htest change was observable in the eyes, the mouth, feet, or
hands of the corpse, the murderer was conjectured to be present, and
many an innocent spectator must have suffered death. This practice forms
a rich picture in the imagination of our old writers; and their
histories and ballads are labored into pathos by dwelling on this
phenomenon."

CHAPTER XXIII.

MISCELLANEOUS CUSTOMS, ETC.

_Badge of Poverty._ In the reign of William III., those who received
parish relief had to wear a badge. It was the letter P, with the initial
of the parish to which they belonged, in red or blue cloth, on the
shoulder of the right sleeve. In "2 Henry VI." (v. 1) Clifford says:

"Might I but know thee by thy household badge."

_Bedfellow._ A proof of the simplicity of manners in olden times is
evidenced by the fact that it was customary for men, even of the highest
rank, to sleep together. In "Henry V." (ii. 2) Exeter says:

"Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,
Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours."

"This unseemly custom," says Malone, "continued common till the middle
of the last century, if not later." Beaumont and Fletcher, in the
"Coxcomb" (i. 1), thus refer to it:

"Must we, that have so long time been as one,
Seen cities, countries, kingdoms, and their wonders,
Been bedfellows, and in our various journey
Mixt all our observations."

In the same way, letters from noblemen to each other often began with
the appellation _bedfellow_.[961]

[961] Nares's "Glossary," vol. i. p. 68.

_Curfew Bell_, which is generally supposed to be of Norman origin, is
still rung in some of our old country villages, although it has long
lost its significance. It seems to have been as important to ghosts as
to living men, it being their signal for walking, a license which
apparently lasted till the first cock. Fairies, too, and other spirits,
were under the same regulations; and hence Prospero, in "The Tempest"
(v. 1), says of his elves that they

"rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew."

In "King Lear" (iii. 4) we find the fiend Flibbertigibbet obeying the
same rule, for Edgar says: "This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet; he
begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock."

In "Measure for Measure" (iv. 2) we find another allusion:

"_Duke._ The best and wholesom'st spirits of the night
Envelope you, good provost! Who call'd here of late?