O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a day during his life. He could not have ‘scaped sixpence a day. An the Duke had not given him sixpence a day for playing Pyramus, I’ll be hanged. He would have deserved it. Sixpence a day in Pyramus, or nothing.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 4, Scene 2. With Bottom gone missing, Flute bemoans that Bottom has missed the chance to perform for the Duke and earn a pension of sixpence a day in reward for playing Pyramus.