FOOTNOTES:
[7] ["There is some confusion in the arrangement of this scene. From the duke, &c., passing over the stage, it should be some open part of the duke's palace; but from the reflections on the skull, &c., it would appear to be Vendice's private study. But perhaps it was intended to represent two scenes, one above the other, as was frequently done at the period of this play."—MS. note in one of the former edits.]
[8] With a skull in his hand. That he has the skull of his mistress is evident from the whole of the scene. He makes use of it afterwards in act iii.—Collier.
[9] Luxury was the ancient appropriate term for incontinence. Hence this wanton old duke was called a luxur. See Mr Collins's note on "Troilus and Cressida," edit. 1778, ix. 166.—Steevens.
[10] [Old copy, palsy.]
[11] [Old copy, time.]
[12] This is not a name of the Lues Venerea, but a comparison only of it to a mole, on account of the effects it sometimes produces in occasioning the loss of hair.—Pegge.
[13] [Old copy, unnaturally—e'en.]
[14] A phrase in common use, signifying to accompany one.
[15] Hitherto [formerly] misprinted inscription: insculption is the word in the old quartos.—Collier.
[16] [Out of place in the mouth of housewives.—MS. note in one of the former edits.]
[17] The entrances and exits of the various characters are very defectively noticed in the old copies, and Mr Reed accurately supplied most of them.—Collier.
[18] Tourneur has urged this doctrine at greater length in the second act of his "Atheist's Tragedy," 1612.—Gilchrist.
[19] She means from the highest to the lowest of her sex. At this time women of the inferior order wore hats. See Hollar's "Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus," 1640.
[20] [Old copy, honors.]
[21] "Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride a gallop. Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum.—Claudian. Il n'est orgueil qui de pauvre enrichi.—Fr. There is no pride to the enriched beggar's. Il villan nobilitado non conosce il parentado.—Ital. The villain ennobled will not own his kindred or parentage."—[Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 331.]
[22] That part of a ring in which the stone is set.—Johnson's "Dictionary."
[23] [Old copy, met]
[24] i.e., Sand it, to prevent it from blotting, while the ink was wet.—Steevens.
[25] i.e., compress, embrace her. See Mr Steevens's note on "Macbeth," act v. sc. 5.
[26] That is, no degree of relationship is sufficient to restrain the appetite of lust, scarce that of sister; they even approach to the rim or verge of what is the most prohibited.
[27] The quarto reads, lowde.
[28] The quarto reads, is good.—Steevens.
[29] [Old copy, portion.]
[30] Upon their good is the misreading of one old copy.—Collier.
[31] [Old copy, wearing.]
[32] To harry, Mr Steevens observes, is to use roughly. See note to "Antony and Cleopatra," act iii. sc. 3. See also Fuller's "Church History," lib. x. p. 19.—Gilchrist.
[33] [Old copy, ire.]