Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

127. —I have a sword, and it shall bite upon my necessity. He loves your wife, &c.] Nym, to gain credit,

says, that he is above the mean office of carrying love. letters; he has nobler means of living; he has a sword, and upon his necessity, i. e. when his need drives him to unlawful expedients, his sword shall bite. JOHNSON.

134. The humour of it,- -] The following epigram taken from an old collection without date, but apparently printed before the year 1600, will best ac count for Nym's frequent repetition of the word humour. Epig. 27.

Aske HUMOUR what a feather he doth wearé,
It is his humour (by the Lord) he'll sweare.
Or what he doth with such a horse-taile locke;
Or why upon a whore he spends his stocke?
He hath a humour doth determine so.
Why in the stop-throte fashion he doth
goe,
With scarfe about his necke, hat without band?

It is his humour. Sweet sir, understand
What cause his purse is so extreame distrest
That oftentimes is scarcely penny-blest?
Only a humour. If you question why
His tongue is ne'er unfurnish'd with a lye?
It is his humour too he doth protest.

Or why with serjeants he is so opprest,
That like to ghosts they haunt him ev'rie day?'
A rascal humour doth not love to pay.

Object why bootes and spurres are still in season?
His humour answers: humour is his reason.
If you perceive his wits in wetting shrunke,
It cometh of a humour to be drunke.
E

When

When you behold his lookes pale, thin, and poore,
Th' occasion is, his humour and a whoore.
And every thing that he doth undertake,
It is a veine, for senceless humour's sake.

STEEVENS.

140. I will not believe such a Cataian,] That by a Cataian some kind of sharper was meant, I infer from the following passage in Love and Honour, a play by sir W. Davenant, 1649:

Hang him, bold Cataian, he indites finely,

"And will live as well by sending short epistles,
"Or by the sad whisper at your gamester's ear,
"When the great By is drawn,

"As any distrest gallant of them all.”

Cathaia is mentioned in the Tamer Tamed, of Beaumont and Fletcher:

"I'll wish you in the Indies, or Cathaia."

The tricks of the Cataians are hinted at in one of the old black letter histories of that country; and again in a dramatic performance, called the Pedler's Prophecy, 1595:

-in the east part of Inde,

"Through seas and floods, they work all thievish." Mr. Malone observes, that in a book of Shakspere'sage, entitled, A brief Description of the whole World, "the people of China are (said to be) very politick and crafty, and in respect thereof contemning the wits of others; using a proverb, That all other nations do see but with one eye, but they with two.” STEEVENS.

143. 'Twas a good sensible fellow:] This, and the

two

two preceding speeches of Ford, are spoken to himself, and have no connection with the sentiments of Page, who is likewise making his comment on what had passed, without attention to Ford. STEEVENS. 187. cavalero-justice,] So in The Stately Moral of three Ladies of London, 1590:

"Then know, Castilian cavalieros, this."

There is a book printed in 1599, called, A countercuffe given to Martin Junior; by the venturous, hardie, and renowned Pasquil of Englande, CAVALLIERO. STEEVENS. 209. -and tell him, my name is Brook,] Thus both the old quartos; and thus most certainly the poet wrote. We need no better evidence than the pun that Falstaff anon makes on the name, when Brook sends him some burnt sack.

"Such Brooks are welcome to me, that overflow with such liquor."

The players, in their editions, altered the name to Broom. THEOBALD.

211. -said I well?] The learned editor of the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, in 4 vols. 8vo. 1775, observes, that this phrase is given to the host in the Pardonere's Prologue:

"Said I not well? I cannot speke in terme:"

v. 12246. and adds, "it may be sufficient with the other circumstances of general resemblance, to make us believe that Shakspere, when he drew the character, had not forgotten his Chaucer." The same gentleman has since informed me, that the passage is Eij

not

not found in any of the ancient printed editions, but

only in the MSS.

212.

STEEVENS

Will you go AN-HEIRS?] This nonsense is spoken to Shallow. We should read, Will you go ON HERIS? i. e. Will you go on, master? Heris, an old Scotch word for master. WARBURTON.

The merry Host has already saluted them separately by titles of distinction; he therefore probably now addresses them collectively by a general one,

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

He calls Dr. Caius Heart of Elder; and adds, in a subsequent scene of this play, Farewell my hearts. Again, in the Midsummer Night's Dream, Bottom says, "Where are these hearts?"

My brave hearts, or my bold hearts, is a common word of encouragement. A heart of gold expresses the more soft and amiable qualities, the Mores aurei of Horace; and a heart of oak is a frequent encomium of rugged honesty. STEEVENS. Will you go an-heirs?] Perhaps we should read, "Will you go and hear us?" So in the next page, "I had rather hear them scold than fight."

MALONE.

213. Have with you, mine host.] This speech is given in all the editions to Shallow; but it belongs, I think, to Ford, to whom the host addresses himself when he

[blocks in formation]

It is not likely he should address himself to Shallow, "because Shallow and he had already concerted the scheme, and agreed to go together; and accordingly, Shallow says, a little before to Page,

"Will you go with us to behold it?

The former speech of Ford-None I protest, &c. is given in like manner, in the first folio, to Shallow, instead of Ford: The editors corrected the one, but over-looked the other. MALONE.

214. I have heard, the Frenchman hath good skill in his rapier.] In the old quarto, here follows these words:

"Shal. I tell you what, master Page; I believe the doctor is no jester, he'll lay it on; for though we be justices, and doctors, and churchmen, yet we are the sons of women, master Page.

"Page. True, master Shallow.

"Shal. It will be found so, master Page.

[ocr errors]

Page. Master Shallow, you yourself, have been a great fighter, now a man of peace."

Part of this dialogue is found afterwards in the third scene of the present act; but it seems more proper here, to introduce what Shallow says of the prowess cf MALONE.

his youth.

220.

my long sword,

-] Before the introduction of rapiers, the swords in use were of an enormous length, and sometimes raised with both hands. Shallow, with an old man's vanity, censures the innovation by which lighter weapons were introduced, tells what he could once have done with his long-sword, and ridicules the terms and rules of the rapier. JOHNSON. E iij

The

« ZurückWeiter »