In the Visitation of the County of Devon, 1620, a long genealogy is given, the closing portion of which shows who this Nicholas Smith or Smyth of Exeter (l. 15) and his father were:
Seven children of Sir Nicholas are given, including another Nicholas (aet. 14), and the whole is signed 'Nich Smith'.
This is doubtless Roe's friend. With Roe as a Falstaff he had probably 'heard the chimes at midnight' in London before he settled down to raise a family in Devonshire.
l. 7. sleeps House, &c. Ovid xi; Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, Canto xiv; Spenser, Faerie Queene, I. i.
Page 402, l. 26. Epps. 'This afternoon a servingman of the Earl of Northumberland fought with swaggering Eps, and ran him through the ear.' Manninghams Diary, 8th April, 1603 (Camden Club, p. 165). This is the only certain reference to Epps I have been able to find, but Grosart declares he is the soldier described in Dekker's Knights Conjuring as behaving with great courage at the siege of Ostend (1601-4), where he was killed. I can find no name in Dekker's work.
ll. 27-31. As printed in 1669 these lines are not very intelligible, and neither Grosart nor Chambers has corrected them. As given in the MSS. (e.g. TCD) they are a little clearer:
For his Body and State
The Physick and Counsel (which came too late)
'Gainst whores and dice, hee nowe on mee bestowes