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Wattage (passage by water), Comedy of Errors, iv. 1 ; Troilus
and Cressida, Hi. 2.
Wager(s), as to the most obedient wife, Taming of the Shrew,
v. 2 ; as to Imogen, Cymbeline, i. 5 ; nothing can seem foul to those
that win, I. Henry IV., v. 1.
Waggery, Cymbeline, Hi. h " A waggish courage."
Waggon, spokes of Queen Mab's, Romeo and Juliet, i. 4>
Wagtail, name applied to an officious person, King Lear, ii. 2.
Waist, and wit, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 1 ; I would my means
were greater and my waist slenderer, 77. Henry IV., i. 2.
Waist (that part of a ship between the forecastle and the quarter-deck), Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2.
Wakefield, a market-town in the West Riding of Yorkshire,
battle of (December 30, 1460), 777. Henry VI., i. 3, 4; H-1.
Wakes, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; a man that haunts, A Winter's Tale, iv. 2 or 3. Churches held wakes in honour of the saints
to whom they were dedicated, on their anniversaries.
Wales, scene of parts of Cymbeline.
Wales, Anne, Princess of. See ANNE.
Wales, Princes of. See EDWARD, THE BLACK PRINCE, EDWARD,
PRINCE OF WALES, EDWARD V., HENRY V.
Walking fire (will-o'-the-wisp), King Lear, Hi. 4.
Wall, a character in the play of the artisans in the Midsummer Night's Dream, taken by Snout, the tinker. " This man, with lime
and rough cast, doth present Wall, that vile wall, which did those
lovers sunder " " the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse."
Wall, the weakest goes to the, Romeo and Juliet, i. 1 ; a beauteous, doth oft close in pollution, Twelfth Night, i. 2.
Walloon, a base, thrust Talbot with a spear, 7. Henry VI., i. 1.
An inhabitant of that part of Flanders between the Scheldt and the
Lys.
Wandering knight, the sun a, 7. Henry IV., i. 2.
Wandering stars (planets), Hamlet, v. 1.
Wannion, with a (with a vengeance), Pericles, ii. 1.
Wantonness, accusation of. Sonnets cxxxvii., cxlii.-cxliv., clii t
Wappened (or wappered, over-worn), Timon of Athens, iv. 3. ,
War, better than strife at home, All's Well that Ends Well, ii.
3, near the end ; threatened, King John, i. 1 ; ii. 1 ; Henry V., ii.
4 ; devastations of, King John, ii. 1, 2 ; Hamlet, iv. 4 ,' declarations
of, King John, Hi. 1; v. 2; Henry V.,i. 2 ; Cymbeline, Hi. 1; civil,
King John, iv. 3 ; v. 2 ; Richard II., Hi. 3; I. Henry IV., i. 1; ii.
4; III. Henry VI., ii. 5; Richard III., ii. 4,' v. 5; like the god
of, King John, v. 1 ; old men, boys, and women armed for, Richard
IL, Hi. 2; dreams of, I. Henry IV., ii. 3 ; just, 1. Henry IV., v. 2;
chances of, 77. Henry IV., i. 1; caution in, //. Henry IV., i. 3 ;
an archbishop in, //. Henry IV., iv. 1, 2; prophecy of civil, IL Henry IV., iv. 2 ; counsel for, Henry V., i. 2 ; preparations for, Henry
V., ii., chorus; ii. 4; sleeping sword of, Henry V., i. 2 ; spirit suitable to, Henry V., Hi. 1 ; license of, Henry V., Hi. 3 ; the beadle
and vengeance of God, Henry V., iv. 1 ; fame of, Henry V., iv. 3 ;
a country after, Henry V., v. 2 ; its attendants, I. Henry VI., iv. 2;
a son of hell, //. Henry VI., v. 2; or devotion, ///. Henry VI., ii.
1, " Shall we go throw away," etc. ; end of hath smoothed his
wrinkled front, Richard III., i. 1 ; closet, Troilus and Cressida, i.
3 ; counsel in, despised, Troilus and Cressida, i. 3; ruthlessness
in, Troilus and Cressida, v. 3; exceeds peace, Coriolanus, iv. 5 ;
prophecy of the dogs of, Julius Cc&sar, Hi. 1; preparations for,
Julius Caesar, iv. 2 ; Hamlet, i. 1, 2 ; cruel, Timon of Athens, iv. 3 ;
farewell to, Othello, Hi. 3 ; longing for, Cymbeline, iv. 4.
War, the Trojan, Troilus and Cressida*
War-cries, havoc, King John, ii. 1; Coriolanus, Hi. 1; God
and Saint George, Richard III., v. 3.
Ward, I am now in. All's Well that Ends Well, i. 1. The heirs
of great fortunes were wards of the king in England and in Normandy under feudal laws. Here the law is attributed to the rest of
France. The father should be ward to the son, King Lear, i. 2.
Ward (place of defence), A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; Troilus and
Cressida, i. 2 ; Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2.
Warden pies, A Winter's Tale, iv. 2 or 3. Made of wardens,
large pears.
Warder, the king's, Richard IL, i. 3; II. Henry IV., iv. 1.
Throwing down the warder was a sign for the combat to stop.
Ware, the bed of, Twelfth Night, Hi. 2. This famous bed, which
is twelve feet square, is of oak, and very elaborately carved. It
bears the date 1463 ; but as it seems by the carving to be of a later
period, the date may have been marked on it to confirm the story
that it once belonged to Warwick, the king-maker. It was in an inn at Ware the Saracen's Head in 1864, when it was offered for sale
at auction, at one hundred guineas ; but as no one raised the price,
it was bought in. One story is, that it was made and presented to
the royal family, in 1463, by one Jonas Fosbrooke, and that Edward
IV., being much pleased with the curious carving, gave him a pension for life. There is also a tradition that, years afterward, the bed
was used on occasions when the town was very full ; but those who
tried to sleep in it were kept awake by pinches, scratches, and other
small persecutions, caused, it was supposed, by the spirit of Jonas
Fosbrooke, who resented the use of his favourite work, designed for
royalty, by common people in a public inn.
Warkworth, a market-town of Northumberland, scene of parts
of I. and II. Henry 2V.
Warnings, from heaven, Julius Ccesar, i. 3 ; disregarded, Lucrece, I. 491. See OMENS.
"Warriors, precarious fame of, Sonnet xxv. See SOLDIERS.
Wars of the Hoses, prophecy of, Richard II., iv. 1 ; origin of
the use of the roses as emblems by the partisans of the two houses,
1. Henry VI., ii. 4. A red rose was the badge of John of Gaunt, a
white one of his brother, Edmund of Langley. For battles of the
Wars of the Roses, see BARNET, BOSWORTH, MORTIMER'S CROSS, SAINT
ALBANS, TEWKSBURY, TOWTON, and WAKEFIELD.
Wart, a recruit in //. Henry IV., appears in Hi. 2.
Warwick, Eichard Beauchamp (1381-1439), Earl of (mistakenly
called Neville in Hi. 1), character in 77. Henry IV., introduced in
Hi. 1, in Henry V., introduced in i. 3, and in I. Henry VI., where
he is present in the first scene, but does not speak. He fought
against Glendower at Shrewsbury, and in the wars in France, and
made a pilgrimage to Palestine. He was regent of France from
1437 to 1439, and was one of the ambassadors sent to treat of the
marriage of Henry V., who, at his death, appointed him guardian
and tutor for his infant son, afterward Henry VI. In the " Rous
Roll " he is shown holding the infant prince in his arms. The great
earl was noted for his charity as well as for his ability and bravery,
and the Emperor Sigismund spoke of him as the "father of
courtesy." His daughter Anne married Richard Neville, who is
the Warwick of the next play. In ii. 4 of /. Henry VI., Warwick
takes the white rose with Plantagenet, and prophesies that the quarrel then begun between the roses shall send " a thousand souls to
death and deadly night."
Warwick, Richard Neville, Earl of, " the kingmaker," character in the second and third parts of Henry VL, introduced in the
first scene of each. He received the title and estates through his
wife, heiress of the Beauchamp family, and afterward, at the death
of his father, became Earl of Salisbury. He was on the side of York
at first, and was in the battles at St. Albans and Towton ; but he
was offended at the marriage of Edward to Lady Grey, when he was
negotiating a marriage with Bona of Savoy, II. Henry VL, Hi. 3,
and an estrangement followed. Later he joined the forces of Queen
Margaret, and was defeated and slain at Barnet (April 14, 1471),
///. Henry VI., v. 2. Allusions to him as the king-maker, second
part, end of scene 2 ; act ii., third part, ii. 4; Hi. 3 ; to his device
of the bear and ragged staff, II. Henry VI., v. 1 ; his power, " a bug
that feared us all," third part, v. 2. One of his daughters, Isabella,
married the Duke of Clarence ; the other, Anne, married Edward,
son of Henry VI., and afterward Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and
is a character in Richard III. ; Clarence's dream of him, Richard
III., i. 4 ; Clarence's desertion of him for Edward, ii. 1. Warwick
was said to have killed his horses at Towton, because he would not
fly ; at Barnet, to have fought on foot, for the encouragement of his
soldiers. The former is commemorated by the figure of a horse on
the side of a hill in Tysoe, in the county of Warwick, called the Red
Horse, from the colour of the soil, and on Palm-Sunday, the anniversary of Towton, the people of the place meet together and
" scour the horse," as it is called clear away the vegetation that
has accumulated on the figure.
Warwickshire, scene of 111. Henry VL, iv. 2, 3.
Washford (Wexford, in Ireland), /. Henry VL, iv. 7.
Was it the proud, full sail of his great verse, Sonnet
Ixxxvi.
Wassail-candle, a, II. Henry IV., i. 2. A large candle used
at a merry-making.
Was this fair face the cause, song, AW a Well that Ends
Well, i. 3.
Wastefulness, to gild refined gold, to paint the lily, etc., King
John, iv. 2 ; of Falstaff . See WAIST.
Wat, name for a hare, Venus and Adonis, I. 697.
Watch, directions to the, Much Ado about Nothing, Hi. 3.
Watch, winding up the, of wit, The Tempest, ii. 1.
Watch, give me a, Richard III., v. 3. A watch-light, marked
to show the passage of time.
Watchfulness, power of, Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 3.
"Water, smooth, //. Henry VI., Hi. 1 ; that glideth by the mill,
Titus Andronicus, ii. 1 ; as false as, Othello, v. 2 ; the, was caught,
and not the fish, A Winter's Tale, v. 2.
Water-casting, allusions to the practice of, Two Gentlemen of
Verona, ii. 1 ; Twelfth Night, iii. 4 > II* Henry IV., i. 2 ; Macbeth,
v. 3 ; Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 3.
Water-fly, Hamlet, v. 2 ; Troilus and Cressida, v. 1. A busy,
officious trifler.
Waterford, Ireland, Talbot, Earl of, I. Henry VI., iv. 7.
Water-galls, Lucrece, I. 1588. Secondary rainbows.
Waterton, Sir Robert, mentioned in Richard II., ii. 1, as one of the companions of Bolingbroke.
Waters, a boat for all, Twelfth Night, iv. 2. Ready for any port.
Water-work (water-colours), II. Henry IV., ii. 1.
Watery star (the moon), A Winter's Tale, i. 2.
Wax, love like an image of, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4.
Wax, a form of, King John, v. 4. Allusion to the superstition
that an individual could be destroyed by melting before the fire a
waxen image of him ; alluded to also in Two Gentlemen of Verona,
ii. 4> Richard III., iii. 4; sting of, //. Henry VI., iv. 2 ; a wide
sea of, Timon of Athens, i. 1. The last is probably an allusion to
the waxen tablets anciently used for writing, as one might say now,
a wide sea of foolscap ; uses of, in sealing, Cymbeline, iii. 2.
Waywardness, of age, King Lear, i. 1.
Weakness, Troilus and Cressida, i. 1 ; great results from, All's
Well that Ends Well, ii. 1 ; physical, of a great man, Julius Ccesar,
i.2.
Wealsmen (legislators, commonwealth men), Coriolanus, ii. 1.
Wealth, a burden for death to unload, Measure for Measure,
iii. 1; power of, Merry Wives of Windsor, iii. 4> confiscated,
Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 ; misery brought by, Timon of Athens,
iv. 2 ; and peace, imposthume of, Hamlet, iv. 4 or 1 ; desire for,
Lucrece, 1. 141; King Lear, i. 4; faults that are rich are fair, Timon
of Athens, i. 2. See GOLD, MONEY.
Weapons, holy saws of sacred writ for, //. Henry VI., i. 3.
Weariness, in a prince, //. Henry IV., ii. 2; sleep of, Cymbeline, iii. 6.
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, Sonnet xxvii.
Weasel, spleen of the, I. Henry IV., ii, 3 ; quarrelous as the,
Cymbeline, iii. 4; as a, sucks eggs, As You Like It, ii. 5 ; very like
a, Hamlet, iii. 2.
Weather, unseasonable, due to strife among the fairies. See
SEASONS.
Weather-cock, invisible as a, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 1.
Weaver(s), psalm-singers, I. Henry IV., ii. 4; three souls out
of one, Twelfth Night, ii. 3. Weavers were noted for psalm-singing ; Goliath with a weaver's beam, Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 1.
Web-and-pin (cataract of the eye), A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; King
Lear, Hi. 4.
Wedding journey, a, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 1.
Weeds, in spring, //. Henry VI., Hi. 1; & crown of, King
Lear, iv. 4, 6 ; the fattest soil is most subject to, //. Henry IV., iv.
4; grow apace, Richard III., ii. 4,' Hi* 1.
Weeds (garments), Twelfth Night, v. 1 ; Coriolanus, ii. S ; King
Lear, iv. 1, and elsewhere.
Weeping. See TEARS.
Weet (wit, know), Antony and Cleopatra, i. 1.
Weird Sisters, the. See WITCHES, the.
Welcome, a landlady's, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 5; at a
feast, Comedy of Errors, Hi. 1; must appear in other ways than
words, Merchant of Venice, v. 1 ; a general, Henry VIII. i. 4 ; and
farewell, Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 3 ; to a returning soldier, Coriolanus, ii. 1 ; treacherous, Macbeth, i. 5 ; of a hostess, Macbeth, i. 6 ;
expression of, Macbeth, Hi. 4; Pericles, ii. 3 ; Romeo and Juliet,
ii. 6.
Well-liking (fat), Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.
Welsh, the, accent of, Merry Wives of Windsor, Sir Hugh
Evans in i. 1, 2, etc., and Fluellen's in Henry V. ; the devil understands, I. Henry IV., Hi. 1; love for cheese of, Merry Wives of
Windsor, v. 5 ; cruelties of, I. Henry IV., i. 1; language of the, J.
Henry IV., Hi. 1, last part ; service of, in France, Henry V., iv. 7.
Were't aught to me I bore the canopy, Sonnet cxxv.
Westminster, scene of a part of Henry VIII.
Westminster, palace at, scene of a part of II. Henry IV.
Westminster Abbey, scene of the opening of I. Henry VI.
Westminster, the Abbot of, a character in Richard II., introduced in iv. 1. He was the leader of the conspiracy to kill Bolingbroke ; in v. 6 he is said to have died " with clog of conscience and
sour melancholy." The name of this abbot is not certainly known,
but William de Colchester is generally supposed to be the one ;
though, from the fact that the date of his death is uncertain, it may
have been his successor, Richard Harounden.
Westminster Hall, scene of iv. 1 in Richard II. It was rebuilt by Richard, who was deposed by the first Parliament that met
there.
Westmoreland, Ralph Neville, Earl of, character in Henry IV.,
both parts, and in Henry V. He was the first earl, made so by
Richard II., in 1397. He was, however, on the side of Bolingbroke,
who rewarded him for his services with several important appointments. In II. Henry IV. iv. 1, he meets the archbishop and Mowbray to persuade them to abandon their rebellion. Of his twenty-two children, his oldest son died, leaving a son Ralph, who is the
Westmoreland of III. Henry VI.
Westmoreland, Ralph Neville, second earl of, character in
777. Henry VI., grandson of the preceding. He is an adherent
of the house of Lancaster, and is introduced in the first scene.
Westward, hoe I Twelfth Night, Hi. 1. The cry of boatmen on
the Thames.
Wezand (windpipe), The Tempest, Hi. 2.
Whale, this Falstaff , Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1; the
belching, Troilus and Cressida, v. 5 ; like a, Hamlet, Hi. 2 ; to vir-ginity, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3. The monster that was to
devour Andromeda was represented as a whale in some old prints.
Whale's bone (walrus-teeth), Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.
What is your substance, whereof are you made, Sonnet
liii.
What potions have I drunk of siren tears, Sonnet cxix.
What's in the brain that ink may character, Sonnet cviii.
Wheat, two grains of, in two bushels of chaff, Merchant of
Venice, i. 1 ; he that will have a cake of the, must tarry the grinding, Troilus and Cressida, i. 1.
Wheel, turn in the (like a turnspit), Comedy of Errors, Hi. 2 ;
(the burden of a song?), Hamlet, iv. 5 or 2 ; when a great, runs
clown a hill, let go thy hold, King Lear, ii. 4 ; death by the, Coriolanus, Hi. 2, a punishment not used in Rome ; of fire, bound upon
a, King Lear, iv. 7.
Whelked (twisted, convoluted), King Lear, iv. 6.
Whelks (pustules), Henry V, Hi. 6.
When as I sat in Babylon, song, Merry Wives of Windsor,
Hi. 1. A metrical version of Psalm cxxxvii., mixed with a song by
Marlowe.
When as thine eye hath chose the dame, Passionate Pilgrim, xix.
When daffodils begin to peer, song, A Winter's Tale, iv. 2
or 3.
When daisies pied and violets blue, song, Love's Labour's
Lost, v. 2.
When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, Sonnet ii.
When griping grief, song by Richard Edwards, Romeo and
Juliet, iv. 5.
When I consider every thing that grows, Sonnet xv.
When I do count the clock that tells the time, Sonnet xii.
When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced, Sonnet
Ixiv.
When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, Sonnet
xxix.
When in the chronicle of wasted time, Sonnet cvi.
When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see, Sonnet
xliii.
When my love swears that she is made of truth, Sonnet
cxxxviii ; Passionate Pilgrim, i.
When thou shalt be disposed to set me light, Sonnet
Ixxxviii.
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought, Sonnet xxx.
Wh&r (whether), II. Henry VI., Hi. 3 ; Comedy of Errors, iv. 1.
Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long, Sonnet c.
Where is the life that late I led ? Taming of the Shrew,
iv. 1. A line from an old ballad now lost.
Where, to find a better, thou losest here. King Lear, i. 1.
Where the bee sucks, song, The Tempest, v. 1.
Whetstone, well said, Troilus and Cressida, v. 2; of a sword,
Macbeth, iv. 3.
Whiffler, a, Henry V., v., chorus. An officer who preceded a
procession to clear the way, sometimes a piper.
Whiles (until), Twelfth Night, iv. 3.
Whiles you here do snoring lie, song, The Tempest, ii. 1.
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid, Sonnet Ixxix.
Whipping, punishment by, Taming of the Shreiv, i. 1; II.
Henry IV., v. 4; II. Henry VI., ii. 1; Antony and Cleopatra, Hi.
11; Hamlet, ii. 2; All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 2 ; King Lear,
i. 4 ; the impression of keen whips, Measure for Measure, ii. 4*
Whirligig, of time, the, Twelfth Night, v. 1.
Whitehall, named, Henry VIIL, iv. 1.
Whiteness, of new snow upon the raven's back, Romeo and
Juliet, Hi. 2 ; of doves-down, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3.
Whitmore, Walter, character in II. Henry VI., introduced in
iv. 1, one of the pirates that captured the Duke of Suffolk, and the
one to whose share he fell. The name Walter was pronounced with
the I silent ; the duke says :
" A cunning man did calculate my birth,
And told me that by water I should die."
Whitsters (bleachers), Merry Wives of Windsor, Hi. 3.
Whitsuntide, or Pentecost, Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 4 ;
Romeo and Juliet, i. 5 ; Comedy of Errors, iv. 1 ; pastorals at, A
Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4 / morris-dance at, Henry V., ii. 4.
Whittle '(pocket-knife), Timon of Athens, v. 1.
Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will, Sonnet cxxxv.
Who is it that says most ? Sonnet Ixxxiv.
Who is Silvia ? song, Two Gentlemen of' Verona, iv. 2.
Whoobub (hubbub), A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4.
Whoop, do me no harm, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4. Refrain
of an old ballad.
Who will believe my verse in time to come, Sonnet xvii.
Why, every, hath a wherefore, Comedy of Errors, ii. 2.
Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day, Sonnet
xxxiv.
Why is my verse so barren of new pride, Sonnet Ixxvi.
Why should this a desert be ? love-verses, As You Like It,
Hi. 2.
Wicked, the love of the, Richard II., v. 1 ; their own enemies,
All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3 ; swords of the, turned against
themselves, Richard III., v. 1.
Wickedness, confession of, Titus Andronicus, v. 1; Heaven
sees all, Henry V., iv. 1 ; II. Henry VI., v. 2 ; Hamlet, Hi. 3 ; Pericles, i. 1; relative, King Lear, ii. 4, "Those wicked creatures,"
etc. ; unpunished, King Lear, Hi. 7 ; leavens the good, Cynibeline,
Hi. 4 ; downward course of, Henry V., Hi. 3.
Widow(s), dower of a, Measure for Measure, v. 1; Heaven, the
champion of, Richard II., i. 2 ; speedy marriage of a, Hamlet, i. 2 ;
fear to leave a, Sonnet ix.
Widow, a, a character in the Taming of the Shrew, introduced
in v. 2, who marries Hortensio.
Widow, a, of Florence, character in All's Well that Ends Well,
the mother of Diana. See CAPILET.
Wife (wires), a jewel, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4 ; may be
merry and honest, Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 2 ; are sold by fate,
Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5 ; duties of, Comedy of Errors, ii. 1 ;
Taming of the Shrew, v. 2 ; reproaches of a jealous, Comedy of
Errors, ii. 1, 2 ; v. 1; like vines, Comedy of Errors, ii. 1; submission of a, Merchant of Venice, Hi. 2 ; a light, Merchant of Venice,
v. 1 ; always go wrong, Love's Labour's Lost, Hi. 1 ; those who rule
their lords, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 1 ; property in a, Taming of
the Shrew, Hi. 2, " She is my goods," etc. ; kill a, with kindness,
Taming of the Shrew, iv. 1 ; a detested, is worse than war, All's
Well that Ends Well, ii. 3 ; jealousy of, As You Like It, iv. 1 ; revolted, A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; what motive stronger than the name
of, King John, Hi. 1 ; fears of a, /. Henry IV., ii. 3 ; like a beaten,
//. Henry IV., iv. 1 ; Gloucester's, /. Henry VI., i. 1 ; a good, Henry VIII., ii. 4>' Hi. 1; taking a avenging the theft of a, Troilus
and Cressida, ii. 2 ; a quiet, Coriolanus, ii. 1, " My gracious silence ; "
if you had been the wife of Hercules, Coriolanus, iv. 1 ; secrets from
a prayer to be worthy of a noble, Julius Cmsar, ii. 1; love of,
Othello, i. 3 ; unfaithfulness of, Othello, iv. 3, end ; advantage in the
death of a, Antony and Cleopatra, i. 2 ; one not to be controlled,
Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2 ; praise of a, Lucrece, 1. 15. See also
WOMEN.
"Wilderness (wildness), Measure for Measure, Hi. 1.
Wild fowl, there is not a more fearful, than your lion living,
Midsummer-Nighf s Dream, Hi. 1 ; the opinion of Pythagoras concerning, Twelfth Night, iv. 2.
Wild-goose chase, a, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4. A kind of horse race in which the second was obliged to follow the leader wherever
he chose to go ; or any chase as hopeless as the pursuit of a wild
goose.
Wilfulness, schoolmasters to, King Lear, ii. 4, end; hydra-headed, Henry V., i. 1.
Will, arbitrary, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 3 ; a strong, in a
feeble body, like, II. Henry VI., v. 3 ; power of the, Othello, i. 3,
speech of lago ; happiness of following one's own, Cynibeline, i. 6.
Will, play on the name, Sonnets cxxxv., cxxxvi., cxliii., cxliv.
Will(s) (testaments), not such a sickly creature as to make a,
Merry Wives of Windsor, Hi. 4,' of Portia's father, Merchant of
Venice, i. 2; of worldlings, As You Like It, ii. 1; a wicked, a
woman's, King John, ii. 1 ; bid a sick man make, Romeo and Juliet,
i. 1 ; Cassar's, Julius Caesar, Hi. 2 ; he is said to have left about fourteen dollars to each citizen, a sum equal in value to at least one hundred dollars now; a last, Lucrece, I. 1183 ; Pericles, i. 1.
William, a country fellow in As You Like It, introduced in v. 1,
in love with Audrey, who is captivated by Touchstone.
Williams, character in Henry V., a soldier in the army, first
appears in iv. 1, where Henry in his incognito talks with him and
exchanges gloves with him. The outcome of the episode is in iv. 8.
Will-o'-the-wisp, called a Jack, The Tempest, iv. 1; a fire-drake, Henry VIII., v. 4; a walking fire, King Lear, Hi. 4.
Willoughby, Lord William de, an unimportant character in
Richard II., a partisan of Bolingbroke, introduced in ii. 3.
Willow, the, allusions to it as a symbol of disappointed love,
Merchant of Venice, v. 1; III. Henry VI., Hi. 3 ; Hamlet, iv. 7;
Othello, iv. 3 ; Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 1.
Wiltshire, James Butler, Earl of, spoken of in III. Henry VI.,
i. 1. He was a Lancastrian, was wounded at St. Alban's, taken
prisoner at Towton, and beheaded in 1460.
Wiltshire, William le Scrope, Earl of, has the realm in farm,
Richard II., ii. 1. He was a favourite of the king, who created him
earl in 1395. On the landing of Henry of Lancaster, in 1399, he was
taken and beheaded without a trial.
Win, they laugh that, Othello, iv. 1.
Winchester, Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, and Bishop of (1370-1447), character in the first and second parts of Henry VI., introduced in the first scene of each. He was a son of John of Gaunt
and Catherine Swyuford, and was therefore an uncle of Humphrey,
Duke of Gloucester, the relationship referred to in /. Henry VI., Hi.
1. He was the leader of the peace party, Gloucester of the war
party ; their hatred toward each other is expressed in /. Henry VI.,
i. 1, 3. The play follows tradition in imputing to Winchester a
share in Gloucester's death and the consequent remorse and horrible
end ; but there is said to be no authentic evidence in favor of it.
He is described by Holinshed as " haughty in stomach, high in countenance, and strong in malice and mischief." He was called Cardinal of England, though the Bishop of Durham was a cardinal at the
same time, and Beaufort's title was Cardinal of St. Eusebius.
Winchester, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of. See GARDINER.
Winchester goose, /. Henry VI., i. 3 ; Troilus and Cressida,
v. 11. Name for a vile disease, or one afflicted with it. A disreputable part of the town was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of
Winchester.
Wincot (Wilnecastle), in Warwickshire, near Stratford, Taming
of the Shrew, induction, 2.
Wind, something in the, Comedy of Errors, Hi. 2 ; sits in that
corner, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 3 ; churlish, As You Like It,
ii. 1 ; little fire grows great with little. Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1 ;
ill, //. Henry IV., v. 3 ; III. Henry VI., ii. 5 ; that bows the pine,
Cymbeline, iv. 2 ; allusions to the south or southwest wind as bringing wet weather and disease, The Tempest, i. 2 ; I. Henry IV., v. 1 ;
Coriolanus, i. 4 ; Troilus and Cressida, v. 1 ; Cymbeline, ii. 3.
Windmill, living with cheese in a, 1. Henry IV., Hi. 1 ; in St.
George's Fields, II. Henry IV., Hi. 2.
Windows, the eyes, Richard III., i. 2 ; v. 3 ; Cymbeline, ii. 2.
Winds, the, at sea, //. Henry IV., Hi. 1; sightless couriers,
Macbeth, i. 7 ; Lear's appeal to, King Lear, Hi. 2.
Windsor, twenty-three miles west of London, scene of the Merry
Wives of Windsor. It has been conjectured that Elizabeth was at
Windsor Castle when, according to the tradition, it was written for
her, and that it was first acted there, the scene being laid at Windsor
to give the play a local interest. Herne's oak, which is introduced
in v. 3-5, stood in Windsor Little Park.
Windsor Castle, scene of v. 6 in Richard II. ; spoken of in the
Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5.
Wine, the temptation of, Merchant of Venice, i. 2; good, needs
no bush, As You Like It, epilogue ; effect of, Timon of Athens, iv.
3, " Nor on the beasts themselves," etc. ; of life, is drawn, Macbeth,
H. 3; good wine, a good creature, if well used invisible spirit of,
Othello, ii. 3, Cassio's speech ; the conquering, Antony and Cleopatra,
ii. 7 ; unkindness buried in, Julius Ccesar, iv. 3; loquacity after
taking, Henry VIII., i. 4. See DRUNKENNESS.
Winning, would put any man into courage, Cymbeline, ii. 3.
Winter, song of, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; age like a lusty,
As You Like It, ii. 3; a sad tale for. A Winter's Tale, ii. 1; humourous as, II. Henry IV., iv. 4 ; of our discontent, Richard III.,
i. 1; not gone, if the wild geese fly that way, King Lear,ii.4;
tames man, woman, and beast, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 1.
Winter's Tale, A, was written late in 1610 or early in 1611. It
is founded on a story by Robert Greene, first published in 1588
under the name of " Pandosto," and again in 1609, with the title,
"The Historic of Dorastus and Pawnia." See SOURCES. The story
was very popular, and passed through many editions. Shakespeare
followed it quite closely in most points, but in the story Hermione is actually dead, and the love of Leontes for Perdita, merely hinted at
in the play, drives him to suicide in the story. The time of the play
cannot be determined, or, rather, it has no time. Pagan and Christian usages and expressions are recklessly mingled. The queen is
daughter of the Emperor of Russia, and her innocence is attested by
the oracle at Delphos. The scene of action is first in Sicilia, afterward in Bohemia, then again in Sicilia. This play is regarded as
one of the best in its treatment of character and motive, though its
plot defies all the unities.
Wisdom, in self-disparagement, Measure for Measure, li. 4 ; in
imprisonment, Measure for Measure, i. 3; an appearance of, in
silence, Merchant of Venice, i. 1; waiting on folly, All's Well that
Ends Well, i. 1 ; too great a show of, AWs Well that Ends Well,
ii. 3, " I did think thee," etc. ; cries in the streets, /. Henry IV., i.
2 ; gained in a wild life, Henry V., i. 1; of Ajax, Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3; in combat with fortune, Antony and Cleopatra, Hi. 2 ;
in combat with blood, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 3 ; he's a fool
that will not yield to, Pericles, ii. 4.
Wise, the, folly of, As You Like It, ii. 7 ; knows his folly, As
You Like It, v. 1 ; all places home to, Richard II., i. 3 ; do not
wail, Richard II., Hi. 2 ; the young and, do ne'er live long, Richard
III., Hi. 1.
Wise-woman (witch), Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 5.
Wish(es), thy own, wish I thee, Love's Labour's Lost, ii. 1; the
best, AWs Well that Ends Well, i. 1 ; father to the thought, II.
Henry IV., iv. 4.
Wishers, were ever fools, Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 13 or 15.
Wisp of straw, allusion to a, as the badge of a scold, III. Henry
VI., ii. 2.
Wit, winding the watch of, The, Tempest, ii. 1 ; not to go unrewarded, The Tempest, iv. 1 ; love bought with, Two Gentlemen of
Verona, i. 1 ; borrows and spends, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4 ,'
without will, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 6 ; on ill employment,
Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5 ; what is, in the great, is profanation
in the humble, Measure for Measure, ii. 2 ; given to men in place of
hair, Comedy of Errors, ii. 2 ; a skirmish of. Much Ado about
Nothing, i. 1; Beatrice's, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 1; Hi. 1;
some remnants of, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 3 ; the wit is out
when age is in, Much Ado about Nothing, Hi. 5 ; Benedick's, Much
Ado about Nothing, v. 1,2; a manly, Much Ado about Nothing, v.
2 ; a sharp, Love's Labour's Lost, ii. 1; peddling second-hand, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2; turned fool, Love's Labour's Lost. v. 2;
the whetstone of, As You Like It, i.2 ; with understanding, As You
Like It, Hi. 3 ; in women, As You Like It, iv. 1 ; has much to answer for, As You Like It, v. 1 ; with honour, All's Well that Ends
Well, i. 2; harmed by beef, Twelfth Night, i. 3; those that think
they have, Twelfth Night, i, 5 ; enough, to lie straight, Twelfth
Night, ii. 3 ; to play the fool, Twelfth Night, Hi. 1; the cause of, in
other men, II. Henry IV., i. 2 ; and sherris, //. Henry IV., iv. 3;
encounter of. Richard III., i. 2 ; lack of, Troilus and Cressida, ii.
1 ; Hamlet, ii. 2 ; brevity the soul of. Hamlet, ii. 2 ; a bitter sweeting, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4 >' pared on both sides, King Lear, i. 4 /
more man than, King Lear, ii. 4; depends on time, Othello, ii. 3;
waits on fear, Venus and Adonis, I. 690. See also WITS.
Wit, skull of a, Hamlet, v. 1 ; an unconscious, As You Like It,
ii. 4, " I shall never be 'ware of my own wit till I break my shins
against it."
Witchcraft, of Sycorax, (q. v.}, The Tempest, i. 2 ; allusions to,
Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 2 ; Comedy of Errors, i.2 ; ii. 2 ; Hi. 2 ;
Twelfth Night, Hi. 4 ; L Henry VI., i. 5, " Blood will 1 draw ; " a
witch was supposed to be rendered powerless by loss of blood ; /.
Henry VI., v. 3, " Monarch of the north ; " Ziminar, a devil invoked
by witches; other allusions to, II. Henry VI., i. 2, 4> *'*' 1~4> ac ~
cusation of, Richard 111., Hi. 4> charm against (God save her),
Henry VIII., v. 4> incantations of, Macbeth, iv. 1. See also under
MAHU. In Macbeth, i. 3 ; iv. 1 ; and v. 3, many popular notions
about witches are alluded to that they could sail any sea in a shell
or a sieve ; that they could assume the form of any animal ; that
they sold winds ; that they are connected with the moon ; that they
untie the winds to fight against the churches, etc. The use of the
supernatural in the plays of Shakespeare was in accord with the belief,
universal in his time, in witchcraft, ghosts, omens, and portents of
all kinds. The law against witches, which had been repealed in the
time of Edward VI., was re-enacted in the time of Elizabeth, because
they had so terribly increased ; and during the reign of James I. the
crime of witchcraft was made punishable by death upon the first
conviction, Coke and Bacon being members of the Parliament that
passed the law. King James published a book on " Demonology,"
in 1603 ; but men of far higher intellect were firm believers in the
power of witches. Sir Thomas Browne declares that those who
doubt it are atheists. Bishop Jewell, in a sermon before the queen,
drew an affecting picture of the wasting away of the victims of soreery. The names of familiars of witches, that are used in the plays,
Barbason, Mahu, Smulkin, and others, are found in the writings of
Reginald Scott, who published a book on witchcraft, in 1584, and
of other authors of the time.
Witcli(es), Sycorax, The Tempest; of Brentford, the, Merry
Wives of Windsor, iv. 2 ; beards of, Merry Wives of Windsor, iv.
2 ; Ephesus full of, Comedy of Errors, i. 3 ; Joan of Arc accused
of being a, Z Henry VI., i. 5 ; the Duchess of Gloucester accused,
II. Henry VI., ii. 3 ; Edward's wife a, Richard III., Hi. 4 ; an
Egyptian, Othello, Hi. 4 ; images of wax made by. See under WAX.
Witches, the, or the Three Weird Sisters, characters in Macbeth,
playing substantially the same part as in the old record. These sisters answered to the fates of mythology, and are by some supposed
to be the Norns or fates of Scandinavian mythology, the first of
whom had to do with the past, the second with the present, the third
with the future. The word is spelled " weyward " in the folio. They
appear first in i. 1, and are seen by Banquo and Macbeth in i. 3,
where they make their prophecy, of which the two speak again in ii.
1, and Banquo in Hi. 1. They appear again in Hi. 5 and in iv. 1,
where they show him the apparitions and make another prophecy.
" They are wholly different from any representation of witches in contemporary writers, and yet presented a sufficient external resemblance to the creatures of vulgar prejudice to act immediately on the
audience. Their character consists in the imaginative disconnected
from the good." COLERIDGE.
Witching-time, of night, Hamlet, Hi. 2.
Withal, I could not (could not help), Merchant of Venice, Hi. 4.
Withers, our, are unwrung, Hamlet, Hi. 2.
Withold, Saint, footed thrice the wold, King Lear, Hi. 4.
Witness(es), false, Henry VIII., v. 1 ; conscience a, Cymbeline,
ii. 2 ; of murder, Macbeth, ii. 2.
Wits, of the home-keeping, are homely love inhabits in the
finest, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1; the five, Much Ado about
Nothing, i. 1; Twelfth Night, iv. 2; King Lear, Hi. 4; Romeo and
Juliet, i. 4; the intellectual faculties, corresponding to the five
senses ; fat, Z Henry IV., i. 2 ; lack of, is no matter in England,
Hamlet, v. 1. See also WIT.
Wit-snapper, a, Merchant of Venice, Hi. 5.
Wittenberg, school at, Hamlet, i. 2. The university dates from
the year 1502, while the Danish history, from which the tale of Hamlet is drawn, was written at about the end of the twelfth century.
Wittol, quibble on, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2, end.
Wizard(s), prophecy by, //. Henry VI., i. 4; v. 2; Richard
III., i. 1.
Woe, faintly borne, Richard II., i. 3 ; to the land governed by
a child, Richard III., ii. 3 ; for England, Richard III., Hi. 4 ; if
sour, delights in fellowship, Romeo and Juliet, Hi. 2; trappings of,
Hamlet, i. 2; a charm against death, Cymbeline, v. 3; fellowship in,
Lucrece, lines 790, 1111. See GRIEF and SORROW.
Woes, comparison of, Much Ado about Nothing, v. 1; a tide of,
Richard II., ii. 2 ; wise men ne'er wail their present, Richard II.,
iii. 2 ; lose knowledge of themselves, King Lear, iv. 6.
Wolf (wolves), thy currish spirit governed a, Merchant of Venice,
iv. 1 ; Irish, As You Like It, v. 2 ; have done offices of pity, A Winter's Tale, ii. 3; to make a, II. Henry IV., i. 2; eat like, Henry V.,
iii. 7 ; in sheep's array, /. Henry VI., i. 3 ; English, I. Henry VI.,
i. 6 ; arouse the jades that drag the night, //. Henry VI., iv. 1;
loves the lamb, Coriolanus, ii. 1; sentinels of murder, Macbeth,
ii. 1.
Wolsey, Thomas, Archbishop of York and cardinal, character
in Henry VIII., introduced in the first scene, where he is spoken of
as a " butcher's cur." His father was a wealthy butcher at Ipswich.
His power, ambition, and ability are spoken of in i. 1; he is charged
with oppressive taxation, i. 2 ; hated by the commons, ii. 1 ; his
reasons for urging the divorce, ii. 1, 2 ; Katherine to him, ii. 4 ,' his
double-dealing discovered, the king's ironical praise, his fall, and
soliloquy, iii. 2 ; Henry reading the inventory of his property, iii. 2.
(A mistake like this is said to have been made by the Bishop of Durham, and used by Wolsey to ruin him.) His death and character,
iv. 2. This, put into the mouths of Katherine and Griffith, is taken
almost literally from Holinshed. His farewell to greatness in the celebrated soliloquy is by some critics attributed to Fletcher. Wolsey
is one of the great characters of the historic plays haughty, ambitious, tricky, revengeful, he assumes equal power with the king, intends to make himself pope, pursues the unfortunate Buckingham
to death, and raises the question of illegality in the king's marriage
in order to bring about a union with the sister of the French king,
and thereby further his own ambitious plans. But the king makes
his own choice of Katherine's successor, and Wolsey's scheme falls
to the ground, followed by his own ruin. In his fall he is represented in the play as noble, dignified, and Christian-like.
Woman (women), reason of a, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2 ; a fat, Comedy of Errors, Hi. 2 ; a jealous, Comedy of Errors, v. 1 ;
graces of a, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 3 ; fortune's gifts to, As
You Like It, i. 2 ; curiosity and impatience of, As You Like It, in.
2, " Doublet and hose in my disposition ; " caprices of, As You Like
It, Hi. 2; wit of, As You Like It, iv. 1; of the world (married), As
You Like It, v. 3 ; tongue of a, Taming of the Shrew, i. 2, " Why
came I hither," etc. ; duty of a, Taming of the Shrew, v. 2 ; off er of
love from a, Twelfth Night, Hi. 1, 4 ; a, born to fears, King John,
Hi. 1; mood of a, /. Henry IV., i. 3; a, therefore to be won, I. Henry VI., v. 3 ; was ever, in this humour won, Richard III., i. 2 ; shallow-changing, Richard III., iv. 4; answer of a, Troilus and Cressida, i. 1 ; a mannish, Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 3 ; ambition of a Roman, Coriolanus, i. 3 ; she is a, therefore, Titus Andronicus, ii.
1; an unsexed, Macbeth, i. 5 ; to play the, Macbeth, iv. 3 ; one not
born of, Macbeth, v. 5 ; a name for frailty, Hamlet, i. 2 ; most
pernicious, Hamlet, i. 5 ; painting and affectations of, Hamlet, Hi. 1;
tears the weapons of, King Lear, ii. 4,' deformity in, King Lear,
iv. 2 ; will of, King Lear, iv. 6 ; voice of, King Lear, v. 3 ; the
devil will not eat a, Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2 ; inconstancy of,
Cymbeline, i. 6; ii. 4, 5 ; all faults in, Cymbeline, ii. 5 ; in man's
attire, Cymbeline, Hi. 4, 6 ; who can read a, Cymbeline, v. 5 ; a man
with the beauty of a, Sonnet xx. ; wooing of a, Sonnet xli. ; admiration for, The Tempest, Hi. 1; in man's attire, Julia in the
Two G-entlemen of Verona; Rosalind in As You Like It; Viola
in Twelfth Night; Imogen in Cymbeline; curiosity of, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 2 ; love of, for gifts scorn what best contents
them are won by a tongue the only virtue of, Two Gentlemen
of Verona, Hi. 1 ; three things hated by, Two Gentlemen of Verona,
Hi. 2 ; frailty of, Measure for Measure, ii. 4i an oath not to see,
Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1 ; ii. 1; like German clocks, Love's Labour's Lost, Hi. 1, end ; are books and academes, Love's Labour's
Lost, iv. 3 ; keen tongues of, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; were not
made to woo, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii, 2 ; kindness in, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 2 ; ornaments of, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3 ;
should be submissive, Taming of the Shrew, v. 2 ; one good in ten,
All's Well that Ends Well, i. 3; easily captivated, Twelfth Night,
ii. 2 ; should marry men older than themselves less fickle than men
are as roses love of, Twelfth Night, ii. 4 / are won by valour,
Twelfth Night, Hi. 2 ; how influenced treachery of office that becomes, A Winter's Tale, i. 2; stopping the tongues of a scolding,
A Winter's Tale, ii. 3 ; war of, Richard II., ii. 1; Welsh, /. Henry IV., i. 1; secrets with, /. Henry IV., ii. 3 ; the son of a, and yet
with fewer words than a parrot, 1. Henry IV., ii. 4> shrewd tempters, I. Henry VI., i. 2; beauty, virtue, and government in the
queen unlike, III. Henry VI., i. 4 ; when men are ruled by, Richard
III., i. 1 ; won by flattery, Richard III., iv. 1 ; love eminence, Henry VIII., ii. 3 ; are angels when wooed, Troilus and Cressida, i. 2,
end; that they had men's privileges constancy in, Troilus and
Cressida, Hi. 2 ; light, Troilus and Cressida, iv. 5; are governed
by the eyes, Troilus and Cressida, v. 2 ; hearing praise of valour,
Coriolanus, i. 9; a deputation of, Coriolanus, v. 3; tears of, Coriolanus, v. 6; Lucrece, I. 1137 ; Roman custom for, Julius Caesar,
i. 2 ; in keeping counsel weak-hearted, Julius Ccesar, ii. 4> will
all turn monsters if, etc., King Lear, iii. 1 ; sarcasms on, Othello,
ii. 1 ; Venetian, Othello, iii. 3 ; tears of, Othello, iv. 1 ; unkindness
to, Antony and Cleopatra, i. 2 ; charms of a, Antony and Cleopatra,
ii. 2 ; criticism of one, by another, Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 3 ;
never strong, Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 10 or 12 ; fickleness of,
Sonnet xx. ; waxen minds of, Lucrece, 1. 1240 ; not responsible, Lucrece, lines 1244, 1257 ; to woo, Passionate Pilgrim, xix.
Woman (to frighten as a woman), All's Well that Ends Well,
iii. 2.
Womanhood, let it not be believed for, Troilus and Cressida,
Woman-tired (governed by a woman), A Winter's Tale, ii. 3.
Won, things, Troilus and Cressida, i. 2, end.
Wonder, at unnatural things, Macbeth, iii. 4> The Tempest,
v. 1 ; Othello, ii. 1 ; Richard III., iii. 7 ; attired in, Much Ado
about Nothing, iv. 1 ; rarest argument of, All's Well that Ends Well,
ii. 1 ; nine days', As You Like It, iii. 2 ; ten days', ///. Henry VI.,
iii. 2 ; a sonnet beginning " Wonder of nature," Henry V., iii. 7.
Wondered (endowed with wonderful power), The Tempest, iv. 1.
Wood, or wode (wild, frantic), Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1 ;
Venus and Adonis, I. 740.
Woodbine, Much Ado about Nothing, iii. 1; Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 2 ; iv. 1.
Woodcock (a gullible or cowardly fellow), Much, Ado about
Nothing, v. 1 ; Taming of the Shrew, i. 2 ; Love's Labour's Lost, iv.
3; All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 1; Twelfth Night, iv. 2.
Woods, life in the, As You Like It, ii. 1; ruthless, Titus An*
dronicus, ii. 1, 3 ; Bolingbroke's felled, Richard II., iii. 1.
Woodville, Richard, Lieutenant or Constable of the Tower, afterward Earl Rivers, character in /. Henry VL. appears in i. 3.
He was said to be the handsomest man of his day in England. He
married the widow of the Duke of Bedford, Jacqueline of Luxembourg, without waiting for the consent of his sovereign ; for this
offence he was fined a thousand pounds ; but he was soon forgiven,
and was made Baron Rivers in 1448. His daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Edward IV., and his son Anthony is the Earl Rivers of Richard III. After the marriage of his daughter, he became a zealous Yorkist, and being taken by the insurgents after the battle of Edgecote (July 26, 1469), he and his son, Sir John Woodville,
were beheaded, without trial, at Coventry.
Woodville, Anthony. See RIVERS.
Wooing, by a figure, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 1 ; an odd,
Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1; in haste. Taming of the Shrew, Hi. 2;
in rhyme, Love's Labour's Lost, v.2; a king's, Henry V., v. 2; an
unique, Richard III., i. 2 ; love sweeter in, Troilus and Cressida, i.
2, end; idle, Hamlet, i. 3; a soldier's, Othello, i. 3 ; women were not
made for, Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1 or 2; wedding and repenting, Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 1.
Woolward, go, for penance, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2. Go
clothed in wool instead of linen, sometimes imposed as a penance.
Worcester, burial of John at, King John, v. 7. The stone coffin
of John was found in the cathedral at Worcester, July 17, 1797.
Worcester, Thomas Percy, Earl of, character in /. Henry IV.,
introduced in i. 3. He is Hotspur's uncle, and in rebellion against
the king. His defection from Henry's predecessor is recounted in
Richard II., ii. 2. He is calculating, false, and selfish, and will not
report to Hotspur the king's offer of mercy, lest he himself should in
the event of a reconciliation live constantly under suspicion. Westmoreland says of him, " This Worcester, malevolent to you in all
aspects," i. 1. He was taken prisoner at Shrewsbury, and beheaded
two days later.
Word(s), crammed into the ears, The Tempest, ii. 1 ; his, are
bonds, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 7 ; evil, double deeds, Comedy
of Errors, Hi. 2 ; ill, empoison liking, Much Ado about Nothing,
iii. 1 ; high, to low matter, Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1 ; pronunciation of certain longest of all, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 1 ; an army
of good, Merchant of Venice, iii. 5 ; a man of (Parolles, which
means words), AWs Well that Ends Well; dallying with, Twelfth
Night, iii. 1 ; bethumped with, King John, ii. 2 ; like a woman's,
/. Henry IV., i. 3 ; of the dying, Richard II., ii. 1 ; windy attorneys, Richard III., iv. 4; mere, Troilus and Cressida, v. 3 ; and
strokes, Julius Cmsar, v. 1 ; unpack the heart with, Hamlet, ii. 2 ;
without thoughts, Hamlet, Hi. 3 ; to grief, Othello, i. 3 ; to tire the
hearer with a book of, Much Ado about Nothing, i. 1 ; an exchequer
of, but no other treasure, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4 ; a soldier-like, //. Henry IV., Hi. 2 ; have put to flight when blows could not,
Coriolanus, ii. 2 ; unprofitable, Lucrece, 1. 1016 ; wind of, Lucrece,
I. 1330.
Work, a noble, vilely bound up, A Winter's Tale, iv. 3 or 4.
Workingmen, rebellion of, II. Henry VI., iv. 2 ; discontent
among, Henry VIII. , i. 2.
World, on wheels, a, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hi. 1 ; an oyster,
Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2 ; delights of the, renounced, Love's
Labour's Lost, i. 1; weariness of the, Merchant of Venice, i. 2 ;
bought with care a stage, Merchant of Venice, i. 1 ; As You Like
It, ii. 7 ; what a, is this, As You Like It, ii. 3; how wags the infected, As You Like It, ii. 7; a, to see (a wonder to see), Taming of
the Shrew, ii. 1; go to the (to marry), All's Well that Ends Weil,
i. 3 ; turned by commodity, or interest, King John, ii., end ; doffed
aside, /. Henry IV., iv. 1; to bustle in the, RicJiard III., i. 1; all,
to nothing, Richard III., i. 2 ; vain pomp and glory of the, Henry
VIII., Hi. 2 ; slippery turns of the, Coriolanus, iv. 4 ; to do harm
in the, often laudable, Macbeth, iv. 2 ; weariness with, Macbeth, v. 5 ;
all uses of it, weary, stale, etc., Hamlet, i. 2 ; mutations of the, King
Lear, iv. 1 ; a stage of fools, King Lear, iv. 6 ; this tough, King
Lear, v. 3 ; the future, Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 12 or 14 ; re-nouncing the, different from being in ignorance of the, Cymbeline,
Hi. 3 ; deceit of the, Richard III., Hi. 1 ; praise of the, Sonnet Ixix.
Worldlings, testaments of, As You Like It, ii. 1.
Worra(s), that hath eat a king, Hamlet, iv. 3 ; man a, King
Lear, iv. 1 ; the word is often used for serpent, as Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2 ; allusion to the notion that toothache was caused by a,
Much Ado about Nothing, Hi. 2 ; food for, /. Henry IV., v. 4; the
only emperors for diet politic, Hamlet, iv. 3, or v. 7.
Worship (nobility), Henry VIII., i. 1, and elsewhere.
Worst, the, afraid to hear, King John, iv. 2 ; better in fortune
than the mean, King Lear, iv. 1 ; fear of, Troilus and Cressida,
Hi. 2.
Worth, sorry your choice is not so rich in, as beauty, A Winter's
Tale, v. 1; that stood challenger on mount of all the age (Ophelia's),
Hamlet, iv. 7; perpetuated in verse, /Sonnet Ixxxi.
Worthies, the Nine, Love's Labours Lost, v. 1; II. Henry IV.,
ii. 4. They were : three heathens Hector, Alexander, and Cassar ;
three Jews Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabfeus ; and three Christians Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon. Shakespeare
includes Pompey and Hercules.
Worts, quibble on, Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1. A general
name for vegetables of the cabbage kind.
Wound(s), one, to be healed by many, King John, v. 2 ; notion
that they open in presence of the murderer, Richard 111., i. 2 ; the
custom of showing, when seeking an election, Coriolanus, ii. ?; he
that never felt a, jests at scars, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 2 ; one not so
deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door, Romeo and Juliet,
Hi. 1 ; Ca3sar's, Julius Caesar, Hi. 1, 2 ; a, Venus and Adonis, 1. 1052.
Wreak (revenge), Romeo and Juliet, in. 5 ; Titus Andro?iicus,
iv. 3, 4 i Coriolanus, iv. 5.
Wreck, of the Dauphin's forces. King John, v. 3 ; as rocks cheer
them that fear their, III. Henry VL, ii. 2 ; as men thrown upon
sand from a, Henry V., iv. 1.
Wren(s), the youngest of nine, Twelfth Night, Hi. 2. The wren
was said to lay nine eggs, and the last bird hatched was the smallest ; and as Maria was very small, she was called the youngest wren
of nine ; may prey where eagles dare not perch, Richard III., i. 3 ;
parental love of, Macbeth,, iv. 2.
Wrest (an active power), Troilus and Cressida, Hi. 3.
Wrestling, allusions to : on the hip, Merchant of Venice, i. 3 ;
Othello, ii. 1 ; a wrestling-match, As You Like It, i. 2.
Wretchedness, Comedy of Errors, v. 1, "A needy, hollow-eyed," etc. ; last resort of, King Lear, iv. 6 ; of hanging on princes'
favours, Henry VIII., Hi. 2 ; in poverty. Romeo and Juliet, v. 1.
Wrinkles, of age, All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 4 ; likened to
kingly sepulchres, III. Henry VL, v. 2; let them come with mirth
and laughter, Merchant of Venice, i. 1.
Writhled (wrinkled), I. Henry VL, ii. 3.
Writing, comes by nature, Much Adlo about Nothing, Hi. 3; let
it be held treacherous, Cymbeline, iv. 2 ; a baseness to write fair,
Hamlet, v. 2 ; in a martial hand, Twelfth Night, ii. 3.
Wroath (ill fortune), Merchant of Venice, ii. 9.
Wrong(s), it is dishonourable to remember, Coriolanus, v. 3;
to Brutus and Cassius, Julius Ccesar, Hi. 2 ; pocketing up of, Henry
V., Hi. 2 ; humanity must prey upon itself, King Lear, iv. 2; to do
a great right, do a little wrong, Merchant of Venice, iv. 1; fears attend the steps of, King John, iv. 2 ; flattery a, Richard II., Hi. 2 ;
to wear wrongs like raiment, Timon of Athens, Hi. 2.
Wrying (swerving), Cymbeline, v. 1.
Wye, the, a river in Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, repulse
at, I. Henry IV., Hi. 1; Henry V., iv. 7.
Xantippe, as curst and shrewd as Socrates's, or a worse, Taming
of the Shrew, i. 2.
Yare, yarely (quick, speedy, active, skilfully), The Tempest, i. 1 ;
v. 1; Measure for Measure, iv. 2 ; Twelfth Night, Hi. 4; Antony
and Cleopatra, ii. 2 ; Hi. 7, and elsewhere.
Yaw, Hamlet, v. 2. A sailor's word, meaning not to obey the
helm ; to move unsteadily.
Yclep'd (called, from clepe), Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1 ; v. 2.
Yead (Edward), Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1.
Yearn (to grieve), Henry V., ii. 3 ; iv. 3 ; Julius Cc&sar, ii. 2 ;
Richard II., v. 5 ; Merry Wives of Windsor, Hi. 5.
Years, smiles his'cheek in, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; reviewed,
Henry V., i., chorus ; the vale of, Othello, Hi. 3 ; course of, Sonnet
civ ; as if the, had found some months asleep, II. Henry IV., iv. 4.
Yellowness (colour of jealousy), Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 3,
end ; A Winter's Tale, ii. 3, " No yellow in't," etc. ; Cymbeline, ii. 5.
Yeoman (subordinate), II. Henry IV., ii. 1.
Yeoman-service, Hamlet, v. 2.
Yeomen, of England, Henry V., Hi. 1.
Yesterday(s), 0, call back, Richard II., Hi. 2 ; all our, have
lighted fools, the way to dusty death, Macbeth, v. 5.
Yew, double-fatal, Richard II., Hi. 2. So called because it was
used for bows, and the leaves were poisonous ; allusion to the custom of placing sprigs of it in the shroud, Twelfth Night, ii. 4, song ;
used by witches when slivered in the moon's eclipse, Macbeth, iv. 1 ;
in churchyards, Romeo and Juliet, v. 3.
Yield (requite), Macbeth, i. 6 ; Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 2.
Yorick, the king's jester, skull of, Hamlet, v. 1.
York, a city, capital of Yorkshire, 172 miles north of London,
scene of II. Henry IV., i. 3, and of 777. Henry VL, iv. 7 ; mayor
of, III. Henry VL, iv. 2.
York, Archbishop of, mentioned in 777. Henry VL, iv. 3.
George Neville, brother of Warwick. See ROTHERHAM and SCROOP.
York and Lancaster, Houses of. See WARS OF THE ROSES.
York, Duchess of, a character in Richard //., introduced in v. 2,
where the treason of her son Aumerle is discovered by her and the
duke. In v. 3 she pleads with the king for his pardon. The mother
of Aumerle, the Duchess Isabel, daughter of Peter the Cruel, King
of Castile and Leon, died four or five years earlier than the time
of the play ; and the Duchess at this time was his step-mother, Joan
Holland, daughter of the Earl of Kent. But Shakespeare evidently
intends the character for Au merle's own mother.
York, Cicely Neville, Duchess of, wife of Richard, Duke of York,
and mother of two kings, Edward IV. and Eichard III., was distinguished for her beauty, and was called in her youth the " Rose of
Raby." She is a character in Richard III., where her son instructs
Buckingham to throw a slur on her character which is said to have
been spotless in order to prove Edward illegitimate, and put aside
the claim of his son to the throne. The duchess appears in ii. 2,
where she lays her curse on her unnatural son, hoping it may weigh
heavier on the field than all his armour a saying recalled when he
is wearied by his beaver and his lance on Bosworth Field.
York, Edmund of Langley, Duke of, a character in Richard
//., first appears in.it. 1. In v. 2 and 3 he denounces Aumerle, his
traitorous son. Coleridge says: "There is scarcely anything in
Shakespeare in its degree more admirably drawn than York's character ; his religious loyalty struggling with a deep grief and indignation at the king's follies ; his adherence to his word and faith, once given, in spite of all, even the most natural, feelings. You see in him the weakness of old age, and the overwhelmingness of circumstances, for a time, surmounting his sense of duty, the junction of
both exhibited in his boldness in words and feebleness in immediate
act ; and then, again, his effort to retrieve himself in abstract loyalty, even at the heavy price of the loss of his son." In contrast
with this view is that of Gervinus, who regards York as the type of
political faint-heartedness and neutrality and of cowardly loyalty to
the strong and powerful, his weakness carried into unnatural obduracy when he urges his son's death under the fear that suspicion
may fall upon himself.
York, Edward Plantagenet, Duke of, character in Henry V.,
first appears in iv. 3, where he asks permission to lead the van at
Agincourt. He is the Aumerle of Richard II., whose part in the
conspiracy to take the life of King Henry IV. is discovered in v. 2.
He was restored to his father's title in 1406, and fought valiantly at
Agincourt. His death on the field is described in Henry V.. iv. 6.
He left no children, and the title was given to his nephew, who is
the Duke of York in the three parts of Henry VI.
York, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of (1410-1460), character in
the three parts of Henry VI. He was a son of the Earl of Cambridge, who was executed for a plot against Henry V., I. Henry VI.,
ii. 5. The son was relieved from the effects of his father's attainder
in 1425, and restored to his titles and inheritance, iii. 1, and was
afterward successively Constable of England, Regent of France, iv.
1, and Lieutenant of Ireland. He first appears in ii. 4 of the first
part, in a quarrel with Somerset ; and it was under cover of hostility
to Somerset that he placed himself in opposition to the king. In i'.
3 of the first part he captures Joan of Arc. He is introduced in the
first scenes of the other two parts. In the first scene of the second
part, and again in iii. 1, he declares in soliloquy his ambitious designs. His pedigree is given, though not altogether correctly, in ii.
2, and his title to the throne. In v. 1 he defies the king. In the
third part, first scene, Henry consents to make him heir to the
throne that he has seized, if he will give it up to him (Henry) during his lifetime. He fell at the battle of Wakefield, and his head
was set on the walls of York. In the play, third part, i. 4, he is
taken prisoner, and stabbed by Clifford and afterward by Queen
Margaret, who has put a paper crown on his head. Of his four sons,
Edmund, Duke of Rutland, was killed by Clifford, III. Henry VI.,
i. 3, just before his father's death ; George, Duke of Clarence, was
murdered in the Tower ; and Edward and Richard reigned as Edward IV. and Richard III. (q. v.\
"The principal figure of the two plays, Richard of York, is
almost throughout delineated as if the nature of his more fearful
son were prefigured in him. Far-fetched policy and the cunning
and dissimulation of a prudent and determined man are blended in
him not in the same degree, but in the same apparent contradiction
as in Richard with firmness, with a hatred of flattery, with inability
to cringe, and with bitter and genuine discontent.'* GEBVINUS.
York, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of, the younger of the two
sons of King Edward IV., the two little princes who were imprisoned
in the Tower and assassinated by order of their uncle, Richard III.
Although the weight of evidence goes to show that the princes were
actually murdered, as in the play, many entertained doubts of it,
and supposed that one or both of them escaped. Hence the claim of
Perkin Warbeck, in the reign of Henry VII., to be Prince Richard,
gained credence, and made his imposture formidable.
York, sun of, Richard III., i. 1. Edward IV., whose cognizance was a sun, from the three suns that were said to have appeared tit
the time of his victory at Mortimer's Cross. York-place, name of, changed to Whitehall, Henry VIII., it: 1.
Yorkshire, Gualtree Forest in, scene of //. Henry IV., iv. 1-3.
Young, so, and so villainous, As You Like It, i. 1; the wise
die, Richard III., Hi, 1 ; so, and so untender, King Lear, i. 1 ; so,
and so unkind, Venus and Adonis, I. 187.
Your love and pity doth the impression fill, Sonnet cxii.
You spotted snakes, song, Midsummer Night's Dream, it. 2.
Youth, home-keeping, Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1 ; salt of,
left, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 3 ; men moved by, Measure for
Measure, i. 3, near the end ; aims and ends of, Measure for Measure,
i. 4 ; wants of, Measure for Measure, Hi. 1 ; blaze of, All's Well that
Ends Well, v. 3 ; a stuff will not endure, Twelfth Night, ii. 3, song ;
is easily amused, //, Henry IV., v. 1 ; advice for, Hamlet, i. 3 : wild
oats of, Hamlet, ii. 1 ; becomes its careless livery, Hamlet, iv. 7 ;
salad-days of, Antony and Cleopatra, i. 5 ; one's, in his friends, Sonnet xxii. ; cannot live with age, Passionate Pilgrim, xii. ; aptness
of, Timon of Athens, i. 1 ; truth of, not to be trusted, Cymbeline,
v. 5 ; friendship of, A Winter's Tale, i. 2 ; melancholy in, Mercliant
of Venice, i. 2 ; uncurbed, II. Henry IV., iv.
Zanies, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2 ; wise men the, of fools,
Twelfth Night, i. 5.
Zeal, repaid with ingratitude, Twelfth Night, v. 1; to set whole
realms on fire, Timon of Athens, Hi, 3 ; Wolsey's, for the king,
Henry VI1L, Hi. 2.
Zed, unnecessary letter, King Lear, ii. 2.
Zenelophon (or Penelophon), the beggar of the ballad of King
Cophetua, Love's Labour's Lost, iv. L
Zenith, the, depends upon a most auspicious star, The Tempest,
i.2.
Ziminar, a devil invoked by witches, called " Monarch of the
north," I. Henry VI., v. 3.
Zodiac, the. in his glistering coach, Titus Andronicus, ii. 1.
Zodiacs (years), Measure for Measure, i. 3.
Index A to C
Index D to F
Index G to J
Index K to M
Index N to P
Index Q to S
Index T to V
Shakespeare's plays in order of date written
First performance and first published dates
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