During the colonial days, you can always tell how important or rich someone is by the size of his wig.
Sir Philip Sidney (1590).
The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia. ‘My deare, my deare, my better half, I find that I must now leave thee.’
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Bed of Roses
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. ‘Come live with me and be my love….And I will make thee beds of roses.’
‘She thinks I must always be at her beck and call.’ Earl of Worcester (1470).
The original meaning of beck:
Julius Caesars Commentaryes – ‘It should be ready at a beck.’ (A beck was a silent signal, like the nod of the head).
Originally referred to hunting raccoons. The raccoon would usually take to a tree, the dogs used to hunt them would on occasion be barking up the wrong tree and the hunter would lose his prey.
Davy Crockett (1833). Sketches and Eccentricities. ‘I told him…..that he reminded me of the meanest thing on God’s earth, and old coon dog barking up the wrong tree.”‘