thus,
"In Hero and Leander, one did gaine A lasting memorie: in Tamberlaine, This Jew, with others many: th' other wan," &c.
and hence Mr. Collier, in his HIST. OF ENG. DRAM. POET. iii. 114, understood the words,
"in Tamburlaine, This Jew, with others many,"
as applying to Marlowe: he afterwards, however, in his MEMOIRS OF ALLEYN, p. 9, suspected that the punctuation of the old ed. might be wrong,--which it doubtless is.
(8) him] "Perkins." Marg. note in old ed.--"This was Richard Perkins, one of the performers belonging to the Cock-pit theatre in Drury-Lane. His name is printed among those who acted in HANNIBAL AND SCIPIO by Nabbes, THE WEDDING by Shirley, and THE FAIR MAID OF THE WEST by Heywood. After the play-houses were shut up on account of the confusion arising from the civil wars, Perkins and Sumner, who belonged to the same house, lived together at Clerkenwell, where they died and were buried. They both died some years before the Restoration. See THE DIALOGUE ON PLAYS AND PLAYERS [Dodsley's OLD PLAYS, 1. clii., last ed.]." REED (apud Dodsley's O. P.). Perkins acted a prominent part in Webster's WHITE DEVIL, when it was first brought on the stage, --perhaps Brachiano (for Burbadge, who was celebrated in Brachiano, does not appear to have played it originally): in a notice to the reader at the end of that tragedy Webster says; "In particular I must remember the well-approved industry of my friend Master Perkins, and confess the worth of his action did crown both the beginning and end." About 1622-3 Perkins belonged to the Red Bull theatre: about 1637 he joined the company at Salisbury Court: see Webster's WORKS, note, p. 51, ed. Dyce, 1857.
(9) prize was play'd] This expression (so frequent in our early writers) is properly applied to fencing: see Steevens's note on Shakespeare's MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, act. i. sc. 1.
(10) no wagers laid] "Wagers as to the comparative merits of rival actors in particular parts were not unfrequent of old," &c. Collier (apud Dodsley's O. P.). See my ed. of Peele's WORKS, i. x. ed. 1829; and Collier's MEMOIRS OF ALLEYN, p. 11.
(11) the Guise] "i.e. the Duke of Guise, who had been the principal contriver and actor in the horrid massacre of St. Bartholomew's day, 1572. He met with his deserved fate, being assassinated, by order of the French king, in 1588." REED (apud Dodsley's O. P.). And see our author's MASSACRE AT PARIS.
(12) empery] Old ed. "Empire."
(13) the Draco's] "i.e. the severe lawgiver of Athens; 'whose statutes,' said Demades, 'were not written with ink, but blood.'" STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.).--Old ed. "the Drancus."
(14) had] Qy. "had BUT"?
(15) a lecture here] Qy. "a lecture TO YOU here"?
(16) Act I.] The Scenes of this play are not marked in the old ed.; nor in the present edition,--because occasionally (where the audience were to SUPPOSE a change of place, it was impossible to mark them.
(17) Samnites] Old ed. "Samintes."
(18) silverlings] When Steevens (apud Dodsley's O. P.) called this "a diminutive, to express the Jew's contempt of a metal inferior in value to gold," he did not know that the word occurs in Scripture: "a thousand vines at a thousand SILVERLINGS." ISAIAH, vii. 23.--Old ed. "siluerbings."
(19) Tell] i.e. count.
(20) seld-seen] i.e. seldom-seen.
(21) Into what corner peers my halcyon's bill?] "It was anciently believed that this bird (the king-fisher), if hung up, would vary with the wind, and by that means shew from what quarter it blew." STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.),--who refers to the note on the following passage of Shakespeare's KING LEAR, act ii. sc. 2;
"Renege, affirm, and turn their HALCYON BEAKS With every gale and vary of their masters," &c.
(22) custom them] "i.e. enter the goods they contain at the Custom-house." STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.).
(23) But] Old ed. "By."
(24) fraught] i.e. freight.
(25) scambled] i.e. scrambled. (Coles gives in his DICT. "To SCAMBLE, certatim arripere"; and afterwards renders "To scramble" by the very same Latin words.)
(26) Enter three JEWS] A change of scene is supposed here, --to a street or to the Exchange.