Scene 2. Page 367.
Fal. ... not by Phœbus,—he, that wandering knight so fair.
Falstaff, with great propriety, according to vulgar astronomy, calls the sun a wandering knight, and by this expression evidently alludes to some hero of romance. Now though the knight of the sun mentioned by Mr. Steevens, was doubtless a great wanderer, he was not more so than others of his profession; and therefore it is possible that Falstaff may refer to another person particularly known by the name of the wandering knight, and the hero of a spiritual romance translated in Shakspeare's time from the French by William Goodyeare, under the last-named title. It may be worth mentioning that in all probability John Bunyan used this work in the composition of his Pilgrim's progress.
Scene 2. Page 376.
Fal. 'S blood, I am as melancholy as a gib cat.
Captain Grose in his Dictionary of the vulgar tongue informs us that a gib cat is so called from Gilbert, the northern name for a he cat; and this is corroborated by the manner in which Chaucer has used the word in question;
"I mean but gyle, and follow that,
For right no more than Gibbe our cat
That awaiteth mice and rattes to killen."
Rom. of the rose.
The original French has "dam Thibert le chas," which proves that Gib was a proper name in Chaucer's time, whatever change it may have since undergone in its feline application. We see too the reason why a gib is a male cat. The melancholy of this animal has been sufficiently explained. Another quality belonging to him is thus ironically mentioned in the anonymous play of The politick whore, 1680; "as modest as a gib-cat at midnight."
Scene 2. Page 381.
Poins. What says sir John Sack-and-sugar?