_Page xviii, note 1._--The name of the writer of this letter is unknown.
_Page 5, note 2._--"Hobbinol:" the author's friend Gabriel Harvey.
_Page 10, note 3._--"Good Friday:" Good Friday is said to frown, as
being a fast-day.
_Page 16, note 4._--Thenot's emblem means, in substance, that God, who
is aged Himself, being without beginning of days, makes those whom He
loves, to be aged, like Himself; and that it is a mark of His favour to
be old. Cuddie's emblem is, "No old man fears God"--a sarcasm against
Thenot.
_Page 29, note 5._--"Tawdry:" is here used in its primitive sense,
denoting something bought at the fair of St. Ethelred, or St. Awdrey.
_Page 30, note 6._--"This poesy is taken out of Virgil, and there of him
used in the person of Æneas to his mother Venus, appearing to him in
likeness of one of Diana's damsels; being there most divinely set forth.
To which similitude of divinity Hobbinol comparing the excellency of
Elisa, and being through the worthiness of Colin's song, as it were,
overcome with the hugeness of his imagination, bursteth out in great
admiration, (_O quam te memorem virgo!_) being otherwise unable, than by
sudden silence, to express the worthiness of his conceit. Whom Thenot
answereth with another part of the like verse, as confirming by his
grant and approvance, that Elisa is no whit inferior to the majesty of
her, of whom the poet so boldly pronounced, _O dea certe!_"--E. K.
_Page 35, note 7._--"Algrind:" Archbishop Grindall.
_Page 37, note 8._--"Fox," "Kid:" "By the Kid may be understood the
simple sort of the faithful and true Christians; by his dam, Christ,
that hath already with careful watchwords (as here doth the Goat) warned
her little ones to beware of such doubling deceit; by the Fox, the false
and faithless Papists, to whom is no credit to be given, nor fellowship
to be used."--E. K.
_Page 41, note 9._--"Sir John:" a name applied to a Popish priest.
_Page 47, note 10._--"Tityrus:" Chaucer is meant.
_Page 53, note 11._--"Morrell:" supposed to be Elmer, or Aylmer, Bishop
of London.
_Page 53, note 12._--"The sun:" the sun enters Leo in July.
_Page 59, note 13._--"An eagle:" the same story is told of the death of
Eschylus.
_Pages 68, 69, note 14._--"The meaning hereof is very ambiguous: for
Perigot by his posy claiming the conquest, and Willie not yielding,
Cuddie the arbiter of their cause, and patron of his own, seemeth to
challenge it, as his due, saying, that he is happy which can; so
abruptly ending; but he meaneth either him, that can win the best, or
moderate himself being best, and leave off with the best."--E. K.
_Page 77, note 15._--"Saxon king:" King Edgar, in whose reign wolves are
said to have disappeared in England.
_Page 84, note 16._--"Elisa:" Queen Elizabeth; the "Worthy" is the Earl
of Leicester.
_Page 87, note 17._--This emblem is portion of a Latin verse, expressing
the thought of the pastoral, that poetry is a fervid glow of inspiration
which animates and kindles.
_Page 91, note 18._--"Fishes:" the sun enters the constellation Pisces
in November.
_Page 92, note 19._--"Dido" and "great shepheard" both refer to real
persons unknown.
_Page 94, note 20._--"Wrought with a chief:" wrought into a head, like a
nosegay.
_Page 101, note 21._--Translated freely from the French of Marot.
_Page 107, note 22._--"The pilgrim:" perhaps the author of the "Visions
of Pierce Ploughman."