a

tiers:* and they have a dance which the wenches say is a galiimaufrys of gambols, because they are not in 't; but they themselves are o' the mind, (if it be not too rough for some, that know little but bowling,)6 it will please plentifully.

Shep. Away! we 'll none on 't; here has been too much homely foolery already :-I know, sir, we weary you.

Pol. You weary those that refresh us: Pray, let ’s see these four threes of herdsmen.

Serv. One three of them, by their own report, sir, hath danced before the king; and not the worst of the three, but jumps twelve foot and a half by the squire.?

Shep. Leave your prating; since these good men are pleased, let them come in; but quickly now. Serv. Why, they stay at door, sir.

[Exit.

in derision of them; weakly apprehending that which they should not have appeared to understand. For Mr. Hatton, Mr. Lignish, and the most part of the gentlemen desired to sup before the queen and great banquet, that they might see the better the or. der and ceremonies of the triumph: but so soon as they perceived the satyrs wagging their tails, they all sat down upon the bare fioor behind the back of the table, that they might not see themselves derided, as they thought. Mr. Hatton said unto me, if it were not in the queen's presence, he would put a dagger to the heart of that French knave Bastian, who he alleged had done it out of despight that the queen made more of them than of the Frenchmen. Reed.

they call themselves saltiers :) He means Satyrs. Their dress was perhaps made of goat's skin. Cervantes mentions in the preface to his plays that in the time of an early Spanish wri. ter, Lopè de Rueda, “ All the furniture and utensils of the actors consisted of four shepherds' jerkins, made of the skins of sheep with the wool on, and adorned with gilt leather trimming: four beards and periwigs, and four pastoral crooks;-little more or less.” Probably a similar shepherd's jerkin was used in our author's theatre. Malone.

gallimaufry - ) Cockeram, in his Dictionarie of hard Words, 12mo. 1622, says, a gallimaufry is “ a confused heape of things together.” Steevens.

bowling.] Bowling, I believe, is here a term for a dance of smooth motion, without great exertion of agility. Fohnson.

The allusion is not to a smooth dance, as Johnson supposes, but to the smoothness of a bowling green. M. Mason.

- by the squire.) i. e. by the foot-rule. Esquierre, French, See Love's Labour's Lost, Vol. IV, p. 133, n. 1. Malone.

5

6

7

Re-enter Servant, with twelve Rustics habited like Satyrs.

They dance, and then exeunt. Pol. O, father, you 'll know more of that hereafter. 8Is it not too far gone?--'Tis time to part them.He's simple, and tells much. (.Aside. ]-How now, fair

shepherd ?
Your heart is full of something, that does take
Your mind from feasting. Sooth, when I was young,
And handed love, as you do, I was wont
To load my she with knacks: I would have ransack'd
The pedler's silken treasury, and have pour'd it
To her acceptance; you have let him go,
And nothing marted with him: If your lass
Interpretation should abuse; and call this,
Your lack of love, or bounty; you were straited'
For a reply, at least, if you make a care
Of happy holding her.

Old sir, I know
She prizes not such trifles as these are:
The gifts, she looks from me, are packd and lock'd
Up in my heart; which I have given already,
But not deliver'd. O, hear me breathe my

life
Before this ancient sir, who, it should seem,
Hath sometime lovd: I take thy hand; this hand,
As soft as dove's down, and as white as it;
Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd snow,2

Flo.

1

2

9

8 Pol. O, father, you'll know more of that hereafter.] This is re. plied by the King in answer to the Shepherd's saying, since these good men are pleased. Warburton.

The dance which has intervened would take up too much time to preserve any connexion between the two speeches. The line spoken by the King seems to be in reply to some unexpressed question from the old Shepherd. Ritson.

This is an answer to something which the Shepherd is supposed to have said to Polixenes during the dance. M. Mason.

straited -] i. e. put to difficulties. Steevens.

who, it should seem,] Old copy—whom. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

- or the fann'd snow,] So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:
“ That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow,
“ Fann'd by the eastern wind, turns to a crow,
“When thou hold’st up thy hand.” Steevens.

or the fann'd snow, That’s bolted &c.] The fine sieve used by millers to separate four from bran is called a bolting cloth. Harris.

1

2

That's bolted by the northern blasts twice o'er.

Pol. What follows this?-
How prettily the young swain seems to wash
The hand, was fair before! I have put you out:-
But, to your protestation; let me hear
What you profess.
Fio.

Do, and be witness to 't.
Pol. And this my neighbour too?
Flo.

And he, and more
Than he, and men; the earth, the heavens, and all:
That-were I crown'd the most imperial monarch,
Thereof most worthy; were I the fairest youth
That ever made eye swerve; had force, and knowledge,
More than was ever man's, I would not prize them,
Without her love: for her, employ them all;
Commend them, and condemn them, to her service,
Or to their own perdition.
Pol.

Fairly offer'd. Cam. This shows a sound affection. Shep.

But, my daughter,
Say you the like to him?
Per.

I cannot speak
So well, nothing so well; no, nor mean better:
By the pattern of mine own thoughts I cut out
The purity of his.
Shep.

Take hands, a bargain;
And, friends unknown, you shall bear witness to 't:
I give my daughter to him, and will make
Her portion equal his.
Flo.

O, that must be
l'the virtue of your daughter: one being dead,
I shall have more than you can dream of yet;
Enough then for your wonder: But, come on,
Contract us, 'fore these witnesses.
Shep.

Come, your

hand; And, daughter, yours. · Pol.

Soft, swain, a while, 'beseech you;
Have you a father?
Flo.

I have: But what of him?
Pol. Knows he of this?
Flo.

He neither does, nor shall.
Pol. Methinks, a father
Is, at the nuptial of his son, a guest
That best becomes the table. Pray you, once more;

Is not your father grown incapable
Of reasonable affairs? is he not stupid
With age and altering rheums?3 Can he speak? hear?
Know man from man? dispute his own estate?“
Lies he not bed-rid? and again does nothing,
But what he did being childish?
Flo.

No, good sir;
He has his health, and ampler strength, indeed,
Than most have of his age.
Pol.

By my white beard,
You offer him, if this be so, a wrong
Something unfilial: Reason, my son
Should choose himself a wife; but as good reason,
The father, (all whose joy is nothing else
But fair posterity) should hold some counsel
In such a business.
Flo.

I yield all this;
But, for some other reasons, my grave sir,
Which 'tis not fit you know, I not acquaint
My father of this business.
Pol.

Let him know 't.
Flo. He shall not.
Pol.

Pr'ythee let him.
Flo.

No, he must not. Shep. Let him, my son; he shall not need to grieve At knowing of thy choice. Flo.

Come, come he must not:Mark our contract. Pol.

Mark your divorce, young sir,

[Discovering himself.

3

altering rheums?] Rowe has transplanted this phrase into his Fane Shore, Act II, sc.

c.i: - when altering rheums “Have stain'd the lustre of thy starry eyes,”. Steevens.

dispute his own estate?] Perhaps for dispute we might read compute; but dispute his estate may be the same with talk over his affairs. Johnson. The same phrase occurs in Romeo and Juliet:

“Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.” Steevens. Does not this allude to the next heir suing for the estate in cases of imbecility, lunacy, &c. ? Chamier.

It probably means—“Can he assert and vindicate his right to his own property.” M. Mason.

Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base
To be acknowledg'd: Thou a scepter's heir,
That thus affect’st a sheep-hook!-Thou old traitor,
I am sorry, that, by hanging thee, I can but
Shorten thy life one week.And thou, fresh piece
Of excellent witchcraft; who, of force,5 must know
The royal fool thou cop'st with ;-
Shep.

O, my heart! Pol. I 'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briars, and

made More homely than thy state.--For thee, fond boy, If I may ever know, thou dost but sigh, That thou no more shalt see this knack, (as never I mean thou shalt) we'll bar thee from succession : Not hold thee of our blood, no not our kin, Far than? Deucalion off:—Mark thou my words; Follow us to the court.-Thou churl, for this time, Though full of our displeasure, yet we free thee From the dead blow of it.—And you, enchantment, Worthy enough a herdsman; yea, him too, That makes himself, but for our honour therein, Unworthy thee,-if ever, henceforth, thou These rural latches to his entrance open, Or hoop his body & more with thy embraces, I will devise a death as cruel for thee, As thou art tender to 't.

[Exit. Per.

Even here undone!

5

who, of force,] Old copy—whom. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

6 That thou no more shalt see this knack, (as never -] The old copy reads, with absurd redundancy:

" That thou no more shalt never see,” &c. Steevens. 7 Far than - ] I think for far than we should read-far as. We will not hold thee of our kin even so far off as Deucalion the common ancestor of all. Johnson.

The old reading farre, i. e. further, is the true one. The ancient comparative of fer was ferrer. See the Glossaries to Robert of Glocester and Robert of Brunne. This, in the time of Chaucer, was softened into ferre,

“But er I bere thee moche ferre.” H. of Fa. B. II, v. 92. « Thus was it peinted, I can say no ferre."

Knight's Tale, 2062. Tyrwhitt. 8 Or hoop his body -] The old copy has-hope. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone.

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