2nd s. N» 88., Sept, 5. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



185 



make the slightest insinuation; and Jonson has, in 

 his Neptune's Triumph, — 



" A fine laced mutton 

 Or two ; and either has her frisking husband 

 That reads her the Corranto every week." 



Mutton, in the sense of sheep or ewe, seems to 

 have been a familiar term for woman, and laced 

 was added, as their dresses were laced in front. 

 Our ancestors seem to have delighted in thus 

 using the names of animals, witness lamh, coney, 

 mouse, &c. 



Peep. — Like so many other terms, this word 

 had in the mouths of our ancestors a somewhat 

 different sense from that which it bears at pre- 

 sent. I will venture to assert that, with two ex- 

 ceptions, its meaning, everywhere that it occurs 

 in Shakespeare, is simply to look, to gaze, without 

 any idea of secrecy. The exceptions are, "peep 

 out his head" (2 Henri/ IV. Act I. Sc. 2.), and 

 " No vessel can peep forth " (Ant. and Chop, Act 

 I. Sc. 4.), which last is not certain, where peep is 

 pop, like peer for pore (Mer. of Ven. Act I. Sc. 

 1.}. We thus see that much of the difficulty is 

 removed from 



" Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark," 

 Mach. Act I. Sc. 5. 

 which we have, perhaps, as the poet wrote it, 

 though I still boggle at the blanket. In the solemn 

 dream in Cymheline (Act V. Sc. 4.), Jupiter is 

 thus addressed : 



" Peep through thy marble mansion ; help ! " 

 In 



" Then by peeping in an eye 

 Base and illustrous as the smoky light 

 That's fed with stinking tallow." 



Cymb, Act I. Sc. 7. 

 we should surely read he or lie peeping, for a verb 

 is wanted to make grammar. Never was any cor- 

 rection more unfortunate than that of Mr. Col- 

 lier's corrector, bo-peeping, which leaves the place 

 ungrammatical, and introduces a verb which I 

 believe has never existed. I must notice another 

 of this person's vagaries. In " To yiinier-ground 

 thy corse " (Act IV. Sc. 2.), he reads " winter- 

 guard," instead of, with Warburton, " winter- 

 gown," which is clearly suggested by the preced- 

 ing '•'•furred moss." 



But what is the origin of peep ? All I can say 

 is that it possibly may come, by aphseresis and 

 apocope, from specular or aspicio, &c. ; for p is 

 commutable with both c and t, as sept, sect ; pip- 

 kin, potkin ; potgun, popgun (so pop may be put) ; 

 and vowels are not regarded in etymology. 



Thos. Keiqhtlet. 



A 8HAK8PEAEE SOCIETY AT EDINBURGH IN 1770. 



The Rev. Mr. Thom, of Govan, illustrating 

 another of his topics, in a pamphlet referred to 



("N. & Q.," 2'"» S. iy. 104.), incidentally intro- 

 duces this Society in his own humorous manner : — 



« I observe (says he, p. 78.), for instance, that a num- 

 ber of Gentlemen in Edinburgh have erected themselves 

 into a Society for encouraging a taste for Shakespeare; 

 an undertaking very necessary, it must be confessed, in 

 this cold region; and who on account as I suppose of 

 their projecting faculties, have thought proper to dis- 

 tinguish themselves bj' the appellation of Knights of the 

 Cape. The employment of these Knights is, it must be 

 confessed, sufficiently painful; for it is the business of 

 some of them to write odes, and of others to set these odes 

 to music. By the way, I apprehend much that there is a 

 literal miitakQ in their designation; and if ray conjecture 

 should prove just, it will demonstrate, in a most con- 

 vincing manner, that the author of the Edinburgh Cou- 

 rant, wlio is the source from wliich my authority is taken, 

 is far from being the most exact of Avriters. I conjecture 

 that the e final, in the word Cape, has been added by 

 mistake ; and that, instead of the Knights oftheCape, their 

 true designation is, and ought to be — the Knights of the 

 Cap ; by which term I here mean a wooden mug, which 

 the country people of this kingdom use to drink ale out 

 of. This, liowever, is only a private thought of ray own, 

 and as such I leave it with the public. But passing this 

 — Another distinguishing mark of these admirers of our 

 Avonian bard is, that, when they meet in a social capa- 

 city, they place themselves in the figure of a circle. For 

 this there may be two good reasons assigned : The first is, 

 the universal law of gravitation; by which each of the 

 members is attracted with equal force towards the com- 

 mon center — which is a cold mutton pye — and so they 

 fall naturally into that round situation : Or the second is, 

 that by working themselves into this most beautiful of all 

 figures, they may express with more energy the perfection 

 of Shakespeare's drama. Now I would propose that in 

 imitation of the Knights of the Cap, and other societies of 

 laudable name which exist in many parts of this king- 

 dom, a competent number of the most zealous advocates 

 for orthodoxy should form themselves into a Society of 

 the same nature. This society might at first meet clan- 

 destinely at Glasgow," &c. • 



It is not within our scope to prosecute this in- 

 genious application of the reverend author to the 

 objects of tliis new orthodoxical Society of his 

 clerical brethren, under the title of the " Knights 

 of the Porter Barrel." The above extract would, 

 however, be so far incomplete without adding a 

 foot note pretended to be given by the printers 

 (the Messrs. Foulis), but which, in the latter part 

 of it, undoubtedly flows from the same ready pen, 

 and may even yet be useful to the contributors to 

 "N. & Q.": — 



" Edinburgh — While the friends of the buskin were 

 celebrating the memory of the great father of the drama 

 on the banks of his native Avon*, his admirers here have 

 not been wanting in testimonies of their respect and 

 reverence for that darling of all the Muses. A Society of 

 Gentlemen in this city, distinguished by the appellation 

 of Knights of the Cape, held a musical festival in honour 

 of Shakespeare. On Wednesday last, an ode written on 

 this occasion by one of these Gentlemen, and set to music 



* An ode on that occasion was composed by Garrick, 

 beginning — 



" Ye Warwickshire lads and ye lasses 

 See what our jubilee passes." 

 The Glasgow (weekly) Museum for May 1, 1773. 



