Alexander Dyce, A General Glossary to Shakespeare's Works

fancies “or his good-nights—Sung those tunes . . . that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware they were his,” 2 HENRY IV., iii. 2. 309. “Fancies and Goodnights were the titles of little poems. One of Gascoigne's Goodnights is published among his Flowers” (STEEVENS) . “The Carmen of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries appear to have been singularly famous for their musical abilities; but especially for whistling their tunes. Falstaff's description of Justice Shallow is, that ‘he came ever in the rear-ward of the fashion,’ and ‘sang the tunes he heard the carmen whistle, and sware they were his Fancies or his Goodnights.’ Note. Goodnights are ‘Last dying speeches,’ made into ballads. See Essex's last Goodnight.” Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. i. p. 138, sec. ed. (where may be found a good deal more concerning the musical performances of the carmen).