IT

CHAPTER VI.

THE BIRDS UNDER DOMESTICATION.

T would hardly be supposed that the birds under domestication could inspire much poetical feeling, or indeed that they could furnish the dramatist with much imagery. Those, however, who may entertain this view, on reading the works of Shakespeare, must admit that in his case at least they are mistaken. The Cock, the Peacock, the Turkey, the Pigeon, the Goose, the Duck and the Swan, are all noticed in their turn, and indeed, in the ordinary list of poultry, hardly a species has escaped mention. In the succeeding chapter, when treating of the game-birds, we shall notice the Pheasant, Partridge, and Quail, which are occasionally domesticated. For the present, it will be as well to confine our attention to the birds above mentioned.

"The early village cock" (Richard III. Act v. Sc. 3), "the trumpet to the morn" (Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1), is often

noticed by Shakespeare. In the prologue to the fourth act of King Henry V.

"The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,

And the third hour of drowsy morning name."

Steevens has shown that the popular notion of a phantom disappearing at cock-crow is of very ancient date. The conversation of Bernardo, Horatio, and Marcellus, on the subject of Hamlet's ghost, affords a good illustration of this:

"Bern. It was about to speak, when the cock crew!

Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing

Upon a fearful summons.

I have heard,

The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,

The extravagant

and erring spirit hies

To his confine and of the truth herein,

This present object made probation.

Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock.

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,

The bird of dawning singeth all night long :

And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;

Note here the use of the word "extravagant in its primary signification, implying, of the ghost, its wandering beyond its proper sphere.

The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallow'd and so gracious is the time."

Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1.

"Hark! hark! I hear the strain of strutting chanticleer cry cockadidle-dowe.-Tempest, Act i. Sc. 2.

Just as "cock-crow" denotes the early morning, so is "cock-shut-time" or "cock-close," expressive of the evening; although some consider that the latter phrase owes its origin to the practice of netting woodcocks at twilight, that is, shutting or enclosing them in a net.

The origin of the phrase "cock-a-hoop," which occurs in Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 5, is very doubtful: the passage is

“You'll make a mutiny among my guests!

You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man!"

Some commentators consider that this refers in some way to the boastful crowing of the cock, but we do not think that Shakespeare intended any allusion here to the game-fowl. We take it that the reference is to a cask of ale or wine, and that the phrase "to set cock-a-hoop” means to take the cock, or tap, out of the cask and set it on the hoop, thus letting all the contents escape. The man who would do such a reckless act, would be just the sort of man to whom Shakespeare refers.

The ale-house sign of "The Cock and Hoop" represents a game-fowl standing upon a hoop, but we have little doubt that the original sign was a cask flowing, with the tap laid on the top. The modern version is no doubt a corruption, just as we have "The Swan with Two Necks" for "The Swan with Two Nicks," i. e. marks on the bill to distinguish it; "The Devil and the Bag o' Nails" for "Pan and the Bacchanals;" "The Goat and Compasses" for the ancient motto "God encompasseth us;" &c., &c.*

The popular adjuration, "by cock and pye," which Shakespeare has put in the mouth of Justice Shallow, was once supposed to refer to the sacred name, and to the table of services, called "the pie;" but it is now thought to be what Hotspur termed a mere "protest of pepper gingerbread,” as innocent as Slender's, "By these gloves," or, "By this hat." In "Soliman and Perseda” (1599,) it occurs coupled with "mousefoot ;"-" By cock and pye and mousefoot." Again, in "The Plaine Man's Pathway to Heaven," by Arthur Dent (1607), we have the following dialogue :

Asunetus.-" I know a man that will never swear but by cock or py, or mousefoot. I hope you will not say these be

Apropos of ale-house signs, Shakespeare gives us the origin of “ The Bear and Ragged Staff." It is the crest of the Earls of Warwick.

"

Warwick. Now, by my father's badge, old Neville's crest,

The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff.'

Henry VI. Part II. Act v. Sc. I.

oaths. For he is as honest a man as ever brake bread. You shall not hear an oath come out of his mouth."

Theologus.—“ I do not think he is so honest a man as you make him. For it is no small sin to swear by

creatures."

The Cock and Pye (i. e. Magpie) was an ordinary alehouse sign, and may thus have become a subject for the vulgar to swear by. Douce, however, ascribes to it a less ignoble origin, and his interpretation is too ingenious to be passed over in silence:-"It will no doubt be recollected that in the days of ancient chivalry it was the practice to make solemn vows or engagements for the performance of some considerable enterprise. This ceremony was usually performed during some grand feast or entertainment, at which a roasted peacock or pheasant being served up by ladies in a dish of gold or silver, was thus presented to each knight, who then made the particular vow which he had chosen with great solemnity. When this custom had fallen into disuse, the peacock nevertheless continued to be a favourite dish, and was introduced on the table in a pie, the head, with gilded beak, being proudly elevated above the crust, and the splendid tail expanded. Other birds of less value were introduced in the same manner, and the recollection of the old peacock vows might occasion the less serious, or even burlesque, imitation of swearing not only by the bird