322 LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 



" And then rest, gentle bones ; yet pray 

 That when by the precise you are view'd, 

 A supersedeas be not sued 

 To remove you to a place more airy, 

 That in your stead they may keep chary 

 Stockfish or seacoal, for the abuses 

 Of sacrilege have turned graves to viler uses." 



To the last verse Mr. Hazlitt appends this note, " Than 

 that of burning men's bones for fuel." There is no allu 

 sion here to burning men's bones, but simply to the des 

 ecration of graveyards by building warehouses upon 

 them, in digging the foundations for which the bones 

 would be thrown out. The allusion is, perhaps, to the 

 " Churchyard of the Holy Trinity " ; see Stow's Sur 

 vey, ed. 1603, p. 126. Elsewhere, in the same play, 

 Webster alludes bitterly to " begging church-land." 



Vol. I. p. 73, " And if he walk through the street, he 

 ducks at the penthouses, like an ancient that dares not 

 flourish at the oathtaking of the prsetor for fear of the 

 signposts." Mr. Hazlitt's note is, " Ancient was a stand 

 ard or flag ; also an ensign, of which Skinner says it is a 

 corruption. What the meaning of the simile is the pres 

 ent editor cannot suggest." We confess we find no diffi 

 culty. The meaning plainly is, that he ducks for fear 

 of hitting the penthouses, as an ensign on the Lord 

 Mayor's day dares not flourish his standard for fear of 

 hitting the signposts. We suggest the query, whether 

 ancient, in this sense, be not a corruption of the Italian 

 word anziano. 



Want of space compels us to leave many other pas 

 sages, which we had marked for comment, unnoticed. 

 We are surprised that Mr. Hazlitt, (see his Introduction 

 to " Vittoria Corombona,") in undertaking to give us 

 some information concerning the Dukedom and Castle of 

 Bracciano, should uniformly spell it Brachiano. Shake 

 speare's Petruchio might have put him on his guard. 



