What, have you got rid of the picture of old Adam new apparell'd? For so I have ventured to supply, by conjecture. But why is the officer call'd old Adam new apparell'd? The allusion is to Adam in his state of innocence going naked; and immediately after the fall, being cloath'd in a frock of skins. Thus he was new apparell'd: and, in like manner, the sergeants of the Counter were formerly clad in buff, or calf's-skin, as the author humourously a little lower calls it. THEOBALD. The explanation is very good, but the text does not require to be amended. JOHNSON. These jests on Adam's dress arc common among our old writers. STEEVENS. P. 135, 1. 16. 17. he that sets up his rest to do more exploits with his mace, than a morris-pike.] Sets up his rest, is a phrase taken from military exercice, When gun-powder was first invented, its force was very weak compared to that in present use. This necessarily required fire-arms to be of an extraordinary length. As the artists improved the strength of their powder, the soldiers proportionably shortened their arms and artillery; so that the cannon which Froissart tells us was once fifty feet long, was contracted to less than ten. This proportion likewise held in their muskets; so that, till the middle of the last century, the musketeers always supported their pieces wken they gave fire, with a rest stuck before them into the ground, which they called setting up their rest, and is here alluded to. There is another quibbling allusion too to the serjeant's office of arresting. But what most wants animadversion is the morris-pike, which is without meaning, impertinent to the sense, and false in the allusion: no pike being used amongst the dancers so called, or at least not fam'd for much execution. In a word, Shakspeare wrote, Wa Maurice-pike. i. e. a pikeman of prince Maurice's army. He was the greatest general of that age, and the conductor of the Low-country wars against Spain, under whom all the English gentry and nobility were bred to the service. Hence the pikes of lis army became famous for their military exploits. WARBURTON. This conjecture is very ingenious, yet the commentator talks unnecessarily of the rest of a musket, by which he makes the hero of the speech setup the rest of a musket, to do exploits with a pike. The rest of a pike was a common terin, and signified, I believe, the manner in which it was fixed to receive the rush of the enemy. A morrispike was a pike used in a morris or a military dance, and with which great exploits were done, that is, great feats of dexterity were shown. There is no need of change. JOHNSON. A morris-pike is mentioned by the old writers as a formidable weapon; and therefore Dr. Warburton's notion is deficient in first principles. "Morespikes (says Langley in his translation of Polydore Vergil) were used first in the siege of Čapua." And in Reynard's Deliverance of certain Christians from the Turks, “the English mariners laid about them with brown bills, halberts, and morrice-pikes." FARMER.. i Polydore Virgil does not mention morris-pikes at the siege of Capna, though Langley's translation of him advances their antiquity so high. Morris-pikes, or the pikes of the Moors, were excellent formerly; and since, the Spanish pikes have been equally famous. P. 48. TOLLET. See Hartlib's Legacy, The mention of morris-pikes is frequent among our old writers. STEEVENS. There is, I believe, no authority for Dr. Johnson's assertion shat the Morris-Pike was used in the Morris-dance. Swords were sometimes used upon that occasion. It certainly means the Moorish-pike, which was very common in the 16th century. See Grose's Hist. of the English Army, Vol. I. p. 135. DOUCE. The phrase he that sets up his rest, in this instance, signifies only, I believe, "he that trusts"is confident in his expectation. Thus, Bacon:"Sea-fights have been final to the war, but this is, when Princes set up their REST upon the battle. Again, Clarendon "they therefore resolved to set up their REST upon that stake, and to go through with it, or perish." This figure of speech is certainly derived from the REST which Dr. Warburton has described, as that was the only kind of rest which was ever set up. HENLEY. P. 136, 1. 18.— We'll mend our dinner here.] i. e. by purchasing something additional in the adjoining market. MALONE. P. 156, 1. 20. 21. Dro. S. Master, if you do expect spoon meat, or bespeak a long spoon.] The passage is wrong pointed, and the or, a mistake for and: Cour. We'll mend our dinner here. Dro. S. Master, if you do, expect spoon meat, and bespeak a long spoon. RITSON. P. 138, l. 15. 16. will pay them all.] i. e. serve to hit, strike, correct them all. STLEVENS. P. 139, l. 12. 13. I am an ass, indeed; you may prove it by my long ears.] He means, that his master had legthened his ears by frequently pulling them. STEEVENS. P. 159, 1. 28-30. respice finem, respect your end; or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, Beware the rope's end.] These words seem to allude to a famous pamphlet of that time, wrote by Buchanan against the lord of Liddington; which ends with these words, Respice finem, respice funem. But tho what purpose, unless our author could show that he could quibble as well in English, as the other in Latin, I confess I know not. As for prophesying like the parrot, this alludes to people's teaching that bird unlucky words; with which, when any passenger was offended, it was the standing joke of the wise owner to say, Take heed, Sir, my parrot prophesies. To this, Butler hints, where, speaking of Ralpho's skill in augury, he says: "Could tell what subtlest parrots mean, So, in Decker's Satiromastix: "But come, respice funem." STEEVENS. The phrase is common in old epitaphs. NICHOLS. used in Othello seems to signi P. 140, l. 19. A customer is for a common woman. Here it fy one who visits such women. MALONE. '. P. 140, 1. 21. companion is a word of contempt, anciently used as we now use-fellow. STEEVENS. P. 140, last 1. but one. Perdy,] A corruption of the common French oath - Purdieu, Chau A cer's personages are frequent in their use of it. STEEVENS. P. 141, 1. 5. Certes,] i. e. certainly. STEEVENS. P. 141, 1. 5.—the kitchen-vestal] Her charge being like that of the vestal virgins, to keep the fire burning. JOHNSON. P. 142, l. 31. This is the second time that in the course of this play, peevish has been used for foolish. STEEVENS. P. 143, 1. 5. Unhappy is here used in one of the senses of unlucky, i. e. mischievous. STEEVENS. P. 144, 1. 13. fetch our stuff i. e. our baggage. In the orders that were issued for the royal Progresses in the last century, the King's baggage was always thus denominated. MALONE. P. 146, 1. 22. Some get within him,] i. e. close with him, grapple with him. STEEVENS. P. 146, 1. 24. take a house,] i. e. go into a house. So we say, a dog takes the water. STEEVENS. P. 147, 1. 28. It was the copy of our conference. i. e. the theme. We still talk of setting copies for boys. STEEVENS. P. 148, l. 10-14. Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue, But moody and dull melancholy, And, at her heels, &c.] Shakspeare could never make melancholy a male in this line, and a female in the next. This was the foolish insertion of the first editors. I have therefore put it into hooks, as spurious. WARBURTON, The defective metre of the second line, is a plain proof |