l. 705--

"Upon a day he gat him more moneie Than that the persone gat in monthes tweie. And thus with fained flattering and _japes_, He made the persone and the peple his apes."

And in "Batman upon Bartholome," 1535, as quoted by Sir John Hawkins, in his "History of Music," vol. ii., p. 125: "They kepe no counseyll, but they telle all that they here: sodeinly they laugh, and sodenly they wepe: alwaye they crye, jangle, and _jape_, uneth they ben stylle whyle they slepe."

"Nay, _iape_ not with hym, he is no smal fole. It is a solemnpne syre and solayne."

--Skelton's Works, [1843, vol. i., p. 17.]

[305] _i.e._, To meddle.--_S._

[306] Old copy, _Scole_.

[307] [Parties.]

[308] Minsheu, in his Dictionary, 1627 (as quoted by Mr Tollet, in his "Notes on Shakspeare," vol. v. p. 433, says: "Natural ideots and fools have and still do accustome themselves to weare in their cappes cockes feathers, or a hat with a necke and head of a cock on the top," &c. From this circumstance Diccon probably calls Dr Rat _a cox_; that is, _a coxcomb_, _an idiot_.)

[309] See the "History of Reynard the Fox," chap, vii., edit. 1701.--_S._

[310] [Wicked.] _Lither_ is used sometimes for _weak_ or _limber_, at other times _lean_ or _pale_. Several examples of the former are collected by Mr Steevens ("Notes on Shakspeare," vol. vi., p. 263).

Again, in "Euphues and his England," 1582, p. 24: "For as they that angle for the tortoys, having once caught him, are driven into such a _lythernesse_, that they loose all their spirites, being benummed so," &c. Of the latter, the following will serve as a proof (Erasmus's "Praise of Folie," Chaloner's translation, 1549, sig. F 2): "Or at lest hyre some younge Phaon for mede to dooe the thyng, still daube theyr _lither_ chekes with peintyng," &c.

[311] [An apparent reference to the story told in one of the early jest-books of a fellow who was led to execution, and who, when on the gallows, instead of a neck-verse, cried out, "Have at you daisy that grows yonder!" and leapt off the ladder. See "Pasquil's Jests," 1604, repr. Hazlitt, p. 48.]

[312] For the love of God, of heaven, or anything sacred, are adjurations frequently used at this day, and appear likewise to have been so at the time this play was written. From the indiscriminate use of them, it became customary on very earnest occasions to request _of all loves_, or _for all the loves on earth_. Of these modes of expression, Mr Steevens hath produced the following examples: "Conjuring his wife _of all loves_ to prepare cheer fitting."--"Honest Whore," part 1.

"Desire him _of all loves_ to come over quickly."

--Plautus's _Menæchmi_, 1595.

"I pray thee _for all loves_ be thou my mynde sens I am thyne."

--_Acolastus_, 1540.

"Mrs Arden desired him _of all loves_ to come back againe."--Holinshed's _Chronicle_, p. 1064.--"Notes on Shakspeare," vol. i., p. 279.

Again--

"Speak _of all loves_."

--_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act. ii., sc. 3.

[313] Securely or certainly. So in Chaucer's "Troilus and Cressida,"