SIR AND. Her C's, her U's, and her T's: Why that? MAL. [reads] To the unknown beloved, this, and my good wishes: her very phrases!—By your leave, wax.-Soft!-and the impressure her Lucrece, with which she uses to seal: 'tis my lady: To whom should this be? FAB. This wins him, liver and all. MAL. [reads] Jove knows, I love: Lips do not move, shew me a child begotten of thy body," &c. Had she spoken in either case from memory, the deviation might easily be accounted for; but in both these places, she reads the words from Bertram's letter. MALOne. From the usual custom of Shakspeare's age, we may easily suppose the whole direction to have run thus: "To the Unknown belov'd, this, and my good wishes, with Care Present." RITSON. 7 By your leave, wax.-Soft!] It was the custom in our poet's time to seal letters with soft wax, which retained its softness for a good while. The wax used at present would have been hardened long before Malvolio picked up this letter. See Your Five Gallants, a comedy, by Middleton: "Fetch a pennyworth of soft wax to seal letters." So, Falstaff, in K. Henry IV. P. II: "I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and shortly will I seal with him." MALONE. I do not suppose that-Soft! has any reference to the wax; but is merely an exclamation equivalent to Softly! i. e. be not in too much haste. Thus, in The Merchant of Venice, Act IV. i: « Soft! no haste." Again, in Troilus and Cressida : "Farewel. Yet soft!" SC. I may also observe, that though it was anciently the custom (as it still is) to seal certain legal instruments with soft and pliable wax, familiar letters (of which I have seen specimens from the time of K. Henry VI. to K. James I.) were secured with wax as glossy and firm as that employed in the present year. STEEVENS. No man must know.-What follows? the numbers altered!-No man must know:-If this should be thee, Malvolio? SIR TO. Marry, hang thee, brock! MAL. I may command, where I adore: With bloodless stroke my heart doth gore; FAB. A fustian riddle! SIR TO. Excellent wench, say I. MAL. M, O, A, I, doth sway my life.-Nay, but first, let me see,-let me see,-let me see. FAB. What a dish of poison has she dressed him! SIR TO. And with what wing the stannyel'checks at it! 8 · brock!] i. e. badger. He uses the word as a term of contempt, as if he had said, hang thee, cur! Out filth! to stink like a brock being proverbial. RITSON. Marry, hang thee, brock!] i. e. Marry, hang thee, thou vain, conceited coxcomb, thou over-weening rogue! Brock, which properly signifies a badger, was used in this sense in Shakspeare's time. So, in The merrie conceited Jests of George Peele, 4to. 1657: "This self-conceited brock had George invited," &c. MALONE. 9 doth sway my life.] This phrase is seriously employed in As you like it, Act III. sc. ii: 1 "Thy huntress name, that my full life doth sway." STEEVENS. stannyel —] The name of a kind of hawk is very judiciously put here for a stallion, by Sir Thomas Hanmer. JOHNSON. To check, says Latham, in his book of Falconry, is, "when crows, rooks, pies, or other birds, coming in view of the hawk, she forsaketh her natural flight, to fly at them." The stannyel is the common stone-hawk, which inhabits old buildings and rocks; in the north called stanchil. I have this information from Mr. Lambe's notes on the ancient metrical history of the battle of Floddon. STEEVENS. SIR AND. Her C's, her U's, and her T's: Why that? MAL. [reads] To the unknown beloved, this, and my good wishes: her very phrases!—By your leave, wax.-Soft!-and the impressure her Lucrece, with which she uses to seal: 'tis my lady: To whom should this be? FAB. This wins him, liver and all. MAL. [reads] Jove knows, I love : Lips do not move, shew me a child begotten of thy body," &c. Had she spoken in either case from memory, the deviation might easily be accounted for; but in both these places, she reads the words from Bertram's letter. MALone. From the usual custom of Shakspeare's age, we may easily suppose the whole direction to have run thus: "To the Unknown belov'd, this, and my good wishes, with Care Present." RITSON. 7 By your leave, wax.-Soft!] It was the custom in our poet's time to seal letters with soft wax, which retained its softness for a good while. The wax used at present would have been hardened long before Malvolio picked up this letter. See Your Five Gallants, a comedy, by Middleton: "Fetch a pennyworth of soft wax to seal letters." So, Falstaff, in K. Henry IV. P. II: "I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and shortly will I seal with him." MALONE. I do not suppose that-Soft! has any reference to the wax; but is merely an exclamation equivalent to Softly! i. e. be not in too much haste. Thus, in The Merchant of Venice, Act IV. sc. i: « Soft! no haste." Again, in Troilus and Cressida : "Farewel. Yet soft!" I may also observe, that though it was anciently the custom (as it still is) to seal certain legal instruments with soft and pliable wax, familiar letters (of which I have seen specimens from the time of K. Henry VI. to K. James I.) were secured with wax as glossy and firm as that employed in the present year. STEEVENS. No man must know.-What follows? the numbers altered!-No man must know:-If this should be thee, Malvolio? SIR TO. Marry, hang thee, brock! 8 MAL. I may command, where I adore: FAB. A fustian riddle! SIR TO. Excellent wench, say I. MAL. M, O, A, I, doth sway my life.-Nay, but first, let me see,―let me see,-let me see. FAB. What a dish of poison has she dressed him! SIR TO. And with what wing the stannyel'checks at it! 8 brock!] i. e. badger. He uses the contempt, as if he had said, hang thee, cur! like a brock being proverbial. RITSON. word as a term of Out filth! to stink Marry, hang thee, brock!] i. e. Marry, hang thee, thou vain, conceited coxcomb, thou over-weening rogue! Brock, which properly signifies a badger, was used in this sense in Shakspeare's time. So, in The merrie conceited Jests of George Peele, 4to. 1657: "This self-conceited brock had George invited," &c. MALONE. 9 in As 1 you doth sway my life.] This phrase is seriously employed like it, Act III. sc. ii: "Thy huntress name, that my full life doth sway." STEEVENS. stannyel] The name of a kind of hawk is very judiciously put here for a stallion, by Sir Thomas Hanmer. JOHNSON. To check, says Latham, in his book of Falconry, is, "when crows, rooks, pies, or other birds, coming in view of the hawk, she forsaketh her natural flight, to fly at them." The stannyel is the common stone-hawk, which inhabits old buildings and rocks; in the north called stanchil. I have this information from Mr. Lambe's notes on the ancient metrical history of the battle of Floddon. STEEVENS. 2 MAL. I may command where I adore. Why, she may command me; I serve her, she is my lady. Why, this is evident to any formal capacity. There is no obstruction in this;-And the end,-What should that alphabetical position portend? if I could make that resemble something in me,-Softly!M, O, A, I.— SIR TO. O, ay! make up that :-he is now at a cold scent. FAB. Sowter3 will cry upon't, for all this, though it be as rank as a fox.4 MAL. M,—Malvolio ;-M,-why, that begins my name. FAB. Did not I say, he would work it out? the cur is excellent at faults. 2 -formal capacity.] i. e. any one in his senses, any one whose capacity is not dis-arranged, or out of form. So, in The Comedy of Errors: "Make of him a formal man again." Again, in Measure for Measure: "These informal women." STEevens. Sowter-] Sowter is here, I suppose, the name of a hound. Sowterly, however, is often employed as a term of abuse. So, in Like Will to Like, &c. 1587: "You sowterly knaves, show you all your manners at once?" A sowter was a cobler. So, in Greene's Card of Fancy, 1608: "If Apelles, that cunning painter, suffer the greasy sowter to take a view of his curious work," &c. STEEVens. I believe the meaning is-This fellow will, notwithanding, catch at and be duped by our device, though the cheat is so gross that any one else would find it out. Our author, as usual, forgets to make his simile answer on both sides; for it is not to be wondered at that a hound should cry or give his tongue, if the scent be as rank as a fox. MALOne. 4 as rank as a fox.] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, “ not as rank." The other editions, though it be as rank, &c. JOHNSON. |
