Two disciples to St. Tantlin,
That rise to long exercise before day.
[p. 416] Lilly. William Lilly (1602-81). The famous astrologer and fortune-teller. In Tatham’s The Rump (1660), he is introduced on the stage, and there is a scene between him and Lady Lambert, Act iv.
[p. 416] sisseraro. More usually sasarara. A corruption of certiorari, a writ in law to expedite justice. ‘If it be lost or stole ... I could bring him to a cunning kinsman of mine that would fetcht again with a sesarara,’— The Puritan (1607). ‘Their souls fetched up to Heaven with a sasarara.’— The Revenger’s Tragedy, iv, 2 (1607), The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), ch. xxi: ‘“As for the matter of that,” returned the hostess, “gentle or simple, out she shall pack with a sussarara”.’
Act V: Scene iii
[p. 421] Twelve Houses. Each of the astrological divisions of the heavens denoting the station of a planet is termed a house.
Act V: Scene v
[p. 423] bear the bob. To join in the chorus. Bob is the burden or refrain of a song.
[p. 423] Colt-staff. Or col-staff (Latin collum). A staff by which two men carry a load, one end of the pole resting on a shoulder of each porter. cf. Merry Wives of Windsor, iii, 3, ‘Where’s the cowl-staff?’
[p. 423] Fortune my Foe. This extremely popular old tune is in Queen Elizabeth’s Virginal Book; in William Ballet’s MS. Lute Book; in Bellerophon (1622), and in numerous other old musical works. There are allusions to it in Shakespeare and many of the dramatists.