[296] Every copy mentions Fabel as entering at this time, and just afterwards he speaks; but Mr Reed by some accident omitted his name in the proper place.--_Collier._
[297] _Lippit_. But see Nares, 1859, _v._ Tippet.
[298] Mr Reed was again indebted to the "unworthy" copy of 1655 for the introduction of the name of Harry instead of Ralph, as it is found in the previous editions.--_Collier._
[299] Instances of this word, which means almost the same as _scramble_, are given in a note on Shakespeare's "King Henry V.," sc. 1, edit. 1778.--_Steevens._
[300] Hungarian was a cant term then frequently in use. See Mr Steevens's note on "The Merry Wives of Windsor," act i. sc. 3. Mr Tollet ohserves that "the _Hungarians_, when infidels, overran Germany and France, and would have invaded England if they could have come to it. See Stowe in the year 930, and Holinshed's 'Invasions of Ireland,' p. 56. Hence their name might become a proverb of baseness." [Compare p. 227 _ante_.]
[301] The &c., means, of course, that Sir John repeats his old saying--"We are all mortal; we'll live till we die, and be merry, and there's an end."--_Collier._
[302] _Curfew_ is derived from two French words, _couvrir_, _i.e._, _tegere_, and _feu_, _i.e._, _ignis_. William the Conqueror, in the first year of his reign, commanded that in every town and village a bell should be rung every night at eight o'clock, and that all people should put out their fire and candle and go to bed. The ringing of a bell in the evening is in many places till called ringing the Curfew Bell.
[303] [Compare "Old English Jest Books," i. 31.]
[304] See note to "Grim the Collier of Croydon," [vii. 426.]
[305] [A nautical term for tacking about. See Halliwell's "Dict.," in v.]
[306] The edits., of 1617, 1626, 1631, call them Sir _Ralph_ Clare and Sir _Arthur_ Jerningham.--_Collier._
[308] Probably we ought to read, _Now bear with me_.--_Collier_. This is hardly satisfactory, yet the true reading is difficult to guess at.
[310] [Edits., _Jenert's bank_, which Steevens defends and explains. Mine Host, it should be observed, talks much at random; but surely _Jenert's bank_ is rank nonsense.]
"I once suspected this passage of corruption, but have found reason to change my opinion. The merry Host seems willing to assemble ideas expressive of _trust and confidence_. The old quartos begin the word _jenert_ with a capital letter, and therefore we may suppose _Jenert's bank_ to have been the shop of some banker, in whose possession money could be deposited with security. The Irish still say, as sure as _Burton's Bank_; and our own countrymen, as safe as the _Bank of England_. We might read my _house_, instead of my _horse_, as the former agrees better with _castle_. The services of a _horse_ are of all things the most uncertain."--_Steevens._