Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

MOTH. It was so, sir; for she had a green wit. ARM. My love is most immaculate white and red. MOTH. Most maculate thoughts, master, are masked under such colours.

ARM. Define, define, well-educated infant.

MOTH. My father's wit, and my mother's tongue, assist me!

ARM. Sweet invocation of a child; most pretty, and pathetical!

MOTH. If she be made of white and red,
Her faults will ne'er be known;

For blushing' cheeks by faults are bred,
And fears by pale-white shown:
Then, if she fear, or be to blame,
By this you shall not know;

For still her cheeks possess the same,
Which native she doth owe.2

A dangerous rhyme, master, against the reason of white and red.

ARM. Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar ? 3

3

9 Most maculate thoughts,] So, the first quarto, 1598. The folio has immaculate. To avoid such notes for the future, it may be proper to apprize the reader, that where the reading of the text does not correspond with the folio, without any reason being assigned for the deviation, it is always warranted by the authority of the first quarto. MALONE.

For blushing-] The original copy has-blush in. The emendation was made by the editor of the second folio.

MALONE. Which native she doth owe.] i. e. of which she is naturally possessed. To owe is to possess. So, in Macbeth:

3

[ocr errors]

the disposition that I owe." STEEVENS. the King and the Beggar?] See Dr. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 4th edit. Vol. I. p. 198. STEEVENS.

MOTH. The world was very guilty of such a ballad some three ages since: but, I think, now 'tis not to be found; or, if it were, it would neither serve for the writing, nor the tune.

ARM. I will have the subject newly writ o'er, that I may example my digression by some mighty precedent. Boy, I do love that country girl, that I took in the park with the rational hind Costard;* she deserves well.

MOTH. To be whipped; and yet a better love than my master.

[Aside. ARM. Sing, boy; my spirit grows heavy in love. MOTH. And that's great marvel, loving a light wench.

ARM. I say, sing.

MOTH. Forbear till this company

be past.

my digression-1 Digression on this occasion signifies the act of going out of the right way, transgression. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

[ocr errors]

Thy noble shape is but a form of wax, "Digressing from the valour of a man." Again, in our author's Rape of Lucrece:

[ocr errors]

my digression is so vile, so base,

STEEVENS.

"That it will live engraven on my face." MALone.

the rational hind Costard;] Perhaps we should readthe irrational hind, &c. TYRWhitt.

The rational hind, perhaps, means only the reasoning brute, the animal with some share of reason. STEEVENS.

I have always read irrational hind; if hind be taken in its bestial sense, Armado makes Costard a female. FARMER.

Shakspeare uses it in its bestial sense in Julius Cæsar, Act I. sc. iii. and as of the masculine gender:

"He were no lion, were not Romans hinds."

Again, in King Henry IV. P. I. sc. iii: “ cowardly hind, and you lie." STEEVENS.

-you are a shallow

Enter DULL, COSTARD, and Jaquenetta.

DULL. Sir, the duke's pleasure is, that you keep Costard safe and you must let him take no delight, nor no penance; but a' must fast three days a-week: For this damsel, I must keep her at the park; she is allowed for the day-woman. Fare you well.

6

ARM. I do betray myself with blushing.—Maid. JAQ. Man.

ARM. I will visit thee at the lodge.

JAQ. That's hereby."

ARM. I know where it is situate.

[blocks in formation]

6 for the day-woman.] "i. e. for the dairy-maid. Dairy, says Johnson in his Dictionary, is derived from day, an old word for milk. In the northern counties of Scotland, a dairy-maid is at present termed a day or dey." Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. STEEVENS.

7 That's hereby.] Jaquenetta and Armado are at cross purposes. Hereby is used by her (as among the vulgar in some counties) to signify-as it may happen. He takes it in the sense of just by. STEEVENS.

• With that face?] This cant phrase has oddly lasted till the present time; and is used by people who have no more meaning annexed to it, than Fielding had; who putting it into the mouth of Beau Didapper, thinks it necessary to apologize (in a note) for its want of sense, by adding-" that it was taken verbatim, from very polite conversation." STEEVENS.

JAQ. Fair weather after you!
DULL. Come,' Jaquenetta, away.

[Exeunt DULL and JAQUENEtta. ARM. Villain, thou shalt fast for thy offences, ere thou be pardoned.

COST. Well, sir, I hope, when I do it, I shall do it on a full stomach.

ARM. Thou shalt be heavily punished.

COST. I am more bound to you, than your fellows, for they are but lightly rewarded.

up.

ARM. Take away this villain; shut him MOTH. Come, you transgressing slave; away. COST. Let me not be pent up, sir; I will fast, being loose.

MOTH. No, sir; that were fast and loose: thou shalt to prison.

COST. Well, if ever I do see the merry days of desolation that I have seen, some shall see—

MOTH. What shall some see?

COST. Nay nothing, master Moth, but what they look upon. It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their words;' and, therefore, I will say nothing:

9 Come, &c.] To this line in the first quarto, and the first folio, Clo. by an error of the press is prefixed, instead of Con. i. e. Constable or Dull. Mr. Theobald made the necessary correction. MALone.

1 It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their words ;] I suppose we should read, it is not for prisoners to be silent in their wards, that is, in custody, in the holds. JOHNSON.

The first quarto, 1598, (the most authentic copy of this play, reads- "It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their words;' and so without doubt the text should be printed. MALONE.

VOL. VII.

D

I thank God, I have as little patience as another man; and, therefore I can be quiet.

[Exeunt MоTH and COSTARD..

ARM. I do affect the very ground, which is base, where her shoe, which is baser, guided by her foot, which is basest, doth tread. I shall be forsworn, (which is a great argument of falshood,) if I love: And how can that be true love, which is falsely attempted? Love is a familiar; love is a devil: there is no evil angel but love. Yet Sampson was so tempted: and he had an excellent strength: yet was Solomon so seduced; and he had a very good wit. Cupid's butt-shaft3 is too hard for Hercules' club, and therefore too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier. The first and second cause will not serve my turn; the passado he respects not, the duello he regards not: his disgrace is to be called boy; but his glory is, to subdue men. Adieu, valour! rust, rapier! be still, drum! for your manager

is

I don't think it necessary to endeavour to find out any meaning in this passage, as it seems to have been intended that Costard should speak nonsense. M. MASON.

2

affect-] i. e. love. So, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. XII. ch. lxxiv:

3

"But this I know, not Rome affords whom more you

might affect,

"Than her," &c. STEEVENS.

butt-shaft-] i. e. an arrow to shoot at butts with. The butt was the place on which the mark to be shot at was placed. Thus, Othello says

66

here is my butt,

"And very sea-mark of my utmost sail."

STEEvens.

The first and second cause will not serve my turn;] See the last Act of As you like it, with the notes. JOHNSON.

[ocr errors]

rust, rapier!] So, in All's well that ends well: "Rust, sword! cool blushes, and Parolles, live!"

STEEVENS.

« ПредишнаНапред »