and tongs, and the like fnaping, and yet playing in a confort before them; the variety and change from fuch noble mufick and gallant horfes as went before unto the proper mufick and pitiful horses of these cripples made the greater divertisement."

Vol. V. P. 351. TWELFTH NIGHT.

REED.

the bed of Ware in England.] This enormous piece of furniture which, as well as the bells of St. Bennet's, cannot be faid to be introduced with much propriety in Illyria, is still exifting, and as much an object of curiofity as it was two centuries ago. It is also mentioned at the conclufion of Decker and Webster's Northward Hoe, 1607. REED.

Vol. VI. P. 23. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

Baldrick.] "A belt, from the old French word baudrier, a piece of dreffed leather girdle, or belt, made of fuch leather; and that comes from the word baudroyer, to dress leather, curry or make belts. Monfieur Menage fays, this comes from the Italian baldringus, and that from the Latin balteus, from whence the Baltick fea has its name, because it goes round as a belt. This word baudrier among the French fometimes fignified a girdle, in which people used to put their money. See Rabelais, III. 37. Menag. Orig. Franc. Somn. Dict. Sax. Nicot, Dict." Fortescue Aland's note on Fortefcue, on the Difference between an abfolute and limited Monarchy, 8vo. 1724, p. 52.

Vol. IX, P. 386. WINTER'S TALE. Add to note 5:

REED.

One of the almanacks of Shakspeare's time is now before me. It is entitled, " Buckmynfter, 1598. A prognoftication for the yeare of our Lorde God MD.XCVIII. Conteyning certaine rules and notes for divers ufes, and alfo a defcription of the three eclipfes, and a declaration of the ftate of the foure quarters of this yeare, and dayly difpofition of the wether for every day in the fame. Done by Thomas Buckmynfter. Anno etatis fuæ 66. Imprinted at London by Richard Watkins and James Roberts." REED.

Vol. XI. P. 82. KING RICHARD II, Add to note 8:

Evelyn fays, "Amongst other things, it has of old been obferved, that the bay is ominous of fome funeft accident, if that be fo accounted which Suetonius (in Galba) affirms to have happened before the death of the monfter Nero, when these trees generally withered to the very roots in a very mild winter ;

and much later; that in the year 1629, when at Padua, preceding a great peftilence almost all the Bay trees about that famous univerfity grew fick and perished: Certo quafi præfagio, fays my author, Apollinem Mufafque, fubfequenti anno urbe illa bonarum literarum domicilio exceffuras." (Sylva, 4to. 1776, p. 396.) REED.

IBID. P. 432. FIRST PART OF KING HENRY the Fourth. Line 4, Mr. Ritfon's note. For contradiction read contraction.

I take this opportunity of expreffing my concurrence with Mr. Ritfon's fentiments on this fubject, and of declaring my opinion that the tradition of Falstaff having been originally Oldcastle is by no means difproved. The weight of real evidence appears to me to be on the fide of Fuller, who lived near enough to the time of Shakspeare to be accurately informed, and had no temptation to falfify the real fact. To avoid fatiguing the reader with a long train of facts and arguments, it may be fufficient to rely on two authorities which have been too flightly attended to, if they may be faid to be noticed at all. The first is Weever, writing at the very period, who defcribes Oldcastle as Shakspeare does Falftaff, as the page of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, (fee Vol. XII. p. 123,) a circumstance which could hardly have happened if Falstaff had not originally been Oldcastle. The other is Nathaniel Field, a player in Shakspeare's company, who might have acted in the play himself, who could not be mistaken, and who exprefsly refers to Falstaff by the name of Oldcastle. (See p. 95.) Against these teftimonies and others what has been oppofed? May I not fay, conjecture and inference alone? Conjecture, I admit, very ingenioufly fuggefted, and inference very fubtilly extracted; but weighing nothing against what is equivalent to pofitive evidence. REED.

Vol. XII. P. 184. SECOND PART OF KING HENRY IV.

-for thin drink doth fo over-cool their blood, and making many fish meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-ficknefs, and then when they marry, they get wenches.] This ludicrous remark is gravely and seriously introduced by Hippocrates in his Treatife on Diet, (Lib. I. § 20,)" and it is obferved," fays Dr. Falconer, "in many parts of the Eaft Indies at this day, where they drink no wine, that the number of women exceeds that of men very confiderably." Falconer on the Influ ence of Climate, &c. 4to. p. 248. REED.

Vol. XVI. P. 267. JULIUS CÆSAR.

He had a fever when he was in Spain.] This paffage Dr, Falconer obferves is a true copy from nature, and shows how an ague may produce cowardice, even in Cæfar himself. Falconer on the Influence of Climate, &c. 4to. p. 163. REED.

JBID. P. 352. Add to note 2:

Since writing this note I have met with several instances which fatisfy me of the truth of Mr. Malone's obfervation. I therefore retract my doubt on this subject. REED.

Vol. XIX. P. 296. OTHELLO. Add to note 4:

Coloquyntida," fays Bullein, in his Bulwark of Defence, 1579, " is most bitter, white like a baule, full of feedes, leaves lyke to cucummers, hoạt in the fecond, dry in the third degree." He then gives directions for the application of it, and concludes, and thus I do end of coloquyntida, which is most bitter, and must be taken with difcretion. The Arabians do call it chandell." REED

addition, XV. 328, 346, 413. affections, XII. 192.