_Richard Carew_ (1555-1620) was a poet and antiquarian, and for a time high sheriff of Cornwall. =Page 186.=--_Pageants._ The word in Shakespeare's day was generally applied to theatrical entertainments. _Play the woman's part._ Female parts were played by boys or young men until after the middle of the 17th century. Samuel Pepys, in his _Diary_, under date of January 3, 1660, writes: "To the Theatre, where was acted 'Beggar's Brush,' it being very well done; and here the first time that ever I saw women come upon the stage." Again, under February 12, 1660, he records a performance of _The Scornful Lady_, adding: "now done by a woman, which makes the play appear much better than ever it did to me." _Made her weep a-good._ That is, heartily. _Passioning._ Grieving, lamenting. Compare _Venus and Adonis_, 1059: "Dumbly she passions," etc. =Page 190.=--_Steevens._ George Steevens (1736-1800) was an eccentric but accomplished editor and critic. "He was often wantonly mischievous, and delighted to stumble for the mere gratification of dragging unsuspicious innocents into the mire with him. He was, in short, the very Puck of commentators." _John Heywood_ (1500?-1580) was a dramatist and epigrammatist. His interludes "prepared the way for English comedy," the characters having some individuality instead of being mere walking virtues and vices. Of these plays _The Four P's_ (printed between 1543 and 1547) is the best known. The characters that give it the name are a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Potecary (apothecary) and a Pedlar. A _palmer_ was a pilgrim to the Holy Land, so called from the palm-branch he brought back in token of having performed the journey. A _pardoner_ was a person licensed to sell papal indulgences, or _pardons_. _No night is now_, etc. The quotation is from _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_, ii. 1. 102. =Page 191.=--_Housen._ An obsolete plural of _house_, formed like _oxen_, etc. =Page 192.=--_The offices._ The rooms in an old English mansion where provisions are kept; that is, the pantry, kitchen, etc. _Waes-hael._ Anglo-Saxon for "Be hale (whole, or well)," equivalent to "Here's to your health." _Wassail_ is a corruption of this salutation, which from this meaning was transferred to festive gatherings where it was used, and then to the liquor served on such occasions--generally, spiced ale.