170 COCK-A-HOOP. 



The ale-house sign of "The Cock and Hoop" repre- 

 sents a game-fowl standing upon a hoop, but we have 

 little doubt that the original sign was a cask flowing, with 

 the tap laid on the top. The modern version is no doubt 

 a corruption, just as we have " The Swan with Two 

 Necks " for " The Swan with Two Nicks" i. e. marks on 

 the bill to distinguish it ; " The Devil and the Bag o' 

 Nails " for " Pan and the Bacchanals ;" " The Goat and 

 Compasses " for the ancient motto " God encompasseth 

 us ;" &c, &c* 



The popular adjuration, " by cock and pye," which 

 Shakespeare has put in the mouth of Justice Shallow, was 

 once supposed to refer to the sacred name, and. to the 

 table of services, called " the pie ;" but it is now thought 

 to be what Hotspur termed a mere " protest of pepper 

 gingerbread," as innocent as Slender's, " By these gloves," 

 or, "By this hat." In " Soliman and Perseda" (1599,) it 

 occurs coupled with " mousefoot ;" — " By cock and pye and 

 mousefoot." Again, in "The Plaine Man's Pathway to 

 Heaven," by Arthur Dent (1607), we have the following 

 dialogue : — 



Asunetus. — " I know a man that will never swear but by 

 cock or: py, or mousefoot. I hope you will not say these be 



* Apropos of ale-house signs, Shakespeare gives us the origin of "The Bear 

 and Ragged Staff." It is the crest of the Earls of Warwick. 



Wmwick. " Now, by my father's badge, old Neville's crest, 

 The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff." 



Henry IV. Part II. Act v. Sc. i. 



