A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. III - Various
[91] Gervase Markham in the Second Part (cap. vi.) of the "English
Husbandman" gives the following explanation of the term
_plashing_.--"This plashing is a halfe cutting or deviding of the quicke
growth, almost to the outward barke, and then laying it orderly in a
sloape manner, as you see a cunning hedger lay a dead hedge, and then
with the smaller and more plyant branches to wreathe and binde in the
tops, making a fence as strong as a wall, for the root which is more
then halfe cut in sunder, putting forth new branches which runne and
entangle themselves amongst the old stockes, doe so thicken and fortifie
the Hedge that it is against the force of beasts impregnable" (ed. 1635,
pp. 68-9).
[92] The first five lines of this speech are crossed through in the MS.
[93] In the MS. "reverend prelats" is crossed out and "preists" written
above. To make sure that the correction was understood, the author or
reviser has written in the left-hand margin, "read preists."
[94] i.e., star.
[95] "Brawl" was the name of a dance.
[96] Old terms in the art of fencing.
[97] In Halliwell's "Nares" two instances of the transitive use of stoop
("to lower, humiliate") are given, and _both are from Chapman_.
[98] On the upper stage, a balcony raised a few feet from the ground.
Cf. stage-direction in Day's _Humour out of Breath_, iv. 3. "_Enter
Aspero, like Hortensio, Florimell, and Assistance on the upper stage_."
Later in the same scene: "_They renew Blind mans Buff on the Lower
stage_." See also Dyce's note on Middleton's _Family of Love_, i. 3.
[99] A correction in the MS. for _Musquett_.
[100] In the Appendix to Vol. II. I printed "misse"; and so one would
naturally read the word before becoming thoroughly acquainted with the
handwriting.
[101] The words "so begett" are repeated in the MS.
[102] i.e. prisons.
[103] MS. good.
[104] The expression "Fool's paradise" was common long before Milton
used it. A writer in _Notes and Queries_ (Jan. 7, 1882) gives instances
of its occurrence in Udall's "Apophthegmes of Erasmus," 1542. I have met
it in Bullein's "Dialogue against the Fever Pestilence," 1564.
[105] For the spelling cf., Vol. ii. pp. 139 (l. 14), 179 (l. 12).
"Diety" for "deity" is not uncommon in print as well as MS.; cf.,
Saltonstall's translation of Ovid's "Ars Amoris," 1639, p. 14:--
"Oft pray'd she to the gods, but all in vaine,
To appease their _Dieties_ with blood of beasts thus slaine."
[106] In the MS. these lines are scored through.
[107] The juxtaposition of this anagram with the preceding motto (which
did not appear in the Appendix to Vol. ii.) strongly confirms my
interpretation of La B. as _la bussa_; for the anagram is a kind of
paraphrase on the motto, and should be read doubly in this way:
Nataniele Field, il fabro, Nella fidelta finiro la Bussa. I, Nathaniel
Field, the author will finish the work (_terminat auctor opus_)
faithfully (i.e., at the time appointed, _terminat hora diem_).
--F.G. Fleay.
["Terminat hora" &c. or some similar tag, is frequently found at the end
of old plays. I cannot see that Mr. Fleay's interpretation is strongly
confirmed,--or affected at all,--by the presence of the motto.]
[108] See Henslowe's Diary, ed. Collier, p. 220:--"Lent unto Thomas
Downton the 4 of maye 1602 to bye a boocke of harye Cheattell and Mr.
Smyth called the Love partes frenship the some of" ... ...
[109] _King John_, i. 2.--"And now instead of bullets _wrapt in fire_."
[110] Another form of the apologetical expression "save-reverence."
[111] i.e. cheated, cozened.
[112] An echo from "King John," I. 2:--
"And now instead of _bullets wrapt in fire_
To make a shaking fever of your walls," &c.
[113] A common proverbial expression. The dish is the wooden "clap-dish"
on which beggars clattered to attract attention.
[114] I should prefer "true heart his loyalty"--for the metre's sake.
[115] 4to. staffe.
[116] 4to. strayne.
[117] 4to. his passions.
[118] "A corrupt oath, the origin of which is obscure and not worth
inquiring."--Nares.
[119] The author certainly had in his mind Falstaff's puns on the names
of the recruits, Mouldy, Shadow, &c. (ii. _Henry IV_. iii. 2).
[120] An extemporal play by the famous Richard Tarleton. The "plat" is
preserved at Dulwich College. See Collier's "Hist. of Dramatic Poetry,"
iii. 394 (first edition).
[121] So the 4to, but I should prefer "So I have discharg'd myselfe of
these hot-shots." The term "hot-shot" seems to have been originally
applied to sharp-shooters.
[122] i.e., maid: an East-Anglian usage of the word "mother." See
Forby's "Vocabulary of East Anglia." "Mauther" is the commoner form
(found in Ben Jonson and others), but "mother" occurs in Chettle and
Day's _Blind Beggar_ and elsewhere.
[123] I find this expression of feminine impatience in Dekker's _Honest
Whore_ (Dramatic Works, ii. 26):--"_Marry muffe_, sir, are you growne so
dainty!"
[124] Let me understand you. The expression is of constant occurrence.
[125] A term of contempt like "pilchard" and "poor John." "Haberdine"
was the name for an inferior kind of cod used for salting.
[126] So Pistol, "A foutre for the world, and worldlings base!"
"A foutre for thine office!" ii. _Henry IV_. v. 3.
[127] Verjuice was made by pounding crab-apples.
[128] Kite.
[129] Dingy. "Russet" or "russeting" was the name of the coarse brown
dress worn by shepherds.
[130] In _Henry V_., iv. 1, Pistol accosts the king with "Che vous la?"
according to the first folio. Modern editors correct the intentional
blunder.
[131] To "outface with a card of ten" was just what we mean by
"browbeat." The expression (which is very common) was no doubt drawn
from the game of primero.
[132] Old spelling of "pumpkin."
[133] The officer of lowest rank (now called "lance corporal").
[134] _Quart d'ecu_.
[135] Cf. Day's _Ile of Guls_, ii. 2:--
"But forresters, like images, set forth
The tyrannie of greatness without pittie."
Everybody remembers Jaques' moralising in _As You Like It_, ii. 1.
[136] Cf. Day's _Humour out of Breath_, I. 2:--"Deceive the _watry
subjects_."
[137] To "kill with kindness" was a proverbial saying.
[138] A falconer's term: to flap the wings when preparing for flight.
[139] A giant who was conquered by Sir Bevis of Southampton. See notes
of the commentators on _2 Henry VI_., ii. 3: "Therefore, Peter, have at
thee with a downright blow, as Bevis of Southampton fell upon Ascapart."
[140] i.e., a vain boaster. "Puckfist" is the fungus commonly known as
"puff-ball."
[141] "Carbonade. A carbonado, a _rasher on the coals_."--COTGRAVE.
[142] Cf. _Antony and Cleopatra_, i. 3:--
"Upon your sword sit laurel victory."
The form of expression is common. Cf. _Knight of Malta_, iv. 2
(Fletcher's portion):--
"Art thou a knight? did ever on that sword
The Christian cause sit nobly?"
I make this note because I find Mr. G.C. Macaulay, in his interesting
"Study of Francis Beaumont," choosing the words, "Victory sits on his
sword" (_Maid's Tragedy_, i. 1), as one of the "special passages which
suggest imitation, conscious or unconscious," of Shakespeare.
[143] 4to. honord. The correction (which would occur to most readers) is
made by Dyce on the fly-leaf of his copy in the Dyce and Forster
Library.
[144] If we retain "unscorcht" we must suppose the construction to be
proleptic. But quy. "sun-scorcht."
[145] The stage-direction is my own.
[146] Ink-stand (more commonly "standish").
[147] Plan, design. Cf. _Arden of Feversham_, ii. 1. "And I will lay the
_platform_ of his death."
[148] "Termagant" or "Trivigant" is often coupled with "Mahound." Cf.
"Faery Queene," vi. 7. (47):--
"And oftentimes by Termagant and Mahound swore."
Our ancestors were not accustomed to draw fine distinctions. They
regarded Mohammedans as heathens, and Termagant and Mahound as false
gods.
[149] 4to. Ruthelesse and bloudy slaughters.
[150] "Pickt-hatch" was a notorious brothel in or near Turnbull Street.
[151] See Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," p. 212 (ed. 1801).
[152] Swaggered, crowed.
[153] i.e. sucking rabbit. So Falstaff,--"Hang me up by the heels for
a _rabbit sucker_" (I _Henry IV_., ii. 4).
[154] A variation of Bobadil's oath "By the foot of Pharaoh."
[155] For the sake of the metre I should like to read "You, Pembrooke,
worthy knight."