We had one of these Impostors not many Years ago here in the North, who made a very Hermit. like Appearance, and went up and down our Streets, with a long Train of Boys at his Heels, muttering "poor * John alone!" "poor John alone!" in a Manner singularly plaintive. Of the vulgar Saying that à HUSBAND WEARS HORNS, or is a CORNUTE, when his Wife proves false to him: Also the Meaning of the Word CUCKOLD, which has become a popular Indication of the same Kind of Infamy. Si quando sacra juratori violaverit Uxor. Owen. Epigram. THE Word Hornt, in the sacred Writings, denotes fortitude and vigour of mind. In the Classics, personal Courage (metaphorically from the pushing of Animals) is intimated by Horns. Whence is it then that a Custom has prevailed almost universally of saying that the unhappy Husbands of false Women wear Horns, or are Cornutes? it may be said almost universally, for we are told that even * Aliter poor Jew alone. + His Horn shall be exalted: The Horn of my Salvation, &c. Namque in malos acerrimus parata tollo cornua. Horat. Epod.. Jam feror in pugnas & nondum cornua sumpsi. among the Indians it was the highest Indignity that could be offered them even to point at a Horn. *There is a great Parade of Learning on the Subject of this very serious Jest in the Paradise of pleasant Questions," Question 77. Various are the Opinions the learned have given in that curious Collection of this strange Custom,—I shall present the Reader with the Sum of each of them: The Lawyer Parladorus supposes the Word Cornutus a compound of nudus & corde, as meaning a pitiful and sneaking Fellow, as that Man must needs be, who can sit down tamely under so great an Insult. A Conjecture this, that is perhaps worthy of some of our English Etymologists, who in Matters that required the deepest Exertion of the Judgment, have left all to the Licentiousness of Fancy, and of Consequence disgraced the Study of Philology. Cælius Rhodoginus wishes to derive it from an Insensibility, peculiar as he says to the He-Goat‡, who will stand looking on, while others possess his Females. And Aldrovandus accounts for this by * In Spain it is a Crime as much punishable by the Laws to put up Horns against a Neighbour's House, as to have written a Libel against him. + Elysius jucund arum Questionum Campus. Bruxellæ, 1661, Folio. A ducenda Uxore valde abhorreo, quia Gentem burbatulam, hircosamque progeniem pertremisco. Elysius jucund. Quest. Camp. 614. § Staung Eboracensibus est Lignum ablongum, Contus bajulorum. Hicks. There was an ancient Custom of riding the Stang, when one, in Derision, is made to ride on a Pole for his Neighbour's Wife's Fault. See Glossary to Gaw. Douglas' Virgil. telling telling us, that this very salacious Animal, is debilitated by his Excesses before he is Six Years old, after which Period, as if conscious of his own Impotence, he will molest no Rival; This too has been exploded, for it has been proved that this Animal is equally jealous with, and will fight like others on such an Occasion. Another Conjecture is, that some mean Husbands, availing themselves of their Wives Beauty, have turned it to account by prostituting them, obtaining by this Means the Horn of Amalthea, the Cornu-Copia, which if I mistake not is called in the Language of modern Gallantry, tipping the Horns with Gold: There seems to be a great Deal of Probability in this Surmise. Pancirollus, on the other Hand, derives it from a Custom of the debauched Emperor Andronicus, who used to hang up in a Frolic, in the Porticos of the Forum, the Stags Horns he had taken in Hunting, intending, as he says, by this new Kind of Insignia, to denote at once the Manners of the City, the Lasciviousness of the Wives he had debauched, and the Size of the Animals he had made his Prey, and that from hence the Sarcasm spread abroad, that the Husband of an adulterous Wife bare Horns. I am not satisfied with this last Account; all one gathers from it seems to be, that what Andronicus * Pauper erat, fieri vult dives, quærit et unde, Martial. Epigram. did was a Continuation, not the Origin of this Custom: As to the Word Cuckold*, it is plainly from the Latin Cuculus, the Cuckow, a Bird, that as Aristotle says, builds no Nest herself, but deposits her Eggs in that of some other Bird, who hatches and adopts her Offspring as the Mari Cocut does the Children who are none of his. I must conclude this Subject with an Apology; it is not of the most delicate Kind, yet in speaking of popular Antiquities, it seemed incumbent upon me to say something about it. To jest concerning a Crime, which is replete with every Evil to Society, is indeed to scatter Fires-brands and Arrows in our Sport. It may be added there is no philosophical Justice in such Insults: If the Husband was not to blame, it is highly ungenerous, and an Instance of that common Meanness in Life of confounding a Person's Misfor tunes with his Faults: The Cruelty of such wanton Reflections will appear, if we consider that a Man, plagued with a vicious Wife, needs no Aggravation of his Misery. Pliny tells us, that Vine-dressers were antiently called Cuckors, i. e. slothful, because they deferred cutting their Vines, till that Bird began to sing, which was later than the right Time, so that the same Name may have been given to the unhappy Persons under Consideration, when through disregard and neglect of their fair Partners, they have caused them to go a gadding in search of more diligent and industrious Companions. + French for Cuckold. FIRST OF APRIL, ALL-FOOLS' DAY. Hunc Jocus- -mensem Vindicat: hunc Risus et sine felle Sales. BUCHANAN. A CUSTOM, says the Spectator, prevails every where among us on the First of April, when every Body strives to make as many Fools as he can. The wit chiefly consists in sending Persons on what are called sleeveless * Errands, for the History of Eve's Mother, for Pigeon Milk, with similar ridiculous Absurdities. He takes no Notice of the Rise of this singular Kind of Anniversary. This is generally called All-Fools' Day, a Corruption it should seem of Auld i. e. Old-Fools' Day; in Confirmation of which Opinion, I quote an Observation on the First of † November in the antient Roman Calendar so often cited: "The Feast of Old Fools ‡ is removed 66 to * Skinner guesses this to mean a lifeless Errand. I am not satisfied with this Etymon, he assigns no Cause for his Conjecture.This Epithet is found in Chaucer. + Vide Hallow Even, or Nut-crack Night. I find in Poor Robin's Almanack for 1760, a pleasant, and what is meant for a poetical Description of the modern Fooleries on the 1st of April, with the open Avowal of being ignorant of the Origin of them. The first of April some do say |
