THE DEVIL IS AN ASS.

(Vol. v.]

ACT I.

SCENE 2.-P. 20.

“ 'fore hell, my heart was at my mouth, 'Till I had view'd his shoes well : for those roses

Were big enough to hide a cloven foot.” The present play was first acted in 1616. In Webster's White Devil, which was printed in 1612, we find;

“ why, 'tis the devil ; I know him by a great rose he wears on's shoe, To hide his cloven foot." Works, i. 132, ed. Dyce.

ACT IV.

SCENE 3.-P. 126.

Madam, this young Wittipol
Would have debauch'd my wife, and made me cuckold
Thorough a casement; he did fly her home
To mine own window; but, I think, I sous'd him,
And ravish'd her away out of his pounces.”

All the copies of the folio which I have examined, read sou’t, of which I can make nothing but sought or sousd; and I prefer the latter. Whalley reads fought; but he evidently had not consulted the old copy.” GIFFORD.

There can be no doubt that “sou’t” is merely the old spelling of “shu’d,” —i. e. scared away.' “ To shue. To scare or fright away fowls.” Jamieson's Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. “ Shu, a term to frighten poultry.” Gloss. of Lancashire Words in The Works of Tim Bobbin.

ACT V.

SCENE 4.-P. 146.

“ Thou hast been cheated on, with a false beard,

And a turn'd cloke.”

U

There ought to be no point after “on;" for “cheated on" means simply 'cheated.' The same mode of expression continued till Mrs. Centlivre's time: in her Wonder, Don Felix says to Violante;

“ 'Sdeath, could not you have imposed upon me for this one night ? could neither my faithful love, nor the hazard I have run to see you, make me worthy to be cheated on ?” Act ii. sc. 1.

THE STAPLE OF NEWS.

(Vol. v.]

ACT I.

SCENE 1.-P. 181.

Did I not tell you I was bred in the mines,

Under sir Bevis Bullion ?"
Here Gifford has no note.

The name Sir Bevis Bullion contains an evident allusion to Sir Bevis Bulmer, - a well-known personage of those days, who, I believe, was superintendent of the Royal Mines, or at least had some situation connected with them.

Prince, in the “Proemium" to The Worthies of Devon, mentions that that “ famous artist," Sir Bevis Bulmer, Kt., by his excellent skill in minerals, extracted a great quantity of silver from the Combe-Martin mines, a portion of which he caused to be made into two cups in 1593, and presented them, inscribed with verses, -the one to William Bourchier, Earl of Bath,—the other (weighing 137 ounces) to Sir Richard Martin, Lord Mayor of London, " to continue to the said city for ever.” pp. 2, 3, ed. 1701.

Among the Free Gifts paid out of the Exchequer, we find-in 1603-4 to “ Master Bevis Bullmere £100”-in 1607-8 to “ Sir Bevis Bulmere £100" — in 1608-9 to “ Sir Bevis Bulmere £500.” Nichols's Prog. of King James, i. 426, ii. 191, 246. — For other notices of Sir Bevis, see Lansdowne MSS., 148 fol. 25,- 156 fol. 419,- 162 fols. 138, 142,-169 fol. 166.

SCENE 2.-P. 196.

· P. jun. Fear me not; for since I came
Of mature age, I have had a certain itch
In my right eye, this corner here, do you see ?
To do some work, and worthy of a chronicle."

Jonson, as usual, was thinking of the classics ; "Αλλεται οφθαλμός μεν ο δεξιός.

Theocr. Idyl. iii. 37.

ACT V.

SCENE 1.-P. 291.

6

our grave governor Into a subtler air, and is return'd,

As we do hear, grand captain of the jeerers." “i. e. gone back to his former situation, &c. This is sufficiently harsh.” GIFFORD.

Qy. is the word used here in the same sense in which we speak of a candidate being returned member to Parliament?

THE MAGNETIC LADY.

(Vol. vi.]

P. 123.

Alexander Gill's verses Uppon Ben Johnson's Magnetick Ladye.”

Are printed here with strange inaccuracy: a correct copy of them may be found in Dr. Bliss's ed. of Wood's Ath. Oxon. vol. ii. 598 (where they are attributed to the elder Alex. Gill, -a mistake which Dr. Bliss afterwards rectifies in vol. iii. 44).