Lady F. And he to fail in all, and disappoint us! The rogue deserves a torture

Pru. To be cropp'd

With his own scissars.

Lady F. Let's devise him one.

Pru. And have the stumps sear'd up with his own searing candle.

Lady F. Close to his head, to trundle on his pillow.

I'll have the lease of his house cut out in measures. Pru. And he be strangled with them.

Lady F. No, no life

I would have touch'd, but stretch'd on his own yard He should be a little, have the strappado

Pru. Or an ell of taffata

Drawn through his guts, by way of glyster, and fired With aqua vitæ.

Lady F. Burning in the hand

With the pressing-iron, cannot save him.

Pru. Yes,

Now I have got this on; I do forgive him,
What robes he should have brought.

Lady F. Thou art not cruel,
Although strait-laced, I see, Prue.

Pru. This is well.

Lady F. 'Tis rich enough, but 'tis not what I meant thee.

I would have had thee braver than myself,

And brighter far. 'Twill fit the players yet,

When thou hast done with it, and yield thee somewhat.

Pru. That were illiberal, madam, and mere sordid In me, to let a suit of yours come there.

Lady F. Tut, all are players, and but serve the

scene, Prue:

Dispatch; I fear thou dost not like the province,
Thou art so long a fitting thyself for it.

Here is a scarf to make thee a knot finer.
Pru. You send me a-feasting, madam.
Lady F. Wear it, wench.

Pru. Yes; but with leave of your ladyship, I would tell you,

This can but bear the face of an odd journey.
Lady F. Why, Prue?

Pru. A lady of your rank and quality,
To come to a public inn, so many men,
Young lords and others, in your company,
And not a woman but myself, a chambermaid!
Lady F. Thou doubt'st to be o'erlaid, Prue! fear
it not,

I'll bear my part, and share with thee in the venture.
Pru. O but the censure, madam, is the main.

What will they say of you, or judge of me,
To be translated thus, above all the bound
Of fitness or decorum?

Lady F. How now, Prue!

Turn'd fool upon the sudden, and talk idly
In thy best clothes! shoot bolts and sentences
To affright babies with! as if I lived

To any other scale than what's my own,
Or sought myself, without myself, from home! 3
Pru. Your ladyship will pardon me my fault;

If I have over-shot, I'll shoot no more.

Lady F. Yes, shoot again, good Prue; I'll have thee shoot,

And aim, and hit; I know 'tis love in thee,

And so I do interpret it.

Pru. Then, madam,
I'd crave a farther leave.
Lady F. Be it to license,

3 Or sought myself, without myself, &c.] The lady has her "bolts and sentences as well as the maid. The present is from Persius:

Ne te quæsiveris extra.

It shall not want an ear, Prue. Say, what is it?
Pru. A toy I have, to raise a little mirth
To the design in hand.

Lady F. Out with it, Prue,

If it but chime of mirth.

Pru. Mine host has, madam,

A pretty boy in the house, a dainty child,

His son, and is of your ladyship's name, too, Francis,
Whom if your ladyship would borrow of him,
And give me leave to dress him as I would,
Should make the finest lady and kinswoman,
To keep you company, and deceive my lords,
Upon the matter, with a fountain of sport.

Lady F. I apprehend thee, and the source of mirth
That it may breed; but is he bold enough,
The child, and well assured?

Pru. As I am, madam :

Have him in no suspicion, more than me.

Here comes mine host; will you but please to ask him, Or let me make the motion?

Lady F. Which thou wilt, Prue.

Enter Host.

Host. Your ladyship, and all

your

Lady F. I thank my hearty host.

Host. So is your sovereignty,

train are welcome.

So is your sovereignty.] In Horatio's adjuration to Hamlet not to follow the ghost, he urges, among other dissuasives,

"What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,

Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,

And then assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,
And draw you into madness!"

This passage has proved a perpetual torment to the commentators.-"Your sovereignty of reason," Steevens says, " is, your ruling power of reason!" And then he proceeds with matchless gravity: "When poets wish to invest any quality or virtue with uncommon splendor, they do it by some allusion to regal eminence."-War

Madam, I wish you joy of your new gown.

Lady F. It should have been, my host; but Stuff,

our tailor,

Has broke with us; you shall be of the counsel.
Pru. He will deserve it, madam.

heard

My lady has

You have a pretty son, mine host, she'll see him. Lady F. Ay, very fain; I pray thee let me see him, host.

Host. Your ladyship shall presently.

[Goes to the door. Bid Frank come hither anon, unto my lady.It is a bashful child, homely brought up, In a rude hostelry: but the Light Heart Is now his father's, and it may be his. Here he comes.

Frank. I do

Enter FRANK.

Frank, salute my lady.

What, madam, I am design'd to do, by my birthright, As heir of the Light Heart, bid you most welcome. Lady F. And I believe your most, my pretty boy, Being so emphased by you.

Frank. Your ladyship, madam,

If you believe it such, are sure to make it.

Lady F. Prettily answered! Is your name Francis?

burton would read, deprave your sovereignty of reason-but it would be idle to produce more of this nature. The critics have stumbled over a difficulty raised by themselves: sovereignty here, as in the text, is merely a title of respect; and to deprive your sovereignty of reason, means neither more nor less, than to deprive your lordship, or your honour, or your highness of reason. As if this was not enough, on a passage which it seems almost impossible to mistake, Dr. Johnson and Steevens disagree about the word deprive: the former "conceiving it to mean simply, take away," and the latter stoutly "affirming it to signify disinherit!" Is not this to turn criticism into the line of children!

Frank. Yes, madam.

Lady F. I love mine own the better.
Frank. If I knew yours,

I should make haste to do so too, good madam.
Lady F. It is the same with yours.

Frank. Mine then acknowledges

The lustre it receives, by being named after.
Lady F. You will win upon me in compliment.
Frank. By silence.

Lady F. A modest and a fair well-spoken child. Host. Her ladyship shall have him, sovereign Prue, Or what I have beside; divide my Heart

Between you and your lady; make your use of it:
My house is yours, my son is yours. Behold,
I tender him to your service; Frank, become
What these brave ladies would have you. Only this,
There is a chare-woman in the house, his nurse,
An Irish woman, I took in a beggar,
That waits upon him, a poor, silly fool,
But an impertinent and sedulous one
As ever was; will vex you on all occasions,
Never be off, or from you, but in her sleep;
Or drink which makes it; she doth love him so,
Or rather doat on him. Now, for her, a shape,
And we may dress her, and I'll help to fit her,
With a tuft-taffata cloke, an old French hood,
And other pieces, heterogene enough.

Pru. We have brought a standard of apparel down, Because this tailor fail'd us in the main.

Host. She shall advance the game.

Pru. About it then.

And send but Trundle hither, the coachman, to me. Host. I shall but, Prue, let Lovel have fair

quarter.

[Aside.

Now for her a shape,] i. e. as has been already observed, a suit by way of disguise. It is a theatrical term still in use, for a foreign dress.