[p. 105] Toping and Napping. ‘To top’ and ‘to nap’ are slang terms signifying to cheat, especially with dice. cf. R. Head, Canting Academy (1673), ‘What chance of the dye is soonest thrown in topping, shoring, palming, napping.’ Both words occur very frequently, and are amply explained in the Slang Dictionaries.
[p. 105] Cater-Tray. Quatre-trois; a cast at dice.
[p. 112] Good morrow. Wittmore quotes the opening lines of Volpone, Act i, I:
Good morning to the day; and next my gold!
Open the shrine that I may see my saint.
Hail the world’s soul and mine!
[p. 115] John-a-Nokes. The fictitious name for the one party in a legal action. The term came to have the same meaning as ‘Jack-hold-my-staff’ = any fool or nincompoop.
Epilogue
[p. 116] Vizard Mask. The commonest Restoration synonym for a ‘bona roba’, especially as plying the theatre.