Book 1
. of the former portion treats of hell-punishments.
# 746:
_I will_] Old eds. “Ile.”
# 747:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 748:
_Family_] i.e. the Family of Love: see p. 103.
# 749:
_She’s round with her, i’faith_] “i.e. she speaks plainly, in earnest to her.” STEEVENS.
# 750:
_they’re_] Old ed. “they are.”
# 751:
_slights_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 752:
_coted_] i.e. quoted.
# 756:
_Fondly_] i.e. foolishly.
# 753:
_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”
# 754:
_th’ Master’s side_] See note, vol. i. p. 392.
# 755:
_to the third pile_] An allusion to the finest kind of velvet, called _three-pile_. “It seems to have been thought,” says Nares, quoting the present passage, “that there was a three-fold accumulation of the outer substance, or pile.” _Gloss._
# 757:
_Pollcut_] So ed. 1640: ed. 1608, “Pelcut.”
# 758:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 759:
_pair of organs_] i.e. the old expression for _an organ_.
# 760:
_Pooh!_ Laughs] Old eds. “Laughs, puh.”
# 761:
_call in my chief gentleman i’ th’ chain of gold_] “Stewards of noblemen and gentlemen of property used formerly to wear a gold chain.” REED.
# 762:
_bastard_] i.e. a sweet Spanish wine: there were two sorts, white and brown.
# 763:
_lord’s_] Old eds. “loue’s.”
# 764:
_blue coats_] See note, p. 26.
# 765:
_house_] Old eds. “houses.”
# 766:
_pair_] See note, p. 346.
# 767:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 768:
_consort_] i.e. company of musicians.
# 769:
_A song_, &c.] During which, the audience were to suppose that Sir Bounteous was feasting his guests.
# 770:
_Mawworm, Hoboy, and others_] Old eds. “_and his consorts_ [i.e. companions] _toward his lodging_.” I originally marked this scene “_a bed-chamber_;” but Sir Bounteous seems to accompany Follywit only to the door of his sleeping apartment.
# 771:
_for_] i.e. for fear of.
# 772:
_champion_] See note, p. 73.
# 773:
_champers_] i.e., perhaps, horses (bridle-_champers_). Nares’s conjecture (in _Gloss._), that “_champers_” in this passage means _eaters_, seems very absurd.
# 774:
_gilt_] Compare p. 197, where see note.
# 775:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 776:
_dag’s end_] “i.e. at a distance, as by a _sword_ or _pistol_ advanced against me. _Dag_ is an ancient word, signifying either the one or the other.” STEEVENS. Most commonly it means _pistol_; see vol. i. p. 249.
# 777:
_blacks_] “The common term formerly for mourning.” REED.
# 778:
_a noble_] See note, 17.
# 779:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 780:
_chief gentleman i’ th’ chain of gold_] See note, p. 347.
# 781:
_Exeunt_] Is not marked in the old eds., which, after Hoboy’s speech, have a stage-direction, “_Enter with Sir Bounteous in his night-gowne_.”
# 782:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 783:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 784:
_a knight of Windsor_] “i.e. one of the poor knights of Windsor.” REED.
# 785:
_purchase_] See note, vol. i. p. 319.
# 786:
_lie_] Old eds. “lies.”
# 787:
_take me with you, lady_] See note, p. 22.
# 788:
_sect_] See note, p. 134.
# 789:
_let gold_, &c.] See note, p. 298.
# 790:
_Footman_] That is, one of Follywit’s companions in disguise: see p. 345.
# 791:
_risse_] i.e. risen.
# 792:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 793:
_commodity_] i.e. advantage, profit.
# 794:
_Enter_, &c.] The only stage-direction in old eds. is “_Curtens drawn_.” See note, vol. i. p. 264.
# 795:
_spur-royals_] See note, p. 260.
# 796:
_guess_] i.e. guests: see note, vol. i. p. 326.
# 797:
_Exit_] After Mawworm’s speech in ed. 1640 is the following stage-direction, “_A Song, sung by the musitians, and after the Song, a Country dance, by the Actors in their Vizards to a new footing_.”
# 798:
_swag_] i.e. sink down,—in the balance.
# 799:
_And so deflowers her that was ne’er deflower’d_] The same play upon words we find in _Romeo and Juliet_, A. 4. S. 5.
——“See, there she lies, _Flower_ as she was, _deflowered_ by him. Death is my son-in-law,” &c. REED.
# 800:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 801:
_vild_] i.e. vile: see note, vol. i. p. 94.
# 802:
_luxury_] i.e. lewdness.
# 803:
_where_] i.e. whereas.
# 804:
_The Courtesan_, &c.] Old eds. “_The Curtizan on a bed, for her counterfeit fitt._”
# 805:
_foot-cloth_] See note, vol. i. p. 396. “It is observed by Mr. Steevens, that anciently _the housings_ of a horse, and sometimes a horse himself, were denominated _a foot-cloth_.” REED.
# 806:
_spiny_] i.e. thin, slender: see note, vol. i. p. 174.
# 807:
_refocillation_] “i.e. restoration of strength by refreshment.” STEEVENS.
# 808:
_Ah, hah_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “Ah.”
# 809:
_that same oil of mace is a great comfort to both the counters_] See note, vol. i. p. 392. “A pun, alluding to the maces which were carried by the serjeants or varlets when they arrested people.” REED.
# 810:
_angel_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 811:
_purchase_] See note, vol. i. p. 319.
# 812:
_in_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “of.”
# 813:
_band_] Ed. 1640, “hand.”
# 814:
_scab_] So ed. 1640. Not in first ed.
# 815:
_officers_] Ed. 1640, “_officers_ and Projectors.”
# 816:
_I’d_] Old eds. “I would.”
# 817:
_e’er_] Old eds. “euer.”
# 818:
_minute_] So 1640. Ed. 1608, “munit.”
# 819:
_have_] Old eds. “hath.”
# 820:
_snobbing_] i.e. violent sobbing. Todd, in his ed. of Johns. _Dict._, gives “To _Snub_, to sob with convulsion.”
# 821:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 822:
_cullis_] See notes, pp. 151, 298.
# 823:
_A Room_] In the house of one of Follywit’s friends, as we learn during the scene.
# 824:
_muss_] “i.e. scramble.” REED.
# 825:
_rose-nobles_] See note, p. 253.
# 826:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 827:
_I’ve_] Old eds. “I haue.”
# 828:
_For his blanch’d harlot_] “i.e. his harlot, whose skin is _made white_ by the use of cosmetics.” STEEVENS.
# 829:
_gentleman_, &c.] See note, p. 347.
# 830:
_rounded_] i.e. whispered.
# 831:
_The rest_] Old eds. “_All._”
# 832:
_I’ve_] Old eds. “I haue.”
# 833:
_chinclout_] i.e. a sort of muffler, which covered the lower part of the face: see Douce’s _Illust. of Shakespeare_, vol. ii. p. 75.
# 834:
_kind_] i.e. nature.
# 835:
_making ready_] i.e. dressing: see note, p. 224.
# 836:
_half moons_] "The edition of 1640 has '_periwigs_,' as if it was not then understood why they were called _half moons_." COLLIER.
# 837:
_Cue_] “i.e. Kew.” REED.
# 838:
_a flag_] See note, p. 332.
# 839:
_bony scribes_] Ed. 1640, “_bony scribes_ and bony rags.”
# 840:
_Brothel_] Old eds. "Once-Ill"—which was, no doubt, the name originally given by Middleton to this character, and which, through an oversight, had remained unaltered in some parts of the MS. used for the press.
# 841:
_ready_] i.e. dressed: see note, p. 224.
# 842:
_much like your German clock_] An allusion to the cumbrous and complicated machinery of our first clocks, which came from Germany: see Gifford’s note, B. Jonson’s _Works_, iii. 432.
# 843:
_Enter Succubus in the shape of Mis. Harebrain_] Old eds. have “_Enter the Diuell in her shape_,” but prefix _Succubus_ to his speeches. Concerning the evil spirits called _Succubæ_,
————"that are said To put on feminine feature.... . \. . . . . . To draw men headlong with them to perdition,"
see that very curious work by Heywood, _The Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels_, 1635, pp. 500, 542.
# 844:
_Shield me_, &c.] “See _Hamlet_. [‘Angels and ministers of grace defend us.’ Act i. sc. 4.]” STEEVENS.
# 845:
_tic’d_] i.e. enticed.—Old eds.
“_Was I_ entis’st _for this? to be soone reiected_.”
# 846:
_her_] i.e. of the hour—which I notice, because in the margin of an old copy now before me, some reader has conjectured “our.”
# 847:
_fadom_] i.e. fathom—so written for the sake of the rhyme.
# 848:
_Seiz’d_] "Both the quartos read _seard_; and again, _seare_ [first ed. ‘_ceare_’] in the next line. The alteration by Mr. Dodsley." REED. Compare p. 178 and note.
# 849:
_Harebrain_] Old eds. here, and the next speech, “Hargraue,” a name which Middleton had once given to this lady, and which he had neglected to alter in some parts of the MS. used by the printer: see also note, p. 404.
# 850:
_bums_] See note, vol. i. p. 432.
# 851:
_a linen cloth about her jaw_] i.e. the chinclout: see p. 381 and note.
# 852:
_It was suspected much in Monsieur’s days_] “By _Monsieur’s days_, I apprehend, the author means the time when the duke of Anjou resided in England. That prince, brother to Charles the Ninth, king of France, on the encouragement he had received from Queen Elizabeth, visited the English court in the year 1581, and expected to have been united to her majesty in marriage. The queen, however, after many affected delays, broke off the treaty; and the duke was obliged to return to his own country, with the disgrace of a direct refusal. _Monsieur’s days_ are mentioned again in _The Blacke Booke_, 1604, sign. C. ‘—let mercers then have conscionable thumbs when they measure out that smooth glittering devil, sattin, and that old reveller, velvet, in the _days of Monsieur_, both which have devoured many an honest field of wheat and barley.’” REED. The piece just cited is by Middleton, and will be found in the last vol. of the present work. So too in Marmyon’s _Fine Companion_, 1633, “Two or three dances, as old as _Mounsier_.” Sig. G 2.
# 853:
_queasy_] i.e. squeamish.
# 854:
_know_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “knew.”
# 855:
_cullis_] See notes, pp. 151, 298.
# 856:
_chain_] See note , p. 381.
# 857:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 858:
_Pusha_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 859:
_I’ve_] Old eds. “I haue.”
# 860:
_Onyx cum prole, silexque_] “From _Propria quæ maribus_.” STEEVENS.
# 861:
_pudding_] i.e. tobacco made up in a particular form.
# 862:
_vild_] Altered in the eds. of Dodsley’s Old Plays to the modern spelling “vile,” which destroys the (very poor) play on words.
# 863:
_waft_] i.e. flavour.
# 864:
_Knocking within_] Old eds. “Master Penitent Once-Ill _knocking within_:” see note, p. 384.
# 865:
_Harebrain_] Here, and throughout the scene, she and her husband are called “Hargraue” in the old eds.: see notes, pp. 388, 404.
# 866:
_likes me_] “i.e. pleases me.” REED.
# 867:
_assum’d thee formally_] “i.e. assumed thy form.” REED.
# 868:
_periwig_] When this play was written, _periwigs_ were much worn by ladies.
# 869:
_clips_] “i.e. embraces.” REED.
# 870:
_his_] Old eds. “her.”
# 871:
_e’er_] Old eds. “euer.”
# 872:
_e’er I’ve_] Old eds. “euer I haue.”
# 873:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 874:
_by your favour, ladies_] "The players of James the First’s time seem to have been as censurable for addressing the audience as any of their successors since. This speech is evidently not intended for the bawd, who now enters _alone_. In the same manner sir Bounteous speaks to the auditors, when he says, ‘An old man’s venery is very chargeable, my masters; there’s much cookery belongs to’t.’ [p. 390.]" REED.
# 875:
_peevish_] i.e. foolish.
# 876:
_have_] Old eds. “has.”
# 877:
_made women_] i.e. women whose fortunes are made.
# 878:
_hole_] i.e. hide.
# 879:
_She’ll_] Old eds. “she will.”
# 880:
_restraint upon_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “_restraint_ on’t _upon_.”
# 881:
_maid_] Old eds. “man.”
# 882:
_fear thee_] “i.e. affright thee.” REED.
# 883:
_resolv’d_] See note, p. 39.
# 884:
_no curious wooer_] For “_curious_” Dodsley chose to substitute “_furious!_” and Reed remarks that "_curious_ is probably the genuine reading; it may mean _inquisitive, prying!_"—_No curious wooer_ is, no wooer that uses nice, elegant, elaborate phrase.
# 885:
_trow_] See note, p. 26.
# 886:
_take her e’en_] Old eds. “_eene take her_.”
# 887:
_hundred_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “_hundred pound_.”
# 888:
_e’er_] Old eds. “euer.”
# 889:
_All Hollantide_] See note, p. 165.
# 890:
_clip_] See note, p. 397.
# 891:
_Enter Sir Bounteous_, &c.] Old eds. “_Enter_ busilie _Sir Bounteous Progresse_ for the feast.”
# 892:
_blue coats_] See note, p. 26.
# 893:
_Harebrain_] Here, and in the next speech of sir Bounteous, also in all the prefixes to Harebrain’s speeches in the following scene, the old eds. have “Shortrod;” one of the names which Middleton gave to the character, before he finally changed it to _Harebrain_: see note, p. 388.
# 894:
_share_] See Mr. Collier’s remarks “on the payment of actors,” _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry_, vol. iii. p. 427: there were whole sharers, three-quarter sharers, half sharers, &c.
# 895:
_bastard_] See note, p. 347.
# 896:
_your_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “you.”
# 897:
_Mitre_] See note, p. 240.—In justice to Reed (see note in the last ed. of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_), I must observe, that _my_ copy of the first ed. has “Niter.”
# 898:
_Buz_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “Buzy.”
# 899:
_Pox_] Old eds. “post.”
# 900:
_pilfer_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “Gilfer.”
# 901:
_thee_] So ed. 1640. First ed. "him."
# 902:
_her_] So ed. 1640. First ed. "him."
# 903:
_Whew, whew_] So ed. 1640. First ed. "When, when," which, after all, may be right, as an exclamation of impatience for the performance of the play: see notes, vol. i. pp. 289, 361.
# 904: FOL. _Excellent well, sir_] So ed. 1640. Not in first ed.
# 905:
_and ne’er_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “and speake nere”.
# 906:
_shares_] See note, p. 406.
# 907:
_Har._] Old eds. in the prefixes to his speeches throughout this scene, “Shortrod:” see note, p. 404.
# 908:
_ycleped_] i.e. called.
# 909:
_like a bold Beacham_] _As bold as Beauchamp_ is a proverbial expression, said to have originated in the valour of Thomas, first earl of Warwick of that name, “who (says Ray, after Fuller), in the year 1346, with one squire and six archers, fought in hostile manner with an hundred armed men, at Hogges in Normandy, and overthrew them, slaying sixty Normans, and giving the whole fleet means to land.” _Proverbs_, p. 219, ed. 1742.—Follywit, however, seems to allude to one of the characters in a celebrated drama, produced before 1600, called _The bold Beauchamps_, which is frequently mentioned by our early writers: it no longer exists. The author of the false _Second Part of Hudibras_, 1663, canto 1. (in some lines quoted by Collier, _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry_, vol. iii. p. 425), attributes it to Heywood; but his authority is of little weight.
# 910:
_ah, hah_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “_ah_.”
# 911:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 912:
_send for him to a supper_] “The custom for the prostitutes at a theatre afterwards to sup with the players, though not to invite them home to supper, is alluded to in Field’s _Amends for Ladies_, 1639 [act iii. sc. 4—first ed. in 1618]: a Drawer says, ‘I have been at Bess Turnup’s, and she swears all the gentlewomen went to see a play at the Fortune, and are not come in yet; and she believes they _sup with the players_.’” COLLIER.
# 913:
_two-penny room_] Or two-penny gallery: see Collier’s _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry_, vol. iii. p. 343.
# 914:
_full of gentlemen_] That it was a common practice for youths of fashion to sit on stools upon the stage during the performance, is known from many passages of our old literature.
# 915:
_trow_] See note, p.26.
# 916:
_A_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “Ha.”
# 917:
_vild_] See note, p. 393.
# 918:
_ditch_] i.e. worthless, vile. Ed. 1640 has “_an_ excellent _example for all_ dizzy _constables_.”
# 919:
_lets you_] “i.e. hinders you.” REED.
# 920:
_Gum._] So ed. 1640. First ed. “Nub.”
# 921:
_aches_] A dissyllable: see notes, vol. i. pp. 28, 45.
# 922:
_I’m ... I’m_] Old eds. “I am ... I am.” This line makes a couplet with what follows.
# 923:
_Faith, they were some counterfeit rogues ... they said they’d play_ The Slip] “We have here a play upon words very common in our ancient writers, and which will be totally unintelligible, unless it is remembered that _a slip_ was formerly the name of a piece of _counterfeit_ money.... Robert Greene’s _Thieves falling out, True Men come by their own_: ‘And therefore he went and got him certain _slips_, which are _counterfeit_ pieces of money, being brass, and covered over with silver, which the common people called _slips_.’” REED. See also Gifford’s note on Ben Jonson’s _Works_, vol. vi. p. 77.
# 924:
_mark_] See note, p. 226.
# 925:
_push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 926:
_kneeling after the play_] It was formerly the custom for the players, at the conclusion of the play, to kneel down and pray for their patrons: the royal companies for the king or queen, those of noblemen for the particular lord to whom they belonged.
# 927:
_vild_] See note, p. 393.
# 928:
_How_] So ed. 1640. First ed. “Home.”
# 929:
_properties_] See note, p. 308.
# 930:
_A prize, a prize_] Old eds. “_a_ peece, _a_ peece,” which in Dodsley’s _Old Plays_ is altered to “a peace, a peace.”
# 931:
_I’ve_] Old eds. “I haue.” This line is meant to form a couplet with the conclusion of Sir Bounteous’s speech and Harebrain’s question.
# 932:
_what is she for a fool_] i.e. what fool is she: see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. iii. p. 397.
# 933:
_mark_] See note, p. 226.
# 934:
_We’ve_] Old eds. “We have.”
# 935:
_Exeunt omnes_] Ed. 1640 has “_Exeunt._
“_The end of the fifth and last Act: marching over the Stage hand in hand._”
# 936:
_The Catch_, &c.] Not found in first ed., is printed on the last leaf of ed. 1640.
# 937:
_Aristippus_] A sort of wine: see Randolph’s drama called _Aristippus, or the Jovial Philosopher_, 1635.
# 938:
_The Life and Death of Mrs. Mary Frith. Commonly Called Mal Cutpurse. Exactly Collected and now Published for the Delight and Recreation of all Merry disposed Persons._ _London_, 1662, 12mo. Prefixed to it is her portrait in a male dress (with an eagle, a lion, and an ape beside her), under which are these lines;
“See here the Presidesse o’th pilfring Trade, Mercuryes second, Venus’s onely Mayd, Doublet and breeches, in a Un’form dresse, The Female Humurrist, a Kickshaw messe: Heres no attraction that your fancy greets, But if her Features please not, read her Feats.”
Of this rare and curious volume a portion at least seems to be authentic.
# 939:
Note on _Twelfth Night_, act i. sc. 3,— _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), vol. xi. p. 357.
# 940:
Note on _id._, ibid.
# 941:
Smith’s _Lives of Highwaymen, &c._ vol. ii. p. 142, ed. 1719.
# 942:
See a note, signed N., _From a MS. in the British Museum_, (what a reference!) in Dodsley’s _Old Plays_, vol. xii. p. 398, ed. 1780.
# 943:
_Biog. Hist. of Engl._ vol. ii. p. 408, ed. 1775.
# 944:
Note on _Twelfth Night_, act i. sc. 3,—Malone’s _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), vol. xi. p. 356.
# 945:
This excellent comedy has been reprinted by Mr. Collier in a supplementary volume to Dodsley’s _Old Plays_.
# 946:
“Mulsack the chimney-sweeper” is mentioned as one of Moll’s companions in her _Life_, p. 82.
# 947:
_were_] Old ed. “was.”
# 948:
_termers_] Here Reed cites a passage from Dekker’s _Belman of London_, concerning those rogues that “_are called_ TERMERS _and they ply Westminster-hall: Michaelmas Terme is their harvest_:” see also my note, p. 107. I may observe, however, that _termer_ did not always mean a person of ill repute: “with a countrey gentleman or _Tearmer_.” _Greene’s Ghost Haunting Conicatchers_, 1626, sig. D 3.
# 949:
_for sixpence_] “The price of a play at this time.” _Id._
# 950:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 951:
_vast theatre_] i.e. the Fortune, in Golden or Golding Lane, St. Giles’s, Cripplegate. It was built by Henslowe, and Alleyn (the founder of Dulwich College), in 1599-1600. It was eighty feet square on the outside, and fifty-five feet square within. It was destroyed by fire in 1621. See Collier’s _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry_, vol. iii. p. 302.
# 952:
_beside_] Old ed. “besides.”
# 953:
_a trencher_] "At this time pewter was not introduced into common use. Our ancestors were content with wooden trenchers, and these were even to be found at the tables of our nobility and persons of good fashion. Among the orders for household servants, devised by John Haryngton, 1566, and renewed by his son, 1592, it is directed, ‘That no man waite at the table without _a trencher_ in his hand, except it be uppon good cause, on paine of 1_d._’ _Nugæ Antiquæ_, vol. ii. p. 267, ed. 1779. See also the _Northumberland Household-Book_, p. 354. _Trenchers_ are still used in some colleges and inns-of-court, particularly in Lincoln’s-Inn." REED.
# 954:
_falling bands_] See note, p. 218.—“In Evelyn’s _Discourse on Medals_, 1697, p. 108, is the head of Charles I. crowned, in the garter-robes, and wearing _a falling band_; ‘which new mode,’ says Mr. Evelyn, ‘succeeded the cumbersome ruff: but neither did the bishops or judges give it over so soon, the Lord Keeper Finch being, I think, the very first.’” REED.
# 955:
_ingeniously_] i.e. sincerely: _ingenious_ is frequently used for _ingenuous_ by our old writers: “reasons ... which, I must _ingeniously_ confesse, were both many and weighty.” Brathwait’s _Honest Ghost_, 1658, p. 46.
# 956:
_dined_] Old ed. “dyed.”
# 957:
_bond_] Was formerly synonymous with _band_. See notes, vol. i. pp. 245, 481.
# 958:
_marks_] See note, p. 226.
# 959:
_that_] Old ed. “that’s.”
# 960:
_Adam Bell_] An outlaw, famous for his archery: see the beautiful ballad of _Adam Bel, Clym of the Cloughe and Wyllyam of Cloudesle_, of which the most correct text is in Ritson’s _Pieces of An. Pop. Poetry_.
# 961:
_naughty pack_] In a note on this passage Reed says, “a _pack_ was formerly a name given to a lewd woman,” and that “it was also sometimes applied to the male sex.” The fact is, _naughty pack_ was a term of reproach applied commonly both to men and women.
# 962:
_fond_] i.e. foolish.
# 963:
_baffle_] Meant formerly to treat with insult, or mockery, or contempt. “Our names should be _baffuld_ on euery booke-sellers stall.” Nash’s _Pierce Pennilesse_, sig. D 4, ed. 1595. “When he had _baffuld_ mee in print throughout England.” Nash’s _Haue with you to Saffron-walden_, sig. T 2, 1596.
“Prithee, good Fido, goe and baffull him: Put an affront vpon him.” Marmyon’s _Fine Companion_, sig. F, 1633.
# 964:
_watermen_] “Taylor the water-poet asserts, that at this time, between Windsor and Gravesend, there were not fewer than forty thousand watermen.” REED.
# 965:
_goll_] A cant term for hand—fist, paw.
# 966:
_roaring boy_] See prefatory matter, p. 427.
# 967:
_what is’t you lack_] See note, vol. i. p. 447.
# 968:
_minces tobacco_] When this play was written tobacco was sold by apothecaries:
"Or in th’ Apothicaryes shop bee seene To wrap Druggs, or to dry Tobacco in."
_Certain Elegies, with [Fitz Geffrey’s] Satyrs and Epigrams_, 1620, sig. G 4.
# 969:
_bankrout_] i.e. bankrupt.
# 970:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 971:
_striker_] i.e. wencher.
# 972:
_as a naked boy in a phial_] “I suppose he means an abortion preserved in spirits.” STEEVENS.
# 973:
_make_] Old ed. “makes.”
# 974:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 975:
_bear her in hand_] i.e. keep her in expectation.
# 976:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 977:
_But is this, &c._] “She gives him money, and he pretends that he receives only tobacco from Mrs. Gallipot.” COLLIER.
# 978:
_drink_] To _drink_ (i.e. smoke) tobacco was a very common expression.
# 979:
_Paul’s_] See note, vol. i. p. 418.
# 980:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 981:
_the twelvepenny-stool gentlemen_] i.e. gentlemen who pay twelvepence for a stool to sit upon the stage during the performance: see note, p. 412. This is one of the passages which led Malone to think that “persons were suffered to sit on the stage only in the private playhouses (such as Blackfriars, &c.)” _Hist. Acc. of Engl. Stage_, p. 78—_Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), vol. iii.: but Mr. Collier has shewn that the practice was not confined to private theatres: _Hist. of Engl. Dr. Poetry_, vol. iii. p. 352.
# 982:
_hench-boy_] i.e. page.
# 983:
_mouse_] See note, p. 137.
# 984:
_resolve_] i.e. satisfy.
# 985:
_gear_] i.e. stuff.
# 986:
_saveguard_] i.e., properly, a sort of large petticoat, worn by women over the other clothes, to protect them from soiling.
# 987: GOS. _Moll, Moll!_ ]One speech in old ed., with the GREEN. _Pist, Moll!_ ]prefix "_All._"—The exclamation “pist” again occurs at p. 468. I unnecessarily altered it into “hist” at p. 268.
# 988:
_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 989:
_buona roba_] See note, vol. i. p. 258.
# 990:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 991:
_sew_] Old ed. “sowes.”
# 992:
_Brainford_] The old form of _Brentford_.
# 993:
_push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 994:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 995:
_Saint Antling’s bell_] See note, vol. i. p. 503.—“At St. Antholin’s church there used to be a lecture early in the morning, which was much frequented by the puritans of the times.” REED.
# 996:
_spittle_] i.e. hospital. “The reuenge was common as the Law, or as the blowes of a _Spittle_ whore.” _The Owles Almanacke_ (by Dekker), 1618, p. 18.—Gifford wished to make a distinction between _spittle_ and _spital_ (note on Massinger’s _City Madam_, act iii. sc. 1); but see Todd’s Johnson’s _Dict._, and Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.
# 997:
_burgh_] Or _burre_ is “a broad ring of iron behind the handle [of a tilting lance], which burre is brought into the sufflue or rest, when the tilter is ready to run against his enimy, or prepareth himself to combate or encounter his adverse party.” R. Holme’s _Acad. of Armoury_, cited by Nares, _Gloss._ in v.
# 998:
_the high German’s size_] So afterwards, in act iii. sc. 1, Moll exclaims,
"a name which I’d tear out From _the high German’s_ throat &c.,
where Reed remarks, “He seems to have been noted for his extraordinary strength, and is probably the same person mentioned in _The Curtaine Drawer of the World_, 1612, 4to. p. 27. ‘Aske but this Curtaine Drawer and he will tell you, that few there are, and those escape very hardly like the bird out of the snare, like _the German_ out of Woodstreet, or those that commit murder, or like him that escapes the hangman from the tree of execution.’” Nares (_Gloss._ in _German_, _High_,) says, he was "probably a tall German, shown for a sight ... I do not agree with the editor [Reed], that the same person is meant by the German ‘who escaped out of Woodstreet.’ The _high German_ must have been some man generally known for strength or size; that the same person should also have had a very narrow escape from Wood Street, is possible to be sure, but very improbable. Perhaps the _high German_ was the famous fencer, whose feats are thus recorded: ‘Since the _German fencer_ cudgelled most of our English fencers, now about 5 moneths past.’ ["a moneth past"—in my copy, p. 7.] _Owle’s Almanacke_ [by Dekker], publ. 1618, p. 6. High German may, however, be only in opposition to low German, or Dutch; as, for a long time, _high German_ quack doctors were in repute."
# 999:
_same wine_] i.e. bastard: see note, p. 347.
# 1000:
_pist_] See note, p. 460.
# 1001:
_pigsnie_] i.e. little pig—a term of endearment.
# 1002:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 1003:
_at Parlous Pond_] “This, I imagine, is the same place now called _Peerless Pool_. It is situated near Old-street Road, and was formerly a spring that, overflowing its banks, caused a very dangerous pond, which, from the number of persons who lost their lives there, obtained the name of _Perilous Pool_. To prevent these accidents, it was in a manner filled up until the year 1743, when it was enclosed, and converted into a bathing-place.” REED. _Parlous_ is a corruption of _perilous_.
# 1004:
_Hey, trug_, &c.] “I suppose _Trug_ is the name of the spaniel whom he is sending into the water to hunt ducks; or else that he means to say _trudge, trudge_.” STEEVENS. Perhaps _trug_ is equivalent to bitch: see note, p. 222.
# 1005:
_Come, let’s away_, &c.] An imperfect couplet: see notes, p.7 of this vol. and p. 424 of vol. i.
# 1006:
_two-leav’d tongues_] Old ed. “_two leaud tongues_.” The last editor of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_ printed “two lewd tongues,”—_leaud_ being, as he thinks, the old spelling of _lewd_. Qy. “_two_ loud?”
# 1007:
_Virginia_] “Great efforts were used about this time to settle Virginia.” REED.
# 1008:
_And so_, &c.] A quotation, probably.
# 1009:
_long coats_, &c.] i.e. petticoats: in some parts of Scotland they are still worn by male idiots of the lowest class.
# 1010:
_great Dutch slop_] i.e. large wide breeches.
# 1011:
_towards_] i.e. in preparation.
# 1012:
_Many one_, &c.] A word, perhaps a line, wanting here.
# 1013:
_good man’s_] This seems to be an allusion to the proverbial saying, “God’s a good man:” see _Much ado about Nothing_, act iii. sc. 5, Malone’s _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), vol. vii. p. 104, and Steevens’s note.
# 1014:
_give but aim_] See note, p. 335.
# 1015:
_tester_] i.e. a sixpence: see note, vol. i. p. 258.
# 1016:
_phrampel_] “_Phrampel_ here appears to signify _fiery_ or _mettlesome_.” REED. It is written also _frampold_, _frampul_, &c., and generally signifies vexatious, saucy, peevish, &c.
# 1017:
_vild_] See note, p. 393.
# 1018:
_baffle_] See note, p. 449. In _The Devil is an Ass_, act iv. sc. 3, is a stage-direction, “_Baffles_ him [i.e. passes him with some act of contempt] and exit.” B. Jonson’s _Works_, by Gifford, vol. v. p. 127.
# 1019:
_Exit_] Old ed. “_Exit_ Coachman with his whip.”
# 1020:
_safeguard_] See note, p. 459.
# 1021:
_bankrout_] i.e. bankrupt.
# 1022:
_Brainford_] See note, p. 463. The inn called _The Three Pigeons_ was resorted to by company of an inferior rank. At a later period, when puritanism had silenced the stage, it was kept by the celebrated actor, Lowin.
# 1023:
_untruss a point_] See note, vol. i. p. 367.
# 1024:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 1025:
_liberal_] i.e. too free.
# 1026:
_high German’s throat_] See note, p. 466.
# 1027:
_leiger_] See note, p. 316. That the last editor of this play should have had any doubts about the meaning of the word, is somewhat strange.
# 1028:
_wedlocks_] “i.e. wives. So in _The Poetaster_ [by B. Jonson], act iv. sc. 3, ‘Which of these is thy _wedlock_, Menelaus?’” REED.
# 1029:
_familiar_] i.e. a demon—properly, such as attends on a sorcerer or witch.
# 1030:
_viage_] i.e. voyage (see Todd’s Johnson’s _Dict_. in v.), excursion.
# 1031:
_Three Pigeons_] See note, p. 479. I suspect that this speech was intended to close with a hobbling couplet.
# 1032:
_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 1033:
_to his umbles_] “i.e. his inside. _Umbles_ are the entrails of a deer.” STEEVENS.
# 1034:
_kyes_] “i.e. cries. She imitates the jargon talked by nurses to infants.” STEEVENS.
# 1035:
_mouse_] See note, p. 137.
# 1036:
_water_] Old ed. “waters.”
# 1037:
_apron husbands_] “i.e. husbands who follow their wives as if tied to their _apron_-strings.” STEEVENS.
# 1038:
_cotqueans_] i.e. men who meddle with female affairs.
# 1039:
_Laxton, with bays_, &c.] An imperfect couplet: see notes, p. 7 of this vol. and p. 424 of vol. i.
# 1040:
_Pan-da-rus ... Cres-sida_] So in old ed., to mark the difficulty with which such hard names were read by mistress Gallipot.
# 1041:
_bankrout_] i.e. bankrupt.
# 1042:
_steal, steal_] Qy. ought these words to be considered as a stage-direction?
# 1043:
_Where_] i.e. whereas.
# 1044:
_made sure_] i.e. affianced: compare vol. ii. p. 39.
# 1045:
_Since last I saw him_, &c.] Perhaps this scene is by Dekker: in his _Whore of Babylon_, 1607, we find
“Fiue summers haue scarce _drawn_ their glimmering nights _Through the Moons siluer bowe_.” Sig. A 4.
# 1046:
_slight_] See note, p. 250.
# 1047:
_sirrah_] When this play was written, and long after, a female was frequently so addressed: see my note on Webster’s _Works_, vol. iii. p. 23.
# 1048:
_sadness_] i.e. seriousness.
# 1049:
_Byrlady_] Old ed. “Be lady:” see note, vol. i. p. 365.
# 1050:
_ramp_] i.e. ramping, rampant creature: “although she were a lustie _bounsing rampe_, somewhat like Gallemella,” &c. G. Harvey’s _Pierces Supererogation_, 1593, p. 145.
# 1051:
_saveguard ... slop_] See notes, pp. 459, 472.
# 1052:
_placket_] Has been variously explained—the opening of the petticoat—the forepart of the shift or petticoat: Nares (_Gloss._ in v.) insists that it meant only a petticoat, generally an under one.
# 1053:
_a noise of fiddlers_] i.e. a company of musicians,—an expression frequently occurring: “those terrible _noyses_, with thredbare cloakes, that liue by red lattises and Iuy-bushes, hauing authority to thrust into any mans roome, onely speaking but this, Will you haue any musicke?” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. B 4.
# 1054:
_roaring boys_] See p. 427.
# 1055:
_ningles_] Or _ingles_ (the former being an abbreviation of _mine ingles_), i.e. favourites. The word was used (and perhaps originally) in a worse sense: see vol. i. p. 301.
# 1056:
_the Counters ... Why, ’tis an university_] See note, vol. i. p. 392.
# 1057:
_Then is he held a freshman and a sot,_ _And never shall commence_]
“The speaker is here employing terms in use only at the university.” STEEVENS.
# 1058:
_Master’s side_, &c.] See note, vol. i. p. 392.
# 1059:
_beg plac’d_] i.e. beg to be plac’d: but qy. “be _plac’d_?”
# 1060:
_Lies_] i.e. He lies, he shall lie.
# 1061:
_puttocks_] i.e. kites.
# 1062:
_sprites_] Old ed. “spirits.”
# 1063:
_blue coat_] See note, p. 26.
# 1064:
_mace_] See note, p. 372.
# 1065:
_walk_] Old ed. “walkes.”
# 1066:
_these men-widwives_, &c.] So in _The Whore of Babylon_, 1607, by Dekker (see note, p. 490): “Doe not you know, mistresse, what Serieants are? ... why they are certaine _men-midwiues, that neuer bring people to bed_, but when they are sore in labour, that no body els can deliuer them.” Sig. D.
# 1067:
_Trap._ _Honest servant_, &c.] Old ed. “BOTH. _Honest_ Serieant _fly, flie Maister Dapper_,” &c.
# 1068:
_marks_] See note, p. 226.
# 1069:
_my German watch_] See note, p. 385.
# 1070:
_marks_] See note, p. 226.
# 1071:
_court-cupboard_] i.e. a moveable sideboard, or buffet, for displaying plate or other valuables: it was also called “_cupboard of plate_,” see p. 91.
# 1072:
_lets_] i.e. hinders.
# 1073:
_mysteries_] i.e. arts: but qy. “miseries?”
# 1074:
_hose_] i.e. breeches.
# 1075:
_owe_] Old ed. “owes.”
# 1076:
_lays_] i.e. wagers.
# 1077:
_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 1078:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 1079:
_swan above bridge_] When this play was written, the Thames abounded with swans.
# 1080:
_the viol_, &c.] See note, p. 11.
# 1081:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 1082:
_th’ Burse_] i.e. the New Exchange in the Strand. “Over this building, in the time of Middleton, were many shops where women’s finery was sold.” STEEVENS.
# 1083:
_cavell’d_] So spelt in old ed. for the sake of the rhyme.
# 1084:
_Between_, &c.] The old ed. gives this speech partly as prose, partly as verse. I have done what I could to arrange the lines.
# 1085:
_sigh_] Old ed. "sight,"—which, perhaps, Middleton wrote; for I think I have seen that form of the word. The preterite of the verb _sigh_ was often written _sight_.
# 1086:
_plunge_] i.e. difficulty, straits.
# 1087:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 1088:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 1089:
_puttock_] i.e. a kite.
# 1090:
_roses_] “i.e. roses anciently worn in shoes.” STEEVENS. They were made of ribbons gathered into a knot, and were sometimes of a preposterous size.
# 1091:
_sirrah_] See note, p. 491.
# 1092:
_fline_] i.e. flown.
# 1093:
_a cramp ring_] i.e. a ring, which having been solemnly consecrated on Good Friday, was supposed to have the power of preventing the cramp. See in Waldron’s _Literary Museum_, 1792, a reprint of _The Ceremonies of Blessing Cramp-Rings on Good Friday, used by the Catholick Kings of England_.
# 1094:
_Three Pigeons_] See note, p. 479.
# 1095:
_incontinently_] i.e. immediately.
# 1096:
_poking my ruff_] See note, vol. i. p. 279.
# 1097:
_rest_] i.e. a support,—without it the soldiers could not manage to fire the old muskets, which were very heavy and unwieldy.
# 1098:
_pursenets_] i.e. nets, the mouths of which were drawn together by a string.
# 1099:
_cog_] i.e. lie, wheedle.
# 1100:
_ingle_] i.e. coax.
# 1101:
_a riven dish_] “i.e. a broken dish.” REED.
# 1102:
_frumped_] i.e. mocked.
# 1103:
_till all split_] “This expression occurs in many old plays. See the notes of Dr. Farmer, Mr. Steevens, and Mr. Malone, on _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act i. sc. 2.” REED. It occurs in several old plays at least; and (as Nares observes in _Gloss._) denotes violence of action.
# 1104:
_Brainford_] See note, p. 463.
# 1105:
_gib_] Is, properly, a male cat—but sometimes applied, as a term of reproach, to a woman: “She is a tonnysh _gyb_,” says old Skelton, in _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 99.
# 1106:
_a mumming_] i.e. a masquing, in which originally the performers used gesticulation only, without speaking: mistress Openwork puns on the different meanings of _mask_ and _masque_.
# 1107:
_vildest_] i.e. vilest: see note, p. 393.
# 1108:
_sprites_] Old ed. “spirits.”
# 1109:
_Your two flags_] “Alluding to the flags which were placed formerly on the tops of playhouses.” REED.
# 1110:
_Mis. G._] Old ed. “Mist. Open.”
# 1111:
_Westward ho_] A comedy, by Dekker and Webster, which was first printed in 1607, and which may be found in my edition of Webster’s _Works_, vol. iii. The scene lies partly in London and partly in Brentford; and a “western voyage” from the former to the latter place gives the title to the play—_westward ho!_ being one of the exclamations used by the watermen who plied on the Thames.
# 1112:
_A stale_, &c.] i.e. a pretence or cover under which he keeps a harlot: the _stale_, or _stalking-horse_, was the real or artificial horse behind which sportsmen approached their game.
# 1113:
_Cold Harbour_] See note, p. 58.—Nares (_Gloss._), citing the present passage, says, that _Cold Harbour_ “seems to be used as a kind of metaphorical term for the grave.”
# 1114:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 1115:
_western pug_] “I doubt the sand-eyde asse will kicke like a _Westerne Pugge_, if I rubbe him on the gall.” Greene’s _Theeves falling out_, &c., sig. C, ed. 1637.—“In so much that [during the plague] euen the _Westerne Pugs_ receiuing mony here, have tyed it in a bag at the end of their barge, and so trailed it through the Thames,” &c. Dekker’s _Wonderfull Yeare_, 1603, sig. F 3.
# 1116:
_Open._] Old ed. “Mist. Open.”
# 1117:
_brave girls, worth gold_] The expression seems to have been proverbial; one of Heywood’s plays is entitled _The Fair Maid of the West, or A Girle worth gold_, 1631.
# 1118:
_the Brazen Head_] See _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_ (first printed in 1594) in my ed. of Greene’s _Dram. Works_, and the extract there given from the prose tract, _The Famous Historie of Friar Bacon_ (on which that play is founded), “How Fryer Bacon made a Brazen Head to speake, by the which hee would have walled England about with Brasse,” vol. i. pp. 141, 215. The friars lost all their labour through the folly of a servant named Miles, who having been set to watch the Head while they retired to rest, neglected to call them when at last it spoke.
# 1119:
_Open._] Old ed. “Mist. Open.”
# 1120:
_sumner_] See notes, pp. 29, 170.
# 1121:
_aloof off_] See note, vol. i. p. 427.
# 1122:
_Open._ ] Old ed. here, and afterwards, “_Omnes_.” _Gos._, _&c._ ]
# 1123:
_snuffling_] Old ed. “snafling;” but see his next speech.
# 1124:
_fagary_] i.e. vagary.
# 1125:
_if you be remember’d_] i.e. if you recollect.
# 1126:
_tawny-coat_] “_Tawny_ was the usual dress of a summoner or apparitor.” REED.
# 1127:
_I must lose my hair_, &c.] “Alluding to the consequences of lewdness, one of which, in the first appearance of the disease in Europe, was the loss of hair.” REED.
# 1128:
_A knack to know an honest man_] _A Pleasant Conceited Comedie, called, A knacke to know an honest Man, As it hath beene sundrie times plaied about the Citie of London_, was printed in 1596, the author unknown.
# 1129:
_gelt feathers_] i.e. golden feathers. But I am by no means confident that I have restored the right reading. Old ed. “Get _fethers_.”
# 1130:
_scape_] Old ed. “scapt.”
# 1131:
_Irish_] “Is a game which differs very slightly from backgammon. The manner of playing it is described in _The Compleat Gamester_, 1680, p. 109.” REED.
# 1132:
_bearing_] “_Bear_ as fast as you can ... when you _come to bearing_, have a care,” &c. _The Compleat Gamester_, pp. 155-6, ed. 1674.
# 1133:
_And that_, &c.] A line preceding this one seems to have dropt out: perhaps another is wanting after _And yet to try_, &c.
# 1134:
_Meg of Westminster’s courage_] Meg of Westminster, or long Meg of Westminster, was a virago, of whom frequent mention is made by our early dramatists; and indeed, like the heroine of the present piece, she had the honour of figuring in a play called after her, in 1594 (see Malone’s _Shakespeare_, by Boswell, vol. iii. p. 304). At that period, however, she is supposed to have been dead. She is introduced in an ante-masque in B. Jonson’s _Fortunate Isles_—_Works_, vol. viii. p. 79, ed. Giff. A 4to tract, entitled _The Life of Long Meg of Westminster: containing the mad merry prankes she played in her life time, not onely in performing sundry quarrels with divers ruffians about London; but also how valiantly she behaued her selfe in the warres of Bolloingne_, was printed (perhaps not for the first time) in 1635; and forms part of _Miscellanea Antiqua Anglicana_, 1816, 4to.
# 1135:
_puttocks_] i.e. kites.
# 1136:
_like a firework_, &c.] So Dekker (see notes, pp. 490, 503) in his _Whore of Babylon_, 1607;
“Let vs behold these _fire-workes, that must run Vpon short lines of life_.” Sig E 4.
# 1137:
_linstock_] Or _lintstock_—a stick with the match (the lint) at one end of it, used in firing cannon.
# 1138:
_galley-foist_] i.e. a long barge with oars: it frequently means that of the lord mayor.
# 1139:
_shovel-board shilling_] i.e. a shilling used at the game of _shovel-board_, and which was always smooth, that it might “slide away” easily.
# 1140:
_strouts_] i.e. struts.
# 1141:
_boot-halers_] “Cotgrave explains _Picoreur_ to be ‘a _boot-haler_ (in a friend’s country), a ravening or filching souldier.’” REED. Freebooters, plunderers, _halers_ of _boot_ (profit), or _booty_.
# 1142:
_ging_] i.e. gang. “This substitution of _i_ for _a_,” says Gifford, in a note on the word, “was common in our author’s days.” B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. iv. p. 161. But the fact is, _ging_ is of great antiquity: “The gouernour of this _gyng_.” _Gawayn and the Green Knight_, _MS. Cott. Nero A. X._ fol. 94.
# 1143:
_corago_] “A corruption of _coraggio_, Ital.” COLLIER.
# 1144:
_Bononia ... Bologna_] One and the same place!
# 1145:
_Volterra_] Old ed. “Valteria.”
# 1146:
_jobbering_] i.e. jabbering.
# 1147:
_Not a cross_] i.e. not a penny.—_Cross_, a piece of money, many coins having a _cross_ on one side.
# 1148:
_skeldering_] “A cant term, generally applied to a vagrant, and often used by our ancient poets. It appears to have been particularly appropriated to those vagabonds who wander about under the name of soldiers, borrowing or begging money.” REED. See also Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. ii. p. 8: “_Skeldring_ was a cant term for impudent begging,” &c.:—and Dekker’s _Gull’s Horn-book_, p. 129, reprint; “whom he may _skelder_ [i.e. cheat, defraud], after the genteel fashion, of money.”
# 1149:
_glasiers_] i.e. “eyes.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2.
# 1150:
_black patches_] Were used as an ornament, not only by ladies, but also by some effeminate gallants of those days.
# 1151:
_Isle of Dogs_] Opposite Greenwich. It seems to have been a place where persons took refuge from their creditors and the officers of justice.
# 1152:
_whip-jack_] In Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. D 2, the description of “A Whipiacke” is much the same as that which Moll gives here.
# 1153:
_horns for the thumb_] Pickpockets were said to place a case, or thimble, of horn on their thumbs, to support the edge of the knife in the act of cutting purses: see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. iv. p. 413.
# 1154:
_nipping Christian_] i.e. cutpurse.
# 1155:
_maunderer upon the pad_] “_Mawnding_, asking (begging).” “_Pad_, a way.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig C 2.
# 1156:
_an upright man_] “Is a sturdy big-bonde knaue, that neuer walkes but (like a Commander) with a short truncheon in his hand, which hee cals his Filchman. At Markets, Fayres, and other meetings his voice amongst Beggars is of the same sound that a Constables is of, it is not to be controld. He is free of all the shiers in England, but neuer stayes in any place long, &c. &c.... These [upright men] cary the shapes of soldiers, and can talke of the Low Countries, though they neuer were beyond Dover.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig C. 3.
# 1157:
_a wild rogue_] “Is a spirit that cares not in what circle he rises, nor into the company of what Diuels hee falles: in his swadling clouts is he marked to be a villaine, and in his breeding is instructed to be so.... These Wilde Rogues (like wilde geese) keepe in flocks, and all the day loyter in the fields, if the weather bee warme, and at Bricke-kils, or else disperse themselues in cold weather, to rich mens doores, and at night haue their meetings in Barnes or other out places,” &c. _Id._ sig. D.
# 1158:
_an angler_] “Is a lymb of an Vpright man, as beeing deriued from him: their apparell in which they walke is commonly frieze Jerkins and gally slops: in the day time, they beg from house to house, not so much for reliefe, as to spy what lyes fit for their nets, which in the night following they fish for. The Rod they angle with is a staffe of fiue or six foote in length, in which within one inch of the top is a little hole boared quite thorough, into which hole they put an yron hooke, and with the same doe they angle at windowes about midnight, the draught they pluck vp beeing apparell, sheetes, couerlets, or whatsoeuer their yron hookes can lay hold of,” &c. _Id._ sig. C 4.
# 1159:
_a ruffler_] “The next in degree to him [the Vpright man] is cald a Ruffler: the Ruffler and the Vpright-man are so like in conditions, that you would sweare them brothers: they walke with cudgels alike; they profess armes alike.... These commonly are fellowes that haue stood aloofe in the warres, and whilst others fought, they tooke their heeles and ran away from their Captaine, or else they haue bin Seruing-men, whome for their behauiour no man would trust with a liuery,” &c. _Id._ _ibid._
# 1160:
_the salomon_] i.e. “the masse.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 3.
# 1161:
_kinchin mort in her slate_] Old ed. "kitchin-_mort_."—“Kinching-morts are girles of a yeare or two old, which the Morts (their mothers) cary at their backes in their Slates (which in the Canting-Tongue are Sheetes) if they haue no children of their owne, they will steale them from others, and by some meane disfigure them, that by their parents they shall neuer be knowne.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. D 3.
# 1162:
_my dell and my dainty wild dell_] Dell is a girl yet undebauched: “these Dells are reserued for the Vpright-men, &c.... Of these Dells, some are termed Wilde Dells, and those are such as are born and begotten vnder a hedge: the other are yong wenches that either by death of parents, the villainie of Executors, or the crueltie of maisters and mistresses, fall into this infamous and damnable course of life.” _Id._ sig. D 3, 4.
# 1163:
_I’ll tumble this next darkmans in the stromme_l, &c.] i.e. I’ll tumble this next night in the straw, and drink good drink (_baufe_ being probably, as Reed has observed, a mistake for _bouse_), and eat a fat pig, a cock (or capon), and a duck. See Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2, 3.
# 1164:
_old_] i.e. abundant.
# 1165:
_bousing ken_] i.e. ale-house. See Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2.
# 1166:
_You are no pure rogues_] See note, vol. i. p. 169.
# 1167:
_lib ken or our stalling ken_] i.e. our house to lie in, or our house to receive stolen goods. See Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2, 3 (where “Stuling _ken_.”)
# 1168:
_queer cuffin ... ben cove_, &c.] Old ed. “_ben_ caue.” “The word Coue or Cofe, or Cuffin, signifies a man, a fellow, &c. But differs something in his propertie, according as it meetes with other wordes: For a Gentleman is called A Gentry Coue, or Cofe: A good fellow is a Bene Cofe: a Churle is called a Quier Cuffin; Quier signifies naught,” &c. _Id._ sig. C.
# 1169:
_pedlar’s French_] “That pedlers french, or that Canting language, which is to be found among none but Beggars.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. C.
# 1170:
_Ben mort_, &c.] i.e. Good wench, shall you and I rob a booth, rob a house, or cut a purse, and then we’ll lie down asleep under the woods (or bushes), &c.—Old ed. here, and in Moll’s repetition of the words, “_heaue a booth_.” See Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2, 3.
# 1171:
_Cut benar_, &c.] i.e. Speak better words, and hold your hands and your legs. See _Id._ ibid.
# 1172:
_heave a bough_] Moll, or rather the printer, has omitted the explanation of these words: see note, p. 539.
# 1173:
_Song by Moll and Tearcat_] The old ed. gives the first two lines to Moll, and prefixes “_T. Cat._” both to the third and tenth lines.
# 1174:
_A gage_, &c. &c.] i.e. A quart pot of good wine in an ale-house of London is better than a cloak, meat, bread, butter-milk (or whey), or porridge, which we steal in the country. O I would lie all the day, O I would lie all the night, by the mass, under the woods (or bushes), by the mass, in the stocks, and wear bolts (or fetters), and lie till a palliard lay with my wench, so my drunken head might quaff wine well. Avast to the highway, let us hence, &c. See Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2, 3; and _The Groundworke of Conny-catching_, 1592, sig. A 2. In the fourth line, as Reed observes, “_lay_” should probably be “_lap_.” A _palliard_ is a beggar born: “he likewise is cald a Clapperdugeon: his vpper garment is an old cloake made of as many pieces patch’d together, as there be villanies in him,” &c. &c. Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. D.
# 1175:
_stalled to the rogue_] “This done, the Grand Signior called for a Gage of Bowse, which belike signified a quart of drinke, for presently a pot of Ale being put into his hand, hee made the yong Squire kneele downe, and powring the full pot on his pate, vttered these wordes, I doe _stall thee to the Rogue_ by vertue of this soueraigne English liquor, so that henceforth it shall be lawfull for thee to Cant (that is to say) to be a Vagabond and Beg,” &c. Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. C. “_Stalling_, making or ordeyning.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 3.
# 1176:
_bestow_] Old ed. “bestowes.”
# 1177:
_boards_] “_Borde_, a shilling.” Dekker’s _Lanthorne and Candlelight_, 1612, sig. C 2.
# 1178:
_cut ben whids_] i.e. speak good words. See _Id._ ibid.
# 1179:
_trine me on the cheats_] i.e. hang me on the gallows. See _Id._ sig. C 2, 3.
# 1180:
_maundering_] See note, p. 536—but here it means— muttering, talking.
# 1181:
_mouse_] See note, p. 137.
# 1182:
_gallant ... brave_] i.e. smartly dressed.
# 1183:
_strike_] “The act doing, is called striking.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. H 2.
# 1184:
_shells_] “The money, the Shelles.” _Id._ ibid.
# 1185:
_L. Nol._ ] Old ed. here, and afterwards, “_Omnes_.” _S. Beau._, _&c._ ]
# 1186:
_figging-law_, &c.] "In making of which law, two persons haue the chiefe voices, that is to say, the Cutpurse and the Pickpocket, and all the branches of this law reach to none but them and such as are made free denizens of their incorporation....
“He that cuts the purse is called the Nip. He that is halfe with him is the Snap or the Cloyer. . . . . . . . He that picks the pocket is called a Foist. He that faceth the man, is the Stale.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. H.
# 1187:
_at the Fortune_] See note, p. 435.
# 1188:
_The rest_] Old ed. here, and afterwards, “_Omnes_.”
# 1189:
_boiled_] “The spying of this villanie is called Smoaking or Boiling.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. H 2.
# 1190:
_the Swan_] One of the theatres on the Bankside.
# 1191:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 1192:
_a synagogue_, &c.] According to Dekker, those who were under the figging-law had occasionally “solemne meetings in their hall.” _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. H 3.
# 1193:
_pacus palabros_] _Pocas palabras_ (Spanish), i.e. few words—an expression which is found under various corrupted forms in our old writers. It is usually put into the mouths of low people, among whom it seems to have been current: “With this learned oration the Cobler was tutord: laid his finger on his mouth, and cried _paucos palabros_.” Dekker’s _Wonderfull Yeare_, 1603, sig. E 4.
# 1194:
_Of cheators, lifters, nips, foists, puggards, curbers_] “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 Cheates.” Dekker’s _Belman of London_, 1608, sig. E 2.—“The Lifting Law ... teacheth a kind of lifting of goods cleane away.” Id. sig. G 3, where various kinds of lifters are described.—Concerning _nips_ and _foists_, see note, p. 544.—Of _puggards_ I can find no mention: _pugging_ seems to mean thieving in the _Winter’s Tale_, act iv. sc. 2, Malone’s _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), vol. xiv. p. 334; and, according to Steevens (_ad loc._), "is used by Greene in one of his pieces."—“The Curbing Law [teaches] how to hooke goodes out of a windowe.... He that hookes is cald the Curber.... The Hooke is the Courb.” Dekker, _ubi supra_, sig. G.
# 1195:
_black-guard_] Meant, properly, the lowest drudges of the kitchen, turnspits, carriers of wood, coal, &c., who attended the progresses of the court: see Gifford’s notes on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. ii. p. 169; vii. p. 250.
# 1196:
_love_] Old ed. “loues.”
# 1197:
_have_] Old ed. “has.”
# 1198:
_than your six wet towns_] “These I should apprehend to be Fulham, Richmond, Kingston, Hampton, Chertsey, Staines.—The other intermediate towns are, Chelsea, Battersea, Kew, Isleworth, Twickenham, and Walton. N.” Note in Reed’s ed. of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_.
# 1199:
_ramp_] See note, p. 496.
# 1200:
_gascoyne-bride_] i.e. a bride who wears _gascoynes_,— gaskins, or galligaskins.
# 1201:
_plunges_] i.e. difficulties, perplexities.
# 1202:
_cast_] Old ed. “casts.”
# 1203:
_monthly_] “i.e. madly; as if under the influence of the moon.” STEEVENS.
# 1204:
_resolv’d_] i.e. satisfied.
# 1205:
_thumb_] See note, p. 536.
# 1206:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 1207:
_Cheats_] Qy. “cheaters:” see p. 546 and note; but compare p. 554, last line but one.
# 1208:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 1209:
_me_] Old ed. “hee.”
# 1210:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 1211:
_cuck_] i.e. put me in the cucking-stool: see note, p. 185.
# 1212:
_gentlewomen_] i.e. Mrs. Gallipot, &c.—Old ed. “Gentlewoman.”
# 1213:
_a book_] “Alluding, no doubt, to some tract of the time. Dekker himself wrote several of the kind; but it is not to be supposed that any of these are here so roughly handled.” COLLIER. Not to be supposed indeed; since Dekker wrote a portion of the present play.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s Note
The author shifted between prose speech and blank verse, sometimes in mid-speech. In this rendering, verse sections are given without blank lines between speeches, with an indentation for each speech. Prose speeches are given with a blank line between them.
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.
Footnotes frequently refer to other notes, usually only by referring the the page where they can be found. Sometimes those cross-references are not accurate and the correct location cannot be ascertained.
Footnote 655 on p. 298 was misplaced. It should have followed the word ‘are’ rather than ‘gold and pearl’.
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.
63.32 part of the first line of a couplet.[”] Removed. 194.34 put [t]hem together Added. 144.31 _prevented_] See note, p. 4[0/9]. Replaced. 233.1 I’ll work it so[,] Removed. 290.22 [good.] Boy, be ready, boy. _sic_ 431.6 Moon-like changing dayes.[”] Added. 508.2 is worth a pair of two[.] Added. 365.32 [“]The same play upon words Removed.
ERRATA from Volume I.
A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE.
Vol. ii. p. 3.
We learn from Downes’s _Roscius Anglicanus_ that this play was one of the early dramas revived between 1662 and 1665, p. 36, ed. Waldron.
Vol. ii. p. 5, l. 10.
_Longacre_] The editor of 1816 is mistaken: this word was used for an estate in general; compare _Lady Alimony_, 1659, “It will run like Quicksilver over all their Husbands Demains: and in very short time make a quick dispatch of all his _Long acre_.” Sig. B 3.
A passage of _Gammer Gurton’s Needle_, which stands thus in the various editions of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_,
“Tome Tannkard’s cow (be gog’s bones) she set me up her sail, And flynging about his _halse aker_, fysking with her taile,” &c.
has drawn forth the following extraordinary note from Steevens: “I believe we should read _halse anchor_, or _anker_, as it was anciently spelt; a naval phrase. The _halse_ or _halser_ was a particular kind of cable,” &c., vol. ii. p. 11, last ed.—If Steevens, or the other editors, had only taken the trouble to look at the 4to of 1575, they would have found the true reading—“_halfe aker_,” i.e. small bit of ground.
--------------
THE FAMILY OF LOVE.
Vol. ii. p. 106, l. 32.
_Weber remarks_, &c.] The mistake of Weber may be traced to Langbaine, who says, “This Play is mentioned by Sir Thomas Bornwel in _The Lady of Pleasure_, Act 1. Sc. 1.” _Acc. of English Dram. Poets_, p. 372.
Vol. ii. p. 118, note.
“a corruption of _will_.”
Read
“a corruption of _wilt_.”
Vol. ii. p. 125, l. 1.
_We saw Samson bear the town-gates on his neck from the lower to the upper stage, with that life and admirable accord, that it shall never be equalled, unless the whole new livery of porters set [to] their shoulders_] Middleton seems to have had in his recollection a passage of Shakespeare’s _Love’s Labour’s Lost_: “Sampson, master: he was a man of good carriage, great carriage; for he carried the town-gates on his back, like a porter.” Act i. sc. 2.
Vol. ii. p. 148, l. 28.
_familiar_] i.e. attendant demon.
Vol. ii. p. 178, l. 21.
_Europa’s sea-form_] Probably “sea-form” is used in the sense of sea-seat,—the bull on which she sat.
Vol. ii. p. 194, l. 8.
_play Ambidexter_] I was wrong, I believe, in saying that this expression has an allusion to Preston’s _Cambises_: it is by no means uncommon.
YOUR FIVE GALLANTS.
Vol. ii. p. 255, l. 16.
“_Hist!_ a supply.”
Read, with old ed.,
“_Pist!_ a supply.”
See notes, vol. ii. pp. 460, 468.
Vol. ii. p. 264, l. 20.
_E’en where his fear lies most, there will I meet him._
After this line insert “_Exit_;” and in the note, for “and thrown a scarf over his face (see what follows), the audience,” &c., read “and having made his exit at one door, had re-entered at the other with a scarf thrown over his face, the audience,” &c.
Vol. ii. p. 268, l. 27.
“Master, _hist_, master!”
Read, with old ed.,
“Master, _pist_, master!”
See notes, vol. ii. pp. 460, 468.
Vol. ii. p. 290, l. 7.
PUR. _Thy father gave the ram’s head, boy?_ BOY. _No, you’re deceived; my mother gave that, sir._
The boy means that she made his father a cuckold: compare Dekker’s _Owles Almanacke_, 1618; “Men whose wiues haue light heeles, are called _Ramme-headed Cuckolds_,” p. 10.
--------------
A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS.
Vol. ii. p. 333, l. 25.
_the glory of his complement_] I doubt if Steevens’s explanation of this passage be the right one, or if _complement_ mean here any thing more than courtly address.
Vol. ii. p. 369, note.
Steevens’s remark, cited here by Reed, that a horse was sometimes denominated a _footcloth_, is certainly wrong. “Sir Bounteous,” observes Nares (_Gloss._ in v.), “is said to [be] alight[ed] from his _footcloth_, as one might say, alighted from his saddle.”
--------------
THE ROARING GIRL.
Vol. ii. p. 466, last line.
_the high German’s size_] This person is probably alluded to in the following passage of Dekker’s _Newes from Hell_, &c. 1606: “As for Rapier and dagger, the Germane may be his journeyman.” Sig. B. See also Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Knight of the Burning Pestle_—_Works_, vol. i. p. 215, ed. Weber; and Shirley’s _Opportunity_—_Works_, vol. iii. p. 407, where Gifford observes, that “he seems to have been ‘a master of fence,’ or common challenger.”
Vol. ii. p. 511, l. 27.
“’Twas like a _sigh_ of his.”
Since writing the note on this passage, I have met with the following lines in _The Travailes of the Three English Brothers_, _&c._ (by Day, W. Rowley, and Wilkins), 1607;
“Pray Turke, let thy heart _sigth_ and thine eyes weepe.” Sig. B 3. “To whose continuall kneelings, teares, and _sighthes_.” Sig. B 4.
Vol. ii. p. 530, note 1134.
I am told that a gentleman in London possesses an edition of the _Life of Long Meg of Westminster_, printed in 1582.
Vol. ii. p. 541, l. 1.
“Peck, pennam, _lay_, or popler.”
I ought to have substituted “lap” for “lay,” as Reed (see note) suggests.