[IV, i, 13]. Cell—so in the Q. and all later texts. Yet the word is utterly unsatisfactory to the sense of the passage; it should almost certainly be coil—i. e., tumult, confusion, fuss, ado. Cf. Field in Amends for Ladies, II, iv: “Here’s a coil with a lord and his sister.”
[IV, i, 23]. a lace—a trimming of lace.
[IV, i, 27]. pickadille—the expansive collar fashionable in the early part of the seventeenth century.
[IV, i, 27]. in puncto—in point; i. e., in proper condition, in order.
[IV, i, 32]. Iacobs staffe—an instrument formerly used for measuring the altitude of the sun; a cross-staff.
[IV, i, 32]. Ephimerides—a table showing the positions of a heavenly body for a series of successive days.
[IV, i, 39–40]. if he would but cut the coate according to the cloth still—“to cut one’s coat after one’s cloth” was: “to adapt one’s self to circumstances;” “to measure expense by income.” The point of its employment here is not plain; it is doubtful if anything were very clear in Field’s own mind, who was merely trying to hit off an epigrammatical phrase. Perhaps, “make the coat match the man.”
[IV, i, 72]. Narcissus-like—like Narcissus, in classic myth. See Ovid, Meta., iii, 341–510.
[IV, i, 72]. should—G., f. read shouldst, but the breach of agreement between subject and verb is to be explained by the attraction of the verb to the third person by the interposed Narcissus-like; just as four lines further on we find shouldst for should, because of the similar intrusion between subject and verb of (but thy selfe sweete Lord).
[IV, i, 92]. a Barber Surgeon—formerly the barber was also a regular practitioner in surgery and dentistry. Cf. Beaumont & Fletcher, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, III, iv.