SIR TO. Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip, and become thy bond-slave? SIR AND. I'faith, or I either. SIR TO. Why, thou hast put him in such a dream, that when the image of it leaves him, he must run mad. MAR. Nay, but say true; does it work upon him? tray-trip,] Tray-trip is mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady, 1616: "Reproving him at tray-trip, sir, for swearing." Again, in Glapthorne's Wit in a Constable, 1640: "mean time, you may play at tray-trip or cockall, for black-puddings." "My watch are above, at trea-trip, for a black-pudding," &c. Again: "With lanthorn on stall, at trea-trip we play, “For ale, cheese, and pudding, till it be day," &c. STEEVENS. The following passage might incline one to believe that traytrip was the name of some game at tables, or draughts: "There is great danger of being taken sleepers at tray-trip, if the king sweep suddenly." Cecil's Correspondence, Lett. X. p. 136. Ben Jonson joins tray-trip with mum-chance. Alchemist, Act V. sc. iv: "Nor play with costar-mongers at mum-chance, traytrip." TYRWHitt. The truth of Mr. Tyrwhitt's conjecture will be established by the following extract from Machiavel's Dogge, a satire, 4to. 1617: "But leaving cardes, lett's goe to dice awhile, "To passage, treitrippe, hazarde, or mum-chance, "But subtill males will simple minds beguile, "And blinde their eyes with many a blinking glaunce: "Oh, cogges and stoppes, and such like devilish trickes, Full many a purse of golde and silver pickes. "And therefore first, for hazard hee that list, "And trippe without a treye makes had I wist "To sitt and mourne among the sleeper's ranke: "And for mumchance, how ere the chance doe fall, REED. SIR TO. Like aqua-vitæ3 with a midwife. MAR. If you will then see the fruits of the sport, mark his first approach before my lady: he will come to her in yellow stockings, and 'tis a colour she abhors; and cross-gartered, a fashion she detests; and he will smile upon her, which will now be so unsuitable to her disposition, being addicted to a melancholy as she is, that it cannot but turn 6 him into a notable contempt: if will see it, follow me. you SIR TO. To the gates of Tartar, thou most excellent devil of wit! SIR AND. I'll make one too. [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. Olivia's Garden. Enter VIOLA, and Clown with a tabor. V10. Save thee, friend, and thy musick: Dost thou live by thy tabor? CLO. No, sir, I live by the church." 5 aqua-vita-] Is the old name of strong waters. JOHNSON. 6 cross-gartered, a fashion she detests;] Sir Thomas Overbury, in his character of a footman without gards on his coat, presents him as more upright than any crosse-gartered gentleman-usher. FARMER. 7 by thy tabor? Clo. No, sir, I live by the church.] The Clown, I suppose, wilfully mistakes Viola's meaning, and answers, as if he had been asked whether he lived by the sign of the tabor, the ancient designation of a music shop. STEEVENS. VIO. Art thou a churchman? CLO. No such matter, sir; I do live by the church for I do live at my house, and my house doth stand by the church. VIO. So thou may'st say, the king lies by a beggar, if a beggar dwell near him: or, the church stands by thy tabor, if thy tabor stand by the church. CLO. You have said, sir.-To see this age!A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit; How quickly the wrong side may be turned out ward! VIO. Nay, that's certain; they, that dally nicely with words, may quickly make them wanton. CLO. I would therefore, my sister had had no name, sir. V10. Why, man? CLO. Why, sir, her name's a word; and to dally with that word, might make my sister wanton: But, indeed, words are very rascals, since bonds disgraced them. VIO. Thy reason, man? CLO. Troth, sir, I can yield you none without It was likewise the sign of an eating-house kept by Tarleton, the celebrated clown or fool of the theatre before our author's time, who is exhibited in a print prefixed to his Jests, quarto, 1611, with a tabor. Perhaps in imitation of him the subsequent stage-clowns usually appeared with one. MALONE. 8 the king lies by a beggar,] Lies here, as in many other places in old books, signifies-dwells, sojourns. See King Henry IV. P. II. Act III. sc. ii. MALONE. 9 a cheveril glove-] i. e. a glove made of kid leather: chevreau, Fr. So, in Romeo and Juliet: " a wit of cheveril—.” Again, in a proverb in Ray's Collection: "He hath a conscience like a cheverel's skin." STEEVENS. VOL. V. Z words; and words are grown so false, I am loath to prove reason with them. V10. I warrant, thou art a merry fellow, and carest for nothing. CLO. Not so, sir, I do care for something: but in my conscience, sir, I do not care for you; if that be to care for nothing, sir, I would it would make you invisible. V10. Art not thou the lady Olivia's fool? CLO. No, indeed, sir; the lady Olivia has no folly: she will keep no fool, sir, till she be married; and fools are as like husbands, as pilchards are to herrings, the husband's the bigger; I am, indeed, not her fool, but her corrupter of words. VIO. I saw thee late at the count Orsino's. CLO. Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb, like the sun; it shines every where. I would be sorry, sir, but the fool should be as oft with your master, as with my mistress: I think, I saw your wisdom there. VIO. Nay, an thou pass upon me, I'll no more with thee. Hold, there's expences for thee. CLO. Now Jove, in his next commodity of hair, send thee a beard! VIO. By my troth, I'll tell thee; I am almost sick for one; though I would not have it grow on my chin. Is thy lady within? CLO. Would not a pair of these have bred, sir?1 have bred, sir?] I believe our author wrote-have breed, sir. The Clown is not speaking of what a pair might have done, had they been kept together, but what they may do hereafter in his possession; and therefore covertly solicits another piece from Viola, on the suggestion that one was useless to him, V10. Yes, being kept together, and put to use. CLO. I would play lord Pandarus' of Phrygia, sir, to bring a Cressida to this Troilus. VIO. I understand you, sir; 'tis well begg'd. CLO. The matter, I hope, is not great, sir, begging but a beggar; Cressida was a beggar.3 My lady is within, sir. I will construe to them whence you come; who you are, and what you would, are out of my welkin: I might say, element; but the word is over-worn. [Exit. VIO. This fellow's wise enough to play the fool; And, to do that well, craves a kind of wit: He must observe their mood on whom he jests, The quality of persons, and the time; And, like the haggard, check at every feather without another to breed out of. Viola's answer corresponds with this train of argument: she does not say-" if they had been kept together," &c. but, " being kept together," i. e. Yes, they will breed, if you keep them together. Our poet has the same image in his Venus and Adonis: "Foul cank'ring rust the hidden treasure frets, MALONE. lord Pandarus-] See our author's play of Troilus and JOHNSON. Cressida was a beggar.] great penurye "Thou suffer shalt, and as a beggar dye." Chaucer's Testament of Creseyde. Cressida is the person spoken of. MALONE. Again, ibid: "Thus shalt thou go begging from hous to hous, THEOBALD. -- the haggard,] The hawk called the haggard, if not well trained and watched, will fly after every bird without distinction. STEEVENS. |