Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/308

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NOTES AND QUERIES, m s. in. APKH, 22, 1911.

He is familiar with the Litany :

From all such devils, good Lord, deliver us ! ' Taming Shrew,' I. i. God grant us patience, to hear meekly.

'Love's L.,' I. i.

A time, methinks, too short to make a world- without-end bargain in. ' Love's L.,' V. ii.

The Collects serve his purpose. Here are echoes of the Second Sunday in Advent :

Much of the hearing, little of the marking.

' Love's L.,' I. i.

Dosfc thou hear me ? Ay, and mark thee too. ' 1 Hen. IV.,' II. iv.

You hear not. . . .not listening, not marking. '2 Hen. IV.,' I. ii.

And this from Good Friday : Black pagans, Turks and Saracens.

' K. Rich. II.,' IV. i.

He remembers Epistles and Gospels : A madman's epistles are no gospels.

' Twelfth Night,' V. i.

And probably this is a recollection of the Gospel for Whitsunday :

Judas 1 am .... Not Iscariot. ' Love's L.,' V. ii The rule about godparents is implied : My Lord of Canterbury. . . .a fair young maid wants baptism, you must be godfather, and answer for her ; two noble partners with you : the old Duchess of Norfolk, and Lady Marquis Dorset. ' H. VIII.,* V. ii.

"I do, I will" ('1 Hen. IV.,' II. iv.), reminds us of Confirmation.

The Catechism is not forgotten :

These pickers and sfcealers. ' Hamlet,' III. ii. Honest in deed and word.

Naturally the Marriage Service has the largest place.
 * As You Like It,' III. iii.

Banns are often mentioned :

She is sub- contracted to this lord, And I, her husband, contradict your banns.

' K. Lear,' V. iii.

Contracted bachelors, such as had been asked twice on the banns. ' 1 K. Hen. IV.,' IV. ii.

I'll crave the day When I shall ask the banns.

' Taming Shrew,' II. i.

The priest, the clerk, the sexton, the witnesses, the book, the ceremonies, are all introduced :

When the priest

Should ask if Katharine should be his wife,

.... he swore so loud

That all amaz'd, the priest let fall the book.

But after many ceremonies done. . ..

He threw the sops all in the sexton's face.

' Taming Shrew,' III. ii.

To the church ; take the priest, clerk, and some sufficient honest witnesses.

' Taming Shrew,' IV. iv.

it.

The opportunity of alleging an impedi- ment, the solemn appeal to the two persons r and other portions of the service come in : If there be any impediment, I pray you discover

' Much Ado,' III. ii. If either of you know any inward impediment why you should not be conjoined, I charge you,. ' on your souls, to utter it. ' Much Ado,' IV/i. May I never dream of impediment.

' Antony and C.,' II. ii. My will is this day to be conjoin'd In the estate of honourable marriage.

' Much Ado,' V. iv. Is there none here to give the woman ? Truly she must be given, or the marriage is not lawful. As You Like It,' III. iii.

W r ill you, Orlando, have to wife this Rosalind ?

I will.

I take thee, Rosalind, for my wife.

'As You "Like It,' IV. i.

You come hither, my lord, to marry this lady ? Lady, you come hither to be married to this count ? ' Much Ado,' IV. i.

A contract of eternal bond of love,

Confirm'd by mutual joinder of your hands

Strengthen'd by inter changem en t of your rings ;. And all the ceremony of this compact Seal'd in my function, by my testimony.

' Twelfth Night,' V. i. Still better and worse. ' So you must take husbands.

' Hamlet,' III. iL Married. . . .stay till death.

' Antony and C.,' IV. if..

God forbid that I should wish them sever'd Whom God hath join'd together.

' 3 K. Hen. VI.,' IV. i.

Malvolio complains that he has been-. " visited by the priest." He means visited officially, as in the Visitation of the Sick,, for the clown, personating Sir Topas the- curate, comes to the place where the pre- tended lunatic is detained and begins the office, "Peace in this prison" ('Twelfth Night,' IV. ii., V. i.). So when Lucio comes- to the door of the nunnery he calls, " Peace- be in this place " (' Measure for M.,' I. v.).

At the burial the priest casts earth upon, the body, in its shroud, as was ordered in the book of 1549 :

Some hangman must put on my shroud, and lay

me Where no priest shovels in dust.


 * Winter's T.,' IV. iii.

Healing by the royal touch "with holy prayers" is described in 'Macbeth,' IV. iii.

The use of the almanac with dominical and- golden letters has been noticed above. The- calendar is referred to more than once, and the Friday fast is observed (' Measure for M,,' III. ii.). Most of the great days and.