139. a thousand year] “Our poet alludes here [very irreverently] to a passage in the Revelation of St. John, chap. xx. ver. 2.” Editor of 1816.
140. But I think] “It is unnecessary to observe there was something particular about Dampit’s bed; the reader, however, will collect all the information I could give him from this scene.” Editor of 1816.
141. muckinder] i.e. a handkerchief.
143. the tavern bitch, &c.] “One of the many proverbs expressive of inebriety.” Editor of 1816.
144. and] i.e. if.
145. Ay, he changes, &c.] “I scarcely need notice that Dampit’s explanation of the name is in allusion to the doctrine of metempsychosis, first taught by that philosopher.” Editor of 1816.
146. longer day] “Dampit means to insinuate, I conceive, that he had borrowed money of him, and only called to postpone the payment.” Editor of 1816.—
147. farewell, and a thousand] i.e. a thousand times farewell: see Peele’s Works, vol. i. p. 217. ed. 1829, and my note there.
148. device] “For advice; I suppose it intentional.” Editor of 1816.—Of course it is: so a clown in Randolph’s Hey for Honesty, 1651; “Ile tell you what I do devise you now, this is my pinion,” act i. sc. 1.
149. this geer will fadge well] i.e. this matter will fit well, succeed well.
150. dive-dapper] i.e. dabchick.
152. Virg. Æn. iii. 658.
154. Welch ambassador] “A jocular name for the cuckoo, I presume from its migrating hither from the west.” Nares’s Gloss. in v.—Perhaps it was so called because
155. make haste to give up thy verdict, &c.] Did Pope remember this passage?
157. Now make your best] Another couplet, of which the first line is imperfect: see notes, p. 7 of this vol. and p. 424 of vol. i.
158. cupboard of plate] i. e. a moveable sideboard, or buffet containing the plate.
159. and] i.e. if.
160. too] Qy. was this originally a couplet?
161. other ancient gentlemen] Old eds. “an other ancient gentleman:” but see what follows; and note, p. 9.
163. smack] Old eds. “smerck.”
165. junt] i.e. harlot.
166. pursu’d, nay] Old eds. “pursued me, nay.”
167. where] i.e. whereas.
168. nuncle] With this corruption of the word Shakespeare has made all readers acquainted.
169. defy] i.e. renounce.
170.
Here Middleton recollected the Palinode which closes Cynthia’s Revels:
171. fancy] i.e. love.
172. sign] The editor of 1816 altered this word to “sin.”—According to the directions for bleeding in old almanacs, blood was to be taken from particular parts under particular planets.
173.
Here again (see note, p. 97) Middleton has an eye to Jonson:
To stab their arms with daggers, and drink off the blood mixed with wine, to the health of their mistresses, was formerly a frequent practice among gallants.—For flapdragons, see note, vol. i. p. 66: from several passages in our early dramas, it appears that the Dutch were celebrated for swallowing them.—Drinking healths in urine was another and more disgusting feat of gallantry.
175. termers] i.e. persons (generally of ill repute) who resorted to London during term-time.
176. Prologue] The first line of it and a word in the fourth line have dropt out at press.
177. The old ed. has (what is generally wanting in early 4tos) a list of the characters. The only alteration I have made in it is the substitution of “Shrimp” for “Smelt,” the precocious youth being always throughout the play introduced under, and addressed by, the former name.
178. ’a] For he occurs over and over again in this drama.
179. great-breeched gallants] i.e. gallants who wear trunk-hose—breeches swelled out to a preposterous size by stuffings of rags, wool, hair, &c.
180. a cold heat, &c.] Here, perhaps, the doctor meant to rhyme.
181. affections] Qy. here and in the next line but two, for the sake of the verse, affects—which in our early poetry has the same meaning.
182. ask] Old ed. “axe,” which, though the genuine Saxon form of the word, and perhaps used here by Middleton, is now considered so ludicrous a vulgarism, that I have substituted the modern spelling.
183. overture] i.e. overthrow.
184. vadeth] Brathwait (Strappado for the Diuell, 1615, p. 53) has,
and Spenser and other poets use vade as a rhyme to fade: but though the words were considered as different, it would not be easy to assign a distinct meaning to each.
185. And it like] i.e. if it please.
186. Maria ascends] So old ed.—i.e. goes into the upper chamber which Glister has just mentioned.
187. tall] i.e. brave, bold.
188. a cross, &c.] Old ed. “to cross,” &c.—Creeping to the cross was a ceremony of penance imposed by the Romish Church.
189. giglot] i.e. wanton.
190. gill] i.e. girl, wench.
191. A valued price, &c.] i.e. a price equal in value to her inestimable worth.
192. unvalued] Old ed. “in valued,”—which, as one word, might stand; but see the next speech.
193. unvalued worth, &c.] This passage seems to be corrupted. For the benefit of those who are not familiar with “small 4tos,” I subjoin it as exhibited in the old ed.
194. friend] Old ed. “fend.”
195. pitchy] Old ed. “pithie.”
198. Lip. A plague, &c.] What I have here assigned to Lipsalve is given to Gerardine in the old ed.
199. under colour of dissuasion] Like another young lady, in Chapman’s May Day, 1611:
“Æmilia. But good cuze, if you chance to see my chamber window open, that is upon the tarrasse, doe not let him come in at it in any case.
Lodovico. ’Sblood how can he? can he come over the wall think’st?
Æmilia. O sir, you men have not devices with ladders of ropes to scale such walles at your pleasure, and abuse us poore wenches!” p. 22.
200. apparance] i.e. appearance.
201. instance] i.e. proof.
203. country] Old ed. “cuntries.”
204. feast] Old ed. “feasts.”
205. Bocardo] i.e. a dungeon, a prison,—properly, the old north gate of Oxford, which served as a prison. The gate no longer exists, having been pulled down in 1771; but the syllogism from which it seems to have derived its name still torments the students of that university, in the pages of Aldrich’s Logic.
206. grincomes] i.e. the venereal disease.
208. honesty] Old ed. “honestyes.”
209. then] Old ed. “that.”
211. by ( )] So the old ed., the author having used some expression which the printer was afraid to insert. Copies of early plays frequently occur in which words have been struck through with a pen, perhaps by some public authority. I possess several pieces by Marston, from which the objectionable words have been cut out.
212. refused their] Old ed. “refused them their.”
213. cony-skins] i.e. rabbit-skins.
214. statutes staple] “The mercer, hee followeth the young vpstart gentleman, that hath no gouernement of himselfe, and he feedeth his humour to goe braue: hee shall not want silkes, sattins, veluets, to pranke abroad in his pompe; but with this prouiso, that hee must binde ouer his land in a statute-merchant or staple: and so at last forfeit all vnto the mercilesse mercer, and leaue himselfe neuer a foot of ground in England.” Greene’s Quip for an Vpstart Courtier, sig. F 3. ed. 1620.
215. how go the squares] Old ed. “how goes,” &c.—i.e. how goes on the game?—(chess-boards being full of squares). “What, fellow Robin, how goes the squares with you?” Wily Beguilde, sig. E 4. ed. 1623.
216. a play, where we saw most excellent Sampson, &c.] From Henslowe’s MSS. we learn that “Sampson, by Samuel Rowley and Edw. Iubye,” was acted in July 1602: see Malone’s Shakespeare (by Boswell), vol. iii. p. 327. To this drama (which has not come down to us) Middleton perhaps alludes.
217. the youths] i.e. the children of Paul’s, or some of the other theatrical children then performing.
218. the upper stage] Was a balcony at the back of the stage, its platform being raised probably eight or nine feet from the ground. It served for a window, &c. &c. &c.—the frequently occurring direction in our early plays, “enter above,” meaning “enter on the upper stage.”
219. tongues] Old ed. “bones.”
220. presents] Old ed. “presence.”
221. sustain] Old ed. “sustained.”
222. shoes] Old ed. “showes:” in act ii. sc. 4, mistress Glister says, “I pray, let’s have no polluted feet nor rheumatic chaps enter the house; I shall have my floor look more greasy,” &c.: and a little after, “Let them come in, if their feet be clean.”
223. consort] i.e. company of musicians.
224. tickles the minikin] “Minikin,” says Nares (Gloss. in v.), "seems sometimes to have meant treble in music."—It certainly also meant a fiddle: “when I was a young man and could tickle the Minikin ... but now ... I am falne from the Fiddle,” &c. “A Fidler, when he hath crackt his Minikin.” Jacke Drums Entertainement, sigs. A 3, E 3, ed. 1616.
226. lovely] Old ed. “liuely.”
227. thine] Old ed. “then.”
228. rogation] From the preceding words, “thou hast been a long vagrant,” I suspect that a pun is intended here: to rogue meant—to play the vagrant.
229. gird] i.e. cut, gibe.
230. leave him] Old ed. “loues theame.”
231. bounty obliges, &c.] Old ed. “bounty obliges men too’t, giues mony for scrips and scrolls, and liberality seald,” &c.
232. make] Old ed. “makes.”
233. lectuary] i.e. electuary.
234. angle] i.e. corner.
237. liver] Was supposed to be the seat of love.
238. I pray, &c.] The first part of this speech is addressed to a servant off the stage.
239. the prick and praise] So in The London Prodigall, 1605: “tho she had the pricke and praise for a prettie wench.” Sig. E 3. Spenser has, Faery Queene, ii. xii. 1,
The prick was the point or mark in the centre of the butts in archery.
240. niceness] i.e. scrupulousness, over-delicacy.
241. Of no proportion, &c.] Old ed.
“Respectless” is probably a word which the author had originally written, but forgot to erase. In the address To the Reader (p. 107) he mentions the “faults in the printing.”
242. No marvel] May be right perhaps, if mistress Glister is speaking ironically; but qy. “Now I marvel.”
243. sect] i.e. sex: the word in this sense is of frequent occurrence in old writers.
244. Society, &c.] Old ed.
In the MS., I suppose, the word “beds,” for which Middleton had substituted “nuptials,” was not deleted: see note 244 supr.
245. satiety] Old ed. “society.”
246. Vial] Here, and afterwards in this scene, the old ed. prefixes Nun. (i.e. Nuntius) to his speeches.
247. passions] i.e. sorrowings.
250. mouse] Was formerly a common term of endearment.
253. What should he be for a man?] i.e. What man should he be?
254. mistress] Old ed. “master.”
255. bruited] i.e. reported.
256. endear] Old ed. “endeauour:” compare our author’s Michaelmas Term; “I’ll be dear to you, do but perform it,” vol. i. p. 478.
258. feed] Old ed. “fed.”
259. Servant] Old ed. "One."—Perhaps Vial should be the person who enters.
260. thou] i.e. one of the whips: the other he presently gives to Gudgeon.
262. Re-enter Maria] The stage-direction in the old ed. is “Enter Maria ouer the trunke;” and Middleton probably intended the spectators to suppose (for, as there was no moveable painted scenery when he wrote, they were obliged to suppose a great deal,) that the trunk, left on the stage by the apprentices, had been removed to Maria’s apartment since the exit of Glister. When she enters at the commencement of scene iv. (p. 133), the room is certainly not her own apartment: Gerardine is thought to have left the country, and she has the free range of the house.
263. peize] i.e. weigh down.
264. thou’st] Old ed. “thou hast.”
266. cautelous] i.e. artfully cautious.
267. Place] Old ed. “Peace.”
268. little-ease] Was a cant term, used long before Middleton’s time, for the pillory, stocks, or bilboes, (and, as I suspect from several passages in our early writers, for some apartment in a prison);