de_ (1672):--

Poor pensive punk now peeps ere plays begin,
Sees the bare bench, and dares not venture in;
But manages her last half-crown with care,
And trudges to the Mall, on foot, for air.

The scene of the first Act of Otway's _The Soldier's Fortune_ (1681) is
laid in the Mall, and gives a vivid picture of the motley and not over
respectable company that was wont to foregather there.

p. 189 _the Ring_. The Ring, Hyde Park, a favourite ride and promenade
was made in the reign of Charles I. It was very fashionable, and is
frequently alluded to in poem and play. cf. Etheredge, _The Man of Mode;
or, Sir Fopling Flutter: 'Sir Fopling_. All the world will be in the
Park to-night; Ladies, 'twere pity to keep so much beauty longer within
doors, and rob the Ring of all those charms that should adorn it.'--Act
iii sc. II. cf. also Lord Dorset's _Verses on Dorinda_ (1680):--

Wilt thou still sparkle in the Box,
Still ogle in the Ring?

p. 193 _Starter_. This slang word usually means a milksop, but here it
is equivalent to 'a butterfly', 'a weathercock'--a man of changeable
disposition. A rare use.

p. 193 _Finsbury Hero_, Finsbury Fields, which Pepys thought 'very
pleasant', had been kept open for the citizens to practise archery. An
ordinance of 1478 is extant which orders all obstacles to be removed and
Finsbury to be 'made a plain field for archers to shoot in'. As late as
1737 there were standing twenty-four 'rovers' or stone pillars for
shooting at distances.

p. 196 _Mr. Barnardine_. This allusion must almost certainly be to a
recent revival of _Measure for Measure_, which particular play had been
amongst those set aside by the regulation of 12 December, 1660, as the
special property of Davenant's theatre. After the amalgamation of the
two companies in November, 1682, a large number of the older plays were
revived or continued to be played (with a new cast and Betterton in the
roles which had been Hart's) during the subsequent decade. Downes
mentions _Othello, The Taming of the Shrew_, and several by Beaumont and
Fletcher, Ben Jonson, and Brome. On the other hand, it is possible this
reference may merely be to _The Law Against Lovers_ (1661, folio, 1673),
in which Sir William Davenant has mixed Benedick and Beatrice with
Angelo, Claudio, Isabella and the rest. It is a curious conglomeration,
and the result is very pitiful and disastrous. Bernardine and the prison
scenes are retained.