2-'"» S. YI. 152., J^ov. 27. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



437 



naturally turns. But in the original we merely 

 find " La Mort " [the grim fiend] " auecques son 

 dail I'eust fuulche et cercle de ce monde." Here 

 there is nothing whatever that answers verbally 

 to the term bed-staff; and the " twinkling of a 

 bed-staff"," which is altogether an English ex- 

 pression, appears to be simply an addition or 

 embellishment introduced by the translator. 



What, then, was a bed-staff"? It was some- 

 thing " fixed by the side of a bedstead to keep 

 the bed in its place." Now if, as your corre- 

 spondent infers, " it must have been at least six 

 feet long, and strong enough to bear the weight 

 of one leaning against it," he may well ask, "But 

 how can this be, when we find it used by Bobadil 

 in Every Man in his Humour, to exhibit his skill 

 with the rapier ? " 



In reply I would suggest that possibly the bed- 

 staff' was not a staff", or pole, extending hori- 

 zontalli/ along the side of the bed the whole length 

 from head to foot, but rather an upright ; an up- 

 right peg, fixed into the side of the bedstead after 

 the manner of a pin, and projecting upwards to 

 keep the bed-clothes in their place. With this 

 accords the account given by Johnson and by 

 Webster. " Bedstafi^. A wooden pin, anciently 

 inserted in the sides of bedsteads, to keep the 

 clothes from slipping on either side." 



Consequent!)', as offiering the means of ex- 

 hibiting the use of the rapier, the wooden bed- 

 staff" may have afforded a very available as well 

 as harmless implement. In like manner, the 

 " use of the poniard was taught by means of im- 

 plements of woody — Meyrick, Illustrations (on 

 plate cxii.) — Suppose the bed-staff to have been 

 an upright peg or pin fitting into a hole or socket 

 in the side of the bedstead, and in length about 

 equal to the rapier. The socket is a few inches 

 deep; and the bed-staff has, to steady it (we will 

 suppose), a projecting rim which overlays the 

 socket like a lid. The part of the bed-staff which 

 enters the socket will then be the hilt of tlie ra- 

 pier; the projecting rim will he ih^ guard ; and 

 the rest of the staff will do duty as the blade. In 

 the bed-staff we shall then have the form of a 

 rapier; and with this "implement of wood" 

 Capt. Bobadil would have no difficulty in ex- 

 hibiting his passado and stoccado. Thomas Boys. 



Ought we not to collect for posterity the various 

 ■ways in which very short times are denoted. Be- 

 sides the one at the head, there are, — in no time, 

 in next to no time, in less than no time, in a 

 trice, in a jiffy, in a brace of shakes, before you 

 can turn round, before you can say Jack Robin- 

 son, in a crack, in the squeezing of a lemon, 

 in the doubling of your fist, in the twinkling of 

 an eye, in a moment, in an instant, in a flash. 

 No doubt many more may be added : the above 

 is the stock of rhetoric I keep on hand for my 



own use, so far as I can recal it at once. And 

 what is the time-table ? I am satisfied, from 

 observation, that " less than no time " is much 

 longer than " no time : " and I suspect that a 

 brace of shakes must be the least time possible, 

 because I never heard of its being halved. And 

 what on earth or sea is a jiffi/ .? The Americans 

 say in " two twos ; " and I dare say that when 

 an answer comes back from the land of greased 

 lightning, we shall have a few more. M. 



" Sir Samuel Hearty. — • 'Gad I'll do it instantly, hi the 

 twinkling of a ledstaff. Ha, ha, ha.' 



" Bruce. — ' In the twinkling of what ? ' 



" Sir Sam. — ' Hey ! pull away, Rogues ; in the twink- 

 ling of a bedstaff; a witty way I have of expressing 

 myself.' " — Shadwell's Virtuoso, 167C, Act I. Sc. 1. 



Sir Samuel Hearty, who is described by Bruce, 

 one of the characters, as " one that affects a 

 great many nonsensical Bywords which he takes 

 to be Wit, and uses on all occasions," in the first 

 scene of the second act varies the expression 

 thus : — 



" I'll bring yc -. off as round as a hoop, t» the twinkling 

 of an oyster slici." 



The bedstaff according to Johnson's Dictionary 

 is " a wooden pin stuck anciently on the sides of 

 the bedstead to hold the clothes from slipping on 

 either side." Zeus. 



Undoubtedly our ancestors kept staves near 

 their beds. An example may be found in Chaucer 

 {Reeve's Tale, 4290—4295), where the " scolere 

 Johan," though a stranger in the bedroom, tries 

 to find one by moonlight, and the miller's wife 

 does find one, with which she unwittingly knocks 

 down her husband : — 



" Thi.s Johan stert up as fast as ever he might, 

 And grasped by the walles to and fro, 

 To find a staf ; and sche sturt up also 

 And knewe the estres bet than dede Jon, 

 And by the wal sche took a staf anon," &c. &c. 



The only question is, for what purpose was the 

 staff used ? And this question, like many others, 

 may be settled by the Volume of Vocabularie.^, 

 for which we are indebted to Messrs. Mayer & 

 Wright. In the treatise of Alex. JSTeckam de 

 Utensilibus given there (pp. 100, 101.), Alex- 

 ander Neckam says : — 



" Assit et pertica cui insidere possit capus, uisus, et 



alietus Ab alia autem pertica dependeant supera 



(chemesis), flamea (cuverchefs) " 



This was " In camera sive in talamo." On this 

 the editor remarks in a note : — 



" The chamber was fnrni.sbed with a horizontal rod, 

 called a perche, for the purpose of hanging articles of 

 dress, &c. It would appear from the .statement made 

 here that it was custoni.iry for people also to keep their 

 hawks on a perche in the bedroom. I have seen con- 

 firmation of this practice in illuminations of manuscripts." 



