Again, in “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 4), Prince Henry speaks of “that reverend Vice, that grey Iniquity;” and in “2 Henry IV.” (iii. 2), Falstaff says, “now is this Vice’s dagger become a squire.”
Again, further allusions occur in “Richard III.” (iii. 1). Gloster says:
“Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity,
I moralize two meanings in one word.”
And once more, Hamlet (iii. 4), speaks of “a Vice of kings,” “a king of shreds and patches.”
According to Nares, “Vice” had the name sometimes of one vice, sometimes of another, but most commonly of Iniquity, or Vice itself. He was grotesquely dressed in a cap with ass’s ears, a long coat, and a dagger of lath. One of his chief employments was to make sport with the devil, leaping on his back, and belaboring him with his dagger of lath, till he made him roar. The devil, however, always carried him off in the end. He was, in short, the buffoon of the morality, and was succeeded in his office by the clown, whom we see in Shakespeare and others.[664]
Again, there may be a further allusion to the moralities in “King Lear” (ii. 2), where Kent says to Oswald, “take Vanity, the puppet’s, part, against the royalty of her father.”
Then, too, there were the “pageants”—shows which were usually performed in the highways of our towns, and assimilated in some degree to the miracle-plays, but were of a more mixed character, being partly drawn from profane history. According to Strutt, they were more frequent in London, being required at stated periods, such as the setting of the Midsummer Watch, and the Lord Mayor’s Show.[665] Among the allusions to these shows given by Shakespeare, we may quote one in “Richard III.” (iv. 4), where Queen Margaret speaks of
“The flattering index of a direful pageant”
—the pageants displayed on public occasions being generally preceded by a brief account of the order in which the characters were to walk. These indexes were distributed among the spectators, that they might understand the meaning of such allegorical representations as were usually exhibited. In the “Merchant of Venice” (i. 1), Salarino calls argosies “the pageants of the sea,” in allusion, says Douce,[666] “to those enormous machines, in the shapes of castles, dragons, ships, giants, etc., that were drawn about the streets in the ancient shows or pageants, and which often constituted the most important part of them.” Again, in “As You Like It” (iii. 4), Corin says:
“If you will see a pageant truly play’d,
Between the pale complexion of true love
And the red glow of scorn and proud disdain,
Go hence a little, and I shall conduct you,
If you will mark it.”