Act V: Scene iv
[p. 394] this Tour. cf. ‘your false Towers’, The False Count, i, II (Vol. III, p. 116), and note on that passage (p. 480). [ Cross-Reference: The False Count]
[p. 394] Fontange. A ‘fontange’ was a bow of ribbons, so called from the celebrated Madame de Fontanges. Her hair coming down during a hunting-party at Vincennes, she tied it up hastily with one of her garters. Louis XIV, whose mistress she was, so admired the result that he begged her to continue to wear her hair in the same way. This set the fashion, which soon spread into England and long remained popular. cf. Shadwell’s Bury Fair (1689), ii, II: ‘Milliner. What d’ye lack, Ladies? fine Mazarine hoods, fontanges, girdles, sable tippets?’
[p. 394] Coventry-Blue. A kind of blue thread manufactured at Coventry and formerly much used for embroidery, &c. cf. Greene’s James IV (1592), iv, III, where Slipper ordering a doublet cries: ‘Edge me the sleeves with Coventry blue.’ Ben Jonson, Gipsies Metamorph. (1621), speaks of ‘A skein of Coventry blue’.
[p. 395] Tawdrums. Fal-lals. cf. Marston’s Dutch Courtezan (4to 1605), v, ‘no matter for lace and tawdrums’.
Cross-References
[Note to p. 330]: Southampton Square.
Town Fop text:
meet me to morrow Morning about five, with your Sword in your Hand, behind Southampton House
Town Fop note: