Folk-lore of Shakespeare Part 53

[571] "Linnaean Transactions," vol. xv. p. 407; cf. Virgil's "Georgics," iii. l. 148.

_Lady-bird._ This is used in "Romeo and Juliet" (i. 3) as a term of endearment. Lady Capulet having inquired after her daughter Juliet, the Nurse replies:

"I bade her come. What, lamb! What, lady-bird!

G.o.d forbid! Where's this girl? What, Juliet!"

Mr. Staunton regards this pa.s.sage as an exquisite touch of nature. "The old nurse," he says, "in her fond garrulity, uses 'lady-bird' as a term of endearment; but, recollecting its application to a female of loose manners, checks herself-'G.o.d forbid!' her darling should prove such a one." Mr. Dyce,[572] however, considers this explanation incorrect, and gives the subjoined note: "The nurse says that she has already bid Juliet come; she then calls out, 'What, lamb! What, lady-bird!' and Juliet not yet making her appearance, she exclaims, 'G.o.d forbid! Where's this girl?' The words 'G.o.d forbid' being properly an ellipsis of 'G.o.d forbid that any accident should keep her away,' but used here merely as an expression of impatience."

[572] "Glossary," 1876, p. 238.

_Lizard._ It was a common superst.i.tion in the time of Shakespeare that lizards were venomous, a notion which probably originated in their singular form. Hence the lizard's leg was thought a suitable ingredient for the witches' caldron in "Macbeth" (iv. 1). Suffolk, in "2 Henry VI."

(iii. 2), refers to this idea:

"Their chiefest prospect murdering basilisks!

Their softest touch as smart as lizards' stings."

Again, in "3 Henry VI." (ii. 2), Queen Margaret speaks of

"venom toads, or lizards' dreadful stings."

In "Troilus and Cressida" (v. 1) it is cla.s.sed with the toad and owl.

_Moth._ This term, as Mr. Patterson remarks in his "Insects Mentioned by Shakespeare" (1841, p. 164), does not awaken many pleasing a.s.sociations.

In the minds of most people it stands for an insect either contemptible from its size and inertness, or positively obnoxious from its attacks on many articles of clothing. Thus Shakespeare, he says, employs the expression "moth" to denote something trifling or extremely minute. And in "King John" (iv. 1) we have the touching appeal of Prince Arthur to Hubert, in which, for mote, he would subst.i.tute moth:

"_Arthur._ Is there no remedy?

_Hubert._ None, but to lose your eyes.

_Arthur._ O heaven!-that there were but a mote in yours, A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wandering hair, Any annoyance in that precious sense!

Then, feeling what small things are boisterous there, Your vile intent must needs seem horrible."

See also "Henry V." (iv. 1). In these two pa.s.sages, however, the correct reading is probably "mote."[573]

[573] Nares's "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 973.

_Serpent._ A term used by our old writers to signify a serpent was "a worm," which is still found in the north of England in the same sense.

It is used several times by Shakespeare; as, for instance, in "Measure for Measure" (iii. 1), where the Duke, addressing Claudio, says:

"Thou'rt by no means valiant; For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork Of a poor worm."

This pa.s.sage also ill.u.s.trates an error very prevalent in days gone by, that the forked tongue of the serpent tribe was their instrument of offence, without any thought of the teeth or fangs, which are its real weapons.[574] Again, the "blind-worm" or "slow-worm"-a little snake with very small eyes, falsely supposed to be venomous-is spoken of in "A Midsummer-Night's Dream" (ii. 2), in that charming pa.s.sage where the fairies are represented as singing to their queen, t.i.tania:

"You spotted snakes, with double tongue, Th.o.r.n.y hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen."

[574] Cf. "Macbeth" (iii. 4):

"There the grown serpent lies: the worm, that's fled, Hath nature that in time will venom breed."

In "Macbeth" (iv. 1), among the ingredients of the witches' caldron are

"Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting."

To quote a further allusion, Shakespeare, in "Timon of Athens" (iv. 3), speaks of

"The gilded newt and eyeless venom'd worm."

Ma.s.singer employs the same term in his "Parliament of Love" (iv. 2):

"The sad father That sees his son stung by a snake to death, May, with more justice, stay his vengeful hand, And let the worm escape, than you vouchsafe him A minute to repent."[575]

[575] Worm is used for serpent or viper, in the Geneva version of the New Testament, in Acts xxvii. 4, 5.

There was an old notion that the serpent caused death without pain, a popular fancy which Shakespeare has introduced in his "Antony and Cleopatra" (v. 2):

"Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there, That kills and pains not?"

The term "worm" was also occasionally used to signify a "poor creature,"

as also was the word "snake." Thus, in the "Taming of the Shrew" (v. 2), Katharina says:

"Come, come, you froward and unable worms!

My mind hath been as big as one of yours, My heart as great, my reason, haply, more."

So, in "As You Like It" (iv. 3), Rosalind uses "snake" in the sense of reproach: "Well, go your way to her, for I see love hath made thee a tame snake."

The serpent, as the emblem of ingrat.i.tude, is alluded to by King Lear (ii. 4), who, referring to his daughter, says how she

"struck me with her tongue, Most serpent-like, upon the very heart:- All the stor'd vengeances of heaven fall On her ingrateful top!"

According to a popular belief, still credited, a poisonous bite could be cured by the blood of the viper which darted the poison. Thus, in "Richard II." (i. 1), Mowbray says:

"I am disgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled here, Pierc'd to the soul with slander's venom'd spear, The which no balm can cure, but his heart-blood Which breath'd this poison."

In Cornwall it is still believed that the dead body of a serpent, bruised on the wound it has occasioned, is an infallible remedy for its bite.[576] Hence has originated the following rhyme:

"The beauteous adder hath a sting, Yet bears a balsam too."

[576] See Hunt's "Popular Romances of the West of England,"

1871, p. 415; and Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. iii. p. 270.

The old notion that the snake, in casting off its slough, or skin, annually, is supposed to regain new vigor and fresh youth, is alluded to by King Henry ("Henry V.," iv. 1), who speaks of "casted slough and fresh legerity"-legerity meaning lightness, nimbleness. In "Twelfth Night" (ii. 5), in the letter which Malvolio finds, there is this pa.s.sage: "to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast thy humble slough and appear fresh." One of the most useful miracles which St.

Patrick is reported to have performed was his driving the venomous reptiles out of Ireland, and forbidding them to return. This tradition is probably alluded to by King Richard ("Richard II.," ii. 1):

"Now for our Irish wars: We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns, Which live like venom, where no venom else, But only they, hath privilege to live."

The way, we are told, by which the saint performed this astounding feat of his supernatural power was by means of a drum. Even spiders, too, runs the legend, were included in this summary process of excommunicating the serpent race. One of the customs, therefore, observed on St. Patrick's day, is visiting Croagh Patrick. This sacred hill is situated in the county of Mayo, and is said to have been the spot chosen by St. Patrick for banis.h.i.+ng the serpents and other noxious animals into the sea.

In "Julius Caesar" (ii. 1), where Brutus says,