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their servants, the box on the ear which Queen Elizabeth is said to have given to the Earl of Essex, was not regarded as a transgression against the rules of common behaviour. STEEVENS.

P: 50, 1. 15. Worth in this place means wealth or fortune. M. MASON..

P. 50, I. 17. Shall we go see the reliques of this town?] I suppose, Sebastian means, the reliques of saints, or the remains of ancient fabricks.

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P. 50, 1. 26. 'gainst the Count his gallies,] I suspect our author wrote county's gallies, i. e. the gallies of the County, or Count; and that the transcriber's ear deceived him. However, the present reading is conformable to the mistaken grammatical usage of the time, I have not disturbed. the text. MALONE. P. 51, I. 23.

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he'll come; i. e. I suppose now, er admit now, he says, he'll come.

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P. 51, 1. 24.

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what bestow on him?] The old ,,bestow of him," a vulgar cor

- on. STEEVENS.

Of, is very commonly, in the North, still used for on. HENLEY.

P. 51, 1. 28. Civil, in this instance, and some others, means only, grave, decent, or solemn.

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STEEVENS.

P. 52, 1. 27. Why dost thou smile so, and kiss thy hand so oft?] This fautastical custom is taken notice of by Barnaby Riche, in Faults and no thing but Faults, 410. 1606, p. 6: and these Flowers of Courtesie, as they are full of affectation, so are they no less formall in their speeches, full of fustian phrases, many times delivering such sentences, as do betray and lay open their masters,

ignorance and they are so frequent with the kisse on the hand, that word shall not passe their monthes, till they have clapt their fingers over their lippes." REED.

P. 53, 1. 17. this is very midsummer madness] Hot weather often hurts the brain, which is, I suppose, alluded to here. JOHNSON.

'Tis midsummer moon with you, is a proverb in Ray's collection, signifying, you are mad. STEEVENS. P. 53, 1. 33. Opposite, here, as in many other places, means adverse, hostile. MALONE. P. 54, 1. 5. I have limed her;] I have entangled or caught her, as a bird is caught with birdlime. JoHNSON.

P. 54, 1. 7. Fellow! This word, which originally signified companion, was not yet totally degraded to its present meaning; and Malvoko takes it in the favourable sense. JOHNSON.UNT P. 55, 1. 19. Cherry-pit is pitching cherrystones into a little hole. Nash, speaking of the paint on ladies' faces, says: You may play at cherry-pit in their cheeks." STEEVENS. Nd

P. 55, 1. 20. Collier was, in our author's time, a term of the highest reproach. So great were the impositions practised by the venders of coals, that R. Greene at the conclusion of his Notable Discovery of Cozenage, 1592, has published what he calls, A pleasant Discovery of the Cosenage of Colliers. STEEVENS.

The devil is called Collier for his blackness; Like will to like, quoth the Devil to the Collier. JOHNSON.

*.6, 1. 8. and crown thee for å finder df madmen.] This is, I think, an allusion to the witch-finders, who were very busy. JOHNSON.

If there be any doubt whether a culprit is be come non compos mentis, after indictment, conviction, or judgement, the matter is tried by a jury; and if he be found either an ideot or lunatick, the lenity of the English law will not permit him, in the first case, to be tried, in the second, to receive judgement, or in the third, to be executed.. In other cases also inquests are held for the finding of madmen. MALONE.

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Finders of madmen must have been those who acted under the writ De lunatico inquirendo; in virtue, whereof they found the man mad. does not appear that a finder of madmen was ever a profession, which was most certainly the case with witch-finders. RITSON.

P. 56, 1. 11. More matter for a May morning.] It was usual on the first of May to exhibit metrical interludes of the comic kind, as well as the morris-dance, of which a plate is given at the end of the First Part of King Henry IV, with Mr. Tollet's observations on it. STEEVENS.

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P. 57, 1. 2. 3. He may have mercy upon mine; but my hope is better, ] We may read He may have mercy upon thine, but my hope is betten. Yet the passage may well enough stand without alteration.

It were much to be wished that Shakspeare, în this, and some other passages, had not yentured so near profaneness. JOHNSON.

The present reading is more humourous than that suggested by Johnson. The man on whose

soul he hopes that God will have mercy, is the one that he supposes will fall in the combat: but Sir Andrew hopes to escape unhurt, and to have no present occasion for that blessing.

The same idea occurs in Henry V. where Mrs. Quickly, giving an account of poor Falstaff's dissolution, says;,,How I, to comfort him, bid him not think of God: I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet." M. MASON! P. 57, 1. 14. swear horrible: Adjectives are often used by our author and his contemporaries, adverbially. MALONE.

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P. 58, 1. 12. Here, wear this jewel for me, 'tis my picture;] Jewel does not properly signify a single gem, but any precious ornament or superAuity. JOHNSON.

P. 59, 1. 11. with unhack'd rapier,] The modern editors read unhack'd. It appears from Corgrave's Dictionary in v. hacher, [to hack, hew, etc.] that to hatch the hilt of a sword, was a technical term. - Perhaps we ought to read with an hatch'd rapier, i e. with a rapier, the hilt of which was richly engraved and ornamented. Our author, however, might have used un hatch'd in the sense of unhack'd; and therefore I have made no change. MALONE.

P. 59, 1. 11. 12. He is knight, dubb'd with unhack'd rapier, and on carpet consideration;] That is, he is no soldier by profession, not a knight banneret, dubbed in the field of battle, but, on carpet consideration, at a festivity, or on some peaceable occasion, when knights receive their dignity kneeling, not on the ground, as in war, but on a carpet. This is, I believe, the original of the contemptuous term a carpet knight, who was naturally held in scorn by the men of war. JOHNSON.

In Francis Markham's Booke of Honour, fo, 1625, P. 71, we have the following account of

Carpet Knights. ,,Next unto these (i. e. those he distinguishes by the title of Dunghill or Truck Knights) in degree, but not in qualitie, (for these are truly for the most part virtuous and worthie) is that rank of Knights which are called Carpet Knights, being men who are by the prince's grace and favour made knights at home and in the time of peace by the imposition or laying on of the King's sword, having by some special service done to the commonwealth, or for some other particu lar virtues made known to the soveraigne, as also for the dignitie of their births, and in recompence of noble and famous actions done by their an cestors, deserved this great title and dignitie.“ - He then enumerates the several orders of men on whom this honour was usually conferred; and adds ,,those of the vulgar or common sort are called Carpet Knights, because (for the most part) they receive their honour from the King's hand in the court, and upon carpets, and such like ornaments belonging to the King's state and greatnesse; which howsoever a curious envie may wrest to an ill serse, yet questionlesse there is no shadow of disgrace belonging unto it, for it is an honour as perfect as any honour whatsoever, and the services and merits for which it is received, as wor thy and well deserving both of the King and country, as that which hath wounds and scarres for his witnesse." REED.

Greene uses the term Carpet-knights in contempt of those of whom he is speaking. STEEVENS.

P. 59, l. 16. hob, nob, -] This adverb is corrupted from hap ne hap; as would ne would, will ne will; that is, let it happen or not; and siguifies at random, at the mercy of change. Johnson's Dictionary. STEEVENS.

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