Folk-lore of Shakespeare Part 34

_Ape._ In addition to Shakespeare's mention of this animal as a common term of contempt, there are several other allusions to it. There is the well-known phrase, "to lead apes in h.e.l.l," applied to old maids, mentioned in the "Taming of the Shrew" (ii. 1)-the meaning of this term not having been yet satisfactorily explained.[341] (It is further discussed in the chapter on Marriage.)

[341] See page 165.

In "2 Henry IV." (ii. 4), the word is used as a term of endearment, "Alas, poor ape, how thou sweat'st."

_a.s.s._ Beyond the proverbial use of this much ill-treated animal to denote a silly, foolish person, Shakespeare has said little about it.

In "Troilus and Cressida" (ii. 1), Thersites uses the word _a.s.sinego_, a Portuguese expression for a young a.s.s, "Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows; an a.s.sinego may tutor thee." It is used by Beaumont and Fletcher in the "Scornful Lady" (v. 4): "All this would be forsworn, and I again an a.s.sinego, as your sister left me."[342] Dyce[343] would spell the word "asinico," because it is so spelled in the old editions of Shakespeare, and is more in accordance with the Spanish word.[344] In "King Lear" (i. 4), the Fool alludes to aesop's celebrated fable of the old man and his a.s.s: "thou borest thine a.s.s on thy back o'er the dirt."

[342] Nares's "Glossary," vol. i. p. 38.

[343] "Glossary to Shakespeare," 1876, p. 20.

[344] "Asinico, a little a.s.s," Connelly's "Spanish and English Dictionary," Madrid, 4to.

_Bat._ The bat, immortalized by Shakespeare ("The Tempest," v. 1) as the "delicate Ariel's" steed-

"On the bat's back I do fly,"

-has generally been an object of superst.i.tious dread, and proved to the poet and painter a fertile source of images of gloom and terror.[345] In Scotland[346] it is still connected with witchcraft, and if, while flying, it rise and then descend again earthwards, it is a sign that the witches' hour is come-the hour in which they are supposed to have power over every human being who is not specially shielded from their influence. Thus, in "Macbeth" (iv. 1) the "wool of bat" forms an ingredient in the witches' caldron. One of its popular names is "rere-mouse," which occurs in "A Midsummer-Night's Dream" (ii. 2), where t.i.tania says:

"Some, war with rere-mice for their leathern wings, To make my small elves coats."

[345] "English Folk-Lore," p. 115; cf. "Macbeth," iii. 2.

[346] Henderson's "Folk-Lore of Northern Counties," 1879, pp.

125, 126.

This term is equivalent to the Anglo-Saxon, _hrere-mus_, from _hreran_, to stir, agitate, and so the same as the old name "flitter-mouse."[347]

The early copies spell the word _reremise_.[348] It occurs in the Wicliffite version of Leviticus xi. 19, and the plural in the form "reremees" or "rere-myis" is found in Isaiah ii. 20. At Polperro, Cornwall,[349] the village boys call it "airy-mouse," and address it in the following rhyme:

"Airy mouse, airy mouse! fly over my head, And you shall have a crust of bread; And when I brew, and when I bake, You shall have a piece of my wedding-cake."

[347] It has been speciously derived from the English word _rear_, in the sense of being able to raise itself in the air, but this is erroneous. Nares's "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 726.

[348] Aldis Wright's "Notes to A Midsummer-Night's Dream,"

1877, p. 101.

[349] "Folk-Lore Record," 1879, p. 201.

In Scotland[350] it is known as the Backe or Bakie bird. An immense deal of folk-lore has cl.u.s.tered round this curious little animal.[351]

[350] Jamieson's "Scottish Dictionary," 1879, vol. i p. 106.

[351] See Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. iii. p. 189; Harting's "Ornithology of Shakespeare," 1871, pp. 13, 14.

_Bear._ According to an old idea, the bear brings forth unformed lumps of animated flesh, and then licks them into shape-a vulgar error, referred to in "3 Henry VI." (iii. 2), where Gloster, bemoaning his deformity, says of his mother:

"She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,

To disproportion me in every part, Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp, That carries no impression like the dam."

This erroneous notion, however, was long ago confuted by Sir Thomas Browne.[352] Alexander Ross, in his "Arcana Microcosmi," nevertheless affirms that bears bring forth their young deformed and misshapen, by reason of the thick membrane in which they are wrapped, that is covered over with a mucous matter. This, he says, the dam contracts in the winter-time, by lying in hollow caves without motion, so that to the eye the cub appears like an unformed lump. The above mucilage is afterwards licked away by the dam, and the membrane broken, whereby that which before seemed to be unformed appears now in its right shape. This, he contends, is all that the ancients meant.[353] Ovid (Metamorphoses, bk. xv. l. 379) thus describes this once popular fancy:

"Nec catulus, partu quem reddidit ursa recenti, Sed male viva caro est: lambendo mater in artus Fingit, et in formam, quantam capit ipsa, reducit."

[352] "Vulgar Errors," 1852, vol. i. p. 247.

[353] See Bartholomaeus, "De Proprietate Rerum," lib. xviii. c.

112; Aristotle, "History of Animals," lib. vi. c. 31; Pliny's "Natural History," lib. viii. c. 54.

Bears, in days gone by, are reported to have been surprised by means of a mirror, which they would gaze on, affording their pursuers an opportunity of taking the surer aim. In "Julius Caesar" (ii. I), this practice is mentioned by Decius:

"unicorns may be betray'd with trees, And bears with gla.s.ses."[354]

[354] Steevens on this pa.s.sage.

Batman, "On Bartholomaeus" (1582), speaking of the bear, says, "And when he is taken he is made blinde with a bright basin, and bound with chaynes, and compelled to playe." This, however, says Mr. Aldis Wright,[355] probably refers to the actual blinding of the bear.

[355] "Notes on Julius Caesar," 1878, p. 134.

A favorite amus.e.m.e.nt with our ancestors was bear-baiting. As early as the reign of Henry II. the baiting of bears by dogs was a popular game in London,[356] while at a later period "a royal bear-ward" was an officer regularly attached to the royal household. In "2 Henry VI." (v.

1), this personage is alluded to by Clifford, who says:

"Are these thy bears? We'll bait thy bears to death, And manacle the bear-ward in their chains, If thou dar'st bring them to the baiting place."

[356] "Notices Ill.u.s.trative of the Drama and other Popular Amus.e.m.e.nts," incidentally ill.u.s.trating Shakespeare and his contemporaries, extracted from the MSS. of Leicester, by W.

Kelly, 1865, p. 152.

And again, in "Much Ado About Nothing" (ii. 1), Beatrice says, "I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bear-ward, and lead his apes into h.e.l.l." The synonymous term, "bear-herd," occurs in "Taming of the Shrew"

(Ind. scene 2), where Sly speaks of himself as "by trans.m.u.tation a bear-herd;" and in "2 Henry IV." (i. 2), Sir John Falstaff remarks how "true valor is turned bear-herd." Among the Harleian MSS.[357] is preserved the original warrant of Richard III. appointing John Brown to this office, and which recites "the diligent service he had done the king" as the ground for granting him the privilege of wandering about the country with his bears and apes, and receiving the "loving benevolence and favors of the people."[358] In the time of Queen Elizabeth bear-baiting was still a favorite pastime, being considered a fashionable entertainment for ladies of the highest rank.[359] James I.

encouraged this sport. Nichols[360] informs us that on one occasion the king, accompanied by his court, took the queen, the Princess Elizabeth, and the two young princes to the Tower to witness a fight between a lion and a bear, and by the king's command the bear (which had killed a child that had been negligently left in the bear-house) was afterwards "baited to death upon a stage in the presence of many spectators." Popular, says Mr. Kelly, as bear-baiting was in the metropolis and at court, it was equally so among all cla.s.ses of the people.[361] It is on record that at Congleton, in Cheshire, "the town-bear having died, the corporation in 1601 gave orders to sell their Bible, in order to purchase another, which was done, and the town no longer without a bear." This event is kept up in a popular rhyme:

"Congleton rare, Congleton rare, Sold the Bible to pay for a bear."

[357] No. 433. The doc.u.ment is given at length in Collier's "Annals of the Stage," vol. i. p. 35, note.

[358] Kelly's "Notices of Leicester," p. 152.

[359] Wright's "Domestic Manners," p. 304.

[360] "Progresses and Processions," vol. ii. p. 259.

[361] About 1760 it was customary to have a bear baited at the election of the mayor. Corry, "History of Liverpool," 1810, p.

93.

The same legend attaches to Clifton, a village near Rugby: