Ridet hoc, inquam, Venus ipsa.
It would be as well if the queen of love had been a little more fastidious on this subject. Her facility, I fear, has done much mischief, as lovers of all ages have availed themselves of it: but she had it from her father, whose laxity of principle is well known:
—————perjuria ridet amantûm
Jupiter.
Gifford.
[74] Possessed,] i. e. informed.
[75] Censure,] i. e. judgment.
[76] Blasphémous.] So the word was usually accented in Massinger's time, and with strict regard to its Greek derivation.
[77] ——————that knows not to use it,] i. e. his command, authority: the expression is harsh, but is not uncommon in the writers of Massinger's time.—Gifford.
[78] Packing,] i. e. insidious contrivance: so the word is used by Shakspeare, and others.
[79] Cal. I have all that's requisite
To the making up of a signior: my spruce ruff,
My hooded cloak, long stocking, and paned hose,
My case of toothpicks, and my silver fork.] Calandrino is very correct in his enumeration of the articles which in his time made up a complete signior: and which are frequently introduced with evident marks of disapprobation and ridicule by our old poets. The ruff, cloak, and long stocking, are sufficiently familiar: hose are breeches: paned hose are breeches composed of small squares or pannels. Toothpicks, the next accompaniment of state, were newly imported from Italy, as were forks; the want of which our ancestors supplied, as well as they could, with their fingers.—Gifford.