Chapter 20

"Light, the fair grandchild to the glorious sun, Opening the casements of the _rosy morn_," &c.

--_S. Pegge_.

[180] So in "Hamlet," act i. sc. 1--

"But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, _Walks_ o'er the dew of _yon high eastern hill_."

[181] A _fool's bauble_, in its _literal_ meaning, is the carved truncheon which the licensed fools or jesters anciently carried in their hands. See notes on "All's Well that Ends Well," act iv. sc. 5. --_Steevens_.

[182] Winstanley has asserted that Oliver Cromwell performed the part of Tactus at Cambridge: and some who have written the life of that great man have fixed upon this speech as what first gave him ideas of sovereignty. The notion is too vague to be depended upon, and too ridiculous either to establish or refute. It may, however, not be unnecessary to mention that Cromwell was born in 1599, and the first edition of this play [was printed in 1607, and the play itself written much earlier]. If, therefore, the Protector ever did represent this character, it is more probable to have been at Huntingdon School.

[183] [Old copies, _scarve_, and so the edit. of 1780. Mr Collier substituted _change_ as the reading of the old copies, which it is not. See Mr Brae's paper read before the Royal Society of Literature, Jan. 1871, 8vo edit. 1873, p. 23, et seq.]

[184] Edits., _deeds_. Pegge thought that by _deeds_ was intended Tactus himself; but it is hard to say how this could be made out, as Tactus cannot be translated _deeds_, though Auditus might be rendered by metonymy _ears_.

[185] [Edit., _fear'd_.]

[186] In Surphlet's "Discourses on the Diseases of Melancholy," 4to, 1599, p. 102, the case alluded to is set down: "There was also of late a great lord, _which thought himselfe to be a glasse_, and had not his imagination troubled, otherwise then in this onely thing, for he could speake mervailouslie well of any other thing: he used commonly to sit, and tooke great delight that his friends should come and see him, but so as that he would desire them, that they would not come neere unto him."

[187] Hitherto misprinted _conclaves_.--_Collier_. [First 4to, correctly, _concaves_.]

[188] See Surphlet, p. 102.

[189] [An allusion to the myth of the werewolf.]

[190] [This proverb is cited by Heywood. See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 392.]

[191] [All the editions except 1657, _bidden_, and all have _arms_ for _harms_.]

[192] Presently, forthwith.

[193] [Edits., _wax_.]

[194] Some of the old copies [including that of 1607] read--

"Here lies the sense that _lying_ gull'd them all."

--_Collier_.

[195] Auditus is here called _Ears_, as Tactus is before called _Deed_.--_Pegge_. [But see note at p. 349.]

[196] Circles. So in Milton--

"Throws his steep flight in many an airy wheel."

--_Steevens_.

[197] [It is _Mendacio_ who speaks.]

[198] Old copies, _Egyptian knights_. Dr Pegge's correction.

[199] [Edits., _I_.]

[200] [Edits., _safe_.]

[201] A pun; for he means _Male aeger_.--_Pegge_.

[202] The [first edit.] gives the passage thus: _brandish no swords but sweards of bacon_, which is intended for a pun, and though bad enough, need not be lost.--_Collier_.

[203] _Glaves_ are swords, and sometimes partisans.--_Steevens_.

[204] Lat. for phalanxes.--_Steevens_.

[205] [Edits., _dept_.]

[206] Mars.

[207] See Note 2 to the "First Part of Jeronimo," [v. 349].

[208] [Edits., _kist_. The word _hist_ may be supposed to represent the whistling sound produced by a sword passing rapidly through the air.]

[209] i.e., Exceeds bounds or belief. See a note on "The Merry Wives of Windsor," act iv. sc. 2.--_Steevens_.

[210] "_Graecia mendax_ Audet in historia."--_Steevens_.

[211] [His "History," which is divided into nine books, under the names of the nine Muses.]

[212] i.e., Whispered him. See note to "The Spanish Tragedy," [vi. 10.]

[213] [Peter Martyr's "Decades."]

[214] A luncheon before dinner. The farmers in Essex still use the word.--_Steevens_.

So in the "Woman-hater," by Beaumont and Fletcher, act i. sc. 3, Count Valore, describing Lazarillo, says--

"He is none of these Same Ordinary Eaters, that'll devour Three breakfasts, as many dinners, and without any Prejudice to their _Beavers_, drinkings, suppers; But he hath a more courtly kind of hunger. And doth hunt more after novelty than plenty."

Baret, in his "Alvearic," 1580, explains _a boever_, a drinking betweene dinner and supper; and _a boïer_, meate eaten after noone, a collation, a noone meale.

[215] See Note 19 to "The Ordinary."

[216] [In 1576 Ulpian Fulwell published "The First Part of the Eighth Liberal Science, Entituled Ars Adulandi."]

[217] This word, which occurs in Ben Jonson and some other writers, seems to have the same meaning as our _numps_. I am ignorant of its etymology.--_Steevens_. [Compare Nares, 1859, in _v_.]

[218] i.e., Other requisites towards the fitting out of a character. See a note on "Love's Labour Lost," vol. ii. p. 385, edit. 1778. --_Steevens_.

[219] A busk-point was, I believe, the lace of a lady's stays. Minsheu explains a _buske_ to be a part of dress "made of wood or whalebone, a plated or quilted thing to keepe the body straight." The word, I am informed, is still in common use, particularly in the country among the farmers' daughters and servants, for a piece of wood to preserve the stays from being bent. _Points_ or laces were worn by both sexes, and are frequently mentioned in our ancient dramatic writers.

[220] [Edits., _hu, hu_.]

[221] [i.e., Our modern _pet_, darling, a term of endearment.] Dr Johnson says that it is a word of endearment from _petit_, little. See notes on "The Taming of the Shrew," act i. sc. 1.

Again, in "The City Madam," by Massinger, act ii. sc. 2--

"You are _pretty peats_, and your great portions Add much unto your handsomeness."

[222] Shirley, in his "Sisters," ridicules these hyperbolical compliments in a similar but a better strain--

"Were it not fine If you should see your mistress without hair, Drest only with those glittering beams you talk of? Two suns instead of eyes, and they not melt The forehead made of snow! No cheeks, but two Roses inoculated on a lily, Between a pendant alabaster nose: Her lips cut out of coral, and no teeth But strings of pearl: her tongue a nightingale's! Would not this strange chimera fright yourself?"

--_Collier_.

[223] [i.e., Doff it in salutation.]

[224] Alluding to the office of sheriff.

[225] "_Cassock_," says Mr Steevens, "signifies a horseman's loose coat, and is used in that sense by the writers of the age of Shakespeare. It likewise appears to have been part of the dress of rusticks." See note to "All's Well that Ends Well," act iv. sc. 3.

[226] "A _gimmal_ or _gimbal ring_, Fr. _gemeau_, utr. a Lat. Gemellus, q.d. Annulus Gemellus, quoniam, sc. duobus aut pluribus orbibus constat."--_Skinner_.

_Gimmal rings_ are often mentioned in ancient writers.

[227] "Quis nescit primam esse Historiae legem, ne quid falsi dicere audeat; deinde, ne quid veri non audeat."--Cicero "De Orat." lib. ii. 15.

[228] This was called "The Clouds," in which piece Socrates was represented hanging up in a basket in the air, uttering numberless chimerical absurdities, and blaspheming, as it was then reputed, the gods of his country. At the performance of this piece Socrates was present himself; and "notwithstanding," says his biographer, "the gross abuse that was offered to his character, he did not show the least signs of resentment or anger; nay, such was the unparalleled good nature of this godlike man, that some strangers there, being desirous to see the original of this scenic picture, he rose up in the middle of the performance, stood all the rest of the time, and showed himself to the people; by which well-placed confidence in his own merit and innocence, reminding them of those virtues and wisdom so opposite to the sophist in the play, his pretended likeness, he detected the false circumstances, which were obtruded into his character, and obviated the malicious designs of the poet who, having brought his play a second time upon the stage, met with the contempt he justly merited for such a composition." --Cooper's "Life of Socrates," p. 55.

[229] [Old copies, _page's tongue_; but Mendacio, Lingua's page, is intended. Perhaps we should read _Tongueship's page_.]

[230] [This is marked in the editions as the opening of a new scene, but wrongly, as it should seem, as the same persons remain on the stage, and the conversation is a sequel to what has gone before.]

[231] These were the names of several species of hawks. See an account of them in the "Treatises on Falconry," particularly those of Turbervile and Latham.

[232] i.e., Hedgehogs. See a note on Shakespeare's "Tempest," i. 28, edit. 1778.--_Steevens_.

Again, in Erasmus's "Praise of Folie," 1549, sig. Q 2: "That the soule of Duns woulde a litle leve Sorbone College, and enter into my breast, be he never so thornie, and fuller of pricles than is any _urcheon_."

[233] Perhaps, instead of _the masks are made so strong_, we ought to read, _the mesh is made so strong_. It clearly means the _mesh of the net_, from what is said afterwards.--_Collier_. [But _mask_, in Halliwell's "Dictionary," is said to be used for _mesh_. What is intended above is not a _net_, but a network ladder.]

[234] [_Hazard_, the plot of a tennis-court.--Halliwell's "Dictionary."]

[235] This is one of the many phrases in these volumes which, being not understood, was altered without any authority from the ancient copies. The former editions read _odd mouthing_; the text, however, is right; for old, as Mr Steevens observes, was formerly a common augmentative in colloquial language, and as such is often used by Shakespeare and others. See notes on the "Second Part of Henry IV." act ii. sc. 4, and "The Taming of the Shrew," act iii. sc. 2.

Again, in Tarlton's "Newes out of Purgatory," 1630, p. 34: "On Sunday at Masse there was _old ringing of bells_, and old and yong came to church to see the new roode."

[236] A sneer at the Utopian Treatises on Government.--_Steevens_.

[237] The latest of the old copies, [and the first edition, have] _wine_ instead of _swine_, which is clearly a misprint, as the _hogs_ of Olfactus are subsequently again mentioned.--_Collier_.

[238] [Old copies, _he_.]

[239] [A flogging.]

[240] [i.e., A blockhead, a fool.--_Steevens_.]

[241] _Nor I out of Memory's mouth_ is the correct reading, although the pronoun has been always omitted. Anamnestes is comparing his situation with that of Mendacio.--_Collier_.

[242] [See "Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," ii. 296.]

[243] [Another name of Jupiter.]

[244] [Edits., _belly_.]

[245] Chess.

[246] A favourite game formerly, and apparently one of the oldest in use. The manner in which it was played will appear from the following epigram of Sir John Harington, the translator of Ariosto--

_The Story of Marcus's Life at Primero_.

"Fond Marcus ever at _Primero_ playes, Long winter nights, and as long summer dayes: And I heard once to idle talke attending The story of his times and coins mis-spending At first, he thought himselfe halfe way to heaven, If in his hand he had but got a sev'n. His father's death set him so high on flote, All rests went up upon a sev'n and coate. But while he drawes from these grey coats and gownes, The gamesters from his purse drew all his crownes. And he ne'er ceast to venter all in prime, Till of his age, quite was consum'd the prime. Then he more warily his rest regards, And sets with certainties upon the cards, On sixe and thirtie, or on sev'n and nine, If any set his rest, and saith, and mine: But seed with this, he either gaines or saves, For either Faustus prime is with three knaves, Or Marcus never can encounter right, Yet drew two Ases, and for further spight Had colour for it with a hopeful draught But not encountred, it avail'd him naught. Well, sith encountring, he so faire doth misse, He sets not, till he nine and fortie is. And thinking now his rest would sure be doubled, He lost it by the hand, with which sore troubled, He joynes now all his stocke unto his stake, That of his fortune he full proofe may make. At last both eldest hand and five and fifty, He thinketh now or never (thrive unthrifty.) Now for the greatest rest he hath the push: But Crassus stopt a club, and so was flush: And thus what with the stop, and with the packe, Poore Marcus and his rest goes still to wracke. Now must he seek new spoile to rest his rest, For here his seeds turne weeds, his rest, unrest. His land, his plate he pawnes, he sels his leases, To patch, to borrow, and shift he never ceases. Till at the last two catch-poles him encounter, And by arrest, they beare him to the Counter. Now Marcus may set up all rests securely: For now he's sure to be encountred surely."

Minsheu thus explains _Primero_:--"_Primero and Primavista_, two games at cards. Primum et primum visum, that is, first and first seene, because he that can show such an order of cards first, winnes the game." [See Dyce's "Shakespeare Glossary," in _v_.]

[247] See Note 30 to "The Dumb Knight."

[248] [See "Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," ii. 318-19.] So in Dekker's "Belman's Nights-walke," it is alluded to:--"The set at _Maw_ being plaid out."

Henslowe in his Diary mentions a play under the title of "The Maw," which probably had reference to the game at cards so called. It was acted on the 14th December 1594. He also names a play entitled "The Macke," under date of Feb. 21, 1594-5; but it is doubtful if they were not the same.--_Collier_.

[249] In the old editions this is given as a part of what is said by Anamnestes.--_Collier_.

[250] [See Dyce's "Middleton," iii. 106. _There's no ho_, there are no bounds or restraints with them.--_Reed_. They are not to be restrained by a call or ho. The expression is common.--_Dyce_.]

[251] Rather Ptolemy.--_Pegge_.

[252] _Latten_, as explained by Dr Johnson, is "Brass; a mixture of Copper and Caliminaris stone." Mr Theobald, from Monsieur Dacier, says, "C'est une espece de cuivre de montagne, comme son nom mesme le temoigne; c'est ce que nous appellons au jourd'huy du _leton_. It is a sort of mountain copper, as its very name imports, and which we at this time of day call _latten_." See Mr Theobald's note on "The Merry Wives of Windsor," act i. sc. 1.

Among the Harleian MSS. is a tract, No. 6395, entitled "Merry Passages and Jeasts," written in the seventeenth century, [printed by Thoms in "Anecdotes and Traditions," 1839,] in which is the following story of Shakespeare, which seems entitled to as much credit as any of the anecdotes which now pass current about him: "Shake-speare was god-father to one of Ben Jonson's children, and after the christning, being in a deepe study, Jonson came to cheere him up, and ask't him why he was so melancholy? No, faith, Ben (sayes he) not I, but I have been considering a great while, what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my god-child, and I have resolv'd at last; I pr'y thee what, says he? I faith, Ben, Ile e'en give him a douzen good _Lattin_ spoones, and thou shall translate them."

[253] _Deft_ is handy, dexterous. So in "Macbeth," act iv. sc. 1--

"Thyself and office _deftly_ show."

See note on "Macbeth," edit. 1778.--_Steevens_.

[254] [Concert.]

[255] [Summoners, officers of the old ecclesiastical court.]

[256] [Ignorant of arts.]

[257] A _jangler_, says Baret, is "a jangling fellowe, a babbling attornie. _Rabula, ae_, mas. gen. [Greek: Dikologos]_ Vn pledoieur criard, une plaidereau_."

[258] This speech is in six-line stanzas, and _beforn_ should rhyme to _morn_, as it does in the old copies, which were here abandoned. --_Collier_.

[259] i.e., "Going. _Gate_, in the Northern Dialect, signifies a way; so that _agate_ is at or upon the way."--Hay's "Collection of Local Words," p. 13, edit. 1740.

[260] Here again, as in the passage at p. 354, we have _arms_ for _harms_. In the old copies this speech of the Herald is printed as prose.--_Collier_.

[261] A monster feigned to have the head of a lion, the belly of a goat, and the tail of a dragon.

[262] "If at any time in Rolls and Alphabets of Arms you meet with this term, you must not apprehend it to be that fowl which in barbarous Latine they call _Bernicla_, and more properly (from the Greek) _Chenalopex_--a creature well known in Scotland, yet rarely used in arms; but an instrument used by farriers to curb and command an unruly horse, and termed Pastomides."--Gibbons's "Introductio ad Latinam Blasoniam," 1682, p. 1.

[The allusion here is to the barnacle of popular folk-lore and superstition, which, from a shell-fish, was transformed into a goose.--See "Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," iii. 309.]

[263] [A reference to the belief in prodigies reported from Africa. "Africa semper aliquid oportet novi."--S. Gosson's "School of Abuse," 1579. See also Rich's "My Ladies Looking-glass," 1616, sig. B 3.]

[264] [Edits. give this speech to the Herald.]

[265] [The head.]

[266] A celebrated puppet-show often mentioned by writers of the times by the name of the Motion of Nineveh. See Ben Jonson's "Bartholomew Fair," act v. sc. 1; "Wit at Several Weapons," act i.; "Every Woman in her Humour," 1609, sig. H, and "The Cutter of Coleman Street," act v. sc. 9.

[267] So in "Twelfth Night," act i. sc. 1.

"That strain again; it had a dying _fall_."--_Steevens_.

[268] [Edits., _bitter_.]

[269] [See Dyce's "Beaumont and Fletcher," ii. 225, note.] Theobald observes in his edition of "Beaumont and Fletcher," that this ballad is mentioned again in "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," and likewise in a comedy by John Tatham, 1660, called "The Rump, or Mirrour of the Times," wherein a Frenchman is introduced at the bonfires made for the burning of the Rump, and catching hold of Priscilla, will oblige her to dance, and orders the music to play _Fortune my foe_. Again, in "Tom Essence," 1677, p. 37.

[270] A dance. Sir John Davies, in his poem called "Orchestra," 1596, stanza 70, thus describes it--

"Yet is there one, the most delightfull kind, A loftie jumping, or a leaping round, Where arme and arme two dauncers are entwind, And whirle themselues with strict embracements bound, And still their feet an _anapest_ do sound: An _anapest_ is all their musicks song, Whose first two feet are short, and third is long."

71.

"As the victorious twinnes of Laeda and Ioue, That taught the Spartans dauncing on the sands, Of swift Eurotas, daunce in heauen aboue, Knit and vnited with eternall hands, Among the starres their double image stands, Where both are carried with an equall pace, Together iumping in their turning race."

[271] "Or, as it is oftener called, _passa mezzo_, from _passer_ to walk, and _mezzo_ the middle or half; a slow dance, little differing from the action of walking. As a Galliard consists of five paces or bars in the first strain, and is therefore called a Cinque pace; the _passa mezzo_, which is a diminutive of the Galliard, is just half that number, and from that peculiarity takes its name."--Sir John Hawkins's "History of Music," iv. 386. [Compare Dyce's second edition of Shakespeare, iii. 412.]

[272] i.e., St Leger's round. "Sellinger's round was an old country dance, and was not quite out of knowledge in the last century. Morley mentions it in his Introduction, p. 118, and Taylor the Water Poet, in his tract, entitled, 'The World runs on Wheels;' and it is printed in a 'Collection of Country Dances,' published by John Playford in 1679."--Sir John Hawkins's "History of Music," iii. 288, where the notes are engraved.

[273] See Plinii "Nat. Hist.," lib. v. c. 9.

[274] The author certainly in writing this beautiful passage had Spenser ("Faerie Queene," b. ii. c. 12) in his mind.

"The joyous birds shrouded in cheerful shade," &c.

--_Collier_.

[275] Alluding to the fish called the _Sole_, and the musical note _Sol_.--_Pegge_.

[276] See note [235].

[277] Mixed metal, from the French word _mesler_, to mingle, mix.

[278] [Lightning-bolt.]

[279] [Camphored.]

[280] Plin. "Nat. Hist." lib. xxxvi. c. 16. "Sideritin ob hoc alio nomine appellant quidam Heracleon: Magnes appellatus est ab inventore (ut auctor est Nicander) in Ida repertus."--_Pegge_.

[281] So in "The Merchant of Venice," act i. sc. 1--

"With mirth and _laughter_ let old _wrinkles_ come."

See also the notes of Bishop Warburton and Dr Farmer on "Love's Labour's Lost," act v. sc. 4.--_Steevens_.

[282] This quotation from Plautus, and that which follows from Terence, were assigned by Mr Reed to Communis Sensus, when, in fact, they belong to Comedus. The initials _Com_. in the old copies led to the error.--_Collier_.

[283] The first lines of the prologue to Plautus's "Menechmi."

[284] See Terence's "Eunuch," act i. sc. 1.

[285] At the universities, where degrees are conferred.

[286] i.e., A porch which has as many spiral windings in it as the shell of the _periwinkle_, or sea-snail.--_Steevens_.

[287] i.e., Bottles to cast or scatter liquid odours.--_Steevens_.

[288] The custom of censing or dispersing fragrant scents seems formerly to have been not uncommon. See Ben Jonson's "Every Man out of his Humour," act ii. sc. 4.

[289] _Pomanders_ were balls of perfume formerly worn by the higher ranks of people. Dr Gray, in his "Notes on Shakespeare," vol. i. p. 269, says "that a _pomander_ was a little ball made of perfumes, and worn in the pocket, or about the neck, to prevent infection in times of plague." From the above receipt, it appears they were moulded in different shapes, and not wholly confined to that of balls; and the like direction is given in another receipt for making _pomanders_ printed in Markham's "English Housewife," p. 151, edit. 1631.

[290] _Non bene olet, qui semper bene olet_.

[291] Probably some character notorious in the University of Cambridge at the time when this play was written or represented.--_Steevens_.

[292] Turquois.

[293] [Sharpen.]

[294] [Edits., _musing_.]

[295] [Primary.]

[296] [The wine so called.]

[297] Finer, more gaudily dressed. So in "Wily Beguiled"--

"Come, nurse, gather: A crown of roses shall adorn my head, I'll _prank_ myself with flowers of the prime; And thus I'll spend away my primrose time."

And in Middleton's "Chast Mayd in Cheapside," 1630 [Dyces "Middleton," iv. 59]--

"I hope to see thee, wench, within these few yeeres Circled with children, _pranking_ up a girl, And putting jewels in their little eares, Fine sport, i'faith."

[298] i.e., Whisper, or become silent. As in Nash's "Pierce Penilesse, his Supplication to the Divell," 1592, p. 15: "But _whist_, these are the workes of darknesse, and may not be talkt of in the daytime." [The word is perfectly common.]

[299] While he is speaking, Crapula, from the effects of over-eating, is continually coughing, which is expressed in the old copies by the words _tiff toff, tiff toff_, within brackets. Though it might not be necessary to insert them, their omission ought to be mentioned. --_Collier_.

[300] i.e., Glutton; one whose paunch is distended by food. See a note on "King Henry IV., Part I," v. 304, edit. 1778.--_Steevens_.

[301] i.e., Whisper.

[302] [Visus fancies himself Polyphemus searching for Outis--i.e., Ulysses, who had blinded him.]

[303] [Edits., _Both_.]

[304] [Row.]

[305] [Nearest.]

[306] [Edits., _ambrosian_.]

[307 [Fiddle.]

[308] A voiding knife was a long one used by our indelicate ancestors to sweep bones, &c., from the table into the _voider_ or basket, in which broken meat was carried from the table.--_Steevens_.

[309] Reward.

[310] [Edits., _him_.]

[311] [Edits., _sprites_.]

[312] The edition of 1657 reads--

"A greater soldier than the god of _Mars_."

--_Collier_. [The edition of 1607 also has _Mars_.]

[313] i.e., Hamstring him.--_Steevens_.

[314] "_Gulchin, q.d_. a _Gulckin_, i.e., parvus Gulo; _kin_ enim minuit. Alludit It. _Guccio_, Stultus, hoc autem procul dubio a Teut. _Geck_, Stultus, ortum ducit."--_Skinner_. Florio explains _Guccio_, a gull, a sot, a ninnie, a meacock. Ben Jonson uses the word in "The Poetaster," act iii. sc. 4: "Come, we must have you turn fiddler again, slave; get a base violin at your back, and march in a tawny coat, with one sleeve, to Goose-fair; then you'll know us, you'll see us then, you will _gulch_, you will."

[315] _Bawsin_, in some counties, signifies a _badger_. I think I have heard the vulgar Irish use it to express bulkiness. Mr Chatterton, in the "Poems of the Pseudo-Rowley," has it more than once in this sense. As, _bawsyn olyphantes_, i.e., bulky elephants.--_Steevens_.

[316] [Edits., _weary_. I wish that I could be more confident that _weird_ is the true word. _Weary_ appears to be wrong, at any rate.]

[317] [Edits., _bedewy_.]

[318] [This and Chanter are the names of dogs. Auditus fancies himself a huntsman.]

[319] _Counter_ is a term belonging to the chase. [Gascoigne,] in his "Book of Hunting," 1575, p. 243, says, "When a hounde hunteth backwardes the same way that the chase is come, then we say he hunteth _counter_. And if he hunt any other chase than that which he first undertooke, we say he hunteth _change_." So in "Hamlet," act iv. sc. 5--

"How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! O, this is _counter_, you false Danish dogs."

See Dr Johnson's note on this passage.

[320] [The author may have had in his mind an anecdote related of Queen Elizabeth and Sir Edward Dyer. See the "New London Jest Book," p. 346.]

[321] [Flatulent.]

[322] [_Rett_ and _Cater_ appear to be the names of dogs. Edits. print _ware wing cater_.]

[323] [See note at p. 367.]

[324] Idle, lazy, slothful. Minsheu derives it from the French _lasche_, desidiosus.

[325] [See a review of, and extracts from, this very curious play in Fry's "Bibliographical Memoranda," 1816, pp. 345-50.]

[326] Catalogue of the library of John Hutton. Sold at Essex House, 1764, p. 121. The whole title of the tract, which Mr Reed does not appear to have seen, as he quotes it only from a sale catalogue, is as follows:--"Three Miseries of Barbary: Plague, Famine, Ciuill warre. With a relation of the death of Mahamet the late Emperour: and a briefe report of the now present Wars betweene the three Brothers. Printed by W.I. for Henry Gosson, and are to be sold in Pater noster rowe, at the signe of the Sunne." It is without date, and the name of the author, George Wilkins, is subscribed to a dedication, "To the right worshipfull the whole Company of Barbary Merchants." The tract is written in an ambitious style, and the descriptions are often striking; but there is nothing but the similarity of name to connect it with "The Miseries of Enforced Marriage."--_Collier_.

[327] [Hazlitt's "Handbook," 1867, p. 656.]

[328] [Not in the old copies.]

[329] "This comedy (as Langbaine improperly calls it) has been a great part of it revived by Mrs Behn, under the title of 'The Town Fop, or Sir Timothy Tawdry.'"

[330] These were among the articles of extravagance in which the youth of the times used to indulge themselves. They are mentioned by Fennor, in "The Compters Commonwealth," 1617, p. 32: "Thinkes himselfe much graced (as to be much beholding to them) as to be entertained among gallants, that were wrapt up in sattin suites, cloakes lined with velvet, that scorned to weare any other then beaver hats and gold bands, rich swords and scarfes, silke stockings and gold fringed garters, or russett bootes and _gilt spurres_; and so compleate cape ape, that he almost dares take his corporal oath the worst of them is worth (at least) a thousand a yeare, when heaven knows the best of them all for a month, nay, sometimes a yeare together, have their pockets worse furnished then Chandelors boxes, that have nothing but twopences, pence, halfe pence, and leaden tokens in them."

[331] The following quotation from the "Perfuming of Tobacco, and the great abuse committed in it," 1611, shows, in opposition to Mr Gilchrist's conjecture, that _drinking_ tobacco did not mean extracting the juice by chewing it, but refers to drawing and drinking the smoke of it. "The smoke of tobacco (the which Dodoneus called rightly Henbane of Peru) _drunke_ and _drawen_, by a pipe, filleth the membranes (_meninges_) of the braine, and astonisheth and filleth many persons with such joy and pleasure, and sweet losse of senses, that they can by no means be without it." In fact, to _drink_ tobacco was only another term for smoking it.--_Collier_.

[332] Alluding to the colour of the habits of servants.

[333] i.e., Owns. See note to "Cornelia" [v. 232].

[334] The omission of this stage direction, which is found in the old copies, rendered what follows it unintelligible. Perhaps _Who list to have a lubberly load_ is a line in some old ballad.--_Collier_.

[335] [Anthony Munday.]

[336] A custom still observed at weddings.

[337] _Himself_, omitted by Mr Reed, and restored now from the old copy of 1611.--_Collier_.

[338] [Edits., _pugges_.]

[339] [Edits, read--

"They are _sovereigns_, cordials that preserve our lives."

[340] See Mr Steevens's note on "Othello," act ii. sc. 1. [But compare Middleton's "Blurt, Master Constable," 1602 ("Works," by Dyce, i. 280).]

[341] [Edits., _his_. Even the passage is now obscure and unsatisfactory.]

[342] [Separate.] This is obviously quoted from the marriage ceremony: as Mr Todd has shown, the Dissenters in 1661 did not understand _depart_ in the sense of _separate_, which led to the alteration of the Liturgy, "till death us _do part_." In the "Salisbury Manual" of 1555 it stands thus: "I, N, take thee, M, to my wedded wyf, to have and to holde fro this day forwarde, for better for wors, for richer for poorer, in sicknesse and in hele, tyl deth us _departe_."--_Collier_.

So in "Every Woman in her Humour," 1609: "And the little God of love, he shall be her captain: sheele sewe under him _'till death us depart_, and thereto I plight thee my troth." And Heywood, in his "Wise Woman of Hogsdon," iii., makes Chastley also quote from the marriage ceremony: "If every new moone a man might have a new wife, that's every year a dozen; but this _'till death us depart_ is tedious."

[343] [Edits., _two sentinels_.]

[344] Edits., _them one_.

[345] [Edits., _lives_.]

[346] [Remind.]

[347] [Edits., _know him great_, which could only be made sense by supposing it to mean, _knowing him rich_, and not a person to be offended. Scarborow afterwards repudiates the idea of being _ungrateful_.]

[348] By a misprint the three following lines have been till now given to Harcop.--_Collier_.

[349] [Edits., _your presence_.]

[350] First edit., _even_.

[351] [Edits., _is_.]

[352] [Edits., _what_.]

[353] That is, acquainted, or informed him. So in "Every Man in his Humour," act i. sc. 5, Bobadil says, "_Possess_ no gentleman of our acquaintance with notice of my lodging." And again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Honest Man's Fortune," act ii. sc. 1--

"Sir, I am very well _possess'd_ of it."

[354] Edits. 1629 [and 1637], _honoured_.

[355] First edit., _how_.

[356] [Edits., _they_.]

[357] The word _sir_ was inserted here as if only to spoil the measure. --_Collier_.

[358] i.e., Amerce.--_Steevens_.

[359] [i.e., the bond.]

[360] [Edits., _pergest_, which Steevens in a note explained _goeth on_, from Lat. _pergo_; and Nares cites the present passage for the word. I do not believe that it was ever employed in English, though Shakespeare uses the original Latin once. _Purgest_ is surely preferable, since Ilford has been just giving a list of those he has undone.]

[361] [Apparently a play on the double meaning of _talent_ is intended.]

[362] [Bonds.]

[363] In a similar vein of humour, but much more exquisite, Addison, speaking of Sir Roger de Coverley, says, "He told me some time since that, upon his courting the perverse widow, he had disposed of an hundred acres in a diamond ring, which he would have presented her with, had she thought fit to accept it; and that upon her wedding-day she should have carried on her head fifty of the tallest oaks upon his estate. He further informed me that he would have given her a coalpit to keep her in clean linen; that he would have allowed her the profits of a windmill for her fans, and have presented her once in three years with the shearing of his sheep for her under-petticoats."--_Spectator_, No. 295.

In Wilson's "Discourse uppon Usurye," 1572, the subsequent passage occurs:--"Thus master merchant, when he hath robbed the poore gentleman and furnisht him in this manner to get a little apparel upon his back, girdeth him with this pompe in the tail: Lo, sayethe hee, yonder goeth a very strong stowt gentleman, for _he cariethe upon his backe a faire manour, land and all_, and may therefore well be standard-bearer to any prince Christian or heathen."

[364] [Chicken.]

[365] The place most commonly used for exposing the heads of traitors.

[366] [Edits.--

"O! but what shall I write? Mine own excuse."

[367] [Edits., _large, full_.]

[368] [Edits., _appearance, and so as they are, I hope we shall be, more indeer'd, intirely, better, and more feelingly acquainted_.]

[369] [Either whets their appetite, or prostrates them. The speaker alludes probably to the early forenoon meal then in vogue.]

[370] The line was formerly mispointed, and misprinted thus--

"Then live a strumpet. Better be unborn."

Clare means, that it were better never to have been born than to live a strumpet.--_Collier_.

[371] Edit. 1611, _would_; and in the next line, _did_.

[372] [Edits., _That_.]

[373] [Edits., _writes_.]

[374] Pitiless, without pity.

[375] [Edits., _her_.]

[376] [This line is assuredly corrupt, but the true reading is a matter of question.]

[377] [Edits., _and_.]

[378] Their exit is not marked, but as their re-entrance is noticed afterwards, it is to be presumed that they followed, the old man out.

[379] Perhaps misprinted for _haven_.--_Collier_.

[380] _Example by, &c_.--second and third edits.

[381] [Edits.], _stare_-wearer, which means no doubt _stair_-wearer, or wearer of the stairs by going up and down them so frequently at call. --_Collier_.

[382] [Edit. 1607, _ha't for you_.]

[383] "_Red lattice_ at the doors and windows were formerly the external denotements of an alehouse; hence the present _chequers_." Mr Steevens observes (note to "Merry Wives of Windsor," act ii. sc. 2) that "perhaps the reader will express some surprise when he is told that shops with the sign of the _chequers_, were common among the Romans. See a view of the left-hand street of Pompeii (No. 9) presented by Sir William Hamilton (together with several others equally curious) to the Antiquary Society." [Compare "Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," ii. 277-8.] Marston, in the "First Part of Antonio and Mellida," act v., makes Balurdo say: "No, I am not Sir Jeffrey Balurdo: I am not as well known by my wit as an _alehouse_ by a _red lattice_."

[384] i.e., Defiles. See note on "Macbeth," edit. 1778, iv. 524. --_Steevens_.

[385] [See note at p. 470.]

[386] The first edit, reads, _and any man else and he_.

[387] Three different departments of a prison, in which debtors were confined according to their ability or incapacity to pay for their accommodations: all three are pretty accurately described by Fennor in "The Compter's Commonwealth," 1617.

[388] [Edits., _importance_.]

[389] _Sack_ with _sugar_ was formerly a favourite liquor. Although it is mentioned very often in contemporary writers, it is difficult to collect from any circumstances what the kind of wine then called _sack_ was understood to be. In the Second Part of "Henry IV.," act iv. sc. 3, Falstaff speaks of _sherris sack_; and Dr Johnson supposes the fat knight's admired potation was what we now call _sherry_, which he says is drunk with sugar. This last assertion is contradicted by Mr Steevens, who with more truth asserts that _sherry_ is at this time never drunk with _sugar_, whereas _Rhenish_ frequently is. Dr Warburton seems to be of opinion that the sweet wine still denominated _sack_ was that so often mentioned by Falstaff, and the great fondness of the English nation for _sugar_ rather countenances that idea. Hentzner, p. 88, edit. 1757, speaking of the manners of the English, says, _In potu copiosae immittunt saccarum_--they put a great deal of sugar in their drink; and Moryson, in his "Itinerary," 1617, p. 155, mentioning the Scots, observes, "They drinke pure wines, not with _sugar, as the English_;" again, p. 152, "But gentlemen garrawse onely in wine, with which many mixe _sugar_, which I never observed in any other place or kingdome to be used for that purpose: and because the taste of the English is thus delighted with sweetnesse, the wines in tavernes (for I speak not of merchants or gentlemen's cellars) are commonly mixed at the filling thereof, to make them pleasant." _Sack and sugar_ are mentioned in "Jack Drum's Entertainment," sig. G 3; "The Shoemaker's Holiday," sig. E; "Everie Woman in Her Humour," sig. D 4; and "The Wonderful Yeare," 1603. It appears, however, from the following passage in "The English Housewife," by Gervase Markham, 1631, p. 162, that there were various species of _sack_: "Your best _sacke_ are of Seres in Spaine, your smaller of Galicia and Portugall: your strong _sackes_ are of the islands of the Canaries and of Malligo, and your Muscadine and Malmseys are of many parts of Italy, Greece, and some speciall islands." [But see an elaborate note on sack (vin sec) in Dyce's "Shakespeare Glossary," in _v_.]

[390] [Edit., _courses_.]

[391] [A room in the inn so called.]

[392] The second edition has it, _my master hopes to ride a cockhorse by him before he leaves him_.--_Collier_.

[393] _Such is Master Scarborow; such are his company_--edit. 1611. --_Collier_.

[394] [A room so called.]

[395] [Old copies, _time_.]

[396] See note to "The City Nightcap," act iii.

[397] Move, or stir. _Bouger_, Fr.

[398] I believe an _Epythite_ signifies a beggar--[Greek: epithetaes].-- _Steevens_.

[399] [Alluding to a tapestry representing the story of Susanna.]

[400] [Edits., _father's old man_.]

[401] [Edits., _to_.]

[402] [Booty, earnings.]

[403] This is a corruption of the Italian _corragio_! courage! a hortatory exclamation. So, in the Epilogue to "Albumazer," 1615--

Two hundred crowns? and twenty pound a year For three good lives? _cargo_! hai, Trincalo!"

--_Steevens_.

[404] A Fr. G. _Cigue_, utr. a Lat. Cucuta.--_Skinner_.

_Cigue_ f. Hemlocke, Homlocke, hearbe Bennet, Kex.--_Cotgrave_.

[405] _Dry-meat_ is inserted from the copy of 1611.--_Collier_.

[406] _Heir_ and _heiress_ were formerly confounded in the same way as _prince_ was applied to both male and female. So in Cyril Tourneur's "Atheist's Tragedy," 1612, we have--

This Castabella is a wealthy _heire_."

--_Collier_.

[407] We must here suppose that butler whispers to Ilford the place where the lady _lies_ or _lodges_.--_Collier_.

[408] The following extracts from Stubbes's "Anatomie of Abuses," 4to, 1595, p. 57, will show the manners of the English in some particulars which are alluded to in the course of these volumes: "Other some (i.e., of the women of England) spend the greatest part of the day _in sitting at the dore_, to show their braveries, and to make knowne their beauties, to beholde the passengers by, to view the coast, to see fashions, and to acquaint themselves with the bravest fellows; for if not for these causes, I see no other causes why they _should sit at their dores_, from morning till noon (as many do), from noon to night, thus vainly spending their golden dayes in filthy idleness and sin. Againe, other some being weary of that exercise, take occasion (about urgent affaires you must suppose) to walke into the towne, and least anything might be gathered, but that they goe about serious matters indeed, they take their baskets in their hands, or under their arms, under which pretence pretie conceits are practized, and yet may no man say black is their eye.

"In the field's and suburbes of the cities they have gardens either paled or walled round about very high, with their harbers and bowers fit for the purpose. And least they might be espied in these open places, they have their banquetting-houses with galleries, turrets, and what not, therein sumptuously erected: wherein they may (and doubtless do) many of them play the filthy persons. And for that their gardens are locked, some of them have three or four keys a piece, whereof one they keep for themselves, the other their paramours have to goe in before them, least happily they might be perceived, for then were all the sport dasht. Then to these gardens they repair, when they list, with a basket and a boy, where they meeting their sweet harts, receive their wished desires."

[409] See note to "The Parson's Wedding," iii. 3.

[410] [A woman of loose character. Such was its ordinary acceptation, yet not its invariable one. See Lovelace's Poems, by Hazlitt, 1864, pp. xl., xli., and 133, notes.] See note to "King Henry IV., Part II.," edit. 1778, v. 522.--_Steevens_.

[411] [Edits., _throw_.]

[412] "Towards the rear of the stage there appears to have been a balcony or upper stage, the platform of which was probably eight or nine feet from the ground. I suppose it to have been supported by pillars. From hence, in many of our old plays, part of the dialogue was spoken; and in front of it curtains likewise were hung, so as occasionally to conceal the persons in it from the view of the audience."--Malone's "History of the Stage." See his edition of "Shakespeare" by Boswell, iii. 79.

[413] [The two brothers, disguised for the purpose, pretend to be their sister's uncles, and engage in a conversation about her marriage, intended to be overheard by Ilford and the others below.]

[414] [Edits., _beyond discourse, she's a paragon for a prince, than a fit implement for a gentleman; beyond my element_.]

[415] [Edit. 1607] says, _Exit Ilford with his Sister_, but this is obviously an error: it means with Scarborow's sister.--_Collier_.

[416] _Indeed_, second and third editions.

[417] [Edits., _for_.]

[418] [Edits., _flourish_.]

[419] [i.e., _Which make_.]

[420] _Them_ is the reading of the quarto, 1611, and perhaps Thomas refers to "nature and her laws," mentioned not very intelligibly, in his preceding speech.--_Collier_. [The first edit. of 1607 reads rightly _thee_.]

[421] The grammar and language of this line are alike obscure and incorrect; but the sense is tolerably clear--"Thou hast been so bad, the best thing I can say is, &c."

[422] [Edits., _finisht_.]

[423] i.e. Measure it out. Hesperiam metire jacens.--_Virgil_. --_Steevens_.

[424] i.e., Facility; [Greek: euergos], facilis.--_Steevens_.

[425] "Apud eosdem nasci Ctesias scribit, quam mantichoram appellat, triplici dentium ordine pectinatim coeuntium, facie et auriculis hominis, oculis glaucis, colore sanguineo, corpore leonis, cauda scorpionis modo spicula infigentem: vocis ut si misceatur fistulae et tubae concentus: velocitatis magnae, humani corporis vel praecipue appetentem."--C. Plinii "Nat. Hist." lib. viii. c. 21.

[426] The edit. 1611, reads--

"Do as the devil does, hate panther-mankind."--_Collier_.

[427] _All--breath_, edits. 1611 and 1629.

[428] The old copy of 1611 reads, _unto their wives_, and it has been supposed a misprint for _wines_; but this seems doubtful taking the whole passage together, and the subsequent reference to the _children. --Collier_.

[429] i.e., To defile. So in Churchyard's "Challenge," 1593, p. 251--

"Away foule workes, that _fil'd_ my face with blurs!"

Again, "Macbeth," act iii. sc. 1--

"If it be so, For Banquo's issue have I _fil'd_ my mind."

See also Mr Steevens's note on the last passage.

[430] Sorry for you.

[431] [Edits., _or_, which is merely the old form of _ere_.]

[432] Mischievous, unlucky. So in "All's Well that Ends Well," act i. sc. 5--

"A shrewd knave and an _unhappy_."

See also Mr Steevens's note on "Henry VIII.," act i. sc. 4.

[433] _I_ formerly was the mode of writing, as well as pronouncing, this word.

[434] ["The fine effect which is produced through the foregoing scenes by the idea of the 'Enforced Marriage' hanging on them like the German notion of Fate, is destroyed by this happy ending."--_MS. note in one of the former edits_.]

[435] [Bond.]

[436] [So in the ballad of "Auld Robin Gray"--

"My mother did na speak, But she look'd me in the face," &c.

--_MS. note in one of the former edits_.]

[437] '51 edit. 1607, _letter_.

[438] _Ignes fatui_, Wills o' th' Wisp. See Mr Steevens's Note on "King Henry VIII.," act v. sc. 3.

[439] [Edits., _And these_. The emendation is conjectured.]