ or _opinion_. Cicero has most carefully distinguished them when he says, "Ubi enim perspecta vis est rationis ejus qua causæ rerum atque exitus cognoscuntur, mirus quidam omnium quasi _consensus_ doctrinarum, _concentusque_ reperitur."--De oratore, lib. iii. Among English writers, the similitude in sound and an inattention to orthography have contributed to their common and promiscuous use.
Mr. Steevens inclines to the meaning above given of _concent_, and yet he adopts _consent_ in his text; nor are his instances uniform. Thus in the quotation from Cicero _De nat. deorum_, concentus simply means _concord_ or _agreement_. In the passage from Milton, _consent_ evidently denotes the same thing. The rest of his quotations relate to _musical concent_.
Mr. Mason, in his own words, assents to Mr. Steevens's explanation; yet his instances are all unfortunately calculated to illustrate the other sense of _barely agreeing_.
The books of Elizabeth's time indiscriminately use both modes of orthography. Thus we have, "Broughton's _concent_ of Scripture," for _consent_; though, as is shown already, either will serve for _agreement_.
In the two passages cited by Mr. Steevens from Spenser, the orthography varies, though the meaning is evidently the same, i. e. _musical concent_. His expectations will be often disappointed who shall seek an exact meaning from some particular mode of orthography in ancient writers. There does not perhaps exist a more fallible rule; and it was reserved for the superior accuracy of modern times to affix any thing like uniformity of spelling, and consequently of sense, to our language.
It is impossible at this time to collect precisely what the author of the lines in question intended. The only guide we have is the passage quoted by Mr. Malone from another part of this play, "You all _consented_ unto Salisbury's death." Yet, had the poet written _concented_, the sense in both places might be, _you all acted in concert, or jointly in unison, to accomplish the death, &c._ This accords with the following passage in _Pericles_, Act I. Scene 1:--
"The Senate house of planets _all did sit_ To knit in her their best perfections."
An opportunity here presents itself of remarking how injudiciously we have discarded the more expressive and legitimate term _consort_, as a company of musicians playing together, for the new-fangled Italian _concert_. The other would be vulgar to a modern ear, and is now marked in our dictionaries as a _corrupt spelling_.
ACT III.
SCENE 1. Page 584.
MAY. The bishop's and the duke of Gloster's men, _Forbidden late to carry any weapon_, Have fill'd their pockets full of _pebble stones_, &c.
This fact is borrowed, with some variation, from Stowe or Fabian. "Men being forbidden to bring swords or other weapons, brought great battes and staves on their neckes; and when _those weapons were inhibited them_, they took _stones_ and plomets of lead, &c."
SCENE 1. Page 587.
WAR. Sweet king!--the bishop hath a _kindly gird_.
Mr. Steevens has on this occasion, for the sake of the last word, introduced two notes which might very well have been spared. There is no doubt that Warwick means to say that the young king has given Winchester a gentle reproof. This is the plain and obvious meaning of _gird_. Dr. Johnson is wide, very wide, of the mark.
ACT V.
SCENE 3. Page 645.
PUC. You speedy helpers, that are substitutes Under the lordly _monarch of the north_, Appear.
The _monarch of the North_ was Zimimar, one of the four principal devils invoked by witches. The others were, Amaimon king of the East, Gorson king of the South, and Goap king of the West. Under these devil kings were devil marquesses, dukes, prelates, knights, presidents and earls. They are all enumerated, from Wier _De præstigiis dæmonum_, in Scot's _Discoverie of witchcraft_, book xv. c. 2 and 3.
KING HENRY VI.
PART II.
ACT I.
SCENE 2. Page 20.
DUCH. With _Margery Jourdain_, the cunning witch.
It appears from Rymer's _Fœdera_, vol. x. p. 505, that in the tenth year of King Henry the Sixth, _Margery Jourdemayn_, John Virley clerk, and friar John Ashwell, were, on the ninth of May 1433, brought from Windsor by the constable of the castle, to which they had been committed for sorcery, before the council at Westminster, and afterwards, by an order of council, delivered into the custody of the Lord Chancellor. The same day it was ordered by the lords of council that whenever the said Virley and Ashwell should find security for their good behaviour they should be set at liberty, and in like manner that Jourdemayn should be discharged on her husband's finding security. This woman was afterwards burned in Smithfield, as stated in the play and also in the chronicles.
ACT II.
SCENE 3. Page 64.
PET. Here Robin, an if I die, I give thee my _apron_.
Minsheu and others conceived that this word was derived from _afore one_, an etymology that perfectly accords with the burlesque manner of Dean Swift. It has been also deduced from the Greek words προ and περι; the Latin _porro_ and _operio_, &c. &c. Skinner, with more plausibility, has suggested the Saxon aꝼoꞃan. After all, _an apron_ is no more than a corruption of _a napron_, the old and genuine orthography. Thus in _The mery adventure of the pardonere and tapstere_:
"... and therwith to wepe She made, and with her _napron_ feir and white ywash She wypid soft hir eyen for teris that she outlash As grete as any mylstone----"
_Urry's Chaucer_, p. 594.
We have borrowed the word from the old French _naperon_, a large cloth. See Carpentier _Suppl. ad Cangium_, v. _Naperii_. So _napkin_, which has perplexed our dictionary-makers, is only a _little_ cloth, from _nappe_.
SCENE 3. Page 66.
HOR. Hold Peter, hold; I confess treason.
[_Dies._
The real names of these combatants were _John Daveys_ and _William Catour_, as appears from the original precept to the sheriffs still remaining in the Exchequer, commanding them to prepare the barriers in Smithfield for the combat. The names of the sheriffs were Godfrey Boloyne and Robert _Horne_; and the latter, which occurs in the page of Fabian's chronicle that records the duel, might have suggested the name of _Horner_ to Shakspeare. Stowe is the only historian who has preserved the servant's name, which was _David_. Annexed to the before mentioned precept is the account of expenses incurred on this occasion, duly returned into the Exchequer. From this it further appears that the erection of the barriers, the combat itself, and the subsequent execution of the armourer, occupied the space of six or seven days; that the barriers had been brought to Smithfield in a cart from Westminster; that a large quantity of sand and gravel was consumed on the occasion, and that the place of battle was strewed with rushes. Mr. Steevens has inferred from the above record that _the armourer was not killed by his opponent, but worsted, and immediately afterwards hanged_. This, however, is in direct contradiction to _all_ the historians that have mentioned the circumstance, who, though they differ in some particulars, are certainly agreed as to the death of the accused by the hands of his servant. Halle's words are, "whose _body_ was drawen to Tyborn and there hanged and beheaded;" a mode of expression which, though ambiguous, seems rather to refer to the previous death of the party. Fabian, Grafton, Stowe, and Holinshed, state that he was slain. It is possible that Mr. Steevens, in making the above inference, conceived that because the man was hanged he must necessarily have been alive at the time of his execution: but the _mercy_ of the law on this occasion certainly made no such distinction; and _the dead body of the vanquished was equally adjudged to the punishment of a convicted traitor, in order that his posterity might participate in his infamy_. Indeed, the record itself seems decisive; for it states that the dead man was watched _after the battle was done_, and this probably means before it was conveyed to Tyborn for execution and decapitation. The same rule was observed in cases of appeal for murder, as we learn from the laws or assizes of Jerusalem made there in the fourteenth century; by which he that was _slain_ or vanquished from cowardice in the field of battle, was adjudged to be _drawn and hanged_; his horse and arms being given to the constable. See Thaumassiere _Assises de Jerusalem_, ch. 104, and Selden's _Duello_, p. 30. The hanging and beheading were confined to cases of murder and treason; in a simple affair of arms the vanquished party was only disarmed and led forth ignominiously from the lists.
Since this note was written, the whole of the curious record in the Exchequer has been printed in Mr. Nicholls's valuable and interesting work entitled, "_Illustrations of the manners and expences of antient times in England_", 1797, 4to. As intimately connected with the present subject, the following extract cannot fail of being acceptable. It is taken from Gaguin, _Gestes Romains_, printed at Paris by Ant. Verard, without date, in folio, a volume of extreme rarity, and is part of the ceremony of an appeal for treason as regulated by Thomas Duke of Gloucester, high constable to Richard the Second. "Et si la dicte bataille est cause de traison, celluy qui est vaincu et desconfit sera desarmé dedans les lices, et par le commandement du conestable sera mis en un cornet et en reprehencion de luy sera traisné hors avec chevaulx du lieu mesme ou il est ainsi desarmé parmy les lices jusques au lieu de justice, ou sera decolé ou pendu selon lusaige du pays, laquelle chose appartient au mareschal veoir par fournir par son office, et le mettre a execution," fo. 148:--that is, "If the said battle be on account of treason, he that is vanquished and discomfited shall be disarmed within the lists, and by the authority of the constable put into a little cart; then having received a proper reprimand he shall be drawn by horses from the spot where he has been disarmed, through the lists, to the place of public execution, and there hanged or beheaded according to the custom of the country: which matter the marshal, by virtue of his office, is to see performed and executed."
ACT III.
SCENE 1. Page 74.
SUF. I think, I should have told your _grace's_ tale.
On this expression Dr. Johnson remarks that "_majesty_ was not the settled title till the time of King James the First." In a note to vol. i. p. 97, of the lives of _Leland, Hearne, and Wood_, it is said that our kings had not the title of _majesty_ in the reign of Henry the Eighth; and another note in Dr. Warburton's edition of the Dunciad, b. iv. l. 176, states that James was the first who assumed the title of _sacred majesty_; all which information is unsupported by authority.
On the other hand, Camden more correctly says, that "_majesty_ came hither in the time of King Henry the Eighth, as _sacred majesty_ lately in our memory."--_Remains concerning Britain_, p. 198, edit. 1674, 8vo. Selden, referring to this passage, wishes it to be understood so far as it relates to the title being "commonly in use and properly to the king applied," because he adduces an instance of the use of _majesty_ so early as the reign of Henry the Second. In a letter from queen Elizabeth to Edward the Sixth, she signs "Your _majesties_ humble sister," and addresses it "To the kinges _most excellent majestie_."--Harl. MS. No. 6986. In the same volume is a most extraordinary letter in Italian to Elizabeth, beginning, "Serenissima et _sacratissima maesta_," which shows that Camden, who wrote what he says above early in 1603, must rather refer to Elizabeth than James the First.
The use of _majesty_ is ascribed by the learned authors of the _Nouveau traité de diplomatique_ to Gondemar king of the Visigoths, and to the kings of Lorraine in the seventh century; but in France it is not traceable before the year 1360, about which time Raoul de Presle, in the dedication to his translation of Saint Augustin _De civitate Dei_, thus addresses Charles the Fifth: "si supplie à vostre _royalle majesté_." It was however but sparingly used till the reign of Louis XI. In the treaty of Créssy the emperor Charles V. is called _imperial majesty_, and Francis I. _royal majesty_. In that of Château Cambresis, Henry II. is entitled _most christian majesty_, and Philip II. _catholic majesty_. Pasquier has some very curious remarks in reprobation of the use of _majesty_. See _Recherches de la France_, liv. viii. ch. 5.
Both Camden and Selden agree that the title of _Grace_ began about the time of Henry the Fourth, and of _excellent Grace_ under Henry the Sixth.
SCENE 1. Page 91.
YORK. ... I have seen him Caper upright like a wild _Mórisco_, Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells.
However just Dr. Johnson's explanation of Morisco may be in an etymological point of view, it is at least doubtful whether it mean in this place a real or even personated _Moor_. Nothing more may be intended than simply a performer in a morris dance. It may be likewise doubted whether in the English morris dance, a single Moorish character was ever introduced. The quotation from Junius is extremely perplexing; yet it must be remembered that he was a foreigner, and speaking perhaps conjecturally.
SCENE 2. Page 96.
K. HEN. ... Come, _basilisk_, And kill the innocent gazer with thy _sight_.
Bartholomæus, with whom it has been shown that Shakspeare was well acquainted, speaking of the basilisk or cockatrice, says, "In his _sight_ no fowle nor birde passeth harmelesse, and though he be farre from the foule, yet it is burnt and devoured by his mouth.... Plinius also sayth there is a wilde beast called Catobletas [which is] great noyeng to mankinde: _for all that see his eyen should dye anone, and the same kinde hath the cockatrice_."--_De propriet. rer._ lib. xviii. c. 16. The same property is also mentioned by Pliny of the basilisk, but Holland's translation was not printed till after this play was written. It is true that if Shakspeare did not write the lines in question, the original author might have used a Latin Pliny.
SCENE 2. Page 103.
WAR. Oft have I seen a _timely-parted_ ghost.
It has been very plausibly suggested that _timely-parted_ signifies _in proper time_, as opposed to _timeless_; yet in this place it seems to mean _early_, _recently_, _newly_. Thus in _Macbeth_, Act II. Scene 3,
"He did command me to call _timely_ on him."
Again, in _The unfaithful lover's garland_,
"Says he, I'll rise; says she, I scorn To be so _timely parted_."
Porter, in his comedy of the _Two angry women of Abingdon_, 1599, 4to, seems to have had Warwick's speech in view when he wrote these lines:
"Oft have I heard a _timely married_ girl That _newly_ left to call her mother mam, &c."
SCENE 2. Page 105.
WAR. But see, his face is black and full of blood.
The accounts given by the English historians of the Duke of Gloucester's death are very discordant and unsatisfactory. They relate that he was smothered between feather-beds; that he was found dead in his bed; that a red hot spit was thrust through him; and that he died of grief. There is another account of this event, which, as it seems to have been quite unnoticed in our histories, and may deserve as much attention as either of the foregoing, shall here be given.
George Chastellain, a celebrated soldier, poet, and historian, was by birth a Flemming, and is said to have been in the service of Philip duke of Burgundy. He travelled into various countries, and wrote an account of what he had seen, under the title of _The wonderful occurrences of his time_. Speaking of his visit to England, he says,
"Passant par Angleterre Ie veis en grant tourment Les seigneurs de la terre S'entretuer forment Avec un tel deluge Qui cueurs esbahissoit Que a peine y eut refuge Ou mort n'apparoissoit. Ung nouveau roy creerent Par despiteux vouloir Le viel en debouterent Et son legitime hoir Qui fuytif alla prendre Descosse le garand, De tous siécles le mendre Et le plus tollerant."
This alludes to the flight of Henry the Sixth into Scotland. In another place he speaks as an eye witness of the death of duke Humphrey, and relates that _he was strangled in a cask of wine_, adding also the reason,
"Par fortune senestre Veiz a l'oeil vifvement Le grant _duc de Clocestre_ Meurdrir piteusement _En vin plein une cuve Failloit que estranglé fust, Cuydant par celle estuve, Que la mort ny parut_."
What credit he may deserve may be worth the inquiry of some future historian. His work in general will strike every reader as a strange mixture of veracity and credulity.
The above singular mode of inflicting death seems to have prevailed about this time; for we find not long afterwards another instance of it in the execution of George duke of Clarence, who, as is generally agreed, was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. He appears to have chosen the manner of his death, on which Mr. Hume makes the following observation: "A whimsical choice, which implies that _he had an extraordinary passion for that liquor_."[16] It should rather be inferred that the punishment in question was more frequent than is commonly known, and made use of for culprits of rank and eminence when dispatched in secret. Jean Molinet, the continuator of the above work of Chastellain, has thus described this event:
"Jay veu _duc de Clarence_ Bouté en une tour Qui queroit apparence De regner a son tour; De mort preadvisee _Le roy le feist noyer Dedans mallevoisee Pour le moins ennuyer_."
SCENE 2. Page 116.
Q. MAR. Away! though parting be a fretful _corrosive_.
A learned commentator has stated that this word was _generally_ written _corsive_ in Shakspeare's time, and he has indeed proved that it was so written _sometimes_. The fact is, it was written as at present in prose, and in poetry either way, as occasion required. Thus Drant in his translation of _Horace's satyres_, 1566, 4to:
"Wote you not why? _corrosyve_ style Is _corsey_ to the eye."
In the text it should be printed _cor'sive_.
SCENE 3. Page 116.
K. HEN. O beat away the busy meddling fiend That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul.
It was the belief of our pious ancestors, that when a man was on his death-bed the devil or his agents attended in the hope of getting possession of the soul, if it should happen that the party died without receiving the sacrament of the eucharist, or without confessing his sins. Accordingly in the ancient representations of this subject, and more particularly in those which occur in such printed services of the church as contain the vigils or office of the dead, these _busy meddling fiends_ appear, and with great anxiety besiege the dying man; but on the approach of the priest and his attendants, they betray symptoms of horrible despair at their impending discomfiture. In an ancient manuscript book of devotions, written in the reign of Henry the Sixth, there is a prayer addressed to Saint George, with the following very singular passage: "Judge for me whan the moste hedyous and damnable dragons of helle shall be redy to take my poore soule and engloute it in to theyr infernall belyes."