Note 315 — W. CAREW HAZLITT. (continued 5)

A play upon words was the failing of almost every writer of the times. The quibble here upon gentles and Jew is also in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” act ii. sc. 7. See the notes on that passage, by Dr Johnson, Mr Steevens, and Dr Farmer, vol. iii., edit. 1778, p. 173. To the instances there quoted may be added the following from “Euphues,” 1581, p. 65: “Consider with thyselfe that thou art a gentleman, yea, and a Gentile; and, if thou neglect thy calling, thou art worse than a Jewe.”