P. 135, 1. 33. Os single-soled jest,] - i. e. slight,

unsolid, feeble. STEEVENS.

This epithet is here used equivocally. It formerly signified mean or contemptible; and that is one of the senses in which it is used here. MALONE.

1. P. 134, l. 3. 4. Nay, goose chase, I have

if thy wits run the wild;). One kind of horseflight of wild-geese,

this n name. Two horses ver rider could

race, which resembled was formerly known by were started together; and which ever get the lead, the other was obliged to follow him over whatever ground the foremost i jockey chose to go. That horse which could distance the other, won the race. See more concerning this diversion in Chambers's Dictionary last edition under the article CRACE.

This barbarous sport is enumerated by Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy, as a much in vogue in his time among

nen. "Riding of great horses, running at ring, tilts and turnaments, horse races, wild-goose chases, the disports of great men." P

are

edit, 1652. fol.

Ummi Astry kept up

This account explains the

between Romeo and his gay compauion. My

wits fail, says Mercutio."

and

spurs, switchur

"Switch and which Mercutio rejoins,

66

briskly

To

Nay, if thy wits rau the wild-goose chace," &c. HOLT WAITE.

P. 154, l. 10. Nay, good goose, bile not.] A proverbial expression, to be found in Ray's Collection, and is used in The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599. STEEVENS.

P. 134, 1. 11. Thy wit is a very bitter sweet ing A bitter sweeting, is an apple of that name

STEVENS..

T. 154,

P. 134, 1. 15. 16. O, here's a wit of cheverel, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad!] Cheverel is soft leather for gloves. JOHNSON.

Cheveril is from chevreuit, roebuck. MUSGRAVE. P. 134, 1. 23-25. for this driveling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole.] It has been observed by Sir J. Hawkins, in a note on All's Well, &c. that a bauble was one of the accoutrements of a licensed fool or jester. So again, in Sir W. D' Avenant's Albovine, 1629: "For such rich widows there love court fools, and use to play with their baubles." STEEVENS.

P. 134, 1. 27. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair.] A contrepoil: Fr. An expression equivalent to one which we now use against the grain." STEEVENS.

P. 134, 1. 32-34. for I was come to the whole depth of my tale: and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer. ] Here we have another wanton allusion. MALONE.

P. 135, 1. 6. My fan Peter.] The business of Peter carrying the Nurse's fan, seems ridiculous according to modern manners; but I find such was formerly the practice. In an old pamphlet called "The Serving-man's Comfort,” 1568, we are in➡ formed, "The mistress must have one to carry her cloake and hood, another her fanne." FARMER. Again, in Love's Labour's Lost:

་

To see him walk before a lady, and to

bear her fan."

Again in Every Man out of his Humour: "If any lady, &c. wants an upright gentleman in the nature of a gentleman-usher, &c. who can hide his face with her fan," &c. STEEVENS.

VOL. XVIII.

24

P. 135, 1. 10. God ye good den.] God give you a good even. The first of these contractions is common among the ancient comick writers. STEEVENS.

P. 155, 1. 12. 13. for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.] In The Puritan Widow, 1607, which has been attributed to our authors is a similar expression: “-- the feskewe of the diall is upon the chrisse-crosse of noon. STEEVENS. 3

P. 135, last 1. Mer. No hare, Sir; unless a hare, Sir, in a lenten pie, that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent.] Mercutio having roared out, So, ho! the cry of the sportsmen when they start a hare, Romeo asks what he has found. And Mercutio answers, No hare, &c. The rest is a series of quibbles unworthy of explana-, tion, which he who does not understand, needs not lament his ignorance. JOHNSON.

So ho! is the term made use of in the field when the hare is found in her seat, and not when she is started. A. C.

P. 136, 1. 1-6. An old hare hoar,&c.] Hoar or hoary, is often used for mouldy, as things grow white from moulding. STEEVENS,

These lines appear to have been part of an old song. In the quarto, 1597, we have here this stage direction:" He walks between them, i. e. the nurse and Peter,] and sings.", MALONE..

P. 136, 1. 10. 11. Farewell, ancient lady; fareavell, lady, lady, lady.] The burthen of an old song. STEEVENS.

P. 136, 1. 13. 14. what saucy merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery?] The term merchant which was, and even now is, frequently applied to the lowest sort of dealers, seems an

ciently to have been used on these familiar occasions in contradistinction to gentleman; signifying that the person showed by his behaviour he was a low fellow.

The term chap, i. e. chapman, a word of the same import with merchant in its less respectable. sense, is still in common use among the vulgar, as a general denomination for any person of whom they mean to speak with freedom or disrespect. STEEVENS. Ropery was anciently used in the same sense as roguery is now. Rope-tricks jare mentioned in another place. STEEVENS.

P. 136, 1. 22. I am none of his skains-mates] None of his skains-mates means, I ap prehend, none of his cut-throat companions.

MALONE.

A skein or skain was either a knife or a short dagger. By skains-mates the nurse means none of his loose companions who frequent the fencingschool with him, where we may suppose the exercise of this weapon was taught.

Mr. M. Mason supposes the Nurse uses skainsmates for kins-mates, and ropery for roguery STEEVENS.

P. 137, l. 12. that you do protest;] Whether the repetition of this word conveyed any idea peculiarly comick to Shakspeare's audience, is not at present to be determined. The use of it, however, is ridiculed in the old comedy of Sir Giles Goose

cap, 1606:

There is not the best Duke's son in France dares say, I protest, till he be one and thirty years old at least; for the inheritance of that word is not to be possessed before." STEEVENS.

P. 137, 1. 25. And bring thee cords made like a takled stair:] Like

stairs of rope in the tackle of a ship. JOHNSON. A stair, for a flight of stairs, is still the language of Scotland, and was probably once common to both kingdoms. MALOne.

P. 137, 1. 26. The top-gallant is the highest extremity of the mast of a

ship.

The expression is common to many writers. STEEVENS. P. 137, last but one 1. Two may keep counsel, putting one away?] This proverb, with a slight variation, has been already introduced in Titus Andronicus. STEEVENS.

P. 138, 1. 9. 10. Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter ?] By this question the nurse means to insinuate that Romeo's image was ever in the mind of Juliet, and that they would be married. Rosemary being conceived to have the power of strengthening the memory, was an emblem of remembrance, and of the affection of lovers, and (for this reason probably,) was worn at weddings.

That rosemary was much used at weddings, appears from many passages in the old plays,

MALONE.

On a former occasion, the author of the preceding note has suspected me of too much refinement. Let the reader judge whether he himself is not equally culpable in the present instance. The Nurse, I believe, is guiltless of so much meaning as is here imputed to her question. STEEVENS. P. 138, 1. 12-14. Nurse. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for the dog. No; I know it begins with some other letter;] It is a little mortifying, that the sense of this odd stuff, when