Volume I Part 67 (1/2)

p. 198 _Plymouth Cloaks._ Obsolete slang for a cudgel 'carried by one who walked _en cuerpo_, and thus facetiously a.s.sumed to take the place of a cloak'. Fuller (1661), _Worthies_, 'Devon' (1662), 248, 'A Plimouth Cloak. That is a Cane or a Staffe whereof this the occasion. Many a man of good Extraction comming home from far Voiages, may chance to land here [at Plymouth] and being out of sorts, is unable for the present time and place to recruit himself with Cloaths. Here (if not friendly provided) they make the next Wood their Draper's shop, where a Staffe cut out, serves them for a covering'. Ray, _Prov._ (1670), 225, adds, 'For we use when we walk _in cuerpo_ to carry a staff in our hands but none when in a cloak'.

_N.E.D._, which also quotes this pa.s.sage of _The Rover._ cf.

Davenant:--

Whose cloak, at Plymouth spun, was crab-tree wood.

p. 199 _Alb.u.m Graec.u.m._ The excrement of dogs and some other animals which from exposure to air and weather becomes whitened like chalk.

It was formerly much used in medicine.

+Act V: Scene iiib+

p. 209 _Guzman Medicines._ Trashy, worthless medicines. In _The Emperor of The Moon_, Act iii, 2, 'Guzman' is used as a term of abuse to signify a rascal. The first English translation (by James Mabbe) of Aleman's famous romance, _Vida del Picaro Guzman d'Alfarache_, is, indeed, ent.i.tled _The Rogue_, and it had as running t.i.tle _The Spanish Rogue._ There is a novel by George Fidge ent.i.tled _The English Gusman; or, the History of that Unparallel'd Thief James Hind._ (1652, 4to.)

p. 209 _Copper Chains._ In allusion to the trick played by Estifania on the churlish Cacafogo in Fletcher's _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife._ He lends her 1000 ducats upon trumpery which she is pa.s.sing off as rich gems, and when later he scents the cozenage, he bawls out:--

Plague of her jewels, and her copper chains, How rank they smell!

--(Act v, 2.)

The phrase became proverbial for shams.

p. 211 _disimbogue._ This word is generally used of the waters of a river or the outlet of a lake pouring into the open sea.

p. 212 _by Play-Bill, summon'd here._ In Restoration times one method of announcing the next day's performance to the public was by putting out bills on posts in the streets adjacent to the theatre.

There are allusions to this in Pepys, 24 March, 1662 and 28 July, 1664. The whole subject has been exhaustively treated by Mr. W. J.

Lawrence in 'The Origin of the Theatre Programme'-- _The Elizabethan Playhouse_ (Second Series).

+Epilogue+

p. 213. _greasing._ Flattery. Settle's post as City Poet, it is well known, did not bring him in any great emoluments. He was, in fact, desperately poor, and even volunteered to join King James' army at Hounslow Heath. In old age he was reduced to writing drolls performed in a Bartholomew Fair booth kept by one Mrs. Minns and her daughter, Mrs. Leigh. He himself acted in these wretched farces, and on one occasion, in _St. George for England_, appeared as a dragon in a green leather case. Eventually he obtained admission to the Charterhouse, where he died 24 February, 1724.

Errors and Irregularities: The Rover, Part II

the Arbitrary Tyranny _text reads ”Tryanny”_ Enter ... follow'd by _Ariadne_ and _Lucia_.

_printed ”_Ariadne_ and _Lucia_” with ”and” sharing emphatic type_ _Aria._ How prove ye that, good Mr. Philospher?

_spelling unchanged_ Feth. _Have you heard of a _Spanish_ Lady ..._ [Singing.

_speaker's name is in Roman type while he is singing a song printed in italics_ _stage direction in same pa.s.sage not italicized_ [_Lucia_ above and _Ariadne_.]

_anomalous close bracket in original_ _Will._ Love knows no Ceremony, no respect _text reads ”repect”_ [_Lucia_ squeaks within, crying, help, help.

_text unchanged_