uses it in _Macbeth_, Act iii.
Scene 2:--
"Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest _chuck_."]
[Footnote 88:
The great cross in West Cheap was originally erected in 1290, by Edward
I., in commemoration of the death of Queen Ellinor, whose body rested at
that place, on its journey from Herdeby, in Lincolnshire, to Westminster,
for interment. It was rebuilt in 1441, and again in 1484. In 1584 the
images and ornaments were destroyed by the populace; and in 1599 the top
of the cross was taken down, the timber being rotted within the lead, and
fears being entertained as to its safety. By order of Queen Elizabeth, and
her privy council, it was repaired in 1600, when, says Stow, "a cross of
timber was framed, set up, covered with lead, _and gilded_," &c.
Stow's _Survey of London_, by Strype, book iii. p. 35. Edit, folio.
Lond. 1720.]
[Footnote 89:
This must allude to the play written by Heywood with the following title:
_The Foure Prentises of London. With the Conquest of Jerusalem. As it
hath bene diuerse times acted at the Red Bull, by the Queenes Maiesties
Servants_. 410, Lond. 1615. In this drama, the four prentises are
Godfrey, Grey, Charles, and Eustace, sons to the _old Earle of
Bullen_, who, having lost his territories, by assisting William the
Conqueror in his descent upon England, is compelled to live like a private
citizen in London, and binds his sons to a mercer, a goldsmith, a
haberdasher, and a grocer. The _four prentises_, however, prefer the
life of a soldier to that of a tradesman, and, quitting the service of
their masters, follow Robert of Normandy to the holy land, where they
perform the most astonishing feats of valour, and finally accomplish the
_conquest of Jerusalem_. The whole play abounds in bombast and
impossibilities, and, as a composition, is unworthy of notice or
remembrance.]
[Footnote 90:
_The History of the Nine Worthies of the World; three whereof were
Gentiles; I. Hector, son of Priamus, king of Troy. 2. Alexander the
Great, king of Macedon, and conqueror of the world. 3. Julius Caesar,
first emperor of Rome. There Jews. 4. Joshua, captain general and leader
of Israel into Canaan. 5. David, king of Israel. 6. Judas Maccabeus, a
'valiant Jewish commander against the tyranny of Antiochus. Three
Christians. 7. Arthur, king of Britain, who courageously defended his
country against the Saxons. 8. Charles the Great, king of France and
emperor of Germany. 9. Godfrey of Bullen, king of
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