Folk-lore of Shakespeare by Thomas Firminger Thiselton Dyer (year 2 reading books .txt) đź“–
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Lord Mayor’s Day (November 9). A custom which was in days gone by observed at the inauguration dinner was that of the Lord Mayor’s fool leaping, clothes and all, into a large bowl of custard. It is alluded to in “All’s Well that Ends Well” (ii. 5), by Lafeu: “You have made shift to run into’t, boots and spurs and all, like him that leaped into the custard.” Ben Jonson, in his “Devil’s an Ass” (i. 1), thus refers to it:
Skip with a rime o’ the table, from new nothing,
And take his almain leap into a custard,
Shall make my lady mayoress and her sisters,
Laugh all their hoods over their shoulders.”
St. Martin’s Day (November 11). The mild weather about this time has given rise to numerous proverbs; one of the well-known ones being “St. Martin’s little summer,” an allusion to which we find in “1 Henry VI.” (i. 2), where Joan of Arc says:
which Johnson paraphrases thus: “Expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun.” As an illustration, too, of this passage, we may quote from the Times, October 6, 1864: “It was one of those rare but lovely exceptions to a cold season, called in the Mediterranean St. Martin’s summer.”
A corruption of Martinmas is Martlemas. Falstaff is jocularly so called by Poins, in “2 Henry IV.” (ii. 2), as being in the decline, as the year is at this season: “And how doth the martlemas, your master?”
This was the customary time for hanging up provisions to dry, which had been salted for winter use.
St. Nicholas (December 6). This saint was deemed the patron of children in general, but more particularly of all schoolboys, among whom his festival used to be a very great holiday. Various reasons have been assigned for his having been chosen as the patron of children—either because the legend makes him to have been a bishop while yet a boy, or from his having restored three young scholars to life who had been cruelly murdered,[693] or, again, on account of his early abstinence when a boy. In the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (iii. 1) he is alluded to in this capacity:
Nicholas’s clerks was, and still is, a cant term for highwaymen and robbers; but though the expression is very common, its origin is a matter of uncertainty. In “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 1) it is thus alluded to:
“Gadshill. Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicholas’ clerks, I’ll give thee this neck.
Chamberlain. No. I’ll none of it: I pr’thee, keep that for the hangman: for I know thou worshippest Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may.”
Christmas. Among the observances associated with this season, to which Shakespeare alludes, we may mention the Christmas Carol, a reference to which is probably made in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (ii. 1), by Titania:
Hamlet (ii. 2) quotes two lines from a popular ballad, entitled the “Song of Jephthah’s Daughter,” and adds: “The first row of the pious chanson will show you more.”[694]
In days gone by, the custom of carol-singing was most popular, and Warton, in his “History of English Poetry,” notices a license granted in 1562 to John Tysdale for printing “Certayne goodly carowles to be songe to the glory of God;” and again “Crestenmas Carowles auctorisshed by my lord of London.”[695]
In the “Taming of the Shrew” (Ind., sc. 2) Sly asks whether “a comonty[696] is not a Christmas gambold.” Formerly the sports and merry-makings at this season were on a most extensive scale, being presided over by the Lord of Misrule.[697] Again, in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2), Biron speaks of “a Christmas comedy.”
As we have noticed, too, in our chapter on Plants, a gilt nutmeg was formerly a common gift at Christmas, and on other festive occasions, to which an allusion is probably made in the same scene. Formerly, at this season, the head of the house assembled his family around a bowl of spiced ale, from which he drank their healths, then passed it to the rest, that they might drink too. The word that passed among them was the ancient Saxon phrase wass hael[698], i. e., to your health. Hence this came to be recognized as the wassail or wassel bowl; and was the accompaniment to festivity of every kind throughout the year. Thus Hamlet (i. 4) says:
Keeps wassail.”
And in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2), Biron speaks of:
In “Macbeth” (i. 7), it is used by Lady Macbeth in the sense of intemperance, who, speaking of Duncan’s two chamberlains, says:
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only.”
In “Antony and Cleopatra” (i. 4), Cæsar advises Antony to live more temperately, and to leave his “lascivious wassails.”[699]
In the same way, a “wassail candle” denoted a large candle lighted up at a festival, a reference to which occurs in “2 Henry IV.” (i. 2):
A custom which formerly prevailed at Christmas, and has not yet died out, was for mummers to go from house to house, attired in grotesque attire, performing all kinds of odd antics.[700] Their performances, however, were not confined to this season. Thus, in “Coriolanus” (ii. 1) Menenius speaks of making “faces like mummers.”
Cakes and Ale. It was formerly customary on holidays and saints’ days to make cakes in honor of the day. In “Twelfth Night” (ii. 3), Sir Toby says: “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” To which the Clown replies: “Yes, by Saint Anne; and ginger shall be hot i’ the mouth too.”
Wakes. In days gone by, the church wake was an important institution, and was made the occasion for a thorough holiday. Each church, when consecrated, was dedicated to a saint, and on the anniversary of that day was kept the wake. In many places there was a second wake on the birthday of the saint. At such seasons, the floor of the church was strewed with rushes and flowers, and in the churchyard tents were erected, to supply cakes and ale for the use of the merrymakers on the following day, which was kept as a holiday. They are still kept up in many parishes, but in a very different manner.[701] In “King Lear” (iii. 6), Edgar says: “Come, march to wakes and fairs, and market towns.” We may also compare “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2) and “Winter’s Tale” (iv. 2). In “Hamlet” (i. 4) it is used in the sense of revel.
[639] “The England of Shakespeare,” E. Goadby, 1881, p. 153.
[640] “Critical Essays on the Plays of Shakespeare,” 1875, p. 145; see Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. iii. pp. 347, 348.
[641] See “British Popular Customs,” p. 473.
[642] “Notes and Queries,” 6th series, vol. i. p. 129.
[643] Cf. “As You Like It” (i. 2). Touchstone alludes to a “certain knight, that swore by his honour they were good pancakes.”
[644] See Hone’s “Every Day Book,” 1836, vol. i. p. 258; “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 239; see, also, Dekker’s “Seven Deadly Sins,” 1606, p. 35; “British Popular Customs,” pp. 62-91.
[645] “Notes and Queries,” 1st series, vol. xii. p. 297.
[646] See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 443; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. p. 101. Taylor, the Water-Poet, has a tract entitled “Jack-a-Lent, his Beginning and Entertainment, with the mad Prankes of Gentlemen-Usher, Shrove Tuesday.”
[647] Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. vi. p. 219.
[648] “Notes and Queries,” 4th series, vol. v. p. 595.
[649] See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. i. p. 362; Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 164: Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. iii. p. 94.
[650] See Hone’s “Every Day Book,” vol. i. p. 318; “British Popular Customs,” pp. 110-113.
[651] St. Patrick rids Ireland of snakes; see p. 257.
[652] Singer’s “Shakespeare,” 1870, vol. ix. p. 168.
[653] Cf. “Henry V.,” v. 2; “3 Henry VI.,” ii. 1, 2; “Taming of the Shrew,” ii. 1; “Richard II.,” i. 3.
[654] Cited by Warton in a note on “Richard III.,” v. 3.
[655] Hotten’s “History of Sign-boards,” 1866, 3d ed., p. 287.
[656] Cf. “Twelfth Night” (iii. 4): “More matter for a May morning.”
[657] “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 575; see “British Popular Customs,” pp. 228-230, 249.
[658] See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. i. pp. 247-270; “Book of Days,” vol. i. pp. 630-633.
[659] Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 550.
[660] See Drake’s “Shakespeare and his Times,” 1817, vol. i. p. 163.
[661] “Encyclopædia of Antiquities,” 1843, vol. ii. p. 653.
[662] See “British Popular Customs,” p. 278; Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. p. 276.
[663] According to the crusaders and the old romance writers a Saracen deity. See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. ix. p. 214.
[664] See Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 482.
[665] “Sports and Pastimes,” 1876, pp. 25-28; see Warton’s “History of English Poetry,” vol. ii. p. 202.
[666] “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 154.
[667] Staunton’s “Shakespeare,” 1864, vol. i. pp. 147, 148.
[668] See “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 712.
[669] See Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. v. p. 206.
[670] See Nichol’s “Collection of Poems,” 1780, vol. iii. p. 204.
[671] See Knight’s “Life of Shakespeare,” 1845, p. 71; Howitt’s “Pictorial Calendar of the Seasons,” 1854, pp. 254-267.
[672] “Polyolbion,” song 14; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 34; Timbs’s “A Garland for the Year,” pp. 74, 75.
[673] Introduction to the “Leopold Shakespeare,” p. xci.
[674] “Book of Days,” vol. i. p. 816; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. i. p. 314; Soane’s “Book of the Months.”
[675] See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. i. pp. 336, 337.
[676] See “British Popular Customs,” pp. 347-351.
[677] Douglas’s “Criterion,” p. 68, cited by Ritson; see Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 475.
[678]
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