p. 278 Craffey.  Craffy is the foolish son of the Podesta in Crowne’s City Politicks (1683).  He is described as ’an impudent, amorous, pragmatical fop, that pretends to wit and poetry.’  He is engaged in writing Husbai an answer to Absalom and Achitophel.

p. 278 whiffling.  Fickle; unsteady; uncertain.  To whiffle = to hesitate; waver; prevaricate. cf.  Tillotson, Sermons, xiv (1671-94):  ’Everyman ought to be stedfast ... and not suffer himself to be whiffled ... by an insignificant noise.’ 1724 mistakenly reads ‘whistling’ in this passage.

p. 279 Bulkers.  Whores. cf.  Shadwell, Amorous Widow (1690), Act iii:  ‘Her mother sells fish and she is little better than a bulker.’  A bulker was the lowest class of prostitute. cf.  Shadwell’s The Scowerers, Act i, I:  ’Every one in a petticoat is thy mistress, from humble bulker to haughty countess.’  Bailey (1790) has:  ’Bulker, one that would lie down on a bulk to any one.  A common Jilt.  A whore.’  Swift, A Tale of a Tub, Section II, has:  ’They went to new plays on the first night, haunted the chocolate houses, beat the watch, lay on bulks.’

p. 279 Tubs.  A patient suffering from the lues venerea was disciplined by long and severe sweating in a heated tub, which combined with strict abstinence was formerly considered an excellent remedy for the disease. cf. Measure for Measure, Act iii, sc.  II:  ’Troth, sir, she has eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub.’  Also Timon of Athens, iv, III:  ‘Be a whore still’ ...

p. 279 Jack Ketch. cf. Dict.  Canting Crew (by B.E. Gent, 1690):  ‘Jack Kitch.  The Hangman of that Name, but now all his Successors.’  He exercised his office circa 1663-87.  It was Ketch who bungled the execution of Monmouth.  There are innumerable contemporary references to him. cf.  Dryden’s Epilogue to The Duke of Guise (1682):—­

    ‘Jack Ketch’, says I, ‘’s an excellent physician.’

THE FORC’D MARRIAGE.

p. 286 The Nursery.  Vide note, little Mrs. Ariell, Vol.  II, p. 430-1.

p. 287 King.  Mr. Westwood.  It has been quite mistakenly suggested that Westwood was Otway’s theatrical name.  Westwood was a professional actor of mediocre though useful attainments.  He is cast for such roles as Tom Faithfull in Revet’s The Town Shifts (April, 1671); Eumenes in Edward Howard’s The Woman’s Conquest (1671); and Battista in Crowne’s Juliana (1671).

p. 300 unsuit.  A rare form of ‘unsuitable’.

p. 304 devoir.  Endeavour; effort.  This passage is quoted in the N.E.D.