COCK AND PYE. 17 1 



oaths. For he is as honest a man as ever brake bread. 

 You shall not hear an oath come out of his mouth." 



Theologus. " I do not think he is so honest a man as 

 you make him. For it is no small sin to swear by 

 creatures." 



The Cock and Pye (i. e. Magpie) was an ordinary ale- 

 house sign, and may thus have become a subject for the 

 vulgar to swear by. Douce, however, ascribes to it a less 

 ignoble origin, and his interpretation is too ingenious to 

 be passed over in silence : " It will no doubt be re- 

 collected that in the days of ancient chivalry it was 

 the practice to make solemn vows or engagements for 

 the performance of some considerable enterprise. This 

 ceremony was usually performed during some grand feast 

 or entertainment, at which a roasted peacock or pheasant 

 being served up by ladies in a dish of gold or silver, was 

 thus presented to each knight, who then made the par- 

 ticular vow which he had chosen with great solemnity. 

 When this custom had fallen into disuse, the peacock 

 nevertheless continued to be a favourite dish, and was 

 introduced on the table in a pie, the head, with gilded 

 beak, being proudly elevated above the crust, and the 

 splendid tail expanded. Other birds of less value were 

 introduced in the same manner, and the recollection of 

 the old peacock vows might occasion the less serious, or 

 even burlesque, imitation of swearing not only by the bird 



