Costard broken in a shin

[Jim F.]

Camel, weasel, whale can be reasoned by anagram.
Each animal's name contains four letters in Hamlet.
The prince needs each's nature for his revenge.
Cloud shape animals. Letters frame words.

Dialogue of "Costard broken in a shin" has similar design.

PAGE.
A wonder, Master, here's a Costard broken in a shin.

ARMADO.
Some enigma, some riddle, come, thy Lenvoy begin.

To break shins is a Russian custom to punish those who can,
but don't pay their debts, as in The Seven Deadly Sinnes of
London by Thomas Dekker (1572–1632):

The Russians haue an excellent custome: they beate them on the shinnes, that haue mony, and will not pay their debts; if that law were well cudgeld from thence into England, Barbar-Surgeons might in a few yeeres build vp a Hall for their Compnay, larger then Powles, only with the cure of Bankrupt broken-shinnes.

Costard is in debt. He owes Armado a "Lenvoy."
The dialogue itself is an enigma.

[Jim F.]

Broken shin appears twice in the 1623 folio, the other in Romeo and Juliet with "in debt":

ROMEO.
Farewell, thou can'st not teach me to forget,

BENVOLIO.
I'll pay that doctrine, or else die *in debt.*
. . .

ROMEO.
Your *Plantain leaf* is excellent for that.

BENVOLIO.
For what, I pray thee?

ROMEO.
For your *broken shin.*

Romeo doesn't believe Benvolio can teach him to forget Rosaline.
Benvolio has a broken shin for he is in debt to convert Romeo.
Benvolio can pay that debt by admitting Romeo is right, but he won't do that.

Romeo soon forgets Rosaline after he saw Juliet.

FRIAR LAWRENCE.
God pardon sin: wast thou with Rosaline?

ROMEO.
With Rosaline, my ghostly Father? No,
I have forgot that name, and that name's woe.

[Jim F.]

PAGE.
A wonder, Master, here's a Costard broken in a shin.

ARMADO.

Some *enigma*, some riddle, come, thy Lenvoy begin.

COSTARD.
No *egma*, no riddle, no lenvoy, no salve, in thee male sir.
Or sir, Plantain, a *plain Plantain*:
no lenvoy, no lenvoy, no Salve sir, but a Plantain.

Egma is the only nonce word here. The dialogue itself is an enigma starting from enigma to egma, a special anagram without changing the sequence, an Equidistant Letter Sequences (ELS) without E.

Related anagrams in the dialogue to affirm this design:
• enigma ... egma => egma, e~~gma
• plain plantain => plain, pl~~~ain
• fat ... flat => fat, f~at
• enfranchise ... Francis => Francis, ~~franc~is~

Some editions change Francis to Frances, for they assume Costard prefers to marry a female.

ARMADO.
Sirrah Costard, I will enfranchise thee.

COSTARD.
O, marry me to one Francis, I smell some Lenvoy, some Goose in this.

[Jim F.]

Enigma to egma works the same as Hercules to Ercles.

NICK BOTTOM.
This is Ercles vaine, a tyrants vaine: (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Bottom claims he owns Ercles' (part of Hercules') vein or vanity.
Vain has the usage of vanity in the 16th century.
Vain can be an obsolete form of vein.

Costard's enigma to egma makes him a mage of enigma.
Shakespeare took away -ni- but not other letters,
so that egma can be a perfect anagram of mage.

[Jim F.]

Fox, Ape, Humble-Bee, and Goose,
how they can be connected logically is an enigma.

ARMADO.
No _Page_, it is an epilogue or discourse to make plain,
Some obscure precedence that hath tofore been fain.
Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my _lenvoy_.

The Fox, the Ape, and the Humble-Bee,
Were still at odds, *being but three.*
Until the Goose came out of door,
Staying the odds by adding four.

First, "being but three" suggests that they're three human beings.

[John W Kennedy]

No it doesn’t. That reading would be absurdly forced in present-day
English, and it is completely impossible the better part of a century
before the phrase "human being" appears for the first time in English
literature.

Obtain and read (preferably more than once) C. S. Lewis’s “Studies In
Words”, and subscribe to the OED on-line and learn how to use it.

--
John W. Kennedy
Algernon Burbage, Lord Roderick, Father Martin, Bishop Baldwin,
King Pellinore, Captain Bailey, Merlin -- A Kingdom for a Stage!

[Jim F.]

"Wicked Human being the worst of all that were about Abasbuerus was for a time the nearest unto him ..."—1608, A plaine and familiar exposition, John Dod (1549?-1645)

OED, being (1.c) "Life, physical existence."
LUCENTIO.
Pisa renowned for grave Citizens
gave me my being, and my father first—The Taming of the Shrew, 1623

* * *

The Fox, the Ape, and the Humble-Bee,

Were still at odds, being but three.
Until *the Goose came out of door,*

Staying the odds by adding four.

The lenvoy is triggered by Costard with a broken shin. This is how:
"I Costard running out, that was safely within,
Fell over the threshold, and broke my shin."

"Costard running out" relates to "the Goose came out of door."
Goose has the usage of a fool.
Costard is a fool in the play, implying that
Goose reflects Costard, or Costard fits a goose's nature.

Similarly, the three animals may map to three persons in this play.

There are three lords in this play: Longaville, Dumaine, and Berowne.
Shakespeare let them fit the nature of Fox, Ape, and Humble-Bee,
to build up the first-level connection: animal to character in a play.

[John W Kennedy]

John Dod wrote a half-dozen or more books with titles beginning "[A]
Plaine and Familiar Exposition of/on...." Your quotation is from “A
plaine and familiar exposition of the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters
of the Prouerbs of Salomon”, specifically from the first chapter,
“CHAPTER XIII” and “Verse. 35.The fauour of a king is toward a wise
seruant: but his wrath shall be toward him that causeth shame.”

“VVicked Haman being the worst of all that were about Ahashuerus was for
a time the nearest vnto him, and good Mordecai which was most faithfull,
was most hardlie proceeded against, as being proscribed, and destinated
to death with all the nation that he came of, for his sake, and yet
Haman could not still stand in that high estimation nor Mordecaie lye
long vnder that heauy disgrace, but down must Haman, with the kings
indignation into a shamefull destruction, and vp must Mordecay with the
kings especiall fauor, to a supereminent place of authority.”

In other words, your “Wicked Human being” is a fantasy born of your own
misreading, your ignorance of the Bible, and your inability to see that
your imaginary quotation wasn’t even grammatical. (In present-day
English, we would put a comma between “Haman” and “being”, but it is not
absolutely necessary for interpreting the sentence.)

> > OED, being (1.c) "Life, physical existence."
> LUCENTIO.
> Pisa renowned for grave Citizens
> gave me my being, and my father first—The Taming of the Shrew, 1623

And now you cannot distinguish among “Life, physical existence”,
“Something that exists or is conceived as existing”, and the present
participle of the copula. All of these (and a good many other senses)
are covered by the word “being” in English, but they are not the same.

> * * *
> The Fox, the Ape, and the Humble-Bee,
> Were still at odds, being but three.
> Until *the Goose came out of door,*
> Staying the odds by adding four.
>
> The lenvoy is triggered by Costard with a broken shin. This is how:
> "I Costard running out, that was safely within,
> Fell over the threshold, and broke my shin."
>
> "Costard running out" relates to "the Goose came out of door."
> Goose has the usage of a fool.
> Costard is a fool in the play, implying that
> Goose reflects Costard, or Costard fits a goose's nature.
>
> Similarly, the three animals may map to three persons in this play.
>
> There are three lords in this play: Longaville, Dumaine, and Berowne.
> Shakespeare let them fit the nature of Fox, Ape, and Humble-Bee,
> to build up the first-level connection: animal to character in a play.

[Jim F.]

* * *

What's the difference in meaning? What's wrong in grammar?
1. Wicked Human, being the worst of all that were about Abasbuerus was ...
2. Wicked Human being, the worst of all that were about Abasbuerus was ...

"Wicked Haman being the worst of all
that were about _Abasbuerus_ was for a time the nearest unto him,
and good _Mordecai_ which was most faithful, was most hardly

proceeded against, as being proscribed, and destinated to death

with all the nation that he came of, for his sake, and yet _Haman_
could not still stand in that high estimation nor _Mordecaie_ lie
long under that heavy disgrace, but down must _Haman_, with the
king's indignation into a shameful destruction, and up must
_Mordecay_ with the king's especial favor, to a supereminent place
of authority."

* * *

Humble-bee is a large wild bee with a loud humming sound.
Humble-Bee refers to Berowne, supported by Rosaline's lines.

ROSALINE.
_Berowne_ they call him, but a merrier man,
Within the limit of becoming mirth,
I never spent an hour's talk withal.
His eye begets occasion for his wit,
For every object that the one does catch,
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest.
Which his *fair tongue* (conceits expositor)
Delivers in such *apt and gracious words,*
That aged ears play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravished.
So *sweet and voluble* is his discourse.

[Jim F.]

> What's the difference in meaning? What's wrong in grammar?
> 1. Wicked Human, being the worst of all that were about Abasbuerus was ...
> 2. Wicked Human being, the worst of all that were about Abasbuerus was ...

You are right. The first reading is correct. I misread "Wicked human."

being: "Life, physical existence."

I rephrase it. The lenvoy's "being but three" suggests
to map three animals (lives)
to three persons (lives) in the real world
via three characters in the play.

The lenvoy is "Some enigma, some riddle."
Fox, Ape, Humble-Bee, and Goose won't be
just animals randomly selected.

[John W Kennedy]

“Human” isn’t a proper noun. “Haman” is. Although Abba ben Joseph bar
Ḥama said that on Purim one should drink until no longer able to
“distinguish between ‘arur Haman’ (‘Cursed is Haman’) and ‘baruch
Mordechai’ (‘Blessed is Mordecai’),” he never introduced ‘arur [or
baruch] Human’, especially what with the proto-English that was spoken
in his time not yet having imported the word “human” into its ƿordhord.

>
> * * *
>
> Humble-bee is a large wild bee with a loud humming sound.
> Humble-Bee refers to Berowne, supported by Rosaline's lines.
>
> ROSALINE.
> _Berowne_ they call him, but a merrier man,
> Within the limit of becoming mirth,
> I never spent an hour's talk withal.
> His eye begets occasion for his wit,
> For every object that the one does catch,
> The other turns to a mirth-moving jest.
> Which his *fair tongue* (conceits expositor)
> Delivers in such *apt and gracious words,*
> That aged ears play truant at his tales,
> And younger hearings are quite ravished.
> So *sweet and voluble* is his discourse.

Berowne is exceptionally witty, and therefore he is like a humble-bee?

[John W Kennedy]

On 1/13/23 10:17 AM, Jim F. wrote:
>> What's the difference in meaning? What's wrong in grammar?
>> 1. Wicked Human, being the worst of all that were about Abasbuerus was ...
>> 2. Wicked Human being, the worst of all that were about Abasbuerus was ...
>
> You are right. The first reading is correct. I misread "Wicked human."
>
> being: "Life, physical existence."
>
> I rephrase it. The lenvoy's "being but three" suggests
> to map three animals (lives)
> to three persons (lives) in the real world
> via three characters in the play.

You are still misreading "being". It's "being" as in "Joe was in
trouble, being up before the same judge for DWI for the second time."

> The lenvoy is "Some enigma, some riddle."
> Fox, Ape, Humble-Bee, and Goose won't be
> just animals randomly selected.

But that's all they are. because the entire point of the “enigma” is the
silly quibble on "odd" and "even" numbers. Three is an odd number, but
if you add one, it isn’t odd any more. Everybody laugh.

[Jim F.]

> But that's all they are. because the entire point of the “enigma” is the
> silly quibble on "odd" and "even" numbers. Three is an odd number, but
> if you add one, it isn’t odd any more. Everybody laugh.
> --

* * *
So you believe Fox, Ape, Humble-Bee are randomly selected?

[Jim F.]

> Berowne is exceptionally witty, and therefore he is like a humble-bee?
> --

* * *
Berowne is witty and talktive. He is like a humble-bee for
"fair tongue . . . apt and gracious words . . . sweet and voluble"
that other two lords don't have.
Each lord has a specific feature that other two don't have.

Ape is a mimic. Katherine's lines debase Dumaine, "he had no wit."

KATHERINE.
The young _Dumaine_, a well accomplished youth,
Of all that Virtue love, for Virtue loved.
Most power to do most harm, least knowing ill:
*For he hath wit to make an ill shape good,*
*And shape to win grace though he had no wit.*
I saw him at the Duke _Alansoes_ once,
And much too little of that good I saw,
Is my report to his great worthiness.

[John W Kennedy]

I believe there is no reason to think otherwise.

[John W Kennedy]

THAT ISN'T WHAT HER WORDS MEAN. “...though he had no wit...” means (in
this context) “...even if it were the case that he had no wit...”. And,
by the way, “wit” doesn’t mean here what we usually mean by the word; it
means "intelligence”, or even “wisdom” in our present-day language.

[Jim F.]

* * *
Why Costard's broken shin leads to a lenvoy is the question.

"Being but three" can mean "life but three,"
three animals, three characters, and three human beings.

Fox, Ape, Humble-Bee can't be at odds (in disagreement);
but three characters, and three human beings, can.

Longaville, Dumaine, Berowne are at odds.
Mapping three animals to them is some enigma.
Some riddle comes after that.

They are "staying" the odds after adding to four.
Odds is the key, not odd number.

[John W Kennedy]

Go back to school and learn English. I’ve put hours every day for the
bettere part of a week into this, and you’re still literally talking
nonsense.

[Jim F.]

At the end of the play, a show of Worthies is performed by
"The Pedant, the Braggart, the Hedge-Priest, the Fool, and the Boy."

Holofernes (Judas Maccabaeus)
Armado (Hector)
Nathanial (Alexander)
Costard (Pompey)
Moth (Hercules)

They are rejected except Pompey by Costard the fool.

DUMAINE.
Most rare Pompey.

BOYET.
Renowned Pompey.

BEROWNE.
Greater than great, great, great, great Pompey: Pompey the huge.

Goose has the usage of a fool. At the end Costard the fool is accepted by lords as Goose joins the three animals to match the "adding four."

Costard as Goose suggests that the three animals reflect three lords in the play.

[John W Kennedy]

You are ChatGBT and I claim my £5.