ics do
not amount to a man" (Henry V., Act 3, Sc. 2). But it is not necessary
to rehearse the various familiar scenes in which these fantastically
named individuals raise a laugh at their own expense.

The language employed by nobility and royalty in addressing those of
inferior station in Shakespeare's plays may be taken, perhaps, rather as
an indication of the manners of the times than as an expression of his
own feeling, but even so it must have been a little galling to the
poorer of his auditors. "Whoreson dog," "whoreson peasant," "slave,"
"you cur," "rogue," "rascal," "dunghill," "crack-hemp," and "notorious
villain"--these are a few of the epithets with which the plays abound.
The Duke of York accosts Thomas Horner, an armorer, as "base dunghill
villain and mechanical" (Henry VI., Part 2, Act 2, Sc. 3); Gloster
speaks of the warders of the Tower as "dunghill grooms" (Ib., Part 1,
Act 1, Sc. 3), and Hamlet of the grave-digger as an "ass" and "rude
knave." Valentine tells his servant, Speed, that he is born to be hanged
(Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1, Sc. 1), and Gonzalo pays a like
compliment to the boatswain who is doing his best to save the ship in
the "Tempest" (Act 1, Sc. 1). This boatswain is not sufficiently
impressed by the grandeur of his noble cargo, and for his pains is
called a "brawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog," a "cur," a
"whoreson, insolent noise-maker," and a "wide-chapped rascal." Richard
III.'s Queen says to a gardener, who is guilty of nothing but giving a
true report of her lord's deposition and who shows himself a
kind-hearted fellow, "Thou little better thing than earth," "thou
wretch"! Henry VIII. talks of a "lousy footboy," and the Duke of
Suffolk, when he is about to be killed by his pirate captor at Dover,
calls him "obscure and lowly swain," "jaded groom," and "base slave,"
dubs his crew "paltry, servile, abject drudges," and declares that his
own head would

"sooner dance upon bloody pole
Than stand uncovered to a vulgar groom."
(Henry VI., Part 2, Act 4, Sc. 1.)

Petruchio "wrings Grumio by the ear," and Katherine beats the same
unlucky servant. His master indulges in such terms as "foolish knave,"
"peasant swain," and "whoreson malthorse drudge" in addressing him;
cries out to his servants, "off with my boots, you rogues, you
villains!" and strikes them. He pays his compliments to a tailor in the
following lines:

"O monstrous arrogance! T