Such a light and metall’d dance;
Saw you never;
And they lead men for the NONCE,
That turn round like grindle stones.
Ben Jonson.
A voider for the NONCE,
I wrong the devil should I pick their bones.
Cleaveland.
Coming ten times for the NONCE,
I never yet could see it flow but once.
Cotton.
These authorities, adduced by Dr. Johnson, Mr. Archdeacon Nares conceives to have sufficiently explained the meaning of the word, which, though obsolete, is still “provincially current.” He adds, that it is sometimes written nones, and exemplifies the remark by these quotations:—
The mask of Monkes, devised for the nones.
Mirror for Magistrates.
And cunningly contrived them for the nones
In likely rings of excellent device.