ng the idea of a
cross, added to the devotion which every true knight felt for his
favorite weapon, and evidently led to this practice." Hamlet makes
Horatio swear that he will never divulge having seen the Ghost (i. 5):

"Never to speak of this that you have seen,
Swear by my sword."

[985] "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 858; see Dyce's "Glossary," p. 431.

In the "Winter's Tale" (ii. 3), Leonato says:

"Swear by this sword
Thou wilt perform my bidding."

The cross of the sword is also mentioned to illustrate the true bearing
of the oath. Hence, in "1 Henry IV." (ii. 4), Falstaff says jestingly of
Glendower, that he "swore the devil his true liegeman upon the cross of
a Welsh hook."[986] On account of the practice of swearing by a sword,
or, rather, by the cross or upper end of it, the name of _Jesus_ was
sometimes inscribed on the handle or some other part.

[986] A Welsh hook was a sort of bill, hooked at the end, and
with a long handle. See Dyce's "Glossary," p. 497; and Singer's
"Shakespeare," vol. ix. p. 168.

_Mining Terms._ According to Mr. Collier, the phrase "truepenny" is a
mining term current in the north of England, signifying a particular
indication in the soil, of the direction in which ore is to be found.
Thus Hamlet (i. 5) says

"Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there, truepenny?"

when making Horatio and Marcellus again swear that they will not divulge
having seen the ghost.

_Patrons._ The custom of clergymen praying for their patrons, in what is
called the bidding prayer, seems alluded to by Kent in "King Lear" (i.
1):

"Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,
Lov'd as my father, as my master follow'd,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers."

_Sagittary._ This was a monster, half man, half beast, described as a
terrible archer; neighing like a horse, and with its eyes of fire
striking men dead as if with lightning. In "Troilus and Cressida" (v.
5), Agamemnon says:

"The dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers."

Hence any deadly shot was called a sagittary. In "Othello" (i. I) the
barrack is so named from the figure of an archer over the door.

_Salad Days._ Days of green youth and inexperience. Cleopatra says (i.
5):

"My salad days,
When I was green in judgment:--cold in blood."

_Salt._ The salt of youth is that vigor and strong pa