1643. Brome, A New Diurnal. (Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 1810, vi., 667). Prince Rupert, for fear that his name be confounded, Will saw off his horns, and make him a Roundhead.
1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Women Pleased, v. 3. I shall then be full of scorn, Wanton, proud (beware the horn).
1653. Middleton and Rowley, The Spanish Gypsy, iii., I. Beggars would on cock-horse ride. And boobies fall a-roaring, And cuckolds though no horns be spied, Be one another goring.
1653. Davenant, The Siege of Rhodes, p. 34. It stuffs up the marriage bed with thorns, It gores itself, it gores itself with imagined horns.
1657. Middleton, Women, Beware of Woman (1657), iii., 2. Cuckolds dance the hornpipe, and farmers dance the hay. Idem., iv., 2. Go, lie down, master; but take care your horns do not make holes in the pillow-beers.
1659. Lady Alimony, i., 2 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 280). My scene, Trillo, is horn alley. Ibid., iii., 6 (p. 340). Doubt nothing, my fellow Knights of hornsey.
1661. Webster, Cure for a Cuckold (1661), v., 2. He that hath horns thus let him learn to shed.
1663. Killigrew, The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 1 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 473). I hope to exalt the Parson’s horn here. Ibid., (p. 477). Only to fright the poor cuckholds and make the fools visit their horns. Ibid., v., 4 (p. 519). Methinks my horns ache more than my corns. Ibid. ib. (p. 520). I have seen a cuckold of your complexion: if he had lent as much hoof as horn, you might have hunted the beast by the slot.
1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., ii. For when men by their wives are cowed, Their horns of course are understood.
1668. L’Estrange, Visions of Quevedo, p. 251 (ed. 1708). He that marries, ventures fair for the horn, either before or after.