NOTES AND QUERIES: 



A MEDIUM OF INTEK-COMMUNICATION 



FOR 



LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



" 'Wlien found, make a note of." — Captain Cuttle. 



No. 46.] 



Saturday, September 14. 1850. 



f Price Tliree|>eiiue 

 < Stamped Edition 4''- 



Notes : — 



CONTENTS. 



The Meaning of " EisoU " in Hamlet, by S. W. Singer - 

 Authors of the RoUi.id . . . . . 



Notes and Quories ------ 



The Body of James II., by Pitmin Jones 



Folk Lore : — Legend of Sir Uicliard Baker — Prophetic 



Spring at Lanjiley, Kent - -. - - 



Minor Notes : — Poem by Malherbe — Travels of Two 



English Pilgrims .... 



QOERIES ;— . 



Quotations in Bishop Andrewes. by Rev. James Bliss - 

 Minor Qneries: — Spider and Fly — Lexicon of Types 

 . — Monf aiirne's Select F.esays — Custom of " eariOL: the 

 Brtast uncovered — Milton's Lycidas — Sitting during 

 the Les>ons — Blew Beer — Carpatio — Value of 

 Money — Bi>hop Berkeley, and Adventures ot Gau- 

 dentio di Lucca — Cupid and Psyche — Ziind-nadel 

 Guns — Bacon Family — Armorials — Artenhius — 

 Sir Robert Howard — Crozier and Pastoral Staff — 

 Marks of Cadency —Miniature Gibbet 



Replies : — 



Collar of S.S., by Rev. H. T. Ellacom>-e and J. Gough 

 Nichols -.-.... 

 Sir Gregory Norton _ - - - _ 



Sliakspeare's Word "Delighted," by Rev. Dr. Kennedy 

 Aerostation, by Henry Wilkinson ... 



Replies to Minor Queries: — Long Lonkin — Rowley 

 Powley —Guy's .\rmour — Alarm — Prelates of France 

 — Hatierdasher — '' Rapidocontranusorbi " — Robert- 

 son of Muirtown — '* Noli me tangere " — Clergy sold 

 for Slaves — North .Side of Churchyards — Sir John 



Perrot — Coins of Constantins II She ne'er with 



tre.icl)erous Kiss — California — Bishons and their 

 Precedence— F.lizalieth and Isabel — Bevcr's Legal 

 Polity — Kikon Baailike, &c. ... 



MlSCEI.I,ANEOU,S r — 



Notfs on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. - 

 Notices to Correspondents ... 



Advortiscmeut« ..... 



Page 



- 241 



- 24 ■> 



- 242 



- 243 



244 



- 24.5 



245 



24.i 



24 S 

 2.i0 

 2.50 

 2.51 



. 251 



255 

 255 

 256 



THE MEANING OF " DRINK UP EFSELT," IN HAMLET. 



Few j)a.ss!ijros have boen more discussed than 

 this wild challenge of Ilanilet to Laertes at the 

 grave of Ophelia : 



" ITitm. I lov'ti Ophelia ! forty thousand brothers 

 Could not, with all tlieir qiiiiiitity of love, 

 Make up my sum. What wilt lliou do for her? 

 • •••«• 



Zounds ! show me what thou'lt do? 



Woo't weep ? Woo't fight? Woo't fast ? Woo't tear 



thysilf? 

 Wiiit't ilrittk up Eiscll ? cat a crocodile ? 

 I'll dot." 



The sum of what has been said may be '"iven in 

 the words of Arclideaeon Nares : 



" There is no doubt tliat eisell meant vinegar, nor 

 even that Sliakspeare has used it in that sense : but in 

 this passage it seems that it must bj put for the name 

 of a Danish river. . . . The question was much dis. 

 puted between Messrs. Steevens and Malone : the former 

 being for the river, the latter f<)r the i-lnegar ,- and 

 he endeavoured even to get over the drink up, which 

 stood much in his way. But after all, the challenge to 

 drink vintgnr, in such a rant, is so inconsistent, and 

 even ridiculous, that we must decide for the rioer, 

 wliether its nime be exactly found or not. To drink 

 tip a river, and eat a cr.icodile with his impenetrable 

 scales, are two things equally impossible. There is no 

 kind of comparison between the others." 



I must confess that I was formerly led to adopt 

 this view of the passage, but on more mature in- 

 vestigation I find that it is wrong. I see no 

 necess.iry connection between eating a crocodile 

 and drinking up eysell ; and to drink up was com- 

 monly used for simply to drink. EitseU or Eysell 

 certainly signified vinegar, but it was certainly 

 not used in tliat sense by Shaksp:'are, who may 

 in this instance be liis own expositor; the word 

 occurring again in his cxitli sonnet. 



" Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink 

 Potions of egstll, 'gainst my strong infection ; 

 No billerness tliat I will bifhr think. 

 Nor double penance, to correct correction." 



Here we see that it was a bitter potion wliieh it was 

 a penance to drink. Thus also in the Tj-ot/ Book 

 of Lydgate : 



" Of bitter eysell, and of eai'er wine." 



Now numerous passages in our old dramatic 

 writers show that it was a fashion with the gallants 

 of the time to do some extravagant feat, w a proof 

 of their love, in honour of their mistresses ; ami 

 among others the swallowing some nauseous potion 

 was one of the most freijuent ; but vinoo;ar would 

 hardly have been considered in this light; tvi/rm- 

 wood might. 



In Thomas's 7ta?mM D.ictiouarij, 156'2, we have 

 " Assentio, Kiimdl;" and Florio renders that word 

 by Wormwood. What is meant, liowever, is Ab- 

 sinthites or Wormicood wine, a nauseously bitter 

 medicament then much in use; and this being evi- 



V"- Tr -v.. 



