Chapter XXXII: Epilogue (3)

_pigsnie_] i.e. little pig—a term of endearment.

# 1002:

_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.

# 1003:

_at Parlous Pond_] “This, I imagine, is the same place
now called _Peerless Pool_. It is situated near
Old-street Road, and was formerly a spring that,
overflowing its banks, caused a very dangerous pond,
which, from the number of persons who lost their lives
there, obtained the name of _Perilous Pool_. To
prevent these accidents, it was in a manner filled up
until the year 1743, when it was enclosed, and
converted into a bathing-place.” REED. _Parlous_ is a
corruption of _perilous_.

# 1004:

_Hey, trug_, &c.] “I suppose _Trug_ is the name of the
spaniel whom he is sending into the water to hunt
ducks; or else that he means to say _trudge, trudge_.”
STEEVENS. Perhaps _trug_ is equivalent to bitch: see
note, p. 222.

# 1005:

_Come, let’s away_, &c.] An imperfect couplet: see
notes, p.7 of this vol. and p. 424 of vol. i.

# 1006:

_two-leav’d tongues_] Old ed. “_two leaud tongues_.”
The last editor of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_ printed “two
lewd tongues,”—_leaud_ being, as he thinks, the old
spelling of _lewd_. Qy. “_two_ loud?”

# 1007:

_Virginia_] “Great efforts were used about this time
to settle Virginia.” REED.

# 1008:

_And so_, &c.] A quotation, probably.

# 1009:

_long coats_, &c.] i.e. petticoats: in some parts of
Scotland they are still worn by male idiots of the
lowest class.

# 1010:

_great Dutch slop_] i.e. large wide breeches.

# 1011:

_towards_] i.e. in preparation.

# 1012:

_Many one_, &c.] A word, perhaps a line, wanting here.

# 1013:

_good man’s_] This seems to be an allusion to the
proverbial saying, “God’s a good man:” see _Much ado
about Nothing_, act iii. sc. 5, Malone’s _Shakespeare_
(by Boswell), vol. vii. p. 104, and Steevens’s note.

# 1014:

_give but aim_] See note, p. 335.

# 1015:

_tester_] i.e. a sixpence: see note, vol. i. p. 258.

# 1016:

_phrampel_] “_Phrampel_ here appears to signify
_fiery_ or _mettlesome_.” REED. It is written also
_frampold_, _frampul_, &c., and generally signifies
vexatious, saucy, peevish, &c.

# 1017:

_vild_] See note, p. 393.

# 1018:

_baffle_] See note, p. 449. In _The Devil is an Ass_,
act iv. sc. 3, is a stage-direction, “_Baffles_ him
[i.e. passes him with some act of contempt] and exit.”
B. Jonson’s _Works_, by Gifford, vol. v. p. 127.

# 1019:

_Exit_] Old ed. “_Exit_ Coachman with his whip.”

# 1020:

_safeguard_] See note, p. 459.

# 1021:

_bankrout_] i.e. bankrupt.

# 1022:

_Brainford_] See note, p. 463. The inn called _The
Three Pigeons_ was resorted to by company of an
inferior rank. At a later period, when puritanism had
silenced the stage, it was kept by the celebrated
actor, Lowin.

# 1023:

_untruss a point_] See note, vol. i. p. 367.

# 1024:

_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.

# 1025:

_liberal_] i.e. too free.

# 1026:

_high German’s throat_] See note, p. 466.

# 1027:

_leiger_] See note, p. 316. That the last editor of
this play should have had any doubts about the meaning
of the word, is somewhat strange.

# 1028:

_wedlocks_] “i.e. wives. So in _The Poetaster_ [by B.
Jonson], act iv. sc. 3, ‘Which of these is thy
_wedlock_, Menelaus?’” REED.

# 1029:

_familiar_] i.e. a demon—properly, such as attends on
a sorcerer or witch.

# 1030:

_viage_] i.e. voyage (see Todd’s Johnson’s _Dict_. in
v.), excursion.

# 1031:

_Three Pigeons_] See note, p. 479. I suspect that this
speech was intended to close with a hobbling couplet.

# 1032:

_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.

# 1033:

_to his umbles_] “i.e. his inside. _Umbles_ are the
entrails of a deer.” STEEVENS.

# 1034:

_kyes_] “i.e. cries. She imitates the jargon talked by
nurses to infants.” STEEVENS.

# 1035:

_mouse_] See note, p. 137.

# 1036:

_water_] Old ed. “waters.”

# 1037:

_apron husbands_] “i.e. husbands who follow their
wives as if tied to their _apron_-strings.” STEEVENS.

# 1038:

_cotqueans_] i.e. men who meddle with female affairs.

# 1039:

_Laxton, with bays_, &c.] An imperfect couplet: see
notes, p. 7 of this vol. and p. 424 of vol. i.

# 1040:

_Pan-da-rus ... Cres-sida_] So in old ed., to mark the
difficulty with which such hard names were read by
mistress Gallipot.

# 1041:

_bankrout_] i.e. bankrupt.

# 1042:

_steal, steal_] Qy. ought these words to be considered
as a stage-direction?

# 1043:

_Where_] i.e. whereas.

# 1044:

_made sure_] i.e. affianced: compare vol. ii. p. 39.

# 1045:

_Since last I saw him_, &c.] Perhaps this scene is by
Dekker: in his _Whore of Babylon_, 1607, we find

“Fiue summers haue scarce _drawn_ their glimmering
nights
_Through the Moons siluer bowe_.”
Sig. A 4.

# 1046:

_slight_] See note, p. 250.

# 1047:

_sirrah_] When this play was written, and long after,
a female was frequently so addressed: see my note on
Webster’s _Works_, vol. iii. p. 23.

# 1048:

_sadness_] i.e. seriousness.

# 1049:

_Byrlady_] Old ed. “Be lady:” see note, vol. i. p.
365.

# 1050:

_ramp_] i.e. ramping, rampant creature: “although she
were a lustie _bounsing rampe_, somewhat like
Gallemella,” &c. G. Harvey’s _Pierces Supererogation_,
1593, p. 145.

# 1051:

_saveguard ... slop_] See notes, pp. 459, 472.

# 1052:

_placket_] Has been variously explained—the opening of
the petticoat—the forepart of the shift or petticoat:
Nares (_Gloss._ in v.) insists that it meant only a
petticoat, generally an under one.

# 1053:

_a noise of fiddlers_] i.e. a company of musicians,—an
expression frequently occurring: “those terrible
_noyses_, with thredbare cloakes, that liue by red
lattises and Iuy-bushes, hauing authority to thrust
into any mans roome, onely speaking but this, Will you
haue any musicke?” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608,
sig. B 4.

# 1054:

_roaring boys_] See p. 427.

# 1055:

_ningles_] Or _ingles_ (the former being an
abbreviation of _mine ingles_), i.e. favourites. The
word was used (and perhaps originally) in a worse
sense: see vol. i. p. 301.

# 1056:

_the Counters ... Why, ’tis an university_] See note,
vol. i. p. 392.

# 1057:

_Then is he held a freshman and a sot,_
_And never shall commence_]

“The speaker is here employing terms in use only at
the university.” STEEVENS.

# 1058:

_Master’s side_, &c.] See note, vol. i. p. 392.

# 1059:

_beg plac’d_] i.e. beg to be plac’d: but qy. “be
_plac’d_?”

# 1060:

_Lies_] i.e. He lies, he shall lie.

# 1061:

_puttocks_] i.e. kites.

# 1062:

_sprites_] Old ed. “spirits.”

# 1063:

_blue coat_] See note, p. 26.

# 1064:

_mace_] See note, p. 372.

# 1065:

_walk_] Old ed. “walkes.”

# 1066:

_these men-widwives_, &c.] So in _The Whore of
Babylon_, 1607, by Dekker (see note, p. 490): “Doe not
you know, mistresse, what Serieants are? ... why they
are certaine _men-midwiues, that neuer bring people to
bed_, but when they are sore in labour, that no body
els can deliuer them.” Sig. D.

# 1067:

_Trap._ _Honest servant_, &c.] Old ed. “BOTH. _Honest_
Serieant _fly, flie Maister Dapper_,” &c.

# 1068:

_marks_] See note, p. 226.

# 1069:

_my German watch_] See note, p. 385.

# 1070:

_marks_] See note, p. 226.

# 1071:

_court-cupboard_] i.e. a moveable sideboard, or
buffet, for displaying plate or other valuables: it
was also called “_cupboard of plate_,” see p. 91.

# 1072:

_lets_] i.e. hinders.

# 1073:

_mysteries_] i.e. arts: but qy. “miseries?”

# 1074:

_hose_] i.e. breeches.

# 1075:

_owe_] Old ed. “owes.”

# 1076:

_lays_] i.e. wagers.

# 1077:

_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.

# 1078:

_and_] i.e. if.

# 1079:

_swan above bridge_] When this play was written, the
Thames abounded with swans.

# 1080:

_the viol_, &c.] See note, p. 11.

# 1081:

_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.

# 1082:

_th’ Burse_] i.e. the New Exchange in the Strand.
“Over this building, in the time of Middleton, were
many shops where women’s finery was sold.” STEEVENS.

# 1083:

_cavell’d_] So spelt in old ed. for the sake of the
rhyme.

# 1084:

_Between_, &c.] The old ed. gives this speech partly
as prose, partly as verse. I have done what I could to
arrange the lines.

# 1085:

_sigh_] Old ed. "sight,"—which, perhaps, Middleton
wrote; for I think I have seen that form of the word.
The preterite of the verb _sigh_ was often written
_sight_.

# 1086:

_plunge_] i.e. difficulty, straits.

# 1087:

_and_] i.e. if.

# 1088:

_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.

# 1089:

_puttock_] i.e. a kite.

# 1090:

_roses_] “i.e. roses anciently worn in shoes.”
STEEVENS. They were made of ribbons gathered into a
knot, and were sometimes of a preposterous size.

# 1091:

_sirrah_] See note, p. 491.

# 1092:

_fline_] i.e. flown.

# 1093:

_a cramp ring_] i.e. a ring, which having been
solemnly consecrated on Good Friday, was supposed to
have the power of preventing the cramp. See in
Waldron’s _Literary Museum_, 1792, a reprint of _The
Ceremonies of Blessing Cramp-Rings on Good Friday,
used by the Catholick Kings of England_.

# 1094:

_Three Pigeons_] See note, p. 479.

# 1095:

_incontinently_] i.e. immediately.

# 1096:

_poking my ruff_] See note, vol. i. p. 279.

# 1097:

_rest_] i.e. a support,—without it the soldiers could
not manage to fire the old muskets, which were very
heavy and unwieldy.

# 1098:

_pursenets_] i.e. nets, the mouths of which were drawn
together by a string.

# 1099:

_cog_] i.e. lie, wheedle.

# 1100:

_ingle_] i.e. coax.

# 1101:

_a riven dish_] “i.e. a broken dish.” REED.

# 1102:

_frumped_] i.e. mocked.

# 1103:

_till all split_] “This expression occurs in many old
plays. See the notes of Dr. Farmer, Mr. Steevens, and
Mr. Malone, on _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act i. sc.
2.” REED. It occurs in several old plays at least; and
(as Nares observes in _Gloss._) denotes violence of
action.

# 1104:

_Brainford_] See note, p. 463.

# 1105:

_gib_] Is, properly, a male cat—but sometimes applied,
as a term of reproach, to a woman: “She is a tonnysh
_gyb_,” says old Skelton, in _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 99.

# 1106:

_a mumming_] i.e. a masquing, in which originally the
performers used gesticulation only, without speaking:
mistress Openwork puns on the different meanings of
_mask_ and _masque_.

# 1107:

_vildest_] i.e. vilest: see note, p. 393.

# 1108:

_sprites_] Old ed. “spirits.”

# 1109:

_Your two flags_] “Alluding to the flags which were
placed formerly on the tops of playhouses.” REED.

# 1110:

_Mis. G._] Old ed. “Mist. Open.”

# 1111:

_Westward ho_] A comedy, by Dekker and Webster, which
was first printed in 1607, and which may be found in
my edition of Webster’s _Works_, vol. iii. The scene
lies partly in London and partly in Brentford; and a
“western voyage” from the former to the latter place
gives the title to the play—_westward ho!_ being one
of the exclamations used by the watermen who plied on
the Thames.

# 1112:

_A stale_, &c.] i.e. a pretence or cover under which
he keeps a harlot: the _stale_, or _stalking-horse_,
was the real or artificial horse behind which
sportsmen approached their game.

# 1113:

_Cold Harbour_] See note, p. 58.—Nares (_Gloss._),
citing the present passage, says, that _Cold Harbour_
“seems to be used as a kind of metaphorical term for
the grave.”

# 1114:

_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.

# 1115:

_western pug_] “I doubt the sand-eyde asse will kicke
like a _Westerne Pugge_, if I rubbe him on the gall.”
Greene’s _Theeves falling out_, &c., sig. C, ed.
1637.—“In so much that [during the plague] euen the
_Westerne Pugs_ receiuing mony here, have tyed it in a
bag at the end of their barge, and so trailed it
through the Thames,” &c. Dekker’s _Wonderfull Yeare_,
1603, sig. F 3.

# 1116:

_Open._] Old ed. “Mist. Open.”

# 1117:

_brave girls, worth gold_] The expression seems to
have been proverbial; one of Heywood’s plays is
entitled _The Fair Maid of the West, or A Girle worth
gold_, 1631.

# 1118:

_the Brazen Head_] See _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_
(first printed in 1594) in my ed. of Greene’s _Dram.
Works_, and the extract there given from the prose
tract, _The Famous Historie of Friar Bacon_ (on which
that play is founded), “How Fryer Bacon made a Brazen
Head to speake, by the which hee would have walled
England about with Brasse,” vol. i. pp. 141, 215. The
friars lost all their labour through the folly of a
servant named Miles, who having been set to watch the
Head while they retired to rest, neglected to call
them when at last it spoke.

# 1119:

_Open._] Old ed. “Mist. Open.”

# 1120:

_sumner_] See notes, pp. 29, 170.

# 1121:

_aloof off_] See note, vol. i. p. 427.

# 1122:

_Open._ ] Old ed. here, and afterwards, “_Omnes_.”
_Gos._, _&c._ ]

# 1123:

_snuffling_] Old ed. “snafling;” but see his next
speech.

# 1124:

_fagary_] i.e. vagary.

# 1125:

_if you be remember’d_] i.e. if you recollect.

# 1126:

_tawny-coat_] “_Tawny_ was the usual dress of a
summoner or apparitor.” REED.

# 1127:

_I must lose my hair_, &c.] “Alluding to the
consequences of lewdness, one of which, in the first
appearance of the disease in Europe, was the loss of
hair.” REED.

# 1128:

_A knack to know an honest man_] _A Pleasant Conceited
Comedie, called, A knacke to know an honest Man, As it
hath beene sundrie times plaied about the Citie of
London_, was printed in 1596, the author unknown.

# 1129:

_gelt feathers_] i.e. golden feathers. But I am by no
means confident that I have restored the right
reading. Old ed. “Get _fethers_.”

# 1130:

_scape_] Old ed. “scapt.”

# 1131:

_Irish_] “Is a game which differs very slightly from
backgammon. The manner of playing it is described in
_The Compleat Gamester_, 1680, p. 109.” REED.

# 1132:

_bearing_] “_Bear_ as fast as you can ... when you
_come to bearing_, have a care,” &c. _The Compleat
Gamester_, pp. 155-6, ed. 1674.

# 1133:

_And that_, &c.] A line preceding this one seems to
have dropt out: perhaps another is wanting after _And
yet to try_, &c.

# 1134:

_Meg of Westminster’s courage_] Meg of Westminster, or
long Meg of Westminster, was a virago, of whom
frequent mention is made by our early dramatists; and
indeed, like the heroine of the present piece, she had
the honour of figuring in a play called after her, in
1594 (see Malone’s _Shakespeare_, by Boswell, vol.
iii. p. 304). At that period, however, she is supposed
to have been dead. She is introduced in an ante-masque
in B. Jonson’s _Fortunate Isles_—_Works_, vol. viii.
p. 79, ed. Giff. A 4to tract, entitled _The Life of
Long Meg of Westminster: containing the mad merry
prankes she played in her life time, not onely in
performing sundry quarrels with divers ruffians about
London; but also how valiantly she behaued her selfe
in the warres of Bolloingne_, was printed (perhaps not
for the first time) in 1635; and forms part of
_Miscellanea Antiqua Anglicana_, 1816, 4to.

# 1135:

_puttocks_] i.e. kites.

# 1136:

_like a firework_, &c.] So Dekker (see notes, pp. 490,
503) in his _Whore of Babylon_, 1607;

“Let vs behold these _fire-workes, that must run
Vpon short lines of life_.”
Sig E 4.

# 1137:

_linstock_] Or _lintstock_—a stick with the match (the
lint) at one end of it, used in firing cannon.

# 1138:

_galley-foist_] i.e. a long barge with oars: it
frequently means that of the lord mayor.

# 1139:

_shovel-board shilling_] i.e. a shilling used at the
game of _shovel-board_, and which was always smooth,
that it might “slide away” easily.

# 1140:

_strouts_] i.e. struts.

# 1141:

_boot-halers_] “Cotgrave explains _Picoreur_ to be ‘a
_boot-haler_ (in a friend’s country), a ravening or
filching souldier.’” REED. Freebooters, plunderers,
_halers_ of _boot_ (profit), or _booty_.

# 1142:

_ging_] i.e. gang. “This substitution of _i_ for _a_,”
says Gifford, in a note on the word, “was common in
our author’s days.” B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. iv. p.
161. But the fact is, _ging_ is of great antiquity:
“The gouernour of this _gyng_.” _Gawayn and the Green
Knight_, _MS. Cott. Nero A. X._ fol. 94.

# 1143:

_corago_] “A corruption of _coraggio_, Ital.” COLLIER.

# 1144:

_Bononia ... Bologna_] One and the same place!

# 1145:

_Volterra_] Old ed. “Valteria.”

# 1146:

_jobbering_] i.e. jabbering.

# 1147:

_Not a cross_] i.e. not a penny.—_Cross_, a piece of
money, many coins having a _cross_ on one side.

# 1148:

_skeldering_] “A cant term, generally applied to a
vagrant, and often used by our ancient poets. It
appears to have been particularly appropriated to
those vagabonds who wander about under the name of
soldiers, borrowing or begging money.” REED. See also
Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. ii. p. 8:
“_Skeldring_ was a cant term for impudent begging,”
&c.:—and Dekker’s _Gull’s Horn-book_, p. 129, reprint;
“whom he may _skelder_ [i.e. cheat, defraud], after
the genteel fashion, of money.”

# 1149:

_glasiers_] i.e. “eyes.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne and
Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2.

# 1150:

_black patches_] Were used as an ornament, not only by
ladies, but also by some effeminate gallants of those
days.

# 1151:

_Isle of Dogs_] Opposite Greenwich. It seems to have
been a place where persons took refuge from their
creditors and the officers of justice.

# 1152:

_whip-jack_] In Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608,
sig. D 2, the description of “A Whipiacke” is much the
same as that which Moll gives here.

# 1153:

_horns for the thumb_] Pickpockets were said to place
a case, or thimble, of horn on their thumbs, to
support the edge of the knife in the act of cutting
purses: see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s _Works_,
vol. iv. p. 413.

# 1154:

_nipping Christian_] i.e. cutpurse.

# 1155:

_maunderer upon the pad_] “_Mawnding_, asking
(begging).” “_Pad_, a way.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne and
Candlelight_, 1612, sig C 2.

# 1156:

_an upright man_] “Is a sturdy big-bonde knaue, that
neuer walkes but (like a Commander) with a short
truncheon in his hand, which hee cals his Filchman. At
Markets, Fayres, and other meetings his voice amongst
Beggars is of the same sound that a Constables is of,
it is not to be controld. He is free of all the shiers
in England, but neuer stayes in any place long, &c.
&c.... These [upright men] cary the shapes of
soldiers, and can talke of the Low Countries, though
they neuer were beyond Dover.” Dekker’s _Belman of
London_, 1608, sig C. 3.

# 1157:

_a wild rogue_] “Is a spirit that cares not in what
circle he rises, nor into the company of what Diuels
hee falles: in his swadling clouts is he marked to be
a villaine, and in his breeding is instructed to be
so.... These Wilde Rogues (like wilde geese) keepe in
flocks, and all the day loyter in the fields, if the
weather bee warme, and at Bricke-kils, or else
disperse themselues in cold weather, to rich mens
doores, and at night haue their meetings in Barnes or
other out places,” &c. _Id._ sig. D.

# 1158:

_an angler_] “Is a lymb of an Vpright man, as beeing
deriued from him: their apparell in which they walke
is commonly frieze Jerkins and gally slops: in the day
time, they beg from house to house, not so much for
reliefe, as to spy what lyes fit for their nets, which
in the night following they fish for. The Rod they
angle with is a staffe of fiue or six foote in length,
in which within one inch of the top is a little hole
boared quite thorough, into which hole they put an
yron hooke, and with the same doe they angle at
windowes about midnight, the draught they pluck vp
beeing apparell, sheetes, couerlets, or whatsoeuer
their yron hookes can lay hold of,” &c. _Id._ sig. C
4.

# 1159:

_a ruffler_] “The next in degree to him [the
Vpright man] is cald a Ruffler: the Ruffler and
the Vpright-man are so like in conditions, that
you would sweare them brothers: they walke with
cudgels alike; they profess armes alike.... These
commonly are fellowes that haue stood aloofe in
the warres, and whilst others fought, they tooke
their heeles and ran away from their Captaine, or
else they haue bin Seruing-men, whome for their
behauiour no man would trust with a liuery,” &c.
_Id._ _ibid._

# 1160:

_the salomon_] i.e. “the masse.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne
and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 3.

# 1161:

_kinchin mort in her slate_] Old ed.
"kitchin-_mort_."—“Kinching-morts are girles of a
yeare or two old, which the Morts (their mothers) cary
at their backes in their Slates (which in the
Canting-Tongue are Sheetes) if they haue no children
of their owne, they will steale them from others, and
by some meane disfigure them, that by their parents
they shall neuer be knowne.” Dekker’s _Belman of
London_, 1608, sig. D 3.

# 1162:

_my dell and my dainty wild dell_] Dell is a girl yet
undebauched: “these Dells are reserued for the
Vpright-men, &c.... Of these Dells, some are termed
Wilde Dells, and those are such as are born and
begotten vnder a hedge: the other are yong wenches
that either by death of parents, the villainie of
Executors, or the crueltie of maisters and mistresses,
fall into this infamous and damnable course of life.”
_Id._ sig. D 3, 4.

# 1163:

_I’ll tumble this next darkmans in the stromme_l, &c.]
i.e. I’ll tumble this next night in the straw, and
drink good drink (_baufe_ being probably, as Reed has
observed, a mistake for _bouse_), and eat a fat pig, a
cock (or capon), and a duck. See Dekker’s _Lanthorne
and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2, 3.

# 1164:

_old_] i.e. abundant.

# 1165:

_bousing ken_] i.e. ale-house. See Dekker’s _Lanthorne
and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2.

# 1166:

_You are no pure rogues_] See note, vol. i. p. 169.

# 1167:

_lib ken or our stalling ken_] i.e. our house to lie
in, or our house to receive stolen goods. See Dekker’s
_Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2, 3 (where
“Stuling _ken_.”)

# 1168:

_queer cuffin ... ben cove_, &c.] Old ed. “_ben_
caue.” “The word Coue or Cofe, or Cuffin, signifies a
man, a fellow, &c. But differs something in his
propertie, according as it meetes with other wordes:
For a Gentleman is called A Gentry Coue, or Cofe: A
good fellow is a Bene Cofe: a Churle is called a Quier
Cuffin; Quier signifies naught,” &c. _Id._ sig. C.

# 1169:

_pedlar’s French_] “That pedlers french, or that
Canting language, which is to be found among none but
Beggars.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. C.

# 1170:

_Ben mort_, &c.] i.e. Good wench, shall you and I rob
a booth, rob a house, or cut a purse, and then we’ll
lie down asleep under the woods (or bushes), &c.—Old
ed. here, and in Moll’s repetition of the words,
“_heaue a booth_.” See Dekker’s _Lanthorne and
Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2, 3.

# 1171:

_Cut benar_, &c.] i.e. Speak better words, and hold
your hands and your legs. See _Id._ ibid.

# 1172:

_heave a bough_] Moll, or rather the printer, has
omitted the explanation of these words: see note, p.
539.

# 1173:

_Song by Moll and Tearcat_] The old ed. gives the
first two lines to Moll, and prefixes “_T. Cat._” both
to the third and tenth lines.

# 1174:

_A gage_, &c. &c.] i.e. A quart pot of good wine in an
ale-house of London is better than a cloak, meat,
bread, butter-milk (or whey), or porridge, which we
steal in the country. O I would lie all the day, O I
would lie all the night, by the mass, under the woods
(or bushes), by the mass, in the stocks, and wear
bolts (or fetters), and lie till a palliard lay with
my wench, so my drunken head might quaff wine well.
Avast to the highway, let us hence, &c. See Dekker’s
_Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2, 3; and
_The Groundworke of Conny-catching_, 1592, sig. A 2.
In the fourth line, as Reed observes, “_lay_” should
probably be “_lap_.” A _palliard_ is a beggar born:
“he likewise is cald a Clapperdugeon: his vpper
garment is an old cloake made of as many pieces
patch’d together, as there be villanies in him,” &c.
&c. Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. D.

# 1175:

_stalled to the rogue_] “This done, the Grand Signior
called for a Gage of Bowse, which belike signified a
quart of drinke, for presently a pot of Ale being put
into his hand, hee made the yong Squire kneele downe,
and powring the full pot on his pate, vttered these
wordes, I doe _stall thee to the Rogue_ by vertue of
this soueraigne English liquor, so that henceforth it
shall be lawfull for thee to Cant (that is to say) to
be a Vagabond and Beg,” &c. Dekker’s _Belman of
London_, 1608, sig. C. “_Stalling_, making or
ordeyning.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_,
1612, sig. C 3.

# 1176:

_bestow_] Old ed. “bestowes.”

# 1177:

_boards_] “_Borde_, a shilling.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne
and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2.

# 1178:

_cut ben whids_] i.e. speak good words. See _Id._
ibid.

# 1179:

_trine me on the cheats_] i.e. hang me on the gallows.
See _Id._ sig. C 2, 3.

# 1180:

_maundering_] See note, p. 536—but here it means—
muttering, talking.

# 1181:

_mouse_] See note, p. 137.

# 1182:

_gallant ... brave_] i.e. smartly dressed.

# 1183:

_strike_] “The act doing, is called striking.”
Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. H 2.

# 1184:

_shells_] “The money, the Shelles.” _Id._ ibid.

# 1185:

_L. Nol._ ] Old ed. here, and afterwards, “_Omnes_.”
_S. Beau._, _&c._ ]

# 1186:

_figging-law_, &c.] "In making of which law, two
persons haue the chiefe voices, that is to say, the
Cutpurse and the Pickpocket, and all the branches of
this law reach to none but them and such as are made
free denizens of their incorporation....

“He that cuts the purse is called the Nip.
He that is halfe with him is the Snap or the Cloyer.
. . . . . . .
He that picks the pocket is called a Foist.
He that faceth the man, is the Stale.”
Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. H.

# 1187:

_at the Fortune_] See note, p. 435.

# 1188:

_The rest_] Old ed. here, and afterwards, “_Omnes_.”

# 1189:

_boiled_] “The spying of this villanie is called
Smoaking or Boiling.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_,
1608, sig. H 2.

# 1190:

_the Swan_] One of the theatres on the Bankside.

# 1191:

_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.

# 1192:

_a synagogue_, &c.] According to Dekker, those who
were under the figging-law had occasionally “solemne
meetings in their hall.” _Belman of London_, 1608,
sig. H 3.

# 1193:

_pacus palabros_] _Pocas palabras_ (Spanish), i.e. few
words—an expression which is found under various
corrupted forms in our old writers. It is usually put
into the mouths of low people, among whom it seems to
have been current: “With this learned oration the
Cobler was tutord: laid his finger on his mouth, and
cried _paucos palabros_.” Dekker’s _Wonderfull Yeare_,
1603, sig. E 4.

# 1194:

_Of cheators, lifters, nips, foists, puggards,
curbers_] “The Cheating Law, or the Art of winning
money by false dyce: Those that practise this studie
call themselues Cheators, the dyce Cheaters, and the
money which they purchase Cheates.” Dekker’s _Belman
of London_, 1608, sig. E 2.—“The Lifting Law ...
teacheth a kind of lifting of goods cleane away.”
Id. sig. G 3, where various kinds of lifters are
described.—Concerning _nips_ and _foists_, see note,
p. 544.—Of _puggards_ I can find no mention: _pugging_
seems to mean thieving in the _Winter’s Tale_, act iv.
sc. 2, Malone’s _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), vol. xiv.
p. 334; and, according to Steevens (_ad loc._), "is
used by Greene in one of his pieces."—“The Curbing Law
[teaches] how to hooke goodes out of a windowe.... He
that hookes is cald the Curber.... The Hooke is the
Courb.” Dekker, _ubi supra_, sig. G.

# 1195:

_black-guard_] Meant, properly, the lowest drudges of
the kitchen, turnspits, carriers of wood, coal, &c.,
who attended the progresses of the court: see
Gifford’s notes on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. ii. p.
169; vii. p. 250.

# 1196:

_love_] Old ed. “loues.”

# 1197:

_have_] Old ed. “has.”

# 1198:

_than your six wet towns_] “These I should apprehend
to be Fulham, Richmond, Kingston, Hampton, Chertsey,
Staines.—The other intermediate towns are, Chelsea,
Battersea, Kew, Isleworth, Twickenham, and Walton. N.”
Note in Reed’s ed. of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_.

# 1199:

_ramp_] See note, p. 496.

# 1200:

_gascoyne-bride_] i.e. a bride who wears _gascoynes_,—
gaskins, or galligaskins.

# 1201:

_plunges_] i.e. difficulties, perplexities.

# 1202:

_cast_] Old ed. “casts.”

# 1203:

_monthly_] “i.e. madly; as if under the influence of
the moon.” STEEVENS.

# 1204:

_resolv’d_] i.e. satisfied.

# 1205:

_thumb_] See note, p. 536.

# 1206:

_and_] i.e. if.

# 1207:

_Cheats_] Qy. “cheaters:” see p. 546 and note; but
compare p. 554, last line but one.

# 1208:

_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.

# 1209:

_me_] Old ed. “hee.”

# 1210:

_and_] i.e. if.

# 1211:

_cuck_] i.e. put me in the cucking-stool: see note, p.
185.

# 1212:

_gentlewomen_] i.e. Mrs. Gallipot, &c.—Old ed.
“Gentlewoman.”

# 1213:

_a book_] “Alluding, no doubt, to some tract of the
time. Dekker himself wrote several of the kind; but it
is not to be supposed that any of these are here so
roughly handled.” COLLIER. Not to be supposed indeed;
since Dekker wrote a portion of the present play.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transcriber’s Note

The author shifted between prose speech and blank verse, sometimes in mid-speech. In this rendering, verse sections are given without blank lines between speeches, with an indentation for each speech. Prose speeches are given with a blank line between them.

The footnote scheme used lettered references, repeating a-z. On numerous of occasions, letters were repeated, and sometimes skipped. The numeric resequencing of notes here resolves those lapses. Footnotes are sometimes referred to directly in a footnote by its letter designation. The few direct references to a lettered note use the new numeric value.

Footnotes frequently refer to other notes, usually only by referring the the page where they can be found. Sometimes those cross-references are not accurate and the correct location cannot be ascertained.

Footnote 655 on p. 298 was misplaced. It should have followed the word ‘are’ rather than ‘gold and pearl’.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.

63.32 part of the first line of a couplet.[”] Removed.
194.34 put [t]hem together Added.
144.31 _prevented_] See note, p. 4[0/9]. Replaced.
233.1 I’ll work it so[,] Removed.
290.22 [good.] Boy, be ready, boy. _sic_
431.6 Moon-like changing dayes.[”] Added.
508.2 is worth a pair of two[.] Added.
365.32 [“]The same play upon words Removed.

ERRATA from Volume I.

A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE.

Vol. ii. p. 3.

We learn from Downes’s _Roscius Anglicanus_ that this play was one of the early dramas revived between 1662 and 1665, p. 36, ed. Waldron.

Vol. ii. p. 5, l. 10.

_Longacre_] The editor of 1816 is mistaken: this word was used for an estate in general; compare _Lady Alimony_, 1659, “It will run like Quicksilver over all their Husbands Demains: and in very short time make a quick dispatch of all his _Long acre_.” Sig. B 3.

A passage of _Gammer Gurton’s Needle_, which stands thus in the various editions of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_,

“Tome Tannkard’s cow (be gog’s bones) she set me up her sail,
And flynging about his _halse aker_, fysking with her taile,”
&c.

has drawn forth the following extraordinary note from Steevens: “I believe we should read _halse anchor_, or _anker_, as it was anciently spelt; a naval phrase. The _halse_ or _halser_ was a particular kind of cable,” &c., vol. ii. p. 11, last ed.—If Steevens, or the other editors, had only taken the trouble to look at the 4to of 1575, they would have found the true reading—“_halfe aker_,” i.e. small bit of ground.

--------------

THE FAMILY OF LOVE.

Vol. ii. p. 106, l. 32.

_Weber remarks_, &c.] The mistake of Weber may be traced to Langbaine, who says, “This Play is mentioned by Sir Thomas Bornwel in _The Lady of Pleasure_, Act 1. Sc. 1.” _Acc. of English Dram. Poets_, p. 372.

Vol. ii. p. 118, note.

“a corruption of _will_.”

Read

“a corruption of _wilt_.”

Vol. ii. p. 125, l. 1.

_We saw Samson bear the town-gates on his neck from the lower to the upper stage, with that life and admirable accord, that it shall never be equalled, unless the whole new livery of porters set [to] their shoulders_] Middleton seems to have had in his recollection a passage of Shakespeare’s _Love’s Labour’s Lost_: “Sampson, master: he was a man of good carriage, great carriage; for he carried the town-gates on his back, like a porter.” Act i. sc. 2.

Vol. ii. p. 148, l. 28.

_familiar_] i.e. attendant demon.

Vol. ii. p. 178, l. 21.

_Europa’s sea-form_] Probably “sea-form” is used in the sense of sea-seat,—the bull on which she sat.

Vol. ii. p. 194, l. 8.

_play Ambidexter_] I was wrong, I believe, in saying that this expression has an allusion to Preston’s _Cambises_: it is by no means uncommon.

YOUR FIVE GALLANTS.

Vol. ii. p. 255, l. 16.

“_Hist!_ a supply.”

Read, with old ed.,

“_Pist!_ a supply.”

See notes, vol. ii. pp. 460, 468.

Vol. ii. p. 264, l. 20.

_E’en where his fear lies most, there will I meet him._

After this line insert “_Exit_;” and in the note, for “and thrown a scarf over his face (see what follows), the audience,” &c., read “and having made his exit at one door, had re-entered at the other with a scarf thrown over his face, the audience,” &c.

Vol. ii. p. 268, l. 27.

“Master, _hist_, master!”

Read, with old ed.,

“Master, _pist_, master!”

See notes, vol. ii. pp. 460, 468.

Vol. ii. p. 290, l. 7.

PUR. _Thy father gave the ram’s head, boy?_
BOY. _No, you’re deceived; my mother gave that, sir._

The boy means that she made his father a cuckold: compare Dekker’s _Owles Almanacke_, 1618; “Men whose wiues haue light heeles, are called _Ramme-headed Cuckolds_,” p. 10.

--------------

A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS.

Vol. ii. p. 333, l. 25.

_the glory of his complement_] I doubt if Steevens’s explanation of this passage be the right one, or if _complement_ mean here any thing more than courtly address.

Vol. ii. p. 369, note.

Steevens’s remark, cited here by Reed, that a horse was sometimes denominated a _footcloth_, is certainly wrong. “Sir Bounteous,” observes Nares (_Gloss._ in v.), “is said to [be] alight[ed] from his _footcloth_, as one might say, alighted from his saddle.”

--------------

THE ROARING GIRL.

Vol. ii. p. 466, last line.

_the high German’s size_] This person is probably alluded to in the following passage of Dekker’s _Newes from Hell_, &c. 1606: “As for Rapier and dagger, the Germane may be his journeyman.” Sig. B. See also Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Knight of the Burning Pestle_—_Works_, vol. i. p. 215, ed. Weber; and Shirley’s _Opportunity_—_Works_, vol. iii. p. 407, where Gifford observes, that “he seems to have been ‘a master of fence,’ or common challenger.”

Vol. ii. p. 511, l. 27.

“’Twas like a _sigh_ of his.”

Since writing the note on this passage, I have met with the following lines in _The Travailes of the Three English Brothers_, _&c._ (by Day, W. Rowley, and Wilkins), 1607;

“Pray Turke, let thy heart _sigth_ and thine eyes weepe.”
Sig. B 3.
“To whose continuall kneelings, teares, and _sighthes_.”
Sig. B 4.

Vol. ii. p. 530, note 1134.

I am told that a gentleman in London possesses an edition of the _Life of Long Meg of Westminster_, printed in 1582.

Vol. ii. p. 541, l. 1.

“Peck, pennam, _lay_, or popler.”

I ought to have substituted “lap” for “lay,” as Reed (see note) suggests.