Volume Xiv Part 125 (2/2)

And in ”A Chast Mayd in Cheape-side,” by Middleton, 1630, p. 62--

”In troth a match, wench: We are simply stock'd with cloth of tissue, cus.h.i.+ons, To furnish out _bay-windows_.”

[209] So in the epilogue to ”Evening Love, or the Mock Astrologer,” by Dryden--

”Up starts a _Monsieur_, new come o'er; and warm In the _French stoop_, and the pull back o' th' arm; Morbleu, dit il,” &c.]

[210] [The sign of an inn there. See x. 212.]

[211] The manner in which houses were marked in which the plague was raging.--_Collier._

[212] The usual manner in which ladies formerly addressed their lovers. See Ben Jonson's ”Every Man in his Humour,” act iv. sc.

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_.]

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