When the word became stereotyped into an equivalent for procuress or prostitute, the metaphor was often dropped. Thus in _Bart. Fair_, _Wks._ 4. 386: ‘She hath been before me, punk, pinnace and bawd, any time these two and twenty years.’ Gifford says on this passage: ‘The usual gradation in infamy. A _pinnace_ was a light vessel built for speed, generally employed as a tender. Hence our old dramatists constantly used the word for a person employed in love messages, a go-between in the worst sense, and only differing from a bawd in not being stationary.’ A glance at the examples given above will show, however, that the term was much more elastic than this explanation would indicate. The dictionaries give no suggestion of the origin of the metaphor. I suspect that it may be merely a borrowing from classical usage. Cf. _Menaechmi_ 2. 3. 442: Ducit lembum dierectum nauis praedatoria. In _Miles Gloriosus_ 4. 1. 986, we have precisely the same application as in the English dramatists: ‘Haec celox (a swift sailing vessel) illiust, quae hinc agreditur, internuntia.’ =1. 6. 62 th’ are right.= Whalley’s interpretation is, of course, correct. See variants. =1. 6. 73 Not beyond that rush.= Rushes took the place of carpets in the days of Elizabeth. Shakespeare makes frequent reference to the custom (see Schmidt). The following passage from Dr. Bulleyne has often been quoted: ‘Rushes that grow upon dry groundes be good to strew in halles, chambers and galleries, to walk upon, defending apparel, as traynes of gownes and kertles from dust.’ Cf. also _Cyn. Rev._ 2. 5; _Every Man out_ 3. 3. =1. 6. 83 As wise as a Court Parliament.= Jonson refers here, I suppose, to the famous Courts or Parliaments of Love, which were supposed to have existed during the Middle Ages (cf. Skeat, _Chaucer’s Works_ 7. lxxx). Cunningham calls attention to the fact that Massinger’s _Parliament of Love_ was not produced until 1624. Jonson depicts a sort of mock Parliament of Love in the _New Inn_, Act 4. =1. 6. 88 And at all caracts.= ‘I. e., to the nicest point, to the minutest circumstance.’--G. See Gloss. and cf. _Every Man in_, _Wks._ 1. 70. =1. 6. 89, 90 as scarce hath soule, In stead of salt.= Whalley refers to _Bart. Fair_, _Wks._ 4. 446, 7: ‘Talk of him to have a soul! ’heart, if he have any more than a thing given him instead of salt, only to keep him from stinking. I’ll be hang’d afore my time.’ Gifford quotes the passage from B. & Fl., _Spanish Curate_: --this soul I speake of, Or rather salt, to keep this heap of flesh From being a walking stench. W. furnishes a Latin parallel: ‘Sus vero quid habet praeter escam? cui quidem, ne putresceret, animam ipsam pro sale datam dicit esse Chrysippus.’--Cic. _De Natura Deor_, lib. 2.