"Of Lucina the moone, moist and pale,
That many showre fro heaven made availe."
The same mode of expression occurs in Parkes's Curtaine drawer of the world, 1612, 4to, p. 48: "the centinels of the season ordained to marke the queen of floods how she lends her borrowed light." This book deserves to be noticed for the good sense which it contains, and the merit of some occasional pieces of poetry.
Scene 2. Page 50.
Obe. I do but beg a little changeling boy
To be my henchman.
Of all the opinions concerning the origin of this word, that of Sir William Spelman alone can be maintained. If instead of deriving it from the German, he had stated that it came to us through the Saxon Henᵹeꞅꞇ, a horse, his information had been more correct. Although in more modern times the pages or henchmen might have walked on foot, it is very certain that they were originally horsemen, according to the term. Thus in Chaucer's Floure and the leafe:
"And every knight had after him riding
Three henshmen, on him awaiting."
If the old orthography henxmen had not been unfortunately disturbed, we should have heard nothing of the conjectures about haunch and haunch-men.
Scene 2. Page 58.
Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
However forward and indecorous the conduct of Helena in pursuing Demetrius may appear to modern readers, such examples are very frequent in old romances of chivalry, wherein Shakspeare was undoubtedly well read. The beautiful ballad of the Nut-brown maid might have been more immediately in his recollection, many parts of this scene having a very strong resemblance to it.