Mount the new Castor:—ice itself will melt;
Boots, gloves, may fail; the hat is always felt,
had been anticipated by Thomas Heywood in a song:—
But of all felts that may be felt,
Give me your English beaver.
Falstaff’s pun:—
Indeed I am in the waist two yards about; but I am now about no waste; I am about thrift,—(Merry Wives of Windsor.)
had also been anticipated, and may be found in Heywood’s “Epigrammes,” 1562:—
“Where am I least, husband?” Quoth he, “In the waist;