[456] Ed. 1. “complaints.”
[457] What follows, down to the entrance of Malevole (l. 156), was added in ed. 2.
[458] It was a common superstition that this shell-fish turned itself into a solan-goose. See Nares’ Glossary.
[459] A horrid instrument of torture by which the legs were crushed. In Millœus’ Praxis Criminis Persequendi, Paris, 1541, fol., there is a blood-curdling representation of a victim undergoing this torture. The instrument was never used in England; but was frequently applied in France and Scotland to extort confession from criminals.
[460] Old ed. “herlakeene.”
[461] Concerning Welshmen’s pride in their gentility, see Middleton, iii. 23 (note).
[462] Fine crape.
[463] Old ed. “fowl.”—The word fowl seems to have been pronounced fool (Middleton, vi. 249). Perhaps the reading “fowl” (after the mention of “woodcock”) should be retained, as some sort of joke may have been intended.
[464] Hymen was usually represented in masques with a saffron robe.
[465] Old eds. “cloake” and “cloke.”