132 to mow them down before me: but, if I fpar'd any, that had a head to hit, either young or old, he or she, cuckold or cuckold-maker, let me never hope to see a chine again; and that I would not for a cow, God fave her. Within. Do you hear, master Porter? Port. I fhall be with you prefently, good mafter puppy. Keep the door close, firrah. Man. What would you have me do? Port. What fhould you do, but knock them down by the dozens? Is this Morefields to mufter in? or have we some strange Indian 7 with the great tool come to court, the women fo befiege us? Blefs me, what a fry of fornication is at door! On my chriflian confcience, this one chriftening will beget a thousand; here will be father, godfather, and all together. Man. The fpoons will be the bigger, fir. There is a fellow fomewhat near the door, he fhould be a brazier by his face, for, o' my confcience, twenty of the dogdays now reign in's nofe; all that ftand about him are under the line, they need no other penance: That firedrake* did I hit three times on the head, and three times was chefter. Their combat is very elaborately defcribed by Drayton in his Polyolbion. JOHNSON. 6-Morefields to mufter in?] The train-bands of the city were exersifed in Morefields. JOHNSON. 7 - fome strange Indian-] To what circumstance this refers, perhaps, cannot be exactly known. A fimilar one occurs in Ram-Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1611: You fhall fee the ftrange nature of an outlandish beast "Lately brought from the land of Cataia." Again, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Fletcher, and Shakspeare, 1634: "The Bavian with long tail and eke long TOOL." 8 COLLINS. Fig. i. in the print of Morris-dancers, at the end of King Henry IV. has a bib which extends below the doublet; and its length might be calculated for the concealment of the phallic obfcenity mentioned by Beaumont and Fletcher, of which perhaps the Bavian fool exhibited an occafional view for the diverfion of our indelicate ancestors. TOLLET. be fhould be a brafier by bis face,] A brazier fignifies a man that manufactures brafs, and a refervoir for charcoal occafionally heated to convey warmth. Both these fenfes are here understood. JOHNSON. * That firedrake-1 A fire drake is thus defcribed by Bullokar in his Expofitor, 8vo. 1616: "Firedrake. A fire fometimes feen flying in the night, like a dragon. Common people think it a spirit that keepeth fome was his nose discharg'd against me; he stands there, like a mortar-piece, to blow us. There was a haberdasher's wife of fmall wit9 near him, that rail'd upon me till her pink'd porringer fell off her head', for kindling fuch a combuftion in the ftate. I mifs'd the meteor once, and hit that woman, who cry'd out, clubs 3! when I might fee from far fome forty truncheoneers draw to her fuccour, which were the hope of the ftrand, where he was quarter'd. They fell on; I made good my place; at length they came to the broomftaff with me, I defy'd them ftill; when fuddenly a file of boys behind them, loose shot, deliver❜d such a shower of pebbles, that I was fain to draw mine honour in, and let them win the work: The devil was amongst them, I think, furely. Port. Thefe are the youths that thunder at a playhoufe, and fight for bitten apples; that no audience, but fome treasure hid; but philofophers affirme it to be a great unequal exbalation, inflamed betweene two clouds, the one hot, the other cold, which is the reason that it also smoketh; the middle part whereof, according to the proportion of the hot cloud, being greater than the rest, maketh it feeme like a bellie, and both ends like unto a head and taile.” MALONE. 9 There was a haberdashier's wife of small wit-] Ben Jonson, whose hand Dr. Farmer thinks may be traced in different parts of this play, ufes this expreffion in his induction to the Magnetick Lady: "and all baberdashers of fmall wit, I prefume." MALONE. 1- till ber pink'd porringer fell off ber head,] Her pink'd porringer is her pink'd cap, which looked as if it had been moulded on a porringer. So, in The Taming of the Shrew: 2 "Hab. Here is the cap your worship did bespeak. "Pet. Why this was moulded on a porringer." MALONE. the meteor] The fire-drake, the brafier. JOHNSON. 3- •who cried out, clubs.] This was the ufual cry, when an affray happened in the street. By clubs, perfons armed with clubs or staves were meant. See Vol. III. p. 219, n. 6, and Vol. VI. p. 22, n. I. MALONE. 4-the hope of the ftrand,] Hanmer reads, the fo iorn bope. JOHNSON. -to the broomftaff with me,-] The old copy has-to me. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE. loofe fhot] i. e. loofe or random hooters. See Vol. V. p. 364, n. 7. MALONE. - that thunder at a playboxfe, and fight for bitten apples ;] The prices of feats for the vulgar in our ancient theatres were so very low, that we cannot wonder if they were filled with the tumultuous com K 3 pany but the Tribulation of Tower-hill, or the limbs of Limehouse, their dear brothers, are able to endure. I have fome pany defcribed by Shakspeare in this fcene. So, in the Gul's Hornbook, by Decker, 1609: "Your groundling and gallery-commoner buys his fport by the penny." In Wit without Money, by B. and Fletcher, is the following mention of them :-" break in at plays like prentices, for three a great, and crack nuts with the scholars in penny rooms again." Again, in the Black Book, 1604, Sixpenny rooms in playhouses are fpoken of. Again, in the Bellman's Night-Walks, by Decker, 1616: Pay thy twopence to a player in this gallery, thou may'st fit by a harlot." STEEVENS. See the Account of our old Theatres, Vol. I. MALONE. -the Tribulation of Tower-bill, or the limbs of Lime-boufe,] I fufpect the Tribulation to have been a puritanical meeting-house. The limbs of Limeboufe, I do not understand. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon's conjecture may be countenanced by the following paffage in "Magnificence, a goodly interlude and merry, devifed and made by mayfter Skelton, poet-laureate, lately deceafyd." Printed by John Raftel, fol. no date: "Some fall to foly them felfe for to spyll, "And fome fall prechynge on toure byll." STEEVENS. Alliteration has given rife to many cant expreffions, confifting of words paired together. Here we have cant names for the inhabitants of these places, who were notorious puritans, coined for the humour of the alliteration. In the mean time it must not be forgotten, that ❝precious limbs" was a common phrafe of contempt for the puritans. T. WARTON. Limehouse was before the time of Shakspeare, and has continued to be ever fince, the refidence of those who furnish ftores, fails, &c. for fhipping. A great number of foreigners having been conftantly employed in thefe manufactures (many of which were introduced from other countries) they affembled themselves under their feveral paftors, and a number of places of different worship were built in confequence of their refpective affociations. As they clafhed in principles, they had frequent quarrels, and the place has ever fince been famous for the variety of its fects, and the turbulence of its inhabitants. It is not improbable that Shakspeare wrote-the lambs of Limehouse. A limb of the devil, is, however, a common vulgarifm; and in Ą New Trick to cheat the Devil, 1636, the fame kind of expreflion occurs; "I am a puritan; one that will eat no pork, "Doth ufe to fhut his shop on Saturdays, "And open them on Sundays: a familift, "And one of the arch limbs of Belzebub," Again, in Every Man out of his Humour : I cannot abide thefe limbs of fattin, or rather Satan, &c." STEEVENS. fome of them in Limbo Patrum, and there they are like to dance these three days; befides the running banquet of two beadles, that is to come. Enter the Lord Chamberlain. Cham. Mercy o'me, what a multitude are here! They grow ftill too, from all parts they are coming, As if we kept a fair here! Where are thefe porters, These lazy knaves?-Ye have made a fine hand, fellows. There's a trim rabble let in: Are all these It appears from Stowe's Survey that the inhabitants of Tower-hill were remarkably turbulent. It may however be doubted, whether this paffage was levelled at the fpectators affembled in any of the theatres in our author's time. It may have been pointed at fome apprentices and inferior citizens, who used occafionally to appear on the stage, in his time, for their amufement. The Palgrave or Hector of Germany, was acted in 1615, by a company of citizens at the Red Bull; and, The Hog bath loft bis Pearle, a comedy, 1614, is faid, in the title-page, to have been publickly acted by certain London'prentices. The fighting for bitten apples, which were then, as at prefent, thrown on the tage, [See the Induction to Bartholomew Fair: "Your judgment, rafcal; for what?-Sweeping the ftage? or gathering up the broken apples -"] and the words" which no audience can endure," might lead us to fuppofe that these thunderers at the play-boufe, were actors, and not spectators. The limbs of Limehouse, their dear brothers, were, perhaps, young citizens, who went to fee their friends wear the bufkin. A pallage in The Staple of News, by Ben Jonfon, A&t III. fc, last, may throw fome light on that now before us: Why, I had it from my maid Joan Hearfay, and he had it from a limb of the school, the fays, a little limb of nine years old.-An there were no wifer than I, I would have ne'er a cunning school-mafter in England.-They make all their fcholars play-boys. Is't not a fine fight, to fee all our children made interluders? Do we pay our money for this? We fend them to learn their grammar and their Terence, and they learn their play-books."-School-boys, apprentices, the ftudents in the inns of court, and the members of the univerfities, all, at this time, wore occafionally the fock or the bufkin. However, I am by no means confident that this is the true interpretation of the paflage before us. MALONE. -in Limbo Patrum,] He means, in confinement. In limbo continues to be a cant phrafe in the fame fense, at this day. MALONE. 9-running banquet of two beadles,] A publick whipping. JoHNS. See p. 33, n. 4. MALONE. K. 4 Your Your faithful friends o'the suburbs? We fhall have We are but men; and what fo many may do, Cham. As I live, If the king blame me for't, I'll lay ye all A Marshalfea, fhall hold you play these two months. Man. You great fellow, stand "close up, or I'll make your head ake. Port. You i'the camblet, get up o'the rail; I'll pick you o'er the pales elfe2. [Exeunt SCENE IV. The fame. Enter Trumpets, founding; then two Aldermen, Lord Mayor, Garter, CRANMER, Duke of NORFOLK, with his Marhal's faff, Duke of SUFFOLK, two Noblemen bearing great ftanding bowls for the chriftening gifts; then four Noblemen bearing a canopy, under which the Dutchess of bere ye lie baiting of bumbards,] A bumbard is an ale-barrel; to bait bumbards is to ripple, to lie at the spigot. JOHNSON. It appears from a paffage in Shirley's Martyr'd Soldier, 1638, A& II. fc. ii. that bumbards were the large vefiels in which the beer was carried to foldiers upon duty. They resembled black jacks of leather. So, in Woman's a Weathercock, 1612: "She looks like a black bombard with a pint pot waiting upon it." STEEVENS. 2 I'll pick you o'er the pales elfe.] To pick is to pitch. "To pick a dart. Cole renders, jaculor. DICT. 1679. See a note on Coriolanus, A& I. fc. i. where the word is, as I conceive, rightly fpelt. Here the spelling in the old copy is peck. MALONE. NOR |