Chapter XXVIII: Act V: Scene I (2)

_and_] i. e. if.

# 184:

_discover’d_] Old ed. “_discoverd_ gentlemen.”

# 185:

_grinning_] Old ed. “ginny.”

# 186:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 187:

_cannot_] Old ed. “can’t.”

# 188:

_one_] Old ed. “_one_ and.”

# 189:

_horse-trick_] “Some rough curvetting is here meant,
but I know not the precise motion. The word occurs in
a _Woman killed with Kindness_. ‘Though we be but
country fellows, it may be, in the way of dancing, we
can do the _horse_-trick as well as the serving-men.’
A. 1.”—GIFFORD.

# 190:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 191:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 192:

_trillibubs._] “This seems to be a cant word for any
thing of a trifling nature.”—GIFFORD.

# 193:

FIRST COURTIER _dances a galliard_] The stage-
direction in old ed. is “_A Gailliard Laminiard_.”—“A
galliard is described by Sir John Davis as a _swift
and wandering dance, with lofty turns and capriols in
the air_; and so very proper to prove the strength and
activity of Lysander. It is still more graphically
described, as Mr. Gilchrist observes, in Burton’s
_Anat. of Melancholy_: ‘Let them take their pleasures,
young men and maides flourishing in their age, fair
and lovely to behold, well attired and of comely
carriage, dancing _a Greeke Galliarde, and, as their
dance required, kept their time, now turning, now
tracing, now apart, now altogether, now a curtesie,
then a caper, &c._, that it was a pleasant sight.’
Fol. 1632.”—GIFFORD.

# 194:

_go_] Old ed. “ago.”

# 195:

_vennies_] or _venues_, i. e. assaults, bouts, turns.

# 196:

_a flap-dragon_] Was a raisin, plum, &c., and
sometimes even a candle’s end, made to float in a
shallow dish, or glass, of brandy, or other liquor,
from which, when set on fire, it was to be snatched by
the mouth and swallowed. Gallants in former days vied
with each other in drinking off flap-dragons to the
healths of their mistresses.

# 197:

_it is_] Old ed. “’tis.”

# 198:

_you_] Old ed. “with _you_.”

# 199:

_vennies_] See note, p. 66.

# 200:

—— _with a trick_] “Lysander gives them all harsh
names—here he bestows one on Simonides, which the
delicacy or fear of the old publisher would not permit
him to hazard in print: tant mieux.”—GIFFORD.

# 201:

“This stuff is not worth explaining; but the reader,
if he has any curiosity on the subject, may amply
gratify it by a visit to Pantagruel and his companions
on the Isle Ennasin. Below, there is a miserable
pun upon _hair_—the _crossing_ of an _hare_ was
ominous.”—_Id._

# 202:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 203:

_the scotomy_] Old ed. “scotony.”—“The _scotomy_
(σκοτωμα) is a dizziness or swimming in the
head.”—_Id._

# 204:

_venny_] See note, p. 66.]

# 205:

_go_] Old ed. “goes.”

# 206:

_You_] Old ed. “It.”

# 207:

_are_] Old ed. “_are_ all.”

# 208:

_back_] Old ed. “black.”

# 209:

——_for’t had been safer Now to be mad_, &c.] “_Minus
est insania turpis._ There are many traits of
Massinger in this part of the scene.”—GIFFORD.

# 210:

_has_] i. e. he has—an elliptical expression frequent
in our early poets.

# 211:

_thou’rt_] Old ed. “thou art.”

# 212:

See note, p. 72.

# 213:

_consort_] i. e. company of musicians.

# 214:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 215:

_foot_] Old ed. “foole.”

# 216:

_we have Siren here_ ... _’twas Hiren, the fair
Greek_] In Shakespeare’s _Henry IV._, Part II. Act ii.
Sc. 4., Pistol exclaims, “have we not Hiren here?” and
the same (or nearly the same) words occur in several
other old plays. They seem to be a quotation from a
(now-lost) drama by Peele, called _The Turkish Mahomet
and Hiren the Fair Greek_. See the commentators on the
passage of Shakespeare just cited, and my Account of
Peele, &c. p. xxxv., prefixed to his _Works_, sec. ed.

# 217:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 218:

_She grew longer_, &c.] “This miserable trash, which
is quite silly enough to be original, has yet the
merit of being copied from Shakspeare.”—GIFFORD.

# 219:

_avoirdupois_] Old ed. “haberdepoyse.”

# 220:

_consort_] i. e. company: see note, p. 75.

# 221:

_wizards_] Old ed. “vizards.”

# 222:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 223:

_No_] Old ed. “She;” but compare p. 76.

# 224:

This stage-direction in old ed. stands thus: “_The
Dance of old women maskt, then offer to take the men,
they agree all but Gnothoes: he sits with his Wench
after they whisper._”

# 225:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 226:

_a mermaid_] “The mermaids of the writer’s time had
succeeded to the Syrens of the ancients, and possessed
all their musical as well as seductive qualities.
Mermaid also was one of the thousand cant terms which
served to denote a strumpet; and to this, perhaps,
Agatha alludes.”—GIFFORD.

# 227:

_old_] Old ed. “old _old_.”

# 228:

_thine_] Old ed. “nine.”

# 229:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 230:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 231:

_loath to depart_] “There was anciently both a tune
and a dance of this name; to the former of which
Gnotho alludes.”—GIFFORD.

# 232:

_bawd does_] Old ed. “bawds doe.”—Rings with deaths’
heads on them used to be worn by procuresses, probably
from an affectation of piety: see my ed. of Webster’s
_Works_, iii. 212. and note there.

# 233:

_And I’ll bury some money before I die_, &c.]
“This, as every one knows, was an infallible method
of causing the person who did it to walk after
death.”—GIFFORD.

# 234:

_Though_, &c.] To this line in the old ed. “_Hip._” is
prefixed.

# 235:

_’gainst_] Old ed. “against.”

# 236:

_prove_] Old ed. “proves.”

# 237:

_make_] Old ed. “makes.”

# 238:

_How sweetly_, &c.] In the old ed. this speech, as far
as “senses,” is given to Hippolita, and the rest to
Cleanthes.

# 239:

_the chiefest_] Old ed. “_the_ first and _chiefest_.”

# 240:

_can’t_] Old ed. “cannot.”

# 241:

_comfort_] “The old copy has _consort_, which induced
Coxeter to give the speech to Hippolita. I have little
doubt but that the mistake is in this word, which
should be _comfort_, as it stands in the text: by this
term the fond parent frequently addresses his
children. In the mouth of Leonides, too, it forms a
natural reply to the question of Cleanthes, who then
turns to make the same demand of his wife.”—GIFFORD.

# 242:

_That only_, &c.] This and the next line are
transposed in the old ed.

# 243:

_lightness_] Old ed. “lightning.”]

# 244:

_propension_] Old ed. “proportion.”

# 245:

_to afford_] Old ed. “t’afford.”

# 246:

_Has_] i. e. he has. See note, p. 72.

# 247:

_That cries most_, &c.] “Our old poets abound in
allusions to this stratagem of the lapwing.”-GIFFORD.

# 248:

_make_] Old ed. “makes.”

# 249:

_me_] Old ed. “a _mee_.”

# 250:

_affliction_] Old ed. “affection.”

# 251:

_his_] Old ed. “this.”

# 252:

_comforts_] Old ed. “consorts:” see p. 84, and note.

# 253:

——_blood_;
_The sorrows_, &c.]

Old ed.

——“_blood_, to
_The sorrows that he feels, are our heads_.”

# 254:

_thee_] Old ed. “him.”

# 255:

_her_] Old ed. “their.”

# 256:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 257:

_Clean._] Old ed. “Hip.”

# 258:

_eleven_] Old ed. “leaven.”

# 259:

_fellow_] Old ed. “follow.”

# 260:

_sit_] Old ed. “set.”

# 261:

_an_] Old ed. “one.”

# 262:

_vild_] i. e. vile—a form of the word common in our
early poetry.

# 263:

_Their fathers_] Old ed. “Her father.”

# 264:

_Widow_] Old ed. “Widdows.”

# 265:

_Sim._] So Gifford. The old ed. gives this to Eugenia.

# 266:

_Ere_] Old ed. “Ever.”

# 267:

_You_] Old ed. “We.”

# 268:

_ne’er touch’d by razor_] Old ed. “new _tucht by_
reason.” The emendation is M. Mason’s.

# 269:

_To call you judges doth not suit your years,
Nor heads and beards shew more antiquity_;—] “Mr. M.
Mason reads,

_To call you judges doth not suit your years,
Nor heads; and brains shew more antiquity._

It is evident that he did not comprehend the sense,
which, though ill conceived and harshly expressed,
is,—You have not the years of judges, nor do your
heads and _beards_ (old copy, _brains_) shew more of
age.”—GIFFORD.

# 270:

_beauty serves_] Old ed. “beautifeaus.”

# 271:

_bold_] Old ed. “of old.”

# 272:

—— _turn the soul_] “So the old copy: Coxeter and Mr.
M. Mason read, _turn the_ scale, which has neither the
spirit nor the sense of the original.”—GIFFORD.

# 273:

_yourselves_] Old ed. “yourselfe.”

# 274:

_forward for thee without fee_] So Gifford. Old ed.
has “_forward fee thee_,” and gives “_without fee_” as
a stage-direction, in the margin.

# 275:

_Times of amazement_! _what duty, goodness dwell_—]
“Mr. M. Mason takes this for a complete sentence, and
would read, _Where do you goodness dwell?_ In any case
the alteration would be too violent; but none is
needed here. Hippolita sees the woman who betrayed her
approaching, breaks off her intended speech with an
indignant observation, and hastily retires from the
court.”—GIFFORD.

# 276:

_My stomach_ strives _to dinner_.] “This is sense,
and therefore I have not tampered with it: the
author probably wrote, _My stomach_ strikes _to
dinner_.”—_Id._

# 277:

_Dutch venny_] Compare p. 66, 67. Gifford gives
“_Dutch_ what-you-call;” and perhaps rightly, as the
names of the other two “wet vennies” follow.

# 278:

_pepper’d_] Old ed. “prepard.”

# 279:

_A Flourish_, &c.] Old ed.

“Florish.
_Duk._ A flemish. _Enter the Duke._”

# 280:

FIRST] Old ed. “2.”

# 281:
EVAN. _Nay, back t’ your seats_] “The old copy reads,
_Nay_, bathe _your seats_; out of which Mr. M. Mason
formed _keep_; Davis, _take_; and every one may make
what he can. I believe the young men were pressing
forward to receive the duke, and that his exclamation
was, as above, _Nay_, back t’ _your seats_.”—GIFFORD.
This line is given in the old ed. to “_2 Court_.”

# 282:
SECOND COURT. _May’t please_, &c.] Old ed.

“_Duk._ May’t please your highness.
_Sim._ ’Tis old Lisander.”

# 283:

_else_] So Gifford. Old ed. “as are.”

# 284:
EUG. _Your place above_] Old ed.

“_Hip._ Your place above—Duke—away to death with him.
_Cleanthes_ Guard.”

I have followed Gifford in this scene.

# 285:

_car’d_] Old ed. “guard.” What is now given to
Lysander forms part of Simonides’s speech in old ed.

# 286:
EVAN. _Away_, &c.] See note 284 in this page.

# 287:

_offender_] Old ed. “offenders.”

# 288:

_order_] Old ed. “orders.”

# 289:

_swoon_] Old ed. “stand.”

# 290:

[_spreading_] _palm_] “I have inserted _spreading_,
not merely on account of its completing the verse, but
because it contrasts well with _contracted_. Whatever
the author’s word was, it was shuffled out of its
place at the press, and appears as a misprint
(_showdu_) in the succeeding line.”—GIFFORD.

# 291:

_of_] Old ed. “to.”

# 292:

_our_] Old ed. “one.”

# 293:

_And much less mean to entreat it_] “For _mean_ the
old copy has _shown_, which is pure nonsense: it
stands, however, in all the editions. I have, I
believe, recovered the genuine text by adopting
_mean_, which was superfluously inserted in the line
immediately below it.”—GIFFORD.

# 294:

_humour_] Old ed. “honour.”

# 295:

_My lords, it shall_] “i. e. it shall _be briefly
questioned_. This would not have deserved a note, had
not Mr. M. Mason mistaken the meaning, and corrupted
the text to, _My lords_, I _shall_.”—_Id._

# 296:

_you_] Old ed. “them.”

# 297:

_godlike_] Old ed. “_goe like_.”

# 298:

_We’ve_] Old ed. “We have.”

# 299:

_we’re_] Old ed. “wee are.”

# 300:

_It is_] Old ed. “’Tis.”

# 301:

_a_] Old ed. “him.”

# 302:

_bad_] Old ed. “a _bad_.”

# 303:

_you’re_] Old ed. “yeare.”

# 304:

_’gainst_] Old ed. “against.”

# 305:

_judge, I desire, then_] Old ed. “_judge then, I
desire_.”

# 306:

_This were_, &c.] “i. e. O, that this were, &c. But,
indeed, this speech is so strangely printed in the
quarto, that it is almost impossible to guess what the
writer really meant. The first three lines stand thus:

CLEAN. _This were the judgment seat, we now
The heaviest crimes that ever made up
Unnaturalness in humanity._

Whether the genuine, or, indeed, any sense be elicited
by the additions which I have been compelled to make,
is not mine to say; but certainly some allowance will
be made for any temperate endeavour to regulate a text
where the words, in too many instances, appear as if
they had been shook out of the printer’s boxes by the
hand of chance.”—GIFFORD.

# 307:

_like_] Old ed. “lyar.”

# 308:

_they’re_] Old ed. “y’are.”

# 309:

_Here_] Old ed. “Where.”

# 310:

_come you_] Old ed. “_you come_.”

# 311:

_you are_] Old ed. “y’are.”

# 312:

_he’s_] Old ed. “he is.”

# 313:
SIM.] Old ed. “_Clean._”

# 314:

_pox_] Old ed. “a _pox_.”

# 315:
CLEAN.] Old ed. “_Sim._”

# 316:
SIM.] Old ed. “_Clean._”

# 317:

_vild_] See note, p. 94.

# 318:

_may challenge them_] Old ed. “my _challenge_ then.”

# 319:
CREON.] Old ed. “_Cle._”

# 320:
CREON.] Old ed. “_Cle._”

# 321:

_place_] Old ed. “places.”

# 322:

_mature_] Old ed. “nature.”

# 323:
CLEAN.] What is now assigned to Cleanthes is given to
First Courtier in the old ed.

# 324:

_shall_] Old ed. “whom it _shall_.”

# 325:

[_shall appear before us_] “Whether the words which I
have inserted convey the author’s meaning, or not, may
be doubted; but they make some sense of the passage,
and this is all to which they pretend.”—GIFFORD.

# 326:

_band_] So Gifford. Old ed. “baud.”—Qy. did the author
write “_The old_ bald sires _again_?”

# 327:

_May_] Old ed. “My.”

# 328:

_crowd on_] i. e. fiddle on. A fiddle is still called
a _crowd_ in many parts of England.

# 329:

_hat is_] Old ed. “hats.”

# 330:

_as he is my sovereign, I do give him two crowns
for it_, &c.] “Here is some poor pun. A sovereign
was a gold coin worth _ten_ shillings; or, is the
wit in some fancied similarity of sound between
_duke_ and _ducat_ (a piece of the same value as
the other)?”—GIFFORD.

# 331:

_you will_] Old ed. “you’l.”

# 332:

_goes_] Old ed. “_goes_ out.”

# 333:

_the_] Old ed. “a.”

# 334:

_Crowd on_] See note, p. 110.

# 335:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 336:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 337:

_at_] Old ed. “to.”

# 338:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 339:

_that_] Old ed. “where _that_.”

# 340:

_trumpet_] Old ed. “trumpets.”

# 341:

_hop’d it had_] Old ed. “hope t’ _had_.”

# 342:

_Gnotho_] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”

# 343:

_This passion has given some satisfaction yet_] “i.e.
this pathetic exclamation: it is parodied in part from
_the Spanish Tragedy_, and is, without all question,
by far the stupidest attempt at wit to which that
persecuted play ever gave rise. That it afforded _some
satisfaction_ to Lysander, ought, in courtesy, to be
attributed to his having more good nature than
taste.”—GIFFORD.

# 344:

_All hopes_, &c.] Gifford has given the four first
lines of this speech as verse, and I follow him. The
rhymes seem to have been lost in the wretched
corruption of the text.

# 345:

_my_] Old ed. “our.”

# 346:

_but_] Old ed. “fashion, _but_.”

# 347:

_were_] Old ed. “have.”

# 348:

_return_] Old ed. “retaine.”

# 349:

_bind_] Old ed. “bound.”

# 350:

_regent_] Old ed. “regents.”

# 351:

_grow_] Old ed. “grew.”

# 352:

_joy_] Old ed. “joyed.”

# 353:

_Gentlemen, &c._] The publisher’s address to the readers.

# 354:

An allusion to the suppression of the theatres by the
Puritans.

# 355:

“Huntingdon, the place where Oliver Cromwell was born, and
resided many years of his life. Some allusion here seems to
be lost.”—REED.

# 356:

_Raynulph_] “Raynulph Higden was the compiler of the
Polychronicon, as far as the year 1357, thirty-first
of Edward III. It was translated into English by
Trevisa, and completed and printed by Caxton in folio,
1482.”—REED.

# 357:

_agen_] The old spelling of _again_, and necessary
here for the sake of the rhyme: compare p. 416.

# 358:

_apaid_] i. e. satisfied, contented.

# 359:

_Before a Monastery_] The place of action is not
noted in the old ed., and Middleton seems to have
troubled himself little about the matter. After some
hesitation, I have marked the present scene “_Before
a Monastery_,” on account of what Constantius says
at p. 131:

“in mind
I will be always _here_; _here_ let me stay.”

That the scene cannot be _within_ the monastery, is
shewn by the entrance of the two Graziers.

# 360:

_They’re_] Old ed. “They are.”

# 361:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 362:

_We’re_] Old ed. “we are.”

# 363:

_Who’s_] Old ed. “Who is.”

# 364:

_general peace_] Compare p. 127, l. 12.

# 365:

_acts_] Old ed. “actions:” so afterwards in Act iii.
Sc. i. the old ed. has “If I ensnare her in an
_action_ of lust.”

# 366:

_requite_] Old ed. “require.”

# 367:

_preas’d_] i. e. pressed. Old ed. “prais’d.” _Prease_
for _press_ is very common in our early poets.

# 368:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 369:

_e’er_] Old ed. “ever.”

# 370:

_’t_] Old ed. “it.”

# 371:

_remorse_] i. e. pity.

# 372:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 373:

_thy_] Old ed. “the.”

# 374:

_we’d_] Old ed. “wee’ld.”

# 375:

_recover’t_] Old ed. “recovered.”

# 376:

_like_] i. e. please.

# 377:

_you’ve_] Old ed. “You have.”

# 378:

_enter_] Old ed. “enters.”

# 379:

_passion_] i. e. sorrow.

# 380:

_you’re_] Old ed. “you are.”

# 381:

_rushes_] “With which anciently rooms used to be
strewed.”—REED.

# 382:

_Byrlady_] i. e. By our lady.

# 383:

_seems by my flesh_] An allusion to a very gross
saying, which will be found in Ray’s _Proverbs_, p.
179, ed. 1737.

# 384:

_We’re_] Old ed. “We are.”

# 385:

_nice_] i. e. scrupulous.

# 386:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 387:

_like_] i. e. please.

# 388:

_You’ve_] Old ed. “You have.”

# 389:

_there is_] Old ed. “there’s.”

# 390:

_That is ... of’t_] Old ed. “that’s ... of it.”

# 391:

_o’er ... ne’er_] Old ed. “over ... never.”

# 392:
CAST.] Old ed. “_Const._”

# 393:

_lamp_] Old ed. “lump.”

# 394:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 395:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 396:

_they’d_] Old ed. “they’ld.”

# 397:

_they’re_] Old ed. “they are.”

# 398:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 399:

_are_] Old ed. “is.”

# 400:

_We’ve_] Old ed. “we have.”

# 401:

_You will_] Old ed. “Will you.”

# 402:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 403:

_You’d_] Old ed. “Youl’d.”

# 404:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 405:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 406:

_I’m strong_] Old ed. “I am stronger.”

# 407:

_And warranted worth lightens your fair aspècts_]
“Alluding to the story of Pope Gregory’s admiring the
beauty of the English youths at Rome. Beda, Hist. c.
i.”—REED. I believe the author has no such allusion.

# 408:

_Stay_[_s_] Qy. “_stains_;” i. e. brings into
disgrace, exceeds?—a common use of the word in our
early writers.

# 409:

_They’ve_] Old ed. “they have.”

# 410:

_fame_] Old ed. “same.”

# 411:

_condition_] i. e. disposition, or (as he has just
said) humour.

# 412:

_Why_, &c.] Qy. “Why, _will’t_ not keep a hog?”

# 413:

_fruitful ... uberous_] Synonymes.

# 414:

_take you_] Old ed. “you take.”

# 415:

_’bout_] Old ed. “about.”

# 416:

no proof in love to indiscretion] i. e. I suppose,—no
trial compared to that which is occasioned by the
indiscretion of the object beloved.

# 417:

_imposterous_] i. e. deceitful, cheating. The word
occurs in several of our early writers. Dodsley and
his editors chose to give the line thus:

“For when th’art known to be a whore, _impostress_.”

# 418:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 419:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 420:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 421:

_conceit_] i. e. conception, idea.

# 422:

_love’s_] Old ed. “love is.”

# 423:

_he’s_] Old ed. “he is.”

# 424:

_’Gainst_] Old ed. “Against.”

# 425:

_cast_] i. e. contrived.

# 426:

_The true man_] i. e. the honest man—an expression
used in opposition to a thief.

# 427:

_let_] i. e. hinderance.

# 428:

_and_] Old ed. “_and_ thy.”

# 429:

_you’d_] Old ed. “youl’d.”

# 430:

_with’t_] Old ed. “with it.”

# 431:

_practice_] i. e. artifice, insidious design.

# 432:

_act_] Old ed. “action.” See note, p. 129.

# 433:
VORT.] This speech in the old ed. is given to Horsus.

# 434:

_ne’er_] Old ed. “never.”

# 435:

_I’ve ... on’t_] Old ed. “I have ... on it.”

# 436:

_practice_] See note, p. 160.

# 437:

_garden-house_] When this play was written, gardens
with summer-houses in them were very common in the
suburbs of London. These buildings were often used as
places of intrigue.

# 438:

_conceit_] i. e. conceive.

# 439:

_bestow’t_] Old ed. “bestow it.”

# 440:

_against the hair_] i. e. against the grain, contrary
to nature.

# 441:

_night-rails_] i. e. night-gowns.

# 442:

_rack_] A friend would read “crack”—unnecessarily, I
think.

# 443:

_that’s_] Old ed. “that is.”

# 444:

_cruelly_] Old ed. “cruelty.”

# 445:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 446:

_pluck’t_] Old ed. “_pluck_ it.”

# 447:

_where_] i. e. whereas.

# 448:

_by’t_] Old ed. “by it.”

# 449:

_conceit_] i. e. fancy.

# 450:

_A Chamber in a Castle_ Not in the castle, of which
Hengist immediately proceeds to speak. As the Barber
presently says of Simon and Oliver, “here they come
both in a pelting chafe from the town-house,” the
scene must be at or near Queenborough.

# 451:

_ne’er_] Old ed. “never.”

# 452:

_’gainst_] Old ed. “against.”

# 453:

_ascends first_] Old ed. “_first ascends_.”

# 454:

_Here’s no sweet coil._] “It is observed by Dr.
Warburton (see note to 1st part _Henry_ 4th, A. 5, S.
3.), that in Shakespeare’s time the negative in common
speech was used to design, ironically, the excess of a
thing; and this assertion is fully confirmed by the
several examples produced by Mr. Steevens in proof of
it.” REED.

# 455:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 456:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 457:

_Sir-reverence_] A corruption of _save-reverence_,
_salvâ reverentiâ_. See Nares in v.

# 458:

_towards_] i. e. at hand, forthcoming.

# 459:

_scorn’d the motion_] Here S. P., an annotator in
Dodsley’s _Old Plays_, wishes unnecessarily to
read “mention.” Middleton has the same expression
elsewhere; and so in Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Cupid’s
Revenge_, act iv. sc. 3.

“_3 Cit._ You had best
Go peach; do, peach!
_2 Cit._ Peach? _I scorn the motion._”

# 460:

_callymoocher_] A term of reproach, which I cannot
explain.

# 461:

_ale-conner_] “Or ale-taster, an officer appointed in
every court leet to look to the assize and goodness of
bread, ale, and beer.” Kersey’s _Dict._—See also
Robinson’s _Hist. of Tottenh._ p. 241, quoted by Nares
in v.

# 462:

_spiny baldrib_] i. e. a thin slender fellow, with
little flesh on his ribs.

# 463:

_cittern_] “A lute or _cittern_ formerly used to be
part of the furniture of a barber’s shop, and, as Sir
John Hawkins, in his notes on Walton’s _Complete
Angler_, p. 236, observes, answered the end of a
newspaper, the now common amusement of waiting
customers. In an old book of enigmas, to every one of
which the author has prefixed a wooden cut of the
subject of the enigma, is a barber, and the cut
represents a barber’s shop, in which there is one
person sitting in a chair under the barber’s hands,
while another, who is waiting for his turn, is playing
on the lute; and on the side of the shop hangs another
instrument of the lute or _cittern_ kind.”—REED.

# 464:

_throughly_] Modernised unnecessarily by Dodsley into
_thoroughly_.

# 465:

_sack-buts_] A play on the meaning of the
word—_musical instruments_, and _buts of sack_.

# 466:

_Exeunt_, &c.] Old ed. “_Exit cum suis._”

# 467:

_hear_] Old ed. “_hear_ her.”

# 468:

_They’ve_] Old ed. “They have.”

# 469:

_taken_] Old ed. “ta’ne.”

# 470:

_passion_] i. e. sorrow.

# 471:

_conceitedly_] i. e. fancifully, ingeniously.

# 472:

_minded_] i. e. intended.

# 473:

_Thong-Castle_] “See Lambarde’s Perambulation of Kent,
1596, p. 195. Jeffrey of Monmouth’s British History,
B. 6. C. 11.”—REED.

# 474:

_Lo, I_, &c.] In _Wit Restored_, 1658 (_Facetiæ_, &c.
vol. i. p. 268. ed. 1817), this speech of Simon is
printed, with a few very slight variations, under the
title of _A Prologue to the Mayor of Quinborough_.

# 475:

_cannot_] _Wit Rest._ “scorne to;” but compare p. 175,
l. 24.

# 476:

_riots_] Old ed. “roots.”

# 477:

_here’s_] Old ed. “there’s.”

# 478:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 479:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 480:

_byrlady_] See note, p. 135.

# 481:

_give_] Old ed. “gives.”

# 482:

_carp_] Mr. J. P. Collier proposes to read “cup.”

# 483:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 484:

_we’ve_] Old ed. “we have.”

# 485:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 486:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 487:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 488:

_mother_] i. e. hysterical passion.

# 489:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 490:

_ne’er_] Old ed. “never.”

# 491:

_niceness_] i. e. scrupulousness.

# 492:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 493:

_Able to_, &c.] Old ed.

“_Able to_ make _all of our name_ inhumid,”—

and so the line stands in all the eds. of Dodsley’s
_Old Plays_.

# 494:

_e’er_] Old ed. “ever.” The line seems corrupted. Qu.
“_In this wild tempest_,” &c.?

# 495:

_raught_] i. e. snatched away, ravished.

# 496:

_no_] See note 454, p. 169.

# 497:

_dear_] See notes, vol. iii. p. 307, vol. iv. p. 486:
here, perhaps, it is equivalent to—excessive.

# 498:

_to seek in honesty_] i. e. at a loss for, deficient
in honesty.

# 499:

_I’d_] Old ed. “I had.”

# 500:

_Though’t_] Old ed. “_Though_ it.”

# 501:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 502:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 503:

_hight_] i. e. called.

# 504:

_decreen_] i. e. decree. An old form, for the sake of
the rhyme.

# 505:

_Is’t_] Old ed. “Is it.”

# 506:

_Nemp your sexes_ “‘The appointment being agreed to on
both sides, Hengist, with a new design of villany in
his head, ordered his soldiers to carry, every one of
them, a long dagger under their garments; and while
the conference should be held with the Britons, who
would have no suspicion of them, he would give them
this word of command, _Nemet oure Saxas_; at which
moment they were all to be ready to seize boldly every
one his next man, and with his drawn dagger stab him.
Accordingly, at the time and place appointed, they all
met, and began to treat of peace; and when a fit
opportunity for executing his villany served, Hengist
cried out, _Nemet oure Saxas_; and the same instant
seized Vortegirn, and held him by his cloak.’ Jeffrey
of Monmouth’s British History, translated by Aaron
Thompson, 1718, 8vo, p. 194.”—REED. _Nemp your sexes_,
i. e. Nymeð eouer seaxes,—take your daggers, or short
swords.

# 507:

_Lie_] Old ed. “Lies.”

# 508:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 509:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 510:

_by’t_] Old ed. “by it.”

# 511:

_Methinks_, &c.] “Shakespeare seems to have imitated
this in the Tempest, A. 3. S. 3.

‘Oh, it is monstrous! monstrous!
Methought, the billows spoke, and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc’d
The name of Prosper.’”—REED.

The date of _The Tempest_ must be settled before we
can determine whether Shakespeare or Middleton was the
imitator.

# 512:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 513:

_Where_] i. e. whereas. Altered by Dodsley and his
editors to “When.”

# 514:

_Kirsendom_] A corruption of _Christendom_.

# 515:

_you’re_] Old ed. “you are.”

# 516:

_that’s_—_Kent’s_] Old ed. “_that_ is”—“_Kent_ is.”

# 517:

_Players_] They have, it appears, only “taken the name
of country comedians to abuse simple people;” but I
follow the old copy in terming them “Players,” to
prevent the confusion which would afterwards arise
from adopting any other appellation.

# 518:

_The Whirligig_] Not, I apprehend, the comedy called
_Cupid’s Whirligig, by E. S._, 1607.

# 519:

_The Wild-goose Chase_] i. e., perhaps, Fletcher’s
comedy so called, see p. 122.

# 520:

_Woodcock of our side_] Taylor, the water-poet, in the
preface to _Sir Gregory Nonsense_, mentions a book so
called; but perhaps he merely invented the title.—This
expression was proverbial, and frequently occurs in
our early writers: _woodcock_ was a cant term for a
simpleton.

# 521:

_O, the clowns_, &c.] Nash tells us that, “amongst
other cholericke wise Justices he was one that, hauing
a play presented before him and his Township, by
Tarlton and the rest of his fellows, her Maiesties
seruants, as they were now entring into their first
merriment (as they call it), the people began
exceedingly to laugh, when Tarlton first peept out his
head.”—_Pierce Pennilesse_, sig. D. 2, ed. 1595. And
in the Præludium to Goff’s _Careless Shepherdes_,
1656, Thrift says—

“I never saw Rheade peeping through the Curtain,
But ravishing joy enter’d into my heart.” p. 5.

# 522:

_Twopence_] Old ed. “2d.” Dodsley and his editors,
“second!!”

# 523:

_to_] i. e. comparable to.

# 524:

_on’t; that’s the thing_] Old ed. “_on_ it, _that’s
the thing_ indeed.”

# 525:

_Alas_] Old ed. “Las.”

# 526:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 527:

_by Amsterdam_] “The toleration allowed to all
religious sects in the United Provinces, on their
throwing off the Spanish yoke, occasioned numbers of
dissenters from the established religion of their
country, to take refuge in different parts of the
states of Holland. The chief place appears to have
been Amsterdam, which is mentioned as such in several
contemporary dramatic writers. See Ben Jonson’s
Alchymist, and The Fair Maid of the Inn, by Beaumont
and Fletcher.”—REED.

# 528:

_The play begins_] Dodsley and his editors print these
words as a stage-direction, though they are not given
as such in the old copy. They are evidently the
exclamation of Simon on hearing the trumpet.

# 529:

_I’ll stop_, &c.] Old ed. “_I’le hide my ears and stop
my eyes._”

# 530:

_golls_] A cant term for hands,—fists, paws.

# 531:

_swound_] i. e. swoon.

# 532:

_aqua-vitæ_] A common name for spirits.

# 533:

_First_] Old ed. “2.”

# 534:

_towards_] i. e. at hand.

# 535:

_cut_] i. e. slashed (see note, vol. i. p. 28), with a
play on the word: “_Cutted_, scolding, brawling,
quarrelling.” Kersey’s _Dict._

# 536:

_in Kent, or Kirsendom_] I ought to have noticed an
earlier allusion (at p. 200) to the proverbial saying,
“Neither in Kent nor Christendom,” which has been
variously explained; see Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 245, ed.
1768.

# 537:

_at an exercise_] “Alluding to the week-day sermons
used by the puritans, which they called _Exercises_.
S. P.”—_Note in Dodsley’s Old Plays._

# 538:

_Here’s no abuse_, &c.] See note 454, p. 169.

# 539:

_fox’d_] i. e. drunk.

# 540:

_sight’s_] Old ed. “sight is.”

# 541:

_till’t_] Old ed. “till it.”

# 542:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 543:

_Resolv’d_] i. e. convinced, informed.

# 544:

_waking_] Old ed. “making.”

# 545:

_where_] i. e. whereas.

# 546:

_practice_] See note, p. 160.

# 547:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 548:

_the prince_] Words which, perhaps, should be thrown
out.

# 549:

_I will_] Old ed. “I’le.”

# 550:

_prevented_] i. e. anticipated.

# 551:

_And_] i. e. If.

# 552:

_golls_] See note, p. 206.

# 553:

_Ninevitical motion_] _Motion_ is a puppet-show; and
that of _Nineveh_, often mentioned by our old writers,
appears to have been very popular. “They say, there’s
a new _motion of the city of Nineveh_, with Jonas and
the whale, to be seen at Fleet-bridge.”—B. JONSON’s
_Every Man out of his Humour_, act ii. sc. 1.

# 554:

_Tamburlain_] A personage whom Marlowe’s tragedy of
that name had rendered familiar to the audience.

# 555:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 556:

_sprig of rosemary at his burial, than of a gilded
bride-branch at mine own wedding_] Rosemary, as being
an emblem of remembrance, was used both at funerals
and weddings. Compare _The Pleasant History of John
Winchcomb, in his younger yeares called Jacke of
Newberie_: “Then was there a faire bride cup of silver
and gilt carried before her [the bride], wherein was a
goodly _braunch of rosemarie gilded very faire_, hung
about with silken ribonds of all colours: next was
there a noyse of musitians that played all the way
before her: after her came all the chiefest maydens of
the countrie, some bearing great bride cakes, and some
_garlands of wheate finely gilded_, and so she past
unto the church.”—Sig. D 3, ed. 1633.

# 557:

_this in his burgonet_] i. e. this glove in his helmet
or hat. See stage-direction at the beginning of this
scene.

# 558:

_fled_] Old ed. “flee.”

# 559:

_curb_] A friend would read “curse.”

# 560:

_measure_] i. e. a grave, stately dance, with slow and
measured steps.

# 561:

_likes_] i. e. pleases.

# 562:

_Lady, bid him_, &c.] Imitated from Shakespeare:

“Let wantons, light of heart,
Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels.”
_Romeo and Juliet_, act. i. sc. 4.

It is hardly necessary to remark, that before carpets
were used, the floors were strewed with rushes.

# 563:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 564:

_likes_] i. e. pleases.

# 565:

_Willow, willow, willow_] The burden of the song which
Shakespeare has rendered immortal: see _Othello_, act
iv. sc. 3.

# 566:

_besides_] i. e. by.

# 567:

_laced mutton_] A prostitute—a cant term very common
in our early dramatists.

# 568:

_Cornelius’ dry-fats_, &c.] The sweating-tub of
Cornelius, formerly used for the cure of the venereal
disease, is often mentioned by our early dramatists:
but, in the present passage, I suspect there is an
allusion which had better be left unexplained.

# 569:

_chitty_] i. e., perhaps, the Italian _città_: but
Lazarillo afterwards affectedly uses “_chick_” and
“_chickness_” for _sick_ and _sickness_.

# 570:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 571:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 572:

_Brown-bill_] A sort of pike with a hooked point,
anciently carried by the English foot-soldiers, and
afterwards by watchmen.

# 573:

_curtal_] i. e. dog, or horse: here, I suppose, it has
the former signification.

# 574:

_find_] i. e. furnish.

# 575:

_my full charge_] The constable of the night used
regularly to give a charge to the watchmen: see
Shakespeare’s _Much ado about Nothing_, act iii. sc.
3.

# 576:

_Mirror of Magistrates_] An allusion to the once-
popular poetical work so entitled.

# 577:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 578:

_bill-men_] See note, p. 237.

# 579:

_camooch_] In B. Jonson’s _Every Man out of his
Humour_, act v. sc. 3, the word _camouccio_ occurs, as
a term of vituperation; which, says Gifford, “is
perhaps a corruption of _camoscio, a goat or goat’s
skin_, and may mean _clown_ or _flat-nose_, or any
other apposite term which pleases the reader.” So,
too, in Dekker and Webster’s _Sir T. Wyatt_, 1607,
(Webster’s _Works_, vol. ii. p. 298), “A Spaniard is a
_camocho_, or calamanco,” &c.; and Sir T. Brown
observes (_Vulgar Errors_, p. 351, ed. 1669), “Many
_Spaniards_ ... which are of the race of Barbary Moors
... have not worn out the _camoys nose_ unto this
day.”

# 580:

_unpent-house the roof of my carcass_] i. e., in the
language of ordinary mortals,—take off my hat.

# 581:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 582:

_besonian_] Ital. _besogno_ or _besognoso_—often used
as a term of reproach by our early writers,—beggar,
scoundrel.

# 583:

_bonds and bills_] A play on words: see note, p. 237.

# 584:

_adelantado_] i. e. the king’s lieutenant of a
country, or deputy in any important place of charge.
“Don Diego de fisty Cankcemuscod, who was admirall or
high _adellantado_ of the whole fleete.”—Taylor the
water-poet’s _Navy of Land Ships_, p. 79: _Works_, ed.
1630.

# 585:

_pitch and pay_] i. e. pay down your money at once.

# 586:

_Thamer Cham_] i. e. Timur Khaun.

# 587:

_dried one_] i. e. a dried pilcher, or pilchard.

# 588:

_rivo_] A Bacchanalian interjection, frequently
found in our old drama: its etymology has not been
discovered.

# 589:

_shift_] viz. trenchers, platters.

# 590:

_Song_] Old ed. “_Sing. Musicke._”

# 591:

_poor-john_] A sort of fish (hake, it is said,) dried
and salted.

# 592:

_A Street_] Though the servingmen of Camillo (see p.
247) make their appearance immediately on being called
for, this scene, whether I have marked it rightly or
not, is evidently intended to lie in the neighbourhood
of the house where Violetta dwelt.

# 593:

_Spanish needle_] The best needles were imported from
Spain: see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson, _Works_, vol.
v. p. 12.

# 594:

_quail-pipe boot_] The following lines from Chaucer’s
_Rom. of the Rose_ (v. 7212), though relating to a
much earlier period, may be quoted here:

“And high shewis knoppid with dagges,
That _frouncin_ [_i. e._ wrinkle] _like a quale-pipe_,
Or botis riveling as a gipe.”

# 595:

_points_] i. e. the tagged laces which fastened the
_hose_ or breeches to the doublet.

# 596:

_not entered into any band_] A play on words: _band_
and _bond_ were formerly used indiscriminately.

# 597:

_slop_] i. e. breeches.

# 598:

_other-gates_] i. e. other-ways—other-kind.

# 599:

_tasting of the cog_] Another pun—_keg_ and _cog_. To
_cog_ is to lie or wheedle.

# 600:

_bawdy_] Another—_body_.

# 601:

_Via_] An exclamation of defiance (from the Italian),
frequent in our old dramas.

# 602:

_and if I wist_] i. e. if I supposed.

# 603:

_by the cross of this Dandyprat_] “King Henry the
seuenth,” says Camden, “stamped a small coyne called
_Dandyprats_.”—_Remaines_, p. 173, ed. 1629. Many
coins were marked with a cross on one side.

# 604:

_Gentlemen, to the dresser!_] When dinner was ready,
the cook used to knock on the dresser with his knife,
as a signal for the servants to carry it into the
hall. But the words put into the mouth of the
facetious Doyt appear to have been those usually
employed by the usher to the attendants on such
occasions. In the notes to the _Northumberland
Household Book_, p. 423, are extracts from “Lord
Fairfax’s Orders for the servants of his household
[after the civil wars],” where, among “The Usher’s
Words of Directions,” we find,—“Then he must warn to
the Dresser, ‘_Gentlemen_ and Yeomen, _to the
Dresser_.’” Gifford (Massinger’s _Works_, vol. i. p.
166) has cited from a note of Reed on Dodsley’s _Old
Plays_ this passage of Lord Fairfax’s “Orders,” &c.,
as if it contained the _warning_ of the _cook_; and
Nares, in his _Glossary_ (voc. _Dresser_), has made
the same mistake.

# 605:

_brown-bill_] See note, p. 237.

# 606:

_broken pate—broker_] A play on the word _broker_,
which meant pander.

# 607:

_vail_] i. e. lower.

# 608:

_broking_] i. e. pandering.

# 609:

_dag_] i. e. pistol.

# 610:

_Mephostophilis_] The fiend-attendant in Marlowe’s
well-known tragedy of _Faustus_.

# 611:

_crackship_] i. e. boyship—little mastership.

# 612:

_current_] An allusion to the coin called a dandyprat:
see note, p. 246.

# 613:

_angel_] i. e. a gold coin, in value about ten
shillings.

# 614:

_ventoy_] i. e. fan.

# 615:

_incony_] i. e. fine, delicate, pretty.

# 616:

_Fa, la_, &c.] Here (as appears from what follows)
Imperia moves about, or dances, to the music.

# 617:

_ingle_] i. e. wheedle, coax.

# 618:

_&c._] Is sometimes found in passages of our early
dramatists, and seems to mean that the players might
make use of any suitable expressions which occurred to
them.

# 619:

_Song_, &c.] Old ed. “_Reades. Song._”

# 620:

_Were neither_, &c.] Old ed.

“_Were neither lip, nor cheekes currall, nor cherry
eyes._”

Some of the lines in this miserable effusion seem
intended to be sung only, not read.

# 621:

_And_] i. e. if.

# 622:

_jack_] The figure which struck the bell on the
outside of the old clocks was called a _jack_.

# 623:

_these_] Old ed. “this.”

# 624:

_incontinently_] i. e. immediately.

# 625:

_counterfeit_] i. e. portrait.

# 626:

_nail him up_, &c.] As counterfeit money is nailed up.

# 627:

_Wut_] i. e. Wilt.

# 628:

_Much!_] An ironical and contemptuous expression, of
frequent occurrence in the old English drama,
equivalent, generally, to _little_ or _none_.

# 629:

_good_] Old ed. “God.”

# 630:

_aslopen_] i. e. asleep—for the rhyme.

# 631:

_teston_] Or _tester_ (so called from the head,
_teste_, stamped on it),—_i. e._ sixpence: it was
originally of higher value.

# 632:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 633:

_my roba_] i. e. my wanton. _Buona-roba_ is an Italian
phrase for a courtesan; “as we say, good stuffe,” &c.
Florio in v.

# 634:

_marry, muff_] So Taylor the water-poet;

“Here’s a sweet deale of scimble scamble stuffe,
To please my Lady Wagtayle, _marry muffe_.”
_A Whore_, p. 111—_Workes_, ed. 1630.

# 635:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 636:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 637:

_stock_] i. e. stocking.

# 638:

_hose, pan’d, stuft with hair_] See note, p. 28.

# 639:

_Abram-colour’d_] So in _Soliman and Perseda_, 1599,
sig. H 3:

“Where is the eldest sonne of Pryam?
That _abraham-couloured_ Troion.”

In Shakespeare’s _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act i.
sc. 4, Slender is described as having a “_Cain-
coloured_ beard;” and in our author’s _Chaste Maid
in Cheapside_, act iii. sc. 2, “_Judas_ with the red
beard” is mentioned. Theobald, in a note on the
passage of Shakespeare just quoted, thinks that such
expressions were suggested by old tapestries and
pictures. Steevens, _ibid._, is not certain but that
“_Abraham_” may be a corruption of _auburn_; and in
_Coriolanus_, act ii. sc. 3, where we now read with
the fourth folio, “our heads are some brown, some
black, some _auburn_,” the three earlier folios have
“_Abram_.”

# 640:

_When Monsieur Motte lay here ambassador_] Though
the scene of this play is in Venice, yet “_here_”
means in England,—during some of the earlier years
of Elizabeth’s reign.

# 641:

_against the hair_] See note, p. 163.

# 642:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 643:

_these_] Old ed. “this.”

# 644:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 645:

_stone_] Old ed. has “no see,” a misprint. I doubt if
the word which I have substituted for it be the right
one.

# 646:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 647:

_save Hippolito_] Because, probably, Imperia was to be
his partner. The lavolta was a dance for two persons,
described by Sir J. Davies, in his _Orchestra_, as “a
lofty jumping or a leaping round.” See also Douce’s
_Illust. of Shakspeare_, vol. i. p. 489.

# 648:

_zanies with torches_] _zanies_ seems here to mean
nothing more than attendants. In act iii. sc. 1. of
this drama, when Violetta is told that “Imperia the
courtesan’s _zany_ hath brought you this letter,” she
exclaims, “her _groom_ employ’d by Fontinelle!” and in
Florio’s _New World of Words_, ed. 1611, is “_Zane_,
the name of John in some parts of Lombardy, but
commonly used for a silly John, a simple fellow, _a
seruile drudge_ or foolish clowne in any commedy or
enterlude play.”—For “_torches_” the old ed. has
“coaches.” Torch-bearers were the constant attendants
at masques.

# 649:

_suckets_] i. e. sweetmeats.

# 650:

_angels_] See note, p. 250.

# 651:

_bale_] i. e. pair.

# 652:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 653:

_a’ high lone_] So in Shakespeare’s _Romeo and
Juliet_, act i. sc. 3, where we now read, “For then
she could stand _alone_,” the 4to of 1597 has “stand
_high lone_.” Compare too W. Rowley’s _A Shoomaker a
Gentleman_, 1638; “The warres has lam’d many of my old
customers, they cannot go _a hie lone_.” Sig. B 4.

# 654:

_leesing_] i. e. losing.

# 655:

LAZARILLO _enters_] His entrance is not marked in the
old copy, and perhaps the poet intended that he should
come in with the masquers.

# 656:

_give fire too suddenly to the Roaring Meg of my
desires_] A metaphor drawn from the celebrated gun,
which Churchyard thus mentions in his _Siege of
Edenbrough Castell_;

“With thondryng noyes was shot of _roeryng Meg_,
And throw the thickst she thompt orethawrt the waies,”
&c.
fol. 94—_Chippes_, ed. 1575.

# 657:

_Don Diego_] Old ed. “Don Dego,”—seems to have been
ironically used for _Spaniard_, in consequence of a
strange indecency committed by a personage of the
name: see note on act iv. sc. 3, where Lazarillo
declares that he is “kin to Don Diego.”

# 658:

_Sanguine-cheeked! dost think their faces have been at
cutler’s?_] So Beaumont and Fletcher:

“_Piso._ ————————O’ my life, he looks
Of a more rusty, swarth complexion
Than an old armory doublet.
_Lod._ I would send
His _face to th’ cutler’s then, and have it
sanguin’d_.”
_Captain_, act ii.
sc. 2.

“_Sanguine._ The bloud-stone wherewith cutlers do
sanguine their hilts.”—COTGRAVE’S _Dict._

# 659:

_Exeunt_, &c.] The old ed. has no stage-direction
here. The curtains, called _traverses_, sometimes used
for scenes (see Malone’s _Hist. Acc. of the English
Stage_, p. 88, ed. Boswell), were drawn, I suppose,
after this speech of Hippolito.

# 660:

_with smoke_] There is something abrupt and awkward in
the conclusion of this scene; and I am inclined to
believe that part of it has been lost at the press.

# 661:

_these brims_] Old ed. “this brimmes.”—I suppose
Hippolito means to say, do not wear your hat so much
over your face.

# 662:

_Brest_] A play on words—_breast_.

# 663:

_bona-roba_] See note, p. 258.

# 664:

_Incestancy_] i. e. incest. I have not met with the
word elsewhere.

# 665:

_fond_] i. e. silly.

# 666:

_laugh and lie down_] An allusion to the game at cards
called _Laugh and lay down_.

# 667:

——————_the owl, whose voice Shrieks like the
belman_] Here, perhaps, Middleton recollected
_Macbeth_:

“It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal belman,
Which gives the stern’st good night.”—Act ii. sc. 2.

# 668:

_owes_] i. e. owns.

# 669:

_a’ life_] i. e. as my life, extremely.

# 670:

_zany_] See note, p. 261.

# 671:

_making himself ready_] i. e. dressing himself.

# 672:

_noddy_] A game on the cards often alluded to by our
dramatists: how it was played is doubtful.

# 673:

_lie_] Old ed. “lyes.”

# 674:

_At ten a’ clock_] Did the author forget that
Violetta, according to appointment, had, in the
preceding scene, met Fontinelle _at midnight_?

# 675:

_Amen_] Old ed. “_Amen_, amen, amen.”

# 676:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 677:

_table-books_] i. e. memorandum-books.

# 678:

_these dried stockfishes, that ask so much tawing_] To
_taw_ is, properly, to dress leather with allum:

“Yes, if they _taw_ him, as they do whit-leather,
Upon an iron, or beat him soft like stockfish.”
BEAUMONT _and_ FLETCHER’s _Captain_, act iii. sc.
3.

# 679:

LAZARILLO] Old ed. here (and here only), “Lazarino.”

# 680:

_skreet_] Query for _discreet_?

# 681:

_unclipt angels_] A play on words: see note, p. 250.

# 682:

_chitty-matron_] See note, p. 236.

# 683:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 684:

_capachity_] i. e. capacity: see note, p. 236.

# 685:

_the a-per-se_] i. e. the chiefest, most excellent:
see Nares in _Gloss._, and Todd in Johnson’s _Dict._

# 686:

_ela_] The highest note in the scale of music.

# 687:

_virginals_] An instrument of the spinnet kind: the
most correct description of it is in Nares’s _Gloss._

# 688:

_a garden_] As these words are given in italics, they
are probably intended as a quotation from the
_Economical Cornucopia_.

# 689:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 690:

_sops-in-wine_] i. e. pinks: see much concerning the
name in Nares’s _Gloss._

# 691:

_in print_] i. e. in exact and perfect manner.

# 692:

_poking-sticks_] i. e. irons for setting the plaits of
the ruff.

# 693:

_chick_] i. e. sick. See note, p. 236.

# 694:

_where_] i. e. whereas.

# 695:

_chickness_] i. e. sickness: see note, p. 236.

# 696:

_chittizens_] See note, p. 236.

# 697:

_gentlemen_] Old ed. “gentleman.”

# 698:

_lerry_] i. e. learning, lesson.

# 699:

_alablaster_] So the word was formerly written,—even
as late as the time of Milton: see the first editions
of _Comus_, v. 660, and _Par. Lost_, b. iv. 544.

# 700:

_nock_] i. e. notch—where the string is fastened.

# 701:

_guide’s_] Qy. “girl’s?”

# 702:

_aventure_] i. e. adventure.

# 703:

_wrack_] i. e. wreck.

# 704:

_goldfinch_] i. e. a piece of gold, or purse.

# 705:

_perilous_] i. e. dangerously shrewd: when the word is
used in this sense by our early dramatists, it is
generally written _parlous_, as at p. 286.

# 706:

_lantern and candle-light_] The old ed. gives these
words in italics, with, perhaps, some allusion which I
cannot explain. Of Dekker’s tract _O per se O, or a
new Crier of Lantern and Candle-light_, no edition is
known anterior to the production of the present drama.

# 707:

_O sconce, and O sconce!_] i. e. (I suppose) O my
head, and O my lantern!

# 708:

_ban_] i. e. curse.

# 709:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 710:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 711:

_I’m_] Old ed. here, and in next line (where
“_courtier_” is a trisyllable), “I am.”

# 712:

_Marry muff_] See note, p. 258.

# 713:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 714:

_&c._] See note, p. 252.

# 715:

_go by, old Jeronimo_] A quotation from Kyd’s _Spanish
Tragedy_, which was written probably about 1590. The
words are spoken by Hieronimo to himself:

“_King._ Who is he that interrupts our business?
_Hier._ Not I: Hieronimo, beware, go by, go by.”

Dodsley’s _Old Plays_, vol. iii. p. 163. new ed.
Though this expression, and other lines of _The
Spanish Tragedy_, are so often ridiculed by
contemporary writers, the play possesses no ordinary
merit. Coleridge (see his _Literary Remains_, vol. ii.
p. 129) thought that some passages of it were written
by Shakespeare. We know (from Henslowe’s MSS.) that
Ben Jonson made “adycions” to it in 1601 and 1602.

# 716:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 717:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 718:

_mum_] Opposite this word the old ed. has a stage-
direction “_Clap_”—which perhaps means that she is to
_clap to_ the window.

# 719:

_knew_] Old ed. “know.”

# 720:

_parlous_] Old ed. “Paulons:” see note, p. 283.

# 721:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 722:

_pantaples_] or _pantables_—i. e. a kind of slippers.

# 723:

_up and down_] The old ed. adds, “_A song presently
within_,”—a direction intended to warn the singers and
musicians to be in readiness.

# 724:

_cry_] Old ed. here and in the next line, “cryes.”

# 725:

_curtal_] i. e. horse.

# 726:

_The Spanish pavin_] A grave and stately dance. Sir J.
Hawkins says,—“Every _pavan_ had its _galliard_, a
lighter kind of air made out of the former:” see
Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.

# 727:

_Satan_] Old ed. “Satin,”—a play on the words _Satan_
and _satin_.

# 728:

_Ho_] The word here (as in our very earliest poets) is
equivalent to “stop.”

# 729:

_cast_] i. e. vomit.

# 730:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 731:

_gin_] i. e. snare.

# 732:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 733:

_perilous_] See note, p. 283.

# 734:

_Cast_] i. e. let me consider.

# 735:

_sconce_] i. e. lantern.

# 736:

_bill-men_] See note, p. 237.

# 737:

_My sconce takes this in snuff_] A poor conceit: to
_take in snuff_ is, to be angry, to take offence. So
Shakespeare:

“You’ll mar the light, by taking it in snuff.”
_Love’s Labour’s Lost_, act v. sc. 2.

# 738:

_when?_] An elliptical expression of impatience, very
frequent in our old dramatists.

# 739:

_&c._] See note, p. 252.

# 740:

_cony-catching_] i. e. cheating, deceiving: the
_cony_, or rabbit, was reckoned a simple animal. The
tricks of the _cony-catchers_, or sharpers, with whom
London used to abound, were described by R. Greene in
several pamphlets: see the full titles of them in my
ed. of his _Dram. Works_, vol. i. p. cvi.

# 741:

_Woodcock, how dost thou, Woodcock?_] The old ed.
gives these words to Blurt.

# 742:

_Woodcock, you are of our side_] A proverbial
expression, which, I suppose, originated in some game:
see note, p. 203.

# 743:

_And_] i. e. if.

# 744:

_my lean Pilcher_] i. e. his page, with an allusion to
his name: see p. 243 and note.

# 745:

_I have a poor Spanish suit_, &c.] Lazarillo had
escaped in his shirt: see p. 286.

# 746:

_And_] i. e. if.

# 747:

_slop_] i. e. breeches.

# 748:

_mandillion_] “Mandiglione, a iacket, a mandillion.”
Florio’s _New World of Words_, ed. 1611.—Stubbes
(_apud_ Strutt, _Dress and Habits_, vol. ii. p. 267.)
says that it covered the whole body down to the
thighs; and R. Holmes (_ibid._) describes it as a
loose garment having holes to put the arms through.

# 749:

_bill-man_] See note, p. 237.

# 750: