and dirtiest office in a large household was that of carrying coals for the kitchen, and that those who did so were called "blackguards;" from this servile occupation was deduced the secondary meaning of tamely submitting to an affront; and he gives satisfactory instances of the use of the phrase in both senses.

CHEVEREL. Act II., Sc. 4.

"O, here's a wit of cheverel."

Cheverel-from the French chevreuill, or roebuck, was kid leather.

COCK-A-HOOP. Act I., Sc. 5.

"You will set cock-a-hoop!"

The origin of this phrase is very doubtful. It is often used in the sense of violent excess, or hasty irritation. The generally-received opinion is, that on certain festive occasions the cock, or spigot, was taken out of the barrel and laid on the hoop, so that the ale ran out uninterruptedly, and naturally gave rise to intemperance.

COPHETUA. Act II., Sc. 1.

"When king Cophetua lov'd the beggar-maid."

There was an old ballad on this subject, of which there are several versions; one of them is given in Percy's 'Reliques.' COUSIN. Act II., Sc. 5.

"Good cousin Capulet."

Cousin is used by Shakspere, as it was by Chaucer and other old writers, as a collateral relation of any degree, or even sometimes as an intimate friend. In this play we have "Tybalt, my cousin, oh my brother's child;" and Richard the Third frequently addresses Buckingham as cousin. DIVISION. Act III., Sc. 5.

"Some say the lark makes sweet division."

Formerly in music a number of quick notes, a kind of warbling, held on one syllable, was called a division; Handel, in accordance with the fashion, has introduced divisions into many of his airs and choruses.

DUMP. Act IV., Sc. 5.

"Play me some merry dump, to comfort me."

See 'Two Gentlemen of Verona.'

EARTH. Act I., Sc. 2.

"She is the hopeful lady of my earth."

Lady of my earth is here used to express heiress, as in the French phrase fille de terre in a like sense; and see 'Richard II.,' Glossary. In Act II., Sc. 1, of this play, earth is used in the sense of the mortal part, the body,

FLECKED. Act II., Sc. 3.

"And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels." Flecked is dappled, or speckled.

HUMOROUS. Act II., Sc. 1.

"To be consorted with the humorous night."

Humorous is dewy, vaporous.

HUNTS-UP. Act III., Sc. 5.

"Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day."

Hunts-up was the name of an old song, of which the burden was, "The hunt is up, the hunt is up." Douce has reprinted the song.

I. Act III., Sc. 2.

Say thou but I."

In this passage it has been necessary to retain the old spelling of the affirmative particle ay.

"Save me a piece of marchpane."

Marchpane was a kind of sweet cake or biscuit, sometimes called almond cake; our maccaroons are diminutive marchpanes.

MARK. Act III., Sc. 2.

"God save the mark."

The mark, used by persons who could not write, was the cross; and thus mark was probably used as a slighter form of oath or ejaculation than "by the rood," another phrase formerly in common use

MEASURE. Act I., Sc. 4.

The "

"We'll measure them a measure."

measure" was the courtly dance of the days of Elizabeth, "full of state and ancientry," as Beatrice describes it in Much Ado about Nothing.'

MEW'D. Act III., Sc. 4.

"To night she's mew'd up to her heaviness."

Mew'd is a term of falconry. The mew is the place where hawks were kept.

NICE. Act III., Sc. 1.

"How nice the quarrel was."

Nice is trifling, of little import. It is used again in this play (Act V., Sc. 2) in the same sense

"The letter was not nice, but full of charge."

In 'Richard III.' (Act III., Sc. 7) it is used in a like manner.
Chaucer uses it in the sense of foolish.

PARLOUS. Act I., Sc. 3.

"A parlous knock."

Parlous is merely a corruption of perilous.

PILCHER. Act III., Sc. 1.

"Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears? Pilcher is here used for the scabbard; pilch is still used for a sort of wrapper for young children. The Anglo-Saxon pylce was a fur garment.

POOR JOHN. Act I., Sc. 1.

"Thou hadst been poor John."

Poor John was the hake, a fish nearly allied to the cod, salted and dried.

PRICK-SONG. Act II., Sc. 4.

"He fights as you sing prick-song.”

Prick-song was music pricked or noted down, so as to be read according to rule, and thus by rule would Tybalt fight.

PRINCOX. Act I., Sc. 5.

"You are a princox."

Princox, from the Latin præcox, is a forward boy, a young coxcomb.

PUMP. Act II., Sc. 4.

"Why, then is my pump well flowered."

A pump was a shoe, and we yet retain the name. The ribbons in the pump were formed into ornamental shapes, as flowers. PUTTEST UP. Act III., Sc. 3.

"Thou puttest up thy fortune and thy love." Puttest up is probably used in the sense of puttest aside.

R. Act II., Sc. 4.

"R is for the dog."

Erasmus has told us the meaning of R being called the dog's
letter: "R litera quæ in Rixando, prima est, canina voca-
tur."
The old writers formed a verb from the noise of a
dog, as in Nashe (1600), who has, "They arre and bark at
night against the moon.'

REBECK. Act IV., Sc. 5.

"What say you, Hugh Rebeck?"

The rebeck was a musical instrument, a three-stringed violin. RUSHES. Act I., Sc. 4.

"Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels."

Though carpets for the floor were known in Italy, they were not in use in England in the time of Elizabeth, whose pre

sence-chamber is described by Hentzner as being spread with hay, by which he meant rushes.

SAUCY MERCHANT. Act II., Sc. 4.

"What saucy merchant was this?"

It has been pointed out by Steevens, that merchant was used in contradistinction to gentleman, in the same way as we now use chap., which is a contraction of chapman.

SCALES. Act I., Sc. 2.

"But in that crystal scales."

Scales, a pair of scales in modern language, is used as a noun singular.

SCATH. Act I., Sc. 5.

"This trick may chance to scath you."

Scath, from the Anglo-Saxon sceath, is hurt, damage, injury. SLIP. Act II., Sc. 4.

"What counterfeit did I give you?

The slip, sir, the slip."

The slip, and the counterfeit, were alike terms for false coin. Robert Greene, in his 'Thieves Falling Out,' says, "therefore he went and got him certain slips, which are counterfeit pieces of money, being brass, and covered over with silver, which the common people call slips."

STINTED. Act I., Sc. 3.

"It stinted, and said—Ay."

Stinted is the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon standan, to stand, stop, or stay. The word is often used by our old writers, but frequently in the forms of stent, or stynt: as in Chaucer, The Knight's Tale'

"All stenten is the mourning, and the tears."

SUIT. Act I., Sc. 4.

"And then dreams he of smelling out a suit."

The courtier's solicitation at court was called a suit, he was a suitor; a process is a suit at law.

SWASHING. Act I., Sc. 1.

"Remember thy swashing blow."

See 'As You Like It.'

TEEN. Act I., Sc. 3.

"To my teen be it spoken."

Teen is sorrow, or vexation.

TORCH. Act I., Sc. 4.

"Give me a torch."

Rooms of state were formerly lighted by waxen torches borne by attendants, and thus Romeo desires to be "a candle

holder, and look on." It was not a merely servile office in England, for the torches were held by gentlemen pensioners while a play was acted before Elizabeth in King's College Chapel, Cambridge.

TOWARDS. Act I., Sc. 5.

"We have a trifling foolish banquet towards."

Towards is ready, at hand.

TYBALT. Act II., Sc. 4.

"More than prince of cats."

In the old tale of Reynard the Fox, Tybert is the name of the cat.

UNMANN'D.

Act III., Sc. 2.

"Hood my unmann'd blood."

Unmann'd is a term used in hawking. To man a hawk is to render her familiar with the falconer, and was sometimes used in the general sense of training.

PLOT AND CHARACTERS.

"Of the truth of Juliet's story, they (the Veronese) seem tenacious to a degree, insisting on the fact-giving a date (1303), and showing a tomb. It is a plain, open, and partlydecayed sarcophagus, with withered leaves in it, in a wild and desolate conventual garden, once a cemetery, now ruined to the very graves. The situation struck me as very appropriate to the legend, being blighted as their love." Byron thus described the tomb of Juliet to his friend Moore, as he saw it at the close of autumn, when withered leaves had dropped into the decayed sarcophagus, and the vines that are trailed above it had been stripped of their fruit. His letter to Moore, in which this passage occurs, is dated the 7th November. But this wild and desolate garden only struck Byron as appropriate to the legend to that simple tale of fierce hatreds and fatal loves which tradition has still preserved, amongst those who may never have read Luigi da Porto or Bandello, the Italian romancers who give the tale,