1. 6. 97 the walks of Lincolnes Inne. One of the famous Inns of Court (note 3.1.8). It formerly pertained to the Bishops of Chichester (Stow, Survey, ed. 1633, p. 488a). The gardens ‘were famous until the erection of the hall, by which they were curtailed and seriously injured’ (Wh-C.). The Tatler (May 10, 1709, no. 13) speaks of Lincoln’s Inn Walks.
1. 6. 99 I did looke for this geere. See variants. Cunningham says: ‘In the original it is geere, and so it ought still to stand. Gear was a word with a most extended signification. Nares defines it, “matter, subject, or business in general!” When Jonson uses the word jeer he spells it quite differently. The Staple of News was first printed at the same time as the present play, and in the beginning of Act IV. Sc. 1, I find: “Fit. Let’s ieere a little. Pen. Ieere? what’s that?”’
It is so spelt regularly throughout The Staple of News, but in Ev. Man in 1. 2 (fol. 1616), we find: ‘Such petulant, geering gamsters that can spare No ... subject from their jest.’ The fact is that both words were sometimes spelt geere, as well as in a variety of other ways. The uniform spelling in The Staple of News, however, seems to indicate that this is the word gear, which fits the context, fully as well as, perhaps better than Gifford’s interpretation. A common meaning is ‘talk, discourse’, often in a depreciatory sense. See Gloss.
1. 6. 125 Things, that are like, are soone familiar. ‘Like will to like’ is a familiar proverb.
1. 6. 127 the signe o’ the husband. An allusion to the signs of the zodiac, some of which were supposed to have a malign and others a beneficent influence.
1. 6. 131 You grow old, while I tell you this.
Hor. [Carm. I. II. 8 f.]: Dum loquimur, fugerit invida Aetas, carpe diem.—G.
Whalley suggested:
Fugit Hora: hoc quod loquor, inde est. —Pers. Sat. 5.
1. 6. 131, 2 And such
As cannot vse the present, are not wise.Cf. Underwoods 36. 21: