(See also "King Henry VIII," Act II, Sc. 4, line 185.)
That the word as here quoted has no identity with the word "amazed" is clear from a comparison of its context with that of the latter in the numerous instances of its employment by Shakespeare. The verb "to maze" is found in Chaucer:
"'Ye maze, maze, gode sire,' quod she,
'This thank have I for I have maad yow see.'"
(The Marchantes Tale, l. 2387.)
In the sense of crazy, wild, or thoughtless, we find it in the dialect expressions "Mazed-antic" and "Mazegerry."
As a metaphor it is employed in like manner to its Greek equivalent. In "The Taming of the Shrew" Petruchio declares: "I have thrust myself into this maze, Haply to wive and thrive as best I may." "Let us," says Pope, in the "Essay on Man,"
"Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man,
A mighty maze! but not without a plan."
The term has no connection with the word which we see in, for instance, Mr. Hall Caine's novel "The Deemster":
"Nine maze—not bad for the first night."
This is a variant of the word mease and denotes a measure of 500 herrings!