352 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"«» S. VII. April 30. '59. 



tent to set a squadron in the field, and know no 

 more than a spinster of the division of a battle. 



Five-and-forty years had I lived in this happy 

 land ere I had the necessity of taking in my 

 hands a weapon of offence or defence ; and when, 

 on the memorable 10th of April, 1848, I was 

 called upon to shoulder a brown bess, I know I 

 did so with a strong feeling of apprehension, that, 

 if unhappily compelled to use it, it might perad- 

 venture prove more dangerous to my Conservative 

 friends than to the noisy Chartists against whom 

 its fire would have been really directed. 



My notes refer to Boswell's edition of Malone, 

 the last variorum edition, which was published in 

 1821 ; and I will quote them in the order in which 

 the plays are there inserted. I have no note of 

 any soldierly allusions in The Two Gentlemen of 

 Verona, and I have only a memorandum of one 

 such in 



The Comedy op Ebrobs, 

 Act IV. Sc. 3., where Dromeo of Syracuse mgeaks 

 of 



" He that sets up his rest to do more exploits with his 

 mace, than a morris pike," 



And in reply to Antipholus' remark, 



" What ! thou meanest an officer? " 

 replies : • 



" Ay, Sir, the Serjeant of the Band. He that brings 

 any man to answer, that breaks his band," &c. 



Love's Labour Lost. 

 In the 1st Scene of the Third Act, between Ar- 

 mado and Moth, we have one slight reference : 



" 3Ioth. As swift as lead, Sir. 



" Arm. Thy meaning, pretty ingenious ? 

 Is not lead a metal heavy slow ? 



" Moth. Minimi, honest Master; or rather. Master, no. 



" Arm. I say lead is slow. 



** Moth. . . . You are too swift, Sir, to say so : 

 Is that lead slow which is fired from a gun ? 



" Arm. . . . Sweet smoke of Rhetoricke, 

 He reputes me a cannon ; and the bullet, that's he : — 

 1 shoot thee at the swain." 



But in the same Act, where Biron, speaking of 



" This senior-junior, giant dwarf, Dan Cupid," 

 exclaims : 



« my little heart 



And 1 to be a Corporal of his field, 



And wear his colours like a tumbler, hoop !" 



we have a direct professional allusion. Tyrwhitt 

 has shown, in a note on this passage from Lord 

 Stafford's Letters (vol. ii. p. 199.), that a corporal 

 of the field corresponds to the aide-de-camp of the 

 present day. 



Passing by the Merchant of Venice, the Mid- 

 summer's Nighfs Dream, and The Taming of the 

 Shreio, as not containing any passages calling for 

 remark, I come to 



BoMEo AND Juliet. 

 This play presents us with two or three similes 



drawn from military experiences of a very strik- 

 ing character. In Act III. Sc. 3., when the nurse 

 tells hotv Juliet 



" . . . On Romeo cries 

 And then falls down again," 



Romeo's answer is of this character : 



" . . . . As if that name 

 Shot from the deadly level of a gun 

 Did murder here." 



In the same scene we have another passage, the 

 full force of which Steevens showed could only be 

 understood by remembering that the English 

 soldiers formerly used not even flint-locks but 

 match-locks, and consequently were obliged to 

 carry a lighted match hanging at their belts very 

 near to the wooden flask in which they kept their 

 powder, — an arrangement necessarily productive 

 of many accidents. Shakspeare's recollection of 

 some that he had witnessed probably led to his 

 placing these words in the mouth of the Friar 

 when reproving Romeo : — 



" Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love, 

 Mis-shapen in the conduct of them both, 

 Like powder in a skill-less soldier's flask. 

 Is set on fire by thine own ignorance, 

 And thou dismembered with thine own defence.'* 



I pass over the passage in Scene 1, Act V., 



" And that the trunk may be discharged of breath 

 As violently as hasty powder fir'd 

 Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb," 



and come to the very striking image in the third 

 scene, which was doubtless suggested to Shak- 

 speare by his own recollections : — 



" Thou art not conquer'd ; beauty's ensign yet 

 Is crimson in thy lips, and in thy cheeks, 

 And death's pale flag is not advanced there." 



In the Merry Wives of Windsor we find him 

 placing a similar expression in the mouth of 

 Fenton : — 



" I must advance the colours of my love. 

 And not retire." 



As Tou Like it. 

 The only two passages in this play would not 

 by themselves go far to support ray views, but 

 they may be noted as showing how readily Shak- 

 speare drew his ima'ges from military subjects. 

 The first is where Rosalind decides on assuming 

 male attire : — 



" Were it not better, 

 Because that I am more than common tall 

 That I did suit me all points like a man? 

 A gallant curtle-ax upon my thigh, 

 A boar spear in my hand, and (in my heart 

 Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will) 

 We'll have a swashing and a martial outside, 

 As many other mannish cowards have. 

 And do outface it with their semblances," 



and the next (Act III., Sc. 4.), where Celia, 

 speaking of Orlando, says : — 

 " that's a brave man ! he writes brave verses. 



