bank'd
“their towns,”
KING JOHN, v. 2. 104.
Means most probably“sailed past their towns on the
banks of the river,” rather than “thrown up
entrenchments before their towns;” compare the old play,The Troublesome Raigne of Iohn, etc. (see Introd. to King John, vol. iv. p. 3, Dyce's second edition of Shakespeare).
“Your city, Rochester, with great applause,
By some diuine instinct laid armes aside;
And from the hollow holes of Thamesis
Eccho apace repli'd, Viue le Roy:
From thence along the wanton rowling glade
To Troynouant, your faire metropolis,
With lucke came Lewis,”
Sec. Part, sig. I 4 verso, ed. 1622. But Mr. Staunton sees here an allusion to card-playing, and (from the context) would understand bank'd their towns to mean “won their towns, put them in bank or rest.”
By some diuine instinct laid armes aside;
And from the hollow holes of Thamesis
Eccho apace repli'd, Viue le Roy:
From thence along the wanton rowling glade
To Troynouant, your faire metropolis,
With lucke came Lewis,”
Sec. Part, sig. I 4 verso, ed. 1622. But Mr. Staunton sees here an allusion to card-playing, and (from the context) would understand bank'd their towns to mean “won their towns, put them in bank or rest.”
