The Shakespeare-Expositor: An Aid to the Perfect Understanding of Shakespeare's Plays

Conf. Am. v.

Ib. vi.

And it is a question in which of these senses Shakespeare understood shard (Ant. and Cleop. iii. 2, Macb. iii. 2, Cymb. iii. 3) when speaking of the beetle. In the first "they were his shards and he their beetle," the cow-dung, though the beetle's natal place, could hardly be meant, as he had then to do with only one shard; while supposing the wing-cases to be meant, the sense is plain: in the second "the shard-borne beetle" is ambiguous; for born and borne were the same word: in the third, "the sharded beetle" can only mean properly the beetle that has shards, and it is opposed to "the full-wing'd eagle." The fact, then, seems to be that the poet took this word from Gower, and applied it to the wing-cases of the beetle, which he supposed to be the wings, a piece of ignorance in zoology not to be wondered at in one who asserted (M. of Ven. v. 1) that the nightingale does not sing by day.

Sheriff's post (Tw. N. i. 5). It was the custom to have painted posts at the doors of city magistrates, on which proclamations, etc. were put up.

Shove-groat, a kind of game. "It requires," says Strutt, "a parallelogram to be made with chalk, or by lines cut upon the middle of a table, about 12 or 14 inches in breadth, and 3 or 4 feet in length; which is divided latitudinally into nine equal partitions, in every one of which is placed a figure in regular succession from one to nine. Each of the players provides himself with a smooth halfpenny [formerly a groat or shilling] which he places upon the edge of the table, and striking it with the palm of his hand drives it towards the marks; and according to the value of the figure affixed to the partition wherein the halfpenny rests his game is reckoned; which generally is stated at thirty-one, and must be made precisely. If it be exceeded, the player goes again for nine, which must also be brought exactly, or the turn is forfeited; and if the halfpenny rests upon any of the marks that separate the partitions, or overpasses the external bounderies, the go is void."

Shrew. This well-known word is used of men also in Chaucer, signifying, a bad, a wicked person: in its later restriction to women it is nearly synonymous with scold. It would seem to come from some lost Anglo-Saxon verb—of which we have a trace in beshrew—akin to the German schreien, to cry out, scream. Shrewd, now used only in the sense of mental acuteness, signified (H. VIII. v. 2) ill, malicious.

Side. "Carry out a side" (Lear, v. 1), means win a game at cards, as "pull down a side" was to lose it. It would seem that these phrases were only used of games where there were partners. Sides is still used of athletic games where there are two parties.

Sink-apace. See Galliard.

Skains-mate (R. and J. ii. 4). Perhaps the best interpretation of this unusual term is common woman, whore, who, like Doll Tearsheet (2 H. IV. ii. 4), usually carried a knife. Skain is the Irish sgian, knife.

Sleave, and sleave-silk (Macb. ii. 2, Tr. and Cr. v. 1), the soft floss silk before it is twisted.

Sleeve-hand (W. T. iv. 3), cuff or wristband. In the same place square is the part covering the bosom:

Fairf. G. of Bul. xii. 64.

Slip. See Counterfeit.

Soft, soft you. These expressions, which so frequently occur, are verbs; soft coming from soften, as haste from hasten. The meaning is relax, stop, hold back. It may be here observed that the hunting-term soho is a combination of soft and hold, both apocopated, meaning hold back, do not start the hare; and that tallyho is tarry, hold, let the fox get off, give him law. In like manner holla was a term used to a horse (Ven. and Adon., St. 48, As You Like it, iii. 2), to make him stop, stand quiet, and formed from hold and, perhaps, hard.

Span-counter (2 H. VI. iv. 3), a game played by boys with counters or pieces of money; but it is not well known in what manner. The span or distance between the thumb and the little finger when the hand is on the stretch, had of course something to do with it, as in Three-hole-span, a game at marbles.

Speak (K. John, ii. 1, J. C. iv. 3, Cor. v. 3). Editors do not seem to have observed that in these and other places speak is synonymous with say.

Split. "Make all split" (M. N. D. i. 2), was a common phrase, denoting violence of action; but the allusion is not exactly known. We say "split the sides" with laughter.

Spoons (H. VIII. v. 3). It was the custom for the sponsors at a christening to make a present of spoons, named Apostle-spoons, because the handle was terminated with the figure of one of the Apostles. The spoons were usually of silver. The wealthy gave the entire dozen, others according to their means.

Spy of the time (Macb. iii. 2). This most unusual phrase occurs only in this place. The meaning of spy in it must be, exact information. It is very remarkable that Ariosto uses spia in exactly the same sense:—

Or. Fur. xxxix. 79.

See also vii. 34, viii. 68, ix. 14, xxxvii. 90, I Suppositi, v. 6. Could Shakespeare have read Ariosto in Italian? Spy does not occur in Harrington's translation; but Gascoigne renders ebbero spia in I Suppositi by had espial. In Gower (Conf. Am. v.) we have

Stalking-horse (As Y. L. v. 4), either a real horse trained for the purpose, or the imitation of one carried by the sportsman by means of which his was enabled to get within shooting-distance of wild fowl.

Statute (sc. staple, merchant) Ham. v. 1, a legal mode of securing a debt on the debtor's land. Recognizance in the same place is an acknowledgment by the debtor for the same purpose; fines and recoveries were legal modes of cutting off an entail; double voucher was connected with a recovery, two persons being required to vouch for the tenant's title.

Stell (Lear, iii. 7). It is very doubtful in what sense this verb is used here. It is usually supposed to be the same as stellar; but there is no instance of its use in that sense, while in Lucrece, st. 207, and in Son. xxiv. we have it in the sense of place, of which (except these passages of our poet) only the following instance has been given, and that of the subst., not the verb. "The said stell of Plessis," Danet, Comines. Stelle and stel are the German and Dutch, stead the English, for place.

Sticking-place (Macb. i. 7). The best explanation of this seems to be that which supposes it to be the point to which the strings of musical instruments are screwed up in tuning.

Stickler (Tr. and Cr. v. 9), one whose office it was, at single combats or trials of skill, to stand by and see fair play, and to end the matter when he deemed it right to do so. He bore a stick, whence the name. Like some other words it has somewhat changed its meaning, for it now means one who contends for something.

Stint (R. and J. i. 3, Tr. and Cr. iv. 5, Tim. v. 5), cease, stop, put an end to. "Stint thy babbling tongue" (Jonson, Cynth. Rev. i. 1). "Stint thy idle chat" (Marston, What You Will). "Lacrimas supprimere, to stint weeping" (Baret, Alvearie).

Strachy. "The Lady of the Strachy" (Tw. N. ii. 5). What the allusion is here, and the meaning of Strachy are alike unknown. Payne Knight conjectured that this word may be a corruption of Stratico, the title of the Governor of Messina; but this is very dubious.

Stuck (Tw. N. iii. 5, Ham. iv. 7), seems to be a corruption of stocco, It., a rapier.

Sword. Swearing by the sword (W. T. ii. 3, Ham. i. 5), was in effect swearing by the Cross, as the hilt and blade were separated by a cross bar of metal.

Take (M. W. iv. 4, Ham. i. 1, Lear, ii. 4), to strike, blast, infect. Here it is used in a causative sense, with an ellipsis of the object, as disease, etc.—Take in (Ant. and Cl. i. 1, iii. 7, Cymb. iv. 2) is the same as the simple take. It is a mere translation of the Dutch ennemen, learned in the wars of the Low Countries.—Take with (1 H. IV. ii. 4, R. and J. iii. 5), cause to understand, keep, as it were, in the same pace with.—Take up (All's Well, ii. 3, 2 H. IV. i. 2), sc. money or things on credit.

Tawdry (W. T. iv. 3), a corruption of Saint Audrey (i.e. Ethelred), the t being, as was so frequently the case, transferred to the following word. A fair was held, chiefly at Ely, on St. Audrey's day (Oct. 17), at which toys, etc., were sold, among these a kind of silken necklaces, much worn by the country-maidens. We should perhaps say simply, lace; for Spenser has

Shep. Cal. iv. 135.

Tawny. This is simply tanned, i.e. of a brown colour like that of tanned leather. Hence in 1 H. VI., the Bishop's men are in "tawny coats," i.e. coats of some variety of brown colour.

Tear a cat (M. N. D. i. 2), an expression of ranting violence of which the origin is merely conjectural.

Tennis. The figurative expressions in these plays derived from this game are:—Bandy (R. and J. ii. 5, Lear, i. 4 et alibi), to strike and drive the ball with the racket. Hazard (H. V. i. 2) is, says Steevens, "a place in the tennis-court into which the ball was sometimes struck." Chace (ib.) is, says Douce, "that spot where a ball falls, beyond which the adversary must strike the ball to gain a point or chace. At long tennis it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling." Steevens quotes from Sidney's Arcadia, book iii. "Then Fortune—as if she had made chaces enow on the one side of that bloody tennis-court—went on to the other side of the line." Surely, according to this, with which Shakespeare agrees, a chace was not a spot. The line, it may be observed, ran along the court at right angles to the wall against which they played.

Termagant (Ham. iii. 2), an imaginary being, in the old mysteries and moralities, usually associated with Mahound, i.e. Mahomet, and of a furious violent character. The word still remains, but in a somewhat different sense. It comes, it is said, from Trivagante, It., used in the same manner. May not the remote origin be Ter-(i.e. Tris-) megistos?

Thewes (2 H. IV. iii. 4, Ham. i. 3, J. C. i. 3). In these places Shakespeare uses this term in a corporeal sense of the sinews and muscles, and he may have been the first who did so. It properly denotes the qualities of the mind, from theaw, A.S., and is akin to Tugend Germ.

Thread and thrum (M. N. D. v. i). The thread is the warp in a web; the thrum, the tufts formed by the ends of the thread beyond the web. The two taken together therefore form the whole.

Three-farthings (K. John, i. 1), pieces of silver coin of that value; of course extremely thin and liable to crack.

Three-man song (W. T. iv. 3), a song for three voices. By way of a joke derived from this we have "three-man beetle" (1 H. IV. i. 2).

Three-pile (M. for M. IV. 3, W. T. iv. 2, L. L. L. v. 2), the finest kind of velvet. The name alludes to something in its construction. From pilum? Terciopelo is the Spanish for velvet.

Tick-tack (M. for M. i. 3), same as tric-trac, a game similar to draughts. "This is the plain game of tick-tack, which is so called from touch and take; for if you touch a man you must play him, though to your loss" (Comp. Gamester, p. 113).

Tide. "A parted just at turning of the tide" (H. V. ii. 3). Here the critics tell us of a superstition connecting death with the tide of the sea. But as it is added "between twelve and one," I think we may take tide in its original sense of, time.

Tire, in falconry (from tirer, Fr.). The hawk or any other bird of prey, was said to tire on its food when it dragged or tore it to pieces. Shakespeare uses the word metaphorically (Tim. iii. 6, Cymb. iii. 4).

To. Like zu, G., te, D., this particle occurs continually in Shakespeare in the sense of at. "To Milan let me hear from you by letters" (Two Gent. i. 1) is an instance generally not understood by the editors. See above, p. 343. It is also used with an ellipsis of compared in Two Gent. ii. 4, Ham. iii. 1, and elsewhere.

Toad (As Y. L. ii. 1). It was a notion in those times that the poor innocent toad had in the interior of his head a stone endued with great virtues, named borax or stelon. See Fenton, Secret Wonders of Nature, 1569, and other authors. Perhaps the notion originated in the great brilliancy of the toad's eye, which may have been termed 'a jewel.'

Lingua, v. 6.

Tokens (L. L. L. v. 2, Ant. and Cl. iii. 8), the spots on the body denoting the plague. The house in which there was one or more persons who had them was shut up, and Lord have mercy upon us! put over the door.

Too. This word occurs in the sense of trop, Fr., i.e. excessively, in Com. of Err. i. 2, L. L. L. ii. 1, Temp. ii. 2, and other places. For the difference of trop and too, assez and enough, see what I have written in Notes and Queries, 3 Ser. x. 430.

Turk Gregory (1 H. IV. v. 3). In this are united two objects of the utmost horror and fear, the Grand Turk and the famous Pope Gregory VII., as depicted by Foxe in his Book of Martyrs.

Turnbull-street (2 H. IV. iii. 2), a street in Clerkenwell, now restored to its original name of Turnmill-street. It was the resort of bullies, whores, et id genus omne.

Two and thirty a pip out (T. of Sh. i. 2), i. e. thirty-one; the allusion being, it is said, to a game of cards called Bone-ace or Thirty-one. A pip is one of the spots on the cards.

Utis (2 H. IV. ii. 4), or Utas, the eighth day after a festival, or Saint's-day: from huit, Fr. As it was a holiday, it came to signify sport, festivity, amusement in general.

Veal. "Veal, quoth the Dutchman" (L. L. L. v. 2). In Dutch Veel is much, many, often. Here it seems to answer to Much!

Veney, venew (M. W. i. 1, L. L. L. v. 1), an assault in fencing—from venue, Fr., a coming-on. It was the Italian stoccata.

Vice (Tw. N. iv. 2), same as Iniquity, which see.

Vie (T. Sh. ii. 1, Ant. and Cl. v. 2), to bet, lay. The noun is the French envi, the Spanish envite.

Virginal (W. T. i. 2). The virginal was the first form of the pianoforte. It was rectangular, differing in this from the spinnet, the harpsichord, and grand piano. Nares, who had seen the instrument, describes it exactly. It was sometimes called a pair of virginals, as an organ was a pair of organs, in allusion probably to the set (pair) of keys.

Wanton (from wendan, A.S., turn, change?) seems to have originally signified yielding, changeable. We have "the wanton green" (M. N. D. ii. 2), "the wanton rushes" (1 H. IV. iii. 1).

Water-work (2 H. IV. ii. 1) seems to mean work done on cloth in water-colours, or distemper.

Weaver (Tw. N. ii. 3, 1 H. IV. ii. 4). Weavers, from the sedentary nature of their work, seem to have been much addicted to singing, especially psalms. By the three souls in the first of these passages is meant the vegetative, sensitive, and reasonable souls, which were held to compose the soul.

Weyard. This is the way in which Shakespeare spells in Macbeth the word which in G. Douglas and Holinshed is spelt weird.

Wheel (Ham. iv. 5), the burthen in a ballad, a translation of rota, probably on account of its coming round and round.

Whiffler (H. V. v. Chor.), a fifer, who went first in a procession. It then came to be used of any one who went before to clear the way.

While, whiles, whilst. The first of these words is a noun, signifying time; the second is the adverbial genitive of it, and the third this last with a paragogic t. While is used adverbially, like whiles, with an ellipsis of in the. It also occurs, as in the following passages, with an ellipsis of to the, till the. "The Romans had a law that every man should use shooting in peace-time, while he was forty year old" (Ascham, Toxoph. p. 16). "When the conjured spirit appears, which will not be while after many circumstances," etc. (K. James, Demonol.).

Wild-goose chase (R. and J. ii, 4) was something like our steeple-chase. There were only two riders; and when one got the lead, the other was obliged to follow wheresoever he went.

Winchester goose (1 H. VI. i. 3, Tr. and Cr. v. 11). This is said to be a swelling caused by a disease got in the stews. The latter passage, however, might intimate that it was a denizen of them. The origin of the phrase is supposed to be the circumstance of the stews being chiefly on the Bankside, which was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester; the proximity of the river may have caused the use of the term goose.

Wish (M. Ado, iii. 1, M. for M. iv. 3, Ant. and Cl. i. 3), advise, recommend; (T. of Sh. i. 1) to introduce.

Wit. This word was the same as esprit, Fr., and meant mental power, talent. Thus we have wit and humour still in use, but with changed signification; for it meant talent and character (individuality), as we have "wit and judgment" (Oth. iv. 2); or perhaps there may be an ellipsis of good with humour. The "five wits" (Tw. N. iv. 2) are said to be the five mental powers, "common wit [sense], imagination, fantasy, estimation [judgment], and memory" (Hawes, Bell. Pucel. ch. xxiv. ap. Malone). They were probably originally the five senses; but Shakespeare (Son. cxli.) clearly distinguishes them.

With (T. Sh. iv. 2, Ant. and Cl. v. 2, et alibi), by, a sense it still bears, but not as in these places.

World. "Go to the world" (All's Well, i. 3), "be a woman of the world" (As Y. L. v. 3), be married, have, as it were, a place in the world.

Worm (Ant. and Cl. v. 2, et alibi), snake, serpent, wyrm, A.S. Among Shakespeare's other errors in natural history seems to be that of his supposing (M. N. D. iii. 2, R. II. iii. 2) the adder to sting with its tongue. See, however, Ham. iii. 4, 3 H. VI. i. 4. Webster actually says,

Vitt. Coromb. ii.

J. Bunyan says of himself that having seized an adder, and "stunned her with a stick, he forced open her mouth, and plucked out her sting with his fingers," meaning probably her fangs.

Yaughan (Ham. v. 1). This might be taken for a corruption of Vaughan; but it is the Danish and German Johan (Y for J), John. Jonson has (Ev. Man out, etc. v. 4) "a few, one Yohan." Shakespeare got Johan along with the other Danish names—Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, Osric.

THE END.

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