41. [If thou art Dun,] etc. Douce quotes Chaucer, C.T. 16936:
"Ther gan our hoste for to jape and play,
And sayde, 'sires, what? Dun is in the myre.'"
Gifford explains the expression thus: "Dun in the mire is a Christmas gambol, at which I have often played. A log of wood is brought into the midst of the room: this is Dun (the cart-horse), and a cry is raised that he is stuck in the mire. Two of the company advance, either with or without ropes, to draw him out. After repeated attempts, they find themselves unable to do it, and call for more assistance. The game continues till all the company take part in it, when Dun is extricated of course; and the merriment arises from the awkward and affected efforts of the rustics to lift the log, and from sundry arch contrivances to let the ends of it fall on one another's toes. This will not be thought a very exquisite amusement; and yet I have seen much honest mirth at it." Halliwell-Phillipps quotes Westward Hoe, 1607: "I see I'm born still to draw dun out o' th' mire for you; that wise beast will I be;" and Butler, Remains: "they meant to leave reformation, like Dun in the mire."
42. [Sir-reverence.] A contraction of "save reverence" (salva reverentia), used as an apology for saying what might be deemed improper. Cf. C. of E. iii. 2. 93: "such a one as a man may not speak of without he say 'Sir-reverence.'" Taylor the Water-Poet says in one of his epigrams:—
"If to a foule discourse thou hast pretence,
Before thy foule words name sir-reverence,
Thy beastly tale most pleasantly will slip,
And gaine thee praise, when thou deserv'st a whip."
Here "Mercutio says he will draw Romeo from the mire of this love, and uses parenthetically the ordinary form of apology for speaking so profanely of love" (Knight). For the full phrase, see Much Ado, iii. 4. 32, M. of V. ii. 2. 27, 139, etc.