Part 126 (1/2)

”He calls forth one by one, to note their graces; Whilst they _make legs_, he copies out their faces.”

--_Ibid._

[229] [Pother.]

[230] _Outcry_ was the ancient term for _an auction_. As in Ma.s.singer's ”City Madam,” act i. sc. 3--

”The goods of this poor man sold at an _out-cry_.

His wife turn'd out of doors, his children forc'd To beg their bread.”

And again in Middleton's ”Chast Mayd in Cheape-side” [Dyce's edit. iv. 58:]

”I'll sell all at an _out-cry_.”

Again in Ben Jonson's ”Catiline,” act ii. sc. 3--

”Their houses, and fine gardens, given away, And their goods, under the spear at _outcry_.”

Upon which last pa.s.sage Mr Whalley observes, that ”the Roman way of selling things by auction was setting up a spear; and hence the phrase _sub hasta vendere_.”

[231] See Evans's ”Collection of Old Ballads,” i. 292.

The story of Whittington and his Cat, though under different names, is common to various languages. Messrs Grim have pointed it out in German, and it is given in Italian as one of [the ”Facetie” of the] celebrated Arlotto under the following t.i.tle: ”_Il Piovano, a un prete che fece mercantia di palle, dice la novella della gatte._” He relates it of a _mercante Genovese avventurato il quale navigando fu portato dalla fortuna a una isola lontanissima_. The story was probably borrowed in English and a.s.signed to Whittington: it is noticed in ”Eastward Hoe” as ”the famous fable of Whittington and his Puss.” This play was written soon after 1603, and the ballad in Evans's collection is [certainly in its present form] not so old. The ”Novella” was printed in Italy [soon after 1500]; and Arlotto, to whom it is attributed, died in 1483.

[232] [Old copy, _Hope, a half peny_, &c. This appears to be an allusion to the proverb,

”At the west-gate came Thornton in, With a hop, a halfpenny, and a lamb's skin.”

See Hazlitt's ”Proverbs,” p. 78. Thornton was a merchant of Newcastle.]

[233] [In the modern editions, this speech improperly makes part of the next scene.]

[234] [The folio reads _Mistress_.]

[235] An _aunt of the suburbs_ was synonymous with _bawd_. See [Dyce's Middleton, i. 444.]

[236] [From the context, evidently a place of entertainment, a kind of restaurant. Perhaps the modern Gla.s.s-House Street may fix the site.]

[237] _i.e._, The bill of the mortality by the plague. The theatres were sometimes closed, in consequence of the prevalence of the disease. Such was the case in the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth. See note to Nash's ”Summer's Last Will and Testament [viii. 15].”--_Collier._

[238] [The folio reads _hogough_.]

[239] [In old copy this word forms part of the next sentence.]

[240] [Probably a tavern so called.]

[241] [The weight inserted in a bowl.]

[242] This probably is the same tavern mentioned in ”A Match at Midnight,” act i.: ”My master means the _sign of the Devil_,”

&c.--_Collier._