[980] “Encyclopædia Britannica,” 1879, vol. ix. p. 366; see Doran’s “History of Court Fools,” 1858.
[981] Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 350.
[982] Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. i. p. 371.
[983] The verb “to gage,” or “to pledge,” occurs in “Merchant of Venice,” i. 1:
“but my chief care
Is, to come fairly off from the great debts
Wherein my time, something too prodigal,
Hath left me gaged.”
Cf. “1 Henry IV.,” i. 3.
[984] “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. ii. p. 127.
[985] “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 858; see Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 431.
[986] A Welsh hook was a sort of bill, hooked at the end, and with a long handle. See Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 497; and Singer’s “Shakespeare,” vol. ix. p. 168.
[987] Brewer’s “Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,” p. 782.