“Good, gentle writers, ‘for the Lord’s sake, for the Lord’s sake,’
Like Ludgate prisoner, lo, I, begging, make
My mone.”
In “Measure for Measure” (iv. 3), the phrase is alluded to by Pompey: “all great doers in our trade, and are now ‘for the Lord’s sake.’”
“Cry Budget.” A watchword. Thus Slender says to Shallow, in the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (v. 2); “We have a nay-word, how to know one another: I come to her in white, and cry ‘mum;’ she cries ‘budget;’ and by that we know one another.”
“God save the mark.” “Romeo and Juliet” (iii. 2). This exclamation has hitherto baffled the research of every commentator. It occurs again in “1 Henry IV.” (i. 3); and in the “Merchant of Venice” (ii. 2) and in “Othello” (i. 1), we have “God bless the mark.” In the quarto, 1597, instead of “God save the mark” in the first passage quoted, we have “God save the sample,” an expression equally obscure.[973]
Halidom. This exclamation was used, says Minsheu,[974] by old countrymen, by manner of swearing. In “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (iv. 2), the Hostess says: “By my halidom, I was fast asleep;” the probable derivation being holy, with the termination dome.
Hall! Hall! An exclamation formerly used, to make a clear space in a crowd, for any particular purpose, was “A hall, a hall.” So, in “Romeo and Juliet” (i. 5), Capulet says:
“Come, musicians, play.—
A hall, a hall! give room! and foot it, girls.”
Hay. This is equivalent to “you have it,” an exclamation in fencing, when a thrust or hit is received by the antagonist. In “Romeo and Juliet” (ii. 4), Mercutio speaks of “the punto reverso! the hay!”
Hold. To cry hold! when persons were fighting, was an authoritative way of separating them, according to the old military law. So Macbeth, in his struggle with Macduff, says:
“And damn’d be he that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’”