a subject for very nice distinctions either of time or place.

"SCENE L.-"He, being in love, could not see to garter his hose."

Shakspere is here speaking of the garters of his own time, but at the period to which we have confined the costume of this play, garters of great magnificence appeared round the large slashed hose, both above and below the knee. To go ungartered was the common trick of a fantastic lover, who thereby implied he was too much occupied by his passion to pay attention to his dress.

"SCENE I.-" Sir Valentine and servant."

Sir J. Hawkins says, "Here Silvia calls her lover servant, and again her gentle servant. This was the common language of ladies to their lovers at the time when Shakspere wrote." Steevens gives several examples of this. Henry James Pye, in his Comments on the Commentators,' mentions that," In the Noble Gentlemen' of Beaumont and Fletcher, the lady's gallant has no other name in the dramatis personæ than servant," and that "mistress and servant are always used for lovers in Dryden's plays." It is clear to us, however correct may be the interpretation of servant and mistress (see 'Studies,' p. 464), that Shakspere here uses the words in a much more general sense than that which expresses the relations between two lovers. At the very moment that Valentine calls Silvia mistress, he says that he has written for her a letter," some lines to one she loves,"-unto a secret nameless friend;" and what is still stronger evidence that the word "servant" had not the full meaning of lover, but meant a much more general admirer, Valentine, introducing Proteus to Silvia, says,

"Sweet lady, entertain him

To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship;" and Silvia, consenting, says to Proteus,

"Servant, you are welcome to a worthless mistress." Now, when Silvia says this, which, according to the meaning which has been attached to the words servant and mistress, would be a speech of endearment, she had accepted Valentine really as her betrothed lover, and she had been told by Valentine that Proteus

"Had come along with me, but that his mistress

Did hold his eyes lock'd in her crystal looks."

It appears, therefore, that we must sometimes receive these words in a very vague sense, and regard them as titles of courtesy, derived, perhaps, from the chivalric times, when many a harness'd knight and sportive troubadour described the lady whom they had gazed upon in the tilt-yard as their "mistress," and the same lady looked upon each of the gallant train as a "servant" dedicated to the defence of her honour, or the praise of her beauty.

14 SCENE II.-"Why, then, we 'll make exchange." The priest in 'Twelfth Night' (Act V. Sc. 1,) describes the ceremonial of betrothing:

"A contract of eternal bond of love,

Confirm'd by mutual joinder of your hands, Attested by the holy close of lips, Strengthen'd by interchangement of your rings." This contract was made, in private, by Proteus and Julia; and it was also made by Valentine and Silvia-"We are betroth'd."

15 SCENE III." This left shoe."

A passage in King John also shows that each foot was formerly fitted with its shoe, a fashion of unquestionable utility, which has been revived in recent times:

"Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet."

16 SCENE IV." My jerkin is a doublet." The jerkin, or jacket, was generally worn over the doublet; but occasionally the doublet was worn alone, and, in many instances, is confounded with the jerkin. Either had sleeves or not, as the wearer fancied; for by the inventories and wardrobe accounts of the time, we find that the sleeves were frequently separate articles of dress, and attached to the doublet, jerkin, coat, or even woman's gown, by laces or ribbons, at the pleasure of the wearer. Α "doblet jaquet" and hose of blue velvet, cut upon cloth of gold, embroidered, and a "doublet hose and jaquet" of purple velvet, embroi

dered, and cut upon cloth of gold, and lined with black satin, are entries in an inventory of the wardrobe of Henry VIII.

In 1535, a jerkin of purple velvet, with purple satin sleeves, embroidered all over with Venice gold, was presented to the king by Sir Richard Cromwell; and another jerkin of crimson velvet, with wide sleeves of the same coloured satin, is mentioned in the same inventory.

17 SCENE VII.

"The table wherein all my thoughts

Are visibly character'd."

The allusion is to the table-book, or tables, which were used, as at present, for noting down

"And, therefore, will he wipe his tables clean." The table-book of slate is engraved and described in Gesner's treatise, De Rerum Fossilium Figuris, 1565; and it has been copied in Douce's Illustrations.

18 SCENE VII.-"A true devoted pilgrim." The comparison which Julia makes between the ardour of her passion, and the enthusiasm of the pilgrim, is exceedingly beautiful. When travelling was a business of considerable danger and personal suffering, the pilgrim who was not weary

"To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps," to encounter the perils of a journey to Rome, or Loretto, or Compostella, or Jerusalem, was a person to be looked upon as thoroughly in earnest. In the time of Shakspere the pilgrimages to the tomb of St. Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury, which Chaucer has rendered immortal, were discontinued; and few, perhaps, undertook the sea voyage to Jerusalem. But the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James, or St. Jago, the patron-saint of Spain, at Compostella, was undertaken by all classes of Catholics. The house of our Lady at Loretto was, however, the great object of the devotee's vows; and, at particular seasons, there were not fewer than two

STEEVENS explains the noun aim as meaning guess. But aim also signifies purpose, intention. The Duke feared that his "jealous aim," -his purpose-to forbid Valentine his court might "disgrace the man."-Aimed at is also stated, both by Steevens and Johnson, to mean to guess. The common interpretation of aim, to point at, to level at,-will, however, give the meaning of the passage quite as well. At first sight it might appear that the word aim, which, literally or metaphorically, is ordinarily taken to mean the act of looking towards a definite object with a precise intention, cannot include the random determination of the mind which we imply by the word guess. But we must go a little further. The etymology of both words

is somewhat doubtful. Aim is supposed to be derived from æstimare, to weigh attentively; guess, from the Anglo-Saxon wiss-an, wis, to think (see Richardson's Dictionary). Here the separate meanings of the two words almost slide into one and the same. It is certain that in the original and literal use of the word aim, in archery, was meant the act of the mind in considering the various circumstances connected with the flight of the arrow, rather than the mere operation of the sense in pointing at the mark. When Locksley, in 'Ivanhoe,' tells his adversary, "You have not allowed for the wind, Hubert, or that would have been a better shot," he furnishes Hubert with a new element of calculation for his next aim. There is a passage of Bishop Jewell: "He that seeth no mark must shoot by aim." This certainly does not mean must shoot at random-although it may mean

-as

must shoot by guess,-must shoot by calculation. To give aim, in archery, was the business of one who stood within view of the butts, to call out how near the arrows fell to the mark,"Wide on the bow hand;-wide on the shafthand;-short;-gone." To give aim was, therefore, to give the knowledge of a fact, by which the intention, the aim, of the archer might be better regulated in future. In the fifth Act (4th scene) of this comedy, the passage

"Behold her, that gave aim to all thy oaths," has reference to the aim-giver of the butts.

"SCENE I.-" Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love."

The lady of the sixteenth century had a small pocket in the front of her stays, in which she carried her letters, and other matters which she valued. In the verses which Valentine has ad¡ dressed to Silvia, he says,

"My herald thoughts in thy pu

som rest them."

In 'Hamlet' we have the same allusion:

"In her excellent white bosom, these."

! A passage in Lord Surrey's Sonnets conveys the same idea, which occurs also in Chaucer's Merchant's Tale:

"This purse hath she in her bosom hid."

21 SCENE I.-"St. Nicholas be thy speed." When Speed is about to read Launce's paper, Launce, who has previously said, "Thou canst not read," invokes St. Nicholas to assist him. Saint Nicholas was the patron saint of scholars. There is a story in Douce how the saint attained this distinction, by discovering that a wicked host had murdered three scholars on their way to school, and by his prayers restored their souls to their bodies. This legend is told in 'The Life of St. Nicholas,' composed in French verse by Maitre Wace, chaplain to Henry II., and which remains in manuscript. By the Statutes of St. Paul's School, the scholars are required to attend divine service at the cathedral on the anniversary of this saint. The parish clerks of London were incorporated into a guild, with St. Nicholas for their patron. These worthy persons were, probably, at the period of their incorporation, more worthy of the name of clerks (scholars) than we have been wont in modern times to consider. But why are thieves called St. Nicholas' clerks in 'Henry IV.?' Warburton says, by a quibble between Nicholas and old Nick. This we doubt. Scholars appear, from the ancient statutes against vagrancy, to have been great travellers about the country. These

statutes generally recognise the right of poor scholars to beg; but they were also liable to the penalties of the gaol and the stocks, unless they could produce letters testimonial from the chancellor of their respective universities. It is not unlikely that in the journeys of these hundreds of poor scholars they should have occasionally "taken a purse" as well as begged "an almesse," and that some of "St. Nicholas's clerks" should have become as celebrated for the same accomplishments which distinguished Bardolph and Peto at Gadshill, as for the learned poverty which entitled them to travel with a chancellor's licence.

22 SCENE I." The cover of the salt hides the salt."

The large salt-cellar of the dinner-table was a massive piece of plate, with a cover equally substantial. There was only one salt-cellar on the board, which was placed near the top of the table; and the distinction of those who sat above and below the salt was universally recognised. The following representation of a saltcellar, a, with its cover, b, presented to Queen Elizabeth, is from 'Nichols's Progresses.'

24 SCENE I.-" Robin Hood's fat friar." The jolly Friar Tuck of the old Robin Hood ballads the almost equally famous Friar Tuck of 'Ivanhoe'-is the personage whom the outlaws here invoke. It is unnecessary for us to enter upon the legends

"Of Tuck, the merry friar, which many a sermon made, In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws, and his trade," as Drayton has it. It may be sufficient to give a representation of his "bare scalp." The following illustration is copied, with a little improvement in the drawing, from the Friar in Mr. Tollett's painted window, representing the celebration of May-day.

Shakspere has two other allusions to Robin Hood. The old duke, in 'As You Like It,' "is already in the forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him, and there they live, like the old Robin Hood of England." Master Silence, that "merry heart," that "man of mettle," sings, "in the sweet of the night," of

"Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John."

The honourable conditions of Robin's lawless rule over his followers were evidently in our poet's mind when he makes Valentine say

"I take your offer, and will live with you;
Provided that you do no outrages

On silly women, or poor passengers."

25 SCENE II.-" He loved her out of all nick." His love was beyond all reckoning. The nick was the notch upon the tally-stick, by which accounts were kept. An inn-keeper, in a play

before Shakspere's time-'A Woman never Vexed,' says

"I have carried

The tallies at my girdle seven years together,

For I did ever love to deal honestly in the nick." These primitive day-books and ledgers were equally adapted to an alehouse score and a nation's revenue; for, as our readers know, they continued to be used in the English Exchequer till within a recent period.

26 SCENE II." At St. Gregory's well." This is, as far as we know, the only instance in which holy wells are mentioned by Shakspere. The popular belief in the virtues of these sainted wells must have been familiar to him. Saint Gregory's well, the place where Proteus and Thurio were to meet, might have been found in some description of Italian and other cities, which Shakspere had read; for these wells were often contained within splendid buildings, raised by some devotee to protect the sacred fount from which, he believed, he had derived inestimable advantage. Such was the well of Saint Winifred at Holywell, in Flintshire. This remarkable fountain throws up eighty-four hogsheads every minute, which volume of water forms a considerable stream. The well is enclosed within a beautiful Gothic temple, erected by the mother of Henry VII. The following engraving represents this rich and elegant building.

SCENE IV." He steps me to her trencher."

That the daughter of a Duke of Milan should eat her capon from a trencher may appear somewhat strange. It may be noted, however, that the fifth Earl of Northumberland, in 1512, was ordinarily served on wooden trenchers, and that plates of pewter, mean as we may now think them, were reserved in his family for great holidays. The Northumberland Household Book,' edited by Bishop Percy, furnishes several entries which establish this. In the privy-purse expenses of Henry VIII. there are also entries regarding trenchers; as, for example, in 1530,: "Item, paied to the s'geant of the pantrye for certen trenchors for the king, xxiijs. iiijd."

8 SCENE IV.-"I have sat in the stocks."

Launce speaks familiarly of an object that was the terror of vagabonds in every English village, -the "Ancient Castle" of Hudibras,-the

"Dungeon scarce three inches wide;
With roof so low, that under it

They never stand, but lie or sit;
And yet so foul, that whoso is in,
Is to the middle leg in prison."

Civilisation has banished the stocks, with many other relics of a barbarous age. The following representation, which is taken from Fox's 'Acts and Monuments,' and there professes to depict "the straight handling of close prisoners in Lollards' tower," may contribute to preserve the remembrance of this renowned "Fabric."

SCENE IV.-" I have stood on the pillory." The pillory is also abolished in all ordinary cases, and perhaps public opinion will prevent it being ever again used. Our ancestors were ingenious in the varieties of form in which they

31 SCENE IV." Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow."

Capell says the colour of the hair marks this play as of the period of Elizabeth. The auburn, or yellow, of the queen's hair made that colour beautiful.

32 SCENE IV." A colour'd periwig."

No word has puzzled etymologists more than periwig. It has been referred to a Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and northern origin, and, perhaps, with equal want of success. It is the same word as perwick, periwicke, and peruke. Whiter, in his very curious Etymological Dictionary,'