[524] Thunder is supposed to rouse eels from the mud. So Shakespeare--"Thunder shall not so awake the beds of eels." I suppose that Mr. Browning was giving us a piece of Italian folk-lore when he wrote (in _Old Pictures in Florence_):-- "The morn _when first it thunders in March_, The eel in the pond gives a leap, they say." [525] A corruption of _black sanctus_, which seems to have been a burlesque hymn set to a harsh tune, "in ridicule of the _Sanctus_ or Holy, Holy, Holy, of the Romish Missal" (Nares); hence used to express any discordant noise,--as the rude speech of the Scythians. [526] So ed. 1598; and I have kept the form "reverent" (though ed. 1599 reads "reverend"), as it was constantly used for "reverend." [527] "The great man's head"--evidently the name of a tavern. Quy. the Saracen's Head? [528] One of the cautionary towns pledged to the English crown by the States of Holland. [529] Sink of lechery. [530] His face, I suppose, is stuck with plaster, to lead people to imagine that he has been scarred in the wars. [531] Switzers--mercenary soldiers. [532] Tippling. [533] Lust. [534] The pox. [535] See note 2, p. 300. [Transcriber's Note: Footnote [414]] [536] See note 2, vol. ii. p. 337. [537] Fairness. [538] "Rugs or covers were made of 'beever skins,' which Batman calls 'very precious.'"--_Grosart._ [539] _i.e._, exhibiting armorial bearings. [540] In Guilpin's _Skialetheia_, 1598, there is a long list of cosmetics. Juice of lemons is mentioned:-- "They [the gallants] were plain asses if they did not know Quicksilver, _juice of lemons_, borax too, Alum, oil tartar, whites of eggs, and galls. Are made the bawds to morphew, scurfs, and scalls." [541] So ed. 1598.--Ed. 1599 "sleeves." [542] See note 2, vol. 1. p. 31. [543] Ancient was the name for the (1) standard, (2) the standard-bearer. Here it has the first meaning; but I cannot find that Dutch standards were particularly tawdry. [544] "Port Esquiline"--the jakes. PROEMIUM IN LIBRUM TERTIUM.