Note 173 — SCENE II.
Reading edition
Stabbing of arms
. . . . . .
Dutch flapdragons]
Here again (see note, p. 97) Middleton has an eye to Jonson:
“From stabbing of arms, flapdragons.”
Works, ibid.
To stab their arms with daggers, and drink off the blood mixed with wine, to the health of their mistresses, was formerly a frequent practice among gallants.—For flapdragons, see note, vol. i. p. 66: from several passages in our early dramas, it appears that the Dutch were celebrated for swallowing them.—Drinking healths in urine was another and more disgusting feat of gallantry.