S. THO. Mass, I think I know him; ’tis one of
Cumberland.
FIRST CUT. Shall we venture to shuffle in amongst yon
heap of gallants, and strike?[1183]
SEC. CUT. ’Tis a question whether there be any silver
shells[1184] amongst them, for all their satin outsides.
THE REST. Let’s try.
MOLL. Pox on him, a gallant? Shadow me, I know him; ’tis
one that cumbers the land indeed: if he swim near to the
shore of any of your pockets, look to your purses.
L. NOL. } Is’t possible?
S. BEAU., _&c._[1185] }
MOLL. This brave[1182] fellow is no better than a foist.
L. NOL. } Foist! what’s that?
S. BEAU., _&c._ }
MOLL. A diver with two fingers, a pick-pocket; all his
train study the figging-law,[1186] that’s to say,
cutting of purses and foisting. One of them is a nip; I
took him once i’ the two-penny gallery[1187] at the
Fortune: then there’s a cloyer, or snap, that dogs any
new brother in that trade, and snaps will have half in
any booty. He with the wand is both a stale, whose
office is to face a man i’ the streets, whilst shells
are drawn by another, and then with his black conjuring
rod in his hand, he, by the nimbleness of his eye and
juggling stick, will, in cheaping a piece of plate at a
goldsmith’s stall, make four or five rings mount from
the top of his _caduceus_, and, as if it were at
leap-frog, they skip into his hand presently.
SEC. CUT. Zounds, we are smoked!
THE REST.[1188] Ha!
SEC. CUT. We are boiled,[1189] pox on her! see, Moll,
the roaring drab!
FIRST CUT. All the diseases of sixteen hospitals boil
her!—Away!
MOLL. Bless you, sir.
FIRST CUT. And you, good sir.
MOLL. Dost not ken me, man?
FIRST CUT. No, trust me, sir.
MOLL. Heart, there’s a knight, to whom I’m bound for
many favours, lost his purse at the last new play i’ the
Swan,[1190] seven angels[1191] in’t: make it good,
you’re best; do you see? no more.
FIRST CUT. A synagogue[1192] shall be called, mistress
Mary; disgrace me not; _pacus palabros_,[1193] I will
conjure for you: farewell. _Exit with his companions._
MOLL. Did not I tell you, my lord?
L. NOL. I wonder how thou camest to the knowledge of
these nasty villains.
S. THO. And why do the foul mouths of the world call
thee Moll Cutpurse? a name, methinks, damned and odious.
MOLL. Dare any step forth to my face and say,
I’ve ta’en thee doing so, Moll? I must confess,
In younger days, when I was apt to stray,
I’ve sat amongst such adders; seen their stings,
As any here might, and in full play-houses
Watch’d their quick-diving hands, to bring to shame
Such rogues, and in that stream met an ill name.
When next, my lord, you spy any one of those,
So he be in his art a scholar, question him;
Tempt him with gold to open the large book
Of his close villanies; and you yourself shall cant
Better than poor Moll can, and know more laws
Of cheators, lifters, nips, foists, puggards,
curbers,[1194]
With all the devil’s black-guard,[1195] than it’s fit
Should be discover’d to a noble wit.
I know they have their orders, offices,
Circuits, and circles, unto which they’re bound
To raise their own damnation in.
J. DAP. How dost thou know it?
MOLL. As you do; I shew’t you, they to me shew it.
Suppose, my lord, you were in Venice——
L. NOL. Well.
MOLL. If some Italian pander there would tell
All the close tricks of courtesans, would not you
Hearken to such a fellow?
L. NOL. Yes.
MOLL. And here,
Being come from Venice, to a friend most dear
That were to travel thither, you’d proclaim
Your knowledge in those villanies, to save
Your friend from their quick danger: must you have
A black ill name, because ill things you know?
Good troth, my lord, I’m made Moll Cutpurse so.
How many are whores in small ruffs and still looks!
How many chaste whose names fill Slander’s books!
Were all men cuckolds whom gallants in their scorns
Call so, we should not walk for goring horns.
Perhaps for my mad going some reprove me;
I please myself, and care not else who love[1196] me.
L. NOL. } A brave mind, Moll, i’faith!
S. BEAU., _&c._ }
S. THO. Come, my lord, shall’s to the ordinary?
L. NOL. Ay, ’tis noon sure.
MOLL. Good my lord, let not my name condemn me to you,
or to the world: a fencer I hope may be called a coward;
is he so for that? If all that have ill names in London
were to be whipt, and to pay but twelve-pence a-piece to
the beadle, I would rather have his office than a
constable’s.
J. DAP. So would I, captain Moll: ’twere a sweet
tickling office, i’faith. [_Exeunt._
SCENE II.
_A Garden attached to_ SIR ALEX. WENGRAVE’S _house_.
_Enter_ SIR ALEXANDER WENGRAVE, GOSHAWK, GREENWIT, _and
others_.
S. ALEX. My son marry a thief, that impudent girl,
Whom all the world stick their worst eyes upon!
GREEN. How will your care prevent it?
GOS. ’Tis impossible:
They marry close, they’re gone, but none knows whither.
S. ALEX. O gentlemen, when have[1197] a father’s
heart-strings
_Enter Servant._
Held out so long from breaking?—Now what news, sir?
SER. They were met upo’ th’ water an hour since, sir,
Putting in towards the Sluice.
S. ALEX. The Sluice? come, gentlemen,
’Tis Lambeth works against us. [_Exit Servant._
GREEN. And that Lambeth
Joins more mad matches than your six wet towns[1198]
’Twixt that and Windsor Bridge, where fares lie soaking.
S. ALEX. Delay no time, sweet gentlemen: to
Blackfriars!
We’ll take a pair of oars, and make after ’em.
_Enter_ TRAPDOOR.
TRAP. Your son and that bold masculine ramp[1199] my
mistress
Are landed now at Tower.
S. ALEX. Hoyda, at Tower?
TRAP. I heard it now reported.
S. ALEX. Which way, gentlemen,
Shall I bestow my care? I’m drawn in pieces
Betwixt deceit and shame.
_Enter_ SIR GUY FITZALLARD.
S. GUY. Sir Alexander,
You are well met, and most rightly servèd;
My daughter was a scorn to you.
S. ALEX. Say not so, sir.
S. GUY. A very abject she, poor gentlewoman!
Your house had been dishonour’d. Give you joy, sir,
Of your son’s gascoyne-bride![1200] you’ll be a
grandfather shortly
To a fine crew of roaring sons and daughters;
’Twill help to stock the suburbs passing well, sir.
S. ALEX. O, play not with the miseries of my heart!
Wounds should be drest and heal’d, not vex’d, or left
Wide open, to the anguish of the patient,
And scornful air let in; rather let pity
And advice charitably help to refresh ’em.
S. GUY. Who’d place his charity so unworthily?
Like one that gives alms to a cursing beggar:
Had I but found one spark of goodness in you
Toward my deserving child, which then grew fond
Of your son’s virtues, I had eas’d you now;
But I perceive both fire of youth and goodness
Are rak’d up in the ashes of your age,
Else no such shame should have come near your house,
Nor such ignoble sorrow touch your heart.
S. ALEX. If not for worth, for pity’s sake assist me!
GREEN. You urge a thing past sense; how can he help
you?
All his assistance is as frail as ours:
Full as uncertain where’s the place that holds ’em;
One brings us water-news; then comes another
With a full-charg’d mouth, like a culverin’s voice,
And he reports the Tower: whose sounds are truest?
GOS. In vain you flatter him.—Sir Alexander——
S. GUY. I flatter him? gentlemen, you wrong me
grossly.
GREEN. He does it well, i’faith.
S. GUY. Both news are false,
Of Tower or water; they took no such way yet.
S. ALEX. O strange! hear you this, gentlemen? yet more
plunges.[1201]
S. GUY. They’re nearer than you think for, yet more
close
Than if they were further off.
S. ALEX. How am I lost
In these distractions!
S. GUY. For your speeches, gentlemen,
In taxing me for rashness, ’fore you all
I will engage my state to half his wealth,
Nay, to his son’s revenues, which are less,
And yet nothing at all till they come from him,
That I could, if my will stuck to my power,
Prevent this marriage yet, nay, banish her
For ever from his thoughts, much more his arms.
S. ALEX. Slack not this goodness, though you heap upon
me
Mountains of malice and revenge hereafter!
I’d willingly resign up half my state to him,
So he would marry the meanest drudge I hire.
GREEN. He talks impossibilities, and you believe ’em.
S. GUY. I talk no more than I know how to finish,
My fortunes else are his that dares stake with me.
The poor young gentleman I love and pity;
And to keep shame from him (because the spring
Of his affection was my daughter’s first,
Till his frown blasted all), do but estate him
In those possessions which your love and care
Once pointed out for him, that he may have room
To entertain fortunes of noble birth,
Where now his desperate wants cast[1202] him upon her;
And if I do not, for his own sake chiefly,
Rid him of this disease that now grows on him,
I’ll forfeit my whole state, before these gentlemen.
GREEN. Troth, but you shall not undertake such
matches;
We’ll persuade so much with you.
S. ALEX. Here’s my ring; [_Gives ring._
He will believe this token. ’Fore these gentlemen
I will confirm it fully: all those lands
My first love ’lotted him, he shall straight possess
In that refusal.
S. GUY. If I change it not,
Change me into a beggar.
GREEN. Are you mad, sir?
S. GUY. ’Tis done.
GOS. Will you undo yourself by doing,
And shew a prodigal trick in your old days?
S. ALEX. ’Tis a match, gentlemen.
S. GUY. Ay, ay, sir, ay.
I ask no favour, trust to you for none;
My hope rests in the goodness of your son. [_Exit._
GREEN. He holds it up well yet.
GOS. Of an old knight, i’faith.
S. ALEX. Curst be the time I laid his first love
barren,
Wilfully barren, that before this hour
Had sprung forth fruits of comfort and of honour!
He lov’d a virtuous gentlewoman.
_Enter_ MOLL _in her male dress_.
GOS. Life, here’s Moll!
GREEN. Jack?
GOS. How dost thou, Jack?
MOLL. How dost thou, gallant?
S. ALEX. Impudence, where’s my son?
MOLL. Weakness, go look him.
S. ALEX. Is this your wedding gown?
MOLL. The man talks monthly:[1203]
Hot broth and a dark chamber for the knight!
I see he’ll be stark mad at our next meeting. [_Exit._
GOS. Why, sir, take comfort now, there’s no such
matter,
No priest will marry her, sir, for a woman
Whiles that shape’s on; and it was never known
Two men were married and conjoin’d in one:
Your son hath made some shift to love another.
S. ALEX. Whate’er she be, she has my blessing with
her:
May they be rich and fruitful, and receive
Like comfort to their issue as I take
In them! has pleas’d me now; marrying not this,
Through a whole world he could not choose amiss.
GREEN. Glad you’re so penitent for your former sin,
sir.
GOS. Say he should take a wench with her smock-dowry,
No portion with her but her lips and arms?
S. ALEX. Why, who thrive better, sir? they have most
blessing,
Though other have more wealth, and least repent:
Many that want most know the most content.
GREEN. Say he should marry a kind youthful sinner?
S. ALEX. Age will quench that; any offence but theft
And drunkenness, nothing but death can wipe away;
Their sins are green even when their heads are grey.
Nay, I despair not now; my heart’s cheer’d, gentlemen;
No face can come unfortunately to me.—
_Re-enter Servant._
Now, sir, your news?
SER. Your son, with his fair bride,
Is near at hand.
S. ALEX. Fair may their fortunes be!
GREEN. Now you’re resolv’d,[1204] sir, it was never
she.
S. ALEX. I find it in the music of my heart.
_Enter_ SEBASTIAN WENGRAVE _leading in_ MOLL _in her
female dress and masked, and_ SIR GUY FITZALLARD.
See where they come.
GOS. A proper lusty presence, sir.
S. ALEX. Now has he pleas’d me right: I always
counsell’d him
To choose a goodly, personable creature:
Just of her pitch was my first wife his mother.
SEB. Before I dare discover my offence,
I kneel for pardon. [_Kneels._
S. ALEX. My heart gave it thee
Before thy tongue could ask it:
Rise; thou hast rais’d my joy to greater height
Than to that seat where grief dejected it.
Both welcome to my love and care for ever!
Hide not my happiness too long; all’s pardon’d;
Here are our friends.—Salute her, gentlemen.
[_They unmask her._
ALL. Heart, who’s this? Moll!
S. ALEX. O my reviving shame! is’t I must live
To be struck blind? be it the work of sorrow,
Before age take’t in hand!
S. GUY. Darkness and death!
Have you deceiv’d me thus? did I engage
My whole estate for this?
S. ALEX. You ask’d no favour,
And you shall find as little: since my comforts
Play false with me, I’ll be as cruel to thee
As grief to fathers’ hearts.
MOLL. Why, what’s the matter with you,
’Less too much joy should make your age forgetful?
Are you too well, too happy?
S. ALEX. With a vengeance!
MOLL. Methinks you should be proud of such a daughter,
As good a man as your son.
S. ALEX. O monstrous impudence!
MOLL. You had no note before, an unmark’d knight;
Now all the town will take regard on you,
And all your enemies fear you for my sake:
You may pass where you list, through crowds most thick,
And come off bravely with your purse unpick’d.
You do not know the benefits I bring with me;
No cheat dares work upon you with thumb[1205] or knife,
While you’ve a roaring girl to your son’s wife.
S. ALEX. A devil rampant!
S. GUY. Have you so much charity
Yet to release me of my last rash bargain,
And I’ll give in your pledge?
S. ALEX. No, sir, I stand to’t;
I’ll work upon advantage, as all mischiefs
Do upon me.
S. GUY. Content. Bear witness all, then,
His are the lands; and so contention ends:
Here comes your son’s bride ’twixt two noble friends.
_Enter_ LORD NOLAND _and_ SIR BEAUTEOUS GANYMEDE
_with_ MARY FITZALLARD _between them_; GALLIPOT,
TILTYARD, OPENWORK, _and their Wives_.
MOLL. Now are you gull’d as you would be; thank me
for’t,
I’d a forefinger in’t.
SEB. Forgive me, father!
Though there before your eyes my sorrow feign’d,
This still was she for whom true love complain’d.
S. ALEX. Blessings eternal, and the joys of angels,
Begin your peace here to be sign’d in heaven!
How short my sleep of sorrow seems now to me,
To this eternity of boundless comforts,
That finds no want but utterance and expression!
My lord, your office here appears so honourably,
So full of ancient goodness, grace, and worthiness,
I never took more joy in sight of man
Than in your comfortable presence now.
L. NOL. Nor I more delight in doing grace to virtue
Than in this worthy gentlewoman your son’s bride,
Noble Fitzallard’s daughter, to whose honour
And modest fame I am a servant vow’d;
So is this knight.
S. ALEX. Your loves make my joys proud.
Bring forth those deeds of land my care laid ready,
[_Exit Servant, who presently returns with deeds._'
And which, old knight, thy nobleness may challenge,
Join’d with thy daughter’s virtues, whom I prize now
As dearly as that flesh I call mine own.
Forgive me, worthy gentlewoman; ’twas my blindness:
When I rejected thee, I saw thee not;
Sorrow and wilful rashness grew like films
Over the eyes of judgment; now so clear
I see the brightness of thy worth appear.
MARY. Duty and love may I deserve in those!
And all my wishes have a perfect close.
S. ALEX. That tongue can never err, the sound’s so
sweet.
Here, honest son, receive into thy hands
The keys of wealth, possession of those lands
Which my first care provided; they’re thine own;
Heaven give thee a blessing with ’em! the best joys
That can in worldly shapes to man betide
Are fertile lands and a fair fruitful bride,
Of which I hope thou’rt sped.
SEB. I hope so too, sir.
MOLL. Father and son, I ha’ done you simple service
here.
SEB. For which thou shalt not part, Moll, unrequited.
S. ALEX. Thou’rt a mad girl, and yet I cannot now
Condemn thee.
MOLL. Condemn me? troth, and[1206] you should, sir,
I’d make you seek out one to hang in my room:
I’d give you the slip at gallows, and cozen the people.
Heard you this jest, my lord?
L. NOL. What is it, Jack?
MOLL. He was in fear his son would marry me,
But never dreamt that I would ne’er agree.
L. NOL. Why, thou had’st a suitor once, Jack: when
wilt marry?
MOLL. Who, I, my lord? I’ll tell you when, i’faith;
When you shall hear
Gallants void from sergeants’ fear,
Honesty and truth unslander’d,
Woman mann’d, but never pander’d,
Cheats[1207] booted, but not coach’d,
Vessels older ere they’re broach’d;
If my mind be then not varied,
Next day following I’ll be married.
L. NOL. This sounds like doomsday.
MOLL. Then were marriage best;
For if I should repent, I were soon at rest.
S. ALEX. In troth thou’rt a good wench: I’m sorry now
The opinion was so hard I conceiv’d of thee:
_Enter_ TRAPDOOR.
Some wrongs I’ve done thee.
TRAP. Is the wind there now?
’Tis time for me to kneel and confess first,
For fear it come too late, and my brains feel it.
[_Aside._
Upon my paws I ask you pardon, mistress!
MOLL. Pardon! for what, sir? what has your rogueship
done now?
TRAP. I’ve been from time to time hir’d to confound
you
By this old gentleman.
MOLL. How?
TRAP. Pray, forgive him:
But may I counsel you, you should never do’t.
Many a snare t’ entrap your worship’s life
Have I laid privily; chains, watches, jewels;
And when he saw nothing could mount you up,
Four hollow-hearted angels[1208] he then gave you,
By which he meant to trap you, I to save you.
S. ALEX. To all which shame and grief in me cry
guilty.
Forgive me: now I cast the world’s eyes from me,
And look upon thee freely with mine own,
I see the most of many wrongs before me,[1209]
Cast from the jaws of Envy and her people,
And nothing foul but that. I’11 never more
Condemn by common voice, for that’s the whore
That deceives man’s opinion, mocks his trust,
Cozens his love, and makes his heart unjust.
MOLL. Here be the angels, gentlemen; they were
As a musician: I pursue no pity;
Follow the law, and[1210] you can cuck[1211] me, spare
not;
Hang up my viol by me, and I care not.
S. ALEX. So far I’m sorry, I’ll thrice double ’em,
To make thy wrongs amends.
Come, worthy friends, my honourable lord,
Sir Beauteous Ganymede, and noble Fitzallard,
And you kind gentlewomen,[1212] whose sparkling presence
Are glories set in marriage, beams of society,
For all your loves give lustre to my joys:
The happiness of this day shall be remember’d
At the return of every smiling spring;
In my time now ’tis born; and may no sadness
Sit on the brows of men upon that day,
But as I am, so all go pleas’d away! [_Exeunt omnes._
EPILOGUE.
A painter having drawn with curious art
The picture of a woman, every part
Limn’d to the life, hung out the piece to sell.
People who pass’d along, viewing it well,
Gave several verdicts on it: some disprais’d
The hair; some said the brows too high were rais’d;
Some hit her o’er the lips, mislik’d their colour;
Some wish’d her nose were shorter; some, the eyes
fuller;
Others said roses on her cheeks should grow,
Swearing they look’d too pale; others cried no.
The workman still, as fault was found, did mend it,
In hope to please all: but this work being ended,
And hung open at stall, it was so vile,
So monstrous, and so ugly, all men did smile
At the poor painter’s folly. Such, we doubt,
Is this our comedy: some perhaps do flout
The plot, saying, ’tis too thin, too weak, too mean;
Some for the person will revile the scene,
And wonder that a creature of her being
Should be the subject of a poet, seeing
In the world’s eye none weighs so light: others look
For all those base tricks, publish’d in a book[1213]
Foul as his brains they flow’d from, of cutpurse[s],
Of nips and foists, nasty, obscene discourses,
As full of lies as empty of worth or wit,
For any honest ear or eye unfit.
And thus,
If we to every brain that’s humorous
Should fashion scenes, we, with the painter, shall,
In striving to please all, please none at all.
Yet for such faults as either the writer’s wit
Or negligence of the actors do commit,
Both crave your pardons: if what both have done
Cannot full pay your expectation,
The Roaring Girl herself, some few days hence,
Shall on this stage give larger recompence.
Which mirth that you may share in, herself does woo you,
And craves this sign, your hands to beckon her to you.
END OF VOL. II.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY LEVEY, ROBSON, AND FRANKLYN,
46 St. Martin’s Lane.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes
-----
# 1:
_Kix_] I may just remark that this name is intended
to describe the person who bears it, an elderly
gentleman: _kix_ (or, as it is generally written,
_kex_) means a dry stalk.
# 2:
_bring_] Old eds. “brings.”
# 3:
_ordinary_] See note, vol. i. p. 389.
# 4:
_brothel_] i.e. harlot: so in a passage of Greene’s
_Groats-worth of Wit_ (quoted in my Account of Greene
and his writings, p. xxx., prefixed to his _Works_),
“brother to a _brothell_ he kept.” The word was at an
early period applied to the worthless of both sexes.
# 5:
_Long-acre_] “Probably the name of the estate Witgood
had mortgaged to his uncle.”—_Edit. of 1816._
# 6:
_out of the compass of law_] i.e. out of the reach of,
not punishable by, law.
# 7:
_I’ve_] Old eds. “I have.”
# 8:
_were_] Old eds. “was.”
# 9:
_Fate_, &c.] Qy. was the whole of this speech
originally blank verse?
# 10:
_Come_, &c.] The editor of 1816 printed,
“_Come, I must help; where left you? I’ll proceed_,”
without mentioning the reading of the old eds.,
which I have followed, and which (though this
scene is probably more than slightly corrupted in
several places) I believe to be right. Middleton
sometimes, when he introduces a couplet, shews
perfect indifference about the length of the first
line: see note, vol. i. p. 424, and compare the
following passage of _The Phœnix_;
“Without thee,
All the whole world were soiled bastardy.”
vol. i. p. 351, (where, in my note, I too hastily
remarked that part of the first line had probably
dropt out).
# 11:
_valiant_] i.e. worth.
# 12:
_furnished_] The editor of 1816 prints “finish’d.”
# 13:
_Enter Onesiphorus Hoard, Limber, and Kix_] In the
old eds. the entrance of these “right worshipful
seniors” is not marked, and the prefixes to their
speeches are merely 1., 2., and 3. That one of them
is Onesiphorus Hoard, there can be no doubt. That
the other two are Limber and Kix, is, I think, as
certain: they appear together with Onesiphorus in
the last scene of the play, where they are addressed
as “_old_ master Limber and master Kix,” and where
they immediately recognise the Courtesan.—The editor
of 1816 makes the stage-direction here “_Enter Two
Gentlemen_:” he ought at least to have observed,
that the speech which concludes this scene is given
to a _third_ speaker.
# 14:
_You’ve_] Old eds. “You have.”
# 15:
_the viol_] i.e. the _viol de gambo_, which in those
days it was the fashion for ladies to play.
# 16:
_laying_] “Is used in the same sense by Jack Cade in
the ‘Second Part of Henry VI.’ (Act iv. scene x.)
‘These five days have I hid me in these woods, and
durst not peep out, for all the country is _lay’d_ for
me.’” _Editor of 1816_.
# 17:
_slight_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 18:
_A Street_] i.e. in London, which continues to be the
place of action during the rest of the play.
# 19:
_Enter_, &c.] Old eds. “_Enter_ at seuerall doores.”
# 20:
_affront_] i.e. encounter, face.
# 21:
_wipes his nose_] i.e. cheats him: the expression is
of frequent occurrence; but not so the following one,
which has the same meaning,—“’Twould anger any man to
be _nos’d_ of such a match.” Brome’s _English Moor_,
p. 7.—_Five New Plays_, 1659.
# 22:
_brothel-master_] See note, p. 5.
# 23:
_Pecunius_] Though the word here is not printed with a
capital letter in the old eds., we learn from a
subsequent scene that it is the Christian name of
Lucre.
# 24:
_manent_] Old eds. “manet”—which I mention, because
the editor of 1816 makes Freedom and Moneylove _enter_
after the others have gone out.
# 25:
_crank_] i.e. brisk.
# 26:
_masty_] i.e. mastiff.
# 27:
_a noble_] A gold coin worth 6_s_. 8_p_.
# 28:
_trampler of the law_] Taylor, the water-poet, begins
the account of “A Corrupted Lawyer, and a Knauish
Vndershriue,” with the following lines;
“A hall, a hall, the _tramplers_ are at hand,
A shifting Master, and as sweetly man’d;
His Buckram-bearer, one that knowes his ku,
Can write with one hand and receiue with two.
The _trampler_ is in hast, O cleere the way,
Takes fees with both hands cause he cannot stay,
No matter wheth’r the cause be right or wrong,
So hee be payd for letting out his tongue.”
_A Brood of Cormorants_, p. 13; _Workes_, 1630.
In Brome’s _Sparagus Garden_, 1640 (acted 1635), one
of the characters is a lawyer named _Trampler_.
# 29:
_galleasses_] Large, heavy, low-built vessels: see
Steevens’s note on Shakespeare’s _Taming of a Shrew_,
act ii. sc. 1.
# 30:
_motions of Fleet Street, and visions of Holborn_] The
editor of 1816 says that he “knows not _exactly_ what
these visions were:” nor do I: they are evidently used
here as a cant term, like the words with which they
are coupled—_tramplers_ (see note in the preceding
page), and _motions_ (i.e. puppet-shows, puppets: see
note, vol. i. p. 229.)
# 31:
_trashed_] The following passage of _The Puritan_, “a
guarded lackey to run before it [a coach], and pied
liveries to come _trashing_ after it,” act iv. sc. 1,
which is cited here by the editor of 1816, is given by
Todd in his additions to Johnson’s _Dict._ as an
example of _trash_ in the sense of—to follow with
bustle, to tramp about with fatigue; and such seems to
be the meaning of the word in our text.
# 32:
_bull-beggars_] i.e. hobgoblins—a word of uncertain
derivation.
# 33:
_he calls me thief_] Because _good fellow_ was one of
the cant terms for a thief.
# 34:
_take me with you_] i.e. let me understand you.
# 35:
_resolve_] i.e. satisfactorily inform.
# 36:
_pax_] For pox,—perhaps an affected mode of
pronouncing the word: it occurs frequently in
Middleton. See my note on Webster’s _Works_, vol. iii.
p. 195.
# 37:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 38:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 39:
_sir_] So ed. 1616. Not in first ed.
# 40:
_companions_] i.e. scurvy fellows,—in which sense the
word was often used.
# 41:
_blue coats have been turned into cloaks_] Every
reader of our early dramas is aware that blue was the
colour usually worn by servants: from the present
passage it appears that their coats had been recently
exchanged for cloaks, like those which gentlemen then
wore.
# 42:
_trow_] i.e. think you.
# 43:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 44:
_brothel-master_] See note, p. 5.
# 45:
_’Twas_] Old eds. “It was.”
# 46:
_kept it_] So ed. 1616. First ed. “_it kept_.”
# 47:
_push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 48:
_somner_]—_sumner_, _summoner_—i.e. apparitor.
# 49:
_Cole-Harbour_] See note on act iv. sc. 1.
# 50:
_a’ life_] See note, vol. i. p. 272.
# 51:
_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 52:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 53:
_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 54:
_about_] So ed. 1616. First ed. “above.”
# 55:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 56:
_again_] i.e. against.
# 57:
_of_] So ed. 1616. First ed. “a.”
# 58:
_make a bolt or a shaft on’t_] “This is a proverbial
expression, and is enumerated by Ray in his Collection
of Proverbial Phrases. The meaning is, that he would
immediately try his fortune with the widow, and either
be rejected or accepted. The same expression is used
by Slender in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act. iii.
sc. 4. See notes on the passage.” _Editor of 1816_.
# 59:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 60:
_Remove me, &c._] “This and the next speech of
Witgood’s form a couplet, and are, I am inclined to
think, a quotation.” _Editor of 1816_.
# 61:
_sure yet to_] Compare Brome:
“RA. Who do you think
Has married fair Mistris Millicent?
DI. Theophilus (I can name him, though his father
Was fatal unto mine) was _sure to_ her.”
_The English Moor_, p. 3.—_Five New Playes_,
1659.
“ER. Then you are _sure to_ her.
MAT. No, I never us’d
A marriage-question, nor a wooing word,” &c.
_The New Academy_, p. 19. _ibid._
# 62:
_resolved_] i.e. convinced, satisfied.
# 63:
_I am_] Old eds. “I’m.”
# 64:
_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 65:
_the better term_] “Ladies of easy virtue were, in the
time of our poet, frequently called _termers_, from
their visiting the city when the courts of justice
were open, and the inns of court filled with young
lawyers: to this, I conceive, Witgood alludes.”
_Editor of 1816._—Witgood seems to use the word _term_
with a playful allusion to the double meaning of
_suitors_.
# 66:
_blue coats_] see note, p. 26.
# 67:
_royals_] See note, vol. i, p. 345.
# 68:
_their_] i.e. Witgood’s and his uncle’s.
# 69:
_censure_] i.e. opinion, judgment.
# 70:
_So help us our best fortunes_ “The declaration of
this gentleman somewhat resembles the oath taken by
grand jurymen respecting their presentations, and was
probably formed on that model.” _Editor of 1816._
# 71:
_lie_] Old eds. “lies.”
# 72:
_push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 73:
_slight_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 74:
_Cole-Harbour_] See note on act iv. sc. 1.
# 75:
_likes_] i.e. pleases.
# 76:
_Beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 77:
_days_] Altered by the editor of 1816 to “delays:” but
I believe the old text is right. So in act iv. sc. 5,
Dampit says of one who owed him money, “he comes to
have a longer _day_.”
# 78:
_prevent_] i.e. anticipate.
# 79:
_resolv’d_] See note, p. 39.
# 80:
_Gentlemen_] As Lamprey and Spichcock appear
afterwards with Hoard at Cole-Harbour, they ought
perhaps to be with him on the present occasion. I
suspect, indeed, that some of the speeches given here,
and in a former scene, to _Gentlemen_, belong,
properly, to these two worthies.
# 81:
_a Dutch widow_] A cant term, sufficiently explained
by what follows.
# 82:
_very_] So ed. 1616. Not in first ed.
# 83:
_prigging_] “_Prig_, in the cant language of that
age, meant _thief_, or pickpocket. It is found in
Shakespeare, and Beaumont and Fletcher.” _Editor of
1816._—_Prigging_ is used in this passage merely as
a jocular term of reproach.
# 84:
_’Las_] Old eds. “asse,”—the initial letter having
dropt out in the first ed.
# 85:
_Ay, boy_] Old eds. “I bee.”
# 86:
_making_] i.e. matching: in our early writers _make_
is often used for mate.
# 87:
_Luc._] Ed. 1616, “_Wit_.”
# 88:
_Cole-Harbour_] See note on act iv. sc. 1.
# 89:
_we’ve_] Old eds. “we have.”
# 90:
_anno_ 89] “Both the quartos read ‘99;’ but Stow does
not mention any _very_ great storm in that year,
although he has noticed one or two; whereas in the
year 1589, he observes, that on ‘The 1st August, at
night, was the greatest lightning and thunder that
had, at any time, bin seene or heard about London in
the memory of any man living; and yet, thankes be
given to God, little hurt heard of.’” _Editor of
1816._—See Stow’s _Annales_, p. 757. ed. 1631.
# 91:
_mought, and_] i.e. might, if.
# 92:
_years_] Qy. “days?”
# 93:
_make you unready_] i.e. undress you.
# 94:
_cony-catching_] See note, vol. i. p. 290.
# 95:
_doubts_] i.e. fears.
# 96:
_Cole-Harbour_] The stage-direction in the old eds. is
“_Enter at Cole-harbour, Hoord, the Widdow, and
Gentlemen, he married now._”—_Cole-Harbour_ (a
corruption of _Cold-Harbour_, or _Cold-Harborough_)
was an ancient building, situated in the parish of
All-hallows the Less, in Downgate Ward: see an account
of it in Stow’s _Survey_, b. ii. p. 206. (vol. i.) ed.
1720. A good many years before the date of this play,
the then Earl of Shrewsbury took it down, and built a
number of small tenements in its stead, which were let
at great rents, and served as a retreat for debtors,
&c.; the place being considered a sort of sanctuary,
probably because Tunstall, bishop of Durham, had
resided there in Henry the Eighth’s reign. Lodge says,
“It was pulled down by Earl Gilbert, about the year
1600.” _Illust. of Brit. Hist._ vol. i. p. 9: but its
demolition must have been earlier; for, in Nash’s
_Haue with you to Saffron Walden_, 1596, we find, “Or
hast thou tooke thee a chamber in _Cole-harbour_?” &c.
sig. D. 4. From the present scene, as the editor of
1816 observes in a note on act ii. sc. 1, “it may be
inferred that it was notorious as a place where
marriages were solemnised hastily and without the
proper forms; such as the Fleet Prison and Keith’s
Chapel were for some time previously to the passing
the marriage-act.” He adds, that “the only [other]
allusion he recollects to it among the dramatic
writers of the time, is in our author’s _Roaring
Girl_:” but half-a-dozen might easily be furnished.
# 97:
_pig-eater_] An odd term of endearment: _pigsnie_ is
common enough.
# 98:
_Court._] Old eds. “_Luc._”
# 99:
_friends_] So ed. 1616. First ed. “friend.”
# 100:
_believe’t_] Old eds. “_believe_ it.”
# 101:
_I have no son_, &c.] See what I have said on couplets
imperfect in the first line, notes p. 7 of the present
vol., and p. 424 of vol. i.
# 102:
_you’re_] Old eds. “you are.”
# 103:
_Ha, ha!_] Old eds. “_ha_, _ha_, ha.”
# 104:
_And_] So ed. 1616. First ed. “I [ay] _and_.”—The
speech is part of the first line of a couplet.
# 105:
_O man in lamentation_] In _The Old Wives’ Tale_, “the
tune of _O man in desperation_” is mentioned: see
Peele’s _Works_, vol. i. p. 208 (ed. 1829), and my
note there.
# 106:
_now_] So ed. 1616. Not in first ed.
# 107:
_passion_] i.e. sorrow.
# 108:
_fie, fie_] So ed. 1616. First ed. “fie.”
# 109:
_Byrlady_] A corruption of _By our Lady_.
# 110:
_toy_] i.e. trifle.
# 111:
_would I might be truss’d up_] Brome has the same poor
play on words:
“when Lodovico
Does not prove _trustie_, then let me be _truss’d_.”
_The Queen and Concubine_, p. 106.—_Five New
Playes_, 1659.
# 112:
_so_] First ed. “to.” Sec. ed. “too.”
# 113:
_envy_] i.e. bear ill will.
# 114:
_agen_] So written for the sake of the rhyme: compare
vol. i. p. 416.
# 115:
_thrum-chinned_] i.e. rough-chinned: see note, vol. i.
p. 431.
# 116:
_a’ life_] See note, vol. i. p. 272.
# 117:
_hole i’ th’ counter_] See notes, vol. i. p. 392.
# 118:
_froating_] “May mean _freting_ or adorning with
fretwork. But Witgood’s vices, according to his
own confession in a former scene, were those of
sensuality, and not of foppery; and it is possible
that this was the demand of the keeper of some
brothel,” &c. &c. _Editor of 1816._—Perhaps so;
but, I think, _froating_ means here nothing more
than dressing up, repairing.
# 119:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 120:
_desire_] Old eds. “desires.”
# 121:
_First C._] Old eds. “_Cit._”
# 122:
_nonce_] i.e. occasion.
# 123:
_watchet_] i.e. blue: see note, p. 26.
# 124:
_capes_] The editor of 1816 prints “_caps_,” which may
be right.
# 125:
_champion_] i.e. champaign.
“These many ruts and furrows in thy cheek
Proves thy old face to be but _champion_ ground
Till’d with the plough of age.”
RANDOLPH’S _Hey for Honesty_, 1651, p. 36.
# 126:
_beholding_] See note, vol. i. p. 441.
# 127:
_like_] See note, p. 47.
# 128:
_marquesse_] i.e. marchioness.
# 129:
_pax_] See note, p. 24.
# 130:
_venture_] Old eds. “ventures.”
# 131:
_vild_] i.e. vile: see note, vol. i. p. 94.
# 132:
_peevish_] i.e. foolish, trifling.
# 133:
_set the hare’s head to the goose-giblet_] A not
uncommon proverbial expression:
“Since tit for tat (quoth I) on euen hand is set,
_Set the hares head agaynst the goose ieblet_.”
HEYWOOD’S _Dialogue, &c._, sig. G.—_Workes_, ed.
1598.
# 134:
_pax_] See note, p. 24.
# 135:
_come_] Old eds. “came.”
# 136:
_mark_] i.e. 13_s._ 4_d._
# 137:
_immoveables_] So ed. 1616. First ed. “immouerables.”
# 138:
_some access_] “The quarto of 1616 reads, ‘some
_above_ access;’ and the niece [Joyce] speaks without
a notice of her having entered: whereas in the first
quarto there is a stage-direction, ‘She is _above_;’
and I suppose the word caught the printer’s eye, and
was erroneously introduced into the text.” _Editor of
1816._
# 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.
# 142:
_trampler_] See note, p. 18.
# 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._—
“You know this meeting
Was for the creditors to give longer day.”
BROME’S _City Wit_, act i. sc. 1.—_Five New Playes_,
1653.
# 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.
# 151:
_a Dutch widow_] See note, p. 50.
# 152:
Virg. _Æn._ iii. 658.
# 153:
_trampling_] See note, p. 18.
# 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
“the note which his hoarse voice doth beare
Is harsh and fatall to the wedded eare.”
_The Cuckow_ (by NICCOLS), 1607, sig. A 3.
# 155:
_make haste to give up thy verdict_, &c.] Did Pope
remember this passage?
“The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
_And wretches hang, that jurymen may dine_.”
_The Rape of the Lock_, iii. 21.
# 156:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 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.
# 162:
_guess_] i.e. guests: see note, vol. i. p. 326.
# 163:
_smack_] Old eds. “smerck.”
# 164:
_a Dutch widow_] See note, p. 50.
# 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:
_The glances of a sinful eye,
Waving of fans_,
. . . . . .
_All secret friends_]
Here Middleton recollected the Palinode which closes
_Cynthia’s Revels_:
“From _secret friends_,
. . . . . .
_From waving fans_, coy _glances_.”
JONSON’S _Works_, vol. ii. p. 380, ed. Giff.
# 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.
“_Alen._ When is the time to let the weathers
blood?
The forward spring that had such store of grasse,
Hath fild them full of ranke vnwholesome blood,
Which must be purg’d, else when the winter comes,
The rot will leaue me nothing but their skinnes.
_Fall._ Chil let on blood, but yet it is no
time,
Vntill _the zygne be gone below the hart_.”
YARINGTON’S _Two Lamentable Tragedies_, 1601,
sig. H 4.
# 173:
_Stabbing of arms_
. . . . . .
_Dutch flapdragons_]
Here again (see note, p. 97) Middleton has an eye to
Jonson:
“_From stabbing of arms, flapdragons._”
_Works_, ibid.
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.
# 174:
_defy_] See note, p. 97.
# 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,
“Thy form’s diuine, no _fading_, _vading_ flower;”
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.
“Vnvalued worth, ha ha ha! Why? shees but a woman,
And they are windy turning veins, loue light as chaffe
which when
Our nourishing graynes are winnow’d from them,
Vnconstantly they flye at the least wind of passion
A womans eye, can turne it selfe with quick
dexterity.”
# 194:
_friend_] Old ed. “fend.”
# 195:
_pitchy_] Old ed. “pithie.”
# 196:
_Wo’t_] Or Wu’t—a corruption of _will_.
# 197:
_Farewell_] An imperfect couplet: see notes, p. 7 of
this vol. and p. 424 of vol. i.
# 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.
# 202:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 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.
# 207:
_great breeches_] See note, p. 111.
# 208:
_honesty_] Old ed. “honestyes.”
# 209:
_then_] Old ed. “that.”
# 210:
_a cross_] See note, vol. i. p. 246.
# 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.
# 225:
_what d’ye lack_] See note, vol. i. p. 447.
# 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.
# 235:
_prevent_] See note, p. 49.
# 236:
_&c._] See note, vol. i. p. 252.
# 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,
“her adorned head
To _prick of highest praise_ forth to advance.”
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.
“Respectlesse, _of no proportion_,” &c.
“_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.
“_Society in_ nuptiall beds aboue these _joys_.”
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.
# 248:
_untrussing of his hose_] i.e. untying the points of
his hose: see note, vol. i. p. 367.
# 249:
_resolve_] See note, p. 23.
# 250:
_mouse_] Was formerly a common term of endearment.
# 251:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 252:
_footcloth_] See note, vol. i. p. 396.
# 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.
# 257:
_resolve_] See note, p. 23.
# 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.
# 261:
_resolves_] See note, p. 23.
# 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.”
# 265:
_prevented_] See note, p. 49.
# 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);
“You dare not make discovery
For feare of _Little-ease_. That were a prison
Too fearful for such bravery to stoop into.”
BROME’S _New Academy_, p. 58.—_Five New Playes_,
1659.
# 269:
_uneven_] i.e. unjust.
# 270:
_unreduct_] i.e. unreduced.
# 271:
_act_] Old ed. “art.”
# 272:
_But who comes here_] In the old ed. these words are
preceded by the stage-direction “_Enter Lipsalve and
Shrimp his Page_;” and at the end of the speech
Gerardine and Maria _exeunt_.
I have already noticed (p. 142) the want of moveable
painted scenery in Middleton’s days. Here the
spectators were to suppose that Gerardine and Maria,
standing on the upper-stage (see note, p. 125), were
either in the apartment of the latter, or in the
gallery communicating with it (see p. 112): when
Lipsalve had entered, they were to suppose that the
stage represented a street; and when Gerardine and
Maria had re-appeared “_above_,” they were to suppose
that the upper-stage was a window. Having found it
necessary to begin a new scene with the entrance of
Lipsalve, I hope my readers will be kind enough to
_suppose_ that, when Gerardine says “_who comes
here_,” he happens to turn his eye towards the window,
and catches a glimpse of that gallant.
# 273:
_loose_] Means, in archery, the discharging of the
arrow.
# 274:
_Maria appears_, &c.] The stage-direction in the old
ed. is "_Enter Gerardine and Maria above_."—I may
observe, that as curtains were suspended before the
upper-stage (see note, p. 125), to conceal, if
necessary, those who occupied it, they were probably
used here for that purpose by Gerardine.
# 275:
_o’ercomes_] Old ed. “ouercomes.”
# 276:
_bruited_] See note, p. 138.
# 277:
_cottens well_] i.e. succeeds, goes on well—an
expression drawn, as the present passage indicates,
from the manufacturing of cloth.
# 278:
_hose_] i.e. breeches.
# 279:
_in lavender_] i.e. in pawn.
# 280:
_new for a_] Old ed. “_for a new_.”
# 281:
_take her counsel, sir; get a cullis_] Maria had
recommended a caudle (see p. 150): but we find in old
writers a distinction made between cullises and
caudles. A _cullis_ (which will be more particularly
noticed hereafter) was a strong broth, a savoury
jelly.
# 282:
_flutterers_] Old ed. “flatterers.”
# 283:
_petronel-flashes_] A _petronel_ is a carbine, a
horseman’s gun.
# 284:
_abrupt_] i.e. separated.
# 285:
_small-ease_] See note, p. 145.
# 286:
_our_] Some copies of the old ed. “or,” others “nor:”
I have already noticed that, though they occasionally
present different readings, there is but _one_ edition
of the play: see p. 103.
# 287:
_collowest_] i.e. begrimest, blackenest: she alludes
to the smoke of the link. _Collow_ is smut from burnt
coals.
# 288:
_rine_] A vulgar corruption of _rind_: old ed.
“rhyne;”
“Whose eyes doe shine
Like bacon rine.”
_Wily Beguilde_, sig C 2, ed. 1623.
# 289:
_exercise_] See note, vol. i. p. 211.
# 290:
_I hope my body has no organs_] “But the most
dangerous of all was a Puritan Chandler ... he thought
a man in a surplesse to be the Ghost of Heresy, _and
was out of love with his owne members, because they
were called Organs_.” MARMYON’S _Fine Companion_,
1633, sig. I 4.
# 291:
_exercise_] See note, vol. i. p. 211.
# 292:
_byrlady_] See note, p. 66.
# 293:
_the red letter_] Qy. does he allude to the rubrick
distinctions in the Prayer-book, or to those in the
Calendar?
# 294:
_clergy_] i.e. doctrine.
# 295:
_gear_] i.e. matter, business.
# 296:
_in the Family_] The old ed. adds, as part of the
text, “Let in;” but the words are a stage-direction.—
In _The Displaying of the Family of Loue_, &c.
(already mentioned, see p. 106), we are told: “They
are called together euer in the night time: and
commonly to suche houses as be far from neighbours,
one of them doth alwayes warne an other: and when they
come to the house of meeting, they knocke at the
doore, saying, here is a Brother in Christ, or a
Sister in Christ.” Sig. H iiii.
# 297:
_peevish_] i.e. silly.
# 298:
_exercise_] See note, vol. i. p. 211.
# 299:
_trunks_] i.e. tubes. We find the word used in this
sense even during Charles the Second’s time;
“Through optic _trunk_ the planet seem’d to hear.”
_To the King_—MARVELL’S _Works_, vol. ii. p. 124,
ed. 1726.
# 300:
_hit_] Old ed. “hits.”
# 301:
_Scene V._] I have marked a new scene here, and
another after Gudgeon has entered the chamber,
contrary to the old ed. and the arrangements (or
rather, non-arrangements) of our early stage: see
note, p. 147.
# 302:
_exercise_] See note, vol. i. p. 211.
# 303:
_Hei mihi_, &c.] _Met._ i. 523.
# 304:
_play at barriers_] i.e. fight within lists.
# 305:
LIP. _Hold_, &c.; GUD. _Gogs_, &c.; LIP. _A pox_, &c.;
GUD. _Truce_, &c.] Form only one speech in the old
ed., with the prefix “_Ambo._”
# 306:
_Cornelius’ tub_] i.e. the heated tub in which
patients were sweated for the cure of the venereal
disease: the origin of the term (see Douce’s _Illust.
of Shake._ vol. ii. p. 70) is uncertain.
# 307:
_suppositor_] i.e. suppository.—Old ed. "suppositar."—
“I hold my life hee is a pottecarie, doe you neuer
make no _suppositors_ sir?” _Cupids Whirligig_, sig. C
4, ed. 1616.
# 308:
_cockatrice_] A cant term for a harlot.
# 309:
_Phitonessa’s power_] The word _Phitoness_—i.e.
_Pythoness_—is of frequent occurrence in the works of
our earliest poets. It generally means the witch of
Endor:
“And speke as renably, and faire, and wel,
As to _the Phitonesse_ did Samuel.”
CHAUCER’S _Freres Tale_, v. 7091, ed. Tyr.
See also Gower’s _Conf. Am._ fol. lxxiii. ed. 1554;
Skelton’s “Adicyon” to _Phyllyp Sparowe_; Sir D.
Lyndsay’s _Monarchie, Works_, vol. iii. p. 151, ed.
Chal. Sometimes it is used in a more extended sense;
“And _Phetonisses_, Charmeresses,” &c.
CHAUCER’S _House of Fame_, fol. 267, _Works_, ed.
1602.
See also Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, sig. K vi. ed.
1555.
# 310:
_corpse of her friend_] Qy. “corps of her friends:” at
p. 135, l. 6, _corps_ is used for bodies.
# 311:
_thine aim_] Old ed. “thy plot, _thyne ayme_:” see
note, p. 134.
# 312:
_surcease_] i.e. cease.
# 313:
_on_] Old ed. “in.”
# 314:
_those_] Old ed. “these.”
# 315:
_our clothes_] He means the dresses in which they were
to pass for Familists: see what follows.
# 316:
_Guttide_] i.e. Shrovetide.
# 317:
_Hollantide_] A common corruption of Hallowstide.
# 318:
_courtlike_] Old ed. “courttake.”
# 319:
_make_] Old ed. “makes.”
# 320:
_Lip._] Old ed. here and before the next speech which
I have given to Lipsalve, “_Sa._”
# 321:
_Master_, &c.] This speech has no prefix in the old
ed.
# 322:
_resolved_] See note, p. 39.
# 323:
_nice_] See note, p. 134.
# 324:
_private._ Whispers] Old ed. “_priuate_ whisper:” but
the second word is a stage-direction.
# 325:
_Galen_] Old ed. “Gallus.”
# 326:
_eke_] i.e. also.
# 327:
_five_] Old ed. “fine.”
# 328:
_gear_] See note, p. 155.
# 329:
_qd_——] Those who are acquainted with the sayings
of _Titus Silus_ will probably understand this
hieroglyphic.
# 330:
_disguised as a porter_] These words are not in the
old ed. From what follows in this scene we find that
he wears a disguise, and we may justly conclude that
it is no other than the porter’s dress in which he
appears during the next scene.
# 331:
_throne_] Qy. “shrine:” compare p. 163, l. 10.
# 332:
_star-like_] Old ed. “warlike:” but see the next line.
# 333:
_His_] Old ed. “This.”
# 334:
_a bell and a clack-dish_] A _clack-dish_, or
_clap-dish_, was a wooden dish with a moveable cover,
which was carried by beggars, and which they _clacked_
to shew that it was empty: see Steevens’s note on
Shakespeare’s _Measure for Measure_, act iii. sc. 2.
The _bell_ was another means of attracting attention.
# 335:
_paritor_] i.e. apparitor—a messenger employed to cite
persons to appear in the spiritual courts. The word is
found so contracted not only in prose but in verse:
“Belike thou art the Diuell’s _Parrator_,
The basest officer that liues in Hell.”
_Wily Beguilde_, sig. H 3, ed. 1623.
# 336:
_I play_] Old ed. “he plaies.”
# 337:
_crier_] Old ed. “parritor.”
# 338:
_crier_] Old ed. "sumner"—(i.e. apparitor). That the
alterations which I have made in this dialogue between
Gerardine and Dryfat are absolutely necessary, will
appear from subsequent scenes. Of the “faults in the
printing” Middleton was aware: see his address _To the
Reader_, p. 107: he perhaps had at first assigned the
parts of paritor, crier, and proctor differently; and
after he had made a new distribution of them,
neglected to alter this portion of the MS.
# 339:
_time out of sight_] i.e. (I suppose) time that I was
gone.
# 340:
_perfection_] Old ed. “affecton.”
# 341:
_celsitude_] i.e. height.
# 342:
_Give_] Old ed. “Giues.”
# 343:
_gazer loves_] Qy. “gazers’ love.”
# 344:
_Than the Titanian_, &c.] Old ed.
“_Then the_ Tartarians _God, when_ first _Egeons
Hill_.”
Ægeon (or, as he was called by the gods, Briareus,)
was thrown under mount Ætna.
# 345:
_worm’s bed_; _teeth_] Old ed. “worme bed, to the.”
# 346:
_square_] i.e. (I suppose) fall to quarrelling.
# 347:
_Mis. G._] Old ed. “Mar.”
# 348:
_Orders of knaves_] _Their_ number was 25: see _Brit.
Bibliogr._ vol. ii. p. 16, where they are each
reckoned up from a tract, printed and probably
compiled by Awdeley, called _The Fraternitye of
Vacabondes, &c. Wherunto also is adioyned the_ XXV.
_Orders of Knaues, otherwyse called a Quartern of
Knaues, &c._, 4to, the first ed. of which appeared in
1565: see _Typ. Antiq._ (ed. Dibdin), vol. iv. p. 564.
# 349:
_startups_] Were a sort of clumsy shoes with high
tops, worn by peasants. Cotgrave has “Guestres:
Startups; high shooes, or gamashes for countrey
folkes.”
# 350:
_sir-reverence_] A corruption of _save-reverence_,
_salva reverentia_: see Nares in V.
# 351:
_Tweedles_] So the old ed. when the letter is
afterwards read: here “_Sweedlesse_.”
# 352:
_pert_] So old ed. afterwards: here it omits the word.
# 353:
_towards_] i.e. in a state of preparation, at hand.
# 354:
_seiz’d_] Old ed. “feard.”
# 355:
_peasant groom_] Old ed. “pleasant Groine.”
# 356:
_Europa’s sea-form_] I can only explain these words by
supposing that they allude to Europa, as represented
in ancient gems and pictures, holding the bull by the
horns, while he bears her over the sea. Vide, for
instance, the engraving prefixed to Fischer’s ed. of
Palæphatus, 1772.
# 357:
_acrostic_] i.e. crossed on his breast: perhaps some
pun is intended here.
# 358:
_A pile_, &c.] This speech has no prefix in the old
ed.
# 359:
_manable_] i.e. (I presume) bold, forward, ready.
# 360:
_trow_] See note, p. 26.
# 361:
_passion_] See note, p. 64.
# 362:
_paritor_] See note, p. 170.
# 363:
_Gud. Off_, &c.] Old ed. “_Gud._ Off boyes, Shrimpe
what dost thou,” &c.
# 364:
_Shrimp_] Old ed. “Periwincle.”
# 365:
_sumner_] See note, p. 29.
# 366:
_paritor_] See note, p. 170.
# 367:
_Thrum_] Old ed. “Thum.”
# 368:
_And Tipple_, &c.] This part of Gerardine’s speech is
given to “_Gud._” in the old ed.
# 369:
_colour_] i.e. pretence.
# 370:
_paritor_] See note, p. 170.
# 371:
_cucking-stool_] i.e. a stool or chair at the end of a
long pole, in which scolds, &c. being placed, were
plunged into some muddy pool or stinking pond: see
Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ vol. ii. p. 441, ed. 1813.
# 372:
_come_] Old ed. “comes.”
# 373:
_this gear cottens_] See notes, p. 150, 155.
# 374:
_colour_] See note, p. 184.
# 375:
_like_] See note, p. 113.
# 376:
_liver_] See note, p. 133.
# 377:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 378:
_doctor Doddipoll_] Is a ridiculous character in an
old play called _The Wisdome of Doctor Dodypoll_,
printed 1600; but the term is found long before that
date: _doddipoll_ is dunderhead.
# 379:
_questuary_] i.e. profitable.
# 380:
_bawdies_] See the same miserable pun, vol. i. p. 245.
# 381:
_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”
# 382:
_Enter Maria above_] So the old ed.; and we must
suppose that she is standing in a gallery: the first
words of Gerardine’s speech on entering shew that this
scene takes place _within_ the house: compare p. 159,
where Glister appears “_above_,” _within the house_.
# 383:
_Give_] Old ed. “Giues.”
# 384:
_liberal_] i.e. licentious.
# 385:
_Deeply_] Old ed. “Deadly.”
# 386:
_the round_] Certain soldiers of inferior rank (only
above the lancepesado), whose office was to _go round_
and inspect the sentinels, watches, and advanced
guard, were called _gentlemen of the round_: see
Whalley’s note in Gifford’s ed. of B. Jonson’s
_Works_, vol. i. p. 85.
# 387:
_word_] i.e. watchword.
# 388:
_Do_] Old ed. “Doth.”
# 389:
_sun approaches_] Old ed. “sons aproache:” but I
suspect that the whole line is corrupted, and that the
epithet “blushing” belongs to “Aurora.”
# 390:
_towards_] See note, p. 177.
# 391:
_statute-caps_] i.e. citizens, who, according to a
statute of Elizabeth in behalf of the trade of
cappers, wore, on Sabbath days and holydays, caps of
wool. See the notes of the commentators on "Well,
better wits have worn plain _statute-caps_."—
SHAKESPEARE’S _Love’s Labour’s Lost_, act V. sc. 2.
# 392:
_pedlar’s French_] i.e. unintelligible jargon. It is,
properly, the cant language of vagabonds.
# 393:
_costards_] i.e. heads.
# 394:
_cotten_] See note, p. 150.
# 395:
_O, but_, &c.] Qy. ought this to be given to
Gerardine?
# 396:
_Poppin_] So some copies of the old ed., others
“_Exigent_:” though there is certainly but _one_
impression of this play: see p. 103. Middleton (who
did not superintend the printing of it, see p. 107)
had dismissed the name _Exigent_ for that of _Poppin_,
or _vice versa_; and his uncorrected MS., where Dryfat
was sometimes called by one name, sometimes by the
other, was followed by the printer. This, however, is
the only place in which the copies (at least those
that I have seen) differ from each other with respect
to these names; an alteration having been made here
after part of the impression had been worked off. I
have retained the name _Poppin_ throughout.
# 397:
_attone them_] _Attone_ or _atone_ is—reconcile, set
them _at one_.—Old ed. “_attone them_ put them
together:” but see notes, pp. 134, 162.
# 398:
_play Ambidexter_] So in Nash’s _Pierce Pennilesse_;
“it is like inough he is _playing Ambidexter_ amongst
them.” Sig. B, ed. 1595. The allusion is to Preston’s
_Cambises King of Percia_, n. d. (written about the
beginning of Elizabeth’s reign), in which the Vice is
named _Ambidexter_. This “_lamentable tragedie mixed
full of plesant mirth_” is reprinted in the first vol.
of Hawkins’s _Origin of the English Drama_.
# 399:
_Poppin_] Old ed. “Exigent:” see note, p. 194.
# 400:
_cum nemini_, &c.]—“ea, quoniam nemini obtrudi potest,
Itur ad me.” Ter. _And._ i. 5, 15.
# 401:
_Byrlady_] See note, p. 66.
# 402:
_Poppin_] Old ed. “Exigent:” see note, p. 194.
# 403:
_cotations_] i.e. quotations—memoranda of what she had
heard at the meetings of the Family.
# 404:
_tagged point_] See note, vol. i. p. 244.
# 405:
_bewray all_, &c.] The same play on words occurs in
vol. i. p. 294, where see note.
# 406:
_angel_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 407:
_gilt’s_, &c.] _Gilt_ or _gelt_, i.e. gold, money.
# 408:
_five-finger at maw_] “For my game [at maw] stood, me
thought, upon my last two tricks, when I made sure of
the set, and yet lost it, hauing the varlet and _the
fiue finger_ to make two tricks.” Chapman’s _May Day_,
1611, p. 76.—For some account of maw, see Singer’s
_Researches into the Hist. of Playing Cards_, p. 258,
sqq.
# 409:
_gear_] See note, p. 155.
# 410:
_Club._ _Silence!_] Old ed. has only the
stage-direction, “_He cries_.”
# 411:
_apparance_] See note, p. 119.
# 412:
_narrow-ruffed_] Some copies of old ed. “_narrow_
rusty,” others “_narrow_ ruste:” yet there is but one
impression of the play: see p. 103. Compare what
Gudgeon says of mistress Purge’s “ruffs,” p. 131.
# 413:
_rout_] i.e. rabble.
# 414:
_Byrlady_] See note, p. 66.
# 415:
_edax rerum_] scil. _tempus._
# 416:
_now strike_, &c.] See p. 186.
# 417:
_cast about_] i.e. devise. Dryfat puns on the word
_cast_, as meaning to vomit.
# 418:
_bewray_] See note, p. 197.
# 419:
_Kiss the book_] Is, perhaps, only a stage-direction.
# 420:
_sir-reverence_] See note, p. 175.
# 421:
_as if I knew you not_] Imitated from Falstaff’s “I
knew ye, as well as he that made ye.” SHAKESPEARE’S
_Henry IV. Part I._ act ii. sc. 4.
# 422:
_Poppin_] Old ed. “Exigent:” see note, p. 194.
# 423:
_suppositor doctor_] See note, p. 161.
# 424:
_thereon_] Old ed. “therein.”
# 425:
_Poppin_] Old ed. “Exigent:” see note, p.194.
# 426:
_Dry._] Old ed. “_Club_.”
# 427:
_Pis._] What place is indicated by this abbreviation,
I cannot pretend to determine.
# 428:
_doctor_] Old ed. "proctor"—but that part is assumed
by Dryfat.
# 429:
_grincomes_] See note, p. 121.
# 430:
_Poppin_] Old ed. “Exigent:” see note, p. 194.
# 431:
_colour_] See note, p. 184.
# 432:
_blot in your tables_] An expression drawn from games
played with the tables: “beware of _blotting_,” says
the _Complete Gamester_, p. 155, ed. 1674.
# 433:
_limb-lifter_] Old ed. “Timelifter:” but compare _A
Handefull of Pleasant Delites_, &c., 1584, “a lustie
_lim lifter_,” p. 18, reprint.
# 434:
_runs at his wife’s ring_] See note, vol. i. p. 390.
# 435:
_Poppin_] Old ed. “Exigent:” see note, p. 194.
# 436:
_have_] Old ed. “hath.”
# 437:
_enjoinment_] Old ed. “enioyntment.”
# 438:
_Dry._ _The very_, &c.] Old ed.
"DRY. { _The very same_: your _are welcome to our
Club_
CLUB. { _Lawe_."
# 439:
_Epilogue_] Is, of course, spoken by Gerardine.
# 440:
_touch_] i.e. touchstone.
# 441:
_Presenter, or Prologue_, &c.] Except that I
have inserted between brackets the names of the
“gallants,” I have given this strange Induction
as it stands in the old ed. The latter part of
it, “Now, for the other,” &c., seems to be an
address to the reader; though perhaps it was
spoken by the Presenter.
# 442:
_Frippery discovered_, &c.] In the old ed. the only
stage-direction here is “_Enter a fellow_,” and the
prefixes to the dialogue which follows are _Frip._,
1., 2., 3., and 4.—Till the entrance of Primero, the
scene in the old ed. is a mass of confusion.
# 443:
_jealous_] i.e. suspiciously afraid: so afterwards in
this play: “Ah, but I am _jealous_ you will not keep
your countenance, i’faith.”
# 444:
_casting-bottle_] i.e. bottle for casting, or
sprinkling, liquid essences and perfumes, often
mentioned by our early dramatists; its use was not
confined to ladies.
# 445:
_hose_] i.e. breeches.
# 446:
_I’ll come to you presently_] These words, which in
the old ed. form part of the preceding speech, are, I
suppose, addressed to the second fellow.
# 447:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 448:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 449:
_falls_] i.e. falling bands, which lay flat upon the
dress from the neck.
# 450:
_gentlewomen’s_] Old ed. “gentlewomans.”
# 451:
_nobles_] See note, p. 17.
# 452:
_do_] Old ed. “does.”
# 453:
_I will_] Old ed. “ile:” and in next line but one,
“about.”
# 454:
_primero_] An old and favourite game at cards: see
Singer’s _Researches into the Hist. of Playing Cards_,
p. 244 sqq.
# 455:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 456:
_call it_] Old ed. “calt.”
# 457:
_I’d_] Old ed. “I had.”
# 458:
_trug_] i.e. trull. The word is not very common: “nor
(shall I speake plainely) please the _Trugge_ his
mistresse, without he goe to the Apothecaries,” &c.
GREENE’S _Quip for an Upstart Courtier_, sig D 3, ed.
1620.
# 459:
_gallant_] Old ed. “Gallants.”
# 460:
_fall_] See note, p. 218.
# 461:
_frippery_] This word has been rightly explained by
Gifford and others as—a place where old clothes are
exposed for sale: but here the profession of frippery
seems to be meant; compare Chapman;
"D’OL. Now your profession, I pray?
FRIP. _Fripperie_, my lord, or as some tearme it,
_Petty Brokery_."
MONSIEUR D’OLIVE, 1606, sig E 4.
# 462:
_and you make you ready_] i.e. if you dress yourself:
compare p. 57 and note.
# 463:
_changed_] Old ed. “chande.”
# 464:
PRI. _But, mass, sir_] Old ed. “Ar. _But_ maister.”
# 465:
_prevent_] See note, p. 49.
# 466:
_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”
# 467:
_lins_] i.e. ceases.
# 468:
_mark_[_s_]] A mark was 13_s._ 4_d._
# 469:
_rize_] i.e. rose.
# 470:
_Nor ceas’d_, &c.] All the latter part of this speech
is prose in the old ed.: as to the arrangement of it,
the reader must be aware that imperfect lines
frequently occur in the blank verse of our early
dramatists: see, for instance, the speeches of
Katherine to her suitors in next scene.
# 471:
_censur’d me_] i.e. held me in their opinion.
# 472:
_not_] Old ed. “nor.”
# 473:
_in the Knight’s ward_] See note, vol. i. p. 392.—The
old ed. gives the passage thus: “_I am sure he is fast
inough? and Andrew Lucifer’s Rapier and dagger, in the
knights ward, with the embost_,” &c.
# 474:
_hangers_] i.e. fringed and ornamented loops attached
to the girdle, in which the weapons were suspended.
# 475:
_than_] Old ed. “them.”
# 476:
_your wrongs_] May be right: but qy. “you wrong.”
# 477:
_perfection_] Old ed. “perfections.”
# 478:
_commend_] Old ed. “command.”
# 479:
_Vouchsafe_, &c.] Old ed. thus:
“Vouchsafe vnequalld Virgin whereon I iustly kept,
Accept this worthlesse fauor from your seruants
arme, the hallowed beades,
The true and perfect number of my sighs.”
# 480:
_likes_] See note, p. 47.
# 481:
_purchase_] See note, vol. i. p. 319.
# 482:
_I’ve_] Old ed. here and in the next line but five, “I
haue.”
# 483:
_push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 484:
_when_] See note, vol. i. p. 362.
# 485:
_Savoy_] i.e. the Savoy: see Stowe’s _Survey_, b. i.
p. 210, and b. iv. p. 106, ed. 1720.
# 486:
_inward_] i.e. intimate.—The old ed. gives to Pursenet
the words “gentleman; his parts deserve it.”
# 487:
_Piping hot_, &c.] The first part of this speech
relates to Fitsgrave, who has joined the “gallants”
under the name of Bouser; the second part to Bungler.
# 488:
_clip_] i.e. embrace.
# 489:
_viols_] See note, p. 11.]
# 490:
_Pax_] See note, p. 24.
# 491:
_respectively_] i.e. respectfully: compare vol. i. p.
425.
# 492:
_You’re_] Old ed. “You are.”
# 493:
_they’ll_] Old ed. “they will.”
# 494:
_Exit_] Is not marked in old ed.: but, as far as I
understand the scene, it seems necessary.
# 495:
_queasy_] i.e. squeamish.
# 496:
_I’m ... I’ve_] Old ed. “I am ... I have.”
# 497:
_he_] I have not altered this stage-direction, as I am
not sure who is meant by the word _he_. Primero (see
p. 234) had desired the Boy to “be ready for the
song.”
# 498:
_no affliction_] Qy. “not a fiction.”
# 499:
PRI. _My wits_, &c.] I suspect that this speech ought
to be divided thus:
"PRI. ’Slife, he’s in a sick trance!
GOL. My wits must not stand idle:
A cheat or two," &c.
# 500:
_and it_] i.e. if it. Old ed. “an’t.”
# 501:
_and so_] Old ed. “_and_ has _so_.”
# 502:
_never_] Old ed. “nere.”
# 503:
_Pax_] See note, p. 24.
# 504:
_Goldstone_] Old ed. “Bouser,” which is Fitsgrave’s
assumed name,—the author, I suppose, having merely
written G., which the printer took for B.
# 505:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 506:
_You’ve_] Old ed. “You have.”
# 507:
_miss it_] i.e. let it go.
# 508:
_nobles_] See note, p. 17.
# 509:
_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”
# 510:
_were it_] Old ed. “wer’t.”
# 511:
_you’ll_] Old ed. “you will.”
# 512:
_respectively_] See note, p. 235.
# 513:
_Mermaid_] A famous tavern in Cornhill, frequented by
Shakespeare, Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, &c.
# 514:
_Mitre_] Another celebrated tavern, in Bread Street,
Cheapside: it was afterwards removed to Fleet Street.
# 515:
_Faith_, &c.] This speech is given in old ed. to
Goldstone; but it disagrees with what he has just
said.
# 516:
_push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 517:
_Boy_, &c.] What I have here given to Pursenet is in
the old ed. part of the speech of _All_.
# 518:
_toward_] See note, p. 177.
# 519:
_tire-men_] i.e. dressers belonging to the theatre,—as
it seems from what follows.
# 520:
_Look you ... out forty_] Given to Pursenet in old ed.
# 521:
_come_] Old ed. “comes.”
# 522:
_pullen_] i.e. poultry.
# 523:
_nobles_] See note, p. 17.
# 524:
_More censure_] i.e. a higher opinion.
# 525:
_they’re_] Old ed. “they are.”
# 526:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 527:
_What made you_] i.e. what business had you?
# 528:
_you_] Old ed. “your.”
# 529:
_’Tween_] Old ed. “Turne.”
# 530:
_populous_] i.e. prevalent, common,—or, perhaps,
abundant.
# 531:
_With which thou ever_, &c.] After this line the old
ed. has “_Exeunt_.
_Enter Fitsgraue._
FITSG. My pocket pickt,” &c.;
and after his conversation with the servant and _exit_
(no new scene being marked),
“_Taylb._ Oh the parting of vs twaine, 14“ᚬ_Enter
Whore Gal._
Hath causde me mickle paine,” &c.
But the scene between Fitsgrave and the servant
intervenes here so awkwardly, that I have ventured to
make a transposition.
# 532:
_mickle_] i.e. great.
# 533:
_Enter Fitsgrave_, &c.] See note in preceding page.
# 534:
_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”
# 535:
_you belong to me_, &c.] Is the text corrupted here,
or is something wanting?
# 536:
_stoln_] Qy., for the sake of the rhyme, "lorn,"—i.e.
lost.
# 537:
_Scene III._, &c.] Concerning the transposition of the
preceding scene, see note, p. 246.—In the old ed. the
present scene follows the exit of Primero with Tailby
(see p. 247) thus:
“_Pri._ Come, you shall see how tis alterd now? I do
not thinke
but you’le like her. _Exit._
_Pri._ Where be your liueries? _Enter all at once._
1. They attend without.” &c.
The commencement of act iii., which the old ed. does
not mark, might have taken place here, had not the
preposterous length of act iv. in that ed. obliged me
to divide it into the iii. and iv. acts.
# 538:
_the Mitre_] See note, p. 240.—The entertainment given
by “the gallants” to Primero and his ladies is
supposed to be just over.
# 539:
_alchemy_] See note, vol. iv. p. 122.
# 540:
_chatterer_] Old ed. “quarter her.”
# 541:
_Pax_] See note, p. 24.
# 542:
_slight_] i.e. contrivance, artifice.
# 543:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 544:
_Exit Vintner_, &c.] We are of course to suppose that
Goldstone, while talking with the vintner, contrives
to “shift away the beakers by a slight,” and leave in
their places the “alchemy knaves” which Fulk had
brought to him: but as I do not understand how the
trick was executed, I have not ventured to add any
stage-directions.
# 545:
_Fit._] Old ed. “_Gold._”
# 546:
_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”
# 547:
_angel_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 548:
_rose-noble_] i.e. a gold coin (stamped with a rose)
worth sixteen shillings.
# 549:
_cracked in the ring_] “The gold coin of our ancestors
was very thin, and therefore liable to crack. It
still, however, continued passable until the crack
extended beyond the _ring_, _i.e._ beyond the inmost
round which circumscribed the inscription; when it
became _uncurrent_, and might be legally refused.”
GIFFORD—note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. vi. p. 76.
# 550:
_pax_] See note, p. 24.
# 551:
_Tai._] Old ed. “_Purs._”
# 552:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 553:
_thine_] Old ed. “mine.”
# 554:
_will be ever one_] Old ed. “_will be ever_ be _one_.”
# 555:
_again_] i.e. against.
# 556:
_Hist_] Old ed. “Pist.”
# 557:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 558:
_Pur._ &c.] Old ed. “All.”
# 559:
_and_] i.e. if.
# 560:
_again_] See note, p. 255.
# 561:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 562:
_hatcht_] i.e. engraved.
# 563:
_hangers_] See note, p. 227.
# 564:
_Push_] See note, vol. i. p. 29.
# 565:
_snibbed_] i.e. snubbed—a form of the word which
sometimes occurs.
# 566:
_Haff_, &c.] So old ed.—the spelling being intended to
express the broken utterance of the speaker.
# 567:
_Fie_, &c.] The old ed. gives this speech, “_Fie_ ath
_these_,” &c., without any prefix.
# 568:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 569:
_come_] Old ed. “comes.”
# 570:
_word_] i.e. motto.
# 571:
_Gol._] Old ed. “_Purs._,” which the next speech of
Pursenet shews to be wrong: but, perhaps, the prefix
should be “Fulk.”
# 572:
_Fit._] Old ed. “_Fulk._”
# 573:
_disgest_] Frequently found in our old writers for
_digest_.
# 574:
_cross-biter_] i.e. cheater.
# 575:
_royals ... as many with spurs_, &c.] i.e.
spur-royals—gold coins (with a star on the reverse
resembling the rowel of a spur) worth fifteen
shillings.
# 576:
_Sec. D. What’s_, &c.] Old ed. gives “Drawer, what’s
to be done, sirs?” as part of Goldstone’s speech.
# 577:
_near all_] i.e. touches all nearly—if, indeed, that
be the right reading. Old ed. “meere _all_.”
# 578:
_angels_] See note, vol. i. p. 250.
# 579:
_Pur. Faith_, ] Given in old ed., as one speech,
to Pursenet.
_Gol. Nay_, &c.]
# 580:
_yon_] i.e. yonder.