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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.2321  Friday, 22 November 2002

From:           John Briggs <john.briggs4@ntlworld.com>
Date:           Wednesday, 20 Nov 2002 17:09:03 -0000
Subject: 13.2313 Re: "Esperance!"
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.2313 Re: "Esperance!"

Larry Weiss wrote:

>It seems likely that "Esperance" was a Percy family motto and battle
>cry. But that does not exclude the possibility that Hotspur also used it
>for the name of his horse (in Hen IV, II.iii.71) and sword (in V.ii.96).

It is difficult to judge the level of irony in Larry Weiss' post
(particularly "it seems likely"), but for the benefit of the confused I
would point out that the motto of the Dukes of Northumberland is
"Espérance en Dieu".  The present family use the surname Percy, although
it was originally Smithson, and one of the family founded the
Smithsonian Institution.

John Briggs


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