4 P's, written by J. Haywood, p. 96, of Dodsley's edit. is this passage: STEEVENS. THEOBALD. Line 115. I sent thee six-pence for thy leman;] i. e. I sent thee six-pence to spend on thy mistress. The money was given him for his leman, i. e. his mistress. He says he did impeticoat the gratuity, i. e. he gave it to his petticoat companion, for (says he) Malvolio's nose is no whipstock, i. e. Malvolio may smell out our connection, but his suspicion will not prove the instrument of our punishment. My mistress has a white hand, and the myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses, i. e. my mistress is handsome, but the houses kept by officers of justice are no places to make merry and entertain her at. Such may be the meaning of this whimsical speech. A whipstock is, I believe, the handle of a whip, round which a strap of leather is usually twisted, and sometimes the whip itself. STEEVENS. tells Line 117. I did impeticos, &c.] This, Sir Thomas Hanmer Sus, is the same with impocket thy gratuity. He is undoubtedly right; but we must read, I did impeticoat thy gratuity. The fools were kept in long coats, to which the allusion is made. There is yet much in this dialogue which I do not understand. JOHNSON. Poticary. I pray you, tell me can you sing? Line 127. good life.] i. e. Jollity. 141. In delay there lies no plenty ;] See this sentiment illustrated in Richard III. Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary." Line 142. Then come kiss me, sweet, and twenty,] This line is obscure; we might read, Come, a kiss then, sweet, and twenty. Yet I know not whether the present reading be not right: for in some counties sweet, and twenty, whatever be the meaning, is a phrase of endearment. JOHNSON. Line 149. make the welkin dance,] That is, drink till the sky seems to turn round. JOHNSON. VOL. X. Line 151. draw three souls out of one weaver?] Why he says three souls, is because he is speaking of a catch in three parts. WARBURTON. Line 169. The Merry Wives of Windsor. -a Cataian,] See a note to explain this word, in Line 170. -Peg-a-Ramsey,] In Durfey's Pills to purge Melancholy is a very obscene old song, entitled Peg-a-Ramsey. See also Ward's Lives of the Professors of Gresham College, p. 207. PERCY. Nash mentions Peg of Ramsey among several other ballads, viz. Rogero, Basilino, Turkelony, All the Flowers of the Broom, Pepper is Black, Green Sleeves, Peggie Ramsie. STEEVENS. Line 170. Three merry men we be.] Three merry men we be is a fragment of some old song, which I find repeated in Westward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607, and by B. and Fletcher in The Knight of the Burning Pestle. STEEVENS. Line 172. Tilly valley, lady!] Tilly valley was an interjection of contempt, which Sir Thomas More's lady is recorded to have had very often in her mouth. JOHNSON. Line 185. -coziers catches- -] A cozier is a tailor, from coudre to sew, part. cousu, French. JOHNSON. Line 189. Sneck up!] I think we may safely read sneak cup, with reference to Sir Toby's reply to Malvolio. I should not however omit to mention, that sneck the door is a north country expression for latch the door. STEEVENS. Line 210. dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?] It was a custom on holidays or saints days to make cakes in honour of the day. The Puritans called this superstition; and in the next page Maria says, that Malvolio is sometimes a kind of Puritan. See Quarlous's account of Rabbi Busy, Act 1. Sc. 3. Ben Jonson's Barthelmew Fair. Dr. LETHERLAND. Line 214. rub your chain with crums :] I suppose it should be read, rub your chin with crums; alluding to what had been said before that. Malvolio was only a steward, and consequently dined after his lady. JOHNSON. Stewards anciently wore a chain as a mark of superiority over other servants, and the best method of cleaning any gilt plate (of which the chain was made) is by rubbing it with crums. Thus in Webster's Dutchess of Malfy, 1623, "Yes, and the chippings of the buttery fly after him Line 218 and riot. Line 235. Possess us,] That is, inform us, tell us, make us masters of the matter. JOHNSON. Line 246. -an affection'd ass,] Affection'd means affected. In this sense, I believe, it is used in Hamlet" no matter in "it that could indite the author of affection." i. e. affectation. STEEVENS. -call me Cut.] i. e. Insult me. ACT II. SCENE IV. recollected] Studied. Line 297. WARBURTON. I rather think that recollected signifies, more nearly to its primitive sense, recalled, repeated, and alludes to the practice of composers, who often prolong the song by repetitions. JOHNSON. favour.] The word favour ambiguously used. Line 319. JOHNSON. Line 286. 330. -lost and worn,] Though lost and worn may mean lost and worn out, yet lost and won being, I think, better, these two words coming usually and naturally together, and the alteration being very slight, I would so read in this place with Sir JOHNSON. Thomas Hanmer. Line 343.free]Is, perhaps, vacant, unengaged, easy JOHNSON, in mind. Line 345. -silly sooth,] It is plain, simple truth. JOHNS. -346. And dallies with the innocence of love,] To dally iş to play harmlessly. So Act 3. They that dally nicely with words. STEEVENS, Line 347. -the old age.] The old age is the ages past, the times of simplicity. JOHNSON. Line 357. My part of death no one so true Did share it.] Though death is a part in which every one acts his share, yet of all these actors no one is so true JOHNSON, as I. Line 374. a very opal!] A precious stone of almost all colours. POPE. So Milton describing the walls of heaven, With opal tow'rs and battlements adorn'd. The opal is a precious stone which varies its appearance as it receives the light at different angles. STEEVENS. Line 386. But 'tis that miracle, and queen of gems, That nature pranks her in,] The miracle and queen of gems is her beauty. As to her mind, he that should be captious would say, that though it may be formed by nature it must be pranked by education. Shakspeare does not say that nature pranks her in a miracle, but in the miracle of gems, that is, in a gem miraculously, beautiful. JOHNSON. Line 417. -she pin'd in thought;] i. e. Melancholy. Thus in Hamlet: "Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." Line 419. She sat like Patience on a monument, Smiling at Grief.] This most exquisite, yet intelligible idea, cannot be too much admired. In this place, however, the editor of these annotations cannot avoid lamenting the absurdity of that abstract criticism, which seems to have stung all our commentators on this passage. Some pages of old reading and analogies to illustrate this simple and beautiful phrase are really too bad for our patience. Line 425. I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too;] This was the most artful answer that could be given. The question was of such a nature, that to have declined the appearance of a direct answer must have raised suspicion. This has the appearance of a direct answer, that the sister died of her love; she (who passed for a man) saying, she was all the daughters of her father's house. WARBURTON. Line 430. —bide no denay.] i. e. Take no refusal. ACT II. SCENE V. Line 445. -my nettle of India ?] The poet must here mean a zoophyte, called the Urtica marina, abounding in the Indian seas. STEEVENS. Line 463. -how he jets -] i. e. How he struts. 471. the lady of the Strachy-] We should read, Trachy, i. e. Thrace; for so the old English writers called it. It was common to use the article the before names of places: and this was no improper instance, where the scene was in Illyria. WARBURTON. What we should read is hard to say. Here is an allusion to some old story which I have not yet discovered. JOHNSON. Straccio (see Torriano's and Altieri's dictionaries) signifies clouts and tatters; and Torriano in his grammar, at the end of his dictionary, says that straccio was pronounced stratchi. So that it is probable that Shakspeare's meaning was this, that the chief lady of the queen's wardrobe had married a yeoman of the king's, who was vastly inferior to her. SMITH. -blows him.] i. e. Puffs him up. Line 475. 478. -stone-bow,] That is, a cross-bow, a bow which JOHNSON. shoots stones. Line 480. -a day-bed,] i. e. A couch. 492. wind up my watch,] In our author's time watches were very uncommon. When Guy Faux was taken, it was urged as a circumstance of suspicion that a watch was found upon him. JOHNSON. Line 495. Though our silence be drawn from us with cars,] i. e. Though it is the greatest pain to us to keep silence. WARBURTON. I believe the true reading is, Though our silence be drawn from us with carts, (or cars) yet peace. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the Clowns says, I have a mistress, but who that is, a team of horses shall not draw from me. So in this play, Oxen and rainropes will not bring them together. JOHNSON. Line 513. What employment have we here ?] A phrase of that time, equivalent to our common speech of What's to do here. WARBURTON. Line 519. -her great P's.] In the direction of the letter which Malvolio reads, there is neither a C, nor a P, to be found. STEEVENS. There may, however, be words in the direction which he does |
