( "Ob my husband! my husband! The players proceeded, and the woman was removed to "her own houfe, without the leaft fufpicion. "Being ill fome days, her friends vifited "her, in hopes of adminiftring fome comfort to her, and among the reft, the church"warden of the parish in which she lived: "Whilft he was with her, the fexton call'd upon him, to let him know, that upon 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 fkull, "whom the 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. "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 af'raid.] Art thou affeard? fol. edit. 1632. 3 >Sc. .Sc. 2. p. 56. Trin. Wilt come? I'll follow Stephano.] I should rather think, wilt come? Was spoken by Stepbano, 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 should rather have imagined that Shakespeare wrote By'r lady, an expreffion used by him twice or thrice, Twelfth night, A&. 2. Sc. 2. And in the first part of King Henry IV. act. 2. In Romeo and Juliet, Act 1. fc. vi. and elsewhere. Had he not the like expression MidSummer Night's Dream, act. 3. fc. I. "By'r Lakin a parlous fear. In a play of Mr. Richard Brome's, intitled, The English Moor, or Mock Marriage, act. 4. scene 3. there is the fame expreffion. Dyonifia. By Lakin I must not, though I find but weak matter against. There is one Tree, The Phanix Tree, one 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 et Syagrorum, mirumque de eâ accepimus, de Phoenice 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 હે 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 fay I more, each thing at last we fee "Doth pass away; the Phanix there (alas) ઠંડ Spying the tree deftroy'd, the water dride "Himfelf fmote with his beak, as in difdain, "And fo forthwith in great despite 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, Ganz. 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 confpe&tam fuiffe. Quod fi verum eft, cum Phenix 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 flesh? An allufion to the following line in Juvenal, Sat. 13. 162. Quis tumidum guttur miratur in alpibus? Whom midft 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 thofe mi"neral Bodies, and nitrous falts which abound "in the fnowy waters of the Alps, do fo cer"tainly stuff and enlarge the glands in the "throats of thofe that drink them, that scarce any who live there, are exempted from this "inconvenience. Id. ib.- Or that there were fuch men, Whofe beads ftood 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. See more, Bulwar's Artificial Changeling, p. 20. r: Sc. iv. p. 59. Ariel. And what is in't, the never furfeited fra.] This verfe is overcharg'd with one fyllable, unless furfeited be made a diffyllable, or never, a monofyllable. Anon. One down that's in my Plume.] One dowle, Edit. 1632. Baily fays, Dowle is a feather, or rather the fingle particles of the downe, and in proof refers to Shakespeare, I fuppofe to this paffage, in the old editions. 'Id. ib. Gonz. All three of them are defprate, their great guilt like Poison given to work a great time after, now 'gins to bite the fpirits.] The Italians and Spaniards are famous for mixing of poifons, which work by flow degrees: and kill at a certain distance of time: He may here poffibly allude to Squier's confpiracy against queen Elizabeth, in the year 1598, to fave himfelf from being burnt in the Inquifition for a Heretick, "He was easily induced to turn Papist, " and afterwards to attempt any wicked act for "the Catholick caufe. His ghoftly father taught "him, that it would be a very meritorious act to destroy the Queen and the earl of Effex; "and fent him into England with a peculiar poyfon, to anoint the pummel of the queen's faddle, and the chair where the earl of Effex "should fit, which he exactly perform'd, but "neither of them took effect." Echard's Hiftory of England, Vol. 1. p. 889. Act. 4. fc. 1. Profpero to Ferdinand. |