FOOTNOTES:
The Rebellion
[1] [This play was reprinted in 1654, 4o, but not again till it was included in the "Ancient British Drama," 1810, 3 vols. 8o, with a curious mixture of old and modern spelling, a series of the most atrocious blunders, and without any attention to the punctuation; in fact, the text of 1810 is almost unintelligible.]
[2] [See further in Walpole's "Anecdotes," edit. 1862, pp. 400-1; but a comedy entitled "Tom Essence," printed in 1677, is there ascribed to his pen.]
[3] [He has commendatory verses to Chamberlain's "Jocabella," 1640, and the same writer's "Swaggering Damsel," printed in that year.]
[4] [Respecting the Ducie family, see Lysons's "Environs of London," first edit., iv. 327; Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting," edit. 1862, p. 401; and "Inedited Poetical Miscellanies," 1870.]
[5] [A well-known poet and playwright]
[6] [Probably Charles Gerbier, author of "Elogium Heronium," 1651, and other works.]
[7] [The dramatist.]
[8] [It is difficult to appropriate these initials, unless they belong to Robert Wild.]
[9] [The author of "Nocturnal Lucubrations," 1637, the "Swaggering Damsel," 1640, &c.]
[10] [Thomas Jordan, the well-known poet and pageant-writer.]
[11] [John Gough, author of the "Strange Discovery," 1640.]
[12] [Possibly Edward Benlowes.]
[13] [The author of these wretched lines was the well-known pageant-writer.]
[14] [The writer of these lines does not seem to be otherwise known.]
[15] [This writer is not otherwise known.]
[16] [Editor of "A. B. D." printed (with old copy) commandy the all.]
[17] [Evadne alludes, of course, to the old nurse.]
[18] [The editor of the "A. B. D." printed atticke.]
[19] [Probably an intentional corruption (with old copy).]
[20] [Former edit., confess.]
[21] [Her.—Old copy and "A. B. D.">[
[22] [Former edit., their.]
[23] [He alludes to the helmets or casquets of Fulgentio, Alerzo, and Pandolpho, plumed with ostrich feathers.]
[24] [He evidently leaves the stage, yet his Exit is not marked.]
[25] [Former edit., our.]
[26] [Former edit., Assended.]
[27] [Former edit., prints this passage thus—
"See, how he strugles, as if some visions
Had assum'd a shape fuller of horrour
Than his troubled thoughts.">[
[28] [Former edit., strangling.]
[29] [i.e., Cum suis.]
[30] [Slick is not obsolete in the sense of smooth, clean; it appears to be identical with sleek, and in the present place carries the meaning of softness.]
[31] [i.e., Medoro, the character so called in the "Orlando Furioso." Trotter has just called Giovanno Orlando, which was, by the way, a common name for any mad-brained person, and often occurs in poems and plays.]
[32] [Shaken me by the nape of the neck; from nudder, the nape.]
[33] [The pin of the wheel by which Antonio was to be executed. Aurelia pretends to desire to tread it herself.]
[34] [St. James.]
[35] [i.e., The customary garb.]
[36] [i.e., An astrologer and a physician.]
[37] [Former edition, vorke.]
[38] [This gibberish is left much as it stands in the old copy.]
[39] [The editor of 1810 printed deliberately sweet must seat me easie.]
[40] [Old copy has as plain—'tis true.]
[41] [Here used, apparently, in the sense of something of no value, and from the context it may be surmised that vermin is intended.]
[42] [Old copy, a resurrection.]
[43] [i.e., Vermin.]
[44] [Former edit., flower.]
[45] [He quotes a passage from the "First Part of Hieronimo," 1605.]
[46] [Former edit., And.]
[47] [i.e., The left remnant of thy days.]
[48] [Former edit., unto.]
[49] ["This strange jumble (which it seems was acted with applause) may be taken as the most singular specimen extant of the serious mock-heroic. There is nothing in "The Tailors" itself so ludicrous as the serious parts in which the tailors appear. Nevertheless there are a few happy passages in the play."—MS. note in a copy of the former edit.]
LUST'S DOMINION
[50] "History of English Dram. Poetry," iii. p. 97.
[51] The curtain in front of the old theatres divided in the middle, and was drawn to the sides; but it may save further explanation to add here that, "beside the principal curtain, they sometimes used others as substitutes for scenes."—Malone.
[52] [Former edit., sick, heavy, and.]
[53] [Old copy, I'll lay there away.]
[54] [The Moor pretends that he meant to refer to the dead King.]
[55] [Edits., That seeing.]
[56] [Old copy, Here.]
[57] [The edits., give this speech to Balthazar, but he was not present when the arrangement with the friars was concluded.]
[58] [Bowing.]
[59] In the original this speech is given to Alvero; but it is evidently an error, as he does not enter till some time after.
[60] In the original it runs, This music was prepar'd thine ears. An omission was evident. I trust the right reading is restored.—Dilke.
"And none of you will bid the winter come,
To thrust his icy fingers in my maw."
—"King John," act v. sc. 7.
[62] In the original this is given to Alvero, but evidently in error.
[63] i.e., Unchaste.
[64] Muskets.
[65] "The mark at which an arrow is shot, which used to be painted white."—Johnson.
[66] [An abbreviated form of God's sonties, which again is a corruption, though of what is rather doubtful; probably, however, of God's saints.]
[67] [Edits., See.]
[68] [Hamstring me.]
[69] Under show of shrift, or, in other words, as coming to hear me confess.
[70] Thirty masses on the same account.
[71] Despatch.
[72] Strut.
[73] [Edits., give these words to Eleazar.]
[74] With force, vigour, energy, vehemence.
[75] In the original the remainder of this play is jumbled together in strange confusion.
[76] [Edits., rowls.]
[77] [Nemesis.]
[78] [Old copies, they.]
[79] For that piece of mockery.
ANDROMANA or THE MERCHANT'S WIFE
[80] [It is, however, printed in the "Ancient British Drama," 1810, and it formed part of the original edition of Dodsley, 1744.]
[81] [Edits., hangs.]
[82] [Old copy, quait.]
[83] [Edits., my son.]
[84] [Edits., And.]
[85] [Edits., There to try it with him.]
[86] [Old copy, at first.]
[87] [Edits., were.]
[88] [Edits., now.]
[89] [Edits., word or two, which seems to be a redundancy, both in the metre and sense.]
[90] [Edits., not to.]
[91] [Edits., and could.]
[92] [Edits., And shew.]
[93] [Edit. 1810 prints Consequently distate.]
[94] Mischievously or wickedly. So in "All's Well that Ends Well," act iv. sc. 5—
"A shrewd knave and an unhappy."
See also Mr Steevens's note on "Henry VIII.," act i. sc. 4.
[95] A tragedy by Sir John Denham, acted at Blank Friars, and printed in folio, 1642.
[96] [A very common phrase, in the sense of accorded, agreed.]
[97] [i.e., No skill in physiognomy.]
[98] [Edits., so much.]
[99] [Edits., fright.]
[100] [Edits., I must confess, had I.]
[101] [Edits., Friends here, been.]
[102] [Edits., I wish that he might live, my lords.]
[103] [Edits., the.]
[104] [Edits., upon.]
LADY ALIMONY
[105] [The author of a curious satire on the female sex, printed in 1616. See Hazlitt, in v.]
[106] [Ingenuously.]
[107] [Notwithstanding the explanation found in Nares and Halliwell, it appears to me that this term is here, at least, intended in the sense of bully or ruffian, especially when we compare the next speech of the Messenger.]
[108] [Literally, an inferior kind of hawk, but here used to signify a coward, a poor creature.]
[109] [This term, borrowed from the old romance so called, is frequently employed in the sense of an adventurer or knight-errant.]
[110] [This word seems here to signify an infinitessimal quantity, a cypher, a nonentity, in which sense it is apparently unglossed.]
[111] [Figgaries.]
[112] [Query, a page who walks behind a lady in the street. Compare Halliwell in v.]
[113] [Sheldrake, or shieldrake.]
[114] [A play on the similarity of sound between meddler and medlar.]
[115] [Tobacco. Old copy, mundungo's.]
[116] [Old copy, her.]
[117] [Old copy, him.]
[118] [Old copy, Ciens.]
[119] [Old copy, with.]
[120] [Old copy, century.]
[121] [An equivoque may be intended.]
[122] [Old copy, Apozems. Perhaps the boy means pozzets.]
[123] [Old copy, masquerellas.]
[124] [Capricious, fanciful.]
[125] [Old copy, breath'd.]
[126] [Old copy, not my sad fate t' observe.]
[127] [Old copy, Gothsemay.]
[128] [Moustachoes.]
[129] [Loose, scattered.]
[130] [Sporter, if indeed it is not to be taken in an obscene sense, as suggested by one of the interpretations in Nares.]
[131] [See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 301.]
[132] [Trifling.]
[133] [Of course a play on the similarity between folio and foolio.]
[134] [Old copy, small to.]
[135] [Old copy, all that was all.]
[136] [See Nares, arts, lave-eared, and loave-ears.]
[137] [Old copy, hair. See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," p. 392.]
[138] [Literally, to lie on the ground, like game; but it is here used in the sense to lie.]
[139] [This passage seems to corroborate the explanation already given of this word.]
[140] [Old copy, Nor.]
[141] [Old copy, that endeared.]
[142] [Leopard.]
[143] [More usually spelt carricks.]
[144] [Successful.]
[145] [The two Citizens appear to retire only, while the events occupying the two next scenes take place, after which they come forward again.]
[146] [Attempt, enterprise.]
[147] [A not unusual form of Algiers.]
[148] [i.e., Is that thy cue.]
[149] [Old copy, land prisado. See Dyce's Middleton, iii. 532.]
[150] [Old copy, Elose.]
[151] [Old copy, out a.]
[152] [This song is not noticed in Mr Halliwell's "Early Naval Ballads," 1841.]
[153] [Staunch.]
[154] [In 1641 appeared a tract entitled "The Brothers of the Blade answerable to the Sisters of the Scabbard," &c., but the phrase was, no doubt, older.]
[155] [Old copy, yet.]
[156] [An allusion to the well-known practice of chalking up scores at taverns. See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 386.]
[157] [Housewife. Perhaps it had already, however, become in vogue in a contemptuous sense.]
[158] [An obvious imitation of Shakespeare's Dogberry.]
[159] [The island of Bermuda was formerly supposed to be enchanted, and was sometimes called by the sailors the Isle of Devils. This is a curious passage: the writer had perhaps in his recollection the speech of Ariel in the "Tempest," act i. sc. 2. The old copy has Barmondes. See Hunter's "New Illustrations of Shakespeare," i. 149.]
[160] [Without weapons.]
[161] [Old copy, Sought.]
[162] [Old copy, mine.]
[163] [Mares.]
[164] [The names of rooms in the tavern.]
[165] [Perhaps a portion of the garden reserved for lady-guests.]
[166] [Light skirt. Compare Halliwell in v.]
[167] [An indelicate equivoque.]
[168] [Probably the same as demaynes, possessions. See Halliwell in v.]
[169] [Entertainment.]
[170] [The Spring Garden.]
[171] [Dispersed.]
[172] [i.e., To the life.]
[173] [Cowardice.]
[174] [A word formed from staniel, a base kind of hawk, and thence used figuratively as a term of contempt.]
[175] [Nares quotes this passage only for the word; compare Halliwell, v. Stichall.]
[176] [Wiseacre.]
[177] [Alimony.]
[178] [i.e., More calf.]
[179] [A play is intended on the words Seville and civil.]
[180] [Property.]
[181] [Perhaps we should read lo, infinitely as spoken aside, and possibly the author wrote infinite lie.]
[182] [An adaptation of the often-quoted Amantium iræ, &c.]
[183] [Old copy, adventurers.]
THE PARSON'S WIFE
[184] "Sidney Papers," vi. 373.—Gilchrist.
[185] No. 8383.
[186] Carew's Poems, [edit. Hazlitt, pp. 103-4.]
[187] "Life of Lord Clarendon," p. 116.
[188] P. 41, edit. 1719. The stanza which relates particularly to his authorship is the following:—
"But who says he was not
A man of much plot
May repent the false accusation;
Having plotted and penn'd
Six plays, to attend
The Farce of his negotiation."
—Collier.
[189] Query; Lysons says 1684.—Gilchrist.
[190] [Both these plays were printed in 12o, 1641, with verses prefixed by H. Bennet, afterwards the celebrated Earl of Arlington, Robert Waring, and William Cartwright.]
[191] An account of Sir W. Killigrew will be found in Restituta, ii. 130. The three first of his plays here mentioned were published together in 8o in 1664 or 1665, for the title-pages bear both these dates. Pandora was "not approved upon the stage as a tragedy," and therefore the author turned it into a comedy, and Waller wrote some lines upon the change.—Collier.
[192] A play called The Imperial Tragedy has also been assigned to him upon no adequate authority.—Collier.
[193] This play was originally represented wholly by women. See Wright's "Historia Histrionica," 1690, post, and Grainger's "Hist. Engl." iv. On this occasion a Prologue and Epilogue were spoken by Mrs Marshall (of whom see "Memoires de Grammont," p. 202, edit. 4o. Strawberry Hill), which are printed in "Covent Garden Drollery," 1672, p. 3.—Gilchrist.
[194] i.e., The game. Quarry is a term both of hunting and falconry. The allusion here is to the former. Quarrie (as referring to the latter), according to Latham's explanation, "is taken for the fowle which is flowne at, and slaine at any time, especially when young hawks are flowne thereunto."
[195] So in "Every Man in his Humour," act iii. sc. 1—
"Good captain faces about."
And in Fletcher's "Scornful Lady," act v.—
"Cutting Morecraft faces about."
And again, in "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," Ralph, exercising his men, says—
"Double your files: as you were; faces about."
[196] The exclamation of a highwayman on stopping a passenger, as many examples would prove. It is only noticed now for the sake of mentioning an ingenious turn given to it in Middleton's "Phœnix," 1607, where one of the characters justifies robbery by observing, "As long as drunkenness is a vice, stand is a virtue."—Collier.
[197] [The folio reads Paxat.]
[198] [? By the side of.]
[199] [The Parson is describing the Captain as a recruiting officer.]
[200] A galley foist was the name of a pleasure-boat, or one used on particular days for pomp and state. The Lord Mayor's and Companies' barges were sometimes formerly called "The City Galley Foists." See Wood's "South-East View of the City and part of Southwark, as it appeared about the year 1599."
[201] [Common. See Nares, edit. 1859, in v.] This epithet of contempt is of frequent occurrence: provand, as all the commentators on "Romeo and Juliet," act ii. sc. 1, agree, means provision. In Massinger's "Maid of Honour," act i. sc. 1, we meet with it applied to a sword, and Mr. Gifford explains it to mean there plain, unornamented, such a sword as the troops were provided with....—Collier.
[202] A fox was formerly a cant word for a sword. So in Ben Jonson's "Bartholomew Fair," act ii. sc. 6: "What would you have, sister, of a fellow that knows nothing but a basket-hilt and an old fox in't?" Again, in "Philaster," by Beaumont and Fletcher, act iv.—
"I made my father's old fox fly about his ears."
And in "Henry V.," by Shakespeare, act iv. sc. 4—
"Thou diest on point of fox."
See Steevens's note on the latter passage, where many passages of our ancient writers are produced to prove the explanation.
[203] [Old copy, half.]
[204] This custom, strange as it would now appear, was the constant practice of gentlemen in the 17th century. When on visits, either of ceremony or business, or even in company of ladies and at public places, their constant amusement was to comb their hair or wigs, and the fashion continued until the reign of Queen Anne. Dryden alludes to it in the Prologue to "Almanzor and Almahide"—
"But, as when vizard masque appears in pit
Straight every man, who thinks himself a wit,
Perks up; and managing his comb with grace,
With his white wig sets off his nut-brown face."
And Mincing, in "The Way of the World," says—
"The gentlemen stay but to comb, madam, and will wait on you."
These instances I am indebted for to Mr Steevens.—Reed.
To the above instances may be added the following, which will show that the fashion mentioned in the text kept its ground a considerable length of time.
"How we rejoic'd to see 'em in our pit!
What difference, methought, there was
Betwixt a country gallant and a wit.
When you did order perriwig with comb,
They only us'd four fingers and a thumb."
—Epilogue to "The Wrangling Lovers," 1677.
"He looked, indeed, and sighed and set his cravat-string, and sighed again, and combed his perriwig: sighed a third time, and then took snuff, I guess to shew the whiteness of his hand."—"The Fortune Hunters," act i. sc. 2, 1689.
"How have I shook and trembling stood with awe,
When here, behind the scenes, I've seen 'em draw
----A comb; that dead-doing weapon to the heart,
And turn each powder'd hair into a dart."
—Prologue to "The Relapse," 1697.
[205] Terms at the game of gleek, which she is supposed to love immoderately.—Pegge.
[206] William Lilly gives the following account of John Booker, the person here mentioned:—He "was born in Manchester, in the year 1601; was in his youth well instructed in the Latin tongue, which he understood very well. He seemed, from his infancy, to be designed for astrology; for, from the time he had any understanding, he would be always poring on and studying almanacks. He came to London at fitting years, and served an apprenticeship to an haberdasher in Lawrence Lane, London: but either wanting stock to set up, or disliking the calling, he left his trade, and taught to write, at Hadley, in Middlesex, several scholars in that school. He wrote singularly well both secretary and Roman. In process of time he served Sir Christopher Clethero, Knight, alderman of London, as his clerk, being a city justice of peace. He also was clerk to Sir Hugh Hammersley, alderman of London: both which he served with great credit and estimation, and, by that means, became not only well known, but as well respected, of the most eminent citizens of London, even to his dying day.
"He was an excellent proficient in astrology; whose excellent verses upon the twelve months, framed according to the configurations of each month, being blessed with success according to his predictions, procured him much reputation all over England. He was a very honest man; abhorred any deceit in the art he studied; had a curious fancy in judging of thefts, and as successful in resolving love-questions. He was no mean proficient in astronomy; he understood much in physic; was a great admirer of the antimonial cup; not unlearned in chymistry, which he loved well, but did not practise. He died in 1667."
[207] The etymology of this word is doubted; but as it was not used in English until about the time of the Restoration, it is most probably from the French gentil, and not from the Teutonic.—Collier. [The word is sometimes, but incorrectly, spelt jaunty.]
[208] A bay-window is a [recess of a square or polygonal form, serving as a window, and is strictly distinct from a bow-window, the name of which indicates its character and shape; the two are often confounded.] The term frequently occurs in ancient writers. So in the "Second Part of Antonio and Melida," by Marston, act i. sc. 3—
"Three times I grasp'd at shades:
And thrice deluded by erroneous sense,
I forc'd my thoughts make stand; when, lo! I op'd
A large bay-window, thorough which the night
Struck terror to my soul."
Again, in "Cynthia's Revels," act iv. sc. 3: "In which time (retiring myself into a bay-window) the beauteous lady Annabel," &c.
And in "A Chast Mayd in Cheape-side," by Middleton, 1630, p. 62—
"In troth a match, wench:
We are simply stock'd with cloth of tissue, cushions,
To furnish out bay-windows."
[209] So in the epilogue to "Evening Love, or the Mock Astrologer," by Dryden—
"Up starts a Monsieur, new come o'er; and warm
In the French stoop, and the pull back o' th' arm;
Morbleu, dit il," &c.
[210] [The sign of an inn there. See x. 212.]
[211] The manner in which houses were marked in which the plague was raging.—Collier.
[212] The usual manner in which ladies formerly addressed their lovers. See Ben Jonson's "Every Man in his Humour," act iv. sc. 2, and "Every Man out of his Humour," act iii. sc. 9; Massinger's "Fatal Dowry," act ii. sc. 2; "Bashful Lover," act iv. sc. 1; "A Very Woman," act i. sc. 1; Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona," act ii. sc. 1, and the same is to be seen in most of the dramatic productions of the times.—Reed.
This title, which was a mark of favouritism tolerated by married women towards unmarried gentlemen in the reigns of James and Charles, is found in almost every old play. The plot of Chapman's "Monsieur D'Olive," turns upon the not very unnatural jealousy of a husband towards this equivocal service in a friend. See [the new edition of Chapman's plays.]—Gilchrist.
[213] [A translation from the French by the Honourable Walter Montague, 8o, 1656.]
[214] [Medlars.]
[215] The weight of a wedding-ring, in Middleton's time (a little earlier than that of Killigrew), may be seen by the following part of a dialogue from his "Chaste Maid in Cheapside," 1630, p. 7—
"Touchwood, jun. I would have a wedding-ring made for a gentlewoman, with all speed that may be.
"Yellowhammer. Of what weight, sir?
"Touchwood, jun. Of some half ounce."
—Collier.
[216] A gredaline petticoat is probably a petticoat puckered, or crumpled, from the French word grediller. See Cotgrave. In Boyer's Dictionary it is explained, Gris de lin, sorte de couleur.
[217] Paulo Purganti's wife has the same sentiment. She
"thought the nation ne'er wou'd thrive,
Till all the whores were burnt alive."
—Prior.
[218] [Pearl here, and in three or four other places below, is used as a plural, quasi a rope of pearl.]
[219] Or lief.
[220] [i.e., On all sides, both by the bye and the main passages.]
[221] [Old copy, your.]
[222] See note to "Albumazar" [xi. 328].
[223] [Old copy, your.]
[224] [Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 343, and note to Tomkis's "Albumazar," xi. 334-5.]
[225] [Platonic lovers.]
[226] [A very ancient office at the court; but here, of course, intended in another sense.]
[227] This word is seldom used as a verb: as an adjective it is not uncommon. See note to "Cornelia," [v. 230]. In this place it ought to be understood as "was haught among the men." It was anciently printed hault and halty, to be nearer the etymology: thus in Wilson's "Rhetorique," 1558, fol. 9, in the eulogy upon the Duke of Suffolk and his brother, we are told that they were "hault without hate, kynde without crafte:" and in "The Orator, handling a hundred severall Discourses," by L. Piot [i.e., Anthony Munday], Decl. 81, p. 327, "for to say the truth, every haulty spirit are in that like unto women, who do for the most part covet after that which they are forbidden to touch."—Collier.
[228] Bows. So in the "Wonderful Yeare, 1603" [attributed to Dekker]: "Janus (that beares two faces under one hood) made a very mannerly lowe legge," &c. And again—
"He calls forth one by one, to note their graces;
Whilst they make legs, he copies out their faces."
—Ibid.
[229] [Pother.]
[230] Outcry was the ancient term for an auction. As in Massinger's "City Madam," act i. sc. 3—
"The goods of this poor man sold at an out-cry.
His wife turn'd out of doors, his children forc'd
To beg their bread."
And again in Middleton's "Chast Mayd in Cheape-side" [Dyce's edit. iv. 58:]
"I'll sell all at an out-cry."
Again in Ben Jonson's "Catiline," act ii. sc. 3—
"Their houses, and fine gardens, given away,
And their goods, under the spear at outcry."
Upon which last passage Mr Whalley observes, that "the Roman way of selling things by auction was setting up a spear; and hence the phrase sub hasta vendere."
[231] See Evans's "Collection of Old Ballads," i. 292.
The story of Whittington and his Cat, though under different names, is common to various languages. Messrs Grim have pointed it out in German, and it is given in Italian as one of [the "Facetie" of the] celebrated Arlotto under the following title: "Il Piovano, a un prete che fece mercantia di palle, dice la novella della gatte." He relates it of a mercante Genovese avventurato il quale navigando fu portato dalla fortuna a una isola lontanissima. The story was probably borrowed in English and assigned to Whittington: it is noticed in "Eastward Hoe" as "the famous fable of Whittington and his Puss." This play was written soon after 1603, and the ballad in Evans's collection is [certainly in its present form] not so old. The "Novella" was printed in Italy [soon after 1500]; and Arlotto, to whom it is attributed, died in 1483.
[232] [Old copy, Hope, a half peny, &c. This appears to be an allusion to the proverb,
"At the west-gate came Thornton in,
With a hop, a halfpenny, and a lamb's skin."
See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," p. 78. Thornton was a merchant of Newcastle.]
[233] [In the modern editions, this speech improperly makes part of the next scene.]
[234] [The folio reads Mistress.]
[235] An aunt of the suburbs was synonymous with bawd. See [Dyce's Middleton, i. 444.]
[236] [From the context, evidently a place of entertainment, a kind of restaurant. Perhaps the modern Glass-House Street may fix the site.]
[237] i.e., The bill of the mortality by the plague. The theatres were sometimes closed, in consequence of the prevalence of the disease. Such was the case in the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth. See note to Nash's "Summer's Last Will and Testament [viii. 15]."—Collier.
[238] [The folio reads hogough.]
[239] [In old copy this word forms part of the next sentence.]
[240] [Probably a tavern so called.]
[241] [The weight inserted in a bowl.]
[242] This probably is the same tavern mentioned in "A Match at Midnight," act i.: "My master means the sign of the Devil," &c.—Collier.
[243] [i.e., It is presumed, put a quart of sack into your head at my expense. He afterwards gives him an angel. A half-moon was an old cant term for a wig. See Dyce's Middleton, ii. 382.]
[244] i.e., Who can that be? In this manner the word who is pronounced in some parts of the kingdom, particularly in the county of Kent.—Pegge.
[245] i.e., The Tailor, who very suddenly got drunk, and as suddenly drowsy.—Collier.
[246] Jolly makes his exit at the same time, and returns again where his entrance is marked.—Collier.
[247] [Probably Faithful's Christian name was Moll, which Jolly pronounces Mull.]
[248] [See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 141.]
[249] [This word was perhaps then, as now, understood in a cant sense.]
[250] [A crowd had assembled outside, it appears, inquisitive to know what was going on within.]
[251] [Old copy, thy.]
[252] [A proverbial expression for a simpleton.]
[253] [In how stately a fashion she carries herself.]
[254] [Drunken, from the Dutch op zee, which means literally at sea, and thence drunk, like our own half-seas-over.]
[255] [Summoner.]
[256] [A play on words.]
[257] [Alluding to the common expression, Fools have fortune.]
[258] [The folio, you he.]
[259] Alluding to the acts of Oliver Cromwell's parliament for punishing adultery, incest, and fornication; by which it was declared that the two former should be punishable with death on the first offence, and the latter upon the second conviction. "These acts," an excellent writer (Mr Barrington on the Statutes) observes, "could not have continued long unrepealed, even if Charles II. had not succeeded to the throne." It has been doubted whether there were any instances of carrying them into execution, notwithstanding the rigidness of the times wherein they were enacted. A newspaper, however, of that period furnishes an example which, from the extraordinary circumstances attending it, may perhaps be considered as not unworthy of being preserved. In Mercurius Politicus, No. 168, from Thursday, Aug. 25, to Thursday, Sept. 1, 1653, p. 2700, is the following passage:—"At Monmouth Assize an old man of eighty-nine years was put to death for adultery, committed with a woman above sixty."
[260] [Lindabrides is a character in the "Mirror of Knighthood," once a famous romance. The name was afterwards applied to women of a certain class. She is mentioned in act ii. of "A Match at Midnight.">[
[261] [Dragged.]
[262] This incident is borrowed from the Italian, and it is employed by many of their novelists. It also forms the eighth story of "Les Comptes du Monde adventureux," printed at [Paris in 1555, and a translation from the Italian.] Casti founded his tale of "La Celia" upon it, with the variation of making the old woman a negress; but in this change he was not original. Richard Brome employed it in his "Novella," acted at the Blackfriars Theatre thirty years before Killigrew's play was published.—Collier.
[263] [A hit at some of the frivolous poetry of an earlier period. See Hazlitt's "Handbook" v. Lenton.]
[264] The sickness was the common name for the plague. See Gifford's Ben Jonson, iii. 353, iv. 9, &c.—Collier.
[265] This alludes to one of the regulations made to prevent the spreading of the plague. When a house became infected, the officers empowered for that purpose immediately placed a guard before it, which continued there night and day, to prevent any person going from thence until the expiration of forty days. At the same time, red crosses, of a foot long were painted on the doors and windows, with the words LORD HAVE MERCY UPON US, in great letters, wrote over them, to caution all passengers to avoid infected places.
In a collection of epigrams, entitled, "More Fools Yet," written by R. S. (Roger Sharpe), 1610, 4o, is the following—
"Rusticus, an honest country swayne,
Whose education simple was, and plaine,
Having survey'd the citie round about,
Emptyed his purse, and so went trudging out.
But by the way he saw, and much respected,
A doore belonging to a house infected;
Whereon was plac't (as 'tis the custome still)
Lord have mercy upon us! This sad bill
The sot perusde; and having read, he swore,
All London was, ungodly, but that doore.
Here dwells some vertue yet, sayes he; for this
A most devout religious saying is:
And thus he wisht (with putting off his hatte)
That every doore had such a bill as that."
[266] Robert Gomersall, in 1628, published a poem, in three cantos, called "The Levite's Revenge." It arrived at a second edition in 1633, and seems to have been popular.—Collier.
[267] This is probably meant to ridicule John Ball, a celebrated puritan divine, born in 1585, and died in 1640, after publishing many religious controversial works.—Collier.
[268] It seems doubtful whether the preceding part of this speech does not belong to Wanton.—Collier.
[269] [Mistress.]
[270] To fling an old shoe after a person to produce good luck is a custom still spoken of, and hardly yet disused. It is mentioned in many writers: as in "The Wild Goose Chase," act ii. sc. 1—
"If ye see us close once,
Begone, and leave me to my fortune suddenly,
For I am then determined to do wonders.
Farewell, and fling an old shoe."
[271] See note to "A Match at Midnight" [xiii. 81].
[272] One of the original actors in the plays of Shakespeare. See an account of him in Wright's "Historia Histrionica" infrâ, vol. xv.
[273] Banks, who was famous for a horse, which was taught to show tricks, and perform several feats of art, to the great admiration of the virtuoso spectator. This celebrated horse is mentioned by several writers of Queen Elizabeth's time, as Ben Jonson, in "Every Man out of his Humour," act iv. sc. 6: "He keeps more ado with this monster than ever Banks did with his horse, or the fellow with the elephant."
Again, in "Jack Drum's Entertainment," sig. B 3: "It shall be chronicled next after the death of Bankes his horse."
Again, in Dekker's "Satiromastix," 1602: "I'll teach thee to turn me into Bankes his horse, and to tell gentlemen I am a juggler, and can show tricks."
And in Dekker's "Wonderfull Yeare," 1603: "These are those ranck riders of art, that have so spur gal'd your lustie wing'd Pegasus, that now he begins to be out of flesh, and (even only for provander sake) is glad to show tricks like Bankes his curtall."
See Digby "On Bodies," c. 37, p. 393. Sir Walter Raleigh's "History of the World," 1st part, p. 178. Gayton's "Notes on Don Quixote," part 4, p. 289.
[274] [i.e., Without their upper garments.]
[275] Stephen Marshall and Thomas Case, two of the most celebrated divines among the Presbyterians. Marshall was the person who preached the famous sermon before the House of Commons, Feb. 13, 1641, from Judges v. 23, "Curse ye Meroz," &c. This sermon is mentioned by Lord Clarendon. Both these sectaries are noticed by Butler. See Dr Grey's edition of "Hudibras," p. 3, c. i., l. 884; p. 3, c. ii., l. 636, and the notes.
[276] [Perhaps a play on choler and colour is intended here.]
[277] Slot, in hunting, means the print of the foot on the ground. See Todd's Johnson.—Collier.
[278] [Bourbonne-les-Bains, in the Haute Marne.]
[279] Prologues and epilogues were formerly spoken in black cloaks.
[280] [He misunderstands the Parson's classical allusion to Nessus.]
[281] [The name of the actor who filled the part of Wild.]