Slen. I'll rather be unmannerly, than troublesome : you do yourself wrong, indeed-la. SCENE II. Enter Evans and Simple. [Exeunt. Eva. Go your ways, and afk of Doctor Caius house, which is the way: and there dwells one mistress Quickly, which is in the manner of his nurse, or his dry nurse, or his cook, or his laundry, his washer, and his wringer. Simp. Well, Sir. Eva. Nay, it is petter yet: give her this letter for it is a 'oman that altogethers acquaintance with mistress Ann Page; and the letter is to defire and. require her to folicit your mafter's defires to mistress Ann Page: I pray you, be gone; I will make an end of my dinner; there's pippins and cheese to come. [Exeunt feverally. Changes to the Garter inn. Enter Falstaff, Hoft, Bardolph, Nym, Pistol, and Robin. Fal. Mine hoft of the garter, Hoft. What fays my bully Rock? speak schollarly, and wifely. Fal. Truly, mine hoft, I must turn away fome of my followers. Hoft. Difcard, bully Hercules; cashier: let them wag: trot, trot. Fal. I fit at ten pounds a week. Hoft. Thour't an emperor, Cæfar, Keifar, and PheaI will entertain Bardoph; he fhall draw, he fhall tap: faid I well, bully Hector? żar. Fal. Do fo, good mine hoft. Hoft. Hoft. I have fpoke; let him follow: let me fee thee froth, and lime: I am at a word; follow. [Exit Hoft. Fal. Bardolph, follow him; a tapfter is a good trade: an old cloak makes a new jerkin; a wither'd servingman, a fresh tapfter. Go, adieu. Bard. It is a life that I have defir'd: I will thrive. [Exit Bard. Pift. O bafe Hungarian wight! wilt thou the fpigot wield? 2 Nym. He was gotten in drink: is not the humour conceited? His mind is not heroic, and there's the 3 humour of it. Fal. I am glad I am fo quit of this tinderbox; his thefts were too open: his filching was like an unskilful finger, he kept not time. I - let me fee thee froth, and live: -] This paffage has paffed through all the editions without fufpicion of being corrupted; but the reading of the old quartos of 1602 and 1619, Let me fee froth and lime, I take to be the true one. The Hoft calls for an immediate specimen of Bardolph's abilities as a tapfter; and frothing beer and liming fack were tricks practised in the time of Shakespeare. The firft was done by putting foap into the bottom of the tankard when they drew the beer; the other, by mixing lime with the fack (i. e. fherry) to make it fparkle in the glafs. Froth and live is fenfe, but a little forced; and to make it fo we muft fuppofe the Hoft could guess by his dexterity in frothing a pot to make it appear fuller than it was, how he would afterwards fucceed in the world. Falstaff himfelf complains of limed fack. STEEVENS. 20 baje Hungarian wight, &c.] This is a parody on a line taken from one of the old bombaft plays, beginning, "O bafe Gongarian, wilt thou the distaff wield?" I had marked the paffage down, but forgot to note the play. STEEVENS. 3 humour of it.] This fpeech is partly taken from the corrected copy, and partly from the flight sketch in 1602. I mention it, that those who do not find it in either of the common old editions may not fufpect it to be fpurious. STEEVENS. Nym. Nym. The good humour is to steal 4 at a minute's reft. Pift. Convey, the wife it call: fteal! foh; a fico for the phrase! Fal. Well, Sirs, I am almost out at heels. Fal. There is no remedy; I must cony-catch, I must shift. Pift. 5 Young ravens must have food. Fal. Which of you know Ford of this town? 6 Fal. No quips now, Piftol: indeed, I am in the waist two yards about: but I am now about no wafte; I am about thrift. Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife: Ifpy entertainment in her; she discourses, she carves, fhe gives the leer of invitation: I can conftrue the action of her familiar ftile; and the hardest voice of her behaviour, to be English'd rightly, is, I am Sir John Falstaff's. at a minute's reft.] Our author probably wrote, at a minim's reft. LANGTON. This conjecture feems confirmed by a paffage in Romeo and Juliet, -refts his minim, &c. It that, however mean, may like a skillful harquebuzier, he takes a good aim, though he has refted his piece for a minute only. STEEVENS. 5 Young ravens must have food.] An adage. See Ray's Proverbs. STEEVENS. 6 about no wafte ;- -] I find the fame play on words in Heywood's Epigrams, 1562: "Where am I leaft, hufband? quoth he, in the waist; "Which cometh of this, thou art vengeance ftrait lac'd. "Where am I biggeft, wife? in the wafte, quoth fhe, "For all is wafte in you, as far as I fee." And again in The Wedding, a comedy, by Shirley, 1626: "He's a great man indeed; "Something given to the waft, for he lives within no "reasonable compass." STEEVENS. VOL. I. Pift. Pift. He hath ftudy'd her will, and translated her will; out of honesty into English. Nym. 7 The anchor is deep: will that humour pafs? Fal. Now, the report goes, fhe has all the rule of her husband's purfe: fhe hath a legion of angels. Pist. As many devils entertain; and, To her, boy, fay I. Nym. The humour rises; it is good: humour me the angels. Fal. I have writ me here a letter to her: and here another to Page's wife; who even now gave me good eyes too, examin'd my parts with moft judicious eyliads: fometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, fometimes my portly belly. Pift. Then did the fun on dung-hill shine. Nym. I thank thee for that humour. Fal. O, fhe did fo course-o'er my exteriors with fuch a greedy intention, that the appetite of her eye did The anchor is deep: will that humour pass ?] I fee not what relation the anchor has to tranflation. Perheps we may read, the author is deep; or perhaps the line is out of its place, and fhould be inferted lower after Falstaff has faid, Sail like my pinnace to thofe golden fhores. It may be obferved, that in the tracts of that time anchor and author could hardly be diftinguished. JOHNSON. 8 As many devils entertain, &c.] The old quarto reads, As many devils attend her, &c. STEEVENS. eyliads] This word is differently fpelt in all the copies. I fuppofe we should write oeillades, French. STEEV. that humour.] What diftinguishes the language of Nym from that of the other attendants on Falstaff, is the conftant repetition of this phrafe. In the time of Shakespeare fuch an incident feems to have been fufficient to mark a character. In Sir Giles Gonfecap, a play of which I have no earlier edition than that of 1606, the fame peculiarity is mentioned in the hero of the piece. -his only reafon for every thing is, that we are all "mortal; then hath he another pretty phrafe too, and "that is, he will tickle the vanity of every thing." STEEVENS. feem seem to scorch me up like a burning-glafs! Here's another letter to her: fhe bears the purfe too; 2 fhe is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. 3 I will be 'Cheater to them both, and they shall be Exchequers to me; they fhall be my Eaft and Weft Indies, and I will trade to them both. Go, bear thou this letter to mistress Page; and thou this to mistress Ford: we will thrive, lads, we will thrive. Pift. Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become, And by my fide wear steel? then, Lucifer take all ! Nym. I will run no bafe humour: here, take the humour letter; I will keep the 'haviour of reputation. Fal. Hold, firrah, bear you these letters tightly; Sail like my pinnace to thefe golden fhores. [To Robin. Rogues, hence, avaunt! vanish like hail-ftones, go; Trudge, plod, away, o' the hoof; feek fhelter, pack! Falftaff will learn the humour of the age, French thrift, you rogues; myself, and skirted page. [Exit Falstaff and Boy. 2 She is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty.] If the tradition be true (as I doubt not but it is) of this play being wrote at queen Elizabeth's command, this paffage, perhaps, may furnish a probable conjecture that it could not appear till after the year 1598. The mention of Guiana, then fo lately discovered to the English, was a very happy compliment to Sir Walter Raleigh, who did not begin his expedition for South America till 1595, and returned from it in 1596, with an advantageous account of the great wealth of Guiana. Such an addrefs of the poet was likely, I imagine, to have a proper impreffion on the people, when the intelligence of such a golden country was fresh in their minds, and gave them expectations of immenfe gain. THEOBALD. 3 I will be 'Cheater to them both, and they shall be: Exchequers to me;-] The fame joke is intended here, as in The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ac ii. -I will bar no honeft man my houfe, nor no Cheater.— By which is meant Efcheatour, an officer in the Exchequer, in no good repute with the common people. WARBURTON. |