166
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[2nd s. NO 9., MAK. 1. '56.
I find it also much misinterpreted by the editors
of the Harleian Miscellany, Ohlys and Park, in
the third volume of whose edition, London, 1808,
it occurs twice in " Ane Admonition of the trew
Lordis, &c., 1571," first at p. 416. :
"That they enterit thame in danger, and supportit thame not in 'mister, so mekle as to cume to lawder and luik for thame. . . . thay socht as he that socht his wyfe drowned in the river againis the streime."
Second at p. 418. :
" The Bischop being lodged, as he seildom of befoir, quhar he might persaif the plesure of that crueltie with all hys senses, and helpe the murtheraris, if mister had bene."
The reader will perceive at once that mister here means "need" in both examples, and has nothing to do with " secresy," as the context of the former of them misled the editors to conjec- ture. It occurs again and again in the Romaunt of the Rose. Take two examples, 1. 5617., " That he of meat hath no miatere ; " and 1. 6081., "If that men had mister of thee." It is also met with in Golding's translation of Caesar's Commentaries, A.D. 1565, the seuenth booke, fol. 189. : "As for the horsemen there could be no mistre of their helpe in a fennye and moorysh ground." In the original, " Equitum vero operarn neque in loco palustri desiderari debuisse."
Your Five Gallants, Act III. Sc. 2., vol. ii. p. 268. :
" Pur. 'Sfoot, I perceive I have been the chief up- holder of this gallant all this while : it appears true we that pay dearest for our pasture are ever likely worse used. 'Sfoot, he has a nag can run for nothing, has his choice, nay, and gets by the running of her."
On. this passage Mr. Dyce's note is "pasture'] Query, ' pastime.' " There appears to me to be no query whatever ; the whole language of the speaker proves that pasture is indisputably right : the metaphor is in keeping throughout, as " pas- ture," " nag," " runs." And it partially occurs again in the Roaring Girl, Act III. Sc. 3., vol. ii. p. 498.: " S. Davy. My son, Jack Dapper, then shall run with
him, All in one pasture."
A run at grass is a phrase familiar to every horse- keeper, and nag, hackney, or hack, was a term constantly applied to the sort of cattle Pursnet speaks about ; so constantly, indeed, that if the vagaries of Shakspeare's commentators were not past the size of wondering, one might well be as- tonished at the temerity and blindness of those who would alter " nag " in Antony and Cleopa- tra, into hag, in the expression " ribaudred nag ; " the epithet " ribaudred " being, as I conceive, only a misprint (if it be a misprint) for ribaudrij, i. e. ribaldry, which, like harlotry, mockery, beg- gary, is sometimes used adjectively. Johnson, indeed, with that strong common sense which dis-
tinguishes him from most other expositors of
Shakspeare, adheres to the authorised reading,
but on grounds that remind a clodhopper what a
sad muff the cockney equestrian of Rotten Row
proves himself, when he ventures so far out of his
element as to lecture upon the natural history of
animals ; for says this sole arbiter of the English
tongue, the " brieze or cestruua, the fly that stings
cattle, proves that nag is the right word." How
the brize that stings cattle (that is, burrows in
the hide of a beast to deposit its eggs there), but
never meddles with a horse, can prove that nag is
the right word, bafHes a country wit. Not less
marvellous is the assertion of the same commen-
tator, in a note upon a complaint of one of the
Gadshill carriers in Henry IV., that hots are
worms ; unless by worms are meant maggots,
which the warmth and moisture of a horse's sto-
mach engenders from the eggs deposited chiefly
upon the inside of its knee.*, and fetlocks beneath,
by an insect likewise called a brize, in Hereford-
shire a bree, but quite distinct from that which
maddens cattle, thence licked off by the animal's
tongue, or inside lip, to such an extent in some
few cases, as to lead to the coats of the stomach
being gnawed clean through, and riddled by these
parasites. Once more, in a note, Henry V.,
Act III. Sc. 5., upon the words " can sodden
water, a drench for surreyned jades," the same
great authority tells us, " The exact meaning of
surreyned I do not know ; it is common to give
horses overridden or feverish, ground malt and
hot water mixed, which is called a mash ; to this
he alludes." This is wonderful, so wonderful
that it is out of all whooping. Either the Doctor
thought that drench and mash were the same
thing, or could make nothing of his author, with-
out substituting mash in his explanation for drench
that he was to explain. Now a drench of malt
mash for a horse would be much on a par with a
draught of mashed potatoes for a man. But what
renders the learned lexicographer wholly inex-
cusable is, that Shakspeare calls this .same drench,
in the very same line, and by a name in apposition
with it, barley-broth ; nay, more, makes the
speaker complain that it appears to warm the
blood of the English more than wine does that of
the French ; and surely Johnson did not believe,
either out of his own experience, or from report,
that his countrymen drank malt mashes. A quart
of good ale, the barley-broth meant by Shuk-
speare, is beyond question a most useful stimulant
for a flagging jaded horse; and notwithstanding
the Constable's sneer, gives a very comfortable
fillip to a weary man. And had Johnson ever
after a long run with hounds found himself at
nightfall some fifty miles distant from home,
before his horse reached its stable, he would have
learnt both the meaning of surreined, when his
faltering steed began to toss its head, thrust out