Note 998 — ACT II. SCENE I.
Reading edition
the high German’s size] So afterwards, in act iii. sc. 1, Moll exclaims,
"a name which I’d tear out
From the high German’s throat &c.,
where Reed remarks, “He seems to have been noted for his extraordinary strength, and is probably the same person mentioned in The Curtaine Drawer of the World, 1612, 4to. p. 27. ‘Aske but this Curtaine Drawer and he will tell you, that few there are, and those escape very hardly like the bird out of the snare, like the German out of Woodstreet, or those that commit murder, or like him that escapes the hangman from the tree of execution.’” Nares (Gloss. in German, High,) says, he was "probably a tall German, shown for a sight ... I do not agree with the editor [Reed], that the same person is meant by the German ‘who escaped out of Woodstreet.’ The high German must have been some man generally known for strength or size; that the same person should also have had a very narrow escape from Wood Street, is possible to be sure, but very improbable. Perhaps the high German was the famous fencer, whose feats are thus recorded: ‘Since the German fencer cudgelled most of our English fencers, now about 5 moneths past.’ ["a moneth past"—in my copy, p. 7.] Owle’s Almanacke [by Dekker], publ. 1618, p. 6. High German may, however, be only in opposition to low German, or Dutch; as, for a long time, high German quack doctors were in repute."