Folk-lore of Shakespeare. Dyer Thomas Firminger Thiselton

147

See Swainson’s “Weather-Lore.”

148

Batman upon Bartholomæus – “De Proprietatibus Rerum,” lib. xi. c. 3.

149

Polwhele’s “Cornish Vocabulary.”

150

Cf. “Macbeth,” iii. 4, “O, these flaws and starts.”

151

See Harland and Wilkinson’s “Lancashire Folk-Lore,” 1867, pp. 116-121; “Notes and Queries,” 1st series, vol. viii. p. 224; “Penny Cyclopædia,” vol. vii. p. 206, article “Cirripeda.”

152

Nares’s “Glossary,” 1872, vol. i. p. 56.

153

See Harting’s “Ornithology of Shakespeare,” 1871, pp. 246-257.

154

“Ornithology of Shakespeare,” 1871, p. 252.

155

See “Philosophical Transactions” for 1835; Darwin’s “Monograph of the Cirrhipedia,” published by the Ray Society; a paper by Sir J. Emerson Tennent in “Notes and Queries,” 1st series, vol. viii. p. 223; Brand’s “Popular Antiquities,” 1849, vol. iii. pp. 361, 362; Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” 1839, p. 14.

156

See Yarrell’s “History of British Birds,” 2d edition, vol. i. p. 218; “Dialect of Leeds,” 1862, p. 329. In “Hamlet” (iii. 2), some modern editions read “ouzle;” the old editions all have weasel, which is now adopted.

157

Miss Baker’s “Northamptonshire Glossary,” 1854, vol. i. p. 94. See Nares’s “Glossary,” 1872, vol. i. p. 124; and “Richard III.,” i. 1.

158

Harting’s “Ornithology of Shakespeare,” p. 144; Halliwell-Phillipps’s “Handbook Index to Shakespeare,” 1866, p. 187. The term finch, also, according to some, may mean either the bullfinch or goldfinch.

159

See Yarrell’s “History of British Birds,” 2d edition, vol. ii. p. 58.

160

Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 156; Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1875, vol. v. p. 115; Dyce’s “Glossary,” 1876, p. 77.

161

Mr. Dyce says that if Dr. Latham had been acquainted with the article “Chouette,” in Cotgrave, he would not probably have suggested that Shakespeare meant here the lapwing or pewit. Some consider the magpie is meant. See Halliwell-Phillipps’s “Handbook Index to Shakespeare,” 1866, p. 83. Professor Newton would read “russet-patted,” or “red-legged,” thinking that Shakespeare meant the chough.

162

“Glossary,” vol. i. p. 162; Singer’s “Notes to Shakespeare,” 1875, vol. v. p. 42.

163

Massinger’s Works, 1813, vol. i. p. 281.

164

“Handbook Index to Shakespeare,” 1866, p. 86.

165

Miss Baker’s “Northamptonshire Glossary,” 1854, vol. i. p. 116.

166

“Coriolanus,” iv. 5; “Troilus and Cressida,” i. 2; “Much Ado About Nothing,” ii. 3; “Twelfth Night,” iii. 4; “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” v. 2, song; “1 Henry VI.” ii. 4.

167

Swainson’s “Weather-Lore,” 1873, p. 240.

168

Henderson’s “Folk-Lore of Northern Counties,” 1879, p. 48.

169

See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 438.

170

See Ibid.

171

See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 51-57; Hampson’s “Medii Œvi Kalendarium,” vol. i. p. 84.

172

1st series, vol. iii. p. 404.

173

“Medii Œvi Kalendarium,” vol. i. p. 85.

174

Roberts’s “Social History of Southern Counties of England,” 1856, p. 421; see “British Popular Customs,” 1876, p. 65.

175

Nares’s “Glossary,” 1872, vol. i. p. 203.

176

Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1875, vol. ix. p. 256; Halliwell-Phillipps’s “Handbook Index to Shakespeare,” p. 112.

177

Dyce’s “Glossary to Shakespeare,” p. 85.

178

“Illustrations of Shakespeare,” 1839, p. 290.

179

“Ornithology of Shakespeare,” p. 171.

180

It is also an ale-house sign.

181

See Dyce’s “Glossary to Shakespeare,” p. 85.

182

See “Book of Days,” 1863, vol. i. p. 157.

183

In “King Lear” (iv. 6), where Edgar says:

“Yond tall anchoring bark,

Diminish’d to her cock; her cock, a buoy

Almost too small for sight.”

the word “cock” is an abbreviation for cock-boat.

184

For superstitions associated with this bird, see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. iii. p. 218.

185

“Ornithology of Shakespeare,” p. 260.

186

See “Folk-Lore Record,” 1879, vol. i. p. 52; Henderson’s “Folk-Lore of Northern Counties,” 1879, pp. 25, 126, 277.

187

Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 208.

188

Cf. “Henry IV.,” iv. 2.

189

Miss Baker’s “Northamptonshire Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 161; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. iii. p. 393.

190

Cf. “Romeo and Juliet,” i. 5.

191

“A cuckold being called from the cuckoo, the note of that bird was supposed to prognosticate that destiny.” – Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 212.

192

Engel’s “Musical Myths and Facts,” 1876, vol. i. p. 9.

193

See Kelly’s “Indo-European Folk-Lore,” 1863, p. 99; “English Folk-Lore,” 1879, pp. 55-62.

194

See Mary Howitt’s “Pictorial Calendar of the Seasons,” p. 155; Knight’s “Pictorial Shakespeare,” vol. i. pp. 225, 226.

195

Chambers’s “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 531.

196

See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 201.

197

“Asinaria,” v. 1.

198

Nares, in his “Glossary” (vol. i. p. 212), says: “Cuckold, perhaps, quasi cuckoo’d, i. e., one served; i. e., forced to bring up a brood that is not his own.”

199

Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1875, vol. ix. p. 294.

200

“Ornithology of Shakespeare,” pp. 190, 191.

201

Sir W. Raleigh’s “History of the World,” bk. i. pt. i. ch. 6.

202

Strutt’s “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, p. 329.

203

There is an allusion to the proverbial saying, “Brag is a good dog, but Hold-fast is a better.”

204

In