[346] Furze. So in Shakespeare's "Tempest," act iv. sc. 1—
"Pricking goss and thorns."—S.
[347] Imperium, or command.
"My noble husbands (more than noble souls)
Already wander under your commands."—S. P.
The word also occurs in "Henry V.," act i. sc. 2—
"Or there we'll sit,
Ruling, in large and ample empery."
"This word," says Mr Steevens, "which signifies dominion, is now obsolete, though formerly in general use." So in "Claudius Tiberius Nero," 1607—
"Within the circuit of our empery."
[348] Tickle means uncertain or inconstant. We still use the word ticklish; and a ticklish situation is understood for that state in which we can have no sure dependence. So, in Churchyard's "Challenge," 1593, p. 28—
"Yet climbing up, the tree of tickle trust
Wee streache the arme, as farre as reach may goe,
Disguis'd with pompe, and pampred up with lust;
We gase alof, and never looke belowe,
Till hatchet comes, and gives the fauling bloe."