808. the other] Old eds. “the tother.”
809. a noise of “hem” within] Compare p. 205, where Bellafront says that during her days of vice, when she appeared in the street, “though with face mask’d,” she “could not scape the hem.”
810. hem, evax, vah] Latin interjections.
811. carnifexes] i. e. scoundrels—Lat. carnifex, a hangman, or rogue.
812. are Old. eds. “is.”
813. bulchins] Or bulkins—i. e. bull-calves.
815. my country breeds no poison] The captain’s country was Ireland: see note, p. 177.
816. O Toole] Was a person notorious for his romantic bravery, vanity, and eccentricity. There is a rare print of him—Arthurus Severus O Toole None-such, Æt. 80—representing an old man in armour, carrying in his hand a sword ornamented with crowns, and having at bottom verses,
It was prefixed to the first edition of a poem by Taylor, 1622, To the Honour of the Noble Captaine O Toole, which is reprinted in the water-poet’s Works, 1630. In this ironical panegyric his exploits against the Irish rebels are celebrated;
But his own country was not the only one in which O Toole figured; he served as a volunteer, and displayed his courage and absurdities in various parts of Europe. The Argument to the poem just quoted informs us, that his “Youth was Dedicated to Mars and his Age to Westminster, which ancient Cittie is now honour’d with his beloued Residance.”
817. tweaks] Equivalent to punks:
in which work the word also occurs at pp. 110, 111, 173, 262. Brome uses it in a very different sense: “O they are a brace of subtle dry Tweakes” [i. e. whoremongers], says Careless, speaking of Thrivewell and Saveall,—A Mad Couple well matched, sig. E 2, (Fiue New Playes,) 1653.
819. provant] i. e. provender, provision.
821. gander-mooners] i. e. married gallants—“Gander-month, that month in which a man’s wife lies in,” &c. &c. Grose’s Clas. Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
822. sweet-breasted] i. e. sweet-voiced.
826. footmen ... Irish dart] See note, p 131. An allusion to the darts carried by the Irish running footmen occurs at p. 176. In Field’s Amends for Ladies, 1618 (reprinted by Mr. Collier in a supplementary volume to Dodsley’s Old Plays), is a stage-direction, “Enter Maid, like an Irish foot-boy with a dart,” act ii. sc. 3, where the editor observes, “the dart ... was perhaps intended as an indication of the country from which they came, as being part of the accoutrements of the native Irish: thus, in the description of the dumb-shew preceding act ii. of The Misfortunes of Arthur, we find the following passage; ‘after which there came a man bare-headed, with long black shagged hair down to his shoulders, apparelled with an Irish jacket and shirt, having an Irish dagger by his side, and a dart in his hand.’”
830. Alas, he has ... their graves] Forms part of Chough’s speech in old eds.—kept the door, i. e. been a pander.
831. three] Old eds. “two.”
832. Brandon] From a tract dated 1649, and entitled The Last Will and Testament of Richard Brandon, &c. (the executioner who is supposed to have beheaded King Charles the First: see Ellis’s Letters Ill. of Engl. Hist. vol. iii. p. 341, Second Series), we learn that “he was the only son of Gregory Brandon, and claimed the Gallows by inheritance,” p. 7. The Brandon mentioned in the text was probably Gregory.
833. lancepresadoes] i. e. the lowest officers of foot, under the corporals: see Nares’s Gloss. in v. Lancepesado (for the word is variously written), and my note on Webster’s Works, vol. ii. p. 269.
834. but] Old eds. “by.”
835. You are, &c.] Ed. 1622 has “You that are,” &c.
836. escape] First ed. “pursue,” the compositor’s eye having caught the word immediately above. The line is wanting in ed. 1622.
838. while] i. e. until.]
839. peevish niceness] i. e. foolish scrupulousness.
840. and] i. e. if.
842. tenty-nine] i. e. ten and nine.—Perhaps it is unnecessary to remark, that what Chough has just said, “this is the nineteenth of August, look what day of the month ’tis,” is intended to exhibit the confusion of his ideas.
843. the word] i. e. the motto, or short sentence, annexed to each day.
844. Bretnor] This person was a celebrated pretender to soothsaying and an almanac-maker: see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s Devil is an Ass—Works, vol. v. p. 17. He is again mentioned in our author’s Inner Temple Masque.
845. and] i. e. if.
848. Pe’ryn] i. e. Penryn.
849. Ivel] Or Yeovil. Old eds. “Euill.”
850. Wookey-Hole] Old eds. “Hoc-kye hole.”
851. Mauz avez] Is this Cornish?
852. a] So ed. 1622. Not in first ed.
853. wine and sugar] Formerly sugar was almost always mixed with wine.
854. and] i. e. if.
855. and] i. e. if.
856. charm] i. e. make silent (as if by a strong charm).
857. for and] An expression which sometimes occurs in old poetry: so in Skelton’s second poem Against Garnesche (Harl. MS. 367);
858. Pancridge] A corruption of Pancras: “Otherwise they must keepe aloofe at Pancredge, and cannot come neare the liberties,” &c. Nash’s Pierce Pennilesse, sig. E 4, ed. 1595.
859. prevented] i. e. anticipated.
860. gastrolophe] Probably a misprint for “gastroraphe;” see the quotation from Sharp’s Surgery in Todd’s Johnson’s Dict. v. Gastroraphy.Gastroraphy.
861. sutures ] Old eds. “surteures.”
862. kind] Ed. 1622 “kind of”—wrongly, I believe.
863. unvalu’d] i. e. invaluable.
864. of] i. e. on: so a little after, “I take him of thy word.”
865. and] i. e. if.
866. I dare believe her. Face] Was altered by the editor of 1816 to “I dare believe her faith.” Compare Shakespeare, First P. of Henry VI., act v. sc. 3;
867. slights] i. e. artifices.
868. wish] Old ed. “with.”
869. censures] i. e. judgments.
871. Hei mihi] “The young hypocrite alludes here to a well-known line in Ovid. [Met. i. 523]” Editor of 1816.—Old ed. “Heu mihi.”
872. fond] i. e. foolish.
873. where] i. e. whereas.
874. Page] As the name of the lady who is thus disguised is not given, I have followed the old ed. in designating her Page.
876. and] i. e. if.
879. resolv’d] i. e. satisfied.
880. have] Old ed. “has.”
881. of cross] “Across, I presume.” Ed. of 1816.
883. ka me, ka thee] i. e. “if you’ll do me one favour, I’ll do you another. Mr. Gifford believes it to be a Scotch proverb.” Editor of 1816. See Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scott. Lang. (Suppl.) in v. Kae.
884. keep cut with] “i. e. follow the example of. The word is used by Sterne, in the same sense, in the 5th vol. of his Tristram Shandy.” Editor of 1816.
887. canions] Or cannions—equivalent here to breeches. “Cannions of breeches,” says Minsheu, so called “because they are like cannons of Artillery, or Cans or pots.” Guide into the Tongues, 1617.—“Cannions, boot-hose tops.” Kersey’s Dict.—According to Strutt, “ornamental tubes or tags at the ends of the ribbands and laces, which were attached to the extremities of the breeches.” Dress and Habits, &c. vol. ii. p. 263. See also my note on Webster’s Works, vol. iii. p. 165.
889. Cupid is Venus’] Forms part of a song in our author’s Chaste Maid in Cheapside, act iv. sc. 1, where, however, the 8th and 9th lines are not found.
890. sweet a breasted] i. e. sweet a voiced.
891. gain] Qy. “guile?”]
892. fellow] Old ed. “fellows.”
893. the] Altered by editor of 1816 to “thy”—perhaps rightly.
894. tall] i. e. fine, great.
895. Good fellow, &c.] Compare vol. ii. p. 21, and note.
897. tents] A play on the word.—Tent, say the dictionaries, is “a roll of lint put into a sore:” but according to the old books of surgery, tents were also made of various other materials: see Vigon’s Workes of Chirurgerie, &c., 1571, fol. cxiii.
899. and] i.e. if.
900. toy] i.e. trifle.
901. hose] i. e. breeches.
904. to] i. e. in comparison with—altered by the editor of 1816 to “as.”
905. lin] i. e. cease.
908. urchin] Signified both a hedgehog and a particular kind of fairy or spirit. In the present passage, “prick’d” would seem to refer to the former, “pinch’d” to the latter—the two significations being perhaps confounded in the author’s mind.
909. dandiprat] “This term is, in all probability, derived from a small coin of that name.” Editor of 1816.—Dandiprat, a dwarf, a little man, a word of uncertain origin, evidently gave the name to the coin: see note, vol. i. p. 246.
910. dive-dapper] Or didapper—i. e. dab-chick.
911. squall] Seems to mean here—effeminate thing: see note, p. 55.
913. fondness] i. e. foolishness.
914. fond] i. e. foolish.
915. My blood dances] “Is the only part of the speech in the original given to Lactantio; the first part is there the conclusion of the cardinal’s.” Editor of 1816.
916. book’d it] i.e. pretended to be devoted to books. Compare p. 561.
917. to seek] i. e. at a loss.
918. waste] Was altered to “miss’d” by the editor of 1816, who thinks “there can be no doubt of the propriety of the alteration.”
922. colon] i. e. the largest of the human intestines.
923. The rendezvous of the Gipsies] From Andrugio’s mention of “this house,” the scene would seem to be laid within doors; yet the meeting between Aurelia’s father, the governor, and the gipsies, appears to be accidental, and to take place in the open air.
924. plunge] i. e. strait, difficulty.
925. And so ... money] So these three lines stand in old ed.: nor do I see how the metre can be rectified by any arrangement.
926. and] i. e. if.
927. woman] Old ed. “one woman.”
929. pullen] i. e. poultry.—Old ed. “pully,” which, indeed, may be another form of the word.
931. sport] Qy. “snort”—as before.
932. Ousabel, &c.] So this gibberish is divided in old ed., rhymes, perhaps, being intended.
933. magot-o'-pie] i. e. magpie.
934. and] i. e. if.
935. money, &c.] “This is an allusion to a popular superstition, that the fairies, from their love of cleanliness, used at night to drop money into the shoes of good servants as a reward.” Editor of 1816.
938. pullen] i. e. poultry.
939. slights] i. e. dexterous tricks.
940. and] i. e. if.
941. Wit, whither will thou] A kind of proverbial expression: it occurs in Shakespeare’s As you like it, act iv. sc. 1; where see Steevens’s note.
942. in dock, out nettle] “The words 'in dock, out nettle,' allude, I believe, to a practice still sometimes found among children, of laying the leaf of the butter-dock upon a place that has been stung by a nettle, and repeating, as a kind of charm, the words 'in dock, out nettle,' as long as the application is continued.” Editor of 1816.—Compare Sir Thomas More; “and thus playe in and out, like in docke out netle that no man shoulde wytte whan they were in and whan they were oute.” Workes, 1557, fol. 809. In our text the words are used with some punning allusion.
946. cough o’ th’ lungs] i. e. “the symptoms of age and infirmity in the lover proposed by the father.” Editor of 1816.