he woke, and his wig came off, he, knowing at once who was the practical joker of the family, threatened to revenge himself upon her. He was then writing She Stoops to Conquer, and his revenge was to make Tony Lumpkin the hero in precisely the same trick." Letter from Lord Nugent, quoted in Forster's Life of Goldsmith, IV. xv.n.

6

I. i. 89. The Three Pigeons.' Possibly from the inn of this name on the road between Abingdon and Thame (see Trans. of Cambridge Antiq. Soc. 1882). The inn at Lissory derived its name from this incident, not vice versa.

I. i. 97. ' music box'; a barrel-organ.

I. i. 114. ‘gauze'; a very thin transparent fabric usually of silk, so equivalent to 66 dainty clothes." 'frippery'; finery in dress, especially (though not here) of a tawdry kind. Cp. 'a little Pinke Laden with toyes and fripperies from France' (Crowne, Henry VI. i. 10). The word is also used of old cast-off clothes and the place where they are sold.

I. i. 119. the indigent world . . . vain.' Cp. Lear's words—

'Take physic pomp;

Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,

That thou mayst shake the superflux to them.'

King Lear, III. iv. 33-35.

I. i. 237. 'the pink of perfection'; i.e. the flower or highest type or example of perfection. Cp.

'I am the very pink of courtesy.'

Romeo and Juliet, II. iv. 61.

'This is the prettiest pilgrim,

The pink of pilgrims.'

Fletcher, Pilgrim i. 2.

I. i. 258. 'Would it were bed-time and all were well.' So Falstaff (1 Henry IV., V. i. 125) on the eve of Shrewsbury,

I. ii. 17. ' Methodist.' The name dates from about 1730, when it began to be applied to the circle which centred round the Wesleys at Oxford for common Christian worship and service. I. ii. 24. pigeon'; a dupe, a 'gull.'

'Then hey! at Dissipation s call
To every Club that leads the ton,
Hazard's the word; he flies at all
He's pigeon'd and undone

Richardson (Observer, No. 27).

I. ii. 38. he never gives us nothing that's low; "When this piece was originally brought forward, the taste of the nation had sickened with a preposterous love for what was termed sentimental comedy: that is, a dramatic composition in which the ordinary business of life, which in a free country like Great Britain produces such a diversity of character, was to be superseded by an unnatural affectation of polished dialogue, in which the usages and singularities of the multitude were to be nearly, if not altogether, rejected. This false taste was borrowed from France...; Kelly and others were enforcing it with ardour, when Oliver Goldsmith planted the standard of Thalia on the boards of Covent Garden Theatre."-Baker's Biographia Dramatica, 1812. Cp. Preface.

I. ii. 47. ' May this be my poison';' Before I would stoop to slavery may this be my poison (and he held the goblet in his hand) may this be my poison-but I would sooner list for a soldier.'_ Citizen of the World, iv.

6

I. ii. 49. Water Parted'; i.e. a song (quoted on next page) from Arne's Artaxerxes, an opera which appeared in 1762.

AIR, Arbaces.

Water parted from the sea
May increase the river's tide ;
To the bubbling fount may flee,
Or thro' fertile vallies glide:
Yet in search of lost repose,

Doom'd, like me, forlorn to roam,

Still it murmurs as it flows,

Till it reach its native home.

I. ii. 49. the minuet in Ariadne'; i.e. at the end of the

overture.

6

I. ii. 77. woundily'; the form woundy' is more frequent. Both are colloquialisms of doubtful origin meaning 'very,' 'excessively.' Cp.

and

'A woundy brag young vellow.'-Tale of a Tub, i. 2.

'Richard Penlake repeated the vow,

For woundily sick was he.'-Southey, St Michael's Chair.

I. ii. 115. We wanted no ghost to tell us that.'

Cp.

'There nee ds no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.'

Hamlet, I. v. 125 f.

I. i. 127. 'trapesing'; to trapes or trape (Germ. trappen) is to trail along in an untidy manner; to gad about idly. " How am I to go trapesing to Kensington.. "Esmond, II. xv. trolloping'; walking or working in a slovenly manner. Trollop is possibly a corruption of troll-about.

...

I. ii. 164, 165. we could as soon find out the longitude'; an allusion to the attempts made to secure the huge rewards offered by Parliament in 1713 for accurate means of determining longitude at sea. One John Harrison, was successful in fulfilling the conditions of the test, but had difficulty in getting paid.