A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. II by Robert Dodsley

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[239] Here probably the word means literally _briber_; but _bribour_
also means _a thief_. See Way's edition of the "Promptorium," p. 50,
and Halliwell in _v. Brybe_ and _brybour_.

[240] Old copy, _intided_.

[241] In the old copy, this and the following line are transposed, and
some of the speeches are wrongly addressed.

[242] Old copy, _in_.

[243] Old copy, _none_.

[244] Old copy, _hanged_.

[245] Old copy, _neder_.

[246] Old copy, _ever_.

[247] Swoon.

[248] See Hazlitt's "Popular Poetry," iv. 239. The term _goldylocks_,
curiously enough, seems to have been in early use in a contemptuous or
bad sense.

[249] Old copy, _bid_.

[250] Old copy, _exhorting_.

[251] Old copy, _yea_.

[252] Old copy, _is_.

[253] Old copy, _cam me mery?_

[254] This marginal note has partly been cut off by the binder:--

resyng,
_answer-
ing other
t always_
staff,
, ysing to
_other_.

[255] Reprove.

[256] The colophon is: Imprinted at London, in Paules Churche yearde at
the Sygne of the Swane by John Kyng.

[257] From the time he calls.

[258] A young deer. "_Tegge or pricket, saillant_"--Palsgrave's
_Eclaircissement_, 1530 (edit. 1852, p. 279).

[259] Jerks with the whip.

[260] Old copy, _wourne_.

[261] i.e., Mankind, masculine, furious.

[262] Stranger. A more usual form is _fremed_.

[263] The meaning seems to be obvious enough; but the word
is not to be found in our glossaries.

[264] Halliwell mentions this word; but none of his interpretations
suits the present context.

[265] Old copy, _stomachere_.

[266] Defile.

[267] Abided.

[268] Old copy, _even_.

[269] Old copy, _as_.

[270] Old copy, _once_.

[271] Referring to the speech below. In the old copy this direction is
printed in the margin, and such is, no doubt, its most suitable
position.

[272] Old copy, _once our_. Perhaps we ought to read _sour_.

[273] Staffing or forcing, the same kind of thing as we now know under
the name of _forced_ meat.

[274] Old copy, _Mido_.

[275] Servant.

[276] Jolly, Fr. _joli_.

[277] Forestalled.

[278] Wretches.

[279] Lose no time.

[280] Late.

[281] _To have on the petticoat_ is a phrase of very unusual
occurrence, of which the sense may, without much difficulty or risk of
error, be collected from the context.

[282] Ragan and the others must be supposed to be at the back of the
stage, out of Esau's sight; but they come forward severally, and plead
for themselves.

[283] Run.

[284] i.e., Old witch. But compare Halliwell, _v. Mab_.

[285] Old copy, _Rebecca_.

[286] A word of contempt often used in our old comedies, as we now
employ _chap_.

[287] _In the old copy this line is improperly given to Isaac_.

[288] The _new guise_ is a term often met with in old plays, but the
application of it here is not very clear, although the meaning of the
writer--in a way that he (Jacob) little expected--is sufficiently
intelligible.

[289] In the old copy this word is improperly placed opposite the line,
_That all quarrel, &c_.

[290] Understanding.

[291] [The interlude of "The Disobedient Child," edited by J.O.
Halliwell. Percy Society, 1848.]

[292] [But see Cooper's "Cambridge Athenae," i., 554.]

[293] [The Bridgewater copy of the original edition was most obligingly
collated for the present writer by Mr Alexander Smith, of Glasgow. It
affords numerous corrections of the Percy Society's text.]

[294] [The full title is: _A pretie and mery new Enterlude, called The
Disobedient Child, compiled by Thomas Ingelend, late Student in
Cambridge. Imprinted at London, in Flete strete, beneath the Conduit,
by Thomas Colwell_. 4 deg..]

[295] These first eight lines are also found in the interlude
introduced into the play of _Sir Thomas More_, printed by the
Shakespeare Society, p. 60.--_Halliwell_.

[296] Without shame--shameless.

[297] Immediately. See "Othello," Act. iv. sc. 3.

[298] That is, according to my judgment. See "Lear," Act i. sc. 4.--
_Halliwell_.

[299] To split, or burst. Generally spelt _rive_.

[300] Both tender and delicate. [Here, as pointed out in a note to
Heywood's "Four P.P." _supra_, the word _nice_ is to be pronounced
_nich_.]

[301] Beaten.

[302] [Query same as _spwyn_, to burst or break out. See Way's edit, of
the "Promptorium," v. _Spwyn_.]

[303] Compare "Troilus and Cressida," i. 2.

[304] Burial. From the Latin.

[305] i.e., By.

[306] [Original reads _trembled_.]

[307] [This account, if founded on fact, is a curious illustration of
the scholastic discipline of that period. We know that Udall the
dramatist was remarkable for his severity to his pupils at Eton.]

[308] Impress. Compare "Much Ado about Nothing," iv. 1.--Halliwell.

[309] [Query, the schoolmaster, so called from inflicting on the pupil
with a cane _cuts_ on the hand.]

[310] Bet. See "Taming of the Shrew"--

"Now, by Saint Jamy,
I _hold_ you a penny."--_Halliwell_.

[311] Jakes. Compare "Lear," ii. 2.--_Halliwell_.

[312] [Detail, or circumlocution.]

[313] At once.

[314] Compare "Comedy of Errors," Act ii, sc. 1.--Halliwell.

[315] Blamed, scolded. See "Merry Wives of Windsor," i. 4. The older
meaning of the term is _ruined_, but Elizabethan writers generally
employ it in the sense here mentioned.--_Halliwell_. [I do not agree.
The older sense is, I think, the only one admissible; yet, Nares cites
a passage from Shakespeare which may shake this position. See _v.
Shend_, No. 1, second quotation.]

[316] Compare the "Midsummer Night's Dream," ii, 1.--_Halliwell_.

[317] "Bring oil to fire" (_King Lear_, ii. 2). Compare also "All's
Well that ends Well," v. 3.--_Halliwell_.

[318] "My tricksy spirit" (_Tempest_, v. 1).--_Halliwell_.

[319] "Smell of calumny" (Measure for Measure, ii. 4).--_Halliwell_.

[320] Often used formerly for county.--_Halliwell_.

[321] Voice.

[322] In the daytime.--_Halliwell_. [Simply _o' days_, as printed
here.]

[323] The simpleton. See 1, "Henry VI."--_Halliwell_.

[324] A common phrase, equivalent to, it were a good thing. See "Much
Ado about Nothing," ii. 3.--_Halliwell_. [Not a good thing, but _a
charity_.]

[325] "What, sweeting, all amort" (_Taming of the Shrew_).--_Halliwell_.

[326] Altogether, entirely.

[327] Rabbit. A term of endearment.

[328] My lady so fair in countenance. The expression is common in our
early romances.--_Halliwell_.

[329] If.

[330] "Twelve years since" (_Tempest_).--_Halliwell_.

[331] A provincialism.--_Halliwell_. [Rather, perhaps, a Cockneyism.]

[332] A term of contempt for a fool. See "Much Ado about Nothing,"
iii. 3.--_Halliwell_.

[333] "At a pin's fee" (_Hamlet_).--_Halliwell_.

[334] Anger. "And that which spites me more than all these wants"
(_Taming of the Shrew_).--_Halliwell_.

[335] To look sad. This term is often incorrectly explained. "Fye, how
impatience lowreth in your face" (_Com. Err_.), i.e., makes your face
look sad, opposed to the "merry look."--_Halliwell_. [_Lour_ is simply
a contracted form of _lower_.]

[336] Care.

[337] Compare "Merchant of Venice," iii. 4.--_Halliwell_.

[338] Not a term of reproach.--Compare "1 Henry VI."--_Halliwell_.

[339] Compare "Taming of the Shrew," ii. 1.--_Halliwell_.

[340] _Never_ in the original copy.--Halliwell.

[341] Compare "The Merchant of Venice," i. 3.--_Halliwell_.

[342] Drunkards.

[343] "Upstart unthrifts" (_Richard II_.)--_Halliwell_.

[344] Compare "Taming of the Shrew," i. 2: "O this woodcock, what an
ass it is!"--_Halliwell_.

[345] [Rather, perhaps, _dulsum_, i.e., sweet.]

[346] This confirms in some measure a reading in the "Taming of the
Shrew"--"Or so devote to Aristotle's Ethics."--_Halliwell_. [See Dyce's
2d edit. iii. 114, and the note.]

[347] "Begnaw with the bots" (_Taming of the Shrew_).--_Halliwell_.

[348] Owing to whom.

[349] Caraway comfits. See "2 Henry IV." and the blunders of the
commentators corrected in my "Dictionary of Archaisms," p. 231.--
_Halliwell_.

[350] Compare "Troilus and Cressida," ii. 2.--_Halliwell_.

[351] "Good wits will be jangling" (_Love's Labour's Lost_).--
_Halliwell_.

[352] A dagger. See "Hamlet," iii. 1.--_Halliwell_.

[353] Cared.

[354] [A rather common phrase. See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 205.]

[355] Care.

[356] [Nearer.]

[357] Necessary, fit.

[358] Business.

[359] _Fool. "Folte, _stolidus_" (_Vocab. MS_.)--_Halliwell_.

[360] Foolish--"Our peevish opposition" (_Hamlet_).--_Halliwell_.

[361] Compare "Taming of the Shrew," iv. 2.--_Halliwell_.

[362] [A-going, bound.]

[363] A common phrase. See "Two Gentlemen of Verona," ii. 3.--
_Halliwell_.

[364] Compare the song in "Hamlet," iv. 5.--_Halliwell_.

[365] [Orig. has _flying and fiend_.]

[366] Bad. "This is a noughty night" (_Lear_).--_Halliwell_.

[367] The devil was generally attended by the Vice, but he is here
introduced by himself, and the exact meaning of his part in this plot
is somewhat a mystery.--_Halliwell_.

[368] Tricks. See "King Lear."--_Halliwell_.

[369] Company.

[370] Haste. _Lat_.

[371] Every one.

[372] Grief. "My endless dolou" (_Two Gentlemen of Verona_).--
_Halliwell_.

[373] Compare "Taming of the Shrew," i. 2.--_Halliwell_.

[374] [Catch me gone from home.]

[375] Fool.--See "Comedy of Errors, iii. 1."--_Halliwell_.

[376] The person who spoke the Epilogue (Lat).

[377] Indulgence.

[378] Clever.--See "Taming of the Shrew."--_Halliwell_.

[379] With care or sorrow.

[380] Levity.--Cf. "Taming of Shrew," iv. 2--_Halliwell_.

[381] Scarce.

[382] Worldly.

[383] Old copy, _when_.

[384] Old copy, _gain_.

[385] Old copy, _clitter_ (for _clatter_), which the compositor's eye
most have caught from the next line. _So_ is agreeable to the metre and
the sense.

[386] Old copy, _at that_.

[387] Old copy, _in laps_.

[388] Old copy, _doth_.

[389] Old copy, _kind_.

[390] Old copy, _sendeth_.

[391] Old copy, _force_.

[392] Peeping.

[393] Rival.

[394] Old copy, _wit's_.

[395] Old copy, _our_.

[396] Old copy, _Reason_.

[397] i.e., Take away from me.

[398] Old copy, _It_.

[399] Old copy, _this_.

[400] Old copy, _Amity_.

[401] Old copy, _grief_.

[402] Prize.

[403] Pretend.

[404] Old copy, _heare_.

[405] Old copy, _trade_.

[406] Bonds.

[407] A proverbial expression not found in the collections. It may
signify the hangman's cord.

[408] Old copy, _desire_.

[409] Old copy, _breeds_.

[410] Old copy, _and return_.

[411] Old copy, _by_.

[412] Old copy, _Will_.

[413] Old copy, _In_.

[414] Old copy, _This gentle news of good Will are_. The gentlewomen
referred to are _Recreation_ and _Idleness_.

[415] A line seems to have dropped out here.

[416] i.e., That business is despatched. See Hazlitt's "Proverbs,"
1869, p. 352.

[417] Old copy, _fitly_.

[418] By my faith.

[419] i.e., "It would rejoice my heart to change coats with him."

[420] Old copy, _thy--thy_; but Ignorance is to change clothes with Wit,
while the latter sleeps in the lap of Idleness.

[421] Old copy, _is my tryer_. He has indistinct misgivings that his
clothes are not all right.

[422] Old copy, _scot_.

[423] Old copy, fish-hosts.

[424] A colloquialism, of which the exact import must be matter of
guess. Old copy, _Hope haliday_. Perhaps a corruption of _upon my
haliday_.

[425] Old copy, _It is_.

[426] Old copy, _These marks_.

[427] Old copy, _will_.

[428] Old copy, _troble_.

[429] Old copy, _die_. The same appears to be, "That are not driven to
behold those wretched cares, which I _am driven_, &c."

[430] Old copy, _your_.

[431] Fellow. The word is frequently used, as we now use the word
_chap_, which is in fact the same, being an abbreviation of _chapman_.

[432] _Fet_ (or _feat_) seeing to be here employed in the sense of
_play_ or _perform_. _Friscols_ has occurred before in this play.

[433] So old copy; but perhaps we ought to read _this hap_ in the line
preceding.

[434] See Halliwell's _Dict_, in _v_.

[435] _Squich_, a word of most uncommon occurrence and of dubious
meaning. From the immediate context we should infer that it signified
_skip, move lightly and quickly_.

[436] Old copy, _labores_.

[437] Query, _examples_.

[438] _Push_, i.e., do not close.

[439] Old copy, _durte_ (dirt); We still say, _to make a dust_.

[440] A direction to _Tediousness_, that he is to be tripped up by
_Will_.

[441] Old copy, _blest_.

[442] Old copy, _O_.

[443] Old copy, _have_.

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