Part 125 (2/2)

2, and ”Every Man out of his Humour,” act iii. sc. 9; Ma.s.singer's ”Fatal Dowry,” act ii. sc. 2; ”Bashful Lover,” act iv. sc. 1; ”A Very Woman,” act i. sc. 1; Shakespeare's ”Two Gentlemen of Verona,” act ii. sc. 1, and the same is to be seen in most of the dramatic productions of the times.--_Reed._

This t.i.tle, which was a mark of favouritism tolerated by married women towards unmarried gentlemen in the reigns of James and Charles, is found in almost every old play. The plot of Chapman's ”Monsieur D'Olive,” turns upon the not very unnatural jealousy of a husband towards this equivocal service in a friend. See [the new edition of Chapman's plays.]--_Gilchrist._

[213] [A translation from the French by the Honourable Walter Montague, 8^o, 1656.]

[214] [Medlars.]

[215] The weight of a wedding-ring, in Middleton's time (a little earlier than that of Killigrew), may be seen by the following part of a dialogue from his ”Chaste Maid in Cheapside,” 1630, p.

7--

”TOUCHWOOD, _jun_. I would have a wedding-ring made for a gentlewoman, with all speed that may be.

”YELLOWHAMMER. Of what _weight_, sir?

”TOUCHWOOD, _jun_. Of some _half ounce_.”

--_Collier._

[216] A _gredaline petticoat_ is probably a petticoat _puckered_, or _crumpled_, from the French word _grediller_. See Cotgrave. In Boyer's Dictionary it is explained, _Gris de lin, sorte de couleur_.

[217] Paulo Purganti's wife has the same sentiment. She

”thought the nation ne'er wou'd thrive, Till all the wh.o.r.es were burnt alive.”

--_Prior._

[218] [Pearl here, and in three or four other places below, is used as a plural, _quasi_ a rope of pearl.]

[219] Or lief.

[220] [_i.e._, On all sides, both by the bye and the main pa.s.sages.]

[221] [Old copy, _your_.]

[222] See note to ”Alb.u.mazar” [xi. 328].

[223] [Old copy, _your_.]

[224] [Hazlitt's ”Proverbs,” 1869, p. 343, and note to Tomkis's ”Alb.u.mazar,” xi. 334-5.]

[225] [Platonic lovers.]

[226] [A very ancient office at the court; but here, of course, intended in another sense.]

[227] This word is seldom used as a verb: as an adjective it is not uncommon. See note to ”Cornelia,” [v. 230]. In this place it ought to be understood as ”_was haught_ among the men.” It was anciently printed _hault_ and _halty_, to be nearer the etymology: thus in Wilson's ”Rhetorique,” 1558, fol. 9, in the eulogy upon the Duke of Suffolk and his brother, we are told that they were ”_hault_ without hate, kynde without crafte:” and in ”The Orator, handling a hundred severall Discourses,” by L. Piot [_i.e._, Anthony Munday], Decl. 81, p. 327, ”for to say the truth, every _haulty_ spirit are in that like unto women, who do for the most part covet after that which they are forbidden to touch.”--_Collier._

[228] Bows. So in the ”Wonderful Yeare, 1603” [attributed to Dekker]: ”Ja.n.u.s (that beares two faces under one hood) made a very mannerly _lowe legge_,” &c. And again--

<script>