Pistol.

Thrust him down stairs! know we not Galloway nags ?
2. Henry IV. Act 2 Scene 4.

and longest have endured of any thing that have come into the same realm from the said parts to that intent, for that cause hath been that such fustians afore this time have been truly wrought and shorn with the broad shear

O sisters three,

Come, come to me,

Pyramus.

With hands as pale as milk;

Lay them in gore,

Since you have shore

With shears his thread of silk.

Midsummer Night Act 5 Scene 1.

and with no other instruments or other deceitful mean occupied upon the same now so it is, that divers persons by subtil and undue sleights and

means,

Warwick.

And now what rests, but, in night's coverture,
Thy brother being carelessly encamp'd,
His soldiers lurking in the towns about,
And but attended by a simple guard.

We may surprise and take him at our pleasure?
Our scouts have found the adventure very easy:
That as Ulysses, and stout Diomede,

With sleight and manhood stole to Rhesus' tents,
And brought from thence the Thracian fatal steeds;

3. Henry VI. Act 4 Scene 2.

have deceivably imagined and contrived instruments of iron, with the which irons, in the most highest and secret places of their houses, they strike and draw the said irons over the said fustians unshorn; by means whereof they pluck off both the nap and cotton of the same fustians, and break commonly bothe the ground and threads in sunder,

Antipholus E.

They fell upon me, bound me, bore me thence;
And in dark and dankish vault at home

There left me and my man, both bound together;
Till gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder,
I gain'd my freedom and immediately

Ran hither to your grace; whom I beseech

To give me ample satisfaction

For these deep shames and great indignities.

Comedy of Errors Act 5 Scene 1.

and after by crofty seeking they make the same fustians to appear to the ommon people fine, whole, and sound;

Cominius.

If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work
Thou'lt not believe deeds: but I'll report it,
Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles;
Where great patricians shall attend and shrug,
I' the end, admire; where ladies shall be frighted,

And, gladly quaked, hear more; where the dull Tribunes,
That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours,

Shall say against their hearts.

Our Rome hath such a soldier!

We thank the gods,

Yet camest thou to a morsel of this feast,
Having fully dined before.

Coriolamus Act 1 Scene 9.

and also they raise up the cotton of such fustians, and then take a light candle and set it in the fustian burning, which singeth and burneth away the cotton of the same fustian from the one end to the other, down to the hard threads,

Gra.

Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father's death;
Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
And fall to reprobation.

Othello Act 5 Scene 1.

instead of shearing, and after that put them in colour, and so subtily dress them, that their false work cannot be espied, without it be by workmen shearers of such fustians, or by the wearers of the same; and so by such subtleties, whereas fustians made in doublets, or put to any other use, were wont and might endure the space of two years and more,

Cloun.

What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come, is still unsure:

In delay there lies no plenty;

Then come kiss me, sweet-and-twenty,

Youth's a stuff will not endure.

Twelfth Night Act 2 Scene 3.

will not endure now whole by the space of four months scarcely, to the great hurt of the poor commons and serving men of this realm,

Curt.

Come, you are so full of coney-catching

Gru.

Why, therefore, fire; for I have caught extreme cold. Where's the cook? is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept; the servingmen in their new fustian, their white stockings, and every officer his wedding - garment on? Be the jacks fair within, the jills fair without, the carpets laid, and every thing in order?

Taming of the Shrew Act 4 Scene 1.

to the great dammage, loss, and deceit of the king's true subjects, buyers, and wearers of fustian: for remedy whereof, be it enacted etc. That no such iron or instruments, nor any other untrue subtil mean or sleight be from henceforth used upon any fustian within this realm, but only by the broad shears, upon forfeiture of XX. s. to be levied for every default of every such person or persons hereafter offending and using any such deceivable instruments or sleights, as is aforesaid; the one half of the forfeitures to be to the king our sovereign Lord, and the other half to him or them that will sue for the same forfeitures by action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, in any of the king's courts of record, where the same may be determined after the course of the common law; and that the defendant in such behalf in no wise be admitted to wage his law, nor that

any protection or essoin be in the same allowable. And over this, be it or dained by the said authority, that the mayor and wardens of shearmen d the city of London for the time being have authority to enter and sear the workmanship, of all manner persons occupying the broad shear, as we fustians as cloth: and the execution of this present act to be as well of denizens, as of foreigners and strangers. (12. Henry VII. cap. XXVIL)

Fustian (of futaine, Fr. fustan, sp. a place in Egypt, where it wa made: or, as Menage says, of faustanum, in corrupt Latin writers, and supposed it to be derived of fustis, or fuste, a tree, on account of the tree on which cotton grows) a sort of nappy cloth. (Bailey's Dictionary) The preamble of the 39 Elizabeth cap. XIII., which was passed whe Shakspeare was about thirty three years old, recites, that amongst be Majesty's people the wearing of fustians had lately grown to more use the ever it was before:

Whereas by an act made in the eleventh year of king Henry the Seventh, the mayor and wardens of shear-men of the city of London fær the time being, should have authority to enter and search the workmansh of all manner of persons occupying the broad shear, as well fustian as cloth, and the execution of the said act for using any instruments of irer. or other untrue subtil mean or slight in dressing the same:

Hecate.

Upon the corner of the moon

There hangs a vaporus drop profound:
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that, distill'd by magic slights,
Shall raise such artificial sprights
As by the strength of their illusion,
Shall draw him on to his confusion.

Macbeth Act 3 Scene 5.

since which time, for that the lord mayor of London cannot conveniently go in his own person to make the said search, by reason of his other weighty occasions, divers have resisted the wardens of the shear-men going abroad in offering to make search according to the said law; and for want of due and daily search in that behalf, divers have of late days

2. Gent.

This secret is so weighty, 'twill require

A strong faith to conceal it.

1. Gent.

Let me have it;

I do not talk much.

2. Gent.

I am confident;

You shall, sir: Did you not of late days hear
A buzzing, of a separation

Between the king and Katherine?

Henry VIII. Act 2 Scene 1. put in ure the iron instruments, and other sleights forbidden by the said recited act, to the great deceit of her Majesty's people, amongst whom the wearing of fustians is lately grown to more use, as may seem, than ever it was before: which company of shear-men, together with the company of fullers, were since the said act made one company by the name of cloth-workers: and son no search can be duly made: for remedy hereof, Be it therefore enacted etc. (39 Elizabeth cap. XIII.)

Good people, bring a rescue or two. Thou wo't, wo't thou? thou wo't, wo't thou? do, do, thou rogue! do, thou hemp-seed!

Falstaff.

Away, you scullion! you rampallian! you fustilarian! catastrophe.

I'll tickle your

2. Henry IV. Act 2 Scene 1.

and the reader may be of opinion after reading these statutes that the word ,,fustilarian," used by Falstaff in this passage, means one who wears fustian, or, in other words, to use the language of the preamble of the 12 Henry VII, cap. XXVII., „one of the common people“ or „serving men.“

In the preamble of the 39 Elizabeth cap. XIII, in the edition of the Statutes at Large, now before me, and in the passages I have quoted from 3. Henry VI. Act 4 Scene 2 and Macbeth Act 3 Scene 5, the word which is at the present day spelt sleight," signifying „arteful trick,“ „dexterity," is spelt with and without the letter „e."

I will rather sue to be despised, than to deceive so good a commander, with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet an officer. Drunk? and speak parrot? and squabble? swagger? swear? and discourse fustian with one's own shadow? O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!

Othello Act 2 Scene 3.

The word "fustian" as it is here used by Fabian and Cassio seems to signify something "common" or of "inferior quality."

Thersites.

Even so? a great deal of your wit too lies in your sinews, or else there be liars. Hector shall have a great catch, if he knock out either of your brains; 'a were as good crack a fusty nut with no kernel.

Troilus and Cressida Act 2 Scene 1.

Hamlet.

Sure, he, that made us with such large discourse,

Looking before, and after, gave us not

That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused.

Hamlet Act 4 Scene 4.

aud although the adjective fusty" used by Thersites evidently signifies ,,mouldy," and the verb „fust" used by Hamlet signifies to get mouldy from want of use;"

Ulysses.

Sometime, great Agamemnon,
Thy topless deputation he puts on;

And, like a strutting player, whose conceit
Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich
To hear the wooden dialogue and sound
'Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,
Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming

He acts thy greatness in and when he speaks,
'Tis like a chime a-mending; with terms un-quared,
Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd,
Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff,
The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling,
From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause;

Troilus and Cressida Act 1 Scene 3.

yet it may be considered probable that Ulysses uses the adjective „fusty as descriptive of the wretched imitation or to use the words of Cassio the ,, fustian discourse" of Patroclus.

Hostess.

Come, I'll drink no proofs, nor no bullets: I'll drink no more than will do me good, for no man's pleasure, I.

Pistol.

Then to you, mistress Dorothy; I will charge you.

Doll.

Charge me? I scorn you, scurvy companion. What! you poor, base. rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate! Away, you mouldy rogue, away! I am meat for your master.

2. Henry IV. Act 2 Scene 4.

The adjective mouldy," in this passage, may be used in a double sense. Doll calls Pistol a poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate, and also a „mouldy rogue." Those who were poor lacked-linen, and wore fustian a material of inferior quality much worn by the common people and serving-men: the words „mouldy“ and „fusty" are synomymous terms: a mouldy rogue“ may, therefore, suggest the idea of a „fusty rogue," or one who wore fustian. Cominus speaks of fusty plebeians:" besides Doll in the same scene afterwards says referring to Pistol I cannot endure such a ,,fustian rascal."

"

The Queen's most excellent majesty, with the advice of her Highness lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons, in this present parliament assembled, weighing and considering the godly purposes of divers and sundry statutes heretofore made and ordained for the true making and working of woolen cloth, to be frustrated and deluded by straining, stretching, want of weight, flocks, sollace, chalk, flour, deceitful things, subtil sleights and untruths, so as the same clothes being put in water, are found to shrink. be rewey, pursey, squally, cockling, bandy, light, and notably faulty, to the great dislike of foreign princes, and to the hindrance and loss of the buyer and wearer for redress thereof, etc. it is enacted etc., That no person or persons shall put any hair, flocks, thrums or yarn made of lambs wool, or other deceivable thing or things, into or upon and broad cloth, hair cloth, kersie, frize, dozen, penistone or cotton, Taunton cloth, Bridgwater. Dunster cotton, etc. 44. Elizabeth cap. 10.