Chapter 19

[106] No doubt the writer had in his mind the description of "Morpheus house" in the _Faerie Queene_ (Book i., Canto I).

[107] "Whisht" (more commonly "whist") = hushed, stilled. Cf. Milton, _Ode on the Nativity_:--

"The winds with wonder _whist_ Smoothly the waters kist."

[108] "Plancher" (Fr. planche) = a plank. Cf. _Arden of Feversham_, I. i. "Whilst on the _planchers_ pants his weary body," Shakespeare (_Measure for Measure_, iv. 1) has "a _planched_ gate."

[109] "Incontinent" = immediately. The expression is very common (_Richard II_., v. 6, &c.).

[110] These verses and Frisco's "Can you blow the little horne"? are evidently fragments of Old Ballads--to be recovered, let us hope, hereafter.

[111] These four lines are from the old ballad of _Fortune my foe_, which will be found printed entire in the _Bagford Ballads_ (Ed. J.W. Ebsworth, part iv. pp. 962-3); the music is given in Mr. W. Chappell's _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, I. 162. Mr. Ebsworth writes me:-- "I have ascertained (assuredly) that what I at first thought to be a reference to 'Fortune my foe' in the Stationers' Registers, 1565-66, entered to John Charlewood (_Arber's Transcripts_, l. 310), as 'of one complaining of ye mutabilitie of Fortune' is _not_ 'Fortune my foe,' but one of Lempill's ballads, printed by R. Lekpriwicke (_sic_), and still extant in the Huth Collections--the true title being 'Ane Complaint vpon Fortoun;' beginning 'Inconstant world, fragill and friuolus.'"

[112] Nares quotes from Chapman's _May Day_, "Lord, how you roll in your _rope-ripe_ terms." Minshew explains the word as "one ripe for a rope, or for whom the gallows groans." I find the expression "to rowle in their ropripe termes" in William Bullein's rare and curious "Dialogue both pleasaunt and pietiful," 1573, p. 116.

[113] A very common term for a pimp.

[114] "Bale of dice"--a pair of dice; the expression occurs in the _New Inn_, I. 3, &c.

[115] This song is set to music in an old collection by Ravenscroft, 1614.

[116] More usually written "mammets," i.e., puppets (_Rom. & Jul_. iii. 5; though, no doubt, in _Hen. IV_., ii. 3, Gifford was right in connecting the word with Lat. mamma).

[117] Cf. Drayton's _Fairy Wedding_:--

"Besides he's deft and wondrous airy, And of the noblest of the fairy! Chiefe of the Crickets of much fame In fairy a most ancient name."

So in _Merry Wives_, v. 5, l. 47.

[118] Quy. What kind o' God, &c.

[119] "There is a kind of crab-tree also or _wilding_ that in like manner beareth twice a yeare." Holland's Plinie, b. xvi.

[120] "Assoyle" usually = _absolve_; here _resolve, explain_.

[121] The italics are my own, as I suppose that the four lines were intended to be sung.

[122] 4to. It is, it is not, &c.

[123] The sense of "fine, rare," rather than that of "frequent, abundant" (as Nares explains), would seem to suit the passages in Shakespeare and elsewhere where the word is used colloquially.

[124] "Sib" = akin. Possibly the word still lingers in the North Country: Sir Walter Scott uses it in the _Antiquary_, &c.

[125] "Wonning" sc. dwelling (Germ. wohnen). Spenser frequently uses the word.

[126] A Spenserian passage (as Mr. Collier has pointed out): vid. F.Q., B. 2. C. xii. 71.

[127] 4to. then.

[128] 4to. And here she woman.

[129] "Caul" = part of a lady's head-dress: "reticulum crinale vel retiolum," Withals' Dictionarie, 1608 (quoted by Nares).

[130] "The battaile. The Combattantes Sir Ambrose Vaux, knight, and Glascott the Bayley of Southwarke: the place the Rule of the Kings Bench."

[131] In some copies the name "John Kirke" is given in full.

[132] _Bottom_ = a ball of worsted. George Herbert in a letter to his mother says: "Happy is he whose _bottom_ is wound up, and laid ready for work in the New Jerusalem." So in the _Virgin Martyr_ (v. 1),--"I, before the Destinies my _bottom_ did wind up, would flesh myself once more upon some one remarkable above all these."

[133] 4to. your.

[134] Cf. the catalogue of torments in the _Virgin Martyr_ (v. 1).

[135] The 4to prints the passage thus:--

"I have now livd my full time; Tell me, my _Henricke_, thy brave successe, That my departing soule May with thy story," &c.

Several times further on I shall have to alter the irregular arrangement of the 4to in order to restore the blank verse; but I shall not think it necessary to note the alteration.

[136] 4to, Horne.

[137] 4to, Aloft.

[138] The 4to gives '_The_ further,' and in the next line '_Or_ further.'

[139] The whole of this scene is printed as verse in the 4to. I have printed the early part as prose, that the reader's eye may not be vexed by metrical monstrosities.

[140] Sharpe i.e. sword. Vid. Halliwell's Dictionary.

[141] 4to. field.

[142] Sir Thomas Browne in _Vulgar Errors_ (Book 2, cap. 5) discusses this curious superstition at length:--'And first we hear it in every mouth, and in many good authors read it, that a diamond, which is the hardest of stones, not yielding unto steel, emery, or any thing but its own powder, is yet made soft, or broke by the blood of a goat. Thus much is affirmed by Pliny, Solinus, Albertus, Cyprian, Austin, Isidore, and many Christian writers: alluding herein unto the heart of man, and the precious blood of our Saviour, who was typified by the goat that was slain, and the scape goat in the wilderness: and at the effusion of whose blood, not only the hard hearts of his enemies relented, but the stony rocks and veil of the temple were shattered,' &c.

[143] The expression, to 'carry coals' (i.e. to put up with insults) is too common to need illustration.

[144] 4to. deaths prey. The change restores the metre.

[145] 'Owe' for 'own' is very common in Shakespeare.

[146] The 4to. prints this scene throughout as verse.

[147] 'Larroones,' from Fr. _larron_ (a thief). Cf. Nabbes' _Bride_, iii. 3. 'Remercie, Monsieur. Voe call a me Cooke now! de greasie _Larone_!'

[148] Quy. rogues.

[149] Quy. had. There seems to be a reference to Stephen's martyrdom described in _The Acts_.

[150] "Black Jack" and "bombard" were names given to wide leathern drinking-vessels.

[151] A term in venery.

[152] A hound's chaps were called "flews".

[153] 'Sparabiles,' nails used by shoemakers. Nares quotes Herrick:

Cob clouts his shoes, and, as the story tells, His thumb-nailes par'd afford him sperrables.'

The word is of uncertain derivation.

[154] 4to. recovering.

[155] 'Champion' is the old form of 'champain.'

[156] 'Diet-bread' was the name given to a sort of sweet seedcake: Vid. Nares' Glossary.

[157] Quy. Oh! what cold, famine, &c.

[158] For an account of the "bezoar nut" and the Unicorn's horn vid. Sir Thomas Browne's "Vulgar Errors," book iii. cap. xxiii.

[159] Vid. Liddell and Scott, s.v. [Greek: hypostasis].

[160] Sc. diaphoretick ([Greek: diaphoraetikos]), causing perspiration.

[161] _Rabby Roses_ is no doubt a corruption of _Averroes_, the famous editor of Aristotle, and author of numerous treatises on theological and medical subjects.

[162] Sir Thomas Browne (_Vulgar Errors_, I. vii.) quotes from Pierius another strange cure for a scorpion's bite, "to sit upon an ass with one's face towards his tail, for so the pain leaveth the man and passeth into the beast."

[163] "Bandogs" (or, more correctly speaking, "band-dogs")--dogs that had to be kept chained on account of their fierceness.

[164] (4to): men.

[165] 'Carbonardoed'--cut into collops for grilling: a common expression.

[166] 'Rochet.'

"A linen vest, like a surplice, worn by bishops, under their satin robes. The word, it is true, is not obsolete, nor the thing disused, but it is little known."--Nares. ("Lent unto thomas Dowton, the 11 of Aprel 1598, to bye tafitie to macke a _Rochet_ for the beshoppe in earlle good wine, xxiiii s." Henslowe's Diary, ed. Collier, p. 122.)

[167] (4to): by.

[168] The word "portage" occurs in a difficult passage of _Pericles_, iii. 1,--

"Even at the first Thy loss is more than can thy _portage_ quit With all thou canst find here."

If there be no corruption in the passage of _Pericles_, the meaning can only be (as Steevens explained) "thy safe arrival at the port of life." Our author's use of the word "portage" is even more perplexing than Shakespeare's; "Thy portion" would give excellent sense; but, with the passage of _Pericles_ before us, we cannot suppose that there is a printer's error. [In _Henry V_. 3, i, we find 'portage' for 'port-holes.']

[169] Quy. ever?

[170] The subst. _mouse_ is sometimes found as an innocent term of endearment, but more often in a wanton sense (like the Lat. passer).

[171] 'Felt locks'--matted locks, commonly called "elf-locks": the various forms "felted," "felter'd" and "feutred" are found.

[172] 'Stavesucre' (said to be a corruption of [Greek: staphis]. and usually written 'Staves-acre') a kind of lark-spur considered efficacious in destroying lice. Cf. Marlowe's _Dr. Faustus_ (i. 4)-- 'Stavesacre? that's good to kill vermin; then belike, if I serve you, I shall be lousy.'

[173] Quy. early-rioting.

[174] Ought we to read 'fins'? Webster (_Duchess of Malfi_, ii. 1) has the expression the '_fins_ of her eye-lids'; it is found also in the _Malcontent_ (i. 1), The confusion between the 'f' and the long 's' is very common.

[175] Shakespeare uses the verb 'fang' (_Timon of Athens_, iv. 3) in the sense of 'seize, clutch.'

[176] Varlet--'the serjeant-at-mace to the city counters was so called,' Halliwell (who, however, gives no instance of this use).

[177] 'Trunk-hose' wide breeches stuffed with wool, &c.

[178] I can make nothing of this verse: the obscurity is not at all removed by putting a comma after 'rules.' Doubtless the passage is corrupt.

[179] _Our rest we set_ in pleasing, &c., i.e., we have made up our mind to please. The metaphor is taken from primero (a game, seemingly, not unlike the Yankee 'poker'), where to 'set up rest' meant to stand on one's cards; but the expression was also used in a military sense. Vid: Furness' Variorum Shakesp., _Rom. & Iul_., iv. 5.

[180] In Vol. IX. of the _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ is an elaborate paper (since reprinted for private circulation) by the Rev. F.G. Fleay 'On the Actor Lists, 1538-1642.' The learned writer tells us nothing new about Samuel Rowley; but his essay well deserves a careful study.

[181] Quy. a _fury's_ face.

[182] 'Lacrymae'--one of the many allusions to John Dowland's musical work of that name.

[183] 'Laugh and lay down' (more usually written 'lie down') was the name of a game at cards. A prose-tract by 'C.T.,' published in 1605, is entitled 'Laugh and Lie Down: or the World's Folly.' The expression, it need hardly be said, is often used in a wanton sense.

[184] 4to. joyes.

[185] Quy. prove.

[186] Much of this scene is found, almost word for word, in colloquy 4 of John Day's _Parliament of Bees_.

[187] One of the characters in the _New Inn_ is Fly, 'the Parasite of the Inn'; and in the _Virgin Martyr_ (ii. 2) we also find the word 'fly' used (like Lat. musca) for an inquisitive person. In the text I suspect we should read 'fly-about' for flye-boat.

[188] 'Blacke gard' was the name given to the lowest drudges who rode amongst the pots and pans in royal processions: vid. Gifford's _Jonson_, II. 169.

[189] The compositor seems to have been dozing: the word 'Vaw' points to the reading 'Vaward,' and probably the passage ran--'this the Vaward, this the Rearward.'

[190] 'Totter'd' i.e. tatter'd. Cf. _Richard II_. (iii. 3) 'the castle's totter'd battlements' (the reading of the 4to.; the Folios give 'tatter'd'). In _King John_ (v. 5) I think, with Staunton, that the expression 'tott'ring colours' means 'drooping colours' rather than, as usually explained, 'tattered.'

[191] 'Spurn-point--An old game mentioned in a curious play called _Apollo Shroving_, 12mo., Lond. 1627, p. 49.' Halliwell.

[192] 'Grandoes'--I find the word so spelt in Heywood's _A Challenge for Beauty_--'I, and I assure your Ladiship, ally'de to the best Grandoes of _Spaine_.' (_Works_, v. 18.)

[193] 4to. _Albia_.

[194] Cornego is telling the Captain to 'duck'--to make his bow--to Onaelia.

[195] Nares quotes from the _Owles Almanacke_, 1618, p. 6, an allusion to this worthy,--'Since the _German fencer_ cudgell'd most of our English fencers, now about 5 moneths past.'

[196] It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that 'bastard' was the name of a sweet Spanish wine.

[197] 'Goll'--A cant expression for 'hand': it is found continually in our old writers.

[198] The words 'Some scurvy thing, I warrant' should no doubt be given to Cornego.

[199] The conversation between Onaelia and the Poet very closely resembles, in parts, _Character_ 5 of John Day's _Parliament of Bees_.

[200] 4to lanch.

[201] 'The Hanging Tune' i.e. the tune of 'Fortune my Foe,' to which were usually sung ballads relating to murders. The music of 'Fortune my Foe,' is given in Mr. Chappell's 'Popular Music of the Olden Time'; and the words may be seen in the 'Bayford Ballads' (edited by Mr. Ebsworth, our greatest master of ballad-lore).

[202] Cf. Dekker's _Match me in London_ (Dramatic Works, iv. 180)--

'I doe speake _English_ When I'de move pittie; when dissemble, _Irish_; _Dutch_ when I reele; and tho I feed on scalions _If I should brag Gentility I'de gabble Welch_.'

[203] Cf. Day's _Parliament of Bees_, Character 4.

[204] 'Estridge' is the common form of 'ostrich' among the Elizabethans (I Henry IV., iv. 1, &c).

[205] "Poire d'angoisse. _A choke-Peare; or a wild soure Peare_." Cotgrave.

[206] 4to. Moble.

[207] Quy. head.

[208] "Prick-song"--"harmony written or pricked down, in opposition to plain-song, where the descant rested with the will of the singer." Chappell's _Popular Music_, &c., I. 51.

[209] The keys of the 'virginal' were called 'Jacks.' For a description of the 'virginal' see Mr. Chappell's _Popular Music_, &c. I, 103.

[210] 'Coranta' i.e. curranto, news-sheet: Ben Jonson's 'Staple of News' gives us a good notion of the absurdities that used to be circulated.

[211] 'Linstocke' (or, more correctly, 'lint-stock')--a stick for holding a gunner's match.

[212] Toot--to pry into: 'tooter' was formerly the name for a 'tout' (vid. Todd's Johnson).

[213] 'Aphorisme. _An Aphorisme (or generall rule in Physicke)_.' Cotgrave.

[214] 4to. creaking.

[215] Rosemary was used at marriages and funerals.

[216] Day dedicates his _Humour out of Breath_ to 'Signeor Nobody': 'Signeor No,' the shorter form, is not unfrequently found (e.g. _Ile of Guls_, p. 59--my reprint). To whatever advantage _No_ may have appeared on the stage, he certainly is a pitiful object in print.

[217] _Baltazar's_ notions of Geography are vague. A most interesting account of Bantam, the capital of Java, may be seen in Vol. v. of Hakluyt's 'Collection of early Voyages,' ed. 1812. It occurs in the _Description of a Voyage made by certain Ships of Holland to the East Indies &c. ... Translated out of Dutch into English by W.P. London_. 1589. 'The towne,' we are told, 'is not built with streetes nor the houses placed in order, but very foule, lying full of filthy water, which men must passe through or leap over for they have no bridges.' For the people--'it is a very lying and theevish kind of people, not in any sort to be trusted.'

[218] The 'magical weed' I take to be hemlock; cf. Ben Jonson's _Masque of Queens_--

'And I have been plucking, plants among, Hemlock, henbane, adders-tongue Night-shade, moon-wort, libbard's bane And twice, by the dogs, was like to be ta'en.'

[219] The poisoned 'Spanish fig' acquired considerable notoriety among the early Dramatists: cf. Webster, _White_ Devil (p. 30, ed. Dyce, 1857.) 'I do look now for a _Spanish fig_ or an Italian salad daily': Dekker. (iv. 213, Pearson) 'Now doe I looke for a fig': whether Pistol's allusion (Henry V, iii. 6) is to the poisoned fig may be doubted.