or as
Frolicks
at Feasts, sent from man to man, returning
againe at last, to the first man.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
= '_Frolics_ are couplets,
commonly of an amatory or satirical nature, written on small
slips of paper, and wrapt round a sweetmeat. A dish of them is
usually placed on the table after supper, and the guests amuse
themselves with sending them to one another, as circumstances
seem to render them appropriate: this is occasionally productive
of much mirth. I do not believe that the game is to be found in
England; though the drawing on Twelfth Night may be thought to
bear some kind of coarse resemblance to it. On the continent I
have frequently been present at it.'--G.
The _NED._ gives only one more example, from R. H. _Arraignm._
_Whole Creature XIV._ ? 2. 244 (1631) 'Moveable as Shittlecockes
...
or as
Frolicks
at Feasts, sent from man to man, returning
againe at last, to the first man.
'
=2. 8. 74, 5 burst your buttons, or not left you seame.=
Cf. _Bart. Fair_, _Wks._ 4. 359: 'he breaks his buttons,
and cracks seams at every saying he sobs out.'
