Saturday, April 2, 2011

Parallel - Dutch and English feasts

Shake-Speare:

Lo, as at English feast, so I regreet
The daintiest last to make the end most sweet.
Richard II 1.3.67-8   [note: 'regreet' meaning 'to greet again']

Now, Bacon: "Let not this Parliament end like a Dutch feast, in salt meats, but like an English feast in sweet meats".
A 1604 speech

Comment: It was the practice for English feasts, unlike Dutch feasts, to end with confectionary and fruit. Shake-Speare evidently had this distinction in mind, or he would not have specified "English feast".

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