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Look to my house:-I am right loth to go;
There is some ill a brewing towards my rest,
For I did dream of money-bags to-night.

Laun. I beseech you, sir, go; my young master doth expect your reproach.

Shy. So do I his.

Laun. And they have conspired together, I will not say, you shall see a masque; but if you do, then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a bleeding on BlackMonday last, at six o'clock i' the morning, falling out that year on Ash-wednesday was four year in the after

noon.

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Shy. What! are there masques? Hear you me, Jessica: Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum, And the vile squeaking of the wry-neck'd fife," Clamber not you up to the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the publick street,

6 then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a bleeding on Black-Monday last,] "Black-Monday is Easter-Monday, and was so called on this occasion: in the 34th of Edward III, (1360) the 14th of April, and the morrow after Easter-day, King Edward, with his host, lay before the city of Paris; which day was full dark of mist and hail, and so bitter cold, that many men died on their horses' backs with the cold. Wherefore, unto this day, it hath been called the Blacke-Monday." Stowe, p. 264-6. Grey. It appears from a passage in Lodge's Rosalynde, 1592, that some superstitious belief was annexed to the accident of bleeding at the nose: "As he stood gazing, his nose on a sudden bled, which made him conjecture it was some friend of his." Steevens. Again, in The Dutchess of Malfy, 1640, Act I, sc. ii:

"How superstitiously we mind our evils?

"The throwing downe salt, or crossing of a hare,

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Bleeding at nose, the stumbling of a horse,

"Or singing of a creket, are of power

"To daunt whole man in us."

Again, Act I, sc. iii:

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My nose bleeds. One that was superstitious would count this ominous, when it merely comes by chance." Reed.

7 Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum,

And the vile squeaking of the wry-neck'd fife,]

"Primâ nocte domum claude; neque in vias

"Sub cantu querulæ despice tibiæ." Hor. Lib. III, Od. vii.

Malone.

It appears from hence, that the fifes, in Shakspeare's time, were formed differently from those now in use, which are straight, not wry-necked. M. Mason.

To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces:
But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements;
Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter
My sober house. By Jacob's staff, I swear,
I have no mind of feasting forth to-night:
But I will go.-Go you before me, sirrah;
Say, I will come.

Laun.

I will go before, sir.Mistress, look out at window, for all this;

There will come a Christian by,

Will be worth a Jewess' eye.3

[Exit LAUN. Shy. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha? Jes. His words were, Farewel, mistress; nothing else. Shy. The patch is kind enough; but a huge feeder, Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day

More than the wild cat; drones hive not with me;
Therefore I part with him; and part with him
To one that I would have him help to waste
His borrow'd purse.-Well, Jessica, go in;
Perhaps, I will return immediately;

Do, as I bid you,

Shut doors1 after you: Fast bind, fast find;

A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.

[Exit.

Jes. Farewel; and if my fortune be not crost,

I have a father, you a daughter, lost.

[Exit.

& There will come a Christian by,

Will be worth a Jewess' eye.] It's worth a Jew's eye, is a proverbial phrase. Whalley,

9 The patch is kind enough;] This term should seem to have come into use from the name of a celebrated fool. This I learn from Wilson's Art of Rhetorique, 1553: “A word-making, called of the Grecians Onomatopeia, is when we make words of our own mind, such as be derived from the nature of things;-as to call one Patche, or Cowlson, whom we see to do a thing foolishly; because these two in their time were notable fools."

Probably the dress which the celebrated Patche wore, was in allusion to his name, patched or parti-coloured. Hence the stage fool has ever since been exhibited in a motley coat. Patche, of whom Wilson speaks, was Cardinal Wolsey's fool. Malone.

1 Shut doors-] Doors is here used as a dissyllable. Malone.

SCENE VI.

The Same.

Enter GRATIANO and SALARINO, masqued.

Gra. This is the pent-house, under which Lorenzo Desir'd us to make stand.2

Salar.

His hour is almost past.

Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour,
For lovers ever run before the clock.

Salar. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly 3
To seal love's bonds new made, than they are wont,
To keep obliged faith unforfeited!

Gra. That ever holds: Who riseth from a feast,
With that keen appetite that he sits down?
Where is the horse that doth untread again
His tedious measures with the unbated fire
That he did pace them first? All things that are,
Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd.
How like a younker, or a prodigal,

2 Desir'd us to make stand.] Desir'd us stand, in ancient elliptical language, signifies-desired us to stand. The words-to make, are an evident interpolation, and consequently spoil the measure. Steevens.

3 0, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly-] Lovers have in poetry been always called Turtles or Doves, which in lower language may be pigeons. Johnson.

Thus Chapman, in his version of Homer's Catalogue of Ships, Iliad the second:

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Thisbe, that for pigeons doth surpasse Mr. Pope, in more elegant language:

66 -Thisbe, fam'd for silver doves -"

Steevens.

4 a younker,] All the old copies read-a younger. But Rowe's emendation may be justified by Falstaff's question in The First Part of King Henry IV:-"I'll not pay a denier. What will you make a younker of me?" Steevens.

How like a younker, or a prodigal,

The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, &c.] Mr. Grey (dropping the particularity of allusion to the parable of the prodigal) seems to have caught from this passage the imagery of the following:

"Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,
"While proudly riding o'er the azure realm

"In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes;

"Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the helm ; "Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,

"That hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening-prey.”

The scarfed bark5 puts from her native bay,
Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind!“
How like a prodigal doth she return;7

With over-weather'd ribs, and ragged sails,
Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the strumpet wind!
Enter LORENZO.

Salar. Here comes Lorenzo;-more of this hereafter. Lor. Sweet friends, your patience for my long abode; Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait;

When you shall please to play the thieves for wives,
I'll watch as long for you then.-Approach;9
Here dwells my father Jew:-Ho! who's within.
Enter JESSICA above, in boy's clothes.
Jes. Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty,
Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue.

Lor. Lorenzo, and thy love.

Jes. Lorenzo, certain; and my love, indeed; For who love I so much? And now who knows, But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?

Lor. Heaven, and thy thoughts, are witness that thou

art.

Jes. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains. I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me, For I am much asham'd of my exchange:

The grim-repose, however, was suggested by Thomson's-deep fermenting tempests brew'd

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"In the grim evening sky." Henley.

scarfed bark-] i. e. the vessel decorated with flags. So, in All's well that ends well: "Yet the scarfs and the bannerets about thee, did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great burden." Steevens.

• embraced by the strumpet wind!] So, in Othello:

"The bawdy wind, that kisses all it meets." Malone.

7 - doth she return;] Surely the bark ought to be of the masculine gender, otherwise the allusion wants somewhat of propriety. This indiscriminate use of the personal for the neuter, at least obscures the passage. A ship, however, is commonly spoken of in the feminine gender. Steevens.

8 With over-weather'd ribs,] Thus both the quartos. The folio has over-wither'd. Malone.

9 I'll watch as long for you then.-Approach;] Read, with a slight variation from Sir T. Hanmer:

"I'll watch as long for you. Come then, approach.” Ritson.

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit;
For if they could, Cupid himself would blush
To see me thus transformed to a boy.

Lor. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer.
Jes. What, must I hold a candle to my shames?
They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light.
Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love;

And I should be obscur'd.

Lor.

So are you, sweet,

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.

But come at once;

For the close night doth play the run-away,
And we are staid for at Bassanio's feast.

Jes. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself With some more ducats, and be with you straight. [Exit, from above.

Gra. Now, by my hood, a Gentile, and no Jew.1
Lor. Beshrew me, but I love her heartily:

For she is wise, if I can judge of her;
And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true;
And true she is, as she hath prov'd herself;

And therefore, like herself; wise, fair, and true,
Shall she be placed in my constant soul.

Enter JESSICA, below.

What, art thou come?-On, gentlemen, away;
Our masquing mates by this time for us stay.

[Exit with JES, and SALAR.

1 Now by, my hood, a Gentile, and no few.] A jest arising from the ambiguity of Gentile, which signifies both a Heathen, and one well born. Johnson.

So, at the conclusion of the first part of Feronimo, &c. 1605: So, good night kind gentles,

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"For I hope there's never a few among you all.”

Again, in Swetnam Arraign'd, 1620:

Joseph the Few was a better Gentile far." Steevens. Dr. Johnson rightly explains this. There is an old book by one Ellis, entitled: The Gentile Sinner, or England's brave Gentleman.”

Farmer.

To understand Gratiano's oath, it should be recollected that he is in a masqued habit, to which it is probable that formerly, as at present, a large cape or hood was affixed. Malone.

Gratiano alludes to the practice of friars, who frequently swore by this part of their habit. Steevens.

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