Note 708 — Chapter XIII
Reading edition
On entering into any contract, or plighting of troth, the clapping of the hands together set the seal, as in the “Winter’s Tale” (i. 2), where Leontes says:
“Ere I could make thee open thy white hand, And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter I am yours forever.”
So, too, in “The Tempest” (iii. 1):
“Miranda.My husband, then? Ferdinand. Ay, with a heart as willing As bondage e’er of freedom: here’s my hand. Miranda. And mine, with my heart in’t.”
And in the old play of “Ram Alley,” by Barry (1611), we read, “Come, clap hands, a match.” The custom is not yet disused in common life.