With eyes feuere, and beard of formall cut, 163 165 as the country calls 'capon justices.' A further illustration of this morally dubious custom is to be found in Massinger's New Way to Pay Old Debts [IV, ii, where Mr Justice Greedy, under promise of a yoke of oxen from Wellborn, drives from his presence Tapwell, whose suit, under promise merely of a pair of turkeys, he had at first favoured]. 163. formall cut] That is, cut with due regard to his dignity. It is not to be imagined that the nice customs of beards escaped the stern Stubbes. He is particularly entertaining in his 'anatomie' of the barber shops: The barbers,' he says in his Anatomie of Abuses, 1583 (Part II, p. 50, New Sh. Soc. Reprint), 'haue one maner of cut called the French cut, another the Spanish cut, one the Dutch cut, another the Italian, one the newe cut, another the olde, one of the brauado fashion, another of the meane fashion. One a gentleman's cut, another the common cut, one cut of the court, an other of the country, with infinite the like vanities, which I ouerpasse. They haue also other kinds of cuts innumerable; and therefore when you come to be trimed, they will aske you whether you will be cut to looke terrible to your enimie or aimiable to your freend, grime & sterne in countenance, or pleasant & demure (for they haue diuers kinds of cuts for all these purposes, or else they lie). Then, when they haue done al their feats, it is a world to consider, how their mowchatowes must be preserued and laid out, from one cheke to another, yea, almost from one eare to another, and turned vp like two hornes towards the forehead.' Harrison, too, has his fling at the fashions of beards. On p. 172, ed. 1587, he says: Neither will I meddle with our varietie of beards, of which some are shauen from the chin like those of Turks, not a few cut short like to the beard of marques Otto, some made round like a rubbing brush, other with a pique de vant (O fine fashion!) or now and then suffered to grow long, the barbers being growen so cunning in this behalfe as the tailors. And therefore if a man haue a leane and streight face, a marquesse Ottons cut will make it broad and large; if it be platter like, a long slender beard will make it seeme the narrower; if he be wesell becked, then much heare left on the cheekes will make the owner looke big like a bowdled hen, and so grim as a goose, if Cornelis of Chelmeresford saie true; manie old men doo weare no beards at all.'-Description of England, prefixed to Holinshed. 164. moderne] STEEVENS: That is, trite, common. So in IV, i, 7 of this play. DYCE: That is, trite, ordinary, common. (Per modo tutto fuor del modern' uso.'— Dante, Purg. xvi, 42, where Biagioli remarks, Moderno, s'usa qul in senso di ordinario.') [It is not worth while to load the page with the various misunderstandings of this word, nor with the various passages wherein it occurs. It suffices to say that it is now understood to bear throughout the meaning of trite, trivial, commonplace. -ED.] 164. instances] SCHMIDT (p. 456): The fundamental idea of this word in Shakespeare is 'proof, sign of the truth of anything,' and hence it can naturally mean 'a single example.' [Schmidt translates 'modern instances' by 'Allerwelts-Sentenzen.' In his Lexicon he gives as the meaning here: 'A sentence, a saw, a proverb, anything alleged to support one's own opinion.' There are few words in Shakespeare that are used with a greater variety of shades of meaning than this. Schmidt seems to be correct in his interpretation of it here.-ED.] :66 Into the leane and flipper'd Pantaloone, With spectacles on nofe, and pouch on fide, His youthfull hofe well fau'd, a world too wide, For his fhrunke fhanke, and his bigge manly voice, Is fecond childishneffe, and meere obliuion, Sans teeth, fans eyes, fans tafte, fans euery thing. 169. fhanke] shanks Han. 170 174 170. trebble pipes] treble, pipes Theob. 166. Pantaloone] CAPELL (p. 60, a): Pantaloon and his mates seem to have found their way into England about the year 1607; the conjecture is founded upon an extract from a play of that date intitl'd: Travels of Three English Brothers. [This extract is found in Capell's School of Shakespeare, p. 66, wherein there is the following dialogue between Kempe and the 'Harlaken': 'Kemp. Now Signior, how manie are you in companie? Harl. None but my wife and myselfe, sir. Kemp..... but the project come, and then to casting of the parts. Harl. Marry sir, first we will have an old Pantaloune. Kemp. Some iealous Coxcombe,' &c.] STEEVENS refers to a curious Plotte of the deade mans fortune' (reprinted Var. '21, vol. iii, p. 356), wherein the panteloun' is one of the characters, and in one place we find: 'to them the panteloun and pescode with spectakles,' which Steevens cites in illustration of the next line in the present passage, albeit as far as we can see 'pescode' and not 'panteloun' may have worn the spectacles. The date of this 'plotte' is unknown, but it may be fairly assumed to be older than Capell's Travels, &c. Malone, however, discovered in Nashe's Pierce Pennilesse, &c. 1592 (p. 92, ed. Grosart) the assertion that 'our Sceane is more stately furnisht,. . . . and not consisting like [the foreign scene] of a Pantaloun, a Curtizan, and a Zanie, but of Emperours,' &c., from which it does not follow that the Pantaloun' never appeared at all in 'our sceane.' DYCE: Il Pantalone means properly one of the regular characters in the old Italian comedy: There are four standing characters that enter into every piece that comes on the stage, the Doctor, Harlequin, Pantalone, and Coviello... Pantalone is generally an old cully.'Addison's Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. p. 101, ed. 1705. HALLIWELL: It is possible that the term may here be applied more generally. Howell, 1660, makes a pantaloon synonymous with a Venetian magnifico.' In Calot's series of plates illustrating the Italian comedy is one in which the ancient pantaloon is represented as wearing slippers. CoWDEN-CLARKE: A comic character of the Italian stage (of Venetian origin, and taken typically of Venice, as Arlechino is of Bergamo, Policinello of Naples, Stenterello of Florence, &c.), wearing slippers, spectacles, and a pouch, and invariably represented as old, lean, and gullible. WRIGHT: Torriano in his Italian Dictionary, 1659, gives, 'Pantalone, a Pantalone, a covetous and yet amorous old dotard, properly applyed in Comedies unto a Venetian.' .... 167. on nose... on side] For instances of the omission of the after prepositions in adverbial phrases, see Abbott, § 90. 171. his sound] For 'its sound;' for the use of its, see Abbott, § 228. 174. Sans] See line 34, above. HALLIWELL: The present line may have been Enter Orlando with Adam. 175 Du Sen. Welcome : fet downe your venerable burthen, and let him feede. 177 175. Scene X. Pope+. 177. and...feede] Separate line, Rowe ii et seq. suggested by the following description of the appearance of the ghost of Admiral Coligny on the night after his murder at the massacre of St. Bartholomew, which occurs in Garnier's poem, the Henriade, 1594: 'Sans pieds, sans mains, sans nez, sans oreilles, sans yeux, Meurtri de toutes parts.' 176. venerable burthen] CAPELL (p. 60, b): A traditional story was current some years ago about Stratford, that a very old man of that place, of weak intellects, but yet related to Shakespeare, being asked by some of his neighbors what he remembered about him, answer'd, that he saw him once brought on the stage on another man's back; which answer was apply'd by the hearers to his having seen him perform in this scene the part of Adam. That he should have done so is made not unlikely by another constant tradition, that he was no extraordinary actor, and there. fore took no parts upon him but such as this: for which he might also be peculiarly fitted by an accidental lameness, which, as he himself tells us twice in his Sonnets, befell him in some part of life; without saying how, or when, of what sort, or in what degree; but his expressions seem to indicate latterly. [It is well to mark the source of this monstrous idea that Shakespeare was lame, because, forsooth, in Sonnet 37 he says: So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spite,' and 'Speak of my lameness and I straight will halt' in Sonnet 89. Every now and then, in the revolving years, this idea is blazoned forth as new and original by some one who discovers the Sonnets-by reading them for the first time. Let the original folly rest with Capell; few of Shakespeare's editors can better afford to bear it. The story (which is a pleasant one, and one, I think, we should all like to believe) that Shakespeare acted the part of Adam, Steevens, also, found in 'the manuscript papers of the late Mr Oldys,' and thus tells it, Var. 1793, vol. i, p. 65 :] Mr Oldys had covered several quires of paper with laborious collections for a regular life of our author. From these I have made the following extracts: One of Shakespeare's younger brothers, who lived to a good old age, even some years, as I compute, after the restoration of King Charles II, would in his younger days come to London to visit his brother Will, as he called him, and be a spectator of him as an actor in some of his own plays. This custom, as his brother's fame enlarged, and his dramatick entertainments grew the greatest support of our principal, if not of all our theatres, he continued it seems so long after his brother's death as even to the latter end of his own life. The curiosity at this time of the most noted actors [exciting them-Steevens] to learn something from him of his brother, &c., they justly held him in the highest veneration. And it may be well believed, as there was besides a kinsman and descendant of the family, who was then a celebrated actor among them [Charles Hart. See Shakespeare's Will.—Steevens], this opportunity made them greedily inquisitive into every little circumstance, more especially in his dramatick character, which his brother could relate of him. But he, it seems, was so stricken in years, and possibly his memory so weakened with infirmities (which might make him the easier pass for a man of weak intellects), that he could give them but little light into their inquiries; and all that could be recollected from him of his brother Will in that station was, the faint, general, and almost lost ideas he had of having Orl. I thanke you most for him. 178 Ad. So had you neede, I scarce can speake to thanke you for my felfe. 180 Du. Sen. Welcome, fall too: I wil not trouble you, 183 once seen him act a part in one of his own comedies, wherein, being to personate a decrepit old man, he wore a long beard, and appeared so weak and drooping and unable to walk, that he was forced to be supported and carried by another person to a table, at which he was seated among some company, who were eating, and one of them sung a song.' MALONE discredits this story as far as the brother of Shakespeare is concerned, and, after a heartsome sneer at poor old Oldys, says: From Shakespeare's not taking notice of any of his brothers or sisters in his Will, except Joan Hart, I think it highly probable that they were all dead in 1616, except her, at least all those of the whole blood; though in the Register there is no entry of the burial of his brother Gilbert, antecedent to the death of Shakespeare, or at any subsequent period; but we know that he survived his brother Edmund. The truth is, that this account of our poet's having performed the part of an old man in one of his own comedies, came originally from Mr Thomas Jones of Tarbick, in Worcestershire, who related it from the information, not of one of Shakespeare's brothers, but of a relation of our poet, who lived to a good old age, and who had seen him act in his youth. Mr Jones's informer might have been Mr Richard Quiney, who lived in London, and died at Stratford in 1656, at the age of 69; or of Mr Thomas Quiney, our poet's sonin-law, who lived, I believe, till 1663, and was twenty-seven years old when his father-in-law died; or some one of the family of Hathaway. Mr Thomas Hathaway, I believe, Shakespeare's brother-in-law, died at Stratford in 1654–5, at the age of 85.Var. 1821, ii, 286. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS (Outlines, p. 160, 5th ed.) gives the foregoing story of Oldys, and adds: This account contains several discrepancies, but there is reason for believing that it includes a glimmering of truth which is founded on an earlier tradition. COLLIER (Seven Lectures, &c. by Coleridge, 1856, p. xvi): I have a separate note of what Coleridge once said on the subject of the acting powers of Shakespeare, to which I can assign no date; it is in these words: 'It is my persuasion, indeed, my firm conviction, so firm that nothing can shake it—the rising of Shakespeare's spirit from the grave, modestly confessing his own deficiencies, could not alter my opinion that Shakespeare, in the best sense of the word, was a very great actor; nothing can exceed the judgement he displays upon that subject. He may not have had the physical advantages of Burbage or Field; but they would never have become what they were without his most able and sagacious instructions; and what would either of them have been without Shakespeare's plays? Great dramatists make great actors. But looking at him merely as a performer, I am certain that he was greater as Adam, in As You Like It, than Burbage as Hamlet or Richard the Third. Think of the scene between him and Orlando; and think again, that the actor of that part had to carry the author of that play in his arms! Think of having had Shakespeare in one's arms! It is worth having died two hundred years ago to have heard Shakespeare deliver a single line. He must have been a great actor.' 182. to question] That is, by questioning. So, too, I, i, 109; III, v, 66: 'Foule is most foule, being foule to be a scoffer,' i. e. in being. See Abbott, § 356. Song. Blow, blow, thou winter winde, Thou art not fo vnkinde, as mans ingratitude Thy tooth is not so keene, because thou art not feene, although thy breath be rude. 184. Amiens sings. Johns. 186, 187. As four lines, Pope. 185 188 187. because...feene] Thou causest not that teen Han. 186. vnkinde] MALONE: That is, thy action is not so contrary to thy kind, or to human nature, as the ingratitude of man. So in Ven. and Ad. 204: 'O, had thy mother borne so hard a mind, She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind.' DYCE: That is, unnatural. HALLIWELL: But the ordinary meaning of the term makes here a good, perhaps, a finer, sense. WRIGHT: This literal sense of the word [i. e. e. unnatural] appears to be the most prominent here. 187. seene] WARBURTON: This song is designed to suit the Duke's exiled condition, who had been ruined by ungrateful flatterers. Now the 'winter wind,' the song says, is to be preferred to 'man's ingratitude.' But why? Because it is not seen. But this was not only an aggravation of the injury, as it was done in secret, not seen, but was the very circumstance that made the keenness of the ingratitude of his faithless courtiers. Without doubt Shakespeare wrote the line thus: Because thou art not sheen, i. e. smiling, shining, like an ungrateful court-servant, who flatters while he wounds, which was a very good reason for giving the 'winter wind' the preference. The Oxford editor [i. e. Hanmer] who had this emendation communicated to him, takes occasion to alter the whole line thus: Thou causest not that teen.' But in his rage of correction [This, from Warburton.-ED.] he forgot to leave the reason, which is now wanting, Why the winter wind was to be preferred to man's ingratitude. JOHNSON: Warburton's emendation is enforced with more art than truth. That sheen signifies shining is easily proved, but when or where did it signify smiling? For my part, I question whether the original line is not lost, and this substituted merely to fill up the measure and the rhyme. Yet even out of this line, by strong agitation, may sense be elicited, and sense not unsuitable to the occasion. Thou winter wind,' says the Duke [sic], 'thy rudeness gives the less pain as thou art not seen, as thou art an enemy that dost not brave us with thy presence, and whose unkindness is therefore not aggravated by insult.' FARMER: Perhaps it would be as well to read: 'Because the heart's not seen,' ye harts, according to the ancient mode of writing, was easily corrupted. EDWARDS (p. 106): Shakespeare has equally forgotten, in the next stanza, to leave the reason, why a freezing sky is to be preferred to a forgetful friend; which, perhaps, may give a reasonable suspicion that the word 'because' in the first stanza may be corrupt. [In quoting this sentence Kenrick (p. 62) suggests that if 'because' is wrong, 'Shakespeare must use the adverb or preposition disjunctive beside.'] HEATH (p. 147): What the meaning of the common reading may be, it is extremely difficult to discover, which gives great ground for suspicion that it may be corrupt. Possibly it might be intended to be this: The impressions thou makest on us are not so cutting, because thou art an unseen agent, with whom we have not the least acquaintance or converse, and therefore have the less reason to repine at thy treatment of us. KENRICK (p. 65): The scoliasts seem to blunder in mistaking the sense of the word 'keen,' which they take to signify sharp, cutting, piercing; whereas |