preceding speaker) expressive of that alarm in which he was absorbed. But, for the purpose, it is presumed, of making this answer more obviously intelligible, our Player Editors, or the taste of the age twelve years afterwards, interposed this speech of Barnardo's: "Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio." (7) It harrows me with fear and wonder] Confounds and overwhelms, as by the most alarming apprehension of acts of inroad and violence. This line is almost copied by Milton in Comus : "Amaz'd I stood, harrow'd with grief and fear. v. 565. And it is observable, that Warton neither offers any interpretation, nor points out the etymon: and the lexicographers are either silent or not at all agreed upon the subject. Johnson interprets it here" disturb, put into commotion;" and thinks it should be written harry, from harer, Fr. Minshieu suggests aro, to plough, as the derivation of harrow; and derives harrie, which he interprets" to turmoile or vexe," from har, Sax. intorsio, tormentum; while Johnson derives the verb in the sense of beat or break up, and the noun harrow, from charroue, Fr. and harcke, Germ. a rake. It should seem that they are considered as one and the same word by Mr. Tyrwhitt, who interprets it elsewhere, as Mr. Steevens does here," to conquer or subdue." He says, "by him that harwed helle," is harried. Sax, harrassed, subdued. Ch. Mill. T. v. 3512; and adds, “Our ancestors were very fond of a story of Christ's exploits in his Descensus ad inferos, which they called the harrowing of helle. They took it, with several others of the same stamp, from the gospel of Nicodemus." Fabr. Cod. Apoc. N. T. There is a poem upon this subject in MS. Bodl. 1687. "How Jesu Crist herowed helle ; "Of harde gestes ich wille telle.” Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, Vol. II. 430. 4to. ed." It is somewhat singular, that we find the word harow in the same tale "Let be, Nicholas, "Or I wol crie out harow and alas v. 3286, referred, by Mr. Tyrwhitt, to a different origin: he "rather believes haro to be derived from two Islandic words, once probably common to all the Scandinavian nations, har, altus, and op, clamor; and adds, that haroep or harop, was used by some of the inhabitants of the Low Countries in the sense of harou by the Normans." Ibid. Vol. II. Warton says, "this was an exclamation of alarm and terror, and an outcry upon the name of Rou or Rollo, for help." Todd's Spencer, III. 413. But as the three words harrow, harrie, and harow, are, under various spellings, confounded by glossographers, they may all not unreasonably be referred to the same source. The words appear, thus variously represented, in our different old writers: "Harro, harrow, Io, eheu; a Fr. haro, an outcry for help, much the same as the English hue and cry: vide Menage." Gloss. to Gaw. Douglas's Virg. Fo. 1710. "Hery, hary, hub bilschow. These are words expressive of hurry and confusion. Hiry, hary, seem to be a corruption of the Fr. haro, or the cry à l'aide, like huetium in our old laws, and hue in English. Hubbilschow is used with us for uproar. Ancient Scottish Poems from MS. of G. Bannatyne, 1770. p. 173, "With bludy ene rolling ful thrawynlie "Oft and richt schrewitly wold sche clepe and crye, G. Dougl. Virg. p. 220. "torvumque repente "Clamat, Fo, matres, audite, ubi quæque." En. VII. 399. "Wherfore I crye out harowe whiche so falsly have belyed me." 1550. Signat. L. 1, b. Æn. XII. 605. on them [the evyl shrewes] Reynard, the Foxe, 12mo. "Advocates and attorneys in open audience at the barre looke as tho they would eat one another, crying Harrol for justice on their client's side." R. C's Hen. Steph. Apology for Herodotus, fo. 1608, p. 342. An instance in which the word occurs in Ascham's Toxophilus has given occasion to a strange perversion of the text: one of the infinite number of instances in which the ignorance and presumption of Editors has gone a great way towards blotting from the page of history, together with all traces of the character of their author's style, the evidence of our ancient usages. "One of the players shall have a payre of false dyse and cast them out upon the boarde, the honest man shall take them and cast them as he did the other, the thirde shall espye them to be false dyse and shall cry out, haroe with all the othes under God, that he hath falsely wonne their money, and then there is nothing but hould thy throte from my dagger." 4to. 1571, fo. 14, b. Such is the original: but in a book published under the name of " James Bennet, Master of the Boarding School at Hoddesdon, Herts," by Davies and Dodsley, 4to. without date, intitled the English Works and Life of Roger Ascham (in which the dedication and life at least are the work of Dr. Johnson), instead of" crye out, haroe," the editor has given "crye out harde," Hubbub, or, as they pronounce it, hoobboob, is at this day an exclamation of a similar import in South Wales. altering as well the punctuation as the word itself: and in this very ridiculous depravation he has been followed by Mr. Walters, a Glamorganshire clergyman, in an 8vo. edition, 1788, and in an edition of all his English Works, 8vo. 1815, White, Fleet-street, From this Norman usage, Mr. Ritson says the word "is erroneously supposed by some to be a corruption of Ha Rou,* i. e. Rollo, Duke of Normandy: Pharroh, however, was the old war cry of the Irish. Camd. Britann. 1695, p. 1047, and Spenser's View of Ireland. The word too, or crie de guerre, of Joan of Arc, was Hara ha. Howell's Letters, 8vo. 1726, p. 113." Anc. Metrical Romances, III. 349, 8vo. 1802. But, whatever its real origin, the tradition of the country, and the form of the invocation of their revered chieftain (à l'aide, mon prince), demonstrates what must have been the opinion of the inhabitants of Normandy and its adjacent isles upon this subject: and in those islands this form of invocation is continued to the present day. The 53d chapter of the Grand Coustumier de Normandie treats De Haro, rendered in the Latin text or translation, "De clamore, qui dicitur Harou." It states, "that in his court of Haro the Duke of Normandy makes inquest, whether this cry is raised with just cause or otherwise, heavy penalties attending a false clamour: and directs, that it shall not be raised, unless in criminal cases or offences against the state." Rouen, Fo. 1539, fo. 10 & 74. But the practise is, and as far as appears, ever has been, directly opposite and we are well informed, that in Jersey and Guernsey it is the constant usage, interjetter le clameur de haro, in civil cases, to prevent trespass or entry under colour of right; and if any such inroad is repeated after this cry has been raised, heavy penalties ensue. That it ever could have been confined to criminal cases will hardly be allowed, if any credit is due to the story recorded of the stoppage of the Conqueror's funeral. He had violently dispossessed the owner of the ground, in which it was proposed to deposit his remains. The owner, conceiving this to be a new invasion of his property, and possibly that the death of the invader operated as a renewal of those rights, a suspension of the exercise of which he had hitherto been compelled to acquiesce under, threw in the clameur de haro. Falle, from Paulus Eniglius, states his challenge to have been made in these words: "Qui regna oppressit armis, me quoque metu mortis hactenus oppressit. Ego, injuriæ superstes, pacem mortuo non dabo. In quem infertis hunc hominem locum meus est. In alienum solum inferendi mortui jus nemini esse defendo. Si, extincto tandem indignitatis authore, vicit adhuc vis, Rollonem, conditorem parentemque gentis, appello; qui legibus a se datis quam Raoul is the real and proper name, Rou or Ro the abbreviation, Rollo the latinised name, and now universally adopted; in the same way as we say Thuanus for De Thou. From whatever other sources derived, this word may have been engrafted into our language, it seems clear, that it has been transmitted to us by our Norman ancestors. cujusquam injuria plus unus potest polletque." Hist. of Jersey, 1734. P. 16, 17. It appears too, that this exclamation is, down to the present times, used still more extensively; and that it is resorted to by those who meditate or make attack, as well as those who are assailed. In his private memoir of Louis XVI. Mr. Bertrand de Moleville says, speaking of himself, "There was a general shout of Haro sur l'Intendant, accompanied with the most furious imprecations:" and it is added in a note, that "this cry is used by the populace of Brittany and Normandy, when they intend to insult or attack any body." 8vo. 1797, Vol. I. p. 84. It occurred at Rennes. when, in an angry parle, (8) He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice] When in an angry conference on the ice, he dealt out his blows upon the Poles, who are accustomed to travel in sleds, i. e. sledges, on the ice. The Poles were formerly called Polacks, in all the old editions written Pollax: the spelling, doubtless, in conformity with the pronunciation. "The Polonian, whom the Russe calleth Laches, noting the first author or founder of the nation, who was called Laches or Leches, whereunto is added Po, which signifieth people, and so is made Polaches; that is, the people or posteritie of Laches: which the Latines, after their manner of writing, call Polanos." Giles Fletcher's Russe Commonwealth, 12mo. 1591, fo. 65. Mr. Steevens cites Vittoria Corumbona, 1612. "I scorn him like a shav'd Polack." (9) just at this dead] For dead, one of the quartos and the folio of 1632, read same. Upon the reading of the quartos, which, instead of just, is jump, Mr. Malone observes, that in the folio we sometimes find a familiar word substituted for one more ancient. The two words, says Mr. Steevens, were synonymous. B. Jonson speaks of verses made on jump names, i. e. names that suit exactly. Nash says-" and jumpe imitating a verse in As in præsenti." So, in Chapman's May Day, 1611: "Your appointment was jumpe at three, with me." And in Kyffin's Terence's Andria, 1588: "Comes he this day so jump in the very time of this marriage?" See V. 1. Horat. (10) impress of shipwrights] It is not any where shewn by the commentators that the prest-money for the retainer of But it has been questioned, whether the Intendant was not here considered as a wrongful intruder and malfeasor, against whose tortious entry the cry was raised. soldiers, has any thing to do with shipwrights. The word seems to be here used in its ordinary signification, as in Tr. & Cre. II. 1. "No man is beaten voluntary. Ajax was here the voluntary, and you as under an impress." Achil. (11) ratified by law, and heraldry] By St. 13 R. II. c. 2, the court of Chivalry has "cognizance of contracts, touching deeds of arms or of war, out of the realm." Mr. Upton says, that Shakespeare sometimes expresses one thing by two substantives, and that law and heraldry means, by the herald law. Ant. & Cl. IV. 2. "Where rather I expect victorious life, "Than death and honour. i. e. honourable death. STEEVENS. See Sc. II. "leave and favour." Laertes. Puttenham, in his Art of Poesie, p. 148, speaks of The Figure of Twynnes: "horses and barbs, for barbed horses, venim and dartes, for venimous dartes," &c. FARMER. cov'nant (12) And carriage of the article design'd] Tenor, force, or import of the article drawn up. Design, says Mr. Malone, is to mark out or appoint for any purpose. Cowdrey Alph. Tab. 1604. To shew by a token. Minshieu, 1617. Designed is yet used in this sense in Scotland, as is designated with us. Instead of covenant, the quarto, 1604, gives co-mart, i. e. compact, joint treaty; and formed, as another word of our author's, that does not often occur, co-mates. As you, &c. II. 1. Duke S. (13) unimproved mettle] Unimpeached, unquestioned. The modern editors adopt the modern sense of this word " untrained or undisciplined." The verb, improve, does not occur in many of our early dictionary writers, as Baret and Minshieu ; and on its introduction it was used in the sense of "reprove, impute, or disprove." Mr. Tooke says, "it was taken from the French, who used it, and still continue to use it, in the same meaning and that it was perpetually so used by the authors about Shakespeare's time, and especially in theological controversy." "For ye fondely improve a conclusion which myghte stande and be true."-Declar. agt. Joye by Gardiner, Bish. of Winchester. "Ther did they worshyp it in their scarlet gownes with cappes in hand, and here they improved it with scornes and with mockes, grennynge upon her lyke termagauntes in a playe."-Bale's Actes of Eng. Votaries. Divers. of Purley, 4to. 1798, I. 165. And he says the word here means "unimpeached," from the verb to blame, censure, &c. But the use of the word was certainly not appropriated to any one science. "Whiche thynge as I do not improve, so I denye it to be necessarye."-Paynel's Hutten "Of the wood, guiacum, that heleth the French Pockes." 12mo. 1533, c. 7: Anesse, corya |
