"Non ha avuto Agramante ancora spia,
Ch' Astolfo mandi una armata si grossa."
Or. Fur. xxxix. 79.
See also vii. 34, viii. 68, ix. 14, xxxvii. 90, I Suppositi, v. 6. Could Shakespeare have read Ariosto in Italian? Spy does not occur in Harrington's translation; but Gascoigne renders ebbero spia in I Suppositi by had espial. In Gower (Conf. Am. v.) we have
"My sone be thou ware with all
To seche suche micheries,
But if thou have the better aspies
In aunter."
Stalking-horse (As Y. L. v. 4), either a real horse trained for the purpose, or the imitation of one carried by the sportsman by means of which his was enabled to get within shooting-distance of wild fowl.
Statute (sc. staple, merchant) Ham. v. 1, a legal mode of securing a debt on the debtor's land. Recognizance in the same place is an acknowledgment by the debtor for the same purpose; fines and recoveries were legal modes of cutting off an entail; double voucher was connected with a recovery, two persons being required to vouch for the tenant's title.