# 426:_The works of Thomas Middleton, Volume 1 (of 5)

_The true man_] i. e. the honest man—an expression

used in opposition to a thief.

# 427:

_let_] i. e. hinderance.

# 428:

_and_] Old ed. “_and_ thy.”

# 429:

_you’d_] Old ed. “youl’d.”

# 430:

_with’t_] Old ed. “with it.”

# 431:

_practice_] i. e. artifice, insidious design.

# 432:

_act_] Old ed. “action.” See note, p. 129.

# 433:

VORT.] This speech in the old ed. is given to Horsus.

# 434:

_ne’er_] Old ed. “never.”

# 435:

_I’ve ... on’t_] Old ed. “I have ... on it.”

# 436:

_practice_] See note, p. 160.

# 437:

_garden-house_] When this play was written, gardens

with summer-houses in them were very common in the

suburbs of London. These buildings were often used as

places of intrigue.

# 438:

_conceit_] i. e. conceive.

# 439:

_bestow’t_] Old ed. “bestow it.”

# 440:

_against the hair_] i. e. against the grain, contrary

to nature.

# 441:

_night-rails_] i. e. night-gowns.

# 442:

_rack_] A friend would read “crack”—unnecessarily, I

think.

# 443:

_that’s_] Old ed. “that is.”

# 444:

_cruelly_] Old ed. “cruelty.”

# 445:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 446:

_pluck’t_] Old ed. “_pluck_ it.”

# 447:

_where_] i. e. whereas.

# 448:

_by’t_] Old ed. “by it.”

# 449:

_conceit_] i. e. fancy.

# 450:

_A Chamber in a Castle_ Not in the castle, of which

Hengist immediately proceeds to speak. As the Barber

presently says of Simon and Oliver, “here they come

both in a pelting chafe from the town-house,” the

scene must be at or near Queenborough.

# 451:

_ne’er_] Old ed. “never.”

# 452:

_’gainst_] Old ed. “against.”

# 453:

_ascends first_] Old ed. “_first ascends_.”

# 454:

_Here’s no sweet coil._] “It is observed by Dr.

Warburton (see note to 1st part _Henry_ 4th, A. 5, S.

3.), that in Shakespeare’s time the negative in common

speech was used to design, ironically, the excess of a

thing; and this assertion is fully confirmed by the

several examples produced by Mr. Steevens in proof of

it.” REED.

# 455:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 456:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 457:

_Sir-reverence_] A corruption of _save-reverence_,

_salvâ reverentiâ_. See Nares in v.

# 458:

_towards_] i. e. at hand, forthcoming.

# 459:

_scorn’d the motion_] Here S. P., an annotator in

Dodsley’s _Old Plays_, wishes unnecessarily to

read “mention.” Middleton has the same expression

elsewhere; and so in Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Cupid’s

Revenge_, act iv. sc. 3.

“_3 Cit._ You had best

Go peach; do, peach!

_2 Cit._ Peach? _I scorn the motion._”

# 460:

_callymoocher_] A term of reproach, which I cannot

explain.

# 461:

_ale-conner_] “Or ale-taster, an officer appointed in

every court leet to look to the assize and goodness of

bread, ale, and beer.” Kersey’s _Dict._—See also

Robinson’s _Hist. of Tottenh._ p. 241, quoted by Nares

in v.

# 462:

_spiny baldrib_] i. e. a thin slender fellow, with

little flesh on his ribs.

# 463:

_cittern_] “A lute or _cittern_ formerly used to be

part of the furniture of a barber’s shop, and, as Sir

John Hawkins, in his notes on Walton’s _Complete

Angler_, p. 236, observes, answered the end of a

newspaper, the now common amusement of waiting

customers. In an old book of enigmas, to every one of

which the author has prefixed a wooden cut of the

subject of the enigma, is a barber, and the cut

represents a barber’s shop, in which there is one

person sitting in a chair under the barber’s hands,

while another, who is waiting for his turn, is playing

on the lute; and on the side of the shop hangs another

instrument of the lute or _cittern_ kind.”—REED.

# 464:

_throughly_] Modernised unnecessarily by Dodsley into

_thoroughly_.

# 465:

_sack-buts_] A play on the meaning of the

word—_musical instruments_, and _buts of sack_.

# 466:

_Exeunt_, &c.] Old ed. “_Exit cum suis._”

# 467:

_hear_] Old ed. “_hear_ her.”

# 468:

_They’ve_] Old ed. “They have.”

# 469:

_taken_] Old ed. “ta’ne.”

# 470:

_passion_] i. e. sorrow.

# 471:

_conceitedly_] i. e. fancifully, ingeniously.

# 472:

_minded_] i. e. intended.

# 473:

_Thong-Castle_] “See Lambarde’s Perambulation of Kent,

1596, p. 195. Jeffrey of Monmouth’s British History,

B. 6. C. 11.”—REED.

# 474:

_Lo, I_, &c.] In _Wit Restored_, 1658 (_Facetiæ_, &c.

vol. i. p. 268. ed. 1817), this speech of Simon is

printed, with a few very slight variations, under the

title of _A Prologue to the Mayor of Quinborough_.

# 475:

_cannot_] _Wit Rest._ “scorne to;” but compare p. 175,

l. 24.

# 476:

_riots_] Old ed. “roots.”

# 477:

_here’s_] Old ed. “there’s.”

# 478:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 479:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 480:

_byrlady_] See note, p. 135.

# 481:

_give_] Old ed. “gives.”

# 482:

_carp_] Mr. J. P. Collier proposes to read “cup.”

# 483:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 484:

_we’ve_] Old ed. “we have.”

# 485:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 486:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 487:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 488:

_mother_] i. e. hysterical passion.

# 489:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 490:

_ne’er_] Old ed. “never.”

# 491:

_niceness_] i. e. scrupulousness.

# 492:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 493:

_Able to_, &c.] Old ed.

“_Able to_ make _all of our name_ inhumid,”—

and so the line stands in all the eds. of Dodsley’s

_Old Plays_.

# 494:

_e’er_] Old ed. “ever.” The line seems corrupted. Qu.

“_In this wild tempest_,” &c.?

# 495:

_raught_] i. e. snatched away, ravished.

# 496:

_no_] See note 454, p. 169.

# 497:

_dear_] See notes, vol. iii. p. 307, vol. iv. p. 486:

here, perhaps, it is equivalent to—excessive.

# 498:

_to seek in honesty_] i. e. at a loss for, deficient

in honesty.

# 499:

_I’d_] Old ed. “I had.”

# 500:

_Though’t_] Old ed. “_Though_ it.”

# 501:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 502:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 503:

_hight_] i. e. called.

# 504:

_decreen_] i. e. decree. An old form, for the sake of

the rhyme.

# 505:

_Is’t_] Old ed. “Is it.”

# 506:

_Nemp your sexes_ “‘The appointment being agreed to on

both sides, Hengist, with a new design of villany in

his head, ordered his soldiers to carry, every one of

them, a long dagger under their garments; and while

the conference should be held with the Britons, who

would have no suspicion of them, he would give them

this word of command, _Nemet oure Saxas_; at which

moment they were all to be ready to seize boldly every

one his next man, and with his drawn dagger stab him.

Accordingly, at the time and place appointed, they all

met, and began to treat of peace; and when a fit

opportunity for executing his villany served, Hengist

cried out, _Nemet oure Saxas_; and the same instant

seized Vortegirn, and held him by his cloak.’ Jeffrey

of Monmouth’s British History, translated by Aaron

Thompson, 1718, 8vo, p. 194.”—REED. _Nemp your sexes_,

i. e. Nymeð eouer seaxes,—take your daggers, or short

swords.

# 507:

_Lie_] Old ed. “Lies.”

# 508:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 509:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 510:

_by’t_] Old ed. “by it.”

# 511:

_Methinks_, &c.] “Shakespeare seems to have imitated

this in the Tempest, A. 3. S. 3.

‘Oh, it is monstrous! monstrous!

Methought, the billows spoke, and told me of it;

The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,

That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc’d

The name of Prosper.’”—REED.

The date of _The Tempest_ must be settled before we

can determine whether Shakespeare or Middleton was the

imitator.

# 512:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 513:

_Where_] i. e. whereas. Altered by Dodsley and his

editors to “When.”

# 514:

_Kirsendom_] A corruption of _Christendom_.

# 515:

_you’re_] Old ed. “you are.”

# 516:

_that’s_—_Kent’s_] Old ed. “_that_ is”—“_Kent_ is.”

# 517:

_Players_] They have, it appears, only “taken the name

of country comedians to abuse simple people;” but I

follow the old copy in terming them “Players,” to

prevent the confusion which would afterwards arise

from adopting any other appellation.

# 518:

_The Whirligig_] Not, I apprehend, the comedy called

_Cupid’s Whirligig, by E. S._, 1607.

# 519:

_The Wild-goose Chase_] i. e., perhaps, Fletcher’s

comedy so called, see p. 122.

# 520:

_Woodcock of our side_] Taylor, the water-poet, in the

preface to _Sir Gregory Nonsense_, mentions a book so

called; but perhaps he merely invented the title.—This

expression was proverbial, and frequently occurs in

our early writers: _woodcock_ was a cant term for a

simpleton.

# 521:

_O, the clowns_, &c.] Nash tells us that, “amongst

other cholericke wise Justices he was one that, hauing

a play presented before him and his Township, by

Tarlton and the rest of his fellows, her Maiesties

seruants, as they were now entring into their first

merriment (as they call it), the people began

exceedingly to laugh, when Tarlton first peept out his

head.”—_Pierce Pennilesse_, sig. D. 2, ed. 1595. And

in the Præludium to Goff’s _Careless Shepherdes_,

1656, Thrift says—

“I never saw Rheade peeping through the Curtain,

But ravishing joy enter’d into my heart.” p. 5.

# 522:

_Twopence_] Old ed. “2d.” Dodsley and his editors,

“second!!”

# 523:

_to_] i. e. comparable to.

# 524:

_on’t; that’s the thing_] Old ed. “_on_ it, _that’s

the thing_ indeed.”

# 525:

_Alas_] Old ed. “Las.”

# 526:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 527:

_by Amsterdam_] “The toleration allowed to all

religious sects in the United Provinces, on their

throwing off the Spanish yoke, occasioned numbers of

dissenters from the established religion of their

country, to take refuge in different parts of the

states of Holland. The chief place appears to have

been Amsterdam, which is mentioned as such in several

contemporary dramatic writers. See Ben Jonson’s

Alchymist, and The Fair Maid of the Inn, by Beaumont

and Fletcher.”—REED.

# 528:

_The play begins_] Dodsley and his editors print these

words as a stage-direction, though they are not given

as such in the old copy. They are evidently the

exclamation of Simon on hearing the trumpet.

# 529:

_I’ll stop_, &c.] Old ed. “_I’le hide my ears and stop

my eyes._”

# 530:

_golls_] A cant term for hands,—fists, paws.

# 531:

_swound_] i. e. swoon.

# 532:

_aqua-vitæ_] A common name for spirits.

# 533:

_First_] Old ed. “2.”

# 534:

_towards_] i. e. at hand.

# 535:

_cut_] i. e. slashed (see note, vol. i. p. 28), with a

play on the word: “_Cutted_, scolding, brawling,

quarrelling.” Kersey’s _Dict._

# 536:

_in Kent, or Kirsendom_] I ought to have noticed an

earlier allusion (at p. 200) to the proverbial saying,

“Neither in Kent nor Christendom,” which has been

variously explained; see Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 245, ed.

1768.

# 537:

_at an exercise_] “Alluding to the week-day sermons

used by the puritans, which they called _Exercises_.

S. P.”—_Note in Dodsley’s Old Plays._

# 538:

_Here’s no abuse_, &c.] See note 454, p. 169.

# 539:

_fox’d_] i. e. drunk.

# 540:

_sight’s_] Old ed. “sight is.”

# 541:

_till’t_] Old ed. “till it.”

# 542:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 543:

_Resolv’d_] i. e. convinced, informed.

# 544:

_waking_] Old ed. “making.”

# 545:

_where_] i. e. whereas.

# 546:

_practice_] See note, p. 160.

# 547:

_of’t_] Old ed. “of it.”

# 548:

_the prince_] Words which, perhaps, should be thrown

out.

# 549:

_I will_] Old ed. “I’le.”

# 550:

_prevented_] i. e. anticipated.

# 551:

_And_] i. e. If.

# 552:

_golls_] See note, p. 206.

# 553:

_Ninevitical motion_] _Motion_ is a puppet-show; and

that of _Nineveh_, often mentioned by our old writers,

appears to have been very popular. “They say, there’s

a new _motion of the city of Nineveh_, with Jonas and

the whale, to be seen at Fleet-bridge.”—B. JONSON’s

_Every Man out of his Humour_, act ii. sc. 1.

# 554:

_Tamburlain_] A personage whom Marlowe’s tragedy of

that name had rendered familiar to the audience.

# 555:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 556:

_sprig of rosemary at his burial, than of a gilded

bride-branch at mine own wedding_] Rosemary, as being

an emblem of remembrance, was used both at funerals

and weddings. Compare _The Pleasant History of John

Winchcomb, in his younger yeares called Jacke of

Newberie_: “Then was there a faire bride cup of silver

and gilt carried before her [the bride], wherein was a

goodly _braunch of rosemarie gilded very faire_, hung

about with silken ribonds of all colours: next was

there a noyse of musitians that played all the way

before her: after her came all the chiefest maydens of

the countrie, some bearing great bride cakes, and some

_garlands of wheate finely gilded_, and so she past

unto the church.”—Sig. D 3, ed. 1633.

# 557:

_this in his burgonet_] i. e. this glove in his helmet

or hat. See stage-direction at the beginning of this

scene.

# 558:

_fled_] Old ed. “flee.”

# 559:

_curb_] A friend would read “curse.”

# 560:

_measure_] i. e. a grave, stately dance, with slow and

measured steps.

# 561:

_likes_] i. e. pleases.

# 562:

_Lady, bid him_, &c.] Imitated from Shakespeare:

“Let wantons, light of heart,

Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels.”

_Romeo and Juliet_, act. i. sc. 4.

It is hardly necessary to remark, that before carpets

were used, the floors were strewed with rushes.

# 563:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 564:

_likes_] i. e. pleases.

# 565:

_Willow, willow, willow_] The burden of the song which

Shakespeare has rendered immortal: see _Othello_, act

iv. sc. 3.

# 566:

_besides_] i. e. by.

# 567:

_laced mutton_] A prostitute—a cant term very common

in our early dramatists.

# 568:

_Cornelius’ dry-fats_, &c.] The sweating-tub of

Cornelius, formerly used for the cure of the venereal

disease, is often mentioned by our early dramatists:

but, in the present passage, I suspect there is an

allusion which had better be left unexplained.

# 569:

_chitty_] i. e., perhaps, the Italian _città_: but

Lazarillo afterwards affectedly uses “_chick_” and

“_chickness_” for _sick_ and _sickness_.

# 570:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 571:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 572:

_Brown-bill_] A sort of pike with a hooked point,

anciently carried by the English foot-soldiers, and

afterwards by watchmen.

# 573:

_curtal_] i. e. dog, or horse: here, I suppose, it has

the former signification.

# 574:

_find_] i. e. furnish.

# 575:

_my full charge_] The constable of the night used

regularly to give a charge to the watchmen: see

Shakespeare’s _Much ado about Nothing_, act iii. sc.

# 576:

_Mirror of Magistrates_] An allusion to the once-

popular poetical work so entitled.

# 577:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 578:

_bill-men_] See note, p. 237.

# 579:

_camooch_] In B. Jonson’s _Every Man out of his

Humour_, act v. sc. 3, the word _camouccio_ occurs, as

a term of vituperation; which, says Gifford, “is

perhaps a corruption of _camoscio, a goat or goat’s

skin_, and may mean _clown_ or _flat-nose_, or any

other apposite term which pleases the reader.” So,

too, in Dekker and Webster’s _Sir T. Wyatt_, 1607,

(Webster’s _Works_, vol. ii. p. 298), “A Spaniard is a

_camocho_, or calamanco,” &c.; and Sir T. Brown

observes (_Vulgar Errors_, p. 351, ed. 1669), “Many

_Spaniards_ ... which are of the race of Barbary Moors

... have not worn out the _camoys nose_ unto this

day.”

# 580:

_unpent-house the roof of my carcass_] i. e., in the

language of ordinary mortals,—take off my hat.

# 581:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 582:

_besonian_] Ital. _besogno_ or _besognoso_—often used

as a term of reproach by our early writers,—beggar,

scoundrel.

# 583:

_bonds and bills_] A play on words: see note, p. 237.

# 584:

_adelantado_] i. e. the king’s lieutenant of a

country, or deputy in any important place of charge.

“Don Diego de fisty Cankcemuscod, who was admirall or

high _adellantado_ of the whole fleete.”—Taylor the

water-poet’s _Navy of Land Ships_, p. 79: _Works_, ed.

1630.

# 585:

_pitch and pay_] i. e. pay down your money at once.

# 586:

_Thamer Cham_] i. e. Timur Khaun.

# 587:

_dried one_] i. e. a dried pilcher, or pilchard.

# 588:

_rivo_] A Bacchanalian interjection, frequently

found in our old drama: its etymology has not been

discovered.

# 589:

_shift_] viz. trenchers, platters.

# 590:

_Song_] Old ed. “_Sing. Musicke._”

# 591:

_poor-john_] A sort of fish (hake, it is said,) dried

and salted.

# 592:

_A Street_] Though the servingmen of Camillo (see p.

247) make their appearance immediately on being called

for, this scene, whether I have marked it rightly or

not, is evidently intended to lie in the neighbourhood

of the house where Violetta dwelt.

# 593:

_Spanish needle_] The best needles were imported from

Spain: see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson, _Works_, vol.

v. p. 12.

# 594:

_quail-pipe boot_] The following lines from Chaucer’s

_Rom. of the Rose_ (v. 7212), though relating to a

much earlier period, may be quoted here:

“And high shewis knoppid with dagges,

That _frouncin_ [_i. e._ wrinkle] _like a quale-pipe_,

Or botis riveling as a gipe.”

# 595:

_points_] i. e. the tagged laces which fastened the

_hose_ or breeches to the doublet.

# 596:

_not entered into any band_] A play on words: _band_

and _bond_ were formerly used indiscriminately.

# 597:

_slop_] i. e. breeches.

# 598:

_other-gates_] i. e. other-ways—other-kind.

# 599:

_tasting of the cog_] Another pun—_keg_ and _cog_. To

_cog_ is to lie or wheedle.

# 600:

_bawdy_] Another—_body_.

# 601:

_Via_] An exclamation of defiance (from the Italian),

frequent in our old dramas.

# 602:

_and if I wist_] i. e. if I supposed.

# 603:

_by the cross of this Dandyprat_] “King Henry the

seuenth,” says Camden, “stamped a small coyne called

_Dandyprats_.”—_Remaines_, p. 173, ed. 1629. Many

coins were marked with a cross on one side.

# 604:

_Gentlemen, to the dresser!_] When dinner was ready,

the cook used to knock on the dresser with his knife,

as a signal for the servants to carry it into the

hall. But the words put into the mouth of the

facetious Doyt appear to have been those usually

employed by the usher to the attendants on such

occasions. In the notes to the _Northumberland

Household Book_, p. 423, are extracts from “Lord

Fairfax’s Orders for the servants of his household

[after the civil wars],” where, among “The Usher’s

Words of Directions,” we find,—“Then he must warn to

the Dresser, ‘_Gentlemen_ and Yeomen, _to the

Dresser_.’” Gifford (Massinger’s _Works_, vol. i. p.

166) has cited from a note of Reed on Dodsley’s _Old

Plays_ this passage of Lord Fairfax’s “Orders,” &c.,

as if it contained the _warning_ of the _cook_; and

Nares, in his _Glossary_ (voc. _Dresser_), has made

the same mistake.

# 605:

_brown-bill_] See note, p. 237.

# 606:

_broken pate—broker_] A play on the word _broker_,

which meant pander.

# 607:

_vail_] i. e. lower.

# 608:

_broking_] i. e. pandering.

# 609:

_dag_] i. e. pistol.

# 610:

_Mephostophilis_] The fiend-attendant in Marlowe’s

well-known tragedy of _Faustus_.

# 611:

_crackship_] i. e. boyship—little mastership.

# 612:

_current_] An allusion to the coin called a dandyprat:

see note, p. 246.

# 613:

_angel_] i. e. a gold coin, in value about ten

shillings.

# 614:

_ventoy_] i. e. fan.

# 615:

_incony_] i. e. fine, delicate, pretty.

# 616:

_Fa, la_, &c.] Here (as appears from what follows)

Imperia moves about, or dances, to the music.

# 617:

_ingle_] i. e. wheedle, coax.

# 618:

_&c._] Is sometimes found in passages of our early

dramatists, and seems to mean that the players might

make use of any suitable expressions which occurred to

them.

# 619:

_Song_, &c.] Old ed. “_Reades. Song._”

# 620:

_Were neither_, &c.] Old ed.

“_Were neither lip, nor cheekes currall, nor cherry

eyes._”

Some of the lines in this miserable effusion seem

intended to be sung only, not read.

# 621:

_And_] i. e. if.

# 622:

_jack_] The figure which struck the bell on the

outside of the old clocks was called a _jack_.

# 623:

_these_] Old ed. “this.”

# 624:

_incontinently_] i. e. immediately.

# 625:

_counterfeit_] i. e. portrait.

# 626:

_nail him up_, &c.] As counterfeit money is nailed up.

# 627:

_Wut_] i. e. Wilt.

# 628:

_Much!_] An ironical and contemptuous expression, of

frequent occurrence in the old English drama,

equivalent, generally, to _little_ or _none_.

# 629:

_good_] Old ed. “God.”

# 630:

_aslopen_] i. e. asleep—for the rhyme.

# 631:

_teston_] Or _tester_ (so called from the head,

_teste_, stamped on it),—_i. e._ sixpence: it was

originally of higher value.

# 632:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 633:

_my roba_] i. e. my wanton. _Buona-roba_ is an Italian

phrase for a courtesan; “as we say, good stuffe,” &c.

Florio in v.

# 634:

_marry, muff_] So Taylor the water-poet;

“Here’s a sweet deale of scimble scamble stuffe,

To please my Lady Wagtayle, _marry muffe_.”

_A Whore_, p. 111—_Workes_, ed. 1630.

# 635:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 636:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 637:

_stock_] i. e. stocking.

# 638:

_hose, pan’d, stuft with hair_] See note, p. 28.

# 639:

_Abram-colour’d_] So in _Soliman and Perseda_, 1599,

sig. H 3:

“Where is the eldest sonne of Pryam?

That _abraham-couloured_ Troion.”

In Shakespeare’s _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act i.

sc. 4, Slender is described as having a “_Cain-

coloured_ beard;” and in our author’s _Chaste Maid

in Cheapside_, act iii. sc. 2, “_Judas_ with the red

beard” is mentioned. Theobald, in a note on the

passage of Shakespeare just quoted, thinks that such

expressions were suggested by old tapestries and

pictures. Steevens, _ibid._, is not certain but that

“_Abraham_” may be a corruption of _auburn_; and in

_Coriolanus_, act ii. sc. 3, where we now read with

the fourth folio, “our heads are some brown, some

black, some _auburn_,” the three earlier folios have

“_Abram_.”

# 640:

_When Monsieur Motte lay here ambassador_] Though

the scene of this play is in Venice, yet “_here_”

means in England,—during some of the earlier years

of Elizabeth’s reign.

# 641:

_against the hair_] See note, p. 163.

# 642:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 643:

_these_] Old ed. “this.”

# 644:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 645:

_stone_] Old ed. has “no see,” a misprint. I doubt if

the word which I have substituted for it be the right

one.

# 646:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 647:

_save Hippolito_] Because, probably, Imperia was to be

his partner. The lavolta was a dance for two persons,

described by Sir J. Davies, in his _Orchestra_, as “a

lofty jumping or a leaping round.” See also Douce’s

_Illust. of Shakspeare_, vol. i. p. 489.

# 648:

_zanies with torches_] _zanies_ seems here to mean

nothing more than attendants. In act iii. sc. 1. of

this drama, when Violetta is told that “Imperia the

courtesan’s _zany_ hath brought you this letter,” she

exclaims, “her _groom_ employ’d by Fontinelle!” and in

Florio’s _New World of Words_, ed. 1611, is “_Zane_,

the name of John in some parts of Lombardy, but

commonly used for a silly John, a simple fellow, _a

seruile drudge_ or foolish clowne in any commedy or

enterlude play.”—For “_torches_” the old ed. has

“coaches.” Torch-bearers were the constant attendants

at masques.

# 649:

_suckets_] i. e. sweetmeats.

# 650:

_angels_] See note, p. 250.

# 651:

_bale_] i. e. pair.

# 652:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 653:

_a’ high lone_] So in Shakespeare’s _Romeo and

Juliet_, act i. sc. 3, where we now read, “For then

she could stand _alone_,” the 4to of 1597 has “stand

_high lone_.” Compare too W. Rowley’s _A Shoomaker a

Gentleman_, 1638; “The warres has lam’d many of my old

customers, they cannot go _a hie lone_.” Sig. B 4.

# 654:

_leesing_] i. e. losing.

# 655:

LAZARILLO _enters_] His entrance is not marked in the

old copy, and perhaps the poet intended that he should

come in with the masquers.

# 656:

_give fire too suddenly to the Roaring Meg of my

desires_] A metaphor drawn from the celebrated gun,

which Churchyard thus mentions in his _Siege of

Edenbrough Castell_;

“With thondryng noyes was shot of _roeryng Meg_,

And throw the thickst she thompt orethawrt the waies,”

&c.

fol. 94—_Chippes_, ed. 1575.

# 657:

_Don Diego_] Old ed. “Don Dego,”—seems to have been

ironically used for _Spaniard_, in consequence of a

strange indecency committed by a personage of the

name: see note on act iv. sc. 3, where Lazarillo

declares that he is “kin to Don Diego.”

# 658:

_Sanguine-cheeked! dost think their faces have been at

cutler’s?_] So Beaumont and Fletcher:

“_Piso._ ————————O’ my life, he looks

Of a more rusty, swarth complexion

Than an old armory doublet.

_Lod._ I would send

His _face to th’ cutler’s then, and have it

sanguin’d_.”

_Captain_, act ii.

sc. 2.

“_Sanguine._ The bloud-stone wherewith cutlers do

sanguine their hilts.”—COTGRAVE’S _Dict._

# 659:

_Exeunt_, &c.] The old ed. has no stage-direction

here. The curtains, called _traverses_, sometimes used

for scenes (see Malone’s _Hist. Acc. of the English

Stage_, p. 88, ed. Boswell), were drawn, I suppose,

after this speech of Hippolito.

# 660:

_with smoke_] There is something abrupt and awkward in

the conclusion of this scene; and I am inclined to

believe that part of it has been lost at the press.

# 661:

_these brims_] Old ed. “this brimmes.”—I suppose

Hippolito means to say, do not wear your hat so much

over your face.

# 662:

_Brest_] A play on words—_breast_.

# 663:

_bona-roba_] See note, p. 258.

# 664:

_Incestancy_] i. e. incest. I have not met with the

word elsewhere.

# 665:

_fond_] i. e. silly.

# 666:

_laugh and lie down_] An allusion to the game at cards

called _Laugh and lay down_.

# 667:

——————_the owl, whose voice Shrieks like the

belman_] Here, perhaps, Middleton recollected

_Macbeth_:

“It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal belman,

Which gives the stern’st good night.”—Act ii. sc. 2.

# 668:

_owes_] i. e. owns.

# 669:

_a’ life_] i. e. as my life, extremely.

# 670:

_zany_] See note, p. 261.

# 671:

_making himself ready_] i. e. dressing himself.

# 672:

_noddy_] A game on the cards often alluded to by our

dramatists: how it was played is doubtful.

# 673:

_lie_] Old ed. “lyes.”

# 674:

_At ten a’ clock_] Did the author forget that

Violetta, according to appointment, had, in the

preceding scene, met Fontinelle _at midnight_?

# 675:

_Amen_] Old ed. “_Amen_, amen, amen.”

# 676:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 677:

_table-books_] i. e. memorandum-books.

# 678:

_these dried stockfishes, that ask so much tawing_] To

_taw_ is, properly, to dress leather with allum:

“Yes, if they _taw_ him, as they do whit-leather,

Upon an iron, or beat him soft like stockfish.”

BEAUMONT _and_ FLETCHER’s _Captain_, act iii. sc.

# 679:

LAZARILLO] Old ed. here (and here only), “Lazarino.”

# 680:

_skreet_] Query for _discreet_?

# 681:

_unclipt angels_] A play on words: see note, p. 250.

# 682:

_chitty-matron_] See note, p. 236.

# 683:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 684:

_capachity_] i. e. capacity: see note, p. 236.

# 685:

_the a-per-se_] i. e. the chiefest, most excellent:

see Nares in _Gloss._, and Todd in Johnson’s _Dict._

# 686:

_ela_] The highest note in the scale of music.

# 687:

_virginals_] An instrument of the spinnet kind: the

most correct description of it is in Nares’s _Gloss._

# 688:

_a garden_] As these words are given in italics, they

are probably intended as a quotation from the

_Economical Cornucopia_.

# 689:

_chitty_] See note, p. 236.

# 690:

_sops-in-wine_] i. e. pinks: see much concerning the

name in Nares’s _Gloss._

# 691:

_in print_] i. e. in exact and perfect manner.

# 692:

_poking-sticks_] i. e. irons for setting the plaits of

the ruff.

# 693:

_chick_] i. e. sick. See note, p. 236.

# 694:

_where_] i. e. whereas.

# 695:

_chickness_] i. e. sickness: see note, p. 236.

# 696:

_chittizens_] See note, p. 236.

# 697:

_gentlemen_] Old ed. “gentleman.”

# 698:

_lerry_] i. e. learning, lesson.

# 699:

_alablaster_] So the word was formerly written,—even

as late as the time of Milton: see the first editions

of _Comus_, v. 660, and _Par. Lost_, b. iv. 544.

# 700:

_nock_] i. e. notch—where the string is fastened.

# 701:

_guide’s_] Qy. “girl’s?”

# 702:

_aventure_] i. e. adventure.

# 703:

_wrack_] i. e. wreck.

# 704:

_goldfinch_] i. e. a piece of gold, or purse.

# 705:

_perilous_] i. e. dangerously shrewd: when the word is

used in this sense by our early dramatists, it is

generally written _parlous_, as at p. 286.

# 706:

_lantern and candle-light_] The old ed. gives these

words in italics, with, perhaps, some allusion which I

cannot explain. Of Dekker’s tract _O per se O, or a

new Crier of Lantern and Candle-light_, no edition is

known anterior to the production of the present drama.

# 707:

_O sconce, and O sconce!_] i. e. (I suppose) O my

head, and O my lantern!

# 708:

_ban_] i. e. curse.

# 709:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 710:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 711:

_I’m_] Old ed. here, and in next line (where

“_courtier_” is a trisyllable), “I am.”

# 712:

_Marry muff_] See note, p. 258.

# 713:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 714:

_&c._] See note, p. 252.

# 715:

_go by, old Jeronimo_] A quotation from Kyd’s _Spanish

Tragedy_, which was written probably about 1590. The

words are spoken by Hieronimo to himself:

“_King._ Who is he that interrupts our business?

_Hier._ Not I: Hieronimo, beware, go by, go by.”

Dodsley’s _Old Plays_, vol. iii. p. 163. new ed.

Though this expression, and other lines of _The

Spanish Tragedy_, are so often ridiculed by

contemporary writers, the play possesses no ordinary

merit. Coleridge (see his _Literary Remains_, vol. ii.

p. 129) thought that some passages of it were written

by Shakespeare. We know (from Henslowe’s MSS.) that

Ben Jonson made “adycions” to it in 1601 and 1602.

# 716:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 717:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 718:

_mum_] Opposite this word the old ed. has a stage-

direction “_Clap_”—which perhaps means that she is to

_clap to_ the window.

# 719:

_knew_] Old ed. “know.”

# 720:

_parlous_] Old ed. “Paulons:” see note, p. 283.

# 721:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 722:

_pantaples_] or _pantables_—i. e. a kind of slippers.

# 723:

_up and down_] The old ed. adds, “_A song presently

within_,”—a direction intended to warn the singers and

musicians to be in readiness.

# 724:

_cry_] Old ed. here and in the next line, “cryes.”

# 725:

_curtal_] i. e. horse.

# 726:

_The Spanish pavin_] A grave and stately dance. Sir J.

Hawkins says,—“Every _pavan_ had its _galliard_, a

lighter kind of air made out of the former:” see

Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.

# 727:

_Satan_] Old ed. “Satin,”—a play on the words _Satan_

and _satin_.

# 728:

_Ho_] The word here (as in our very earliest poets) is

equivalent to “stop.”

# 729:

_cast_] i. e. vomit.

# 730:

_I’ve_] Old ed. “I have.”

# 731:

_gin_] i. e. snare.

# 732:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 733:

_perilous_] See note, p. 283.

# 734:

_Cast_] i. e. let me consider.

# 735:

_sconce_] i. e. lantern.

# 736:

_bill-men_] See note, p. 237.

# 737:

_My sconce takes this in snuff_] A poor conceit: to

_take in snuff_ is, to be angry, to take offence. So

Shakespeare:

“You’ll mar the light, by taking it in snuff.”

_Love’s Labour’s Lost_, act v. sc. 2.

# 738:

_when?_] An elliptical expression of impatience, very

frequent in our old dramatists.

# 739:

_&c._] See note, p. 252.

# 740:

_cony-catching_] i. e. cheating, deceiving: the

_cony_, or rabbit, was reckoned a simple animal. The

tricks of the _cony-catchers_, or sharpers, with whom

London used to abound, were described by R. Greene in

several pamphlets: see the full titles of them in my

ed. of his _Dram. Works_, vol. i. p. cvi.

# 741:

_Woodcock, how dost thou, Woodcock?_] The old ed.

gives these words to Blurt.

# 742:

_Woodcock, you are of our side_] A proverbial

expression, which, I suppose, originated in some game:

see note, p. 203.

# 743:

_And_] i. e. if.

# 744:

_my lean Pilcher_] i. e. his page, with an allusion to

his name: see p. 243 and note.

# 745:

_I have a poor Spanish suit_, &c.] Lazarillo had

escaped in his shirt: see p. 286.

# 746:

_And_] i. e. if.

# 747:

_slop_] i. e. breeches.

# 748:

_mandillion_] “Mandiglione, a iacket, a mandillion.”

Florio’s _New World of Words_, ed. 1611.—Stubbes

(_apud_ Strutt, _Dress and Habits_, vol. ii. p. 267.)

says that it covered the whole body down to the

thighs; and R. Holmes (_ibid._) describes it as a

loose garment having holes to put the arms through.

# 749:

_bill-man_] See note, p. 237.

# 750:

_most thundering_, &c.] This repetition is perhaps an

error of the old ed.

# 751:

_Don Diego_] Old ed. here and in the next speech,

“_Don_ Dego.”

# 752:

_adelantado_] See note, p. 241.

# 753:

_Don Diego that was smelt out in Paul’s_] So in

Heywood’s _Fair Maid of the West_, 1631:

——“now you _Don Diegoes_,

_You that made Paules to stinke_.”—Part I. p. 51.

And in Dekker and Webster’s _Sir Thomas Wyatt_, 1607:

“There came but one _Dondego_ into England, and _he

made all Paul’s stink again_.” Vol. ii. p. 298 of

Webster’s _Works_,—where (vol. iv. p. 293.) I have

given an explanation of these passages, which I am

unwilling to repeat here.

# 754:

_bill-men_] See note, p. 237.

# 755:

_bewrays_] i. e. betrays, discovers.—Lazarillo

immediately plays on the word,—_beray_, to foul.

# 756:

_sheaths_] Qy. “sheathed.”

# 757:

_Via_] See note, p. 245.

# 758:

_Catso_] Old ed. “At so.” This word, of obscene

meaning, is borrowed from the Italian. So in _The

Malcontent_:

“_Pietro._ Vengeance and torture!

_Mal._ _Catso!_

_Pietro._ O revenge!”

See my ed. of Webster’s _Works_, vol. iv. p.

28.

# 759:

_Mapew_] Qy. the beginning of some French song—_Mais

peu_?

# 760:

_She_] Qy. “Yea?”

# 761:

_rushes_] See note, p. 234.

# 762:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 763:

_pickst_] Qy. “prickst?”

# 764:

_owe_] i. e. own.

# 765:

_Did Phœbe here_, &c.] Old ed.

“_Phœbe here one night did lie._”

# 766:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 767:

_put up_] i. e. sheathe your sword.

# 768:

_rushes_] See note, p. 234.

# 769:

_what motion’s this_] See note, p. 229.

# 770:

_ventoy_] i. e. fan.

# 771:

_yellow_] i. e. jealous.

# 772:

_Much husbands here!_] See note, p. 257. So

Shakespeare:

“Is it not past two o’clock? and here _much_ Orlando!”

_As you like it_, act iv. sc.

# 773:

_gilds_] Old ed. “glides.”

# 774:

_if my man_, &c.] A metaphor drawn from the game of

_tables_.

# 775:

_ingle_] i. e. male favourite.

# 776:

_Omnes_] The speeches which in the present scene have

this prefix may be assigned to whatever individuals of

Camillo’s party the reader pleases to select.

# 777:

_bills_] See note, p. 237.

# 778:

_o’er_] Old ed. “over.”

# 779:

_appose_] i. e. oppose.

# 780:

_brown bill_] See note, p. 237.

# 781:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 782:

_I’m sure you’re lord of this misrule_] Old ed. “I am

_sure_ you are _lord of_ all _this misrule_.” In great

houses the master of the Christmas sports was called

_the Lord of Misrule_.

# 783:

_our_] Old ed. “your.”

# 784:

_her_] i. e. Imperia’s.

# 785:

_Violet_] Old ed. “Violetta.”

# 786:

_lie_] i. e. lay—for the sake of the rhyme.

# 787:

_daw_] i. e. simpleton.

# 788:

_I’m_] Old ed. “I am.”

# 789:

_perilous_] See note, p. 283.

# 790:

_a fume_] i. e. in smoking tobacco.

# 791:

_knight of the post_] i. e. cheat, sharper.—This cant

term means, properly, a hireling evidence; or a person

hired to give false bail in case of arrest.

# 239.10:

--------------

_Note omitted at p. 239, l. 10._

_a precept_ i. e. a justice’s or magistrate’s warrant.

# 792:

On the death of Falso’s brother, Furtivo passes into

his service.

# 793:

_begun_] Qy. “began” for the rhyme.

# 794:

_Who_] So ed. 1630. First ed. “Who’s.”

# 795:

_owe_] i. e. own.

# 796:

_prevent_] i. e. anticipate.

# 797:

_a little too wise_, &c.] So Shakespeare:

“So wise so young, they say, do ne’er live long.”

_Richard III._, act iii. sc. 1.

# 798:

_sad_] i. e. serious, grave.

# 799:

_a safer stern_] i. e. (I suppose) a safer course to

steer. _Stern_ is used by our early writers in the

sense of steerage, helm.

# 800:

_curious_] i. e. scrupulous.

# 801:

_Niece_] i. e. the _niece_ of Justice Falso. Her name

is not given in any part of the play.

# 802:

_purchase_] i. e. booty. It was, properly, a cant term

among thieves for stolen goods.

# 803:

_queasy_] i. e. squeamish.

# 804:

_earing_] So ed. 1630. First ed. “earning.”

# 805:

_Castiza_] Old eds. “_his Lady_.” We learn her name

from several subsequent parts of the play.

# 806:

_alas_] Old eds. “’lasse.”

# 807:

_do it_] Old eds. “doo’t.”

# 808:

_Servant_] Old eds. “Seruus.”

# 809:

_It is_] Old eds. “’Tis.”

# 810:

_Take’t of my truth_, &c.] The metre seems to have

suffered by corruption of the text.

# 811:

_singly_] Ed. 1630, “simplie.”

# 812:

_an inseparable knave_] i. e., I presume, one whose

knavery cannot be separated from himself.

# 813:

_vild_] See note, p. 94.

# 814:

_the forefinger_] i. e. the forefinger pointed at him.

# 815:

_honourably welcome_] What she has just said explains

the meaning of these words.

# 816:

_guess_] A familiar corruption of _guests_, which

Middleton uses elsewhere. See also Webster’s _Cure for

a Cuckold_, and my note there, _Works_, vol. iii. p.

357.

# 817:

_towed_] Old eds. “toward.”

# 818:

_a_] So ed. of 1630.—Not in 1st ed.

# 819:

_I wus_] A vulgar form of _I wis_ (which is the

reading of ed. 1630), I think, or rather _i-wis_,

certainly, truly.

# 820:

_proper_] i. e. handsome.

# 821:

_sursurrara_] or _sasarara_—a corruption of

_certiorari_.

# 822:

_term-trotter_] i. e. a resorter to the capital during

term-time.

# 823:

_again_] i. e. against.

# 824:

_wittol_] i. e. tame cuckold.

# 825:

_sacred, pure_] In Campbell’s _Spec. of British

Poets_, vol. iii. p. 134, where this passage is

quoted, the reading is “wholly _pure_”—an alteration

by the editor.

# 826:

_rarely_] i. e. finely, nobly.

# 827:

_gentlemen_] So ed. 1630. First ed. “gentleman.”

# 828:

_I’m_] Old eds. “I am.”

# 829:

_steaks_] Old eds. “steakes.” Some sort of dress

ornamented with guards or facings, is meant, I

suppose—if the reading be right.

# 830:

_I see not a cross yet_] i. e. I see no money yet:

_vide_ note, p. 246.

# 831:

_angels_] See note, p. 250.

# 833:

_have_] Old eds. “has.”

# 834:

_Welcome_, &c.] One of those snatches of blank verse

(and printed as such in the old eds.) which sometimes

occur in the midst of prose speeches.

# 835:

_Knight_] Old eds. “_Fal._”

# 836:

_a noble touch_] So Shakespeare:

“Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and

My friends of _noble touch_:”

_Coriol._ act iv. sc. 1.

which Warburton rightly explains,—of true metal

unallayed: a metaphor from trying gold on the

touchstone.

# 837:

_royals_] Gold pieces current for 15_s._ in

Middleton’s time.

# 838:

_It has_] Old eds. “T’as.”

# 839:

_jets_] i. e. struts.

# 840:

_so strangely_] i. e. so coyly—with such an appearance

of coldness. In Johnson’s _Dict._ (even in Todd’s

ed.), the lines from Shakespeare’s _Two Gent. of

Verona_, act i. sc. 2.

“She makes it _strange_; but she would be best pleas’d

To be so anger’d with another letter,”—

are absurdly cited for an example of the word

_strange_ in the sense of _remote_.

# 841:

_angels_] See note, p. 250.

# 842:

_toward_] i. e. in a state of preparation, at hand.

# 843:

_passion_] i. e. in a sorrowful tone, with emotion.

# 844:

_Reverend and honourable Matrimony_, &c.] In a note on

the Aldine edition of Milton, I have pointed out the

resemblance between the present passage and that in

_Par. Lost_, b. iv. 750;

“Hail, wedded love, mysterious law,” &c.:

and I take this opportunity of observing, that some

lines in a play by a dramatist contemporary with

Middleton seem to have been in Milton’s memory when he

described the fall of Vulcan;

“How high I tumbled, who can gesse aright,

_Falling a summers day from morne to night_.”

HEYWOOD’s _Brazen Age_, 1613, sig. I.

“_from morn

To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,

A summer’s day_; and with the setting sun,” &c.

_Par. Lost_, b. i. 742.

Homer has merely;

πᾶν δ’ ἦμαρ φερόμην, ἅμα δ’ ἠελίῳ καταδύντι, κ. τ. λ.

_Il._ I. 592.

# 845:

_Without thee_] The earlier part of this line seems to

have dropt out.

# 846:

_That wedlock’s_, &c.] This line is imperfect; and

after the next line, something is lost.

# 847:

_a’m_] i. e. _them_: a’ is often used for _he_ in our

early dramas.

# 848:

_clip_] i. e. embrace.

# 849:

_Indeed all_, &c.] Probably in this and the next

speech of Fidelio, the metre is lost by the corruption

of the text.

# 850:

_Discover quickly_] He means—let us discover ourselves

quickly.

# 851:

_know_] Old eds. “knowes.”

# 852:

_and_] i. e. if.

# 853:

_I’m_] Old eds. “I am.”

# 854:

_vildly_] i. e. vilely: see note, p. 94.

# 855:

_contain_] i. e. restrain.

# 856:

_who_] So ed. 1630. First ed. “whome.”

# 857:

_ha’_] Old eds. “a _ha_.”

# 858:

_You have_] Old eds. “Y’aue.”

# 859:

_apparance_] i. e. appearance.

# 860:

_Suitor_] This word I have substituted for the

“_Whin._” of the 1st ed. and the “_Whi._” of the

second.—Perhaps Tangle ought not to enter till Falso

says, “What, old signior,” &c.

# 861:

_good_] So ed. 1630. First ed. “gour.”

# 862:

_When_] So ed. 1630. First ed. has “Wheu:” but _when_,

as an expression of impatience, occurs often in our

early dramatists:

“_When_, Lucius, _when_? Awake, I say: what, Lucius!

_Enter_ LUCIUS.

LUC. Call’d you, my lord?”

SHAKESPEARE’s _Jul. Cæsar_, act ii. sc. 1.