| Main Menu |
| Index |
Kam, clean (all crooked), Coriolanus, Hi. 1.
Kate, name given to Hotspur's wife, whose real name was Elizabeth ; play on the name, Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1.
Katharine, one of the ladies attending the princess in Love's
Labour's Lost, introduced in ii. 1. She is sought in marriage by Dmain, but puts him off for a twelvemonth and a day. She was
pock-marked, as appears by a jest of Eosalind in v. 2.
Katherina, the heroine of the Taming of the Shrew, introduced
in i. 1, " Like a wasp, like a foal that kicks from its halter pert,
quick, and determined, but full of good heart."
Katherine, daughter of Charles VL of France, character in
Henry V., first appears, Hi. 4. She afterward became the wife of
the English king ; the betrothal, v. 2.
Katherine of Aragon, Queen, character in Henry VIII., introduced in i. 2. The subject of her divorce from Henry is discussed in
ii. 1, 2 ; her goodness, ii. 2, 4 >' her petition to the king, the trial,
and her reproaches to Wolsey, ii. 4> interview with the cardinals,
Hi. 1 ; the divorce, iv. 1 ; her vision, letter to the king, and approaching death, iv. 2. The character of Katherine in the play is very
noble ; her pride of birth and station never deserts her, but it is
united with religious meekness and long-enduring affection, and
gives a noble dignity and pathos to her words and the struggle to
maintain the position to which she feels she has a right. In the
scenes where she appears, Shakespeare has followed the chronicles
in the main, only giving poetic grouping and colouring to their
accounts. The scene in which the vision appears to the queen is
attributed to Fletcher.
Kecksies. See KEXES.
Keech (a lump of fat), Henry VIII., i. 1. Alluding to Wolsey's
corpulence, and his being reputed a butcher's son ; /. Henry IV., i. 4*
Keel (cool), Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.
': Keisar, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 3. Emperor.
Kendal Green, /. Henry IV., ii. 4, colour worn by Eobin
Hood's men. Cloth was made at Kendal in Westmoreland.
Kenilworth Castle, //. Henry VI., iv. 4; scene of //. Henry
VI., iv. 9. An ancient castle, now in ruins, about five miles from Warwick and the same distance from Coventry. The first castle, which
was destroyed in the eleventh century in the wars between Edmund
Ironside and Canute the Dane, is supposed by some antiquaries to
have been founded in the time of Kenelph, a King of Mercia, and to
have taken its name from him. The present castle was built by
Geoffrey de Clinton in the reign of Henry I. It belonged successively to many of the greatest subjects of the Kings of England including Simon de Montfort, John of Gaunt, and Dudley, Earl of Leicester and Several times reverted to the crown. John of Gaunt
made many additions to the castle, which are still known as Lancaster's Buildings, and the celebrated Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth's favorite, many more, called Leicester's Buildings. Cromwell's soldiers plundered the castle and left it in ruins. Some parts have since been repaired, and excavations have revealed underground
apartments and passages long hidden. During the Wars of the Roses the castle was sometimes in the possession of one party, sometimes in that of the other. Henry VI. retired to it in some times of adversity, as in the text.
Kennel (gutter), //. Henry VL, iv. 1.
Kent, a southeastern county of England, scene of //. Henry
VI., iv. 1; Caesar on the people of, 11. Henry VL, iv. 7; men of,
III. Henry VI., i. '2 ; rebellion in, Richard III., iv. 4.
Kent, Thomas Holland, Earl of, beheaded, Richard II.,
v. 6.
Kent, the Earl of, character in King Lear, introduced in i. 1,
where he is banished by Lear for remonstrating against the treatment of Cordelia ; he follows the king, however, in his misfortune,
acting as his servant under the name of Caius, and brings about the
meeting with Cordelia in the last scene. See under KING LEAR.
" Kent is perhaps the nearest to perfect goodness in all Shakespeare's characters, and yet the most individualized. There is an extraordinary charm in his bluntness, which is that only of a nobleman
arising from a contempt of overstrained courtesy, and combined with
easy placability where goodness of heart is apparent." COLERIDGE.
Kerns (light-armed troops from Ireland), Macbeth, i. 2, and elsewhere.
Ketly, Sir Richard, his death, Henry V., iv. 3.
Kexes (hollow-stemmed weeds), Henry V., v. 2.
Kildare, Earl of, Henry VIIL, ii. 1.
Killing, a trifle, I. Henry IV., ii. 4; in defense, Timon of Athens, Hi. 5 ; do all men kill the things they do not love f Merchant of
Venice, iv. 1; I promised to eat all of his, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 1.
Killing-worth. See KENILWORTH.
Kiln-hole (fireplace), A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4.
Kimbolton, a castle in Huntingdonshire belonging to the Duke
of Manchester, the scene of Henry VIIL, iv. 2. Katherine's jewel-chest and some of her clothing are still shown there.
Kin, a little more than, Hamlet, i. 2 ; one touch of nature makes
the whole world, Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 3.
Kind, kindless, kindly (nature, unnatural, naturally), All's Well that Ends Well, i. 3 ; Taming of the Shrew, induction, 1 ; Hamlet,
ii. 2 ; Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2, and elsewhere.
Kindness, Twelfth Night, i. 5, " What is yours to bestow," etc. ;
Timon of Athens, i. 1, 2, " We are born to do benefits," etc. ; to kill
with, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 1 ; in women, wins love, Taming of
the Shrew, iv. 2 ; nobler than revenge, As You Like It, iv. 3 ; power
of, A Winter's Tale. i. 2 ; recalled, King John, iv. 1.
King, On the, a quatrain attributed to Shakespeare, and usually
placed at the end of the miscellaneous poems. If it is his, it of
course refers to James I., who liked to be flattered about his learning. It exists in a manuscript written in the time of his successor,
in which the verses are entitled " Shakespeare on the King."
King Cophetua, ballad of, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 2.
Kingdom, a diseased, II. Henry IV., Hi. 1 ; partition of a, King
Lear, i. 1 ; divisions in a, King Lear, Hi. 1, 3 ; any oath may be
broken for a, 777. Henry VI., v. 2 ; a, for a grave, Richard II., Hi 3 ; for a horse, Richard III., v. 4 ; for a mirth, Antony and Cleopatra, i. 4.
King Henry the Fourth, Parts I. and II. These two plays
may be regarded as essentially one. The first part was written in
1596-'97, the second in 1597-'98. The first part was published in
1598, the second in 1600. The sources from which it was in part
drawn were the " Chronicles " of Holinshed and an older play, " The
Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth, containing the Honourable
Battell of Agincourt." From the play were gathered the hints for
the wild pranks of the prince and his low companions. Among them
was one Sir John Oldcastle, the name borne by Falstaff in the first
editions of Shakespeare's play, though he has little to say or do in the
old drama. (See OLDCASTLE.) The period of action of Part I. extends from the battle of Holmedon Hill, September 14, 1402, to the
battle of Shrewsbury, July 21, 1403. Part II. extends from that
time to the death of Henry IV. in 1413. These two plays, with Henry V., which is a continuation of them, are the finest of the English
historical plays. See HENRY IV.
" None of Shakespeare's plays are more read than the First and
Second Parts of Henry the Fourth. Perhaps no author has ever, in
two plays, afforded so much delight. The great events are interesting, for the fate of kingdoms depends on them ; the slighter occurrences are diverting, and, except one or two, sufficiently probable ;
the incidents are multiplied with wonderful fertility of invention,
and the characters diversified with the utmost nicety of discernment
and the profoundest skill in the nature of man. . . . The character [of the prince] is great, original, and just. Percy is a rugged soldier, choleric and quarrelsome, and has only the soldier's virtues, generosity and courage. But Falstaff ! unimitated, unimitable Falstaff ! how shall I describe thee ? thou compound of sense and vice ;
of sense which may be admired, but not esteemed ; of vice which may be despised, but hardly detested. Falstaff is a character loaded with faults, and with those faults which naturally produce contempt. He is a thief and a glutton, a coward and a boaster ; always ready to cheat the weak and prey upon the poor ; to terrify the timorous and
insult the defenseless. . . . Yet the man thus corrupt, thus despicable, makes himself necessary to the prince that despises him, by the most pleasing of all qualities, perpetual gaiety, by an unfailing power of exciting laughter, which is the more freely indulged, as his wit is not of the splendid or ambitious kind, but consists in easy
scapes and sallies of levity, which make sport, but raise no envy."
JOHNSON.
King Henry the Fifth, which, as promised in the epilogue to
the second part of Henry IV., continues the story, was probably
written in 1598 or 1599 ; the prologue or chorus to Act v. has a reference to the absence of Essex in Ireland, the time of which was between March and September, 1599. There is also a reference to
"this wooden 0," the Globe Theatre, built in 1599. An unauthorized and imperfect edition was published in 1600, and the full text
in 1623. For the source drawn upon, see KING HENRY IV. The
time of action is from 1414 to 1420. See HENRY V. Dowden says :
" In this play Shakespeare bade farewell in trumpet tones to the
history of England. It was a fitting climax to the great series of
works which told of the sorrow and the glory of his country, embodying as it did the purest patriotism of the days of Elizabeth."
King Henry the Sixth. The 'three plays that bear this name
were produced early in Shakespeare's career, the first from 1590 to
1592, the second and third from 1592 to 1594, probably.
The first part is held to be mostly from other hands than Shakespeare's, an old play, perhaps, by Marlowe, with the assistance of
Greene or Peele, touched up by Shakespeare, to whom are attributed
the fourth scene of Act ii., and that between Margaret and Suffolk,
v. 3. The time of action is 1422 to 1444. The facts are drawn from
Holinshed. The second and third parts are rewritten from two
older plays: "The First Part of the Contention betwixt the Two
Famous Houses of York and Lancaster," etc., and " The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of York and the Death of Good King Henrie
the Sixt." Critics differ about these plays ; some holding that Shakespeare had a hand in them, others that they were written by Greene,
Marlowe, and Peele, one or more of them ; and some attributing the entire revision to Shakespeare, others supposing that Marlowe assisted
him. The period of action of the second part is 1445 to 1455 ; that
of the third part, 1455 to 1471. The events connected with Dame
Eleanor in the second part really took place some years before the
opening of the play. With this exception the events generally follow in historical order.
King Henry the Eighth was first published in the folio of
1623. It is supposed to have been written in 1612 or 1613, last of
all the plays, after Shakespeare had left, the theatre. It is mentioned
under the present title, and also under that of " All is True," as having been on the stage the night the Globe Theatre was burned, June
26, 1613, the fire having been caused by the discharge of some chambers during the play. Sir Henry Wotton speaks of it in this connection as a new play. The material is taken from the " Chronicles " of
Holinshed and Stowe, and from Foxe's " Acts and Monuments of
the Church." Some critics think they find evidence that Fletcher
had a hand in the writing of the play. The action covers the period
from 1521 to 1533. Some of the events are moved from their actual
sequence in the history, as the death of Katherine, which took place
in 1536. The prologue and epilogue are generally believed to be
the work of another hand. See HENRY VIII.
King John, the earliest of the historic dramas as to the period
of action, was written probably later than Richard II., Richard III.,
and Henry VI. The date assigned for the writing is 1595. The first
known drama founded on the reign of John is " The Pageant of
Kynge Johan," by Bishop Bale, supposed to have been written in
the reign of Edward VI. It has a distinct religious purpose, being
full of ferocious anti-popish bigotry, and it introduces among real
historical characters allegorical figures, such as Treason, Verity,
England, Sedition, after the fashion of the old moralities. This
play was succeeded by "The Troublesome Reign of King John,"
published in 1591 and by a few critics supposed to be from Shakespeare's hand. Upon it the present play is founded. King John follows the truth of history less closely than the other English historical plays : the king's unpopularity and troubles are made to result
from his treatment of Arthur ; Constance is represented as a widow
and living at the time Arthur fell into the hands of John (see CONSTANCE) ; and the Archduke of Austria and the Viscount of Lymoges are united in the same person (see AUSTRIA) ; the imprisonment
and death of Arthur are represented as taking place in England instead of France ; the quarrel between John and the Pope is antedated by several years. Most of these departures from fact were in
the older play. See JOHN.
King Lear, one of the greatest of the tragedies, was first published in 1608, three editions having appeared in that year. The
evidence points to the year 1605 as the date of writing. The story
of Lear was first told, so far as is known, by Geoffrey of Monmouth,
who wrote a history of Britain in the twelfth century. Holinshed
also tells it, and there was an older play on the subject which was
published in 1594. The story is also told in Higgins's " Mirror for
Magistrates " and Spenser's " Faerie Queene." The part of Gloucester and his sons Shakespeare found in Sidney's " Arcadia," " The Paphlagonian Unkind King." The time of action is about 800 B. c., the date given by Geoffrey of Monmouth. See LEAR.
" This firm faith in filial piety, and the giddy anarchy and whirling tumult of the thoughts at finding this prop failing it. the contrast between the fixed, immovable basis of natural affection and
the rapid, irregular starts of imagination, suddenly wrenched from
all its accustomed holds and resting-places in the soul this is what
Shakespeare has given, and what nobody else could give." HAZLITT.
"So ends King Lear, the most stupendous of the Shakespearean
dramas ; and Kent, the noblest feature of the conceptions of his divine mind. This is the magnanimity of authorship, when a writer,
having a topic presented to him, fruitful of beauties for common
minds, waives his privilege and trusts to the judicious few for understanding the reason of his abstinence. What a pudder would a
common dramatist have raised here of a reconciliation-scene, a perfect recognition between the assumed Caius and his master ! to the
suffusing of fair eyes and the moistening of cambric handkerchiefs.
The old, dying king partially catching at the truth, and immediately
lapsing into obliviousness, with the high-minded carelessness of the
other to have his services appreciated, as one that
' Served not for gain,
Or followed out of form '
are among the most judicious, not to say heart-touching, strokes in
r Shakespeare." CHARLES LAMB.
King Richard the Second, second of the historical plays as to
the period of action, was written before King John, and perhaps
earlier than any other of the histories except I. Henry VI. that is,
in 1593 or 1594. The play was first published in 1597, a second edition appeared in 1598, and in 1608 a third, with the following added
'to the title : " With new additions of the Parliament sceane and the
deposing of King Richard." The additions were in iv. 1, one hundred and sixty-four lines. There is evidence that they were originally in the play ; and they were presumably omitted in deference to
Elizabeth,-who was sensitive on the subject of the deposition of sovereigns. There were two other plays on the same subject, but the source from which Shakespeare drew was Holinshed's " Chronicles."
There are some few departures from fact in the play, mostly in the
age of the characters. The queen, for instance, was but nine years
old at the time of Bolingbroke's banishment (1398) ; John of Gaunt,
spoken of repeatedly as a very old man, was fifty-eight ; Prince Henry was but eleven (v. 3} ; and Norfolk was but thirty when he speaks
(i. 3) of " the language 1 have learned these forty years." The period
of action is from September, 1398, to February, 1400. The scene is
in diiferent parts of England and in Wales. See RICHARD II.
" In itself, and for the closet, I feel no hesitation in placing it as
the first and most admirable of all Shakespeare's purely historical
plays. . . . But, however unsuited to the stage this drama may be,
God forbid that even there it should fall dead on the hearts of
jacobinized Englishmen ! . . . For the spirit of patriotic reminiscence
is the all-permeating soul of this noble work." COLERIDGE.
King Richard the Third, the best known and most popular
of the histories, was first published in 1597, and is held to have
been written about 1592-'94, directly after Henry VI. In the opinion of some critics, Marlowe had a hand in its production. The
facts were drawn from the " Chronicles " of Holinshed and Hall.
There were two older plays on the subject, one in English, " The
True Tragedie of Richard the Third," and one in Latin by Thomas
Legge, " Richardus Tertius ; " but Shakespeare took nothing from
them. The play takes up English history where III. Henry VI.
leaves it, after the battle of Tewksbury in 1471, and brings it to that
of Bosworth and the fall of Richard in 1485. Although far from
being one of Shakespeare's best plays, Richard III. has always been
popular, especially on the stage where, however, Colley Cibber's
version has usually been given from the singular and intense character of the king and the rapid action of the plot. By the English
of Elizabeth's time it was especially liked, because it brought in the
first Tudor king as the saviour of his country. See RICHARD III.
King(s), murder of, A Winter's Tale, i. 2, " If I can find example," etc. ; prerogative of, ii. 1, " Why, what need we," etc. ; children
of, iv. 1 or 2 ; quarrels of, King John, ii. 1 or 2 ; conduct becoming,
King John, v. 1 ; the curse of, King John, iv. 2 ; sacredness of, Richard II., i. 2 ; Hi. 2 ; power of words of, Richard II., i. 3 ; advice
to, Richard II., ii. 1 ; reverence due to, Richard II., Hi. 3 ; deposition of, Richard II., Hi. 2,3 ; iv. 1 ; v. 1 ; woe's slaves, Richard II.,
Hi. 2 ; sentenced by subjects, Richard II., iv. 1; confession demanded of, Richard II., iv. 1 ; treatment of a, deposed by the populace, Richard II., v. 2 ; remorse of a, Richard II., Hi. 2 ; rights of, /. Henry IV., i. 3 ; too lavish of his company, /. Henry IV., Hi. 2; murder of the wardrobe of the, /. Henry IV., v. 3 ; fickleness of the
populace toward, IL Henry IV., i. 3 ; kin to, //. Henry IV., ii. 2 ;
uneasiness of, //. Henry IV., in. 1; majesty of, like heavy armour,
//. Henry IV., iv. 4,' what have, that privates have not cares of
but a man responsibility of, Henry V., iv. 1 ; presence of a,/. Henry VI., Hi. 1; troubles of a, II. Henry VI., iv. 9; cares of a, III.
Henry VI., ii. 5 ; prophecy concerning a future (Richmond), III.
Henry VI., iv. 6 ; his name a tower of strength, Richard III., v. 3 ;
danger of crossing the pleasure of, Henry VIII., Hi. 1 ; honour of
a, Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2 ; the Lord's anointed temple, Macbeth,
ii. 3 ; graces becoming a, Macbeth, iv. 3 ; many lives dependent on
a, Hamlet, Hi. 3 ; divinity doth hedge a, Hamlet, iv. 5 (or 2) ; progress of, Hamlet, iv. 3 (or v. 7) ; every inch a, King Lear, iv. 6 ;
smiles and frowns of, reflected, Cymbeline, i. 1 ; vices of, Pericles, i.
1; secrets of, Pericles, i. 3 ; misdeeds of, Lucrece, I. 609; like the
sea, Lucrece, I. 652 ; their baseness worse, Lucrece, 1. 1002 ; knowledge in a, On the King ; annoyed by crowds, see JAMES I. ; adviser
of a, II. Henry IV., iv. 2 ; a versatile, Henry V., v. 1; troubles of a,
Richard III., i. 4 ; Mulmutius, the first, of Britain, Cymbeline, Hi.
1 ; flattery of, Pericles, i. 2. See CROWN.
King Stephen was a worthy peer, song, Othello, ii. 3.
King's evil, the, Macbeth, iv. 3. A compliment to James I.,
who revived the old superstitious ceremony of touching the scrofulous, who were supposed to be healed by the touch of a king.
Kinship, claims of, As You Like It, i. 1 ; power of, Coriolanus,
v. 3 ; instinct of, Cymbeline, iv. 2. See BLOOD.
Kisses, to shadows, Merchant of Venice, ii. 9; religious, As You
Like It, Hi. 4; to fill pauses, As You Like It, iv. 1; at marriage,
Taming of the Shrew, Hi. 2 ; Richard II., v. 1; four negatives,
Twelfth Night, v. 1; women influenced by, A Winter's Tale, i. 2;
given to a partner, Henry VIII., i. 4> of pilgrims by the book,
Romeo and Juliet, i. 5 ; hard, Othello, Hi. 3 ; Venus and Adonis,
lines 18, 54, 84, 96, 115, 207, 479, 511, 536 ; I. Henry I V., Hi. 1 ;
Coriolanus, v. 3 ; Othello, ii. 1 ; comfortless, as frozen water to a
starved snake, Titus Andronicus, Hi. 1 ; to every sedge, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 7 ; kingdoms and provinces kissed away, Antony and Cleopatra, Hi. 8.
Knapped (snapped), Merchant of Venice, Hi. 1.
Knave(s), or fool, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 5 ; some most
villainous, Othello, iv. 2 ; pleading for a, II. Henry IV., v. 1; will
backbite, II. Henry IV.. v. 1 ; description of a, King Lear, ii. 2 ; a
slippery and subtle, Othello, ii. 1.
Knell, it is a, Macbeth, ii. 1 ; iv. 3 ; v. 7 ; talks like a, Coriolanus, v. 4.
Knife, inscription on a, Merchant of Venice, v. 1.
Knight, a carpet, Twelfth Night, iii. 4, " on carpet consideration."
Knighthood, will become hackneyed, Merry Wives of Windsor,
ii. 2, " These knights will hack." A supposed allusion to the liberality with which James I. bestowed the honour of knighthood. If so,
the passage must have been inserted some time after the play was
first presented. Another meaning has been suggested namely,
these knights will be degraded, " hack " being the term for taking
off a knight's spurs.
Knight of the Burning Lamp, 7. Henry IV., iii. 3.
Knights, encounter of, Richard II., i. 3 ; at a tournament,
Pericles, ii. 2.
Knights of the Garter. See GARTER, ORDER OF THE.
Knocking, at the gate, the, Macbeth, ii. 2, 3.
Knot-grass, hinders growth, Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2.
It was supposed that an infusion of knot-grass taken by a child
would retard its growth.
Knots, in trees, Troilus and Cressida, i. 3.
Knowledge, too much, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1; seeming,
All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 3; accursed, A Winter's Tale, ii. 1;
ill-inhabited (ill-housed), As You Like It, iii. 3 ; the wing, wherewith we fly to heaven, 77. Henry VI., iv. 7 ; limited, Hamlet, i. 5,
" There are more things in heaven and earth," etc. ; of the present
only, Hamlet, iv. 5 or 2, " We know what we are, but," etc.
Kyd, Thomas. See JERONIMY.
Laban, Merchant of Venice, i* 3,
Labienus, mentioned in Antony and Cleopatra, i. 2.
Labour, menial, made pleasure, The Tempest, iii. 1; physics
pain, when delighted in, Macbeth, ii. 3; vain, Richard II., ii. 2 ;
Henry V., iv. 1; III. Henry VI., i. 4.
Labras (lips), Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1.
Lackbeard, my lord, Much Ado about Nothing, iv. 1.
Ladies, know if they be fair, As You Like It, ii. 7. See WOMEN.
Ladies' men, called lisping hawthorn-buds, Merry Wives of
Windsor, Hi. 3.
Lady, attending the queen in Richard II. Eleanor Holland,
widow of the fourth Earl ; of March.
Lady, an old friend of Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII., sometimes
called Lady Denny.
Lady-smocks, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.
" A white field-flower, called' also mayffower and Canterbury bell.
Growing in masses, it looks like linen bleaching." WHITE.
Laertes, son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia, in Hamlet, introduced in i. 2. He is sent to Paris, and his father despatches Rey
naldo to watch him, ii. 1. He seeks vengeance for his father's
death, iv. 5 or 2, and the mob proclaim him king. He dies by his
own treacherous weapons, v. 2.
" Yet I acknowledge that Shakespeare evidently wishes, as much as
possible, to spare the character of Laertes to break the extreme
turpitude of his consent to become an agent and accomplice of the
king's treachery ; and to this end he reintroduces Ophelia at the
close of this scene to afford a probable stimulus of passion in her
brother." COLERIDGE.
" And Laertes, who takes violent measures at the shortest notice
to revenge Ms father's murder, is in another way a contrast [to
Hamlet] ; but Laertes is the young gallant of the period, and his
capacity for' action arises in part from the absence of those moral
checks of which Hamlet is sensible." DOWDEN.
Lafeu, an old lord in All's Well that Ends Well, introduced in
i. 1, courtier-like and wordy, characterized by the king's words in
ii. 1, " Thus he his special nothing ever prologues," but sound, true,
and of quick discernment, the first to discover the true character of
Parolles (i'i. 3), " So, my good window of lattice, fare thee well ; thy
casement I need not open, for I look through thee."
La fin, etc., 77. Henry VI., v. 2. The end crowns the work.
Lakin (ladykin), The Tempest, Hi. 3. Little lady, the Virgin
Mary.
Lamb, the, entreats the butcher, Cymbeline, Hi. 4 / and the fox,
Measure for Measure, v. 1; Timon of Athens, iv. 3 ; and the wolf,
III. Henry VI., i. 1, 4 >' in a borrowed skin, III. Henry VI., Hi. 1 ;
follows the lion, 777. Henry VI. iv. 8 ; doing the feats of a lion in
the figure of a, Much Ado about Nothing, i, 1 ; offered up, Macbeth,
iv. 3.
Lambert's (St.) day (September 17th), Richard II., i. 1.
Lamentations, moderate, for the dead, All's Well that Ends
Well, i. 1 ; the wise do not indulge in, III. Henry VI., v. 4 ; why
should calamity be full of words, Richard III., iv. 4 ; ease the heart,
Richard III., iv. 4 ; called for in advance, Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2.
Lammas-tide (August 1st), Romeo and Juliet, i. 3.
Lament (or Lamond), a fencer spoken of in Hamlet, iv. 7 (or 4).
This character is supposed to be intended for Raleigh. See under
the name of the play.
Lamps, aye-remaining, Pericles, Hi. 1. The perpetual lamps
lighted for the dead.
Lancaster, House of, its wars with the House of York. See
WARS OF THE EOSES.
Lancaster, John of Gaunt, Duke of. See GAUNT.
Lancaster, John, Prince of, character in both parts of Henry
IV., and, under the title of Duke of Bedford, in Henry V. and I.
Henry VI. In I. Henry IV. he is introduced in i. 1, and in //.
Henry IV. in iv. 2. In II. Henry IV., iv. 3, Falstaff describes him
contemptuously as a demure and sober-blooded boy, and probably a
coward. His father and brother, however, praise his bravery on the
field of Shrewsbury. See BEDFORD.
Land-damn, A Winter's Tale, ii. 1. Conjectured to be an allusion to the punishment of being half buried and left to starve. Perhaps it means to be forced to quit the land.
Land(s), an owner of, spacious in the possession of dirt, Hamlet,
v. 2; you have sold your own to see other men's, As You Like It, iv.
1 ; cheap, I. Henry IV., ii. 4; nothing left of all my, but my body's
length, ///. Henry VI., v. 2 ; to be gained by wit, if not by birth,
King Lear, i. 2.
Langley, scene of Richard II., Hi. 4. There are fifteen places
named Langley in England, widely separated, and it is difficult to
say which is intended.
Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, King John, Hi. 1.
Language, taught to Caliban, The Tempest, i. 2 ; stilted, Love's
Labour's Lost, iv. 2 ; v. 1 ; travesty on high-flown. Love's Labour's
Lost, i. 1; iv.l; Hamlet, v. 2; pretended, All's Well that Ends Well,
iv. 1 ; bolted, Coriolanus, Hi. 1 ; he speaks holiday, Merry Wives of
Windsor, Hi. 2 ; in movement, Troilus and Cressida, iv. 5.
Lantern, Romeo and Juliet, v. 3. A lanternium, a high turret full of windows.
Lanthorn, of the man in the moon, the, Midsummer Night's
Dream, Hi. 1; v. 1; in the nose, I. Henry IV., Hi. 3; II. Henry
IV., i. 2.
Lapland, sorcerers of, Comedy of Errors, iv. 3. That country
was thought to be a favourite home of witches.
Lapwing, the, Measure for Measure, i. 5 ; Comedy of Errors,
iv. 2. Alluding to the habit of the bird of crying far away from her
nest to divert pursuers, and used figuratively in reference to those
who pretend interest in some certain place in order to divert attention from their real object. In Hamlet, v. 2, is an allusion to the
notion that the young bird runs out of the shell in such haste that
it carries part of it on its head ; runs close by the ground, Much Ado
about Nothing, Hi. 1.
Lard, to, the lean earth, /. Henry IV., ii. 2.
Lark, the, dared like, see FOWLING ; changed eyes with the toad,
Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 5 ; the ploughman's clock, Love's Labour's
Lost, v. 2, song ; the shrill-gorged, King Lear, iv. 6 ; at heaven's
gate, Cymbeline, ii. 3; Venus and Adonis, I. 853; Sonnet xxix.;
Passionate Pilgrim, xv ; when not attended, Merchant of Venice, v.
1 ; its song, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 5.
Larron (thief), Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 4.
Lartius, Titus, character in Coriolanus, first appears in i. 1.
He is one of the generals, an old man, who will " lean upon one
crutch and fight with t'other."
Latch (catch), Macbeth, iv. 3.
Late, too, Measure for Measure, ii. 2 ; All's Well that Ends
Well, v. 3 ; Much Ado about Nothing, v. 1 ; A Winter's Tale, Hi. 2.
Late hours, Twelfth Night, i. 3; I. Henry IV. ii. 4.
Lath, a dagger of, /. Henry IV., ii. 4; Titus Andronicus, ii. 1.
Latin, no, Henry VIII., Hi. 1; in conversation, Love's Labour's
Lost, iv. 2 ; v. 1, 2 ; II. Henry VI., iv. 2 ; lessons in, Merry Wives
of Windsor, iv. 1 ; Taming of the Shrew, Hi. 1.
Latten (a kind of pewter), Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1.
Laughter, connected with the spleen, Love's Labour's Lost, v.
2 ; that idiot, King John, Hi. 3 ; of those that win, Othello, iv. 1 ; excessive, Love 's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; Midsummer Night's Dream, v.
1; II. Henry IV. v. 1; Cymbeline, i. 7 ; fortune laughed away, Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 6.
Launce, servant of Proteus in the Two Gentlemen of Verona,
a great punster, first appears in ii. 3; addresses his dog Crab, ii. 3; iv. 4>
Launcelot Gobbo, the clown, Shylock's servant in the Merchant
of Venice, introduced in ii. 2. See JESSICA.
Laura, Petrarch's, Romeo and Juliet, ii, 4.
Laurence, a Franciscan friar in Romeo and Juliet, introduced
in ii. 3. He marries the lovers, ii. 6, and gives Juliet the potion,
iv. 1.
" The reverend character of the friar, like all Shakespeare's representations of the great professions, is very delightful and tranquillizing, yet it is no digression, but immediately necessary to the carrying on of the plot." COLERIDGE.
Laus Deo, bone intelligo (Praise to God, I understand well),
Love's Labour's Lost, v. 1.
Lavinia, character in Titus Andronicus, daughter of Titus, first
appears in i. 1 or 2. She is claimed by the emperor and his brother
Bassianus. Titus favours the emperor's claim, but his sons that of
Bassianus, to whom she was first promised, and she becomes his
wife ; plot of the Goths against her. ii. 1 ; dishonoured and mutilated; ii. 3-5 ; pitied by Marcus, ii. ^ or 5 ; writes the names of the
Goths, iv. 1 ; avenged, v. 2 ; killed by her father, v. 3.
Lavolta, an Italian dance, Henry V., in. 5 ; Troilus and Cressida, iv. 4.
Law(s), revival of old, Measure for Measure, i. 3-5 ; unenforced,
Measure, for Measure, ii. 1, 2 ; not dead but sleeping, Measure for
Measure, ii. 2 ; bitten by the enforcer, Measure for Measure, Hi. 1;
a wise fellow that knows the, Much Ado about Nothing, iv. 2 ;
tainted and corrupt pleas in, Merchant of Venice, Hi. 2 ; as adversaries do in, Taming of the Shrew, i. 2 ; on the windy side of the,
Twelfth Night, Hi. 4 ; reliability of witnesses in, A Winter's Tale, iv.
3 ; when it can do no right, King John, Hi. 1; called old father
antic, /. Henry IV., i. 2 ; framed to the will sharp quillets of the,
1. Henry VI., ii. 4 ; as administered by the tribunes, Coriolanus, ii.
1; pity is the virtue of the, Timon of Athens, Hi. 5 ; in hot blood,
hath stept into the, Timon of Athens, Hi. 5 ; one who goes to, called
an action-taking knave, King Lear, ii. 2 ; the bloody book of the,
Othello, i. 3; the brain may devise laws for the blood, Merchant of
Venice, i. 2 ; no power to alter those of Venice, Merchant of Venice,
iv. 1 ; a poor man's right in the, Pericles, ii. 1 ; broken by those
that enforce them, Lear iv. 6, " The usurer hangs the cozener."
Law, allusions to, and terms of the : cheater (escheater), Merry
Wives of Windsor, i. 3 ; lost my edifice by mistaking the place,
Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2 ; a star-chamber matter, Merry Wives
of Windsor, i. 1 ; fee simple fine and recovery, Merry Wives of
Windsor, iv. 2 ; Comedy of Errors, ii. 2 ; arrested in the case, Comedy of Errors, iv. 2; wards of the king, given by him in marriage,
Comedy of Errors, v. 1; All's Well that Ends Well, i. 1; recorded
for a precedent formerly (above), Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 ; charge
upon interrogatories answer faithfully, Merchant of Venice, v., end;
taken with the manner, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1 ; L Henry IV., ii.
4 ; make an extent (attachment), As You Like It, Hi. 1 ; videlicet,
As You Like It, iv. 1; present her at the Leet, Taming of the
Shrew, induction, 2 ; specialties covenants, Taming of the Shrew,
ii. 1 ; pass assurance, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3 ; fee-simple entail perpetual succession, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3 ; except
before excepted, Twelfth Night, i. 3 ; common several, Twelfth
Night, ii. 1; grand-jurymen, Twelfth Night, Hi. 2 ; an action of
battery, Twelfth Night, iv. 1; fees of acquitted prisoners to the
jailer, A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; III. Henry VI., iv. 6 ; indictment, A
Winter's Tale, Hi. 2; II. Henry VI., iv. 7; hand-fast (out on bail),
A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 ; to sue out livery, Richard II., ii. 1*3 ; I.
Henry IV., iv. 3 ; enfeoffed (disposed of absolutely), /. Henry IV.,
Hi. 2 ; advised by my counsel to lay by the heels (send to prison),
II. Henry IV., i. 2 ; Henry VIII., v. 3 ; absque hoc, II. Henry IV.,
v. 5 ; attainder, /. Henry VI., ii. 4; writ of prasmunire, Henry
VIII., Hi. 2 ; in fee-farm in witness whereof, Troilus and Cressida,
Hi. 2 ; amerce, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 1 ; utter (to pass or sell at
retail), Romeo and Juliet, v. 1 ; affeered (confirmed), Macbeth, iv. 3 ;
countenance, Hamlet, iv. 2 ; the clown's argument, and Hamlet's
speech on the skull, Hamlet, v. 1 ; capable (of inheriting), King Lear,
ii. 1 ; comforting, King Lear, Hi. 5 ; witness suborned, Othello, Hi.
4 ; purchased (obtained otherwise than by inheriting), Antony and
Cleopatra, i. 4; pray in aid (asking help from another person interested in the claim), Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2 ; oversee this will,
Lucrece, 1. 1205 ; overseers as well as executors were sometimes appointed ; sessions summon, Sonnet xxx. ; defendant, Sonnet xlvi. ;
determinate (ended), Sonnet Ixxxvii.
Lawn as white as driven snow, song, A Winter's Tale, iv. 4.
Lawyer(s), the melancholy of the, As You Like It, iv. 1 ; let's
kill all the, //. Henry VI., iv. 2 ; crack the voice of the, Timon of
Athens, iv. 3 ; dreams of, Romeo and Juliet, i. 4 ; skull of a, Hamlet,
v. 1 ; an unfeed, King Lear, i. 4.
Lay by, /. Henry IV., i. 2. Supposed to be the highwayman's
summons, equivalent to " Stand and deliver."
Lay on, Macduff, Macbeth, v. 7.
Lazarus, in the painted cloth (tapestry), I. Henry IV., iv. 2.
Lead, slow, Love's Labour's Lost, Hi. 1 ; prayer to have it kept out, /. Henry IV., v. 3 ; heavy, II. Henry IV., i. 1; Richard III,, v. 3 ; Coriolanus, i. 1; Romeo and Juliet, i. 1.
Leaf, the sear, the yellow, Macbeth, v. 3.
Leaguer (camp), All's Well that Ends Well, Hi. 6.
Leah, Shylock's wife, Merchant of Venice, Hi. 1.
Leander, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1 ; Hi. 1 ; As You Like
It, iv. 1 ; Much Ado about Nothing, v. 2. He was drowned swimming the Hellespont to Hero's tower at Sestos. When she became
aware of it, Hero cast herself from her tower, and perished in the
sea. The celebrated poem on the subject, written by Musaeus, a
Greek author of the sixth century, was discovered in the thirteenth.
Leanness, of Pinch, Comedy of Errors, v. 1, " My liege, I am
advised," etc. ; of Robert Faulconbridge, King John, i. 1 ; Falstaff's,
/. Henry IV., Hi. 3 ; dangerous of Cassius, Julius Ccesar, i. 2*
Leap-frog, allusion to the game of, Henry V., v. 2.
Lear, King of Britain, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, about
800 years before Christ. In King Lear, i. 1, he divides his kingdom
according to the professions of love to him made by his daughters.
Of his character, as revealed in this scene, Coleridge says :
" The strange, yet by no means unnatural, mixture of selfishness,
sensibility, and habit of feeling derived from and fostered by the
particular rank and usages of the individual ; the intense desire of
being intensely beloved selfish, and yet characteristic of the selfishness of a loving and kindly nature alone ; the self-supportless leaning for all pleasure on another's breast ; the craving after sympathy
with a prodigal disinterestedness, frustrated by its own ostentation
and the mode and nature of its claims ; the anxiety, the distrust,
the jealousy which more or less accompany all selfish affections, and
are among the surest contradistinctions of mere fondness from true
love, and which originate Lear's eager wish to enjoy his daughters'
violent professions, while the inveterate habits of sovereignty convert the wish into claim and positive right, and an incompliance
with it into crime and treason these facts, these passions, these moral
verities, on which the whole tragedy is founded, are all prepared for,
and will to the retrospect be found implied in the first four or five
lines in the play. They let us know that the trial is but a trick ; and
that the grossness of the old king's rage is in part the natural result
of a silly trick suddenly and most unexpectedly baffled and disappointed."
Lear disowns Cordelia, i. 1 ; is criticised by the other daughters
at the end of the same scene ; leaves Goneril's house in a passion, i.
4 ; leaves Regan's, H. 4 ,' on the heath, Hi. 2, 4, 6 > his madness, iv.
6; v.3; his death, v. 3.
Learning, in a woman's eye, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3; plodding for, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1 ; iv. 3 ; late deceased in beggary, Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1. Supposed to refer to the death of the dramatist Robert Greene in poverty in 1592 ; though Dowden thinks it more likely to refer to Spenser's " The Tears of the Muses ; "
what a thing it is, Taming of the Shrew, i. 2 ; under ban, II. Henry VI., iv. 2 ; in comparison with blood, Henry VIII., i. 1, "A beggar's book," etc. ; what, is, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 3 ; a mere hoard of gold till sack sets it in use, II. Henry IV., iv. 3; of the king, Henry V., i. 1; little will die the day thou art hanged, Timon of
Athens, ii. 2.
Leasing (lying), Twelfth Night, .i. 5 ; Coriolanus, v. 2.
Leather-coats (russet apples), II* Henry IV., v. 3.
Leave-taking, Hamlet, i. 3; "nothing I would so willingly
part withal," Hamlet, ii. 2 ; the last, Richard II., v. 1 ; of youth,
III. Henry VI., Hi. 2. See PARTING.
Le Beau, a courtier attending the usurping duke in As You Like
It, introduced in *'. 2.
Le Bon, Monsieur, one of the suitors of Portia mentioned in the
Merchant of Venice, i. 2.
Leda, Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5 ; the daughter of (Helen),
Taming of the Shrew, i. 2.
Leek, wearing the, Henry V., iv. 1, 7; v. 1. A leek is worn by
Welshmen on St. David's Day, March 1, because, it is said, St. David
ordered his soldiers to wear it in battle to distinguish them from
their enemies.
Leer (face, look), As You Like It, iv. 1.
Leet (a petty criminal court), Taming of the Shrew, induction,
1 ; Othello, Hi. 3.
Leg (cant for obeisance), make a, All's Well that Ends Well, ii.
2; I. Henry IV., ii. 4.
Legion, possessed him, Twelfth Night, Hi. 4. Meaning the
legion of devils.
i Legitimacy, King John, i. 1 ; ii. 1 ; King Lear, i. 2.
Leicester, Henry VIII., iv. 2.
Leicester, Earl of. See MAIDENHOOD.
Lendings (clothes), King Lear, Hi. 4.
Lenity, in war, Henry V., Hi. 6 ; makes robbers bold, 717. Henry VI., ii. 2, 6 ; away to heaven, respective, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. L
Lenox, a thane of Scotland, and character in Macbeth, introduced in i. 2. In Hi. 6, he expresses his suspicions of Macbeth. He
is keen, but dissembling and cowardly.
Lent, a joint of mutton or two in a whole, II. Henry IV., ii. 4 ;
shall be as long again, //. Henry VI., iv. 3. Butchers were forbidden to sell meat in Lent ; but some few were excepted from the general rule by special favour, and it is this license that is referred to. A
hare for a pie in, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4.
Lenten answer (dry or short answer), Twelfth Night, i. 5.
Lenten entertainment, Hamlet, ii. 2.
Leonardo, the servant of Bassanio in the Merchant of Venice,
appears in ii. 2.
Leonato, governor of Messina, father of Hero in Much Ado
about Nothing, is introduced in the first scene. He is merry, lighthearted, and indulgent, but weakly credulous of the slander against
his daughter.
Leonine, servant of Dionyza in Pericles, first appears in iv. 1, as
the intended murderer of Marina.
Leontes, King of Sicilia, character in A Winter's Tale, introduced in the second scene. His jealousy is the prime cause of the
action throughout the plot. Both Coleridge and Gervinus have, in
somewhat different ways, drawn contrasts between his jealousy and
that of the nobler Othello. His disposition is passionate, obstinate,
and tyrannical, his imagination gross, and his judgment weak.
Leopards, lions make, tame, Richard II., i. 1. The crest of
Norfolk was a golden leopard.
Lepidus, M. JEmilius, one of the triumvirs after Caesar's death,
character in Julius Ccesar, introduced in Hi. 1 ; Antony's opinion
of, iv. 1. Also a character in Antony and Cleopatra, introduced in
*. 4. Enobarbus travesties his praise of Caesar and Antony. In Hi.
5, he is seized by Caasar's order.
Lestrale, mentioned, Henry V., Hi. 5 ; iv. 8.
Let (stay, stop), Comedy of Errors, ii. 1, and elsewhere.
Lethe, Richard III., iv. 4; Julius Caesar, Hi. 1 ; Antony and
Cleopatra, ii. 7; Hamlet, i. 5; Twelfth Night, iv. 1; II. Henry IV.,
v. 2. In mythology, a river of the lower world. The shades of the
dead drank of it and forgot the sorrows of life.
Let me confess that we two must be twain, Sonnet xxxvi.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds, Sonnet cxvi.
Let not my love be called idolatry, Sonnet cv.
Letter, affect the (use alliteration), Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2.
Letter(s), of love, see LOVE-LETTERS ; allusions to the custom of
addressing letters to " the bosom" of a lady, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hi. 1; Hamlet, ii. 2; Armado's, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1; old ends of, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 1 ; unpleasant, Merchant
of Venice, Hi. 2 ; allusion to the custom of writing Emmanuel at
the head of, II. Henry VI., iv. 2 ; appetite after reading, Henry
VIII., Hi. 2 ; forged, King Lear, i. 2 ; of Goneril, King Lear, iv.
6 ; a, Lucrece, 1. 1296 ; destroyed, Lover's Complaint, I. 43 ; patents,
Richard, 11., ii. 1 ; effect of a, Henry V, ii. 2.
Let those who are in favor with their stars, Sonnet xxv.
Leviathan, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 2 ; Henry V., iii. 8.
Liar(s), believe themselves at length, The Tempest, i. 2, " Like
one who having unto truth," etc. ; an accomplished, Love's Labour's
Lost, i. 1 ; an infinite and endless, All's Well that Ends Well, iii. 6 ;
God and good men hate, Richard II., i. 1; one that lies three-thirds,
All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 5 ; one that would make you think
truth a fool, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3 ; old men apt to be,
//. Henry IV., Hi. 4; go to hell, Othello, v. 2.
Liberality, in offers, Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 ; prodigal, Timon
of Athens, i. 1, 2 ; ii. 1, 2.
Liberty, headstrong, Comedy of Errors, ii. 1 ; too much, Measure for Measure, i. 3, 4 ,' of fools, As You Like It, ii. 7 ; enough,
King John, iv. 1; blessing of, Cymbeline, i. 7 ; fighting for, //.
Henry VI., iv. 2.
Library, Titus And., iv. 1 ; Prospero's, The Tempest, i. 2 ; iii. 2.
Lichas, Merchant of Venice, ii. 1 ; Antony and Cleopatra, iv.
10 or 12. The attendant that brought the poisoned shirt to Hercules from Dejanira.
Licio, name assumed by Hortensio in Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1.
Liefest (dearest), II. Henry VI., iii. 1.
Lieger (citizen), an everlasting, Measure for Measure, iii. 1.
Lie(s), repeated, The Tempest, i. 2 ; invention of, All's Well that
Ends Well, iv. 1 ; charges of, Richard II., i. 1 ; iv. 1 ; Falstaff 's anticipated, 1. Henry IV., i. 2 ; gross, /. Henry IV., ii. 4>' f r a friend,
Coriolanus, v. 2 ; an odious, damned, Othello, v. 2 ; by the poor, Cymbeline, iii. 6 ; of lovers, Sonnet cxxxviii. ; only become tradesmen, A
Winter's Tale, iv. 3 ; women should not tell, Antony and Cleopatra,
i). 2 ; every third word a, //. Henry IV., iii. 2 ; circumstantial,
direct, etc., see DUELLING.
Lieutenant, to Aufidius, character in Coriolanus, iv. 7.
Lieutenant of the Tower, III. Henry VI., iv. 6. Supposed
to have been John Tibetoft, first Earl of Worcester.
Lieutenantry, dealt on, Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 9 or 11*
Allowed his lieutenants to do the fighting.
Life, rounded with a sleep, The Tempest, iv. 1; a shuttle, Merry
Wives of Windsor, v. 1 ; brevity and worthlessness of, Measure for
Measure, Hi. 1 ; death's fool, Measure, for Measure, Hi. 1 ; allusion
to death and his fool in an old play ; any, better than death compared with honour, Measure for Measure, Hi. 1 ; past fear of death,
Measure for Measure, v. 1 ; the idea of a, in imagination, Much Ado
about Nothing, iv. 1 ; taken when the means are taken, Merchant of
Venice, iv. 1; brevity of, As You Like It, ii. 7 ; iii. 2, song; web
of a mingled yarn, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3 ; to come, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 ; a twice-told tale, King John, iii. 4 ; the bloody
house of, King John, iv. 2 ; not to be lengthened, Richard 11., i. 3 ;
shortness of, /. Henry IV., v. 2, Hotspur's speech ; better than honour, 1. Henry IV., v. 3; less than honour, 1. Henry IV. r v. 4; time's
fool, /. Henry IV., v. 4; thought the slave of, I. Henry IV., v. 4;
set upon a cast, Richard III., v. 4; its wine drawn, Macbeth, ii. 3 ;
its fitful fever, Macbeth, iii. 2 ; its brevity a tale told by an idiot
a poor player, Macbeth, v.5; a charmed, Macbeth, v. 7; cheapness'
of man's, King Lear, ii.4; yields to age, Kvng Lear, iv. 1; treasury
of, King Lear, iv. 6 ; why should a dog have, King Lear, v. 3 ; the
light of, Othello, v. 2 ; nobleness of, Antony and Cleopatra, i. 1;
bears the stamp of the gods, Cymbeline, v. 4 ; shortness of, Sonnet
Ix. ; autumn and twilight of, Sonnet Ixxiii. ; man's, is tedious, Cymbeline, iii. 6; love of long, Antony and Cleopatra, i. 2 ; brevity of
its greatness, Henry VIII., prologue ; when it is a torment, Othello
i. 3 ; its glory like madness, Timon of Athens, i. 2.
Lig-arius, a conspirator in Julius Caesar, first appears in ii. 1.
Light, sought in books, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1. See STUDY.
Lightly (usually), Richard III., iii. 1.
Lightning, its swiftness, Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1;
Richard II., i. 3 ; King Lear, iv. 7 ; Romeo and Juliet, ii. 2 ; before
death, a, Romeo and Juliet, v. 3.
Light o' Love, a dance-tune, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2;
Much Ado about Nothing, iii. 4.
Like as the waves, Sonnet Ix.
Like as, to make our appetites more keen, Sonnet cxviii.
Lilly (or Lyly), John (about 1553-1600), quotations and allusions
to his Latin Grammar, Twelfth Night, ii. 3.
Lily (ies), A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4; Sonnet xcix. ; festering,
Sonnet xciv. ; to paint the, King John, iv. 2; perish like the, Henry
V11L, iii. 1.
Limander (Leander ?), Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1.
Limbo Patrum, place where the souls of the patriarchs remained till the descent of Christ, Henry VIII., v. 4.
Limbo, Tartar, Comedy of Errors, iv. 2.
Lime, in sack (to make it sparkle), Merry Wives of Windsor, i.
3 ; L Henry IV., ii. 4.
Limed (caught as with bird-lime), Twelfth Night, Hi. 4.
Limehouse, limbs of (in some editions Limbo), Henry FIZZ., v.
4. Limehouse was near Tower Hill, and the tribulation of Tower
Hill and the limbs of Limehouse may refer to the roughs that infested the neighborhood.
Limits, everything has, Comedy of Errors, ii. 1.
Lincoln, John Langland, Bishop of, character in Henry VIII.,
introduced in ii. 4. He is said to have made the first suggestion of
the divorce. There is a chapel in Lincoln Cathedral planned by him,
and named for him, Langland Chapel.
Line, the equinoctial, The Tempest, iv. 1. Quibbling allusion
to the supposed fact that the heat there caused loss of hair.
Line (strengthen), I. Henry IV., ii. 3.
Lineage, evidence of good, Cymbeline, iv. 2, " thou goddess,"
etc. ; /. Henry IV., i. 2. See BLOOD AND RANK.
Linen, Poins's, //. Henry IV., ii. 2.
Linguist, a, Sir Andrew, Twelfth Night, i. 3; iv. 1; All's Well
that Ends Well, iv. 3.
Link (torch), hats blackened with a, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 1.
Lion(s), royal disposition of the, As You Like It, iv. 3 ; in Arden, As You Like It, iv. 3 ; better to fall before the, than the wolf,
Twelfth Night, Hi. 1 ; the dying, Richard II., v. 1 ; will not touch
a true prince, I. Henry IV., ii. 4; the man that sold the skin of a,
Henry V., iv. 3 ; allusions to the story that Richard I. tore out the
heart of one sent to devour him, King John, i. 1 ; ii. 1.
Lion, a character in the interlude in Midsummer Night's Dream,
v. 1, taken by Snug the joiner.
Lion-skin, doff the, King John, Hi. 1.
Lips, pretty, Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi. 2; Measure for
Measure, iv. 1 ; Richard III., iv. 3 ; coward, Julius CcBsar, i. 2.
Lipsbury Pinfold, King Lear, ii. 2. Of unknown meaning.
Liquors, hot and rebellious, As You Like It, ii. 3. See DRUNKENNESS.
List (limit, edge of cloth), Measure for Measure, i. 1, 2 ; Twelfth
Night, Hi. 1 ; Samlet, iv. 5 or 2.
Liver, the, seat of love, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1 ; Much Ado about Nothing, iv. 1 ; Twelfth Night, i. 1 ; ii. 4 ; Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3 ; As You Like It, Hi. 2 ; white, Merchant of Venice, Hi. 2 ; Twelfth Night, Hi. 2.
Livery, sue his, I. Henry IV., iv. 3 ; Richard II., ii. 1, 3. Sue
delivery of his lands, as an heir who was of age sued for custody of
his own property.
Living, Falstaff's plan to get a, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 3.
Lizard, sting of the, II. Henry VI., Hi. 2; III. Henry VI., ii.
2; leg of, Macbeth, iv. 1.
Loan(s), to an enemy without interest, Merchant of Venice, i.
3 ; a, oft Joses both itself and friend, Hamlet, i. 3.
Lo ! as a careful housewife, Sonnet cxliii.
Lo ! in the orient, Sonnet vii.
Lob (lubber), Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1.
Lock (love-lock), Much Ado about Nothing, Hi. 3 ; v. 1. "
Lodovico, a kinsman of Othello's father-in-law, introduced in
iv. 1 of the play.
Lodowick, Friar, name assumed by the duke in Measure for
Measure, v. 1.
Loggats, Hamlet, v. 1. A game played with loggats or pieces
of wood, which are thrown at a jack. It is somewhat like bowls or
skittles.
Logic, of the schools, travesty on, Twelfth Night, iv. 2, " What
is that but that?"
Lombardy, garden of Italy, Taming of the Shrew, i. 1.
London, scene of parts of the historical plays. See LUD'S
TOWN.
London Bridge, order for the burning of, //. Henry VI., iv. 6.
In Shakespeare's day there was but the one bridge over the Thames at
London.
London-stone, II. Henry VI., iv. 6. A stone supposed to have
been set up in the time of the Romans, and now built into the wall
of St. Swithin's Church. Distances were measured from it.
Longaville, one of the lords attending on the king in Love's
Labour's Lost, introduced in the first scene.
** The only soil of his fair virtue's gloss,
If virtue's gloss will stain with any soil,
Is a sharp wit matched with too blunt a will."
Longing, immortal, Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2.
Looker-on in Vienna, a, Measure for Measure, v. 1.
Looking-glass, a, Richard II., iv. 1 ; to court an amorous,
Richard III., i. 1 ; at charges for a, Richard III., i. 2; to test life,
King Lear, v. 3.
Look in thy glass, Sonnet Hi.
Looks, a war of, Venus and Adonis, I. 355 ; foreboding, III.
Henry VI., ii. 1.
Lop (branches), Henry VIII., i. 2.
Lord, a, a character in the Taming of the Shrew. The trick
he played upon Sly is said to have been played upon an artisan by
Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. An account of it is in " Admirable and Memorable Histories," by Goulart, translated by E.
Grimstone, 1607, though it had appeared in English in 1570 in a
collection of stories by Richard Edwards. It was also in the old play.
Lord Chief-Justice Gascoigne. See GASCOIGNE.
Lord have mercy upon us, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2. An
inscription on houses infected with the plague.
Lord, how mine eyes, Passionate Pilgrim, xv.
Lord Mayor of London, the, a character in III. Henry VI.
Lord of my love, Sonnet xxvi.
Lord's Prayer, the, Merchant of Venice, iv. 1, " And that same
prayer," etc.
Lord's sake, for the, Measure for Measure, iv. 3, an allusion to
the practice of prisoners for debt begging from the window of passers-by, " For the Lord's sake."
Lorenzo, the lover of Jessica, in the Merchant of Venice, enters
in the first scene, a thoughtless, boyish, romantic personage.
Loss, racks the estimation of value, Much Ado about Nothing,
iv. 1 ; make comfort of, AWs Well that Ends Well, iv. 3 ; appreciation after, AWs Well that Ends Well, v. 3 ; how men should bear,
Julius Caesar, iv. 3 ; at sea, Merchant of Venice, iv. 1.
Lottery, of the caskets, Merchant of Venice, i. 2 ; ii. 1.
Louis, the Dauphin, afterward Louis VIII. of France, a character in King John, introduced in ii. 1.
Louis, the Dauphin of France, character in Henry V., first appears in ii. 4, He is a rash and confident young braggart. In *'. 2,
he sends tennis-balls to Henry to intimate that Henry is more fit for
that game than for war.
Louis X. of France, his title, Henry V., i. 2.
Louis XI. of France, character in III. Henry VI., introduced
in Hi. 3 ; Henry's opinion of his susceptibility, Hi. 1.
Louted (treated as a lout, mocked), I. Henry VI., iv. 3.
Louvre, your Pans, Henry V., ii. 4; Henry V1IL, i. 3. Love, The Tempest, i. 2; Hi. 1; trials of, The Tempest, iv. 1 ; folly
of, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1 ; marks of y Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2 ; ii. 1; take up, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2 ; like April,
Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 3 ; the chameleon, Two Gentlemen of
Verona, ii. 1 ; transformation by, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4 ;
fickleness in, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4, 6; Midsummer Night 's Dream, i. 1 ; iv. 4 ; Troilus and Cressida, v. 2 ; Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3 ; perjury in, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 6 ; v. 4; against obstacles, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 7 ; treachery in, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hi. 1 ; the way to win, Two Gentlemen
of Verona, Hi. 1, 2 ; effect of absence on. Two Gentlemen of Verona,
Hi. 2 ; spurned, Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 2 ; the curse in, Two
Gentlemen of Verona, v. 4; Reason physician of, Merry Wives of
Windsor, ii. 1 ; like a shadow flies, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2 ;
of another man's wife. Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2 ; omnipotent,
Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5 ; the dribbling dart of, Measure for
Measure, i. 4; temptation to, Measure for Measure, ii. 2, end; effect
of, on gravity, Measure for Measure* ii. 4 / increased by unkindness, Measure for Measure, Hi. 1, " This forenamed maid," etc. ;
jests on, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 1 ; declared by proxy, Much
Ado about Nothing, ii. 1 ; follies of, Much Ado about Nothing, ii.
$ ; signs of, Much Ado about Nothing, Hi. 2 ; protestations of, Much
Ado about Nothing, iv. 1; Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 2 ; Hi. 2 ;
Romeo and Juliet, ii. 6; Hi. 2; A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; iv. 3 or 4;
Henry V., v. 2 ; II. Henry VI., Hi. 2 ; Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 2;
iv. 2, end ; iv. 4 ; King Lear, i. 1 ; Cymbeline, i. 1, 3 ; the great in,
Love's Labour's Lost, i. 2 ; and rhyme, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 2,
end ; symptoms of, Love's Labour's Lost, ii. 1 ; how to act in, Love's
Labour's Lost, Hi. 1 ; falling in, Love's Labour's Lost, Hi. 1, end ;
iv. 3 ; effect of, on the faculties, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3 ; forerunners of, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3. near end; disguised the
wise in declaration of trial of, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; art of,
Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1, " Call you me fair," etc. ; course of
true, Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1; spaniel-like, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii.l; flower producing, Midsummer Night's Dream,
ii. 1, 2 ; and reason, Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi. 1 ; blind, Merchant of Venice, ii. 6 ; Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1 ; Romeo and
Juliet, ii. 1; confessed, Merchant of Venice, Hi. 2 ; diffidence of ?
As You Like It, i. 2; at first sight, As You Like It, i. 2, 3; Hi. 5;
absurdities of, As You Like It, ii. 4; marks of a man in, As You
Like It, Hi. 4 ; reproof for disdain of, As You Like It, Hi. 5 ; none ever died of, As You Like It, iv. 1 ; what 'tis sudden, As You Like
It, v. 2 ; Taming vf the Shrew, i. 1 ; rough, Taming of the Shrew,
ii. 1 ; lectures on pleading for another in, Taming of the Shrew, i,
2; despairing, All's Well that Ends Well, i. 1, 3 ; of one in higher
rank belongs to youth evidences of, All's Well that Ends Well, i.
3 ; ambition in, All's Well that Ends Well, i. 1 ; iii. 4 ; without,
All's Well that Ends Wett, iv. 2; come too late, All's Well that
Ends Well, v. 2 ; music the food of like the sea one sovereign,
Twelfth Night, i. 1 ; and flowers, Twelfth Night, i. 1, end ; messenger of, Twelfth Night, i. 4, 5 ; refused, Twelfth Night, i. 5 ; hungry
never told, Twelfth Night, ii. 4 / offered by a lady, Twelfth Night,
iii. 1 ; shows itself, Twelfth Night, iii. 1 ; unsought, Twelfth Night,
iii. 1, 4 ; declaration of, Twelfth Night, v. 1 ; indications of, A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; iv. 3 or 4; prosperity the bond of, A Winter's Tale,
iv. 3 ; turns to hate, Richard II., iii* 2 ; this no world for, I. Henry IV., ii. 3; worth a million, I. Henry IV., iii. 3; protestations
of, /. Henry IV., iv. 1 ; sincerity in, Henry V., v. 2 ; sudden, /. Henry VL, v. 3 ; to Clarence, Richard III., i* 1; suing for, Richard
III., i. 2; of Troilus, Troilus and Cressida, i. 1; before gained,
Troilus and Cressida, i. 2, end, ; nothing but (song). Troilus and
Cressida, iii. 1 ; enchantment of will is infinite, Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2 ; comes with lack, Coriolanus, iv. 1 ; tyrannous and paradoxical, Romeo and Juliet, i. 1 ; sprung from hate, Romeo and Juliet,
i. 5 ; infinite daring of, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 2 ; in the eyes, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3 ; like a natural slain by, Romeo and Juliet, ii.
4 ; heralds of, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 5 ; moderate lightness of, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 6 ; shadows of, Romeo and Juliet, v. 1 ; cooling,
Julius Ccesar, iv. 2 ; caution in, Hamlet, i. 3 ; madness in, Hamlet,
ii. 1, 2 ; inconstant, Hamlet, iii. 2, player king ; nature is fine (sensitive) in, Hamlet, iv. 5 or 2 ; effect of time on, Hamlet, iv. 7 (or 4) >
undemonstrative in misfortune, King Lear, i. 1 ; penalty for giving charms for, Othello, i. 2, 3 ; unnatural, Othello, i. 3 ; doting,
Othello, ii. 3, " And what's he," etc. ; its crown and hearted throne,
Othello, iii. 3 ; deceived, Othello, iv. 2 ; finds grace in frowns, Othello, iv. 3 ; not wise, Othello, v. 2 ; Antony and Cleopatra, i. 1, 3, 5 ;
iii. 9 or 11 ; protestations of, Cymbeline, i. 1, 3 ; impatience of, Cymbeline, iii. 2 ; reason of, Cymbeline, iv. 2.; repelled, Venus and
Adonis, lines 31, 130, 137 ; compact of fire, Venus and Adonis, I.
149 ; surfeits not, Venus and Adonis, I. 799 ; ridiculous, Venus and
Adonis, I. 985 ; prophecy concerning, Venus and Adonis, I. 1136 ;
want of, Sonnets viii-x. ; poetry of, Sonnet xxi. ; hears with eyes,
Sonnet xxiii. ; of the dead, Sonnet xxxi. ; self-abnegation in, Sonnets xxxv.-xxxix., lxxxviii.-xc., cxlix. ; wrongs of, Sonnets xl. y xcii.,
xciii. ; falsehood of, Sonnets xli., xlii. ; the eye and heart in, Sonnets xlvi., xlvii. ; coldness in, Sonnet xlix. ; renewed, Sonnet Ivi. ;
makes a willing slave, Sonnets Ivii., Iviii. ; watchful, Sonnet Ixi. ;
change in, Sonnets Ixxxvii.-xc. ; the best, Sonnet xci. ; in absence,
Sonnets xcvii., xcviii. ; show of, Sonnet cii. ; constancy in, Sonnet
cv. ; prescience of loss in, Sonnet cvii. ; expression of, like prayers,
Sonnet cviii. ; wanderings of, Sonnet cix. ; alchemy of, Sonnet cxiv. ;
growth of, Sonnet, cxv. ; that alters, when it alteration finds, Sonnet
cxvi. ; not time's fool, Sonnet cxvi. ; trial of the constancy of, Sonnet
cxvii. ; policy in, Sonnet cxviii. ; renewed, Sonnet cxix. ; reconciliation in, Sonnet cxx. ; independent of circumstance, Sonnet cxxiv. ;
of one unworthy, Sonnets cxxvii., cxlii.-cxliv., cl., clii. ; unfaithfulness in, Sonnets cxxxiii., cxxxiv. ; blind fool, Sonnet cxxxvii. ; deceived, Sonnets cxxxvii., cxxxviii. ; despair in, Sonnet cxl. ; not in
the senses, Sonnet cxli. ; of two, Sonnet cxliv. ; a fever, Sonnet
cxlvii.; blind, Sonnet cxlviii.; perjury in, Sonnet clii.; fire of,
Sonnets cliii., cliv. ; betrayed, Lover's Complaint ; potential, Lover's
Complaint, I. 264; fickle, Passionate Pilgrim, vii., xvii.; perfect,
The Phoenix and the Turtle.
Love-broker, report of valour the best, Twelfth Night, Hi. 2.
Love-in-idleness, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. The pansy.
Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate, Sonnet cxlii.
Love is too young to know what conscience is, Sonnet cli.
Lovel, Francis, Lord, character in Richard III., first appears in
iii. 4. He was one of Richard's chief supporters, fled to France
after Bosworth, but returned and took the side of Lambert Simnel.
Love-Letters, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2 ; ii. 1; iii. 1;
Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1 ; Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 1, 2 ; v. 2 ;
As You Like, It, iv. 3 ; Twelfth Night, ii. 3, 5 ; Hamlet, ii. 2; Gymfeline, iii. 4 ; blanks for, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1.
Lovell, Sir Thomas, character in Henry VIII., introduced in i.
2. He was a favourite with both Henry VII. and Henry VIII., was
a devout Catholic, endowed the priory at Halliwell, Shoreditch, and
built a chapel there, where he was buried. An inscription reads :
" All ye nunns of Halliwell,
Pray ye both day and night
For the soul of Sir Thomas Lovell,
Whom Harry the Seventh made Knight."
Sir Thomas Lovell is mentioned in Richard III., iv, 4.
Love-making, Comedy of Errors, Hi. 2 ; iv. 2 ; Merry Wives
of Windsor, ii. 1, 2 ; Hi. 4; Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1; Hi.
2 ; Twelfth Night, i. 5 ; v. 1; Richard III., i. 2 ; Antony and Cleopatra, i. 3; Cymbeline, ii. 3 ; Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 2; iv. 2;
v. 2 ; Romeo and Juliet, ii. 1 ; The Tempest, Hi. 1 ; Much Ado about
Nothing, iv. 1 ; v.3 ; Taming of the Shrew, Hi. 1; A Winter's Tale,
iv. 4 ; Venus and Adonis, lines 1-768.
Lover(s), mercenary, Measure for Measure, Hi. 1, " She should
this Angelo have married," etc. ; keen faculties of, Love's Labour's
Lost, iv. 3; trusting a, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; fantasies of all
compact of imagination, Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1 ; sighs of,
As You Like It, ii. 7 ; propositions of a, As You Like It, Hi. 2 ;
given to poetry, As You Like It, Hi. 4> fickle in everything but
love, Twelfth Night, ii. 4 ; generosity in, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4 >
vows of, Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 2 ; sighs of, Romeo and Juliet,
i. 1 ; chaffing a, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 1; ravings of, Romeo and
Juliet, ii. 2 ; impatience of, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 5 ; exiled, Romeo
and Juliet, Hi. 3; partings of, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 5 ; Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 2 ; Antony and Cleopatra, i. 3 ; meeting of,
Othello, ii. 1, " my fair," etc. ; exaggerations of, Antony and Cleopatra, i. 5 ; tedious, Venus and Adonis, I. 841; gifts of, Lover's
Complaint, lines 197, 232 ; like misers, Sonnet Ixxv. ; see only the
beloved, Sonnets cxiii.. cxiv.
Lover's Complaint, A, a poem first published in 1609. with the
first edition of the Sonnets. From its style it is judged to have been
written before the Sonnets and after the other poems.
Loves, of the poets, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4.
Love-songs, Hamlet, iv. 5 or 2 ; Troilus and Cressida,
Hi. 1.
Love-Sonnets, addressed to a man, i.-cxxvi.; to a woman,
cxxvii.-clii.
Love's Labour's Lost, one of the earliest, if not the very earliest, of the comedies, the date commonly assigned to it being the
poet's twenty-fifth year. It was first published in 1598 in an edition
" corrected and augmented." Shakespeare's work on Titus Andronicus
is alone thought to be earlier than this in its original form. No play
or story is known on which this comedy could have been founded.
Editors have discovered only a passage in Monstrelet, concerning a
negotiation between the Kings of Navarre and France, by which
Navarre gave up the castle of Cherbourg, the county of Evreux, and
all the other lordships he possessed within the kingdom of France, and received the duchy of Nemours and two hundred thousand gold
crowns. The scene is Navarre. Coleridge says of the play :
" The satire is chiefly on follies of words. . . . The frequency of
the rhymes, the sweetness as well as the smoothness of the metre,
and the number of acute and fancifully illustrated aphorisms, are
all as they ought to be in a poet's youth. True genius begins by
generalizing and condensing ; it ends in realizing and expanding."
Love's Labour's Won. See ALL'S WELL THAT END'S WELL.
Love-verses, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 1 ; Hi. 1 ; iv. 2 ;
Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2, 3 ; As You Like It, Hi. 2 ; Twelfth
Night, ii. 5 ; directions for writing, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hi. 2.
Lowly, better to be. Henry VIIL, ii. 3 ; Cymbeline, i. 6.
Loyalty, in service, As You Like It, i. 3 ; ii. 3 ; professions of,
Richard II., i. 3 ; Henry VIIL, Hi. 2 ; King John, iv. 2 ; Macbeth,
i. 4 ,' difficult, of York, Richard II., ii. 2 ; Kent's, King Lear, i. 4 ;
pretended, King Lear, Hi. 5 ; to the fallen, Antony and Cleopatra,
Hi. 11 or 13 ; where shall it find a harbour in the earth ? //. Henry
VI., v. 1.
Lozel (good-for-nothing), A Winter's Tale, ii. 3.
Lubber, the world a great, Twelfth Night, iv. 1.
Lubber's Head (leopard's), an inn, //. Henry IV., ii. 1.
Lucentio, the successful suitor of Bianca in the Taming of the
Shrew, introduced in i. 1, who goes into her father's family as a
teacher under the assumed name of Cambio.
Luce, servant of Adriana in the Comedy of Errors.
Luces, the dozen white, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1. A supposed allusion to the arms of the Lucy family, in which there were
three pike, luce being another name for that fish. See SHALLOW.
Lucetta, Julia's maid in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, who is
keen-sighted enough to discover the true character of Proteus, appears in i. 2.
Luciana, sister of the wife of Antipholus of Ephesus in Comedy
of Errors. She is mild-tempered and gentle, forming a contrast to
her vixenish sister, and advocating the theory of wifely submission
to which Katherine is brought in the Taming of the Shrew.
Lucianus, nephew of the player king, Hamlet, Hi. 2.
Lucifer, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2, end ; falls like, Henry
VIIL, Hi. 2 ; King John, iv. 3.
Lucilius, a servant of Timon of Athens, introduced in i. 1.
Lucilius, a friend of Brutus in Julius Ccesar, appears in iv, 2;
made prisoner, v. 4.
Lucio, a fantastic in Measure for Measure, introduced in i. 2, a
witty but vile and shameless character.
Lucius, one of the flattering lords in Timon of Athens, introduced in Hi. 2, where he mentions the presents he has received from
Timon, and makes an excuse for not lending him money in his need.
Lucius, servant of Brutus in Julius Ccesar, introduced in ii. 1.
Lucius, character in Titus Andronicus, son of Titus, introduced
in i. 1 or 2, where he demands the sacrifice of a prisoner to the
shades of his brothers ; banished, Hi. 1 ; general of the Goths, iv. 4 /
v. 1 ; made emperor, v. 3.
Lucius, Young, a brave child, son of Lucius in Titus Andronicus,
introduced in Hi. 2.
Lucius, brother of Antony, mentioned in Antony and Cleopatra,
i. 2, as in alliance with Fulvia.
Lucius, Caius, general of the Roman forces in Cymbeline, introduced in Hi. 1, where he demands payment of the tribute.
Lucius Pella, condemned for taking bribes, Julius Caesar, iv. 3.
Luck, bad, an indication of want of piety, Merry Wives of Wind'
sor, iv. 5 ; good, in odd numbers, Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 1. See
OMENS.
Lucrece, a poem published in 1594, dedicated to the Earl of
Southampton. The story on which it is founded is told by Ovid and
Livy, and is given in the argument that Shakespeare prefixed to the
poem. Coleridge says :
" In this poem [' Venus and Adonis '] and * The Rape of Lucrece '
Shakespeare gave ample proof of his possession of a most profound,
energetic, and philosophical mind, without which he might have
pleased, but could not have been a great dramatic poet."
References to Lucrece, As You Like It, Hi. 2, song ; Taming of
the Shrew, ii. 1; Twelfth Night, ii. 5.
Lucretius, Lucrece, I. 1751.
Lucullus, one of the flattering lords in Timon of Athens, introduced in Hi. 1. When Timon sends to him for a loan in this scene,
he tries to bribe the servant to say to Timon that he had not been
seen. Timon's servant calls him " Thou disease of a friend."
Lucy, Lady Elizabeth, Richard III., Hi. 7.
Lucy, Sir William, character in I. Henry VI., first appears in
iv. 3, seeking reinforcements for Talbot.
Lucy, Sir Thomas, supposed allusion to, in Merry Wives of
Windsor, i. 1. See LUCES and SHALLOW.
Ludlow Castle, an ancient and celebrated castle in Shropshire, where the young prince (Edward V.) was living with his uncle, Earl Rivers, Richard III., ii. 2. In the time of Elizabeth, the castle was in possession of the Sidney family.
Lud's-town (London), Cymbeline, iii. 1; iv. 2.
Lunatic, the, imagination of, Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1 ;
speech of, Cymbeline, v. 4. See INSANE, INSANITY, MADNESS.
Lunes (insane freaks), Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 2 ; A Winter's Tale, ii. 2 ; Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3 ; Hamlet, iii. 3.
Lupercal, feast of, Julius Ccesar, i. 1 ; iii. 2. In honour of Lupercus, a god of the woods and of shepherds, who was supposed to
keep away wolves. It fell on February 15th.
Lurched (robbed), Coriolanus, ii. 2.
Lust, wicked fire of, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1 ; though to
an angel linked, Hamlet, i. 5; Venus and Adonis, I. 794; Sonnet
cxxix.
Lustick (lustig, merry), AWs Well that Ends Well, ii. 3.
Lute, pleasing of a, Richard III., i. 1 ; melancholy as a lover's,
I. Henry IV., i. 2 ; broken over the teacher, Taming of the Shrew,
U. 1 ; music of the, Henry VIII., iii. 1.
Lutheran, a spleeny, Henry VIII., iii. 2.
Lux tua, etc., Pericles, ii. 2. Thy light is my life.
Lying, the world given to, I. Henry IV., v. 3 ; as easy as, Hamlet, iii. 2 ; becomes only tradesmen, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 ; old men
subject to the vice of, II. Henry IV., iii. 2.
Lychorida, nurse of Marina, in Pericles, first appears in iii.,
chorus ; her death, iv. 1.
Lymoges, Archduke of Austria. See AUSTRIA.
Lycurgeses, Coriolanus, ii. 1.
Lym, a hunting-dog, King Lear, iii. 6.
Lysander, character in Midsummer Night's Dream, introduced
in i. 1, a lover of Hermia.
Lysimachus, governor of Mitylene, character in Pericles, first
appears in iv. ; betrothed to Marina, v. 1 or 2.
Mab, Queen, Romeo and Juliet, i. 4.
Macbeth is a drama sometimes placed first among the histories,
but usually with the tragedies. It was included in the folio of 1623 ;
the earliest known allusion to it was made in 1610 ; and the date of
writing is placed between 1604 and 1610. The story is given mainly
as it appears in Holinshed's " Chronicles." The circumstances of
the assassination are found in Holinshed's account of the murder of King Duff by Donwald and his wife in their castle at Fores. The
time of the historical action is from 1039 to 1057 ; but Shakespeare
has crowded the events together for dramatic effect. Many castles
are designated as the one in which Macbeth killed Duncan. Grlamis
Castle, five miles from Forfar, is one ; Cawdor Castle, six miles from
Nairn, is another ; Fores Castle a third, and Macbeth's castle at Inverness a fourth. In Macbeth's time there were no castles of stone and mortar; timber and sods were the materials used. A castle built of these materials stood on an eminence southeast of Inverness. This was razed by Malcolm Canmore, son of Duncan, and a new one was built on another part of the hill. It was this castle that Dr. Johnson visited in 1773, supposing it to be the identical castle in which Duncan was murdered.
" While in ' Romeo and Juliet ' and in ' Hamlet ' we feel that
Shakespeare now began and now left off, and refined upon or brooded
over his thoughts, Macbeth seems as if struck out at a heat, and
imagined from first to last with unabated fervour. It is like a
sketch by a great master in which everything is executed with rapidity and power, and a subtlety of workmanship which has become instinctive." DOWDEN.
Macbeth, King of Scotland, is introduced in i. 3 of the play, in
the scene on the witches' heath; murders Duncan, ii. 1, and is
made king ; causes Banquo to be murdered, Hi. 1 ; and Macduff 's
family, iv. 1, 2 ; meets the English army at Dunsinane, Act v., and
is slain by Macduff, v. 8. As a matter of fact, he was not killed at
Dunsinane, but at Lumphanan two years later, in 1057. He is described by his wife in the fifth scene of the first act ; his ambition
has to contend with conscientious scruples; "What thou wouldst
highly, that wouldst thou holily ; " he is " too full of the milk of
human kindness to catch the nearest way." These in the beginning
are very nearly balanced ; he dwells on the prophecy and the means
by which he might realize it ; on the other hand, he dwells on Duncan's character and the honours he had received from him. The
scale inclines to the side of right, when his wife's influence is again
exerted, and Duncan's death is resolved upon. Struggling with remorse of conscience, he confuses it, as Coleridge says, with the feeling of insecurity, and plunges into more crime in order to make
himself safe in the results of the first. But his is not a character to
be contented or happy in infamy ; his conscience and his imagination work upon him till he is as if driven on by an irresistible fate,
having " stepped so far in blood that returning were as tedious as
going over." So possessed is he with despair, that the news of his wife's death only draws from him the philosophy of hopelessness:
" And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death."
" Although it is difficult to separate the Macbeth of history from
the Macbeth of Shakespeare and tradition, he appears to have ruled
Scotland well, and to have benefited the church in no small degree."
DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Macbeth, Lady, character in Macbeth, introduced in i. 5, where
she promptly plans the murder of Duncan on hearing that he is to
sleep at her house ; spurs on Macbeth to it, i. 7 ; places the daggers
by the guards, ii. 2 ; in the banquet scene, Hi. 4; in the sleep-walking scene, v. 1; the doctor's report, v. 3; her death, v. 5. The
wife of Macbeth in history was the Lady Guroch, granddaughter
of Kenneth IV., and was a widow before her marriage with Macbeth.
" Lady Macbeth is of a finer and more delicate nature [than Macbeth]. Having fixed her eye upon an end the attainment for her
husband of Duncan's crown she accepts the inevitable means ; she
nerves herself for the terrible night's work by artificial stimulants ;
yet she cannot strike the sleeping king who resembles her father.
Having sustained her weaker husband, her own strength gives way ;
and in sleep, when her will cannot control her thoughts, she is piteously afflicted by the memory of one stain of blood upon her little
hand." DOWDEN.
Macdonwald, a rebel against Duncan, vanquished and killed,
Macbeth, i. 2.
Macduff, Thane of Fife, an important character in Macbeth, introduced in i. 6; he discovers the murdered king, ii. 1; has fled to
England, iv. 1; confers with Malcolm and hears of the murder of
his family, iv. 3 ; slays Macbeth, v. 8. Macdufl is loyal, slow to
suspect, and unambitious ; but, when roused, he is resolute, brave,
and unbending. The remains of Macduff's castle are said to exist
about three miles from Dysart, in Fifeshire. Other ruins are also
pointed out as his castle.
Macduff, Lady, character in Macbeth, introduced in iv. 2, where
she witnesses the murder of her little son, and is pursued by the
murderers and afterward killed. The news carried to Macduff by
Bosse, iv. 3.
Macduff, the little son of, Macbeth, iv. 2.
Macedon, compared with Monmouth, Henry V., iv. 7.
Machiavel, Merry Wives of Windsor, Hi. 1 ; I. Henry VL, v.4; III. Henry VI., Hi. 2. He was born in Italy in 1469. Henry
VJ. died in 1471.
MacMorris, Captain, character in Henry V., first appears in in.
2. He is an Irish captain, described by Fluellen as having " no
more directions in the true discipline of the wars, look you, of the
Roman disciplines, than is a puppy dog ! "
Madmen, speech of, Cymbdine, v. 4, "Tongue and brain
not " ; imagination of, Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1.
Madness, symptoms and treatment of, Comedy of Errors, iv. 4;
Measure for Measure, iv. 4 ; cause of, Comedy of Errors, v. 1 ; sense
in, Measure, for Measure, v. 1; letters of, Twelfth Night, v. 1;
prayed for, King John, Hi. 4> method in, Hamlet, ii. 2 ; like sweet
bells jangled, Hamlet, Hi. 1 ; a test of, Hamlet, Hi. 4, " Ecstasy !
My pulse," etc. ; Ophelia's, Hamlet, iv. 5 or 2 ; harm done in, Hamlet, v. 2, "Give me your pardon," etc.; prayer concerning, King
Lear, i. 5 ; he's that way, King Lear, Hi. 4 ; remedy for, King
Lear, iv. 4 ; reason in, King Lear, iv. 6 ; recovery from, King Lear,
iv. 7 ; the error of the moon, Othello, v. 2 ; the world mad, King
John, ii. 2. See INSANITY.
Madonna, the, appears to Joan, /. Henry VI., i. 2.
Magic, The Tempest, i. 2; Hi. 1-3 ; music by, The Tempest,
Hi. 2; graves opened by Prospero abjures, The Tempest, v. 1. See
WITCHCRAFT.
Magician, Rosalind claims to be a, As You Like It, v. 2 ; Glendower a, Z Henry IV., i. 3.
Magistrate(s), of the people, a, Coriolanus, Hi. 1, " Who puts
his shall," etc. ; petty, Coriolanus. ii. 1.
Magnanimity, toward enemies, /. Henry IV., v. 5 ; of a soldier, Coriolanus, ii. 2. Magne Dominator poli, etc., Titus Andronicus, iv. 1. Great
lord of the heaven, dost thou so leniently hear of wickedness f so
leniently look upon it ?
Magnificoes, Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 ; Othello, i. 2.
Magpie, the (magot-pie), Macbeth, Hi. 4 ; (pie) ///. Henry VI.,
v.6.
Mahomet, inspired with a dove, I. Henry VI., i. 2. Alluding
to the story that Mahomet had a tame dove, which he used to feed
with wheat from his ear, and which he led his followers to believe
was the Holy Spirit.
Mahu, a fiend, King Lear, Hi. 4 ; iv. 1. The names of fiends
in these two scenes and in Hi. 6 are said to be taken from a book by one Harsnet, published in 1603, entitled " Declaration of Popish Impostures," and giving many details about witchcraft.
Maidenhood, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. See ELIZABETH.
It has also been supposed that the " little western flower " may refer
to Lettice, Countess of Essex, with whom Leicester carried on an
intrigue during her husband's absence in Ireland. The " mermaid
on a dolphin's back," once interpreted as referring to Mary Queen of
Scots, is now known to refer to a part of the exhibition given by
Leicester at Kenilworth for Elizabeth's entertainment, in 1575, a
mermaid on a dolphin's back with shooting fires.
Maiden(s), to travel alone, As You Like It, i. 3 ; when they
sue, Measure for Measure, i. 5; flowers for, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3
or 4 ; advice to a, Hamlet, i. 3 ; Hi. 1.
Maine, an ancient province in France, lost to England, II.
Henry VI.,i.l; iv. 1, 7.
Majesty, will not endure boldness in a subject, /. Henry I V.,
i. 3 ; weariness under, II. Henry IV., iv. 4; sits not so easy, //.
Henry IV., v. 2 ; interests dependent on, Hamlet, Hi. 3 ; stoops to
folly, King Lear, i. 1.
Make (do), As You Like It, i. 1 ; ii. 2, and elsewhere.
Makeless (mateless), Sonnet ix.
Malady, the lesser dwarfed by the greater, King Lear, Hi. 4.
Malchus, of Arabia, Antony and Cleopatra, Hi. 6.
Malcolm, afterward Malcolm III., surnamed Canmore, son of
Duncan in Macbeth, introduced in i. 2. In i. 4 he is named Prince
of Cumberland, which was equivalent to being appointed successor
to the throne ; flees to England, ii. 1 ; makes accusations against
himself to test Macduff, iv. 3 ; returns with his uncle Siward to fight
against Macbeth, v. 2 ; is hailed as king. v. 8. He is represented as
able and brave, though cautious and prudent ; and this seems to have
been the character of Malcolm III. in history, whose reign extended
from 1058 to 1093. Canmore signifies " Great Head."
Maledictions, The Tempest, i. 2; ii. 2; Hi. 2; iv. 1; v.l;
Troilus and Cressida, ii. 1, 3 ; v. 1. See CURSES.
Malevolence, expressed, Coriolanus, iv. 5 ; Macbeth, iv. 3.
Malice, nothing set down in, Othello, v. 2. See ENVY.
Mall, Mistress, Twelfth Night, i. 3. A character of Shakespeare's
time usually known as Mall Cutpurse. She dressed in man's clothing, and was the heroine of a play by Middleton and Dekker, " The
Roaring Girl," which was acted at the Fortune Theatre and was
published in 1611. Her real name was Mary Frith, and her chief exploit was the robbery of General Fairfax on Hounslow Heath, for which she was sent to Newgate.
Malmsey-Butt, Richard III., i. 4. Clarence has been called from this " Malmsey Clarence."
Malt-worms (drunkards), I. Henry IV., ii. 1.
Malvolio, Olivia's steward in Twelfth Night, introduced in i. 5.
He is a fool of the solemn pompous order, conceited and Pharisaical.
His puritanical precision incites the conspirators in the household to
play their cruel practical jokes upon him, to which his conceit makes
him fall an easy prey.
Mamilius, the little prince in A Winter's Tale, introduced in i.
2; his talk with the queen's ladies, ii. 1; his illness, ii. 3; his
death in consequence of his mother's disgrace, Hi, 2.
" And to the very end I must confess that I have in me so much
of the spirit of Rachel weeping in Ramah as will not be comforted
because Mamilius is not. It is well for those whose hearts are light
enough to take perfect comfort in the substitution of his sister Perdita for the boy who died of ' thoughts high for one so tender.' Even
the beautiful suggestion that Shakespeare as he wrote had in mind his
own dead little son still fresh and living at his heart, can hardly add
more than a touch of additional tenderness to our perfect and piteous
delight in him." SWINBURNE.
Mammering (hesitating), Othello, Hi. 3.
Mammet (puppet), Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 5.
Mammock (tear to pieces), Coriolanus, i. 3.
Man, varnish of a complete, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 2 ; place for
every, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3 ; God made him; therefore
let him pass for a, Merchant of Venice, i. 2 ; a better, better spared,
/. Henry IV., v. 4 / a model, //. Henry IV., ii. 3 ; grace of, sought,
Richard III., iii. 4 ', a, not honoured as man, Troilus and Cressida,
Hi. 3 ; one honest, Timon of Athens, iv. 3, " Had I a steward," etc. ;
nature might say this was a, Julius Ccesar, v. 5 ; died like a, Macbeth, v. 7 ; taken for all in all, Hamlet, i. 2 ; you cannot play upon
a, Hamlet, iii. 2 ; to give the world assurance of a, Hamlet, Hi. 4;
what a piece of work is, Hamlet, ii. 2 ; capability of, Hamlet, iv. 4
or 1; more than wit, King Lear, ii. 4; unaccommodated (uncivilized), King Lear, iii. 4 ; life of a, tedious, Cymbeline, Hi. 6 ; a, with
a woman's beauty, Sonnet xx. See MEN.
Manage (behaviour), As You Like It, i. 1.
Mandragora (mandrake), a soporific, Othello, iii. 3 ; Antony
and Cleopatra, i. 5.
Mandrake, the, superstition concerning that it gave a shriek when pulled from the ground, and that an evil fate pursued the one that rooted it up, //. Henry VI., Hi. 2 ; Romeo and Juliet, iv. 3.
Mandrake (a small person), //. Henry IV., i. 2.
Manhood, forgot on earth. /. Henry IV., ii. 4; degenerated,
Much Ado about Nothing, iv. 1 ; is called foolery when it stands
against a falling fabric, Coriolanus, Hi. 1.
Manner, taken with the (in the act), Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1 ;
I. Henry IV., ii. 4.
Manner, born to the, Hamlet, i. 4. The persistent miswriting of
this word in the familiar quotation (making it manor) arises from a
neglect to consider the context, and also from ignoring the fact that
Hamlet was born, not to a manor, but to a whole kingdom.
Manners, of the court, in the country, As You Like It, Hi. 2;
rude, Twelfth Night, iv. 1; defect of, I. Henry IV., Hi. 1.
Manningtree ox, I. Henry IV., ii. 4. Manningtree was a
place in Essex, noted for fairs, where probably an ox had been
roasted whole.
Mannishness, in a woman, Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 3.
Mantle, a magic, The Tempest, i. 2.
Mantua, a city in northern Italy, scene of Romeo and Juliet, v. 1.
Mantuan, good old, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2. .Battista Spagnolus (1443-1516), a writer of Latin verse.
Many, converging in one, Henry V., i. 2.
Map, a new, with the Indies, Twelfth Night, iii. 2. " A map to
accompany Linschoten's 'Voyage,' published in England in 1598,
the first in which the eastern islands were shown."
Marcellus, an officer in Hamlet, introduced in i. 1. He was a
friend of Hamlet, and to him the ghost appeared before Horatio or
Hamlet saw it. In the interpretation of the characters of the play
alluded to under the name of the play, the character of Marcellus is
thought to be meant for that of Sir Edward Dyer, friend of Sir
Philip Sidney. See under the name of the play.
March, Earl of. See MORTIMER and EDWARD IV.
March, the Ides of, the 15th, Julius Ccesar, i. 2 ; iv. 3 ; v. 1.
Marcians, the house of the, Coriolanus, ii. 3.
Marcius, Caius, afterward Coriolanus, q. v.
Marcius, Young, son of Coriolanus, introduced in v. 3 of the
drama ; discussed in i. 3.
Marcus Andronicus, character in Titus Andronicus, brother
of Titus. He enters in i. 1, where he announces the choice of Titus
as emperor; his grief and generosity, ii. 4 or 5; iii, -?,
Mardian, an attendant of Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra,
introduced in i. 5.
Margarelon, Priam's natural son, introduced in Troilus and
Cressida, v. 8.
Margaret, a gentlewoman attending on Hero in Much Ado
about Nothing, introduced in ii. 1, who is mistaken by the watching
prince and Claudio for Hero while she is talking to Borachio from
the chamber-window of her mistress.
Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI., and daughter of
Kegnier (Rene), King of Naples, Sicily, and Jerusalem, character in
the three parts of Henry VI. and in Richard III., first appearing in
J. Henry VI., v. 3, where Suffolk has captured and fallen in love
with her, and forms the plan of marrying her to Henry VI. The
betrothal follows in v. 5. Her . contempt for .the king is expressed
in the second part, i. 3, as well as her jealousy of the Duchess of
Gloucester, to whom she gives in this scene a box on the ear; her
affection for Suffolk, Hi. 2. In the third part, i. 1, she resolves to
raise an. army, in her wrath at Henry for disinheriting their son.
She defeated the Yorkists at Wakefield, i. 3-5, where York was
slain, but suffered defeat at Mortimer's Cross, Towton, ii. 3-6, Bar,net, v. 2, 3, and lastly, at .Tewksbury, v. 4,5, where her son was killed.
The Margaret of the play. is coarse, fierce, revengeful, unprincipled.
But her love for Suffolk is not in history, neither is there sufficient
evidence that she had a hand in Gloucester's death, nor any that she
stabbed York. She was confined in the Tower from 1471 to 1475,
when she was ransomed by Louis XL, and lived in France till her
death in 1482. It is therefore contrary to history to introduce her in
the reign of Richard, which began in 1483; but 'her presence is
dramatically effective, as she appears only to curse and watch with
greedy eyes for the fulfilment of her curses, .Richard III., i. 3; iv. 4.
Margery Jourdain. See JOURDAIN.
Maria, one of the ladies attending, on the princess in Love's
Labour's Lost, first appears in ii. 1.
Maria, Olivia's waiting-maid in Tivelfth Night, introduced in i.
3, a keen, shrewd, witty woman, who captures Sir Toby Belch
through her cleverness in putting up the practical joke on Malvolio.
Marian, Maid, I. Henry JV., Hi.. 3. The companion of Robin
Hood, and a leading character in the morris-dance, where the part
was generally taken by a man. Hence a name for a masculine
woman.
Mariana, a .character in Measure for Measure, first mentioned in in. 1, introduced in iv. 1, at " the moated grange at St. Luke's," after she has been betrothed to Angel o and deserted by him a pitiable character. In the original story, the part she takes in the
play was united with that of Isabella.
Mariana, an unimportant character in All's Well that Ends
Well, Hi. 5.
Marigold (sunflower), A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4.
Marina, daughter of Pericles and Thaisa, introduced in the
chorus of the third act of Pericles as an infant ; left at Tharsus, Hi.
3 ; plot against her, prologue and first scene of Act iv; in Mitylene,
iv. 2 or 3, 6 ; her epitaph, iv. 4 ; her accomplishments, prologue to
Act v. ; meets her father, v. 1 ; betrothed to Lysimachus, v. 1 or 2.
" She is indeed a nature that appears capable of remaining unsullied amid the impurest, and, as her persecutor says, ' of making
a puritan of the devil.' " GERVINUS.
Marjoram, Sonnet xcix.
Mark, God save the, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 2, and elsewhere.
The meaning is doubtful. It has been suggested that mark may
mean omen save from the disaster threatened. Another suggestion is that it means the cross, the mark of the cross.
Mark Antony, his genius rebuked by Ca3sar, Macbeth, Hi. 1..
See ANTONTUS.
Market, the, ended, Love's Labour's Lost, Hi. 1. Alluding to
the proverb, " Three women and a goose make a market."
Marie, a French earl, mentioned in Henry V., iv. 8.
Marlowe, Christopher (born in the same year with Shakespeare,
1564, died in 1593), quoted, Merry Wives of Windsor, Hi. 1 ; As You
Like It, Hi. 5. See AUTHORSHIP and PASSIONATE PILGRIM, THE.
Marmoset, the, The Tempest, ii. 2.
Marriage(s), rite of, The, Tempest, iv. 1; v. 1; proposals of,
Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1 ; mercenary motives for, Merry Wives
of Windsor, Hi. 2, 4; without love, Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5,
near the end ; railings against, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 3 ; ii.
1, 3 ; v. 4,' goes by destiny, Merchant of Venice, ii. 9 ; As You Like,
It, Hi. 3 ; coldness in, As You Like It, iv. 1 ; a world-without-end
bargain, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3 ; a mad, Taming of the Shrew,
Hi. 2 ; disparity of years in, Twelfth Night, ii. 4; reasons for, All's
Well that Ends Well, i.3; offer of, from a lady, All's Well that Ends
Well, ii. 3; a distasteful, All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 3, end; unfaithfulness in, A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; a father's counsel concerning,
A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 ; second, A Winter's Tale, v. 1 ; treaty of, John, ii. 1 or 2 ; promise of, //. Henry IV., ii. 1 ; God the
best maker of, Henry V., v.; contract of, /. Henry VI., v. 1, 5 ;
proposed, I. Henry VI., v. 3 ; forced, /. Henry VI., v. 5 ; by proxy,
II. Henry VI., i. 1 ; hasty, ///. Henry VI., iv. 1 ; with a sister-in-law, Henry VIII., ii. 4 ; of Eomeo and Juliet, ii. 6 ; proposed, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 5 ; an abhorred, Romeo and Juliet, iv. 1; of a newly-made widow, Hamlet, i. 2 ; state considerations in, Hamlet, i.3 ; no more, to be, Hamlet, Hi. 1 ; second, Hamlet, Hi. 2, player
queen ; motives in, King Lear, i. 1 ; justification of a secret, Othello,
i. 3 ; of Antony and Octavia, Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2, 6 ; of Imogen, Cymbeline, i. 1; urged, Sonnets i.-xvii.; of true minds, Sonnet cxvi ; ceremony of, Twelfth Night, v. 1 ; hands, not hearts, Othello, Hi. 4.
Married man, Benedick the, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 1;
v. 1.
Marry, an exclamation used in numberless cases, said to be a
corruption of Mary.
Marry-trap, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1. Hudson says it
seems to have been a word of triumph in seeing one caught in his
own snare.
Mars, of malcontents, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 3, end;
novices of, All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 1 ; the file of, All's Well
that Ends Well, Hi. 3; fear of, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 1; in
swaddling-clothes, /. Henry IV., Hi. 2 ; drave, to faction, Troilus
and Cressida, Hi. 3 ; invoked, Coriolanus, i. 4 ; an eye like, Hamlet,
Hi. 4 ; in love, Venus and Adonis, I. 98. The Roman god of war.
Mars (planet), born under, All's Well that Ends Well, i. 1 ; his
true moving, /. Henry VI., i. 2. The irregularities in the movements of the planet Mars, consequent on the eccentricity of his orbit, were puzzling to astronomers until Kepler's " New Astronomy ;
or, Commentaries on the Motions of Mars " appeared in 1609.
Marseilles, Prance, the scene of a part of All's Well that Ends
Well.
Marshal, the lord, in Richard II., i. 3, was the Duke of Surrey,
who temporarily filled the place, the office being held by Norfolk,
one of the combatants.
Marshalsea, prison in Southwark, Henry VIII., v. 4.
Mart (bargain), Hamlet, i. 1.
Martext, Sir Oliver, a vicar in As You Like It, determined that
" ne'er a fantastical knave of them all shall fiout me out of my calling." For the use of the title Sir, see under EVANS.
Martin, St., summer of, I. Henry VI., i. 2. Fair weather in
late autumn Indian summer.
Martius, character in Titus Andronicus, son of Titus, introduced
in i. 1 or 2, is taken for the murderer of Bassianus, ii. or 4; executed, Hi. 1.
Martlemas (Martinmas, November llth), 77. Henry IV., ii. 2.
Applied to an old man given to gaiety, because it was the time of
St. Martin's or Indian summer.
Martlet, the temple-haunting, chooses delicate air, Macbeth, i.
6; builds on the outward wall, Merchant of Venice, ii. 9.
Manillas, one of the tribunes in Julius CcBsar, first appears in
*". 1, where he rebukes the people for forgetting Pompey. He and
Flavius tore the scarfs and badges from Caesar's images, and were
put to silence, i. 2.
Mary, Princess, afterward queen (1553-'58). Henry VIII., iv. 2,
Mary, the Virgin, Richard IL, ii. 1 ; Henry VIII., v. 2.
Mary, Queen of Scots. See MAIDENHOOD.
Mask(s), sun-expelling, Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 4 ; black,
Measure for Measure, ii. 4; Romeo and Juliet, i. 1. They were
worn by gentlewomen to protect their faces from the sun and at the
theatre.
Masque, a, Timon of Athens, i. 2.
Masquerades, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 1 ; Love's Labour's
Lost, v. 2 ; Romeo and Juliet, i. 4, 5 ; Merchant of Venice, ii. 6 ;
Henry VIII., i. 4*
Mass, evening, Romeo and Juliet, iv. 1.
Master and men, influence of, on one another, //. Henry IV.,
v. 1, " It is a wonderful thing," etc.
Master-gunner, of Orleans, and his son, characters in /. Henry VI., i. 4.
Masters, all cannot be, Othello, i. 1.
Match, set a (arranged an expedition ?), /. Henry IV., i. 2.
Mated (bewildered), Comedy of Errors, Hi. 2 ; v. 1 ; my mind
has, Macbeth, v. 1.
Material fool, a, As You Like It, Hi. 3. A fool with matter in
him, or a fool in what is material or essential.
Mathematics, Taming of the Shrew, i. 1.
Matron, evil passion in a, Hamlet, Hi. 4.
Maund (a small basket), Lover's Complaint, I. 36.
May, as full of spirit as the month of, I. Henry IV., iv. 1 ; of
life, fallen into the sere the yellow leaf, Macbeth, v. 3 ; of youth, Henry V., i. 2; allusions to the sports of, Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1; iv. 1; Twelfth Night, Hi. 4; All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 2 ; Henry VIII., v. 3.
Mayor of London, in I. Henry VI., first appears in i. 3. His
name was John Coventry.
Mayor of London, character in Richard III., first appears in
Hi. 1. Sir Edward Shaw, brother of the Doctor Shaw that is mentioned in Hi. 5.
Mayor of London, Henry VIII., iv. 1 ; v. 4. Sir Stephen Peacocke.
Mayors of York, Coventry, and St. Alban's. See YORK, COVENTRY, and ST. ALBAN'S.
Mean, advantage of being, in that of fortune, Merchant of
Venice, i. 2 ; Nature makes the mean that makes her better, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3.
Mean (tenor), Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2; A Winter's Tale,iv.
2 or 3 ; Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2.
Means, living beyond one's, Merchant of Venice, i. 1 ; slender,
//. Henry IV., i. 2 ; too humble for the mind, Richard III.,
iv. 2; wasted, Othello, iv. 2.
Meagreness, //. Henry IV., Hi. 2 ; v. 4. See LEANNESS.
Mealed (sprinkled), Measure for Measure, iv. 2.
Measles (distemper), Coriolanus, Hi. 1.
Measure, to tread a, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; As You Like It,
v. 4. A slow, stately dance.
Measure for Measure, first published in 1623, is referred to
the period that produced the greater plays, Julius Ccesar, Hamlet,
Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear, and is supposed to have been written about the year 1603. The plot, originally from a story in the
" Hecatommithi " of Giraldi Cinthio, was the foundation of a play,
" Promos and Cassandra," published in 1578, by George Whetstone,
who afterward translated the Italian story for his " Heptameron of
Civil Discourses," 1582. The most notable change made by Shakespeare in the plot was the introduction of the character of Mariana,
thus doing away with a repulsive feature of the old plot, the marrying of Isabella (Cassandra) to Angelo (Promos). Notwithstanding
the repellent story and the disgusting nature of most of the humour,
this is in many respects a very' noble play in the general tone of
thought in the serious scenes, the strength and purity of Isabella's
character, the subtlety with which Angelo's is drawn, and the beauty
of single passages. The scene is laid in Vienna, at about the year 1485, the date being fixed by the allusion to Corvinus, King of Hungary, in i. 2, who in that year took Vienna. Cinthio lays the scene in Innspruck ; Whetstone in Julio, Hungary.
Meats, influence of. on temper, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 1, 3.
An old book, " The Glasse of Humours," says that a choleric man
should " abstain from all salt, scorched, dry meats, from mustard,
and such things as will aggravate his malignant humours." See
BEEF.
Meceenas, character in Antony and Cleopatra, introduced in ii.
2, a friend of Caesar.
Mechanics, to wear the signs of their trades, Julius Ceasar, i. 1.
Medea, Merchant of Venice, v. 1 ; 11. Henry VI.. v. 2. Fleeing from Colchis with her lover Jason, she was pursued by her
father ; and to gain time she caused her little brother Absyrtus to
be killed and his limbs to be thrown on the water, that her father,
in stopping to collect them, might be detained long enough to allow
of her escape.
Meddlers, Timon of Athens, iv. 3 ; Hamlet, Hi. 4 ; v. 2.
Meddle nor make, Troilus and Cressida, i. 1.
Medice, etc.. Henry VI., ii. 1. Physician, heal thyself.
Medicine, theory and practice of, allusions to : lives consist of
the four elements, Twelfth Night, ii. 3 ; bleeding, Love's Labour's
Lost, ii. 1 ; Richard II., i. 1; diagnosis by urine, Two Gentlemen
of Verona, ii. 1; Twelfth Night, Hi. 4; II. Henry IV., i. 2; Macbeth, v. 3 ; a miracle in, All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 3 ; read in
Galen, //. Henry IV., i. 2. See under ARTERIES, BLOOD, CIRCULATION OF THE, DISEASES, DIGESTION, INSANITY, MEDICINES, PHYSICIANS,
POISONS, SURGERY.
Medicine (physician), a, All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 1.
Medicines: narcotics, Othello, Hi. 3 ; Antony and Cleopatra, i.
5 ; Cymbeline, iv. 2 ; aqua vitae, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3; Romeo and
Juliet, iv. 5 ; sherris, 77. Henry IV., iv. 3 ; balm, ///. Henry VI.,
iv. 3 ; Troilus and Cressida, i. 1; Timon of Athens, Hi. 5 ; liquid
gold, The Tempest, v. 1 (grand liquor) ; AW 8 Well that Ends Well,
v. 3; II. Henry IV., iv. 4; mummy (a medicine made from embalmed bodies), Othello, Hi. 4; eisel or vinegar (to prevent contagion), Sonnet cxi. ; recipe for, All's Well that Ends Well, i. 3 ; ii.
1 ; plantain-leaf, Love's Labour's Lost, Hi. 1 ; Romeo and Juliet, i.
2; parmaceti, I. Henry IV., i. 3 ; cobweb, Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi. 1 ; flax and whites of eggs, King Lear, Hi. 7 ; cathartics, As You Like It, Hi. 2; Richard II., i. 1; Henry VI., i. 3; Hi. 2 ; iv. 4 ; Coriolanus, Hi. 1 ; Macbeth, v. 3 ; Sonnet cxviii.
Mediterranean Sea, the, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 1.
Medlar, the true virtue of the, As You Like It, Hi. 2.
Meeting, when shall we three meet again, Macbeth, i. 1. See
WELCOME.
Mehercle (by Hercules 1), Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2.
Meiny (servants), King Lear, ii. 4.
Melancholy, kinsman to despair, Comedy of Errors, v. 1 ; Count
John's, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 3 ; ii. 1 ; not conducive to long
life, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; turn, to funerals, Midsummer Night's
Dream, i. 1 ; out of a song, As You Like It, ii. 5 ; kinds of, As You
Like It, iv. 1 ; nurse of frenzy, Taming of the Shrew, induction, 2 ;
trick of, All's Well that Ends Well, Hi. 2 ; a surly spirit, King John,
Hi. 3; fashion of, King John, iv. 1; similes for, I. Henry IV., i. 2;
cursed,/. Henry IV., ii. 3; effect of, Hamlet, ii. 2 ; Hi. 1 ; power
of, Cymbeline, iv. 2 ; constant, Pericles, i. 2.
Melford, commons of, //. Henry VI., i. 3.
Melun, a French lord in King John, introduced in v. 2. He is
said by Matthew Paris to have disclosed to some of the English
barons before his death, which took place in London, that Louis
and sixteen earls and barons of France had secretly sworn, that if
Louis should conquer England and be crowned king, all the English nobility should be killed, banished, or imprisoned as traitors and
rebels, he himself being one of the sixteen. The dauphin's oath is
in the old play.
Memory, made a sinner, The Tempest, i. 2 ; warder of the brain,
Macbeth* i. 7 ; of things precious, Macbeth, iv. 3; devoted to one
subject, Hamlet, i. 5; of old woes, Sonnet xxx.; of the beloved,
Sonnet cxxii. ; ventricle of the, see VENTRICLE.
Memory (memorial), Coriolanus, v. 1.
Memphis, pyramid of, I. Henry VI., i. 6.
Men, a bill for putting down, Merry Wives ef Windsor, ii. 1;
supremacy of, Comedy of Errors, ii. 1 ; why scanted of hair, Comedy
of Errors, ii. 2 ; what they dare do, Much Ado about Nothing, iv. 1;
should be thankful not to be beasts, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2 ;
girls dressed like, As You Like It, i. 3 ; more fickle than women,
Twelfth Night, ii. 4. ; not three good, unhanged, /. Henry IV., ii.
4; no faith in, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 2 ; summer-birds, Timon of
Athens, iii t 6 ; ranks of, Macbeth, Hi. 1 ; inconstancy of, Othello,
Hi. 4> " 'Tis not a year or two," etc, ; marble minds of, Lucrece, I.1240 ; old, of less truth than tongue, Sonnet xvii ; best are moulded out of faults, Measure for Measure, v. 1 ; are as the time is, King Lear, v. 3. See MAN.
Menaphon, Duke, mentioned in Comedy of Errors, v. 1.
Menas, character in Antony and Cleopatra, introduced in ii. 1,
a friend of Pompey, a pirate.
Menecrates, character in Antony and Cleopatra, introduced in
ii. 1, a friend of Pompey, a pirate.
Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, character in Troilus and
Cressida, introduced in i. 3, the husband of Helen. Spoken of also
in ///. Henry VI., ii. 2.
Menenius Agrippa, character in Coriolanus, appears in i. 1,
as an ambassador from the patricians to the people ; description of
himself, ii. 1 ; refused, v. 2. In Plutarch, he is said to have been
the pleasantest old man in the senate, but nothing further is given
of him except the fact of his telling the fable in i. 1. He is an admiring friend of Coriolanus, a fluent talker, witty, good-humoured,
discreet, and persuasive.
Menteith, Earl of, /. Henry IV., i. 1.
Menteith, a thane of Scotland, character in Macbeth, appears
in v. 2, 4, and 7.
Me perdonato, Taming of the Shrew, i. 1. I being pardoned,
orperdonate, pardon me.
Mephistopheles, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1. Here used
for an ugly fellow.
Me poxnpae, etc., Pericles, ii. 2. Glory leads me on.
Mercade, a lord attending on the princess in Love's Labours
Lost, appears only in the last scene.
Mercatante (merchant), Taming of the Shrew, iv. 2.
Mercatio, the rich, mentioned in Two Gentlemen of Verona, i.
2, as one of Julia's suitors.
Merchant, a, character in the Comedy of Errors, introduced
in i. 2, a friend to Antipholus of Syracuse.
Merchant, a, character in Timon of Athens, i. 1, where he is
seeking patronage.
Merchant of Venice, the, a comedy known to have been acted
before 1598, and probably the same as " The Venesyon Comedy,"
acted August 25, 1594. The internal indications are that it was
written as early as the latter year, though the date has been placed
as late as 1596. It was first published in 1600. No earlier tale or
play is now known that unites the two stories contained in this play that of the pound of flesh and that of the three caskets. But one Stephen Gosson, who published his " School of Abuse " in 1579, mentions a play, " The Jew," which represented " the greediness of worldly chusers, and bloody minds of usurers." So that Shakespeare
may have taken his plot directly from this forgotten drama. Both
of the stories are very old. That of the pound of flesh, Mr. Collier
says, is unquestionably of Oriental origin. It was told by Giovanni
Fiorentino in 1378 in a collection of tales, " II Pecorone," the circumstances very much resembling those of the play ; in the " Orator," by Alexander Silvayn, translated into English in 1598, and in some old ballads, " The Northern Lord " and " Gernutus, the Jew of Venice." The story of the three caskets is in the Greek romance of
"Barlaam and Josephat," about 800; and was again told in the
" Gesta Romanorum," translated in 1577, where the story is entitled
" Ancelmus the Bmperour." The time of action is Shakespeare's own
day ; the scene, Venice and Portia's house at Belmont, somewhere
on the Continent, probably. The name Belmont is the same used in
the story from " II Pecorone."
Mercury, god of lying, commerce, and thievery, and messenger
of Jupiter, Twelfth Night, i. 5 ; King John, iv. 2 ; I. Henry IV., iv.
1; Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3 ; Hamlet, Hi. 4> A Winter's Tale,
iv. 2 ; Henry V., ii., chorus ; Richard III., ii. 1.
Mercutio, friend of Romeo, first appears in i. 4. In Hi-1 he is
slain by Tybalt, who has been seeking a quarrel with Romeo. See
ROMEO.
" Wit ever wakeful, fancy busy and procreative as an insect,
courage, an easy mind that, without cares of its own, is at once disposed to laugh away those of others, and yet to be interested in them
these and all congenial qualities, melting into the common copula
of them all, the man of rank and the gentleman, with all its excellences and its weaknesses, constitute the character of Mercutio 1 "
COLERIDGE.
Mercy, assaulted by prayer, The Tempest, epilogue ; obligation
to, The Tempest, v. 1, "And shall not myself," etc.; mistaken,
Measure for Measure, ii. 1, " Mercy is not itself," etc. ; becomes the
great of Heaven, Measure for Measure, ii. 2 ; devilish, Measure for
Measure, Hi. 1 ; when made by vice, Measure for Measure, iv. 2 ;
recommended to Shylock, Merchant of Venice, Hi. 3 ; iv. 1 ; the
better part made, As You Like It, Hi. 1 ; beyond the infinite reach
of, King John, iv. 3; for small and great offences, Henry V., ii. 2 ;
a vice of, Troilus and Cressida, v. 3 ; at differences with honour,
Coriolanus, v. 3 ; nobility's badge, Titus Andronicus, i. 1 or 2 ; to murderers, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 1, end; emboldens sin, Timon of Athens, Hi. 5 ; show no, Timon of Athens, iv. 3, " That, by killing," etc. ; whereto serves, but to confront the visage of offence, Hamlet, Hi. 3; to the falling, Henry VIII. , Hi. 2.
Mered (limited), Antony and Cleopatra, Hi. 10 or 12.
Merit, honours not purchased by, Merchant of Venice, ii. 9 ;
value without, Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2; often overlooked, on account of one defect, Hamlet, i.4; seldom justly attributed, All's
Well that Ends Well, Hi. 6 ; men of, sought after, //. Henry IV.,
ii. 4; far beyond recompense, Macbeth, i. 4.
Merlin, prophecies of, /. Henry 1 V., Hi. 1 ; King Lear, Hi. 2,
end. See PROPHECIES.
Mermaid, music of a, Comedy of Errors, Hi. 2 ; Midsummer Night 's Dream, ii. 1 ; III. Henry VI., Hi. 2 ; Hamlet, iv. 7 ; Venus
and Adonis, I. 429.
Merops, son of, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hi. 1. Phaethon.
; Merriman, a hunting-dog, Taming of the Shrew, induction, 1.
Merry Wives of Windsor, The, a comedy written as we have
it probably between 1598 and 1601, though an allusion in iv. 3 has led
some to suppose that it was written in or soon after 1592, because
then free post-horses were given, by order of Lord Howard, to a
German duke who passed through Windsor. There is no reason,
however, for supposing that the event might not have been alluded
to several years after its occurrence. A plausible explanation is
that the play, in an early form which has come down to us, was written at the former date ; while the amended form was later, perhaps
even after the accession of James I. (See KNIGHTS.) One John
Dennis, who remodelled the play in 1702 for the stage, says in the
dedication that it was written in fourteen days at the request of
Queen Elizabeth ; and another writer adds that it was because she
wished to see Falstaff as a lover. The plot is not known to have
been drawn from any other, though some of the incidents had been
used before. That between Falstaff and Ford in disguise is said to
be in Florentine's " Art of Loving," and in Straparola's " King."
The time is probably before the death of Henry IV., since Falstaff is
spoken of as being still in favour at court. There has been considerable controversy, both as to the time when this play was written,
and as to its place in the series that include the characters of Falstaff, Mrs. Quickly, Pistol, Nym, and Bardolph. Difficulties are met
with under every supposition possible. Some, but few, have supposed the Falstaff of the Merry Wives of Windsor not to be the same as the Falstaff of the historical plays, who, as is well known, was at first called Oldcastle. There is more reason to suppose that there are two Mistress Quicklys. The question is of little importance.
Messes (grades), A Winter's Tale, i. 2.
Messala, a friend of Brutus and Cassius in Julius Ccesar, first
appears in iv. 3, bringing news of Portia's death.
Messaline (Mitylene ?), Twelfth Night, ii. 1.
Messenger, a, is what he knows, Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 5 ;
of ill news, The Tempest, ii. 1; II. Henry IV., i. 1 ; Antony and
Cleopatra, ii. 5 ; Macbeth, v. 5 ; of good news, Merchant of Venice,
ii. 9 ; 1. Henry IV., i. 1.
Messina, Sicily, scene of Much Ado about Nothing, and a part of
Antony and Cleopatra. Pompey had a house there, ii. 1.
Metaphysical (supernatural), Macbeth, i. 5.
Metaphysics, Taming of the Shrew, i. 1.
Meteors, his heart's, Comedy of Errors, iv. 2. Allusion to meteors imagined to look like armies meeting ; ominous, Richard II.,
ii. 4; I. Henry IV., ii. 4; over a ship, The Tempest, i. 2, " To every
article," etc. ; Romeo and Juliet, iii. 5 ; King John, v. 2.
Metellus Cimber, one of the conspirators in Julius Ccesar, first
appears in ii. 1. His suit to Caesar for the recall of his banished
brother, iii. 1, was made the occasion for the assassins to gather
about Caesar.
Mettle, of the English, Henry V., iii. 5 ; undaunted, Macbeth,
i. 7 ; of a king, King John, ii. 2.
Michael, Sir, a friend of the archbishop in I. Henry IV., appears only in iv. 4.
Michael, one of the followers of Jack Cade in his insurrection,
//. Henry VI., iv. 2, 3.
Michaelmas, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1; I. Henry IV.,
ii. 4. The feast of St. Michael, September 29th. The custom of
eating roast goose on that day was at least as early as the fifteenth
century. It was also the day for choosing civil magistrates.
Micher (truant), I. Henry IV., ii. 4.
Miching mallecho (sly mischief), Hamlet, iii. 2.
Middle-earth (the natural world), Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5.
Midnight, almost fairy-time, Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1 ;
business at, Henry VIII., v. 1 ; the witching time of night, Hamlet,
iii. 2 ; going to bed after, Twelfth Night, ii. 3.
Midsummer madness, Twelfth Night, iii. 4.
Midsummer Night's Dream, A, a comedy in which three sets
of actors appear the Duke of Athens and his friends, the Athenian
handicraftsmen, and the fairy-people. It was first published in
1600, but was mentioned in 1598, and is thought to have been written between 1594 and 1598, and by some authorities even as early as
1592. Possibly some other dramatist assisted Shakespeare in the scenes
between the lovers. The life of Theseus in Plutarch may have
given some suggestions for the play ; and for the part of the fairies
some hints may have been furnished by a little book mentioned
under PUCK. The scene of the action is ostensibly Athens, and the
time three days, ending at midnight of the 1st of May ; but time
and place are entirely disregarded.
" The epilogue expresses satisfaction if the spectator will regard
the piece as a dream : for in a dream time and locality are obliterated ;
a certain twilight and dusk is spread over the whole. . . . We have
before said that the piece appears designed to be treated as a dream ;
not merely in outer form and colouring, but also in inner signification. The errors of that blind intoxication of the senses, which
form the main point of the play, appear to us to be an allegorical
picture of the errors of a life of dreams." GERVINUS.
Mighty, the, dead,/. Henry VI., ii. 2; Hi. 2; Julius Ccesar,
Hi. 1 ; v. 5 ; Coriolanus, v. 5 ; Antony and Cleopatra, v. 1, 2.
Milan, Duke of, Prospero, in The Tempest.
Milan, Duke of, the father of Silvia in the Two Gentlemen of
Verona, introduced in ii. 4.
Mile-End Green, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3; II. Henry
IV., in. 2. A place for sports and musters.
Milford-Haven, Wales, Cymbeline, Hi. 2 ; scene of, Hi. 4.
Milk of human kindness, the, Macbeth, i. 5.
Miller, Yead, mentioned in Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1.
Milliner, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4. Men were milliners in
Shakespeare's time.
Mill-sixpences, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1. They were used
as counters.
Millstones, wept, Richard III., i. 3, 4 ; Troilus and Cressida,
i.2.
Milo, Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3. An athlete of Crotona, a
Greek city of southern Italy, one of whose feats was the carrying of
a living bull on his shoulders through the race-course at Olympia.
He was born about 520 B. c., and was therefore some hundreds of
years before the Trojan war.
Mind, the, affected by food, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1; makes the body rich, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3 ; contempt for the work
of the, Troilus and Cressida, i. 3 ; tempest in the, King Lear, Hi.
4 ; infected, diseased, Macbeth, v. 1,3 ; a noble, o'erthrown, Hamlet,
Hi. 1 ; no art to find its construction in the face, Macbeth, i. 4 ; fearless, climb soonest into crowns, III. Henry VI., iv. 7.
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war, Sonnet xlvi.
Mine eye hath played the painter, Sonnet xxiv.
Mineral (mine), Hamlet, iv. 1, or Hi. 5.
Minerva, goddess of wisdom, Taming of the Shrew, i. 1.
Mines (undermines), As You Like, It, i. 1.
Minim's rest, a, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 3. A minim is a
half-note in music.
Minister, services of a king's, A Winter's Tale, iv. 1 or 2.
Minnows, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1 ; Sicinius a Triton of the,
Coriolanus, Hi. 1.
Minola. See BAPTISTA.
Minos, King of Crete, III. Henry VI., v. 6.
Minotaurs, /. Henry VI., v. 3. The minotaur was a fabled
monster in Crete, having a human head and the body of a bull. It
roamed through a labyrinth made by Daedalus, and was fed with human victims.
Miracle-plays and Moralities, the, allusions to. See HEROD,
TERMAGANT, VICE.
Miracle(s), past, All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 1, 3; Henry
V., i. 1 ; a pretended, //. Henry VI., ii. 1 ; thy life's a, King Lear,
iv. 6.
Miranda, the heroine of The Tempest, one of the most exquisite
characters in the dramas. Brought up away from society and with
no teacher but her father, she is natural, unconventional, but full of
native grace and dignity.
" She is one of those quiet natures whose mental worth is closed
as within a bud, whose depth of character is hidden, like the fire of
the diamond, until the occasion comes which strips off the concealing husk, and reveals the richness and splendour of the inner life.
Reared in solitude, she is like a blank leaf as regards all social gifts
and conventional accomplishments. She is quiet and of few words,
but her fancy is full of inward life and playfulness, and her pure
soul uninjured by intercourse with mankind."
" I do not know a more wonderful instance of Shakespeare's mastery in playing a distinctly rememberable variety on the same remembered air, than in the transporting love-confessions of Romeo
and Juliet and Ferdinand and Miranda. There seems more passion
in the one and more dignity in the other ; yet you feel that the sweet girlish lingering and busy movement of Juliet, and the calmer
and more maidenly fondness of Miranda, might easily pass into each
other." COLERIDGE.
Mirth, a man of, Love's Labour's Lost, ii. 1 ; tears of, Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1 ; goes all the day, A Winter's Tale, iv. 2 ;
rather have a fool to make, As You Like It, iv. 1 ; away from home,
Henry V., i. 2 ; exhortations to, Merchant of Venice, i. 1 ; ii. 2 ;
Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1 ; Taming of the Shrew, induction,
2 ; A Winter's Tale, iv. 3; I. Henry IV., ii. 4; Macbeth, Hi. 4; a
light heart lives long, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 2 ; all, from the crown
of the head to the sole of the foot, Much Ado about Nothing, Hi. 2;
of a child, A Winter's Tale, i. 2.
Misanthrope, a, Timon of Athens, iv. 1, 3; v. 2. See CYNICS.
Mischief, swift to enter the thoughts of the desperate, Romeo and Juliet, v. 1 ; mourning past mischief, draws new mischief on,
Othello, i. 3.
Misenum, Italy, scene of a part of Antony and Cleopatra.
Misers, Henry V., ii. 4 > like whales, Pericles, ii. 1 ; gold of,
Venus and Adonis, I. 767 ; Lucrece, I. 855.
Miserable, the, hope the only medicine for, Measure for Measure, Hi. 1.
Misery, makes strange bedfellows, The Tempest, ii. 2 ; parts the
flux of company, As You Like It, ii. 1; willing, Timon of Athens,
iv. 3 ; sees miracles, King Lear, ii. 2 ; of one's betters, King Lear,
Hi. 6, end ; trodden on, Venus and Adonis, I. 707 ; makes sport to
mock itself, Richard II., ii. 1. See also ADVERSITY, MISFORTUNE.
Misfortune, turned to advantage, I. Henry IV., iv. 1, "You
strain too far," etc. ; doomed to, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 3 ; friends
who desert in, King Lear, ii. 4; Timon of Athens, Hi. 1, 3 ; iv.
2, 3. See ADVERSITY, WOE, SORROW.
Misfortunes, come not singly, Hamlet, iv. 5, 7 ; Pericles, i. 4.
Mislike (dislike), Merchant of Venice, ii. 1; II. Henry VI., i. 1.
Miss (dispense with), The Tempest, i. 2.
Missive (messenger), Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2.
Mistakes, a lark taken for a bunting, All's Well that Ends
Well, ii. 5 ; a drunkard for a god, The Tempest, v. 1.
Mistletoe, baleful, Titus Andronicus, ii. 3.
Mistress (the jack at bowls), Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 2.
Mistrust. See DOUBT, SUSPICION.
Mithridates, of Comagene, Antony and Cleopatra, Hi. 6.
Mitylene, in Lesbos, scene of a part of Pericles.
Mob(s), a London, Henry VIII., v. 4; Roman, Coriolanus, i. 1;
ii. 1; Hi. 1, 3; iv. 1, 2, 6 ; Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2 ; the fool
multitude, Merchant of Venice, ii. 9.
Mobled, Hamlet, ii. 2. Hastily dressed, or, perhaps, hooded or
muffled. Mob-cap is from the same word.
Mockery, made serious, Henry V., i. 2 ; of Beatrice, Much Ado
about Nothing, Hi. 1 ; returned, Love's Labour's Lost. v. 2 ; solemn,
Hamlet, Hi. 4; of a man by his own achievements, Troilus and
Cressida, iv. 2.
Model (platform ?), Much Ado about Nothing, i. 3.
Moderation, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 3, " A surfeit," etc. ;
commended, Henry VIII., i. 1; Romeo and Juliet, ii. 6; Hi. 3;
Merchant of Venice, i. 2 ; Othello, ii. 3. See EXCESS.
Modern (trivial or ordinary), As You Like It, ii. 7 ; AIVs Well
that Ends Well, ii. 3 ; Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2 ; King John,
iii. 4'
Modesty, may more betray our sense, etc., Measure for Measure,
ii. 2 ; the witness of excellence, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 3 ;
shown in the face, ///. Henry VI., iii. 2 ; too great, Coriolanus, i.
9 ; of a girl, Othello, i. 3 ; an excellent touch of, Twelfth Night, ii.
1 ; the crimson of, Henry V., v. 2 ; of women in men's apparel, Two
Gentlemen of Verona, v. 4 ,' Cymbeline, iii. 4>
Modesty (moderation), Taming of the Shrew, induction, 1.
Modo, a fiend, King Lear, Hi. 4; iv. 1. See MAHU.
Module (model, outward show), All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3 ;
King John, v. 7.
Moe (more), A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; v. 2; (to mow), Tempest, ii. 2.
Moiety (portion), /. Henry IV., iii. 1.
Moldwarp (mole), /. Henry IV., iii. 1.
Mole, the blind, The Tempest, iv. 1; A Winter's Tale, iv. 3;
Hamlet, i. 5.
Mole(s) (marks). Twelfth Night, v. 1 ; King John, iii. 1 ; Hamlet, i. 4> Cymbeline, ii. 2, 4; v. 5.
Mome (fool), Comedy of Errors, iii. 1.
Momentany (an old form of momentary), Midsummer Night's
Dream, i. 1.
Monarcho, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 1. The nickname of an
Italian, a fantastic character of the time.
Monarchs, high-arched gates of, Cymbeline, iii. 3 ; King John t
in. 1. See KINGS.
Monasteries, to pay the cost of war, King John, i. 1 ; iii. 3.
Money, all ways lie open for, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2;
marrying for, Merry Wives of Windsor, Hi. 4; Taming of the
Shrew, i. 2; love of, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3, "Sir, for a
quart d'ecu," etc. ; Richard II., ii. 2, " Their love lies in their
purses," etc. ; raised by farming the realm, Richard II., i. 4; gained
by vile means, Julius Ccesar, iv. 3 ; power of, Timon of Athens, iv.
3 ; put, in thy purse, Othello, i. 3 ; despised, Cymbeline. Hi. 6. See
also GOLD.
Monks, are not made by hoods, Twelfth Night, i. 5; Henry
VIII., Hi. 1.
Monmouth, Henry of. See HENRY V.
Monmouth, compared to Macedon, Henry V. r iv. 7.
Monster(s), a shallow, weak, credulous, The Tempest, ii. 2 ; of
the sea, Merchant of Venice, Hi. 2 ; Coriolanus, iv. 2; in love with
a, Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi. 2.
Montacute. See SALISBURY.
Montacute, Henry Pole, Lord, Henry VIII., i. 1. Son-in-law
of Abergavenny, brother of Cardinal Pole. He was executed in the
reign of Henry VIII. on another charge than the one here spoken of.
Montague, John Neville, Marquis of, character in ///. Henry
VI., introduced in i. 1. He was a partisan of the House of York,
but followed his brother, Warwick, to the other side. His death
is described in v. 2.
Montague, and Lady Montague, father and mother of Romeo,
introduced in i. 1.
Montaigne, Michel, a French author, 1533-1592. Gonzalo's
ideal commonwealth, The Tempest, ii. 1, is after Montaigne.
Montano, governor of Cyprus, character in Othello, introduced
in ii. 1.
Montgomery, Sir John, character in III. Henry VI., introduced
in iv. 7. His name should be given Thomas. He was a favourite of
Edward IV., and one of his most intimate friends and advisers:.
Month's mind, a, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2. Strong
desire, a proverbial expression, of doubtful origin.
Montjoy, a French herald in Henry V.. first appears in Hi. 6,
playing a quite important part. " Montjoie " was the battle-cry of
the "French.
Monument, a, in verse, Sonnets Iv., Ixxxi., cvii. ; a living, Hamlet, v. 1 ; goodness and he shall fill up one, Henry VIII., ii. 1.
Monument, the, at Alexandria, Antony and Cleopatra? iv. 11
and 13, or 13-15 ; v. 2.
Moods, must be indulged, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 3 ; of
Jaques, As You Like It, ii. 1.
Moon, the, the man in, The Tempest, ii. 2 ; controlled by a
witch. The Tempest, v. 1; like a silver bow, Midsummer Night's
Dream, i. 1 ; diseases caused by, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1 ;
creep through the earth's centre, Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi. 2 ;
the watery star, A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; the sea governed by, I. Henry IV., i. 2 ; envious, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 2 ; change like, Timon
of Athens, iv. 3 ; a drop from, distilled by witchcraft, Macbeth, Hi.
5 ; eclipse of, portentous, Macbeth, iv. 1 ; Antony and Cleopatra* lii.
13 ; Hamlet^ i. 1 ; to revisit the glimpses of, Hamlet, i. 4 ; error of
(lunacy caused by), Othello, v. 2 ; mistress of melancholy, Antony
and Cleopatra, iv. 9 ; visiting, Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 13 or 15 ;
fleeting, Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2 ; eclipses of, King Lear, i. 2;
conjuring, King Lear, ii. 1; age of, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2.
Moon-calf, The Tempest, ii. 2 ; Hi. 2. A monster supposed to
be formed under the moon's influence.
Moonlight, sleeping, Merchant of Venice, v. 1.
Moons, five, King John, iv. 2.
Moonshine, a character in the interlude in Midsummer Night's
Dream, v. 1, taken by Starveling, the tailor.
Moonshine, fairies in, The Tempest, v. 1.
Moorditch, /. Henry IV., i. 2. A part of the ditch about London, spread to an unwholesome morass, and therefore shunned and
melancholy.
Moorfields, Henry VI1L, v. 4. The train-bands were drilled
there.
Moors, changeable in their wills, Othello, i. 3.
Mopsa, a shepherdess in A Winter's Tale, iv. 4.
Mordake, Earl of Fife, mentioned in I. Henry IV. as one of the
prisoners taken by Hotspur. It was Murdach Stuart.
More, Sir Thomas, Henry VIII., Hi. 2. Lord Chancellor of England, born 1480, executed 1535.
Morgan. See BELARIUS.
Morisco, II. Henry VI., Hi. 1. Name applied to the Moors left
in Spain after the fall of Granada.
Morning, The Tempest, v. 1 ; Much Ado about Nothing, v. 3 ;
Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi. 2, " For night's swift dragons," etc. ;
1. Henry VI., ii. 2; III. Henry VI., ii. 1; Richard III., v. 3; Romeo and Juliet, i. 1; ii. 3 ; Hi. 5 ; Hamlet, i. 1, 5 ; song on, Cymbeline, ii. 3 ; Venus and Adonis, lines 2, 853 ; Sonnet xxxiii. ; Passionate Pilgrim, xv.; King John, Hi. 3 ; Troilus and Cressida,iv. 2 ; Julius Ccesar, ii. 1; Antony and, Cleopatra, iv. 4.
Morocco, the Prince of, one of the suitors of Portia in the Merchant of Venice, appears in ii. 1 and 7, and chooses the golden
casket.
Morris, AW 8 Well that Ends Well, ii.2; Henry V., ii. 4. A
dance, in which the characters were generally Robin Hood, Maid
Marian, Little John, Scarlet, Stokesley, the Fool, and Tom the Piper.
Morris, nine men's, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. A square
of sod marked into squares like a chess-board for a game.
Morris-pike (Moorish pike), Comedy of Errors, iv. 3.
Morrow, never shall sun that, see, Macbeth, i. 5.
Mortality, As You Like It, ii. 7, " And so from hour to hour,"
etc. ; King John, v. 7, " When this was now a king," etc. ; Sonnet
Ixv. ; this muddy vesture of decay, Merchant of Venice, v. 1; if
knowledge could have been set up against, All's Well that Ends Well, i. 1. See DEATH, LIFE.
Mortals, thoughts beyond, Hamlet, i. 4.
Mort Dieu ! (God's death), II. Henry VI., i. 1.
Mortimer, Edmund, Earl of March, character in I. Henry IV.,
introduced in Hi. 1, Glendower's son-in-law. In i. 1, his capture by
Glendower is spoken of, and in i. 3 Hotspur vows to
" lift the down-trod Mortimer
As high i' the air as this unthankful king."
The Mortimer that was Earl of March was in reality not the one
that was Glendower's son-in-law. The latter was Sir Edmund Mortimer, uncle of the young Earl of March, who had a claim to the
crown, and is the Earl of March in I. Henry VI. Mortimer in the
play is a rather contemptible character, unwilling to do anything for
himself, and basely failing at the critical moment.
Mortimer, Edmund, Earl of March, character in I. Henry VI.,
first appears in ii. 5. He was not kept in confinement during the
reign of Henry V., but held high honours under him, and went with
him to the wars in France. He was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1422, and died at Trim Castle in 1424.
Mortimer, Lady, daughter of Owen Glendower, character in 7.
Henry IV., introduced in in. 1. She can speak no English, Mortimer no Welsh, and Glendower interprets, while Hotspur ridicules
the absurd love-scene.
Mortimer of Scotland, Lord, 7. Henry IV., Hi. 2. Perhaps
George Dunbar, Earl of March in Scotland.
Mortimer, Sir Hugh and Sir John, uncles of York in ///.
Henry VI., introduced in i. 2.
Mortimer, John, the Duke of York's plan for having Jack Cade
assume the name of, II. Henry VI., in. 1. History does not impute
to York any such connection with Cade's plot.
Mortimers, claim of the, to the throne, /. Henry VI., ii. 5.
Mortimer's Cross, scene of III. Henry VI., ii. 1. A battle was
fought there February 2, 1461, between the Yorkists under Edward,
Duke of York, afterward Edward IV., and the Lancastrians under
the Earl of Pembroke, with victory to York.
Morton, a retainer of Northumberland, in II. Henry IV., first
appears in i. 1.
Morton, John, Bishop of Ely. See ELY.
Mot (word, motto), Lucrece, I. 830.
Moth, a fairy in the Midsummer Night' s Dream, Hi. 1.
Moth, an airy, saucy, witty, little page serving the pompous
Spaniard in Love's Labour's Lost, introduced in i. 2. The word was
pronounced ' ; Mote."
Mother, grief of a, King John, Hi. 4 ; III. Henry VI., v. 5 ;
ambition of a, Coriolanus, i. 3 ; one, pleading for her son, Titus
Andronicus, i. 1 or 2 ; and her child, Richard II., Hi. 2 ; I. Henry
VI., iii. 3 ; Julius Ccesar, iii. 1; Macbeth, i. 7.
Motion, things in, catch the eye, Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3.
Motion (puppet-show), Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 1 ; A Winter's Tale, iv. 2.
Motley, to wear, in the brain, Twelfth Night, i. 5 ; motley-minded, As You Like It, v. 4.
Mouldy, a recruit, character in II. Henry IV., iii. 2.
Mountain, the apparition of a hound, The Tempest, iv. 1.
Mountaineers, dew-lapped like bulls, The Tempest, iii. 3.
Mountains, far off, Midsummer Night's Dream, iv. 1 ; firmness
of, Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1; As You Like It, iii. 2; King John,
ii. 2.
Mountanto, or Montanto, Signior, a name applied to Benedick by Beatrice, meaning that he was a great fencer, or professed
to be, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 1.
Mourning, excessive, Twelfth Night, i. 1, 2, 5; All's Well that
Ends Well, i. 1 ; Hamlet, i. 2.
Mouse, the most magnanimous, 77. Henry VI., iii. 2; in absence of the cat, Henry V., i. 2. ; Coriolanus, i. 6.
Mouse-trap, the, Hamlet, iii. 2. Applied to the play he brings forward, because it was designed to entrap the king into the betrayal
of his guilt.
Mouth, a beautiful, Venus and Adonis, lines 451, 504'
Mouthing, by actors, Hamlet, Hi. 2.
Mowbray, Lord Thomas, character in //. Henry IV., first appears in *'. 3. He is on the side opposed to the king.
Mowbray. See NORFOLK.
Moyses, an outlaw metioned in the Two Gentlemen of Verona,
v. 2.
Much Ado about Nothing, a comedy first published in 1600,
and probably written in that or the previous year. The plot, so far
as regards Hero and Claudio, had already been used by Ariosto, in
the story of Ariodante and Ginevra, in the fifth canto of " Orlando
Furioso," by an English playwright, who dramatized Ariosto's story ?
by Spenser in the " Faerie Queene," and by Bandello in his story
" Timbreo di Cardona," translated by Belleforest into French. The
last-named was probably the one used by Shakespeare, who united with
the serious plot the parts of Benedick and Beatrice. The scene is laid
in Messina. Mr. White thinks that a pun is intended in the title of
the play on noting and nothing, pronounced very much alike in
Shakespeare's time. The people in the play make much ado about
noting that is, watching one another while at the same time much
ado is made about the scandal regarding Hero, which rests on a basis
of nothing. This is one of the most popular of the comedies, both
for reading and for stage representation.
Mugs, a carrier in J. Henry IV., ii. 1.
Mulier (woman), from the Latin mollis aer (gentle air), Cymbeline, v. 5. This fanciful etymology is said to have been a favourite
notion in Shakespeare's time.
Mulmutius, first king of Britain, Cymbeline, Hi. 1.
Multitude, the, rumour among, 11. Henry IV., induction;
fickleness of, //. Henry IV., i. 3 ; affections of, in their eyes, Hamiet, iv. 3, or v. 7 ; the fool, Merchant of Venice, ii. 9 ; many-headed,
Coriolanus, ii. 3.
Mummy, dyed in (in spicy liquor from mummies, supposed to
have magic or medicinal virtue), Othello, Hi. 4i the witches', Macbeth, iv. 1.
Munificence, Love's Labour's Lost, Hi. 1, " The best ward of
liiine honour is rewarding my dependents."
Murder, sin of, Measure for Measure, ii. 4 ; for love, Twelfth
Night, ii. 1 ; see SUPERSTITION ; suggestion of of kings, A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; of Arthur excuses for, King John, iv. 2 ; nature's aid to
punish crest of, King John, iv. 3 ; accusation of, Richard II., i. 1 ;
of a deposed king, Richard II., v. 5 ; reward for, at a king's instance, Richard II., v. 6 ; sentence for, Timon of Athens, Hi. 5 ; of
Duncan, the : first suggested to Macbeth, i. 3 ; to Lady Macbeth, i.
5 ; planned, i. 7 ; accomplished, ii. 3 ; of the guards, Macbeth, ii. 3 ;
of Banquo will out, Macbeth, Hi. 4. ; in old times, Macbeth, Hi. 4 ;
most foul, Hamlet, i. 5 ; will speak, Hamlet, ii. 2 ; a brother's, Hamlet, Hi. 3 ; during prayer, Hamlet, Hi. 3 ; no place should sanctuarize, Hamlet, iv. 7 ; evidences of, 77. Henry VI., Hi. 2; against God's law, Richard III., i. 4; ruthless, Richard III., iv. 3 ; of Desdemona, thought sacrifice, Othello, v. 2 ; command to, Cymbeline,
Hi. 2, 4.
Murderer(s), of Clarence in Richard III., i. 3 and 4; fears of a,
Macbeth, ii. 1 ; of Banquo, Macbeth, Hi. 1, 3, 4 ; of Macduff's children, Macbeth, iv. 2 ; of the princes, Richard III., iv. 3 ; of Arthur,
King John, iv. 2 ; of the king, Richard II., v. 6 ; denunciation of,
777". Henry VI., v. 5 ; pardon of, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 1.
Murdering-piece, Hamlet, iv. 5 or 2. A small piece of artillery often used on ships.
Murder of Gonzago, Hamlet, ii. 2. The play selected by
Hamlet for the actors.
Mure (wall), II. Henry IV., iv. 4.
Murray, Thomas Dunbar, Earl of, 7. Henry IV., i. 1.^
Muscles, fresh-brook, The Tempest, i. 2.
Muscovites (Russians), Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.
Muse, the. See POETRY.
Muse (to wonder), Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 3, and elsewhere.
Muses, the thrice three. See GREENE, ROBERT.
Musets (openings in hedges), Venus and Adonis, I. 683.
Mushrooms, made by fairies, The TempesUv. 1.
Music, effects of, The Tempest^ 2 ; iv$l,\ magic, The Tempest, Hi. 2 ; power of, Two Gentlemen of Verona] m; z ; Much Ado about Nothingf\%.^3; a mermaid's, Midsummer Night 's Dream, ii. 1; by fairies, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 3; Hi. 1; broken (ribs), As You Like It, i. 2 ; at a marriage, As You Like It, v. 4 ;
charm of, As You Like It, iv. 1 ; fading {^Merchant of Venice,
Hi. 2 ; a soul without, Merchant of Venice', v. 1 /Design of, Taming
of the Shrew, Hi. 1; the food of love, Twelfth Night, i. 1; without
time, Richard II., v. 5: a composer of, 7. Henry IV., Hi. 1 ; for the
sick, II. Henry IV.^w 5 ; charm of, Henry VIII., Hi. 1, song; discordant when it calls to parting, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 5 ; doth lend
redress, Romeo and Juliet, iv. 5 ; for lovers, Antony and Cleopatra,
ii. 5 ; in the air, Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 3 ; a master of, Pericles,
ii. 5; of the spheres, Pericles, v. 1; Merchant of Venice, v. 1 ; at
a burial, Cymheline, iv. 2; family happiness like, Sonnet viii.;
the player, Sonnet cxxviii. ; and poetry, Passionate Pilgrim, viii. ;
stopped for the love of music, Othello, Hi. 1.
Musicians, characters in Romeo and Juliet and in Othello.
Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly ? Sonnet
viii.
Muss (scramble), Antony and Cleopatra, Hi. 13.
Mustard. See TEWKSBURY MUSTARD.
Mustard-seed, a fairy in the Midsummer Night's Dream,
Hi. 1.
Mutability, of earthly things, //. Henry IV., Hi. 1; Romeo
and Juliet, iv. 5 ; Hamlet. Hi. 2 ; iv. 5 ; v. 1. See TIME.
Mutius, character in Titus Andronicus, son of Titus, enters in
i. 1 or 2, is stabbed by his father in the same scene, and dies.
Mutton, a laced (wanton), Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1;
Measure for Measure, Hi. 2.
Muzzle, trusted with a, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 3.
My flocks feed not, Passionate Pilgrim, xviii.
My glass shall not persuade me I am old, Sonnet xxii.
My love is as a fever, Sonnet cxlvii.
My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming, Sonnet cii.
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun, Sonnet cxxx.
Mystery, a, in the soul of state, Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 3 ;.
of things, King Lear, v. 3.
My thoughts do harbour, poem, Two Gentlemen of Verona,
Hi. 1.
My tongue-tied muse in manners holds her still, Sonnet Ixxxv.
Index A to C
Index D to F
Index G to J
Index N to P
Index Q to S
Index T to V
Index W to Z
Shakespeare's plays in order of date written
First performance and first published dates
| Return to top |
| Main Menu |
| Index | 
|