A study in the Warwickshire dialect; with a glossary and notes touching the Edward the Sixth grammar schools and the Elizabethan pronunciation as deduced from the puns in Shakespeare's plays

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

QDDDBbTSDflb

I6b9.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

■ ^^^50^ —

Chap.....^_.. Copyright No.

Shelf__„_^l7_.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

€it ^iakBptau ^ocid^ of Qtet» ^or^

3ncor|Jorafeb Q^yrif 20, 1885

$0 ptomok i^t ^notwfebge anb efubg of i^e

In Executive Committee— June 15th, 1885.

Resolved^ That in order that the papers printed under authority of this Society
may be of the highest character, and of value from all standpoints, the Society
does not stand pledged as responsible for the opinions expressed or conclusions
arrived at in the said papers, but considers itself only responsible in so far as it
certifies by its Imprimatur that it considers them as original contributions to
Shakespearean study, and as showing upon their face, care, labor and research.

VENVS

AND ADONIS

Vilk miretu r ^mlgm ; mihiflauu^ (^pllo
^ocuU Cajlaliapkm mimftretaqua.

LONDON

Imprinted by Richard Fields and are to be fold at
thefigne ofthe white Greyhound in
^ PaulesChurch-yard*

1553-

Ipubacations of CTbe Sbafteepearc Soclctg of IRew l^orft

mo. to

A STUDY

IN

THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT

WITH A GLOSSARY

AND

Notes touching the Edward the Sixth Grammar
Schools and the Elizabethan Pronuncia-
tion AS Deduced from the Puns in
Shakespeare's Plays

/ BY

APPLETON MORGAN, LL. B. {Columbm)

President of the Shakespeare Society of New York; Author of

'^'The Law of Literature,^' ''Shakespeare in Fact and

in Criticism "; Editor of the Bankside

Shakespeare, etc.

THE THIRD EDITION

NEW YORK

THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS

Printers to the Shakespeare Society of New York

LONDON : KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Ltd.
paternoster house, charing cross road

1899

I.

e\^l>

Copyright, 1899,

BY

APPLETON MORGAN,
All rights reserved.

MAY 19 1899 |

t^ iv^ r^ /^

e'

A PREFACE TO THE THIRD
EDITION.

Is there any possible room for a doubt as to
Shakespeare's authorship of the poems so univer-
sally conceded to be his?

The earliest collected edition of his works did
not include them. But this may have been because
of their non-dramatic character.

Late in 1616 (the year in which Shakespeare died,
April 23), one of these poems, the *'Lucrece," was
printed in the usual quarto form with many varia-
tions from the text of May 9, 1594, with a state-
ment on the title-page that it was *' newly revised
and corrected." As Shakespeare was dead, some-
body still alive, it would seem, felt a supervisory
interest in the poems, or at least in one of them.

There certainly appears to be internal evidence
enough that the poems are all by the same author;
at least, the inclusion of one by Heywood — which
was removed from that collection on his protest —
and of the one by Marlowe (which is still printed in
the series known as " The Passionate Pilgrim ") do
not interfere with that evidence.

But, assuming that the <* Venus and Adonis " — the
''Lucrece," and the '' Sonnets "—are by the same
author-poet, was that author-poet Shakespeare?

IV A PREFACE I'D THE THIRD EDITIOlSt.

Hallam, in his '* Literature of Europe," expresses a
doubt as to whether the '^ Sonnets" now known as
Shakespeare's were ''the sugared sonnets among
his [Shakespeare's] private friends," which Meres
mentions as undoubtedly authentic. The following-
pages are devoted to an examination of a question
as to Shakespeare's authorship of the first to appear
of the poems — the ''Venus and Adonis," only.
Whether that examination shall or need be extended
to the " Lucrece," the " Passionate Pilgrim," the
"Threnos," and the "sonnets," is for further con-
sideration.

Some, possibly only apparent, difficulties — not
structural or literary — of a Shakespearean author-
ship of the "Venus and Adonis," are as follows:

I. Throughout the poem there appears to run
the same stream of argument (as close readers of
the Sonnets claim to have discovered), viz. : the
urging of some young man (preferentially South-
ampton) to marry and beget offspring, and not to
die " unkind."

How came it that a rustic youth lately from War-
wickshire, an interior county, at that time servitor
in a theater, or farmer of the horse-holding business
at its doors — or its clever and competent re-writer
of plays (or even writer of new plays) — became so
deeply and suddenly interested in the posterity of
a noble lord — or of any London gentleman?

There was a wider gulf, if possible, then than
now fixed between peer and peasant. Would not
such an interference, except in a social equal as
well as an intimate, have been the sheerest im-
pertinence?

A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. V

II. The title-page to the first edition of the poem
bore a legend from Ovid :

Vilia miretur valgus : mihi flavus Apollo
Pocula castalia plena ministret aqua —

Either as referring to its subject-matter, or as to
its significance as a legend, this is utterly mean-
ingless as a legend for the poem. It certainly has
no connection with Venus or with Adonis, or with
the boar, or with the begetting of offspring. Ovid,
in this eclogue (which had not been translated, by
the way, in 1596), is defending himself against the
charge of being 2, flaneur and an idler. He admits
that he does not work as others may. But he
enumerates by name the greatest poets, in his esti-
mation, and then exclaims, ''with these I take my
part. Their labors and rewards are the only objects
of my ambition. Their life is the only life I care to
lead," and then the above lines come in:

*' The vulgar let the vulgar herd admire :
To me may the golden-haired Apollo serve cups
Brimming from Castaly."

But William Shakespeare was an industrious, hard-
toiling young man, not in poetry, but in and about
Burbage's theater. He was willing to accept any
employment, and as the records abundantly show,
became rich at many trades and occupations. In-
deed, so multifarious were his employments that
one of his rivals called him a Johannes-Factotum.
Surely he had to make no apology for being a fla-
neur and an idler!

IIL The poem is, in theme and suggestion, the

VI A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

evident work of a sensualist, or, at least, of a
voluptuary, as well as of a Priscian — severe and
classic in literary taste and in the mold, cadence,
and prosody. Every fair and frail dame in London,
we are assured, kept the poem on her toilet table.
But William Shakespeare was no sensualist, and
certainly no voluptuary, in the year 1593. His
record is exactly the other way. He had married a
peasant girl early in life and, being unable to sup-
port her and their children, had come to London to
find work and had found it. Neither in Warwick-
shire nor London had his attention been drawn
toward, or his means equal to, the career of a
Sybarite or of a man about town.

IV. Ben Jonson, in a familiar passage in his ^' Dis-
coveries," declared that Shakespeare *' wanted art "!
Would he have volunteered such an assertion if
Shakespeare had been the author of the poems and
** Sonnets "? of the *' Venus and Adonis," so calmly
classic, so severely formal that even Voltaire — who
called Shakespeare an '' inspired barbarian " — would
have admitted it into the school?

Surely the '' Venus and Adonis " as little suggests
the irregular genius of the plays as it resembles the
patois of Warwickshire.

Was this what Jonson meant when he said that
Shakespeare ** wanted art": that he talked with
that fluency that it was often necessary that
he should be stopped (sicfflammafidus erat, as Au-
gustus said of Haterius): namely, that Shakes-
peare could not content himself with such "Atto^
Xeyo/nem as " purple-colored," to describe the sun at
dawn rising through morning mist, but must break

A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. VU

out, perforce, into such metaphor on the wings of
metaphor as:

When the morning sun shall raise his car
Above the border of this horizon —

or say plain " sunset," but make it:

The sun of heaven, methought, w^as loath to set
But stayed to make the Western v^relkin blush.

Was this that lack of "art," and of artificiality, that
must overleap itself to capture other every meta-
phor which metaphor suggested — the dainty defiance
of rule that could not rest with calling a lady "rose-
red " or " rose-cheeked " as in the poems, but must
have it:

There is a beauteous lady. . .

When tongues speak svreetly then they name her name

And Rosa — line they call her ?

"Dew-bedabbled," says the poem. But in the
plays, no "ATTttl X€yo)u,€m of a compound will suffice:

That same dew, which, sometimes, on the buds,
Was wont to dwell like round and orient pearls.

"Outstripping" or "overfly" is the severe de-
scriptive of the poem— but in the play:

When you do dance
I wish you were a wave of the sea that you might ever do
Nothing but that.

Surely the gentleman who will occupy his leisure
in tabulating the nice and precise formalities of the
poems over against the opulence of their identities
in the plays, will go far in the way of disposing of

Vlll A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

Voltaire's '* inspired barbarian " as the poet of the
*' Venus and Adonis."

Such considerations as these led me, fourteen
years ago, in 1885, to present the first edition of
this work, being an attempt to discover a common
or *' parallelism" between the poems and the plays.
I attempted this by means of the Warwickshire dia-
lect, from the influence of which — however modified
by an Edward the Sixth grammar school known to
have been in existence in the town of Stratford-
upon-Avon — Shakespeare had recently arrived at
the capital, when, April 19, 1593, the poem was reg-
istered on the books of the Stationers' Company.
And, in the course of the survey, I attempted a
Glossary of the Warwickshire dialect, which, with
considerable excision and augmentation, is also in-
cluded in the present edition.

My purpose in these pages is, however, to pre-
sent the reader with something more than a Glos-
sary. I have aimed, by grouping the Warwickshire
forms around their vernaculars, to exhibit the War-
wickshire methods, modes, habits (so to speak), as
well as its corruptions — often picturesque corrup-
tions— of vernacular English, and I have subordi-
nated my method to my chief purpose, namely, to
illustrate Shakespeare. I have been myself sur-
prised to find how the luxury of Shakespearean
study even was increased by study of these War-
wickshire forms, and I am sure anyone who will
test for himself the demonstrations in these pages
will be startled to see how new ideas of the Mas-
ter (and new readings of him, too) will suggest

A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. IX

themselves as he proceeds. In such examination,
my purpose has been to be fair and honest, and to
avoid the temptation of producing a tour de force, or
that most delicious of all literary things — a paradox.

But I must admit to have only found two words
in the poem which I could even with effort succeed
in tracing to Warwickshire — one, the word ''tem-
pest," which, in Warwickshire usage, means ''a
rainstorm," and the other the word *'cop," spelled
cope in the poem and in the plays (from which,
meaning to catch, I suppose our metropolitan
gamin get their name for a policeman). In the
plays, however, the word "tempest" does not ap-
pear to be used in the Warwickshire sense — though
"cope" appears in them as well as in the poem.
But, as the reader will see, there is no absolute cer-
tainty about the matter.

After fifty years of Shakespearean study and re-
search, my friend, the late Dr. Halliwell-Phillipps,
was only able to say that those who had lived as long
as he in the midst of matters Shakespearean had
learned not to be too certain about anything.

In my own twenty years' immersion in the same
pursuit, I can only echo this dictum. My own
idea of a Shakespearean "school" is one wherein
every man is his own pupil-teacher, and wherein,
only as he enters into or keeps out of the pretty
quarrels of the commentators (always like Sir
Lucius O'Trigger's — very pretty as they stand, and
only spoiled by explanation) — precisely as the hu-
mor takes him, and as he himself sees fit — will he
find either pleasure or profit, or enjoy himself in
the least.

X A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

If anyone ever yet made a statement about
Shakespeare, or about all or any of his works,
which somebody did not immediately rise to con-
tradict, I have yet to hear of it.

And I suppose that even if somebody should some
day suggest that Lord Southampton himself wrote
all those poems and dedicated them to himself,
somebody else would cavil!

Appleton Morgan.

Rooms of the Shakespeare Society of New York,
October 2, 1898.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

PART I.
The Environment i

PART II.

A Glossary of the Warwickshire Dialect . . 63

PART III.
How Shakespeare Heard His English Pronounced

IN London 405

Index 435

xl

A STUDY IN THE WARWICKSHIRE
DIALECT.

PART I.
THE ENVIRONMENT.

Circumstantial evidence — the evidence of cir-
cumstances— ma)^ be explained away by the testi-
mony of other circumstances. Internal evidence
may be upset by context. But words are detectives
that never fail to detect, and whose reports cannot
be bribed, distorted, or gainsaid. No man can write
in a language he has never heard, or whose written
form he has never learned.

It would not have been strange or impossible that,
in the numberless editions through which the Shakes-
peare plays passed (without the slightest editorial
responsibility), in Shakespeare's own lifetime as well
as in their copying and recopying in lines and
parts, for those who acted in them during their
stage life, their text was curtailed by passages lost
or distorted, or augmented by interpolations or lo-
calisms of actors or interpolations of reporters.
But the poems are before us to-day practically as
they were first printed. There has been no rear-
rangement of verses or of stanzas, and, whether we
read them in the last sixpenny edition or in the best

2 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

and most scholarly texts, or in the original quarto
broadsides of Shakespeare's own day, the text is
identical.

In London, in the year 1593, there appeared un-
heralded, from the press of Richard Field, one of
Her Majesty's Stationers' Company, a poem in thin
quarto, with the title ** Venus and Adonis." It
was exposed for sale at the sign of the Greyhound
in St. Paul's Churchyard. It was rapidly sold and
eagerly read by the ladies and gentlemen of the
court, and made a certain literary sensation. It
became, in a sense, the fashion.

Nothing like it had been seen before. The coarse
and libidinous broadside was familiar enough. For
the general it appeared couched in vulgar puns —
or in what was just then more popular than puns —
in euphuism and double-e?itendre.

But this poem, at once stately and sumptuous,
voluptuous and eloquent, despotic in the classic of
its prosody and the cadence of its verse, was new
matter. Nothing like it had ever appeared before.
Its authorship as William Shakespeare's appears to
have been accepted — and the appearance of other
poems and sonnets by the same author tended to
confirm the statement, which certainly there was
then no reason whatever to doubt.

But, later on, this same William Shakespeare be-
came known as a mighty dramatist. The fame of
his work crowded theaters, and kept the presses of
Her Majesty's Stationers in employment outside
of them.

Still, there was external evidence that the poet
was also the dramatist. When Falstaff and his

THE ENVIRONMENT. 3

irregular humorists took the town by storm, and
in the flood of that first success, everything that
could bear Shakespeare's name was rushed into
print, who was there to remember the "Venus and
Adonis " and the poems? They remembered that
the same name was on the title-pages. That was
all.

But did anybody ask for any internal evidence?
Nobody then, for the comparative criticism of
literary matter was not, in those days, thought of.
But to-day, it has been suggested that between the
poems and the plays there is no accord of internal
evidence. Nothing which, in the absence of title-
pages, would pronounce them as by one and the
same master. Except the superiority of each, in
its own kind, nothing to bind them together.

The question is a bold one to raise to-day, three
centuries too late. But some, nevertheless, have
asked it. And it is the scope and purpose of these
pages, with a deference born of that awe which en-
circles the Master, but in the surety that all honest
inquiry must lead to knowledge, to prepare for its
discussion. It is proposed to treat the question
principally in the light of the fact that, prior to the
appearance of the poem — which itself preceded the
plays — William Shakespeare had been, up to his
eighteenth year, a resident of Stratford-upon-Avon,
a Warwickshire village, where were spoken a
dialect and a patois quite as distinguishable from
other British dialects as from the urban English —
mellowed with the many foreign contributary
formatives which the commercial character of
Elizabeth's London brought, as it were, into

4 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

entrepSt — in that city, in the years, 1585-16 16.
For this Warwickshire-born boy to have achieved
the plays was one thing — was, let us admit, of all
the miracles of genius, the most miraculous Heaven
has vouchsafed mankind. To have written the
poem, however inferior to the plays, genius itself
would have been inadequate without the absorption
of certain arbitrary rules of composition and the
learning by rote (or so at least it seems to me) of
the existence of certain arbitrary trammels and
limitations of diction, vocabulary, and of prosody.

Everybody remembers the expressive dialect
spoken by Mrs. Poyser in George Eliot's "Adam
Bede." George Eliot lays the story of her novel in
" Loamshire," which, it appears, is intended to be
recognized as Leicestershire. But "it must not be
inferred," says Dr. Sebastian Evans, of the English
Dialect Society, "that Mrs. Poyser and the rest of
the characters introduced into 'Adam Bede ' speak
pure Leicestershire. They speak pure Warwick-
shire; and although the two dialects naturally ap-
proximate very closely, they are far from being
identical in pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary.
The truth is that George Eliot was herself War-
wickshire-born, and used the dialect in the midst
of which she been reared, for her Leicestershire
characters; which was not much of a solecism,
seeing that the two had so many points of contact."
But if the English George Eliot heard in her
village, among her neighbors in her youth, was
Warwickshire, it could not have been a much purer
speech that her young fellow-shireman, William

THE ENVIROXMENT, 5

Shakespeare, heard in his day — almost three cen-
turies earlier. But we know where and when
George Eliot went to school, and how, relieved from
Warwickshireisms herself, she realized their humor
and their individuality, and so bestowed them upon
Mrs. Poyser. There was not much of an Academy,
not much of a cult, in Stratford town, to purify the
burgher's patois in Shakespearean times. Nay,
even up at the capital — in London — it was very
little, if any, better than down in Warwickshire.
The members of Elizabeth's Parliament could not
comprehend each others' speech. This was long
before there was any standing army in England.
(Falstaff might have been marching through Coventry
with his pressed men at about that time.) But when
the soldiers Elizabeth summoned were grouped in
camps, they could not understand the word of com-
mand unless given by officers from their own par-
ticular shire. And — with Stratford grammar school,
or any other grammar school, in full blast — the
youngsters were not taught English, rigorously as
they might be drilled in Lily's " Accidence," and in
the three or four text-books prescribed by the crown.
Dr. HalliwelUPhillipps and Mr. Furnivall have each
prepared lists of these text-books. But, amongst
them all, there is not one that suggests instruction
in the mother tongue. That the aforesaid young-
sters were supposed to learn at home, if they
learned it at all. And at home, as well as in this
grammar school (now held sponsor for so much of
the occult and elaborate introspection and learning
of the plays), it is absolutely impossible that the lad
Shakespeare acquired or used any other dialect than

6 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

the Warwickshire he was born to, or that his father
and mother, their coetaneans, neighbors and
gossips, spoke. For demonstration of this state-
ment the credulous need not rely on the so-called
Shakespearean epitaphs, and the lampoon on Sir
Thomas Lucy with their puns on the names of John
a'Coombe ("John has come ") and Lucy (" Lowsie")
[which were doubtless written by that worthy lunatic
John Jordan, who so amply fooled in his time
the ponderous Malone, Boswell, Ireland, and their
contemporaries], but are referred to any compe-
tent chronicle of the times themselves. In fact,
there is no converse to the proposition at all. It is
as one-sided as a proposition in Euclid, So far,
then, we are unable to supply the literary biography
we had in Miss Evans's case, as to the scholastic
career of William Shakespeare, baptized in Stratford
Church, April 23, 1564.

When William Shakespeare, at about eighteen,
went up to London, he must have been, like Robert
Burns, competent, even fluent, in the dialect of his
own vicinage. We know that when, later in his
life, Robert Burns tried to abandon the patois in
v/hich he had earned immortality, and to warble in
urban English, "he was seldom" (says his most
careful biographer, Shairp) "more than a third-
rate, a common, clever versifier." In considering
the question whether William Shakespeare still con-
tinued to use the Warwickshire dialect or lost it in
London, we must make up our minds to leave his
plays out of the question. For, in the first place, a
play is a play. It is the representation of many
characters in a juxtaposition where the identity of

THE ENVIRONMENT, 7

each must be exaggerated to preserve the perspec-
tive, and to tell — within the hour — the story of days
or years, as the case may be. And this perspective
must be shaped by experiment, altered and amended
by actual representation, made to fit the date, the
circumstances, the player, and the audience, and,
except to conclude from the direct testimony of
contemporaries, or of an author himself, that this
or that author wrote himself into any one character
of any play, is, and always must be, purely and
fancifully gratuitous. In the second place, the
fact that the Shakespeare plays contain not only
Warwickshire, but specimens of about every other
known English dialect, and quite as much of any
one as other, cannot be omitted from this Shakes-
peare authorship problem. Now the condition in
life implied by a man's employment of one patois
would seem to dispose of the probability of his
possessing either the facilities or the inclination for
acquiring a dozen others. The philologist or
archaeologist may employ or amuse himself in
collecting specimens of dialects and provincialisms.
The proletarian to whom any one of these dialects
is native will probably be found not to have that
idea of either bread-winning or of pastime.

There are a great many strange things about these
plays. They make a classical Duke of Athens men-
tion St. Valentine's Day, and send a young girl to a
nunnery — they have pages and king's fools figuring in
Alcibiades' time. Pandarus speaks of Sunday and of
Friday at the siege of Troy; there are marks, guild-
ers, ducats, and allusions to Henry IV. of France,
to Adam, Noah, and to Christians, in Ephesus in the

8 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

time of Pericles; a child is ''baptized" in "Titus
Andronicus" ; Mark Antony comes to " bury" Caesar.
There are "Graves in the Holy Churchyard"
in Coriolanus, there are billiards and "trumps" in
Cleopatra's time and capital, and there are always
French and Spaniards in plenty for the audienees
which expected them, and plentiful use of terms of
English law and practice, whether the play were
in Cyprus or Epidamnum, or Rome or Athens:
whether the days were ancient or contemporary.
France and Spain were the countries with which
England was oftenest at war, and which, therefore,
it was most popular to disparage. The Frenchman
and Spaniard were relied upon to make the ground-
lings roar again, pretty much as, in New York to-day,
we have a plantation negro or a Chinaman, as indis-
pensable for certain audiences. But in these same
plays, however a Roman or a Bohemian may use an
English idiom, there is no confusion in the dialects
when used as dialects., and not as vernacular. The
Norfolk man does not talk Welsh, nor does the
Welshman talk Norfolkshire, nor does the Welsh-
man Sir Hugh Evans, who lives in Warwickshire,
use "Welsh- Yorkshire, but Welsh-Warwickshire,
patois, and " Fluellen " (which is of course pho-
netic for " Llewellen" a typical Welsh name)
speaks broken English as a Welshman would, with
no trace of an English dialect of any sort. The
dictionary-makers assure us that there are thou-
sands upon thousands of dialect words in the plays,
or, to be exact, thousands upon thousands of words
not dialectic per se, but used in their local sense.
Moreover, sometimes these words will be used

THE ENVIRONMENT. 9

in their local or dialect, and in their pure or
vernacular, senses in the same play, or even in the
same passages. Of this I shall give some ex-
amples later on, but it seems proper to note here
that at least once in the plays Shakespeare intro-
duces a dialect, ^7/^^^/ dialect, in a locality where it
does not belong, and so calls attention to it and to
the contrast between it and the speech of the other
characters present. The occasion referred to is, of
course, where Edgar meets Oswald in the fields
near Dover and disguises his speech by using the
Somersetshire dialect.*

Osw. Wherefore, bold peasant,
Barest thou support a publish'd traitor? Hence;
Lest that the infection of his fortune take
Like hold on thee. Let go his arm.

Edg. Chi'll not let go, zir, without vurther
'casion.

Osw. Let go, slave, or thou diest!

Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor
volk pass. An ch'ud ha' bin zwaggered out of my
life, 'twould not ha' bin zo long as 'tis by a vortnight.
Nay, come not near th'old man; keep out, che vor,
ye, or ise try whether your costard or my ballow be
the harder: chill be plain with you.

Osw. Out, dunghill!

Edg. Chi'll pick you teeth, zir: come; no matter
vor your foins.

On another occasion he uses mere jargon:

* " King Lear," IV. vi. 239. Q. 2438, F. 2648, Bankside
notation.

lO THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT,

'■'■ Throca, movousus, cargo, cargo, cargo . . .
villanda par, corbo, cargo . . . Boskos thromuldo
Boskos. Boskos vauvado. Kerelybonso . . . manka
revania dulche . . . Oscorbidulchos volivorco,
accordo linta. . , Bosko chimurcho. Boblibindo
chermurco," *

which the soldiers invent, to confound Parolles, not
only with proof of his own cowardice and treachery,
but with his ignorance of the language in which he
claimed proficiency. And the scrap of an Irish
ballad which Pistol mutters in response to the
French prisoner who believes that Pistol has cap-
tured him on the field of Agincourt, is another of the
numerous examples in the plays of Shakespeare's
fondness for dialect forms. That what the early
printer *'pied" into ''qualtite calme custure me"
was really '*gae maith cas tu re me," Mr. O'Keefe's
demonstration of the real meaning of this jargon f
has convinced most of us. Pistol was a linguist.
He breaks out into French, Latin, and Italian,
and nobody knows why he could not have picked
up a snatch of Irish! But these episodes prove
that Shakespeare knew perfectly well what a
dialect was, and that the dialect of one section of
England was unintelligible to the native of another
just as it is in fact to-day — (to such an extent
that I am assured that one of the difficulties at first
experienced in the use of our American invention
of the telephone — and a very considerable one —
arose from this source).

* All's Well that Ends Well," IV. i. 71, iii. 141.
t " Henry v.," IV. iv. 4.

THE ENVIRONMENT. II

All this is accounted for by our knowledge of Lon-
don in the days when Shakespeare was writing the
plays, its cosmopolitan character, and the motley
crowds on its narrow streets. He did not need to
take them — at least it is apparent that he did not
take them — out of books already in print, as he did
his plots and situations. His characters were all
there, and he photographed them. But how, when
he himself was a provincial, and came up from
Stratford — when he himself was one of the motley
throng in those same narrow streets? Our question
does not arise as to the ^'Lucrece. " Whoever
wrote the '* Venus and Adonis" could have written
(and doubtless did write) that poem. Nor does it
arise as to the'* Sonnets," if the ** Sonnets printed in
1609 were the ' Sugred Sonnets among his private
friends,' " of which Meres makes mention, which
only appeared in 1609, seven years before Shakes-
peare's death, (when he had become rich and —
doubtless endowed with that culture which wealth
can bring — may have used most unexceptionable
urban, courtly, and correct English) — were those
we have to-day. But, as to this, others than Mr.
Hallam have doubted.

But that poem, '* Venus and Adonis," which its
dedication declares to have been the very "first
heir of" the "invention" of William Shakespeare;
surely, if written in Warwickshire and by a War-
wickshire lad who had never been out of it, it ought
somewhere to contain a little Warwickshire word to
betray the precincts of its writer and its concep-
tion! Richard Grant White loved to imagine young
Shakespeare, like young Chatterton and many

i2 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

another young poet, coming up to London with his
first poem in his pocket. "In any case, we maybe
sure that the poem," he says, "was written some
years before it was printed; and it may have been
brought by the young poet from Stratford in manu-
script, and read by a select circle, according to the
custom of the time, before it was published." If
William Shakespeare wrote the poem at all, it would
seem as if Mr. White's proposition is beyond ques-
tion, so far as mere dates go. But if the result of a
glossary of the Warwickshire dialect, as paralleled
with the poem, is to discover no Warwickshire in a
poem written by a Warwickshire man in Warwick-
shire, or soon after he left it to go elsewhere, it
would look extremely like corroboration of the
evidence of the dates by that of the dialect.

Now, the annexed Glossary — while, of course,
sharing the incompleteness of all dictionaries of
current provincialisms — is at least quite complete
enough to prove the existence of a Warwickshire
dialect to-day; and, inferentially, what must have
been the barbarisms of that dialect three centuries
ago. But by that Glossary it certainly does appear:

Firsts that there is and was a Warwickshire
dialect;

And, second^ that specimens of this dialect occur
in every one of the admitted Shakespeare plays, but
not to the exclusion of specimens of other dialects,
and therefore, since the writer of the plays must
have been acquainted with more than one English
dialect, it is fair to conjecture that he could
not have been an exclusive user of any one of
them.

THE ENVIRONMENT. 13

But this entire absence of Warwickshire dialect
in "Venus and Adonis," written by a \\'arwickshire
lad (whicli Mr. Grant ^^^lite could not account for
on the date of its appearance in print except by
believing that its young author brought it with him
to London in his pocket), is not the only mystery
created by the internal evidence. For it cannot be
urged that, in treating the classical theme, no op-
portunity occurred for employment of words and
idioms peculiar to Shakespeare's own native local
dialect; the growth of the necessity in the ex-
pression of rustic wants and emergencies only.
The fact is exactly in this instance the reverse. For
example: Inline 657, Venus calls jealousy a ''carry-
tale," that iSj a gossip or telltale. I'here happen
to be (as we see from our Glossary) two War-
wickshire words, "chatterer" and "pick-thanks,"
for this descriptive. The latter is used in the
plays in " i Henry IV." III. ii. 25, while, in " Love's
Labor's Lost" (V. ii. 464) the descriptive appears
as "mumble news." But for the jiicturesque com-
pound "carrytale," certainly no recourse to any
dialect was had. And again — whenever the dialect
consists in the usage rather than the form of the
word — the word is used in the plays, sometimes in
the common and sometimes in the local sense;
but in the poem, always in the proper and usual
sense. For example: we find by our Glossary
that "braid" and "braided" in the plays are
used in the sense of shopworn — or not worn out
by use. But in "Venus and Adonis" v/e have
the word as we employ it to-day: "His ears
uppricked — his braided hanging mane." Again:

14 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

in the plays we have the word ''gossip" con-
tinually, sometimes in the sense of a '' Godparent "
(which is Warwickshire and other provincial usage),
and sometimes in the ordinary sense, to express
which a Warwickshire man would have said " pick-
thanks" or ''chatterer." The word "chill," which,
in Warwickshire, means to 7uarm, to take the chill
oif, is used in that sense once ("As You Like It,
IV. v. 56), but everywhere else in its ordinary sense of
to touch with frost, or to cool. Again, any musical
instrument is called in Warwickshire "a music,"
and here in the single play of " Hamlet" we find it
so used (" Let him play his music," 11. i. 83), while
everywhere else the word has its usual meaning.
Side by side in "Macbeth" we find the word
"lodged" used in its vernacular meaning of pro-
viding with sleeping quarters ("There be two
lodged together," II. ii. 26), and in the Warwick-
shire sense of corn that a heavy storm has ruined
("Though bladed corn be lodged," IV. i. 55).
Not to multiply instances, which the reader can
select for himself from Mr. Bartlett's or from
Mrs. Clarke's concordance, or (but less accu-
rately) from Dr. Schmitt's "Shakespeare Lexicon"
— note that in " Henry VIII." " stomach" is used in
the sense of a masterful, or overbearing, disposition,
as in Warwickshire to-day; as the name of the proper
digestive organ; again in the sense of appetite;
and, yet again, to mean valor or spirit, just as in
"Richard III." the word "urge" occurs side by
side in its good old English meaning and anon in
its present Warwickshire sense of to irritate, annoy,
or tease: and never are the above instances of

THE ENVIRONMENT, 15

double usage by way of pun or play upon the words
themselves.

It further appears that there are in this entire
poem of eleven hundred and ninety-four verses
scarcely a score of words to comprehend which even
the most ordinary English scholars of to-day would
need a lexicon. But on examining even these
words, it will be found that they have a source
entirely outside of Warwickshire or any other one
dialect — are, in fact, early English words, mostly
classical; never in any sense local or sectional.
The following schedule renders this apparent:

Banning (326) — Cursing. The word is used in this
sense in '' Lucrece," line 1460, " 2 Henry
VI." II. iv. 25, and is so used by Gower,
" Confessio Amantis, (1325), ii. 96, '' Laya-
mon " (1180), ii. 497, and is good middle
English.

Bate-Breeding (655) — In the sense of a stirrer-up
of strife. Bate in the sense of strife — is
middle English — occurs in the Coventry
Mysteries, p. 12, and is the origin of our
word debate. — To bait a bull was later: Shake-
spearean English, and the verb to bait,
meaning to worry to death, is still common.

Billing (366)— Is the act of birds putting their bills
together. It is impossible to trace it further
back than Layamon, who wrote, perhaps,
about 1 1 80.

Clepes (995) — She clepes — she calls him — in its
various forms of clepe, to call, yclept, called,
named, is so old that it was even practically

1 6 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALEC7\

obsolete before Shakespeare's time, or at least
pedantic.
Coasteth (870) — To coast — to grope one's way — a
beautiful metaphor — to sail or steer as by
sounds or lights on a coast; to move as a
ship does in the dark — gropingly. Venus
guides herself by the sound :

Anon she hears them chant it lustily,
And in all haste she coasteth to the cry.

A boy, Stratford-born, whose first journey
was to London, would know nothing of the
seacoast.

Combustions (i 162) — A good, though not a common
English word.

Crooked (134)-— Had, long before Shakespeare's day,
assumed the meaning, which is now reappear-
ing, i. e., out of the ordinary — ill-favored,
dishonest, ugly in person or character — is of
Scandinavian or Celtic origin.

Divedapper (86) — A dabchick, a species of greve,
a small bird common all over England, some-
times printed dapper; the only dialectic form
is the Linconshire '* dop-chicken."

Flap-mouthed (920) — Long-lipped — like a dog — as
old as Piers Plowman (B., vi. 187, 1396).

Fry (526) — Meaning the spawn of fishes — is Scandi-
navian. *' To the end of the fri mi blissing
graunt i." To thee, and to thy seed, I grant
my blessing. — Wyckliffe's Bible.

Jennet (260) — Comes from the Spanish, and is used
repeatedly in the plays.

THE ENVIRONMENT. 17

Lure (1027) — In the sense of decoy or call. Used

in Chaucer, ''Canterbury Tales," 17,021.

Middle English.
Musits (6S3) — Musit is a hole in a hedge. It comes

from the French musser, to hide, conceal,

and is nowhere a local word.
Nuzzling (11 15) — To root, or poke with the nose,

as a hog roots. Older than Shakespeare and

not yet obsolete.
O'er strawed (1143) — Overstrewn. In Anglo-Saxon

means to put in order. Used in Palsgrave;

also in the plays frequently.
Rank (71) — A poetical use of the word, applying it

to a river overflowing its banks.
Scud (301) — In the sense of a storm, or a gust

of wind. This is an English provincial

(though not a Warwickshire) word. In the

sense used in the plays, to carry, or run

along. It is of Scandinavian origin.
Teen (808) Used by (^^haucer in ''Canterbury

Tales," 3108. Anglo-Saxon in its oldest

form. In Icelandic it appears as tjon —

means sorrow or woe.
Trim (1090) — "Of colors trim." To apply this

word (meaning, of course, 7ieat) to colors is

a poetical, not a local usage.
Unkind (204) — A poetical use — she died unkind ; that

is, died a virgin — not in the plays in this

sense.
Wat (697) — Is a familiar term for a hare; similar to

Tom for a cat, Billy for a goat, Ned for ass,

etc. In old English it was spelled wot. It

occurs in Fletcher, thus: "Once concluded

1 8 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

out the teasers run all in full cry and speed,
till Wat's undone." But it does not appear
to linger (if it ever was used) in Warwick-
shire.
Urchin (1105)— Nota dialect word. In all diction-
aries, archaic and contemporary, and familiar
throughout England in Shakespeare's time.
The peculiarity of its use in the poem, *' Ur-
chin-snouted (/. e.y hedgehog-snouted) —
boar — seems to me to arise from the fact
that, though used in the poem in the sense of
hedgehog, curiously enough the word is used
in some other sense or senses (what exactly
it is perhaps difficult to say) in the plays.
To wit: in the '' Tempest," we have *' Fright
me with urchin-shows " (II. ii. 5). Evi-
dently Caliban could not well be fright-
ened by shows of hedgehogs, for earlier in
the same play Prospero has threatened ur-
chins as plagues to come at night. '* Urchins
shall, for that vast of night," etc. (I. ii. 326).
In the line, ''ten thousand swelling toads, so
many urchins" (''Titus Adronicus," II. iii.
loi), the word may be used in its proper sense
of hedgehog, but in " The Merry Wives of
Windsor " (IV. iv. 48), when Mrs. Page pro-
poses to dress "her daughter, her little
son, and three or four more of their growth "
"like urchins, ouphs, and fairies," she must,
like Prospero and Caliban, have had in mind
something very different from the small
quadruped which rolls itself into a ball to re-
sist attack, but attacks nobody itself.

THE ENVIRONMENT, 19

Did Shakespeare write ''Venus and Adonis"?
The tendency of the following pages is to prove it
doubtful, if not impossible; and yet, frankly, I am
unable to convince myself either way. The subor-
dinate argument of the poem is the same as that of
the Sonnets— viz., to encourage a handsome youth
to beget offspring, which may prove something; and
Hallam ventured to doubt if Shakespeare wrote the
Sonnets now called his, though he may have written
those which Meres mentioned. The single passage
in the poem which sounds to me like '* Shakes-
peare " is where Venus sobs in the midst of her
commonplace monologue over the departed Adonis:
''What tongue hath music now?" I do. not place
much stress upon the banalities of the poem, such as

he intends
To hunt the boar with certain of his friends —

or

the queen
Intends to immure herself and not be seen —

for Shakespeare often nods in just that way.

But there are some touches in the poem which
seem to me to show a country lad's, or a recent
country lad's, hand. In the dedication the phrase
" never after ear (that is, plow) so barren a land "
is one of them. Another striking one is where
Adonis, outstripping the wind in speed, is said "to
bid the wind a base." This is an allusion to the
rustic game of "prisoner's base" — the point of
which every country lad knows is for the prisoner
to run to a goal or "base," and for the jailer to
head for it also, to prevent his reaching it. If

20 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIAIECT.

Southampton, or any courtier, had written the
passage, plenty of other figures would have occurred
to him. Again, in the passage where, with extrava-
gant euphuism, Adonis' open mouth is said to
resemble

Red morn, that ever yet betokened
Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,

the first allusion is, of course, to the old saw
that at

A rainbow in the morning the sailors take warning,

and the other to a rainstorm — which, in Warwick-
shire dialect, is called a '' tempest."

Euphuism is said to have been so popular in Lon-
don that experts advertised to give instruction in
the art, and there are three other instances at least
in the poem that are quite too extravagant, viz. :

When he beheld his shadow in the brook, the
fishes spread it (/. ^., the shadow) on their gills;
where Adonis is said to be buried in the dimple on
his own cheek; or where Venus, beholding the dead
body of Adonis through her tears, sees double, and
so is said to be herself the murderer of the extra
Adonis! Of the words ''cabin," '' cabinet," it seems
odd that the boar's den and the socket of one of Ve-
nus' eyes should equally be called a ''cabin," and
that the nest, or lighting-place, of a lark should
be called a "cabinet.

I confess, too, to a difficulty with the word
" cope," in the line.

They all strain courtesy who shall cope him first.

THE ENVIRONMENT. 21

The phrase, to cope with^ that is, to strive with, or
to fight with, or to emulate something, is good
classical English, but, used transitively, it may be
the Warwickshire dialect word ** cop " — pronounced
coop — meaning to catch.

The word " coop " is once used in the plays in this
sense:

~ And coops from other lands her islanders.

— King John, II. i. 25.

And the word *' cope " (unless it is the same word)
seems to be used also in that sense three times,
viz, :

Ajax shall cope the best.

— Troilus and Cressida^ II. iii. 275.

How long ago, and when he hath, and is again to cope your
wife. — Othello, IV. i. 57.

I love to cope him in these sullen fits.

— As You Like It, II i. 65.

As there is no means of determining the matter,
one conjecture is as good as another as to these, for
unfortunately the orthography of the quartos is un-
reliable, and of the folios no better.

The words " musits " (openings in hedges) —
" slips " (counterfeit money) — *' unkind "(used four
times in the poem in the sense of disinclination in
either sex to the procreation of children) ; ''over-
shut " (to conclude or close a transaction) ; '' crank "
(to run back and forward, crossing one's own track,
or dodging a pursuer); ''direction" (meaning a
physical instinct); " lawnd " (for a lawn or green-
sward); "chat" (meaning conversation — the War-

2 2 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT,

wickshire form would be " clat ") — may be mis-
prints. But they are not, anyliow, Warwickshire
words. When Venus says her eyes are gray (blue
eyes being called "gray" eyes in Elizabeth's day),
she certainly does not use Warwickshire dialect.

Scholars who have within the last forty years
raised the most interesting questions as to whether
Shakespeare was, after all, the author of the
plays called his have always laid much stress upon
what are known as the parallelisms between the
plays and contemporary and neighboring literature.
These ''parallelisms," however, have not strength-
ened whatever strength the anti-Shakespeareans
have been able to marshal. For what poet,
predecessor, contemporary, or successor does not
Shakespeare — who was not one, but every man's
epitome — ''parallel"? or, what writers or sets of
writings, produced in an identical era and genera-
tion, in an identical neighborhood, and political,
social, and economical environment, would not
** parallel"? It is notable, however, that what-
ever else may or may not parallel, the poems and
the plays certainly cannot be paralleled either in
style, method, diction, or music. In the hundreds
of differing moods and styles of the plays there is
absolutely not a line which suggests the poem;
the single exception (if it is an exception) being in
the line of the " Venus and Adonis " :

And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again !

and where Othello (III. iii. 92) says of Desdemona,
line 1000,

And when I love thee not, chaos is come again !

THE ENVIRONMENT. 23

In line 870 of the same poem occurs an analogy,
which seems, by reason of the surrounding con-
text, remarkable enough to warrant a paragraph by
itself. The line runs

And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.

Here Venus is represented as catching the cry of
the hunt in the distance, and endeavoring to come
up with it guided by her ear alone. To express
this, the poet selects a word which brings up the
image of a ship steering along a coast, blindly, as if
fog-bound; groping its way by means of signs or
sounds on shore. Is it possible that a poet, not a
seafaring man, nor himself familiar with a sea-
coast or the habits of mariners, whose whole life-
time had been passed in an interior country, should
have employed this figure? The word coasteth^ in
this analogy, cannot be found in English literature
earlier than the poem,* and probably it has never
been used elsewhere from that day to this, except
in ''Henry VIII, ," supposed to have been written
fifteen years later (''The king in this perceiveth
him, how he coasts and hedges his own way " — III.
ii. 38). Now "Henry VIII." is the play which
Spedding, Gervin/us, Fleay, and the English verse-
testers think was written in great part by Fletcher.
But scene ii. of Act III., where the above lines
occur, is by nearly all of these gentlemen assigned
to Shakespeare. As to the word " cabin " we may not
speak with equal confidence. Its use in " The Tem-

* It is used later, in the play, " The I.oyal Subject " (1618) :
" Take you these horses and coast 'em," Act V. scene ii.

24 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

pest " four times,* and once each in *' The Winter's
Tale,"tthe ''Richard III., "|the '^Hamlet/'§ and the
''Antony and Cleopatra, "|| in its modern nautical
sense, is, on the other hand, offset by its use in
"Twelfth Night, "^ in its modern landsmen's sense
of a hut or small dwelling-place on shore, and the
use of cabin as a verb in " Titus Andronicus " ** and
of "cabined " as a participle in " Macbeth. "If And
it may have been natural enough to find a country
lad speaking of the sockets of a goddess's eyes as
cabins (line 1038), since if he had before spoken
(line 637) of a boar's den as a cabin^ the Warwick-
shireian did not use the word in his dialect. He
said " whoam " and " house " and " housen " — and
the verb to cabin would naturally have been to
housen^ that is, to put into a house to shelter. How-
ever, as the root is the mediaeval Latin capamia or
caban?iay the word might have been used in that
sense in Warwickshire!

But, as to even what unmistakable traces of War-
wickshire the plays present, the commentators are
unable to agree. While, for example, Mr. King];J;
urges that the use of " old " for frequent, by the
drunken porter in " Macbeth," proves the Shakes-
pearean authorship of the porter's soliloquy, Cole-
ridge §§ dismisses the whole soliloquy as containing
"not one syllable" of Shakespeare. "The low

* I. i. 15-18, 28, II. 197. f III. iii. 24.

XI. iv. 12. §V. ii. 12. II II. vii. 137.

II. V. 285. **IV. ii. 179. fflll. iv. 24.

XX " Bacon and Shakespeare, a Plea for the Defendant,"
Montreal, 1877.

§§ " Literary Remains," ii. 246-247.

THE ENVIROh^MENT. 25

soliloquy of the porter," says Coleridge, ''and his
few speeches afterward, I believe to have been
written for the mob by some other hand, perhaps
with Shakespeare's consent, and finding it take,
he — with the remaining ink of a pen otherwise
employed — just interpolated the words, ' I'll devil
porter it no further; I had thought to let in some
of all professions that go the primrose way to the
everlasting bonfire.' However, of the rest not one
syllable has the ever-present being of Shakespeare."
But he fails to notice the almost literal repetition of
the sentiment in "All's Well that Ends Well" (IV.
V. 54): "They'll be for the flowery way that leads
to the broad gate and the great fire." (A capital
illustration of the value of internal evidence in
writing Shakespearean biography!)

As a rule, dialect is used by the low-comedy
characters of the plays, and in the comic situations.
While the source of the plot of almost every play
is known, and the original of many of the speeches,
in Holjinshed and Plutarch and elsewhere, yet, of
these comic situations, speeches, dialogues, and
personages, no originals can be unearthed by
the most indefatigable commentator. Whatever
else Shakespeare borrowed, these — so far as any
traces exist — we find to have been his own. He
often repeats his own conceptions, amplifying and
perfecting them, as Launce is enriched into Launce-
lot Gobbo, or Elbow into Dogberry, Parolles into
Pistol, etc. But there was no model for them.
They are creations pure and simple, and, for one of
them — the character of Ancient Pistol — it may be
said that nowhere in all literature or in any Ian-

26 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

guage has even an imitation been attempted. Yet
it is in these very plays, side by side with the patois
of the clowns and wenches, that the English lan-
guage rises to flights the sublimity of which it was
but once more — in the King James Version of the
Scriptures — to attain.

"The Warwickshire dialect even to-day is un-
mistakable. The vowel always has a double sound,
the jj; sometimes present, sometimes not; either aal
or yaal. D and j interchangeable (as juke for
duke): the nominative and accusative transposed —
(as us done it, He done it to we. ) Thoti never heard.
In general the 2d person singular not used in War-
wickshire, except occasionally to young members
of a family, and then always in the form of thee —
that is ^ ee.' For the emphatic nominative— j'^ like
the Lancashire. For the accusative, yer without
any sound of the r. The demonstrative those never
heard among the common people (unless when
caught by infection from the parson, etc.) .?<?//" pro-
nounced sen. The/ never heard in of, nor the n in
in. Thejaswell as the h silent or compensated
for, in words where it does not belong. So ear will
be pronounced Yea)-. But head will be pronounced
Yed. Ah, the long sound of a, prefixed to most
active verbs and adjectives, as a-coming, a-shear-
ing, a-ploughing: adry, athirsty, acold, a-ungry,
or for the preposition, on — as atop, awheel, a-
foot; or, for i7i — ato for /;/ tivo: (Cut it ato 00th
thee knife = cut it in two with your knife), or even
prefixed to prepositions themselves: as come anear
me noo! Don't get anigh them 'osses. A (ah) is

THE ENVIRONMENT. 27

almost unvariably used for the verb has. * Ho, ho) '
quoth the devil. ' 'Tis my John a' Coombe,' as in
Shakespeare's familiar pun — to-day."

I am indebted to Mr. Jesse Salisbury of Little
Comberton for the following specimens of pure
modern Warwickshirean. Here is a village wag,
drawing on the credulity of his fellows:

''Wer did I get ere big taters from? well, I'll
tell yii. Ower Tom un I wus at work in brickyard,
look, un bwutman as 'ad come up river from
Gloucester, thraowed two or three goodish taters
out o' bwut; so we picks 'em up un peels 'em fur
dinner. Well, atter we'd peeled 'em we thraows
peelin' on to a yup o' rubbidge, bricks' inds un
that, un thought no moore about it. Well, in a
faow wicks' time I siz a bit uv a wimblin top a
comin' up among bricks' inds, un I sez to Tom, sez
I, * Now we wunt touch that theare tater, but we'll
wait un see what sart uv a one 'e is, look thu.' So
when it wus time to dig um up (un there seemed
smartish faow at the root), we dug round um
keerful like so as nat to spwile eny on um, un on
you'll believe I, thay wus biggest taters as I ever
sin. The biggest on um wus so 'eavy that ower
Tom un I 'ad to carry 'im away between us on
'ond-borrow. Now, chaps, let's 'ave another 'arn
cider un get on."

And here is a local folk-tale — a story told by a
thrasher-man, who has tramped to hire out for
harvesting time, to his mates in the field.

"The Devil once called on a farmer and exed 'im

28 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

if he could give him job. 'What con'st do?' said
the farmer. *0h! enything bout farm,' said devil.
'Well, I wans mon to 'elp mii to thresh mow o'
whate,' sez farmer. 'All right,' sez devil, 'I'm yer
mon,' When they got to barn, farmer said to devil,
'Which oot thee do, thresh or thraow down?'
'Thresh,' says devil. So farmer got o' top o'
mow and begun to thraow down shuvs on to barn
flur, but as fast as 'e cud thraow 'em down devil
ooth one stroke uv 'is nile,* knocked all the earn out
on um, un send shuvs flying out o' barn dooer.
Farmer thought as had got queer sart thresher-
mon; un as 'e couldn't thraow down fast enough
far 'im 'e sez to 'im, ' Thee come un thraow down
oot?' 'All right,' sez devil. So farmer gets down
off mow by ladther, but devil 'e just gives lep up
from barn flur to top o' mow, athout waiting to goo
up ladther. ' Be yii ready?' sez devil. 'Iss, ' sez
farmer. Ooth that devil sticks 'is shuppick into
as many shuvs as ood kiver barn flur, an thraows
um down. 'That '11 do fur bit,' sez farmer, so
devil sat down un waited t'll farmer 'ud threshed
lot, un when a was ready agyun, 'e thraow'd down
another flur full; un afore night they'd finished
threshin' whole o' mow o' whate. Farmer couldn't
'elp thinkin' a good dyuU about 'is new mon, fur
'e'd never sin sich a one afore. ('E didn't knaow
it wus devil, thu knaowst, 'cos he took keer nat to
let farmer see 'is cloven fut. ) So marnin' *e got up
yarly un went un spoke to cunnin' mon about it.
Cunnin' mon said it must be th' devil as 'ad come
to 'im, un as 'e 'ad exed 'im in, 'e couldn't get shut
* See Glossary, post.

THE ENVIRONMENT. 29

on 'imathout 'e could give 'im job as 'a couldn't do.
Soon alter farmer got wum agyun, 'is new mon
(the devil) wanted to knaow what he wus do that
day, and farmer thought 'e'd give 'im 'tazer; so he
sez, ' Goo into barn, look, un count number o' earns
there be in that yup o' whate as we threshed out
istaday. ' 'All right,' sez Old Nick, un off a went.
In faom minutes 'e comes back and sez, ' Master,
there be so many' (namin' ever so many thousan' or
millions un odd, Id'na 'ow many). ' Bist sure
thee'st counted um all?' sez farmer. 'Every earn,'
sez Satan. Then farmer ardered 'im goo un fill
'ogshead borrel full a water ooth sieve. So off 'e
shuts agyun, but soon comes back un tells farmer
e'd done it; un sure anough 'a 'ad; un every job
farmer set 'im to do was same. Poor farmer didn't
know what to make on it, fur thaough 'e wus a
gettin' work done up sprag, 'e didn't like new
mon's company. 'Ovvever, farmer thought he'd
'ave another try to trick 'im, un teld devil 'e wanted
'im goo ooth 'im a-mowin' come marnin.' ' All
right,' sez old un, 'I'll be there, master.' But
soon as it was night farmer went to the fild, un in
the part the devil was to mow, 'e druv lot o' borrow
tynes into ground amongst grass. In marnin' they
got to the fild smartish time, un begun to mov/;
farmer 'e took 'is side, and teld devil to begin o'
tother, where 'e'd stuck in borrow tynes thu
knaowst. Well, at it went devil, who but 'e, un
soon got in among the stuck up borrow tynes; but
thay made no odds, 'is scythe went thraough 'em
all, un only every time 'e'd cut one on um thraough,
esezt farmer ' bur-dock, master ' ; un kep on just the

30 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

same. Poor farmer 'e got so frightened last, 'e
thraough'd down 'is scythe un left devil to finish
fild. As luck ood 'ave it, soon atter 'a got wum,
gipsy ooman called at farm 'ouse, and seein' farmer
was in trouble exed 'im what was matter; so 'e up
un tell'd 'er all about it. *Ah, master,' 'er sez to
'im, when 'e 'ad tell'd 'er all about it; 'you 'a
got devil in 'ouse sure enough, un you can ainst
get shut on 'im by givin' 'im summut to do as a'
caunt manage.' 'Well, ooman,' sez farmer, 'what's
use o' telling mu that? I a tried every thing I con
think on, but darned uf I cun find 'im eny job as a'
caunt do.' * I'll tell you what do,' sez gipsy ooman ;
'when 'a comes wum, you get missis to give 'im
one uv 'er curly 'airs; un then send 'im to black-
smith's shap, to straighten 'im on smith's anvil.
'E'll find 'a caunt do that, un 'e'U get so wild over
it as 'e'll never come back to yu agyun.' Farmer
was very thenkful to gipsy ooman, and said 'e'd
try 'er plan. So bye 'n bye in comes devil, un sez,
'I a finished mowin', master; what else a you got
far mu to do? ' ' Well, I caunt think uv another
job just now,' sez farmer, 'but I thinks missis a got
a little job for thu.' So 'e called missis, un 'er gan
devil a curly 'air lapped up in bit o' paper, un
tell'd 'im goo smith's shap, un 'ommer that there
'air straight; un when 'a was straight to bring 'im
back to 'er. 'All right, missis,' sez devil, un off a
shut. When 'a got to smith's shap, 'e 'ommer'd un
'ommer'd at that there 'air on anvil, but moore 'e
'ommered, the cruckeder 'air got; so at last 'e
thraowed down 'oomer and 'air and baowted, un
niver corned back to farmer agyun."

THE ENVIRONMENT. 31

This is nineteenth-century. The following is of
earlier date:

Old Man [meetmg lad with fishing pole on his way
to the Avon). E waund thu bist agwain fishun?

Lad. Yus, gaffer, E be gwan pint umbit. You
used go aince a whiles, didn't yu?

Old Man. Oy breckling, E 'ad girt spurt times.
E mind gwain Bricklund Bank aince und reckons
Tasker Payne went an all. Doost mind oawd
Tasker? Uns yused ca 'im Bo Naish cos weared
white 'at. Wul, uns baited ole come marning, and
uns forcasted t' ave old spart, but daas 't, we 'd
naught but one or two nibbles fust. Ainse summat
tuk float as if auld hundud 'd a bin on yend ov
line. So E picks up stale and pugged an' pugged
un fish 'e pugged like es ed pug me into river.
Well, E let fish ave girt run sowst' tire 'im bit thu
knaowst. Then E yuzzies 'im up bit. But lars, E
reckoned E ad summat on line bigger 'n E yever
ketched afore. So E sez Tasker, '' Tasker, us shall
ave pother getting this ir oot, look thu!" Well,
doost reckon me 'n Tasker could land 'em? Na,
no moore ner as ad been Oawd Ingleund ooked on
line. Bit furder, thaough wuz zum Pawsha chaps,
Mark Russell, oawd Red-nob Chucketts, un er two
thayrebuttys. Thee mindst Red-nob, doosn't? Ah,
thu shoodst sin un, reklin, when Lard Coventry
come age, when Brud strit long o' Pashaws' wuz a
chock tables un faolks sittin' down dinner at un an
caddie enow t' pheeze divil 'imself ! Plum puddins
in waggin loads bless thu, trews E stons there.
Poor aowd Red-nob, E con zee urn naow, walkin'

32 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

daown chiver arm un arm long yung Gunneral, as
masterful as if ees is even Christian und Lard
Coventry's carredge keepin' tune long o' musi-
cianers uth' and bell.

Lad. But wha bout fish, gaffer?

Old Man. Ah, uns all maniged t' get in oot
water, un e wuz roomthy! Wull, there! e was dyul
t' big to 'elp 'long, E wuz grumpus er summat that.
Zo uns cut shive oot o midst ov um all roun' un left
orts on Bank. Never sin sich fish afore nar sense.

Lad. Maybe E shull find bwns agin Bricklund
Bank naow, gaffer?

Old Man. Doesnt thee terrify un, reklini That
thee oont fiir Master Bomfud 'elped farry un chats
in cyart und burned mang un sewed ashes in feld o
mangles, un Master Bumfud canks yit that wuz best
crap mangles ever kindled that lay. Fain they
all'd fishlike! Them wuz ussun words. But 'z
wear in soon reklin. Better shog. Mind nat
tumble water!

Of course, in all of the above, then is transposed.

As to the conjugation of the verbs most in use
in colloquial speech, the Stratford-on-Avon, War-
wickshire usage, was doubtless in Shakespeare's
day practically as at present. Certainly it was not
less barbarous.

TO BE.

Present.

I be.

We be.

Thee bist.

You be.

'E or 'er is.

Thaay be

THE ENVIRONMENT. 33

Past.

I wuz. We wuz.

Thee wust. You wuz,

'E v/uz. Thaay wuz.

Negative {^present).

I byunt. We byunt.

Thee bissent. You byunt.

'E yunt. Thaay byunt.

Negative (past).

I wuzzent, or wornt. We wuzzent, or wornt.

Thee wussent. You wuzzent, or wornt.

'E wuzzent, or wornt. Thaay wuzzent, ^r wornt.

Interrog. (present).

Be I? or be e? Be we? or be us?

Bist thee? ^o. you? or be yii?

Is 'e? or is li? Be thaay? or be 'urn?

Ifiterrog. (past).

Wuz // Wus we? or wiiz-ws,}

\Nus\. thee? V^nsybu? ov zviiz y\xJ

Wuz V? Wuz thaay? or wtiz um?

Interrog. Neg. (present).

Byunt I? Byunt us?

Bissent thee? Byxint yott-? ov byunt yyS.}

Yunt V? or yunt \i7 Byunt thaay? or byunt

'um?

34 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

Interrog. Neg. [past).

Wuzzent I? Wuzzent we? or wuzzent

us?
Wussent ///<?<?.? orwtissent? \N uzztnt you? or wuzzent

yu?
Wuzzent 'e? or wuzzent ii? Wuzzent thaay? or wuz-

zent 'um?

TO HAVE.

Present.

I 'ave, or 'a.

We 'ave or

'a.

Thee 'ast.

You 'ave or

'a.

'E 'ave, or 'a.

Thaay 'ave.
Past.

or 'a.

I 'ad.

We 'ad.

Thee 'adst.

You 'ad.

'E 'ad.

Thaay 'ad.
Negative (prese?it).

I 'ant, or 'aint.

We 'ant, or

'aint.

Thee 'assn't.

You 'ant or

'aint.

'E 'ant or 'aint.

Thaay 'ant
Negative (past).

or 'aint

I 'adn't.

We 'adn't.

Thee 'adn'st.

You 'adn't.

'E 'adn't.

Thaay 'adn

t.

Interrog. (present).

'Ave I ? or 'ave e? 'Ave we? or 'tzz/^ us?

'Ast thee? or 'i?^^/ 'Avtyou? ox 'ave yti?

'Uv '<f.? or 'izz'<? u? 'Uv thaay? or '^z'<? 'um?

THE ENVIRONMENT. 35

Interrog. (past).
'Ad /; or 'ad e? 'Ad we? or 'ad us?

'Adst thee? or 'adst? 'Ad you? or 'adyxal

Ad '^? or 'ad n? 'Ad ///^^j'.? or 'ad 'urn?

Interrog. Neg. {^present).

'An't /.? or '««'/ e? 'An't we? or '«;/'/ us?

'Assn't thee? or 'assn't? 'An't you? or 'iz;/'/ yu?

'An't '^.? or 'an't u? 'An't ///««j? or 'an't um?

Interrog. Neg. [past).

'Adn't /.? or '^'^;z'/ e? 'Adn't we? or '«^;^'/ us?

'Adn'st thee? or 'adns't? 'Adn't you? or 'adn't y\x}
'Adn't '^? or '«^«'/ u? 'Adn't //^iz^j^.? or 'adfi't

um?

SHALL.

I sholl. We sholl.

Thee shot. You sholl.

'E sholl. Thaay sholl.

/ shiid, or I shood. IVe shud, or we shood.

Thee shndst^orihtQ: shoodst. You shud, or you shood.
' E shud, ^r 'E shood. Thaay shud, ^r thaay

shood.

Imperative.
A — I. e. Stop that. A dun oot.

Negative.

I shaunt. We shaunt.

Thee shotn't. You shaunt.

'E shaunt. Thaay shaunt.

I shoodn't. We shoodn't.

Thee shoodn'st. You shoodn't.

'E shoodn't. Thaay shoodn't.

36

THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

hiterrogative.

Sholl /, or sholl e? Sholl we7 or sholl us?

Shotl or shot theel Sholl you? or sholl yii?

Sholl V? or j-//^// u? Sholl thaay? or ^//^// urn?

Interrogative Negative.

Shaunt /.? or s/iaunt e?
Shotn't? or shotn't M^^.?
Shaunt 'e? or shamit ii.

Shaunt 7eY? or shaunt Visl
Shaunt jiw/? ov shaunt yn?
Shaunt thaay? or shaunt
um?

WILL,

I '651.

We '661.

Thee 65t.

You '661.

'E '661.

Thaay '661.

I '66d.

We '66d.

Thee 66dst.

You '66d.

'E '66d.

Thaay '66d.
Negative.

I wunt.

We wunt.

Thee 66tn't.

You wunt.

'E wunt.

Thaay wunt.
Interrogative.

'661 /; or odl e?

'Ool we? or odl us?

'06t thee? or

dot?

'()6\you? or '^W yu?

'061 'e? or odl tt?

'061 thaay? or odl um?

Interrogative Negative.

Wunt I? or wunt e? Wunt we? or «^?/«/ us?

'66tn't thee? or ddtn't? y<! \xx\X. ydu? or w/?^«/ yCi?

Wunt '(?^ or wunt yti? Wunt thaay? or «/?/«/ um?

I con.

Thee const.
'E con.

THE ENVIRONMENT.
CAN.

We con.
You con.
Thaay con.

37

I caunt.
Thee cosn't.
'E caunt.

Negative.

We caunt.
You caunt.
Thaay caunt.

Interrogative.

Cun /? or C071 e?
Cun'st thee'i or const!
Cun 'e? or con u.

Cun wel or con us?
Q.\xxi youl or con yii?
Cun thaay'! or con um?

Interrogative Negative.

Caunt // or caunt e?
Cosn't thee! or cosnt?
Caunt V? or caunt u?

Caunt 2e/^/ or caunt us?
Caunt /i7/<;? or caunt yii?
Caunt thaay? or ^^^w/
um?

The American negro— or " po white trash " — par-
adigm reminds of this. For example, the verb To
Do — would be:

I done it.
You done it.
He done it.

Present.

We uns done it.
You uns done it.
They uns done it.

3^ THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

Preterite,

I done gone done it. We uns done gone done

it.
You done gone done it. You uns done gone done

it.
He done gone done it. They uns done gone

done it.

Future.

I go for to done it. We uns go for to done it.

You go for to done it. You uns go for to done

it.
He goes for to done it. They uns go for to done

it.

Ftittire Perfect.

I go for to done gone We uns go for to done

done it. gone done it.

You go for to done gone You uns go for to done

done it. gone done it.

He goes for to done gone They uns go for to done

done it. gone done it, etc.

It has not escaped remark that much of the
dialect spoken prior to the Civil War by the Ameri-
can plantation negro was quite as akin to much
of the English provincial dialects as was the best
English spoken in America, in that portion settled
in the Shakespeare day, from 1607 to 1623, to the
English of the plays; the explanation of this phe-
nomenon being a very simple one, if we allow for the
usual rule that deterioration is a more powerful
tendency than improvement everywhere, and that in

THE ENVIRONMENT. 39

association of classes speaking a purer with other
classes speaking a more corrupted speech, the better
will imitate the lesser culture rather than the reverse.
The Southern negro says, and after him his master
was apt to say, strucken for struck. Just as in
''The Comedy of Errors" (I. ii. 45), Dromio of
Ephesus says *'The clock hath strucken twelve
upon the bell," **Ihad thought to have strucken
him blind with a cudgel." Says the servant in
''Coriolanus," (IV. v. 156). And "What is't
o'clock? Caesar, 't is strucken eight" ("Julius
Caesar," II. ii. 114). "He that is strucken blind,
cannot forget the precious treasure " (" Romeo and
Juliet," I. i. 238), and Biron in "Love's Labor's
Lost," IV. iii. 221, who usually speaks the purest
English in that play, asks who sees the heavenly
Rosaline that does not bow his vassal head

And, strucken blind,
Kisses the base ground with obedient breast ?

And the use of the word " trash " to indicate what
are considered no-account mortals (even the negroes
of that date indicating white people too poor to
own slaves as " po' white trash ") is clearly Shakes-
pearean. As "what trash is Rome — what rubbish
and what offal," says Cassius ("Julius Caesar,"
I. iii. 108), clearly alluding to the Roman citizens
who have offended him. So lago calls Roderigo
and Bianca " trash " (" I do suspect this trash to be
a party in this injury," " Othello," V. i. 85), having
already so alluded to Cassio, Desdemona, and prob-
ably Othello himself {Idem, II. i. 296). And I am
assured that the word "swinge," in the sense of, to

40 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT,

whip, or to beat, is a Southern United States usage:
** Swinge me them soundly forth," "Taming of the
Shrew," V. ii. 104; ''I would have swinged him or
he should have swinged me," *' Merry Wives,"
V. V. 197; "I swinged him soundly," *' Measure
for Measure," V. i.. 130; "Saint George that
swinged the Dragon," " King John," II. i. 288; " I
will have you as soundly swinged for this," 2
Henry IV., V. iv. 21; "If you be not swinged I'll
forswear halfkirtles," Idem, V. iv. 23; " You swinged
me for my love," " Two Gentlemen of Verona," II.
i. 88; "Now will he be swinged for reading my
letter," Idem, III. i. 392.

As for the H, we need not go beyond the plays
themselves to find that unfortunate letter hustled
back and forth from the beginning to the end of
words, or even put into the middle of words where
it did not belong and taken out where it did.

The pith of Beatrice's answer to Margaret's

" For a hawk, a horse or a husband."
"For the letter that begins them all— H." ("Much
Ado About Nothing," III. iv. 55)

undoubtedly referred to the pronunciation of the
word "ache" as H, i.e., aitch. But there would
have been no opportunity for it, had not the dis-
placement been then, as now, proverbial. But it is
curious to find that not only even the H at the
beginning of a word, but even that at the end or in
the middle of a word, was sometimes eliminated.
Thus the name of the little page, in " Love's
Labor's Lost," "Moth," was pronounced " Mote,"
and "nothing," pronounced "noting," as in the

THE ENVIRONMENT. 4 1

pun in lines 51, 52, 53, scene iii. Act II., " Much
Ado About Nothing." So we owe the name of
Shakespeare's masterpiece and its title role to the
Frenchman of that date (who also transposed his
H's). And Belleforest, by bringing the h from the
silent to the aspirated end of the name, made Saxo's
hero from Amleth into Hamlet.

In the word " abhominable " (from the Latin a
and homtnem), however, was pronounced, in Shakes-
peare's day precisely as at present, ** abominable," as
we learn from Holofernes' criticism on Armado's pro-
nunciation in the ** Love's Labor Lost" (V. i. 21).

So much for the Warwickshire dialect into which
young William Shakespeare was born, and in the
midst of which he lived until, in his eighteenth or
nineteenth year, he goes (according to Richard
Grant White) to London with the poem, *^ Venus
and Adonis," in his pocket.

Of course ''Venus and Adonis" might have been
written in the Warwickshire dialect by a man not
Warwickshire born and bred. But would the con-
verse proposition be true? Could ''Venus and
Adonis " — as we have it — have been written by one
Warwickshire born and bred in the reign of Eliza-
beth, who had not been first qualified by drill in the
courtly English in which we happen to find that
poem written?

A man of education and culture, one practiced
in English composition, may forge the style of a
letterless rustic. Thackeray in his " Yellowplush
Papers" and Lowell in his "Biglow Papers," have
done it; and so have Charles Dickens and hundreds
of others. But could a letterless clown forge the

42 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

style of a gentleman of culture? Tennyson could
write ''The Northern Farmer" in Yorkshire dia-
lect. But could a Yorkshire farmer, who knew
nothing of any vernacular except the Yorkshire,
have written the '* Princess," or '* Maud," or
*' In Memoriam "? or could a Jeames Yellowplush
have written ''Vanity Fair" or " Pendennis?"
And if they could have done it after training,
could they have done it without the opportunity
for training? A great many wise and eminent
people, no doubt, may have left Warwickshire in
mid-England for London in Elizabeth's day, earlier
than even the period of posts or coach roads.
Did learned men journey into Warwickshire to
carry the culture of the court there? Nothing is
more natural for the lover and worshiper of Shakes-
peare than to resent any suggestion or hint as to a
possible want in his, William Shakespeare's, equip-
ment. But it was not certainly William Shakes-
peare's fault that he was deprived of resources and
opportunities, not only not at hand, but not to
arrive until some centuries after his funeral. The
best school to which he could have been sent — and
the only one which his biographers have ever been
able to assign him — was a grammar school in Strat-
ford; but the idea of anybody being taught Eng-
lish grammar — let alone the English language — in
an English grammar school in those days, is not
derivable from the record before us. There was
no such branch, and mighty little of anything in its
place, except birchen rods, the Church catechism,
the Criss Cross Row, and a few superfluous Latin
declensions out of Lily's "Accidence,"

THE ENVIRONMENT. 43

The first English grammar was published in the
year 1586, when Shakespeare was a young man of
twenty-two, with a wife and two children, the oldest
three years of age, and when he certainly could not
have been a pupil at an institution of learning, and
five years earlier than the poem ''Venus and
Adonis" left Mr. Field's press in Paul's Church-
yard.

As far as the plays are testimony, Shakespeare
himself had no very high estimation of pedagogues,
as see ''Taming of the Shrew," III. i. 4, 48, 87;
IV. ii. dy, "Twelfth Night," III. ii. 80; and the
character of Holofernes, where no power of ridicule
is spared to make the fat-headed old ignoramus of
a pedagogue ridiculous, and everybody's butt. In
the only play whose scene is laid in Warwickshire
he inserts a travesty upon the method of instruction
pursued in these very Elizabethan "grammar
schools." Here it is:

Master. Come hither, William, hold up your
head. Come, William, how many numbers is in
nouns?

William. Two.

M. What is fair, William?

W. Pulcher.

M. What is lapis, William?

W. A stone.

M. And what is a stone?

W. A pebble.

M. No, it is lapis. I pray you remember in your
prain.

W. Lapis.

44 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

M. That is good, William. What is he, William,
that does lend articles?

W. Articles are borrowed of the pronoun, and be
thus declined: Singulariter nominitavo, hie, hsec,
hoc.

M. Nominitavo hig, hag, hog; pra}^ you, mark,
genitivo hugus. Well, what is your accusative case?

W, Accusatavo, hinc.

M. I pray you have your remembrance, child.
Accusatavo: hing, hang, hog. What is the voca-
tive case, William?

W. O; vocative, o.

M. Remember, William, focative is caret. What
is your genitive case plural, William?

W. Genitive case?

M. Ay.

W. Genitive: horum, harum, horum.

M. Show me now, William, some declensions of
your pronouns.

W. Forsooth, I have forgot,

M. It is qui, quae, quod; if you forget your quies
and your quaes and your quods, you must be
preeches.*

Is this a wanton and utterly unfounded attack
upon a worthy, honorable, and conscientious pro-
fession and an excellent educational system, or the
verbatim report of an eyewitness? If it is, let
Pinch and Holofernes answer. Let us see. There
is no exactly contemporary testimony; but in 1634
the author of the ''Compleate Gentleman" says

*You must be breeched, i. e., flogged, "Merry Wives of
Windsor," Act IV. scene i. 81.

THE ENVIRONMENT. 45

that a country school-teacher '^ by no entreaty
would teach any scholar farther than his (the
scholar's) father had learned before him. His
reason was that they would otherwise prove saucy
rogues and control their fathers." In 177 1, when
Shakespeare had been dead a century and a half,
John Britton, who had attended a provincial gram-
mar school in Wilts, says that the pedagogue was
wont to teach the '*Criss Cross Row," or alphabet,
as follows:

Teacher. Commether, Billy Chubb, an' breng
the horren book. Ge ma the vester in tha wendow,
you, Pat Came. Wha! be a sleepid! I'll waken
ye! Now, Billy, there's a good bwoy, ston still
there, an' min whan I da point na! Criss cross
girta* little ABC. That is right, Billy. You'll
soon learn criss cross row; you'll soon avergit
Bobby Jiffrey! You'll soon be a schollard! A's a
purty chubby bwoy. Lord love en!

It could not have been much better in William
Shakespeare's boyhood days than in 1634 and 1771.
Says Mr. Goadby : *' It is evident that much school-
ing was impossible, for the necessary books did not
exist. The horn-book, for teaching the alphabet,
would almost exhaust the resources of any common
day school that might exist in the towns and
villages. The first English grammar was not
published until 1586." \ Even Furnivall (who,
whatever his crochets, cannot be accused of being a
disbeliever in the Shakespearean authorship of the

* See Glossary, post,

f Goadby's " England of Shakespeare," p. loi.

46 THb: WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

plays) says: *' I think you would be safe in con-
ceding that at such a school as Stratford, about
1570, there would be taught (i) an A B C book, for
which a pupil teacher (or * ABCdarius ') is some-
times mentioned as having a salary; (2) a catechism
in English and Latin, probably Nowell's; (3) the
authorized Latin grammar, i.e.^ Lily's, put out with
a proclamation adapted to each king's reign; (4)
some easy Latin construing book, such as Erasmus'
'Colloquies,' Corderius's 'Colloquies,' or ' Bap-
tista Mantuanus,' and the familiar ' Cato ' or
'Disticha de Moribus.'"* Says Dr. Halliwell-
Phillipps: "Unless the system of instruction
(in Stratford grammar school) differed essentially
from that pursued in other establishments of a
similar character, his (Shakespeare's) knowledge of
Latin was derived from two well-known books of
the time — the ' Accidence ' and the * Sententise
Pueriles ' . . . a little manual containing a large
collection of brief sentences, collected from a variety
of authors, with a distinct selection of moral and
religious paragraphs, the latter intended for the
use of boys on Saints' days. . . Exclusive of
Bibles, church services, psalters, etc., there were
certainly not more than two or three dozen books,
if as many, in the whole town (Stratford-on-Avon).
The copy of the black-letter English history, so
often depicted as well thumbed by Shakespeare
in his father's parlor, never existed out of the
imagination." f

But, even had there been books, it seems there

* " Int. to Leopold Shakespeare, "p. 11.

f " Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare," 3d Ed., pp. 55-57.

THE ENVIRONMENT. 47

were no schoolmasters in the days when young
William went to school who could have taught him
what was necessary. Ascham, who came a little
earlier than Shakespeare, said such as were to be
had amounted to nothing, and ''for the most so
behave themselves that their very name is hateful to
the scholar, who tremblethat their coming, rejoiceth
at their absence, and looketh him returned as a
deadly enemy." '^ Milton (who came a little later)
says their teaching was ''mere babblement and
notions." f " Whereas they make one scholar they
mar ten," says Peacham, who describes one country
specimen as whipping his boys on a cold winter
morning " for no other purpose than to get himself
into a heat." \ In fact, the birch-rod seems to have
been, from the days of Ascham at least to the days
when Sergeant Ballantyne and Anthony Trollope
went to school, the principal agent of youthful
instruction and instructors in England. Thomas
Tusser, a pupil of Nicholas Udal, master of Eton,
says he used to receive forty-three lashes in the
course of one Latin exercise. § Sergeant Ballantyne

* " Works," Bennet's Ed., p. 212.

\ "Works," Symonds' Ed., London: Bentley, 1806, vol. iii. p.
348.
X Goadby's " England of Shakespeare," p. 100.
§ Udal was convicted of immoralities with his boys and con-
fessed: but it did not interfere with his promotion.
From Powles I went to Eton sent
To learnye straight the Latine phrase
Where strypes forty-three, given to me

At once I had
See Udall see — the mercye of thee

To me poor lad.
— Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrye (1573).

48

THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

(whose schooling must have been somewhere circa
1810-1820) said that his teachers were cold-blooded,
unsympathetic tyrants, who *' flogged continu-
ously"* and taught nothing in particular. And
Anthony Trollope's experiences, as related in his
autobiography, and Charles Reade's, as related in
his memoirs by his brother, are directly to the same

effect. And that there was no desire to conceal
the fact that the curriculum of an Edward the Sixth
grammar school was principally flogging, there is
proof enough. The seal of the grammar school at
Lowth, which was also one of the grammar schools
founded by Edward VI., bears as its device a school-
master flogging a pupil, and doubtless, were the

* " Some Experiences of a Barrister's Life," London, 1878, p.
100.

THE ENVIRONMENT. 49

seal of Stratford school extant, it would be found to
display the same device.

If any further confirmation of the ways of the
sixteenth-century pedagogue is needed, let the
reader consult '' The Disobedient Child," a rhymed
interlude made in 1560 by "Thomas Ingleland, late
student in Cambridge," wherein a boy begs his
father not to send him to school, where children's

" tender bodies both night and day
Are whipped and scourged and beat like a stone ;
That, from top to toe, the skin is away."

The conclusion is that a maximum of caning and
a minimum of parrot-work on desultory Latin para-
digms which, whether wrong or right, were of no
consequence whatever to anybody, was the village
idea of a boy's education in England for long cen-
turies, easily inclusive of the years within which
William Shakespeare lived and died. The great
scholars of those centuries either educated them-
selves, or by learned parents were guided to the
sources of human intelligence and experience. At
any rate they drew nothing out of the country
grammar schools. In other words, the forcing
systems of Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt, or of that
eminent educator Wackford Squeers, Senior, seem
to have been, so far as the English branches are
concerned, improvements on the methods of rural
pedagogues in the sixteenth century. We are not
advised whether or no the boys were taught to
cipher, but if they were it probably exhausted their
scientific course. At any rate, beyond the horn-
book, very little reading and writing could have

50 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

been contemplated in a land where, from a time
when the memory of man runneth not to the con-
trary to the eighth year of George the Fourth,
immunity from the penalty of felonies was granted
to anyone who could make profert of those accom-
plishments.*

But, while there is not much of an argument to
be drawn from the use of a language, idiom, dialect,
or patois, in a literary composition; the absolute
absence of any trace or suggestion of any of these
may be worthy of very serious consideration indeed
in searching for the nativity and vicinage of a
writer. A linguist born and resident in France, for
example, could hardly be demonstrated to be a
modern Greek from an occasional or even a con-
stant use of that speech in his books. But, sup-
posing that, in the course of very voluminous
writings, no trace or suspicion of a single French
phrase, idiom, word, peculiarity, turn of expres-
sion, or tendency could be unearthed? AVould it
be safer to conclude that he was or was not a
Frenchman? Again, even geniuses like Goethe or
Tennyson might perhaps pause in their composi-
tion to choose a word that would scan in their
prosody; or between one that would rhyme and
one that would not. Poetry has its artificial as
well as its natural laws. And it is not, perhaps,
too heroic or too bizarre to infer that so perfect a
poem as ''Venus and Adonis" was, as to its form,

* The curious reader is referred to the fact that in the year
1872 benefit of clergy was pleaded in the United States — see
State V. Betansky, 3 Minnesota, 246. Probably this is the last
date of its appearance anywhere.

THE ENVIRONMENT. 5 1

as well as its method and matter, considered by its
author. A London-born poet, searching for a
rhyme, might well — with all England's pictur-
esque dialects before him — select a Yorkshire or
a Warwickshire word as precisely to his need.
Videlicet T\\oxi\d.s Hood, in " Miss Kilmansegg":

" A load of treasure ? alas! alas!

Had her horse but been fed on English grass

And shelter'd in Yorkshire Spinneys
Had he scorn'd the sand with the desert Ass

Or where the American whinnies — "

That was because — we will say — Hood happened
to want a rhyme for '^ whinnies." But, while no-
body would dream of trying to prove that Hood
was Warwickshire- or Yorkshire-born because he
used the word ''spinneys," which word is common
in both dialects, yet would it have been possible
for him, had he been Warwickshire- or Yorkshire-
born, — in the course of his search for rhymes, —
never, in all he wrote, to have taken advantage of
a quantity, rhyme, or vowel sound to which his ears
had been habituated and his tongue attuned, by
birth and heredity, or for an entire lifetime — of a
single picturesque phrase, or word that was to him
mother tongue? Could he have cut loose, any
more than could Burns, from the characteristic,
the birthmark, the shibboleth, of his race and kind?
If Burns was unable, after a metropolitan drill, to
lose his native patois, is it perfectly likely that
William Shakespeare, a couple of centuries earlier
in English history, could have done it on the
instant, or even with a day's metropolitan training?

52

THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

So, if the "Venus and Adonis" was written by
William Shakespeare at all, certainly Mr. Richard
Grant White is right in saying that it was written
either in Warwickshire or very soon after its author

TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE
Henrie VVriothefleyjEarle of Southampton;

and Baron of Titchfield.

IghtHcnotirdUi Iknorp not hen? T shall of end in
dedicdtmg my vnplhht lines toyourLordship^or
how the worlds will cenfuremeefor chocjmgjo
flrong aproppe to fupport fo vveake a burthen^

onelye if your Honour feeme hut pleafed^ J aC"

count myfelfe highly praifid^ and *vowe to take admntage of all
idle hour es^t ill Ihaue honoured you vvithfomegrauer labour » But
ifthefirU heireofmy itmejitionprouedefornud^Ifhallheforieit
hadfo noble a god-father : andneaer after ear e fo barren a land^
for f ear e ityeeldmefiillfo bad a haruefi^ 1 leaue it to your Konou '
rahlefuruey^andyour Honor to your hearts content /which I vrifh
may ahvaies anfw ere your ovvne v vifh, and the <vvorlds hope*
fitUexpe^atioih

YourHonorsinalldutie.*
William Shakelpeare.

left that county for the great city in which he made
his name and fortune. Did this country lad of
eighteen or nineteen, while getting his bread at,
as some say, the theater doors by horseholding —

THE ENVIRONMENT. 53

at any rate in some exceedingly humble employ-
ment— manage at the same time to forget his War-
wickshire dialect, and launch himself a Vinstant
into new modes of thought as well as expression.
Let us not leave the theme as well as the structure
and the diction of *' Venus and Adonis " out of the
account. Southampton and his compeers might
revel in meretricious and amorous verses — for their
mistresses to read aloud, or in camera. But did
Southampton and his compeers employ or enable a
Warwickshire peasant lad to sing the opulence of
illicit love! Whether he found a teacher in the city
or not, or whether he taught himself, we cannot
tell. But the marvelous thing is, after all, that
he should be conscious of his own linguistic dis-
ability. The rule is apt to be quite the other way.
The dialect speaker sees keenly the absurdity of
another man's patois, but is inclined to think him-
self speaking his own tongue in its classical purity,
nor can he recognize his own solecisms in print.
I remember reading somebody's comments upon a
series of novels whose scenes were laid among
what we in this country call ''Hoosiers" (that is,
the descendants of settlers who, at a very early
day, soon after the War of the Revolution, settled
in what was then called ^*the Western Reserve,"
and, in the then scarcely settled forests, obtained
a speech which they bequeathed with more or less
refinement to their posterity — possibly the nearest
correspondence to the English dialects which exists
in the United States), as follows: *' I have been
been assured by a well-educated Hoosier that the
dialect in Mr. Eggleston's Indiana novels had not

54 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

the slightest foundation in fact, and the assurance
was given in tones which to me were exactly rep-
resented by the printed page. Conversely, to a
Scotchman the written dialect of Burns will appear
perfect, while to one not a Scotchman it might fail
of carrying any perception of the reality."

If all of the above, or any part of it, is evidence,
then, of course, the only existing pieces of external
evidence that William Shakespeare wrote the'' Venus
and Adonis" are the title-page and the Southampton
dedication. But, admitting the title page, this
dedication is not at all satisfactory. We have gone
into this at such length elsewhere * that it would
be supererogation to rehearse it all again. Of the
dilemma which is thus presented we were discussing,
at that time, the other horn. But we should be glad
to know, if this poem was written by Shakespeare,
why Field printed it, and if Field was Southampton's
printer, why he (Field) printed no more Shakes-
peare quartos? And, if Southampton's printer,
Richard Field, printed at his patron's direction,
the two great poems of his grace's protege Shakes-
peare, how did it happen that other poems of
Shakespeare went flying into other, or any other,
hands? Richard Field prints no more of them.
This title-page introduced several poems into a
book of the period, among them being one, "The
Phoenix and the Turtle," to which Shakespeare's
name was attached. We all know how one of
Heywood's poems was signed " William Shakes-
peare," in the collection called ''The Passionate

*The " Bankside Shakespeare," Int. to vol. xiv. p. xlviii.

HEREAFTER

FOLLOW DIVERSE

PoeticallEffaies on the former Sub*

left jviz: the I'urtk and Thanix.

^one by the hejl andchiefefi of our

moderne writers, with their names Tub-

fcribed to their particular workes;

neuer before extant.

And (how firft)confecrated by them all generally^

t^ the lommdmerite of the tme^noUe Knight^

Sir lohn Salisburfc.

Dignum htuh "virum iMufAvetdtmori.

5 6 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

Pilgrim," and how, at Hey wood's prayer, Jaggard
the printer corrected the error (a very unusual
thing for an Elizabethan printer to do). But it
appears that the dedication of poems to Lord
Southampton was rather the rule or the fashion
of the time than otherwise; that the fact that the
publisher was Richard Field, a townsman of Shakes-
peare's, is not altogether as conclusive as it ap-
pears, since it is unlikely that Southampton should
have sent Shakespeare to his own countryman, a
poor and unknown printer, when there were fash-
ionable printers and court printers, and printers
who knew Southampton and whom Southamptom
knew, in plenty in London. The story of the thou-
sand pounds gift from Southamptom to Shakes-
peare, and the alleged intimacy of the peer and the
poet, are merely imaginary facts, and the figment
of a fancy which long ago yielded to the searchlight
of modern methods of investigation.

In 1601 there was printed in London a curi-
ous little quarto entitled, *' Love's Martyr; or,
Rosalin's Complaint, Allegorically Showing the
Truth of Love in the Constant Fate of the Phoenix
and the Turtle : To these are added some new com-
positions of several modern writers, whose names
are subscribed to their several works." Upon the
first subject, viz., "The Phoenix and the Turtle,"
the sub-title adds, that these additions are "done
by the best and chiefest of our modern writers,
with their names subscribed to their particular
workes, never before extant, and now first con-
secrated by them all generally to the love and

THE ENVIRONMENT. 57

merite of the true, noble knight, Sir John SaHs-
burie." This Robert Chester, who thus ** floated "
his production by the aid of well-known names,
such as Shakespeare, Marston, Jonson, and Chap-
man, was a would-be litterateur of the day. But
with the " Love's Martyr" all record of him ends.
Even the great names he borrowed did not serve to
** float," much less sell, his poem. (For it appears
to have laid on the bookshelves unsold, — non dii,
7ion hoviines^ non columnce, tolerating it.) The
printers, as a last endeavor to save themselves on
the expense of its publication, tore up the book,
and used the sheets over again, with a new title-
page, — '* The Annals of Great Brittaine, or a most
Excellent Monument, wherein may be Scene all the
Antiquities of this Kingedom, to the satisfaction of
both of the Universities, or any other place stirred
with Emulation of long Continuance," — in 1611.
But the book-buying public easily detected the
fraud, and the book fell flat again, and was prob-
ably sold for waste paper soon after, for very few
copies are known to have survived.

Our only possible interest in the matter is the
fact that Chester's, or Chester's publisher's, friend
Shakespeare seems to have been willing to help sell
his book, and so contributed a poem. A sugges-
tion that he did more, and went so far as to intro-
duce Chester to one of his own printers, is evolved
from the fact that the vignette of the anchor used
on the sub-title page is that used by one of the
printers of a Shakespeare quarto, whereas the head-
piece and tail-piece over the ''Threnos" are the
same as used in '* The Passionate Pilgrim," printed

58 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

by W. Jaggard in 1599; in the '* Titus Andronicus,"
printed by James Roberts for Edward White in
1600; and ''The Midsummer Night's Dream,"
printed by James Roberts himself in 1600, one
edition of which latter was issued as published by
Thomas Fisher, though supposed to have been
actually printed by Roberts. But Shakespeare's
name was certainly not added to the title-page of
the " Venus and Adonis " to make it sell, for Shakes-
peare was entirely unknown to anybody when he
ca:me to London. Nor does it appear that, until
the success of the character of Falstaff in the i and
2 Henry IV. — a success which led to the printing
of not only his beautiful comedies, " The Mid-
summer Night's Dream" and "The Merchant
of Venice," but of the " Titus Andronicus " and the
"Pericles," in the same year with them — the name
" Shakespeare " on a title-page had any commercial
value whatever.

But to return to the "Venus and Adonis," which
preceded this. In stanzas 56, 86, 87, and 122, the
author employs similes drawn from legal principles
and the conveyancer's craft. Had William Shakes-
peare been a lawyer or a conveyancer in Stratford
before ever seeing London? For a mere scrivener,
employed by a lawyer or a conveyancer, would
scarcely have been equal to the technical use of
them. Again, in stanza 60, the author uses similes
drawn from stage usages. Had William Shakes-
peare been connected with matters theatrical in
Stratford, and before he ever saw London?

It is computed that the English peasant employs

l^hrenos.

BEautie,Truth,and Raritie^
Gvxct'maW iimplicitie,
Here cnciofdejn cinders lie.

D eath h now the Phmtx neft.
And the 7V//^j loyal! brefl,
ToeternitiedothreO.

Lcauing no pofterkic^
Twas not their infirmitie.
It was married Chaf^itie*

Truth may fecme,but cannot be,
Beautie bragge,but tis not flic,
Tnjih and Bcamie buried be.

To this vrneict thofe repaire,
That arc either true or faire,
For thcfe dead Birds/igji a prayer.

6o THE WARWICKSHIRE DIAIECT.

in his dialect, or his share of the vernacular, some
five hundred words, which entirely cover his desires,
his pleasures, and his necessities. Again, the aver-
age tradesman, man of commerce or of affairs,
will require at the most but four thousand. It is
computed that Milton, enriched by classical, bibli-
cal, and contemporary studies, used in his published
writings seven thousand words. Professor Craik
finds that Shakespeare used twenty-one thousand
words. This miraculous man of business, manager
of theaters, actor and writer of plays, in thirty
years reduced to his possession, that is to say,
three times as many words as did Milton, the man
of the pen, in a lifetime of scholastic leisure.

Admittingthis, if William Shakespeare only seven
years after this Warwickshire residence* wrote the

* Mr. Edward James Castle, an English Q. C, in his work
" Shakespeare, Bacon, Jonson and Greene " (London : Sampson
Low, Marston&Co., 1897, pp. 153, 154, 185, 190), thinks the ex-
planation lies in the fact that "Shakespeare may have gone to
London earlier than is supposed," He says, " It is by no means
impossible that, when Shakespeare went forth as a mere lad to
improve his fortunes, he found an easy introduction to Burbadge's
company, and when there either played women's parts himself, or
was an associate with those who did: that he may have been in
receipt of a good income, and have mixed in good society. His
talents would have given him introductions everywhere," and
again " the actors, as is well-known, were highly paid, surrounded
by all the amenities of fashionable existence, introduced into the
best society (so that Shakespeare was) . . . perhaps taken
in hand by some high-born and well-bred ladies." Mr. Castle,
however, elsewhere says that players, playwrights, and persons of
theatrical associations were considered of low caste, tabooed in
good society and, as Ben Jonson complains, "like tinkers,
rogues by statute," and that " it was a presumption for an actor,

THE ENVIRONMENT. 6 1

'' Venus and Adonis," it tends to prove that, in those
seven years, he was deeply at his exercises. And
in the '' Venus and Adonis," and the other poems —
perhaps in the Sonnets — we may have some of these
exercises — the trial heats, which the Master flung
aside in training for his masterpieces.

who was a vagabond at law, or a nobleman's servant, to try and
get a grant of arms." Mr. Castle's proposition, that it is to
Elizabeth's "high-born and well-bred ladies'" that we are in-
debted for Shakespeare, does not meet with the approval of Dr.
JohnFiske, however. Dr. Fiske's explanation is that " the world's
greatest genius, one of the most consummate masters of speech
that ever lived, could not tarry seven years in the city without
learning how to write what Hosea Biglow calls citified English."
— The Atlantic Monthly, November, 1897.

PART II.

A GLOSSARY

OF

THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT.

64

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Abundance — see Plenty.

Abuse — (verb).

Accent.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Old.

Becall — Go on at, Gleek.

Tang or Twang.

GLOSSARY.

65

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Here will be old Utis
[that is, plenty of
Holidays], ''2 Henry
IV.," 11. iv. 21.

If a man were porter of
Hell gate he should
have old the turning
the key, " Macbeth,"

II. iii. 2.

Nay, I can gleek upon
occasion, ''Midsum-
mer Night's Dream,"

III. i. 150. Now
Where's the bastard's
braves, an Charles his
gleeks? " I Henry
VI.," III. ii. 123. What
will you give us? No
money on my faith,
but the gleek, "Ro-
meo and Juliet," IV.
V. 115. I have seen
you gleeking and gall-
ing at this gentleman,
"Henry V.," V. i. 78.

For she had a tongue
with a tang, "Tem-
pest,'/ II. ii. 52. Let
thy tongue tang ar-
guments of state,

66

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Active — see Ready.

Across (diagonally).

Acquiescent — see Will-
ing.

Adder (the serpent).

Addition (the wing of a
house), see Shed.

Adjacent — see Near.

Ado — see Trouble.

Adultery.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Sprag.

Girta.
Agreeable.

Ether.
Lean to.

Agin.
Commit.

GLOSSARY.

67

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

"Twelfth Night," II.
V. 134. Let thy
tongue tang with
arguments of state,
Idem, III. iv. 66.
With a swaggering ac-
cent, sharply twanged
off. Idem, III. iv. 171.

He is a good sprag
wit, ** Merry Wives
of Windsor," IV. i. 84.

What? Committed? O
thou public Com-
moner! What, com-
mitted? Heaven stops
the nose at it, and the
moon winks. What,
committed? Impu-

68

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Afford (to afford time).

A while — -A 'cant a while
= 1 can't afford, or
spare the time to do
it.

Aftermath.

Lattermath.

Amorous, see Bedfellow,
Concupiscent.

Codding — (from Cod,
a female companion,
which see).

Aftercrop.

Aftermath — The after-
crop of wheat is tail
wheat.

Aggravate (verb).

Terrify — 'Eas caowf
terrifies 'um = His
cough aggravates him.

Alley — see Lane.

Chewer.

Also.

An all.

Always.

Constant.

Ample.

Roomthy.

Annoy.

Irk, Back-up.

GLOSSAR V.

69

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

dent strumpet! —

'' Othello," IV. ii. 72,
76, 80.

This codding spirit had
they from their
mother, "Titus An-
dronicus," V. i. 156.

And yet it irks me,
''As You Like It," II.

70

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Ankle, or Ankle joint. Ankley

WARWICKSHIRE.

Ant-Hill.

Anticipate, see Foresee.

Anxious.

Apple — see Wild Apple.
Appetite.

Apple (a small, sweet
variety).

Approach — to near in

Anty-tump.
Forecast.

Longful — I ha' been
longful to see you
again = I was anxious
to see you again.

Russet.

Take away — Take away,
my appetite is satis-
fied. We's take away 's
swaggered.

Crink, scrumps.

Another variety, a win-
ter apple, is a sour-
ing.

Going in.

GLOSSAR V.

71

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

i. 22. It irks his heart
he cannot, ** i Henry
VI.," I. iv. 105. It
irks my very soul,
"3 Henry VI.," II. ii.
46.

Used as a noun in
"3 Henry VI.," VI. i.
42 ; Alas that Warwick
had not more forecast.

72

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

point of time — see
Reach.

Apron (Pinafore).

Pinner, Coverslut. A
long apron to hide an
untidy dress.

Astonish.

Lick me — It licks me 'ou

un makes the brass=:
I am astonished to see
how fast he makes

money.

At — (at a certain point of
time).

Come — She'll be seven
come Michelmass =
she'll be seven at
Michelmass.

Argue — see Dispute.

Arg. or Argal — **Er
argald me out, as your
new shawl was blue,

un it's green now,
yunt it? " "■ He arg,
as 1 did now, for cred-
ance again." (Hey-
wood, 1566). Gaelic
largall, a skirmish, a
fight.

GLOSSAR V.

73

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I

His child is a year and
a quarter old, come
Philip and Jacob,
"Measure for Meas-
ure," III. ii. 213.
Come Lammas eve at
night, she shall be
fourteen, "Romeo and
Juliet," I. iii. 17.

Argal, she drowned her-
self willingly. Argal,
He that is not guilty
of his own death
shortens not his own
life. Argal, the gal-
lows may do well to
thee, "Hamlet," V.

1. 21, 55.

74

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

At least.

Least ways.

Attack.

Tank.

Attempt.

Aim — ('Er aimed to
pick it up, but t' wuz
oer 'eavy fur er to lift.

Attenuated, thin.

Scraily.

Away.

Abroad — Shoo them
chuckins abroad!

Awry.

Whiff.

Awkward — see Clown.

Hocklin — He's a hocklin
sort walker = He walks
awkwardly.

Aint.

Naint.

Axle grease.

Dodment.

B

Baker's Shovel.

Peel — (The instrument
or *' slide" upon which
bread is taken from
the oven).

Bacon.

Griskin syke — the skin
of the bacon-sword.

Baby — infant, small

Reckling.

GLOSSARY.

75

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

76

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

child— (see Child, Dill.

Babyish.

Tiddy— to tiddle is to
bring up carefully by
hand — pronounced
approximately 'Addle.
An Addling is a lamb
brought up artificially.

Bagman.

Outride,

Bastard.

Oos Bird.

Banns.

Asked (or askings) outs
— To be asked out=:
to have the banns pub-
lished.

Barter, Swop.

Rap.

Basket, used in

mills;

Skip.

do., used to cai
luncheon; do., used
feed horses.

to

Frail.
Server.

Bushel basket.

Scuttle.

Bastard.

Chance-child.

Batten — a stick u
washing clothes

sed

in

Maid.

GLOSSAR V.

77

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Burnish.

Frush.

Beak (of a bird), the
bill — see Lordling.

Neb.

Beat (verb)— See Pound,

Warm or Lace. Fullock,

Whip.

Beating.

Beater — (An instrument
to beat clothes in
washing.)

Beckon (verb).

Bedclothes.

Wop — I'll warm ye =
I'll beat you. —I'll lace
ye — would be an
equivalent.

Bunching.

Batlet.

Hike.

Hillings.

Bedfellow — see Amor- ! Cod — Coddy. By an
ous, Concupiscent. association of ideas.

Cod piece = a sort of
protective pack for
the male organs worn

GLOSSARY.

79

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I like thy armor well.
I'll frush it, and un-
lock the rivets all,
" Troilus and Cres-
sida," V. vi. 29.

How she holds up the
neb, the bill to him,
''Winter's Tale,"I. ii.
183. (See as to this
curious word, posi^

LORDLING.)

I remember the kissing
ofherbatlet, ''As You
Like It," II. iv. 49-

You must needs have
them with a cod-piece,
"Two Gentlemen of
Verona," II. vii. 53.
Unless you have a

8o

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

outside of the armor
or dress.

Beetle.

Blackbat.

Because,

Along of — It was all

along of that boy = It

was all because of that

boy.

Beggar.

Cadjer.

GLOSSARY.

8l

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

cod-piece to stick pins
in, Idem, 56. For the
rebellion of a cod-
piece to take away the
life of a man, '' Meas-
ure for Measure," III.
ii. 122. The cod-piece
that will house before
the head has any,
'♦King Lear," III. ii.
27. Here's grace and
acod-piece! Idem, III.
ii. 40. His cod-piece
seems as massy as his
club, "Much Ado
about Nothing," III.
iii. 146. Dread prince
of plackets, king of
cod-pieces, ''Love's
Labor's Lost," III. i.
186. 'Twas nothing
to geld a cod-piece
of a purse, "Win-
ter's Tale," IV. iv.
623.

82

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Begin (verb).

Buckle to.

Begging.

Thomassing — To go
a-*' thomassing," is
to go a-begging
for gifts (according
to an old custom,
on S t . ^ T h 0 m a s ' s
day), and so, gene-
rally, to beg is to
thomas.

Begone.

Morris — You bwoys 'd
better morris = you
boys had better take
yourselves off — or be-
gone.

Behaved.

Conditioned — He's well
conditioned = he's well
behaved; he's ill con-
ditioned=he's ill be-
haved.

Begrimed,

Smeared.

Ditched, A's mug's
ditched = His face is
smeared as with mud.

Behavior.

Condition.

GLOSSARY.

83

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

The best conditioned
and unwearied spirit,
"Merchant of Venice,"
III. ii. 295.

Here is the catalogue of
her conditions, "Two
Gent, of Verona," III.
ii. 273.
III. ii.
his ill conditions.

"Much Ado,"
68; Yes, and

84

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Behind.

Beehive.

Belongings — Luggage.

Belabor — To pound
(which see).

Benighted — See De-
layed.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Assudbackards.

Beeskep.

1 Nails — Pack up ons nails
and shog = Pick up
your belongings and
get out.

Pun or Pug. — Quilt —
Leather. To quilt or
to leather a man is to
pound or punish him
severely.

Lated.

Between.
Blear-eyed.

Atween.
Wall-eyed.

GLOSSAR y.

8S

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS,

He would pun thee into
shivers with his fist,
''Troilus and Cres-
sida," 11. i. 42.

Now spurs the lated
traveler to gain the
timely inn, ** Mac-
beth," III. iii. 6. lam
so lated in the world
that I have lost my way
forever, ''Antony and
Cleopatra," III. ii. 3.

That ever wall-eyed
wrath or staring rage
presented, '' King

John," IV. iii. 147.
Say, wall-eyed slave,
whither wouldst thou?
*' Titus Andronicus,"
II. ii. 102.

86

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Blind Alley.

Pudding bag.

Blow.

Polt — He got polt on
conk = He got a blow

on the nose.

Bendweed — (The minor
Convolvulus).

Waiweind.

Bind — to bind books.
Bind tightly.

Heal.

Guss — Don't guss that
recklin = Don't bind
the child too tightly.

Bit, part of harness.

Bettock.

Bit — see morsel.

Scrump.

Blab, to give away
secrets (verb.)

Twit.

Blackened, see darkened.

Collied.

GLOSSAR V.

87

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS,

The word occurs three
times in the plays
("Two Gentlemen of
Verona," IV. ii. 8;
*'i Henry VI.," III.
ii. 55; "2 Henry VI.,"
III. i. 178), but not in
this sense.

Brief as the lightning
in the collied night,
*' Midsummer Night's
Dream," I. i. 145.
Passion, having my
best judgment col-

88

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

Blackbird.

Blade of grass.

Blown — To lay corn by
wind or rain.

Blaze.

Blunt.

Boar.

Boast— to put on airs.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Blackie (a ** black stare "
is Warwickshire for
a starling).

Bent of grass.

Lodge — The corn is
lodged ~ the corn is
laid.

Blizzy.
Dubbid.
Brim.
Scawt.

Boast, Brag, verb or \ Crack,
noun. I Goster.

Boasting. j Gostering, also used

I as a noun — meaning
something to boast of.

GLOSSAK y.

89

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS,

lied, ''Othello," II. iii.
206.

They shall lodge the
summer corn, "Rich-
ard II.," III. iii. 162.
Though bladed corn
be lodged and trees
blown down, " Mac-
beth," IV. i. 55.

And

Eth
sweet
crack, "
Lost,"
Though
should
duty to
VIII.,"
Indeed

iops of their
complexions

Love's Labor's

IV. iii. 268.
all the world
crack their

you, " Henry
III. ii. 193.

it is a noble

90

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Boasting — Boastful-
consequential.

—see

Crostering — He's a cros-
tering fellow = He's a
boasting fellow.

Boisterous.

Lungerous.

Blunder — Failure.

Mull.

Blunt, verb.

Dub — E'el dub they
knife agin brick=You
will take the edge off
your knife against the
brick.

Boaster.

Cracker.

Boor — Tram per.

Chop-goss.

Booby — See Clown.

Bosom — (of a garm

ent).

Craw— Wi my shift craw
up = with my shirt
bosom unbuttoned.

Borders.

Adlands — Them's his
adlands = Those are
borders of his field.

J

GLOSSAR Y.

91

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

child. A crack,
madam, " Coriolanus,"
I. iii. 74.

What cracker is this
same that deafs our
ears? *' King John,"
II. i. 46.

92

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Botch.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Boage.

Bother — to harass — see Irk — [Also in several

Annoy.
Bow— (A curtesy).

Bowlful — see Jorum.

Bragging — see Boast.
Brand new.

other dialects.]

Obedience — Make your
obedience to the par-
son=:Bow (or drop a
curtesy) to the parson.

Jordan.

Gostering.
Fire-new.

GLOSSAR Y.

93

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

We charged again, but
out, alas, we botched
again! '' 3 Henry VI.,"
I. iv. 19.

Why, they will allow us
ne'era Jordan, '^iHen.
IV., II. i. 22. When
Arthur first in court.
Empty the Jordan, " 2
Henry IV.,'' II. iv. 37.

A man of fire-new words,
fashion's own knight,
''Love's Labor's Lost,"
I. i. 179. Some excel-
lent jests, fire-new
from the mint,
"Twelfth Night,"
III. ii. 23. Yoiir fire-
new stamp of honor is
scarce current, ''Rich-
ard IIL," L iii. 256.
Dispute thy victor
sword and fire-new for-
tune, "Lear,"V.iii.i32.

94

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Breeze — see Forerunner,

Whiffle— A ''whiffle" is

Herald.

more particularly a
breeze which stirs the
growing grain, and
bends it as if to make
a path through it,
whence the word —
whiffler, one who goes
before, making a path
for one to come after.

Bruise — see Batter.

Frush.

Bud (verb).

Chip.

Breezy — See Gusty,

Hurden,

Windy.

Bully — In the sense

of

Knag— Go on at; They

to ruff, to chaff.

to

knag (or go on at)

abuse — see Tease.

me so = they chaff
(or bully or ruff) me.

Bundle of Hay.

Bottle of hay — [Also in
Yorkshire and several
other dialects.'

Bungle.

Mongle.

Burden.

Fardel — [Also in various
other dialects.

GLOSSAR V.

95

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Methinks I have a great
desire to a bottle of
hay, '' Midsummer N.
D.," IV. i. 36.

Who would fardels bear,
''Hamlet," III. i. 83.
I heard them talk of
a fardel, ''Winter's
Tale," V. ii. 25.

96

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Burst.

Squot — What ye squot
that pod fur = Why
have you burst that
pod.

Busybody, Newsmonger,

Blobchops.

Bushel.

Scuttle — (More properly
a basket that holds a
bushel.)

Buttercups.

Craisies.

By-bidder at an auc-
tion.

Sweetener.

By God (an oath as sub-
stitute for by God).

Cox.

C

Cackle.

Chackle — Our hen she
do chackle.

Cake, small cake.

Pikelet.

Cake (verb) — see Col-
lect.

Bolter.

GLOSSAR V.

97

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Cox my passion, give
me your hand, how
doesyourdrum? "All's
Well that Ends Well,"
V. ii. 42.

Bolted by the northern
blast, ''Winter's Tale,"
IV. iv. 376. So finely
bolted didst thou

98

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Calf.

Stagger-bob.

Candle.

Dummy.

Candle lighter, a bit of
paper or wood.

Sprill.

Cannot — see Not.

Canna.

Cap — Especially a child's
cap.

Biggin.

Captions, Irritable.
Caress (verb).

Carelessly, to wear care-
lessly.

Carrion crow.
Carry (verb).

Tutly.

Pither — (pid-hur) see
she pither him = see
her caress him.

Slanged — Slanged on
anyhow — carelessly
put on.

Goarrin' crow,

Help—I'll help it back
to 'un =: I'll carry it
back to its owner.

GLOSSARY.

99

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

seem, ** Henry V.," ii.
137.

With homely biggin
bound, "2 Hen. IV.,"
V. 27.

Help me away, " Merry
Wives of Windsor,"
HI. iii. 150, and per-
haps very frequently
in that sense distin-

lOO

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Catch.

Cop, pronounced coop,
sometimes spelled

cope in plays.

Certainly not, on no ac-
count.

Ever so — I wud not go
daown that chewer
nights, ever so = I
would not on any
account go down that
lane at night.

Cesspool.

Stockhole.

Chaff (Verb). See
Abuse.

Go on at — They go on
at me about going to
church — They chaff
me about going to
church.

Chatter (verb).

To cank = to talk incess-
antly.

Celebrated, or, as an ad-
verb, Famously.

Deadly — He's a deadly
man ^- for going to
church = He's cele-

GLOSSAR v.

lOI

VENUS AND ADONIS.

They all strain courtesy
which shall cope him
first.— Line 888.

PLAYS.

guished from the ordi-
nary one.

And coops from other
lands her islanders,
''King John," II. i. 25.
I have to cope him in
these sullen fits, "As
You Like It," II. ii. 65.
Ajax shall cope the
best, " Troilus and
Cressida," II. iii. 275.

Thou didst hate her
deadly and she is dead,
''All's Well That Ends

I02

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

brated for going to
church (a great church-

goer.)

Chaffinch.

Pink.

Charcoal.

Charks.

Chatter, gossip. .

Chelp, chirp, cag-cank,
cank — All those words
or forms are used. A
chatterbox is some-
times called a pralla-

piece.

Chatterbox.

Chatterpie.

Cheat (verb).

Fob or Fub.

GLOSSAR V.

103

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Well," V. iii. 117. Not
now, sir, she's a deadly
theme, "Troilus and
Cressida," IV. v. 181.
Yet they lie deadly,
that tell you you have
good faces, **Corio-
lanus," II. i. 67.

And chattering pies in
dismal discords sung,
''3 Henry VI.," V. vi.
48.

Fubbed off, and fubbed
off, and fubbed off,
from this day to that,
"2 Henry IV.," II. i.
37. Resolution thus
fobbed as it is with
the rusty curb of old
father Antic the law,
"i Henry IV.," I. ii.
68.

I04

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Chestnut.

Hoblionkers.

Chemise.

Shimmy.

Chew (verb).

Chawl, or chobble
(chawl perhaps means
to chew slowly).

Chicken (any
fowl).

young

Biddy.

Child—see Small Child.

Recklin.

Childbed.

Groaning.

Childbed.

Panzy bed — As if a
child would ask where
a baby came from,
the neighbors would
say, **oot ov 'ts
mither's Panzy-bed."

Chimney.

Chimbley.

Chum — an associate or
hail-fellow — a favor-
ite.

Butty.

Clever.

Sprag, Sprakt.

GLOSSARY.

105

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

What shall be done, Sir,
with the groaning Ju-
liet? She's very near
her hour. ''Measure
for Measure," II. ii. 15.

He is a good sprag mem-

io6

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE,

Clown — see
Idiot, Fool.

Dunce,

Clumsy.
Chimney-piece.

Geck—Patch.

Noggen.
Shelf.

Chirp (verb).

Chelp.

Chips.

Chats.

Chitterlings of Pork.

Mudgin.

Clean out.

Do out. Do out pig-

stye = clean out the

pigstye. It is a ques-

tion whether this is

not the contraction

Dout — used in the

Shakespearean sense

of extinguish (which

see).

GLOSSARY.

107

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

ory, " Merry Wives of
Windsor," IV. i. 84.

And to become the geek
and scorn of th' other's
villainy, "Cymbeline,"
V. iv. 67. And made
the most notorious
geek and gull,

'♦Twelfth Night," V.

i- 35-

(Perhaps) in '^ Hamlet,"
III. iv. 112; from the
shelf the precious dia-
dem stole.

And dout them with
superfluous courage.
"Henry V.," IV. ii.
II.

io8

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Climb (as a tree), verb.
Claw — (of a fowl).

WARWICKSHIRE.

Clever— see Talon.

Swarm.
Talent.

Fierce — That's a fierce
little 'un = That's a
clever baby.

Clot (verb)— see Col- Bolter,
lect. •

Clown — Ignoramus; see
Fool, Idiot.

Crack, a fissure.

Clover — see White Clo-
ver.

Coat (short coat).

Patch-Yawrups — Yer
great Patch, or you
great Yawrups = you
booby, you clown.

Chaun.

Slop or Slops.

GLOSSARY.

109

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

If talent be a claw,
look how he claws
him with a talent,
" Love's Labor's,"
IV. ii. A double pun,
to '*claw " being also
Warwickshire dialect
for "to toady to," "to
flatter."— See Toady,
post.

Thou scurvy patch,
"Tempest," III. ii.
71; capon, coxcomb,
idiot, patch, "Com-
edy of Errors," III. i.

33.

O, rhymes are guards on

no

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Cob, stout, compactly
built horse.

Galloway.

Cock — (The male of any
fowl).

Tone.

Comb.

Shade — Shade this 'eir =
comb your hair.

Comely.

Eyeable.

Collect — To clog or
cake (verb).

Bolter — The snow bolt-
ers i' his hoof = the
snow cakes or collects
in the horse's hoof.

Companion — in the
sense of a partner — or
mate, a "pal " — or
associate, a chum,
see Bedfellow.

Butty.

Commodious.

Roomthy.

GLOSSARY,

III

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

wanton Cupid's hose.
Disfigure not his
slop, "Love's Labor's
Lost," IV. iii. 50.
Bon Jour, there's a
French salutation for
French slop, " Ro-
meo and Juliet," II.
iv. 47.

Know we not Galloway-
nags? ''2 Henry IV.,"
11. iv. 203.

Blood boltered, "■ Mac-
beth," IV. i. 123.

112

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Common, Vulgar.

Article — an expression
of contempt, for man,
beast, or commodity.

Comparatively.

Accardin — (according)

— It's as much bigger

accardin' as my fut is

nur that mawkins =

It's as much larger as
my foot is larger than
that child's.

Complete.

Slow.

Completely.

Slow — He turned it slow
over = He overturned
it completely.

Conceited.

Coxey.

Concupiscent, Lecher-
ous.

Frum, Randy, Codding.

Confidence.

Heart — He ain't no

GLOSSARY.

113

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS,

In the verity of extole-
ment I take him to be
a soul of great article;
(that is, a soul of great
vulgarity), *' Hamlet,"
V. ii. 122.

Backward pull our slow
designs, ''All's Well,"
I. i. 233. Wrung from
me my slow leave,
''Hamlet," I. ii.

This codding spirit had
they from their
mother, "Titus An-
dronicus," I. iv. 71.

TI4

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Conceited, vain.
Concede.

WARWICKSHIRE.

heart in it = He has
no confidence in it;
also used in the sense
of quality, as ^' there
ain't no heart in the
land " = this land is
good for nothing.

Fritch.

Allow.

GLOSSAR V.

115

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

For I can sing, and
speak to him in many
sorts of music, that
will allow me very-
worth his service.
(This is one of the
most curious of sur-
vivals. The idiom,
in the Africo-Ameri-
can of the Southern
United States, is the
most common and uni-
versal of any. **I
'low dat its a fine
day," means, I said to
him it's a fine day.
"Brer Rabbit 'low
dat he jes a mite
hungry, too," = Bro-
ther Rabbit said, " I
am hungry," etc.). See
Joel Chandler Har-
ris's ''Uncle Remus"
books.

ii6

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Concubine.

Kicky-wicky.

Confine.

Stive up — Cub-up.

Confusion.

Caddie. Everything is
all of a caddle=:every-
thing is in confusion.

Consequential

Cocksey.

Contrive — To
to live.

manage

Raggle, Scrabble — 'Ees
scrabblin' along = He
lives from hand to
mouth = manages to
get along.

Convalescent.

Hand — Ae's 'and now =
I am now on the mend.

Coquetting — sec

: Pry.

Brevetting. When one
hangs around as if to
pry, but generally
"wenching."

Costs, expenses-
lawsuit.

—as in a

Cusses.

Courting — See
ting.

Coquet-

GLOSSARY.

117

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

He spends his honor in
a box unseen; that
keeps his kicky-wicky
hen at home, "All's
Well that Ends Well,"
II. iii, 297.

What's become of the
wenching rogues?

" Troilus and Cressi-
da," V. iv. 35.

ii8

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Convince.

Swagger.

Cowslip.

Tooty.

Constable.

Bum or Bum baily —

'Ee's got the Bums in

's 'ouse for rent = The

constables have dis-

trained his goods for

rent. A constable who

takes up stray cattle is

called a *' Hay ward."

Copulate (verb).

Grouse.

Core.

Corple.

Court, courting.

Comes to see. 'E comes

to see our Mary =

He is courting our

Mary — sometimes

^' setting up with " (as

in New England to-

day) means the same

thing. A country

girl's affianced is her

* ' Steady company "or,

briefly, her '^ Steady."

Cover (verb) to cover

Rake.

the fire.

GLOSSAR Y.

119

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

Scout me for him at the
bottom of the garden
like a bum baily,
*' Twelfth Night," III.
iv. 68.

Where fires thou find'st
unraked and hearths
unswept, *' Merry
Wives of Windsor," V.
iv. 50.

120

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Covetous.

Muckerer.

Cramped.

Cubbed up — we are a
cubbed up =: we are
cramped for room.

Crack.

Chan.

Crawl.

Scrabble.

Crease (vei

-b).

Ruck — Braid.

Criticise (verb), To find
fault with.

Crusts, crumbs.

Cucumber.
Cunning,

Curdle (verb).

Cut (verb) — Also to bar-
gain.

Fault it — can you fault
it? = can you criticise
or find fault with it?

Crusses.

Cunger.
Pimping.

Cruddle.

Haggle, a pedlar is a
Haggler.

GLOSSAR V.

121

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

On us both did haggish
age steal on, "All's
Well that End's
Well," I. ii. 29. Suf-
folk died first, and
York, all haggled
over, comes to him,
"Henry V.," IV. vi.
II.

122

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Crockery.

Cracks.

Cross — vixenish.

Contrary.

Cruel — See Boisterous,

Lungerous.

Crumpet.

Pickelet.

Crusted.

Padded — The ground's 'a

padded = the ground

is crusted or baked

with drouth.

Cucumber.

Conger.

Curtesy.

Obedience — mak yer

obedience to she =

curtesy to her.

D

Dam (noun), mill dam.

Fletcher.

Dam (verb), to dam up.

Dandelion.

Darkened — See Black-
ened.

Stank,

Piss a bed.

Coilled (possibly de-
rived from Coil, which
see, under Trouble).

GLOSSARY.

123

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

*Tis pity — love should
be so contrary, **Two
Gentlemen of Ve-
rona," IV. iv. 90.

Brief as the lightning
in the coiled night,
*' Midsummer Night's
Dream," I. i. 145.

124

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Dainty, Fastidious.

Dandle (to toss a cliild
in tlie air).

Darkness.

Daughter (legitimate).

Dash — See remarks
under Thrust.

Dawdler — see Trifler.
Daub, to smear.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Choice.

Dink. To toss a child on
the knee— is to dink-
fart it.

Murk.

Wench — Her be the par-
son's wench = She is
the parson's legitimate
daughter. (** Used all
over England without
any depreciatory in-
tention.)

Yerk.

Slacken-twist.
Bemoil.

GLOSSAR V.

125

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Passion having my
best judgment coilled,
''Othello," II. iii. 206.

'Ere twice in murk
and occidental damp,
"All's Well that
End's Well" II. i. 166.

And with wild rage yerk
out their armed heels,
"Henry V.," IV. vii.

83.

In how miry a place how
was she bemoiled,
"Taming of the
Shrew," IV. i. 77.

126

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Delicate, unable to bear
cold or wet weather.
See Sapling, Slender.

Delirious, dazed
sickness.

Death-sign.

in

Deceitful.

Decorate (verb).

Dedicate (Verb).

Defile — See Lane, Pas-
sage.

Deformed.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Starven, Wimpled.

Moithered.

Token — I am certain
sommat has come to
my son, for I saw his
token last night; it
was a white dove flew
out the curtain.

Fornicating — Ees a for-
nicating chap = He is
a treacherous, or de-
ceitful, fellow.

Dizzen — Wha' be you diz-
zenin yoursel' before
theglass=:Whyareyou
decorating yourself?

Wake — The church was
waked = The church
was dedicated.

Chewer.

Gammy (of an arm or
member only).

GLOSSAR Y.

127

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

This wimpled, whining,
purblind, wayward
boy, "Love's Labor's
Lost," in. i. 81.

128

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Dent.
Depressed.
Destroy (Verb).

Destroy.

Delayed
back.

See Draw-

Depart — See Part.

Detriment.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Dinge.

Cut up.

Rid — [Also in several
other dialects; occurs
in a glossary of Swale-
dale, Yorkshire, in this
sense.]

Terrify — Thee's been
terrifying my cab-
bages = You have
destroyed my cab-
bages.

Lated — I am lated an
hour = I have been
delayed an hour [also
in several other dia-
lects].

Shogg off — Morris.
You'd best morris
now = You had better
depart — take yourself
off.

Denial.

GLOSSARY.

129

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

The red plague rid ye,
"Tempest," I. ii. 64.

Now spurs the iated
traveler, "Macbeth,"
III. iii. 6.

Shogg off! I would have
you solus, " Henry
v.," II. i. 48. Shall
we shogg off, Idem^
II. iii. 48.

Make denials increase
your services, " Cym-
beline," II. iii. 53.
Prejudicates the busi-
ness, and would seem
to have us make denial.

I30

GLOSSARY,

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Devil, the.

Old Harry.

Devour, or devouring.

Ravin, Raven, or Ra-
vine— In most English
dialects; perhaps this
is only a shortening of
Raving.

Dew.

Dag — There'sbeenanice
flop o' dag = there's
been a nice fall of dew.

Diaper.

Dubble.

Die, to cease to live
(verb).

Croak. Go back — Pass —
I'm afeard my dilling
'11 pass hereby^I am
fearful that my child
will die this time.

Different.

Odds — It '11 all be odds
in a bit = It will be dif-
ferent in a moment.

GLOSSAR V.

131

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

'* All's Well that
End's Well," I. ii. 9.

Meet the ravin lion,
''All's Well that Ends
Well," III. ii. 120.
(Benjamin shall raven
as a wolf, King James
Bible, Gen. xliv. 27.)

Vex not his ghost. O let
him pass, ** Lear," V,
iii, 213. Disturb him
not, let him pass peace-
ably, "2 Hen. VI.."
III. iii., 29.

Were still at odds, but
being three, ''Love's
Labor's Lost," III. i.
91; nothing but odds
with England, "Henry
V." IL iv. 129.

132

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Dig (Verb).

Earth — Earth it up=dig
it up.

Digestion.

Digester — His digester
is bad=:His digestion
is out of order.

Dissolve.

Resolve.

Direct, directly
Immediately,
. ently.

— see
Pres-

Next — Next away.

Disorder — Disorderly.

Huggermugger — Mul-
locks— This rooms all
on a mullock; it wans
fettlin up a bit = This
room is in disorder
and needs setting to
rights.

Dirty.

Grubby.

Disagree, quarrel.

Chip out, or drop out —

GLOSSAR Y.

133

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Whose liquid surge re-
solves the moon into
soft tears, *'Timon
of Athens," IV. iii.
442. Thaw and Re-
solve itself into a
dew, "Hamlet," I. ii.
130. Even these re-
solved my reason into
tears, " The Lover's
Complaint," 296.

'Tis the next way to turn
tailor, ''i Henry VI.,"
III. i. 264.

And we have done but
greenly, In Hugger-
mugger to inter him,
*' Hamlet," IV. v.
87.

134

GLOSS AR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Me and him chipped
out (or dropped out)
other day = He and I
quarreled the other
day.

Disarrange.

Midge.

Disorder, confusion.

Pucker.

Disturb.

Raise the place.

Ditch.

Grimp.

Does.

Do— He do like it = He
does like it.

Dolt — see Stupid.

Nozman.

Dog-tooth.

Puggin-tooth.

Domineering.

Masterful, or Missising.

GLOSSAR V.

I3S

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

He raised the place with
loud and coward cries,
" King Lear," II. iv.
43. I'll raise all
Windsor, ** Merry
Wives of Windsor,"
V. V. 223. This busi-
ness will raise us all,
''Winter's Tale," II.
i. 193.

Doth set my puggin-
tooth on edge, ''Win-
ter's Tale," IV. iii.
437.

136

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Donkey.

Jerusalem Pony.

Doubtful.

Dubersome — It's duber-

some he goes = It's
doubtful if he goes.

Dough, sometimes a
pudding.

Duff, or Dunch. A pud-
ding made of flour and
water and eaten with
salt, is a Dunch-dump-

ling.

Down.

Dowle.

Drain.

Grimp.

Drab — a shiftless
woman — see Slattern.

Shackle.

Draw (as to draw tea).

Mash — The tea was
ready mashed = The
tea vv^as drawn.

Drawback, or Delay
(sometimes).

Denial — It's a great
denial to him to be
shut up in the house
= It's a great draw-
back for him to be
kept in-doors.

Dregs.

Dribblins, Swatchell or
Swappel.

GLOSSARY.

137

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

The dowle that's in my
plume, " Tempest,"
III. iii. 65.

Make denials increase
your services, " Cym-
beline," II. iii. 53.

138

GLOSSARY,

VERNACULAR.

Drenched — see Wet.

Dried — see Crusted.
Drink (noun).

Drip.

Drive out.

Drizzling.

Drop — see Expectorate.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Watched — or Wet-
chered.

Padded.

Drench, 'As in 's drench.
= He is in drink, /. <?.,
is drunken.

Gutter, usually of a can-
dle. The dummy gut-
ters ~ The candle is
dripping, or burning
unevenly.

Scouse — Scouse them
dawgs out = Drive
out the dogs.

Damping.

Gob, Gobblets.

GLOSSARY.

139

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Give my roan horse a
drench, says he, " i
Henry IV.," II. iv.
120. Sodden water, a
drench for surreined
jades, '< Henry V.,"
III. V. 19.

With gobbets of thy
mother's bleeding

heart, 2 ** Henry VI.,"
IV. i. 85. Into as
many gobbets will I
cut it, as wild Me-
dea young Absyrtus
did, Ideniy V. ii.

58.

140

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Droop — see Sink.

Sagg.

Drool~a
low.

waggish fel-

Dryskin — 'Ees a droll
wag — 'Ees a dryskin.

Drunken.

Fresh, Muzzy — He's
fresh, or muzzy = He's
drunken.

Dry.

Starky.

Dull
Sleepy.

see Heavy,

Urked.

Dumpling-

-see Dough.

Dunch.

Dunce — see Idiot, Fool.

Geek, Patch — [Common
to several dialects .

Dung, Ma

nure.

Sharm — Cow sharm =
Cow manure.

Dungeon.

Dungill.

GLOSSAR Y.

141

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

Shall never sagg with
doubt, "Macbeth," V.
iii. 10.

Perhaps so used in a
withered serving man;
a fresh tapster,
"Merry Wives of
Windsor," I. iii. 19.

And made the most no-
torious geek and gull,
"Twelfth Night," V.
i. 351. And to be-
come the geek and
scorn of th' other's
villany, "Cymbeline,"
V. iv. 67.

142

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Dwarf.

Durgey. Sometimes
called a *' go by the
ground."

E

Earrings, probably the
false earrings worn to
keep the perforation
open.

Sleepers.

Economy.

Salvation — It's no salva-
tion to scrum a reasty
shive = It's no econ-
omy to stuff one's self
with sour bread.

Eel Basket.

Putcheon.

Elm Tree.

Elven.

Election.

Ond Shaken Time — /. ^.,
the local election,
when the candidates
shake hands with the
voters.

Emaciated, in the sense
of down to a fine
point — see Pinched,
Thin.

Picked,

GLOSSARY.

143

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

At gaming, perhaps in
this sense in swearing,
or about some act
that has no relish of
salvation in it, ''Ham-
let," II. i. 58.

Used in the sense of
nice (perhaps thin or
sharp), in "Hamlet,"
V. i. ; ''The age is

grown so
See also

picked."
'* Love's

144

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Embers.

Elegant (splendid).

Embarrassed.

Embarrass, also in the
sense of put out, Ex-
tinguish— see Extin-
tinguish, Put Out.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Gleeds.

Clinking, Perial.
Graveled.

Dout — He douts me
He embarrasses me.

GLOSSAR V.

145

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Labor's Lost," V. i.
14; '* He is too picked,
too spruce."

When you were gravelled
for lack of matter you
might take occasion to
kiss, *'As You Like
It," IV. i. 75.

The dram of Eale doth
all the noble substance
often doubt to his own
scandal, ** Hamlet,"
L iv. If this is a use
of the Warwickshire
word, I think this cele-
brated crux is simpli-
fied, viz. : the morsel
of evil born in the man
embarrasses and extin-
guishes (or eclipses)
all his good points.
(Eale being a misprint
for evil). See use of
the word dout in
"Henry V.," IV. ii.
11; and again in
''Hamlet," IV. 7. I
have a speech of fire

146

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Ember (a live ember

Gleed.

only).

Empty (verb).

Shit, Shit them taters

out 0' scuttle = Empty

those potatoes out of

that bushel-basket.

Encourage, to urge on.

Age on. *Ee aged ' 'cm

on = He urged or en-

couraged him to pro-

ceed.

Encourage.

Hearten.

Endure.

Abide, Abear — I can't

abide (or abear) it = I

can't endure it.

GLOSSARY.

147

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

that fain would blaze,
but that this folly
clouts it. The mis-
printof doubt for dout,
and of eale for evil,
both occurring in one
sentence, have caused
the greatest and most
exploited Shakes-

pearean crux.

My royal father, cheer
those noble lords and
hearten those that
fight in your defense,
''3 Henry VI." II. ii.
78.

Good natures could not
abide to be with,
'* Tempest," I. ii. 360,

148

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Enough.

Enu (Enew).

Equal — (an equal in

Even — Christian.

station).

-,

Entangle (Entangle-

Twizzle, Ravelment, a

ment.)

tangle of yarn — is a

Robbie.

Entirely — Completely.

Slom, Clean. E turned

slom (or clean) over

= He turned a com-

plete somersault.

GLOSSAR Y.

149

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

see also " Merry-
Wives," I. i. ; '' Meas-
ure for Measure," III.
ii. ; *' Midsummer

Night's Dream," III.
i. ; ''Merchant of
Venice," IV. i. ;
''Julius Caesar," III.
ii., etc., etc.

That great folk should
have countenance to
drown or kill them-
selves more than their
even Christian, "Ham-
let,"V. i. 31.

Roaming clean through
the bounds of Asia,
" Comedy of Errors,"
I. i. 134. Though
not clean past your
youth, "2 Henry IV.,"

I. ii. 110. And domes-
tic broils clean over-
blown, "Richard III.,"

II. iv. 61. Renounc-
ing clean the faith
they have in tennis

IS©

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Entrails.

Erase (verb)
Scratch out.

— see

Equitable — Fair-play be-
tween men.

Ewe.
Exactly.

Excel (verb).

Excellent.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Chittlins. Aggies: (per-
haps the Scotch Hag-
gis)— The Entrails and
Ropes of a Sheep.

Scrat.

As good as — Ayzum-
Tazzum. Ul give
one as good as him
= I will get as much
as he does.

Yoe.

Justly — It fits him justly
= It fits him exactly.
— Pronounced jussly.

Cap.

Undeniable.

GLOSSAR Y.

^51

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

and tall stockings,
^' Henry VIII.," I. iii.
29.

Be justly weighed,
''Twelfth Night," V.
i. 375. Equal bal-
ance justly weighed,
''2 Henry IV.," IV.
i. 67.

I will cap that proverb
with there's flattery in
friendship, '' Henry
V." III. vii. 129.

152

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Excellent.
Excrement.
Excited, nervous.
Expectorate (verb).

Excessive, Excessively
— see Very.

Exchange (verb).
Exhausted.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Expert.
Expertly, neatly.

Expenses.

Extension of a house-

Reeming.

Gold dust.

Puthery.

Gob, Yaux. See Drop,
Mouthful.

Terrible — Above a bit.
He's terrible fond of
the little 'un = He is
excessively fond of the
child — or Er's worrit
above a bit — He's
extremely worried.

To chop = to trade one
thing for another.

Sadded, Forwearied — or
Sadded. He's gone
forwearied = He's ex-
hausted or worn out.

Dabster, Dabhand.

Gainly. In print — E dost
it in print like = He
does it expertly.

Cusses.

Lean to.

GLOSSAR Y.

153

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Were as terrible as her
terminations, " Much
Ado about Nothing,"
II, i. What is the
reason of this terrible
summons? ''Othello,"
II. i. 246.

Forwearied in this,
John," II. i. 233.

K.

154

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

see Addition, Shed,
Wing.

Extinguish — (Verb) see
Embarrass, Put out.
Shut.

Extremely.

Fade, Decrease or dis-
appear.

Fagot (any piece of fire-
wood).

WARWICKSHIRE.

Dout.

Douk (verb), to duck the
head. ''You must
douk yer yud to get
thraough that little
doer."

Dowst (noun), a blow.

DoAvt (verb), to extin-
guish (? ''do out").
" Mind as you dowts
the candle safe, w'en
yu be got into bed."

Like — As, as (with the
adjective), It's as like
as like — It's very
like, or it's pleasant
like = It's very pleas-
ant.

Sigh, The posies be sigh-
in' — or in the case of
a humor — This boils
aginnin to sigh = This
boil is decreasing.

Bangle, Bavin — Kid.

GLOSSAR V.

155

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

And dout them with
superfluous courage,
''Henry V." IV. ii.
II. I have a speech of
fire which fain would
blaze, but thatthisfolly
douts it, '' Hamlet,"
IV. vii. 192.

And rash bavin wits,
'* I Hen. IV." III. 61.

iS6

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Fagged — worn out, very
wearied — see Fa-
tigued.

Failure.

Fairies.

Fancy.

Fall — see Dew.

Famished.

Fat, usually Hog's fat.

WARWICKSHIRE,

Mull— Mulled - foiled.

Pharasees, a mispronun-
ciation confounded
with a Biblical word.

Fainty.

Flop.

Famelled — or clommed.

Scam.

Fatigued — utterly worn ' Forwearied — [also in

out, see Exhausted.

several other dialects].

Faultfinder, a captious Pickthanks.
person (as in mod- \
ern argot perhaps a
"kicker").

Feeble.

Casualty — He's getting
old and casualty now
= He's getting old
and feeble. Also

GLOSSAR V.

157

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

•

Peace is a very apoplexy,
lethargy; mulled, deaf,
'' Coriolanus," IV. v.

239-

Forwearied in this,
''King John," II. i.

233-

By smiling pickthanks
and base news-

mongers, " I Henry
IV.," III. ii. 25.

158

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Creechy, Grouchy,
Crofifing, or Fodder-

ing.

Feed

(verb).

Fother, Serve — The pigs
are served (or foth-
ered) = The pigs are
fed.

Feel.

Find of — I find of thus
foot irks me = I feel
this foot paining
me.

Feeling (noun).

Felth.

Feet.

Hummocks — Keep thy
hummocks home =
Keep your feet where
they belong.

Fell.

Fall— We must fall that
tree — We must cut
down that tree.

Fellow (Especially a fel-
low workman, or part-
ner in a job).

Butty.

Fennel (and umbellifer- Kex or Keks [also in Sus-
ous plants generally). sex, Whitby, Mid-York-
shire, and several other
; dialects].

GLOSSARY.

159

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

For the table, sir, it shall
be served in? " Mer-
chant of Venice," III.
V. 75-

Thistles, keeksies, burs,
''Henry V.," V. ii. 52.

i6o

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Fetched.

Fet.

Fitches.

Vetches.

Fever.

Faver.

Field (when inclosed).

Close.

Fields.

Ground.

Fidget (verb), to worry
one's self.

Fidget (verb), to worry
another.

Fine.

Finery— see Trinkets.

Fissle — with the fingers.
Fither.

Roil.

Perial — That's a perial
nag now = That's a
fine mount, or that's a
beautiful saddle horse.

Bravery [also in several
other dialects].

First milk (of a cow after Bisnings.
calving). '

GLOSSARY.

i6i

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

On, on, ye noble English,
whose blood was fet
from fathers of war-
proof, "Henry V.,"
III. i. 17.

Which grows here in my
close, " Timon of
Athens." V. ii.

With scarfs and fans
and double change of
bravery, "Taming of
Shrew," IV. iii. 57.

l62

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Fists.

Fises, Fisses.

Flail.

Nile.

Flatter (verb).

Claw — He claws 'un =
He flatters me. [Also
in several other dia-
lects.'

Fledged.

Fleshy.

Fledgeling.

Batchling.

Flirt, to coquette.

Brevet, used probably
only as a participle.
She is flirting — she is
brevetting.

Flogged (in school).

Breeches.

Flutter (verb).

FHcket.

Flower.

Flur.

Flower bed.

Flur, Knot.

Friendly.

Great. They be great
this day = They are
very friendly to-day.

GLOSSARY.

163

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

If you forget your quies,
your quaees, and your
quods you must be
preeches, '' Merry
Wives of Windsor, "IV.
i. 81.

1 64

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Fluent (over ready).

Limber — How limber
your tongue is =
How fluent (or talka-
tive) you are.

Food.

Chutf (one full of food
is called a chuff).

Food — in bad condition,
especially meat.

Cag-mag.

Fond.

Partial to — I be so par-
tial to onions = I am
very fond of onions.

Fondle — see Caress.

Fool — see Idiot, Simple-
ton.

Foolish — see Fool, Sim-
pleton, Stupid.

Pither.

Patch — (Wise says that
loon means a mischie-
vous or rascally fool;
one who does inten-
tional harm; in this
latter sense common
to a great many Eng-
lish north country and
Scotch dialects; in the
female, Gomeril).

Crudy.

GLOSSAKV

I6S

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Me off with limber vows,
'* Winter's Tale," I. ii.
47.

Hang ye, gorbellied
knaves, are ye un-
done? No, ye fat
chuffs, ''r Henry IV.,"
II. ii. 94.

I am not partial to in-
fringe, "Comedy of
Errors," I, i. 4.

What patch is made our
porter? '' Comedy of
Errors," III. i. 35.
The patch is kind
enough, but a huge
feeder, '* Merchant of
Venice," II. v. 46. So
were there a patch set
on learning, to see
him in a school, IV.
ii. 32.

It . . dries me there
all the foolish and

1 66

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Forerunner, see Breeze,
Herald.

Foresee — to Anticipate.
Also a noun •— Fore-
knowledge.

Whiffler.

Footstep.

Forthwith — see
stantly.

In-

Forecast— What do ye
forecasts:: What do you
anticipate, or foresee.

Grise, Footstich.

Straight [also to several
other dialects].

GLOSSARY.

167

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

crudy

Henry

106.

vapors,
IV., •' IV

" 2
iii.

The deep-mouth'd sea,
Which like a mighty
whiffler 'fore the king,
Seems to prepare his
way, " Henry V,,"
Chorus to Act V.

Alas! that Warwick
had no more forecast,
"3 Henry VI.," V. i.

pity you — that's a de-
gree to love — not
a grise, '' Twelfth
Night," III. i. 135.
Every grise of fortune
is smoothed by that
below, '* Timon of
Athens," IV. iii. 16.
Say a sentence, which,
as a grise or step may
help these lovers,
''Othello," I. iii.
200.

i68

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Frail, unsafe.

Sidder — The ladder's
sidder = The ladder
is unsafe to stand on.

Forward, Brazen,

Fast — in a young woman.

Foul.

Frousty.

Foundered, Worthless.
Frail, unsafe

(of a Horse only).

Drummill.

Freckled.

Bran-faced.

Freeze (verb) —
Frozen.

see

Fry, Starve.

Frighten (verb).

Gallow.

Frenchman.

Mounseer (a corruption
of Monsieur).

Frequent (in this sense
of repetition) — see
Plenty of. Abundance.

Old — There old work for
him yet = There's
plenty of work for
him yet.

GLOSSARY.

169

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Lest the bargain should
^ catch cold and starve,
''Cymbeline," I. iv.
180.

The wrathful skies, gal-
low the very wander-
ers of the dark,
''Lear," IIL ii. 44.

If a man were porter of
hell-gate, should have
old turning the keys,
''Macbeth," IL iii. 2.
We shall have old
swearing, " M. of V.,"
IV. iii. 16. Here will

lyo

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR,

WARWICKSHIRE.

Frightened.

Frit— He's frit - He's
frightened.

Frock (the garment
worn by laborers, one
gathered in b}^ the
waist).

Slop.

From.

Off — I bought um off
Jones == I bought
them from Jones.

Frozen.

Starved — Perished.

Full (stuffed).

Chock, Ched (more par-
ticularly with eating)
— His bag was chock
full = His bag was

GLOSSAR Y.

171

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PI.AYS.

be an old abusing of
God's patience and the
King's English, "Mer-
ry Wives," Li. 2; also
"2 Hen. IV.," II. 4.
**MuchAdo,"V. ii. 98.

Disfigure not his slop,
" Love's Labor's Lost,"
IV. iii. 58. Satin for
my short cloak and
slops, " 2 Hen. IV."

I. ii. 83. Salutation
to your French slop,
'* Romeo and Juliet,"

II. iv. 47. As a Ger-
man from the waist
downward, all slops,
''Much Ado About
Nothing," III. ii. 35.

172

GLOSS A R Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

very full, as chock as
chock. As ched as
ched = I have eaten
all I want. My appe-
tite is satisfied.

Fumaria (the rank class
of weeds).

Fumatory.

Funnel.

Tun-dish.

Furrow— see Ridge.

Land.

Fuss— see Scrimmage.

Work — Bull-squilter —
Fad. There'll be
work agin that broken
glass = There will be
a fuss about that
broken glass. Ees all
in a work, or in a Bull-
squilter=:He is fussing

or worrying or fuming.

Fussy.

Faddy. Ees a faddy old
gaffer = He is a fussy
old man.

GLOSSAJ^ V.

173

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

The darnel, hemlock
and rank fumatory,
"Henry V.," V. ii. 45.
Crowned with rank
fumiter and furrow
weeds, "Lear," IV.
iv. 3.

For filling a bottle with
a tun-dish, "Measure
for Measure," III. ii.
182.

Here's goodly work! I
would they were abed!
"Coriolanus," I. i. 56.
A likely work that
you should find it,
"Othello," IV. i., 156.

174

GLOSSAR v.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

G

Gadfly.

Brize [also in several
other dialects].

Gain (verb).

Gets — My watch gets =
My watch gains time.

Game, Sport.

Ecky.

Gander.

Gendered.

Gate.

Yat — Yat-pwust singin=:
talking over the gate-
post— /. e., saying dif-
ferent things to differ-
ent persons; about
equiv. to the Ameri-
canism, over the fence.

Gather (verb).

Gether.

Generally.

Mwist-an-ind.

Gaudy (smartly attired).

Spif, Spiffy.

Gentle (timid).

Soft — When applied to a
girl it means gentle,
timid, confiding; ap-
plied to a man it sig-
nifies dolt or idiot. A
dialect synonym is
cade. A gentle, lov-

GLOSSARY.

175

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

The brize upon her, like
a cow, '^'Vnt. and Cleo-
patra," III. X. 14.

For we are soft as our
complexions, '' Meas-
ure for Measure," II.
iv. 138, and undoubt-
edly often used in this
sense throughout the
plays.

176

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

able girl is a '' pretty
cade Jill."

Gentlemanly — see Re-
spectable.

Still.

Getting on, Progressing.

Frogging. Owar's frog-
gin? ~ How are you
progressing?

Ghastly — see Horrible.

Unked.

Giddy.

Gidding.

Gimlet.

Nailpercer.

Girl — see Daughter.

Gell— Wench.

Gladly.

Lief— I'd lief go = I'd
gladly go.

Glance, a (of the eye).

Blether, Flinch. I don't
get a flinch from her
= 1 don't get a glance
from her.

GLOSSARY.

177

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Perhaps so used in Troi-
lusand Cressida, I. iii.
The still and mental
parts, or '* a still and
quiet conscience,"
''Henry VIII.," II.
iii. 379.

Used with ''as"— al-
ways in the sense of
willing in the plays.
Mrs. Clark gives
twenty cases in her
" Concordance."

178

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Glide.

Glir.

Glimpse.

Blether.

Glean (Verb).

Leese: to Poke, is to

glean a second or

third time.

Gleaners.

Lazers.

Glutton.

Forty-guts.

Gnash — to grind the

Gnaish.

teeth.

God-parents.

Gossips — They two are

my gossips = They are

my god-fathers or god-

mothers.

Going on— Happening, i Agate — What's agate?
transpiring. j What is going on?

Good-for-Nothing, a — Faggott. Sin' the faggot's
A worthless person. | come under her nose

I doant get a flinch

GLOSSAR V.

179

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Perhaps used in this
sense in ''Richard
III.," I. i. 83, ''are
mighty gossips in
our monarchy." Un-
doubtedly so used
in the Christening
scene, " Henry VIII.,"
V. V. 13, My noble
gossips, ye have been
too prodigal.

i8o

GLOSSARY

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Gorge, or stuff (to eat
greedily), verb.

Gosling — see Nestling.

Gossip — see Tattler,
Tale-bearer.

Grab, Clutch after
(verb).

Grandfather.

Gradually.

Grate (verb).

from her=:since that
good-for-nothing fel-
low has appeared, I
don't get a glance from
her.

Stodge, Scrum — Don't
scrum (or stodge)
them crinks that a
way = Don't eat those
small apples so greed-
ily.

Gull.

Pickthanks [also in Mid-
Yorkshire, and various
other dialects].

Clozen.

Gaffer.
Inchmeal.

Race— Raced ginger =
powdered or grated
ginger.

GLOSSARY.

i8i

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Yond gull Malvolio
is turned heathen,
''Twelfth Night," III.

ii. 73.

Pickthanks and base
newsmongers, " i Hen-
ry IV.," III. ii. 25.

Make him, by inchmeal, a
disease! ''Temp." II. 3.

A race or two of ginger,
"Winter's Tale," IV.
iii. 52.

l82 GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Greasy.

Glorry.

Great.

Girta.

Greensward— see Turf.

Grinsard.

Grin (verb).

Nicker.

Grub (verb).

Stock.

Grove, especially a small
grove.

Grumbling.

Guess— see Suppose.

Guide post.

Gush, perhaps in the
sense of to attack —

Dumble.

Crak, Cag-mag.

Her's on the Crake —
Allers on the crake, or
she's allers cagmaggin
= She's always grumb-
ling.

Reckon (common in the
Southern States of
America).

Cross an' hands.

Pash.

GLOSSAR V.

183

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Perhaps used in an ob-

scene pun in "Two

Gentlemenof Verona,"

III. i. 311. "What

need a man care for a

stock with a wench."

Thou wantest a rough

pash and the shoots

i84

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

with either words or
blows.

Gusty— see Windy.

H

Haggard (gaunt).

Halfpenny.

Half-witted—see Wit-
less, Dunce, Fool,
Idiot, etc.

Hames (the iron fitting
outside a horse collar).

Handkerchief.

Hurden.

Clem gutted.

Meg.

Sorry.

Eames.

Muckkinder,
cher.

'Andker-

GLOSSARY.

185

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

that I have, ''Win-
ter's Tale," I. ii.128.
If I go to him with my
armed fist I'll pash
him o'er the face,
"Troilus and Cres-
sida," II. iii. 213.

And how, and why
this handkercher was
stained, '* As You
Like It," IV. iii. 98.
I counterfeited to
swoon when he showed
me your handkercher,
Idem, V. ii. 30. Good
Tom Drum, lend me a
handkercher, ''All's
Well that Ends Well,"

i86

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Hand (of a child).

Donney.

Handle — (when a stick
or pole).

Stock (of a mug or cup).
Stale — Broom staler
broom handle; mop
stale — mop handle;
rake stale=rake han-
dle.

Handful.

Ontle.

Handy — Easy, simple.

Gain. Allhalluns. That'll
be the gainest way =
That way will be the
easiest.

Hangnail, also a Surety,
or a Backer.

Backfriend.

Harass.

Harry.

Hard times.

Cold-crowdings.

GLOSSARY.

187

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

V. iii. 322. I knit my
handkercher about
your brows, " King
John," IV. i. 42.

Is it your will to make a
stale of me? ^* Tam-
ing of the Shrew," J.
i. 58. Had he none else
to make a stale but
me? ''3 Henry VI.,"
III. iii. 260.

A back friend, a shoulder
clapper, "Comedy of
Errors," IV. ii. 37.

A proper man — Indeed
he is so — I repent me
much that I so hurried
him, "Antony and
Cleopatra," in. iii. 43.

The idea of a cold day,
as a day of misfortunes,
appears current in the

i88

GLOSSAR r.

VERNACULAR.

Hardy — See healthy.

Harness (verb or noun).

Harvesters (persons who
go from place to place
to work during har-
vest.)

Hatchet.

Have (auxiliary verb).

Head.

Headstall (the headgear
of a horse).

WARWICKSHIRE.

Frem — Your plants do
look frem — Your
plants look vigorous
(or hardy).

Gear the horse=:Har-
ness the horse. Put
on the gear=:put on
the harness.

Cokers.

Hook bill.
A'.
Yed.
Mullen.

GLOSSARY.

189

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

play. It would make
me cold to lose,
''Timon of Athens,"
I. i. 93. It has lately
appeared in the phrase
" It's a cold day when
I get left ! " in U. S.

Used in the sense of
"trappings," "uni-
form," or "dress"; un-
doubtedly in the plays.
Muscovitesin shapeless
gear, "Love's Labor's,"
V. ii. 364. I will rem-
edy this gear ere long,
"2 Henry VL,"IIL i.

I go

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Headstrong — see Obsti- Awkward,
nate.

Health (a condition of).

Healthy — see
Thriving.

Hardy,

Liver-pin, Liver-vein,
'Avedrap more soop —
t'U oil yer liverpin (or
liver vein).

Pert — He's quite pert to-
day = He is in good
health or spirits to-
day. A lively, healthy
child is called a
''rile"; a weak or
sickly old person is a
" wratch "; a sickly
child is a ''scribe."
Applied to an animal,
the adjective is kind —
As, that cow aint kind
= That cow doesn't
thrive. Applied to
plants, the adjective
used is " frem."

Heap, to pile up (verb), ' Hudge (participle Hud-
syn., to accumulate j died, Fetched),
grievances against an
enemy.

GLOSSARY.

191

VENUS AND ADONIS

PLAYS.

By awkward wind from
England's bank, *' 2
Henry VI.," III. ii.

83.

This is the liver vein,
which makes flesh a
deity, ^'Love's Labor's
Lost," IV. iii. 74.

Glancing an eye of pity
on his losses, that have
of late so huddled on
his back, '' Merchant
of Venice," IV. i. 28.
I'll potch at him some
way, or wrath or craft

[92

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Heavy rain — see Rain-
storm.

Heavily.

Heavily.

Hedge Sparrow.

Heel Rake (the big rake

WARWICKSHIRE.

Heavens hard,
pest.

Tern-

Baulch. — Ecoom daown
clommer (or baulch)
= He fell heavily.

Clommer, only with the
verb to tread, or walk.
A steps clommer like
= He treads heavily.

Hedge Betty.

Hellrak.

that follows the har-

vesting wagon.)

Heap.

Yup.

Hemlocks — see Fennel.

Kecks.

Helped — to help.

Holped.

Herald, one who goes be-

Whiffler.

fore to announce.

GLOSSARY.

193

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

may get him, " Corio-
lanus," I, X. 15.

We were blessedly holp
hither, "The Tem-
pest."

The deep-mouthed sea,
which like a mighty
whiffler for the King,
Seems to prepare his
way, "Henry V.,"
chorus to Act V.

194

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Herbs.

Yarbs.

Hermaphrodite.

Will-Jill.

Hers.

Shis'n — They be shisn
dillings = Those are
her little children.

High spirited.

Aunty — Stomachful.

Hindrance — see Draw-
back.

Denial.

Hindside-before.

Assundbackward.

His.

His'n.

GLOSSARY

195

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Stomach, in this sense,

common enough in

the plays. Enterprise

that hath a stomach

in't, "Hamlet," I. i.

103. My little stom-

ach to the war, " Troi-

lus and Cressida," III.

iii. 220. Man of an

unbounded stomach,

"Henry VHI.," IV.

ii. 34, etc.

He's fortified against

any denial, "Twelfth

Night," I. V. 154. Be

not ceased with slight

denial, "Timon of

Athens," II. i. 17.

Make denials increase

your services, "Cym-

beline," II. iii. 53.

196

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Hit (perfect of verb to

Hot — I hot him = I have

hit).

hit him.

Hoe (verb).

Hoove.

Hold (verb).

Haowt.

Home.

Whoam.

Horrible.

Unked — His leg is an

unked sight = His leg

is in a horrible condi-

dition (i. e., wounded

or diseased). (Also
dull, lonely, solitary,
which see).

Horse (for riding).

Nag [but in every other
English dialect].

eye.

Houses.

Housen [this old Saxon
plural is used still in
many words in War-

GLOSSAR Y.

197

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Gait of a shuffling nag,
*'i Henry IV.," iii. i.
135. Know we not
Galloway nags ? "2
Henry IV.," II. iv.
205.

Much is breeding, which,
like the courser's hair,
hath yet but life, and
not a serpent's poison,
"Antony and Cleo-
patra," I. ii. 200.

198

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

However.

Human Being.

Hungry.
Hurrying, Bustling.

WARWICKSHIRE.

wickshire, such as
Hosen, plural of hose,
etc.].

Howsomdever or Weev-
er (both forms are
used).

Christian.

Famelled.

Pelting — E saw im go
pelting by=:I saw him
hurrying by.

GLOSSARY.

199

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Hovvsomever their
hearts are severed in
religion, their heads
are both one, " All's
Well that Ends Well,"
I. iii. 56.

It is spoke as a Chris-
tian ought to speak,
** Merry Wives of
Windsor," I. i. 103.

The more pity that great
folks should have
countenance in this
world to hang or
drown themselves
more than their even
Christian, '' Hamlet,"
V. i. 32.

Every pelting petty offi-
cer, *' Measure for
Measure," II. ii. 112.
Have every pelting
river made so proud,
that they have over-
borne their continents,
"Midsummer Night's

2 00

GLOSS A R V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Hurry (verb).

Nip.

Husk (verb).

Learn.

Husk (verb).

Hud — Leam.

I

Idiot — see Fool, Ignora-

Geek Patch.

mus, Supernumerary.

Idle (verb) — see Loiter.

Mess — Doant mess along
= Don't idle by the
way.

GLOSSAR V.

20I

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Dream," II. i. 91. We

have pelting wars,
''Troilus and Cres-
sida," IV. V. 267.

The most notorious geek
and gull that e'er in-
vention played on,
''Twelfth Night," V.
i. 35. To become the
geek and scorn o' the
other's villany, ''Cym-
beline," V. iv. 67.

Thou scurvy patch!
''Tempest," III. ii. 71.
What patch is made
our porter? "Comedy
of Errors," III. i. 36.
The patch is kind
enough, but a huge
feeder, " Merchant
of Venice," II. v. 46.

202

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Idler.

Feeder — They're a' feed-
ers = They are idlers,
good-for-nothing per-
sons. [Also in several
other dialects.

Idling.

Cogging — goggitting.
Widdin about — Play.

Ignoramus-
Fool.

-see Idiot,

Patch.

Illegitimate
Bastard.

Child-

— see

Wench.

Immediately — see Pres-
ently, Instantly.

Improperly.

Image — see Model.

Awhile — Crack, Quick-
stitch = You'd best do
job quickstitch = You
had better go at that
job at once.

Out of — To call a man
out of his name = To
give his name im-
properly.

Mortal — Ees mortal
moral o's gaffer = He
is the exact image of
his grandfather.

GLOSSARY.

203

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I will your very faithful
feeder be, '*As You
Like It," II. iv. 99.
The tutor and the
feeder of my riots,
"2 Henry IV.,"
V. V.

And death shall play
for lack of work,
''All's Well that Ends
Well," I. i. 24.

204

GLOSSAR V,

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Incite — see Induce.

Kindle.

Inconvenient.

inconvenient.

Indigestion.

Repeat — I repeat tha
mutton =r I cannot di-
gest mutton.

Industrious.

Work-brittle — Es work-
brittle knaaps = He is
an industrious young
man.

Induce — see Instigate,
Urge.

Kindle — I'll kindle him
= I'll induce (or pre-
vail upon) him to do
it. [Also in South
Yorkshire and several
other dialects."

Impudent (in malicious
sense).

Gallus — /. <r., Gallows
— a gallows face == A
face of one who, being
born to be hung, will
not be drowned.

Indecision.

Iffin and Offin.

Infant — very small.

Lug tit.

Infirm.

Tottery.

Injure (/. <?., to carelessly
injure by handling).

Gawm.

GLOSSARY.

205

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

But that I kindle the boy
thither, "As You Like
It," I. i. 179. Used in
Wyclif s translation of
Bible, Luke, iii. 7.

He hath no drowning
mark upon him, his
complexion is perfect
gallows, "Tempest,"
I. i. 32.

2o6

GLOSSAR Y,

VERNACULAR.

Intercourse, Familiarity
— see Talk.

Instantly.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Scrawl, Truck— I'll 'ave
no truck wi' um = I
will have no inter-
course with him.

Awhile — see remarks
post, under Quickly.

Instigate (in the sense of | Tarre.
to stir up a quarrel, to
bring on a fight).

Interfere (verb).

Meddle and make — I'm
not going to meddle
an' make = I'm not
going to interfere.

GLOSSAR V.

207

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

To it lustily awhile,
'' Two Gentlemen of
Verona," IV. ii. 25.

And like a dog that is
compelled to fight,
snatch at his master
that dothe tarre him
on, ^' King John," IV.
i. 117. Pride alone
must tarre the mastiffs
on, as 'twere their
bones, '' Troilus and
Cressida," I. iii. 392.
And the nation holds
it no sin to tarre them
to controversy,
''Hamlet," II. ii. 3-70.

I will teach a scurvy
Jack-priest to meddle
an' make (written
''or"), "Merry
Wives of Windsor, " I.
iv. 116. The less you
meddle or make with
them the better,
" Much Ado about
Nothing," III. iii. 55.

208

GLOSS A R V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Invention — Any clever
contrivance.

Morum.

Irregularly.

Fits and girds.

Irritate (verb).

Rifle.

Intestines.

Innards — I'm that bad
in my innards = I'm
suffering internally.

J

J Oram

Jordan.

Juice.

•

Vargis.

K

Key.

Kay.

Kiss.

Smudge — Doher face.

GLOSSAR V.

209

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

For my part I'll med-
dle and make no fur-
ther, ''Troilus and
Cressida," I. i. 14.

When Arthur first in
court — Empty the Jor-
dan ! *'2 Henry IV.,"
II. iv. 37. They will
allow us ne'er a Jor-
dan, ** I Henry IV.,"
II. i. 22.

2IO

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Kindle.

Make = Make the fire=
Kindle the fire.

L

Lack — see Spare.

Laid — see Lay.

Lodged.

Lambkin — see Yearling.

Earling — Teg, Baalam
(probably Baa-lamb).

Lands outlying.

Grounds.

Lane — see Passage.

Chewer, or Entany — or
Sling (all three words
are common).

Lay (verb).

Lodge — The corn is
lodged = The corn is
laid. [Also in Kent,
Surrey, Sussex, and
Westmoreland dia-
lect.;

Lazy.

Stiving.

GLOSSAR V.

21 I

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Though bladed corn be
lodged, and trees,
<' Macbeth," IV. i. 55.
Summer's corn by
tempest lodged, '' 2
Henry VI.," III. ii.
176.

That all the earlings
which were streaked
and pied, *' Merchant
of Venice," I. iii. 80.

212

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Lard.

Scam.

Layer.

Stelch.

Large — see Commodi-
ous, Roomy.

Roomthy.

Lean (verb), Incline.

Teel Teel th' dish
gainst sock to draw
— Lean the bowl a-
gainst the sink to

drain.

Lease (verb) — To hire
or rent.

Set — I reckon th' ows be
all set now = I sup-
pose the house is al-
ready rented.

Leaky.

Giggling— Tha's a gig-
gling boot = That is a
leaky boat.

Leavings — see Rem-
nants.

Orts— I don't stan' to
eat their orts = I don't
have to eat their leav-

ings.

GLOSSARY.

213

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

The fractions of her
faith, orts of her love,
"Troilus and Cres-
sida," V. ii. 158. Some
slender ort of his re-
mainder, " Timon of
Athens," IV. iii, 400.
One that feeds on ab-
jects, orts, and imita-
tions, " Julius Caesar,"
IV. i. 37.

214

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Lecherous — see Bedfel-
low.

Lechery — see Concupis-
cence, Amorous.

Lid.

Lie (verb)
down.

Lifetime.

To lie

Lights (the liver and
lights of a sheep).

Likely.

Lilac.

Litter (noun or verb).

Live from hand to mouth
(verb) — To contrive,
to worry along.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Forum.

Horning — Alluding to
cuckolding, mostly.

Stopliss — a Pwut-lid
The lid of a pot.

Lig.

Puff — I neer seen sich
things my puff = I
never have seen the
like in my lifetime.

Pluck.

Like — I was like to fall
= I was likely to fall.

Laylock.

Farry.

Raggle (or scrabble) — I
can raggle along=:Ican
manage to get along.

GLOSSAR V.

215

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

'Twas thought you had
a goodly gift in horn-
ing, '* Titus and An-
dronicus," II. iii. 67.

Ay'U do gud service, or
ay'll lig i' the grund
for it, " Henry V.,"
III. ii. 124.

Used as an adverb con-
tinually in the plays.

2l6

GLOSS A R v.

VERNACULAR.

Lively — see Healthy.

Litter (in the sense of
Confusion) — see Mess.

Litter — to bring forth
young.

Loaf.

Lock-keeper (on a canal).

Log.

Loiter — To idle, to waste
time.

Look (imperative verb).

Lordling — A young Lord
or " Boss " — anyone in
authority; most large-

WARWICKSHIRE.

Peart.

Lagger, or Caddie.

Kindle.

Batchling (more prop-
erly freshly baked
loaf).

Rodney.

Cleft.

Lobbat— Perhaps from
Lobby, a loitering
place.

Mess — Her's only mess-
ing about home = She's
idling or loitering, and
accomplishing noth-
ing, about the house.
A loiterer is a logger-
head.

Akere!

Nab, Nob. My Nabs.

GLOSSARY.

217

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

As the cony that you
see dwell where she
is kindled, " As You
Like It," III. ii.

You loggerheaded and
unpolished grooms,
*' Taming of the
Shrew," IV. i. 28.

Perhaps we find here an
early source of the
very common modern

2l8

GLOSSARY

VERNACULAR.

ly, if not always, used
in sarcasm, for an
intrusively imperious
person. Perhaps de-
rived from Neb, a beak
(of a bird) or promi-
nent nose on a man —
see Beak,

WARWICKSHIRE.

GLOSSAR V.

219

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

argot, ''His Nibs,"
applied to a chief, or
"boss" or superior
person — anyone in au-
thority. But the word
^' Nibs " is so evident-
ly a corruption of
Knave, the German
Knabe — the allusion
being to the knave in
the pack of cards
(called ''the nob " in
Cribbage) — that the
forced derivation is
quite unnecessary. '*I
would not be Sir Nob
in any case," says
Faulconbridge (''King
John,"!, i. 147). There
is also the Icelandic
Snapr, an idiot, ig-
noramus, and the
Scotch Snab, a cob-
bler, which are invidi-
ous terms. But there
are, on the other hand,
those who eschew any
pedantry at all in the
matter, and claim that
" Nob " is simply a
contemptuous abbre-
viation of "Noble."
In Warwickshire the
phrase is sometimes

220

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Lonely— Lonesome.

Unked.

Look (a glance).

Flinch.

Loosened.

Roxed.

Long Story.

Pedigree — I heard old

pedigree or that this

day :=: I was told all

about it at great

length to-day.

Lounge (verb).

Luncheon (especially a
workman's luncheon).

Lunge — What's the odds
if I lunge or kneel? =
What's the difference
whether I kneel or
lean forward on my
elbows?

Bait.

GLOSSAR V.

221

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

My Nabs— as " I- had

suspicions as 'e took

some a thu eggs, so I

took un 'id [hid] my-

self in the 'ens'-roost,

an' I just ketched my

nabs in thu act."

Can Oxford, that did

ever fence the right,

now buckler falsehood

with a pedigree? "3

Henry VI.," III. iii.

99.

222

GLOSSAJ? V.

VERNACULAR,

Lurk — to loiter secretly
— see Loiter — or to

WARWICKSHIRE.

Mose (perhaps a lack of
marrow).

lurk as a disease — see
Sapless.

M

Mad.

Off is yed~/. <?., off his
head.

Magpie.

Maggit.

Manage— see Co

ntrive.

Raggle—Scrabble.

Mangle (verb).

MoUicrush.

'' Mare's Nest."

Nothingnest — Ees been
an fund a nothin' nest,
is exactly equivalent
to the proverb, to find
a mare's nest.

Market.

Mop.

Marriage, A Certificate
of.

Lines.

Married Man,
Mister.

A — see

Marshy (soft, sloppy).

Flacky.

GLOSSARY.

22-

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

And like to mose in the
chine, '' Taming of the
Shrew," III. ii. 51
(apt to lurk in the
spine).

224

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Mason.

Massenter.

May.

Maun — I maun an' I
maunt = I may and I
may not.

Me.

'Un — Don't claw 'un =
Don't flatter me.

Meadow.

Lezzow.

Mean (stin

gy)-

Near.

Medicine — A remedy or
potion.

Medlar.

Meddler — see Busybody.

Mend, Repair (verb).

Mess — Disorder, a mud-
dle, a litter.

Mid-lent Sunday.

Doctor's stuff — Phisiken
stuff — when for ani-
mals it is drink, or
drench.

Open-arse.

Codge — To mend clothes
only — but see Miser.

Dagger — Caddie, Mug-
ger.

Mothering Sunday (be-
cause girls out at ser-
vice were usually al-
lowed to spend that
Sunday at home).

GLOSSAR V.

225

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

And we have done but
greenly in hugger-
mugger to inter him,
''Hamlet," IV. v. 84.

226

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Milking (noun).

Milkteeth.

Mild (in the sense of
gentle).

Miller (keeper of a mill).

Minnow.

Miry (sloppy, soft) — see
Muddy.

Mix — to mix up, disar-
range, muddle, or
(perhaps) neglect.

Mischievous — see Trou-
blesome, and distinc-
tion noted thereun-
der.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Meal — Cow giv ten
quarts mawning meal
= That cow's morn-
ing milking amounted
to ten quarts.

Peggins.

Cade — A pretty cade
Jill = a soft, lovable
girl.

Millud.

Soldier.

Flacky — Slobbery. [Also
East Norfolkshire.]

Slobber.

Miser.

Anointed, unlucky —
He's an anointed (or
unlucky) rascal = He's
a mischievous rascal
(innocently mischiev-
ous) =:Mischiefful; ma-
liciously mischievous
is usually gammilts.

Codger,

GLOSSAR Y.

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Slobber not business for
my sake, Gratiano,

" Merchant of
ice," II. viii. 39.

Ven-

When you shall these
unlucky deeds relate
(?), '' Othello," V. ii.
344. Some ill, un-
lucky thing, '* Romeo
and Juliet," V. iii.

137-

22<

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Mock — to make derisive
faces at one.

Mop an' mow.

Modest — see Timid.

Soft — Smock-faced, as

soft as an empty
pocket = very timid.

Mole.

Oont.

Money.

Brass,

Mortar.

Grout.

■

Morsel.

Bittock — Skurruck or
Scrump, Spot— Hast a
mossel o' backy? Na,
lad, I aint got a skur-
ruck. Gi' me a spot o'
drink. A spot is per-
haps a smaller portion

GLOSSAR Y.

229

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Flibbertigibbett of mop-
ping and mowing,
"King Lear," IV. i.

64.
Each one tripping on

his toe— will be here

with mock and moe,

''Tempest," IV. i. 47.

Brass, cur! Thou
damned and luxurious
mountain cur, offer'st
me brass? "Henry
v.," IV. iv. 19. (Pro-
vide neither gold, nor
silver, nor brass in
your purses. Mat. x.

9)

230

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

than a skurruck, and
a skurruck than a bit-
tock.

Model.

Moral — E's the mortal
moral o's dad = He is

the very image of his
father.

Moment (an instant of
time).

Stitchwhile — It takes me
every stitchv/hile to
mind the reklin = It

takes me every mo-
ment to watch that
child.

Moth.

Hodbowlud.

Mottled, or pox-marked,
syn.^ a scurvy fellow.

Measeled — German
mase, masel, a speck,
or knot in trees.

Move along (verb) — In
the sense of "Clear
out," " Be off with

Budge — Come noo, you
budge! — Move along
at once!

you."

Mouth.

Tater-trap.

GLOSSARY.

231

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

While thou, a moral fool,
sitst still, "• Pericles,"
11. i. 39.

So shall my lungs coin
words till their decay
against these measles,
" Coriolanus," III. i.
III.

You shall not budge,
'' Hamlet," III. iv.
Must I budge? '' Ju-
lius Caesar," IV. iii.
44. I'll not budge an
inch, '^ Taming of the
Shrew,"Induction (and
in severalotherplaces).

232

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Mouthful — see Expecto-

Gob.

rate, Drop.

Move (verb).

Rim.

Moving (to move from
one house to another).

Rimming — We be a rim-
ming o' Monday —

We move to a new

house on Monday.

Move off (imperative).

Budge.

Mister (Mr.).

Master (common to vari-

ous English dialects)
— In Sussex it means a

married man, unmar-

ried men being ad-

dressed by their given

names.

Mrs.

Missus.

Muddy (sloppy).

Slobbery — [Also East
Norfolkshire].

GLOSSARY.

233

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Budge, says the fiend,
Budge not, says my
conscience, *' Mer-
chant of Venice," II.
ii. 20. Must I budge?
Must I observe you?
''Julius Caesar," IV.
iii. 44.

I will sell my dukedom,
to buy a slobbery and
dirty farm, '' Henry
v.," III. V. 12.

234

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Muddy (verb) — To soil
with one's feet.

Traipse.

Muffle.

Buff —To buff the bell =

to muffle the bell.

Mug (especially a small
mug).

Tot.

Musical Instrument.

Music (as applied to all

instruments alike).

Must.

Mun — I mun do it = I

must do it.

Mutter, grumble (verb).

Chaunter.

N

Narrow.

Slang.

Nasty.

Frousty.

Near (personal proxim-
ity).

Anigh — Don't come
anighmei=Don't come

near me.

Near (in place or posi-
tion).

Agin — He lives just agin
us = He lives handy

GLOSSAR V.

235

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

With musics of all sorts,
'* All's Well," III. vii.
40. And let him ply
his music, '' Hamlet,"
II. i. 75.

236

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Nearly.

Neatly (properly).

WARWICKSHIRE.

to, or handy to us; or,
He lives near us.

Handy to — In quantity
(in the sense of nearly
equal) — That bit of
ground is handy to
twenty pole = That
piece of land is nearly
twenty rods long.

In print — E' potched it
in print — He piled it
up neatly.

Needle.

Neeld.

Neighborhood.

Hereabouts.

Nervous.

Pathery.

GLOSSARY.

237

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I love a ballad in print
o' life, '*As You Like
It," V. iv. 74. I will
do it, sir, in print,
** Love's Labor's
Lost," in. i. 173.

With her neeld com-
poses nature's own
shape, of bud, bird,
branch, or berry, "Per-
icles," Gower'to Act
V. Change their neelds
to lances, and their
gentle hearts, " King
John," V, ii. 152.

I do remember an apoth-
ecary, and hereabouts
he dwells, "Romeo
and Juliet," V. i. ^^.

238

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Nestling — An
bird, a goslir

unfledged

Gull.

Nimble (in the
deceitful).

sense of

Limber.

Noise — Noisy.

Blearing, Blunder — Blun-
dering— H'a done that
blunderingrrStop that
noise.

None — no one.

Nobody.

Nonsense.

Flothery.

Nostrils.

Noseholes.

Nose — (noun).

Conk.

Not.

Na — Used as a suffix, as
shanna = Shall not.
Shouldna = Should not.
Doesna = Does not.
Hadna = Had not.
Wouldna (sometimes
wotna) = Would not,
etc.

Not (is not).

Yent — He yent yourn =
He is not yours.

Not (not so mi]

ch

as).

Noways — Her's never

GLOSSAK V.

239

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Lord Timon will be left
a naked gull, '' Timon
of Athens," II. i. 31.

Put me off with limber
vows, ''Winter's
Tale," I. ii. 47-

(The word ''blunder"
does not occur in the
plays or poems in any
sense whatever.)

Nerrun.

240

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR,

Noted — see Celebrated.

Notions — see Whim.

Notorious.

Nudge (verb^ — To touch
with the elbow.

Numerous (any large
number).

Nursed (a female
nursed by her young).

Oaf — see Clown.

WARWICKSHIRE.

(or noways) a bonnet=:
She has not so much as
a bonnet.

Deadly — He's deadly for
church-goings He is
noted for church-
going.

Megrims — It's a pity she
do take such megrims
into her head=:It's a
pity she has such
notions.

Nineted — a ninety-bird
is a notorious scamp
or scoundrel.

Dunch.

A sight of — There was a
sight of people = There
were a great many
people.

Lugged.

Yawrups.

GLOSSAR y.

241

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I am as melancholy as a
gib cat or a lugged bear.
''iHenry VL,"I.ii.34.

242

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Oats.

Wuts.

Obeisance — see Curtsey.

Obedience.

Obstinate — see Head-
strong.

Awkward — A Standy —
A standy=:an obsti-
nate person.

Occasion (a pretext).

Call — He han't no call to
do it = He has no pre-
text for doing it.

Odds and ends — see
Rubbish.

Bits and bobs.

Of.

In or on — They be just
come out in school —
They have just come
out of school.

Offal.

Sock, Pelf (vegetable).

Often — (as often as
necessary).

Every hands while.

GLOSSARY.

243

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Twice by awkward
wind from England
Drove back again,
'*2 Henry VL," III. ii.
83. 'Tis no sinister nor
no awkward claim.
^'Hcnry V.,"II. iv.85.

Many thousand on us.
''Winter's Tale."

Would I were fairly
out on't. , ''Henry
v.," in. He cannot
come out on's grave,
"Macbeth."

244

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Often.

Many a time and oft.

Once.

Aince — Aince a whiles =
Once in a while.

One-eyed.

Gunner.

Open (verb, imperative,
in the sense of un-
fasten) or, possibly, to
open and sliut — see
Shut.

Dup — Dup the door —
Unfasten the door.

Opportunity.

Chancet.

Opposite (in place).

Anant — He lives anant
here=He lives oppo-
site, or across the road
from here.

Opposite.

Annenst.

Oration, or Narration.

Preachment.

GLOSSAR Y.

245

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Signor Antonio, many a
time and oft, on the
Rialto, have you rated
me, *^ Merchant of
Venice." Many a time
and oft have you
cHmbed up to walls,
** Julius Caesar," I. i.
42.

And dupped the chamber
door, ''Hamlet," IV.
V. 53-

And make a preachment

246

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Ordinary.

Arnary — in the Western
United States ''or-
nery."

Ordural, a privy.

Dunnekin.

Ornament (verb),
decorate.

See

Dizzen. Tiddivate. — 'O,
'e's gwun a-kwcrtin',
I ricken, fur 'e put
on 'is tuther 'at un
coowut, un tiddi-
vated hisself up a
bit.'

Ours.

Ourn.

Ourselves.

Oursens.

Outlook, Prospect.

Look-out.

Overbearing.

Masterful.

Overcome — (in the sense
of survive, *'get over
the effect of.")

Overgo, or overget— I
shan't overget it = I
shall not get over the
effects of it.

Over-ripe.

Roxy.

GLOSSAR v.

Ml

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

of your high descent.
"3 Henry VI.," I. iv.
172.

Overgo thy plaints and
drown. " Richard

III.,"II. ii. 61.

248

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

P

Pail, Bucket.

Piggin.

Painful.

Teart — The wind's teart
this mawnin = The
wind is painfully sharp
this morning.

Pale (see wan).

Wanny.

Paltry, insignificant,
worth mentioning

not

Nigglin, Picksniff.

Pant (verb).

Pantle.

Pansy (the wild variety).

Love-in-idleness.

Parish.

Field— That bit lies in
Alkerton field r=:That
land is in Alkerton
parish. [Also in York-
shire and several other
dialects.'

Part (verb) — To
company, depart, s
rate.

part
epa-

Shog off—We'll shog off
m We'll part company
now and journey to-
gether no further.

GLOSSAR Y.

249

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

And maidens call it
love in idleness. —
** Midsummer Night's
Dream," II. i. 169,

Shog off. I would have
you solus, "Henry
v.," II. i. 48. Shall we
shog? "Henry V.,"
II. iii. 48.

250

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Particular.

Choice — He's very
choice over his victuals
= He's very particular
as to what he eats.

Parsley (and umbellifer-
ous plants generally).

Kex or kecks.

Part company. See sepa-
rate.

Shog.

Passage.

Chewer — Her lives up
the chewer=She lives

in a narrow passage.

Passionate.

Franzy — the master's
such a terrible franzy
man — The master is a

very passionate man.

Pasture.

Lay — A small pasture is
a Donkey Bite.

Pasturage.

Joisting — What must I
pay for this joisting=
What must I pay for
this pasturage.

Peacod (unripe).

Squash.

GLOSSAR V.

251

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Shall we shog? * ' Henry
v.," II. iii. 48.

How like methought I
was to this kernel,
This squash, ''Win-
ter's Tale," I. ii. As
a squash is before a

2K2

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Pea-Finch.

Picod.

Peaked (see
pinched, wan).

Pebble.

Peck.

pale, Picked— -(Pronounced as
a dissyllable).

Pibble.
Stock.

Peculiarities

(see

no-

Megrims — She has her

tions, whim).

own megrims — She has

her own notions or

peculiarities.

Peevish.

Frecket — A's got 'er
frecket frock on=she
is peevish.

Pedlar.

Heggler.

Peep (verb).

Peek.

Peevish.

Purgy.

Pendulum.

Pendle.

GLOSSAR Y.

25.

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

peascod, ** Midsum-
mer Night's Dream,"
I. V. 166, Idem, III.
i. 191.

What need a man for a
stock with a wench,
''Two Gentlemen of
Verona," III. i. 311.

254

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Perfect (verb) — in the
sense of put into good
order — good condi-
tion.

Fettle.

Perhaps.

Happen — Happen it '11 be
a long time = Perhaps
it will be a long time.

Perplex.

Mither.

Perspiration — Sweat.

Muck.

Piecemeal, Piecework or
Stint.

Grit— To do work by the
grit=To do work little
by little.

Persuade.

Hamper.

Pet, a fit of passion.

Fantey.

Pickle, Preserve (verb).

Maislin.

Pig.

Shug.

Pilfer.

Couge.

Pimple, boil, pustule.

Quat.

GLOSSARY.

255

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS,

Fettle your fine joints
'gainst Thursday next,
'* Romeo and Juliet,"
III. V. 152.

She'll hamper thee and
dandle thee like a
baby, "2 Henry VI.,"
I. iii. 148.

I have rubbed this young
quat, almost to the
sense, "Othello," V.
i. II.

256

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Pinafore, see Apron.

Pinny.

Piebald.

Skewebald.

Pinch.

Pinse.

Pincers.

Pinsens.

Pitchfork.

Shuppick.

Pinched (attenuated or
emaciated, sickly, un-
healthy looking). See
Healthy.

Picked — Pronounced as
a dissyllable. A weak,
sickly-looking child is
a scribe, as opposed to
a rile, a healthy-look-
ing child.

Pity, or shame (in the
sense of "too bad").

Poor tale — It's a poor
tale ye couldn't come

= It's a pity you
couldn't come.

Plenitude (see below).

Plentiful.

Don't share.

Plenty of — plenitude
(see Frequent).

«

Old — There's been old
work to-day = There's
been plenty of work
to-day.

GLOSSAR Y.

257

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I Leave your desires, and
fairies will not pinse
you, " Merry Wives of
Windsor," V. v. 137.

By the mass, here will be
old Utis (a plentiful or
extraordinary celebra-
tion of any festival.
Utis is the octave of

2S8

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Pliant, supple (in sense

Limber.

of insincere).

Plover.

Bennet.

Plummet.

Pline, or Plumbob, to
make anything plumb
is to pline it.

Posts.

Posses, Edge — Posses =
Hedge posts.

Potatoes.

Spuds.

Pothook.

Crow.

Pound, to belabor —
(verb).

Pun — Leather — Quilt —
A'll pun — or leather,
or quilt 'un = I will
thrash him.

Pout (verb), see Peev-
ish.

Glout or glump.

GLOSSARY.

259

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

i any feast), ** 2 Henry
I IV.," II. iv. 21. Ven-
der's old coil at home
(/. e., Plenty of trouble
orconfusion), ''Much
Ado about nothing."
V. ii. 98.

Vou put me off with
limber vows, "Win-
ter's Tale," I. ii. 47-

He would pun him into
shivers with his fist.
** Troilus and Cres-
sida," II. i. 42.

26o

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Precocious, Bright.

Prevalent.

Pride — courageous, see
Proud.

Private Entrance, side-
door.

Pregnant.

Presently.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Fierce, of a very young
child — or infant.

Brief — The fever's brief
now = The fever is
prevalent at present.

Stomachfulness,

Foredraft.

Childing. Hers child-
ing=She is pregnant.

Awhile — I'll do it pres-
ently— To do a thing
presently, in the sense
of as soon as evening

GLOSSARY.

261

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

A thousand businesses
are brief in hand,
''King John," IV. iii.
158.

That furious Scot can
vail his stomach,
"2 Henry IV.," I. i.
129. Which raised in
me an undergoing
stomach to bear up,
" Tempest," I. ii. 157.
They have only stom-
achs to eat and none
to fight, "Henry v.,"
in. vii. 166. He was
a man of unbound-
ed stomach, "Henry
VIII.," IV. ii. 3.

The childing autumn —
"Midsummer Night's
Dream," II. ii. 112.

In such passages as the
following, — " Soon at
five o'clock I'll meet
with you," (" Com. of

262

GLOSSAA'V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

comes, appears on
good authority to be
to do a thing soon.

GLOSSAR V.

263

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Errors," I. ii. 26);
** Soon at supper shalt
thou see Lorenzd,"
(^'Mer. of Ven.," II.
iii. 5); *' Come to me
soon at after supper,"
("Rich. III.," IV. iii.
31); '' You shall bear
the burden soon at
night," ("Romeo and
Juliet," II. V. 78);
"We'll have a posset
for 't soon at night,"
("Merry Wives," I.
iv. 8), and a dozen
more, it is evident that
" soon " has other
meaning than "in a
short time." Antipho-
lus bids his servant go
to the inn.

"The Centaur, where we hist,
And stay there, Dromio, till I

come to thee ;
Within this hour it will be

dinner time."

He then invites his
friend, the First Mer-
chant, to dinner:

"What, will you walk with me

about the town,
And then go to my inn, and

dine with me ? "

264

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

GLOSSAR V.

265

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

To which the Merchant
replies:

" I am invited, sir, to certain

merchants,
Of whom I hope to make much

benefit ;
I crave your pardon. Soon at

five o'clock,
Please you, I'll meet with you

upon the mart.
And afterward consort you till

bed-time."

Now, bearing in mind
that noon is the uni-
versal dinner-hour in
Shakespeare, six hours
must intervene ere
they meet again, which
could hardly be called
"soon." An examina-
tion of the other pas-
sages will present the
same inconsistency.
Halliwell's "Diction-
ary of Archaic and
Provincial Words "
tells us that in the
West of England the
word still signifies
"evening"; and Mr.
Laughlin says that Gil,
a contemporary of
Shakespeare, a head-
master of St. Paul's

266

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

Prevent, Hinder, Post-
pone.

Produce, induce — see In-
duce, Reason.

Probabilities.

Procrastination, Delay.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Backer — This coowd '11
backer 'is coomin =
This cold weather will
prevent (or postpone)
his arrival.

Kindle.

Lections — There be no
lections o' rain=there
is no probability of its
raining.

Burning daylight.

GLOSSAR V.

267

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

School, declares that
the use of ** soon " as
an adverb, in the
familiar sense of ''be-
times," " by and by,"
or ''quickly," had,
when he wrote, been
eclipsed with most men
by an acceptation re-
stricted to " night-
fall."

We burn daylight! here
read! read! read!
"Merry Wives of
Windsor," 11. i. 59.
Come, we burn day-
light, " Romeo and
Juliet," I, iv. 43.

268

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Prolific.

Kind — also perhaps the
word has come to be
used in the sense of

easy virtue.

Prod, Poke, with a stick
or sword.

Bodge.
Job.

Properly.

A'Form (pronounced
faum) — We sing it
a'form == We sing it

properly.

Prophecy.

Forecast.

Prodigal, carelessly.

Random.

Prosecute.

Persecute— He was per-
secuted for larceny=:
He was prosecuted for
larceny.

GLOSSARY.

269

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Is she kind as she is
fair? For beauty lives
by kindness, ''Two
Gentlemen of Ver-
ona," IV. ii. 44. Your
cuckoo sings by kind,
"All's Well that Ends,
Well," I. iii. 67. In
doing the deed of kind,
"Merchant of Ven-
ice." I. iii. 86.

Alas that Warwick had
no more forecast,
"3 Hen. VI.," V. 7.

The great care of goods
at Random left,
" Comedy of Errors,"
I. i. 43.

270

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Prospect, outlook.
Prosperous.

Prosperously.

Protected (see Shelter-
ed).

Proud — see Stalk.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Provide (verb). Also in

Lookout.

Smartish (adjective and
adverb).

I'm getting on smartish

= 1 am prospering (or

doing well).
Un's smartish a'day=:

He is prosperous at

present.

Burrowed.

Flash, stomachful.

Forecast — He forecast it

GLOSSARY,

271

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Stomach is used for
Pride frequently in the
plays, and the two
meanings of the word
are employed con-
stantly for puns: To
some enterprise that
hath a stomach in 't,
'' Hamlet," I. i. 100.
He was a man of an
unbounded stomach,
''Henry VHI.," IV.
ii. 34. They have only
stomachs to eat and
none to fight, '' Henry
v.," in. vii. 166.

272

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

sense of foresee.
Which see.

= He provided for it
beforehand.

Provoke (verb).
Tempest

See

Urge — That 'oman do
urge me so = That wo-
man always provokes
me.

Provoked.

Mad as mad.

Pry (verb).

Brevitt — I've brevitted
thraow all them drahrs
an' I caunt find 'im.
' E'l get nuthin' from
we, it's uv no use far
*im to come brevittin'
about ower place.

Pry (verb).

Toot.

Pudding or Dough.

Duff.

Pull.

Pug.

Pummel (verb). See
labor.

Be-

Pun.

Punishment.

Piff.

GLOSSAR Y.

273

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Urge not my father's
anger, '* Two Gent,
of Verona," IV. iii.
27.

How canst thou urge
God's dreadful, ''Rich-
ard III.," I. iv. 214.

Doth set my pugging
tooth on edge, ''Win-
ter's Tale," IV. iii. 7.

274

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Purveyor.

Push — syn. a hint, a
nudge with the elbow.

Put on airs (verb).

Put out.
Shut.

See Embarrass.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Pantler.

Gird— Potch.

Jets— A' jets = He is put-
ting on airs; assuming
too much.

Dout — Pronounced Doot
to rhyme with boot.
See Holofernes ridi-
cules Armado for
speaking Doubt fine to
rhyme with oot, and
debt d-e-t. — ''Love's
Labor's Lost," VI. i.
1 8.

GLOSSAR y.

275

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

She was both pantler,
butler, cook, '' Win-
ter's Tale," IV. ix. 67.
Would have made a
good pantler. A' would
ha' chipped bread well,
''2 Henry IV.," II. iv,
258.

I thank thee for that
gird, good Tranio,
"Taming of the
Shrew," V. ii. 58, I'll
potch at him, some
way, or wrath or craft
may get him, '* Corio-
lanus," I, X. 65,

How he jets under his
advantage, ''Twelfth
Night," II. V. 36, That
giants may jet, "Cym-
beline," III.iii.5,

And dout them with
superfluous courage,
"Henry V.," IV, ii.
II. The dram of eale
that doth the noble
substance often dout,
"Hamlet," I. iv. 36.
I have a speech of fire
that fain would blaze
But that his folly douts

276

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Q

Quality.

Hit — A good hit 0' grout

=:A good quality of

mortar.

Quarrel (verb).

Square — Cagmag — They

be a squarein', or they

be cagmaggin' = They

are quarreling.

Quantity — a large quan-

Power— Power ov megs

tity.

= A large quantity of

half pence.

Quick, in the sense of

Ready — A's ready = I am

active.

active, and equal to

the job.

Quickly, in the Impera-

Straight—Do 't straight

tive. See Instantly.

=:Go ahead at once

with it.

GLOSSAR V.

277

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

it, '< Hamlet," IV. vii.
192.

Make her grave
straight, "Hamlet,"
V. i. 3, is a direc-
tion to make the grave
properly, /. <?. , east and
west— as in Christian
burial — and not, as it
is sometimes con-
strued— a direction
to proceed hurriedly.
The grave-diggers in
that scene evidently do
not hurry themselves.

27S

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

AVARWICKSHIRE.

Quittance — Riddance.

Shut on — Ee had my
shut on scrumpsrrl
have got rid of my
apples.

R

Ragged.

All of a jilt — My muck-
ender'sallof a jilt = my
handkerchief is rag-
ged.

Rain (verb).

Scud.

Rainstorm.

Tempest.

Raise (verb).

Higher — Higher that
line = Raise that rope.

Ram (hence a verb — to
ram — to get with foal).

Tup.

Rancid.

Raisty.

GLOSSARY.

279

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Wreck to the seaman,
tempest to the field, I.

453-

Between them from the
tempest of my eyes,
" Midsummer Night's
Dream," I. i. 131.
Such crimson tempest
should bedrench the
fresh green lap,
•' Richard II.," I. iii.
187.

We '11 higher to the
mountains, there se-
cure us, ''Cymbe-
Hne," IV. iv. 8.

An old black ram is tup-
ping your white ewe,
''Othello," I. i. 89.

2»0

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Rascal — usually a man
or woman, inclined to
be malicious but stu-
pid.

Rascal— a stupid rascal.

Ravelings.
Raveled.

Ready.

Reaching.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Loon.

Loon or lown.

Rovings.

Sally (as the end of a
rope which has become
unwound), or gagged
condition of any tex-
tile fabric.

Fit — Af the best fit we
'11 roout a moore a'
these spuds = If you
are ready we will weed
a few more of these
potatoes.

Going in — Ees goin* in
twelves He is reach-
ing his twelfth year.

GLOSSAR V.

281

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Thou cream-faced loon,

''Macbeth," V. iii. 11.

The devil dam thee

black, thou creamfaced

loon, "Macbeth," V.

iii. II. With that he

called the tailor lown.

"Othello," II. iii. 95.

We should have both

lord and lown, " Peri-

*

cles," IV. vi. 19.

Tell Valeria we are fit

to bid her welcome.

" Coriolanus," I. iii.

46. Fit for treasons,

stratagems, and spoils.

"Merchant of Ven-

ice," VI. 85.

2b2

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

Reason — for doing any-
thing (pretext).

Rebound.

Rebuke.
Reproof-

see Snub.

Reference^ — as to char-
acter.

Refined— see Gentle, Re-
spectable.

Regret — something to be
regretted. See Pity.

Refuse— see Rubbish.

Remain (verb). Also in
the imperative, wait.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Kindle — 'Eed no Kindle
to do it=:He had no
reason for doing it.

Rear.

Miss-word, Snape or
Sneap — Word-of-a-sort
— Bide till I see my
Knaaps, I'l giv 'im
word of a sort = Wait
until I meet my young
man, I'll reprove him
(or snub him).

Character — A' took 'er
wi* out a character^:
I took her without any
reference as to her
character.

Still— Es a still 'un = He
is a gentleman.

Poor tale.

Rammel.

Bide— We'll bide here =
We'll wait here. Bide
where you be = Remain
where you are. [In
all English dialects.]

GLOSSAR V.

283

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Very common in the
plays. Also in the
Scriptures. Bide not
in unbelief, Romans
xi. 25. In the sense

284

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Remember (verb). See
Remind.

Remnants (see Leav-
ings).

WARWICKSHIRE.

Mind me — Common to
almost all English dia-
lects.

Orts.

Remind.

Resentment. To bear
a grudge for past
wrongs (see Remind).

Remember.

Reap at — A's reapin' it
up agin unrrrHe bears
me a grudge yet.

GLOSSARY.

285

VEx\US AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

of hide it is used
once in the poems,
viz., in " The Lover's
Complaint," 2>Z.

In addition to the exam-
ples cited infra^ un-
der Leavings, see
" Merry Wives of
Windsor," L i. 232,
where Parson Evans
tries to play upon the
word as meaning a
mental reservation.
"It is a fery discre-
tion answer: save the
fall is in the ort disso-
lutely; the ort is, ac-
cording to our mean-
ing, resolutely."

I'll not remember you
of my own lord who
is lost too, ** Winter's
Tale," III. ii. 231.

286

GLOSSARY,

VERNACULAR.

Rent (see Leases).
Resemble.

Respectable,

Reserved (see Proud).
Restrain (verb).

Revenge (verb).

WARWICKSHIRE.

Favor — -He favors his
father=:He resembles
his father.*

Common to many Eng-
lish dialects, and a
proper word in the
vernacular.

Still — He's a still, quiet
man = He's a respecta-
able, refined (orgentle-
manly mannered) man.

Stomachful.

Keep — He cannot keep
hisselfrriHe cannot re-
strain himself.

Even up.

Rheum — cold in the Sneke — A raw, chilly day
head. i liable to give one a

* In Yorkshire the dialect word is Breeds. She breeds with
her mother, means she resembles her mother. Sometimes pro-
nounced braid. " She speaks, and 'tis such sense my sense
breeds with it." — "Measure for Measure," II. ii. 142.

GLOSSARY.

287

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

And the complexion of
the element. In fa-
vour's like the work
we have in hand,
"Julius Caesar," 1.
iii. 129.

O, 'tis a foul thing when
a cur cannot keep him-
self, " Two Gent, of
Verona," IV. 14.

I will be even with thee,
doubt it not, ''Antony
and Cleopatra," III.
vii. I.

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Rheumatism.

Rick frame— The frame-
work on which the
ricks are placed.

Rickety.

Rid (verb par.), to be
rid of.

Riddle.

WARWICKSHIRE.

cold in the head is a
Snekey day!

Rheumatics, Rheumatiz
— If in a single limb it
is rheumatiz — If all
over the body it is
rheumatics.

Staddle.

Shacklety.

Shut on— I was glad to
be shut on she=I was
glad to be rid of
her.

Riddliss.

Rinse (verb) — To bathe j Swill,
or submerge.

Ripened.

Roxed.

GLOSSARY.

289

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Swills your warm blood
like wash, and makes
his trough, "Richard
III.," V. ii. 9. A
galled rock — swilled
with the wild and
wasteful ocean,
"Henry V.," III. i.
12.

290

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Road.

Ride — Especially a new
road cut through a
wood.

Roar (verb).

Belluck.

Robin.

Bobby.

Robin — or perhaps a
goldfinch.

Tailor.

Rod (used for
in schools).

correction

Vester (evident mispro-
nunciation of "Dus-
ter.")

Rogue.

Scruff.

Romping.

Pulley-hawley.

Rook.

Crow.

Roomy.

Roomthy.

Rough grass.

Couchgrass, or Fog.

Rough (in behavior).

Lungerous.

Row — (a quarrel). See
Scrimmage.

Work.

Rubbish — see

Litter.

Mullock.

GLOSSARY

291

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I will not sing. 'Tis the
next best way to turn
tailor or redbreast
teacher, " 2 Henry
IV.," III. i. 126.

292

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Ruin — to destroy.

Ruinate — Ruination —
Any structure out of
repair is schlackety.

Ruin — Destroy.

Rid.

Rush.

Yerk.

Russet apple.

Leather coat.

Rustle (noun).

Fidther — Any slight
sound, as of a mouse.

S

Saddler.

Whittaw.

Same.

Sapling — see Slender,
Delicate.

Sapless, dead (for a
plant) — syn. worth-
less. '^

Sated (satisfied with
food).

A' one — It's a' one = It's
all the same thing.

Wimbling, or Wimpling.

Dadocky, Mozey, Meas-
ley — see Mose under
Lurk.

Ched.

GLOSSAR V.

293

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I will not ruinate thy
father's house, "Hen-
ry VII."

The red plague rid you,
" Tempest," I. ii. 364.

Their steeds yerk out
their armed heels,
"Henry V."

Here is a dish of leather
coats for you, ^'2
Henry IV.," V. iii. 44.

294

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Satiety — a plenitude or
abundance of any-
thing. See Frequent,
Plenty of, Abundance.

Satisfy.

Saturated.

Saucy (pert).

WARWICKSHIRE.

Old.

Swagger — You was want-
ing to see some big
dahlias, come into my
garden, an' I'll swag-
ger ye = I will satisfy
you if you will step
into my garden.

Watched — A person who
has been out in the
rain or has fallen into
the river, and so is
wet through, is said to
be " watched."

Canting — She's a canting
wench = She's a saucy
girl.

Saw — perfect of verb to See — I never see she =
see. I never saw her. [Not

peculiar to Warwick-
shire.]

GLOSSARY.

295

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

If wet through = satu-
rated, and saturated^
sated, this is proba-
bly the meaning in
which the word
** watched " is used by
Pandarus when he ex-
claims, You must be
watched ere you be
made tame, must you?
"Troilus and Cres-
sida," III. ii. 42.

296

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Scaffolding — in building-
houses.

Scanty — see short.

Scarecrow — an unsightly
or grotesque object.

Settlas.

Cop, cob, cobby — A cob-
loof=:A very small or
stumpy loaf.

Moikin or Malkin.

Scarecrow — a dummy to Crowkeeper.
scare crows.

Scarecrows.

Bugs— Mawkin.

GLOSSAR y.

297

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

In " Troilus and Cres-
sida," II. i. 41, Ajax
calls Thersites a cob-
loaf, /. e.^ a small loaf.

A malkin not worth the
time of day, " Peri=
cles," IV. iii. 34. The
kitchen malkin pins
her richest lokram
'bout her reechy neck,
'* Coriolanus," II. i.
224.

Scaring the ladies like a
crow-keeper, '* Romeo
and Juliet," I. iv. 6.
That fellow handles
his bow like a crow-
keeper, " King Lear,"
IV. vi. 88.

Fright boys with bugs,
"Taming of the
Shrew," I. ii. 182. The
bug which you would
fright me with, I seek,
"Winter's Tale," III.
ii. 113. (So yt thou
shalt not need to be
afraid of any bugges

298

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Scavenger (for night-
soil). See Excrement.

Gold-digger.

Scold — a female of vio-

Mankind witch.

lent temper.

Scold (verb).

Scog— To get a scoggin'
= To get a scolding.

Scorn.

Scowl 0' brow.

Scrape (verb). See
Grate.

Race.

Scraps (especially what

Scratching.

is left in lard boiling).

Scratch (verb).

Skant — He skanted it=

He scratched it.

Scratch out — to erase.

Scrat — Don't scrat me =

Don't erase my name.

Scrimmage.

Work — What work then
was up there=:What a

scrimmage then was up
there.

Scratch (verb or noun).

Scawt, Scrattle — To

graze is to scradge,

GLOSSAR V.

299

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

by night, nor for
ye arrow that flyeth
by dav, Coverdale's
Translation, Ps. XCI.)

A mankind witch — hence
with her, ** Winter's
Tale," II. iii. 67.

300

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Scrutinize. Examine
carefully (verb), im-
perative.

Season (a short duration
of time).

Skulk — see Lurk.
See-saw.
Seat (settee).
Second-rate — poor.
Separate — see Part.

WARWICKSHIRE.

doubtless another pro-
nunciation of this same
word.

Eyepiece— Eyepiece this
= Examine this care-
fully.

Bout — He's had a bout
o' drinking—He'sbeen
drunk for some time.

Weigh-jolt.

Settle.

Keffle.

As where two have been
journeying together.

We must be shogging
now=We must sepa-
rate now.

Shog off now=:Go your
ways and let me go
mine.

[Also in various other
dialects. * Is also used

* In Yorkshire dialect the peasant would say, " Go your gate,"
or " get out o' my gate." And in the plays, this Yorkshire word
is employed. " If he had not been in drink he would have tickled
you other gates than he did." — " Twelfth Night," \^ i. 185.

GLOSSARY.

301

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Shog off now, "Henry
v.," II. i. 48. Shall
we shog? Idem, III.
48.

302

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

in Wyclif's translation
of the Bible.;

Senses.

Sinks— *Ees out o's sinks
= He is out of his
senses.

Sermon.

Sarmint.

Shabby — shabbily
dressed, See Slattern.

Scribe.

Shafts (of a v/agon).

Tills.

Shallow.

Flew.

Sharpen (verb).

Keen.

Sharper (a cunning,
ceitful person).

de-

File.

Sheath.

Share — The short wood-
en sheath stuck in the
waistband to rest one
of the needles in whilst
knitting. Hence plow-
share.

She (nominative (
feminine).

:ase

Her.

Shear (verb).

Daggle — Especially to

GLOSSARY.

Z02,

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

304

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

shear around a sheep's
tail. Dag locks are
the bits of wool cut off
around the tail stump.

Shed — or the
wing of, or
to a house.

addition,
extension

Lean to.

Sheep.

Ship— The ship be dag-
gled=:Sheep are com-
pletely sheared. (Even
the dag-locks around
their tails cut off.)

Shiftless.

Whip-stitch (pron. per-
haps whipster).

Shiftless.

Slip string.

Shiver—Tremble with
cold.

Dither— also Ditter.

Sheltered—
from the

-Protected (as
weather).

Burrow — It's burrow as
burrow here = It's very
sheltered here.

Shoes.

Shoon [in other dialects;
also, a common dia-
lect plural, as housen
for houses, hosen for
stockings or socks".

GLOSSARY.

305

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I am not valiant neither,
but every puny whip-
ster gets my sword,
"Othello," V. ii. 244.

Spare none but such as
go in clouted shoon,
'*2 Henry VL," IV.
ii. 195.

By his cockle hat and

3o6

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Shirt.

Shopworn — Worn
See To wear out.

out.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Shift — Also used as a
verb. To change one's
Iinen = To shift one's
self.

Braid, braided.

Short.

Cob, cop, or cobby, ^. g.^
cop nuts = very small

GLOSSAR Y.

307

VENUS AND ADON'IS.

PLAYS.

Staff and his sandall
shoon, "Hamlet," IV.
V. 26.

Sir, I would advise you
to shift a shirt. —
'^Cymbeline," I. ii. i.

If my shirt were bloody
then to shift it.—Id. 6.

Taught me to shift into
a madman's rags. —
''Lear," V. iii. 186.

The rest of thy low
countries have made
a shift to eat up thy
holland. — **2 Henry
IV.," II. ii. 25.

Has he any un-braided
wares?— ''The Win-
ter's Tale," V. iv. 201.

'Twould braid yourself
too near for me to tell
it.—*' Pericles," I. i.

93-
Since Frenchmen are so

braid — marry who will,

I'll live and die a

maid!—" All's Well

that Ends Well," IV.

ii- 73-

Ajax calls Thersites
"Cob-loaf!"— "Troil-

3o8

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Short.

Shout — Shriek (verb).
Shovel — Spade.
Showery— Drizzling.

Showery weather — see
Rainstorm.

Shuffle— to drag
self along.

one s

WARWICKSHIRE.

or stumpy nuts, with
very minute or innu-
tritious kernels; any-
thing small or stunted.

Breff.

Bellock, blart.

Shool.

Dampin' — It's rather
dampin* to-day = It's a
rather showery day.

Falling-weather.

Hockle, or hotchle.

GLOSSAR V.

309

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

US and Cressida," II.
i. 41.

That is thebreff and the
long of it, ''Henry
v.," III. ii. 126.

The simile of falling
for lowering, cloudy,
rainy weather is not
uncommon in the
plays.

Contagious fogs, which
falling in the land,
" Midsummer Night's
Dream," II. i. 90.

My cloud of dignity is
held from falling with
so weak a wind,
"2 Henry VL," IV.
V. 100.

3IO

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Shut — probably in sense
of ''open and shut."

Dup.

Skittles.

Loggats.

Slender — see Sapling.

Wimpled.

Shriveled.

Corky.

Sickly person. See
Baby.

Wratch or scribe, or (if
a child) dilling.

Sigh (verb).

Sithe.

Side door — Private en-

Foredraft.

trance.

Simpleton. See Idiot,
Fool.

Attwood — Soft Sammy,
clouter-headed, fat-

headed, jolt-headed,

or jolter-headed.

Since.

Sen.

Sink, Cesspool.

Gubbon hole.

GLOSSAR V.

311

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Then up he rose and
donn'd his clothes and
dupp'd the chamber
door, ''Hamlet," IV.,
V. 53.

But to play at logg'ats
with, "Hamlet," V.
i. 100.

Ingrateful fox! Bind
fast his corky arms,
" King Lear," HI. vii.
29.

Fie on thee, jolthead!
thou canst not read,
" Two Gentlemen of
Verona," III. i. 200.

312

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Skein.

Sing, singing— applied
to a bird or animal.

Sink — To droop or be-
come tired.

Slate.

Slattern — hence, some-
times, old clothes, foul
linen, etc.

Slatternly. See Slattern.
Sleepy.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Slice.

Boltom — It's all of a
robble like a boltom
o' yarn 1= It's all tan-
gled up like a skein of
yarn.

Whistle— The whistling
thrusher=A singing
thrush.

Sagg — She be sagged
out = She is drooping
with weariness.

Slat.

Datchet, dotcher-dratch-
er, flommacks, shackle,
slommocks.

Flommacky.
Mulled.

Shive — A shive 'a uns
loaf=:A slice of his
loaf of bread.

GLOSSAR v.

313

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Shall never sag with
doubt or shake with
fear, "Macbeth," V.iii.
10.

To carry me in the same
foul clothes to Datchet
mead, "Merry Wives
of Windsor," III. iii.
15; Id. 141-157; V. loi.

Peace is a very apo-
plexy, lethargy,
mulled, deaf, sleepy,
insensible, " Corio-
lanus," IV. V. 239.

Of a cut loaf to steal a
shive, " Titus An-
dronicus," II. i. 88.

314

GLOSSAR r.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Slice (verb).

Slide (verb), as on ice.

Slippery. See Miry,
Muddy.

Sloes.

Sloppy. See Muddy.

Small. See Short,
Stumpy, Scanty.

Small portion of any-
thing.

Small child.

Sliver.

Glir— Slether.

Slippy.

Slans.
Slobbery,

Cob, cobby, cop.

Dab (used also as an
adjective) — A large
portion of anything is
a dollop.

Billing, anything very
small — a very small
child, a small apple in

GLOSSAR Y.

315

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

She that herself will
sliver and disbranch,
''King Lear," IV. ii.
34.

I will sell my dukedom
to buy a slobbery and
dirty farm, ''Henry
v.," III. V. 12.

Ulysses calls Thersites
"Cobloaf," "Troilus
and Cressida," II. i. 41.

3i6

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

Smear— To daub.

Smoke (very black and
thick).

Smolder (verb).
Sneak (noun).

WARWICKSHIRE.

Warwickshire would
be called a dilling.
The same smallness,
with the added idea of
wailing or fretting, as
a puny crying child or
young of any animal,
would be said to be
a nesh.

Bemoil.

Smoke and smother.

Domber.
Mizzle.

GLOSSARY.

317

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

In how miry a place,
how was she bemoiled,
"Taming of the
Shrew," IV. i. 77.

From smoke to smother,
"As You Like It,"
I. iii. 322. " Fire
then, O, marcy what a
roar, said my grand-
father, and such a
smoke and smother
you could scarcely see
your hand afore you "
(New England Dialect,
Major Jack Downing,
"Thirty Years Out of
the Senate," 1859).

3i8

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Snub — Reproof, slander.

Soaked.

Sobs.

Soliciting gratuities on
St. Clement's Day —
hence, any respectable
kind of asking alms.

Soon — Immediately.

Sore — Bruise.

Sour.

Sour (verb).

Sneap.

Sobbed— Sobbed in th'
tempest = Soaked
through in a heavy
rainstorm.

Broken tears.

elementing.

Aforelong.
Quat.

Reasty — A reasty shine
=A slice of sour
bread.

Summer — The beer is
summered = The beer
has turned sour.

GLOSSARY.

19

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I will not undergo this

sneap without reply,

''2 Henry VI.," II.

1. 133.

Distasted with the salt

of broken tears,

''Troilus and Cres-

sida," IV. iv. 50.

I have rubbed this young
quat almost to the
sense, ''Othello," V.
i. II.

Maids, well summered
and well kept, are like
flies at Bartholomew

320

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Snuff, sniff — To snuff or
scent as a dog, to
hunt.

Soft (marshy, sloppy,
wet). See Miry,
Muddy.

Solitary.

Spare (verb) — To
along without.

get

Speed — Pace or gait.

Spent, exhausted.

Spider web.
Something.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Brevet — How the dog
do brevet about = How
the dog sniffs around.

Flacky — Sappy.

Unked.

Miss — I cannot miss him
at harvesting=I can-
not spare him at har-
vesting.

Bat — Ees coome a god-
dish bat = He came
with good speed.

Forewearied.

Cobwail.
Summat.

GLOSSARY.

321

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

tide, ''Henry V.,
V. ii. 335.

But as 't is we cannot
miss him — He does
make our fire — fetcli
in our wood, ''Tem-
pest," I. ii. 311.

He would miss it rather
than carry it, but by
the suit of the gentry
to him, " Coriolanus,"
II. i. 253.

Forewearied in their
action of swift speed,
"King John," II. i.

233.

322

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Soot — as from a chim-

Colley.

ney.

Sour apple. See Apple,
Russet Apple.

Bitter-sweeting.

Spacious.

Roomthy.

Sparkling.

Sousy (applied to li-
quors).

Specks on the finger-
nails.

Gifts.

Spectacles, a pair of.

Barnacles.

Spiritless — Cowardly.

Lozel.

Sparrow — especially the
hedge sparrow.

Betty, or hedgebetty.

Spite (in spite of).

Afrawl — I sh'll come a-
frawl o' ye=I shall
proceed in spite of all

you say.

Splinter,

Spittle — see
Mouthful.

Drop,

Spaul.
Gob.

GLOSSAK V.

323

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Thy wit is a very bitter
sweeting, ''Romeo
and Juliet," II. iv. S^.

And lozel, thou art
worthy to be hanged,
"Winter's Tale," II.
iii. 109.

324

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Splinter.

Spaul.

Split (verb).

Scag.

Sport.

Ecky.

Spoke — preterite of to
speak, used as a prov-
erb of inanimate

Quoth. Jerk, quoth the
plowshare = The
plowshare went jerk

things, never of

per-

or said *' jerk."

sons.

Sprawl.

Retch — Resty. Mind
not sprawl on settle =
Do not sprawl over the
chimney seat (perhaps
mispronunciation of
restive).

Sprouts.

Chits.

Stab— see Thrust.

Yerk.

Stale — As stale as a dead

Fishlike.

fish.

Squint (verb).

Squinny.

GLOSSAR V.

325

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

True it is, my incorpor-
ate friends, quoth he
(the stomach), ''Corio-
lanus," I. i. 23.

Shake, quoth the dove-
house, '' Romeo and
Juliet," I. iii. S3-

AVeariness can snore
upon the flint, when
resty sloth finds downy
pillow hard, " Cym-
beline," III. vi. 34.

I had thought to have
yerked him here under
the ribs, "Othello,"
I. ii. 5.

A very ancient and a
fishlike smell, "Tem-
pest," I. ii. 35.

Dost thou squinny at me,
"Lear," IV. vi. 120.

326

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Squeeze.

Scrouge.

Squint (verb).

Squinny.

Squint- (or cross-) eyed.

Boss eye, bank eye-
one-eyed man is
gunner.

-a
a

Starve (verb).

Clam — or clem.

Stalk, Strut— to walk
proudly.

Jet.

Starving.

Fameled.

Stately — see Pride.

Stomachful.

Stave (of a cask or bar-
rel).

Chime.

GLOSS A R r.

327

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

What! will he clem me
and his following!
''The Poetaster," I.
ii.

How he jets under his
advanced plumes,

"Twelfth Night," II.
V. 36. To jet upon a
Prince's right, ''Titus
Andronicus," II. i. 64.
That giants may jet
through, " Cymbeline,"
III. iii. 5. Insulting
tyranny begins to jet
upon the innocent
and aweless throne,
"Richard III." II. iv.

51.

328

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Stickleback.

Daddy Rough.

Stile.

Clapgate.

Sticks, faggots.

Fardel.

Sticky, mucilaginous.

Terry.

T-» u :__ 1

Stinging insect, gadfly
Bee or hornet.

Stingy.

Stint (piece of work).

Stock — see Handle.
Stop (imperative verb).

Breese, brise, bree.

Near.

Graft, Grit. A certain
allotted bit of work.

Stale.

Gie over, or a' done —
A' done will 'ee (or,
gie over) = Ha' done
(stop) at once!

GLOSSARY.

329

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Who would fardels bear,
"Hamlet," III. i. 76.

The herd hath more
annoyance by the
breese than by the
tiger, " Troilus and
Cressida," I. iii. 54.
The breeze upon her
like a cow in June [a
pun here on breeze —
a light wind], ''An-
tony and Cleopatra,"
III. X. 21.

Give o'er the play, give
me some light! away!
"Hamlet," III. ii. 79.
Elsewhere used as
equivalent to surren-

330

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Stoop (verb, to bend).

Croodle.

Story — see Long Story.

Stout.

Bibleback (if a man).

Bundle — Graunchen.

Fussock (if a woman).

Bussock (with added

meaning of vulgar).

Strumpet — see Cour-
tesan. Whore.

Baigle — Faggott, Be-
som— a loose young

woman is a Fizgig —

one who has been se-

duced by a gentleman

is a Doxy.

Straightway — that is
quickly, at once. See
Instantly, Quickly.

Straight.

Strut (verb) — to walk
proudly. See Stalk.

Jet.

Stubble stack.

Hallow.

GLOSSARY.

331

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

der, as Shall we give

over and drown ?

''Tempest," I. i. 41,

and in thirteen other

places, but not in the

imperative.

•
Note the pun in Because

she is a maid, spare

for no faggots, " i

Henry VI.," V. iv.

56.

Make her grave straight.

'' Hamlet," V. i. 3. (So

used in the Scriptures

— see St. Luke iii. 4.)

332

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

Stubborn — see Obstinate.

Stump (of a tree).

Stumpy — see Short,
Small, Scanty.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Stupid (noun). See
Clown, Simpleton.

Stutter, hesitate.

Sty (in the eye).
Suckle, Nurse.

Suckling.

Awkward.

Stowl.

Cob, cobby, cop — A cob
loaf = A short or very
scant loaf of bread.
[Also in Oxfordshire,
Kent, Surrey, York-
shire, and Stafford-
shire dialects.]

Yawrups, Jolter-headed,
Clouter-headed, Fat-
headed.

Huck and haow — Ee
stood 'acken and
'aowen or atchen =: he
stammered and hesi-
tated at doing it.

Quot (or Puck).

Nousle.

Dilling — The smallest
pig in the litter, used
as a term of endear-
ment for a small child,

GLOSSARY,

333

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Cobloaf ! — ''Troilus
and Cressida," II. i.
41.

These mothers who, to
nousle up their babies,
"Measure for Meas-
ure," III. ii. 237.

334

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

as There, be a good
dilling now, an' go to
sleep quiet.

Sulky — ill-tempered.

Aitredans.

Superior.

Bettermost — A's Better-
most nor him = I'm
better than he.

Supernumeraries — Idle
or useless servants.

Feeders.

Suppose.

Reckon — " Suppose " is
only used when telling
facts. As: So John is

going to Lunnon, I

suppose = John is go-
ing to London.
In some of the Southern
States of the United
States, reckon is used
just as the Warwick-

shire peasant uses
"suppose." I reckon
you'll dine with us to-
day — We shall rely

on your diningwith us.

GLOSSARY.

335

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS,

I will your very faithful
feeder be, ''As You
Like It," II. iv. 99.
When all your offices
have been oppressed
with rotten feeders,
"Timon of Athens,"
IV. ii.

It is somewhat difficult
to say whether Shakes-
peare ever uses the
word suppose in the
Warwickshire sense.
The following looks
like such a use of it:

**ril be supposed upon
a book his face is the
worst thing about
him," " Measure for
Measure," II. i. 162.
But here supposed may
be an elipsis for super-
imposed, which is the

336

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

That is, it is a pressing
invitation to dinner,
and not exactly the
statement of an exist-

ing arrangement.

Sure.

Safe — He's safe to do it
= He's sure to do it.

Surety.

Back up, back friend.

Surfeit.

Sick — I *ud my sick on
plums — I have had
all the plums that I can
eat.

Surfeit.

Sick.

GLOSSAR Y.

337

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

radical meaning of the
word suppose.

Is used very frequently
in the plays. My
ships are safe to road,
''Merchant of Venice,"
V. i. 285, etc.

A back friend and
shoulder capper,
"Comedy of Errors,"
IV. ii. 37.

would be
weeping,
groans, "2
VL" III. ii.

blind with

sick with

'•'"* Henry

62. My

most honorable lord, I
am e'en sick of shame,
*' Timon of Athens,"
III. vi. 46. I am
sick of many griefs,
''Julius Caesar," IV.
iii. 144.

Quietness, grown sick of
rest, " Antony and
Cleopatra," I. iii. 5.
The commonwealth is
sick of their own

338

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Surmount (or surpass).

Surpass — see aroupe.
Suspect (verb).

Suddenly.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Overgo or overget.

Judge — I judge him guil-
ty = I suspect that he
is guilty.

Suddent.

GLOSSARY.

339

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

choice, ** 2 Henry VI,"
I. iii. 87. The follow-
ing puns allude to this
Warwickshire meaning
of the word apparently.
They are as sick that
surfeit on too much as
they that starve on
nothing, *' Merchant
of Venice," I. ii. 6.
That nature, being
sick of man's unkind-
ness, should yet be
angry, '* Timon of
Athens," IV. iii. 106.
When we are sick in
fortune — often the sur-
surfeit of our behavior,
"King Lear," I. ii.
129.

To overgo thy plaints,
and drown thy cries,
''Richard III.," II. ii.
61.

340

GLOSS A R V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Surpass — see Excel
(verb).

Cap.

Swing (verb).

Geg, gaig— Let's gaig no'
= Let's take a swing.

Sweat (verb).

Gibber.

Sweat (noun).

Muck — I'm all of a muck.

I'm sweaty.

Sweet.

Candy.

Sweetmeats.

Humbugs.

GLOSSAR y

341

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

And the sheeted dead
did squeak and gibber
in the Roman streets,
"Hamlet," I. i. 116.
The word ''gibber"
here is commonly
taken to mean gabble
or chatter, but if the
word were used in the
Warwickshire sense,
how much more ghast-
ly and horrible the
picture! The dead —
out of place in the
Roman streets — wor-
ried and sweated.

What a candy deal of
courtesy, this fawning
greyhound did then
proffer me, '' i Henry
IV.," I. iii. 251.

342

GLOSSAR y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Swipes (stale beer).

Swanky.

Swipes (sour beer
cider).

or

Bellyvengeance.

Swell (verb) in cooking.

Plim.

Swollen.

Bluffy — My hands
bluffy as bluffy
hands are very
swollen.

are as

= My

much

Swing — a see-saw
merry-go-round.

or

Gay.

Swop, Barter (verb
noun).

or

Rap.

Syrup.

Jessup.

T

Tadpole.

Jackbonnial.

Talon— Singular of Tal-
ons. The claw of a
bird.

Talon.

GLOSSAR Y

343

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

There is a pun on this
provincial mispronun-
ciation in: If a talent
be a claw, see how
he claws him with a
talent! " Love's La-
bor's Lost," IV. ii.
64.

344

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Tail — a short tail,
rabbit's.

as a

Scut.

Tailor— See Botch.

Bodger.

Talebearer — A cr
tale. See Tattler

irry-

Clatterer.

Talebearer.

Pickthanks. Gossip is
pickthanking work.

Talk.

Scrowl.

Tame.

Cade — Cade lamb=:Pet
lamb.

Tangle.

Robbie.

Tap (verb).

Tabber.

Tape.

Inkle, Inkles [Also in
Whitby dialect; .

GLOSSARY.

;45

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

My doe with the black
scut, " Merry Wives
of Windsor," V. v.

20.

Pickthanks and base

newsmonger,

Hen-

ry IV.," III. ii. 25.

See how with signs and
tokens she can scrowl,
"Titus Andronicus,"
II. iv. 5.

What's the price of this
inkle, ''Love's La-
bor's Lost,"III. i. 140.
Inkles, caddices, cam-
brics,''Winter's Tale,"
IV. iv. 207. Her
inkle, silk, twin with

346

GLOSSAR v.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Taste (verb).

Smack, Smatch.

Tatters, Shreds.

Jimrags.

Tattle (verb).

Clat.

Tattler — see Gossip.

Pickthanks, clatterer.

Tallow, a lump of.

Keech.

Tardy, belated.

Lated.

GLOSSARY,

347

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

the rubied cherry,
'Pericles," V. (Gow-

" )

er's Prologue,

All sects, all ages smack
of this vice, " Meas-
for Measure," II. ii. 5.
He hath a smack of
all neighboring lan-
guages, ''All's Well
that Ends Well," IV.
i. 18.

Pickthanks and base
newsmongers, "i Hen-
ry IV.," III. ii. 25.

I wonder that such a
Keech can, with his
very bulk, take up the
rays of the beneficial
sun, "Henry VIII.,"
I. i. 55. Did not good
wife Keech, the
butcher's wife, come
in then, " 2 Henry

IV.," II. i.

lOI.

I am so lated in the
world, that I have lost

348

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Taste — to taste of.

All— What's this bottle

all of?=What do the

contents of this bottle

taste of?

Tavern.

Smokeshop, Jerry 'Ouse.

Tea.

Tay.

Tea-kettle.

Sukey, Shookery.

Teach.

Larn.

Tear (verb).

Scag.

Tease (verb),

see Worry.

Miimmock, mammocked

GLOSSAR y

349

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

my way forever, "An-
tony and Cleopatra,"
III. ii. 3. How spurs
the lated traveler

apace,
III. iii. 6.

Macbeth,"

The use of the verb
learn for teach was
not uncommon in
Shakespeare's time.
You must not learn
me how to remember,
yAs You Like It," I.
ii. 6. They will learn
you by rote where
services were done,
''Henry V.," III. vi.
74-

O, I warrant how he

15°

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

Teeth, see Milkteeth.

Tender — see Frail.

WARWICKSHIRE.

(uncertain which) — A'
done mummicking me
= .Stop teasing me.

Sidder. Applied to
vegetables — also to an
unsafe ladder or scaf-
folding.

Termagant — see Scold.

Mankind Witch.

Tempt — see Provoke.

Urge.

Thatch (verb).

Thack — He thacked the
housen = He thatched
the houses.

Thatch (over a beehive).

Hackle.

Theirs.

Theirn.

Thick— see Stumpy.

Cob, Cop, Cobby — Cob
loaf=:A short, thick
loaf.

Thickset (person).

Dumpty.

GLOSSAR y.

351

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

mammocked it, " Co-
riolanus," I. iii. 71.

A mankind witch — hence
with her, "Winter's
Tale," II. iii. 67.

352

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Thief.

Lifter.

Thief.

Lifter.

Thankless, discourag-
ing.

Heartless — It's heartless
work getting this
ground clear of stuns.

Thin, Attenuated — see
Emaciated, Pinched.

Poor, scraily — He's as
poor as poor=iHe's
very thin.

Thirsty.

Puckfyst— The '' Puck-
fyst is a dried toad-
stool." Hence, 'A feels
Puckfyst=:I feel as
dry as a dried toad-
stool.

Thoroughly, entirely.

Thoughtless.

Gidding.

GLOSSARY.

353

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

And so old a lifter,
"Troilus and Cres-
sida," I. ii. 128.

Is he so young a man
and so old a lifter?
" Troilus and Cres-
sida," I. ii. 129.

Art thou drawn among
these heartless hinds?
"Romeo and Juliet,"
I. i. 73.

Under yon yew trees lay
theeallalong, "Romeo
and Juliet," V. iii. 3.
That is, conceal your-
selves completely un-
der those yew trees.

Of these most thought-
less and giddy-pated

354

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Thoughtless.

Gidding, giddy-pated.

Thrash — see Whip.

Warm.

Thrive (verb).

Pick up.

Thriving — see
see Prolific.

Healthy,

Kind — That cow aint
kind=:That cow does-
n't have calves.

Throb (verb).

Quop.

Thrush.

Thrusher — Whistling
thrusher = The song
thrush. Gore thrusher
=:The missel thrush.

Thrust, as with
or rapier.

a dagger

Yerk (but this word is
also sometimes used in
the sense of dash,
throw out — see Dash).

Thwart (verb).

Boffle.

GLOSSAR V.

355

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

times
Night,"

I.

' ' Twelfth
iv. 6.

Perhaps used in this
sense by chorus to Act
II. of ''Henry V.," I.
i. 19, *' O England,
what mightest thou
do, were all thy chil-
dren kind and nat-
ural."

I had thought to have
yerk'd him here under
the ribs.

356

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Timid — see Gentle.

Soft — 'Es as soft as u
empty packet==He is
a very timid person.

Tired — see Exhausted.

Sadded — I be quite sad-
ded wi' being in 'a
house — I am tired of
staying indoors.

Thus.

Athissens = in this way
=Athatuns=:in that

way.

Toad.

Tosey.

Toadstool.

Canker-blossom

Toady, to flatter.

Claw.

Toil (noun and verb).

Moil — I've been moiling
'a day = I've been toil-
ing all day.

Tolerably.

Middling or Pretty Mid-

GLOSSARY.

357

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

You canker blossom,
you thief of love,
" Midsummer Night's
Dream," II. ii. 282,

Laugh when I am merry,
and claw no man in
his humor, '^ Much
Ado about Nothing,"
I. iii. 18. Look how
he claws him, " Love's
Labor's Lost," IV. ii.

358

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

dling — We gets on
pretty middling==We
are doing tolerably
well; but see below
for opposite meaning.

Tolerably bad.

Very Middling — He is
doing very middling=
He is doing badly.
The word middling
has opposite meanings
according as it is pre-
fixed by pretty or very,
thus "pretty mid-
dling" might mean
" tolerably good."

Toll (verb)— More
actly to toll a
properly.

ex-
bell

Knoll (Noal)— Have the
bell knowled = Have it
properly tolled.

Torment or aggravate.

Tar, or terrify — 'Is
cough terrifies him —
His cough worries
him.

Tottering — see
steady.

Un-

Tickle, Wungle.

GLOSSARY.

359

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Where bells have knolled
to church, **As You
Like It, II. vii. 114;
also Ibid., line 131.
And so his knell is
knolled, ''Macbeth,"
V. vii. 54. Knolling
a departed friend, '* 2
Hen. IV," I. i. 103.

Thy head stands so tickle
on thy shoulders that

360

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Treacherous— see
ceitful.

De-

Fornicating.

Treacle.

Dirty Dan'l.

Trifle (verb).

Mummock.

Trifles, Trifling.

Fads, Small Beer— Fad
ding or Friggling.

Treasure Trove.
Tremble (verb).
Tow — Oakum.

Findliss.

Dither.

Herds — Anything made
of tow or oakum is
Herden. To herd a
boat = to calk it.

Trinkets—see Decorate. ; Bravery — She is all brav-

\ ery=She wears a great
many ribbons or trink-
ets, i. ^., much finery.

GLOSSAR V.

361

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

a milkmaid, if she be
in love, may sigh it off,
" IMeasure for Meas-
ure," I. iii. 177.

To suckle fools and
chronicle small beer,
*' Othello," II. i. 160.

Where youth and cost
and witless bravery
keeps, " Measure for
Measure," I. iii. 10.
With scarfs and fans,
and double changed
bravery, " Taming of
Shrew," IV. iii. 57.

362

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

,, WARWICKSHIRE.

Trowsers.

Strides.

Trifle (verb).

Murnmock.

Toss, or shake (as

in

Ted— He's teddin=:He's

hay-making).

tossing (or shaking up)
the hay out of the
swath. To toss a
baby in the air = to
dink the dilling or
'' reckling."

Trouble (reflexive vei

•b).

Fash — He do fash his-
selfrrHe troubles him-
self.

Trouble, to bother, (tran-

Moither— He moithers

sitive verb).

me — He troubles me.

Trouble (noun).

Cumber — The cumber I
ha' had wi' that lad's
breedin' = The trouble
or labor I have had
with that lad's rearing.

Trouble — see Darkened,

Coil — not distinctly

Blackened.

Warwickshirean.

GLOSSAR y.

2>^2>

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Let it not cumber your
better remembrance,
''Timon of Athens,"
III. vi. 52.

Here is a coil without
protestation, "Two
Gentlemen of Ve-
rona," I. ii. 99.
What a coil is there,
Dromio! ''Comedy
of Errors," III. i. 48.
All this coil is 'long
of you, " Midsummer

3^4

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Troublesome —

see Mis-

Tageous — The boy's

chievous.

tageous = The boy is
troublesome, or (per-
haps) inclined to be
vicious. Mere frolic-
someness, or innocent
mischief is expressed
by the adjectives
'* anointed " or '* un-
lucky."

Tub.

Kiver — Properly a butter
tub, the tub the butter
is worked in after be-
ing taken from the
churn.

Tuft (of grass).

Tussock.

Tumor.

Substance — Like 'ers got
substance on ers dugs
= Maybe she has a
tumor growing on her
breast.

Turf (Greensward).

Grinsard.

Turnstile.

Clap-gate.

GLOSSARY.

365

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Night's Dream," III.
ii- 339* Yonder's old
coil at home, "Much
Ado about Nothing,"
V. ii. 98.

366

GLOSSAR y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Twilight.

Blind man's holiday.

u

Unaccustomed-

-out of

Out.

practice — see

Wrong-

Uneven.

Gobby — A gobby bit 'o'
sharm = an irregular
or uneven lump of
manure.

Unfasten (as a d

oor).

Dup — Dup the door =
Open the door. Wise,
however, says the
word is used as an
order either to fasten
or unfasten a door.

Unhealthy.

Unkind — (This word
sometimes means bar-
ren, as — She died un-
kind^she died a maid
or childless).

Unknown.

Unbeknownt.

Unsteady — see
ing, Leaky.

Totter-

Tickle. Giggling.

GLOSSARY.

367

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Very good orators,
when they are out,
they will spit, ''As
You Like It," IV. i.
76.

And dupped the cham-
ber door, "Hamlet,"
IV. V. 56.

Thy head stands so
tickle on thy shoul-
ders that a milkmaid,
if she be in love, may

[6S

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR,

WARWICKSHIRE.

Useless, a good-for-
nothing person.

Dummill or Dummock.

Untidy — But more
generally as a noun,
an untidy person, a
slattern (which see).

Slommocks.

Untidy — see Slattern.

Blowsy, Udder-mucklin.
An untidy girl is a
Blowse.

Upside-down.

Arsy-versy.

Unusual.

Unaccountable (Unake-
ountable) — It's unac-
countable weather r=
It's unusual weather.

Upstart.

Whipster.

Urge — see Induce.

Kindle.

GLOSSARY

369

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

sigh it off, " Measure
for Measure," I. iii.
177. Paris is lost.
The state of Nor-
mandy stands on a
tickle point, " 2 Henry
VI.," I. i. 216.

Sweet blouse — you are
a beauteous blossom
sure, " Titus Androni-
cus," IV. ii. 72.

I am not valiant neither,
but every puny whip-
ster gets my sword,
''Othello," V. ii. 244.

Nothing remains but to

37°

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Useless.

Mufflin — I'm as mufflin as

the babe unborn^I'm

as useless as a baby.

Usher — see Forerunner,

Whiffler.

Herald, a master of

ceremonies at rural

ceremonies — who goes

before with a staff or

wand, a sort of Drum

Major.

Urine.

Stale.

Usually.

MOvSt in general

V

Vagrant.

Chop goss (probably one

who chops the gorse).

Gaubshite.

GLOSSARY.

371

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

kindle the boy thither,
''As You Like It," I.
i. 139. So used in the
Scriptures: My heart
is turned within me,
my repentings are
kindled together,

Hosea, xi. 8.

The deep mouth'd sea,

Which, like a mighty

whiffler 'fore the king.

Seems to prepare the

way, ''Henry V.,"

Chorus to Act V.

Thou didst drink the
stale of horses, and
the gilded puddle,
"Antony and Cleo-
patra," I. iv. 62.

372

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Vermin, lice in the
head.

Variance, disagreement.

Very — see Excessive,
Extremely.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Crippers.

Two Folks — Ye'll be
goin* on like two
folks = You are quar-
reling.

As, As or That — (with
the repetition of the
adjective) — It's as hot
as hot = It's very hot.
Or, I'm that bad in
my innards = I'm suf-
fering very much
internally — Martle
(Mortal). Nation —
'Ees martal good, or
'Ees nation good=He
is very good. Well, I
be 'eart well (Heart
well), but I a' the
rheumatics in me
shoolder martle bad.
These two latter may
suggest the superla-
tives, ''all creation,"
or ''tarnation" (dar-
nation) which foreign
comic papers claim is
" American."

"It sounded just like
father's gun.

Only a Nation louder! "

GLOSSAR V.

373

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

374

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

('' Yankee Doodle,"
1776.) The familiar
poxy — ({. e., plaguey)
is often used, as It's

poxy 'ot, or It's poxy
cauwld, for It's very
hot, or very cold.

Very (superlative ad-
verb).

Mortal — 'Ee the mortal
moral '0 's dad=:He is
the very image of his
father.

Vicious — see Mischie-
vous, Troublesome.

Tageous.

Victuals — see Food.

Belly-timber.

Vigorous (applied to
plants) see Hardy,
Healthy, Thriving.

Frem — Your plants do
look frem = Your
plants look hardy (or
vigorous).

W

Wag— a droll person.

Dryskin.

Wages.

Saturday nights.

GLOSSAR Y

375

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

(Very general as a super-
lative in the plays.)
So is all nature in
love mortal in folly,
''As You Like It," II.
iv. 53. I have pro-
claimed myself thy
mortal foe, " 3 Henry
v.," III. iii. 257.

176

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Wan.

•' warm in Warwick-
shire means to beat
with a stick or club.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Wanny — How wanny
her looks = How pale
(or wan or ill) she
looks.

Warm (verb)— The word Hot, Chill— I hot it = I

warmed it over the
fire. I chilled a drop
of milk = I warmed
(/. e., took the cold
off) a drop of milk.

Washing Tub.

Washing — a wetting
gotten at the wash.

Wash out (verb)
Rinse.

Wasp.

— see

Maiding-Tub.

Buck or Bucking — *' I
was out in all that
tempest last night, un
it was lucky as I'd got
this ere awd top coo-
wut on. I sh'd a got
a good Bucking else."
The wash- basket is a
Buck-basket.

Swill — I will swill it=I
will wash it out.

Waps — [This is the
almost universal word
for wasps among the
negroes of the South-
ern United States to-
day].

GLOSSARY.

377

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

She washes bucks here
at home. '* 2 Henry
VI.," IV. ii. 52.
Throw foul linen upon
him as if it were go-
ing a-bucking. "The
Merry Wives of Wind-
sor," III. iii. 140-166.

378

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

Waste (to waste time)-
see Idle, Loiter.

Waver — to show inde-
cision.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Mess, Burn daylight —
She might as lief be
at school, she's only-
messing about home
= She's only wasting
her time at home. The
phrase to burn day-
light, is frequent in
Warwickshire — in the
second person mostly.
In ''Shakespeareana,"
vol. X. , account is given
of an American slave,
said to be pure Congo,
who used the expres-
sion in such forms as,
" But, bress yo' soul,
honey, dis won't do,
we's burnin' daylight. "

Hiver-hover — To veer
as the wind = To
whiffit.

Weak — a plant or vege- Spiry.
table.

Weak-lunged (delicate
in the lungs).

Weak-minded — see
Fool.

Tisiky.
Cakey.

GLOSSARY.

379

VENUS AND ADONIS,

PLAYS.

Perhaps in this sense in
''Lear" I. i. 119: He
that makes his genera-
tion messes to gorge
his appetite. — AVe burn
daylight ; here, read,
read, read, ** Merry
Wives," II. i. 114.
Come, we burn day-
light, ho ! ** Romeo
and Juliet," I. iv. 27.

38o.

GLOSSAR V.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Weaning-bottle.

Titty-bottle.

Wearied (only in the

Forewearied.

sense of very weary —
worn out, fagged).

Weed (verb).

Paddle — Especially
when using a long,
narrow spade or
*'spud" — Paddle the
garden = Weed the
garden.

Weeds—see Fumaria.

Kecks — Thaay be kecks
==Those are weeds.

Well.

Lusty — He's as lusty as
lusty = He's perfectly
well.

Wet through — see satu-
rated.

Watched — He was
watched 1= He w^as wet
through.

Wheedle, coax.

Carney, Creep up your
sleeve.

Wheelhorse — The horse
that does most of the
work.

Tiller Thill-horse.

GLOSS A R Y.

381

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Forewearied in the
action of swift speed,
''King John," II. i.
233.

A good babe, lusty and
like to live, "Win-
ter's Tale," II. ii. 27.

Thou hast more hair on
thy chin than Dobbin
my thill horse has on
his tail, *' Merchant
of Venice," II. ii.
102.

382

GLOSSARY.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Whiff.

Wift.

Whim — see Notions.

Fad, Megrims — Hers
always as full o' her
fads =: She's always
full of whims or no-
tions. A silly or
weak-minded old man
is sometimes called a
"half-soaked gaffer."

Whine (verb).

Yammer, Wangle.

Whip — see Beat, Thrash.

Warm, Lace— I'll warm
=ye I'll beat (or thrash
or whip) ye, — I'll lace
ye, would mean the

same.

Whip handle.

Whipstock.

Whisper (verb).

Cuther.

White Clover.

Honey Stalk — [Also in
Sussex dialect.'

GLOSSARY.

383

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Malvolio's nose is no
whipstock, "Twelfth
Night," II. iii. 28.
He appears to have
practiced more with
the whipstock than
with the lance, "Peri-
cles," II. ii. 151.

Than baits to fish, or
honey stalks to sheep,
"Titus Andronicus,"
IV. iv. 91.

3^4

GLOSSAR y.

VERNACULAR.

Willo' the Wisp.
Who.

Whole of a class (noun).

Whole (adjective).

Whooping-cough.

Whore — see Bedfellow,
Strumpet.

Wicked — see Mischie-
vous, Troublesome.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Jack an' his Lantern,
Hobaday lantern.

As — There be those as
know = There are
those who know.

Boiling — Best o' the
boiling=Best of the
lot.

Clean.

Chin-cough.

Doxy. Customer. Salt.
Properly, a country
girl the mistress of
a gentleman. [Also in
several other dialects. ]
The folk saying is,
that a Doxy is one
who is neither maid,
wife, nor widow.

Tageous, Gallus — Wick-
ed or malicious jokes
are gammits.

GLOSSARY.

385

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

With heigh ! the
over the dale, *

doxy
''Win-
ter's Tale," IV. iii. 2.
I think thee now some
common customer,
"All's Well that Ends
Well," III. V. 287.
I, marry her? what, a
customer? "Othello,"
IV. i. 140. But all the
charms of love. Salt
Cleopatra, "Antony
and Cleopatra," II. i.

25.

386

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Wife.

Old 'ooman.

Willful.

Masterful.

Wild — see Prodigal.

Random — as a crop
which has grown with-
out planting.

Wild Apple— see Russet
Apple, Sour Apple.

Pomewater — (Another
species is called Apple
John. )

Willing — see Acquies-
cent.

Agreeable = I'm agree-
able to that = I am
willing to do that.

Willing (in the sense of
anxious to assist or co-
operate).

Cunning — Anybody ud
be cunning to do any-
thing for you = Any-
body would be willing
to help you.

Willingly.

Lief. Probably form of
"leave myself" or
give myself leave —
common to all familiar
speech.

Willow.

Withy — Etherings are

GLOSSAR V.

387

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Ripe as a pomewater,
*' L o V e ' s Labor's
Lost," IV. ii. 5.

388

GLOSSAR Y.

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

slips cut from willow

trees or oziers.

Wing (of a house— see
Addition, Extension,
Shed).

Lean to.

With (accompany).

Along of=Go along of
father = Go with your
father.

Withered.

Wizen.

Witless — As by birth, dis-
tinguished from Dunce
or Fool (which see).

Sorry — He's a sorry fel-
low = He*s half-witted,
or of no account.

Windpipe.

Wizzund — or Guzzle.

Windy.

Hurden — It's burden
weather = It's very
windy weather.

Woman.

Ooman.

Wood.

Ood (uod).

Wood — A piece of wood-
land, especially w^hen
small in extent.

Spinney.

Woodlands — A piece
larger in extent than
the foregoing.

Holt.

GLOSSARY.

389

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

390

GLOSS A R y.

VERNACULAR.

Woodpecker, especially
the green variety.

Wood Pigeon.

Woolen Cap.

Worn Out — see Fa-
tigued. (Applied to
Merchandise — see
Shopworn.)

Worry, as
mother
Tease.

a child
(verb) —

Its
see

Worth, Worthy— Adjec-
tive,and adverb, worth-
ily.

AVARWICKSHIRE.

Hickle (also written
Hickwall) — pronounc-
ed Eekle, — or Steek
Eekle.

Quice, sometimes Quist.

Statute Cap — The cap
worn by Act of 1571
to encourage woolen
manufacture, whence
any cap made of wool-
en, or wool-like ma-
terial. [Also in other
dialects.

.s-

Forwearied. [Also in
several other dialects.]

Mammock, put out, put
about — The child do
mummock, or fillip, me
so = The child worries
me.

Account — He bean't o*
account = He is not
worth anything. He

GLOSSARY.

391

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

Better wits have worn
plain statute caps,
Love's Labor's Lost,"
V. ii. 281.

Forwearied in this ac-
tion, " King John,"
II. i.233.

O, I warrant how he
mammocked it, ''Co-
riolanus," I. iii. 71.

392

GLOSSAR V,

VERNACULAR.

WARWICKSHIRE.

*

don't do o' any ac-
count=He doesn't act
worthily.

Worthless person — a
good-for-nothing.

Faggott.

Would — (auxiliary
verb).

Ood.

Wren — The female of
any bird.

Jenny.

Wrinkle.

Rivvel.

Wrongly, Improperly —
adjective or adverb —
see Unaccustomed.

Out of — To call a man
out of his name=rTo
call him by his wrong

name. To name him

improperly.

Y

Yard.

Pizzle.

GLOSSAR V.

393

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

I have forgot my part,
and I am out, '^ Corio-
lanus," V. iii. 41. If
I cannot recover your
niece I am a foul ways
out, '< Twelfth Night,"
II. iii. 201, Your hand
is out, '' Love's La-
bor's Lost," IV. i. 135.

A blister on his sweet
tongue that put Ar-
mado's page out of his
part, *' Love's Labor's
Lost," V. ii. 336.

You bull's pizzle, you
stockfish, ** Henry
IV.," II, iv, 271.

394

GLOSSAR y.

VERNACULAR.

Yearling — Especially of
sheep.

Yeast.

Yellowhammer.

Yes.

Yoke (for cattle).

Yoke.

Youngster.

Yonder.

You.

Young man (in sense
of beau or lover), see
Lordling.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Teg — In theplural the
word is Earrings,
though properly Ear-
rings are the very
young lambs, or lambs
just dropped.

Barm.

Grecian.

Ah— Yea.

Bow [also in several
other dialects].

Bow.

Nipper.

Yon, or Yond. [But in
all dialects.]

Thee'stit (or Thou'st it)
=:You have it, or, You
are the one.

Naabs or Knaaps. Its
she's Knaaps=It's her
young man, or beau.

GLOSSARY.

395

VENUS AND ADONIS.

PLAYS.

That all the Earlings
which were streaked
and pied, ''Merchant
of Venice," I. iii. 80.

And sometimes makes
the drink to bear no
barm, " Midsummer
Night's Dream," 1. ii.
39-

As the ox has his bow.

Like

sir.
It,'

"As You
III. iii. 80.

39^

LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

Following is a suggestive list of vernacular words
not dialectic except in the pronunciation (though
the separation from the dialectic form is not always
without difficulty), which shows that Warwickshire
pronunciation is purely arbitrary:

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Acorn.

Accun.

Across.

Acrass.

Afraid.

Af eared.

Afternoon.

Atternoon.

Against.

Agyun.

Ago.

Agoo.

Almost.

Amwust.

Always.

Allwuz.

Ankle.

Ankley or Ankler.

Apple.

Opple.

Ask.

Ex.

Askew.

Skew.

Ashes.

Esses.

Asparagus.

Sparrow grass.

Attacked.

Attacted.

Awkward.

Accud.

Beans.

Byuns.

Beat.

Byut.

Beadle.

Battel.

Because.

Acuz.

Beg.

Bag.

Belly.

Bally.

Besom.

Bizzum.

Bleat.

Blat.

Board.

Bwurd.

Boat.

Bwut.

Bone.

Bwun.

LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

397

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Both.

Bwuth.

Bottle.

Bwuttle.

Breadth.

Breuth.

Brooding.

Bruddy.

Brook.

Bruck.

Busybody.

Bessy.

Cackle.

Chackle.

Causeway.

Causey.

Cart.

Kyart.

Cavalry.

Cavaltry.

Celery.

Soldery.

Certificate.

Stivvykate.

Chair.

Cheer.

Cheap.

Chup.

Cheat.

Chut.

Children.

Chuldrum.

China.

Chaney.

Choke.

Chalk.

Churn.

Churm.

Close.

Clauss.

Clot.

Clat.

Cold.

Caowd.

Come.

Coom.

Colt.

Caowt.

Corpse.

Carpts.

Corn.

Karn.

Cornice.

Cornish.

Cord.

Kwerd.

Courting.

Kwartin'.

Cream.

Crem.

Dance.

Darnse.

Darn.

Dern.

398

LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Deadly.

Dudley.

Deal.

Dyull.

Desperate.

Despert.

Dew.

Dag.

Digest.

Disgest.

Drop.

Drap.

Duke.

Jook.

Dusty.

Dowsley.

Early.

Yarley.

Easy.

Yuzzy.

Earnest.

Yarnest.

Earth.

Yuth.

Eat.

Yut.

Enough.

Anew.

Ever.

Err.

Extra.

Exter.

Fairies.

Pharisees.

Felloes (of a wheel).

Fallies.

Few.

Faou.

Farrow.

Farry.

Feature.

Faater.

Fault.

Fawt.

Fern.

Fearn.

Fetch.

Fatch.

Field.

Fald.

Filbert.

Fill-beard.

Feet.

Fit.

Fetch.

Futch.

Fleas.

Flaes.

Flannel.

Flannin.

Floor.

Flur.

Fodder.

Fother.

LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

399

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Fought.

Fowt.

Further.

Furder.

First.

Fust.

Foot.

Fut.

Gulp.

Gallup.

Gash.

Gaish.

Gallon.

Gallund.

Glimpse,

Glinch.

Gold.

Goold.

Gleaning.

Lazin.

Grease.

Grace.

Graze.

Scrage.

Gone.

Gwun.

Gulp.

Gullup.

Game.

Gyum.

Handkerchief.

Ankitcher.

Hanker.

Onker.

Heifer.

Ayfer.

Hungry.

Ongry.

Heighth.

Eckth.

Hew.

Yaow.

Hair.

Yar.

Head.

Hud.

Heap.

Yup.

Hit.

Hot.

Horn.

Arn.

Horse.

Oss.

Is it?

Yunt it.

It.

Him.

Joist.

Jice.

400

LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Join.

Jine.

Key.

Kyoy.

Lodge.
Ladder.

Laidge.
Ladther.

Lard,

Laird.

Lash.

Laish.

Loiter.
Loin.

Layter.
Line.

Lane. )
Lean. \

Leyun.

Left.

Lafft.

Linnet.

Lennet.

Loins.

Lines.

Laugh.
Lukewarm.

Loff.
Lewwarm.

Meaning. '

Mercy.

Mischief.

Myunin'.

Mossy.
Mishtiff.

Morsel.

Mossil.

Moult.

Mult.

Mire.

Mwire.

Noise.

Nase.

Not.

Nat.

Notch.

Nutch.

Nest.

Nist — plural, Nisses.

Orchard.

Archud.

Often.

Aften.

Oil.
Ordinary.

Ayl.
Arnery.

LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

401

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Opinionated.

Opiniated.

Peas.

Pase.

Peel.

Pill.

Pole.

Paowl.

Pith.

Peth.

Pebble.

Pibble.

Pot.
Pour.

Pyut.
Power.

Point.
Prompt.

Pwynt.
Promp.

Quiet.
Quench.

Qwate.

Squinch.

Rocket.

Racket.

Reason.

Raisin.

Reckon.

Ricken.

Restive.

Rope.

Rat.

Restey.

Rop.

Rot.

Rusty.
Rubbish.

Rowsty.
Rubbidge.

Roof.

Ruff.

Soft.

Saft.

Sigh.
Sash.

Sithe.
Saish.

Salad.

Sallit.

Scholar.

Scullud.

Scratch.

Scrat.

Sinews.

Senness.

Shafts.

Shaives.

Shop.

Shap.

402

LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Short.

Shart.

Sheep.

Ship.

Shelf.

Shilf.

Slate.

Slat.

Salad.

Sallet.

Split.

Spault.

Spear.

Spiry.

Singe.

Swinge.

Suit (of clothes.)

Shoot.

Sheaf.

Shuff.

Shell.

Shull.

Shame.

Shum.

Shepherd.

Shippud.

Sheath.

Shuth.

Show.

Shond.

Swoon — Swooned.

Swound — Swounded. *

Such.

Sitch.

Seed.

Sid.

Sleep.

Slep.

Slab.

Slob.

Sniff.

Snift.

Sneeze.

Sneedge.

Spit.

Spet.

Squeal.

Squale.

Stand.

Stond.

Stem.

Stom.

Steam.

Stem.

* I swound to see thee, " Timon of Athens,'' IV. iii. 373.

What, did Caesar swound? " Julius Caesar," I. ii. 253.

How does the Queen? Shcswoundsto see them bleed," Ham-
let," V. ii. 319.

All in gore blood. I swounded at the sight, '* Romeo and
Juliet," III. ii. 56.

He swounded and fell down at it, " Julius Caesar," I. ii. 249.

LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

403

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Stream.

Strem.

Strike.

Strik.

Straddle.

Stroddle.

Stone.

Stun.

Soot.

Sut.

Singe.

Swinge.

Sort.

Swurt.

Sparrow.

Spug.

Squeeze.

Squoze.

Strap.

Stirrup.

Talents.

Talons.

Thread.

Thrid.

Trust.

Trusten.

Thorn.

Thurn.

Turnips.

Turnits.

Trowel.

Trewell.

Vetches.

Fatches.

Value.

Valley.

Violets.

Fillets.

Violets.

Firelights.

Verjuice.

Varges.

Victuals.

Fittles.

Vermin.

Varmant.

Waistcoat.

Wascut.

Wash.

Wesh.

Week.

Wick.

With.

Ooth.

Will.

Ool.

Wooden.

Ooden.

404 LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS.

WORD

PRONUNCIATION

Worry.

Yours.
Yes.

Yesterday.
Yet.

Werry.

Yourn,

Yus, or Iss, or I — i!

Istady.

It.

PART III.

HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS ENG-
LISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON.

From the foregoing it seems reasonable to
conclude that Shakespeare, in his early years,
spoke and heard spoken the Warwickshire dialect.
What did he hear and speak in his first London
life?

Certainly a very varied speech, and a very varied
pronunciation. A multiplicity of dialects from the
interior shires, added to the commercial jargon of
Frenchman, Spaniard, Dutchman, Italian, and Slav
(for Shakespeare disguises his players as ''Russians "
in ''Love's Labor's Lost," and so must either himself
have met some of that nation, or believed that some
of his audiences had). All this must have produced
a rich and picturesque ensemble. Nor does it
appear that the learned clerks, whom the very
recent dissolution of the monasteries and religious
houses had thrown on their wits for livelihood and
who flocked to London (and from whom it has been
conjectured that much of the lore and learning in
the plays may have come), spoke a much purer
speech than the rustics. Worst of all, one hundred
times worse than to-day, was the mischievous H
transposition, which had even penetrated written

405

4o6 HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

speech to the jeopardizing of documentary evidence
and of official records. It is undoubtedly to the
omitting of the first and second H in Hathaway that
we owe the necessity of going on to the end of wise
discussions as to whether Shakespeare's wife was a
Hathaway or a Whateley! (It led, as we have seen,
to the transposition of that aspirate from the end
to the beginning of the name of the Norse hero,
Amleth, who thus became, as he will always remain,
Hanilef). And H, as clipped off the end of a word —
as in the name of the youngster Moth in ''Love's
Labor's Lost," pronounced Mote, or even as elided
in the middle of a word, as nothing, pronounced
noting, and stranger than all, where it was intro-
duced into the middle of a word, as suitor, pro-
nounced shooter! — we have already considered!

How did Shakespeare himself speak? Did London
life remove the Warwickshire accent, as well as the
Warwickshire dialect, from his diction? Old Dr.
Johnson after forty-seven years of London resi-
dence, though he wrote poems, tragedies, speeches
for members of Parliament, essays, and everything
else, including dictionaries, to his last day pro-
nounced punch — pdd?itch, and great — greet,'^' as his
tongue brought these words from Litchfield. And
it were difficult to find a literary man in any age who
mixed more with life and action, from lowliest to
loftiest, than did Dr. Johnson.

* 111 Bosw(»Fth's " Life " I find it noted that Dr. Young recom-
mended that this pronunciation be given by the lexicographer in
the dictionary, but that Lord Chesterfield desired it to be given
(as it was given) as pronounced, grate.

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. A^l

Mr. Richard Grant White, whose study of the
subject in his '' Memorandums on EngUsh Pro-
nunciation in the EHzabethan Era " forms an
appendix to the concluding and twelfth volume
of his earliest edition of the plays and poems,*
remarks, " Some readers shrink from the con-
clusion to which the foregoing memorandums lead,
because of its strangeness: and, they will think,
the uncouthness of the pronunciation which
they will involve. They will imagine Hamlet
exclaiming:

" A baste that wants discoorse hof rayson
Would 'aive moorn'd longer !
O, me prophetic sowl, me hooncle !
A broken vice and 'is 'ole foonction shooting
Wit forms to 'is consayt; hand hall for noting. f "

But, admitting all these, — which the following
tabulation tends to prove, — it seems to me marvelous
that there are so few — so very few — differences
between the Shakespearean pronunciation and our
own.

Let us go at once to the plays, which Shakespeare
framed in London, after his >tratford-on-Avon-War-
wickshire dialect days were over, and when, as any
newcomer to London would, he kept his ears open
and attentive. In his thirty-four years of metro-
politan life, he touched elbows with all its varied
and panoramic life — with men of his own craft, men

* Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1861.

f " The H was probably more often dropped than at present,"
says Mr. White, and this is all he says as to the letter H.

4^8 HO IV SHAKESPEARE HEARD H/S

of the taverns, the theaters, the lawyers, physicians;
with the " learned clerks " above mentioned from
the dismantled monasteries, merchants, costers;
with courtiers and, as is claimed, with the court and
royalty itself! As these are all in the plays, Shakes-
peare must have seen them all; and as they spoke
in life, just so they speak in the plays; and, in some
form at least, we hear this very speech, formal or
familiar, stilted or convivial. And as it happens,
these plays are loaded, loaded even to tediousness,
with puns. On every occasion, from the most
trivial to the most solemn, every character, from
the oafs and the peasant in the greenwood to
old Gaunt on his deathbed, is constantly employ-
ing puns.*

In the following table I have endeavored to
include only such puns as touch upon the Shakes-
pearean pronunciation of vowels, aspirates, or
vowel sounds, or consonants, which differ from
our present pronunciation. Puns v/hich preserve
customs, or add to our information as to the charac-
ters or to our knowledge of the comparative chro-
nology, or are brilliant in repartee, are valuable for
those purposes and should be catalogued by all
means. (And I hope somebody will yet find leisure
to catalogue them. It would be, in my opinion, a

* Mr. Ellis thinks, however, that there are no puns in " Antony
and Cleopatra." The most familiar thing in the plays is given
no name in them. The pun, so exuberantly used, often to
tediousness, is never called a pun. There are "quips,"
"snatches," "double meanings," " equivocations," "crochets,"
"jests," "conceits," "quillets," but no puns, so named in the
text.

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 409

much more beneficial method of studying the plays
than the methods now so frequently recommended
to Shakespeare classes and clubs.) Neither have I
included puns which are founded on our present
idem sonans (and these are, after all, by far the
largest in number and so as perfect to our ears as if
made to-day), such as /, eye^ aye; ear, eer; too, to
two; done, dun; sun, son; so, sew; soul, sole; neer,
near; pray, prey; main, mairie; waist, waste; tale,
tail;, all, awl; bass (in music), base; you, U, eive
(which excuses us from cataloguing the tedious
pun in ten lines, '■'■ Love's Labor's Lost," V. i. 41-51);
knight, night; presents, presence; dear, deer; guilt,
gilt; council, counsel; tide, tied; fo7vl, foul; dam,
damn; medlar, meddler; capital, capital; heart, hart;
upon all of which, as upon hundreds of others, the
plays are incessantly punning. Nor yet have I
included those made upon mispronunciation of
foreign proper names, such as Seville, civil; Pucelle
(the maid of Orleans), pronounced in so many ways
by Henry the Sixth's soldiers that Talbot exclaims
*' Puzzel or Pussel, Dolphin [Dauphin) or Dog-
fish. Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horses'
heels! " and the like, which are very numerous.
Where, however, the pun on the mispronunciation
describes itself, as where the foreigner pronounces
well, veel, and Katherine says, " veal, quoth the
Dutchman, is not veal a calf.^ " it is a useful testi-
mony at least, as to the pronunciation of veal being
the same in Shakespeare's day as in ours. Such puns
as these are, of course, useful. Mr. Alexander J. Ellis
(whose monumental work, in four stout volumes, on
early English pronunciation, with special reference to

4lo HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

Shakespeare and Chaucer, published in 187 1 by the
Early English Text Society, cannot be overlooked by
any student of the subject) says he does not think we
learn much from Shakespeare's puns. This is of
course said from his standpoint of years of pro-
found study of thousands of authorities. But for
the casual reader, who desires a passing familiarity
with the matter, the puns, in my opinion, are very
helpful indeed. Of course there are other methods of
determining the Shakespearean pronunciation from
the internal evidence of the plays, such as the
rhymes, the rhythms, and the stress, but these are
exhaustively treated in the works of Ellis and
Guest, and nothing can be added to these two
authorities. Of the Elizabethan license in rhymes,
too, Shakespeare took most liberal advantage
everywhere.

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 411

WORD.

Art.

Ass.

Bairns.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Heart.

Ace.

Barns.

PUN.

I read that I profess the
art to love. And may
you prove, sir, master of
your art. When you,
sweet dear, prove mis-
tress of my heart. —
" Taming of the Shrew,"
IV. ii. 8.

The antithesis being, of
course, master of my art
with mistress of my 'art.

Now die, die, die, die, die.
No die but an ace. Less
than an ace, man ; for he
is dead — he is nothing.
With the help of a sur-
geon he might recover
and prove an ace. —
'' Midsummer Night's
Dream," V. i. 310.

Then if your husband have
stables enough, you'll see
he shall lack no bairns.
— "Much Ado about
Nothing," III. iv. 21.

(However, this may be
cloudy — as the first folio
has barnes and the sec-
ond bearnes, which leaves
us in doubt whether it be
the proper orthography
or only a typographical

412

HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

WORD.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

PUN.

error — and if so, which
is typographical error,
and which correct?)

Beat.

Bait.

A callant of boundless
tongue, who late hath
beat her husband and
now bates me. — ''Win-
ter's Tale," I. ii. 32.

Choler.

Collar.

An we be in choler we'll
draw. Ay, while you
live draw your neck out
of the collar. — ''Romeo
and Juliet," I. i. 4.

Cinque.

Sink.

Falls into the cinque pace
faster and faster until he
sinks into his grave. —
" Much Ado about Noth-
ing," II. i. 82.

Consort.

Concert.

Mercutio, thou consort'st
with Romeo. Consort?
What, doth thou make
us minstrels? — " Romeo
and Juliet," III. i.
49.

Court.

Cart.

Leave shall you have to
court her at your pleas-
ure, to cart her rather. —
" Taming of the Shrew,"

I- i. 55.

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 4^3

WORD.

PRONUNCIA-
TION,

PUN,

Dolour.

Dollar.

Comes to the entertainer —
a dollar. Dolour comes
to him indeed. — "Tem-
pest," II. i. 19.

Three thousand dolours a
year! Aye and more. —
" Measure for Measure,"
I. ii. so.

Thou shalt have as many
dolours for thy daughters
as thou canst tell in a
year. — " King Lear," II.
iv. 54.

Doubt.

Debt (det).

As to speak doubt fine.
When he should pro-
nounce debt d-e-bt, not
d-e-t. — '' Love's Labor's
Lost," V. i. 27.

Not a pun, but direct evi-
dence.

Enfran-

One

chise.

Francis.

Enfranchise thee. O marry
me to one Frances. —
'^ Love's Labor's Lost,"
in. i. 121.

(Perhaps not a pun from
which much can be
learned — the dialogue
being between Armado,
a foreigner, and Costard,
a clown.)

Fair.

Fear.

Having no fair to lose,

414

HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

WORD.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Full

Goths.

Fool.

Goats.

PUN.

you need not fear. —
''Venus and Adonis,"
1083.

The equivalent in War-
wickshire dialect to this
would be " Having no
wench to miss,' don't
pheeze yourself " (or,
perhaps, Don't mum-
mocks yourself). If the
sentence, however, should
be spoken in Warwick-
shire speech, it would be
pronounced, '' Having no
feere to lose, you need
notfaire. " So this would
appear to be valuable as
suggesting a non-War-
wickshire authorship of
the poem, since the pun
would have been impossi-
ble both derivatively
and phonetically in that
dialect.

Why, thou full dish of fool,
from Troy! — ''Troilus
and Cressida," V. i. 10.

I am a fool, and full of
poverty. — ''Love's La-
bor's Lost," V. ii. 380.

I am here with thee and
thy goats, as the most

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 4^5

WORD.

Gravity.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Grave-ity.

Holiday.

Hair
Heir

Holy day

Here (that
is, 'Ere).

PUN.

capricious poet, Ovid,
was among the Goths! —
"As You Like It," III.
iii. 7 (see Mote, post).

There is not a white hair
on your head but should
have its effect of gravity.
(Falstaff loq.) Gravy,
gravy, gravy. — " 2 Hen-
ry IV.," I. ii. 183.

Shall never see it but a
holiday. — A wicked day,
and not a holy-day. —
''King John," III. i. 82.

Where France? In her
forehead armed and re-
verted, making war a-
gainst her heir. — ''Com-
edy of Errors," III. ii.
127.

The pun is on the word
hair. Dromio is describ-
ing a downward growth
of hair on his mistress's
forehead. He has made
his description tally with
a map of the world. The
allusion is to the civil
war raging in France,
originating about the

4i6

HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

WORD.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Him.

Jupiter,

Hem.

Gibbet-er.

PUN.

year 1584-89, when
France was fighting over
the sucessorship of
Henry IV. He touches
his own forehead as if to
say "Here." (See In-
troduction to the Bank-
side Supplement Shakes-
peare, vol. xxii. p. vii.)
Probably a variety of the
second H displacement
elsewhere noted.

Well, you have heard, but
something hard of hear-
ing.— "Taming of the

1 Shrew," II. i. 184.

We have the same pronun-
ciation left now in the
words "heart, hearken,
searge, clerk (dark), ser-
geant (sargent), bread,
sheard." Beard was
probably also pro-
nounced bard in Shakes-
peare's time.

Celia. Hem them away.

Ros. I would try if I
could cry hem and have
him. — " As You Like It,"
I. iii. 19.

Shall I have justice — what
says Jupiter — O the gib-

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 4^7

WORD.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Laced.

Lief.

Lover.

Luce.

Lost.

Live.

Lubber.

Louse.

PUN.

bet-maker! — ** Titus An-
dronicus," IV. iii. 79.
(At least this passage is
hard to understand, from
its context, except as a
pun.)

I, a lost mutton, gave your
letter to her, a laced
mutton; and she, a laced
mutton, gave me, a lost
mutton, nothing for my
pains. — "Two Gentle-
men of Verona," I

1.

102.

I had as lief not be as
live to be in awe of such
a thing as myself. — "Ju-
lius Caesar," L ii. 95.

My master is become a
notable lover? I never
knew him otherwise.
Than how? A notable
lubber.—" Two Gentle-
men of Verona," II. v.

47-

May give the dozen white
luces in their coat. It is
an old coat. The dozen
white louses do become
an old coat well. It

4i8

HO IV SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

WORD.

Mary.

Married.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Marry (pro-
nounced
Mahry).

Marred.
(Mard).

PUN.

agrees well, passant. It
is a familiar beast to
man. — '* Merry Wives of
Windsor," I. i. i6.
(But otherwise, perhaps,
if Shakespeare v/as only
lampooning his old en-
emy, the Sir Thomas
Lucy, of his youth, of
whom he is alleged to
have written the bal-
lad:
**If Lucy be Lowsie, as

some volk miscall it,
Then sing Lowsie Lucy

whatever befall it.")

The constant ejaculation
spelled "marry" is, of
course, a sort of oath,
using the name of the
Virgin, but the pro-
nunciation is shown in
the puns:

A young man married
is a man that's marred.
—"All's Well that Ends

Well," II. Hi. 315.
May I quarter, coz?
You may, by marring. It
is marrying, indeed, if
he quarter it. — "Merry
Wives of Windsor," I. i.
24.

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 4^9

WORD.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Moor.

Moth.

Muddy.

More.

Mote.

PUN.

What mar
Marry, sir.
ing to mar
God made.-
Like It," II.

you then ?
I am help-
that which
-*'As You
iii. 109.

It is much that the Moor
should be more than
reason. — ''Merchant of
Venice," III. v. 44.

You found his moth, the
King your moth did see.
— "Love's Labor's Lost,"
IV. iii. 161. (This ex-
plains Arthur's speech.
—"King John," IV. i.).
O heaven were there but
a moth in yours (in the
First Folio). So in Wyc-
clif's Bible (Matthew
vi: "Were rust and
mouthe destroyeth." A
mothe or motte that
eateth clothes (Withal's
"Short Dictionary for
Young Beginners," 1568).
They are in the air like
atomi in sole, mothes in
clothes (Lodge's "Wit's
Miserie ").

Moody. 1 1 am now, sir, muddied in

420

HOH^ SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

WORD.

Nay,
neigh,
neighbor.

Nothing.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Knee,
nebour.

Note-ing.

PUN.

Fortune's mood. — "All's
Well that Ends Well,"
I. ii. 4.
(Or possibly these should
be reversed, and moody
pronounced muddy. Mr.
A. J. Ellis and Mr. R.
Grant White appear to
differ here sometimes.
But if punch v/as pro-
nounced poontch down to
Dr. Johnson's date, the
above appears to stand
as it should.)

Neighbour vocatur nebour,
neigh abbreviated 7ie. —
''Love's Labor's Lost,"
V. i. 26.

Note this before my notes.
Why, these are very cro-
chets that he speaks.
Notes, notes, forsooth,
and nothing. — " Much
Ado about Nothing," IL
iii. 60.

Mr. White thinks that per-
haps the title of this
play is itself a pun —
'' Much Ado about Noth-
ing "—and remarks, in

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 421

WORD.

Parson,

Person,
Purse.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Pierce-on,
Pierce.

Raisin.

Reason
(reezin).

PUN,

favor of this idea, that
the business of the play
is mostly eavesdropping
or noting.

No pun occurs in the plays
to indicate this pronun-
ciation exactly, but we
infer it from the word-
play, "Love's Labor's
Lost," IV. i. 85: *'God
give you good morrow,
master Parson. — Master
Parson, quasi person.
And if one should be
pierced, which is the
one?" The e is used in
the First Folio always
for a in the word then —
meaning than. (I have
thought, perhaps, be-
cause the compositors of
that date in London were
Germans.) But here the
e is not used for a. The
proper name Pierce is
pronounced almost in-
variably Purse in the
New England States of
America.

If reasons were as plenty
as blackberries, I would
give no man a reason on

422

HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

WORD.

Rome.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Room.

PUN.

compulsion. — " i Henry
IV.," II. ii. 264.

O lawful let it be

That I have room with
Rome to curse awhile.
—"King John," III. i.
180.
Now it is Rome indeed and
room enough. — "Julius
Caesar," I. ii. 155.
So fares it with this faultful
lord of Rome,
For now against him-
self he sounds this
doom.
— "Rape of Lucrece,"
line 715.
And never be forgot in
mighty Rome
The adulterate death of
Lucrece and her
groom.

— Id.^ line 1645.
(So confident are scholars
of this pronunciation that
Dyce says that one of
the proofs that Shakes-
peare did not write the
Third Part of "King
Henry VI." is that its au-
thor pronounced Rome,
Rome: that is, as we do
now.)

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 42.

WORD.

PRONUNCIA-

TION.

Salad.

Sallet.

Sheep.

Ship.

PUN.

Bishop of Winchester. Rome
shall remedy this.
Warwick. Roam thither,

then.
— '^i Henry VI.," III.
i. 52.
(And see ante, Fair, in this
table.)

Many a time, but for a
sallet, my brain-pan had
been cleft with a brown
bill . . . and now the
word *' sallet" must
serve me to feed on. —
''2 Henry VI.," IV. x.
12.

(Cade's pun is in his own
mispronunciation of sal-
ad, to resemble the word
sallet — a headpiece of
armor.)

Two hot sheeps marry
And wherefore not ships.
No sheep, sweet lamb,
unless we feed on your
lips.
— "Love's Labor's Lost,"
II. i. 220.
(A Somersetshire farmer
once asked me if I had
seen some sheep at the

424

HO IV SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

WORD.

Stoic.

Suit.
Suitor.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Stock.

Shoot.
Shooter.

PUN.

fair, but I understood
him to speak of a ship
on fire. — Ellis.)

Let's be no stoicks nor no
stocks, I pray. — "Tam-
ing of the Shrew," I. i. 31.

(See note following.)

This pronunciation, which
provokes the word-play
and equivoque in
" Love's Labor's Lost,"
IV, i. 117, et seq.j was
very old English speech,
as this play, written
prior to 1598, abundant-
ly proves. Mr. Aldis
Wright suggests that the
compositors might have
had that pronunciation,
and so, in the Quarto i of
'' Lear," set up the word
three-suited, three shew-
ted, except in Quarto 2,
where it is spelled three-
snyted, evidently mis-
printed for three-suyted.
But Mr. A. A. Adee,
who finds that the "Lear"
compositors were from
Germany, would not a-
gree to this. — The Bank-

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 425

WORD.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

PUN.

side Shakespeare, vol. x.,
Introduction. Perhaps
this is the reason that in
the First Folio we have
constantly whan for
when, than for then, then
for than, which do not
indicate pronunciation at
all. More likely the
writer wrote sheivted
when he meant to write
sew ted, which, with the
optional orthography of
the date, would have
been a proper spelling of
suited. In the " Chroni-
cle History of Henry V."
(see Bankside Shakes-
peare, where that old
play is reprinted verb. lit.
et piifict.), side is printed
shout. However, we have
ample evidence that
suitor was pronounced
shooter, and that all
sorts of equivoque, coarse
and otherwise, were made
on that circumstance,
e. g., '* There was a lady
in Spaine, who after the
decease of her father
had three sutors; and
yet neere a good Archer. "
— Lily's ** Euphues and

426

HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

WORD.

Title.

Withe.

PRONUNCIA-
TION.

Tittle.

With.

PUN.

His England," 1580, Ar-
ber Reprint, p. 293. The
pronunciation of the
word picture as pickter,
was occasion for many-
puns of the day, as pict-
u re = picked-her, etc.
Mr. Ellis mentions an
old black-letter treatise
on pronunciation, in
which the pronouncing
of ci as ash : as fashio
for facio^ is reprobated.

What shall thou exchange
for rags? Robes. For
titles, tittles. — ** Love's
Labor's Lost," IV. i. '^d.

(Doubtful, as this may be
merely alliteration.)

O well knit Samson, strong
jointed Samson. . .

Who was Samson's love,
my dear Moth?

A woman, master.

Green indeed is the color
of love, but to have a
love of that color, me-
thinks Sampson had
small reason for it. . .
He surely affected her
for her wit.

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 427

WORD.

Wode.

PUN.

It was so, sir, for she
had a green wit. —
"Love's Labor's Lost,"

I. ii. 88.

The allusion is said to be
to the green withe with
which Delilah bound
Samson. (Though there
is no mention of green
withes in Judges xvi.,
probably some certain
version of the Scrip-
ture story is referred
to.) See supra, where it
is noted that moth was
pronounced mote. See
also the word noting
in this table.

And here am I, and wode
within this wood. — ''Mid-
summer Night's Dream,"

II. i. 192.

428 HOfV SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

But the most curious testimony we have to the
peculiarities (to us) of the London pronunciation of
Shakespeare's time is in the first scene of the fifth
act of the *' Love's Labor's Lost."

My own explanation of that curious scene is as
follows:

It seems to have been established that Shakes-
peare's first literary work in London was in con-
nection with the various companies of players
(which, in order to evade the well-known law that
made strolling players, " like tinkers, rogues by
statute " took the name of some nobleman in favor
at court), and was in remodeling old ''Histories."
Meanwhile, on his own account, the young man
had tried his hand at an original play. This play
was the " Love's Labor's Lost." This play appears
to have been read to the company, and the company
determined to play it. Moreover, it seems to have
been so highly esteemed by them that, when — as it
was the custom of the court to hear a play per-
formed at holiday time by one or another favored
company of players — they were summoned to pre-
pare a piece to act before the Queen at the
Christmas festivities of 1598, they sent the manu-
script of this play to the Lord Chamberlain, as the
one which, if the Lord Chamberlain approved,
they thought would be acceptable to her Majesty.

It was, of course, imperative to submit the pro-
posed play to the Lord Chamberlain for his exami-
nation lest there should be (as the King asks
Hamlet, before he allows the Interlude in that
play to be begun) "any offense in it." It seems
that the Lord Chamberlain found none, and the

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 429

manuscript of the play was returned and the com-
pany (I suppose it was ''Lord Strange's Company ")
was ordered to prepare to perform it. We know
that it was customary that the play so selected
should be revised especially for this royal repre-
sentation, nor was it unusual for the Lord Cham-
berlain in returning the MS. to make suggestions,
which of course would have the weight of royal
commands, which would require such a revision.
In any event, the author would zealously revise
his MS. for the great event. This is how it hap-
pens that the play, which was the first of Shakes-
peare's plays ever printed, or at least the first one
which ever bore his name on its title-page, was
announced on its title-page as, ^^ A pleasant conceited
comedie called Love's Labor's Lost. As it was
presented before Her Highness this last Christmas.
Neivly corrected and augmented by W. Shakespere.
{^Imprinted at London by IV. fV. for Cuthbert Burby^

1598)''

The play, perhaps, did not include this first scene
of the fifth act. At any rate, if it were not sug-
gested by the fact of its selection, it would have
been very appropriate. For the scheme of the
titled lords and ladies, with a king and a princess at
their head, after flirting themselves out in pastoral,
proposing that the clowns and villagers, with the
parish priest and schoolmaster at their head, get up
a play for their amusement, which by the villagers
was to be taken seriously, but to the courtly audi-
ence was to afford full opportunity for gibe and ridi-
cule, was apropos of the occasion of the royal
summons. And I think that Shakespeare, who had

430 ^OIV SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

kept his ears and eyes wide open in London, had
determined to introduce an innovation, viz. : a
pleasant hit or two at the conceits of better men
than he represented Holofernes, Dull, and Sir
Nathaniel, and Armado and the rest, to be.

Accordingly, he keeps the more important and
imposing of the villagers at airing the scraps of
learning they had picked up. They quiz each other
on pronunciations; Holofernes says that Armado
speaks:

*' Dout, fine, when he should say doubt j det when
he should pronounce debt, d-e-b-t not d-e-t ; he
clepeth a calf, caiilfj neighbour vocatur neboiir;
neigh abbreviateth ne. This is abhominable which
he would call abbominable "

And so on plentifully.

Much of the pedantry and punning in this
scene loses its force by sheer exuberance; and by
becoming tedious is overlooked by those of us who
are interested in Shakespearean speech. Little
Mote (spelled Moth) is especially a nuisance as he
breaks in here to air his knowledge of the mean-
ing of the words cuckold {y^\\h. the old joke about
the horns lugged in), and wittold^ which means not
only a cuckold, but a cuckold who is a inari com-
plaisant— the bitterest insult, it would seem, which
one man in Elizabethan days could fling at
another. A child of Moth's age ought to know
nothing of these things, and he does not seem to be
justified in the allusion, either. For, if there is a
cuckold in the play, it is Costard, not Armado,
whom Moth is at that moment guying with the
word. However, let us see if we can extract some

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 431

meaning from the passage between Holofernes,
Armado, and Moth.

While Holofernes, the schoolmaster, and "Sir"
Nathaniel, the village priest (these village priests
were called Sir by courtesy, a poor and despised
lot, a sort of chartered beggars), are flinging
scraps of Latin at each other, enter Armado,
Moth, and Costard. They overhear the solemnly
ridiculous dialogue, and Moth remarks, sotto
voce, to Costard, whom he loves (as he knows
that both are rivals for the attentions of Jaque-
netta) to set up against Armado, — making him
guy the Spaniard unconsciously, and enjoying the
fun, — ''They have been at a great feast of lan-
guages and have stolen the scraps." And then
Costard says to Moth, ''I wonder thy master
hath not eaten thee for a word," and then, to
air his own scraps, he repeats the long Latin
word (since Rabelais a familiar schoolboy catch),
honorificabilitudinitatibus. There is something
appropriate and not far-fetched in Costard's intro-
ducing this long word. As who would say, ''You
are such Priscians in pronunciation — pronounce
this!"

But Armado stalks up, and Moth catches Costard
by the sleeve and whispers, "Peace! the peal be-
gins," that is, "Keep quiet and let us see the fun."

" j\Ionsieur, are you not lettered? " says Armado
to Holofernes; but, before Holofernes can find
a reply, Moth, himself, who has just told Costard
to be quiet, breaks in himself with, " Yes, he [Holo-
fernes] teaches boys the hornbook." Now the
hornbook (that is, a piece of horn in a rude frame

432 HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS

with a handle on which was written the alphabet in
capitals, the alphabet again in small letters, the
nine digits and a few hyphenated words) was always
used in village schools. And the word horn (sug-
gesting the relations as to Jaquenetta, which
Armado and Costard had unknowingly to each
other, but which Moth had guessed, assumed) gives
Moth his opportunity to air- his unsavory adult
knowledge of the covert meaning of the word
"horns." All have forgotten, if they had ever no-
ticed. Costard's attempt at joining in the pedantry
by pronouncing the long Latin word. Moth now
begins to cross-question the schoolmaster. " What
is b-a spelt backwards?" ** It is ba,'' says Holo-
fernes, and this, to the quick-witted Moth, sug-
gests a sheep. Moth then tries him on the five
vowels, but he cannot do this without the inevi-
table pun. He adds: the third of the five vowels
(which is I) is I, the speaker, the personal pro-
noun, when he, Moth, the speaker, speaks of himself,
but if you (Holofernes) are alluded to, it is U, and
therefore not the third vowel, but the fifth. And
so on laboriously, ad nauseam. The next pun is
so circumferent and involved, even for those days,
that it is tiresome to trace it. But it must be, I
suppose, disposed of.

When Holofernes stated that the first two letters
of the hornbook, a-b, spelt ba backwards, ba sug-
gested to Moth the animal which utters that sound,
viz., a sheep — only the male sheep has horns. But
this was excuse enough for Moth to work in his
joke again about a cuckold and horns on Costard
or Armado, or both, and in it goes. The rest of

ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 433

the pun is un the third vowel U, that '\^ you or — in
allusion to the sheep again — eive.

The examination has been tiresome. But as
divers occult readings of this encounter between
Moth and the schoolmaster have been labored out,
it may as well be simply disposed of. Tiresome as
it has been, the above appears to be the simplest
explanation possible, and the rules of evidence
require that the simplest explanations shall be
exhausted first.

THE END

PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS

OF

^be Sbafteepeare Society of 1Rew l^orft

tiliitiiliiiatiiiiMliiiillillllilliilililli

L Ecclesiastical Law in Hamlet : The Burial of Ophelia

R, S. Guernsey, Esq. i6mo.

Ill* Shakespeare and Alleged Spanish Prototypes

Albert R. Frey, Esq, i6mo.

V.=VL Time in the Play of Hamlet

Edward P. Vining, A. M. i6mo.

Once Used Words in Shakespeare

James D. Butler, LL. D. i6mo.

The First Shakespeare Society

J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, LL. D., F. R, S.

VIL Digesta Shakespeareana

Being a list of books, reviews, and magazine articles on
Shakespearean subjects (exclusive of editions), from 1623
to January i, 1898. Dates, authors, and publishers.

VIIL A Plea for a Reference Canon of the Plays

Alvey a. Adee, a. M. i6mo.

IX. Caliban. A Drama. By Ernest Renan

Translated by E. Vickery. Introduction by Willis
Vickery, a. M. i2mo, Bankside style.

The Bankside Shakespeare

The Tragedies, Histories, and Comedies first printed in
quarto. Quarto and folio texts paralleled in facsimile and
lines numbered and collated line by line. Twenty vol-
umes, de luxe, i2mo. Edited by Appleton Morgan, LL. D.

The Bankside Supplement

The Comedy of Errors. Edited by Appleton Morgan, LL. D.

X. A Study in the Warwickshire Dialect

With Glossary. Appleton Morgan, LL. D.

XI. A New Study of Shakespeare's Othello

Welker Given, Esq.

XIL In re Shakespeare's Legfal Acquirements

Notes by an unbeliever therein.

By William C. Devecmon, Esq., A. M.

THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS of New York Gty

Printers to the New York Shakespeare Society
P. O. Box 555 Westf ield. Union County, New Jersey

MAY iy ^^^^

Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process.
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide
Treatment Date: Feb. 2009

PreservationTechnologies

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION

111 Thomson Park Drive
Cranberry Township, PA 16066