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Again, in Westward-Hoe, 1606:

"I'll go make ready my rustical properties.” STEEVENS.

365. At the dukes oak we meet—hold, or cut bowstrings.] This proverbial phrase came originally from the camp. When a rendezvous' was appointed, the militia soldiers would frequently make excuse for not keeping word, that their bowstrings were broke, i. e. their arms unserviceable. Hence, when one would give another absolute assurance of meeting him, he would say proverbially-hold, or cut bow-stringsi. e. whether the bow-strings held or broke. For cut is used as a neuter, like the verb frets. As when we say, the string frets, the silk frets, for the passive, it is cut or fretted. WARBURTON.

This interpretation is very ingenious, but somewhat disputable. The excuse made by the militia soldiers is a mere supposition, without proof; and it is well known that while bows were in use, no archer ever entered the field without a supply of strings in his pocket; whence originated the proverb, to have two strings to one's bow. In The Country Girl, a comedy by T. B. 1647, is the following threat to a fiddler:

-fiddler, strike,

"I'll strike you, else, and cut your begging bowstrings."

So, in The Ball, by Chapman and Shirley, 1639:

"have you devices to jeer the rest?

"Luc. All the regiment on 'em, or I'll break my

bowstrings."

The

The bowstrings in both these instances may only mean the strings which make part of the bow with which musical instruments of several kinds are struck. The propriety of the allusion I cannot satisfactorily explain. STEEVENS.

ACT II.

Line 2. OVER hill, over dale, &c] So Drayton in his Court of Fairy:

Thorough brake, thorough brier,

Thorough muck, thorough mire,

7.

Thorough water, thorough fire.

JOHNSON.

-the moones sphere] Unless we suppose this to be the Saxon genitive case (as it is here printed), the metre will be defective. So, in Spenser's Faery Queen, B. III. c. 1. st. 15.

"And eke through feare as white as whales bone."

So, in a letter from Gabriel Harvey to Spenser, 1580: "Have we not God hys wrath, for Goddes wrath, and a thousand of the same stampe, wherein the corrupte orthography in the moste, has been the sole or principal cause of corrupte prosodye in over-many ?"

STEEVENS. .. 9. To dew her orbs upon the green :] For orbs Dr. Grey is inclined to substitute herbs. The orbs here mentioned are the circles supposed to be made by the

C

fairies

fairies on the ground, whose verdure proceeds from the fairy's care to water them. Thus Drayton: They in their courses make that round,

In meadows and in marshes found,

JOHNSON.

Of them so called the fairy ground. Thus in Olaus Magnus de Gentibus Septentrionalibus -similes illis spectris, quæ in multis locis, præsertim nocturno tempore, suum, saltatorium orbem cum omnium musarum concentu versare solent." It appears from the same author, that these dancers always parched up the grass, and therefore it is properly made the office of Puck to refresh it. STEEVENS.

10. The cowslip was a favourite among the fairies. There is a hint in Drayton of their attention to May morning:

-For the queen a fitting tow'r,

Quoth he, is that fair cowslip flow'r.-
In all your train there's not a fay
That ever went to gather May,

11.

But she hath made it in her way,
The tallest there that groweth.

JOHNSON.

In their gold coats spots you see ;] Shakspere, in Cymbeline, refers to the same red spots:

"A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops "I' th' bottom of a cowslip." PERCY.

Perhaps there is likewise some allusion to the habit of a pensioner. See a note on the second act of the Merry Wives of Windsor. STEEVENS.

15. And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.] The same thought occurs in an old comedy call'd The

Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll, 1600; i. e. the same year in which the first printed copies of this play made appearance. An enchanter says,

their

"'Twas I that led you through the painted meads

"Where the light fairies danc'd upon the flowers, "Hanging on every leaf an orient pearl.”

STEEVENS.

16. —lob of spirits,—] Lob, lubber, looby, lobcock, all denote both inactivity of body, and dulness of mind. JOHNSON. Both lob and lobcock are used as terms of contempt in The Rival Friends, 1632.

Again, in the interlude of Jacob and Esau, 1568:

"Should find Esau such a lout or a lob."

Again, in the Knight of the Burning Pestle, by Beaumont and Fletcher: "There is a pretty tale of a witch that had the devil's mark about her, that had a giant to her son, that was called Lob-lye-bye-the-fire.” This being seems to be of kin to the lubbar-fiend of Milton, as Mr. Warton has remarked in his Observations on the Faery Queen. STEEVENS. 23.changeling :] i, e. A child got in exchange.

A Fairy is now speaking.

So Spenser, B. I. c. 10.

REMARKS.

"And her base elfin brood there for thee left,
"Such men do changelings call, so call'd by fairy

theft.

29.

Sheen,] Shining, bright, gay.

So, in Tancred and Guismund, 1592:

Cij

STEEVENS.

JOHNSON.

6-but

-but why

"Doth Phœbus' sister sheen despise thy power?” Again, in the ancient romance of Syr Tryamoure, bl. let. no date:

"He kyssed and toke his leve of the quene,
"And of other ladies bright and shene."

STEEVENS.

30. But they do square ;· -] To square here is to quarrel. The French word contrecarrer has the same import. JOHNSON.

So, in Jack Drum's Entertainment, 1601:

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"That thus I seem to square with modesty. -pray let me go, for he'll begin to square,” &c.

Again, in Promos and Cassandra, 1578:

"Marry she knew you and I were at square,
"And lest we fell to blowes, she did prepare."
STEEVENS.

It is somewhat whimsical, that the glaziers use the words square and quarrel as synonymous terms, for a pane of glass.

BLACKSTONE. -] This account of

34. -Robin Goodfellow. Robin Goodfellow corresponds, in every article, with that given of him. in Harsenet's Declaration, ch. xx. p. 135: "And if that the bowle of curds and creame were not duly set out for Robin Goodfellow, the frier, and Sisse the dairy-maid, why then either the pottage was burnt to next day in the pot, or the cheeses would not curdle, or the butter would not

come,

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