re they died and were buried. They
both died some years before the Restoration. See THE DIALOGUE
ON PLAYS AND PLAYERS [Dodsley's OLD PLAYS, 1. clii., last ed.]."
REED (apud Dodsley's O. P.). Perkins acted a prominent part in
Webster's WHITE DEVIL, when it was first brought on the stage,
--perhaps Brachiano (for Burbadge, who was celebrated in
Brachiano, does not appear to have played it originally): in a
notice to the reader at the end of that tragedy Webster says;
"In particular I must remember the well-approved industry of my
friend Master Perkins, and confess the worth of his action did
crown both the beginning and end." About 1622-3 Perkins belonged
to the Red Bull theatre: about 1637 he joined the company at
Salisbury Court: see Webster's WORKS, note, p. 51, ed. Dyce,
1857.]

[Footnote 9: prize was play'd: This expression (so frequent in our early
writers) is properly applied to fencing: see Steevens's note
on Shakespeare's MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, act. i. sc. 1.]

[Footnote 10: no wagers laid: "Wagers as to the comparative merits of
rival actors in particular parts were not unfrequent of old,"
&c. Collier (apud Dodsley's O. P.). See my ed. of Peele's
WORKS, i. x. ed. 1829; and Collier's MEMOIRS OF ALLEYN, p. 11.]

[Footnote 11: the Guise: "i.e. the Duke of Guise, who had been the
principal contriver and actor in the horrid massacre of
St. Bartholomew's day, 1572. He met with his deserved fate,
being assassinated, by order of the French king, in 1588."
REED (apud Dodsley's O. P.). And see our author's MASSACRE
AT PARIS.]

[Footnote 12: empery: Old ed. "Empire."]

[Footnote 13: the Draco's: "i.e. the severe lawgiver of Athens; 'whose
statutes,' said Demades, 'were not written with ink, but blood.'"
STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.).--Old ed. "the Drancus."]

[Footnote 14: had: Qy. "had BUT"?]

[Footnote 15: a lecture here: Qy. "a lecture TO YOU here"?]

[Footnote 16: Act I.: The Scenes of this play are not marked in the
old ed.; nor in the present edition,--because occasionally
(where the audience were to SUPPOSE a change of place, it
was impossible to mark them.]

[Footnote 17: Samnites: Old ed. "Samintes."]

[Footnote 18: silverlings: When Steevens (apud Dodsley's O. P.) called
this "a diminutive, to express the Jew's contempt of a metal
inferior in value to gold," he did not know that the word occurs
in Scripture: "a thousand vines at a thousand SILVERLINGS."
ISAIAH, vii. 23.--Old ed. "sil