"A fine lac'd mutton
Or two; and either has her frisking husband,
That reads her the Corranto every week."
Jonson, Mask of Nep. Triumph.
Here, we have no reason to suppose that they were women of bad character. So also in Two Gent. it is of a lady of unblemished fame that lac'd mutton is used. Speed calls himself "a lost mutton," and her "a lac'd mutton," where, by the way, we must pronounce "lac'd" last, or we miss the humour. It may be observed, as Nares and others have not seen it, that the allusion in laced is to the lacing of the dress in front. Hence the frequent cry, Cut my lace!
Nettle of India (Tw. N. ii. 5), a zoophyte, it is said, called Urtica marina, abounding in the Indian seas. "The flower of India, pleasant to be seen, but whoso smelleth to it, feeleth present smart" (Green, Card of Fancie), whence Shakespeare probably took it, would rather seem to indicate a plant.
Nice (T. Sh. iii. 1, R. and J. v. 2), silly, trifling, from niais, Fr.
Nicholas (Two Gent. iii. 1, 1 H. IV. ii. 1). This Saint appears to have had a double office,—the one as the patron of schools and learning, as he was celebrated for his piety and love of learning from his infancy; the other, we know not how, as the patron of thieves and highwaymen, who were called St. Nicholas' clerks.
Night-gown. This was the name of the night-dress of both women and men (Macb. ii. 2, Ham. iii. 4). It is still used, at least in the country, for night-dress. The night-gown was only used by persons of some rank and consideration; people in general went to bed naked, buffing the blanket, as it was termed in Ireland. It may be here observed that gown was, like gonna, It., whence it is derived, used very extensively at that time. So we have sea-gown (Ham. v. 1), for a sailor's outer coat, a pilot-coat, as we should now say.
Nine men's morris (M. N. D. ii. 1). "In that part of Warwickshire where Shakespeare was educated, and the neighbouring parts of Northamptonshire, the shepherds and other boys dig up the turf with their knives to represent a sort of imperfect chess-board. It consists of a square, sometimes only a foot in diameter, sometimes three or four yards. Within this is another square, every side of which is parallel to the external square; and these squares are joined by lines drawn from each corner of both squares, and the middle of each line. One party, or player, has wooden pegs, the other stones, which they move in such a manner as to take up each other's men, as they are called; and the area of the inner square is called the pound, in which the men taken up are impounded. These figures are by the country-people called Nine Men's Morris or Merrils, and are so called because each party has nine men." (James, in Var. Shakespeare.) This, it must be confessed, is not very intelligible, and it is rather remarkable that Nares takes no notice of it. On the contrary, he says that Nine Men's Morris is "evidently only another name" for Nine-holes. In this he must be wrong, as the word Morris shows; but Shakespeare may have confounded the two, and have meant Nine-holes, as would seem to be indicated by "filled up with mud."