AFTERTHOUGHT
Sia,—A pity Alan Brien didn't flip through Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable in his 'Afterthought' on cuckolds and their horns last week.
For example: 'Morgan le Fay sent a horn to King Arthur which had the following "virtue": No lady could drink out of it who was not "to her husband true"; all others who attempted to drink were sure to spill what it contained. This horn' was carried to King Mark and "his queene with a hundred ladies more" tried the experiment, but only four managed to "drinke cleane." ' Alternatively, Brewer's suggests: 'In the rutting season one stag selects several females, who con- stitute his harem, till another stag contests the prize with him. If beaten he is without associates till he finds a stag feebler than himself, who is made to submit to similar terms. As stags are horned, and have their mates taken from by their fellows, the application is palpable.'
Still, the V sign, as Mr. Brien's Italian colleague suggests, sounds plausible enough. Brewer's men- tions 'this ancient gesture, now more common in Latin countries than in England,' and concludes with an apt quote from Sir E. Peynton: The Divine Catastrophe of the House of Stewart, 1652: 'He would have laine withe the Countess of Not- tinghame, making horns in derision at her husband the. Lord High Admiral.'
Whatever the answer, we all seem to agree that 'The horn, the horn, the lusty horn, Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.'
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