Folk-lore of Shakespeare

CHAPTER XV

RINGS AND PRECIOUS STONES

From a very early period, rings and precious stones have held a prominent place in the traditionary lore, customs, and superstitions of most nations. Thus, rings have been supposed “to protect from evil fascinations of every kind, against the evil eye, the influence of demons, and dangers of every possible character: though it was not simply in the rings themselves that the supposed virtues existed, but in the materials of which they were composed – in some particular precious stones that were set in them as charms or talismans, in some device or inscription on the stone, or some magical letters engraved on the circumference of the ring.”752 Rings, too, in days gone by, had a symbolical importance. Thus, it was anciently the custom for every monarch to have a ring, the temporary possession of which invested the holder with the same authority as the owner himself could exercise. Thus, in “Henry VIII.” (v. 1), we have the king’s ring given to Cranmer, and presented by him (sc. 2), as a security against the machinations of Gardiner and others of the council, who were plotting to destroy him. Thus the king says:

This custom, too, was not confined to royalty, for in “Richard II.” (ii. 2), the Duke of York gives this order to his servant:

There is an interesting relic of the same custom still kept up at Winchester College.753 When the captain of the school petitions the head-master for a holiday, and obtains it, he receives from him a ring, in token of the indulgence granted, which he wears during the holiday, and returns to the head-master when it is over. The inscription upon the ring was, formerly, “Potentiam fero, geroque.” It is now “Commendat rarior usus” (Juvenal, “Sat.” xi. 208).

Token Rings date from very early times. Edward I., in 1297, presented Margaret, his fourth daughter, with a golden pyx, in which he deposited a ring, as a token of his unfailing love.

In “Richard III.” (i. 2) when Gloster brings his hasty wooing to a conclusion, he gives the Lady Anne a ring, saying:

In “Cymbeline” (i. 1) Imogen gives Posthumus a ring when they part, and he presents her with a bracelet in exchange:

Yet he afterwards gives it up to Iachimo (ii. 4) – upon a false representation – to test his wife’s honor:

The exchange of rings, a solemn mode of private contract between lovers, we have already referred to in the chapter on Marriage, a practice alluded to in the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (ii. 2), where Julia gives Proteus a ring, saying:

and he replies:

Death’s-head rings. Rings engraved with skulls and skeletons were not necessarily mourning rings, but were also worn by persons who affected gravity; and, curious to say, by the procuresses of Elizabeth’s time. Biron, in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2), refers to “a death’s face in a ring;” and we may quote Falstaff’s words in “2 Henry IV.” (ii. 4): “Peace, good Doll! do not speak like a death’s head; do not bid me remember mine end.” We may compare the following from “The Chances” (i. 5), by Beaumont and Fletcher:

According to Mr. Fairholt, “the skull and skeleton decorations for rings first came into favor and fashion at the obsequious court of France, when Diana of Poictiers became the mistress of Henry II. At that time she was a widow, and in mourning, so black and white became fashionable colors; jewels were formed like funeral memorials; golden ornaments, shaped like coffins, holding enamelled skeletons, hung from the neck; watches, made to fit in little silver skulls, were attached to the waists of the denizens of a court that alternately indulged in profanity or piety, but who mourned for show.”754

Posy-rings were formerly much used, it having been customary to inscribe a motto or “posy” within the hoop of the betrothal ring. Thus, in the “Merchant of Venice” (v. 1), Gratiano, when asked by Portia the reason of his quarrel with Nerissa, answers:

In “As You Like It“ (iii. 2), Jaques tells Orlando, “You are full of pretty answers. Have you not been acquainted with goldsmiths’ wives, and conned them out of rings?”

Again, “Hamlet” (iii. 2) asks:

Many of our old writers allude to the posy-rings. Thus Herrick, in his “Hesperides,” says:

Henry VIII. gave Anne of Cleves a ring with the following posy: “God send me well to kepe;” a most unpropitious alliance, as the king expressed his dislike to her soon after the marriage.

Thumb-rings. These were generally broad gold rings worn on the thumb by important personages. Thus Falstaff (“1 Henry IV.” ii. 4) bragged that, in his earlier years, he had been so slender in figure as to “creep into an alderman’s thumb-ring;” and a ring thus worn – probably as more conspicuous – appears to have been considered as appropriate to the customary attire of a civic dignitary at a much later period. A character in the Lord Mayor’s Show, in 1664, is described as “habited like a grave citizen – gold girdle, and gloves hung thereon, rings on his fingers, and a seal ring on his thumb.”755 Chaucer, in his “Squire’s Tale,” says of the rider of the brazen horse who advanced into the hall, Cambuscan, that “upon his thumb he had of gold a ring.” In “Romeo and Juliet” (i. 4), Mercutio speaks of the

It has been suggested that Shakespeare, in the following passage, alludes to the annual celebration, at Venice, of the wedding of the Doge with the Adriatic, when he makes Othello say (i. 2):

This custom, it is said, was instituted by Pope Alexander III., who gave the Doge a gold ring from his own finger, in token of the victory by the Venetian fleet, at Istria, over Frederick Barbarossa, in defence of the Pope’s quarrel. When his holiness gave the ring, he desired the Doge to throw a similar ring into the sea every year on Ascension Day, in commemoration of the event.

Agate. This stone was frequently cut to represent the human form, and was occasionally worn in the hat by gallants. In “2 Henry IV.” (i. 2) Falstaff says: “I was never manned with an agate till now” – meaning, according to Johnson, “had an agate for my man,” was waited on by an agate.

Carbuncle. The supernatural lustre of this gem756 is supposed to be described in “Titus Andronicus” (ii. 3), where, speaking of the ring on the finger of Bassianus, Martius says:

In Drayton’s “Muses’ Elysium” (“Nymphal.” ix.) it is thus eulogized:

Milton, speaking of the cobra, says:

John Norton,757 an alchemist in the reign of Edward IV., wrote a poem entitled the “Ordinal,” or a manual of the chemical art. One of his projects, we are told, was a bridge of gold over the Thames, crowned with pinnacles of gold, which, being studded with carbuncles, would diffuse a blaze of light in the dark. Among the other references to it given by Shakespeare may be mentioned one in “Henry VIII.” (ii. 3), where the Princess Elizabeth is spoken of as

And Hamlet (ii. 2) uses the phrase, “With eyes like carbuncles.”

Chrysolite. This stone was supposed to possess peculiar virtues, and, according to Simon Maiolus, in his “Dierum Caniculares” (1615-19), Thetel the Jew, who wrote a book, “De Sculpturiis,” mentions one naturally in the form of a woman, which was potent against fascination of all kinds. “Othello” (v. 2) thus alludes to this stone in reference to his wife:

Pearls. The Eastern custom of powdering sovereigns at their coronation with gold-dust and seed-pearl is alluded to in “Antony and Cleopatra”758 (ii. 5):

So Milton (“Paradise Lost,” ii. 4):

Again, to swallow a pearl in a draught seems to have been common to royal and mercantile prodigality. In “Hamlet” (v. 2) the King says:

Further on Hamlet himself asks, tauntingly:

Malone, as an illustration of this custom, quotes from the second part of Heywood’s “If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody:”

In former times powdered pearls were considered invaluable for stomach complaints; and Rondeletius tells us that they were supposed to possess an exhilarating quality: “Uniones quæ a conchis, et valde cordiales sunt.”

Much mystery was, in bygone days, thought to hang over the origin of pearls, and, according to the poetic Orientals,760 “Every year, on the sixteenth day of the month Nisan, the pearl oysters rise to the sea and open their shells, in order to receive the rain which falls at that time, and the drops thus caught become pearls.” Thus, in “Richard III.” (iv. 4) the king says:

Moore, in one of his Melodies, notices this pretty notion:

Turquoise. This stone was probably more esteemed for its secret virtues than from any commercial value, the turquoise, turkise, or turkey-stone, having from a remote period been supposed to possess talismanic properties. Thus, in the “Merchant of Venice” (iii. 1), Shylock says: “It was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.” Mr. Dyce761 says that Shylock valued his turquoise, “not only as being the gift of Leah, but on account of the imaginary virtues ascribed to it: which was supposed to become pale or to brighten according as the health of the wearer was bad or good.” Thus, Ben Jonson, in “Sejanus” (i. 1), alludes to its wonderful properties:

Fenton, in his “Certain Secret Wonders of Nature” (1569), thus describes it: “The turkeys doth move when there is any evil prepared to him that weareth it.” There were numerous other magical properties ascribed to the turquoise. Thus, it was supposed to lose its color entirely at the death of its owner, but to recover it when placed upon the finger of a new and healthy possessor. It was also said that whoever wore a turquoise, so that either it or its setting touched the skin, might fall from any height, the stone attracting to itself the whole force of the blow. With the Germans, the turquoise is still the gem appropriated to the ring, the “gage d’amour,” presented by the lover on the acceptance of his suit, the permanence of its color being believed to depend upon the constancy of his affection.762

CHAPTER XVI

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Very many of the old sports and pastimes in popular use in Shakespeare’s day have long ago not only been laid aside, but, in the course of years, have become entirely forgotten. This is to be regretted, as a great number of these capital diversions were admirably suited both for in and out of doors, the simplicity which marked them being one of their distinguishing charms. That Shakespeare, too, took an interest in these good old sources of recreation, may be gathered from the frequent reference which he has made to them; his mention of some childish game even serving occasionally as an illustration in a passage characterized by its force and vigor.

Archery. In Shakespeare’s day this was a very popular diversion, and the “Knights of Prince Arthur’s Round Table” was a society of archers instituted by Henry VIII., and encouraged in the reign of Elizabeth.763 Fitzstephen, who wrote in the reign of Henry II., notices it among the summer pastimes of the London youth; and the repeated statutes, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, enforcing the use of the bow, generally ordered the leisure time upon holidays to be passed in its exercise.764 Shakespeare seems to have been intimately acquainted with the numerous terms connected with archery, many of which we find scattered throughout his plays. Thus, in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (iv. 1), Maria uses the expression, “Wide o’ the bow hand,” a term which signified a good deal to the left of the mark.

The “clout” was the nail or pin of the target, and “from the passages,” says Dyce,765 “which I happen to recollect in our early writers, I should say that the clout, or pin, stood in the centre of the inner circle of the butts, which circle, being painted white, was called the white; that, to ‘hit the white’ was a considerable feat, but that to ‘hit or cleave the clout or pin’ was a much greater one, though, no doubt, the expressions were occasionally used to signify the same thing, viz., to hit the mark.” In “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (iv. 1), Costard says of Boyet:

and, in “2 Henry IV.” (iii. 2), Shallow says of old Double: “He would have clapped i’ the clout at twelve score” – that is, he would have hit the clout at twelve-score yards. And “King Lear” (iv. 6) employs the phrase “i’ the clout, i’ the clout: hewgh!”

In “Romeo and Juliet” (ii. 4), where Mercutio relates how Romeo is “shot thorough the ear with a love-song; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt-shaft,” the metaphor, of course, is from archery.

The term “loose” was the technical one for the discharging of an arrow, and occurs in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (v. 2).

According to Capell,766 the words of Bottom, in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (i. 2), “hold, or cut bow-strings,” were a proverbial phrase, and alluded to archery. “When a party was made at butts, assurance of meeting was given in the words of that phrase, the sense of the person using them being that he would ‘hold’ or keep promise, or they might ‘cut his bow-strings,’ demolish him for an archer.” Whether, adds Dyce, “this be the true explanation of the phrase, I am unable to determine.”