"a limber fellow,
Fit onely for deare Nan, his schoole-fellow,
A Grocer's daughter borne in Bread-street, with
Whom he has used to goe to Pimblico
And spend ten groats in cakes and Christian ale."
From Shirley we learn that the apprentices took their pleasure in the mild form of treating their sweethearts to cream and prunes:—
"You have some festivals, I confess, but when
They happen, you run wild to the next village,
Conspire a knot and club your groats apiece
For cream and prunes, not daring to be drunk."
(Honoria and Mammon, v. i.).
Pimlico seems to have been a place near Hoxton famous for its ales and custards; cf. Mayne's City Match, II. 6.—
"Nay, captain, we have brought you
A gentleman of valour, who has been
In Moorfields often: marry it has been
To squire his sisters and demolish custards
At Pimlico."
There is an unique tract entitled "Pimlyco or Runne Red cap, 'tis a mad world at Hoggesden," 1609.
[100] I cannot find that "bob" is used as a technical term in falconry. Mr. Fleay suggests that a "bob'd hawke" merely means a "hawk cheated of her prey." I rather think the meaning is a "hawk beaten or repulsed by her prey."
[101] From "A Kalendar of the English Church," p. 45 (Rivingtons: n.d., but 1865), one learns that "Marriage is restrained by Law at the following times unless with a License or Dispensation from the Bishop of the Diocese, his Chancellor, or Commissary, viz., from Advent Sunday until eight days after the Epiphany; from Septuagesima until eight days after Easter; and from the Monday in Rogation week until Trinity Sunday."
[102] I venture to insert the word "poet": both sense and metre are defective without it.
[103] In the MS. "thee" is corrected into "you."