A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume Xiv Part 125

[201] [Common. See Nares, edit. 1859, in _v._] This epithet of contempt is of frequent occurrence: _provand_, as all the commentators on "Romeo and Juliet," act ii. sc. 1, agree, means _provision_. In Ma.s.singer's "Maid of Honour," act i. sc. 1, we meet with it applied to a sword, and Mr. Gifford explains it to mean there _plain, unornamented_, such a sword as the troops were provided with....--_Collier._

[202] A _fox_ was formerly a cant word for a sword. So in Ben Jonson's "Bartholomew Fair," act ii. sc. 6: "What would you have, sister, of a fellow that knows nothing but a basket-hilt and an _old fox_ in't?" Again, in "Philaster," by Beaumont and Fletcher, act iv.--

"I made my father's _old fox_ fly about his ears."

And in "Henry V.," by Shakespeare, act iv. sc. 4--

"Thou diest on point of _fox_."

See Steevens's note on the latter pa.s.sage, where many pa.s.sages of our ancient writers are produced to prove the explanation.

[203] [Old copy, _half_.]

[204] This custom, strange as it would now appear, was the constant practice of gentlemen in the 17th century. When on visits, either of ceremony or business, or even in company of ladies and at public places, their constant amus.e.m.e.nt was to comb their hair or wigs, and the fas.h.i.+on continued until the reign of Queen Anne. Dryden alludes to it in the Prologue to "Almanzor and Almahide"--

"But, as when vizard masque appears in pit Straight every man, who thinks himself a wit, Perks up; and managing _his comb_ with grace, With his white wig sets off his nut-brown face."

And Mincing, in "The Way of the World," says--

"The gentlemen stay but to _comb_, madam, and will wait on you."

These instances I am indebted for to Mr Steevens.--_Reed._

To the above instances may be added the following, which will show that the fas.h.i.+on mentioned in the text kept its ground a considerable length of time.

"How we rejoic'd to see 'em in our pit!

What difference, methought, there was Betwixt a country gallant and a wit.

When you did _order perriwig with comb_, They only us'd four fingers and a thumb."

--Epilogue to "The Wrangling Lovers," 1677.

"He looked, indeed, and sighed and set his cravat-string, and sighed again, and _combed his perriwig_: sighed a third time, and then took snuff, I guess to shew the whiteness of his hand."--"The Fortune Hunters," act i. sc. 2, 1689.

"How have I shook and trembling stood with awe, When here, behind the scenes, I've seen 'em draw ----A _comb_; that dead-doing weapon to the heart, And turn each powder'd hair into a dart."

--Prologue to "The Relapse," 1697.

[205] Terms at the game of gleek, which she is supposed to love immoderately.--_Pegge._

[206] William Lilly gives the following account of John Booker, the person here mentioned:--He "was born in Manchester, in the year 1601; was in his youth well instructed in the Latin tongue, which he understood very well. He seemed, from his infancy, to be designed for astrology; for, from the time he had any understanding, he would be always poring on and studying almanacks. He came to London at fitting years, and served an apprentices.h.i.+p to an haberdasher in Lawrence Lane, London: but either wanting stock to set up, or disliking the calling, he left his trade, and taught to write, at Hadley, in Middles.e.x, several scholars in that school. He wrote singularly well both secretary and Roman. In process of time he served Sir Christopher Clethero, Knight, alderman of London, as his clerk, being a city justice of peace. He also was clerk to Sir Hugh Hammersley, alderman of London: both which he served with great credit and estimation, and, by that means, became not only well known, but as well respected, of the most eminent citizens of London, even to his dying day.

"He was an excellent proficient in astrology; whose excellent verses upon the twelve months, framed according to the configurations of each month, being blessed with success according to his predictions, procured him much reputation all over England. He was a very honest man; abhorred any deceit in the art he studied; had a curious fancy in judging of thefts, and as successful in resolving love-questions. He was no mean proficient in astronomy; he understood much in physic; was a great admirer of the antimonial cup; not unlearned in chymistry, which he loved well, but did not practise. He died in 1667."

[207] The etymology of this word is doubted; but as it was not used in English until about the time of the Restoration, it is most probably from the French _gentil_, and not from the Teutonic.--_Collier._ [The word is sometimes, but incorrectly, spelt _jaunty_.]

[208] A _bay-window_ is a [recess of a square or polygonal form, serving as a window, and is strictly distinct from a _bow_-window, the name of which indicates its character and shape; the two are often confounded.] The term frequently occurs in ancient writers. So in the "Second Part of Antonio and Melida," by Marston, act i. sc. 3--

"Three times I grasp'd at shades: And thrice deluded by erroneous sense, I forc'd my thoughts make stand; when, lo! I op'd A large _bay-window_, thorough which the night Struck terror to my soul."

Again, in "Cynthia's Revels," act iv. sc. 3: "In which time (retiring myself into a _bay-window_) the beauteous lady Annabel," &c.

And in "A Chast Mayd in Cheape-side," by Middleton, 1630, p. 62--

"In troth a match, wench: We are simply stock'd with cloth of tissue, cus.h.i.+ons, To furnish out _bay-windows_."

[209] So in the epilogue to "Evening Love, or the Mock Astrologer," by Dryden--

"Up starts a _Monsieur_, new come o'er; and warm In the _French stoop_, and the pull back o' th' arm; Morbleu, dit il," &c.]

[210] [The sign of an inn there. See x. 212.]

[211] The manner in which houses were marked in which the plague was raging.--_Collier._

[212] The usual manner in which ladies formerly addressed their lovers. See Ben Jonson's "Every Man in his Humour," act iv. sc.

2, and "Every Man out of his Humour," act iii. sc. 9; Ma.s.singer's "Fatal Dowry," act ii. sc. 2; "Bashful Lover," act iv. sc. 1; "A Very Woman," act i. sc. 1; Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona," act ii. sc. 1, and the same is to be seen in most of the dramatic productions of the times.--_Reed._

This t.i.tle, which was a mark of favouritism tolerated by married women towards unmarried gentlemen in the reigns of James and Charles, is found in almost every old play. The plot of Chapman's "Monsieur D'Olive," turns upon the not very unnatural jealousy of a husband towards this equivocal service in a friend. See [the new edition of Chapman's plays.]--_Gilchrist._

[213] [A translation from the French by the Honourable Walter Montague, 8^o, 1656.]

[214] [Medlars.]

[215] The weight of a wedding-ring, in Middleton's time (a little earlier than that of Killigrew), may be seen by the following part of a dialogue from his "Chaste Maid in Cheapside," 1630, p.

7--

"TOUCHWOOD, _jun_. I would have a wedding-ring made for a gentlewoman, with all speed that may be.

"YELLOWHAMMER. Of what _weight_, sir?

"TOUCHWOOD, _jun_. Of some _half ounce_."

--_Collier._

[216] A _gredaline petticoat_ is probably a petticoat _puckered_, or _crumpled_, from the French word _grediller_. See Cotgrave. In Boyer's Dictionary it is explained, _Gris de lin, sorte de couleur_.

[217] Paulo Purganti's wife has the same sentiment. She

"thought the nation ne'er wou'd thrive, Till all the wh.o.r.es were burnt alive."

--_Prior._

[218] [Pearl here, and in three or four other places below, is used as a plural, _quasi_ a rope of pearl.]

[219] Or lief.

[220] [_i.e._, On all sides, both by the bye and the main pa.s.sages.]

[221] [Old copy, _your_.]