both, and they shall be exchequers to me; they shall be my East and West Indies, and I will trade to them both. Go, bear thou this letter to mistress Page; and thou this to mistress Ford: we will thrive, lads, we will thrive. Pist. Shall I sir Pandarus of Troy become, And by my side wear steel? then, Lucifer take all ! Nym. I will run no base humour: here, take the humour letter; I will keep the 'haviour of reputation. Fal. Hold, sirrah, [to Roв.] bear you these letters tightly;5 Sail like my pinnace to these golden shores. 1598. The mention of Guiana, then so lately discovered to the English, was a very happy compliment to Sir Walter Raleigh, who did not begin his expedition for South America till 1595, and returned from it in 1596, with an advantageous account of the great wealth of Guiana. Such an address of the poet was likely, I imagine, to have a proper impression on the people, when the intelligence of such a golden country was fresh in their minds, and gave them expectations of immense gain. Theobald. 4 I will be cheater to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me;] The same joke is intended here, as in The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, Act II: I will bar no honest man my house, nor no cheater.”— By which is meant Escheatour, an officer in the Exchequer, in no good repute with the common people. Warburton, 5 bear you these letters tightly;] i. e. cleverly, adroitly. So, in Antony aud Cleopatra, Antony, putting on his armour, says: My queen's a squire 66 "More tight at this, than thou." Malone. No phrase is so common in the eastern counties of this kingdom, and particularly in Suffolk, as good tightly, for briskly and effectually. Henley. It is used in this sense in Don Sebastian, by Dryden, Act II, sc. ii,—“ tightly, I say, go tightly to your business." Reed. 6 my pinnace-] A pinnace seems anciently to have signified a small vessel, or sloop, attending on a larger. So, in Rowley's When you see me you know me, 1613: was lately sent "With threescore sail of ships and pinnaces." Again, in Muleases the Turk, 1610: "Our life is but a sailing to our death Through the world's ocean: it makes no matter then, "Whether we put into the world's vast sea "Shipp'd in a pinnace, or an argosy." At present it signifies only a man of war's boat. Rogues, hence, avaunt! vanish like hail-stones, go; Trudge, plod, away, o' the hoof; seek shelter, pack! Falstaff will learn the humour of this age,7 French thrift, you rogues; myself, and skirted page. [Exeunt FAL. and ROB. Pist. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd, and fullam holds, 9 And high and low beguile the rich and poor: A passage similar to this of Shakspeare occurs in The Himourous Lieutenant, by Beaumont and Fletcher: 66 this small pinnace "Shall sail for gold." Steevens. A pinnace is a small vessel with a square stern, having sails and oars, and carrying three masts; chiefly used (says Rolt, in his Dictionary of Commerce,) as a scout for intelligence, and for landing of men. Malone. 7- the humour of this age,] Thus the 4to. 1619: The folio reads-the honour of the age. Steevens, 8 Let vultures gripe thy guts!] This hemistich is a burlesque on a passage in Tamburlaine, or The Scythian Shepherd, of which play a more particular account is given in one of the notes to Henry IV, P. II, Act II, sc. iv. Steevens I suppose the following is the passage intended to be ridiculed: and now doth ghastly death "With greedy talents [talons] gripe my bleeding heart, "And like a harper [harpy] tyers on my life." Again, ibid: T 66 Griping our bowels with retorted thoughts." Malone. -for gourd, and fullam holds, And high and low beguile the rich and poor:] Fullam is a cant term for false dice, high and low. Torriano, in his Italian Dictionary, interprets Pise by false dice, high and low men, high fullams and low fullams. Jonson, in his Every Man out of his Humour, quibbles upon this cant term: "Who, he serve? He keeps high men and low men, he has a fuir living at Fullam."-As for gourd, or rather gord, it was another instrument of gaming, as appears from Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady: And thy dry 66 bones can reach at nothing now, but GORDS or nine-pins." Warburton. In The London Prodigal I find the following enumeration of false dice: "I bequeath two bale of false dice, videlicit, high men and low men, fulloms, stop cater-traies, and other bones of function." Green, in his Art of Juggling, &c. 1612, says, "What should I say more of false dice, of fulloms, high men, lowe men, gourds, and Nym. I have operations in my head,1 which be hu mours of revenge. Pist. Wilt thou revenge? Nym. By welkin, and her star! Pist. With wit, or steel? Nym. With both the humours, I: I will discuss the humour of this love to Page.2 How Falstaff, varlet vile, His dove will prove, his gold will hold, And his soft couch defile. Nym. My humour shall not cool: I will incense Page3 brizled dice, graviers, demies, and contraries?" Again, in The Bellman of London, by Decker, 5th edit. 1640; among the false dice are enumerated, "a bale of fullams.”—“ A bale of gordes, with as many high-men as low-men for passage." Steevens. Gourds were probably dice, in which a secret cavity had been made; fullams, those which had been loaded with a small bit of lead. High men and low men, which were likewise cant terms, explain themselves. High numbers on the dice, at hazard, are from five to twelve, inclusive; low, from aces to four. Malone. High and low men were false dice, which, being chiefly made at Fulham, were thence called " high and low Fulhams." The high Fulhams were the numbers, 4, 5, and 6. See the manner in which these dice were made, in The complete Gamester, p. 12, edit. 1676, 12mo. Douce. 1 in my head,] These words, which are omitted in the folio, were recovered by Mr. Pope from the early quarto. Malone. 2 I will discuss the humour of this love to Page.] The folio reads: to Ford," but the very reverse of this happens. See Act II, where Nym makes the discovery to Page, and not to Ford, as here promised; and Pistol, on the other hand, to Ford, and not to Page. Shakspeare is frequently guilty of these little forgetfulnesses. Steevens. The folio reads-to Ford; and in the next line-and I to Page, &c. But the reverse of this (as Mr. Steevens has observed) happens in Act II, where Nym makes the discovery to Page, and Pistol to Ford. I have therefore corrected the text from the old quarto, where Nym declares he will make the discovery to Page; and Pistol says, "And I to Ford will likewise tell-" Malone. 3 I will incense Page &c.] So, in K. Henry VIII: I have "Incens'd the lords of the council, that he is to deal with poison; I will possess him with yellowness,* for the revolt of mien 5. is dangerous: that is my true humour. Pist. Thou art the Mars of malecontents: I second thee; troop on. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. A room in Dr. Caius's House. Enter Mrs. QUICKLY, SIMPLE, and RUGBY.. Quick. What; John Rugby!-I pray thee, go to the casement, and see if you can see my master, master Doctor Caius, coming: if he do, i' faith, and find any body in the house, here will be an old abusing of God's patience, and the king's English. Rug. I'll go watch. [Exit RUG. Quick. Go; and we'll have a posset for 't soon at night, in faith, at the latter end of a sea-coal fire." An honest, willing, kind fellow, as ever servant shall come In both passages, to incense has the same meaning as to instigate. Steevens. 4 yellowness,] Yellowness is jealousy. Johnson. So, in Law Tricks, &c. 1608: "If you have me you must not put on yellows." Again, in The Arraignment of Paris, 1584: 5 66 Flora well, perdie, “Did paint her yellow for her jealousy.” Steevens. - the revolt of mien -] The revolt of mine is the old reading. Revolt of mien, is change of countenance, one of the effects he has just been ascribing to jealousy. Steevens. This Mr. Steevens truly observes to be the old reading, and it is authority enough for the revolt of mien in modern orthography. "Know you that fellow that walketh there?-says Eliot, 1593he is an alchymist by his mine, and hath multiplied all to moonshine." Farmer. Nym means, I think, to say, that kind of change in the complexion, which is caused by jealousy, renders the person possessed by such a passion dangerous; consequently Ford will be likely to revenge himself on Falstaff, and I shall be gratified. I believe our author wrote-that revolt, &c. though I have not disturbed the text-ye and yt in the MSS. of his time were easily confounded. Malone. 6 at the latter end &c.] That is, when my master is in bed. Johnson. in house withal; and, I warrant you, no tell-tale, nor no breed-bate:7 his worst fault is, that he is given to prayer: he is something peevish that way: but nobody but has his fault; but let that pass. Peter Simple, you say your name is? Sim. Ay, for fault of a better. your master? Quick. Does he not wear a great round beard, like a glover's paring-knife? Sim. No, forsooth: he hath but a little wee face,' with a little yellow beard; a Cain-coloured beard.1 7 no breed-bate:] Bate is an obsolete word, signifying strife, contention. So, in the Countess of Pembroke's Antonius, 1595. "Shall ever civil bate "Gnaw and devour our state?" Again, in Acolastus, a comedy, 1540: "We shall not fall at bate, or stryve for this matter." Stanyhurst, in his translation of Virgil, 1582, calls Erinnys a make-bate. Steevens. 8 he is something peevish that way:] Peevish is foolish. So, in Cymbeline, Act II: " - he 's strange and peevish." Steevens. 9 a little wee face,] Wee, in the northern dialect, signifies very little. Thus, in the Scotish proverb that apologizes for a little woman's marriage with a big man:-" A wee mouse will creep under a mickle cornstack." Collins. So, in Heywood's Fair Maid of the West, a comedy, 1631: “He was nothing so tall as I; but a little wee man, and somewhat hunch-back'd." Again, in The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll, 1600: "Some two miles, and a wee bit, sir." Wee is derived from weenig, Dutch. On the authority of the 4to, 1619, we might be led to read whey-face: "-Somewhat of a weakly man, and has as it were a whey-coloured beard." Macbeth calls one of the messengers whey-face. Steevens. Little wee is certainly the right reading; it implies something extremely diminutive, and is a very common vulgar idiom in the North. Wee alone, has only the signification of little. Thus Cleveland: "A Yorkshire wee bit, longer than a mile." The proverb is a mile and a wee bit; i, e. about a league and a half. Ritson. 1 a Cain-colour beard.] Cain and Judas, in the tapestries and pictures of old, were represented with yellow beards. Theobald. |