Which gape, and rub the elbow, at the news
Of hurlyburly innovation."

[908] Ibid. p. 273.

With this idea we may compare similar ones connected with other parts of
the body. Thus, in "Macbeth" (iv. 1), one of the witches exclaims:

"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes."

Again, in "Troilus and Cressida" (ii. 1), Ajax says: "My fingers
itch,"[909] and an itching palm was said to be an indication that the
person would shortly receive money. Hence, it denoted a hand ready to
receive bribes. Thus, in "Julius Caesar" (iv. 3), Brutus says to Cassius:

"Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm;
To sell and mart your offices for gold
To undeservers."

[909] See "Romeo and Juliet" (iii. 5), where Capulet says, "My
fingers itch," denoting anxiety.

So, in "Merry Wives of Windsor" (ii. 3), Shallow says: "If I see a sword
out, my finger itches to make one."

Again, in "Othello" (iv. 3), poor Desdemona says to Emilia:

"Mine eyes do itch;
Doth that bode weeping?"

Grose alludes to this superstition, and says: "When the right eye
itches, the party affected will shortly cry; if the left, they will
laugh." The itching of the eye, as an omen, is spoken of by Theocritus,
who says:

"My right eye itches now, and I will see my love."

_Eyes._ A good deal of curious folk-lore has, at one time or another,
clustered round the eye; and the well-known superstition known as the
"evil eye" has already been described in the chapter on Birth and
Baptism. Blueness above the eye was, in days gone by, considered a sign
of love, and as such is alluded to by Rosalind in "As You Like It"
(iii. 2), where she enumerates the marks of love to Orlando: "A lean
cheek, which you have not; a blue eye, and sunken, which you have not."

The term "baby in the eye" was sportively applied by our forefathers to
the miniature reflection of himself which a person may see in the pupil
of another's eye. In "Timon of Athens" (i. 2), one of the lords says:

"Joy had the like conception in our eyes,
And, at that instant, like a babe sprung up,"

an allusion probably being made to this whimsical notion. It is often
referred to by old writers, as, for instance, by Drayton, in his
"Ideas:"

"But O, see, see! we need enquire no further,
Upon your lips the scarlet drops are found,
And, in your eye, t