(P. 429.)

how we are fhent.

Shent does not mean brought to deftruction, but foamed, dif graced, made afbamed of himself. See the old ballad of the Heir of Linne in the 2d vol. of Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.

"Sorely fhent with this rebuke

Sorely bent was the heir of Linne;

"His heart, I wis, was neare-to braft

"With guilt and forrow, fhame and finne."

(P. 445.) Auf. No more.

PERCY.

This fhould rather be given to the first lord. It was not the bufinefs of Aufidius to put a stop to the altercation.

T. T.

(P. 132.) to drink Mandragora.

Gerrard in his Herbal fays of the Mandragoras, " Diofcori"des doth particularly fet downe many faculties hereof, of "which notwithstanding there be none proper unto it, fave "thofe that depend upon the drowfie and fleeping power "thereof."

In Adlington's Apuleius (of which the epiftle is dated 1566) reprinted 1639, 4t bl. 1. p. 187. lib. 10. "I gave him no poyfon, but a doling drink of Mandragoras, "which is of fuch force, that it will caufe any man to "fleepe, as though he were dead." PERCY.

(P. 138.) Shakespeare's orthography often adds a d at the end of a word. Thus vile is (in the old editions) every where fpelt vild. Laund is given inftead of lawn in vol. VI. P. 433. why not therefore wan'd for wan here?

If this however fhould not be accepted, fuppofe we read with the addition only of an apoftrophe, wan'd; i. e. waned, declined, gone off from its perfection; comparing Cleopatra's beauty to the moon paft the full.

PERCY.

I take this opportunity to retract my former conjecture on this paffage, as Shakespeare's ufe of the participle wanned, may be supported from the following example in Hamlet, vol. X. p. 228.

"That from her working all his vifage wan'd."

A SHARD (p. 176.) a tile or broken piece of a tile: thence figuratively a scale or fhell upon the back of any creature. The hard-born beetle means the beetle that is borne up wings hard and glazed like a pot-sheard.

Oxford edition. (P. 227.) Like a right gypsy hath at fast and loofe

Beguil'd me, &c.

There is a kind of pun in this passage, arifing from the cor-
ruption of the word Egyptian into Gipfey. The old law-
books term fuch perfons as ramble about the country, and
pretend fkill in palmiftry and fortune telling, Egyptians.
Faft and loofe is a term to fignify a cheating game, of which
the following is a defcription. A leathern belt is made up
into a number of intricate folds, and placed edgewife upon a
table. One of the folds is made to resemble the middle of
the girdle, fo that whoever fhould thrust a skewer into it
would think he held it faft to the table; whereas, when he
has fo done, the person with whom he plays may take hold of
both ends and draw it away. This trick is now known to
the common people, by the name of pricking at the belt or
girdle, and perhaps was practifed by the Gypfies in the time
of Shakespeare.
Sir J. HAWKINS

(P. 238.) be brooch'd with me.
Brooch is properly a bodkin, or fome fuch inftrument (originally
a fpit) and ladies' bodkins being headed with gems, it fome-
times ftands for an ornamental trinket or jewel in general, in
which fenfe it is perhaps used at prefent, or as probably in
its original one, for pinned up, as we now fay pin up the baf
ket; brocch'd with me, i. e. pinned up, compleated with hav-
ing me to adorn his triumph.

(P. 456.) as with the woeful feere. So in Sir Eglamour of Artoys, fig. A 4,

"Chriftabell, your daughter free

PERCY.

"When shall she have a fere?" i. e. a husband.

Sir Tho. More's Lamentation on the Death of Q. Elizabeth, wife of Hen. VII.

"Was I not a king's fere in marriage ?"

And again,

"Farewell my daughter Katherine, late the fere
"To Prince Arthur."

(P. 263.)—the pretty worm of Nilus

T. T.

In the Northern counties, the word worm is ftill given to the ferpent fpecies in general. I have seen a Northumberland ballad, entituled, The laidly worm of Spindlefton Heughs, i. c.

the

The loathfome or foul ferpent of Spindlefton Craggs; certain rocks fo called, near Bamburgh Castle.

Shakespeare uses worm again in the fame fenfe. See the IId part of K. Hen. VI. vol. 6. p. 325.

The mortal worm might make the fleep eternal.

(P. 121.)—and loves quails.

A fimilar allufion occurs in The Hollander, a comedy by Glapthorne, 1640.

the hot defire of quails

STEEVENS.

"To your's is modest appetite." CLIFF (p. 124.) a mark in mufick at the beginning of the lines of a fong, and is an indication of the pitch, and befpeaks what kind of voice-as bafe, tenour, or treble, it is proper for.

(P. 125.) How the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and potatoe finger, tickles these together.

Luxuria was the appropriate term used by the school divines, to express the crime of incontinence, which accordingly is called Luxury, in all our old English writers. In the Summa Theologia Compendium of Tho. Aquinas II. 2. Quæft. CLIV. is de Luxuria Partibus, which the author diftributes. under the heads of Simplex Fornicatio, Adulterium, Inceftus, Stuprum, Raptus, &c. and Chaucer, in his Parfon's Tale, defcanting on the feven deadly fins, treats of this under the title, De Luxuria. Hence in K. Lear our author uses the word in this peculiar fenfe.

To't Luxury pell-mell, for I want foldiers.

But why is luxury, or lafciviousness, said to have a potatoe finger?-This root was in our author's time but newly imported from America, was confidered as a rare exotic, and esteemed as a very strong provocative. As the plant is fo common now, it may entertain the reader to fee how it is defcribed hy Gerard in his herbal, 1597. p. 780.

"This plant which is called of fome Skyrrits of Peru, is "generally of us called Potatus, or Potatoes.There is "not any that hath written of this plant-therefore, I refer "the description thereof unto those that shall hereafter have "further knowledge of the fame. Yet I have had in my "garden divers roots (that I bought at the Exchange in Londop) where they flourished until winter, at which time they

NA 3

perimed

"perished and rotted. They are used to be eaten rofted in "the afhes. Some, when they be fo rofted, infufe them and

fop them in wine; and others, to give them the greater

grace in eating, do boil them with prunes. Howfoever "they be dreffed, they comfort, nourish, and ftrengthen the "bodie, procure bodily luft, and that with greediness."

Shakespeare alludes to this quality of potatoes, in the Merry Wives of Windfor.

--Let the fky rain potatoes,

Hail kiffing comfits, and fnow eringoes; let
A tempeft of provocation come.

Ben. Jonfon mentions potatoe pies in Every Man out of his Humour, among other good un&tuous meats.

In the Good Hufwives Jewell, a book of cookery published in 1596, I find the following receipt to make a tarte that is a Curage to a man or woman.

"Take twoo Quinces and twoo or three Burre rootes and a POTA"TON and pare your POTATON and fcrape your rootes and put "them into a quarte of wine, and let them boyle till they bee tender "and put in an ounce of dates, and when they be boiled tender, "drawe them through a ftrainer, wine and all, and then put in the yolkes of eight egges, and the braynes of three or four cocke-spar"roves, and traine them into the other, and a little rofe-water, and "feeth them all with fugar, cinnamon, and ginger, and cloves and "mace, and put in a little fweet butter, and fet it upon a chafing-difh "of coles between two platters, to let it boyle till it be fomething "bigge."

Gerard elsewhere obferves in his herbal, that "Potatoes "may ferve as a ground or foundation whereon the cunning "confectioner or fugar-baker may worke and frame many "comfortable conferves and restorative fweetmeats."

The fame venerable botanift likewife adds, that the flalk of Clot-Burre "being eaten rawe with falt and pepper, or boiled in the broth of fat meat, is pleasant to be eaten and firrethup "venereal motions." It likewife ftrengtheneth the back, &c.”

Speaking of dates, he fays, that "thereof be made divers "excellent cordial comfortable and nourishing medicines, and "that procure luft of the body very mightily." He also "mentions Quinces as having the fame virtues.

I fuppofe every one to be acquainted that Sparrows on account of their falacioufnefs were facrificed to Venus. The remarks on the other articles that compofe this medical piece of paftry, are inferted, to prove that they are all confiftent in their operation and tend to promote the fame purposes as the POTATON. It must by this time have occurred to the reader that in the kingdom where potatoes are eaten in their greatest quantities, the powers of the body are fuppofed to be found in their

highest

highest degree of perfection. Some accounts given by ancient travellers of the Rhizophagi might be introduced on this occafion; but perhaps enough has been already faid on the fubject.

I must add, that having diligently perufed all fuch editions of Apicius Coelius as have yet fallen in my way, I should not justly characterize the most skillful of the Roman cooks were I to fpeak of him as an artift qui mifcuit utile dulci. To please the palate, in thofe times, feems to have been the only confideration. The receipt already quoted, fufficiently proves our ancestors to have had other views. Perhaps, however, fome particulars relative to the kitchen physic of the ancients might have been found in the Elephantidos Libelli, which as Suetonius informs us, were once in the poffeffion of the emperor Tiberius. An exception to my former remark indeed occurs on the teftimony of Ælius Lampridius (or Ælius Spartianus) who in the life of Heliogabalus, allerts that prince to have eaten the heels of camels, the combs of cocks, and the tongues of peacocks and nightingales, by way of prevention against the Epilepfy. COLLINS.

(P. 133.) It is as lawful. For we would count give much to as violent thefts. Thus the Ift folio. We should read, I believe,

For we would give much to ufe violent thefts,

The word count had crept in from the last line but one. The prefent licentious alteration was made by Rowe, and is filently followed by Pope, Theobald, Hanmer, Warburton, and Capel. T. T.

(P. 148.) Make wells and Niobe's, &c. Perhaps we fhould read welland, i. e. welling; though I do not recollect that Shakespeare has any where elfe ufed that old form of participle. It is very common in Spenfer. The fame obfervation, I have fince difcovered to be anticipated by Mr. Sympfon in his notes on B. Jonfon.

(P. 194) — thofe fprings.

On chalic'd flowers that lies.

T. T.

It may be obferved, with regard to this apparent falfe concord, that in very old English, the 3d perfon plural of the prefent tenfe ended in eth, as well as the fingular; and often familiarly, in es, as might be exemplified from Chaucer, &c. Nor was this antiquated Idiom quite worn out in our author's time, as appears from the following paffage in Romeo and Juliet vol. X. p. 35.

"And cakes the elf-locks in foul fluttish hairs
"Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes;"

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