durance —
“Suits of,”
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, iv. 3.
24
;
“And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?”
1 HENRY IV., i. 2. 42.
Malone observes that on a comparison of the second of these passages with the
passage,—
“A devil in an everlasting garment hath him;
... a fellow all in buff,”
The Comedy of Errors, iv. 2. 33-36, “it should seem that the sergeant's buff jerkin was called a robe of durance with allusion to his occupation of arresting men and putting them in durance or prison; and that durance being a kind of stuff sometimes called everlasting, the buff jerkin was hence called an ‘everlasting garment.’” According to Nares, “It appears that the leathern dresses worn by some of the lower orders of people [by sergeants and catchpoles among others] were first called of durance or everlasting from their great durability. . . . Hence a stuff of the colour of buff, made in imitation of it, and very strong, was called durance.” Gloss. in Durance. The sort of stuff known by the name of durance continued long in use. On the second passage in this article Mr. Staunton remarks that a“robe of durance was a cant term, implying imprisonment; and the Prince, after dilating on purse-stealing, humourously calls attention to its probable consequences by his query about the buff jerkin. See Middleton's ‘Blurt, Master Constable,’ act iii. sc. 2:
‘Tell my lady that I go in a suit of durance.’;”
“A devil in an everlasting garment hath him;
... a fellow all in buff,”
The Comedy of Errors, iv. 2. 33-36, “it should seem that the sergeant's buff jerkin was called a robe of durance with allusion to his occupation of arresting men and putting them in durance or prison; and that durance being a kind of stuff sometimes called everlasting, the buff jerkin was hence called an ‘everlasting garment.’” According to Nares, “It appears that the leathern dresses worn by some of the lower orders of people [by sergeants and catchpoles among others] were first called of durance or everlasting from their great durability. . . . Hence a stuff of the colour of buff, made in imitation of it, and very strong, was called durance.” Gloss. in Durance. The sort of stuff known by the name of durance continued long in use. On the second passage in this article Mr. Staunton remarks that a“robe of durance was a cant term, implying imprisonment; and the Prince, after dilating on purse-stealing, humourously calls attention to its probable consequences by his query about the buff jerkin. See Middleton's ‘Blurt, Master Constable,’ act iii. sc. 2:
‘Tell my lady that I go in a suit of durance.’;”
