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 248.

Ham. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body.

Hamlet's riddle seems still unresolved. Can this be its meaning? Instead of giving a direct answer to the inquiry after the body of Polonius, he seizes the opportunity of venting his sarcasm against the king, by saying that the body, i. e. the external appearance or person of the monarch, is with his uncle; but that the real and lawful king is not in that body.

Scene 5. Page 262.

Oph. To be your Valentine.

The custom of choosing Valentines is of very long standing, and, like many others of a popular nature, is no more than a corruption of something similar that had prevailed in the times of paganism. It was the practice in ancient Rome, during a great part of the month of February, to celebrate the Lupercalia, which were feasts in honour of Pan and Juno, whence the latter deity was named februata, februalis, and februlla. On this occasion, amidst a variety of ceremonies, the names of young women were put into a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. The pastors of the early Christian church, who by every possible means endeavoured to eradicate the vestiges of Pagan superstitions, and chiefly by some commutation of their forms, substituted, in the present instance, the names of particular saints, instead of those of the women: and as the festival of the Lupercalia had commenced about the middle of February, they appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's day for celebrating the new feast; because it occurred nearly at the same time. This is, in part, the opinion of a learned and rational compiler of the lives of the saints, the Reverend Alban Butler. It should seem, however, that it was utterly impossible to extirpate altogether any ceremony to which the common people had been much accustomed; a fact which it were easy to prove in tracing the origin of various other popular superstitions: and accordingly the outline of the ancient ceremonies was preserved, but modified by some adaptation to the Christian system. It is reasonable to suppose that the above practice of choosing mates would gradually become reciprocal in the sexes; and that all persons so chosen would be called Valentines, from the day on which the ceremony took place. There is another opinion on the origin of choosing Valentines, which has been formed on a tradition among the common people, that at the above season of the year birds choose their mates, a circumstance that is frequently alluded to by poets, and particularly by Chaucer; yet this seems to be a mere poetical idea, borrowed in all probability from the practice in question. Again, it has been supposed that the custom originated in the following manner: During carnival time, which usually happens about Saint Valentine's day, great numbers of knights assembled together in the various courts of Europe to entertain the ladies with feasts and tournaments, when each lady made choice of a knight who usually enlisted in her service for a whole year, during which period he bound himself to perform, at the instance of his mistress, whatever was consistent with propriety. One employment was the writing verses full of tenderness; not that it was requisite for the heart to be at all concerned in the matter. A little reflection, however, may serve to show that even this practice is only derivative from the older one.

It is presumed that the earliest specimens remaining of poetical Valentines are those preserved in the works of Charles duke of Orleans, a prince of high accomplishments, and the father of Louis the Twelfth of France. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and remained a captive in this country twenty-five years, during which time he wrote several thousand lines of poetry, a few of them in English. Many of these poems are written on Saint Valentine's day, and in some of them his mistress is called his Valentine. In the Royal library of manuscripts, now in the British museum, there is a magnificent volume containing probably all that the duke wrote whilst in England. It belonged to King Henry the Seventh, for whom it had been copied from some older manuscript, and is beautifully illuminated. In one of the paintings the duke is represented in the White tower sitting at a writing table with guards attending him. In another part of it he is looking out of a window; and in a third he is going out of the tower to meet some person who has just alighted from his horse. At a distance is London bridge with the houses on it, and the curious chapel, all very distinct, and probably faithful copies. Besides the above work, this fine manuscript contains some compositions by the celebrated Eloisa, and other matters of less consequence.

In one of the duke's poems, he feigns that on Saint Valentine's day Youth appears to him with an invitation to the temple of love. On the same day he devotes himself to the service of several ladies, according to what he states to have been the custom in England. The following extracts from some of his poems are given, as containing allusions to the subject immediately before us:

"A ce jour de Saint Valentin
Que chascun doit choisir son per,
Amours demourrai-je non per
Sans partir à vostre butin?
A mon reveillier au matin
Je n'y ay cessè de penser
A ce jour de saint Valentin."

It appears from the following songs, that when Ash Wednesday happened to fall on Saint Valentine's day, the knights and their ladies assembled only in the afternoon, the morning being necessarily devoted to pious purposes.

"Saint Valentin quant vous venez
En caresme au commencement,
Receu ne serez vrayement
Ainsi que accoustumè avez

Saint Valentin dit, veez me ça,
Et apporte pers a choysir:
Viegne qui y devra venir,
C'est la coustume de pieça.
Quand le jour des cendres, hola,
Respond, auquel doit-on faillir?
Saint Valentin dit, veez me ça,
Et apporte pers à choysir.
Au fort au matin convendra
En devotion se tenir,
Et après disner à loysir,
Choysisse qui choisir vouldra;
Saint Valentin dit, veez me ça,
Et apporte pers à choysir."

Another French Valentine, composed by John Gower, is quoted by Mr. Warton in his History of English poetry, add. to vol. ii. p. 31, from a manuscript in the library of Lord Gower. In this the poet tells his mistress that in choosing her he had followed the example of the birds.

Madame Royale, the daughter of Henry the Fourth of France, built a palace near Turin which was called the Valentine, on account of the great veneration in which the saint was held in that country. At the first entertainment given there by the princess, who was naturally of a gallant disposition, she directed that the ladies should choose their lovers for the year by lots. The only difference with respect to herself was, that she should be at liberty to fix on her own partner. At every ball during the year each lady received from her gallant a nosegay; and at every tournament the lady furnished his horse's trappings, the prize obtained being hers. From this circumstance Monsieur Menage, to whom we are indebted for the above information, infers that in Piedmont, the parties were called Valentines; but the learned writer was not aware of the circumstances already stated, nor of the antiquity of the custom in his own country. See Menage Dict. étymologique, art. Valentin.

In an old English ballad the lasses are directed to pray cross-legged to Saint Valentine, for good luck. For the modern ceremonies on choosing, Valentines, the reader may consult Brand's Popular antiquities, and No. 56 of The connoisseur.

Scene 5. Page 263.

Oph. Let in the maid, that out a maid,
Never departed more.

In an Album that belonged in 1598 to a Dutch lady named Theodora Van Wassenaer, there is the following pretty French ballad addressed to her. The conclusion resembles the above lines in Ophelia's song:

"Au jardin de mon pere
Un oranger il y a,
Qui est si chargè d'orenges
Je croy qu'il en rompra.
Mignone tant je vous ayme,
Mais vous ne m'aymez pas.

Elle demanda à son pere
Quand on le cueillera,
Ma fille, ma fille,
Quand la saison viendra.
Mignone, &c.

La saison est venue
Le cueillerons nous pas?
Elle prend une echelle,
Un panier à son bras.
Mignone, &c.

Elle cueillit les plus meures,
Les verds elle y laissa;
Elle les alloit porter vendre
Au marcher de Damas.
Mignone, &c.

En son chemin rencontroit
Le fils d'un avocat;
Que portez vous la belle
Dans ce panier couvert?
Mignone, &c.

Monsieur ce sont des orenges
Ne vous en plait-il pas?
Il en prend une couple,
Dans son sein il les metta.
Mignone, &c.

Venez vous en la belle,
On vous les payera;
Elle y entra pucelle
Grossette elle en sorta.
Mignone tant je vous ayme,
Mais vous ne m'aymez pas."

Scene 5. Page 263.

Oph. By Gis, and by Saint Charity.

The frequent occurrence of this adjuration sufficiently proves that Dr. Johnson's proposed change to Cis is unnecessary; nor indeed would the name of Saint Cecilia be proper to swear by. Mr. Ritson's Gislen, an obscure Irish saint, is equally out of the question. In the interlude of Mary Magdelain, she is made to say,

"Nay by Gis, twentie shillings I dare holde
That there is not a gentlewoman in this land
More propre than I in the waste, I dare be bolde."

In Promos and Cassandra, Dalia swears by Gys; and in Gammer Gurton's needle and some other old plays, the same expression occurs. Mr. Ridley's conjecture that Jesus is the corrupted word is the true one; but the corruption is not in the way that he has stated. The letters IHS would not be pronounced Gis, even by those who understood them as a Greek contraction.