In the doctrine of the priest, it is righteous to exact the last farthing of your claims upon another; in that of the lawyer, it is righteous to hold fast by what you have, while you take the highest interest for it upon the most abundant security; and both of them twist about the law of God to their own purposes, with such sleight and plausibility, that the shorn crown (tonsure) is mistaken by the vulgar for the stamp of the holy saint, instead of the worldlyminded rogue. Jacke, the surplice, and herè metaphorically the church [clergy]. Huif, the coif, and metaphorically the law or lawyer; sergeants at law are styled of the coif. Huif sounds wife. Platte, the tonsure [shorn crown], and metaphorically the order of clerks [clerical body] which at that time of day included both priest and lawyer. The emblem of the tonsure still survives in the black patch of the judges and sergeants at law's wigs. 'T, et, het, it. Het kleyn, the ignorant rabble. That the avaricious cunning of the churchman in regard to his dues, the interested advice and attention to the home-invented and multiplied formal technicalities of the lawyer and the gullibility of the illiterate laymen of that day are struck at by this lampoon, is evident, T heilicht, it makes a divinity of, sounds they lick'd. Th has no representative but t or din Dutch. VOL. I. 10.-Jack Sprat It had but one ear; S The churchman's tales while they serve to fill the rogue's belly on the one hand, serve to pinch that of doltish cloddy on the other; they convert the cloddy-dupe into the provider of the woollengowned gentry (the Friars). Alas poor Cloddy! who is there to provide for thee in this state of things? (whence in the mean time your food?) Wan, empty, sounds one. Baei, serge, a coarse kind of woollen stuff used for the friar's garb, and metaphorically the friar as the whole craft. Bot, a dolt, one easily duped, metaphorically the peasant, and so the peasantry. Wee 'n, (wee aen), woe upon! pity upon! and sounds when. Wo aes dij hier, whence will food come to you in this case? and sounds was dear. Huydt, hoedt, keeps, feeds, sounds had. 11.-Robin de Bobbin, the big-bellied Ben. He eat a butcher and a half, He eat a church, he eat a steeple, He eat the priest, and all the people. Raep-pijn, de Boê-pijn, die bigg by el leed ben! Hij hiet er bat je er aen der alve! Rob-toil, thou curse to our barns; you that fatten like a hog by other men's labour. The fellow says, with an arrogant tone, I have a right to my dues? away with your produce to my barn and store! he bullies the sharp ones; he bullies the flats: he says, with a grave face, Be sure you never forget to do your utmost for the priest! whine and beg for him! hoard up for him! While to him who is setting out his tythe, he cries out: Justify by appealing to the Bible. Raep-pijn, a then popular metaphor for a greedy priest; raepen, to rob; pijn, labour. Bigghe, bigge, big, vigghe, pig, are the same word, and here used in the sense of a fat hog, and by implication a sort of Trulliber. Boeye, boede, boe, homestead, also storehouse or magazine, and boe-pijn is as an infliction to the provender-store. Prijsen is to value, to set a price upon; and prijst sounds priest. Bijbel, bible, by the intermutating sounds represented by p and b, and by the ij sounding ee, travesties into peeple, which is the utterance we give to the word peeple. It was to the Bible the priest referred his then restiff Saxon neophytes as the holy tariff of his dues. 12.-Goosy goosy gander! Where shall I wander? And in my Lady's chamber ; Guise guise gae 'n daer! End in mêlyd is schem baer. End seer ruwe hem doe aen stuyrs. Do you hear the insolent jeers and sneers that echo from that room? It must be the labour-curse in committee, contriving how to lay load upon load of new taxes. There all feeling for those that pay them is an empty shadow. To think of compassion for us in the breast of a priest [a wafer-man]! Provender, rage after provender, that is the order of the day [law] with these lords of the parish. Let the labourers [peasantry, parishioners] concert together some plan of operations which may make these chatter-boxes sorely rue the taxes they have loaded us with. Schell-hey is as the plunderer of the farmer [husbandman], and thus as the priest. Hey has been already explained, and schellen is to shell, to strip. Ouwel-man, wafer-man, massman [Priest]. Par-heers, of the rector [parson], and sounds prayers. Schellen is to peel or strip, and schell-hey is thus literally peel-peasant. It would seem by this, some churchrate is referred to, where the clergy assessed, but did not pay. Where their privilege made them the assessors of the rate, but exempted them from the consequence of it; so that among themselves they mocked the sufferers for being their dupes. Dere, sympathy. Met, with, in. Aet, provision. Woed, rage, passion. Sie, behold! Ee, law, rule. Hye, as before. Tuck, concerted plan, contrivance, cunning trick, device, trap, snare. Heim, private, underhand. Leffen, laffen, to chatter, to twaddle, hence our lift, laft, as stuff and nonsense. Seer ruwe, severe repentance. Legghen, to lay. Seer ruwe sounds threw. 13.-Cock-a-doodle-do! Dame has lost her shoe, Gack er duijdt hel t'u! Die 'em aes lost ter sjuw, Meê aes teer's Bije roeck. Hie's vied t'el stick, Dolt of a peasant! your life is a hell upon earth; you that are such a fool as to take delight in working hard for an honest livelihood. Along with slender diet, the condition of the labourer is that of care and anxiety. While here [with us the monks] it is simply pillage inflicting dearth upon you in the midst of plenty. Duijdt hel t'u, literally, hell manifests itself to you, and sounds doodle-do. Meé, mede, with. Aes, food. Teer, slender, spare. Bije, the industrious peasant, the bee being the token of that class. Hie, here. Vied t'el, war upon the other, pillage of all else. Stick, stuck, affair, business. Sjuw, hard work. Aen doen, to inflict, to cause, to bring upon. Noó, nood, misery, poverty. Wo, where. Aet, food. Tot u, to you, into your house, home. A jeering apostrophe to the noodle peasant put into the mouth of the monk by the Saxon lampooner. 14.-Little Boo-peep has lost his sheep Littel Boô-piep ese lost is suijpe; Little Bo-peep! his food and his delight are drink! It is this love of the cup which has invited him again to go out on a fresh visit. Keep to yourselves all reproaches upon this head! The whole of you come and do him honour, and form a circle round him. Provision has been procured, and will be offered to the whole of us. Boo-peep is here the Limitour; the friar employed by the monastery in begging about for its support was formerly called amongst us. Boo is the contraction of bode, a messenger: and the Limitour was as he who intruded himself into every man's home to procure provisions for his convent, and pick up all the idle gossip he could besides. The term was in use with us in Shakspeare's time in the sense of a hide and seek person. Ese, participle present of esen, to feed, and so food. Kanne, pitcher. Can, jug. Nooden, to invite. Letten, to put a stop to. Beringen, to encircle. Behenden, to give, to offer what you have got, to hand over. "Then they for sudden joy did weep, And I for sorrow sung That such a king should play BO-PEEP, And go the fools among.' King Lear, Act i. Sc. 4. |