Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/305

 s.x. APRIL i,i922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 247 in^'the face, wherfore the mother smiteth them againe and slaieth them. And the thirde daye, the mother smiteth herselfe in her side that the bloud runneth out, and sheddeth that hot bloud vppon the bodies of her children. And by virtue of the bloud the birdes that were before dead, quicken againe. (Furness, ' Lear,' var. ed., p. 189.) This may be the source of Shakespeare's references to the pelican, in ' Hamlet,' ' Lear,' and ' Richard II.' However, H. B. FORREST, at 4 S. iii. 594 (June 26, 1869), "sug- gests that Shakespeare might have' drawn his knowledge on this point from ' Prodi - gorum ac Ostentorum Chronicon,' Basileae, 1557. Moreover, in this book there is a full description of the ' Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders'" (Furness, 'Hamlet,' var. ed., p. 342). As the two works quoted preceded Shakespeare's plays, they may represent the source from which he drew. But I wish to draw attention to another possible source. It appears that the Pelican in Piety was represented in church decoration, as, for example, if I remember right, at Alding- ton, Kent (Francis Bond, ' Dedications of English Churches,' Humphrey Milford, Ox. Univ. Press, 1914, pp. 256-257). Is it possible that Shakespeare saw such a representation of the Pelican in Piety ? He could, perhaps, as well use a legend sculptured or carved as a legend found in oral tradition or in print (vide my notes, iii., 168), and ' On a Legend used by Shakespeare' (12 S. iii. 297)). It would appear, from his plays, that Shakespeare observed the interior decoration of churches and buildings. Thus he wrote, " If black, why, Nature, drawing of an antick, made a foul blot " ('Much Ado About Nothing,' III. i. 63-4), and Hunter remarked, ' ' Antic ' was used in a variety of senses, but here it means a grotesque figure, such as were sometimes drawn in black on the walls of country churches " (Furness, ' Much Ado About Nothing,' var. ed., p. 139). More definite still are Borachio's words in reference to " Pharaoh's soldiers in the reechy painting," " the old church- window " and " the shaven Hercules in the smirched worm-eaten tapestry" ('Much Ado About Nothing,' III. iv. 141-6). Such quotations increase the possibility of Shakespeare's having observed such decora- tions as the Pelican in Piety. The legend itself, however, was well known in Shakespeare's time, and the immediate source for it in his works can only be conjectured. He used it to illustrate filial ingratitude, and I quote the passages in which the legend is referred to : Gaunt. O ! spare me not, my brother Edward's son ; For that I was his father Edward's son. That blood already, like the pelican, Hast thou tapp'd out and drunkenly carous'd. (' Richard II.,' II. i. 124-7.) Laertes' love for his father is illustrated by it in the lines : To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms ; And like the kind life-rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood. (' Hamlet,' IV. v. 144-6.) Again the legend is used in ' Lear,' and in the very climax of the play. Lear considers that Edgar, in his disguise as a madman, is reduced to that plight by his daughters : Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air Hang fated o'er men's faults light on they daughters ! When Kent exclaims, ' He hath no daughters, sir,' Lear adds: Death, traitor ! nothing could have subdu'd nature To such a lowness, but his unkind daughters. Is it the fashion that discarded fathers Should have thus little mercy on their flesh ? Judicious punishment ! 'twas this flesh begot Those pelican daughters. (' Lear,' III. iv. 66-74.) Here, perhaps, is the turning-point in the play, as Lear seems to recognize that his own unyielding nature has found its reflex in Regan and Goneril. But his fault is not so great as theirs, and thus he tends to that complete reconciliation with Cordelia, whose nemesis is proportionate to his, and which takes place at the hour of their death and reconciliation. To understand Lear, it is important to under- stand the legend. JOSEPH J. MACSWEENEY. A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY OXFORDSHIRE PLUMBER AND GLAZIER. An interesting list of the contracts entered into by a seventeenth-century plumber and glazier of Burford, Oxon, appears in a Chancery suit in the P.R.O. I have not found the original bill of complaint ; the following is extracted from the reply, dated 1650, of Edward Scriven, only son and heir of the complainant, John S. of Burford (Mitford, 120/90). In consideration of a marriage portion of 64 (half of which was paid to the complainant) given by John Brookes of Lyneham on the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth to Edward Scriven, John S., the
 * The Cock, the Carving of a Legend ' (12 S.