'I doe speake _English_ When I'de move pittie; when dissemble, _Irish_; _Dutch_ when I reele; and tho I feed on scalions _If I should brag Gentility I'de gabble Welch_.' [203] Cf. Day's _Parliament of Bees_, Character 4. [204] 'Estridge' is the common form of 'ostrich' among the Elizabethans (I Henry IV., iv. 1, &c). [205] "Poire d'angoisse. _A choke-Peare; or a wild soure Peare_." Cotgrave. [206] 4to. Moble. [207] Quy. head. [208] "Prick-song"--"harmony written or pricked down, in opposition to plain-song, where the descant rested with the will of the singer." Chappell's _Popular Music_, &c., I. 51. [209] The keys of the 'virginal' were called 'Jacks.' For a description of the 'virginal' see Mr. Chappell's _Popular Music_, &c. I, 103. [210] 'Coranta' i.e. curranto, news-sheet: Ben Jonson's 'Staple of News' gives us a good notion of the absurdities that used to be circulated. [211] 'Linstocke' (or, more correctly, 'lint-stock')--a stick for holding a gunner's match. [212] Toot--to pry into: 'tooter' was formerly the name for a 'tout' (vid. Todd's Johnson). [213] 'Aphorisme. _An Aphorisme (or generall rule in Physicke)_.' Cotgrave. [214] 4to. creaking. [215] Rosemary was used at marriages and funerals. [216] Day dedicates his _Humour out of Breath_ to 'Signeor Nobody': 'Signeor No,' the shorter form, is not unfrequently found (e.g. _Ile of Guls_, p. 59--my reprint). To whatever advantage _No_ may have appeared on the stage, he certainly is a pitiful object in print. [217] _Baltazar's_ notions of Geography are vague. A most interesting account of Bantam, the capital of Java, may be seen in Vol. v. of Hakluyt's 'Collection of early Voyages,' ed. 1812. It occurs in the _Description of a Voyage made by certain Ships of Holland to the East Indies &c. ... Translated out of Dutch into English by W.P. London_. 1589. 'The towne,' we are told, 'is not built with streetes nor the houses placed in order, but very foule, lying full of filthy water, which men must passe through or leap over for they have no bridges.' For the people--'it is a very lying and theevish kind of people, not in any sort to be trusted.' [218] The 'magical weed' I take to be hemlock; cf. Ben Jonson's _Masque of Queens_-- 'And I have been plucking, plants among, Hemlock, henbane, adders-tongue Night-shade, moon-wort, libbard's bane And twice, by the dogs, was like to be ta'en.' [219] The poisoned 'Spanish fig' acquired considerable notoriety among the early Dramatists: cf. Webster, _White_ Devil (p. 30, ed. Dyce, 1857.) 'I do look now for a _Spanish fig_ or an Italian salad daily': Dekker. (iv. 213, Pearson) 'Now doe I looke for a fig': whether Pistol's allusion (Henry V, iii. 6) is to the poisoned fig may be doubted. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Old English Plays, Vol. I, by Various