961. grow thorough] An allusion to a proverbial saying;
Ray gives “His hair grows through his hood—He is very poor, his hood is full of holes.” Proverbs, p. 57, ed. 1768.
963. be] Old ed. “by.”
964. pantofles] i. e. a sort of slippers.
965. grutch] i. e. grudge.
966. dearest] i. e. most hurtful, most injurious (from the old verb dere, to hurt). So also in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, (act i. sc. 2, “dearest foe”), though Steevens explains it “most immediate, consequential, important.”
967. defeat] Qy. “deceit”?
968. ought] i. e. owed.
969. do] Old ed. “does.”
970. Dagger-pies] i. e. pies made at The Dagger, a low ordinary and public-house in Holborn; they were in great repute, as well as its ale.
971. our Puritans, &c.] Compare vol. ii. p. 153, and note; also the following passage of the Latin comedy Cornelianum Dolium, 1638; “imo membra sua vix tolerare queunt quia Organa appellata sunt,” p. 6: though the play just cited has on its title-page “auctore T. R.” (i. e., as commonly explained, Thomas Randolph), I have little doubt that it was written by Brathwait.
972. away with] i. e. endure.
973. ought] i. e. owed.
974. provant breeches] i. e. such breeches as were supplied to the soldiers from the magazines of the army: see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s Works, vol. i. p. 70.—Provant meant provision: “put in apposition with any other thing,” says Nares, it “implied that such an article was supplied for mere provision; as we say ammunition bread, &c., meaning a common sort.” Gloss. in v.
975. George] Is printed in old ed. as the prefix to “Sir, rest assured,” &c.
976. Scene changes, &c.] There can be no doubt, I think, that, on the departure of the two Franklins and George, the poet intended the audience to suppose that a change of scene took place as I have marked it. See notes, pp. 291, 476.
977. countess, &c.] i. e. Godeva: see Dugdale’s Warwickshire, p. 86, ed. 1656.
979. So inconsiderate, &c.] Two lines, evidently, of blank verse—in which, probably, more of this scene was originally written than I have been able to arrange as such: see note, p. 421.
982. a room] Intent mainly on bringing together nearly the whole of the dramatis personæ, Middleton appears to have left the location of this scene to the imagination of the audience. Soon after Water-Camlet and George have been concealing themselves “behind the arras,” Sweetball and Knavesby enter, and agree (as if they were walking out of doors), that “the next man they meet shall judge them.”
983. means] i. e. tenor.
984. is but fiddling] Old ed. “his but sidling.”
985. wittol] i. e. tame cuckold.
986. macrio] i. e. pander, pimp.
988. The place I speak of, &c.] See Malone’s Essay on the Origin of The Tempest, reprinted in vol. xv. of his Shakespeare (by Boswell). At p. 425 of the Appendix to that tract, Malone, having occasion to notice the present passage, says, that Any Thing for a Quiet Life “appears from internal evidence to have been written about the year 1619.”
989. george] i. e. the insignia of St. George.
990. Bermothes] Or Bermoothes—an old form of Bermudas.
991. Divelin] i. e. Dublin.
992. other] Old ed. here and next line but one, “to’ther.”
993. parle] i. e. parley.
994. Make] Old ed. “makes.”
995. already come] Old ed. “come already.”
996. bravely] i. e. finely (in fine apparel).
997. the best I ever saw you at] Old ed. “at the best I ever saw you.”
998. came] Old ed. “can.”
999. civil] i. e. sober, grave, plain—opposed to “gallant,” which follows.
1000. Your state, &c.] A speech the whole of which seems to have been originally verse: see note, p. 421.
1001. banquerout] i. e. bankrupt.
1002. knew] Old. ed. “know.”
1004. hire] Old ed. “her.”
1006. aton’d] i. e. reconciled.
1007. censure] i. e. judgment.
1008. Nath. Richards] According to the Biogr. Dram., “was of Caius College, Cambridge, where, in 1634, he took the degree of LL.B.” He was author of Messalina the Roman Empress, a tragedy, 1640, and Poems Sacred and Satyricall, 1641.
1009. Bianca] Old ed., both in the list of characters and throughout the play, “Brancha.” The violation of metre which the latter name occasions would alone be sufficient to prove it a misprint: e. g.:
Her family name, as we learn from act iii. sc. 1, was Capello.—Most readers will recollect the celebrated Bianca Capello, second wife of Francis de Medici, grand duke of Tuscany: the earlier events in her history, and in that of the Bianca of the tragedy, have a sort of resemblance; both fled from Venice to Florence, &c.
1010. unvalu’dst] i. e. invaluablest.
1011. spoke] Old ed. “spake.”
1012. Guar. Light her now, brother] Here, I apprehend, is some corruption of the text, and something wrong in the assignment of the speeches; but feeling dissatisfied with the alterations which I attempted, I leave the passage as it stands in the old ed.
1013. jacks] i. e. fellows.
1014. cat and cat-stick] “Tip-cat, or perhaps more properly, the game of Cat, is a rustic pastime well known in many parts of the kingdom. Its denomination is derived from a piece of wood called a cat, with which it is played; the cat is about six inches in length, and an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, and diminished from the middle to both the ends, in the shape of a double cone; by this curious contrivance the places of the trap and of the ball are at once supplied, for when the cat is laid upon the ground, the player with his cudgel [or cat-stick] strikes it smartly, it matters not at which end, and it will rise with a rotatory motion, high enough for him to beat it away as it falls, in the same manner as he would a ball.” Sports, &c. (p. 86), by Strutt, who describes two of the various ways in which the game is played.—The “trap-stick” with which the Ward enters is, of course, the same as cat-stick; and “tippings” is a term of the game.
1015. mar’l] i. e. marvel.
1016. thy] Old ed. “that.”
1017. Byrlady] i. e. By our lady.
1018. make] Old ed. “makes.”
1019. Walk’d] Altered by the editor of 1816 to “Wak’d:” but compare p. 526, “they walk out their sleeps,” &c.
1020. revel] Old ed. “revels.”
1021. make] Old ed. “makes.”
1022. and] i. e. if.
1023. to] i. e. compared with.
1024. And] i. e. if.
1025. summ’d] Old ed. “sow’d.”
1026. bless you.—Simple, lead, &c.] Qy. “bless you simply.—Lead”? &c. Old ed. thus, “bless; you simple, lead,” &c.
1027. towards] i. e. in preparation.
1028. likes] i. e. pleases.
1029. passage] “It is a game at dice, to be played at but by two, and it is performed with three dice. The caster throws continually till he hath thrown doublets under ten, and then he is out and loseth; or doublets above ten, and then he passeth and wins. Complete Gamester.” Editor of 1816.
1030. trow] i. e. think you.
1033. It may take handsomely] After this speech the editor of 1816 puts a stage-direction, “Guard. goes out and returns almost immediately,” and follows the old ed. in marking the subsequent entrance thus, “Enter Mother.”
1034. merrily] Old ed. “meerly.”
1035. Attend the gentlewoman] Part of the present scene,—from the entrance of the Mother to these words,—is given, with a few omissions, in Specimens of Engl. Dram. Poets, by Lamb, who observes, “This is one of those scenes which has the air of being an immediate transcript from life. Livia, the ’good neighbour,' is as real a creature as one of Chaucer’s characters. She is such another jolly Housewife as the Wife of Bath.” P. 155.
1038. above] The upper-stage (see note, vol. ii. p. 125) was probably intended to represent “for the nonce” a gallery.
1039. Draws a curtain, &c.] The upper-stage was furnished with curtains. Old ed. has merely “Duke above.”
1040. here] Old ed. “here’s.”
1041. make] Old ed. “makes.”
1042. why] Old ed. “who.”
1044. cutted] i. e. “cross, querulous.” Editor of 1816.
1045. of] Qy. “or”?
1047. likes] i. e. pleases.
1049. white boys] There is a play on words here: “white boy” was often used as a term of endearment;
1050. is] Old ed. “as.”
1051. dislik’d] i. e. displeased.
1052. ’tis] Old ed. “’till.”
1054. sucket] i. e. sweetmeat.
1056. Livia’s house] See pp. 573, 576, 593. She and Guardiano, it appears, were inhabiting the same mansion.
1057. deft] i. e. neat, spruce.
1058. wine and sweetmeats] Of which a banquet consisted: see note, vol. iii. p. 252.
1059. Rouans’] A misprint, I presume; but qy. for what?
1060. barren] i. e. dull, stupid.
1061. trow] i. e. think you.
1062. cat and trap] See note, p. 527.
1063. breast] i. e. voice. Compare vol. iii. p. 576.
1064. pricksong] See note, vol. iii. p. 626.
1065. of] Old ed. “of a.”
1066. Aside] “I think there is every reason to believe Brancha’s [Bianca’s] speech and the Duke’s spoken, as I have marked them, the one aside, and the other to Brancha; they were certainly not intended to be generally heard.” Editor of 1816.—Perhaps Bianca’s speech is addressed to the Duke.
1067. unvalu’d] i. e. invaluable.
1071. hay] Or hey—according to some, an abbreviation of hey-de-guize (see note, p. 163): is “gay” formed from the same variously-spelt word?
1074. passion] i. e. sorrow.
1076. hearse] “In imitation of which [cenotaph] our hearses here in England are set up in churches, during the continuance of a yeare, or the space of certaine monthes.” Weever—cited in Todd’s Johnson’s Dict. v. Hearse.
1077. have] Old ed. “has.”
1080. cried] i. e. proclaimed as lost by the public crier.
1081. cater’s] i. e. caterer’s.
1082. and] i. e. if.
1083. do] Old ed. “does.”
1084. stool-ball] So called from being played with a stool (or stools) and a ball: see Sports, &c., by Strutt, who says, “it seems to have been a game more properly appropriated to the women than to the men.” P. 77.
1085. rushes] With which the floors were strewed.
1086. breed ’em all in your teeth] “In allusion to a superstitious idea, that an affectionate husband had the toothache while his wife was breeding.” Editor of 1816.
1087. wait] Old ed. “waits.”
1088. go] Old ed. “goes.”
1089. in sadness] i. e. in seriousness—seriously.
1090. three legs] i. e. “three bows.” Editor of 1816.
1091. brave] i. e. finely dressed.
1092. Will you, &c.] I give these speeches as they stand in old ed. In whatever way the lines are divided, the metre will not run regularly.
1093. know] Old ed. “knew.”
1094. cure’s] Qy. “care’s”?
1095. low] Old ed. “love.”
1096. set] Old ed. “sets.”
1097. Sung for a hymn in heaven] “It is needless to say that our poet here alludes to a passage in the 15th chapter of St. Luke.” Editor of 1816.
1098. and] i. e. if.
1099. Break] Old ed. “Breaks.”
1100. wilful murder] After these words the editor of 1816 inserts a stage-direction “They seize Hip.” But if they lay hands on him now, it is plain, from what follows, that they presently leave him at liberty.
1101. and] i. e. if.
1104. pillowbeers] i. e. pillow-cases.
1105. angels] i. e. gold coins worth about ten shillings.
1106. all’s] So old ed.—for “all as.”
1107. resolv’d] i. e. satisfied, convinced.