In the same way, letters from noblemen to each other often began with the appellation bedfellow.[961]
Curfew Bell, which is generally supposed to be of Norman origin, is still rung in some of our old country villages, although it has long lost its significance. It seems to have been as important to ghosts as to living men, it being their signal for walking, a license which apparently lasted till the first cock. Fairies, too, and other spirits, were under the same regulations; and hence Prospero, in “The Tempest” (v. 1), says of his elves that they
“rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew.”
In “King Lear” (iii. 4) we find the fiend Flibbertigibbet obeying the same rule, for Edgar says: “This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet; he begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock.”
In “Measure for Measure” (iv. 2) we find another allusion:
“Duke. The best and wholesom’st spirits of the night
Envelope you, good provost! Who call’d here of late?
Provost. None, since the curfew rung.”
And, once more, in “Romeo and Juliet” (iv. 4), Capulet says:
“Come, stir, stir, stir! the second cock hath crow’d,
The curfew bell hath rung, ’tis three o’clock.”[962]
Sacring Bell. This was a bell which rang for processions and other holy ceremonies.[963] It is mentioned in “Henry VIII.” (iii. 2), by the Earl of Surrey: