Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

9

Arm. Sweet air!-Go, tenderness of years; take this key, give enlargement to the swain, bring him festinately hither; I must employ him in a letter to my love. Moth. Master, will you win your love with a French brawl?1

Arm. How mean'st thou? brawling in French?

Moth. No, my complete master: but to jig off a tune at the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet,2 humour it with turning up your eye-lids; sigh a note, and sing a note; sometime through the throat, as if you swallowed love with singing love; sometime through the nose, as if you snuffed up love by smelling love; with your hat penthouselike, o'er the shop of your eyes; with your arms crossed on your thin belly-doublet, like a rabbit on a spit; or your hands in your pocket, like a man

bly the performer was left to choose his own ditty, and therefore it could not with propriety be exhibited as a part of a new performance. Sometimes yet more was left to the discretion of the ancient comedians, as I learn from the following circumstance in King Edward IV, P. II, 1619:-"Jockey is led whipping over the stage, speaking some words, but of no importance."

Not one out of the many songs supposed to be sung in Marston's Antonio's Revenge, 1602, are inserted; but instead of them, cantant. Steevens.

9

festinately hither;] i. e. hastily. Shakspeare uses the adjective festinate in King Lear: "Advise the Duke where you are going, to a most festinate preparation." Steevens.

1a French brawl?] A brawl is a kind of dance, and (as Mr. M. Mason observes) seems to be what we now call a cotillon. In The Malcontent of Marston, I meet with the following account of it: "The brawl! why 'tis but two singles to the left, two on the right, three doubles forwards, a traverse of six rounds: do this twice, three singles side galliard trick of twenty coranto pace; a figure of eight, three singles broken down, come up, meet two doubles, fall back, and then honour." Again, in Ben Jonson's masque of Time Vindicated: "The Graces did them footing teach;

66 And, at the old Idalian brawls,

"They danc'd your mother down." Steevens.

So, in Massinger's Picture, Act II, sc. ii:

""Tis a French brawl, an apish imitation

“Of what you really perform in battle." Tollet.

2 canary to it with your feet,] Canary was the name of a spritely nimble dance. Theobald.

[blocks in formation]

after the old painting;3 and keep not too long in one tune, but a snip and away: These are complements,* these are humours; these betrays nice wenches-that would be betrayed without these; and make them men of note, (do you note, men?) that most are affected to these."

Arm. How hast thou purchased this experience?
Moth. By my penny" of observation." paine q. d. pain

Arm. But O,—but 0,

Moth. the hobby-horse is forgot.8

3 ·like a man after the old painting;] It was a common trick among some of the most indolent of the ancient masters, to place the hands in the bosom or the pockets, or conceal them in some other part of the drapery, to avoid the labour of representing them, or to disguise their own want of skill to employ them with grace and propriety. Steevens.

4

These are complements,] Dr. Warburton has here changed complements to complishments, for accomplishments, but unnecessarily. Johnson.

5

- these betray &c.] The former editors:- these betray nice wenches, that would be betray'd without these, and make them men of note. But who will ever believe, that the old attitudes and affectations of lovers, by which they betray young wenches, should have power to make these young wenches men of note? His meaning is, that they not only inveigle the young girls, but make the men taken notice of too, who affect them. Theobald.

6 and make them men of note, (do you note, men?) that most are affected to these.] i. e. and make those men who are most affected to such accomplishments, men of note.-Mr. Theobald, without any necessity, reads-and make the men of note, &c. which was, I think, too hastily adopted in the subsequent editions. One of the modern editors, instead of "do you note, men?" with great probability reads "do you note me?" Malone.

7 By my penny of observation.] Thus, Sir T. Hanmer; and his reading is certainly right. The allusion is to the famous old piece, called a Penniworth of Wit. The old copy reads-pen.

Farmer, The story Dr. Farmer refers to, was certainly printed before Shakspeare's time. See Langham's Letter, &c. Ritson.

8 Arm. But 0,-but 0,

Moth. the hobby-horse is forgot.] In the celebration of May-day, besides the sports now used of hanging a pole with garlands, and dancing round it, formerly a boy was dressed up representing Maid Marign; another like a friar; and another rode on a hobby-horse, with bells jingling, and painted streamers. After the reformation took place, and precisians multiplied, these

Arm. Callest thou my love, hobby-horse?

Moth. No, master; the hobby-horse is but a colt,9 and your love, perhaps, a hackney. But have you for got your love?

Arm. Almost I had.

Moth. Negligent student! learn her by heart.

Arm. By heart, and in heart, boy.

Moth. And out of heart, master: all those three I

will prove.

Arm. What wilt thou prove?

Moth. 'A man, if I live; and this, by, in, and without, upon the instant: By heart you love her, because your heart cannot come by her: in heart you love her, because your heart is in love with her; and out of heart you love her, being out of heart that you cannot enjoy her. Arm. I am all these three.

Moth. And three times as much more, and yet nothing at all.

Arm. Fetch hither the swain; he must carry me a letter. Moth. A"message" well sympathised; a horse to be embassador for an ass! messenger

Arm. Ha, ha! what sayest thou?

Moth. Marry, sir, you must send the ass upon the horse, for he is very slow-gaited: But I go.

Arm. The way is but short; away.

Moth. As swift as lead, sir.

Arm. Thy meaning, pretty ingenious?

Is not lead a metal heavy, dull, and slow?

Moth. Minimè, honest master; or rather master, no. Arm. I say, lead is slow.

latter rites were looked upon to savour of paganism; and then Maid Marian, the friar, and the poor hobby-horse, were turned out of the games. Some who were not so wisely precise, but regretted the disuse of the hobby-horse, no doubt satirized this suspicion of idolatry, and archly wrote the epitaph above alluded to. Now Moth, hearing Armado groan ridiculously, and cry out But oh! but oh!-humorously pieces out his exclamation with the sequel of this epitaph. Theobald.

The same line is repeated in Hamlet. See note on Act III, sc. iii. Steevens.

9

but a colt,] Colt is a hot, mad-brained, unbroken young fellow; or sometimes an old fellow with youthful desires. Johnson.

Moth.

You are too swift, sir, to say so:1

Is that lead slow which is fir'd from a gun?

Arm. Sweet smoke of rhetorick!

He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's he:I shoot thee at the swain.

Moth.

Thump then, and I flee. [Exit. Arm. A most acute juvenal; voluble and free of grace! By thy favour, sweet welkin,2 I must sigh in thy face: "Most rude' melancholy, valour gives thee place. My herald is return'd. eloist-eyed

Re-enter Mотн and COSTARD.

Moth. A wonder, master; here's a Costard broken3 in a shin.

Arm. Some enigma, some riddle: come,-thy l'envoy;-begin.

Cost. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy ;4 no salve in

[ocr errors]

1 You are too swift, sir, to say so:] How is he too swift for saying that lead is slow? I fancy we should read, as well to supply the rhyme as the sense:

You are too swift, sir, to say so so soon:

Is that lead slow, sir, which is fir'd from a gun? Johnson. The meaning, I believe, is, You do not give yourself time to think, if you say so; or, as Mr. M. Mason explains the passage: "You are too hasty in saying that: you have not sufficiently considered it."

Swift, however, means ready at replies. So, in Marston's Malcontent, 1604:

"I have eaten but two spoonfuls, and methinks I could discourse both swiftly and wittily, already." Steevens.

Swift is here used, as in other places, synonymously with witty. I suppose the meaning of Atalanta's better part, in As you like it, is her wit-the swiftness of her mind. Farmer.

So, in As you like it: "He is very swift and sententious." Again, in Much Ado about Nothing:

"Having so swift and excellent a wit."

On reading the letter which contained an intimation of the Gunpowder-plot in 1605, King James said, that "the style was more quick and pithie than was usual in pasquils and libels."

Malone.

2 By thy favour, sweet welkin,] Welkin is the sky, to which Armado, with the false dignity of a Spaniard, makes an apology for sighing in its face. Johnson.

3 here's a Costard broken —] i. e. a head. So, in Hycke Scorner:

"I wyll rappe you on the costard with my horne." Steevens. 4 —no l'envoy ;] The l'envoy is a term borrowed from the

"

the mail, sir: O, sir, plantain, a plain plantain; no l'envoy, no l'envoy, no salve, sir, but a plantain!

no salve in them all

old French poetry. It appeared always at the head of a few concluding verses to each piece, which either served to convey the moral, or to address the poem to some particular person. It was frequently adopted by the ancient English writers.

So, in Monsieur D'Olive, 1606:

"Well said; now to the L'Envoy."-All the Tragedies of John Bochas, translated by Lidgate, are followed by a L'Envoy.

Steevens.

5 -no salve in the mail, sir:] The old folio reads-no salve in thee male, sir, which, in another folio, is, no salve in the male, sir. What it can mean, is not easily discovered: if mail for a packet or bag was a word then in use, no salve in the mail may mean, no salve in the mountebank's budget. Or shall we readno enigma, no riddle, no l'envoy--in the vale, sir—O, sir, plantain. The matter is not great, but one would wish for some meaning or other. Johnson.

Male or mail was a word then in use. Reynard the fox sent Kayward's head in a male. So, likewise, in Tamburlane, or the Scythian Shepherd, 1590:

"Open the males, yet guard the treasure sure."

I believe Dr. Johnson's first explanation to be right. Steevens. Male, which is the reading of the old copies, is only the ancient spelling of mail. So, in Taylor the water-poet's works, (Character of a Bawd) 1630:-"the cloathe-bag of counsel, the capcase, fardle, pack, male, of friendly toleration:" The quarto 1598, and the first folio, have-thee male. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

I can scarcely think that Shakspeare had so far forgotten his little school-learning, as to suppose the Latin verb salve and the English substantive, salve, had the same pronunciation; and yet without this the quibble cannot be preserved. Farmer.

The same quibble occurs in Aristippus, or The Jovial Philosopher, 1630:

"Salve, Master Simplicius.

"Salve me; 'tis but a Surgeon's complement." Steevens. Perhaps we should read-no salve in them all, sir. Tyrwhitt. This passage appears to me to be nonsense as it stands, incapable of explanation, I have therefore no doubt but we should adopt the amendment proposed by Mr. Tyrwhitt, and read-No salve in them all, sir. So corrected in ms. fol. 1632.

Moth tells his master, that there was a Costard with a broken shin: and the Knight, supposing that Moth has some conceit in what he said, calls upon him to explain it.-Some riddle, says he, some enigma. Come-thy l'envoy-begin. But Costard supposing that he was calling for these things, in order to apply them to his broken shin, says, he will not have them, as they were none of them salves, and begs for a plain plantain instead of them. This

« ПредишнаНапред »