from whence came the phrase, _to play the fool_.--WARBURTON.]

[Footnote 7: _--whose visages do_ cream; The poet here alludes to the
manner in which the film extends itself over milk in scalding; and he
had the same appearance in his eye when writing a foregoing line: "_With
mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come_."--HENLEY.]

[Footnote 8: _--a wilful stillness entertain,; Id est_, an obstinate
silence.]

[Footnote 9: _let no dog bark_!; This seems to be a proverbial
expression.]

[Footnote 10: _--'twould almost damn, those ears_; The author's meaning
is this:--That some people are thought wise whilst they keep silence;
who, when they open their mouths, are such stupid praters, that the
hearers cannot help calling them _fools_, and so incur the judgment
denounced in the Gospel.--THEOBALD.]

[Footnote 11: _I'll end my exhortation after dinner_.'; The humour of
this consists in its being an allusion to the practice of the Puritan
preachers of those times, who being generally very long and tedious,
were often forced to put off that part of their sermon called the
_exhortation_, till after dinner.--WARBURTON.]

[Footnote 12: _--for this gear_.; A colloquial expression, meaning _for
this matter_.]

[Footnote 13: _In a_ neat's _tongue dried_,; Neat, horned cattle of the
Ox species.]