It was customary to work or paint proverbs, moral sentences, or scraps of verse, on old tapestry hangings, which were called painted cloths. Several allusions to this practice may be found in the works of our early English dramatists. See Reed's Shakspeare, viii. 103.
Beller, first edit.
Hale, first edit.
Calais sands were chosen by English duellists to decide their quarrels on, as being out of the jurisdiction of the law. This custom is noticed in an Epigram written about the period in which this book first appeared.
"When boasting Bembus challeng'd is to fight,
He seemes at first a very Diuell in sight:
Till more aduizde, will not defile [his] hands,
Vnlesse you meete him vpon Callice sands."
The Mastive or Young Whelpe of the olde Dog. Epigrams and Satyrs. 4to, Lond. (Printed, as Warton supposes, about 1600.)
A passage in The Beau's Duel: or a Soldier for the Ladies, a comedy, by Mrs. Centlivre, 4to, 1707, proves that it existed so late as at that day. "Your only way is to send him word you'll meet him on Calais sands; duelling is unsafe in England for men of estates," &c. See also other instances in Dodsley's Old Plays, edit. 1780, vii. 218; xii. 412.
Strict devotees were, I believe, noted for the smallness and precision of their ruffs, which were termed in print from the exactness of the folds. So in Mynshul's Essays, 4to, 1618. "I vndertooke a warre when I aduentured to speake in print, (not in print as Puritan's ruffes are set.)" The term of Geneva print probably arose from the minuteness of the type used at Geneva. In the Merry Devil of Edmonton, a comedy, 4to, 1608, is an expression which goes some way to prove the correctness of this supposition:--"I see by thy eyes thou hast bin reading little Geneva print;"--and, that small ruffs were worn by the puritanical set, an instance appears in Mayne's City Match, a comedy, 4to, 1658.
"O miracle!
Out of your little ruffe, Dorcas, and in the fashion!
Dost thou hope to be saved?"
From these three extracts it is, I think, clear that a ruff of Geneva print means a small, closely-folded ruff, which was the distinction of a nonconformist.