_Provost._ None, since the curfew rung."

And, once more, in "Romeo and Juliet" (iv. 4), Capulet says:

"Come, stir, stir, stir! the second cock hath crow'd,
The curfew bell hath rung, 'tis three o'clock."[962]

[962] See Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. iii. pp. 220-225;
also, Harland and Wilkinson's "Lancashire Folk-Lore," 1867, p. 44.

_Sacring Bell._ This was a bell which rang for processions and other
holy ceremonies.[963] It is mentioned in "Henry VIII." (iii. 2), by the
Earl of Surrey:

"I'll startle you
Worse than the sacring bell."

[963] Dyce's "Glossary," p. 379.

It is rung in the Romish Church to give notice that the "Host" is
approaching, and is now called "Sanctus bell," from the words "Sanctus,
Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth," pronounced by the priest.

On the graphic passage where Macbeth (ii. 1) says:

"The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell"--

Malone has this note: "Thus Raleigh, speaking of love, in England's
'Helicon' (1600):

"'It is perhaps that sauncing bell
That toules all into heaven or hell.'"

_Sauncing_ being probably a mistake for sacring or saint's bell,
originally, perhaps, written "saintis bell." In "Hudibras" we find:

"The old saintis bell that rings all in."

_Carpet-knights._ These were knights dubbed at court by mere favor, and
not on the field of battle, for their military exploits. In "Twelfth
Night" (iii. 4), Sir Toby defines one of them thus: "He is knight,
dubbed with unhatched rapier, and on carpet consideration."

A "trencher knight" was probably synonymous, as in "Love's Labour's
Lost" (v. 2):

"Some mumble-news, some trencher-knight, some Dick."

These carpet-knights were sometimes called "knights of the green
cloth."[964]

[964] See Douce's "Illustrations of Shakespeare," pp. 65, 66.

_Chair Days._ Days of old age and infirmity. So, in "2 Henry VI." (v.
2), young Clifford, on seeing his dead father, says:

"Wast thou ordain'd, dear father,
To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieve
The silver livery of advised age,
And, in thy reverence, and thy chair-days, thus
To die in ruffian battle?"

_Chivalry._ The expression "sworn brothers," which Shakespeare several
times employs, refers to the "fratres jurati," who, in the days of
chivalry, mutually bou