COCK AND PYE. 
71 
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 
