[114] Not marked in the MS.

[115] “Anythinge for a quiett lyfe”—­a proverbial expression:  the title of one of Middleton’s plays.

[116] So I read at a venture.  The MS. appears to give “Inseinge.”

[117] Not marked in the MS. In the right-hand margin is written “clere,” i.e., clear the stage for the next act.

[118] A fisgig was a sort of harpoon.

[119] “Poore Jhon” = inferior hake.

[120] This and the two following speeches are marked for omission in the MS.

[121] A nickname (from the apostle Peter) for a fisherman.

[122] A small box or portmanteau.

[123] Owns.

[124] This speech and the next are marked for omission.

[125] Fish-baskets.

[126] The rest of the speech is marked for omission.

[127] Bawd.

[128] i.e., Exeunt Palestra, Scribonia, and Godfrey:  manet Ashburne.

[129] In the MS. follows some conversation which has been scored through:—­

    “Fisher.  Yes, syrrahe, and thy mayster.

    Clown.  Then I have nothing at this tyme to do with thee.

    Fisher.  Marry, a good motion:  farewell and bee hangde.

    Clown.  Wee are not so easly parted.—­Is this your man?”

[130] The following passage has been scored through in the MS.: 

    “[Ashb.] Say, whats the stryfe?

    Clown.  Marry, who fyrst shall speake.

    Fisher.  Thats I.

    Clown.  I appeale then to the curtesy due to a stranger.

    Fisher.  And I to the right belonging to a ... what ere he says.”

[131] The MS. is broken away.

[132] Penny.

[133] The date has been scored through in the MS.:  the number after “6” has been turned into “3,” but seems to have been originally “0.”  In the margin “1530” is given as a correction.

[134] Not marked in the MS.

[135] This dialogue between Ashburne and the Clown is closely imitated from Rudens, iv. 6.

[136] The words “Nowe ... scurvy tune” are scored through.

[137] Old form of digest.

[138] The words “will for mee” are a correction in the MS. for “at this tyme.”

[139] The MS. has:—­

    “Hee’s now where hee’s in Comons, wee ... ... 
    Heare on this seate (nay hold your head up, Jhon,
    Lyke a goodd boy), freely discharged our selfes.”

In the first line “Hee’s now where hee’s” has been altered to “Hee’s where hee is,” and the two next lines have been cancelled.

[140] The reader will remember a somewhat similar incident in the Jew of Malta, iv. 3, and in a well-known tale of the Arabian Nights.

[141] In the left-hand margin of the MS. is written “Fry:  Jo:  nod.”—­i.e., Friar John totters from the blow.  Beneath “nod” is the word “arras,” which has been scored through.