Volume Iv Part 98 (1/2)

_False Count_ text:

--who will desert me, Because they find no dry bobs on your Party

_False Count_ note:

_dry bobs._ A bob was a sarcastic jest or jibe. cf. _Sir Giles Goosecappe_ (1606), Act V, i. 'Marry him, sweet Lady, to answere his bitter Bob,' and Buckingham's _The Rehearsal_ (1671), Act III, i, where Bayes cries: 'There's a bob for the Court.' A dry bob (literally = a blow or fillip that does not break the skin) is an intensely bitter taunt, cf. _Cotgrave_ (1611), _Ruade seiche_, a drie bob, jeast or nip. _Bailey_ (1731) has '_Dry Bob_. a Taunt or Scoff'.

p. 302 _Starters._ .... cf. also _The Lucky Chance_, I, i: 'I am no Starter.' (Vol. III, p. 193), and note on that pa.s.sage, p. 485.

_Lucky Chance_ note:

_Starter._ This slang word usually means a milksop, but here it is equivalent to 'a b.u.t.terfly', 'a weatherc.o.c.k'--a man of changeable disposition. A rare use.

Errors and Irregularities: The Widow Ranter

In the Notes, alternation between .' and '. at paragraph-end is as printed. The abbreviation ”cf.” is always lower-case.

Editor's Introduction

and she sinks into his arms to die [his ams]

The Widow Ranter

[Points to _Dull._ _Whim._ _Whiff_, and _Tim._ [_Dull,_ _Whim,_]

[_correction based on ordinary punctuation of this text_]

thy Friend that kept thee Company all the while [taht]

[Goes in. / [All exeunt.

[_bracket before ”All exeunt” added for consistency in e-text_]

Critical Notes

p. 261 _a Bob._ [p 261]

THE YOUNGER BROTHER;

OR, THE AMOROUS JILT.

ARGUMENT.