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Sc. 5. p. 260.

Slender

You are afraid, if you

fee the bear loofe, are you nat?

Anne. Ay, indeed Sir.

Slend. That's meat and drink to me now; I have feen Seckerfon loofe twenty times, and have taken bim by the chain.

The author of the comedy of Sir Giles Goofe Cap, feems to have borrowed the character of his hero, from this of Slender.

In the third act fpeaking of his dog.

Goofe Cap. "I would rather have loft the "dearest friend that I ever lay with in my life, "be this light, never ftir if he fought not with

great Seckerfon four hours to one, foremoft "take up hindmost, and took so many loaves "from him, that he starv'd him presently. So "that at laft, the dog could do no more than a "bear could do: and the bear being heavy "with hunger you know, fell upon the dog, "broke his back, and the dog never stirr'd any EC more.

Sc. 8. p. 265.

Nym. I have operations in my head.] In my bead not in folio 1632.

Sc. 9. p. 266. Quickly of John Rugby.

His worst fault is, that he is given to pray'r Quickly was of the mind of the chaplain's boy of a man of war, who being fent "on an errand to the chaplain of another Thip, "the two boys conferring notes about their manner of living. How often, faid one, do 66 you

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you go to prayers? Why faid the other,

only in cafe of a storm, or any great danger. "Ay, faid the first, there's fome sense in that; "but my mafter makes us pray, when there is

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no more reason for it, than for my leaping "over-board.

Sc. 9. p. 266.

Simple. He bath but a little wee face.] Wee in the Northern dialect, fignifies very little. "The quene aftonyft ane little we

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"At the first sicht, behalding his. bewte. Gavin Douglass's Virgil, p. 32. edit. 1710. Sc. 10. p. 267..

Caius. Go and vetch me in my closet un boitier verd.] Unboyteene verd, Folio 1632. but wrong. For boitier in French, fignifies a cafe of furgeon's inftruments.

Sc. ib. p. 268.

Caius. Bugby Baillez me fome paper.] Mr. Theobald's emendation, Ballow me fome paper. edit. 1632. But I fhould rather imagine he wrote allez, or aller, the fame with Querir. Fetch me my hat. Allez. See Fetch Boyer's Dictionaire, Tome Second.

Id. ib. p. 269.

Caius. Begar I will kill the jack prieft, and I have appointed myne boft of the jarlterre to measure our weapons.] Alluding to the custom in trials allow'd by law, where fearch used to be made by the attending knights, before the combat, of the equality of their weapons; which were at the defendant's election, provided he confin'd

his choice, between antient, ufual and military. [Selden's Duello, chap. 11.]

And Segar fays, [See his book intitled. Of Honour Military and Civil, lib. 3. chap. 17.1 "That the constable and marshall did furvey the "lances and weapons, wherewith the combat was perform'd, making them equal, and of “even measure.

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Tho' these rules were laid down in ancient times, yet notwithstanding, treachery was fometimes used, as in the difpute betwixt the Mytelenians and Athenians about Sigeum, a promontory near Troy, called now Janizari. (a) Pittacus the Mytelenian general killed Phryno the general of the Athenians: For the matter being referr'd to their fingle combat, and it being agreed, that they should ufe the like weapons, which were viewed before they engaged, Pittacus carried a net fecretly with his buckler, which he threw over the other, and by that means intangled him, fo that he easily overcame him. Act 2. fc. 2. p. 273.

Mrs. Page. What, thou eft Sir Alice Ford, these knights will back, and so thou should't not alter the article of thy gentry.] i. e. Thefe foe knights will back, (i. e. proftitute themselves for hire) and fo (fo is an illative particle here fignifying therefore, or for that reafon) thou should't not alter the article of thy gentry. (i e. Thou

Dr. Cockburn's Hiftory of Duels, p. 55. (from Diogenes Laertius, lib. 1. vit. Pittaci) where more inftances are to be met with.

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fhould'ft continue plain Mrs Ford ftill, and not accept the knighthood, because of the fcandal attending it, or the infamy fuch knights will be under. Touching which, fee the 2d. part of Henry the IVth. act 5. fc. 6. p. 308. Beadle to Dol Tear Sheet. "Come come, you she knight 66 errant, come. Mr. Smith.

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Theag. "I look my wife within these three days fhall be knighted.

Meleag. "And I that mine may be made a "colonel.

See Amorous war, a Tragi-Comedy. By Jaf per Mayne. A&t 1. fc. 4.

And Lady-Errant, aTragi-Comedy. Published amongst his works, 1651. by Mr. W. Cartwright.

There was an order of feminine cavaliers [or knights] of the Torch in Tortefa, which was occafioned by the following incident.

"Don Raymond laft Earl of Barcelona, (wha

by a marriage with Petronilla, only daughter, “and heir of King Ramire the monk, united "that principality to the kingdom of Aragon) "having in the year 1149, gained the city of

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Tortofa from the Moors, they on the gift. of "December following, laid a new fiege to that << place, for the recovery of it out of the Earl's "hands. The inhabitants being at length re"duced to great ftreights, defired relief of the "Earl, but he not being in a condition to give "them any, they entertain'd fome thoughts of "making a furrender : which the women hearing "of, to prevent the difafter threatning their

"city, themselves and children put on men's "cloaths, and by a refolute fally, forced the "Moors to quit the siege,

The Earl finding himself obliged by the gallantry of the action, thought fit to make "his acknowledgments thereof, by granting "them several privileges and immunities: and "to perpetuate the memory thereof, inftituted

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an order, somewhat like a military order, into "which were admitted only thefe brave women, 66 deriving the honour to their discendants, and "affigned them for a badge, a thing like a friar's

capouche, fharp at the top, after the form of a torch, and of a crimson colour, to be worn 66 upon their head cloaths. He alfo ordained, "that at all publick meetings, the women "fhould have the precedence of the men; that "they should be exempted from all taxes; and "that all the apparel and jewels, though of "never fo great value, left by their dead huf"bands, fhould be their own.

These women having thus acquired this "honour by their perfonal valour, carried "themselves after the manner of military "knights of those days."

Afbmole's Hiftory of the order of the Garter; chap. 3. Sect. 3.

The heroines amongst the Romans, or fhe gladiators, tho' many of noble rank, were far from deferving any fuch honour.

See a Defcription of them in the Sixth Satire of Juvenal.

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