Act iii.--_Collier.

[181] Luxury was the ancient term for incontinence.

[182] Years must be read _yearës_.

[183] This is not a name of syphilis, but a comparison only of it to a mole, on account of the effects it sometimes produces in occasioning the loss of hair.--_Pegge._

[184] Disembowelled.

[185] She means from the highest to the lowest of her sex. At this time women of the inferior order wore hats. See Hollar's _Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus_, 1640.--_Hazlitt._

[186] "Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride a gallop."

[187] That part of a ring in which the stone is set.

[188] Old copy, "Met."

[189] Bonds.

[190] _i.e._ Sand it, to prevent it from blotting, while the ink was wet.--_Steevens._

[191] _i.e._ Embrace.

[192] "Portico" has been suggested. But I see no reason to alter the text. "Portion" is here that which specially belongs to the soul as its birthright.

[193] Equivalent to hit the nail on the head, clinched the matter. Perhaps the metaphor is derived from ringing sound.

[194] Put a thief upon the track.

[195] Novice.

[196] A corruption of "God's blood."

[197] There is no reason to omit the word "by." Vendice seems to refer to "families called honourable," _i.e._, the children of lords.

[198] _i.e._ Next heir.

[199] Wheel of fortune.

[200] A play upon the double meaning of the word "angel," which was the name of a gold coin.

[201] Decline, droop.

[202] Long-suffering.

[203] Embrace.

[204] Alluding to the custom of hanging hats in ancient halls upon stags' horns.--_Steevens._

[205] This allusion to farms sold for a court-wardrobe is common in our drama.

[206] _i.e._ Measured.

[207] _i.e._ Honesty.

[208] Decline.

[209] _i.e._ Nightdresses.

[210] Alluding to the custom of entering horses sold at fairs in a book called the "Toll-book."

[211] Defile.

[212] Liars.

[213] Stable.

[214] Some lune or frenzy.

[215] Edits., "Impudent." The least imprudent is equivalent to the most farsighted or wary.

[216] _i.e._ Hat.

[217] Alluding to Duns Scotus, who commented upon "The Master of the Sentences."

[218] In the game of Primero.

[219] He imagines her to be speaking, and answers her.

[220] Embraces.

[221] Weak, treacherous.

[222] Poultry.

[223] A corruption of _certiorari_.

[224] Like.

[225] It has been suggested that _quarled_ is equivalent to _guarelled_; and that it alludes to poison put on arrows. The sound of the word seems to point at some synonym for _curdled_.

[226] Alluding to the 5th Commandment.

[227] _i.e._ Incite, encourage her.

[228] The reality and life of this dialogue passes any scenical illusion I ever felt. I never read it but my ears tingle, and I feel a hot flush spread my cheeks, as if I were presently about to "proclaim" some such "malefactions" of myself as the brothers here rebuke in this unnatural parent, in words more keen and dagger-like than those which Hamlet speaks to his mother. Such power has the passion of shame, truly personated, not only to "strike guilty creatures unto the soul," but to "appal" even those that are "free."--_Lamb._

[229] Michaelmas term now has but four returns.

[230] In secret.

[231] Hands.

[232] _i.e._ Unsheathe.

[233] _i.e._ The installation or putting in possession.

[234] Disclosed.

FINIS.