Note 648 — THE BLACK BOOK.
Reading edition
penny-father] “A pennie-father, Vn homme riche et chiche.” Cotgrave’s Dict.
“Ranck peny-fathers scud (with their halfe hammes
Shadowing their calues) to saue their siluer dammes,
At euery gun they start, tilt from the ground,
One drum can make a thousand Vsurers sownd [i.e. swoon].”
Dekker’s Wonderfull Yeare, 1603, sig. B 3.