Will you not bear this...?
"Thomas Sanders’s sensational account in 1584 of how the Jesus and its crew had been imprisoned by the Dey of Tripoli and eventually released thanks to Harborne had also described how English cabin boys ‘voluntarily turned Turk’. As Sanders reported, when the dey’s son tried to convince two of the Jesus’ crew to convert to Islam, he turned to one of his father’s servants, ‘a son of a yeoman of our Queen’s guard, whom the king’s son had enforced to turn Turk; his name was John Nelson. Him the king caused to be brought to these young men, and then said unto them, “Will you not bear this, your countryman, company, and be Turk as he is?”' "(Jerry Brotton, This Orient Isle- Elizabethan England and the Islamic World)
I don't understand the emphasized question. What does that mean?
Top answer
"bear someone company" is an old way of saying "keep someone company", in this case with the implication "do the same as him". "this, your countryman" refers to John Nelson.
- "bear someone company" is an old way of saying "keep someone company", in this case with the implication "do the same as him".
- "this, your countryman" refers to John Nelson.
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"bear someone company" is an old way of saying "keep someone company", in this case with the implication "do the same as him". "this, your countryman" refers to John Nelson.
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