Alexander Dyce, A General Glossary to Shakespeare's Works

hands — “As tall a man of his,” THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, i. 4. 24 ; “thou art a tall fellow of thy hands,” THE WINTER'S TALE, v. 2. 158 ; “a proper fellow of my hands,” 2 HENRY IV., ii. 2. 64. “Of his hands was a phrase equivalent to ‘of his inches,’ or ‘of his size,’ a hand being the measure of four inches. ‘As tall a man of his hands’ [=as bold or able a man of his hands], etc., was a phrase used, most likely, for the sake of a jocular equivocation in the word tall, which meant either bold or high.” Nares's Gloss. in v. “Hand,” etc. “A man of his hands, Homo strenuus, impiger, manu promptus.” Coles's Lat. and Engl. Dict.