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 IV.

Scene 2. Page 621.

K. Rich. Because that like a Jack, thou keep'st the stroke.

At Horsham church, in Sussex, there was a figure dressed in scarlet and gold, that struck the quarters. He was called Jack o' the clock-house. The French term for this kind of automaton is jaquemar, the etymology of which is very fanciful and uncertain.