760. royal] A gold piece current for fifteen shillings.
761. for] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
763. legs] i. e. bows.
764. the Horn, the Mitre, or the Mermaid] The first of these has been already mentioned in this tract, see p. 565; the Mitre was in Bread-street, Cheapside; the Mermaid in Cornhill: see notes, vol. ii. p. 240.
765. the Bankside] In Southwark, where the Globe and other theatres were situated.
766. breaking-up] i. e. carving.
767. the Blackfriars] The theatre so named, which stood near the present Apothecaries’ Hall, and which was occasionally occupied by the Children of the Revels (a nest of boys): see Collier’s Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry, vol. iii. p. 275.
769. they] So first ed. Sec. ed. “the.”
770. squalls] Equivalent here, it would seem, to—wenches: vide note, vol. iii. p. 55. Taylor, the water-poet, uses the word as a term of endearment;
and Kempe as a term of reproach; “Swearing it did him good to haue ill words of a hoddy doddy, a habber de hoy, a chicken, a squib, a squall.” Humble Request, &c., appended to his Nine daies Wonder, 1600.
771. still] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
772. luxurious] i. e. lustful.
773. vaulting-houses] i. e. brothels.
774. White-Friars’ nunnery] Compare (see note, p. 514) our author’s Game at Chess;
775. whereas] i. e. where.
776. noise] See note, p. 529.
777. blue coats] See note, p. 109.
778. cockatrice] A cant term for a harlot.
780. boarded] A play on words—accosted.
781. wassail-bowls ... shoeing the mare] Compare The Inner Temple Masque, p. 143 of this vol.
782. Sellenger’s round] “i. e. St. Leger’s round ... was an old country-dance, and was not quite out of knowledge at the beginning of the present century, there being persons now living who remember it.” Sir J. Hawkins’s Hist. of Music, vol. iii. p. 288, where the notes of it are given from a collection of country-dances published by Playford in 1679.
785. cogged] The same pun occurs in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s lost, “Since you can cog, I’ll play no more with you,” act v. sc. 2; where Johnson remarks, “To cog signifies to falsify the dice, and to falsify a narrative or to lie [or to cheat].”
788. down came fencing] Qy. “down came the host fencing”? see what precedes and follows.
789. not] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
791. i’faith] First ed. “than yfaith.”
793. grown as] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
795. where] i. e. whereas.
796. vaulting-houses] i. e. brothels.
798. angels] See note, p. 20. There seems to be an allusion to fireworks running on lines: see vol. ii. p. 531.
799. remorseful] i. e. compassionate.
801. luxur] i. e. lecher.
803. All] So first ed. Sec. ed. “And all.”
807. mazzard] i. e. head.
808. other] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
809. the Curtain] i. e. the theatre so called, in Shoreditch.
811. a] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
813. purls] i. e. borders, fringes.
814. gear] i. e. stuff.
815. conster] i. e. construe.
816. like] i. e. please.
821. action of one arm, like old Titus Andronicus] See the tragedy so called, which, though now printed among the works of Shakespeare, was assuredly written by some other dramatist,—probably, by Marlowe. In act iii. sc. 1, Aaron cuts off the hand of Titus; and in act v. sc. 2, the latter says,
822. it] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
824. the motion, &c.] i. e. the puppet-show: that of Nineveh, which was very celebrated, has been mentioned before, vol. i. p. 229, and vol. iv. p. 166. In Euerie Woman in her Humour, 1609, Getica observes, that she had seen “the Cittie of new Niniuie and Iulius Cæsar acted by the Mammets, [i. e. puppets],” sig. H.; and Dekker somewhere calls the latter exhibition a villanous motion.
825. entreated] i. e. treated.
826. my] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
828. nonce] i. e. occasion.
829. have] Eds. “hath.”
830. unpleased] i. e. unpaid.
832. warm] So first ed. Not in sec. ed.
834. the bear-baiting] At Paris Garden, in Southwark.
835. passionate] i. e. pathetic, sorrowful.
836. are] Eds. “is.”
837. turns] First ed. “fortunes.”
838. tweering] Or twiring—equivalent here, it seems, to—prying, peeping: on the word twire, see Gifford’s note, B. Jonson’s Works, vol. vi. p. 280, and Richardson’s Dict. in v.
839. brown-bill-men] See note, p. 513.
841. slipt] So first ed. Sec. ed. seems to have “slint.”
842. the] So first ed. Sec. ed. “thy.”
843. worms] See note, p. 556.
845. Hobson’s waggon] See note, vol. iv. p. 7. I ought to have said there, that Milton composed two copies of verses on Hobson; and I may add here, that they are printed (one of them very imperfectly) in Wit Restored (p. 185, ed. 1817), where they are preceded by an enlarged copy of what forms the third epitaph on Hobson in Wit’s Recreations.
846. points] i. e. tagged laces by which the breeches were attached to the doublet.
847. battler’s] See note, p. 544.
849. where] i. e. whereas.
853. liberal] i. e. free to excess, licentious.
855. first epistle] See p. 551.
856. sounded] i. e. swooned.
857. Bowles] Written “Bolles” by Stow and others.
859. Jacob Challoner] In the document before cited are various payments “to Jacob Challoner, painter,” for ornamenting banners, &c. Heath, &c., p. 333.
Stage directions, except for entrances, can be:
The same convention is followed here. Since this version is wider than the original, most directions are on the same line as the speech.
Entrances were centered and separated slightly from lines above and below. This is rendered here as a full blank line.
The footnote scheme used lettered references, repeating a-z. On numerous of occasions, letters were repeated, and sometimes skipped. The numeric resequencing of notes here resolves those lapses. Footnotes are sometimes referred to directly in a footnote by its letter designation. The few direct references to a lettered note use the new numeric value.
The volume ends with an Index of Notes which directs the reader to all five volumes. The following anomolies have been detected:
The entry for the ‘game of cat’ in the Index to the Notes incorrectly references a note on p. 427. The note occurs on p. 527.
The entry for ‘ken’ refers to p. 129 of volumn 2. While the word is used there, there is no note provided. The intent may have been meant to refer to note 1167 on p. 549 of that volume.
The entry for ‘Peter-sameen’ refers to p. 214. The note appears on p. 142, and the reference has been corrected.
The entry for ‘skeldering’ refers to p. 535 of volume 3. The note appears on that page in volume 2. The entry has been corrected.
The entry for ‘sound’, referring to p. 206 of volume 1, is almost certainly in error. A note on that page glosses the word ‘swound’ (swoon). A note in the current volume for ‘sounded’ also defines the entry as ‘swooned’, which perhaps caused the confusion. The entry has been corrected. However, this should move that entry alphabetically, but it remains in place and is noted below.
Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.
| 15.24 | I’m right glad on’t[.] | Added. |
| 207.26 | no stuff fit for their mouths[,/.] | Replaced. |
| 624.25 | bi[r/z]le | Replaced. |
| 639.32 | s[w]ound | Inserted. |
the widow’s notch shall lie open to you] This passage is, I think, explained by the following line in our author’s Triumphs of Truth;
I did quite right in substituting “slander” for “slave.” These words were frequently confounded by the old printers.
I from the baker’s ditch] So in Brome’s Sparagus Garden, 1640, “Sheart, Coulter, we be vallen into the Bakers ditch.” Sig. K 3. The ancient way of punishing bakers, who did not give full weight, was by the cucking-stool (see Grey’s note on Hudibras, P. iii. C. iii. v. 609); qy. is that punishment alluded to in the above passages?
Ill May-Day] i. e. Evil May-day—so called from the rising of the London apprentices against the foreigners, on the first of May, 1517: see The Story of Ill May-Day, &c., and the editor’s illustrations, in Evans’s Old Ballads, vol. iii. p. 76, ed. 1810.
Midsummer-Eve, that watches warmest] Perhaps this is an allusion to the setting out of the Midsummer watch: see Herbert’s Hist. of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London, vol. i. p. 196, sqq.
“i. e. wife.”
Read
“i. e. city-wife.”
“pegmes.”
Read
“pegms.”
ketlers] This word occurs in Kemp’s Nine daies wonder, 1600; “Those that haue shewne themselues honest men, I wil set before them this Caracter, H. for honesty; before the other Bench-whistlers shal stand K. for ketlers and keistrels, that wil driue a good companion without need in them to contend for his owne.”