Every one is acquainted with the propensity of the monkey to climbing upon other animals. Gervase Markham in his Cavalerice, a treatise on horsemanship, already referred to, devotes a chapter to inform his readers "how a horse may be taught to doe any tricke done by Bankes his curtall," in which he says, "I will shew you by the example of two or three trickes, how you shall make your horse to doe any other action as well as any dog or ape whatsoever, except it be leaping upon your shoulders." The curious reader may find more illustration of the subject in the specimen of Dr. Boucher's Supplement to Johnson's dictionary, article ape; but the learned and ingenious author was certainly mistaken in supposing that fools carried the representations of apes on their shoulders, and probably in what he says concerning the origin of the phrase of putting an ape in a man's hood.
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.
ACT V.
Scene 1. Page 660.
Buck. Holy king Henry——
This epithet is not applied without good reason. King Henry the Sixth, though never actually canonized, was regarded as a saint, and miracles were supposed to have been performed by him. In some of our church service-books before the Reformation, there are prayers which are said to have been of his composition, and one in particular that is addressed to him is entitled, "A prayer to holy king Henry."
Scene 3. Page 665.