The Devil is an Ass

4. 4. 191, 2 What things they are? That nature should be at leasure
  Euer to make ’hem! Cf. Ev. Man in, Wks. 1. 119: ‘O manners that this age should bring forth such creatures! that nature should be at leisure to make them!’

4. 4. 197 Hee makes a wicked leg. Gifford thinks that wicked here means ‘awkward or clownish.’ It seems rather to mean ‘roguish,’ a common colloquial use.

4. 4. 201 A setled discreet pase. Cf. 3. 5. 22; 2. 7. 33; and Dekker, Guls Horne-booke, Non-dram. Wks. 2. 238: ‘Walke vp and downe by the rest as scornfully and as carelesly as a Gentleman-Usher.’

4. 4. 202 a barren head, Sir. Cf. 2. 3. 36, 7 and 4. 2. 12. Here again we have a punning allusion to the uncovered head of the gentleman-usher. ‘It was a piece of state, that the servants of the nobility, particularly the gentleman-usher, should attend bare-headed.’ Nares, Gloss. For numerous passages illustrating the practice both in regard to the gentleman-usher and to the coachman, see the quotations in Nares, and Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, Wks. 1. 19; Chapman, Gentleman-Usher, Wks. 1. 263; and the following passage, ibid. 1. 273:

A passage from Lenton (see note 4. 4. 134) may also be quoted: ‘He is forced to stand bare, which would urge him to impatience, but for the hope of being covered, or rather the delight hee takes in shewing his new-crisp’t hayre, which his barber hath caused to stand like a print hedge, in equal proportion.’

The dramatists ridiculed it by insisting that the coachman should be not only bare-headed, but bald. Cf. 2. 3. 36 and Massinger, City Madam, Wks. p. 331: ‘Thou shalt have thy proper and bald-headed coachman.’ Jonson often refers to this custom. Cf. Staple of News, Wks. 5. 232:

New Inn, Wks. 5. 374:

Cf. also Mag. La., Wks. 6. 36, and Tale Tub, Wks. 6. 217 and 222.

4. 4. 204 his Valley is beneath the waste. ‘Waist’ and ‘waste’ were both spelled waste or wast. Here, of course, is a pun on the two meanings.

4. 4. 206 Dulnesse vpon you! Could not you hit this? Cf. Bart. Fair, Wks. 4. 358: ‘Now dullness upon me, that I had not that before him.’

4. 4. 209 the French sticke. Walking-sticks of various sorts are mentioned during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. ‘In Chas. II.’s time the French walking-stick, with a ribbon and tassels to hold it when passed over the wrist, was fashionable, and continued so to the reign of George II.’ (Planché).

4. 4. 215, 6 report the working, Of any Ladies physicke. In Lenton’s Leasures (see note 4.4.134) we find: ‘His greatest vexation is going upon sleevelesse arrands, to know whether some lady slept well last night, or how her physick work’d i’ th’ morning, things that savour not well with him; the reason that ofttimes he goes but to the next taverne, and then very discreetly brings her home a tale of a tubbe.’

Cf. also B. & Fl., Fair Maid of the Inn 2. 2: ‘Host. And have you been in England?... But they say ladies there take physic for fashion.’

Dekker, Guls Horne-booke, Non-dram. Wks. 2. 255, speaks of ‘a country gentleman that brings his wife vp to learne the fashion, see the Tombs at Westminster, the Lyons in the Tower, or to take physicke.’ In the 1812 reprint the editor observes that in Jonson’s time ‘fanciful or artful wives would often persuade their husbands to take them up to town for the advantage of physick, when the principal object was dissipation.’

4. 4. 219 Corne-cutter. This vulgar suggestion renders hopeless Pug’s pretensions to gentility. Corncutters carried on a regular trade (see Bart. Fair 2. 1.), and were held in the greatest contempt, as we learn from Nash (Four Letters Confuted, Wks. 2. 211).

4. 4. 232 The Moone. I. e., see that the moon and zodiacal sign are propitious.

4. 4. 235 Get their natiuities cast! Astrology was a favorite subject of satire. Cf. Massinger, City Madam 2. 2; B. & Fl., Rollo Duke of Normandy 4. 2, etc.

4. 5. 31, 2 his valour has At the tall board bin question’d. Tall board is, I think, the same as table-board, a gaming-table. In Dyce’s edition of Webster’s Devil’s Law Case (Wks. 2. 38) we read: ‘shaking your elbow at the table-board.’ Dyce says in a note that the old folio reads Taule-board. Tables is derived from Lat. Tabularum lusus › Fr. Tables. The derivation, table › tavl › taul › tall, presents no etymological difficulties. A note from Professor Joseph Wright of Oxford confirms me in my theory.

The passage seems to mean that Merecraft was accused of cheating, and, his valor not rising to the occasion, his reputation for honesty was left somewhat in doubt.

4. 6. 38-41 intitle Your vertue, to the power, vpon a life
  ... Euen to forfeit. Wittipol is ‘wooing in language of the pleas and bench.’ Cf. 4. 7. 62.

4. 6. 49 A Phrentick. See note 5. 8. 91-2.

4. 7. 37-40. See variants. Gifford silently follows Whalley’s changes, which are utterly unwarrantable. Cunningham points out the wrong division in 37, 8. The scansion is thus indicated by Wilke (Metrische Untersuchungen, p. 3):

The missing syllable in the third verse is compensated for by the pause after the comma. This is quite in accordance with Jonson’s custom (see Wilke, p. 1 f.).

4. 7. 45 Publication. See 3. 3. 137.

4. 7. 54 I sou’t him. See variants. Gifford says that he can make nothing of sou’t but sought and sous’d, and that he prefers the latter. Dyce (Remarks) confidently asserts that the word is the same as shue, ‘to frighten away poultry,’ and Cunningham accepts this without question. There seems, however, to be no confirmation for the theory that the preterit was ever spelt sou’t. Wright’s Dialect Dictionary gives: ‘Sough. 19. to strike; to beat severely,’ but the pronunciation here seems usually to be souff. Professor Wright assures me that sous’d is the correct reading, and that the others are ‘mere stupid guesses.’

4. 7. 62 in possibility. A legal phrase used of contingent interests. See note 4. 6. 38, 9.

4. 7. 65 Duke O’ Shore-ditch. ‘A mock title of honour, conferred on the most successful of the London archers, of which this account is given:

When Henry VIII became king, he gave a prize at Windsor to those who should excel at this exercise, (archery) when Barlo, one of his guards, an inhabitant of Shoreditch, acquired such honor as an archer, that the king created him duke of Shoreditch, on the spot. This title, together with that of marquis of Islington, earl of Pancridge, etc., was taken from these villages, in the neighborhood of Finsbury fields, and continued so late as 1683. Ellis’s History of Shoreditch, p. 170.

The latest account is this: In 1682 there was a most magnificent entertainment given by the Finsbury archers, when they bestowed the title of duke of Shoreditch, etc., upon the most deserving. The king was present. Ibid. 173.’—Nares, Gloss.

Entick (Survey 2. 65) gives an interesting account of a match which took place in 1583. The Duke of Shoreditch was accompanied on this occasion by the ‘marquises of Barlow, Clerkenwell, Islington, Hoxton, and Shaklewell, the earl of Pancras, etc. These, to the number of 3000, assembled at the place appointed, sumptuously apparelled, and 942 of them had gold chains about their necks. They marched from merchant-taylors-hall, preceded by whifflers and bellmen, that made up the number 4000, besides pages and footmen; performing several exercises and evolutions in Moorfields, and at last shot at the target for glory in Smithfield.’

4. 7. 69 Ha’. See variants. The original seems to me the more characteristic reading.

4. 7. 84 after-game. Jonson uses the expression again in the New Inn, Wks. 5. 402:

ACT V.

5. 1. 28 Tyborne. This celebrated gallows stood, it is believed, on the site of Connaught Place. It derived the name from a brook in the neighborhood (see Minsheu, Stow, etc.).

5. 1. 29 My L. Majors Banqueting-house. This was in Stratford Place, Oxford Street. It was ‘erected for the Mayor and Corporation to dine in after their periodical visits to the Bayswater and Paddington Conduits, and the Conduit-head adjacent to the Banqueting-House, which supplied the city with water. It was taken down in 1737, and the cisterns arched over at the same time.’—Wh-C.

Stow (ed. 1633, pp. 475-6) speaks of ‘many faire Summer houses’ in the London suburbs, built ‘not so much for use and profit, as for shew and pleasure.’

The spelling Major seems to be a Latin form. Mr. Charles Jackson (N. & Q. 4. 7. 176) mentions it as frequently used by the mayors of Doncaster in former days. Cf. also Glapthorne (Wks. 1. 231) and Ev. Man in (Folio 1616, 5. 5. 41).

5. 1. 41 my tooth-picks. See note 4. 2. 26.

5. 1. 47 Saint Giles’es. ‘Now, without the postern of Cripplesgate, first is the parish church of Saint Giles, a very fair and large church, lately repaired, after that the same was burnt in the year 1545.’—Stow, Survey, ed. Thoms, p. 112.

5. 1. 48 A kind of Irish penance! ‘There is the same allusion to the rug gowns of the wild Irish, in the Night Walker of Fletcher:

Cf. also Holinshed, Chron. (quoted CD.):‘As they distill the best aqua-vitæ, so they spin the choicest rug in Ireland.’ Fynes Moryson (Itinerary, fol. 1617, p. 160) says that the Irish merchants were forbidden to export their wool, in order that the peasants might ‘be nourished by working it into cloth, namely, Rugs ... & mantles generally worn by men and women, and exported in great quantity.’

Jonson mentions rug as an article of apparel several times. In Alch., Wks. 4. 14, it is spoken of as the dress of a poor man and ibid. 4. 83 as that of an astrologer. In Ev. Man out (Wks. 2. 110) a similar reference is made, and here Gifford explains that rug was ‘the usual dress of mathematicians, astrologers, &c., when engaged in their sublime speculations.’ Marston also speaks of rug gowns as the symbol of a strict life (What You Will, Wks. 2. 395):

5. 2. 1 ff. put me To yoaking foxes, etc. Several at least of the following employments are derived from proverbial expressions familiar at the time. Jonson speaks of ‘milking he-goats’ in Timber, ed. Schelling, p. 34, which the editor explains as ‘a proverbial expression for a fruitless task.’ The occupation of lines 5-6 is adapted from a popular proverb given by Cotgrave: ‘J’aymeroy autant tirer vn pet d’un Asne mort, que. I would as soone vndertake to get a fart of a dead man, as &c.’ Under Asne he explains the same proverb as meaning ‘to worke impossibilities.’ This explains the passage in Staple of News 3. 1., Wks. 5. 226. The proverb is quoted again in Eastward Ho, Marston, Wks. 3. 90, and in Wm. Lilly’s Observations,’ Hist., pp. 269-70. ‘Making ropes of sand’ was Iniquity’s occupation in 1. 1. 119. This familiar proverb first appears in Aristides 2. 309: ἑκ ψάμμου σχοινίον πλέκειν. In the New Inn, Wks. 5. 394, Lovel says: ‘I will go catch the wind first in a sieve.’ Whalley says that the occupation of ‘keeping fleas within a circle’ is taken from Socrates’ employment in the Clouds of Aristophanes (ll. 144-5). Gifford, however, ridicules the notion. Jonson refers to the passage in the Clouds in Timber (ed. Schelling, 82. 33), where he thinks it would have made the Greeks merry to see Socrates ‘measure how many foot a flea could skip geometrically.’ But here again we seem to have a proverbial expression. It occurs in the morality-play of Nature, 642. II (quoted by Cushman, p. 116):

5. 2. 32. Scan:

Thos. Keightley, N. & Q. 4. 2. 603, suggests:

5. 2. 35 Your best songs Thom. O’ Bet’lem. ‘A song entitled “Mad Tom” is to be found in Percy’s Reliques; Ballad Soc. Roxb. Ball., 2. p. 259; and Chappell’s Old Pop. Mus. The exact date of the poem is not known.’—H. R. D. Anders, Shakespeare’s Books, p. 24-5.

Bethlehem Royal Hospital was originally founded ‘to have been a priory of canons,’ but was converted to a hospital for lunatics in 1547. In Jonson’s time it was one of the regular sights of London, and is so referred to in Dekker’s Northward Hoe, Wks. 3. 56 f.; Sil. Wom., Wks. 3. 421; Alch., Wks. 4. 132.

5. 3. 6 little Darrels tricks. John Darrel (fl. 1562-1602) was born, it is believed, at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, about 1562. He graduated at Cambridge, studied law, and then became a preacher at Mansfield. He began to figure as an exorcist in 1586, when he pretended to cast out an evil spirit from Catherine Wright of Ridgway Lane, Derbyshire. In 1596 he exorcised Thomas Darling, a boy of fourteen, of Burton-on-Trent, for bewitching whom Alice Goodrich was tried and convicted at Derby. A history of the case was written by Jesse Bee of Burton (Harsnet, Discovery, p. 2). The boy Darling went to Merton College, and in 1603 was sentenced by the Star-chamber to be whipped, and to lose his ears for libelling the vice-chancellor of Oxford. In March, 1596-7, Darrel was sent for to Clayworth Hall, Shakerly, in Leigh parish, Lancashire, where he exorcised seven persons of the household of Mr. Nicholas Starkie, who accused one Edmund Hartley of bewitching them, and succeeded in getting the latter condemned and executed in 1597. In November, 1597, Darrel was invited to Nottingham to dispossess William Somers, an apprentice, and shortly after his arrival was appointed preacher of St. Mary’s in that town, and his fame drew crowded congregations to listen to his tales of devils and possession. Darrel’s operations having been reported to the Archbishop of York, a commission of inquiry was issued (March 1597-8), and he was prohibited from preaching. Subsequently the case was investigated by Bancroft, bishop of London, and S. Harsnet, his chaplain, when Somers, Catherine Wright, and Mary Cooper confessed that they had been instructed in their simulations by Darrel. He was brought before the commissioners and examined at Lambeth on 26 May 1599, was pronounced an impostor, degraded from the ministry and committed to the Gatehouse. He remained in prison for at least a year, but it is not known what became of him. (Abridged from DNB.)

Jonson refers to Darrel again in U. 67, Wks. 8. 422:

5. 3. 27 That could, pitty her selfe. See variants.

5. 3. 28 in Potentiâ. Jonson uses the phrase again in the Alchemist, Wks. 4. 64: ‘The egg’s ... a chicken in potentia.’ It is a late Latin phrase. See Gloss.

5. 4. 17 my proiect o’ the forkes. Forks were just being introduced into England at this time, and were a common subject of satire. The first mention of a fork recorded in the NED. is: ‘1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 40, I beqwethe to Davn John Kertelynge my silvir forke for grene gyngour.’

Coryat has much to say on the subject (Crudities 1. 106): ‘I obserued a custome in all those Italian Cities and Townes through the which I passed, that is not vsed in any other country that I saw in my trauels, neither doe I thinke that any other nation of Christendome doth vse it, but only Italy. The Italian and also most strangers that are commorant in Italy, doe alwaies in their meales vse a little forke when they cut their meate. For while with their knife which they hold in one hand they cut the meate out of the dish, they fasten their forke which they hold in their other hand vpon the same dish, so that whatsoeuer he be that sitting in the company of any others at meale, should vnadvisedly touch the dish of meate with his fingers from which all at the table doe cut, he will giue occasion of offence vnto the company, as hauing transgressed the lawes of good manners.... This forme of feeding I vnderstand is generally vsed in all places of Italy, their forkes being for the most part made of yron or steele, and some of siluer, but those are vsed only by Gentlemen.’ Coryat carried this custom home with him to England, for which a friend dubbed him furcifer. This passage is doubtless the source of Jonson’s lines. Compare the last sentence of the quotation with lines 30, 31 of this scene.

5. 4. 23, 4 on my priuate, By cause. See variants. There is no necessity for change. Cf. 1616 Sir R. Dudley in Fortesc. Papers 17: ‘Nor am I so vaine ... bycause I am not worth so much.’ The same form occurs in Sad Shepherd (Fol. 1631-40, p. 143):

Gabriel Harvey uses both the forms by cause and bycause. Prose Wks. 1. 101; 102; et frequenter.

5. 4. 34 at mine owne ap-perill. The word is of rare occurrence. Gifford quotes Timon of Athens 1. 2: ‘Let me stay at thine apperil, Timon;’ and refers to Mag. La., Wks. 6. 109: ‘Faith, I will bail him at mine own apperil.’ It occurs again in Tale Tub, Wks. 6. 148: ‘As you will answer it at your apperil.’

5. 5. 10, 11 I will leaue you To your God fathers in Law. ‘This seems to have been a standing joke for a jury. It is used by Shakespeare and by writers prior to him. Thus Bulleyn, speaking of a knavish ostler, says, “I did see him ones aske blessyng to xii godfathers at ones.” Dialogue, 1564.’—G.

The passage from Shakespeare is Merch. of Ven. 4. 1. 398:

Cf. also Muse’s Looking Glass, O. Pl. 9. 214: ‘Boets! I had rather zee him remitted to the jail, and have his twelve godvathers, good men and true contemn him to the gallows.’

5. 5. 50, 51 A Boy O’ thirteene yeere old made him an Asse
  But t’toher day. Whalley believed this to be an allusion to the ‘boy of Bilson,’ but, as Gifford points out, this case did not occur until 1620, four years after the production of the present play. Gifford believes Thomas Harrison, the ‘boy of Norwich,’ to be alluded to. A short account of his case is given in Hutchinson’s Impostures Detected, pp. 262 f. The affair took place in 1603 or 1604, and it was thought necessary to ‘require the Parents of the said Child, that they suffer not any to repair to their House to visit him, save such as are in Authority and other Persons of special Regard, and known Discretion.’ Hutchinson says that Harrison was twelve years old. It is quite possible, though not probable, that Jonson is referring again to the Boy of Burton, who was only two years older. See note 5. 3. 6.

5. 5. 58, 59 You had some straine ‘Boue E-la? Cf. 1593 Nash, Christ’s Tears, Wks. 4. 188: ‘You must straine your wits an Ela aboue theyrs.’ Cf. also Nash, Wks. 5. 98 and 253; Lyly, Euphues, Aij; and Gloss.

5. 6. 1 your garnish. ‘This word garnish has been made familiar to all time by the writings of John Howard. “A cruel custom,” says he, “obtains in most of our gaols, which is that of the prisoners demanding of a newcomer garnish, footing, or (as it is called in some London gaols) chummage. Pay or strip are the fatal words. I say fatal, for they are so to some, who, having no money, are obliged to give up part of their scanty apparel; and if they have no bedding or straw to sleep on, contract diseases which I have known to prove mortal.”’—C.

5. 6. 23 In a cart, to be hang’d. ‘Theft and robbery in their coarsest form were for many centuries capital crimes.... The question when theft was first made a capital crime is obscure, but it is certain that at every period some thefts were punished with death, and that by Edward I.’s time, at least, the distinction between grand and petty larceny, which lasted till 1827, was fully established.’—Stephen, Hist. Crim. Law 3. 128 f.

5. 6. 24 The charriot of Triumph, which most of them are. The procession from Newgate by Holbom and Tyburn road was in truth often a ‘triumphall egression,’ and a popular criminal like Jack Sheppard or Jonathan Wild frequently had a large attendance. Cf. Shirley, Wedding 4. 3, Wks., ed. Gifford, 1. 425: ‘Now I’m in the cart, riding up Holborn in a two-wheeled chariot, with a guard of Halberdiers. There goes a proper fellow, says one; good people pray for me: now I am at the three wooden stilts,’ etc.

5. 6. 48 a body intire. Jonson uses the word in its strict etymological sense.

5. 6. 54 cheated on. Dyce (Remarks) points out that this phrase is used in Mrs. Centlivre’s Wonder, Act 2. Sc. 1. Jonson uses it again in Mercury vindicated: ‘and cheat upon your under-officers;’ and Marston in What You Will, Wks. 2. 387.

5. 6. 64 Prouinciall o’ the Cheaters! Provincial is a term borrowed from the church. See Gloss. Of the cheaters Dekker gives an interesting account in the Bel-man of London, Non-dram. Wks. 3. 116 f.: ‘Of all which Lawes, the Highest in place, and the Highest in perdition is the Cheating Law or the Art of winning money by false dyce: Those that practise this studie call themselues Cheators, / the dyce Cheaters, and the money which they purchase [see note 3. 4. 31, 2.] Cheates [see 1.7.4 and Gloss.]: borrowing the tearme from our common Lawyers, with whome all such casuals as fall to the Lord at the holding of his Leetes, as Waifes, Strayes, & such like, are sayd to be Escheated to the Lords vse and are called Cheates.’

5. 6. 64 Bawd-ledger. Jonson speaks of a similar official in Every Man out, Wks. 2. 132: ‘He’s a leiger at Horn’s ordinary (cant name for a bawdy-house) yonder.’ See Gloss.

5. 6. 68 to sindge your nayles off. In the fool’s song in Twelfth Night we have the exclamation to the devil: ‘paire thy nayles dad’ (Furness’s ed., p. 273). The editor quotes Malone: ‘The Devil was supposed from choice to keep his nails unpared, and therefore to pare them was an affront. So, in Camden’s Remaines, 1615: “I will follow mine owne minde, and mine old trade; who shall let me? the divel’s nailes are unparde.”’

Compare also Henry V. 4. 4. 76: ‘Bardolph and Nym had ten times more valor than this roaring devil i’ the old play, that every one may pare his nails with a wooden dagger.’

5. 6. 76 The Diuell was wont to carry away the euill. Eckhardt, p. 100, points out that Jonson’s etymology of the word Vice, which has been a matter of dispute, was the generally accepted one, that is, from vice = evil.

5. 7. 1 Iustice Hall. ‘The name of the Sessions-house in the Old Bailey.’—G. Strype, B. 3. p. 281 says that it was ‘a fair and stately building, very commodious for that affair.’ ‘It standeth backwards, so that it hath no front towards the street, only the gateway leading into the yard before the House, which is spacious. It cost above £6000 the building. And in this place the Lord Mayor, Recorder, the Aldermen and Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex do sit, and keep his Majesty’s Sessions of Oyer and Terminer.’ It was destroyed in the Gordon Riots of 1780.—Wh-C.

5. 7. 9 This strange! See variants. The change seriously injures the metre, and the original reading should be preserved. Such absorptions (this for this is or this’s) are not uncommon. Cf. Macbeth 3. 4. 17, ed. Furness, p. 165: ‘yet he’s good’ for ‘yet he is as good.’

5. 8. 2 They had giu’n him potions. Jonson perhaps had in mind the trial of Anne Turner and her accomplices in the Overbury Case of the previous year. See Introduction, p. lxxii. For a discussion of love-philtres see Burton, Anat. of Mel. (ed. Bullen), 3. 145 f.

5. 8. 33 with a Wanion. This word is found only in the phrases ‘with a wanion,’ ‘in a wanion,’ and ‘wanions on you.’ It is a kind of petty imprecation, and occurs rather frequently in the dramatists, but its precise signification and etymology are still in doubt. Boswell, Malone, 21. 61, proposed a derivation from winnowing,‘a beating;’ Nares from wanung, Saxon, ‘detriment;’ Dyce (Ford’s Wks. 2. 291) from wan (vaande, Dutch, ‘a rod or wand’), ‘of which wannie and wannion are familiar diminutives.’ The CD. makes it a later form of ME. waniand, ‘a waning,’ spec. of the moon, regarded as implying ill luck.

5. 8. 34 If his hornes be forth, the Diuells companion! The jest is too obvious not to be a common one. Thus in Eastward Ho Slitgut, who is impersonating the cuckold at Horn-fair, says: ‘Slight! I think the devil be abroad. in likeness of a storm, to rob me of my horns!’,—Marston’s Wks. 3. 72. Cf. also Staple of News, Wks. 5. 186: ‘And why would you so fain see the devil? would I say. Because he has horns, wife, and may be a cuckold as well as a devil.’

5. 8. 35 How he foames! For the stock indications of witchcraft see Introduction, p. xlix.

5. 8. 40 The Cockscomb, and the Couerlet. Wittipol is evidently selecting an appropriate name for Fitzdottrel’s buffoonery after the manner of the puppet-shows. It is quite possible that some actual motion of the day was styled ‘the Coxcomb and the Coverlet.’

5. 8. 50 shee puts in a pinne. Pricking with pins and needles was one of the devil’s regular ways of tormenting bewitched persons. They were often supposed to vomit these articles. So when Voltore feigns possession, Volpone cries out: ‘See! He vomits crooked pins’ (The Fox, Wks. 3. 312).

5. 8. 61 the Kings Constable. ‘From the earliest times to our own days, there were two bodies of police in England, namely, the parish and high constables, and the watchmen in cities and boroughs. Nothing could exceed their inefficiency in the 17th century. Of the constables, Dalton (in the reign of James I.) observes that they “are often absent from their houses, being for the most part husbandmen.” The charge of Dogberry shows probably with no great caricature what sort of watchmen Shakespeare was familiar with. As late as 1796, Colquhoun observes that the watchmen “were aged and often superannuated men.” ’—Sir J. Stephen, Hist. Crim. Law 1. 194 f.

5. 8. 71 The taking of Tabacco, with which the Diuell
  Is so delighted. This was an old joke of the time. In Middleton’s Black Book, Wks. 8. 42 f. the devil makes his will, a part of which reads as follows: ‘But turning my legacy to you-ward, Barnaby Burning-glass, arch-tobacco-taker of England, in ordinaries, upon stages both common and private, and lastly, in the lodging of your drab and mistress; I am not a little proud, I can tell you, Barnaby, that you dance after my pipe so long, and for all counter-blasts and tobacco-Nashes (which some call railers), you are not blown away, nor your fiery thirst quenched with the small penny-ale of their contradictions, but still suck that dug of damnation with a long nipple, still burning that rare Phoenix of Phlegethon, tobacco, that from her ashes, burned and knocked out, may arise another pipeful.’

Middleton here refers to Nash’s Pierce Pennilesse and King James I.’s Counterblast to Tobacco. The former in his supplication to the devil says: ‘It is suspected you have been a great tobacco-taker in your youth.’ King James describes it as ‘a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrid stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.’

The dramatists seem never to grow tired of this joking allusion to the devil and his pipe of tobacco. Cf. Dekker, If this be not a good Play, Wks. 3. 293: ‘I think the Diuell is sucking Tabaccho, heeres such a Mist.’ Ibid. 327: ‘Are there gentleman diuels too? this is one of those, who studies the black Art, thats to say, drinkes Tobacco.’ Massinger, Guardian, Wks., p. 344:

Dekker (Non-dram. Wks. 2. 89) speaks of ‘that great Tobacconist the Prince of Smoake & darknes, Don Pluto.’

The art of taking or drinking tobacco was much cultivated and had its regular professors. The whiff, the ring, etc., are often spoken of. For the general subject see Dekker, Guls Horne-booke; Barnaby Riche, Honestie of this Age, 1613; Harrison, Chronology, 1573; Every Man in, etc. An excellent description of a tobacconist’s shop is given in Alchemist, Wks. 4. 37. For a historical account of its introduction see Wheatley. Ev. Man in, p. xlvii.

Jonson’s form tabacco is the same as the Italian and Portuguese. See Alden, Bart. Fair, p. 169.

5. 8. 74, 5 yellow, etc.
  That’s Starch! the Diuell’s Idoll of that colour. For the general subject of yellow starch see note 1. 1. 112, 3. Compare also Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses, p. 52: ‘The deuil, as he in the fulness of his malice, first inuented these great ruffes, so hath hee now found out also two great stayes to beare vp and maintaine this his kingdome of great ruffes.... The one arch or piller whereby his kingdome of great ruffes is vnderpropped, is a certaine kinde of liquide matter which they call starch, wherein the devil hath willed them to wash and diue his ruffes wel.’

‘Starch hound’ and ‘Tobacco spawling (spitting)’ are the names of two devils in Dekker’s If this be not a good Play, Wks. 3. 270. Jonson speaks of ‘that idol starch’ again in the Alchemist, Wks. 4. 92.

5. 8. 78 He is the Master of Players. An evident allusion to the Puritan attacks on the stage. This was the period of the renewed literary contest. George Wither had lately published his Abuses stript and whipt, 1613. For the whole subject see Thompson, E. N. S., The Controversy between the Puritans and the Stage, New York, 1903.

5. 8. 81 Figgum. ‘In some of our old dictionaries, fid is explained to caulk with oakum: figgum, or fig’em, may therefore be a vulgar derivative from this term, and signify the lighted flax or tow with which jugglers stuff their mouths when they prepare to amuse the rustics by breathing out smoke and flames:

5. 8. 86, 7 to such a foole, He makes himselfe. For the omission of the relative adverb cf. 1. 3. 34, 35.

5. 8. 89 To come to dinner, in mee the sinner. The conception of this couplet and the lines which Fitzdottrel speaks below was later elaborated in Cocklorrel’s song in the Gipsies Metamorphosed. Pluto in Dekker’s If this be not a good Play, Wks. 3. 268, says that every devil should have ‘a brace of whores to his breakfast.’ Such ideas seem to be descended from the mediæval allegories of men like Raoul de Houdanc, Ruteboeuf, etc.

5. 8. 91, 2 Are you phrenticke, Sir, Or what graue dotage moues you. ‘Dotage, fatuity, or folly, is a common name to all the following species, as some will have it.... Phrenitis, which the Greeks derive from the word φρήν, is a disease of the mind, with a continual madness or dotage, which hath an acute fever annexed, or else an inflammation of the brain, or the membranes or kells of it, with an acute fever, which causeth madness and dotage.’—Burton, Anat. of Mel., ed. Shilleto, 1. 159-60.

It was the custom formerly for the clerk or bellman of St. Sepulchre’s to go under Newgate on the night preceding the execution of a criminal, and, ringing his bell, to repeat certain verses, calling the prisoner to repentance. Another curious custom observed at this church was that of presenting a nosegay to every criminal on his way to Tyburn (see Wh-C.). The executed criminals were buried in the churchyard (d. Middleton, Black Book, Wks. 8. 25).

Cunningham says that ‘the word steeple was not used in the restricted sense to which we now confine it. The tower of St. Sepulchre’s in Jonson’s time, must have been very much like what we now see it as most carefully and tastefully restored.’

5. 8. 134 as farre as Ware. This is a distance of about 22 miles. Ware is an ancient market-town of Herts, situated in a valley on the north side of the river Lea. The ‘great bed of Ware’ is mentioned in Twelfth Night 3. 2. 51, and the town is characterized as ‘durty Ware’ in Dekker’s North-ward Hoe, Wks. 3. 53.

5. 8. 142, 3 I will tell truth, etc. Jonson uses this proverb again in Tale Tub, Wks. 6. 150: ‘tell troth and shame the devil.’

GLOSSARY

This glossary is designed to include obsolete, archaic, dialectal, and rare words; current words used in obsolete, archaic, or exceptional senses; and, so far as practicable, obsolete and archaic phrases. Current words in current uses have occasionally been included to avoid confusion, as well as technical words unfamiliar to the ordinary reader. Favorite words have been treated, for the sake of illustration, with especial fullness.

For most words treated in its volumes published up to March, 1905, Murray’s New English Dictionary is the chief authority. For words not reached by that work the Century Dictionary has been preferred. The Stanford Dictionary has been found especially useful for anglicized words. It has often been necessary to resort to contemporary foreign dictionaries in the case of words of Romance origin.

It has been thought best to refer to all or nearly all important passages. Etymologies are given only in cases of especial interest.

A dagger [†] before a word or definition indicates that the word or the particular meaning is obsolete; parallel lines [||] before a word, that it has never become naturalized in English; an interrogation point [?], that the case is doubtful.

A, prep. [Worn down from OE. preposition an, on.] With be: engaged in. Arch. or dial. 5. 1. 4.
†A’, prep. Worn down from of. 5. 2. 38.
Aboue, adv. Surpassing in degree; exceedingly. 3. 6. 33.
Abuse, v. †To impose upon, deceive. 5. 8. 140; 4. 2. 41; 4. 7. 80.
Academy, n.? A school of deportment. 2. 8. 20; 3. 5. 33.
Access, n. †Approach; advance. 2. 6. 68.
Accompt, n. [Form of account.] A report. 2. 7. 28.
Accomptant, †a. [Form of accountant.] Liable to give an account; accountable. 5. 2. 11.
Account, n. †Reckoning, consideration. Phr. make account: To reckon, consider. 4. 1. 10.
Acknowledge, v. To recognize a service as (from a person). 4. 3. 19.
Admire, v. †intr. To feel or express surprise; to wonder. 1. 1. 77.
Aduise, v. To warn, dissuade †(from a course). 5. 4. 43.
Aërie, a. [Form of airy.] Lively, vivacious. 4. 4. 157. aëry. 3. 5. 13.
Affection, n. †Mental tendency; disposition. 4. 4. 126.
Afore, prep. In the presence of. Arch. or dial. 4. 4. 167; 5. 5. 7.
Aforehand, adv. Arch. In advance. 1. 3. 41.
After-game, n. ‘Prop., a second game played in order to reverse or improve the issues of the first; hence, “The scheme which may be laid or the expedients which are practised after the original game has miscarried; methods taken after the first turn of affairs” (Johnson).’ NED. 4. 7. 84.
||Alcorça, n. Sp. ‘A conserue.’ Minsheu.
Alcorea, n. pr. for Alcorça, q. v. 4. 4. 144.
||Allum Scagliola, n. It.? Rock alum. 4. 4. 30.
†Almaine-leape, n. A dancing-leap. 1. 1. 97.
Almanack-Man, n. †A fortune-teller, foreteller. 1. 7. 25.
||Almoiauana, n. Sp. ‘A kinde of cheese-cake.’ Minsheu. 4. 4. 143.
Almond milke, n. ‘Chambers Cycl. Supp., Almond-milk is a preparation made of sweet blanched almonds and water, of some use in medicine, as an emollient.’ NED. 1. 6. 222.
||Aluagada, n. pr. same as Alvayálde, q. v. 4. 4. 27.
||Aluayalde or Albayalde, n. Sp. ‘A white colour to paint womens faces called ceruse.’ Minsheu.
Ancient, a.? Belonging to an old family. 1. 2. 17.
And, conj. †If. 3. 5. 39. and’. 1. 3. 23. an’. 1. 2. 31.
Angel, n. ‘An old English gold coin, called more fully at first the Angel-noble, being originally a new issue of the Noble, having as its device the archangel Michael standing upon, and piercing the dragon.’ NED. Pr. about 10 s. 2. 1. 138.
Anone, adv. Now again. P. 10.
†Ap-perill, n. Risk. 5. 4. 34.
||Aqua nanfa, n. Sp. [Corruption of acqua nanfa.] ‘Sweet water smelling of muske and Orenge-leaves.’ Florio. 4. 4. 146.
||Aqua-vitæ, n. Any form of ardent spirits. 2. 1. 5.
Arbitrary, a. Law. Discretionary; not fixed. 3. 3. 75.
||Arcana, n. [Pl. of L. a. arcanum, used subst.] Secrets, mysteries. 4. 4. 151.
||Argentata, n. It. ‘A painting for women’s faces.’ Florio. 4. 4. 28.
Argument, n. Subject-matter of discussion or discourse; theme, subject. Obs. or arch. 1. 6. 10.
Arras, n. [Arras, name of a town in Artois, famed for its manufacture of the fabric.] A hanging screen of a rich tapestry fabric formerly placed around the walls of household apartments. 1. 2. 46.
Art, n. 1. A contrivance. 1. 7. 24. †2. Magic art. 1. 5. 21.
Artist, n. †A professor of magic arts; an astrologer. 1. 2. 22.
As, conj. †With finite verb: That. 1. 4. 30; 1. 6. 61; 3. 2. 23.
As, adv. Phr. as that: Even as (in parallel clause, introducing a known circumstance with which a hypothesis is contrasted). 5. 1. 20.
Assure, v. †To secure. 3. 5. 68.
At, prep. Upon. 1. 6. 114.
Atchieue, v. [Form of achieve.] †To gain, win (a material acquisition). 3. 5. 67.
Attemp, n. [Form of attempt.] Endeavor to win over. 2. 2. 30.
Attempt, v. To try to win over, or seduce. Arch. 4. 5. 7.
Audit, n. A statement of account. Fig., arch. 3. 3. 229.
Aye, adv. At all times, on all occasions. (Now only Sc. and north dial.) 1. 6. 220.
Ayre, n. [Form of air.] Manner; sort. 2. 7. 21.

Baffle, v. †To treat with contempt. 4. 7. 73 SN.
Bag, n. The sac (of the bee) containing honey. 2. 6. 112.
Bailie, n. [Form of bailiff.] An officer of justice under a sheriff; a warrant officer. 3. 3. 38.
Bane, n. 1. Poison. 2. 7. 18.
  †2. As exclam. ‘Plague.’ 5. 6. 66.
Banke, n. †An artificial earthwork, an embankment. 2. 1. 56.
Bare, a. Bare-headed. Arch. 2. 3. 37.
Bate, v. †1. To deprive (of). 4. 1. 56.
  †2. To make a reduction (of); to deduct. 2. 1. 83; 2. 1. 104.
Baudy, 2. 8. 73. See Bawdy.
Bawd-ledger, n. Resident minister to the bawds (a mock title coined by Jonson). 5. 6. 64.
Bawdry, n. Arch. Lewd talk; obscenity. 4. 1. 176.
Bawdy, a. 1. Lewd. 2. 1. 167. 2. absol. quasi-sb. Lewd language, obscenity. 4. 4. 165. baudy. 2. 8. 73.
Be, v. pl. Are. Obs. or dial. 2. 8. 63.
Bed-fellow, n. †Intimate companion. 2. 8. 9.
Behaue, v. †trans. To manage. 2. 8. 71.
Benefit, n. Advantage. †Phr. make benefit of: To take advantage of. ?Obs. 2. 2. 98.
Beniamin, n. Gum benzoin, an aromatic resin obtained from the Styrax benzoin, a tree of Sumatra, Java, and the neighboring islands, used in medicine, perfumery, and chemistry.
||Beniamin di gotta, n. ?Gum benzoin in drops. See Beniamin. 4. 4. 33.
Bespeake, v. trans. w. refl. To engage. 1. 6. 214.
Bestow, v. To deposit. Arch. 3. 2. 9.
Black-water, n. 3. 3. 179. See-water.
Blanck manger, n. [Form of blancmange.] †‘A dish composed usually of fowl, but also of other meat, minced with cream, rice, almonds, sugar, eggs, etc.’ NED. 1. 6. 240.
Blank, n. ‘A small French coin, originally of silver, but afterwards of copper; also a silver coin of Henry V. current in the parts of France then held by the English. According to Littré, the French blanc was worth 5 deniers. The application of the name in the 17th Cen. is uncertain.’ NED. 3. 3. 33.
Blesse, v. †To protect, save (from). 4. 4. 187.
Blocke, n. A mould. Spec. Brokers blocke: A mould for clothes in a pawnbroker’s shop. 2. 7. 15.
Blocke-head, n. †A wooden block for hats or wigs; hence, a blockish or stupid head. 3. 5. 65.
Board, n. Phr. tall board: ?A gaming table. 4. 5. 32. See note.
Booke, n. †A charter or deed; a written grant of privileges. 3. 3. 67; 3. 3. 79.
||Borachio, n. Obs. ‘A large leather bottle or bag used in Spain for wine or other liquors.’ NED. 2. 1. 71.
Bound, ppl. a. Under obligations of gratitude. 4. 1. 11.
Bouzy, a. [Form of bousy.] Sotted. 5. 6. 25.
Brach, n. Arch. A bitch-hound. 4. 4. 229.
Braue, a. 1. Finely-dressed. Arch. 1. 4. 16; 2. 5. 11.
  2. A general epithet of admiration or praise. Arch. 1. 2. 52; 2. 6. 75; 3. 4. 12; 4. 6. 29.
  †interj. 3. Capital! 1. 1. 67.
Brauery, n. †A fine thing; a matter to boast or be proud of. 3. 6. 47.
Breake, v. †To speak confidentially (with a person of a thing). 3. 4. 62.
Bring, v. Phr. bring up: ?Augment, increase. 1. 4. 96.
Bristo-stone, n. ‘A kind of transparent rock-crystal found in the Clifton limestone near Bristol, resembling the diamond in brilliancy.’ NED. 3. 3. 173.
Broker, n. 1. A pawnbroker. 1. 1. 143; 1. 4. 19.
  2. With added function of agent or intermediary. 1. 4. 4.
Brooke, v. †To endure; not to discredit; to be sufficiently appropriate for. 2. 8. 63.
Buckram, a. A kind of coarse linen or cloth stiffened with gum or paste. 2. 1. 63.
Bullion, n. †More fully, bullion-hose: Trunk-hose, puffed out at the upper part, in several folds. 3. 3. 217.
Bush, n. A branch of ivy used as vintner’s sign; hence, the sign-board of a tavern. 3. 3. 170.
Businesse, n. †1. Affectedly used for an ‘affair of honor,’ a duel. 3. 3. 106.
  †2. A misunderstanding, quarrel. 4. 1. 18.
Busse, v. Arch. and dial. To kiss. 3. 6. 1.
Buzz, v. Phr. buzz at: 1. To hum about, as an insect.
  †2. To whisper to; incite by suggestions. Used quibblingly in both senses. 2. 7. 4.
†By cause, phr. used as conj. Because. 5. 4. 24.

Cabbin, n. †A small room, a boudoir. 1. 6. 238.
Cabinet, n. A small chamber or room; a boudoir. Arch. or obs. 4. 4. 152.
Campheere, n. [Form of camphor.] 4. 4. 22.
Can, v. †tr. To have at one’s command; to be able to supply, devise or suggest (a pregnant use). 3. 6. 39.
Caract, n. [Form of carat. Confused with caract=Character.] †Value, estimate. Phr. at all caracts: ‘To the minutest circumstance.’ Gifford. 1. 6. 88.
†Caravance, n. ‘Name of sundry kinds of peas and small beans.’ Stanford.
†Carrauicins, n. perh.=caravance, q. v. 4. 4. 45.
Care, v. To take care. Now only dial. 1. 1. 29.
Carefull, a. Anxious, solicitous. Arch. 1. 6. 10.
†Caroch, n. A coach or chariot of a stately or luxurious kind. 1. 6. 214. Carroch. 4. 2. 11.
Carry, v. 1. tr. To conduct, manage. Arch. 3. 5. 53.
  ?†2. intr. To be arranged. 3. 3. 126.
Case, n. 1. The body (as enclosing the soul, etc.). 5. 6. 39.
  2. Condition, supposition. Phr. in case to: In a condition or position to; prepared, ready. Arch. 4. 7. 85. Put case: Suppose. ?Arch. 4. 4. 228.
Cast, v. †1. To estimate. 2. 1. 81.
  †2. To devise. 2. 8. 42.
Castle-soape, n. Obs. form of Castile soap. 5. 3. 3.
||Cataputia, n. [In Med. L. and It.] ‘The hearbe spurge.’ Florio. 4. 4. 55.
†Cater, n. ‘A buyer of provisions or “cates”; in large households the officer who made the necessary purchases of provisions.’ NED. 1. 3. 13.
Catholike, a. †Universally efficient. 1. 4. 35.
†Cause, conj. Obs. exc. dial. [An elliptic use of the noun for because.] Because. 2. 8. 28; 4. 6. 34. Phr. by cause. See By cause.
†Cautelous, a. Crafty. 1. 6. 142.
Caution, n. 1. Security; guarantee. 3. 4. 30; 58.
  2. A word of warning. 4. 5. 28.
Ceruse, n. [White lead.] A paint or cosmetic for the skin; used vaguely. 4. 4. 53.
Challengee, n. Rare (perh. coined by Jonson). One who is challenged. 3. 3. 141.
Character, n. A cabalistic or magical sign. 1. 2. 9.
Charge, n. Expenses; outlay. Arch. 2. 1. 49; 1. 6. 172.
Chartell, n. [Form of cartel.] A written challenge. 3. 3. 140.
Chaw, v. A common by-form of chew in the 16-17th c. 4. 2. 53.
Cheat, n. †Any product of conquest or robbery; booty, spoil. 1. 7. 4.
Cheat, v. Phr. cheat on: To cheat. 5. 6. 54.
Cheater, n. †A dishonest gamester; a sharper. 5. 6. 64.
Check, n. †Reproof, censure. 3. 6. 44.
Cheese-trencher, n. A wooden plate for holding or cutting cheese. P. 8.
Christall, n. [Form of crystal.] A piece of rock-crystal or similar mineral used in magic art. 1. 2. 6.
†Cioppino, n. [Italianated form of chopine.] A kind of shoe raised above the ground by means of a cork sole or the like; worn about 1600 in Spain and Italy, esp. at Venice, where they were monstrously exaggerated. 3. 4. 13 (see note); 4. 4. 69.
Cipher, n. A means of conveying secret intelligence: used vaguely. 2. 1. 167·
Circle, n. 1. An embrace. 1. 4. 94.
  2. Sphere (of influence, etc.). 1. 6. 96.
  3. A circular figure (of magic). 1. 2. 26.
Cloake-charge, n. The expense of a cloak (coined by Jonson). 2. 2. 42.
Cockscomb, n. †A simpleton. 5. 8. 40.
Cock-stone, n. †A name of the kidney-bean. 1. 1. 53.
Cog, v. To cheat, esp. at dice or cards. 1. 1. 48.
†Cokes, n. A simpleton, one easily ‘taken in.’ 2. 2. 104.
Collect, v. To infer, deduce. Rare. 1. 6. 234.
Come, v. Phr. come off: (in imperative as a call of encouragement to action) Come! come along! 3. 5. 27.
Comming, ppl. a. Inclined to make or meet advances. 4. 4. 180.
Commoner, n. †A member of the general body of a town-council. 2. 1. 42.
Complement, n. †1. Anything which goes to make up or fully equip. 3. 4. 33.
  †2. Polite or ceremonious greetings. 3. 5. 15.
Complexion, n. †1. The combination of the four ‘humors’ of the body in a certain proportion; ‘temperament.’ 2. 2. 122.
  †2. Bodily habit or constitution. 5. 1. 18.
  ?3. Appearance of the skin. 1. 4. 63 (or perh. as 2).
  †4. A coloring preparation, cosmetic. 4. 4. 12.
  5. Appearance, aspect (fig.). 2. 6. 50.
Comport, v. Phr. comport with: †To act in accordance with. 2. 8. 17.
||Compos mentis, a. phr. [L. f. com-potis.] Of sound mind. 5. 3. 12.
Compter, n. Old spelling of Counter. The name of certain city prisons for debtors; esp. the two London Compters. 3. 1. 20 (see note).
Conceit, n. †1. Idea, device. 2. 8. 23. conceipt.
  †2. Personal opinion. 4. 4. 200.
  3. Phr. Out of conceipt: Out of patience, dissatisfied. 2. 8. 18.
Concerne, v. †intr. To be of importance. 3. 3. 113.
Concurrence, n. A juncture: a condition: used vaguely. 2. 6. 54.
Conduit-head, n. †A structure from which water is distributed or made to issue: a reservoir. 5. 1. 27.
Confine, v. Imprison. Const. †to. 5. 6. 34.
Confute, v. To put to silence (by physical means). 5. 6. 18.
Content, a. †Willing. 1. 1. 133.
Conuenient, a. †1. Due, proper. 1. 4. 79.   †2. Suitable. 4. 4. 230.
Conuey, v. To carry from one place to another (†used of small objects and with connotation of secrecy). 2. 1. 164.
Coozen, v. [Form of cozen.] To cheat. 3. 1. 22. cossen. 5. 2. 29.
Coozener, n. [Form of cozener.] Impostor. 5. 8. 148.
||Coquetta, n. Sp. A small loaf. 4. 4. 143.
Corn-ground, n. Arch. A piece of land used for growing corn; corn-land. 3. 1. 17.
Cornish, a. Phr. C. counterfeit: referring to the ‘Cornish stone’ or ‘diamond.’ a variety of quartz found in Cornwall. 3. 3. 173.
Cossen, v. 5. 2. 29. See Coozen.
Councell, n. Obs. form of council. 3. 1. 34; 5. 2. 20.
Court, v. Phr. court it: To play or act the courtier. 3. 4. 56.
Court-ship, n. †An act of courtesy (used in pl.) 1. 6. 201.
Coyle, n. [Form of coil.] ?An embarrassing situation; a ‘mess.’ 5. 5. 54.
Crack, v. intr. To break the musical quality of the voice (used fig.) 5. 5. 59.
Cracke, n. †A lively lad; a ‘rogue’ (playfully), a wag. 2. 8. 58.
†Crambe, n. [Form of crambo.] ‘A game in which one player gives a word or line of verse to which each of the others has to find a rime.’ NED. 5. 8. 110.
Creak, v. To exhibit the characteristics of; to betray (a fig. use of the lit. meaning). 2. 2. 87.
Credit, n. †1. Authority. 1. 4. 29.
  †2. Repute. 5. 6. 49.
Crisped, ppl. a. Closely curled; as applied to trees of uncertain significance. 2. 6. 78 (see note).
Cunning, a. †Learned; versed in. 2. 4. 12.
Custard, n. †‘Formerly, a kind of open pie containing pieces of meat or fruit covered with a preparation of broth or milk, thickened with eggs, sweetened, and seasoned with spices, etc.’ NED. 1. 1. 97.
Cutpurse, n. One who steals by cutting purses; hence, a thief. 1. 1. 140.
Cut-work, n. †1. ‘A kind of openwork embroidery or lace worn in the latter part of the 16th and in the 17th c.’ NED. 2. 1. 163; 3. 3. 23.
  †2. attrib. 1. 1. 128. cut-worke.

Danger, n. †Mischief, harm. 2. 6. 30.
†Daw, v. Rare. To frighten, torment. 4. 4. 208.
Dearling, n. Obs. form of darling. 5. 6. 74.
Decimo sexto. ?Obs. ‘A term denoting the size of a book, or of the page of a book, in which each leaf is one-sixteenth of a full sheet; properly Sexto-decimo (usually abbreviated 16mo.).’ NED. Also applied fig. to a diminutive person or thing: hence, ?An exquisite or perfect condition. 4. 4. 50.
Deed of Feoffment, phr. 4. 6. 44. See Feoffment.
Defeate, n. †Undoing, ruin. Phr. do defeate upon: To do injury to; to bring about the ruin of. 2. 6. 21.
Defend, v. †To prohibit, forbid. Obs. exc. dial. 1. 4. 97.
Degree, n. 1. A high degree or quality. 2. 1. 89.   2. Any degree. 4. 3. 26.
Delicate, a. †1. Charming
  †2. Voluptuous. 2. 2. 103; 2. 2. 126.
Both meanings seem to be present.
Delude, v. †To frustrate the aim or purpose of. 1. 6. 54.
†Deneer, n. [Form of Denier, obs. or arch.] A French coin, the twelfth of a sou; originally of silver, but from the 16th c. of copper. Hence (esp. in negative phrases) used as the type of a very small sum. 3. 3. 188.
Deny, v. ?Prove false to. 1. 4. 91.
Depart, v. †Phr. depart with: To part with; give up. 1. 4. 58; 1. 4. 83.
Dependance, n. †A quarrel or affair ‘depending,’ or awaiting settlement. 3. 3. 130.
Devil, n. Jonson uses the following forms: Deuill. 5. 5. 49, etc.; Diuel. 5. 5. 20; Diuell. Titlepage, etc.
Diligence, n. †pl. Labors, exertions. 2. 2. 106.
Discourse, n. †Conversational power. 4. 4. 225.
Discourse, v. To discuss. Arch. 4. 2. 40.
Dishonesty, n. †Unchastity. 4. 4. 158.
†Displeasant, a. Displeasing; disagreeable. Epilogue 6.
Distast, n. †Quarrel. 3. 3. 77.
Diuident, n. [Erron. spelling of dividend.] †The share (of anything divided among a number of persons) that falls to each to receive. 2. 1. 123; 3. 3. 201.
Dotage, n. Infatuation. 5. 8. 92 (see note).
Dottrel, n. 1. A species of plover (Eudromias morinellus).
  2. A silly person; one easily ‘taken in.’ 2. 8. 59. See note 2. 2. 49-50.
Doublet, n. A close-fitting body-garment, with or without sleeves, worn by men from the 14th to the 18th centuries. Obs. exc. Hist. 1. 1. 52. Phr. hose and doublet: as the typical male attire. 1. 6. 151.
Doubt, n. †Apprehension; fear. 5. 1. 8.
Doubt, v. †To suspect; have suspicions about. 2. 6. 47.
Dough-bak’d, ppl. a. Now dial. Imperfectly baked, so as to remain doughy. 4. 4. 20.
Doxey, n. ‘Originally the term in Vagabonds’ Cant for the unmarried mistress of a beggar or rogue: hence. slang, a mistress, prostitute.’ NED. 2. 8. 38.
Draw, v. †1. To pass through a strainer; to bring to proper consistence. 1. 6. 222.
  2. To frame, draw up (a document). 3. 3. 67.
  †3. intr. To withdraw. 2. 1. 127.
  4. Phr. draw to: To come upon; to catch up with. 2. 6. 24.
Dwindle, v. †‘To shrink (with fear.) Obs., rare. (Prob. a misuse owing to two senses of shrink.)’ NED. 4. 4. 63.

Effectuall, a. ?Earnest. 2. 2. 107.
†E-la, n. Mus. Obs. exc. Hist. [f. E+La; denoting the particular note E which occurred only in the seventh Hexachord, in which it was sung to the syllable la.] ‘The highest note in the Gamut, or the highest note of the 7th Hexachord of Guido, answering to the upper E in the treble.’ NED. Fig. of something very ambitious. 5. 5. 59.
Employ, v. †Phr. employ out: To send out (a person) with a commission. 5. 5. 46.
Engag’d, ppl. a. 1. Morally bound. 4. 6. 9.
  †2. Involved, hampered. 1. 2. 41.
  †3. Made security for a payment; rendered liable for a debt. 3. 3. 90.
Enlarge, v. †Phr. enlarge upon, refl. absol.: To expand (oneself) in words, give free vent to one’s thoughts. 2. 1. 128.
Ensigne, n. †Token; signal displayed. ?Obs. 1. 6. 210.
Enter, v. Phrases. †1. Enter a bond: To enter into a bond; to sign a bond. 1. 7. 17.
  †2. Enter trust with: To repose confidence in. 3. 4. 36.
Entertaine, v. †1. To give reception to; receive (a person). 1. 2. 44.
  †2. To take into one’s service; hire. 3. 5. 19.
Enter-view, n. Obs. form of interview. 2. 6. 23.
Enuious, a. †Hateful. 1. 6. 196.
Enuy, n. †Ill-will, enmity. 2. 6. 20.
Enuy, v. trans. †To begrudge (a thing). 1. 6. 13.
Equiuock, n. [Obs. form (or misspelling) of equivoke.] The use of words in a double meaning with intent to deceive:=Equivocation. Rare. 3. 3. 184.
Erect, v. †To set up, establish, found (an office). Obs. or arch. exc. in Law. 3. 3. 67.
||Escudero, n. Sp. An attendant; a lady’s page. 4. 4. 87.
Euill, n. The Vice, q. v. 5. 6. 76.
Exchequer, n. The office of the Exchequer; used hyperbol. for the source of wealth. 3. 3. 81.
Extraordinary, †adv. Extraordinarily. 1. 1. 116.
Extreme, †adv. Extremely. 1. 7. 27.
Extremity, n. ?An extreme instance. 1. 5. 15.

Face, n. Attitude (towards); reception (of). P. 21.
Fact, n. †1. The making, manufacture. 3. 4. 49.
  2. Phr. with one’s fact: as an actual experience. 5. 6. 13.
Faine, v. Obs. form of feign. 5. 5. 28.
Fauour, n. †1. Leave, permission. Phr. under (your) fauour: with all submission, subject to correction. Obs. or arch. 1. 3. 27.
  2. ?Comeliness; ?face. 4. 6. 49.
Feate, n. A business transaction. 3. 3. 227.
Fellow, n. Phr. good fellow: Of a woman. A term of familiar address. 5. 1. 5.
Feoffee, n. The person to whom a freehold estate in land is conveyed by a feoffment. 3. 5. 60.
Feoffment, n. ‘The action of investing a person with a fief or fee. In technical language applied esp. to the particular mode of conveyance (originally the only one used, but now almost obsolete) in which a person is invested in a freehold estate in lands by livery of seisin (at common law generally, but not necessarily, evidenced by a deed, which, however, is not required by statute).’ NED. 4. 5. 15; 4. 7. 7.
  Phr. Deed of Feoffment: ‘The instrument or deed by which corporeal hereditaments are conveyed.’ NED. 4. 6. 44.
Fetch, v. 1. To earn; get (money). 2. 1. 72.
  †2. To perform, take (a leap). 1. 1. 55.
  †3. Phr. Fetch again: To revive, restore to consciousness. 2. 1. 4.
†Figgum, n. ?Juggler’s tricks (not found elsewhere). 5. 8. 82.
Finenesse, n. †‘Overstrained and factitious scrupulousness.’ Gifford. 3. 3. 104.
Firke, v. †To frisk about; ?to hitch oneself (Cunningham). 5. 6. 15.
Fixed, ppl. a. Made rigid or immobile (by emotion). 1. 5. 2.
Fizzling, vbl. sb. †Breaking wind without noise. 5. 3. 2.
Flower, n. †Anc. Chem. (pl.): ‘The pulverulent form of any substance, esp. as the result of condensation after sublimation.’ NED. 4. 4. 19.
Fly, v. Of a hawk: To pursue by flying: used fig. 4. 7. 53.
Flye-blowne, a. Tainted. With a quibble on the literal meaning. 2. 7. 7.
Fool, v. Phr. fool off: To delude, baffle. 2. 6. 25.
Forbeare, v. trans. †To keep away from or from interfering with; to leave alone. 1. 3. 22.
Forked, a. ‘Horned,’ cuckolded. 2. 2. 90.
Foyle, n. [Form of foil.] A thin leaf of some metal placed under a precious stone to increase its brilliancy. 3. 3. 180.
French-masque, n. pr. the ‘Loo,’ or ‘Loup,’ a half-mask of velvet, worn by females to protect the complexion. 2. 1. 162.
French-time, n. ?Formal and rhythmic measure (as characteristic of the French, in contrast to Italian, music). 3. 5. 30.
Frolick, n. †?Humorous verses circulated at a feast. 2. 8. 73.
||Fucus, n. †Paint or cosmetic for beautifying the skin; a wash or coloring for the face. 3. 4. 50; 4. 2. 63.
Fustian, n. †A kind of coarse cloth made of cotton and flax. 3. 3. 30.