-Act 4,9fc60 Servant speaking of Autolicus the pedlar.

oServ He hath ribbons of all the colours of the rainbow, &c.] Mr. Tho. Randolph, in his Pedlar, annex'd to Ariftippus, or the Jovial Philofopher, pro3 bir thus defcribes his pedlar.. He is the individuum vagum, or

2

mum mo

"5 bile of a tradefman, a walking burfe, or Gor "moveable exchange, a Socratical citizen of "the vast universe, or a peripatetick journey"man, like another Atlas, carries his heavenly "fhop upon his fhoulders."

Act 4. fc. 6. p. 345% myn

66

Autol Here's another ballad of a fifb that appear'd upon the coast on Wednesday the fourfcore of April, and fung this ballad against the hard bearts of maids. It was thought she was a woman, and was turn'd into a cold fifh, for he would not exchange flesh with one that loved her.] By the cold fish is either meant the torpedo, "which no man can take into his hand whilft "alive; for it filleth the hand and arm with "pain, as if every joint would go afunder." (Purchas, his Pilgrims, laft vol. p. 1546.) The numbness occafioned by touching this fish is differently accounted for. The ancients were contented with afcribing in general a torpific quality in this fish, but later ages, not fo eafily fatisfied, have endeavour'd to fearch out the true caufe. The first opinion is, that the effect depends upon an infinite number of corpufcles, iffuing continually out of the fish

BA

but

but more plentifully under fome circumstances than others: This had, and ftill hath its pa trons, being receiv'd by that ingenious natura→› lift Redi. But Monfieur Reaumur's folution may be better. Who informs us, that it is oc cafioned by the make of the fish, the back of which is generally convex, but this convexity, it can diminish at pleasure, and even make it concave. This is always the cafe when any one is about touching it, so that by inftantaneoufly becoming convex again, a very fmart blow is given to the perfon who touches it. Vide Reaumur...

Or he may mean the cold eel at Surinam, of which the late Reverend Mr. Smith (in his Natural Hiftory of Nevis, publifh'd 1745, p. 100.) gives the following remarkable ac count. "Captain Dagget affur'd me" (as other perfons of known veracity have done) “that a

cold eel being drawn out of the river, and "fhook out of the net upon a plot of grafs, "the natives, and other perfons prefent, re"fufed to touch it, till at laft a fool-hardy "European failor (who it feems was an infidel "in that refpect) refolv'd to venture the tak"ing of it up, in defiance of all perfua, "fions to the contrary. But alas! he paid "dear for his want of faith For no fooner “had he grasp'd it in his hand, than he inftantly dropp'd down in a fwooning fit, his eyes were fix'd in his head, his face turn'd pale, and even livid, and it was with diffi

culty

“culty enough that they brought him to his «fenfes again. The beft account that she "could give of the matter, was, that the very "moment he grafp'd hold of it, the cold from! "teran swiftly up his arm into his body, and pierc'd him to the heart, fo as to dea "prive him of all fenfeos yliczaniaj nya skalw * Se. 7. p. 3480s su Florizet, du

issiq 38 althÁrb med 1 take thy band, this band As foft as dove's down, and as white as itgada. ei Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd fnow, o That's bolted with the northern blast twice o'er.]d He has an image not much unlike this, in the Midfummer Night's Dream, A&t 3. Demetrius (awaking), Helen, goddess, nymph perfect divine,

To what mine love thall I compare thine fortaa keyne??bruns 247

*Crystal is muddy; O how ripe in fhow, Thy lips thofe kiffing cherrys, tempting alang grows zog.

IJR

That pure congealed white, high Taurus you-ks.fnow, 38. He damos a la Fann'd by the Eastern wind, turns to a crow, When thou hold'ft up thy hand.” 15 11: -See Spenfer's Prothalamion, p. 1254. bingAct. 4. fc. 8. p. 352. uro? alt u 15 Shepherd to Prince Florizel, arti

Shep. You have undone a man of four core threes That thought to fill his grave with quiet; yea, To die upon the bed my father dy'd

To lye clofe by his boneft bones but now long valua

Some

Some bangman must put on my shroud, and lay me Where no priest shovels in the dust. O cursed wretch.] Meaning, that he should be buried under the gallows, without the burial fervice,

In the Greek church, the putting earth upon the body was thought abfolutely neceffary, and the (a) priest enjoyn'd to do it in the form of a cross; and in the Popish office, before the Reformation, (b) the priest, or perfon officiating, was order'd to put earth upon the body of the deceafed in the form of a crofs, with other ceremonies. And by the Rubrick in the firft Liturgy of King Edward the Sixth, 1549, (to which Shakespeare probably alludes) there was the following direction. "And then the

"

priest cafting earth upon the corps, fhall fay, "I commend thy foul to God the Father Almighty, "and thy body to the ground, earth to earth, &c.” In the Review of the Liturgy in 1552, it was alter'd, and order'd by the Rubrick, "That

the earth fhould be caft upon the body, by fome ftanding by, &." and has fo continu> ed in all our Common Prayer Books, to this time.

(a) Goar's Eucholog. Offic. Exequ. p. 538.

(6) Finitis Orationibus Executor Officii Terram fuper Corpus in Modum Crucis ponat; & corpus Thurificet, & Aquâ Benedictâ afpergat; et dum fequens Pfalmus. Canitur corpus omnino cooperiatur, cantore incipiente &c. Inhumatio Defundi. Manual. ad ufum Ecclefiæ Sarifburiens, 1530. fol. 139

A&

*** A&t 4. fc. 10. p. 357. bs Autolicus,

Sold all my trumpery, not a counterfeit ftone, Not a ribbon, glass, pomander.] A pomander was a little round ball made of perfumes, and worn in the pocket, or about the neck, to prevent infection in times of plague.

60d bas

In a tract, intitled, Certain neceffary Directi ons, as well for the curing the plague, as for preventing infection, printed 1636, there are directions for making two forts of pomanders, one for the rich, and another for the poor. That for the rich, as follows: Take citron "pills, angelica feeds, zedoary, red rofe leaves,

of each half a drachm; yellow fanders, lig"num aloes, of each one fcruple; Gallie

mofchate four fcruples; ftorax, calamint, "benzoni, of each one drachm; camphire fix **grains, labdanum three drachms, gum tra

gacanth, diffolved in rofe water, enough to "make it up into a pomander; put thereto fix **drops of spirit of roses, inclose it in an ivory * box, or wear it about your neck."

The very fame direction in a tract, intitled, The Advice of the Phyficians, as well for the cure of the plague, as for preventing infection. 1665. See Directions II, 12.

A& 4. fc. II. p. 363.

Autolicus to the Clown.

Aut. Not be alone fhall fuffer what wit can make heavy, and vengeance bitter; but those that ere Germane to him, tho' remov'd fifty times,

fall