"Maysters, this woman did take such assaye,
And then in those dayes so applyed her booke."
—Collier [ii. 276, 284].
[475] See Note 25 to "Ram Alley."—Collier. [In "Romeo and Juliet," i. 3, the Nurse says, "Nay, I do bear a brain," i.e., I do bear in mind, or recollect (Dyce's edit. 1868, vi. 398). Reed's explanation, adopted by Dyce, seems hardly satisfactory.]
[476] See note to "Gammer Gorton's Needle," iii. 205. Query, if the passages there quoted may not refer to this very character of Akercock and his dress, as described in act i. sc. 1.—Collier. [Probably not, as this play can hardly have been in existence go early, and the character and costume of Robin Goodfellow were well understood, even before "Gammer Gurton's Needle" was written.]
[477] So in "The Return from Parnassus," act v. sc. 4—
"I'll make thee run this lousy case, I wis."
And again in Massinger's "City Madam," act iv. sc. 4—
"Tis more comely, I wis, than their other whim-whams."
[478] "He had need of a long spoon that eats with the devil," is a proverbial phrase. See [Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 176.] So Stephano, in the "Tempest," act ii. sc. 2, alluding to this proverb, says, "This is a devil, and no monster: I will leave him; I have no long spoon." See also "Comedy of Errors," act iv. sc. 3, and Chaucer's "Squier's Tale," v. 10916—
"Therefore behoveth him a ful long spone,
That shall ete with a fiend."