[21] But two quavers make one crotchet: this seems to be false wit, having no foundation in truth.—Pegge.
[22] Highwaymen or robbers were formerly called Saint Nicholas' clerks. See notes by Bishop Warburton and Mr Steevens on the "First Part of King Henry IV.," act ii. sc. 1.
So in Dekker's "Belman of London," 1616: "The theefe that commits the robery, and is chiefe clarke to Saint Nicholas, is called the high lawyer."
And in "Looke on me London," 1613, sig. C: "Here closely lie Saint Nicholas Clearkes, that, with a good northerne gelding, will gaine more by a halter, than an honest yeoman with a teame of good horses."
[23] This ancient fabric, which is now destroyed, was the seat of the Nevils, Earls of Warwick. It stood about a mile from Kingston-upon-Thames, near Wolsey's Aqueducts, which convey water to Hampton Court.—Steevens.
[24] A cutter was, about the beginning of the last century, a cant word for a swaggering fellow. This appears in the old black-letter play entitled "The Faire Maid of Bristow," sig. A iij., where Sir Godfrey says of Challener—
"He was a cutter and a swaggerer."
He is elsewhere (sig. A 4) called a swaggering fellow.—MS. note in Oldys's Langbaine.
[25] [Old copy, rise. The meaning seems to be that Randall had got up betimes.]
[26] i.e., Alexander Bloodhound.—Pegge.