Folk-lore of Shakespeare Part 84

p. 791; Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. ii. p. 441.

_s...o...b..a.l.l.s._ These are alluded to in "Pericles" (iv. 6), and in the "Merry Wives of Windsor" (iii. 5).

_Span-counter._ In this boyish game one throws a counter, or piece of money, which the other wins, if he can throw another so as to hit it, or lie within a span of it. In "2 Henry VI." (iv. 2), Cade says: "Tell the king from me, that, for his father's sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose time boys went to span-counter for French crowns, I am content he shall reign." It is called in France "tapper;" and in Swift's time was played with farthings, as he calls it "span-farthing."[817]

[817] See Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," 1876, p. 491.

_Stool-ball._ This game, alluded to in the "Two n.o.ble Kinsmen" (v. 2), was formerly popular among young women, and occasionally was played by persons of both s.e.xes indiscriminately, as the following lines, from a song written by Durfey for his play of "Don Quixote," acted at Dorset Gardens, in 1694, show:[818]

"Down in a vale on a summer's day, All the lads and la.s.ses met to be merry; A match for kisses at stool-ball to play, And for cakes, and ale, and sider, and perry.

_Chorus_-Come all, great, small, short, tall, away to stool-ball."

[818] Quoted by Strutt, "Sports and Pastimes," p. 166.

Strutt informs us that this game, as played in the north, "consists in simply setting a stool upon the ground, and one of the players takes his place before it, while his antagonist, standing at a distance, tosses a ball with the intention of striking the stool; and this is the business of the former to prevent by beating it away with the hand, reckoning one to the game for every stroke of the ball; if, on the contrary, it should be missed by the hand and touch the stool, the players change places.

The conqueror is he who strikes the ball most times before it touches the stool."

_Tennis._ According to a story told by the old annalists, one of the most interesting historical events in connection with this game happened when Henry V. was meditating war against France. "The Dolphin," says Hall in his "Chronicle," "thynkyng King Henry to be given still to such plaies and lyght folies as he exercised and used before the tyme that he was exalted to the Croune, sent to hym a tunne of tennis balles to plaie with, as who saied that he had better skill of tennis than of warre." On the foundation of this incident, as told by Holinshed, Shakespeare has constructed his fine scene of the French Amba.s.sadors' audience in "Henry V." (i. 2). As soon as the first Amba.s.sador has given the Dauphin's message and insulting gift, the English king speaks thus:

"We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us; His present and your pains we thank you for: When we have match'd our rackets to these b.a.l.l.s, We will, in France, by G.o.d's grace, play a set Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.

Tell him, he hath made a match with such a wrangler That all the courts of France will be disturb'd With chases."

In "Hamlet" (ii. 1), Polonius speaks of this pastime, and alludes to "falling out at tennis." In the sixteenth century tennis-courts were common in England, and the establishment of such places was countenanced by the example of royalty. It is evident that Henry VII. was a tennis-player. In a MS. register of his expenditures, made in the thirteenth year of his reign, this entry occurs: "Item, for the king's loss at tennis, twelvepence; for the loss of b.a.l.l.s, threepence." Stow, in his "Survey of London," tells us that among the additions that King Henry VIII. made to Whitehall, were "divers fair tennis-courts, bowling-allies, and a c.o.c.k-pit." Charles II. frequently diverted himself with playing at tennis, and had a particular kind of dress made for that purpose. Pericles, when he is shipwrecked and cast upon the coast of Pentapolis, addresses himself and the three fishermen whom he chances to meet thus ("Pericles," ii. 1):

"A man whom both the waters and the wind, In that vast tennis-court, have made the ball For them to play upon, entreats you pity him."

In "Much Ado About Nothing" (iii. 2), Claudio, referring to Bened.i.c.k, says: "the old ornament of his cheek hath already stuffed tennis-b.a.l.l.s;"[819] and in "Henry V." (iii. 7), the Dauphin says his horse "bounds from the earth as if his entrails were hairs." Again, "bandy" was originally a term at tennis, to which Juliet refers in "Romeo and Juliet" (ii. 5), when speaking of her Nurse:

"Had she affections, and warm youthful blood, She'd be as swift in motion as a ball; My words would bandy her to my sweet love, And his to me."

[819] In "Love's Labour's Lost" (v. 2), the Princess speaks of "a set of wit well play'd;" upon which Mr. Singer ("Shakespeare," vol. ii. p. 263) adds that "a set is a term at tennis for a game."

Also, King Lear (i. 4) says to Oswald: "Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal?"

_Tick-tack._ This was a sort of backgammon, and is alluded to by Lucio in "Measure for Measure" (i. 2) who, referring to Claudio's unpleasant predicament, says: "I would be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at a game of tick-tack." In Weaver's "l.u.s.ty Juventus," Hipocrisye, seeing l.u.s.ty Juventus kiss Abhominable Lyuing, says:

"What a hurly burly is here!

Smicke smacke, and all thys gere!

You well [will] to _tycke take_, I fere, If thou had tyme."[820]

[820] Quoted by Dyce's "Glossary," p. 449; see Brand's "Pop.

Antiq.," 1849, vol. ii. p. 445.

"Jouer au tric-trac" is used, too, in France in a wanton sense.

_Tray-trip._ This was probably a game at cards, played with dice as well as with cards, the success in which chiefly depended upon the throwing of treys. Thus, in a satire called "Machivell's Dog" (1617):

"But, leaving cardes, lets go to dice a while, To pa.s.sage, treitrippe, hazarde, or mumchance."

In "Twelfth Night" (ii. 5). Sir Toby Belch asks: "Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip, and become thy bond-slave?" It may be remembered, too, that in "The Scornful Lady" of Beaumont and Fletcher (ii. 1), the Chaplain complains that the Butler had broken his head, and being asked the reason, says, for

"Reproving him at tra-trip, sir, for swearing."

Some are of opinion that it resembled the game of hopscotch, or Scotch-hop; but this, says Nares,[821] "seems to rest merely upon unauthorized conjecture."

[821] "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 896.

_Troll-my-dame._ The game of Troll-madam, still familiar as Bagatelle, was borrowed from the French (_Trou-madame_). One of its names was Pigeon-holes, because played on a board, at one end of which were a number of arches, like pigeon-holes, into which small b.a.l.l.s had to be bowled. In "Winter's Tale" (iv. 2), it is mentioned by Autolycus, who, in answer to the Clown, says that the manner of fellow that robbed him was one that he had "known to go about with troll-my-dames." Cotgrave declares it as "the game called Trunkes, or the Hole."

_Trump._ This was probably the _triumfo_ of the Italians, and the _triomphe_ of the French-being perhaps of equal antiquity in England with _primero_. At the latter end of the sixteenth century it was very common among the inferior cla.s.ses. There is, no doubt, a particular allusion to this game in "Antony and Cleopatra" (iv. 14), where Antony says:

"the queen- Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine; Which, whilst it was mine, had annex'd unto't A million more, now lost-she, Eros, has Pack'd cards with Caesar, and false-play'd my glory Unto an enemy's triumph."

The poet meant to say, that Cleopatra, by collusion, played the great game they were engaged in falsely, so as to sacrifice Antony's fame to that of his enemy. There is an equivoque between _trump_ and _triumph_.

The game in question bore a very strong resemblance to our modern whist-the only points of dissimilarity being that more or less than four persons might play at trump; that all the cards were not dealt out; and that the dealer had the privilege of discarding some, and taking others in from the stock. In Eliot's "Fruits for the French," 1593, it is called "a very common ale-house game in England."

_Wrestling._ Of the many allusions that are given by Shakespeare to this pastime, we may quote the phrase "to catch on the hip," made use of by Shylock in the "Merchant of Venice" (i. 3), who, speaking of Antonio, says,

"If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him"

-the meaning being, "to have at an entire advantage."[822] The expression occurs again in "Oth.e.l.lo" (ii. 1), where Iago says:

"I'll have our Michael Ca.s.sio on the hip."

[822] Dyce's "Glossary," p. 208.

Nares,[823] however, considers the phrase was derived from hunting; because, "when the animal pursued is seized upon the hip, it is finally disabled from flight."

[823] "Glossary," vol. i. p. 421.

In "As You Like It" (ii. 3), where Adam speaks of the "bonny priser of the humorous duke," Singer considers that a _priser_ was the phrase for a wrestler, a _prise_ being a term in that sport for a grappling or hold taken.

CHAPTER XVII.

DANCES.

We are indebted to Shakespeare for having bequeathed to us many interesting allusions to some of the old dances in use in his day, but which have long ago pa.s.sed into oblivion. As will be seen, these were of a very diverse character, but, as has been remarked, were well suited to the merry doings of our forefathers; and although in some cases they justly merited censure for their extravagant nature, yet the greater part of these sources of diversion were harmless. Indeed, no more pleasing picture can be imagined than that of a rustic sheep-shearing gathering in the olden times, when, the work over, the peasantry joined together in some simple dance, each one vieing with his neighbor to perform his part with as much grace as possible.

_Antic._ This was a grotesque dance. In "Macbeth" (iv. 1), the witch, perceiving how Macbeth is affected by the horrible apparitions which he has seen, says to her sisters:

"Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites, And show the best of our delights.

I'll charm the air to give a sound, While you perform your antic round."

To quote another instance, Armado, in "Love's Labour's Lost" (v. 1), says: