Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 1 of 2] / Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

In very likeness of a roasted crab,

And when she drinks, against her lips I bob."[106:A]

The very expression to turn a crab will be found in the following passages from two old plays, in the first of which the good man says he will

"Sit down in his chaire by his wife faire Alison,

And turne a crabbe in the fire;"[106:B]

and in the second, Christmas is personified

—— "sitting in a corner turning crabs,

Or coughing o'er a warmed pot of ale."[106:C]

Nor can we omit, in closing this series of quotations, the following stanza of a fine old song in the curious comedy of Gammer Gurton's Needle, first printed in 1575:

"I love no rost, but a nut brown toste,