A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume Ix Part 127

1579. See also Rich's "My Ladies Looking-gla.s.s," 1616, sig. B 3.]

[264] [Edits. give this speech to the Herald.]

[265] [The head.]

[266] A celebrated puppet-show often mentioned by writers of the times by the name of the Motion of Nineveh. See Ben Jonson's "Bartholomew Fair," act v. sc. 1; "Wit at Several Weapons," act i.; "Every Woman in her Humour," 1609, sig. H, and "The Cutter of Coleman Street," act v.

sc. 9.

[267] So in "Twelfth Night," act i. sc. 1.

"That strain again; it had a dying _fall_."--_Steevens_.

[268] [Edits., _bitter_.]

[269] [See Dyce's "Beaumont and Fletcher," ii. 225, note.] Theobald observes in his edition of "Beaumont and Fletcher," that this ballad is mentioned again in "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," and likewise in a comedy by John Tatham, 1660, called "The Rump, or Mirrour of the Times,"

wherein a Frenchman is introduced at the bonfires made for the burning of the Rump, and catching hold of Priscilla, will oblige her to dance, and orders the music to play _Fortune my foe_. Again, in "Tom Essence,"

1677, p. 37.

[270] A dance. Sir John Davies, in his poem called "Orchestra," 1596, stanza 70, thus describes it--

"Yet is there one, the most delightfull kind, A loftie jumping, or a leaping round, Where arme and arme two dauncers are entwind, And whirle themselues with strict embracements bound, And still their feet an _anapest_ do sound: An _anapest_ is all their musicks song, Whose first two feet are short, and third is long."

71.

"As the victorious twinnes of Laeda and Ioue, That taught the Spartans dauncing on the sands, Of swift Eurotas, daunce in heauen aboue, Knit and vnited with eternall hands, Among the starres their double image stands, Where both are carried with an equall pace, Together iumping in their turning race."

[271] "Or, as it is oftener called, _pa.s.sa mezzo_, from _pa.s.ser_ to walk, and _mezzo_ the middle or half; a slow dance, little differing from the action of walking. As a Galliard consists of five paces or bars in the first strain, and is therefore called a Cinque pace; the _pa.s.sa mezzo_, which is a diminutive of the Galliard, is just half that number, and from that peculiarity takes its name."--Sir John Hawkins's "History of Music," iv. 386. [Compare Dyce's second edition of Shakespeare, iii.

412.]

[272] i.e., St Leger's round. "Sellinger's round was an old country dance, and was not quite out of knowledge in the last century. Morley mentions it in his Introduction, p. 118, and Taylor the Water Poet, in his tract, ent.i.tled, 'The World runs on Wheels;' and it is printed in a 'Collection of Country Dances,' published by John Playford in 1679."--Sir John Hawkins's "History of Music," iii. 288, where the notes are engraved.

[273] See Plinii "Nat. Hist.," lib. v. c. 9.

[274] The author certainly in writing this beautiful pa.s.sage had Spenser ("Faerie Queene," b. ii. c. 12) in his mind.

"The joyous birds shrouded in cheerful shade," &c.

--_Collier_.

[275] Alluding to the fish called the _Sole_, and the musical note _Sol_.--_Pegge_.

[276] See note [235].

[277] Mixed metal, from the French word _mesler_, to mingle, mix.

[278] [Lightning-bolt.]

[279] [Camph.o.r.ed.]

[280] Plin. "Nat. Hist." lib. x.x.xvi. c. 16. "Sideritin ob hoc alio nomine appellant quidam Heracleon: Magnes appellatus est ab inventore (ut auctor est Nicander) in Ida repertus."--_Pegge_.

[281] So in "The Merchant of Venice," act i. sc. 1--

"With mirth and _laughter_ let old _wrinkles_ come."

See also the notes of Bishop Warburton and Dr Farmer on "Love's Labour's Lost," act v. sc. 4.--_Steevens_.

[282] This quotation from Plautus, and that which follows from Terence, were a.s.signed by Mr Reed to Communis Sensus, when, in fact, they belong to Comedus. The initials _Com_. in the old copies led to the error.--_Collier_.

[283] The first lines of the prologue to Plautus's "Menechmi."

[284] See Terence's "Eunuch," act i. sc. 1.

[285] At the universities, where degrees are conferred.

[286] i.e., A porch which has as many spiral windings in it as the sh.e.l.l of the _periwinkle_, or sea-snail.--_Steevens_.

[287] i.e., Bottles to cast or scatter liquid odours.--_Steevens_.

[288] The custom of censing or dispersing fragrant scents seems formerly to have been not uncommon. See Ben Jonson's "Every Man out of his Humour," act ii. sc. 4.

[289] _Pomanders_ were b.a.l.l.s of perfume formerly worn by the higher ranks of people. Dr Gray, in his "Notes on Shakespeare," vol. i. p. 269, says "that a _pomander_ was a little ball made of perfumes, and worn in the pocket, or about the neck, to prevent infection in times of plague."

From the above receipt, it appears they were moulded in different shapes, and not wholly confined to that of b.a.l.l.s; and the like direction is given in another receipt for making _pomanders_ printed in Markham's "English Housewife," p. 151, edit. 1631.

[290] _Non bene olet, qui semper bene olet_.

[291] Probably some character notorious in the University of Cambridge at the time when this play was written or represented.--_Steevens_.

[292] Turquois.

[293] [Sharpen.]

[294] [Edits., _musing_.]

[295] [Primary.]

[296] [The wine so called.]

[297] Finer, more gaudily dressed. So in "Wily Beguiled"--

"Come, nurse, gather: A crown of roses shall adorn my head, I'll _prank_ myself with flowers of the prime; And thus I'll spend away my primrose time."

And in Middleton's "Chast Mayd in Cheapside," 1630 [Dyces "Middleton,"

iv. 59]--

"I hope to see thee, wench, within these few yeeres Circled with children, _pranking_ up a girl, And putting jewels in their little eares, Fine sport, i'faith."

[298] i.e., Whisper, or become silent. As in Nash's "Pierce Penilesse, his Supplication to the Divell," 1592, p. 15: "But _whist_, these are the workes of darknesse, and may not be talkt of in the daytime." [The word is perfectly common.]