[67] The host was probably box-keeper or groom-porter; and it appears by an extract from the _Monthly Mirror_ (quoted by Mr Gifford), that "if the caster throws three mains, or wins by throwing three times successively, he pays to the box-keeper, for the use of the house, a stipulated sum." It was probably these profits that the host directs them to look to; or that in our poet's time, or at a different game, a regular percentage might have been paid to the box-keeper on the money staked; or the host might have been banker, and staked against the players, as now at Rouge-et-Noir, and some other games, I believe. [68] It is perhaps unnecessary to notice that Stephen puns between the _quatre_ and _trey_ on the dice, and the _cater_ or _caterer_ who buys the provisions, and the _tray_ in which it is brought home. [69] [_i.e._, bogie. See "Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," iii. 330.] [70] Stephen means, perhaps, that but one shilling was left of the forty his nephew had supplied him with. [71] _Fullam_ or Fulham was a well-known name for false dice. One of the cheats therefore sneeringly asks if one of the dice was Fulham, which of them was Putney, as Putney is on the Thames immediately opposite to Fulham. [72] Robert puns on the word _tester_, which signifies the cover of a bed as well as a sixpence. [73] There was formerly a prison at Moorgate as well as at Ludgate; though Stephen means, I conceive, that the next time she would see him would be when attracted to that spot to see _the operation of ducking performed on her as a scold_. The ditch, as appears from Stow, was called _deep ditch_; but whether celebrated for exhibitions of this nature or not, I cannot say. It is mentioned in the "First Part of Henry IV." [74] That a _wisp_ was in some way made use of for the punishment or exposure of a scold, is evident from the notes on a passage in the "Third Part of Henry VI.," ii. 2. From the verses quoted by Malone, it seems probable that the wearing of the wisp was in some way connected with, or made part of, the ceremony of the skimmington. [See "Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," ii, 128.] [75] The clown alludes to the _then_ manner of choosing the king and queen on Twelfth Day, which was as follows. With the ingredients of which the cake or cakes, for there was probably one for each sex, were composed, a _bean_ and _pea_ were mixed up, and the two persons who were so fortunate as to find these in their respective portions were declared king and queen for the night. Thus in Herrick's "Hesperides"-- "Now, now, the mirth comes. With the cake fall of plums, Where _bean's_ the _king of the sport here;_ Besides we must know, The _pea_ also Must revel, _as queen_, in the court here."