' In his note on the present passage, he
adds that it was
probably
'adopted by gamblers and others, as a
mark of wealth, to entrap the unwary.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
_ 3.
398: 'Much good do him.'
=3. 3. 217 And coozen i' your bullions.= Massinger's _Fatal
Dowry_, _Wks._, p. 272, contains the following passage:
'The other is his dressing-block, upon whom my lord lays all his
clothes and fashions ere he vouchsafes them his own person:
you shall see him ... at noon in the Bullion,' etc. In a note
on this passage (_Wks._ 3. 390, ed. 1813) Gifford advanced the
theory that the _bullion_ was 'a piece of finery, which derived
its denomination from the large globular gilt buttons, still in
use on the continent.
' In his note on the present passage, he
adds that it was
probably
'adopted by gamblers and others, as a
mark of wealth, to entrap the unwary.
'
Nares was the next man to take up the word. He connected it with
'_bullion_; Copper-plates set on the Breast-leathers and Bridles
of Horses for ornament' (Phillips 1706). 'I suspect that it also
meant, in colloquial use, copper lace, tassels, and ornaments in
imitation of gold. Hence contemptuously attributed to those who
affected a finery above their station.'
Dyce (B. & Fl., _Wks._ 7. 291) was the first to disconnect the
word from _bullion_ meaning uncoined gold or silver. He says:
'_Bullions_, I apprehend, mean some sort of hose or breeches,
which were _bolled_ or _bulled_, i. e. swelled, puffed out
(cf. _Sad. Shep._, Act 1.
