aking windows, fighting with passers-by, beating the
watch, &c. Shadwell has an excellent comedy, _The Scowrers_ (1691),
which, giving a vivid picture of the times, show these drunken and
blackguardly gentry in a very unamiable light. Several plays treat
of their exploits. Vanbrugh's _The Provoked Wife_ (1696), Act III,
ii, and IV, ii and iv, is perhaps the locus classical for mohocking.

p. 333 _the Poet Sternhold._ Thomas Sternhold (_ob._ 1549), was the
author with John Hopkins (_ob._ 1570), of a metrical version of the
Psalms, which became a bye-word for doggerel. Sir Morgan is, of
course, alluding to some pious rhymes groaned on the way to the
triple tree. cf. Shadwell, _The Miser_ (1672), I, i, 'She would be
more welcome to thee than a reprieve would, if thou wert just now
trolling out Hopkins and Sternhold upon a ladder.'

p. 333 _Billmen in Flannel._ Bills were the common weapon of the
watch. cf. _The Coxcomb_ (folio 1647), Act I, where Ricardo says
to the constable of the watch, 'Give me the bill, for I'll be the
sergeant.' Doctor Johnson tells us that the Lichfield watchmen carried
bills as late as 1778.

p. 333 _Wills' Coffee-house._ _vide_ Vol. III, Preface, _The Lucky
Chance_, p. 187, and note on that passage (p. 484).

p. 334 _his Third Day._ _vide_ Vol. III, Preface, _The Lucky Chance_,
p. 187, and note on that passage (p. 484).

p. 334 _old Adam._ _vide_ Vol. I, _The Rover_, Part II, p. 133, and
note on that passage (p. 446).

p. 334 _The Country Justice's Calling._ _vide supra_, _The Widow
Ranter_, p. 265. _Dalton's Country Justice_, and note on that passage.

+ACT II: Scene i+

p. 341 _by Inch of Candle._ An auction where bids are taken so long
as an inch of candle burns, the last bid before the flame expires
obtaining the lot.

p. 342 _a Termer._ Originally a frequenter of the law courts, and as
many came up from the country to London during term time on legal
business, it occasionally (as here) signified an unsophisticated
stranger. In Dryden's _Sir Martin Mar-All_ (1667), I, Mrs. Millicent,
newly arrived from Canterbury, replies to Lady Dupe's greeting,
'I came up, Madam, as we country-gentlewomen use at an Easter term, to
the destruction of tarts and cheese cakes, to see a new play, buy a
new gown, take a turn in the Park, and so down again to sleep with my
forefathers.' In Mountford's farce, _Dr. Faustus_ (4to 1697,