That look as big as five-and-fifty, and flush;[1]
And spit out secrets like hot custard—
Dap.Captain!
Face.Nor any melancholic under-scribe,
Shall tell the vicar; but a special gentle,
That is the heir to forty marks a year,
Consorts with the small poets of the time,
Is the sole hope of his old grandmother;
That knows the law, and writes you six fair hands,
Is a fine clerk, and has his cyphering perfect.
Will take his oath o' the Greek Testament,[2]
If need be, in his pocket; and can court His mistress out of Ovid.
Dap.Nay, dear captain———
Face.Did you not tell me so?
Dap.Yes; but I'd have you
Use master doctor with some more respect.
Face.Hang him, proud stag, with his broad velvet head!—
But for your sake, I'd choak, ere I would change
An article of breath with such a puckfist:
Come, let's be gone. [Going.
- ↑ That look as big as five-and-fifty, and flush;] Five-and-fifty, it appears, was the highest number to stand on at the old game of Primero. If a flush accompanied this, the hand was irresistible, and swept the table; the holder, therefore, might well look big on it.
- ↑ Will take his oath o' the Greek Testament,] This is the reading of the quarto, and seems better adapted to the case of Dapper (as Whalley justly observes) than that of the folio 1616, which has the "Greek Xenophon." The alteration is easily accounted for; but appears no longer necessary.
was a celebrated archer often mentioned in the histories of Robin Hood:
"For he brought Adam Bell, and Clim of the Clough,
"And William a Cloudes-lee,
"To shoot with our Forester for forty marks,
"And the Forester beat them all three."
Nash uses the word for a roaring bully, a drunkard.
