Chapter CLX: Act V (3)

_Turnbull-street_ (2 H. IV. iii. 2), a street in Clerkenwell, now restored to its original name of _Turnmill-street_. It was the resort of bullies, whores, _et id genus omne_.

_Two and thirty a pip out_ (T. of Sh. i. 2), _i. e_. thirty-one; the allusion being, it is said, to a game of cards called _Bone-ace_ or _Thirty-one_. A _pip_ is one of the spots on the cards.

_Utis_ (2 H. IV. ii. 4), or _Utas_, the eighth day after a festival, or Saint's-day: from _huit_, Fr. As it was a holiday, it came to signify sport, festivity, amusement in general.

_Veal._ "_Veal_, quoth the Dutchman" (L. L. L. v. 2). In Dutch _Veel_ is much, many, often. Here it seems to answer to _Much_!

_Veney_, _venew_ (M. W. i. 1, L. L. L. v. 1), an assault in fencing--from _venue_, Fr., a coming-on. It was the Italian _stoccata_.

_Vice_ (Tw. N. iv. 2), same as _Iniquity_, which see.

_Vie_ (T. Sh. ii. 1, Ant. and Cl. v. 2), to bet, lay. The noun is the French _envi_, the Spanish _envite_.

_Virginal_ (W. T. i. 2). The virginal was the first form of the pianoforte. It was rectangular, differing in this from the spinnet, the harpsichord, and grand piano. Nares, who had seen the instrument, describes it exactly. It was sometimes called a _pair of virginals_, as an organ was a _pair of organs_, in allusion probably to the set (pair) of keys.

_Wanton_ (from _wendan_, A.S., turn, change?) seems to have originally signified yielding, changeable. We have "the wanton green" (M. N. D. ii. 2), "the wanton rushes" (1 H. IV. iii. 1).

_Water-work_ (2 H. IV. ii. 1) seems to mean work done on cloth in water-colours, or distemper.

_Weaver_ (Tw. N. ii. 3, 1 H. IV. ii. 4). Weavers, from the sedentary nature of their work, seem to have been much addicted to singing, especially psalms. By the _three souls_ in the first of these passages is meant the _vegetative, sensitive_, and _reasonable_ souls, which were held to compose _the soul_.

_Weyard._ This is the way in which Shakespeare spells in Macbeth the word which in G. Douglas and Holinshed is spelt _weird_.

_Wheel_ (Ham. iv. 5), the burthen in a ballad, a translation of _rota_, probably on account of its coming round and round.

_Whiffler_ (H. V. v. Chor.), a fifer, who went first in a procession. It then came to be used of any one who went before to clear the way.

_While, whiles, whilst._ The first of these words is a noun, signifying time; the second is the adverbial genitive of it, and the third this last with a paragogic _t_. _While_ is used adverbially, like _whiles_, with an ellipsis of _in the_. It also occurs, as in the following passages, with an ellipsis of _to the_, _till the_. "The Romans had a law that every man should use shooting in peace-time, _while_ he was forty year old" (Ascham, Toxoph. p. 16). "When the conjured spirit appears, which will not be _while_ after many circumstances," etc. (K. James, Demonol.).

"I may be convey'd into your chamber. I'll lie
Under your bed _while_ midnight."
B. and F. Wit at sev. Weap. ii. 2.

"Cleanthus, if you want money to-morrow, use me,
I'll trust you _while_ your father's dead."
Mass. Old. Law, i. 1.

"Blessings may be repeated _while_ they cloy."
Waller, Ans. to Suckling.

In Lincolnshire _while_ is used at the present day for _until_. This is evidently the sense in which _whiles_ is used in Twelfth Night, iv. 3; for Macb. iii. 1 see the note.

_Whistling._ In falconry the whistle was, for the bird, the sign of starting and of returning. The term of the former was _whistle off_ (Oth. iii. 3) against the wind after game, _down_ the wind if cast off as worthless and untameable. "I have been worth the whistle" (Lear, iv. 2) seems to refer to the whistle of recall. "As a long-winged hawk, when he is first _whistled off_ the fist, mounts aloft, and for his pleasure fetcheth many a circuit in the air, still soaring higher and higher, till he come to his full _pitch_; and in the end, when the game is sprung, comes down amain, and stoops upon the sudden" (Burt. Anat. of Mel. ii. 1-3).

_Who_ (M. of Ven. ii. 7, _et alibi_). This pronoun was often used, as here, of things. Hence we still use the gen. _whose_.

_Wild-goose chase_ (R. and J. ii, 4) was something like our steeple-chase. There were only two riders; and when one got the lead, the other was obliged to follow wheresoever he went.

_Winchester goose_ (1 H. VI. i. 3, Tr. and Cr. v. 11). This is said to be a swelling caused by a disease got in the stews. The latter passage, however, might intimate that it was a denizen of them. The origin of the phrase is supposed to be the circumstance of the stews being chiefly on the Bankside, which was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester; the proximity of the river may have caused the use of the term _goose_.

_Wish_ (M. Ado, iii. 1, M. for M. iv. 3, Ant. and Cl. i. 3), advise, recommend; (T. of Sh. i. 1) to introduce.

_Wit._ This word was the same as _esprit_, Fr., and meant mental power, talent. Thus we have _wit and humour_ still in use, but with changed signification; for it meant talent and character (individuality), as we have "wit and judgment" (Oth. iv. 2); or perhaps there may be an ellipsis of _good_ with _humour_. The "five wits" (Tw. N. iv. 2) are said to be the five mental powers, "common wit [sense], imagination, fantasy, estimation [judgment], and memory" (Hawes, Bell. Pucel. ch. xxiv. _ap._ Malone). They were probably originally the five senses; but Shakespeare (Son. cxli.) clearly distinguishes them.

_With_ (T. Sh. iv. 2, Ant. and Cl. v. 2, _et alibi_), by, a sense it still bears, but not as in these places.

_World._ "Go to the world" (All's Well, i. 3), "be a woman of the world" (As Y. L. v. 3), be married, have, as it were, a place in the world.

_Worm_ (Ant. and Cl. v. 2, _et alibi_), snake, serpent, _wyrm_, A.S. Among Shakespeare's other errors in natural history seems to be that of his supposing (M. N. D. iii. 2, R. II. iii. 2) the adder to sting with its tongue. See, however, Ham. iii. 4, 3 H. VI. i. 4. Webster actually says,

"Repentance then will follow, like the sting
Plac'd in the adder's tail."
Vitt. Coromb. ii.

J. Bunyan says of himself that having seized an adder, and "stunned her with a stick, he forced open her mouth, and plucked out her _sting_ with his fingers," meaning probably her fangs.

_Yaughan_ (Ham. v. 1). This might be taken for a corruption of Vaughan; but it is the Danish and German _Johan_ (_Y_ for _J_), John. Jonson has (Ev. Man out, etc. v. 4) "a few, one _Yohan_." Shakespeare got Johan along with the other Danish names--Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, Osric.

THE END.

Printed by TAYLOR and FRANCIS, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.

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Transcriber's note:

The author's corrections on page viii have been applied on the text.

Variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained.

Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently corrected.

Corrections.

The first line indicates the original, the second the correction.

p. 27:

It was therefore written between 1697 and that date;
It was therefore written between 1597 and that date;

p. 63:

The right word, it is quite plain, is _c p_.
The right word, it is quite plain, is _cup_.

p. 395:

the incumbent of a parish; not what i now so termed.
the incumbent of a parish; not what is now so termed.

p. 186:

it it might be better to read so here also
it might be better to read so here also

p. 421:

a piece of ignorance in zoology not be wondered at
a piece of ignorance in zoology not to be wondered at

Errata.

The first line indicates the original, the second how it should read.

p. 71:

In the Anglo-Saxon the verbs made their plural in _th_, not in _n_,
In the Anglo-Saxon the verbs made their plural in _th_, not in _s_,

p. 178:

It might appear better to read _would_; but all is right.
It might appear better to read _would_; but will is right.