[180] Agreeable, pleasing. [181] Disdainful.--_T._ [182] [Tear.] [183] See Stowe's "Survey of London," Strype's edition, 1720, vol. I. bk. ii. p. 18. [184] Gate. [185] The name of Chaucer's cock and hen.--_Steevens._ [186] So that this play was written in 1634.--_Pegge._ [187] These rings were sometimes made out of the handles of decayed coffins, and in more ancient times were consecrated at the ceremony of _creeping [to] the cross_, of which an account is given in a note on the "Merry Devil of Edmonton," with reference to the observations of Dr Percy on the "Northumberland Household Book," 1512.--_Steevens._ Cramp-rings were formerly worn as charms for curing of the cramp. See Brookes's "Natural History," vol. i. p. 206.--_Pegge._ Andrew Borde, in his "Book of the Introduction of Knowledge," 1542, says: "The kynges of Englande ... doth halowe every yere _crampe rynges_, the which rynges worne on ones fynger doth helpe them the whyche hath the crampe." Dr Percy, in his notes on the "Northumberland Household Book," speaking of these rings observes "that our ancient kings even in those dark times of superstition, do not seem to have affected to cure the king's evil; at least in the MSS. above quoted there is no mention or hint of any power of that sort. This miraculous gift was left to be claimed by the Stuarts: our ancient Plantagenets were humbly content to cure the _cramp_." I cite this passage merely to remark that the learned editor of the above curious volume has been betrayed into a mistake by the manner in which the _cramp rings_ are mentioned in Mr Anstis's MSS. The power of curing the king's evil was certainly claimed by many of the Plantagenets. The above Dr Borde, who wrote in the time of Henry VIII., says, "The kynges of England, by the power that God hath given to them, doth make sicke men whole of a sickness called the _Kynges Evyll_." In Laneham's "Account of the Entertainment of Kennilworth Castle," it is said, "And also by her highness accustomed mercy and charitee, nyne cured of the paynful and dangerous diseaz called the _King's Evil_, for that kings and queens of this realm withoout oother medsin (save only by handling and prayer) only doo cure it." Polydore Virgil asserts the same, and William Tooker, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, [1597,] published a book on this subject. For the knowledge of this last book I am obliged to Dr Douglas's excellent treatise, called "The Criterion," p. 191, &c. [188] Alluding to the old way of biting the wax, usually red, in sealing deeds.--_Pegge._ The form usually was this-- "And to witness this is sooth, I bite the wax with my wang tooth." See Cowell's "Interpreter," 1607. [189] Better.--_T._ [190] Do.--_T._ [191] An allusion to the effects of water on cloth ill-woven. [192] [A proverb, or bye-word.] [193] _i.e._, Those who write the customary verses during the Lent season at Oxford.--_Steevens._