An allufion either to the account of Jael, and Sifera, captain of the hoft of Jabin, who was king of Canaan. [Judges 4th, 21ft. verfe.]

Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went foftly unto him, and fmote the nail "into his temples, and fastened it into the “ground (for he was fast asleep, and weary) and fo he died."

Or more probably to an incident in his own Time.

(a) "Some English comedians acting at Amfterdam, the laft part of the faur fons of

Aymon, where towards the latter end, the "penitent (b) Rinaldo like a common labourer,

living in difguife, vow'd as his last penance, "to carry materials towards the building of a certain church; and being much more ex

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pert and diligent than his fellow labourers, “they conspired against him, and murder'd "him when asleep, by driving a nail into one "of his temples. As the players were acting

this part, the audience heard an out-cry, "and loud fhriek in a remote gallery; and ❝crouding about the place, they perceiv'd a woman of great gravity, highly perplex'd, ❝ and often fighing, and speaking these words:

" Oh

(a) Heywood's Apology for actors. Siga. G. 2. (b) Rabelais feems to refer to part of this ftory in his fifth book." I am refolv'd to do like Renault of Montau"ban, wait on the masons, fet on the pot for the masons, cook for the stone-cutters."

་་་་་

"Ob my husband! my husband! The players "proceeded, and the woman was, removed to "her own houfe, without the least fufpicion.

"Being ill fome days, her friends vifited "her, in hopes of adminiftring fame comfort

to her, and among the reft, the church"warden of the parish in which the lived: "Whilft he was with her, the fexton call'd σε upon him, to let him know, that upon ર opening a grave, he had found a fair fkull, "with a great nail driven through the brain

pan, but could not conjecture how long it "had been buried, or to whom it belong'd. "At the report of this accident, the woman "confefs'd, that it was her husband's skull, "whom she had murder'd about twelve years

before, by driving a nail through it. Upon "which confeffion fhe was publickly arraign'd, ❝ condemn'd, and burnt,"

Chaucer alludes to an incident of the like kind, Wife of Bath's Prologue, 765, &c. T

"Of later date of wivis hath he redd,

"That fome have flain their husbandis in their "bedd,

"And let their lechour dight them all the night "While that the corfe lay on the floor upright, "And fome have drivin nailis in their braine, "Whilis they flepe, and thus they have them flaine.

Sc. 2. Cal. Art thou afraid.] Art thou affeard? fol. edit. 1632.

3

Sc.

Se. 2. p. 55.

Trin. Wilt come? I'll follow Stephano.] I fhould rather think, wilt come? Was spoken by Stephano, To which Trinculo replies, I'll follow Stephano. Anon:

Sc. 3. p. 56.

Gonz. By'r Lakin, I can go no further fir.] Lakin in the north of England, fignifies plaything. And I fhould rather have imagined that Shakespeare wrote By'r lady, an expreffion used by him twice or thrice, Twelfth night, A&t. 2. Sc. 2. And in the first part of King Henry IV. act. 2. In Romeo and Juliet, A&t 1. fc. vi. and elsewhere. Had he not the like expreffion Midfummer Night's Dream, act. 3. fc. 1.

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By'r Lakin a parlous fear.

In a play of Mr. Richard Brome's, intitled, The English Moor, or Mock Marriage, a&t. 4. fcene 3. there is the fame expreffion.

Dyonifia, By Lakin I must not, though I find but weak matter against.

Sc. 3. p. 57.

Seb.

Now I will believe

That in Arabia.

There is one Tree, The Phenix Tree, one
Phenix at this hour reigning there.]

An allufion to a paffage in (a) Pliny. In the vifions of Petrarch, tranflated by Spenfer. St. v.

The

(a) Una earum arbor in chorâ effe traditur, una ét Syagrorum, mirumque de eâ accepimus, de Phænice ave"; quæ putatur ex hujus palmæ argumento, nomen accepiffe,

The Phanix is defcribed in the following man

ner,

"I faw a Phanix in the wood alone,

"With purple wings, and creft of golden hue, "Strange bird he was, by which I thought

anone,

"That of fome heavenly wight I had in view, "Until he came unto the broken tree,

"And to the fpring that late devoured was, "What say I more, each thing at last we fee "Doth pass away; the Phenix there (alas)

Spying the tree deftroy'd, the water dride. "Himself fmote with his beak, as in difdain, "And. fo forthwith in great defpite he dide, "That yet my hearte burns in exceeding pain, "For ruth and pity of fo hapless plight; "O let myne eyes no more fee fuch a fight. See Booke of Philip Sparrow, Skelton's works publish'd 1736, p. 229.

(a) Dio writes, that towards the latter end of Tiberius's reign, "The bird call'd the Phoenix was feen by fome.

Gonz

mori ac renafci ex feipfâ. Plinij. Nat. Hift. lib. 13. cap. 4. De Palmis.

(a) Dion fcribit avem quæ nominatur Phenix, ante poftremum annum Tiberij confpectam fuiffe. Quod fi verum ef, cum Phanix fit pictura renafcentium ex morte, fignificatum eft Chriftum ex morte revixiffe, et doctrinam evangelij fpargi, quæ affirmat mortuos revicturos effe. Chronicorum Carionis, lib. 3. p. 155. edit. fol. 1580.

Sc. 3. p. 58.

Gonz. Faith fir, you need not fear, when we were boys who would believe, that there were mountaineers dew lapt like bulls, whofe throats bad banging to them wallets of fiefb?] An allufion to the following line in Juvenal, Sat. 13. 162. Quis tumidum guttur miratur in alpibus ? Whom midst the Alps do hanging throats furprize!

Dryden. To this Pliny refers, Nat. Hift. 11. 37.

Dr. Mead obferves, [Mechanical account of Poyfons, 2d Edit. p. 183.] "That those mi"neral Bodies, and nitrous falts which abound

in the fnowy waters of the Alps, do fo cer"tainly ftuff and enlarge the glands in the "throats of those that drink them, that scarce any who live there, are exempted from this "inconvenience.

Id. ib. Or that there were fuch men, Whofe beads flood in their breafts] Pliny makes mention of fuch. Blemmijs traduntur capita abeffe, ore et oculis pectore affixis. Nat. Hift. 5.8. Father Harduin's note, Fiunt hodieque genus hominum confpici in occidentali India. Breviffimo collo fortaffis, unde thoraci caput jungi creditum. Vid. Vopifcum in Probo.

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See more, Bulwar's Artificial Changeling, p. 20. Sc. iv. p. 59.

Ariel. And what is in't, the never surfeited fea.] This verfe is overcharg'd with one fyllable, unless furfeited be made a diffyllable, or never, a monofyllable. Anon.