Page 41. v. 294. this comerous crabes hyghte] i. e. (I suppose) this troublesome crab was called.—Warton (Hist. of E. P. ii. 350) cites, without the authority of any ed., “—— crab is hyghte.”
v. 297. quod] i. e. quoth.
v. 298. euyll apayed] i. e. ill satisfied, ill pleased.
v. 301. Dawes] Equivalent to—simpleton; the daw being reckoned a silly bird: so again, in the next line but one, “doctour Dawcocke.”
Page 42. v. 302. in conceyte] i. e. in the good opinion, favour of our Lady Fortune: compare v. 270.
v. 303. hyghte] i. e. is called.
v. 304. sleyte] i. e. sleight, artful contrivance.
v. 311. layne] i. e. conceal.
v. 312. beyte] i. e. bait.
v. 315. And soo outface hym with a carde of ten] “A common phrase,” says Nares, “which we may suppose to have been derived from some game, (possibly primero), wherein the standing boldly upon a ten was often successful. A card of ten meant a tenth card, a ten.... I conceive the force of the phrase to have expressed originally the confidence or impudence of one who with a ten, as at brag, faced, or outfaced one who had really a faced card against him. To face meant, as it still does, to bully, to attack by impudence of face.” Gloss. in v. Face it, &c. “The phrase of a card of ten was possibly derived, by a jocular allusion, from that of a hart of ten, in hunting, which meant a full grown deer, one past six years of age.” Ibid. in v. Card of ten.