Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners: / with Dissertations on the Clowns and Fools of Shakspeare; on a Collection of Popular Tales Entitled Gesta Romanorum; and on the English Morris dance.

by Francis Douce

ACT III.

Scene 6. Page 298.

2. Lord. If you give him not John Drum's entertainment.

The meaning of this phrase has been very well ascertained, but its origin remains to be traced. Is it a metaphor borrowed from the beating of a drum, or does it allude to the drumming a person out of a regiment? There can be no reference to a real person, because in many old writers we find both Jack and Tom Drum.