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Does anyone know what the image of "glowe-worme lights" refers to? OED has it referring figuratively to contemptible persons in the 17th century and relates it to "glose-wormes" or "glass worms" a sixteenth century variant which seems to be associated with changeability. Fulke Greville uses the term in A Letter to an Honorable Lady, where it is compared to false remedies and deceiving visions: "as the weak become terrified with those glow-worm lights; out of which wise subjects often fashion arts, to govern absolute Monarchs by" (170.3-5, Gouws, Prose Works of Greville); he also uses it in Caelica 78: the thoughts of changeable counsellors are "shadowes of Princes might; / Which glow worm like, by shining, show 'tis night." Could "glow worm lights" refer to glosses? Are glosses viewed with suspicion by Tudor/Stuart writers? Has anyone seen "glow-worms" elsewhere, and in what contexts? It also seems to me that "wise subjects" in the passage from A Letter needs to be taken ironically. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks, Joel Davis Department of English 205 Morrill Hall Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK 74078 405-744-9474 _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp