have in drink. But you must bear; The heart's all. + [Exit. SHAL. Be merry, master Bardolph ;—and my little soldier there, be merry. SIL. Be merry, be merry, my wife's as all;5 [Singing. For women are shrews, both short and tall: 'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all, And welcome merry shrove-tide." Be merry, be merry, &c. 6 abbreviation of the phrase,-Bon prou leur face, i. e. Much good may it do them. See Cotgrave, in voce Prou. To the instances produced by Dr. Farmer, I may add one more from Springes for Woodcocks, a collection of epigrams, 1606, Ep. 110: "Proface, quoth Fulvius, fill us t'other quart." And another from Heywood's Epigrams: "I came to be merry, wherewith merrily "Proface. Have among you," &c. Again, in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 528: "—the cardinall came in booted and spurred, all sodainly amongst them, and bade them proface." STEEVENS. So, in Nashe's Apologie for Pierce Penniless, 1593: "A preface to courteous minds,-as much as to say proface, much good may it do you! would it were better for you!" Sir T. Hanmer, (as an ingenious friend observes to me,) was mistaken in supposing profaccia a regular Italian word; the proper expression being buon pro vi faccia, much good may it do you! Profaccia is, however, as I am informed, a cant term used by the common people in Italy, though it is not inserted in the best Italian dictionaries. MALONE. That is, the intention with which the The humour consists in making Davy JOHNSON. -The heart's all.] entertainment is given. act as master of the house. my wife's as all;] Old copy-has all. Dr. Farmer very acutely observes, that we should read-my wife's as all, i. e. as all women are. This affords a natural introduction to what follows. STEEVENS. 6 'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all,] Mr. Warton, FAL. I did not think, master Silence had been a man of this mettle. SIL. Who I? I have been merry twice and once, ere now. in his History of English Poetry, observes, that this rhyme is found in a poem by Adam Davie, called The Life of Alexander: 66 Merry swithe it is in halle, "When the berdes waveth alle." STEEVens. This song is mentioned by a contemporary author: "—which done, grace said, and the table taken up, the plate presently conveyed into the pantrie, the hall summons this consort of companions (upon payne to dyne with duke Humphfrie, or to kisse the hare's foot) to appear at the first call: where a song is to be sung, the under song or holding whereof is, It is merrie in haul where beards wag all." The Serving-man's Comfort, 1598, sign. C. Again: "It is a common proverbe It is merry in hall, when beardes wag all." Briefe Conceipte of English Pollicye, by William Stafford, 1581. Reprinted 1751, as a work of Shakspeare's. REED. And welcome merry shrove-tide.] Shrove-tide was formerly a season of extraordinary sport and feasting. In the Romish church there was anciently a feast immediately preceding Lent, which lasted many days, called CARNISCAPIUM. See Carpentier in v. Supp. Lat. Gloss. Du Cange, Tom. I. p. 381. In some cities of France, an officer was annually chosen, called LE PRINCE D'AMOREUX, who presided over the sports of the youth for six days before Ash-Wednesday. Ibid. v. Amoratus, p. 195; and v. Cardinalis, p. 818. Also, v. Spinetum, Tom. III. 848. Some traces of these festivities still remain in our universities. In The Percy Houshold-Book, 1512, it appears, "that the clergy and officers of Lord Percy's chapel performed a play before his lordship upon Shrowftewesday at night." P. 345. T. WARTON. See also Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, Vol. XII. p. 403, last edition. REED. Re-enter DAVY. DAVY. There is a dish of leather-coats for you.' [Setting them before BARDOLPH. SHAL. Davy, DAVY. Your worship?-I'll be with you straight. [TO BARD.]-A cup of wine, sir? SIL. A cup of wine, that's brisk and fine, And a merry heart lives long-a.9 FAL. Well said, master Silence. [Singing. SIL. And we shall be merry ;-now comes in the sweet of the night.' FAL. Health and long life to you, master Silence. SIL. Fill the cup, and let it come;" I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom. -leather-coats-] The apple commonly denominated russetine, in Devonshire, is called the buff-coat. Henley. ` 9 -a merry heart lives long-a.] "A merry heart is the life of the flesh." Proverbs xiv. 30. 1 "Gladness prolongs his days." Ecclus xxx. 22. Steevens. now comes in the sweet of the night.] So Falstaff, in a former scene of this play: "Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night.” " STEEVENS. I believe the latter words [those in the speech of Silence] make part of some old ballad. In one of Autolycus's songs we find 66 Why then comes in the sweet of the year." The words, And we shall be merry, have a reference to a song, of which Silence has already sung a stanza. His speeches in this scene are, for the most part, fragments of ballads. Though his imagination did not furnish him with any thing original to say, he could repeat the verses of others. MALONE. Fill the cup, &c.] This passage has hitherto been printed as prose, but am told that it makes a part of an old song, and have therefore restored it to its metrical form. STEEVENS. SHAL. Honest Bardolph, welcome: If thou wantest any thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart.. Welcome, my little tiny thief; [To the Page.] and welcome, indeed, too. I'll drink to master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleroes3 about London. DAVY. I hope to see London once ere I die.* BARD. An I might see you there, Davy,— SHAL. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together. Ha! will you not, master Bardolph ? BARD. Yes, sir, in a pottle pot. SHAL. I thank thee:-The knave will stick by thee, I can assure thee that: he will not out; he is true bred. BARD. And I'll stick by him, sir. SHAL. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing: be merry. [Knocking heard.] Look who's at door there: Ho! who knocks? [Exit DAVY. FAL. Why, now you have done me right. [To SILENCE, who drinks a bumper. SIL. Do me right," [Singing. And dub me knight: Samingo. Is't not so? 3 7 - cavaleroes-] This was the term by which an airy, splendid, irregular fellow was distinguished. The soldiers of King Charles were called Cavaliers from the gaiety which they affected in opposition to the sour faction of the parliament. JOHNSON. I hope to see London once ere I die.] Once, I believe, here signifies some time, or-one time or another. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Fenton says: "I pray thee, once to-night give my sweet Nan this ring." STEEVENS. Do me right,] To do a man right, and to do him reason, were formerly the usual expressions in pledging healths. He FAL. 'Tis so. who drank a bumper, expected a bumper should be drank to his toast. So, in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman, Captain Otter says in the drinking scene: "Ha' you don me right, gentlemen?" Again, in The Bondman, by Massinger: "These glasses contain nothing;-do me right, "As ere you hope for liberty." STEEVENS. And dub me knight:] It was the custom of the good fellows of Shakspeare's days to drink a very large draught of wine, and sometimes a less palatable potation, on their knees, to the health of their mistress. He who performed this exploit was dubb'd a knight for the evening. So, in The Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608: "They call it knighting in London, when they drink upon their knees.Come follow me; I'll give you all the degrees of it in order." Malone. 7 Samingo.] He means to say, San Domingo. HANMER. In one of Nashe's plays, entitled Summer's last Will and Testament, 1600, Bacchus sings the following catch: "Monsieur Mingo for quaffing doth surpass "In cup, in can, or glass; "God Bacchus, do me right, "And dub me knight, "Domingo." Domingo is only the burthen of the song. Again, in The letting of Humours Blood in the Head-vaine: with a new Morisco, daunced by seaven Satyres, upon the Bottome of Diogenes Tubbe, 1600: Epigram I. "Monsieur Domingo is a skilful man, "For muche experience he hath lately got, "For when his purse is swolne but sixpence bigge, Why then he sweares,-Now by the Lorde I thinke, "All beere in Europe is not worth a figge; "A cuppe of elarret is the only drinke. STEEVENS. |