Note 319 — The Table. (continued 2)

A cheat or rogue. See Rowland's Knave of Clubbs, 1600 (Percy Soc. ed. p. 18). The word Shifter is employed by Rowlands in the Knave of Harts, 1613, and by others of our elder writers in the same sense. In the following passage, shift is used to signify a piece of knavery:—

"Ferd. Brother, you lie; you got her with a shift.

Frank. I was the first that lov'd her."

Heywood's Fair Maid of the Exchange, 1607 (Shakesp. Soc. ed. p. 87).

See also Taylor's Works, 1630, ii. 144. In his Sculler, 1612, the last mentioned writer introduces a sharper into one of his epigrams under the name of Mounsieur Shift, "cozen-german to Sir Cuthert Theft" (Works, iii. 25).