'hobby-horse' 2 I would like to thank Tibor Fabiny here for calling my attention to the importance of the continental background of English emblem books, and for his revelative essays on emblem studies. The Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989) Vol. The textual records regarding the hobby-horse are the most frequent in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, which period is also characterised by the multiplication of meanings around the hobby-horse, which could refer to a small Irish breed of horse, the wickerwork-and-costume dancing, prancing hobby horse of the morris dance, as well as to wanton women and fools. later), notwithstanding, these representations do illuminate some of the problems in relation with 1 The hobby-horse stands at the intersection of different meanings and discourses in Shakespeare's age. Pictorial illustratons of the morris hobby only exist outside emblem books (the so-called Betley Window and Vinckenboom's painting, cf.
the wickerwork costume of a half-man half-horse composite being, is evoked or alluded to in the verses of English emblem books. A more oblique iconographical use of the hobby-horse is when the morris hobby-horse, i.e. The first part of the essay will focus on this aspect of the iconography of the hobby-horse.
This mostly corresponds to the continental tradition, though what may seem remarkable is the frequency and persistance of such emblems in England. 2 The most widespread iconographical use of the hobby-horse is to refer to the children's toy (a stick with a horse's head), usually in the context of often childish foolishness, ignorance and sometimes also knavery, almost invariably with a strong moral message. The following brief essay will highlight the most important attitudes of emblem book writers to hobby-horses in England, focusing on specific instances in Whitney's and Wither's works, while simultaneously reflecting on the continental tradition. The early modern hobby-horse offers a rich field for investigation – besides the sevaral co-existent meanings of the word 1 itself, its iconography is also varied and complex, which the emblem books attest to in many ways.
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