[ [14] It was a common belief that a stuffed halcyon (i.e., kingfisher), suspended by the bill, showed from what quarter the wind blew. Shakespeare alludes to the superstition in Lear, ii. 2,—
"Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks With every gale and vary of their master."
Sir Thomas Browne, who discusses the subject in Vulgar Errors (iii. 10), says that "the eldest custom of hanging up these birds was founded upon a tradition that they would renew their feathers every year as though they were alive."
[ [15] Pay the duty on them.
[ [16] Old ed. "By" (which might perhaps be defended, as meaning "good-bye." Cf. Shirley's Constant Maid, i. 1,—"Buoy, Close, buoy, honest Close: we are blanks, blanks.")
[ [17] A recognised form of "scrambled." Cf. Henry V. i. 1:—
"But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of farther question."
[ [18] The scene is shifted to the Exchange.
[ [19] Old ed. "Iew. Doe so; Farewell, Zaareth," &c. Dyce is doubtless right in considering that "doe so" is a stage direction (= Exeunt Merchants), which has crept into the text.
[ [20] A misquotation from Terence's Andria, iv. 1. 12, "Proximus sum egomet mihi."